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LONDON : HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY 1887. T)/ 'Tt^n *t^t!'^.. U$S1l THE PROBLEM 01< IRELAND. I. TifE determination now to be made of the future status of Ireland must give nse to tendencies in ail the molecules composing the Imperial body. Mr. Reid the author of IF/^j / am a LiberaL in his later pamphlet, on Home Rule, attacks the very term. • the Empire.' He would convert the existing legal conception of a vast people, united by a common allegiance to their Crown, into the conception of a series of voluntary alliances— a sort of partnership at will-between a number of IS 2 Nationalism, or Inipcriaiisin ? independent nations, of wliich the new Irish nation would be the type. Mr. Reid's contention, therefore, serves the very useful i)urposc of calling attention to the fact that, in facing the proposals regarding Ireland, England stands at the parting of two roads. vShe has to decide once for all what shall be henceforth the legalised theory of the world-wide British State. Shall the new theory of local nationalities become established } Or shall the existinor Constitutional theory of a United Empire be — not barely conserved — but niade the aim of further constitutional development and held up as the object of patriotic sentiment ? Let a Canadian, above all, be heard to protest against the entirely fallacious assumption that the case of Canada is an illustration that patriotism is a sentiment that can be duplicated. The question of local autonomy in Canada has never in- f --ff^illfr Nationalis7>i, or Imperialism ? % volved a lliought of that question— of a local as against an Imperial national alle- glance. Local control of legislation and administration was demanded, and was granted, on die ground of practical expe- diency alone. The Irish proposals of Mr. Gladstone, and the arguments used in their favour, have, for ihe first time, raised the broader issue. The decision of that case will form the first precedent ; and as a precedent it must prove all- important in determining in which direc- tion the current of Imperial policy is to l^e directed. The Mayor of an Irish town has lately distinguished himself by declining to take part in the Jubile<^ services at Westminster, on the ground that the Royal Lady In whose honour he was invited was a ' foreign ' Sovereign. By resolution of the Council the terms of the repl> have been perpetuated upon the minutes of the 4. Nationalism, or Impcjialism ? Corporation. (One would hav-.- thought that, even if they had forgotten their loyalty, the countrymen of Edmund Burke would have remembered something of their chivalry.) At the same time, the entry as it stands embodies a statement as contrary to legal fact as it is to good taste. We might hope for a day when that Limerick Dogberry, reflecting on the record, would wish within himself that he had not thus caused himself to be written down. To suppose that an established Constitution can be altered merely by denying its existence, surely is very like talking twaddle. But the effect of carrying out Mr. Gladstone's scheme, according to the principles upon which it has been ad- vocated, would be to reverse the ex- isting conditions ; it would immediately shift that onus which established Con- stitutional forms and education impose lik e ■lie '1 Nationalism, or Impe^'lallsm ? 5 upon the r.iinds of the respectable and law- abiding classes in every country. Hitherto the allegiance and the sympathy of those classes, both in Ireland and else- where. — in the kingdoms, in the provinces and possessions, —has been on the side of th(i Empire ; consequently, to this moment it cannot be truly said that tliere is a question between Ireland as a nation on one side and the British Government on the other side. But should the Home Rule measure be enacted, the sentiment which to-day is merely the utterance of a boor would in its course become the sentiment lawfully en- tertained by the worth, loyalty, and intelli- gence of the land. Future generations would be brought up m Ireland under a law and constitution which legalised the idea ot an Irish nationality, and relegated the Imperial connexion to the position of a compulsory foreign alliance. :-!im 6 Nationalism, or Impcrialis7n ? How can there be more than one real allepfiance, whether in law or in sentiment? Must it not be to the primary and not to the secondary object, to the acknowledged country rather than to the distant fiction of a supreme Government, thai the loyaky of educated men, as well as of the masses, will in future attach itself? As it did in Vir- ginia at the time of the War of Secession, so must it do in Ireland ; and so must it do, a fortiori, in the distant Colonies and in the great possessions of the Empire. When the new idea in its course reaches India, is it not too likely to result in a scene of tragedy and disaster, on a scale unexampled in modern history ? Since it is so eminently an occasion for remembering the maxim, 'Cest Ic premier i)as qui coiite,' the responsibility of English statesmen in this hour, is. in a senfie, not limited to their insular constituency. The possibilities of a great future are m NationaliS7n, or Imperialism ? 7 at their mercy. The course of i^ar- liament is beiner watched with the intensity of personal ^ interest by the in- habitants of colonies and possessions in all parts of the world ; not to si)eak of those other millions of our race who, although, not subjects of the same Crown, are Englishmen in fact : having (occasional superficial jealousies apart) a kindred in- terest in the honour of the English name and in the credit of English Parliamentary institutions. Part of the stake dependent upon the present contest is that kind of modern /icoemonia, that historic moral headship of the world-wide English race which has continued with Great Britain, in virtue of her ancient right, and of Ikt hitherto well- maintained position in the forefront of the world's aff^iirs. Precious, although intangible, is that possession. Its forfeiture would involve a loss, not to England only, but to the prestige of S Nationalising or Imperialism ? the English nations generally, 'When the head suffers, all suffer.' That possession a vacillatifig" Parliament, bending to every wind of OjMnion at home or abroad, a feeble Government, seeking only to prop itself by time-serving expedients, might now imperil irrecoverably. Bv confession of its advocates Home Rule would be another leap in the dark. Has not English policy gone far enougii in that direction ? Is there anywhere in the world a national estate so crreat or prosperous that it would not finally be dissipated and brought to ruin by such a process of management .-^ . There is a point at which con- ciliation loses its effect. An irrevocable blunder of policy would not be made more respectable in consequence of having been per[^etrated without reflection under the influence of a gush of sentiment. The present Parliament, in refusing to Nationalisvi, 07' Imperialism ? 9 subordinate its legislative and executive functions, either to a government of mis- rule in Ireland or ♦^o a government of public meetings \\\ England, seems to have taken the only course worthy of statesmanship. Sentiment is an element of which states- Jiianship must take account, but to which it does not yield itself blindly. Conces- sions to it not allcwed by wisdom must fa'l to win respect in any quarter. Genuine American opinion would in no wise be flattered Ijy such a spectacle. For the strength and credit of the nation, both at home and abroad, the times now seem to demand above all things the display of staiesmanlikc forethought and of firm and vigorous government. To strengthen the hands of a faithful Government in such times seems to be the dutw not merely of local ])arties or of constituencies, but of e\'ery patriotic local subject of the Crown. lo Nationalism, or Imperialism ? A new thing Is being seen in the world, in those stirrings of an Imperial patriotism now manifestly being felt throughout the Queen's dominions. That Colonists of English birth should have carried with them, and preserved during their lifetime, the allegiance of their nativity, was not a subject of wonder. But the founders of those distant communities could not be sponsors for the sentiments of their chil- dren. New^ generations, in a great measure native to the soil, have arisen, to occupy the land. The loyalty which was an inborn affection in the fathers is for the latter generation a tradition, a mere abstraction. Remoteness of situation has made self- government a necessity. Diversities of in- terest tend to give rise to Independence of feeling. That, nevertheless, in all those peoples the centrifugal tendency should appear to be arresting itself; that from such distances and out of such diversities -US' i i -J n i \:<: Nationalism, o?' Imperialism Y 1 1 an aspiration towards a United Empire should have grown up, Is a [)henonienon, not merely unprecedented, but almost beyond expectation. But in every part the young sentiment has still to struggle for existence against counter-influences. It is but a frail and delicate birth : it may yet be wounded or even chilled to death ; or it mav be en- couraged and nurtured into complete and enduring vigour. The being of a sentiment cannot be maintained upon mere official constitutions and occasional diplomatic con- ferences. The sense of an identity of moral and political, if not of material in- terests, must be fostered, if we would con- vert Imperial unity into a reality. That indispensable mutuality of feeling cannot be kept edive unless a constant consultation and an Intimate interchange of opinion upon the public affairs of the Empire, as upon topics of common concern, becomes 1 2 Nationalism, or Inipcrialisni ? established as a habit. Tlie time is past for resting upon the ancient boast of the British drum-beat that every morning en- compasses the globe. The ideal of a merely military Empire upon which the sun never sets is a lifeless ideal. The hour has struck for it to awake to a real, conscious life. Opinion is the living force of modern communities. Public opinion rough - hews the policy of the nation ; Cabinets and Parliaments merely give it final shape. Who shall prescribe the limits from which public opinion shall assert itself ? Materialists have asserted that thought and electricity are identical : at least one is the natural vehicle of the other. Hence the necessity of a modern Empire has alsc") become a possibility. The daily drum-beat — the symbol of military power — may yet be followed in its round by currents of thought, by a circulation of political opinion, sending its sustaining 13 Nationalisfn, or Imperialism ? pulses constantly throughout the mighty organ.ism. A truly Imperial press Is still a dream of the future. There exists not now any one great news corporation publishing its edition (weekly or semi-weekly) on the same dav in London, In Edinburi/h, and in Dublin ; in Toronto, In Montreal, in p{ali- fax, and in Winnipeg ; in the Australasian capitals, and in the great centres of India. By a sufficiently liberal use of telegraphic facilities, a faithful mirror, not only of local events but of local opinion, might l)e held up to all parts of the Empire simultane- ously. Each part would hear every other speaking as it were with its own voice. The opportunity would be likely to de- velop a college of writers habituated to treating" all matters with the saiue lartie- minded patriotism ; all, in their several localities, maintaining against the leii- dencles to provincialism the savour of a * ■'( 14 Nationalism, or Iniperialis7n ? more ennobling enthusiasm. Such an in- stitution, were it in existence, might put a new face upon the prospects of a United Empire : it would throw a bridge across the mere geographical interspaces.