ope, and energy the child of hope," to the
old cycle of bitterness and listlessness and despair.

A consideration of these alternatives leads to this dilemma. If the
Government concede fiscal autonomy Land Purchase ends. If they refuse
it, and Mr. Redmond accepts a "gas-and-water" Bill, that compromise, so
accepted, will receive from Mr. Dillon the treatment accorded to the
recommendations of the Recess Committee and of the Land Conference. The
compromise will be repudiated and the millions already advanced for
purchase will be used as a lever to extort complete autonomy. The lever
is a powerful one. All depends upon who holds the handle.

It may be said in conclusion that the Unionist policy of Land Purchase
vindicates the Union, and that the treatment it has received
demonstrates the futility, and the tragedy, of granting Home Rule.

XV

POSSIBLE IRISH FINANCIAL REFORMS UNDER THE UNION

BY ARTHUR WARREN SAMUELS, K.C.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION.

The best possible system for Irish financial reform is adherence to the
principles of the Act of Union. The constitution, as settled by the Act
of Union and the Supplementary Act for the amalgamation of the
Exchequer, contemplated that each of the three Kingdoms should
contribute by "equal taxes" to the Imperial Exchequer. "Equal taxes"
were to be those which would press upon each country equitably in
proportion to its comparative ability to bear taxation. These taxes were
to be imposed subject to such exemptions and abatements as Scotland and
Ireland should from time to time appear to be entitled to. If their
circumstances should so require, they should receive special
consideration.

All the revenues of England, Scotland and Ireland, wherever and however
raised, when paid into the common Exchequer, form one consolidated fund.
The Act for the consolidation of the Exchequers directs that there shall
be paid out of the common fund "indiscriminately" under the control of
Parliament all such moneys as are required at any time and in any place
for any of the public services in England, Scotland, Ireland or
elsewhere in the Empire.[76] Such payments are to be made without
consideration of anything but necessity. They are to be without
differentiation on the ground of the locality of the expenditure, or of
the relative amount of the contributions to the common chest of
England, Scotland or Ireland. All expenditure is alike "common";
whatever its object may be, ci