The outlook in Ireland : the case for devolution and conciliation

THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

THE OUTLOOK
IN IRELAND:

THE CASE FOR DEVOLUTION AND
CONCILIATION.

BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF DUNRAVEN, K.P.

NEW YORK:

E. P. BUTTON & CO., 31 WEST 23RD STREET.
MCMVII.

DUBLIN

PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY fRt
SV PONSONBY * GIBBS.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

IT is hoped that this volume may serve a beneficial
purpose in explaining the present social, political, and
industrial condition of Ireland, and the necessity which
exists for reform — reform along several lines, and not
exclusively in the system of government ; and that the
statistical matter, both in the text and in the Appendices,
will prove of service during discussions on Irish affairs.
An endeavour has been made to give official figures of the
latest date bearing on various phases of Irish life, and
thus to render the volume useful as a convenient reference-
book to Irish matters.

In compiling this volume use has been made, as con-
venient, of matter which has appeared from time to time
in various forms.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

INTRODUCTION ... . . i

CHAPTER

I. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS . 10

II. PAST TRADE RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND . . 39

III. LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES . . .50

IV. IRELAND'S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE . . -74
V. IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS . . .89

VI. EDUCATIONAL CHAOS . . . . nt

VII. IRELAND'S NEEDS . . . . .137

VIII. THE Two UNIONS: PROSPERITY AND DISTRESS. 177
IX. MODELS OF DEVOLUTION IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE 192
X. DEVOLUTION AND UNIONISM : A CONSISTENT

POLICY ...... 225

XI. FINAL WORDS . . . . . .237

APPENDICES.

I. THE IRISH REFORM ASSOCIATION'S PROGRAMME 271
II. INDIRECT AND DIRECT TAXATION, AND ITS

INCIDENCE . . . . . .281

III. IRELAND'S Loss OF POPULATION . . . 283

IV. BRITISH AND IRISH PROGRESS . . .285
V. BRITISH AND IRISH REVENUES . . .286

VI. THE WYNDHAM-MACDONNELL CORRESPONDENCE 288

VII. THE HOME RULE BILLS : SUMMARIES . . 291

THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

INTRODUCTION.

THE OPPORTUNITY.

1UEVER before in the modern history of
*^ Ireland has the outlook — political, indus-
trial, and social — been as favourable as at the
present moment for a strenuous effort for her
regeneration. And yet never before has the
situation been so critical. The fate of the
country is in the balance. If "the pre-
dominant partner" will continue to evidence
the desire to deal justly, generously, and
intelligently with Ireland ; and if Ireland will
recognize that desire, and will show prudence,
moderation, and a conciliatory spirit, an oppor-
tunity will be made for shifting the country from
a downward and permanently placing her upon
an upward grade. If these conditions are not
fulfilled, an opening which may never present
itself again will be lost, to the infinite detriment,
if not to the absolute destruction, of Ireland.
There is no doubt that the people of Great

B

2 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Britain are favourably disposed towards Ireland.
It is true that an attempt was made to inflame
their passions against her prior to the General
Election of 1906 ; they were threatened that
if they returned a Liberal Government they
would be committing the country to a policy
of Repeal. The attempt failed. The menace
produced no feeling of panic, because the
electors in England, Scotland, and Wales real-
ized that it was a false alarm raised to serve
party purposes. The bogie was all the more
transparent to their eyes, because the public
in Great Britain remembered all the incidents
which preceded Mr. Wyndham's resignation
of the office of Chief Secretary ; and accepted
fully the assurances of the Liberal leaders
that, whatever their ultimate aspirations might
be, their immediate practical policy was to
take up the threads of Irish administration at
the point at which Mr. Wyndham had been
compelled to lay them down, and to endeavour
so to mould the administration gradually and
on well-considered lines as to render Irish
government in accord with Irish ideas. All
immediate danger from this foolish attempt of
" official Unionism " is past ; and the Irish
people have the satisfaction of knowing that
they have in the new Parliament a huge
majority, honestly desirous of doing justice to
their country.

INTRODUCTION. 3

The principal items in the programme agreed
upon between Mr. Wyndham and Sir Antony
MacDonnell, and presumably concurred in by
Mr. Arthur Balfour, were the solution of the
Land Question; the co-ordinate control and
direction of Boards and other administrative
agencies; the settlement of the education
problem ; the promotion of material improve-
ment and administrative conciliation ; the con-
solidation and increase of existing grants for
Irish local purposes ; the development of transit
for agricultural and other products, "possibly
by guarantees to railways on the Canadian
model," &C.1

Some of these projects have been already
carried out ; and the Government are pledged to
take up the remainder. They are pledged, above
all, to bring in a measure according to Ireland
a large extension of self-governing power.
They may be confidently expected to take a
wise, just, and perhaps even a generous view
of Ireland's circumstances, and to be ready to
do all in their power to foster and encourage
the policy of conciliation upon which everything
depends.

The burden of responsibility for the future of
the country rests, therefore, less upon the Govern-
ment and the people of Great Britain than upon

1 See Appendix VI.

4 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

the inhabitants of Ireland. By the exercise of
self-control ; by bearing in mind the legislative
limitations of any Government in dealing with
reform, and with all the phases of an intricate
problem ; by preserving the peaceful condition
of the country, and refusing to lend themselves
to any form of unconstitutional agitation, they
can give the Government the powerful assist-
ance which is essential for the successful fulfil-
ment of the policy to which they are committed.
The sound policy of moderation and concilia-
tion makes progress, gradually it is true, but
more rapidly than external circumstances may
seem to indicate. The whole policy has met
with bitter opposition ; no stone has been left
unturned which can be used to arouse religious
and political animosity in Great Britain against
the Irish people ; and no means have been
neglected of causing dissension in Ireland. The
struggle is a hard one, and spectators must
bear in mind that vehemence of expression on
the part of extremists is likely to rise in pro-
portion to the headway that conciliation makes.
Is it too much to hope that in such a crisis
Irishmen who really and truly desire to see
their country happy and prosperous will adopt
a large-minded attitude towards each other ;
will deal fairly by one another ; will honestly
co-operate in avoiding causes of friction, and in
discouraging any recurrence of agitation and any

INTRODUCTION. 5

semblance of disorder which can be so distorted
and exaggerated as to hamper a Government
which, apart from all party issues, is, I believe,
honestly anxious to do all in its power to help
Ireland to rescue herself from the misfortunes
which have so long afflicted her ?

To hold out the open hand of fellowship
one to another ; to meet " the predominant
partner" half-way, and show a desire to be-
come an active, prosperous, useful member
of that partnership ; to put aside personal
jealousies, sectional quarrels, and animosities
of class ; to cultivate a sense of proportion,
and recognize limitations; to be practical and
have the wisdom to take and make the most of
what will be of inestimable advantage to their
country, even though it may fall short of that
which many of them consider their due; to
hold their country's welfare above all things
dear ; to place the national cause before party,
the community before self; to stand fast by the
great principle of conciliation — that is the part
Irishmen must play if they would seize an
opportunity which may never occur again to
give their common country a chance of re-
establishing herself?

What can Ireland do ? She can be concilia-
tory, willing to believe that justice will follow
upon reasonable demands, and prosperity upon
justice.

6 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

What can Great Britain do ? If the British
people will meet the Irish people half-way ; if
they will recognize, respond to, and cherish the
feeling of confidence in Parliament that has
grown up in the sister island during the last
few years ; if they will back up the Govern-
ment, they have before them now a unique
opportunity of gradually improving the whole
economic and social circumstances of Ireland,
of effecting a wholesome change in the re-
lations between the two islands, and of greatly
strengthening the whole fabric of the Empire.

I do not say that an opportunity exists of
settling for ever " the Irish question." Matters
of so general and broad a character can never
be said to be settled ; finality in the require-
ments and career of a community is impossible,
save in its extinction. So long as the Empire
and the United Kingdom last, there will be
Imperial, British, and Irish questions, and
problems arising out of them to be dealt with.
But I do say that we have now before us a
chance, such as has not offered itself for a
century and more, of settling all the more
acute problems of the day, and of establishing
far happier relations between Great Britain and
Ireland than have previously existed.

To attain such a frame of mind, and to form
such a conception of Ireland as will enable them
to seize this opportunity, the British people

INTRODUCTION. 7

must recognize one fact, and divest themselves
of one delusion. The great and fundamental
mistake that the English people have made is
in attempting to turn Ireland into England.
Since Ireland was handed over to England
in the year 1155, every effort has been
made to extirpate the Irish race, and to pre-
serve the purity of the Anglo-Norman blood.
With marvellous but mistaken pertinacity
England has laboured to anglicize Ireland for
some eight hundred years, and she has failed.
Has not the experiment been tried long
enough ? It is unnecessary, surely, to investi-
gate causes, to set out reasons why Ireland
has not, does not, and never will become
English. For a practical, common-sense people,
the fact should be sufficient. No means were
left untried to stamp out the originality and
distinctive characteristics of race. Land was
confiscated over and over again, Irish surnames
were interdicted, the use of the Irish language
was forbidden, native costumes and customs
were placed under the ban of the law and of the
Church. But the Irish not only remained Irish,
but assimilated the Anglo-Norman element as
fast as it was introduced. That is the fact, and
the English people have got to admit it. They
must realize that they cannot anglicize Ireland ;
and, having admitted that fact, they will come
to the conclusion that they must proceed to
work on other lines.

8 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

The British public — not enlightened men, of
course, but the general public — have, I think,
considerable difficulty in realizing the intense
pride of the Irish people in their nationality and
the justification that exists for it. They do not
understand what there is to be proud of, or why
the Irish people should not be delighted to
merge themselves in the wealth and strength of
Great Britain. They are under a delusion, and
the delusion is due to historical ignorance.
They forget that for centuries Ireland was in all
respects in the forefront of western civilization.
They do not remember that during critical ages
Ireland held aloft and sheltered the struggling
flame of Christianity. They are ignorant of the
fact that when art and learning were well-nigh
extinguished in Europe, they were cherished,
nurtured, and kept alive in Ireland. They do
not understand the natural pride in the mere
fact that, in spite of every effort to deprive her
of nationhood, Ireland remains Ireland to this
day. To come down to modern times, they
neglect the evidence of capacity for trade and
commerce displayed by the Irish people, and
the means whereby trade and commerce were
crushed out. Physical courage appears to be
the only quality inherent in the race which
is recognized. For the rest, though it is
admitted that Ireland has given us great
soldiers, administrators, and statesmen, the

INTRODUCTION. Q

traditional stage Irishman, a sufficiently ridicu-
lous, capering person, seems to set the general
estimate of the race. It is a very false
one. The Irish people have characteristics
and a history of which they are proud, and of
which they have every right to be proud. If
the people of Great Britain will acknowledge
the fact that Ireland cannot be converted into
so many shires of England, and if they will rid
themselves of the delusion that no real justifica-
tion exists for pride in Irish nationality, they will
infallibly come to three sound conclusions : —
Firstly, that if Ireland is to develop, she must
be allowed to develop on her own lines ; secondly,
that for the venom in the sting of memory,
respect, forbearance, and just dealing are the
only antidotes ; and, thirdly, that it is only by
admitting and encouraging the sense of her own
nationality that a feeling of larger nationality
and true Imperial sentiment in Ireland can be
created and nurtured into healthy life.

10 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTER I.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

UNDER the provisions of the Land Act of 1903,
the agricultural land of Ireland is passing from
its former owners into the hands of occupying
proprietors. The Irish people are becoming the
owners of Ireland in a sense and to an extent
which was never contemplated by practical
politicians before the meeting of the Land Con-
ference which preceded the introduction of Mr.
Wyndham's Bill. The radical character of the
recommendations of the Conference, and the
practical concurrence of the landed classes in
those recommendations, while heralding a period
of greater content and the healing of old sores,
were in reality a signal of distress from the Irish
to the English people, a cry for help to apply
a drastic but wholesome remedy to a desperately
unhealthy condition of things. Year by year
the country had been sinking deeper and deeper
in misfortune: it had reached the point at
which it had to be decided whether the down-
ward tendency was to continue to the inevitable
and most melancholy end, or whether a supreme
effort should be made to lift the country out of
national bankruptcy in man-power, intelligence,

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. II

and material prosperity which so imminently
threatened it. Mr. Wyndham's great Act was
the first step in the right direction. It has made
all things possible ; but alone it will not suffice.
Ireland is sick almost to death. The wise
man makes a careful diagnosis of his patient
before attempting to prescribe ; but in Ireland's
case the origins of distressing symptoms have
become so obscured that physicians are apt to
confound cause with effect. Owing to the inter-
necine warfare which for many years has been
one of the main occupations, if not recreations,
of a majority of the people of Ireland, the atten-
tion of England and the world has been directed
away from the causes of Ireland's distressful
condition to the quarrels of parties as to the
best remedies to be applied. The aspect of
the history of Ireland which has most strongly
impressed itself upon the minds of those who
live on the other side of the Irish Channel has
been the bitterness of sectarian strife, and the
warfare of party politicians. The disease, for
which extreme partisans have been vehemently
suggesting violent remedies, has been lost sight
of amid the din of battle ; and while the quarrels
have gone on from year to year, Ireland has
been slipping swiftly downward in all that
goes to make for physical health, intellectual
progress, and material well-being. It is very
desirable, therefore, to consider the actual
condition of Ireland, and the causes of that

12 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

condition, before attempting to form any theory
or policy for her relief.

It is necessary, in the first place, to note one
of the most curious and pathetic features in
Irish history to-day. By some strange mis-
understanding the British people have come to
regard the Irish as a race lacking in the primary
virtues which make for happiness and prosperity,
a people indolent, thriftless, and inordinately
addicted to drink. Never was a race more
cruelly libelled. The Irishman is a hard
worker in every quarter of the globe ; and
if he does not always display the same
energy at home, in common fairness his
circumstances and environment, insufficient
food, insanitary dwellings, and the general de-
pression brooding over the country, must be
taken into account. If the people could be
persuaded that bread and stewed tea form a
bad diet for adults and are poison for children,
it would perhaps be as beneficial as many Acts
of Parliament. The average Irishman is no
more a model of sobriety and virtue than the
average man to be met with in other parts of
the United Kingdom. Ireland is not absolutely
exceptional. Ireland is inhabited, as are
England, Scotland, and Wales, by human
beings of all sorts, and in common with
Great Britain she possesses an unfortunate
variety of men and women in almost every
stage of social degeneration : but the Irish are

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 13

not particularly addicted to drink ; they are
distinctly less criminally inclined than the in-
habitants of Great Britain ; and in no country in
the world have the people reached a higher
standard of morality. In fact, the casual visitor
to Ireland, who spends a few weeks away from
the beaten track in some Irish village, is usually
impressed with the extreme dulness of life, and
is invariably struck by the rigid rectitude with
which the moral code is observed. This charac-
teristic of country life in Ireland has even been
put forward in partial explanation of the great
flood of emigration to America. It is said that
Irish life is so deadly monotonous, is so lacking
in all the allurements and attractions of modern
civilization, and so devoid of all the pleasures
which are gained by social intercourse, that
the young people welcome emigration in the
hope not only that the new world will right
the balance of the old, but that in a new
environment they may find life more varied
and attractive. Be this as it may, let us
recognize that the Irish are not a race of
shiftless drunkards.

It may come as a surprise to the virtuous
Englishman, who accepts this charge against
the people of the neighbouring island, that the
Irishman drinks less than the people of any
other part of the United Kingdom. This
statement is not made on ex-parte evidence,
but is based upon the figures prepared by the

THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Rev. Dr. Dawson Burns, the well-known Tem-
perance advocate. He has compiled three
most interesting tables in order to show the
extent to which each division of the Kingdom
contributed to the expenditure of £164,167,941
during the year 1905. From these statistics it
will be seen that in Scotland the consumption
of spirits is i'6 gallon per head of the popula-
tion annually, or twice as great per head of the
population as it is in England, while it exceeds
that of Ireland by '6 gallon per head, the
Scotsman spending on spirits i6s. 3d. per head
during the year more than the Irishman. Con-
trary to popular belief, Ireland consumes a
considerable quantity of malt liquor, although
the figure falls much below the consumption of

England.

ENGLAND.

Population, 34,152,977.

Liquors.

Quantities
Consumed.

Per
Head.

Expenditure.

Per
Head.

British Spirits (gallons) ...
Other Spirits ,,

Total Spirits (gallons) ...

Beer (barrels) ...
Wine (gallons) ...
Other Liquors (gallons) ...

22,305,046
5,496,567

Gals.

£29,554,186
7,282,951

—

27,801,613

•8

£36,837,137

£i i 6

29,670,937
10,153,759
I4,OOO,OOO

31-3
•3
'4

£88,812,961

9,138,383
I,4OO,OOO

£2 12 2

o 5 4

0 0 10

£136,388,481

£3 19 10

The consumption of beer in England is estimated by adding
one-fourth of the quantity paying duty in Scotland and Ireland
to the quantity paying duty in England.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

SCOTLAND.

Population, 4,676,603.

Liquors.

Quantities
Consumed.

Per

Head.

Expenditure.

Per
Head.

British Spirits (gallons) • ...
Other Spirits

Total Spirits (gallons) ...

Beer (barrels)
Wine (gallons) ...
Other Liquors (gallons) ...

6,667,156
689,143

Gals.

^8,833,982

9I3-H5

-

7,356,299

1-6

;£ 9,747,097

£2 i 8

1,188,929
1,194,560
5OO,OOO

9-0

'3

•01

£3>566,787
1,075,104
50,000

£o 15 3

047
003

£14,438,988

£3 I 9

IRELAND.

Population, 4,390,208.

Liquors.

Quantities
Consumed.

Per
Head.

Expenditure.

Per
Head.

British Spirits (gallons) ...
Other Spirits „

Total Spirits (gallons) ...

Beer (barrels) ...
Wine (gallons) ...
Other Liquors (gallons) ...

3,626,780
585,124

4,211,854

Gals.

£4,805,417
775,289

_

I'O

£5-580.706

£7,172,214
537.552
50,000

^LJ

£i 12 8
026
003

2,390-738
597-280
500,000

2-0
•I
•I

£13,340,472

£3 o 10

While the average expenditure in the United
Kingdom in 1905 was equal to £3 155. n£d.,
the average in each division of the Kingdom
was: — England, £3 igs. iod.; Scotland,^ is.gd.;
and Ireland, £3 os. iod. England spent more
per head than Scotland or Ireland on beer, and
Scotland more per head on spirits than England
or Ireland.

l6 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Putting aside " wine and other liquors " as not
affecting popular consumption, the consumption
of spirits and beer is per head of population as
follows : —

England, Spirits... £\ i 6 Beer ... £2 12 2
Scotland, „ ... 218 ,, ... o 15 3

Ireland, „ ... 155 » ••• i 12 8

In England the outlay is about two-and-a-half
times greater on beer than on spirits. Ireland
spends about one-and-a-quarter more on beer
than on spirits. Scotland spends nearly three
times as much on spirits as on beer. Conse-
quently, Ireland compares well with the other
divisions of the United Kingdom, and the com-
munity are beer-drinkers rather than spirit-
consumers.

The facts as to the drink traffic in Ireland
have been stated with considerable force by
Sir Horace Plunkett, who has had exceptional
opportunities of studying the question on the
spot in all its varied aspects. In his book,
" Ireland in the New Century," he makes the
following references, which deserve the widest
publicity, and it may be hoped will serve to
correct the popular picture of the traditional
" Paddy," who in the past has figured with
such deplorable frequency on the stage: —

Now the drink habit in Ireland differs from that of the other
parts of the United Kingdom. The Irishman is, in my belief,
physiologically less subject to the craving for alcohol than the
Englishman — a fact which is partially attributable, I should

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. IJ

say, to the less animal dietary to which he is accustomed. By
far the greater proportion of the drinking which retards our
progress is of a festive character. It takes place at fairs and
markets, sometimes, even yet, at "wakes" — those ghastly
parodies on the blessed consolation of religion in bereavement.
It is largely due to the almost universal sale of liquor in the
country shops "for consumption on the premises," an evil
the demoralising effects of which are an hundredfold greater
than those of the " grocers' licenses" which Temperance
reformers so strenuously denounce. It is an evil for the
existence of which nothing can be said ; but it has somehow
escaped the effective censure of the Church.

The truth is that Ireland spends less per head
on drink than England or Scotland ; the Irish
are no more weak-willed — no more lacking in
self-restraint — than are their neighbours. I am
not arguing against Temperance reform, far from
it; and I believe that better food, healthier
surroundings, more prosperous conditions will
tend in that most desirable direction, for the
depression into which the country has sunk
contributes in no small measure to the present
rate of consumption of alcohol.

Life in Ireland is led under circumstances of
great depression. For over sixty years the Irish
population has been wasting away. There has
been, and is still, a double leakage which none of
the measures hitherto elaborated have effectively
checked. The sun, as it has set day after day
in a path of gold over the broad Atlantic, has
been for sixty years a bridge of hope to all those
who, physically and mentally, represent the best

i8

THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

of the population. Year by year, an unending
stream of emigrant ships has been bearing away
from Ireland to the American continent the
finest brain and muscle of the country. These
people in their millions have looked to an alien
land for better conditions of life. Down to
the year 1845 the population of Ireland was
steadily growing — possibly at too high a rate
considering the country's resources — and the
prosperity of the nation generally was increasing.
In that year the inhabitants numbered 8,296,061.
How serious the drain of emigration has been
in subsequent years may be seen from the
following figures, showing the population of
the different parts of the United Kingdom at
various periods : —

Date
of
Enumera-
tion.

ENGLAND & WALES.

SCOTLAND.

IRELAND.

Population.

Pop.
per
sq. mile.

Pop.
Population. '• per
sq. mile.

Population.

Pop.
per
sq. mile.

1801

iSn

1821

$1

1851

I.V.I

1871

1881
1891
1901

8,892,536
10,164,256
12,000,236
13,896,797
15,914,148
17,927,609
20,066,224
22,712,266

25,974,439
29,002,525
32,526,075

»53

175

206
239
273
308

344
390
446
498
558

1,608,420
1,805,864
2,091,521
2,364,386
2,620,184
2,888,742
3,062,294
3,360,018

3,735-573
4,025,647
4,472,103

54
60
70
79
88
97

IOO

"3
"5
135
150

5-395,456
5-937,856
6,801,827
7,767,401
8,175,124

6,552,385
5,798,564
5,412,377
5,174,836
4,704,750
4,458,775

1 66
186
209

239
251

2OI
I78
I67

159

144

»37

In 1841, Ireland had over three times as
many inhabitants as Scotland could boast ; half

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. IQ

as many as England and Wales claimed. At
that time nearly one-third of the whole popula-
tion of the United Kingdom lived in Ireland (see
Appendix III). In sixty years the population of
Ireland has fallen by nearly 4,000,000 (for in 1903
the number was estimated to be 4,391,565) —
a record of national wastage which is unparalleled
in the history of the world.

A most lamentable fact in the outward flow
of the population is that nearly all the emigrants
have been in the prime of life, or approaching
to it. According to the last census, nearly
91 per cent, of the 430,993 persons who left
the country during the previous ten years
were over 10 and under 45 years, and just
under 4 per cent, of the remainder had not
celebrated their forty-sixth birthday. In other
words, practically the whole of the four million
emigrants who have sailed from Ireland in the
past sixty years or so have been in the full
vigour of life, and those who have remained
have, for the most part, been the less physically
fit, the most mentally deficient, and those who
correspond to the lowest industrial standard.

The evil results of this artificial, extravagant,
and unnecessary flow of emigration are not by
any means confined to Ireland. The actual
decline of population is a direct loss to the
United Kingdom, and the direction in which the
flood of emigration sets is an indirect loss to

2O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Great Britain, and a direct loss to the Empire.
A great proportion of British emigrants settle
within the Empire. The bulk of those who sail
from Irish ports find a new home in the United
States. All these many millions are a direct
loss to Canada with her illimitable supply of
cultivable land ; and are an indirect but very
substantial loss to Great Britain, owing to the
fact that they go to swell a population buying
from us at the rate of 53. per head, instead of
adding to a population buying from us at the
rate of £i i8s. 8d. per head.

And the effects of sentiment must not be
despised. The majority of Irish emigrants desert
their country with hearts hardened against those
whom they hold to be responsible for the diseases
which afflict it, and go out into the world dis-
seminating the story of Irish grievances and
English injustice. The flow of emigrants from
Ireland is consequently proving not only a fatal
drain upon the land which gave them birth, and
which they still continue to regard with natural
affection, but it involves also a dead loss to
British manufactures and those employed by
them ; and, as a large proportion of the exiles
go out into other countries with their hearts
rebellious against British rule and British institu-
tions, it cannot fail to be a source of anxiety to
all those who value good relations with the great
Republic across the sea, who desire to draw

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 21

closer the bonds uniting the component parts of
our Empire, and who attach inestimable value
to the homogeneity of the English-speaking race.
Owing to the drain of population outwards of
men and women in the prime of life, Ireland
has become the country of old men and women.
In this respect its position in the British Empire
is unique. Let readers ponder on the fact that
Ireland has a larger proportion of aged than any
other country in the King's dominions, because
the young and energetic have fled to other lands
in search of happiness and fortune. In Ireland,
out of every 1,000 of the population, there are
sixty-four men and sixty-three women of sixty-
five years of age or upwards ; while in England
and Wales the figures are forty-two and fifty-one
respectively ; and in Scotland, forty-one and
fifty-six. On this question the compilers of the
" Census of the British Empire " state :

The effect of migration on the age-constitution of a popu-
lation is considerable. For example, the low proportion of
children and the high proportion of old people enumerated in
Ireland are mainly accounted for by excessive emigration.

And there is another terrible leakage from
which Ireland is suffering, namely, lunacy. The
figures of the Census of 1901 tell an amazing
story of the mental gloom which year by year
has been settling down upon those who have
remained in the old country. Of every 10,000
persons in Ireland, 52*6 are registered as lunatics

22 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

or idiots. Considered by provinces, the pro-
portion is lowest in industrial Ulster, as might
be expected, there being a difference of over 20
per 10,000 between that province and Munster.
In Waterford, the proportion is nearly 96 per
10,000 ; in Meath it is 78 ; in Clare, 73 ; in
Kilkenny, nearly 71 ; in King's County, 69 ; in
Wexford,Tipperary, and Carlow, 68 ; and inWest-
meath and Limerick, 66. In County Antrim,
including Belfast City, the rate falls to 29*6 ; and
in County Dublin, to 24*6.

The mental ravages among the Irish people
are set forth with shocking lucidity in the last
Census Report, in which the position is stated
in another form : —

The total number of lunatics and idiots returned in 1851
was equal to a ratio of i in 657 of the population ; in 1861, to
i in 411 ; in 1871, to i in 328 ; in 1881, to i in 281 ; in 1891,
to i in 222; and on the present occasion, to i in 178, the
ratio in the province of Leinster being i in 187 ; in Munster,
i in 152 ; in Ulster, i in 226 ; and in Connaught, i in 184.

The following counties had the lowest ratios : — Antrim
County and Belfast City, i in 336 ; Dublin County and City,
i in 289 ; Londonderry County and City, i in 233 ; Down, i
in 216; Wicklow, i in 209; Mayo, i in 208; Fermanagh, i
in 205 ; and Donegal, i in 200.

These figures, varying as they do between
Ulster and Munster, and between town and
country, are highly significant of the mental
condition of the people of Ireland. Where
industry exists and the population has more or
less ample field for activity, lunacy is lowest ;

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 23

in districts where the outlook is shut in and life
holds out no bright future, there the minds of
the people become atrophied and die. Every
doctor agrees that the mind loses its balance
and the brain becomes soft and useless more by
reason of disuse than overuse. The agricultural
labourer, leading a monotonous life on a small
wage, and poorly fed into the bargain, is the pro-
bable lunatic or idiot of to-morrow, and not the
judge or professional man who day by day uses
his brain almost to the point when physical
endurance breaks down. The dulness of life in
the country districts of England has been largely
responsible for the fact that lunacy in England
has been on the increase. In ten years the
ratio has grown by over 13 per cent.; but even
so, the rate for the whole of England and Wales
is still only 3471, or nearly 11-5 less than the
average of the whole of Ireland, while it is about
one-third that of Waterford, and half, or less,
than the rate in Clare, Kilkenny, King's County,
Carlow, Wexford, Tipperary, and other Irish
counties. In these terrible figures relating to
the outflow of population to America and the
inflow of population to the lunatic and idiot
asylums, we have an indication of the social
and mental condition of Ireland which it is
impossible to exaggerate.

The Census Commissioners in their Report
make no attempt to explain away the tragic

24 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

significance of these figures ; and the Inspectors
of Lunacy in their Report for 1905 add that
if to the number of the insane (23,365) under
care on the 3ist December, 1905, be added
the number of idiots and lunatics at large,
according to the last census, the total 27,233
represents 620 per hundred thousand of the
population. The Inspectors have instituted a
special inquiry with reference to the increase in
the number of registered insane, and their figures
reveal that between 1880 and 1904, during the
whole of which period the law was carefully
administered, there was an increase of 1,014 in
the total number : while the inmates of District
Asylums increased by 9,948, and there was a
growth in the number of patients in the Private
Asylums and Institutions amounting to 172, the
criminal lunatics, on the other hand, decreased by
1 8, and the insane paupers in workhouses by
193. The Commissioners, in their Report for
the year 1904, summed up the situation in the
following words : —

The admissions to District Asylums in 1881 numbered
2,502; in 1904 they had increased to 3,910. Similarly, in
Private Asylums the numbers for 1881 were 145 ; and for 1904
they had increased to 225. It will thus be seen that the pro-
portional increase in the two classes of Institutions during that
time was practically the same, being 56 per cent, in the case of
the District Asylums, and 55 per cent, in the case of Private
Asylums. During the same period, the numbers actually
resident in the District Asylums have increased by almost 115
per cent.; while in the Private Asylums and Institutions they
have increased by less than 28 per cent.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

In a report dated July 3ist, 1906, the
Inspectors of Lunatics conveyed to the Lord
Lieutenant their views on the growth in the
number of insane. They gave a tabulated
statement showing for England and Wales,
Scotland, and Ireland, the total number of
insane, and the ratio of the insane per 10,000
of the population at each Census since 1871 : —

RATIO of the INSANE

TOTAL NUMBER OF INSANE. per 10,000 of the
POPULATION.

England
and
Wales.

Scotland.

Ireland.

Eng-
land
and
Wales.

Scot-
land.

Ireland.

1871

69,019

H.4'3

16,505

30-4

34'0

30-5

1881

84,503

14,397

18,413

32-5

38-5

35'6

1891

97,383

15,462

21,188

33-6

38-4

45'0

1901

132,654

20,291

25,050

40-8

45'4

56-2

In 1851 the proportion in Ireland of registered
insane was as low as 15*2, so that in fifty years
the proportion has gone up by 41*0 per 10,000
of the population. In spite of these facts, and
by arguments which seem to rest on quite
insufficient foundation, and to be designed
rather to make fact square with theory, the two
Inspectors, while admitting that no positive
information supports their view, claim : —

Without venturing to affirm that there has been no increase
of occurring insanity notwithstanding the great numerical
increase, so far as the information at our disposal enables

26 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

us to form an opinion, we can only conclude that the very
great increase which has taken place in the ratio of insanity to
the population, as shown both by the Census returns and by
the statistics of public institutions, is largely due to the
accumulation which is taking place in the public asylums ;
partly to the reduction of the population by emigration ; and
partly to the return of emigrants suffering from mental break-
down, who have either come back voluntarily, or have been
repatriated by the United States Government in consequence
of their not having become naturalized American citizens.
The emigration of the strong and healthy members of the
community, amongst whom, if they had remained at home,
the ratio of insanity would have been very small, not alone
increases the, ratio of the insane who are left behind, to the
general population, but also lowers the general standard of
mental and bodily health, by eliminating many of the members
of the community who are best fitted to survive and propagate
the race.

The increase in numbers has taken place mainly amongst the
insane supported out of public rates — the increase amongst the
classes who are able to pay, ot whose relatives are able to pay,
for their maintenance in private institutions, being small in
comparison.

An ordinary observer acquainted with Ireland
and the conditions of life there would expect
that the growth in insanity would have been
greatest among the poor — namely, among those
living in the centres of greatest depression and
privation — and would have accepted the fact as
a clear indication of the low condition into which
the Irish people have sunk, for the majority of
the people in Ireland are undoubtedly "pinched."
It is well to know that the increase has not been
great among those comfortably off, and the real

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 2/

lesson seems to be that the number who are
free from biting care and depression must be
increased by raising the general level of pros-
perity throughout the nation.

For half a century and more the best equipped,
mentally and physically, of the population have
been leaving Ireland. The survival of the
unfittest has been the law, and the inevitable
result — deterioration of the race — statistics
abundantly support. On the first point, the
Commissioners of National Education in Ireland
have claimed with some pride that there has
been a reduction in the percentage of illiterates
from 47 per cent, in 1851 to 14 per cent, in
1901 ; and they add : — " This change for the
better is remarkable when it is remembered
that it was the younger and better educated who
emigrated to the number of two millions during
this period,1 while the majority of the illiterates
were persons who were too old to leave their
homes." So much for the official view of the
result of emigration on the mental condition of
the Irish people.

As to the effect upon their physical condition,
it is surely a significant social fact that the Irish
birth-rate should be almost the smallest in the
world. The Irish rate has sunk to 23*4 per

1 According to the Census Report of 1901, 3,846,393
persons — 2,006,421 males and 1,839,972 females — emigrated
in this period of fifty years.

28 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

1,000 living. This rate compares with other
countries thus : —

England and Wales ... ... 31' 7

Scotland ... ... ... 31*7

Hungary ... ... ... 42-3

Roumania ... ... ... 40*1

Austria ... ... ... 37*7

Prussia ... ... ... 37-3

Italy ... ... ... 36-2

Denmark ... ... ... 31-2

Norway ... ... ... 30*6

Belgium ... ... ... 29-8

Switzerland ... ... ... 28-6

France ... ... ... 23-3

Ireland ... ... ... 23-4

It is true that the marriage-rate of Ireland is
low ; but the birth-rate is still disproportionately
small, as the following extract from the Census
Report shows : —

The general results of the inquiry as regards the conjugal
condition of the people may be summarized by saying that : —
The decrease in the proportion of married persons noted in
1891, as compared with 1881, still continues ; that the relative
number of married persons of the reproductive ages is under
the low proportion for 1891, which in its turn was lower than
in 1 88 1 ; that in strict accord with the results shown in 1861,
1871, 1 88 1, and 1891, the highest proportion of married
persons is to be found in the province of Connaught ; and that,
estimated by the number of married women of the child-
bearing ages, the natural increase in population in Ireland is
at present very small.

The movement of the people of Ireland out-
wards has led to the depopulation, roughly
speaking, of all the provinces except Ulster,

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 2Q

though County Dublin is still well filled ; in
fact, in Dublin and Belfast and some of the
Ulster towns, there is a congestion of popula-
tion ; while in Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon,
Longford, and Limerick, the depopulation has
been less marked than in other counties. The
result of this movement has been that in a large
part of Ireland the population consists of less
than 100 per acre ; while, to point the other
extreme, in the towns there are over 79,000
tenements of one room, occupied as follows; —

By i person ... ... 20,994

2 persons ... ... 20,119

3 , 12.867

4 ... ... 8,932

6,250
4,400
2,701

786
364
136

12 or more persons ... 68

These facts and figures should convince the
most superficial observer of the course of events
in Ireland that the social condition of the people
in the towns as in the country is lamentably
unsound.

There is unfortunately little indication of a
permanent turn of the tide of emigration. The
best of the population is still anxious to leave.
There is good stock left: no finer people exist

3O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

than those inhabiting many of the rural districts
in Ireland ; but it is to be feared that the
cream of the peasant population which remains
in Ireland remains, not because the people
have no desire to leave, but because the cost
of removal is, under ordinary circumstances,
beyond their means. Many false deductions
have been placed upon the slight decrease in
emigration which occurred in some years prior
to 1904.

Lunacy is not the only disease increasing to
an alarming extent. The population in the
larger towns, containing a considerable propor-
tion of the physically and mentally deficient,
is overcrowded to a horrible extent, and the
labourers in rural districts are badly housed.
The Irish people are a prey to tuberculosis,
owing, at least in some measure, to the insani-
tary conditions which prevail, and to insufficient
or improper food. In 1905, 11,882 persons died
from tuberculosis in Ireland. It now equals a
rate of 2*7 per 1,000. Again, though the causes
are less obvious, the ravages from cancer are
significant. This disease claimed more victims
in 1905 (3,291) than ever before — cancer is
spreading. Again, take the figures of pauper-
ism ; one out of every 100 persons is an inmate
of a work-house, and one out of every 44,
including those receiving outdoor relief, keeps
body and soul together by rate aid ; and every-

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 31

one who knows him will admit that the Irish
labourer, who can, and does, live with wife and
family on an average income of IDS. a week,
including allowances in kind, is in no hurry to
go on the rates so long as he and his can exist
in independence.

It may be argued that the condition of Ireland
is not singular as regards pauperism, at any
rate, which is an immense burden in England
also. That is true, but only to a certain extent.1
The conditions of the two countries are very
different. England is an industrial nation sub-
ject to great fluctuations in the demand for
labour; while Ireland, being agricultural, is
essentially a country in which the demand
should be more or less fixed. Moreover, in
Ireland, the poorest classes manage to eke out
an existence on an income which is regarded by
Englishmen as insufficient to support life. The
Englishman goes into the poorhouse, or accepts
relief, more readily than does the agricultural
labourer of the adjacent island.

Nearly 900,000 persons in Ireland are engaged

1 Between 1863 and 1903 the percentage of the "daily
average " number of paupers in Ireland to 1,000 of the
population rose from 1-12 to 2-2, while in England and Wales
the percentage of the " mean numbers" fell from 5-3 to 2'i2
per 1,000. Roughly, these figures are on a parallel basis of
comparison. In no year between 1863 and 1873 in England
did the figure fall below 4 per cent., while in Ireland it never
exceeded 1*5.

32 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

in agriculture. Since the total population is
not quite 4,400,000, and 2,500,000 are returned
as " not producing," it will be understood how
large a proportion comes under the head of
agriculture. Probably in no other part of the
British Empire can be found a body of men who
are paid at as low a rate as the agricultural
labourer in Ireland. Mr. Wilson Fox, in his
second Report on the earnings of agricultural
labourers, issued by the Labour Department of
the Board of Trade, gives some statistics with
reference to the earnings, including the value of
all allowances in kind, of able-bodied male adults
among the agricultural classes in the different
parts of the United Kingdom. He concludes that
in England, a labourer obtains i8s. 3d. a week ;
in Wales, 173. 3d. ; in Scotland, igs. 3d. ; and in
Ireland, los. nd. These are the averages; but
those for Irish counties were uniformly lower
than in Great Britain, and in no county in Eng-
land is a less sum than 143. 6d. received. On
the other hand, in Ireland, the average earnings
in seven counties are less than los. a week,
Mayo being lowest with 8s. gd., while in Sligo
the average is 8s. nd., and in Roscommon
gs. id. The fact that Irish agricultural
labourers — many of them with wives and
families to support — can keep body and soul
together on such a small income without
assistance, is one of the marvels of the time;

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 33

were it not for this, the expenditure on Poor Law
Relief would be higher than it is. The Irishman
may, it is true, be able to add a little to the
sum-total of the means of existence in various
ways, but his lot at the best is a desperately
poor one ; and it is not confined to the labour-
ing class properly so called. There is another
class, principally in the West, consisting of small
farmers, who form, to a great extent, the migra-
tory labourers who go to work on farms in certain
counties in England and Scotland at harvest-
time. In lieu of any better means of employ-
ment, they are glad to cross the Channel in
order to get a wage varying from 153. 3d. to
173. 3d. a week. Let any working man in Eng-
land consider this fact: these people are so
poor that they are glad to leave their homes,
incur considerable expense in travelling, and
surfer all the inconveniences of crossing the
Channel — for the chance of earning for a short
time a wage of from 153 3d. to 173. 3d. a week.

But I need not pursue this theme. The broad
fact is that the best that is in Ireland is flowing
outward ; the worst is drifting in increasing
proportion to the lunatic asylums ; and the
balance remains in Ireland of necessity rather
than of choice. It is in the face of these
deplorable facts that I appeal to moderate men
in Ireland to put aside their differences, and to
do something for the salvation of their country ;

34 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

to endeavour at any rate to enlighten the
English people and convince them that, unless
remedial measures are undertaken, Ireland
must still continue her downward career, and
become an increasing, and eventually an
intolerable, because an unprofitable, burden
upon them. The outlook is not without hope.

The Land Act of 1903 is solving one of the
historical problems which Ireland has always
presented to the world. The removal of one
great cause of friction between classes will
inevitably tend towards tolerance and mutual
understanding. There is every reason to believe
that landlords selling their estates will con-
tinue to reside in the country, and that, with
the disappearance of the old root-cause of
disagreement, they will interest themselves more
freely and effectively than has hitherto been the
case in local affairs, in the encouragement of
education, and the development of the resources
of the country. Even to-day, there is prac-
tically little difference of opinion as to facts — as
to the condition of the country and the diseases
which afflict it. Except in the eyes of an
impossible few, the Dublin Castle system of
government, with the ramification of uncon-
trolled, or only partly controlled, departments,
stands condemned ; and no one who is con-
versant with Ireland can fail to admit that the
economic and social condition of the country is
one that gives cause for anxiety and alarm.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 35

Another hopeful feature in the outlook lies in
the comparative peace which has settled over
the whole country since Mr. Wyndham's Land
Act was passed. Irishmen are emotional and
sentimental, and do not hesitate to give forceful
expression to the feeling of the moment, often
occasioned by some single act which they regard
as unjust. They have behind them a gloomy
history ; they have been reared amid the re-
minders of past persecution, and in the recol-
lection of the days when the hand of England
pressed heavily upon them, throttling their
industries and putting despair into the hearts of
the people ; but, in spite of all this, the better
feeling prevailing is very marked.

