power. The assumption, indeed, is constantly made, though its
truth is very hard to prove, that if Ireland were self-governed the law
of the land would be enforced. In one sense this assumption may perhaps
be well founded. A strong government, or, to put matters plainly, a
popular despotism when installed in office at Dublin would, it may be
suspected, stringently compel obedience to such laws as the Government
approved. The Jacobin Club was no friend to anarchy when anarchy meant
defiance of the mandates issued by the Club. But the energy of a strong
Government in carrying out laws which it approves is a different matter
from the zealous maintenance of even-handed justice. An Irish executive
will immediately on coming into existence be called upon to deal with
cases which will severely test its sense of justice. Landlords cannot
at once be banished like vermin from Ireland; landlords, as long as
they exist, must, I presume, have some rights. Is there any security
under the Gladstonian Constitution, that the rights--rights, be it
remembered, of British subjects, which ought to be neither more nor less
sacred than the rights of a British subject in London or Calcutta--will
be protected by an executive of Land Leaguers? There is, I answer, none
whatever. To distrust the justice of an Irish Government is not, be it
remarked, to show any special distrust of Irish nature. The Irish
leaders are of necessity revolutionists, and, it must be added,
revolutionists of no high character. Revolutionists on accession to
power do not lay aside the revolutionary temperament, and this
temperament may have every other virtue, but it knows nothing of the
virtue of justice. The Gladstonian Constitution withdraws Ireland from
the control of the Government of the United Kingdom, which with all its
faults must of necessity possess more impartiality than can a Ministry
formed out of the leaders of any Irish faction. The Gladstonian
Constitution therefore does leave unpopular classes or individuals
exposed to considerable risks of injustice at the hands of the Irish
Government.

[Sidenote: Methods for securing just government.]

Though it is from the nature of things almost impossible to take
effective steps for ensuring that an Irish executive shall make a right
use of its powers, it is an essential feature of the Gladstonian
Constitution that the Irish Parliament shall so far at least use its
authority justly as to keep within the limits pla