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diff --git a/15572-8.txt b/15572-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b4e466 --- /dev/null +++ b/15572-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7484 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Leap in the Dark, by A.V. Dicey + +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: A Leap in the Dark + A Criticism of the Principles of Home Rule as Illustrated by the + Bill of 1893 + + +Author: A.V. Dicey + +Release Date: April 6, 2005 [EBook #15572] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LEAP IN THE DARK *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Charlene Taylor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + +FIRST EDITION _June_ 1893 +_Reprinted_ _June_ 1893 +SECOND EDITION _July_ 1911 +THIRD EDITION _January_ 1912 + + + + +A LEAP IN THE DARK + + +A CRITICISM OF THE PRINCIPLES OF +HOME RULE AS ILLUSTRATED BY +THE BILL OF 1893 + + + +By A.V. DICEY +K.C., HON. D.C.L. + +FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE; FORMERLY VINERIAN PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH +LAW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; AUTHOR OF 'ENGLAND'S CASE AGAINST +HOME RULE,' 'THE VERDICT,' 'AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE LAW +OF THE CONSTITUTION' + + +LONDON +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. +1912 + +TO IRISH UNIONISTS WHOSE NOBLE AND STRENUOUS DEFENCE OF THEIR OWN +RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES AS CITIZENS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND WILL I +TRUST PRESERVE THE POLITICAL UNITY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM + + + + +PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION + + +This book is not a disquisition on the details of the Home Rule Bill. It +is an examination into the leading principles of the Bill with a view to +establishing two conclusions. The first is, that the Home Rule Bill, +though nominally a measure for the government of Ireland, contains in +reality a New Constitution for the whole United Kingdom. The second is, +that this New Constitution must work injury both to England and to +Ireland, and instead of 'closing a controversy of seven hundred years, +opens a constitutional revolution. The whole aim, in short, of the book +is by the collection together of arguments which separately have been +constantly used by Unionist statesmen, to warn the people of England +against a leap in the dark. + +A.V. DICEY. + +OXFORD: _May_ 1893. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I +OLD AND NEW CONSTITUTION + +Home Rule Bill a New Constitution for United Kingdom, p. 1.--The present +constitution, p. 2: 1. Effective authority of Parliament throughout +United Kingdom, p. 2: Distinction between supremacy of Parliament in +United Kingdom and supremacy of Parliament in Colonies, p. 4: 2. Absence +of federalism, p. 6: The New Constitution, p. 8: 1. Abolition in Ireland +of effective authority of Imperial Parliament, ib.: 2. Introduction of +federalism, p. 13.--Features of federalism, p. 15: Restrictions on Irish +(State) Parliament, ib.: Imperial (federal) Parliament, ib.: Means for +enforcement of federal compact, ib.: Recognition of federal spirit, p. +17.--Importance of change in constitution, p. 19.--The New Constitution +an unknown constitution, p. 19. + + +CHAPTER II +THE NEW CONSTITUTION + +The four essential characteristics of the New Constitution, p. +21.--Supremacy of Parliament maintained, p. 22.--What is meaning of +supremacy of Imperial Parliament? p. 23: What it does not mean, ib.: +What it does mean, p. 24.--Real effect of reserved supremacy, p. +28.--Peril arising from ambiguity of supremacy of Parliament, p. +30.--Retention of Irish members at Westminster, p. 32.--Change of +Gladstonian opinion, p. 33.--Presence of the Irish members involves ruin +to Ireland, pp. 33, 34.--Mr. John Morley's opinion, p. 39.--Weakness of +England, p, 41. Mr. Morley's opinion, p. 41.--Manner in which England +weakened, p. 43: 1. Irish vote determines composition of British +Cabinet, ib.: 2. System of Cabinet Government destroyed, p. 45: 3. Irish +members changed into an Irish delegation, p. 46: 4. British Parliament +not freed from Irish questions, p. 47.--Inducements to accept plan, p. +48.--Maintenance of Imperial supremacy, p. 49.--English management of +English affairs, ib.--England does not really obtain management of +English affairs, ib.--Minority tempted to unfairness, p. 51.--Minority, +without intentional unfairness, may be oppressive, p. 52.--Plan of +retaining Irish members for all purposes, p. 53.--Comparison with power +hitherto held by or offered to Great Britain, p. 55.--Authority of +England before 1782, p. 55.--Authority of England under Grattan's +Constitution, p. 56.--Authority of England since the Union, p. +57.--Authority offered to England under Bill of 1886, p. 58.--Why should +England accept in 1893 a worse bargain than was offered her in 1886? p. +59: Two alleged reasons, p. 60: First reason, Retention of Irish members +concession to Unionists, p. 60: Futility of plea, ib.: Second reason, +England will not suffer any greater evil than she does at present, p. +63: Answer. Fallacy of statement, ib.--Explanation of Gladstonian +policy, p. 65.--Powers of Irish Government, p. 66: I. Irish Executive, +ib.: Importance of Executive, p. 68: Powers of Irish Executive, p. 68: +Position of military forces, p. 74: II. The Irish Parliament, p. 73: Its +power to appoint the Irish Government, ib.: Its legislative power, p. +76.--Legislation in opposition to English policy, p 78.--Power to pass +resolutions, p. 79.--The Restrictions, etc, p. 80: I. Their nature, ib.: +1. No restriction on power of Executive, p. 83: 2. No prohibition of +Acts of Indemnity, ib.: 3. No prohibition of _ex post facto_ law, p. 84: +4. No safeguard against violation of contract, p. 85: II. Enforcement of +Restrictions, p. 88.--The Veto, p. 88.--The Privy Council, p. 90.--Power +to nullify Irish Acts, ib.--Power as final Court of Appeal to treat +Irish Acts as void, p. 91.--How arrangement will work, p. +94.--Presumptions on which working of Constitutions depends false, p. +97: 1. Presumption that restrictions do not irritate, p. 98: Its +falsehood, ib.--Financial arrangements certain to cause discontent, p. +100.--The Customs, ib.--Charges in favour of England on Ireland, p. +102.--Irish objection to financial proposals, p. 103.--Presumption that +Ireland cannot nullify Restrictions. Its falsehood, p. 104.--Summary of +criticism, p. 110. + + +CHAPTER III +WHY THE NEW CONSTITUTION WILL NOT BE +A SETTLEMENT OF THE IRISH QUESTION + +New Constitution is intended to be final settlement of Irish Question, +p. 112: But will not settle Irish Question for three reasons, p. 113: I. +New Constitution does not satisfy Ireland or England, ib.: Ireland not +satisfied, ib.: New Constitution detested by influential minority, p. +114: Irish Home Rulers not wholly satisfied, p. 115: New Constitution +will cause discontent of whole Irish people, p. 118: England not +satisfied, p. 119: 2. New Constitution rests on unsound foundation, p. +121: Belfast subjected to Dublin, p. 122: England subjected to Ireland, +p. 123: 3. New Constitution based on ambiguity, p. 125.--The nature of +the ambiguity, ib.--The result of the ambiguity, ib. The New +Constitution cannot last, p. 127.--Irish discontent leading either to +Federation or Separation, p. 128.--English discontent threatens +reaction, p. 130. + + +CHAPTER IV +PLEAS FOR THE NEW CONSTITUTION + +Gladstonian apology, p. 132.--As to general considerations, ib.--General +Gladstonian objections, ib.: I. Strictures are prophecy, p. 133: 2. +Anomalies already exist in English Constitution, p. 135.--As to specific +arguments for Home Rule, p. 138.--Necessity, p. 138.--Argument for +necessity, ib.--Answer: argument invalid, 140.--Premises unsound, p. +141.--Premises do not support conclusion, p. 145.--No necessity for +Home Rule, ib.--True meaning of necessity forgotten, p. 146.--No danger, +p. 148: I. Safeguards, p. 149: Their unreality, ib.: 2. Grattan's +Constitution, ib.: No precedent, p. 150: 3. Success of Home Rule in +other countries, p. 152.--Instances of 'Home Rule' which need not be +considered, ib.--Cases of 'Home Rule' which require consideration, p. +154.--Federal Government, p. 155.--Colonial independence, p. +156.--Neither federal government nor colonial independence compatible +with the authority required in Ireland by Imperial Government, p. +157.--Weakness of law in case of federation, p. 158.--Weakness of law in +case of colonies, pp. 161, 162.--Policy of trust, p. 163.--Trust in +Irish leaders impossible, p. 164.--History of the Irish agitators, p. +164.--Gladstonian guarantee of trustworthiness worthless, p. 167.--Trust +in teaching of power, 169.--Answer. Fallacy exposed by Mr. Bryce, +ib.--Trust in the people and effect of Home Rule, p. 171.--Answer. +Political changes do not ensure content, pp. 171, 172.--Gladstonian +pleas are pleas for policy of Home Rule, but not pleas for new +Constitution, p. 173. + + +CHAPTER V +THE PATH OF SAFETY + +The impending danger, p. 175.--Peril concealed by trust in Mr. +Gladstone, ib.--Peril concealed by peculiar condition of opinion, p. +178.--The path of safety and true policy, p. 180.--Policy of +seriousness, ib.--Seriousness of question at issue, ib.--Danger of civil +war, p. 181.--Policy of simplicity, p. 183.--Strenuous opposition to +Bill, ib.--Cry of obstruction futile, p. 184.--Details not to be made +too prominent, p. 185.--No appearance of concession allowable, p. +186.--Policy of appeal to the nation, p. 187.--House of Lords must +ensure dissolution, ib.--House of Lords may be called upon to enforce +Referendum, p. 188.--Conclusion, p. 191. + + +APPENDIX + PAGES + +GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND BILL 195-223 + ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES 195, 196 + + 1. Establishment of Irish Legislature, p. 197--2. Powers of Irish + Legislature, ib.--3. Exceptions from powers of Irish Legislature, + ib.--4. Restrictions on powers of Irish Legislature, p. 198.--5. + Executive power in Ireland, ib.--6. Composition of Irish + Legislative Council, p. 199.--7. Composition of Irish Legislative + Assembly, ib.--8. Disagreement between two Houses, how settled, p. + 200.--9. Representation in Parliament of Irish counties and + boroughs, ib.--10. As to separate Consolidated Fund and Taxes, p. + 201.--11. Hereditary revenues and income tax, p. 202.--12. + Financial arrangements as between United Kingdom and Ireland, p. + 203.--13. Treasury Account (Ireland), ib.--14. Charges on Irish + Consolidated Fund, p. 204.--15. Irish Church Fund, p. 205.--16. + Local loans, ib.--17. Adaptation of Acts as to Local Taxation + Accounts and Probate, etc., duties, ib.--18. Money bills and votes, + p. 206.--19. Exchequer judges for revenue actions, election + petitions, etc., ib.--20. Transfer of post office and postal + telegraphs, p. 207.--21. Transfer of savings banks, p. 208.--22. + Irish appeals, p. 209.--23. Special provision for decision of + constitutional questions, ib.--24. Office of Lord Lieutenant, p. + 210.--25. Use of Crown lands by Irish Government, ib.--26. Tenure + of future judges, ib.--27. As to existing judges and other persons + having salaries charged on the Consolidated Fund, ib.--28. As to + persons holding civil service appointments, p. 211.--29. As to + existing pensions and superannuation allowances, p. 212.--30. As to + Police, ib.--31. Irish Exchequer Consolidated Fund and Audit, p. + 213.--32. Law applicable to both Houses of Irish Legislature, + ib.--33. Supplemental provisions as to powers of Irish + Legislature, ib.--34. Limitation of borrowing by local authorities, + p. 214.--35. Temporary restriction on powers of Irish Legislature + and Executive, ib.--36. Transitory provisions, ib.--37. Continuance + of existing laws, courts, officers, etc., p. 216.--38. Appointed + day, ib.--39. Definitions, ib.--40. Short title, p. 217. + + +SCHEDULES 218-223 + +1. Legislative Council 218 +2. Irish Members in the House of Commons 220 +3. Finance 222 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Irish Unionists have pressed for a republication of _A Leap in the +Dark_. They hold that it will be of some service in their resistance to +the Coalition of Home Rulers, Socialists, and Separatists formed to +force upon the people of England and of Scotland a virtual dissolution +of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland. It would in any case +have been a pleasure to afford aid, however small, to the Irish +Unionists, whether Protestants or Catholics, engaged in the defence at +once of their own birthright and of the political unity of the United +Kingdom. Yet for a moment I doubted whether the republication of a +forgotten criticism of a forgotten Bill would be of essential service to +my friends. On reflection, however, I have come to see that, though the +Unionists of Ireland probably overrate the practical value of my book, +yet their hope of its serving the cause whereof they are the most +valiant defenders is based on sound reasons. + +_A Leap in the Dark_ is a stringent criticism of the Home Rule Bill, +1893.[1] But the book has little to do with the details and intricacies +of that Bill. _A Leap in the Dark_ was published before the Home Rule +Bill of 1893 had reached the House of Lords, or had assumed that final +form, which made patent to the vast majority of British electors that a +measure which purported to give a limited amount of independence to +Ireland, in reality threatened England with political ruin. My criticism +is therefore in truth an attack upon the fundamental principles of Home +Rule, as advocated by Gladstone and his followers eighteen years ago. +These principles, moreover, have never been repudiated by the Home +Rulers of to-day. Some members of the present Cabinet, notably the Prime +Minister and Lord Morley, were the apologists of the Bill of 1893. In +that year _A Leap in the Dark, or Our New Constitution_, was, I venture +to say, accepted by leading Unionists, such as Lord Salisbury, the Duke +of Devonshire, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Chamberlain, Sir Henry James (now Lord +James of Hereford), as, in the main, an adequate representation of the +objections which, in the judgment of such men and thousands of +Unionists, were fatal to the acceptance of any scheme whatever of Home +Rule for Ireland. The battle over Home Rule lasting, as it did for +years, and ending with the complete victory of the Unionists, has been +forgotten by or has never become known to the mass of the present +electors. It is well that they should be reminded of the solid grounds +for the rejection by the Lords of the Home Rule Bill of 1893. It is well +that they should be reminded that this rejection was in 1895 ratified by +the approval of the electorate of the United Kingdom _A Leap in the +Dark_ will assuredly remind my readers that in 1893 the hereditary House +of Lords, and not the newly elected House of Commons, truly represented +the will of the nation. This is a fact never to be forgotten. It is of +special import at the present moment. Another equally undoubted fact +deserves attention. Home Rulers themselves despair of carrying a Home +Rule Bill until they shall have turned the Parliament Bill into the +Parliament Act, 1911, and my readers ought never to forget that the +passing of the Parliament Bill into law destroys, and is meant to +destroy, every security against the passing of any Home Rule Bill +whatever which the present majority of the House of Commons choose to +support. This gives an ominous significance to the obstinate refusal of +the Government to alter or amend any of the material enactments +contained in this ill-starred measure. _A Leap in the Dark_, combined +with a knowledge of the Parliament Bill and the legislative dictatorship +with which it invests the existing Coalition, suggests at least four +conclusions which must at all costs be forced at this moment upon the +attention of the nation. They may be thus summed up: + + _First_.--If the Parliament Bill passes into law the existing + majority of the House of Commons will be able to force, and will + assuredly in fact force, through Parliament any Home Rule Bill + whatever (even were it the Home Rule Bill of 1893), which meets + with the approval of Mr. Redmond, and obtains the acquiescence of + the rest of the Coalition. + + The Coalition need not fear any veto of the House of Lords. There + will be no necessity for an appeal to the electors, or in other + words to the nation. The truth of this statement is indisputable. + The legal right of the majority of the House of Commons to pass any + bill whatever into law, even though the House of Lords refuse its + assent, is absolutely secured by the very terms of the Parliament + Bill. That the leaders of the Coalition, such as Mr. Asquith, the + Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. John Redmond, will press their + legal right to its extreme limits is proved to any man who knows + how to read the teaching of history, by the experience of 1893. Mr. + Gladstone used every power he possessed, and used it + unscrupulously, to drive a Home Rule Bill through the House of + Commons. He was a man trained in the historical traditions of + Parliament. He assuredly did not relish the use of the closure and + the guillotine. He was supported in the Commons by a very narrow + majority, never I think exceeding forty-eight, and often falling + below that number. The power of the party system, or as Americans + say, the "Machine," was admittedly much less in 1893 than it has + become in 1911. Yet Mr. Gladstone used such power as he possessed + to the utmost. He hurried through the House of Commons a Bill + which had not in fact received the assent of the nation. He made + the freest use of every device for curtailing freedom of debate. A + large and most important portion of the Home Rule Bill was not + discussed at all in the Commons. And this Bill contained + provisions, not appearing in its original form, for the retention + of eighty Irish members at Westminster with full authority to take + part in every kind of legislation which might be laid before + Parliament; though Mr. Gladstone himself held the fairness to + England of this provision dubious[2] and Mr. (now Lord) Morley had + in 1886 demonstrated by reasoning which to my mind is absolutely + conclusive that under a system of Home Rule the presence of Irish + representatives in the Imperial Parliament at Westminster would + work fatal injury to Ireland and gross injustice to England.[3] Can + any man able to draw from political precedents their true meaning + believe that Mr. Asquith, and the allies who are his masters, will + be more scrupulous in forcing the next Home Rule Bill through the + House of Lords than was Mr. Gladstone in forcing the Home Rule Bill + of 1893 through the House of Commons? Mr. Asquith is supported by a + large though incongruous majority. His almost avowed aim in pushing + the Parliament Bill, unchanged and unchangeable, through the Houses + of Parliament is to force the Home Rule Bill on the people of Great + Britain against their will. Hesitation to make use of this + dictatorial authority, should he ever obtain it, will to himself + mean political ruin; to his English supporters it will seem + political pusillanimity; by his Irish confederates it will be + denounced as breach of faith and treachery. As certainly as night + follows day the passing of the Parliament Act will be succeeded by + the attempted passing of a Home Rule Act. + + _Secondly_.--Mr. Redmond and the Home Rulers, or Separatists, of + whom he is the leader, will exact under any Home Rule Bill of say + 1912 or 1913, at lowest, every advantage which was demanded by + Irish Nationalists in 1893. + + Why, in the name of common sense, when Irish Nationalists are + absolute masters of the situation, should they demand lower payment + for their support than was offered to them twenty years ago when + the Home Rule majority was every day losing strength, when every + one knew that nothing but the show of moderation gave the slightest + chance of a Home Rule Bill escaping the veto of the House of Lords, + when every one, except perhaps Mr. Gladstone, foresaw that the next + General Election would give to Unionists a crushing majority? Every + advantage conceded in 1893 to Irish Separatists at the expense of + England will assuredly reappear in one form or another in the next + Home Rule Bill. Thus Ireland will, we may anticipate, under the + next Home Rule Bill send to the Parliament at Westminster at least + eighty members armed with the fullest legislative authority, so + that, to revive the language current eighteen years ago, Ireland + will govern and tax England whilst England will retain no right + either to govern or to tax Ireland. + + _Thirdly_.--Every question to which in 1893 Gladstonians could + discover no answer satisfactory to Unionists or to the electorate + of Great Britain requires an answer in 1911 as much as in 1893. The + answer favourable to Home Rule has not as yet been discovered. + + Is it possible to combine the effective supremacy of the Imperial + Parliament with Home Rule or the substantial legislative + independence of Ireland? Can Ireland, close to the shore of Great + Britain, occupy the position of a self-governing colony, such as + New Zealand, divided from Great Britain by thousands of miles of + sea? Is it possible to create, or even to imagine, a Court which + shall decide whether a law passed by the Irish Parliament violates + the provisions of the proposed Home Rule Act? Above all, can the + wit of man devise any scheme of constitution which shall at once + satisfy the aspirations of Irish Nationalism and the patently just + demand of Ulster that Protestants shall retain the freedom and the + rights secured to them as citizens of the United Kingdom? Is there + any form of Home Rule which will satisfy the desire of Irish + Nationalists for something approaching national independence + without the urgent peril of rousing civil war between Ulster and + the Parliament at Dublin? All these inquiries, and others like + them, harassed the Parliament of 1893; they were all answered by + Unionists, that is by the majority of the British electors, with a + decided negative; they will all be raised and will all need an + answer when the leaders of the Coalition condescend to produce + their next Home Rule Bill or even to reveal its fundamental + principles. + + _Fourthly_.--England in the circumstances of to-day is threatened + with two perils which did not exist in 1893, and yet are of + stupendous gravity. + + The first is, that in the case of a measure of Home Rule the + opportunities for discussing its provisions which are contained in + the Parliament Bill may turn out nominal rather than real. It is + not at all certain that for such a Bill, even though it be abhorred + by the electorate of the United Kingdom, the House of Lords will be + practically able to secure the delay and elaborate discussion to + which Mr. Asquith professedly attaches immense importance. + Unionists will believe that the measure passed by a large majority + of the House of Commons is detested by the majority of the British + electors. But how will it be possible to carry on the government of + Ireland, to maintain order, or to save a loyal minority from gross + oppression after a Home Rule Bill applauded by Separatists has been + passed through the House of Commons, and for the first time has + been rejected by the House of Lords? Every official in Ireland, + down from the Lord Lieutenant to the last newly appointed member of + the Irish Constabulary, every Irishman loyal or disloyal, will know + that the Bill will within a year or two become law and that Irish + Nationalists will control the Parliament and the government of + Ireland. Will not the House of Lords be urged by every alleged + consideration of good sense and humanity to close without delay a + period of uncertainty which is threatening to turn into a reign of + anarchy or of terror? The question supplies its own answer. The + second peril is one whereof nobody speaks, but which must occur to + any man who has studied the history of the past eighteen years or + reflects upon the condition of public opinion. The peril, to put + the matter plainly, is that Home Rulers will not stop at attaining + Home Rule for Ireland, and that they may, and probably will, + attempt to undermine the political predominance of England. + Everything points in this direction. The agitation for Home Rule + has fostered in Ireland, and to a very limited extent in certain + other parts of the United Kingdom, a feeling approaching to + jealousy of English power. England or Great Britain is the + predominant partner. England is wealthy, England is prosperous. + England, as the language of common life imports, is the leading + member of the United Kingdom. Lord Rosebery announced with wise + foresight that Home Rule in Ireland could hardly be established + with benefit to the United Kingdom until the assent thereto of the + predominant partner had been obtained by force of argument. The + idea was grounded on common sense. Will it not suggest to Irish + Nationalists that their moment of authority must be used for + obtaining far greater privileges for Ireland than the extravagant + political power offered by Gladstonians in 1893? Is it not natural + for Home Rulers to think that the predominant partner ought to be + deprived of his predominance? The conduct of the Coalition and some + of its leaders points in this direction. They will have obtained + through the Parliament Act temporary, but strictly unlimited and + dictatorial, power. They will have obtained it by intrigue; they + have rejected and treated with scorn the idea of an appeal to the + people. They have claimed, not for Parliament but for the existing + House of Commons, an absolute legislative power superior to that of + the nation, a power which I assert with confidence is not possessed + by the elected Assemblies of the United States, or of the French + Republic, or of the Swiss Confederation: And by a strange + combination of circumstances one method for depriving the + predominant partner of legitimate authority may seem to a Home + Ruler to lie near at hand. Raise the cry of 'Home Rule all round,' + or of 'Federalise the British Empire.' Turn England into one State + of a great federation, let Wales be another, Scotland a third, the + Channel Islands a fourth, and for aught I know the Isle of Man a + fifth. Let the self-governing Colonies, and British India, send + deputies to the Imperial or Federal Parliament. You may thus for a + moment, under the pretence of uniting the Empire, not only divide + the United Kingdom, but deprive England or Great Britain, in form + at least, of that political supremacy and predominance which is the + real bond of union and peace not only throughout the United + Kingdom, but also throughout the length and breadth of the British + Empire. I do not tremble for the power--the lawful and legitimate + power--of England. Political devices, however crafty, break down + whenever they are opposed to the nature of things. I know that + unity is increasing throughout the Empire not through the cunning + or the statecraft of politicians, but through the whole course of + events. One part of our Imperial system becomes daily under the + effect of railways, steamers, telegraphs, and the like, nearer and + nearer to every other part. The sentiment of unity which is more + valuable than any law aiming at formal federation each year gains + strength. What I do fear and insist upon is the danger that a + legislative dictatorship conferred on a party, and therefore + necessarily taken away from the nation, should be employed in the + attempt, vain though it ultimately must be, to deprive the + predominant partner of a predominance requisite for the maintenance + both of the United Kingdom and of the British Empire. + +The four reflections at any rate which may be suggested by _A Leap in +the Dark_ are well worth the consideration of the loyal citizens of the +United Kingdom. + +A.V. DICEY. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Its technical title as given in the Bill is the Irish Government +Act, 1893. + +[2] See _Annual Register_, 1893 (New Series), p. 180. + +[3] See especially pp. 39, 40, 41-43 _post._ + + + + +A LEAP IN THE DARK[4] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] My readers are earnestly recommended to study Mr. Cambray's _Irish +Affairs and the Home Rule Question_. It brings the history of the Home +Rule movement well up to date, and strengthens almost every argument +against Home Rule to be found in _A Leap in the Dark._ The notes in +square brackets are new. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +OLD AND NEW CONSTITUTION + + +The Home Rule Bill[5] contains a New Constitution for the whole United +Kingdom.[6] + +The Bill bears on its face that its object is 'to amend the provision +for the Government of Ireland'; it is entitled 'The Irish Government +Act, 1893'; it is in popular language known as the Home Rule Bill. But +all these descriptions are misleading. It is in truth a measure which +affects the government alike of England, of Scotland, and of Ireland. +It changes, to some extent the form, but to a far greater extent the +working, and the spirit of all our institutions. It is a bold attempt to +form a new constitution for the whole United Kingdom; it subverts the +very bases of the existing constitution of England. + +The present constitution of the United Kingdom is marked and has long +been marked by two essential characteristics, the one positive and the +other negative. + +The positive characteristic is the absolute and effective authority of +the Imperial Parliament throughout the length and breadth of the United +Kingdom. + +To this characteristic Englishmen are so accustomed that they hardly +recognise its full importance. A government may make its power felt in +three different ways--by the action of the Executive, including under +that head all the agents of the Executive, such as the judiciary and the +armed forces--by legislation--and by the levying of taxes. Take any of +these tests of authority, and it will be found that the British +Parliament is not only theoretically, but actually and effectively, +supreme throughout the whole of Great Britain and Ireland. The Cabinet +is virtually appointed by the Houses of Parliament; the army, the +judges, the magistracy, all officials who throughout the country +exercise executive power in any form whatever are directly or indirectly +appointed by Parliament, and hold office subject to the will of +Parliament Of the legislative authority of Parliament as regards the +United Kingdom it is scarcely necessary to speak. Any law affecting the +United Kingdom not only lawfully may, but can in fact, be changed by the +Imperial Parliament. Of the unlimited legislative authority ascribed to, +and exercised by, Parliament in the United Kingdom the Home Rule Bill +itself is sufficient evidence; and the Gladstonian Ministry, at any +rate, see no reason why Parliament should not within the course of a few +weeks remodel the fundamental laws of the realm. The right to impose +taxes is historically the source of Parliamentary power, and in all +matters of taxation Parliament has absolute freedom of action from one +end of the United Kingdom to the other; whether the income tax is to be +lowered, raised, or abolished, whether some new duty, such as the cart +and wheel tax, shall be imposed, whether the United Kingdom shall +maintain free trade, or return to protection, how taxes shall be raised +and how they shall be spent--all matters in short connected with revenue +are throughout the United Kingdom determined and determinable in the +last resort by Parliament alone. + +Hence, as things now stand, no kind of governmental action in any part +of Great Britain and Ireland escapes Parliamentary supervision. The +condition of the army, the management of the police, the misconduct of +a judge, the release of a criminal, the omission to arrest a defaulting +bankrupt, the pardon of a convicted dynamiter, the execution of a +murderer, the interference of the police with a public meeting, or the +neglect of the police to check a riot in London, in Skye, or in +Tipperary, any matter, great or small, with which the executive is +directly or indirectly concerned, is, if it takes place in any part of +the United Kingdom, subject to stringent and incessant Parliamentary +supervision, and may, at any moment, give rise to debates on which +depend the fate of ministries and parties. If there be such a thing as +supreme actual and effective authority, such authority is throughout the +whole of the United Kingdom exercised by the Imperial Parliament, not +occasionally and in theory, but every day and in the ordinary course of +affairs. + +This exertion of actual and effective power by the Imperial Parliament +throughout the United Kingdom is a totally different thing from the +supremacy or sovereignty exercised by Parliament throughout the whole +British Empire. As a matter of legal theory Parliament has the right to +legislate for any part of the Crown's dominions. Parliament may lawfully +impose an income tax upon the inhabitants of New South Wales; it may +lawfully abolish the constitution of the Canadian Dominion, just as some +years ago it did actually abolish the ancient constitution of Jamaica. +But though Parliament does in fact exert a certain, or rather a very +uncertain, amount of power throughout the whole Empire, we all know that +the Imperial Parliament neither exercises, nor claims to exercise, in a +self-governing colony such as New Zealand,[7] that kind of effective +authority which Parliament exercises in the United Kingdom. The Cabinet +of New Zealand is not appointed at Westminster; the action of a New +Zealand Ministry as regards the affairs of New Zealand is not controlled +by the English Government. Not a pennyworth of taxation is imposed on +the inhabitants of New Zealand, or of any colony whatever, by the +Imperial Parliament. Even the imposition of customs, though it has an +important bearing on the interest of the Empire, is in a self-governing +colony determined by the colonial, and not by the British, Parliament. +It is the Parliament of New Zealand, and not the Parliament of England, +which governs New Zealand. The Imperial Parliament, though for Imperial +purposes it may retain an indefinite supremacy throughout the British +Empire, has, as regards self-governing colonies, renounced, for all +other than Imperial purposes, executive and legislative functions. To +labour this point may savour of pedantry. But the distinction insisted +upon, whilst often overlooked, is of extreme importance. We risk being +deceived by words. The Imperial Parliament is supreme in the United +Kingdom, it is also supreme in New Zealand. But the supremacy of the +Imperial Parliament is a misleading expression; it means one thing in +the United Kingdom, and another thing in New Zealand or in Canada. In +the United Kingdom it means the exercise of real, actual, effective and +absolute authority. In New Zealand it means little more than the claim +to regulate matters of a distinctly and exclusively Imperial character. +The distinction is vital. The essential feature of the English +constitution is the actual and direct government of the whole United +Kingdom by the Parliament at Westminster. No change could be more +fundamental than a change which, in England, Scotland, or Ireland, +reduced this actual authority to the ultimate or reserved sovereignty +exercised, or rather claimed, by Parliament in Canada or in New Zealand. + +The negative characteristic of the English constitution is the absence +of federalism or of the federal spirit. + +The spirit of institutions is as important as their form, and the spirit +of English Parliamentary government has always been a spirit of unity. + +The fundamental conditions of federal government are well known. They +are first the existence of States such as the Cantons of Switzerland or +the States of Germany, which are capable of bearing in the eyes of their +inhabitants an impress of common nationality, and next the existence +among the inhabitants of the federalised country of a very peculiar +sentiment, which may be described as the desire for political union +without the desire for political unity.[8] This condition of opinion +leads to a division of powers between the federal or national government +and the States. Whatever concerns the nation as a whole is placed under +the control of the federal power. + +All matters which are not primarily of common interest remain in the +hands of the States. Now each of these conditions upon which federalism +rests has, as a matter of history, been absolutely unknown to the people +of England. In uniting other countries to England they have +instinctively aimed at an incorporative not at a federal union. This +absence of the federal spirit is seen in two matters which may appear of +subordinate, but are in reality of primary, consequence. Every member of +Parliament has always stood on a perfect equality with his fellows; the +representatives of a county or of a borough, English members, Scottish +members, Irish members, have hitherto possessed precisely equal rights, +and have been subject to precisely the same duties. They have been sent +to Parliament by different places, but, when in Parliament, they have +not been the delegates of special localities; they have not been English +members, or Scottish members, or Irish members, they have been simply +members of Parliament; their acknowledged duty has been to consult for +the interest of the whole nation; it has not been their duty to +safeguard the interests of particular localities or countries. Hence +until quite recent years English parties have not been formed according +to sectional divisions. There has never been such a thing as an English +party or a Scottish party. Up to 1832 the Scottish members were almost +without exception Tories; since 1832 they have been for the most part +Liberals or Radicals; they have kept a sharp eye upon Scottish affairs, +but they have never formed a Scottish party. The same thing has, to a +great extent, held good of the Irish members. The notion of an Irish +party is a novelty, and in so far as it has existed is foreign to the +spirit of our institutions. Hence further, the Cabinet has been neither +in form nor in spirit a federal executive. No Premier has attempted to +constitute a Ministry in which a given proportion of Irishmen or +Scotchmen should balance a certain proportion of Englishmen. English +politicians have as yet hardly formed the conception of an English +party. Not a single Prime Minister has claimed the confidence of the +country on the ground that his colleagues were, or were not, English, +Scottish, or Irish. That a Premier should glory in his pure Scottish +descent is an innovation; it is an innovation ominous of revolution; it +betrays a spirit of disintegration. If at the moment it flatters +Scottish pride, Scotchmen and Irishmen would do well to recollect that +it is a certain presage of a time when some Englishman will rise to +power and obtain popular support on the ground of his staunch English +sympathies and of his unadulterated English blood. + +Now place the new constitution side by side with the old. Assume, as I +do assume throughout this chapter, that our new Gladstonian policy works +in accordance with the intentions of its authors. + +The new constitution abolishes in Ireland the actual and effective +control and authority of the Imperial Parliament. + +The government of Ireland is under the Home Rule Bill[9] placed in the +hands of an executive authority, or, in plain terms, a Cabinet, +undoubtedly to be appointed by the Irish Legislature, in the same sense in +which an English Cabinet is appointed by the British Parliament, or a +New Zealand Cabinet is appointed by the Parliament of New Zealand.[10] +For the first time in the whole course of history the administration of +Irish affairs is placed in the hands of an Irish Ministry, in the +selection of which the Imperial Parliament has no hand or concern +whatever. Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Healy, Mr. Redmond, Mr. Davitt, any leader, +known or unknown, loyal or disloyal, who commands the confidence of the +Irish Legislature, or, as I will venture to term it, the Irish +Parliament,[11] will naturally become the Premier of Ireland, and, +together with his colleagues, will possess all the authority which +belongs to a Parliamentary Executive. On the action of this Irish +Cabinet the Bill places, with rare exceptions, either no restrictions at +all or restrictions which are only transitory.[12] Speaking generally, +we may lay down that, except as to the control of the army, if that be +an exception, the Irish Cabinet will, when the constitution gets into +full working order, occupy in Ireland the position now occupied by the +British Cabinet in regard to the whole United Kingdom. The appointment +of officials, the conduct of Irish affairs, all the ordinary functions +of government will, with certain exceptions meant for the most part to +protect the rights of the Imperial Parliament, be exercised by Irish +Ministers responsible to the Irish Parliament; and the British or +Imperial Parliament will, in the ordinary course of things, have no more +to do with the administration of affairs in Ireland than it has to do +with the administration of affairs in New Zealand. The Irish, not the +British, Cabinet will decide what are the steps to be taken for the +protection throughout Ireland of the rights of property or of personal +liberty; the Irish and not the English Cabinet will determine by what +means the payment of rent is to be enforced; the Irish and not the +English Cabinet will decide what persons are to be prosecuted for crime; +the Irish and not the English Cabinet will determine whether the means +for enforcing the punishment of crime are adequate, and whether +Ireland, or some part of Ireland, say Belfast, requires to be governed +by means of a Coercion Act; the Irish and not the English Cabinet will +decide with what severity wrong-doers are to be punished, and whether, +and under what circumstances, convicted criminals deserve either pardon +or mitigation of punishment. + +It is patent that under the new constitution the Irish Parliament and, +under ordinary circumstances, the Irish Parliament alone will legislate +for Ireland. For the Irish Parliament can, subject to certain +Restrictions,[13] pass any law whatever 'for the peace, order and good +government of Ireland, in respect of matters exclusively relating to +Ireland or some part thereof'[14]; and, subject to the same +Restrictions, may repeal any law which, before the Home Rule Bill +becomes law, is in force in Ireland. Under the new constitution the +Irish Parliament and not the Imperial Parliament will, it is clear, as a +rule legislate for Ireland. Under the new constitution the Irish +Parliament may enact a Coercion Act, applying say to Ulster, or may +repeal the existing Crimes Act. It may abolish trial by jury[15] +altogether, put any restraints it sees fit on the liberty of the press, +or introduce a system of administrative law like that which exists in +France, but is totally foreign to English notions of jurisprudence. + +Under the new constitution, again, the financial relations of Great +Britain and Ireland are made the subject of an elaborate arrangement +which may fairly be called a contract[16]. Ireland takes over certain +charges[17], and speaking very generally, whilst all the duties of +customs levied in Ireland are collected by and paid over to the +Exchequer of the United Kingdom, as Ireland's contribution to Imperial +expenditure, all the other taxes are, as a general rule, paid over to +the Irish Exchequer. The justice or the policy of these financial +arrangements is for my present purpose immaterial. All that need be +observed is that the ordinary taxation of Ireland passes from the hands +of the Imperial Parliament into the hands of the Irish Parliament, and +that under the new constitution this arrangement is a settlement which +the Imperial Parliament is morally bound to respect for a period of at +least fifteen years[18]. + +In Ireland therefore the new constitution abolishes the effective +exercise of authority by the Imperial Parliament in matters of +administration, in matters of legislation, in matters of finance; every +concern which affects the daily life of Irishmen will be under the +control of the Irish Cabinet and the Irish Parliament. The relation of +the Imperial Parliament towards Ireland will not be the relation which +it now occupies towards the whole United Kingdom, and which under the +new constitution it will still occupy towards Great Britain. The +Imperial Parliament, it is true, retains considerable reserved powers; +what are the effect and nature of these powers shall be considered in +its due place. The matter upon which I now insist is simply this: the +new constitution does in any case transfer the effective government of +Ireland from the Imperial Parliament to the Irish Parliament. The +authority reserved to the Imperial Parliament may be termed supremacy, +or sovereignty, or may be described by any other fine-sounding name +which we are pleased to use, but the fact remains unaltered that, as +long as the new constitution stands and works, the Imperial Parliament +will not govern Ireland in the sense in which it governs England and +Scotland, and that such authority as it exerts in Ireland will be +analogous not to the power which it now exercises there, but to the +influence which it possesses in Canada or in New Zealand.[19] + +The new constitution is at bottom a federalist or semi-federalist +constitution; it introduces into English institutions many of the forms +of federalism and still more of its spirit. + +The Parliament sitting at Westminster becomes for the first time a +Federal Congress. + +Of its members, 567 will represent Great Britain; 80 will represent +Ireland. The exact numbers are for the present purpose insignificant. +The serious matter is that the Imperial Parliament undergoes an +essential change of character. The British members will have, or are +intended to have, no concern with the government of Ireland. The Irish +members ought to have nothing to do with the government of Great +Britain. On Imperial subjects the Imperial Parliament, or, to call it by +its proper name, the Federal Congress, votes as a whole; on Irish +subjects it does not vote at all; on British topics its British members +only vote. The British and the Irish members, in short, alike represent, +though in a very clumsy fashion, the States of a Confederacy. Though the +fact be artfully concealed, we have under the new constitution already, +in germ at least, a British State and an Irish State, a British +Parliament and an Irish Parliament, and a third body consisting of these +two Parliaments, which is the Imperial or Federal Parliament.[20] + +The different features of federalism make their appearance though under +strange forms. + +The constitution imposes Restrictions on the powers of the State +Governments and of the Federal Government. + +This appears unmistakably in the limitations placed upon the authority +of the Irish Parliament. + +These Restrictions, be they wise or unwise, politic or impolitic, are +perfectly in keeping with the constitutional arrangements of a Federal +Government, but are absolutely unknown to the theory and practice of +English parliamentary government. + +The powers of the Imperial Parliament, it may be said, are under the new +constitution subject to no limitations. In words this assertion is true, +in substance it is false. If the constitution works properly the +Imperial Parliament will clearly be subject to the terms of the +Government of Ireland Act, 1893, or, in other words, of the Federal +Constitution. This subjection is not absolute; it is moral, not legal, +still it exists. A breach of the federal compact will be no light +matter. + +The constitution again, as one would expect under a federal scheme, +provides for the enforcement of the compact. + +In the case of Ireland this is manifest. The royal veto,[21] the power +of the Courts, and ultimately of the Privy Council, to pronounce on the +constitutionality of any Irish Act, and treat it as void if it is in +excess of the authority bestowed upon the Irish legislature, the +provisions for the legal determination of constitutional questions,[22] +the arrangements as to the payment of the Irish customs into the +Imperial Exchequer, the special and very anomalous position of the +Exchequer Judges, are all attempts, whatever be their worth, to restrain +the Irish legislature and government, or in effect the Irish people, +from the undue assertion of State rights. + +Restraints again are placed on the unconstitutional action of the +Imperial or Federal Parliament. They are less obvious, but at least as +real and effectual as the safeguards against the breach of the +constitution by the Irish government or legislature. They are all summed +up in the presence of the Irish representatives at Westminster. The only +legitimate reason, if legitimate reason there be, for their presence is +the guardianship of Irish rights under the constitution. It is for them +to see that these rights are held sacred. No diminution thereof can take +place without either the assent of the Irish members or else the +existence of such a majority in the Parliament at Westminster as may +override the protests of Ireland.[23] No doubt this is not an absolute +security. But whoever considers the habits of English political life +will conclude that, except in the event of the Imperial Parliament being +resolved to suspend or destroy the constitution, there exists the +highest improbability that any inroad should be made upon the privileges +conferred under the new constitution upon Ireland. The security, though +not absolute, is a good deal better than any safeguard given by the Bill +that the State rights of Great Britain shall be duly respected by the +representatives from Ireland. Assume, however, that the constitution +works properly, and that all parties respect the spirit of its +provisions. The result is that the new constitution forms a fundamental +law, fixing the respective rights of Ireland, of Great Britain, of the +Irish Parliament, and of the Imperial Parliament.