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Gladstone, M.P.. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + h2 { font-style: italic; } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .author {text-align:center;} + .titlepagehuge {font-size:200%; font-weight:bold; text-align:center;} + .titlepagebig {font-size:125%; font-weight:bold; text-align:center;} + .titlepagesmall {font-weight:bold; text-align:center;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Handbook of Home Rule (1887), by W. E. Gladstone et al. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Handbook of Home Rule (1887) + +Author: W. E. Gladstone et al. + +Release Date: December 29, 2004 [EBook #14518] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HANDBOOK OF HOME RULE (1887) *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Aaron Reed and the PG Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>HANDBOOK OF HOME RULE<!-- Page i --><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i" /><!-- Page ii --><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii" /></h1> + +<p class="titlepagesmall">BEING</p> +<p class="titlepagebig"><i>ARTICLES ON THE IRISH QUESTION</i></p> +<p class="titlepagesmall">BY</p> + +<p class="titlepagebig">THE RIGHT HON. W.E. GLADSTONE, M.P.<br /> +THE RIGHT HON. JOHN MORLEY, M.P., LORD THRING<br /> +JAMES BRYCE, M.P., CANON MACCOLL<br /> +E.L. GODKIN, AND R. BARRY O'BRIEN +<br /></p> + +<p class="titlepagesmall"><i>WITH PREFACE BY</i></p> +<p class="titlepagebig">THE RIGHT HON. EARL SPENCER, K.G. +<br /></p> + +<p class="titlepagesmall">EDITED BY</p> +<p class="titlepagebig">JAMES BRYCE, M.P.<br /><br /></p> + +<p class="titlepagebig">SECOND EDITION<br /><br /></p> + +<p class="titlepagebig">LONDON</p> +<p class="titlepagesmall">KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., I, PATERNOSTER SQUARE<br /> +1887</p> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><!-- Page iii --><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii" /><a name="EDITORS_NOTE" id="EDITORS_NOTE" />EDITOR'S NOTE.</h2> + + +<p>Of the articles contained in this volume, those by Mr. +Gladstone, Mr. E.L. Godkin on "A Lawyer's Objections +to Home Rule," and Mr. Barry O'Brien appear +for the first time. The others are reprinted from the +<i>Contemporary Review</i>, the <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, and the +<i>New Princeton Review</i>, to the proprietors and editors of +which periodicals respectively the thanks of the several +writers and of the editor are tendered. In most of these +reprints some passages of transitory interest have been +omitted, and some few additions have been made.</p> + +<p>The object of the writers has been to treat the difficult +questions connected with the Government of Ireland in a +dispassionate spirit; and the volume is offered to the public +in the hope that it may, at a time of warm controversy over +passing events, help to lead thoughtful men back to the +consideration of the principles which underlie those questions, +and which it seeks to elucidate by calm discussion +and by references to history.</p> + +<p><i>October</i>, 1887.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><!-- Page iv --><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv" /><!-- Page v --><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v" /> +CONTENTS.</h2> + +<p><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a><br /> +BY THE RIGHT HON. EARL SPENCER, K.G.</p> + +<p><a href="#AMERICAN_HOME_RULE">AMERICAN HOME RULE.</a><br /> +BY E.L. GODKIN</p> + +<p><a href="#HOW_WE_BECAME_HOME_RULERS">HOW WE BECAME HOME RULERS.</a><br /> +BY JAMES BRYCE, M.P.</p> + +<p><a href="#HOME_RULE_AND_IMPERIAL_UNITY">HOME RULE AND IMPERIAL UNITY.</a><br /> +BY LORD THRING</p> + +<p><a href="#THE_IRISH_GOVERNMENT_BILL">THE IRISH GOVERNMENT BILL AND THE IRISH LAND BILL.</a><br /> +BY LORD THRING</p> + + +<p><a href="#THE_UNIONISTquot_POSITION">THE "UNIONIST" POSITION.</a><br /> +BY CANON MACCOLL</p> + +<p><a href="#A_LAWYERS_OBJECTIONS_TO">A LAWYER'S OBJECTIONS TO HOME RULE.</a><br /> +BY E.L. GODKIN</p> + +<p><a href="#THE_UNIONISTquot_CASE_FOR_HOME">THE "UNIONIST" CASE FOR HOME RULE.</a><br /> +BY R. BARRY O'BRIEN</p> + +<p><a href="#IRELANDS_ALTERNATIVES">IRELAND'S ALTERNATIVES.</a><br /> +BY LORD THRING</p> + +<p><a href="#THE_PAST_AND_FUTURE_OF_THE">THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THE IRISH QUESTION.</a><br /> +BY JAMES BRYCE, M.P.</p> + +<p><a href="#SOME_ARGUMENTS_CONSIDERED71">SOME ARGUMENTS CONSIDERED.</a><br /> +BY THE RIGHT HON. JOHN MORLEY, M.P.</p> + +<p><a href="#LESSONS_OF_IRISH_HISTORY_IN">LESSONS OF IRISH HISTORY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</a><br /> +BY THE RIGHT HON. W.E. GLADSTONE, M.P. +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE" /><!-- Page vi --><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi" /><!-- Page vii --><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii" />PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>The present seems an excellent moment for bringing forward +the arguments in favour of a new policy for Ireland, +which are to be found in the articles contained in this +volume.</p> + +<p>We are realizing the first results of the verdict given +at the election of 1886. And this I interpret as saying +that the constituencies were not then ready to depart from +the lines of policy which, up to last year, nearly all politicians +of both parties in Parliament had laid down for their +guidance in Irish affairs.</p> + +<p>We have had the Session occupied almost wholly with +Lord Salisbury's proposals for strengthening the power of +the central Government to maintain law and order in Ireland, +and for dealing with the most pressing necessities of the +Land question in that country.</p> + +<p>It is well, before the policy of the Government is +practically tested, that the views of thoughtful men holding +different opinions should be clearly set forth, not in the +shape of polemical speeches, but in measured articles which +specially appeal to those who have not hitherto joined the +fighting ranks of either side, and who are sure to intervene +with great force at the next election, when the Irish question +is again submitted to the constituencies.<!-- Page viii --><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii" /></p> + +<p>I feel that I can add little or nothing to the weight of +the arguments contained in these papers, but I should like +to give some reasons why I earnestly hope that they will +receive careful consideration.</p> + +<p>The writers have endeavoured to approach their work +with impartiality, and to free themselves from those prejudices +which make it difficult for Englishmen to discuss +Irish questions in a fresh and independent train of thought, +and realize how widely Irish customs, laws, traditions, and +sentiments differ from our own.</p> + +<p>We are apt to think that what has worked well here +will work well in Ireland; that Irishmen who differ from +us are unreasonable; and that their proposals for change +must be mistaken. We do not make allowance for the +soreness of feeling prevailing among men who have long +objected to the system by which Ireland has been governed, +and who find that their earnest appeals for reform have +been, until recent times, contemptuously disregarded by +English politicians. Time after time moderate counsels +have been rejected until too late. Acts of an exceptional +character intended to secure law and order have been very +numerous, and every one of them has caused fresh irritation; +while remedial measures have been given in a manner +which has not won the sympathy of the people, because +they have not been the work of the Irish themselves, and +have not been prepared in their own way.</p> + +<p>Parliament seems during the past Session to have fallen +into the same error. By the power of an English majority, +measures have been passed which are vehemently opposed +by the political leaders and the majority of the Irish nation, +and which are only agreeable to a small minority in Ireland. +This action can only succeed if the Irish can be persuaded +to relinquish the national sentiments of Home Rule; and yet +<!-- Page ix --><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix" />this was never stronger or more vigorous than at the present +time. It is supported by millions of Irish settled in America +and in Australia; and here I would say that it has often struck +me that the strong feeling of dissatisfaction, or, I might say, +of disaffection, among the Irish is fed and nurtured by the +marked contrast existing between the social condition of +large numbers of the Irish in the South and West of Ireland +and the views and habits of their numerous relatives in the +United States.</p> + +<p>The social condition of many parts of Ireland is as +backward, or perhaps more backward, than the condition of +the rural population of England at the end of last or the +beginning of this century. The Irish peasantry still live +in poor hovels, often in the same room with animals; +they have few modern comforts; and yet they are in close +communication with those who live at ease in the cities and +farms of the United States. They are also imbued with all +the advanced political notions of the American Republic, +and are sufficiently educated to read the latest political +doctrines in the Press which circulates among them. Their +social condition at home is a hundred years behind their +state of political and mental culture. They naturally contrast +the misery of many Irish peasants with the position of +their relatives in the New World. This cannot but embitter +their views against English rulers, and strengthen +their leaning to national sentiments. Their national aspirations +have never died out since 1782. They have taken +various forms; but if the movements arising from them +have been put down, fresh movements have constantly +sprung up. The Press has grown into an immense power, +and its influences have all been used to strengthen the zeal for +Irish nationality, while, at the same time, the success of the +national movements in Italy, Hungary, Greece, and Germany +<!-- Page x --><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x" />have had the same effect. Lastly, the sentiment of Home +Rule has gained the sympathy of large bodies of electors in +the constituencies of Great Britain, and, under the circumstances, +it is difficult to suppose that, even if the country +remains quiet, constitutional agitation will vanish or the +Irish relinquish their most cherished ambition.</p> + +<p>We hear, from men who ought to know something of +Ireland, that if the Land question is once settled, and dual +ownership practically abolished, the tenants will be satisfied, +and the movement for Home Rule will no longer find active +support in Ireland. Without going into the whole of this +argument, I should like to say two things: first, that I do +not know how a large scheme of Land Purchase can be +carried through Parliament with safety to Imperial interests +without establishing, at the same time, some strong Irish +Government in Dublin to act between the Imperial Government +and the tenants of Ireland; and, second, that the +feeling for Home Rule has a vitality of its own which will +survive the Land question, even if independently settled.</p> + +<p>Home Rule is an expression of national feeling which +cannot be extinguished in Ireland, and the only safe method +of dealing with it is to turn its force and power to the +support of an Irish Government established for the management +of local Irish affairs. There are those who think that +this must lead to separation. I cannot believe in this +fear, for I know of no English statesman who looks upon +complete separation of Ireland from Great Britain as +possible. The geographical position of Ireland, the social +and commercial connection between the two peoples, renders +such a thing impossible. The Irish know this, and they +are not so foolish as to think that they could gain their +independence by force of arms; but I do not believe that +they desire it. They are satisfied to obtain the manage<!-- Page xi --><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi" />ment +of their own local affairs under the <i>ægis</i> of the flag +of England. The papers in this volume show how this +can be done with due regard to Imperial interests and the +rights of minorities.</p> + +<p>I shall not enlarge on this part of the subject, but I wish +to draw attention to the working of the Irish Government, +and the position which it holds in the country, for it is through +its administration that the policy of the Cabinet will be carried +out. At the outset I feel bound to deprecate the exaggerated +condemnation which the "Castle" receives from its opponents. +It has its defects. Notwithstanding efforts of various +ministers to enlarge the circle from which its officials are +drawn, it is still too narrow for the modern development +of Irish society, and it has from time to time been recruited +from partisans without sufficient regard to the efficiency and +requirements of the public service. But, on the whole, its +members, taken as individuals, can well bear comparison +with those of other branches of the Civil Service. They +are diligent; they desire to do their duty with impartiality, +and to hold an even balance between many opposing interests +in Ireland. Whatever party is in office, they loyally +carry out the policy of their chiefs. They are, probably, +more plastic to the leadership of the heads of departments +than members of some English offices, and they are more +quickly moved by the influences around them. Sometimes +they may relapse into an attitude of indifference and +inertness if their chiefs are not active; but, on the other +hand, they will act with vigour and decision if they are led +by men who know their own minds and desire to be firm +in the government of the country.</p> + +<p>When speaking of the chiefs of the Irish Civil Service, who +change according to the political party in office, we must not +overlook the legal officers, who exercise a most powerful +<!-- Page xii --><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii" />influence on Irish administration. They consist of the +Lord Chancellor, the Attorney and Solicitor General, and, +until 1883, there was also an officer called the Law Adviser, +who was the maid-of-all-work of Castle administration. In +England, those who hold similar legal offices take no part +in the daily administration of public affairs. The Lord +Chancellor, as a member of the Cabinet, takes his share in +responsibility for the policy of the Government. The law +officers are consulted in special cases, and take their part +from time to time in debates in the House of Commons. +In Ireland, however, the Chancellor is constantly consulted +by the Lord-Lieutenant on any difficult matter of administration, +and the Attorney and Solicitor General are in +constant communication with the Lord-Lieutenant, if he +carries out the daily work of administration, and with the +Chief and the Under Secretary.</p> + +<p>Governments differ as to the use they make of these +officials. Some Governments have endeavoured to confine +their work to cases where a mere legal opinion has to be +obtained; but, when the country is in a disturbed state, even +these limited references become very frequent, and questions +of policy as well as of law are often discussed with the law +officers. It is needless to say that, with their knowledge of +Ireland and the traditions of Castle government (it is rare +that all the law officers are new to office, and, consequently, +they carry on the traditions from one Government to another), +they often exercise a paramount influence over the policy +of the Irish Government, and practically control it.</p> + +<p>They are connected with the closest and most influential +order in Irish society—the legal order, consisting of the +judges and Bar of Ireland. This adds to the general +weight of their advice, but it has a special bearing when +cases of legal reform or administration are under considera<!-- Page xiii --><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii" />tion; +it then requires unwonted courage and independence +for the law officers of the Crown to support changes which +the lay members of the Government deem necessary.</p> + +<p>I have known conspicuous instances of the exercise of +these high qualities by law officers enabling reforms to be +carried, but as a rule, particularly when the initiative of +legal reform is left to them, the Irish law officers do not +care to move against the feeling of the legal world in +Dublin. The lawyers, like other bodies, oppose the diminution +of offices and honours belonging to them, or of the funds +which, in the way of fees and salaries, are distributed among +members of the bar; and they become bitterly hostile to any +permanent official who is known to be a firm legal reformer. +It would be impossible for me not to acknowledge the great +service often done to the Government by the able men +who have filled the law offices, yet I feel that under certain +circumstances, when their influence has been allowed too +strongly to prevail, it has tended to narrow the views of the +Irish Government, and to keep it within a circle too narrow +for the altered circumstances of modern life.</p> + +<p>The chief peculiarity of the Irish Administration is its +extreme centralization. In this two departments may be +mentioned as typical of the whole—the police and administration +of local justice.</p> + +<p>The police in Dublin and throughout Ireland are under +the control of the Lord-Lieutenant, and both these forces +are admirable of their kind. They are almost wholly maintained +by Imperial funds. The Dublin force costs about +£150,000 a year. The Royal Irish Constabulary costs +over a million in quiet, and a million and a half in disturbed +times. Local authorities have nothing to do with their +action or management. Local justice is administered by +unpaid magistrates as in England, but they have been +<!-- Page xiv --><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv" />assisted, and gradually are being supplanted, by magistrates +appointed by the Lord-Lieutenant and paid by the State.</p> + +<p>This state of things arose many years ago from the want +of confidence between resident landlords and the bulk of +the people. When agrarian or religious differences disturbed +a locality the people distrusted the local magistrates, and by +degrees the system of stipendiary, or, as they are called, +resident magistrates, spread over the country. To maintain +the judicial independence and impartiality of these magistrates +is of the highest importance. At one time this was +in some danger, for the resident magistrates not only heard +cases at petty sessions, but, as executive peace officers, to +a very great extent took the control of the police in their +district, not only at riots, but in following up and discovering +offenders. Their position as judicial and executive officers +was thus very unfortunately mixed up. Between 1882 and +1883 the Irish Government did their utmost to separate +and distinguish between these two functions, and it is to be +hoped that the same policy has been and will be now continued, +otherwise grave mischief in the administration of +justice will arise. The existence of this staff of stipendiary +magistrates could not fail to weaken the influence of the +gentry in local affairs, and, at the same time, other causes +were at work to undermine still further their power. The +spread of education, the ballot, the extension of the franchise, +communication with America, all tended to strengthen +the political leaning of the tenants towards the National +party in Ireland, and to widen the political differences between +the richer and poorer classes in the country. The +result of this has been, that not only have even the best +landlords gradually lost their power in Parliamentary elections +and on elective boards, but the Government, which +greatly relied on them for support, has become isolated.</p> + +<p><!-- Page xv --><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv" />The system of centralization is felt all over the country. +It was the cause of weakness in the disturbed years of 1880 +and 1881, and, although the Irish Executive strengthened +themselves by placing officers over several counties, on +whom they devolved a great deal of responsibility, they did +not by these steps meet the real difficulty, which was that +everything that went wrong, whether as to police or magisterial +decisions, was attributed to the management of the +Castle.</p> + +<p>In this country, local authorities and benches of +magistrates, quite independent of the Home Office, are +held responsible for mistakes in police action or irregularities +in local justice. The consequence is that there is +a strong buffer to protect the character and power of the +Home Office.</p> + +<p>The absence of such protection in Ireland obviously +has a very prejudicial effect on the permanent influence and +popularity of the Irish Government. But as long as our +system of government from England exists, this centralization +cannot be avoided, for it would not be possible to +transfer the responsibility of the police to local representative +bodies, as they are too much opposed to the landlords +and the Government to be trusted when strong party differences +arise; nor, for the same reason, would it be possible +to fall back on local men to administer justice. The +fact is, that, out of the Protestant part of Ulster, the Irish +Government receives the cordial support of only the landed +proprietors, and a part of the upper middle classes in the +towns. The feeling of the mass of the people has been so +long against them that no change in the direction of trust in +any centralized government of anti-national character can be +expected.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to find any<!-- Page xvi --><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi" /> +Municipal Council, Boards of Guardians, or Local Boards, +in Leinster, Munster, or Connaught, whose members do +not consist of a majority of Nationalists. At nearly all +such assemblies, whenever any important political movement +takes place in the country, or when the Irish +Government take any action which is displeasing to the +Nationalists, resolutions are discussed and carried in a +spirit of sharp hostility to the Government.</p> + +<p>In Parliamentary elections we also find clear evidence +of the strength of the Nationalists, and the extreme weakness +of their opponents. This is a test which those who accept +popular representative government cannot disregard, particularly +at an election when for the first time the new +constituencies were called upon to exercise the privileges +entrusted to them by Parliament. Such was the election of +1885, followed in 1886 by another General Election. In 1885 +contests took place in most of the Irish constituencies. +They were between Liberals allied with Conservatives, and +Parnellites. In 1886 the contests were between those who +called themselves Unionists and Parnellites, and the Irish +policy of Mr. Gladstone was specially referred to the electors.</p> + +<p>In regard to the number of members returned on the +two sides, the result of each election was almost identical, +but in 1886 there were fewer contests. We may, then, +assume that the relative forces of Parnellites and Unionists +were accurately represented at the election of 1885. +If we take the votes at the election of 1885 for candidates +standing as Nationalists, we shall find, roughly speaking, +that they obtained in round numbers about 300,000 votes, +and candidates who stood either as Liberals or Conservatives +about 143,000. But the case is really stronger than these +figures represent it, because in some constituencies the contests +were between Liberals and Conservatives, and there +<!-- Page xvii --><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii" />can be no doubt that in those constituencies a number of +Nationalist votes were given for one or both of such candidates—votes +which, therefore, would have to be deducted +from the 143,000, leaving a still heavier majority on the +Nationalist side.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1" /><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>If we look at individual constituencies, we find that in +South Kerry only 133 persons voted for the "Unionist" +candidate, while 2742 voted for the Nationalist. In six out +of seven constituencies in Cork where contests took place +27,692 votes were given for the Nationalists, and only 1703 +for their opponents. In Dublin, in the division which may be +considered the West End constituency of the Irish metropolis, +the most successful man of commerce in Ireland, a leader +of society, whose liberality towards those in his employment +is only equalled by his munificence in all public works, was +defeated by over 1900 votes. He did not stand in 1886, +but his successor was defeated by a still larger majority. +These elections show the numbers in Ireland on which the +Government and those who oppose Mr. Parnell's policy +can count for support.</p> + +<p>It is absurd to say that these results are caused by +terrorism exercised over the minds of the electors by +the agitators in Ireland; the same results occurred in every +part of three provinces, and in part of Ulster, and the +universality of the feeling proves the dominant feeling of +the Irish electors. They show the extreme difficulty, the +impossibility, of gaining that support and confidence which +a Government needs in a free country. As it is, the Irish +Government stands isolated in Ireland, and relies for support +solely on England. Is a policy opposed to national +feeling, which has been often, and by different Ministers, +<!-- Page xviii --><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii" />tried in Ireland, likely to succeed in the hands of a Government +such as I have described, and isolated, as I think +few will deny it to be? It is impossible in the long run +to maintain it. The roots of strength are wanting.</p> + +<p>If we turn from Dublin to London, we do not find +greater prospects of success. Twice within fourteen months +Lord Salisbury has formed a Government. In 1885 his +Cabinet, on taking office, deliberately decided to rule +Ireland without exceptional laws; after a few months, they +announced that they must ask Parliament for fresh powers. +They resigned before they had defined their measures. But +within six months Lord Salisbury was once more Prime +Minister, and again commenced his administration by +governing Ireland under the ordinary law. This attempt +did not continue longer than the first, for when Parliament +met in 1887, preparations were at once made to carry the +Criminal Law Amendment Act, which occupied so large +a portion of the late Session.</p> + +<p>This is not the action of men who have strong faith in +their principles. Nor can it be shown that the continuous +support so necessary for success will be given to this policy. +No doubt it may be urged that the operation of the Act +is not limited in duration; but, notwithstanding that, few +politicians believe that the constituencies of Great Britain +will long support the application of exceptional criminal +laws to any part of the United Kingdom.</p> + +<p>This would be wholly inconsistent with past experience +In relation to these measures, which points entirely the +other way; and the publication in English newspapers and +constant discussion on English platforms of the painful +incidents which seem, unfortunately, inseparable from a rigid +administration of the law in Ireland, together with the prolonged +debates, such incidents give rise to, in Parliament, +<!-- Page xix --><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix" />aggravate the difficulties of administration, and lead the +Irish people to believe that exceptional legislation will be +as short-lived in the future as it has been in the past.</p> + +<p>It was this evidence of want of continuity of policy in +1885, and the startling disclosure of the weakness of the +anti-national party in Ireland at the election in the autumn +of that year, which finally convinced me that the time had come +when we could no longer turn to a mixed policy of remedial +and exceptional criminal legislation as the means of winning +the constituencies of that country in support of our old +system of governing Ireland. That system has failed for +eighty-six years, and obviously cannot succeed when worked +with representative institutions. As the people of Great +Britain will not for a moment tolerate the withdrawal of +representative government from Ireland, we must adopt +some new plan. What I have here written deals with +but a fragment of the arguments for Home Rule, some +of which are admirably set forth by the able men who +have written the articles to which this is the preface. I +earnestly wish that they may arrest the attention of many +excellent Irishmen who still cling to the old traditions +of English rule, and cause them to realize that the only +way of relieving their country from the intolerable uncertainty +which hangs over her commercial, social, and +political interests and paralyzes all efforts for the improvement +of her people, will be to form a Constitution supported +by all classes of the community. I trust that they will join +in this work before it is too late, for they may yet exercise +a powerful and salutary influence in the settlement of this +great question.<!-- Page xx --><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx" /><!-- Page 1 --><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1" /></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1" /><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> There was one case—North Louth—in which two Nationalists +opposed one another, and I have left that case out of the calculation.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AMERICAN_HOME_RULE" id="AMERICAN_HOME_RULE" />AMERICAN HOME RULE</h2> + +<p class="author">BY E.L. GODKIN</p> + + +<p>American experience has been frequently cited, in the +course of the controversy now raging in England over the +Irish question, both by way of warning and of example. +For instance, I have found in the <i>Times</i> as well as in other +journals—the <i>Spectator</i>, I think, among the number—very +contemptuous dismissals of the plan of offering Ireland a +government like that of an American State, on the ground +that the Americans are loyal to the central authority, while +in Ireland there is a strong feeling of hostility to it, which +would probably increase under Home Rule. The Queen's +writ, it has been remarked, cannot be said to run in large +parts of Ireland, while in every part of the United States +the Federal writ is implicitly obeyed, and the ministers of +Federal authority find ready aid and sympathy from the +people. If I remember rightly, the Duke of Argyll has +been very emphatic in pointing out the difference between +giving local self-government to a community in which the +tendencies of popular feeling are "centrifugal," and giving +it to one in which these tendencies are "centripetal." The +inference to be drawn was, of course, that as long as Ireland +disliked the Imperial government the concession of Home +Rule would be unsafe, and would only become safe when +the Irish people showed somewhat the same sort of affection +<!-- Page 2 --><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2" />for the English connection which the people of the State +of New York now feel for the Constitution of the United +States.</p> + +<p>Among the multitude of those who have taken part in +the controversy on one side or the other, no one has, so +far as I have observed, pointed out that the state of feeling +in America toward the central government with which the +state of feeling in Ireland towards the British Government +is now compared, did not exist when the American Constitution +was set up; that the political tendencies in America +at that time were centrifugal, not centripetal, and that the +extraordinary love and admiration with which Americans +now regard the Federal government are the result of eighty +years' experience of its working. The first Confederation +was as much as the people could bear in the way of surrendering +local powers when the War of Independence +came to an end. It was its hopeless failure to provide +peace and security which led to the framing of the present +Constitution. But even with this experience still fresh, the +adoption of the Constitution was no easy matter. I shall +not burden this article with historical citations showing +the very great difficulty which the framers of the Constitution +had in inducing the various States to adopt it, +or the magnitude and variety of the fears and suspicions +with which, many of the most influential men in all parts +of the country regarded it. Any one who wishes to +know how numerous and diversified these fears and suspicions +were, cannot do better than read the series of +papers known as "The Federalist," written mainly by +Hamilton and Madison, to commend the new plan to the +various States. It was adopted almost as a matter of +necessity, that is, as the only way out of the Slough of +Despond in which the Confederation had plunged the +union of the States; but the objections to it which were +felt at the beginning were only removed by actual trial.<!-- Page 3 --><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3" /> +Hamilton's two colleagues, as delegates from New York, +Yates and Lansing, withdrew in disgust from the Convention, +as soon as the Constitution was outlined, and did not +return. The notion that the Constitution was produced by +the craving of the American people for something of that +sort to love and revere, and that it was not bestowed on +them until they had given ample assurance that they would +lavish affection on it, has no foundation whatever in fact. +The devotion of Americans to the Union is, indeed, as +clear a case of cause and effect as is to be found in political +history. They have learned to like the Constitution because +the country has prospered under it, and because it has +given them all the benefits of national life without interference +with local liberties. If they had not set up a +central government until the centrifugal sentiment had disappeared +from the States, and the feeling of loyalty for a +central authority had fully shown itself, they would assuredly +never have set it up at all.</p> + +<p>Moreover, it has to be borne in mind that the adoption +of the Constitution did not involve the surrender of any +local franchises, by which the people of the various States +set great store. The States preserved fully four-fifths of +their autonomy, or in fact nearly all of it which closely concerned +the daily lives of individuals. Set aside the post-office, +and a citizen of the State of New York, not engaged in foreign +trade, might, down to the outbreak of the Civil War, have +passed a long and busy life without once coming in contact +with a United States official, and without being made aware +in any of his doings, by any restriction or regulation, that +he was living under any government but that of his own +State. If he went abroad he had to apply for a United +States passport. If he quarrelled with a foreigner, or with +the citizen of another State, he might be sued in the Federal +Court. If he imported foreign goods he had to pay duties +to the collector of a Federal Custom-house. If he invented +<!-- Page 4 --><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4" />something, or wrote a book, he had to apply to the Department +of the Interior for a patent or a copyright. But how +few there were in the first seventy years of American history +who had any of these experiences! No one supposes, or +has ever supposed, that had the Federalists demanded any +very large sacrifice of local franchises, or attempted to set +up even a close approach to a centralized Government, the +adoption of the Constitution would have been possible. +If, for instance, such a transfer of both administration and +legislation to the central authority as took place in Ireland +after the Union had been proposed, it would have been +rejected with derision. You will get no American to argue +with you on this point. If you ask him whether he thinks +it likely that a highly centralized government could have +been created in 1879—such a one, for example, as Ireland +has been under since 1800—or whether if created it would +by this time have won the affection of the people, or filled +them with centripetal tendencies, he will answer you with +a smile.</p> + +<p>The truth is that nowhere, any more than in Ireland, +do people love their Government from a sense of duty or +because they crave an object of political affection, or even +because it exalts them in the eyes of foreigners. They love +it because they are happy or prosperous under it; because +it supplies security in the form best suited to their tastes +and habits, or in some manner ministers to their self-love. +Loyalty to the king as the Lord's anointed, without any +sense either of favours received or expected, has played +a great part in European politics, I admit; but, for reasons +which I will not here take up space in stating, a political +arrangement, whether it be an elected monarch or a constitution, +cannot be made, in our day, to reign in men's +hearts except as the result of benefits so palpable that +common people, as well as political philosophers, can see +them and count them.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 5 --><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5" />Many of the opponents of Home Rule, too, point to +the vigour with which the United States Government put +down the attempt made by the South to break up the +Union as an example of the American love of "imperial +unity," and of the spirit in which England should now +meet the Irish demands for local autonomy. This again +is rather surprising, because you will find no one in +America who will maintain for one moment that troops +could have been raised in 1860 to undertake the conquest +of the South for the purpose of setting up a centralized +administration, or, in other words, for the purpose of wiping +out State lines, or diminishing State authority. No man or +party proposed anything of this kind at the outbreak of the +war, or would have dared to propose it. The object for +which the North rose in arms, and which Lincoln had in +view when he called for troops, was the restoration of the +Union just as it was when South Carolina seceded, barring +the extension of slavery into the territories. During the +first year of the war, certainly, the revolted States might at +any time have had peace on the <i>status quo</i> basis, that is, without +the smallest diminution of their rights and immunities +under the Constitution. It was only when it became +evident that the war would have to be fought out to a +finish, as the pugilists say—that is, that it would have to +end in a complete conquest of the Southern territory—that +the question, what would become of the States as a political +organization after the struggle was over, began to be +debated at all. What did become of them? How did +Americans deal with Home Rule, after it had been used +to set on foot against the central authority what the newspapers +used to delight in calling "the greatest rebellion the +world ever saw"? The answer to these questions is, it +seems to me, a contribution of some value to the discussion +of the Irish problem in its present stage, if American precedents +can throw any light whatever on it.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 6 --><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6" />There was a Joint Committee of both Houses of Congress +appointed in 1866 to consider the condition of the +South with reference to the safety or expediency of admitting +the States lately in rebellion to their old relations to the +Union, including representation in Congress. It contained, +besides such fanatical enemies of the South as Thaddeus +Stevens, such very conservative men as Mr. Fessenden, +Mr. Grimes, Mr. Morrill, and Mr. Conkling. Here is the +account they gave of the condition of Southern feeling one +year after Lee's surrender:—</p> + +<p>"Examining the evidence taken by your committee still +further, in connection with facts too notorious to be disputed, +it appears that the Southern press, with few exceptions, +and those mostly of newspapers recently established +by Northern men, abounds with weekly and daily abuse of +the institutions and people of the loyal States; defends the +men who led, and the principles which incited, the rebellion; +denounces and reviles Southern men who adhered to the +Union; and strives constantly and unscrupulously, by every +means in its power, to keep alive the fire of hate and discord +between the sections; calling upon the President to +violate his oath of office, overturn the Government by force +of arms, and drive the representatives of the people from +their seats in Congress. The national banner is openly +insulted, and the national airs scoffed at, not only by an +ignorant populace, but at public meetings, and once, among +other notable instances, at a dinner given in honour of +a notorious rebel who had violated his oath and abandoned +his flag. The same individual is elected to an important +office in the leading city of his State, although an unpardoned +rebel, and so offensive that the President refuses to allow +him to enter upon his official duties. In another State the +leading general of the rebel armies is openly nominated for +Governor by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, and +the nomination is hailed by the people with shouts of +satisfaction, and openly endorsed by the press....</p> + +<p>"<!-- Page 7 --><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7" />The evidence of an intense hostility to the Federal +Union, and an equally intense love of the late Confederacy, +nurtured by the war is decisive. While it appears that +nearly all are willing to submit, at least for the time being, +to the Federal authority, it is equally clear that the ruling +motive is a desire to obtain the advantages which will be +derived from a representation in Congress. Officers of the +Union army on duty, and Northern men who go south to +engage in business, are generally detested and proscribed. +Southern men who adhered to the Union are bitterly hated +and relentlessly persecuted. In some localities prosecutions +have been instituted in State courts against Union officers +for acts done in the line of official duty, and similar prosecutions +are threatened elsewhere as soon as the United +States troops are removed. All such demonstrations show +a state of feeling against which it is unmistakably necessary +to guard.</p> + +<p>"The testimony is conclusive that after the collapse of +the Confederacy the feeling of the people of the rebellious +States was that of abject submission. Having appealed to +the tribunal of arms, they had no hope except that by the +magnanimity of their conquerors, their lives, and possibly +their property, might be preserved. Unfortunately the +general issue of pardons to persons who had been prominent +in the rebellion, and the feeling of kindliness and +conciliation manifested by the Executive, and very +generally indicated through the Northern press, had the +effect to render whole communities forgetful of the crime +they had committed, defiant towards the Federal Government, +and regardless of their duties as citizens. The +conciliatory measures of the Government do not seem +to have been met even half-way. The bitterness and +defiance exhibited towards the United States under such +circumstances is without a parallel in the history of the +world. In return for our leniency we receive only an +<!-- Page 8 --><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8" />insulting denial of our authority. In return for our kind +desire for the resumption of fraternal relations we receive +only an insolent assumption of rights and privileges long +since forfeited. The crime we have punished is paraded +as a virtue, and the principles of republican government +which we have vindicated at so terrible a cost are denounced +as unjust and oppressive.</p> + +<p>"If we add to this evidence the fact that, although +peace has been declared by the President, he has not, to +this day, deemed it safe to restore the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>, +to relieve the insurrectionary States of martial law, nor to +withdraw the troops from many localities, and that the +commanding general deems an increase of the army indispensable +to the preservation of order and the protection of +loyal and well-disposed people in the South, the proof of +a condition of feeling hostile to the Union and dangerous +to the Government throughout the insurrectionary States +would seem to be overwhelming."</p> + +<p>This Committee recommended a series of coercive +measures, the first of which was the adoption of the fourteenth +amendment to the Constitution, which disqualified +for all office, either under the United States or under any +State, any person who having in any capacity taken an oath +of allegiance to the United States afterwards engaged in +rebellion or gave aid and comfort to the rebels. This +denied the <i>jus honorum</i> to all the leading men at the South +who had survived the war. In addition to it, an Act was +passed in March, 1867, which put all the rebel States under +military rule until a constitution should have been framed +by a Convention elected by all males over twenty-one, +except such as would be excluded from office by the above-named +constitutional amendment if it were adopted, which +at that time it had not been. Another Act was passed +three weeks later, prescribing, for voters in the States lately +in rebellion, what was known as the "ironclad oath," which +<!-- Page 9 --><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9" />excluded from the franchise not only all who had borne +arms against the United States, but all who, having ever +held any office for which the taking an oath of allegiance +to the United States was a qualification, had afterwards +ever given "aid or comfort to the enemies thereof." This +practically disfranchised all the white men of the South +over twenty-five years old.</p> + +<p>On this legislation there grew up, as all the world now +knows, what was called the "carpet-bag" <i>regime</i>. Swarms +of Northern adventurers went down to the Southern States, +organized the ignorant negro voters, constructed State constitutions +to suit themselves, got themselves elected to all +the chief offices, plundered the State treasuries, contracted +huge State debts, and stole the proceeds in connivance with +legislatures composed mainly of negroes, of whom the most +intelligent and instructed had been barbers and hotel-waiters. +In some of the States, such as South Carolina and Mississippi, +in which the negro population were in the majority, +the government became a mere caricature. I was in +Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, in 1872, during +the session of the legislature, when you could obtain the +passage of almost any measure you pleased by a small payment—at +that time seven hundred dollars—to an old negro +preacher who controlled the coloured majority. Under the +pretence of fitting up committee-rooms, the private lodging-rooms +at the boarding-houses of the negro members, in +many instances, were extravagantly furnished with Wilton +and Brussels carpets, mirrors, and sofas. A thousand dollars +were expended for two hundred elegant imported china +spittoons. There were only one hundred and twenty-three +members in the House of Representatives, but the residue +were, perhaps, transferred to the private chambers of the +legislators.</p> + +<p>Now, how did the Southern whites deal with this state of +things? Well, I am sorry to say they manifested their +<!-- Page 10 --><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10" />discontent very much in the way in which the Irish have for +the last hundred years been manifesting theirs. If, as the +English opponents of Home Rule seem to think, readiness to +commit outrages, and refusal to sympathize with the victims +of outrages, indicate political incapacity, the whites of the +South showed, in the period between 1866 and 1876, that they +were utterly unfit to be entrusted with the work of self-government. +They could not rise openly in revolt because the +United States troops were everywhere at the service of the +carpet-baggers, for the suppression of armed resistance. +They did not send petitions to Congress, or write letters to +the Northern newspapers, or hold indignation meetings. +They simply formed a huge secret society on the model of +the "Molly Maguires" or "Moonlighters," whose special +function was to intimidate, flog, mutilate, or murder political +opponents in the night time. This society was called the +"Ku-Klux Klan." Let me give some account of its operation, +and I shall make it as brief as possible. It had +become so powerful in 1871 that President Grant in that +year, in his message to Congress, declared that "a condition +of things existed in some of the States of the Union rendering +life and property insecure, and the carrying of the mails +and the collecting of the revenue dangerous." A Joint Select +Committee of Congress was accordingly appointed, early in +1872, to "inquire into the condition of affairs in the late +insurrectionary States, so far as regards the execution of the +laws and the safety of the lives and property of the citizens +of the United States." Its report now lies before me, and +it reads uncommonly like the speech of an Irish Secretary +in the House of Commons bringing in a "Suppression of +Crime Bill." The Committee say—</p> + +<p>"There is a remarkable concurrence of testimony to the +effect that, in those of the late rebellious States into whose +condition we have examined, the courts and juries administer +justice between man and man in all ordinary cases, civil +<!-- Page 11 --><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11" />and criminal; and while there is this concurrence on this +point, the evidence is equally decisive that redress cannot +be obtained against those who commit crimes in disguise +and at night. The reasons assigned are that identification +is difficult, almost impossible; that, when this is attempted, +the combinations and oaths of the order come in and release +the culprit by perjury, either upon the witness-stand or in +the jury-box; and that the terror inspired by their acts, as +well as the public sentiment in their favour in many localities, +paralyzes the arm of civil power.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"The murders and outrages which have been perpetrated +in many counties of Middle and West Tennessee, during +the past few months, have been so numerous, and of such +an aggravated character, as almost baffles investigation. In +these counties a reign of terror exists which is so absolute +in its nature that the best of citizens are unable or unwilling +to give free expression to their opinions. The terror inspired +by the secret organization known as the Ku-Klux +Klan is so great, that the officers of the law are powerless +to execute its provisions, to discharge their duties, or +to bring the guilty perpetrators of these outrages to the +punishment they deserve. Their stealthy movements are +generally made under cover of night, and under masks and +disguises, which render their identification difficult, if not +impossible. To add to the secrecy which envelops their +operations, is the fact that no information of their murderous +acts can be obtained without the greatest difficulty and +danger in the localities where they are committed. No one +dares to inform upon them, or take any measures to bring +them to punishment, because no one can tell but that he +may be the next victim of their hostility or animosity. The +members of this organization, with their friends, aiders, and +abettors, take especial pains to conceal all their operations.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><!-- Page 12 --><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12" />"Your committee believe that during the past six +months, the murders—to say nothing of other outrages—would +average one a day, or one for every twenty-four +hours; that in the great majority of these cases they have +been perpetrated by the Ku-Klux above referred to, and +few, if any, have been brought to punishment. A number +of the counties of this State (Tennessee) are entirely at the +mercy of this organization, and roving bands of nightly +marauders bid defiance to the civil authorities, and threaten +to drive out every man, white or black, who does not submit +to their arbitrary dictation. To add to the general lawlessness +of these communities, bad men of every description +take advantage of the circumstances surrounding them, and +perpetrate acts of violence, from personal or pecuniary +motives, under the plea of political necessity."</p> + +<p>Here is some of the evidence on which the report was +based.</p> + +<p>A complaint of outrages committed in Georgia was referred +by the general of the army, in June, 1869, to the +general of the Department of the South for thorough investigation +and report. General Terry, in his report, made +August 14, 1869, says<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2" /><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>—</p> + +<p>"In many parts of the State there is practically no +government. The worst of crimes are committed, and no +attempt is made to punish those who commit them. Murders +have been and are frequent; the abuse, in various ways, of +the blacks is too common to excite notice. There can +be no doubt of the existence of numerous insurrectionary +organizations known as 'Ku-Klux Klans,' who, shielded by +their disguise, by the secrecy of their movements, and by +the terror which they inspire, perpetrate crime with impunity. +There is great reason to believe that in some cases local +magistrates are in sympathy with the members of these +organizations. In many places they are overawed by them +<!-- Page 13 --><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13" />and dare not attempt to punish them. To punish such +offenders by civil proceedings would be a difficult task, even +were magistrates in all cases disposed and had they the +courage to do their duty, for the same influences which +govern them equally affect juries and witnesses."</p> + +<p>Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Merrill, who assumed command +(in Louisiana) on the 26th of March, and commenced +investigation into the state of affairs, says (p. 1465)—</p> + +<p>"From the best information I can get, I estimate the +number of cases of whipping, beating, and personal violence +of various grades, in this county, since the first of last +November, at between three and four hundred, excluding +numerous minor cases of threats, intimidation, abuse, and +small personal violence, as knocking down with a pistol +or gun, etc. The more serious outrages, exclusive of +murders and whippings, noted hereafter, have been the +following:—"</p> + +<p>He then proceeds with the details of sixty-eight cases, +giving the names of the parties injured, white and black, +and including the tearing up of the railway, on the night +before a raid was made by the Ku-Klux on the county +treasury building. The rails were taken up, to prevent the +arrival of the United States troops, who, it was known, were +to come on Sunday morning. The raid was made on that +Sunday night while the troops were lying at Chester, +twenty-two miles distant, unable to reach Yorkville, because +of the rails being torn up.</p> + +<p>Another witness said: "To give the details of the +whipping of men to compel them to change their mode of +voting, the tearing of them away from their families at night, +accompanied with insults and outrage, and followed by their +murder, would be but repeating what has been described in +other States, showing that it is the same organization in all, +working by the same means for the same end. Five +murders are shown to have been committed in Monroe<!-- Page 14 --><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14" /> +County, fifteen in Noxubee, one in Lowndes, by the +testimony taken in the city of Washington; but the extent +to which school-houses were burnt, teachers whipped, and +outrages committed in this State, cannot be fully given +until the testimony taken by the sub-committee shall have +been printed and made ready to report."</p> + +<p>There are about eighty, closely printed, large octavo +pages of this kind of testimony given by sufferers from the +outrages.</p> + +<p>Something was done to suppress the Ku-Klux by a +Federal Act passed in 1871, which made offences of this +kind punishable in the Federal Courts. Considerable +numbers of them were arrested, tried, and convicted, and +sent to undergo their punishment in the Northern jails. +But there was no complete pacification of the South until +the carpet-bag governments were refused the support of the +Federal troops by President Hayes, on his accession to +power in 1876. Then the carpet-bag <i>régime</i> disappeared +like a house of cards. The chief carpet-baggers fled, and +the government passed at once into the hands of the native +whites. I do not propose to defend or explain the way in +which they have since then kept it in their hands, by +suppressing or controlling the negro vote. This is not +necessary to my purpose.</p> + +<p>What I seek to show is that the Irish are not peculiar +in their manner of expressing their discontent with a +government directed or controlled by the public opinion +of another indifferent or semi-hostile community which it +is impossible to resist in open warfare; that Anglo-Saxons +resort to somewhat the same methods under similar circumstances, +and that lawlessness and cruelty, considered +as expressions of political animosity, do not necessarily +argue any incapacity for the conduct of an orderly and +efficient government, although I admit freely that they do +argue a low state of civilization.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 15 --><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15" />I will add one more illustration which, although more +remote than those which I have taken from the Southern +States during the reconstruction period, is not too remote +for my purpose, and is in some respects stronger than any +of them. I do not know a more orderly community in the +world, or one which, down to the outbreak of the Civil +War, when manufactures began to multiply, and the Irish +immigration began to pour in, had a higher average of +intelligence than the State of Connecticut. Down to 1818 +all voters in that State had to be members of the Congregational +Church. It had no large cities, and this, with the +aid of its seat of learning, Yale College, preserved in it, I +think, in greater purity than even Massachusetts, the old +Puritan simplicity of manners, the Puritan spirit of order and +thrift, and the business-like view of government which grew +out of the practice of town government. A less sentimental +community, I do not think, exists anywhere, or one in which +the expression of strong feeling on any subject but religion +is less cultivated or viewed with less favour. In the matter +of managing their own political affairs in peace or war, I do +not expect the Irish to equal the Connecticut people for a +hundred years to come, no matter how much practice they +may have in the interval, and I think that fifty years ago it +was only picked bodies of Englishmen who could do so. +Yet, in 1833, in the town of Canterbury, one of the most +orderly and intelligent in the State, an estimable and much-esteemed +lady, Miss Prudence Crandall, was carrying on a +girls' school, when something happened to touch her +conscience about the condition of the free negroes of the +North. She resolved, in a moment of enthusiasm, to +undertake the education of negro girls only. What follows +forms one of the most famous episodes in the anti-slavery +struggle in America, and is possibly familiar to many +of the older readers of this article. I shall extract the +account of it as given briefly in the lately published life of<!-- Page 16 --><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16" /> +William Lloyd Garrison, by his sons. Some of the details +are much worse than is here described.</p> + +<p>"The story of this remarkable case cannot be pursued +here except in brief.... It will be enough to say that the +struggle between the modest and heroic young Quaker +woman and the town lasted for nearly two years; that the +school was opened in April; that attempts were immediately +made under the law to frighten the pupils away and to fine +Miss Crandall for harbouring them; that in May an Act +prohibiting private schools for non-resident coloured persons, +and providing for the expulsion of the latter, was procured +from the legislature, amid the greatest rejoicing in Canterbury +(even to the ringing of church bells); that, under this +Act, Miss Crandall was in June arrested and temporarily +imprisoned in the county jail, twice tried (August and +October) and convicted; that her case was carried up to +the Supreme Court of Errors, and her persecutors defeated +on a technicality (July, 1834), and that pending this +litigation the most vindictive and inhuman measures were +taken to isolate the school from the countenance and even +the physical support of the townspeople. The shops and +the meeting-house were closed against teacher and pupils, +carriage in the public conveyances was denied them, physicians +would not wait upon them, Miss Crandall's own +family and friends were forbidden, under penalty of heavy +fines, to visit her, the well was filled with manure and water +from other sources refused, the house itself was smeared +with filth, assailed with rotten eggs and stones, and finally +set on fire" (vol. i. p. 321).</p> + +<p>Miss Crandall is still living in the West, in extreme old +age, and the Connecticut legislature voted her a small +pension two years ago, as a slight expiation of the ignominy +and injustice from which she had suffered at the hands of +a past generation.</p> + +<p>The <i>Spectator</i> frequently refers to the ferocious hatred +<!-- Page 17 --><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17" />displayed toward the widow of Curtin, the man who was +cruelly murdered by moonlighters somewhere in Kerry, as +an evidence of barbarism which almost, if not quite, justifies +the denial of self-government to a people capable of producing +such monsters in one spot and on one occasion. +Let me match this from Mississippi with a case which I +produce, not because it was singular, but because it was +notorious at the North, where it occurred, in 1877. One +Chisholm, a native of the State, and a man of good standing +and character, became a Republican after the war, and was +somewhat active in organizing the negro voters in his +district. He was repeatedly warned by some of his neighbours +to desist and abandon politics, but continued resolutely +on his course. A mob, composed of many of the +leading men in the town, then attacked him in his house. +He made his escape, with his wife and young daughter and +son, a lad of fourteen, to the jail. His assailants broke the +jail open, and killed him and his son, and desperately +wounded the daughter. The poor lad received such a +volley of bullets, that his blood went in one rush to the +floor, and traced the outlines of his trunk on the ceiling of +the room below, where it remained months afterwards, an +eye-witness told me, as an illustration of the callousness of +the jailer. The leading murderers were tried. They had +no defence. The facts were not disputed. The judge and +the bar did their duty, but the jury acquitted the prisoners +without leaving their seats. Mrs. Chisholm, the widow, +found neither sympathy nor friends at the scene of the +tragedy. She had to leave the State, and found refuge in +Washington, where she now holds a clerkship in the +Treasury department.</p> + +<p>Let me cite as another illustration the violent ways in +which popular discontent may find expression in communities +whose political capacity and general respect for the law and +its officers, as well as for the sanctity of contracts, have never +<!-- Page 18 --><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18" />been questioned. Large tracts of land were formerly held +along the Hudson river in the State of New York, by a few +families, of which the Van Rensselaers and the Livingstons +were the chief, either under grants from the Dutch at the first +settlement of the colony, or from the English Crown after the +conquest. That known as the "Manor of Rensselaerwick," +held by the Van Rensselaers, comprised a tract of country +extending twenty-four miles north and south, and forty-eight +miles east and west, lying on each side of the Hudson river. +It was held by the tenants for perpetual leases. The rents +were, on the Van Rensselaer estate, fourteen bushels of +wheat for each hundred acres, and four fat hens, and one +day's service with a carriage and horses, to each farm of +one hundred and sixty acres. Besides this, there was a fine +on alienation amounting to about half a year's rent. The +Livingston estates were let in much the same way.</p> + +<p>In 1839, Stephen Van Rensselaer, the proprietor, or +"Patroon" as he was called, died, with $400,000 due to +him as arrears from the tenants, for which, being a man +of easy temper, he had forborne to press them. But he left +the amount in trust by his will for the payment of his debts, +and his heirs proceeded to collect it, and persisted in the +attempt during the ensuing seven years. What then happened +I shall describe in the words of Mr. John Bigelow. +Mr. Tilden was a member of the State Legislature in 1846, +and was appointed Chairman of a Committee to investigate +the rent troubles, and make the report which furnished the +basis for the legislation by which they were subsequently +settled. Mr. Bigelow, who has edited Mr. Tilden's <i>Public +Writings and Speeches</i>, prefaces the report with the following +explanatory note:—</p> + +<p>"Attempts were made to enforce the collection of these +rents. The tenants resisted. They established armed +patrols, and, by the adoption of various disguises, were +enabled successfully to defy the civil authorities. Eventually +<!-- Page 19 --><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19" />it became necessary to call out the military, but the +result was only partially satisfactory. These demonstrations +of authority provoked the formation of 'anti-rent clubs' +throughout the manorial district, with a view of acquiring a +controlling influence in the legislature. Small bands, armed +and disguised as Indians, were also formed to hold themselves +in readiness at all times to resist the officers of the +law whenever and wherever they attempted to serve legal +process upon the tenants. The principal roads throughout +the infected district were guarded by the bands so carefully, +and the animosity between the tenants and the civil authorities +was so intense, that at last it became dangerous for +any one not an anti-renter to be found in these neighbourhoods. +It was equally dangerous for the landlords to make +any appeal to the law or for the collection of rents or for +protection of their persons. When Governor Wright entered +upon his duties in Albany in 1845, he found that the anti-rent +party had a formidable representation in the legislature, +and that the questions involved were assuming an almost +national importance."</p> + +<p>The sheriff made gallant attempts to enforce the law, +but his deputies were killed, and a legal investigation in +which two hundred persons were examined, failed to reveal +the perpetrators of the crime. The militia were called out, +but they were no more successful than the sheriff. In the +case of one murder committed in Delaware County in 1845, +however, two persons were convicted, but their sentence +was commuted to imprisonment for life. Various others +concerned in the disturbances were convicted of minor +offences, but when Governor Young succeeded Governor +Seward after an election in which the anti-renters showed +considerable voting strength, he pardoned them all on the +ground that their crimes were political. The dispute was +finally settled by a compromise—that is, the Van Rensselaers +and the Livingstons both sold their estates, giving quit-claim +<!-- Page 20 --><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20" />deeds to the tenants for what they chose to pay, and the +granting of agricultural leases for a longer term than twelve +years was forbidden by the State Constitution of 1846.</p> + +<p>This anti-rent agitation is described by Professor Johnston +of Princeton, in the <i>Cyclopædia of Political Science</i>, as "a reign +of terror which for ten years practically suspended the +operations of law and the payment of rent throughout the +district." Suppose all the land of the State had been held +under similar tenures; that the controversy had lasted one +hundred years; that the rents had been high; and that the +Van Rensselaers and the Livingstons had had the aid of +the Federal army in enforcing distraints and evictions, and +in enabling them to set local opinion at defiance, what do +you suppose the state of morals and manners would have +been in New York by this time? What would have been +the feelings of the people towards the Federal authority had +the matter been finally adjusted with the strong hand, in +accordance, not with the views of the people of the State, +but of the landholders of South Carolina or of the district +of Columbia? I am afraid they would have been terribly +Irish.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>I know very well the risk I run, in citing all these precedents +and parallels, of seeming to justify, or at all events +to palliate, Irish lawlessness. But I am not doing anything +of the kind. I am trying to illustrate a somewhat trite +remark which I recently made: "that government is a +very practical business, and that those succeed best in +it who bring least sentiment or enthusiasm to the conduct +of their affairs." The government of Ireland, like +the government of all other countries, is a piece of +business—a very difficult piece of business, I admit—and +therefore horror over Irish doings, and the natural and +human desire to "get even with" murderers and moonlighters, +by denying the community which produces them +<!-- Page 21 --><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21" />something it would like much to possess, should have no +influence with those who are charged with Irish government. +It is only in nurseries and kindergartens that we can give +offenders their exact due and withhold their toffee until they +have furnished satisfactory proofs of repentance. Rulers of +men have to occupy themselves mainly with the question +of drying up the sources of crime, and often, in order to +accomplish this, to let much crime and disorder go unwhipped +of justice.</p> + +<p>With the state of mind which cannot bear to see any +concessions made to the Irish Nationalists because they are +such wicked men, in which so many excellent Englishmen, +whom we used to think genuine political philosophers, are +now living, we are very familiar in the United States. It +is a state of mind which prevailed in the Republican party +with regard to the South, down to the election of 1884, and +found constant expression on the stump and in the newspapers +in what is described, in political slang, as "waving +the bloody shirt." It showed itself after the war in unwillingness +to release the South from military rule; then in +unwillingness to remove the disfranchisement of the whites +or to withdraw from the carpet-bag State governments the +military support without which they could not have existed +for a day; and, last of all, in dread of the advent of a +Democratic Federal Administration in which Southerners +or "ex-rebels" would be likely to hold office. At first the +whole Republican party was more or less permeated by these +ideas; but the number of those who held them gradually +diminished, until in 1884 it was at last possible to elect a +Democratic President. Nevertheless a great multitude witnessed +the entrance into the White House of a President +who is indebted for his election mainly to the States formerly +in rebellion, with genuine alarm. They feared from it something +dreadful, in the shape either of a violation of the rights +of the freedmen, or of an assault on the credit and stability +<!-- Page 22 --><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22" />of the Federal Government. Nothing but actual experiment +would have disabused them.</p> + +<p>I am very familiar with the controversy with them, for I +have taken some part in it ever since the passage of the +reconstruction Acts, and I know very well how they felt, and +am sometimes greatly impressed by the similarity between +their arguments and those of the opponents of Irish Home +Rule. One of their fixed beliefs for many years, though it +is now extinct, was that Southerners were so bent on rebelling +again, and were generally so prone to rebellion, that the +awful consequences of their last attempt in the loss of life +and property, had made absolutely no impression on them. +The Southerner was, in fact, in their eyes, what Mr. Gladstone +says the Irishman is in the eyes of some Englishmen: +"A <i>lusus naturæ</i>; that justice, common sense, moderation, +national prosperity had no meaning for him; that all he +could appreciate was strife and perpetual dissension. It +was for many years useless to point out to them the severity +of the lesson taught by the Civil War as to the physical +superiority of the North, or the necessity of peace and quiet +to enable the new generation of Southerners to restore their +fortunes, or even gain a livelihood. Nor was it easy to +impress them with the inconsistency of arguing that it was +slavery which made Southerners what they were before they +went to war, and maintaining at the same time that the disappearance +of slavery would produce no change in their +manners, ideas, or opinions. All this they answered by +pointing to speeches delivered by some fiery adorer of "the +lost cause," to the Ku-Klux outrages, to political murders, +like that of Chisholm, to the building of monuments to the +Confederate dead, or to some newspaper expression of +reverence for Confederate nationality. In fact, for fully ten +years after the close of the war the collection of Southern +"outrages" and their display before Northern audiences, was +the chief work of Republican politicians. In 1876, during +<!-- Page 23 --><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23" />the Hayes-Tilden canvass, the opening speech which furnished +what is called "the key-note of the campaign" was +made by Mr. Wheeler, the Republican candidate for the +Vice-Presidency, and his advice to the Vermonters, to whom +it was delivered, was "to vote as they shot," that is, to go to +the polls with the same feelings and aims as those with which +they enlisted in the war.</p> + +<p>I need hardly tell English readers how all this has +ended. The withdrawal of the Federal troops from the +South by President Hayes, and the consequent complete +restoration of the State governments to the discontented +whites, have fully justified the expectations of those who +maintained that it is no less true in politics than in physics, +that if you remove what you see to be the cause, the effect +will surely disappear. It is true, at least in the Western +world, that if you give communities in a reasonable degree +the management of their own affairs, the love of material +comfort and prosperity which is now so strong among all +civilized, and even partially civilized men, is sure in the long +run to do the work of creating and maintaining order; or, +as Mr. Gladstone has expressed it, in setting up a government, +"the best and surest foundation we can find to build +on is the foundation afforded by the affections, the convictions, +and the will of men."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2" /><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Report of Secretary of War, 1869-70, vol. i. p. 89.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HOW_WE_BECAME_HOME_RULERS" id="HOW_WE_BECAME_HOME_RULERS" /><!-- Page 24 --><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24" />HOW WE BECAME HOME RULERS.</h2> + +<p class="author">BY JAMES BRYCE, M.P.</p> + + +<p>In the Home Rule contest of the last eighteen months no +argument has been more frequently used against the Liberal +party than the charge of sudden, and therefore, it would +seem, dishonest change of view. "You were opposed to +an Irish Parliament at the election of 1880 and for some +time afterward; you are not entitled to advocate it in 1886." +"You passed a Coercion Bill in 1881, your Ministry (though +against the protests of an active section of its supporters) +passed another Coercion Bill in 1882; you have no right +to resist a third such Bill in 1887, and, if you do, your +conduct can be due to nothing but party spite and revenge +at your own exclusion from office." Reproaches of this +kind are now the stock-in-trade, not merely of the ordinary +politician, who, for want of a case, abuses the plaintiff's +attorney, but of leading men, and, still more, of leading +newspapers, who might be thought bound to produce from +recent events and an examination of the condition of +Ireland some better grounds for the passion they display. +It is noticeable that such reproaches come more often from +the so-called Liberal Unionists than from the present +Ministry. Perhaps, with their belief that all Liberals are +unprincipled revolutionaries, the Tories deem a sin more +or less to be of small account. Perhaps a recollection of +<!