THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE NEW HOME RULE POLICY \_REPRINTED FROM " THE TIMES " BY SPECIAL PERMISSION] an CONTAINING TIE HOME EULE BILL OF 1886 SECTIONS 25 TO 28 OF THE LAND PURCHASE BILL OF 1886 AND THE HOME KFLE BILL OF 1893 DUBLIN HODGES, FIGGIS, & CO. (LTD.), 104, GRAFTON- STREET WILLIAM M'GEE, 18, NASSAU-STREET PUBLISHED BY THE LIBERAL UNION OF IRELAND, 45, DAME-STREET, DUBLIN MARCH, 1893 CONTENTS ARTICLE I. PAGES THE NEW BILL AND THE OLD, 1-12 Bills of 1886 and 1893 Similar in their main features Supremacy of Imperial Parliament Limited to legislation Office of Lord Lieutenant The veto Opinions of Lord Thring and Sir C. Russell Legislative power restric- tions Imperial matters Controversial matters Imperial Judicial arrangements 'Appeal to House of Lords abolished Extinction of the Constabulary Appointment of Judges The Land Question. AETICLE II. S3 THE "!N AND OUT" PLAN, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, . 13-22 "An organic detail" Mr. Gladstone's arguments in 1886 against the "In and Out" Scheme Ostensible reason for change Another reason Explained by Mr. Sexton and Mr. Redmond Safeguards to remain "dormant" Power of Nationalist Members at "Westminster Mr. Morley's argument, 1886 Effect of the " In and Out" Scheme on Cabinet Government Would change composition of Par- liament daily Would destroy continuity of Parliamentary history Would make a stable majority impossible Lord Hartington on "Two Governments" Federation not wanted Federal Colonial Imperial Scheme " In and Out" Scheme must lead to complete deadlock and open serious constitutional difficulties Effect on business of Parliament Motion to extend a Bill to Ireland Alarm of Mr. Reid, Q.C. 407417 iv Contents. AKTICLE HI. PAGES SAVINGS AND SAFEGTTABDS, ." v " . . . . . 23-33 Mr. Morley on the Land Question in 1886 Mr. Gladstone on Ulster in 1886, and in 1893 Mr. Bryce on Ulster Ineffective saving Clauses Practice not in accord with precept Supreme authority of Parliament asserted Not to be exercised Veto not to be exercised Safeguards in- effective because (!) Executive authority vested in the Assembly; (2) Irish Members at Westminster ; (3) Gerry- mandered constituencies Irish Government may give bounties with results Proi.ibitions other than Excise Fall in Irish securities Lord Aslibourne on Trinity College The fundamental provision of the American system not inserted Ho\v the industries of Ulster may be ruined Religious endowments not prevented How they may be carried out Bishop Nuity's claims as defended by Mr. Healy The Freemmi's Journal on the religious dif- ference between England and Inland "Why the Pope approves of the Bill The theory of the clergy and the practice of the laity Mr. Gladstone's indignant wonder No alterations can give real security An absurd safe- guard The Parnellites waut safeguards. ARTICLE IV. SAYINGS AND SAFEGTJAEDS (continued'), ' . . . 34-44 The Court of Exchequer The appellate tribunal The Federal Courts in the United States Law "in foreign garb" Executive may refuse to enforce judicial decrees Professor Dicey's Examples The position and powers of the special officer of the Exchequer Judges The two blank schedules Those who rendered loyal " servire to the Empire " Mr. Di, Ion's threats "A day of reckoning " " His life will not be a happy one " Mr. O'Brien's news- paper on " cowardly mercenaries" The intention to secure the higher officials The main body of civil servants likely to suffer The two powerful motives, revenge and greed The Americnn doctiine "Waiting for Plunder" The new police force The new revision of rents Mr. Glad- stone's opinion of the League twelve years ago. Contents. ARTICLE V. PAGKR AND FINALITY, 45-58 Finance, a cardinal point Parsimony or insolvency Mr. Sexton on the financial scheme Mr. Redmond Mr. Gladstone's financial scheme The Irish balance-sheet Post Office rates and Customs' duties Crown lands Con- stabulary The "War indemnity"' Mr. Gladstone's financial scheme in 1886 Ireland's share of Imperial charges, I to 14 Charge upon the Biitish taxpayer; pro- vision in 1886 " Very nearly the right amount " Irish objections to the financial scheme No more loans The Excise duties If so will be insolvent Illicit distillation A graduated Income-tax Mr. Gladstone fears " generous extravagance " Economy impossible Reduction in Customs or Excise duties impossible Effect on English Chancellor oi Exchequer l-'uty on tea If Excise duties are lowered If they are raised The Argentine Confedera- tion An elaborate system of cross accounts The Lord Lieutenant may order, but the Executive may not carry out The " live and thrive " excuse Refuse to be bound by a Laid bargain Finality only in separation Mr. Glad- stone, Mr. Morley, and Mr. Ford on "finality" Mani- festo of Irish National League of America Special constables and tax-gatherers Forgotten " Patriots" Mr. Biggnr's "stratagem" Mr. Parnell's admission Ulster and the Dublin Parliament. APPENDICES. A. THE HOME EULE BILL OF 1886, . . . .59 B. SECTIONS 25 TO 28 OF THK LAND PURCHASE BILL OF 1886, 82 C. THE HOME EULE BILL OF 1893, ... .84 INDEX. American Constitution : A borrowed safeguard, . . 5 Fundamental provision omitted, 28 Supreme Court of United States, 34 Professor Dicey's instance, 35, 36 Aslibourne, Lord : On the position of Trinity College, 28 Bagrehot : On " pre-requisites " of Cabinet Government, . . . . . . 18 Big-g-ar, Mr. : Advice with reference to the Bill of 1886, 57 Bryce, Mr. : Legislative authority of Imperial Par- liament, . . . . . . 2 On the restrictions, . . . . 4 What he calk " bluster," . . 24 Judicial System of United States, [34, 35 Civil Servants : How the Bill will affect them, 40, 41 Influence of revenge and greed, 42 30,000 a-year for the M'Carthy- ites, 42 Constabulary : Provisions for disbanding, 11, 41 Will be replaced by " Village ruffians," 43 Dicey, Professor : Instances of executive not carrying out judicial decrees, .. 35,36 Dillon, Mr. John : Repeatedly threatened those who opposed him 38, 39 Executive Authority : Vested in Irish Cabinet, . . 2 Nominees of small ratepayers, . . 3 Regarded with suspicion, . . 6 May decline to enforce decrees, . . 11 Financial Arrangement : Receiver-General's office disappears, 10 Irish obligations, .. .. ..10 Already causing differences of opinion, . . . . . . 25, 26 System of bounties may be estab- lished, 26, 27 Effect on capital, 27 Condemned by Irish Nationalists, 45, 46 Summary of scheme, . . . . 46 Effect on British taxpayer, . . 50 Effect on Ireland Sober and insol- vent, . . . . . . 50, 51 Customs and Excise duties, . . 53 Elaborate system of cross accounts, 54 The " live and thrive" excuse, . . 55 Freeman's Journal : On the religious difference between England and Ireland, . . 30, 31 Gladstone, Mr. : " An organic detail," .. ..13 " A shadow of uncertainty," . . 13 Opposed to Irish representation in Imperial Parliament, .. ..14 " Wealthy, energetic, and intelli- gent portion of Ireland," .. 23 Law " in foreign garb," . . . . 36 Those who rendered "loyal ser- vice," 37 His opinion of the " League," . . 44 His financial scheme examined, . . 46 " Finality a discredited word," .. 55 Index. vn Hartington, Lord : " Two majorities" "two govern- ments," 19 Healy, Mr. : Defended clerical claims, . . . . 30 Irish Representation in the Imperial Parliament : Provided for in the Bill, . . . . 8 Dublin University not to be repre- sented, . . . . . . . . 9 One man one vote principle, . . 9 " An organic detail," .. ..13 " A shadow of uncertainty," . . 13 Importance of this question, . . 14 Mr. Gladstone's opinion in 1886, 14, 15 Eeiterated in 1893, .. ..15 Ostensible reasons for change, . . 15 Mr. Parnell's manifesto, .. ..15 Effect on Cabinet Government, 17, 19 Mr. Sexton's " unique position," 21 How obstruction could be worked, 22 Irish National League of America : " Special constables and tax- gatherers," .. .. ..56 Judicial arrangements : Court of Revenue Pleas, . . . . 11 Judicial Committee, . . ..11 Appointment of Judges, .. ..12 Appellate tribunal very different in United States, 34 Executive may refuse to enforce decrees, . . . . . . 35 Professor Dicey's examples, . . 35 Special officer of Exchequer Judges, 37 Land Purchase Bill, 1886 : Receiver- General's office essential, 1 Land Question : Reserved for three years, .. ..12 Mr. Morley at Chelmsford in 1886, 23 New revision of rents, . . . . 43 Legislative Powers : Restrictions Imperial and contro- versial, . . . . . . 4 Corporations " due process of law," 5 A borrowed safeguard, . . 5 Legislature, The Irish : Swamping the Unionist vote, . . 9 Regarded with suspicion, . . 6, 24 Lord Lieutenant : Status to be changed, . . 3 Minority : Protection less effective than 1886, 7 Morley, Mr. : Necessity for protecting landlord, 6, 23 Effective veto impossible with Irish representatives at Westminster, 16 Finality an " illusion," .. ..56 Parnellites : Demand safeguards, . . . . 33 Parnell, Mr. : On Irish representation at West- minster, .. .. .. ..15 Preamble : Substituted for Clause 37, 1886, . . 2 Reiterated in Clause 33, .. . . 25 Redmond, Mr. : Theoretical Supremacy of Imperial Parliament, . . . . . . 2 Safeguards to remain " dormant," 16 Effect of using them, . . . . 25 On the financial clauses, . . . . 46 Held, Q.C.. Mr. : Article in Contemporary Review, . . 22 Religious Endowments : How they may be effected, 29, 30 Russell. Sir C. ; On the Veto, .. .. ,4 viii Index. Safeguards : Reasons why they will be ineffec- "tive, ..' .. .. ..26 " Dummy guns," 32 Sexton, Mr. : Theoretical Supremacy of Imperial Parliament, . . . . 2 A " unique position," , .. ..21 On the financial arrangements, . . 45 Supremacy of Imperial Parliament : Mr. Bryce, Mr. Sexton, and Mr. Redmond, . . . . . . 2 . Limited to Legislation, ...... .. 3 Thringr, Lord : Clause 37 (1886) improperly drafted, 2 On the Veto, . . 4 Ulster : To be coerced by Imperial Troops, 5 Not to have fair representation, . . 9 Mr. Gladstone's opinion in 1886, 23 And in 1893, 24 What Mr. Bryce calls "bluster," 24 Ho\v a Bounty System might be worked, 27 Its effect on Industries of Ulster, 28, 29 Mr. Gladstone's indignant wonder, 31 Effect of refusal to pay Taxes, . . 58 Veto, The ; Under the Bills of 1886 and 1893, 3, 4 Lord Thring and Sir C. Russell, . . 4 To remain " Dormant," .. 16, 25 Effect of Irish Members in Imperial Parliament, .. .. 16, 17 THE NEW HOME KTJLE POLICY. I. THE NEW BILL AND THE OLD. IT was to be expected that Mr. Gladstone's second Home Bills of 1886 Rule Bill, aiming as it did at the evasion of difficul- ties that had grown up largely inside the Gladstonian party itself, would be more elaborate and confusing than the measure of 1886. A study of the text of the Bill, even in the light of the Prime Minister's introductory speech, and the subsequent explanations of Mr. Bryce, Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, and Mr. 'Morley, confirms this anticipation. The newest version of the Home Rule policy is embodied in a measure of forty clauses, many of them divided into numerous sub-sections, and supple- mented by seven schedules dealing with some of the most important practical questions. The Bill of 1886 consisted of forty-one clauses, and five schedules, the latter, how- ever, being given in blank ; but the provisions relating to the organization of the Receiver-General's Office, incorpo- rated in the Land Purchase Bill, were an essential part of the plan. We have, first of all, to remark that the new plan Similar in leaves practically untouched the main objections urged features"" .against the old one. The establishment of an Irish Legislature, consisting of the Sovereign represented by the Lord Lieutenant and two Houses, a Legislative The New Home Rule Policy. Supremacy of Imperial Parliament. Limited to legislation. Council and a Legislative Assembly, and of an Executive Government, administered by a Committee of the Irish Privy Council or Cabinet really nominated by the majority in the Lower Chamber, is, in the opinion of the Unionists, as formidable a danger both to the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament and to the rights of minorities in Ireland as the constitution contemplated by the original measure. Moreover, it is contended, the plan, in conse- quence of alterations which are in themselves worthless as safeguards, affords even less promise of relief and no greater prospect of finality than the Bill of 1886. Let us see what the changes are and what the working of the system will be. The assertion in the preamble of the Bill that its object is to create an Irish Legislature " without impairing or restricting the supreme authority of Parliament " is sub- stituted for the 37th clause of the former measure, which, according to Lord Thring's admission, was improperly drafted. It is a question whether or not statements in a preamble have, properly speaking, any legal value what- ever. At any rate, the supremacy of the Imperial Parlia- ment is not now placed higher than it was in 1886, when Mr. Bryce* and others maintained that the ultimate legislative authority of that body was not and could not be taken away by any statute. The theoretical supremacy thus reserved, limited by understandings creating, as both Mr. Sextonf and Mr. Redmond* have contended, and as Mr. Bryce has admitted, a moral obligation not to exercise it within a certain sphere, would be further checked by the power to be conferred on the Irish representatives at Westminster to prevent, by Parliamentary pressure, the resort to this remedy. The scope of the supremacy of Parliament is limited, we must also bear in mind, to * Hansard, vol. 305, pp. 1218, 1219. I Times, February 15, 1893. t Times, February 14, 1893. Times, February 15, 1893. I.] The New Bill and the Old. 3 legislation. The whole domain of Executive action is excluded from it, and in that domain the nominees of the majority in the Legislative Assembly, a democratic body elected by voters, three-fourths of whom will be rate- payers assessed at less than 6 or 7 a-year, will be uncontrolled masters. The Executive Government is vested nominally in the Office of Lord Lord Lieutenant, but upon the principles of the British Constitution, it will, of course fall, as in this country, and in all our self-governing colonies, into the hands of a Cabinet, supported by a majority in the Legislature, and this is rendered still more indisputable by the change in the Viceroy's status. He is for the future to be like a colonial Governor, a non-political officer appointed for a term of six years, but subject to previous recall by the Crown that is, by the Imperial Ministers a point of some importance, in view of the position of the Irish Members at Westminster. He may also be a Roman Catholic, a provision to which no exception can be taken in principle, but which will not tend to allay the appre- hensions rightly or wrongly entertained as to the character of the new Executive by the Protestant minority in Ulster and elsewhere. It was inferred, from the speeches of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bryce, that some remarkable con- cession had been made with respect to the Lord Lieu- The veto, tenant's right to veto Bills. A comparision of the clauses in the earlier and later measures does not bear out this view. The present Bill says : " The Lord Lieutenant shall, on the advice of the said Executive Council (i.e. the Irish Ministry), give or withhold the assent of Her Majesty to Bills passed by the two Houses of the Irish Legislature, subject, nevertheless, to any instructions given by Her Majesty in respect to any such Bill," and it has been explained on the part of the Government that such instructions will be imposed on the Viceroy by the B 2 The New Home Rule Policy. Opinions of Lord Thring and Sir C. Russell. Legislative power restrictions. Imperial matters. Controversial matters. Imperial Ministry where it is deemed right to interfere with the dealings of the Irish Legislature with Irish affairs. But it must be remembered that though a similar saving " subject to any instructions which may from time to time be given by Her Majesty," was inserted in the veto clause of the Bill of 1886, Lord Thring, the draftsman of the measure,* and Sir Charles Russell,f the principal law adviser of the Government, were distinctly of opinion that, except in regard to the questions reserved for the Imperial Parliament, the veto was "to be exercised con- stitutionally by the Lord Lieutenant on the advice of his Irish Ministers." It is possible, therefore, that a question may hereafter arise as to the soundness of the view taken by Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues, even if the Irish Nationalists should not succeed, as they warn us they will try to do, in making this safeguard nugatory by the exercise of their influence at Westminster. From the Executive we pass to the Legislative power, and, first of all, we must look at the subjects with which the Irish Parliament is prohibited from dealing. These are divided into two categories the one including pro- perly Imperial matters, which, though every nation and Ireland, the Gladstonians assure us, is a nation would have them within its own control, might be given up by a province or a colony to a supreme central authority ; the other including matters which, as Mr. Bryce has acknow- ledged, are properly Irish, if Ireland is to have separate treatment, but are " of so controversial and delicate a character as to be apt to raise internal controversy and to provoke measures that might savour of injustice."* The former list (Clause 3) is, except for some verbal alterations, the same as that inserted in the Bill of 1886, embracing * Contemporary Review, August, 1887, p. 163. t Hansard, vol. 306, p. 69. % Times, February 15, 1893. i.] The New Bill and the Old. 5 all questions connected with the Crown, the Army and Navy, peace and war, treaties and foreign relations, the regulation of external trade, coinage, and soforth. We Imperial may note in passing that the Irish Government, in case ^w* Ulster, of difficulties with Ulster, would have no power to raise and equip a force for the purpose of imposing its will on those organizing either passive or active resistance, and that this task would be left to be performed by the Imperial troops, upon the responsibility of the Imperial Government. The second list of subjects reserved (Clause 4) embraces, as in 1886, questions connected with the endowment or establishment of religion, the impo- sition of disabilities, the abrogation of the rights of schools or charities, and the interference with a conscience clause. A provision in the Bill of 1886 for the protection Property of of the rights and property of corporations such, for Trinity* Col- instance, as Trinity College, Dublin, with respect to le s e - which Lord Randolph Churchill* failed to extract any explanation from the Government the other day now contains the additional words, " without due process of law," under which it would seem to be possible, after the law had been duly manipulated, to deal with such corpo- rations without an address to the Crown. A further provision, applying to persons, referred to by Mr. Glad- stone, in his introductory speech, as a safeguard borrowed A borrowed from one of the late additions to the Constitution of the safe s uard - United States, prohibits measures " whereby any person may be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or may be denied the equal protection of the laws, or whereby private property may be taken without due compensation." This is taken and not improved in the taking from the 14th Amendment pro- posed in Congress in June, 1866, and intended for the * Times, February 18, 1893. 6 The New Home Rule Policy. Intended to protect Southern negroes. British fishermen protected. Constitution of the Legis- lature. A "Council" and an " As- sembly " in- stead of two " orders." protection of the negro freedmen in the South ;* an object which, according to the best accounts, has been very imperfectly attained where the Executive administration does not favour it, and where " due process of law" is in the hands of magistrates nominated and controlled by the dominant class. The one element of novelty in the list is a highly characteristic example of the spirit of sus- picion which, in regard to everything else except the interests of the Irish Loyalists, pervades this remarkable Bill. The Irish Legislature will not be allowed to make any law " whereby any inhabitant of the United King- dom may be deprived of equal rights as respects public sea fisheries" a restriction imposed to protect the Cornish, Manx, and Scottish fishermen who now frequent the Irish coasts, in search of herring, pilchard, and mackerel, from the jealousy with which they are no- toriously regarded by the natives. Subject to the foregoing limitations, the proposed Irish Legislature is to have unrestricted power to " make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland in respect of matters relating to Ireland or some part thereof," and, of course, incidentally to nominate the Lord Lieu- tenant's Executive Ministry. The Legislature is to consist of a Council and an Assembly on the colonial model, instead of "two orders," deliberating in a single Chamber, but with separate voting power, as contemplated in 1886. As a security for the rights of minorities, and especially of the landowners whom it was necessary, as Mr. Morley said seven years ago,f to protect against spoliation by the majority, the new system is even more worthless than the old, ineffective as that was generally recognized to be. In 1886 the first order was to consist of 28 Irish representative See Story's Commentaries on the Constitution, vol. ii. (4th edition), chap. 47 (by the Editor, Mr. T. M. Corley). t Titnet, January 8, 1886. I.] The New Bill and the Old. 7 peers, who might be reckoned upon to resist schemes of public plunder, and 75 elected members, with a high property qualification, sitting for ten years, and elected by ratepayers above 25 annual valuation. However, what- ever conservative elements were thus secured were liable to be overridden in case of a disagreement by the permanent majority of the second order, 204 in number, elected by the small occupiers. But the proposed Legislative Council will be weaker than the first order, containing no permanent representation like the peerage members, and consisting of Councillors elected by ratepayers above a valuation line reduced from 25 annual value to 20. Even if the minority could reckon on the support of all these Councillors, they would still be liable to be outvoted by the majority in the Assembly, which, being chosen by an unrestricted occupancy vote in the same constituencies as those which at present return 80 Nationalists against 23 Unionists, would contain no appreciable representation of property. This result is secured by providing that when the Chambers In case of disagree, the question may be submitted again, either after a dissolution of the Assembly or after the lapse of two years to both Chambers sitting and voting together. The majority in the Assembly of 103 must always over- power the representatives of property among the 48 Councillors. Indeed, so far from the latter having a preponderance in the Council, it is not probable the land- lords would have more than a handful of representatives on that body, as the majority of the constituency would be the ratepayers between 20 and 35 or thereabouts, that is the middling farmers who have been the leaders in the agrarian agitation. Even in Ulster, when the question of Home Rule had disappeared, it is unlikely that the representatives of this class of occupiers would be very careful of the rights of owners. We must add that at the end of six years it is provided that the Irish Legisla- 8 Power to gerrymander the consti- tuencies. Represen- tation at Westminster for limited purposes. The New Home Rule Policy. [i. ture may alter electoral qualifications and distribution^ and, in fact, may gerrymander the constituencies at pleasure, so as to get rid of any remnant of an independent opposition. We now come to that part of the Bill which is wholly new the representation of Ireland at Westminster. We shall examine by-and-by the far-reaching consequences of this change, but here we have only to give a brief account of the provisions by which it is effected. Eighty members from Ireland, elected by constituencies differing from