Chapter 17

THE IRISH CONSTITUTION[166]

I have dealt with the major issues of Home Rule. The exclusion or retention of Irish Members at Westminster, and the powers--above all, the financial powers--of the Irish State, are the two points of cardinal importance. As I have shown, they are inseparably connected, and form, in reality, one great question.

I have endeavoured to prove that from whatever angle we approach that central issue, whether we argue from representation to powers, or from powers to representation, and whether the particular powers we argue from be financial, legislative, or executive; whether we place Irish, British, or Imperial interests in the forefront of our exposition--we are led irresistibly to the colonial solution--that is, to the cessation of Irish representation at Westminster, coupled with a concession to Ireland of the full legislative and executive authority appropriate to that measure of independence, and, above all, with fiscal autonomy.

All the other provisions of the Bill are secondary. They may be divided into two categories, which necessarily overlap:

1. Provisions concerning Ireland only.

2. Provisions defining the Imperial authority over Ireland.

The structure of the Irish Legislature, the position of the Irish Judiciary, the safeguards for minorities, the provision made for existing servants of the State, the statutory arrangements, if any, for the future reorganization of the Irish Police--these and other questions are of great intrinsic importance, and need the most careful discussion; but they are altogether subordinate to those we have already considered. If it be over-sanguine to hope, in Ireland's interest, that they will be discussed in a calm and dispassionate way, we can at least demand that those provisions belonging to the second category, which present no appreciable difficulty, will not excite bitter and barren disputes like those of 1893.

It is not within the scope of this volume to discuss exhaustively the secondary provisions of the Bill, or to suggest the exact statutory form which those provisions, major or minor, should take. In this chapter I shall deal briefly with matters which I have hitherto left aside, and incidentally give more precision to the points upon which I have already suggested a conclusion, in both cases indicating, so far as possible, the most useful precedents and parallels from other Constitutions. The result will be the rough sketch of a Home Rule Bill.

PREAMBLE.

"Whereas it is expedient that _without impairing or restricting the supreme authority of Parliament_, an Irish Legislature should be created, etc." So ran the opening sentence of the Home Rule Bill of 1893. The words I have italicized are harmless but superfluous. They have never appeared in the Constitutions granted to Colonies, even at periods when the Colonies were most distrusted. Nothing can impair the supreme authority of Parliament.

EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY.

In all parts of the Empire, power emanates from the Sovereign, and is wielded locally in his name.

Section 9 of the British North America Act of 1867 runs as follows: "The Executive Government and authority of and over Canada is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the Queen." Similar words are used in the South Africa Act of 1909, and in the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act of 1900. Curiously enough, these were Acts to legalize the Federation, or Union, of separate Colonies, and were passed at a time when the principle embodied needed no affirmation. In earlier Acts for granting Colonial Constitutions, the principle was taken for granted, and implied in numerous provisions, but not stated explicitly. The most recent unitary Constitution, that of the Transvaal (Section 47), was even more reticent, though the principle was none the less clear. The point is unimportant, and the words used in the Home Rule Bills of 1886 and 1893 (Clauses 5 and 7 respectively), modified to meet a change of Sovereign, will serve very well: "The Executive power in Ireland (or the Executive Government of Ireland) shall continue vested in His Majesty...."

Thereon follow the provisions for delegation of the Royal authority, first to the Sovereign's personal Representative in Ireland, and then through him to the members of the Irish Executive. The simpler these provisions are, the better. What we know as responsible government has never been defined in any Act of Parliament. The phrase "responsible government" has only once appeared in any Constitution--namely, in the preamble of the Transvaal Constitution granted in 1906, and even then no attempt was made at definition, though certain sections, like certain sections in the Australian Constitutions of 1855 and in the later Federal Acts, inferentially suggested features of responsible government.

The system is two-sided. Ministers are responsible on the one hand to the King direct, as in Great Britain, or to the King's Representative, as in the Colonies, and, on the other hand, to the elected Legislature. Ireland will resemble a Colony in being a dependent State under a Representative of the King--namely, the Lord-Lieutenant. This personage, corresponding to the Colonial Governor, will also have to act in a dual capacity. On the one hand he will be responsible to the King, or, virtually, to the British Cabinet, and, on the other hand, he will be bound by an unwritten law to nominate for the Government of Ireland persons acceptable to the elected Legislature, and in Irish matters to act by their advice in all normal circumstances.

Let us dispose first of the relation of the Ministers and of other public officials to the Legislature. There will be no question, presumably, of giving statutory power to this relation. It is an unwritten custom--(1) that Ministers must be members of one branch of the Legislature; (2) that they must hold the confidence of the elected branch; (3) that, as a Cabinet, they stand or fall together; and, lastly, (4) that all non-political officials are excluded from the Legislature. The first and the last of these conventions have taken legal form in some isolated cases;[167] the other two appear in no statute that has yet been framed.[168]

Neither have the functions in practice exercised by the Ministry or Cabinet, nor the relations which in practice exist between it and the King's Representative, ever had statutory definition. Whatever form the Home Rule Bill takes, it cannot give legal precision to these things. The King's Representative always nominates an Executive Council--that is, a Cabinet to "advise" him in the Government, and whether, as in the Bill of 1893, that Council is called an Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Ireland by analogy with the Dominion of Canada, where it is the "King's Privy Council for Canada," or whether it is merely an Executive Council is immaterial. That it is, nominally, the constitutional duty of the King's Representative (like that of the King himself) to perform executive acts on the advice of his Ministers is never stated expressly. He is always, and generally in the text of the Constitution, vested with the power of summoning, proroguing, and dissolving the Legislature, and of giving or withholding the Royal Assent to Bills. He also, by unwritten law, wields the prerogative of Pardon, and appoints all public servants; and in all these cases, except in the case of appointing non-political officials, he occasionally has to act on his own personal responsibility.

This personal responsibility cannot be distinguished in practice from his responsibility to the Crown, which appoints and can remove him. Cases have arisen where the Governor of a self-governing Colony has written home for special guidance on some specific point, and where the answer given has been that he must act on his own responsibility, or follow the advice of his Ministers. All Colonial Governors, however, whether or not their powers are defined in the Constitution, are appointed by Commission from the Crown with powers defined in Letters Patent and Instructions as to their exercise. These Letters Patent and Instructions are not of much importance in the case of a self-governing Colony where responsible advice so largely controls the action of the Governor. Sometimes the executive powers given by Instructions to the Governor are indirectly alluded to in the Constitution, as in the South Africa Act of 1909, where, by Clause 9, under the head of "Executive Government," the Governor-General is "to exercise such powers and functions of the King as His Majesty may be pleased to assign to him." In the Australian and Canadian Acts of 1900 and 1867 respectively, the words do not appear. I name this point because in Clause 5 of the Home Rule Bill of 1893, and Clause 7 of the Bill of 1886, a similar course was taken in providing that the Lord-Lieutenant should "exercise any prerogatives, or other executive power of the Queen, the exercise of which may be delegated to him by Her Majesty." The words are not strictly necessary. The Lord-Lieutenant will, of course, have his Letters Patent and Instructions, but the powers of the Crown are theoretically absolute. If the Crown, acting under responsible British advice, should wish to defy the Irish Legislature, it could do so whatever the terms of the Bill.

Naturally, there will be certain Imperial and non-Irish matters in which the Lord-Lieutenant will act primarily under the orders of the British Cabinet, and the Departmental British Minister primarily responsible for Irish-Imperial matters would be the Home Secretary.[169]

The question may be raised, as in 1893 (July 3, Hansard), whether a staff of Imperial officials ought not to be set up to conduct any Imperial business which has to be done in Ireland, on the analogy of the Federal staff in the United States. I hope Mr. Gladstone's answer will still hold good--that no such staff is needed; that the Irish officials will be responsible, and ought, on the Home Rule principle, to be trusted, as they are trusted in the Colonies.

The Royal Assent to Bills is always a matter for express enactment in the Constitution, but here the "instructions" of the Governor, and even his personal "discretion," have generally been alluded to in recent Constitutions, whether conferred by Act or Letters Patent. The typical form of words is that the Governor "shall declare his Assent according to his discretion, but subject to His Majesty's instructions."[170] The Home Rule Bill of 1893 left out reference to "discretion," and, on the other hand, is, I think, the only document of the kind in which the "advice of the Executive Council" has ever been expressly alluded to, although the practice, of course, is that the Assent, normally, is given or withheld on that advice. The Transvaal Constitution of 1906 (Section 39) was unique in prescribing that special instructions must be received by the Governor in the case of each proposed law, before the Assent is given. I hope that will not be made a precedent for Ireland. Such precautions only irritate the law-makers, and serve no useful purpose.

Colonial Governors, besides the power of Assent and Veto, may "reserve" Bills for the Royal pleasure, which is to be signified within two years. Moreover, Bills which have received the Governor's Assent may be disallowed within one or two years.[171] Neither of these provisions appeared in the Home Rule Bills of 1886 and 1893, and neither appear to be strictly necessary, owing to the proximity of Ireland. Whatever is done, we may hope that the practice now established in Canada, where the Federal Government never disallows a provincial law on any other ground than that it is _ultra vires_, and, _a fortiori_, the similar practice as between Great Britain and the Dominions, may be imitated in the case of Ireland.

To sum up, the terse and simple words of the Bill of 1886 really enunciate all that is necessary:

[Sidenote: Constitution of the Executive Authority.]