-- Page 25 --><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25" />their own remarkable gyrations, before and after the General +Election of 1885, may suggest that the less said about the +past the better for everybody. Be the cause what it may, +it is surprising to find that a section commanding so much +ability as the group of Dissentient Liberals does, should rely +rather on the charge of inconsistency than on the advocacy of +any counter-policy of their own. It is not large and elevated, +but petty, minds that rejoice to say to an opponent (and +all the more so if he was once a friend), "You must either +be wrong now, or have been wrong then, because you have +changed your opinion. I have not changed; I was right +then, and I am right now." Such an argument not only +dispenses with the necessity of sifting the facts, but it fosters +the satisfaction of the person who employs it. Consistency +is the pet virtue of the self-righteous, and the man who +values himself on his consistency can seldom be induced +to see that to shut one's eyes to the facts which time develops, +to refuse to reconsider one's position by the light they +shed, to cling to an old solution when the problem is substantially +new, is a proof, not of fortitude and wisdom, but +rather of folly and conceit.</p> + +<p>Such persons may be left to the contemplation of their +own virtues. But there are many fair-minded men of both +political parties, or of neither, who, while acquitting those +Liberal members who supported Home Rule in 1886 and +opposed Coercion in 1887 of the sordid or spiteful motives +with which the virulence of journalism credits them, have +nevertheless been surprised at the apparent swiftness and +completeness of the change in their opinions. It would be +idle to deny that, in startling the minds of steady-going people, +this change did, for the moment, weaken the influence and +weight of those who had changed. This must be so. A +man who says now what he denied six years ago cannot +expect to be believed on his <i>ipse dixit</i>. He must set forth +the grounds of his conviction. He must explain how his +<!-- Page 26 --><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26" />views altered, and why reasons which formerly satisfied him +satisfy him no longer. It may be that the Liberal party +have omitted to do this as they ought. Occupied by warm +and incessant discussions, and conscious, I venture to +believe, of their own honesty, few of its members have been +at the trouble of showing what were the causes which +modified their views, and what the stages of the process +which carried them from the position of 1880 to that of +1886.</p> + +<p>Of that process I shall attempt in the following pages +to give a sketch. Such a sketch, though mainly retrospective, +is pertinent to the issues which now divide the country. +It will indicate the origin and the strength of the chief +reasons by which Liberals are now governed. And, if +executed with proper fairness and truth, it may, as a study +in contemporary history, be of some little interest to those +who in future will attempt to understand our present conflict. +The causes which underlie changes of opinion are +among the most obscure phenomena in history, because +those who undergo, these changes are often only half conscious +of them, and do not think of recording that which +is imperceptible in its growth, and whose importance is not +realized till it already belongs to the past.</p> + +<p>The account which follows is based primarily on my +own recollection of the phases of opinion and feeling through +which I myself, and the friends whom I knew most intimately +in the House of Commons, passed during the Parliament +which sat from 1880 till 1885. But I should not +think of giving it to the public if I did not believe that +what happened to our minds happened to many others also, +and that the record of our own slow movement from the +position of 1880 to that of 1886 is substantially a record +of the movement of the Liberal party at large. We were +fairly typical members of that party, loyal to our leaders, but +placing the principles for which the Liberal party exists +<!-- Page 27 --><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27" />above the success of the party itself; with our share of +prepossessions and prejudices, yet with reasonably open +minds, and (as we believed) inferior to no other section +of the House of Commons in patriotism and in attachment +to the Constitution. I admit frankly that when we entered +Parliament we knew less about the Irish question than we +ought to have known, and that even after knowledge had +been forced upon us, we were more deferential to our +leaders than was good either for us or for them. But these +are faults always chargeable on the great majority of members. +It is because those of whom I speak were in these respects +fairly typical, that it seems worth while to trace the history +of their opinions. If any one should accuse me of attributing +to an earlier year sentiments which began to appear +in a later one, I can only reply that I am aware of this +danger, as one which always besets those who recall their +past states of mind, and that I have done my utmost to +avoid it.</p> + +<p>The change I have to describe was slow and gradual. +It was reluctant—that is to say, it seemed rather forced +upon us by the teaching of events than the work of our +own minds. Each session marked a further stage in it; +and I therefore propose to examine its progress session by +session.</p> + +<p>Session of 1880.—The General Election of 1880 +turned mainly on the foreign policy of Lord Beaconsfield's +Government. Few Liberal candidates said much about +Ireland. Absorbed in the Eastern and Afghan questions, +they had not watched the progress of events in Ireland +with the requisite care, nor realized the gravity of the crisis +which was approaching. They were anxious to do justice +to Ireland, in the way of amending both the land laws and +local government, but saw no reason for going further. +Nearly all of them refused, even when pressed by Irish +electors in their constituencies, to promise to vote for that<!-- Page 28 --><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28" /> +"parliamentary inquiry into the demand for Home Rule," +which was then propounded by those electors as a sort +of test question. We (<i>i.e.</i> the Liberal candidates of 1880) +then declared that we thought an Irish Parliament would +involve serious constitutional difficulties, and that we saw +no reason why the Imperial Parliament should not do full +justice to Ireland. Little was said about Coercion. Hopes +were expressed that it would not be resorted to, but very +few (if any) pledged themselves against it.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Forster was appointed Irish Secretary in +Mr. Gladstone's Government which the General Election +brought into power, we (by which I mean throughout the +new Liberal members) were delighted. We knew him to be +conscientious, industrious, kind-hearted. We believed him to +be penetrating and judicious. We applauded his conduct in +not renewing the Coercion Act which Lord Beaconsfield's +Government had failed to renew before dissolving Parliament, +and which indeed there was scarcely time left after +the election to renew, a fact which did not save Mr. Forster +from severe censure on the part of the Tories.</p> + +<p>The chief business of the session was the Compensation +for Disturbance Bill, which Mr. Forster brought in for the +sake of saving from immediate eviction tenants whom a +succession of bad seasons had rendered utterly unable to +pay their rents. This Bill was pressed through the House +of Commons with the utmost difficulty, and at an expenditure +of time which damaged the other work of the session, +though the House continued to sit into September. The +Executive Government declared it to be necessary, in order +not only to relieve the misery of the people, but to secure +the tranquillity of the country. Nevertheless, the whole +Tory party, and a considerable section of the Liberal party, +opposed it in the interests of the Irish landlords, and of +economic principles in general, principles which (as commonly +understood in England) it certainly trenched on.<!-- Page 29 --><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29" /> +When it reached the House of Lords it was contemptuously +rejected, and the unhappy Irish Secretary left to face as he +best might the cries of a wretched peasantry and the rising +tide of outrage. What was even more remarkable, was the +coolness with which the Liberal party took the defeat of a +Bill their leaders had pronounced absolutely needed. Had +it been an English Bill of the same consequence to England +as it was to Ireland, the country would have been up in +arms against the House of Lords, demanding the reform +or the abolition of a Chamber which dared to disregard the +will of the people. But nothing of the kind happened. It +was only an Irish measure. We relieved ourselves by a few +strong words, and the matter dropped.</p> + +<p>It was in this session that the Liberal party first learnt +what sort of a spirit was burning in the hearts of Irish +members. There had been obstruction in the last years +of the previous Parliament, but, as the Tories were in +power, they had to bear the brunt of it. Now that a +Liberal Ministry reigned, it fell on the Liberals. At first +it incensed us. Full of our own good intentions towards +Ireland, we thought it contrary to nature that Irish members +should worry us, their friends, as they had worried Tories, +their hereditary enemies. Presently we came to understand +how matters stood. The Irish members made little +difference between the two great English parties. Both +represented to them a hostile domination. Both were +ignorant of the condition of their country. Both cared so +little about Irish questions that nothing less than deeds of +violence out of doors or obstruction within doors could +secure their attention. Concessions had to be extorted +from both by the same devices; Coercion might be feared +at the hands of both. Hence the Irish party was resolved +to treat both parties alike, and play off the one against the +other in the interests of Ireland alone, using the questions +which divide Englishmen and Scotchmen merely as levers +<!-- Page 30 --><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30" />whereby to effect their own purposes, because themselves +quite indifferent to the substantial merits of those questions. +To us new members this was an alarming revelation. We +found that the House of Commons consisted of two distinct +and dissimilar bodies: a large British body (including some +few Tories and Liberals from Ireland), which, though it was +distracted by party quarrels, really cared for the welfare +of the country and the dignity of the House, and would +set aside its quarrels in the presence of a great emergency; +and a small Irish body, which, though it spoke the English +language, was practically foreign, felt no interest in, no +responsibility for, the business of Britain or the Empire, +and valued its place in the House only as a means of +making itself so disagreeable as to obtain its release. When +we had grasped this fact, we began to reflect on its causes +and conjecture its effects. We had read of the same things +in the newspapers, but what a difference there is between +reading a drama in your study and seeing it acted on the +stage! We realized what Irish feeling was when we heard +these angry cries, and noted how appeals that would have +affected English partisans fell on deaf ears. I remember +how one night in the summer of 1880, when the Irish +members kept us up very late over some trivial Bill of +theirs, refusing to adjourn till they had extorted terms, a +friend, sitting beside me, said, "See how things come +round. They keep us out of bed till five o'clock in the +morning because our ancestors bullied theirs for six +centuries." And we saw that the natural relations of an +Executive, even a Liberal Executive, to the Irish members +were those of strife. Whose fault it was we were unable to +decide. Perhaps the Government was too stiff; perhaps +the members were vexatious. Anyhow, this strife was +evidently the normal state of things, wholly unlike that +which existed between Scotch members, to whichever party +they belonged, and the executive authorities of Scotland.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 31 --><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31" />Thus the session of 1880, though it did not bring us +consciously nearer to Home Rule, impressed three facts +upon us: first, that the House of Lords regarded Ireland +solely from the point of view of English landlords, +sympathizing with Irish landlords; secondly, that the +House of Commons knew so little or cared so little +about Ireland that when the Executive declared a measure +essential to the peace of Ireland, it scarcely resented the +rejection of that measure by the House of Lords; thirdly, +that the Irish Nationalists in the House of Commons were +a foreign body, foreign in the sense in which a needle which +a man swallows is foreign, not helping the organism to +discharge its functions, but impeding them, and setting up +irritation. We did not yet draw from these facts all the +conclusions we should now draw. But the facts were there, +and they began to tell upon our minds.</p> + +<p>SESSION OF 1881.—The winter of 1880-81 was a terrible +one in Ireland. The rejection of the Compensation for +Disturbance Bill had borne the fruit which Mr. Forster +had predicted, and which the House of Lords had ignored. +Outrages were numerous and serious. The cry in England +for repressive measures had gone on rising from November, +when it occasioned a demonstration at the Guildhall banquet. +Several Liberal members (of whom I was one) went +to Ireland at Christmas, to see with our own eyes how +things stood. We were struck by the difficulty of obtaining +trustworthy information in Dublin, where the richer classes, +with whom we chiefly came in contact, merely abused the +Land League, while the Land Leaguers declared that the +accounts of outrages were grossly exaggerated. The most +prominent, Mr. Michael Davitt, assured me, and I believe +with perfect truth, that he had exerted himself to discountenance +outrage, and that if, as he expected, he was +locked up by the Government, outrages would increase. +When one reached the disturbed districts, where, of course, +<!-- Page 32 --><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32" />one talked to members as well of the landlord class as of +the peasantry, the general conclusion which emerged from +the medley of contradictions was that, though there was +much agrarian crime, and a pervading sense of insecurity, +the disorders were not so bad as people in England believed, +and might have been dealt with by a vigorous administration +of the existing law. Unfortunately, the so-called +"better classes," full of bitterness against the Liberal +Ministry and Mr. Forster (whom they did not praise till +it was too late), had not assisted the Executive, and had +allowed things to reach a pass at which it found the work +of governing very difficult.</p> + +<p>When the Coercion Bill of 1881 was introduced, many +English Liberals were inclined to resist it. The great +majority voted for it, but within two years they bitterly +repented their votes. Our motives, which I mention by +way of extenuation, not of defence, were these. The Executive +Government declared that it could not deal with crime +by the ordinary law. If its followers refused exceptional +powers, they must displace the Ministry, and let in the +Tories, who would doubtless obtain such powers, and probably +use them worse. We had still confidence in Mr. +Forster's judgment, and a deference to Irish Executive +Governments generally which Parliamentary experience is well +fitted to dissipate. The violence with which the Nationalist +members resisted the introduction of the Bill had roused +our blood, and the foolish attempts which the Radical and +Irish electors in some constituencies had made to deter +their members from supporting it had told the other way, +and disposed these members to vote for it, in order to show +that they were not to be cowed by threats. Finally, we were +assured that votes given for the Coercion Bill would purchase +a thorough-going Land Bill, and our anxiety for the latter +induced us, naturally, but erringly, to acquiesce in the former.</p> + +<p>When that Land Bill went into Committee we perceived +<!-- Page 33 --><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33" />how much harm the Coercion Bill had done in intensifying +the bitterness of Irish members. Although the Ministry +was fighting for their interests against the Tory party and +the so-called Whiggish section of its own supporters, who +were seeking to cut down the benefits which the measure +offered to Irish tenants, the Nationalist members regarded +it, and in particular Mr. Forster, as their foe. They resented +what they deemed the insult put upon their country. They +saw those who had been fighting, often, no doubt, by +unlawful methods, for the national cause, thrown into +prison and kept there without trial. They anticipated +(not without reason) the same fortune for themselves. +Hence the friendliness which the Liberal party sought to +show them met with no response, and Mr. Forster was +worried with undiminished vehemence. In the discussions +on the Bill we found the Ministry generally resisting all +amendments which came from Irish members. When these +amendments seemed to us right, we voted for them, but +they were almost always defeated by the union of the Tories +with the steady Ministerialists. Subsequent events have +proved that many were right, but, whether they were right +or wrong, the fact which impressed us was that in matters +which concerned Ireland only, and lay within the exclusive +knowledge of Irishmen, Irish members were constantly +outvoted by English and Scotch members, who knew +nothing at all of the merits of the case, but simply obeyed +the party whip. This happened even when the Irish +members who sat on the Liberal side (such as Mr. Dickson +and his Liberal colleagues from Ulster) joined the Nationalist +section in demanding some extension of the Bill which +the Ministry refused. And we perceived that nothing +incensed the Irish members more than the feeling that their +arguments were addressed to deaf ears; that they were +overborne, not by reason, but by sheer weight of numbers. +Even if they convinced the Ministry, they could seldom +<!-- Page 34 --><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34" />hope to obtain its assent, because the Ministry had to +consider the House of Lords, sure to reject amendments +which favoured the tenant, while to detach a number of +Ministerialists sufficient to carry an amendment against the +Treasury Bench, the Moderate Liberals, and the Tories, +was evidently hopeless.</p> + +<p>At the end of the session the House of Lords came +again upon the scene. It seriously damaged the Bill by its +amendments, and would have destroyed it but for the skill +with which the head of the Government handled these +amendments, accepting the least pernicious, so as to enable +the Upper House without loss of dignity to recede from +those which were wholly inadmissible. Several times it +seemed as if the conflict would have to pass from Westminster +to the country, and, in contemplating the chances +of a popular agitation or a dissolution, we were regretfully +obliged to own that the English people cared too little and +knew too little about Irish questions to give us much hope +of defeating the House of Lords and the Tories upon these +issues.</p> + +<p>An incident which occurred towards the end of the +session seems, though trifling in itself, so illustrative of the +illogical position in which we stood towards Ireland, as to +deserve mention. Mr. Forster, still Chief Secretary, had +brought in a Bill for extinguishing the Queen's University +in Ireland, and creating in place of it a body to be called +the Royal University, which, however, was not to be a real +university at all, but only a set of examiners plus some +salaried fellowships, to be held at various places of instruction. +Regarding this as a gross educational blunder, +which would destroy a useful existing body, and create a +sham university in its place, and finding several Parliamentary +friends on whose judgment I could rely to be of the +same opinion, I gave notice of opposition to the Bill. Mr. +Forster came to me, and pressed with great warmth that +<!-- Page 35 --><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35" />the opposition should be withdrawn. The Bill, he said, +would satisfy the Roman Catholic hierarchy, and complete +the work of the Land Bill in pacifying Ireland. The Irish +members wanted it: what business had an English member +to interfere to defeat their wishes, and thwart the Executive? +The reply was obvious. Not to speak of the simplicity of +expecting the hierarchy to be satisfied by this small concession, +what were such arguments but the admission of Home +Rule in its worst form? "You resist the demand of the +Irish members to legislate for Ireland; you have just been +demanding, and obtaining, the support of English members +against those amendments of the Land Bill which Irish +members declare to be necessary. Now you bid us surrender +our own judgment, ignore our own responsibility, +and blindly pass a Bill which we, who have studied these +university questions as they affect both Ireland and England, +believe to be thoroughly mischievous to the prospects of +higher education in Ireland, only because the Irish +members, as you say, desire it. Do one thing or the +other. Either give them the power and the responsibility, +or leave both with the Imperial Parliament. You are now +asking us to surrender the power, but to remain still subject +to the responsibility. We will not bear the latter without +the former. We shall prefer Home Rule." Needless to +add that this device—a sample of the petty sops by which +successive generations of English statesmen, Whigs and +Tories alike, have sought to win over a priesthood which +uses and laughs at them—failed as completely as its +predecessors to settle the University question or to range +the bishops on the side of the Government.</p> + +<p>The autumn and winter of 1881 revealed the magnitude +of the mischief done by making a Coercion Bill precede a +Relief Bill. The Land Bill was the largest concession made +to the demands of the people since Catholic Emancipation. +It was a departure, justified by necessity, but still a de<!-- Page 36 --><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36" />parture +from our established principles of legislation. It +ought to have brought satisfaction and confidence, if not +gratitude, with it; ought to have led Ireland to believe in +the sincere friendliness of England, and produced a new +cordiality between the islands. It did nothing of the kind. +It was held to have been extorted from our fears; its grace +and sweetness were destroyed by the concomitant severities +which the Coercion Act had brought into force, as wholesome +food becomes distasteful when some bitter compound +has been sprinkled over it. We were deeply mortified at +this result of our efforts. What was the malign power which +made the boons we had conferred shrivel up, "like fairy +gifts fading away"? We still believed the Coercion Act to +have been justified, but lamented the fate which baffled the +main object of our efforts, the winning over Ireland to trust +the justice and the capacity of the Imperial Parliament. And +thus the two facts which stood out from the history of this +eventful session were, first, that even in legislating for the +good of Ireland we were legislating against the wishes of +Ireland, imposing on her enactments which her representatives +opposed, and which we supported only at the bidding +of the Ministry; and, secondly, that at the end of a long +session, entirely devoted to her needs, we found her more +hostile and not less disturbed than she had been at its +beginning. We began to wonder whether we should ever +succeed better on our present lines. But we still mostly +regarded Home Rule as a disagreeable solution.</p> + +<p>SESSION OF 1882.—Still graver were the lessons of +the first four months of this year. Mr. Forster went on +filling the prisons of Ireland with persons whom he arrested +under the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, and never +brought to trial. But the country grew no more quiet. At +last he had nine hundred and forty men under lock and +key, many of them not "village ruffians," whose power a few +weeks' detention was to break, but political offenders, and +<!-- Page 37 --><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37" />even popular leaders. How long could this go on? Where +was it to stop? It became plain that the Act was a failure, +and that the people, trained to combination by a century +and a half's practice, were too strong for the Executive. +Either the scheme and plan of the Act had been wrong, or +its administration had been incompetent. Whichever was +the source of the failure (most people will now blame both), +the fault must be laid at the door of the Irish Executive; +not of Mr. Forster himself, but of those on whom he relied. +It had been a Dublin Castle Bill, conceived and carried out +by the incompetent bureaucracy which has so long pretended +to govern Ireland. Such a proof of incompetence destroyed +whatever confidence in that bureaucracy then remained to +us, and the disclosures which the Phoenix Park murders +and the subsequent proceedings against the Invincibles +brought out, proved beyond question that the Irish Executive +had only succeeded in giving a more dark and dangerous +form, the form of ruthless conspiracy, to the agitation it was +combating.</p> + +<p>When therefore the Prevention of Crime Bill of 1882 +was brought in, some of us felt unable to support it, and +specially bound to resist those of its provisions which related +to trials without a jury, and to boycotting. It was impossible, +on the morrow of the Phoenix Park murders, to deny +that some coercive measure might be needed; but we had +so far lost faith in repression, and in the officials who were +to administer it, as to desire to limit it to what was absolutely +necessary, and we protested against enacting for Ireland +a criminal code which was not to be applied to Great +Britain. Our resistance might have been more successful +but for the manner in which the Nationalist members conducted +their opposition. When they began to obstruct—not +that under the circumstances we felt entitled to censure +them for obstructing a Bill dealing so harshly with their +countrymen—we were obliged to desist, and our experience +<!-- Page 38 --><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38" />of the stormy scenes of the summer of 1882 deepened our +sense of the passionate bitterness with which they regarded +English members, scarcely making an exception in favour of +those who were most disposed to sympathize with them. +Many and many a time when we listened to their fierce +cries, we seemed to hear in them the battle-cries of the +centuries of strife between Celt and Englishman from +Athenry to Vinegar Hill; many a time we felt that this rage +and mistrust were chiefly of England's making; and yet not +of England's, but rather of the overmastering fate which had +prolonged to our own days the hatreds and the methods of +barbarous times:</p> + +<p> +<span class="poem" lang="el" title="hêmeis d ouk aitioi esmen"> ἡμεῖς δ' οὐκ αἴτιοι ἔσμεν</span> +<br /> +<span class="poem" lang="el" title="Alla Zeus kai Moira kai êerophoitis Herinus.">Ἀλλὰ Ζεὺς καὶ Μοῖρα καὶ ἠεροφοῖτις Ἑρινύς.</span> +</p> + +<p>So much of the session as the Crime Bill had spared +was consumed by the Arrears Bill, over which we had again +a "crisis" with the House of Lords. This was the third +session that had been practically given up to Irishmen. +The freshness and force of the Parliament of 1880—a Parliament +full of zeal and ability—had now been almost spent, +yet few of the plans of domestic legislation spread before the +constituencies of 1880 had been realized. The Government +had been anxious to legislate, their majority had been ready +to support them, but Ireland had blocked the way; and +now the only expedient for improving the procedure of the +House was to summon Parliament in an extra autumn +session. Here was another cause for reflection. England +and Scotland were calling for measures promised years ago, +but no time could be found to discuss them. Nothing was +done to reorganize local government, to reform the liquor +laws, to improve secondary education, to deal with the +housing of the poor, or a dozen other urgent questions, +because we were busy with Ireland; and yet how little more +loyal or contented did Ireland seem to be for all we had +<!-- Page 39 --><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39" />done. We began to ask whether Home Rule might not be +as much an English and Scotch question as an Irish question. +It was, at any rate, clear that to allow Ireland to +manage her own affairs would open a prospect for England +and Scotland to obtain time to attend to theirs.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3" /><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>This feeling was strengthened by the result of the +attempts made in the autumn session of 1882, to improve +the procedure of the House of Commons. We had cherished +the hope that more drastic remedies against obstruction and +better arrangements for the conduct of business, might +relieve much of the pressure Irish members had made us +suffer. The passing of the New Rules shattered this hope, +for it was plain they would not accomplish what was needed. +Some blamed the Government for not framing a more +stringent code. Some blamed the Tory and the Irish Oppositions +(now beginning to work in concert) for cutting +down the proposals of the Government. But most of us +saw, and came to see still more clearly in the three succeeding +sessions, that the evil was too deep-rooted to be cured +by any changes of procedure, unless they went so far as to +destroy freedom of debate for English members also. The +presence in a deliberative assembly of a section numbering +(or likely soon to number) one-seventh of the whole—a +section seeking to lower the character of the assembly, and +to derange its mechanism, with no further interest in the +greater part of its business except that of preventing it from +<!-- Page 40 --><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40" />conducting that business—this was the phenomenon which +confronted us, and we felt that no rules of debate would +overcome the dangers it threatened.</p> + +<p>It is from this year 1882 that I date the impression +which we formed, that Home Rule was sure to come. "It +may be a bold experiment," we said to one another in the +lobbies; "there are serious difficulties in the way, though +the case for it is stronger than we thought two years ago. +But if the Irishmen persist as they are doing now, they will +get it. It is only a question of their tenacity."</p> + +<p>It was impossible not to be struck during the conflicts +of 1881 and 1882 with the small amount of real bitterness +which the conduct of the Irish members, irritating as it often +was, provoked among the Liberals, who of course bore the +brunt of the conflict. The Nationalists did their best to +injure a Government which was at the same time being +denounced by the Tories as too favourable to Irish claims; +they lowered the character of Parliament by scenes far more +painful than those of the session of 1887, on which so much +indignation has been lately expended; they said the hardest +things they could think of against us in the House; they +attacked us in our constituencies. Their partisans (for I do +not charge this on the leaders) interrupted and broke up +our meetings. Nevertheless, all this did not provoke +responsive hatred from the Liberals. There could not be +a greater contrast than that between the way in which the +great bulk of the Liberal members all through the Parliament +of 1880 behaved towards their Irish antagonists, and +the violence with which the Tory members, under much +slighter provocation, conduct themselves towards those +antagonists now. I say this not to the credit of our temper, +which was no better than that of other men heated by the +struggles of a crowded assembly. It was due entirely to +our feeling that there was a great balance of wrong standing +to the debit of England; that if the Irish were turbulent, it +<!-- Page 41 --><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41" />was the ill-treatment of former days that had made them so; +and that, whatever might be their methods, they were fighting +for their country. Although, therefore, there was little +social intercourse between us and them, there was always +a hope and a wish that the day might come when the +Liberal party should resume its natural position of joining +the representatives of the Irish people in obtaining radical +reforms in Irish government. And the remarkable speech of +February 9, 1882, in which Mr. Gladstone declared his mind +to be open on the subject, and invited the Nationalists +to propound a practicable scheme of self-government, had +encouraged us to hope that this day might soon arrive.</p> + +<p>SESSION OF 1883.—Three facts stood out in the history +of this comparatively quiet session, each of which brought us +further along the road we had entered.</p> + +<p>One was the omission of Parliament to complete the +work begun by the Land Bill of 1881, of improving the +condition of the Irish peasantry and reorganizing Irish administration. +The Nationalist members brought in Bills +for these purposes, including one for amending the Land +Act by admitting leaseholders to its benefits and securing +tenants against having their improvements reckoned against +them in the fixing of rents. Though we could not approve +all the contents of these Bills, we desired to see the Government +either take them up and amend them, or introduce +Bills of its own to do what was needed. Some of us +spoke strongly in this sense, nor will any one now deny +that we were right. Sound policy called aloud for the +completion of the undertaking of 1881. The Government +however refused, alleging, no doubt with some truth, that +Ireland could not have all the time of Parliament, but must +let England and Scotland have their turn. Nor was anything +done towards the creation of new local institutions in +Ireland, or the reform of the Castle bureaucracy. We were +profoundly disheartened. We saw golden opportunities +<!-- Page 42 --><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42" />slipping away, and doubted more than ever whether +Westminster was the place in which to legislate for Irish +grievances.</p> + +<p>Another momentous fact was the steady increase in the +number of Nationalist members. Every seat that fell vacant +in Ireland was filled by them. The moderate Irish party, +most of whom had by this time crossed the floor of +the House, and were sitting among us, had evidently no +future. They were estimable, and, in some cases, able men, +from whom we had hoped much, as a link between the +Liberal party and the Irish people. But they seemed to +have lost their hold on the people, nor were they able to +give us much practical counsel as to Irish problems. It was +clear that they would vanish at the next General Election, +and Parliament be left to settle accounts with the extreme +men, whose spirits rose as those of our friends steadily sank.</p> + +<p>Lastly: it was in this session that the alliance of the +Nationalists and the Tory Opposition became a potent +factor in politics. Its first conspicuous manifestation was +in the defeat of the Government by the allied forces on +the Affirmation Bill, when the least respectable privates in +both armies vied with one another in boisterous rejoicings +over the announcement of numbers in the division. I do +not refer to this as ground for complaint. It was in the +course of our usual political warfare that two groups, each +hating and fearing the Ministry, should unite to displace it. +But we now saw what power the Irish section must exert +when it came to hold the balance of numbers in the House. +Till this division, the Government had commanded a +majority of the whole House. This would probably not +outlast a dissolution. What then? Could the two English +parties, differing so profoundly from one another, combine +against the third party? Evidently not. We must, therefore, +look forward to unstable Governments, if not to a total +dislocation of our Parliamentary system.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 43 --><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43" />Session of 1884.—I pass over the minor incidents of +this year, including the continued neglect of remedial legislation +for Ireland to dwell on its dominant and most impressive +lesson. It was the year of the Franchise Bill, which, +as regards Ireland, worked an extension, not merely of the +county but also of the borough franchise, and produced, +owing to the economic condition of the humbler classes in +that country, a far more extensive change than in England +or Scotland. When the Bill was introduced the question +at once arose—Should Ireland be included?</p> + +<p>There were two ways of treating Ireland between which +Parliament had to choose.</p> + +<p>One was to leave her out of the Bill, on the ground that +the masses of her population could not be trusted with the +franchise, as being ignorant, sympathetic to crime, hostile +to the English Government. This course was the logical +concomitant of exceptional coercive legislation, such as had +been passed in 1881 and 1882. It was quite compatible +with generous remedial legislation. But it placed Ireland in +an unequal and lower position, treating her, as the Coercion +Acts did, as a dependent country, inhabited by a population +unfit for the same measure of power which the inhabitants +of Britain might receive.</p> + +<p>The other course was to bestow on Ireland the same +extended franchise which the English county occupiers were +to receive, applying the principle of equality, and disregarding +the obvious consequences. These consequences were +both practical and logical. The practical consequence was +the increase in numbers and weight of the Irish party in +Parliament hostile to Parliament itself. The logical consequence +was the duty of complying with the wishes of the +enfranchised nation. Whatever reasons were good for +giving this enlarged suffrage to the Irish masses, were good +for respecting the will which they might use to express it. +If the Irish were deemed fit to exercise the same full +<!-- Page 44 --><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44" />constitutional rights in legislation as the English, must they +not be fit for the same rights of trial by jury, a free press, +and all the privileges of personal freedom?</p> + +<p>Of these two courses the Cabinet chose the latter, +those of its members whom we must suppose, from the +language they now hold, to have then hesitated, either +stifling their fears or not apprehending the consequences +of their boldness. It might have been expected, and +indeed was generally expected, that the Tory party would +refuse to follow. They talked largely about the danger +of an extended Irish suffrage, and pointed out that it +would be a weapon in the hands of disloyalty. But when +the moment for resistance came, they swerved, and never +divided in either House against the application of the Bill +to Ireland. They might have failed to defeat the measure; +but they would have immensely strengthened their position, +logically and morally, had they given effect by their votes to +the sentiments they were known to entertain, and which not +a few Liberals shared.</p> + +<p>The effect of this uncontested grant to Ireland of a +suffrage practically universal was immense upon our minds, +and the longer we reflected on it the more significant did +it become. It meant to us that the old methods were +abandoned, and, as we supposed, for ever. We had +deliberately given the Home Rule party arms against English +control far more powerful than they previously possessed. +We had deliberately asserted our faith in the Irish people. +Impossible after this to fall back on Coercion Bills. Impossible +to refuse any request compatible with the general +safety of the United Kingdom, which Ireland as a nation +might prefer. Impossible to establish that system of Crown +Colony Government which we had come to perceive was +the only real and solid alternative to self-government. To +those of us who had been feeling that the Irish difficulty +was much the greatest of all England's difficulties, this stood +<!-- Page 45 --><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45" />out beyond the agitation of the autumn and the compromise +of the winter as the great political event of 1884.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4" /><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>Although this sketch is in the main a record of Parliamentary +opinion, I ought not to pass over the influence +which the study of their constituents' ideas exerted upon +members for the larger towns. We found the vast bulk of +our supporters—English supporters, for after 1882 it was +understood that the Irish voters were our enemies—sympathetic +with the Irish people. They knew and thought little +about Home Rule, believing that their member understood +that question better than they did, and willing, so long as +he was sound on English issues, to trust him. But they +pitied Irish tenants, and condemned Irish landlords. +Though they acquiesced in a Coercion Bill when proposed +by a Liberal Cabinet, because they concluded that nothing +less than necessity would lead such a Cabinet to propose +one, they so much disliked any exceptional or repressive +legislation that it was plain they would not long tolerate it. +Any popular leader denouncing coercion was certain to have +the sentiment of the English masses with him, while as to +suspending Irish representation or carrying out consistently +the policy of treating Ireland as a subject country, there +was no chance in the world of their approval. Those of us, +therefore, who represented large working-class constituencies +became convinced that the solution of the Irish problem +must be sought in conciliation and self-government, if only +because the other solution, Crown Colony Government, was +utterly repugnant to the English masses, in whom the +<!-- Page 46 --><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46" />Franchise Bill of 1884, completing that of 1867, had vested +political supremacy.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5" /><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Session of 1885.—The allied powers of Toryism and +Nationalism gained in this year the victory they had so long +striven for. In February they reduced the Ministerial +majority to fourteen; in June they overthrew the Ministry. +No one supposed that on either occasion the merits of the +issue had anything to do with the Nationalist vote: that +vote was given simply and solely against the Government, +as the Government which had passed the Coercion Acts of +1881 and 1882—Acts demanded by the Tory party, and +which had not conceded an Irish Parliament. At last the +Irish party had attained its position as the arbiter of power +and office. Some of us said, as we walked away from the +House, under the dawning light of that memorable 9th of +June, "This means Home Rule." Our forecast was soon +to be confirmed. Lord Salisbury's Cabinet, formed upon +the resignation of Mr. Gladstone's, announced that it would +not propose to renew any part of the Coercion Act of 1882, +which was to expire in August. Here was a surrender +indeed! But the Tory leaders went further. They did not +excuse themselves on the ground of want of time. They +took credit for their benevolence towards Ireland; they discovered +excellent reasons why the Act should be dropped. +They even turned upon Lord Spencer, whose administration +they had hitherto blamed for its leniency, and attacked him +in Parliament, among the cheers of his Irish enemies. From +that time till the close of the General Election in December +everything was done, short of giving public pledges, to keep +the Irish leaders and the Irish voters in good humour. The +Tory party in fact posed as the true friends of Ireland, averse +<!-- Page 47 --><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47" />from coercion, and with minds perfectly open on the subject +of self-government.</p> + +<p>This change of front, so sudden, so unblushing, completed +the process which had been going on in our minds. +By 1882 we had come to feel that Home Rule was inevitable, +though probably undesirable. Before long we had asked +ourselves whether it was really undesirable, whether it might +not be a good thing both for England, whose Parliament +and Cabinet system it would relieve from impending dangers, +while leaving free scope for domestic legislation, and for +Ireland, which could hardly manage her affairs worse than +we were managing them for her, and might manage them +better. And thus, by the spring of 1885, many of us were +prepared for a large scheme of local self-government in +Ireland, including a central legislative body in Dublin.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6" /><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>Now when it was plain that the English party which had +hitherto called for repression, and had professed itself anxious +for a patriotic union of all parties to maintain order and a +continuity of policy in Ireland, was ready to bid for Irish +help at the polls by throwing over repression and reversing +the policy it had advocated, we felt that the sooner Ireland +was taken out of English party politics the better. What +prospect was there of improving Ireland by the superior +wisdom and fairness of the British Parliament, if British +leaders were to make their Irish policy turn on interested +bargains with Nationalist leaders? Repression, which we +<!-- Page 48 --><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48" />clearly saw to be the only alternative to self-government, +seemed to be by common consent abandoned. I remember +how, at a party of members in the beginning of July, some +one said, "Well, there's an end for ever of coercion at any +rate," and every one assented as to an obvious truth. Accordingly +the result of the new departure of the Salisbury +Cabinet in 1885 was to convince even doubters that Home +Rule must come, and to make those already convinced +anxious to see it come quickly, and to find the best form +that could be given it. Many of us expected the Tory +Government to propose it. Rumour declared the new Lord +Lieutenant to be in favour of it. His government was extremely +conciliatory in Ireland, even to the recalcitrant corporation +of Limerick. Not to mention less serious and less +respected Tory Ministers, Lord Salisbury talked at Newport +about the dualism of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy with +the air of a man who desired to have a workable scheme, +analogous, if not similar, suggested for Ireland and Great +Britain. The Irish Nationalists appeared to place their +hopes in this quarter, for they attacked the Liberal party +with unexampled bitterness, and threw all their voting +strength into the Tory scale.</p> + +<p>As it has lately been attempted to blacken the character +of the Irish leaders, it deserves to be remarked that whatever +has been charged against them was said or done by them +before the spring of 1885, and was, practically, perfectly well +known to the Tory leaders when they accepted the alliance +of the Irish party in the House of Commons, and courted +their support in the election of 1885. To those who +remember what went on in the House in the sessions of +1884 and 1885, the horror now professed by the Tory +leaders for the conduct and words of the Irish party would +be matter for laughter if it were not also matter for just +indignation.</p> + +<p>Why, it may be asked, if the persuasion that Home Rule +<!-- Page 49 --><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49" />was certain, and even desirable, had become general among +the Liberals who had sat through the Parliament of 1880, +was it not more fully expressed at the election of 1885? +This is a fair question, which I shall try to answer.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the electors made few inquiries about +Ireland. They disliked the subject; they had not realized +its supreme importance. Those of us who felt anxious to +explain our views (as was my own case) had to volunteer to +do so, for we were not asked about them. The Irish party +in the constituencies was in violent opposition to Liberal +candidates; it did not interrogate, but denounced. Further, +it was felt that the issue was mainly one to be decided in +Ireland itself. The question of Home Rule was being submitted, +not, as heretofore, to a limited constituency, but to +the whole Irish people. Till their will had been constitutionally +declared at the polls it was not proper that Englishmen +or Scotchmen should anticipate its tenour. We should +even have been accused, had we volunteered our opinions, +of seeking to affect the result in Ireland, and, not only of +playing for the Irish vote in Great Britain, as we saw the +Tories doing, but of prejudicing the chances of those Liberal +candidates who, in Irish constituencies, were competing with +extreme Nationalists. A third reason was that most English +and Scotch Liberals did not know how far their own dispositions +towards Home Rule were shared by their leaders. +Mr. Gladstone's declaration in his Midlothian address was +no doubt a decided intimation of his views, and was certainly +understood by some (as by myself) to imply the grant to +Ireland of a Parliament; but, strong as its words were, its +importance does not seem to have been fully appreciated at +the moment. And the opinions of a statesman whose unequalled +Irish experience and elevated character gave him a +weight only second to that of Mr. Gladstone—I mean Lord +Spencer—had not been made known. We had consequently +no certainty that there were leaders prepared to give +<!-- Page 50 --><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50" />prompt effect to the views we entertained. Lastly, we were +not prepared with a practical scheme of self-government for +Ireland. The Nationalist members had propounded none +which we could either adopt or criticize. Convinced as we +were that Home Rule would come and must come, we felt +the difficulties surrounding every suggestion that had yet +been made, and had not hammered out any plan which we +could lay before the electors as approved by Liberal opinion.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7" /><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +We were forced to confine ourselves to generalities.</p> + +<p>Whether it would have been better for us to have done +our thinking and scheme-making in public, and thereby have +sooner forced the details of the problem upon the attention +of the country, need not now be inquired. Any one can +now see that something was lost by the omission. But +those who censure a course that has actually been taken +usually fail to estimate the evils that would have followed +from the taking of the opposite course. Such evils might +in this instance have been as great as those we have +encountered.</p> + +<p>I have spoken of the importance we attached to the +decision of Ireland itself, and of the attitude of expectancy +which, while that decision was uncertain, Englishmen were +forced to maintain. We had not long to wait. Early in +December it was known that five-sixths of the members +returned from Ireland were Nationalists, and that the +<!-- Page 51 --><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51" />majorities which had returned them were crushing. If ever +a people spoke its will, the Irish people spoke theirs at the +election of 1885. The last link in the chain of conviction, +which events had been forging since 1880, was now supplied. +In passing the Franchise Bill of 1884, we had asked Ireland +to declare her mind. She had now answered. If the +question was not a mockery, and representative government +a sham, we were bound to accept the answer, subject only, +but subject always, to the interests of the whole United +Kingdom. In other words, we were bound to devise such +a scheme of self-government for Ireland as would give full +satisfaction to her wishes, while maintaining the ultimate +supremacy of the Imperial Parliament and the unity of the +British Empire.</p> + +<p>Very few words are needed to summarize the outline +which, omitting many details which would have illustrated +and confirmed its truth, I have attempted to present of the +progress of opinion among Liberal members of the Parliament +of 1880.</p> + +<p>1. Our experience of the Coercion Bills of 1881 and +1882 disclosed the enormous mischief which such measures +do in alienating the minds of Irishmen, and the difficulty of +enlisting Irish sentiment on behalf of the law. The results +of the Act of 1881 taught us that the repression of open +agitation means the growth of far more dangerous conspiracy; +those of the Act of 1882 proved that even under +an administration like Lord Spencer's repression works no +change for the better in the habits and ideas of the people.</p> + +<p>2. The conduct of the House of Lords in 1880 and +1881, and the malign influence which its existence exerted +whenever remedial legislation for Ireland came in question, +convinced us that full and complete justice will never be done +to Ireland by the British Parliament while the Upper House +(as at present constituted) remains a part of that Parliament.</p> + +<p>3. The break-down of the procedure of the House of<!-- Page 52 --><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52" /> +Commons, and the failure of the efforts to amend it, proved +that Parliament cannot work so long as a considerable +section of its members seek to impede its working. To +enable it to do its duty by England and Scotland, it was +evidently necessary, either to make the Irish members as +loyal to Parliament as English and Scotch members usually +are, or else to exclude them.</p> + +<p>4. The discussions of Irish Bills in the House of +Commons made us realize how little English members knew +about Ireland; how utterly different were their competence +for, and their attitude towards, Irish questions and English +questions. We perceived that we were legislating in the +dark for a country whose economic and social condition +we did not understand—a country to which we could not +apply our English ideas of policy; a country whose very +temper and feeling were strange to us. We were really +fitter to pass laws for Canada or Australia than for this isle +within sight of our shores.</p> + +<p>5. I have said that we were legislating in the dark. But +there were two quarters from which light was proffered, the +Irish members and the Irish Executive. We rejected the first, +and could hardly help doing so, for to accept it would have +been to displace our own leaders. We followed the light +which the Executive gave. But in some cases (as notably +in the case of the Coercion Bill of 1881) it proved to be a +"wandering fire," leading us into dangerous morasses. And +we perceived that at all times legislation at the bidding of +the Executive, against the wishes of Irish members, was not +self-government or free government. It was despotism. +The rule of Ireland by the British Parliament was really +"the rule of a dependency through an official, responsible +no doubt, but responsible not to the ruled, but to an +assembly of which they form less than a sixth part."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8" /><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> As +<!-- Page 53 --><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53" />this assembly closed its ears to the one-sixth, and gave effect +to the will of the official, this was essentially arbitrary +government, and wanted those elements of success which +free government contains.</p> + +<p>This experience had, by 1884, convinced us that the +present relations of the British Parliament to Ireland were +bad, and could not last; that the discontent of Ireland was +justified; that the existing system, in alienating the mind of +Ireland, tended, not merely to Repeal, but to Separation; +that the simplest, and probably the only effective, remedy +for the increasing dangers was the grant of an Irish Legislature. +Two events clinched these conclusions. One was +the Tory surrender of June, 1885. Self-government, we had +come to see, was the only alternative to Coercion, and now +Coercion was gone. The other was the General Election +of December, 1885, when newly-enfranchised Ireland, +through five-sixths of her representatives, demanded a +Parliament of her own.</p> + +<p>These were not, as is sometimes alleged, conclusions of +despair. We were mostly persons of a cautious and conservative +turn of mind, as men imbued with the spirit of the +British Constitution ought to be. The first thing was to +convince us that the existing relations of the islands were +faulty, and could not be maintained. This was a negative +result, and while we remained in that stage we were despondent. +Many Liberal members will remember the gloom +that fell on us in 1882 and 1883 whenever we thought or +spoke of Ireland. But presently the clouds lifted. We still +felt the old objections to any Home Rule scheme, though +we now saw that they were less formidable than the evils of +the present system. But we came to feel that the grant of +self-government was a right thing in itself. It was not +merely a means of ridding ourselves of our difficulties, not +merely a boon yielded because long demanded. It was a +return to broad and deep principles, a conformity to those +<!-- Page 54 --><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54" />natural laws which govern human society as well as the +inanimate world—an effort to enlist the better and higher +feelings of mankind in the creation of a truer union between +the two nations than had ever yet existed. When we +perceived this, hope returned. It is strong with us now, +for, though we see troubles, perhaps even dangers, in the +immediate future, we are confident that the principles on +which Liberal policy towards Ireland is based will in the +long run work out a happy issue for her, as they have in and +for every other country that has trusted to them.</p> + +<p>One last word as to Consistency. We learnt in the +Parliament of 1880 many facts about Ireland we had not +known before; we felt the force and bearing of other facts +previously accepted on hearsay, but not realized. We saw +the Irish problem change from what it had been in 1880 +into the new phase which stood apparent at the end of +1885, Coercion abandoned by its former advocates, Self-government +demanded by the nation. Were we to disregard +all these new facts, ignore all these new conditions, +and cling to old ideas, some of which we perceived to be +mistaken, while others, still true in themselves, were out-weighed +by arguments of far wider import? We did not so +estimate our duty. We foresaw the taunts of foes and the +reproaches of friends. But we resolved to give effect to the +opinions we slowly, painfully, even reluctantly formed, +opinions all the stronger because not suddenly adopted, +and founded upon evidence whose strength no one can +appreciate till he has studied the causes of Irish discontent +in Irish history, and been forced (as we were) to face in +Parliament the practical difficulties of the government of +Ireland by the British House of Commons.<!-- Page 55 --><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55" /></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3" /><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> I may mention here another fact whose significance impressed +some among us. Parliament, which usually sinned in not doing for +Ireland what Ireland asked, occasionally passed bills for Ireland which +were regarded as setting very bad precedents for England. By some +bargain between the Irish Office and the Nationalist members, measures +were put through which may have been right as respects Ireland, but +which embodied principles mischievous as respects Great Britain. We +felt that if it was necessary to enact such statutes, it would be better +that they should proceed from an Irish Legislature rather than from the +Imperial Parliament, which might be embarrassed by its own acts when +asked to extend the same principles to England. The Labourers' Act +of July, 1885, is the most conspicuous example.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4" /><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> At Easter, 1885, I met a number of leading Ulster Liberals in +Belfast, told them that Home Rule was certainly coming, and urged +them to prepare some plan under which any special interests they +conceived the Protestant part of Ulster to have, would be effectually +safe-guarded. They were startled, and at first discomposed, but +presently told me I was mistaken; to which I could only reply that +time would show, and perhaps sooner then even English Liberals expected.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5" /><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> My recollection of a conversation with a distinguished public man +in July, 1882, enables me to say that this fact had impressed itself upon +us as early as that year. He doubted the fact, but admitted that, if +true, it was momentous. The passing of the Franchise Bill made it, in +our view, more momentous than ever.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6" /><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Some thought that its functions should be very limited, while large +powers were granted to county boards or provincial councils. But most +had, I think, already perceived that the grant of a merely local self-government, +while retaining an irresponsible central bureaucracy, would +do more harm than good. It seemed at first sight a safer experiment +than the creation of a central legislative body. But, like many middle +courses, it combined the demerits and wanted the merits of each of the +extreme courses. It would not make the country tranquil, as firm and +long-continued repression might possibly do. Neither would it satisfy +the people's demands, and divert them from struggles against England +to disputes and discussions among themselves, as the gift of genuine +self-government might do.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7" /><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Some of us had tried to do so. I prepared such a scheme in the +autumn of 1885, and submitted it to some specially competent friends. +Their objections, made from what would now be called the Unionist +point of view, were weighty. But their effect was to convince me that +the scheme erred on the side of caution; and I believe the experience +of other Liberals who worked at the problem to have been the same as +my own—viz. that a small and timid scheme is more dangerous than a +large and bold one. Thus the result of our thinking from July, 1885, till +April, 1886, was to make us more and more disposed to reject half-and-half +solutions. Some of us (of whom I was one) expressed this feeling +by saying in our election addresses in 1885, "the further we go in giving +the Irish people the management of their own affairs (subject to the +maintenance of the unity of the empire) the better."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8" /><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Quoted from an article contributed by myself to the American +<i>Century Magazine</i>, which I refer to because, written in the spring of +1883, it expresses the ideas here stated.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HOME_RULE_AND_IMPERIAL_UNITY" id="HOME_RULE_AND_IMPERIAL_UNITY" />HOME RULE AND IMPERIAL UNITY</h2> + +<p class="author">BY LORD THRING</p> + + +<p>The principal charge made against the scheme of Home +Rule contained in the Irish Government Bill, 1886, is that it +is incompatible with the maintenance of the unity of the +Empire and the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament. +A further allegation states that the Bill is useless, as agrarian +exasperation lies at the root of Irish discontent and Irish +disloyalty, and that no place would be found for a Home +Rule Bill even in Irish aspirations if an effective Land Bill +were first passed. An endeavour will be made in the following +pages to secure a verdict of acquittal on both counts—as +to the charge relating to Imperial unity and the supremacy +of the Imperial Parliament, by proving that the accusation +is absolutely unfounded, and based partly on a +misconception of the nature of Imperial ties, and partly on +a misapprehension of the effect of the provisions of the +Home Rule Bill as bearing on Imperial questions; and +as to the inutility of the Home Rule Bill in view of the +necessity of Land Reform, by showing that without a Home +Rule Bill no Land Bill worth consideration as a means of +pacifying Ireland can be passed.</p> + +<p>The complete partisan spirit in which Home Rule has +been treated is the more to be deplored as the subject is +<!-- Page 56 --><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56" />one which does not lend itself readily to the trivialities +of party debates. It raises questions of principle, not of +detail. It ascends at once into the highest region of +politics. It is conversant with the great questions of constitutional +and international law, and leads to an inquiry +into the very nature of governments and the various modes +in which communities of men are associated together either +as simple or composite nations. To describe those modes in +detail would be to give a history of the various despotic, +monarchical, oligarchical, and democratic systems of government +which have oppressed or made happy the children of +men. Such a description is calculated to perplex and +mislead from its very extent; not so an inquiry into the +powers of government, and a classification of those powers. +They are limited in extent, and, if we confine ourselves to +English names and English necessities, we shall readily +attain to an apprehension of the mode in which empires, +nations, and political societies are bound together, at least +in so far as such knowledge is required for the understanding +of the nature of Imperial supremacy, and the mode in +which Home Rule in Ireland is calculated to affect that +supremacy.</p> + +<p>The powers of government are divisible into two great +classes—1. Imperial powers; 2. State powers, using "State" +in the American sense of a political community subordinated +to some other power, and not in the sense of an +independent nation. The Imperial powers are in English +law described as the prerogatives of the Crown, and consist +in the main of the powers of making peace and war, of +maintaining armies and fleets and regulating commerce, and +making treaties with foreign nations. State powers are +complete powers of local self-government, described in our +colonial Constitutions as powers to make laws "for the +peace, order, and good government of the Colony or State" +in which such powers are to be exercised.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 57 --><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57" />Intermediate between the Imperial and State powers are +a class of powers required to prevent disputes and facilitate +intercourse between the various parts of an empire or other +composite system of States—for example, the coinage of +money, and other regulations relating to the currency; the +laws relating to copyright, or other exclusive rights to the +use and profits of any works or inventions; and so forth. +These powers may be described as quasi-Imperial powers.</p> + +<p>Having arrived at a competent knowledge of the materials +out of which governments are formed, it may be well +to proceed to a consideration of the manner in which those +materials have been worked up in building the two great +Anglo-Saxon composite nations—namely, the American +Union and the British Empire—for, if we find that the +arrangements proposed by the Irish Home Rule Bill are +strictly in accordance with the principles on which the unity +of the American Union was based and on which the Imperial +power of Great Britain has rested for centuries, the conclusion +must be that the Irish Home Rule Bill is not antagonistic +to the unity of the Empire or to the supremacy of the +British Parliament.</p> + +<p>In discussing these matters it will be convenient to begin +with the American Union, as it is less extensive in area and +more homogeneous in its construction than the British +Empire. The thirteen revolted American colonies, on the +conclusion of their war with England, found themselves in +the position of thirteen independent States having no connection +with each other. The common tie of supremacy +exercised by the mother country was broken, and each +State was an independent nation, possessed both of Imperial +and Local rights.</p> + +<p>The impossibility of a cluster of thirteen small independent +nations maintaining their independence against foreign +aggression became immediately apparent, and, to remedy +this evil, the thirteen States appointed delegates to form +<!-- Page 58 --><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58" />a convention authorized to weld them into one body as +respected Imperial powers. This was attempted to be +done by the establishment of a central body called a +Congress, consisting of delegates from the component States, +and invested with all the powers designated above as Imperial +and quasi-Imperial powers. The expenses incurred by +the confederacy were to be defrayed out of a common fund, +to be supplied by requisitions made on the several States. +In effect, the confederacy of the thirteen States amounted to +little more than an offensive and defensive alliance between +thirteen independent nations, as the central power had States +for its subjects and not individuals, and could only enforce the +law against any disobedient State by calling on the twelve other +States to make war on the refractory member of the union. +A system dependent for its efficacy on the concurrence of +so many separate communities contained in itself the seeds +of dissolution, and it soon became apparent that one of two +things must occur—either the American States must cease +as such to be a nation, or the component members of that +union must each be prepared to relinquish a further portion +of the sovereign or quasi-sovereign powers which it possessed. +Under those circumstances, what was the course taken by +the thirteen States? They perceived that it was quite +possible to maintain complete unity and compactness as +a nation if, in addition to investing the Supreme Government +with Imperial and quasi-Imperial powers, they added +full power to impose federal taxes on the component States +and established an Executive furnished with ample means +to carry all federal powers into effect through the medium +of federal officers. The government so formed consisted of +a President and two elected Houses called Congress, and, +as a balance-wheel of the Constitution, a Supreme Court +was established, to which was confided the task of deciding +in case of dispute all questions arising under the Constitution +of the United States or relating to international law.<!-- Page 59 --><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59" /> +The Executive of the United States, with the President as +its source and head, was furnished with full authority and +power to enforce the federal laws. The army and navy +were under its command, and it was provided with courts of +justice, and subordinate officers to enforce the decrees of +those courts throughout the length and breadth of the +Union. Above all, a complete system of federal taxation +supplied the Central Government with the necessary funds +to perform effectually all the functions of a supreme national +government.</p> + +<p>The nature of the Constitution of the United States will +be best understood by considering the position in which its +subjects stand to the Central Government and their own +State Governments. In effect, every inhabitant of the +United States has a double nationality. He belongs to one +great nation called the United States, or, as it would be +more aptly called to show its absolute unity, the American +Republic, having jurisdiction over the whole surface of +ground comprised in the area of the United States. He is +also a citizen of a smaller local and partially self-governing +body—more important than a county, but not approaching +the position of a nation—called a State.</p> + +<p>It is no part of the object of this article to enter into +the details of the American government, its advantages or +defects. This much, however, is clear—the American Constitution +has lasted nearly one hundred years, and shows no +signs of decay or disruption. It has stood the strain of the +greatest war of modern times, and has emerged from the +conflict stronger than before. Even during the war the antagonism +of the rebels was directed, not against the Union, +but against the efforts of the Northern States to suppress +slavery, or, in other words, to destroy, as the Southern States +believed (not unjustly as the event showed), their property +in slaves, and consequently the only means they had of +making their estates profitable. One conclusion, then, we +<!-- Page 60 --><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60" />may draw, that a nation in which the Imperial powers and +the State powers are vested in different authorities is no less +compact and powerful, as respects all national capacities, +than a nation in which both classes of powers are wielded +by the same functionaries; and one lesson more may be +learnt from the American War of Secession—namely, that +in a nation having such a division of powers, any conflict +between the two classes results in the Supreme or Imperial +powers prevailing over the Local governmental powers, and +not in the latter invading or driving a wedge into the +Supreme powers. In fact, the tendency in case of a struggle +is towards an undue centralization of the nation by reason +of the encroachment by the Supreme authority, rather than +towards a weakening of the national unity by separatist +action on the part of the constituent members of the nation.</p> + +<p>In comparing the Constitution of the United States with +the Constitution of the British Empire, we find an apparent +resemblance in form as respects the Anglo-Saxon colonies, +but underlying the surface a total difference of principle. +The United States is an aggregate of homogeneous and +contiguous States which, in order to weld themselves into a +nation, gave up a portion of their rights to a central authority, +reserving to themselves all powers of government which they +did not expressly relinquish.</p> + +<p>The British Empire is an aggregate of many communities +under one common head, and is thus described by Mr. +Burke in 1774, in language which may seem to have been +somewhat too enthusiastic at the time when it was spoken, +but at the present day does not more than do justice to an +Empire which comprises one-sixth of the habitable globe in +extent and population:—</p> + +<p>"I look, I say, on the Imperial rights of Great Britain, +and the privileges which the colonies ought to enjoy under +those rights, to be just the most reconcilable things in the +world. The Parliament of Great Britain sits at the head of +<!-- Page 61 --><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61" />her extensive Empire in two capacities: one as the local +legislature of this island, providing for all things at home +immediately and by no other instrument than the executive +power; the other, and I think her nobler capacity, is what +I call her Imperial character, in which, as from the throne +of heaven, she superintends all the several Legislatures, and +guides and controls them all without annihilating any. As +all these provincial Legislatures are only co-ordinate with +each other, they ought all to be subordinate to her, else they +can neither preserve mutual peace, nor hope for mutual +justice, nor effectually afford mutual assistance."