Ireland 
 
 AND THE 
 
 Empire. 
 
 BY 
 
 T. GALLOWAY RIGG, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 Populational Representation “ Prospects of Political Parties 
 
 “ London Co?npanies and their Irish Tenantry c< Ulster 
 
 \ 
 
 Craze f drc., &c. 
 
 “ Where, when, and how is this great controversy to end ? ”— 
 
 W. E. Gladstone. 
 
 Dublin: 
 
 SEALY, BRYERS AND WALKER 
 
 (a. T. & CO., LTD.), 
 
 94) 95 <3° 96 Middle Abp.ey Street. 
 
Irish Parliamentary Offices, 
 
 Palace Chambers, 
 London, S.W., November 3 rd , 1883. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I thank you very much for your letter with enclosure, both of which I have 
 read with the greatest interest and attention ; and I am gratified to find, that 
 a Scotchman should take such pains to understand and unravel an Irish 
 question. 
 
 I remain, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 CHARLES S. PARNELL. 
 
 T. Galloway Rigg, Esq. # 
 
 Irish Parliamentary Offices, 
 
 Palace Chambers, 9 Bridge Street, 
 
 London, S.W., December *]th, 1883. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am in receipt of your letter of the 24th ultimo, and thank you very much 
 for the extracts you forward me, and which I now return. I have read them 
 with much interest and attention. The point to which you allude is a most 
 important one, and one which has not escaped me for a moment; and I 
 shall continue to watch the progress of events in that direction with the 
 greatest care. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 CHARLES S. PARNELL. 
 
 T. Galloway Rigg, Esq., 
 
 Castle Douglas, N.B. 
 
 From Sir Henry James, Ex-Attorney General for England. 
 
 New Court, 
 
 Temple, November 1st, 1883. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 I am much obliged to you for sending me a copy of the broad-sheet 
 containing some very useful statistics. I shall be glad if you will send me 
 three or four additional copies as I think there are others who will like to 
 have the figures bearing upon this Irish question placed before them in so 
 clear a form, 
 
 I will send for some of your Pamphlets to Parliament Street. 
 
 I assure you I enjoyed my visit to Dumfries much. The air was in every 
 sense very bracing. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Very faithfully, 
 
 HENRY JAMES. 
 
3 ^ 
 
 PRELIMINARY. 
 
 1. The Home Rule Bill of 1886, put forward by Mr. 
 Gladstone and the Liberal Cabinet, and accepted by Mr. 
 Parnell and the Irish Nationalist members as a final settle¬ 
 ment on the part of Ireland, became utterly dead, and 
 without a solitary mourner, within the very short space of 
 six years. 
 
 2. The year 1893 found the hitherto united Irish Party 
 divided into a couple of unequally-sized divisions violently 
 hostile towards each other ; nevertheless, they agreed to 
 accept a measure of Home Rule (of course, as a final settle¬ 
 ment) differing, root and branch, from the measure they so 
 unanimously accepted in 1886. 
 
 3. But the more recently accepted of the two final settle¬ 
 ments is as undoubtedly dead as its unlamented elder 
 brother, and a General Election will as undoubtedly bury 
 it. 
 
 4. The Liberal Government of 1886, with the unanimous 
 consent of the Irish members, included in their Home 
 Rule Bill a ruinous and wholly unworkable Land Settle¬ 
 ment ; in 1893 they proposed no Land Settlement what¬ 
 ever, the Irish members as readily assenting. 
 
 5. The House of Commons saved the Irish people from 
 the first measure, and the House of Lords from the second. 
 
 6. Some third measure is, however, necessary. What 
 shape shall it take? Let the Irish people consider. . 1 
 
 7. Ireland is being bled white. Is the Union solely to 
 blame ? Or primarily ? 
 
 8. The Union has lasted ninety-four years. If Ireland’s 
 population during the last forty-seven years has steadily 
 declined, is it not equally the fact that during the first 
 forty-seven years it as steadily increased ? 
 
 9. For twenty-four years Liberal and Conservative Gov¬ 
 ernments have been dealing with the Irish Land Question 
 in the interests' of the Irish farmer ; Rent Acts, Arrears 
 Acts, Purchase Acts, succeeding each other in rapid suc¬ 
 cession, with more, we are told, to follow. Yet the population 
 steadily declines, and that, too, more rapidly where the 
 
. 4 
 
 * 
 
 soil is rich than where it is poor or worthless, and, of course, 
 the acreage under the various crops declines likewise. 
 
 io. Clearly, then, a satisfactory Land Settlement is for 
 Ireland indispensable; a Constitution being only desirable — 
 at all events, in the immediate future. 
 
 XI. For the following Land Settlement Scheme it is 
 maintained ;— 
 
 (1) That the Irish landlords will thereby get a larger 
 compensation for their interests than they can 
 otherwise reasonably expect to receive. 
 
 (2) That the gain to the farmer and the general popu¬ 
 lation of Ireland is perfectly obvious. 
 
 (3) That the British taxpayer cannot thereby sustain 
 
 loss, and will most certainly be an ultimate gainer 
 to a considerable extent. 
 
 (4) That Sub-Commissioners, Chief-Commissioners, 
 legal consultations, appeals, delays, valuations, 
 and the various anxieties and disappointments and 
 expenses inseparably connected with the existing 
 systems of rent-fixing and land purchase are 
 totally dispensed with. 
 
 (5) That an Evicted Tenants’ Bill becomes entirely 
 
 unnecessary. 
 
 (6) That universal education becomes an easy possi¬ 
 bility, and local government reform an immediate 
 certainty. 
 
 12. For the proposed Irish Parliament it is maintained : 
 
 (1) That it would in no way interfere with the working 
 of the English Constitution, which would simply 
 
 / remain intact. 
 
 (2) That the Protestant portion of the population of 
 
 Ulster would have no grounds whatever either 
 for complaint or apprehension. 
 
 (3) That, assuming the Catholics of Ireland to be 
 wholly unlike the population of any civilized 
 country in this almost twentieth century, and that 
 they would accordingly desire to persecute and 
 plunder their Protestant fellow-countrymen— 
 they, nevertheless, would be unable to do so. 
 
5 
 
 
 f 
 
 t 
 
 I—LAND SETTLEMENT SCHEME. 
 
 My proposal is that the Imperial Government shall 
 deal direct with the Irish landlords, and over the heads, 
 and altogether apart from, the tenantry or the Irish people, 
 acquiring not merely holdings—not merely that portion of 
 Ireland’s surface which happens to be rented by the 
 farmers—but the surface in its entirety : the plantations, 
 bogs, waste-lands, fisheries, shootings, even the very soil 
 on which the dwelling-houses of the landlords stand. As 
 the result of this operation, I should expect to see the 
 Imperial Government in absolute possession of all and 
 every portion of the non-urban land comprehended within 
 the four seas which surround Ireland. The landlords 
 should, however, be left in possession of their castles, 
 mansions, and dwelling-houses, likewise, of their parks, 
 pleasure-grounds, and home-farms, in perpetuity, subject to 
 a perpetuity rent. The conditions upon which this object 
 should, I think, be effected, may be roughly and briefly 
 stated as follows :— 
 
 (1) That the Irish tenantry pay six months’ rent to 
 their present landlords as a final transaction with 
 them. 
 
 (2) That antecedent arrears be abolished. 
 
 (3) That the sums advanced under the Ashbourne 
 
 Act be increased to ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY 
 MILLIONS STERLING, and placed at the disposal 
 of the Irish landlords by the Imperial Govern¬ 
 ment. 
 
 4. That the Irish landlords be required to elect a re¬ 
 
 presentative body, for the purpose of drawing up a 
 scheme of division for the consideration of the 
 Imperial Parliament. 
 
 5. That, in the meantime, Irish landlords be empowered 
 
 to demand an advance, not exceeding four years’ 
 purchase of their present rental, on account of the 
 sum they will ultimately be allotted ; that this 
 advance be subject to a proportional discount, and 
 liable for claims in respect of mortgages and family 
 charges to the extent of one-fourth only. 
 
