e is
best illustrated by the facts, that the council for common affairs
consist of an equal number of representatives from each side of the
dominion, that this council is concerned with military and foreign
affairs, two subjects on which, according to the new scheme, Ireland is
to have no vote.

It will be found, on a little examination, that appeals to the example
of the foreigner are as misleading as the theory of nationality. All
such arguments are only endeavours to divert the public from the
exercise of their own judgment and common-sense in dealing with the
mischiefs which the perverse genius of Mr. Gladstone has created.
Recognized principles of government, the ordinary traditions of England
applied with the happy immunity from friction, which the commercial
policy of modern times makes possible, would have long since settled the
difficulty, but it would have been settled in disregard of that popular
Irish feeling which, in 1867, Mr. Gladstone pledged himself to follow.
He would have had to admit that his new Irish policy was a mistake; and
he never admits that he has made any mistake--unless it be in Egypt--or
in acting on the opinion of other people. When he has discovered a new
line of policy, he believes himself infallible. Let us assume for a
moment, that the combination of the personal adherents of Mr. Gladstone
and of Mr. Parnell enables the Prime Minister to pass some measure on
the lines he has selected, or on those laid down by Mr. Davitt, and that
the rowdy treason of a Dublin Cabinet proceeds to bring within the
sphere of its operations what wealth and civilization has hitherto
escaped the National League.

In the struggle which must ensue, we shall have within three hours of
our shores a raging volcano of revolution, threatening the peace of
Europe and our own. Fenians, Nihilists, and Irish Yankees, will flock to
the new vantage ground. The conflict between Socialism and property,
between infidelity and superstition, will be fought out amidst the
strangest complications of local hatred and of fiscal disorder. If
foreign governments abstain from interfering, and we escape consequent
difficulties with them, are we sure that we ourselves will be able to
remain passive spectators? Many of us are old enough to recollect the
agitation which shook this kingdom during the struggle between North and
South on the other side of the Atlantic. No question of Home politics
for generations past had so deeply move