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9" /><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The means by which the possessions of Great Britain +were acquired have been as various as the possessions themselves. +The European, Asiatic, and African possessions +became ours by conquest and cession; the American by +conquest, treaty, and settlement; the Australasian by settlement, +and by that dubious system of settlement known by +the name of annexation. Now, what is the link which +fastens each of these possessions to the mother country? +Surely it is the inherent and indestructible right of the +British Crown to exercise Imperial powers—in other words, +the supremacy of the Queen and the British Parliament? +What, again, is the common bond of union between these +vast colonial possessions, differing in laws, in religion, and +in the character of the population? The same answer must +be given: the joint and several tie, so to speak, is the same +—namely, the sovereignty of Great Britain. It is true that +the mode in which the materials composing the British +Empire have been cemented together is exactly the reverse +of the manner of the construction of the American Union. +In the case of the Union, independent States voluntarily +relinquished a portion of their sovereignty to secure national +unity, and entrusted the guardianship of that unity to a +representative body chosen by themselves. Such a union +<!-- Page 62 --><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62" />was based on contract, and could only be constructed by +communities which claimed to be independent. Far different +have been the circumstances under which England +has developed itself into the British Empire. England +began as a sovereign power, having its sovereignty vested at +first solely in the Sovereign, but gradually in the Sovereign +and Parliament. This sovereignty neither the Crown nor +the Parliament can, jointly or severally, get rid of, for it is +of the very essence of a sovereign power that it cannot, by +Act of Parliament or otherwise, bind its successors.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10" /><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> This +principle of supremacy has never been lost sight of by the +British Parliament. Their right to alter or suspend a colonial +Constitution has never been disputed. Contract never enters +into the question. The dominant authority delegates to its +subordinate communities as much or as little power as it +deems advantageous for each body, and, if it sees fit, resumes +a portion or the whole of the delegated authority. The last +point of difference to be noted between the American Constitution +and the Constitution of the British Empire is the +fact that as Minerva sprang from the brain of Jupiter fully +equipped, so the American Constitution came forth from the +hands of its framers complete and, what is of more importance, +practically in material matters unchangeable except by the +agony of an internecine war or some overwhelming passions. +The British Empire, on the other hand, is, as respects its +component members, ever in progress and flux. An Anglo-Saxon +colony, no less than a human being, has its infancy +under the maternal care of a governor, its boyhood subject +to the government of a representative council and an Executive +appointed by the Crown, its manhood under Home +Rule and responsible government, in which the Executive +are bound to vacate their offices whenever they are out-voted +<!-- Page 63 --><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63" />in the Legislature. Changes are ever taking place in the +growth, so to speak, of the several British possessions, but +what is the result? Nobody ever dreams of these changes +injuring the Imperial tie or the supremacy of the British +Parliament, that alone towers above all, unchangeable and +unimpaired; and, what is most notable, loyalty and devotion +to the Crown—that is to say, the Imperial tie—so far from +being weakened by the transition of a colony from a state of +dependence in local affairs to the higher degree of a self-governing +colony, are, on the contrary, strengthened almost +in direct proportion as the central interference with local +affairs is diminished. On this point an unimpeachable witness—Mr. +Merivale—says: "What, then, are the lessons to +be learnt from a consideration of the American Constitution +and of our colonial system? Surely these: that Imperial +unity and Imperial supremacy are in no degree dependent +on the control exercised by the central power on its dependent +members." Facts, however, are more conclusive +than any arguments; and we have only to look back to the +state some forty years ago of Canada, New Zealand, and the +various colonies of Australia, and compare that state with +their condition to-day, to come to the conclusion that the +fullest power of local government is perfectly consistent with +the unity of the Empire and the supremacy of the British +Parliament. Under the old colonial Constitutions the +Executive of those colonies was under the control of the +Crown; and Mr. Merivale says "that the political existence +consisted of a series of quarrels and reconciliations between +the two opposing authorities—the colonial legislative body +and the Executive nominated by the Crown." England +resolved to give up the control of the Executive, and to +grant complete responsible government—that is to say, the +Governor of each colony was instructed that his Executive +Council (or Ministry, as we should call it) must resign whenever +they were out-voted by the legislative body. The +<!-- Page 64 --><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64" />effect of this change, this relaxing, as would be supposed, of +the Imperial tie, was magical, and is thus described by Mr. +Merivale:<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11" /><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>"The magnitude of that change—the extraordinary +rapidity of its beneficial effects—it is scarcely possible to +exaggerate. None but those who have traced it can realize +the sudden spring made by a young community under its +first release from the old tie of subjection, moderate as that +tie really was. The cessation, as if by magic, of the old +irritant sores between colony and mother country is the first +result. Not only are they at concord, but they seem to leave +hardly any traces in the public mind behind them. Confidence +and affection towards the home, still fondly so termed +by the colonist as well as the emigrant, seem to supersede +at once distrust and hostility. Loyalty, which was before +the badge of a class suspected by the rest of the community, +became the common watchword of all, and, with some extravagance +in the sentiment, there arises no small share of +its nobleness and devotion. Communities, which but a few +years ago would have wrangled over the smallest item of +public expenditure to which they were invited by the Executive +to contribute, have vied with each other in their subscriptions +to purposes of British interests in response to calls +of humanity, or munificence for objects but indistinctly heard +of at the distance of half the world."</p> + +<p>The Dominion of Canada has been so much talked +about that it may be well to give a summary of its Constitution, +though, in so far as regards its relations to the mother +country, it differs in no material respect from any other self-governing +colony. The Dominion consists of seven provinces, +each of which has a Legislature of its own, but is at +the same time subject to the Legislature of the Dominion, +in the same manner as each State in the American Union +has a Legislature of its own, and is at the same time subject +<!-- Page 65 --><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65" />to the control of Congress. The distinguishing feature between +the system of the American States and the associated +colonies of the Dominion of Canada is this—that all Imperial +powers, everything that constitutes a people a nation as +respects foreigners, are reserved to the mother country. +The division, then, of the Dominion and its provinces consists +only in a division of Local powers. It is impossible to +mark accurately the line between Dominion and Provincial +powers, but, speaking generally, Dominion powers relate to +such matters—for example, the regulation of trade and +commerce, postal service, currency, and so forth—as require +to be dealt with on a uniform principle throughout the +whole area of a country; while the Provincial powers relate +to provincial and municipal institutions, provincial licensing, +and other subjects restricted to the limits of the province. +As a general rule, the Legislature of the Dominion and the +Legislature of each province have respectively exclusive +jurisdiction within the limits of the subjects entrusted to +them; but, as respects agriculture and immigration, the +Dominion Parliament have power to overrule any Act of +the provincial Legislatures, and, as respects property and +civil rights in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, +the Dominion Parliament may legislate with a view to +uniformity, but their legislation is not valid unless it is +accepted by the Legislature of each province to which +it applies.</p> + +<p>The executive authority in the Dominion Government, +as in all the self-governing colonies, is carried on by the +Governor in the name of the Queen, but with the advice of +a Council: that is to say, as to all Imperial matters, he is +under the control of the mother country; as to all local +matters, he acts on the advice of his local Council. The +result of the whole is that the citizenship of an inhabitant +of the Dominion of Canada is a triple tie. Suppose him to +reside in the province of Quebec. First, he is a citizen of +<!-- Page 66 --><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66" />that province, and bound to obey all the laws which it is +within the competence of the provincial Legislature to pass. +Next, he is a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, and +acknowledges its jurisdiction in all matters outside the +legitimate sphere of the province. Lastly, and above all, +he is a subject of her Majesty. He is to all intents and +purposes, as respects the vast company of nations, an +Englishman, entitled to all the privileges as he is to all the +glory of the mother country so far as such privileges can +be enjoyed and glory participated in without actual residence +in England. One startling point of likeness in events +and unlikeness in consequences is to be found in the history +of Ireland and Canada. In 1798 Ireland rebelled. Protestant +and Catholic were arrayed in arms against each +other. The rebellion was quenched in blood, and measures +of repression have been in force, with slight intervals of +suspension, ever since, with this result—that the Ireland +of 1886 is scarcely less disloyal and discontented than the +Ireland of 1798. In 1837 and 1838 Canada rebelled. +Protestants and Catholics, differing in nationality as well as +in religion, were arrayed in arms against each other. The +rebellion was quelled with the least possible violence, a free +Constitution was given, and the Canada of 1886 is the +largest, most loyal, and most contented colony in her +Majesty's dominions.</p> + +<p>Assuming, then, thus much to be proved by the Constitution +of the United States that national unity of the +closest description is consistent with complete Home Rule +in the component members of the nation, and by the history +of Canada and the British colonial empire that an Imperial +tie is sufficient to bind together for centuries dependencies +differing in situation, in nationality, in religion, in laws, in +everything that distinguishes peoples one from another, and +further and more particularly that emancipation of the +Anglo-Saxon colonies from control in their internal affairs +<!-- Page 67 --><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67" />strengthens instead of weakening Imperial unity, let us turn +to Ireland and inquire whether there is anything in the +circumstances under which Home Rule was proposed to be +granted to Ireland, or in the measures intended to establish +that Home Rule, fairly leading to the inference that disruption +of the Empire or an impairment of Imperial powers +would probably be a consequence of passing the Irish +Government Bill and the Irish Land Bill. And, first, as to +the circumstances which would seem to recommend the +Irish Home Rule Bill.</p> + +<p>Ireland, from the very commencement of her connection +with England, has chafed under the restraints which that +connection imposed. The closer the apparent union +between the two countries the greater the real disunion. +The Act of 1800, <i>in words and in law</i>, effected not a union +merely, but a consolidation of the two countries. The effect +of those words and that law was to give rise to a restless +discontent, which has constantly found expression in efforts +to procure the repeal of the Act of Union and the reestablishment +of a National Parliament in Dublin. How +futile have been the efforts of the British Parliament to +diminish by concession or repress by coercion Irish aspirations +or Irish discontent it is unnecessary to discuss here. +All men admit the facts, however different the conclusions +which they draw from those facts. What Burke said of +America on moving in 1775 his resolution on conciliation +with the colonies was true in 1885 with respect to +Ireland:—</p> + +<p>"The fact is undoubted, that under former Parliaments +the state of America [read for America, Ireland] has been +kept in continual agitation. Everything administered as +remedy to the public complaint, if it did not produce, was +at least followed by an heightening of the distemper, until, +by a variety of experiments, that important country has been +brought into her present situation—a situation which I will +<!-- Page 68 --><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68" />not miscall, which I dare not name, which I scarcely know +how to comprehend in the terms of any description."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12" /><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>At length, after the election of 1885, Mr. Gladstone and +the majority of his followers came to the conclusion that an +opportunity had presented itself for providing Ireland with +a Constitution conferring on the people of that country the +largest measure of self-government consistent with the +absolute supremacy of the Crown and the Imperial Parliament +and the entire unity of the Empire. A scheme was +proposed which was accepted in principle by the representatives +of the National party in Ireland as a fair and sufficient +adjustment of the Imperial claims of Great Britain and the +Local claims of Ireland. The scheme was shortly this. A +Legislative Assembly was proposed to be established in +Ireland with power to make all laws necessary for the good +government of Ireland—in other words, invested with the +same powers of local self-government as a colonial Assembly. +The Irish Assembly was in one respect unlike a colonial +Legislature. It consisted of one House only, but this House +was divided into two orders, each of which, in case of +differences on any important legislative matter, voted +separately. This form was adopted in order to minimize +the chances of collision between the two orders, by making +it imperative on each order to hear the arguments of the +other before proceeding to a division, thus throwing on the +dissentient order the full responsibility of its dissent, with a +complete knowledge of the consequences likely to ensue +therefrom. The clause conferring on the Irish Legislature +full powers of local self-government was immediately followed +by a provision excepting, by enumeration, from any interference +on the part of the Irish Legislature, all Imperial +powers, and declaring any enactment void which infringed +on that provision. This exception (as is well known) is not +found in colonial Constitutional Acts. In them the restriction +<!-- Page 69 --><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69" />of the words of the grant to Local powers only has been +held sufficient to safeguard the supremacy of the British +Parliament and the unity of the Empire. The reason for +making a difference in the case of the Home Rule Bill was +political, not legal. Separation was declared by the enemies +of the Bill to be the real intention of its supporters, and +destruction of the unity of the Empire to be its certain +consequence. It seemed well that Ireland, by her representatives, +should accept as a satisfactory charter of Irish +liberty a document which contained an express submission +to Imperial power and a direct acknowledgment of Imperial +unity. Similarly with respect to the supremacy of the +British Parliament. In the colonial Constitutions all reference +to this supremacy is omitted as being too clear to +require notice. In the case of the Irish Home Rule Bill +instructions were given to preserve in express words the +supremacy of the British Parliament in order to pledge +Ireland to an express admission of that supremacy by the +same vote which accepted Local powers. It is true that +the wording by the draftsman of the sentence reserving the +supremacy of Parliament was justly found fault with as +inaccurate and doubtful, but that defect would have been +cured by an amendment in Committee; and, even if there +had not been any such clause in the Bill, it is clear, from +what has been said above, that the Imperial Legislature +could not, if it would, renounce its supremacy or abdicate +its sovereign powers. The executive government in Ireland +was continued in the Queen, to be carried on by the Lord +Lieutenant on behalf of her Majesty, with the aid of such +officers and Council as to her Majesty might from time to +time seem fit. Her Majesty was also a constituent part of +the Legislature, with power to delegate to the Lord +Lieutenant the prerogative of assenting to or dissenting +from Bills, and of summoning, proroguing, and dissolving +Parliament. Under these provisions the Lord Lieutenant +<!-- Page 70 --><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70" />resembled the Governor of a colony with responsible +government. He was invested with a double authority—first, +Imperial; secondly, Local. As an Imperial officer, +he was bound to veto any Bill injuriously affecting Imperial +interests or inconsistent with general Imperial policy; as a +Local officer, it was his duty to act in all local matters +according to the advice of his Council, whose tenure of +office depended on their being in harmony with, and +supported by, a majority of the Legislative Assembly. +Questions relating to the constitutionality of any particular +law were not left altogether to the decision of the Governor. +If a Bill containing a provision infringing Imperial rights +passed the Legislature, its validity might be decided in the +first instance by the ordinary courts of law, but the ultimate +appeal lay to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, +and, with a view to secure absolute impartiality in the +Committee, it was provided that Ireland should be represented +on that body by persons who either were or had been +Irish judges. Not the least important provision of the Bill, +as respects the maintenance of Imperial interests, was the +continuance of Imperial taxation. The Customs and Excise +duties were directed to be levied, as heretofore, in pursuance +of the enactments of the Imperial Parliament, and were +excepted from the control of the Irish Legislature, which +had full power, with that exception, to impose such taxes in +Ireland as they might think expedient. The Bill further +provided that neither the Imperial taxes of Excise nor any +Local taxes that might be imposed by the Irish Legislature +should be paid into the Irish Exchequer. An Imperial +officer, called the Receiver-General, was appointed, into +whose hands the produce of every tax, both Imperial and +Local, was required to be paid, and it was the duty of the +Receiver-General to take care that all claims of the English +Exchequer, including especially the contribution payable by +Ireland for Imperial purposes, were satisfied before a farthing +<!-- Page 71 --><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71" />found its way into the Irish Exchequer for Irish purposes. +The Receiver-General was provided with an Imperial Court +to enforce his rights of Imperial taxation, and adequate +means for enforcing all Imperial powers by Imperial civil +officers. The Bill did not provide for the representation of +Ireland in the Imperial Parliament on all Imperial questions, +including questions relating to Imperial taxation, but it is +fully understood that in any Bill which might hereafter be +brought forward relating to Home Rule those defects would +be remedied.</p> + +<p>An examination, then, of the Home Rule Bill, that +"child of revolution and parent of separation," appears to +lead irresistibly to two conclusions. First, that Imperial +rights and Imperial powers, representation for Imperial purposes, +Imperial taxation—in short, every link that binds a +subordinate member of an Empire to its supreme head—have +been maintained unimpaired and unchanged. Secondly, +that, in granting Home Rule to discontented Ireland, that +form of responsible government has been adopted which, as +Mr. Merivale declares—and his declaration subsequent events +have more than verified—when conferred on the discontented +colonies, changed restless aspirations for separation into quiet +loyalty.</p> + +<p>That such a Bill as the Home Rule Bill should be treated +as an invasion of Imperial rights is a proof of one, or perhaps +of both, the following axioms—that Bills are never +read by their accusers, and that party spirit will distort the +plainest facts. The union of Great Britain and Ireland was +not, so far as Imperial powers were concerned, disturbed by +the Bill, and an Irishman remains a citizen of the British +Empire under the Home Rule Bill, with the same obligations +and the same privileges, on the same terms as before. +All the Bill did was to make his Irish citizenship distinct +from his Imperial citizenship, in the same manner as the +citizenship of a native of the State of New York is distinct +<!-- Page 72 --><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72" />from his citizenship as a member of the United States. Now +it has been found that the Central power in the United +States has been more than a match for the State powers, +and can it be conceived for a moment that the Imperial +power of Great Britain should not be a match for the Local +power of Ireland—a State which has not one-seventh of +the population or one-twentieth part of the income of the +dominant community?</p> + +<p>One argument remains to be noticed which the opponents +of Home Rule urge as absolutely condemnatory of the +measure, whereas, if properly weighed, it is conclusive in its +favour. Home Rule, they say, is a mere question of sentiment. +"National aspirations" are the twaddle of English +enthusiasts who know nothing of Ireland. What is really +wanted is the reform of the Land Law. Settle the agrarian +problem, and Home Rule may be relegated to the place +supposed to be paved with good intentions. The Irish will +straightway change their character, and become a law-abiding, +contented, loyal people. Be it so. But suppose it to be +proved that the establishment of an Irish Government, or, +in other words, Home Rule, is an essential condition of +agrarian reform—that the latter cannot be had without the +former—surely Home Rule should stand none the worse in +the estimation of its opponents if it not only secures a safe +basis for putting an end to agrarian exasperation, but also +gratifies the feeling of the Irish people as expressed by the +majority of its representatives in Parliament? Now, what +is the nature of the Irish Land Question? This we must +understand before considering the remedy. In Ireland +(meaning by Ireland that part of the country which is in the +hands of tenants, and falls within the compass of a Land +Bill) the tenure of land is wholly unlike that which is found +in the greater part of England. Instead of large farms in +which the landlord makes all the improvements and the +tenant pays rent for the privilege of cultivating the land and +<!-- Page 73 --><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73" />receives the produce, small holdings are found in which the +tenant does the improvements (if any) and pays a fixed rent-charge +to the owner. In England the tenant does not perform +the obligations or in any way aspire to the character of +owner. If he thinks he can get a cheaper farm, he quits his +former one, regarding his interest in the land as a mere +matter of pounds, shillings, and pence. Not so the Irish +tenant. He has made what he calls improvements, he +claims a quasi-ownership in the land, and has the characteristic +Celtic attachment for the patch of ground forming his +holding, however squalid it may be, however inadequate for +his support. In short, in Ireland there is a dual ownership—that +of the proprietor, who has no interest in the soil so +long as the tenant pays his rent and fulfils the conditions of +his tenancy; and that of the tenant, who, subject to the +payment of his rent and performance of the fixed conditions, +acts, thinks, and carries himself as the owner of his holding. +A system, then, of agrarian reform in Ireland resolves itself +into an inquiry as to the best mode of putting an end to this +dual ownership—that is to say, of making the tenant the sole +proprietor of his holding, and compensating the landlord for +his interest in the ownership. The problem is further +narrowed by the circumstance that the tenant cannot be +expected to advance any capital or pay an increased rent, +so that the means of compensating the landlord must be +found out of the existing rent.</p> + +<p>The plan adopted in Mr. Gladstone's Land Bill was to +commute the rent-charges, offering the landlord, as a general +rule, twenty years' purchase on the net rental of the estate +(that is to say, the rent received by him after deducting all +outgoings), and paying him the purchase-money in £3 per +cent. stock taken at par. The stock was to be advanced by +the English Government to an Irish State department at +3-1/8 per cent. interest, and the Bill provided that the tenant, +instead of rent, was to pay an annuity of £4 per cent. on a +<!-- Page 74 --><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74" />capital sum equal in amount to twenty times the gross +rental.</p> + +<p>The notable feature which distinguished this plan from +all other schemes was the security given for the repayment +of the purchase-money: hitherto the English Government +has lent the money directly to the landlord or tenant, and +has become the mortgagee of the land—in other words, has +become in effect the landlord of the land sold to the tenant +until the repayment of the loan has been completed. To +carry into effect under such a system any extensive scheme +of agrarian reform (and if not extensive such a reform would +be of no value in pacifying Ireland) presupposes a readiness +on the part of the English Government to become virtually +the landlord of a large portion of Ireland, with the attendant +odium of absenteeism and alien domination. Under a land +scheme such as that of 1886, all these difficulties would +be overcome. The Irish, not the English, Government +would be the virtual landlord. It would be the interest of +Ireland that the annuities due from the tenants should be +regularly paid, as, subject to the prior charge of the English +Exchequer, they would form part of the Irish revenues. The +cardinal difference, then, between Mr. Gladstone's scheme +and any other land scheme that has seen the light is this—that +in Mr. Gladstone's scheme the English loans would +have been lent to the Irish Government on the security of +the whole Irish revenues, whereas in every other scheme +they have been lent by the English Government to the Irish +creditors on the security of individual patches of land.</p> + +<p>The whole question, then, of the relation between Home +Rule and agrarian reform may be summed up as follows:—Agrarian +reform is necessary for the pacification of Ireland; +agrarian reform cannot be efficiently carried into effect without +an Irish Government; an Irish Government can only be +established by a Home Rule Bill: therefore a Home Rule +Bill is necessary for the pacification of Ireland. It is idle to +<!-- Page 75 --><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75" />say, as has been said on numerous platforms, that plans no +doubt can be devised for agrarian reform without Home +Rule. The Irish revenues are the only collateral security +that can be obtained for loans of English money, and Irish +revenues are only available for the purpose on the establishment +of an Irish Government. Baronial guarantees, union +guarantees, county guarantees, debenture schemes, have all +been tried and found wanting, and vague assertions as to +possibilities are idle unless they are based on intelligible +working plans.</p> + +<p>The foregoing arguments will be equally valid if, instead +of making the tenants peasant-proprietors, it were thought +desirable that the Irish State should be the proprietor and +the tenants be the holders of the land at perpetual rents and +subject to fixed conditions. Again, it might be possible to +pay the landlords by annual sums instead of capital sums. +Such matters are really questions of detail. The substance +is to interpose the Irish Government between the tenant +and the English mortgagee, and to make the loans general +charges on the whole of the Irish Government revenues as +paid into the hands of an Imperial Receiver instead of +placing them as special charges, each fixed on its own small +estate or holding. The fact that Mr. Gladstone's land +scheme was denounced as confiscation of £100,000,000 of +the English taxpayers' property, while Lord Ashbourne's +Act is pronounced by the same party wise and prudent, +shows the political blindness of party spirit in its most absurd +form. Lord Ashbourne's Act requires precisely the same +expenditure to do the same work as Mr. Gladstone's Bill +requires, but in Mr. Gladstone's scheme the whole Irish +revenue was pledged as collateral security, and the Irish +Government was interposed between the ultimate creditor +and the Irish tenant, while under Lord Ashbourne's Act +the English Government figures without disguise as the landlord +of each tenant, exacting a debt which the tenant is +<!-- Page 76 --><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76" />unwilling to pay as being due to what he calls an alien +Government.</p> + +<p>An endeavour has been made in the preceding pages to +prove that Home Rule in no respect infringes on Imperial +rights or Imperial unity, for the simple reason that the +Imperial power remains exactly in the same position as it +was before, the Home Rule Bill dealing only with Local +matters. At all events, Burke thought that the Imperial +supremacy alone constituted a real union between England +and Ireland. He says—</p> + +<p>"My poor opinion is, that the closest connection between +Great Britain and Ireland is essential to the well-being—I +had almost said to the very being—of the three kingdoms; +for that purpose I humbly conceive that the whole of the +superior, and what I should call Imperial politics, ought to +have its residence here, and that Ireland, locally, civilly, and +commercially independent, ought politically to look up to +Great Britain in all matters of peace and war. In all these +points to be joined with her, and, in a word, with her to live +and to die."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13" /><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>How strange to Burke would have seemed the doctrine +that the restoration of a limited power of self-government to +Ireland, excluding commerce, and excluding all matters not +only Imperial, but those in which uniformity is required, +should be denounced as a disruption of the Empire!</p> + +<p>It remains to notice one other charge made against the +Gladstonian Home Rule Bill, namely, that of impairing the +supremacy of the British Parliament. That allegation has +been shown also to be founded on a mistake. Next, it is +said that the Gladstonian scheme does not provide securities +against executive and legislative oppression. The answer is +complete. The executive authority being vested in the +Queen, it will be the duty of the Governor not to allow +executive oppression; still more will it be his duty to veto +<!-- Page 77 --><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77" />any act of legislative oppression. Further, it is stated that +difficulties will arise with respect to the power of the Privy +Council to nullify unconstitutional Acts. But it is hard to +see why a power which is exercised with success in the +United States, where all the States are equal, and without +dispute in our colonies, which are all dependent, should not +be carried into effect with equal ease in Ireland, which +is more closely bound to us and more completely under our +power than the colonies are, or than the several States are +under the power of the Central Government.</p> + +<p>To conclude: the cause of Irish discontent is the conjoint +operation of the passion for nationality and the vicious +system of land tenure, and the scheme of the Irish Home +Rule Bill and the Land Bill removes the whole fabric on +which Irish discontent is raised. The Irish, by the great +majority of their representatives, have accepted the Home +Rule Bill as a satisfactory settlement of the nationality +question. The British Parliament can, through the medium +of the Home Rule Bill and the establishment of an Irish +Legislature, carry through a final settlement of agrarian disputes +with less injustice to individuals than could a Parliament +sitting in Dublin, and, be it added, with scarcely any +appreciable risk to the British taxpayer. Of course it may +be said that an Irish Parliament will go farther—that Home +Rule is a step to separation, and a reform of the Land +Laws a spoliation of the landlords. To those who urge +such arguments I would recommend the perusal of the +speech of Burke on Conciliation with America, and especially +the following sentences, substituting "Ireland" for +"the colonies:"—</p> + +<p>"But [the Colonies] Ireland will go further. Alas! alas! +when will this speculating against fact and reason end? +What will quiet these panic fears which we entertain of the +hostile effect of a conciliatory conduct? Is it true that no +case can exist in which it is proper for the Sovereign to +<!-- Page 78 --><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78" />accede to the desires of his discontented subjects? Is there +anything peculiar in this case to make it a rule for itself? +Is all authority of course lost when it is not pushed to the +extreme? Is it a certain maxim that the fewer causes of +discontentment are left by Government the more the subject +will be inclined to resist and rebel?"<!-- Page 79 --><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79" /></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9" /><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Burke's Speech on American Taxation, vol. i. p. 174</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10" /><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> This is the opinion of both English and American lawyers. See +Blackstone's Comm., i. 90; Austin on Jurisprudence, i. 226. As to +American cases, see Corley on Constitutional Limitations, pp. 2-149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11" /><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "Lectures on the Colonies," p, 641.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12" /><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Burke, vol. i. p. 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13" /><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> "Letter on Affairs of Ireland," i. 462.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_IRISH_GOVERNMENT_BILL" id="THE_IRISH_GOVERNMENT_BILL" />THE IRISH GOVERNMENT BILL +AND THE IRISH LAND BILL</h2> + +<p class="author">BY LORD THRING</p> + + +<p>A mere enumeration or analysis of the contents of the +Irish Government Bill, 1886, and the Land (Ireland) Bill, +1886, would convey scarcely any intelligible idea to the +mind of an ordinary reader. It is, therefore, proposed in +the following pages, before entering on the details of each +Bill, to give a summary of the reasons which led to its +introduction, and of the principles on which it is founded. +To begin with the Irish Government Bill—</p> + +<p>The object of the Irish Government Bill is to confer on +the Irish people the largest measure of self-government +consistent with the absolute supremacy of the Crown and +Imperial Parliament and the entire unity of the Empire. +To carry into effect this object it was essential to create a +separate though subordinate legislature; thus occasion was +given to opponents to apply the name of Separatists to the +supporters of the Bill—a term true in so far only as it +denoted the intention to create a separate legislature, but +false and calumnious when used in the sense in which it +was intended to be understood—of imputing to the +promoters of the Bill the intention to disunite or in any +way to disintegrate the Empire. Indeed, the very object +of the measure was, by relaxing a little the legal bonds +of union, to draw closer the actual ties between England +<!-- Page 80 --><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80" />and Ireland, in fact, to do as we have done in our Colonies, +by decentralizing the subordinate functions of government +to strengthen the central supremacy of natural affection and +Imperial unity. The example of the effects of giving +complete self-government to our Colonies would seem not +unfavourable to trying the same experiment in Ireland. +Some forty years ago, Canada, New Zealand, and the +various colonies of Australia were discontented and uneasy +at the control exercised by the Government of England +over their local affairs. What did England do? She gave +to each of those communities the fullest power of local +government consistent with the unity of the Empire. The +result was that the real union was established in the same +degree as the apparent tie of control over local affairs was +loosened. Are there any reasons to suppose that the +condition of Ireland is such as to render the example of +the Colonies applicable? Let us look a little at the past +history of that country. Up to 1760 Ireland was governed +practically as a conquered country. The result was that in +1782, in order to save Imperial unity, we altogether relaxed +the local tie and made Ireland legislatively independent. +The Empire was thus saved, but difficulties naturally arose +between two independent legislatures. The true remedy +would have been to have imposed on Grattan's Parliament +the conditions imposed by the Irish Government Bill on +the statutory Parliament created by that Bill; the course +actually taken was that, instead of leaving the Irish with +their local government, and arranging for the due supremacy +of England, the Irish Legislature was destroyed under the +guise of Union, and Irish representatives were transferred +to an assembly in which they had little weight, and in which +they found no sympathy. The result was that from the +date of the Union to the present day Ireland has been +constantly working for the reinstatement of its National +Legislature, and has been governed by a continuous system +<!-- Page 81 --><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81" />of extraordinary legislature called coercion; the fact being +that between 1800, the date of the Act of Union, and 1832, +the date of the great Reform Act, there were only eleven +years free from coercion, while in the fifty-three years since +that period there have been only two years entirely free +from special repressive legislation. So much, therefore, is +clear, that Irish discontent at not being allowed to manage +their own affairs has gradually increased instead of diminishing. +The conclusion then would seem irresistible, that if +coercion has failed, the only practical mode of governing +Ireland satisfactorily is to give the people power to manage +their local affairs. Coming, then, to the principle of the +Bill, the first step is to reconcile local government with +Imperial supremacy, in other words, to divide Imperial +from local powers; for if this division be accurately made, +and the former class of powers be reserved to the British +Crown and British Parliament, while the latter only are +intrusted to the Irish Parliament, it becomes a contradiction +in terms to say that Imperial unity is dissolved by reserving +to the Imperial authority all its powers, or that Home Rule +is a sundering of the Imperial tie when that tie is preserved +inviolable. Imperial powers, then, are the prerogatives of +the Crown with respect to peace and war, and making +treaties with foreign nations; in short, the power of regulating +the relations of the Empire towards foreign nations. +These are the <i>jura summi imperii</i>, the very insignia of +supremacy; the attributes of sovereign authority in every +form of government, be it despotism, limited monarchy, or +republic; the only difference is that in a system of government +under one supreme head, they are vested in that head +alone, in a federal government, as in America or Switzerland, +they reside in the composite body forming the federal +supreme authority. Various subsidiary powers necessarily +attend the above supreme powers; for example, the power +of maintaining armies and navies, of commanding the +<!-- Page 82 --><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82" />militia, and other incidental powers. Closely connected +with the power of making peace and war is the power of +regulating commerce with foreign nations. Next in importance +to the reservations necessary to constitute the +Empire a Unity with regard to foreign nations, are the powers +required to prevent disputes and to facilitate intercourse +between the various parts of the Empire. These are the +coinage of money and other regulations relating to currency, +to copyright or other exclusive rights to the use or profit of +any works or inventions. The above subjects must be +altogether excluded from the powers of the subordinate +legislature; it ceases to be subordinate as soon as it is +invested with these Imperial, or quasi-Imperial, powers.</p> + +<p>Assuming, however, the division between Imperial and +local powers to be accurately determined, how is the +subordinate legislative body to be kept within its due limits? +The answer is very plain,—an Imperial court must be +established to decide in the last resort whether the subordinate +legislature has or has not infringed Imperial rights. +Such a court has been in action in the United States of +America ever since their union, and no serious conflict has +arisen in carrying its decisions into effect, and the Privy +Council, acting as the Supreme Court in respect to Colonial +appeals, has been accepted by all the self-governing colonies +as a just and impartial expositor of the meaning of their +several constitutions.</p> + +<p>Next in importance to the right division of Imperial and +local powers is a correct understanding of the relation borne +by the executive of an autonomous country to the mother +country. In every part of the British Empire which enjoys +home rule the legislature consists of the Queen and the two +local legislative bodies. The administrative power resides +in the Queen alone. The Queen has the appointment of +all the officers of the government; money bills can be introduced +into the legislature only with the consent of the<!-- Page 83 --><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83" /> +Queen. The initiative power of taxation then is vested +in the Queen, the executive head, in practice represented +by the Governor. But such a power of initiation is of course +useless unless the legislative body is willing to support the +executive, and grants it the necessary funds for carrying on +the government. What, then, is the contrivance by which the +governmental machine is prevented from being stopped by +a difference between the executive and legislative authorities? +It is the same in the mother country, and in every British +home-rule country, with this difference only—that beyond +the limits of the mother country the Queen is represented +by a governor to whom are delegated such a measure of +powers as is necessary for the supreme head of a local self-governing +community. The contrivance is this in the +mother country:—the Queen acts upon the advice of a +cabinet council; in home-rule dependencies the Governor +acts on the advice of a local council. If this cabinet council +in the mother country, or local council in a dependency, +ceases to command a majority in the popular legislative +body, it resigns, and the Governor is obliged to select a +council which, by commanding such a majority, can obtain +the supplies necessary to carry on the government. The +consequence then is, that in a home-rule community, if a +serious difficulty arises between the legislative and executive +authority, the head of the executive, the governor, refers the +ultimate decision of the question to the general body of +electors by dissolving the popular legislative body. It has +been urged in the discussion on the Irish Government Bill +that the powers of the executive in relation to the legislative +body ought to be expressed in the Bill itself; but it is clear +to anybody acquainted with the rudiments of legislation that +the details of such a system (in other words, the mode in +which a governor ought to act under the endless variety of +circumstances which may occur in governing a dependency) +never have been and never can be expressed in an Act of<!-- Page 84 --><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84" /> +Parliament. But how little difficulty this absence of definition +has caused may be judged from the fact that neither in +England nor in any of her home-rule dependencies has any +vital collision arisen between the executive and legislative +authorities, and that all the home-rule colonies have +managed to surmount the obstacles which the opponents +of Home Rule argued would be fatal to their existence. +The main principles have now been stated on which the +Irish Government Bill is framed, and it remains to give +a summary of the provisions of the Bill, the objects and +bearing of which will be readily understood from the foregoing +observations. The first clause provides that—</p> + +<p>"On and after the appointed day there shall be established +in Ireland a Legislature consisting of Her Majesty the +Queen and an Irish legislative body."</p> + +<p>This is the first step in all English constitutional systems, +to vest the power of legislation in the Queen and the legislative +body. Such a legislature might have had conferred +on it the independent powers vested in Grattan's Parliament: +but the second clause at once puts an end to any doubt as +to the subordination of the Irish legislative body; for while +on the one hand it confers full powers of local self-government, +by declaring that the Legislature may make any laws +for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland, it +subjects that power to numerous exceptions and restrictions. +The exceptions are contained in the third clause, and the +restrictions in the fourth. The exceptions are as follows:—</p> + +<p>"The Legislature of Ireland shall not make laws relating +to the following matters or any of them:—</p> + +<p>"(1.) The status or dignity of the Crown, or the succession +to the Crown, or a Regency;</p> + +<p>"(2.) The making of peace or war;</p> + +<p>"(3.) The army, navy, militia, volunteers, or other +military or naval forces, or the defence of the realm;</p> + +<p>"(4.) Treaties and other relations with foreign States, +<!-- Page 85 --><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85" />or the relations between the various parts of Her Majesty's +dominions;</p> + +<p>"(5.) Dignities or titles of honour;</p> + +<p>"(6.) Prize or booty of war;</p> + +<p>"(7.) Offences against the law of nations; or offences +committed in violation of any treaty made, or hereafter to +be made, between Her Majesty and any foreign State; or +offences committed on the high seas;</p> + +<p>"(8.) Treason, alienage, or naturalization;</p> + +<p>"(9.) Trade, navigation, or quarantine;</p> + +<p>"(10.) The postal and telegraph service, except as hereafter +in this Act mentioned with respect to the transmission +of letters and telegrams in Ireland;</p> + +<p>"(11.) Beacons, lighthouses, or sea-marks;</p> + +<p>"(12.) The coinage; the value of foreign money; legal +tender; or weights and measures; or</p> + +<p>"(13.) Copyright, patent rights, or other exclusive rights +to the use or profits of any works or inventions."</p> + +<p>Of these exceptions the first four preserve the imperial +rights which have been insisted on above, and maintain the +position of Ireland as an integral portion of that Empire of +which Great Britain is the head. The remaining exceptions +are either subsidiary to the first four, or relate, as is the case +with exceptions 10 to 13, to matters on which it is desirable +that uniformity should exist throughout the whole Empire. +The restrictions in clause 4 are:—</p> + +<p>"The Irish Legislature shall not make any law—</p> + +<p>"(1.) Respecting the establishment or endowment of +religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or</p> + +<p>"(2.) Imposing any disability, or conferring any privilege, +on account of religious belief; or</p> + +<p>"(3.) Abrogating or derogating from the right to establish +or maintain any place of denominational education or +any denominational institution or charity; or</p> + +<p>"(4.) Prejudicially affecting the right of any child to +<!-- Page 86 --><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86" />attend a school receiving public money without attending +the religious instruction at that school; or</p> + +<p>"(5.) Impairing, without either the leave of Her Majesty +in Council first obtained on an address presented by the +legislative body of Ireland, or the consent of the corporation +interested, the rights, property, or privileges of any existing +corporation incorporated by royal charter or local and +general Act of Parliament; or</p> + +<p>"(6.) Imposing or relating to duties of customs and +duties of excise, as defined by this Act, or either of such +duties, or affecting any Act relating to such duties or either +of them; or</p> + +<p>"(7.) Affecting this Act, except in so far as it is declared +to be alterable by the Irish Legislature."</p> + +<p>These restrictions differ from the exceptions, inasmuch +as they do not prevent the Legislature of Ireland from dealing +with the subjects to which they refer, but merely impose +on it an obligation not to handle the specified matters in a +manner detrimental to the interests of certain classes of Her +Majesty's subjects. For example, restrictions 1 to 4 are +practically concerned in securing religious freedom; restriction +5 protects existing charters; restriction 6 is necessary, +as will be seen hereinafter, to carrying into effect the financial +scheme of the bill; restriction 7 is a consequence of the +very framework of the Bill: it provides for the stability of +the Irish constitution, by declaring that the Irish Legislature +is not competent to alter the constitutional act to which it +owes its existence, except on those points on which it is +expressly permitted to make alterations.</p> + +<p>Clause 5 is an exposition, so to speak, of the consequence +which would seem to flow from the fact of the Queen being +a constitutional part of the Legislature. It states that the +royal prerogatives with respect to the summoning, prorogation, +and dissolution of the Irish legislative body are to be +the same as the royal prerogatives in relation to the Imperial<!-- Page 87 --><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87" /> +Parliament. The next clause (6) is comparatively immaterial; +it merely provides that the duration of the Irish legislative +body is to be quinquennial. As it deals with a matter of +detail, it perhaps would have more aptly found a place in a +subsequent part of the Bill. Clause 7 passes from the +legislative to the executive authority; it declares:—</p> + +<p>(1.) The executive government of Ireland shall continue +vested in Her Majesty, and shall be carried on by the Lord +Lieutenant on behalf of Her Majesty with the aid of such +officers and such council as to Her Majesty may from time +to time seem fit.</p> + +<p>(2.) Subject to any instructions which may from time to +time be given by Her Majesty, the Lord Lieutenant shall +give or withhold the assent of Her Majesty to bills passed +by the Irish legislative body, and shall exercise the prerogatives +of Her Majesty in respect of the summoning, proroguing, +and dissolving of the Irish legislative body, and any +prerogatives the exercise of which may be delegated to him +by Her Majesty.</p> + +<p>Bearing in mind what has been said in the preliminary +observations in respect of the relation between the executive +and the legislative authority, it will be at once understood +how much this clause implies, according to constitutional +maxims, of the dependence on the one hand of the Irish +executive in respect of imperial matters, and of its independence +in respect of local matters. The clause is practically +co-ordinate and correlative with the clause conferring complete +local powers on the Irish Legislature, while it preserves +all imperial powers to the Imperial Legislature. The +governor is an imperial officer, and will be bound to watch +over imperial interests with a jealous scrutiny, and to veto +any bill which may be injurious to those interests. On the +other hand, as respects all local matters, he will act on and +be guided by the advice of the Irish executive council. +The system is, as has been shown above, self-acting. The +<!-- Page 88 --><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88" />governor, for local purposes, must have a council which is +in harmony with the legislative body. If a council, supported +by the legislative body and the governor do not +agree, the governor must give way unless he can, by dismissing +his council and dissolving the legislative body, +obtain both a council and a legislative body which will +support his views. As respects imperial questions, the case +is different; here the last word rests with the mother country, +and in the last resort a determination of the executive council, +backed by the legislative body, to resist imperial rights, must +be deemed an act of rebellion on the part of the Irish people, +and be dealt with accordingly.</p> + +<p>The above clauses contain the pith and marrow of the +whole scheme. The exact constitution of the legislative +body, and the orders into which it should be divided, the +exclusion or non-exclusion of the Irish members from the +Imperial Parliament, indeed, the whole of the provisions +found in the remainder of this Bill, are matters which might +be altered without destroying, or even violently disarranging, +the Home-rule scheme as above described.</p> + +<p>Clauses 9, 10, and 11 provide for the constitution of the +legislative body; it differs materially from the colonial legislative +bodies, and from the Legislature of the United States. +For the purpose of deliberation it consists of one House +only; for the purpose of voting on all questions (except +interlocutory applications and questions of order), it is +divided into two classes, called in the Bill "Orders," each +of which votes separately, with the result that a question on +which the two orders disagree is deemed to be decided in +the negative. The object of this arrangement is to diminish +the chances of collision between the two branches of the +Legislature, which have given rise to so much difficulty both +in England and the colonies. Each order will have ample +opportunity of learning the strength and hearing the arguments +of the other order. They will therefore, each of +<!-- Page 89 --><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89" />them, proceed to a division with a full sense of the responsibility +attaching to their action. A further safeguard is provided +against a final conflict between the first and second +orders. If the first order negative a proposition, that negative +is in force only for a period of three years, unless a dissolution +takes place sooner, in which case it is terminated at +once; the lost bill or clause may then be submitted to the +whole House, and if decided in the affirmative, and assented +to by the Queen, becomes law. The first order of the Irish +legislative body comprises 103 members. It is intended to +consist ultimately wholly of elective members; but for the +next immediate period of thirty years the rights of the Irish +representative peers are, as will be seen, scrupulously reserved. +The plan is this: of the 103 members composing the first +order, seventy-five are elective, and twenty-eight peerage +members. The qualification of the elective members is an +annual income of £200, or the possession of a capital sum +of £4000 free from all charges. The elections are to be +conducted in the electoral districts set out in the schedule +to the Bill. The electors must possess land or tenements +within the district of the annual value of £25. The +twenty-eight peerage members consist of the existing +twenty-eight representative peers, and any vacancies in +their body during the next thirty years are to be filled up +in the manner at present in use respecting the election of +Irish representative peers. The Irish representative peers +cease to sit in the English Parliament; but a member of +that body is not required to sit in the Irish Parliament without +his assent, and the place of any existing peer refusing to +sit in the Irish Parliament will be filled up as in the case of +an ordinary vacancy. The elective members of the first +order sit for ten years; every five years one half their number +will retire. The members of the first order do not vacate +their seats on a dissolution of the legislative body. At the +expiration of thirty years, that is to say, upon the exhaustion +<!-- Page 90 --><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90" />of all the existing Irish representative peers, the whole of +the upper order will consist of elective members. The +second order consists of 204 members, that is to say, of the +103 existing Irish members (who are transferred to the Irish +Parliament), and of 101 additional members to be elected +by the county districts and the represented towns, in the +same manner as that in which the present 101 members for +counties and towns are elected—each constituency returning +two instead of one member. If an existing member does +not assent to his transfer, his seat is vacated.</p> + +<p>A power is given to the Legislature of Ireland to enable +the Royal University of Ireland to return two members.</p> + +<p>The provisions with respect to this second order fall +within the class of enactments which are alterable by the +Irish Legislature. After the first dissolution of parliament +the Irish Legislature may deal with the second order in any +manner they think fit, with the important restrictions:—(1) +That in the distribution of members they must have due +regard to population; (2) that they must not increase or +diminish the number of members.</p> + +<p>The transfer to the Irish legislative body of the Irish +representative peers, and of the Irish members, involves +their exclusion under ordinary circumstances from the Imperial +Parliament, with this great exception, that whenever +an alteration is proposed to be made in the fundamental +provisions of the Irish Government Bill, a mode of procedure +is devised for recalling both orders of the Irish +legislative body to the Imperial Parliament for the purpose +of obtaining their consent to such alteration (clause 39).</p> + +<p>Further, it is right to state here that Mr. Gladstone in +his speech on the second reading of the Bill proposed to +provide, "that when any proposal for taxation was made +affecting the condition of Ireland, Irish members should +have an opportunity of appearing in the House to take a +share in the transaction of that business."</p> + +<p><!-- Page 91 --><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91" />Questions arising as to whether the Irish Parliament has +or not exceeded its constitutional powers may be determined +by the ordinary courts of law in the first instance; the +ultimate appeal lies to the Judicial Committee of the Privy +Council. An additional safeguard is provided by declaring +that before a provision in a Bill becomes law, the Lord +Lieutenant may take the opinion of the Judicial Committee +of the Privy Council as to its legality, and further, that +without subjecting private litigants to the expense of trying +the constitutionality of an Act, the Lord Lieutenant may, of +his own motion, move the judicial committee to determine +the question. With a view to secure absolute impartiality +in the committee, Ireland will be represented on that body +by persons who are or have been Irish judges (clause 25).</p> + +<p>The question of finance forms a separate portion of the +Bill, the provisions of which are contained in clauses twelve +to twenty, while the machinery for carrying those enactments +into effect will be found in Part III. of the Land Bill. +The first point to be determined was the amount to be +contributed by Ireland to imperial expenses. Under the +Act of Union it was intended that Ireland should pay 2/17ths, +or in the proportion of 1 to 7-1/2 of the total expenditure of +the United Kingdom. This amount being found exorbitant, +it was gradually reduced, until at the present moment it +amounts to something under the proportion of 1 to 11-1/2. +The bill fixes the proportion at 1/15th, or 1 to 14, this sum +being arrived at by a comparison between the amount of +the income-tax, death-duties, and valuation of property in +Great Britain, and the amount of the same particulars in +Ireland. The amount to be contributed by Ireland to the +imperial expenditure being thus ascertained, the more difficult +part of the problem remained to provide the fund out +of which the contribution should be payable, and the mode +in which its payment should be secured. The plan which +commended itself to the framers of the Bill, as combining +<!-- Page 92 --><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92" />the advantage of insuring the fiscal unity of Great Britain +and Ireland, with absolute security to the British exchequer, +was to continue the customs and excise duties under imperial +control, and to pay them into the hands of an imperial +officer. This plan is carried into effect by the conjoint +operation of the clauses of the Irish Government Bill and +the Irish Land Bill above referred to. The customs and +excise duties are directed to be levied as heretofore in +pursuance of the enactments of the Imperial Parliament, +and are excepted from the control of the Irish Legislature, +which may, with that exception, impose any taxes in Ireland +it may think expedient. The imperial officer who is appointed +under the Land Bill bears the title of Receiver-General, +and into his hands not only the imperial taxes (the +customs and excise duties), but also all local taxes imposed +by the Irish Parliament are in the first instance paid. (See +Clauses 25-27 of the Land Bill.) The Receiver-General +having thus in his hands all imperial and local funds levied +in Ireland, his duty is to satisfy all imperial claims before +paying over any moneys to the Irish Exchequer. Further, +an Imperial Court of Exchequer is established in Ireland +to watch over the interests of the Receiver-General, and all +revenue cases are to be tried, and all defaults punished in +that court. Any neglect of the local authorities to carry +into effect the decrees of the Imperial Court will amount to +treason, and it will be the duty of the Imperial Government +to deal with it accordingly.</p> + +<p>Supposing the Bill to have passed, the account of the +Exchequer in Ireland would have stood thus:—<!-- Page 93 --><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93" /></p> + + + +<pre> + RECEIPTS. + +1. <i>Imperial Taxes</i>: + (1) Customs . . . . . . . . . . £1,880,000 + (2) Excise . . . . . . . . . . 4,300,000 + --------- £6,180,000 + +2. <i>Local Taxes</i>: + (1) Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . £600,000 + (2) Income-Tax at 6<i>d</i>. in £ . . . 550,000 + --------- £1,150,000 + +3. <i>Non-Tax Revenue</i>: + (Post Office, Telegraph, etc.) . . . . . £1,020,000 + ---------- + £8,350,000 + + EXPENDITURE. + +1. <i>Contribution to Imperial Exchequer</i> on basis of + 1/15th of Imperial Expenditure, viz.: + (1) Debt Charge . . . . . . . . £1,466,000 + (2) Army and Navy . . . . . . . 1,666,000 + (3) Civil Charges . . . . . . . 110,000 + --------- £3,242,000 +2. <i>Sinking Fund</i> on 1/15th of + Capital of Debt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360,000 +3. <i>Charge for Constabulary</i><a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14" /><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> . . . . . . . . 1,000,000 +4. <i>Local Civil Charges</i> + other than Constabulary . . . . . . . . . 2,510,000 +5. <i>Collection of Revenue</i>: + (1) Imperial Taxes . . . . . . £170,000 + (2) Local Taxes . . . . . . . . 60,000 + (3) Non-Tax Revenue . . . . . . 604,000 + ------- 834,000 +6. <i>Balance</i> or Surplus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404,000 + -------- + £8,350,000 +</pre> + +<!-- +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">RECEIPTS.</span><br /> +<br /> +1. <i>Imperial Taxes</i>:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(1) Customs . . . . . . . . . . £1,880,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(2) Excise . . . . . . . . . . 4,300,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 17em;">————- £6,180,000</span><br /> +<br /> +2. <i>Local Taxes</i>:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(1) Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . £600,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(2) Income-Tax at 6<i>d</i>. in £ . . 550,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 17em;">————- £1,150,000</span><br /> +<br /> +3. <i>Non-Tax Revenue</i>:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(Post Office, Telegraph, etc.) . . . . . £1,020,000 £8,350,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 22em;">—————</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 22em;">£8,350,000</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 11.5em;">EXPENDITURE.</span><br /> +<br /> +1. <i>Contribution to Imperial Exchequer</i> on basis of<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">1/15th of Imperial Expenditure, viz.:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(1) Debt Charge . . . . . . . . . £1,466,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(2) Army and Navy . . . . . . . . 1,666,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(3) Civil Charges . . . . . . . . 110,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 19em;">————- £3,242,000</span><br /> +2. <i>Sinking Fund</i> on 1/15th of<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Capital of Debt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360,000</span><br /> +3. <i>Charge for Constabulary</i><a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14" /><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> . . . . . 1,000,000<br /> +4. <i>Local Civil Charges</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">other than Constabulary . . . . . . . . . 2,510,000</span><br /> +5. <i>Collection of Revenue</i>:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(1) Imperial Taxes . . . . . . £170,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(2) Local Taxes . . . . . . . . 60,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(3) Non-Tax Revenue . . . . . . 604,000</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">———- 834,000</span><br /> +6. <i>Balance</i> or Surplus . . . . . . . . . . . 404,000<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 25em;">————</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24em;">£8,350,000</span><br /> +--> + + + +<p><!-- Page 94 --><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94" />The Imperial contribution payable by Ireland to Great +Britain cannot be increased for thirty years, though it may +be diminished if the charges for the army and navy and +Imperial civil expenditure for any year be less than fifteen +times the contribution paid by Ireland, in which case 1/15th +of the diminution will be deducted from the annual Imperial +contribution. Apart from the Imperial charges there are +other charges strictly Irish, for the security of the payment +of which the Bill provides. This it does by imposing an +obligation on the Irish legislative body to enact sufficient +taxes to meet such charges, and by directing them to be +paid by the Imperial Receiver-General, who is required to +keep an imperial and an Irish account, carrying the customs +and excise duties, in the first instance, to the imperial +account, and the local taxes to the Irish account, transferring +to the Irish account the surplus remaining after paying +the imperial charges on the imperial account. On this Irish +account are charged debts due from the Government of +Ireland, pensions, and other sums due to the civil servants, +and the salaries of the judges of the supreme courts in +Ireland.</p> + +<p>Some provisions of importance remain to be noticed. +Judges of the superior and county courts in Ireland are to +be removable from office only on address to the Crown, +presented by both orders of the Legislative body voting +separately. Existing Civil servants are retained in their +offices at their existing salaries; if the Irish Government +desire their retirement, they will be entitled to pensions; on +the other hand, if at the end of two years the officers themselves +wish to retire, they can do so, and will be entitled to +the same pensions as if their office had been abolished. +The pensions are payable by the Receiver-General out of +the Irish account above mentioned.</p> + +<p>The supremacy of the Imperial Parliament over all parts +of the Empire is an inherent quality of which Parliament +<!-- Page 95 --><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95" />cannot divest itself, inasmuch as it cannot bind its successors +or prevent them from repealing any prior Act. In order, +however, to prevent any misapprehension on this point clause +37 was inserted, the efficacy of which, owing in great measure +to a misprint, has been doubted. It is enough to state here +that it was intended by express legislation to reserve all +powers to the Imperial Parliament, and had the Bill gone +into Committee the question would have been placed beyond +the reach of cavil by a slight alteration in the wording of +the clause. This summary may be concluded by the statement +that the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords +over actions and suits arising in Ireland (except in respect +of constitutional questions reserved for the determination of +the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as explained +above), and with respect to claims for Irish Peerages, is +preserved intact.</p> + +<p>The object of the Land Bill was a political one: to +promote the contentment of the people, and the cause +of good government in Ireland, by settling once and for +ever the vexed question relating to land. To do this +effectually it was necessary to devise a system under which +the tenants, as a class, should become interested in the +maintenance of social order, and be furnished with substantial +inducements to rally round the institutions of their +country. On the other hand, it was just and right that +the landlords should participate in the benefits of any +measure proposed for remedying the evils attendant upon +the tenure of land in Ireland; and should be enabled to rid +themselves, on fair terms, of their estates in cases where, +from apprehension of impending changes, or for pecuniary +reasons, they were desirous of relieving themselves from the +responsibilities of ownership. Further, it was felt by the +framers of the Bill that a moral obligation rested on the +Imperial Government to remove, if possible, "the fearful +exasperations attending the agrarian relations in Ireland,"<!-- Page 96 --><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96" /> +rather than leave a question so fraught with danger, and so +involved in difficulty, to be determined by the Irish Government +on its first entry on official existence. Such were the +governing motives for bringing in the Land Bill.</p> + +<p>To understand an Irish Land Bill it is necessary to +dismiss at once all ideas of the ordinary relations between +landlord and tenant in England, and to grasp a true conception +of the condition of an Irish tenanted estate. In +England the relation between the landlord and tenant of +a farm resembles, with a difference in the subject-matter, the +relation between the landlord and tenant of a furnished +house. In the case of the house, the landlord keeps it in +a state fit for habitation, and the tenant pays rent for the +privilege of living in another man's house. In the case of +the farm, the landlord provides the farm with house, farm-buildings, +gates, and other permanent improvements required +to fit it for cultivation by the tenant, and the tenant pays +rent for the privilege of cultivating the farm, receiving the +proceeds of that cultivation. The characters of owner +and tenant, however long the connection between them may +subsist, are quite distinct. The tenant does no acts of +ownership, and never regards the land as belonging to +himself, quitting it without hesitation if he can make more +money by taking another farm. In Ireland the whole +situation is different: instead of a farm of some one hundred +or two hundred acres, the tenant has a holding varying, say, +from five to fifty acres, for which he pays an annual rent-charge +to the landlord. He, or his ancestors have, in the +opinion of the tenant, acquired a quasi-ownership in the +land by making all the improvements, and he is only +removable on non-payment of the fixed rent, or non-fulfilment +of certain specified conditions. In short, in +Ireland the ownership is dual: the landlord is merely the +lord of a quasi-copyhold manor, consisting of numerous +small tenements held by quasi-copyholders who, so long as +<!-- Page 97 --><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97" />they pay what may be called the manorial rents, and fulfil +the manorial conditions, regard themselves as independent +owners of their holdings. An Irish Land Bill, then, dealing +with tenanted estates, is, in fact, merely a Bill for converting +the small holders of tenements held at a fixed rent +into fee-simple owners by redemption of the rent due to the +landlord and a transfer of the land to the holders. Every +scheme, therefore, for settling the Land question in Ireland +resolves itself into an inquiry as to the best mode of paying +off the rent-charges due to the landlord. The tenant +cannot, of course, raise the capital sufficient for paying off +the redemption money; some State authority must, therefore, +intervene and advance the whole or the greater part of +that money, and recoup itself for the advance by the creation +in its own favour of an annual charge on the holding +sufficient to repay in a certain number of years both the +principal and interest due in respect of the advance.</p> + +<p>The first problem, then, in an Irish Land Bill, is to settle +the conditions of this annuity in such a manner as to satisfy +the landlord and tenant; the first, as to the price of his +estate; the second, as to the amount of the annuity to be +paid by him, at the same time to provide the State authority +with adequate security for the repayment of the advance, or, +in other words, for the punctual payments of the annuity +which is to discharge the advance. Next in importance to +the financial question of the adjustment of the annuity +comes the administrative difficulty of investigating the title, +and thus securing to the tenant the possession of the fee +simple, and to the State authority the position of a mortgagee. +Under ordinary circumstances the investigation of +the title to an estate involves the examination of every +document relating thereto for a period of forty years, and +the distribution of the purchase-money amongst the head +renters, mortgagees, and other encumbrancers, who, in +addition to the landlord, are found to be interested in the +<!-- Page 98 --><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98" />ownership of almost every Irish estate. Such a process is +costly, even in the case of large estates, and involves an +expense almost, and, indeed, speaking generally, absolutely +prohibitory in the case of small properties. Some mode, +then, must be devised for reducing this expense within +manageable limits, or any scheme for dealing with Irish +land, however well devised from a financial point of view, +will sink under the burden imposed by the expense attending +the transfer of the land to the new proprietors. Having +thus stated the two principal difficulties attending the Land +question in Ireland, it may be well before entering on the +details of the Sale and Purchase of Land (Ireland) Bill, to +mention the efforts which have been made during the last +fifteen years to surmount those difficulties. The Acts having +this object in view are the Land Acts of 1870, 1872, and +1881, brought in by Mr. Gladstone, and the Land Purchase +Act of 1885, brought in by the Conservative Lord Chancellor +of Ireland (Lord Ashbourne). The Act of 1870, as amended +by the Act of 1872, provided that the State authority might +advance two-thirds of the purchase-money. An attempt was +made to get over the difficulties of title by providing that +the Landed Estates Court or Board of Works shall undertake +the investigation of the title and the transfer and distribution +of the purchase-money at a fixed price. The Act of 1881 +increased the advance to three-quarters, leaving the same +machinery to deal with the title. Both under the Acts of +1870 and 1881 the advance was secured by an annuity of +5 per cent., payable for the period of thirty-five years, and +based on the loan of the money by the English Exchequer +at 3-1/2 per cent. interest. These Acts produced very little +effect. The expense of dealing with the titles in the Landed +Estates Court proved overwhelming, and neither the Board +of Works, under the Act of 1872, nor the Land Commission, +under the Act of 1881, found themselves equal to the task +of completing inexpensively the transfer of the land; +<!