the present ones, inasmuch as voting is not to be by single- member divisions, but, so to speak, by scrutin de liste, without cumulative voting, or any other form of minority representation, are to sit in future in the Imperial House of Commons for certain limited purposes. Neither such members nor the Irish representative peers, are to vote or deliberate in the Imperial Parliament upon " (a) Any Bill or motion in relation thereto the operation of which Bill or motion is confined to Great Britain, or some part thereof ; or (b) any motion or resolution relating solely to some tax not raised or to be raised in Ireland ; or (c) any vote or appropriation of money made exclusively for some service not mentioned in the third schedule to this Act [i.e. that which enumerates the heads of Imperial lia- bility, expenditure, and miscellaneous revenue] ; or (d) any motion or resolution exclusively affecting Great Britain, or some part thereof, or some local authority, or some person or thing therein ; or (e) any motion or resolution inci- dental to any such motion or resolution, as either is last mentioned, or relates solely to some tax not raised or to be raised in Ireland, or incidental to any such vote or appropriation of money as aforesaid." Attempts to in- fringe this new rule, which is supposed to accomplish that which, according to Mr. Gladstone, " passed the wit of man," are to be controlled "in each House in manner i.] The New Bill and the Old. & provided by the House," or, practically, it is understood, by the authority of the Chair. The recasting of the Irish constituencies abolishes the representation of Dublin University, which, however, is to send two members to the Assembly in Ireland, lops one member off each of the large counties two in the case of Cork and off some of the smaller counties, and leaves the borough representa- tation unchanged. The voting for three or two members the Unionist in most constituencies, without provision for the represen- yote ' tation of the minority, is, perhaps, intended to swamp the present Unionist vote in parts of counties like Dublin and Tyrone where the Nationalist vote predominates in other parts. But there is further very grave reason to (i) Byamai- complain of the whole scheme of redistribution embodied constituencies in the second schedule. Mr. Gladstone proposes to re- duce the number of Irish members in the House of Commons from 103 to 80, in accordance with the principle, which we trust will not be forgotten when the question of " one man one vote " comes up, that in the distribution of representatives, to quote the language of Clause 7, "due regard is had to the population of the constituen- cies." But this principle appears to be entirely cast aside as between the different parts of Ireland, to the serious injury of those progressive and prosperous districts in which the loyalist element is strong. Let us take the (2) By unfair county representation of the north-eastern corner of Ire- Count 7 re P re ~ J * sentation. land, the Ulster of the Plantation, and compare it with the county representation of the north-western corner. The six counties Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, and Londonderry have an aggregate popu- lation of 1,236,000, with 162,000 registered county electors, and are represented by 19 members, of whom 14 are Unionists. The six counties Galway, Mayo, Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, and Roscommon have an aggregate population of 910,000, with 138,000 registered 10 The New Home Rule Policy. (3) By unfair Borough re- presentation. The new financial ar- rangements. county electors, and are represented by 18 members, all of whom are Nationalists. Will it be believed that Mr. Gladstone proposes to take away five members from the former group, reducing its total representation to 14, and three only from the latter group, leaving them 15 members? The borough representation is not less scandalously unequal. Belfast and Londonderry have between them over 41,000 registered electors, with 5 members. Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Newry, and Kilkenny have under 25,000 electors, with 7 members, and this disproportion is left untouched in a measure which pretends to redress inequalities. The Irish representation at Westminster has a direct influence on the financial part of Mr. Gladstone's scheme, which we reserve for separate examination, observing only that the control over Irish taxation by the Receiver- General's Office, as contemplated in 1886, disappears ; that it is proposed to accept the net proceeds of the Irish Customs, estimated at 2,370,000, as Ireland's contribu- tion to Imperial liabilities and expenditure, which Mr. Gladstone placed, seven years ago, on what he termed an equitable and even generous estimate, at over 3,600,000; that the collection of the Excise is to be left in Irish hands ; that a method is promised, though not explained, by which the Excise duties on spirits and beer consumed in Great Britain will not be allowed to go into the Irish Exchequer ; and that Ireland is to be under an obligation to pay to the Imperial Government any sums that may become due under the Land Purchase Acts, as well as two-thirds (one million sterling at the outset) of the cost of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metro- politan Police, until those bodies, which will remain pro- visionally under the Imperial control, are replaced by local forces. The Irish Nationalist members dispute Mr. Gladstone's contention that these arrangements will give I.] The New Bill and the Old. 1 1 Ireland a surplus of half a million a-year to [start with, while British Unionists are unable to see any guarantee that the land purchase or constabulary charges which lie outside of the security of the customs will be recoverable on behalf of the Imperial Exchequer in case the Irish Government should refuse to meet them. The provisions relating to the separate constitution of Judicial ar- the Exchequer Judges in Ireland as a Court of Revenue ian s em Pleas, and of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as a tribunal of appeal in constitutional cases, and espe- cially of action ultra vires by the Irish Legislature, do not differ materially from those to be found in the Bill of 1886. There is no more explanation now than there was then of the manner in which the decrees of either tribunal are to be enforced in the face of a reluctant local Execu- tive. We may note the extinction of the appellate juris- Appeal to diction of the House of Lords, which the Bill of 1886 left Lords' untouched, except in constitutional cases, but which is abollslied - now absolutely transferred to the Judicial Committee, thus placing Ireland more definitely in the position of a colony. The clauses bearing generally upon the rights of Judges and civil servants also remain nearly the same as those in the earlier scheme. The plan for the extinc- Extinction of tion of the constabulary is not substantially different, j ar e though it presents some very peculiar features. Until they cease to exist the constabulary and the Dublin police remain under the control of the Lord Lieutenant, as re- presenting the Imperial Government, and are to be paid out of the Imperial Exchequer ; but when the Irish Min- istry certify that a local force has been organized in any county or borough, the Lord Lieutenant is empowered to withdraw the constabulary and pro tanto to disband it, unless, during the first six years, he should report to the Imperial Government that it is inexpedient to do so. While, however, the force is thus apparently regarded as 12 The New Home Rule Policy. [I- Appointment of Judges. The Land Question. the public security for order, at least till something has been put in its place, it is expressly provided that hence- forward no vacancies created shall be rilled up in the ranks of this indispensable body. The provisional arrangements with respect to the con- stabulary do not constitute the only delicate question that is held over by the Bill to trouble future Parliaments. For six years, after the establishment of Home Rule, the Judges of the Superior Courts in Ireland are to be nomi- nated by the Imperial Government, except the two Ex- chequer Judges, who will always be appointed under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom. A temporary reser- vation of a more extraordinary kind is that of the agrarian question. For three years the Irish Legislature is pro- hibited from passing any measure respecting the relations between landlord and tenant, or the sale, purchase, or letting of land generally. Yet no pledge has been ex- tracted from Mr. Gladstone that he will proceed in the interval to deal with the problem, which, as he has often declared, lies at the root of the Irish difficulty, by Imperial legislation. It is perhaps believed that after three years of Home Rule there will be no land question to settle, inasmuch as the landlords will have disappeared. ii.] The " In and Out" Plan and its Consequences. 13 II. THE "IN AND OUT" PLAN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. BY far the most important change in the proposals of 1886 is the representation of the Irish at Westminster, which destroys the colonial analogy without making any approach to, or provision for, a federal system, and which at the same time cuts away the very basis of our Parlia- mentary Government. Though Mr. Gladstone denied that the retention of the Irish Members was a principle of the new Bill, describing it, in the curious jargon he affects, as " an organic detail,"* he gave the subject great promi- " An organic nence, and he left his hearers in a state of complete mys- tification. He produced the principal arguments in favour of each of the three alternatives that have been so much discussed, the " out " scheme, the " in " scheme, and the " in and out " scheme, and, while pronouncing in favour of the last, which he had declared seven years ago to involve a task " passing the wit of man," he threw out a remarkable hint that " a shadow of uncertainty " still hung over the question, and that the provisional nature of the project was indicated in the initial words of the clause, " unless and until Parliament otherwise determines." In Mr. Gladstone's opinion, apparently, this " organic detail " may be thrust into the heart of his policy and pulled out at will, without seriously affecting the working either of Irish Home Rule or of the British Constitution. Yet it is clear that it must vitally affect the development of both. The presence or absence of Irish Members at Westminster * Times, February 14, 1893. 14 The New Home Rule Policy. |_n. must largely determine the practical value of the so-called " safeguards," whether for the Imperial supremacy or for the rights of the minority, as well as the moral validity of the financial arrangements. Upon the solution of that question, too, depends the future of the House of Commons and of the method of government hy Cabinets resting on the support of Parliamentary majorities, which has grown up slowly in this country, which is embodied in no statute, and which, if once subverted, it would be difficult to restore. Mr Glad- ^ e P rec i ge pl an which Mr. Gladstone has now adopted stone's argu- f or the partial introduction of Irish representatives into mentsinl886 r r . against the the proceedings oi the Imperial Jramament is that against Ut ' wbich he ar g ued most forcibly both in 1886 and in his speech on the 13th inst. On the introduction of the first Home Eule Bill, when he came to the conclusion that " Irish members and Irish peers could not, if a domestic Legislature were given to Ireland, justly retain a seat in the Parliament at Westminster,"* he stated very clearly the practical, and, so to say,, the mechanical, difficulties of the " in and out " scheme, assuming it to be possible to divide legislative business into two categories, absolutely exclusive of one another, the House of Commons, Mr. Gladstone pointed out, " is not merely a legislative House ; it is a House controlling the Executive ; and when you come to the control of the Executive, then your distinction between Imperial subjects and non-Imperial subjects totally breaks down and is totally insufficient to cover the whole case."f " Even if it were possible," he said, " to divide the subjects, what an anomaly it would be, what a mutilation of all our ideas about the absolute equality of members in this House, were we to have ordinarily among us two classes of members, one of them qualified to vote * Hansard, vol. 304, p. 1057. t Hansard, vol. 304, p. 1056. ii. J The "In and Out" Plan and its Consequences. 15 on all kinds of business, and another qualified only to vote here and there on particular kinds of business, and obliged to submit to some criterion or other say the authority of the Chair novel for such a purpose and difficult to exercise, in order to determine what kinds of business they could vote upon and what kinds of business they must abstain from voting upon."* With more diffuseness, but with not less clearness, Mr. Gladstone reiterated this latter argument in the very speech in which he proposed the adoption of the plan, supplementing it by other considerations. He showed, at the same time, that the presence of the Irish members taking part for all purposes in the proceedings of the Imperial Parliament, while Irish affairs were reserved for treatment in Dublin, would be not only a dangerous instrument of Parlia- mentary intrigue, but an anomaly and an injustice which " plain, unlettered Englishmen " could not be brought to understand or to endure.f The exclusion scheme of the Bill of 1886, on which Mr. Ostensible Gladstone and Mr. Morley then founded their anticipa- r ^ a a s n e for tions of Parliamentary relief and Irish contentment, is now abandoned, ostensibly on the grounds that it would part with a visible sign of Imperial supremacy, and that, unless there are to be different " trade laws " for the two islands, Ireland must claim a share in the settlement of British Budgets. But these reasons were ignored or set aside seven years ago, until it was thought necessary to make concessions to wavering supporters. Another reason, Another not avowed by Mr. Gladstone, is to be found in Mr. Par- reason - nell's manifesto after his excommunication by the Glad- stonians, when he declared that, so long as the Imperial Parliament retained any power over Irish questions, " it would be the height of madness for any Irish leader to * Hansard, vol. 304, p. 1060. t Times, February 14, 1893. 16 The New Home Rule Policy. [II. Explained by Mr. Sexton And Mr. Red- mond. Safeguards to remain " dormant." Power of Nationalist Members at "Westminster. Mr. Morley's argument, 1886. imitate Grattan's example and consent to disband the army winch had cleared the way to victory."* The prac- tical meaning of this was sufficiently explained in the speeches of Mr. Sexton and Mr. Redmond on the intro- duction of the present Bill. The Irish Separatists are willing, formally and in theory, to recognize the Imperial supremacy, the veto power and other safeguards, but on condition that the provisions embodying them remain, as Mr. Redmond insists, " dormant. "t If such powers are put in force by the Imperial Government, the Irish mem- bers at Westminster will make their strength felt. Mr. Sexton's scarcely- veiled threat opens up a long vista of that very Parliamentary intrigue which the Prime Minis- ter has spoken of with grave apprehension. If 60 or 70 Irish Nationalists set themselves, after a Home Rule con- stitution has been launched, to barter their Parliamentary support for assistance in obstructing every assertion of the right of Imperial interference and the enforcement of every Imperial claim, pecuniary or other, what will be left, in practice, either of the safeguards of this make-shift measure or of its financial framework ? Intrigue with one party, friction with another, would be the certain con- sequences of the plan proposed, unless the Imperial Par- liament and the people of Great Britain were prepared to acquiesce in the nullification of every portion of the Bill except the concession of legislative powers, practically uncontrolled, to the Legislature in Dublin, and of absolute executive authority to the nominees of that body. In 1886 Mr. Morley contended* with much force that the en- deavour to combine a " real and effective " veto with the presence of an Irish contingent at Westminster would per- petuate " all the present irritation and exasperation," and * Times, November 29, 1890. t Nineteenth Century, October, 1892, p. 515. % Nineteenth Century, February, 1887, p. 306. ii.J The "In and Out" Plan and its Consequences. 17 declared that he could not see how. "an arrangement of that sort promised well either for the condition of Ireland or for our Parliament." No doubt he finds the means of reconciliation in the unacknowledged admission that neither the veto nor any other form of restraint on the unfettered action of the Irish Legislature will be " real and effective." But, grave as are the consequences of the retention of Effect of the the Irish members, under the conditions proposed, in Scheme** o^ relation to the position of the new Irish Legislature, they Cabinet Go- are still more serious in their bearing upon the future of the Imperial Government. Mr. Gladstone has shown an extraordinary sensitiveness to the charge that his Home Rule policy involved the repeal of the Union. Whether or not such a structural and organic change as has been proposed in the composition and character of the Imperial Parliament dissolves, in law or in fact, the Union of which that Parliament is the seat and the symbol, is an academic question about which there may be endless differences of opinion. It cannot be disputed that the transformation of Would change the Imperial Parliament into an Assembly changing its 1 composition from day to day, perhaps from hour to hour, dail y- goes far deeper than the mere abandonment of legislative authority over a province. The historic Parliament of England reached the maturity of its greatness before the union with either Scotland or Ireland. It would retain the characteristics it has never lost, among the successive phases of franchise and representation, even though Scot- land or Ireland were parted from us by revolt or conquest. But Mr. Gladstone's "in and out" scheme would wholly Would destroy destroy the continuity of our Paiiiamentory history. It Continuity of would at a stroke make the Parliament at Westminster history. different, not in degree, but in kind, from any of those that have preceded it for many centuries, and from any legislative body that has ever been established in any c 18 The New Home Rule Policy. en. Would make a stable majority impossible. constitutional country. It is amazing that Mr. Gladstone, fully alive as he is to the practical inconveniences of the scheme, should be unconscious, as he seems to be, of the enormous risks he is running in tampering with the con- ditions which make Cabinet government possible. No one knows better than he how delicate an organism Cabinet government is, and how rare, as Bagehot has conclusively shown, are its " pre-requisites."* It has never been naturalized in the United States: it has not yet been acclimatized in Germany ; its existence in France is imperilled by the multiplication of Parliamentary groups and the precarious power of short-lived Ministries ; it is maintained nominally in other States by the strong hand of executive authority. In England alone we have had hitherto a substantially continuous Legislature, " willing to elect and willing to maintain an efficient Executive,"f with parties fairly balanced, the one ready to accept the responsibilities of office when the other fails, and under these conditions Cabinet government has been so con- spicuously successful that no statesman of any reputation has proposed to change it for any other. These conditions have, no doubt, suffered from the cleavage in the party system created by the independent action of sectional groups a movement stimulated by Mr. Gladstone's particularist policy, and especially by the loose and reckless language he has used in advocating it. But the party system is still a working system. Cabinet government rests upon the assumption that, for a reason- able time at least, the Ministers in office can depend upon the support of a stable majority in the House of Commons. Under the proposed " in and out " plan there can be no stable majority. Two majorities will always bel|in existence side by side. On all Imperial questions * TheEnglish Constitution, 2nded., pp. 254-271. t Bagehot, as above. ii.] The " In and Out" Plan and its Consequences. 19 those enumerated in the third Schedule of the Bill and, of course, on Irish questions, should Parliament exercise its reserved power of legislating upon them, the eighty Irish members will have a right to speak and vote. But on all other questions they will be precluded from speaking and voting. If, in dealing with the former, they con- stitute a considerable fraction of the majority supporting Ministers, that majority will cease to exist when the House of Commons passes to the latter. A Government How it -would may be challenged on some vital question connected with the Army or the Navy, or with foreign affairs, or with Imperial taxation, and may be victorious, thanks to the votes of the Irish members. On the very next day the same Government may be outvoted the Irish members having withdrawn under Clause 9 on some equally vital matter unquestionably relating to Great Britain, a Bill, for example, dealing with local government, or with education, or with the liquor traffic, or with the Church. And, if we rightly understand Mr. Gladstone's language, though the Bill is not quite clear on this point, the same Government may immediately regain its majority on a subsequent division by changing the issue to a direct vote of confidence. In this shifting scene how are we to apply the accumu- lated precedents by which the working of Cabinet Govern- ment is at present regulated ? The same Ministers will be in a minority or in a majority according to the business on the notice-paper. " Is it not quite clear," as Lord Harting- Lord Harring- ton said at Stirling in 1889,* "that if you have two majorities g^" Two you must also have two Governments ? You must have one ments." Government for Imperial purposes, which will possess the confidence of Parliament when it is whole and complete, including the Irish members, and you must have another Government for purposes of internal policy, which will * Times, October 5, 1889. C2 20 The Neiv Home Rule Policy. [u. possess the confidence of the English, Scotch, and Welsh memhers, who alone will have anything to do with inter- Federation not nal affairs." To carry out this policy in its entirety is just what the Ministry do not propose, for they know that there is at present no real desire on the part of any section of the people of the United Kingdom to become involved in the complexities of federalism, whatever might be the case after they had passed through some years' experience of the intolerable scheme now before Parliament. Federal-Colo- Whatever Mr. Gladstone's Bill is, it is not a federal plan, mal-lmperial though it borrows some of the phrases of the federalists, and its supporters cover their difficulties by cheering any de- monstration that the logical conclusion from their leader's doctrines leads to a federation. This " mongrel," this " bastard," measure, to borrow the emphatic epithets of the Duke of Devonshire and of Mr. Balfour,* combines parts both of the federal and of the colonial system with the existing framework of the Imperial Government. The result is that it is unlike any of the three and, indeed, . unlike any other form of polity that has ever existed. " In and Out" The " in and out " plan apparently evades the enormi- Scheme must t j eg w hi cn as even ]yf r . Gladstone perceives, would shock lead to com- * plete deadlock, the common-sense of Euglishmen. It does not, in form at least, allow the Irish to have the absolute control of their own affairs and, at the same time, the right to hold the balance in the control of onr affairs. But it will in- evitably produce absurdities hardly less flagrant and not at all less mischievous. Suppose the Government remains in power, supported by the majority which includes the Irish, but opposed by the majority which excludes them ; Imperial affairs can be administered, of course ; but what of the affairs of England, Wales, and Scotland ? There nmst be a complete deadlock. The Ministers who have . * Timn t February 15, 1893. n.] The " In and Out" Plan and its Consequences. 