The attitude of the Nationalists in anticipation of the Government proposal of last session was expressed by Mr. Redmond, speaking on St. Patrick’s Day at Bradford:—­

“If the scheme gave the Irish people genuine power and control over questions of administration alone, if it left unimpaired the National movement and the National Party, and if it lightened the financial burden under which Ireland staggered, then very possibly Ireland might seriously consider whether such a scheme ought not to be accepted for what it was worth.”

The Irish Council Bill, as all the world knows, proposed to set up in Dublin an administrative Council, consisting of 82 elected, 24 nominated, members, with the Under Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant as an ex officio member.  This body was to have control over eight of the forty-five departments which constitute “Dublin Castle”—­namely, those relating to Local Government, Public Works, National Education, Intermediate Education, the Registrar-General’s Office, Public Works, the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, Congested Districts, and Reformatory Schools.  The nature of the departments excluded from its jurisdiction is of more consequence, including as they do the Supreme Court of Judicature, the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Dublin Metropolitan Police, the Land Commission, and the Prisons’ Board.

The Bill proposed that the Council should be elected triennially on the same franchise as that on which local authorities are at present elected, and its powers were to be exercised by four Committees—­of Local Government, Finance, Education, and Public Works—­the decisions of which were to come up before the Council as a whole, for alteration or approval.  The Bill proposed to constitute an Irish Treasury with an Irish fund of L4,000,000, made up of the moneys at present voted to the departments concerned, together with an additional L650,000.  The sums paid into this fund were to be fixed by the Imperial Parliament every five years.  Finally, the resolutions of the Council, by Clause 3 of the Bill, were subject to the confirmation of the Lord Lieutenant, who, by the same clause, was to be empowered to reserve such resolutions for his own consideration, to remit them for further consideration by the Council, or, lastly, “if in the opinion of the Lord Lieutenant immediate action is necessary with respect to the matter to which the resolution relates, in order to preserve the efficiency of the service, or to prevent public or private injury, the Lord Lieutenant may make such order with respect to the matter as in his opinion the necessity of the case requires, and any order so made shall have the same effect and operate in the same manner as if it were the resolution of the Irish Council.”