Statement of events surrounding the resignation of Lord Randolph Churchill [by Sir Henry Drummond Wolff]. Includes details of the occasions on which he met Lord Randolph, including the 22 December, when he is described as "very gay and cheery..no one would have said that any great event had occurred". He relates a conversation with Lord Randolph about W H Smith, [Secretary of State for War] about the army estimates; the acceptance of Lord Randolph's resignation by [Robert, 3rd] Lord Salisbury; its publication in the Times; its implications on Irish affairs; conversations with Lord Randolph's political colleagues including [1st] Lord Ashbourne [formerly Edward Gibson], [Charles] Ritchie, Sir Michael Hicks Beach [later Lord St Aldwyn], [Robert, 3rd] Lord Salisbury, Lord Hartington [later 8th Duke of Devonshire], Sir Henry James, [George] Goschen about the possibility of a coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberals and Walter Long; animosity against Lord Randolph; the treatment of [Frances] Duchess of Marlborough by Lady Salisbury after a ball at Hatfield [Hertfordshire]; the behaviour of Lord Rowton; Arthur Balfour's insistence on the issue of army estimates; the incompetence of Lord Iddesleigh and a prediction that the Government will fall. Manuscript. Some pages are not numbered. See also CHAR 28/116/20-34, CHAR 28/116/45-51 and CHAR 28/116/54-95.