4 
 
 6 
 
 Thus Irish proprietors would retain their present homes, 
 and the immediate surroundings of their homes. But in lieu 
 of a steadily decreasing rental, frequently extracted with 
 expense and difficulty from an unwilling and disaffected, 
 because impoverished, tenantry, they would receive some¬ 
 thing like 20 years’ purchase of their present net incomes to 
 invest as they might think proper, either in Ireland or out of 
 it. Will the landlords of Ireland be sufficiently wise, far- 
 seeing, provident and patriotic to accept some such final 
 settlement from the Imperial Exchequer at a time when, 
 owing to a plethora of capital and profound peace, it is 
 possible for the Government to raise many millions of 
 money at less than three per cent. ? In other words , is the 
 present golden opportunity to pass away—golden for the 
 Empire , for Ireland , for the landlords—perhaps never to 
 return? For it need hardly be pointed out that the out¬ 
 break of a great war—even a great war in which the United 
 Kingdom might not be immediately involved—would at 
 once enhance the value of money, and render the adoption 
 of any such purchase scheme for Ireland totally impracti¬ 
 cable and out of the question. 
 
 II.—Baronial Boards—Local Government 
 
 and Education, 
 
 The present Irish landlords (only, however, considered 
 as rent collectors and receivers) having, in this or some 
 similar method, been got rid of absolutely and finally, I 
 propose that their places shall be taken by representative 
 bodies, chosen for each of the 321 baronies into which 
 Ireland is territorially divided ; that these Baronial Boards 
 become the proprietors of the holdings, waste lands, bogs, 
 plantations, fisheries, shootings, and entire properties and 
 estates of the bought-out landlords ; and that the present 
 occupiers shall hold of them in perpetuity, subject to a 
 perpetuity-rent. 
 
 These Baronial Boards should take over the duties of 
 Poor Law Guardians and managers of National Schools. 
 They should be required to remit one-half of their gross 
 
7 
 
 rental to some central authority in Dublin, towards the 
 payment of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and the various 
 other charges of which it would be necessary to relieve the 
 Imperial Exchequer in return for the advanced purchase- 
 money ; the remainder of the rental being divided 
 between the Baronial Boards and the Congested or Dis¬ 
 tressed Districts Department of the Minister of Agriculture, 
 except where the barony is itself included in a congested or 
 distressed district. This arrangement to last for four 
 years, and afterwards as the Irish Parliament may 
 determine. 
 
 Ill.—County Boards] and Councils* 
 
 The creation of Baronial Boards involves, as a matter of 
 course, the creation of County Boards. I propose that 
 these boards consist of one-fourth of the members of the 
 Baronial Boards, with an equal number of other members 
 elected on a higher voting qualification, say, that of £20 
 per annum rental, as owner or occupier. These boards 
 should take over the functions of grand juries and in¬ 
 spectors of National Schools ; should appoint the sheriff's, 
 manage the various institutions within the county sup¬ 
 ported by local funds, and, in particular, the industrial or 
 technical schools, which, it is presumed, would be established 
 in a majority of the baronies, and exercise a general super¬ 
 intendence over the Baronial Boards. 
 
 IV.—Further Functions of Baronial and 
 
 County Boards. 
 
 It will, perhaps, give a clearer conception if I enumerate 
 some of the uses to which these boards might apply that 
 portion of the land rental that would remain in their hands. 
 Thus these funds should be applied :— 
 
 1. Towards defraying the local expenses connected with 
 primary education, which should be free, denominational, 
 technical and universal, children to have a free mid-day 
 meal in common, teachers’ salaries and prospects to be im¬ 
 mensely augmented, the pension and results system being 
 almost totally abolished. 
 
8 
 
 2. In the establishment of bursaries for pupils and junior 
 teachers who have displayed special aptitude for the study 
 of certain subjects. 
 
 3. In the establishment of woollen mills, fishery schools, 
 and the furtherance of industrial and manufacturing under¬ 
 takings on the co-operative system and in connection with 
 the industrial schools, children over a certain age being per¬ 
 mitted to work a certain number of hours weekly at occupa¬ 
 tions suitable to their age and sex. 
 
 4. In the planting of trees in suitable localities and 
 along certain public roads (as in Belgium and other 
 countries) under skilled supervision. 
 
 5. In the reclamation of waste lands, and in the purchase 
 of grazing and other large farms as they come into the 
 market, and in the transference of families to them from 
 adjoining congested districts, or from districts too sterile to 
 afford subsistence in return for labour. 
 
 6. In the gradual abolition of the workhouse system, by 
 pensioning the aged and infirm poor, and placing them, 
 where possible, with their near relations, and by boarding 
 out orphan children, and by employing surplus adult 
 labour on waste land, or in the co-operative mills and other 
 enterprises that would ultimately be undertaken by the 
 emancipated tenantry. 
 
 7 . And for similar objects of public benefit. 
 
 V.—The Perpetuity Rent. 
 
 What is this perpetuity rent to be that the occupiers are 
 to pay the Baronial Boards ? It cannot be too clearly under¬ 
 stood and appreciated that what is simply indispensable is 
 a sweeping basis of settlement, one capable not only of 
 universal application, but of immediate use. Immediate , 
 sweeping and final are the three qualities not only necessary 
 for a satisfactory conclusion of the land war in Ireland, but 
 for the establishment on an efficient and lasting basis of 
 National, as well as local, self-government. 
 
 Bents in Ireland are of three kinds. They are either 
 non-judicial or old rents, judicial or reduced rents, or 
 instalments on agreed-on purchase-money. I propose that 
 
9 
 
 the farmers of Ireland surrender one-third of their tenant- 
 right to the Baronial Boards, to be held in trust, for the 
 improvement of labourers’ and artisans’ dwellings, and for 
 cottage allotments ; and the perpetuity rent to be the 
 lowest of the three following calculations, pence not being 
 reckoned, viz.:—50 per cent, of the non-judicial or old rent; 
 60 per cent, of the judicial, or as a rule, the reduced rent ; 
 or 7 5 per cent, of the instalment on the agreed-on purchase- 
 money—the latter becoming perpetual, and the purchase 
 arrangement cancelled so far as the tenant is concerned. 
 
 The tenantry would thus hold under a popular, because 
 possible, rental, have the fruits of their past labours restored 
 to them by virtue of the rent diminution, and have their 
 improvements always secured in the future. They would 
 look upon the application of the rental, through representa¬ 
 tive boards, for the purpose of ameliorating the neglected 
 condition of their country and developing its hidden 
 resources, and for education and other public ends, with 
 very different feelings to those they now experience in see¬ 
 ing it for the most part drained out of the country, to be 
 consumed in England or on the Continent, or for invest¬ 
 ment in non-Irish undertakings. 
 
 VI.—The Imperial Exchequer and Ireland. 
 
 We have now to estimate the cost of this proposed land 
 settlement so far as it concerns the English and Scotch 
 taxpayers. On the one hand, the Imperial Exchequer 
 would incur, in the shape of interest on the proposed 
 borrowed purchase-money, a little over four millions ster- 
 ling per annum, of which sum Ireland’s contribution would 
 be something like one-tenth, leaving Great Britain about 
 three and a-half millions sterling to the bad. On the other 
 hand, it may fairly be assumed that the Irish people 
 would gladly relieve the Imperial Exchequer of all charges 
 in connection with public education, reformatory and indus¬ 
 trial schools, prisons, infirmaries, hospitals, and lunatic 
 asylums ; and would also defray the annual expenses of 
 the Local Government Board, the Post Office, the Office 
 of Works, the Valuation and Boundary Survey, the Land 
 
10 
 
 Commission, the Dublin Metropolitan Police and police 
 courts, and Dublin Castle expenses generally, the Irish 
 Government, of course, taking over the duties , responsibilities 
 and revenues of these various institutions , offices , and depart¬ 
 ments , and with which the Imperial Parliament for the 
 future zvould have nothing whatever to do. In addition, I 
 propose that the Irish Exchequer defray one-half the cost 
 of the Royal Irish Constabulary while that force exists, 
 and until it is superseded by an ordinary police system, 
 controlled and supported by the Irish Government 
 These various items, and a few others it is hardly now 
 necessary to specify, at present amount to about two and 
 a-half millions sterling per annum. If, therefore, only the 
 direct gains to the Imperial Exchequer are considered, only 
 about a million pounds sterling per annum would have to 
 be made up * 
 
 Before agreeing on behalf of Ireland to the pay¬ 
 ment of this comparatively trifling and only temporary 
 discrepancy (even on the improbable assumption that 
 Great Britain, through her Parliamentary representa¬ 
 tives, would insist on getting it), let us have recourse 
 to a little argument; and by way of beginning would 
 our English and Scotch Unionist friends kindly ask 
 themselves the question: How it happens that in 
 Ireland policemen are so very much more numerous than 
 in Scotland ? Comparisons may be at times odious, but 
 they are often instructive. The population of Scotland at 
 the last official census was 4,025,647 and that of Ireland 
 4,704,750. Scotland, though slightly smaller, has a much 
 
