42 Irish
members may retain over British affairs will be only temporary. What,
then, is the present Parliamentary relationship between Irish Home Rule
and the Federal idea?

THE NEW FEDERALISM

Since the year 1893 there has been a great change of feeling in regard
to the whole Home Rule question. The British Parliament has gone
through a great crisis in its procedure, and it has, for the moment,
accepted a temporary way out in the form of a drastic use of the
closure, applied by Mr. Balfour, under Standing Orders, to so vital a
matter as Supply. That violent remedy known as the "Compartment
Closure" is now almost automatically extended by both parties, under
the very thin veil of liberty left by a special resolution, to almost
every great measure that comes before the House of Commons.

This development of the British Parliamentary system has created a new
outlook on the Home Rule question. The case of Ireland still stands by
itself, with great grievances and strong historical claims behind it.
Home Rule for Ireland will always have a peculiar urgency, arising from
conditions of geographical position. But the passion for Irish liberty
is now mingled in the average British mind with the passion for the
liberty of the British House of Commons. It is recognised that unless
Ireland is freed the British Parliament will remain in chains.

This new attitude has widened the outlook of Home Rulers until Home
Rule has ceased to be a merely Irish question. Nothing was more
dramatic during the recent debates over the Insurance Bill than the
sudden wave of federal feeling in the House of Commons which compelled
the Government to grant a separate administrative insurance authority,
not merely to Ireland, but also to Scotland and Wales. Similarly with
Home Rule. What was in 1893 only a pale glimmer of foresight, is with
many, in the year 1912, a passionate conviction. It is that after Home
Rule has been given to Ireland it must be extended also to Scotland,
Wales, and possibly England.

Now it would be plainly useless to grant Home Rule to any of these
countries until there is a wider and deeper demand for it. The issue of
Home Rule for Ireland was definitely raised in both the elections of
1910, and when the people gave their votes they knew, and were
actually warned by Mr. Balfour himself, and by most of the other
Unionist chiefs, that the result would be the creation of a Home Rule
Parliament in Ireland. But it cannot be sa