[24] + +The federal arrangements which, utterly unknown as they are to our +institutions, form the foundation of the new constitution, are as +nothing compared with the recognition and fostering of the federal +spirit. + +Great Britain and Ireland constitute for the first time in history a +confederation. The difference or opposition of their interests receives +legislative acknowledgment: each country is to possess in reality, +though not in name, State rights; each must rely upon the constitution +for the protection of these rights; each may suffer from the +encroachments of the Imperial or central power. Ireland may complain +that the Imperial Parliament by legislation, or the Privy Council by +judicial interpretation, encroaches on her guaranteed rights. Great +Britain may complain either that Irish members intermeddle in British +affairs, and thus British rights are violated, or that the Privy Council +so interprets the constitution that the prerogatives of the Central +Government (which be it remembered must in practice be identified with +the power of England) are unduly diminished. To imagine such complaints +is not to assume that the constitution works badly. They are of +necessity inherent in the federal system. There exists no federal +government throughout the world where such complaints do not arise, and +where they do not at times give rise to heart-burnings. It is well +indeed, judging from the lessons of history, if they do not produce +bitter conflicts, or even civil war. Let us take, however, the most +sanguine view possible. Let us grant that both in England and in Ireland +every minister, every legislator, every judge, is inspired with a spirit +of perfect disinterestedness and absolute fairness. This concession, +immense though it be, does not exclude vital differences of opinion. In +our new confederacy, as in every other, there will arise the contest +between State rights and federal rights, between the authority of the +Central Government and of the State Government. In any case, a whole +class of new difficulties and questions of a totally new description +will make their appearance in the field of English politics, and call +for the exercise on the part both of English and of Irish statesmen of +extraordinary wisdom and extraordinary self-control. The new +constitution in short, in virtue of its federal tendencies, will +revolutionise the public life of the United Kingdom. + +From whatever side the matter be considered we arrive at the same +result. The Home Rule Bill is a new constitution; it subverts the bases +of the English constitution as we now know it, for it destroys +throughout Ireland the effective authority of the Imperial Parliament, +and turns the United Kingdom into a federal government of a new and +untried form. + +The change may be necessary or needless, wise or unwise. The first and +most pressing necessity of the moment is that every elector throughout +the United Kingdom should, realise the immense import of the innovation. +It is a revolution far more searching than would be the abolition of the +House of Lords or the transformation of our constitutional monarchy into +a presidential republic. + +The next point to which the attention of every man throughout the land +should be directed is, that the new constitution offered to us for +acceptance is unknown to any other civilised country. Parts of it are +borrowed from the United States; some of its provisions are imported +from the British colonies, whilst others are apparently the inventions +of the unknown and irresponsible Abbé Siéyès, who is the ingenious +constitution-maker of the Cabinet. But the new polity as a whole +resembles in its essence neither the American Commonwealth nor the +Canadian Dominion, nor the Government either of New Zealand or of any +other self-governing colony. It is an attempt--its admirers may think an +original and ingenious attempt--to combine the sovereignty of an +Imperial Parliament with the elaborate limitation and distribution of +powers which distinguish federal government. The whole thing is an +experiment and an experiment without precedent. Its novelty is not its +necessary condemnation, but neither on the other hand is innovation of +necessity the same thing as reform. The institutions of an ancient realm +are not exactly the _corpus vile_ on which theorists hard pressed by the +practical difficulties of the political situation can be allowed to try +unlimited experiments. We are bound to scrutinise with care every +provision of this brand-new polity. We are bound to consider what will +be their effect according to the known laws of human nature and under +the actual circumstances of the time. It is vain to tell us that many of +our institutions remain untouched. The introduction of new elements into +an old political system may revolutionise the whole; the addition of new +cloth to an old garment may, we all know, rend the whole asunder. There +is no need for panic; there is the utmost need for prudence. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] References made in this treatise to the Home Rule Bill are, unless +otherwise stated, made to the Bill as ordered to be printed by the House +of Commons, February 17, 1893. _A Leap in the Dark_ was published months +before the Bill was sent up as amended to the House of Lords. + +[6] This is true of both of Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bills, and must +necessarily be true of any Bill which satisfies even for a time the +wishes of Home Rulers. + +[7] I have substituted New Zealand for Victoria as the example of a +typical self-governing colony; the position of Victoria has since 1900 +been complicated by the country having become a State of the Australian +Commonwealth or Confederation. + +[8] See Dicey, _Law of Constitution_ (7th ed.), ch. iii. pp. 136-140. +Compare Mill, _Rep. Government_, ch. xvii. + +[9] For the sake of convenience I throughout this treatise refer to the +'Bill to amend the provision for the government of Ireland' under its +popular name of the Home Rule Bill, 1893, or simply the Bill. See the +Bill in Appendix. + +[10] Bill, clause 5. + +[11] (The constitutional history of Victoria affords a curious +illustration of what will certainly happen in Ireland.) In Victoria the +Legislature, though not termed a Parliament in the Constitution Act, 18 +& 19 Vict, c. 54, has assumed, under a Victorian Act, the title of the +Parliament of Victoria. See Jenks, _Government of Victoria_, p. 236. Who +can doubt that the Irish Legislature will, by an Irish Act, give itself +the title of the Parliament of Ireland? I have therefore throughout +these pages called the Irish Legislature the Irish Parliament. Few +things are more absurd and more noteworthy than the deliberate refusal +of English Gladstonians to call the Irish Parliament by its right name. +They are willing to create an Irish Parliament; they are not willing to +admit that they have created it. See debates of May 9, in _The Times_, +May 10, 1893. + +[12] See Bill, clauses 19, 27, 28, 30. + +[13] Bill, clauses 3, 4. + +[14] Bill, clause 2. + +[15] This will perhaps be disputed. Trial by jury, it will be said, is +saved by the expression 'due process of law,' in clause 4, sub-clause +(5). But this contention is, in my judgment, unfounded, and its validity +must in any case be held open to extreme doubt. + +[16] See Bill, clauses 10-19, and note especially clause 12, sub-clause +(I). + +[17] _Ibid_, clauses 14-16. + +[18] _Ibid_, clause 12, sub-clause (3). + +[19] I am aware that to this statement moderate Gladstonians may take +exception. What may be the effect of the preamble which reserves the +supreme authority of Parliament or of Bill, clause 33, which recognises +the right of the Imperial Parliament to legislate for Ireland will be +most conveniently considered in the next chapter. In this chapter, be it +noted, I am concerned only with the constitution as it is intended to +work, and most Gladstonians will admit that as long as the Government of +Ireland, including in that expression both the Cabinet and the +Parliament, keeps within the terms of the Act, it is not intended that +the British Cabinet or Parliament shall, except in certain excepted +cases, intervene in Irish affairs. + +[20] All the provisions which under clause 9 of the Home Rule Bill, +1893, in its earliest form, were intended to restrain Irish Peers, or +members representing Irish constituencies, from deliberating or voting +on any Bill or motion the operation of which should be confined to Great +Britain, were swept away by the Gladstonian majority before the Home +Rule Bill was sent up to the House of Lords. The unfairness of giving to +Ireland a Parliament intended to legislate on all, or nearly all, Irish +affairs, and at the same time retaining eighty Irish members at +Westminster with full power to legislate on all English and Scottish +affairs, secured in 1895 the enthusiastic approval by the British +electorate of the rejection of the Home Rule Bill of 1893 by the House +of Lords. + +[21] See Bill, clause 5 (1). + +[22] Bill, clauses 22, 23. + +[23] 'The Imperial Parliament was supreme, but he held the passing of +the Home Rule Bill, reserving certain subjects to the Imperial +Parliament and committing others to the Parliament of Ireland, as +amounting to a compact which would be observed by men of common sense +that there would be no capricious or vexatious interference by this +Parliament with an action within the appointed sphere of the Parliament +of Ireland. If such interference were attempted, the presence in this +Parliament of eighty Irish members--a number which had been found to be +sufficient to initiate an Irish constitution--would be found sufficient +to protect an Irish constitution when it was given.'--Mr. Sexton, Feb. +13, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates,_ p. 318. + +[24] For evidence that the power of the Imperial Parliament is intended +under the new constitution to be subjected to at any rate a moral limit, +the reader should note particularly the terms of the Home Rule Bill, +clause 12, sub-clause (3). + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEW CONSTITUTION + + +A critic of the new constitution, intent on ascertaining how it affects +the relation of Great Britain and Ireland, will do well to divert his +attention from the numerous details of the Home Rule Bill, important as +many of them are,[25] and fix his mind almost exclusively upon the four +leading features of the measure. + +These are:-- + + _First_. The supremacy of the Imperial Parliament. + + _Secondly_. The retention of the Irish members in the Parliament + at Westminster. + + _Thirdly_. The powers of the Irish Government, in which term is + here included both the Irish Executive and the Irish Parliament. + + _Fourthly_. The Restrictions (popularly known as the safeguards) + and the obligations imposed upon the Irish Government. + +These features are primary and essential; everything else, however +important in itself, is subsidiary and accidental. + + +A. _The Supremacy of the Imperial Parliament_[26] + +The Home Rule Bill asserts in its preamble the inexpediency of +'impairing or restricting the supreme authority of Parliament'; and in +clause 33, apparently[27] assumes the right of the Imperial Parliament +after the passing of the Home Rule Bill to enact for Ireland laws which +cannot be repealed by the Irish Parliament. + +The new constitution therefore maintains the supremacy of the Imperial +Parliament. + +What, however, is the true meaning of this 'supreme authority,' +'supremacy,' or 'sovereignty,' if you like, of the Imperial Parliament? + +The term, as already pointed out,[28] is distinctly ambiguous, and +unless this ambiguity is cleared up, the effect of the Home Rule Bill, +and the nature of our new constitution, will never be understood. + +The supremacy of the Imperial Parliament may mean the right and power of +Parliament to govern Ireland in the same sense in which it now governs +England, that is, to exercise effective control over the whole +administration of affairs in Ireland, and for this purpose, through the +action of the English Government, or, when necessary, by legislation, to +direct, supervise and control the acts of every authority in Ireland, +including the Irish Executive and the Irish Legislature. If this were +the meaning of the expression, the Imperial Parliament would, after the +passing of the Home Rule Bill, as before, be as truly supreme in Ireland +as in England, in Scotland, in the Isle of Man, or in Jersey. The Irish +Executive and the Irish Parliament would, of course, be bodies +possessing large--and it might be very dangerous--delegated powers, but +they would stand in the same relation to the Imperial Parliament as does +the London County Council, which also possesses large delegated powers, +which administers the affairs of a population as large as that of +Scotland and which, very possibly, may receive from Parliament as time +goes on larger and more extended authority than the Council now +possesses. This is the sense which many Gladstonians, and some +Unionists, attribute to the term 'supremacy of Parliament.' It is not +the sense in which the expression 'supreme authority of Parliament' is +used in the Home Rule Bill. + +The supremacy of Parliament may bear quite another sense; it may mean +that Parliament, whilst completely giving up the management of Irish +affairs (subject of course to the Restrictions contained in the Home +Rule Bill) to the Irish Executive and the Irish Legislature, retains in +Ireland, as elsewhere throughout the Empire, reserved sovereignty, or +the theoretical right (which exceptionally though rarely may be put into +practice) of passing laws for Ireland and of course, among other laws, +an Act modifying or repealing the terms of the Home Rule Bill itself. If +this is the meaning of the expression 'supreme authority of Parliament,' +the Imperial Parliament will, after the passing of the Home Rule Bill, +stand in substance in the relation to Ireland which Parliament occupies +towards any important self-governing colony, such as is the Canadian +Dominion or New Zealand. The Irish Executive and the Irish Parliament +will on this view constitute the real substantial government of Ireland, +just as the Ministry and the Parliament of New Zealand constitute the +real and substantial government of New Zealand. No doubt the Imperial +Parliament will retain the theoretical right to legislate for Ireland, +_e.g._ to pass an Irish Coercion Act, just as Parliament retains the +theoretical right to legislate for New Zealand or Canada. So the +Imperial Parliament has the legal right to repeal or override any law +passed by the New Zealand Parliament, to tax the inhabitants of New +Zealand, or finally, by the repeal of the New Zealand Constitution Act, +1852, 15 & 16 Vict. c. 72, to abolish the constitution of New Zealand +altogether. But these things Parliament will not, and to speak truly +cannot, do in New Zealand. The inhabitants of New Zealand possess as +regards their internal affairs for practical purposes complete +independence. They are governed from Wellington, they are not governed +from Westminster. If in short the supremacy of Parliament means under +the Home Rule Bill in Ireland what it means under 15 & 16 Vict. c. 72 in +New Zealand, the inhabitants of Ireland will, when the Home Rule Bill +passes into law, be governed from Dublin, they will not be governed from +Westminster. Every Irish Home Ruler, be he Parnellite or +Anti-Parnellite,[29] believes that the supremacy of Parliament is +intended to mean in Ireland what it means in New Zealand, and the Irish +Home Rulers are right. Any one will see that this is so who reflects on +the meaning of the policy of Home Rule, who studies the authoritative +utterances of Gladstonian leaders, such as Mr. Gladstone[30] himself, +Mr. Asquith,[31] or Mr. Bryce.[32] Gladstonian statesmen wrap up their +meaning in vague generalities; they insist, and in one sense with truth, +that the sovereignty of Parliament is reserved. They do not wish to +alarm their English followers. It is possible that they conceal even +from themselves how completely the Imperial Ministry and Parliament +surrender the practical government of Ireland into the hands of the +Irish Parliament and its leaders. But for all this, their own language +and the Bill itself prove that the supreme authority of Parliament is +under the new constitution to be taken in its limited, and what for the +sake of distinction we may call its 'colonial' sense. This is proved, if +evidence were wanting, by the provision[33] that after fifteen years from +the time when the Bill passes into law the financial relations between +England and Ireland may be revised in pursuance of an Address to the +Crown from the House of Commons or from the Irish legislative assembly. +If the Imperial Parliament retains an effective or practically unlimited +supremacy, the provision is futile and needless. What necessity is there +for enacting that a sovereign Parliament, which institutes, may alter a +scheme of taxation? But the provision is intelligible enough on one +supposition, and on one supposition only. It is both intelligible and in +place if Parliament gives up the real right of governing Ireland and +occupies towards what is now a part of the United Kingdom the position, +or something very like the position, which Parliament occupies towards a +self-governing colony. It then embodies a compact between England and +Ireland, and institutes a regular method for revising their financial +relations. But this very compact proves that as regards Ireland the +Imperial Parliament, if it reserves to itself ultimate sovereignty, has +for practical purposes surrendered the reality of control. + +There is no need to assert that this supremacy of the Imperial +Parliament means nothing. The assertion would not be true. The +reservation of sovereign authority means something, but it does not mean +much. It does not mean the power or the right to govern Ireland; it +means at most the legal and moral right to modify, or put an end to, the +new constitution if ever it works badly. + +The power, indeed, to abolish the constitution can neither be given nor +taken away by Acts of Parliament, by the declarations of English +statesmen, or the concessions of Irish leaders, whether authorised or +not to pledge the Irish people. It is given to Great Britain, not by +enactments, but by nature; it arises from the inherent capacity of a +strong, a flourishing, a populous, and a wealthy country to control or +coerce a neighbouring island which is poor, divided, and weak.[34] This +natural supremacy will, if the interests of Great Britain require it, be +enforced by armies, by ironclads, by blockades, by hostile tariffs, by +all the means through which national predominance can make itself felt. +All reference to superior power is, in controversies between citizens, +hateful to every man endowed with a sense of humanity or of justice. But +in serious discussions facts must be faced, and if, for the sake of +argument, I contrast, much against my will, the power of Great Britain +with the weakness of Ireland, let it be remembered that the conception +of a rivalry or conflict is forced upon Unionists by the mere proposal +of Home Rule. As long as we remain a United Kingdom, there is no more +need to think even of hypothetical or argumentative opposition between +the resources or interest of England and of Ireland than there is to +consider what in case of a contest may be the relative force of London +and of the Orkneys. + +What, then, the new constitution secures is not the power, but the legal +right to abolish the new constitution. It is a right to carry through a +fundamental change by lawful means. The Bill legalises revolution. This +is well, for it is desirable that in a civilised State every change of +institutions should be effected by constitutional methods. But should +the circumstances ever arise under which Great Britain is resolved, in +spite of the wishes of the Irish people or a large portion thereof, to +abolish Home Rule and exercise the right of reserved sovereignty, there +is no reason to expect that Irishmen who oppose British policy will +admit that her use of sovereign power is morally justifiable. By force, +or the threat of force, the controversy will, we must expect, in the +last instance, be decided. However this may be, we must now realise what +the supremacy of Parliament, at any rate to the Irish leaders who accept +it, really means. It means nothing but the right of the Imperial +Parliament of its own authority to repeal the Home Rule Bill and destroy +the new constitution. The right may be worth having. But it is not the +right to govern Ireland or to control the Irish Government; it is not a +means of government at all: it is a method of constitutional revolution, +or reaction. + +Some critic will object that this supremacy of Parliament means to him +a good deal more than the mere right to abolish the constitution. So be +it. Let the objector then tell us in precise language what it does mean. +If his reply is that the term is ambiguous, that its meaning must be +construed in accordance with events, and may, according to +circumstances, be restricted or extended, then he suggests that +Parliamentary supremacy is not only an empty right, but an urgent peril. +Nothing can be more dangerous than a compact between England and Ireland +which the contracting parties construe from the very beginning in +different senses. If by asserting the supreme authority of Parliament +English statesmen mean that Parliament reserves the right to supervise +and control the government of Ireland, whilst Irishmen understand that +Parliament retains nothing more than such a kind of supremacy or +sovereignty as it asserts, rather than exercises, in New Zealand, then +we are entering into a doubtful contract which lays the sure basis of a +quarrel. We are deliberately preparing the ground for disappointment, +for imputations of bad faith, for recriminations, for bitter animosity, +it may be for civil war. If there be, as is certainly the case, a fair +doubt as to what is meant by the supremacy of Parliament, let the doubt +be cleared up. This is required by the dictates both of expediency and +of honour. Meanwhile we may assume that the supremacy of Parliament, or +the 'supreme authority of Parliament,' means in substance the kind of +sovereignty which Parliament exercises, or claims to exercise, in every +part of the British Empire. + +For the maintenance of such supremacy, be it valuable or be it +worthless, Great Britain pays a heavy price. For the sake of 'an +outward and visible sign of Imperial supremacy' we retain eighty Irish +members in the Imperial Parliament.[35] + + +B. _The Retention of the Irish Members in the Imperial Parliament_ + +This is now[36] an essential, or at least a most important part of the +ministerial policy for Ireland, yet it is a proposal which even its +advocates must find difficult of defence. In 1886 every Gladstonian +leader told us that it was desirable, politic, and just to exclude Irish +members from the Parliament at Westminster; this exclusion was pressed +upon England (plausibly enough) as a main advantage to be derived from +the concession of Home Rule to Ireland. In 1893 every Gladstonian leader +tells us that it is desirable, politic, and just to retain the Irish +members at Westminster, and their presence is, for some reason not easy +to explain, treated as removing every objection to the concession of +Home Rule to Ireland. This astounding variation of opinion in the +doctors of the State savours of empiricism, not to say quackery. A +surgeon who tells a patient that he will not live unless his leg is +amputated may be right, and may be worthy of trust; another surgeon who +asserts that amputation is unnecessary may be right, and worthy of +trust. But the surgeon who one moment insists that amputation is +necessary to the preservation of his patient's life, and the next moment +that it is unnecessary and may be fatal, is not the kind of adviser who +inspires confidence in his wisdom. + +Let the ingenuity of Gladstonians reconcile, as best it can, the +doctrine of 1886 with the doctrine of 1893. To a man of sense who weighs +the matter without reference to considerations of party, one thing will +soon become apparent: the retention at Westminster of eighty, or indeed +of any Irish members at all, means under a scheme of Home Rule the ruin +of Ireland and the weakness of England. + +As to Ireland.--The presence of Irish members at Westminster robs +Ireland of the one advantage which Home Rule might by any possibility +confer upon that country. + +Any man in order to see that this is so has only to consider, first, +what may under favourable circumstances be the benefit of Home Rule to +Ireland, and next what is the natural result of summoning Irish members +to the Parliament at Westminster. + +The best conceivable result of Home Rule is that it may detach Irishmen +from interest in English politics, and induce the most respected and +respectable men in Ireland to take matters into their own hands and +manage for themselves all strictly Irish affairs. For the last twenty +years, at least, Ireland has been represented, or misrepresented, by +eighty and more politicians, nominated in the main by Mr. Parnell. No +one supposes for a moment that the Nationalist leaders who appeared +before and were condemned by the Special Commission are fair samples of +the Irish people. They are, take them at their best, reckless agitators. +They were chosen by their patron, Mr. Parnell, not on account of their +worth or talent, but because they were apt instruments for carrying out +a policy of parliamentary intrigue, reinforced by a system of lawless +oppression.[37] These men are the product of a revolutionary era; they +no more represent the virtues and the genius of the Irish people than +the demagogues or fanatics of the Jacobin Club represented the genius +and the virtues of the French nation. We all know that Ireland abounds +in citizens of a very different stamp. She has never lacked among her +sons, and does not lack now, men of virtue, of vigour, and of genius. +Throughout the length and breadth of the country you will find hundreds +of men of merit--landlords whose lives have been honourable to +themselves, and a blessing to their tenants; merchants as honest and +successful as any in England or in Scotland; small landowners and tenant +farmers who have paid their rent and paid their way, who have cultivated +their land, who have never insulted or boycotted their neighbours, and +have never been driven by intimidation into meanness and fraud. Add to +these lawyers, thinkers, writers, and scholars, who rival or excel the +best representatives of their class in other parts of the United +Kingdom. These good men and true are not peculiar to any one creed or +party; they are not confined to any one province, or to any one class; +they are scattered through every part of the land; they are the true +backbone of Ireland; they have saved her from utter ruin; they may still +by their energy raise her to prosperity. But they have been thrust out +of politics by the talkers, the adventurers, the conspirators. It is +possible that if Home Rule compels Irishmen to turn their whole minds +to Irish affairs, the so-called representatives who misrepresent their +country may be dismissed from the world of politics, and the Parliament +at Dublin be filled with members who, whether they come from the North +or from the South, whether Unionists or Home Rulers, whether Roman +Catholics or Protestants, whether landowners, tenant farmers, ministers +of religion, merchants, or tradesmen, represent the real worth and +strength of the country. If this should happen, Home Rule would still +entail great evils on the whole United Kingdom. But even zealous +Unionists might hope that for these evils Ireland at least will obtain +some compensation. This hope, if the Irish members are retained at +Westminster, will never be fulfilled. + +For even the occasional presence[38]--which will in practice be the +frequent presence--of the Irish members at Westminster destroys every +hope that Ireland will be governed by her best citizens. The reasons why +this is so are various; some of them may be shortly stated. The system, +in the first place, of double representation, under which members of the +Irish Parliament must flit to and fro between Ireland and England, and +debate one day about Irish matters in Dublin, and the next about +Imperial, or in truth British, matters in England, makes it impossible +for quiet hard-working Irishmen, who carry on the real business of +Ireland, to take part in politics. The political centre of interest, in +the second place, will after, as before, the passing of the Home Rule +Bill, be placed in London and not in Dublin. The humdrum local business +which under a system of Home Rule ought to be discussed in the Irish +Parliament, may vitally concern the prosperity of every inhabitant of +Ireland, but it will not in general lend itself to oratory, or arouse +popular excitement. The questions, on the other hand, to be discussed in +the Imperial Parliament at Westminster, as, for example, whether Mr. +Gladstone or Lord Salisbury shall be head of the British Cabinet, +whether the royal veto on Irish legislation shall be exercised on the +advice of the English or of the Irish Ministry, are matters which do not +in reality greatly affect the happiness of ordinary Irishmen. But they +give room for management, for diplomacy, for rhetoric, and are certain +on occasions to arouse both the interest and the passions of the Irish +people. We may take it for granted that the character of the Irish +representation at Westminster will govern the character of the +Parliament at Dublin.[39] Hence arises a third and fatal obstacle to the +active participation in Irish public life of Irishmen who are not +professional politicians. The Home Rule Bill of 1893 professes to +restrain on every side the action of the Irish government and +Parliament. These Restrictions are the comfort of English Gladstonians; +they are thought to be safeguards, though in reality there is nothing +which they make safe. But Restrictions which delight Gladstonians are +hateful to Irish Home Rulers. Their watchword is, 'Ireland a nation.' To +this cry every Home Ruler will rally, and so too will, if once the +Union is broken up, many an ardent loyalist, converted by anger at +England's treachery into an extreme Nationalist. Irishmen will wish for +an Irish army; they will wish for a protective policy; they will desire +that Ireland shall play a part in foreign affairs, and will claim for +her at least the independence of such a colony as New Zealand. To all +these wishes, and to many more, some of which under a system of Home +Rule are quite reasonable, the terms of the Home Rule Bill are opposed. +Home Rulers, and probably enough the whole Irish people, will insist +that the Bill, which will then have become an Act, must be modified. How +is the modification to be obtained? How is Home Rule to be made a +reality? By one method only: that is, by the freest use of those arts Of +intrigue and obstruction by which Home Rule will have been gained. But +for the carrying out of such a policy the agitators and intriguers who +for the last twenty years have weakened and degraded the Imperial +Parliament are the proper agents. For this work they, and they alone, +are fit. The quiet, industrious, stay-at-home merchants or lawyers, who +might be sent to Dublin for a month or two in the year to manage Irish +business on business-like principles, will not be sent to Westminster to +hold the balance between English parties. They cannot leave their +every-day work; were they willing to forsake their own business, they +are not the men to conduct with success the parliamentary game of brag, +obstruction, and finesse. Keep, in short, the Irish members at +Westminster, and you ensure the supremacy in Ireland of professional +politicians. By a curious fatality the Gladstonian policy which weakens +England ruins Ireland. Let no one fancy that this is the delusion of an +English Unionist. Sir Gavan Duffy is an Irish Nationalist of a far +higher type than the men who have drawn money from the Clan-na-Gael. In +'48 he was a rebel, but if he was disloyal to England, he was always +careful of the honour and character of Ireland. He, at least, perceives +the danger to his country of retaining Irish members in a Parliament +where they had ceased to have any proper place. 'For my own part,' he +says, 'I should not care if they did not attend [the Imperial +Parliament] for a generation, which will be needed for the manipulation +of their own affairs.' + +All this, I shall be told, is prophecy; Gladstonian hopes are as +reasonable as Unionist fears. So be it. But in this matter my +predictions have a special claim on the attention of the Ministry, they +coincide with the forecast, or the foresight, of the present[40] Chief +Secretary for Ireland. + +'Let us suppose that these Irish representatives for Imperial purposes +are not chosen by the legislative body, but are chosen directly by Irish +constituencies. You have already, according to our plan, two sets of +constituencies. You have the 103 constituencies that return the popular +branch of the legislative body, and you have those other constituencies +up to seventy-five which return the elective members of the other branch +of the legislative body. You have, therefore, got already on our plan +two sets of constituencies. Now, if you are going to send members to +Westminster for Imperial purposes to the number of forty-five or to the +number of ninety-five, you must mark out a third set of +constituencies--you must have a third set of elections. A system of that +kind does not strike me at least as being exactly the thing for a +country of which we are assured that before everything else its prime +want is a profound respite from political turmoil. There are plenty of +other objections from the Irish point of view, which I am not now going +to dwell upon. Depend upon it that an Irish Legislature will not be up +to the magnitude of the enormous business that is going to be cast upon +it unless you leave all the brains that Irish public men have got to do +Irish work in Ireland. Depend upon this, too, that if you have one set +of Irish members in London it is a moral certainty that disturbing +rivalries, disturbing intrigues would spring up, and that the natural +and wholesome play of forces and parties and leaders in the Irish +Assembly would be complicated and confused and thrown out of gear by the +separate representatives of the country. All this is bad enough.'[41] + +These are the words of my friend Mr. Morley.[42] They were spoken at +Newcastle on April 21, 1886. He was then, as now, responsible for the +government of Ireland. Nothing can add to their gravity; nothing can add +to their force; they were true in 1886, they remain as true to-day as +they were seven years ago.[43] + +As to England.--The presence of the Irish members at Westminster is on +the face of it a gross and patent injustice to Great Britain. It is +absurd, it is monstrous, that while the Irish Parliament and the Irish +Parliament alone settle whether Mr. Healy, Mr. M'Carthy, Mr. Redmond, or +Mr. Davitt is to be head of the Irish government, and England, though +vitally interested in the character of the Irish Executive, is not to +say a word in the matter, eighty Irishmen are to help in determining, +and are often actually to determine, whether Lord Salisbury or Mr. +Gladstone, Mr. Balfour or Mr. Chamberlain, is to be Prime Minister and +direct the policy of England. Here again 1 can rely on the invaluable +aid of Mr. Morley. He has denounced the effect on England of retaining +Irish members at Westminster with a strength of language and a weight of +authority to which it is impossible for me to make any pretension. + +'But there is a word to be said about the effect on our own Parliament, +and I think the effect of such an arrangement--and I cannot help +thinking so till I hear of better arrangements--upon our own Parliament +would be worse still. It is very easy to talk about reducing the number +of the Irish members; perhaps it would not be so easy to do. It is very +easy to talk about letting them take part in some questions and not in +others, but it will be very difficult when you come to draw the line in +theory between the questions in which they shall take a part and those +in which they shall not take a part. But I do not care what precautions +you take; I do not care where you draw the line in theory; but you may +depend upon it--I predict--that there is no power on the earth that can +prevent the Irish members in such circumstances from being in the future +Parliament what they were in the past, and what to some extent they are +in the present, the arbiters and the masters of English policy, of +English legislative business, and of the rise and fall of British +Administrations. You will have weakened by the withdrawal of able men +the Legislature of Dublin, and you will have demoralized the Legislature +at Westminster. We know very well what that demoralisation means, for I +beg you to mark attentively the use to which the Irish members would +inevitably put their votes--inevitably and naturally. Those who make +most of the retention of the Irish members at Westminster are also those +who make most of there being what they call a real and effective and a +freely and constantly exercised veto at Westminster upon the doings at +Dublin. You see the position. A legislative body in Dublin passes a +Bill. The idea is that that Bill is to lie upon the table of the two +Houses of Parliament in London for forty days--forty days in the +wilderness. What does that mean? It means this, that every question that +had been fought out in Ireland would be fought out over again by the +Irish members in our Parliament. It means that the House of Lords here +would throw out pretty nearly every Bill that was passed at Dublin. What +would be the result of that? You would have the present block of our +business. You would have all the present irritation and exasperation. +English work would not be done; Irish feeling would not be conciliated, +but would be exasperated. The whole efforts of the Irish members would +be devoted to throwing their weight--I do not blame them for this--first +to one party and then to another until they had compelled the removal of +these provoking barriers, restrictions, and limitations which ought +never to have been set up. I cannot think, for my part I cannot see, how +an arrangement of that sort promises well either for the condition of +Ireland or for our Parliament. If anybody, in my opinion, were to move +an amendment to our Bill in the House of Commons in such a direction as +this, with all these consequences foreseen, I do not believe such an +amendment would find twenty supporters.'[44] + +This was the opinion of Mr. John Morley in 1886. A word in it here or +there is inapplicable to the details of the present Bill; but in +principle every syllable cited by me from his Newcastle address forms +part of the Unionist argument against summoning as much as a single +Irish member to Westminster. His language is admirable, it cannot be +improved. All that any one who agrees with Mr. Morley can do in order to +force his argument home is to point out in a summary manner the ways in +which the Irish delegation at Westminster will enfeeble the Imperial +Government. + +_First_. The Irish members, or rather the Irish delegation, will have a +voice and often a decisive voice in determining who are the men that +shall constitute the English Cabinet; on the Irish vote will depend +whether Conservatives, Liberals, Radicals, or Socialists shall +administer the government of England. It is vain to tell us Irish +members will be restrained, whether by law or custom, from voting on +British affairs when they will vote on the most important of all British +affairs, the composition and the character of the body which is to +govern England. + +That the Irish members will thus vote on a matter of special and vital +importance to England is admitted. But things stand far worse than this. +The vote of the Irish delegation will and must be swayed by an interest +adverse to the welfare of Great Britain; for the interest of Great +Britain, or, to use ordinary language of England, is that the English +Government should be strong, and should represent the majority of the +English or British electors. The direct interest of the Irish delegation +is that the English Government should be weak, and represent the +minority of English electors. That this is so is obvious. The weaker the +British Government, the greater the weight of the Irish representatives. +But if the English Cabinet represents a minority of the British people, +and are kept in office only by the votes of their Irish allies, then the +influence of the Irish representatives and the weakness of the English +Government will have reached its extreme point. The effect therefore of +the arrangement which brings Irish members to Westminster is to place +the administration of English affairs in the hands of the party, +whichever it be, that does not represent the wishes of the English +people. This master stroke of Gladstonian astuteness ensures that +Radicals shall be in office when the opinion of England is Conservative, +and that Conservatives shall be in power when English opinion tends +towards Radicalism. + +_Secondly_. The retention of the Irish members breaks up our whole +system of Cabinet government. This system has some inherent defects, but +it cannot work at all with any benefit to the country unless the Cabinet +can depend on the support of a permanent majority. The result of what +has happily been described as the 'in-and-out plan,' that is the scheme +for allowing Irish members to vote on some subjects and not on others, +will be the constitution of two majorities, and it is more than possible +that the one majority may belong to one party and the other majority to +another. Look at the effect on the transaction of public affairs. The +Irish members and the English Liberals combined may put in office a +Liberal Cabinet. On English matters, _e.g._ the question of +Disestablishment, or of Home Rule for Wales, the British majority +consisting of British members of Parliament only may constantly defeat +the Gladstonian Cabinet, and thus force into office a Conservative +Cabinet which could command a majority on all subjects of purely British +interest, but would always be in a minority on all matters of Imperial +policy, _e.g._ on the conduct of foreign affairs. Which Cabinet would +have a right to retain power? The sole answer is--neither. The proposed +plan, in short, undermines our whole scheme of government. + +_Thirdly_. The Irish members who are now simply Irish members of the +Imperial Parliament will be transformed into a very different thing--an +Irish delegation. The importance of this change cannot be over-rated. +The essential merit of our present system of government is that the +Executive, no less than the Parliament of the United Kingdom, represents +the country as a whole. Our Premier may be a Scotsman, but we know of no +such thing as a Scottish Premier. Englishmen may form the majority of +the Cabinet, but we have never had an English Cabinet as contrasted with +a Scottish or an Irish Cabinet. It has never been contended, hardly has +it been hinted, that a Ministry ought to be made up of members taken in +certain proportions from each division of the kingdom. But from the +moment that sectional representation, and with it open advocacy of +sectional interests, is introduced into the House of Commons, there will +arise the necessity for the formation of sectional Cabinets. + +The demand will be made, and the demand will be granted, that in the +administration no less than in the House there shall be a system of +representation; that England, that Scotland, that Ireland shall each +have their due share in the Ministry. But this state of things must be +fatal both to the capacity and to the fairness of the government. The +talent of the Cabinet will be diminished, because the Prime Minister +will no longer be able to choose as colleagues the ablest among his +supporters without reference to the now irrelevant question whether they +represent English, Scottish, or Irish constituencies. The character of +the Executive will be lowered because the Cabinet itself will represent +rival interests. It may seem that I am advocating the special claims of +England. This is not so. I am arguing on behalf of the efficiency of the +government of the United Kingdom. My argument is one to which Scotsmen +and Irishmen should give special heed. If once we have cabinets and +parties based upon sectional divisions, if we have English ministries +and English parties as opposed to Scottish ministries or Irish +ministries, and Scottish parties and Irish parties, it is not in the +long run the most powerful and wealthy portion of what is now the United +Kingdom which will suffer. It is hardly the interest of Scotsmen or +Irishmen to pursue a policy which suggests the odious but inevitable cry +'England for Englishmen.' + +_Fourthly_, as long as Irish members remain at Westminster the English +Parliament will never be freed from debates about Irish affairs. + +This is a point there is no need to labour. Unless (what no honest man +can openly propose) the 80 or 103 members from Ireland are to be taken +from one Irish party only, they must represent different interests and +different opinions. Some few at least will represent the wishes, the +complaints, or the wrongs of Ulster. But if this be so, it is certain +that the controversies which divide Ireland will make themselves heard +at Westminster. Can any sane man fancy that if the Dublin Parliament +passes an Act for the maintenance of order at Belfast, if the people of +Belfast are suspected of intending to resist the Irish government, if +Irish landlords, rightly or not, fear unfair treatment at the hands of +the Irish Ministry or the Irish Parliament, none of these things will be +heard of at Westminster? The supposition is incredible. Let Irish +members sit at Westminster and Irish affairs will be debated at +Westminster, and will often be debated when, under a system of Home +Rule, it were much better they should be passed over in silence. Admit, +what is not certain, that Home Rule in Ireland will occasionally +withdraw a few Irish questions from discussion in England, it must be +remembered that a new crop of Irish questions will arise. The federal +character of the new constitution must produce in one form or another +disputes and discussions as to the limits which bound the respective +authority of the Imperial and of the Irish Governments. The Imperial +Parliament will, for the first time, be harassed by the question of +State rights. Add to this that at every great political crisis the House +of Commons will have before it an inquiry which must produce +interminable debates, namely whether a given bill is or is not a measure +which concerns only the interest of Great Britain. + +Two inducements are offered to England for the adoption of a plan the +evils whereof were so patent in 1886 that it then could not, if we are +to believe Mr. Morley,[45] have commanded twenty supporters in the House +of Commons. + +The first inducement is that the presence of eighty Irish members at +Westminster is an outward and visible sign of the supremacy of the +Imperial Parliament.[46] On this point it is needless to say much; few +Englishmen will on consideration think it worth while to dislocate all +our system of government in order that the British Parliament may retain +in Ireland the kind of sovereignty which it retains in New Zealand. We +are rightly proud of our connection with our colonies, but no one would +seriously propose to retain nominal sovereignty in Canada at the price +of a perilous and injurious change in the constitution of England. + +The second inducement is that Great Britain will be allowed the +exclusive management of British affairs. + +This sort of spurious Home Rule for England turns out however to be as +illusory a blessing as the maintenance of parliamentary supremacy. + +Great Britain is, under the new constitution, not allowed to appoint the +British Cabinet. Great Britain is forbidden to determine for herself any +matter of legislation or administration which, however deeply it +concerns British interests, trenches in the least degree on any Irish or +Imperial interest. Any matter of finance, which comes within the wide +head of Imperial liabilities, expenditure, and miscellaneous +revenue,[47] falls within the competence of the Irish members. Questions +of peace or war, our foreign relations, every diplomatic transaction, is +a matter on which the Irish delegation may pronounce a decision. The +conjecture is at least plausible[48] that Irish members will have a +right to discuss and vote upon any subject debated in the Parliament at +Westminster which involves the fate of a British Cabinet. Let it be +granted that, if the provisions of the Home Rule Bill be observed, no +Irish representative can vote 'on any Bill, or motion in relation +thereto, the operation of which Bill or motion is confined to Great +Britain.'[49] But then when is the operation of a Bill confined to Great +Britain, or, to use popular language, what is a British Bill? This is an +inquiry in the decision whereof the Irish members will take part. The +Irish members, therefore, at Westminster will be judges of their own +rights, and in the only cases in which it is of practical importance to +Great Britain that the Irish representatives should not vote, will be +able with the aid of a British minority to fix the limits of their own +jurisdiction.[50] Let the Irish members and a British minority boldly +vote that the operation of a Bill, say for the Disestablishment of the +English Church, is not confined to Great Britain, and they can boldly +vote that the Bill do pass, and no Court in Great Britain or the British +Empire can question the validity of a law enacted in open defiance of +the spirit or even the words of the Constitution.