ection under the
constitution against arbitrary rule. The whole administrative machinery
of the forty-three boards in Ireland has been represented in Parliament
by one member, the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, but he is
supported since a few months ago by the Vice-president of the Department
of Agriculture. The result is that, while in Great Britain a watchful
eye can be kept on extravagance or mismanagement of the public services,
the maintenance of a diametrically opposite system of government in
Ireland, under which it is impossible to let in the same amount of
light, leads to the bureaucratic conditions of which Mr. Chamberlain
spoke in the speech from which I have quoted.

In answer to these complaints it is usual to point to the case of
Scotland as analogous, and to ask why Ireland should complain when the
Scottish form of government arouses no resentment in that country. The
parallel in no sense holds good, for Scotland has not a separate
Executive as has Ireland, although she has, like Ireland, a separate
Secretary in the House of Commons. Scottish legislation generally
follows that of England and Wales, and in any case Scotland has not
passed through a period of travail as has Ireland, nor have exceptional
remedies at recurring periods in her history been demanded by the social
conditions of the country; and last, but by no means least, one has only
to look at a list of Ministers of the Crown in the case of this
Government, or of that which preceded it, to see that the interests of
Scotland are well represented by the occupants of the Treasury Bench,
whichever party is in power, so that it is no matter for surprise that
she is precluded by her long acquiescence from demanding constitutional
change.

More than half a century ago Lord John Russell promised O'Connell to
substitute County Boards for the Grand Jury, in its capacity of Local
Authority, but the latter survived until ten years ago. The members of
the Grand Jury were nominated by the High Sheriffs of the Counties, and
as was natural, seeing that they were the nominees of a great landlord,
they were almost entirely composed of landlords, and the score of
gentlemen who served on these bodies in many instances imposed taxation,
as is now freely admitted, for the benefit of their own property on a
rack-rented tenantry. A reform of this system of local government was
promised by the Liberals in the Queen's Speech of 1881, but so far was
the power