refore fails entirely to fulfil for any
practical purpose the conditions it is meant to satisfy. It neither
maintains the sovereignty of Parliament, nor makes adequate securities
for justice, nor offers a prospect of finality.

A criticism of Home Rule in its four forms gives then this result:--

[Sidenote: Result of criticism. 1. Home Rule as Federalism.]

Home Rule as Federalism means the immediate dislocation and the ultimate
rebuilding of the whole English Constitution; it involves the
transformation of an old and tried polity which centuries of experience
have admirably adapted to the wants of the English people, and which has
fostered the growth of the British Empire, into a form of government in
itself not free from defects, and successful where it has succeeded only
under conditions which the United Kingdom does not present.

[Sidenote: 2. Home Rule as Colonial independence.]

Home Rule in the form of Colonial independence involves far less change
in the institutions of Great Britain or in the complex arrangements of
the British Empire than does Federalism. It appears at first sight to be
an application to Ireland of institutions which, as they have been found
to answer their purpose in such countries as Canada and Victoria, may
also prove successful in Ireland. The appearance is delusive. The true
reasons why the Colonial system, self-contradictory as it is in theory
and unsatisfactory as it sometimes is in practice, has produced harmony
between England and her dependencies, are that the colonies are far
distant and are prosperous, that they feel pride in their relation to
the mother-country, that whilst contributing not a penny towards meeting
Imperial burdens they derive valuable and valued benefits from the
connection with the Empire, and lastly that they are not in reality
dependencies; the colonies willingly acquiesce in the supremacy of
England, because England protects them gratis and does not govern them
at all. It is not the Colonial system, but the conditions which make
that system succeed, which ought to engross our attention. These
conditions will not be found in any arrangement whatever between England
and Ireland. It is in the strictest sense impossible that Ireland whilst
forming part of the United Kingdom, or even of the British Empire,
should enjoy or endure the independence of Victoria. If the Act which
gives Victoria her constitution were reenacted with the necessary verbal
changes for Ir