[51] The right of +British members to the management of even exclusively British affairs +will depend not upon the law of the land, but upon the moderation and +sense of equity which may restrain the unfairness of partisanship. + +For a parliamentary minority will, if only it throw scruples to the +winds, be constantly able to transform itself into a majority by the +unconstitutional admission of the Irish vote. This is not a power which +any party, be it Conservative or Radical, English, Scottish, or Irish, +ought to possess. Partisanship knows nothing of moderation. And the +reason of this blindness to the claims of justice is that the spirit of +party combines within itself some of the best and some of the worst of +human passions. It often unites the self-sacrificing zealotry of +religious fanaticism with the recklessness of the gambling table. Let an +assailant of the Contagious Diseases Act, a fanatic for temperance, a +protectionist who believes that free trade is the ruin of the country, +an anti-vivisectionist who holds that any painful experiment on live +animals is the most heinous of sins; let any man who has come to believe +that his own credit, no less than the salvation of the country, depends +on the success of a particular party, know that the triumph of his cause +depends upon his voting that a particular measure operates beyond Great +Britain, and we know well enough in which way he will vote. He will vote +what he knows to be untrue rather than sacrifice a cause which he +believes to be sacred. He will think himself both a fool and a traitor +if he sacrifices the victory which is within his grasp to the +maintenance of technical legality, or rather to respect for a rule of +constitutional procedure. + +Suppose, however, that I have underrated the equity of human nature, and +that no faction in the House of Commons ever attempts to violate the +spirit of the Constitution. The supposition is bold, not to say absurd; +but even if its reasonableness be granted, this does not suffice for the +protection of England's rights. The question whether a given Bill does +or does not operate exclusively in Great Britain may often give rise to +fair dispute, and (what should be noted) this dispute will always be +decided against Great Britain in the only instances in which its +decision is to Great Britain of any importance whatever. An example best +shows my meaning. Let a Bill be brought forward for establishing Home +Rule in Wales. Is the operation of the Bill confined to Great Britain? +An English member, unless he is a Home Ruler, will answer with an +undoubted affirmative. An English, or Irish, or Welsh Home Ruler will +with equal certainty, and equal honesty, give a negative answer. The +question admits of fair debate, but we know already how the debate will +be decided. If the Unionists constitute a majority of the House, the +Irish vote will be excluded. But in this case its exclusion is of no +practical importance. If the Unionists constitute indeed a majority of +British representatives, but do not constitute a majority of the House, +the Irish vote will be included. The Irish representatives will decide +whether Wales shall constitute a separate State, and the right of Great +Britain to manage British affairs will not prevent the dismemberment of +England. Home Rule, such as it is for England, means at best a totally +different thing from Home Rule for Ireland. In the case of England it +means a limited and precarious control of legislation for Great Britain +by British members of Parliament. In the case of Ireland it means the +real and substantial and exclusive government of Ireland by an Irish +Ministry and an Irish Parliament. + +But will the advantage of even this modified half-and-half Home Rule be +really offered to England? + +Gladstonians, it is rumoured (and before these pages are in print the +rumour may turn out to be a fact), have their own remedy for some of the +only too-patent absurdities of the 'in-and-out system' embodied in +clause 9 of the Home Rule Bill. A suggestion is made which would be +amusing for its irony, were it not revolting for its cynicism, that the +difficulty of the double majority should be removed by the allowing +members not only to remain at Westminster in their full number, but also +to vote there on all matters whatever, including those affairs which +exclusively concern the interests of Great Britain. This is no doubt a +remedy for some of the evils of an unworkable proposal. It is a cure +which to any Englishman of sense or spirit will seem tenfold worse than +the disease. It is a cure in that sense only in which a traveller may be +said to be relieved from the fear of robbery by a highwayman shooting +him dead. The irregular interference of the Irish delegation in the +formation of the British Cabinet, and other matters which indirectly +concern England, is to be regularised (if I may use the term) by +allowing to Irish members permanent despotism over England in matters +which, on a system of Home Rule, concern England alone. Irish members +may disestablish the Church of England, though England is to have no +voice in the pettiest of Irish affairs. Irish members are to be allowed +to impose taxes on England, say to double the income tax, though of +these taxes no inhabitant of Ireland will pay a penny; the Irish +delegation--and this is the worst grievance of all--is to be enabled, in +combination with a British minority, to detach Wales from England, or to +vote Home Rule for Scotland, or to federalise still further the United +Kingdom by voting that Man, Jersey, and Guernsey shall send members to +the Imperial Parliament. Note that all this may be done by the Irish +delegation, though, under the new Constitution, England will not have a +word to say on such questions as whether the right of electing members +for the Parliament at Dublin shall or shall not be extended to every +adult, or whether Ulster shall, or shall not, be allowed Home Rule of +its own. The absurdity of this policy ought to prevent its ever being +adopted; but in these days absurdity seems to tell as little against +wild schemes of legislation as their injustice. + +All this consideration of haggling and trafficking between Great Britain +and Ireland is loathsome to every true Unionist who considers Englishmen +and Irishmen as still citizens of one nation. But, when Gladstonians +propose to divide the United Kingdom into two States, it is as essential +as it is painful to weigh well what is the gain of Great Britain in the +new scheme of political partnership. If the matter be looked at from +this point of view, it is easy to see how miserable are the offers +tendered to England. Compare for a moment the authority to be given her +under the new constitution with the authority she has hitherto +possessed or the authority tendered to her under the Home Rule Bill of +1886. + +Up to 1782 the British Parliament held in its own hands the absolute +control not only of every British affair, but every matter of policy +affecting either Ireland or the British Empire. The British Parliament, +in which sat not a single representative of any Irish county or borough, +appointed the Irish Executive. The British Parliament, whenever it +thought fit, legislated for Ireland; the British Parliament controlled +the whole course of Irish legislation; every Act which passed the +Parliament of Ireland was inspected, amended, and, if the English +Ministry saw fit, vetoed in England. The system was a bad system and an +unjust system. It is well that it ended. But as regarded the control of +the British Empire it corresponded roughly with facts. The Empire was in +the main the outcome of British energy and British strength, and the +British Empire was governed by Great Britain. + +The constitution of 1782 gave legislative independence to Ireland, but +did not degrade the British Parliament to the position which will be +occupied by the Imperial Parliament under the constitution of 1893. The +British Parliament remained supreme in Great Britain; the British +Parliament controlled the Imperial policy both of England and of +Ireland. The British Parliament, or rather the British Ministry, +virtually appointed the Irish Executive. The British Parliament +renounced all rights to legislate for Ireland[52]; the British +Parliament technically possessed no representatives in the Parliament +at Dublin. But any one who judges of institutions not by words but by +facts will perceive that in one way or another the influence and the +wishes of the British Government were represented more than sufficiently +in the Irish Houses of Parliament. Grattan's constitution, in short, +left the British Parliament absolutely supreme in all British and +Imperial affairs, and gave to the British Ministry predominating weight +in the government of Ireland. This is a very different thing from the +shadowy sovereignty which the English Parliament retains, but abstains +from exercising, in our self-governing colonies. It is a very different +thing from the nominal power to legislate for Ireland which the new +constitution confers upon the Imperial Parliament. + +Since the Union England and Ireland have been politically one nation. +The Imperial or British Government has controlled, and the Imperial +Parliament has passed laws for, the whole country. Nor has the presence +of the Irish members till recent days substantially limited the +authority of Great Britain. Till 1829 the Protestant landlords of +Ireland who were represented in the Imperial Parliament shared the +principles or the prejudices of English landowners. Since the granting +of Catholic emancipation Roman Catholic or Irish ideas or interests have +undoubtedly perplexed or encumbered the working of British politics. +But the representatives of Ireland have been for the most part divided +between the two great English parties, and it was not till Mr. Parnell's +influence united the majority of Irish representatives into a party +hostile to Great Britain that any essential evil or inconvenience +resulted from their presence at Westminster. This inconvenience, +whatever its extent, has been the price of the Union. The gain has been +worth the payment: the action of Parliament has been hampered, but its +essential and effective authority throughout the realm has been +maintained. + +In 1886 Mr. Gladstone framed a constitution which was meant to be a +final and a just settlement of the questions at issue between England +and Ireland. Under the constitution of 1886 Great Britain surrendered to +Ireland about the same amount of independence as is offered her under +the proposed constitution of 1893. But the difference in the position of +Great Britain under the two constitutions is immense. + +Under the constitution of 1886 Great Britain was offered a position of +the highest authority. + +To the British Parliament (in which was to sit not a single Irish +member) was to fall the appointment of the British or Imperial Ministry. +The British Parliament received absolute control of all British, +colonial, Imperial, and foreign affairs. Perfect unity was restored to +the spirit of her government, and predominance in the British, or, to +use ordinary language, in the English, Parliament was given to the +conservative elements of English society. Great Britain became mistress +in her own home; she became much more than this; she was enthroned as +undisputed sovereign of the British Empire.[53] + +Under the constitution, in short, of 1886, if Great Britain was weakened +on one side she was strengthened on another. Her Parliament obtained an +immense accession of authority, and was all but entirely freed both from +the necessity for considering Irish questions and from the damage of +Irish obstruction. Ireland surrendered to England all share in the +government of the Empire, and the further dismemberment of Great Britain +without the assent of the British people became difficult, if not +impossible. It does not lie in the mouth of Gladstonians to say that the +measure of 1886 was unjust. It was laid before the country as a +compromise which was just to England and to Ireland. The Irish leaders, +we were told, accepted the proposal, just as we are told that they +accept the proposed constitution of 1893. If the acceptance was honest, +then in 1886 they agreed to a bargain far more favourable to England +than the contract now pressed on our acceptance. If their acquiescence +was a mere pretence, what trust can we place in the assertion that they +accept the arrangement of 1893? + +However this may be, it is clear that England is now offered a position +of weakness and of inferiority such as she has never occupied during the +whole course of her history. What is the meaning or justification of the +proposed surrender by England of every compensation for Irish Home Rule +which was offered her in 1886? + +For this surrender Gladstonians assign but two reasons. + +The presence of the Irish members at Westminster is, it is said, a +concession to the wishes of Unionists. + +This plea, even were it supported by the facts of the case, would be +futile. It might pass muster with disputants in search of a verbal +triumph, but to any man seriously concerned for the welfare of the +nation must appear childishly irrelevant. The welfare of the State +cannot turn upon the neatness of a _tu quoque_; retorts are not reasons, +and had every Unionist, down from the Duke of Devonshire to the present +writer, pressed in 1886 for the retention of the Irish members at +Westminster, the controversial inexpertness of the Unionists seven years +ago would not diminish the dangers with which, under a system of Home +Rule, the presence of the Irish members at Westminster actually +threatens England. But the plea, futile as it is, is not supported by +fact. It rests on a misrepresentation of the Unionist position in 1886. + +'The case in truth stands thus:--Mr. Gladstone was [in 1886] placed in +effect in this dilemma: "If you do not," said his opponents, "retain the +Irish representatives at Westminster, the sovereignty of the British +Parliament will be, under the terms of your Bill, no more than a name; +if you do retain them, Great Britain will lose the only material +advantage offered her in exchange for the local independence of +Ireland." Gladstonians, in substance, replied that the devices embodied +in the Government of Ireland Bill at once freed the British Parliament +from the presence of the Parnellites and safeguarded the sovereignty of +the British, or (for in this matter there was some confusion) of the +Imperial Parliament. On the latter point issue was joined. The other +horn of the dilemma fell out of sight, and some Unionists, rightly +believing that the Bill as it stood did not preserve the supremacy of +the British Parliament, pressed the Ministry hard with all the +difficulties involved in the removal of the Irish members. In the heat +of debate speeches were, I doubt not, delivered in which the argument +that you could not, as the Bill stood, remove the Irish members from +Westminster and keep the British Parliament supreme in Ireland, was +driven so far as to sound like an argument in favour of, at all costs, +allowing members from Ireland to sit in the English Parliament. Those +who appeared to fall into this error were, it must be noted, but a +fraction of the Unionist Party, and their mistake was little more than +verbal. When the Ministry maintained that the removal of the Irish +members from Westminster was a main feature of their Home Rule policy, +opponents naturally insisted upon the defects of the scheme laid before +them, and did not insist on the equal or greater defects of a plan which +the Government did not advocate. Mr. Gladstone, we are now told, has +changed his position, and assents to the principle that Ireland must be +represented in the British Parliament. If this assent be represented as +a concession to the demands of Unionists, my reply is that it is no such +thing. It is merely the acceptance of a different horn of an +argumentative dilemma. Grant for the sake of argument (what is by no +means certain) that the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament is really +saved. The advantage offered to England in exchange for Home Rule is +assuredly gone. My friend, Mr. John Morley, used to argue in favour of +Home Rule from the necessity of freeing the English Parliament from +Parnellite obstruction. As a matter of curiosity, I should like to know +what he thinks of a concession which strikes his strongest argumentative +weapon out of his hands. My curiosity will be satisfied on the same day +which tells us Lord Spencer's reflections on the surrender of the policy +represented by the Land Purchase Bill. Meanwhile, I know well enough the +thoughts of every Unionist who is not tied by the exigencies of his +political antecedents or utterances. To say that in the eyes of such a +man the proposed concession is worthless, is to say far too little. It +is not a concession which he rates at a low price; it is a proposal +which he heart and soul condemns.'[54] + +These words were not written to meet the present condition of the +controversy; they were published in 1887 at a time when no Gladstonian, +except Mr. Gladstone (if indeed he were an exception), knew whether the +retention in the Parliament at Westminster, or the exclusion from the +Parliament at Westminster, of the Irish members, was an essential +principle of Home Rule. + +England again, it is alleged, suffers without murmuring all the +inconvenience caused by the Irish vote at Westminster; and she may well, +under a system of Home Rule, bear without complaint evils which she has +tolerated for near a century. + +The answer to this reasoning is plain. It is a sorry plea indeed for a +desperate innovation that it leaves the evils of the existing state of +things no worse than they now are. For the sake of the maintenance of +the Union, which Unionists hold of inestimable value, England has borne +the inconvenience caused to her by the Irish vote. It argues simplicity, +or impudence, to urge that England should continue to bear the +inconvenience when the national unity is sacrificed for the sake of +which it was endured. But the reply does not stop here. The presence of +Irish members at Westminster under the new constitution increases and +stereotypes the evils, whatever their extent, now resulting from the +existence of 103 Irish members in the House of Commons. The evils are +increased because the Irish members are turned into a delegation from +the Irish State, and their action ceases to be influenced, as it now is, +by the consideration--a very important one--that the Imperial Parliament +not only in theory but in fact legislates for Ireland, and that the +English Cabinet controls the Irish administration and directs the course +of political promotion in Ireland. The sentiment and the interest of the +Irish members will be changed. Whether they come from North or South +they will be representatives of Ireland, and will naturally and rightly +consider themselves agents bound in every case to make the best bargain +they can for Ireland as against the United Kingdom, or, in plain +language, as against England. They will no longer feel it their interest +to keep in power the English party which they think will best govern +Ireland, for with the government of Ireland the Imperial Parliament +will, as long as the new constitution stands, have no practical concern. +No honest Home Ruler supposes that, if the Home Rule Bill passes into +law, the Imperial Parliament will, even should the tragedy of the +Phoenix Park be repeated in some more terrible form, pass a Crimes Act +for Ireland; to the Irish Government will belong the punishment of Irish +crime. No interest will therefore restrain the Irish delegation from +swaying backwards and forwards between the two English parties, in +order to obtain from the one or the other some momentary advantage, or +some lucrative concession, to the Irish people. Intrigue will be +pardonable, diplomatic finesse will become a duty. This evil no doubt in +some degree exists, but under the present state of things it admits of +diminution. A just redistribution of the franchise will undoubtedly +lessen the number of Ireland's representatives, whilst it will increase +the relative importance, if not the actual numbers, of loyalists in the +representation of Ireland. The gradual settlement of the land question, +as Unionists believe, will further strike at the true root of Irish +discontent, and in removing the true grievance of the Irish tenants will +diminish the strength of the party which depends for its power on the +revolutionary elements in Irish society. But all chance of mitigating +the inconvenience inflicted upon England by the presence of the Irish +members vanishes for ever when they are changed into an Irish +delegation, and are compelled by their position to be the mere +mouthpiece of Ireland's claims against England. + +The alleged reasons for the weakening of England are untenable, and, +were they tenfold stronger than they are, could not remove the flagrant +contradiction between the Gladstonian policy of 1886 and the Gladstonian +policy of 1893. + +But a contradiction which cannot be removed may be explained. + +The withdrawal of the Irish members from Westminster might give Ireland +the chance of obtaining some of the benefits, and compensate England for +some of the evils, of Home Rule. But however this may be, one result it +would produce with certainty; it would dash the Gladstonian party to +pieces. The friends of Disestablishment, the Welsh, or the Scottish, +Home Rulers, the London Socialists, all the revolutionists throughout +the country, know that with the departure of the Irish representatives +from Westminster their own hopes of triumph must be indefinitely +postponed. England is the stronghold of British conservatism, and an +arrangement which leaves the fate of England in the hands of Englishmen +may be favourable to reform, but is fatal to revolution. Has this fact +arrested the attention of Gladstonians? I know not. It is an unfortunate +coincidence that the least defensible portion of an indefensible policy +should, while it threatens ruin to England, offer temporary salvation to +the party who rally round Mr. Gladstone.[55] + + +C. _The Powers of the Irish Government_ + +I. _The Irish Executive_. At the head of the Irish Executive will +nominally stand the Lord Lieutenant; he will however in reality occupy +the position of a colonial Governor, and be, for most purposes, little +more than the ornamental figure-head of the Irish Administration. The +real executive government of Ireland[56] must be a parliamentary +Ministry or Cabinet[57] chosen in effect, though not in name, by the +Irish Parliament, or rather by the Irish Legislative Assembly, or House +of Commons, just as the English Cabinet is appointed in effect by the +English House of Commons. Allowing then for the occasional intervention +of the Lord Lieutenant as the representative of the Imperial Parliament +to protect either the interests of the Empire or the special rights of +the United Kingdom,[58] the Irish Ministry is to occupy in Ireland the +position which the New Zealand Ministry occupies in New Zealand, and +will for most purposes as truly govern Ireland as the New Zealand +Ministry governs New Zealand, or as Mr. Gladstone's Ministry governs +England. The Irish Ministry will be the true Government of Ireland. + +This is a fact to which the attention of the English public ought to be +sedulously directed. The creation of an independent Irish Parliament +strikes the imagination; it is seen to be an innovation of primary +importance. The creation of an independent Irish Cabinet or Ministry is +taken as a matter of course, and neither Unionists nor Gladstonians see +its full import. Yet in Ireland, as elsewhere, the character of the +Executive is of more practical consequence than the character of the +Legislature. A country may dispense, for a long time, with legislation; +no country can dispense with good government. + +This principle holds good even in an orderly country such as England, +where the sphere of the administration is far less extended than it is +in most States. We might get on for a good while prosperously enough +without a Parliament, or without new laws, but if anything deprived us +even for a week of an Executive, or if, for any reason, the whole spirit +of the public administration were changed, every Englishman would feel +this portentous revolution in every concern of his daily life. The +protection of the Government, of the army, of the police, of the law +courts, are with us so much matters of course, that we never realise how +much the comfort and prosperity of our existence hang upon it, nor do we +reflect that the aid we derive from the Courts is in the last instance +dependent upon the decisions of the judges being actively supported by +the forces at the command of the executive power. Again, we are so used +to the preservation on the part of the Executive and the Courts of an +attitude of perfect impartiality and to the extension of their aid to +all citizens alike, that we can hardly even in imagination conceive what +would be the condition of things if the public administration favoured +particular classes and looked askance on the rights of one class, whilst +it enforced with rigour the rights of another. Yet events which have +been passing before our eyes may show any one how absolutely dependent +we may be, at any moment, for our enjoyment of life, property, or +freedom upon the authority and the equity of the Executive. Consider the +strike at Hull. Practically the legal rights and personal freedom of +every inhabitant of the city depend upon the action of the Government. +It is as plain as day that if the Government had taken actively and +unfairly the side of one party or the other to the contest, the party +which the Government favoured would at once have won. Suppose, though +the supposition is a very improbable one, that the Home Secretary had +directed the police to put down every form of picketing and to arrest +every one who counselled the free labourers to desert their employment, +the strike would come at once to an end. Suppose on the other hand--the +supposition is also a wild one--that the Home Secretary had declined to +protect the rights of the free labourers, that the troops had been +withdrawn, and that the police had been inactive; suppose, in short, +that the Government had been careless to maintain order. The Trade +Unionists would at once have become supreme, and freedom of contract, as +well as liberty of person, would have been at once abolished. Even in +England then the power to exercise our rights as citizens has its source +in the constant, though unobserved, intervention of the executive power. +What is true of England is truer still of countries where the sphere of +the administration is more widely extended than with us, and what is +true of every civilised country is truest of all of Ireland. Ireland is +a country where the sphere of the administration is large, and where it +will probably be increased. Ireland is divided by hostile factions not +too much prone to respect the law. Even as things stand, the Irish +Executive finds it hard enough to hold a perfectly even and level +course, and the whole state of the country depends upon the spirit in +which the law is enforced. One of the very gravest defects of our +present system is that in Ireland a change of government means, to a +certain extent, a change in the administration of the law. Yet both Mr. +Balfour and Mr. Morley have enforced the law, and have meant, according +to their lights, to act towards all citizens with equitable +impartiality. And Mr. Balfour, Mr. Morley, or any statesman appointed by +the Imperial Parliament, is likely to act with more fairness than at the +present moment would any Executive chosen by any Irish Parliament. One +thing, at any rate, is certain. An independent Irish Executive will +possess immense power. It will be able by mere administrative action or +inaction, without passing a single law which infringes any Restriction +to be imposed by the Irish Government Act, 1893, to effect a revolution. +Let us consider for a moment a few of the things which the Irish Cabinet +might do if it chose. It might confine all political, administrative, or +judicial appointments to Nationalists, and thus exclude Loyalists from +all positions of public trust. It might place the Bench,[59] the +magistracy, the police wholly in the hands of Catholics; it might, by +encouragement of athletic clubs where the Catholic population were +trained to the use of arms, combined with the rigorous suppression of +every Protestant association suspected, rightly or not, of preparing +resistance to the Parliament at Dublin, bring about the arming of +Catholic and the disarming of Protestant Ireland, and, at the same time, +raise a force as formidable to England as an openly enrolled Irish army. +But the mere inaction of the Executive might in many spheres produce +greater results than active unfairness. The refusal of the police for +the enforcement of evictions would abolish rent throughout the country. +And the same result might be attained by a more moderate course. Irish +Ministers might in practice draw a distinction between 'good' landlords +and 'bad' landlords, and might grant the aid of the police for the +collection of reasonable, though refusing it for the collection of +excessive rents, and might at last magnanimously recognise the virtues +of Mr. Smith-Barry, whilst passing a practical sentence of outlawry on +Lord Clanricarde. Is there anything absurd or unreasonable in the +supposition that a Ministry of Land Leaguers chosen by a Parliament of +Nationalists should attempt to enforce the unwritten law of the Land +League? A Gladstonian who answers this question in the affirmative +entertains a far lower opinion than can any candid Unionist of Mr. +Gladstone's Irish allies. It would be the grossest unfairness to suggest +that every man convicted of conspiracy by the Special Commission added +to criminality and recklessness a monstrous form of hypocrisy, and that, +whilst urging Irish peasants to boycott evictors and land-grabbers, he +felt no genuine moral abhorrence of evictions and land-grabbing. But if, +as is certainly the case, the founders of the Land League really +detested the existing system of land tenure, and considered a landlord +who exacted rent a criminal, and a tenant who paid it a caitiff, it is +as certain as anything can be that they will be under the greatest +temptation, not to say, in their own eyes, under a stringent moral +obligation, to strain the power of an Irish Executive for the purpose of +abolishing the payment of rent. Nothing, at any rate, will seem to an +Irish Ministry more desirable than that within three years[60] from the +passing of the Bill landlords and tenants should come to an arrangement, +and nothing is more likely to produce this result than the withdrawal +from the landlords of the aid, if not the protection, of the law. My +argument, however, at the present point does not require the assertion +or the belief that an Irish Ministry will be guilty of every act of +oppression which it can legally commit. All that I insist upon is that +an Irish Ministry will exercise immense power, and that without +violating a letter of the constitution, and without passing a single act +which any Court whatever could treat as void, the Ministry will be able +to change the social condition of Ireland. The Irish Cabinet, remember, +will not be checked by any Irish House of Commons, for it will represent +the majority of that House. It will not need to fear the interposition +of the Imperial Ministry or the Imperial Parliament, for if the +authorities in England are to supervise and correct the conduct of the +Irish Cabinet, Home Rule is at an end. Mr. Asquith has repudiated all +idea of creating two Executives in Ireland[61] for the ordinary purposes +of government, and from his own point of view he is right. The notion of +a dual control is preposterous; the attempt to carry it out must involve +anarchy or revolution. The Irish Ministry must in ordinary matters be at +least as free as the Ministry of a self-governing colony. The +independence of the Irish Executive is indeed a totally new phenomenon +in Irish history, and is, as I have said, a far more important matter +than the independence of the Irish Parliament, but it is an essential +feature of Home Rule, and every elector throughout England should try to +realise its import. + +One check, indeed, is placed upon the power of the Irish Cabinet. The +military forces of the Crown, and the Royal Irish Constabulary and +Dublin Metropolitan Police (as long as they exist[62]), are subject to +the control of the Imperial or English Ministry.[63] The result is that +the English Cabinet will have the means of using force in Ireland for +the maintenance of order, for the execution of the law, or for the +maintenance of the authority of the Imperial Parliament. But this +advantage is after all purchased at the price of placing the country +under the rule of something very like two Executives. If the policy of +the Irish Cabinet, _e.g._ as to suppressing a riot at Dublin or Belfast, +should differ from the policy of the English Cabinet, the ordinary +police may be called into action whilst the army or the royal +constabulary stand by inactive, or the army may disperse a meeting which +the Irish Ministry hold to be a lawful assembly. + +II. _The Irish Parliament._ The authority of the Irish Parliament, +whilst acting within the limits of the constitution, is extremely +wide.[64] + +The Parliament appoints the Irish Government of the day; it will +determine whether Mr. M'Carthy or Mr. Redmond, Mr. Healy or Mr. Davitt, +directs the Irish Administration. In this matter the British Government +will have no voice. The English Ministry are under the new constitution +expected in many ways to co-operate with the Irish Ministry, yet it is +quite conceivable that the Ministers of the Crown at Dublin may be men +whose whole ideas of expediency, of policy, of political morality, may +be opposed to the ideas of the Ministers of the Crown at Westminster. + +The Irish Parliament, again, even if every Restriction on its powers +inserted in the Home Rule Bill should pass into law, will be found to +have ample scope for legislative action.[65] + +It can repeal[66] any Act affecting Ireland which was enacted before the +passing of the Home Rule Bill. Thus it can do away with the right to the +writ of _habeas corpus_; it can abolish the whole system of trial by +jury; it can by wide rules as to the change of venue expose any +inhabitant of Belfast, charged with any offence against the Irish +Government, to the certainty of being tried in Dublin or in Cork. If an +Irish law cannot touch the law of treason or of treason-felony, the +leaders of the Irish Parliament may easily invent new offences not +called by these names, and the Parliament may impose severe penalties on +any one who attempts by act or by speech to bring the Irish Government +into contempt. A new law of sacrilege may be passed which would make +criticism of the Irish priesthood, or attacks on the Roman Catholic +religion, or the public advocacy of Protestantism, practically +impossible. The Irish House of Commons may take the decision of election +petitions into its own hands, and members nominated by the priests may +determine the proper limits of spiritual influence. Thus the party +dominant at Dublin can, if they see fit, abolish all freedom of +election; nor is this all that the Irish Parliament can accomplish in +the way of ensuring the supremacy of an Irish party. After six years +from the passing of the Home Rule Bill--let us say in the year 1900--the +Irish Parliament can alter the qualification of the electors and the +distribution of the members among the constituencies. Parliament can in +fact introduce at once universal suffrage, and do everything which the +ingenuity of partisanship can suggest for diminishing the +representation of property and of Protestantism. If, further, in any +part of Ireland there be reason to fear opposition to the laws of the +Irish Parliament, a severer Coercion Act may be passed than any which +has as yet found its way on to the pages of the English or the Irish +Statute Book. Worse than all this, the Irish Parliament has the right to +legislate with regard to transactions which have taken place before the +passing of the Home Rule Bill. An Act inflicting penalties on +magistrates who have been zealous in the enforcement of the Crimes Act, +an Act abolishing the right to recover debts incurred before 1893, an +Act for compensation to tenants who had suffered from obedience to the +behests of the Land League, are all Acts which, however monstrous, the +Irish Parliament is, under the new constitution, competent to pass. + +My assertion is, be it noted, not that all or any of such laws would be +passed, but that the passing of them would, under the new constitution, +be legal. The Irish Parliament could further by its legislation pursue +lines of policy opposed to the moral feeling and political judgment of +Great Britain, and this too where Irish legislation practically affects +Great Britain. State lotteries might be re-established, gambling tables +might be re-opened at Dublin. If the imposition of protective duties on +imported goods is forbidden, there is nothing apparently to prevent the +reintroduction of Protection into Ireland by the payment of bounties; +there is certainly nothing to prohibit the repeal or suspension of the +Factory Acts, so that English manufacturers might be compelled to +compete with Irish rivals who are freed from the limits imposed upon +excessive labour by the humanity or the wisdom of England. The power of +the Irish Parliament to pass laws which in the eyes of Englishmen are +unwise or inequitable, is, it will be urged, an essential part of the +policy of Home Rule. I admit that this is so. But this makes it the more +necessary that English electors should realise what this essential +characteristic of Home Rule means, or may mean. The Nonconformist +conscience exposed Irish Home Rulers to painful humiliation and possible +ruin by forbidding them to follow the political leader of their choice +to whom they had deliberately renewed their allegiance. Is it certain +that Englishmen who could not tolerate the official authority of Mr. +Parnell will bear the official leadership, say of Mr. Healy, if employed +to carry out the economical principles of Mr. Davitt? + +The legislative powers, ample as they are, of the Irish Parliament are +in some respects restricted, but what the Parliament cannot accomplish +by law it could accomplish by resolution. The expressed opinion of a +legislature entitled to speak in the name of the people of Ireland must +always command attention, and may exert decisive influence. Suppose that +the Irish House of Commons asserts in respectful, but firm, language, +the right of the Irish people to establish a protective tariff; suppose +that when England is engaged in a diplomatic, or an armed, contest with +France, the Irish House of Commons resolves that Ireland sympathises +with France, that Ireland disapproves of all alliance with Germany, that +she has no interest in war, and wishes to stand neutral; or suppose +that, taking another line, the Irish Parliament at the approach of +hostilities resolves that the people of Ireland assert their inherent +right to arm volunteers, or raise an army in their own defence. No +English Minister can allege with truth that these resolutions or a score +more of the same kind are a breach of the constitution; yet such +resolutions will not be without their effect in England; they cannot be +without their effect abroad; in many parts of Ireland they will have +more than the authority of an Act of Parliament. + +Assume, for the purpose of my argument, that the Irish Parliament always +acts absolutely within the limits or the letter of the constitution, +though to make this assumption is to substitute unreasonable hopes for +rational expectations. What Englishmen should note, because they do not +yet understand it, is that within the limits of the constitution the +Irish Cabinet and the Irish Parliament possess and must possess the most +extensive powers, and that these powers may be used in ways which would +surprise and shock the British public, and impede and weaken the action +of the Imperial, or English, Government. + + +D. _The Restrictions (or Safeguards) and the Obligations_ + +I. _Their Nature_. The limitations on the power of the Irish Legislature +are of a twofold character. + +The Restrictions contained in clause 3 of the Bill are intended to +restrain the Irish Parliament from acting as the representative body of +an independent nation. This clause invalidates for example acts with +respect to the Crown or the succession to the Crown, with respect to +peace or war, with respect to the naval or military forces of the realm, +with respect to treaties or other relations with foreign states, and +with respect to trade with any place out of Ireland, which apparently +includes the imposition of a protective tariff. + +The Restrictions[67] contained in clause 4 may be roughly divided into +three heads; first, prohibitions intended to ensure the maintenance of +absolute religious equality[68]; secondly, prohibitions intended to +prevent injustice to individuals, such as deprivation of life, liberty, +or property without due process of law, denial of equal protection of +the law, the taxing of private property without due compensation, or the +unfair treatment of any existing corporation; thirdly, a provision +prohibiting any law which deprives any inhabitant of the United Kingdom +of equal rights to public sea fisheries.[69] + +On these Restrictions it were easy to write an elaborate treatise. +Should our new constitution ever come into force, they will give rise to +a whole series of judgments, and to lengthy books explanatory thereof. +The language in which the Restrictions are expressed is in many cases +exceptionable. No lawyer will venture to predict what for instance may +be the interpretation placed by the Courts on such expressions as 'due +process of law,' 'just compensation,' and the like, and it is more than +doubtful whether the so-called safeguards are so expressed as to carry +out the intention of their authors, or, even in words, adequately to +protect either the authority of the Imperial Parliament or the rights of +individuals. But it is not my purpose to criticise the Restrictions, or +the Bill itself, in detail. The drafting of the Government of Ireland +Bill needs much amendment, but at the present juncture it is waste of +time to criticise defects removable by better draftmanship or by slight +changes in the substance of the measure. My object is to dwell on such +points relating to the Restrictions as show their bearing on the +character of the new constitution.[70] + +_First._ The Restrictions are one and all of them limits upon the +powers of the Irish Parliament; they are none of them limits upon the +powers of the Irish Executive. The new constitution does not +contain--from its nature it hardly could contain--a single safeguard +against abuse of power by the Irish Ministry or its servants. Yet in all +countries there is far more reason to dread executive than parliamentary +oppression, and this is emphatically true of Ireland. + +_Secondly._ The Restrictions contain no prohibition against the passing +of an Act of Indemnity. + +Yet of all the laws which a Legislature can pass an Act of Indemnity is +the most likely to produce injustice. It is on the face of it the +legislation of illegality; the hope of it encourages acts of vigour, but +it also encourages violations of law and of humanity. The tale of +Flogging Fitzgerald in Ireland, or the history of Governor Eyre in +Jamaica, is sufficient to remind us of the deeds of lawlessness and +cruelty which in a period of civil conflict may be inspired by +recklessness or panic, and may be pardoned by the retrospective sympathy +or partisanship of a terror-stricken or vindictive Legislature. +Circumstances no doubt may arise in Ireland, as in other countries, +under which the maintenance of order or the protection of life may +excuse or require deviation from the strict rules of legality. But the +question, whether these circumstances have arisen, will always be +decided far more justly by the Parliament at Westminster than it can be +decided by the Parliament at Dublin. Can any one really maintain that a +Parliament in which Mr. Healy, or, for that matter, Col. Saunderson, +might be leader, would be as fair a tribunal as a Parliament under the +guidance of Mr. Gladstone or Lord Salisbury for determining whether an +officer who, acting under the direction of the Irish Government and with +a view to maintain order at Belfast or at Dublin, should have put an +agitator or conspirator to death without due trial, had or had not done +his duty. + +_Thirdly._ There is among the Restrictions no prohibition against the +passing of an _ex post facto_ law. Yet an _ex post facto_ law is the +instrument which a legislature is most apt to use for punishing the +unpopular use of legal rights. There is not a landlord, there is not a +magistrate, there is not a constable in Ireland, who may not tremble in +fear of _ex post facto_ legislation. There is no reason, as far as the +Home Rule Bill goes, why the gaoler who kept Mr. William O'Brien in +prison or the warders who attempted to pull off his breeches, should not +be rendered legally liable to punishment for their offences against the +unwritten law of Irish sedition. No such monstrosity of legal inequity +will, it may be said, be produced. I admit this. But the very object of +prohibitions is the prevention of outrageous injustice. The wise +founders of the United States prohibited both to Congress and to every +State legislature the passing of _ex post facto_ legislation. If any man +hint that it be an insult to Ireland to anticipate the possible +injustice of an Irish Parliament, my reply is simple. No Irishman need +resent as an insult prohibitions which were not felt to be insulting +either by the citizens of America or the citizens of Massachusetts. + +_Fourthly._ The Restrictions on the powers of the Irish Parliament do +not contain any safeguard against legislation which sets aside +contracts. + +This is remarkable, not to say ominous. The Gladstonian constitution has +been drawn up by legislators who profess to profit by the experience of +America. Under the Constitution of the United States[71] no State can +pass any law 'impairing the obligation of a contract.' This provision +has kept alive throughout the Union the belief in the sacredness of +legal promises. It embodies a principle which lies at the bottom of all +progressive legislation. It gives the best guarantee which a +constitution can give against the most insidious form of legislative +unfairness; it embodies a doctrine which all legislatures are likely to +neglect and which an Irish Parliament is more likely to neglect than any +other legislature, for in Ireland there exist contracts which do not +command popular approval, and the Imperial legislation of twenty years +and more has taught the Irish people that agreements which do not +command popular approval may, without breach of good faith, be set aside +by legislative enactment. We all know further that reforms, or +innovations, are desired by thousands of Irishmen which cannot be +carried into effect unless the obligation of contracts be impaired. Why, +then, have statesmen who borrow freely from the Constitution of the +United States omitted the most salutary of its provisions from our new +constitution? + +The official reply is at any rate singular; it is apparently[72] that +the section of the United States Constitution which invalidates any law +impairing the obligation of a contract has given much occupation to the +Courts of America. This answer is on the face of it futile; it urges the +proved utility of a law as a reason for its not being enacted; as well +suggest that because the criminal courts are mainly occupied with the +trial of thieves there ought to be no law against petty larceny, or that +because the labours of the Divorce Court increase year by year, the law +ought not to permit divorce. The absurdity of the official reply +suggests the existence of some reason which the defenders of this +strange omission are unwilling clearly to allege. The true reason why +the founders of the new constitution have omitted in this instance to +copy a polity which they profess to admire is not hard to discover. An +enactment which enjoined an Irish Parliament to respect the sanctity of +a contract would be fatal to any remodelling of the Irish land law which +tended towards the spoliation of landowners. Yet this very fact makes +the matter all the more serious. That British statesmen should under +these circumstances deliberately decline to insert an injunction to +respect the sanctity of plighted good faith is much more than an +omission. It amounts to the suggestion, almost to the approval, of +legislative robbery; it is a proclamation that as against landlords, as +against creditors, as against any unpopular class, the Imperial +Parliament sanctions the violation of good faith. To the Irish +Parliament the authors of the new constitution in effect say: 'You may +raise no soldiers, you may not yourselves summon volunteers for the +defence of your country, you shall not impose customs on foreign goods, +and are therefore forbidden to follow a policy of protection approved of +by every civilised State except England; you shall neither establish nor +endow a church, you shall not by providing salaries for your priesthood +at once lighten the burdens of the flock, and improve the position of +the pastor; these things, not to speak of many others, you are forbidden +to do, though there are many wise statesmen who deem that the courses of +action from which you are debarred would conduce to the dignity and the +prosperity of Ireland; but there is one thing which you may do, you may +sanction breach of faith, you may encourage dishonesty, you may enjoin +fraud, you may continue to teach the worst lesson which the vacillation +of English government has as yet taught the Irish people, you may drive +home the conviction that no man need keep a covenant when the keeping +thereof is to his own damage.' This is the message of political morality +which the last true Parliament of the United Kingdom hands over to the +first new Parliament of Ireland. + +II. _Their Enforcement._ The nature of the Restrictions imposed upon +the Parliament, and indirectly upon the Government of Ireland, is of far +less importance than are the means provided for their enforcement. A law +which is not enforceable is a nullity; it has in strictness no +existence. + +The methods provided by the Home Rule Bill for keeping the Irish +Parliament within its proper sphere of legislative activity are two in +number--the veto of the Lord Lieutenant, and the action of the Courts. + +_The Veto._ This is little more than an empty sham, for it must in +general be exercised on the advice of the Irish Cabinet; in other words +it will never be exercised at all.