21 the support of the Imperial majority will be unable to carry a single legislative measure applying to Great Britain, and will be liable to have every one of their administrative acts censured and repudiated by the British majority. On the other hand, the politicians in whom the people of Great Britain would be willing to repose confidence, and who could really govern this country, would be permanently exiled from office by the votes of the Irish. We are quite certain that such a preposterous And open state of things would not be tolerated, however convenient gtitutional 1 " it might be to the minority in Great Britain, and that is difficulties. one of the reasons why we are convinced that the passing of Mr. Gladstone's Bill, instead of closing a constitutional controversy, would open up a far more serious and difficult one. It may be added that the interpretation of the restric- Effect on , i ., , -i-i- c business of tive clause in its bearing upon the everyday business 01 Parliament. Parliament must lead to perpetual disputes and an enor- mous waste of public time. Until a series of decisions from the Chair have been recorded on the subject, there will be no body of Parliamentary law to which to appeal. The cases that will arise will be entirely new, and will fall under no existing precedents. Ultimately, of course, nearly all questions would be settled ; but for a time the Irish members, in pursuance of the aims disclosed by Mr. Sexton, and with the sympathy of the British minority, who would be glad to secure the aid of the Irish vote for their sectional designs, would attempt to strengthen their " unique position "* by endeavouring to extend the scope of the new rule. There is room enough for divergence of interpretation in matters of detail, and we are unable to see how discussions on such points, whenever the Irish chose to raise them, could be suppressed. It is expressly contemplated that, even though a Bill or motion dis- * Mr. Sexton's expression. See Times, February 14, 1893. 22 The New Home Rule Policy. [n. Motion to extend a Bill to Ireland. Alarm of Mr. Reid, Q.C. tinctly applies to Great Britain only, the discussion upon it may be brought within the purview of the Irish mem- bers by a motion whether seriously meant or not that it should apply to Ireland. No such permission is needed to enable the Irish members to annoy a hostile Ministry, or to put pressure on a friendly, but not absolutely plastic, one, by bringing forward a motion for the adjournment of the House on a matter of urgent public importance, which any 40 members rising in their places can claim to do. The ingenuity of those who learned the art of obstruction in the school of Mr. Parnell has enabled the Irish party again and again to break through more substantial barriers than those of the ninth clause of the Bill, and the motives for making the effort under the new system cannot escape notice. If it were possible to conceive that the ridiculous plan proposed could ever be set to work, some results at least are indisputable. It would increase dilatory and obstructive discussion instead of diminishing it, would do nothing to relieve Parliament from the pressure of the Irish question, and would shatter the authority by which the efforts of the Irish Separatists to degrade and to destroy the British Constitution have been hitherto defeated. It is not surprising that even some Gladstonians, such as Mr. Reid, Q-.C.,* should con- template with undisguised alarm a policy which might very conceivably result in the transfer of the central power in the State from the House of Commons to some other part of the constitutional system. * Contemporary Review, April 1892, pp. 485, 486. in.] Savings and Safeguards. 23 III. SAVINGS AND SAFEGUARDS. ONE of the most significant and characteristic features in Mr. Gladstone's speech on the introduction of the present Home Rule Bill was the unimportant place which he gave to the arguments in favour of what we may call Mr Mor i ey " savings and safeguards." In this respect he has de- on the Land parted widely from the course he adopted in 1886, when isse. he proposed to settle the land question concurrently with the establishment of an Irish Legislature, on the ground, clearly stated by Mr. Moriey a few weeks before in his speech at Chelmsford,* that " we should not be able to deal satisfactorily witli Ireland until we had passed some legislation to prevent tenants from robbing their land- M G , , , lords." At that time, too, Mr. Gladstone spoke with respect on Ulster in of the apprehensions and the representations of the Protes- tants of Ulster, expressing an opinion that " that wealthy, energetic, and intelligent portion of the Irish community " ought to have "its wishes considered to the utmost prac- ticable extent in any form which they may assume. "f But in his recent speech, as has been already noticed, he did not say a single word about the land until his attention was called to this strange omission by Sir Edward Clarke in the course of his reply, when the Prime Minister inter- jected the remark that there was a clause withdrawing the subject from the Irish Legislature for a term of three years. On the same occasion, Mr. Gladstone's solitary reference to the case of Ulster, though the organized protest of the whole Protestant population of Times, January 8, 1886. t Hansard, vol. 304, pp. 1053, 1054. 24 The New Home Rule Policy. [in. that province had been more emphatically recorded within the last few months than even in 1886, was the grotesque complaint that Ulstermen had retrograded, because a century ago, before any of the reforms that have long been law had come within the sphere of practical politics, they supported the modest demand of the Roman Catholics for equal civil rights, whereas they are now unwilling to be placed at the mercy of a Government which will be under the control of a hierarchy and priesthood of Mr. Bryce on avowedly intolerant principles.* Mr. Bryce's insulting dismissal of the Ulster protest as " bluster "f is another indication of the soreness of feeling which, no doubt, explains the Prime Minister's change of tone. Seven years ago it was believed that the Irish loyalists might be cajoled into accepting Home Rule at Mr. Gladstone's hands. That hope has now been cast aside. The land- lords and the Ulstermen, not to speak of the scattered loyalist minority throughout the three southern provinces, are told in substance that they are to be thrown to the wolves, without further comment from Mr. Gladstone Ineffective than "Serve them right." Mr. Gladstone's Bill bristles, 3e8 ' notwithstanding, with savings and safeguards for the consolation of those hesitating followers of the Home Rule banner who have not quite deluded themselves with the belief that the dominant party in the Irish Executive and the Irish Legislature will always be governed by " sweet reasonableness," or who have not completely ar- rayed themselves in the armour of cynical indifference to the fate of our loyalist fellow-subjects. The insistence Practice not in upon these "securities" is nothing less than the abandon- precept ment of the doctrine, that we ought to repose implicit trust in the Irish as a self-governing community, which Mr. Gladstone has placed in the forefront of his argu- * Times, February 14, 1893. t Times, February 15, 1893. in.] Savings and Safeguards. 25 ment for Home Eule. Yet it is plain enough that all this panoply of protection is a sham, as palpable to its manufacturers as was the flimsiness of Don Quixote's helmet when its wearer prudently declined to put it to the test of the sword. The Bill contains, as we have seen, in the preamble a Supreme " saving " of the " supreme authority of Parliament," parliament* which, according to the authors of the measure, stood in asserted. need of no such assertion. The same object is supposed to be incidentally aimed at in certain words introduced into Clause 33, declaring that the Irish Legislature may repeal or alter any existing laws within the scope of its authority except such as "being enacted by Parliament after the passing of this Act may be expressly extended to Ireland." But the Irish Nationalists, in professing to recognize these reservations, have expressly stipulated that they are not to be enforced. The same is the case with Not to be the veto to be exercised by the Lord Lieutenant at the Tr . * Veto not to be instance of the Imperial Government and, ex hi/pot hesi, exercised, against the advice of his Irish Ministers. If any of these powers were used, except with the full assent of the Irish Legislature in which case, it is obvious, the necessity for resorting to them would not have arisen at all the Nationalists of all sections would be prepared to denounce their exercise as a breach of the spirit and purpose of the Home Kule policy, and to revive, as Mr. Redmond has warned us,* those unbounded claims of Irish nationality to which Mr. Parnell refused to set a limit. The optimist predictions of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Bryce, and Mr. Morley are based on the assumption that there is no moral possibility of any dispute between the two countries, and Mr. Blake appeals to Canadian experience in confirmation of this view.f Yet there is already, before the practical * Times, February 15, 1893. f Times, February 18, 1893. 26 The New Home Rule Policy. [in. pinch has been felt, a sharp controversy over the financial arrangements, one of many parts of the Bill to which there is no parallel to be found in the political position of Safeguards Canada. These general savings, together with all the particular safeguards to which we are about to refer, are ;i) Executive dominated by three conditions, which, though they will vested in the leave abundant material and opportunity for strife, (2) 8 irish^em- completely nullify the avowed objects of the whole pro- bers at West- tective system. With the Executive absolutely controlled minster ; (3) Gerry- by the majority in the Legislative Assembly in Dublin, the power of the purse, and with a contingent of 80 Irish members at Westminster, four-fifths of whom, under the " gerrymandered " scheme of the Bill, will almost certainly be extreme Nationalists, the securities provided on paper will in practice be of no value whatever. Let us now look a little more in detail at the most important of the restrictive provisions by which Mr. Gladstone professes to incapacitate the Irish Government from damaging Imperial interests and from inflicting injustice on the minority. There is, first of all, the pro- hibition with respect to fiscal legislation, the fixing of Customs and Excise duties (but not of Excise licences), and of postal rates being reserved to the Imperial Parlia- ment. It is contended that this " safeguard " makes it impossible for the Irish Government either to set up a protectionist tariff against Great Britain, or to impose disabilities in respect of trade upon Ulster. But how will Irish Govern- the system work in practice ? In the first place, the Irish Government Jg n ot restrained from giving bounties to any favoured branches of native industry or commerce. Mr. Parnell always regarded that method with sympathy, and, indeed, it has a flavour of jobbery about it which naturally commends it to the Irish mind. From every part of the country and from every sectional interest, from farmers and stock breeders, from distillers and in.] Savings and Safeguards. 27 brewers, from woollen manufacturers, from linen manu- facturers, and from paper-makers, the cry will go up for " encouragement," and, as long as the money lasts that can be sqeezed out of owners of property, whether in realty or personalty, no policy will be more popular with the Irish masses. The system is manifestly " contrived a double with results. debt to pay." Bounty-fed industries may easily drive British goods out of Irish markets and force Irish goods, especially agricultural produce, into British markets. If Irish oats and Irish hay, Irish butter and Irish bacon were to get a bounty on exportation to England and Scotland, the unfortunate British farmer could be under- sold and ousted from his own market, while the British manufacturers might be unable to compete with their bounty -receiving rivals in Ireland. Moreover, these bounties may be so distributed as to Prohibitions leave the industries of Protestant Ulster at a grievous dis- the . r than advantage and to draw away capital from them. Nor is this all. Though "prohibitions in connexion with the duties of Excise " are to be regulated by the Imperial Parliament, there is no limitation on prohibitions in general. There is nothing that we can see to prevent the Irish Government from forbidding absolutely the import -or the export of any commodity whatever an instrument of enormous power either for the creation of a forced market or for compassing the ruin of an obnoxious in- terest. Internal octroi duties can also be levied, and licence duties not only can be, but must be, in the absence -of other resources, imposed upon trades and industries. Capital in all its forms, whether invested in banks or rail- ways, in industrial companies or otherwise, must be prepared to bear a progressive income-tax and other new and heavy burdens. Hence the startling and continuous r a ii fall in Irish securities since the introduction of the Home secunties - Eule Bill. The New Home Rule Policy. [m, Lord Ashbourne on Trinity College. The funda- mental provi- sion of the American system not inserted. How the industries of Ulster may be ruined. These powers of taxation and of regulation of trade would, in any case, render worthless the securities for the property of individuals and corporations supposed to be embodied in the 5th and 6th sub-sections of Clause 4. We have already pointed out the fact that those securities are subject to the significant condition " without due process of law," the Irish Legislature having the largest powers of modifying that law, which will be administered by Irish tribunals and carried into effect by an Irish Execu- tive. Lord Ashbourne has developed in full detail* the point suggested in the first of these articles that, under this clause, it will be perfectly possible to despoil and de- stroy Trinity College, Dublin, either by " process of law " or by confiscatory legislation. It may be added that, while the restrictions referred to have been quoted as borrowed from a recent amendment of the Constitution of the United States, the framers of the Bill have taken very good care to refrain from copying that fundamental pro- vision of the American system (Article 1, section 10, of the Constitution) which explicitly declares that no State- shall " pass any Bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts." Under the Gladstonian Constitution, contracts may be and will be attacked. The rights of persons and of corporations are left without any real protection, for that of the Appellate Courts, with which we shall presently deal, is practically worthless. Ulster and her industries, which have been denounced incessantly and virulently by the representa- tives of the Nationalists, will not only have to take a share in the burdens imposed by a necessitous Government, ignorant of the laws of political economy and impatient of its restraints, but will be exposed to the competition of bounty-fed industries and the crippling effect of a hamper- ing policy originating in jobbery or in malignity, or in a * Times, February 27, 1893. in.] Savings and Safeguards. 29 combination of both. We may see a chain of octroi posts established on the internal borders of the Ulster Planta- tion counties for the purpose of levying duties on the exported produce of that province, while the produce of the other provinces would be allowed free admission to the Ulster markets. The Ulstermen, if they accept their position as a minority placed under the Dublin Parlia- ment, would in such a case be absolutely powerless. It may be said, of course, that such enormities as these would, in the long run, work their own cure ; but the Irish masses have no claim to be credited with greater good sense in dealing with economical questions than the masses in the United States or in France, or in some of our own colonies. The reign of folly and injustice would not be a brief one. Meanwhile a state of feeling would be created in which it would be almost impossible to pre- vent violent collision between Great Britain and Ireland on the one hand and between Ulster and the Irish Govern - ment on the other. Again, take the prohibition against legislating for the Religious establishment or endowment of Eoman Catholicism, or of exclusive denominational education in the hands of the Eoman Catholic priesthood (Clause 4, sub-sections 1-4), Here the words seem plain enough and wide enough, but what is their real worth ? There is nothing to prevent the Irish Legislature from voting large sums of money as Parliamentary grants for Eoman Catholic purposes out of revenue drawn mainly from the owners of property, the great majority of whom are Protestants, and from the industrial communities of Protestant Ulster. There is HOW they nothing to prevent the Irish Government from practically ma y be carned establishing and endowing the Eoman Cutholic Church in Ireland by appointing Archbishop Walsh and his leading colleagues Commissioners of Education, or Commissioners of Charities, each with a salary of 3000 or 4000 a-year. no 30 The New Home Rule Policy. [in. There is nothing to prevent the organization of paid school management in every parish, with the parish priest as manager, at a salary of 500, and his curate as sub- manager, at a salary of 200 a-year. What is the differ- ence between a system of this kind and the establishment and endowment of the Roman Catholic Church ? Again, as a correspondent has lately pointed out,* what security is there against the enforcement by the Irish Legislature of the Roman Catholic claims in the vague region of what is called "mixed jurisdiction," in questions arising out of civil marriage, divorce, and many other subjects, on which, as Mr. Gladstone has shown in his Vatican pamphlet, there is a wide divergence, in feeling and in practice, between Protestantism and Catholicism ? Is Irish legislation to be brought into harmony with the priestly ideal, and, if so, how is a conflict of law between Bishop Nulty's Great Britain and Ireland to be avoided ? If it be defended by objected that these are wild and impossible speculations, Mr. Healy. wo answer by pointing to the claims set forth in Bishop Nulty's pastoral, and defended before the Election Judges in Meath by Mr. Healy.f We ask the British public to consider the meaning of some sentences published in the freeman's Journal just after Mr. Gladstone had formed his first Home Rule Administra- The Freeman's tion.J Between Ireland and England, said the organ of relig?o a us nthe th e Irish party and of Archbishop Walsh, there is "a difference g u ^f profound, impassable." Between their civilizations England and there is " an incompatibility not only antagonistic, but destructive. They cannot freely co-exist in the same society. They may be present, but it must be not as equals, but in subjection and domination, not in peace, but in conflict. . . . The one order of civilization is * Times, February, 27, 1893. t See the Report of the Meath Election trials. % Freeman'* Journal, February 18, 1886. ni.J Savings and Safeguards. 31 Christian, the other non-Christian ; the one people (the Irish) has not only accepted, but retained with inviolable constancy the Christian; the other (the English) has not only rejected it, but has been for three centuries the leader of the great apostasy, and is at this day the principal obstacle to the conversion of the world. . . . The Christian idea is absolute, and will brook nothing that "Why the Pope is not itself." The Pope, we are told, has expressed Jg^g 8 of to Cardinal Logue, the Roman Catholic Primate of Ire- land, his approval of the Bill. "There can be little doubt," writes our correspondent at Home,* " that the aspirations of the Irish clergy to the exercise of political power in Ireland have always had the sympathy of Leo XIII., whose passionate desire for the revival of the me- diaeval political supremacy of the Papacy throws every other consideration into the shade. As a step in this direction the success of Home Rule would be a satisfac- tion to the Pope." In truth, the doctrine of the Eoman The theory of Catholic Church that is, the theory of the clergy as JJ e cler S7 an( } LI16 pl'tlCtlCC 01 opposed to the practice of the laity has always been the laity. that set forth by the Freeman's Journal, and, wherever it is not controlled by more powerful external forces, it is re-asserted even at the present day. In no country of Europe is there a more promising field for its practical application than in Ireland, where, in spite of the repres- sion of popular violence and the enforcement of equal rights under Imperial rule, nearly three-fourths of the Parliamentary representatives are the nominees of the priesthood. It is to the representatives of the theory of Church and State expounded by Archbishop Walsh's organ that the powers we have described are to be committed. Yet Mr. Glad- Mr. Gladstone is filled with indignant wonder f that the n ant wonder. Protestant Ulster of the present day does not hail this * Tvmet, February 27, 1893. t Times, February 14, 1893. 32 The New Home Rule Policy. proposal with the same trustfulness that was shown by the men of Belfast before the Union, when they warmly welcomed the Roman Catholic delegates from the " Par- liament of Back-lane," who petitioned meekly for the removal of their grievous disabilities ! No alterations No alterations in the mechanism of the Bill can give security. * any reality to its pretended securities and prohibitions. The Irish Legislature is to have the control both of the executive power and of the public purse, and under these conditions it is ridiculous to pretend that the Imperial Parliament can exercise such an inquisitorial authority over Irish appointments and over Irish finance as to pre- vent the evasion of these ostensible safeguards. But it may be said there are other means of securing the result. There is the representation of the minority in the Legis- lature. There is the constitutional jurisdiction of the Court of Exchequer and of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. These, like the rest, are " dummy guns," intended for show and not for use. We have already shown that in the Legislative Council, as well as in the Legislative Assembly, the property-owning minority will be outvoted, and this, we are certain, will be apparent when the Government produce official statistics, as they must do, in common decency, before the second reading, showing the relative numbers of the qualified ratepayers in the proposed constituencies over the 20 line, and at An absurd different levels above it. The absurdity of trusting the safeguard. interests of property to the representatives of majorities composed, in most cases, of small farmers and shopkeepers rated between 20 and 35 valuation requires no proof ; but what are we to say of the good faith which offers this safeguard, knowing that, even if the minority held all the forty-eight seats in the Council, they would be overridden by an Assembly divided in the same proportions as thu present Irish representation in the House of Commons ? in.] Savings and Safeguards. 