-- Page 99 --><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99" />further, the tenants had no means of providing even the +quarter of the purchase-money required by the Act of 1881. +In 1885 Lord Ashbourne determined to remove all obstacles +at the expense of the English Exchequer. By the Land +Act of that year he authorized the whole of the purchase-money +to be advanced by the State, with a guarantee by +the landlord, to be carried into effect by his allowing +one-fifth of the purchase-money to remain in the hands of +the agents of the State Authority until one-fifth of the +purchase-money had been repaid by the annual payments +of the tenants. The principal was to be recouped by an +annuity of 4 per cent., extending over a period of forty-nine +years, instead of an annuity of 5 per cent. extending over a +period of thirty-five years. The English Exchequer was to +advance the money on the basis of interest at 3-1/8 per cent., +instead of at 3-1/2 per cent. Though sufficient time has not +yet elapsed to show whether the great bribe offered by the +Act of 1885, at the expense of the British taxpayer, will +succeed in overcoming the apathy of the tenants, it cannot +escape notice that if the Act of 1885 succeeds better than +the previous Acts, it will owe that success solely to the +greater amount of risk which it imposes on the English +Exchequer, and not to any improvement in the scheme in +respect of securing greater certainty of sale to the Irish +landlord, or of diminishing the danger of loss to the English +taxpayer.</p> + +<p>Such being the state of legislation, and such the circumstances +of the land question in Ireland in the year 1886, +the Irish Government Bill afforded Mr. Gladstone the +means and the opportunity of bringing in a Land Bill +which would secure to the Irish landlord the certainty of +selling his land at a fair price, without imposing any +practical liability on the English Exchequer, and would, at +the same time, diminish the annual sums payable by the +tenant; while it also conferred a benefit on the Irish<!-- Page 100 --><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100" /> +Exchequer. These advantages were, as will be seen, gained, +firstly, by the pledge of English credit on good security, +instead of advancing money on a mere mortgage on Irish +holdings, made directly to the English Government; and, +secondly, by the interposition of the Irish Government, as +the immediate creditor of the Irish tenant. The scheme of +the Land Purchase Bill is as follows:—The landlord of an +agricultural estate occupied by tenants may apply to a +department of the new Irish Government to purchase his +estate. The tenants need not be consulted, as the purchase, +if completed, will necessarily better their condition, and +thus at the very outset the difficulty of procuring the assent +of the tenants, which has hitherto proved so formidable an +obstacle to all Irish land schemes, disappears. The landlord +may require the department to which he applies (called in +the Bill the State Authority) to pay him the statutory price +of his estate, not in cash, but in consols valued at par. +This price, except in certain unusual cases of great goodness +or of great badness of the land, is twenty years' purchase +of the <i>net</i> rental. The <i>net</i> rental is the <i>gross</i> rental after +deducting from that rent tithe rent-charge, the average +percentage for expenses in respect of bad debts, any rates +paid by the landlord, and any like outgoings. The <i>gross</i> +rental of an estate is the gross rent of all the holdings on +the estate, payable in the year ending in November, 1885. +Where a judicial rent has been fixed, it is the judicial rent; +where no judicial rent has been fixed, it is the rent to be +determined in the manner provided by the Bill.</p> + +<p>To state this shortly, the Bill provides that an Irish +landlord may require the State Authority to pay him for +his estate, in consols valued at par, a capital sum equal to +twenty times the amount of the annual sum which he has +actually put into his pocket out of the proceeds of the +estate. The determination of the statutory price is, so far +as the landlord is concerned, the cardinal point of the Bill, +<!-- Page 101 --><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101" />and in order that no injustice may be done the landlord, +an Imperial Commission—called the Land Commission—is +appointed by the Bill, whose duty it is to fix the statutory +price, and, where there is no judicial rent, to determine the +amount of rent which, in the character of gross rental, is to +form the basis of the statutory price. The Commission also +pay the purchase-money to the landlord, or distribute it +amongst the parties entitled, and generally the Commission +act as intermediaries between the landlord and the Irish +State Authority, which has no power of varying the terms +to which the landlord is entitled under the Bill, or of +judging of the conditions which affect the statutory price. +If the landlord thinks the price fixed by the Land Commission, +as the statutory price inequitable, he may reject +their offer and keep his estate.</p> + +<p>Supposing, however, the landlord to be satisfied with +the statutory price offered by the Land Commission, the +sale is concluded, and the Land Commission make an +order carrying the required sum of consols (which is for +convenience hereinafter called the purchase-money, +although it consists of stock and not of cash) to the +account of the estate in their books after deducting 1 per +cent. for the cost of investigation of title and distribution +of the purchase-money, and upon the purchase-money being +thus credited to the estate, the landlord ceases to have any +interest in the estate, and the tenants, by virtue of the order +of the Land Commission, become owners in fee simple of +their holdings, subject to the payment to the Irish State +Authority of an annuity. The amount of the annuity is +stated in the Bill. It is a sum equal to £4 per cent. +on a capital sum equal to twenty times the amount of the +gross rental of the holding. The illustration given by +Mr. Gladstone in his speech will at once explain these apparently +intricate matters of finance. A landlord is entitled +to the Hendon estate, producing £1200 a year gross +<!-- Page 102 --><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102" />rental; to find the net rental, the Land Commission deduct +from this gross rental outgoings estimated at about 20 per +cent., or £240 a year. This makes the net rental £960 +a year, and the price payable to the landlord is £19,200 +(twenty years' purchase of £960, or £960 multiplied by +20), which, as above stated, will be paid in consols. The +tenants will pay, as the maximum amount for their holdings, +£4 per cent. for forty-nine years on the capitalized value of +twenty years' purchase of the gross rent. This will amount +to £960 instead of £1,200, which they have hitherto paid; +a saving of £240 a year will thus be effected, from which, +however, must be deducted the half rates to which they will +become liable, formerly paid by the landlord. This £4 per +cent. charge payable by the tenants will continue for forty-nine +years, but at the end of that time each tenant will +become a free owner of his estate without any annual payment. +Next, as to the position of the State Authority. +The State Authority receives £960 from the tenants; it +pays out of that sum £4 per cent., not upon the gross +rental, but upon the net rental capitalized, that is to say, +£768 to the Imperial Exchequer. The State Authority, +therefore, receives,£960, and assuming that the charge of +collecting the rental is 2 per cent., that is to say, £19 4<i>s.</i>, +the State Authority will, out of £960, have to disburse +only £787 4<i>s.</i>, leaving it a gainer of £172 16<i>s.</i>, or nearly +18 per cent. The result then between the several parties +is, the landlord receives £19,200; the tenantry pay £240 +a year less than they have hitherto paid, and at the end of +forty-nine years are exempt altogether from payment; the +gain of Irish State Authority is £172 16<i>s.</i> a year. Another +mode of putting the case shortly is as follows: The English +Exchequer lends the money to the Irish State Authority at +3-1/8 per cent. and an annuity of 4 per cent. paid during +forty-nine years will, as has been stated above, repay both +principal and interest for every £100 lent at 3-1/8 per cent.<!-- Page 103 --><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103" /> +On the sale of an estate under the Bill, the landlord receives +twenty years' purchase; the tenant pays £4 per cent. on +twenty years' purchase of the gross rental; the Irish State +Authority receives £4 per cent. on the gross rental; the +English Exchequer receives 4 per cent. on the net rental +only. The repayment of the interest due by the Irish +Authority to the English Exchequer is in no wise dependent +on the punctual payment of their annuities by the Irish +tenants, nor does the English Government in any way +figure as the landlord or creditor of the Irish tenants. The +annuities payable by the tenants are due to the Irish +Government, and collected by them, while the interest due +to the English Government is a charge on the whole of the +Irish Government funds; and further, these funds themselves +are paid into the hands of the Imperial officer, +whose duty it is to liquidate the debt due to his master, the +Imperial Exchequer, before a sixpence can be touched by +the Irish Government. It is not, then, any exaggeration to +say that the Land Purchase Bill of 1886 provides for the +settlement of the Irish Land question without any appreciable +risk to the English Exchequer, and with the advantage +of securing a fair price for the landlord, a diminution of +annual payments to the tenant with the ultimate acquisition +of the fee simple, also a gain of no inconsiderable sum to +the Irish Exchequer. In order to obviate the difficulties +attending the investigation of title and transfer of the property, +the Bill provides, as stated above, that on the completion +of the agreement for the sale between the landlord +and the Commission, the holding shall vest at once in the +tenants: it then proceeds to declare that the claims of all +persons interested in the land shall attach to the purchase-money +in the same manner as though it were land. The +duty of ascertaining these claims and distributing the +purchase-money is vested in the Land Commission, who +undertake the task in exchange for the 1 per cent. which +<!-- Page 104 --><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104" />they have, as above stated, deducted from the purchase-money +as the cost of conducting the complete transfer of +the estate from the landlord to the tenants. The difficulty +of the process of dealing with the purchase-money depends, +of course, on the intricacy of the title. If the vendor is the +sole unencumbered owner, he is put in immediate possession +of the stock constituting the price of the estate. If +there are encumbrances, as is usually the case, they are +paid off by the Land Commission. Capital sums are paid +in full; jointures and other life charges are valued according +to the usual tables. Drainage and other temporary charges +are estimated at their present value, permanent rent-charges +are valued by agreement, or in case of disagreement, by the +Land Commission; a certain minimum number of years' +purchase being assigned by the Bill to any permanent rent-charge +which amounts only to one-fifth part of the rental of +the estate on which it is charged, this provision being made +to prevent injustice being done to the holders of rent-charges +which are amply secured.</p> + +<p>It remains to notice certain other points of some importance. +The landlord entitled to require the State to +purchase his property is the immediate landlord, that is to +say, the person entitled to the receipt of the rent of the +estate; no encumbrancer can avail himself of the privilege, +the reason being that the Bill is intended to assist solvent +landlords, and not to create a new Encumbered Estates +Court. The landlord may sell this privilege, and possibly +by means of this power of sale may be able to put pressure +on his encumbrancers to reduce their claims in order to +obtain immediate payment. The Land Commission, in +their character of quasi-arbitrators between the landlord and +the Irish State Authority, have ample powers given to enable +them to do justice. If the statutory price, as settled according +to the Act, is too low, they may raise it to twenty-two +years' purchase instead of twenty years' purchase. If it is +<!-- Page 105 --><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105" />too high, they may refuse to buy unless the landlord will +reduce it to a proper price. In the congested districts +scheduled in the Bill the land, on a sale, passes to the Irish +State Authority, as landlords, and not to the tenants; the +reason being that it is considered that the tenants would be +worsened, rather than bettered, by having their small plots +vested in them in fee simple. For the same cause it is provided +that in any part of Ireland tenants of holdings under +£4 a year may object to become the owners of their +holdings, which will thereupon vest, on a sale, in the Irish +State Authority. Lastly, the opportunity is taken of +establishing a registry of title in respect of all property +dealt with under the Bill. The result of such a registry +would be that any property entered therein would ever +thereafter be capable of being transferred with the same +facility, and at as little expense, as stock in the public +funds.<!-- Page 106 --><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106" /></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14" /><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Any charge in excess of one million was to be borne by Imperial +Exchequer.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_UNIONISTquot_POSITION" id="THE_UNIONISTquot_POSITION" />THE "UNIONIST" POSITION.</h2> + +<p class="author">BY CANON MACCOLL</p> + + +<p>Is it not time that the opponents of Home Rule for Ireland +should define their position? They defeated Mr. Gladstone's +scheme last year in Parliament and in the constituencies; +and they defeated it by the promise of a +counter policy which was to consist, in brief, of placing +Ireland on the same footing as Great Britain in respect to +Local Government; or, if there was to be any difference, it +was to be in the direction of a larger and more generous +measure for Ireland than for the rest of the United Kingdom. +This certainly was the policy propounded by the +distinguished leader of the Liberal Unionists in his speech +at Belfast, in November, 1885, and repeated in his electoral +speeches last year. In the Belfast speech Lord Hartington +said: "My opinion is that it is desirable for Irishmen that +institutions of local self-government such as are possessed +by England and Scotland, and such as we hope to give in +the next session in greater extent to England and Scotland, +should also be extended to Ireland." But this extension of +local self-government to Ireland would require, in Lord +Hartington's opinion, a fundamental change in the fabric of +Irish Government. "I would not shrink," he says, "from +a great and bold reconstruction of the Irish Government," +a reconstruction leading up gradually to some real and +<!-- Page 107 --><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107" />substantial form of Home Rule. His Lordship's words +are: "I submit with some confidence to you these principles, +which I have endeavoured to lay down, and upon +which, I think, the extension of Local Government in +Ireland must proceed. First, you must have some adequate +guarantees both for the maintenance of the essential unity +of the Empire and for the protection of the minority in +Ireland. And, secondly, you must also admit this principle: +the work of complete self-government of Ireland, the +grant of full control over the management of its own affairs, +is not a grant that can be made by any Parliament of this +country in a day. It must be the work of continuous and +careful effort." Elsewhere in the same speech Lord Hartington +says: "Certainly I am of opinion that nothing can +be done in the direction of giving Ireland anything like +complete control over her own affairs either in a day, or a +session, or probably in a Parliament." "Complete control +over her own affairs," "the work of complete self-government +of Ireland, the grant of full control over the management +of its own affairs:" this is the policy which Lord +Hartington proclaimed in Ulster, the promise which he, the +proximate Liberal leader, held out to Ireland on the eve of +the General Election of 1885. It was a policy to be begun +"in the next session," though not likely to be completed +"in a day, or a session, or probably in a Parliament."</p> + +<p>Next to Mr. Gladstone and Lord Hartington the most +important member of the Liberal party at that time was +undoubtedly Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr. Chamberlain's +Irish policy was proclaimed in the <i>Radical Programme, +</i> which was published before the General Election as the +Radical leader's manifesto to the constituencies. This +scheme, which Mr. Chamberlain had submitted as a +responsible minister to the Cabinet of Mr. Gladstone in +June, 1885, culminated in a National Council which was to +control a series of local bodies and govern the whole of<!-- Page 108 --><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108" /> +Ireland. "His National Council was to consist of two +orders; one-third of its members were to be elected by the +owners of property, and two-thirds by ratepayers. The +National Council also was to be a single one, and Ulster +was not to have a separate Council. As the Council was +to be charged with the supervision and legislation about +education, which is the burning question between Catholics +and Protestants, it is clear that Mr. Chamberlain at that +time contemplated no special protection for Ulster."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15" /><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Moreover, +in a letter dated April 23rd, 1886, and published in +the <i>Daily News</i> of May 17th, 1886, Mr. Chamberlain +declared that he "had not changed his opinion in the least" +since his first public declaration on Irish policy in 1874. +"I then said that I was in favour of the principles of Home +Rule, as defined by Mr. Butt, but that I would do nothing +which would weaken in any way Imperial unity, and that I +did not agree with all the details of his plan.... Mr. Butt's +proposals were in the nature of a federal scheme, and differ +entirely from Mr. Gladstone's, which are on the lines of +Colonial independence. Mr. Butt did not propose to give +up Irish representation at Westminster." It is true that Mr. +Butt did not propose to give up Irish representation at +Westminster; but it is also true that he proposed to give +it up in the sense in which Mr. Chamberlain wishes to +retain it. Mr. Butt's words, in the debate to which Mr. +Chamberlain refers, are, "that the House should meet <i>without +Irish members</i> for the discussion of English and Scotch +business; and when there was any question affecting the +Empire at large, Irish members might be summoned to +attend. He saw no difficulty in the matter."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16" /><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>There is no need to quote Mr. Gladstone's declarations +<!-- Page 109 --><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109" />on the Irish question at the General Election of 1885, and +previously. He has been accused of springing a surprise +on the country when he proposed Home Rule in the +beginning of 1886. That is not, at all events, the opinion +of Lord Hartington. In a speech delivered at the Eighty +Club in March, 1886, his Lordship, with his usual manly +candour, declared as follows: "I am not going to say one +word of complaint or charge against Mr. Gladstone for the +attitude which he has taken on this question. I think no +one who has read or heard, during a long series of years, the +declarations of Mr. Gladstone on the question of self-government +for Ireland, can be surprised at the tone of his +present declarations.... When I look back to those +declarations that Mr. Gladstone made in Parliament, +which have not been unfrequent; when I look back to the +increased definiteness given to those declarations in his +address to the electors of Midlothian, and in his Midlothian +speeches; I say, when I consider all these things, +I feel that I have not, and that no one has, any right to complain +of the tone of the declarations which Mr. Gladstone +has recently made upon this subject."</p> + +<p>So much as to the state of Liberal opinion on the Irish +question at the General Election of 1885. The leaders of +all sections of the party put the Irish question in the foreground +of their programme for the session of 1886. We all +remember Sir Charles Dilke's public announcement that +he and Mr. Chamberlain were going to visit Ireland in the +autumn of 1885, to study the Irish question on the spot, +with a view to maturing a plan for the first session of the +new Parliament.</p> + +<p>What about the Conservative party? Lord Salisbury's +Newport speech was avowedly the programme of his Cabinet. +It was the Conservative answer to Mr. Gladstone's Midlothian +manifesto. He dealt with the Irish question in +guarded language; but it was language which plainly showed +<!-- Page 110 --><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110" />that he recognized, not less clearly than the Liberal leaders, +the crucial change which the assimilation of the Irish +franchise to that of Great Britain had wrought in Irish +policy. His keen eye saw at once the important bearing +which that enfranchisement had on the traditional policy of +coercion: "You had passed an Act of Parliament, giving +in unexampled abundance, and with unexampled freedom, +supreme power to the great mass of the Irish people—supreme +power as regards their own locality.... To my +mind the renewal of exceptional legislation against a population +whom you had treated legislatively to this marked +confidence was so gross in its inconsistency that you could +not possibly hope, during the few remaining months that +were at your disposal before the present Parliament expired, +to renew any legislation which expressed on one side a +distrust of what on the other side your former legislation +had so strongly emphasized. The only result of your doing +it would have been, not that you would have passed the +Act, but that you would have promoted by the very +inconsistency of the position that you were occupying—by +the untenable character of the arguments that you were +advancing—you would have produced so intense an exasperation +amongst the Irish people, that you would +have caused ten times more evil, ten times more resistance +to law than your Crimes Act, even if it had +been renewed, would possibly have been able to check." +Lord Salisbury went on to say that "the effect of the +Crimes Act had been very much exaggerated," and that +"boycotting is of that character which legislation has very +great difficulty in reaching." "Boycotting does not operate +through outrage. Boycotting is the act of a large majority +of a community resolving to do a number of things which +are themselves legal, and which are only illegal by the intention +with which they are done."</p> + +<p>Next to Lord Salisbury the most prominent member of +<!-- Page 111 --><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111" />the Conservative party at that date was Lord Randolph +Churchill. On the 3rd of January, 1885, when it was +rumoured that Mr. Gladstone's Government, then in office, +intended to renew a few of the clauses of the Crimes Act, +Lord Randolph Churchill made a speech at Bow against +any such policy. The following quotation will suffice as a +specimen of his opinion: "It comes to this, that the policy +of the Government in Ireland is to declare on the one hand, +by the passing of the Reform Bill, that the Irish people are +perfectly capable of exercising for the advantage of the +Empire the highest rights and privileges of citizenship; and +by the proposal to renew the Crimes Act they simultaneously +declare, on the other hand, that the Irish people +are perfectly incapable of performing for the advantage of +society the lowest and most ordinary duties of citizenship.... All +I can say is that, if such an incoherent, such a +ridiculous, such a dangerously ridiculous combination of +acts can be called a policy, then, thank God, the Conservative +party have no policy."</p> + +<p>Within a few months of the delivery of that speech a +Conservative Government was in office, with Lord Randolph +Churchill as its leader in the House of Commons; and one +of the first acts of the new leader was to separate himself +ostentatiously from the Irish policy of Lord Spencer and +from the policy of coercion in general. Lord Randolph +Churchill, as the organ of the Government in the House of +Commons, repudiated in scornful language any atom of +sympathy with the policy pursued by Lord Spencer in +Ireland; and Lord Carnarvon, the new Viceroy, declared +that "the era of coercion" was past, and that the Conservative +Government intended to govern Ireland by the ordinary +law. Lord Carnarvon, in addition, and very much to his +credit, sought and obtained an interview with Mr. Parnell, +and discussed with him, in sympathetic language, the +question of Home Rule. In his own explanation of this +<!-- Page 112 --><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112" />interview Lord Carnarvon admitted that he desired to see +established in Ireland some form of self-government which +would satisfy "the national sentiment."</p> + +<p>It is idle, therefore, to assert that the question of Home +Rule for Ireland, in some form or other, was sprung on the +country as a surprise by Mr. Gladstone in the beginning of +1886. The question was brought prominently before the +public in the General Election of 1885 as one that must be +faced in the new Parliament. All parties were committed +to that policy, and the only difference was as to the character +and limits of the measure of self-government to be granted +to Ireland; whether it was to be large enough to satisfy +"the national sentiment," as Lord Carnarvon, Mr. Chamberlain, +Mr. Gladstone, and others desired; or whether it was to +consist only of a system of county boards under the control of +a reformed Dublin Castle. There was a general agreement +that the grant to Ireland of electoral equality with England +necessitated equality of political treatment, and that, above +all things, there was to be no renewal of the stale policy of +Coercion until the Irish people had got an opportunity of +proving or disproving their fitness for self-government, +unless, indeed, there should happen to be a recrudescence +of crime which would render exceptional legislation necessary. +The election of 1886 turned almost entirely on the +question of Irish government, and it is not too much to say +that Conservatives and Liberal Unionists vied with Home +Rulers in repudiating a return to the policy of coercion until +the effect of some kind of self-government had been tried. +Of course, there were the usual platitudes about the necessity +of maintaining law and order; but there was a <i>consensus</i> of +profession that coercion should not be resorted to unless +there was a fresh outbreak of crime and disorder in Ireland.</p> + +<p>Such were the professions of the opponents of Home +Rule in 1885 and in 1886. They have now been in office +for eighteen months, and what do we behold? They have +<!-- Page 113 --><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113" />passed a perpetual Coercion Bill for Ireland, and the question +of any kind of self-government has been relegated to an +uncertain future. In his recent speech at Birmingham +(Sept. 29), Mr. Chamberlain has declared that the question +is not ripe for solution, and that the question of disestablishment, +in Wales, Scotland, and England successively, as +well as the questions of Local Option, local government for +Great Britain, and of the safety of life at sea, must take +precedence of it. That means the postponement of the +reform of Irish Government to the Greek Kalends. What +justification can be made for this change of front? No +valid justification has been offered. So far from there +having been any increase of crime in the interval, there +has been a very marked decrease. When the Coercion +Bill received the royal assent last August, Ireland was more +free from crime than it had been for many years past. +Nothing had happened to account for the return to the +policy of coercion in violation of the promise to try the +experiment of conciliation. The National League was +in full vigour in 1885-1886, when the policy of coercion +was abandoned; boycotting was just as prevalent, and +outrages were much more numerous.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances it is the opponents of Home +Rule, not its advocates, who owe an explanation to the +public. They defeated Mr. Gladstone's Bill, but promised +a Bill of their own. Where is their Bill? We hear nothing +of it. They have made a complete change of front. They +now tell us that the grievance of Ireland is entirely economic, +and that the true solution of the Irish question is the abolition +of dual ownership in land combined with a firm administration +of the existing law. England and Scotland are to have +a large measure of local government next year; but Ireland +is to wait till a more convenient season. A more complete +reversal of the policy proclaimed last summer by the so-called +Unionists cannot be imagined.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 114 --><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114" />Still, however, the "Unionists" hope to be able some +day to offer some form of self-government to Ireland. For +party purposes they are wise in postponing that day to the +latest possible period, for its advent will probably dissolve +the union of the "Unionists." Lord Salisbury, Lord +Hartington, Mr. Bright, and Mr. Chamberlain cannot +agree upon any scheme which all can accept without a +public recantation of previous professions. Mr. Bright is +opposed to Home Rule "in any shape or form." Mr. +Chamberlain, on the other hand, is in favour of a great +National Council, on Mr. Butt's lines or on the lines +of the Canadian plan; either of which would give the +National Council control over education and the maintenance +of law and order. Latterly, indeed, Mr. Chamberlain +has advocated a separate treatment for Ulster. But +the first act of an Ulster Provincial Assembly would probably +be to declare the union of that Province with the rest +of Ireland. Ulster, be it remembered, returns a majority +of Nationalists to the Imperial Parliament. To exclude +Ulster from any share in the settlement offered to the other +three Provinces would therefore be impracticable; and +Mr. Bright has lately expressed his opinion emphatically in +that sense. In any case, Lord Hartington could be no party +to any scheme so advanced as Mr. Chamberlain's. For +although he declared, in his Belfast speech, that "complete +self-government" was the goal of his policy for Ireland, he +was careful to explain that "the extension of Irish management +over Irish affairs must be a growth from small beginnings." +But this "growth from small beginnings" would +be, in Lord Salisbury's opinion, a very dangerous and mischievous +policy. The establishment of self-government +in Ireland, as distinct from what is commonly known +as Home Rule, he pronounced in his Newport speech to +be "a very difficult question;" and in the following passage +he placed his finger upon the kernel of the difficulty:—<!-- Page 115 --><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115" /> +"A local authority is more exposed to the temptation, +and has more of the facility for enabling a majority to be +unjust to the minority, than is the case when the authority +derives its sanction and extends its jurisdiction over a wide +area. That is one of the weaknesses of local authorities. +In a large central authority the wisdom of several parts of +the country will correct the folly or the mistakes of one. In +a local authority that correction to a much greater extent +is wanting; and it would be impossible to leave that out +of sight in the extension of any such local authority to +Ireland."</p> + +<p>This seems to me a much wiser and more statesmanlike +view than a system of elective boards scattered broadcast +over Ireland. A multitude of local boards all over Ireland, +without a recognized central authority to control them, +would inevitably become facile instruments in the hands +of the emissaries of disorder and sedition. And, even apart +from any such sinister influences, they would be almost +certain to yield to the temptation of being oppressive, +extravagant, and corrupt, if there were no executive power +to command their confidence and enforce obedience. +Without the previous creation of some authority of that +kind it would be sheer madness to offer Ireland the fatal +boon of local self-government. It would enormously +increase without conciliating the power of the Nationalists, +and would make the administration of Ireland by constitutional +means simply impossible. The policy of the Liberal +Unionists is thus much too large or much too small. It is +too small to conciliate, and therefore too large to be given +with safety. All these proposed concessions are liable to +one insuperable objection; they would each and all enable +the Irish to extort Home Rule, but under circumstances +which would rob it of its grace and repel gratitude. Mill +has some admirable observations bearing on this subject, +and I venture to quote the following passage: "The +<!-- Page 116 --><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116" />greatest imperfection of popular local institutions, and +the chief cause of the failure which so often attends them, +is the low calibre of the men by whom they are almost +always carried on. That these should be of a very miscellaneous +character is, indeed, part of the usefulness of the +institution; it is that circumstance chiefly which renders +it a school of political capacity and general intelligence. +But a school supposes teachers as well as scholars; the +utility of the instruction greatly depends on its bringing +inferior minds into contact with superior, a contact which +in the ordinary course of life is altogether exceptional, and +the want of which contributes more than anything else to +keep the generality of mankind on one level of contented +ignorance.... It is quite hopeless to induce persons of a +high class, either socially or intellectually, to take a share of +local administration in a corner by piecemeal as members +of a Paving Board or a Drainage Commission."<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17" /><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Mill goes on to argue that it is essential to the safe +working of any scheme of local self-government that it +should be under the control of a central authority in +harmony with public opinion.</p> + +<p>When the "Unionists" begin, if they ever do begin, +seriously to deliberate on the question of self-government +for Ireland, they will find that they have only two practicable +alternatives—the maintenance of the present system, or +some scheme of Home Rule on the lines of Mr. Gladstone's +much misunderstood Bill. And the ablest men among the +"Unionists" are beginning to perceive this. The <i>Spectator</i> +has in a recent article implored Mr. Chamberlain to desist +from any further proposal in favour of self-government for +Ireland, because the inevitable result would be to split up +the Unionist party; and Mr. Chamberlain, as we have seen, +has accepted the advice. Another very able and very +logical opponent of Home Rule has candidly avowed that +<!-- Page 117 --><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117" />the only alternative to Home Rule is the perpetuation of +"things as they are." Ireland, he thinks, "possesses none +of the conditions necessary for local self-government." +His own view, therefore, is "that in Ireland, as in France, +an honest, centralized administration of impartial officials, +and not local self-government, would best meet the real +wants of the people."</p> + +<p>"The name of 'Self-government' has a natural fascination +for Englishmen; but a policy which cannot satisfy the +wishes of Home Rulers, which may—it is likely enough—be +of no benefit to the Irish people, which will certainly +weaken the Government in its contest with lawlessness and +oppression, is not a policy which obviously commends itself +to English good sense."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18" /><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Well may this distinguished "Supporter of things as they +are" declare: "The maintenance of the Union [on such +terms] must necessarily turn out as severe a task as ever +taxed a nation's energies; for to maintain the Union with +any good effect, means that, while refusing to accede to +the wishes of millions of Irishmen, we must sedulously do +justice to every fair demand from Ireland; must strenuously, +and without fear or favour, assert the equal rights of landlords +and tenants, of Protestants and Catholics; and must, +at the same time, put down every outrage and reform every +abuse."</p> + +<p>What hope is there of this? Our only guide to the +probabilities of the future is our experience of the past +And what has that been in Ireland? In every year since +the Legislative Union there have been multitudes of men +in England as upright, as enlightened, as well-intentioned +towards Ireland, as Professor Dicey, and with better +opportunities of translating their thoughts into acts. Yet +what has been the result? <i>Si monumenlum requiris circum<!-- Page 118 --><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118" />spice</i>. +Behold Ireland at this moment, and examine every +year of its history since the Union. Do the annals of any +constitutional Government in the world present so portentous +a monument of Parliamentary failure, so vivid an +example of a moral and material ruin "paved with good +intentions"? Therein lies the pathos of it. Not from +malice, not from cruelty, not from wanton injustice, not +even from callous indifference to suffering and wrong, does +our misgovernment of Ireland come. If the evil had its +root in deliberate wrong-doing on the part of England it +would probably have been cured long ago. But each +generation, while freely confessing the sins of its fathers, +has protested its own innocence and boasted of its own +achievements, and then, with a pharisaic sense of rectitude, +has complacently pointed to some inscrutable flaw in the +Irish character as the key to the Irish problem. The +generation which passed the Act of Union, oblivious of +British pledges solemnly given and lightly broken, wondered +what had become of the prosperity and contentment which +the promoters of the Union had promised to Ireland. The +next generation made vicarious penance, and preferred the +enactment of Catholic emancipation to the alternative of +civil war; and then wondered in its turn that Ireland still +remained unpacified. Then came a terrible famine, followed +by evictions on a scale so vast and cruel that the late Sir +Robert Peel declared that no parallel could be found for +such a tale of inhumanity in "the records of any country, +civilized or barbarous." Another generation, pluming itself +on its enlightened views and kind intentions, passed the +Encumbered Estates Act, which delivered the Irish tenants +over to the tender mercies of speculators and money-lenders; +and then Parliament for a time closed its eyes and ears, and +relied upon force alone to keep Ireland quiet. It rejected +every suggestion of reform in the Land laws; and a great +Minister, himself an Irish landlord, dismissed the whole +<!-- Page 119 --><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119" />subject in the flippant epigram that "tenant-right was landlord-wrong." +Since then the Irish Church has been disestablished, +and two Land Acts have been passed; yet we +seem to be as far as ever from the pacification of Ireland. +Surely it is time to inquire whether the evil is not inherent +in our system of governing Ireland, and whether there is +any other cure than that which De Beaumont suggested, +namely, the destruction of the system. It is probable that +there is not in all London a more humane or a more kind-hearted +man than Lord Salisbury. Yet Lord Salisbury's +Government will do some harsh and inequitable things in +Ireland this winter, just as Liberal Governments have done +during their term of office. The fault is not in the men, but +in the system which they have to administer. I see no +reason to doubt that Sir M. Hicks-Beach did the best he +could under the circumstances; but, unfortunately, bad is +the best. In a conversation which I had with Dr. Döllinger +while he was in full communion with his Church, I ventured +to ask him whether he thought that a new Pope, of Liberal +ideas, force of character, and commanding ability, would +make any great difference in the Papal system. "No," he +replied, "the Curial system is the growth of centuries, and +there can be no change of any consequence while it lasts. +Many a Pope has begun with brave projects of reform; but +the struggle has been brief, and the end has been invariably +the same: the Pope has been forced to succumb. His +<i>entourage</i> has been too much for him. He has found himself +enclosed in a system which was too strong for him, +wheel within wheel; and while the system lasts the most +enlightened ideas and the best intentions are in the long +run unavailing." This criticism applies, <i>mutatis mutandis</i>, +to what may be called the Curial system of Dublin Castle. +It is a species of political Ultramontanism, exercising +supreme power behind the screen of an official infallibility +on which there is practically no check, since Parliament has +<!-- Page 120 --><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120" />never hitherto refused to grant it any power which it demanded +for enforcing its decrees.</p> + +<p>There is, moreover, another consideration which must +convince any dispassionate mind which ponders it, that the +British Parliament is incompetent to manage Irish affairs, +and must become increasingly incompetent year by year. +In ordinary circumstances Parliament sits about twenty-seven +weeks out of the fifty-two. Five out of the twenty-seven +may safely be subtracted for holidays, debates on the +Address, and other debates apart from ordinary business. +That leaves twenty-two weeks, and out of these two nights +a week are at the disposal of the Government and three at +the disposal of private members; leaving in all forty-four +days for the Government and sixty-six for private members. +Into those forty-four nights Government must compress all +its yearly programme of legislation for the whole of the +British Empire, from the settlement of some petty dispute +about land in the Hebrides, to some question of high +policy in Egypt, India, or other portions of the Queen's +world-wide empire; and all this amidst endless distractions, +enforced attendance through dreary debates and vapid talk, +and a running fire of cross-examination from any volunteer +questioner out of the six hundred odd members who sit +outside the Government circle. The consequence is, that +Parliament is getting less able every year to overtake the +mass of business which comes before it. Each year contributes +its quota of inevitable arrears to the accumulated +mass of previous Sessions, and the process will go on multiplying +in increasing ratio as the complex and multiform +needs of modern life increase. The large addition recently +made to the electorate of the United Kingdom is already +forcing a crop of fresh subjects on the attention of Parliament, +as well as presenting old ones from new points of +view. Plans of devolution and Grand Committees will fail +to cope with this evil. To overcome it we need some +<!-- Page 121 --><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121" />organic change in our present Parliamentary system, some +form of decentralization, which shall leave the Imperial +Parliament supreme over all subordinate bodies, yet relegate +to the historic and geographical divisions of the United +Kingdom the management severally of their own local +affairs.</p> + +<p>I should have better hope from governing Ireland (if it +were possible) as we govern India, than from the present +Unionist method of leaving "things as they are." A Viceroy +surrounded by a Council of trained officials, and in semi-independence +of Parliament, would have settled the Irish +question, land and all, long ago. But imagine India +governed on the model of Ireland: the Viceroy and the +most important member of his Government changing with +every change of Administration at Westminster;<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19" /><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> his +Council and the official class in general consisting almost +exclusively of native Mussulmans, deeply prejudiced by +religious and traditional enmity against the great mass of +the population; himself generally subordinate to his Chief +Secretary, and exposed to the daily criticism of an ignorant +Parliament and to the determined hostility of eighty-six +Hindoos, holding seats in Parliament as the representatives +of the vast majority of the people of India, and resenting +bitterly the domination of the hereditary oppressors of their +race. How long could the Government of India be carried +on under such conditions?</p> + +<p>Viewing it all round, then, it must be admitted that the +problem of governing Ireland while leaving things as they are +<!-- Page 122 --><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122" />is a sufficiently formidable one. Read the remarkable admissions +which the facts have forced from intelligent opponents +of Home Rule like Mr. Dicey, and add to them all the other +evils which are rooted in our existing system of Irish government, +and then consider what hope there is, under "things +as they are," of "sedulously doing justice to every demand +from Ireland," "strenuously, and without fear or favour, +asserting the equal rights of landlords and tenants, Protestants +and Catholics," "putting down every outrage, and +reforming every abuse;" and all the "while refusing to +accede to the wishes of millions of Irishmen" for a fundamental +change in a political arrangement that has for +centuries produced all the mischief which the so-called +Unionist party are forced to admit, and much more besides, +while it has at the same time frustrated every serious endeavour +to bring about the better state of things which they +expect from—what? From "things as they are!" As well +expect grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles. While the +tree remains the same, no amount of weeding, or pruning, +or manuring, or change of culture, will make it bring forth +different fruit. Mr. Dicey, among others, has demolished +what Lord Beaconsfield used to call the "bit-by-bit" reformers +of Irish Government—those who would administer +homoeopathic doses of local self-government, but always +under protest that the supply was to stop short of what +would satisfy the hunger of the patient. But a continuance +of "things as they are," gilded with a thin tissue of benevolent +hopes and aspirations, is scarcely a more promising +remedy for the ills of Ireland. Is it not time to try some +new treatment—one which has been tried in similar cases, +and always with success? One only policy has never been +tried in Ireland—honest Home Rule.</p> + +<p>Certainly, if Home Rule is to be refused till all the +prophets of evil are refuted, Ireland must go without Home +Rule for ever. "If the sky fall, we shall catch larks." But +<!-- Page 123 --><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123" />he would be a foolish bird-catcher who waited for that +contingency. And not less foolish is the statesman who +sits still till every conceivable objection to his policy has +been mathematically refuted in advance, and every wild +prediction falsified by the event; for that would ensure +his never moving at all. <i>Sedet æternumque sedebit</i>. A +proper enough attitude, perhaps, on the part of an eristic +philosopher speculating on politics in the silent shade of +academic groves, but hardly suitable for a practical politician +who has to take action on one of the most burning questions +of our time. Human affairs are not governed by mathematical +reasoning. You cannot demonstrate the precise +results of any legislative measure beforehand as you can +demonstrate the course of a planet in the solar system. +"Probability," as Bishop Butler says, "is the guide of life;" +and an older philosopher than Butler has warned us that +to demand demonstrative proof in the sphere of contingent +matter is the same kind of absurdity as to demand probable +reasoning in mathematics. You cannot confute a prophet +before the event; you can only disbelieve him. The +advocates of Home Rule believe that their policy would +in general have an exactly contrary effect to that predicted +by their opponents. In truth, every act of legislation is, +before experience, amenable to such destructive criticism +as these critics urge against Home Rule. I have not a +doubt that they could have made out an unanswerable +"case" against the Great Charter at Runnymede; and they +would find it easy to prove on <i>à priori</i> grounds that the +British Constitution is one of the most absurd, mischievous, +and unworkable instruments that ever issued from human +brains or from the evolution of events. By their method +of reasoning the Great Charter and other fundamental +portions of the Constitution ought to have brought the +Government of the British Empire to a deadlock long ago. +Every suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, every Act of<!-- Page 124 --><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124" /> +Attainder, every statute for summary trial and conviction +before justices of the peace, is a violation of the fundamental +article of the Constitution, which requires that no +man shall be imprisoned or otherwise punished except after +lawful trial by his peers.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20" /><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Consider also the magazines of +explosive materials which lie hidden in the constitutional +prerogatives of the Crown, if they could only be ignited by +the match of an ingenious theorist. The Crown, as Lord +Sherbrooke once somewhat irreverently expressed it, "can +turn every cobbler in the land into a peer," and could thus +put an end, as the Duke of Wellington declared, to "the +Constitution of this country."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21" /><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> "The Crown is not bound +by Act of Parliament unless named therein by special and +particular words."[22] The Crown can make peace or war +without consulting Parliament, can by secret treaty saddle +the nation with the most perilous obligations, and give +away all such portions of the empire as do not rest on +Statute. The prerogative of mercy, too, would enable an +eccentric Sovereign, aided by an obsequious Minister, to +open the jails and let all the convicted criminals in the land +loose upon society.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22" /><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> But criticism which proves too much +in effect proves nothing.</p> + +<p>In short, every stage in the progress of constitutional +reform has, in matter of fact, been marked by similar predictions +falsified by results, and the prophets who condemn +Home Rule have no better credentials; indeed, much +worse, for they proclaim the miserable failure of "things +as they are," whereas their predecessors were in their day +satisfied with things as they were.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23" /><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a><!-- Page 125 --><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125" /></p> + +<p>It is, high time, therefore, to call upon the opponents +of Home Rule to tell us plainly where they stand. They +<!-- Page 126 --><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126" />claim a mandate from the country for their policy. They +neither asked nor received a mandate to support the +system of Government which prevailed in Ireland at the +last election, and still less the policy of coercion which they +have substituted for that system. Do they mean to go back +or forward? They cannot stand still. They have already +discovered that one act of repression leads to another, and +they will find ere long that they have no alternative except +Home Rule or the suppression of Parliamentary Government +in Ireland. Men may talk lightly of the ease with +which eighty-six Irish members may be kept in order in +Parliament. They forget that the Irish people are behind +the Irish members. How is Ireland to be governed on +Parliamentary principles if the voice of her representatives +is to be forcibly silenced or disregarded? Could even +Yorkshire or Lancashire be governed permanently in that +way? Let it be observed that we have now reached this +pass, namely, that the opponents of Home Rule are opposed +to the Irish members, not on any particular form of self-government +for Ireland, but on any form; in other words, +<!-- Page 127 --><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127" />they resist the all but unanimous demand of Ireland for +what "Unionists" of all parties declared a year ago to be +a reasonable demand. No candidate at the last election +ventured to ask the suffrages of any constituency as "a supporter +of things as they are." Yet that is practically the +attitude now assumed by the Ministerial party, both Conservatives +and Liberal Unionists. It is an attitude of which +the country is getting weary, as the bye-elections have +shown. But the "Unionists," it must be admitted, are in +a sore dilemma. Their strength, such as it is, lies in doing +nothing for the reform of Irish Government. Their bond +of union consists of nothing else but opposition to Mr. +Gladstone's policy. They dare not attempt to formulate +any policy of their own, knowing well that they would go +to pieces in the process. Their hope and speculation is +that something may happen to remove Mr. Gladstone from +the political arena before the next dissolution. But, after +all, Mr. Gladstone did not create the Irish difficulty. It +preceded him and will survive him, unless it is settled to +the satisfaction of the Irish people before his departure. +And the difficulty of the final settlement will increase with +every year of delay. Nor will the difficulty be confined +to Ireland. The Irish question is already reacting upon +kindred, though not identical, problems in England and +Scotland, and the longer it is kept open, so much the worse +will it be for what are generally regarded as Conservative +interests. It is not the Moderate Liberals or Conservatives +who are gaining ground by the prolongation of the controversy, +and the disappearance of Mr. Gladstone from the +scene would have the effect of removing from the forces of +extreme Radicalism a conservative influence, which his +political opponents will discover when it is too late to +restore it. Their regret will then be as unavailing as the +lament of William of Deloraine over his fallen foe—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"I'd give the lands of Deloraine<br /></span> +<span>Dark Musgrave were alive again."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><!-- Page 128 --><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128" />The Irish landlords have already begun to realize the +mistake they made when they rejected Mr. Gladstone's +policy of Home Rule and Land Purchase. It is the old +story of the Sibyl's books. No British Government will +ever again offer such terms to the Irish landlords as they +refused to accept from Mr. Gladstone. On the other hand, +Home Rule is inevitable. Can any reflective person really +suppose that the democracy of Great Britain will consent +to refuse to share with the Irish people the boon of self-government +which will be offered to themselves next year? +Any attempt to exclude the Irish from the benefits of such a +scheme, after all the promises of the last general election, +would almost certainly wreck the government; for constituencies +have ways and means of impressing their wills on +their representatives in Parliament even without a dissolution. +If, on the other hand, Ireland should be included in a general +scheme of local Government, the question of who shall +control the police will arise. In Great Britain the police, +of course, will be under local control. To refuse this to +Ireland would be to offer a boon with a stigma attached +to it. The Irish members agreed to let the control of the +constabulary remain, under Mr. Gladstone's scheme, for some +years in the hands of the British Government; but they would +not agree to this while Dublin Castle ruled the country. +Moreover, the formidable difficulty suggested by Lord Salisbury +and Mr. John Stuart Mill (see pp. 115, 116) would appear +the moment men began seriously to consider the question of +local government for Ireland. The government of Dublin +Castle would have to go, but something would have to be put +in its place; and when that point has been reached it will +probably be seen that nothing much better or safer can be +found than some plan on the main lines of Mr. Gladstone's +Bill.<!-- Page 129 --><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129" /></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15" /><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Speech at Manchester, May 7, 1886, by Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, who +was a member of the Cabinet to which Mr. Chamberlain's scheme was +submitted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16" /><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Hansard</i>, vol. 220, pp. 708, 715.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17" /><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Considerations on Representative Government</i>, p. 281.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18" /><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Dicey's <i>England's Case against Home Rule</i>, pp. 25-31, and +Letter in <i>Spectator</i> of September 17th, 1887.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19" /><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> From the beginning of 1880 till now there have been six Viceroys +and ten Chief Secretaries in Dublin—namely, Duke of Marlborough, +Earls Cowper and Spencer, Earls of Carnarvon and Aberdeen, and the +Marquis of Londonderry; Mr. Lowther, Mr. Forster, Lord F. Cavendish, +Mr. Trevelyan, Mr. Campbell Bannerman, Sir W. Hart Dyke, +Mr. W.H. Smith, Mr. J. Morley, Sir M. Hicks-Beach, and Mr. A. +Balfour. A fine example, truly, of stable government and continuous +policy!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20" /><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Creasy's <i>Imperial and Colonial Constitutions of the Britannic +Empire,</i> p. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21" /><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> May's <i>Const. Hist.</i>, i. 313.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22" /><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Blackstone's <i>Commentaries</i>, by Stephen, ii. 491, 492, 497, 507.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23" /><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> We need not go far afield for illustrations. A few samples will +suffice. "It was natural," says Mill (<i>Rep. Gov.</i>, p. 311), "to feel +strong doubts before trial had been made how such a provision [as the +Supreme Court of the United States] would work; whether the tribunal +would have the courage to exercise its constitutional power; if it did, +whether it would exercise it wisely, and whether the Government would +consent peaceably to its decision. The discussions on the American +Constitution, before its final adoption, give evidence that these natural +apprehensions were strongly felt; but they are now entirely quieted, +since, during the two generations and more which have subsequently +elapsed, nothing has occurred to verify them, though there have at +times been disputes of considerable acrimony, and which became the +badges of parties respecting the limits of the authority of the Federal +and State Governments." The Austrian opponents of Home Rule in +Hungary predicted that it would lead straight to separation. The +opponents of the Canadian Constitution prophesied that Canada would +in a few years be annexed to the United States; and Home Rule in +Australia was believed by able statesmen to involve independence at an +early date. Mr. Dicey himself tells us "that the wisest thinkers of the +eighteenth century (including Burke) held that the independence of the +American Colonies meant the irreparable ruin of Great Britain. There +were apparently solid reasons for this belief: experience has proved +it to be without foundation." The various changes in our own Constitution, +and even in our Criminal Code, were believed by "men of light +and leading" at the time to portend national ruin. All the judges in +the land, all the bankers, and the professions generally, petitioned +against alteration in the law which sent children of ten to the gallows +for the theft of a pocket-handkerchief. The great Lord Ellenborough +declared in the House of Lords that "the learned judges were unanimously +agreed" that any mitigation in that law would imperil "the +public security." "My Lords," he exclaimed, "if we suffer this Bill +to pass we shall not know where we stand; we shall not know whether +we are on our heads or on our feet." Mr. Perceval, when leader of the +House of Commons in 1807, declared that "he could not conceive a +time or change of circumstances which would render further concessions +to the Catholics consistent with the safety of the State." (<i>Croker +Papers</i>, i. 12.) Croker was a very astute man; but here is his forecast +of the Reform Act of 1832: "No kings, no lords, no inequalities in the +social system; all will be levelled to the plane of the petty shopkeepers +and small farmers: this, perhaps, not without bloodshed, but certainly +by confiscations and persecutions." "There can be no longer any +doubt that the Reform Bill is a stepping-stone in England to a Republic, +and in Ireland to separation." Croker met the Queen in 1832, considered +her very good-looking, but thought it not unlikely that "she +may live to be plain Miss Guelph." Even Sir Robert Peel wrote: "If +I am to be believed, I foresee revolution as the consequence of this +Bill;" and he "felt that it had ceased to be an object of ambition to +any man of equable and consistent mind to enter into the service of the +Crown." And as late as 1839, so robust a character as Sir James +Graham thought the world was coming to an end because the young +Queen gave her confidence to a Whig Minister. "I begin to share all +your apprehensions and forebodings," he writes to Croker, "with regard +to the probable issue of the present struggle. The Crown in alliance +with Democracy baffles every calculation on the balance of power in our +mixed form of Government. Aristocracy and Church cannot contend +against Queen and people mixed; they must yield in the first instance, +when the Crown, unprotected, will meet its fate, and the accustomed +round of anarchy and despotism will run its course." And he prays +that he may "lie cold before that dreadful day." (<i>Ibid.</i>, ii. 113, 140, +176, 181, 356.) Free Trade created a similar panic. "Good God!" +Croker exclaimed, "what a chaos of anarchy and misery do I foresee +in every direction, from so comparatively small a beginning as changing +an <i>average</i> duty of 8<i>s.</i> into a <i>fixed</i> duty of 8<i>s.</i>, the fact being that the +fixed duty means <i>no duty at all</i>; and <i>no duty at all</i> will be the overthrow +of the existing social and political system of our country!" (<i>Ibid.</i>, +iii. 13.) And what have become of Mr. Lowe's gloomy vaticinations +as to the terrible consequences of the very moderate Reform Bill of +1866, followed as it was by a much more democratic measure?</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_LAWYERS_OBJECTIONS_TO" id="A_LAWYERS_OBJECTIONS_TO" />A LAWYER'S OBJECTIONS TO +HOME RULE.</h2> + +<p class="author">BY E.L. GODKIN.</p> + + +<p>Mr. Dicey in his <i>Case against Home Rule</i> does me the +honour to refer to an article which I wrote a year ago +on "American Home Rule,"<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24" /><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> expressing in one place +"disagreement in the general conclusion to which the +article is intended to lead," and in another "inability to +follow the inference" which he supposes me to draw +"against all attempts to enforce an unpopular law." Now +the object of that article, I may be permitted to explain, +was twofold. I desired, in the first place, to combat the +notion which, it seemed to me, if I might judge from a great +many of the speeches and articles on the Irish question, +was widely diffused even among thoughtful Englishmen that +the manner in which the Irish have expressed their discontent—that +is, through outrage and disorder—was indicative +of incapacity for self-government, and even imposed +upon the Englishmen the duty, in the interest of morality +(I think it was the <i>Spectator</i> who took this view), and as +a disciplinary measure, of refusing to such a people the +privilege of managing their own affairs. I tried to show by +several noted examples occurring in this country that +prolonged displays of lawlessness, and violence, and even +<!-- Page 130 --><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130" />cruelty, such as the anti-rent movement in the State of New +York, the Ku-Klux outrages in the South, and the persecution +of Miss Prudence Crandall in Connecticut, were not inconsistent +with the possession of marked political capacity. +I suggested that it was hardly adult politics to take such +things into consideration in passing on the expediency of +conceding local self-government to a subject community. +There was to me something almost childish in the arguments +drawn from Irish lawlessness in the discussion of Home +Rule, and in the moral importance attached by some +Englishmen to the refusal to such wicked men as the Irish +of the things they most desire. It is only in kindergartens, +I said, that rulers are able to do equal and exact justice, +and see that the naughty are brought to grief and the good +made comfortable. Statesmen occupy themselves with the +more serious business of curing discontent. They concern +themselves but little, if at all, with the question whether it +might not be manifested by less objectionable methods.</p> + +<p>The Irish methods of manifesting it, I endeavoured to +show, were not exceptional, and did not prove either +inability to make laws or unwillingness to obey them. +I illustrated this by examples drawn from the United States. +I might, had I had more time and space, have made these +examples still more numerous and striking. I might have +given very good reasons for believing that, were Ireland +a state in the American Union, there probably would not +have been any rent paid in the island within the last fifty +years, and that the armed resistance of the tenants would +have had the open or secret sympathy of the great bulk of +the American people. In truth, the importance of Irish +crime as a political symptom is grossly exaggerated by +English writers. I venture to assert that more murders +unconnected with robbery are committed in the State of +Kentucky in one year than in Ireland in ten, and the +condition of some other Southern and Western States is +<!-- Page 131 --><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131" />nearly as bad. All good Americans lament this and are +ashamed of it, but it never enters into the heads of even the +most lugubrious American moralists that Kentucky or any +other State should be disfranchised and remanded to the +condition of a Territory, because the offences against the +person committed in it are so numerous, and the punishment +of them, owing to popular sympathy or apathy, so difficult.</p> + +<p>There are a great many Englishmen who think that +when they show that Grattan's Parliament was a venal and +somewhat disorderly body, which occasionally indulged in +mixed metaphor, they have proved the impossibility of giving +Ireland a Parliament now. But then, as they are obliged +to admit, Walpole's Parliament was very corrupt, and no +one would say that for that reason it would have been wise +to suspend constitutional government in England in the +eighteenth century. It is only through the pernicious habit +of thinking of Irishmen as exceptions to all political rules +that Grattan's Parliament is considered likely, had it lasted, +to have come down to our time unreformed and unimproved.</p> + +<p>Those have misunderstood me who suppose that I +draw from the success of the anti-rent movement in this +State between 1839 and 1846 an inference against "all +attempts to enforce an unpopular law." Such was not by +any means my object. What I sought to show by the +history of this movement was that there was nothing peculiar +or inexplicable in the hostility to rent-paying in Ireland. +The rights of the New York landlords were as good in law +and morals as the rights of the Irish landlords, and their +mode of asserting them far superior. Moreover, those who +resisted them were not men of a different race, religion, or +nationality, and had, as Mr. Dicey says, "none of the +excuses that can be urged in extenuation of half-starved +tenants." Their mode of setting the law at defiance was +exactly similar to that adopted by the Irish, and it was +<!-- Page 132 --><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132" />persisted in for a period of ten years, or until they had +secured a substantial victory. The history of the anti-rent +agitation in New York also illustrates strikingly, as it seems +to me, the perspicacity of a remark made, in substance, long +ago by Mr. Disraeli, which, in my eyes at least, threw a great +deal of light on the Irish problem, namely, that Ireland was +suffering from suppressed revolution. As Mr. Dicey says, +"The crises called revolutions are the ultimate and desperate +cures for the fundamental disorganization of society. +The issue of a revolutionary struggle shows what is the +true sovereign power in the revolutionized state. So +strong is the interest of mankind, at least in any European +country, in favour of some sort of settled rule, that civil +disturbance will, if left to itself, in general end in the +supremacy of some power which by securing the safety at +last gains the attachment of the people. The Reign of +Terror begets the Empire; even wars of religion at last +produce peace, albeit peace may be nothing better than the +iron uniformity of despotism. Could Ireland have been +left for any lengthened period to herself, some form of rule +adapted to the needs of the country would in all probability +have been established. Whether Protestants or Catholics +would have been the predominant element in the State; +whether the landlords would have held their own, or whether +the English system of tenure would long ago have made +way for one more in conformity with native traditions; +whether hostile classes and races would at last have +established some <i>modus vivendi</i> favourable to individual +freedom, or whether despotism under some of its various +forms would have been sanctioned by the acquiescence of +its subjects, are matters of uncertain speculation. A conclusion +which, though speculative, is far less uncertain, is +that Ireland, if left absolutely to herself, would have arrived, +like every other country, at some lasting settlement of her +difficulties" (p. 87). That is to say, that in Ireland as in<!-- Page 133 --><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133" /> +New York the attempt to enforce unpopular land laws +would have been abandoned, had local self-government +existed. For "revolution" is, after all, only a fine name +for the failure or refusal of the rulers of a country to persist +in executing laws which the bulk of the population find +obnoxious. When the popular hostility to the law is strong +enough to make its execution impossible, as it was in New +York in the rent affair, it is accepted as the respectable +solution of a very troublesome problem. When, as in +Ireland, it is strong enough to produce turbulence and +disorder, but not strong enough to tire out and overcome +the authorities, it simply ruins the political manners of the +people. If the Irish landlords had had from the beginning +to face the tenants single-handed and either hold them +down by superior physical force, or come to terms with +them as the New York landlords had to do, conditions of +peace and good will would have assuredly been discovered +long ago. The land question, in other words, would have +been adjusted in accordance with "Irish ideas," that is, +in some way satisfactory to the tenants. The very memory +of the conflict would probably by this time have died out, +and the two classes would be living in harmony on the +common soil. If in New York, on the other hand, the +Van Rensselaers and Livingstons had been able to secure +the aid of martial law and of the Federal troops in asserting +their claims, and in preventing local opinion having any +influence whatever on the settlement of the dispute, there +can be no doubt that a large portion of this State would +to-day be as poor and as savage, and apparently as little +fitted for the serious business of government, as the greater +part of Ireland is.</p> + +<p>There is, in truth, no reason to doubt that the idea of +property in land, thoroughly accepted though it be in the +United States, is nevertheless held under the same limitations +as in the rest of the world. No matter what the law +<!-- Page 134 --><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134" />may say in any country, in no country is the right of the +landed proprietor in his acres as absolute as his right in his +movables. A man may own as much land as he can purchase, +and may assert his ownership in its most absolute form +against one, two, or three occupants, but the minute he began +to assert it against a large number of occupants, that is, to +act as if his rights were such that he had only to buy a whole +state or a whole island in order to be able to evict the entire +population, he would find in America, as he finds in Ireland, +that he cannot have the same title to land as to personal property. +He would, for instance, if he tried to oust the people of +a whole district or of a village from their homes on any plea +of possession, or of a contract, find that he was going too +far, and that no matter what the judges might say, or the +sheriff might try to do for him, his legal position was worth +very little to him. Consequently a large landlord in America, +if he were lucky enough to get tenants at all, would be very +chary indeed about quarrelling with more than one of them +at a time. The tenants would no more submit to wholesale +ejectment than the farmers in Missouri would submit some +years ago to a tax levy on their property to pay county bonds +given in aid of a railroad. The goods of some of them were +seized, but a large body of them attended the sale armed +with rifles, having previously issued a notice that the place +would be very "unhealthy" for outside bidders.</p> + +<p>The bearing of this condition of American opinion on +the Irish question will be plainer if I remind English readers +that the Irish in the United States numbered in 1880 nearly +2,000,000, and that the number of persons of Irish parentage +is probably between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000. In short +there are, as well as one can judge, more Irish nationalists +in the United States than in Ireland. The Irish-Americans +are to-day the only large and prosperous Irish community in +the world. The children of the Irish born in the United +States or brought there in their infancy are just as Irish in +<!