n the next few
months, we would succeed in getting our brethren out of prison. I don't
believe we will; ... but I am convinced of this, that there is not a man
amongst them who will ever be called upon to serve anything like the
remainder of his sentence. I am convinced that in a short time--and the
extent of its duration depends upon other circumstances--every one of
these men will be restored to liberty if only we conduct this agitation
with determination, with resolution, and I would say above all with
moderation and with wisdom.'--Mr. John Redmond, M.P., _Dublin Irish
Independent_, April 5. See 'Notes on the Bill,' p. 424.

[101] See Mill, _Representative Government_, 1st ed. p. 300.

[102] Of course I do not for a moment dispute the legal right of
Parliament to repeal all or any of the articles of the Treaty of Union
with Ireland. I am writing now not upon the law, but upon the ethics of
the constitution. My contention is, that, as things stand, the undoubted
assent of Great Britain (or even perhaps of England, in the narrower
sense) is morally requisite for the repeal or at any rate for the
remodelling of the Treaty of Union. Note that Ireland would stand
morally and logically in a stronger position if demanding Separation
than when demanding a revision of the Act of Union. An example shows my
meaning. _A, B_, and _C_ form a partnership. _A_ is by far the richest,
and _C_ by far the poorest of the firm. _C_ finds the terms of
partnership onerous. He may have a moral right to retire, but certainly
he cannot have a moral, and would hardly under any system of law have a
legal, right to say, 'I do not want to leave the firm, but I insist that
the terms of partnership be remodelled wholly in my favour.' Nor again
is it conceivable that _B_ and _C_ by uniting together could in fairness
claim to impose upon _A_ disadvantages the burden of which he had never
intended to accept.

[103] See pp. 22-31, _ante_.

[104] 'But who proposed that Ireland should be anything else than an
integral part of the United Kingdom (Ministerial cheers), or rather of
the Empire?' (Opposition cheers).--Mr. Sexton, April 20, 1893, _Times
Parliamentary Debates_, p. 522. The confusion of ideas and the
hesitation implied in Mr. Sexton's expressions are noteworthy.

[105] England adhered with absolute fidelity to her renunciation of the
right to legislate for Ireland. Whatever were the other flaws in the
Treaty of Union, it was no violation eit