based on a fallacy, since Ireland has no more right
to be considered as a separate entity than an English county, is
remarkably disingenuous in view of the acknowledgment of this in the
separate treatment which she received in the matter of grants made in
relief of local taxation and for the establishment of free education in
the years 1888 and 1890 and 1891. Moreover, it was impliedly admitted
that she was a separate entity in the appointment of a Select Committee
on taxation in 1864, and again by Lord Goschen in 1890, and the whole
history of her separate legislation bears the same construction. One
cannot give a better commentary on what has been seen of the economic
condition of the island than by quoting the peroration of the speech of
John Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare, the "great father of the Union,"
speaking in the Irish House of Parliament:--"It is with a cordial
sincerity and a full conviction that it will give to this, my native
country, lasting peace and security for her religion, her laws, her
liberty, and her property, an increase of strength, riches, and trade,
and the final extinction of national jealousy and animosity, that I now
propose to this grave assembly for their adoption an entire and perfect
Union of the Kingdom of Ireland with Great Britain. If I live to see it
completed, to my latest hour I shall feel an honourable pride in
reflecting on the little share I may have in contributing to effect it."

CHAPTER III

THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF IRELAND

"When the inhabitants of a country leave it in crowds because
the government does not leave them room in which to live, that
government is judged and condemned."--JOHN STUART MILL,
_Political Economy_.

I have shown something of the incubus of taxation which overpowers
Ireland from the fact that she--the poorest country in Western
Europe--is bound to the richest in such a manner that the latter has not
the common prudence to recognise the flagitious injustice which she is
inflicting, while, by a refinement of cruelty, she repeats her
assurances that Ireland is a spoilt child, and for this reason alone
does not appreciate the blessings of British rule. In the light of the
facts before us one may well ask whether it was an extreme hyperbole of
which Grattan made use when he declared that "Ireland, like every
enslaved country, will be compelled to pay for her own subjugation."

When we are urged to put into practice the counse