33 There is not the least prospect that, under a Home Rule Executive, that representation would be improved, while, after the lapse of six years, the majority would, of course, proceed to " gerrymander " the Ulster constituencies, and, in all probability, would be successful in swamping the Loyalist and Protestant electors everywhere, except in Antrim, Down, and the city of Belfast. It is remarkable and instructive to observe that the The Parnellites, who never would listen, while they were want safe- dominant, to the contention that the Loyalist majority Shards, stood in need of safeguards, are now loudly demanding security for themselves. Writing in the Dublin Evening Herald " A Parnellite " says : " These men (the clericals) will have unchecked control, constituting the Executive Government, over all the Parnellites in the country. The veto, of which so much is said, affects only legislation. In executive action the Irish Government will be supreme. If Parnellites are the victims of injustice or suffer ill- treatment, no satisfaction will probably be obtained from the McCarthy ite Ministers in power. ... Is it not time we began to demand safeguards in this Bill against op- pression ? Are the gallant minorities of Meath to have no representation in the Irish Legislature ?" * February 25, 1893. The New Home Rule Policy. The Court of Exchequer. The appellate tribunal. The Federal Courts in the United States. IY. SAYINGS AND SAFEGUARDS. (CONTINUED.) There remains the appellate jurisdiction, the pale and ineffectual shadow of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court of Exchequer, over the appointment of the Judges of which the Imperial Government is to retain control, will, in the first instance, take cognizance, when the parties interested demand it, not only of revenue pleas and election disputes, but of questions of action or legis- lation ultra vires by the Irish Legislature and of the grievances of individuals arising out of such action or legislation. From this tribunal an appeal will lie to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, to which also the Lord Lieutenant may refer the question of the con- stitutional validity of any Irish Act. Unfortunately, neither the Court of Exchequer nor the Judicial Com- mittee will have the practical powers of the Federal Courts in the United States. In Ireland the Executive authority will be absolutely in the hands of the Irish Government ; in the United States both Executive and prosecuting officers directly representing the central power are on an independent footing in every State. "Both sets of officials," says Mr. Bryce,* " are under the direc- tion of the Attorney-General, as head of the Department of Justice. They constitute a network of Federal autho- rities covering the whole territory of the Union and independent of the officers of the State Courts and of the Public Prosecutors who represent the State Governments." * Bryce's American Commonwealth (2nd ed.), vol. ii., pp. 234-235. iv. j Savings and Safeguards. 35 There is nothing like this in Ireland ; still less is there anything like the moral condition which makes it possible to work this complicated system in a fairly satisfactory way. " The law-abiding habits of the people," according to Mr. Bryce, " and their sense that the supremacy of Federal law and jurisdiction works to the common benefit of the whole people, secure general obedience to Federal judgments." But the very starting-point of Mr. Grlad- Law "in stone's policy is that the Irish reject law that comes to ga'rb/' 1 tli em " in foreign garb," as it will emphatically be held to come to them from the Exchequer Judges nominated by the Imperial Orovernment and from the Judicial Committee sitting at Westminster. A decision setting Executive aside any Act of the Irish Legislature which strikes at j^/ 6 * 1186 to the rights of some individual or corporation may be judicial obtained from the Court of Exchequer or from the Judicial Committee, but how is that decision to be made effective ? How are the injured parties to be restored to their rights ? These difficulties have arisen even in the United States. In Professor Sumner's " Life of Presi- dent Jackson"* will be found an interesting account of the refusal of the Federal Executive to support the Federal Judiciary, to which Mr. Dicey refers in the passage quoted below. In Ireland such a conflict would be not probable only, but certain. As Professor Dicey says : The object of the plaintiff in an action is to obtain, not judgment, Professor but payment or execution. What are the means by which judgments Dicey's of the Privy Council may be put in force where they happen not to be supported by Irish opinion, and are opposed, it may be, to the decisions of the Irish Courts ? The answer is simple ; the Constitu- tion provides no means whatever. The Federal tribunals of America possess in every State officials of their own, and are supported in the main by American opinion. The Americans are, moreover, to use their own expression, " a law-abiding people." Yet for all this the * Pages 171-183. D2 36 The New Home Rule Policy. [iv. judgment of the Supreme Court may be worth little if it runs across State sentiment, and if the President should happen to sympathize with State rights. A citizen of colour was unlawfully imprisoned in Georgia ; he applied for a habeas corpus. The application ulti- mately came before Chief Justice Marshall, and the writ was granted. The traditional comment of President Jackson is noteworthy. "John Marshall has given his judgment, let him enforce it if he can." The Executive would not assist the Court, and the Supreme Court was powerless. Switzerland, again, has a Federal tribunal; it is a Court, as would be the Privy Council, which cannot command officials of its own to execute its process ; it depends for aid on the Cantonal authorities. This state of things, I am told on good authority, pro- duces its natural result. The judgments of the Federal tribunal can be rendered almost ineffective by the opposition of a Canton. At this moment the statutes of the Imperial Parliament bind every man throughout the United Kingdom. The Courts in Ireland are bound to give effect to every statute, and the Irish Courts are sup- ported by the sheriff and his officers, and in the last resort by the power of the United Kingdom. Yet the difficulty of the day is en- forcement of judgments which run against Irish popular opinion. Is it common sense to imagine that opposition which defies, often with success, the authority of the Irish Queen's Bench Division, or ultimately of the House of Lords, would not easily nullify the judgments of the Privy Council when not only unpopular in Ireland, but in contradiction to a law devised by the Irish Executive, passed by the Irish Parliament, supported by the Irish Judges ? * It seems clear that, so far as individuals and their rights are concerned, the protection supposed to he afforded by this appellate jurisdiction would be entirely illusory. The Irish Executive would take no pains to set its police force in motion to overrule its own acts, and prohably after the contemplated change in the character of the constabulary had been completed it could not do so even if it would. Local resistance to legal process has been the most formidable difficulty we have had to con- tend with in the past. It will not be diminished when * Dicey's Case against Home Rule (2nd ed.), pp. 258-260. iv.] Savings and Safeguards. 37 those who are interested in withstanding or subverting law know that a sympathetic Executive will do nothing to protect the officers of the Courts. There is a stroke of The position cruel irony in the authority given to the Exchequer the special Judges, should the ordinary means of enforcing decrees officer of the fail, to appoint a special officer, who for that purpose shall Judges. be invested with " the same privileges, immunities, and powers as are by law conferred on a sheriff and his officers."* The might and majesty of such an emissary, proceeding to execute a decree of the Court at Gweedore or Bodyke, while the Executive in Dublin and the local police combine to use a benevolent " dispensing power," .dazzle the imagination. Of course, the Courts may strive to vindicate their authority and may be supported by the Imperial Government, with consequences sufficiently damaging to the " union of hearts." But whether they do so or not, no real security is given under these pre- tentious provisions for the maintenance or restoration of personal rights that may be invaded by the unconstitu- tional action of the Irish Legislature. Finally, there are certain temporary and personal securities intended to bridge over the period of transition from the Imperial Government to full-fledged Home Rule. Though Mr. Gladstone has altered his tone in regard to the protection due to Judges, magistrates, policemen and other public servants, who, as he said in 1886, have, in rendering " loyal service to the Empire," been "placed in relations more or less uneasy with popular influences and with what under the new Consti- tution will be in all probability the dominating influence in that country,"! it was not possible to leave this part of the subject altogether unprovided for. We have, there- fore, a series of provisions regulating the position of * Clause 19, sub-section 5. ^Hansard, vol. 304, p. 1070. 407417 38 The New Home Rule Policy. [IV. Those who rendered "loyal ser- vice to the Empire." present and future Judges, of civil servants, of persons in receipt of pensions and of the officers and men of the The two blank Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police. (Sections 26-30.) It is singular that the two schedules professing to give particulars of the retiring allowances to the civil servants and to the police are left blank in the Bill, and there is too much reason to believe that this is because the terms proposed, though probably not too liberal, have been objected to by the representa- tives of what Mr. Gladstone has truly called " the domi- nating influence." Before we examine the position in which those who have rendered "loyal service to the Empire" in Ireland, are to be left under Mr. Gladstone's scheme of Home Rule, it is well to record once more a few out of many indications of the temper and purpose with which they are regarded by those who are masters of " the dominat- ing influence." The same testimony will be useful in estimating the worth of the rights, not only of landowners, but of their mortgagees and other creditors, many, if not most, of them English and Scotch investors, both during the period of three years in which the power over agrarian legislation will be reserved by the Imperial Parliament, while the Irish Executive will be at the dis- posal of " the dominating influence," and afterwards when the Irish Legislature is to acquire unfettered authority to confiscate and despoil. As our correspon- dent, "A Radical Nonconformist," pointed out a few days ago,* Mr. Dillon has spoken out very plainly on these questions. His " word of warning " to landlords and agents, bailiffs and police, has been repeated in various forms, but always to the same effect. " I tell these people," he said, just after the Plan of Campaign had Mr. Dillon'.- threats. Times, February 27, 1893. iv.] Savings and Safeguards. 39 been initiated, " that the time is at hand, and very close at hand, too, when the police will be our servants, when the police will be taking their pay from Mr. Parnell, when he will be the Prime Minister of Ireland. And I warn the men to-day who take their stand by the side of landlordism and signalize themselves as the enemies of the people that in the time of our power we will remember them. The time has gone by when the Government of this country can be opposed to the wishes of our people, and I warn you that in the struggle you are going into this winter your enemies have a day of reckoning at hand, that we are "A day of not the men who forget who stood up against the people. reckonm &- .... I will go further and say that officers of the law who make themselves prominent against the people by their harshness and cruelty, if they want promotion when the Irish Government is in power will have to go elsewhere than to us to look for it."* A year later Mr. Dillon's menaces were as distinct, though the immediate prospect of his gaining official power to give effect to them had dis- appeared. To those who dared to set at naught the dicta- tion of the " Campaigners " he said : " Let that man be "His life will who he may, his life will not be a happy one, either in not beahappy Ireland or across the seas, and I say this with the intention of carrying out what I say."f And, again, a little later* : " It is the duty of every man in this country who has an Irish heart jui his breast, and who feels for his country, to do everything in his power to injure everybody who helps Hamilton " a land agent who had courageously and suc- cessfully resisted the Plan. While the Crimes Bill was Mr. O'Bric before Parliament, Mr. William O'Brien's newspaper de- "^^^ nounced the resident magistrates as " a pack of mean and ercenaries. * Daily News, December 6, 1886. f Freeman's Journal, August 24, 1887. J Freeman's Journal, December 3, 1887. United Ireland, April 9, 1887. n s 40 The New Home Rule Policy. [IV. cowardly mercenaries," and as "paid partizans who do the dirty work of the Castle." This was "before Mr. Balfour's administration had obtained any coercive powers, and the attack was made on men of whom the majority had been appointed and promoted under Mr. Gladstone. It is a pity that when the use of the word " mercenary " was lately discussed in the House of Commons on a question of privilege, this locus classicus was not cited by its author. It is to an Executive Government animated by the feelings Mr. Dillon and Mr. O'Brien have so candidly avowed that Mr. Gladstone's Bill would deliver over, not only the landlords of Ireland, but the Judges, the magistrates, the civil servants of every class, the police, and the officials employed in carrying out the decrees of the Courts, with only such "protection" as is secured to them in the clauses referred to. The intention, undoubtedly, is to give the existing Judges of the Superior and County Courts, the chief Land Commis- sioners, and the officers in the Permanent Civil Service, who are paid out of the Consolidated Fund, a guarantee for the preservation of their present rights as to tenure, salary, and pension, and though it is not quite clear that this object is perfectly attained by the provisions of the Bill as they stand, we assume that Ministers will feel them- selves bound by the pledge thus formally given. But this protection does not extend either to the main body The main body of the civil servants, including such important classes of rants likely officials as the heads of many departments, the resident magistrates, the inspectors of schools, fisheries, factories, &c., the Assistant Land Commissioners and valuers, or to the constabulary. The former are liable to be dismissed from their employment at six months' notice by the Irish Executive, upon such terms as to pension or retiring gratuity as " the dominating influence " may allow The intention to secure the higher officials. iv.] Savings and Safeguards. Mr. Gladstone to offer. The latter" are to be disbanded on similar terms, as soon as the local forces have been organized. The rates of pension, &c., to be offered, as we have said, are kept secret ; but it is quite certain that they will bestow upon men, most of them of middle age, with no other prospect in life open to them, a mere frac- tion of the income which they have been receiving, and which, in the ordinary course of things, they would continue to earn for years to come. As the Irish Ex- chequer will be responsible in the case of civil servants for the repayment to the Imperial Exchequer of the whole of the amount of these pensions and gratuities, and in the case of the constabulary for two-thirds of the amount, " the dominating influence " will have the strongest reasons for trying to cut down what must be at best a paltry provision to the lowest possible point. And this is to be the fate of men who have entered upon their professional career relying on the assurance that they have been incorporated in the permanent service of the Crown, to hold their places and draw their pay till death, resignation, or removal for incapacity or misconduct. On the faith of this assurance they have formed all their plans of life, and have resigned the prospect, and, in many cases the possession, of other means of livelihood. Now, by a stroke of Mr. Gladstone's pen, in his treaty- making with " the dominating influence," these public servants are placed at the mercy of those who have avowed a determination to stamp them out. Yet Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Bryce, and Mr. Morley protest in the House of Commons that a national obligation to these public servants has been recognized, and will be fulfilled ! The insulting mockery of these hollow phrases placed side by side with the hard facts is without a historical parallel. Nothing like it is to be found even in that painful chapter 41 42 The New Home Rule Policy. [iv. of our annals which records the events that followed Majuba Hill. The two Two powerful motives will co-operate to bring about a motive" " clean sweep " of the civil servants and the constabulary, revenge and should the Irish Executive be established in the manner contemplated by Mr. Gladstone's Bill. The spirit of revenge and malignity that breathes through Mr. Dillon's speeches will have to be satisfied. But malice will be The American re-inforced by greed. The cynical doctrine, " To the victors belong the spoils," formulated in the American Congress by Marcy two generations ago, has been put into practice in the United States with special zest and thorough- ness by Irish politicians. It is idle to imagine that the opportunity afforded by the Bill of applying it on a grand scale in Ireland will be neglected. Mr. Gladstone pro- fesses to believe that the Irish Government will be actuated by a pure and zealous passion for economy, that the pruning knife will be freely used, that many places will be abolished, and most salaries cut down. Everybody who knows anything about Irish affairs and the character of " the dominating influence " must recognize the absurdity of such predictions. In this respect, as in so many others, the Parliamentary party are not their own masters. They have to provide not only for themselves, but for their supporters, for the "organizers" and "workers" of the movement whose creatures they are. They will require every place they can get hold of to gratify the necessities of their following and their own. This is not the belief "Waiting for of the doomed Loyalists only. It is avowed and insisted upon by the Parnellite journals in Dublin, one of which heads a remarkable letter* on the subject, " Waiting for Plunder; 30,000 a-year for the M'Carthyites after the * Evening Herald, February 25, 1893. iv.] Savings and Safeguards. 43 Bill. Are the secede rs to have all the power and all the swag ? Are the 100,000 Parnellites to have no voice in the Government, and no protection ? " Even if the heads of departments, the resident magistrates, the inspectors, the assistant commissioners, and the officers of police had not become obnoxious to the masses by " loyal service to the Empire," they would have to go, because their places and salaries are needed for others. The same thing will probably happen in the lower ranks. Though the Home Rule Executive would not care, probably, to work the new system with magistrates, Land Commissioners, or police officers who had done their duty under the old system, there may appear to be little inducement to get rid of the rank and file of the constabulary, who might be incorpo- rated with manifest advantage in the local police forces. But, apart from the fact that they are tainted with the The newpolice Imperial connexion, there is a stronger reason against this course. The class which has acted as " the police of the League " the " village ruffians," as Mr. Forster called them the " hill-side men " and " the moonlighters," will put in claims to which Mr. Dillon and his party dare not turn a deaf ear. The immediate business of the Irish Government during the three years in which the land question is to be withdrawn from its cognizance will be to create "anarchy by establishment," and the materials, under Mr. Gladstone's scheme, are ready to their hand. With the " moonlighters " as a police force, with magis- The new trates and Land Commissioners chosen carefully among the enemies of the " English garrison," the new masters of Ireland can await without impatience the expiry of the first term of judicial rents fixed under the Land Act of 1881, and begin the revision, to prairie value or below it, in a manner which will testify to the admirable results of that masterpiece of statesmanship. We are entitled to say 44 The New Home Rule Policy. [n. of this legalized resuscitation of the " League," in tha Mr. Glad- words which Mr. Gladstone used of the movement headed 7 h* 8 present allies a dozen years ago,* that " it means the twelve years destruction of peace and all that makes life worth having ; it means the placing in abeyance of the most sacred duties and the most cherished rights ; it means the establishment of the servitude of good men, and the supremacy and impunity of bad men." The moral elements of the case have not been changed merely because Mr. Gladstone is now dependent on the party he then denounced for his majority in the House of Commons and for his mainten - ance in office. * Hansard, January 28, 1881. v.] Finance and Finality. 45 V. FINANCE AND FINALITY. ACCORDING to the admissions of all rational advocates of Finance a Home Rule, the financial basis of the scheme is a cardinal Ci point. If the relations to be established between the Imperial and the Irish Government in regard to finance should tnrn out to be unsound, inequitable, and unwork- able, the " message of peace " will bring in its train complaints and conflicts, recrimination, repudiation, and bankruptcy. It is not to be supposed that the taxpayers of Great Britain will submit to be heavily and unfairly mulcted in order to equip and subsidize a policy against which they have, by the majority of their representatives, entered a solemn protest. It is idle to imagine that the Irish Nationa- lists will be content with revenues and taxing powers that will place them between the alternatives of a rigorously economical and parsimonious administration and an early Parsimony or confession of insolvency. Yet is there any method by insolvenc y- which these opposing conditions can be reconciled ? If so, Mr. Gladstone does not appear to have as yet discovered it. The Unionists protest against the financial scheme of 1893 not less strongly than they protested against that of 1886, as at once grossly unjust to the British taxpayers and as certain to break down speedily in practice. The Nationalists are fully as dissatisfied. Mr. Parnell con- demned the financial arrangements of the former Bill root and branch.* Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Sexton agree with Mr. Redmond and Mr. Clancy in condemning the present proposals. " This prospect," says Mr. Sexton in the Nine- Mr. Sexton teenth Century for March, p. 373, " we certainly cannot cial scheme" ' * Hansard, vol. 304, pp. 1853, 1854. 46 The New Home Rule Policy. accept ; we ask for a real surplus." " Were the financial M r. Redmond, clauses to remain as they are," says Mr. Redmond in the Speaker of February 25, 1893, " I, for one, would have the very gravest doubt as to the possibility of the ultimate success of the scheme." In 1886, Mr. Gladstone tried to escape from the dilemma by an ingenious arith- metical juggle. For this another artificial system has now been substituted. But the facts of the case are too plain to be misinterpreted. From Mr. Gladstone's own admissions seven years ago we are able to show that the arrangement he proposes now, like that which he proposed then, is unfair to the taxpayer of Great Britain, while his Irish Separatist allies may be left to prove that, in the financial position in which he places Ireland, Irish independence must mean Irish bankruptcy. Let us, in the first place, give a succinct summary of Mr. Gladstone's new scheme of finance. He proposes, not to ask Ireland for the payment of a lump sum, as in 1886, by way of her contribution towards Imperial liabilities and expenditure, but to take over, in lieu of such a con- tribution, a fund already under Imperial control and intended so to remain, namely, the amount of the Irish Customs receipts, which is estimated, after allowing for the cost of collection, at 2,370,000. The rest of the Irish revenue provision being made to divert from the Irish to the Imperial Exchequer the proportion of the revenue from Excise duties on Irish spirits and malt liquor consumed and paid for by the people of England and Scotland is left to be handled by the Irish administration. The Irish Here, according to Mr. Gladstone's calculations, is the balance-sheet i3 a i ailce sheet of the new Government of Ireland.