s that Great Britain should present
Ireland with a dowry of L20,000,000 on the occasion of setting up a
Home Rule Parliament. Mr. Kettle called it a "wedding present," to
which Mr. F.E. Smith retaliated with some humour that it was really a
"separation allowance." Mr. Kettle has since replied with even better
humour that as Home Rule is the only true marriage between the nations
his description is the more correct. This is all a pretty play of wit,
but we must not allow it to conceal from us the fact that if John Bull
deals generously with Ireland at this present moment he will be playing
the part, not merely of a philanthropist, but of a good business man.

There are many ways in which this generosity can be shown. A big
capital sum of money would probably be bad both for England and for
Ireland. It would give Ireland a sense of dependence, and it would
leave England with a sense of injury. There are many other better ways
of making this financial adjustment. The charge which has turned
Ireland into a debtor to England, for instance, is the L2,500,000 drawn
from the Imperial Exchequer for Irish Old-age Pensions. The men and
women who are receiving those pensions are the veterans of the famine
period, and England has a special obligation towards them.

The Home Rule Bill of 1912 provides that these old age pensions should
be kept for the moment as an Imperial charge. That will be both a
generous and humane provision.

Another proposal made by Irish financial reformers is that the Royal
Irish Constabulary, a force which costs L1,370,000 a year, should be
regarded and paid for as an Imperial force. The argument is that the
Royal Irish Constabulary was created in the interests of the English
garrison--was, in fact, an army of occupation, which, since the new
settlement of the Irish land question, has become, in Mr. Kettle's
witty phrase, an "army of no occupation."

That proposal is not adopted in the Home Rule Bill of 1912. The force
is kept under the control of the British Government for six years, and
it will then be handed over to Ireland. In the meantime, it will be
paid for out of the money reserved from Irish revenue by the Imperial
Government. We shall have to wait, therefore, for six years before the
Irish Government is able to apply economy to what is perhaps the most
expensive and most extravagant service in the whole administration of
Ireland.

The general financial proposals of the 1912 Bill are as follow