It is the habit of the Unionist Press generally,
and of some Unionist speakers, to paint in
lurid colours a grossly distorted picture of the
criminal condition of Ireland. Any outrage of
an agrarian character, any speeches made by
irresponsible persons irritated by local incidents,
are exaggerated and circulated far and wide,
with the intention, apparently, to give English-
men the idea that Ireland is in a state of
extreme unrest, seething with crime. There is
nothing in the latest criminal statistics to justify
them. Crime of all kinds is diminishing in
Ireland, prisons are being shut, and Judges
presented with white gloves ; while in Scotland,
in 1904, indictable offences numbered 20,000, in

36 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Ireland, with practically the same population,
the number was only 18,000. How long this
happy condition may last it is impossible to
say. Some recurrence of agitation may occur
if the " fight-at-any-price " party are suffered
to prevail, and if no steps are taken to deal with
a critical condition of affairs which, as Lord
Lansdowne admitted in the House of Lords
on February i/th, 1905, " calls for active
measures of reform." Some friction may be
looked for in the earlier stages of the working
of so great a revolution as that initiated by the
Land Act of 1903. Some recrudescence of
agrarian crime may, in those circumstances,
possibly take place. I trust not, and I believe
not ; I think the patience, prudence, and wisdom
of the people will prevail.

Though legislation can do much to ameliorate
the condition of the people in Ireland, especially
those in the South and West, who feel most
acutely the pressure of poverty, it cannot do
everything, it cannot remove the cause. Money
is required, and the need of money is one of the
arguments for legislative and administrative
reform. By reform of the present system of
government, funds can be made available for the
development of the latent resources of the
country, which are by no means despicable,
without trenching upon the cash or the credit of
the United Kingdom.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 37

Money is needed for the development of the
country, but money alone will not regenerate
Ireland. The people are neither lazy nor devoid
of intelligence. They do good work in all
quarters of the globe. They go out into the
world and become leaders of men. There is no
inherent defect in the race. What is lacking to
them at home ? Why is it that in every depart-
ment of national existence in the Old Country
they appear stifled, fettered, unable to go ahead ?
They need education. The light of modern
science and modern thought must be thrown
upon all Ireland's cramped activities. Instruc-
tion in industrial and agricultural life is required,
and the creation of a hopeful determination to
make the most of such instruction. The best-
laid plans for encouraging agriculture by the
application of modern methods, for resuscitating
other industries, and for utilising the natural
resources of the country, for, in short, develop-
ing industries of all kinds, must be preceded by
proper facilities which Ireland certainly does
not now possess, for marketing the products of
those industries ; and even then they will meet
with but a partial measure of success unless
the healthy stimulus of responsibility, and of an
active participation in the management of their
own affairs, is imparted to the people. The
people require education, and education in the
literal sense ; they must be drawn out of their

38 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

despondency. They want the teaching that
responsibility alone can give. One million
saved by the efforts of the people, and
expended according to the wishes of the people,
would do more than treble the sum granted by
Parliament and administered by independent
departments. The self-respect begot by power,
the self-control derived from duty, the con-
fidence in self following upon successful effort,
the hope springing from seeing the good results
of a wise conduct of affairs — all this is wanting,
and must be given to the people. They must
be shaken out of apathy, lifted out of despair ;
and, though much may be done in minor
directions, the real motive-power can only be
found in self-government — in an active interest
in the management of their own affairs.

PAST TRADE RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 39

CHAPTER II.

PAST TRADE RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND.

THE story of Irish industry is a gloomy chapter
in the world's history ; and whoever would under-
stand the condition of the country to-day, and
the temper of the population, must be in posses-
sion of the broad facts with reference to Eng-
land's dealings with Ireland in the past. In a
brief space it is impossible to attempt a com-
plete picture ; but a sketch — some delineation
of the general course of events — must be given
to indicate why Irishmen still harp on the
wrongs of former centuries. For this they are
generally blamed, and not altogether unjustly.
Irishmen are too prone to indulge in the luxury
of contemplating an evil past to the exclusion of
practical action in respect of present problems ;
but much may be said in extenuation. The
past is ever before them. To the destructive
policy pursued by England towards Irish indus-
tries may be traced in large part the present
economic poverty of the country ; and the
opposite policy of construction has been very
insufficiently tried. The bitter recollections of
former days can be wiped out only by assisting

4O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

the nation to bury its memories in a brighter
present, and in a future in which hope may soar
triumphant and unshackled.

It is essential to consider what the economic
condition of Ireland has been before we can
arrive at any conclusion as to what it may be.
The circumstances of Ireland are peculiar if not
unique.

The present economic condition is not a
natural one. It has not evolved itself out of the
unimpeded action of natural causes. It is not
the product of the geographical position and
inherent resources of the country, and of the
genius and characteristics of the people inhabit-
ing it, unimpeded by external influence. On
the contrary, it is the artificial product of
constant interference from without.

Discussion on matters relating to Ireland is
rendered exceptionally difficult because the
status of Ireland has never, so far as I know,
been authoritatively defined. In considering
financial relations, the basis of a separate entity,
upon which the Commission of 1894 proceeded,
is objected to on the ground that Ireland is an
integral portion of the United Kingdom. When
alluding to Land Purchase, we are constantly
informed that " Great Britain has pledged her
credit for Ireland," thereby implying that the
latter is not an integral portion of the United
Kingdom, and is a separate entity. This vague-

PAST TRADE RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 4!

ness has always existed ; and one string or the
other has been played upon as happened to
suit the interests of Great Britain or England,
for the moment. Ireland has been treated
almost simultaneously as a foreign country,
a semi-independent State, and a colonized
dependency.

In the early part of the seventeenth cen-
tury Ireland was prosperous. Her agriculture
flourished ; she had various industries ; and she
did a fairly good trade. The Civil War destroyed
this satisfactory condition of things. Industries
were wiped out ; and the value of live stock fell in
eleven years from .£4,000,000 to ^500,000. The
catastrophe was great, but it was not fatal.
Ireland has always evinced great recuperative
qualities ; she rapidly recovered ; and from the
Restoration to the end of the century she made,
it is said, more progress than any other country
in Europe. She had a considerable textile
industry, and a large and profitable export trade
in live cattle. Out of a population estimated at
1,100,000, one-eighth are stated to have been
employed in tillage, about one-sixth in rearing
cattle and sheep, and one-tenth in the woollen
manufactures, nearly one-half of the population
finding occupation in divers minor industries — a
matter very worthy of note in connexion with
the problem of industrial employment in the
future.

42 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

In her admirable monograph, " Commercial
Relations between England and Ireland," Miss
Murray sums up the position in these words : —

Ireland had every prospect of developing a great woollen
manufacture like England, and she was possessed of many
potential sources of wealth in her splendid waterways, in the
fertility of her soil, and in her geographical position. The
progress made in the years succeeding the Restoration shows
the recuperative strength of the country; and although England
also progressed, it was thought by contemporaries that the
advance made by Ireland in material wealth was, during this
period, greater than that made by any other European
country.

The economic condition was sound ; but it was
not destined to last. The extensive business in
live cattle was put an end to by the English
Parliament. Ireland, discouraged but not dis-
mayed, turned her attention to the provision
trade with England, the Colonies, and the
Continent. It greatly flourished. Ireland,
robbed of her cattle-trade, smiled under the
new conditions. She soon seized a large share
of the foreign trade in provisions. Miss Murray
adds : —

But not only had the Irish begun to rival the English in the
provision trade with foreign countries, they had also begun to
compete in the same trade with the plantations. In the fifteen
years following the Cattle Acts, Ireland began to furnish the
plantations with butter, cheese, and salted beef. She also
supplied foreign plantations, especially the French West Indies,
with salted provisions of all kinds. And so, during this period,
England saw part of her provision trade with her own planta-
tions, as well as with foreign countries and their plantations,

PAST TRADE RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 43

taken from her by the Irish. This, of course, kept down the
price of provisions at home, after the first effects of the Cattle
Acts in raising the price of meat had worked themselves out.
Naturally the low price of provisions in England proved
injurious not only to the graziers and dairy-farmers, but also to
those cattle-breeders who had hoped to gain so much by the
Acts.

Thus one of the most important permanent results of the
Cattle Acts was to give Ireland a comparatively large provision
trade with foreign countries and English and foreign planta-
tions. The establishment of this trade led directly to an
increase in Irish shipping; and, even as early as 1670, Sir Joshua
Child noticed that the cities and port-towns of Ireland had
greatly increased in building and shipping.

The Irish people did so well that they aroused
the jealousy of their neighbours, with the result
that a most lucrative branch — the Colonial trade
— was prohibited.

From the prostration consequent upon the
Great Revolution in 1688, Ireland, economically
speaking, speedily recovered, mainly owing to
the great expansion of her woollen manufactures.
She beat England in her own markets, with the
usual results. Export duties were imposed on
Irish woollen manufactures destined for the
English market, of such a character as, with the
addition of the English import duties, effectu-
ally to stifle the trade. The exportation of
woollen goods to foreign countries was soon after
prohibited. The great woollen trade was thus
killed, and a severe blow was dealt to the
industrial habits of the population. The linen
trade alone received some encouragement, not,

44 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

however, of a permanent character. The system
of bounties upon the English export trade in
linen goods effectually checked the growth of
that industry also in Ireland. Nor was this
deliberately destructive policy confined to the
great woollen and linen trades. Another textile
industry, cotton, was interfered with. Glass,
hats, iron manufacture, sugar-refining, whatever
business Ireland turned her hand to, and always
with success, was, in turn, restricted. The
Colonial and Indian markets were closed against
Irish goods, and prohibitive duties were placed
against their entrance into the British markets.
The consequence of this policy was to check, if
not entirely destroy, the natural capacity of the
people for the manufacturing industries, and
to force them to turn their attention almost
exclusively to agriculture.

Even agriculture was not allowed to pursue a
natural course. The remission of tithes on
pasture- land in Ireland, together with the effect
of bounties on the exportation of English wheat,
operated against wheat-growing in Ireland,
causing a great diminution of employment and
consequent distress. Owing partly to purely
natural causes, a reaction set in, and England
ceased to be an exporter of corn. Ireland began
to supply her, and a large increase in the area
of arable land was the result. The close of the
eighteenth century saw a period of prosperity.

PAST TRADE RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 45

The price of provisions had risen in England to
famine rates. Ireland's demands for freedom to
trade were granted, and all legislative restric-
tions upon exports were removed. Agriculture,
sea fisheries, commerce of all kinds, flourished
greatly ; but the period was short-lived. Over-
exportation of grain caused a shortage in Ireland.
England, by the imposition of protective duties,
stopped the export of manufactures from Ireland
to her ports. Yet, on the whole, the latter part
of the century showed both prosperity and pro-
gress. The economic condition of the country
compares favourably with the condition towards
the close of the nineteenth century. The popu-
lation was slightly greater, and, what is of much
more importance, the proportion of that popula-
tion employed in industries was decidedly larger.
Industries were fairly diffused over the whole
country, and a reasonable balance between
arable and pasture land existed.

Miss Murray1 has dealt in some detail with
this revival in a period when Ireland was still
largely shut out from the English market, but
when she had regained some measure of
commercial independence. It must be borne
in mind that the years of which Miss Murray
writes so lucidly were those which followed
on the period when commerce in Ireland had

1 " Commercial Relations between England and Ireland."

46 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

been throttled by restrictions of many descrip-
tions applying to the cattle, woollen, and other
trades, and intercourse with foreign countries
and the Colonies. With the grant of greater
freedom of trade, Ireland revived. Miss Murray
states : —

Broadly speaking, the country began to prosper from as
early as 1780 ; this was stated as an acknowledged fact by the
Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was given by him as
his reason for lowering the Government rate of interest from
6 per cent, to 5 per cent. Credit, indeed, recovered almost
at once, and we hear nothing more of the difficulty of borrow-
ing money or of raising funds by means of fresh taxation.
The Irish Commons did much to foster this new prosperity.
They could not spend huge sums of money like England in
promoting trade and manufactures ; but the sums they did
spend were wisely allotted. The industrial aspect of Ireland
rapidly changed. Ruined factories sprang into life, and new
ones were built ; the old corn mills which had ceased working
so long were everywhere busy ; the population of the towns
began to increase ; the standard of living among the artizan
class rose ; and even the condition of the peasantry changed
slightly for the better. Dublin, instead of being sunk in decay,
assumed the appearance of a thriving town. Commercial
prosperity, combined with the new independent position of the
Irish Parliament, brought with it other advantages. Absentees
began to return to their country, attracted by the brilliant life
of the Irish capital. Dublin became a home of arts and
learning. Magnificent public buildings sprang up. The
Dublin Society was givep liberal grants by the Legislature to
enable it to encourage Irish manufactures and agriculture.
Parliament took the repair of the streets from the hands of a
corrupt Corporation ; the principal streets were enlarged, and
a great new bridge built.

At the same time the popular party in the House of
Commons took up the cause of the poor. The conditions of
prison-life were bettered ; the criminal law was revised \ and,

PAST TRADE RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 47

probably for the first time in modern history, free public
baths for the poor were established. In fact, the independent
Irish Legislature set itself to promote the material prosperity
of the country in every possible way ; and there is no doubt
that its efforts had much to say to the really surprising com-
mercial progress which was made from 1780 until the years
immediately preceding the Union. The Irish fisheries became
the envy and admiration of Great Britain ; and agriculture
increased rapidly. Various manufactures in Ireland began to
thrive ; the manufacture of hats, of boots and shoes, of candles
and soap, of blankets and carpets, of woollens, of printed
cottons and fustians, of cabinets and of glass, all sprang into
importance, while the linen manufacture, which had decayed
during the American War, quickly revived, and in ten years
the exports of various kinds of linen doubled.

All this progress was made whilst Irish manufactures, with
the one exception of certain kinds of linens, were denied
admittance to the British market, and whilst Irish ports were
open to all British goods. The majority of the members
of the Irish Parliament never evinced the slightest wish
to retaliate on England by imposing heavy duties on British
goods ; and it must be remembered that they were at liberty
to do so had they wished. In 1790, when applications were
made by persons engaged in the leather trade in Great
Britain to limit by high duties the exportation of bark to
Ireland, Lord Westmorland, then Lord Lieutenant, opposed
the scheme and spoke in high terms of the conduct of Ireland
in commercial matters since the failure of the Commercial
Propositions. He said that he had never found any desire on
the part of responsible men in Ireland to snatch at any
commercial advantage for their country at the expense of
Great Britain, and that in all matters relative to the trade of
the Empire, he had ever found the Irish Parliament ready and
willing to meet the wishes of the Government. Such words
from a Lord Lieutenant are, indeed, the best proof of the
moderation of the Irish Legislature in its relations with Great
Britain. This moderation is all the more to be admired on
account of the pressure brought to bear on Parliament by the

48 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Irish manufacturing interest for protection against British
manufactures. But Parliament had no wish to stir up fresh
strife; and, moreover, many of the members were afraid that,
if high duties were imposed on British goods, England would
cease to import Irish linens. This would probably not have
injured Ireland to the extent supposed, as there was such a
large and growing demand for her linens from America and the
plantations. But the Irish Parliament was always nervously
anxious not to lose English custom, and it preferred to accept
the commercial inequality which existed rather than provoke
England to possible retaliation. Indeed, Irish free trade was
a jnockery as far as England was concerned ; and it is because
of this fact that the progress of Ireland in trade and manufac-
tures in the years succeeding 1780 is rather surprising.

Into the consequences of the great Napoleonic
struggle, the inflation of prices, the abnormal
production of wheat and minute subdivision of
land, the awful visitation of the famine, and
reaction towards pasture and consolidation, and
the effects of the repeal of the Corn Laws, I
need not enter here. All these subjects belong
rather to the realm of natural cause and effect ;
and I am concerned only to point to a hostile
policy, deliberately inaugurated and consistently
pursued. That policy on the part of England
was dictated partly by class selfishness— the fear
of Irish competition entertained by individual
trades or traders — partly, on larger grounds, by
the dread, difficult to realize now, that Ireland
would outstrip England in the industrial race —
and partly by motives of a political and dynastic
character. It was a policy eminently successful.
Irish industry was crushed ; but that the policy

PAST TRADE RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 49

was short-sighted in the extreme will not, I
think, be disputed by anyone now. It fulfilled
its object, but it left behind a heritage of woe.

These facts, with which all students of history
are conversant, must be mentioned because they
demonstrate the manufacturing, industrial, and
trading capacity of a people whose energies are
now almost exclusively limited to agricultural
pursuits ; and because these natural charac-
teristics must be borne in mind in considering
the results likely to be produced upon the
economic condition of the people by social or
political reform. Potentialities, as well as
actualities, must be weighed and balanced ;
what might have been but for artificial interfer-
ence must be considered in order to form an
estimate of what possibly may be.

5<D THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTER III.

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES.

IT is impossible to appreciate the social and
economic state of Ireland, and the changes likely
to be wrought by recent legislation, unless the
broad lines of the development of the land
system are understood, and it is realized that as
regards land-tenure, as in many other respects,
Ireland differs radically from England.

The land system introduced from Normandy
into England, and from England into Ireland,
never took root in the latter country. The
native system absorbed and changed it ; and,
down to quite modern times, the connexion of
landlord and tenant resembled the relationship
of tribal chief to tribe, rather than that exist-
ing between landowner and tenant-farmer in
England. Feudalism gradually developed in
England into the existing system, which may be
shortly described as a business arrangement,
tempered by sentiment and tradition — an
arrangement under which the duty of providing
permanent capital accompanies the rights of
ownership. In Ireland the transition from tribal
rights to feudalism, and from feudalism to
absolute ownership in the modern sense, was
never acquiesced in ; and, in spite of modern

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 5!

requirements, the necessary changes of tenure
and custom took place only partially ; the
physical, social, and economic conditions of
the country being against them. Under these
circumstances it is not surprising that land-
tenure and the relations between owner and
occupier gave rise to perpetual friction. It is in
putting an end to that friction that the Land
Act of 1903 conferred one great benefit upon
the country.

The English system was not fully established
by law until 1860, and it did not last long. It
was interfered with by a series of twenty-five
enactments, — twenty-five attempts by England to
solve the Irish land problem ! ! — of which the Act
of 1 88 1 was the most important. That Act
was productive of both good and evil. Had
it been honest and statesmanlike, it might
possibly have sufficed ; but it was neither. If
fair compensation had been given for actual
loss of property, it would not have left the
landowning class embittered by a deep sense
of injustice. Had it made a definite reduction
of rent, variable subsequently according to
values of produce, it might have satisfied
tenant-farmers ; and the paralysing effect of
perpetual and expensive litigation might have
been avoided. As it is, occupiers unquestionably
benefited by that and subsequent similar Acts ;
but it is very certain that the soil of the country

52 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

was not made more productive. Legislation
shut the throttle on the stream of capital. No
landlord could with safety put a penny into the
land ; it was to the advantage of the tenant to
make what he could out of his holding for a
short period, and to present it for revaluation in
the worst possible condition. Such a system of
land-tenure was bound to be disastrous. It
encouraged bad farming. It demoralized the
industry. In the restoration of single ownership,
by transfer of the owner's interest to the occupier,
lay the only remedy ; and it is in providing that
remedy that the Act of 1903 has conferred a
second vast benefit upon the country. What
will be the result of this legislation upon the
two classes primarily affected by it ?

The occupier in acquiring the freehold obtains
absolute security for the full enjoyment of all
the fruits of his capital, intelligence, energy, and
labour ; and such security acts as the strongest
possible stimulus to the employment of capital,
intelligence, energy, and labour. The moral
effect of ownership is also great and salutary.
The incentive to effort that permeates a man's
being when he looks upon his fields and can
say, "That is my very own," is powerful,
though difficult to define ; it makes for courage,
self-reliance, and self-respect.

It is more difficult to gauge the effect upon
the landowning class. If, as some people suppose,

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 53

it will produce a tendency towards emigration,
the result upon the country will be injurious,
not only economically through the withdrawal
of money, but also socially through the loss of a
cultured class. But is there any sufficient
reason to dread such results ? I think not.
Loss of social influence and political power
attaching to the possession of landed property,
which might in some other cases largely affect
the issue, may, in the case under consideration,
be disregarded ; or, if regarded, the probability
of positive gain in both respects must be ad-
mitted. Sentiment, tradition, the attractions of
home, the comparative cheapness of living, and
of field sports and outdoor amusements, must be
taken into account. As a class there can be no
question that the financial circumstances of the
landed gentry will be improved by sale. Under
the provisions in the Act for sale and repurchase
they may become occupying owners of their
demesne lands, and they should be able to
obtain under the Act — but are not obtaining —
what they greatly need, capital for the improve-
ment of those lands. There are many and
excellent reasons why the resident gentry should
continue to live in Ireland ; and, fortunately,
the reports of the Estates Commissioners show
that they are continuing to be resident, farm-
ing their own land, and retaining the ameni-
ties of their position. They will find, as the

54 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

country*settles down, as large a field for pleasure
as and a larger scope for usefulness than they
have hitherto enjoyed.

The Land Act of 1903 was incomplete in one
respect ; and is not working satisfactorily in
others. It was incomplete in so far as it made
no provision for the agricultural labourers.
This deficiency has been made good by the
measure which has been passed by Parliament.
It is unsatisfactory so far as it relates to the
congested portions of Ireland — the uneconomic
West — and the reinstatement of evicted tenants.
These two problems to some extent hang
together. In the latter, money will probably
be found to be the best solvent. The quantity
of land that can, under any circumstances, be
purchased is not likely to suffice to satisfy
all the requirements of migration, the enlarge-
ment of uneconomic holdings, and the settle-
ment on other holdings of sitting tenants
of evicted farms. It is probable also that
in most cases such tenants would prefer the
equivalent in cash to a farm in some part
of the country in which they are strangers.
With the cash they could wait the opportunity
to purchase a tenant's interest or a free-hold
farm in their own original locality, or they could
invest it in some other business. The total
fund at the disposition of the Estates Com-
missioners for the purposes of enlargement of

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 55

holdings, migration, the improvement of estates
purchased, and of the restoration of evicted
tenants, amounted, when the Act came into
operation, to £250,000. Such a sum is mani-
festly inadequate. The whole unexpended bal-
ance should be devoted to the evicted tenants.
Money laid out on reinstatement is a good
investment, for neither the purchase clauses of
the Act nor the general policy of peace and
conciliation can have fair play until a question
so provocative of irritation is set at rest. Down
to March 3ist last 5,287 applications had been
received, and of these 5,077 were applications
coming within the Act. According to the Com-
missioners' report only 103 of these tenants had
been reinstated or provided with holdings by
the Land Commission, while 284 are known
to have been reinstated or provided with
holdings by landlords. The Estates Commis-
sioners believe that others have been reinstated
by the landlords or otherwise without their
knowledge. But so far as the Commissioners
are concerned the sections of the Act dealing
with evicted tenants have been practically a
dead letter.

The effect of land-purchase upon other classes
of the community need not be dealt with at
great length. With the possible exception of
gentlemen connected with the law, who may
suffer from a diminution of litigation, other
classes must share in any benefit accruing to the

56 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

classes engaged in agriculture. Shopkeepers
and retail traders depend upon the requirements
and welfare of the agricultural interest ; mer-
chants and shippers depend upon the demands
of the retailers ; and general prosperity reacts
favourably upon freighters and all those con-
nected with railway service and other means of
communication. As to the probable con-
sequences upon the banking interest, banks may
suffer in their position of permanent creditors
through the repayment of mortgage debt carry-
ing a high rate of interest ; but in their position
of lenders of floating capital, they will gain.
They may lose through the loss of estate
accounts, involving, as they generally do, fluc-
tuating balances to the credit and debit of the
estate, both of which conditions are profitable
to the bank ; but they will gain through the
superior financial position of both landlord and
tenant, consequent upon sale. An important
and increasing amount of liquid cash will be
available, which will pass through bankers'
hands for longer or shorter periods. With a
large amount of cash set free, a brisk demand
for money and better security, the banking
interest must, I should say, gain rather than
lose.

Perfect confidence in the power of land-pur-
chase to effect a beneficial change of vast
magnitude might be felt were it not for the

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 57

lamentable fact that its salutary operations are
seriously checked. A revolution of this character
should be accomplished as rapidly as possible
in order to produce its full economic results.
Long delay in obtaining the purchase-money is
vexatious to both parties, and this should by
some means be avoided. The application of
purchase- money to the liquidation of incum-
brances is of the essence of the transaction in
most cases. Occupiers cannot pay more than
3^ per cent, on the purchase price pending com-
pletion, and are naturally anxious to enjoy with-
out protracted delay the benefits of the Act.
Owners cannot make a loss of the difference
between 3^ and 4^- or 5 per cent, payable
on mortgage debt. It is not to be expected
that mortgagees will reduce interest to 3^. If
money cannot be found to finance agreements
with reasonable rapidity, or if some means are
not adopted whereby selling landowners can
raise cheap loans on the security of a sanctioned
agreement for the period elapsing between the
sanction of the agreement and the payment of
the purchase price ; if administrative machinery
does not work with smooth rapidity ; if unneces-
sary attention to minute details is suffered to
produce interminable delays, a situation may be
created which will seriously imperil the results
of an Act so potential for good. It is a thousand
pities that the Land Commission were not em-

58 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

powered to guarantee title, charging a sufficient
fine to create an insurance fund. That agricul-
ture will improve under the operation of the Act
of 1903, if a short-sighted policy of obstruction
and delay is not pursued, is not a mere specula-
tive opinion. Land-purchase schemes have been
in operation for some years; and, judging by
actual experience, the improvement consequent
upon purchase is a demonstrated fact.

Unhappily the whole of the legal machinery
connected with the solution of the Irish Land
problem is clogged. The work of fixing judicial
rents is greatly in arrears. During last year
the entire number of fair rents disposed of
by the Commissioners, Special Commission,
and the Civil Bill Courts was 5,513; but
the records show an arrear of undisposed
cases amounting to no fewer than 17,816.
From these figures it will be seen that the
business of fixing judicial rents is hopelessly
behindhand, to the extent of about two years'
work at the present rate of progress. This must
have a most deterrent effect upon tenants, parti-
cularly as the hearing of appeals is also most
seriously in arrears. In 1905 3,505 appeals were
heard, and 2,197 were withdrawn, making a
total of 5,702 appeals which were disposed of.
Whether this large number of appeals were
withdrawn because the applicants realized the
delay entailed, or whether they were withdrawn

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 59

owing to any action taken under the Land Act of
1903 by landlords or tenants, is not revealed.
The main point is that, including withdrawals
and appeals which were adjudicated upon, 5,702
were dealt with, and over 9,000 remained unheard
on March 3ist last. The cumulative effect of
these two delays is very appreciable. A tenant
coming to the Land Court to have a judicial
rent fixed has the prospect of waiting two years
for a decision ; and if he or his landlord gives
notice of appeal, there is a prospect of over two
years before a final decision is arrived at. In
view of the proceedings under the Land Act of
1903 these facts are noteworthy.

Turning to actual Land Purchase, from the
latest Report of the Estates Commissioners,
bringing the story of their operations down
to March 3ist last, it appears that at that
date applications had been received for loans
on land sales amounting, in round figures, to
£35,500,000 since the Act came into operation
on November ist, 1903, a period of two years
and five months. These figures are significant
when it is borne in mind that under all previous
Land Acts the total sum advanced amounted to
only £25,000,000. This rush, if I may use the
word, to take advantage of the measure of 1903,
bears conclusive testimony to the strong wish of
the landlords, on the one hand, to sell, and the
tenants, on the other, to buy ; and it might be

6O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

imagined that, in the face of a great national
response of this character to the enactment of
Parliament, the executive authority would strain
every effort to further the work of social amelio-
ration which must result from the conclusion of
the sales of those 3,596 estates, embracing
97,245 holdings, included in these applications.
First impressions always make a deep mark ;
and, in the interests of the future of Ireland, it
was most desirable that the operation of the Act
from the very first should proceed rapidly and
smoothly, in order to preserve the feeling of
trust in the good intentions of the Imperial
Parliament which the Land Conference and the
passage of the Land Act had engendered. The
summary return of the proceedings of the Estates
Commissioners shows that these legitimate anti-
cipations have not been realized. Down to the
end of March last, loans had been sanctioned in
connexion with only just over one thousand of
these estates, and the actual amount of money
paid over had reached a sum of less than ten
millions, or a little over one quarter of the total
sum applied for. In the first two years and five
months, the Commissioners were apparently
able to deal only with something over three
millions sterling a year, even with their present
staff; whereas, when the Act was introduced, it
was confidently hoped that the minimum sum
would be five millions in each of the three first

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 6l

years, and that subsequently the amount would
be increased. When the Land Act was intro-
duced, the Government expressed a belief that
its operations might be completed within a
period of fifteen years, and that, by that time,
the whole of the land of Ireland would have
passed from the present landlords into the hands
of the occupying owners. Unless, however, the
present rate of progress of the Commissioners is
very greatly expedited, it would seem probable
that the process of transfer will still be in opera-
tion thirty years hence. During all this period
not only will Ireland remain in an unrestful
state, inevitable during the progress of such a
colossal and unexampled measure of land reform,
but the country will fail to gain those collateral
benefits from the Land Act of which a good
deal was heard when the measure was under
discussion. On the introduction of the Land
Bill, Mr. Wyndham stated that economies,
amounting to a quarter of a million a year,
would be carried out in the succeeding five
years in the administration of Irish Government;
and the anticipation, whether well founded or
not, was entertained that this " perpetual "
reduction would be only the beginning of an era
of economical administration in the central
government of Ireland. It is important to know
what progress has been made in carrying out
this policy of administrative economy which was

62 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

to have proceeded pan passu with the operation
of the Land Purchase Act.

Again, another avenue of economy is closed
so long as the operation of the Land Act is
delayed. The Land Judge's Court and the
Land Commission are costing annually upwards
of ,£133,000 and nearly ^180,000 respectively;
and the Congested Districts Board, so far as
land purchase is concerned, is painfully and
expensively crawling along the same path as
the Estates Commissioners. The functions of
the Land Judge's Court, the Land Commission,
the Estates Commission, and the Congested
Districts Board overlap ; they are all pursuing
similar objects with separate staffs. It is
evident that the sooner the tenants become
occupying owners, the sooner the expensive
operations of the Land Judge's Court and of
the Congested Districts Board, and the rent-
fixing work of the Land Commissioners, will be
brought to a close. These are points to which
adequate attention has not, I think, been given
hitherto.

Turning to a more detailed examination of
the proceedings of the Estates Commissioners
down to the end of March last, several points of
great importance are suggested as meriting
official elucidation. It will be seen that almost
all the applications received by the Com-
missioners have been for direct sales between

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 63

landlord and tenant ; and in only fifty-four cases
have applications been received under sections 6
and 8. These sections of the Land Act were
originally regarded as of great importance, in
that the former authorized the Commissioners
to buy estates for re-sale to the tenants, and the
latter to acquire untenanted land for redistri-
bution, so as to render uneconomic holdings
economic. It was thought that these facilities
would promote a swift and equitable adjustment
of the basis of sales ; whereas, experience seems
to have shown that these sections of the Act
have been comparatively inoperative.

According to the report of the Estates Com-
missioners, only 54 cases of sales to them have
been concluded. This failure under section 6 of
the Act has very prejudicially affected the
reinstatement of evicted tenants. It is to be
accounted for — at any rate to a large extent —
by the relative disadvantage to both owners
and occupiers, involved in sales of that descrip-
tion as compared with sales direct from landlord
to tenants. In the latter case the status of the
tenants is changed on signing agreements. They
cease to pay rent, and pay, in lieu thereof,
interest on the purchase price to the Estates
Commissioners. The status of the owner is also
changed. He receives interest on the purchase
price from the Estates Commissioners until the
money is allocated. In the former case rent is

64 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

payable during the whole period — possibly many
years — over which proceedings may extend,
even though owners and occupiers may have
provisionally agreed upon terms. The accept-
ance by the owner of an offer from the
Commissioners does not constitute a binding
contract : an indefinite period may elapse before
absolute completion, after which any rent due is
uncollectable by process of law. On comple-
tion, the Commissioners have to deposit the
purchase-money ; they cannot, therefore, com-
plete a transaction until they have the cash in
hand. These causes discourage sales to the
Estates Commissioners, and as a consequence
retard the restoration of evicted tenants. The
Land Conference, when it met again in the
autumn of 1906, recommended — and I need
hardly add I entirely agree — such alterations in
the rules governing the Estates Commissioners,
or, if necessary, such amendment of the Act, as
will remove the disadvantages to all parties at
present entailed in sales to the Commissioners.

Under sub-section 4 of section 6, the Estates
Commissioners were also given power in the
case of a congested estate to certify to the
Lord Lieutenant that the purchase and re-sale
of the estate were desirable with a view to the
wants and circumstances of the tenants. In
this circumstance the Commissioners were em-
powered to purchase the estate for a price to

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 65

be agreed upon ; and the condition as to the
re-sale being made without a prospect of loss
might be relaxed to such an extent as the
Lord Lieutenant might determine. Under this
important provision little has yet been done,
while under section 7 only sixteen estates have
been acquired from the Land Judge.

Notwithstanding that free grants or re-
payable advances may now be made out of the
reserve fund in the case of sales by landlords
to tenants, as in the case of sales to the Land
Commission, and that the area of useful work
has been thereby considerably extended, during
the period covered by the Act a total sum
amounting to only about £14,000 had been
expended. Of this sum £9,122 was given by
way of free grants.

In spite of the fact that the staff at their
disposition has been considerably increased,
the Estates Commissioners, even now, are not
keeping pace with the fresh applications. In
the year ending March 3ist last the advances
made amounted to £5,202,000, while the appli-
cations for advances, mostly for direct sales,
lodged during the same period of twelve months
amounted to £15,854,000. The net result of
the operations under the Land Act, with refer-
ence to the direct sales to tenants only, is
that, whereas at the end of the financial year
1905 the applications undisposed of amounted

66 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

to just over twelve and a half millions, on
March 3ist last the arrears were nearly twice
as heavy.

All the sections of the Land Act have failed
to become actively operative. This means that
in one of its main purposes the Land Act is not
carrying out the wishes of Parliament, and that
the wounds and bitterness consequent upon a
protracted agrarian struggle are not being healed
and assuaged as Parliament intended that they
should be. Small progress is being made in
dealing with bankrupt estates in the Land
Judge's Court; and comparatively little has
been done with a view to improving estates.

The Act of 1903 must not be regarded as
merely an Act to facilitate the sale and purchase
of land. It was designed to make a quick and
permanent settlement of a great national ques-
tion, and, as such, it has to deal with three
distinct phases of that question : (i) With the
transfer of ownership generally — the sale and
purchase of estates which may be designated
economic ; (2) With sale and purchase in the
uneconomic districts, mainly in the West, and
with the betterment of the population in those
districts ; (3) With the reinstatement of evicted
tenants. Viewing the operations of the Act
from the impersonal standpoint of the State,
it may safely be said that, in regard to the
first phase, it is working fairly well. It may be

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 67

that, owing to a natural reaction against ill-
advised attempts to "bear" the market, prices
are ruling high ; but, be that as it may, the
State is perfectly safe. Advances anywhere
within the zones are well secured on what may
be termed economic holdings. The number of
applications proves the willingness of owners to
sell, and of occupiers to buy ; and, were it not
for the vexatious complications and miraculous
delays that occur, the Act might be pronounced
successful so far as phase one is concerned. Un-
fortunately, the same cannot be said of phases two
and three. Little progress has been made in the
uneconomic West. The problem is different from
that existing throughout the country generally,
and consequently requires different treatment.
There the Commissioners have to deal with the
occupiers of numerous small holdings, paying
rent, as is alleged, of the character of an accom-
modation rent. The tenants are anxious to buy,
actuated by many motives, and among them the
desire to escape, even momentarily, from press-
ing difficulties. It may be only a leap from the
frying-pan into the fire for them, poor creatures,
but there is respite during the leap. Purchase
relieves them from the strangle of arrears, and
they may be willing to buy on almost any terms.
If the terms are based on a rent in excess of the
actual value of the land, it is improbable that
an advance would be properly secured, and the

68 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

interests of the State must be safeguarded.
Rent must be the basis of purchase, and the
first step is, as it seems to me, to have fair rents
fixed speedily, and at whatever cost, over these
impoverished and congested districts. That
would enable the lender, whether it be the
Estates Commissioners or the Congested Dis-
tricts Board, to estimate the value of the
security and the amount that could be advanced
upon it. In the neighbourhood of these un-
economic holdings lie considerable tracts of
good land, let to graziers on the eleven months'
system, which does not constitute a tenancy. A
sufficiency of such untenanted land is urgently
required by the Congested Districts Board and
the Estates Commissioners, and is, in fact,
necessary for them if anything is to be done
towards the improvement of these uneconomic
regions. A good price should be paid ; but
inflated prices, due to a corner in land, are not
justifiable. Whether terms of purchase are cal-
culated on accommodation rents, and exorbi-
tant prices are asked for untenanted land, or
not, it is impossible, in default of evidence, to
say. As regards the second failure of the Act —
the reinstatement of evicted tenants — here again
the cause of failure cannot be postulated owing
to lack of evidence ; but 'it seems clear the Com-
missioners are starved for want of funds. It
would be manifestly unjust to ask a landlord to

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 69

restore as tenant a man who had been evicted
years ago for non-payment of rent, owing, pro-
bably, large arrears. The only result would be
that the tenant would in a short time have to
be evicted again. Reinstatement should be
dependent upon, and preliminary to, purchase.
In the case of evicted holdings remaining in
the landlord's hands, or under his immediate
control, it would be equally unjust to assess
the value of the holding on the basis of
the former rent. The farm was probably com-
pletely run out when the eviction took place,
and money — and in many cases large sums of
money — may have been laid out upon it since it
came into the landlord's hands. It is only
equitable that a purchase price should be based
upon the farm as it stands. I admit that I am
groping round these subjects in the dark, or,
at any rate, in the dusk. Evidence, which is
scanty now, will doubtless be abundant when
Lord Dudley's Royal Commission has concluded
its labours. All that I wish to emphasize is
that the Act of 1903 was passed as a great
instrument of settlement, and the credit of the
State pledged for one hundred and twenty
millions on that presumption ; and that as a
settlement it is bound to fail unless, either
through its operations or by some other means,
the restoration of evicted tenants and improved
economic conditions in the West are effected.

7O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

The financial aspects of the Land Act are
most unsatisfactory. Last spring a further
issue of Irish Land Stock was announced,
postponed, and then hastily decided upon,
with the result that the Stock already issued
was depressed ; and when the Chancellor
of the Exchequer changed his mind, and
suddenly asked the money market to absorb
seven millions of the new Stock, the price had
fallen to about £8g per £100 stock. Is it not
due to the Irish people, and not less to the tax-
payers of the United Kingdom, that they should
be given some explanation of the vicissitudes
through which this particular Stock has passed,
and the reasons which have really led to the
delay in the working of the Act ? On the one
hand, it is repeatedly stated that the Land Act
cannot be worked more quickly, owing to want of
funds; yet it appears that on February 26th last,
whereas cash amounting to over eleven and
a half millions had been raised by the issue of
Stock, the Commissioners at that date had paid
over only eight and a half millions. The
deplorable fact is that this sum of eleven and
a half millions was obtained at a loss of over
one and a half million sterling, the issue price
ranging from £92 to £87. From the Land Act
itself it appears that this Stock enjoys a
security equal to that of Consols, in that, under
section 29, it is laid down that " the dividends

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 7!

on the Stock shall be paid out of the income of
the Irish Land Purchase Fund, and, if that
income is insufficient, shall be charged on and
paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the
United Kingdom or the growing produce thereof."
Consequently the Stock is issued on the
same security as Consols, but returns to the
investor five shillings per cent, more interest.
In spite of this equality of security and
advantage in rate of interest, this Stock, raised
for the purposes of the Land Purchase Act, is
to-day quoted on the Stock Exchange within a
fraction of the same price as Consols, and
Ireland is poorer to-day, including the latest
issue of stock, to the extent of over two
millions sterling. Under the Land Act this loss
apparently falls, not upon the people of the
United Kingdom, but upon the Irish Develop-
ment Grant. Surely, if the security upon which
the stock rests had been adequately explained
at the time of its issue, there is no reason why
this colossal loss, which on the last issue
amounted to as much as n per cent., should
not have been almost entirely avoided. In the
Act the Stock was officially described as
" Guaranteed Two and Three-quarters per
Cent. Stock," but it has become known as
"Irish Land Stock." By what ill fate has
Ireland's unhappy condition become associated
with a security the value of which depends in

72 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

no way on Ireland's prosperity, but enjoys the
same security as Consols while returning an
appreciably higher rate of interest to the
investor ? This is a matter which deserves
careful inquiry, in order that steps may be taken
to determine this ruinous mode of financing the
Land Act. If, instead of creating " Guaranteed
Stock at 2f per cent.," the Government had
provided the money required by issuing Consols,
a large part of the loss to which I have called
attention would have been saved. By the time
the operation of the Land Act is completed,
certainly not less than 120 millions sterling will
have to be obtained from the money market,
and, at the present rate, an unnecessary loss of
upwards of 12 millions sterling will be incurred.
As the market price of Consols is now just under
£90, the Guaranteed Stock, issued under the
Land Act, and carrying 55. per cent, higher
interest with the same security, should stand at
about £100. Surely it is time the Government
glanced round to see whether the continuance
of this drain upon the Irish funds cannot be
avoided.

