inherent
right to arm volunteers, or raise an army in their own defence. No
English Minister can allege with truth that these resolutions or a score
more of the same kind are a breach of the constitution; yet such
resolutions will not be without their effect in England; they cannot be
without their effect abroad; in many parts of Ireland they will have
more than the authority of an Act of Parliament.

Assume, for the purpose of my argument, that the Irish Parliament always
acts absolutely within the limits or the letter of the constitution,
though to make this assumption is to substitute unreasonable hopes for
rational expectations. What Englishmen should note, because they do not
yet understand it, is that within the limits of the constitution the
Irish Cabinet and the Irish Parliament possess and must possess the most
extensive powers, and that these powers may be used in ways which would
surprise and shock the British public, and impede and weaken the action
of the Imperial, or English, Government.

D. _The Restrictions (or Safeguards) and the Obligations_

I. _Their Nature_. The limitations on the power of the Irish Legislature
are of a twofold character.

The Restrictions contained in clause 3 of the Bill are intended to
restrain the Irish Parliament from acting as the representative body of
an independent nation. This clause invalidates for example acts with
respect to the Crown or the succession to the Crown, with respect to
peace or war, with respect to the naval or military forces of the realm,
with respect to treaties or other relations with foreign states, and
with respect to trade with any place out of Ireland, which apparently
includes the imposition of a protective tariff.

The Restrictions[67] contained in clause 4 may be roughly divided into
three heads; first, prohibitions intended to ensure the maintenance of
absolute religious equality[68]; secondly, prohibitions intended to
prevent injustice to individuals, such as deprivation of life, liberty,
or property without due process of law, denial of equal protection of
the law, the taxing of private property without due compensation, or the
unfair treatment of any existing corporation; thirdly, a provision
prohibiting any law which deprives any inhabitant of the United Kingdom
of equal rights to public sea fisheries.[69]

On these Restrictions it were easy to write an elaborate treatise.
Should our new constitution ever come into force, they will