ened for many years.

In politics it is often the unexpected that happens, and he would be a
bold prophet who should declare it impossible that within a few years
Liberals may not return _in toto_ to the advocacy of sound principles in
regard to Ireland, the abandonment of which is to be traced to the
recrudescence of Whiggism after Mr. Gladstone's death and the desire to
find some line of policy which might be pilloried as a scapegoat to
account for the disgust of the country with a divided party in the years
following 1895. Liberalism, for its part, if it is to settle the
problem, must fully appreciate the fact that its proposals, if they are
to succeed, must be accepted with the full concurrence of the Irish
representative majority, and on the part of Irishmen what is demanded is
a recognition of the results of the dispensation which has placed the
two islands side by side; by these means only can a practicable policy
be ensured, but it must be remembered with regard to those in Ireland
who hold extreme views, that the continuance of the system of government
which holds the field, and the financial burden at the expense of
Ireland which it perpetuates, serve increasingly to obscure and at the
same time to counteract the advantages accruing from the connection
between the two countries, which one may hope would, in happier
circumstances, be obvious.

The Irish people still appreciate the force of that maxim of Edmund
Burke's, that the things which are not practicable are not desirable.
While they claim that as of right they are entitled to demand a
separation of the bonds, to the forging of which they were not
consenting parties, as practical men they are prepared loyally to abide
by a compromise which will maintain the union of the crowns while
separating the Legislatures. An international contract leaving them an
independent Parliament with an Executive responsible to it, having
control over domestic affairs, is their demand. Grattan's constitution
comprised a sovereign Parliament with a non-Parliamentary Executive, in
so far as the latter was appointed and dismissed by English Ministers.
The constitution which is demanded to-day is the same as that enjoyed by
such a colony as Victoria, with a non-sovereign Parliament, having, that
is, a definite limit to its legislative powers, such as those under the
Bill of 1886 referring to Church Establishment and Customs, but having
an Executive directly responsible to it.