* * Parliamentary Paper (No. 91) : Return showing the effect of the Finance proposals in the Government of Ireland Bill, as regards Ireland, on the basis of the estimated Revenue and Expenditure for 18921893. Mr. Glad- stone's finan- cial scheme. V. Finance and Finality. RECEIPTS. Excise Duties (exclusive of licences), including beer duty, spirit duty, chicory duty, coffee mixture labels, home grown tobacco, railway duty, charges on de- livery from bonded warehouses, &c., Local Taxes : Stamps, 755,000 Income-tax, 550,000 Excise Licences, 190,000 Posts and Telegraphs, Crown Lands, Miscellaneous, EXPENDITURE. Civil Administration Charges, Cost of Inland Revenue Collection, Expenses of Post and Telegraph Service, Contribution to cost of maintaining constabulary, being two-thirds of cost (1,500,000), to Imperial Budget, Surplus, 3,220,000 1,495,000 740,000 65,000 140,000 5,660,000 3,210,000 160,000 790,000 1,000,000 5,160,000 500,000 5,660,000 The regulation of the rates of Excise duties and of i> os t Office postal and telegraph charges is retained, as well as the ^g^^ fixing of Customs duties, by the Imperial Parliament ; duties, but the collection and management both of the Excise and of the postal and telegraphic services, and consequently the patronage of those services, are to be under Irish control. The receipts thus left to the Irish Government will be almost exclusively drawn from local sources, though her share of the income from Crown lands will be Crown lands. paid over by the Imperial Government. The charge for the Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police, Constabulary, amounting to 1,500,000 per annum, will be immediately 48 The New Home Rule Policy. TV. borne, so long as those forces are in existence, by the Imperial Government ; but the Irish Government will be under an obligation to pay back two -thirds of that sum into the Imperial Exchequer. The difference constitutes the direct bonus from the Imperial to the Irish Govern- ment, which is to start the latter with a surplus of half a million a-year. This payment, if capitalized, has been estimated at 17 millions sterling a sum which Mr. The "War Balfour and Mr. Goschen greatly angered the Prime Minister by calling a " war indemnity." As we shall see, however, it is only a part of the price the British taxpayers are asked to pay for the privilege of giving Mr. Gladstone and his Irish Separatist allies an oppor- tunity of making an experiment in "autonomy" that may wreck both the British Empire and the British Parliamentary system. We must be careful to keep separate the question of the contribution actually due from Ireland to the Imperial Exchequer, and not to allow it to be mixed up with either of Mr. Gladstone's juggling devices for concealing the real magnitude of the loss to the taxpayers of Great Britain. We have no objection to discuss the policy of a direct bonus, such as the payment of one-third of the Constabulary charge, or even one of three times or four Mr. Glad- times that amount ; but let the conditions of such a ciafscheme"^ P r P sa ^ ^ e dearly seen and coolly weighed. Seven years 1886. ago, on bringing forward his first Home Rule Bill, Mr. Gladstone carefully went into the " equitable distribution of Imperial charges,"* which'he described as " an essential condition of our plan." While it was contemplated at the time of the Union that Ireland should pay a share of Imperial charges in the proportion of I to 71, Mr. Glad- stone stated that her actual payment was as 1 to !!; * Hansard, vol. 304, pp. 1073-1075 v.]] Finance and Finality. 49 and, after examining the testimony afforded by the valuation, the death duties, and the income tax, he came to the conclusion that to fix her share at a payment of 1 to 14 would be " an equitable and even generous arrange- ment." On this basis the Irish contribution towards Ireland's share Imperial expenditure was fixed as follows : charges, i to 14, under Bill Debt Charge (Interest and Sinking Fund), .. 1,826,000 of 1886. Army and Navy Charges, 1,666,000 Imperial Civil Charges, 110,000 3,602,000 The debt charge has decreased since 1886, but, on the other hand, the Army and Navy charges, and probably also the Imperial Civil charges, have increased, though on these points Mr. Gladstone has not deigned to give the country any precise information, nor has he stated whether or not in his opinion the Irish proportion ought to be now assessed on a different principle. He has simply taken over the Irish Customs receipts in lieu of the contribution to Imperial charges with the remark that it " is very nearly the right amount." The meaning of this is quite Charge upon plain. In 1886 Mr. Gladstone, in addition to proposing, Jj J^ h as he does now, that the Imperial Government should bear provision in one-third of the Constabulary charge, contemplated per- manently endowing the Irish Government with the proceeds of duties on excisable goods, levied in Ireland but really paid by the British consumers, to the value, according to his own calculation, of 1,400,000. This additional subsidy, "paid to the benefit of Ireland as a charge upon the English and Scotch taxpayer,"* to quote Mr. Gladstone's words at the time, was highly unpopular, and if the Bill had not been quickly dismissed by the defeat on the second reading, would have been exposed to * Hansard, vol. 304, p. 1076. E 50 The New Home Rule Policy. the most damaging criticism. Mr. Gladstone has there- fore dropped it, proposing to effect, by levying the duties in Great Britain, what he formerly said could not be done " without breaking up the present absolute freedom of trade between the two countries."* But he carries out his original object in another way. Without attempting to prove that the Irish contribution to Imperial expenditure ought to be less than the amount he so elaborately esti- mated it to be in 1886, he adopts the device recommended by the unjust steward in the parable to his master's debtors. Instead of 3,602,000, the sum estimated in 1886, or nearly four millions, which would be one- fifteenth 'Very nearly of 59,000,000, his present estimate of Imperial charges,f amount-" Mr. Gladstone takes the net return from the Customs duties at 2,370,000, and tells the British public boldly that it is " very nearly the right amount." The result of the latter operation is not substantially different from the earlier. The real payment, in excess of Ireland's Imperial contribution on the basis of her present share in the general burden of taxation, is not half a million, but at least one million and three-quarters per annum, and this is what the taxpayers of Great Britain will have to meet, as a new charge, in order to give Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule a start. On the other hand, it is not difficult to see why the Irish are by no means in love with the arrangements. There will be no Imperial grants for the future. The Board of Works will no longer lend British capital to Irish farmers for drainage operations, to Irish priests for school- houses and glebes, or to the Irish ratepayers generally for the construction of public works and buildings. The credit of Ireland will no longer be raised to the level of British credit, and where it will stand, on its own merits, may be inferred from the recent fall in Irish securities. * Hansard, vol. 304, p. 1076. t Times, February 14, 1893. Irish objec- tions to the financial scheme. No more loans. v.] Finance and Finality. 51 The Excise duties must be the corner-stone of the Irish The Excise budget, and any extensive change in the drinking habits of the people an event, however, which may be regarded as "out of the range of practical politics" would certainly land the Irish Government in a deficit. This is, indeed, one curious and striking result of the wild enthusiasm with which the temperance party flung themselves on the side of Mr. Gladstone. The self -governed Ireland they if so will \,e are helping to set up, if, as they desire, she becomes sober, lnsolvent - will also become insolvent. Nor is this the only danger involved in dependence on the Excise. There is a long tradition of popular sympathy in Ireland with illicit distillation and other frauds on the revenue. The manu- im c i t aistilla- facture of poteen was carried on, upon the most extensive lion - scale, when Ireland had a Parliament of her own ; it has only been brought within bounds, in our own time, mainly by the energy and activity of the Constabulary, " that distinguished and admirable force," as Mr. Gladstone has called it, and the practice is not yet by any means extinct. When the Constabulary has been supplanted by a local police, imbued with, the traditional sympathies and antipathies of the peasantry, what chance will the unpopular " gangers " have of putting down the manu- facture and sale of unlicensed spirit ? Yet if the revenue is thus defrauded to any considerable extent, what is to become of Mr. Gladstone's balance-sheet and his Irish .surplus ? Besides the Excise duties, levied according to the A graduated scale fixed by the Imperial Parliament, the Irish Govern- ment will have few resources, and will probably have to resort, in obedience to the popular demand for expen- diture, to such desperate and, in the end, self-defeating measures, in a country possessing little capital, and having yet to create an independent credit, as a graduated income-tax, heavy death-duties, and a severe system of E2 The New Home Rule Policy. trade licences. That any great economies will be effected we are unable to believe. Mr. Gladstone, indeed, has often contended that Irish Administration is scandalously costly, both in proportion to the work done and to the wealth of the country, and has pointed to such facts as the unsatisfactory difference shown on the balance-sheet between the income and the outgoings of the Irish postal system. But does he believe that the Irish Government can or will begin its career by shutting up the small rura_ post-offices which do not pay, and by dismissing number of post-office employes? He admits himself, in another connexion, that he is somewhat afraid of the- Mr. Gladstone "generous extravagance"* of Irish finance. Apart alto- i-ous S extrava- gether from the pressure to which the Irish Government will be subjected to preserve, and even to increase its patronage, and to add the burden of an unnecessary pension list, in consequence of wholesale dismissals, to the charge for existing salaries, there are general grounds for believing that any large system of economy in this direction is a moral impossibility. It is very doubtful whether, even if both Government and people were zealous for strictly economical administration, a country like Ireland could be administered as cheaply, relatively to its revenues and resources, as a much larger, wealthier, and more advanced country, like England, unless the whole scale of the administrative system, and the mode of life of the governing classes were permanently placed on a lower and cheaper basis. Some items of expendi- ture must remain nearly constant, whether the revenue administered be great or small. But does anyone suppose that even where cheapness is possible it will be adopted by Irish politicians, familiar with the scale of administrative expenditure adopted in Great Britain, and also in Ireland, during the British connexion ? * Times, February 14, 1893. gance. Economy impossible. V.] Finance and Finality. 53 One very grave consequence of the financial arrange- Reduction in ments devised by Mr. Gladstone is that any reduction Excise duties either of the Customs duties or of the Excise duties by the im P ssible - Imperial Parliament will be practically rendered im- possible. No change of the kind can be made without lessening, in the former case, the already inadequate Irish Contribution for Imperial purposes, or actually paying over, in the latter case, a further indemnity to the Irish Govern- ment so as to preserve the artificial and somewhat unstable equilibrium of the Irish budget. The Chancellor of the Ex- Effect on chequer here would lose at once the power he possesses at ^"S 118 * 1 ,, Chancellor of present of dealing freely with these two main branches Exchequer, of the Imperial revenue. Thus, if he were' to abolish the duty on tea, he would strike off the Irish contribution Duty on tea. the whole of the Irish receipts under that head, one of the largest items, since the Irish consumption of foreign spirits and wine, is on a comparatively limited scale ; and this loss would have to be met, of course, by additional taxation in England and Scotland. Again, if the Excise duties if Excise were lowered, the Imperial Exchequer would be bound . dut es are (Clause 10, sub-section 6) to pay over to the Irish Government the amount of any consequent loss compared with the sum set down in the initial balance-sheet. On the other hand, it is provided, to meet the case of war, that if the Excise duties are increased the Irish Govern- ment is to hand over the additional proceeds to the Imperial Government. But what if the Chancellor of if they are the Exchequer should desire for British purposes other rais ed. than those of war to increase, let us say, the duties on spirits and beer ? Is it likely that the Irish Government will consent to an additional impost, which would in all probability check consumption or encourage fraud, while the Irish Exchequer would not profit by a single penny should the receipts be augmented ? In confusion and complexity these arrangements seem to challenge com- 54 The New Home Rule Policy. [V- parison with the system of Egyptian finance, under inter- national restraints so vividly described in Mr. Milner's- recent book. The Argentine The expedient of grasping the Customs receipts, as- Confederation. Lord R an d l p h Churchill showed in the debate on the second reading,* has been borrowed from countries like the Argentine Confederation, where its working has not produced the most admirable results. It does not even avoid, as Mr. Gladstone persuades himself it will, the difficulties arising out of cross accounts, and out of An elaborate direct demands upon the Irish Exchequer. An elaborate accounts SS s j s ^ em f cross accounts is contemplated in Clause 13,. and there are a succession of charges, enumerated in Clause 14, payable from Ireland to the Imperial Exche- quer, such as the two-thirds, share of the cost of the police, the repayments to meet dividends and sinking fund on guaranteed land stock, the amounts due on default of land purchase and other advances, the cost of salaries and pensions, the annuity for the repayment of the Local Loans Fund, &c. How are these sums to be recovered in case the Irish Government should profess to be unable to meet the demand ? It is provided that when certain of The Lord these charges are certified to be due the Lord Lieutenant ma^orter 4 8na U> " by order without any counter- signature " that is, but the without requiring the advice or assent of his Irish Minis- mny not carry ters cause the money to be paid from the one Exchequer to the other. But all the officials at the Irish Exchequer and all the disposable Executive forces will be the servants of, and in sympathy with, the Irish Government. The situation will be precisely that of a landlord whose tenants refuse to pay, or declare that they are unable to pay, rent,, except that the Imperial Government can neither put in an execution nor carry out an eviction. The Lord Lieu- tenant's order, the decree of the Court of Exchequer or of * Times, February 17, 1893. v.] Finance and Finality. 55 the Privy Council, every necessary element of legality, in fact, may be present, "but what will it all avail if the Irish Government, borrowing the language that has been assiduously taught to the defaulting tenant, should assert its moral right to postpone meeting its legal obligations until it has discharged its primary duties to those depen- dent upon it? Of course, we shall pay our debts such The "live is the language we may expect to hear but first of all we excuse!^ have to see our people " live and thrive." We demand a moratorium, and, meanwhile, we must examine carefully whether or not the terms exacted from us when the Home Rule Bill was passed were equitable and reasonable. We all protested at the time, but our protests were not listened to. Now, if you mean to insist upon your hard bargain, Refuse to be you must understand that we refuse to be bound by it, j^d bargain. and that you will have to use force to compel us to comply with it. How is the Imperial Government to deal with language such as this? It can send horse, foot, and artillery to Ireland, but this remedy, the very one we should resort to, if to any, in the case of a foreign default- ing Power, is neither an effective and economical method of getting in revenue, nor a substantial guarantee for the maintenance of the " union of hearts." When we published, a few weeks ago, a series of articles Finality only under the title " What Home Eule Means Now," we produced a mass of evidence showing from the reiterated statements of the Irish Separatists themselves that no measure such as Mr. Gladstone was in a position to bring forward none, indeed, falling short of practical separa- tion had any chance of being accepted as final. Mr. Mr. Gladstone, Gladstone, in fact, seems to have realized this, for, though an ^ ]yj r |or d he talks of the necessity of making his Bill a "real and on "finality." continuing settlement,"* he admits that " finality is a somewhat discredited word," just as Mr. Morley had Times, February 14, 1893. 56 The New Home Rule Policy. [v. previously declared it to be an "illusion,"* and Mr. Patrick Ford f a " futility." Parliament, then, and the British public are clearly to understand that if the Bill is passed, with the nominal acquiescence of the Irish Nationalists, there is to be no finality about it. The financial arrange- ments, in particular, have been challanged from the outset, and would not be treated, were an Irish Legislature and Executive to be once established, with the slightest respect. Manifesto of The Irish National League of America issued a few days League of " ' a S a ma "ifesto the spirit of which is fairly represented America. by t ne following passages : "We deeply regret that some Irishmen claiming to represent the Irish people cried hallelujah, and announced to the world that the present measure was a full and complete settlement of the claims of Ireland. That it is not must be apparent to every honest man of our race. The measure cannot he accepted as a full and complete settlement of the claims of our people. We have no hesitation in declaring that instead of being a blessing it will prove ruinous to our country. The Parliament, or Assembly, in Dublin, as provided for by this measure, will be little better than a mockery. There is nothing about it of the dignity of a Legislature. The Bill is intended to promote peace and order in Ireland, but the Assembly men in Dublin Special con- will play the part of special constables, and also be the tax-gatherers. stables and After England has got the lion's share of revenue, these jackals, if ers> they need more for their purposes, may impose special taxes. In other words, the people of Ireland will be doubly taxed, and the last farthing will be drained from them."* No doubt Mr. M'Carthy, Mr. Sexton, and Mr. Dillon would say that, though they dislike the financial arrange- ments, they are prepared to assent to them for the sake of securing the other advantages of autonomy ; but without contesting the sincerity of such declarations, it is enough to point out that there is no security that any of the present leaders of the Parliamentary party will be those who will administer the Irish Government under a Home Nineteenth Century, February, 1887, p. 314. t Irish World, November 12, 1887. t Telegram in Times, February 27, 1893. v.] Finance and Finality. 57 Rule system. A succession of prominent " patriots " Forgotten have had their little day and disappeared Mr. Butt, Mr. Shaw, Mr. O'Connor Power, Mr. O'Donnell their very names forgotten by the multitude which used to cheer them and by the Parliamentary statesmen with whom they used to intrigue or contend. Mr. Parnell himself, who in force of character and in- fluence over the masses stood head and shoulders above them all, saw his popularity swept away on a sudden, and died a ruined and broken-hearted man before he had sounded the lowest depths of his decline. With these ex- amples before us, drawn from the brief history of a few years, what folly would it be to " march into the midst of the future tense " at Mr. Gladstone's bidding in reliance on pledges, whether they be sincere or not, given by the politicians now pretending to speak in the name of Ire- land. Sir Joseph M'Kenna furnished an interesting and instructive bit of information in a letter we published the other day. ""The late Mr. Biggar," he writes,* " was Mr. Biggar's strongly in favour of accepting the Bill of 1886 as a " strata g em -" " stratagem," and debating the finance when the Parlia- ment was in College-green, on the ground of the fraud it contained ; but Mr. Parnell rigidly rejected all such ideas." We know, however, how Mr. Parnell declared in Mr. Paraell's Committee Eoom No. 15 that he merely accepted the admission - measure under pressure, and having no right, as he ad- mitted, to " set limits to Ireland's nationhood," he would certainly have not opposed, even if it had been within his power, there-opening of the financial question after Home Rule had been granted. A conflict over the financial relations between the Imperial and the Irish Governments would bring the whole settlement into question. A resort to force by the Imperial Government would, in the opinion of many, afford a pretext for foreign intervention. We * Times, February 27, 1893. 58 The New Home Rule Policy. [v. Ulster and do not intend to discuss at present the attitude of Ulster,. Parliament. though it is clear that if the Ulster men persist, as we believe they will, in their resolution not to pay taxes to a Dublin Parliament, the bottom will be knocked out of Home Rule financially as well as morally. But, narrowing the issue to that of the financial relations between the two Governments as embodied in Mr. Gladstone's Bill, we maintain that the system proposed excludes, by rigorous logic, the prospect of finality. If the hope of finality i& to be abandoned, where is the promise of Parliamentary relief and of peace between Great Britain and Ireland ? APPENDIX A. GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND BILL, 1886. ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES. PAE.T I. Legislative Authority. Clause. 1. Establishment of Irish Legislature. 2. Powers of Irish Legislature. 3. Exceptions from powers of Irish Legislature. 4. Restrictions on powers of Irish Legislature. 5. Prerogatives of Her Majesty as to Irish Legislative Body. 6. Duration of the Irish Legislative Body. Executive Authority. 7. Constitution of the Executive Authority. 8. Use of Crown lands by Irish Government. Constitution of Legislative Body. 9. Constitution of Irish Legislative Body. 10. First order. 11. Second order. Finance. 12. Taxes and separate Consolidated Fund. 13. Annual contributions from Ireland to Consolidated Fund of United Kingdom. 14. Collection and application of customs and excise duties in Ireland. 15. Charges on Irish Consolidated Fund. 16. Irish Church Fund. 17. Public loans. 18. Additional aid in case of war. 19. Money bills and votes. 20. Exchequer divisions and revenue actions. Police. 21. Police. 60 Arrangement of Clauses. PART II. SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS. Powers of Her Majesty. Clause. 22. Powers over certain lands reserved to Her Majesty. Legislative Body. 23. Veto by first order of Legislative Body, how over-ruled. 24. Cesserof power of Ireland to return members to Parliament. Decision of Constitutional Questions. 25. Constitutional questions to be submitted to Judicial Com- mittee. Lord Lieutenant. 26. Office of Lord Lieutenant. Judges and Civil Servants. 