Sir Edward Clarke has resigned his seat for Plymouth. The
Council of the Conservative party in the borough informed him that as he habitually condemned the action of the Unionist Government in South Africa, and as he had in particular advocated a repetition of the " disgraceful blunder " which followed the repulse on Majuba Hill, he ought no longer to sit as Unionist member for Plymouth. Sir E. Clarke in reply, while demurring to the strict accuracy of some of the statements of the Council, declared himself anxious " not to say a word which would widen the breach between himself and those whom he had for nearly twenty years looked upon as faithful friends," and announced that he had asked for the Chiltern Hundreds. A new writ has accordingly been issued, and it is believed the correspon- dence is in no way discreditable to any of those concerned but, as we have argued elsewhere, we doubt the wisdom of dismissing any Member between one election and another merely because his opinion is unpopular. If discussion is worth anything discussion should be especially free in wur time and about the war. There are, of course, crises in which discussion is worth nothing, the duty of every man being clear and unmistakable, but we have hardly reached that crisis yet.
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