are assassinated in Dublin; if evictions give rise to murder in Kerry, the British Army must in the last resort be called in to restore peace or punish crime.  If the army are not under the control of the Irish Executive, then the English Cabinet become directly responsible for the government of Ireland.  If British soldiers are placed at the disposal of the Irish Ministry, still the English Government must, shift the thing as you will, share the responsibility of the Irish Cabinet.  During a riot at Belfast a hundred Protestants or Catholics are shot by British soldiers whilst restoring order.  If any one fancies that such slaughter can take place without the English Ministry being called upon in the British Parliament for explanation and defence, he shows utter ignorance of English, or indeed of human nature.  Nor is it for the action only of the troops that the English Executive will incur liability.  If British subjects are killed by a mob in Belfast or in Dublin whilst British troops stand quietly by and under the direction of an Irish Home Secretary take no steps to prevent murder, we may rest assured that the Queen’s Government in England will be asked whether it is decent that the Queen’s forces should be trained to stand as indifferent spectators of outrageous breaches of the Queen’s peace.

Take again the question of pardoning crime.  Suppose that the first Irish Ministry on their accession to power propose to inaugurate the new era by a free pardon of all the political offenders, dynamiters and others, whose misguided zeal placed them within the gripe of the law, but also in no small measure contributed to achieve the Parliamentary independence of Ireland.  If the request is not granted, then the Irish Administration are refused the means of carrying on the government of the country after their own notions of sound polity.  If the request is granted, can the English Government be held entirely irresponsible for the mode in which the Crown exercises its prerogative?  Let it be settled that the prerogative of mercy must in Ireland be exercised in accordance with the wishes of the Irish Ministry.  Even then the English Government will not really escape responsibility.  British soldiers put down a riot at Belfast; they are indicted for the murder of a Catholic rioter, before a Catholic grand jury, convicted by a Catholic jury under the direction of a Catholic judge who has just been appointed by the new Irish Ministry.  Popular opinion demands the execution of the convicted murderers, the Irish Ministry advise that the law should take its course.  The general belief in England, shared we will suppose by the English Home Office, is that the convicted soldiers are about to be capitally punished for having simply discharged their duty.  Is an English Minister to abstain from advising a pardon?  The dilemma is difficult.  If he recommends a pardon, the Irish Government are prevented by England from governing Ireland.  If the soldiers are hanged, the English Ministry will not keep long in office, the British Army will hardly maintain its habit of absolute obedience to the civil power.