 * But it is quite obvious that there must also accrue indirect gain 
 to Great Britain of a very notable kind. Irish farmers and their 
 labourers, working under improved conditions, would produce more, 
 become much better off, and consume greater quantities of dutiable 
 articles. English and Scotch manufacturers and merchants would find 
 in Ireland an extended market. The poorer classes of Irishmen would 
 not be so largely driven over to British districts seeking precarious 
 employment at starvation wages, and contributing so largely to the 
 pauper and semi-pauper, and of course also to the criminal classes. 
 Is it necessary to refer to the twenty-five or thirty thousand troops that 
 must be retained in Ireland at present ? To the loss of time and temper 
 in the Imperial Parliament ? To the political deadlock, which all 
 parties agree must continue until the present land system in Ireland is 
 abolished, and self-government conceded ? . - , 
 
11 
 
 larger urban population, and should therefore require a larger 
 police force than Ireland if affairs in each country were 
 similarly satisfactory. But in 1893 the police in Scotland 
 numbered 4,700, whereas in Ireland there were 13,696. 
 Their cost in Scotland was about £91 per man; in Ireland 
 ^113 per man. In Scotland there was only one policeman 
 to about every 850 persons ; in Ireland there was one police¬ 
 man to every 340 persons. In Scotland the police, as in 
 England, are a municipal force, of the people, and in har¬ 
 mony with the people. In Ireland they are an Imperial 
 force, apart from the people, out of sympathy with the people 
 and generally understood to be so. But the all-important 
 detail for our Unionist friends is this : Scotland and Ireland 
 both received grants out of the Imperial taxes towards the 
 pay ment of the police—Scotland received ;£ 150,000, Ireland 
 received ^1,482,000. If there were no land question in 
 Ireland any more than in Scotland, I ask, even the average 
 newspaper reader, whether the Royal Irish Constabulary 
 would be any longer necessary ; whether Ireland would 
 require anything in the shape of policemen beyond the ordi¬ 
 nary unarmed citizens in uniform who in Great Britain are 
 the servants of the various local bodies ? It is not necessary 
 to suggest anything so startling as the immediate disband¬ 
 ment of this unpolicelike and most expensive force. What 
 I suggest is that, after two years, certain baronies might 
 be allowed to replace them by the ordinary police, if the 
 Irish Government saw no reason to refuse an application 
 to that effect, endorsed by the County Council. Meanwhile 
 it is proposed that Ireland pays one-half their cost, the 
 Imperial Exchequer contributing the remaining amount, 
 which at present would be about ^740,000. Let it be con¬ 
 ceded that the proposed land settlement will be a satisfac¬ 
 tory one all round, and that Ireland for the future, 
 agriculturally speaking, will be as tranquil as Great Britain, 
 and the ultimate saving to the Imperial Exchequer of 
 nearly the whole cost of the Irish police becomes a foregone 
 . conclusion within a not very distant period. 
 
 Then, as regards the army. The garrison in Scotland 
 
 seldom exceeds 4,000 men ; in 1893 it was 3,686. In Ire- 
 
 B 
 
12 . 
 
 land there are rarely less than 24,000 men ; in 1893 there 
 were 27,155, and this, too, in addition to the 14,000 armed 
 Constabulary only just referred to. Surely it can be ad¬ 
 mitted that, following improved social conditions, the Im¬ 
 perial Government has in its military, as in its police ad¬ 
 ministration in Ireland, an immense opportunity of effecting 
 retrenchment. As it is, successive Governments, whether 
 Liberal or Conservative, consider it necessary to maintain 
 in Ireland from 20,000 to 24,000 troops over and above the 
 number proved by experience to be amply sufficient for 
 Scotland. On the financial aspect of the matter, perhaps 
 the words of Mr. Robert Giffen, of the Board of Trade, had 
 better be cited :— 
 
 “ If the home troops were to be stationed in Ireland in propor¬ 
 tion to the population, the troops in Ireland would be about 12,000 
 only ; if in proportion to resources, about 5,000 only. Actually, 
 Ireland has at least 24,000 troops, sometimes more, an excess on 
 the first basis of 12,000 troops, and on the second basis of nearly 
 20,000. At £150 per man, which is the cost of the British 
 standing army, we thus spend in Ireland on the first basis 
 ^1,800,000, which we might save; and on the second basis 
 nearly ^3,000,000.” 
 
 It has occasionally been remarked, in explanation of the 
 extraordinary disproportionate number of soldiers stationed 
 in Ireland, as compared with its due share, however com¬ 
 puted, that this is owing to recruiting or other reasons con¬ 
 nected with army mangement; and that the extra number 
 of soldiers may as well be in Ireland as in any portion of 
 Great Britain, and are as much available for Imperial pur¬ 
 poses as if stationed elsewhere. But, says Mr. Robert 
 Giffen 
 
 “Unfortunately, it is beyond question that the troops are not 
 available. The extra 12,000 or 20,000 troops that are in Ireland 
 beyond what is necessary to garrison it in proportion to Great 
 Britain, are lost to us for Imperial purposes. The expenditure is 
 pure waste.” 
 
 As in the case of the Royal Irish Constabulary, it is not 
 necessary to propose an immediate military reduction to 
 normal limits ; at the same time, it cannot be too strongly 
 insisted that this immensely important and valuable reform 
 is what must inevitably follow in due time, as a direct and 
 necessary consequence of a solution of the land problem and 
 
the concession of self-government. What, however, is 
 surely possible at a very early date, certainly within four or 
 five years, is a reduction of the army of occupation in Ire¬ 
 land from 27,000 or more to 17,000 or less, or to five times 
 or six times the force maintained in Scotland. For our 
 present purpose this not very startling reduction, or a much 
 smaller one, would be more than sufficient, constituting, 
 according to Mr. Giffen’s calculation, an annual saving of 
 one and a-half millions sterling per annum, and, therefore 
 not only securing the British taxpayer against one penny of 
 loss, but positively securing a substantial saving. It is 
 assumed that the Government, while present circum¬ 
 stances continue, will be able to borrow the ^150,000,000 
 purchase-money at less than three per cent, especially as 
 ten millions have already been advanced, and thirty other 
 millions are at the disposal of the Land Commission, and 
 the whole of the balance need not be raised in any one year. 
 
 On this basis, the annual cost to the Imperial taxpayer 
 could hardly exceed four millions. But as the expression 
 “ Imperial taxpayer ” includes Irishmen, and as Ireland 
 pays, says Mr. Giffen, “ one-tenth or eleventh of the taxes,” 
 this would leave Great Britain liable for about three millions 
 and a-half. But, assuming Ireland’s willingness to take 
 over two and a-half millions or thereabouts of Imperial 
 liability (a proceeding that should not involve the expen¬ 
 diture of the whole of this amount by Ireland for exactly 
 similar purposes), and the net annual loss to Great Britain 
 is the comparatively trifling amount of a million pounds 
 sterling per annum, even though we assume there would 
 be no indirect gain whatever, and no possibility of reducing 
 the number and expenses of the Constabulary, or of the 
 immense military garrison, or of cutting down the very 
 heavy annual expenses incurred by the present system of 
 legal administration, and Crimes Act prosecutions, and 
 Castle government generally. 
 
 I propose that this financial arrangement should last 
 twelve years , or during the existence of three Irish Parlia¬ 
 ments, and that meanwhile the system of levying and 
 collecting Imperial taxation be continued as at present 
 
14 
 
 remaining ‘quite outside the province of the Irish Govern¬ 
 ment for this probationary period. 
 
 Altogether, and without going minutely into details, it 
 may be safely laid down as an incontrovertible proposi¬ 
 tion that while the loss to Great Britain during the first 
 few years could only be trifling, the gain on a twelve years’ 
 arrangement would undoubtedly be very considerable. The 
 end of twelve years would find the annual cost of Imperial 
 administration in Ireland immensely reduced, especially 
 as regards the three terrible items of soldiers, lawyers, and 
 police. Then would be the time to have a committee 
 appointed, composed of Irish and Imperial officials and 
 representatives, for the purpose of going thoroughly into 
 the entire question of Imperial taxation ; of ascertaining 
 the extent to which Ireland would then be contributing to 
 Imperial expenses over and above her just proportion ; 
 and of arriving at a further fiscal arrangement, either for 
 another term of years, or as a permanent settlement. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 VII.—Home Rule : What it cannot be. 
 