"7.--(1) The Executive Government of Ireland shall continue vested in (Her) Majesty, and shall be carried on by the Lord-Lieutenant on behalf of (Her) Majesty with the aid of such officers and such council as to Her Majesty may from time to time seem fit.

"(2) Subject to any instructions which may from time to time be given by (Her) Majesty, the Lord-Lieutenant shall give or withhold the assent of (Her) Majesty to Bills passed by the Irish Legislative Body, and shall exercise the prerogatives of (Her) Majesty in respect of the summoning, proroguing, and dissolving of the Irish Legislative Body, and any prerogatives the exercise of which may be delegated to him by (Her) Majesty."

LORD-LIEUTENANT AND CIVIL LIST.

The restriction as to the religion of the Lord-Lieutenant will, of course, be removed. There is no reason why his term of office should be limited by law. His salary, payable by Ireland, should perhaps be stated in the Act, as in the case of Canada and South Africa, though not in that of Australia. Australia, on the other hand, has a statutory Civil List, and a fixed Civil List was an invariable feature of the old Constitutions given to self-governing Colonies. Canada and South Africa are under no such restrictions, and it would be very inexpedient to impose them upon Ireland.

LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY.

The Irish Legislature will be given power, according to the historic phrase, "to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland," subject to restrictions afterwards named. That the laws should be only "in respect of matters exclusively relating to Ireland or some part thereof" goes without saying, and need not be copied from the Bill of 1893 (Clause 2). Nor need the superfluous proviso in the same clause be reproduced, asserting the "supreme power and authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom." The supreme power becomes none the more supreme for such assertions. Clause 2 of the Bill of 1886 is simple and decisive:

"2. With the exceptions of and subject to the restrictions in this Act mentioned, it shall be lawful for (Her) Majesty (the Queen), by and with the advice of the Irish Legislative Body, to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland, and by any such law to alter and repeal any law in Ireland."

With the restrictions on the powers of the Legislature I dealt fully enough in Chapter X.,[172] and I need only summarize my conclusions:

1. _Reservations of Imperial Authority._--The Irish Legislature should _not_ have power to make laws upon--

{The Crown or a Regency. {Making of War or Peace. {Prize and Booty of War. {Army or Navy. {Foreign Relations and Treaties (excepting Commercial Treaties). {Conduct as Neutrals. {Titles and Dignities. {Extradition. {Treason. Coinage. Naturalization and Alienage.

Reservation of the nine subjects included in the bracket is implied, without enactment, in all colonial Constitutions, but in the Irish Bill it is no doubt necessary that all reserved powers should be formally specified.

All powers not specifically reserved will belong to the Irish Legislature, subject to those restrictions, constitutional or statutory, which in matters like Trade and Navigation, Copyright, Patents, etc., bind the whole Empire.

Section 32 of the Bill of 1893, borrowed from the Colonial Laws Validity Act, will no doubt be applied.

2. _Minority Safeguards_.--This point, too, I dealt with in Chapter X.[173] Let the Nationalist Members come forward and frankly accept any prohibitory clauses which the fears of the minority may suggest, provided that they do not impair the ordinary legislative power which every efficient Legislature must enjoy. Almost every conceivable safeguard for the protection of religion, denominational education, and civil rights was inserted in the Bill of 1893, including even some of the "slavery" Amendments to the United States Constitution. The list may require revision--(_a_) in view of the recent establishment of the National University, and the disappearances of all apprehension about the status of Trinity College, Dublin; (_b_) in regard to an extraordinarily wide Sub-clause (No. 9) about interference with Corporations; (_c_) in regard to the words, "in accordance with settled principles and precedents," which appeared in Sub-clause (No. 8) (Legislature to make no law "Whereby any person may be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law[174] _in accordance with settled principles and precedents_," etc.). A debate on this question may be found in Hansard, May 30, 1893. The words italicized were added in Committee on the motion of Mr. Gerald Balfour, though the Attorney-General declared that they gave no additional strength to the phrase "due process of law," while they certainly appear calculated to provoke litigation. Sir Henry James appeared to think that they made the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act _ultra vires._ If that is their effect, there is no reason why they should be inserted. Even a Canadian Province, whose powers are more limited than those of the subordinate States in any other Federation, has "exclusive" powers within its own borders over "property and civil rights,"[175] and can, beyond any doubt, suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, if it pleases.

The same superfluous words appeared in Sub-clause (No. 9) about Corporations.

THE IRISH LEGISLATURE.[176]

As I urged in Chapter X., this is a subject in which large powers of constitutional revision--much larger than those contained in either of the Home Rule Bills--should be given to the Irish Legislature itself, corresponding to the powers given by statute to the self-governing Colonies, and to the powers always held by the constituent States of a Federation. In the Bill itself it would be wisest to follow beaten tracks as far as possible, and not to embark on experiments. Present conditions are, unhappily, very unfavourable for the elaboration of any scheme ideally fit for Ireland.

_A Bi-Cameral Legislature._--Working on this principle, we must affirm that Ireland's position, without representation in the Imperial Parliament, would certainly make a Second Chamber requisite. Three of the Provinces within the Federation of Canada (Manitoba, British Columbia, and Ontario) prefer to do without Second Chambers--so do most of the Swiss Cantons--but all the Federal Legislatures of the world are bi-cameral, and all the unitary Constitutions of self-governing Colonies have been, or are, bi-cameral.

_The Upper Chamber._--One simple course would be to constitute the Upper Chamber of a limited number of Irish Peers, chosen by the whole of their number, as they are chosen at present for representation in the House of Lords. Historical and practical considerations render this course out of the question, though some people would be fairly sanguine about the success of such a body in commanding confidence, on the indispensable condition that all representation at Westminster were to cease. It has been membership, before the Union of an ascendency Parliament, and after the Union of an absentee Parliament, which has kept the bulk of the Irish peerage in violent hostility to the bulk of the Irish people. Those Peers who seek and obtain a career in an Irish popular Legislature--to both branches of which they will, of course, be eligible--will be able to do valuable service to their country. The same applies to all landlords. Now that land reform is converting Ireland itself into a nation of small landholders, who, in most countries, are very Conservative in tendency, the ancient cleavage is likely to disappear. Indeed, an ideal Second Chamber ought perhaps to give special weight to urban and industrial interests, while aiming, not at an obstructive, but at a revising body of steady, moderate, highly-educated business men.

We have to choose one of two alternatives: a nominated or an elective chamber. The choice is difficult, for second chambers all over the world may be said to be on their trial. On the other hand, nothing vital depends upon the choice, for experience proves that countries can flourish equally under every imaginable variety of second chamber, provided that means exist for enabling popular wishes, in the long-run, to prevail. The European and American examples are of little use to us, and the widely varied types within the Empire admit of no sure inferences. Allowance must be made for the effect of the Referendum wherever it exists (as in Australia and Switzerland), as a force tending to weaken both Chambers, but especially the Upper Chamber of a Legislature. It does, indeed, seem to be generally admitted, even by Canadians, that the nominated Senate of the Dominion of Canada, which is added to on strict party principles by successive Governments, is not a success, and it was so regarded by the Australian Colonies when they entered upon Federation, and set up an elective Senate. The South African statesmen, who had to reckon with racial divisions similar to those in Ireland, compromised with a Senate partly nominated, partly elected, but made the whole arrangement revisable in ten years.[177]

It would be desirable, perhaps, on similar grounds of immediate policy, to let those who now represent the minority in Ireland have a deciding voice in the matter. No arrangement made otherwise than by a free Ireland herself can be regarded as final, and I suggest only that a nominated Chamber would be the best expedient at the outset, or in the alternative a partly nominated, partly elected Chamber.

If and in so far as the Upper Chamber is elective, should election be direct or indirect? There is a somewhat attractive Irish precedent for indirect election, namely, the present highly successful Department of Agriculture, whose Council and Boards the County Councils have a share in constituting,[178] and I have seen and admired a most ingenious scheme of Irish manufacture for constructing the whole Irish Legislature and Ministry on this principle. But the objections appear to be considerable. Local bodies in the future should not be mixed up in national politics. That has been their bane in the past. Besides, the principle of indirect election is under a cloud everywhere, most of all in the United States. Australia rejected it in 1900, and the South Africans, while giving it partial recognition in the Senate, made the expedient provisional.

_The Lower House_.--The Lower House might very well be elected on the same franchise and from the same constituencies as at present, subject to any small redistributional modifications necessitated by changes of population. This is certainly a matter which Ireland should have full power to settle for itself subsequently.

Lord Courtney's proposals for Proportional Representation[179] merit close consideration and possess great attractions, especially in view of their very favourable reception from Nationalists in Ireland. My own feeling is that such novel proposals may overload a Bill which, however simply it be framed, will provoke very long and very warm discussion. If the system were to be regarded by the present minority as a real safeguard for their interests, its establishment, on tactical grounds alone, would be worth any expenditure of time and trouble; but, if they accept the assumption that existing parties in Ireland are going to be stereotyped under Home Rule, and then point to the paucity of Unionists in all parts of Ireland but the north-east of Ulster, they can demonstrate that no _practicable_ enlargement of constituencies could seriously influence the results of an election. My own view, already expressed, is that, provided we give Ireland sufficient freedom, wholly new parties must, within a short time, inevitably be formed in Ireland, and the old barriers of race and religion be broken down, and, therefore, that all expedients devised on the contrary hypothesis will eventually prove to be needless and might even prove unpopular and inconvenient. On the other hand, merits are claimed, with a great show of reason, for Proportional Representation, which are altogether independent of the protection of minorities from oppression. It is claimed that the system brings forward moderate men of all shades of opinion, checks party animus, and steadies the policy of the State. But I think that a free Ireland should be the judge of these merits. At present the bulk of the people do not understand the subject, and need much education before they can appreciate the issue.