[73] Were the matter not so serious +there would be something highly amusing in the conduct of +constitution-makers who, intending to provide against unconstitutional +legislation on the part of the Irish Parliament, provide that the Irish +Cabinet, who are practically appointed by the Irish Parliament, and who +direct its legislation, shall have power to veto Bills passed by the +Irish Parliament presumably on the advice of the Irish Cabinet. + +The English Ministry no doubt may, if they see fit, instruct the Lord +Lieutenant to veto a given Bill. So also the Imperial Parliament has +authority to repeal or override any Act, constitutional or +unconstitutional, passed by the Irish Parliament. Each power stands on +the same footing, neither is meant for ordinary use; either is a means +of legal revolution. The veto of the Crown means little in New Zealand; +it will at best mean no more in Ireland; but in truth it will mean a +good deal less. New Zealand sends no member to Westminster to stay the +hand of the Imperial Government whenever it attempts by way of veto or +otherwise to put in force the reserved powers of the Imperial +Parliament.[74] + +_The Privy Council and the Courts_. The English Privy Council[75] may +nullify the effect of Irish legislation in two ways. + +It may as an administrative body give a decision that an Act is +void.[76] This power can by exercised only upon the application of the +Lord Lieutenant or a Secretary of State, and it is a power which we may +expect will be but rarely employed, for its use would at once give rise +to a direct conflict between the Irish Parliament and the English Privy +Council. Let it be noted in passing that this provision for the decision +of constitutional questions is foreign to the habits and traditions of +English Courts; no judge throughout the United Kingdom ever pronounces +a speculative opinion upon the extent, operation, or validity of an Act +of Parliament. It is the inveterate habit of our judges to deal with +particular cases as they come before them, and with particular cases +alone. They will find themselves greatly perplexed when they come to +pronounce judgment upon abstract questions of law. This is not all. The +proposed arrangement is as foreign to the spirit of American Federalism +as it is to the spirit of English law. The Supreme Court of the United +States never in strictness pronounces an Act either of Congress or of a +State Legislature void. What the Court does is to treat it as void in +the decision of a particular case. Tocqueville and other critics have +directed special attention to the care with which the Federal tribunals, +by dealing only with given cases as they arise, avoid as far as possible +coming into conflict with any State. They determine the rights of +individuals; they do not determine directly what may be the legislative +competence of the State, or for that matter of the Federal, +Legislature.[77] The extraordinary power given to the Privy Council +violates a fundamental principle of federalism, which by the way is +violated in other parts of the Home Rule Bill. It brings, or tends to +bring, the central power, represented in this case by the Privy Council, +into direct conflict with one of the States of the Federation.[78] + +The English Privy Council, or, in strictness, the Judicial Committee of +the Privy Council, is under the new constitution constituted a Final +Court of Appeal from every Court in Ireland.[79] + +The Privy Council also is the Court of Appeal from a new kind of +Imperial, or as one may say 'Federal,' judiciary, specially formed for +the determination of matters having relation to the competence of the +Irish Parliament. + +This Imperial or Federal judiciary consists of the two Exchequer Judges +of the Supreme Court in Ireland; they are appointed under the Great Seal +of the United Kingdom, and therefore by the English Ministry. Their +salaries are charged on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, and +they are removable only on an address to the Houses of the Imperial +Parliament. They constitute therefore an Imperial not an Irish Court. +Before this Court may be brought on the application of any party thereto +any legal proceedings in Ireland which _inter alia_ 'touch any matter +not within the power of the Irish Legislature, or touch any matter +affected by a law which the Irish Legislature has not power to repeal or +alter.'[80] With the details of these arrangements I need not trouble my +readers; the point to notice is that, whenever in any proceeding in +Ireland the validity or constitutionality of an Irish Act can come into +question, the matter may, at the wish of any party concerned, and in +many cases apparently must be, brought before an Imperial or in effect +British Court--the Exchequer Judges--and be determined by them subject +to an appeal to another Imperial or British Court, viz. the Privy +Council. Note further that to the Exchequer Judges are given special +powers for the enforcement of any judgment of their Court. If the +Sheriff does not give effect to their judgment, they may appoint any +other officer with the full rights of a Sheriff to enforce it.[81] + +Here then we have the machinery of the Imperial, or Federal, Judicature. +To put the matter simply, the Restrictions imposed on the Irish +Parliament depend for their effectiveness on judgments of the Privy +Council enforced by the Exchequer Judges. + +Consider how the whole arrangement will work.[82] The theoretical +operation of the scheme is clear enough. _A_ sues _X_ in an Irish Court, +say, to simplify matters, before the Exchequer Judges, for £1,000 due to +_A_ for rent. _X_ bases his defence on an Act of the Irish Parliament, +drawn by Irish statesmen, and approved presumably by Irish electors. _A_ +questions the constitutionality of the Act. The Exchequer Judges are +divided in opinion. The matter at last comes before the Privy Council. +The Privy Council pronounce the Act void, and give judgment in _A's_ +favour. He has a right to recover the £1,000 from _X_. The whole +question in theory is settled. The law is unconstitutional, the law is +void; _A_ has obtained judgment. But can the judgment be enforced? This +is the essential question; for the object of a plaintiff is to obtain +not judgment but payment or execution. What then are the means for +enforcing the judgment of the Privy Council when it is not supported by +Irish opinion, when it sets aside an Act of the Irish Parliament, and +when it may possibly be opposed to the decision, in a similar case, of +an Irish Court? The means are the action of the Sheriff. What if the +Sheriff is a strong Nationalist, and makes default? The only thing to be +done is to appoint an officer empowered to carry out the decree of the +Court. Of course if the Irish Ministry are bent on enforcing the +judgment, if the Exchequer Court, whose judgment, it may be, has been +overruled, is zealous in supporting the authority of the Privy Council, +if the Irish people are filled with reverence for tribunals which are +really English Courts, all will go well. But Mr. Gladstone himself +cannot anticipate that novel constitutional machinery will work with +ease, or that on the passing of the Home Rule Bill the disposition, the +traditional feelings, and the sympathies of the Irish populace will be +changed. Suppose that _A_ is Lord Clanricarde; suppose that _X_ is an +evicted tenant. It is not common sense to believe that the judgment in +his lordship's favour will as a matter of course take effect. At the +present moment the Irish Courts, backed by the whole authority of the +Imperial Government and the Irish Executive, often find a difficulty in +enforcing their judgments. Will English Courts find it easy to give +effect to a judgment in Ireland if the Irish Executive and its servants +stand neutral or hostile? What if the Irish House of Commons turn out as +unwilling that force should be used for enforcing the decree of the +Privy Council as are some English Radicals that force shall be employed +for the protection of free labourers against Trades Unionists? What if +the officer of the Court is in fact some bailiff trembling for his own +life? He may, I am told, call in the military. Of his authority to do +this I am not quite sure. He must, I suppose, in the first instance +apply to the Irish Home Secretary. The Irish Minister pressed by the +opposition turns a deaf ear to the appeal of the bailiff. Application +must then be made in some form or other to the English Ministry. The +Imperial Cabinet will think more than once before horse, foot, and +artillery are, against the wish of the Irish Government, put in movement +to enforce the judgment of a British Court, and to obtain £1,000 for +Lord Clanricarde. The matter will have become serious; the dignity of +the Irish nation will be at stake; the complaints of the plaintiff will +be drowned by the indignant clamours of eighty members at Westminster. +The essential principle of the new constitution is that there shall be +but one Executive in Ireland. The moment that the British Government +intervenes to support the judgment of British Courts, we have in Ireland +two hostile Executives. We tremble on the verge either of legal +revolution or of civil war. An English Cabinet, I suspect, will hardly +enforce the unpopular rights of a hated plaintiff by use of arms. + +Why, it will be said, assume that the Irish Government and the Irish +people will not enforce the law? The assumption, I answer, is justified +not only by the history of Ireland, but by general experience. In all +federations, even the best ordered, difficulties constantly arise as to +the sphere of the Federal Government and the State Governments, and as +to the enforcement of judgments delivered by Federal Courts. The +authority of the federal tribunals has not always been easily enforced +even in the United States. Serious difficulties hamper the action of the +Swiss federal authorities. Even in England enthusiasm or conviction +occasionally triumphs over legality. English clergymen are at least as +reasonable as excited politicians, yet Ritualists have not invariably +submitted to the authority of the Privy Council. Why should Irishmen be +more reasonable than other men? In Ireland we are trying an entirely +novel and dangerous experiment; we are fostering the spirit of +nationality under the forms of federation. The Privy Council, hide the +matter as you will, represents British power. If Ireland is a nation, +the Government of Great Britain is an alien Government; the judgments of +the Privy Council are the judgments of an alien Court, and reason +forbids us to expect more submission to the decisions of an alien +tribunal than to the laws of an alien legislature. + +Suppose, however, that British judgments are enforced by the British +army. Is this a result in which any Englishman or Irishman could +rejoice? Can we say that the new constitution works well when its real +and visible sanction is the use of British soldiers? The plain truth is +that arrangements for legally restraining the Irish Parliament within +the due limits of its powers must be ineffective and unreal and, if the +principle of Home Rule be once admitted, the widest must be the wisest +form of it. Colonial independence is better for Ireland and safer for +England than sham federalism.[83] + +Grant, however, that the judgments of the Privy Council can be enforced +more easily than I suppose, still even Gladstonians would admit that the +proper working of the new constitution depends on two presumptions. The +one is that the Irish people are under no strong temptation to oppose +the Restrictions or to throw off the obligations imposed upon the Irish +Parliament or Government. The other that they possess no ready means for +nullifying these Restrictions or obligations. + +Each of these assumptions is false. + +Restraints ineffective for the protection either of British interests or +of individual freedom may be intensely irritating to national sentiment. + +The limitations imposed on the powers of the Irish Parliament, or, in +other words, of the Irish people, are opposed to the spirit of +nationality and independence which Home Rule, it is hoped, will appease +or satisfy. They will be hateful therefore not only to that multitude +whom Gladstonians call the Irish people, but to every Irishman who is +bidden by Gladstonians to consider himself a member of the Irish nation. + +The Irish are a martial race; they excel in the practice, and delight in +the pageantry, of warfare, but they are forbidden to raise a regiment or +man a gunboat. They cannot legally raise a regiment of volunteers, they +cannot save their country from invasion. Will they permanently acquiesce +in restraints not imposed on the Channel Islands? Irishmen, Unionists no +less than Home Rulers, are mostly Protectionists, and believe that +tariffs may give to Ireland, not indeed a 'plethora of wealth,' for of +this no man out of Bedlam except Mr. Gladstone dreams, but reasonable +prosperity. Vain to argue that Protection is folly. Englishmen think so, +and Englishmen are right. But English doctrine is not accepted in +Germany, in France, in the United States, or in the British Colonies; +why should Irishmen be wiser than the inhabitants of every civilised +country, except England? The fact, in any case, cannot be altered that +most Home Rulers are Protectionists, and that many of them desire Home +Rule mainly because they desire Protection for Ireland. Yet Protection, +at any rate in the form of a tariff, they cannot have.[84] Take again +the Restrictions imposed on the endowment of religion. All English +Nonconformists, and many English Churchmen, hold these Restrictions to +be in themselves politic and just. But the one strong reason for the +concession of Home Rule is that Irishmen disagree with English notions +of policy and of justice. No one can assign any reason why Irish +statesmen, Catholics or Protestants, might not feel it a matter of duty +or of policy to endow the priesthood, to level up instead of levelling +down, to enter into some sort of concordat with Rome. It is a policy +which is distasteful to English Nonconformists and to most Irish +Protestants. But under a system of Home Rule, at any rate, English +Nonconformists have no right to dictate the policy of Ireland. There is +not the remotest reason why Restrictions on the endowments of religion +and the like should not be hateful to Irishmen. + +The limitations, in short, on the competence of the Irish Parliament are +inconsistent with the fundamental principle of Gladstonian statecraft. +It is a policy we are told of trust in the people, the limitations are +dictated by distrust of the Irish people; Home Rule is to be granted in +order that Irishmen may give effect to Irish ideas; the Restrictions are +enacted to check the development of Irish ideas, and to impose English +ideas upon the policy of Ireland. + +As though, however, the Restraints were not enough to cause first +irritation and then agitation, the financial provisions contemplated by +the Bill are in themselves certain to generate, not future, but +immediate discord. + +Of the financial arrangements instituted under the new constitution, my +purpose is to say very little. My object is not to show that Mr. +Gladstone's financial calculations are wrong, or that they are ruinous +to Ireland or unfair to England. All this is for my present purpose +immaterial. My aim is to insist that, in their very nature, they are a +cause of conflict; and that they bring the interest, and, even more, +the sentiment, of Ireland into direct opposition with the power of +England.[85] + +All the customs payable at every Irish port are to be regulated, +collected, and managed by, and to be paid into, the Exchequer of the +United Kingdom. Not a penny of these customs benefits Ireland; they are +all--and this is certainly the light in which they will appear to most +Irishmen--a contribution to the revenue of the United Kingdom, that is, +of England. If every taxable article were smuggled into Ireland, so that +not one pound of Irish customs were paid to the English treasury, the +Imperial power would lose, but the Irish State would gain. Ireland would +be delivered from a tax which will soon be called a tribute. If, +moreover, Ireland continues to be treated as financially a part of the +United Kingdom, then free smuggling, which is free trade, would make +Ireland a free port, where might be landed untaxed the goods required by +the whole United Kingdom. It is easy to see how the English revenue +would suffer, but it is equally easy to see that Irish commerce might +flourish. If I am told that the ruin of the British revenue may be +averted by the examination of goods brought from Ireland to Great +Britain--this, of course, is so. But then freedom of trade within the +United Kingdom is at an end. We are compelled, in substance, to raise an +internal line of custom houses; we abolish at one stroke one great +benefit of the Treaty of Union. + +The mode, again, in which the customs are levied outrages every kind of +national sentiment. Coast-guards, custom-house officers, and gaugers are +never popular among a population of smugglers; they will not be the more +beloved when every custom-house officer or coastguard is the +representative of an alien power, and is employed to levy tribute from +Ireland. + +Another leading feature of the financial arrangements is the charging +upon the Irish Consolidated Fund of various sums rightly due and payable +to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.[86] They are made a first charge +upon the revenue of Ireland. They are to be paid in the last resort upon +the order of the Lord Lieutenant, acting as an Imperial officer. The +necessity for some arrangement of this kind is clear. Millions have been +lent to Ireland, and these millions must be repaid. But if the need for +some such arrangement be certain, its desperate impolicy is no less +certain. England and Ireland, the English Government and the Irish +Government, are brought into direct hostile collision. The rich English +Government appears in the light of an imperious creditor the Irish +Government stands in the position of a poverty-stricken debtor. Note, +and this is the point which should be pressed home, that in all +confederations the difficulty of exacting the money needed by the +federal government from any state of the confederacy has been found all +but insuperable. Study the history of the thirteen American colonies +between the time of the acknowledgment of their independence by England +and the formation of the United States. This has been termed 'the +critical period' of American history. The colonies were united by +recollections of common suffering and of common triumph, they were not +divided by race or religion; no State aspired to separate nationality, +yet they drifted rapidly towards anarchy; they were discontented at +home, they were powerless abroad, above all, they nearly made shipwreck +on the financial arrangements. Congress was never able, for the +satisfaction either of national needs or of national honour, to obtain +fair contributions from the different States.[87] + +Already, further, before the Home Rule Bill has passed from the hands of +the House of Commons Mr. Gladstone's very moderate demands, as they seem +to Englishmen, are held by some Irish Nationalists to be outrageous.[88] +The difference, moreover, is not a matter of calculation, to be settled +by accounts and balances, or disposed of by auditors. No one can read +the statements of Nationalists such as Mr. Redmond or Mr. Clancy without +seeing that the real difference of view lies very deep. These typical +Nationalists do not regard the United Kingdom as a nation. Ireland is +the nation. They doubt what is her interest in the British Empire; they +believe, and already hint, that the financial arrangements between the +two countries cannot be treated as a mere pecuniary transaction. Ireland +has been overtaxed and overburdened. She has claims for compensation. +All the feelings or convictions which inspired hatred of Irish landlords +are already being aroused with regard to the Imperial power. A campaign +against tribute may become as popular as a campaign against rent. The +two campaigns indeed have a close affinity; a large portion of the +tribute is in reality payment in respect of rent, and the instalments +which an Irish farmer pays to buy his land will, to him at any rate, +appear rent or tribute payable to Great Britain. The rent or tribute +will be collected under the new constitution by the Irish +Government.[89] No Irish Ministry will relish the position of collector. +It would have been difficult for a landlord to collect rent after his +agent had publicly announced that it was excessive and unjust. Yet a +landlord could dismiss his agent; the English Cabinet cannot dismiss the +Irish Government. It is certain too that the Irish Ministry will not +find the collection of rent easy. Should the Irish Government state that +the rent is iniquitously high, and refuse to collect it, what will be +the position of the British Ministry? It must either set the +constitution aside or undertake for itself the collection of rent in +opposition to, or, at any rate, unaided by, the Irish Executive and the +Irish Parliament. No more odious task was ever undertaken by a +government. Suppose, however, that things do not come to the worst, the +financial arrangements of the Bill ensure that Ireland will soon demand +modifications of its provisions. Opposition is a probability, discontent +is a certainty. + +Ireland is provided under the new constitution with the readiest means +of nullifying the Restrictions. The Irish Cabinet and its servants can +at any moment reduce an unpopular law to a nullity. Even in England a +resolution of the House of Commons may be enough to turn a law into a +dead letter. The Imperial Cabinet at this moment could go very near +making the Vaccination Acts of no effect, and by declining to have +troops sent to Hull could, as I have already pointed out, give victory +to the Trades Unionists. Nor is it necessary that the Cabinet should +decline sending forces to Hull for the support of the law. An intimation +that persons accused of intimidation would either not be prosecuted at +all, or if prosecuted and convicted, would be pardoned, would be +sufficient of itself to make the strike successful. In no country could +the Executive do more to render laws ineffectual than in Ireland. The +Irish Cabinet might by mere inaction render the collection of rent +impossible; they might, as I have already pointed out, give tacit +encouragement to smuggling. If the people regarded a coastguard as an +enemy, if he and his family were left severely alone, if he were often +maltreated and occasionally shot, his position might be a difficult one, +even if supported by the whole force of the state. But if smuggling were +regarded as no crime, if the smuggler were looked upon as the patriot +who deprived an alien power of a revenue to which England had no right, +it is clear that nothing but the energetic support of all the central +and local authorities in the country could give a revenue officer the +remotest chance of victory in his contest with smugglers. But suppose +the national government were apathetic, suppose that the Irish Ministry +looked with favourable eye on the diminution of English revenue; suppose +that no Irish official gave any aid to a custom-house officer; suppose +that, if a British coastguardsman were murdered, Irish detectives made +no effort to discover the wrong-doer; and that when the culprit was +discovered the Irish law officers hesitated to prosecute; suppose that +when a prosecution took place the Attorney-General showed that his heart +was not in the matter, and that the jury acquitted a ruffian clearly +guilty of murder, is it not as clear as day that smuggling would +flourish and no customs be collected? In the same way the Irish Ministry +might by mere apathy, by the very easy process of doing nothing, nullify +the effect of judgments delivered by the Exchequer judges, and the Irish +Ministry would show very little ingenuity if they could not without any +open breach of the law impede the carrying out of executions against the +goods of persons whom popular feeling treated as patriots. + +The Irish Executive might, as already pointed out,[90] easily raise an +Irish army. Drilling countenanced or winked at by the Irish Ministry +could never be stopped by the British Government. Prussia at the period +of her extreme weakness, and under the jealous eye of Napoleon, sent +every Prussian through the ranks. Bulgaria raised an army while +pretending to encourage athletic sports. The value of the precedent is +not likely to escape an Irish Premier. + +The Irish Parliament cannot legally repeal a single provision of the +constitution, but an Irish Parliament might render much of the +constitution a nullity. The Parliament might pass Acts which trenched +upon the Restrictions limiting its authority. Till treated as void such +statutes would be the law of the land. Such voidable Acts, and even +parliamentary resolutions,[91] would go like a watchword through the +country and encourage throughout Ireland popular resistance to Imperial +law. A profound observer has remarked that people do not reckon highly +enough the importance at a revolutionary crisis of any show or +appearance of legality.[92] Revolution acquires new force when masked +under the form of law. This is a point which Englishmen constantly +overlook. They know the moral influence of leagues and combinations; +they do not reflect that a Parliament or House of Commons in sympathy +with resistance to Imperial demands would possess tenfold the moral +authority of any National League. Note too that the Irish Ministry and +the Irish Parliament would play into one another's hands, and would +further be strengthened by their Irish allies at Westminster, as also by +the Irish electoral vote in England. + +For the true stronghold of the Irish Government lies, under the new +constitution, at Westminster.[93] + +There they would command at least eighty votes: the Irish members could +still, as now, and far more effectively than now, coerce under ordinary +circumstances any Ministry disposed to enforce the rights of the +Imperial Government, or, in other words, of England. + +Take a concrete case to which I have already referred.[94] Irish farmers +who have purchased under the Ashbourne Act grow weary of paying +instalments which are equivalent to rent. The Irish Cabinet refuses to +collect the rent; it urges its absolute inability to pay the sums due to +the Imperial Exchequer and asks for remission. Meanwhile the Irish House +of Commons passes a resolution supporting the conduct of the Irish +Government. The British Ministers are stern, and reject the request of +the Irish Cabinet. The Cabinet at Dublin retire from office. No +successors can be appointed who command the support of the Irish +Parliament. The Lord Lieutenant advises the Government at home that +things have come to a deadlock and that a dissolution will change +nothing. Thereupon the Irish members at Westminster begin to move; they +threaten general hostility to the British Ministry. + +They proffer their support to the Opposition. It may of course happen +that the British Ministry can, like the Unionist Government of 1886, +defy the Opposition and the Irish members combined. If so the English +Cabinet can risk a constitutional conflict in Ireland, though it is a +conflict likely to end in disturbance or civil war. But judging the +future by the past the eighty members will hold the balance of power. If +so their course is clear. They expel from office the Ministers who have +protected the rights of the Imperial Government. A weak Ministry +depending on Irish votes rules, or rather is ruled, at Downing Street. +Every one knows how, under the supposed conditions, the affair will +end. There will be a transaction of some sort, and we may be certain +that such a transaction will be to the advantage of the Irish +Government, and will weaken or discredit Imperial or English authority. +We come round here to the root of the whole matter. Were the +Restrictions on the power of the Irish Parliament real and easily +enforceable, were the obligations imposed upon or undertaken by the +Irish people obligations of which an English Ministry could at once +compel the fulfilment, Restrictions and obligations alike would be +rendered futile and unreal by the presence of the Irish members at +Westminster. Every Home Rule scheme which can be proposed is impolitic +and is as dangerous as Separation; but the most impolitic of all +possible forms of Home Rule is the scheme embodied in the Bill of 1893. +Its special and irremediable flaw is the retention of the Irish members +at Westminster. This governs and vitiates all the leading provisions of +the new constitution. Under its influence every conceivable safeguard, +the supreme authority of Parliament, the veto, the legal restrictions on +the competence of the Irish legislature melt away into nothing. + +They are some of them capable of doing harm, they are none of them +capable of doing good. + +Cast a glance back at the leading features of the new constitution. + +The Imperial Parliament remains in form unchanged, and retains the +attribute of nominal sovereignty. But in Ireland the Imperial Parliament +surrenders all, or nearly all, the characteristics of true and effective +power; it retains in fact in Ireland nothing more than the right to +effect under the semblance of a legal proceeding a revolution which +after all must be carried out by force. For practical purposes it has no +more power at Dublin than it has at Melbourne, _i.e._ it retains at +Dublin scarcely any real power whatever. + +For the sake of this nominal and shadowy authority the Imperial +Parliament is itself transformed into a strange cross between a British +Parliament and the Congress of an Anglo-Irish Federation. + +The Irish Executive and the Irish Parliament become under the new +constitution the true and real Government of Ireland. But the Irish +Government and the Irish people are fettered by Restrictions which would +not be borne by the Government or the people of a self-governing colony. +These Restrictions are ineffective to bind, but they are certain to +gall, and if taken together with onerous financial obligations to Great +Britain, which whether just or not must have an air of hardness, and +with the habitual presence in Ireland of a British army under the +direction of the British Executive, lay an ample foundation for the most +irritating of conflicts. + +The new constitution, lastly, places in the hands of the Irish people +ample means for constitutional or extra-constitutional resistance to +Imperial, or in fact to English, power, and almost ensures the success +of Ireland in any constitutional conflict. The presence of the Irish +members at Westminster saves, or proclaims, the nominal sovereignty of +the Imperial Parliament; but their presence in truth makes this +sovereignty unexercisable, and therefore worthless, and while increasing +the apparent power ensures the real weakness of England. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[25] Thus little, if anything, is said in these pages on the +constitution of the Irish Legislature, though it is in several points, +and especially in the character of the Legislative Council, open to +grave criticism. Little, again, is said of the financial arrangements in +their fiscal character. The topic is of the highest importance, but it +must be debated in the main by experts. My remarks upon these +arrangements refer almost exclusively to the way in which they may +affect the working of the constitution. The inclusion of Ulster within +the operation of the Bill and the refusal to give weight to the demand +of Ulster that the Act of Union should not be touched, are of course +matters of primary importance. They ought never to be distant from the +thoughts of any one concerned with the policy or impolicy of Home Rule; +they dominate, so to speak, the whole political situation; they are +constantly referred to in these pages; but they do not form part of the +new constitution so much as conditions which affect the prudence or +justice of creating the new constitution. + +[26] Bill, 1893, Preamble, and clauses 33, 37. + +[27] The language of clause 33 is vague, but, according to the best +interpretation I can put upon it, its effect as to laws made for Ireland +after the Home Rule Bill becomes law will be this: The Imperial +Parliament will be able to pass enactments of any description whatever +with regard to Ireland, and the Irish Legislature will not be able to +repeal or alter any enactments so enacted by the Imperial Parliament +which are expressly extended to Ireland. Thus the Irish Parliament +might, it is submitted, on the Home Rule Bill passing into law repeal +the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, 50 & 51 Vict. c. 20. +But if, after the Home Rule Bill passed into law, the Criminal Law and +Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, were continued, or after its repeal by +the Irish Parliament were re-enacted, by the Imperial Parliament, then +the Irish Parliament could not repeal the Act or any part of it. Still +clause 33 of the Home Rule Bill is much too vaguely expressed. What, for +example, is the effect of an Act of the Imperial Parliament which is +'impliedly' extended to Ireland? If my interpretation of the clause is +the right one, the meaning of the clause ought to be made perfectly +clear; ambiguity in such a matter is unpardonable. + +[28] See pp. 4-6 _ante_. This ambiguity underlies and vitiates almost +every argument used by Home Rulers, whether English or Irish, in favour +of Home Rule. English Home Rulers emphasise and exaggerate the extent of +the control, or the so-called supremacy, which, after the establishment +of an Irish Parliament, can and will be exerted in Ireland by the +Imperial Parliament at Westminster. Irish Home Rulers, when addressing +English electors, or the Imperial Parliament, often use language which +resembles the phrases of their English allies. But assuredly Irish Home +Rulers, when addressing Irishmen, or when collecting subscriptions from +American citizens of Irish descent, speak the language of Irish +Nationalists and cut down the effective supremacy of the Imperial +Parliament after the granting of Home Rule so as to make it consistent +with the war cry of 'Ireland a Nation.' (Compare Cambray's _Irish +Affairs and the Home Rule Question_, pp. 48-65.) + +[29] Mr. Sexton, Feb. 13, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates_, p. 319; +Mr. Redmond, Feb. 14, 1893, _ibid_. pp. 350-52; and April 13, 1893, +_ibid_. p. 414. Compare especially language of Mr. Redmond, _Irish +Independent,_ Feb. 17, and note that all the arguments for Home Rule +drawn from its success or alleged success in the British Colonies imply +that the relation of the Imperial Parliament to Ireland shall resemble +its relation to the Colonies. See generally, debate of May 16 in _The +Times,_ May 17, pp. 6-8. + +[30] Feb. 13, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates_, p. 303. + +[31] April 14, 1893, _ibid_. pp. 439, 440. + +[32] Feb. 14, 1893, _ibid_. pp. 340, 341, 343. + +[33] Bill, clause 12, sub-clause (3). + +[34] This is the only sense in which the sovereignty of the Imperial +Parliament is inalienable. This should be noted, because a strange and +absurd dogma is sometimes propounded that a sovereign power such as the +Parliament of the United Kingdom, can never by its own act divest itself +of sovereignty, and it is thence inferred or hinted that there is no +need for the Imperial Parliament to take measures for the preservation +of its supremacy. The dogma is both logically and historically +untenable. A sovereign of any kind can abdicate. A Czar can lay down his +power, and so also can a Parliament. To argue or imply that because +sovereignty is not limitable (which is true) it cannot be surrendered +(which is palpably untrue) involves the confusion of two distinct ideas. +It is like arguing that because no man can while he lives give up, do +what he will, his freedom of volition, so no man can commit suicide. A +sovereign power can divest itself of authority in two ways. It may put +an end to its own existence or abdicate. It may transfer sovereign +authority to another person, or body of persons, of which body it may, +or may not, form part. The Parliaments both of England and of Scotland +did at the time of the Union each transfer sovereign power to a new +sovereign body, namely the Parliament of Great Britain. The British +Parliament did in 1782 surrender its sovereignty in Ireland to the Irish +Parliament. In 1800 both the British Parliament and the Irish Parliament +alienated or surrendered their sovereign powers to the Parliament of the +United Kingdom. Compare Dicey, _Law of the Constitution_ (7th ed.), note +3, p. 65. + +[35] It may, I am quite aware, be argued that the presence of Irish +representatives is not requisite for the maintenance of parliamentary +supremacy. In theory it is not. An arrangement might quite conceivably +be made (which if Home Rule were to be conceded might be the least +objectionable method of carrying out a radically vicious policy) under +which it should be distinctly agreed that Ireland should occupy the +position of a self-governing colony with all the immunities and +disadvantages thereof, and should cease to be represented at +Westminster, whilst the British Parliament retained the right to +abolish, or modify, the Irish constitution. Such an arrangement would, +however, make it perfectly plain that the sovereignty of the British +Parliament meant in Ireland what the sovereignty of the Imperial +Parliament now means in New Zealand. But 'the retention of the Irish +members is a matter of great public importance' (at any rate in the +opinion of Mr. Gladstone) 'because it visibly exhibits that supremacy' +(_i.e._ the supremacy of Parliament) 'in a manner intelligible to the +people.'--Mr. Gladstone, Feb. 13, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates_, +p. 306. See as to Home Rule in the character of colonial independence, +_England's Case against Home Rule_ (3rd ed.), pp. 197-218. + +[36] _i.e._ at the moment when these pages are written. What parts of +the Government of Ireland Bill may or may not be officially deemed +essential by the time these pages appear in print, no sensible man will +undertake to predict. Mr. Gladstone's own language is most +extraordinary. On the retention of the Irish members, which in the eyes +of any ordinary man affects the whole character of the new constitution, +and essentially distinguishes the Home Rule policy of 1886 from the Home +Rule policy of 1893, he uses (_inter alia_) these words: 'On the +important subject of the retention of the Irish members I do not regard +it, and I never have regarded it, as touching what may be called the +principles of the Bill. It is not included in one of them. But whether +it be a principle of the Bill or not, there is no question that it is a +very weighty and, if I may say so, an organic detail which cuts rather +deep in some respects into the composition of the Bill.'--Mr. Gladstone, +Feb. 13, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates_, pp. 305, 306. This +statement, with the whole passage of which it forms part, is as +astounding as would have been a statement by Lord John Russell on +introducing the great Reform Bill, that he could not say whether the +disfranchisement of rotten boroughs did or did not form a principle of +the measure. + +[37] Compare Report of Special Commission, pp. 18, 19. + +[38] Under the Home Rule Bill of 1893 as sent up to the House of Lords, +it would have been the 'constant presence.' + +[39] The division of parties in an American State is governed not by +questions concerning the internal affairs of the State, but by the +questions which divide parties at Washington. State politics depend upon +federal politics. 'The national parties have engulfed the State parties. +The latter have disappeared absolutely as independent bodies, and +survive merely as branches of the national parties, working each in its +own State for the tenets and purposes which a national party professes +and seeks to attain.' See Bryce, _American Commonwealth_, ii. p. 194. + +[40] _i.e._ in 1893. + +[41] Mr. Morley at Newcastle, _The Times_, April 22, 1886. + +[42] Now Lord Morley of Blackburn. + +[43] _i.e._ in 1893, and as they continue to be in 1911. + +[44] Mr. Morley at Newcastle, _The Times_, April 22, 1886. [Morley's +argument applied primarily, no doubt, to the Home Rule Bill of 1886; its +force, however, was infinitely strengthened as applied to the Home Rule +Bill of 1893 by the change which retained eighty Irish members at +Westminster with unrestricted powers of legislation. The tenor of his +argument applies, I contend with confidence, to any Home Rule Bill which +shall propose to give Ireland a real Irish Parliament led by an Irish +Cabinet, and at the same time to retain representatives of Ireland as +members of the British Parliament.] + +[45] See p. 43, _ante_. + +[46] See Motley's speech, _Times_, April _22_, 1886. + +[47] See Bill, Third Schedule. + +[48] This is at any rate the opinion of Mr. Redmond expressed in the +_Nineteenth Century_, Oct. 1892. + +[49] Bill, clause 9, sub-clause (3). + +[50] The authors of the Home Rule Bill foresee the possibility of such +an erroneous decision. They have carefully provided that such an error +shall have no legal effect. Clause 9, sub-clause (4), 'Compliance with +the provisions of this section shall not be questioned otherwise than in +each House in manner provided by the House,' is in reality a provision +sanctioning the grossest unfairness. Its effect is that a British Bill +passed solely by virtue of the Irish vote is, on its becoming an Act, +good law, in spite of its having been passed in violation of the +constitutional rule laid down in clause 9, sub-clause (3), that an Irish +member shall not be entitled to deliberate or vote on any Bill the +operation of which is confined to Great Britain. + +[51] Compare Bill, clause 9, sub-clause (3), and sub-clause (4), which +provides that 'compliance with the provisions of this section shall not +be questioned otherwise than in each House in manner provided by the +House.' + +[52] 23 Geo. III. c. 28. + +[53] The reader, in order to understand this account of the proposed +constitution of 1886, should remember that under that constitution there +were in effect, though not in name, constituted three different +Parliaments, which must be carefully distinguished. + + 1. The British Parliament at Westminster, containing no Irish + members, which was to legislate for Great Britain and for the whole + British Empire except Ireland. + + 2. The Irish Parliament at Dublin, containing no British + representatives, which was to legislate for Ireland, but which was + not to legislate for England, Scotland, or for any other part of + the British Empire, and was not to have any voice whatever in the + general policy of the Empire. + + 3. The Imperial Parliament also sitting at Westminster, and + comprising both the British and the Irish Parliament. This body + would have corresponded nearly, if not exactly, with the existing + Parliament of the United Kingdom, and was intended to come together + only on special occasions and for a special purpose, namely the + revision or the alteration of the Gladstonian constitution. For the + fuller explanation of the whole of this subject see _England's Case + against Home Rule_ (3rd ed.), pp. 234, 238 + +Note that England gains little or nothing (as compared with what was +offered to her under the Home Rule Bill of 1886) by the Imperial +Parliament retaining the power to legislate for Ireland, for even under +that Bill the Imperial Parliament (_i.e._ the Parliament at Westminster +when consisting both of British and of Irish members) could legislate +for Ireland. + +[54] _Unionist Delusions_, pp. 6-9. + +[55] The following passage from the writings of a man whose words, +whilst he was yet amongst us, Unionists and Gladstonians alike always +heard with the respect due to sense, to ability, to knowledge, and to +fairness, deserves attention:-- + + 'In Mr. Gladstone's proposed measure of Home Rule' _[i.e._ the Bill + of 1886]' the Parliament sitting at Westminster was no longer to + contain Irish members. I hold this to be an essential feature of + the scheme, an essential feature of any scheme of Home Rule. By Mr. + Gladstone's scheme, Ireland was formally to exchange a nominal + voice, both in its own affairs and in common affairs, for the real + management of its own affairs and no voice at all in common + affairs. This is the true relation of Home Rule. As dependent + Canada has no representatives in the Parliament of the United + Kingdom, so neither would dependent Ireland have representatives in + the Parliament of Great Britain. I am unable to understand why this + provision, which seemed so naturally to follow from the rest of the + scheme, awakened so powerful an opposition among Mr. Gladstone's + own supporters. I believe the Irish have no wish to appear in the + British Parliament. They wish to manage their own affairs, and are + ready to leave Great Britain to manage its own affairs and those of + the "Empire" to boot. It is very hard to see in what character the + Irish members are to show themselves at Westminster. If they may + vote on British affairs, while the British members do not vote on + Irish affairs, surely too great a privilege is given to Ireland; it + is Great Britain which will become the dependency. If they are to + vote on "Imperial" affairs only, to say nothing of the difficulty + of defining such affairs, it will be something very strange, very + novel, very hard to work, to have members of Parliament who are + only half-members, who must walk out of the House whenever certain + classes of subjects are discussed.' (E.A. Freeman, 'Irish Home + Rule and its Analogies,' _The New Princeton Review_, vi. pp. 194, + 195.) + +Mr. Freeman's language proves that I have not overrated the essential +difference or opposition between the Home Rule policy of 1886 and the +Home Rule policy of 1893. + +[56] It is styled in the Home Rule Bill 'an Executive Committee of the +Privy Council of Ireland.' + +[57] If there were reason to expect (which there is not) that the Home +Rule Bill would pass into law, it would be worth while to consider +carefully a question which has not yet engaged the attention of English +statesmen: Is it desirable that under a system of Home Rule the Irish +Executive should be a Parliamentry Ministry? The answer to this question +is by no means clear. Both in the United States, and in every State of +the Union, the executive power is lodged in the hands of an official who +is neither appointed nor removable by the Legislature. The same remark +applies to the Executive of the German Empire. In Switzerland the +Ministry, or Council of State, is indeed appointed, but is not removable +by the Federal Assembly or Parliament. Arguments certainly might be +suggested in favour of creating for Ireland an Executive whose tenure of +office might be independent of the will of the Irish Parliament. +Ireland, in short, like many other countries, might gain by the +possession of a non-parliamentary Executive. See as to the distinction +between a parliamentary and a non-parliamentary Executive, _Law of the +Constitution_ (7th ed.), App. p. 480. + +[58] See Bill, clause 14. + +[59] This would apparently approve itself to Dr. Nulty, Roman Catholic +Bishop of Meath. Of Mr. Justice Andrews he seems to have written that +'this Judge is a Unitarian,' and that it appears to the Bishop that 'the +man who denies the divinity of our Lord is as incompetent to form clear, +correct, and reliable conceptions of the feelings, the instincts, the +opinions, and the religious convictions of an intensely Irish population +as if they were inhabitants of another planet.' See _The Times_, April +3, 1893, p. 8, where a correspondent from Ireland purports to give the +effect of a pamphlet by Dr. Nulty. The Bishop wrote, I suppose, with a +view to Mr. Justice Andrews' opinions as to priestly influence at +elections, but the Bishop's words suggest the inference that the +government of a Catholic country ought to appoint Catholic Judges. Why +should we be surprised at this? Religious toleration is not a doctrine +of the Roman Catholic Church. + +[60] See Home Rule Bill, 1893, clause 35, p. 214, _post_. + +[61] 'I am not suggesting for a moment that we are going to set up in +Ireland two independent and separate Executives. I think the granting of +Home Rule in any intelligible sense would be entirely incomplete if it +were not supplemented by the granting of executive power, and in my +judgment the Executive in Ireland is intended to be and must be +dependent upon and responsible to the Irish Legislature in Irish +affairs. But that does not in the least prevent the retention in the +Crown of the executive government of the United Kingdom, as it provided +in this Bill such executive authority as is necessary for the execution +of the Imperial laws' (sic). Mr. Asquith, April 14, 1893, _Times +Parliamentary Debates_, p. 440. Compare _Hansard_, vol. xi. same date, +p. 348. + +[62] Bill, clause 30. + +[63] This is technically expressed in the Bill by the provision that +'the two forces [viz. the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin +Metropolitan Police] shall, while they continue, be subject to the +control of the Lord Lieutenant as representing Her Majesty.' As to the +military or naval forces of the Crown, the Bill contains no provision, +but it cannot, it is submitted, be doubted that they will remain subject +to the Imperial Government, and, except with the sanction of the +Imperial Government, will not be subject to the control of the Irish +Executive. + +[64] See Bill, clauses 1-5, and as to the Restrictions on its +legislative power, see pp. 80-110, _post_. + +[65] See two excellent articles in the _Spectator_ of February 25 and +March 4, 1893. + +[66] Of course all these statements are to be taken subject to the +Restrictions placed on the powers of the Irish Legislature by Bill, +clauses 3, 4, pp. 197, 198 _post_. + +[67] These Restrictions, or safeguards, deprive Ireland of powers in +fact possessed by the Legislature of any self-governing colony, and I +believe by the Isle of Man or Jersey. [Compare the Home Rule Bill 1893, +clause 3, sub-clause (3) (p. 197, _post_,) as it appears in the original +Bill, with the same clause as amended by the House of Commons and sent +up to the House of Lords. The original clause forbids the Irish +Parliament to make any law in respect (_inter alia_) of 'naval or +military forces or the defence of the realm.' The clause as amended by +the House of Commons forbids the Irish Parliament to make any law in +respect of '(3.) Navy, Army, Militia, Volunteers, and any other military +forces, or the defence of the realm, or forts, or permanent military +camps, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings, or +any places purchased for the erection thereof.' + +In 