 Apart from the obvious necessity of establishing some 
 central authority in Dublin, as a consequence of creating 
 Baronial Boards and County Councils, and investing them 
 with the powers and privileges suggested, it is idle not to 
 recognise that in view of the decided opinion embodied 
 in the representation returned by the Irish electorate at 
 three successive general elections—the Nationalist Party 
 still holding 80 out of the 103 seats—the question of 
 the abolition of the “ Castle ” system of government in 
 Ireland is fully within the range of practical politics, and 
 presses urgently for settlement. ' 
 
 While schemes have been prepared and suggested and 
 criticised, and at least one Government scheme abandoned 
 for a later one, the ground, during the last eight years, has 
 been appreciably getting cleared. If no scheme, Govern¬ 
 ment or otherwise, has yet met with anything like general 
 acceptance, certain features in almost all of them have 
 been generally condemned, and may be regarded as out 
 
15 
 
 of the way. In this connection we may enumerate the 
 following :— 
 
 1. That Ireland should be created a colony. 
 
 2. That the Viceroy should be a Prince of the Blood. 
 
 3. That the Imperial Parliament should supervise the 
 legislation of the Irish one. 
 
 4. That the Irish Privy Council should be consider¬ 
 ably enlarged and given the power of the Veto. 
 
 5. That Ireland should cease to return members to the 
 Imperial House of Commons. 
 
 6. That the Irish Parliament should consist of one 
 chamber only. 
 
 VIII.—Home Rule : What it must be. 
 
 Instead of a mere convention, or unicameral system, in¬ 
 volving the inclusion of one or more of the above unpopu¬ 
 lar and unworkable features, why not, after all, have 
 recourse to the plan put forward by Mr. Isaac Butt on the 
 evening of Thursday, the 19th of May, 1870, in the Bilton 
 Hotel, Dublin, and cordially accepted by a mixed, but 
 highly influential assembly of Catholics and Protestants, of 
 Liberals and Conservatives, of Nationalists and Orange¬ 
 men, namely, the management of Irish domestic and local 
 affairs by a Parliament assembled in Dublin, composed of 
 Her Majesty the Sovereign and her successors, and the 
 Lords and Commons of Ireland ? With Her Majesty 
 available to open the Irish Parliament in person, or in the 
 way the Imperial Parliament is opened, where is the neces¬ 
 sity for a Lord Lieutenant, or Prince Viceroy, or any other 
 kind of viceroy ? Why ask for pinchbeck royalty of any 
 description when the real thing is obtainable ? Where is 
 the difficulty ? Then, again, as to an enlarged Privy 
 Council, with its arbitrary veto, or two distinct classes of 
 members deliberating in the same chamber, but voting as 
 separate orders—why not create a second . chamber at 
 once? Would it not be equally easy, and infinitely more 
 acceptable ? s 
 
 An Irish Parliament without a House of Lords or 
 Senate, and consisting of a single elective chamber, would 
 bear too obvious a resemblance to the Corporation of 
 
Dublin or an English County Council to elicit respect and 
 power in Ireland, or possess dignity in the eyes of English¬ 
 men and foreigners. In Ireland it would not only be re¬ 
 garded as altogether unhistorical, and as an entirely novel 
 as well as doubtful experiment, but it would almost certainly 
 fail to secure what under present circumstances is so pre¬ 
 eminently desirable—the co-operation and patriotic interests 
 of the aristocratic and wealthy classes. Nor would matters be 
 greatly mended by the institution of two chambers, both of 
 them being elective. I accordingly propose the re-establish¬ 
 ment of the two historic Houses of Lords and Commons, 
 consisting each of ioo members—the one nominative, the 
 other elective. 
 
 In submitting the following scheme for the creation of 
 an Irish House of Lords, I cannot too strongly desire the 
 fact to be emphasised that it is based solely on the 
 assumption that the land question had become as much a 
 thing of the past as the question of disestablishment; and 
 that the aristocratic and propertied interests had wholly 
 ceased to be necessarily antagonistic to the farming interest. 
 Apart from these assumptions, I fully admit that any such 
 House of Lords or Senate as the following would be quite 
 unacceptable to the Irish people :— 
 
 IX,—THE IRISH HOUSE OF LORDS 
 
 > 
 
 Aristocracy 
 
 THE KNIGHTS 
 
 Prince of Wales, 
 
 Duke of Connaught, 
 Duke of Cambridge, 
 Marquis of Dufferin, 
 Marquis of Waterford, 
 Marquis of Ormond, 
 Earl of Dartrey, 
 
 Earl of Cork, 
 
 Earl of Gosford, 
 
 Earl of Kenmare, 
 
 Earl of Listowel, 
 
 Earl of Cavan, 
 
 I. 
 
 and Property, 
 
 OF ST. PATRICK: 
 
 Earl of Dunraven, 
 Earl of Howth, 
 
 Earl of Carysfort, 
 Earl of Erne, 
 
 Earl of Kilmorey, 
 Earl of Rosse, 
 
 Earl of Limerick, 
 Viscount Powerscourt, 
 Viscount Wolseley, 
 Baron Carlingford, 
 Baron Monteagle, 
 Baron Inchiquin. 
 
17 
 
 THE PRESENT HOLDERS OF ANCIENT IRISH 
 
 TITLES: 
 
 The-Macdermott, The O’Donoghue, 
 
 The Knight of Glin, The O’Donovan, 
 
 The Knight of Kerry, The O’Gorman, 
 
 The Macdermott Roe, The O’Grady, 
 
 The McGillicuddy, The O’Maine 
 The O’Conor Don, The O’Morehoe. 
 
 Her Majesty the Queen to create twelve Catholic Peers, 
 and nominate twelve Protestants from the existing Irish 
 Peerage ; these twenty-four persons to be life members. 
 
 II. 
 
 Law and Justice. 
 
 Lord Chancellor. Lord Chief Justice. 
 
 Vice-Chancellor. Master of the Rolls. 
 
 Lord Chief Justice, Common Pleas. 
 
 Lord Chief Baron, Exchequer. 
 Recorder of Dublin. 
 
 III. 
 
 Religion and Learning. 
 
 Catholics. 
 
 The Four Archbishops, 
 Dean of Dublin, 
 
 Pi esbyterians. 
 
 The Moderator, 
 
 Episcopalians . 
 
 The Two Archbishops, 
 Dean of St. Patrick’s 
 
 Methodists. 
 
 The President. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Education, Science and Art. 
 
 Provost, Trinity College. 
 
 Rector, Catholic University. 
 
 President, St. Patrick's, Maynooth. 
 President, Presbyterian College, Belfast. 
 President, Methodist College, 
 
 President, Royal Irish Academy. 
 
 President, Royal Hibernian Academy. 
 President, Academy of Medicine. 
 President, College of Physicians. 
 President, College of Surgeons. 
 
 President, Royal Institute of Architects. 
 The Royal Astronomer of Ireland. 
 
18 
 
 V. 
 
 Trade and Commerce. 
 
 Lord Mayor of Dublin. 
 
 High Sheriff of Dublin. 
 
 Lord Mayor of Belfast. 
 
 Mayor of Cork. 
 
 Mayor of Limerick. 
 
 President, Chamber of Commerce, Dublin. 
 
 President, Chamber of Commerce, Belfast. 
 
 President, Chamber of Commerce, Cork. 
 
 President, Chamber of Commerce, Limerick. 
 
 President, Trades’ Council, Dublin. 
 
 Governor, Bank of Ireland. 
 
 Would such an assembly be unworthy the recognition 
 of the Royal and Imperial ruler of the still United Kingdom, 
 or be regarded, except numerically, as in any respect 
 inferior to the Imperial House of Lords? Would it con¬ 
 stitute a standing menace and danger to the Empire ? 
 Could it by any possibility involve separation or the 
 outbreak of civil war ? Would it be incapable, fully and 
 adequately, of revising legislative proposals instituted in 
 the House of Commons, and of attaining the end for which 
 second chambers are understood to exist? 
 
 The Princes of the Blood in the Irish as in the Imperial 
 House of Lords might be relied upon to take no active 
 part in the deliberations, especially in questions of a 
 distinctly party character. They would usually accom¬ 
 pany the Sovereign, and attend at the opening of Parlia¬ 
 ment, or any special occasions of ceremony, such as royal 
 levees, or court receptions. They would assist in drawing the 
 Irish, and probably many of the English nobility to Dublin, 
 thus adding to the prosperity of the handsome Irish capital, 
 which, as a result^of its unrivalled suburbs and enhanced 
 political and social status, could hardly fail to become the 
 most fashionable and attractive city in the United Kingdom, 
 next to London. 
 
 The judges would stand in the same relation to Ireland 
 that the law lords in the Imperial upper chamber occupy 
 in reference to the British Empire, and would constitute 
 the final Court of Appeal for Ireland. 
 