27. Judges to be removable only on address. 28. Provision as to judges and other persons having salaries charged on the Consolidated Fund. 29. As to persons holding civil service appointments. 30. Provision for existing pensions and superannuation allow- ances. Transitory Provisions. 31. Transitory provisions in Schedule. Miscellaneous 32. Post Office and savings banks. 33. Audit. 34. Application of parliamentary law. 35. Regulations for carrying Act into effect. 36. Saving of powers of House of Lords. 37. Saving of rights of Parliament. 38. Continuance of existing laws, courts, officers, &c. 39. Mode of alteration of Act. 40. Definitions. 41. Short title of Act. SCHEDULES. A B ILL TO AMEND The provision for the future Government of Ireland, A.D. isss. 1886. F49 VICT.I 1886. [49 VICT.] BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : PART I. Legislative Authority. 1. On and after the appointed day there shall be established Establish- in Ireland a Legislature consisting of Her Majesty the Queen ^"^1 ; s . and an Irish Legislative Body. lature. 2. With the exceptions and subject to the restrictions in this Powers of Act mentioned, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen, ^tur e Legis * 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. 3. The Legislature of Ireland shall not make laws relating to Exceptions the following matters or any of them : ofTi s P h wers " (1.) The status or dignity of the Crown, or the succession to Le e islature - the Crown, or a Regency ; (2.) The making of peace or war ; (3.) The army, navy, militia, volunteers, or other military or naval forces, or the defence of the realm ; (4.) Treaties and other relations with foreign States, or the relations between the various parts of Her Majesty's dominions ; (5.) Dignities or titles of honour ; (6.) Prize or booty of war ; (7.) Offences against the law of nations ; or offences com- mitted in violation of any treaty made, or hereafter to be made, between Her Majesty and any foreign State ; or offences committed on the high seas ; 2 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. [PART I. A.D. 1886. (8.) Treason, alienage, or naturalization ; (9.) Trade, navigation, or quarantine; (10.) The postal and telegraph service, except as hereafter in this Act mentioned -with respect to the transmission of letters and telegrams in Ireland ; (11.) Beacons, lighthouses, or sea marks ; (12.) The coinage ; the value of foreign money ; legal tender ; or weights and measures ; or (13.) Copyright, patent rights, or other exclusive rights to the use or profits of any works or inventions. Any law made in contravention of this section shall he void. Restrictions 4. The Irish Legislature shall not make any law on powers of Irish (i.) Respecting the establishment or endowment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or (2.) Imposing any disability, or conferring any privilege, on account of religious belief ; or (3.) Abrogating or derogating from the right to establish or maintain any place of denominational education or any denominational institution or charity ; or (4.) Prejudicially affecting the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending the religious instruction at that school; or (5.) Impairing, without either the leave of Her Majesty in Council first obtained on an address presented by the Legislative Body of Ireland, or the consent of the cor- poration interested, the rights, property, or privileges of any existing corporation incorporated by royal charter or local and general Act of Parliament ; or (6.) Imposing or relating to duties of customs and duties of excise, as defined by this Act, or either of such duties or affecting any Act relating to such duties or either of them ; or (7.) Affecting this Act, except in so far as it is declared to be alterable by the Irish Legislature. Preroga- 5. Her Majesty the Queen shall have the same prerogatives Majesty*^ w ^ n respect to summoning, proroguing, and dissolving the Irish to Irish Legislative Body as Her Majesty has with respect to summon- Body. at ' ve i n ?> proroguing, and dissolving the Imperial Parliament. Duration of 6- The Irish Legislative Body whenever summoned may have the Irish continuance for five years and no longer, to be reckoned from the Boly. aU ' day on which any such Legislative Body is appointed to meet. PART I.] The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. 63 A.D. 1886. Executive Authority. 7. (1.) The Executive Government of Ireland shall continue constitu- vested in Her Majesty, and shall he carried on by the Lord tjonofthe Lieutenant on behalf of Her Majesty with the aid of such officers Authority, 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. 8. Her Majesty may, by Order in Council, from time to time u se O f place under the control of the Irish Government, for the purposes Crown of that Government, any such lands and buildings in Ireland as i^sh : may be vested in or held in trust for Her Majesty. Govern- ment. Constitution of Legislative Body. 9. (1 .) The Irish Legislative Body shall consist of a first and c on stitu- second order. L n 'sJ f I-rish (2.) The two orders shall deliberate together, and shall vote Body.*' together, except that, if any question arises in relation to legis- lation or to the Standing Orders or Rules of Procedure or to any other matter in that behalf in this Act specified, and such question is to be determined by vote, each order shall, if a majority of the members present of either order demand a separate vote, give their votes in like manner as if they were separate Legislative Bodies ; and if the result of the voting of the two orders does not agree the question shall be resolved ic the negative. 10. (1.) The first order of the Irish Legislative Body shall First order, consist of one hundred and three members, of whom seventy -five shall be elective members and twenty -eight peerage members. (2.) Each elective member shall at the date of his election and during his period of membership be bona fide possessed of property which (a.) if realty, or partly realty and partly personalty, yields two hundred pounds a year or upwards, free of all charges ; or (i.) if personalty yields the same income, or is of the capital value of four thousand pounds or upwards, free of all charges. 64 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. [PART!. A.D. 1886. (2.) For the purpose of electing the elective members of the first order of the Legislative Body, Ireland shall be divided into the electoral districts specified in the First Schedule to this Act, and each such district shall return the number of members in that behalf specified in that Schedule. (3.) The elective members shall be elected by the registered electors of each electoral district, and for that purpose a register of electors shall be made annually. (4.) An elector in each electoral district shall be qualified a& follows, that is to say, he shall be of full age, and not subject to any legal incapacity, and shall have been during the twelve months next preceding the twentieth day of July in any year the owner or occupier of some land or tenement within the district of a net annual value of twenty -five pounds or upwards,. (5.) The term of office of an elective member shall be ten years. (6.) In every fifth year thirty-seven or thirty-eight of the elective members, as the case requires, shall retire from office, and their places shall be filled by election ; the members to retire shall be those who have been members for the longest time with- out re-election. (7.) The offices of the peerage members shall be filled as follows ; that is to say, (0.) Each of the Irish peers who on the appointed day is one of the twenty-eight Irish representative peers, shall, on giving his written assent to the Lord Lieutenant, become a peerage member of the first order of the Irish Legis- lative Body ; and if at any time within thirty years after the appointed day any such peer vacates his office by death or resignation, the vacancy shall be filled by the election to that office by the Irish peers of one of their number in manner heretofore in use respecting the election of Irish representative peers, subject to adap- tation as provided by this Act, and if the vacancy is not so filled within the proper time it shall be filled by the election of an elective member. (I.} If any of the twenty-eight peers aforesaid does not within one month after the appointed day give such assent ta be a peerage member of the first order, the vacancy so created shall be filled up as if he had assented and vacated his office by resignation. (8.) A peerage member shall be entitled to hold office during his life, or until the expiration of thirty years from the appointed day, whichever period is the shortest. At the expiration of such thirty years the offices of all the peerage members shall be vacated as if they were dead, and their places shall be filled by elective members qualified and elected in manner provided by PART!.] The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. 65 this Act with respect to elective members of the first order, and A.D. 1886. such elective members may be distributed by the Irish Legis- lature among the electoral districts, so, however, that care shall be taken to give additional members to the most populous places. (9.) The offices of members of the first order shall not be vacated by the dissolution of the Legislative Body. (10.) The provisions in the Second Schedule to this Act relat- ing to members of the first order of the Legislative Body shall be of the same force as if they were enacted in the body of this Act. 11. (1.) Subject as in this section hereafter mentioned, the Second second order of the Legislative Body shall consist of two hundred order ' and four members. (2.) The members of the second order shall be chosen by the existing constituencies of Ireland, two by each constituency, with the exception of the city of Cork, which shall be divided into two divisions in manner set forth in the Third Schedule to this Act, and two members shall be chosen by each of such divisions. (3.) Any person who, on the appointed day, is a member representing an existing Irish constituency in the House of Commons shall, on giving his written assent to the Lord Lieu- tenant, become a member of the second order of the Irish Legis- lative Body as if he had been elected by the constituency which he was representing in the House of Commons. Each of the members for the city of Cork, on the said day, may elect for which of the divisions of that city he wishes to be deemed to have been elected. (4.) If any member does not give such written assent within one month after the appointed day, his place shall be filled by election in the same manner and at the same time as if he had assented and vacated his office by death. (5.) If the same person is elected to both orders, he shall, within seven days after the meeting of the Legislative Body, or if the Body is sitting at the time of the election, within seven days after the election, elect in which order he will serve, and his membership of the other order shall be void and be filled by a fresh election. (6.) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, it shall be lawful for the Legislature of Ireland at any time to pass an Act enab- ling the Royal University of Ireland to return not more than two members to the second order of the Irish Legislative Body in addition to the number of members above mentioned. (7.) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, it shall be lawful for the Irish Legislature, after the first dissolution of the Legis- lative Body which occurs, to alter the constitution or election of F 66 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. [PART I. A.D. 1886. the second order of that body, due regard being had in the dis- tribution of members to the population of the constituencies ; provided that no alteration shall be made in the number of such order. Finance. Taxes and 12. (1.) For the purpose of providing for the public service Consoiida- of Ireland the Irish Legislature may impose taxes, other than ted Fund, duties of customs or excise as defined by this Act, which duties shall continue to be imposed and levied by and under the direc- tion of the Imperial Parliament only. (2.) On and after the appointed day there shall be an Irish Consolidated Fund separate from the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom. (3.) All taxes imposed by the Legislature of Ireland and all other public revenues under the control of the Government of Ireland shall, subject to any provisions touching the disposal thereof contained in any Act passed in the present session re- specting the sale and purchase of land in Ireland, be paid into the Irish Consolidated Fund, and be appropriated to the public service of Ireland according to law. Annuaicon- 13. (1.) Subject to the provisions for the reduction or cesser from ire- 8 thereof in this section mentioned, there shall be made on the 'consoH P ar ^ ^ ^ re ^ an ^ to the Consolidated Fund of the United King- dated Fund dom the following annual contributions in every financial year ; of United fh n f ^o 4- n oatr _ Kingdom. sav > (dr.) The sum of one million four hundred and sixty-six thousand pounds on account of the interest on and management of the Irish share of the National Debt : (i.) the sum of one million six hundred and sixty-six thousand pounds on account of the expenditure on the army and navy of the United Kingdom : (c.) The sum of one hundred and ten thousand pounds on account of the Imperial civil expenditure of the United King- dom : (rf.) The sum of one million pounds on account of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police. (2.) During the period of thirty years from this section taking effect the said annual contributions shall not be increased, but may be reduced or cease as hereinafter mentioned. After the expiration of the said thirty years the said contributions shall, save as otherwise provided by this section, continue until altered in manner provided with respect to the alteration of this Act. (3.) The Irish share of the National Debt shall be reckoned at forty-eight million pounds Bunk annuities, and there shall be paid PART I.] The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. 67 in every financial year on behalf of Ireland to the Commissioners A.D. 1886. for the reduction of the National Debt an annual sum of three hundred and sixty thousand pounds, and the permanent annual charge for the National Debt on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom shall be reduced by that amount, and the said annual sum shall be applied by the said Commissioners as a sinking fund for the redemption of the National Debt, and the Irish share of the National Debt shall be reduced by the amount of the National Debt so redeemed, and the said annual contribu- tion on account of the interest on and management of the Irish share of the National Debt shall from time to time be reduced by a sum equal to the interest upon the amount of the National Debt from time to time so redeemed, but that last-mentioned sum shall be paid annually to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt in addition to the above-mentioned annual sinking fund, and shall be so paid and be applied as if it were part of that sinking fund. (4.) As soon as an amount of the National Debt equal to the said Irish share thereof has been redeemed under the provisions of this section, the said annual contribution on account of the interest on and management of the Irish share of the National Debt, and the said annual sum for a sinking fund, shall cease. (5.) If it appears to Her Majesty that the expenditure in respect of the army and navy of the United Kingdom, or in respect of Imperial civil expenditure of the United Kingdom, for any financial year has been less than fifteen times the amount of the contributions above named on account of the same matter, a sum equal to one-fifteenth part of the diminution shall be deducted from the current annual contribution for the same matter. (6.) The sum paid from time to time by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues to the Con- solidated Fund of the United Kingdom on account of the heredi- tary revenues of the Crown in Ireland shall be credited to the Irish Government, and go in reduction of the said annual contribution payable on account of the imperial civil expenditure of the United Kingdom, but shall not be taken into account in calculating whether such diminution as above mentioned has or has not taken place in such expenditure. (7.) If it appears to Her Majesty that the expenditure in respect of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metro- politan Police for any financial year has been less than the contribution above named on account of such constabulary and police, the current contribution shall be diminished by the amount of such difference. (8.) This section shall take effect from and after the thirty - first day of March one thousand eight hundred and eighty -seven. F 2 68 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. [PART I. A. D. 1886. 14. (1.) On and after such day as the Treasury may direct Collect-Ton a ^ moneys from time to time collected in Ireland on account of and appli- the duties of customs or the duties of excise as denned hy thia customs and Act shall, under such regulations as the Treasury from time to exciseduties time make, be carried to a separate account (in this Act referred to as the customs and excise account) and applied in the payment of the following sums in priority as mentioned in this section ; that is to say, First, of such sum as is from time to time directed hy the Treasury in respect of the costs, charges, and expenses of and incident to the collection and management of the said duties in Ireland not exceeding four per cent, of the amount collected there ; Secondly, of the annual contributions required hy this Act to he made to the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom ; Thirdly, of the annual sums required hy this Act to be paid to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt ; Fourthly, of all sums by this Act declared to be payable out of the moneys carried to the customs and excise account ; Fifthly, of all sums due to the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom for interest or sinking fund, in respect of any loans made by the issue of bank annuities or otherwise to the Government of Ireland under any Act passed in the present session relating to the purchase and sale of land in Ireland, so far as such sums are not defrayed out of the moneys received under such Act. (2.) So much of the moneys carried to a separate account under this section as the Treasury consider are not, and are not likely to be, required to meet the above-mentioned payments, shall from time to time be paid over and applied as part of the public revenues under the control of the Irish Government. Charges on 15. (1.) There shall be charged on the Irish Consolidated soiidatedT Fund in priority as mentioned in this section : First, such portion of the sums directed by this Act to be paid out of the moneys carried to the customs and excise account in priority to any payment for the public revenues of Ireland, as those moneys are insufficient to pay ; Secondly, all sums due in respect of any debt incurred by the Government of Ireland, whether for interest, management, or sinking fund ; Thirdly, all sums which at the passing of this Act are charged' on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom in respect of Irish services other than the salary of the Lord Lieu- tenant ; PART I.] The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. 69 Fourthly, the salaries of all judges of the Supreme Court of A..D. 1886. Judicature or other superior court in Ireland, or of any county or other like court, who are appointed after the passing of this Act, and the pensions of such judges; Fifthly, any other sums charged by this Act on the Irish Con- solidated Fund. (2.) It shall be the duty of the Legislature of Ireland to impose all such taxes, duties, or imposts as will raise a sufficient revenue to meet all sums charged for the time being on the Irish Consoli- dated Fund. 16. Until all charges which are payable out of the Church Irish property in Ireland, and are guaranteed by the Treasury, have j-Jnd? been fully paid, the Irish Land Commission shall continue as heretofore to exist, with such Commissioners and officers receiving such salaries as the Treasury may from time to time appoint, and to administer the Church property and apply the income and other moneys receivable therefrom ; and so much of the salaries of such Commissioners and officers and expenses of the office as is not paid out of the Church property shall be paid out of the moneys carried to the customs and excise account under this Act, and if those moneys are insufficient, out of the Consolidated Fund of Ireland, and if not so paid, shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament. Provided as follows : (a) All charges on the Church property for which a guarantee has been given by the Treasury before the passing of this Act shall, so far as they are not paid out of such property, be paid out of the moneys carried to the Customs and Excise account under this Act, and if such moneys are insufficient, the Consolidated Fund of Ireland, without prejudice nevertheless to the guaran- tee of the Treasury ; : {b.) All charges on the Church property, for which no guaran- tee has been given by the Treasury before the passing of this Act shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of Ireland, but shall not be guaranteed by the Treasury nor charged on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom. (2.) Subject to any existing charges on the Church property, such property shall belong to the Irish Government and any portion of the annual revenue thereof which the Treasury, on the application of the Irish Government, certify at the end of any financial year not to be required for meeting charges, shall be paid over and applied as part of the public revenues under the control of the Irish Government. 70 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. [PART I. Public loans. A.D. 1886. (3.) As soon as all charges on the Church property guaranteed by the Treasury have been paid, such property may be managed and administered, and subject to existing charges thereon dis- posed of, and the income or proceeds thereof applied, in such manner as the Irish Legislature may from time to time direct. (4.) "Church property" in this section means all property 32 & 33 Viet, accruing under the Irish Church Act, 1869, and transferred to 44^45 Viet, the Irish Land Commission by the Irish Church Act Amendment c -?x. Act, 1881. 17. (1.) All sums due for principal or interest to the Public "Works Loan Commissioners or to the Commissioners of Public "Works in Ireland in respect of existing loans advanced on any security in Ireland shall on and after the appointed day be due to the Government of Ireland instead of the said Commissioners, and such body of persons as the Government of Ireland may appoint for the purpose shall have all the powers of the said Commissioners or their secretary for enforcing payment of such sums, and all securities for such sums given to such Commis- sioners or their secretary shall have effect as if the said body were therein substituted for those Commissioners or their secre- tary. (2.) For the repayment of the said loans to the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom the Irish Government shall pay annually into that fund by half-yearly payments on the first day of January and the first day of July, or on such other days as may be agreed on, such instalments of the principal of the said loans as will discharge all the loans within thirty years from the appointed day, and shall also pay interest half yearly on so much of the said principal as from time to time remains unpaid at the rate of three per cent, per annum, and such instalments of principal and interest shall be paid out of the moneys carried to the customs and excise account under this Act, and if those are insufficient, out of the Consolidated Fund of Ireland. Additional 18. If Her Majesty declares that a state of war exists and ofwar?