-- Page 135 --><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135" />their politics as those who have grown up at home. Patrick +Ford, for instance, the editor of the <i>Irish World</i>, who +is such a shape of dread to some Englishmen, came to +America in childhood, and has no personal knowledge nor +recollection of Irish wrongs. Of the part this large Irish +community plays in stimulating agitation—both agrarian and +political—at home I need not speak; Englishmen are very +familiar with it, and are very indignant over it. The Irish-Americans +not only send over a great deal of American +money to their friends at home, but they send over American +ideas, and foremost among them American hostility to large +landowners, and American belief in Home Rule. Now, to +me, one of the most curious things in the English state of +mind about the Irish problem is the apparent expectation +that this Irish-American interference is transient, and will +probably soon die out. It is quite true, as Englishmen are +constantly told, that "the best Americans," that is, the +literary people and the commercial magnates, whom travelling +Englishmen see on the Atlantic coast, dislike the Irish +anti-English agitation. But it is also true that the disapproval +of the "best Americans" is not of the smallest +practical consequence, particularly as it is largely due to +complete indifference to, and ignorance of, the whole subject. +There are probably not a dozen of them who would venture +to express their disapproval publicly. The mass of the +population, particularly in the West, sympathize, though +half laughingly, with the efforts of the transplanted Irish to +"twist the British lion's tail," and all the politicians either +sympathize with them, or pretend to do so. I am not now +expressing any opinion as to whether this state of things is +good or bad. What I wish to point out is that this Irish-American +influence on Irish affairs is very powerful, and +may, for all practical purposes, be considered permanent, +and must be taken into account as a constant element in +the Irish problem. I will indeed venture on the assertion +<!-- Page 136 --><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136" />that it is the appearance of the Irish-Americans on the +scene which has given the Irish question its present +seriousness. The attempts of the Irish at physical resistance +to English authority have been steadily diminishing in +gravity during the present century—witness the descent +from the rebellion of 1798 to Smith O'Brien's rebellion and +the Fenian rising of 1867. On the other hand the power +of the Irish to act as a disturbing agency in English politics +has greatly increased, and the reason is that the stream of +Irish discontent is fed by thousands of rills from the United +States. Every emigrant's letter, every Irish-American +newspaper, every returned emigrant with money in his +pocket and a good coat on his back, helps to swell it, +and there is not the slightest sign, that I can see, of its +drying up.</p> + +<p>Where Mr. Dicey is most formidable to the Home +Rulers, as it seems to me, is in his chapter on "Home Rule +as Federalism," which is the form in which the Irish ask +for it. He attacks this in two ways. One is by maintaining +that the necessary conditions for a federal union between +Great Britain and Ireland do not exist. This disposes at +one blow of all the experience derived from the working of +the foreign federations, on which the advocates of Home +Rule have relied a good deal. The other is what I may +call predictions that the federation even if set up would not +work. Either the state of facts on which all other federations +have been built does not exist in Ireland, or if it now +exists, will not, owing to the peculiarities of Irish character, +continue to exist. In other words, the federation will +either fail at the outset, or fail in the long run. No one +can admire more than I do the force and ingenuity and +wealth of illustration with which Mr. Dicey supports this +thesis. But unfortunately the arguments by which he +assails Irish federalism might be, or might have been, used +against all federations whatever. They might have been +<!-- Page 137 --><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137" />used, as I shall try to show, against the most successful of +them all, the Government of the United States. I was reminded, +while reading Mr. Dicey's account of the impossibility +of an Anglo-Irish federation, of Mr. Madison's +rehearsal in the <i>Federalist</i> (No. 38) of the objections made +to the Federal Constitution after the Convention had submitted +it to the States. These objections covered every +feature in it but one; and that, the mode of electing the +President, curiously enough, is the only one which can be +said to have utterly failed. A more impressive example +of the danger of <i>à priori</i> attacks on any political arrangement, +history does not contain. Mr. Madison says: +"This one tells me that the proposed Constitution ought +to be rejected, because it is not a confederation of the +states, but a government over individuals. Another admits +that it ought to be a government over individuals to a +certain extent, but by no means to the extent proposed. +A third does not object to the government over individuals, +or to the extent proposed, but to the want of a bill of rights. +A fourth concurs in the absolute necessity of a bill of rights, +but contends that it ought to be declaratory not of the +personal rights of individuals, but of the rights reserved +to the states in their political capacity. A fifth is of opinion +that a bill of rights of any sort would be superfluous and +misplaced, and that the plan would be unexceptionable but +for the fatal power of regulating the times and places of +election. An objector in a large state exclaims loudly +against the unreasonable equality of representation in the +Senate. An objector in a small state is equally loud against +the dangerous inequality in the House of Representatives. +From one quarter we are alarmed with the amazing expense, +from the number of persons who are to administer the new +government. From another quarter, and sometimes from +the same quarter, on another occasion the cry is that the +Congress will be but the shadow of a representation, and +<!-- Page 138 --><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138" />that the government would be far less objectionable if the +number and the expense were doubled. A patriot in a +state that does not import or export discerns insuperable +objections against the power of direct taxation. The +patriotic adversary in a state of great exports and imports +is not less dissatisfied that the whole burden of taxes may +be thrown on consumption. This politician discovers in +the constitution a direct and irresistible tendency to monarchy. +That is equally sure it will end in aristocracy. +Another is puzzled to say which of these shapes it will +ultimately assume, but sees clearly it must be one or other +of them. Whilst a fourth is not wanting, who with no less +confidence affirms that the Constitution is so far from +having a bias towards either of these dangers, that the +weight on that side will not be sufficient to keep it upright +and firm against the opposite propensities. With another +class of adversaries to the Constitution, the language is, +that the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments +are intermixed in such a manner as to contradict all the +ideas of regular government and all the requisite precautions +in favour of liberty. Whilst this objection circulates +in vague and general expressions, there are not a few who +lend their sanction to it. Let each one come forward with +his particular explanation, and scarcely any two are exactly +agreed on the subject. In the eyes of one the junction +of the Senate with the President in the responsible function +of appointing to offices, instead of vesting this power in the +executive alone, is the vicious part of the organization. To +another the exclusion of the House of Representatives, +whose numbers alone could be a due security against corruption +and partiality in the exercise of such a power, is +equally obnoxious. With a third the admission of the +President into any share of a power which must ever be +a dangerous engine in the hands of the executive magistrate +is an unpardonable violation of the maxims of republican +<!-- Page 139 --><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139" />jealousy. No part of the arrangement, according to some, +is more inadmissible than the trial of impeachments by the +Senate, which is alternately a member both of the legislative +and executive departments, when this power so evidently +belonged to the judiciary department. We concur fully, +reply others, in the objection to this part of the plan, but +we can never agree that a reference of impeachments to the +judiciary authority would be an amendment of the error; +our principal dislike to the organization arises from the +extensive powers already lodged in that department. Even +among the zealous patrons of a council of state, the most +irreconcilable variance is discovered concerning the mode +in which it ought to be constituted."</p> + +<p>Mr. Madison's challenge to the opponents of the American +Constitution to agree on some plan of their own, and his +humorous suggestion that if the American people had to +wait for some such agreement to be reached they would +go for a long time without a government, are curiously +applicable to the opponents of Irish Home Rule. They +are very fertile in reasons for thinking that neither the +Gladstone plan nor any other plan can succeed, but no +two of them, so far as I know, have yet hit upon any other +mode of pacifying Ireland, except the use of force for a +certain period to maintain order, and oddly enough, even +when they agree on this remedy, they are apt to disagree +about the length of time during which it should be tried.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dicey, in conceding the success of the American +Constitution, seems to me unmindful, if I may use the +expression, of the judgments he would probably have passed +on it had it been submitted to him at the outset were he +in the frame of mind to which a prolonged study of the +Irish problem has now brought him. The Supreme Court, +for instance, which he now recognizes as an essential +feature of the Federal Constitution, and the absence of +which in the Gladstonian arrangement he treats as a fatal +<!-- Page 140 --><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140" />defect, would have undoubtedly appeared to him a preposterous +contrivance. It would have seemed to him impossible +that a legislature like Congress, with the traditions +of parliamentary omnipotence still strong in the minds of +the members, would ever submit to have its acts nullified +by a board composed of half a dozen elderly lawyers. Nor +would he have treated as any more reasonable the expectation +that the State tribunals, which had existed in each +colony from its foundation, and had earned the respect and +confidence of the people, would quietly submit to have their +jurisdiction curtailed, their decisions overruled, causes torn +from their calendar, and prisoners taken out of their custody +by new courts of semi-foreign origin, which the State neither +paid nor controlled. He would, too, very probably have +been most incredulous about the prospect of the growth of +loyalty on the part of New-Yorkers and Massachusetts men +to a new-fangled government, which was to make itself only +slightly felt in their daily lives, and was to sit a fortnight +away in an improvised village in the midst of a Virginian +forest.</p> + +<p>He would, too, have ridiculed the notion that State +legislatures would refrain, in obedience to the Constitution, +from passing any law which local sentiment strongly favoured +or local convenience plainly demanded, such as a law impairing +the obligation of obnoxious contracts, or levying +duties on imports or exports. The possibility that the State +militia could ever be got to obey federal officers, or form an +efficient part of a federal army, he would have scouted. On +the feebleness of the front which federation would present +to a foreign enemy he would have dwelt with emphasis, +and would have pointed with confidence to the probability +that in the event of a war some of the states would make +terms with him or secretly favour his designs. National +allegiance and local allegiance would divide and perplex +the feelings of loyal citizens. Unless the national sentiment +<!-- Page 141 --><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141" />predominated—and it could not predominate without having +had time to grow—the federation would go to pieces at any +of those crises when the interests or wishes of any of the +states conflicted with the interests or wishes of the Union. +That the national sentiment could grow at all rapidly, considering +the maturity of the communities which composed +the Union and the differences of origin, creed, and manners +which separated them, no calm observer of human nature +would believe for one moment.</p> + +<p>The American Constitution is flecked throughout with +those flaws which a lawyer delights to discover and point +out, and which the framers of a federal contract can only +excuse by maintaining that they are inevitable. It is true +that Mr. Dicey does not even now acknowledge the success +of the American Constitution to be complete. He points +out that if the "example either of America or of Switzerland +is to teach us anything worth knowing, the history of +these countries must be read as a whole. It will then be +seen that the two most successful confederacies in the +world have been kept together only by the decisive triumph +through force of arms of the central power over real or +alleged State rights" (p. 192).</p> + +<p>It is odd that such objectors do not see that the decisive +triumph of the central power in the late civil war in +America was, in reality, a striking proof of the success of the +federation. The armies which General Grant commanded, +and the enormous resources in money and devotion from +which he was able to draw, were the product of the Federal +Union and of nothing else. One of the greatest arguments +its founders used in its favour was that if once established +it would supply overwhelming force for the suppression of +any attempt to break it up. They did not aim at setting +up a government which neither foreign malice nor domestic +treason, would ever assail, for they knew that this was +something beyond the reach of human endeavour. They +<!-- Page 142 --><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142" />tried to set up one which, if attacked either from within or +from without, would make a successful resistance, and we now +know that they accomplished their object. Somewhat the +same answer may be made to the objection, which is supposed +to have fatal applicability to the case of Ireland, that +among the "special faults of federalism" is that it does not +provide "sufficient protection of the legal rights of unpopular +minorities," and that "the moral of it all is that the +[American] Federal Government is not able to protect the +rights of individuals against strong local sentiment" (p. 194 +of Mr. Dicey's book). He says, moreover, if I understand +the argument rightly, that it was bound to protect free speech +in the States because "there is not and never was a word in +the Articles of the Constitution forbidding American citizens +to criticize the institutions of the State." It would seem from +this as if Mr. Dicey were under the impression that in +America the citizen of a State has a right to do in his State +whatever he is not forbidden to do by the Federal Constitution, +and in doing it has a right to federal protection. +But the Federal Government can only do what the Constitution +expressly authorizes it to do, and the Constitution +does not authorize it to protect a citizen in criticizing the +institutions of his own State. This arrangement, too, is +just as good federalism as the committal of free speech to +federal guardianship would have been. The goodness or +badness of the federal system is in no way involved in the +matter.</p> + +<p>The question to what extent a minority shall rely on the +federation for protection, and to what extent on its own +State, is a matter settled by the contract which has +created the federation. The settlement of this is, in fact, +the great object of a Constitution. Until it is settled +somehow, either by writing or by understanding, there is, +and can be, no federation. If I, as a citizen of the State +of New York, could call on the United States Government +<!-- Page 143 --><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143" />to protect me under all circumstances and against all +wrongs, it would show that I was not living under a +federation at all, but under a centralized republic. The +reason why I have to rely on the United States for protection +against some things and not against others is that it was so +stipulated when the State of New York entered the Union. +There is nothing in the nature of the federal system to +prevent the United States Government from protecting my +freedom of speech. Nor is there anything in the federal +system which forbids its protecting me against the establishment +of a State Church, which, as a matter of fact, it does +not do. Nor is there anything in the federal system compelling +the Government to protect me against the establishment +of an order of nobility, which, as a matter of fact, it does +do. The reason why it does not do one of these things +and does the other is simply and solely that it was so +stipulated, after much discussion, in the contract. Most +thinking men are to-day of opinion that the United States +ought to have exclusive jurisdiction of marriage, so that the +law of marriage might be uniform in all parts of the Union. +The reason why they do not possess such jurisdiction is not +that Congress is not fully competent to pass such a law or +the federal courts to execute it, but that no such jurisdiction +is conferred by the Constitution. In fact it seems to me +just as reasonable to cite the ease of divorce in various +States of the Union as a defect in the federal system, as to +cite the oppression of local minorities in matters not placed +under federal authority by the organic law.</p> + +<p>If one may judge from a great deal of writing on American +matters which one sees in English journals and the demands +for federal interference in America in State affairs which +they constantly make, the greatest difficulty Irish Home +Rule has to contend with is the difficulty which men bred +in a united monarchy and under an omnipotent Parliament +experience in grasping what I may call the federal idea.<!-- Page 144 --><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144" /> +The influence of association on their minds is so strong +that they can hardly conceive of a central power, worthy of +the name of a government, standing by and witnessing +disorders or failures of justice in any place within its +borders, without stepping in to set matters right, no matter +what the Constitution may say. They remind me often of +an old verger in Westminster Abbey during the American +civil war who told me that "he always knew a government +without a head couldn't last." Permanence and +peace were in his mind inseparably linked with kingship. +That even Mr. Dicey has not been able to escape this +influence appears frequently in his discussions of federalism. +He, of course, thoroughly understands the federal system +as a jurist, but when he comes to discuss it as a politician he +has evidently some difficulty in seeing how a government +with a power to enforce <i>any</i> commands can be restrained +by contract from enforcing <i>all</i> commands which may seem +to be expedient or salutary. Consequently the cool way +in which the Federal Government here looks on at local +disorders seems to him a sign, not of the fidelity of the +President and Congress to the federal pact, but of some +inherent weakness in the federal system.</p> + +<p>The true way to judge the federal system, however, either +in the United States or elsewhere, is by observing the +manner in which it has performed the duties assigned to +it by the Constitution. If the Government at Washington +performs these faithfully, its failure to prevent lawlessness in +New York or the oppression of minorities in Connecticut +is of no more consequence than its failure to put down +brigandage in Macedonia. Possibly it would have been +better to saddle it with greater responsibility for local peace; +but the fact is that the framers of the Constitution decided +not to do so. They did not mean to set up a government +which would see that every man living under it got his due. +They could not have got the States to accept such a +<!-- Page 145 --><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145" />government. They meant to set up a government which +should represent the nation worthily in all its relations with +foreigners, which should carry on war effectively, protect life +and property on the high seas, furnish a proper currency, +put down all resistance to its lawful authority, and secure +each State against domestic violence on the demand of its +Legislature.</p> + +<p>There is no common form for federal contracts, and no +rules describing what such a contract must contain in order +that the Government may be federal and not unitarian. +There is no hard and fast line which must, under the federal +system, divide the jurisdiction of the central Government +from the jurisdiction of each State Government. The way +in which the power is divided between the two must necessarily +depend on the traditions, manners, aims, and needs +of the people of the various localities. The federal system +is not a system manufactured on a regulation model, which +can be sent over the world like iron huts or steam launches, +in detached pieces, to be put together when the scene of +operation is reached. Therefore I am unable to see the +force of the argument that, as the conditions under which +all existing federations were established differ in some +respects from those under which the proposed federal union +between England and Ireland would have to be established, +therefore the success of these confederations, such as it is, +gives them no value as precedents. A system which might +have worked very well for the New England States would +not have worked well for a combination which included +also the middle and southern States. And the framers +of the American Constitution were not so simple-minded as +to inquire, either before beginning their labours or before +ending them—as Mr. Dicey would apparently have the +English and Irish do—whether this or that style of constitution +was "the correct thing" in federalism. Assuming +that the people desired to form a nation as regarded the +<!-- Page 146 --><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146" />world outside, they addressed themselves to the task of +discovering how much power the various States were willing +to surrender for this purpose. That was ascertained, as far +as it could be ascertained, by assembling their delegates +in convention, and discussing the wishes and fears and +suggestions of the different localities in a friendly and conciliatory +spirit. They had no precedents to guide them. +There had not existed a federal government, either in ancient +or modern times, whose working afforded an example by +which the imagination or the understanding of the American +people was likely to be affected in the smallest degree. +They, therefore, had to strike out an entirely new path for +themselves, and they ended by producing an absolutely new +kind of federation, which was half Unitarian, that is, in some +respects a union of states, and in others a centralized +government; and it was provided for a Territory one end of +which was more than a month's distance from the other.</p> + +<p>It is not in its details, therefore, but in the manner of its +construction, that the American Constitution furnishes anything +in the way of guidance or suggestion to those who +are now engaged in trying to find a <i>modus vivendi</i> between +England and Ireland. The same thing may be said of the +Swiss Constitution and of the Austro-Hungarian Constitution. +Both of them contain many anomalies—that is, +things that are not set down in the books as among the +essentials of federalism. But both are adapted to the +special wants of the people who live under them, and were +framed in reference to those wants.</p> + +<p>The Austro-Hungarian Delegations are another exception +to the rule. These Delegations undoubtedly control +the ministry of the Empire, or at all events do in practice +displace it by their votes. It is made formally responsible +to them by the Constitution. All that Mr. Dicey can say +to this is that "the real responsibility of the Ministry to the +Delegations admits of a good deal of doubt," and that, +<!-- Page 147 --><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147" />at all events, it is not like the responsibility of Mr. +Gladstone or Lord Salisbury to the British Parliament. +This may be true, but the more mysterious or peculiar it +is the better it illustrates the danger of speaking of any +particular piece of machinery or of any particular division +of power as an essential feature of a federal constitution.</p> + +<p>We are told by the critics of the Gladstonian scheme +that federalism is not "a plan for disuniting the parts of a +united state." But whether it is or not once more depends +on circumstances. Federalism, like the British or French +Constitution, is an arrangement intended to satisfy the people +who set it up by gratifying some desire or removing some +cause of discontent. If that discontent be due to unity, +federalism disunites; if it be due to disunion, federalism +unites. In the case of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for +instance, it clearly is a "plan for disuniting the parts of +a united state." Austria and Hungary were united in +the sense in which the opponents of Home Rule use the +word for many years before 1867, but the union did not +work, that is, did not produce moral as well as legal +unity. A constitution was therefore invented which disunites +the two countries for the purposes of domestic +legislation, but leaves them united for the purposes of +foreign relations. This may be a queer arrangement. +Although it has worked well enough thus far, it may not +continue to work well, but it does work well now. It +has succeeded in converting Hungary from a discontented +and rebellious province and a source of great weakness to +Austria into a loyal and satisfied portion of the Empire. In +other words, it has accomplished its purpose. It was not +intended to furnish a symmetrical piece of federalism. It +was intended to conciliate the Hungarian people. When +therefore the professional federal architects make their tour +of inspection and point out to the Home Ruler what +flagrant departures from the correct federal model the<!-- Page 148 --><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148" /> +Austro-Hungarian Constitution contains, how improbable +it is that so enormous a structure can endure, and how, +after all, the Hungarians have not got rid of the Emperor, +who commands the army and represents the brute force +of the old <i>régime</i>, I do not think he need feel greatly +concerned. This may be all true, and yet the Austro-Hungarian +federalism is a valuable thing. It has proved +that the federal remedy is good for more than one disease, +that it can cure both too much unity and too little. The +truth is that there are only two essentials of a federal +government. One is an agreement between the various +communities who are to live under it as to the manner in +which the power is to be divided between the general and +local governments; the other is an honest desire on the +part of all concerned to make it succeed. As a general +rule, whatever the parties agree on and desire to make work +is likely to work, just as a Unitarian government is sure +to succeed if the people who live under it determine that +it shall succeed. If a federal plan be settled in the only +right way, by amicable and mutually respectful discussion +between representative men, all the more serious obstacles +are certain to be revealed and removed. Those which are +not brought to light by such discussions are pretty sure +to be comparatively trifling, and to disappear before the +general success of arrangement. But by a "mutually +respectful discussion" I mean discussion in which good +faith and intelligence of all concerned are acknowledged on +both sides.</p> + +<p>In what I have said by way of criticism of a book which +may be taken as a particularly full exposition of the legal +criticism that may be levelled at Mr. Gladstone's scheme, +I have not touched on the arguments against Home Rule +which Mr. Dicey draws from the amount of disturbance it +would cause in English political habits and arrangements. +I freely admit the weight of these arguments. The task of +<!-- Page 149 --><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149" />any English statesman who gives Home Rule to Ireland +in the only way in which it can be given—with the assent +of the British people—will be a very arduous one. But +this portion of Mr. Dicey's book, producing, as it does, the +distinctively English objections to Home rule, is to me +much the most instructive, because it shows the difficulty +there would be in creating the state of mind in England +about any federal relation to Ireland which would be +necessary to make it succeed. I do not think it an exaggeration +to say that two-thirds of the English objections to +Home Rule as federalism are unconscious expressions of distrust +of Irish sincerity or intelligence thrown into the form of +prophecy, and prophets, as we all know, cannot be refuted. +For instance, "the changes necessitated by federalism would +all tend to weaken the power of Great Britain" (Dicey, p. +173). The question of the command of the army could not +be arranged; the Irish army could not be depended on by +the Crown (p. 174); the central Government would be feeble +against foreign aggression, and the Irish Parliament would +give aid to a foreign enemy (pp. 176-7). Federalism would +aggravate or increase instead of diminishing the actual Irish +disloyalty to the Crown (pp. 179-80); the Irish expectations +of material prosperity from Home Rule are baseless or +grossly exaggerated (p. 182); the probability is, it would +produce increased poverty and hardship; there would be +frequent quarrels between the two countries over questions +of nullification, secession, and federal taxation (p. 184); +neither side would acquiesce in the decision either of the +Privy Council or of any other tribunal on these questions; +Home Rulers would be the first to resist these decisions +(p. 185). Irish federation "would soon generate a demand +that the whole British Empire should be turned into a Confederacy" +(p. 188). Finally, as "the one prediction which +may be made with absolute confidence," "federalism would +not generate the goodwill between England and Ireland +<!-- Page 150 --><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150" />which, could it be produced, would be an adequate compensation +even for the evils and inconveniences of a federal +system" (p. 191).</p> + +<p>Now I do not myself believe these things, but what else +can any advocate of Home Rule say in answer to them? +They are in their very nature the utterances of a prophet—an +able, acute, and fair-minded prophet, I grant, but still a +prophet—and before a prophet the wisest man has to be +silent, or content himself by answering in prophecy also. +What makes the sceptical frame of mind in which Mr. +Dicey approaches the Home Rule question so important is +not simply that it probably represents that of a very large +body of educated Englishmen, but that it is one in which +a federal system cannot be produced. Faith, hope, and +charity are political as well as social virtues. The minute +you leave the region of pure despotism and try any form of +government in which the citizen has in the smallest degree +to co-operate in the execution of the laws, you have need +of these virtues at every step. As soon as you give up the +attempt to rule men by drumhead justice, you have to begin +to trust in some degree to their intelligence, to their love of +order, to their self-respect, and to their desire for material +prosperity, and the nearer you get to what is called free +government the larger this trust has to be. It has to be +very large indeed in order to carry on such a government +as that of Great Britain or of the United States; it has to +be larger still in order to set up and administer a federal +government. In such a government the worst that can +happen is very patent. The opportunities which the best-drawn +federal constitution offers for outbreaks of what +Americans call "pure cussedness"—that is, for the indulgence +of anarchical tendencies and impulses—is greater +than in any other. Therefore, to set it up, or even to +discuss it with any profit, your faith in the particular variety +of human nature, which is to live under it, has to be great.<!-- Page 151 --><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151" /> +No communities can live under it together and make it work +which do not respect each other. I say respect, I do not +say love, each other. The machine can be made to go a +good while without love, and if it goes well it will bring love +before long; but mutual respect is necessary from the first +day. This is why Mr. Dicey's book is discouraging. The +arguments which he addressed to Englishmen would not, I +think, be formidable but for the mood in which he finds +Englishmen, and that this mood makes against Home Rule +there can be little doubt.</p> + +<p>I am often asked by Americans why the English do not +call an Anglo-Irish convention in the American fashion, and +discuss the Irish question with the Irish, find out exactly +what they will take to be quiet, and settle with them in a +rational way. I generally answer that, in the first place, a +convention is a constitution-making agency with which the +English public is totally unfamiliar, and that, in the second +place, Englishmen's temper is too imperial, or rather imperious, +to make the idea of discussion on equal terms with the +Irish at all acceptable. They are, in fact, so far from any +such arrangement that—preposterous and even funny as it +seems to the American mind—to say that an English statesman +is carrying on any sort of communication with the +representatives of the Irish people is to bring against him, +in English eyes, a very damaging accusation. When a man +like Mr. Matthew Arnold writes to the <i>Times</i> to contend +that Englishmen should find out what the Irish want solely +for the purpose of not letting them have it, and a journal +like the <i>Spectator</i> maintains that the sole excuse for extending +the suffrage in Ireland, as it has lately been extended in +England, was that the Irish as a minority would not be +able to make any effective use of it; and when another +political philosopher writes a long and very solemn letter +in which, while conceding that in governing Ireland a +sympathetic regard for Irish feelings and interests should +<!-- Page 152 --><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152" />be displayed, he mentions, as one of the leading facts +of the situation, that in "the Irish character there is a +grievous lack of independence, of self-respect, of courage, +and above all of truthfulness"—when men of this kind talk +in this way, it is easy to see that the mental and moral conditions +necessary to the successful formation of a federal +union are still far off. No federal government, and no +government requiring loyalty and fidelity for its successful +working, was ever set up by, or even discussed between, two +parties, one of which thought the other so unreasonable that +it should be carefully denied everything it asked for and as +unfit for any sort of political co-operation as mendacity, +cowardice, and slavishness could make it.</p> + +<p>Finally let me say that there is nothing in Mr. Dicey's +book which has surprised me more, considering with what +singular intellectual integrity he attacks every point, than +his failure to make any mention or to take any account of +the large part which time and experience must necessarily +play in bringing to perfection any political arrangement +which is made to order, if I may use the expression, no +matter how carefully it may be drafted. Hume says on this +point with great wisdom, "To balance the large state or +society, whether monarchical or republican, on general +laws, is a work of so great difficulty, that no human genius, +however comprehensive, is able by the mere dint of reason +or reflection to effect it. The judgments of many must +unite in the work, experience must guide their labour, time +must bring it to perfection, and the feeling of inconveniences +must correct the mistakes which they inevitably fall into in +their first trial and experiments."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25" /><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>This has proved true of the American and Swiss federations; +it will probably prove true of the Austro-Hungarian +federation and of any that may be set up by Great Britian [Transcriber: sic.] +and her colonies. It will prove still more true of any +<!-- Page 153 --><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153" />attempt that may be made at federation between Great +Britain and Ireland. No corrections which could be made +in the Gladstonian or any other constitution would make +it work exactly on the lines laid down by its framers. Even +if it were revised in accordance with Mr. Dicey's criticism, +it would probably be found, as in the case of the American +Constitution, that few of the dangers which were most feared +for it had beset it, and that some of the inconveniences +which were most distinctly foreseen as likely to arise from it +were among the things which had materially contributed to +its success. History is full of the gentle ridicule which the +course of events throws on statesmen and philosophers.<!-- Page 154 --><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154" /></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24" /><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Printed in the earlier part of this volume.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25" /><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Essay on the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_UNIONISTquot_CASE_FOR_HOME" id="THE_UNIONISTquot_CASE_FOR_HOME" />THE "UNIONIST" CASE FOR HOME +RULE.</h2> + + +<p class="author">BY R. BARRY O'BRIEN.</p> + + +<p>I am often asked, What are the best books to read on the +Irish question? and I never fail to mention Mr. Lecky's +<i>Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland</i> and the <i>History +of England in the Eighteenth Century</i>; Mr. Goldwin +Smith's <i>Irish History and Irish Character, Three English +Statesmen, The Irish Question</i>, and Professor Dicey's admirable +work, <i>England's Case against Home Rule</i>.</p> + +<p>Indeed, the case for Home Rule, as stated in these +books, is unanswerable; and it redounds to the credit of +Mr. Lecky, Mr. Goldwin Smith, and Mr. Dicey that their +narrative of facts should in no wise be prejudiced by their +political opinions.</p> + +<p>That their facts are upon one side and their opinions +on the other is a minor matter. Their facts, I venture +to assert, have made more Home Rulers than their opinions +can unmake.</p> + +<p>To put this assertion to the test I propose to quote +some extracts from the works above mentioned. These +extracts shall be full and fair. Nothing shall be left out +that can in the slightest degree qualify any statement of +fact in the context. Arguments will be omitted, for I wish +to place facts mainly before my readers. From these facts +<!-- Page 155 --><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155" />they can draw their own conclusions. Neither shall I take +up space with comments of my own. I shall call my +witnesses and let them speak for themselves.</p> + +<p>I.—MR. LECKY.</p> + +<p>In the introduction to the new edition of the <i>Leaders +of Public Opinion in Ireland</i>, published in 1871—seventy-one +years after Mr. Pitt's Union, which was to make +England and Ireland one nation—we find the following +"contrast" between "national life" in the two countries:—</p> + +<p>"There is, perhaps, no Government in the world which +succeeds more admirably in the functions of eliciting, +sustaining, and directing public opinion than that of +England. It does not, it is true, escape its full share of +hostile criticism, and, indeed, rather signally illustrates the +saying of Bacon, that 'the best Governments are always +subject to be like the finest crystals, in which every icicle +and grain is seen which in a fouler stone is never perceived;' +but whatever charges may be brought against the +balance of its powers, or against its legislative efficiency, +few men will question its eminent success as an organ of +public opinion. In England an even disproportionate +amount of the national talent takes the direction of politics. +The pulse of an energetic national life is felt in every +quarter of the land. The debates of Parliament are +followed with a warm, constant, and intelligent interest by +all sections of the community. It draws all classes within +the circle of political interests, and is the centre of a strong +and steady patriotism, equally removed from the apathy of +many Continental nations in time of calm, and from their +feverish and spasmodic energy in time of excitement. Its +decisions, if not instantly accepted, never fail to have a +profound and calming influence on the public mind. It +is the safety-valve of the nation. The discontents, the +<!-- Page 156 --><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156" />suspicions, the peccant humours that agitate the people, +find there their vent, their resolution, and their end.</p> + +<p>"It is impossible, I think, not to be struck by the contrast +which, in this respect, Ireland presents to England. +If the one country furnishes us with an admirable example +of the action of a healthy public opinion, the other supplies +us with the most unequivocal signs of its disease. The +Imperial Parliament exercises for Ireland legislative functions, +but it is almost powerless upon opinion—it allays no discontent, +and attracts no affection. Political talent, which +for many years was at least as abundant among Irishmen +as in any equally numerous section of the people, has been +steadily declining, and marked decadence in this respect +among the representatives of the nation reflects but too +truly the absence of public spirit in their constituents.</p> + +<p>"The upper classes have lost their sympathy with and +their moral ascendency over their tenants, and are thrown +for the most part into a policy of mere obstruction. The +genuine national enthusiasm never flows in the channel of +imperial politics. With great multitudes sectarian considerations +have entirely superseded national ones, and their +representatives are accustomed systematically to subordinate +all party and all political questions to ecclesiastical interests; +and while calling themselves Liberals, they make it the +main object of their home politics to separate the different +classes of their fellow-countrymen during the period of their +education, and the main object of their foreign policy to +support the temporal power of the Pope. With another +and a still larger class the prevailing feeling seems to be +an indifference to all Parliamentary proceedings; an utter +scepticism about constitutional means of realizing their +ends; a blind, persistent hatred of England. Every cause +is taken up with an enthusiasm exactly proportioned to +the degree in which it is supposed to be injurious to English +interests. An amount of energy and enthusiasm which if +<!-- Page 157 --><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157" />rightly directed would suffice for the political regeneration +of Ireland is wasted in the most insane projects of disloyalty; +while the diversion of so much public feeling +from Parliamentary politics leaves the Parliamentary arena +more and more open to corruption, to place-hunting, and +to imposture.</p> + +<p>"This picture is in itself a very melancholy one, but there +are other circumstances which greatly heighten the effect. +In a very ignorant or a very wretched population it is +natural that there should be much vague, unreasoning discontent; +but the Irish people are at present neither +wretched nor ignorant. Their economical condition before +the famine was, indeed, such that it might well have made +reasonable men despair. With the land divided into almost +microscopic farms, with a population multiplying rapidly +to the extreme limits of subsistence, accustomed to the +very lowest standard of comfort, and marrying earlier than +in any other northern country in Europe, it was idle to look +for habits of independence or self-reliance, or for the culture +which follows in the train of leisure and comfort. But all +this has been changed. A fearful famine and the long-continued +strain of emigration have reduced the nation +from eight millions to less than five, and have effected, at +the price of almost intolerable suffering, a complete +economical revolution. The population is now in no +degree in excess of the means of subsistence. The rise of +wages and prices has diffused comfort through all classes. +... Probably no country in Europe has advanced so +rapidly as Ireland within the last ten years, and the tone of +cheerfulness, the improvement of the houses, the dress, and +the general condition of the people must have struck every +observer.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26" /><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> ... If industrial improvement, if the rapid +<!-- Page 158 --><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158" />increase of material comforts among the poor, could allay +political discontent, Ireland should never have been so +loyal as at present.</p> + +<p>"Nor can it be said that ignorance is at the root of the +discontent. The Irish people have always, even in the darkest +period of the penal laws, been greedy for knowledge, and +few races show more quickness in acquiring it. The +admirable system of national education established in the +present century is beginning to bear abundant fruit, and, +among the younger generation at least, the level of knowledge +is quite as high as in England. Indeed, one of the +most alarming features of Irish disloyalty is its close and +evident connection with education. It is sustained by a +cheap literature, written often with no mean literary skill, +which penetrates into every village, gives the people their first +political impressions, forms and directs their enthusiasm, and +seems likely in the long leisure of the pastoral life to exercise +an increasing power. Close observers of the Irish character +will hardly have failed to notice the great change which since +the famine has passed over the amusements of the people. +The old love of boisterous out-of-door sports has almost +disappeared, and those who would have once sought their +pleasures in the market or the fair now gather in groups in +the public-house, where one of their number reads out a +Fenian newspaper. Whatever else this change may portend, +it is certainly of no good omen for the future loyalty of the +people.</p> + +<p>"It was long customary in England to underrate this +disaffection by ascribing it to very transitory causes. The +quarter of a century that followed the Union was marked +by almost perpetual disturbance; but this it was said was +merely the natural ground swell of agitation which followed +a great reform. It was then the popular theory that it was +the work of O'Connell, who was described during many years +as the one obstacle to the peace of Ireland, and whose death +<!-- Page 159 --><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159" />was made the subject of no little congratulation, as though +Irish discontent had perished with its organ. It was as if, +the Æolian harp being shattered, men wrote an epitaph +upon the wind. Experience has abundantly proved the +folly of such theories. Measured by mere chronology, a +little more than seventy years have passed since the Union, +but famine and emigration have compressed into these years +the work of centuries. The character, feelings, and conditions +of the people have been profoundly altered. A long +course of remedial legislation has been carried, and during +many years the national party has been without a leader +and without a stimulus. Yet, so far from subsiding, disloyalty +in Ireland is probably as extensive, and is certainly +as malignant, as at the death of O'Connell, only in many +respects the public opinion of the country has palpably +deteriorated. O'Connell taught an attachment to the connection, +a loyalty to the crown, a respect for the rights of +property, a consistency of Liberalism, which we look for in +vain among his successors; and that faith in moral force +and constitutional agitation which he made it one of his +greatest objects to instil into the people has almost vanished +with the failure of his agitation."<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27" /><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>Few Irish Nationalists have drawn a weightier indictment +against the Union than this. After a trial of seventy years, +Mr. Lecky sums up the case against the Union in these +pregnant sentences:—</p> + +<p>"The Imperial Parliament allays no discontent, and +attracts no affection;" "The genuine national enthusiasm +never flows in the channel of imperial politics;" +the people have "an utter scepticism about constitutional +means of realizing their ends," and are imbued with "a +blind, persistent hatred of England." Worse still, neither +the material progress of the country, nor the education of +<!-- Page 160 --><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160" />the people, has reconciled them to the Imperial Parliament. +Indeed, their disloyalty has increased with their prosperity +and enlightenment. This is the story which Mr. Lecky has +to tell. But why are the Irish disloyal? Mr. Lecky shall +answer the question.</p> + +<p>"The causes of this deep-seated disaffection I have +endeavoured in some degree to investigate in the following +essays. To the merely dramatic historian the history of +Ireland will probably appear less attractive than that of most +other countries, for it is somewhat deficient in great characters +and in splendid episodes; but to a philosophic student +of history it presents an interest of the very highest order. +In no other history can we trace more clearly the chain of +causes and effects, the influence of past legislation, not only +upon the material condition, but also upon the character of +a nation. In no other history especially can we investigate +more fully the evil consequences which must ensue from +disregarding that sentiment of nationality which, whether it +be wise or foolish, whether it be desirable or the reverse, +is at least one of the strongest and most enduring of +human passions. This, as I conceive, lies at the root of +Irish discontent. It is a question of nationality as truly +as in Hungary or in Poland. Special grievances or +anomalies may aggravate, but do not cause it, and they +become formidable only in as far as they are connected +with it. What discontent was felt against the Protestant +Established Church was felt chiefly because it was regarded +as an English garrison sustaining an anti-national system; +and the agrarian difficulty never assumed its full intensity +till by the repeal agitation the landlords had been politically +alienated from the people."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28" /><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>Let those who imagine that the Irish question can be +<!-- Page 161 --><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161" />completely settled by the redress of material grievances +take those words to heart.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>But, it is said, Scotch national sentiment is as strong as +Irish, why should not a legislative union be as acceptable +to Ireland as to Scotland? Mr. Lecky shall answer this +question too.</p> + +<p>"It is hardly possible to advert to the Scotch Union, +without pausing for a moment to examine why its influence +on the loyalty of the people should have ultimately been so +much happier than that of the legislative union which, +nearly a century later, was enacted between England and +Ireland. A very slight attention to the circumstances of +the case will explain the mystery, and will at the same time +show the extreme shallowness of those theorists who can +only account for it by reference to original peculiarities of +national character. The sacrifice of a nationality is a +measure which naturally produces such intense and such +enduring discontent that it never should be exacted unless +it can be accompanied by some political or material +advantages to the lesser country that are so great and +at the same time so evident as to prove a corrective. Such +a corrective in the case of Scotland, was furnished by the +commercial clauses. The Scotch Parliament was very +arbitrary and corrupt, and by no means a faithful representation +of the people. The majority of the nation were +certainly opposed to the Union, and, directly or indirectly, +it is probable that much corruption was employed to effect +it; but still the fact remains that by it one of the most +ardent wishes of all Scottish patriots was attained, that there +had been for many years a powerful and intelligent minority +who were prepared to purchase commercial freedom even +at the expense of the fusion of legislatures, and that in +consequence of the establishment of free trade the next +generation of Scotchmen witnessed an increase of material +<!-- Page 162 --><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162" />well-being that was utterly unprecedented in the history of +their country. Nothing equivalent took place in Ireland. +The gradual abolition of duties between England and +Ireland was, no doubt, an advantage to the lesser country, +but the whole trade to America and the other English +colonies had been thrown open to Irishmen between 1775 +and 1779. Irish commerce had taken this direction; the +years between 1779 and the rebellion of 1798 were +probably the most prosperous in Irish history, and the +generation that followed the Union was one of the most +miserable. The sacrifice of nationality was extorted by +the most enormous corruption in the history of representative +institutions. It was demanded by no considerable +section of the Irish people. It was accompanied by no signal +political or material benefit that could mitigate or counteract +its unpopularity, and it was effected without a dissolution, +in opposition to the votes of the immense majority +of the representatives of the counties and considerable +towns, and to innumerable addresses from every part of the +country. Can any impartial man be surprised that such +a measure, carried in such a manner, should have proved +unsuccessful?"<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29" /><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>In the <i>Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland</i> Mr. Lecky +traces the current of events which have led to the present +situation. He shows how the Treaty of Limerick was shamelessly +violated, and how the native population was oppressed +and degraded.</p> + +<p>"The position of Ireland was at this time [1727] one +of the most deplorable that can be conceived.... The +Roman Catholics had been completely prostrated by the +battle of the Boyne and by the surrender of Limerick. +They had stipulated indeed for religious liberty, but the +<!-- Page 163 --><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163" />Treaty of Limerick was soon shamelessly violated, and it +found no avengers. Sarsfield and his brave companions +had abandoned a country where defeat left no opening for +their talents, and had joined the Irish Brigade which had +been formed in the service of France.... But while the +Irish Roman Catholics abroad found free scope for their +ambition in the service of France, those who remained at +home had sunk into a condition of utter degradation. All +Catholic energy and talent had emigrated to foreign lands, +and penal laws of atrocious severity crushed the Catholics +who remained."<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30" /><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Lecky's account of these "penal laws" is upon +the whole, I think, the best that has been written.</p> + +<p>"The last great Protestant ruler of England was +William III., who is identified in Ireland with the humiliation +of the Boyne, with the destruction of Irish trade, and +with the broken Treaty of Limerick. The ceaseless exertions +of the extreme Protestant party have made him more odious +in the eyes of the people than he deserves to be; for he was +personally far more tolerant than the great majority of his +contemporaries, and the penal code was chiefly enacted +under his successors. It required, indeed, four or five +reigns to elaborate a system so ingeniously contrived to +demoralize, to degrade, and to impoverish the people of +Ireland. By this code the Roman Catholics were absolutely +excluded from the Parliament, from the magistracy, from +the corporations, from the bench, and from the bar. They +could not vote at Parliamentary elections or at vestries; +they could not act as constables, or sheriffs, or jurymen, or +serve in the army or navy, or become solicitors, or even +hold the positions of gamekeeper or watchman. Schools +were established to bring up their children as Protestants; +and if they refused to avail themselves of these, they were +deliberately assigned to hopeless ignorance, being excluded +<!-- Page 164 --><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164" />from the university, and debarred, under crushing penalties, +from acting as schoolmasters, as ushers, or as private +tutors, or from sending their children abroad to obtain the +instruction they were refused at home. They could not +marry Protestants, and if such a marriage were celebrated +it was annulled by law, and the priest who officiated might +be hung. They could not buy land, or inherit or receive +it as a gift from Protestants, or hold life-annuities, or leases +for more than thirty-one years, or any lease on such terms +that the profits of the land exceeded one-third of the rent. +If any Catholic leaseholder by his industry so increased +his profits that they exceeded this proportion, and did not +immediately make a corresponding increase in his payments, +any Protestant who gave the information could enter into +possession of his farm. If any Catholic had secretly purchased +either his old forfeited estate, or any other land, any +Protestant who informed against him might become the +proprietor. The few Catholic landowners who remained +were deprived of the right which all other classes possessed +of bequeathing their lands as they pleased. If their sons +continued Catholics, it was divided equally between them. +If, however, the eldest son consented to apostatize, the +estate was settled upon him, the father from that hour +became only a life-tenant, and lost all power of selling, +mortgaging, or otherwise disposing of it. If the wife of +a Catholic abandoned the religion of her husband, she was +immediately free from his control, and the Chancellor +was empowered to assign to her a certain proportion of her +husband's property. If any child, however young, professed +itself a Protestant, it was at once taken from the father's +care, and the Chancellor could oblige the father to declare +upon oath the value of his property, both real and personal, +and could assign for the present maintenance and future +portion of the converted child such proportion of that +property as the court might decree. No Catholic could be +<!-- Page 165 --><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165" />guardian either to his own children or to those of another +person; and therefore a Catholic who died while his +children were minors had the bitterness of reflecting upon +his death-bed that they must pass into the care of Protestants. +An annuity of from twenty to forty pounds was +provided as a bribe for every priest who would become +a Protestant. To convert a Protestant to Catholicism was +a capital offence. In every walk of life the Catholic was +pursued by persecution or restriction. Except in the linen +trade, he could not have more than two apprentices. He +could not possess a horse of the value of more than five +pounds, and any Protestant, on giving him five pounds, could +take his horse. He was compelled to pay double to the +militia. He was forbidden, except under particular conditions, +to live in Galway or Limerick. In case of war with +a Catholic power, the Catholics were obliged to reimburse +the damage done by the enemy's privateers. The Legislature, +it is true, did not venture absolutely to suppress their +worship, but it existed only by a doubtful connivance—stigmatized +as if it were a species of licensed prostitution, +and subject to conditions which, if they had been enforced, +would have rendered its continuance impossible. An old +law which prohibited it, and another which enjoined +attendance at the Anglican worship, remained unrepealed, +and might at any time be revived; and the former was, in +fact, enforced during the Scotch rebellion of 1715. The +parish priests, who alone were allowed to officiate, were +compelled to be registered, and were forbidden to keep +curates or to officiate anywhere except in their own parishes. +The chapels might not have bells or steeples. No crosses +might be publicly erected. Pilgrimages to the holy wells +were forbidden. Not only all monks and friars, but also +all Catholic archbishops, bishops, deacons, and other dignitaries, +were ordered by a certain day to leave the country; +and if after that date they were found in Ireland they were +<!-- Page 166 --><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166" />liable to be first imprisoned and then banished; and if after +that banishment they returned to discharge their duty in +their dioceses, they were liable to the punishment of death. +To facilitate the discovery of offences against the code, two +justices of the peace might at any time compel any Catholic +of eighteen years of age to declare when and where he last +heard Mass, what persons were present, and who officiated; +and if he refused to give evidence they might imprison him +for twelve months, or until he paid a fine of twenty pounds. +Any one who harboured ecclesiastics from beyond the seas +was subject to fines which for the third offence amounted +to confiscation of all his goods. A graduated scale of +rewards was offered for the discovery of Catholic bishops, +priests, and schoolmasters; and a resolution of the House +of Commons pronounced 'the prosecuting and informing +against Papists' 'an honourable service to the Government.'</p> + +<p>"Such were the principal articles of this famous code—a +code which Burke truly described as 'well digested and +well disposed in all its parts; a machine of wise and elaborate +contrivance, and as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, +and degradation of a people, and the debasement +in them of human nature itself, as ever proceeded +from the perverted ingenuity of man.'"<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31" /><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>The effects of these laws Mr. Lecky has described thus:</p> + +<p>"The economical and moral effects of the penal laws +were, however, profoundly disastrous. The productive +energies of the nation were fatally diminished. Almost all +Catholics of energy and talent who refused to abandon their +faith emigrated to foreign lands. The relation of classes +was permanently vitiated; for almost all the proprietary of +the country belonged to one religion, while the great majority +of their tenants were of another. The Catholics, excluded +from almost every possibility of eminence, deprived of their +natural leaders, and consigned by the Legislature to utter +<!-- Page 167 --><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167" />ignorance, soon sank into the condition of broken and +dispirited helots. A total absence of industrial virtues, a +cowering and abject deference to authority, a recklessness +about the future, a love of secret illegal combinations, +became general among them. Above all, they learned +to regard law as merely the expression of force, and its +moral weight was utterly destroyed. For the greater part +of a century, the main object of the Legislature was to +extirpate a religion by the encouragement of the worst, and +the punishment of some of the best qualities of our +nature. Its rewards were reserved for the informer, for the +hypocrite, for the undutiful son, or for the faithless wife. +Its penalties were directed against religious constancy and +the honest discharge of ecclesiastical duty.</p> + +<p>"It would, indeed, be scarcely possible to conceive a more +infamous system of legal tyranny than that which in the +middle of the eighteenth century crushed every class and +almost every interest in Ireland."<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32" /><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>But laws were not only passed against the native race +and the national religion. Measures were taken to destroy +the industries of the country, and to involve natives and +colonists, Protestants and Catholics, in common ruin. +Mr. Lecky shall tell the story.</p> + +<p>"The commercial and industrial condition of the +country was, if possible, more deplorable than its political +condition, and was the result of a series of English measures +which for deliberate and selfish tyranny could hardly be +surpassed. Until the reign of Charles II. the Irish shared +the commercial privileges of the English; but as the island +had not been really conquered till the reign of Elizabeth, +and as its people were till then scarcely removed from +barbarism, the progress was necessarily slow. In the early +Stuart reigns, however, comparative repose and good +government were followed by a sudden rush of prosperity. +<!-- Page 168 --><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168" />The land was chiefly pasture, for which it was admirably +adapted; the export of live cattle to England was carried on +upon a large scale, and it became a chief source of Irish +wealth. The English landowners, however, took the alarm. +They complained that Irish rivalry in the cattle market was +reducing English rents; and accordingly, by an Act which +was first passed in 1663, and was made perpetual in 1666, +the importation of cattle into England was forbidden.</p> + +<p>"The effect of a measure of this kind, levelled at the +principal article of the commerce of the nation, was necessarily +most disastrous. The profound modification which it +introduced into the course of Irish industry was sufficiently +shown by the estimate of Sir W. Petty, who declares that +before the statute three-fourths of the trade of Ireland was +with England, but not one-fourth of it since that time. In +the very year when this Bill was passed another measure +was taken not less fatal to the interest of the country. In +the first Navigation Act, Ireland was placed on the same +terms as England; but in the Act as amended in 1663 she +was omitted, and was thus deprived of the whole Colonial +trade. With the exception of a very few specified articles +no European merchandise could be imported into the +British Colonies except directly from England, in ships built +in England, and manned chiefly by English sailors. No +articles, with a few exceptions, could be brought from the +Colonies to Europe without being first unladen in England. +In 1670 this exclusion of Ireland was confirmed, and in +1696 it was rendered more stringent, for it was enacted that +no goods of any sort could be imported directly from the +Colonies to Ireland. It will be remembered that at this +time the chief British Colonies were those of America, and +that Ireland, by her geographical position, was naturally of +all countries most fitted for the American trade.</p> + +<p>"As far, then, as the Colonial trade was concerned, +Ireland at this time gained nothing whatever by her con<!-- Page 169 --><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169" />nection +with England. To other countries, however, her +ports were still open, and in time of peace a foreign +commerce was unrestricted. When forbidden to export +their cattle to England, the Irish turned their land chiefly +into sheep-walks, and proceeded energetically to manufacture +the wool. Some faint traces of this manufacture may be +detected from an early period, and Lord Strafford, when +governing Ireland, had mentioned it with a characteristic +comment. Speaking of the Irish he says, 'There was little +or no manufactures amongst them, but some small beginnings +towards a cloth trade, which I had and so should still discourage +all I could, unless otherwise directed by His +Majesty and their Lordships. It might be feared that they +would beat us out of the trade itself by underselling us, +which they were able to do.' With the exception, however, of +an abortive effort by this governor, the Irish wool manufacture +was in no degree impeded, and was indeed mentioned +with special favour in many Acts of Parliament; and it was +in a great degree on the faith of this long-continued legislative +sanction that it was so greatly expanded. The +poverty of Ireland, the low state of civilization of a large +proportion of its inhabitants, the effects of the civil wars +which had so recently convulsed it, and the exclusion of its +products from the English Colonies, were doubtless great +obstacles to manufacturing enterprise; but, on the other +hand, Irish wool was very good, living was cheaper, taxes +were lighter than in England, a spirit of real industrial +energy began to pervade the country, and a considerable +number of English manufacturers came over to colonize it. +There appeared for a time every probability that the Irish +would become an industrial nation, and, had manufactures +arisen, their whole social, political, and economical condition +would have been changed. But English jealousy again +interposed. By an Act of crushing and unprecedented +severity, which was introduced in 1698 and carried in 1699, +<!-- Page 170 --><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170" />the export of the Irish woollen manufactures, not only to +England, but also to all other countries, was absolutely +forbidden.</p> + +<p>"The effects of this measure were terrible almost beyond +conception. The main industry of the country was at a +blow completely and irretrievably annihilated. A vast +population was thrown into a condition of utter destitution. +Several thousands of manufacturers left the country, and +carried their skill and enterprise to Germany, France, and +Spain. The western and southern districts of Ireland are +said to have been nearly depopulated. Emigration to +America began on a large scale, and the blow was so severe +that long after, a kind of chronic famine prevailed."<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33" /><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Lecky relates with pride how the penal code was +relaxed, and the commercial restrictions were removed, +while the Irish Parliament, essentially a Protestant and +landlord body, still existed, and shows how the cause of +Catholic Emancipation was retarded by the Union.</p> + +<p>"The Relief Bill of '93 naturally suggests a consideration +of the question so often agitated in Ireland, whether the +Union was really a benefit to the Roman Catholic cause. +It has been argued that Catholic Emancipation was an impossibility +as long as the Irish Parliament lasted; for in a +country where the great majority were Roman Catholics, it +would be folly to expect the members of the dominant +creed to surrender a monopoly on which their ascendency +depended. The arguments against this view are, I believe, +overwhelming. The injustice of the disqualification was +far more striking before the Union than after it. In the +one case, the Roman Catholics were excluded from the +Parliament of a nation of which they were the great majority; +in the other, they were excluded from the Parliament of an +empire in which they were a small minority. Grattan, Plunket, +Curran, Burrowes, and Ponsonby were the great supporters of +<!-- Page 171 --><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171" />Catholic Emancipation, and the great opponents of the Union. +Clare and Duigenan were the two great opponents of +emancipation, and the great supporters of the Union. At +a time when scarcely any public opinion existed in Ireland, +when the Roman Catholics were nearly quiescent, and +when the leaning of Government was generally liberal, the +Irish Protestants admitted their fellow-subjects to the +magistracy, to the jury-box, and to the franchise. By +this last measure they gave them an amount of political +power which necessarily implied complete emancipation. +Even if no leader of genius had arisen in the Roman +Catholic ranks, and if no spirit of enthusiasm had animated +their councils, the influence possessed by a body who +formed three fourths of the population, who were rapidly +rising in wealth, and who could send their representatives +to Parliament, would have been sufficient to ensure their +triumph. If the Irish Legislature had continued, it would +have been found impossible to resist the demand for reform; +and every reform, by diminishing the overgrown power of a +few Protestant landholders, would have increased that of the +Roman Catholics. The concession accorded in 1793 was, +in fact, far greater and more important than that accorded +in 1829, and it placed the Roman Catholics, in a great +measure, above the mercy of Protestants. But this was not +all. The sympathies of the Protestants were being rapidly +enlisted in their behalf. The generation to which Charlemont +and Flood belonged had passed away, and all the +leading intellects of the country, almost all the Opposition, +and several conspicuous members of the Government, were +warmly in favour of emancipation. The rancour which at +present exists between the members of the two creeds +appears then to have been almost unknown, and the real +obstacle to emancipation was not the feelings of the people, +but the policy of the Government. The Bar may be considered +on most subjects a very fair exponent of the educated +<!-- Page 172 --><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172" />opinion of the nation; and Wolf Tone observed, in 1792, +that it was almost unanimous in favour of the Catholics; +and it is not without importance, as showing the tendencies +of the rising generation, that a large body of the +students of Dublin University in 1795 presented an address +to Grattan, thanking him for his labours in the cause. The +Roman Catholics were rapidly gaining the public opinion +of Ireland, when the Union arrayed against them another +public opinion which was deeply prejudiced against their +faith, and almost entirely removed from their influence. +Compare the twenty years before the Union with the +twenty years that followed it, and the change is sufficiently +manifest. There can scarcely be a question that if Lord +Fitzwilliam had remained in office the Irish Parliament would +readily have given emancipation. In the United Parliament +for many years it was obstinately rejected, and if O'Connell +had never arisen it would probably never have been granted +unqualified by the veto. In 1828 when the question was +brought forward in Parliament, sixty-one out of ninety-three +Irish members, forty-five out of sixty-one Irish county +members, voted in its favour. Year after year Grattan and +Plunket brought forward the case of their fellow-countrymen +with an eloquence and a perseverance worthy of their +great cause; but year after year they were defeated. It was +not till the great tribune had arisen, till he had moulded +his co-religionists into one compact and threatening mass, +and had brought the country to the verge of revolution, +that the tardy boon was conceded. Eloquence and argument +proved alike unavailing when unaccompanied by +menace, and Catholic Emancipation was confessedly granted +because to withhold it would be to produce a rebellion."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34" /><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>Many people will think that this is a sufficiently weighty +condemnation of the Union, but what follows is a still +graver reflection on that untoward measure.<!