1893, Unionists and Gladstonians alike were determined that on no +pretence whatever should an Irish Parliament be allowed to raise an +Irish army, even of volunteers. The very name of 'volunteers,' and the +history of 1780-82, explain and justify their prudence. + +[68] Clause 4, sub-clause (1) to (4). + +[69] For the details of the Restrictions contained in clauses 3 and 4 +the reader should study carefully the terms of the Bill itself. See +Bill, in Appendix. + +[70] In more than one case it is pretty clear that the Restrictions are +in themselves ineffective. Take these instances:-- + + 1. The Restrictions do not really prevent the drilling of an armed + force. The Act which makes drilling illegal is a statute of 1819, + 60 Geo. III. 1 Geo. IV. c. 1. This Act applies to Ireland and + cannot (it is submitted) be repealed by the Irish Parliament. But + this statute of 1819 might easily be evaded, for by sec. 1 meetings + for training and drilling may be allowed by any two Justices of the + Peace. The Irish Executive might, and probably would, appoint + plenty of justices who were willing to allow training and drilling. + The men thus trained and drilled could not, I conceive, technically + be made a volunteer force, but they might, for all that, be a very + dangerous armed body. + + 2. It is not certain what is the real effect of the provisions + whereby no 'person may be deprived of life, liberty or property + without due process of law.' Does it, for example, preserve a right + to trial by jury? I doubt whether it does. American judgments on + the same words in United States Constitution, Amendments, art. 14, + would of course have no legal authority in the United Kingdom, and + there is a special reason why they often could not be followed. No + process would (it is submitted) be considered in an Irish or + British Court as not a 'due' process, for which a parallel could be + found in the legislation of the Imperial Parliament. But the + Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act, 1882, sec. 1, to instance no + other enactment, took away the right to trial by jury in cases of + trial for treason, murder, etc. + + 3. Private property might still in fact be taken without just + compensation. The Privy Council would not apparently have to + consider whether in any given case property was taken without just + compensation, but whether a particular law was a law whereby it + might be taken without just compensation. Suppose, for example, Sir + James Mathew and the commissioners who sat with him were + constituted by an Irish Act a Court for determining what + compensation should be given for the taking of certain property for + public use, and the Act itself provided that just compensation must + be given. It is very doubtful how far the Privy Council could treat + the Act as invalid, or could in any way enter upon the question + whether just compensation had been given. Yet it is plain that such + a Court might give very far from just compensation, say to Lord + Clanricarde. + + +[71] Constitution, art. i sect. 10. + +[72] See Mr. J. Morley, April 18, 1893, _Times Parl. Deb._, p. 500. + +[73] See Bill, clause 5, sub-clause (3). The language of this clause +disposes of the contention put forward by at least one Gladstonian +candidate at the last general election [_i.e._ of 1892], that the veto +must of necessity be exercised under the control of the British Cabinet; +an arrangement too futile for an ardent Gladstonian to contemplate as +possible is therefore actually enacted in the Government of Ireland +Bill. + +[74] It is to be presumed that the Crown, or in effect the British +Cabinet, does not in the case of Ireland retain the power of +'disallowance' under which the Crown occasionally annuls colonial Acts +which have received the assent of a colonial Governor. The power to +disallow an Irish Act which, though not unconstitutional, has worked +injustice, might be of advantage. But in truth the parliamentary methods +for enforcing the Restrictions or safeguards are utterly unreal; they do +not repay examination; whether there be two sham modes of enforcement, +or one, must be to a sensible man a matter of indifference. As to the +disallowance of Acts see Rules and Regulations published for the use of +the Colonial Office, chap. iii.; Legislative Councils and Assemblies, +Rules 48-54; British North America Act, 1868, sections 55-57; _England's +Case against Home Rule_ (3rd ed.), p. 33. [Compare Dicey, _Law of +Constitution_ (7th ed.), pp. 111-114.] + +[75] The appeal to the English Privy Council, both under clauses 19, +_22_, and 23 of the Bill, appears to be in each case an appeal to the +Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. [The particular provisions +contained in the Home Rule Bill, 1893, as to an appeal to the Privy +Council, etc., are now of little direct importance, but they are worth +study as showing the extreme difficulty of providing any satisfactory +body for acting as a Court called upon to decide the numerous +constitutional questions, as to the legislative power of an Irish +Parliament, which must be raised under any Home Rule Act whatever.] + +[76] See Bill, clause 23. + +[77] See Tocqueville, _Démocratie en Amérique_, i. chap. viii. pp. +231-250; Bryce, _American Commonwealth_, ii. (1st ed.) p. 45; _ibid._ i. +ch. 23. + +[78] Compare _England's Case against Home Rule_ (3rd ed.), pp. 257, 258. + +[79] Compare Bill, clauses 19, 22, pp. 206, 209, _post._ + +[80] Bill, clause 19, sub-clause(4). + +[81] Clause 19, sub-clause (5). The whole of the provisions as to the +Exchequer Judges are extremely obscure. The jurisdiction and the powers +of the Court, should it ever be formed, will need to be defined by a +special Act of Parliament. There are special laws regulating the action +of the Federal Judiciary both in the United States and in Switzerland. +As the matter at present stands the jurisdiction of the Exchequer Judges +and of the Privy Council as a Court of Appeal from them may apparently +be thus described. + +It extends to all legal proceedings in Ireland which + + (i) are instituted at the instance of or against the Treasury or + Commissioners of Customs, or any of their officers, or + + (ii) relate to the election of members to serve in [the Imperial] + Parliament, or + + (iii) touch any matter not within the powers of the Irish + Legislature, or + + (iv) touch any matter affected by a law which the Irish Legislature + have not power to repeal or alter. + +It is possible that sub-clause (4) gives the Exchequer Judges a much +wider jurisdiction than is intended by the authors of the Home Rule +Bill, and the strictures which have been made on this sub-clause deserve +attention. My purpose, however, is not to criticise the details of the +Home Rule Bill or to suggest amendments thereto. Its fundamental +principle is, in the eyes of every Unionist, unsound, and the Bill +itself therefore unamendable. My object is simply to describe and +criticise the general constitutional provisions of the Bill and to show +their bearing and effect. + +[82] Compare _England's Case_ (3rd ed.), pp. 258, 259. + +[83] See _England's Case_ (3rd ed.), pp. 214-218. + +[84] See Home Rule Bill, clause 3, sub-clause (7) (p. 198, _post_), and +compare same clause slightly amended, in Bill, as sent up to the House +of Lords, sub-clause (8). + +[85] These strictures on the financial arrangements which were to exist +between England and Ireland apply directly to the Home Rule Bill as +introduced into the House of Commons, but they are less applicable to +the Bill as amended, more or less in favour of Ireland, before the Bill +was sent up to the House of Lords. Compare clause 10 of the original +Bill with clause 11 of the Bill as amended and brought up to the House +of Lords. + +[86] Bill, clauses 14, 15, and 16. [Compare with these clauses of the +original Bill clauses 13, 14, 15, and 16 of the Bill as amended before +being sent to the House of Lords.] + +[87] See Fiske, _Critical Period of American History_, chs. iii. and iv. + +[88] See, _e.g._, letter of Mr. Clancy, M.P., on the Financial Clauses of +the Home Rule Bill, _Manchester Guardian_, April 4, 1893. + +[89] Bill, clause 15. + +[90] See pp. 72 and 82, _ante_. + +[91] See pp. 79, 80, _ante_. + +[92] _Souvenirs de Alexis de Tocqueville_, p. 63. + +[93] The reader should note the history of the insurrection in Ticino +during 1891. It is quite clear that the Liberals of Ticino who had +distinctly broken the law were more or less comforted or protected by +the Liberal party in the Swiss Federal Assembly. Compare Hilty, +_Separatabdruck aus dem Politischen Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen +Eidgenossenschaft_ (_Jahrgang_ 1891). + +[94] See p. 103, _ante_. [The force of this illustration has been +increased by every Land Act passed since 1893. 'The Imperial Exchequer +[_i.e._ in effect Great Britain] has made a free grant of £17,000,000 +towards furthering land purchase; moreover to that end it has expressed +its willingness to pledge its credit to the amount of £183,000,000 of +which over £35,000,000 has already been raised. The Imperial Exchequer +looks to the Irish tenant purchaser for the interest and sinking fund on +that loan.'--Cambray, _Irish Affairs_, p. 214.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WHY THE NEW CONSTITUTION WILL NOT BE A +SETTLEMENT OF THE IRISH QUESTION + + +'_We believe that this measure [the Home Rule Bill] when improved in +Committee will be, at all events in our time, a final settlement of the +Irish question_.'[95] + +'Five speeches were made from the Irish benches ... there was not one of +those speeches which fell short of what we have declared to be in our +opinion necessary for the acceptance of this Bill. That is where we +look for a durable and solid statement as to finality. We find the word +_finality_ not even eschewed by the generous unreserve of the honourable +member for North Longford[96] who attached the character of finality to +the Bill.... What said the honourable member for Kerry[97] last night? +He said, "_This is a Bill that will end the feud of ages_" This is +exactly what we want to do. That is what I call acceptance by the Irish +members of this Bill.... _What we mean by this Bill is to close and bury +a controversy of seven hundred years.'_[98] + +This hope of ending the feud of ages has been for years dangled by +Gladstonians before the English electorate. It has gained thousands of +votes for Home Rule. But it is doomed to disappointment. The new +constitution will never be a settlement of the Irish question: and this +for three reasons, which can be definitely stated and easily understood. + +_First._ The new constitution satisfies neither Ireland nor England. + +It does not satisfy Ireland. + +Ulster, Protestant Ireland, and indeed, speaking generally, all men of +property in Ireland, whether Protestant or Catholic, detest Home Rule. +They hate the new constitution, they protest against the new +constitution, they assert that they will to the utmost of their ability +resist the introduction and impede the working of the new constitution. +Their abhorrence of Home Rule may be groundless, their threats may be +baseless; their power to give effect to their menaces may have no +existence. All that I now contend is that the strongest, and the most +energetic, part of Irish society is in fact and in truth bitterly +opposed, not only to the details, but to the fundamental principle, of +the new polity. It avails nothing to urge that the Protestants and the +educated Catholics are in a minority. This plea shows that in Parliament +they can be outvoted; it does not show that they will, or can, be +pacified by a policy which runs counter to their traditions, their +interests, and their sentiment. You cannot vote men into content, you +cannot coerce them into satisfaction. Let us look facts in the face. The +measure which is supposed to gratify Ireland satisfies at most a +majority of Irishmen. This may be enough for a Parliamentary tactician, +it is not enough for a far-seeing statesman or a man of plain common +sense. When we are told a minority are filled with discontent, we must +ask who constitute the minority. When we find that the minority consists +of men of all descriptions and of all creeds, that they represent the +education, the respectability, the worth, and the wealth of Ireland, we +must be filled with alarm. Wealth, no doubt, is no certain sign of +virtue, any more than poverty can be identified with vice; a rich man +may be a scoundrel, and a poor man may be an honour to the human race, +but the world would be much worse constituted than it is, if the +possession of a competence were not connected with honesty, energy, +adherence to duty, and every other civic virtue. When it is said or +admitted by Gladstonians that the propertied classes of Ireland are +against Home Rule we know what this means; it means that the energy of +Ireland is against Home Rule, that the honesty of Ireland is against +Home Rule, that the learning of Ireland is against Home Rule, that all +that makes a nation great is against Home Rule, and that the Irishmen +most entitled to our respect and honour implore us not to force upon +them the curse of Home Rule. This is no trifle. Let us at any rate have +done with phrases; let us admit that the satisfaction of Ireland means +merely the satisfaction of a class, though it may be the most numerous +class of Irishmen, and that it also means the bitter discontent of the +one class of Irishmen who are specially loyal to Great Britain. If we +are closing one feud we are assuredly opening another feud which it may +at least be as hard to heal. + +But is it true that even the Home Rulers of Ireland are satisfied? Their +representatives indeed accept the new constitution. Their acceptance may +well, as far as intention goes, be honest. Mr. Davitt, I dare say, when +he sentimentalises in the House of Commons about his affection for the +English democracy, is nearly, though not quite, as sincere as when he +used to express passionate hatred of England.[99] But acquiescence is +one thing, satisfaction is another. There is every reason why the Irish +members should acquiesce in the new constitution. They obtain much, and +they gain the means of getting more. Quite possibly they feel grateful. +But their gratitude is not the gratitude of Ireland, and gratitude is +hardly a sentiment possible, or indeed becoming, to a nation. + +England saved Portugal and Spain from the domination of France. Do we +find that Portuguese and Spaniards gladly subordinate their interests to +the welfare of England? France delivered Italy from thraldom to Austria; +French blood paid the price of Italian freedom. Yet France is detested +from one end of Italy to the other, whilst Italians rejoice in the +alliance with Austria. In all this there is nothing unreasonable and +nothing to blame. Policy is not sentimentality, and the relations of +peoples cannot be regulated in the same manner as the relations of +individuals. Thirty, twenty, ten, five years hence all the sentiment of +the year 1893 will have vanished. Irish content and satisfaction must, +if it is to exist at all, rest on a far more solid basis than the hopes, +the words, the pledges, or the intentions of Mr. M'Carthy, Mr. Sexton, +or Mr. Davitt. Note that their satisfaction is even now of a limited +kind. It absolutely depends on the new constitution being worked exactly +in the way which they desire. The use of the veto, legislation for +Ireland by the Imperial Parliament, any conflict between the wish of +England and the wish, I do not say of Ireland, but of the Irish +Nationalists, must from the nature of things put an end to all gratitude +or content. But we may go further than this: the new constitution +contains elements of discord. It denies to Ireland the rights of a +nation; it does not concede to her the full privileges of colonial +independence. No genuine Nationalist can really acquiesce in the +prohibition of Ireland's arming even in self-defence. Where, again, is +the Nationalist who is prepared to say that he will not if the Bill is +passed demand that every conspirator and every dynamiter, who is +suffering for the cause of Ireland, shall be released from prison? Is it +credible that the Land Leaguers have forgotten what is due to the +wounded soldiers of their cause? Are they prepared to forget the +imperative claims of evicted tenants or imprisoned zealots?[100] I +cannot believe it. + +But if they are so base as to forget what is due to their friends and +victims, what trust could England place in the permanence of any +sentiment expressed by such men with however much temporary fervour and +however much apparent honesty? If, as I am convinced, the Irish leaders +are not prepared to betray the fanatics or ruffians who have trusted and +served them, then with what content does England look on the prospect of +a general amnesty for criminals or of lavish rewards for breach of +contract and the defiance of law? + +But in truth the new constitution provides for the general discontent, +not of one class of Irishmen, but of the whole Irish people. + +Home Rule is at bottom federalism, and the successful working of a +federal government depends on the observation by its founders of two +principles. The first is that no one State should be so much more +powerful than the rest as to be capable of vying in strength with the +whole, or even with many of them combined.[101] The second is that the +federal power should never if possible come into direct conflict with +the authority of any State. Each of these well-known principles has, +partly from necessity and partly from want of skill, been violated by +the constructors of the spurious federation which is to be miscalled the +United Kingdom. The confederacy will consist of two States; the one, +England, to use popular but highly significant language, in wealth, in +population, and in prestige immensely outweighs the other, Ireland. And +by an error less excusable because it might have been avoided, the power +of the central government will be brought into direct conflict with the +authority of the Irish State. Read the Bill as it should be read by any +one who wishes to understand the working of the new constitution, and +throughout substitute 'England' for the term 'United Kingdom.' Note then +what must be the operation of the constitution in the eyes of an +Irishman. The federal power is the power of England. An English Viceroy +instructed by an English Ministry will veto Bills passed by an Irish +Parliament and approved by the Irish people. An English court will annul +Irish Acts; English revenue officers will collect Irish customs, and +every penny of the Irish customs will pass into the English Exchequer. +An English army commanded by English officers, acting under the orders +of English ministers, will be quartered up and down Ireland, and, in the +last resort, English soldiers will be employed to wring money from the +Irish Exchequer for the rigorous payment of debts due from Ireland to +England. Will any Irishman of spirit bear this? Will not Irishmen of all +creeds and parties come to hate the constitution which subjects Ireland +to English rule when England shall have in truth been turned into an +alien power? + +The new constitution does not in any case satisfy England. + +That England is opposed to Home Rule is admitted on all hands; that +England has good reason to oppose the new form of Home Rule with very +special bitterness is apparent to every Unionist, and must soon become +apparent to any candid man, whether Gladstonian or Unionist, who +carefully studies the provisions of the new constitution, and meditates +on the effect of retaining Irish representatives in the Parliament at +Westminster. For my present purpose there is no need to establish that +English discontent is reasonable; enough to note its existence. + +A consideration must be here noticed which as the controversy over Home +Rule goes on will come into more and more prominence. We are engaged in +rearranging new terms of union between England and Ireland; this is the +real effect of the Home Rule Bill; but for such a rearrangement Great +Britain and Ireland must in fairness, no less than in logic, be treated +as independent parties. Whether you make a Union or remodel a Union +between two countries the satisfaction of both parties to the treaty is +essential. Till England is satisfied the new constitution lacks moral +sanction. That the Act of Union could not have been carried without, at +any rate, the technical assent both of Great Britain and Ireland is +admitted, and yet the moral validity of the Treaty of Union is, whether +rightly or not, after the lapse of ninety-three years assailed, on the +ground that the assent of Ireland was obtained by fraud and undue +influence. But if the separate assent of both parties was required for +the making of the treaty, so the free assent of both must be required +for its revision, and the politicians who force on Great Britain the +terms of a political partnership which Great Britain rejects, repeat in +1893 and in an aggravated form the error or crime of 1800.[102] + +_Secondly_. The new constitution rests on an unsound foundation. + +It is a topsy-turvy constitution, it aims at giving weakness supremacy +over strength. + +The main, though not the sole, object of a well-constituted polity is to +place political power (whilst guarding against its abuse) in the hands +of the men, or body of men, who from the nature of things, _i.e._ by +wealth, education, position, numbers, or otherwise, form the most +powerful portion of a given state. The varying forms of the English +Constitution have, on the whole, possessed the immense merit of giving +at each period of our history political authority into the hands of the +class, or classes, who made up the true strength of the nation. Right +has in a rough way been combined with might. Wherever this is not the +case, and genuine power is not endowed with political authority, there +exists a sure cause of revolution; for sooner or later the natural +forces of any society must assert their predominance. No institution +will stand which does not correspond with the nature of things. Vain +were all the efforts of party interest or of philanthropic enthusiasm to +give to the Blacks political predominance in the Southern States. Votes, +ballot boxes, laws, federal arms, all were in vain. By methods which no +man will justify, but which no power could resist, the Whites have +re-acquired political authority. The nature of things could not be made +obedient to the dogmas of democratic equality. Now the gravest flaw of +the new constitution, the disease from which it is certain to perish, is +that, in opposition to the forces which ultimately must determine the +destiny of the United Kingdom, it renders the strong elements of the +community subordinate to the weak. + +In Ireland Dublin is made supreme over Belfast, the South is made not +the equal, but in effect the master of the North; ignorance is given +dominion over education, poverty is allowed to dispose of wealth. If +Ireland were an independent state, or even a self-governed British +colony, things would right themselves. But the politicians who are to +rule in Dublin will not depend upon their own resources or be checked by +a sense of their own feebleness. They will be constitutionally and +legally entitled to the support of the British army; they will +constitute the worst form of government of which the world has had +experience, a government which relying for its existence on the aid of +an external power finds in its very feebleness support for tyranny. +Murmurs are already heard of armed resistance. These mutterings, we are +told, are nothing but bluster. It is at any rate that sort of "bluster" +at which the justice and humanity of a loyal Englishman must take alarm. +I have not yet learnt to look without horror on the possibility of civil +war, nor to picture to myself without emotion the situation of brave men +compelled by the British army to obey rulers whose moral claim to +allegiance they justly deny and whose power unaided by British arms they +contemn. Civil warfare created by English policy and despotism +maintained by English arms must surely be to any Englishman objects of +equal abhorrence. + +But in England no less than in Ireland our new constitution gives +artificial power to weakness. At Westminster the Irish members, be they +80 or 103, will have no legitimate place. Mr. Gladstone on this point +is, for aught I know, at one with the Unionists. In 1886 he without +scruple, and therefore no doubt without any sense of injustice, expelled +the representatives of Ireland from the British Parliament. In 1893 he +brings them back to Westminster. But his words betray his hesitation. He +expects, may we not say he hopes, that they will remain in Ireland and +on their occasional visits to London have the good sense and good taste +not to interfere in British affairs. Few are the persons who share these +anticipations. If they are to be realised they must be embodied in the +constitution; the Premier might at this moment without shame, and +without regret, revert to the better policy of 1886. On his present +policy we all know that his expectations will not be fulfilled. The +voluntary absence of the Irish members from Westminster is as vain a +dream as the fancy that Ireland under Home Rule may suffer from a +plethora of money. To Westminster the Irish members will come. If they +do not come of their own accord they will be fetched by allies who need +their help. At Westminster they will hold the balance of parties, and +will while the constitution lasts rule the destiny of England with a +sole regard at best to the immediate interest of Ireland, at worst to +the interests of an Irish faction. To Ireland will be given power +without responsibility, to England will belong responsibility without +power. Nor will the unnatural subjection of a great, a flourishing, a +wealthy, and a proud country to a weaker and poorer neighbour be +rendered the more bearable by the knowledge that the ill-starred +supremacy of Ireland means, in England, the equally unnatural and +equally ominous predominance of an English faction, which, since it +needs Irish aid, does not command England's confidence. Radicals or +revolutionists will in the long run have bitter cause to regret an +arrangement which identifies their political triumph with England's +humiliation. + +_Thirdly_. The new constitution is based on a play of words which +conceals two contradictory interpretations of its character.[103] + +The supremacy of the Imperial Parliament means to Irish Home Rulers and +to most Gladstonians that Ireland shall possess colonial +independence.[104] It means to Unionists and to many electors who can +hardly be called either Unionists or Gladstonians, that the British +Parliament, or, in other words, England, shall retain the real, +effective, and even habitual control of Irish affairs. In the one sense +it means only that Ireland shall remain part of the British Empire, in +the other that Ireland shall still be part of the United Kingdom. And, +what is of great importance, the mass of Englishmen waver between these +two interpretations of Imperial supremacy. When they think of Home Rule +as satisfying Ireland, they hold that it gives Irishmen everything which +they can possibly ask. When they think of Home Rule as not dismembering +the United Kingdom, they fancy that it leaves to the British Parliament +all the real authority which Parliament can possibly require. + +This difference of interpretation lays the foundation of +misunderstanding, but it does far more harm than this. It must keep +Irish Nationalists alarmed, and not without reason, for the permanence +of the independence which they may have obtained. A change of feeling or +a change of party may cause the Imperial Parliament to assert its +reserved authority. England keeps her pledges.[105] Yes, but here it is +not a mere question of good faith. When two contractors each from the +beginning put _bona fide_ a different interpretation upon their +contract, neither of them is chargeable with dishonesty for acting in +accordance with his own view of the agreement. The spirit of Unionism +and the spirit of Separation will survive the creation of the new +constitution. Under one form or another Unionists will be opposed to +Federalists and it is more than possible, should the Bill pass, that the +division of English parties may turn upon their reading of the Irish +Government Act, 1893. + +The possibility, again, that the Parliament at Westminster may assert +its reserved authority, if it raises the fears of Irishman, may excite +the hopes of English politicians. If at any time the supremacy of +Ireland becomes unbearable to British national sentiment, or if the +condition of Ireland menaces or is thought to menace English interests, +the new constitution places in the hands of a British majority a +ready-made weapon for the restoration of British power. The result might +be attained without the necessity for passing any Act of Parliament, or +of repealing a single section of the Irish Government Act, 1893. A +strong Viceroy might be sent to Ireland; he might be instructed not to +convoke the Irish Parliament at all; or, having convoked, at once to +prorogue it. He might thereupon form any Ministry he chose out of the +members of the Irish Privy Council. The Imperial Parliament would at +once resume its present position and could pass laws for Ireland. This +might be called revolution or reaction. For my argument it matters not +two straws by what name this policy be designated. The scheme sketched +out is not a policy which I recommend. My contention is not that it +will be expedient--this is a matter depending upon circumstances which +no man can foresee--but that it will be strictly and absolutely legal. + +The supremacy of the Imperial Parliament, combined with the presence of +the Irish members at Westminster, will thus by a curious fatality turn +out a source at once of permanent disquietude to Ireland and of +immediate, if not of permanent, weakness to England. + +Our New Constitution is not made to last Home Rule does not close a +controversy; it opens a revolution. + +No one in truth expects that the new constitution will stand. Its very +builders hesitate when they speak of its permanence,[106] and are +grateful for the generous credulity of a friend who believes in its +finality. Nor is it hard to conjecture (and in such a matter nothing but +conjecture is possible) what are the forces or tendencies which threaten +its destruction. + +If Ireland is discontented Irishmen will demand either the extension of +federalism or separation. In every federal government the tendency of +the States is to diminish as far as possible the authority of the +federal power. But this tendency will be specially strong in the +grotesque Anglo-Irish federation, since the federal power will be +nothing but the predominance of England. The mode of weakening the +federal authority is only too obvious. 'The more there is of the more,' +says a profound Spanish proverb, 'the less there is of the less.' The +more the number of separate States in the confederacy, the less will be +the weight of England, and the greater the relative authority of +Ireland. Let England, Scotland, and Wales become separate States, let +the Channel Islands and Man, and, if possible, some colonies, be added +to the federation, and as the greatness of England dwindles so the +independence of Ireland will grow. + +Some seven years ago Sir Gavan Duffy predicted that before ten years had +elapsed there would be a federation of the Empire.[107] Like other +prophets he may have antedated the fulfilment of his prediction, but his +dictum is the forecast of an experienced politician--it points to a +pressing danger. Home Rule for Ireland menaces the dissolution of the +United Kingdom, and the unity of the United Kingdom is the necessary +condition for maintaining the existence of the British Empire. Home Rule +is the first stage to federalism. + +But Irish discontent, should it not find satisfaction in a movement for +federalism, will naturally take the form of the demand for colonial or +for national independence. You cannot play with the spirit of political +nationality. The semi-independence of Ireland from England, combined +with the undue influence of Ireland in English politics, is certain to +produce both unreasonable and reasonable grounds for still further +loosening the tie which binds together the two islands. The cry 'Ireland +a nation' is one of which no Irishman need be ashamed, and to which +North and South alike, irritated by the vexations of a makeshift +constitution, are, as I have already insisted, likely enough to rally. + +Nor is it certain that Irish Federalists or Irish Nationalists will not +obtain allies in England. The politicians who are content with a light +heart to destroy the work of Pitt may, for aught I know, with equal +levity, annul the Union with Scotland and undo the work of Somers, or by +severing Wales from the rest of England render futile the achievement of +the greatest of the Plantagenets. Enthusiasts for 'Home Rule all round' +would appear to regard their capacity for destroying the United Kingdom +as a proof of their ability to build up a new fabric of Imperial power, +and to fulfil their vain dreams of a federated Empire. Sensible men may +doubt whether a turn for revolutionary destruction is any evidence that +politicians possess the rare gift of constructive statesmanship. And +should the working of the new constitution confirm these doubts, persons +of prudence will begin to perceive that Irish independence is for both +England and Ireland a less evil than the extension of federalism. + +The natural expression however of English discontent or disappointment +is reactionary opposition. Reaction, or the attempt of one party in a +state to reverse a fundamental policy deliberately adopted by the +nation, is one of the worst among the offspring of revolution, and is +almost, though not entirely, unknown to the history of England. Yet +there is more than one reason why if the Home Rule Bill be carried, +reaction should make its ill-omened appearance in the field of English +public life. The policy of Home Rule, even should it be for the moment +successful, lacks the moral sanctions which have compelled English +statesmen to accept accomplished facts. The methods of agitation in its +favour have outraged the moral sense of the community. Mr. Gladstone's +victory is the victory of Mr. Parnell, and the triumph of Parnellism is +the triumph of conspiracy, and of conspiracy rendered the more base +because it was masked under the appearance of a constitutional movement. +Neither the numbers nor the composition of the ministerial majority are +impressive. The tactics of silence, evasion, and ambiguity may aid in +gaining a parliamentary victory, but deprive the victory of that respect +for the victors on the part of the vanquished which, in civil contests +at any rate, alone secures permanent peace. But the pleas and +justifications for reaction are rarely its causes. If Englishmen attempt +to bring about the legal destruction of the new constitution, their +action will be produced by a sense of the false position assigned to +England. No device of statesmanship can stand which is condemned by the +nature of things. The predominance of England in the affairs of the +United Kingdom is secured by sanctions which in the long run can neither +be defied nor set aside; the constitution which does not recognise this +predominance is doomed to ruin. That its overthrow would be just no one +dare predict; the future is as uncertain as it is dark. A main reason +why a wise man must deprecate the weak surrender by Englishmen of +rightful power is the dread that, if in a moment of irritation they +reassert their strength, they may exhibit neither their good faith nor +their justice. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[95] J. M'Carthy, April 10, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates_, p. 354. +No part of these quotations is italicised in the report. + +[96] J. M'Carthy. + +[97] Mr. Sexton. + +[98] Mr. Gladstone, April 21, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates_, p. +565. + +[99] At Bodyke, June 2, 1887, Mr. M. Davitt said:--'Our people, however, +who so leave Ireland are not lost in the Irish cause, for they will join +the ranks of the Ireland of retribution beyond the Atlantic; and when +the day shall again come that we have a right to manage our own affairs, +the sun may some day shine down upon England when we here in Ireland +will have the opportunity of having vengeance upon the enemy for its +crimes in Ireland.'--_Freeman's Journal_, June 3, 1887. See 'Notes on +the Bill,' published by the Irish Unionist Alliance, p. 368. These +expressions were used after the union of hearts. + +[100] 'But all these matters are, as it were, minor details. They all +sink into comparative insignificance before the one great demand--and I +almost apologise for mentioning them--because I want you to concentrate +your attention on the one great demand which we make, and the one +unalterable statement we intend to adhere to, that whether guilty or +innocent, these men, according to their lights and their consciences, +were trying to serve Ireland; that any of them who were guilty were +driven into this course by the misgovernment of Ireland, and the +oppression of Ireland by an outside power, and that if we are asked to +settle this Irish question, if we are asked to let peace reign where +discord and hatred reign at present, there must be no victims--that if +there is to be peace there must also be amnesty. I don't discuss the +question of guilt or innocence. For the sake of argument I will say that +there are some men in jail who are guilty. They must come out as well as +the innocent, because their guilt is due to misgovernment in the +past.'--Mr. Pierce Mahony, _Irish Independent_, April 5. See 'Notes on +the Bill,' p. 423. + +'There is no use in deceiving ourselves upon this matter; we would be +fools if we thought that in the next few weeks, or within the next few +months, we would succeed in getting our brethren out of prison. I don't +believe we will; ... but I am convinced of this, that there is not a man +amongst them who will ever be called upon to serve anything like the +remainder of his sentence. I am convinced that in a short time--and the +extent of its duration depends upon other circumstances--every one of +these men will be restored to liberty if only we conduct this agitation +with determination, with resolution, and I would say above all with +moderation and with wisdom.'--Mr. John Redmond, M.P., _Dublin Irish +Independent_, April 5. See 'Notes on the Bill,' p. 424. + +[101] See Mill, _Representative Government_, 1st ed. p. 300. + +[102] Of course I do not for a moment dispute the legal right of +Parliament to repeal all or any of the articles of the Treaty of Union +with Ireland. I am writing now not upon the law, but upon the ethics of +the constitution. My contention is, that, as things stand, the undoubted +assent of Great Britain (or even perhaps of England, in the narrower +sense) is morally requisite for the repeal or at any rate for the +remodelling of the Treaty of Union. Note that Ireland would stand +morally and logically in a stronger position if demanding Separation +than when demanding a revision of the Act of Union. An example shows my +meaning. _A, B_, and _C_ form a partnership. _A_ is by far the richest, +and _C_ by far the poorest of the firm. _C_ finds the terms of +partnership onerous. He may have a moral right to retire, but certainly +he cannot have a moral, and would hardly under any system of law have a +legal, right to say, 'I do not want to leave the firm, but I insist that +the terms of partnership be remodelled wholly in my favour.' Nor again +is it conceivable that _B_ and _C_ by uniting together could in fairness +claim to impose upon _A_ disadvantages the burden of which he had never +intended to accept. + +[103] See pp. 22-31, _ante_. + +[104] 'But who proposed that Ireland should be anything else than an +integral part of the United Kingdom (Ministerial cheers), or rather of +the Empire?' (Opposition cheers).--Mr. Sexton, April 20, 1893, _Times +Parliamentary Debates_, p. 522. The confusion of ideas and the +hesitation implied in Mr. Sexton's expressions are noteworthy. + +[105] England adhered with absolute fidelity to her renunciation of the +right to legislate for Ireland. Whatever were the other flaws in the +Treaty of Union, it was no violation either of 22 Geo. III. c. 63, or of +23 Geo. III. c. 28. The worst features of the method by which the Act of +Union was carried would have been avoided had the English Parliament +resumed the right to legislate for Ireland. The Treaty of Union depends +on Acts both of the British and of the Irish Legislature. This is +elementary but has escaped the attention of Mr. Sexton (see _Times +Parliamentary Debates_, Feb. 13, 1893, p. 319), whose investigations +into the history of his country are apparently recent. + +[106] "The plan that was to be proposed was to be such as, at least in +the judgment of its promoters, presented the necessary +characteristics--I will not say of finality, because it is a discredited +word--but of a real and continuing settlement."--Mr. Gladstone, Feb. 13, +1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates_, p. 303. + +[107] See Mr. Gladstone's Irish Constitution, _Contemporary Review_, +May, 1886, p. 616. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PLEAS FOR THE NEW CONSTITUTION + + +Gladstonians when pressed with the manifest objections to which the new +constitution is open rely for its defence either upon general +considerations intended to show that the criticisms on the new +constitution are in themselves futile, or upon certain more or less +specific arguments, of which the main object is to establish that the +policy of Home Rule is either necessary or at least free from danger, +and that, therefore, this policy and the new constitution in which it is +to be embodied deserve a trial. + +My object in this chapter is to examine with fairness the value both of +these general considerations and of these specific arguments. + +The general considerations are based upon the alleged prophetic +character of the criticisms on the new constitution or upon the +anomalies to be found in the existing English constitution. + +Ministerialists try to invalidate strictures on the Home Rule Bill, such +as those set forth in the foregoing pages, by the assertion that the +objections are mere prophecy and therefore not worth attention. + +This line of defence may, as against Home Rulers, be disposed of at once +by an _argumentum ad hominem_. No politicians have made freer use of +prediction. Every Gladstonian speech is in effect a statement that is a +prophecy of the benefits which Home Rule will confer on the United +Kingdom. Gladstonian anticipations no doubt are prophecies of future +blessings; but whoever foretells the future is equally a prophet, +whether he announces the end of the world or foretells the dawn of a +millennium. And history affords no presumption in favour of the prophet +who prophesies smooth things. The prognostics of a pessimist may be as +much belied by the event as the hopes of an optimist. But for one +prophet to decry the predictions of another simply as prophecies is a +downright absurdity. Even among rival soothsayers some regard must be +had to fairness and common sense; when Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, +smote Micaiah on the cheek, he struck him not on the ground that he +prophesied but that his gloomy predictions were false. Zedekiah was an +imposter, he was not a fool, and after all Micaiah, who prophesied evil +and not good, turned out the true prophet. + +But an _argumentum ad hominem_ is never a satisfactory form of +reasoning, and it is worth while considering for a moment what is the +value of prophecy or foresight in politics. Candour compels the +admission that anticipations of the future are at best most uncertain. +Cobden and Bright foretold that Free Trade would benefit England; they +also foretold that the civilised world would, influenced by England's +example, reject protective tariffs. Neither anticipation was +unreasonable, but the one was justified whilst the other was confuted by +events. All that can be said is that on such anticipations, +untrustworthy though they may be, the conduct no less of public than of +private life depends. Criticism on anything that is new and untried, +whether it be a new-built bridge or a new-made constitution, is of +necessity predictive. But there is an essential difference between +foresight and guessing. The prevision of a philosophic statesman is +grounded on the knowledge of the past and on the analysis of existing +tendencies. It deals with principles. Such, for example, was the +foresight of Burke when he dogmatically foretold that the French +Constitution of 1791 could not stand.[108] Guessing is at best based on +acute observation of the current events of the day, that is of things +which are in their nature uncertain. On January 29, 1848, Tocqueville +analysed the condition of French society, and in the Chamber of Deputies +foretold the approach of revolution. + +On February 21, 1848, Girardin said that the monarchy of July would not +last three days longer. February 24 verified the insight and foresight +of the statesman, and proved that the journalist was an acute observer. +The difference is worth consideration. Tocqueville's prophecy would in +all probability have been substantially realised had Louis Philippe +shown as much energy in 1848 as in 1832, and had the Orleanist dynasty +reigned till after his death. Girardin's guess would not have been even +a happy hit if one of a thousand accidents had averted the catastrophe +of February 24. The worth of the arguments against or for the new +constitution depends upon the extent to which they are based upon a +mastery of general principles and upon a sound analysis of the +conditions of the time, and in these conditions are included the +character of the English and of the Irish people. But to object to +criticisms simply as prophecies is to reject foresight and to forbid +politicians who are creating a constitution for the future to consider +what will be its future working. + +Another Gladstonian argument is that because the English constitution +itself is full of paradoxes, peculiarities, and anomalies, therefore the +contradictions or anomalies which are patent in the new constitution +(such for example as the retention of the Irish members at Westminster) +are of no importance. + +The fact asserted is past dispute. Our institutions are based upon +fictions. The Prime Minister, the real head of the English Executive, is +an official unknown to the law. The Queen, who is the only +constitutional head of the Executive, is not the real head of the +Government. The Crown possesses a veto on all legislation and never +exercises it; the House of Lords might, if the House pleased, reject +year by year every Bill sent up to it by the House of Commons; yet such +a course of action is never actually pursued and could not be dreamt of +except by a madman. There is no advantage in exemplifying further a +condition of things which must be known to every person who has the +slightest acquaintance with either the law, or the custom, of the +constitution. But the inference which Gladstonian apologists draw from +the existence of anomalies is, in the strict sense of the word, +preposterous. On the face of the matter it is a strange way of reasoning +to say that because the constitution is filled with odd arrangements +which no man can justify in theory, you therefore, when designing a new +constitution, should take no care to make your arrangements consistent +and harmonious. But the Gladstonian error goes a good deal deeper than +is at first sight apparent. The anomalies or the fictions of the +constitution are in reality adaptations, often awkward enough in +themselves, of some old institution, and are preserved because, though +they look strange, they are found to work well. Thus the King of England +was at one time the actual sovereign of the State, or at any rate the +most important member of the sovereign power, and the Ministers were in +reality, what they are still in name, the King's servants. The powers of +the Crown have been greatly diminished, and have been transferred in +effect to the Houses of Parliament, or rather to the House of Commons, +and the Ministers taken from the Houses are in fact, though not in name, +servants of Parliament. This arrangement leaves an undefined and +undefinable amount of authority to the Crown. It is not an arrangement +which any man would have planned beforehand; but it is kept up, not +because it is an anomaly, but because it has, as a matter of +experience, turned out convenient. What even plausible argument can +thence be drawn to show that a new constitutional arrangement, on the +face of it awkward and inconvenient, will for some unknown reason turn +out workable and beneficial? He who reasons thus, if reasoning it can be +called, might as well argue that because an old shoe which has gradually +been worn to the form of the foot is comfortable, therefore a shoemaker +need not care to make a new shoe fit. + +These two general replies to strictures on the new constitution are in +themselves of no worth whatever. They deserve examination for two +reasons only. They are, in various shapes, put forward by politicians of +eminence, they exhibit further in a clear form a defect which mars a +good deal of Gladstonian reasoning. Ministerialists seem to think that +arguments good for the purpose of conservatism are available for the +purpose of innovation. This is an error. A conservative reasoner may +urge the uncertainty of all prevision, or the fact that the actual +constitution, though theoretically absurd or imperfect, works well, as +reasons of some weight, though not of overwhelming weight, for leaving +things as they are, but it must puzzle any sensible man to see how +either the uncertainty of prevision or the fair working of existing +institutions can be twisted into reasons for taking a political leap in +the dark. + +Let us dismiss then objections which as they are fatal to all criticism +are in reality ineffective against any criticism of our new +constitution. When this is done it will be found that the Gladstonian +pleas in favour of Home Rule, for such are in reality their apologies +for the new constitution, may be brought under two heads. They are +intended to show, first, that the concession of parliamentary +independence to Ireland is a necessity, and, secondly, that at worst it +involves no danger.