t seemed that the two matters so dealt with departed, with
differing degrees of flagrancy, from the original purpose of the
Constitution, which was to make the mechanism of Government malleable at
every stage to the will of the people of Ireland.

Whether one believes ardently in the faith that the will of a people
should under all circumstances prevail, and that the forms of Government
should at all times be submissive to that will, is indifferent. That is a
question for the individual, with which I do not presume to interfere. One
need only believe with l'Abbe Coignard that "a people is not susceptible
to more than one form of government at the same period," to believe,
further, that if one asserts the derivation of all power and authority
from the popular will, if that will be once fairly and honestly
ascertained, it then follows that the will of the people is sufficient to
itself, and that all forms of government must be made malleable to it. On
that supposition, all frustrations and obstructions of, and impediments
to, the constant exercise of that will must of necessity be cogs in the
machinery of government; and for that reason in two articles I turned from
exposition to criticism.

Apart from these two matters, I held to the essentials of exposition,
without turning aside to criticism of details; and I based that exposition
on the original plan and structure, which are preserved in the present
draft, of the Constitution. It is right that the Fundamental Law of a
State should be fully discussed and debated before it be enacted; and when
that debate occurs criticism will find details enough to fasten upon. But
at the present moment it is the essential plan that matters--not the
feudal trumperies with which it is adorned, like stage jewels stuck upon a
comely and decent garment, marring its simple truth, but not otherwise
injuring its effectiveness for its purpose. And it was because it seemed
to me that these two matters departed from the spirit of this essential
plan, by placing important parts of the Judiciary and the Executive beyond
the ready control of the people or the people's representatives, that I
dealt with them as I did. Apart from them I kept away from criticism.

Similarly I did not deal with certain matters anterior to the
Constitution, in the light of which the Constitution can alone be
understood. They lay out of sight of these articles, though they were
essential to them, since they brought the