19 
 
 Though the proposed clerical element may appear to be 
 unduly large in the opinion of Englishmen and Scotchmen 
 holding advanced political views, the peculiar position of 
 Ireland in respect to sectarian divisions has to be very 
 strictly borne in mind. It is, besides, necessary to re¬ 
 member that, being for the most part men of advanced 
 age, with considerable local demands upon their energies, 
 and scattered all over Ireland, their attendance in full 
 numbers could only be of rare occurrence ; probably half 
 a dozen would represent the average extent to which the 
 entire clerical members, Catholic and Protestant, would be 
 able to put in an appearance. Altogether, it might be as¬ 
 sumed that this proposed upper chamber would consist 
 of a majority of Protestants and Conservatives, united for 
 legislative purposes with a minority—but an influential 
 minority—of Catholics and Nationalists ; an enormous 
 proportion of the members, although nominated, having 
 passed through some previous processes of election or 
 selection. 
 
 X—The Irish House of Commons, 
 
 The formation of an Irish House of Commons as com¬ 
 pared with an Irish House of Lords, is a very simple under¬ 
 taking As the old Irish House of Commons consisted of 
 300 members, perhaps some Irishmen might wish their new 
 or restored House to be composed of the same number. At 
 the same time it can hardly be denied that 300 members is 
 an unduly large number for a nation of less than five 
 million inhabitants, having neither army or navy to manage, 
 or Foreign, or Imperial, or Colonial interests to attend to 
 and watch over. Surely one-third of this number, that is 
 to say, ONE HUNDRED MEMBERS, would be found sufficient, 
 —not only to carry on the business of the Irish House of 
 Commons, but to attend likewise to Irish interests, and 
 Imperial interests, in the Parliament at Westminster. 
 
 In an Irish House of Commons, whether elected on the 
 present, or on a more simple, or extended suffrage, the 
 Protestants would probably be in a minority of two or three 
 to one ; but as Ireland, unlike Wales, Scotland, and Eng¬ 
 land, has no disestablishment question on her hands—that 
 
20 
 
 matter having been effectually disposed of twenty-five 
 years ago—it is difficult to see upon what subjects 
 Catholics and Protestants, as such, need have irreconcilable 
 differences. It is also true that the democratic element 
 would be immensely in the ascendant, and that the Con¬ 
 servatives, representing property and capital, would be a 
 small minority easily outvoted. But if liable to be overborne 
 in the division lobbies, the minority would always be strong 
 enough to secure the full and complete discussion of every¬ 
 thing affecting the personal interests of their supporters. 
 The majority, moreover, would know that the ultimate 
 decision rested with another chamber differently constituted 
 and in which crude or insufficiently considered propositions 
 would be amended or rejected. 
 
 Nor would the “ loyal minority,” the assumed possessors 
 of so large a proportion of Ireland’s wealth, have reason to 
 fear spoliation at the hands even of an Irish House of 
 Commons, since it must be abundantly evident that as a 
 result of the proposed land settlement, Ireland would be a 
 gainer by at least two millions per annum, even after meet¬ 
 ing the expenses of which it is proposed the Imperial 
 Exchequer should be relieved. But this would only be the 
 immediate gain, the ultimate gain being greater beyond 
 conception as the Constabulary charges declined; as the 
 economy and efficiency of local self-government succeeded 
 the inefficiency and extravagance of alien rule; as the 
 resources of the country were more and more developed \ 
 as pauperism and illiteracy diminished no matter how 
 slowly, and the workhouse system gradually dwindled 
 away; and, above all, when Ireland’s contributions to the 
 Imperial Exchequer were settled on* an equitable and 
 reasonable basis, and in proportion to its resources, and 
 therefore to over three millions stealing per annum less than 
 its present amount . 
 
 XI.—Irish Imperialist Members. 
 
 It would be well for Irishmen (only, however, in con¬ 
 sideration of the proposed land settlement and the re¬ 
 establishment of an Irish Parliament) to anticipate a very 
 
21 
 
 necessary, as well as an inevitable, reform in the Imperial 
 House of Commons—namely, a great reduction in the 
 number of their members. Ireland might agree to be re¬ 
 presented by 32 members—8 Conservatives and 24 National¬ 
 ists— at all events, for the twelve years already referred to ; of 
 course, on the clear understanding that when the present 
 ridiculously excessive number of 670 Imperialist members 
 is reduced to about 250 or 300, that Ireland shall then 
 receive her exact populational quota. I propose that these 
 32 members be selected from the 100 members of the Irish 
 House of Commons, being, in fact, their delegates to the 
 Imperial Parliament; and that these 32 members continue 
 to act also as members of the Parliament in Dublin* 
 Though members of the Irish Parliament, they should, 
 nevertheless, be regarded by Irishmen as in exactly the 
 same position in the Imperial House of Commons as their 
 English, Scotch, and Welsh colleagues, and as eligible for 
 office ; though not to hold office concurrently in the Irish as 
 well as the Imperial Government. Of course, the 32 Irish 
 members would no more require to be in daily attendance 
 at Westminster than the members for W ales or Yorkshire ; 
 nor, in fact, to anything like the same extent, when we 
 remember the number of important matters affecting Ireland 
 that for the future would seldom require consideration in 
 the Imperial Parliament, or would have been transferred 
 from its jurisdiction altogether to the 
 
 Irish Parliament in Dublin. 
 
22 
 
 •< 
 
 Some General Suggestions in Connection 
 ,with the foregoing. 
 
 I —The Irish House of Commons. 
 
 1. This assembly to be elected every four years, the 
 power of dissolution being unknown. 
 
 2. Polling expenses in rural constituencies to be defrayed 
 by the County Councils, and in borough constituencies by 
 the rate payers, except where the candidate fails to poll 
 one-tenth of the electorate. 
 
 3. Ordinary members to receive ^360 per annum from 
 the Irish Exchequer, Imperialist members receiving £240 
 additional, pending the adoption of the /‘payment of 
 members principle” by the Imperial Parliament. 
 
 4. The constituencies to continue as at present, or at all 
 events for eight years ; or, in other words, until after the 
 publication of the next official census, except that—(1.) 
 Dublin University—having direct representation in the 
 House of Lords—to cease to return members to the House 
 of Commons. (2.) The County of Longford to lose one of 
 its two members. 
 
 5. Seats becoming vacant to remain so during the 
 existing Parliament. 
 
 II —Parliamentary and Municipal Reform. 
 
 These highly contentious andpartizan subjects might be removed 
 from the Irish political arena for twenty or thirty years , or perhaps 
 for half a century , by the adoption of the following suggestions, or 
 the most of them , namely :— 
 
 I. Parliamentary boroughs to be co-extensive, politically 
 and municipally, with their complete urban population, and 
 zvith their urban population only. 
 
 • 2. The Parliamentary Register to be likewise the 
 Municipal Register and the Baronial Boards Register. 
 
 3. This General Register to consist of two classes 
 of persons:— 
 
23 
 
 (1) The male and female householders, tenant farmers, 
 and occupiers of business premises, subject to no 
 qualification or restriction whatever. 
 
 (2) All other male persons of full age, who, not being 
 
 in receipt of Baronial or Parochial relief, shall 
 have resided in the constituency for not less than 
 six months previous to the opening of the Revision 
 Court every four years. 
 
 4. The Counties of Dublin, King’s, Queen’s, Westmeath, 
 Kildare, and Wicklow to return one member each, instead 
 of two as at present. 
 
 5. The cities of Dublin and Belfast to return three and 
 two additional members respectively. 
 
 6. Kingstown, with immediately adjoining urban dis¬ 
 tricts, to become a Parliamentary borough, returning one 
 member. 
 
 Ill—The Metropolis 
 
 (Street Nomenclature — A Compromise.) 
 
 1. Sackville Street to retain its present name, condi¬ 
 tional on Carlisle Building being re-named O’Connell 
 Building. 
 
 2. Westmoreland Street to be re-named Parliament 
 
 Street, and Parliament Street Corporation Street. 
 
 3. The “ green-house ” opposite the entrance to the 
 House of Lords to be removed. Likewise the Moore 
 statue. • 
 
 4. The man on horseback in Stephen’s Green, and the 
 man on horseback in Dame Street to be placed alongside 
 of the man on horseback in Dawson Street. 
 
 5. A colossal statue, at the national expense, to be 
 erected in St. Stephen’s Green to Thomas Moore, illustra¬ 
 tive of his principal creations. 
 
 6. Rutland Square, to include Cavendish Row, to be 
 thrown open to the public, and re-named Parnell Square; 
 a statue, being erected to Mr. Parnell on the most pro¬ 
 minent site therein by public subscription. 
 