-- Page 173 --><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173" /></p> + +<p>"In truth the harmonious co-operation of Ireland with +England depends much less upon the framework of the +institutions of the former country than upon the dispositions +of its people and upon the classes who guide its +political life. With a warm and loyal attachment to the +connection pervading the nation, the largest amount of self-government +might be safely conceded, and the most defective +political arrangement might prove innocuous. This is the +true cement of nations, and no change, however plausible +in theory, can be really advantageous which contributes to +diminish it. Theorists may argue that it would be better for +Ireland to become in every respect a province of England; +they may contend that a union of Legislatures, accompanied +by a corresponding fusion of characters and identification +of hopes, interests, and desires, would strengthen +the empire; but as a matter of fact this was not what was +effected in 1800. The measure of Pitt centralized, but it +did not unite, or rather, by uniting the Legislatures it +divided the nations. In a country where the sentiment +of nationality was as intense as in any part of Europe, it +destroyed the national Legislature contrary to the manifest +wish of the people, and by means so corrupt, treacherous, +and shameful that they are never likely to be forgotten. +In a country where, owing to the religious difference, it was +peculiarly necessary that a vigorous lay public opinion +should be fostered to dilute or restrain the sectarian spirit, +it suppressed the centre and organ of political life, directed +the energies of the community into the channels of sectarianism, +drove its humours inwards, and thus began a +perversion of public opinion which has almost destroyed +the elements of political progress. In a country where the +people have always been singularly destitute of self-reliance, +and at the same time eminently faithful to their leaders, it +withdrew the guidance of affairs from the hands of the +resident gentry, and, by breaking their power, prepared the +<!-- Page 174 --><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174" />ascendency of the demagogue or the rebel. In two plain +ways it was dangerous to the connection: it incalculably +increased the aggregate disloyalty of the people, and it +destroyed the political supremacy of the class that is +most attached to the connection. The Irish Parliament, +with all its faults, was an eminently loyal body. The Irish +people through the eighteenth century, in spite of great +provocations, were on the whole a loyal people till the recall +of Lord Fitzwilliam, and even then a few very moderate +measures of reform might have reclaimed them. Burke, +in his <i>Letters on a Regicide Peace</i>, when reviewing the +elements of strength on which England could confide in her +struggle with revolutionary France, placed in the very first +rank the co-operation of Ireland. At the present day, it +is to be feared that most impartial men would regard +Ireland, in the event of a great European war, rather as +a source of weakness than of strength. More than seventy +years have passed since the boasted measure of Pitt, and +it is unfortunately incontestable that the lower orders in +Ireland are as hostile to the system of government under +which they live as the Hungarian people have ever been to +Austrian, or the Roman to Papal rule; that Irish disloyalty is +multiplying enemies of England wherever the English tongue +is spoken; and that the national sentiment runs so strongly +that multitudes of Irish Catholics look back with deep +affection to the Irish Parliament, although no Catholic could +sit within its walls, and although it was only during the last +seven years of its independent existence that Catholics +could vote for its members. Among the opponents of the +Union were many of the most loyal, as well as nearly all +the ablest men in Ireland; and Lord Charlemont, who died +shortly before the measure was consummated, summed up +the feelings of many in the emphatic sentence with which +he protested against it. 'It would more than any other +measure,' he said, 'contribute to the separation of two +<!-- Page 175 --><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175" />countries the perpetual connection of which is one of the +warmest wishes of my heart.'</p> + +<p>"In fact, the Union of 1800 was not only a great crime, +but was also, like most crimes, a great blunder. The manner +in which it was carried was not only morally scandalous; +it also entirely vitiated it as a work of statesmanship. No +great political measure can be rationally judged upon its +abstract merits, and without considering the character and +the wishes of the people for whom it is intended. It is now +idle to discuss what might have been the effect of a Union +if it had been carried before 1782, when the Parliament +was still unemancipated; if it had been the result of a +spontaneous movement of public opinion; if it had been +accompanied by the emancipation of the Catholics. Carried +as it was prematurely, in defiance of the national sentiment +of the people and of the protests of the unbribed talent +of the country, it has deranged the whole course of political +development, driven a large proportion of the people into +sullen disloyalty, and almost destroyed healthy public +opinion. In comparing the abundance of political talent +in Ireland during the last century with the striking absence +of it at present, something no doubt may be attributed to +the absence of protection for literary property in Ireland +in the former period, which may have directed an unusual +portion of the national talent to politics, and something +to the Colonial and Indian careers which have of late years +been thrown open to competition; but when all due allowances +have been made for these, the contrast is sufficiently +impressive. Few impartial men can doubt that the tone +of political life and the standard of political talent have been +lowered, while sectarian animosity has been greatly increased, +and the extent to which Fenian principles have permeated +the people is a melancholy comment upon the prophesies +that the Union would put an end to disloyalty in Ireland."<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35" /><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a><!-- Page 176 --><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176" /></p> + +<p>Mr. Lecky's views as to what ought to have been +done in 1800 deserve to be set forth.</p> + +<p>"While, however, the Irish policy of Pitt appears to +be both morally and politically deserving of almost unmitigated +condemnation, I cannot agree with those who believe +that the arrangement of 1782 could have been permanent. +The Irish Parliament would doubtless have been in time reformed, +but it would have soon found its situation intolerable. +Imperial policy must necessarily have been settled by +the Imperial Parliament, in which Ireland had no voice; and, +unlike Canada or Australia, Ireland is profoundly affected by +every change of Imperial policy. Connection with England +was of overwhelming importance to the lesser country, while +the tie uniting them would have been found degrading by +one nation and inconvenient to the other. Under such +circumstances a Union of some kind was inevitable. It +was simply a question of time, and must have been demanded +by Irish opinion. At the same time, it would not, +I think, have been such a Union as that of 1800. The +conditions of Irish and English politics are so extremely +different, and the reasons for preserving in Ireland a local +centre of political life are so powerful, that it is probable +a Federal Union would have been preferred. Under such +a system the Irish Parliament would have continued to +exist, but would have been restricted to purely local subjects, +while an Imperial Parliament, in which Irish representatives +sat, would have directed the policy of the +empire."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36" /><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>MR. GOLDWIN SMITH.</p> + +<p>None of the recent opponents of Home Rule have +written against that policy with more brilliance and epigrammatic +keenness than Mr. Goldwin Smith. But no one +<!-- Page 177 --><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177" />has stated with more force the facts and considerations +which, operating on men's mind for years past, have made +the Liberal party Home Rulers now. His <i>coup d'oeil</i> +remains the most pointed indictment ever drawn from the +historical annals of Ireland against the English methods +of governing that country. Twenty years ago he anticipated +the advice recently given by Mr. Gladstone. In 1867 he +wrote:—</p> + +<p>"I have myself sought and found in the study of Irish +history the explanation of the paradox, that a people with so +many gifts, so amiable, naturally so submissive to rulers, and +everywhere but in their own country industrious, are in +their own country bywords of idleness, lawlessness, disaffection, +and agrarian crime."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37" /><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> He explains the paradox thus: +"But it is difficult to distinguish the faults of the Irish from +their misfortunes. It has been well said of their past industrial +character and history,—'We were reckless, ignorant, +improvident, drunken, and idle. We were idle, for we had +nothing to do; we were reckless, for we had no hope; we +were ignorant, for learning was denied us; we were improvident, +for we had no future; we were drunken, for we +sought to forget our misery. That time has passed away +for ever.' No part of this defence is probably more true +than that which connects the drunkenness of the Irish +people with their misery. Drunkenness is, generally speaking, +the vice of despair; and it springs from the despair of +the Irish peasant as rankly as from that of his English fellow. +The sums of money which have lately been transmitted by +Irish emigrants to their friends in Ireland seem a conclusive +answer to much loose denunciation of the national character, +both in a moral and an industrial point of view.... There +seems no good reason for believing that the Irish Kelts are +averse to labour, provided they be placed, as people of all +races require to be placed, for two or three generations in +<!-- Page 178 --><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178" />circumstances favourable to industry."<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38" /><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> He shows that +the Irish have not been so placed. "Still more does +justice require that allowance should be made on historical +grounds for the failings of the Irish people. If they are +wanting in industry, in regard for the rights of property, in +reverence for the law, history furnishes a full explanation +of their defects, without supposing in them any inherent +depravity, or even any inherent weakness. They have +never had the advantage of the training through which +other nations have passed in their gradual rise from barbarism +to civilization. The progress of the Irish people +was arrested at almost a primitive stage, and a series of +calamities, following close upon each other, have prevented +it from ever fairly resuming its course. The pressure of +overwhelming misery has now been reduced; government +has become mild and just; the civilizing agency of education +has been introduced; the upper classes are rapidly returning +to their duty, and the natural effect is at once seen +in the improved character of the people. Statesmen are +bound to be well acquainted with the historical sources +of the evil with which they have to deal, especially when +those evils are of such a nature as, at first aspect, to imply +depravity in a nation. There are still speakers and writers +who seem to think that the Irish are incurably vicious, +because the accumulated effects of so many centuries +cannot be removed at once by a wave of the legislator's +wand. Some still believe, or affect to believe, that the +very air of the island is destructive of the characters and +understandings of all who breathe it."<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39" /><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>Elsewhere he adds, referring to the land system:</p> + +<p>"How many centuries of a widely different training +have the English people gone through in order to acquire +their boasted love of law."<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40" /><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p><!-- Page 179 --><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179" />Of the "training" through which the Irish went, he +says—</p> + +<p>"The existing settlement of land in Ireland, whether +dating from the confiscations of the Stuarts, or from +those of Cromwell, rests on a proscription three or four +times as long as that on which the settlement of land +rests over a considerable part of France. It may, therefore, +be considered as placed upon discussion in the estimation +of all sane men; and, this being the case, it is safe to +observe that no inherent want of respect for property is +shown by the Irish people if a proprietorship which had its +origin within historical memory in flagrant wrong is less +sacred in their eyes than it would be if it had its origin in +immemorial right."<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41" /><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>The character which he gives of Irish landlordism +deserves to be quoted:</p> + +<p>"The Cromwellian landowners soon lost their religious +character, while they retained all the hardness of the fanatic +and the feelings of Puritan conquerors towards a conquered +Catholic people. 'I have eaten with them,' said one, 'drunk +with them, fought with them; but I never prayed with them.' +Their descendants became, probably, the very worst upper +class with which a country was ever afflicted. The habits of +the Irish gentry grew beyond measure brutal and reckless, and +the coarseness of their debaucheries would have disgusted +the crew of Comus. Their drunkenness, their blasphemy, +their ferocious duelling, left the squires of England far +behind. If there was a grotesque side to their vices which +mingles laughter with our reprobation, this did not render +their influence less pestilent to the community of which the +motive of destiny had made them social chiefs. Fortunately, +their recklessness was sure, in the end, to work, to +a certain extent, its own cure; and in the background of +<!-- Page 180 --><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180" />their swinish and uproarious drinking-bouts, the Encumbered +Estates Act rises to our view."<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42" /><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Goldwin Smith deals with agrarian crime thus:</p> + +<p>"The atrocities perpetrated by the Whiteboys, especially +in the earlier period of agrarianism (for they afterwards grew +somewhat less inhuman), are such as to make the flesh creep. +No language can be too strong in speaking of the horrors of +such a state of society. But it would be unjust to confound +these agrarian conspiracies with ordinary crime, or to suppose +that they imply a propensity to ordinary crime either +on the part of those who commit them, or on the part of the +people who connive at and favour their commission. In +the districts where agrarian conspiracy and outrage were +most rife, the number of ordinary crimes was very small. +In Munster, in 1833, out of 973 crimes, 627 were Whiteboy, +or agrarian, and even of the remainder, many, being crimes +of violence, were probably committed from the same motive.</p> + +<p>"In plain truth, the secret tribunals which administered +the Whiteboy code were to the people the organs of a wild +law of social morality by which, on the whole, the interest +of the peasant was protected. They were not regular +tribunals; neither were the secret tribunals of Germany in +the Middle Ages, the existence of which, and the submission +of the people to their jurisdiction, implied the +presence of much violence, but not of much depravity, considering +the wildness of the times. The Whiteboys 'found +in their favour already existing a general and settled hatred +of the law among the great body of the peasantry.'<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43" /><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> We +have seen how much the law, and the ministers of the law, +had done to deserve the peasant's love. We have seen, +too, in what successive guises property had presented itself +to his mind: first as open rapine; then as robbery carried +on through the roguish technicalities of an alien code; finally +<!-- Page 181 --><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181" />as legalized and systematic oppression. Was it possible +that he should have formed so affectionate a reverence +either for law or property as would be proof against the +pressure of starvation?"<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44" /><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> "A people cannot be expected +to love and reverence oppression because it is consigned to +the statute-book, and called law."<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45" /><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>These extracts are taken from <i>Irish History and Irish +Character</i>, which was published in 1861. But in 1867 Mr. +Goldwin Smith wrote a series of letters to the <i>Daily News</i>, +which were republished in 1868 under the title of <i>The Irish +Question</i>; and these letters form, perhaps, the most statesmanlike +and far-seeing pronouncement that has ever been +made on the Irish difficulty.</p> + +<p>In the preface Mr. Goldwin Smith begins:</p> + +<p>"The Irish legislation of the last forty years, notwithstanding +the adoption of some remedial measures, has failed +through the indifference of Parliament to the sentiments +of Irishmen; and the harshness of English public opinion +has embittered the effects on Irish feeling of the indifference +of Parliament. Occasionally a serious effort has been made +by an English statesman to induce Parliament to approach +Irish questions in that spirit of sympathy, and with that +anxious desire to be just, without which a Parliament in +London cannot legislate wisely for Ireland. Such efforts +have hitherto met with no response; is it too much to hope +that it will be otherwise in the year now opening?"<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46" /><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>The only comment I shall make on these words is: they +were penned more than half a century after Mr. Pitt's +Union, which was to shower down blessings on the Irish +people.</p> + +<p>Mr. Goldwin Smith's first letter was written on the 23rd of +November, 1867, the day of the execution of the Fenians +Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien. He says—</p> + +<p>"<!-- Page 182 --><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182" />There can be no doubt, I apprehend, that the Irish +difficulty has entered on a new phase, and that Irish disaffection +has, to repeat an expression which I heard used in Ireland, +come fairly into a line with the other discontented nationalities +of Europe. Active Fenianism probably pervades only +the lowest class; passive sympathy, which the success of the +movement would at once convert into active co-operation, +extends, it is to be feared, a good deal higher.</p> + +<p>"England has ruin before her, unless she can hit on a +remedy, and overcome any obstacles of class interest or of +national pride which would prevent its application, the part +of Russia in Poland, or of Austria in Italy—a part cruel, +hateful, demoralizing, contrary to all our high principles and +professions, and fraught with dangers to our own freedom. +Our position will be worse than that of Russia in this +respect, that, while her Poland is only a province, our +Fenianism is an element pervading every city of the United +Kingdom in which Irish abound, and allying itself with +kindred misery, discontent, and disorder. Wretchedness, +the result of misgovernment, has caused the Irish people to +multiply with the recklessness of despair, and now here are +their avenging hosts in the midst of us, here is the poison of +their disaffection running through every member of our +social frame. Not only so, but the same wretchedness has +sent millions of emigrants to form an Irish nation in the +United States, where the Irish are a great political power, +swaying by their votes the councils of the American +Republic, and in immediate contact with those Transatlantic +possessions of England, the retention of which +it is now patriotic to applaud, and will one day be patriotic +to have dissuaded.</p> + +<p>" ... That Ireland is not at this moment, materially +speaking, in a particularly suffering state, but, on the contrary, +the farmers are rather prosperous, and wages, even +when allowance is made for the rise in the price of provi<!-- Page 183 --><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183" />sions, +considerably higher than they were, only adds to the +significance of this widespread disaffection.</p> + +<p>"The Fenian movement is not religious, nor radically +economical (though no doubt it has in it a socialistic +element), but national, and the remedy for it must be one +which cures national discontent. This is the great truth +which the English people have to lay to heart."<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47" /><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Goldwin Smith then dispels the notion that the Irish +question is a religious one.</p> + +<p>"When Fenianism first appeared, the Orangemen, in +accordance with their fixed idea, ascribed it to the priests. +They were undeceived, I was told, by seeing a priest run +away from the Fenians in fear of his life."<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48" /><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>Neither was it a question of the land.</p> + +<p>"The land question, no doubt, lies nearer to the heart +of the matter, and it is the great key to Irish history in +the past; but I do not believe that even this is fundamental."</p> + +<p>He then states what is "fundamental."<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49" /><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> + +<p>"The real root of the disaffection which exhibits itself at +present in the guise of Fenianism, and which has been +suddenly kindled into flame by the arming of the Irish in +the American civil war, but which existed before in a +nameless and smouldering state, is, as I believe, the want of +national institutions, of a national capital, of any objects +of national reverence and attachment, and consequently of +anything deserving to be called national life. The English +Crown and Parliament the Irish have never learnt, nor have +they had any chance of learning, to love, or to regard as +national, notwithstanding the share which was given them, +too late, in the representation. The greatness of England +is nothing to them. Her history is nothing, or worse. The +success of Irishmen in London consoles the Irish in +Ireland no more than the success of Italian adventurers in +<!-- Page 184 --><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184" />foreign countries (which was very remarkable) consoled the +Italian people. The drawing off of Irish talent, in fact, +turns to an additional grievance in their minds. Dublin is +a modern Tara, a metropolis from which the glory has +departed; and the viceroyalty, though it pleases some of +the tradesmen, fails altogether to satisfy the people. 'In +Ireland we can make no appeal to patriotism, we can have +no patriotic sentiments in our schoolbooks, no patriotic +emblems in our schools, because in Ireland everything +patriotic is rebellious.' These were the words uttered in +my hearing, not by a complaining demagogue, but by a +desponding statesman. They seemed to me pregnant with +fatal truths.</p> + +<p>"If the craving for national institutions, and the disaffection +bred in this void of the Irish people's heart, seem to us +irrational and even insane, in the absence of any more +substantial grievance, we ought to ask ourselves what +would become of our own patriotism if we had no national +institutions, no objects of national loyalty and reverence, +even though we might be pretty well governed, at least in +intention, by a neighbouring people whom we regarded as +aliens, and who, in fact, regarded us pretty much in the +same light. Let us first judge ourselves fairly, and then +judge the Irish, remembering always that they are more +imaginative and sentimental, and need some centre of +national feeling and affection more than ourselves."<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50" /><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>And all this was written sixty-seven years after the +Union of 1800.</p> + +<p>Mr. Goldwin Smith then deals with the subject of the +Irish and Scotch unions much in the same way as Mr. +Lecky.</p> + +<p>"The incorporation of the Scotch nation with the +English, being conducted on the right principles by the +great Whig statesman of Anne, has been perfectly success<!-- Page 185 --><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185" />ful. +The attempt to incorporate the Irish nation with the +English and Scotch, the success of which would have been, +if possible, a still greater blessing, being conducted by very +different people and on very different principles, has unhappily +failed. What might have been the result if even the +Hanoverian sovereigns had done the personal duty to their +Irish kingdom which they have unfortunately neglected, it +is now too late to inquire. The Irish Union has missed its +port, and, in order to reach it, will have to tack again. We +may hold down a dependency, of course, by force, in +Russian and Austrian fashion; but force will never make +the hearts of two nations one, especially when they are +divided by the sea. Once get rid of this deadly international +hatred, and there will be hope of real union in +the future."<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51" /><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Goldwin Smith finally proposes a "plan" by which +the "deadly international hatred" might be got rid of, and +a "real union" brought about. Here it is.</p> + +<p>"1. The residence of the Court at Dublin, not merely +to gratify the popular love of royalty and its pageantries, +which no man of sense desires to stimulate, but to assure +the Irish people, in the only way possible as regards the +mass of them, that the sovereign of the United Kingdom is +really their sovereign, and that they are equally cared for +and honoured with the other subjects of the realm. This +would also tend to make Dublin a real capital, and to +gather and retain there a portion of the Irish talent which +now seeks its fortune elsewhere.</p> + +<p>"2. An occasional session (say once in every three years) +of the Imperial Parliament in Dublin, partly for the same +purposes as the last proposal, but also because the circumstances +of Ireland are likely to be, for some time at least, +really peculiar, and the personal acquaintance of our legislators +with them is the only sufficient security for good Irish +<!-- Page 186 --><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186" />legislation. There could be no serious difficulty in holding +a short session in the Irish capital, where there is plenty of +accommodation for both Houses.</p> + +<p>"3. A liberal measure of local self-government for +Ireland. I would not vest the power in any single assembly +for all Ireland, because Ulster is really a different country +from the other provinces. I would give each province a +council of its own, and empower that council to legislate +(subject, of course, to the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament) +on all matters not essential to the political and +legal unity of the empire, in which I would include local +education. The provincial councils should of course be +elective, and the register of electors might be the same as +that of electors to the Imperial Parliament. In England +itself the extension of local institutions, as political training +schools for the masses, as checks upon the sweeping action +of the great central assembly, and as the best organs of +legislation in all matters requiring (as popular education, +among others, does) adaptation to the circumstances of particular +districts, would, I think, have formed a part of any +statesmanlike revision of our political system. Here, also, +much good might be done, and much evil averted, by committing +the present business of quarter sessions, other than +the judicial business, together with such other matters as +the central legislative might think fit to vest in local hands, +to an assembly elected by the county."<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52" /><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>Thus it will be seen that twenty years ago Mr. Goldwin +Smith anticipated Mr. Chamberlain's scheme of provincial +councils, and got a good way on the road to an Irish +Parliament.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>MR. DICEY.</p> + +<p>A fairer controversalist, or an abler supporter of the +"paper Union," than Mr. Dicey there is not; nevertheless +<!-- Page 187 --><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187" />no man has fired more effective shots into Mr. Pitt's +unfortunate arrangement of 1800.</p> + +<p>How well has the "failure" of that arrangement been +described in these pithy sentences—"Eighty-six years have +elapsed since the conclusion of the Treaty of Union between +England and Ireland. The two countries do not yet form +an united nation. The Irish people are, if not more +wretched (for the whole European world has made progress, +and Ireland with it), yet more conscious of wretchedness, +and Irish disaffection to England is, if not deeper, more +widespread than in 1800. An Act meant by its authors to +be a source of the prosperity and concord which, though +slowly, followed upon the Union with Scotland, has not +made Ireland rich, has not put an end to Irish lawlessness, +has not terminated the feud between Protestants and +Catholics, has not raised the position of Irish tenants, has +not taken away the causes of Irish discontent, and has, +therefore, not removed Irish disloyalty. This is the indictment +which can fairly be brought against the Act of +Union."<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53" /><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>What follows reflects honour on Mr. Dicey as an honest +opponent who does not shrink from facts; but what +a wholesale condemnation of the policy of the Imperial +Parliament!</p> + +<p>"On one point alone (it may be urged) all men, of whatever +party or of whatever nation, who have seriously studied the +annals of Ireland are agreed—the history is a record of incessant +failure on the part of the Government, and of incessant +misery on the part of the people. On this matter, if on no +other, De Beaumont, Froude, and Lecky are at one. As to +the guilt of the failure or the cause of the misery, men may +and do differ; that England, whether from her own fault +or the fault of the Irish people, or from perversity of circumstances, +has failed in Ireland of achieving the elemen<!-- Page 188 --><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188" />tary +results of good government is as certain as any fact of +history or of experience. Every scheme has been tried in +turn, and no scheme has succeeded or has even, it may be +suggested, produced its natural effects. Oppression of the +Catholics has increased the adherents and strengthened the +hold of Catholicism. Protestant supremacy, while it lasted, +did not lead even to Protestant contentment, and the one +successful act of resistance to the English dominion was +effected by a Protestant Parliament supported by an army +of volunteers, led by a body of Protestant officers. The +independence gained by a Protestant Parliament led, after +eighteen years, to a rebellion so reckless and savage that it +caused, if it did not justify, the destruction of the Parliament +and the carrying of the Union. The Act of Union did not +lead to national unity, and a measure which appeared on +the face of it (though the appearance, it must be admitted, +was delusive) to be a copy of the law which bound England +and Scotland into a common country inspired by common +patriotism, produced conspiracy and agitation, and at last +placed England and Ireland further apart, morally, than +they stood at the beginning of the century. The Treaty of +Union, it was supposed, missed its mark because it was not +combined with Catholic Emancipation. The Catholics were +emancipated, but emancipation, instead of producing +loyalty, brought forth the cry for repeal. The Repeal movement +ended in failure, but its death gave birth to the +attempted rebellion in 1848. Suppressed rebellion begot +Fenianism, to be followed in its turn by the agitation for +Home Rule. The movement relies, it is said, and there is +truth in the assertion, on constitutional methods for obtaining +redress. But constitutional measures are supplemented by +boycotting, by obstruction, by the use of dynamite. A +century of reform has given us Mr. Parnell instead of +Grattan, and it is more than possible that Mr. Parnell may +be succeeded by leaders in whose eyes Mr. Davitt's policy +<!-- Page 189 --><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189" />may appear to be tainted with moderation. No doubt, in +each case the failure of good measures admits, like every +calamity in public or private life, of explanation, and after +the event it is easy to see why, for example, the Poor Law, +when extended to Ireland, did not produce even the good +effects such as they are which in England are to be set against +its numerous evils; or why an emigration of unparalleled +proportions has diminished population without much diminishing +poverty; why the disestablishment of the Anglican +Church has increased rather than diminished the hostility to +England of the Catholic priesthood; or why two Land Acts +have not contented Irish farmers. It is easy enough, in +short, and this without having any recourse to theory of +race, and without attributing to Ireland either more or less +of original sin than falls to the lot of humanity, to see how +it is that imperfect statesmanship—and all statesmanship, it +should be remembered, is imperfect—has failed in obtaining +good results at all commensurate with its generally good +intentions. Failure, however, is none the less failure because +its causes admit of analysis. It is no defence to +bankruptcy that an insolvent can, when brought before the +Court, lucidly explain the errors which resulted in disastrous +speculations. The failure of English statesmanship, explain +it as you will, has produced the one last and greatest evil +which misgovernment can cause. It has created hostility to +the law in the minds of the people. The law cannot work +in Ireland because the classes whose opinion in other +countries supports the actions of the courts, are in Ireland, +even when not law-breakers, in full sympathy with law-breakers."<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54" /><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> + +<p>No Home Ruler has described the evils of English misrule +in Ireland with such vigour as this.</p> + +<p>"Bad administration, religious persecution, above all, a +thoroughly vicious land tenure, accompanied by such sweep<!-- Page 190 --><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190" />ing +confiscations as to make it, at any rate, a plausible assertion +that all land in Ireland has during the course of Irish history +been confiscated at least thrice over, are admittedly some of +the causes, if they do not constitute the whole cause, of the one +immediate difficulty which perplexes the policy of England. +This is nothing else than the admitted disaffection to the +law of the land prevailing among large numbers of Irish +people. The existence of this disaffection, whatever be the +inference to be drawn from it, is undeniable. A series of +so-called Coercion Acts, passed both before and since the +Act of Union, give undeniable evidence, if evidence were +wanted, of the ceaseless and, as it would appear, almost +irrepressible resistance in Ireland offered by the people +to the enforcement of the law. I have not the remotest +inclination to underrate the lasting and formidable character +of this opposition between opinion and law, nor can any +jurist who wishes to deal seriously with a serious and +infinitely painful topic, question for a moment that the +ultimate strength of law lies in the sympathy, or at the +lowest the acquiescence, of the mass of the population. +Judges, constables, and troops become almost powerless +when the conscience of the people permanently opposes +the execution of the law. Severity produces either no effect +or bad effects; executed criminals are regarded as heroes +or martyrs; and jurymen and witnesses meet with the +execration and often with the fate of criminals. On such +a point it is best to take the opinion of a foreigner unaffected +by prejudices or passions from which no Englishman +or Irishman has a right to suppose himself free.</p> + +<p>"'Quand vous en êtes arroês à ce point, croyez bien que +dans cette voie de regueurs tous vos efforts pour rétabler +l'ordre et la paix seront inutiles. En vain, pour réprimer +des crimes atroces, vous appellerez à votre aide toutes les +sévérités du code de Dracon; en vain vous ferez des lois +cruelles pour arrêter le cours de révoltantes cruautés; vaine<!-- Page 191 --><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191" />ment +vous frapperez de mort le moindre délit se rattachant +à ces grands crimes; vainement, dans l'effroi de votre +impuissance, vous suspendrez le cours des lois ordinaries +proclamerez des comtés entiers en état de suspicion légale, +voilerez le principe de la liberté individuelle, créerez des +cours martiales, des commissions extraordinaires, et pour +produire de salutaires impressions de terreur, multiplierez à +l'excès les exécutions capitales.'"<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55" /><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>The next passage is a trenchant condemnation of the +"Union."</p> + +<p>"There exists in Europe no country so completely at +unity with itself as Great Britain. Fifty years of reform +have done their work, and have removed the discontents, +the divisions, the disaffection, and the conspiracies which +marked the first quarter, or the first half of this century. +Great Britain, if left to herself, could act with all the force, +consistency, and energy given by unity of sentiment and +community of interests. The distraction and the uncertainty +of our political aims, the feebleness and inconsistency +with which they are pursued, arise, in part at least, from +the connection with Ireland. Neither Englishmen nor Irishmen +are to blame for the fact that it is difficult for communities +differing in historical associations and in political +conceptions to keep step together in the path of progress. +For other evils arising from the connection the blame must +rest on English Statesmen. All the inherent vices of party +government, all the weaknesses of the parliamentary system, +all the evils arising from the perverse notion that reform +ought always to be preceded by a period of lengthy and +more than half factitious agitation met by equally factitious +resistance, have been fostered and increased by the interaction +of Irish and English politics. No one can believe +that the inveterate habit of ruling one part of the United +<!-- Page 192 --><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192" />Kingdom on principles which no one would venture to +apply to the government of any other part of it, can have +produced anything but the most injurious effect on the +stability of our Government and the character of our public +men. The advocates of Home Rule find by far their +strongest arguments for influencing English opinion, in the +proofs which they produce that England, no less than +Ireland, has suffered from a political arrangement under +which legal union has failed to secure moral union. +<i>These arguments, whatever their strength, are, however, it +must be noted, more available to a Nationalist than to an +advocate of federalism</i>."<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56" /><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>The words which I have italicised are an expression of +opinion; but nothing can alter the damning statement of +fact—"legal union has failed to secure moral union." Nevertheless, +Mr. Dicey advocates the maintenance of this legal +union as it stands.</p> + +<p>"On the whole, then, it appears that, whatever changes +or calamities the future may have in store, the maintenance +of the Union is at this day the one sound policy for England +to pursue. It is sound because it is expedient; it is sound +because it is just."<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57" /><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>I shall not discuss the question of Home Rule with the +eminent writers whose works I have cited. It is enough +that they demonstrate the failure of the Union. So convinced +was Mr. Lecky, in 1871, of its failure, that he +suggested a readjustment of the relations of the two countries +on a federal basis;<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58" /><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> and Mr. Goldwin Smith, in 1868, contended +that the Irish difficulty could only be settled by the +establishment of Provincial Councils, and an occasional +<!-- Page 193 --><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193" />session of the Imperial Parliament in Dublin. Mr. Dicey +clings to the existing Union while demonstrating its failure, +because he has persuaded himself that the only alternative +is separation.</p> + +<p>Irishmen may be pardoned for acting on Mr. Dicey's +facts, and disregarding his prophecies. The mass of Irishmen +believe, with Grattan, that the ocean protests against +separation as the sea protests against such a union as was +attempted in 1800.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59" /><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26" /><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Omissions here and elsewhere are merely for purposes of space. +In some places the omitted parts would strengthen the Irish case; in +no place would they weaken it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27" /><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Lecky, <i>Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland</i>, new edit. (1871), +Introduction, pp. viii., xiv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28" /><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Lecky, <i>Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland</i>, new edit. (1871), +Introduction, pp. xiv., xv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29" /><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Lecky, <i>History of England in the Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 59, 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30" /><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Leaders of Public Opinion</i>, pp. 33, 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31" /><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Leaders of Public Opinion</i>, pp. 120-123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32" /><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Leaders of Public Opinion</i>, pp. 125, 126.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33" /><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Leaders of Public Opinion</i>, pp. 34-37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34" /><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Leaders of Public Opinion</i>, pp. 134-137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35" /><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Leaders of Public Opinion</i>, pp. 192-195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36" /><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Leaders of Public Opinion</i>, pp. 195, 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37" /><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Goldwin Smith, <i>Three English Statesmen</i>, p. 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38" /><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Irish History and Irish Character</i>, pp. 13, 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39" /><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Ibid., p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40" /><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Ibid., p. 142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41" /><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Irish History and Irish Character</i>, p. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42" /><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Irish History and Irish Character</i>, pp. 139, 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43" /><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Sir George Cornewall Lewis, <i>Irish Disturbances</i>, p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44" /><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Irish History and Irish Character</i>, pp. 153-157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45" /><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Ibid., pp. 70, 71</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46" /><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>The Irish Question</i>, Preface, pp. iii., iv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47" /><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> <i>The Irish Question</i>, pp. 3-5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48" /><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Ibid., p. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49" /><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Ibid., p. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50" /><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>The Irish Question</i>, pp. 7-9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51" /><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Irish Question</i>, p. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52" /><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>The Irish Question</i>, pp. 16-18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53" /><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Dicey, <i>England's Case against Home Rule</i>, p. 128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54" /><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Dicey, <i>England's Case against Home Rule</i>, pp. 72-74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55" /><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Dicey, <i>England's Case against Home Rule</i>, pp. 92-94.—The +foreigner is De Beaumont.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56" /><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Dicey, <i>England's Case against Home Rule</i>, pp. 151, 152.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57" /><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Ibid., p. 288.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58" /><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> I hope I am not doing Mr. Lecky an injustice in this statement. +I rely on the extract quoted from the <i>Leaders of Public Opinion in +Ireland,</i> at p. 176 of this volume; but see Introduction, p. xix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59" /><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Irish House of Commons, January 15th, 1800.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IRELANDS_ALTERNATIVES" id="IRELANDS_ALTERNATIVES" /><!-- Page 194 --><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194" />IRELAND'S ALTERNATIVES.</h2> + +<p class="author">BY LORD THRING.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60" /><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + + +<p>Ireland is a component member of the most complex +political body the world has yet known; any inquiry, then, +into the fitness of any particular form of government for +that country involves an investigation of the structures of +various composite nations, or nations made up of numerous +political communities more or less differing from each other. +From the examination of the nature of the common tie, and +the circumstances which caused it to be adopted or imposed +on the component peoples, we cannot but derive instruction, +and be furnished with materials which will enable us to take +a wide view of the question of Home Rule, and assist us in +judging between the various remedies proposed for the cure +of Irish disorders.</p> + +<p>The nature of the ties which bind, or have bound, the +principal composite nations of the world together may be +classified as—</p> + +<p> +1. Confederate unions.<br /> +2. Federal unions.<br /> +3. Imperial unions.<br /> +</p> + +<p>A confederate union may be defined to mean an alliance +between the governments of independent States, which +agree to appoint a common superior authority having power +<!-- Page 195 --><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195" />to make peace and war and to demand contributions of men +and money from the confederate States. Such superior +authority has no power of enforcing its decrees except +through the medium of the governments of the constituent +States; or, in other words, in case of disobedience, by +armed force.</p> + +<p>A federal union differs from a confederate union in the +material fact that the common superior authority, instead +of acting on the individual subjects of the constituent States +through the medium of their respective governments, has a +power, in respect of all matters within its jurisdiction, of +enacting laws and issuing orders which are binding directly +on the individual citizens.</p> + +<p>The distinguishing characteristics of an imperial union +are, that it consists of an aggregate of communities, one of +which is dominant, and that the component communities +have been brought into association, not by arrangement +between themselves, but by colonization, cession, and by +other means emanating from the resources or power of the +dominant community.</p> + +<p>The above-mentioned distinction between a Government +having communities only for its subjects, and incapable +of enforcing its orders by any other means than +war, and a Government acting directly on individuals, must +be constantly borne in mind, for in this lies the whole +difference between a confederate and federal union; that is +to say, between a confederacy which, in the case of the +United States, lasted a few short years, and a federal union +which, with the same people as subjects, has lasted nearly +a century, and has stood the strain of the most terrible war +of modern times.</p> + +<p>The material features of the Constitution of the United +States have been explained in a previous article.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61" /><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> All that +<!-- Page 196 --><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196" />is necessary to call to mind here is, that the Government of +the United States exercises a power of taxation throughout +the whole Union by means of its own officers, and enforces +its decrees through the medium of its own Courts. A +Supreme Court has also been established, which has power +to adjudicate on the constitutionality of all laws passed by +the Legislature of the United States, or of any State, and to +decide on all international questions.</p> + +<p>Switzerland was till 1848 an example of a confederate +union or league of semi-independent States, which, unlike +other confederacies, had existed with partial interruptions +for centuries. This unusual vitality is attributed by Mill<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62" /><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> +to the circumstance that the confederate government felt +its weakness so strongly that it hardly ever attempted to +exercise any real authority. Its present government, finally +settled in 1874, but based on fundamental laws passed in +1848, is a federal union formed on the pattern of the +American Constitution. It consists of a federal assembly +comprising two Chambers—the Upper Chamber composed +of forty-four members chosen by the twenty-two cantons, +two for each canton; the Lower consisting of 145 members +chosen by direct election at the rate of one deputy for every +20,000 persons. The chief executive authority is deputed +to a federal council consisting of seven members elected for +three years by the federal assembly, and having at their +head a president and vice-president, who are the first +magistrates of the republic. There is also a federal tribunal, +having similar functions to those of the supreme court +of the United States of America, consisting of nine members +elected for six years by the federal assembly.</p> + +<p>The Empire of Germany is a federal union, differing +from the United States and Switzerland in having an hereditary +emperor as its head. It comprises twenty-six States, +who have "formed an eternal union for the protection of +<!-- Page 197 --><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197" />the realm, and the care of the welfare of the German +people."<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63" /><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> The King of Prussia, under the title of German +Emperor, represents the empire in all its relations to foreign +nations, and has the power of making peace and war, but +if the war be more than a defensive war he must have +the assent of the Upper House. The legislative body of +the empire consists of two Houses—the Upper, called the +Bundesrath, representing the several component States in +different proportions according to their relative importance; +the lower, the Reichstag, elected by the voters in 397 +electoral districts, which are distributed amongst the constituent +States in unequal numbers, regard being had to the +population and circumstances of each State.</p> + +<p>The Austro-Hungarian Empire is a federal union, differing +alike in its origin and construction from the federal +unions above mentioned. In the beginning Austria and +Hungary were independent countries—Austria a despotism, +Hungary a constitutional monarchy, with ancient laws and +customs dating back to the foundation of the kingdom in +895. In the sixteenth century the supreme power in both +countries—that is to say, the despotic monarchy in Austria +and the constitutional monarchy in Hungary—became +vested in the same person; as might have been anticipated, +the union was not a happy one. If we dip into Heeren's +<i>Political System of Europe</i> at intervals selected almost +at random, the following notices will be found in relation to +Austria and Hungary:—Between 1671 and 1700 "political +unity in the Austrian monarchy was to have been enforced +especially in the principal country (Hungary), for this was +regarded as the sole method of establishing power; the +consequence was an almost perpetual revolutionary state of +affairs."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64" /><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> Again, in the next chapter, commenting on the +period between 1740 and 1786: "Hungary, in fact the +<!-- Page 198 --><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198" />chief, was treated like a conquered province; subjected to +the most oppressive commercial restraints, it was regarded +as a colony from which Austria exacted what she could for +her own advantage. The injurious consequences of this +internal discord are evident." Coming to modern times we +find that oppression followed oppression with sickening +monotony, and that at last the determination of Austria to +stamp out the Constitution in Hungary gave rise to the +insurrection of 1849, which Austria suppressed with the +assistance of Russia, and as a penalty declared the Hungarian +Constitution to be forfeited, and thereupon Hungary +was incorporated with Austria, as Ireland was incorporated +with Great Britain in 1800. Both events were the consequences +of unsuccessful rebellions; but the junction which, +in the case of Hungary, was enforced by the sword, was in +Ireland more smoothly carried into effect by corruption. +Hungary, sullen and discontented, waited for Austria's +calamity as her opportunity, and it came after the battle of +Sadowa. Austria had just emerged from a fearful conflict, +and Count Beust<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65" /><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> felt that unless some resolute effort was +made to meet the views of the constitutional party in Hungary, +the dismemberment of the empire must be the result. +Now, what was the course he took? Was it a tightening of +the bonds between Austria and Hungary? On the contrary, +to maintain the unity of the empire he dissolved its union +and restored to Hungary its ancient constitutional privileges. +Austria and Hungary each had its own Parliament for local +purposes. To manage the imperial concerns of peace and +war, and the foreign relations, a controlling body, called the +Delegations, was established, consisting of 120 members, of +whom half represent and are chosen by the Legislature of +Austria, and the other half by that of Hungary; the Upper +House of each country returning twenty members, and the +Lower House forty.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66" /><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Ordinarily the delegates sit and vote +<!-- Page 199 --><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199" />in two Chambers, but if they disagree the two branches +must meet together and give their final vote without debate, +which is binding on the whole empire.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67" /><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>The question arises, What is the magnetic influence +which induces communities of men to combine together in +federal unions? Undoubtedly it is the feeling of nationality; +and what is nationality? Mr. Mill says,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68" /><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> "a portion of +mankind may be said to constitute a nationality if they are +united among themselves by common sympathies which do +not exist between them and any others; which make them +co-operate with each other more willingly than other people; +desire to be under the same government, and desire that it +should be a government by themselves or a portion of themselves +exclusively." He then proceeds to state that the +feeling of nationality may have been generated by various +causes. Sometimes it is the identity of race and descent; +community of language and community of religion greatly +contribute to it; geographical limits are one of its causes; +but the strongest of all is identity of political antecedents: +the possession of a national history and consequent community +of recollections—collective pride and humiliation, +pleasure and regret—connected with the same incidents in +the past.</p> + +<p>The only point to be noted further in reference to the +foregoing federal unions, is that the same feeling of nationality +which, in the United States, Switzerland, and the +German Empire, produced a closer legal bond of union, +in the case of Austria-Hungary operated to dissolve the +amalgamation formed in 1849 of the two States, and to +produce a federal union of States in place of a single State.</p> + +<p>One conclusion seems to follow irresistibly from any +<!-- Page 200 --><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200" />review of the construction of the various States above +described: that the stability of a nation bears no relation +whatever to the legal compactness or homogeneity of its +component parts. Russia and France, the most compact +political societies in Europe, do not, to say the least, rest on +a firmer basis than Germany and Switzerland, the inhabitants +of which are subjected to the obligations of a double +nationality. Above all, no European nation, except Great +Britain, can for a moment bear comparison with the United +States in respect of the devotion of its people to their +Constitution.</p> + +<p>An imperial union, though resembling somewhat in +outward form a federal union, differs altogether from it both +in principle and origin. Its essential characteristic is that +one community is absolutely dominant while all the others +are subordinate. In the case of a federal union independent +States have agreed to resign a portion of their powers to a +central Government for the sake of securing the common +safety. In an imperial union the dominant or imperial +State delegates to each constituent member of the union +such a portion of local government as the dominant State +considers the subordinate member entitled to, consistently +with the integrity of the empire. The British Empire +furnishes the best example of an imperial union now +existing in the world. Her Majesty, as common head, is +the one link which binds the empire together and connects +with each other every constituent member. The Indian +Empire and certain military dependencies require no +further notice in these pages; but a summary of our various +forms of colonial government is required to complete our +knowledge of the forms of Home Rule possibly applicable +to Ireland.</p> + +<p>The colonies, in relation to their forms of government, +may be classified as follows:—</p> + +<p>I. Crown colonies, in which laws may be made by the<!-- Page 201 --><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201" /> +Governor alone, or with the concurrence of a Council +nominated by the Crown.</p> + +<p>2. Colonies possessing representative institutions, but +not responsible government, in which the Crown has only a +veto on legislation, but the Home Government retains the +control of the executive.</p> + +<p>3. Colonies possessing representative institutions and +responsible government, in which the Crown has only a +veto on legislation, and the Home Government has no +control over any public officer except the Governor.</p> + +<p>The British Colonial Governments thus present an +absolute gradation of rule; beginning with absolute +despotism and ending with almost absolute legal independence, +except in so far as a veto on legislation and the +presence of a Governor named by the Crown mark the +dependence of the colony on the mother country.</p> + +<p>It is to be remembered, moreover, that the colonies +which have received this complete local freedom are the +great colonies of the earth—nations themselves possessing +territories as large or larger than any European State—namely, +Canada, the Cape, New South Wales, Victoria, +Queensland, South Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania. +And this change from dependence to freedom has been +effected with the good-will both of the mother country and +the colony, and without it being imputed to the colonists, +when desiring a larger measure of self-government, that +they were separatists, anarchists, or revolutionists.</p> + +<p>Such are the general principles of colonial government, +but one colony requires special mention, from the circumstance +of its Constitution having been put forward as a +model for Ireland; this is the Dominion of Canada. The +Government of Canada is, in effect, a subordinate federal +union; that is to say, it possesses a central Legislature, +having the largest possible powers of local self-government +consistent with the supremacy of the empire, with seven +<!-- Page 202 --><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202" />inferior provincial Governments, exercising powers greater +than those of an English county, but not so great as those +of an American State. The advantage of such a form of +government is that, without weakening the supremacy of +the empire or of the central local power, it admits of considerable +diversities being made in the details of provincial +government, where local peculiarities and antecedents +render it undesirable to make a more complete assimilation +of the Governments of the various provinces.</p> + +<p>Materials have now been collected which will enable +the reader to judge of the expediency or inexpediency of +the course taken by Mr. Gladstone's Government in dealing +with Ireland. Three alternatives were open to them—</p> + +<p> +1. To let matters alone.<br /> +2. To pass a Coercion Bill.<br /> +3. To change the government of Ireland, and at<br /> +the same time to pass a Land Bill.<br /> +</p> + +<p>The two last measures are combined under the head of +one alternative, as it will be shown in the sequel that no +effective Land Bill can be passed without granting Home +Rule in Ireland.</p> + +<p>Now, the short answer to the first alternative is, that no +party in the State—Conservative, Whig, Radical, Unionist, +Home Ruler, Parnellite—thought it possible to leave things +alone. That something must be done was universally +admitted.</p> + +<p>The second alternative has found favour with the +present Government, and certainly is a better example of +the triumph of hope over experience, than even the proverbial +second marriage.</p> + +<p>Eighty-six years have elapsed since the Union. During +the first thirty-two years only eleven years, and during the +last fifty-four years only two years have been free from +special repressive legislation; yet the agitation for repeal of +the Union, and general discontent, are more violent in<!-- Page 203 --><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203" /> +1887 than in any one of the eighty-six previous years. In +the name of common-sense, is there any reason for supposing +that the Coercion Bill of 1887 will have a better or +more enduring effect than its numerous predecessors? The +<i>primâ facie</i> case is at all events in favour of the contention +that, when so many trials of a certain remedy have failed, it +would be better not to try the same remedy again, but to +have recourse to some other medicine. What, then, was +the position of Mr. Gladstone's Government at the close of +the election of 1885? What were the considerations presented +to them as supreme supervisors and guardians of +the British Empire? They found that vast colonial empire +tranquil and loyal beyond previous expectation—the greater +colonies satisfied with their existing position; the lesser +expecting that as they grew up to manhood they would be +treated as men, and emancipated from childish restraints. +The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man were contented +with their sturdy dependent independence, loyal to the +backbone. One member only stood aloof, sulky and dissatisfied, +and though in law integrally united with the +dominant community, practically was dissociated from it by +forming within Parliament (the controlling body of the +whole) a separate section, of which the whole aim was to +fetter the action of the entire supreme body in order to +bring to an external severance the practical disunion which +existed between that member and Great Britain. This +member—Ireland—as compared with other parts of the +empire, was small and insignificant; measured against +Great Britain, its population was five millions to thirty-one +millions, and its estimated capital was only one twenty-fourth +part of the capital of the United Kingdom. Measured +against Australia, its trade with Great Britain was almost +insignificant. Its importance arose from the force of public +opinion in Great Britain, which deemed England pledged to +protect the party in Ireland which desired the Union to be +<!-- Page 204 --><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204" />maintained, and from the power of obstructing English +legislation through the medium of the Irish contingent, +willing and ready on every occasion to intervene in English +debates. The first step to be taken obviously was to find +out what the great majority of Irish members wanted. The +answer was, that they would be contented to quit the British +Parliament on having a Parliament established on College +Green, with full powers of local government, and that they +would accept on behalf of their country a certain fixed +annual sum to be paid to the Imperial Exchequer, on condition +that such sum should not be increased without the +consent of the Irish representatives. Here there were two +great points gained without any sacrifice of principle. +Ireland could not be said to be taxed without representation +when her representatives agreed to a certain fixed +sum to be paid till altered with their consent; while at the +same time all risk of obstruction to English legislation by +Irish means was removed by the proposal that the Irish +representatives should exercise local powers in Dublin +instead of imperial powers at Westminster.</p> + +<p>On the basis of the above arrangement the Bill of Mr. +Gladstone was founded. Absolute local autonomy was +conferred on Ireland; the assent of the Irish members to +quit the Imperial Parliament was accepted; and the Bill +provided that after a certain day the representative Irish +peers should cease to sit in the House of Lords, and the +Irish members vacate their places in the House of Commons. +Provisions were then made for the absorption in +the Irish Legislative Body of both the Irish representative +peers and Irish members.</p> + +<p>The legislative supremacy of the British Parliament was +maintained by an express provision excepting from any +interference on the part of Irish Legislature all imperial +powers, and declaring any enactment void which infringed +that provision; further, an enactment was inserted for the +<!-- Page 205 --><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205" />purpose of securing to the English Legislature in the last +resource the absolute power to make any law for the government +of Ireland, and therefore to repeal, or suspend, the +Irish Constitution.</p> + +<p>Technically these reservations of supremacy to the +English Legislature were unnecessary, as it is an axiom of +constitutional law that a sovereign Legislature, such as the +Queen and two Houses of Parliament in England, cannot +bind their successors, and consequently can repeal or alter +any law, however fundamental, and annul any restrictions on +alteration, however strongly expressed. Practically they +were never likely to be called into operation, as it is the +custom of Parliament to adhere, under all but the most +extraordinary and unforeseen circumstances, to any compact +made by Act of Parliament between itself and any subordinate +legislative body. The Irish Legislature was subjected +to the same controlling power which has for centuries been +applied to prevent any excess of jurisdiction in our Colonial +Legislatures, by a direction that an appeal as to the constitutionality +of any laws which they might pass should lie +to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This +supremacy of the imperial judicial power over the action of +the Colonial Legislatures was a system which the founders +of the American Constitution copied in the establishment of +their supreme Court, and thereby secured for that legislative +system a stability which has defied the assaults of faction +and the strain of civil war.</p> + +<p>The Executive Government of Ireland was continued in +her Majesty, and was to be carried on by the Lord Lieutenant +on her behalf, by the aid of such officers and such +Council as her Majesty might from time to time see fit. The +initiative power of recommending taxation was also vested +in the Queen, and delegated to the Lord Lieutenant. These +clauses are co-ordinate and correlative with the clause conferring +complete local powers on the Irish Legislature, +<!-- Page 206 --><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206" />while it preserves all imperial powers to the Imperial Legislature. +The Governor is an imperial officer, and will be +bound to watch over imperial interests with a jealous +scrutiny, and to veto any Bill which may be injurious to +those interests. On the other hand, as respects all local +matters, he will act on and be guided by the advice of the +Irish Executive Council. The system is self-acting. The +Governor, for local purposes, must have a Council which is +in harmony with the Legislative Body. If the Governor +and a Council, supported by the Legislative Body, do not +agree, the Governor must give way, unless he can, by dismissing +his Council, and dissolving the Legislative Body, +obtain both a Council and a Legislative Body which will +support his views. As respects imperial questions, the case +is different; here the last word rests with the mother country, +and in the last resort a determination of the Executive +Council, backed by the Legislative Body, to resist imperial +rights, must be deemed an act of rebellion on the part of the +Irish people, and be dealt with accordingly.</p> + +<p>In acceding to the claims of the National Party for +Home Rule in Ireland another question had to be considered: +the demands of the English garrison, as it is called—or, +in plain words, of the class of Irish landlords—for +protection. They urged that to grant Home Rule in +Ireland would be to hand them over to their enemies, their +tenants, and to lead to an immediate, or to all events a +proximate, confiscation of their properties. Without admitting +the truth of these apprehensions to the full extent, or +indeed to any great extent, it was undoubtedly felt by the +framers of the Home Rule Bill that a moral obligation +rested on the Imperial Government to remove, if possible, +"the fearful exasperations attending the agrarian relations +in Ireland," rather than leave a question so fraught with +danger, so involved in difficulty, to be determined by the +Irish Government on its first entry on official existence.<!-- Page 207 --><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207" /> +Hence the Land Bill, the scheme of which was to frame a +system under which the tenants, by being made owners of +the soil, should become interested as a class in the maintenance +of social order, while the landlords should be +enabled to rid themselves on fair terms of their estates, in +cases where, from apprehension of impending changes, or for +pecuniary reasons, they were desirous of relieving themselves +from the responsibilities of ownership. Of the land scheme +brought into Parliament in 1886, it need only here be said that +it proposed to lend the Irish Government 3 per cent. stock +at 3-1/8 per cent. interest, the Irish Government undertaking +to purchase, from any Irish landlord desirous of selling, his +estate at (as a general rule) twenty years' purchase on the +net rental. The money thus disbursed by the Irish Government +was repaid to them by an annuity, payable by the +tenant for forty-nine years, of 4 per cent. on a capital sum +equal to twenty times the gross rental; the result being +that, were the Bill passed into law, the tenant would become +immediate owner of the land, subject to the payment of an +annuity considerably less than the previous rent—that the +Irish Government would make a considerable profit on the +transaction, inasmuch as it would receive from the tenant +interest calculated on the basis of the <i>gross</i> rental, whilst it +would pay to the English Government interest calculated on +the basis of the <i>net</i> rental—and that the English Government +would sustain no loss if the interest were duly received +by them.</p> + +<p>The effect of such a plan appears almost magical: Ireland +is transformed at one stroke from a nation of landlords into +a nation of peasant proprietors—apparently without loss to +any one, and with gain to everybody concerned, except the +British Government, who neither gain nor lose in the matter. +The practicability, however, of such a scheme depends +altogether on the security against loss afforded to the British +tax-payer, for he is industrious and heavily burdened, and +<!-- Page 208 --><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208" />cannot be expected to assent to any plan which will land +him in any appreciable loss. Here it is that the plan +of Mr. Gladstone's Land Bill differs from all other previous +plans. Act after Act has been passed enabling the tenant +to borrow money from the British Government on the +security of the holding, for the purpose of enabling him to +purchase the fee-simple. In such transactions the British +Government becomes the mortgagee, and can only recover +its money, if default is made in payment, by ejecting the +tenant and becoming the landlord. In proportion, then, +as any existing purchase Act succeeds, in the same proportion +the risk of the British taxpayer increases. He is ever +placed in the most invidious of all lights; instead of posing +as the generous benefactor who holds forth his hand to +rescue the landlord and tenant from an intolerable position, +he stands forward either as the grasping mortgagee or as the +still more hated landlord, who, having deprived the tenant +of his holding, is seeking to introduce another man into +property which really belongs to the ejected tenant. Such +a position may be endurable when the number of purchasing +tenants is small, but at once breaks down if agrarian reform +in Ireland is to be extended so far as to make any appreciable +difference in the relations of landlord and tenant; +still more, if it become general. Now, what is the remedy +of such a state of things? Surely to interpose the Irish +Government between the Irish debtor and his English +creditor, and to provide that the Irish revenues in bulk, not +the individual holdings of each tenant, shall be the security +for the English creditor. This was the scheme embodied +in the Land Act of 1886. The punctual payment of all +money due from the Government of Ireland to the Government +of Great Britain was to have been secured by the +continuance in the hands of the British Government of the +Excise and Customs duties, and by the appointment of an +Imperial Receiver-General, assisted by subordinate officers, +<!