* In the meantime Imperial citizenship need not be an empty phrase. Since a bridge does not exist, we must be content to make use of stepping-stones. Such considerations embolden the pen of the present writer. Although neither a native nor a resident of these islands, he is one of those unnumbered thousands throughout the Colonies who are moved with the sentiment of Imperial patriotism, and with a desire at the present crisis to give proof of their sense of citizenship in the Empire. Asserting the privilege and seeking to * The project may be found to be not so un- feasible as at a first glance it might a]ipear. The ■writer may recur to the subject in a future paper. Nationalism^ or Inipcrialism ? 1 5 perform a duty of the citizenship he chiims, the writer presumes to take part in a discussion which, although of local origin, opens a prospect of consequences of Im- perial moment. A voice from the Colonies seeks to be heard by the public in whose hands the disposition of the great issue rests ; that is to say, by the Irish, the Scotch, and the English people. Does not justice seem to require that a hearing should be accorded ? Opinions formed at a distance from the scene of a controversy must necessarily be presented with diffidence ; yet in a junc- ture like the present an almost counter- balancing advantage may be felt to attach to views proceeding from such a source : the standpoint being that of an observer who, without being indifferent to the issue, is independent of many local prejudices of education, of interest, and of party passion. A remote station sometimes offers a more 1 6 Nationalism, oy Imperialism ? comprehensive prospect of a movement than is obtained by any of the immediate combatants. The perspective in wliicli men and events are seen is more Hke that of history. If the British piibh'c is in earnest in desiring a substantial unity of the Empire it will welcome, even with a certain in- dulgence, an effort of Colonial thought to make itself heard at this juncture on a matter so truly of Imperial concern. By the very manner i.. which it is received, the attempt itself may become a test of the prospects of an Imperial as distinguished from a merely local public spirit — of an Imperial citizenship as dis- tinguished from local patriotism. Sentiment so far enters into the .sub- ject, that I may be allowed a somewhat romantic simile: — comparing the present venture to that of the Hindoos, ques- tioning the future by the fate of a lamp Nationalism, or Imperialism ? \ 7 •committed at night to the surface of the Ganges. Out of a like obscurity an unknown writer (confident only of the existence of the sentiment he addresses) sends forth this leaflet to the public of this great Empire. Puny adventure for so mighty a stream — shall it be extinguished In a moment ? Or is It fated to be borne awhile into the distance— a tmy spark, yet ex- hibiting to the eyes of those that watch it the direction of the deep but favouring current ? c ^ i8 A Purchase Schtnie, II. The picture drawn by the English sup- porters of Home Rule of the condition of the Irish Question represents it as a kind of Chat Moss lying in the way of Imperial Parliamentary progress, — a dark, unfathom- able bog, into which whatever legislative materials are throw a are, in a short time, swallowed up without leaving any visible result. * Coercion ' has been tried ; Con- cession has been tried, — one, apparently, as vainly as the other. The present Home Rule proposition is not so much a final effort at overcoming the difficulty as it is a declaration of despair on the part of those who urge it. Even the advocates of that course are not unconscious that grave consequences may flow from the revolution they are seek- A Purchase Scheme, 19 ing to accomplish. It is ]:nirely as a dernier ressorf that thc^y commit themselves to the proposition. The very lightness of heart they profess since abandoning themselves to the new policy is not unparalleled. A like feeling of relief probably visits the overburdened tradesman when he ceases his struggle with inextricable difficulties, and lays down his burden at the doors of the Bankruptcy Court. Fortunately for England at this junc- ture, the lottery of a general election has issued in a Parliament answering, I be- lieve, to the desire of the people and to the need of the times. The majority has not surrendered to the temptation to adopt an easy but inglorious solution. It still offers a firm resistance to those pessimistic persuasions ; although the alternative prospect is long, dismal, and laborious, and the country may be said to be holding its decision in reserve. FSBSEmS lUHMHiyiM 20 A Purchase Schenie. The first step towards clearness in debate is an accurate definition of the subject-matter of the issue. ' Home Rule has been offered as a uni- versal remedy for what is really a highly complicated series of disorders. Into the composition of what is called the Irish Question enter three distinct questions or problems. There is a practical or agrarian problem, there is the question of political or constitutional reform, and there is a sentimental question. Uinversal remedies are always open to suspicion. By studying each complaint separately we may hope to find the series of remedies most specifically appropriate, and therefore least violent on the whole. The writer will submit some suofwstions as to a mode in which what is substantial in Irish agrarian grievances may, he be- lieves, be remediable, without recourse to the political revolution proposed by Mr. ■^1 I ■■'^ A Purchase Sc/ione, 21 IS Gladstone, or to any perilous departure from economical principles. Secondly, he will submit some reflections recrardinijf the causes of the universally recognised ineffi- ciency of Parliaments as deliberative and legislative agencies, and as to the means which offer, inde|)endrntly of any experi- mental constitutional Ico-islatlon, of over- coming those defects ; defects which have formed an additional foundation for just complaint from Ireland. Should the prac- tical causes of complaint but be removed, the sentimental element in the Irish ques- tion, that residuum of discontent which springs from wounded race or local feeling, is more likely to yield in time to appro- priate Influences. The practical sense of the majority of the British people has led them to direct their attention first to the tangible and sub- stantial grievance calllnc^ most presslngly for immediate reform. 22 y i Purchase ScJie77ic. Ireland, \\\ the opinion of the present Parliament, is afflicted with an economical ' disorder, aggravated by political rhetoric. Mr. Gladstone himself has given some signs of an unconscious tendency to revert to the same conclusion, which was once his own. In his speech on the 17th of March last, reviewing the whole question, he prac- tically fell back upon the unsatisfactory state of the land tenure In Ireland as the thing to be remedied ; reiterating his plan of Home Rule chiefly as being a means to that end. The substance of his anju- ment for a separate Irish Governiuent. as he now presents it, is that, when insti- tuted, that Government would become a body upon whose responsibility advances might be made from the Imperial Ex- chequer for the purpose of assisting the Irish leaseholders to become the owners of their farms. In other words, it would .f i r^ A Purchase Scheme. 23 constitute a kind of National Guarantee Corporation. The object ultimately aimed at may be admitted to be a good one. That the freehold interest of the country should continue to be concentrated in the possession of a trifling minority of the nation is (particularly since the enfranchise- ment of the excluded majority) a condition of things which, whether it is or is not economically disadvantageous, certainly is politically dangerous. The land, which is, in every ountry, the basis of credit, the chief repository or means of invest- ment of accumulations, and the leading incitement to thrift, ceases, when it be- comes an extremely limited monopoly, to exhibit these qualities to the eyes of the people. Public and private credit, pro- perty, and social security, in such a country may be described as standing, not on a base, but on an apex. Theories, "^ 24 A Ptivchase Scheme, of which that of Henry George is but a type, are constantly threatening a society so posed. On the other hand, in the American RepubHc, and in equally Re- publican Canada, those ideas have been received with derision, simply for the reason that in those countries (outside the proletariat of a few great cities) almost every man has an interest, or some ex- pectation of acquiring an interest, in the freehold of land. There the proposed social revolution, if it would benefit the few, would do so by disturbing the many. If in these islands the converse existing conditions give rise to a disadvantage and to a danger, the effect like the cause is not con- fined to Ireland. The kingdoms together are interested in the search for a proper and for a general remedy. At the same time, a wrong remedy, whether it be de- vised by the Imperial Parliament or whether it originate with a local Legis- •^t*^ A P tire has e Scheme, 25 latiire, can hardly be applied to one part without danger of an evil effect being- com- municated by contagion to the remainder of the realm. To fling the loyal property- holding classes in Ireland as a prey to a furious proletariat would be not only a craven but a fatal expedient. To make a present of the freehold of Ireland at the expense of British taxpayers is equally impossible. The country may concede to Mr. Gladstone the credit of havine advanced the discussion, by placing it upon the true path. He has pointed out, first, that the public interest justifies the intervention of the Government to facilitate the conversion of Irish lease- holds into freeholds on a great scale ; and he has, secondly, laid down the principle that Government assistance might take the form of an Imperial loan, provided the repayment could be guaranteed by some responsible body interposed between the "*^ 26 A Purchase Scheme, Imperial Government and the individual local debtors. It may be conceded that there Is no probalMlity of the desired subdivision being effected on a large scale, and within a reasonable period, by natural processes, in the absence of financial assistance from the Government. Small tenant-farmers have not, as a class, sufficient capital of their own to become purchasers. Their net annual profits from the land are necessarily in- sufficient to pay much more than rent, or (in case of a purchase) the interest upon their unpaid or borrowed purchase-money. That resource would therefore afford neither margin of security nor means of paying principal. Only by some form of Government ofuarantee could the rate of interest upon a purchaser's loan be so reduced as to leave a surplus out of the annual profits available to be applied to- wards the gradual extinction of the principal. i A Purchase Scheme. 