Page:Home rule through federal devolution.djvu/7



HIS pamphlet is the outcome of much consideration of the condition of Ireland, and the many well-intentioned attempts to devise a remedy for her grievances. It was intended for publication early in the spring, but illness compelled me to lay it aside for more than three months; so that it was barely complete when The Times&apos; scheme for the settlement of Ireland appeared.

The schemes for Home Rule for Ireland hitherto propounded seem mostly to have been evolved by conceiving the "Idea" of a perfect constitution, after the manner of Plato's Republic, and endeavouring to reconcile it with the facts, by a system of checks and counterchecks as complicated as the cycles and epicycles of the Ptolemaic Astronomy. The Times approaches the question by the common-sense, if prosaic, method of first ascertaining the real facts—always a matter of extreme difficulty in Ireland—and thereon founding a plan, adapted, as far as possible, to the actual conditions of the problem.

Nevertheless, there are many points in the scheme which are certain to evoke strongly contentious debate, both as regards the construction of the legislative and executive machinery and as to the distribution of power between the several authorities. This is not the place for an analysis of the scheme; but amongst these contentious points may be mentioned the extremely dangerous suggestion for conferring on the Irish Parliament power, not only to levy customs' duties, but to negotiate commercial treaties with foreign Powers, as well as, also the proposals for equal representation in the Irish Parliament of the two secondary States and for a veto of each