MR. MORLEY'S TASK IN IRELAND

From Irish Ideas by William O'Brien, 1893

Page 108

MR. MORLEY'S TASK IN IRELAND

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of altering or recalling an Act of its own giving. Supremacy, yes; meddlesomeness, no. What we are entitled to have substantially ensured is that, so long as it acts within the range of its delegated or exempted powers, the Irish Parliament shall be free from meddlesomeness or malicious interposition from Westminster by a majority which, for all we know, might be a majority led by Mr. Balfour. That is obviously a requirement as necessary to the comfort of the Imperial Parliament as to the dignity of the Irish Parliament, and is the first condition of the successful working of any Home Rule scheme at all. We do not believe statesmanship will have more difficulty in devising a sensible plan by which the Imperial and Irish Parliaments will move harmoniously together, each in its own circle, than has been found in grouping the forty-four American States around Washington, or in keeping twenty parliaments in healthy activity within the British Empire. If we decline to discuss this or that particular plan pending the production of the Home Rule Bill, it is for the same reason for which we declined to join Mr. Chamberlain in demanding that details should be discussed clause by clause before the General Election—namely, because premature and irresponsible discussion of this kind, while the proposals of the responsible Government are in preparation, suits the enemies of Home Rule and does not suit us. The important point is that, in matters of substance, as apart from form and pedantry, all Home Rulers are agreed that the Irish Parliament must have the full and honest management of Irish affairs; and a vote against an honest Irish Parliament out of mere temper would be the extinction of Parnellism as a Parliamentary force.

At the same time, as one who has laboured all along, … continue reading »

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