ent--that is,
of Great Britain. But it is idle to suppose that Mr. Parnell and Mr.
Parnell's followers would find it easier to respect an Imperial or
Federal tribunal than to bow to the will of the Imperial Parliament.

Home Rulers would, moreover, soon discover a reason for resistance to
the Federal Court or the Federal Government, which from their point of
view would be a perfectly valid reason. The Federal Government would, in
effect, be the Government of England; the Federal Court would in effect
be a Court appointed by the English Government. In a Confederacy where
there are many States, the Government of the Federation cannot be
identified with even the most powerful of the States; it were ridiculous
to assert that the Government at Washington is only the Government of
New York under another name. Where a Confederacy consists in reality, if
not in name, of two States only, of which the one has at least four or
five times the power of the other, the authority of the Confederacy
means the authority of the powerful State. "Irish Federalism," if in
reality established, would soon generate a demand from Ireland, not
unreasonable in itself, under the circumstances of the case, that the
whole British Empire should be turned into a Confederacy, under the
guidance of a general Congress. Thus alone could Ireland become a real
State, the member of a genuine Confederation. Hence arises a new danger.
Apply Federalism to Ireland and you immediately provoke demands for
autonomy in other parts of the United Kingdom, and for constitutional
changes in other parts of the British Empire. Federalism, which in other
lands has been a step towards Union, would, it is likely enough, be in
our case the first stage towards a dissolution of the United Kingdom
into separate States, and hence towards the breaking-up of the British
Empire. This is no future or imaginary peril; the mere proposal of Home
Rule, under something like a Federal form, has already made it an
immediate and pressing danger. Sir Gavan Duffy, by far the ablest among
the Irish advocates of Home Rule, predicts that before ten years have
elapsed there will be a Federation of the Empire.[37] A majority of
Scotch electors support the policy of Mr. Gladstone, and forthwith a
most respectable Scotch periodical puts forward a plan of Home Rule for
Scotland. Canon MacColl already suggests that we should make tentatively
an experiment capable of development into a permanent system on