27 So far a majority of Mr. Gladstone's countrymen will probably be found to be in agreement with the objects he sets before them. But when he goes on to insist on his plan for giving effect to the principle— a i)lan which, as he states (in the speech referred to), ' absolutely and essentially requires, as a vital condition, the institution of a real Irish Government, able to speak and act for Ireland' — the sober Ene^lish world naturally pauses — not only over the plan, but over the statement that it is the only method conceivable of arriving at the desired end. Has not Mr. Gladstone undertaken to demonstrate a theorem, when he might more properly liave propounded a problem ? Given that it is desirable that the Government should facilitate, by means of its guarantee, a subdivision of the freehold <.)\ the country, so that a ma- 28 A Purchase Scheme, joriiy of the electorate of the nation may be converted Into absolute landowners ; the problem is to fmd some means where- by the Government may be so secured from the probability of loss by reason of the guarantee as to justify the aid being lent in that manner. The problem is one which addresses itself not so much to politicians as to financiers ; and it would seem extraordinary if, from the experience and commercial ability of the British Isles, a less perilous solution were not forth- coming than that which forms the subject of Mr. Gladstone's theorem. A proposal to constitute the relation of creditor and debtor directly between tne political Government and a large proportion of the people forming Its constituents is one that Mr. Gladstone himself evidently feels would, from a financial point of view, be vicious and imprudent in the extreme. But the objection ecjually applies, A PitrcJiasc Scheme. whether such relation be between the Imijerial Government and any of its con- stituencies directly, or between a Local Government and its local constituencies, or between tlie Imperial Government and a Local Government, ' able to speak and act for' one of the kini^doms. If precedent be wanting to illustrate the danger arising from these relations, let me refer to what occurred in Canada when such an experiment was once ventured upon. The experiment included in its operation the wealthy, intelligent, and eminently respectable population of Upper Canada (now called Ontario). About thirty years ago the Provincial Government con- ceived that it would be advantageous to lend the benefit of the Provincial credit to the various municipalities, to assist them to borrow money for various local purposes, on terms which it would have been impos- sible for the municipalities to obtain on 30 A Purchase Scheme, their Individual credit. These moneys were advanced by the Government to the various municIpaHties as a loan, to be re- paid to the Government on terms defined by the Act of Parliament and agreed to by the municipalities. The money was duly spent by the municipalities — in some cases, perhaps, extravagantly, but generally in most useful and at least indirectly produc- tive local works. But when the time for payment to the Government arrived all kinds of demurs arose. The debt was in fact practically repudiated by the munici- palities for a long series of years. Party Governments shrank from the duty of en- forcing payment at the price of alienating the support of the numerous constituencies affected. The ultimate result was that a composition was effected, by which the municipalities repaid a portion of the debt in full settlement of the whole. I see no reason to doubt that the same ^. i Purchase Scheme, 31 cause which made this financial experiment so disastrous in Canada would, in Ireland or any other country possessing popular representative institutions, tend to the same result of becoming a means of edu- cating the people into public dishonesty. I think, therefore, that financiers would lay down, as a primary axiom to be observed, that the State should avoid constituting the relation of creditor and debtor directly between any political body and those upon whose suffrages it is dependent. We know how to many minds Mr. Gladstone's particular scheme is subject to other serious objections. Political dangers claim a place in the considera- tion of the merits of a financial scheme. But such criticism is not my present object. I desire to confine my attention to the sub- stantial question whether there is a pos- sibility of finding means of remedying 32 A Purchase Scheme, the practical or agrarian grievance which exists in Ireland. Acc(^pting, then, those general principles to which the bold and Inixenious mind of Mr. Gladstone has given prominence, can- not we adopt their advantages without also incurring those risks, [jolltical as well as financial, which the details of the plan actually proposed would involve ? The substance — I may repeat — of Mr. Gladstone's suggestion may be said to be, that an Imperial loan or the Im- perial credit might safely be granteci if repayment were secured by a responsible guarantee corporation. Let us eliminate from the proposal its more questionable •elements, being those which give it a political character. Let us, if possible, ex- clude the idea of enforced expropriation, and of official veiluation ; and in lieu of a political guarantee corporation let us sub- stitute a purely commercial one. Are there A Purchase Scheme. ZZ -of said Im- d If 'Me late al^le t a ex- lion, of a sub- here not still left the outlines of a legitimate and practlcabl(.' commercial project, calcu- lated to satisfy a want felt not in Ireland only, but more or less throu^diout the United Kin^^dom ? If the effect of a Government guarantee would be to reduce the borrowing rate at which money could be obtained by such a corporation, say to three (3) per cent per annum, whereas the annual profit produced from land is at the rate of five (5) per cent per annum on the actual selling value, the difference would constitute the equivalent of a margin of security of forty per cent, or nearly equivalent to that upon which trust moneys are commonly lent. It seems to me that a private corporation might readily be created to obtain the advantage of this guarantee, and to make it available for the benefit of tenants or other small purchasers of agricultural holdings. Let me venture to suggest, in merest i 34 A Purchase ScJieme> outline, the possible constitution and ope- rations of what we may call a Land Loan Guarantee Company. What would be Its prospects of profit — the Inducement to Its shareholders ? What securities could be offered to the public against the Govern- ment guarantee of its debentures ? And, finally, what probability is there of the facilities offered by the Company being taken advantage of by landlords and by tenants, and of its thus gradually Introduc- inof contentment Into the now disturbed districts of Ireland, and securinor future order, not only there, but, perhaps, in every part of the L^nited Kingdom ? • The Company would be incorporated upon the usual basis of a subscribed capital stock. The pakl-up stock would constitute the guarantee fund required for the pro- tection of the Government. The amount paid up, like the capital stock of a Life Insurance Company, would In the niean- A Ptir chase Scheme. )pe- oan i its ) its 1 be ern- f\nd, the )eing d by xluc- Lirbed Liture s, in > . )rated ;ipital titute |)ro- nount Life mean- time l.>e invested by the Company for the benefit of the shareholders, so as to yield them an income independently of their profits upon the special transactions of the Company. The Company would carry on purchase and sale transactions with funds obtained upon three per cent debentures, issued by the Company to the public with the endorsement of a (Government guar- antee. Its modus operandi would be as follows : — Whenever the Company found a land- lord desirous of sellin^^ at a price satis- factory to the Company (which we will assume to be twenty years' capitalisation of the real annual value, ascertained accord- ing to the judgment of the Company's valuators), and when the Company had also ascertained the willingness of a suffi- cient number of the tenants, or similar actual cultivators, to purchase at the same figures, the Company would enter into A Purchase Scheme. the necessary contracts on both sides. Having provided by an issue of its deben- tures the amount of the purchase-money, it would pay the cash to the vendor in exchange for a conveyance, less a mode- rate brokerage or commission for effecting the sale. From this brokerage the C'om- pany would derive its profits. Turning to the tenant purchaser, the Company would now become the vendors. The terms of the contract with the tenant purchaser might be, first, interest at three per cent upon the unpaid purchase-money remaining from time to time, the tenant having full possession subject to condition of ultimate forfeiture if this interest should be in arrear beyond a reasonable period for redemption ; second, the payment of the purchase - money by instalments, of amounts not exceeding the balance of the net annual value : forfeiture to occur only for gross and negligent default in paying a A Ptirchase Scheme. i "vr. f 1 '4 minimum instalment : as, for instance, upon failure to pay any such instalment for three years continuously. If the real profit-making capacity of the land were fairly ascertained by the Company's valuators in the first instance, exceptional seasons and depreciated mar- kets could never, except upon the rarest and most calamitous occasions, exceed the forty per cent that was estimated to be the margin between the tenant's total net piofits from the land and the three per cent interest. The effect of defaults not exceeding the margin would therefore only postpone the period at which the j)urchase would be complet(id. Until the price was fully paid, the land would continue to be in the Company's hands as a security. De- liberate and continued default would be so much against the interest of purchasers that it might be expected never to happen, save in most exceptional instances of dis- 38 A Purchase Scheme. sipation or misfortune. Such is the ex- perience of offices and individuals ope- rating in similar credit sales to similar occupiers in Canada. The following extract from the state- ment made at the annual meeting of the British-American Land Company, held in London on March 31st last, will be in- terestincr in this connexion. It was stated by the Chairman : 'As to the collection of principal and interest, we must recollect that the purchasers of our lands during the whole period of our existence have all been people who have gone out with very little money. We have had to give encourage- ment to apparently industrious,, hard- working people, who desired to acquire lands to clear them and settle. Conse- quently our Commissioners have always, with the sanction of the Directors, allowed payments of principal and interest to stand over for lengthened periods. If the pur- A Purchase Scheme. 