* 86 i 8 pleased to signify such declaration to the Irish Legislative Body by speech or message, it shall be lawful for the Irish Legislature to appropriate a further sum out of the Consolidated Fund of Ireland in aid of the army or navy, or other measures which Her Majesty may take for the prosecution of the war and defence of the realm, and to provide and raise money for that purpose ; and all moneys so provided and raised, whether by loan, taxation, or otherwise, shall be paid into the Consul idated Fund of the United Kingdom. 19. (1.) It shall not be lawful for the Irish Legislative Body fa a( j pt or p agg an y V ote, resolution, address, or Bill for the raising or appropriation for any purpose of any part of the public Money bills and votes. PART I.] The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. 71 revenue of Ireland, or of any tax, duty, or impost, except in pur- A.D. 1886. suance of a recommendation from Her Majesty signified through the Lord Lieutenant in the session in which such vote, resolution, address, or Bill is proposed. (2.) Notwithstanding that the Irish Legislature is prohibited by this Act for making laws relating to certain subjects, that Legislature may, with the assent of Her Majesty in Council first obtained, appropriate any part of the Irish public revenue, or any tax, duty, or impost imposed by such Legislature, for the purpose of, or in connexion with, such subjects. 20. (1.) On and after the appointed day, the Exchequer Exchequer Division of the High Court of Justice shall continue to be a Court ^revenue of Exchequer for revenue purposes under this Act, and whenever actions, any vacancy occurs in the office of any judge of such Exchequer Division, his successor shall be appointed by Her Majesty on the joint recommendation of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. (2.) The judges of such Exchequer Division appointed after the passing of this Act shall be removable only by Her Majesty on address from the two Houses of the Imperial Parliament, and shall receive the same salaries and pensions as those payable at the passing of this Act to the existing judges of such division, unless with the assent of Her Majesty in Council first obtained, the Irish Legislature alters such salaries or pensions, and such salaries and pensions shall be paid out of the moneys carried to the customs and excise account in pursuance of this Act, and if the same are insufficient shall be paid out of the Irish Con- solidated Fund, and if not so paid shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom. (3.) An alteration of any rules relating to the procedure in such legal proceedings as are mentioned in this section shall not be made except with the approval of the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, and the sittings of the Exchequer division and the judges thereof shall be regulated with the like approval. (4.) All legal proceedings instituted in Ireland by or against the Commissioners or any officers of custom or excise, or the Treasury, shall, if so required by any party to such proceedings, be heard and determined before the judges of such Exchequer division, or some or one of them, and any appeal from the decision in any such legal proceeding, if by a judge, shall lie to the said division, and if by the Exchequer division, shall lie to the House of Lords, and not to any other tribunal; and if it is made to appear to such judges, or any of them, that any decree or judgment in any such proceeding as aforesaid, has not been duly enforced by the sheriff or other officer whose duty it is to enforce the same, such judges or judge shall appoint some officer to enforce such judgment or decree ; and it shall be the duty of 72 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. [PART I. A.D. 1886. such officer to take proper steps to enforce the same, and for that purpose such officer and all persons employed hy him shall be entitled to the same immunities, powers, and privileges as are by law conferred on a sheriff and his officers. (5.) All sums recovered in respect of duties of Customs and Excise, or under any Act relating thereto, or by an officer of Customs or Excise, shall, notwithstanding anything in any other Act, be paid to the Treasury, and carried to the Customs and Excise account under this Act. Police. Police. 21. The following regulations shall be made with respect to police in Ireland : (0.) The Dublin Metropolitan Police shall continue and be subject as heretofore to the control of the Lord Lieutenant as representing Her Majesty for a period of two years from the passing of this Act, and thereafter until any alteration is made by Act of the Legislature of Ireland, but such Act shall provide for the proper saving of all then existing interests, whether as regards pay, pensions, superannuation allowances, or otherwise. (i.) The Royal Irish Constabulary shall, while that force subsists, continue and be subject as heretofore to the control of the Lord Lieutenant as representing Her Majesty. (c.) The Irish Legislature may provide for the establishment and maintenance of a police force in counties and boroughs in Ireland under the control of local authorities, and arrangements may be made between the Treasury and the Irish Government for the establishment and maintenance of police reserves. PART II.] The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. 73 A.D. 1886. PART II. SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS. Powers of Her Majesty. 22. On and after the appointed day there shall be reserved to Power over Her Majesty- *Sa (1.) The power of erecting forts, magazines, arsenals, dock- H 6 * 1 * yards, and other buildings for military or naval pur- Majesty, poses ; (2.) The power of taking waste land, and, on making due compensation, any other land, for the purpose of erect- ing such forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, or other buildings as aforesaid, and for any other military or naval purpose, or the defence of the realm. Legislative JBody. 23. If a Bill or any provision of a Bill is lost by disagreement veto by "between the two orders of the Legislative Body, and after a fi " 1 oi : der period ending with a dissolution of the Legislative Body, or the dvBody," period of three years whichever period is longest, such Bill, or a Bill rukrf Ver containing the said provision, is again considered by the Legis- lative Body, and such Bill or provision is adopted by the second order and negatived by the first order, the same shall be sub- mitted to the whole Legislative Body, both orders of which shall vote together on the Bill or provision, and the same shall be adopted or rejected according to the decision of the majority of the members so voting together. 24. On and after the appointed day Ireland shall cease, except Cesser of in the event hereafter in this Act mentioned, to return repre- Jand to sentative peers to the House of Lords or members to the House return mem- of Commons, and the persons who on the said day are such re- parliament presentative peers and members shall cease as such to be members of the House of Lords and House of Commons respectively. Decision of Constitutional Questions. 25. Questions arising as to the powers conferred on the Legis- Constitu- lature of Ireland under this Act shall be determined as follows : tjonai ques- tions to be (0.) If any such question arises on any Bill passed by the j u d5ri"f d to Legislative Body, the Lord Lieutenant may refer such Committee, question to Her Majesty in Council ; 74 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. [PART II. A.D. 1886. (J.) If, in the course of any action or other legal proceeding, such question arises on any Act of the Irish Legisla- ture, any party to such action or other legal proceed- ing may, subject to the rules in this section mentioned, appeal from a decision on such question to Her Majesty in Council ; (c.) If any such question arises otherwise than as aforesaid on any Act of the Irish Legislature, the Lord Lieutenant or one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State may refer such question to Her Majesty in Council ; (rf.) Any question referred or appeal brought under this sec- tion to Her Majesty in Council shall be referred for the consideration of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ; (0.) The decision of Her Majesty in Council on any question referred or appeal brought under this section shall be final, and a Bill which may be so decided to be, or contain a provision, in excess of the powers of the Irish Legislature shall not be assented to by the Lord Lieutenant ; and a provision of any Act which is so decided to be in excess of the powers of the Irish Legislature shall be void ; (/.) There shall be added to the Judicial Committee when sitting for the purpose of considering questions under this section, such members of Her Majesty's Privy Council, being or having been Irish judges, as to Her Majesty may seem meet ; (#.) Her Majesty may, by Order in Council from time to time, make rules as to the cases and mode in which and the conditions under which, in pursuance of this section, questions may be referred and appeals brought to Her Majesty in Council, and as to the consideration thereof by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and any rules so made shall be of the same force as if they were enacted in this Act ; (A.) An appeal shall not lie to the House of Lords in respect of any question in respect of which an appeal can be had to Her Majesty in Council in pursuance of this section. Lord Lieutenant. Office of 26. (1.) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained -? r< * in any Act of Parliament, every subject of Her Majesty shall be Lieutenant .. J , -, . ' , J , > T , T . J > T eligible to hold and enjoy the office of Lord Lieutenant or Ire- land, without reference to his religious belief. (2.) The salary of the Lord Lieutenant shall continue to be PART II.] The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. 75 charged on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, and A.l>. 1886. the expenses of his household and establishment shall continue to be defrayed out of moneys to be provided by Parliament. (3.) All existing powers vested by Act of Parliament or other- wise in the Chief Secretary for Ireland may, if no such officer is appointed, be exercised by the Lord Lieutenant until other provision is made by Act of the Irish Legislature. (4.) The Legislature of Ireland shall not pass any Act relat- ing to the office or functions of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Judges and Civil Servants. 27. A Judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature or other Judges to be superior Court of Ireland, or of any county court or other court on"iyon e with a like jurisdiction in Ireland, appointed after the passing address. of this Act, shall not be removed from his office except in pur- suance of an address to Her Majesty from both orders of the Legislative Body voting separately, nor shall his salary be diminished or right to pension altered during his continuance in office. 28. (1.) All persons who at the passing of this Act are Provision as judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature or county court ancTotier judges, or hold any other judicial position in Ireland, shall, if persons they are removable at present on address to Her Majesty of salaries both Houses of Parliament, continue to be removable only upon ^(fonso" such address from both Houses of the Imperial Parliament, and Hdated if removable in any other manner shall continue to be removable Fund ' in like manner as heretofore ; and such persons, and also all persons at the passing of this Act in the permanent civil service of the Crown in Ireland whose salaries are charged on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, shall continue to hold office and to be entitled to the same salaries, pensions, and superannuation allowances as heretofore, and to be liable to perform the same or analogous duties as heretofore ; and the salaries of such persons shall be paid out of the moneys carried to the customs and excise account under this Act, or if these moneys are insufficient, out of the Irish Consolidated Fund, and if the same are not so paid, shall continue charged on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom. (2.) If any of the said persons retires from office with the appro- bation of Her Majesty before he has completed the period of service entitling him to a pension, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, if she thinks fit, to grant to that person such pension, not exceeding the pension to which he would have been entitled if he had com- pleted the said period of service, as to Her Majesty seems meet. 76 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. [PART II. A.D. 1886. 29. (1). All persons not above provided for and at the pass- As to per- i n ^ ft 1 * 3 ^- c ^ serving in Ireland in the permanent civil service sons holding of the Crown shall continue to hold their offices and receive the appoint? 106 same salaries, and to he entitled to the same gratuities and ments. superannuation allowances as heretofore, and shall he liahle to perform the same duties as heretofore or duties of similar rank, hut any of such persons shall he entitled at the expiration of two years after the passing of this Act to retire from office, and at any time if required hy the Irish Government shall retire from office, and on any such retirement shall be entitled to receive such payment as the Treasury may award to him in accordance with the provisions contained in the Fourth Schedule to this Act. (2.) The amount of such payment shall be paid to him out of the moneys carried to the customs and excise account under this Act, or, if those moneys are insufficient, out of the Irish Con- solidated Fund, and so far as the same are not so paid shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament. 34 & 35 Viet. (3.) The Pensions Commutation Act, 1871, shall apply to all persons who, having retired from office, are entitled to any annual payment under this section, in like manner as if they had retired in consequence of the abolition of their offices. (4.) This section shall not apply to persons who are retained in the service of the Imperial Government. fo'r ex1sin *^' Where before the passing of this Act any pension or pensions' 08 superannuation allowance has been granted to any person on anmfadon" accoun t f service as a judge of the Supreme Court of Judi- aiiowances cature of Ireland or of any court consolidated into that court, or as a county court judge, or in any other judicial position, or on account of service in the permanent civil service of the Crown in Ireland otherwise than in some office the holder of which is, after the passing of this Act, retained in the service of the Imperial Government, such pension or allowance, whether payable out of the Consolidated Fund or out of moneys provided by Parliament, shall continue to be paid to such person, and shall be so paid out of the moneys carried to the customs and excise account under this Act, or, if such moneys are insufficient, out of the Irish Consolidated Fund, and so far as the same is not so paid, shall be paid as heretofore out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom or moneys provided by Parliament. Transitory Provisions. Transitory 31. The provisions contained in the Fifth Schedule to this Fnschedu'e. -^ c * ; relating to the mode in which arrangements are to be made for setting in motion the Irish Legislative Body and Government and for the transfer to the Irish Government of the powers and PART II.] The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. 77 duties to be transferred to them under this Act, or for otherwise A.D. 1886. bringing this Act into operation, shall be of the same effect as if they were enacted in the body of this Act. Miscellaneous. 32. Whenever an Act of the Legislature of Ireland has Post office provided for carrying on the postal and telegraphic service with ^"nks avmg * respect to the transmission of letters and telegrams in Ireland, and the post office and other savings banks in Ireland, and for protecting the officers then in such service, and the existing depositors in such post office savings banks, the Treasury shall make arrangements for the transfer of the said service and banks, in accordance with the said Act, and shall give public notice of the transfer, and shall pay all depositors in such post office savings banks who request payment within six months after the date fixed for such transfer, and after the expiration of such six months the said depositors shall cease to have any claim against the Postmaster General or the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, but shall have the like claim against the Consolidated Fund of Ireland, and the Treasury shall cause to be transferred in accordance with the said Act the securities representing the sums due to the said depositors in post office savings banks and the securities held for other savings banks. 33. Save as otherwise provided by the Irish Legislature, Audit. (.) The existing law relating to the Exchequer and the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom shall apply to the Irish Exchequer and Consolidated Fund, and an officer shall from time to time be appointed by the Lord Lieu- tenant to fill the office of the Comptroller General of the receipt and issue of Her Majesty's Exchequer and Auditor General of public accounts so far as respects Ireland ; and (&.) The accounts of the Irish Consolidated Fund shall be audited as appropriation accounts in manner provided by the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act, 1866, by or 29 & 30 Viet, under the direction of the holder of such office. 34. (1.) The privileges, immunities, and powers to be held, Application enjoyed, and exercised by the Irish Legislative Body, and the mentaiy" members thereof, shall be such as are from time to time defined law - by Act of the Irish Legislature, but so that the same shall never exceed those at the passing of this Act held, enjoyed, and exercised by the House of Commons, and by the members thereof. (2.) Subject as in this Act mentioned, all existing laws and 78 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1886. [PART II. A.D. 1886 customs relating to the members of the House of Commons and their election, including the enactments respecting the ques- tioning of elections, corrupt and illegal practices, and registration of electors, shall, so far as applicable, extend to elective members of the first order and to members of the second order of the Irish Legislative Body. Provided that (a.) The law relating to the offices of profit enumerated in Schedule H. to the Representation of the People Act, 1867, shall apply to such offices of profit in the government of Ireland not exceeding ten, as the Legislature of Ireland may from time to time direct ; (b.) After the first dissolution of the Legislative Body, the Legislature of Ireland may, subject to the restrictions in this Act mentioned, alter the laws and customs in this section mentioned. Regulations 35. f\\ The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland may make regula- tor carrying .. i-i * 11 Act into tions for the following purposes : (a.) The summoning of the Legislative Body and the election of a speaker, and such adaptation to the proceedings of the Legislative Body of the procedure of the House of Commons as appears to him expedient for facilitating the conduct of business by that body on their first meeting ; (J.) The adaptation of any law relating to the election of representative peers ; (c.) The adaptation of any laws and customs relating to the House of Commons or the members thereof to the elective members of the first order and to members of the second order of the Legislative Body ; and ( . j- Assembly, mentary constituencies in Ireland, or the existing divisions thereof, and elected by the parliamentary electors for the time being in those constituencies or divisions. The Government of Ireland Sill, 1893. 89 (2.) The Irish Legislative Assembly when summoned may, A.D. 1893. unless sooner dissolved, have continuance for Jive years from the day on which the summons directs it to meet and no longer. (3.) After six years from the passing of this Act, the Irish Legislature may alter the qualification of the electors, and the constituencies, and the distribution of the members among the constituencies, provided that in such distribution due regard is had to the population of the constituencies. 8. If a Bill or any provision of a Bill adopted by the Legis- Disagree- lative Assembly is lost by the disagreement of the Legislative ^^entwo Council, and after a dissolution, or the period of two years from Houses, how such disagreement, such Bill, or a Bill for enacting the said settled - provision, is again adopted by the Legislative Assembly and fails within three months afterwards to be adopted by the Legislative Council, the same shall forthwith be submitted to the members of the two Houses deliberating and voting together thereon, and shall be adopted or rejected according to the decision of the majority of those members present and voting on the question. Irish Representation in House of Commons. 9. Unless and until Parliament otherwise determines, the Kepresen- following provisions shall have effect parliament (1.) After the appointed day each of the constituencies named counties and in the Second Schedule to this Act shall return to boroughs, serve in Parliament the number of members named opposite thereto in that schedule, and no more, and Dublin University shall cease to return any member. (2.) The existing divisions of the constituencies shall, save as provided in that schedule, be abolished. (3.) An Irish representative peer in the House of Lords and a member of the House of Commons for an Irish consti- tuency shall not be entitled to deliberate or vote on (a) any Bill or motion in relation thereto, the opera- tion of which Bill or motion is confined to Great Britain or some part thereof ; or (i) any motion or resolution relating solely to some tax not raised or to be raised in Ireland ; or (c] any vote or appropriation of money made exclu- sively for some service not mentioned in the Third Schedule to this Act ; or (rf) any motion or resolution exclusively affecting Great Britain or some part thereof or some local authority or some person or thing therein ; or 90 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1893. A.D. 1893. (0) any motion or resolution, incidental to any such motion or resolution as either is last mentioned, or relates solely to some tax not raised or be raised in Ireland, or incidental to any such vote or ap- propriation of money as aforesaid. (4.) Compliance "with the provisions of this section shall not he questioned otherwise than in each House in manner provided hy the House. (5.) The election laws and the laws relating to the qualifica- tion of parliamentary electors shall not, so far as they relate to parliamentary elections, be altered by the Irish Legislature, but this enactment shall not prevent the Irish Legislature from dealing with any officers concerned with the issue of writs of election, and if any officers are so dealt with, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty by Order in Council to arrange for the issue of such writs, and the writs issued in pursuance of such Order shall be of the same effect as if issued in manner heretofore accustomed. Finance. Asto 10. (1.) On and after the appointed day there shall be an Console Irish Exchequer and Consolidated Fund separate from those of tlie United Kingdom. (2.) The duties of customs and excise and the duties on postage shall be imposed by Act of Parliament, but subject to the provisions of this Act the Irish Legislature may, in order to provide for the public service of Ireland, impose any other taxes. (3.) Save as in this Act mentioned, all matters relating to the taxes in Ireland and the collection and management thereof shall be regulated by Irish Act, and the same shall be collected and managed by the Irish Government and form part of the public revenues of Ireland : Provided that (a) the duties of customs shall be regulated, collected, managed, and paid into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom as heretofore ; and (5) all prohibitions in connexion with the duties of excise, and so far as regards articles sent out of Ireland, all matters relating to those duties, shall be regulated by Act of Parliament ; and (c) the excise duties on articles consumed in Great Britain shall be paid in Great Britain or to an officer of the Government of the United Kingdom. (4.) Save as in this Act mentioned, all the public revenues The Government of Ireland Bill, 1893. 