Page:Abolition of the Vice-Royalty of Ireland.djvu/14

10, not merely on a footing of equality, but on that of identity, with the executive for other parts of the United Kingdom. It is desirable as far as possible to promote a fusion of the national interests. It is not only convenient but advantageous that the same practised mind should be applied to the internal affairs of both England and Ireland;—that the functions of Government should, as far as circumstances admit, be exercised in both countries in the same spirit, and with the same views;—that the progress of improvement in the one should constantly operate to suggest its promotion in the other;—and that the assimilation of their laws should gradually proceed under the same eye and hand.

This condition of things has long existed with perfect facility and success of operation, between England and Scotland; and why should it not be as successful in respect of Ireland? The facilities should be greater, for the laws and institutions in the latter case are less different than in the former; while if the internal circumstances and habits of the country present no impediment in the one, there are many reasons for believing that they offer the strongest reasons for such a fusion in the other. Among the numerous objections which have been, at different times, and with different purposes, urged against the Irish Government, there is none more prominent than the statement that it has continually presented a kind of centre, or focus, for faction and