Evidence is accumulating to show that, from
first to last, the administration of this great Act
of social amelioration has been greatly and
unnecessarily retarded, and the sympathies of
the Irish people in a large measure alienated,
owing to the manner in which the Act is being

LAND PURCHASE DIFFICULTIES. 73

carried out ; and I appeal for a full and
complete statement which will set at rest the
anxiety which is naturally felt as month
succeeds month and apparently little progress
is made. In particular I would appeal to the
Government to state whether the loss incurred
in floating the Stock has been in their opinion
unavoidable, and if so, why ? and whether the
delay in working the Act is due to legal
difficulties, which Irish solicitors deny, to lack
of staff under the Commissioners, which the
Government have repeatedly promised to in-
crease, or to inadequate funds, as has been
frequently and, as it seems, quite inaccurately
represented. In fact, what is the root-cause of
the delay ?

74 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTER IV.

IRELAND'S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE.

ARGUMENTS as to future manufacturing de-
velopment, founded on the proof of national
capacity in the past, to which I have already
alluded, and on the fact that all Ireland's
great industries were purposely destroyed, might
lead to false deductions if the vast change in
processes of manufacture and in trading facili-
ties, caused by the introduction of steam, are
not taken fully into account. Comparing Great
Britain with Ireland, there can be no doubt that
the great revolution brought about by steam-
power and machinery, both in the processes of
manufacture, and in carrying raw material and
finished goods, acted favourably for the former,
and unfavourably for the latter, country. In
comparison with Great Britain, Ireland has but
little of the best quality of raw material— coal ;
and in Great Britain the coal is in close proxi-
mity to other minerals. Cheap and rapid ocean
freights tend to obliterate the advantages
possessed by Ireland in the geographical position

IRELAND'S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE. 75

of her harbours. It is an interesting theme
for speculation whether Ireland, had she been
equipped as Great Britain was, with flourishing
industries and capital, could have availed herself
of steam and machinery as England did. Not-
withstanding the proclivities of the people
towards almost every form of industry other
than agriculture, it is safe to say that the
tendency of the new motive-power must have
been towards forcing Ireland into the position
of a country largely dependent on agriculture ;
but, on the other hand, industrial habits are
hard to uproot, labour and capital thrown out of
one manufacturing industry seek for, and may
find, employment in some other industry of a
similar kind. Had not the greater industries of
the country been so ruthlessly interfered with,
there is little doubt that the influence of
steam-power and machinery upon the industrial
population would have been greatly mitigated.
Even if the great industries went under, a
transference of labour would have taken place.
Ireland would have retained a more or less
considerable business in small trades, and in
industries of a minor kind. That Ireland could
not have become the home of a vast manu-
facturing community is, I think, true, and due to
natural causes, nor do I regret it. That she
has become, for all practical purposes, a purely
agricultural community is due to the destructive

7§ THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

policy pursued by England in the past. No
reason exists why a considerable revival of
industries other than those of an agricultural
character should not be brought about.

One other matter must be taken cognisance of,
namely, the effect upon a people of persistent
interference with their natural development.
The free development and progress of a people
cannot be arrested with impunity ; national
growth cannot be stunted, nor national energies
forced into false channels, without damaging
national character. Ireland has lost some of her
natural industrial instinct. She must be helped
to recover it. She has suffered grievously through
legislation, with the inevitable consequence that
she looks too much to legislation as a remedy
for present evils resulting from legislation in the
past. She must learn that legislation alone is
insufficient as a remedy. Ireland has lost some
of her natural self-reliance, business capacity,
and initiative. She must, by the exercise of
responsibility, regain them. Ireland has become
suspicious, and co-operation is difficult to her.
She must overcome the difficulty. I do not say
that Ireland is not entitled to what may be termed
artificial aid ; on the contrary, it is necessary for
her recovery. She has been free from all local
legislative restrictions on trade and industry for
the best part of a century; but she started in the
race as a cripple, not crippled owing to any

IRELAND'S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE. 77

organic defect, but artificially crippled by legis-
lative interference with the free use of her limbs.
She is entitled to exceptional treatment — and
she does require assistance. But she will be
unwise to look solely to that. The exercise of
her limbs is the best part of the treatment, and
that she can only do for herself. Much can be
done, and can only be done, towards the solution
of some of her economic problems by the judicious
and liberal application of money ; but the core
of the question of genuine healthy improvement
in her economic condition is the application
to her principal industry of mutual help, co-
operation, and the employment of up-to-date
methods.

What is, then, the condition of things ? My
conception of it is this : A country not naturally
adapted to great manufacturing industries, but
possessed of good water-power and of some coal ;
a country extremely well adapted to agricultural
industries of all kinds, but containing a large
number of uneconomic holdings ; a country poor
in this world's goods, not without resources, but
greatly needing capital for their development ; a
people endowed with great natural capacity for
industrial manufacturing pursuits, especially of an
artistic character, but forced to depend upon
agriculture through a lack of other industrial
occupations, and, as far as agriculture is con-
cerned, engaged largely in a speculative branch

78 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND. .

of it i1 a people heavily handicapped in respect
of agriculture by the weight of dear, slow, and
inadequate means of transit; crushed in the
poorer districts under the load of local rates,
feeling the burden of indirect taxation more
acutely than any of the other units of the
United Kingdom, England, Scotland, or Wales ;
a people suffering under, but recovering from,
the enervating effects of past legislative restric-
tions upon their natural development. Such is
my conception, and I believe a true one, of
the existing social, political, and economic
phenomena with which it is necessary for the
salvation of Ireland wisely to deal.

Though Ireland is essentially an agricultural
country, there is no reason why it should not
develop many industries, and place them on a
footing which would enable their products to
compete in the world's markets. Not only
in the North, but throughout Ireland, there
are to-day a number of struggling industries
upon which technical education would have an
energizing influence. According to evidence
which Mr. Arnold Graves gave before the last
Royal Commission on University Education,

1 If at any moment the British markets are re-opened to
Argentina and Canadian cattle, the cattle trade, which has
prospered owing to the restricted freedom of the English
markets, must be crippled, with disastrous results.

IRELAND S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE.

79

the following trades would benefit by the
extension of technical education : —

Number

Number

TRADE.

following

TRADE.

following

Trade.

Trade.

Linen Manufacturers

88,503

Bookbinders

1,853

Woollen Trade

..

5,338

Weavers

1,823

Cotton Trade

2,331

Ship Carpenters

.

1,430

Carpenters

..

23,668

Miners

1,382

Boot-makers

n

21,353

Brewers

1,367

Tailors

..

16,113

Plasterers

,

1,872

Blacksmiths

..

13,569

Maltsters and Distiller.

1,031

Fishermen

..

11,278

Braziers

.

700

Bakers

..

8,931

Basket-makers

667

Masons

..

7,058

Wood Turners

,..

625

Painters, Glazie
Printers

3

6,065
4,366

Lithographers
Jewellers

59f
406

Coopers
Ship- and Boat-

Builders

4,253
2,587

Glass Manufacturers
Silk Weavers...

-

358
369

Stone-dressers

2,556

Paper-makers

213

Bricklayers

3,380

Sail-makers ...

I84

Cabinet-makers

2,096

Coppersmiths

159

Plumbers

..

2,140

Wood-carvers

59

Coach-makers

1,989

Soap-makers ...

69

Tin-workers

1,925

Apart from these trades, it may be recalled
that Ireland possesses fields of coal of good
commercial quality, and great potentialities in
its water-power, and thousands of miles of peat
land, which could be turned to commercial
advantage by the fairy hands of science.

If by some means a revival in the home milling
industry were brought about, agriculture and the
country generally would undoubtedly benefit.
Milling means the employment of labour at
home. It also means offal, and offal means
cheap feed, and cheap feed means cheap ferti-
lizers. The by-products of milling are valuable

80 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

for feeding pigs and for winter dairying. The
importance of winter dairying cannot be over-
estimated. Customers want butter, not only in
summer, but all the year round ; the demand is
constant, and if it cannot be satisfied by Ireland,
customers will deal with Denmark or some other
dependable source of supply. Winter dairying
involves growing a part, at all events, of the
winter's food ; and this involves the employment
of labour. Dairying, properly conducted — the
constant supply, summer and winter, of dairy
produce — is a more stable, reliable form of agri-
cultural industry, is a safer investment, in fact,
than the more precarious branch of cattle-
breeding.

Ireland was, in the past, pre-eminent in the
provision trade, and this pre-eminence was due
largely to natural causes which still operate.
No reason exists, except one to be hereafter
mentioned, why a considerable development of
that trade may not be expected. The dairying
and bacon trades, and the trade in poultry and
eggs, should be far more prosperous than they
are; and other small industries — adjuncts of
agriculture — are capable of expansion. Certain
districts in Ireland will produce almost anything
that can be grown from here to Madeira. If it
is possible, as it certainly is, to send early vege-
tables and flowers from the South of France and
North of Africa, eggs from Russia, and butter

IRELAND'S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE. 81

from Siberia, to London, it may surely be pos-
sible to do a profitable trade in such articles
produced in the South-west of Ireland, if cheap,
rapid, and reliable transit is provided. Agri-
culture is at present terribly handicapped by
want of means of communication, uncertain
transport, and heavy charges for freight.

As compared with agriculture elsewhere, agri-
culture in Ireland always has possessed, and
does still possess, certain advantages. Soil and
climate are suitable. No portion of the United
Kingdom is better adapted for meat and milk
production. With the exception of potatoes and
mangolds — and I do not know why those excep-
tions exist — the yield of crops per acre is larger
in Ireland than in Great Britain. The standard
of living is lower ; it has risen, is rising, and will,
I should hope, continue to rise, but nevertheless,
it is a present fact which must not be lost sight
of. Labour is comparatively cheap ; and the
cost of living comparatively small. With these
natural advantages, the prospects of agriculture
are good, but it has many disadvantages to
struggle against ; and, lest too optimistic a view
of the regenerating power of land-purchase
should be entertained, these disadvantages must
be briefly glanced at.

The substitution of a sound for an unsound
system of tenure offers an opportunity. The
extent to which the possibilities latent in that

G

82 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

opportunity are realized depends largely upon
the spirit applied towards it. In all countries,
but to an abnormal extent in Ireland, social
conditions govern economic development; and
it is obvious that a favourable forecast of
development presupposes social conditions of a
favourable character. The spirit of the Land
Conference applied to the various problems
seeking solution is necessary to secure the full
fruition of the first practical result of that spirit —
the Land Act of 1903.

Out of some 500,000 holdings, 200,000 must
be described as uneconomic, incapable per se of
properly maintaining a family. Uneconomic
holdings may be unobjectionable — in fact, they
are unobjectionable in cases where agricultural
economic deficiencies are made good by the
proceeds of some other assured industries ; but
the fact that so large a proportion of holdings are
absolutely uneconomic has an important bearing
upon the present state and future prospects of
agriculture. The occupiers of those holdings
will, doubtless, purchase. In order to maintain
themselves, and to become a source of strength
instead of weakness to the social structure,
economic deficiency must be balanced either
by accretion or addition. These little barren
holdings must be converted into moderate-sized
farms by the addition of good land, or the occu-
piers must be provided with means of augmenting

IRELAND'S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE. 83

the insufficient living derived from the soil. The
Congested Districts Board is occupied in the
former process, and with good results, though
the process is lamentably slow. The principle
is sound, but alone it cannot suffice. The
supply of good land is limited. It is impossible
to convert all these uneconomic holdings into
farms of an economic character. Many of these
small freeholders can become a valuable asset to
the country only if to subsistence derived from
the land subsistence derived from some other
source can be added, and that source must
spring at home and be constant. The further
development of sea fisheries in suitable localities,
and the creation or encouragement of cottage
industries, are essential.

The economic holdings may be divided into
dairying and cattle-breeding, and the latter pre-
dominate. A large proportion of the capital
employed and of the people employed in agricul-
ture are engaged in a speculative form of that
industry. Cattle-raising is a speculation rather
than an investment — a species of gambling, and,
like all gambling, attended with risk.

Cheap, rapid, and reliable means of transit are
essential to any great advance in agriculture ; and
in this essential Ireland is deficient. Freights
for produce are very high, far higher than in
England ; and the facilities for the punctual
delivery of small parcels of perishable goods

84 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

through the Post Office are defective. Means
of communication should subserve the require-
ments of the community ; and profit should be
sought indirectly in future general prosperity
rather than directly in immediate interest on
capital employed. The question of State pur-
chase, or State subsidies, or State guarantees,
is not one to be profitably discussed here ; nor
can I now consider whether relief could be
afforded, and, if so, to what extent, by superior
organization and administration. Railway com-
panies are not charitable institutions ; money will
not be expended on a carrying trade without the
prospect of profit derived from carrying produce ;
but neither will money be laid out on pro-
duction as long as profit is rendered impossible
through the imposition of excessive freights.
High freights discourage agriculture. Old-
fashioned methods in agriculture encourage
high freights. Manual labour is an expensive
item. If railway companies would do their
utmost to assist farmers, and if farmers would
do their utmost to assist railway companies by
bulking their produce, and thereby cheapening
the process of handling goods, something might
be done to ease the disabilities under which
producers now labour ; but more energetic
measures will be found necessary. The demand
of goods for transportation develops means of
transportation ; but, on the other hand, the

IRELAND'S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE. 85

existence of means of transportation develops
production, and must, in the case of Ireland,
precede it. This subject is too large to be
gone into here. It has been examined and
reported upon in a pamphlet published by the
Irish Reform Association, and a Royal Com-
mission is engaged in a thorough investigation
of it.

The inefficiency of the Post Office, evidenced
by the delays in delivery of small quantities of
perishable articles by parcels post, is distinctly
an affair of State. The profitable growth of
flowers, and, perhaps, early vegetables, depends
upon punctual delivery. It may seem a small
trade ; but no industry is, under the present
circumstances of Ireland, insignificant ; and it is
the duty of a State Department to see that it is
not discouraged by neglect.

The weight of local rates and the want of
cheaper means of transportation act as a drag
upon the wheels of progress ; and the system of
taxation presses heavily upon Ireland.1 Indirect
taxation is always onerous on the poor. The
balance as between classes may be fairly enough
adjusted over England and Scotland ; but the
poor feel indirect taxation far more acutely than

1 In Great Britain the proportionate burden of direct and
indirect taxation is always balanced fairly evenly ; but in Ireland
7i'2 per cent, (figures for 1906-7) of tax revenue is raised
indirectly. (See Appendix II.)

86 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

the rich, and Ireland feels it more than Great
Britain, for the simple reason that the poor in
Ireland are poorer than the poor in Great
Britain, and the proportion of the poor to the
well-to-do is greater in Ireland than in Great
Britain.

Such great questions as the main drainage
of the country and the condition of her harbours
cannot be entered upon now; and I have only
touched upon means of communication and
transportation. To enable private and co-
operative effort to exercise the best results, large
and comprehensive views upon the profitable
employment of public funds are desirable. There
is much that private enterprise cannot accom-
plish ; but, on the other hand, there is much
that private enterprise alone can do. So far as
agriculture is concerned, the great essentials
consist in the application of modern methods to
production, and in a plentiful supply of private
capital. If agriculture — the foundation of pros-
perity— is to thrive, agriculture must keep abreast
of the times. But agriculture requires capital.
Supply of capital depends upon security both of
a material and moral nature. As regards the
former, whatever may be thought of the terms
upon which land is changing hands, the general
result, it must be admitted, is that the late
occupier obtains a better property and pays less
for it. The value of his security is enhanced.

IRELAND'S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE. 87

In respect of the latter, that lies largely at the
discretion of the people. If industrial and
commercial activity fs not interfered with,
if private enterprise is free to work in an atmo-
sphere serene and undisturbed by social and
other storms, it is safe to predict that capital
will, perhaps slowly, but surely, flow towards
fields for profitable employment.

Undoubtedly a large amount of capital will be
set free under the operation of the Land Act. It
is true that the majority of estates are entailed ;
but, as the perpetuation of property in land is
the main object of entail, it is probable that,
with that incentive removed, the tendency will
be to allow entails to lapse. In addition to the
ordinary floating capital, finding investment
mainly through the medium of Joint Stock
Banks, a certain amount of cash must be already
available through the operations of the Land
Purchase Act, and much more will become
available in the future. The creation and
encouragement of commercial and industrial
enterprise will, it is to be hoped, offer a suitable
field for profitable and, at the same time,
patriotic investment ; for Ireland cannot live
upon agriculture alone.

The resuscitation or re-creation of manufac-
turing industries, perhaps not on the largest
scale, but on a larger scale than is contemplated

88 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

under the term "cottage industries," is necessary
to check, in some degree, the stream of emigra-
tion which runs with unhealthy and unnatural
velocity from our shores. Profitable investment
for capital and labour, other than in land, is the
only sufficient cure.

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS. 89

CHAPTER V.

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS.1

FROM debates which have taken place from time
to time in the House of Commons upon the
financial relations of Great Britain and Ireland,
it might be supposed that Ireland was most
generously treated in matters of finance. True,
Mr. Austen Chamberlain, when Chancellor of
the Exchequer, did admit that the Royal Com-
mission, which investigated this subject about
ten years ago, reported, practically unanimously,
that the taxable capacity of Ireland was not to
be estimated as being more than in the propor-
tion of one to twenty of that of Great Britain ;
but he proceeded to say that the actual con-
tribution of Ireland towards Imperial purposes
was only in the proportion of one to forty-five ;
and the cheers with which this comparative
statement was received would seem to indicate
that he was considered to have effectually and
satisfactorily disposed of the question. But
what has the quota contributed by Ireland

1 Reprinted with corrections, by permission of the Editor,
from The Nineteenth Century of July, 1905.

go THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

towards Imperial expenditure to do with the
question whether the ever-increasing load of
taxation under which her aching shoulders are
giving way is or is not too heavy for her to
bear ? Nothing whatever. The Chancellor of
the Exchequer's simple sum has really no bear-
ing upon the contention that a larger amount
in taxation is taken out of Ireland than she
can afford to pay ; that the contributions of
Great Britain and Ireland are not in proportion
to the relative capacity and resources of the two
communities ; and that the spirit of the Act of
Union, and the very letter of the arguments
recommending it, have been broken thereby.

One of the difficulties met with in attempting
to open the eyes of the public to the fact that
Ireland is overtaxed lies in the argument that,
Ireland being an indistinguishable portion of the
United Kingdom, the basis of inquiry by the
Royal Commission on Financial Relations,
namely, that Ireland must be looked upon, for
the purposes of inquiry, as a separate entity, is
false, and the findings of the Commissioners
worthless. Such a contention is merely burking
the whole question ; for if it be desirable to
ascertain whether the poverty, lack of industrial
pursuits, and general backwardness of one
portion of the United Kingdom are due to the
inability of the people inhabiting it to bear the
weight of taxation imposed upon them, it is

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS. 91

obviously necessary, for the purposes of com-
parison, to deal with that portion as a separate
entity. By no other means can any comparison
possibly be made. But if Ireland is not to be
deemed an entity, then the same problem merely
presents itself in another and somewhat more
complicated shape ; for, in that case, it is certain
that the system of taxation adopted throughout
the United Kingdom presses disproportionately
upon the poorer classes of the community ; and
as the proportion of poor to well-to-do is far
larger in Ireland than in Great Britain, it presses
with extremely disproportionate severity upon
the inhabitants of the former island. It really
matters nothing to the people of Ireland which
theory is adopted, so far as the fact of their
suffering is concerned, though perhaps the
remedy to be applied in the one case may differ
somewhat from the remedy which would be
most suitable in the other.

Another argument brought forward against
the conclusions of the Royal Commission is
that, although taxation has greatly increased and
population has greatly diminished in Ireland,
the existing smaller population is as well, or
better, able to bear the existing higher taxation
than the former larger population was able to
bear the former lower taxation ; in other words,
that the taxable capacity of the individual has
enormously increased. This theory is scarcely

92 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

worthy of notice. Since 1820, taxation has
increased from £5,256,584 to £9,477,000 a year,
or about 83 per cent. During the same period
population has diminished from 6,801,827 to
4,414,995, or 35 per cent. If the pressure of
present taxation is no heavier upon the existing
population than was the pressure of taxation
in 1820 upon the population then existing, we
must assume that the taxable capacity of the
individual has increased by over 170 per cent. —
a proposition which no sane man will accept.
Even since 1890 taxation has increased by 25*09
per cent., while population has fallen by 6*56
per cent.

That the case of Ireland is quite peculiar
must be admitted. The taxable capacity of her
inhabitants constitutes quite a different question
from the taxable capacity of submerged popula-
tions in our great cities, or of the twelve millions
who are, according to Sir Henry Campbell
Bannerman, chronically on the verge of starva-
tion. We must in common justice go back to
the origin of the existing condition of things.
The Act of Union, and the conditions expressed
or implied in it, must be considered. The Union
was a contract — a bargain — between two inde-
pendent Legislatures, and it was made subject
to certain conditions. The financial principle
adopted in the Act was that each country
should contribute to Imperial expenditure in

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS. 93

proportion to capacity and resources. Through-
out the debates it was repeatedly affirmed that
Ireland should receive exceptional treatment
until such time as, by the reduction of the
National Debt of Great Britain and other
changes, the two countries should reach a
condition of parity.1 Lord Castlereagh stated
that "as to the future it is expected that the
two countries should move forward and unite
with regard to their expenses in the measure of
their relative abilities." No one can read the
debates on the Act of Union without realizing
that the essential principle was that taxation
should be in accordance with the relative
capacities of the two countries to bear the
burden. That taxation is not in accordance
with the relative capacities of Great Britain and
Ireland to bear the burden, and that Ireland is
overtaxed to her own detriment and to the
detriment of Great Britain and the Empire, is
my contention ; and it is not, I think, difficult to
sustain.

A point too repeatedly forgotten is that the
question should be removed from the stormy
wrangles of opposing political parties, for
Unionists and Nationalists, Conservatives and

1 Ireland at this date contained one-third of the population
of the United Kingdom ; now it contains about one-tenth.

Q4 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Radicals alike wish Ireland to thrive. It is
essentially a matter of business arrangement
between Ireland and Great Britain ; and any
political economist, to whatever school he may
belong, will agree that if the Imperial Parlia-
ment is taking more in taxation from Ireland
than she can legitimately afford to pay, injury is
being done not only to Ireland, but indirectly to
Great Britain, in so far as over-taxation limits
industrial development, and thus perpetuates
and aggravates the distressing tendencies in
the condition of Ireland, to which attention is
directed elsewhere in these pages.

The poverty of Ireland is the great factor in
the case which demands the serious considera-
tion of statesmen and of the whole British
people, who since the Union are responsible for
her. Unfortunately it has been obscured by the
somewhat confused findings of the Royal Com-
mission on Financial Relations which reported
ten years ago ; and it may be well to
endeavour to assess the relative wealth of Great
Britain and Ireland without much reference to
those reports, bearing in mind, however, that
the Commissioners agreed that, as compared
with Great Britain, Ireland was taxed far above
her capacity to bear taxation.

In commending the articles of the Treaty of
Union to the Irish House of Commons, Lord

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS. 95

Castlereagh admitted that " he considered the
best possible criterion of the relative means and
ability of two countries to bear taxation would
be the produce of an income tax levied on the
same description of incomes in each, and equally
well levied in both." This criterion was not
available in 1800, because Ireland at that time
did not pay income tax ; but having been
admitted to that privilege by Mr. Gladstone in
1853, it is available now. Owing to the patient
researches of the Treasury, and the copious
returns with reference to the finances of the two
countries which are now issued, but which were
not issued ten years ago when the Royal Com-
mission sat, it is not a difficult matter to compare
to-day the resources of the two countries. A
good working estimate of the relative condition
of two communities can be arrived at by con-
trasting : —

(1) The net produce of income tax ;

(2) The salaries paid to corporation and

public company officials ;

(3) The relative populations ;

(4) The excess of births over deaths ;

(5) The wage-earning capacity of the labouring

classes.

(i) As a test of the condition of Ireland, the
available statistics as to income tax may be

96 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

taken. As soon as this aspect of the question is
approached objections are raised by financial
experts of various schools as to the difficulty of
arriving by such means at an exact indication of
the taxable wealth of Great Britain on the one
hand, and Ireland on the other. That may be
so in detail, but in detail only. For the purpose
of comparison between the social condition of
the two peoples, it is essential only to give the
salient figures, and refer to the general deduc-
tions to be drawn from them. The simple and
convincing argument, surely, is that the net
receipt from income tax may be accepted as a
general indication of the wealth or poverty of
communities in which the same tax is levied, on
the same general principles, and with the same
stringency. This applies to the whole United
Kingdom, over which the rate is similar; and
the tax is levied by the same executive
machinery. If this comparison indicates that
one country has a very much larger income-tax-
paying section than the other country, and that
the net payments per capita are also larger, it may
surely be taken to show that in that country a
freer movement of floating capital, a healthier
condition of industry, and probably also a higher
standard of comfort exist. Some recent statistics
are contained in the report of the Commissioners
of His Majesty's Inland Revenue for the year

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS.

97

ended the 3ist of March, 1906 ; and on p. 194
is a table showing the net receipt of income tax
in the three main divisions of the United
Kingdom. From this we obtain the following
figures for the year 1905-6 : —

United
Kingdom.

England and
Wales.

Scotland.

Ireland.

Net receipt
Net produce of a id.
rate in the £ (about)

£
31,200,000

2,600,000

£
27,423,061

2,287,000

£

2,883,330

240,000

983,361
83,600

It is sufficient to call attention to this remark-
able difference between the net receipts in the
three divisions of the United Kingdom. The
absence of tax-paying incomes in Ireland is
strikingly revealed by the variation in the
produce of each penny in the pound in the tax
in the year 1905-6, and is further borne out by
the calculation that Ireland pays only about
one-thirty-second of the total produce of the
income tax of the United Kingdom.

Turning from the total net receipt to the
figures given in Schedule D, we have a further
striking illustration of the industrial condition of
the Irish people. Under this schedule, which is
the section of commerce and industry, returns
are made of the "profits from businesses,
concerns, professions, employments, and certain

98

THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

interest," and the following information is
given : —

United
Kingdom.

England and
Wales.

Scotland.

Ireland.

Number of Assess-

ments
Percentages of above

577,524

481,374

72,152

23,998

totals ...

100

8r«

I2'49

4-16

Net gross amount of
income assessed

£504,567,700 £43^,583.596

£52,768,680

£13,215,523

Percen tages of abovei

totals ... ... 100

86-92

10-46

2-62

Income on which

tax was received £365,234,308 £3 19.045,872

£38,208,297

£7,980,139

These figures show that Ireland has a small
proportion of persons, firms, and public com-
panies assessable to income tax. The actual
sum contributed by Ireland in income tax in
1905-6 was .£1,085,000, whereas Scotland con-
tributed £3,121,000, and England ^26,682,000 —
surely an indication of the relative wealth of
the several parts of the Kingdom.

Ireland pays about 3*73 per cent, of the total
income tax of the United Kingdom, and, roughly,
this may be accepted as an index figure
indicating the relative wealth of the country.
When we turn from direct taxation to the
statistics bearing on indirect taxation, we
find, however, that the proportion is completely
changed. The latest Treasury returns show that
in the year ended the 3ist of March, 1906, the

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS. 99

"true revenue" paid by Ireland amounted to
£9,477,000, while Great Britain contributed
£139,825,500. Ireland contributed 6-33 per cent,
of the total revenue of the United Kingdom,
whereas she contributed only 3-73 of the total
amount due to the operation of the income
tax. Assuming that her financial condition is
more or less accurately revealed by the produce
of the income tax, Ireland's true contribution to
the revenue of the United Kingdom should be
about £5,500,000. She appears therefore to be
paying about four millions sterling in taxation
more than she should contribute. This con-
clusion does not strictly agree with the finding
upon which the Royal Commission was " practi-
cally unanimous"; but nearly ten years have
elapsed since the Report. The Commissioners
found that "while the actual taxed revenue of
Ireland is about one-eleventh of Great Britain,
the relative taxable capacity of Ireland is very
much smaller, and is not estimated by any of
us as exceeding one-twentieth" This is the
practically unanimous conclusion of the Com-
mission ; but it must be noticed that a number
of its members held that the taxable capacity
of Ireland was very much less. No doubt,
owing to the war, and the taxation which
has been imposed since the Commission
reported, the burden of increased taxation
has been very much more severe upon Ireland

100

THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

than upon other parts of the United Kingdom,
because the indirect taxation imposed is felt
by the poorer classes, who form so large a
proportion of the population, with great severity.
In view, therefore, of the present heavy burden
of indirect taxation, any unbiassed investigator
would now, I think, come to the conclusion that
the taxable capacity of Ireland in relation to
the present Budget arrangements is much
smaller than it was at the time of the Royal
Commission's Inquiry ; and probably he would
agree that the proportionate taxable capacity of
Ireland, with her present population, which
has fallen, since the Royal Commission was
appointed, by over two hundred thousand, is
now about one-twenty-seventh of the whole of
the United Kingdom.

(2) To turn to the salaries of Corporation and
public company officials. The following table
for the year 1904-5 will be found instructive : —

TABLE showing for each Part of the United Kingdom the
Number of Assessments and the Gross Income Assessed in
respect of Salaries of Corporation and Public Company
Officials.

England and
Wales.

Scotland.

Ireland.

United
Kingdom.

Number of Assess-
ments ...
Gross income assessed

265,924
£57,661,275

30,284
£6,694,584

12,128
£2,693,334

308,336
£67,049,193

101

It would appear, therefore, that the wealth of
Ireland, as indicated by the number of officials
in the employ of municipalities and public com-
panies, is, as compared with that of Great
Britain, very small.

(3) As to the relative population. The decline
of the population of Ireland, which has been
going on for the past sixty years, has been again
and again dinned into the ears of the British
people ; but they fail apparently to appreciate
that the depression which crushes Ireland is still
driving out of the country an increasing propor-
tion of the physically and mentally fit. English
people are apt to imagine that the great flow of
emigration which occurred after the potato
famine has since dwindled down into a com-
paratively insignificant current. The exact
opposite is the case. In proportion to the
present population of Ireland, the emigration is
almost as serious a social drain as it has ever
been in her history. The continuous decrease
in the population of Ireland is one of the most
remarkable social facts in the modern history of
the world. The full tale of national loss is
shown in another chapter.

(4) Another striking indication of the condi-
tion of Ireland is supplied by the figures as to
the excess of births over deaths.1

1 See Appendix III.

IO2 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Statisticians generally admit that a good
indication of wholesome conditions of living in
a community is furnished by a moderate birth-
rate, a low death-rate, and a considerable excess
of births over deaths. It is held that in a well-
favoured community marriages are deferred
owing to the saving habits of the people; and
although the birth-rate is low, the infant mor-
tality is very small. Sir Robert Giffen, in the
evidence which he gave before the Royal Com-
mission on Financial Relations, dealt con-
vincingly with this aspect of life in Ireland. He
said : —

When we take the comparison on this head between Ireland
and the other countries of the United Kingdom, we find,
according to the latest statistical abstract, the births in Ireland
were 106,000 ; the deaths, 83,000 ; and the excess of births
over deaths, 23,000 ; giving a proportion per thousand of the
population of the excess of births over deaths of five per
thousand. In England in the same year the births were
914,000; the deaths, 570,000; the excess of births over
deaths, 344,000; and the proportion of the excess of births
over deaths per thousand of population comes out at 11-4, or
more than double the corresponding excess in Ireland.
Similarly for Scotland the births in the same year were 127,000 ;
the deaths, 80,000 ; and the excess of births over deaths,
47,000 ; giving the proportion per thousand of the population
of the excess of births over deaths of 11*5, just about the
same as the proportion for England, and in both cases
much more than double the excess of births over deaths in
Ireland.

I should say that the reason of it is, as far as one can judge,
not any excessive mortality in Ireland, because the deaths,
you will observe, in Ireland are very little more than the

IRELAND S FINANCIAL BURDENS. IO3

deaths in Scotland with a somewhat larger population ; but it
is a deficiency of births, and that seems connected with
another characteristic of Ireland's population — that the popula-
tion in Ireland appears on the whole to be an older population
than that of either England or Scotland.

In Ireland no less than i8'6 per cent, of the male popula-
tion are upwards of fifty ; but in Scotland and England the
percentages are 13*5 and 13*7 respectively. The percentage
in Ireland between twenty and forty (that is, of the male
population) is 26-6 per cent. ; and in Scotland and England
28-9 and 29-0 respectively. The percentages of female popula-
tion are much the same as the percentages of the male popula-
tion. The conclusion is, therefore, that Ireland has fewer
people in proportion in the prime of life, and more above filty,
than Great Britain has.

Sir Robert Giffen pointed out that all these
figures, indicative of the small excess of births
over deaths, and the composition of the popula-
tion, together with the notorious facts as to
emigration, corresponded, and revealed the
same conclusion — that the actual population in
Ireland is far weaker, man for man, counting
everybody, than the actual population of either
England or Scotland. It would be possible to
illustrate in detail Sir Robert Giffen's con-
clusions by some recent statistics ; but it may
be sufficient to recall the broad fact, that,
while in the intervening ten years the birth-
rate has practically remained stationary, the
death-rate and emigration-rate only decreased
to a very slight extent ; and the relative
proportion between birth, death, and emigration
rates to which Sir Robert Giffen called attention

104 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

remained almost the same. Ireland's birth-rate
is now almost the lowest in the world. The
excess of births over deaths per thousand for the
estimated population in 1905 amounted to 6*3,
while the ratio of emigrants was 7^0 per thousand ;
in other words, the proportion of emigrants who
left the country in 1905, as for any of the pre-
vious ten years, was considerably greater than
the excess of births over deaths. Consequently
year by year the population of Ireland is actually
decreasing, because emigration is proceeding
more rapidly than the natural increase.

These most suggestive figures, read side by
side with the statistics as to lunacy and idiocy
given in an earlier chapter, prove conclusively
that the condition of Ireland is becoming more
and more aggravated as she loses the best of
her population.

(5) As to the wage-earning capacity of the
labouring population in Ireland, Sir Robert
Giffen quoted, before the Royal Commission on
Financial Relations, a number of most interest-
ing statements. He held that the average wages
in Ireland, when great masses of labour are
compared, range from 10 to 15 per cent, up to
nearly 50 per cent, lower than for similar masses
of labour for Great Britain.1 Turning to special

1 This conclusion has since been controverted, it being held
that in no case is Ireland's inferiority more than 40 per cent.
The point does not, however, seriously affect the present
argument.

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS. 105

classes, he admitted that artisan rates in Ireland
are only a little less than in Great Britain ; but
he pointed out that in this case the comparison
is between a very small class, indeed, in Ireland
with an enormous class in Great Britain. Com-
paring the wage-rates of Ireland and Great
Britain, Sir Robert Giffen held that the average
remuneration of the wage-earner, man for man,
is probably only about half the average remu-
neration of the wage-earner in Great Britain.
Sir Robert Giffen's conclusions are borne out by
all who have had opportunities of observing the
condition of the labouring classes in the two
countries. Ireland has singularly few industries
apart from agriculture ; and the Board of Trade
has shown that the average wage of the labourer
is 41-5 per cent, less than it is in England.
This rate, it must be remembered, is for the
whole of Ireland ; and the proportion would be
even lower were it not for the comparative
prosperity enjoyed by workers in a few districts ;
in Mayo the average weekly wage, for instance,
is only 8s. gd. Judging by the above-mentioned
five tests of the relative capacity of Great
Britain and Ireland to bear taxation, it cannot
be denied that the burden falls upon the latter
with disproportionate weight. And she suffers
in other respects.

The working classes of Ireland, in com-
parison with the working classes of Great

106 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Britain, are greatly underpaid ; and the lower
the wage, the more heavily does indirect
taxation bear upon the population. The duties
on alcoholic liquors, tea, tobacco, and other
articles which, though technically luxuries, have
very properly come to be considered necessaries
of life, are felt more heavily in Ireland than in
Great Britain, because the poor are numerous
and very poor. While in Great Britain direct
and indirect taxation are fairly evenly balanced,
in Ireland the poverty of the country is so great
that 72*2 per cent, of the amount which she
pays into the Imperial Exchequer is raised by
taxes upon such commodities as are in daily use
among the poorest people.

Then, again, our system of free imports and
taxed exports has been unfavourable to Ireland.
It was devised to suit a great manufacturing
population ; and, however well it may have
fulfilled that object, it is admittedly not bene-
ficial to agricultural communities. It has sent
land out of cultivation in Great Britain ; but the
British people had other occupations to which
they could turn their hands when agriculture
failed them. In Ireland, with the exception
of two great industries in Belfast, the whole
population, broadly speaking, is dependent on
agriculture. Free Trade, however beneficial it
may have been to Great Britain, where the bulk
of the population are engaged in manufacturing

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS. 107

industries, has undoubtedly been detrimental to
Ireland, where the people are engaged almost
exclusively in agriculture. This is one of
the penalties Ireland has paid, and it has
contributed to her poverty.

Summarising all the above-mentioned statistics
and figures, the facts which stand out are as
follows : —

(a) The wealth of Ireland, as proved by
income-tax returns, by taxed salaries of officials
in the employ of municipalities and public
companies, by the wage-earning capacity of
the labouring classes, by the marriage and birth-
rate, and by all other tests, is, as compared with
the wealth of Great Britain, out of proportion to
the relative amount of taxation paid by the
people of the two islands.

(b) The best of the population is still flowing
outward from Ireland, and seeking a future
outside the British Empire ; 89 per cent, of Irish
emigrants settling in foreign countries.

(c) The excess of births over deaths is still
so small as to point to, on the one hand, physical
deterioration of a most alarming character, and,
on the other, to an absence of a due proportion
of able-bodied persons remaining in the country.

(d) The emigration of the most physically and
mentally fit, and the hopeless life which is led by

IO8 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

the largest section of the people of Ireland, are
resulting in an increase of lunacy which is
proving a scourge to the land.

Surely it is unnecessary to probe for further
indications of the accelerated speed at which
Ireland is sinking into a social condition which,
if not speedily dealt with, will baffle the efforts
of the wisest statesmen.

The facts of Ireland's poverty and Ireland's
disproportionate taxation will not, I think, be
denied by anyone who reads the facts and
figures which I have quoted, and studies the
materials from which they have been culled.
Which is the cause, and which the effect ? Is
Ireland over-taxed because she is poor, or poor
because she is over-taxed ? There is truth in
both propositions. Unquestionably the crushing
weight of taxation smothers individual effort and
stifles energy ; unquestionably also the absence of
industrial employment and the general poverty
account for the fact that the equal taxation of
the same articles places upon her an unequal
burden. What, then, is to be done ? Changes
in our methods of raising revenue beneficial to
the poorer classes in Great Britain, and con-
sequently beneficial to Ireland as a whole, are
certainly not impossible; but they are problem-
atical, and cannot be relied upon as a remedy
for a disease demanding immediate treatment.
There remains the principle underlying the

IRELAND'S FINANCIAL BURDENS. 109

Union — exceptional treatment under exceptional
circumstances. If Great Britain is to act with
common justice, if she is honestly to carry out
the terms of the contract entered into by the
two independent Legislatures in the Act amalga-
mating them, she must follow one of two
courses. Either she must carry out the promise
of Lord Castlereagh — that taxation should be
with regard to the measure of the relative
abilities of the two countries to pay — and must
adopt differential treatment and the remission
of taxation — a policy which appears to me
impracticable ; or she must endeavour to
increase the taxable capacity of Ireland by the
wise application of public money to the
development and the more fruitful utilization
of the natural resources of the country.

One obvious source of supply for this most
necessary purpose is in retrenchment in the
expenses of administration and in the allocation
to Irish purposes of the savings thus effected.
Even the late Government appeared to see
the advantages of such a course. Speaking in
the debate on the i6th of May, 1905, the
ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer referred to
the fact that he had last year expressed his
concurrence in the proposal of the then Chief
Secretary, Mr. George Wyndham, that if further
economy be made in the Irish judiciary the
sum so saved should be re-spent in Ireland on

110 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

the purposes of development or of administra-
tion which should commend themselves to the
Government and the people of that country.
He thought that in more branches than one of
the Irish administration it was probable that,
with the goodwill of the Irish members, con-
siderable economies could be made. Mr. Austen
Chamberlain guarded the Treasury against the
admission that, as of right, the whole administra-
tive savings should go to Irish purposes ; but
when I find the subsequent Chief Secretary, Mr.
Long, allowing that reform in administration is
necessary, and Mr. Austen Chamberlain agreeing
that it is possible to effect economies, and that a
portion at any rate of the money so saved should
be devoted to Irish services, I hail with satisfac-
tion an admission — even if it be only a partial,
halting, and tentative admission — of the prin-
ciples for which I contend. But the principle
can be brought into active operation only in one
way, and that is by enlisting the direct aid of the
public in Ireland. Economies will be effected
only by making it to the interest of the people
that such economies should be made, and that
can be accomplished only by assuring them
that the money so saved shall be devoted to
Irish purposes. Economies will be brought
about only if local knowledge, interest, brains,
and experience are employed in making them,
and are allowed to determine the purposes to
which the money so saved is to be applied.

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. Ill

CHAPTER VI.

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS.

Now that the centuries-old troubles connected
with the Land Question are in process of solu-
tion, a chief remaining obstacle to progress
in Ireland lies in the educational chaos existing
in that country, and in the delay in dealing
with the grievance of Roman Catholics due
to their deprivation of adequate facilities for
higher education. It is probably no exaggeration
to state that the irritation under which the
majority of the people of Ireland suffer, and
which finds expression in many ways, may be
traced to the fact that they feel that the
religious faith which they profess places them
in a position of inferiority. They believe that
their educational disabilities handicap them in
the competitive struggles of life at home and
abroad, and account for the fact, admitted by
at least one Chief Secretary, that so many
Irishmen are debarred from taking an adequate
part in the executive government of their
country. So far as education is concerned,
they hold that the ascendancy of the minority
is still maintained.