 7. Great Britain Street to be re-named Irish Street. 
 
 8. Essex Quay to be re-named Grattan Quay. 
 
24 
 
 g. Nassau Street to be included in Leinster Street, or 
 vice-versa, the College Park railings being lowered to 
 the level of the pavement, the new thoroughfare thus becom¬ 
 ing a formidable rival to Prince’s Street, Edinburgh. 
 
 IV—The Land Settlement. 
 
 The Tenantry. 
 
 1. The tenantry, on the 1st May, 1895, to pay their last 
 half-year’s rent to their present landlords in return for a 
 specially designed receipt supplied to the landlords by the 
 Irish Government. 
 
 2. The tenantry, on the 1st November, 1895, to pay 
 
 their first half-year’s rent to the Baronial Boards in return for 
 a specially designed receipt supplied by the Irish Govern¬ 
 ment, containing the tenant’s unabreviated name and 
 address, with full description and situation of the holding. 
 
 3. Each of these receipts to bear a stamp calculated at 
 one shilling per pound of rental, the tenant to pay for the 
 latter, the landlord for the former. 
 
 4. Similarly stamped receipt forms for future payments 
 to be supplied to the tenantry by the Irish Government 
 through the medium of the Post Office, two-thirds of the 
 proceeds to be handed over to the Congested and Dis¬ 
 tressed Districts Department of the Minister of Agriculture. 
 
 5. Household furniture, wearing apparel, agricultural 
 implements, growing crops, milch cows or animals employed 
 in agriculture to be non-liable for seizure in respect of debt, 
 except at the instance of the Baronial Boards, or for 
 servants’ wages, work done, or for medical attendance. 
 
 6. Where the tenant or his representatives desire to dis¬ 
 pose of the holding, the Baronial Board to have the option 
 of purchasing same, or conducting the sale. 
 
 7. The Baronial Board to relet the holding by public 
 competition, not necessarily accepting the highest or any 
 immediate offerer. 
 
 8. The biddings to have reference to the tenant-right only 
 the rents remaining unaltered, except at the instance of 
 the Irish Parliament. 
 
25 
 
 9. The Irish Parliament to be empowered to reduce the 
 rents, but not to increase them, after fifteen years. 
 
 10. The Baronial Board having purchased a holding, 
 and having decided to sub-divide it, or to use it to increase 
 the size of the immediately adjoining ones, the scheme— 
 whether of sub-division or partition—to require the approval 
 of the County Council. 
 
 11. The farm to be so treated being a grazing one, or 
 exceeding 99 acres, the sanction of the Minister of Agri¬ 
 culture to be likewise necessary. 
 
 12. Present holders of grazing farms to be required to 
 devote one-fourth to tillage, or to sell this proportion to 
 the Baronial Board, the County Council confirming the 
 purchase arrangement. 
 
 13. Holdings held by persons who do not.reside upon 
 them, or work them, and whose incomes are mainly de¬ 
 rived from non-agricultural pursuits, to be exempt from 
 this land settlement, except that the Baronial Boards shall 
 take the place of the present owners, and give such 
 tenantry a reduction of 15 per cent. 
 
 14. It being determined by the Irish Government to 
 establish a State Insurance Department in connection with 
 agricultural and educational interests, every tenant under 
 50 years ol age to insure his life for an amount approxi¬ 
 mately equal to at least three years’ rent; no medical ex¬ 
 amination being required provided certain questions are 
 answered in the affirmative. The half-yearly premium to 
 be included in the rent receipt, though taken separately if 
 tendered, the Baronial Board having first claim on the 
 policy in respect of the ensuing half-year’s rent, or for 
 moneys advanced on loan. 
 
 The Landlords. 
 
 1. The thirty millions already at the disposal of the 
 Land Commissioners should be sufficient to satisfy the 
 necessities of the Irish landlords pending the arrangement 
 of a divisional scheme to be submitted to the Imperial 
 Government within 18 months of the passing of the Pur¬ 
 chase Act. 
 
26 
 
 2. The scheme of division should be based upon the 
 payments of the tenantry to the Baronial Boards within 
 that period, subject to the following or some similar classi¬ 
 fication : 
 
 Class I.—The Skinners’ Company of London, or Absentee 
 Corporation, or Mortgagee type. 
 
 CLASS II.—The Duke of Devonshire, or wealthy English¬ 
 man type. 
 
 CLASS III.—The Marquis of Downshire, or wealthy Irish¬ 
 man type. 
 
 CLASS IV.—The smaller Irish landlords. 
 
 CLASS V.—Irish landlords admittedly embarrassed or dis¬ 
 tressed. 
 
 I submit that Class V. should receive a much higher 
 scale of compensation than Class I., and that Classes II. 
 and III. might be willing to accept a slightly lower scale 
 of compensation than Class IV. I also think that Classes 
 II. and III., and some of Class IV might take into con¬ 
 sideration the circumstances of the numerous men and 
 women who have virtually or actually ceased to be any 
 longer landlords as a consequence of agricultural and 
 political changes and legislation during the last fifteen 
 years. 
 
 Vr—Universal Education, 
 
 {This is surely a letter term than Compulsory Education , which 
 conveys a wrong idea , implying opposition or indifference on the 
 part of parents or some other persons .) 
 
 The Scholars. 
 
 1. Every child in Ireland, simply as the result of having 
 resided therein between the ages of four and fourteen, to 
 have received in school at least one wholesome meal per 
 day during that period. 
 
 2. This meal to be prepared as far as possible from oats 
 and potatoes, rather than from wheat, Ireland being an oat¬ 
 growing and not a wheat-growing country. 
 
 3. The scholars to render active and direct assistance in 
 the preparation and distribution of this mid-day meal. 
 
 4. Female scholars to undergo an active and constant 
 training in the by no means simple or easily acquired art 
 of making oat-cake and stirabout as they ought to be made. 
 
 » 
 
27 
 
 5 * The importance to Ireland of this apparently trivial 
 detail may perhaps be appreciated from the following facts : 
 
 Irish acreage under oats in 1894 ... 1,254,813 acres. 
 
 Irish acreage under wheat in 1894 ... 49,342 acres. 
 
 6. For reasons known to agriculturists oats can never 
 be affected by foreign competition to the same extent as 
 wheat, or, indeed, to any serious and lasting extent at all. 
 
 7. Whereas it must surely be evident from the following 
 table that within a not very distant period the cultivation 
 of wheat in Ireland will have ceased altogether, or be con- 
 
 fined to a very few isolated districts 
 
 • ____ 
 
 • ' 
 
 Irish Acreage under 
 
 Wheat. • 
 
 Years. 
 
 Acres. 
 
 1862 
 
 356,321 
 
 1866 
 
 299,190 
 
 1870 
 
 259,847 ; 
 
 1874 
 
 187,978 
 
 1878 
 
 154,041 
 
 1882 
 
 152,824 
 
 1890 ... 
 
 93,208 
 
 1891 
 
 80,870 V • 
 
 1892 
 
 75408 
 
 1893 . ... 
 
 54,998 
 
 1894 
 
 49,342 
 
 8. Or in other words, that Ireland’s bread will have to 
 
 be exclusively supplied from abroad 
 
 through the medium 
 
 of England. 
 
 . 
 
 9. And at an almost prohibitive 
 
 or famine price, as the 
 
 result of a war with the United 
 
 States or any great 
 
 Continental power. 
 
 
 10. That it therefore behoves Irishmen to disregard 
 Dr. Johnson’s well known observation : that oats were the 
 food of horses in England and of men in Scotland. 
 
 11. And to appreciate the less known Scotch retort:— 
 And where will you find such men and such horses ? 
 
 * 12. Moreover, wheat, imported by English merchants 
 
 and English shipowners, arrives in the shape of flour , doubt¬ 
 less, in many cases seriously adulterated. Whereas oatmeal, 
 grown in the district and ground in the district, must be free 
 from impurities, as well as sustaining the milling industry. 
 
 13. The preparation of bread and cakes in the home adds 
 
 ♦ 
 
28 
 
 greatly to the strength of home influences, induces home¬ 
 going on the part of the labourer and the artisan, and is, 
 therefore, to be promoted by making the wives of the future 
 experts at breadmaking from the only cereal that can be 
 profitably grown in Ireland, and which ca?i never be offered 
 for sale at famine prices in Ireland. 
 
 14. Every scholar to be decently and healthily clothed 
 in materials of Irish manufacture. 
 
 (7 his should be an extraordinary stimulus to the Woollen 
 and other Irish industries.) 
 
