lause, was to be empowered to reserve such resolutions for his
own consideration, to remit them for further consideration by the
Council, or, lastly, "if in the opinion of the Lord Lieutenant immediate
action is necessary with respect to the matter to which the resolution
relates, in order to preserve the efficiency of the service, or to
prevent public or private injury, the Lord Lieutenant may make such
order with respect to the matter as in his opinion the necessity of the
case requires, and any order so made shall have the same effect and
operate in the same manner as if it were the resolution of the Irish
Council."

These were the provisions of the measure which the Liberals introduced
to the disappointment of their Unionist opponents, who had foretold that
it would be a Home Rule Bill under some form of alias, intended to dupe
the predominant partner. It is to be noted that in 1885 Mr. Chamberlain
made a proposal which was on the same lines as this, but went further in
one respect--that there was no nominated element on the Board which he
proposed to create, and furthermore, the powers of the departments would
under it have been transferred to a single elective Board, whereas under
the Council Bill the departments were to be suffered to continue, albeit
under control. Lord Randolph Churchill was prepared at the time of Mr.
Chamberlain's proposal to give even more than the latter wished to
concede, but both proposals were forgotten on the announcement by Mr.
Gladstone of his intention to legislate on a comprehensive basis.

The attitude of Mr. Redmond on the first reading of the Bill has been so
grossly misrepresented by the English Press, both Liberal and
Conservative, which published only carefully-prepared epitomes of his
speech, that it is necessary that one should devote some attention to
what he actually said. After asserting that no one could expect him or
his colleagues--until they had the actual Bill in their hand and had
time to consider every portion of the scheme, and to elicit Irish public
opinion with reference to it--to offer a deliberate or final judgment,
Mr. Redmond went on to reaffirm what the Irish people have long
considered the minimum demand which can satisfy their aspirations, and
declared that since the measure was introduced as neither a substitute
nor an alternative for Home Rule, he would proceed to consider its
terms. "Does the scheme," the Irish leader went on to ask, "give a
genuine a