ch clause in the Bill, it is clear, from what has
been said above, that the Imperial Legislature could not, if it would,
renounce its supremacy or abdicate its sovereign powers. The executive
government in Ireland was continued in the Queen, to be carried on by
the Lord Lieutenant on behalf of her Majesty, with the aid of such
officers and Council as to her Majesty might from time to time seem fit.
Her Majesty was also a constituent part of the Legislature, with power
to delegate to the Lord Lieutenant the prerogative of assenting to or
dissenting from Bills, and of summoning, proroguing, and dissolving
Parliament. Under these provisions the Lord Lieutenant resembled the
Governor of a colony with responsible government. He was invested with a
double authority--first, Imperial; secondly, Local. As an Imperial
officer, he was bound to veto any Bill injuriously affecting Imperial
interests or inconsistent with general Imperial policy; as a Local
officer, it was his duty to act in all local matters according to the
advice of his Council, whose tenure of office depended on their being in
harmony with, and supported by, a majority of the Legislative Assembly.
Questions relating to the constitutionality of any particular law were
not left altogether to the decision of the Governor. If a Bill
containing a provision infringing Imperial rights passed the
Legislature, its validity might be decided in the first instance by the
ordinary courts of law, but the ultimate appeal lay to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council, and, with a view to secure absolute
impartiality in the Committee, it was provided that Ireland should be
represented on that body by persons who either were or had been Irish
judges. Not the least important provision of the Bill, as respects the
maintenance of Imperial interests, was the continuance of Imperial
taxation. The Customs and Excise duties were directed to be levied, as
heretofore, in pursuance of the enactments of the Imperial Parliament,
and were excepted from the control of the Irish Legislature, which had
full power, with that exception, to impose such taxes in Ireland as they
might think expedient. The Bill further provided that neither the
Imperial taxes of Excise nor any Local taxes that might be imposed by
the Irish Legislature should be paid into the Irish Exchequer. An
Imperial officer, called the Receiver-General, was appointed, into whose
hands the produce of every tax, both Imperial and L