Meanwhile, the conventional party system, based on conventional constituencies, will, to say the least, do no more harm to Ireland than to any other State in the Empire. Any minor defects will be infinitesimal beside the vast and beneficial change wrought by responsible government.

DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES.

It is essential to provide for this, and it would be difficult to better the proposal in the Bill of 1893: that after two years, or an intervening dissolution, the question should be decided by a joint vote in joint session.

MONEY BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS.

To originate in the Lower House on the motion of a Minister.

POLICE.

The Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police should be under Irish control from the first. The former force will undoubtedly have to be reconstituted, and its reconstitution, as an ordinary Civil Police, ought to be undertaken by the Irish Government, but the financial interests of "retrenched" officers and men should be safeguarded in the Bill itself.

JUDGES.

All future appointments should be made by the Irish Government, without the suspensory period of six years named in the Bill of 1893. Present Irish Judges should retain their appointments, as in both previous Bills. The precedent of Canada, where provincial Judges, unlike the State Judges of Australia, are appointed and paid by the Federal Government, is certainly not relevant.

LAW COURTS.

The Federal analogy, except in one particular noticed under the next heading, has no application to Ireland. Only one provision of any importance is needed, namely, that Appeals, in the last resort, should be to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council instead of to the House of Lords. The Judicial Committee is the final Court of Appeal for the whole Empire, and, strengthened by one or more Irish Judges, should hear Irish Appeals. It is true that the tribunal has been subjected to some criticism lately, especially from Australia. Federal States naturally wish to secure pre-eminent authority for their own Supreme Courts. But the tribunal is, on the whole, popular with the colonial democracies, and the argument from distance and expense does not apply to Ireland. At the end of an interesting discussion at the last Imperial Conference, in which suggestions were put forward for strengthening the Judicial Committee by Colonial Judges, it was agreed that new proposals should be made by the Imperial Government for an Imperial Final Court of Appeal in two divisions, one for the United Kingdom, another for the Colonies. If that step is taken, the position of Ireland will need fresh consideration.[180]

DECISION OF CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS.[181]

The validity of an Irish Act which has received the Royal Assent will, like that of a Colonial Act which has received the Royal Assent, be determined in the ordinary course by the Irish Courts, with an ultimate appeal to the Judicial Committee, which should be strengthened for the occasion by one or more Irish Judges. But both the previous Home Rule Bills made the convenient provision that the Lord-Lieutenant should have the power of referring questions of validity arising on a Bill, before its enactment, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for final decision. There is a useful Canadian precedent for this provision, in the Imperial Act passed in 1891, for giving the Governor-General in Council power, in the widest terms, to refer, _inter alia_, questions touching provincial legislation to the Supreme Court of Canada, with an appeal from it to the Judicial Committee.[182] To follow this precedent would not involve any Federal complications.

EXCHEQUER JUDGES.

If Ireland controls her own Customs and Excise, no provision for this tribunal appears to be necessary, unless it be that some counterpart is needed for the Colonial Courts of Admiralty.[183] The Bill of 1886 (Clause 20) limited the jurisdiction to revenue questions. The Bill of 1893 (Clause 19) widened it to include "any matter not within the power of the Irish Legislature," or "any matter affected by a law which the Irish Legislature have not power to repeal or alter." The minds of the authors of this clause were evidently affected by the Federal principle which involves two judicial authorities--one for Federal, one for provincial matters. There seems to be no reason for embarking on any such complications in the case of Ireland.

SAFEGUARDS FOR EXISTING PUBLIC SERVANTS IN IRELAND.[184]

Retrenchment, and in some departments drastic retrenchment, will be needed in the Irish public service, just as it was needed in the Transvaal after the grant of Home Rule to that Colony. It is highly desirable that statutory provision should be made safeguarding existing interests. No such provision was made in the case of the Transvaal, and some bad feeling resulted. The past responsibility for excessive Civil expenditure lies, of course, on Great Britain, as it lay in the case of the Transvaal, and on grounds of abstract justice it would have been fair in that case for Great Britain to have assumed a limited part of the expense of compensating retrenched public servants. The practical objections to such a policy are, however, very great. In this, as in all matters, Ireland will gain more by independence than by financial aid, however strongly justified. All payments should be a direct charge upon the Irish Exchequer, not, as in some cases under the Bill of 1893, upon the Imperial Exchequer in the first instance, with provision for repayment from Ireland.

FINANCE.

I summarize the conclusions already indicated in previous chapters:

1. Fiscal independence, with complete control over all Irish taxation and expenditure.

2. Initial deficit to be supplied by a grant-in-aid, diminishing annually and terminable in a short period, say, seven years.

3. Future contribution to Imperial services to be voluntary.

4. Remission to Ireland of her share of the National Debt, and relinquishment by Ireland of her share of the Imperial Miscellaneous Revenue.

5. Imperial credit for Land Purchase to be extended as before, by loans guaranteed on the Consolidated Fund, under any conditions now or hereafter to be made by the Imperial authorities.

Loans to the Public Works Commissioners to be optional.

REPRESENTATION AT WESTMINSTER.

To cease.

CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE IRISH AND IMPERIAL AUTHORITIES.

This is a very important point, because friendly consultation, as at present with the Colonies, will take the place of Irish representation in the Imperial Parliament, and will prove a far more satisfactory means of securing harmony and co-operation. Arrangements similar to those of the Imperial Conference, only more precise and efficient, and of a permanent character, should be made for consultation between the Irish and British authorities on all subjects where the interests of the two countries touch one another. The need for more frequent consultation with the Colonies is being felt with increasing force, and although no permanent consultation body has yet been created, special _ad hoc_ conferences have recently been held--for Defence in 1909, and for Copyright in 1910--in addition to the quadrennial meetings, where a vast amount of varied topics are discussed, and the most valuable decisions arrived at.[185]

What the precise machinery should be in the case of Anglo-Irish relations I do not venture to say. The Ministers of the respective countries will be so easily accessible to one another that there would seem to be no need for the frequent attendance of a powerful personnel at joint meetings. But a Standing Committee, with a small official staff, would be necessary.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.[186]

For amendment of the Home Rule Act itself it is not possible to make any statutory provision. Like all Constitutional Acts, it will only be alterable by another Imperial statute, which, if it were needed, should be promoted by Ireland. But one of the most important clauses in the Act itself will be that defining Ireland's power to amend her own Constitution without coming to Parliament. I venture to repeat the view that this power should be as wide as possible, consistently with the maintenance of the Imperial authority, and subject, of course, to provisions prescribing--(1) a time-limit for the initial arrangements; (2) the method of ascertaining Irish opinion; and (3) the majority in the Legislature, or in the electorate, or in both, necessary to sanction a constitutional change.[187] If a Home Rule Constitution, passed into law in the heat of a party fight at Westminster, proves to be perfect, a miracle will have been performed unparalleled in the history of the Empire. At this moment a Committee of Ireland's ablest men of all parties should be at work upon it, with an instructed public opinion behind them. So only are good Constitutions made, and even the very best need subsequent amendment.

FOOTNOTES:

[166] For details of prior Home Rule Bills, see the Appendix.

[167] The Victorian and South Australian Constitutions of 1855 state in clear terms that the Ministry must be members of the Legislature, and all the Australian Constitutions of the same date, except that of Tasmania, formally exclude all other officials from the Legislature. The Transvaal Constitution of 1906 made no reference to either point; nor do the Federating Acts of 1867, 1900, and 1909 for Canada, Australia, and South Africa.

[168] A fifth custom, very common, of compelling new Ministers to seek re-election is incorporated in most of the Australian Constitutions, but was expressly ruled out in Section 47 of the Transvaal Constitution of 1906.

[169] See Hansard, July 3, 1893, Speech of Mr. John Morley.

[170] The words "subject to this Constitution" or "subject to this Act" are sometimes added, but have no special significance. The Australian Commonwealth Constitution Act does not mention the Governor's "instructions," but only his "discretion."

[171] British North America Act, 1867, Sects. 55-57; Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, Sects. 58-60.

[172] See especially pp. 213-229.

[173] See pp. 223-225.

[174] Taken from Amendment XIV. to the United States Constitution, passed July 28, 1866.

[175] British North America Act, 1867, Sect. 92 (13). But the Province may not encroach on powers reserved to the Dominion--e.g., in bankruptcy (Gushing v. Depuy [before Jud. Comm. of Privy Council]). See the "Constitution of Canada," J.E.C. Munro, pp. 247-253. There has been much litigation over points where Dominion and Federal powers overlapped. (See "Federations and Unions of the British Empire," H.E. Egerton, pp. 151-153).

[176] For the proposals of the Bills of 1886 and 1893, see Appendix.

[177] South Africa Act, 1909, Sects. 24 and 25.

[178] See pp. 155-162.

