Dicey, _England's Case against Home Rule_, p. 128.]

[Footnote 54: Dicey, _England's Case against Home Rule_, pp. 72-74.]

[Footnote 55: Dicey, _England's Case against Home Rule_, pp. 92-94.--The
foreigner is De Beaumont.]

[Footnote 56: Dicey, _England's Case against Home Rule_, pp. 151, 152.]

[Footnote 57: Ibid., p. 288.]

[Footnote 58: I hope I am not doing Mr. Lecky an injustice in this
statement. I rely on the extract quoted from the _Leaders of Public
Opinion in Ireland,_ at p. 176 of this volume; but see Introduction, p.
xix.]

[Footnote 59: Irish House of Commons, January 15th, 1800.]

IRELAND'S ALTERNATIVES.

BY LORD THRING.[60]

Ireland is a component member of the most complex political body the
world has yet known; any inquiry, then, into the fitness of any
particular form of government for that country involves an investigation
of the structures of various composite nations, or nations made up of
numerous political communities more or less differing from each other.
From the examination of the nature of the common tie, and the
circumstances which caused it to be adopted or imposed on the component
peoples, we cannot but derive instruction, and be furnished with
materials which will enable us to take a wide view of the question of
Home Rule, and assist us in judging between the various remedies
proposed for the cure of Irish disorders.

The nature of the ties which bind, or have bound, the principal
composite nations of the world together may be classified as--

1. Confederate unions.
2. Federal unions.
3. Imperial unions.

A confederate union may be defined to mean an alliance between the
governments of independent States, which agree to appoint a common
superior authority having power to make peace and war and to demand
contributions of men and money from the confederate States. Such
superior authority has no power of enforcing its decrees except through
the medium of the governments of the constituent States; or, in other
words, in case of disobedience, by armed force.

A federal union differs from a confederate union in the material fact
that the common superior authority, instead of acting on the individual
subjects of the constituent States through the medium of their
respective governments, has a power, in respect of all matters within
its jurisdiction, of enacting laws and issuing orders which are binding
directly on the individual citizens.

The distinguishin