 15. Every scholar to have acquired the art of swimming, 
 and the boys also of rowing, and in maritime districts of 
 sailing and fishing. 
 
 16. Every boy during the last three years of the school¬ 
 going period to have passed through some such experience 
 as the members of the Boys’ Brigade. 
 
 17. Every scholar to have ample opportunities of learn¬ 
 ing the game of chess. 
 
 18. Saturday to be a half-holiday, and not, as at present, 
 
 y 
 
 a blank day. After the mid-day meal the scholars to devote 
 themselves, or be engaged in, brigade drill or outdoor exer¬ 
 cises ; or in wet or inclement weather to chess, music, read¬ 
 ing or other suitable recreations. 
 
 19. Evening schools to be established for the benefit of 
 older scholars or for those who, during the school-going 
 period, may be required to assist at certain seasons in the 
 business of agriculture. 
 
 20. School attendance, except for very young persons, 
 to be from 9.30 till 4.30, the dinner and recreation interval 
 consisting of two hours. 
 
 21. The school-going period having expired, the male 
 scholar, in consideration of the expense incurred in his ten 
 years’ education, to be compelled to attend the evening 
 school at least two evenings per week for three years, and if 
 in receipt of wages to pay for same. 
 
 The Teachers. 
 
 1. The daily and evening schools to be open continuously 
 throughout the year, except during Christmas week, Easter 
 week, and the first week in August. 
 
 * 
 
29 
 
 2. All teachers, as the result of reaching the age of 18, 
 to have passed twelve or eighteen months in France or 
 Germany or in Belgium or Switzerland, of course prosecuting 
 their studies while abroad in like manner as when at home. 
 
 3. Teachers, as the result of reaching the age of 21, to 
 have passed at least one vacation in the United States. 
 
 4. The remuneration of teachers, as regards day duties, 
 to consist entirely of salary, which should commence at a 
 respectable minimum, rising annually to a maximum. 
 
 5. Results, however, to be given for the evening tuitions ; 
 half-yearly examinations being held under the auspices of 
 the County Councils, pupils from the day schools being 
 presentable if over ten years of age. 
 
 6. The salaries of the teachers to be receivable monthly 
 from the Baronial Boards. 
 
 7. Teachers to insure their lives in the State Insurance 
 Department on the endowment principle, that is, receivable 
 at a certain age. The premium to be not less than one- 
 tenth of the annual salary when 21 years of age. 
 
 8. There is no reason why schools should not be places 
 of recreation and pleasure, as well as education and dull 
 drudgery. Every school should therefore take in hand the 
 gradual formation of a library of entertaining and instructive 
 works. These should comprise travel and adventure, 
 biography and fiction, history and general knowledge, 
 written in a style suited to the young, and also to the 
 youth of both sexes ; illustrated editions being selected, if 
 obtainable. 
 
 9. The evening scholars, and certain of the day scholars, 
 to have the privilege of borrowing those works for home¬ 
 reading. 
 
 By free education it must not be assumed that the fore¬ 
 going advantages , or any of them , would be universally 
 conferred gratis by the Irish Government , or the Baronial 
 Boards , but that no child—simply as the result of want of 
 means , or disposition on the part of parents or guardians — 
 should be debarred from their attainment . 
 
 Boys and girls thus educated ’ woidd no more remain in 
 “ congested districts ” than water at the top of a mountain . 
 
30 
 
 As for the teachers , their increased status and emoluments 
 would infallibly attract a higher class of men and women 
 into their ranks. The cost of their proposed Continental 
 training would , in consequence , fail to become a serious 
 difficulty. 
 
 The Constabulary. 
 
 It is assumed that the land settlement will have the 
 effect of enabling the Imperial and Irish Governments to 
 gradually reduce and ultimately to abolish this frightfully 
 expensive and semi-military force. It is assumed that 
 apart from agrarian circumstances, this singularly offensive 
 and domineering force need never have existed, and that 
 its reduction can be taken in hand forthwith and be 
 accelerated by the following methods :— 
 
 1. In the formation, wholly or partially, from its ranks of 
 two regiments of Irish Guards, one horse and the other foot. 
 
 2. In the filling up of vacancies as they occur in the 
 Dublin Metropolitan Police. 
 
 3. In the immediate stoppage of recruiting, and the dis- 
 missal of recruits, with compensation. 
 
 4. In the filling up of vacancies, or of a certain propor¬ 
 tion of them, in the Post Office, Customs, and other de¬ 
 partments of the Imperial and Irish public service. 
 
 5. In the extension of the pension system, by offering 
 special inducements to the older members. 
 
 7. And, of course, the Baronial Boards having obtained 
 Parliamentary sanction for a local police system, would 
 willingly engage members of the Constabulary to act for 
 them in that capacity. 
 
 CROWNING THE EDIFICE. 
 
 1. Political prisoners, whether in English or Irish 
 prisons, to be released. 
 
 2. Ordinary prisoners, not being inveterate offenders 
 or dangerous characters, to be at once released or their 
 sentences reduced. 
 
 3. The Volunteer system to be extended to Ireland. 
 
 4. Queen’s Colleges to be abolished, the Cork and 
 Galway buildings being handed over to the Roman 
 Catholics, and the Belfast building to the Presbyterians. 
 
31 
 
 5- The building on the rock of Cashel to be handed over 
 to the Roman Catholics, conditional on their restoring same. 
 
 6. The Roman Catholics to be allowed to acquire by 
 purchase either Christ’s Church or St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 
 Dublin. 
 
 7. The abolition of customs and other duties on coffee, 
 chicory, cocoa, raisins, currants, and other dried fruits. 
 
 This, besides being a step in the direction of Temperance 
 Reform and a “ free break fas t- table, ’ ’ would be a boon to the 
 English as well as the Irish working classes, neither of whom 
 are coffee and cocoa drinkers to the extent it is so strongly de¬ 
 sirable they should become so, in view of the steady deteriora¬ 
 tion in the quality of tea , generally Indian , which is usually 
 prepared for the poorer classes in both countries. 
 
 8. Excise and stamp licences of all kinds, as at present 
 imposed, enabling persons in Ireland to carry on certain 
 businesses or professions, or to make or sell certain articles, 
 or to carry firearms, or to shoot or sell game, to be in future 
 obtainable from the Irish Government only. 
 
 9. Receipt, insurance, and other stamps enabling persons 
 in Ireland to receive or promise to pay money, make con¬ 
 tracts, or enter into engagements or agreements of any 
 
 # 
 
 kind, to be obtainable from the General Post Office only. 
 
 {The Imperial Government, as a set-off to the above loss 
 of revenue retaining the money at present annually voted to the 
 Queen's Colleges , as well as being able to cut down the 
 admittedly over-manned Irish Bench and legal expenses in 
 Ireland generally. These two latter propositions are necessary 
 in the interest of Irish autonomy rather than of revenue. It 
 may here , perhaps be observed that a financial arrangement 
 between Ireland and Great Britain is one quite impossible of 
 exact precision ; general and generous approximation being 
 obviously advisable in the ultimate interests of the Empire, 
 
 0 
 
 equally with those of Ireland.) 
 
 The Unification of Dublin. 
 
 1. During the last fifty years—that is to say, since the 
 time its present boundaries were created—the population 
 of Dublin has greatly extended, and is still doing so. 
 
 ♦ 
 
32 
 
 2. Largely as the result of the railway and tramway 
 system, some seventy or eighty thousand persons reside 
 immediately outside what is known as the city> and object 
 to be included therein for municipal purposes. 
 
 3. Would the establishment of an Irish Parliament of 
 the kind proposed in these pages abolish, or, at all events, 
 greatly mitigate, this objection ? 
 
 4. Surely it would, if only on account of the following 
 and other similar considerations :— 
 
 (1.) The immense increase that would immediately and 
 permanently take place in the “ floating popula¬ 
 tion’'* ; not only from all parts of Ireland, but from 
 Great Britain, the United States, and other Eng¬ 
 lish-speaking countries. This “floating population” 
 being accommodated, and spending its money 
 chiefly in the city , thus adding to the wealth of 
 the city, and hardly at all to that of the town¬ 
 ships. 
 
 (2.) The increased extent to which it would be 
 necessary for the nobility, gentry, and business 
 classes to visit Dublin; or to have permanent 
 residences therein. 
 
 (3) The consequent rise in rents that would inevitable 
 take place in what are known as “ fine old resi¬ 
 dences,” as well as in the larger description of 
 houses, owing to the classes for whom they were 
 originally erected returning once more to occupy 
 them. 
 
