y be attributed to the absence of protection for
literary property in Ireland in the former period, which may have
directed an unusual portion of the national talent to politics, and
something to the Colonial and Indian careers which have of late years
been thrown open to competition; but when all due allowances have been
made for these, the contrast is sufficiently impressive. Few impartial
men can doubt that the tone of political life and the standard of
political talent have been lowered, while sectarian animosity has been
greatly increased, and the extent to which Fenian principles have
permeated the people is a melancholy comment upon the prophesies that
the Union would put an end to disloyalty in Ireland."[35]

Mr. Lecky's views as to what ought to have been done in 1800 deserve to
be set forth.

"While, however, the Irish policy of Pitt appears to be both morally and
politically deserving of almost unmitigated condemnation, I cannot agree
with those who believe that the arrangement of 1782 could have been
permanent. The Irish Parliament would doubtless have been in time
reformed, but it would have soon found its situation intolerable.
Imperial policy must necessarily have been settled by the Imperial
Parliament, in which Ireland had no voice; and, unlike Canada or
Australia, Ireland is profoundly affected by every change of Imperial
policy. Connection with England was of overwhelming importance to the
lesser country, while the tie uniting them would have been found
degrading by one nation and inconvenient to the other. Under such
circumstances a Union of some kind was inevitable. It was simply a
question of time, and must have been demanded by Irish opinion. At the
same time, it would not, I think, have been such a Union as that of
1800. The conditions of Irish and English politics are so extremely
different, and the reasons for preserving in Ireland a local centre of
political life are so powerful, that it is probable a Federal Union
would have been preferred. Under such a system the Irish Parliament
would have continued to exist, but would have been restricted to purely
local subjects, while an Imperial Parliament, in which Irish
representatives sat, would have directed the policy of the empire."[36]

MR. GOLDWIN SMITH.

None of the recent opponents of Home Rule have written against that
policy with more brilliance and epigrammatic keenness than Mr. Goldwin
Smith. But no one has stated with more force the