ible, and ought, on the Home Rule principle, to be
trusted, as they are trusted in the Colonies.

The Royal Assent to Bills is always a matter for express enactment in
the Constitution, but here the "instructions" of the Governor, and even
his personal "discretion," have generally been alluded to in recent
Constitutions, whether conferred by Act or Letters Patent. The typical
form of words is that the Governor "shall declare his Assent according
to his discretion, but subject to His Majesty's instructions."[170] The
Home Rule Bill of 1893 left out reference to "discretion," and, on the
other hand, is, I think, the only document of the kind in which the
"advice of the Executive Council" has ever been expressly alluded to,
although the practice, of course, is that the Assent, normally, is given
or withheld on that advice. The Transvaal Constitution of 1906 (Section
39) was unique in prescribing that special instructions must be received
by the Governor in the case of each proposed law, before the Assent is
given. I hope that will not be made a precedent for Ireland. Such
precautions only irritate the law-makers, and serve no useful purpose.

Colonial Governors, besides the power of Assent and Veto, may "reserve"
Bills for the Royal pleasure, which is to be signified within two years.
Moreover, Bills which have received the Governor's Assent may be
disallowed within one or two years.[171] Neither of these provisions
appeared in the Home Rule Bills of 1886 and 1893, and neither appear to
be strictly necessary, owing to the proximity of Ireland. Whatever is
done, we may hope that the practice now established in Canada, where the
Federal Government never disallows a provincial law on any other ground
than that it is _ultra vires_, and, _a fortiori_, the similar practice
as between Great Britain and the Dominions, may be imitated in the case
of Ireland.

To sum up, the terse and simple words of the Bill of 1886 really
enunciate all that is necessary:

[Sidenote: Constitution of the Executive Authority.]

"7.--(1) The Executive Government of Ireland shall continue vested in
(Her) Majesty, and shall be carried on by the Lord-Lieutenant on behalf
of (Her) Majesty with the aid of such officers and such council as to
Her Majesty may from time to time seem fit.

"(2) Subject to any instructions which may from time to time be
given by (Her) Majesty, the Lord-Lieutenant shall give or withhold
the assent of (Her) M