 (4.) Were rating to be based on rental rather than on 
 “ value,” would not the townships be more likely to 
 gain than lose by an amalgamation with the 
 city under such vastly altered circumstances ? 
 
 (5.) Dublin would then be a city containing about 
 340,000 inhabitants, and a worthy CAPITAL OF 
 Ireland. 
 
 TEMPERANCE REFORM, 
 
 1, Fourteen millions sterling per annum — or 
 about double the sum annually paid by Irish farmers to the 
 Irish landlords —is an admittedly frightful amount to be spent 
 in drink by so small and so very poor a nation as Ireland. 
 
 2. Women and children, the aged, the infirm, the resi¬ 
 dents in poor-houses, hospitals, prisons and similar public 
 
33 
 
 establishments, together with total abstainers, and others 
 almost so, spending little or nothing, it follows that the 
 great bulk of this sum is expended by certainly not more, 
 and probably by much less, than a single million of persons. 
 
 3. Of course, these fourteen millions are not spent on 
 drink, but on TAXATION and drink. 
 
 4. The amount of this TAXATION cannot be definitely 
 stated, but that it is at least four millions sterling per 
 annum, is a clear and undoubted fact. 
 
 5. Far-reaching measures of temperance reform (only 
 passable by an Irish Parliament acting in co-operation 
 with Municipalities and County Councils) could materially 
 reduce this very liberal and voluntary annual contribution 
 to the English Exchequer. 
 
 6. To say nothing of results that might reasonably be 
 expected to follow in various other directions, not difficult 
 of imagination, and too obvious for statement. 
 
 7. By way of beginning, or, perhaps, rather to clear the 
 way, the Irish Parliament might enact;— 
 
 (1.) That licences be net renewed for the sale of 
 alcoholic drinks at refreshment bars at railway 
 stations. 
 
 (2.) That private clubs, the subscription to which is 
 less than four guineas per annum, payable at least 
 half-yearly in advance, receive licences in exactly 
 the same way, and subject to exactly the same 
 conditions, as ordinary public-houses. 
 
 (3.) No clubs to be allowed to sell alcoholic drinks 
 except where the membership subscription is at 
 least one guinea per annum, payable yearly or 
 half-yearly in advance. 
 
 (4.) Throughout Ireland, except in Dublin and Belfast, 
 the hours of opening to be from half-past nine in 
 the morning until half-past nine at night 
 
 (5.) Throughout Ireland, except in Dublin and 
 Belfast, public-houses and clubs to be closed on 
 Sundays. 
 
 (6.) Throughout Ireland, public-houses and clubs to 
 ' be closed on Saturday afternoons from two till 
 six, and finally at 9.30. 
 
34 
 
 (7.) The hours of opening on Sundays in Dublin and 
 Belfast, and for bona fide travellers to be as follows: 
 
 I. From 1.30 p.m. until 3 p.m. 
 
 2 From 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. 
 
 (8.) Public-houses and clubs throughout Ireland to be 
 entirely closed on Christmas Day. 
 
 The way being thus cleared, the formation of the 
 following limited liability company could at once be taken 
 in hand :— 
 
 The Dublin and Townships Publichouse 
 
 Company, Limited. 
 
 1. The shares to consist of:— 
 
 (1) Corporation 6 per cent. Debentures, £1,000,000. 
 
 (2) Ordinary shares (maximum dividend, 10 per cent.), 
 £2,000,000. 
 
 Earnings above these dividends to be handed over to 
 the Corporation, with a view to the destruction of unsanitary 
 districts, and the erection in lieu thereof of cheap and healthy 
 accommodation for the artisan and poorer classes as well as 
 for city improvements generally. 
 
 2. Objects :— 
 
 (1) The acquisition of all houses licensed to sell 
 alcoholic drinks to be consumed on the premises. 
 
 (2) The total separation of the publican business from 
 
 the grocery, or any other business. 
 
 (3) The suppression of the dingy, badly ventilated, 
 low-roofed type,—especially those whose sanitary 
 accommodation is defective, or wholly, wanting. 
 
 (4) The suppression even of the better class description 
 
 in neighbourhoods where they are clearly out of 
 harmony with their surroundings, and an injury 
 to adjacent properties. In Grafton Street, for 
 example, they should be suppressed altogether, 
 especially as very numerous first-class public- 
 houses exist in the immediately adjoining 
 thoroughfares ; also in Stephen’s Green, Dawson 
 Street, Kildare Street, and localities of a like 
 description, whose inhabitants, we may be sure, 
 neither want them nor use them, and who would 
 gladly be relieved both of them and their customers. 
 
 3. Though from one-third to one-half of existing 
 publichouses in Dublin and neighbourhood would in a few 
 
 A 
 
years pass completely out of existence, it would by no 
 means follow that a proportionate, or even an appreciable 
 . loss of business would thereby result. Men desiring beer 
 or spirits would hardly go without them rather than cross 
 from one side of a street to the other, or travel a couple of 
 dozen yards. But, indeed, the instances are many in 
 which they would only require to go next door to the closed 
 house they had previously been in the habit of frequenting- 
 There need be no difficulty in understanding that for 
 purposes of refreshment, or even for drunkenness, half a- 
 dozen publichouses in a limited area are as effectual as 
 double or treble the number ; especially when the sup¬ 
 pressed houses would be the smaller and not the larger 
 ones, many of the latter perhaps, becoming still larger. 
 
 4. The Company while continuing to transact as much 
 business as its predecessors (and probably more, when, 
 as the result of the establishment of an Irish Parliament, 
 an immense increase would take place in the floating or 
 visiting population), would do so under immensely more 
 favourable conditions. 
 
 5. The closing of 400 publichouses would mean not 
 only the saving of the rent paid for them by their present 
 occupants —the NEW occupants would pay rent to the 
 Company —a saving of from £35,000 to 50,000 a year. 
 
 6. There would be the further saving of 400 gas bills, 
 say £5,000 per annum ; 400 licences, say £10,000 per 
 annum; 800 assistants, say £50,000 per annum; taxes 
 say £7,000 per annum ; advertisements, say ,£3,000 per 
 annum ; these items added to the minimum rent saving 
 amount to £1 10,000 per annum—an under-estimate beyond 
 doubt or question. 
 
 7. But would not the new Company, as an individual cus¬ 
 tomer, receive an immensely enhanced respect and deference 
 from the manufacturers and producers of the various articles 
 and beverages they would require for the public ? 
 
 8. To such an important customer, would goods of any 
 description except in the best possible condition, and of the 
 admittedly highest quality, be tendered for acceptance ? 
 
 9. Would not prices be cut down to the lowest possible 
 point ? 
 
10. Would not the new Company, as regards, at least, 
 many articles, be its own merchant, its own manufacturer, its 
 own importer? 
 
 11. Would not the new Company, by paying for goods 
 on delivery, and by contracting for large quantities, effect an 
 immense annual saving in the matter of DISCOUNT ? 
 
 12. The public-houses of Dublin being in the hands of 
 the same owners, would it be any longer necessary to have 
 uniform hours of business ? Regard being had to the fact 
 that the busy time in one portion of the city is the slack 
 time in some other portion, every public-house might be 
 closed two hours during the day, enabling the assistants to 
 dine quietly and comfortably, the premises being re¬ 
 arranged and thoroughly well ventilated. 
 
 13. The requirements of the public not being over¬ 
 
 looked, certain houses might be closed from 2 to 4, others 
 from 3 to 5, others from 4 to 6, while not a few might be 
 closed,, altogether at seven or eight o’clock, as, indeed, is 
 the case at present in several well-known instances in the 
 City of Dublin. f 
 
 14. The same remarks apply to Sundays. In some 
 houses a greater trade is done on Sundays, notwithstanding 
 the limited hours of business, than on any two days of the 
 week ; others, again, doing little or nothing. A number of 
 houses necessary for week-day business might, therefore, be 
 closed on Sundays, or, at all events, during the 
 second of the proposed two openings—a further saving in 
 gas and other items of expenditure, as well as in wear and 
 tear of premises/being thereby effected. 
 
 15. Of the present traders, it may be presumed that 
 a number of them—especially those who are in comfortable 
 circumstances, or advanced in years—would gladly retire 
 altogether from business, provided they could do so on un¬ 
 usually advantageous terms. 
 
 16. The remainder would either be engaged by the 
 proposed Company as district managers, buyers, stock- 
 keepers, foremen, or in other capacities, or would retire 
 into the position of spirit grocers—a class of traders with 
 whom it would not be necessary to interfere, except as 
 
 regards hours of opening. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
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