[179] See Pamphlet No. 17, published by Proportional Representation Society, and an excellent paper by Mr. J.F. Williams in "Home Rule Problems."

[180] Cd. 5741, 1911, pp. 46-51.

[181] See Appendix and the Bill of 1886, Clause 25; Bill of 1893, Clause 22.

[182] 54 and 55 Vict., Ch. 25, Sect. 4.

[183] Courts of Admiralty in the Colonies are regulated by Imperial Acts, though by an Act of 1890 large powers were conferred on the Colonies of declaring ordinary Courts to be Courts of Admiralty (see Moore's "Commonwealth of Australia," pp. 11 and 251).

[184] See Clauses 27-30 of the Bill of 1886, and Clauses 25-28 of the Bill of 1893.

[185] See the Precis of Proceedings, Cd. 5741, 1911.

[186] See pp. 225-227.

[187] See Section 128 of the Australia Constitution Act, 1900, and Section 152 of the South Africa Act, 1909.

CONCLUSION

Is it altogether idle to hope that some such body will yet come into existence, if not in time to influence the drafting of the Bill, at any rate to bring to bear upon its provisions the sober wisdom, not of one party only in the State, but of all; and so, if it were possible, to give to the charter of Ireland in her "new birth of freedom" the sanction of a united people?

Home Rule will eventually come. Within the Empire, the utmost achieved by the government of white men without their own consent is to weaken their capacity to assume the sacred responsibility of self-government. It is impossible to kill the idea of Home Rule, though it is possible, by retarding its realization, to pervert some of its strength and beauty, and to diminish the vital energy on which its fruition depends. And it is possible in the case of Ireland, up to and in the very hour of her emancipation, after a struggle more bitter and exhausting than any in the Empire, to heap obstacles in the path of the men who have carried her to the goal, and on whom in the first instance must fall the extraordinarily difficult and delicate task of political reconstruction. They will be on their mettle in the eyes of the world to prove that the prophets of evil were wrong, to show sympathy and inspire confidence in the very quarters where they have been most savagely traduced and least trusted, and they will have to exhibit dauntless courage in attacking old abuses and promoting new reforms. They will need their hands strengthened in every possible way.

The help must come--and it cannot come too soon--from the working optimists of Ireland, from the hundreds of men and women, of both parties and creeds, who are labouring outside politics to extirpate that stifling undergrowth of pessimism which runs riot in countries denied the light and air of freedom. All these people agree on the axiom that Ireland has a distinct individual existence, and that her future depends upon herself. No one should dare to stop there. Let him who feels impelled to stop there at any rate act with open eyes. In expecting to realize social reconstruction without political reconstruction--however divergent the aims may now seem to be--he expects to achieve what has never been achieved in any country in the Empire, and to achieve this miracle in the very country which has suffered most from political repression, and possesses the most fantastic system of government to be found in the King's dominions. The thing is impossible, and if at bottom he feels it to be so, and inclines sadly to the view that political servitude is but the least of two evils, I would only venture to suggest this: Is it not a finer course to stake something on a risk run in every white community but Ireland rather than to face the certainty of half achievement? And is it not, after all, a sound risk to trust the very men who now respond to the appeal for self-reliance, mutual tolerance, and united effort in their private affairs, not to renounce these qualities and abuse the rights of citizenship when the public affairs of their country are under their own control?

As for the risk to Great Britain, I have only this last word to say: Let her people, not for the first time, show that they can rise superior to the philosophy, as fallacious in effect as it is base and cowardly in purpose, which sets the safety of a great nation above the happiness and prosperity of a small one. Within the last few weeks the wheel has turned full circle, and the almost inexplicable contradiction which has existed for so long between Unionism and Imperialism has been illuminated with a frank cynicism rare in our public life. It is being said that the freedom given to Canada cannot be given to Ireland, because the separation from the Empire theoretically rendered possible by such a step would be immaterial in the case of Canada, which is distant, but perilous in the case of Ireland, which is near. If this be Imperialism, it should stink in the nostrils of every decent citizen at home and abroad.

It is true, to our shame, that, by little more than an accident, Canada obtained the freedom which gave her people harmony, energy, and wealth in the teeth of this mean and selfish doctrine. But Lord Durham took a higher view. Let me recall the memorable words which he added to his long and brilliant argument for liberty as a source, not only of domestic regeneration, but of affection and loyalty to the Motherland: "_But at any rate our first duty is to secure the well-being of our colonial countrymen;_ and if, in the hidden decrees of that wisdom by which this world is ruled, it is written that these countries are not for ever to remain portions of the Empire, we owe it to our honour to take good care that, when they separate from us, they should not be the only countries on the American continent in which the Anglo-Saxon race shall be found unfit to govern itself."

Lord Durham was doubly right; in his prophecy of the closer union liberty would promote, and in elementary law which he laid down, of moral obligation which, whatever the result, he held superior to dynastic calculations. It is a fact of ominous significance that the intellectual successors of the men who most hotly repudiated both these doctrines in 1838 are being driven by pressure of their Irish views to revive that repudiation in 1911, and to revive it in the midst of the most effusive protestations of the need for still closer union with a Colony which would either have undergone the fate of Ireland or have ceased to be a member of the Empire if their philosophy had triumphed. I do not believe there is any conscious cant in that flagrant contradiction, but I do firmly believe that so long as their error about Ireland poisons in them the springs of Imperial thought, some element of fallacy lies in any Imperial policy they undertake. In common prudence, at any rate, they should avoid telling Canada, while beckoning her nearer to the heart of the Empire, that they only gave her freedom because she was so far.

But I rely still on an awakening, on a fundamental change of spirit. The Empire owes everything to those who have disputed, sometimes at the cost of their lives, illegitimate authority. Some day the politicians who now spend sleepless nights with paste and scissors in ransacking the ancient files of the world's Press for proofs that Mr. Redmond once used words signifying that he aimed at "separation"--whatever that phrase may mean--will regret that they ever demeaned themselves by such petty labour, and will place Mr. Redmond among the number of those who have saved the Empire from the consequences of its own errors.

APPENDIX

COMPARATIVE TABLE, SHOWING THE PRINCIPAL PROVISIONS OF THE HOME RULE BILLS OF 1886 AND 1893

HOME RULE BILL OF 1886. HOME RULE BILL OF 1893.

THE IRISH LEGISLATURE.

To consist of the Crown and _Two To consist of the Crown and Orders_, sitting together, and _Two Houses_, sitting separately. unless either Order demands a separate vote, voting together.

1. _First Order_, to consist of 1. _Council_, of 48 Councillors _(a)_ 75 members elected on a £25 elected on a £20 franchise from franchise from a new set of a new set of constituencies. constituencies. Term of office, Term of office, eight years. ten years. _(b)_ 28 Peerage members, to give place by degrees to elective members as in _(a)_.

_2. Second Order_, 204 members 2. _Assembly_ of 103 members elected as at present. Two from each elected as at present. constituency (with an alteration in the case of Cork).

Dissolution at least every five Dissolution at least every five years. years.

_Money Bills_ and votes to originate in the Assembly.

DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN ORDERS OR HOUSES.

After three years or a After two years or a dissolution question to be dissolution question to be decided by joint vote. decided by joint vote in joint session.

ESTRICTIONS ON IRISH LEGISLATURE.

1. _Imperial Matters_.

_No power to make laws about_-- _Nor_ with: the Lord-Lieutenant, The Crown, War or Peace, Army or conduct as Neutrals, Extradition, Navy, Volunteers or Militia, Trade-marks, nor (for six years) Prize or Booty of War, Treaties, Post Office in or out of Titles, Treason, Naturalization, Ireland. Trade or Navigation, Lighthouses, etc., Coinage, But Trade _within Ireland_ and Copyright, Patents, Post Office _inland_ Navigation conceded to (except within Ireland). Ireland.

2. _Irish Matters.

No power to make laws for the purpose of_--

(1) _Establishing or endowing (1) Ditto, ditto, but more any religion_ or imposing explicit and far-reaching. disabilities or conferring privileges on account of _religion_, or affecting the undenominational constitution of National schools, etc.

(2) Impairing rights or property (2) Ditto, ditto, or "without of corporations, without address for due process of law" and both Orders and consent of Crown. compensation.

(3) Depriving anyone of _life, liberty, or property_ without due process of law in accordance with settled precedents, or denying _equal protection of laws_, or taking property without _just compensation_.

(4) Imposing disabilities or conferring privileges on account of _birth, parentage, or place of business_.

(5) (_For three years_) respecting relations of _landlord and tenant_ or the purchase and letting of _land_ generally.

IRISH REPRESENTATION IN IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

To cease altogether (except in Ireland to send 80 members to the case of a proposed Westminster (instead of 103). alteration of the Home Rule Act). Peers as before.

EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY.

The Crown, as represented by the Lord-Lieutenant, acting in Irish affairs with the advice of an Irish Cabinet responsible to the Irish Legislature.

POWER OF VETO ON IRISH LEGISLATION.

To be held by Lord-Lieutenant To be held by Lord-Lieutenant, (acting normally on the advice _acting on advice of Irish of Irish Cabinet?), but subject Cabinet_, but subject to to instructions from Imperial instructions from Imperial Government. Government.

FINANCE.

1. _Taxation_.

_Customs and Excise_ still to be (1) _For six years_ all existing levied by Imperial Parliament and taxes to continue to be imposed collected by Imperial officers. by Imperial Parliament and All other taxes to be under Irish collected by Imperial officers. control.

