A genuine attempt to settle long-standing Irish grievances and to bring about the realisation, in whole or in part, of century-old but never-abandoned and fondly-cherished Irish ideals must naturally be of absorbing interest both on sentimental and practical grounds to Irishmen or their descendants wherever they are found; but as an experiment in constitution making the Irish Home Rule Bill, now before the British Parliament, makes a still wider appeal. As the debates on the Bill have gone forward, the interest in it has increased, and no wonder, for it is a momentous step in legislation. The Government of Ireland Bill-to give it its official designation was introduced in the House of Commons on April 11, 1912, by the prime minister in a speech which, though perhaps not quite up to the standard of Gladstone's great oratorical performances on two similar occasions, is yet admitted on all hands to have been a model of lucidity and to have displayed a wonderful mastery of the complicated details of the measure to be expounded. The first trial of strength took place on the 16th of April, when the House divided on the motion for leave to bring in the Bill, and the Government had a majority of 94, the figures being 360 to 266. The Bill was accordingly "brought in" and read a first time. It obtained second reading on the 9th of May by a majority of 101 (372 for, 271 against), and is now in its Committee stage. The Bill consists in all of 47 clauses and 4 schedules, and is therefore as brief and concise as the magnitude of the issues involved permits. Its first proposition is to establish in Ireland a parliament consisting of the King and two Houses, namely, the Irish Senate of 40 members, and the Irish House of Commons of 164 members, with the proviso that, notwithstanding the establishment of the Irish parliament or anything contained in the Bill, the supreme power and authority of the parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected and undiminished over all persons, matters, and things within the King's dominions. It is thus made plain at the outset, as it is in many emphatic ways in later clauses, that the Irish parliament is to be subordinate to the parliament of the United Kingdom. The principle adopted in 1886 and 1893 of bestowing a certain number of powers on the Irish parliament and of reserving the rest, defined and undefined, to the imperial parliament has on this occasion been abandoned in favour of the opposite principle of reserving from it certain named subjects and leaving to it everything else. Hence we find that the Bill now under consideration gives to the Irish parliament the general power of making laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland, but debars it from legislating on any matter affecting any of the following questions, namely:(1) The Crown, or the succession to the Crown, or a regency; or the Lord Lieutenant except as respects the exercise of his executive powers in relation to Irish services; (2) The making of peace or war or matters arising from a state of war; or the regulation of the conduct of any portion of the King's subjects during the existence of hostilities between foreign states with which the King is at peace, in relation to those hostilities; (3) The navy, the army, the territorial force, or any other naval or military force, or the defense of the realm, or any other naval or military matter; (4) Treaties, or any relations with foreign states, or relations with other parts of the King's dominions, or offenses connected with any such treaties or relations, or procedure connected with the extradition of criminals under any treaty, or the return of fugitive offenders from or to any part of the King's dominions; (5) Dignities or titles of honour; (6) Treason, treason felony, alienage, naturalisation, or aliens as such; (7) Trade with any place out of Ireland; quarantine; or navigation, including merchant shipping, except as respects inland waters and local health and harbour regulations; (8) Lighthouses, buoys, or beacons, except when constructed or maintained by a local harbour authority; (9) Coinage; legal tender; or any change in the standard of weights and measures; (10) Trade marks, designs, merchandise marks, copyrights, or patent rights; (11) The following reserved services: (a) The Acts relating to Land Purchase in Ireland, the Old Age Pensions Acts of 1908 and 1911, the (b) The collection of taxes; (c) The Royal Irish Constabulary and the management and control of that force; (d) Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and Friendly Societies; (e) Public loans made in Ireland before the passing of the Bill into law. Should the Irish Parliament make any law in contravention. of the foregoing limitations, that law will be ipso facto void to the extent of the contravention. With regard to the "reserved services" contained in Section 11, the Irish Constabulary passes automatically at the end of six years to the control of the Irish Parliament, and if both Houses of the Irish Parliament pass a resolution providing for the transfer to the Irish government of public services in connection with the administration of the Old Age Pensions Acts or of the National Insurance Act, these services shall be accordingly so transferred on a date fixed by the resolution at not less than a year after its adoption. The services in connection with the Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and Friendly Societies shall be similarly transferable, but not until ten years shall have elapsed. A special clause effectually separates church and state. Its language is remotely reminiscent of the language used in the somewhat analogous portion of the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The Irish clause is so important and so clear that it deserves to be quoted in full: "In the exercise of their power to make laws under this Act the Irish Parliament shall not make a law so as either directly or indirectly to establish or endow any religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, or give a preference, privilege, or advantage, or impose any disability or disadvantage, on account of religious belief or religious or ecclesiastical status, or make any religious belief or religious ceremony a condition of the validity of any marriage. Any law made in contravention of the restrictions imposed by this section shall, so far as it contravenes those restrictions, be void." 66 The foregoing clause is incorporated in the Bill for the general effect it is bound to have; but the portions of it which refer to ecclesiastical status and to marriage validity, respectively, are introduced specifically, as stated by Premier Asquith in his opening speech expository of the Bill, for the purpose of preventing any attempt at giving legal sanction or effect to two recent papal pronouncements, namely, the motu proprio, Quantavis Diligentia, and the Ne Temere decree. So much of a sop had to be thrown to the Cerberus of sectarianism, without, however, effectually stopping the monster's deepmouthed bayings and hideous howls. In appointing an executive authority, the time-honoured |