112 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

At present the whole of the educational system
of Ireland is an anomalous botch. No semblance
of real co-ordination exists, with the result that
in no other part of the British Empire is the
machinery for education so ill-adjusted to the
needs of the community, and so barren in
results.

On the lowest rung of the educational ladder
are the schools which give primary education
throughout the whole of Ireland to the children
of the poorer classes — that is, of those who can-
not afford to pay for education in private schools.
These primary schools are managed by the
Board of National Education. This Board
received grants from the Imperial Government
amounting, in 1905, to £1,394,000. There is a
constant struggle between the Board and the
Government, especially on the subject of school
holdings. The school buildings are, it must be
admitted, to a great extent insufficient and ill-
kept, while the teachers have not had adequate
opportunities for becoming efficient. The local
managers possess the right of appointment and
removal of teachers, and generally regulate
the schools: 8710 of these schools dealing
with primary education are classed as national ;
30 are styled model schools; and 135 are
attached to workhouses. In addition to these,
there are 3000 " mixed " schools, and a large
number of evening schools. Two defects in

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 113

the system of primary education in Ireland
are immediately and prominently noticeable —
the large number of schools with a very small
average attendance, and the absence of local
interest either in the way of financial support or
in management. In Ireland there are upwards of
8200 principal teachers ; whereas in Scotland,
with about the same population, the number is
only just over 4600. Ireland has about twice
as many schools as Scotland. This is to be
accounted for to some extent by religious diver-
gences, and the objection to teaching children
of both sexes, even of the tenderest years, in
the same school ; but it is indicative also of a
faulty system, for no one acquainted with the
primary education of the two countries would
suggest that the Irish standard approaches that
which has been attained by the neighbouring
country. It should be added that conventual
schools receive capitation grants through the
National Board, and, like other establishments,
are inspected by the representatives of the
National Board. One of the most interesting
groups of schools in Ireland is, however, entirely
outside the control of the National Board. For
nearly one hundred years the Christian Brothers
have conducted schools in Ireland which are
now attended by about 40,000 scholars. For
a time they received grants from the National
Board, but eventually decided to forego this

i

114 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

assistance, so as to gain full control over the
curriculum of teaching and religious instruction.
Consequently, these schools are now conducted
entirely out of voluntary funds, and successive
Royal Commissions, which have inquired into
Irish education, have borne high testimony to
the character of the education.

There is also a body known as " the Commis-
sioners of Education " who manage a number of
endowed schools of Royal and private founda-
tion and Diocesan schools. These Commis-
sioners enjoy an income, derived for the most
part from rents, of just under £7000 a year, and
are assisted in their duties by a Protestant and
Roman Catholic Board in each of the following
districts : — Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan,
and Donegal.

Secondary school education comes under the
control of twelve Commissioners of Intermediate
Education, specially chosen under the Act of
1900. Out of the Irish Church surplus, they
possess a million pounds sterling, and, in addi-
tion, they receive local taxation duties which
realize upwards of £56,000 annually. Dr. Mac-
namara, M.P., in "The Contemporary Review"
(October, 1904), pointed out that the Board
spent in examining 7909 pupils at the rate of
£2 43. 2d. per head ; and inquired — " Is there
anything like it outside China ? " With the funds
at their disposal, amounting to £91,166 in 1904,

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 115

the Commissioners carry out a system of public
examinations, award exhibitions, prizes, and
certificates, and pay result fees to school man-
agers fulfilling certain prescribed conditions.
The system of examination which the Board
administers is generally regarded as the least
conducive to educational efficiency. It has been
abandoned in England, where it was held that
it encouraged mere cramming.

The Department of Agriculture and Technical
Instruction makes grants to Schools for the
teaching of Science and Art, as under the
" South Kensington " system, and it also
supports technical schools in various parts of
Ireland ; these schools being, in the case
of county boroughs and counties, under the
management of the local authorities.

The principal institutions for higher education
in Ireland consist of: —

(t) Dublin University, which is to all intents
and purposes Trinity College. Trinity College
is supported by the revenue from landed estate,
and the fees of the students.

(2) The Royal University of Ireland, which
is merely an examining Board. The chief
teaching institutions which send students to
its examinations are the Queen's Colleges at
Belfast, Cork, and Galway ; Magee College,
Londonderry (Presbyterian) ; the Arts section

Il6 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

of the College of Maynooth, and the group of
Colleges designated in the Catholic Directory
as the " Catholic University." Of these, the
University College in Stephen's Green, Dublin,
is directed by the Jesuit Fathers. The Royal
University will examine and confer a Degree on
anybody whether he has attended any classes
anywhere or not.

(3) The Royal College of Science for Ireland
(St. Stephen's Green), which is now under the
control of the Department of Agriculture and
Technical Instruction.

(4) The ancient foundation of Maynooth Col-
lege, where priests for the Roman Catholic Church
are educated. This institution formerly received
an annual grant from the Irish Parliament, and
then from the Imperial Parliament ; but in 1869 a
sum of £372,331 out of the Irish Church surplus
was given to it by way of compensation for the
withdrawal of Parliamentary funds.

Other educational institutions in Ireland in-
clude minor Roman Catholic colleges situated
in various parts of the country, receiving no State
aid, and the Presbyterian Theological College
for the training of ministers at Belfast. Prior to
the Act of 1869, this College had a Parliamentary
grant ; but under the enactment of 1869 this was
abolished, and a lump sum of nearly £34,000 was
granted as compensation.

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 117

Most of these colleges have from time to time
benefited by private benefactions.

This brief summary hardly suggests the con-
fusion and overlapping in education which occur
throughout Ireland ; but a picture of the state
of affairs may be gained from the following
excerpts from a speech by Mr. Bryce, then Irish
Secretary (March 22nd, 1906) : —

There was no branch of Irish education which could be
pronounced satisfactory.

In regard to the aspects of primary education, the Irish
schools were much too small ; and the payments to the teachers
were low partly because the schools were so small.

The bad and insanitary conditions of the school buildings
were more serious than had been mentioned. One result of
them was that when an epidemic broke out, all the children
took it, and the whole school was disorganized, the result being
that the educational results obtained in the year were not half
what they ought to be. Another point was the irregular atten-
dance, the want of compulsion, which was imperfectly applied ;
and the attendance was not only irregular, but was very short
in Ireland.

The Government had practically no control over the
National Board (which is responsible for primary education
throughout Ireland).

Over the Intermediate Board they had even less control.

The Intermediate Education Board was an examining body
which awarded prizes and grants, which were an incentive to
examining. It was a fault of legislation which called the
Board into existence ; and it was a system which was utterly
wrong. What they ought to do was to foster the schools, and
give them the benefit of an enlightened and helpful inspec-
tion. It was also completely disjointed from the necessities
of technical education, which was placed under the control of
the Agricultural Department.

Il8 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Coming to the question of university education, there had
been a universal consensus of opinion that university educa-
tion was altogether unsatisfactory. The Royal University had
been generally condemned ; and he should be the last person
to differ from that view, because in 1880, when the Royal
University was substituted for the Queen's, he was almost the
only person to oppose and protest against it, maintaining that
it would have the results which had happened. But the most
effective condemnation had been given by the Royal Univer-
sity itself. On Friday it passed a resolution with unanimity
saying that experience had shown that, as an examining body,
it was entirely unsatisfactory, and ought to be turned into a
teaching University.

Mr. Bryce is an expert in educational matters,
a graduate of Glasgow and Oxford Universities,
a member of the Senate of London University,
and was the Chairman of the Royal Commission
on Secondary Education which sat twelve years
ago. It is no wonder, under the circumstances,
that so eminent an authority professed himself
unable to place before the House any clear
conception of the state of education in Ireland.

It would be quite impossible, he said, for him to enter into
the dark labyrinth of the relations of Irish finance to the
English Treasury, and especially of the relations of the
Imperial Treasury to Irish education. Successive Irish and
British Governments seemed to have been occupied for sixty
years in tying a series of knots which it was almost impossible
to unravel, and nothing short of a prolonged inquiry would
clear up those relations. He confessed he could give the
House no light upon the matter, and light wanted to be let in
upon it ; and the whole relations of the Imperial Treasury to
the Irish educational system required to be set on a new
footing, made more intelligible and more practical and more
conducive to the benefit of Irish education.

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. IIQ

The fact is, the whole educational edifice
requires to be pulled down and rebuilt ; and,
contrary to the ordinary laws of architecture,
it must be rebuilt from top to bottom. The apex
must be constructed first. Higher education
must be satisfactorily settled in order to provide
the human material — namely, the teachers — for
constructing a sound system of secondary and
primary education. The problem of higher
education being solved, a sound and co-ordinate
primary and secondary system would naturally
follow. Education is, of course, a whole, and
must be considered and dealt with as a whole.
Primary and secondary schools must lead up
to university education endowed with technical
facilities. The channel must be direct and
unimpeded ; but the goal — the university — must
be established before the human current can
flow freely.

This much is certain : if the great majority of
the people are to acquire that independence,
self-reliance, energy, and mental equipment
necessary to enable Ireland to regain the com-
mercial activity which rendered her prosperous
in former days, energetic action must be taken
to bring Irish education into line with the best
expert opinion, and to build up a co-ordinated
system which shall serve as a ladder by which
the poorest child of exceptional ability may
rise from the primary school to compete for

I2O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

distinctions and honours in a national university
or in a technical establishment of the Charlotten-
burg type, and then pass out into the world well
equipped to handle problems and affairs in his
native land or further afield. This is no mere
Utopian idea. In England it is to-day a reality ;
and year by year the number of children of the
poorest class who are thus enabled to make the
best of their abilities is increasing. In London
itself, which has a population about equivalent
to that of Ireland, the County Council have
adopted a scheme embracing 5,021 scholar-
ships, which are offered annually, so that a
capable child, entering the Council's Schools
at an early age, may pass at the age of ten
into the higher grade school, or at twelve years
to the higher elementary school, or other
secondary or grammar school, to proceed finally
either to a university or to one of the scientific
training establishments, the curriculum of which
is adapted to train the scholars for a scientific
occupation or for one or other of the arts or
crafts.

Admitting that Ireland needs a well co-ordi-
nated system of primary and secondary and
technical education, " according to Irish ideas "
— and this is widely admitted — there comes into
the foreground the perennial difficulty of pro-
viding for the higher training of those pupils
who are fitted by their abilities for university

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 121

education. This also must be in accordance
with Irish ideas, if it is to be successful. What,
however, is the present position in Ireland ? In
the widest sense, Ireland has one university,
that is, a body which teaches as well as
examines, and exercises a liberalizing influence
over its students, and that is Trinity, Protestant
for centuries. The function of a university
is not only to impart knowledge. Oxford
and Cambridge do not only instruct but
educate — a very different matter. As the Royal
Commission in 1903 admirably put it : —

A university is not a warehouse for receiving an assortment
of goods, and testing whether they are up to sample. It has
a double function. One is the discovery of new truths. The
other and primary function is to supply trained intelligence
which shall stimulate and guide the mind of the student along
various lines of intellectual inquiry. A university helps to
form a mental habit and attitude ; it seeks to impart philo-
sophic breadth and grasp ; it lays down the principles of
learning, and unifies knowledge. To test results is an
accident, an inseparable accident, perhaps, but not of the
essence of a university. Were we called upon to decide
between university instruction without examination, and
examination without university instruction, we should not
hesitate in our choice. In Ireland the sense of collegiate life,
outside Trinity College, Dublin, needs to be restored.

To the students (it was added) the decay of the old
academic principle has been an incalculable loss. Private
study and private coaching lack the very elements which
confer on university education its ideal value, viz., the personal
intercourse between teacher and pupil outside the class-room ;
the comradeship and esprit de corps of collegiate life ; the
generous rivalries of the field or the debating society; the

122 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

contact of minds and the play of intellect ; in a word, all that
full and varied existence which remains a cherished possession
in after days. If there is any country in which it appears un-
natural to discourage this particular factor of university life,
it is Ireland, where social and human influences enter so
largely into the best qualities of the race.

Ireland has practically only one university r
and that university consists of a single college.
It is an institution distinctly Protestant in origin
and character. Trinity College was founded in
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, largely as a
proselytising institution in a Roman Catholic
country. The foundation of other colleges was
evidently contemplated when the scheme was
adopted. The Charter of James I, which
conferred on the College the status of a
university, foreshadowed the establishment of
other colleges or halls within the university ;
and this intention was more precisely indicated
by the Act of Settlement, and an Act of
George III distinctly provided for the erection
within the University of Dublin of a Roman
Catholic college. But for various reasons the
original scheme was never carried out. Since
the Test Abolition Act, Trinity College has, of
course, been open to Roman Catholics ; but in
the middle of the last century, when education
throughout the world was passing from the
control of the ecclesiastical authorities, and abso-
lute secularism seemed destined to prevail, the
Roman Catholic Bishops laid a ban upon Trinity

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 123

College, with the result that, however excellent
may have been the intentions of the Senate, this
establishment, despite the abolition of Tests,
remains a Protestant establishment to this day.

Sir Robert Peel, in 1845, endeavoured to
remove Catholic disabilities by the establishment
of the Queen's Colleges, which were finally
opened in 1849 ; and in the following year the
Queen's University, of which these Colleges were
the constituents, received its Charter. It was a
teaching University ; but, owing to its constitu-
tion, it was condemned as " a gigantic scheme of
godless education." The authors of this scheme
believed that in localities like Cork and Galway
the Colleges would necessarily in the main be
Roman Catholic, but in fact they never became
so ; and, almost from the first, the Pope, on
account of their character and system of control,
described them as involving grave danger to the
faith and morals of Catholics ; and, finally,
the Bishops were directed to frame rules for
withholding the faithful from frequenting the
Colleges. In the apparently atheistic movement
which was then spreading over Europe, the Irish
Bishops made a stand against what they con-
sidered an impending danger. They failed to
see any justice in placing in their midst a
nominally undenominational education at a time
when every university of the Three Kingdoms
(except that of London) was denominational.

124 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

The Catholics were offered mixed education ;
and in view of the spirit of the times, which
they, perhaps, not unnaturally exaggerated, they
refused the concession.

Passing over several years, we come to the
establishment, in 1879, of the Royal University
in place of the Queen's University. The Fellows
are appointed from among the Professors of the
three Queen's Colleges, of the Catholic Univer-
sity College, Dublin, and of Magee College,
Londonderry, a Presbyterian institution. The
Fellows are paid by the State, and thus the
Roman Catholic College at Dublin and the
Presbyterian College at Londonderry, though
they receive no direct endowment, obtain
indirect endowments amounting in the case of
University College to ^6,000 annually, while
the last Institution receives a matter of ^500.
Similarly, Maynooth College, which is the
Roman Catholic Seminary in Ireland for the
training of priests, though it has ceased to profit
by the annual grant formerly voted by the Irish
Parliament, obtained out of the Irish Church
surplus the sum of ^369,040. The University
College is a purely examining body in which
there is room for suspicion that the Governors
and Fellows are selected rather on religious
grounds than for their academical distinction.

It is really beside the question to argue
whether the conscientious objections of Roman

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 125

Catholics to Trinity College and the Queen's
Colleges are or are not sufficiently well founded.
Personally I think they are. Take, for instance,
Trinity College. Trinity College is open to
everyone ; no tests of any sort exist ; no religious
instruction of any sort is obligatory. But
Trinity College is Protestant to the core, redolent
of Protestantism. Its governing body consists
almost entirely of Protestants. It cannot divest
itself of its traditions, its characteristics, its
"atmosphere." Try, in imagination, to reverse
the case. Conceive a Protestant community held
for centuries under subjection to a small but
all-powerful Catholic minority, would Protestants
like to send their children to a college founded
years ago for the purpose of advancing Roman
Catholicism, consistent throughout in its Roman
Catholicism, governed by Roman Catholics,
saturated with Roman Catholic traditions, filled
with Roman Catholic students ? I think they
would object, and I think they would be right. But
whether the objections which Roman Catholics
have to Trinity and the Queen's Colleges
are justifiable or not, what we have to deal
with is the fact, and the fact is that the vast
majority of the people of Ireland are Roman
Catholics, and they have the strongest conscien-
tious scruples against allowing their children to
enter upon a course of education which they
think, or which the authorities of their Church

126 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

consider, to be wrong on the highest religious
grounds. Roman Catholic parents are in the
painful dilemma of being either compelled to
deny their children higher education, or to run
counter to the directions of their spiritual pastors
and masters, who tell them that the existing
system of higher education is dangerous to faith
and morals. What, then, is it that Roman
Catholics require ? And what is it to which
Protestants object ? The common but erroneous
idea is that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy insist
upon a Roman Catholic University ; and against
the endowment of such a denominational univer-
sity or college, the Protestant conscience revolts.
What do the Roman Catholics of Ireland
really and truly ask for ? In the first place,
they certainly do not seek to enrich themselves
at the expense of Trinity College. The most
authoritative statement on this question was
made by the Archbishops and Bishops in 1896,
when they stated : —

We do not seek to impair the efficiency of any other
institution. We do not want to take one shilling from the
endowments of any other body. We look, apart from the
consideration of our own inequality, with much admiration
and sympathy upon the work which Trinity College and the
Belfast Queen's College are doing. But we ask, as a matter of
simple justice, that the Catholics of Ireland should be put
upon a footing of perfect equality with them.

This view, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr.
Walsh, reiterated in a pamphlet published in

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 127

1902. The attitude of Roman Catholics towards
this question is not based upon feelings of
religious jealousy. They view the work which
has been done by avowedly Protestant institu-
tions with sympathy and some envy; and they
ask that similar benefits may be conferred upon
them. The position which the Irish Bishops
have taken up was stated by the Archbishops
and Bishops in the following words : —

What, then, do we claim ? Simply to be put on an equality
with our Protestant fellow-countrymen. We take Trinity
College, Dublin, with its endowments and its privileges, and
seeing what is done by public funds and legal enactments for half
a million of Protestants of the Disestablished Church of Ireland,
we claim that at least as much should be done for the three and
a half million Catholics. We have stated on many occasions
that we are not irrevocably committed to any one principle of
settlement, and whether that settlement is carried out through
a distinct Catholic University or through a college, we shall
be prepared to consider any proposal with an open mind,
and with a sincere desire to remove, rather than aggravate,
difficulties.

The question is one of conscience — of the
conscientious scruples of over three millions of
our fellow-subjects in Ireland who ask that there
may be conceded to them facilities for higher
education in an establishment or establishments,
free from all tests, free from the Protestant
"atmosphere" which envelopes Trinity College.
There is no suggestion of setting up in Ireland
a university Roman Catholic de jttre, but of
some establishment which would in the course
of time, through the opinions of its students and

128 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

graduates, be sufficiently Roman Catholic de facto
to enable students of the Roman Catholic faith to
pursue their studies in a Catholic "atmosphere."
In other parts of the British Empire, where
this religious difficulty has arisen, a satisfactory
settlement has been reached. In Nova Scotia,
St. Anne's University receives a direct grant
from the Government. In Quebec, the Roman
Catholics were granted a charter for a university
as long ago as 1852. At that time, in reply to a
requisition from the Bishops of Lower Canada,
Lord Elgin stated that " he had no hesitation
in acknowledging the justice and propriety of
securing to the numerous and important body of
Catholics in Canada benefit of the University
which they have been until now deprived of."
In Prussia, a similar difficulty existed ; and the
solution is found in the Universities of Bonn
and Breslau, in the Academy at Miinster, and
in the Lyceum Hosianu at Braunsberg, where
special provision is made for the teaching of
Catholic theology. In the first two universities,
Protestant theology is also taught ; but the
Lyceum is exclusively for Catholic theology.
The Fribourg University of Switzerland, though
it is not a purely Roman Catholic institution,
has a theological faculty, which, with the sanction
of the Pope, was authorized solely for instruction
based on the tenets of the Roman Catholic
religion. This faculty is under the control of

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. I2Q

the Church ; but the salaries of the Professors
are paid by the State.

The main principle insisted upon by Pro-
testants, namely, that there should be no State
endowment of a Roman Catholic College or
University, is not imperilled, for Roman Catholics
do not demand State endowment for any
establishment exclusively Roman Catholic. But
the further objection is, I think, entertained by
Protestants that, even if that be so, any scheme
satisfactory to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy
would necessarily increase the influence and
power of the priest. " Rome Rule "— " The
Priest in Politics" — is what they dread.

Because Roman Catholic Bishops have agi-
tated for educational equality for those in their
spiritual charge, it has been hastily assumed that
they hope to gain an increased hold over the
intellects of their flocks. In the first place,
there is no evidence that the Roman Catholic
Hierarchy desire to exercise greater authority
in secular matters ; in the second place, it is
certain that higher education among the laity
would tend to restrict ecclesiastical influence
to the legitimate sphere of faith and morals.
On this point, Dr. O'Dea, a Vice-President of
the Catholic College, Maynooth, said : —

He was convinced that, if the void in the lay leadership of
the country be filled up by higher education among the better
classes of the Catholic laity, the power of the priests, so far as

K

130 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

it is abnormal or unnecessary, will pass away. This effect
stands to reason as inevitable. It is the necessary and
inevitable result of university life.

That Bishops themselves recognize this fact,
and are somewhat doubtful even as to the
effect of higher education upon their legitimate
spiritual authority, appears evident from a
remark of the Roman Catholic Bishop of
Limerick. Dr. O'Dwyer said : —

As far as religion is concerned, I really don't know how a
university would work out. If you ask me now whether I
think that that university in a certain number of years would
become a centre of thought, strengthening the Catholic faith
in Ireland, I cannot tell you. It is a leap in the dark.

He protested that the Bishops had not urged
the claims of the Roman Catholic party in the
hope that higher education would strengthen
their own Church, and added : —

We are Bishops, but we are Irishmen also, and we want to
serve our country.

The belief which is, as I believe, widely
entertained among the people of Great Britain,
that the claims of Roman Catholics are
engineered by the Hierarchy in order to impose
a still stricter yoke upon the Irish people, is, I
am convinced, unfounded. Bishops and priests
in Ireland have quite enough to do in attending
to the spiritual and moral welfare of their
flocks. We have no right to assume that they
desire to increase their secular authority, or to

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 13!

secure any improper influence, outside their
legitimate sphere of faith and morals. But,
even if they were animated by that desire, how
could the better education of the laity assist
them ? Education is far more likely to produce
the opposite effect.

It is not realized by Englishmen in general
that one result of the educational disabilities
under which the Roman Catholic laity suffer, is
that throughout a large portion of the country,
the role of leading -public opinion and the
function of school management devolve almost
exclusively upon the only people possessing the
requisite knowledge and education — the Roman
Catholic priesthood. If the reproach that
Ireland is a priest-ridden country be true, the
responsibility lies mainly with those who deny
to Roman Catholic laymen the educational
equality which they claim. It is said that in
no other section of the Empire does the priest-
hood occupy a position of such influence. If
that be so, the reason is that nowhere else has a
population been so persistently and consistently
starved in the matter of education. In the
settlement of the whole education problem —
from the lowest rung to the highest — lies the
solution of the religious controversies which tend
to embitter public and private life. To this
opinion, almost all who have studied the condi-
tions which prevail in Ireland, from Lord

132 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Beaconsfield down to Mr. Arthur Balfour, have
time and again given their adherence. Sir
Horace Plunkett, who surely can speak with
authority on Irish matters, has recorded as his
opinion that: —

The demoralizing atmosphere of partizanship which hangs
over Ireland would gradually give way before an organized
system of education, with a thoroughly democratic university
at its head, which would diffuse amongst the people at large a
sense of the value of a balanced judgment on, and a true
appreciation of, the real forces with which Ireland has to deal
in building up her fortunes.

In the matter of university education, all that
Roman Catholics ask for is equality ; but it must
be real and practical, not merely theoretical
equality. We Protestants must remember two
things : — First, that the whole educational life
and mental development of Roman Catholics in
Ireland and all that results therefrom, having
been for centuries crippled and stunted, it
behoves us to cultivate it and nourish it back to
normal growth ; and, secondly, that what may
be equality to us is not necessarily equality to
them. Nonconformists won their way into the
great English universities. The removal of
tests meant equality to them. Removal of tests
does not mean equality to the Roman Catholic
laity in Ireland. If we honestly wish to do as
we would be done by, we must understand that
the conscientious scruples of Roman Catholics
are just as strong, and just as worthy of respect,

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 133

as our conscientious scruples, but of a different
character.

It is not within my province here to propound
any scheme for higher education ; but I may
mention certain general principles which ought,
as it seems to me, to be observed. Sectional
discords stand in the way of reform and the
regeneration of Ireland. Every legitimate oppor-
tunity should be offered to the people to merge
sectional differences in large national concep-
tions. National education affords such an
opportunity. One national university, in which
all Irishmen can take interest and pride, is there-
fore my ideal, and Dublin University naturally
suggests itself. Dublin University should be
enlarged and developed. The university should
be a teaching as well as an examining body.
Trinity College, the Queen's Colleges, and a
new college in Dublin should form its constituent
colleges ; they should be residential. Local
sentiment should be invoked in the colleges,
so far as is compatible with the solidarity of
the university, in order to instil life into the dry
bones of education in Ireland. A college must
be fully equipped to give technical instruction of
the highest kind.

So far as primary and secondary education is
concerned, everyone who has given an hour's
consecutive thought to the matter will agree
with Mr. Bryce that the National Board and the

134 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Intermediate Board ought to be consolidated,
or some one controlling body created in their
place; also that technical education should be
more highly organized. It will not be denied
that the organic relation of primary and
secondary education is one of the first things
to be attended to, and the difficulty of effecting
this while the control of primary, secondary,
and technical education is under different and
unrelated bodies will be admitted. The solution
for these problems is to be found, as Mr. Bryce
suggests, in the creation of one educational
department for Ireland ; and those who under-
stand best the peculiar distinctive character of
the Irish people, their pride of race, their
history, their distinctive customs and habits of
mind and method, will go a step further and
urge that this new department should be made
in some measure representative of Ireland, so
that the Irish people may be directly interested
in a matter so vitally important to the welfare
of their country.

After all, this is a matter which primarily
affects the nation itself and its future ; and, surely,
it is not necessary at this late date to urge the
justice of Irishmen being allowed a voice in the
working of their educational machinery. Educa-
tion in Ireland has never aroused popular interest
or sympathy, because the policy has always
been dictated from "over the water." The

EDUCATIONAL CHAOS. 135

means available for equipment have been inade-
quate, and, owing to the lack of local interest,
there has been an absence of voluntary effort,
which, in the past, laid the foundations of the
educational system throughout Great Britain.
Education in England was voluntary long before
it passed under the care of the State; but the
policy which has been followed in Ireland has
been to impose an educational system founded
on English experience, and then we have been
in the habit of deploring that the Irish people
have not assisted in a work which has never
aroused their sympathy because their sympathy
has never been sought. In education, as in other
matters, the fatal assumption that Irish needs
must be dealt with by English methods is the
root cause of difficulty.

Reform in the general educational system
presents no really formidable difficulty ; co-
ordination and simplification will settle that
question. In higher education, principles are
involved : the solution of that problem must
precede all other reform ; and it is on that
problem that the people of the United King-
dom should concentrate their attention mainly.
English statesmen, of all parties, who have
studied this question, have frequently admitted
all the grievances urged by Roman Catholics ;
but they have failed to arrive at any solution.

It is to be hoped that a solution may be found

136 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

by the Royal Commission now enquiring into
the matter; but even if they fail, we need not
despair. At one time the Irish Land Question
was regarded as a hopeless problem ; but the
conference, at which leaders of all sections of
opinion threshed out the obstacles to a final
settlement, resulted in an Act which is now
removing this perennial cause of trouble. With
this encouragement, it is not too much to hope
that an informal interchange of views between
leaders of thought in Ireland, animated by a
sincere desire to solve the problem, and fairly
representing different sections of the religious
world, assisted by experienced educationists,
might result in some basis of agreement leading
up to a settlement satisfying the urgent needs
of Ireland, and doing violence to the conscience
of no man.

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 137

CHAPTER VII.

IRELAND'S NEEDS : THE PROGRAMME OF THE
IRISH REFORM ASSOCIATION.

THE Irish Reform Association was established
in the hope of assisting to solve some at least
of those problems in Irish affairs most urgently
demanding solution. The end in view is that
Ireland should become the home of a contented
people, and a valuable asset of the Empire. It
appears to be generally supposed that its efforts
are confined to reforms of a legislative or
administrative character. That is not the case.
The platform is a broad one. Amendment of
the system of government is advocated, because
it is in itself desirable, and because without it
necessary social and economic reforms cannot
have fair play and produce their full results. To
generalize, we aim at reform in four directions : —

(1) We desire to create in the minds of the
people of Great Britain a truer conception of
the social and economic needs and requirements
of Ireland, and of the duty of "the predominant
partner" towards her.

(2) We advocate the adoption of an honest,
friendly attitude on the part of Ireland towards
Great Britain.

138 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

(3) We hope to instil among Irishmen a truer
conception of their duty towards each other and
their common country.

(4) We press for such a change in the system
of government as will enable the people of
Ireland to take an active and intelligent interest
in financial administration, and in the manage-
ment of their own affairs.

We claim to be truly national as regards
Ireland ; and national, also, in the larger
sense as regards the United Kingdom and the
whole Empire. The United Kingdom is the
heart of the Empire. With Ireland discon-
tented, decaying, and despondent, the heart
cannot be sound ; and we appeal to all those
whose ideal is the permanence and progress of
the Empire, to find a remedy for the disease
gnawing at its core. It has been insinuated, and
insinuated so strongly as to amount to an asser-
tion, that, while pretending to be Unionists and
in favour of the Union, we are really Repealers
'in disguise ; and this in face of the fact that in
the forefront of our proposals we have stated, as
plainly as words can express it, our belief that
the Parliamentary Union between Great Britain
and Ireland is essential to the political stability
of the Empire and to the prosperity of the two
islands. We mean exactly what we have said.
We support the Union, and because we support
the Union we desire to make the Union justify

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 139

itself by results. To understand our position, a
true conception of the situation must be formed.
It is, I think, currently supposed that the Act
of Union between Great Britain and Ireland was
the final phase in a long, gradual process of
amalgamation which had been going on for
centuries, and that, since the Act of Union, no
discrimination can be made between the circum-
stances and conditions under which the inhabi-
tants of Ireland and the inhabitants of England,
Scotland, and Wales live, and move, and have
their being, so far, at any rate, as legislation and
administration are concerned. Such is not the
case. By the Act of Union the two Legislatures
were amalgamated ; and shortly afterwards the
two Exchequers were made one ; but amalgama-
tion was not the result of a natural movement
towards unification, nor did it produce unification
in the sense, or to the extent, that occurred when,
for instance, the several independent or semi-
independent States that once constituted what is
now France, or Great Britain, gradually merged
themselves into one homogeneous whole. Funda-
mental differences precluded and preclude fusion
into one community. Why these differences
exist, we need not stop to consider. There they
have ever been ; there they are ; and there they
will remain. Ireland differentiates. It may be
due to distinctive characteristics of race ; to
peculiarities of climate or soil ; or to the fact

I4O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

that the islands are divided by a narrow but
inconveniently boisterous sea. The cause is
immaterial ; the fact is material, and must be
recognized. It must be borne in mind that
neither party to the transaction ventured to
assume that Legislative Union signified racial
fusion or national absorption. On the contrary,
it was admitted on both sides that differences
existed, and would continue to exist, sufficiently
wide to demand differential treatment for their
adjustment. This is an important point, because
the neglect of the principle of exceptional treat-
ment is the cause of many of those evils which
have conspired to make the Union conspicuous
as a failure so far as the health and well-being
of Ireland are concerned.

The Irish Reform Association is profoundly
dissatisfied with the present anomalous position
of Ireland. Neither Irishmen nor Englishmen
can ignore the fact that, since the Legislative
Union, Ireland has not prospered. During the
last half century and more, every civilized com-
munity in Europe has been progressive. Great
Britain has advanced enormously, and, in the
same period, Ireland has been going to decay.
It is true, I am thankful to say, that of late —
that is, in the last three or four years — slight
symptoms of a healthier state of things in
Ireland have manifested themselves ; but, judging
by all the most valid proofs — the increase or

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 141

decrease of population, the increase or decrease
of manufacturing industries, the increase or
decrease of productiveness generally, the mar-
riage-rate, the birth-rate, and all other such tests
— while Great Britain and every community in
Europe have been going forward, Ireland alone
has been falling back. That fact does not
present a pleasant theme for contemplation. It
is enough to give Irishmen and Englishmen
pause. To what is to be attributed this terrible
decay? Many Irishmen say it is due to the
Union, because it has taken place since the
Union. On that hypothesis the Irish Reform
Association, though it may be right in asserting
that the Legislative Union is necessary for the
stability of the Empire, and for the prosperity
of Great Britain, must be wrong in claiming
that it is also necessary for the prosperity of
Ireland. That is a disagreeable dilemma to
face. It must be intensely painful for any
Irishman, however strong his Unionist opinions
may be, to be forced to admit that, though
the Union is necessary for the Empire and
for Great Britain, it is harmful to Ireland, and
that Ireland must be sacrificed to the require-
ments of Great Britain and the Empire. No such
dilemma really exists ; the argument is based on
a wrong interpretation of the facts. Decay is not
due to legislative Union. It is due to excessive
centralization — to a false conception of the

142 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

relations that should exist between the two
contracting parties ; and it is traceable to many
causes which have occurred, it is true, since the
Union, but which are not necessarily consequent
upon the Union, and which would never have
produced such lamentable results had the spirit
of the Union been wisely interpreted and
honestly carried out. It is the duty of all, and
especially of all Unionists, to endeavour to
find out the causes of Ireland's decay, and, by
remedying and removing those causes, to make
the Union justify itself in its results.

What is necessary to enable the Union to
justify itself? The answer lies in the frank
acknowledgment of an underlying principle of
the Union. That contract contemplated and
stipulated for exceptional treatment for Ireland
under exceptional circumstances. Such circum-
stances existed even at the time of the Union ;
but during the past century many causes have
become operative which have intensified the need
of exceptional treatment to a degree that could
not have been dreamed of when the contract was
signed. No satisfaction has been given to
that need. On the contrary, Ireland has been
deprived of the small modicum of relief she once
enjoyed. The spirit of the Union has not been
carried out.

Up to about 1858, the principle of exceptional
treatment was recognized to a certain practical

143

extent, and in theory it is recognized even now.
Ireland did not pay the same taxes as Great
Britain. Until 1853, the excise duties were
lower in Ireland than in Great Britain, and no
income tax was levied in the former country.
The spirit duties were gradually brought up to
the same level. It is quite conceivable that the
inconvenience arising from different duties, the
necessity for custom-houses, &c., was so great
as to make equalization of the duties neces-
sary ; but when that was done for the sake of
convenience, Ireland ought to have been given
an equivalent advantage in some other way.
The income tax is perhaps a stronger case. No
excuse whatever on the ground of convenience
can be claimed for imposing the income tax on
Ireland. It was imposed in 1853 for a limited
number of years in order to balance a debt of
just under four millions incurred mainly in
relieving the poor during the great famine ; but
it has remained ever since, and is raised for
revenue purposes only. No man in his senses
can pretend to say that the increase in excise
duties and the imposition of income tax were
justified by any increase in the taxable capacity
of Ireland. It is not arguable that the changes
were necessary in order to equalize the burden
between the two islands. They constituted a
deliberate breach of the spirit of the Union, and
cannot be justified.

144 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

It will, I think, be conceded that, according
to their relative capacity to bear taxation, the
inhabitants of Ireland are grievously overtaxed
as compared with the people of Great Britain.
The weight of taxation upon Ireland1 has
increased enormously of late years. It may be
argued that the increase is general over the
whole United Kingdom, and equally affects
Great Britain. That is true, but to a certain
extent only. The burden is the same, but it
is not equally distributed. In one case it is
carried with ease by broader shoulders ; in the
other, it is borne with difficulty by a weakened
frame. The increase in Great Britain has been
coincident with an increase in population, in
prosperity, in accumulated wealth, and in power
to bear taxation. In Ireland it has been coinci-
dent with a great diminution in population,
amounting to nearly four millions in the past
century, and without any counter-balancing
increase in accumulated wealth, in prosperity,
or in capacity to bear taxation. The growth of
taxation in Great Britain has been nothing in
comparison with the increase in Ireland.

Ireland is grievously overtaxed, strangled by
taxation. Relief must be sought for in one or
two ways — reduced taxation, or increased capa-
city to bear taxation. The former method may
be impossible ; the latter is certainly possible.

lVide Appendix II.

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 145

Ireland needs development. She is forced to
live beyond her means. A balance should be
arrived at rather by increasing her means than
by diminishing her expenditure. Remission of
taxation might be good ; but that Ireland should
become able to bear taxation would be infinitely
better. She wants employment, and she needs
money to develop the country. Questions con-
nected with main-drainage, the improvement of
harbours, cheap transit, equitable adjustment of
local rates — all these, but especially the question
of transit, ought to be considered by Govern-
ment, and wisely and generously dealt with as
occasion serves. I am not claiming the imme-
diate large advance of public money ; the public
credit has been but lately given with an open
hand ; but I plead for the recognition and, in
season, for the application in other directions, of
the principle animating the Land Act of 1903.
A little dole here and a little dole there are not
sufficient. Ireland is entitled to claim that a
large and comprehensive view should be taken
of her condition. Capital should be applied
where it can be applied with advantage. Ireland
should be looked upon as what, in fact, she is —
a poor corner of the estate to be made profitable
by the wise development of resources and capa-
bilities latent in it.

The Irish Reform Association appeal to the
sense of justice and to the prudence of the people

146 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

of Great Britain. We ask them to recognize the
disadvantages under which Ireland suffers, and
to formulate for their general guidance a wider
and truer conception both of the economic needs
of the country, and of the methods by which
those needs may be satisfactorily dealt with.
We would remind them that, in a sense and to
an extent without parallel in the history of any
country, the taxpayers in Great Britain are now
partners in the industrial life of the Irish people,
and that it is to their direct advantage that that
industrial life should not decay, and their security
become impaired. A wiser estimate of duty on
the part of " the predominant partner " is the
first of the reforms at which we aim.

Ireland has a past which is gloomy ; but she
may have a future bright with hopes of increasing
happiness and prosperity, if she will adopt a
reasonable and friendly attitude towards Great
Britain. Englishmen freely admit that behind
all the trouble there lies a dark page in the
history of Ireland for which they are respon-
sible. They frankly acknowledge that Ireland
has not had fair play. They are anxious to
atone for the past, ready to relieve legitimate
grievances, desirous of effecting a permanent
settlement of outstanding questions, willing that
Ireland should have fair play in the future ;
but they not unreasonably expect that Ireland
should devote her best energies honestly to

147

assisting them in the good work of repairing the
errors of former days.

Parliament and the country are sick and tired
of all the wrangles of past years. The King's
peace and law and order must be maintained ;
but the English conscience vibrates to facts, and
under the true and growing conviction that at
the root of trouble are practical grievances
that can be remedied, and that unreasonable
prejudice on the part of a few irreconcilables
must not block the way, it will insist upon en-
deavouring to secure peace by peaceful means :
it will no longer rely upon coercive measures
alone.

The English people desire to do justice, but
not at the point of the bayonet, nor because they
are threatened with a stab in the back. Ireland
asks for more power to deal with her own affairs.
Does it not stand to reason that the extent of
concession must depend largely upon the uses to
be made of the power conceded ? The attitude
of undying, unreasoning hostility towards Great
Britain is greatly to be deplored. An honestly
friendly attitude towards Great Britain is the
second of our reforms.

Ireland needs assistance in many ways. Can
she complain that she does not get the necessary
help from others when she has not yet learned
to help herself ? To an Ireland really united,
everything in reason is possible ; to an Ireland

148 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

divided into bitterly hostile camps, little is
possible. What can be done by united action
is proved by the Land Act of 1903 — the greatest
remedial measure ever passed for Ireland. It
lies with Irishmen to deal with other problems
in the spirit that rendered possible the Land
Conference Report, and to work together for the
salvation of their native land, putting aside those
personal jealousies, those class animosities, that
sectarian bitterness, that neutralize their efforts.
And why can they not ? There may be points
upon which they can never agree. If that be so,
well, on those points let them agree to differ.
On many points, and points vital to the country,
they can, perhaps with some little mutual self-
sacrifice, come to an agreement ; and for the
sake of humanity and their common country,
they should do so.

So averse from concerted action and from
remedial measures do some curiously-minded
people appear to be that it seems as though they
feared that if religious and class animosities died
down, and Ireland became peaceful and con-
tented, her sense of nationality would wane.
National sentiment does not rest on so poor a
basis. It does not depend upon the irritant of
grievances unredressed. No scheme for the
settlement of the just claims of the Irish people
will ever bridge the broad waters which flow
between the two islands. Nor are the Irish so

149

disloyal to the traditions of the past, nor so little
ambitious for the future, as to suffer Ireland
under any circumstances to lose her own special
charms of nature, customs, language, literature,
and art. A prosperous Ireland would become
more Irish from year to year ; with increasing
hope in the future, the nation would take more
and more pride in all that is best in its past. If
people of all classes and creeds in Ireland would
only understand how anxious " the predominant
partner "is to bury the hatchet and heal the
sores of past years — how desirous England is to
be met half-way — they would realize that now is
the chance, now is the golden opportunity, if they
will only seize it, to work together, to put their
shoulders to the wheel to lift their country out
of the labouring rut, and place her upon the
smooth path of prosperity and peace. A truer
conception of the duty of Irishmen towards
each other and towards Ireland is the third
reform for which the Irish Reform Association
is determined to strive. What stands in the
way? Politics alone. And that leads to the
consideration of the fourth reform we advocate,
namely, reform of the system of government in
Ireland.

