nd why this
provision, which seemed so naturally to follow from the rest of the
scheme, awakened so powerful an opposition among Mr. Gladstone's
own supporters. I believe the Irish have no wish to appear in the
British Parliament. They wish to manage their own affairs, and are
ready to leave Great Britain to manage its own affairs and those of
the "Empire" to boot. It is very hard to see in what character the
Irish members are to show themselves at Westminster. If they may
vote on British affairs, while the British members do not vote on
Irish affairs, surely too great a privilege is given to Ireland; it
is Great Britain which will become the dependency. If they are to
vote on "Imperial" affairs only, to say nothing of the difficulty
of defining such affairs, it will be something very strange, very
novel, very hard to work, to have members of Parliament who are
only half-members, who must walk out of the House whenever certain
classes of subjects are discussed.' (E.A. Freeman, 'Irish Home
Rule and its Analogies,' _The New Princeton Review_, vi. pp. 194,
195.)

Mr. Freeman's language proves that I have not overrated the essential
difference or opposition between the Home Rule policy of 1886 and the
Home Rule policy of 1893.

[56] It is styled in the Home Rule Bill 'an Executive Committee of the
Privy Council of Ireland.'

[57] If there were reason to expect (which there is not) that the Home
Rule Bill would pass into law, it would be worth while to consider
carefully a question which has not yet engaged the attention of English
statesmen: Is it desirable that under a system of Home Rule the Irish
Executive should be a Parliamentry Ministry? The answer to this question
is by no means clear. Both in the United States, and in every State of
the Union, the executive power is lodged in the hands of an official who
is neither appointed nor removable by the Legislature. The same remark
applies to the Executive of the German Empire. In Switzerland the
Ministry, or Council of State, is indeed appointed, but is not removable
by the Federal Assembly or Parliament. Arguments certainly might be
suggested in favour of creating for Ireland an Executive whose tenure of
office might be independent of the will of the Irish Parliament.
Ireland, in short, like many other countries, might gain by the
possession of a non-parliamentary Executive. See as to