[109] + + +A. _Necessity for Home Rule_. That the concession of Home Rule to +Ireland is a necessity, forms the implied, if not always the asserted, +foundation of the case in favour of Gladstonian policy. + +Ireland, it is argued, has for generations been discontented and +disloyal. Every sort of remedy has been tried. The rule of the ordinary +law, coercion, Protestant supremacy, Catholic relief, the +disestablishment of the Anglican Church, the maintenance of the English +land tenure and English landlordism, the introduction of a new system of +land tenure unknown to any other country in the world and more +favourable to tenants than the land law of any other State in Europe, +the removal of every grievance which could be made patent to the +Imperial Parliament, every plan or experiment which could approve itself +to the judgment of English politicians has been tried, and no scheme, +however plausible, has ended in success. Concession has proved as +useless as severity, and the existence in the Statute Book of a +permanent Coercion Act is a standing proof of failure. He who asserts +that Irish disloyalty or discontent has not declined understates the +case. It has increased. Grattan was a statesman of a more exalted type +than O'Connell, and Grattan was more zealous for connection with England +than was the Roman Catholic tribune. And though in Grattan's time the +grievances of Ireland were in every man's judgment far more intolerable +than, even on the showing of Home Rulers, are the wrongs which Ireland +now endures, the Ireland of Grattan was loyal to England. O'Connell was +a nobler leader than Parnell, and it would be absurd to suppose that any +Parnellite or Anti-Parnellite exerted a tenth of O'Connell's influence. +Yet Parnell and Parnell's followers have achieved a feat which the hero +of Catholic emancipation could never accomplish; O'Connell never +obtained for Repeal more than half the votes of Ireland's parliamentary +representatives; Parnell and his followers have rallied the vast +majority of Irish members in support of Home Rule. Meanwhile year by +year the government of England is weakened, and (though the argument +comes awkwardly from the mouth of English constitutionalists who are +allies and friends of conspirators and boycotters) the morality of +English public life has been undermined, by the presence at Westminster +of Irish members who, regarding the English Parliament as an alien +power, weaken its action, despise its traditions, and degrade its +character. One remedy for Irish miseries and for English dangers has not +been tried. No English statesman before Mr. Gladstone (it is urged) has +offered to Ireland the one thing which Ireland desires--the boon or +right of parliamentary independence. Be the desire for Home Rule +reasonable or not, it is Home Rule for which Ireland longs. Ireland +feels herself a nation. Satisfy then Ireland's wish, meet the feeling of +nationality, and Ireland will be at rest. This experiment must at least +be tried; its perils must be risked. The present situation is +intolerable, the concession of Home Rule to Ireland is a necessity. + +This, to the best of my apprehension, is the Gladstonian argument. My +aim has certainly been to state it fairly and in its full force. + +Is the argument valid? Is the plea of necessity made out? The answer may +be given without hesitation. It is not. The allegations on which the +whole train of reasoning rests are tainted by exaggeration or +misapprehension, and the allegations, even if taken as true, do not +establish the required inference; the premises are unsound, and the +premises do not support the conclusion. + +The premises are unsound. + +The Gladstonians are far too much of parliamentary formalists. Their +imagination and their reason are impressed by the strength in the House +of Commons of the Irish party. The eighty votes from Ireland daunt them. +But wise men must look behind votes at facts. The eighty Irish Home +Rulers are, it is true, no light matter, even when allowance is made +for the way in which corruption and intimidation vitiate the vote of +Ireland. But their voice is not the voice of the Irish people; it is at +most the mutter or the clamour of a predominant Irish faction. It is the +voice of Ireland in the same sense in which a century ago the shouts or +yells of the Jacobin Club were the voice of France. To any one who looks +behind the forms of the constitution to the realities of life, the voice +of Irish wealth, of Irish intelligence, and of Irish loyalty is at least +as important as the voice of Irish sedition or discontent. The eighty +votes must in any case be reckoned morally at not more than sixty, for +to this number they would be reduced by any fair and democratic scheme +of representation. No one can be less tempted than myself to make light +of Irish turbulence and Irish misery. But it must not be exaggerated. +The discontent of 1893 is nothing to the rebellion, sedition, or +disloyalty of 1782, of 1798, of 1829, or of 1848. If Irishmen of one +class are discontented, Irishmen of another class are contented, +prosperous, and loyal. The protest of Irish Protestants--the grandsons +of the men who detested the Union--against the dissolution of the Union, +is the reward and triumph of Pitt's policy of Union. The eighty Irish +members ask for Home Rule, but the tenant farmers of Ireland ask not for +Home Rule but for the ownership of the land; and the Irish tenant +farmers will and may under a Unionist Government become owners of their +land, and, what is no slight matter, may become owners by honest means. +Vain for Mr. M'Carthy[110] to assert that Irish farmers would not have +accepted even from Mr. Parnell the most favourable of land laws in +exchange for Home Rule. Mr. M'Carthy believes what he says, but it is +impossible for any student of Irish history or of Irish politics to +believe Mr. M'Carthy. Facts are too strong for him. Mr. Lalor showed a +prevision denied to our amiable novelist. Gustave de Beaumont understood +political philosophy better than the lively recorder of the superficial +aspects of recent English history. Mr. Parnell and Mr. Davitt, and the +whole line of witnesses before the Special Commission, tell a different +tale. The very name of the _Land_ League is significant. Home Rule was a +mere theme for academic discussion in the mouth of Mr. Butt. Repeal +itself never touched the strongest passions of Irish nature, though +advocated by the most eloquent and popular of Irish orators. Not an +independent Parliament, but independent ownership of land, has always +been the desire of Irish cultivators. It was a cry for the land which +gave force to the demand for Home Rule; and an Irish agitator, if his +strength fails, renews it by touching the earth. But why confine our +observation to Ireland? We here come upon the passions, not of Irish +nature, but of human nature. There is not a landowner in France who does +not care tenfold more for the security of his land than for the form of +the government. If peasants trembled for their property the Republic +would fall to-morrow. This is no mere conjecture; the peasantry were +Jacobins as long as the Jacobins gave them the land, they were +Imperialists whilst Napoleon was their security against a restoration +which to them meant confiscation of land purchased or seized during the +Revolution. The country population of France heard with indifference of +the fall of Louis Philippe, and possibly approved the proclamation of +the second Republic. But the communism of 1848 roused every landowner +against Paris. The peasant proprietors filled the benches of the +National Assembly with Conservatives or Reactionists who would save them +from plunder; fear became for once the cause of courage, and dread of +loss of property sent thousands of peasant proprietors to Paris, that +they might crush by force of arms the socialist insurrection of June. +Perjury, fraud, and cruelty disgraced the _coup d'état_ of 1851. But, as +Liberals now see, the second Empire, hateful though it was to every man +who loved freedom or cared for integrity, did not owe the permanence of +its power to cunning or to violence. It was the dread of the Red Spectre +which drove the landowners of France into Imperialism; they may have +liked parliamentary liberty, it was a pleasant luxury, but they loved +their land and property, it was their life-blood, and by Socialism their +land and property was they believed menaced. + +As to the Coercion Act, no sensible man, be he Radical or Tory, need +trouble himself. The Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, is +neither a disgrace to England nor an injury to Ireland. Its permanence, +which is the cause of its mildness, is its merit. Well would it have +been had the Act been extended to the whole United Kingdom. Local laws +are open to some of the same objections as temporary laws. The +enactment contains some improvements in our criminal procedure. There is +no more idle superstition than the belief that criminal procedure does +not, like other human arrangements, require change. If incendiarism +should become an element in the conduct of trade disputes, if dynamite +is to be recognised as a legitimate arm in political conflicts, the +criminal law of the United Kingdom will, we may be sure, need and +receive several alterations and improvements. + +By far the strongest portion of the Gladstonian argument is the stress +that can be laid on the demoralisation of Parliament, produced partly, +though not wholly, by the Irish vote. This is a consideration which, as +far as it goes, tells in favour of Home Rule. It is, however, a +consideration of which the Gladstonian apologist for the new +constitution of 1893 [can] make no use. His reasoning of necessity +stands thus: + +The presence of 80 Irish members at Westminster has demoralised +Parliament, therefore we must above all things retain 80 or possibly 103 +Irish members at Westminster. He is placed in a hopeless dilemma; he +dare not draw the only conclusion to which his argument points, namely, +that the Irish members must be excluded from the Parliament at +Westminster. By a strange fatality, the policy of 1823 retrospectively +condemns the policy of 1886, whilst the very strongest argument in +favour of the policy of 1886 condemns the policy of 1893. + +The premises, were they sound, do not support the conclusion. + +There exists undoubtedly such a thing in politics as necessity. + +When England acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, or +when France surrendered Metz and Strasburg, no one could talk of +imprudence of impolicy. The will of Englishmen and of Frenchmen was +coerced by the force of events. When all Protestant Ireland was in arms, +when the whole Irish nation demanded parliamentary independence, when +England had been defeated in America, when France and Spain were allied +against her, then the acceptance of Grattan's declaration of right was +in truth a necessity. When Wellington became the supporter of Catholic +Emancipation because he would not face civil war, when famine was at our +gates and Peel repealed the corn laws--then again politicians could +plead the excuse of necessity. In these and like crises the wisest men +and the bravest men are forced to recognise the logic of facts; and +necessity rather than prudence dictates the course of statesmanship. But +no such crisis has now arisen. England and Ireland were as safe under +the government of Lord Salisbury as under the government of Mr. +Gladstone--perhaps safer. No one except an extremely excited and very +rhetorical politician will venture to assert that, if Lord Salisbury +instead of Mr. Gladstone had last summer gained a majority of forty, any +man or woman throughout the United Kingdom would have trembled for the +safety of the country. The sky is far less dark than on that fearful day +eleven years back[111] when England stood aghast at the assassinations +of the Phoenix Park. Irish discontent is an immense evil, of which every +just man must deplore the existence; its removal would be the greatest +benefit which statesmanship could by any possibility confer upon +England. But the immediate dealing with it in a particular way is not a +necessity. Were the Home Rule Bill, and every Home Rule Bill, rejected +by Parliament, the United Kingdom would be as safe as it has been at any +time for the last ninety years and more. + +In plain truth we have all of us forgotten the meaning of necessity. +Gladstonians have come honestly to confuse the needs of a party with the +necessities of the country. This is a delusion that at all times and in +all lands affects great political connections which, having once +rendered high services to the nation, have outlived the valid reasons +for their existence. The Republicans saved the United States from +disruption. Hence in 1888, when Secession was an historical memory, many +of the most to be respected among Americans believed that the rule of an +honest Democrat was a worse evil than the rule of a corrupt Republican. +Thousands of Frenchmen, amidst the moral bankruptcy of Republican +politicians, still hold that, because Republicans years ago saved France +from ruin, even reconciled Conservatives cannot in the year 1893 be +placed in office without danger to the commonwealth. So it is abroad; so +it has been in England. In 1760 the best and wisest of English statesmen +deemed it impossible that England should be rightly governed by any +politicians but the representatives of the Revolution Families. In 1829 +honest citizens trembled at the thought of power passing into the hands +of the Whigs; for the Tories had ruled for nearly sixty years, and the +Tories had preserved England from revolution and invasion. So at this +moment to many well-meaning Liberals the long predominance of the +Liberal party makes the possibility of a Cabinet containing politicians +who may in any sense be called Tories seem a monstrous calamity, which +it is a necessity to avert. Vain to point out that Lord Salisbury and +Mr. Balfour are such Tories as Eldon would have called Jacobins and Lord +Melbourne Radicals, and that, they are allied with the best and most +trustworthy of living Liberal leaders. Their is no arguing with +sentiment; it is necessary to keep the Gladstonian Liberals in office, +and the constitution must be sacrificed in order that Lord Salisbury may +not resume the Premiership. But there is a deeper cause than all this +for our strange ideas of necessity. Habitual ease and unvarying +prosperity have for a moment lowered the national spirit. Englishmen +confuse inconveniences with dangers; they have forgotten what real peril +is; they cannot understand the calmness with which, not a century ago, +their fathers resisted at once insurrection in Ireland and the most +powerful foreign enemy who has ever challenged the power of England, and +this too at a time when the population of Great Britain was not above +nine millions and the people of Ireland numbered more than four +millions, when France was the leading military power of the world, and +Ireland might at any moment receive the aid of a French army led by one +of the best French generals. The men of 1798 or 1800 would mock at our +ideas of necessity. Ireland has not an eighth of the population of the +United Kingdom; our Home Rulers are not Ireland; they are a very +different thing--the Irish populace. Let us yield everything which ought +to be yielded to justice; let us obey the dictates of expediency, which +is only justice looked at from another side; let us concede much to +generosity; but in the name of common sense, of honesty, and of +manliness, let us hear no more of necessity. Once in an age necessity +may be the defence of statesmanship forced to confess its own blindness, +but it is far more often the plea of tyranny, of ambition, of cowardice, +or despair. + + +B. _No danger in Home Rule_. The arguments which are employed to show +that the policy of Home Rule and the new constitution which embodies it +involve no danger for England are in the main drawn from the +'Safeguards' or Restrictions contained in the Bill--from the alleged +precedent of Grattan's Constitution--from the success of Home Rule in +other parts of the world--and, generally, from the expediency of +trustfulness. + +i. _The Safeguards_. The Restrictions on the power of the Irish +Parliament are, it is asserted, sufficient and more than sufficient to +reassure Unionists, and an intimation is sometimes added that, if +further security is wanted, further safeguards may be provided. + +This ground of confidence may be briefly dismissed; its answer is in +effect supplied by the foregoing pages. + +On the action of the Irish Executive the Restrictions place, and from +the nature of things can place, no restraint whatever, and yet both +England and the Irish Loyalists have far more reason to dread the abuse +of executive than of legislative authority. On the legal action of the +Irish Parliament the Restrictions do place a certain restraint, but the +Restrictions are, as already shown, not in reality enforceable. They are +for good purposes a nullity; they are effective, if at all, almost +wholly for evil; they exhibit the radical and fatal inconsistency of +Gladstonian policy. The policy of Home Rule is a policy of absolute and +unrestricted trust; the safeguards are based on distrust. There is +something to be said for generous confidence, and something also for +distrustful prudence; there is nothing to be said for ineffective +suspicion. + +ii. _Grattan's Constitution_. From the asserted harmony between England +and Ireland from 1782 to 1800 under Grattan's Constitution, the +inference is drawn that there is no reason to fear discord between +England and Ireland under the Gladstonian constitution of 1893. + +The fallacy underlying the appeal to this precedent has been, to use +words of Mr. Lecky, 'so frequently exposed that I can only wonder at its +repetition.'[112] Under Grattan's Constitution the Irish Executive was +appointed, not by the Irish Parliament, but by the English Ministry; the +Irish Parliament consisted solely of Protestants; it represented the +miscalled 'English garrison,' and was in sympathy with the governing +classes of England. With all this to promote harmony, the concord +between the governing powers in England and in Ireland was dubious. The +rejection of England's proposals as to trade, and the exaction of the +Renunciation Act, betray a condition of opinion which at any moment +might have produced open discord. When at last the parliamentary +independence of Ireland had led up to a savage rebellion, suppressed I +fear with savage severity, English statesmen knew that an independent +Irish Parliament threatened the existence of England. I may be allowed, +even by Gladstonians, to place the genius and patriotism of Pitt on at +least a level with the genius and patriotism of the present Premier. I +may be allowed to doubt whether Mr. Gladstone's studies, however +profound, in the history of Ireland, can, in 1893, render his +acquaintance with the circumstances and the dangers of 1800 equal to the +knowledge of the Minister who, in 1800, carried the Act of Union. And +Pitt then held that the Union with Ireland was necessary for the +preservation of England. If moreover Grattan's Constitution be a +precedent for our guidance, let us see to what the precedent points. The +leading principles or features of Grattan's Constitution are well known. +They are the absolute sovereignty of the Irish Parliament, and its +independence of and equality with the Parliament of Great Britain; the +renunciation by the British Parliament of any claim whatever to +legislate for Ireland, and of any jurisdiction on the part of any +British court to entertain appeals from Ireland; and, lastly, the +absence of all representation of Ireland in the Parliament at +Westminster. Each of these principles or features is denied or reversed +by our new Gladstonian constitution. The Irish Parliament is to be, not +a sovereign legislature, but a subordinate legislature created by +statute, and a legislature of such restricted and inferior authority as +to be unworthy of the name of a parliament. The Imperial Parliament, +with its vast majority of British members, asserts its absolute +supremacy in Ireland, and the right at its discretion to legislate for +Ireland on any matter whatever; in Ireland there is to be founded an +Imperial or British Court appointed by the Imperial Ministry, having +jurisdiction on all matters affecting Imperial rights, and the final +Court of Appeal from every tribunal in Ireland is to be the British +Privy Council. Add to this that Irish members are to sit in the +Parliament of Westminster as the 'outward and visible sign' of the +Imperial Parliament's supremacy. But if every principle of Grattan's +Constitution be contradicted by the Gladstonian constitution, if every +principle which Grattan detested is a principle which Mr. Gladstone +asserts, with what show of reason can the success, uncertain though it +be, of the Constitution of 1782 be pleaded as evidence of the probable +success of the Gladstonian constitution of 1893? That two arrangements +are unlike is to ordinary minds no proof that they will have similar +results; a parliamentary majority of forty-two may repeal the Act of +Union, but it cannot repeal the laws of logic.[113] + +iii. _Success of Home Rule_. All over the world, we are told, Home Rule +has succeeded; there are, under the government of the British Crown, at +least twenty countries enjoying Home Rule, and their local independence +causes no inconvenience to the United Kingdom or to the British Empire. +It follows therefore that Home Rule in Ireland will be a success and +will in no way disturb the peace or prosperity of the United Kingdom. + +The sole difficulty in meeting this argument is the extreme vagueness of +its principal term. The words 'Home Rule' are in their signification so +vague, at any rate as employed by Ministerialists, that they cover +governments of totally different descriptions. Hungary, Norway, a State +of the American Union, a Province of the Canadian Dominion, the Dominion +itself, Man, Jersey, and Guernsey, every English colony with +representative institutions, are each described, by one Gladstonian +reasoner or another, as happy and prosperous under Home Rule. But there +is no one who will deny that the dissimilarities between the governments +existing in each of the countries referred to are at least as striking +as are their similarities; that the contrast, for example, between the +relation of Hungary to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the relation of +New York to the United States is at least as obvious as its likeness. +The analogy, moreover, between Home Rule in any of these countries and +Home Rule in Ireland is at best distant and shadowy.[114] + +The crisis is too serious to permit us to waste words in examining the +curiosities of the Home Rule controversy. Of Hungary, and its relation +to the Empire of which it forms part, nothing at all will here be said. +There is nothing in that relation analogous to Irish Home Rule. Nor need +we trouble ourselves with the 'Home Rule' of Rhodes, of Samos, or of the +Lebanon. Of these and any other States, if such there be, which enjoy +'Home Rule' under the supremacy of the Sultan, all that need be said is +that it is satisfactory to learn on the authority of Mr. Gladstone that +any part whatever of the Turkish Empire is well governed and happy. If +any one can seriously suppose that the prosperity of Man and the Channel +Islands, which reap all the benefits and bear none of the burdens of +connection with Great Britain, and moreover have at no time been +discontented, affords any reason for supposing that the secular +miseries and discontent of Ireland will be cured by a system of +government totally different from that which prevails either in Man, or +Guernsey, or in Jersey, let him refer to these interesting islands.[115] +For myself I shall leave them out of account. Of the cordial relations +between Sweden and Norway we hear nothing; the goodwill generated by a +system of Home Rule is bringing these countries to the brink of civil +war.[116] + +There are two analogous cases or precedents on which serious reasoners +rely in support of a policy of Home Rule for Ireland. The success of +federal government in other countries, and especially in the United +States, and the success of colonial independence throughout the British +Empire, are adduced as presumptions that Home Rule would knit together +Great Britain and Ireland, or, as the cant of the day goes, transform a +paper union into a union of hearts. If New York be loyal to the United +States, if New Zealand be loyal to the British Crown, why should not +Ireland, when endowed with local independence resembling the +independence of an American State or of a self-governing British colony, +be a loyal member of the United Kingdom?[117] + +This is the suggested argument--let us consider its validity. + +As to federalism.--All the conditions which make a federal constitution +work successfully in the United States, in Switzerland, and possibly in +Germany, are wanting in England and Ireland. No man till the last five +or six years has even suggested that Englishmen or Scotsmen desire a +federal government for its own sake. Whether Mr. Gladstone himself has +any wish to federalise the whole United Kingdom is at least open to +doubt. Where federalism has succeeded, it has succeeded as a means of +uniting separate communities into a nation; it has not been used as a +means of disuniting one State into separate nationalities. The United +States, it has been well said, is a nation under the form of a federal +government. Gladstonians apparently wish to bind together two, or shall +we say three or four, nations, or nationalities, under the reality of a +federation and the name of a United Kingdom. While all the powerful +countries of the world are increasing their strength by union, the +advocates of the new constitution pretend to increase the moral strength +of the United Kingdom by loosening the ties of its political unity. If +any one ask why federalism which has succeeded in America should not +succeed in the United Kingdom, the true answer is best suggested by +another question: Why would not the constitutional monarchy of England +suit the United States? The answer in each case is the same. The +circumstances and wants of the two countries are essentially different; +and if this be not a sufficient reply, the reflection is worth making +that in the three great Confederacies of the world unity has been +achieved, or enforced by armed conflict. + +As to colonial independence.--The plain and decisive reason why the +loyalty of New Zealand to the Empire affords no presumption of the +loyalty under our new constitution of Ireland to the United Kingdom is +this: The whole condition of New Zealand is different from the condition +of Ireland, and our new constitution is not intended to give Ireland the +position of New Zealand. Thousands of miles separate New Zealand from +Great Britain. Ireland is separated from us by not much more than twelve +miles. New Zealand has never been hostile to England; her people are +loyal to the British Crown. Ireland, or part of the Irish people, has +been divided from England by a feud of centuries; it would be difficult +among Irish Nationalists to obtain even the show of loyalty to the +Crown. New Zealand is wealthy, and New Zealand pays not a single tax +into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom. Ireland is poor, and, if her +taxation is lightened by Home Rule, the tribute which will be paid to +England will be heavy, and far more galling than the taxes she now pays +in common with the rest of the United Kingdom. The new constitution, +again, is utterly unlike a colonial constitution. Its burdens would not +be tolerated by any one of our independent colonies. The rights it +gives, no less than the obligations it imposes, are foreign to our +colonial system. The presence of the Irish representation at Westminster +forbids all comparison between Ireland under Home Rule and New Zealand +under a system of colonial independence. + +But the matter must be pressed further. Even were it possible to place +Ireland in the position either of an American State or Swiss Canton, or +of an independent colony, the arrangement would not meet the needs of +the United Kingdom. This is a point which has not as yet arrested +attention. For the safety of the United Kingdom it is absolutely +necessary that the authority of the Imperial Government, or, in other +words, the law of the land, should be enforced in Ireland in a sense in +which the law of the land is rarely enforced in federations, and in +which it is certainly not enforced by the Imperial Government in +self-governing colonies. + +In federations the law of the land is nearly powerless when opposed to +the will of a particular State. President Jackson's reported dictum, +'John Marshall[118] has delivered his judgment, let him now enforce it +if he can,' and the fact that the judgment was never enforced,[119] are +things not to be forgotten. They are worth a thousand disquisitions on +the admirable working of federalism. But there is no need to rely on a +traditional story, which, however, is an embodiment of an undoubted +transaction. The plainest facts of American history all tell the same +tale. No Abolitionist could in 1850 without peril to his life have +preached abolition in South Carolina; difficult indeed was the +enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law and small the practical respect +paid in Massachusetts to the doctrine of the Dred Scott Case. Unless all +reports are false, the Negro vote throughout the Southern States is at +this moment practically falsified, and little do the Constitutional +Amendments benefit a Negro in any case where his conduct offends +Southern principle or prejudice. For my present argument it matters +nothing whether the oppression of individuals or the defiance of law was +or was not, in all these cases, as it certainly was in some instances, a +violation to the supreme law of the land. If the law was violated then, +why should we expect Imperial law to be of more force in Ireland than +federal law in South Carolina, or in Massachusetts? If the rights of +individuals were not adequately protected by federal law against the +injustice of a particular State, then why expect that the provisions of +our new constitution, far less stringent as they are than the protective +provisions of the United States Constitution, should avail to protect +unpopular persons in Ireland against the legal tyranny of the Irish +Executive or the Irish Parliament? + +Experience of federalism is not confined to the United States. The Swiss +Confederation is in Europe the most successful both of democratic and of +federal polities. The Swiss Executive exercises powers common to all +continental governments but of a description which no English Cabinet +could claim, and the Swiss Executive is made up of statesmen skilful +beyond measure in what may be called the diplomacy of federalism. Yet in +Switzerland, as in the United States, federal government means weak +government. Ticino is a small Canton, but from the days of Athenian +greatness small States have been the instructors of the world, and +Englishmen, hesitating over a political leap in the dark, would do well +to study the Ticinese revolution of September 11, 1890. The Radicals of +the Canton rose in insurrection, and deposed the lawful government by +violence; as Englishmen may remember, the contest though short involved +at least one murder. The Swiss Executive (called the Federal Council) +forthwith took steps to restore order and to reinstate the lawful +Cantonal government. Their own commissioner, a military officer, in +effect declined to put the overthrown government back in power. Order +was restored, but the law was never vindicated. A strange set of +negotiations, transactions, or intrigues took place. In the Federal +Assembly at Berne, the Conservatives, a minority, urged the rights of +the lawful government of Ticino. The Liberals defended or palliated the +revolutionists. On the whole the advantage seems to have rested with +the latter. A trial before a Federal Court took place, but the accused +were acquitted. No one, if I am rightly informed, was punished for an +act of manifest treason. It is even more noticeable that Professor +Hilty, a distinguished and respected Swiss publicist, vindicates or +palliates the admitted breach of law, in deference to the principle or +sentiment, which if true has wide application, that 'human nature is not +revolutionary, and that no revolution ever arises without a heavy share +of guilt (Mitschuld) on the part of the government against which the +revolution is directed.'[120] The instructiveness of this passage in +Swiss history as regards the working of our new constitution is obvious; +Englishmen should specially note the interconnection between lawlessness +in Ticino and the balance of parties at Berne; it is easy to foresee an +analogous connection between revolution, say in Dublin or Belfast, and +the balance of parties at Westminster. But this is not my immediate +point; my point is that the Federal Government at Berne cannot enforce +obedience to law in Ticino in the way in which Englishmen expect that +the Imperial Government shall, under any circumstances, enforce or cause +the law to be enforced in Ireland. + +But Ireland, it will be said, is to occupy a position like that of a +self-governing colony. In British colonies the Imperial power and the +rule of law are respected; both therefore will be respected in Ireland. +The plain answer to this suggestion is that in a British self-governing +colony, no law is enforceable which is opposed to colonial sentiment and +which the colonial Ministry refuse to put into execution. One +well-ascertained fact is enough to dispose of a hundred platitudes about +Imperial supremacy and the loyal obedience of our colonies. Victoria is +as loyal to the Crown as any colony which England possesses, yet the +submission to law of the Victorian Government and people is not by any +means unlimited. Ten years ago three British subjects arrived at +Melbourne and were about to land. Popular sentiment, or in other words +the will of the mob, had decreed that they should not enter the colony. +The Victorian Premier (Mr. Service) announced in Parliament that their +landing should be hindered. The police, acting under the orders of the +Ministry, boarded the ship which brought the strangers, went near to +assaulting the captain, and forcibly prevented the hated travellers from +setting foot on shore. By arrangement between the Melbourne Government, +the captain, and the three men, who were by this time in terror of their +lives, the victims of lawlessness were carried back to England. That the +law had been grossly violated no one can really dispute. The violation +was the more serious because it excited no notice. No appeal was +apparently made to the Courts. The Governor--the representative of +Imperial power and Imperial justice--knew presumably what was going on, +yet he uttered not one word of remonstrance. The Agent-General for +Victoria, when at last a private person in England called attention to +the outrage at Melbourne, pleaded in effect the plea of necessity, and +described the act of tyranny, whereby British citizens were in a British +colony turned into outlaws, as 'an act of executive authority.' The +Imperial Government did I believe--what was perhaps the wisest thing it +could do--nothing. Imperial supremacy in the colonies was, as regards +the protection of unpopular individuals, admitted to be a farce. What, +however, rendered the three travellers unpopular? They were Irish +informers who had aided, unless I am mistaken, in the conviction of the +Phoenix Park murderers. Let us now in imagination conceive our new +constitution to have come into being, and transfer the transactions at +Melbourne in 1883 to Dublin in 1894. Will the Imperial supremacy which +is supposed to be so effective in the colonies be of any more worth in +Ireland than in Victoria?[121] + +Were it true, then, which it certainly is not, that the conditions exist +in Ireland which conduce to the maintenance of federal power in the +State of a well-arranged federation, and to the maintenance of Imperial +power in a self-governing British colony, this would not be enough to +support the argument in favour of the new constitution. For the Imperial +Government needs that the law should be maintained, and the rights of +individuals be protected, in Ireland with greater stringency than the +law is enforced or the rights of individuals are protected either under +a federal government or in a British colony. Miserable indeed would be +the position of England were she forced in Ireland to wink at +lawlessness such as but the other day disgraced New Orleans, or at mob +law countenanced by the 'Executive,' such as in 1883 ruled supreme at +Melbourne. Foreign powers at any rate would rightly decline to let the +defects of our constitution excuse the neglect of international duties. +If England cannot shuffle off her responsibilities, England is bound in +prudence to maintain her power. + +iv. _The Policy of Trust_. 'I believe myself that suspicion is the +besetting vice of politicians and that trust is often the truest +wisdom.'[122] + +This sentiment is followed by curious and ambiguous qualifications. It +is not cited for the sake of fixing Mr. Gladstone with any doctrine +whatever; it is quoted because it neatly expresses the sentiment which, +in one form or another, underlies most of the arguments in favour of +Home Rule or of our new constitution. The right attitude for a +politician, it is urged, is trust; he should trust the Irish leaders and +their assurances or professions; he should trust in the training +conferred upon men by the exercise of power; he should trust in the +healing effects of a policy of conciliation, or, to put the matter +shortly, he should trust in the goodness and reasonableness of human +nature. Exercise only a little trustfulness and the policy of Home Rule, +it is suggested, may be seen to be a wise and prudent policy.[123] + +How far, then, is trust in any of the three forms, which it may on this +occasion take, a reasonable sentiment? + +We are told to trust the Irish leaders. + +My answer to this advice is plain and decided. Confidence is not a +matter of choice. You cannot give your trust simply because you wish to +give it. Men are trusted because they are trustworthy. The Irish Home +Rule leaders as a body cannot inspire trust, for the simple reason that +their whole policy and conduct prove them untrustworthy. Politicians, +strange as the fact may appear to them, cannot get quit of their past. + +Look for a moment at the history--the patent, acknowledged history--of +the agitators or the patriots (and I doubt not that many of them are, +from their own point of view, patriotic) in whom we are asked to +confide, and whose assurances are to form the basis on which to rest a +dubious policy. They have been till recently the foes of England. This +in itself is not much; many a rebel has been the enemy of England, and +yet has been entitled to the respect of Englishmen. But there are deeds +which neither hatred to England nor love of Ireland can justify. Even +sedition has its moral code, and like war itself is subject to +obligations which no man can neglect without infamy. The conspirators +condemned by the Special Commission--and among them are to be found the +most prominent of the Irish leaders[124]--have been guilty of conduct +which no wise man ought to forget and no good man ought to palliate. +They have for years excited Irish ignorance against England and against +English officials by a system of gross incessant slander; witness the +pages of _United Ireland_ when Lord Spencer and Sir George Trevelyan +were in power at Dublin. The men whom we are told to trust are men who +did enter into a criminal conspiracy by a system of coercion and +intimidation to promote an agrarian agitation against the payment of +agricultural rents, for the purpose of impoverishing and expelling from +the country the English landlords[125]; they are men found guilty of not +denouncing intimidation which led to crime and outrage, but of +persisting in it with a knowledge of its effect.[126] They are proved to +have made payments to compensate persons injured in the commission of +crime[127]; they are men who have solicited and taken the money of +Patrick Ford, the advocate of dynamite; and have invited and obtained +the co-operation of the Clan-na-Gael.[128] Their whole system of +agitation has been utterly unlike that of honourable agitators, +conspirators, or rebels; it would have excited the horror of O'Connell; +it would have been repudiated with disgust by Davis, by Gavan Duffy, by +Smith O'Brien, and the other Irish leaders of 1848. The men who now ask +for our confidence have in their attack upon England forgotten what was +due to Ireland; they have deliberately taught Irish peasants lessons of +dishonesty, oppression, and cruelty, which the farmers of Ireland may +take years to unlearn. Of the degradation which they have gradually +inflicted upon the English Parliament one is glad to say little. It is, +however, well that the House of Commons should recollect that +parliamentary debates are open to all the world and that Englishmen and +Englishwomen see no reason why brutalities of expression should be +tolerated in the oldest representative Assembly of Europe which would be +reproved in any respectable English meeting. But you can sometimes trust +men's capacity where you cannot trust their moral feeling. Unfortunately +the Irish Parliamentary party have given us examples of their ability in +matters of government which are not reassuring. The scenes of Committee +Room No. 15[129] are a rehearsal of parliamentary life under Home Rule +at Dublin. + +But the Gladstonians, we shall be told, guarantee the good faith of +their associates. Unfortunately, as judges of character the Gladstonians +are out of court. The leader who first obtained their confidence was Mr. +Parnell. If the Home Rule Bill of 1886 had become law Mr. Parnell would +have become Premier of Ireland, and we should have been bidden to put +trust in his loyalty and his integrity. There are no Gladstonians now +who think Mr. Parnell trustworthy. Why should they be better judges of +the trustworthiness of Mr. Dillon, Mr. M'Carthy, or Mr. Davitt, than +they were of the character of the statesman who was the leader, friend +or patron of the whole Irish Parliamentary party? Note, however--for in +this matter it is essential to make one's meaning perfectly clear--I do +not allege, or suppose, that the assurances of the Irish leaders are +mendacious. They believe, I doubt not, what they say at the moment; but +their words mean very little. In a sense they believed, or did not +disbelieve, the slanderous accusations which filled the pages of _United +Ireland_. In a sense they now believe that the Home Rule Bill is a +satisfactory compromise. But the belief in each case must be considered +essentially superficial. Men are the victims of their own career: it is +absolutely impossible that leaders many of whom have indulged in +virulence, in slanders, in cruelty, in oppression, should be suddenly +credited with strict truthfulness, with sobriety, with respect for the +rights of others. Even as it is, landlords are, in Mr. Sexton's eyes, +criminals,[130] and he therefore cannot be trusted to act with fairness +towards Irish landowners. Mr. Redmond holds that imprisoned dynamiters +and other criminals should be released, whether guilty or not, and it is +therefore reasonable not to put Mr. Redmond in a position where he can +insist upon an amnesty for dynamiters and conspirators. Nor is it at all +clear that as regards amnesty any Anti-Parnellite dare dissent from the +doctrine of Mr. Redmond. It is odious, it will be said, to dwell on +faults or crimes which, were it possible, every man would wish +forgotten. But when we are asked to trust politicians who are +untrustworthy, it is a duty to say why we must refuse to them every kind +of confidence. Of the penalty for such plain speaking I am well aware. +It will be said that to attack the Irish leaders is to slander the Irish +people. This is untrue. In times of revolution men perpetually come to +the front unworthy of the nation whom they lead. To treat distrust of +the leaders of the Land League as dislike or distrust of the Irish +people is as unfair as to say that the censor of Robespierre, of Marat, +or of Barère denies that during the Revolution Frenchmen displayed high +genius and rare virtues. There are thousands of Irishmen who will +endorse every word I have written about the Irish leaders. Add to this +that I am not called upon to pronounce any further condemnation upon the +party than was pronounced upon the chief among them by the Special +Commission. All I assert is that from the nature of things the men found +guilty by the Commission cannot inspire trust. + +Power, it is often intimated, teaches its own lessons. Trust Irishmen +with the government of their own country, and you may feel confident +that experience will teach them how to govern justly. + +To this argument I need not myself provide a reply: it has been +admirably given by my friend Mr. Bryce. Every word which in the +following passage refers to the State legislatures of the United States +applies in principle to the future Parliament at Dublin:-- + + 'The chief lesson which a study of the more vicious among the State + legislatures teaches, is that power does not necessarily bring + responsibility in its train. I should be ashamed to write down so + bald a platitude were it not that it is one of those platitudes + which are constantly forgotten or ignored. People who know well + enough that, in private life, wealth or rank or any other kind of + power is as likely to mar a man as to make him, to lower as to + raise his sense of duty, have nevertheless contracted the habit of + talking as if human nature changed when it entered public life, as + if the mere possession of public functions, whether of voting or of + legislating, tended of itself to secure their proper exercise. We + know that power does not purify men in despotic governments, but we + talk as if it did so in free governments. Every one would of course + admit, if the point were put flatly to him, that power alone is not + enough, but that there must be added to power, in the case of the + voter, a direct interest in the choice of good men, in the case of + the legislator, responsibility to the voters, in the case of both, + a measure of enlightenment and honour. What the legislatures of the + worst States show is not merely the need for the existence of a + sound public opinion, for such a public opinion exists, but the + need for methods by which it can be brought into efficient action + upon representatives who, if they are left to themselves, and are + not individually persons with a sense of honour and a character to + lose, will be at least as bad in public life as they could be in + private. The greatness of the scale on which they act, and of the + material interests they control, will do little to inspire them. + New York and Pennsylvania are by far the largest and wealthiest + States in the Union. Their legislatures are confessedly the + worst.'[131] + +The passage is the more impressive just because it is not written with a +view to Ireland. No one doubts that the people of the United States, +both in morality and in talent, equal if they do not excel the people of +any other country in the world. But the warmest eulogist of America +seeks throughout his work for the explanation of the fact which is +really past dispute, that the political morality of the United States +sinks below the general morality of the nation.[132] There is not the +least reason why under a vicious constitution the government at Dublin +should not reflect or exaggerate the vices, rather than represent the +noble qualities and the gifts, of the Irish people. + +But the doctrine of trust takes another and more general form. You may +place confidence, it is alleged, in the goodness of human nature, and +should believe that the concession of Home Rule, just because it meets +the wishes of the Irish people, will take away every source of +discontent, and thereby remove any difficulty in making even an +imperfect constitution work well. + +To this the answer may fairly be made, which I have made in the +preceding pages, that Home Rule does not meet the wish of the most +important part of the Irish people, but in truth arouses their +abhorrence, and that even Home Rulers care much less than Gladstonians +suppose about constitutional changes. To give a man a vote for a +Parliament at Dublin when he is demanding an acre or two of land, comes +very near giving him a stone when he asks for bread. But I assume for a +moment that the Irishmen, who express no great enthusiasm for the Home +Rule Bill, desire the new constitution as ardently as sixty years or so +ago our fathers desired parliamentary reform. Yet even on this +assumption the belief in Home Rule as a panacea for Irish ills is +childish, and belongs to a bygone stage of opinion. We now know that +changes in political machinery, however important, do not of themselves +produce content. A poverty-stricken peasant in Connaught will not be +made happy because a Parliament meets at Dublin. We now further know +that the difficulty of satisfying popular aspirations often arises from +the fundamental faults of human nature. Trust in the people may often be +wiser than distrust, but to suppose that masses of men are wiser, more +reasonable, or more virtuous than the individuals of which they consist, +is as idle a political delusion as the corresponding ecclesiastical +delusion that a church has virtues denied to the believers who make up +the church. On this point an anecdote makes my meaning clearer than an +argument. On May 15, 1848, the French National Assembly was invaded by +an armed mob, who shouted and yelled for three hours and more, and +threatened at any moment to slaughter the representatives of France. +From June 22-26, 1848, there raged the most terrible of the +insurrections which Paris has seen. For the first time in modern history +the workmen of the capital rose against the body of the more or less +well-to-do citizens. There was not a man in Paris who did not tremble +for his property and his life. Householders feared the very servants in +their homes. Between these days of ferocity intervened a day of +sentiment. On May 21, 1848, the Assembly attended a Feast of Concord. +There were carts filled with allegorical figures, there were +processions, there were embraces; the whole town, soldiers, national +guards, gardes mobiles, armed workmen, a million of men or more, passed +in array before the deputies. The feast was a feast of concord, but +every deputy had provided himself with pistols or some weapon of +defence. This was the occasion when we are told by the reporter of the +scene, 'Carnot said to me with a touch of that silliness (_niaiserie_) +which is always to be found mixed up with the virtues of honest +democrats, "Believe me, my dear colleague, you must always trust the +people." I remember I answered him rather rudely, "Ah! why didn't you +remind me of that on the day before May 15?"' The anecdote is told by +the greatest political thinker whom France has produced since the days +of Montesquieu. 