ulated _Sydney Bulletin_, with its furiously anti-British views, its
Radicalism, its Republicanism, and what not. He shows amusingly how
entirely harmless the propaganda really was, and what a healthy effect
it actually had in promoting an independence of feeling and national
self-respect among Australians, to such a degree that when the South
African War broke out, there was a universal outburst of patriotism and
a universal desire, which was realized, to share to the full as a nation
in the expense, danger, and hardships of the war. Mr. Jebb adds the
interesting suggestion that the reluctance of New Zealand to enter the
Australian Federation may be partly due to the strong individual
sentiment of nationality evoked within her by the war and the
exceptional exertions she made to aid the Imperial troops.

His book is a psychological study of men in the mass. What he sets out
to prove, and what he does successfully prove, is that the encouragement
of minor nationalities is not merely consistent with, but essential to,
the unity of the Empire. Yet he never mentions Ireland, not even for the
purpose of proving her an exception to the rule, and I do not think I
ever gauged the full extent of the prejudice against that country until
I realized that in such a book such a topic did not receive even a line
of notice; yet one would naturally suppose that it was as important to
the Empire, morally and strategically, to possess the affection and
respect of four and a half million citizens within 60 miles of the
British coast as of the same number of citizens at the Antipodes.

Mr. Jebb is a Unionist. How he reaches his conclusion I do not know. It
would seem to be beyond human power to construct a case against Home
Rule for Ireland, with its strongly marked individuality of character
and sentiment, which did not textually stultify his case for the more
distant dependencies. His party generally is in sympathy with the views
expressed in his book, and has done much to further them. How do they
reconcile them with opposition to Home Rule for Ireland? How do they
explain away the support for that policy in the Dominions? It seems to
me that their only resource would be to say: "We are bound to maintain,
and we have the necessary physical force to maintain, the present
political system in Ireland, because to alter it would impair the formal
legislative 'unity' of the United Kingdom; but let us frankly admit that
as long as we take this