Ireland to have power to impose additional taxes of her own.

(2) _After six years_, Customs and Excise to remain Imperial taxes; all others to be under Irish control. But Excise to be collected, though not levied, by Ireland.

2. _Ireland's Revenue_.

_Gross_ revenue collected in (1) _True_ Irish revenue from Ireland from Imperial and Irish Imperial taxes (_i.e._, with taxes and Crown Lands, etc.; allowance made for duties _plus_ an Imperial grant towards collected in Ireland on the cost of Irish Police. (Total articles consumed in Great cost at that time £1,500,000: Britain, and _vice versa_). Ireland to pay £1,000,000, Treasury any surplus over (2) Revenue from Irish taxes £1,000,000, until cost reduced and Crown Lands. to that point.) (3) Imperial grant of one-third of annual cost of Irish Police (equal in first year to £486,000).

3. _Ireland's Contribution to Imperial Exchequer_.

(1) _For thirty years_ Ireland (1) _For six years_ Ireland to to pay fixed annual maximum sums, pay _one-third of the "true" representing Ireland's share of revenue raised in Ireland from (a) Army, Navy, Civil List, etc.; Imperial taxes and Crown (b) National Debt. Payments not Lands_. (Estimated share for to be increased, but might be first year, £2,276,000, or diminished. Share for Army, Navy, about one-twenty-eighth of etc., never to exceed total Imperial expenditure.) one-fifteenth of total cost. Total payments under these heads for first year, £3,242,000.

(2) _After thirty years_, (2) _After six years_, both contribution _to be revisable_. method and amount of Ireland's contribution to be revised and settled afresh.

4. _Contribution to Special War Taxes_.

Optional to Ireland. For six years compulsory on Ireland to pay her proportional share of any such tax levied.

_5. Post Office_.

To be taken over by Ireland For six years to remain under under Irish Act. Imperial control. Profit or loss on Irish posts to be credited to or debited _against_ Ireland.

POLICE.

Dublin Police to be under Both Dublin Police and Imperial control for two years. Constabulary, as long as they Constabulary, "while that force should exist, to be under subsists," to be under Imperial Imperial control. control, but Ireland to have power to create a new force Meanwhile an ordinary locally under control of local controlled civil police to be authorities. gradually established by Irish Government, and to take the place of the old forces.

But _for six years_, Imperial Government to have the power to maintain in existence the old forces, if considered expedient.

JUDGES.

_Present Irish Judges to Remain_.

All future Irish Judges to be For six years future Irish appointed by Irish Government. Supreme Court Judges (not County Court Judges, etc.) to be appointed by Imperial Government. After six years by Irish Government.

LAW COURTS.

_Constitution to Remain the Same_.

But appeals to the House of Lords to cease; instead, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS.

_(As to Validity of Irish Laws, etc.)_.

To be decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (including one or more Irish Judges).

EXCHEQUER JUDGES.

Legal proceedings in Ireland All legal proceedings in or against Imperial revenue land Ireland _which touch any authorities to be referred, if matter_ (financial or either party wishes, to the otherwise) _not within the Exchequer Division Judges of power of the Irish the United Kingdom. Legislature_ to be referred, if either party wishes, to two Exchequer Judges appointed and paid by the Imperial Government. Appeal to be to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

LORD-LIEUTENANT

_Might be of any Religion_.

Term of office indefinite. Term of office six years.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

After the first dissolution, After six years, Legislature Legislature to have power to to have power to reconstitute reconstitute Second Order. Assembly.

REMARKS ON THE FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS.

The arrangements differed widely in the two Bills.

The main points of likeness were: (1) That from the first there was to be a _separate Irish Exchequer_; (2) that for all time Ireland was to be _denied control over the imposition of Customs and Excise_--that is to say, over about _three-quarters of her revenue_ as then raised; (3) that about _a third of the cost of the Irish Police_ was to be paid by the Imperial Government; (4) that payments due from Ireland to the Imperial Government were to be made a first charge on proceeds of Imperial taxes in Ireland.

The principal points of difference were:

1. Under the Bill of 1886, apart from the very important restriction of Customs and Excise, Ireland was at once to have freedom to control her own taxation.

Under the Bill of 1893 (as amended) there was to be a suspensory period of six years during which all existing taxes were to continue to be imposed by the Imperial Government; but with power to Ireland to add taxes of her own. _Amounts_ of Imperial taxes might be varied, but _no new ones_ imposed, except specially for war. After six years, financial freedom, except in Customs and Excise. Excise, however, was to be _collected_, though not levied, by Ireland.

2. "_Collected" and "True" Revenue_.--In 1886, Ireland was credited with all the revenue _collected in Ireland_ from Customs and Excise _(i.e.,_ the "gross" revenue from those taxes), but she had to pay the cost of collection herself.

In 1893 allowance was made for duties collected in Ireland on articles consumed in Great Britain, and _vice versa,_ Ireland being credited only with her "true" revenue--that is, revenue from dutiable articles _consumed in Ireland._ Similar allowances made in the Income Tax account. A joint Anglo-Irish Committee was to settle these adjustments. This system involved a deduction from the first year's gross Irish revenue of nearly two millions. (In 1886 the corresponding sum, credited to Ireland, was £1,400,000.) On the other hand, in 1893 the greater part of the cost of collection (£235,000) was not to be borne by Ireland.

3. _Imperial Contribution by Ireland._--In 1886, a fixed annual maximum, which might be diminished, but could not be exceeded, revisable in thirty years.

In 1893 (for six years) an annually ascertained _quota_--namely, a third of Ireland's "true" revenue (exclusive of taxes imposed by herself).

4. _Ireland's Budget._--Note the important point that under both Bills three-quarters of Irish revenue was derived from Customs and Excise, over which, in 1886, Ireland could exercise no control; in 1903 only the control given by the presence of eighty members in the House of Commons. In both cases Ireland was to be wholly responsible for her own civil expenditure (except for the existing Police). Under both Bills Ireland was intended to start with a surplus of about half a million, which may be regarded roughly as the equivalent, in both cases, of the Imperial share of the cost of the Irish Police. But note that, in 1886, Ireland being pledged to pay a fixed million of the cost of Police, would obtain no relief until the cost was reduced below a million; while in 1893, paying two-thirds of the annually ascertained cost, she would obtain relief from any annual reduction. The Police referred to was, of course, the then existing Police, imperially organized and controlled. The new civil Police eventually set up in substitution would be financed and controlled by the Irish Government. The charges, therefore, on the British taxpayer would, it was expected, be a rapidly diminishing one.

The loss on Irish posts in 1893, debited against Ireland, was estimated at £52,000.

5. _Special War Taxes._--Ireland's contribution optional in 1886; in 1893, compulsory (at any rate, for six years, which would have included the beginning of the South African War).

INDEX

Abercromby, Sir R., 57, 129 Absentee taxes, in Ireland, 23-30; in Australasia, 116 Absenteeism, in Ireland, 12, 51; in Prince Edward Island, 75-76; in Upper Canada, 80; in Lower Canada, 85; in Australia, 110 Acadia. See Maritime Provinces Act of Union, 1800, 60-64, 232-233 Administrators, in South Africa, 197 Agricultural Co-operation. See Irish Agricultural Organization Society, also 168, 177 Agricultural Grant, Ireland, 267 Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, 267 Agricultural Statistics, Ireland, 150, 306-308 Amendment of Constitution, Ireland, 225-227, 338; Colonies, 225-226, 338 American Colonies, colonization of, 8-9; land tenure in (see Land Tenure); mercantile system, 17-18, 30; government of, 22-23, 33; Revolution in, 30-35, 72, 74. See also United States Anglo-Normans, in Ireland, 6-7 Annuities, tenant's. See Land Purchase Armagh, Peep o' Day Boys in, 55 Army Act, 1881, 220 (footnote) Army and Navy, 218-219, 329 Arnold, Benedict, 40 Ashbourne Act, 1885, 309. See also Land Acts Australian Colonies Act, 1850, 107, 225 Australian Colonies Customs Duties Act, 1873, 220, footnote Australian Colonies, history of, See Chapter VI., and under names of the various States; federation of, as Commonwealth of Australia, 119, 196, 198; finance in, 227-228, 245-246, 288, 295-298. See also Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, Constitutions, Federal Systems, Customs and Excise, Subsidies

Baldwin, Robert, in Upper Canada, 82, 103 Balfour, Arthur,138, 152, 172, 212 Balfour, Gerald, 152, 158, 338 Baltimore, Lord, 21 Barbour, Sir David, on Anglo-Irish Finance, 249-257 Barry, Sir Redmond, 114 Belfast, 45, 146, 162, 170, 175 Belgium, cost of Government in, 253 Berkeley, G.F.H., 178 Bidwell, B., in Upper Canada, 82 Birrell, Augustine, his Land Act of 1909. See Land Acts, Land Tenure, Land Purchase Bloemfontein, Convention of, 123 Boer War of 1880-1881, 125; of 1899-1902, 128-129, 133,216 Bonus to landlords, 310-312, 317. See also Land Purchase Boomplatz, battle of, 1848, 123 Botha, General, 143 Brand, President, 124 Bright, John, 69, 71, 213, 308 British Columbia, finances of, 246, 299; Upper Chamber in, 331 British North America Act, 1867, citations from, 219, 220 (footnote), 225, 299, 323, 325 (footnote), 327, 330 (footnote); 1891, 335. See also Canada Buller, Charles, 87, 89, 94-95 Burgh, Hussey, 36 Burke, Edmund, 12, 27-29, 34, 59, 74, 77 Burke, Robert O'Hara, 114 Butt, Isaac, 71, 135, 171