39 chaser Is a man likely, by his Industry and labour, to come round and be able to pay his purchase-money and interest, he is allowed to remain unmolested.' As to the result of their operations, the Deputy- Governor said : * For many years now the proprietors have been getting- something like five per cent upon their capital, besides which there have been considerable returns of capital.'* The real risk of loss to the Company would be dep Mident, exactly as the case of a Loan or Investment Company, upon the management of the Company, and its judgment in selecting honest and capable * Financial readers, of course, will know that the expectation of profit of the Canadian Company is not on an identical basis with that under discussion ; but that the difference between speculative purchase on the one hand, and sale on commission on the other, is found on the nverafre to be rather in favour of the latter than the former. Many men thrive as land agents; very few as land speculators. 40 A Ptirchasc Scheme. valuators. Against this latter risk of loss it would not be legitimate to guarantee the Company. On the contrary, the commer- cial skill and prudence dictated by the self- interest of the shareholders should form the protection of the Government. 1 he shareholders, like the members of any other commercial corporation, would have no right to expect indemnity, except through their own discretion and vigilance in the selection of their officials. We have .v-.aid that in all probability an exceedingly small proportion of the pur- chasers would be found to fail to pay, sooner or later, the instalments of purchase- money, in addition to their interest. As soon as a number of instalments had been paid on any purchase, a substantial margin would have been created, sufiiclent itself to secure the debentures outstandin^j; in re- spect of that transaction. This might be considered by the Government in taking an A Purchase Scheme. 41 account, from time to time, of the general liability of the Company, to which the amount of capital stock would have refer- ence. Hence, a stock paid up to about twenty-five per cent upon the current debenture liabilities of the Company might be found to afford ample security to the Government against any liability to be called on to make good its guarantee of the debentures. The comnn'ssions upon sales would therefore provide an accu- mulating rest, equivalent to a foir dividend annually upon the invested capital of the shareholders. But assuming, as we do, that the in- vestment of capital in this experiment would be a public advantage, if special inducements should be found necessary to attract the investing public into the desired channel, it would be quite legiti- mate that the Company should be as- sisted to a limited extent ; that is to 42 A Purchase Scheme. say, with a dcfinlt(i Government sub- vention. The Company's organization would, in reality, be performing functions equivalent to those of a Government department : with the difference that a Government de- partment would do the same work upon official instead of upon commercial prin- ciples ; that is to say, less practically, less efficiently, and far less economically, and with all the dangers and dissatisfaction arising from political complications. For a certain number of years the Govern- ment might grant a sum sufficient to cover the expenses of management, in carrying out the first stages of an experiment which would be so much in the public interest. A Government subvention so limited, would be, at least, as appropriate as many postal sul)sidies, given with a view to encouraging new mail connexions, or as the Government assistance to A Purchase Scheme. 43 railways so common in India and the Colonies. Next as to the i)robability of vendors and purchasers takina advantage of the intervention of such a Company. Would landlords be found vvillino to sell to the Company ^ Would tenants be in- duced to purchase from it .^ I think, with fair management, the Company's operations would grow in a very short time from small to large proportions. For bringing about a conmion agree- ment as to c: proper selling price, the Company's valuators, as practical and im- partial men having no interest except that of the Company to regard, ought in time to exert the greatest authority on the minds of both vendors and purchasers. Ihe Company would clearly have no temptation to pay upon an exaggerated estimate of annual value, because their own security as ultimate vendors being 44 A Ptirchase Scheme. dependent on the correctness of that esti- mate would In that case be so much the worse. If rents have habitually been ex- cessive, or if events have caused a real diminution in the rent-paying power of land, the operations of the Company would be sure to ascertain the fact, and to make plain the exact nature of it to all parties. At the same time, in consequence of the remarkable facilities afforded by the Government guarantee, the Company's terms to the vendor on the one hand, and to the purchaser on the other, would be more favourable than either could, under any other circumstances, expect. Tenants, it is obvious, would be in the same position as if their rents had been immediately cut down forty per cent : the excess becoming payable practically L't the tenant's convenience, and every sum so received being at once paid to the tenant's credit towards the purchase of the land. A Purchase Scheme, 45 It is on the side of the tenants that the greatest doubt and distrust would at first exist. Much would depend upon the con- viction being created in th ^ir minds that the Company was conducted upon com- mercial principles, and widiout any special bias in favour of the landlords or vendors. The Company desiring, like other com- panies, to increase the scope of its transac- tions, would take care to further the growth of this confidence by a judicious selection of its directorate. It might find advantage in adding to its central board consulting bodies of local directors, composed of men chosen for the confidence they were known to command in their neighbourhoods. Might it not be hoped that the Company would [.rove so successful in promoting sales by voluntary agreement as to anti- cipate any necessity for resorting to com- pulsion, either to effect sales or to fix the valuation of the land ? The process of 46 A Ptir chase Scheme, mutual agreement would have an Im- measurable advantage over any judicial processes or official machinery that could be devi.'-'^'^. Ordi. .ry judicial machinery, with its evidence, its arguments, and its appeals, is ruinously expensive. Official machinery is arbitrary in principle, and continually open to the suspicion of oppression on the one hand and of political, if not personal, corruption on the other. The necessity for compulsory methods ought to be ^ ved to exist — after fair ex- periment upon a voluntary process — before shaking the basis of landed credit by Introducing the principle of political valuation. Extreme legislative powers, such as compulsory expropriation and. fixing a Parliamentary price, would still exert a not unreasonable share of potency, even while remaining in reserve. Landlords A Purchase Scheme, 47 as a a Ml disposed to be unduly exacting are not likely to be unmindful that a ' Two-handed cnji^inc at the door Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.' But so far as landlords are concerned, no process of expropriation is likely to be required. The landlords would be found to be willing vendors. The obstacle to the distribution of land by natural pro- cesses, which once existed in these islands, may be said no longer to exist. The possession of land upon a large scale is not now, to the extent it once was, a source of prestige, and still less is it a source of profit. The commodity may be said to be losing its fashion price, and is becoming obtainable in the market at its intrinsic value. In the hands of no one is that intrinsic value so great as in the hands of the actual tiller of his own acres. Landlords might be well satisfied 48 A Purchase Scheme, with a cash price equivalent to twenty years' capitalisation based upon the tillers' net profit from the land. One consequence to be expected from an increase of small freeholds would be an increased local demand for money. Loans would be required by the tenants to pro- cure the necessary stock and to make useful improvements ; and to no one ought it to be more natural for each to apply than to his former landlord. If partly by this means a twenty years' capitalisation could be reinvested at five per cent, the vendor's sacrifice of price would be more fanciful than real. Land has so far fallen from its place as a first-class security that the fair relation of its capital to its annual value is not what it was. It mio^ht be o reckoned as being now rather lower than higher than the average of commercial investments. But even if it should prove that some A Pitrchase Scheme. 