Page:Home rule through federal devolution.djvu/22

 Nationalists, acquiesced in by Ulster, and tolerable to the Unionists of the other provinces, and at the same time—a sine qua non—safe for the Kingdom and the Empire.

The only solution of the problem that commends itself as capable of being so adjusted as to satisfy all four conditions is one that, until quite recently, English public opinion had shown no willingness to entertain, and even seemed impatient of any mention of, too often treating it with contemptuous ridicule. Major Wood's recent motion in the House of Commons for a committee to consider a measure of Federal Devolution may not have brought within the region of practical politics the idea of the substitution of a quasi-federal constitution for the absolute incorporation of the three countries into one United Kingdom—which, though it has subsisted uneasily for 120 years, has, during the latter half of that period, admittedly failed in its primary object. The debate has, at all events, placed the proposal on a footing that entitles it to respectful consideration on its merits, instead of being laughed out of court with Canning's quip about restoring the Heptarchy.

The federalisation of the United Kingdom is not advocated for the purpose of settling the Irish difficulty. That might seem to be to "climb o'er the house to unlock the little gate." I am persuaded that, if the Empire is to continue to hold together, something of the kind aimed at in Major Wood's resolution must come and that without much delay. The war has made it plain that our existing parliamentary system is no longer capable of dealing satisfactorily with the domestic affairs of the Kingdom and, at the same time, with foreign affairs and those of India and the Overseas Dominions. Public opinion has tended, with continually increasing strength, in this direction, and there have been many warnings, during the war, that the Dominions would not much longer be content with their liability to be involved in the foreign entanglements of the Government at Westminster without an adequate share in the consideration of the general policy of the