hmen should find out what
the Irish want solely for the purpose of not letting them have it, and a
journal like the _Spectator_ maintains that the sole excuse for
extending the suffrage in Ireland, as it has lately been extended in
England, was that the Irish as a minority would not be able to make any
effective use of it; and when another political philosopher writes a
long and very solemn letter in which, while conceding that in governing
Ireland a sympathetic regard for Irish feelings and interests should be
displayed, he mentions, as one of the leading facts of the situation,
that in "the Irish character there is a grievous lack of independence,
of self-respect, of courage, and above all of truthfulness"--when men of
this kind talk in this way, it is easy to see that the mental and moral
conditions necessary to the successful formation of a federal union are
still far off. No federal government, and no government requiring
loyalty and fidelity for its successful working, was ever set up by, or
even discussed between, two parties, one of which thought the other so
unreasonable that it should be carefully denied everything it asked for
and as unfit for any sort of political co-operation as mendacity,
cowardice, and slavishness could make it.

Finally let me say that there is nothing in Mr. Dicey's book which has
surprised me more, considering with what singular intellectual integrity
he attacks every point, than his failure to make any mention or to take
any account of the large part which time and experience must necessarily
play in bringing to perfection any political arrangement which is made
to order, if I may use the expression, no matter how carefully it may be
drafted. Hume says on this point with great wisdom, "To balance the
large state or society, whether monarchical or republican, on general
laws, is a work of so great difficulty, that no human genius, however
comprehensive, is able by the mere dint of reason or reflection to
effect it. The judgments of many must unite in the work, experience must
guide their labour, time must bring it to perfection, and the feeling of
inconveniences must correct the mistakes which they inevitably fall into
in their first trial and experiments."[25]

This has proved true of the American and Swiss federations; it will
probably prove true of the Austro-Hungarian federation and of any that
may be set up by Great Britian [Transcriber: sic.] and her colonies. It
will prove stil