Canada, Upper and Lower, history of, (see Chapter V. and Introduction, viii, 340-341); relations of, with American Colonies, 72; with United States, 80, 87, 92, 101; Union of the two Provinces proposed, 76-78, carried out, 96-104, 106, 192, 194, 198, 200-201, 223, and Introduction, viii; comparison of history with that of Transvaal, 132-135; confederation of, as the Dominion of Canada, proposed, 82, 96, carried out (1867), 97, 193-196; finance in, 227-228, 298-299, 304. See also Constitutions, Federal Systems, Customs and Excise, Subsidies, Guaranteed Loans, British North America Acts, 1867, 1891 Carleton, Sir Guy, 73, 129 Carnarvon, Lord, 123-124 Carolina, plantation of, 9, 10, 23 Carson, Sir Edward, Introduction, x Casey, Judge, 115 Castlereagh, Lord, 62, 134, 135 Catholic Relief Act, 1778, 36; 1793, 52-53, 55 Chamberlain, Joseph, 1-4, 11, 103, 206, 257, 282 Channel Islands, finance, 288 Charlemont, Lord, 16, 46-47, 61 Charles II., King, 9 Chartist movement, 88 Chatham, Lord, 27, 29-31, 34, 74 Chief Secretary, 64,160; compared with Canadian Governor, 102 Childers, Hugh, in Prince Edward Island, 76 (footnote); as Chairman of Royal Commission on finance, 239-257 Church Funds, Irish, 271-272 Civil List, 328 Civil servants, Ireland, 336; Transvaal, 336 Clare, Earl of, See Fitzgibbon Clergy Reserves, Upper Canada, 82; Lower Canada, 84-85 Cockburn, Sir John, 85 Coinage, colonial and Irish powers over, 219, 220 (footnote); Act of 1853, 220 (footnote) Collins, Francis, in Upper Canada, 82 Colonial Attorneys Relief Act, 1857, 222 (footnote) Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, 220 (footnote), 336 (and footnote) Colonial Defence forces, 215-219 (and footnote) Colonial Laws Validity Act, 222 Colonial Marriages Act, 1866, 222 (footnote) Colonial Naval Defence Act, 1865, 220 (footnote) Colonial Office, 79 Colonial Prisoners' Removal Act, 1869, 222 (footnote) Colonial Probates Act, 1892, 222 (footnote) Commercial Propositions of 1785, 43, 232 Commercial Restrictions, Ireland, 17-19, 30, 37, 236, 294; American Colonies, 17-18, 30; Canada, 78 Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, citations from, 219, 220 (footnote), 296, 324-325 (footnote), 338 (footnote), 332 Conferences, Imperial, 205, 215, 337; suggestions for, with Ireland under Home Rule, 205, 215, 337 Congested Districts Board, 152, 176-167; in Land Purchase, 310, 314; under Home Rule, 176-177, 317, 319 Connecticut, 8-9, 23 Constitutional Act, 1791, Canada, 76-79, 80 Constitutional Doubts, settlement of, 335 Constitution, Irish, summary of proposed, Chapter XV. Constitutions: Transvaal, of 1905, 130-137; of 1906, 137-139, 223-224, 323-324, 325 (footnote); United States, 191, 193-197, 224-225, 227; Dominion of Canada, 219, 220, 227, 327, 328, 330, 331, 334; Australian States, 107-108, 325 (footnote); Commonwealth of Australia, 196, 213, 219, 220, 227, 332; South African Union, 197, 224. See also Federal Systems and individual Colonies Continental Congress. 1774, 35 "Contract" finance, 300, 303-306 Contribution of Ireland to Imperial services; in the eighteenth century, 26, 231; during the Union, 216, 234, 237-239, 247, 253-254, 282; under Home Rule, 216, 282, 286-287, 302-303,337 Convict system, Australia, 74 Copyright, 219-20 (footnote); Imperial Conference on, 337 Corn Laws, Repeal of, 236 Cornwallis, Lord, 35, 62 Courtney, Lord, 333 Cromwell, Oliver, 9 Crown Colony, features of, in Irish Government, 1-2, 64, 144, 157, 179, 188, 213, 284, 306 Crown Lands, revenue from, 275 Currie, B.W., 249, 252 Customs and Excise, Ireland, control of, under Home Rule, 227-229, 231-234, 275-279, 287-294, 300-301; Australia, 227-228, 245-246, 288, 295-299; Canada, 227-228; United States, 227-228; in Colonies generally, 254, 288. See also Finance, Federal Systems Debt, Irish public, until 1816, 230-233 Danish invasions, 6 Declaration of Independence, Irish, 38; American, 35 Declaratory Acts for America and Ireland, 23-24, 31, 34, 45 Defender Society, 55-56 Deficit, in Irish Revenue, amount of, 259-260, 277, 279; method of dealing with, 281-286, 337 Denmark, agricultural policy in, 237, 290 Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, 152; founding of, 155-162; allusions to, 234, 274, 291, 332 Derby, Lord, 123 Derry, Bishop of, 47 Development Commissioners, grants to Ireland, 274 Devolution movement, 152 Devon Commission, 1845, 69 Dillon, John, 146 Disagreement between two Chambers of Irish Legislature, 334 Disestablishment of Irish Church, 70, 103, 154 Disraeli, Benjamin, 109, 235 Dissenters, in Ireland, 9, 19-20, 24, 31; in American Colonies, 9, 20; in Canada, 80-82 Dublin, 170, 173, 186 Duffy, Sir C. Gavan, 114-116 Dunraven, Lord, 152, 178 Durban, Conference at, for Closer Union, 156-157, 192 Durham, Lord, Introduction, viii, 88-91, 94-99, 104, 126 Durham Report, 94-99, 104, 133 Dutch East India Company, 120

Education, Ireland, 71, 170, 174-176, 285; finance of, 268-269; England, 269; Scotland, 269 Egerton, H.E., 31, 330 Elgin, Lord, 93, 102-103, 105 Emancipation, Catholic, 52-53, 57, 62-63, 88 Emigration, from Ireland, 19-20, 31, 87, 111, 148, 156, 186 Emmett, Robert, 83, 86, 135, 171 Encumbered Estates Act, 1849, 69, 111 Equalization of taxes, in Ireland and Great Britain, 234-235, 246 Estate duties, assessment to, as test of taxable capacity, 240, 238; yield of, in Ireland, 275-276 Estates Commissioners. See Land Purchase Eureka Stockade, 1854, 112-113 Evicted tenants, 177 Executive authority, in Colonies, 221-222, 323-328; in Ireland, under Home Rule, 221-222, 323-328 Executive Council, in Upper Canada, 79, 81, 100; in Lower Canada, 79, 84, 100 Extradition, Colonial powers over, 219 (and footnote); Irish powers over, 219, 329

"Family Compact," in Upper Canada, 81; in the Maritime Provinces, 88 Famine, Irish, 1847, 69, 103, 236 Farrer, Lord, 249, 252-256 "Federal" Home Rule, 188, 192-206, 226-227, 294-300 Federal systems, in general, 192-197; Upper Chamber in, 212-213, 229, 300, 331-332; division of powers, as in Home Rule Bill, 223, 330; Amendment of Constitution, 225-227; finance, 227-229, 242-246, 294-300; judiciary, 334-336; settlement of constitutional questions, 335. See also Canada, Australian Colonies, South Africa, United States, Switzerland, Germany, Constitutions Fenianism, 70 Financial relations of Ireland and Great Britain (see Chapters XI., XII., XIII.); before the Union, 230-231, 290; from the Union to 1896, 232-57; Royal Commission on, 1894-1896, 239-57; present situation, 178-181, and Chapters XII. and XIII. Finance, of the Home Rule Bill, Chapter XIII., and summary, 337 Finance, Colonial. See Federal Systems, and under names of Colonies Finance Act, 1894, 222 (footnote) Finance Act, 1909, 259, 301 Finlay, Father T.A., 165 Fiscal amalgamation, 1817, 233, 289 Fisher, J., author of "The End of the Irish Parliament," 13, 54 Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare, Introduction, xi, and 49, 58-9, 60, 62, 65, 97, 126, 131, 134, 146 Fitzgibbon, James, 81 Fitzwilliam, Lord, 53-54 Flood, Henry, 46-47 Ford, Patrick, 149 Fortescue, Hon. J.W., 39-40 Foster's Corn Law, 51, 236 (footnote) Fox, Charles James, on Canada, 78-79; on Ireland, 91 France, Seven Years' War with, 26; in Canada, 72-73; in American War of Independence, 35; effect of, on Ireland, 35; effect of French Revolution on Ireland, 54-55; invasions of Ireland, 56 Franklin, Benjamin, 31, 33-34 Free Trade, opinion in Ireland on, 170, 290; influence of, on Ireland, 235-237. See also Tariff Reform, Customs and Excise French-Canadians. See Chapter V., especially pages 72-78, 83-87, 96-97; also 121 Frere, Sir Bartle, 124

