Page:Abolition of the Vice-Royalty of Ireland.djvu/18

14 acquainted with the government of the sister island, as its worst attribute. The very changes, social and physical, which have rendered futile the maintenance of a separate Court in Ireland, make the communications to the east as easy as to the west, and will facilitate the intercourse of Ireland with London, in the same degree as they quicken that of London with Ireland. There can, therefore, be no reasonable ground for assuming that the Irish Government, transplanted to London, will very materially change its character; while it may be fairly concluded, that in many branches of internal administration—such as the distribution of the forces in times of disturbance—the disposal of convicts — and other such matters of regulation involving the public interests of the two countries jointly, a reference to two separate and independent offices, instead of to one primarily responsible for both, would not tend to simplify the operations of the Executive.

On every ground then,—social, political, or administrative, the policy which ought to guide us in arrangements for the common government of the two countries, is surely that of fusion;—of obliterating as far as possible the lingering traces of past disunion;—of proclaiming and realizing, not only equality, but unity, of rights and interests;—of freely promoting an interchange of improvements, and of progress, between the two sister countries, whether in their laws, their institutions, or their