91 of Ireland shall be paid into the Irish Exchequer and form a A.D. 1893. Consolidated Fund, and be appropriated to the public service of Ireland by Irish Act. (5.) If the duties of excise are increased above the rates in force on the first day of March one thousand eight hundred and ninety -three, the net proceeds in Ireland of the duties in excess of the said rates, shall be paid from the Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom. (6.) If the duties of excise are reduced below the rates in force on the said day, and the net proceeds of such duties in Ireland are in consequence less than the net proceeds of the duties before the reduction, a sum equal to the deficiency shall, unless it is other- wise agreed between the Treasury and the Irish Government, be paid from the Exchequer of the United Kingdom to the Irish Exchequer. 11. (1.) The hereditary revenues of the Crown in Ireland Hereditary which are managed by the Commissioners of Woods shall con- an^ncome tinue during the life of Her present Majesty to be managed *** and collected by those Commissioners, and the net amount pay- able by them to the Exchequer on account of those revenues, after deducting nil expenses (but including an allowance for interest on such proceeds of the sale of those revenues as have not been re-invested in Ireland), shall be paid into the Treasury Account (Ireland) herein-after mentioned, for the benefit of the Irish Exchequer. (2.) A person shall not be required to pay income tax in Great Britain in respect of property situate or business carried on in Ireland, and a person shall not be required to pay income tax in Ireland in respect of property situate or business carried on in Great Britain. (3.) For the purpose of giving to Ireland the benefit of the dif- ference between the income tax collected in Great Britain from British, Colonial, and foreign securities held by residents in Ire- land, and the income tax collected in Ireland from Irish securities held by residents in Great Britain, there shall be made to Ireland out of the income tax collected in Great Britain, an allowance of such amount as may be from time to time determined by the Trea- sury, in accordance with a minute of the Treasury laid before Parliament before the appointed day, and such allowance shall be paid into the Treasury Account (Ireland) for the benefit of the Irish Exchequer. (4.) Provided that the provisions of this section with respect to income tax shall not apply to any excess of the rate of income tax in Great Britain above the rate in Ireland or of the rate of income tax in Ireland above the rate in Great Britain. "92 The Government of Ireland BUI, 1893. A.D.1893. 12. (1.) The duties of customs contributed by Ireland and, Financial save as provided by this Acfc, that portion of any public revenue arrange- of the United Kingdom to which Ireland may claim to be entitled, bTtweetf whether specified in the Third Schedule to this Act or not, shall Kingdom ^ e carr ^ e ^ to ^ e Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, as andfreUnd. the contribution of Ireland to Imperial liabilities and expenditure as defined in that Schedule. (2.) The civil charges of the Government in Ireland shall, subject as in this Act mentioned, be borne after the appointed day by Ireland. (3.) Alter fifteen years from the passing of this Act the arrange- ments made by this Act for the contribution of Ireland to Imperial liabilities and expenditure, and otherwise for the finan- cial relations between the United Kingdom and Ireland, may be revised in pursuance of an address to Her Majesty from the House of Commons, or from the Irish Legislative Assembly. Treasury 13. (1.) There shall be established under the direction of (Ireland), the Treasury an account (in this Act referred to as the Treasury Account (Ireland). (2.) There shall be paid into such account all sums payable from the Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United King- dom, or from the latter to the former Exchequer, and all sums directed to be paid into the account for the benefit of either of the said Exchequers. (3.) All sums, which are payable from either of the said Exchequers to the other of them, or being payable out of one of the said Exchequers are repayable by the other Exchequer, shal in the first instance be payable out of the said account so far as the money standing on the account is sufficient ; and for the purpose of meeting such sums, the Treasury out of the customs revenue collected in Ireland, and the Irish Government out of any of the public revenues in Ireland, may direct money to be paid to the Treasury Account (Ireland) instead of into the Exchequer. (4.) Any surplus standing on the account to the credit of either Exchequer, and not required for meeting payments, shall at convenient times be paid into that Exchequer, and where any sum so payable into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom is required by law to be forthwith paid to the National Debt Commissioners, that sum may be paid to those Commissioners without being paid into the Exchequer. (5.) All sums payable by virtue of this Act out of the Con- solidated Fund of the United Kingdom or of Ireland shall be payable from the Exchequer of the United Kingdom or Ireland, as the case may be, within the meaning of this Act, and all sums by this Act made payable from the Exchequer of the The Government of Ireland Bill, 1893. 93 United Kingdom shall, if not otherwise paid, he charged on and A.D. 1893. paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom. 14. (1.) There shall he charged on the Irish Consolidated charges on Fund in favour of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom as a soUda^d " first charge on that fund all sums which \~und. (a) are payable to that Exchequer from the Irish Exchequer ; or (#) are required to repay to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom sums issued to meet the dividends or sinking fund on guaranteed land stock under the Purchase of 54 & 55 Viet. Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, or c -* 8 - ( 6V . sums chargeable for or in respect of postal packets, money orders, c! 59? or telegrams, or otherwise under the Post Office Acts or the ^ ^ rm ; 7 4 . , , D , and i Viet. Telegraph Act, 1892. c . 36. The expression " Irish Act " means a law made by the Irish 32&33Vict. Legislature. 48 & 49 Viet. The expression "election laws" means the laws relating to c ' s8 ' the election of members to serve in Parliament, other than those relating to the qualification of electors, and includes all the laws respecting the registration of electors, the issue and execu- tion of writs, the creation of polling districts, the taking of the poll, the questioning of elections, corrupt and illegal practices, the disqualification of members and the vacating of seats. The expression " rateable value " means the annual rateable value under the Irish Valuation Acts. The expression " salary" includes remuneration, allowances, and emoluments. The expression " pension " includes superannuation allowance. 40. This Act maybe cited as the Irish Government Act, 1893. short title. 106 A.D. 1893. .The Government of Ireland Bill, 1893. SCHEDULES. FIRST SCHEDULE. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. CONSTITUENCIES AND NUMHER OF COUNCILLOUS. Constituencies. Councillors. Antrim county Three. Armagh county .. in^.'JO .!"Mf'vi One. Belfast borough Two. Carlow county One. Cavan county One. Clare county . . One. Cork county East Riding Three. West Riding One. Cork borough One. Donegal county .. .. .. , 4 ',' t One. Down county Three. Dublin county . . . . .'. Three. Dublin borough .. .. j;Irf."> ' i:i ' Two. Fermanagh county One. Gal way county .. .. .. ' t ')T Two. Kerry county One. Kildare county One. Kilkenny county One. King's county . . vftP.f One. Leitrim and Sligo counties One. Limerick county . . . . . . Two. Londonderry county One. Longford county One. Louth county . . . . . . . '.'. i One. Mayo county One. Meatb county One. Monaghan county One. Queen's county One. Roscommon county One. Tipperary county Two. Tyrone county One. "Waterford county One. Westmeath county One. Wexford county .. .. .. v'-'i'J-' 1 One. Wicklow county . . [>!*; '. One. :'/ . Forty-eight. The expression "borough" in this Schedule means an existing parliamentary borough. Counties of cities and towns not named in this Schedule shall be combined with the county at large in which they are included for parliamentary elections, and if not so included, then with the county at large bearing the same name. A borough named in this Schedule shall not for the purposes of this Schedule form part of any other constituency. The Government of Ireland Sill, 1893. 107 SECOND SCHEDULE. IRISH MEMBEKS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. A.D.1893. Constituency. Antrim county . . . . Armagh county . . . . . . Belfast borough (in divisions as mentioned below) Carlow county Cavan county . . Clare county Cork county (in divisions as mentioned below) Cork borough Donegal county Down county Dublin county Dublin borough (in divisions as mentioned below) Fermanagh county Galway county Galway borough Kerry county Kildare county Kilkenny county Kilkenny borough King's county Leitrim county . . Limerick county Limerick borough Londonderry county Londonderry borough Longford county Louth county Mayo county Meath county Monaghan county Newry borough Queen's county Roscommon county Sligo county Tipperary county Tyrone county Waterford county Waterford borough . . . . ' . . Westmeath county . . ... Wexford county \V icklow county Number of Members for House of Commons. Three. Two. Four. One. Two. Two. Five. Two. Three. Three. Two. Four. One. Three. One. Three. One. One. One. One. Two. Two. One. Two. One. One. One. Three. Two. Two. One. One. Two. Two. Three. Three. One. One. One. Two. One. Eighty. (i.) In this Schedule the expression "borough" means an existing- parliamentary borough. (2.) In the parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and Dublin, one member shall be returned by each of the existing parliamentary divisions of those boroughs, and the law relating to the divisions of boroughs shall apply accordingly. (3.) The county of Cork shall be divided into two divisions, consisting of the East Riding and the West Riding, and three members shall be elected by the East Riding, and two members shall be elected by the West Riding ; and the law relating to divi- sions of counties shall apply to those divisions. 108 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1893. A.D. 1893. THIRD SCHEDULE. FINANCE. IMPERIAL LIABILITIES, EXPENDITURE, AND MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE. Liabilities. For the purpose of this Act, "Imperial liabilities" consist of (1.) The funded and unfunded debt of the United Kingdom, inclusive of terminable annuities paid out of the permanent annual charge for the National Debt, and inclusive of the cost of the management of the said funded and unfunded debt, but exclusive of the Local Loans stock and Guaranteed Land stock and the cost of the management thereof ; and (2.) All other charges on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom for the repayment of borrowed money, or to fulfill a guarantee. Expenditure. For the purpose of this Act Imperial expenditure consists of expenditure for the following services : I. Naval and Military expenditure (including Greenwich Hospital). II. Civil expenditure, that is to say, (a.) Civil list and Royal Family. (i.) Salaries, pensions, allowances, and incidental expenses of (i.) Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; (ii.) Exchequer judges in Ireland. (e.) Buildings, works, salaries, pensions, printing, stationery, allow- ances, and incidental expenses of (i.) Parliament; (ii.) National Debt Commissioners ; (iii.) Foreign Office and diplomatic and consular service, including secret service, special services, and telegraph subsidies ; (iv.) Colonial Office, including special services and telegraph subsi- dies; (v.) Privy Council ; (vi.) Board of Trade including the Mercantile Marine Fund, Patent Office, Railway Commission, and Wreck Commission but excluding Bankruptcy ; (vii.)Mint ; (viii.) Meteorological Society ; (ix.) Slave trade service. (d.) Foreign mails and telegraphic communication with places outside the United Kingdom. Revenue. For the purposes of this Act the public revenue to a portion of which Ireland may claim to be entitled consists of revenue from the following sources : 1. Suez Canal shares or payments on account thereof. 2. Loans and advances to foreign countries. 3. Annual payments by British possessions. 4. Fees, stamps, and extra receipts received by departments, the expenses of which are part of the Imperial expenditure. o. Small branches of the hereditary revenues of the Crown. 6. Foreshores. The Government of Ireland Bill, 1893. 109 FOURTH SCHEDULE. A.D. 1893. PROVISIONS AS TO POST OFFICE. (1.) The Postmaster-General shall pay to the Irish Post Office in respect of any foreign mails sent through Ireland and the Irish Post Office shall pay to the Postmaster-General in respect of any foreign mails sent through Great Britain, such sum as niny be agreed upon lor the carriage of those mails in Ireland or Great Britain as the case may be. (2.) The Irish Post Office shall pay to the Postmaster-General; (i.) One half of the expense of the packet service and submarine tele- graph lines between Great Britain and Ireland after deducting from that expense the sum fixed by the Postmaster- General as incurred on account of foreign mails or telegraphic communica- tion with a place out of the United Kingdom as the case may be ; and (ii.) Five per cent of the expenses of the conveyance outside the United Kingdom of foreign mails, and of the transmission of telegrams to places outside the United Kingdom ; and (iii. ) Such proportion of the receipts for telegrams to places out of the United Kingdom as is due in respect of the transmission outside the United Kingdom of such telegrams (3.) The Postmaster-General and the Irish Post Office respectively shall pay to the other of them on account of foreign money orders, of com- pensation in respect of postal packets, and of any matters not specifically provided for in this Schedule such sums as inuy be agreed upon. (4.) Of the existing debt incurred in respect of telegraphs, a sum of five hundred and fifty thousand pounds two and three quarters per cent Consolidated Stock shall be treated as debt of the Irish Post Office, and for paying the dividends on and redeeming such stock there shall be paid half yearly by the Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom an annuity of eighteen thousand pounds for sixty years, and such annuity when paid into the Exchequer shall be forthwith paid to the National Debt Commissioners and applied for the reduction of the National Debt. (5.) The Postmaster-General and the Irish Post Office may agree on the facilities to be afforded by the Irish Post Office in Ireland in relation to any matters the administration of which by virtue of this Act remains with the Postmaster- General, and with respect to the use of th>j Irish telegraphic lines for through lines in connection with submarine telegraphs, or with telegraphic communication with any place out of the United Kingdom. FIFTH SCHEDULE. REGULATIONS AS TO GRATUITIES AND PENSIONS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS. 110 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1893. A.D. 1893. SIXTH SCHEDULE. PART I. REGULATIONS AS TO ESTABLISHMENT OF POLICE FORCES AND AS TO THE ROYAL IRISH CONSTABULARY AND DUBLIN METROPOLITAN POLICE CEASING TO EXIST. (1.) Such local police forces shall be established under such local authorities and for such counties, municipal boroughs, or other larger areas, as may be provided by Irish Act. (2.) Whenever the Executive Committee of the Privy Council in Ireland certify to the Lord Lieutenant that a police force adequate for local purposes, has been established in any area, then, subject to the provisions of this Act, he shall within six months thereafter direct the Royal Irish Constabulary to be withdrawn from the performance of reguLir police duties in such area, and such order shall be forthwith carried into effect. (3.) Upon any such withdrawal the Lord Lieutenant shall order measures to be taken for a proportionate reduction of the numbers of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and such order shall be duly executed. (4.) Upon the Executive Committee of the Privy Council in Ireland certifying to the Lord Lieutenant that adequate local police forces have been established in every part of Ireland, then, subject to the provisions of this Act, the Lord Lieutenant shall within six months after such certificate, order measures to be taken for causing the whole of the Royal Irish Con- stabulary to cease to exist as a police force, and such order shall be duly executed. (5.) "Where the area in which a local police force is established is part of the Dublin Metropolitan Police District, the foregoing regulations shall apply to the Dublin Metropolitan Police in like manner as if that force were the Royal Irish Constabulary. PART II. REGULATIONS AS TO GRATUITIES AND PENSIONS FOR THE ROYAL IRISH CONSTABULARY AND DUBLIN METROPOLITAN POLICE. SEVENTH SCHEDULE. REGULATIONS AS TO HOUSES OF THE LEGISTATURE AND THE MEMBERS THEREOF. Legislative Council. (1.) There shiill be a separate register of electors of councillors of the Legislative Council which shall be made, until otherwise provided by Irish Act, in like manner as the parliamentary register of electors. The Government of Ireland Bill, 1893. 1 L 1 (2.) Where, for the election of councillors any counties are combined so A.D. 1893. ,-is to form one constituency, then until otherwise provided by Irish Act, () the returning officer for the whole constituency shall be that one of the returning officers for Parliamentary elections for those counties to whom the writ is addressed, and the writ shall be addressed to the returning officer for the constituency with the largest popula- tion, according to the census of 1891. (b) the returning officer shall have the same authority throughout the whole constituency as a returning officer at a Parliamentary election for a county has in the county. (e) the registers of electors of each county shall jointly be the register of electors for the constituency. {d) for the purposes of this Schedule "county" includes a county of a city or town, and this Schedule, and the law relating to the quali- fication of electors shall apply, as if the county of a city or town formed part of the county at large with which it is combined, and the qualification in the county of a city or town shall be the same as in such county at large. (3.) "Writs shall be issued for the election of councillors at such time not less than one nor more than three months before the day for the periodical retirement of councillors as the Lord Lieutenant in Council may fix. (4.) The day for the periodical retirement of councillors shall until other- wise provided by Irish Act be the last day of August in every fourth year. (5.) For the purposes of such retirement, the constituencies shall be divided into two equal divisions, and the constituencies in each province shall be divided as nearly as may be equally between those divisions, and consti- tuencies returning two or more members shall be treated as two or more constituencies, and placed in both divisions. (6.) Subject as aforesaid, the particular constituencies which are to be in each division shall be determined by lot. (7.) The said division and lot shall be made and conducted before the appointed day in manner directed by the Lord Lieutenant in Council. (8.) The first councillors elected for the constituencies in the first division shall retire on the first day of retirement which occurs after the first meeting of the Irish Legislature, and the first councillors for the constituencies in the second division shall retire on the second day of retirement after that meeting. (9.) Any casual vacancy among the councillors shall be filled by a new election, but the councillor filling the vacancy shall retire at the time at which the vacating councillor would have retired. Legislative Assembly. (10.) The Parliamentary register of electors for the time being shall, until otherwise provided by Irish Act, be the register of electors of the Legislative Assembly. Both Souses. (11.) Until otherwise provided by Irish Act, the Lord Lieutenant in Council may make regulations for adapting the existing election laws to the election of members of the two Houses of the Legislature. (12.) Annual sessions of the Lpgislature shall be held. (13.) Any peer, whether of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, Scotland, or Ireland shall be qualified to be a member of either House. (14.) A member of either House may by writing under his hand resign his seat, and the same shall thereupon be vacant. (15.) The same person shall not be a member of both Houses. 1 12 The Government of Ireland Bill, 1893. A.D. 1893. (16.) Until otherwise provided by Irish Act, if the same person is elected to a seat in each House, he shall, before the eighth day after the next sitting of either House, hy written notice, elect in which House he will serve, and upon such election his seat in the other House shall he vacant, and if he does not so elect, his seat in both Houses shall be vacant. - (17.) Until otherwise provided by Irish Act, any such notice electing in which House a person will sit, or any notice of resignation, shall be given in manner directed by the Standing Orders of the Houses, and if there is no such direction, shall be given to the Lord Lieutenant. (18.) The powers of either House shall not be affected by any vacancy therein, or any defect in the election or qiiiilification of any member thereof. (19.) Until otherwise provided by Irish Act the holders of such Irish offices as may be named by Order of the Queen in Council before the appointed day, shall be entitled to be elected to and sit in either House notwithstanding that they hold offices under the Crown, hut on acceptance of an)' such office the seat of any such person in either House shall be vacated unless he has accepted the office in succession to some other of the said offices. (20.) The Lord Lieutenant in Council may, before the appointed day make regulations for the following purposes : (a.) The making of a register of electors pf councillors in time for the election of the first councillors, and with that object for the varia- tion of the days relating to registration in the existing election laws, and for prescribing the duties of officers, and for making suth adaptations of those laws as appear necessary or proper for duly making a register ; (b.) The summoning of the two Houses of the Legislature of Ireland, the issue of writs and any other things appearing to he necessary or proper for the election of members of the two Houses ; (c.) The election of a chairman (whether called Speaker, President, or by any other name,) of each House, the quorum of each House, thu communications between the two Houses, and such adaptation to the proceedings of the two Houses of the procedure of Parliament, as appears expedient for facilitating the conduct of business by those Houses on their first meeting ; (d.) The adaptation to the two Houses and the members thereof of any laws and customs relating to the House of Commons or the members thereof; (e.) The deliberation and voting together of the two Houses in cases provided by this Act. (21.) The regulations may be altered by Irish Act, and also in so far as they concern the procedure of either House alone, by Standing Orders of that House, but shall, until altered, have effect as if enacted in this Act. Punted by PONSONBV AND WBLDRICK, Dublin. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9 15m-10,'48 (B1039 ) 444 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES DA The Times, 957 Thft r>ew home T48n rule policy. 22 1J50 DA 957 T48n 001238534 o