Gaelic League, 166-168 Geelong, 114 Georgia, 9, 21 Germany, 147; Federal Constitution of, 195, 228 (Zollverein) Gladstone, W.E., Irish land reform, 68, 70, 99; on colonial liberty, 109-111; his Transvaal and Irish policies, 125, 128; on representation of Ireland at Westminster, 203-211; taxation of Ireland, 234-235; on Irish expenditure, 282; financial schemes in the Home Rule Bills of 1886 and 1893, 300-303, and Appendix; for details of the Bills generally, see Appendix and in the text _passim_ Gourlay, William, in Upper Canada, 82 Governors, in American Colonies, 23, 33; in the Canadas, 79, 102; in the Dominion of Canada, 195, 199; in the Commonwealth of Australia, 195 (footnote), 196, 221 Grattan, Henry, 44, 45, 46, 50, 53 Grattan's Parliament, Chapter III. Greene, General, 40 Greville's "Memoirs," 94, 103 Grey, Sir George, in Australasia, 115-117; in South Africa, 123-124, 194 Grote, George, 89, 92 Guarantee Fund, 267. See also Land Purchase Guaranteed Loans, to Ireland (see Land Purchase); to the Transvaal and Canada, 318; to Crown Colonies and Foreign Powers, 318-319

Habeas Corpus Act, 330 Hamilton, Sir Edward, 238 Hancock, John, 35 Henderson, Professor G.C., 116 Henry VIII., Ireland in the reign of, 8 Hewins, Professor W.A.S., 293-294 Holland, Bernard, 33 Home Rule Bills of 1886 and 1893. For details, see Appendix, allusions in text _passim_ "Home Rule Problems," edited by Basil Williams, Introduction, xiv, and pp. 178, 203, 307, 333 House of Lords: under the Union, 64; after Home Rule, 212, 229, 300 Howe, Joseph, in Nova Scotia, 88 Hume, philosophy of, 59 Hume, Joseph, 89, 90, 109 Hyde, Dr. Douglas, 166

Imperial Federation, 204-205 "In and Out" Clause, 209 Income Tax, first imposition of, in Ireland, 234-235; assessment to, as test of taxable capacity, 240, 258; yield of, in Ireland, 275-276; errors in computing Irish yield, 278 (footnote) India, 12 Indians, in America, 10 Industrial Development Associations, 165, 168, 290, 292 Insurance, National, 178, 274, 306 International Copyright Act, 1886, 220 (footnote) Ireland Development Grant, 311 Irish Agricultural Organization Society, 162-165 Irish Council Bill, 1907, 192, 304 _Irish Homestead_, 165 Irish Members at Westminster. See Representation at Westminster Irish Universities Act, 1908, 153, 173 Isle of Man, finance of, 255, 288 Jamaica, 1, 284 James, Sir Henry, 330 Jebb, Richard, 117-118 Johannesburg, 131, 133 Judges, Irish, under Home Rule, 334-5; Exchequer Judges, 336 Judicial salaries, Ireland, 273

Kilmore, 114 Kitchener, Lord, 129 Kruger, President Paul, 124 Kyte, Ambrose, 114

Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906, 153, 320 Labour questions, in Ireland, 170, 178 Lafontaine, Sir Louis, 103 Laing's Nek, 125 Lalor, Peter, 112-113 Land Acts, Irish, of 1870, 16-17, 68, 70-71, 151, 309; 1881, 16-17, 70, 103, 151, 309; 1885, 309; 1887, 70, 151; 1891, 70, 152, 309-310; 1896, 70, 152, 309; 1903, 71, 103, 152-153, 155, 310-321; 1909, 153, 311-321. See also Land Tenure, Land Purchase Land Commission, 70; cost and control of, 273, 303, 317-319 Land League, 70 Land Purchase in Ireland, Chapter XIV., 71, 151, 152-153, 177, 243, 285, 337; in Prince Edward Island, 75, 318 Land Tenure, in Ireland, 11-17, 51, 55-57, 65, 66-70, 143, 151-152, 177, 236-237; in America, 10, 15; in Prince Edward Island, 13, 75-76, 115, 143; in Upper Canada, 80; in Lower Canada, 84-85; in Australia, 115-116; in New Zealand, 116. See also Land Acts, Land Purchase Lanyon, Sir Owen, 124, 127 Law, Bonar, 293 Law Courts, Ireland, 334-335 Lecky, Professor W.H., Introduction, vi and ix, and 6, 13, 16, 19, 29, 49, 57, 183 Legislative Councils, in America, 23; in Upper Canada, 79, 81, 100-102; in Lower Canada, 79, 84, 100 Legislature, Irish, powers of, general, 213-229, 328-330; financial powers, Chapter XIII., and 317-321, 337; composition of, 330-334. For restrictions on, see also Safeguards for Minorities Legislatures, Colonial, powers and limitations of, general, 215-229. See also Constitutions, Federal Systems, and under names of Colonies Leinster, plantations in, 9 Lieutenant-Governors, in Dominion of Canada, 195, 221 Limerick, Treaty of, 12, 63 Local Government Board, cost of, 272 Local Government, working of, in Ireland, 103, 172-174 Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, 103, 154, 158 Local taxation, Ireland, 266; grants in aid of, 266-267, 311 Locker-Lampson, G., Introduction, vi, and 65 Londonderry, Lord, 61 Long, Walter, Introduction, x, xi, and 142, 152 Lord-Lieutenant, before the Union, 22-23, 32-33; under the Union, 64; under Home Rule, 192, 199, 219, 221, 266, 324-327, 328, 335 Louisburg, capture of, 73 Lyttelton, Mr. Alfred, 131-132, 135

MacDonnell, Lord, 61, 152, 304 Mackenzie, W.L., in Upper Canada, 74, 82, 86-87, 94, 105 McKenna, Sir J., 238 McManus, T.B., 115 Maine, 8 Majuba, 125, 128 Malta, 1 Manitoba, 331 Maritime Provinces, 72, 75, 88, 95, and Chapter V. See also Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island Maryland, 8-9, 21 Massachusetts, 8, 10, 22-23 (and footnote), 35 Meagher, T.F., 113-114 Melbourne, Lord, 94 Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, 220, 222 Mill, John Stuart, 67, 69, 89, 95 Milner, Lord, 129, 131, 138-139, 142 Miscellaneous revenue, Imperial, Ireland's share of, 286-287 Mitchel, John, 113-114 Molesworth, Sir William, 89, 93-94, 109 Molyneux, on Irish liberty, 31 Montreal, 74-75, 103 Montgomery, General, 35, 75 Moore, W. Harrison, author of "The Commonwealth of Australia," 219 Morgan's Riflemen, 73 Morley, Lord, his "Life of Gladstone," Introduction, x, and 109, 125; on Irish Members at Westminster, 209; on Clause 7 of the Bill of 1886, 326 Municipal Technical Institute, Belfast, 162, 175 Municipal Reform Act, 1840, 103 Munster, plantations in, 9 Murray, Miss A.E., 17, 235, 293

Natal, 140, 196 National Debt, Ireland's contribution to, 286-287, 337 Naturalization, 219, 220 (footnote), 329 Naval Agreement, 1911, 218 Navigation Acts, 17-18 Navies, Colonial. See Colonial Defence Forces Neilson, John, in Lower Canada, 85 Nelson, Wilfred, in Lower Canada, 85 Netherlands Government, 121 Neutrality, 219, 329 New Brunswick, Chapter V., and 72, 75-76, 88, 97, 194 New England, 9, 21, 120 Newfoundland, 73, 193-197, 288 New Haven, 8 New Netherlands, plantation of, 9 New South Wales, 106-107, 114, 117, 120, 194, 196; finance in, 297-298, 300 New Zealand, 106, 108, 115-117, 147, 193, 197, 217, 288 Ninety-two Resolutions, Lower Canada, 86 Nixon, Captain John, 35 North Carolina, 21 (footnote) Nova Scotia, Chapter V., and 72, 76, 88, 97, 102, 194

Oakboys, in Ulster, 16 O'Brien, Barry, 178, 213 O'Brien, Murrough, 253 O'Brien, Smith, 83, 103, 114, 171 O'Brien, William, 177, 181 O'Callaghan, Dr., in Lower Canada, 85 O'Connell, Daniel, 70-71, 85, 86, 89, 90, 91, 99, 123 O'Conor Don, the, 249 Octennial Act, 168, 357 O'Hara, James, 81 Old Age Pensions, 153, 178-179, 181, 273, 285, 291, 303 Oldham, Professor C.H., on Irish finance, 234, 262, 270 O'Loughlen, Sir Brian, in Victoria, 114 "Omnes Omnia" Clause, 209 Ontario, Province of, prior to 1867, See Canada; after 1867, see Canada, Confederation of, and 194, 196, 331 Orange Free State, 120, 123-124, 126, 135, 196, 285 Orange Society, in Ireland, 55, 137, 155, 184, 187; in Canada, 87, 103, 184; in Australia, 114, 184 O'Shanassy, Sir John, in Victoria, 114

