ms it appealed
to the imagination of an Imperialist like Cecil Rhodes. In another it
has, undoubtedly, in recent years attracted not a few Unionists who have
been prepared to approach with, at any rate, an open mind the
consideration of a federal constitution for the United Kingdom. And,
indeed, if the analogy really applied, it would be difficult to resist
the conclusion. If Ireland has really been denied something which has
proved the secret of Colonial loyalty and prosperity, what Englishman
would be so short-sighted as to wish to deprive her of it for the mere
sake of domination? If Home Rule were really a stepping-stone towards
Imperial Federation, how insincere our professions of "thinking
Imperially," if we are not prepared to sacrifice a merely local
sentiment of union for a great all-embracing ideal!

But, as a matter of fact, there is no such analogy bearing on the
question which, here and now, is at issue. On the contrary the whole
trend of Colonial experience confirms, in the most striking fashion, the
essential soundness of the position which Unionists have maintained
throughout, that the material, social and moral interests, alike of
Ireland and of Great Britain, demand that they should remain members of
one effective, undivided legislative and administrative organisation.

The whole argument, indeed, plausible as it is, is based on a series of
confusions, due, in part, to deliberate obscuring of the issue, in part
to the vagueness of the phrase "Home Rule," and to the general ignorance
of the origin and real nature of the British Colonial system. There are,
indeed, three main confusions of thought. There is, first of all, the
confusion between "free" or "self-governing" institutions, as contrasted
with unrepresentative or autocratic rule, and separate government,
whether for all or for specified purposes, as contrasted with a common
government. In the next place there is the confusion between the status
of a self-governing Dominion, in its relations to the Imperial
Government, and the status of a Colonial state or provincial government
towards the Dominion of which it forms a part. A truly inimitable
instance of this confusion has been provided by Mr. Redmond in a
declaration made on more than one occasion that all that Ireland asks
for, is, "What has already been given to twenty-eight different portions
of the Empire."[54] Considering that the "portions" thus enumerated
include practically sovereign nat