40 actual loss of income were to be involved, the apparent sacrifice would be of that kind which a business man often makes m taking in a new associate to strengthen the concern. It seems desirable in Ireland, and it may speedily become necessary in England, for the landed interest, for its own security, to take a greater proportion of the nation into partnership; and in doing so, the present possessors must expect to transfer that portion of their stock taken by the new partner, not upon the highest and most sanguine estimate, but upon the most n:oderate and safest valuation. Changes, no doubt, more sweeping and immediate, would be produced by a compulsory system than by a voluntary one. But the present proposition is not designed to effect a masked revolu- tion in Ireland. It is only from the point of vie\. of an extreme class of local E 50 A Purchase Schane. politicians that it is desirable that the whole order of society in that country should be deranged b}^ a universal com- pulsory expropriation — a kind of ostracism — of the whole of the present landholding class. Public policy requires no more than that a proper equilibrium should be at- tained in the body politic. That obi<{:t would be sufficiently accomplished so soon as a mere majority of the people had become sharers with the present owners in the national freehold. It is, perhaps, virtually accomj)lished the moment the power of gradually becoming freeholders has been placed within the reach of the majority in Ireland and in the other parts of the British Islands. The present pro- position is designed purely to carry out that politico-economic object, as nearly as possible, by commercial processes. That some permanent benefits might A Pu7%hase Scheme. r j result from subdivision of a part of the freehold of the country, Is suggested by the following passage from that trust- worthy observer, Arthur Young :— ' The cottars on a farm cannot go from one to another in order to fmd a good master, as In England ; for all the country is in the same system, and no redress to be found.' — {Tour in Irclarui p. 112.) Debt, death, and emigration, would be continually throwing small parcels into the market : and the temptation to non- cultivators to compete against cultivators being so much less than it once was, the price is not likely to be raised above its natural value. In one respect legislation might legiti- mately intervene, to assist many Irish and even English landlords to accept a reason- able price for their property. A. \cry large number, perhaps a majority, of landowners, have, at the present time, a nominal rather 52 A Purchase Scheme. than a beneficial interest. They are in- vested, Hke the ryots of India, with a burden rather than a possession. Family settlenients have buried tJie nominal owner- ship under a series of incumbrances, the sum of which now perhaps exceeds the actual value of the land. It seems to me that the princi{)le under which ecjuity deals in abating legacies under wills might be applied in an extended form to many of these cases. Testators or settlers have charged estates in the hands of their heirs, or residuary devisees, or other ultimate beneficiaries, with portions and incum- brances for the benefit of other members of the ancestors' families. At the time such settlements were made, the portions were fixed upon the su|)position that the land which was left to the heir was a thing of a perpetual and unshrinkable value, and that the residuary interest was as certain as the previous charges. A condition of A Purchase Scheme. 3 thincrs havlnor arisen which has falsified that expectation, it is reasonable that (to ihe extent rec[uired to facilitate a public object) the equitable principle of abatement should be called in, to redress the now uneven balance between the inciimbered heir and the legatee members of his fi uiiily. The latter are now made preferential creditors in a manner and to an extent never contemplated by the original testator. At the sam(i time, the operation of such legislation would require to be limited i3y due respect to the position of purchasers or mortgagees for value. The Legislature might also assist the Company to cheapen, and thereby facili- tate, transfers. Even without legislation the Company would have the advantage of belncf able, at the cost of a sinofle investigation for the whole property, to furnish the purchaser of each allotment with a guaranteed title without expense 54 A Purchase Scheme. to him. But the Legislature might very beneficially fortify the Company in this respect with special powers and indemnities in regard to merely tech- nical difficulties, both of title and of transfer. It is possible that certain obstacles, beyond those of a properly financial nature, may be pointed to as standing in the way of a scheme of this kind. It is clear, of course, that commercial enterprise cannot reasonably be invited to the aid of any country where pro- perty and the law of contract are not guaranteed by the Government. And it will be said, perhaps, that whatever advantages such a scheme might offer to the tenants to become purchasers, fmancial investors cannot be blind to the possibility that local demairotifism — that false friend and constant peril of the Irish peasantry — will exert all its sinister force to prevent A Ptir chase Scheme. 55 the success of an organization tending- to the pacification of the country. Discontent, no doubt, has long been a matrix of demagogic power ; and perhaps among the men whom the Irish agitation has brought to the surface some, un- happily, may be found base enough to act like a dislionest physician, capable of prolonging the profitable sufferings of the confiding patient But a more general charge would be so much against the honour of human nature, that it is surely not to be entertained in advance of proof. Be they few or many, such men, we may be confident, will have to reckon, as adverse to them, several factors that hitherto have either counted in their favour or been substantially inert. In the first place, there is encourage- ment in the resolute disposition manifested by the majority in the present Parliament. It is reassurinor to have a Parliament 56 A Purchase Scheme. which appears to know ils own mind in this matter. The issues that have been raised by the Opposition, and tlieir extraordinary methods of attack, are tending- to rally to the defence — aloni^fside of those who support the Cabinet of the day on party grounds — all those who feel that they are interested in the support of government as an institution. Much of what is beini>' urired arainst the adoption of the necessary means for the enforcement of rudimentary law would form more appropriate argument from the mouths of the followers of Confucius than from the countrymen of Hampden. The objectors would commit Freedom to an ir- rational and unalterable slavery to her own preced(!nts. The f^ict is, that not in Ire- land alone, but in all countries which have inherited British institutions, the people have long been growing restive under the A Ptif'chase Scheme, 57 rude and antiquated inefficiency of the jury system as a means of coping with the scientific crime of modern time. Since time has levelled the pri\ ileges of rank and substituted the commonwealth for the king in the place of power, the ancient defences which once were useful as safe- guards of popular liberty are often found to be mere barriers in the way of society ; obstructions to the general well-being of the people itself. The spirit which re- fuses to see these ^efects, and fears to attempt to amend tlie hallowed institution accordingly, is the spirit of Chinese Con- servatis i rather than the spirit of pro- gressive Liberalicm. In the next place, the law, if effectually maintained, must soon have on its side an important auxiliary in the common sense of the peasantry of Ireland. If an honest means of an intelligible and simply com- mercial character can be actually put within 58 A Purchase Scheme. the reach of each individual : if before each lies the offer that, merely by steady industry and the performance of a fair contract, he may slowly but surely raise himself out of all the annoyances of his tenant condition into the position of an independent freeholder, he will be likely to scrutinise pretty closely the arguments and the motives of those who not only would dissuade him from adopting that simple plan of adjustment, but invite him to maintain a condition of disorder which would keep those commercial remedies at a distance. Only madmen would wan- tonly court the miseries of a civil war ; and is not that the implied alternative if reasonable terms of settlement are to be declined ? A final influence which may be counted upon with a certain amount of confidence is the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. Sentiments and habits of mind A Purchase Scheme. 59 undeniably conic under the proper domain of a religious teacher, if questions of inateri.d expediency do not ; and prin- ciples have been advocated, practices are encouraged, which the conscience of the Church must unite with the reiason of the civilised world in condenming-. To some minds, rememberin<>r what are the natural sympathies and what has been the historic policy of the Irish priesthood, the statement of such a ho])e may sound like a paradox. Why, however, should the Irish priests desire to go on lashing the subsiding waves of discontent, after the peasantry themselves had cause to be satisfied ? They, of course, are not blind to all that agitation implies in Ireland. One is not prepared to conceive the Irish priesthood applying itself to keeping up an agitation against the peace and order of society after it had clearly become utterly causeless. The only motive suggested, the 6o A Purchase Scheme. only one conceivable, is a distant hope of ultimately af^^o^randisini;' Roman Catholic inllucnce in Ireland through the establish- ment C/f a National Government. But the power of acting, and the responsil)ility for acting in that matter, would not rest in the l)r(:asts of the local priesthood. It would be a question of policy affecting larger interests, and dependent i;pon de- terminations formed in a calmer region. To conccMve the Roman Curia deliberately entering upon such a course for the sake of such an object is to attribute to that body an unprecedented amount of political folly, in addition to the most cynical inhumanity. As a matter of [)o]icy, the Church of Rome could ill afford de- liberately and wantonly to throw down a gage of direct hostility to the Government of the British Empire. Ireland is not the only stake that the Church of Rome holds in that Empire. ^ i Purchase Scheme. 