truth. The steady nature of the growth of Irish commerce is shown by the
following figures taken from the Official Report for the year ended
December 31, 1910.

Imports, Exports, Total,
Mill. L. Mill. L. Mill. L.

1904 54 49 103
1905 55 51 106
1906 57 56 113
1907 61 59 120
1908 59 57 116
1909 63 61 124
1910 65 65 130
]

[Footnote 18: "A History of the Commercial Relations between Great
Britain and Ireland," by Alice E. Murray, D.Sc.]

[Footnote 19: Sept. 26, 1871.]

CRITICAL

III

THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION

BY GEORGE CAVE, K.C., M.P.

INTRODUCTORY

Few things are more remarkable in the Parliamentary history of the Home
Rule movement than the complete absence from the counsels of the English
advocates of Home Rule of any definite and settled policy as to the form
of self-government to be offered to Ireland, and their consequent
oscillation between proposals radically differing from one another.
Since the "new departure" initiated by Davitt and Devoy in 1878,[20] it
has been the deliberate practice of Irish Nationalists to abstain from
defining the Nationalist demand and to ask in general terms for
"self-government," doubtless with the object of attracting the support
of all who favour any change which could be described by that very
elastic term. Such a policy has its advantages. But confusion of
thought, however favourable to popular agitation, is a disadvantage when
the moment for legislation arrives; and uncertainty as to the aim goes
far to explain the vacillation in Home Rule policy.

Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bill of 1886 would have given to Ireland the
substance of "responsible" or colonial self-government, subject only to
certain reservations and restrictions, the value of which will be
considered later in this chapter, and would have excluded the Irish
members and representative peers from the Parliament of the United
Kingdom. By the Bill of 1893 the reservations and restrictions were
increased, and representatives of Ireland were to be permitted to sit at
Westminster--by the Bill as introduced for some purposes, and by the
Bill as passed by the House of Commons for all purposes.

After the defeat of this second Bill, a "cold fit" appears to have
sei