Paley, Dr., Philosophy of, 59 Papineau, Louis, in Lower Canada, 47, 85-87, 94, 105 Parliamentary parties, Irish, 181-182 Parliament, Irish (pre-Union), 24, 43, 50-58, 61, 62; finance under, 230-231, 290 Parnell, Charles Stewart, 135, 151, 171 Patents, 219 Peace of Paris, 26 Peel, Sir Robert, on the Repeal of the Union, 91-92, 99, 236 Peep o' Day Boys, 55 Penal Code, 12-14, 26, 36, 55, 57, 65, 72, 156, 183, 308 Penn, William, 9 Pennsylvania, 9, 21 Pilkington, Mrs., 165 Pitt, William, 50, 53, 54, 62, 74, 96, 106, 135, 232 Plantations, of Ireland and America, 8-9 Plunkett House, 164 Plunkett, Sir Horace, 155, 159 (footnote), 160, 165 Police, Irish, present position and cost of, 253, 273; under Home Rule, 180, 219, 285, 334 Poor Law (Ireland), 71, 174 Port Phillip. See Victoria Postal Services, Irish, powers over, 220; loss on, 243, 275, 286 Poynings' Act, 24, 45 Preamble, Home Rule Bill, 323 Prince Edward Island, 13, 72, 74, 88, 97, 115. See also Land Tenure, Land Purchase Prize and Booty of War, 219, 329 Proportional Representation, 333 Proprietary Colonies of America, 10, 23 Public Works, Commissioners of, Ireland, 319-321, 337

Quakers, 9, 21 _Quarterly Review_, 99 Quebec, town of, 74 Quebec, Province of, prior to 1791, 72-78; from 1791 to 1867, see under names of Lower Canada and Canada; after 1867, see Canada, Confederation of, and 194, 196, 198-200, 208; present Constitution of, compared with Irish Home Rule, 198-200, 206, 209 Quebec Act, 1774, 73-74 Queensland, 109, 196; finance in, 297

Railways, Ireland, 71, 174 Raleigh, Sir Walter, 8 Rebellions, Irish, of 1798, 55, 56; of 1848, 83, 103 Recess Committee, action and report of, 155-162 Reciprocity Agreement, 293 Redmond, John, 141, 148, 156, 181, 341 Reform, Parliamentary (Ireland), 45-46, 50-58; Great Britain, 48, 53, 59, 88 Repeal of the Union, 70, 91 Representation at Westminster, of Ireland, 203-229, 284, 337; of American Colonies (proposals for), 34, 205; of Canada (proposals for), 77 Residuary powers, under Home Rule, 223. See also Federal Systems Retief, Piet, 122 Revenue, from Ireland. See Financial Relations, Estate Duties, Income Tax, Customs and Excise Revenue, "true" and "collected," method of estimating in United Kingdom, 242-246, 275-278 (and footnotes); in Australia, 242-246, 296 Revolution, Irish, 1780-2, Chapter II.; American, 1775, Chapter II Rhode Island, 8, 23 (footnote) Road Board, grants to Ireland, 274 Roebuck, J.A., 89, 90, 94 Rose, Holland, 75 Royal Assent, 221, 326-327 Ruskin, John, 106 Russell, George W., 165 Russell, Lord John, on Canada, 87, 90, 91, 92, 99, 100, 102, 221; on Australia, 109-110 Russell, T.W., 159 (and footnote) Rutland, Lord, 54, 77

Safeguards for Minorities, Ireland, 191, 223-225, 329-330; United States, 224, 329-330; Canada, 225; Australia, 225 St. Lawrence, River, 75 Salaberry, Colonel, 83 Sand River Convention, 1852, 123 Saunderson, Colonel, 156 (footnote), 215 (and footnote) Scotland, 104, 159 (footnote); Home Rule for, 200-203; revenue from, and expenditure on, 238, 242; police in, 253; education in, 269 Selborne, Lord, 142 Seventh Report of Grievances (Upper Canada), 82, 86 Seven Years' War, 26, 72 Sexton, T., 249 Shepstone, Sir T., 124 Sinn Fein, 168 Smith, Adam, 51 Smith, Sir Harry, 123 Socialism, in Ireland, Introduction, xiv, 144, 170 South Africa Act, 1909, citations from, 140-141, 323, 326, 332, 338 South African Colonies, history of, see Chapter VII., and under Cape of Good Hope, Transvaal, Orange Free State, Natal; Federal Union, proposed (1859), 117, 123; Conference for Closer Union (1908), 140, 156-157; Union of 1909, 140-143, 196-197; see also South Africa Act, 1900, Constitutions, Federal Systems South Australia, 106-107, 116, 196; finance in, 297 Spanish Colonies, 25 Spirit duty, 234-235, 237-238, 244 Stamp Act (1765), and Revenue Duties (America), 27, 34-35, 72 Stanley, Lord, 90-92 Steelboys, in Ulster, 16 Subsidies, to Ireland, under Home Rule, 281-286, 337; to Colonies, 284-285; by Federal Governments to subordinate States or Provinces, 296-300, 304 Suez Canal shares, revenue from, 287 Supremacy of the Imperial Parliament, 204, 221-225, 323, 328 Supreme Court, of Australia, 196, 334-335; of South Africa, 197, 334-335; of Canada, 195, 334-335 Sutherland, Sir T., 249 Swift, Dean, 32 Switzerland, Federal Constitution of, 195, 331 _Sydney Bulletin_, 117, 143

Tariff Reform, opinion in Ireland on, 170; effect of, on Ireland, 289, 292-293; opinion of Professor Hewins on, for Ireland, 293-294 Tariffs. See Customs and Excise, Free Trade, Tariff Reform Tasmania, 106-107, 113, 196; finance in, 297-298, 300 Taxable capacity of Ireland: in 1800, 232; in 1894, 238-257; in 1911, 258-260 Technical Instruction, Ireland, 161, 175 Temperance Reform, Ireland, 177-178, 292 Tenant League, 70 Ten Resolutions (1837), 87 Territorials, Ireland, 118, 218 Thompson, Poulett, Lord Sydenham, 102 Titles, power of conferring, 219, 329 Tone, Wolfe, 54, 56, 57, 62, 73, 76, 86, 135 Toronto, 81 Townshend, Lord, 25, 32 Townshend, Charles, 27 Town Tenants Act, 153 Trade, external, of Ireland, 147-148, 291 Trade and Navigation, Colonial and Irish powers over, 220, 329 Trade-mark, Irish, 165; Colonial and Irish powers over, 219 Transvaal, Introduction, xiv, 120, 123-143, 196, 318, 336, and whole of Chapter VII. See also South African Colonies, Constitutions Treason, 219, 329 Treasury, Committee on Land Purchase, 1908, 311; Returns (Financial Relations), 242-246, 259-260, 264-279 Treaties, power of making, 219, 329 Trek, the Great, 120-123, 128, 133 Trimleston, Lord, 25

Ulster, plantation of, 8, 9; land tenure in, 15, 52, 55-7; emigration from, 15, 19-20, 31, 186; Orange Society in (see Orange Society); comparison with Canadian minorities, 92, 97-9, 100-2, 214; with Transvaal minority, 139, 186, 214; views of, with regard to representation at Westminster, 214-215; under Home Rule, Introduction, x, xii, 170, 182-187, 302, 333 Ulster Custom. See Ulster, Land Tenure in "Umpirage," of Great Britain, in Canada, 101, 155; in Ireland, 155, 208 "Undertakers," 25, 81 Union, of Ireland and Great Britain, Chapter IV.; compared with that of the two Canadas, Introduction, viii, 77-78, 96-104, 106, 192, 194, 198, 200-201; of the Canadas (see Canada) United Empire Loyalists, 74-75, 80 United Irishmen, 54, 56, 76 United States, relations with Canada, 80, 87, 92, 101; emigration to, from Ireland, 111, 148; feeling towards Ireland, 148-149; Constitution of, 193-195. See also Federal Systems, Constitutions, Safeguards for Minorities, Customs, and Excise Universities, Irish, 153, 273, 329 Upper Chamber, Irish, under Home Rule, 331-332. See also Federal Systems

Van Diemen's Land. See Tasmania Vereeniging, Peace of, 129 Victoria, Chapter V., and 106-107, 114-115, 194, 196, 198, 208; finance in, 297 Virginia, 8, 22 Volksraad, 124 Volunteers, Ireland (1778-1783), 37, 44-45, 52, 54, 60-61, 73, 103, 135, 187, 230. See also Territorials

Wakefield, Edward Gibbon, in Canada, 89, 94-95, 104; in Australia, 108-109, 116 Wakefield, Vicar of, 107 Wales, Home Rule for, 199-200 War and Peace, power of making, 219, 329 Washington, General George, 40 Welby, Lord, on Anglo-Irish finance, 249-256, 280-281, 282, 293 Wellington, Duke of, on Ireland and Canada, 70, 88, 90, 126 Wentworth, William, in Australia, 107, 114, 120 Western Australia, 106-108, 115, 196, and Chapter V. West Indies, banishment of Irish to, 9; grants-in-aid to, 284 Whiteboys, 16, 51, 56, 67, 107 Willcocks, Stephen, in Upper Canada, 82 William IV., on Canada, 99 Williams, Basil, Editor of "Home Rule Problems," Introduction, xiv, 203 Wills Act, 1861, 222 (footnote) Wilmot, Samuel, in New Brunswick, 88 Wyndham, George, 152; his Land Act of 1903, 71, 152, 310, etc.

Young, Arthur, on Ireland, 14, 32, 69 Young Ireland movement, 71, 114, 135

End of Project Gutenberg's The Framework of Home Rule, by Erskine Childers