'Trust in the people' did not appear the last word of +political wisdom to Alexis de Tocqueville.[133] + +The Gladstonian pleas to which answer has been made are, it will be +said, arguments not in favour of our new constitution, but in support of +Home Rule. The remark is just; it points to a curious weakness in the +reasoning of Gladstonians. They adduce many reasons of more or less +weight for conceding some kind of Home Rule to Ireland. But few indeed +are the reasons put forward, either in the House of Commons or +elsewhere, in favour of the actual Home Rule Bill of 1893. As to the +merits of this definite measure Ministerialists show a singular +reticence. It may be that they wish to save time and hold that the +measure commends itself without any recommendation by force of its own +inherent merits. But to a critic of the new constitution another +explanation suggests itself. Can it be possible that Ministerialists +themselves are not certain what are the fixed principles of the new +policy? Everything about it is indefinite, vague, uncertain. Who can say +with assurance what Gladstonians understand by Imperial supremacy? Is +there or is there not any idea of excluding Ulster from the operation of +the Bill? Is it or is it not a principle that members from Ireland shall +be summoned to Westminster? Are the Irish members, if summoned, to vote +on all matters, or on some only? To each of these questions the only +answer that can be given is--nobody knows. But in this state of +ignorance it is natural and excusable that apologists should confine +themselves to general lines of defence. No politician who respects +himself would willingly risk a vigorous apology for the special +provisions of a particular measure, when, for aught he knows, the +provision which he thinks essential turns out to be an unimportant +detail, and is liable to sudden variation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[108] 'I have told you candidly my sentiments. I think they are not +likely to alter yours.... But hereafter they may be of some use to you, +in some future form which your commonwealth may take. In the present it +can hardly remain; but before its final settlement it may be obliged to +pass, as one of our poets says, "through great varieties of untried +being," and in all its transmigrations to be purified by fire and +blood.'--_Burke's Works_, ii. (ed. 1872), p. 517, 'Reflections on the +Revolution in France.' + +[109] As to the general causes of the strength of the Home Rule movement +in England, and the general considerations in its favour, see _England's +Case against Home Rule_ (3rd ed.), ch. iii. and iv. pp. 34-127. From the +opinions expressed in these chapters I see no reason for receding. + +[110] Mr. M'Carthy, April 10, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debate_, 353. + +[111] [May 6, 1882. Now twenty-nine years back.] + +[112] Every one should read Mr. Lecky's letter of April 4, 1893, +addressed to the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, and printed in the +_Chamber's Reply_ to Mr. Gladstone's speech. It deals immediately not +with the relations between England and Ireland, but with the alleged +prosperity of Ireland under Grattan's Constitution. But in principle it +applies to the point here discussed, and I venture to say that every +page of Mr. Lecky's _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_ which +refers to Grattan's Parliament bears out the contention, that no +inference can be drawn from it as to the successful working, as regards +either England or Ireland, of the legislature to be constituted under +the Home Rule Bill. + +[113] Add also that steamboats and railways have practically, since the +time of Grattan, brought Ireland nearer to England, and Dublin nearer to +London. At the end of the last or the beginning of this century a Lord +Lieutenant was for weeks prevented by adverse winds from crossing from +Holyhead to Dublin. Mr. Morley can attend a Cabinet Council at +Westminster one afternoon and breakfast next morning in Dublin. + +[114] With the conclusions as to Home Rule of my lamented friend Mr. +Freeman it is impossible for me to agree. But for that very reason I can +the more freely insist upon the merit of his paper on _Irish Home Rule +and its Analogies_ as an attempt to clear up our ideas as to the meaning +of Home Rule. He, for instance, points out that the relations between +Hungary and Austria do not constitute the relation of Home Rule and +afford no analogy to the relation which Home Rulers propose to establish +between Great Britain and Ireland. See _The New Princeton Review_ for +1888, vol. vi. pp. 172, 190. + +[115] A Gladstonian who thinks the case of the Channel Islands in point, +would do well to get up the facts of their history. They were no more +'given' a constitution by England than, as most Frenchmen believe, they +were conquered from France. See Mr. Haldane, April 7, 1893, _Times +Parliamentary Debates_, p. 333. + +[116] They have now (1911) led to political separation, happily without +the need for civil war. + +[117] See further on this point, Home Rule as Federalism, _England's +Case against Home Rule_ (3rd ed.), pp. 160-197, and for Home Rule as +Colonial Independence, _ib_. pp. 197-218. + +[118] Then the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. + +[119] See 'Andrew Jackson,' _American Statesmen Series_, p. 182. + +[120] Hilty, _Separatabdruck aus dem Politischen Jahrbuch der +Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft_ (_Jahrgang_ 1891), p. 377. + +[121] For the story of Kavanagh, Hanlon, and Smith, and their attempted +landing at Melbourne, see _England's Case_ (3rd ed.), p. 207. + +[122] Mr. Gladstone, February 13, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates_, +p. 307. + +[123] An eminent and very able Gladstonian M.P. once said in my +presence, in effect, for I cannot cite his actual words, that the +difference between Gladstonians and Unionists was a difference in their +judgment of character or of human nature. He touched I believe far more +nearly than do most politicians the root of the differences which divide +the authors and the critics of our new constitution. + +[124] Report of Special Commission, pp. 54, 55. + +[125] _Ibid_. pp. 53, 119. + +[126] _Ibid_. pp. 119, 120. + +[127] Report of Special Commission, p. 120. + +[128] _Ibid_. + +[129] This Committee Room was the scene of the desertion of Parnell by +the majority of his former followers. + +[130] 'The crime of the Land League was a trifle compared to the crime +of the landlords.'--Mr. Sexton, April 20, 1893, _Times Parliamentary +Debates_, p. 525. + +[131] Bryce, _American Commonwealth_ (1st ed.), ii. pp. 190, 191. + +[132] Compare _ibid_. ii. p. 618. + +[133] 'Carnot me dit avec cette niaiserie que les démocrates honnêtes ne +manquent guère de mêler à leur vertu: "Croyez-moi, mon cher collègue, il +faut toujours se fier au peuple." Je me rappelle que je lui répondis +assez brusquement: "Eh! que ne me disiez-vous cela la veille du 15 +mai?"'--_Souvenirs de Alexis de Tocqueville_, p. 196. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PATH OF SAFETY + + +We stand on the brink of a precipice.[134] To say that Englishmen are +asked to take a leap in the dark is far to understate the peril of the +moment. We are asked to leave an arduous but well-known road, and to +spring down an unfathomed ravine filled with rocks, on any one of which +we may be dashed to pieces. + +The very excess of the peril hides its existence from ordinary citizens. +Mr. Gladstone, they argue, is a wise man and a good man, his colleagues +are partisans, they are not conspirators; it is incredible that they +should recommend a measure fraught with ruin to England. But the matter +is intelligible enough. Mr. Gladstone's weakness, no less than his +strength, has always lain in his temporary but exclusive preoccupation +with some one dominant idea. The one notion which possesses his mind--to +judge from his public conduct and speeches--is that at any cost Home +Rule, that is, an Irish Executive and an Irish Parliament, must be +conceded to Ireland. Enthusiasm, pride, ambition, all the motives, good +and bad, which can influence a statesman, urge him to achieve this one +object. If he succeeds his political career is crowned with victory, if +not with final triumph; if he fails his whole course during the last +seven years turns out an error. But it has long been manifest that only +with the greatest difficulty can English electors be persuaded to accept +Home Rule. Hence it has been found essential that the principles of the +measure should not be known before the time for passing it into law. +Hence the ill-starred avoidance of discussion. Hence the ultimate +framing of a scheme which is made to pass, but is not made to work, and +which probably enough does not represent the real wishes or convictions +of any one statesman. Where is the Minister who will tell us that this +particular Government of Ireland Bill is according to his judgment--I +will not say in its details, but in each and all of its leading +principles--the best constitution which can be framed for determining +the relations between England and Ireland? This Minister has not +appeared--I doubt whether he exists. The Bill may be a model of artful +provision for conciliating the prejudices or soothing the fears of +English electors, but it is not a well-digested constitution. It is +inferior to the Home Rule Bill of 1886. Another consequence of the +circumstances under which the Bill has been framed is that its authors +themselves have never had the benefit to be derived from the mature +discussion of its principles. Mr. Gladstone himself cannot say what are +and what are not the fundamental ideas of his scheme. He obviously held, +at any rate when the Bill was introduced, that the presence of the Irish +members at Westminster was a detail, whereas it is in reality the fact +which governs the character of the new constitution. To imply that such +a matter can be treated as subsidiary is, in the eyes of any student of +constitutions, as ridiculous as it would seem to Mr. Gladstone for a +Chancellor of the Exchequer, on introducing his budget, to assert that, +whether he maintained or did not maintain the income tax, was an organic +detail which did not fundamentally affect his financial proposals. The +Ministry are as much at sea as their chief; nor is this wonderful. There +are two things of which English statesmen have had little experience. +The one is a revolutionary movement, the other is the construction of a +constitution. But the Home Rule Bill is at once the effect and the sign +of a revolutionary movement, and the task in which the Gladstonians are +engaged is the formation of a new constitution. Blind leaders are +leading a blind people, and our blind leaders, some of whom care more +for Radical supremacy in England than for Imperial supremacy in Ireland, +are like many other men of our time, the slaves of phrases, such as +'trust in the people,' which pass muster for principles. If the blind +lead the blind, what wonder if they stumble over a precipice? + +The peril in which the country stands is concealed from us by a curious +reaction of opinion. Good political institutions, it was at one time +held, were the cause of a nation's happiness, and England, it was firmly +believed, owed her prosperity wholly to her constitution. A century of +revolutions has taught us all that a good form of government cannot of +itself save a state from ruin, and many of us have come to think that +forms of government are nothing, and that no constitutional changes can +impair the strength of England. No delusion however is more patent or +more noxious. Never was a country richer in the elements of strength +than were the Thirteen Colonies when their independence was acknowledged +by England. Yet the Confederation by the vices of its constitution +filled the colonies with discord, and made them both weak at home and +contemptible abroad, whilst the creation of the United States restored +them to peace and opened for them the road to greatness. The +predominance for more than fifty years of the Slave Power in the +politics of the American Union, the struggle measured by centuries +through which at last the Protestant and progressive Cantons of +Switzerland asserted their rightful supremacy over the Catholic and +unprogressive Cantons of Switzerland, the weakness of Prussia when, not +much more than forty[135] years back, she could hardly maintain her +rights and her dignity against Austria, the classical instance of +Germany, which though possessed of every source of power lay for +generations at the mercy of France, mainly on account of vicious +political institutions, are proofs, if evidence were wanting, of the +capacity of ill-designed constitutions to hamper the action and threaten +the prosperity of great nations. A constitution in truth is a national +garb. A good constitution will not make a weak country strong, but an +unsuitable constitution may reduce a strong country to feebleness. A +weakling does not become a strong man by putting on armour, but a giant +can derive no advantage from his strength if once he be got by fraud or +force into a strait waistcoat. + +Strength, it is true, will in the long run assert itself. The artificial +supremacy of Ireland, or of a faction supported by Irish votes, will not +last for ever; probably it will not last long. If the new constitution +prove unbearable by England it will not be borne; it will be overthrown +or evaded. Far am I from asserting that the breach or evasion will, when +it shall occur, be justifiable. Englishmen's ideas of good faith are +strict, but they are narrow. One main reason for dreading the new +constitution is that it may try beyond measure the patience and the +honesty of England. If, for instance, Ulster should resist the legal +authority of the Parliament at Dublin, there may arise one of those +terrible periods in which the observation of pledged faith seems +inconsistent with the natural dictates of honour and humanity, and weak +concession at the present moment will, at such a crisis, be found to +have contained among its other perils the danger lest England, when at +last she re-asserts her power in Ireland, should not re-establish her +justice. + +Where then lies the path of safety? The road is difficult, but it is +clearly marked; it is at any rate to be found, not by any exercise of +subtlety or of extraordinary acuteness, but by obeying the plain +dictates of common sense and sound public morality. The characteristics +of Unionist policy must be seriousness, simplicity, and reliance upon +an appeal to the nation. + +Seriousness is essential. + +The need of the time is to impress on the mass of the people the intense +gravity of the crisis. Far too much was said before the general election +about the weaknesses and the inconsistencies of the Gladstonians, and +far too little about the causes of their strength and the absolute +necessity for arduous efforts to defeat the Separatists at the +polling-booths. The error must not be repeated. + +The people must be told, as they may be told with absolute truth, that +the fate of England is in question, and that nothing but the efforts of +every Unionist throughout the land can save the country from +destruction. The contest has, without either party being aware of the +change, shifted its character since 1886. Then the names of Unionists +and Separatists expressed the whole difference between the opponents and +supporters of the Home Rule Bill. The Gladstonians for the most part +meant the Bill to affect, as far as possible, the condition of Ireland +alone. They did not mean to change the constitution of the United +Kingdom. It is now plain, as has been shown throughout these pages, that +the measure of so-called Home Rule is a new constitution for the whole +United Kingdom. In 1886 the Gladstonians _bona fide_ intended to close +the period of agitation. In 1893 many Gladstonians see in Home Rule for +Ireland only the first step towards an extended scheme of federalism. +In 1886 no Gladstonian had palliated crime or oppression, no +Gladstonian statesman had discovered that boycotting was nothing but +exclusive dealing, no Gladstonian Chancellor had made light of +conspiracy. All this is changed. Alliance with revolutionists or +conspirators has imbued respectable English statesmen with revolutionary +doctrines and revolutionary sentiment. The difference between Unionist +and Separatist remains, but it is merged in the wider difference between +Constitutionalists and Revolutionists. The question at issue is not +merely, though this is serious enough, whether the Act of Union shall be +repealed or relaxed, but whether the United Kingdom is morally a nation, +and whether as a nation it has a right to insist upon the supreme +authority belonging to the majority of its citizens. A similar question +was some thirty-two years ago put to the people of the United States; it +was decided by the arbitrament of battle. + +The terrible calamity of an appeal to the test of force Englishmen may +avoid, but if it is to be avoided the national rights of the whole +people of the United Kingdom must be asserted as strenuously by their +votes as the rights of the citizens of the United States were vindicated +by their arms. The people of England again must be solemnly warned that +errors in policy or acts of injustice may snatch from us the power of +determining a political controversy at the ballot-box instead of on the +battle-field. It is folly to raise cases on the constitution; it is +always of the most doubtful prudence to handle the casuistry of +politics. Nothing will tempt me to discuss in these pages what are the +ethical limits to the exercise of constitutionally unlimited +sovereignty, or at what point legal oppression justifies armed +resistance. Two considerations must at this crisis be kept in mind. The +one is that, until oppression is actually committed, the maintenance of +order is the duty of every citizen, and, like most political duties, is +also a matter of the most obvious expediency; the other is that the +compulsion of loyal citizens to forgo the direct protection of the +government whose sovereignty they admit, and to accept the rule of a +government whose moral claim to their allegiance they deny, is a +proceeding of the grossest injustice. Let the people of England also be +solemnly warned that the Gladstonian policy of 1893 repeats the +essential error of the condemned policy of Protestant ascendency. +Gladstonians hold that the democracy of England may ally itself with the +democracy of Ireland, and may treat lightly the rights and the wishes of +a Protestant and Conservative minority. In bygone times the aristocratic +and Protestant government of England allied itself with the Protestant +and aristocratic government of Ireland, and held light the rights and +the wishes of the Catholic majority. Each policy labours under the same +defect. The enforced supremacy of a class, be it a minority or a +majority, is opposed to the equitable principle of the supremacy of the +whole nation. There is no reason to suppose that Catholic ascendency +will be found more tolerable than was Protestant ascendency. + +The policy of Unionism should be marked by simplicity. + +The Unionist leaders have a clear though a difficult duty to perform. +Their one immediate function is resistance to a dangerous revolution. +Logically and politically, there was a good deal to be said for the +deliberate refusal to discuss, or to vote upon, any of the details of +the Home Rule Bill. There is always a danger lest the attempt to amend a +radically and essentially vicious measure should promote the delusion +that it is amendable. And any success in debate would be dearly +purchased if it led the electors to suppose that the Government of +Ireland Bill, which in fact embodies a policy, so fundamentally perverse +that no alteration of details can render it tolerable, is a measure +which, though faulty in its execution, is sound in principle. The +Unionists leaders, however, whom we can absolutely trust, have decided +that abstention from debate would be an error. As far as the matter is +to be looked at from a parliamentary point of view their judgment is +decisive, and since the policy of combating the Bill point by point has +been adopted it should be carried out, as it is being carried out, with +the utmost stringency. Minute discussion of the clauses of the Bill is +elaborate instruction for the mass of the nation. + +To the cry of obstruction no heed whatever need be paid. As long as +there is real discussion obstruction becomes, when the matter in debate +is the formation of a new constitution for the United Kingdom, an +impossibility. The business needs the most careful consideration. +Ministers themselves are uncertain as to what are the essential +principles of their own scheme. Every detail involves a principle, and +in a Bill where clearness is of vital importance, every clause involves +an ambiguity. Each part moreover of the new constitution must be +considered with regard to the rest, and the expression of different +views as to the meaning of the Bill is of itself of utility, when it is +of the greatest importance that Englishmen and Irishmen, Conservatives +and Radicals, should be agreed as to the meaning of the new Fundamental +Law. When, in short, a constitution for the country is being drawn up, +no discussion which is rational can be obstructive. If a week or a +fortnight of parliamentary time is expended in defining the meaning of +the supreme authority of Parliament, or in deciding whether the Irish +delegacy is or is not to be retained at Westminster, not a moment too +much is devoted to points of such transcendent importance. 'But the +debate,' it is urged, 'will at this rate last for months.' Why not? 'No +other Bills,' it is added, 'can be passed.' What Bills, I answer, ought +to be passed whilst the constitution of England is undergoing +fundamental alteration? 'But the principles of the measure,' it is +objected, 'might have been discussed and settled during the last seven +years.' So, I reply, they might, if it had pleased the Gladstonians +either to produce their Bill or to announce its general principles. +Their silence was politic; it won them a majority at the general +election, but you cannot from the nature of things combine the +advantages both of reticence and of outspokenness. Silence may have been +justified as a piece of clever party tactics; it is a very different +question whether the concealment of seven years has turned out high +statesmanship. Gladstonians, like other men, cannot, as the saying goes, +have their cake and eat it. They have had the advantages, they are now +paying the inevitable price of reserve. Unionists in any case are bound +to turn this invaluable time to account. Discussion of the constitution +is the education of the people. + +In order, however, that this political training may be effective, our +parliamentary teachers must take care that the public are not confused +by the prominence necessarily given to details. Minute criticism of the +Bill is important, but at the present moment it is important only as +enforcing the radical vice of its main principles. No effort must be +spared to keep the mind of the nation well fixed upon these principles. +The surrender by the British Parliament and the British Government of +all effective part in the government of Ireland, the ambiguities of such +a term as 'Imperial supremacy' and all that these ambiguities involve, +the inadequacy and the futility of the Restrictions, the errors and +impolicy of the financial arrangements, above all the injustice to +England and the injury to Ireland of retaining, under a system of Home +Rule, even a single Irish representative at Westminster, these broad +considerations are the things which should be pressed, and pressed home, +upon the electors. Minor matters are good topics for parliamentary +discussion, but should not receive a confusing and illusory prominence. + +The electors again must be made to feel that it is the essential +principle of Home Rule, the setting up of an Irish Government and an +Irish Parliament, to which Unionists are opposed. The least appearance +of concession to Home Rulers, or any action which gives increased +currency to the delusion, certainly cherished by some moderate +Gladstonians, that Home Rule can be identified with or cut down to +extended local self-government,[136] will be fatal to the cause of +Unionism. The concession to Ireland of a petty, paltry, peddling +legislature, which dare hardly call itself a Parliament, and is +officially designated say as a national council, combined with some +faint imitation of a Cabinet, called say a committee, would disappoint +and irritate Home Rulers; it would cheat their hopes, but it would +afford them the means of gaining their end. It would not give assurance +to Unionists, it would not be a triumph of Unionist policy, it would +rather be the destruction of Unionism. The one course of safety is to +take care that at the next general election the country has laid before +it for determination a clear and unmistakable issue. The question for +every elector to answer must be reducible to the form Aye or No; will +you, or will you not, repeal the Union and establish an Irish Executive +and an Irish Parliament in Dublin? If the question be so raised +Unionists have no reason to fear an answer. + +The policy of Unionism has always relied on an appeal to the nation. + +The one desire of Unionists has always been to fight their opponents on +the clear unmistakable issue of Home Rule. The policy of Separatists has +been to keep Home Rule in the background whilst making its meaning +indefinite, and to mix up all the multifarious issues raised by the +Newcastle programme, as well as many others, with the one essential +question whether we should or should not repeal or modify the Act of +Union. + +To their policy of appeal to the people the Unionists will, of course, +adhere. The House of Lords will, it may be presumed, as a matter not so +much of right as of obvious duty, reject the present Home Rule Bill, so +as to refer to the electors of the United Kingdom the question whether +we shall, or shall not, have a new constitution. Even if such a +reference to the electors should result in a Gladstonian majority, it is +still possible that a further dissolution might be necessary. The +majority for Home Rule might be much reduced. I doubt whether Mr. +Gladstone himself would maintain that with a majority say of ten or +twenty, a Minister would be morally justified in attempting a +fundamental change in the constitution. As to such speculative matters +there is no need to say anything. It is worth while, however, to repeat +a statement which cannot be too often insisted upon, that the most +important function of the House of Lords at the present day is to take +care that no fundamental change in the constitution takes place which +has not received the undoubted assent of the nation. The peers are more +and more clearly awakening to the knowledge that under the circumstances +of modern public life this protection of the rights of the nation, which +is in complete conformity with democratic principle, is the supreme duty +of the Upper House. + +The question, however, to be considered at the moment is whether for the +performance of this duty something more may not be required than the +compelling of a dissolution. This something more is a direct appeal to +the electors in the nature of a Referendum. The question is still a +theoretical one; it cannot (unfortunately as it will appear to many +persons) be raised during the debates on the Bill in the House of +Commons. When the Bill reaches the House of Lords, it will, we may +suppose, be rejected, and all that a Unionist can wish for is, first, +that before actual rejection its general principles should be subjected +to complete discussion, and what is in this case the same thing, +exposure, and next that the House of Lords should, if necessary, take +steps which can easily be imagined, for providing that the rejection of +the Bill shall entail a dissolution. If, however, the dissolution should +result in a Gladstonian majority, and should lead to another Home Rule +Bill being sent up to their lordships, the question then arises as to +the Referendum. My own conviction, which has been before laid before the +public, is that the Lords would do well if they appended to any Home +Rule Bill which they were prepared to accept a clause which might make +its coming into force depend upon its, within a limited time, receiving +the approval of the majority of the electors of the United Kingdom. And +in the particular case of the Home Rule Bill it is fair, for reasons +already stated,[137] that the Bill before becoming law should receive +the assent of a majority of the electors both of Great Britain and of +Ireland. This course, it may be said, is unconstitutional. This word has +no terrors for me; it means no more than unusual, and the institution of +a Referendum would simply mean the formal acknowledgment of the doctrine +which lies at the basis of English democracy--that a law depends at +bottom for its enactment on the assent of the nation as represented by +the electors. At a time when the true danger is that sections or classes +should arrogate to themselves authority which belongs to the State, it +is an advantage to bring into prominence the sovereignty of the nation. +The present is exactly a crisis at which we may override the practices +to save the principles of the constitution. The most forcible objection +which can be made is that you ought not for the sake of avoiding a +particular evil to introduce an innovation of dubious expediency. The +objection itself is valid, but it is in the present instance +inapplicable. My conviction is that the introduction of the Referendum, +in one shape or another in respect of large constitutional changes, +would be a distinct benefit to the country. It affords the one available +check on the recklessness of party leaders; for the check is at once +effective and in perfect conformity with democratic principle and +sentiment. A second objection is that a Referendum renders any law which +obtains the approval of the electors more difficult of alteration than +an ordinary Act of Parliament. The allegation is true, but it really +tells greatly in favour of an ultimate reference to the people of any +Home Rule Bill passed in a Parliament. If such a Bill becomes law, it +ought to be a law not admitting of easy repeal. No doubt reaction may be +justifiable, but reaction is a great evil, and the Referendum puts a +check as well on reaction as on hasty innovation. In any case the time +has arrived when Unionist statesmen should consider the expediency of +announcing that no Home Rule Bill will finally be accepted until it has +undergone a reference to and received the approval of the electors. On +no better issue could battle be joined with revolutionists than on the +question whether the people of the United Kingdom should or should not +be allowed to express their will. Unionists have every reason to feel +confidence in their cause; their only policy, their one path of safety +is to make it, as they can do, absolutely plain that they rely upon +justice, and that they appeal from parties to the nation. + +We have now before us the essential features of the new constitution +framed by Gladstonians for the whole United Kingdom. We know its +inherent defects and inconsistencies; we have considered what may be +said on its behalf, or rather of the policy of which it is the outcome. +The proposed change in our form of government touches the very +foundations of the State, and deeply, though indirectly, threatens the +unity of the whole Empire. Never surely since the day when the National +Assembly of France drew up that Constitution of 1791, which built to be +eternal endured for not quite a year, has an ancient nation been so +strangely invited to accept an untried and unknown polity. + +The position indeed of the French constitution-makers was in some +respects stronger and more defensible than the position of our English +innovators. The members of the National Assembly knew precisely what +they were doing. They meant to alter the fundamental institutions of +France. A change moreover in the whole scheme of French government was +an admitted necessity. France might be uncertain as to the working of +the new constitution, but France was absolutely certain that the _ancien +régime_ was detestable. Individuals or nations may wisely risk much when +they are escaping from a social condition which they detest, they may +know that an innovation is in itself of doubtful expediency, yet may +consider any alleged reform worth a trial when no change can be a change +for the worse. In the France of 1791 confidence in the future meant +abhorrence of the past. + +The authors of our new constitution can hardly be called the designers +of their own handiwork; they have been the sport of accident. Their +intention, or rather the intention of their leader, was in 1886 merely +to grant some sort of Parliamentary independence to Ireland. The +resolution to concede Home Rule was sudden; it may have been taken up +without due weighing of its consequences. It has assuredly led to +unexpected results. The statesmen who meant merely to give Home Rule to +Ireland have stumbled into the making of a new constitution for the +United Kingdom. What wonder that their workmanship betrays its +accidental origin. It has no coherence, no consistency; nothing is +called by its right name, and words are throughout substituted for +facts; the new Parliament of Ireland is denied its proper title; the +supremacy of the Imperial Parliament is nominally saved, and is really +destroyed; and the very statesmen who proclaim the supremacy of the +Imperial Parliament refuse to assert the subordination of the Irish +Parliament. The authors of the constitution are at sea as to its +leading principles, and its most essential provision they deem an +organic detail, which may at any moment be modified or removed. The +whole thing is an incongruous patchwork affair, made up of shreds and +tatters torn from the institutions of other lands. It is as inconsistent +with the proposed and rejected Constitution of 1886 as with the existing +Constitution of England. While however our constitution-makers tender +for the acceptance of the nation a scheme of fundamental change, whereof +the effect is uncertain, conjectural, and perilous, and the permanence +is not guaranteed by its authors, Englishmen are well satisfied with +their old constitution; they may desire its partial modification or +expansion, they have never even contemplated its overthrow. Politicians, +in short, who meant to initiate a moderate reform, are pressing a +revolutionary change on a country which neither needs nor desires a +revolution; they propose to get rid of grave, though temporary, +inconveniences by a permanent alteration of which no man can calculate +the results in our whole system of government. Never before was a nation +so strangely advised by such bewildered counsellors to take for so +little apparent reason so desperate a leap in the dark. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[134] The whole gist of this chapter applies to the state of England in +1911 with greater force than even to its condition in 1893. Home Rule +will be carried, if at all, only by a House of Commons freed from the +authority of the House of Lords, and from the need of an appeal to the +people. + +[135] Now sixty-one years. + +[136] If any one wishes to see the difference between local +self-government and Home Rule, let him compare the Bill for the +extension of self-government in Ireland, brought in by the late +Ministry, with the Home Rule Bill. The Local Government Bill went very +far, some persons may even maintain dangerously far, in creating and in +extending the authority of local bodies in Ireland. But it was not Home +Rule, or anything like Home Rule. The most extended Local Government +Bill and the most restricted Home Rule Bill differ fundamentally in +principle. The one in effect denies, the other in effect concedes, a +separate national government to Ireland. + +[137] See pp. 119-121, _ante_. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND BILL + +ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES + +_Legislative Authority_ +Clause. +1. Establishment of Irish Legislature. +2. Powers of Irish Legislature. +3. Exceptions from powers of Irish Legislature. +4. Restrictions on powers of Irish Legislature. + +_Executive Authority_ +5. Executive power in Ireland. + +_Constitution of Legislature_ +6. Composition of Irish Legislative Council. +7. Composition of Irish Legislative Assembly. +8. Disagreement between two Houses, how settled. + +_Irish Representation in House of Commons_ +9. Representation in Parliament of Irish counties and boroughs. + +_Finance_ +10. As to separate Consolidated Fund and taxes. +11. Hereditary revenues and income tax. +12. Financial arrangements as between United Kingdom and +Ireland. +13. Treasury Account (Ireland). +14. Charges on Irish Consolidated Fund. +15. Irish Church Fund. +16. Local loans. +17. Adaptation of Acts as to Local Taxation Accounts and probate, etc., +duties. +18. Money bills and votes. +19. Exchequer judges for revenue actions, election petitions, etc. + +_Post Office Postal Telegraphs and Savings Banks_ +20. Transfer of post office and postal telegraphs. +21. Transfer of savings banks. + +_Irish Appeals and Decision of Constitutional Questions_ +22. Irish appeals. +23. Special provision for decision of constitutional questions. + +_Lord Lieutenant and Crown Lands_ +24. Office of Lord Lieutenant. +25. Use of Crown lands by Irish Government. + +_Judges and Civil Servants_ +26. Tenure of future judges. +27. As to existing judges and other persons having salaries charged on +the Consolidated Fund. +28. As to persons holding civil service appointments. +29. As to existing pensions and superannuation allowances. + +_Police_ +30. As to Police. + +_Miscellaneous_ +31. Irish Exchequer Consolidated Fund and Audit. +32. Law applicable to both Houses of Irish Legislature. +33. Supplemental provisions as to powers of Irish Legislature. +34. Limitation on borrowing by local authorities. + +_Transitory Provisions_ +35. Temporary restriction on powers of Irish Legislature and Executive. +36. Transitory provisions. +37. Continuance of existing laws, courts, officers, etc. +38. Appointed day. +39. Definitions. +40. Short title. + + + + +SCHEDULES + +A BILL TO AMEND THE PROVISION FOR +THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND[138] + + +Whereas it is expedient that without impairing or restricting the +supreme authority of Parliament, an Irish Legislature should be created +for such purposes in Ireland as in this Act mentioned: + +Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and +with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and +Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of +the same, as follows: + + +_Legislative Authority_ + +1. _On and after the appointed day_ there shall be in Ireland a +Legislature consisting of Her Majesty the Queen and of two Houses, the +Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. + +2. With the exceptions and subject to the restrictions in this Act +mentioned, there shall be granted to the Irish Legislature power to +make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland in +respect of matters exclusively relating to Ireland or some part thereof. + +3. The Irish Legislature shall not have power to make laws in respect of +the following matters or any of them:-- + + (1) The Crown, or the succession to the Crown, or a Regency; or the + Lord Lieutenant as representative of the Crown; or + + (2) The making of peace or war or matters arising from a state of + war; or + + (3) Naval or military forces, or the defence of the realm; or + + (4) Treaties and other relations with foreign States or the + relations between different parts of Her Majesty's dominions or + offences connected with such treaties or relations; or + + (5) Dignities or titles of honour; or + + (6) Treason, treason-felony, alienage, or naturalisation; or + + (7) Trade with any place out of Ireland; or quarantine, or + navigation (except as respects inland waters and local health or + harbour regulations); or + + (8) Beacons, lighthouses, or sea marks (except so far as they can + consistently with any general Act of Parliament be constructed or + maintained by a local harbour authority); or + + (9) Coinage; legal tender; or the standard of weights and measures; + or + + (10) Trade marks, merchandise marks, copyright, or patent rights. + +Any law made in contravention of this section shall be void. + +4. The powers of the Irish Legislature shall not extend to the making of +any law-- + + (1) Respecting the establishment or endowment of religion, or + prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or + + (2) Imposing any disability, or conferring any privilege, on + account of religious belief; or + + (3) Abrogating or prejudicially affecting the right to establish or + maintain any place of denominational education or any + denominational institution or charity; or + + (4) Prejudicially affecting the right of any child to attend a + school receiving public money, without attending the religious + instruction at that school; or + + (5) Whereby any person may be deprived of life, liberty, or + property without due process of law, or may be denied the equal + protection of the laws, or whereby private property may be taken + without just compensation; or + + (6) Whereby any existing corporation incorporated by Royal Charter + or by any local or general Act of Parliament (not being a + corporation raising for public purposes taxes, rates, cess, dues, + or tolls, or administering funds so raised) may, unless it + consents, or the leave of Her Majesty is first obtained on address + from the two Houses of the Irish Legislature, be deprived of its + rights, privileges, or property without due process of law; or + + (7) Whereby any inhabitant of the United Kingdom may be deprived of + equal rights as respects public sea fisheries. + +Any law made in contravention of this section shall be void. + + +_Executive Authority_ + +5.--(1) The executive power in Ireland shall continue vested in Her +Majesty the Queen, and the Lord Lieutenant, on behalf of Her Majesty, +shall exercise any prerogatives or other executive power of the Queen +the exercise of which may be delegated to him by Her Majesty, and shall, +in Her Majesty's name, summon, prorogue, and dissolve the Irish +Legislature. (2) There shall be an Executive Committee of the Privy +Council of Ireland to aid and advise in the government of Ireland, being +of such numbers, and comprising persons holding such offices, as Her +Majesty may think fit, or as may be directed by Irish Act. (3) The Lord +Lieutenant shall, on the advice of the said Executive Committee, give or +withhold the assent of Her Majesty to Bills passed by the two Houses of +the Irish Legislature, subject nevertheless to any instructions given by +Her Majesty in respect of any such Bill. + + +_Constitution of Legislature_ + +6.--(1) The Irish Legislative Council shall consist of _forty-eight_ +councillors. (2) Each of the constituencies mentioned in the First +Schedule to this Act shall return the number of councillors named +opposite thereto in the schedule. (3) Every man shall be entitled to be +registered as an elector, and when registered to vote at an election, of +a councillor for a constituency, who owns or occupies any land or +tenement in the constituency of a rateable value of more than _twenty_ +pounds, subject to the like conditions as a man is entitled at the +passing of this Act to be registered and vote as a parliamentary elector +in respect of an ownership qualification or of the qualification +specified in section five of the Representation of the People Act, 1884, +as the case may be: Provided that a man shall not be entitled to be +registered, nor if registered to vote, at an election of a councillor in +more than one constituency in the same year. (4) The term of office of +every councillor shall be _eight_ years, and shall not be affected by a +dissolution; and one _half_ of the councillors shall retire in every +_fourth_ year, and their seats shall be filled by a new election. + +7.--(1) The Irish Legislative Assembly shall consist of _one hundred and +three_ members, returned by the existing parliamentary constituencies in +Ireland, or the existing divisions thereof, and elected by the +parliamentary electors for the time being in those constituencies or +divisions. (2) The Irish Legislative Assembly when summoned may, unless +sooner dissolved, have continuance _for five_ years from the day on +which the summons directs it to meet and no longer. (3) After _six_ +years from the passing of this Act, the Irish Legislature may alter the +qualification of the electors, and the constituencies, and the +distribution of the members among the constituencies, provided that in +such distribution due regard is had to the population of the +constituencies. + +8. If a Bill or any provision of a Bill adopted by the Legislative +Assembly is lost by the disagreement of the Legislative Council, and +after a dissolution, or the period of _two years_ from such +disagreement, such Bill, or a Bill for enacting the said provision, is +again adopted by the Legislative Assembly and fails within three months +afterwards to be adopted by the Legislative Council, the same shall +forthwith be submitted to the members of the two Houses deliberating and +voting together thereon, and shall be adopted or rejected according to +the decision of the majority of those members present and voting on the +question. + + +_Irish Representation in House of Commons_ + +9. Unless and until Parliament otherwise determines, the following +provisions shall have effect-- + + (1) After _the appointed day_ each of the constituencies named in + the Second Schedule to this Act shall return to serve in Parliament + the number of members named opposite thereto in that schedule, and + no more, and Dublin University shall cease to return any member. + + (2) The existing divisions of the constituencies shall, save as + provided in that schedule, be abolished. + + (3) An Irish representative peer in the House of Lords and a member + of the House of Commons for an Irish constituency shall not be + entitled to deliberate or vote on-- + + (_a_) any Bill or motion in relation thereto, the operation of + which Bill or motion is confined to Great Britain or some part + thereof; or + + (_b_) any motion or resolution relating solely to some tax not + raised or to be raised in Ireland; or + + (_c_) any vote or appropriation of money made exclusively for some + service not mentioned in the Third Schedule to this Act; or + + (_d_) any motion or resolution exclusively affecting Great Britain + or some part thereof or some local authority or some person or + thing therein; or + + (_e_) any motion or resolution, incidental to any such motion or + resolution as either is last mentioned, or relates solely to some + tax not raised or to be raised in Ireland, or incidental to any + such vote or appropriation of money as aforesaid. + + (4) Compliance with the provisions of this section shall not be + questioned otherwise than in each House in manner provided by the + House. + + (5) The election laws and the laws relating to the qualification + of parliamentary electors shall not, so far as they relate to + parliamentary elections, be altered by the Irish Legislature, but + this enactment shall not prevent the Irish Legislature from + dealing with any officers concerned with the issue of writs of + election, and if any officers are so dealt with, it shall be + lawful for Her Majesty by Order in Council to arrange for the + issue of such writs, and the writs issued in pursuance of such + Order shall be of the same effect as if issued in manner + heretofore accustomed. + + +_Finance_ + +10.--(1) _On and after the appointed day_ there shall be an Irish +Exchequer and Consolidated Fund separate from those of the United +Kingdom. (2) The duties of customs and excise and the duties on postage +shall be imposed by Act of Parliament, but subject to the provisions of +this Act the Irish Legislature may, in order to provide for the public +service of Ireland, impose any other taxes. (3) Save as in this Act +mentioned, all matters relating to the taxes in Ireland and the +collection and management thereof shall be regulated by Irish Act, and +the same shall be collected and managed by the Irish Government and form +part of the public revenues of Ireland: Provided that-- + + (_a_) the duties of customs shall be regulated, collected, managed, + and paid into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom as heretofore; + and + + (_b_) all prohibitions in connection with the duties of excise, and + so far as regards articles sent out of Ireland, all matters + relating to those duties, shall be regulated by Act of Parliament; + and + + (_c_) the excise duties on articles consumed in Great Britain shall + be paid in Great Britain or to an officer of the Government of the + United Kingdom. + +(4) Save as in this Act mentioned, all the public revenues of Ireland +shall be paid into the Irish Exchequer and form a Consolidated Fund, and +be appropriated to the public service of Ireland by Irish Act. (5) If +the duties of excise are increased above the rates in force on _the +first day of March one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three_, the net +proceeds in Ireland of the duties in excess of the said rates shall be +paid from the Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom. +(6) _If the duties of excise are reduced below the rates in force on the +said day, and the net proceeds of such duties in Ireland are in +consequence less than the net proceeds of the duties before the +reduction, a sum equal to the deficiency shall, unless it is otherwise +agreed between the Treasury and the Irish Government, be paid from the +Exchequer of the United Kingdom to the Irish Exchequer_. + +11.