tnership is to be
dissolved at the suit of Irish Nationalism, a new balance must be
struck, and on any fair basis the contribution of Ireland under
present-day conditions should far exceed the amount under either of the
schemes for which Mr. Gladstone made himself responsible. Both schemes
recognised the equity of some contribution for these services from
Ireland, and it must be assumed that the same broad principles will be
applied in any scheme which may be framed hereafter.

By way of introduction to any adequate discussion of the possible
financial proposals of any Home Rule measure, it is desirable to set out
in some detail the existing financial relations of Ireland and Great
Britain. The Treasury calculations on this subject are embodied in two
White Papers which have been prepared and published annually during the
last eighteen years. It is true that doubts have from time to time been
cast on the accuracy of these calculations and of the methods by which
the materials on which they are based have been collected. As to this,
it is only necessary to say that the information in the possession of
the Treasury officials is infinitely more voluminous and likely to be
more accurate than any in the possession of private individuals; and
there is no reason to suppose the succession of eminent public servants,
who have been in turn responsible for the preparation of these returns
have been moved in one direction or the other by prepossessions or bias.
Their one attempt has been throughout to present a statement, as
accurate as it is possible to make it on the one hand of the cost of
the existing administration in Ireland and the expenditure incurred
there, and on the other of the revenue derived from persons or property
living or situated in that country. As the Prime Minister said on
November 27 of last year--

"The utmost pains have been taken to make the estimates of 'true'
revenue approximately correct, and it is believed that the total
revenue as given in the revised returns approximates closely to the
facts."[50]

So long as Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom, such an
investigation has mainly an academic interest. The State is a
homogeneous entity; the taxes imposed on individuals similarly
circumstanced are the same (with some trifling exceptions--all in favour
of Ireland) in whatever quarter of the United Kingdom the individual
resides. But the case is wholly different when a