6i Where is, for instance, a more important and a more privileged Catholic population to be found iw the world than the million and a half of Canadians of French ex- traction inhabiting the province of Quebec ? The protection enjoyed by the Catholic Church in that province has been owing to the i)ro visions enacted by the Imperial Parliament — provisions far exceeding in liberality iuiy requirements imposed by the Treaty of Cession. A feeling is growing up in the i)ominion that those privileges are excessive, and tliat they have been abused to the promotion of Philo Gallic and disloyal tendencies. The English- speaking and Protestant communities of the Dominion are becoming restive over the perpetuation of this union of religious privilege with political powder. Already threateniuLT murmurs have been heard from that quarter. The time coulil not be less propitious for raising similar feel- <52 A Purchase Scheme. mgs of jealousy and distrust to a height throughout the Empire. Poh'cy at least forbids the Church of Rome from ex- hibiting her organization working as an alien and hostile influence against the power that protects it. But bigotry itself must credit a Chris- tian Church with higher motives. In spite •of grievous faults In the past — in spite, 1 might say, of historic crimes — the men who rule In the central councils of the Church of Rome cannot forget that the Church does not exist for its own aggrandisement ; that that great corporation is only a means to an end. Its policy must be moulded in consistency with its professed aim — the improvement of human character and the amelioration of the condition of mankind by the peaceful influence of a holy reli- gion. Sooner or later the Church must take its place beside the Law. Its ideal Is one that refuses to be bent : it forbids to A Purchase Scheme. ^Z consult popularity first and the interests of civilisation afterwards. A Church cannot, Hke modern demagogism, frankly take its policy from below. N 64 Industrial Parliaments. III. The writer has ventured to sketch a principle in which he finds reasons for hoping that so far as concerns, at least, the one radical cause of Irish difficulties that has become patent to all English statesmen, the remedy for that evil is not beyond the grasp of ordinary British financial enterprise, supplemented and encouraged by legislative measures, not 'tartling in character, nor needing to be carried to an imprudent extent. Obviously, even if the principle were approved, many details would remain to be supplied which it would be presumption on the part of the present writer to attempt to work out. Upon what conditions ought the Go- vernment to offer its guarantee ? To how many Corporations } Might a monopoly Industrial Parliaments. 65 be created, or should a free competition of Companies be Invited ? Supposing the sug-gestlon I have ventured to advance to be thought worthy of criticis , one of the questions would be, By what steps is the project to be brought to an actual test ? Would the initiative rest with the financial public, or does it lie upon the Government? There are good reasons why the Go- vernment would be reluctant to take the first step in the matter. Then are also good reasons why the financial public would decline the responsibility. In my own opinion the Initiative at the present time would not properly rest with either. The criticism of the principle, and, if that be approved, the definition of details, should belong to a body better qualified than the one and more disinterested than the other of the two mentioned. But when we commence to search for iiuch a body, where do we find It ? F 66 Industria I Pa rlia mciits. The question l)rin^s us face to face with one of the most sio;i"iificant facts of modern times-— tho inadequacy of all existing par- liamentary bodies for the discussion of industrial questions : for disposing of those great cruces of the day whicli are pre- senting themselves before all civilised nations ? If this is equivalent to charging our Legislatures with complete Incompe- tency, It has not been left to the writer to lay the indictment. When the pit-women of Devonshire lately ^'zwX, a deputation to the Home Secretary In reference to the proposed legislation affecting that industry, the essence of the matter was put In a very straightforward manner by the spokes- woman of the deputation. She said that ^^arllament would do better to leave local trade matters alone, for it had no know ledge of them, and only muddled when it meddled with them ; and the Home Industrial Parlianiciits. 67 Secretary very frankly admitted tlie justice of the homely-worded Impeachment. For all the purposes of a deliberative body Parliament may be said to be an acknowledged failure. Fifty years ago the credit of Parliamentary institutions stood high. They were the inheritance and the pride of the English nations ; they were the hope of the Continental nations struggling for a similar freedom. To-day they are everywhere fallen into something much more like contempt. Abroad their progress has received a definite check. Criticism, even in this their original British home, has gone so far as to cast doubts, not upon their perfection only, but even upon their durability. Their practical manifestation of this modern contempt for Parliament has been perhaps the most conspicuous feature m the conduct of the Irish Parliamentary party. To most minds this ajjpeared as a 68 Industrial Parliafnen is. most grievous — in fact, an utterly unpar- donable — course of action. But have the Irish done more than prick a bubble; put- ting an end, with rather brutal sincerity, to a linorerino: delusion ? Delusions are never without their danwr: and in lorcinp; atten- tion to the weak point in Parliamentary Government it may appear in the end that the Irish have done the public interest a service rather than an injury. The universally changed sentiment towards Parliament is not difficult to ac- count for. It is only recendy, in the latter quarter of the century, that repre- sentative institutions have really been subjected to such a critical test of their fitness as has brought their deficiencies to light. It is in the end for a business purpose that Parliaments exist. They are in- tended as a means for the despatch of public business and to provide the legis- Induslrial Parlia 7ncnts, 69 lation necessary for the nation. To that end have mcHJern nations borne with the long process of Constitution-mongering. That was always intended to be the work of the machine when the interminable pro- cess of preparing and polishing, altering and re-amending — that favourite occupation of politicians — was completed. Now to- wards what objects is modern legislation most commonly directed ? What are the burning questions of the day ? Are they not, almost without exception, almost ne- cessarily questions connected w^ith thi„ material wants of society ? They belong, in other words, to the order of economical and industrial questions. For a public body fit to undertake the determination of such questions there a"e two indispensable requisites. It must be (iualified ; that is to say, its members should be skilled in the questions at issue, and in that respect properly representative of the various 70 hidiistrial Parliaments. classes interested. - In the next place it ought to be single-minded. If in the nature of the case its spirit and methods cannot be entirely judicial, at least they should be in the spirit of frank and honoura])le negotiation, of sincere and responsible advocacy. If these are the necessary (jualifica- tions, it is nothing to be wondered at that Parliaments should fail in their task when these questions had to be entertained. Parliaments altogether lack those quali- fications. Their members are not chosen as experts for any special experience or knowledge : they are not respectively the genuine and authoritative representatives of the various industrial interests making up the Commonwealtli ; and, above all, they are too often controlled in their actions by maxims and influenced by motives w^hich render debate necessarily insincere, and tend to remove voting as far as possible Lidustrial Pa rlia incuts. 71 from tlic category of a scientific or a judicial determination. Who believes that the great abstract question oi Free Trade or Protection has yet been entertained by a body cajxible of arriving at an authoritative decision, as the result of an adequate or representative and honest examination ? Who does not fear to see the various questions between labourers and capitalists made the sport of the irresponsil)le demagogism of our legislatures ? What a dangerous prospect opens before commerce if the infinitely important but also Infmitely delicate ques- tion of the Currency should be taken up in that spirit in this country, as the ex- ample of American Congresses warns us to expect may yet be done ? The proper incidence of taxation, the laws of inherit- ance, th(^ State regulation of carriers, — can any one assert that the Parliaments and other popular legislatures at present con- 72 Inditstrial Pa rliaiucnfs. stitutcd are well adapted for the fair^ honest, and wise discussion of these great public questions ? The Land question Is another of the same series. In the hands of political legislatures all have received the same inadequate kind of treatment, although not always with ecjually serious, results. In the History of Our Oivn Times, the case of his countrymen is stated by Justin McCarthy apparently with perspicuity and fairness. I quote the conclusion of his chapter on the subject : ' Wherever this tenant-right principle prevailed there was industry, there was prosperity. Where it did not prevail was the domain of poverty, idleness, discontent, and crime. The one demand of the Irish agricultural population everywhere was for some form of fixity of tenure. Let It be sought by legitimatlsing the Ulster custom everywhere, or by de- claring that men should hold their land as Industrial Parliaments. n long as they paid a fair rent, to be fixed by authorised and impartial vahiation, or by some plan of establishing a peasant pro- prietary : let tne demand be made as it would, there was substantially one demand and one only — security of tenure. The demand was neglected or refused by gene- rations of English statesmen, simply be- cause no statesman would take the trouble to distino^uish words and thino^s : between shadowy, pedantic theories, and clear, sub- stantial facts. * " Tenant right," said Lord Palmerston, amid the cheers of an assembly mainly eom- poscd of landlords y "is landlords' wrong."' With the changed franchise the repre- sentation has been chanwd. Now the Irish contingent in Parliament is almost wholly a contingent of tenants. Therefore Mr. Gladstone says the tenants now con- stitute Ireland — their cries alone must be taken as die articulate outcome 74 Industrial ParliLxments, of tlie voices oi all the residents of tlicit country. vSuch is l^arliamentary r("[)resentation. It is but the swinging of a penduhuu. The votinii; at wneral elections results in sweepin^j^ alternations : at one time in practically exclusive landlord representa- tion, and in practically exclusive tenant representation at another time. The l)oli- ticians <^Ive us estimates of majorities and counter-majorities : their minds are deter- mined by these calculations of political arithmetic, and not by the actual n^erits of the question at issue. The principle of modern demacroi^fism is to consult the supposed will of masses and of classes, instead of labouring to guide their judg- ment. Where, then, are not only the Irish, but all other * constitutionally-governed ' peoples, to seek for their remedy } In fresh political devices ? in tinkerings of (the liidusirial Pariiauicnts. /o Constitution, new balancinjr of sufTragcs, reaclJListnu:nt of [)owcrs ? The creation of new political legis- latures is merely to reproduce the system, not to reform it. From a Home Rule Parliament what more could we expect tlian th, .j^ /. e: >i ^j ♦ -" # % '^a Photographic Sciences Corporation c^-^ ;V iv. 4^ \\ 1^ ^^^ r individual men, that