should be governed by one legislative body consisting of two
orders, a first and a second. These orders were to deliberate and vote
together, except in regard to matters which should come directly under
the Home Rule Act, amendments of the Act, or Standing Orders in
pursuance of the Act. In such cases the first order possessed the right
of voting separately, and seemed to possess an absolute veto.

The first order of the legislative body created by the 1886 Bill
consisted of 103 members, of whom 75 were elected members and 28
peerage members. The elected members were to be chosen under a
restricted suffrage, and the peerage members were to be the
representative Irish Peers. The second order was to consist of 204
members, elected under the existing franchise.

All this was rather complicated and confusing, and was, perhaps
rightly, brushed aside by the framers of the 1893 Bill. They
constituted the Irish Legislature on the model of an ordinary Colonial
Parliament with two Chambers--a Legislative Assembly and a Legislative
Council. The Legislative Council was to consist of 48 members, elected
by large constituencies voting under a L20 property franchise. The
Legislative Assembly was to consist of 103 members, elected by the
existing constituencies under the existing franchise. In cases of
disagreement between the two Houses, it was proposed that, either after
a dissolution or after a period of two years, the Houses were to vote
together, and that the majority vote should decide the matter. Since
1893 that provision, in almost precisely the same form, has been
adopted by the Australian Commonwealth, and, in a more progressive
form, by, the South African Parliament.

In the Bill of 1912 these provisions of 1893 reappear, but in a broader
and more liberal form. The Irish Legislative Assembly and Legislative
Council--names which seem to give to Ireland a position of a
subordinate--have given way, as we have seen, to the frank and
generous titles of Senate and House of Commons, both forming the Irish
Parliament. The machinery for settling disagreements has come back from
its journey round the world refreshed by a new draft of democracy,
imbibed from the climates of Australia and South Africa. In cases of
differences between the Assemblies they will meet and decide by common
vote, without the necessity of a dissolution. That is a great and
important simplification, and for it the Irish have to thank the genius
of the founder