ced upon its
competence. Whether these limitations have been wisely drawn, and
whether they may not be in some respects too wide and in others too
narrow, are inquiries which, though important in themselves, need hardly
detain us. The question in comparison with which all matters of detail
sink into insignificance is not what are the limitations which the
Constitution imposes on the competence of the Irish Parliament, but what
is the efficacity of the means provided by the Constitution for
compelling the Irish Parliament to respect these limitations? This is
the one vital inquiry, for upon the answer to it depends the reality of
the constitutional provisions for the maintenance of just legislation.
These methods are, as already pointed out, twofold.

[Sidenote: 1. Veto of Lord-Lieutenant.]

The first is the veto of the Lord-Lieutenant. Let us assume, though the
truth of the assumption is not quite clear, that this veto is combined,
as in the case of the colonies, with a further power of disallowance on
the part of the Crown, or in effect of the British Ministry. The result
is that the British Ministry, or, to put the thing plainly, the British
House of Commons, can put a check on such Irish legislation as may be
opposed to the letter or to the spirit of the Constitution. The check is
in one sense real, but it must, as in the case of the colonies, be but
rarely employed. Its constant use, or its use on occasions of great
importance, would seem to Irishmen, and with good reason, to nullify
the concession of Home Rule. Suppose, for example, the Irish Ministry
carry a measure for artificially stimulating Irish commerce, and the
Crown disallows it on the ground that it is contrary to the provision of
the Constitution forbidding the Irish Parliament to make any law
relating to trade. The Irish Cabinet thereupon resigns. What course is
the Lord-Lieutenant to take? If he uses the veto he reintroduces in the
most awkward form the interference of the British Parliament with Irish
legislation. If he does not use the veto, or, what is in its effect the
same thing, if the Act is not disallowed, then the right of veto comes
to little or nothing. We may be quite sure that in general neither the
Lord-Lieutenant nor the Crown will refuse assent to Bills approved of by
the Irish Parliament. The veto in its different forms will, in short, be
but a very slight check on unconstitutional or unjust legislation.

[Sidenote: 2. Action of Priv