-- Page 209 --><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209" />and protected by an Imperial Court. This officer would +have received not only all the imperial taxes, but also the +local taxes; and it would have been his duty to satisfy +the claims of the British Government before he allowed any +sum to pass into the Irish Exchequer. In effect, the British +Government, in relation to the levying of imperial taxes, +would have stood in the same relation to Ireland as +Congress does to the United States in respect to the levying +of federal taxes. The fiscal unity of Great Britain and +Ireland would have been in this way secured, and the +British Government protected against any loss of interest +for the large sums to be expended in carrying into effect in +Ireland any agrarian reform worthy of the name.</p> + +<p>The Irish Bills of 1886, as above represented, had at +least three recommendations:</p> + +<p>1. They created a state of things in Ireland under which +it was possible to make a complete agrarian reform without +exposing the English Exchequer to any appreciable risk.</p> + +<p>2. They enabled the Irish to govern themselves as +respects local matters, while preserving intact the supremacy +of the British Parliament and the integrity of the Empire.</p> + +<p>3. They enabled the British Parliament to govern the +British Empire without any obstructive Irish interference.</p> + +<p>To the first of these propositions no attempt at an answer +has been made. The Land Bill was never considered on +its merits; indeed, was never practically discussed, but was +at once swept into oblivion by the wave which overwhelmed +the Home Rule Bill.</p> + +<p>The contention against the second proposition was +concerned in proving that the supremacy of the British +Parliament was not maintained: the practical answer to this +objection has been given above. Pushed to its utmost, it +could only amount to proof that an amendment ought to +have been introduced in Committee, declaring, in words +better selected than those introduced for that purpose in the<!-- Page 210 --><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210" /> +Bill, that nothing in the Act should affect the supremacy of +the British Parliament. In short, the whole discussion here +necessarily resolved itself into a mere verbal squabble as to +the construction of a clause in a Bill not yet in Committee, +and had no bottom or substance.</p> + +<p>It was also urged that the concession of self-government +to Ireland was but another mode of handing over the +Loyalist party—or, as it is sometimes called, the English +garrison—to the tender mercies of the Parnellites. The +reply to this would seem to be, that as respects property +the Land Bill effectually prevented any interference of the +Irish Parliament with the land; nay, more, enabled any +Irishman desirous of turning his land into money to do +so on the most advantageous terms that ever had been—and +with a falling market it may be confidently prophesied +ever can be—offered to the Irish landlord; while as respect +life and liberty, were it possible that they should be endangered, +it was the duty of the imperial officer, the Lord Lieutenant, +to take means for the preservation of peace and +good order; and behind him, to enforce his behests, stand +the strong battalions who, to our sorrow be it spoken, have +so often been called upon to put down disturbance and +anarchy in Ireland.</p> + +<p>Competing plans have been put forward, with more or +less detail, for governing Ireland. The suggestion that +Ireland should be governed as a <i>Crown</i> colony need only +be mentioned to be rejected. It means in effect, that +Ireland should sink from the rank of an equal or independent +member of the British Empire to the grade of the +most dependent of her colonies, and should be governed +despotically by English officials, without representation in +the English Parliament or any machinery of local self-government. +Another proposal has been to give four provincial +Governments to Ireland, limiting their powers to +local rating, education, and legislation in respect of matters +<!-- Page 211 --><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211" />which form the subjects of private Bill legislation at present; +in fact, to place them somewhat on the footing of the +provinces of Canada, while reserving to the English Parliament +the powers vested in the Dominion of Canada. Such a +scheme would seem adapted to whet the appetite of the Irish +for nationality, without supplying them with any portion of +the real article. It would supply no basis on which a system +of agrarian reform could be founded, as it would be impossible +to leave the determination of a local question, which is +a unit in its dangers and its difficulties, to four different +Legislatures; above all, the hinge on which the question +turns—the sufficiency of the security for the British taxpayer—could +not be afforded by provincial resources. +Indeed, no alternative for the Land Bill of 1886 has been +suggested which does not err in one of the following points: +either it pledges English credit on insufficient security, or +it requires the landowners to accept Irish debentures or +some form of Irish paper money at par; in other words, it +makes English taxes a fund for relieving Irish landlords, or +else it compels the Irish landowner, if he sells at all, to +sell at an inadequate price. Before parting with Canada, it +may be worth while noticing that another, and more feasible, +alternative is to imitate more closely the Canadian Constitution, +and to vest the central or Dominion powers in a +central Legislature in Dublin, parcelling out the provincial +powers, as they have been called, amongst several provincial +Legislatures. This scheme might be made available as +a means of protecting Ulster from the supposed danger +of undue interference from the Central Government, and +for making, possibly, other diversities in the local administration +of various parts of Ireland in order to meet special +local exigencies.</p> + +<p>A leading writer among the dissentient Liberals has intimated +that one of two forms of representative colonial +government might be imposed on Ireland—either the form +<!-- Page 212 --><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212" />in which the executive is conducted by colonial officials, or +the form of the great irresponsible colonies. The first of +these forms is open to the objection, that it perpetuates +those struggles between English executive measures and +Irish opinion which has made Ireland for centuries ungovernable, +and led to the establishment of the union and +destruction of Irish independence in 1800; the second +proposal would destroy the fiscal unity of the empire—leave +the agrarian feud unextinguished, and aggravate +the objections which have been urged against the Home +Rule Bill of 1886. A question still remains, in relation +to the <i>form</i> of the Home Rule Bill of 1886, which would +not have deserved attention but for the prominence given +to it in some of the discussions upon the subject. The +Bill of 1886 provides "that the Legislature may make laws +for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland," but +subjects their power to numerous exceptions and restrictions. +The Act establishing the Dominion of Canada +enumerates various matters in respect of which the Legislature +of Canada is to have exclusive power, but prefaces +the enumeration with a clause "that the Dominion Legislature +may make laws for the peace, order, and good government +of Canada in relation to all matters not within the +jurisdiction of the provincial Legislatures, although such +matters may not be specially mentioned." In effect, therefore, +the difference between the Irish Bill and the Canadian +Act is one of expression and not of substance, and, although +the Bill is more accurate in its form, it would scarcely +be worth while to insist on legislating by exception instead +of by enumeration if, by the substitution of the latter form +for the former, any material opposition would be conciliated.</p> + +<p>What, then, are the conclusions intended to be drawn +from the foregoing premises?</p> + +<p>1. That coercion is played out, and can no longer be +regarded as a remedy for the evils of Irish misrule.<!-- Page 213 --><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213" /></p> + +<p>2. That some alternative must be found, and that the +only alternative within the range of practical politics is some +form of Home Rule.</p> + +<p>3. That there is no reason for thinking that the grant of +Home Rule to Ireland—a member only, and not one of the +most important members, of the British Empire—will in +any way dismember, or even in the slightest degree risk the +dismemberment of the Empire.</p> + +<p>4. That Home Rule presupposes and admits the supremacy +of the British Parliament.</p> + +<p>5. That theory is in favour of Home Rule, as the +nationality of Ireland is distinct, and justifies a desire for +local independence; while the establishment of Home Rule +is a necessary condition to the effectual removal of agrarian +disturbances in Ireland.</p> + +<p>6. That precedent is in favour of granting Home Rule +to Ireland—<i>e.g.</i> the success of the new Constitution in +Austria-Hungary, and the happy effects resulting from the +establishment of the Dominion of Canada.</p> + +<p>7. That the particular form of Home Rule granted is +comparatively immaterial.</p> + +<p>8. That the Home Rule Bill of 1886 may readily be +amended in such a manner as to satisfy all real and unpartisan +objectors.</p> + +<p>9. That the Land Bill of 1886 is the best that has ever +been devised, having regard to the advantages offered to +the new Irish Government, the landlord, and the tenant.<!-- Page 214 --><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214" /></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60" /><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Reprinted by permission, with certain omissions, from the <i>Contemporary +Review</i>, August, 1887.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61" /><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> "Home Rule and Imperial Unity:" <i>Contemporary Review</i>, March, 1887.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62" /><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Mill on <i>Representative Government</i>, p. 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63" /><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> See <i>Statesman's Year-Book</i>: Switzerland and Germany.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64" /><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Heeren's <i>Political System of Europe</i>, p. 152.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65" /><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Memoirs of Count Beust</i>, vol. i., Introduction, p. xliii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66" /><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>Statesman's Year-Book.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67" /><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> The Emperor of Austria is the head of the empire, with the title +of King in Hungary. Austria-Hungary is treated as a federal, not as +an imperial union, on the ground that Austria was never rightfully a +dominant community over Hungary.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68" /><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>Representative Government</i>, p. 295.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_PAST_AND_FUTURE_OF_THE" id="THE_PAST_AND_FUTURE_OF_THE" />THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THE +IRISH QUESTION<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69" /><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></h2> + +<p class="author">BY JAMES BRYCE, M.P.</p> + + +<p>For half a century or more no question of English domestic +politics has excited so much interest outside England as +that question of resettling her relations with Ireland, which +was fought over in the last Parliament, and still confronts +the Parliament that has lately been elected. Apart from its +dramatic interest, apart from its influence on the fortune of +parties, and its effect on the imperial position of Great +Britain, it involves so many large principles of statesmanship, +and raises so many delicate points of constitutional +law, as to deserve the study of philosophical thinkers no +less than of practical politicians in every free country.</p> + +<p>The circumstances which led to the introduction of the +Government of Ireland Bill, in April, 1886, are familiar to +Americans as well as Englishmen. Ever since the crowns +and parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland were united, +in A.D. 1800, there has been in Ireland a party which protested +against that union as fraudulently obtained and inexpedient +in itself. For many years this party, led by Daniel +O'Connell, maintained an agitation for Repeal. After his +<!-- Page 215 --><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215" />death a more extreme section, which sought the complete +independence of Ireland, raised the insurrection of 1848, +and subsequently, under the guidance of other hands, +formed the Fenian conspiracy, whose projected insurrection +was nipped in the bud in 1867, though the conspiracy continued +to menace the Government and the tranquillity of +the island. In 1872 the Home Rule party was formed, +demanding, not the Repeal of the Union, but the creation +of an Irish Legislature, and the agitation, conducted in +Parliament in a more systematic and persistent way than +heretofore, took also a legitimate constitutional form. To +this demand English and Scotch opinion was at first almost +unanimously opposed. At the General Election of 1880, +which, however, turned mainly on the foreign policy of +Lord Beaconsfield's Government, not more than three or +four members were returned by constituencies in Great +Britain who professed to consider Home Rule as even an +open question. All through the Parliament, which sat from +1880 till 1885, the Nationalist party, led by Mr. Parnell, +and including at first less than half, ultimately about half, +of the Irish members, was in constant and generally bitter +opposition to the Government of Mr. Gladstone. But +during these five years a steady, although silent and often +unconscious, process of change was passing in the minds of +English and Scotch members, especially Liberal members, +due to their growing sense of the mistakes which Parliament +committed in handling Irish questions, and of the hopelessness +of the efforts which the Executive was making to +pacify the country on the old methods. The adoption of a +Home Rule policy by one of the great English parties was, +therefore, not so sudden a change as it seemed. The process +had been going on for years, though in its earlier stages +it was so gradual and so unwelcome as to be faintly felt and +reluctantly admitted by the minds that were undergoing it. +In the spring of 1886 the question could be no longer +<!-- Page 216 --><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216" />evaded or postponed. It was necessary to choose between +one of two courses; the refusal of the demand for self-government, +coupled with the introduction of a severe +Coercion Bill, or the concession of it by the introduction of +a Home Rule Bill. There were some few who suggested, +as a third course, the granting of a limited measure of local +institutions, such as county boards; but most people felt, as +did Mr. Gladstone's Ministry, that this plan would have had +most of the dangers and few of the advantages of either of +the two others.</p> + +<p>How the Government of Ireland Bill was brought into +the House of Commons on April 8th, amid circumstances +of curiosity and excitement unparalleled since 1832; how, +after debates of almost unprecedented length, it was defeated +in June, by a majority of thirty; how the policy it embodied +was brought before the country at the General +Election, and failed to win approval—all this is too well +known to need recapitulation here. But the causes of the +disaster have not been well understood, for it is only +now—now, when the smoke of the battle has cleared +away from the field—that these causes have begun to stand +revealed in their true proportions.</p> + +<p>Besides some circumstances attending the production +of the Bill, to which I shall refer presently, and which told +heavily against it, there were three feelings which worked +upon men's minds, disposing them to reject it.</p> + +<p>The first of these was dislike and fear of the Irish +Nationalist members. In the previous House of Commons +this party had been uniformly and bitterly hostile to the +Liberal Government. Measures intended for the good of +Ireland, like the Land Act of 1881, had been ungraciously +received, treated as concessions extorted, for which no +thanks were due—inadequate concessions, which must be +made the starting-point for fresh demands. Obstruction +had been freely practised to defeat not only bills restraining +<!-- Page 217 --><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217" />the liberty of the subject in Ireland, but many other +measures. Some few members of the Irish party had +systematically sought to delay all English and Scotch +legislation, and, in fact, to bring the work of Parliament to +a dead stop. Much violent language had been used, even +where the provocation was slight. The outbreaks of crime +which had repeatedly occurred in Ireland had been, not, +indeed, defended, but so often passed over in silence by +Nationalist speakers, that English opinion was inclined to +hold them practically responsible for disorders which, so it +was thought, they had neither wished nor tried to prevent. +(I am, of course, expressing no opinion as to the justice of +this view, nor as to the excuses to be made for the Parliamentary +tactics of the Irish party, but merely stating how +their conduct struck many Englishmen.) There could be +no doubt as to the hostility which they, still less as to that +which their fellow-countrymen in the United States, had +expressed toward England, for they had openly wished +success to Russia while war seemed impending with her, +and the so-called Mahdi of the Soudan was vociferously +cheered at many a Nationalist meeting. At the Election of +1885 they had done their utmost to defeat Liberal candidates +in every English and Scotch constituency where there +existed a body of Irish voters, and had thrown some twenty +seats or more into the hands of the Tories. Now, to many +Englishmen, the proposal to create an Irish Parliament +seemed nothing more or less than a proposal to hand over +to these Irish members the government of Ireland, with all +the opportunities thence arising to oppress the opposite +party in Ireland and to worry England herself. It was all +very well to urge that the tactics which the Nationalists had +pursued when their object was to extort Home Rule would +be dropped, because superfluous, when Home Rule had +been granted; or to point out that an Irish Parliament +would contain different men from those who had been sent +<!-- Page 218 --><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218" />to Westminster as Mr. Parnell's nominees. Neither of these +arguments could overcome the suspicious antipathy which +many Englishmen felt, nor dissolve the association in their +minds between the Nationalist leaders and the forces of disorder. +The Parnellites (thus they reasoned) are bad men; +what they seek is therefore likely to be bad, and whether +bad in itself or not, they will make a bad use of it. In +such reasonings there was more of sentiment and prejudice +than of reason, but sentiment and prejudice are proverbially +harder than arguments to expel from minds where they have +made a lodgment.</p> + +<p>The internal condition of Ireland supplied more substantial +grounds for alarm. As everybody knows, she is +not, either in religion or in blood, or in feelings and ideas, +a homogeneous country. Three-fourths of the people are +Roman Catholics, one-fourth Protestants, and this Protestant +fourth subdivided into bodies not fond of one another, who +have little community of sentiment. Besides the Scottish +colony in Ulster, many English families have settled here +and there through the country. They have been regarded +as intruders by the aboriginal Celtic population, and many +of them, although hundreds of years may have passed since +they came, still look on themselves as rather English than +Irish. The last fifty years, whose wonderful changes have +in most parts of the world tended to unite and weld into +one compact body the inhabitants of each part of the earth's +surface, connecting them by the ties of commerce, and of a +far easier and swifter intercourse than was formerly possible, +have in Ireland worked in the opposite direction. It has +become more and more the habit of the richer class in +Ireland to go to England for its enjoyment, and to feel +itself socially rather English than Irish. Thus the chasm +between the immigrants and the aborigines has grown +deeper. The upper class has not that Irish patriotism +which it showed in the days of the National Irish<!-- Page 219 --><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219" /> +Parliament (1782-1800), and while there is thus less of a +common national feeling to draw rich and poor together, +the strife of landlords and tenants has continued, irritating +the minds of both parties, and gathering them into two +hostile camps. As everybody knows, the Nationalist agitation +has been intimately associated with the Land agitation—has, +in fact, found a strong motive-force in the desire of the +tenants to have their rents reduced, and themselves secured +against eviction. Now, many people in England assumed +that an Irish Parliament would be under the control of the +tenants and the humbler class generally, and would therefore +be hostile to the landlords. They went farther, and made +the much bolder assumption that as such a Parliament +would be chosen by electors, most of whom were Roman +Catholics, it would be under the control of the Catholic +priesthood, and hostile to Protestants. Thus they supposed +that the grant of self-government to Ireland would mean the +abandonment of the upper and wealthier class, the landlords +and the Protestants, to the tender mercies of their enemies. +Such abandonment, it was proclaimed on a thousand platforms, +would be disgraceful in itself, dishonouring to England, +a betrayal of the very men who had stood by her in +the past, and were prepared to stand by her in the future, +if only she would stand by them. It was, of course, replied +by the defenders of the Home Rule Bill, that what the so-called +English party in Ireland really stood by was their +own ascendency over the Irish masses—an oppressive +ascendency, which had caused most of the disorders of +the country. As to religion, there were many Protestants +besides Mr. Parnell himself among the Nationalist leaders. +There was no ill-feeling (except in Ulster) between Protestants +and Roman Catholics in Ireland. There was no +reason to expect that either the Catholic hierarchy or the +priesthood generally would be supreme in an Irish Parliament, +and much reason to expect the contrary. As regards<!-- Page 220 --><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220" /> +Ulster, where, no doubt, there were special difficulties, due +to the bitter antagonism of the Orangemen (not of the Protestants +generally) and Catholics, Mr. Gladstone had undertaken +to consider any special provisions which could be +suggested as proper to meet those difficulties. These +replies, however, made little impression. They were pronounced, +and pronounced all the more confidently the +more ignorant of Ireland the speaker was, to be too +hypothetical. To many Englishmen the case seemed to +be one of two hostile factions contending in Ireland for +the last sixty years, and that the gift of self-government +might enable one of them to tyrannize over the other. +True, that party was the majority, and, according to the +principles of democratic government, therefore entitled to +prevail. But it is one thing to admit a principle and another +to consent to its application. The minority had the sympathy +of the upper classes in England, because the minority +contained the landlords. It had the sympathy of a part of +the middle class, because it contained the Protestants. And +of those Englishmen who were impartial as between the Irish +factions, there were some who held that England must in +any case remain responsible for the internal peace and the +just government of Ireland, and could not grant powers +whose possession might tempt the one party to injustice, +and the other to resist injustice by violence.</p> + +<p>There was another anticipation, another forecast of evils +to follow, which told most of all upon English opinion. +This was the notion that Home Rule was only a stage in +the road to the complete separation of the two islands. The +argument was conceived as follows: "The motive passions +of the Irish agitation have all along been hatred toward +England and a desire to make Ireland a nation, holding her +independent place among the nations of the world. This +design was proclaimed by the Young Irelanders of 1848 and +by the Fenian rebels of 1866; it has been avowed, in inter<!-- Page 221 --><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221" />vals +of candour, by the present Nationalists themselves. +The grant of an Irish Parliament will stimulate rather than +appease this thirst for separate national existence. The +nearer complete independence seems, the more will it be +desired. Hatred to England will still be an active force, +because the amount of control which England retains will +irritate Irish pride, as well as limit Irish action; while all +the misfortunes which may befall the new Irish Government +will be blamed, not on its own imprudence, but on the +English connection. And as the motives for seeking +separation will remain, so the prospect of obtaining it +will seem better. Agitation will have a better vantage-ground +in an Irish Parliament than it formerly had among +the Irish members of a British Legislature; and if actual +resistance to the Queen's authority should be attempted, it +will be attempted under conditions more favourable than +the present, because the rebels will have in their hands the +machinery of Irish Government, large financial resources, +and a <i>prima facie</i> title to represent the will of the Irish +people. As against a rebellious party in Ireland, England +has now two advantages—an advantage of theory, an advantage +of fact. The advantage of theory is that she does not +admit Ireland to be a distinct nation, but maintains that in +the United Kingdom there is but one nation, whereof some +inhabit Great Britain and some Ireland. The advantage of +fact is that, through her control of the constabulary, the +magistrates, the courts of justice, and, in fine, the whole +administrative system of Ireland, she can easily quell insurrectionary +movements. By creating an Irish Parliament +and Government she would strip herself of both these +advantages."</p> + +<p>I need hardly say that I do not admit the fairness of this +statement of the case, because some of the premises are +untrue, and because it misrepresents the nature of the Irish +Government which Mr. Gladstone's Bill would have created.<!-- Page 222 --><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222" /> +But I am trying to state the case as it was sedulously and +skilfully presented to Englishmen. And it told all the +more upon English waverers, because the considerations +above mentioned seemed, if well founded, to destroy +and cut away the chief ground on which Home Rule had +been advocated, viz. that it would relieve England from +the constant pressure of Irish discontent and agitation, and +bring about a time of tranquillity, permitting good feeling to +grow up between the peoples. If Home Rule was, after all, +to be nothing more than a half-way house to independence, +an Irish Parliament only a means of extorting a more complete +emancipation from imperial control, was it not much +better to keep things as they were, and go on enduring evils, +the worst of which were known already? Hence the advocates +of the Bill denied not the weight of the argument, but +its applicability. Separation, they urged, is impossible, for +it is contrary to the nature of things, which indicates that +the two islands must go together. It is not desired by the +Irish people, for it would injure them far more than it could +possibly injure England, since Ireland finds in England the +only market for her produce, the only source whence capital +flows to her. A small revolutionary party has, no doubt, +conspired to obtain it. But the only sympathy they received +was due to the fact that the legitimate demand of Ireland +for a recognition of her national feeling and for the management +of her own local affairs was contemptuously ignored by +England. The concession of that demand will banish the +notion even from those minds which now entertain it, +whereas its continued refusal may perpetuate that alienation +of feeling which is at the bottom of all the mischief, the one +force that makes for separation.</p> + +<p>It is no part of my present purpose to examine these +arguments and counter arguments, but only to show what +were the grounds on which a majority of the English voters +refused to pronounce in favour of the Home Rule Bill. The +<!-- Page 223 --><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223" />reader will have observed that the issues raised were not only +numerous, but full of difficulty. They were issues of fact, +involving a knowledge both of the past history of Ireland and +of her present state. They were also issues of inference, for +even supposing the broad facts to be ascertained, these facts +were susceptible of different interpretations, and men might, +and did, honestly draw opposite conclusions from them. A +more obscure and complicated problem, or rather group of +problems, has seldom been presented to a nation for its +decision. But the nation did not possess the requisite +knowledge. Closely connected as Ireland seems to be with +England, long as the Irish question has been a main trouble +in English politics, the English and Scottish people know +amazingly little about Ireland. Even in the upper class, +you meet with comparatively few persons who have set foot +on Irish soil, and, of course, far fewer who have ever +examined the condition of the island and the sources of her +discontent. Irish history, which is, no doubt, dismal reading, +is a blank page to the English. In January, 1886, one +found scarce any politicians who had ever heard of the Irish +Parliament of 1782. And in that year, 1886, an Englishman +anxious to discover the real state of the country did +not know where to go for information. What appeared +in the English newspapers, or, rather, in the one English +newspaper which keeps a standing "own correspondent" +in Dublin, was (as it still is) a grossly and almost +avowedly partisan report, in which opinions are skilfully +mixed with so-called facts, selected, consciously or unconsciously, +to support the writer's view. The Nationalist +press is, of course, not less strongly partisan on its own side, +so that not merely an average Englishman, but even the +editor of an English newspaper, who desires to ascertain the +true state of matters and place it before his English readers, +has had, until within the last few months, when events +in Ireland began to be fully reported in Great Britain, +<!-- Page 224 --><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224" />no better means at his disposal for understanding Ireland +than for understanding Bulgaria. I do not dwell upon this +ignorance as an argument for Home Rule, though, of course, +it is often so used. I merely wish to explain the bewilderment +in which Englishmen found themselves when required +to settle by their votes a question of immense difficulty. +Many, on both sides, simply followed their party banners. +Tories voted for Lord Salisbury; thorough-going admirers +of Mr. Gladstone voted for Mr. Gladstone. But there was +on the Liberal side a great mass who were utterly perplexed +by the position. Contradictory statements of fact, as well +as contradictory arguments, were flung at their heads in distracting +profusion. They felt themselves unable to determine +what was true and who was right. But one thing seemed +clear to them. The policy of Home Rule was a new policy. +They had been accustomed to censure and oppose it. Only +nine months before, the Irish Nationalists had emphasized +their hostility to the Liberal party by doing their utmost to +defeat Liberal candidates in English constituencies. Hence, +when it was proclaimed that Home Rule was the true +remedy which the Liberal party must accept, they were +startled and discomposed.</p> + +<p>Now, the English are not a nimble-minded people. +They cannot, to use a familiar metaphor, turn round in +their own length. Their momentum is such as to carry +them on for some distance in the direction wherein they +have been moving, even after the order to stop has been +given. They need time to appreciate, digest, and comprehend +a new proposition. Timid they are not, nor, perhaps, +exceptionally cautious, but they do not like to be hurried, and +insist on looking at a proposition for a good while before they +come to a decision regarding it. It is one of the qualities +which make them a great people. As has been observed, +this proposition was novel, was most serious, and raised +questions which they felt that their knowledge was insuf<!-- Page 225 --><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225" />ficient +to determine. Accordingly, a certain section of +the Liberal party refused to accept it. A great number, +probably the majority, of these doubtful men abstained +from voting. Others voted against the Home Rule Liberal +candidates, not necessarily because they condemned the +policy, but because, as they were not satisfied that it +was right, they deemed delay a less evil than the committal +of the nation to a new departure, which might prove +irrevocable.</p> + +<p>It must not, however, be supposed that it was only hesitation +which drove many Liberals into the host arrayed against +the Irish Government Bill. I have already said that among +the leaders there were some, and those men of great influence, +who condemned its principles. This was true also of +a considerable, though a relatively smaller, section of the +rank and file. And it was only what might have been +expected. The proposal to undo much of the work done +in 1800, to alter fundamentally the system which had for +eighty-six years regulated the relations of the two islands, by +setting up a Parliament in Ireland, was a proposal which not +only had not formed a part of the accepted creed of the +Liberal party, but fell outside party lines altogether. It +might, no doubt, be argued, as was actually done, and as +those who understand the history of the Liberal party have +more and more come to see, that Liberal principles recommended +it, since they involve faith in the people, and faith +in the curative tendency of local self-government. But this +was by no means axiomatic. Taking the whole complicated +facts of the case, and taking Liberalism as it had been practically +understood in England, a man might in July, 1886, +deem himself a good Liberal and yet think that the true +interests of both peoples would be best served by maintaining +the existing Parliamentary system. Similarly, there was +nothing in Toryism or Tory principles to prevent a fair-minded +and patriotic Tory from approving the Home Rule scheme.<!-- Page 226 --><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226" /> +It was a return to the older institutions of the monarchy, and +not inconsistent with any of the doctrines which the Tory +party had been accustomed to uphold. The question, in +short, was one of those which cut across ordinary party lines, +creating new divisions among politicians; and there might +have been and ought to have been Liberal Home Rulers +and Tory Home Rulers, Liberal opponents of Home Rule +and Tory opponents of Home Rule.</p> + +<p>But here comes in a feature, a natural but none the less +a regrettable feature, of the English party system. As the +object of the party in opposition is to turn out the party in +power and seat itself in their place, every Opposition regards +with the strongest prejudice the measures proposed by a +ruling Ministry. Cases sometimes occur where these +measures are so obviously necessary, or so evidently approved +by the nation, that the Opposition accepts them. +But in general it scans them with a hostile eye. Human +nature is human nature; and when the defeat of Government +can be secured by defeating a Government Bill, the +temptation to the Opposition to secure it is irresistible. +Now, the Tory party is far more cohesive than the Liberal +party, far more obedient to its leaders, far less disposed to +break into sections, each of which thinks and acts for itself. +Accordingly, that division of opinion in the Tory party which +might have been expected, and which would have occurred +if those who composed the Tory party had been merely so +many reflecting men, and not members of a closely compacted +political organization, did not occur. Liberals were +divided, as such a question would naturally divide them. +Tories were not divided; they threw their whole strength +against the Bill. I am far from suggesting that they did so +against their consciences. Whatever may be said as to two +or three of the leaders, whose previous language and conduct +seemed to indicate that they would themselves, had the +election of 1885 gone differently, have been inclined to a<!-- Page 227 --><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227" /> +Home Rule policy, many of the Tory chiefs, as well as the +great mass of the party, honestly disapproved Mr. Gladstone's +measure. But their party motives and party affiliations gave +it no chance of an impartial verdict at their hands. They +went into the jury-box with an invincible prepossession +against the scheme of their opponents. When all these +difficulties are duly considered, and especially when regard +is had to those which I have last enumerated, the suddenness +with which the new policy was launched, and the fact +that as coming from one party it was sure beforehand of the +hostility of the other, no surprise can be felt at its fate. +Those who, in England, now look back over the spring and +summer of 1886 are rather surprised that it should come so +near succeeding. To have been rejected by a majority of +only thirty in Parliament, and of little over ten per cent. +of the total number of electors who voted at the general +election, is a defeat far less severe than any one who knew +England would have predicted.</p> + +<p>That the decision of the country is regarded by nobody +as a final decision goes without saying. It was not regarded +as final, even in the first weeks after it was given. This was +not because the majority was comparatively small, for a +smaller majority the other way would have been conclusive. +It is because the country had not time enough for full consideration +and deliberate judgment. The Bill was brought +in on April 14th, the elections began on July 1st; no one +can say what might have been the result of a long discussion, +during which the first feelings of alarm (for alarm there was) +might have worn off. And the decision is without finality, +also, because the decision of the country was merely against +the particular plan proposed by Mr. Gladstone, and not in +favour of any alternative plan for dealing with Ireland, +most certainly not for the coercive method which has since +been adopted. One particular solution of the Irish problem +was refused. The problem still stands confronting us, and +<!-- Page 228 --><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228" />when other modes of solving it have been in turn rejected, +the country may come back to this mode.</p> + +<p>We may now turn from the past to the future. Yet the +account which has been given of the feelings and ideas +arrayed against the Bill does not wholly belong to the past. +They are the feelings to which the opponents of any plan of +self-government for Ireland still appeal, and which will have +to be removed or softened down before it can be accepted +by the English. In particular, the probability of separation, +and the supposed dangers to the Protestants and the landlords +from an Irish Parliament, will continue to form the +themes of controversy so long as the question remains +unsettled.</p> + +<p>What are the prospects of its settlement? What is the +position which it now occupies? How has it affected the +current politics of England?</p> + +<p>It broke up the Liberal party in Parliament. The vast +numerical majority of that party in the country supported, +and still supports, Mr. Gladstone and the policy of Irish self-government. +But the dissentient minority includes many +men of influence, and constitutes in the House of Commons +a body of about seventy members, who hold the balance +between parties. For the present they are leagued with the +Tory Ministry to resist Home Rule, and their support insures +a parliamentary majority to that Ministry. But it is, of +course, necessary for them to rally to Lord Salisbury, not +only on Irish questions, but on all questions; for, under our +English system, a Ministry defeated on any serious issue is +bound to resign, or dissolve Parliament. Now, to maintain an +alliance for a special purpose, between members of opposite +parties, is a hard matter. Agreement about Ireland does not, +of itself, help men to agree about foreign policy, or bimetallism, +or free trade, or changes in land laws, or ecclesiastical affairs. +When these and other grave questions come up in Parliament, +the Tory Ministry and their Liberal allies must, on +<!-- Page 229 --><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229" />every occasion, negotiate a species of concordat, whereby +the liberty of both is fettered. One party may wish to +resist innovation, the other to yield to it, or even to anticipate +it. Each is obliged to forego something in order +to humour the other; neither has the pleasure or the +credit of taking a bold line on its own responsibility. There +is, no doubt, less difference between the respective tenets of +the great English parties than there was twenty years ago, +when Mr. Disraeli had not yet completed the education of +one party, and economic laws were still revered by the +other. But, besides its tenets, each party has its tendencies, +its sympathies, its moral atmosphere; and these differ so +widely as to make the co-operation of Tories and Liberals +constrained and cumbrous. Moreover, there are the men +to be considered, the leaders on each side, whose jealousies, +rivalries, suspicions, personal incompatibilities, neither old +habits of joint action nor corporate party feeling exist to +soften. On the whole, therefore, it is unlikely that the +league of these two parties, united for one question only, +and that a question which will pass into new phases, can be +durable. Either the league will dissolve, or the smaller +party will be absorbed into the larger. In England, as in +America, third parties rarely last. The attraction of the +larger mass is irresistible, and when the crisis which created +a split or generated a new group has passed, or the opinion +the new group advocates has been either generally discredited +or generally adopted, the small party melts away, +its older members disappearing from public life, its younger +ones finding their career in the ranks of one of the two great +standing armies of politics. If the dissentient, or anti-Home +Rule, Liberal party lives till the next general election, +it cannot live longer, for at that election it will be ground +to powder between the upper and nether millstones of the +regular Liberals and the regular Tories.</p> + +<p>The Irish struggle of 1886 has had another momentous +<!-- Page 230 --><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230" />consequence. It has brought the Nationalist or Parnellite +party into friendly relations with the mass of English +Liberals. When the Home Rule party was founded by +Mr. Butt, some fifteen years ago, it had more in common +with the Liberal than with the Tory party. But as it +demanded what both English parties were then resolved to +refuse, it was forced into antagonism to both; and from +1877 onward (Mr. Butt being then dead) the antagonism +became bitter, and, of course, specially bitter as toward the +statesmen in power, because it was they who continued +to refuse what the Nationalists sought. Mr. Parnell has +always stated, with perfect candour, that he and his friends +must fight for their own hand unhampered by English +alliances, and getting the most they could for Ireland from +the weakness of either English party. This position they +still retain. If the Tory party will give them Home Rule, +they will help the Tory party. However, as the Tory party +has gained office by opposing Home Rule, this contingency +may seem not to lie within the immediate future. On the +other hand, the Gladstonian Liberals have lost office for +their advocacy of Home Rule, and now stand pledged to +maintain the policy they have proclaimed. The Nationalists +have, therefore, for the first time since the days immediately +following the Union of A.D. 1800 (a measure which the Whigs +of those days resisted), a great English party admitting the +justice of their claim, and inviting them to agitate for it by +purely constitutional methods. For such an alliance the +English Liberals are hotly reproached, both by the Tories +and by the dissentients who follow Lord Harrington and Mr. +Chamberlain. They are accused of disloyalty to England. +The past acts and words of the Nationalists are thrown in +their teeth, and they are told that in supporting the Irish +claim they condone such acts, they adopt such words. +They reply by denying the adoption, and by pointing out +that the Tories themselves were from 1881 till 1886 in +<!-- Page 231 --><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231" />a practical, and often very close, though unavowed, Parliamentary +alliance with the Nationalists in the House of +Commons. The student of history will, however, conceive +that the Liberals have a stronger and higher defence than +any <i>tu quoque</i>. Issues that involve the welfare of peoples +are far too serious for us to apply to them the same sentiments +of personal taste and predilection which we follow +in inviting a dinner party, or selecting companions for a +vacation tour. If a man has abused your brother, or got +drunk in the street, you do not ask him to go with you to the +Yellowstone Park. But his social offences do not prevent +you from siding with him in a political convention. So, in +politics itself, one must distinguish between characters and +opinions. If a man has shown himself unscrupulous or +headstrong, you may properly refuse to vote him into +office, or to sit in the same Cabinet with him, because you +think these faults of his dangerous to the country. But +if the cause he pleads be a just one, you have no more +right to be prejudiced against it by his conduct than a +judge has to be swayed by dislike to the counsel who +argues a case. There were moderate men in America, +who, in the days of the anti-slavery movement, cited against +it the intemperate language of many abolitionists. There +were aristocrats in England, who, during the struggle for +the freedom and unity of Italy, sought to discredit the +patriotic party by accusing them of tyrannicide. But the +sound sense of both nations refused to be led away by such +arguments, because it held those two causes to be in their +essence righteous. In all revolutionary movements there +are elements of excess and violence, which sober men may +regret, but which must not disturb our judgment as to the +substantial merits of an issue. The revolutionist of one +generation is, like Garibaldi or Mazzini, the hero of the +next; and the verdict of posterity applauds those who, even +in his own day, were able to discern the justice of the +<!-- Page 232 --><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232" />cause under the errors or faults of its champion. Doubly +is it the duty of a great and far-sighted statesman not to +be repelled by such errors, when he can, by espousing a +revolutionary movement, purify it of its revolutionary +character, and turn it into a legitimate constitutional struggle. +This is what Mr. Gladstone has done. If his policy be in +itself dangerous and disloyal to the true interests of the +people of our islands, let it be condemned. But if it be +the policy which has the best promise for the peace, the +prosperity, and the mutual good will of those peoples, he +and those who follow him would be culpable indeed were +they to be deterred by the condemnation which they have so +often expressed, and which they still express, for some of +the past acts of a particular party, from declaring that the +aims of that party were substantially right aims, and from +now pressing upon the country what their conscience +approves.</p> + +<p>However, as the Home Rule Liberals and Nationalists, +taken together, are in a minority (although a minority which +obtains recruits at many bye-elections) in the present Parliament, +it is not from them that fresh proposals are +expected. They will, of course, continue to speak, write, +and agitate on behalf of the views they hold. But practical +attempt to deal with Irish troubles must for the present +come from the Tory Ministry; for in the English system of +government those who command a Parliamentary majority +are responsible for legislation as well as administration, and +are censured not merely if their legislation is bad, but if it +is not forthcoming when events call for it.</p> + +<p>Why, it may be asked, should Lord Salisbury's Government +burn its fingers over Ireland, as so many governments +have burnt their fingers before? Why not let Ireland +alone, giving to foreign affairs and to English and Scottish +reforms all the attention which these too much neglected +matters need?</p> + +<p><!-- Page 233 --><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233" />Well would it be for England, as well as for English +Ministries, if Ireland could be simply let alone, her maladies +left to be healed by the soft, slow hand of nature. But +Irish troubles call aloud to be dealt with, and that promptly. +They stand in the way of all other reforms, indeed of all +other business. Letting alone has been tried, and it has +succeeded no better, even in times less urgent than the +present, than the usual policy of coercion followed by +concession, or concession followed by coercion.</p> + +<p>There are three aspects of the Irish question, three +channels by which the troubles of the "distressful island" +stream down upon us, forcing whoever now rules or may +come to rule in England to attempt some plan for dealing +with them. I will take them in succession.</p> + +<p>The first is the Parliamentary difficulty. In the British +House of Commons, with its six hundred and seventy +members, there are nearly ninety Irish Nationalists. They +are a well-disciplined body, voting as one man, though +capable of speaking enough for a thousand. They have no +interest in English or Scotch or colonial or Indian affairs, +but only in Irish, and look upon the vote which they have +the right of giving upon the former solely as a means of +furthering their own Irish aims. They are, therefore, in the +British Parliament not merely a foreign body, indifferent to +the great British and imperial issues confided to it, but +a hostile body, opposed to its present constitution, seeking +to discredit it in its authority over Ireland, and to make +more and more palpable and incurable the incompetence +for Irish business whereof they accuse it. Several modes +of doing this are open to them. They may, as some of +the more actively bitter among them did in the Parliaments +of 1874 and 1880, obstruct business by long and frequent +speeches, dilatory motions, and all those devices which in +America are called filibustering. The House of Commons +may, no doubt, try to check these tactics by more stringent +<!-- Page 234 --><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234" />rules of procedure, but the attempts already made in this +direction have had but slight success, and every restriction +of debate, since it trenches on the freedom of English and +Scotch no less than of Irish members, injures Parliament as +a whole. They may disgust the British people with the +House of Commons by keeping it (as they have done in +former years) so constantly occupied with Irish business as +to leave it little time for English and Scotch measures. +They may throw the weight of their collective vote into the +scale of one or other British party, according to the amount +of concession it will make to them, or, by always voting +against the Ministry of the day, they may cause frequent +and sudden changes of Government. This plan also they +have followed in time past; for the moment it is not so +applicable, because the Tories and dissentient Liberals, +taken together, possess a majority in the House of +Commons. But at any moment the alliance of those two +sections may vanish, or another General Election may leave +Tories and Liberals so nearly balanced that the Irish vote +could turn the scale. Whoever reflects on the nature of +Parliamentary Government will perceive that it is based on +the assumption that the members of the ruling assembly, +however much they may differ on other subjects, agree in +desiring the strength, dignity, and welfare of the assembly +itself, and in caring for the main national interests which it +controls. He will therefore be prepared to expect countless +and multiform difficulties in working such a Government, +where a large section of the assembly seeks not to use, +but to make useless, its forms and rules—not to preserve, +but to lower and destroy, its honour, its credit, its efficiency. +In vain are Irish members blamed for these tactics, for they +answer that the interests of their own country require them +to seek first her welfare, which can in their view be secured +only by removing her from the direct control of what they +deem a foreign assembly. Now that the demand for Irish +<!-- Page 235 --><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235" />self-government has obtained the sympathy of the bulk of +English Liberals, they are unlikely forthwith to resume the +systematic obstruction of past years. But they will be able, +without alienating their English friends, to render the +conduct of Parliamentary business so difficult that every +English Ministry will be forced either to crush them, if it +can, or to appease them by a series of concessions.</p> + +<p>The second difficulty is that of maintaining social order +in Ireland. What that difficulty is, and whence it arises, +every one knows. It is chronic, but every second or third +winter, when there has been a wet season, or the price of +live stock declines, it becomes specially acute. The tenants +refuse to pay rents which they declare to be impossible. +The landlords, or the harsher among them, try to enforce +rents by evictions; evictions are resisted by outrages and +boycotting. Popular sentiment supports those who commit +outrages, because it considers the tenantry to be engaged in +a species of war, a righteous war, against the landlord. +Evidence can seldom be obtained, and juries acquit in the +teeth of evidence. Thus the enforcement of the law strains +all the resources of authority, while a habit of lawlessness +and discontent is transmitted from generation to generation. +Of the remedies proposed for this chronic evil the most +obvious is the strengthening of the criminal law. We have +been trying this for more than one hundred years, since +Whiteboyism appeared, and trying it in vain. Since the +Union, Coercion Acts, of more or less severity, have been +almost always in force in Ireland, passed for two or three +years, then dropped for a year or two, then renewed in a +form slightly varying, but always with the same result of +driving the disease in for a time, but not curing it. Mr. +Gladstone proposed to buy out the landlords and then +leave an Irish Parliament to restore social order, with that +authority which it would derive from having the will of +the people behind it; because he held that when the +<!-- Page 236 --><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236" />people felt the law to be of their own making, and not +imposed from without, their sentiment would be enlisted on +its side, and the necessity for a firm Government recognized. +This plan, has, however, been rejected, so the choice was left +of a fresh Coercion Act, or of some scheme, necessarily a +costly scheme, for getting rid of the source of trouble by +transferring the land of Ireland to the peasantry. The +present Government, while guided by Sir M. Hicks-Beach, +who had some knowledge of Ireland, did its best to persuade +the landlords to accept reduced rents, while the +Nationalist leaders, on their side, sought to restrain the +people from outrages. But the armistice did not last. The +Ministry yielded to the foolish counsels of its more violent +supporters, and entrusted Irish affairs to the hands of a +Chief Secretary without previous knowledge of the island. +An unusually severe Coercion Act has been brought in and +passed by the aid of the dissentient Liberals. And we +now see this Act administered with a mixture of virulence +and incompetence to which even the dreary annals of Irish +misgovernment present few parallels. The feeling of the +English people is rising against the policy carried out in +their name. So far from being solved, the problem of +social order becomes every day more acute.</p> + +<p>There remains the question of a reform of local government. +For many years past, every English Ministry has +undertaken to frame a measure creating a new system of +popular rural self-government in England. It is the first +large task of domestic legislation which we ask from Parliament. +When such a scheme is proposed, can Ireland be +left out of it? Should she be left out, the argument that +she is being treated unequally and unfairly, as compared +with England, would gain immense force; because the +present local government of Ireland is admittedly less +popular, less efficient, altogether less defensible, than even +that of England which we are going to reform. If, there<!-- Page 237 --><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237" />fore, +the theory that the Imperial Parliament is both anxious +and able to do its duty by Ireland is to be maintained, +Ireland, too, must have her scheme of local government. +And a scheme of local government is a large project, the +discussion of which must pass into a discussion of the +government of the island as a whole.</p> + +<p>Since, then, we may conclude that whatever Ministry is +in power will be bound to take up the state of Ireland—since +Parliament and the nation will be occupied with the +subject during the coming sessions fully as much as they +have been during those that have recently passed—the next +inquiry is, What will the tendency of opinion and legislation +be? Will the reasons and forces described above bring us +to Home Rule? and if so, when, how, and why?</p> + +<p>There are grounds for answering these questions in the +negative. A majority of the House of Commons, including +the present Ministry and such influential Liberals as Mr. +Bright, Lord Hartington, Mr. Chamberlain, stand pledged +to resist it, and seem—such is the passion which controversy +engenders—more disposed to resist it than they +were in 1885. But this ground is less strong than it may +appear. We have had too many changes of opinion—ay, +and of action too—upon Irish affairs not to be prepared for +further changes. A Ministry in power learns much which +an Opposition fails to learn. Home Rule is an elastic expression, +and some of those who were loudest in denouncing +Mr. Gladstone's Bill will find it easy to explain, should they +bring in a Bill of their own for giving self-government to +Ireland, that their measure is a different thing, and free +from the objections brought against his. Nor, if such a +conversion should come, need it be deemed a dishonest one, +for events are potent teachers, and governments now seek +rather to follow than to form opinion. Although a decent +interval must be allowed, no one will be astonished if the +Tory leaders should move ere long in the direction indicated.<!-- Page 238 --><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238" /> +Toryism itself, as has been remarked already, contains +nothing opposed to the idea.</p> + +<p>Far greater obstacles exist in the aversion which (as +already observed) so many Englishmen of both parties have +entertained for any scheme which should seem to leave the +Protestant minority at the mercy of the peasant and Roman +Catholic majority, and to carry us some way toward the +ultimate separation of the islands. These alarms are +genuine and deep-seated. One who (like the present writer) +thinks them, if not baseless, yet immensely overstrained, is, +of course, convinced that they may be allayed. But time +must first pass, and the plan that is to allay them may +have to be framed on somewhat different lines from those +of Mr. Gladstone's measure. It is even possible that a +conflict more sharp and painful than any of recent years +may intervene before a settlement is reached.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, great as are the obstacles in the way, bitter +as are the reproaches with which Mr. Gladstone is pursued +by the richer classes in England, there is good reason to +believe that the current is setting toward his policy. In +proceeding to state the grounds for this view, I must frankly +own that I am no longer (as in most of the preceding pages) +merely setting forth facts on which impartial men in England +would agree. The forecast which I seek to give may be +tinged by my own belief that the grant of self-government +is the best, if not the only method, now open to us of +establishing peace between the islands, relieving the English +Parliament of work it is ill fitted to discharge, allowing +Ireland opportunities to learn those lessons in politics which +her people so much need. The future, even the near future, +is more than usually dim. Yet, if we examine those three +branches of the Irish question which have been enumerated +above, we shall see how naturally, in each of them, the concession +of self-government seems to open, I will not say the +most direct, but the least dangerous way, out of our troubles.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 239 --><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239" />The Parliamentary difficulty arises from the fact that the +representatives of Ireland have the feelings of foreigners +sitting in a foreign assembly, whose honour and usefulness +they do not desire. While these are their feelings they +cannot work properly in it, and it cannot work properly +with them. The inconvenience may be endured, but the +English will grow tired of it, and be disposed to rid themselves +of it, if they see their way to do so without greater +mischief. There are but two ways out of the difficulty. +One is to get rid of the Irish members altogether; the +other is to make them, by the concession of their just +demands, contented and loyal members of a truly united +Parliament. The experience of the Parliament of 1880, +which was mainly occupied with Irish business, and began, +being a strongly Liberal Parliament, with a bias toward the +Irish popular party, showed how difficult it is for a House +of Commons which is ignorant of Ireland to legislate +wisely for it. In the House of Lords there is not a +single Nationalist; indeed, up till 1886, that exalted +chamber contained only one peer, Lord Dalhousie (formerly +member for Liverpool), who had ever said a word in favour +of Home Rule. The more that England becomes sensible, +as she must become sensible, of the deficiencies of the +present machinery for appreciating the needs and giving +effect to the wishes of Irishmen, the more disposed will she +be to grant them some machinery of their own.</p> + +<p>As regards social order, I have shown that the choice +which lies before the opponents of Home Rule is either to +continue the policy of coercing the peasantry by severe +special legislation, or to remove the source of friction by +buying out the landlords for the benefit of the tenants. +The present Ministry have chosen the former alternative, +but they dangle before the eyes of their supporters some +prospect that they may ultimately revert to the latter. Now, +the only way that has yet been pointed out of buying out +<!-- Page 240 --><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240" />the landlords, without imposing tremendous liabilities of +loss upon the British Treasury, is the creation of a strong +Home Rule Government in Dublin. Supposing, however, +that some other plan could be discovered, which would +avoid the fatal objections to which an extension of the plan +of the (Salisbury) Land Purchase Act of 1885 is open, such +a plan would remove one of the chief objections to an Irish +Parliament, by leaving no estates for such a Parliament to +confiscate. As for coercion every day, I might say, every +bye-election shows us how it becomes more and more odious +to the British democracy. They dislike severity; they dislike +the inequality involved in passing harsher laws for Ireland +than those that apply to England and Scotland. They find +themselves forced to sympathize with acts of violence in +Ireland which they would condemn in Great Britain, +because these acts seem the only way of resisting harsh +and unjust laws. When the recoil comes, it will be more +violent than in former days. The wish to discover some +other course will be very strong, and the obvious other +course will be to leave it to an Irish authority to enforce +social order in its own way—probably a more rough-and-ready +way than that of British officials. The notion which +has possessed most Englishmen, that Irish self-government +would be another name for anarchy, is curiously erroneous. +Conflicts there may be, but a vigorous rule will emerge.</p> + +<p>Lastly, as to local government. If a popular system is +established in Ireland—one similar to that which it is proposed +to establish in England—the control of its assemblies +and officials will, over four-fifths of the island, fall into +Nationalist hands. Their power will be enormously increased, +for they will then command the machinery of +administration, and the power of taxing. What with taxing +landlords, aiding recalcitrant tenants, stopping the wheels +of any central authority which may displease or oppose +them, they will be in so strong a position that the creation +<!-- Page 241 --><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241" />of an Irish Parliament may appear to be a comparatively +small further step, may even appear (as the wisest Nationalists +now think it would prove) in the light of a check upon the +abuse of local powers. These eventualities will unquestionably, +when English opinion has realized them, make such a +Parliament as the present pause before it commits rural local +government to the Irish democracy. But it could not refuse +to do something; and if it tried to restrain popular representative +bodies by the veto of a bureaucracy in Dublin, +there would arise occasions for quarrel and irritation more +serious than now exist.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70" /><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> Those who once begin to repair an +old and tottering building are led on, little by little, into +changes they did not at starting contemplate. So it will be +if once the task is undertaken of reforming the confessedly +bad and indefensible system of Irish administration. We +may stop at some half-way house on the way, but Home Rule +stands at the end of the road.</p> + +<p>Supposing, then, that the Nationalist party, retaining its +present strength and unity, perseveres in its present +demands, there is every prospect that these demands will +be granted. But will it persevere? There are among the +English Dissentients those who prophesy that it will break +up, as such parties have broken up before—will lose hope and +wither away. Or the support of the Irish peasantry may be +withdrawn—a result which some English politicians expect +from a final settlement of the land question in the interest +of the tenants. Any of these contingencies is possible, but at +present most improbable. The moment when long-cherished +aims begin to seem attainable is not that at which men are +disposed to abandon them.</p> + +<p>There are, however, other reasons which suggest the +likelihood of a change in English sentiment on the whole +<!-- Page 242 --><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242" />matter. The surprise with which the Bill of last April was +received has worn off. The alarm is wearing off too. +Those who set their teeth at what seemed to them a surrender +to the Parnellites and their Irish-American allies, +having relieved their temper by an emphatic No, have begun +to ponder things more calmly. The English people are +listening to the arguments from Irish history that are now +addressed to them. They will be moved by the solid +grounds of policy which that history suggests; will understand +that what they have deemed insensate hatred is the +natural result of long misgovernment, and will disappear +with time and the removal of its causes. Many of the best +minds of both nations will be at work to discover some +method of reconciling Irish self-government with imperial +supremacy and union free from the objections brought +against the Bills of 1886. It is reasonable to expect that +they may greatly improve upon these measures, which +were prepared under pressure from a clamorous Opposition. +What Mr. Disraeli once called the historical +conscience of the country will appreciate those great +underlying principles to which Mr. Gladstone's policy +appeals. It has been accused of being a policy of despair; +and may have commended itself to some who supported it +as being simply a means of ridding England of responsibility. +But to others it seemed, and more truly, a policy of faith; +not, indeed, of thoughtless optimism, but of faith according +to the definition which calls it "the substance of things +hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith, by +which nations as well as men must live, means nothing less +than a conviction that great principles, permanent truths of +human nature, lie at the bottom of all sound politics, and +ought to be boldly and consistently applied, even when +temporary difficulties surround their application. Such a +principle is the belief in the power of freedom and self-government +to cure the faults of a nation, in the tendency of re<!-- Page 243 --><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243" />sponsibility +to teach wisdom, and to make men see that +justice and order are the surest sources of prosperity. Such a +principle is the perception that national hatreds do not live +on of themselves, but will expire when oppression has ceased, +as a fire burns out without fuel. Such a principle is the +recognition of the force of national sentiment, and of the duty +of allowing it all the satisfaction that is compatible with +the maintenance of imperial unity. Such, again, is the appreciation +of those natural economic laws which show that +nations, when disturbing passions have ceased, follow their +own permanent interests, and that an island which finds its +chief market in England and draws its capital from England +will prefer a connection with England to the poverty and +insignificance of isolation. It is the honour of Mr. Gladstone +to have built his policy of conciliation upon principles like +these, as upon a rock; and already the good effects are +seen in the new friendliness which has arisen between the +English masses and the people of Ireland, and in the better +temper with which, despite the acrimony of some prominent +politicians, the relations of the two peoples are discussed. +When one looks round the horizon it is still far from clear; +nor can we say from which quarter fair weather will arrive. +But the air is fresher, and the clouds are breaking overhead.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>POSTSCRIPT.</p> + +<p>What has happened since the above paragraphs were +written, ten months ago, has confirmed more quickly and +completely than the writer expected the forecasts they +contain. Home Rule is no longer a word of terror, even +to those English and Scotch voters who were opposed to it +in July, 1886. Most sensible men in the Tory and Dissentient +Liberal camps have come to see that it is inevitable; +<!-- Page 244 --><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244" />and, while they continue to resist it for the sake of what +is called consistency, or because they do not yet see in +what form it is to be granted, they are disposed to regard +its speedy arrival as the best method of retreat from an +indefensible position.</p> + +<p>The repressive policy which the present Ministry are +attempting in Ireland—for in the face of their failures one +cannot say that they are carrying out any policy—is rendering +Coercion Acts more and more detested by the English +people. The actualities of Ireland, the social condition +of her peasantry, the unwisdom of the dominant caste, +the incompetence of the bureaucracy which affects to +rule her, are being, by the full accounts we now receive, +brought home to the mind of England and Scotland as they +never were before, and produce their appropriate effect +upon the heart and conscience of the people. The recognition +by the Liberal party of the rights of Ireland, the visits +of English Liberals to Ireland, the work done by Irishmen +in English constituencies, are creating a feeling of unity and +reciprocal interest between the masses of the people on +both sides of the Channel without example in the seven +hundred years that have passed since Strongbow's landing.</p> + +<p>This was the thing most needed to make Home Rule +safe and full of promise, because it affords a guarantee that +in such political contests as may arise in future, the division +will not be, as heretofore, between the Irish people on the +one side and the power of Britain on the other, but between +two parties, each of which will have adherents in both +islands. We may now at last hope that national hatreds +will vanish; that England will unlearn her arrogance and +Ireland her suspicion; that the basis is being laid for a +harmonious co-operation of both nations in promoting the +welfare and greatness of a common Empire.</p> + +<p>Many of the Irish patriots of 1798 and 1848 desired +Separation, because they thought that Ireland, attached to<!-- Page 245 --><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245" /> +England, could never be more than the obscure satellite of +a greater State. When Ireland has been heartily welcomed +by the democracy of Great Britain as an equal partner, the +ground for any such desire will have disappeared, and Union +will rest on a foundation firmer than has ever before existed. +Ireland will feel, when those rights of self-government have +been secured for which she has pleaded so long, that she +owes them, not only to her own tenacity and courage, but +to the magnanimity, the justice, and the freely given +sympathy of the English and Scottish people.</p> + +<p><i>October</i>, 1887.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69" /><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> This article, which originally appeared in the American <i>New +Princeton Review</i>, has been added to in a few places, in order to +bring its narrative of facts up to date.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70" /><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> The experience of the last few months, which has shown us rural +Boards of Guardians and municipal bodies over four-fifths of Ireland +displaying their zeal in the Nationalist cause, has amply confirmed this +anticipation, expressed nearly a year ago.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SOME_ARGUMENTS_CONSIDERED71" id="SOME_ARGUMENTS_CONSIDERED71" /><!