they shall rise ' from stepping- stones of their dead selves to higher things ?' Why may it not revert to the character of a bond fide Land League — a union of a class having common interests : excluding the elements which give it the character .)f an association for political agitation ? The Irish people have the opportunity of exhibiting their possession of true political sagacity. Will they prefer to pursue the mere shadow of self-govern- ment, when the substance is within their grasp ? Can we not Imagine the first Indus- trial Parliament assemblincr — a harjjlnorer of peace and contentment — on College Green } There Ireland would be genu- I7idustrial Parliaments. II I Lo Its ; that 30ttcd ^xl, for viducil 3ping- ;iigher :o the Lie — a ircsts : it the :)lltical e the iion of d^x to Dvern- i their Indus- jinger ollege genu- inely represented. There would be her manufiicturers great and small : her fman- ciers : members of the great professions : all the branches (in the future jjerhaps destined to be still more numerous) of her trade and commerce : her tenant farmers, and even her field labourers : lasdy, but not least, that landed gentry which has furnished in the past so many leadeis of men. May we not conceive what would be the closing act of the first session of that assembly of Irishmen ? Having effected its organization, having tasted the pleasure of achieving valuable progress by the processes of reasoning-, would it not proceed, in a unanimous burst of repentant chivalry, to wipe out the churlish and unworthy stain which recent events have left upon the fair fame of Ireland } Might we not hope to see those representatives inviting the vener- able Queen, whom all nations of the world 1 12 Industrial Parliaments. delight In honouring, to receive the con- gratulations of a loyal people in one of the most beautiful of the Imperial capitals ? The sound of those acclamations would ring around the globe. Across dividing oceans hearts v^ould grow warmer at the sound. Ancient India would hear in it an assurance that the great civilization^ under whose protecting shadow her war- weary peoples are finding rest, is in no danger of falling to pieces, but is only at the beginning of a long and beneficent career. Perhaps a faint echo would penetrate even Into distant Russia ; suggesting to an anxious Czar and a vaguely discontented people that the first steps towards con- stitutional government may yet perhaps be taken, without danger of opening the sluices of revolution. A remarkable simi- larity exists between the position In India and that in Russia. In both countries a e con- of the pitals ? would ividinc^ at the .r in it [zation^ ;r war- in no 3nly at leficent net rate g to an itented Is con- laps be ig the e simi- n India itries a Industrial Parlia^itmts. \ 1 3 great, apparently a hopeless gulf yawns between Government and people. But there would be a hope of spannin- that gulf if it should be proved, by a successful experiment, that a true legislature can exist without Imngering after the mere form of power. The English race, the old-time leader m the march of freedom, would have manifested that a purely de- liberative assembly of the people, as a means of formulating public opinion by free discussion, is not the rival, but the natural complement of political govern- ments ; that it is necessary thnt it should be thus independently constituted, to en- able it to exercise its own function free from confusing distractions and corrupting influences: which, in the experience of English Parliaments, the control of execu- tive power always throws in the way of a legislative body. 1 14 Ireland and the English Race'^ IV, 1'he writer, It will be seen, does not take a pessimistic view of the Irish question. Thickly as the ck)uds still lie over that vexed horizon, the light has been slowly broadening behind them. When the pre- sent troubled period is hnishexl, it may appear that the contest in Ireland has been only a scene in the action of a greater and more cheering drama — the united progress of the English-speaking nations. In its apology for a policy of desperation the English Liberal Party (it seems to me) * The terms P^nglish or British, in the sense in which they are here used, seems to be nearly inter- changeable ; a preference for the former arises from the name attaching to two of the most distinguishing features of what I term the race — its language, and its political institutions. : take istion. r that slowly e pre- ; may 5 been sr and ogress In its )n the o me) iense in ly inter- jes from guishing ige, and Ireland and the English Race. i r 5 too frankly accuses its own past. The errors which it imph'es, the failure which it confesses, m the management of past Parhaments, are chiefly its own failures, ils own errors. In laying that implied charge against its veteran leader, it clothes him with too great a responsibility. Great men, but particularly great orators, are seldom more than mouthpieces ; they suc- ceed in proportion as they lend language to the instincts of their time. For a time the spirit which reigned in the British Parliament and in the Govern- ments of its choice was a spirit of for- bearance, conciliation, and patience, dis- played in all the relations, internal and external, of the Empire. That spirit pro- bably served its day. To it may be accredited the enactment of the Wash- ington Treaty: a great deed of inter- national charity that might well cover a multitude of minor errors. Merely from RvvmnnnRini 1 1 6 Ireland and the Eiiplish Race. the point of view of policy it was a great act. More than any other it unclosed the gate for the reunion, in a moral sense, of the two great peoples of the English race. That process, which ever since has been steadily progressing, has more than doubled the force of Great Britain, both for diplomatic purposes in Europe, and for dealing firmly with home troubles. The same conciliatory tendency inspired the earnest efforts of recent Parliaments to do full, if tardy, justice to the long- neglected complaints of Ireland ; and they were productive of similar although '^ven less calculated results. Whatever may be thought of the actual statesmanship of those measures, or of their consistency with sound principles of political economy, however even they may have fallen short of success in their local and immediate object, yet they are not to be regretted. Ireland and the English Race. 117 In one respect they have been fully worth all they have cost. That those measures have contributed indirectly to confirm that reconciliation with the American people which the Wash- ington Treaty began, is the testimony of an observer whose acquaintance with American sentiment dates back 10 the times before Disestablishment and the Irish land legislation. England's efforts at conciliating Ireland, although they have been unsuccessful with the sister to whom they were addressed, have, like the court- ship of one of the characters in the story oi Middlema}'ch, unconsciously produced a happy result in another direction. The cultivated part at least of the American people (to be distinguished, of course, from American politicians and their press) now recognise that if the Irish Question is still unsetded it is not so much for want of a spirit of justice on the part of -^ .mxmKsmsemi^mmmenmmmmmmM 1 1 8 Ireland aiid the English Race» the British Parliament, as on account of inherent difficulties in the problem. If misinformation still leads to misdirected sympathy, the sympathy is no longer acute. There is not now an interest felt like that of onlookers at a game having their stakes all on one side. There is simply the attention of listeners at a serious and probably prolonged debate. Events have given to that del:)ate a more hopeful turn than might have been expected. Beholdinor Mr. Gladstone becomino; the apologist of Nationalism must have been as startling as an apparition to some of that statesman's supporters. Nothing could have appeared more retrograde, more like a violation of all con- sistency on the part of a veteran Liberal, than to lend the high authority of his name and the great powers of his eloquence to so reactionary a task as that of reviving intc activity in a great Western Empire, at Ireland and the English Race. i r 9 this date of the world's enlightenment, the ancient antipathies of race and the selfish jealousies of local nationality : baneful and misanthropic passions that might better have been left to flourish in the congenial soil of the East of Europe. History, it may be thought, will find it hard to forgive what must appear as a sin against the very spirit of modern civilisation. Nevertheless, an important gain is due to that very act of Mr. Glad- stone, A secret and smouldering local passion has been brought into the open field and made the subject of Constitutional debate. The reason of the whole modern world is made the judge of the merits. In initiating the debate, Mr. Gladstone may prove to have chosen the wrong, and, therefore, the weaker side of the issue. If the cause of Irish Nationalism is against the cause of civilisation, the eloquence of a single man cannot avail to maintain it. I20 Ireland and the English Race. But in the effort to conciliate that judg- ment the claims of Irish independence must be fairly argued, not with mere barbaric bitterness, but if possible upon broad and reasonable grounds. When an orator like Mr. Davitt de- clares that he has registered a vow of eternal hatred against England and the English Government, and invites his hearers, a crowd of Irish peasants, to do the same, he forgets to what public opinion his cause is now addressing itself. In the time of Hannibal vows of eternal hatred may have been applauded, but in the nineteenth century of Christian civilis- ation the wickedness of such a sentiment is to a considerable degree relieved by its absurdity. In submitting the merits of its cause to the judgment of the English race, with such advocates, Nationalism is in danger of earning condemnation upon the face of its pleas. 