--(1) The hereditary revenues of the Crown in Ireland which are +managed by the Commissioners of Woods shall continue during the life of +Her present Majesty to be managed and collected by those Commissioners, +and the net amount payable by them to the Exchequer on account of those +revenues, after deducting all expenses (but including an allowance for +interest on such proceeds of the sale of those revenues as have not been +re-invested in Ireland), shall be paid into the Treasury Account +(Ireland) hereinafter mentioned, for the benefit of the Irish Exchequer. +(2) A person shall not be required to pay income tax in Great Britain in +respect of property situate or business carried on in Ireland, and a +person shall not be required to pay income tax in Ireland in respect of +property situate or business carried on in Great Britain. (3) _For the +purpose of giving to Ireland the benefit of the difference between the +income tax collected in Great Britain from British, Colonial, and +foreign securities held by residents in Ireland, and the income tax +collected in Ireland from Irish securities held by residents in Great +Britain, there shall be made to Ireland out of the income tax collected +in Great Britain, an allowance of such amount as may be from time to +time determined by the Treasury, in accordance with a minute of the +Treasury laid before Parliament before the appointed day, and such +allowance shall be paid into the Treasury Account (Ireland) for the +benefit of the Irish Exchequer_. (4) Provided that the provisions of +this section with respect to income tax shall not apply to any excess of +the rate of income tax in Great Britain above the rate in Ireland or of +the rate of income tax in Ireland above the rate in Great Britain. + +12.--(1) The duties of customs contributed by Ireland and, save as +provided by this Act, that portion of any public revenue of the United +Kingdom to which Ireland may claim to be entitled, whether specified in +the Third Schedule to this Act or not, shall be carried to the +Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, as the contribution of Ireland +to Imperial liabilities and expenditure as defined in that Schedule. (2) +The civil charges of the Government in Ireland shall, subject as in this +Act mentioned, be borne after the appointed day by Ireland. (3) After +_fifteen_ years from the passing of this Act the arrangements made by +this Act for the contribution of Ireland to Imperial liabilities and +expenditure, and otherwise for the financial relations between the +United Kingdom and Ireland, may be revised in pursuance of an address to +Her Majesty from the House of Commons, or from the Irish Legislative +Assembly. + +13.--(1) There shall be established under the direction of the Treasury +an account (in this Act referred to as the Treasury Account (Ireland)). +(2) There shall be paid into such account all sums payable from the +Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, or from the +latter to the former Exchequer, and all sums directed to be paid into +the account for the benefit of either of the said Exchequers. (3) All +sums which are payable from either of the said Exchequers to the other +of them, or being payable out of one of the said Exchequers are +repayable by the other Exchequer, shall in the first instance be payable +out of the said account so far as the money standing on the account is +sufficient; and for the purpose of meeting such sums, the Treasury out +of the customs revenue collected in Ireland, and the Irish Government +out of any of the public revenues in Ireland, may direct money to be +paid to the Treasury Account (Ireland) instead of into the Exchequer. +(4) Any surplus standing on the account to the credit of either +Exchequer, and not required for meeting payments, shall at convenient +times be paid into that Exchequer, and where any sum so payable into the +Exchequer of the United Kingdom is required by law to be forthwith paid +to the National Debt Commissioners, that sum may be paid to those +Commissioners without being paid into the Exchequer. (5) All sums +payable by virtue of this Act out of the Consolidated Fund of the United +Kingdom or of Ireland shall be payable from the Exchequer of the United +Kingdom or Ireland, as the case may be, within the meaning of this Act, +and all sums by this Act made payable from the Exchequer of the United +Kingdom shall, if not otherwise paid, be charged on and paid out of the +Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom. + +14.--(1) There shall be charged on the Irish Consolidated Fund in favour +of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom as a first charge on that fund +all sums which-- + + (_a_) are payable to that Exchequer from the Irish Exchequer; or + (_b_) are required to repay to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom + sums issued to meet the dividends or sinking fund on guaranteed + land stock under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, or (_c_) + otherwise have been or are required to be paid out of the Exchequer + of the United Kingdom in consequence of the non-payment thereof out + of the Exchequer of Ireland or otherwise by the Irish Government. + +(2) If at any time the Controller and Auditor-General of the United +Kingdom is satisfied that any such charge is due, he shall certify the +amount of it, and the Treasury shall send such certificate to the Lord +Lieutenant, who shall thereupon by order, without any counter-signature, +direct the payment of the amount from the Irish Exchequer to the +Exchequer of the United Kingdom, and such order shall be duly obeyed by +all persons, and until the amount is wholly paid no other payment shall +be made out of the Irish Exchequer for any purpose whatever. + +(3) There shall be charged on the Irish Consolidated Fund next after the +foregoing charge: + + (_a_) all sums, for dividends or sinking fund on guaranteed land + stock under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, which the + Land Purchase Account and the Guarantee Fund under that Act are + insufficient to pay; (_b_) all sums due in respect of any debt + incurred by the Government of Ireland, whether for interest, + management, or sinking fund; (_c_) an annual sum of _five thousand_ + pounds for the expenses of the household and establishment of the + Lord Lieutenant; (_d_) all existing charges on the Consolidated + Fund of the United Kingdom in respect of Irish services other than + the salary of the Lord Lieutenant; and (_e_) the salaries and + pensions of all judges of the Supreme Court or other superior court + in Ireland or of any county or other like court, who are appointed + after the passing of this Act, and are not the Exchequer judges + hereafter mentioned. + +(4) Until all charges created by this Act upon the Irish Consolidated +Fund and for the time being due are paid, no money shall be issued from +the Irish Exchequer for any other purpose whatever. + +15.--(1) All existing charges on the Church property in Ireland--that is +to say, all property accruing under the Irish Church Act, 1869, and +transferred to the Irish Land Commission by the Irish Church Amendment +Act, 1881--shall so far as not paid out of the said property be charged +on the Irish Consolidated Fund, and any of those charges guaranteed by +the Treasury, if and so far as not paid, shall be paid out of the +Exchequer of the United Kingdom. + +(2) Subject to the existing charges thereon, the said Church property +shall belong to the Irish Government, and be managed, administered, and +disposed of as directed by Irish Act. + +16.--(1) All sums paid or applicable in or towards the discharge of the +interest or principal of any local loan advanced before the appointed +day on security in Ireland, or otherwise in respect of such loan, which +but for this Act would be paid to the National Debt Commissioners, and +carried to the Local Loans Fund, shall, after the appointed day, be +paid, until otherwise provided by Irish Act, to the Irish Exchequer. + +(2) For the payment to the Local Loans Fund of the principal and +interest of such loans, the Irish Government shall after the appointed +day pay by half-yearly payments an annuity for _forty-nine_ years, at +the rate of _four_ per cent, on the principal of the said loans, +exclusive of any sums written off before the appointed day from the +account of assets of the Local Loans Fund, and such annuity shall be +paid from the Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, +and when so paid shall be forthwith paid to the National Debt +Commissioners for the credit of the Local Loans Fund. + +(3) After the appointed day, money for loans in Ireland shall cease to +be advanced either by the Public Works Loan Commissioners or out of the +Local Loans Fund. + +17.--(1) So much of any Act as directs payment to the Local Taxation +(Ireland) Account of any share of probate, excise, or customs duties +payable to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom shall, together with any +enactment amending the same, be repealed as from the appointed day +without prejudice to the adjustment of balances after that day; but the +like amounts shall continue to be paid to the Local Taxation Accounts in +England and Scotland as would have been paid if this Act had not passed, +and any residue of the said share shall be paid into the Exchequer of +the United Kingdom. + +(2) The stamp duty chargeable in respect of the personalty of a deceased +person shall not in the case of administration granted in Great Britain +be chargeable in respect of any personalty situate in Ireland, nor in +the case of administration granted in Ireland be chargeable in respect +of any personalty situate in Great Britain; and any administration +granted in Great Britain shall not, if re-sealed in Ireland, be exempt +from stamp duty on administration granted in Ireland, and any +administration granted in Ireland shall not, when re-sealed in Great +Britain, be exempt from stamp duty on administration granted in Great +Britain. + +(3) In this section the expression "administration" means probate or +letters of administration, and as respects Scotland, confirmation +inclusive of the inventory required under the Acts relating to the said +stamp duty, and the expression "personalty" means personal or movable +estate and effects. + +18.--(1) Bills for appropriating any part of the public revenue or for +imposing any tax shall originate in the Legislative Assembly. + +(2) It shall not be lawful for the Legislative Assembly to adopt or pass +any vote, resolution, address, or Bill for the appropriation for any +purpose of any part of the public revenue of Ireland, or of any tax, +except in pursuance of a recommendation from the Lord Lieutenant in the +session in which such vote, resolution, address, or Bill is proposed. + +19.--(1) Two of the judges of the Supreme Court in Ireland shall be +Exchequer judges, and shall be appointed under the great seal of the +United Kingdom; and their salaries and pensions shall be charged on and +paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom. + +(2) The Exchequer judges shall be removeable only by Her Majesty on +address from the two Houses of Parliament, and each such judge shall, +save as otherwise provided by Parliament, receive the same salary and be +entitled to the same pension as is at the time of his appointment fixed +for the puisne judges of the Supreme Court, and during his continuance +in office his salary shall not be diminished, nor his right to pension +altered, without his consent. + +(3) An alteration of any rules relating to such legal proceedings as are +mentioned in this section shall not be made except with the approval of +Her Majesty the Queen in Council; and the sittings of the Exchequer +judges shall be regulated with the like approval. + +(4) All legal proceedings in Ireland, which are instituted at the +instance of or against the Treasury or Commissioners of Customs, or any +of their officers, or relate to the election of members to serve in +Parliament, or touch any matter within the powers of the Irish +Legislature, or touch any matter affected by a law which the Irish +Legislature have not power to repeal or alter, shall, if so required by +any party to such proceedings, be heard and determined before the +Exchequer judges or (except where the case requires to be determined by +two judges) before one of them, and in any such legal proceeding an +appeal shall, if any party so requires, lie from any court of first +instance in Ireland to the Exchequer judges, and the decision of the +Exchequer judges shall be subject to appeal to Her Majesty the Queen in +Council and not to any other tribunal. + +(5) If it is made to appear to an Exchequer judge that any decree or +judgment in any such proceeding as aforesaid has not been duly enforced +by the sheriff or other officer whose duty it is to enforce the same, +such judge shall appoint some officer whose duty it shall be to enforce +the judgment or decree; and for that purpose such officer and all +persons employed by him shall be entitled to the same privileges, +immunities, and powers as are by law conferred on a sheriff and his +officers. + +(6) The Exchequer judges, when not engaged in hearing and determining +such legal proceedings as above in this section mentioned, shall perform +such of the duties ordinarily performed by other judges of the Supreme +Court in Ireland as may be assigned by Her Majesty the Queen in Council. + +(7) All sums recovered by the Treasury or the Commissioners of Customs +or any of their officers, or recovered under any Act relating to duties +of customs, shall, notwithstanding anything in any other Act, be paid to +such public account as the Treasury or the Commissioners direct. + + +_Post Office Postal Telegraphs and Savings Banks_ + +20.--(1) As from _the appointed day_ the postal and telegraph service in +Ireland shall be transferred to the Irish Government, and may be +regulated by Irish Act, except as in this Act mentioned and except as +regards matters relating-- + + (_a_) to such conditions of the transmission or delivery of postal + packets and telegrams as are incidental to the duties on postage; + or + + (_b_) foreign mails or submarine telegraphs or through lines in + connection therewith; or (_c_) to any other postal or telegraph + business in connection with places out of the United Kingdom. + +(2) The administration of or incidental to the said excepted matters +shall, save as may be otherwise arranged with the Irish Post Office, +remain with the Postmaster-General. + +(3) As regards the revenue and expenses of the postal and telegraph +service, the Postmaster-General shall retain the revenue collected and +defray the expenses incurred in Great Britain, and the Irish Post Office +shall retain the revenue collected and defray the expenses incurred in +Ireland, subject to the provisions of the Fourth Schedule to this Act; +which schedule shall have full effect, but may be varied or added to by +agreement between the Postmaster-General and the Irish Post Office. + +(4) _The sums payable by the Postmaster-General or Irish Post Office to +the other of them in pursuance of this Act shall, if not paid out of the +Post Office moneys, be paid from the Exchequer of the United Kingdom or +of Ireland, as the case requires, to the other Exchequer_. + +(5) Sections forty-eight to fifty-two of the Telegraph Act 1863, and any +enactment amending the same, shall apply to all telegraphic lines of the +Irish Government in like manner as to the telegraphs of a company within +the meaning of that Act. + +21.--(1) As from _the appointed day_ there shall be transferred to the +Irish Government the post office savings banks in Ireland and all such +powers and duties of any department or officer in Great Britain as are +connected with post office savings banks, trustee savings banks or +friendly societies in Ireland, and the same may be regulated by Irish +Act. + +(2) The Treasury shall publish not less than six months' previous notice +of the transfer of savings banks. + +(3) If before the date of the transfer any depositor in a post office +savings bank so requests, his deposit shall, according to his request, +either be paid to him or transferred to a post office savings bank in +Great Britain, and after the said date the depositors in a post office +savings bank in Ireland shall cease to have any claim against the +Postmaster-General or the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, but +shall have the like claim against the Government and Consolidated Fund +of Ireland. + +(4) If before the date of the transfer the trustees of any trustee +savings bank so request, then, according to the request, either all sums +due to them shall be repaid and the savings bank closed, or those sums +shall be paid to the Irish Government, and after the said date the +trustees shall cease to have any claim against the National Debt +Commissioners or the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, but shall +have the like claim against the Government and Consolidated Fund of +Ireland. + +(5) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, if a sum +due on account of any annuity or policy of insurance which has before +the above-mentioned notice been granted through a post office or trustee +savings bank is not paid by the Irish Government, that sum shall be paid +out of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom. + + +_Irish Appeals and Decision of Constitutional Questions_ + +22.--(1) The appeal from courts in Ireland to the House of Lords shall +cease; and where any person would, but for this Act, have a right to +appeal from any court in Ireland to the House of Lords, such person +shall have the like right to appeal to Her Majesty the Queen in Council; +and the right so to appeal shall not be affected by any Irish Act; and +all enactments relating to appeals to Her Majesty the Queen in Council, +and to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, shall apply +accordingly. + +(2) When the Judicial Committee sit for hearing appeals from a court in +Ireland, there shall be present not less than four Lords of Appeal, +within the meaning of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876, and at least +one member who is or has been a judge of the Supreme Court in Ireland. + +(3) A rota of privy councillors to sit for hearing appeals from courts +in Ireland shall be made annually by Her Majesty in Council, and the +privy councillors, or some of them, on that rota shall sit to hear the +said appeals. A casual vacancy in such rota during the year may be +filled by Order in Council. + +(4) Nothing in this Act shall affect the jurisdiction of the House of +Lords to determine the claims to Irish peerages. + +23.--(1) If it appears to the Lord Lieutenant or a Secretary of State +expedient in the public interest that steps shall be taken for the +speedy determination of the question whether any Irish Act or any +provision thereof is beyond the powers of the Irish Legislature, he may +represent the same to Her Majesty in Council, and thereupon the said +question shall be forthwith referred to and heard and determined by the +Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, constituted as if hearing an +appeal from a court in Ireland. + +(2) Upon the hearing of the question such persons as seem to the +Judicial Committee to be interested may be allowed to appear and be +heard as parties to the case, and the decision of the Judicial Committee +shall be given in like manner as if it were the decision of an appeal, +the nature of the report or recommendation to Her Majesty being stated +in open court. + +(3) Nothing in this Act shall prejudice any other power of Her Majesty +in Council to refer any question to the Judicial Committee or the right +of any person to petition Her Majesty for such reference. + + +_Lord Lieutenant and Crown Lands_ + +24.--(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act, every +subject of the Queen shall be qualified to hold the office of Lord +Lieutenant of Ireland, without reference to his religious belief. + +(2) The term of office of the Lord Lieutenant shall be _six years_, +without prejudice to the power of Her Majesty the Queen at any time to +revoke the appointment. 25. Her Majesty the Queen in Council may place +under the control of the Irish Government, for the purposes of that +government, such of the lands and buildings in Ireland vested in or held +in trust for Her Majesty, and subject to such conditions or restrictions +(if any) as may seem expedient. + + +_Judges and Civil Servants_ + +26. A judge of the Supreme Court or other superior court in Ireland, or +of any county court or other court with a like jurisdiction in Ireland, +appointed after the passing of this Act, shall not be removed from his +office except in pursuance of an address from the two Houses of the +Legislature of Ireland, nor during his continuance in office shall his +salary be diminished or right to pension altered without his consent. + +27.--(1) All existing judges of the Supreme Court, county court judges, +and Land Commissioners in Ireland and all existing officers serving in +Ireland in the permanent civil service of the Crown and receiving +salaries charged on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, shall, +if they are removeable at present on address from both Houses of +Parliament, continue to be removeable only upon such address, and if +removeable in any other manner shall continue to be removeable only in +the same manner as heretofore; and shall continue to receive the same +salaries, gratuities, and pensions, and to be liable to perform the same +duties as heretofore, or such duties as Her Majesty may declare to be +analogous, and their salaries and pensions, if and so far as not paid +out of the Irish Consolidated Fund, shall be paid out of the Exchequer +of the United Kingdom: Provided that this section shall be subject to +the provisions of this Act with respect to the Exchequer judges. + +(2) _If any of the said judges, commissioners, or officers retires from +office with the Queen's approbation before completion of the period of +service entitling him to a pension, Her Majesty may, if she thinks fit, +grant to him such pension, not exceeding the pension to which he would +on that completion have been entitled, as to Her Majesty seems meet_. + +28.--(1) All existing officers in the permanent civil service of the +Crown, who are not above provided for, and are at the appointed day +serving in Ireland, shall after that day continue to hold their offices +by the same tenure and to receive the same salaries, gratuities, and +pensions, and to be liable to perform the same duties as heretofore or +such duties as the Treasury may declare to be analogous; _and the said +gratuities and pensions, and until three years after the passing of this +Act, the salaries due to any of the said officers if remaining in his +existing office, shall be paid to the payees by the Treasury out of the +Exchequer of the United Kingdom_. + +(2) Any such officer may after _three years_ from the passing of this +Act retire from office, and shall, at any time during those three years, +if required by the Irish Government, retire from office, and on any such +retirement may be awarded by the Treasury a gratuity or pension in +accordance with the Fifth Schedule to this Act; Provided that-- + + (_a_) six months' written notice shall, unless it is otherwise + agreed, be given either by the said officer or by the Irish + Government as the case requires; and + + (_b_) such number of officers only shall retire at one time and at + such intervals of time as the Treasury, in communication with the + Irish Government, sanction. + +(3) If any such officer does not so retire, the Treasury may award him +after the said three years a pension in accordance with the Fifth +Schedule to this Act which shall become payable to him on his ultimate +retirement from the service of the Crown. + +(4) _The gratuities and pensions awarded in accordance with the Fifth +Schedule to this Act shall be paid by the Treasury to the payees out of +the Exchequer of the United Kingdom._ + +(5) All sums paid out of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom in +pursuance of this section shall be repaid to that Exchequer from the +Irish Exchequer. + +(6) This section shall not apply to officers retained in the service of +the Government of the United Kingdom. + +29. Any existing pension granted on account of service in Ireland as a +judge of the Supreme Court or of any court consolidated into that court, +or as a county court judge, or in any other judicial position, or as an +officer in the permanent civil service of the Crown other than in an +office the holder of which is after the appointed day retained in the +service of the Government of the United Kingdom, shall be charged on the +Irish Consolidated Fund, and if and so far as not paid out of that fund, +shall be paid out of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom. + + +_Police_ + +30.--(1) The forces of the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin +Metropolitan Police shall, when and as local police forces are from time +to time established in Ireland in accordance with the Sixth Schedule to +this Act, be gradually reduced and ultimately cease to exist as +mentioned in that Schedule; and after the passing of this Act, no +officer or man shall be appointed to either of those forces; + +Provided that until the expiration of _six_ years from the appointed +day, nothing in this Act shall require the Lord Lieutenant to cause +either of the said forces to cease to exist, if as representing Her +Majesty the Queen he considers it inexpedient. + +(2) The said two forces shall, while they continue, be subject to the +control of the Lord Lieutenant as representing Her Majesty, and the +members thereof shall continue to receive the same salaries, gratuities, +and pensions, and hold their appointments on the same tenure as +heretofore, _and those salaries, gratuities, and pensions, and all the +expenditure incidental to either force, shall be paid out of the +Exchequer of the United Kingdom_. + +(3) When any existing member of either force retires under the +provisions of the Sixth Schedule to this Act, the Treasury may award to +him a gratuity or pension in accordance with that Schedule. + +(4) _Those gratuities and pensions and all existing pensions payable in +respect of service in either force, shall be paid by the Treasury to the +payees out of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom_. + +(5) _Two-thirds of the net amount payable in pursuance of this section +out of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom shall be repaid to that +Exchequer from the Irish Exchequer_. + + +_Miscellaneous_ + +31. Save as may be otherwise provided by Irish Act-- + + (_a_) The existing law relating to the Exchequer and Consolidated + Fund of the United Kingdom shall apply with the necessary + modifications to the Exchequer and Consolidated Fund of Ireland, + and an officer shall be appointed by the Lord Lieutenant to be the + Irish Comptroller and Auditor General; and + + (_b_) The accounts of the Irish Consolidated Fund shall be audited + as appropriation accounts in manner provided by the Exchequer and + Audit Departments Act, 1866, by or under the direction of such + officer. + +32.--(1) Subject as in this Act mentioned and particularly to the +Seventh Schedule to this Act (which Schedule shall have full effect) all +existing election laws relating to the House of Commons and the members +thereof shall, so far as applicable, extend to each of the two Houses of +the Irish Legislature and the members thereof, but such election laws so +far as hereby extended may be altered by Irish Act. + +(2) The privileges, rights, and immunities to be held and enjoyed by +each House and the members thereof shall be such as may be defined by +Irish Act, but so that the same shall never exceed those for the time +being held and enjoyed by the House of Commons, and the members thereof. + +33.--(i) The Irish Legislature may repeal or alter any provision of this +Act which is by this Act expressly made alterable by that Legislature, +and also any enactments in force in Ireland, except such as either +relate to matters beyond the powers of the Irish Legislature, or being +enacted by Parliament after the passing of this Act may be expressly +extended to Ireland. An Irish Act, notwithstanding it is in any respect +repugnant to any enactment excepted as aforesaid, shall, though read +subject to that enactment, be, except to the extent of that repugnancy, +valid. + +(2) An order, rule, or regulation, made in pursuance of, or having the +force of, an Act of Parliament, shall be deemed to be an enactment +within the meaning of this section. + +(3) Nothing in this Act shall affect Bills relating to the divorce or +marriage of individuals, and any such Bill shall be introduced and +proceed in Parliament in like manner as if this Act had not passed. + + +34. The local authority for any county or borough or other area shall +not borrow money without either-- + + (_a_) special authority from the Irish Legislature, or + + (_b_) the sanction of the proper department of the Irish + Government: + +and shall not, without such special authority, borrow; + + (i) in the case of a municipal borough or town or area less than a + county, any loan which together with the then outstanding debt of + the local authority, will exceed twice the annual rateable value of + the property in the municipal borough, town, or area; or + + (ii) in the case of a country or larger area, any loan which + together with the then outstanding debt of the local authority, + will exceed one-tenth of the annual rateable value of the property + in the county or area; or + + (iii) in any case a loan exceeding one-half of the above limits + without a local inquiry held in the county, borough, or area by a + person appointed for the purpose by the said department. + + +_Transitory Provisions_ + +35.--(1) During _three_ years from the passing of this Act, and if +Parliament is then sitting until the end of that session of Parliament, +the Irish Legislature shall not pass an Act respecting the relations of +landlord and tenant, or the sale, purchase, or letting of land +generally: Provided that nothing in this section shall prevent the +passing of any Irish Act with a view to the purchase of land for +railways, harbours, waterworks, town improvements, or other local +undertakings. + +(2) During _six_ years from the passing of this Act, the appointment of +a judge of the Supreme Court or other superior courts in Ireland (other +than one of the Exchequer judges) shall be made in pursuance of a +warrant from Her Majesty countersigned as heretofore. + +36.--(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act Her Majesty the Queen in +Council may make or direct such arrangements as seem necessary or proper +for setting in motion the Irish Legislature and Government and for +otherwise bringing this Act into operation. (2) The Irish Legislature +shall be summoned to meet on the _first Tuesday in September, one +thousand eight hundred and ninety-four_, and the first election of +members of the two Houses of the Irish Legislature shall be held at such +time before that day, as may be fixed by Her Majesty in Council. (3) +Upon the first meeting of the Irish Legislature the members of the House +of Commons then sitting for Irish constituencies, including the members +for Dublin University, shall vacate their seats, and writs shall, as +soon as conveniently may be, be issued by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland +for the purpose of holding an election of members to serve in +Parliament for the constituencies named in the Second Schedule of this +Act. (4) The existing Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and the senior of +the existing puisne judges of the Exchequer Division of the Supreme +Court, or if they or either of them are or is dead or unable or +unwilling to act, such other of the judges of the Supreme Court as Her +Majesty may appoint, shall be the first Exchequer judges. (5) Where it +appears to Her Majesty the Queen in Council, before the expiration of +_one year_ after the appointed day, that any existing enactment +respecting matters within the powers of the Irish Legislature requires +adaptation to Ireland, whether-- + + (_a_) by the substitution of the Lord Lieutenant in Council, or of + any department or officer of the executive Government in Ireland, + for Her Majesty in Council, a Secretary of State, the Treasury, the + Postmaster-General, the Board of Inland Revenue, or other public + department or officer in Great Britain; or (_b_) by the + substitution of the Irish Consolidated Fund or moneys provided by + the Irish Legislature for the Consolidated Fund of the United + Kingdom, or moneys provided by Parliament; or (_c_) by the + substitution or confirmation by, or other act to be done by or to, + the Irish Legislature for confirmation by or other act to be done + by or to Parliament; or (_d_) by any other adaptation; Her Majesty, + by Order in Council, may make that adaptation. + +(6) Her Majesty the Queen in Council may provide for the transfer of +such property, rights, and liabilities, and the doing of such other +things as may appear to Her Majesty necessary or proper for carrying +into effect this Act or any Order in Council under this Act. + +(7) An Order in Council under this section may make an adaptation or +provide for a transfer either unconditionally or subject to such +exceptions, conditions, and restrictions as may seem expedient. + +(8) The draft of every Order in Council under this section shall be laid +before both Houses of Parliament for not less than two months before it +is made, and such Order when made shall, subject as respects Ireland to +the provisions of an Irish Act, have full effect, but shall not +interfere with the continued application to any place, authority, +person, or thing, not in Ireland, of the enactment to which the Order +relates. + +37. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, all existing laws, +institutions, authorities, and officers in Ireland, whether judicial, +administrative, or ministerial, and all existing taxes in Ireland shall +continue as if this Act had not passed, but with the modifications +necessary for adapting the same to this Act, and subject to be +repealed, abolished, altered, and adapted in the manner and to the +extent authorised by this Act. + +38. Subject as in this Act mentioned the appointed day for the purposes +of this Act shall be the day of the first meeting of the Irish +Legislature, or such other day not more than _seven_ months earlier or +later as may be fixed by order of Her Majesty in Council either +generally or with reference to any particular provision of this Act, and +different days may be appointed for different purposes and different +provisions of this Act, whether contained in the same section or in +different sections. + +39. In this Act unless the context otherwise requires--The expression +'existing' means existing at the passing of this Act. + +The expression 'constituency' means a parliamentary constituency or a +county or borough returning a member or members to serve in either House +of the Irish Legislature, as the case requires, and the expression +'parliamentary constituency' means any county, borough, or university +returning a member or members to serve in Parliament. + +The expression 'parliamentary elector' means a person entitled to be +registered as a voter at a parliamentary election. + +The expression 'parliamentary election' means the election of a member +to serve in Parliament. + +The expression 'tax' includes duties and fees, and the expression +'duties of excise' does not include licence duties. + +The expression 'foreign mails' means all postal packets, whether +letters, parcels, or other packets, posted in the United Kingdom and +sent to a place out of the United Kingdom, or posted in a place out of +the United Kingdom and sent to a place in the United Kingdom, or in +transit through the United Kingdom to a place out of the United Kingdom. + +The expression 'telegraphic line' has the same meaning as in the +Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1892. + +The expression 'duties on postage' includes all rates and sums +chargeable for or in respect of postal packets, money orders, or +telegrams, or otherwise under the Post Office Acts or the Telegraph Act, +1892. + +The expression 'Irish Act' means a law made by the Irish Legislature. + +The expression 'election laws' means the laws relating to the election +of members to serve in Parliament, other than those relating to the +qualification of electors, and includes all the laws respecting the +registration of electors, the issue and execution of writs, the creation +of polling districts, the taking of the poll, the questioning of +elections, corrupt and illegal practices, the disqualification of +members and the vacating of seats. + +The expression 'rateable value' means the annual rateable value under +the Irish Valuation Acts. + +The expression 'salary' includes remuneration, allowances, and +emoluments. + +The expression 'pension' includes superannuation allowance. + + +40. This Act may be cited as the Irish Government Act, 1893. + + + + +SCHEDULES + + +FIRST SCHEDULE + +LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL + +CONSTITUENCIES AND NUMBER OF COUNCILLORS + + Constituencies Councillors. + -------------- ----------- + Antrim county Three + Armagh county One + Belfast borough Two + Carlow county One + Cavan county One + Clare county One + Cork county-- + East Riding Three + West Riding One + Cork borough One + Donegal county One + Down county Three + Dublin county Three + Dublin borough Two + Fermanagh county One + Galway county Two + Kerry county One + Kildare county One + Kilkenny county One + King's county One + Leitrim and Sligo counties One + Limerick county Two + Londonderry county One + Longford county One + Louth county One + Mayo county One + Meath county One + Monaghan county One + Queen's county One + Roscommon county One + Tipperary county Two + Tyrone county One + Waterford county One + Westmeath county One + Wexford county One + Wicklow county One + ----------- + Forty-eight + + +The expression 'borough' in this Schedule means an existing +parliamentary borough. + +Counties of cities and towns not named in this Schedule +shall be combined with the county at large in which they are +included for parliamentary elections, and, if not so included, +then with the county at large bearing the same name. + +A borough named in this Schedule shall not for the purposes +of this Schedule form part of any other constituency. + + + + +SECOND SCHEDULE + +IRISH MEMBERS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS + +Constituencies. Number of Members for House of Commons + +Antrim county Three +Armagh county Two +Belfast borough (in divisions + as mentioned below) Four +Carlow county One +Cavan county Two +Clare county Two +Cork county (in divisions as + mentioned below) Five +Cork borough Two +Donegal county Three +Down county Three +Dublin county Two +Dublin borough (in divisions + as mentioned below) Four +Fermanagh county One +Galway county Three +Galway borough One +Kerry county Three +Kildare county One +Kilkenny county One +Kilkenny borough One +King's county One +Leitrim county Two +Limerick county Two +Limerick borough One +Londonderry county Two +Londonderry borough One +Longford county One +Louth county One +Mayo county Three +Meath county Two +Monaghan county Two +Newry borough One +Queen's county One +Roscommon county Two +Sligo county Two +Tipperary county Three +Tyrone county Three +Waterford county One +Waterford borough One +Westmeath county One +Wexford county Two +Wicklow county One + -------- + Eighty + +(1) In this Schedule the expression 'borough' means an +existing parliamentary borough. + +(2) In the parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and Dublin, one +member shall be returned by each of the existing parliamentary +divisions of those boroughs, and the law relating to the divisions +of boroughs shall apply accordingly. + +(3) The county of Cork shall be divided into two divisions, +consisting of the East Riding and the West Riding, and three +members shall be elected by the East Riding, and two members +shall be elected by the West Riding; and the law relating to +divisions of counties shall apply to those divisions. + + + + +THIRD SCHEDULE + +FINANCE + +IMPERIAL LIABILITIES, EXPENDITURE, AND MISCELLANEOUS +REVENUE + + +_Liabilities_ + +For the purposes of this Act 'Imperial liabilities' consist of:-- + + (1) The funded and unfunded debt of the United Kingdom, inclusive + of terminable annuities paid out of the permanent annual charge for + the National Debt, and inclusive of the cost of the management of + the said funded and unfunded debt, but exclusive of the Local Loans + stock and Guaranteed Land stock and the cost of the management + thereof; and + + (2) All other charges on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom + for the repayment of borrowed money, or to fulfil a guarantee. + + +_Expenditure_ + +For the purpose of this Act Imperial expenditure consists of +expenditure for the following services:-- + + I. Naval and military expenditure (including Greenwich Hospital). + II. Civil expenditure, that is to say-- + + (_a_) Civil list and Royal family. + (_b_) Salaries, pensions, allowances, and incidental expenses of-- + + (i) Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; + (ii) Exchequer judges in Ireland. + + (_c_) Building, works, salaries, pensions, printing, stationery, + allowances, and incidental expenses of-- + + (i) Parliament; + (ii) National Debt Commissioners; + (iii) Foreign Office and diplomatic and consular service, + including secret service, special services, and telegraph + subsidies; + (iv) Colonial Office, including special services and telegraph + subsidies; + (v) Privy Council; + (vi) Board of Trade, including the Mercantile Marine Fund, Patent + Office, Railway Commission, and Wreck Commission, but + excluding Bankruptcy; (vii) Mint; (viii) Meteorological Society; + (ix) Slave trade service. + + (_d_) Foreign mails and telegraphic communication with places + outside the United Kingdom. + + +_Revenue_ + +For the purposes of this Act the public revenue to a portion +of which Ireland may claim to be entitled consists of revenue +from the following sources:-- + + 1. Suez Canal shares or payments on account thereof. + + 2. Loans and advances to foreign countries. + + 3. Annual payments by British possessions. + + 4. Fees, stamps, and extra receipts received by departments, the + expenses of which are part of the Imperial expenditure. + + 5. Small branches of the hereditary revenues of the Crown. + + 6. Foreshores. + +[The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules are for the +saving of space omitted.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[138] The Bill is printed as it was originally presented to the House of +Commons. + + + + +INDEX + + +_American Commonwealth_, by Rt. Hon. James Bryce, 37 _n_ +_American History, Critical Period of_, by Fiske, 103 +Andrews, Mr. Justice, a Unitarian, 71 _n_ +Appeals under Irish Government Act, 209 +Asquith, Rt. Hon. H.H., on the policy of Home Rule, 26, 74 _n_ + +Balfour, Rt. Hon. Arthur, on Ireland, 71 +Beaumont, Gustave de, 142 +Bright, John, on Free Trade, 134 +Bryce, Rt. Hon. James, 26, _American Commonwealth_, 37, 169 +Burke, Edmund, _Reflections on the Revolution in France_, 134 + +Cambray, Mr., _Irish Affairs and the Home Rule Question_, 1, 23 +Canada as a self-governing colony, 20, 25 +Civil servants under Irish Government Act, 210 +Clancy, Mr., M.P., and the financial clauses of the Home Rule Bill, 103 +Cobden and Free Trade, 134 +Coercion Act, the, 144 +Colonies, self-governing, _see_ New Zealand, Canada, Victoria +_Constitution, Law of_, by Professor Dicey, 6 _n_, 29 _n_, 67 _n_ +Constitution of Legislature under Irish Government Act, 199 +Constitution, old and new, 1-20, 56; + the new, 21 _et seq_., 191; + no settlement of the Irish question, 112 _et seq_.; + rests on an unsound foundation and contradictory, 125; + pleas for, 132 _et seq._ +Constitutional questions, decision of, under Irish Government Act, 209 +Contracts, laws as to, 85, 86 +Crown Lands under Irish Government Act, 210 + +Davitt, Michael, and the New Constitution, 115, 142, 167 +Dicey, Professor A.V., _Law of the Constitution,_ 6 _n_, 29 _n_, 67 _n_ +Duffy, Sir Gavan, Irish Nationalist, 39, 166; + his prediction, 128 + +England, present constitution of, 2 _et seq_.; + retention of Irish Members at Westminster, 32 _et seq_., 66, + 123, 200, 218, 221; + inducements to, 48; + meaning of Home Rule to, 53 _et seq_.; + result of helping Portugal and Spain, 116; + opposition to Home Rule, 119 _et seq_.; + Grattan's constitution, 149; + the path of safety, 175 _et seq._ +_England's Case against Home Rule_, 59 _n_, 91 _n_, 94 + _n_, 97 _n_, 138 _n_, 155 _n_, 162 _n_ +Executive authority under Irish Government Act, 198 + +Feast of Concord in France, 172 +Federalism, 6; + and Home Rule, 13 _et seq_., 96, 118; + application to England, 155; + how it works in other countries, 153 _et seq._ +Finance, under Irish Government Act, 27, 100, 102, 201-207, 222, 223 +Fiske, _Critical Period of American History_, 103 +Ford, Patrick, 166 +France, and Italy, 116; + Feast of Concord, 172; + the constitution of 1791, 191 +Freeman, E.A., _Irish Home Rule and Its Analogies_, 67 _n_, 153 _n_ + +Germany, federalism in, 6 +Girardin, M., on the French Revolution, 135 +Gladstone, W.E., and Home Rule, 26, 113, 128 _n_, 140, 163, 175; + on the retention of Irish Members at Westminster, 32 _n_, 39, 66, 123 +Government, _see_ Parliament +Government of Ireland Bill, _see_ Home Rule Bill +Grattan's constitution, 139, 149-152 + +Hilty, Professor, Swiss publicist, 160 +Home Rule, a new constitution for the United Kingdom, 1, 19; + compared with the old constitution, 8 _et seq_.; + four leading features of, 22; + the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament, 22-31; + the retention of the Irish Members in the Imperial Parliament, 32 _et + seq_., 66 _n_, 123, 200, 218-221; + powers of the Irish Government, 66 _et seq_., 197 _et seq _.; + the Veto, 88; + Finance, 100-103, 201-207, 222, 223; + as a settlement of the Irish question, 112 _et seq_.; + is federalism, 118; + reasons for, 132 _et seq_.; + necessity for, 138; + the safeguards, 149; + Grattan's constitution, 149; + success of, 152 _et seq_.; + the policy of trust, 163 _et seq_.; + a revolutionary movement, 177, 191 + +Imperial Parliament, _see_ Parliament Ireland, the old constitution, 1-8; + the new constitution, 8 _et seq_.; + the retention of Irish Members in the Imperial Parliament, 32 _et seq_., + 66 _n_, 123, 200, 218-221; + meaning of Home Rule to, 53; + powers of the Irish Government under Home Rule Bill, 66 _et seq_., + 197 _et seq_.; + the Irish Parliament, 75; + restrictions and obligations, 80 _et seq_.; + the Veto, 88; + the Privy Council and the Courts, 90 _et seq_.; + Home Rule no settlement of the Irish question, 112 _et seq_.; + arguments for the new constitution, 132 _et seq_.; + her desire for parliamentary independence, 140 +_Irish Affairs and the Home Rule Question_, by Cambray, 1, 23 _n_ +Irish Constabulary under Home Rule Bill, 75 _n_, 212 +Irish Executive, 66 +Irish Government Act, _see_ Home Rule Bill +_Irish Home Rule and its Analysis_, by E.A. Freeman, 67 _n_, 153 _n_ +Irish Parliament, 75 +Irish representation in the House of Commons, 32 _et seq_., 66, 123, + 200, 218-221 +Italy and France, 116 + +Jackson, Andrew, President of the United States, 158 +Judges under Home Rule Bill, 210 + +Lalor, Mr., 142 +Lecky, Mr., _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_, 150 +Legislative authority under Home Rule Bill, 197 _et seq_. +Local Government Bill compared with Home Rule Bill, 186 +Lord Lieutenant, office of, 66, 210 + +McCarthy, J., on the effect of the Home Rule Bill, 112, 142, 167 +Mahoney, Pierce, _Irish Independent_ on the release of prisoners, 117 +Marshall, John, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, + 158 +Melbourne, Irish informers' reception at, 161, 162 +Mill, John Stuart, _Representative Government_, 6 _n_, 118 _n_. +Morley, John, Chief Secretary for Ireland, on retention of Irish Members + at Westminster, 39-43, 49, 62; + changes in administration, 71; + safeguards against legislation setting aside contracts, 86 + +New Zealand as a self-governing colony, 4, 5, 9, 20, 25, 31; + compared with Ireland, 156 +Nulty, Dr., Roman Catholic Bishop of Meath, 71 _n_. + +O'Connell, Daniel, compared with Parnell, 139; 166 + +Parliament, British and Imperial, authority of, in the United Kingdom, + 2 _et seq_.; + in the Colonies, 4 _et seq_.; + supremacy of, 22 _et seq_.; + retention of Irish Members in, 32 _et seq_.; + power up to 1782, 55; + since the Union, 56 _et seq._ +Parnell, 34; + and Home Rule, 139, 142, 167 +Phoenix Park murders, 146 +Police under Home Rule Bill, 75 _n_, 212 +Post Office and postal telegraphs under Home Rule Bill, 207, 208 +Privy Council and the Courts, 90 +Protection, 99, 198 + +Redmond, John, M.P., Home Rule, 26, 50, 103; + and the imprisoned dynamiters, 117 _n_, 168 +Referendum, Dicey on, 189, 190 +Religion, restrictions on, 99 +_Representative Government_, by John Stuart Mill, 118 _n._ +Restrictions and obligations in Home Rule Bill, 80 _et seq_., + 197, 198, 214 +Retention of Irish Members in House of Commons, 32 _et seq_., + 66, 123, 200, 218-221 +Russell, Lord John, 32 _n_ + +Savings banks under Home Rule Bill, 207, 208 +Sexton, Thomas, on Home Rule Bill, 16 _n_, 26, 112, 126 +Siéyès, Abbé, 19 +Switzerland an example of successful federalism, 6, 159 + +Taxes, right to impose, 2, 3 +Ticino, insurrection in, 107, 160, 161 +_Times Parliamentary Debates, 26 _n_, 32 _n_; + Mr. Asquith on executive authority, 74 _n_; + John Morley on legislation to set aside contracts, 86 _n_; + J. McCarthy and W.E. Gladstone on Home Rule as a final settlement, + 112 _n_, 113 _n_, 142 _n_; + Gladstone on the policy of trust, 163 _n_. + +Tocqueville, Alexis de, and the French Revolution, 134, 173 +Trust, the policy of, 163 + +Unionism, the policy for, 183 _et seq._ +_Unionist Delusions, _62 _n_. +United States of America, division of parties in, 37 _n_; + no law allowed to impair the obligation of a contract, 85; + Bryce on State Legislatures in, 169, 170 + +Veto, the, 15, 199; + its uselessness, 88 +Victoria as a self-governing colony, 4 _n_. +_Victoria, Government of_, by Jenks, 9 _n_. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Leap in the Dark, by A.V. 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