The present system is peculiar, if not unique.
It consists of a Lord Lieutenant and General
Governor, who is theoretically supreme, but who
has practically no power whatever except over

I5O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

the police and the administration of justice. He
wields the policeman's baton, and very little else.
Powerful to punish the people, he is powerless to
help, assist, lead, or encourage them. He is
assisted by his Chief Secretary, who represents
him in Parliament. The Chief Secretary has
control over some departments ; over other de-
partments he has partial control ; and over
others, again, he exercises no control at all. If
the Lord Lieutenant is in the Cabinet, the Chief
Secretary is not in the Cabinet, and he may be
placed in the disagreeable position of having to
explain a policy or action of which he knows
nothing, and regarding which he was not con-
sulted. If the Chief Secretary is in the Cabinet,
the Lord Lieutenant is not, and he becomes
more than ever virtually a figure-head, with very
little power or control over policy or administra-
tion. These appointments being political, it
follows that the government of the country is
continually placed in the hands of gentlemen
who know nothing at all about Ireland or
Ireland's needs, and that as soon as they begin
to know something they disappear, and their
knowledge with them.

The affairs of the country are administered by
numerous departments. Some of them are fed
by money voted by Parliament ; others, partially
at any rate — and some to a large extent — obtain
supplies straight from the Consolidated Fund or

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 151

from other sources which render them indepen-
dent of Parliamentary control. In the first case,
it is just possible that the money provided may
come under the criticism, and to a very slight
extent under the influence, of the Irish Members
of Parliament. But, in the other cases, neither
the Irish Members of Parliament nor any other
Members of Parliament have any control over
the money.1 There is no sort of co-ordination
among the various departments. They do not
even know themselves where their functions
begin and where they end ; they overlap each
other in all directions. It is the duty of one
department to clean the outside of a window,
and the duty of another department to clean the
inside, with the not unnatural result that the
window is not cleaned at all. There is no
inter-departmental division of labour. Three or
four departments, each with its separate staff,
are engaged in precisely the same work. As
a result of an inquiry into what is known as
"Castle Government" in Ireland, The Nationalist
printed (January nth, 1906) the following

1 Irish Departments are fed, in round figures, from the
following sources : —

(1) ^£200,000 from the Consolidated Fund.

(2) ;£i, 500,000 from the Local Taxation Account.

(3) ^4>5°°>000 from Parliamentary votes, specifically Irish.

(4) ;£*> 500,000 from Parliamentary votes included in

English votes.

152 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

instructive list of the various offices concerned
in the control of affairs in that island : —

Located in Dublin Castle itself, we find the following sepa-
rate Departments : —

1. The Lord Lieutenant's Household.

2. The Chief Secretary's Office.

3. The State Paper Department.

4. The Office of Arms.

5. The Treasury Remembrancer's Office.

6. The National School Teachers' Superannuation Office.

7. The Board of Conservators of Fisheries.

8. The Department of Registrar of Petty Sessions Clerks.

9. The General Prisons Board.

10. Office of Reformatory and Industrial Schools.

1 1 . Office of Inspectors of Lunatic Asylums.

12. Public Loan Fund Board.

13. The Royal Irish Constabulary Office.

14. The Dublin Metropolitan Police Office.

In the Custom House, which was built by an Irish Parlia-
ment for the growing commerce of a prosperous nation, there
are now installed the following Departments of the Govern-
ment : —

15. The Local Government Board.

16. The Board of Trade.

17. The Customs.

18. The Inland Revenue: —

(a) Stamp and Tax Department.

(b) Excise Department.

(c) Estate Duty Office.

19. The Stationery Office.

So wonderful was the expansion of the Castle Board system
during the past half century — while the emigrant ships were
bearing away the people at the rate of a million a decade — that
the Castle and Custom House could no longer house them,
and a " plantation " of new Departments was effected in recent
times in the vicinity of Merrion Square, where they have

IRELAND S NEEDS. 153

invaded the splendid old residential quarters of the Irish
nobility and gentry in Upper Merrion Street, Ely Place, and
Hume Street. In this quarter are settled : —

20. The Intermediate Education Board.

2 1 . The General Valuation and Boundary Survey Office.

22. The Board of Public Works.

23. The Civil Service Committee (Branch Office).

24. The Irish Land Commission.

25. ,, Estates Commissioners.

26. „ Office of Public Trustee.

27. The National Gallery.

28. The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruc-

tion, with its affiliated Departments, viz. : —

29. The Irish Fisheries Office.

30. The Veterinary Department.

31. The College of Science.

32. The School of Art.

33. The Science and Art Museum.

34. The National Library.

Occupying other former town residences of the Irish nobility
in various parts of the city are found : —

35. The Board of National Education.

36. The General Register Office.

37. The Congested Districts Board.

38. The Registry of Deeds.

To this already lengthy list have still to be added : —

39. The Post Office Department.

40. The Irish Branch of the Geological Survey.

41. The Commissioners of Charitable Donations and

Bequests.

42. The Commissioners of Education in Ireland. (This

Department is not the same as No. 35.)

43. The Ordnance Survey of Ireland.

44. Office of Inspectors of Factories.

45. War Office, Auditor's Office.

46. Royal Naval Reserve Office.

154 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

47. The Woods and Forests Office.

48. The Public Record Office.

49. Joint Stock Companies Registry Office.

50. The Registry of Friendly Societies.

51. Office of the Royal University.

52. The Commissioners of Irish Lights.

Any survey of the waste and extravagance of Irish adminis-
tration would not be complete without a glance at the Four
Courts. Here we find the following separate Departments,
each with its own costly staff : —

53. The Lunacy Department.

54. Crown and Hanaper Office.

55. Local Registration of Title Office.

56. Record and Writ Office.

57. Consolidated Taxing Office.

58. Consolidated Accounting Office.

59. The Chancery Registrar's Office.

60. Principal Registry Offices of Probate.

61. King's Bench Division Office.

62. Lord Chancellor's Court.

63. Master of the Rolls' Court.

64. Chancery Division Court.

65. Land Judge's Court.

66. Bankruptcy Court.

67. Admiralty Court.

These sixty-seven Departments constitute the Civil adminis-
tration of Ireland. Among the numerous military Departments
in the capital may be enumerated the Headquarters Office,
Kilmainham, the Army Ordnance Department, the Army
Medical Staff, the Army Pay Department, and the Army
Veterinary Department.

Every poor little project has to struggle
through a line of departments ; and, if it runs the
gauntlet successfully, is probably clubbed on the
head at the finish by an omnipotent Treasury

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 155

clerk in London. The great spending depart-
ments, like the Board of Works, are, so far as
small matters are concerned, under the control of
Treasury clerks in London — estimable persons,
but knowing nothing about Ireland, and occupy-
ing themselves writing volumes of folios about
the wages of a charwoman, the price of a pot of
paint, and many little details of that kind. As
regards large expenditure, the Department is
entirely at the mercy of the heads of the
Treasury. The Board of Works and other
departments in similar cases do not in any way
come under the direct influence of the Irish
people in Ireland ; nor do they come under the
influence, control, or criticism of the representa-
tives in the Imperial Parliament of Irish consti-
tuencies. Practically they are solely responsible
to the Treasury. That is to say, Irish affairs
are conducted, and money voted for Irish
purposes is administered, by departments in
Dublin which are responsible only to another
department in London. The amount expended
on salaries and pensions appears dispropor-
tionately large. It is impossible to ascertain the
exact facts as to staff and salaries, as, in many
cases, the money required is not charged upon
the votes ; but, judging by the votes, salaries
form a large item in Irish expenditure. In the
estimates for 1905, the sums placed upon
twenty-six Irish votes amounted to about four

156 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

and a half millions, of which about three millions
were for salaries and pensions.

It is difficult to describe what is commonly
called " Castle Government." It is easier to
say what it is not than what it is. It is not a
democratic form of government, for the people
have nothing to say to it, either through some
representative machinery in Dublin, or through
their representatives at Westminster. It is not
a despotism, because the Lord Lieutenant has
very little power. It is not exactly an oligarchy,
though a small but avaricious section of the
community appear to think that the country
should be run for their benefit alone.

It is a sort, and a very bad sort, of bureaucracy
— a government by departments in Ireland
uncontrolled by Parliament, uncontrolled by any
public body in Ireland, subject only to a depart-
ment in London. For this anomalous and
grotesque system Ireland pays dearly. It is the
most expensive system of government in the
world. Head for head, the government of
Ireland costs more than the government of any
civilized community on the whole face of the
earth. Under it there is no security whatever
against absolute waste and misapplication of
money ; no security against the indirect extrava-
gance that arises from money not being spent in
the best direction or in the wisest way. Against
this abominable system, the Irish Reform Associa-
tion protest.

IRELAND S NEEDS.

157

That a great saving of expenditure can be
effected is certain. The Government in Ireland
is carried out through a number of departments
which do not represent, and are not in the
remotest degree under the control of, those who
are governed. Year by year the expenditure
proceeds at an extravagant rate despite the pro-
tests of the Irish people ; and in such circum-
stances surely it is unfair to taunt them with the
fact that the balance of revenue available for
Imperial purposes is very small.

The latest available figures from the Report of
the Commissioners of His Majesty's Inland
Revenue throw some light upon the cost of
government in Ireland, as a glance at the follow-
ing table will show : —

TABLE showing for each part of the United Kingdom the
Number of Assessments and the Gross Income Assessed on
Government Officials for the year 1904-5.

England,
Total.

Scotland.

Ireland.

United
Kingdom.

Number of Assess-

ments ...
Gross Income

74,272

;£ 20,995, 1 79

940

£301-075

£1,028,844

78,006
£22,325,098

It will be seen that Ireland, with the same
population approximately as Scotland, is blessed
with 2,794 Government officials in comparison
with 940 in Scotland ; and that the total pay-
ment in Ireland for Government officials assess-
able to income tax amounts to over £1,000,000

158 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

per year, while in Scotland the gross outlay is
about £300,000. Ireland has, as compared with
Scotland, the privilege of entertaining many
more Government officials, and of paying a good
deal more per head for them.

The ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer dismissed
the subject of Ireland's overtaxation with the
taunt that Ireland contributes but little to
Imperial expenditure. Ireland cries aloud and
bitterly that she is choked and smothered under
taxation altogether beyond her capacity to pay.
And what is the cause of both complaints ? A
scandalously extravagant system of financial
administration, and the divorce of the people
from the conduct of their own affairs. To insist
on burdening Ireland with a system of govern-
ment the most expensive in the world, the most
irresponsible, and the least reflective of the wishes
of the people of the country ; to refuse to allow
public opinion to be brought to bear upon depart-
mental administration, to deny the people the
right to make economies, and to devote the pro-
ceeds to the needs of the population and the
development of the country, appears to me a
policy fatuous, irrational, and incompatible with
the democratic spirit of the form of government
under which we live.

The non-political propositions of the Irish
Reform Association are not likely to meet
with serious disapproval. The advantages of

IRELAND S NEEDS. 159

a truer conception of Ireland's needs on the
part of "the predominant partner," of a con-
ciliatory spirit between the partners, and of
co-operation for useful purposes among Irish-
men will be gainsaid only by those whose
conception of nationality is the narrow one
of class, or whose ideal of statecraft is to keep
Ireland in a condition of perpetual turmoil
and unrest. It is round the proposals for poli-
tical reform put forward by the Irish Reform
Association that the conflict of opinions has
arisen. The question which I commend to the
earnest consideration of all moderate men, and
especially of Unionists, is — Are those proposals,
not viewed in detail, but judged of by the
general principles underlying them, calculated
to offer a reasonable solution of some Irish
problems and difficulties; and, if so, are they
also compatible with the maintenance of
Parliamentary Union ?

The existing system of Private Bill Pro-
cedure deprives Parliament of a great deal of
local knowledge necessary to enable it to arrive at
wise and just decisions ; and being inconvenient,
cumbrous, and most expensive, it frequently acts
as a deterrent, instead of an encouragement, to
municipal, commercial, and industrial enterprises.
No man conversant with business and commercial
undertakings will dispute these facts. It will be
universally admitted that some authority should

l6o THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

be established to deal in Ireland with Private
Bills originating there. On this point the Irish
Reform Association has made suggestions which
may or may not be the best possible.1

All that that body maintains is that the reform
which was some time ago granted to Scotland
should be granted to Ireland. Ireland should
not be put to the enormous expense incurred in
Private Bill Procedure as it now exists.

The Irish Reform Association desires also to
see a delegation of legislative functions to an
Irish body. It may be asked why this devolu-
tion is suggested ; but surely the reasons are
obvious. In the first place, the change is neces-
sary because the Imperial Parliament is in-
capable of conducting all the business which
comes before it. From pressure of work
Parliament disposes of many millions of money
practically without discussion. It is forced
either to spend a great deal of time on small
matters, to the neglect of Imperial concerns, or
else to spend time on Imperial questions, to the
neglect of local business. Parliament has ceased
to fulfil its functions as an institution for ad-
ministering Imperial, English, Scottish, Welsh,
and Irish affairs. It is overburdened. It
is becoming more and more a registration
body, whose function and duty it is to put its
signature to the few bills that the Government of

1 See Appendix I.

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 161

the day brings in ; but as to attending to the
details of the affairs of the inhabitants of these
islands, and also to Imperial affairs, it cannot do
so. It is absolutely impossible for Parliament
to overtake its arrears of work unless it be
given adequate relief; and relief can never be
obtained except by devolution — delegation of
authority in some shape or other.

In the second place, Irish business cannot be
attended to, and is not attended to, in Parlia-
ment. Ireland differs in many respects in her
problems from Great Britain. The peculiarities
of her position and requirements are such that
similarity of treatment does not always involve
equal justice. Her affairs require special atten-
tion. They are neglected, and cannot fail to be
neglected, under the present circumstances.
However willing Parliament may be, it is im-
potent through lack of time. It is necessary to
give relief to Parliament, and to ensure that Irish
business shall be attended to with full knowledge,
care, and sympathy. The view of the Irish
Reform Association is that power to deal with
much of the business relating to Irish affairs,
with which Parliament is at present unable to
cope, may, with perfect safety, and with advan-
tage both to Ireland and to Parliament, be
delegated to an Irish body.

It has been asserted that the real object is to
set up a separate and independent Parliament.

1 62 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

The idea is absurd. Such a body as has been
proposed may be called a Parliament or a
Legislature or anything else, but an independent
or sovereign Legislature it cannot be called. It
would have legislative functions delegated to it.
It would be a subordinate law-making body.
So are a great many bodies. The Board of
Agriculture has legislative functions, and county
councils have them. Every body that has power
to pass by-laws, every body that proceeds by
provisional orders, exercises legislative functions.
Professor Dicey has laid down that a railway
company is a subordinate law-making body ;
but no one will say that a railway company is a
legislature. It is a question of degree. A rail-
way company represents one end of the scale.
It is a law-making body possessed of very
limited functions. The body proposed by the
Association would be at the other end of the
scale. It would be a law-making body endowed
with very large and important functions ; but it
would still be subordinate, for its powers would
be derived from a superior source.

Of still greater importance are the proposals
of the Irish Reform Association regarding
finance. Money is needed for the development
of the country. Successive Governments have
not taken a sufficiently large and comprehensive
view and grasp of the whole situation in Ireland.
They have spent a little money here, a little

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 163

money there, in pursuance of the policy
stigmatized by some as "killing Home Rule by
kindness." It is not kindness we are pleading
for; we want justice. Parliament should under-
stand the circumstances, the necessities, and the
requirements of the country ; seize the whole
problem squarely, and deal with it in a bold and
sufficient manner.

Ireland should not be swathed in swaddling
clothes, and fed with a spoon by a capricious
nurse. What she requires is freedom to use her
own limbs and to feed herself. The country
requires development. If Ireland is ever to be
made capable of bearing taxation, and the people
afforded an opportunity of bettering themselves,
the principle must be applied that has been
applied in Egypt, in South Africa, and almost
everywhere in the Empire except in Ireland :
public credit and public money must be profit-
ably employed in the development of the
country, in providing harbours, main-drainage
works, in educational work, in encouraging
industries, and in a thousand other ways.
There is nothing recondite, obscure, or difficult
about this ; it is merely applying to Ireland in a
public way the same principle which every man
applies to his own property — that is, the invest-
ment of capital in it which can be profitably
employed. Ireland is not suffering because of
the contiguity of a melancholy ocean, nor

1 64 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

because of a double dose of original sin, which,
strangely enough, only affects Irishmen at home ;
she is suffering from plain and tangible facts,
which, if once understood, could be grappled
with and cured.

Money is needed for development, and money
can be got for that purpose in many ways — by
the use of the Imperial credit ; by larger sums
voted by Parliament ; or by making the amount
of money that is voted for Irish services go a
great deal further than it does now. I put aside
the two former methods, and confine myself to
the last — to a method of financing Irish problems
without costing the Imperial taxpayer a penny in
credit or in cash.

It has been estimated, and with truth, that
economies to the extent of from one to three
millions a year could be made in Irish
administration. Suppose a million a year could
be saved. A great deal that is urgently needed
could be done in Ireland for a million a
year, or for the capital a million a year could
buy. But such savings can be effected only in
one way. It must be to the interest of the
people to make them. Large economies are
possible by applying local knowledge, local
experience, and local intelligence to the expendi-
ture of money voted for Irish services ; and by
the assurance that the savings effected shall be
devoted to Irish services, and shall not merely

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 165

go back into the maw of the Treasury. The
people must be made directly interested in
diminishing expenditure and in determining how
that desirable object can be best attained.
Extravagance cannot be checked, nor money
voted for Irish services applied to the best pur-
pose, till the Irish people have some direct voice
in saying how that money shall be spent, and
are guaranteed that all savings that are made
shall be used solely for Irish purposes.

Ireland, now the Land Question is in course of
settlement, is entering on a new era, a bright era
full of hopefulness ; and if she can secure internal
peace, she can make savings in many ways.
Ireland is extraordinarily free from crime ; and
unquestionably in time considerable economies
in the policing of the country will become
possible. As it is, the time is ripe for the
reform of the judiciary. In no country in the
world does government cost half as much as in
Ireland. Everything connected with law and
justice costs in Ireland from three to four times
as much as it does in Scotland, and it might be
supposed that the calendar of criminal offences
in Ireland largely exceeded that of Scotland.
This is not the case. Surely there must be
something a little wrong about a system under
which the legal machinery costs three or four
times as much in Ireland as in Scotland, where
the population is about the same and somewhat
more predisposed to crime.

1 66 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

The Irish Reform Association has proposed
that a Financial Council, under the presidency
of the Lord Lieutenant, shall be instituted,
which can at least endeavour to secure efficiency
and economy with some hope of success ; and
that all savings made by the Council shall be
devoted to Irish purposes, and be expended in
the development of the resources of the country,
and in satisfying the needs of the people. It
holds that under the present system, the financial
administration is wasteful and unappreciative of
the needs of the country, and that the methods
in which moneys devoted to the Irish service are
expended do not inspire public confidence in
Ireland ; and it believes that this most unhealthy
state of things can be remedied by the institution
of a Financial Council, or some body dealing
with finance, through which local knowledge,
experience, interest, and talent can be applied
to financial administration in Ireland.

Let me sum up the position to make it
perfectly clear. The political ideal of the Irish
Reform Association is —

(i) To relieve the Imperial Parliament of a
great mass of business to which it
cannot possibly attend at present, by
delegating to an Irish body legisla-
tive functions in connection with Irish
affairs.

1 67

(2) To ensure that business peculiar to

Ireland shall not be neglected, as it is
now, but shall be attended to by
those who understand the needs and
requirements of the country.

(3) To apply local knowledge and experi-

ence to the financial administration
of the country, and to ensure that all
economies made shall be devoted to
Ireland, and expended in developing
the resources of the country, and
satisfying the needs of the people.

Those are the main political objects at which
it aims. How far the proposals made are
capable of carrying those principles into practical
effect is a question about which differences of
opinion must naturally arise. Those proposals
will be found in Appendix I. They are not to
be taken as complete or final. On the contrary,
they were put forward, as is indeed expressly
stated in them, tentatively to stimulate inquiry.
The objections raised to them have been
criticisms on details which the Association did
not attempt to definitely deal with. It was not
within its proper function to do so. To for-
mulate a scheme for the better government of
Ireland, and deal with finance, is, in fact, to
draft a bill for presentation to Parliament — an
operation which can be undertaken only by a

1 68 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Government in consultation with the Treasury.
All that the Irish Reform Association could do
was to make certain suggestions on certain lines.
Its suggestions are confined to the delegation
of legislative functions, the transference of
control from the Treasury to a local body, and
the means of financing that body. The line it
recommended was that of Devolution. Real
reform — not mere tinkering departmental
changes — in the system of Castle Government
must proceed on one of two lines — either
on the line of federation, as exemplified, for
instance, in the relation between the Dominion
and Provincial Governments in Canada ; or by
devolution, such as, for example, may be found
in the relations between the Central and Pro-
vincial Governments in India. Federation might
be the best line to work upon ; but federation, if
it ever comes, will come as part of a very much
larger measure of an Imperial character, and, in
the meantime, Ireland cannot wait. Federation
is also open to the objection that, obviously,
repeal must precede it, and repeal, in my
opinion, is quite below the horizon of practical
politics. There remains devolution ; and the
Irish Reform Association was, in my humble
opinion, well advised in adopting those lines.
So much for the general views of that much-
abused body, the Irish Reform Association. It
has not put forward any stereotyped scheme ; and

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 169

on details, and details of perhaps considerable
importance, some divergence in the views of
individual members must naturally exist.

Speaking merely for myself, I desire to make
my position clear.

In the Irish political vocabulary much con-
fusion of language unfortunately prevails. What
does " Unionism " mean ? What is one to
understand by " Nationalism " ? Who will define
" Home Rule " ? " Repeal " is the only term in
Irish political nomenclature to which definite
signification can be attached, and, for that
reason, I suppose, it is seldom used. Repeal is
merely a destructive policy carrying with it no
indication of what is to be substituted for the
particular form of political connection that now
exists between Great Britain and Ireland. Still,
Repeal is a policy, and Unionism ought to
imply, and at one time did imply, the opposite
of that policy, but of late it has come to
mean a great deal more. As used by the
old ascendancy party, and as preached to the
electorate at the last General Election, it means
the denial of any extension of self-governing
power to Ireland within the legislative union.
Unionism has been degraded to a policy of mere
negation.

By " Nationalism " almost anything may be
understood from aspiration for complete inde-
pendence to an expression of faith in the fact

170 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

that Ireland is a nation. The various ideals
of Nationalists may, I think, be thus fairly
described : — (i) Independence, in the form of an
Irish Republic ; (2) Dualism ; (3) Repeal, and
restoration of the status quo ante. To none of
these ideals can I assent, so I suppose I cannot
count myself a Nationalist, though firm in the
living faith that the people of Ireland are a
nation. Home Rule is so often used as an
alternative expression for Nationalism, that
I am precluded from calling myself a Home
Ruler, although I advocate what I believe
to be Home Rule. A Reformer is too vague
an appellation. I therefore dub myself a
Devolutionist.

I do not commend any particular proposals on
the lines of devolution to the acceptance of
those whose ideal is an independent Ireland as a
discharge in full of their claims. Their ideal is
not my ideal, £.nd I merely urge my own views.
The notion that a small and poor country like
Ireland could possibly maintain herself in a posi-
tion of independence, is to me preposterous. She
might probably — she is a nice little island — be
annexed by somebody ; and with conscription and
still higher rates of taxation, that would not be
very much to her advantage. But the important
factor is that, as long as Great Britain exists, it
cannot be convenient for her that Ireland should
be annexed by anybody ; and Great Britain has

IRELAND S NEEDS. iyi

a perfect right to protect herself. Dualism is
surely out of the question, especially with the
example of Sweden and Norway before us.
Failing the position of an absolutely independent
and self-sufficient State, Ireland, whatever her
form of government may be, must be largely
dependent upon Great Britain, acutely sensitive
to her policy. In a war of tariffs Ireland must
infallibly go to the wall. If it came to the worst,
Great Britain, the consumer, could do without
Ireland, the producer. Foreign countries would
benefit ; Ireland would perish. It would in my
humble opinion be the rankest folly on the part
of Ireland to deprive herself of the power she
possesses in determining policy, especially in
connection with trading, commercial, and fiscal
matters. With the example of the ruin of her
industries in the past before her, it would be
madness on the part of Ireland to lay herself
at the mercy of a Parliament in which she had
no representation. She would sink to the
ignominious position of the merest dependency.
The Parliamentary Union is not merely a
legislative enactment ; it is the result, the
tangible effect, of natural ties, tendencies,
and causes — the outward and visible sign of
the indissoluble interdependence of the two
islands.

My ideal is that Ireland should be proud of
her distinct nationality, and should cherish and

172 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

develop it ; but that she should also take
pride in what in a sense may be called a
larger nationality — the honourable share she
has in the government of the United Kingdom,
and in the conduct of the great Empire of
which the United Kingdom is the centre.
There is every reason why Ireland should
be very proud of the part she has taken
in creating, maintaining, and administering
the Empire. She has every reason also to be
very proud of her distinct characteristics and
nationality ; every reason why she should desire
to have, and should have, over her own affairs as
much power and control as is compatible with
the share she has in the larger destinies of the
United Kingdom and of the Empire. Such is
my ideal ; and, therefore, I cannot share the ideal
of my fellow-countrymen who aspire to a com-
pletely independent position for Ireland. But I
do not deny that I sympathize with them. I can
understand the mental attitude of men who,
seeing the many disabilities under which the
country suffers, and despairing of any relief
under the extraordinary and preposterous form
of government which exists in Ireland, come to
the conclusion that nothing can remedy those
evils except absolute repeal.

To them I would appeal for a charitable con-
sideration of our views. I would ask them if
they cannot walk with us a little way without

IRELAND S NEEDS. I 73

prejudice to larger ideals which we cannot con-
scientiously share. Procedure is of the essence of
statesmanship ; and procedure must be governed
by conditions as they are. I would ask them to
bend their eyes down from somewhat inaccessible
heights to the contemplation of material facts —
the condition of the country, and methods of
dealing with that condition not too fatally remote.
I make no appeal to sentiment or romance.
I deal with practical matters ; and matters of
that kind must be dealt with if the country is
to be saved. Ireland is very sick. For the last
fifty years she has been rapidly decaying. Is
nothing to be done for her ? Physicians differ
as to the exact prescription that may be ulti-
mately necessary, but on certain points they are
agreed. They are agreed that a more generous
diet, freer use of her limbs, greater liberty, and
a larger horizon are needed. Is nothing to be
done while they wrangle about the one point
on which they are not agreed ? Though they
may not be in accord as to the exact nature
of the prescription necessary to bring about
a complete cure, is it not possible for them to
combine to render at any rate " first aid " ?
I appeal to Englishmen and Scotchmen on
other grounds.

Is it in the course of nature that an intelligent
and industrious people, who in every quarter of
the globe, under different circumstances and

174 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

different conditions, succeed in life, should be
doomed to failure in the cradle of their race in
Ireland ? Is it not singular that a people, loyal
in disposition and easily led, should be chroni-
cally in a state of suppressed revolt ? Is it in
accordance with natural law that Ireland should
present the solitary example of a community
going steadily to decay ? Will Englishmen not
consider the facts ? If they will give the matter
a little thought, the case for reform will, I am
sure, appeal to their common-sense and their
sense of justice. Let them regard this matter,
as I regard it, from both an Irish and an Eng-
lish point of view. From the Irish standpoint,
I protest vehemently against seeing the Irish
race wiped off the soil of Ireland ; and from the
English point of view, I am profoundly dis-
satisfied with a discontented and decaying Ire-
land. As a taxpayer, Ireland is my security for
an enormous loan ; and I want to see my
security going up and not going down. Ireland,
moreover, is very useful to me in a great many
ways. Ireland finds some of the finest fighting
material in the world, as the glorious records of
Irish regiments, and the history of the Navy,
abundantly show ; and Ireland is valuable not
only as a military asset, but in the whole ad-
ministration of the Empire. Ireland is of
inestimable value in the leavening and quicken-
ing qualities of her spiritualized nature. No

IRELAND'S NEEDS. 175

man — certainly no candid student of history —
will deny the essential nature of the qualities
peculiar to the Irish race in building up the
Empire of which Englishmen are so properly
proud. A discontented and decaying Ireland is
the one solitary, sad blot in the British Empire ;
and I am certain that, if the facts can be
brought home to them, the English people will
do anything that is in their power to remove the
blot from their escutcheon.

Let Irishmen cease from beating the wind, and
England will play her part. Will Ireland bar
the way to a brighter future against herself ?
Ireland is bleeding to death before the eyes of
the world. Industries are leaving the country ;
the population is deserting. If no action is
taken to help the country in matters upon which
all students of Irish affairs are agreed she can
be helped, simply because agreement cannot be
arrived at on some other points ; if Irishmen in
North and South are to go on from year to year,
from generation to generation, from century to
century, wrangling and fighting and doing
nothing, then the fate of the country is sealed.
If Irishmen would only bury their differences for
a little while, Ireland might be saved ; and if
they do, and looking back after a time, see the
causes of dissension in perspective, they will
realize how futile they were, how fertile with
evil, how utterly unproductive of good. I

176 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

appeal to Nationalists to consider the desperate
condition of the country as she now stands, and
the urgency of some measures of relief; to
gauge what is practical and possible of achieve-
ment not too long deferred. I remind Unionists
in Ireland and in England that in defending the
Act of Union they have taken on themselves the
responsibility of showing that that measure can
justify itself. It has not done so, and from day
to day, as Ireland sinks in happiness and pros-
perity, the Union, by inference, stands more and
more condemned. Under a purely negative
policy, Unionism cannot prevail. Inaction con-
tains the seeds of death. The argument of a
sad, decaying Ireland is difficult to answer ; if
the Union is to be maintained, an active, living,
democratic, progressive policy must be applied
to the causes of decay.

THE TWO UNIONS. 177

CHAPTER VIII.
THE TWO UNIONS: PROSPERITY AND DISTRESS.

THE stock arguments against any political
reform for Ireland that I find generally used
in conversation are — (i) that what is good
enough for England must be good enough for
Ireland ; (2) that as Scotland has prospered
since her Union, it must be Ireland's fault if
she has not also prospered. With the first
argument I have dealt shortly, but I hope
conclusively, in the Introduction. The second
must be examined at greater length, for the
inference is sound unless good cause can be
shown against it.

Ireland's present difficulties are bound up with
Ireland's past history. Her history has been
advanced as the most cogent reason for re-
dressing many of her grievances ; and at the
same time historical considerations have been
adduced to show the impossibility of redress.
Someone, Sir Horace Plunkett I think it was,
alluded to this fact when he said that Ireland
should tacitly forget her past history, and England
should tacitly remember it. That is sound

178 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

advice, for Ireland is too fond of brooding over
the past ; and Great Britain is too apt to dismiss
a painful subject from her mind. Into history I
cannot, of course, go now in detail. Nevertheless,
to understand the Irish problem Irish history
should be considered ; and though in a sketch
such as this it is necessary to confine oneself
mainly to the present, and quite modern times, I
shall have to allude also, in general terms, to the
past.

The modern history of the Irish political
movement may be said to date from the time
when Mr. Gladstone took up the cause, now over
twenty years ago. One of the most remarkable
facts in the struggle for the Repeal of the Union
was the attitude of the majority of the people of
Scotland towards the question. It is somewhat
difficult to account for the strong wave of Union-
ism that passed over Scotland in 1893. Mr.
Gladstone's was a name to conjure with until he
became a convert to the policy of repeal, and
embodied his policy in the Bills of 1886 and 1893;
yet the expression of opinion against it was, if
possible, more strongly marked in Scotland than
in England. In the main it was doubtless due to
a wise understanding of the value of the legisla-
tive union between the two islands, and as a
protest against dismemberment. There may,
also, have been a feeling of disgust with the
methods employed to enforce repeal, and with

THE TWO UNIONS. 179

the admission that the Home Rule Bills were
introduced in deference to outrage. But other
influences were probably at work. It was not
unnatural for a practical and logical people to
argue that as Scotland had prospered greatly
since the Union with England, Ireland ought to
have prospered under the Union with Great
Britain ; and that, if she had not done so, it
must be due to some inherent defect in the Irish
character, or because she had obstinately refused
to avail herself of opportunities which Scotland
wisely utilized for her own great benefit. On
this point something must be said, because the
same ideas may influence the Scottish people
still, and may prejudice them against all
reform. A truer conception of the spirit of
the Act of Union, coupled with wise and
beneficial reform in the whole system of govern-
ment in Ireland, is necessary in order to make
the Union justifiable in its results. By such
means the Union between Great Britain and
Ireland can be made to justify itself in the pros-
perity of the latter country, as the Union of
Scotland has justified itself ; and I must there-
fore endeavour to prove that it will be arguing on
false premises, reasoning on a false analogy, to
attribute the failure of the Union in bringing
prosperity to Ireland to any particular defect
in the Irish character, or to a double dose of
original sin. Quite intelligible reasons exist why

180 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Ireland has not prospered under the Union
with Great Britain, although Scotland has
prospered under the Union with England.

In making any comparison between the relative
results of union upon Scotland and Ireland, the
whole sum of circumstances — historical, ethnolo-
gical, and others — must be taken into considera-
tion. The political history and social condition
of Scotland and Ireland at the time of their
respective Unions were absolutely dissimilar. In
no important particular whatever can they be
considered to be alike. Scotland had long before
entirely emerged from the tribal state, and had
arrived at the condition of a homogeneous people.
She enjoyed a stable form of government under
hereditary kings, and had, indeed, given a king to
England. She had an absolutely independent
Parliament of her own. At the time of the Legis-
lative Union she, as a self-dependent kingdom,
and as a community that had long been self-
dependent and independent, entered on equal
terms with another kingdom of the same charac-
ter. That was the condition of Scotland. Com-
pare it with that of Ireland. Independent
Ireland had over-kings, but they exercised
at best a very vague and shadowy authority.
Independent Ireland never really emerged from
the tribal state. Her condition was one of
perpetual war within her borders. She had
all the makings, if such a term may be used,

THE TWO UNIONS. l8l

of a nation, and, so far as size of territory
would permit, of a great one. She created an
architecture peculiar to herself ; she had arts of
her own, and an abundant literature. For a time
she was foremost in civilization among the people
of the West ; but her development was arrested.
Politically and socially she did not work her way
up to the condition of an independent homoge-
neous State, with an ordered society under a
settled, stable, and continuous form of govern-
ment. She had at various times Parliaments of
a kind, and a Parliament in the modern sense
for a few short years before the Union, but it
was not representative of the people ; it did not
control the executive, and was independent only
in name. Such was her condition when she
entered into Legislative Union — a very different
one from that of Scotland.

England never succeeded in anglicizing or
colonizing Scotland. She did not impose an
alien system of land-tenure upon her, or an alien
Church. She did not persecute her or confiscate
her lands, as in Ireland. Scotland, of course,
suffered persecution and confiscation ; but, speak-
ing generally, it was Scot persecuting and confis-
cating Scot. Across the Channel, it was English
persecuting and confiscating Irish. The difference
in permanent effect is very great. Ireland
had very early progressed far on • the path of
civilization. In religion, architecture, literature,

1 82 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

and the arts, she was ahead of what is now
Great Britain or of any European peoples ; but
socially and politically she never rose to the con-
dition of a settled, self-sustaining, independent
State. Her people were never united, and they
fell an easy prey. She was not really conquered
in the sense of being brought into complete sub-
jection throughout. Spasmodic local struggles
were kept up, but her territories were perpetually
overrun, and wave after wave of planters were
settled upon the land. For centuries the Irish
people were under the heel of England, and
England struggled to stamp out the distinctive
nationality of the country. The consequences of
the essential distinction that exists between the
geographical position of the two countries in
respect to England must be fully realized also.
In the one case a more or less arbitrary border-
line exists between England and Scotland,
territory and race merging gradually together.
In the other, the storm-tossed Irish Sea between
England and Ireland definitely marks differ-
ences both of territory and race.

When the Union between England and
Scotland was carried into effect, Scotland
was fully equipped with her own commercial
institutions, and accumulated capital; and
Scotsmen were showing a tendency to found,
under the authority of the Scottish Parliament,
offshoots and separate colonies of their own.

THE TWO UNIONS. 183

English and Scottish interests were, to some
extent, clashing ; but, on the other hand, the
commercial relations between the two countries
were very close, the sense of community of
interests was strong, and it was felt that,
as some solution of the problem had to be
found, the best lay in closer political relations
through the union of the Parliaments. Scotland
possessed the means of utilizing the Union for her
own benefit ; and her people were fully capable of
doing so. Ireland had not the means : she had
few industries and no store of capital ; the
nation was demoralized ; and the people were
smarting under a deep sense of injury, owing to
the fact that their commercial enterprise and
their industries had been deliberately crushed
out.

For many years after the Act of 1707 was
passed, it was viewed by some persons with
little favour. They feared that Scotland would
lose her distinctive nationality, and become
anglicized. They were wrong ; and those
who viewed the Act of Union with cordial
anticipation of good for Scotland were right.
They realized that the Scottish people were
more likely to conquer the English than
the English were likely to conquer them ;
and this has proved to be the fact. Year by
year England and the British Empire have
passed more and more under the sway of the

184 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

all-conquering Scot. Lord Rosebery, a Scotch-
man, was the last Liberal Prime Minister;
Mr. Balfour, a Scotsman, held that exalted
post for four years ; and now Sir Henry
Campbell-Bannerman, another Scotsman, holds
office as the First Minister of the Crown.
In many respects, in science and commerce,
and especially in mechanics, the Scotsman
holds a high place, not only in the United
Kingdom, but throughout the Empire ; wher-
ever an engine is at work, by land or sea, there
a Scotsman is to be found. He has taken a
great part in the colonization of the daughter
lands overseas. Scotland, having had the means
for doing so, has worked the Act of Union
greatly to her own advantage. And Scotland
owes much to the genius of two of her sons —
giants in literature — Robert Burns and Sir
Walter Scott — who popularized her romance.
She became the fashion. Old feuds, such as
they were, have been obliterated by the inter-
change of opinions and intermixture of peoples,
by intermarriage, by commerce, and by the
healthy respect which the Scottish people have
been able to win for themselves throughout the
British Empire.

From beginning to end the case of Ireland
has been entirely different. She never had a
fair start. Her growth was stunted, her natural
development arrested ; and, such is the irony of

THE TWO UNIONS. 185

fate, in the interests of religion an English Pope
issued a Bull to Henry II, directing him to
assume authority over Ireland, in order that
Ireland might be made more dutifully Catholic
than she was. For centuries English pretensions
were enforced by all the power of both State and
Church. The Norman adventurers won their way
into the country, and received grants of great
tracts of land. The feudal system — a system
which was quite uncongenial to the people, and
never took root — was introduced, and the
land struggle of the centuries commenced. In
succeeding years, this attempt to colonize
Ireland was renewed again and again ; and
after Cromwell's victorious march through the
country, he initiated a great scheme of angli-
cization which left deep marks. Practically
the whole of Ireland, with the exception of
Connaught, was portioned out among British
settlers. Connaught, the poorest corner of
Ireland, became what Americans, with reference
to the native Indians of their continent, would
call " a reservation." The Irish people were
driven into this part of their native land, and an
attempt was made to coop them up, while large
numbers of Irish women and girls were shipped
to the West Indies in a state of slavery or little
better.

The extraordinary thing about all the schemes
for the settlement of Ireland is that they have

1 86 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

always failed. The Irish people may not have
revealed the strong, sagacious qualities and
capacity for united action which enabled the
Scottish people to hold 'their own against any-
thing and anybody, and to resist the English
until they saw an opportunity of conquering
England by the peaceful arts of civilization ;
but the Irish have shown extraordinary vitality
and tenacity, great recuperative power, and a
marvellous capacity for assimilating, moulding,
and absorbing foreign elements introduced
among them. Ireland has always laid success-
ful siege to the hearts of all the settlers upon
her shores. Her people possess qualities and
characteristics which can never be obliterated.
Normans and other settlers became more Irish
than the Irish. Ireland to-day is populated by
a people of probably more various origin than
can be found in any other island of the same
size in the world ; but in the Irish people of
to-day the old Celtic qualities remain. The
original characteristics of the early inhabitants
of Ireland, in spite of all the incursions of
settlers coming across the Irish Sea, have been
preserved. In a sense, Ireland has also con-
quered England.

To turn to more modern times, Ireland suffered
from civil war and dynastic troubles in common
with England and Scotland, but she quickly
recovered. The people showed great com-

THE TWO UNIONS. 187

mercial ability. Possessed, as she was, of many
potential sources of wealth in her splendid
waterways, in the fertility of her soil, and in her
geographical position, Ireland quickly developed
important textile industries and manufactures of
all kinds. The progress made in the years
succeeding the Restoration showed the recupera-
tive strength of the country; and, although
England also progressed, it was thought by
contemporaries that the advance made by
Ireland in material wealth was, during this
period, greater than that made by any other
country. Irish success aroused English jealousy,
and Ireland was at England's mercy, while
Scotland never was. Textile and other industries
were interfered with. Her trade in live cattle
was put an end to by the English Parliament.
Ireland then turned her attention to the provi-
sion trade with England, the Continent, and the
Colonies. Again Ireland was successful, and,
as a result, Irish shipping commenced to
grow rapidly. Again England stepped in, and
gradually the whole of the Irish industries were
swept out of existence. Ireland was treated
as a foreign country and a dangerous rival.
England used the authority of her Parliament,
which even before the days of the Scottish
Union had never extended to Scotland, to
cripple Irish industry, and the Irish people,
denied the opportunity of developing their

1 88 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

trades, fell back upon agriculture, and struggled
along as best they could under a weight of
legislative restrictions from which even agricul-
ture was not exempt. Gradually they lost their
high technique, and were robbed of confidence
in themselves and in English justice.