121 Ireland and the English Race, Home Rule rhetoric, it seems to me, is already developing its own reductio ad absurdtim. Its most eminent English advocate intimated that the 'Irish nation' was justified in refusing to accept even beneficial measures if offered to it by the Imperial instead of by a local • National' legislature. From the other side of the Channel the same text, as was to be ex- pected, has been expanded by a more pointed commentary. An argument quite openly used in the ' National ' press for the encouragement of habits of general lawlessness and disorder, for the perjury of jurors, and the general suppression of justice, is, that the lavv^s broken were not laws declared by local authority or put into execution by the appointees of a local administration. The people of the United States had some experience of the same doctrine during what was called the Reconstruction 1 2 2 Ireland and the English Race. Period, after the Civil War, when local and party feeling ran very high. The independent press invented a term to describe the practijce. They called it * Mexicanisation.' By Mexicanisation of American politics they meant the adoption of the habit of mind prevailing in Mexico, of rec^-ardino: the laws and Government as entitled to no obedience when administered by an opposite faction : a habit of mind which in the unhappy country of its origin maintained a perpetual state of social dis- organization and private misery. When, therefore, it was perceived that party spirit in its bitterness was beginning to teach, in the press and on the platform, the doctrine that a local majority ought not to submit to laws made aijainst its will by the general majority — as it is now being taught in Ireland — American common sense soon revolted. It deci- sively declared itself in favour of the Ireland and the English Race. ; 23 'American' system— as it termed it — of submittinor with pati(iiice to the will of the lawful majority, however distasteful its decisions, until they can be removed in a constitutional manner by the inf aence of reason upon the minds of a majority of the whole body of electors under the existing Constitution. What the American press termed ' the American principle ' is simply the funda- mental English principle of citizenship under a free government, inherited by the Americans from the mother country. In the course of a generation that principle has prevailed over the bitterness of the local majorities in the Southern and in the Nordiern States respectively. So may we hope to see it ultimately accom- plish a similar victory over the bitterness of the local majority in Ireland. To use such influence as it may to promote that state of mind rather than the contrary 1 24 Ircla7id and the English Race. must in the end appear to the American people (vitally interested as it is in vhe support (jf the principles of popular government) as a duty not any longer to be evaded. However, therefore, we may believe that the Home Rule proposal, if it had been carried out, would have had a most pernicious success, we may yet admit that the act of the Liberal Party of Great Britain in bringing forward that Parlia- mentary measure promises to become in- cidentally of signal advantage. When that great party offered itself as the vessel of Irish Nationalism, for the poison con- cealed in the wine there existed, fortu- nately, a neutralising virtue in the very cup that was extended to receive it. In the endeavour of th-". two Parties to unite, while an English Party has been learning the theory of Nationalism, at the same time the Irish Party, in spite of itself, very In Ireland and the English Race. 1 25 has been commencing the practice of Im- perialism. An Irish leader of ability no longer sees himself in a position of galling isolation ; his criticisms unvalued, his measures pooh-poohed, his complaints on behalf of his constituency habitually treated with indifference. Now such men are finding themselves promoted — ap- parently not unwillingly— from leadership in a local faction into a joint share in the leadership of one of the great British Parties. 7^he rank and file also are feeling the touch of a larger fellowship. They are learning to seek for arguments that will commend themselves to English- men and Scotchmen, and to shape the conduct of their cause in a manner to strengthen their allies and conciliate opinion on the other side of the Irish Channel. The practice has only begun, but already, I think, the results are aus- picious. 1 26 Ireland and the Euglisk Race, Once the Land quarrel — tliat unfortu- nate dividlncT-Hne of local parties — has been removed by any means from the category, native advocacy will cease to be found monopolised by one side of any question. Castle Government (if still necessary to be preserved), must in due '^•uirse be shorn of its exasperating features. The time cannot be distant, however they may now repudiate the prospect, when Irish mem- bers of an incoming party will be found looking forward to the Irish Secretaryship as their share of the honours of success. Let Irish national enthusiasm have its due honour. Through centuries of dis- favour and oppression, the reed so often bruised has never broken. That intense local patriotism of the Irish is far from justifying despair. It is only the symptom of a capacity for an impassioned and ideal loyalty which may yet make Ireland — instead of a stumbling-block — a corner- Ireland and the English Race, 1 2 7 stone in the stately Imperial structure of the future. Patriotism contains a purely practical element, traceable to the instinct of self- interest. In one sense it is but another name for public spirit, the perception of common interests which can be best served by community of action. But the emotion of patriotism is an element that transcends its onVin. Springing from the practical, it rises towards the ideal. The passion which has so often in the world's history inspired not only to deeds of bravery, but to acts of sublime self-sacrifice : which, on a larger or smaller scale, has awakened masses of men to the sympathies of brotherhood, really partakes of the nature of religion. Such a passion has in it- self a principle of vitality which calls on it to progress, changing its form and developing its substance towards higher things. Even a religion, if it is living, aamxaeasaKammmmmmm 28 Ireland and the Ens^lish Race, is not stationary. The sympathies and conscience of man grow along with his intellect. From the parish and the clan to the nation and the race, the -human spirit gropes its way under an unseen in- stinct towards the greater enthusiasm of humanity, the ultimate and only satisfying ideal. Each step in the development is a schoolmaster that brings us to the next. The philanthropy of patriotism retains a spice of misanthropy. Too often is it narrow, jealous, and even vindictive. It is a tribal patriotism, addressing its Te Deums to a tribal God. It rejoices over the evil which the people of rival nations suffer. But the progress of moral educa- tion goes on : the less perfect gives way in time to the more perfect. More particularly in the English- speaking world, Destiny has been tending to develop a larger, a more liberal, and and 1 his the spirit 1 in- m of ^fying It is a next, tins a is it e. It ts Te i over lations educa- s way icrlish - ending li, and Ireland and I he English Race, 1 29 magnanimous sentiment of nationality than the world has evei' before seen. Each of the two great communities into which our race Ls now divided fjolitically, may be said to be a people composed of many nations. Patriotism in such a people must be a principle rather than a passion. It seeks justification in the inheritance of noble institutions and of a useful past, and in the conscious momentum towards similar and greater mond objects in the future. That momentum in the Enolish race is certainly not towards a world divided against itself; towards a series of petty nationalities, surrounding themselves with cut-throat tariffs and bristling with internecine armaments. Reason and Seiici- ment, walking hand m hand, are jointly guiding the English race towards a very different ideal. Industrial Brotherhood is the banner which both halves of the sun- dered race are carrying, and under which K I30 Ii'cland and the E mulish Race, they are ultimately destined to find them- selves morally united. What the Land question does to create division between Ireland and her sister-country the Tariff question does between Great Britain and the United States and the Colonics, and likewise between those other communities of the race amoncr themselves. The removal of such barriers will not be hastened by the hand of demagogic legislatures, or by the guarded processes of diplomacy. The tendency of the times is towards great industrial conferences, in which these pro- blems will be examined by more qualified representatives, free to engage in a franker discussion. Should the experiment of national industrial Parliaments be under- taken and prove successful, those local assemblies would lead by a very easy gradation, at least to occasional inter- national assemblies, upon the same founda- tion. Such great assemblies would, pro- Ire[a7id and the Eno^ltsk Race. i%i bably. make better practical progress by being homogeneous — and representations drawn from the widely-planted British race ought to be sufficiently representative of the diversities of the elobe. It may yet be discovered as the result of such a conference that the question of the Tariff cannot be fairly examined except in connexion with that other great problem of the times, the Currency It may be made manifest that the two are closely interdependent. Tariffs, it is possible, only redress the inequalities (or, perhaps, minimise — by localising— the operation) of shifting standards of setdement between debtor and creditor nations. Thus, agree- ment upon a common English standard of value may ultimately be destined to be the forerunner of a mutual abolition of hostile tariffs. Of one thing we can be certain : Whenever the English race unites upon a policy, whether military, economic, or 132 Ireland and the English Race. moral, It will be able to enforce its resolves upon the rest of the world.* The instinctive movement of the Eng- lish race is not towards a truculent great- ness — the embodimen of a merely selfish ideal — but towards its own moral union and to the unity and greatness of its two great parts as favouring the peace and advancement of mankind. Before such an ideal may not enthusiasm well rise, even to the helcrht of a relimon ? In the white-heat of that enthusiasm, shall not all merely provincial patriotisms, all enthusi- asms less worthy of the race, yield them- selves up ? * So much that I had prepared to say upon the subject of the influence of a fluctuating currency upon trade depressions — that great obstacle to the well-being of 'he masses — has been so fully and precisely anticipated by Professor Alfred Marshall (Contemporary Revieiv^ March 1887), that I take the liberty of referring to his article instead of dwelling upon the subject at length. T '> -1 ^ 00 Ireland and the English Race. The question which is being presented to the Irish people is, On which side will they place themselves ? Shall they fall in with the progress of the great race to which they belong, or will they oppose it ? Before the sacred taper of their pa- triotism the Irish have watched through a long and lonely night of suffering. But now the taper pales. There is the broaden- ing of a better day. Has not the time come for the Irish to arise from their wayside shrine } Will they not join the march of the majestic procession moving towards the nobler temple of tlumanity } THE END. H) N 1) N : Printed by Stranqewavs & Sons, Tower fctveet, Cambridge Circus.