s thirst
for separate national existence. The nearer complete independence seems,
the more will it be desired. Hatred to England will still be an active
force, because the amount of control which England retains will irritate
Irish pride, as well as limit Irish action; while all the misfortunes
which may befall the new Irish Government will be blamed, not on its own
imprudence, but on the English connection. And as the motives for
seeking separation will remain, so the prospect of obtaining it will
seem better. Agitation will have a better vantage-ground in an Irish
Parliament than it formerly had among the Irish members of a British
Legislature; and if actual resistance to the Queen's authority should be
attempted, it will be attempted under conditions more favourable than
the present, because the rebels will have in their hands the machinery
of Irish Government, large financial resources, and a _prima facie_
title to represent the will of the Irish people. As against a rebellious
party in Ireland, England has now two advantages--an advantage of
theory, an advantage of fact. The advantage of theory is that she does
not admit Ireland to be a distinct nation, but maintains that in the
United Kingdom there is but one nation, whereof some inhabit Great
Britain and some Ireland. The advantage of fact is that, through her
control of the constabulary, the magistrates, the courts of justice,
and, in fine, the whole administrative system of Ireland, she can easily
quell insurrectionary movements. By creating an Irish Parliament and
Government she would strip herself of both these advantages."

I need hardly say that I do not admit the fairness of this statement of
the case, because some of the premises are untrue, and because it
misrepresents the nature of the Irish Government which Mr. Gladstone's
Bill would have created. But I am trying to state the case as it was
sedulously and skilfully presented to Englishmen. And it told all the
more upon English waverers, because the considerations above mentioned
seemed, if well founded, to destroy and cut away the chief ground on
which Home Rule had been advocated, viz. that it would relieve England
from the constant pressure of Irish discontent and agitation, and bring
about a time of tranquillity, permitting good feeling to grow up between
the peoples. If Home Rule was, after all, to be nothing more than a
half-way house to independence, an Irish Parliament only a means of
extorting