To come down to recent times, the Fiscal
Policy, commonly called Free Trade, was detri-
mental to Ireland. It was eminently suited to
Great Britain at a period when she had prac-
tically gained the command of all the markets
of the world ; but it was disastrous to agriculture
in Ireland — the only industry which English
statesmen had permitted to survive — and, con-
sequently, it was disastrous to Ireland. The
revolution effected by steam, and the success of
Mr. Cobden, led to an immense development of
manufacture and of trade in England, and the
country was transformed from an agricultural
into the greatest industrial country of the world,
because she possessed, not only a great mercan-
tile marine, but also, in a larger measure than
any other nation developed at that time, the
raw material essential to manufacture. Scot-
land, to a large extent, shared in this advantage.
Ireland, on the other hand, suffered without any
compensating advantage. She possessed no very
large mineral deposits of assured commercial
value ; and at the time the great change in
the commercial policy of England came, and

THE TWO UNIONS. 189

Ireland was thrown open to the traders of the
world, as England and Scotland were thrown
open, the Irish people had no established manu-
facturing industries and no accumulation of
capital, and had lost, under British restrictions,
that hereditary technical skill which at one time
had rendered their manufactures successful even
against the favoured productions of England.
They had also been robbed of that inestimable
advantage — confidence in themselves.

From this brief review of some of the salient
facts in the history of Ireland, it will be seen
how very different has been the course of events
in the lt Island of Saints " and in the " Land o'
Cakes." Scotland, long before the Union, had
developed into the status of an absolutely inde-
pendent, ordered State, under a constitutionally
restricted monarchy. Scotland was always Scot-
land, and as such her policy has always been
successfully defensive against aggression, colo-
nization, and all forms of oppression. The
common Crown was not synonymous with a
common Parliament. So long as the two king-
doms remained under distinctive Parliaments,
she held what she possessed ; when the two
Parliaments were united, she kept what she had,
and proceeded to acquire more by spoiling the
Saxon. Owing to the absence of any well-
defined line of demarcation between the two
countries, Scotland has been able to impress her

I gO THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

nationality upon England to a large extent ; and,
for the same reason, England knows and under-
stands Scotland. Ireland, on the other hand,
never achieved the position of an independent,
homogeneous State under a settled form of
government. Ireland was never Ireland in the
contest against England. From want of unity,
the country gradually lost its independence, and,
from the same cause, all its power of self-defence.
As a consequence, Ireland was misused in the
past to suit the temporary requirements of
English trade, as she is now too often misused
to suit the passing requirements of mere party
politics. Owing to a boisterous Channel, Ireland
has not impressed her nationality upon England
as Scotland has done ; nor does England under-
stand her as she does Scotland. What is the
average Englishman's conception of Irishmen ?
A cross between the jovial stage Irishman — a
comical creature in knee-breeches and a frieze
tail-coat, capering with a pipe in his hat-band, a
whiskey-bottle in his pocket, and whirling a
blackthorn stick — and the weird being with
black mask and blunderbuss, who looms, with
such ridiculous inaccuracy, in the columns of
"The Times." England has not understood,
does not understand, has not taken the trouble
to understand, Ireland! The assertion by its
people of their claim to distinctive nationality,
religion, and language has only served to irritate

THE TWO UNIONS. IQI

the English people into acts of domination and
repression. An alien land system, an alien
language, an alien Church, an alien judiciary, an
alien administration, were all in succession forced
upon Ireland.

I hope I have said enough in this bare,
sketchy outline of events in proof of my conten-
tion that no analogy is to be found in the
circumstances of Scotland and Ireland at the
time of their respective Unions.

We cannot judge fairly of the Irish problem
unless we realize that we cannot argue what
Ireland ought to be from what Scotland is.

THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTER IX.

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION IN THE BRITISH
EMPIRE.

AN unsophisticated stranger chancing lately to
visit the United Kingdom might well imagine
that those who have suggested that a large
devolution of power would be greatly to the
advantage of both Ireland and the Imperial
Parliament had committed a treasonable act
against the Commonwealth. The extraordinary
misconstruction placed upon "devolution" dates
from a meeting in Dublin in August, 1903, when
it was decided to establish the Irish Reform
Association. In the first report which was
circulated, it was stated that, "while firmly
maintaining that the Parliamentary Union
between Great Britain and Ireland is essential
to the political stability of the Empire and to
the prosperity of the two islands, we believe that
such Union is compatible with the devolution to
Ireland of a larger measure of local government
than she now possesses." The mere suggestion
that Ireland should have a greater voice in the
management of her own affairs fired the wild

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 193

imagination of extreme Unionists on both sides
of the Channel to the folly of asserting that
devolution was the same as repeal ; and even
moderate and sensible men, who were aware
that devolution, whatever it might be, could not
possibly be repeal, objected to it on the ground
that it must lead up, through violence and
persecution, to repeal and independence. It is
curious how prejudice can blind the eyes of men
to all the lessons which may be deduced from
the history of the British Empire.

The story of that Empire is the record of
political devolution. The Empire consists of a
series of communities enjoying various amounts
of self-governing power derived from the sove-
reign Legislature. They are joined together by
the tie of loyalty to the Throne, and by the sense
of fellowship which has arisen from common
enjoyment of the widest possible political, re-
ligious, and social freedom. The only occasion
upon which the right of free government was
strenuously denied to a portion of the British
Empire was followed by a revolt which culmi-
nated in the formation of the United States of
America. The lesson which the rebellion of the
American colonies taught has had a most power-
ful influence for good ; and to-day the British
Empire affords the most conclusive testimony to
the benefits of those free institutions which had
their birth in the United Kingdom, and have

IQ4 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

been gradually planted in the daughter lands
oversea, and in the Indian Empire itself.

It may be as well to remark at the outset that
the suggestion that the Imperial Parliament
should delegate to a local body the control of
purely Irish affairs has no parallel in any of the
foreign federations, and that consequently the
lessons which may be learned from such examples
of autonomy as exist abroad have no real bearing
on the Irish problem as it presents itself to
the people of the United Kingdom. In the
case of Ireland, the Irish Reform Association
has proposed merely that certain powers of
control should be delegated by the Imperial
Parliament to bodies representing local opinion,
and responsive to local requirements. Where
can a parallel to such a simple measure be
found ? The United States is a federation of a
number of states, only nominally independent
and sovereign, as the Civil War revealed. In
Switzerland we have a republic constituted out
of a number of territories whose perpetual
neutrality and inviolability are guaranteed by
the Great Powers. The cases of Sweden and
Norway, as of Austria and Hungary, can be
quoted only as illustrations of the failure of
Dualism — of Home Rule of the type of
Mr. Gladstone's Bill of 1886.

For anything like a parallel, we must search
much nearer home. Autonomy in varying degrees

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 1 95

is the keynote of the British Empire. The pro-
cesses which have been at work for so many
centuries within what is now the British Empire
may be summed up thus :—

(1) The success — the fact of Empire — results
from the application of two analogous principles :
(a) the reservation to ancient communities of
their distinctive characteristics, usages, laws,
languages, and governing powers ; (b) the delega-
tion of power to new and developing communities.

(2) The one failure of the British Empire —
Ireland — is due to the negation of these prin-
ciples, and the attempt to obliterate distinctive
characteristics and usages, and to produce
absolute homogeneity by force.

The twin policies of reservation of rights and
customs, and devolution of varying measures of
self-government to new communities, have been
pursued in face of conditions which, to the
theoretical politician of to-day, might seem to
contain the seeds of inevitable failure. Under
our very eyes we may see the most extra-
ordinary lengths to which local self-government
has been safely carried in the present position
of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man
in relation to the Imperial Government. These
small islands off our own coasts are practically
independent. They make their own laws, manage
their own affairs, and, unless specifically men-
tioned, Acts of the Imperial Parliament do not

1 96 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

apply to them. The Channel Islands frankly
acknowledge the sovereignty of the Crown and
the authority of the Imperial Government, and
yet racially the people are French to their very
marrow-bones. They retain their own language ;
they have a system of military service ; and a
coinage of their own. They remain loyally
attached to the British Empire because the
Imperial Parliament has never attempted to
stamp out their language or customs, nor sought
to force British institutions upon a people who
are non-British in their cast of mind. The
same may be said of the Isle of Man. These
islands exist at our very doors as illustrations
of the wise statesmanship of our forefathers.
Theoretically, it would not be difficult for a
political extremist of the Unionist type to
prove that the large measure of self-government
enjoyed by them must result in disaster ; yet the
story of self-government in these small divisions
of the British Empire conclusively disproves such
arguments as are applied to Ireland when it is
suggested that the people of that island should
have delegated to them the management of their
own affairs.

The position of affairs in the Channel Islands
is this : — Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark are
grouped together under a Lieutenant-Governor
appointed by the Crown ; but otherwise their
Governments are separate. Jersey has a

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 1 97

Lieutenant-Governor of its own. Each island
possesses a legislature of its own, known as the
" States," and each of these assemblies is
presided over by an official styled a " bailiff,"
who is a nominee of the Crown. The States
are partly elective and partly nominated; and
the Government of the island has been, and is,
conducted in accordance with the traditions of
the people and with a view to preserving their
individual character, their customs, and their
language.

The circumstances of the Isle of Man well
merit investigation. It is inhabited by a Celtic
race, whose characteristics are not dissimilar from
those of the people of Ireland, showing distinc-
tive peculiarities of race and system of govern-
ment. The history of this island, as related by
Sir Spencer Walpole, a former Governor, and for
some time Secretary of the Post Office, is a story
of political development full of interest. Since
1866 the ancient House of Keys — which it is
claimed had its origin before the British House
of Commons — has been a representative body —
indeed, the British Government would only
consent to preserve to the island its right of
control over local finance on condition that the
old autocratic and unrepresentative House of
Keys should be reformed and constituted a
representative assembly, responsive to the wishes
of the islanders. At that time the island was

igS THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

little better than a department of the Home
Office in London, and had no voice in the
management of its finances ; but with the intro-
duction of representative government the island
acquired a very large measure of autonomy
under a Governor, appointed by the King, and
assisted by : — (i) An Upper Chamber, consisting
of a Council nominated by the Crown, and
composed chiefly of ecclesiastical and judicial
dignitaries ; (2) a representative Chamber, the
House of Keys.

The story of the development of the constitu-
tion cannot be described better than in the words
of Sir Spencer Walpole : —

In the course of ages, the constitutions and functions of the
House of Keys have been wholly altered. The assembly,
which had originally been chiefly a judicial body, has become
a branch of the Legislature ; the House, which had been
usually selected by the " Lord's" officers (when the Isle of Man
belonged to the Stanleys), and none of whose members could
sit without the "Lord's" will, has been converted into a
Representative Chamber. But time, which has played such
pranks with the Keys, has added another important element
into the Manx Legislature. By a process, which can only be
dimly traced, but whose effects are plainly visible, an Upper
Chamber has been added to the Tynwald. . . It was only by
gradual process that the Council acquired its present name.
In some statutes it was called the " Lord's Officers," in others
the " Lord's Council." It was only gradually too that its
composition became fixed. The Council now consists of the
Bishop, the Attorney-General, the Clerk of the Rolls, the two
Deemsters, the Archdeacon, the Receiver-General, and the
Vicar-General. ... It can only sit on the summons of the
Governor, who presides at its meetings. With the exception of

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 1 99

the Vicar-General, who receives his appointment from the
Bishop, all the members are appointed by the Crown ; but the
odd rule prevailing in Crown Colonies, under which official
members of the Council are required to vote with the Governor,
has never been applied to this body.

The two branches of the Legislature are of co-ordinate
authority. Public Bills may be introduced in either of them,
though, as a matter of fact, legislation usually emanates from
the Council. In the Isle of Man, as in the United Kingdom,
the work of legislation tends to fall more and more into the
hands of the Government, and the Chamber in which the
Governor sits, and in which his chief adviser, the Attorney-
General is present, naturally tends to become more and more
the House in which new laws originate.

Continuing, Sir Spencer Walpole records : —

The course which is followed with legislation is similar to
that pursued at Westminster. In the Council, Bills are read a
first time, a second time are considered clause by clause, and
read a third time, and passed. In the Keys, leave is asked for
the introduction of a Bill ; the Bill is subsequently read a
first time, considered on the second reading clause by clause,
and is then passed. In the event of a disagreement between
branches, conferences are usually held. These conferences are
always held in the Council Chamber, and the Governor, as a
general rule, represents and explains the views of the Council.
The Keys are represented in the Conference by a deputation
of five, six, or seven members, one of whom usually acts as
spokesman, but whose views are frequently supported by his
colleagues. The Conference, therefore, closely resembles what
used to be known as a free conference in Parliament ; but it
usually proves an efficient contrivance for reconciling differ-
ences. . . . Private legislation embraces, or may embrace,
most of the subjects dealt with by Parliament in what are
known as Public Local Acts, as well as in Private and Personal
Acts. Public measures deal with almost every subject con-
nected with the public welfare of the island. There are
certain points, however, with which Tynwald does not deal,

2OO THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

and which it leaves to Parliament to determine. For instance,
matters affecting the post office and telegraphic service, the
regulation of the army, the conduct of the mercantile marine
beyond the territorial limits of the island, and others, are
almost necessarily dealt with by Imperial legislation. Even
in these matters, however, there is an increasing indisposition
on the part of Tynwald to allow Parliament to legislate ; and
the members of the Court are always ready to supplement an
Act of Parliament by an Act of Tynwald to prevent the
necessity of seeing the Isle of Man expressly included in
Imperial legislation. . . . The Imperial Parliament acts on
the principle that the island should be suffered to regulate its
own affairs, and does not attempt to include it in Imperial
legislation.

Wherever the British flag waves, the empire-
building system of devolution will be found in
active work. It may be traced in all Crown
Colonies and dependencies, which are, for the
most part, small communities under the control
of the mother country through the Colonial Office.
Government is carried on from home through the
medium of governors and other public officers
assisted by councils. The amount of devolution
and representation varies. Take as an illustra-
tion the state of affairs in Malta. In this island
the Governor is assisted by an Executive Council
and by a Council of Government, which consists
of six official and thirteen elected members.
When the latter body acts contrary to Imperial
policy, as interpreted by the Governor, the right
is used to legislate by order in council, and this
course has been followed in recent years in
dealing with the language question, which was

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 2OI

the subject of local agitation and legislative
inaction. As in the past, Italian continues to be
the official language of the law courts ; but
parents may exercise the right of deciding
whether their children shall be taught English
or Italian in the schools.

Across the Atlantic we find another illustration
of devolution even more amazing in its incon-
sistency with the political theories now advocated
by official Unionism. The province of Quebec
enjoys political autonomy with very few reser-
vations. As a province of the Dominion its
local Legislature cannot interfere in specified
large questions which affect the welfare and
unity of the whole of British North America.
Quebec has ceased to be a problem to British
statesmen, because she has been trusted with
free institutions. Quebec is more essentially
French than France itself. The religion of the
people is Roman Catholicism of an almost
mediaeval type. French is the official language,
and the language spoken by the majority of the
people throughout the length and breadth of a
colony controlled by French laws interpreted by
French jurists. Quebec remains to-day French
to the backbone ; and it takes a legitimate pride
in the unique position which it occupies. Had
the Imperial Parliament interfered to apply to
Quebec those principles which it has forced
upon Ireland, it is probable that Quebec would

2O2 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

be either a distressful country, dragged after the
Imperial chariot against its will, or that it would
ere now have severed its connection with the
United Kingdom. Under a wise system of
devolution, which has made the British Empire
what it is, Quebec is to-day happy and prosperous,
loyal to the British Throne, and yet French
through and through. Quebec is surely a
remarkable illustration of the results which can
be achieved by a system of devolution.

Less remarkable, but noteworthy, is the posi-
tion which the Dominion of Canada and its
other provinces, and the Commonwealth of
Australia with its provinces, occupy under
British rule. Year by year, Canada is being
invaded by citizens of her southern neighbour.
For every 1,000 people who proceed to Canada
from the United Kingdom, 2,000 cross the
border from the United States ; yet no one
doubts the loyalty of the Dominion ; and why ?
Because Canada enjoys the largest possible
amount of political freedom. The British
Empire has never been held together by formal
and inflexible paper agreements. Year by year
the formal bonds binding the Colonies to the
mother country have been relaxed with the
consent of both parties. It has been realized
that the British Empire is founded upon
freedom. The whole story of the relations
of the United Kingdom to its Colonies and

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 2O3

Dependencies has been one long process of
devolution of political authority.

The over-sea confederations of the British
Empire are amalgamations of separate Colonies
enjoying a large measure of self-government.
Without sacrificing any material part of their
local autonomy, these Colonies were erected by
an Act of Union into a federation, enjoying
delegated authority under the Imperial Parlia-
ment. In Australasia, as in North America, the
change consisted in the upbuilding of one great
federation out of several smaller communities,
and was possible only because, on the one hand,
the Colonies guarded their powers of local
government jealously, and, on the other, because
the Federal Government had no wish to meddle
in purely local concerns.

Each of the seven provinces forming the
Dominion has a separate Parliament and ad-
ministration. They have complete power to
regulate their own affairs and dispose of their
revenues, provided only that they do not inter-
fere with the action and policy of the central
administration. The responsibility of exercising
a general control over subordinate provinces
has been vested in the Federal Government ;
but, with this reservation, the Colonies form-
ing the Dominion enjoy autonomy. In the
Federal Scheme, the legislative machinery
familiar in the United Kingdom is reproduced.
The Governor-General represents the King ; the

2O4 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Upper House is the Senate, the members ot
which are nominated for life by the Governor-
General in Council ; and the House of Commons
is the popularly elected body. Consequently
the provinces have a voice in the Dominion
affairs through the presence of their representa-
tives in the Federal Legislature, while still
retaining legislative functions over their own
provincial affairs. Each province is presided
over by a Lieutenant-Governor, appointed by the
Governor-General on the advice of his Council.
In Quebec and Nova Scotia the Legislature
consists of two Chambers ; in the other pro-
vinces of one only — the Legislative Assembly,
which is popularly elected. In Quebec the
Upper House is nominated by the Lieutenant-
Governor for life ; but in Nova Scotia both
Houses are elective. In the Dominion of
Canada the Imperial Parliament has gone so
far as to waive its claim to control the affairs of
the individual provinces. Todd, in his " Parlia-
mentary Government," records that : —

By the British North America Act, 1867, section 90, it is
provided that the ultimate authority for determining upon the
expediency of giving or withholding the Royal assent to Bills
passed by the provincial Legislatures shall be the Governor-
General of Canada, and not the Queen. This declaration of
the Imperial Parliament has been construed by the Imperial
Government itself to be a virtual relinquishment of the right
to interfere with provincial legislation under any circumstances,
and as vesting in the Dominion Governor in Council an
absolute and unlimited responsibility for deciding thereon.

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 2O5

It is unnecessary to discuss the constitutions of
the Commonwealth and Provinces of Australasia,
as they closely follow the analogy of Canada.
The main difference is that the Federal authority
is more essentially the dominating body in
Canada.

It may be said that in the case of these great
over-sea Federations, the principle at work has
been evolution rather than devolution ; and that
is theoretically true, as the process has been one
of building up. But the great principle of devo-
lution is manifest in the result. Authority is
delegated from the Imperial Parliament to the
Parliament of the Federation, and from it to the
Parliaments of the federating Colonies.

Another remarkable instance of devolution
under the British flag, although it differs in some
important respects from the other examples
which have been given, is to be found in India.
The British people are apt to speak of the
Indian Empire as though it were a concrete unit,
similar in race, language, and religion, and social
ideas. Exactly the reverse is the case. As Sir
John Strachey has pointed out —

The differences between the countries of Europe are un-
doubtedly smaller than those between the countries of India.
Scotland is more like Spain than Bengal is like the Punjaub.
European civilization has grown up under conditions which
have produced a larger measure of uniformity than has been
reached in the countries of the Indian continent, often
separated from each other by greater distances, by greater

206 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

obstacles to communication, and by greater differences of
climate. It is probable that not less than fifty languages,
which may be rightly called separate, are spoken in India.
The diversities of religion and race are as wide in India as in
Europe ; and political catastrophies have been as frequent and
as violent. There are no countries in civilized Europe in
which the people differ so much as the man of Madras differs
from the Sikh; and the languages of Southern India are as
unintelligible in Lahore as they would be in London.

The creation of a system of government
sufficiently centralized to control so vast and
varied an Empire, and sufficiently decentralized
to meet the requirements of the numerous races
and peoples composing it, presented difficulties
far more formidable than those confronting us in
Ireland ; and, but for the far-sighted wisdom of
a long line of able administrators, acting upon an
intelligent and consistent policy at home, the
problem might have proved insoluble under the
influence of improved means of communication,
leading to greater interchange of ideas, and of the
wider diffusion of education. But for the circum-
spection which was exhibited in the past, we
might be faced to-day by a problem not pleasant
to contemplate. British statesmanship, which
has sought to make of Ireland a geographical
expression, which has denied to her people
practical participation in the management of
their own affairs, and has failed so conspicuously
to make them prosperous and contented, has
been able to evolve in the Indian Empire a

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 2OJ

method of government which, while not subvert-
ing central authority, has delegated to localities
and communities a considerable share in
administrative work.

It is unfortunate that Englishmen are, as a
rule, singularly ignorant of the extent to which
devolution has been extended to India, because
full knowledge of the political conditions which
now obtain throughout the Indian Empire would
widen the political horizon of the British people,
and give them matter for thought and congratu-
lation. India is not administered by any system
of despotism ; nor is it under the heel of a huge
army of possession. As Sir Charles Dilke has
pointed out,1 India, to a stay-at-home English-
man, appears to have a large army; but, he con-
tinues, "when we consider the number of her
population, she has one of the smallest armies in
the world." Not only is this statement absolutely
true, but the peoples of the various great British
provinces have a large share in the management
of their own affairs, and the Civil Service of the
Empire is almost exclusively, except in its highest
ranks, in their own hands. Sir John Strachey2
has stated : —

The ordinary Englishman's notion is that the Secretary of
State for India and the Viceroy and his council carry on,
somehow or other, the government of India. Few Englishmen

1 "The British Empire," p. 19.

2 "India: its Administration and Progress," pp. 6, 7.

2O8 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

understand how comparatively little these high authorities
have to do with the actual administration, or appreciate the
fact that the seven or eight chief provinces of British India,
which may be compared, in area and population, to the chief
countries of Europe, have all their separate and, in a great
measure, their independent Governments. Under circum-
stances of such extreme diversity as those which exist in India,
no single system of administration could be appropriate.
Instead of introducing unsuitable novelties from other
countries, Indian or European, we have taken, in each pro-
vince, with some unfortunate exceptions, the old local institu-
tions as the basis of our own arrangements. Good or bad
administration in India depends to a far greater extent on the
Government of the province than on the distant authorities in
Calcutta and London. The vast majority of the population
is hardly conscious of the existence of the Viceroy and his
Government.

It is unnecessary to trace here in detail the
steps by which successive British administrators
in India have given to the provinces placed under
their control a large measure of local self-govern-
ment. The fact is that nearly half a century
ago the best minds in the Indian administration
realized that over-centralization would prove a
bar to progress, and that it was necessary to
find some means of eliciting and utilising local
opinion. In the Financial Statements for India
more than forty years ago, one of the most
far-seeing of Indian councillors (Mr. Laing)
remarked : —

If this great empire is ever to have the roads, the schools,
the local police, and other instruments of civilization which a
flourishing country ought to possess, it is simply impossible
that the Imperial Government can find either the money or

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 209

the management. The mere repair of the roads, where any-
thing like a sufficiency of good roads have been made, is a
matter altogether beyond the reach of any central bureau. It
is of the first importance to break through the habit of keeping
everything in dependence on Calcutta, and to teach the people
not to look to the Government for things which they can do
far better for themselves.

Over and over again the same truth was
enforced, and in the Financial Statement for
1877-8 Sir John Strachey reiterated that the
better management of the affairs of the provinces
of India could be obtained only by giving to the
local Governments, which have in their hands
the actual working of the great branches of the
revenue, a direct and, so to speak, a personal
interest in the management.

It may be very wrong (Sir John Strachey remarked), but it
is true, and will continue to be true while human nature
remains what it is, that the local authorities take little interest
in looking after the financial affairs of that abstraction, the
supreme Government, compared with the interest which they
take in matters which immediately affect the people whom
they have to govern.

And this same writer added that —

When local Governments feel that good administration of
the excise and stamps and other branches of revenue will give
to them, and not only to the Government of India, increased
incomes and increased means of carrying out the improve-
ments which they have at heart, then, and not till then, we
shall get the good administration which we desire, and with it,
I am satisfied, we shall obtain a stronger and more real
power of control on the part of the Central Government than
we can now exercise.

210 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Thanks to Lord Mayo and Lord Lytton, these
primary truths met with full recognition ; and
gradually the Government of India was decen-
tralized, and the provincial authorities and local
administrations were given greater responsibility
in financial and administrative work. Slowly
but surely the Viceroys and their advisers have
rolled down such responsibilities as they could
from their own shoulders on to the shoulders of
those charged with the administration of pro-
vincial affairs. At the same time the Civil
Service of the country was, in a great measure,
thrown open.

No higher authority can be quoted on this
point than Sir John Strachey. Referring to the
matter,1 he says : —

Although the highest offices of control, which are compara-
tively few in number, are necessarily held by Englishmen, by
far the greater, and a most important, part of the active ad-
ministration is in native hands. Excluding all the 864 offices
to which I have already referred (posts ordinarily, but by no
means always, held by the Covenanted Civil Service), and
excluding also all posts of minor importance, nearly all of
which are held by natives, there are about 3,700 persons hold-
ing offices in the superior branches of the executive and
judicial services, and among them there are only about 100
Europeans. The number of natives employed in the public
service has gone on constantly increasing, and, with very rare
exceptions, they now hold all offices other than those held
by the comparatively small body of men appointed in Eng-
land. . . . The organization of our great and highly
efficient Native Civil Service is one of the most successful

1 " India : its Administration and Progress," pp. 82, 83.

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 211

achievements of the British Government in India. Native
officers manage by far the greater part of the;gbusiness con-
nected with all branches of the revenue, and withjjthe multi-
farious interests in land. Natives dispose of most of the
magisterial work. The duties of the Civil Courts throughout
India, excepting the Courts of Appeal, are almost entirely
entrusted to the native judges. Native judges sit on the
Bench in each of the High Courts. For many years past
native judges have exercised jurisdiction in all classes of civil
cases, over natives and Europeans alike.

In the history of the Imperial Government of
a dependency no analogy can be found to the
breadth of view and wise generosity which has
been shown in the control of the Indian Empire.
If the British Government had shown the same
trust of the Irish people — without reference to
creed or politics — as they have reposed in the
peoples of India in giving them the opportunity
of personal and responsible service in the
government of their country, the position of
Ireland to-day would have been very different
from what it is, and we should have heard less
about " the English garrison."

India is, to a large extent, defended by its
own soldiers, its laws administered by its own
judges, and its affairs administered by its own
servants, and it now only remains to refer to
the system of decentralization and localization
by which administrative and legislative functions
have been gradually devolved. At the head of
the Indian Government is the Governor-General
in Council. The ordinary members of the

212 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Council are officials appointed by the Crown ;
but for the purposes of legislation additional
members are nominated to the Council. Not
less than one-half of these additional members
must be persons not holding office under the
Government, and some of them are natives of
India. Under the Act of 1861 the maximum
number of additional members was fixed at
twelve. The same principle was applied to the
Legislatures in the provinces. In 1892 a signifi-
cant change was made in recognition of the fact
that the time had arrived when the administration
might gain much advantage if public opinion
could be brought more largely to bear upon it.
" This," says Sir John Strachey, " was especially
true of the Provincial Government, the ordinary
business of which is of a kind in which local
knowledge is necessary, and on which the
expression of intelligent, independent criticism
may often be very valuable." In this year the
number of additional members in the Council of
the Governor-General was fixed at not less than
ten and not more than sixteen, at the discretion
of the Viceroy. Of the sixteen additional
members at present on the Council, six are
official, and ten are non-official.

Four of the latter (Sir John Strachey records) are appointed
by the Governor-General on the recommendation of a majority
of the non-official additional members of the Provincial Legisla-
tures, each of these bodies recommending one member. A
fifth member is recommended by the Calcutta Chamber of

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 213

Commerce. The Governor-General can, if he thinks fit,
decline to accept a recommendation thus made, and in that
case a fresh recommendation is submitted to him. The
remaining five non-official members are nominated at the
discretion of the Governor-General, " in such manner as shall
appear to him most suitable with reference to the legislative
business to be brought before the Council, and the due re-
presentation of the different classes of the community." In
the words of a despatch from the Government of India,
"measures may at one time be before the Council, relating to
interests which ought to be specially represented in their dis-
cussion ; at another time the legislative work may be of a
different description, calling for the selection of representatives
from particular local divisions of the Empire, or from persons
chosen to represent the most skilled opinion upon large
measures affecting British India as a whole." It is desired
also to reserve to the Governor-General the liberty of inviting
representatives from Native States. Under the law as it stood
before the passing of the Act of 1892, there was no oppor-
tunity of criticising the financial policy of the Government,
except on those occasions when financial legislation was neces-
sary. Under the rules now in force, the annual Financial
Statement must be made publicly in the Council ; every
member is at liberty to make any observations that he thinks
fit ; and the Financial Member of the Council and the
President have the right of reply.

In the case of the Governments of Bombay
and Madras, the additional members nominated
by the Governors to join their Councils for
legislative purposes number twenty, of whom,
under the rules laid down, not more than nine
can be officials. To take the Bombay Council
as an example of the method of carrying out the
provisions of the Act of 1892, nominations to
eight of the eleven non-official seats are made by

214 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

the Governor on the recommendation of various
bodies and associations. The Corporation of
Bombay and the Senate of the University each
recommend one member, six members are nomi-
nated by groups of municipal corporations,
groups of district local boards, classes of large
landowners, and by such associations of
merchants, manufacturers, or tradesmen as the
Governor-General may prescribe ; while the
remaining non-official members are nominated
by the Governor in such manner as shall, in his
opinion, secure a fair representation of the
different classes of the community. In India we
have a strong central authority and a number
of provincial governments in large measure
responsive to the best local opinion. Sir John
Strachey has pointed out : —

There was a time when the tendency in India was towards
greater centralization ; but since the Viceroyalty of Lord Mayo
the current has happily turned in the other direction, and the
Provincial Governments are now far more independent than
they were. This change has been mainly the result of the
measures of financial decentralization initiated in 1870. . . .
The Government of India now interferes very little with the
details of provincial administration. The fact is recognized
that the Provincial Governments necessarily possess far more
knowledge of local requirements and conditions than any to
which the distant authorities of the Central Government can
pretend.

In no particular has the principle of devolu-
tion in India been carried out with more
conspicuous success than in relation to

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 215

provincial finance. The Central Government
fully realize that the influence of local opinion
upon local financial administration is wise,
healthy, and economical. The principle which
has been adopted is that each Provincial
Government must be responsible for the
management of its local finances ; and this
policy has been carried out by assigning to each
province a certain income capable of expansion
by good administration, and by giving the
provincial authorities, subject to some general
conditions, complete power to spend this income
as they think best in the interests of the
territory and population under their control.
Periodically what is known as a " settlement " is
made between the Central Government and the
provincial authorities. Under this " regime "
local governments possess, in respect to local
revenue's and expenditure, the financial power of
control which was exercised by the Central
Government before the system of provincial
finance was introduced. All revenue and
expenditure are arranged under the heads
" Imperial " and " Provincial," in fixed pro-
portion. The revenue derived from land, excise,
stamps, assigned taxes, and many other sources
is shared, in proportions varying in different
provinces, between the Central and Provincial
Governments. On the other side of the
provincial ledger, the cost of administering the

2l6 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

various departments appears. The provinces
have to meet the whole outlay incurred in the
collection of the chief sources of revenue, and in
the administration of nearly all the civil services
of their Governments, which are charged with
the responsibility of maintaining all their services
in a state of efficiency, any increased expendi-
ture being met either from economies in the
administration or from the development of the
revenues. Receipts and charges under some
heads are treated as wholly, or mainly, Imperial ;
among the former, for instance, are the Army
charges, sea customs, and the public debt.

The revenues assigned to the Provincial
Governments, either in whole or in part, are
such as they can develop by wise administration.
Reviewing this method of financial devolution,
for which, as Financial Member of the Council
during Lord Lytton's Viceroyalty, he was largely
responsible, Sir John Strachey says : —

While no useful powers of financial control have been
surrendered by the Central Government, the Provincial
Governments have been freed from vexatious interference
which weakened their authority and efficiency, and their rela-
tions towards the Government of India have become more
harmonious. They are entrusted with the management of
those branches of the revenue which depend for their pro-
ductiveness on good administration, and they have now a
direct and, so to speak, a personal interest in rendering that
management as efficient as possible, because they know that
a large portion of any increase of income that may be obtained
will be at their disposal for useful expenditure within their own

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 2iy

provinces. There has been obtained, at the same time, a
stronger and more real power of control by the Central
Government than was before possible.

In 1900— i, out of a total gross revenue of
.£75,300,000, the Provincial Governments were
entrusted with the expenditure of £18,600,000 ;
and from this income, as has been already
stated, they had to provide for the expenditure,
in whole or in part, of the various departments
assigned to them. The result has been re-
markable in its economical aspects. Since the
Provincial Governments have the benefit of any
economies which they can effect in the adminis-
tration, and since also they obtain either in
whole or in part the increase of revenue which
may accrue from a wise development of their
resources, they have every encouragement to
manage their finances with enterprise and fore-
sight. Under this scheme, India has made
remarkable progress ; and the public burdens
are to-day lighter than they have ever been.
Taxation furnishes only a little more than one-
fourth of the public income of the Empire. In
spite of the remission of taxation, the gross
revenues of India have increased from thirty-
two millions in 1857, the last year of the East
India Company, to over seventy-five millions in
1901. Assuredly this experiment in devolution
in India has been one of the most remark-
able successes in any department of British
administration.

2l8 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

It may be asked what bearing have these
illustrations of Colonial and Indian devolution
upon the problem which Ireland presents to
British statesmen. It is true that no exact
parallel can be drawn between Ireland and the
various communities above mentioned. Her
political status in reference to Great Britain is
quite distinct. She sends representatives to the
Imperial Parliament, and the others do not.
Nevertheless the political status of Ireland is
analogous to that of the provinces of Canada,
Australia, and India, in reference to their
respective Central Governments ; and a lesson
well worthy of study is to be found in the
instances I have mentioned of the methods
whereby the friction arising from racial, social,
and religious differences has been successfully
overcome.

In the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man,
Quebec, and India, we have instances of the
salutary results of non-interference with existing
customs and institutions, coupled with self-
governing power derived from a superior source.
The Crown Colonies are cases of communities
enjoying a limited amount of autonomy. To
the self-governing Colonies a larger amount of
autonomy has been granted ; and the Dominion
of Canada and the Commonwealth of Australia
are examples of the development of devolution
to the fullest possible extent. In all these cases

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 2 19

the principle works well ; and the lesson to be
deduced from them is that the great principle
of devolution is capable of application in various
degrees to communities varying to an infinite
extent, and that the result is good. In Ireland
we have an example of perpetual interference
with existing customs and institutions, and of
the negation of self-governing power, and the
result is bad. The assumption that devolution
cannot with advantage be extended to Ireland,
may be tnie ; but certainly it is contrary to all
the evidence derived from experience throughout
the Empire.

The position of Ireland is quite peculiar, and
the problem to be solved consequently is
peculiar also. She is represented in the Im-
perial Parliament, and must, for many reasons
already mentioned, continue to be so repre-
sented. The mistake that has been made
consists in the assumption that the amalga-
mation of Legislatures implied the absorption
of Ireland by Great Britain, and that legisla-
tive union involved the transference of all
Irish local business to the Imperial Parliament.
Ireland cannot be absorbed or obliterated. Her
affairs cannot be attended to by the Imperial
Parliament. Her non-political position in rela-
tion to Great Britain is very similar to that of
Quebec in reference to Canada, or to that of the
provinces of India to the Central Government.

22O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Ireland contains a population which is racially
different in almost all respects from the people of
Great Britain ; and the financial, commercial,
and social problems of the two countries are
distinct, and demand different methods of
solution.

Ireland is an agricultural country, and Great
Britain a manufacturing country. Ireland is the
"Quebec" of the United Kingdom. Like
Quebec, it is peopled by a race alien in customs
and religion to the British people. Like Quebec,
it sends representatives to the central legis-
lative assembly ; but, unlike Quebec, it has
little control over its local affairs. Quebec is
contented, happy, and prosperous. Ireland is
discontented, unhappy, and not prosperous. The
difference is remarkable ; the cause not far to
seek.

Devolution, in a sense, has been and is applied
to Ireland, but it is devolution of the wrong
type. Between the Parliament at Westminster
and the Irish people, the most expensive,
wasteful, incongruous, unsympathetic system of
government ever devised by man is interposed.
The government of Ireland is placed under the
control nominally of the Lord Lieutenant — a
nominee of the political party which happens to
be in the majority in the Imperial Parliament, and
exercising but little power except over the police
and judiciary. In almost all essential respects,

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 221

the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland differs from
the Governors who preside over the Channel
Islands and the Isle of Man, and the Governors-
General, or the Lieutenant-Governors, who
preside over the federal and provisional adminis-
trations in the Colonies. The administration of
the country is in the hands of a number of
Boards and spending Departments, some quite
irresponsible, and others practically responsible
only to the Treasury Board in London. Power
has been devolved upon an irresponsible bureau-
cracy, a very different form of devolution from
that which has succeeded so admirably throughout
the Empire.

In view of the wide measures of self-govern-
ment which have been universally conceded
throughout the Empire, and which have been
retained in the Isle of Man and the Channel
Islands, it is a gross absurdity for any apologist
for the present inefficient administration of Irish
affairs to claim that proposals to confer upon
Ireland such financial control and such legislative
functions as may be compatible with the main-
tenance of the Union, and with the supremacy of
Parliament, would endanger the integrity of the
Empire, or undermine the Act of Union. Ireland
is to-day poor, discontented, and depressed,
largely because the people of the country have
little voice in the control of their own affairs, which
they alone are best fitted to understand, and have

222 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

no incentive to co-operate in effecting economies.
Until the healthy influence of public opinion is
brought to bear upon Irish administration and
Irish finance, the country will continue to be the
most expensively administered in the world, and
Ireland will remain a bar in the Imperial
Parliament to the solution of those Imperial
and British problems which urgently require
attention. By conceding to Ireland some such
measure of self-government Great Britain will be
at least making an effort to remove a reproach
from her history ; and, by freeing the Imperial
Parliament from the intrusion of Irish local
affairs, will enable it to deal with matters more
legitimately suitable for deliberation in the first
legislative assembly in the world.

In the face of such amazing illustrations of
the success attending devolution as those which
have been mentioned, what valid excuse can be
found for the frenzied opposition with which the
suggestion that the Imperial Parliament should
delegate to Ireland a larger measure of local
government has been met ? It may be said
that the Colonies enjoy the highest possible
measure of devolution because they are far re-
moved from the mother country. This argu-
ment does not apply to the Channel Isles or to
the Isle of Man ; and in the case even of Canada,
it may be recalled that the Dominion to-day is
as near to London in point of time as Ireland

MODELS OF DEVOLUTION. 223

was fifty or sixty years ago. The British Colo-
nies have been granted local self-government,
not because of the distance which separates them
from London, but from the fact that our fore-
fathers realized that in the Colonies different
conditions existed, and that local governing
bodies were best able to adapt local institutions
to the needs of the people. This principle has
been carried out practically everywhere except
in Ireland, and we see the results.

Devolution has been applied to ever}7 part
of the British Empire, and it has prospered ;
devolution has not been applied to Ireland,
and she does not prosper. The electors of
the United Kingdom must sooner or later
decide whether Ireland is to continue her down-
ward tendency, whether the poorhouses and
lunatic asylums are to go on enlarging their
accommodation, whether the emigration ships
shall continue to take away all that is brightest
and best of the people, whether trade is to remain
stagnant, or whether an effort shall be made to
back the people in their own efforts to rescue the
country from decay. Owing to the tendencies
which are at work in Ireland, the problem
becomes more and more difficult of solution.
The intellectually and physically rich material
by which the rejuvenation of the country must
be carried out is becoming scarcer every day.

224 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Year by year, a heavy load of taxation presses
with increasing severity upon a waning popula-
tion, and the contribution of Ireland to Imperial
purposes becomes less and less. Ireland, instead
of being, as she ought to be, a willing helper,
will become a financial difficulty to Great Britain,
a drag and hindrance to the progress and
development of the Empire.

DEVOLUTION AND UNIONISM. 225

CHAPTER X.

DEVOLUTION AND UNIONISM ; A CONSISTENT
POLICY.