-- Page 246 --><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246" />SOME ARGUMENTS CONSIDERED.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71" /><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></h2> + +<p class="author">BY JOHN MORLEY.</p> + + +<p>It is a favourite line of argument to show that we have no +choice between the maintenance of the Union and the +concession to Ireland of national independence. The evils +of Irish independence are universally reckoned by Englishmen +to be so intolerable that we shall never agree to it. +The evils of Home Rule are even more intolerable still. +Therefore, it is said, if we shall never willingly bring the +latter upon our heads, <i>à fortiori</i> we ought on no account +to invite the former. The business in hand, however, is not +a theorem, but a problem; it is not a thesis to be proved, +but a malady to be cured; and the world will thank only +the reasoner who winds up, not with Q.E.D., but with +Q.E.F. To reason that a patient ought not to take a given +medicine because it may possibly cause him more pain than +some other medicine which he has no intention of taking, is +curiously oblique logic. The question is not oblique; it is +direct. Will the operation do more harm to his constitution +than the slow corrosions of a disorder grown inveterate? +Are the conditions of the connection between +<!-- Page 247 --><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247" />England and Ireland, as laid down in the Act of Union, +incapable of improvement? Is the present working of these +conditions more prosperous and hopeful, or happier for +Irish order and for English institutions, than any practicable +proposal that it is within the compass of statesmanship to +devise, and of civic sense to accept and to work? That is +the question.</p> + +<p>Some people contend that the burden of making out +a case rests on the advocate of change, and not on those +who support things as they are. But who supports things +as they are? Things as they are have become insupportable. +If you make any of the constitutional changes that +have been proposed, we are told, parliamentary government, +as Englishmen now know it, is at an end; and our critic +stands amazed at those "who deem it a slighter danger +to innovate on the Act of Union than to remodel the +procedure of the House of Commons." As if that were the +alternative. Great changes in the rules may do other good +things, but no single competent authority believes that in +this particular they will do the thing that we want. We +cannot avoid constitutional changes. It is made matter of +crushing rebuke that the Irish proposals of the late Government +were an innovation on the old constitution of the +realm. But everybody knows that, while ancient forms +have survived, the last hundred years have witnessed a long +succession of silent but most profound innovations. It was +shortsighted to assume that the redistribution of political +power that took place in 1884-5 was the last chapter of the +history of constitutional change. It ought to have been +foreseen that new possessors of power, both Irish and +British, would press for objects the pursuit of which would +certainly involve further novelties in the methods and +machinery of government. Every given innovation must +be rigorously scrutinized, but in the mere change or in the +fact of innovation there is no valid reproach. When one of +<!-- Page 248 --><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248" />the plans for the better government of Ireland is described +as depriving parliamentary institutions of their elasticity and +strength, as weakening the Executive at home, and lessening +the power of the country to resist foreign attack, no careful +observer of the events of the last seven years can fail to see +that all this evil has already got its grip upon us. Mr. Dicey +himself admits it. "Great Britain," he says, "if left to +herself, could act with all the force, consistency, and energy +given by unity of sentiment and community of interests. +The obstruction and the uncertainty of our political aims, +the feebleness and inconsistency with which they are pursued, +arise in part at least from the connection with Ireland." +So then, after all, it is feebleness and inconsistency, not +elasticity and strength, that mark our institutions as they +stand; feebleness and inconsistency, distraction and uncertainty. +The supporter of things as they are is decidedly +as much concerned in making out a case as the advocate +of change.</p> + +<p>The strength of the argument from Nationality is great, +and full of significance; but Nationality is not the whole +essence of either the argument from History or the argument +from Self-government. Their force lies in considerations +of political expediency as tested by practical experience.</p> + +<p>The point of the argument from the lessons of History is +that for some reason or another the international concern, +whose unlucky affairs we are now trying to unravel, has +always been carried on at a loss: the point of the argument +from Self-government is that the loss would have been +avoided if the Irish shareholders had for a certain number +of the transactions been more influentially represented on +the Board. That is quite apart from the sentiment of pure +nationality. The failure has come about, not simply because +the laws were not made by Irishmen as such, but because +they were not made by the men who knew most about +Ireland. The vice of the connection between the two +<!-- Page 249 --><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249" />countries has been the stupidity of governing a country +without regard to the interests or customs, the peculiar +objects and peculiar experiences, of the great majority of +the people who live in it. It is not enough to say that the +failures of England in Ireland have to a great extent flowed +from causes too general to be identified with the intentional +wrong-doing either of rulers or of subjects. We readily +admit that, but it is not the point. It is not enough to +insist that James I., in his plantations and transplantations, +probably meant well to his Irish subjects. Probably +he did. That is not the question. If it is "absolutely +certain that his policy worked gross wrong," what is the +explanation and the defence? We are quite content with +Mr. Dicey's own answer. "Ignorance and want of sympathy +produced all the evils of cruelty and malignity. An +intended reform produced injustice, litigation, misery, and +discontent. The case is noticeable, for it is a type of a +thousand subsequent English attempts to reform and improve +Ireland." This description would apply, with hardly +a word altered, to the wrong done by the Encumbered +Estates Act in the reign of Queen Victoria. That memorable +measure, as Mr. Gladstone said, was due not to the +action of a party, but to the action of a Parliament. Sir +Robert Peel was hardly less responsible for it than Lord +John Russell. "We produced it," said Mr. Gladstone, +"with a general, lazy, uninformed, and irreflective good +intention of taking capital to Ireland. What did we do? +We sold the improvements of the tenants" (House of +Commons, April 16). It is the same story, from the first +chapter to the last, in education, poor law, public works, +relief Acts, even in coercion Acts—lazy, uninformed, and +irreflective good intention. That is the argument from +history. When we are asked what good law an Irish +Parliament would make that could not equally well be +made by the Parliament at Westminster, this is the answer.<!-- Page 250 --><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250" /> +It is not the will, it is the intelligence, that is wanting. We +all know what the past has been. Why should the future +be different?</p> + +<p>"It is an inherent condition of human affairs," said Mill +in a book which, in spite of some chimeras, is a wholesome +corrective of the teaching of our new jurists, "that no intention, +however sincere, of protecting the interests of others +can make it safe or salutary to tie up their own hands. +Still more obviously true is it, that by their own hands only +can any positive and durable improvement of their circumstances +in life be worked out" (<i>Repres. Government</i>, p. 57). +It is these wise lessons from human experience to which the +advocate of Home Rule appeals, and not the wild doctrine +that any body of persons claiming to be united by a sense +of nationality possesses <i>an inherent and divine right</i> to be +treated as an independent community. It is quite true that +circumstances sometimes justify a temporary dictatorship. +In that there is nothing at variance with Liberalism. But +the Parliamentary dictatorship in Ireland has lasted a great +deal too long to be called temporary, and its stupid shambling +operations are finally and decisively condemned by their +consequences. That is a straightforward utilitarian argument, +and has nothing whatever to do with inherent and +divine rights, or any other form of political moonshine.</p> + +<p>There are some who believe that an honest centralized +administration of impartial officials, and not Local Self-Government, +would best meet the real wants of the people. +In other words, everything is to be for the people, nothing +by the people—which has not hitherto been a Liberal principle. +Something, however, may be said for this view, +provided that the source of the authority of such an +administration be acceptable. Austrian administration in +Lombardy was good rather than bad, yet it was hated and +resisted because it was Austrian and not Italian. No +rational person can hold for an instant that the source of +<!-- Page 251 --><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251" />a scheme of government is immaterial to its prosperity. +More than that, when people look for success in the government +of Ireland to "honest centralized administration," we +cannot but wonder what fault they find with the administration +of Ireland to-day in respect of its honesty or its +centralization. What administration ever carried either +honesty or centralization to a higher pitch than the Irish +administration of Mr. Forster? What could be less successful? +Those who have been most directly concerned in the +government of Ireland, whether English or Irish, even while +alive to the perils of any other principle, habitually talk of +centralization as the curse of the system. Here, again, why +should we expect success in the future from a principle that +has so failed in the past?</p> + +<p>Again, how are we to get a strong centralized administration +in the face of a powerful and hostile parliamentary +representation? It is very easy to talk of the benefits that +might have been conferred on Ireland by such humanity +and justice as was practised by Turgot in his administration +of the Generality of Limoges. But Turgot was not confronted +by eighty-six Limousin members of an active +sovereign body, all interested in making his work difficult, +and trusted by a large proportion of the people of the +province with that as their express commission. It is +possible to have an honest centralized administration of +great strength and activity in India, but there is no Parliament +in India. If India, or any province of it, ever gets +representative government and our parliamentary system, +from that hour, if there be any considerable section of +Indian feeling averse from European rule, the present +administrative system will be paralyzed, as the preliminary +to being revolutionized. It is conceivable, if any one +chooses to think so, that a body of impartial officials could +manage the national business in Ireland much better without +the guidance of public opinion and common sentiment +<!-- Page 252 --><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252" />than with it. But if you intend to govern the country as +you think best—and that is the plain and practical English +of centralized administration—why ask the country to send +a hundred men to the great tribunal of supervision to inform +you how it would like to be governed? The Executive cannot +set them aside as if they were a hundred dummies; in +refusing to be guided, it cannot escape being harassed, by +them. You may amend procedure, but that is no answer, +unless you amend the Irish members out of voice and vote. +They will still count. You cannot gag and muzzle them +effectually, and if you could, they would still be there, and +their presence would still make itself incessantly felt. Partly +from a natural desire to lessen the common difficulties of +government, and partly from a consciousness, due to the +prevailing state of the modern political atmosphere, that +there is something wrong in this total alienation of an +Executive from the possessors of parliamentary power, the +officials will incessantly be tempted to make tacks out of +their own course; and thus they lose the coherency and +continuity of absolutism without gaining the pliant strength +of popular government. This is not a presumption of what +would be likely to happen, but an account of what does +happen, and what justified Mr. Disraeli in adding a weak +Executive to the alien Church and the absentee aristocracy, +as the three great curses of Ireland. Nothing has occurred +since 1844 to render the Executive stronger, but much to +the contrary. There is, and there can be, no weaker or less +effective Government in the world than a highly centralized +system working alongside of a bitterly inimical popular +representation. I say nothing of the effect of the fluctuations +of English parties on Irish administration. I say +nothing of the tendency in an Irish government, awkwardly +alternating with that to which I have just adverted, to look +over the heads of the people of Ireland, and to consider +mainly what will be thought by the ignorant public in<!-- Page 253 --><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253" /> +England. But these sources of incessant perturbation must +not be left out. The fault of Irish centralization is not +that it is strong, but that it is weak. Weak it must remain +until Parliament either approves of the permanent suspension +of the Irish writs, or else devises constitutional +means for making Irish administration responsible to Irish +representatives.</p> + +<p>If experience is decisive against the policy of the past, +experience too, all over the modern world, indicates the +better direction for the future. I will not use my too scanty +space in repeating any of the great wise commonplaces in +praise of self-government. Here they are superfluous. +In the case of Ireland they have all been abundantly +admitted in a long series of measures, from Catholic +Emancipation down to Lord O'Hagan's Jury Law and the +Franchise and Redistribution Acts of a couple of years ago. +The principle of self-government has been accepted, ratified, +and extended in a hundred ways. It is only a question of +the form that self-government shall take. Against the form +proposed by the late Ministry a case is built up that rests +on a series of prophetic assumptions. These assumptions, +from the nature of the case, can only be met by a counter-statement +of fair and reasonable probabilities. Let us +enumerate some of them.</p> + +<p>1. It is inferred that, because the Irish leaders have +used violent language and resorted to objectionable expedients +against England during the last six years, they +would continue in the same frame of mind after the reasons +for it had disappeared. In other words, because they have +been the enemies of a Government which refused to listen +to a constitutional demand, therefore they would continue +to be its enemies after the demand had been listened to. +On this reasoning, the effect is to last indefinitely and +perpetually, notwithstanding the cessation of the cause. +Our position is that all the reasonable probabilities of +<!-- Page 254 --><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254" />human conduct point the other way. The surest way +of justifying violent language and fostering treasonable +designs, is to refuse to listen to the constitutional demand.</p> + +<p>2. The Irish, we are told, hate the English with an +irreconcilable hatred, and would unquestionably use any +Constitution as an instrument for satisfying their master +passion. Irrational hatred, they say, can be treated by +rational men with composure. The Czechs of Bohemia are +said to be irreconcilable, yet the South Germans bear with +their hatred; and if we cannot cure we might endure the +antipathy of Ireland. Now, as for the illustration, I may +remark that the hatred of the Czechs would be much too +formidable for German composure, if the Czechs did not +happen to possess a provincial charter and a special +constitution of their own. If the Irish had the same, their +national dislike—so far as it exists—might be expected to +become as bearable as the Germans have found the feeling +of the Czechs. But how deep does Irish dislike go? Is it +directed against Englishmen, or against an English official +system? The answers of every impartial observer to the +whole group of such questions as these favour the conclusion +that the imputed hatred of England in Ireland has +been enormously exaggerated and overcoloured by Ascendency +politicians for good reasons of their own; that with +the great majority of Irishmen it has no deep roots; that +it is not one of those passionate international animosities +that blind men to their own interests, or lead them to +sacrifice themselves for the sake of injuring their foe; and, +finally, that it would not survive the amendment of the +system that has given it birth.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72" /><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a><!-- Page 255 --><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255" /></p> + +<p>3. It is assumed that there is a universal desire for +Separation. That there is a strong sentiment of nationality +we of course admit; it is part of the case, and not the +worst part. But the sentiment of nationality is a totally +different thing from a desire for Separation. Scotland +might teach our pseudo-Unionists so much as that. Nowhere +in the world is the sentiment of nationality stronger, +yet there is not a whisper of Separation. That there is +a section of Irishmen who desire Separation is notorious, +but everything that has happened since the Government +of Ireland Bill was introduced, including the remarkable +declarations of Mr. Parnell in accepting the Bill (June 7), +and including the proceedings at Chicago, shows that the +separatist section is a very small one either in Ireland or +in America, and that it has become sensibly smaller since, +and in consequence of, the proposed concession of a +limited statutory constitution. The Irish are quite shrewd +enough to know that Separation, if it were attainable—and +they are well aware that it is not—would do no good +to their markets; and to that knowledge, as well as to +many other internal considerations, we may confidently +look for the victory of strong centripetal over very weak +centrifugal tendencies. Even if we suppose these centrifugal +tendencies to be stronger than I would allow them to be, +how shall we best resist them—by strengthening the hands +and using the services of the party which, though nationalist, +is also constitutional; or by driving that party also, +in despair of a constitutional solution, to swell the ranks of +Extremists and Irreconcilables?</p> + +<p><!-- Page 256 --><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256" />4. Whatever may be the ill-feeling towards England, it +is at least undeniable that there are bitter internal animosities +in Ireland, and a political constitution, our opponents +argue, can neither assuage religious bigotry nor remove +agrarian discontent.</p> + +<p>It is true, no doubt, that the old feud between Protestant +and Catholic might, perhaps, not instantly die down to the +last smouldering embers of it all over Ireland. But we +may remark that there is no perceptible bad blood between +Protestant and Catholic, outside of one notorious corner. +Second, the real bitterness of the feud arose from the fact +that Protestantism was associated with an exclusive and +hostile ascendency, which would now be brought to an +end. Whatever feeling about what is called Ulster exists +in the rest of Ireland, arises not from the fact that there +are Protestants in Ulster, but that the Protestants are anti-National. +Third, the Catholics would no longer be one +compact body for persecuting, obscurantist, or any other +evil purposes; the abatement of the national struggle would +allow the Catholics to fall into the two natural divisions of +Clerical and Liberal. What we may be quite sure of is that +the feud will never die so long as sectarian pretensions are +taken as good reasons for continuing bad government.</p> + +<p>It is true, again, that a constitution would not necessarily +remove agrarian discontent. But it is just as true that you +will never remove agrarian discontent without a constitution. +Mr. Dicey, on consideration, will easily see why. Here +we come to an illustration, and a very impressive illustration +it is, of the impotence of England to do for Ireland the +good which Ireland might do for herself. Nobody just +now is likely to forget the barbarous condition of the broad +fringe of wretchedness on the west coast of Ireland. Of +this Lord Dufferin truly said in 1880 that no legislation +could touch it, that no alteration in the land laws could +effectually ameliorate it, and that it must continue until +<!-- Page 257 --><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257" />the world's end unless something be contrived totally to +change the conditions of existence in that desolate region. +Parliament lavishly pours water into the sieve in the shape +of Relief Acts. Even in my own short tenure of office +I was responsible for one of these terribly wasteful and +profoundly unsatisfactory measures. Instead of relief, what +a statesman must seek is prevention of this great evil and +strong root of evil; and prevention means a large, though +it cannot be a very swift, displacement of the population. +But among the many experts with whom I have discussed +this dolorous and perplexing subject, I never found one +of either political party who did not agree that a removal +of the surplus population was only practicable if carried +out by an Irish authority, backed by the solid weight of +Irish opinion. Any exertion of compulsory power by a +British Minister would raise the whole country-side in +squalid insurrection, government would become impossible, +and the work of transplantation would end in ghastly +failure. It is misleading and untrue, then, to say that there +is no possible relation between self-government and agrarian +discontent, misery, and backwardness; and when Mr. +Dicey and others tell us that the British Parliament is able +to do all good things for Ireland, I would respectfully ask +them how a British Parliament is to deal with the Congested +Districts.</p> + +<p>Nearly as much may be said of the prevention of the +mischievous practice of Subdivision. Some contend that +the old disposition to subdivide is dying out; others, however, +assure us that it is making its appearance even among +the excellent class who purchased their holdings under the +Church Act. That Act did not prohibit subdivision, but +it is prohibited in the Act of 1881. Still the prohibition +can only be made effective, if operations take place on +anything like a great scale, on condition that representative, +authorities resident on the spot have the power of enforcing +<!-- Page 258 --><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258" />it, and have an interest in enforcing it. Some of the pseudo-Unionists +are even against any extension of local self-government, +and if it be unaccompanied by the creation of +a central native authority they are right. What such people +fail to see is that, in resisting political reconstruction, they +are at the same time resisting the only available remedies +for some of the worst of agrarian maladies.</p> + +<p>The ruinous interplay between agrarian and political +forces, each using the other for ends of its own, will never +cease so long as the political demand is in every form +resisted. That, we are told, is all the fault of the politicians. +Be it so; then the Government must either +suppress the politicians outright, or else it must interest +them in getting the terms of its land settlement accepted +and respected. Home Rule on our scheme was, among +other things, part of an arrangement for "settling the +agrarian feud." It was a means of interposing between +the Irish tenant and the British State an authority interested +enough and strong enough to cause the bargain to be kept. +It is said that the Irish authority would have had neither +interest nor strength enough to resist the forces making +for repudiation. Would those forces be any less irresistible +if the whole body of the Irish peasantry stood, as Land +Purchase <i>minus</i> Self-Government makes them to stand, +directly face to face with the British State? This is a +question that our opponents cannot evade, any more than +they can evade that other question, which lies unnoticed +at the back of all solutions of the problem by way of +peasant ownership—Whether it is possible to imagine the +land of Ireland handed over to Irishmen, and yet the +government of Ireland kept exclusively and directly by +Englishmen? Such a divorce is conceivable under a rule +like that of the British in India: with popular institutions +it is inconceivable and impossible.</p> + +<p>5. It is argued that Home Rule on Mr. Gladstone's +<!-- Page 259 --><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259" />plan would not work, because it follows in some respects +the colonial system, whereas the conditions at the root of +the success of the system in the Colonies do not exist in +Ireland. They are distant, Ireland is near; they are +prosperous, Ireland is poor; they are proud of the connection +with England, Ireland resents it. But the question +is not whether the conditions are identical with those of +any colony; it is enough if in themselves they seem to +promise a certain basis for government. It might justly +be contended that proximity is a more favourable condition +than distance; without it there could not be that close and +constant intercommunication which binds the material +interests of Ireland to those of Great Britain, and so +provides the surest guarantee for union. If Ireland were +suddenly to find herself as far off as Canada, then indeed +one might be very sorry to answer for the Union. Again, +though Ireland has to bear her share of the prevailing +depression in the chief branch of her production, it is a +great mistake to suppose that outside of the margin of +chronic wretchedness in the west and south-west, the condition +not only of the manufacturing industries of the north, +but of the agricultural industry in the richer parts of the +middle and south, is so desperately unprosperous as to +endanger a political constitution. Under our stupidily [Transcriber: sic] +centralized system, Irishmen have no doubt acquired the +enervating trick of attributing every misfortune, great or +small, public or private, to the Government. When they +learn the lessons of responsibility, they will unlearn this +fatal habit, and not before.</p> + +<p>I do not see, therefore, that the differences in condition +between Ireland and the Colonies make against Home +Rule. What I do see is ample material out of which would +arise a strong and predominant party of order. The bulk +of the nation are sons and daughters of a Church which has +been hostile to revolution in every country but Ireland, and +<!-- Page 260 --><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260" />which would be hostile to it there from the day that the +cause of revolution ceased to be the cause of self-government. +If the peasantry were made to realize that at last +the land settlement, wisely and equitably made, was what +it must inexorably remain, and what no politicians could +help them to alter, they would be as conservative as the +peasantry under a similar condition in every other spot +on the surface of the globe. There is no reason to expect +that the manufacturers, merchants, and shopkeepers of +Ireland would be less willing or less able to play an active +and useful part in the affairs of their country than the same +classes in England or Scotland. It will be said that this +is mere optimist prophesying. But why is that to be flung +aside under the odd name of sentimentalism, while pessimist +prophesying is to be taken for gospel?</p> + +<p>The only danger is lest we should allot new responsibilities +to Irishmen with a too grudging and restrictive +hand. For true responsibility there must be real power. +It is easy to say that this power would be misused, and +that the conditions both of Irish society and of the proposed +Constitution must prevent it from being used for good. +It is easy to say that separation would be a better end. +Life is too short to discuss that. Separation is not the +alternative either to Home Rule or to the <i>status quo</i>. If +the people of Ireland are not to be trusted with real power +over their own affairs, it would be a hundred times more +just to England, and more merciful to Ireland, to take +away from her that semblance of free government which +torments and paralyzes one country, while it robs the other +of national self-respect and of all the strongest motives and +best opportunities of self-help. The <i>status quo</i> is drawing +very near to its inevitable end. The two courses then +open will be Home Rule on the one hand, and some shy +bungling underhand imitation of a Crown Colony on the +other. We shall have either to listen to the Irish repre<!-- Page 261 --><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261" />sentatives +or to suppress them. Unless we have lost all +nerve and all political faculty we shall, before many months +are over, face these alternatives. Liberals are for the first; +Tories at present incline to the second. It requires very +moderate instinct for the forces at work in modern politics +to foresee the path along which we shall move, in the interests +alike of relief to Great Britain and of a sounder national +life for Ireland. The only real question is not Whether we +are to grant Home Rule, but How.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71" /><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> The following pages, with one or two slight alterations, are +extracted, by the kind permission of Mr. James Knowles, from two +articles which were published in the <i>Nineteenth Century</i> at the beginning +of the present year, in reply to Professor Dicey's statement of the +English case against Home Rule.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72" /><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> The late J.E. Cairnes, after describing the clearances after the +famine, goes on to say, "I own I cannot wonder that a thirst for +revenge should spring from such calamities; that hatred, even undying +hatred, for what they could not but regard as the cause and symbol of +their misfortunes—English rule in Ireland—should possess the sufferers.... +The disaffection now so widely diffused throughout Ireland may +possibly in some degree be fed from historical traditions, and have +its remote origin in the confiscations of the seventeenth century; but +all that gives it energy, all that renders it dangerous, may, I believe, be +traced to exasperation produced by recent transactions, and more +especially to the bitter memories left by that most flagrant abuse of +the rights of property and most scandalous disregard of the claims of +humanity—the wholesale clearances of the period following the +famine."—<i>Political Essays</i>, p. 198.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LESSONS_OF_IRISH_HISTORY_IN" id="LESSONS_OF_IRISH_HISTORY_IN" /><!-- Page 262 --><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262" />LESSONS OF IRISH HISTORY IN +THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</h2> + +<p class="author">BY W.E. GLADSTONE.</p> + + +<p>Ireland for more than seven hundred years has been part +of the British territory, and has been with slight exceptions +held by English arms, or governed in the last resort from +this side the water. Scotland was a foreign country until +1603, and possessed absolute independence until 1707. +Yet, whether it was due to the standing barrier of the sea, +or whatever may have been the cause, much less was known +by Englishmen of Ireland than of Scotland. Witness the +works of Shakespeare, whose mind, unless as to book-knowledge, +was encyclopædic, and yet who, while he seems at +home in Scotland, may be said to tell us nothing of Ireland, +unless it is that—</p> + +<p> +"The uncivil kerns of Ireland are in arms."<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73" /><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a><br /> +</p> + +<p>During more recent times, the knowledge of Scotland on +this side the border, which before was greatly in advance, +has again increased in afar greater degree than the knowledge +of Ireland.</p> + +<p>It is to Mr. Lecky that we owe the first serious effort, +both in his <i>Leaders of Public Opinion</i> and in his <i>History of +England in the Eighteenth Century</i>, to produce a better +<!-- Page 263 --><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263" />state of things. He carefully and completely dovetailed the +affairs of Ireland into English History, and the debt is one +to be gratefully acknowledged. But such remedies, addressing +themselves in the first instance to the lettered mind of +the country, require much time to operate upon the mass, +and upon the organs of superficial and transitory opinion, +before the final stage, when they enter into our settled and +familiar traditions. Meantime, since Ireland threatens to +absorb into herself our Parliamentary life, there is a greatly +enhanced necessity for becoming acquainted with the true +state of the account between the islands that make up the +United Kingdom, and with the likelihoods of the future in +Ireland, so far as they are to be gathered from her past +history.</p> + +<p>That history, until the eighteenth century begins, has a +dismal simplicity about it. Murder, persecution, confiscation +too truly describe its general strain; and policy is on the +whole subordinated to violence as the standing instrument +of government. But after, say, the reign of William III., +the element of representation begins to assert itself. Simplicity +is by degrees exchanged for complexity; the play of +human motives, singularly diversified, now becomes visible +in the currents of a real public life. It has for a very long +time been my habit, when consulted by young political +students, to recommend them carefully to study the characters +and events of the American Independence. Quite apart +from the special and temporary reasons bearing upon the +case, I would now add a twin recommendation to examine +and ponder the lessons of Irish history during the eighteenth +century. The task may not be easy, but the reward will +be ample.</p> + +<p>The mainspring of public life had, from a venerable +antiquity, lain <i>de jure</i> within Ireland herself. The heaviest +fetter upon this life was the Law of Poynings; the most +ingenious device upon record for hamstringing legislative +<!-- Page 264 --><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264" />independence, because it cut off the means of resumption +inherent in the nature of Parliaments such as were those of +the three countries. But the Law of Poynings was an Irish +Law. Its operation effectually aided on the civil side those +ruder causes, under the action of which Ireland had lain +for four centuries usually passive, and bleeding at every pore. +The main factors of her destiny worked, in practice, from +this side the water. But from the reign of Anne, or perhaps +from the Revolution onwards,</p> + +<p> +"Novus sæcorum nascitur ordo."<br /> +</p> + +<p>Of the three great nostrums so liberally applied by +England, extirpation and persecution had entirely failed, +but confiscation had done its work. The great Protestant +landlordism of Ireland<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74" /><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> had been strongly and effectually +built up. But, like other human contrivances, while it held +Ireland fast, it had also undesigned results. The repressed +principle of national life, the struggles of which had theretofore +been extinguished in blood, slowly sprang up anew in +a form which, though extremely narrow, and extravagantly +imperfect, was armed with constitutional guarantees; and, +the regimen of violence once displaced, these guarantees +were sure to operate. What had been transacted in England +under Plantagenets and Stuarts was, to a large extent, +transacted anew by the Parliament of Ireland in the +eighteenth century. That Parliament, indeed, deserves +almost every imaginable epithet of censure. It was corrupt, +servile, selfish, cruel. But when we have said all this, and +said it truly, there is more to tell. It was alive, and it was +national. Even absenteeism, that obstinately clinging curse, +though it enfeebled and distracted, could not, and did not, +annihilate nationality. The Irish Legislation was, moreover, +compressed and thwarted by a foreign executive; but even +<!-- Page 265 --><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265" />to this tremendous agent the vital principle was too strong +eventually to succumb.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lecky well observes that the Irish case supplied +"one of the most striking examples upon record"<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75" /><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> of an +unconquerable efficacy in even the most defective Parliament. +I am, however, doubtful whether in this proposition +we have before us the whole case. This efficacy is not +invariably found even in tolerably constructed Parliaments. +Why do we find it in a Parliament of which the constitution +and the environment were alike intolerable? My answer +is, because that Parliament found itself faced by a British +influence which was entirely anti-national, and was thus +constrained to seek for strength in the principle of nationality.</p> + +<p>Selfishness is a rooted principle of action in nations not +less than in single persons. It seems to draw a certain +perfume from the virtue of patriotism, which lies upon its +borders. It stalks abroad with a semblance of decency, +nay, even of excellence. And under this cover a paramount +community readily embraces the notion, that a dependent +community may be made to exist not for its own sake, but +for the sake of an extraneous society of men. With this +idea, the European nations, utterly benighted in comparison +with the ancient Greeks, founded their transmarine dependencies. +But a vast maritime distance, perhaps aided by +some filtration of sound ideas, prevented the application of +this theory in its nakedness and rigour to the American +Colonies of England. In Ireland we had not even the title +of founders to allege. Nay, we were, in point of indigenous +civilization, the junior people. But the maritime severance, +sufficient to prevent accurate and familiar knowledge, was +not enough to bar the effective exercise of overmastering +power. And power was exercised, at first from without, to +<!-- Page 266 --><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266" />support the Pale, to enlarge it, to make it include Ireland. +When this had been done, power began, in the seventeenth +century, to be exercised from within Ireland, within the +precinct of its government and its institutions. These were +carefully corrupted, from the multiplication of the Boroughs +by James I. onwards, for the purpose. The struggle became +civil, instead of martial; and it was mainly waged by agencies +on the spot, not from beyond the Channel. When the +rule of England passed over from the old violence into legal +forms and doctrines, the Irish reaction against it followed +the example. And the legal idea of Irish nationality took +its rise in very humble surroundings; if the expression +may be allowed, it was born in the slums of politics. +Ireland reached the nadir of political depression when, at +and after the Boyne, she had been conquered not merely +by an English force, but by continental mercenaries. The +ascendant Protestantism of the island had never stood so +low in the aspect it presented to this country; inasmuch +as the Irish Parliament, for the first time, I believe, declared +itself dependent upon England,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76" /><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> and either did not +desire, or did not dare, to support its champion Molyneux, +when his work asserting Irish independence was burned in +London. It petitioned for representation in the English +Parliament, not in order to uplift the Irish people, but in +order to keep them down. In its sympathies and in its +aims the overwhelming mass of the population had no +share. It was Swift who, by the <i>Drapier's Letters</i>, for the +first time called into existence a public opinion flowing +from and representing Ireland as a whole. He reasserted +the doctrine of Molyneux, and denounced Wood's halfpence +not only as a foul robbery, but as a constitutional and as a +national insult. The patience of the Irish Protestants was +tried very hard, and they were forced, as Sir Charles Duffy +states in his vivid book, to purchase the power of oppress<!-- Page 267 --><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267" />ing +their Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen at a great +price.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77" /><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Their pension list was made to provide the grants +too degrading to be tolerated in England. The Presbyterians +had to sit down under the Episcopal monopoly; +but the enjoyment of that monopoly was not left to the +Irish Episcopalians. In the time of Henry VIII. it had been +necessary to import an English Archbishop Browne<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78" /><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> and +an English Bishop Bale, or there might not have been +a single Protestant in Ireland. It was well to enrich the +rolls of the Church of Ireland with the piety and learning +of Ussher, and to give her in Bedell one name, at least, +which carries the double crown of the hero and the saint. +But, after the Restoration, by degrees the practice degenerated, +and Englishmen were appointed in numbers to the +Irish Episcopate in order to fortify and develop by numerical +force what came to be familiarly known as the English +interest. So that the Primate Boulter, during his government +of Ireland, complains<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79" /><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> that Englishmen are still less +than one-half the whole body of Bishops, although the +most important sees were to a large extent in their hands. +The same practice was followed in the higher judicial +offices. Fitzgibbon was the first Irishman who became +Lord Chancellor.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80" /><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> The Viceroy, commonly absent, was +represented by Lords Justices, who again were commonly +English; and Primate Boulter, a most acute and able man, +jealous of an Irish Speaker in that character, recommends +that the commander of the forces should take his place.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81" /><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> +When, later on, the Viceroy resided, it was a rule that the +Chief Secretary should be an Englishman. On the occasion +when Lord Castlereagh was by way of exception admitted +<!-- Page 268 --><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268" />to that office, an apology was found for it in his entire +devotion to English policy and purposes. "His appointment," +says Lord Cornwallis, "gives me great satisfaction, +as he is so very unlike an Irishman!"<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82" /><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Resources were +also found in the military profession, and among the voters +for the Union we find the names of eight<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83" /><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> English generals.</p> + +<p>The arrangements under Poynings's Law, and the commercial +proscription, drove the iron ever deeper and deeper +into the souls of Irishmen. It is but small merit in the +Irish Parliament of George I. and George II., if under +these circumstances a temper was gradually formed in, and +transmitted by, them, which might one day achieve the +honours of patriotism. It was in dread of this most healthful +process, that the English Government set sedulously to +work for its repression. The odious policy was maintained +by a variety of agencies; by the misuse of Irish revenue, a +large portion of which was unhappily under their control; +by maintaining the duration of the Irish House of Commons +for the life of the Sovereign; and, worst of all, by extending +the range of corruption within the walls, through the +constant multiplication of paid offices tenable by members +of Parliament without even the check of re-election on +acceptance.</p> + +<p>Thus by degrees those who sat in the Irish Houses +came to feel both that they had a country, and that their +country had claims upon them. The growth of a commercial +interest in the Roman Catholic body must have +accelerated the growth of this idea, as that interest naturally +fell into line with the resistance to the English prescriptive +laws. But the rate of progress was fearfully slow. It was +hemmed in on every side by the obstinate unyielding +pressure of selfish interests: the interest of the Established +Church against the Presbyterians; the interest of the +<!-- Page 269 --><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269" />Protestant laity, or tithe-payers, against the clergy; the +bold unscrupulous interest of a landlords' Parliament against +the occupier of the soil; which, together with the grievance +of the system of tithe-proctors, established in Ireland +through the Whiteboys the fatal alliance between resistance +to wrong and resistance to law, and supplied there the yet +more disastrous facility of sustaining and enforcing wrong +under the name of giving support to public tranquillity. Yet, +forcing on its way amidst all these difficulties by a natural +law, in a strange haphazard and disjointed method, and +by a zigzag movement, there came into existence, and by +degrees into steady operation, a sentiment native to Ireland +and having Ireland for its vital basis, and yet not deserving +the name of Irish patriotism, because its care was not for +a nation, but for a sect. For a sect, in a stricter sense than +may at first sight be supposed. The battle was not between +Popery and a generalized Protestantism, though, even if it +had been so, it would have been between a small minority +and the vast majority of the Irish people. It was not a +party of ascendency, but a party of monopoly, that ruled. +It must always be borne in mind that the Roman Catholic +aristocracy had been emasculated, and reduced to the +lowest point of numerical and moral force by the odious +action of the penal laws, and that the mass of the Roman +Catholic population, clerical and lay, remained under the +grinding force of many-sided oppression, and until long +after the accession of George III. had scarcely a consciousness +of political existence. As long as the great +bulk of the nation could be equated to zero, the Episcopal +monopolists had no motive for cultivating the good-will of +the Presbyterians, who like the Roman Catholics maintained +their religion, with the trivial exception of the +<i>Regium Donum</i>, by their own resources, and who differed +from them in being not persecuted, but only disabled. And +this monopoly, which drew from the sacred name of religion +<!-- Page 270 --><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270" />its title to exist, offered through centuries an example of +religious sterility to which a parallel can hardly be found +among the communions of the Christian world. The +sentiment, then, which animated the earlier efforts of the +Parliament might be <i>Iricism</i>, but did not become patriotism +until it had outgrown, and had learned to forswear or to +forget, the conditions of its infancy. Neither did it for a +long time acquire the courage of its opinions; for, when +Lucas, in the middle of the century, reasserted the doctrine +of Molyneux and of Swift, the Grand Jury of Dublin took +part against him, and burned his book.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84" /><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> And the Parliament,<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85" /><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> +prompted by the Government, drove him into exile. +And yet the smoke showed that there was fire. The infant, +that confronted the British Government in the Parliament +House, had something of the young Hercules about him. +In the first exercises of strength he acquired more strength, +and in acquiring more strength he burst the bonds that had +confined him.</p> + +<p> +"Es machte mir zu eng, ich mussie fort."<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86" /><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a><br /> +</p> + +<p>The reign of George IV. began with resolute efforts of +the Parliament not to lengthen, as in England under his +grandfather, but to shorten its own commission, and to +become septennial. Surely this was a noble effort. It +meant the greatness of their country, and it meant also +personal self-sacrifice. The Parliament which then existed, +elected under a youth of twenty-two, had every likelihood of +giving to the bulk of its members a seat for life. This they +asked to change for a <i>maximum</i> term of seven years. This +from session to session, in spite of rejection after rejection in +England, they resolutely fought to obtain. It was an English +amendment which, on a doubtful pretext; changed seven +years to eight. Without question some acted under the +pressure of constituents; but only a minority of the members +<!-- Page 271 --><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271" />had constituents, and popular exigencies from such a quarter +might have been bought off by an occasional vote, and +could not have induced a war with the Executive and with +England so steadily continued, unless a higher principle had +been at work.</p> + +<p>The triumph came at last; and from 1768 onwards the +Commons never wholly relapsed into their former quiescence. +True, this was for a Protestant House, constituency, and +nation; but ere long they began to enlarge their definition +of nationality. Flood and Lucas, the commanders in the +real battle, did not dream of giving the Roman Catholics +a political existence, but to their own constituents they +performed an honourable service and gave a great boon. +Those, who had insincerely supported the measure, became +the dupes of their own insincerity. In the very year of this +victory, a Bill for a slight relaxation of the penal laws was +passed, but met its death in England.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87" /><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Other Bills followed, +and one of them became an Act in 1771. A beginning had +thus been made on behalf of religious liberty, as a corollary +to political emancipation. It was like a little ray of light +piercing its way through the rocks into a cavern and supplying +the prisoner at once with guidance and with hope. +Resolute action, in withholding or shortening supply, convinced +the Executive in Dublin, and the Ministry in London, +that serious business was intended. And it appeared, +even in this early stage, how necessary it was for a fruitful +campaign on their own behalf to enlarge their basis, and +enlist the sympathies of hitherto excluded fellow-subjects.</p> + +<p>It may seem strange that the first beginnings of successful +endeavour should have been made on behalf not of +the "common Protestantism," but of Roman Catholics. +But, as Mr. Lecky has shown, the Presbyterians had been +greatly depressed and distracted, while the Roman Catholics +had now a strong position in the commerce of the country, +<!-- Page 272 --><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272" />and in Dublin knocked, as it were, at the very doors of the +Parliament. There may also have been an apprehension of +republican sentiments among the Protestants of the north, +from which the Roman Catholics were known to be free. +Not many years, however, passed before the softening and +harmonizing effects, which naturally flow from a struggle for +liberty, warmed the sentiment of the House in favour of the +Presbyterians.</p> + +<p>A Bill was passed by the Irish Parliament in 1778, +which greatly mitigated the stringency of the penal laws. +Moreover, in its preamble was recited, as a ground for this +legislation, that for "a long series of years" the Roman +Catholics had exhibited an "uniform peaceable behaviour." +In doing and saying so much, the Irish Parliament virtually +bound itself to do more.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88" /><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> In this Bill was contained a clause +which repealed the Sacramental Test, and thereby liberated +the Presbyterians from disqualification. But the Bill had +to pass the ordeal of a review in England, and there the +clause was struck out. The Bill itself, though mutilated, +was wisely passed by a majority of 127 to 89. Even in +this form it excited the enthusiastic admiration of Burke.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89" /><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> +Nor were the Presbyterians forgotten at the epoch when, +in 1779-80, England, under the pressure of her growing +difficulties, made large commercial concessions to Ireland. +The Dublin Parliament renewed the Bill for the removal of +the Sacramental Test. And it was carried by the Irish +Parliament in the very year which witnessed in London the +disgraceful riots of Lord George Gordon, and forty-eight +years before the Imperial Parliament conceded, on this side +the Channel, any similar relief. Other contemporary signs +bore witness to the growth of toleration; for the Volunteers, +founded in 1778, and originally a Protestant body, +after a time received Roman Catholics into their ranks. +<!-- Page 273 --><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273" />These impartial proceedings are all the more honourable +to Irish sentiment in general, because Lord Charlemont, its +champion out of doors, and Flood, long the leader of the +Independent party in the Parliament, were neither of them +prepared to surrender the system of Protestant ascendency.</p> + +<p>In order to measure the space which had at this period +been covered by the forward movement of liberality and +patriotism, it is necessary to look back to the early years of +the Georgian period, when Whiggism had acquired a decisive +ascendency, and the spirits of the great deep were let +loose against Popery. But the temper of proscription in the +two countries exhibited specific differences. Extravagant +in both, it became in Ireland vulgar and indecent. In +England, it was Tilburina,<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90" /><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> gone mad in white satin; in +Ireland it was Tilburina's maid, gone mad in white linen. +The Lords Justices of Ireland, in 1715, recommended the +Parliament to put an end to all other distinctions in Ireland +"but that of Protestant and Papist."<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91" /><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> And the years that +followed seem to mark the lowest point of constitutional +depression for the Roman Catholic population in particular, +as well as for Ireland at large. The Commons, in +1715, prayed for measures to discover any Papist enlisting +in the King's service, in order that he might be expelled +"and punished with the utmost severity of the law."<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92" /><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> +When an oath of abjuration had been imposed which prevented +nearly all priests from registering, a Bill was passed +by the Commons in 1719 for branding the letter P on +the cheek of all priests, who were unregistered, with a red-hot +iron. The Privy Council "disliked" this punishment, +and substituted for it the loathsome measure by which safe +guardians are secured for Eastern harems. The English +Government could not stomach this beastly proposal; and, +says Mr. Lecky,<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93" /><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> unanimously restored the punishment of +<!-- Page 274 --><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274" />branding. The Bill was finally lost in Ireland, but only +owing to a clause concerning leases. It had gone to +England winged with a prayer from the Commons that it +might be recommended "in the most effectual manner to +his Majesty," and by the assurance of the Viceroy in reply +that they might depend on his due regard to what was +desired.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94" /><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> In the same year passed the Act which declared +the title of the British Parliament to make laws for the +government of Ireland. On the accession of George II., a +considerable body of Roman Catholics offered an address +of congratulation. It was received by the Lords Justices +with silent contempt, and no one knows whether it ever +reached its destination. Finally, the acute state-craft of +Primate Boulter resisted habitually the creation of an "Irish +interest," and above all any capacity of the Roman Catholics +to contribute to its formation; and in the first year of +George II. a clause was introduced in committee into a +harmless Bill<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95" /><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> for the regulation of elections, which disfranchised +at a single stroke all the Roman Catholic voters in +Ireland who up to that period had always enjoyed the +franchise.</p> + +<p>It is painful to record the fact that the remarkable progress +gradually achieved was in no way due to British +influence. For nearly forty years from the arrival of Archbishop +Boulter in Ireland, the government of Ireland was in +the hands of the Primates. The harshness of administration +was gradually tempered, especially in the brief viceroyalty +of Lord Chesterfield; but the British policy was steadily +opposed to the enlargement of Parliamentary privilege, or +the creation of any Irish interest, however narrow its basis, +while the political extinction of the mass of the people was +complete. The pecuniary wants, however, of the Government, +extending beyond the hereditary revenue, required +a resort to the national purse. The demands which were +<!-- Page 275 --><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275" />accordingly made, and these alone, supplied the Parliament +with a vantage-ground, and a principle of life. The action +of this principle brought with it civilizing and humanizing +influences, which had become clearly visible in the early +years of George III., and which were cherished by the +war of American Independence, as by a strong current of +fresh air in a close and murky dungeon.</p> + +<p>The force of principles, and the significance of political +achievements, is to be estimated in no small degree by +the slenderness of the means available to those who promote +them. And the progress brought about in the Irish Parliament +is among the most remarkable on record, because +it was effected against the joint resistance of a hostile +Executive and of an intolerable constitution. Of the three +hundred members, about two-thirds were nominated by +individual patrons and by close corporations. What was +still worse, the action of the Executive was increasingly +directed, as the pulse of the national life came to beat more +vigorously, to the systematic corruption of the Parliament +borough pensions and paid offices. In the latter part of +the century, more than one-third of the members of Parliament +were dismissible at pleasure from public emoluments. +If the base influence of the Executive allied itself with the +patriotic party, everything might be hoped. For we must +bear in mind not only the direct influence of this expenditure +on those who were in possession, but the enormous +power of expectancy on those who were not. Conversely, +when the Government were determined to do wrong, there +were no means commonly available of forcing it to do right, +in any matter that touched either religious bigotry or selfish +interest. With so miserable an apparatus, and in the face +of the ever-wakeful Executive sustained by British power, +it is rather wonderful how much than how little was effected. +I am not aware of a single case in which a measure on +behalf of freedom was proposed by British agency, and +<!-- Page 276 --><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276" />rejected by the Irish Parliament. On the other hand, we +have a long list of the achievements of that Parliament +due to a courage and perseverance which faced and overcame +a persistent English opposition. Among other exploits, +it established periodical elections, obtained the writ +of Habeas Corpus, carried the independence of the judges, +repealed the Test Act, limited the abominable expenditure +on pensions, subjected the acceptance of office from the +crown to the condition of re-election, and achieved, doubtless +with the powerful aid of the volunteers, freedom of +trade with England, and the repeal of Poynings's Act, and +of the British Act of 1719.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96" /><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p>All this it did without the manifestation, either within +the walls or among the Roman Catholic population, of any +disposition to weaken the ties which bound Ireland to the +empire. All this it did; and what had the British Parliament +been about during the same period, with its vastly +greater means both of self-defence and of action? It had +been building up the atrocious criminal code, tampering in +the case of Wilkes with liberty of election, and tampering with +many other liberties; driving, too, the American Colonies +into rebellion, while, as to good legislation, the century +is almost absolutely blank, until between 1782 and 1793 +we have the establishment of Irish freedom, the economical +reform of Mr. Burke, the financial reforms of Mr. Pitt, the +new libel law of Mr. Fox, and the legislative constitution +of Canada, in which both these great statesmen concurred.</p> + +<p>But we have not yet reached the climax of Irish advancement. +When, in 1782 and 1783, the legislative relations +of the two countries were fundamentally rectified by the +formal acknowledgment of Irish nationality, the beginning of +a great work was accomplished; but its final consummation, +though rendered practicable and even easy, depended wholly +on the continuing good intention of the British Cabinet. +<!-- Page 277 --><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277" />The Acts of 1782 and 1783 required a supplemental arrangement, +to obviate those secondary difficulties in the working +of the two Legislatures, which supplied Mr. Pitt with his +main parliamentary plea for the Union. What was yet +more important was the completion of the scheme in +Ireland itself. And this under three great heads: (1) The +purification of Parliament by a large measure of reform; +(2) the abolition of all Roman Catholic disabilities; (3) +the establishment of a proper relation between the Legislative +and the Executive powers. It is often urged, with +cynical disregard to justice and reason, that with the +Grattan Parliament we had corruption, coercion, discontent, +and finally rebellion. But the political mischiefs, which +disfigure the brief life of the Grattan Parliament, and the +failure to obtain the two first of the three great purposes +I have named, were all in the main due to the third grand +flaw in the Irish case after 1782. I mean the false position, +and usually mischievous character, of the Irish Executive, +which, with its army of placemen and expectants in Parliament, +was commonly absolute master of the situation. Well +does Mr. Swift MacNeill,<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97" /><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> in his very useful work, quote the +words of Mr. Fox in 1797: "The advantages, which the form +of a free Government seemed to promise, have been counteracted +by the influence of the Executive Government, and +of the British Cabinet."</p> + +<p>There were five Viceroys between 1782 and 1790. +Then came a sixth, Lord Westmoreland, the worst of them +all, whose political judgment was on a par with his knowledge +of the English language.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98" /><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> The great settlement of +1782-3 was in the main worked by men who were radically +adverse to its spirit and intention. But they were omnipotent +in their control of the unreformed. Parliament of Ireland, +more and more drenched, under their unceasing and pesti<!-- Page 278 --><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278" />lent +activity, with fresh doses of corruption. Westmoreland +and his myrmidons actually persuaded Pitt, in 1792, that +Irish Protestantism and its Parliament were unconquerably +adverse to the admission of Roman Catholics to the franchise; +but when the proposal was made from the Throne in +1793, notwithstanding the latent hostility of the Castle, the +Parliament passed the Bill with little delay, and "without +any serious opposition."<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99" /><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> The votes against it were one +and three on two divisions<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100" /><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> respectively. A minority of +sixty-nine supported, against the Government, a clause for +extending the measure to seats in Parliament. That clause, +lost by a majority of ninety-four, might apparently have been +carried, but for "Dublin Castle," by an even larger majority.</p> + +<p>I shall not here examine the interesting question, whether +the mission of Lord Fitzwilliam was wholly due to the +action of those Whig statesmen who were friendly to the +war, but disinclined to a junction with Mr. Pitt except +on condition of a fundamental change in the administration +of Ireland. Nor shall I dwell upon his sudden, swift, and +disastrous recall. But I purpose here to invite attention to +the most remarkable fact in the whole history of the Irish +Parliament. When the Viceroy's doom was known, when +the return to the policy and party of ascendency lay darkly +lowering in the immediate future, this diminutive and +tainted Irish Parliament, with a chivalry rare even in the +noblest histories, made what can hardly be called less than +a bold attempt to arrest the policy of retrogression adopted +by the Government in London. Lord Fitzwilliam was the +declared friend of Roman Catholic Emancipation, which +was certain to be followed by reform; and he had struck +a death-blow at bigotry and monopoly in the person of +their heads, Mr. Beresford and Mr. Cooke. The Bill of +Emancipation was introduced on the 12th of February,<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101" /><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> +with only three dissentient voices. On the 14th, when the +<!-- Page 279 --><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279" />London Cabinet had declared dissent from the proceedings +of their Viceroy without recalling him, Sir L. Parsons at +once moved an address, imploring him to continue among +them, and only postponed it at the friendly request of Mr. +Ponsonby.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102" /><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> On the 2nd of March, when the recall was a +fact, the House voted that Lord Fitzwilliam merited "the +thanks of that House, and the confidence of the people."<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103" /><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> +On the 5th the Duke of Leinster moved, and the House of +Peers carried, a similar resolution.<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104" /><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> + +<p>At this epoch I pause. Here there opens a new and +disastrous drama of disgrace to England and misery to +Ireland. This is the point at which we may best learn the +second and the greatest lesson taught by the history of +Ireland in the eighteenth century. It is this, that, awful +as is the force of bigotry, hidden under the mask of religion, +but fighting for plunder and for power with all the advantages +of possession, of prescription, and of extraneous +support, there is a David that can kill this Goliath. That +conquering force lies in the principle of nationality.</p> + +<p>It was the growing sense of nationality that prompted +the Irish Parliament to develop its earlier struggles for +privilege on the narrow ground into a genuine contest for +freedom, civil and religious, on a ground as broad as +Ireland, nay, as humanity at large. If there be such things +as contradictions in the world of politics, they are to be found +in nationality on the one side, and bigotry of all kinds on +the other, but especially religious bigotry, which is of all the +most baneful. Whatever is given to the first of these two +is lost to the second. I speak of a reasonable and reasoning, +not of a blind and headstrong nationality; of a nationality +which has regard to circumstances and to traditions, and +which only requires that all relations, of incorporation or +of independence, shall be adjusted to them according to +the laws of Nature's own enactment. Such a nationality +<!-- Page 280 --><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280" />was the growth of the last century in Ireland. As each +Irishman began to feel that he had a country, to which +he belonged, and which belonged to him, he was, by a +true process of nature, drawn more and more into brotherhood, +and into the sense of brotherhood, with those who +shared the allegiance and the property, the obligation +and the heritage. And this idea of country, once well conceived, +presents itself as a very large idea, and as a framework +for most other ideas, so as to supply the basis of a +common life. Hence it was that, on the coming of Lord +Fitzwilliam, the whole generous emotion of the country leapt +up with one consent, and went forth to meet him. Hence +it was that religious bigotry was no longer an appreciable +factor in the public life of Ireland. Hence it was that +on his recall, and in order to induce acquiescence in his +recall, it became necessary to divide again the host that +had, welcomed him—to put one part of it in array as +Orangemen, who were to be pampered and inflamed; and +to quicken the self-consciousness of another and larger mass +by repulsion and proscription, by stripping Roman Catholics +of arms in the face of licence and of cruelty, and, finally, by +clothing the extreme of lawlessness with the forms of law.</p> + +<p>Within the last twelve months we have seen, in the streets +of Belfast, the painful proof that the work of Beresford and +of Castlereagh has been found capable for the moment of +revival. To aggravate or sustain Irish disunion, religious +bigotry has been again evoked in Ireland. If the curse be +an old one, there is also an old cure, recorded in the grand +pharmacopoeia of history; and if the abstract force of policy +and prudence are insufficient for the work, we may yet find +that the evil spirit will be effectually laid by the gentle +influence of a living and working Irish nationality. <i>Quod +faxit Deus.</i></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73" /><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>2 Henry VI.</i>, act iii. sc. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74" /><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Lecky's <i>History of England in the Eighteenth Century</i>, chap, vii. +vol. ii, p. 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75" /><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Lecky's <i>History of England in the Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. ii. +p. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76" /><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Duffy's <i>Bird's-Eye View</i>, p. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77" /><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Duffy's <i>Bird's-Eye View</i>, p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78" /><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> See Ball's <i>History of the Church of Ireland</i>, a valuable work, +deserving of more attention than it seems to have received.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79" /><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Boulter's <i>Letters</i>, i. 138, <i>et alibi</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80" /><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Lecky's <i>History of England in the Eighteenth Century</i>, ii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81" /><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Boulter's <i>Letters</i>, vol. ii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82" /><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Cornwallis's <i>Correspondence</i>, ii. 441.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83" /><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Grattan's <i>Life and Times</i>, v. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84" /><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Lecky, ii. 430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85" /><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Duffy, p. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86" /><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Schiller's <i>Wallenstein</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87" /><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Lecky, iv. 489.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88" /><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Lecky, iv. 477-479; Brown, <i>Laws against Catholics</i>, pp. 329-332.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89" /><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Lecky, pp. 499-501.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90" /><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Sheridan's <i>Critic</i>, act iii. sc. I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91" /><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Plowden's <i>History</i> (1809), ii. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92" /><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Brown, <i>Laws against Catholics</i>, p. 289.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93" /><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Lecky, i. 297.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94" /><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Plowden, i. 297.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95" /><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> 1 Geo. II. c. ix. sect 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96" /><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> See Lecky, vi. 521.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97" /><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> <i>The Irish Parliament</i>, p. 64. Cassell: 1885.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98" /><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> See Lecky, vi. 492, 493.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99" /><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Lecky, vi. 567.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100" /><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Plowden's <i>Historical Review</i>, ii. 335.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101" /><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Ibid., ii. 353.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102" /><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Plowden's <i>Historical Review</i>, ii. 498.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103" /><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Ibid., ii. 357.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104" /><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Ibid., ii. 505.</p></div> + + + + + +</div> + +<p style="text-align:center;">PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Handbook of Home Rule (1887) +by W. 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