WHATEVER may be said of devolution on its
merits, I claim for it that it is at any rate
consistent with the policy which found accep-
tance among Unionists even at a time when
Ireland was convulsed with disorder, and the
chances of beneficial results following upon re-
form were exceedingly remote. Twenty years
ago, Mr. Chamberlain and the Duke of Devon-
shire (then the Marquis of Hartington) were the
recognized leaders of those who seceded from
Mr. Gladstone ; and in support of my claim of
consistency for devolution, I cannot turn to a
better authority than Mr. Chamberlain himself,
who was not only the first exponent of the
principle, but also the author of the word
" devolution," as applied to Ireland. In a
manifesto to his supporters, issued on June nth,
I886,1 he said: —
The objects to be kept in view are : —

i. To relieve the Imperial Parliament by devolution of

Irish local business, and to set it free for other and

more important work.

1 " Home Rule and the Irish Question." (London : Swan,
Sonnenschein.)

Q

226 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

2. To secure the free representation of Irish opinion in

all matters of purely Irish concern.

3. To offer to Irishmen a fair field for legitimate local

ambition and patriotism, and to bring back the
attention of the Irish people, now diverted to a
barren conflict in the Imperial Parliament, to the
practical consideration of their own wants and
necessities.

And, lastly, by removing all unnecessary interference with
Irish Government on the part of Great Britain, to
diminish the causes of irritation and the opportunity
of collision.

These were the aims of Mr. Chamberlain in
1886, and they are the aims of devolutionists
to-day. We appeal to the moderate opinion
in Great Britain for " a delegation, not a
surrender, of power"1 on the part of the
Imperial Parliament; and we, in common with
Mr. Chamberlain in i886,2 consider that "if the
representation of Ireland at Westminster were
maintained on its present footing, if Irishmen
were allowed to vote and speak on all subjects
not specially referred to them at Dublin, then
they would remain an integral part of this
Imperial realm ; they would have their share in
its privileges, and their responsibility for its
burdens." "In that case," said Mr. Chamber-
lain in i8862 — and the Irish Reform Association
merely echoes his words to-day — " the Imperial
Parliament would be able to maintain its control

1 " Home Rule and the Irish Question," p. 132.
a Idem, p. 95.

DEVOLUTION AND UNIONISM. 227

over Imperial taxation in Ireland, and for all
Imperial purposes the Parliament at Westminster
would speak for a United Kingdom."

The Irish Reform Association is not prepared
to quarrel with either the one side or the other
as to the name which should be given to the
body set up in Dublin to manage local affairs :
they agree, however, with Mr. Chamberlain, that
"the legislative authority in Dublin" — it maybe
called a Parliament — "will be a subordinate and
not a co-equal authority."

Mr. Chamberlain outlined his views on Irish
policy at a time when Ireland was not peaceful,
when the bitter political feelings aroused by the
Repeal agitation still influenced men's minds on
both sides of the Irish Sea, when the land war
was at its height, and when social disorder was
prevalent.

It was at this period also that the Duke of
Devonshire (then the Marquis of Hartington)
expressed himself in favour of devolution, pro-
vided that " the powers which may be conferred
on local bodies should be delegated — not sur-
rendered— by Parliament"; that "the subjects
to be delegated should be clearly defined ; and
the right of Parliament to control and revise
the action of legislative or administrative autho-
rities should be quite clearly reserved" ; and
that " the administration of justice ought to

228 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

remain in the hands of an authority which is
responsible to Parliament. ' ' The Duke of Devon-
shire admitted that this might not satisfy the
demands of the Nationalists; but " if the great
majority of the people of the United Kingdom
. . . firmly declare . . . that they are ready to
give to Ireland as large a measure of self-govern-
ment as is consistent with the Union, it remains
to be proved whether the Irish people will be
persuaded to maintain a hopeless and unneces-
sary contest."

My object in quoting these very definite state-
ments is to show that the policy which was out-
lined by the recognized leaders of the Liberal
Unionist party twenty years ago is in all
essentials the same as the policy of the Irish
Reform Association of to-day. They then desired
" to relieve the Imperial Parliament by devolu-
tion of Irish local business," and " to give to
Ireland as large a measure of self-government as
is consistent with the Union." Our desires now
cannot be more clearly or concisely expressed.
This policy of moderation and conciliation was
not enunciated by the Duke of Devonshire and
Mr. Chamberlain as a mere party manoeuvre to
suit the exigencies of the hour ; nor was it con-
fined to politics. Mr. Chamberlain in particular
remained consistent in his adherence to a pro-
gressive and intelligent Unionist policy. Writing,

DEVOLUTION AND UNIONISM. 22Q

in 1888, a preface to a pamphlet entitled " A
Unionist Policy for Ireland," he remarked : —

He must be a blind student of history, and especially of Irish
history, who believes that a merely negative policy can do more
than produce a temporary result, or that coercion in any form
is a specific against widespread discontent, or a remedy for
grievances that have a real foundation. . . . Liberal Unionists
then — because there are Liberal and Conservative Unionists —
because they are Unionists must alike recognize the necessity
for seeking for some permanent remedy for Irish discontent,
and the first step must be to discover its material cause. Does
there exist a statesman or politician who is not, in his own
mind, convinced that the material causes are economic and
agrarian ? . . . If we are to continue to govern Ireland as a
part of the United Kingdom, we must do for Ireland at least
as much as a patriotic and capable Irish Parliament would
accomplish. Because England is the richest country in the
world, and because the Anglo-Saxon race is the most energetic
and pushing on the face of the globe, we have no right to
conclude that public works, which are safely left to individual
energy and private speculation here, can be entrusted to
similar agencies in Ireland.

Here, again, I must hasten to give Mr. Chamber-
lain credit for being the first to lay down two
principles of the utmost importance which I
have, to the best of my ability, consistently
advocated : —

(i) That the Imperial Parliament must do
at least as much as a patriotic and
capable Irish Parliament would ac-
complish. Has it done so in, for
instance, the matter of higher educa-
tion?

230 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

(2) That the circumstances of Ireland being-
exceptional, she has a moral claim
and, under the Act of Union, a
statutory claim, to exceptional treat-
ment. Has that claim been recog-
nized? Only to a very limited extent.

Dealing with Land Purchase, Mr. Chamber-
lain continued : —

It is clear that suggested land reform must precede the
political change ; and until the long-standing quarrel between
land-owners and land-occupiers has been compounded, it
will not be safe to trust the latter with full control over

the property of the former But assuming that the

social war which now exists in Ireland were terminated by a
reasonable settlement, there are strong reasons for desiring, on
the one hand, to relieve the Imperial Parliament of some of
the constantly increasing burden of its local work, and, on the
other hand, to open up to Irishmen in their own country a
larger field of local ambition, together with greater liberty of
action and greater personal responsibility. Such a result is
surely not beyond the reach of statesmanship, and might be
effected without in the least impairing the authority of
Parliament, and without creating Legislatures which, from their
nature, would infallibly tend to become co-ordinate powers.

There is the policy of the Irish Reform
Association clearly set forth ; and the time
has come for its realization. The opportunity
sought for by Mr. Chamberlain is present with
us. He desired first to see a reasonable settle-
ment of the Land Question. The Land Question
is in course of a reasonable settlement. Why,
then, should Unionists refuse to " relieve the

DEVOLUTION AND UNIONISM. 231

Imperial Parliament"? Why deny "to Irish-
men in their own country a larger field of local
ambition, together with greater liberty of action
and greater personal responsibility" ? What are
the principal planks in our platform ? That the
spirit of the Act of Union should be acted upon ;
that the exceptional circumstances of Ireland
require exceptional treatment; and that public
money that can be profitably employed in
developing the country should be devoted to
that purpose; that such questions as Education
should be justly and generously settled by the
Imperial Parliament ; that the Land Question
should be settled in the spirit and according to
the terms of the Land Conference Report ; that
Ireland should be given the largest possible
amount of self-governing power consistent with
the supremacy of Parliament and the maintenance
of the Union. Such are our proposals, and they
are practically identical with those put forward
by Unionists twenty years ago.

Mr. Chamberlain described himself in 1886
as being and having always been a Home
Ruler, but not in the Gladstonian sense.
Mr. Gladstone's Bill was not, he said, Home
Rule ; it was Separation. He was a devolutionist,
and even as recently as April, 1893, in the course
of an article in "The Nineteenth Century,"
he stated that " Every Liberal Unionist will
readily agree" with a desire " to give to Ireland

232 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

the management of such of its affairs as can be
handed over to an Irish Assembly without any
risk or danger to this country, and, I hope that
I may add, without the loss of honour that would
be involved if the property and the liberties of
all Her Majesty's subjects were not fully
safeguarded."

The proposals of the Irish Reform Association
fulfil the conditions laid down long ago by the
recognized leaders of the Liberal wing of the
Unionist party, tacitly accepted, to say the very
least of it, by the Conservative wing, and
tentatively acted upon by the whole party
up to a quite recent date. It is difficult to
perceive any material difference between those
proposals and the general terms of the agreement
entered into in 1902 between Mr. Wyndham and
Sir Antony MacDonnell (Appendix VI). It is
true that in the latter " the co-ordination,
control, and direction of boards and other
administrative agencies" is mentioned. This
is a somewhat cryptic utterance, and it may
well be that the proposals of the Irish Reform
Association were in advance of the ideas enter-
tained by Mr. Wyndham and Sir Antony
MacDonnell ; though it is not easy to see how
boards and administrative agencies at present
controlled by the Treasury are to be otherwise
controlled except by means of a transfer of
control and direction from the Treasury to a

DEVOLUTION AND UNIONISM. 233

local body in Ireland. The aims of the Irish
Reform Association — as contained in the resolu-
tion of August 3ist, 1904 — may be set forth
here once more for the purpose of comparison.
The more detailed suggestions will be found in
Appendix I.

Believing as we do that the prosperity of the people of
Ireland, the development of the resources of the country, and
the satisfactory settlement of the Land and other questions,
depend upon the pursuance of a policy of conciliation and
good-will and of reform, we desire to do everything in our
power to promote a union of all moderate and progressive
opinion, irrespective of creed or class ; to discourage sectarian
strife and class animosities from whatever source arising; to
co-operate in re-creating and promoting industrial enterprises ;
and to advocate all practical measures of reform.

While firmly maintaining that the Parliamentary Union
between Great Britain and Ireland is essential to the political
stability of the Empire, and to the prosperity of the two
islands, we believe that such union is compatible with the
devolution to Ireland of a larger measure of local government
than she now possesses.

We consider that this devolution, while avoiding matters of
Imperial concern, and subjects of common interest to the
Kingdom as a whole, would be beneficial to Ireland, and
would relieve the Imperial Parliament of a mass of business
with which it cannot now deal satisfactorily, and which
occupies its time to the detriment of much more important
concerns. In particular, we consider the present system of
financial administration to be wasteful and inappreciative of
the needs of the country.

We think it possible to devise a system of Irish finance
whereby the expenditure could be conducted in a more
efficient and economic manner, and whereby the sources of
revenue might be expanded. We believe that a remedy for the
present unsatisfactory system can be found in such a decen-
tralization or localization of Irish finance as will secure to its

234 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

administration the application of local knowledge, interest, and
ability, without in any way sacrificing the ultimate control over
the estimates presented, or in respect of the audit of money
expended, at present possessed by the Imperial Parliament.
All moneys derived from administrative reform, together with
whatever proportion of the general revenue is allocated to
Irish purposes, should be administered subject to the above
conditions.

We think that the time has come to extend to Ireland the
system of Private Bill Legislation which has been so success-
fully worked in Scotland, with such modifications as Scotch
experience may suggest, as may be necessary to meet the
requirements of this country.

We are of opinion that a settlement of the question of higher
education is urgently needed, and that the whole system of
education in this country requires remodelling and co-ordinating.

We desire to do all in our power to further the policy of
land-purchase in the spirit of, and on the general lines laid
down in, the Land Conference Report.

We consider that suitable provision for the housing of the
labouring classes is of the utmost importance ; and we shall be
prepared to co-operate in any practical proposals having the
betterment of that class in view.

Among many other problems already existing, or which may
arise in the future, the above-mentioned appear to us to com-
prise those most deserving of immediate attention, and which
afford the most reasonable prospect of attaining practical
results ; towards their solution we earnestly invite the co-
operation of all Irishmen who have the highest interests of
their country at heart.

It is difficult to discover any material differ-
ence between the attitude of Unionists twenty
years ago and that of the Irish Reform Asso-
ciation to-day; impossible to exaggerate the
difference between the former wise, constructive,
Unionist policy and the foolish policy of mere

DEVOLUTION AND UNIONISM. 235

negation adopted shortly before the last General
Election by official Unionism. If any of my
Unionist friends in authority do me the honour
of perusing these pages, I would ask of them a
plain answer to a plain question. What has
occurred in Ireland to justify so great a reaction-
ary change? When official Unionism advocated
devolution, the condition of Ireland was deplorable
and dangerous : agrarian war was at its height ;
the law was openly defied ; outrage was the only
argument; the country was " marching through
rapine to the dismemberment of the Empire."
Now that official Unionism repudiates devolu-
tion, the Land Question is in course of settlement;
the country is tranquil; a conciliatory spirit is
active and growing; and a strong disposition
towards constitutional agitation for the redress
of grievances is manifesting itself. No redress
in deference to peaceful, constitutional methods ;
outrage the only remedy ; crime the only cure —
what a ghastly lesson to teach a people! To
placate the remnant of the old ascendancy party,
and secure some half-a-dozen votes at a critical
moment of their waning career, the Irish policy of
the late Government was reversed. To rally their
scattered forces before an election, the former
policy of constructive reform was dubbed repeal,
and "coercion" — " no reform" are the cries.
A strange method, indeed, of teaching the Irish
people to appeal with confidence to the sense of

236 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

justice and fair play. Progress and construction
were the keynotes of Unionist policy. In an evil
moment that policy was abandoned. I deeply
regret it. In a good moment the party in power
took up that policy, and I greatly rejoice, for
policy is more important than party in my eyes.
My party, in what I trust may prove to have
been a moment of temporary aberration of intel-
lect, turned their coats inside out ; I am fain to
believe that when sanity reasserts itself they will
turn them inside in again. They surely cannot
long continue false to themselves, untrue to their
tradition, to the whole set and tendency of
their general policy, and deaf to the dictates of
common-sense. For the present the mission has
fallen into other hands, and with all my heart I
wish them God speed in it ; but I hope, and I
think I am justified in hoping, that at long last
there is a reasonable chance of continuity in
Irish policy, and that it is legitimate to expect
that Ireland — her problems, difficulties, and
needs — will be fairly dealt with by both great
political parties, and with mutual consent.

FINAL WORDS. 237

CHAPTER XI.

FINAL WORDS.

I AM a landlord, a Protestant, and a Unionist.
I hold to my class, my creed, and my political
faith. I know that class and creed must rely
upon their intrinsic merits, and will perish under
the false stimulus of privilege. I believe that
Unionism must justify itself in its results, and
must wither under a policy of mere negation.
I repudiate with what strength is in me the
iniquitous attempts to use Ireland as a mere
pawn in the political game, to prejudice the
people of Great Britain against her by placing
an utterly false presentment of her before them,
and to drive her people out of the path of con-
ciliation, and of constitutional demand, back into
the old lamentable methods of disorder and crime.
As soon as Ireland began to recover from the
wounds which the struggle for Repeal had left
upon her, Mr. Arthur Balfour, as Chief Secretary
for Ireland, initiated a new policy of conciliation
and redress. He perceived that money was
urgently needed, and could be profitably em-
ployed in developing the country ; and much
good work was done in opening up the more

238 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

backward parts by light railways and other
means. This policy was continued by Mr. Gerald
Balfour, and was amplified by the application to
Ireland of the Local Government Act, the benefits
of which England had for some time enjoyed.
The Act of 1898 substituted a democratic
body — the County Councils — for the Grand
Juries which had attended to county business,
and the total result has proved decidedly
good. I have heard it said indeed, in many
quarters, that the Act works better — more econo-
mically— in Ireland than in the sister kingdom.
Irish County Councillors evince, for the most
part, a touching regard for the rates, and are
economically inclined. On the other hand, in
England, where they have more to spend, and
have better opportunities of borrowing, County
Councils are more luxuriously disposed. As a
consequence, the amount of local taxation and
local debt has now become notorious in England,
and is large enough almost to shake the founda-
tions of municipal credit.

The Local Government Act, which conceded
to the Irish people the privilege, or rather the
right, of self-government in purely local affairs,
is working well. It is true that Councils contain
some self-advertising and ignorant agitators of
the Thersites type, who delight in displaying
the vitriolic qualities of rhetoric in and out of
season; but, nevertheless, it cannot be denied

FINAL WORDS. 239

that the County Councils do their work well,
and have had immense educational value in
teaching the people of Ireland the important
lessons to be derived, and to be alone derived,
from responsibility for the conduct of their own
affairs.

Mr. Wyndham carried on the work of wise,
constructive reform. His programme during
office comprised endeavours to deal with many
of the social problems affecting Ireland, and
among them the determination to settle the great
grievance, which, among all Ireland's grievances,
cried most clamantly for redress, namely, the
Land Question. He desired to make a gradual
but complete revolution in the system of tenure,
to abolish dual ownership — a pernicious system
— and to restore single ownership by enabling
the occupying tenants to offer a fair price for
the freehold of their farms by means of money
advanced to them by the State on easy terms.
For such a scheme to be successful it was
obviously necessary that it should meet with, at
any rate, a large measure of general approval ;
and, to ascertain whether such was likely to be
the case, it was suggested that a conference of
representatives of the interested parties should
be convened. When this suggestion was first
mooted, great was the incredulity which greeted
its chances of fulfilment. The sitting of this Con-
ference was the most remarkable and significant

240 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

fact in Irish politics in the last fifty years. Here
were to be observed representatives of the most
discordant and antipathetic sections of Irishmen,
sitting peacefully and amiably in conference,
searching for some solution which might supply
the wants and heal the wounds of all parties.
Here were Nationalist and Unionist, Protestant
and Catholic, representatives of landlord and
tenant — discordant enough elements in all con-
science— and yet the good sense and conciliatory
spirit with which the leaders of all sections were
imbued were such as to carry through their
deliberations to a satisfactory conclusion.

The sitting of this Conference, and its suc-
cessful issue, is the greatest political event in
Irish history in modern times, not so much on
account of the legislation which was one of its
immediate results, but because the success of
the Conference was a demonstration of a fact
which up to that time was conceived to be non-
existent— namely, that Irishmen of all shades of
opinion could agree to try and settle their
differences, and to heal the wounds of Ireland by
a method of patriotic co-operation. If this
applied in the case of the Land Question — a
subject of contention more bitter than any other,
and more prolific of strife— it is surely permissible
to hope that other outstanding difficulties may
be settled in a similar spirit. The Land Con-
ference established a fact infinitely potent for

FINAL WORDS. 241

good ; and it is my belief that if the spirit of
conciliation which was there initiated and ex-
emplified is given fair play, it will develop in
the future as the great solvent of Ireland's
difficulties, smoothing down differences existing
between warring factions, gradually drawing
Ireland into paths of peace, and turning her
into the home of a hopeful people, capable
of utilizing to the full measures of wise reform.

The Land Conference was quite peculiar. The
granting of Local Government to Ireland was the
first fruit of Mr. Balfour's policy of administrative
reform ; the founding of the Department of Agri-
culture in Ireland, under Sir Horace Plunkett,
was a further advance in the same direction.
But each of these concessions was the result of a
particular statesman's or public man's initiative.
The Land Conference, on the other hand, was
due to spontaneous desire on the part of the
public, to a feeling that all should combine
to rectify a grievance admitted by all, and,
as such, it marks an epoch in the develop-
ment of Ireland. The immediate practical result
of the Conference was the Land Act of 1903 —
an Act by no means perfect — but a great Act
under which the freehold of the soil will be
transferred to those who occupy and till it. In
order to make a clean, clear, peaceful, and
permanent settlement, the Act was also designed
to reinstate evicted tenants, and to deal with the

R

242 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

appalling destitution and uneconomic condition
existing in large districts in the West. In these
last respects, the Act is not fulfilling expecta-
tions. It is working far too slowly.

But, apart from its effect in bringing about
the Land Act, the Land Conference had other
significant consequences. It created a feeling
that Irishmen were capable of agreement and of
united action on many points if only they would
deal fairly and considerately with each other.
A public opinion has been steadily forming
which holds that, whatever may have been the
case in the past, Ireland's chance of saving
herself now is to be found in conciliation and
reform ; and that opinion will grow and prevail
if only it has a fair chance. Will it have a fair
chance ? The struggle for peace will be a hard
one. Moderation is not melodramatic ; it is more
difficult to appeal to the common -sense than to
the passions of a people. Unfortunately, the
policy of conciliation received a rude shock in the
complete change of attitude of the late Govern-
ment towards Ireland that followed upon or
led to — I know not which — the resignation of
Mr. Wyndham ; and a somewhat vehement ex-
pression of anti-conciliation opinion manifested
itself on both sides of the Channel. There are
Irishmen who, without a shadow of foundation,
seem to dread the consequences of an Ireland
at peace, and to fear the effect that might be

FINAL WORDS. 243

produced upon Irish political aspirations if she
were to become a progressive and prosperous,
instead of a decaying and miserable, people ;
and a certain section of the Press in England
appears to live in terror of a peaceful and united
Ireland for diametrically opposite reasons, and to
prefer an Ireland distracted and split up.

The policy pursued under Mr. Wyndham's
administration was a wise policy; and under it
Ireland was brightening with the hope of better
days, and was tranquil. The disappointment on
the reversal of that wise and generous policy
was great ; but in spite of that — in spite of the
hysterics of the tattered remnants of the old
ascendancy party at the bare idea of losing the
monopoly of place and power — in spite of
frantic journalistic efforts to create strife in
order to persuade Great Britain that physical
force is the only method to be employed in
Ireland — in spite of the "Union in danger"
crusade during the General Election — in spite of
all this, Ireland continued and continues to be
tranquil. I hope and trust she will remain so,
for upon that everything depends. The patience
of the people is sorely tried. It has proved
equal to the strain ; with all my heart I trust it
will continue to do so, and that the people will
never fall into the trap so openly prepared for
them. Physical force is not the only remedy
for Ireland's ills. Law and order must be

244 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

maintained: that must be the first plank of
the platform of any administration, as it was in
that of Mr. Wyndham ; but it should not be the
only plank.

Why should not principles be applied to
Ireland which are applicable to all other parts of
the Empire? Some men are so short-sighted
that they cannot discern anything beyond the
limited horizon of their parish, their county, or
city, or, at most, of these islands. They cannot
see, and, therefore, they cannot think, imperially.
Others are so long-sighted that they fail to per-
ceive evils that are close at hand. A statesman
should have normal sight. Nothing should
be too large and distant, nothing too small
and near, to escape his view. What does
Mr. Chamberlain claim for the Unionist party ?
He says it is "a powerful instrument for pro-
gressive and beneficent reform." He eulogises
past leaders for their policy of " wise and con-
structive reform " ; and what in his opinion is
necessary to keep a party together? "You
cannot," he says, " keep any party together
merely on a policy of negation." Truer words
were never spoken. A policy of pure negation
can never maintain itself. It is the wise, con-
structive, positive policy that prevails. And
why is progressive and beneficent reform to be
denied to Ireland ? On what grounds are we
asked to admit that Ireland forms the one

FINAL WORDS. 245

exception to a universal rule, and that in her
case alone a policy of pure negation can be
successfully applied?

Mr. Chamberlain describes himself as a
Radical, and defines Radicalism as the creed of
"one who, seeing a grievance anywhere, will
pluck it out by the roots." If he could for one
moment confine his gaze to so small an object as
Ireland, he would find grievances ready to his
hand. He could appeal to a whole procession
of Lords Lieutenant and Chief Secretaries and
Under Secretaries. Let him ask them if the
present undemocratic, purely bureaucratic system
of government in Ireland works satisfactorily,
and they will say that it does not. Yet the idea
of "administrative changes and reform in the
system of government " is denounced by the
greatest democratic statesman of a democratic
age ! We are urged to foster a wise, construc-
tive policy — beneficent reform throughout the
Empire — with one exception. Pure negation, no
reform, the policeman's baton, is the prescrip-
tion for Ireland. Surely this is a strange policy
for one whose sole object in life is the strengthen-
ing and consolidation of the Empire. I agree
with Mr. Chamberlain in that I look upon
the strengthening of the ties of Empire as the
noblest task to which any man can apply his
intellect, his energy, his life. But consolidation,
like charity, should begin at home. While

246 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

labouring for consolidation with remote portions
of a United Empire, I should have thought it not
unwise to labour also for conciliation with a very
near partner of the United Kingdom. While
strengthening the members, it might be well to
see that the heart — these islands — is healthy and
sound. Constructive reform was the policy of
the Unionist party, and must become their policy
again. Fortunately it is adopted with a whole
heart by the political party now in power.

Of course, it may be argued, and is argued,
that, as Ireland enjoys the same amount of self-
government in county and municipal affairs as
Great Britain, and as she is fully and, according
to population more than fully, represented in
the Imperial Parliament, she can have nothing
to complain of. There is truth in the premises,
but the conclusion is false. The old fatal
fallacy is involved — the idea that that which
works well and is satisfactory in England must
work equally well and be equally satisfactory
in Ireland. The differentiation between the two
peoples is far too great for this argument to
hold good; and it is to the fact that we fail
to understand these differences and to make
allowances for them, that England's failure in
Ireland is due. Representation in the Imperial
Parliament does not convey to Ireland the same
intimate control of her own affairs as the repre-
sentation of England, Scotland, and Wales in

FINAL WORDS. 247

Parliament gives to the people of England,
Scotland, and Wales. Differentiation has been
recognized to a certain extent, and Ireland
has a form of government peculiar to herself;
but it is a form of government unsuited to the
country, out of date, and faulty in itself.

This subject has been dealt with before.
Suffice it now to say that, as a matter of fact,
while representation in Parliament does, to a
very large extent at any rate, meet local require-
ments in England, Scotland, and Wales, it does
not in any degree meet local requirements in
Ireland. Between Parliament and the Irish
people exists the most incongruous form of
government that has ever been devised by
man. A pernicious system of bureaucracy is
interposed. A condition of things exists which
is intolerable; and the only living question is
whether the painter should be cut altogether
and Ireland should be cast adrift to sink or
swim, or whether some means can be devised
whereby the democratic principle can be intro-
duced into Irish government, and the people
can be given sufficient and efficient control
over their own affairs ; in fact, whether the
principle of devolution is not applicable to
Ireland.

I am not arguing against the Union. On the
contrary, I look upon legislative union as the
outward and necessary sign of the close union

248 THE. OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

which, from natural causes, must exist between
the two islands. Great Britain is Ireland's chief
market, and must ever be so. Ireland is too
small and too poor to stand alone. She requires
the backing of a great power like the United
Kingdom, and of a great empire. If she were
able to stand alone, the position would be intoler-
able. These narrow seas could not contain two
independent States ; and Great Britain is per-
fectly justified in safeguarding herself. The
Union is necessary ; but I believe that Ireland
could have prospered under the Union, and
could still be made to prosper under the Union,
if the principles underlying the Union were
properly carried out, and if the principle of
devolution, which has succeeded so admirably
throughout the whole Empire, were reasonably
applied. The animating spirit of the Act
of Union has never been acted upon except
tentatively by Mr. Balfour and Mr. Wyndham.
It was acknowledged at the time of the Union
that the circumstances of Ireland were excep-
tional ; and it was stipulated and agreed that
exceptional treatment should be accorded to
Ireland under exceptional circumstances. If
anything, the position has tended to become
more and more exceptional since the Act of
Union was passed. Free Trade, whatever its
general benefits may have been for the whole of
Great Britain, has acted very prejudicially upon

FINAL WORDS. 249

a portion of the United Kingdom devoted
entirely to agriculture. The population of
Ireland has decreased enormously; and the
burden of taxation has enormously increased.
The country is very poor, and urgently requires,
in many directions, judicious outlay of capital
for remunerative purposes upon the natural
resources of the country. But the root-cause of
trouble and discontent in Ireland consists in the
futile attempts that have been made to anglicize
her — to convert Ireland into so many shires of
Great Britain. Ireland cannot be anglicized.
She always has, and does, differentiate from
Great Britain to a far larger extent than is the
case between the other component parts of the
United Kingdom ; and unless this fact is recog-
nized, and Ireland is allowed to develop herself
according to her own ideas and on her own lines,
she cannot become prosperous and contented.
The system of government in Ireland does not
permit this. It lacks public confidence, and it
must be changed.

Concerning the policy, commonly called
"Home Rule all round," which is advocated
by a good many people, I have nothing now
to say, except that there is a great difference,
in degree at any rate, between the case for
devolution in general and the case for devolu-
tion for Ireland in particular. English, Scotch,
and Welsh affairs are fairly well attended to

250 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

in Parliament ; Irish affairs receive but scant
attention. England, Scotland, and Wales are
prosperous ; Ireland is perishing. Her case is
very urgent, and some remedy must be speedily
applied. The people are anxious to work out
their own salvation. Ought they not to be given
a chance ? In considering whether devolution
cannot be safely and with advantage applied to
Ireland, we must not forget the change that is
taking place. The leaven of land-purchase is
working in Ireland. The policy of conciliation,
of Irishmen co-operating for the common good
of their country, is alive and will prevail. No
doubt, causes of friction still exist; sectarian
animosity and class animosity are not dead, but
they are dying. Patience is required. Let us
be fair. It is not easy for the great majority, for
centuries held in complete subjection, to be
absolutely moderate, absolutely just. It is not
easy for a minority, once all dominant, to cast
utterly aside all lingering regret for a past
ascendancy of class and creed. But the bitter-
ness arising from differences of religion and of
class is rapidly diminishing in intensity under the
sense of toleration, consequent upon a strong and
growing sense of common nationality. Let us
feed the sense of nationality, and give it some-
thing to do. The more the people become
interested in the management of their own
business, the more control they have over affairs,

FINAL WORDS. 25!

the more self-control will they acquire, and the
sooner will the last flickering flames of class and
sectarian animosity die out. A broad and com-
prehensive view of the situation must be taken.

We must not be in a hurry. Neither Land
Acts, nor Education Acts, nor any other Acts can
work a miracle. The sad results of centuries of
misrule cannot be obliterated in a day. It may
well be that exacerbated instances of bitterness
will occasionally manifest themselves. The
growth of moderate sentiment is apt to excite
irreconcilables of all kinds to more vehement
expression. Such instances, if they occur, must
not be exaggerated. The sense of the ideal of
nationality, of the necessity for co-operation, of
the wisdom of moderation and conciliation, is
steadily increasing in strength and volume, and
may be depended upon.

The main cause of discontent in Ireland —
land-tenure — is being removed, and a body of
public opinion, which, if the education question
were fairly dealt with, would receive an immense
accession of strength, is growing in volume every
day in favour of conciliation — inclined to look to
Parliament for justice, and to seek to work for
political ideals by constitutional means. The
time is favourable, the opportunity is ripe, for
reform.

That reform in Ireland is desirable will not, I
think, be denied by candid Unionists; and I

252 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

take it that their main objection to extension of
local self-government is based on the assumption
that any extension must lead up to repeal.

Such an assumption is quite untenable, and
may perhaps be sufficiently disproved by the
fact that two distinct schools of thought object
to the extension of self-governing power involved
in devolution, and to the general policy of con-
ciliation between the two countries, on diametri-
cally opposite grounds. Extreme Nationalists
object because they fear as an inevitable result
the indefinite postponement of their ideal — inde-
pendence. Extreme Unionists object because
they fear as an inevitable result the rapid reali-
zation of their bugbear — independence. They
cannot both be right ; and it is not unreasonable
to suppose that, in extending the principle
of local self-government, a point of natural
equilibrium will be reached somewhere between
the two extremes. But be that as it may, the
practical answer to the question whether devolu-
tion must necessarily lead up to repeal is
supplied in the negative by the statesman from
whose utterances I have already so copiously
quoted.

In the fiscal controversy an objection of pre-
cisely similar character has been raised by free-
fooders against Mr. Chamberlain's proposition of
preferential treatment. It is admitted that a 2s.
duty on foreign wheat would have no appreciable

FINAL WORDS. 253

effect upon the price of the quartern loaf. The
danger lies, it is contended, in the insertion of
the thin end of the wedge. If a duty, however
small, is placed upon wheat imported from certain
countries in particular, it is argued that a prin-
ciple is introduced which will lead to the
imposition of duties, however big, upon all sea-
borne wheat. The syllogism may be theoreti-
cally sound ; but what is Mr. Chamberlain's
reply? That the self-interest and common-sense
of the people may be safely relied upon to pre-
vent the principle being carried to dangerous or
improper lengths. That devolution would be
beneficial both to the Imperial Parliament and
to Ireland will scarcely be denied ; but in this
case again the danger lies, as we are told, in
the insertion of the thin end of the wedge.
How, we are asked, is the principle — once it
has been introduced — to be prevented from
extending to repeal or complete independence ?
In this case the logic is not sound, and does
not bear out the deduction that nothing should
be done, for the principle of local self-govern-
ment— the thin end of the wedge — has been
introduced long ago. But, ignoring that fact,
is not the same answer applicable ? Why cannot
the people be relied upon to confine the principle
of devolution within the limits of safety? The
thin end of the wedge argument is of all argu-
ments the most absurd ; according to it all

254 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

progress, moral, material and physical, would
be precluded; if a man walks towards Dover,
does it follow that he must precipitate himself
into the sea? If the thin end of the wedge
argument were to be suffered to prevail, reform
in any direction would be impossible. Parlia-
ment, in its long history, has never passed a
single constructive measure to which this argu-
ment was not applicable. If men are to refuse
to do that of which they approve because it
may be argued that, according to strict logic,
the principle involved might lead up to that of
which they disapprove, they would never do
anything. Absolute stagnation would prevail.

Devolution of power from the Imperial Parlia-
ment is the great principle which has made and
consolidated the British Empire. I can see no
reason why it should not be applied to Ireland.
That no exact parallel can be drawn, I, of course,
admit. Autonomy in the great self-governing
colonies is not accompanied with representation
at Westminster. The relations between the Pro-
vincial and Dominion Parliaments in Canada
and Australia, and between Provincial Govern-
ments and the Central Government in India, are
more analogous to the case in point ; but they do
not constitute an exact parallel. The case of
Ireland is peculiar. But we boast, and with
reason, of the elasticity of our Constitution, and
of our adaptability to circumstances. To tell

FINAL WORDS. 255

me that there is no middle course, no alternative,
to be found between severing the connection
between Great Britain and Ireland, and adminis-
tering Irish affairs by means of a vast number
of irresponsible Boards, irresponsive to the wishes
of the people and ignorant of the needs of the
country, is to my mind equivalent to asking me
to admit the incapacity of Parliament, the failure
of democratic principles and of a representative
system of government.

I hold strongly to devolution, because I believe
that it will enable Ireland to work out her own
salvation, and because I am convinced that by
no other means can she do so. I think it should
come gradually ; too great a strain ought not to
be thrown upon a people with only a few years'
experience in the management of affairs derived
from popularly elected County Councils ; but I
look for devolution of the greatest amount of
self-governing power that is compatible with the
maintenance of the Union, and the supremacy of
Parliament. I hold to the Union because I
believe it to be essential to the welfare and
prosperity of both islands. They are too closely
connected by natural causes to be politically
disunited — such a divorce would be unnatural.
But even were my ideal that of an independent
Ireland, I would take a practical view of the
present situation. Ireland is very sick : her
decay is terrible and rapid. An independent

256 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Ireland is a dream, to my mind, impossible of
attainment ; at any rate, it is not within the
range of practical politics now , and in the mean-
time Ireland is perishing, and something must
be done-

I fully admit that, in the alternative I offer,
there are difficulties to be overcome. It is a
principle of our unwritten Constitution that a
minority must not persecute or oppress a majority.
That was the position as long as the ascendancy
party held sway. It is also a recognized principle
that minorities have their rights, and may not be
persecuted or oppressed by a majority. That the
Protestant minority would be exposed to any
dangerof ill-treatment underany extension of local
self-government, I do not myself believe. The
vast majority of Roman Catholics are tolerant ;
the sense of nationality and of the advantages
of co-operation is strong, and gathering strength ;
the natural divergence and conflict of opinions in
any national assembly would render combination
against any section of the community difficult,
if not impossible. Nevertheless, the fears enter-
tained on this point are, even if unfounded,
perfectly genuine, and must be allayed. In any
scheme of devolution efficient guarantees for the
protection of the minority are desirable in the
direction indicated years ago by the Duke of
Devonshire, when he said that " the administra-
tion of justice ought to remain in the hands of

FINAL WORDS. 257

an authority which is responsible to Parliament,"
and by the introduction of a nominated element.
The electoral basis must be broad and demo-
cratic. It may, of course, be possible to secure
the representation of minorities by some method
of proportional representation ; but, even so, the
presence of a nominated element is expedient.
Ireland has enjoyed local self-government in the
form of District and County Councils for only a
few years. She is more accustomed to objecting
to her affairs being mismanaged for her than
to managing her own affairs. With the best will
in the world on the part of members of an elected
body to do their duty by their country, the advice
and assistance of men familiar with procedure,
of administrative experience, especially as re-
gards finance, and educated in the conduct of
affairs, would be of advantage to them.

Another argument urged against the political
proposals of the Irish Reform Association is that,
even if they are not pernicious, they must at any
rate be useless, as they fall far short of the
aspirations and demands of the leaders of the
Irish people, and cannot, therefore, be taken as a
discharge in full. That is so, and the most that
can be hoped for is that they will be taken on
account, and honestly made the most of.

I can see no reason why, without abandoning
any of the ideals entertained by Nationalists in
Ireland, or by sections of Liberals or Radicals,

s

258 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

or anybody else in Great Britain, a step should
not be taken towards giving the Irish people
greater control of their own affairs. I do not
ask men to abandon whatever political ideals
they may cherish ; I do not propose to set
bounds to the march of a people : but I submit
that before a people can march they must walk,
and before they can walk they must learn to stand
upon their feet; and I do ask all Irishmen to
recognize Ireland's necessities, and to consider
whether it is not possible, whether it is not
advisable, whether it is not necessary, to institute
reforms which, though they may not fully satisfy
their ideals, may, at any rate, give to Ireland
that hopefulness, confidence, and self-reliance
which are essential if she is to work out her own
salvation.

As to the future, who can tell what the result
of an honest attempt to set Ireland on her feet
may be ? With the great and pressing questions
connected with land, education, and transit
settled, or in course of settlement ; with the
sense of responsibility for the management of
their own affairs full upon them, and relieved of
the constant irritation caused by a singularly
defective system of government, it may be that
the great majority of the Irish people will
gradually come to take a calm and practical
view of the situation and of the prospects of
their country. They may recognize that her

FINAL WORDS. 259

future lies in their own hands, and depends upon
their own energy, common-sense, and prudence.
The conclusion may be forced upon them that to
deprive themselves of representation at West-
minster would be madness, in view of the fact
that, owing to natural and unalterable causes,
Ireland is and must ever be intimately connected
with Great Britain. If so, the tendency will
be towards contentment with such control, of
Ireland's affairs as is compatible with repre-
sentation at Westminster and the ultimate
supremacy of the Imperial Parliament. Such
control will, I believe, satisfy the practical
requirements of the case. Sentiment is very
strong — the root and origin of all action.

Against a sentimental desire for absolute
independence in the form of a republic, or of
dualism in the shape of a sovereign independent
Parliament, and an executive responsible to it,
must be set the practical value of British credit,
of British power by sea and land, of the Civil
Service, of the protection of the flag in every
quarter of the globe, and of representation in the
Imperial Parliament. Without that representa-
tion, Ireland would be again, as she once was,
entirely at the mercy of Parliament. The people
of Great Britain, acting through Parliament,
ruined Ireland, lock, stock, and barrel, in the
past, and could do so in the future if Ireland
ceased to be represented at Westminster.

26O THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

Ireland would not be safe for a day except under
one of two conditions — either she must be rich
and powerful enough to stand alone absolutely
unsupported, or she must have her say and her
vote in the Parliament at Westminster. That
the latter is the only possible alternative will, I
think, in time, at any rate, commend itself to the
Irish people. But if not, if devolution — reform
of the system of government within the Union —
does not satisfy Ireland, what then ? Shall we
be the better or the worse for trying the
experiment ? Assuredly the gain will be great.

Short of the interference of some national
catastrophe, the social, economic, and political
condition of Ireland must be greatly improved
through the operation of the social, economic,
and political reforms which have been outlined.
The farmers will be tilling the soil under the
inspiration and stimulus of absolute ownership.
Class animosities arising from the long land
struggle will gradually be forgotten. With
the question of education satisfactorily settled,
sectarian bitterness will flicker out. Under a
wise development of the natural resources of
the country, agriculture and such other in-
dustries as the country is capable of support-
ing will receive healthy encouragement. By
devolution, the people will become trained in
the management of affairs, and will be enabled
to form a sounder judgment than they at

FINAL WORDS. 26l

present do upon political problems and questions
of an Imperial character. The Irish people
will have learned to put trust in Parliament ;
and the people of Great Britain will recognize
that the Irish are not the inferior, incapable,
and unpractical race that in the past they
have considered them to be. Prejudice on both
sides will die out. Both peoples will come to
respect each other, and a broad Imperial spirit
will manifest itself. The desire in Ireland will
be to let by-gones be by-gones, and, in the
prospect of a brighter future, to forget the
miserable past.

If Ireland makes further demands, it will be
in a very different spirit. If she pleads for a
still further extension of self-governing power, it
will be based on the ground of the successful
use made of the self-governing power granted to
her. She could never again say that violence
was the only road to concession, or that in inde-
pendence lay the only escape from an intolerable
yoke. But it is idle to speculate as to the future.
Who can attempt to say what changes may take
place within the Empire, necessitating a recast-
ing of the relationships existing between • its
components ? The most we can do is to do that
which is right, because it is right, not as a
bargain for value received, but for the right's
sake, and await results. Let us, as practical,
common-sense people, act in the present, deal

262 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

with the problems at hand, and be content to
let the future take care of itself.
To sum up, my ambition is to see —

(1) Cordial, honest co-operation among Irish-
men for their country's good. A true living
sense of Irish nationality is necessary. Ireland
united can accomplish anything in reason.

(2) The exercise of moderation and common-
sense on the part of Irishmen.

(3) The creation of friendly, fraternal relations
between Great Britain and Ireland on both sides
— let the dead bury their dead.

(4) Recognition by Ireland of (a) her Imperial
mission, her share in the larger nationality
covered by the flag, and her consequent duties
and responsibilities; and (b) of the political
necessities of Great Britain.

(5) Recognition by Great Britain of (a) Irish
nationality ; and (b) of the economic and social
requirements of Ireland, and of her just claim
for exceptional treatment.

Ireland has both a moral and a statutory claim
to State assistance. Ireland must be looked
upon as a poor, undeveloped, neglected portion
of the estate. Development of her natural
resources should be on the following lines: —
(a) cheap and rapid transit for produce to British
markets ; (b) main-drainage and reclamation ;

FINAL WORDS. 263

(c) harbours and piers ; (d) afforestation and the
preservation of timber. In estimating profit or
loss upon capital thus invested, the effect upon
the whole estate — upon the United Kingdom
and the Empire — must be considered.

The Land Question is in course of settlement.
There remains education. Ireland must be
provided with a system of education satisfying
the needs of the people from top to bottom.
With these two problems — namely, the land and
education — solved, the State will have done all
that is possible in the social field. By a recog-
nition of the fact that employment of public
money, as occasion permits, is desirable for the
development of the country in the directions
above mentioned, but especially in respect to
railway transit, the State will have done all that
is economically possible. The rest will be with
Ireland. Her fate will be in her own hands.
But if responsibility lies with her, she must be
allowed to exercise responsible powers. She
must develop on her own lines, and in her own
way. She must exercise responsibility in the
application of money allotted to her. Money
must no longer be spent by Boards over which
the people can exercise no real control. Social
and economic reforms will fail or will only very
partially succeed unless accompanied by drastic
reform in the system of Irish government.

Political reform should, indeed, precede all

264 THE OUTLOOK IN IRELAND.

other reform, for it is the most important of
all in the sense that, without it, the seed sown
in social and economic fields cannot fructify and
bear good fruit. What, then, is it that I propose
in the direction of political reform ? What is the
circumference of my desires ?

Great Britain and Ireland are necessary the
one to the other. Great Britain cannot afford
to divest herself of all control over the destinies
of Ireland. Ireland cannot afford to lose the
control she possesses over the destinies of
Great Britain. Materially, Ireland is neces-
sary to Great Britain as a producing country;
and British markets and Imperial credit, and
the force and backing of a great Empire,
are necessary to Ireland. From a higher
point of view, the Irish character, nature, and
genius are essential to the English character,
nature, and genius. The mixture — might I
say the leaven ? — has made the Empire what
it is. The two islands are bound together,
whether they like it or whether they do not, by
ties which cannot be dissolved. So close a
natural union must find expression in political
union equally close. Representation in one
Parliament and the supremacy of that Parliament
is the only system satisfactory to the nature of
the case. But though thus closely connected
together by nature, the peoples of the two
islands differentiate to a vast extent. In many

FINAL WORDS. 265

respects, they think, feel, and act differently
under similar circumstances. Their problems
are not the same problems, or they present
different aspects and suggest different means of
solution. Ireland cannot be anglicized. She
cannot be happily governed, nor can her
prosperity be assured by purely English methods
and on purely English lines. She understands
her own affairs best, and she should manage her
own affairs. The problem is to reconcile local
and Imperial interests. The solution may be
sought on the lines of either federation or devo-
lution ; it is in devolution that, in my opinion,
it will be found. Be that as it may, my political
creed is clear and simple. One Parliament is
my centre ; its ultimate effective supremacy is my
circumference : but, emanating from that centre,
and within that circumscribing limit, I desire to
see the largest possible freedom of action and
self-governing power delegated to Ireland.

APPENDICES.

CONTENTS.

APPENDICES.

PAGE.

I. THE IRISH REFORM ASSOCIATION'S PROGRAMME . 271
II. INDIRECT AND DIRECT TAXATION, AND ITS

INCIDENCE . . . . . .281

III. IRELAND'S Loss OF POPULATION . . . 283

IV. BRITISH AND IRISH PROGRESS . . . 285
V. BRITISH AND IRISH REVENUES . . .286

VI. WYNDHAM-MACDONNELL CORRESPONDENCE . 288

VII. THE HOME RULE BILLS: SUMMARIES . . 291

IRISH REFORM ASSOCIATION S PROGRAMME. 2JI

APPENDICES.

THE IRISH REFORM ASSOCIATION'S
PROGRAMME.

FOR all practical purposes the policy of the Irish Reform
Association may be said to have originated in a memorandum
privately circulated on March 3, 1903, and signed by the
following five members of the Land Conference Committee : —
Colonel W. Hutcheson Poe, C.B. ; Mr. Lindsay Talbot Crosbie,
Mr. R. H. Prior Wandesforde, D.L. ; Mr. A. More O'Farrall,
D.L. ; and Mr. M. V. Blacker-Douglas. In view of the fact
that the Land Conference Committee had been appointed
for a definite purpose, and that purpose had not then been
attained, no action on the lines suggested was at the moment
taken. When, however, the Land Conference Committee
had finished its task, the question was discussed as to the
practicability of applying to other Irish problems the same
policy of compromise and conciliation as had led to such
gratifying results in the case of the Land Question.

On the 25th of August, 1903, a meeting was held at which
two resolutions were passed, one dissolving the Land Con-
ference Committee, and the other forming the Irish Reform
Association. On the following day, the Committee considered
and adopted a tentative programme which was published on
August 3 1 st. This programme is as follows : —

Believing as we do that the prosperity of the people of
Ireland, the development of the resources of the country, and
the satisfactory settlement of the land and other questions
depend upon the pursuance of a policy of conciliation and
good-will, and of reform, we desire to do everything in our
power to promote an union of all moderate and progressive

272 APPENDIX I.

opinion, irrespective of creed or class ; to discourage sectarian
strife and class animosities, from whatever source arising ; to
co-operate in re-creating and promoting industrial enterprises ;
and to advocate all practical measures of reform.

While firmly maintaining that the Parliamentary Union
between Great Britain and Ireland is essential to the political
stability of the Empire, and to the prosperity of the two
islands, we believe that such Union is compatible with the
devolution to Ireland of a larger measure of local government
than she now possesses.

We consider that this devolution, while avoiding matters of
Imperial concern and subjects of common interest to the
Kingdom as a whole, would be beneficial to Ireland, and
would relieve the Imperial Parliament of a mass of business
with which it cannot now deal satisfactorily, and which
occupies its time to the detriment of much more important
concerns. In particular, we consider the present system of
financial administration to be wasteful and inappreciative of
the needs of the country.

We think it possible to devise a system of Irish finance
whereby expenditure could be conducted in a more efficient
and economic manner, and whereby the sources of revenue
might be expanded. We believe that a remedy for the present
unsatisfactory system can be found in such a decentralization
or localization of Irish finance as will secure to its administra-
tion the application of local knowledge, interest, and ability
without in any way sacrificing the ultimate control over the
estimates presented, or in respect of the audit of money
expended, at present possessed by the Imperial Parliament.
All moneys derived from administrative reform, together with
whatever proportion of the general revenue is allocated to Irish
purposes, should be administered subject to the above con-
ditions.

We think that the time has come to extend to Ireland the
system of Private Bill Legislation, which has been so success-
fully worked in Scotland, with such modifications as Scotch
experience may suggest, as may be necessary to meet the
requirements of this country.

We are of opinion that a settlement of the question of
higher education is urgently needed, and that the whole
system of education in this country' requires remodelling and
co-ordinating.

We desire to do all in our power to further the policy of
land-purchase in the spirit of, and on the general lines laid
down in, the Land Conference Report.

273

We consider that suitable provision for the housing of the
labouring classes is of the utmost importance ; and we shall be
prepared to co-operate in any practicable proposals having the
betterment of this class in view.

Among many other problems already existing, or which may
arise in the future, the above-mentioned appear to us to com-
prise those most deserving of immediate attention, and which
afford the most reasonable prospect of attaining practical
results ; toward their solution we earnestly invite the co-
operation of all Irishmen who have the highest interests of
their country at heart.

In order to complete the history of the Reform movement,
appended is the further and more detailed report of the
Association, which was published on September 26th, 1904.
It consists of tentative suggestions made primarily in order to
provide a basis of discussion ; and the proposals, roughly out-
lined, are not to be regarded as definite and final. It was felt
by the Association that some platform was necessary as the
rallying-point of moderate opinion in Ireland and in England ;
and the report is an endeavour to meet this need, without
prejudice to any more desirable solutions of the problems of
Irish government which may be evolved as a result of dis-
cussion and a truer conception of the needs of the Irish people
than has existed in the past, when attention has been so
largely concentrated upon mere questions of party differences
and religious disputes.

The report is as follows : —

In our report of the 25th August, we stated that while
firmly maintaining that the Parliamentary Union between
Great Britain and Ireland is essential to the political stability
of the Empire, and to the prosperity of the two islands, we
believe that such Union is compatible with the devolution to
Ireland of a larger measure of local government than she now
possesses.

We now desire to indicate the lines on which, as it appears
to us, the devolution proposed by the Association may be
carried into effect.

We deal with this devolution under two heads : —

(a) Administrative control over purely Irish finance ; and

(b) Certain Parliamentary functions connected with local
business.

274 APPENDIX I.

As regards

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL.

1. The Revenue and Expenditure Return for last year
(Parliamentary Paper No. 225, dated June, 1904) gives
^"7,548,000 as the expenditure "on Irish services." We
think that in apportioning the gross expenditure of the year —
namely, ^"155,496,000 — between English, Scotch, Irish, and
General Services, it would be fairer to class the expenditure
on " Post Offices and Telegraphs," and on " Collection of
Taxes" under General Services, because they are disburse-
ments for Imperial purposes, for which the Irish Government
prepares no estimates. If corrected by the exclusion of these
and some other charges of an Imperial nature not separately
shown, the return would indicate an expenditure on purely
Irish services of about ^6,000,000 of voted money.

2. To consider whether this sum is a fair assignment of
revenue to Ireland in the peculiar circumstances of her case
would be beside the present question. Such an inquiry is,
indeed, suggested by the evidence and report of the Financial
Relations Commission ; but in this report we confine ourselves
to the administration of the six millions actually voted.

The methods under which this sum is expended do not
inspire public confidence in Ireland ; and we desire to express
our strong opinion that if local knowledge were brought to
bear upon expenditure, the money could be made to go
further, and would be more usefully employed than it is under
the present system. The effect, we feel confident, would be a
great improvement in the mutual relations between Great
Britain and Ireland, increased confidence in the government
of the latter country, and amelioration in her economic
condition.

3. We believe that these desirable results would be to a large
extent attained if the control over purely Irish expenditure
were taken from the Treasury, which is now only interested in
effecting economies for the Imperial account, and were en-
trusted under Parliament to an Irish Financial Council, in-
terested in making savings for Irish purposes.

4. Power to raise revenue would remain, as now, with
Parliament. The duty of collecting the revenue would also
remain an Imperial concern, unless Parliament desired to
delegate the duty to the Council, under prescribed and
revocable conditions, in respect of any heads of revenue
localized to Ireland.

IRISH REFORM ASSOCIATION'S PROGRAMME. 275

COMPOSITION OF THE FINANCIAL COUNCIL.

5. The exact composition of the Council and the method
of enrolment is a matter for future careful consideration. It
should be under the presidency of the Lord Lieutenant, and,
as at present advised, we think that it might consist of (say)
twelve elected and twelve nominated members, including the
Chief Secretary for Ireland, who should be a member ex offido,
and Vice-President ; that the County and Borough Council
constituencies, and the Parliamentary constituencies, might be
gathered into convenient groups, each group to return a member
of the Council; and that the power of nomination should be
exercised by the Crown to secure the due representation of
the Government, of commercial interests, and of important
minorities.

One-third of the members of Council should vacate their
seats, in rotation, at the end of the third year, but should be
eligible for re-election and re-appointment.

The votes of the majority should determine the decision of
the Council — the Lord Lieutenant having only a casting vote —
and its decisions should be final, unless reversed by the House
of Commons on a motion adopted by not less than a one-
fourth majority of votes.

6. It would be the duty of the Council to prepare and
submit the Irish Estimates to Parliament annually. The
Estimates might be transmitted through the Treasury Board if
for formal reasons this was thought desirable. The audit and
check over expenditure would remain as now with the Auditor-
General and the Public Accounts Committee of the House of
Commons.

7. It would be out of place here to enter into minute detail
regarding the powers which should attach to the Council, and
the procedure by which it should be governed. On the former
point, rules would, we assume, be prescribed by Parliament for
the Council's guidance. On the latter point^ the Council should,
we think, regulate its own procedure subject to Parliamentary
control. Here we content ourselves with saying that the
Council should be competent to examine, supervise, -and control
every item of expenditure, and to call for information relevant
to financial questions of all kinds, to propose such reductions
as it considered consistent with the efficiency of the public
service, and to apply such reductions and all other savings on
the annual estimates to the improvement of the administration,
and the development of the country's resources. Under the

2/6 APPENDIX I.

Budget system here contemplated all such proposals on the
part of the Council would necessarily come under the cogni-
sance of Parliament, which would afford an adequate safe-
guard against undue interference with any establishment or
service.

THE PROVISION OF FUNDS.

8. The Financial Council might be placed in possession of
funds in three ways : —

(a) The entire revenue contributed by Ireland might
be assigned to her, subject to payment to the Treasury
of a fixed contribution, or of a contribution regulated by
a fixed principle ; or

(b) The estimates for an average of years might be
taken as the standard contribution from the Imperial
Exchequer towards Irish expenditure for the year, or for
a fixed period of years ; and that contribution, with the
addition of savings effected by the Irish Government in
a preceding year of the period, might be voted and
allocated in accordance with the Budget annually sub-
mitted by the Council to Parliament ; or

(c) Certain heads of revenue and the income derived
from them, supplemented, if necessary, by a grant from
general revenues, might be assigned to Ireland either
annually or for a period of years.

9. (a) Is not, in our opinion, a desirable method ; we dislike
the idea of " tribute," and desire to preserve in substance, as
well as in appearance, an interdependence of interest between
the two countries. We see no objection to the adoption of
either plan (b) or (c).

10. (b} requires no further explanation.

11. If plan (c) were adopted, we think that, in assigning
revenue to meet sanctioned expenditure, those heads of revenue
should be selected which admit of expansion by the applica-
tion of local knowledge, or by improvement in administration,
and which, in regard to collection, can be localized in Ireland.

Any assignment of heads of revenue would, from time to
time require revision, as it is probable that the income
derivable from some sources of revenue, which naturally
suggested themselves, such as income tax and estate duties,
would diminish in Ireland with the progress of land purchase,
though not diminishing in the United Kingdom, as a whole.

IRISH REFORM ASSOCIATION'S PROGRAMME. 277

We see no objection to the assignment, as an asset of Irish
revenue, of land purchase annuities, which now amount to
nearly ;£ 1,000,000 per annum, and must rapidly increase. In
a few years the income derived from this source will suffice to
feed nearly one-half the Irish expenditure. The employment
of it for that purpose will enable the Treasury to meet the
interest on the Land Purchase Loans, and the claims of the
Sinking Fund from moneys already in their hands, and thus
relieve them from any possible anxiety touching the punctual
payment of their annuities by Irish tenant purchasers.

But even if the sources of income indicated above be placed
at the disposal of Ireland, a grant from the Imperial revenue
to adjust Irish receipts and expenditure would be necessary.
Such a grant might, with advantage, take the shape of a per-
centage on one or more of the great heads of Imperial
revenue.

12. If a financial contract for a fixed period of years were
made with the Treasury, Ireland should be secured in the full
enjoyment of the results of better financial administration
during the contractual period. But whether a contract is made
or not, the Council should be entitled to carry forward balances
and to meet deficits under one head of expenditure by savings
under another. Supplementary Estimates would cease to be
submitted to Parliament. Savings on Ireland's contribution
to "General Services" would be available for the reduction of
the Public Debt.

We should have no objection to the Treasury Board exercis-
ing such degree of supervision over the Irish Financial Depart-
ment as will assure it of the due observance of uniform pro-
cedure and prescribed rule.

13. In the event of further subventions in aid of local taxa-
tion in Great Britain being granted by Parliament, Ireland
would, of course, be entitled to an equivalent grant in addition
to the funds placed at the disposal of the Financial Council as
above mentioned.

14. The Irish Government should take over and continue
the existing arrangements under which loans for public purposes
and land improvement are now made in Ireland. The prose-
cution of large schemes of drainage and land reclamation,
which in the new conditions of a peasant proprietary should
become State concerns — improved railway and other means
of communication, harbour construction, and the like, are
matters which may call for the support or initiative of the Irish

278 APPENDIX I.

Government. In respect of them the right of the Irish Govern-
ment to look to the Treasury Board for financial aid on suitable
conditions, will, of course, follow from the fact that Ireland
continues to contribute to the General Exchequer.

15. It is essential that the chief spending department in
Ireland, the Board of Works, which is now subordinate to the
Treasury, should come directly under the undivided control of
the Irish Government, and that the responsibility to that
Government of the numerous other boards and departments,
now operating with much irresponsibility, should be made
clear and complete.

DEVOLUTION OF IRISH BUSINESS.

As regards the devolution of power to deal with Irish Parlia-
mentary business,

1 6. It is, as we believe, by common consent admitted that
the existing system of Private Bill Procedure deprives Parlia-
ment of a great deal of that local knowledge essential to enable
it to arrive at wise and just decisions ; and that, being incon-
venient, cumbrous, and most expensive, it frequently acts as a
deterrent instead of an encouragement to municipal, com-
mercial, and industrial enterprise. The desirability of a Private
Bill Procedure Act for Ireland has been repeatedly admitted
by the Government, whose only reason for not undertaking to
deal with it appears to have been the desire to observe the
results of the working of the Scotch Act. Those results are
now known. The general success of the Scotch Act is admitted ;
and there remains no justification that we can perceive for any
longer postponing legislation for Ireland on somewhat similar
lines.

But the disabilities under which Ireland labours are not
confined to Private Bill Procedure. The problems that affect
her well-being, the peculiarities of her position and require-
ments, are such that similarity of treatment does not always
involve equal justice. Her case is, in many respects, excep
tional — a fact which is admitted in the Act of Union.

The great and increasing difficulty which Parliament finds
in dealing with the unwieldy mass of business that comes
before it is, we believe, very generally admitted. Under
existing circumstances the special needs of Ireland do not and
cannot receive adequate attention. Sufficient relief cannot, in
our opinion, be afforded by mere amendment in the standing
orders of the House of Commons. Some delegation of

IRISH REFORM ASSOCIATION'S PROGRAMME. 279

authority is necessary. We believe that power to deal with
much of the business relating to Irish affairs which Parliament
is at present unable to cope with might, with perfect safety,
and with advantage both to Ireland and Parliament, be
delegated to an Irish body to be constituted for the purpose.

17. We are thus led to the considerations of the constitution
of a Statutory Body, and of the business to be delegated to it.

On the first point, we suggest that this body might be com-
posed of Irish representative Peers and members of the House
of Commons, representing Irish constituencies, and of members
of the Financial Council, which would thus become an extra
Parliamentary panel for the purpose. In order to enlarge the
panel, and thus widen the field of choice, we are disposed to
recommend that past as well as present members of the
Financial Council might be eligible.

On the second point, we suggest that Parliament should
confer on the Statutory Body authority to promote Bills for
purely Irish purposes, including some of those now dealt with
by Provisional Orders of the Local Government Board and
the Board of Works ; and that Parliament should take power
to refer to the Statutory Body, not only business connected
with Private Bill Legislation, but also such other matters as in
its wisdom it may deem suitable for reference, under prescribed
conditions. The experience gained by this method of 'ad
hoc ' reference would materially assist Parliament in the
ultimate grouping into distinct classes of matters to be referred
to the Statutory Body.

1 8. We do not consider it now opportune to make more
definite proposals on the points herein raised. We are pre-
pared to inquire fully into them if the Association so desire ;
but we submit that inquiry can be best conducted by means of
a Royal Commission, and that the proper function of this
Association is to place its opinions and propositions before
such a Commission. We, therefore, recommend the Associa-
tion to use its best endeavours to secure the appointment of a
Commission, and to instruct this or some other Committee to
prepare a detailed report for its consideration, with a view to
placing the same in evidence before the Commission.

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL AMELIORATION.

19. The preceding remarks have dealt with the political
portion of the report adopted at the meeting held on the 26th
August last ; but before concluding we wish to make a few

280 APPENDIX I.

observations on another aspect of the Irish question. Though
much of the social unrest and industrial stagnation which
unfortunately exist in Ireland is, in our opinion, due to defec-
tive government, it is not all attributable to that cause. We
attach the greatest importance to the opinions expressed in
our former report on the purely social and economic aspects of
the situation ; and we suggest the appointment of a Committee
to watch, and from time to time report on, such matters as the
condition of the labouring classes, the question of local rating,
the working of the Land Act in respect to purchase, the re-
instatement of evicted tenants, the progress of improvement in
the congested districts, and on other matters bearing on the
social and economic welfare of the country.

We reiterate the desire expressed in our former report to do
all in our power to further the policy of land-purchase in the
spirit of, and on the general lines laid down in, the Land
Conference Report.

INDIRECT AND DIRECT TAXATION.

28l

II.

INDIRECT AND DIRECT TAXATION, AND ITS
INCIDENCE.

Statement showing how much per capita of the Estimated True
Revenue derived from Great Britain and Ireland, respectively,
represents the proceeds of Taxes on Commodities or Indirect
Taxes, and how much represents the proceeds of other Taxes
or Direct Taxes, since the amalgamation of the British and
Irish Exchequers. {Summarized from the Report of the
Financial Relations Commission!)

(N.B. — The estimated true revenue from taxes is the collected revenue
in each Kingdom, exclusive of Imperial receipts, after being adjusted in
accordance with Parliamentary Paper 313 of 1894.)

Taxes or Commodities.

Other Taxes.

Total Tax Revenue.

Great
Britain.

Ireland.

Great
Britain.

Ireland.

Great
Britain.

Ireland.

£ s. d.

~j£ s. d.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

£ S- d.

1819-20

8 7

0 II 0

I I 8

0 3 5

3 I0 3

o 14 5

1829-30

2 I

o ii 6

o 15 ii

o i 7

2 l8 0

o 13 i

1839-40

14 4

O II I

o 13 i

o i 4

275

0 12 5

1849-50

10 3

O 12 2

o 17 5

019

2 7 8

o 13 ii

1859-60

ii 7

o 7

o 18 5

049

2 10 0

5 4

1869-70

5 8

o 6

8 o i

o 4 ii

259

5 5

1879-80

3 7

O I

o 16 10

o 4 10

205

4 ii

1889-90

3 2

3 2

I 0 2

o 5 10

234

9 o

1893-94

4 i

2 O

i o 9

o 6 10

2 4 IO

8 10

1903-04'

10 7

8 3

i ii 4

o 10 10

3 i ii

19 i

Increase + or

decrease -

since 1820 ...

-o 18 o

-fo 17 3

+ 098

+ 075

-084

+ 148

Increase -f or

decrease —

per cent, since

1820

-i 17 7

+ 7 16 8

+ 246

+ 10 17 o

-o ii 7

+ 8 ii i

1 Figures supplied by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (House of
Commons, April I3th, 1905) ; but it was not stated if they referred to

"true revenue " or " revenue as collected." The difference, however, is

not very great between the two ; and presumably Mr. Austen Chamberlain
gave the " true revenue," as usual under such circumstances.

282 APPENDIX II.

In the House of Commons on May 2ist, 1906, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer stated that it was estimated that the
tax revenue to be contributed by Great Britain in 1906-7
(excluding Coal Duty, but including the local taxation
revenues) would consist of 52-3 per cent, direct taxes, and
477 per cent, indirect taxes. For Ireland the estimated
proportions were 28-8 per cent, direct, and 71-2 per cent,
indirect. The proportions of direct and indirect taxation in
1904-5 were — for Great Britain, 50-8 per cent, direct, and
49-2 per cent, indirect ; for Ireland, 27-4 per cent, direct, and
72*6 per cent, indirect. In 1905-6 the proportions were
approximately — for Great Britain, 51*7 per cent, direct, and
48-3 per cent, indirect; for Ireland, 28-3 per cent, direct, and
71-7 per cent, indirect.

IRELAND'S LOSS OF POPULATION.

283

III.

IRELAND'S LOSS OF POPULATION.

Table showing the population of Ireland in comparison with
that of the United Kingdom.

Census of
5th April.

Great Britain.

Ireland.

United Kingdom.

Ireland.
Per cent of
United
Kingdom.

l82I

I4»09I,757

6,801,827

20,893,584

32-5

I83I

16,361,183

7,767,401

24,128,584

32-0

1841

18,534,332

8,175.124

26,709,456

31-0

1851

20,816,351

6,574,278

27,390,629

24-0

1861

23,128,518

5.798,967

28,927,485

20'0

1871

26,072,284

5,412,377

31,484,661

I7-0

1881

29,710,012

5,174,836

34,884,848

15-0

1891

33,028,172

4,704,750

37,732,922

I2'5

1899

36,024,438

4,535,516

40,559,954

II-2

Ii9oo

36,683,879

4,466,326

41,150,205

10-85

1901

37,103,328

4,443,370

41,546,698

10.69

1902

37,528,925

4,432,287

41,961,212

10.56

1903

37.9S7.56l

4,414,995

42,372,556

IO'42

1904

38,391,090

4,398,462

42,789,552

10-28

1905

38,829,580

4,388,107

43,217,687

10-15

1 The estimates of population in 1900 and subsequent years are based
on the results of the Census of 1901. For 1899 the estimate formerly
made on the results of the Census of 1891 is retained.

284

APPENDIX III.

Table showing for each of the years 1895-1905 the number of
Emigrants enumerated, with the rates per 1,000 of the
estimated Population of Marriages, Births, Deaths, and
Emigrants ; and the averages for the ten years 1895-1904.

Years.

Number of
Emigrants as
returned by the
Enumerators.

Rate per 1,000 of Estimated Population.

Marriages.

Births.

Deaths.

Emigrants.

1895

48,703

5-07

23-3

18-5

107

1896

38,995

5-08

237

I67

8-6

1897

32,535

5-05

23-5

18-5

7-2

1898

32,241

S-oo

23-3

18-2

7'l

1899

4L232

4-96

23-1

177

9-2

1900 ...

45,288

477

22'7

I9'6

IO'I

1901 ...

39,613

5-o8

227

17-8

8-9

I9O2 ...

40,190

5-i8

23-0

17-5

9-1

1903 -

39,789

5-21

23-1

I7'5

9-0

1904 ...
Yearly Average, 1895-1904
1905 ...

36,902

5-22

23-6

18-1

8-4

39,549

5-06

23-2

18-0

8-8

30,676

5-26

23^

17-1

7-0

BRITISH AND IRISH PROGRESS.

285

IV.
BRITISH AND IRISH PROGRESS.

Table from Appendix to Report of the Royal Commission on
the Financial Relations between Great Britain and Ireland,
showing the progress made by Great Britain and Ireland,
respectively, between 1870 (or the earliest year for which infor-
mation is available] and 1894 (or the latest year), as regards
the undermentioned particulars '.

Increase + or Decrease —
in Great Britain.

Increase + or Decrease —
in Ireland.

Amount.

Per cant.

Amount.

Per cent.

Population

Thousands

+ 8,757

+ 34-0

- 829

-15-3

Excess of births over
deaths

,,

+ 125-2

+ 39'3

- 377

-63-4

Pauperism :
Mean number of pau-
pers in receipt of
relief at one time ...

- 286

- 24-5

+ 30

Criminal offenders con-
victed

Number

- 3.782

- 24-6

- ».579

-51-8

Education :
Average number of
pupils in attendance
at primary schools ...

Thousands

+ 3.340

+ 229-9

+ 167

446-5

Live stock :
Number of cattle

,,

+ 944

+ 17-5

+ 596

+ 157

Number of sheep

H

- 2,536

- 8-9

- 229

- 5'3

Number of pigs

„

+ 219

+ io- 1

- 70

- 4-8

Income tax assess-
ments :
Total gross amount of

Thous. j£ s.

-1- 248,733

+ 59'4

+ 12,483

+ 47'9

286

APPENDIX V.

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288 APPENDIX VI.

VI.

THE WYNDHAM-MACDONNELL
CORRESPONDENCE.

THE following is a copy of the correspondence (read in the
House of Commons on February 22nd, 1905) which passed
between Mr. George Wyndham and Sir Antony MacDonnell,
on the latter's accepting the position of Under Secretary : —

September 22nd, 1902.
DEAR MR. WYNDHAM,

I told you I had been offered and accepted nomination to a
seat on the Council of India, and that it would be necessary
for me to consult Lord George Hamilton before anything was
settled regarding the Irish appointment. I have now seen
Lord George Hamilton, and understand from him there would
probably be no difficulty in allowing me to retain a seat on the
Indian Council, and lend my services to the Irish Government.
This procedure would be in accordance with my own wishes,
and it would strengthen my position in Ireland if I go there.
If the matter, through Lord George Hamilton's considerate-
ness, is simplified in this direction, there still remains the
difficulty to which I alluded when I saw you. I have been
anxiously passing over this difficulty in my own mind. You
know I am an Irishman, a Roman Catholic, and a Liberal in
politics. I have strong Irish sympathies, and I do not see eye
to eye with you on all matters of Irish administration ; and I
see no likelihood of good coming from such a r'egime of
coercion as "The Times " has recently outlined. On the other
hand, from the exposition you are good enough to give me of
your views, and from the estimates I have had of your aims
and objects, I find there is a substantial measure of agreement
between us. Moreover, I would be glad to be of some service
to Ireland, and, therefore, it seems to me that the situation
goes beyond the sphere of mere party politics. I should be
willing to take office under you, provided there is some chance
of my succeeding — and I think there is some chance of
success — on this condition, that I should have adequate oppor-
tunities of influencing the policy and acts of the Irish
Administration ; and, subject of course to your control,

WYNDHAM-MACDONNELL CORRESPONDENCE. 289

freedom of action in Executive matters. For many years in
India I directed administration on a large scale ; and I know
if you send me to Ireland the opportunity of a mere secre-
tarial criticism would fall far short of the requirements of my
position. In Ireland, my aim would be the maintenance of
order, the solution of the Land question on the basis of volun-
tary sale, the fixing of rents where sales may not take place on
some self-acting principle whereby local enquiries would be
obviated ; the co-ordination, control, and direction of Boards
and other administrative agencies ; the settlement of the
Education question in the general spirit of Mr. Balfour's
views ; and the general promotion of material improvement and
administrative conciliation, I am sure you will not misinter-
pret this letter. I am greatly attracted by the chance of doing
some good for Ireland. My best friends tell me that I am
deluding myself, and that I shall be abused by Orangemen as a
Roman Catholic or Home Ruler, and denounced by the Home
Rulers as a renegade, and that I shall do no good, and shall
retire disgusted within a year. But I am willing to try the
business under the colours and conditions I mention. It is for
you to decide whether the trial is worth making. In any event
I shall be your debtor for having thought of me in connection
with a great work.

Yours sincerely,

A. MACDONNELL.

25th September, 1902.
MY DEAR SIR ANTONY,

Your letter was most welcome. I accept your offer to serve
in the Irish Government with gratitude to you and confidence
that your action will be for the good of your country. When
Sir David Harrel resigns, I shall accordingly nominate you as
his successor ; and it is understood between us that I make,
and you accept, this appointment on the lines and under the
conditions laid down in your letter.

With a view to compassing the objects which you hold to be
of primary importance — namely, the maintenance of order; the
placing of the Land question on the basis of voluntary sale ;
and, where that proves impossible, of substituting some simple
automatic system of revising rents in place of the present
existing expensive and costly process, entailing litigation ; the
co-ordination of detached and semi-detached Boards and

U

2QO APPENDIX VI.

Departments; the settlement of Education in a form accept-
able to the majority of the inhabitants ; and administrative
conciliation. To these I add (i) consolidation and increase
of existing grants for Irish local purposes, with the view of
reducing rates where they are prohibitive of enterprise ; (2) if
we are spared long enough, the development of transit for
agricultural and other products, possibly by guarantees to
railways, on the Canadian model ; but this is far off. We have
each of us terminated an option in the lease I have all along
desired.

I ciphered the purport of your letter to the Prime Minister,
and received his concurrence by telegram yesterday, and by
letter to-day. It is understood that you accept a seat on the
India Council, and are to be transferred when the vacancy
occurs.

I shall ask Lord George Hamilton to see that the Press
understands and insists upon your great administrative services
in India. That will prepare the public for the further move.
I can only thank you again with all my heart for coming to my
assistance.

Yours sincerely,

GEORGE WYNDHAM.

THE HOME RULE BILLS. 2QI

VII.

THE HOME RULE BILLS.

THE following is a summary of Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule
Bill (introduced April 8th, 1886) : —

(1) A Legislative Body to sit in Dublin, and have the
control of the Executive Government of Ireland and its
legislative business.

The Parliament to be composed of two orders, with power
in either to demand separate voting, and thus put an absolute
veto on a proposal of legislation till the next dissolution, or for
a period of three years.

(a) The first to consist of 28 Representative Peers,
and 75 other members, elected for ten years by voters
having ^25 a year qualification, and possessed of a
property qualification of ^200 per annum. The present
28 Representative Peers to form part of this Body at
their option, with limited power of the Crown to fill up
vacancies within a defined period.

(b) The Second Order to consist of the present 103
University, County, and Borough members, with the
addition of 101 elected for five years.

The Irish members to cease to sit at Westminster.

(2) The Executive to remain as now for the present, but
subject to any changes which might be worked out by the new
Legislative Body. The Viceroy to be assisted by a Privy
Council, and, not being the representative of any party, he
would not go out of office with the Government. The religious
disability at present attached to that office to be removed.

(3) Law.

(a) The Judges of the Superior Court now holding
office, who desire it, may demand a retiring pension.
In future to hold office during good behaviour, their
salaries to be charged on the Irish Consolidated Fund ;
to be removable only by a joint address from the two
Orders of the Legislative Body ; and appointed under
the influence of the responsible Irish Government.
An exception is made in the case of the Court of
Exchequer.

2Q2 APPENDIX VII.

(b) The Irish Constabulary to remain for the present
under the same terms of service and the same authority;
the British Consolidated Fund to contribute to its
support anything it might cost in excess of ;£i, 000,000,
the Irish Legislature, after two years, having the right
to fix the charge for the whole Police and Constabulary
of Ireland, with a saving of existing rights. The ques-
tion of the ordinary Police is left open.

(4) Civil Service. — The Service in the future to be abso-
lutely under the Legislative Body. Present Civil Servants,
after two years, to be entitled to claim a discharge on the
terms usual when offices are abolished.

(5) Finance.

(a) Imperial Charges. — Ireland to contribute one-
fifteenth to the public expenditure, instead of one-
twelfth as at present, with the result that the revenue
from the Customs, Excise, Stamps, Income Tax, and
Post Office would amount in future to ^8,350,000 ;
the charges payable for Ireland for Army, Navy, Civil
Service, Constabulary, and Sinking Fund of the Irish
portion of the National Debt, would amount to
^£7,946,000, leaving a surplus of ^404,000.

(b) Taxation. The power of taxation to be granted
to the new Legislative Body, with the exception of the
Excise and Customs.

(6) Securities. — To be formulated for : —

(a) Unity of the Empire.

(b) Protection of the minority, including landlords,
Civil Servants, and all concerned in the government of
the country.

(c) Protestants.

The Bill of 1893 constituted an Irish Legislature, consisting,
first, of a Legislative Council, and, secondly, of a Legislative
Assembly, with power "to make laws for the peace, order, and
" good government of Ireland, in respect of matters exclusively
" relating to Ireland, or to some part thereof." That power
was subject to the double limitation that certain heads were
reserved to Parliament by way of excluding the new Irish
Legislature from doing any act in relation to them, and that

THE HOME RULE BILLS. 2Q3

certain incapacities were imposed upon the new Legislature.
The exceptions from the powers of the Irish Legislature were
all that relates to the Crown, the Regency, and the Viceroyalty;
to peace and war, to defence, to treaties and foreign relations,
and to dignities and titles ; the law of treason, the law of
alienage, and everything that belongs to external trade ; the
subject of coinage, and some other minor and subsidiary
subjects.

Then, as regards the incapacities imposed, they were intended
for the security of religious freedom — and there they touch
upon establishments and education — and for the security of
personal freedom, with respect to which they had endeavoured
to borrow from one of the modern amendments of the
American Constitution.

As to the Executive power: it was proposed to divest
the Viceroyalty of Ireland, so far as possible, of that party
character which it bore, and to provide that the appointment
should run for six years, but subject, of course, to the revoking
power of the Crown. The office was to be freed of all religious
disabilities.

Then came a clause providing for the full devolution of
Executive power from the Sovereign upon the Viceroy.
Provision was made for the appointment of an Executive
Committee of the Privy Council in Ireland, which should be
so constituted as to be, in effect, the practical Council for
ordinary affairs, or the Cabinet of the Viceroy.

As to the veto, it was provided that, on the advice of the
Executive Committee of the Privy Council, the Viceroy would
give or withhold his consent to Bills, subject, however, to the
instructions of the Sovereign. The Legislative Council would
number 48 ; its term would be eight years ; and a new con-
stituency would be constituted for it, which, in the first place,
must be associated with a value about £20 on valuation ; with
that figure they hoped to secure an aggregate constituency
approaching 170,000 persons. In that constituency owners
were included as well as occupiers, but no owner or occupier
was to vote in more than one constituency. There was no
provision in the Bill to make the Legislative Council alterable

2Q4 APPENDIX VII.

by Irish action. With regard to the Legislative Assembly, the
number was left at 103. A term of five years was fixed; the bill
left the constituency as it was now, and these members would
be elected for the purpose of carrying on Irish Legislative
business by constituencies in Ireland. The provisions as to the
Assembly were made alterable with respect to electors and
constituencies after the term of six years ; but, in altering
constituencies, the power of the Assembly was to be limited by
a declaration in the Act that there must be due regard had to
the distribution of population.

The proposition as to deadlock was that in cases where a Bill
had been adopted by the Assembly more than once, and where
there had been an interval between the two adoptions either
of two years or else marked by a dissolution of Parliament,
then, upon the second adoption, the two Assemblies might be
required to meet together, and the fate of the Bill was to be
decided by the Joint Assembly. Appeals would lie to the
Privy Council alone, and not to the Privy Council and the
House of Lords. The Privy Council might try a question of
the invalidity of an Irish Act, or, as it was sometimes called,
ultra vires : not, however, upon the initiative of irrespon-
sible persons, but upon the initiative either of the Viceroy or
Secretary of State. The Judges were declared irremovable ;
and clauses were inserted to secure the emoluments of existing
Judges, and of existing civil officers generally. Two Exchequer
Judges were to be appointed under the authority of the Crown
for the purpose mainly, perhaps, of financial business, but
generally of that business which was Imperial. Besides the
appointment of the Exchequer Judges under the Great Seal of
the United Kingdom, it was provided that for six years all
Judges should be appointed as they now are ; and in regard to
future appointments they did not assume to the Imperial
authority any power of fixing the emoluments. These emolu-
ments would be fixed in Ireland, and the effect would be to
establish a joint control over these appointments. A clause in
the Bill provided that the Legislative Assembly should meet
on the first Tuesday in September, 1894. There were clauses
securing the sole initiative in money bills to the Assembly, and

THE HOME RULE BILLS. 2Q5

also providing that the Assembly should not have within itself
an initiative, except upon the prior initiative of the Viceroy.

Then there was a clause about financial arrangements,
providing that they might be readjusted and reconsidered after
fifteen years, upon an address either from the House of
Commons or from the Legislative Assembly. The principles
recognized as applicable to the Constabulary were a gradual
and not too abrupt reduction, with the ultimate dissolution or
disappearance of the Force.

It was proposed to retain the Irish members at Westminster,
but to reduce their number to 80, which was according to the
ratio of Irish population to the population of the rest of the
country. For these members there would have to be a new
election. They would, firstly, be excluded from voting upon
any Bill or motion expressly confined to Great Britain ;
secondly, on any tax not levied in Ireland ; thirdly, on any
vote or appropriation of money otherwise than for Imperial
services ; and, fourthly, on any motion or resolution exclu-
sively affecting Great Britain or person or persons therein.

As to finance, the keynote to the proposals was that there
should be but one system of legislating for all the kingdom on
commercial affairs : unity of commercial legislation for all the
three kingdoms. By adopting this keynote, clashing and
friction between the agents of the Imperial Government and
the agents of the Irish Government would be avoided. The
Bill made, under cover of this proposition, a larger and more
liberal transfer to Ireland of the management of her own
affairs than could be made if it proceeded upon any other
principle. For example, it was hoped to escape in this way
from all collection in the interior of Ireland of any revenue
whatever by Imperial authorities. The principle was that
Ireland was to bear her fair share of Imperial expenditure,
the word " Imperial " being defined in the schedule which
gave a list of Imperial services.

Printed by PONSOWBY 4 GIBBS, University Press, Dublin.

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