repulsive these conclusions may be, their statement is a matter of duty.  Were Ireland independent, England would possess three means far more effective for enforcing her will upon her weaker neighbour than are coercion acts, courts, or constables.  England could deal not with individuals, but with the State, and she could compel respect for treaties or due regard to English interests by invasion, by a pacific blockade, or by a hostile tariff.  There is a special reason for dwelling on the facility with which England could compel the observance of engagements.  Morally the most serious of all the objections to England’s conceding Irish independence is the indelible disgrace which would rightly fall upon any country which did not provide for the protection of men who had been loyal and faithful citizens.  Now the point to be noted is that England’s authority, resulting not from law but from power in an independent Ireland, would greatly enhance her capacity for ensuring the fair treatment of Irish Protestants.  The treaty of independence would provide guarantees for their rights, and any breach of these guarantees would be a casus belli.  The mere threat of a hostile tariff would of itself be a stronger sanction than the most strenuous provisions of an Act of Parliament backed only by the very hypothetical power of compelling a half-independent executive to obey the judgments of, say, the Privy Council The guarantees of a treaty are, it may be said, often worthless.  This is so; but their worthlessness arises from the weakness of the country in whose favour they are made.  In any event they may be worth a good deal more than provisions of an Act of Parliament.  The deriders of a paper Union which has lasted for a century have no right to count on the validity of a paper Federation which still awaits creation.

It is, again, possible that the severance of all political connection might open the way to friendship or alliance.

This assertion is no unmeaning paradox.  If one could anticipate with any confidence that the acknowledgment of Irish nationality would bring to Ireland happiness and prosperity, it would not be a very bold conjecture that as Ireland flourished and prospered, ill-will to England might rapidly decrease.  With nations, as with individuals, to remove all causes of mutual irritation is much the same thing as removing the disposition to quarrel.  Not twelve years have passed since the last Austrian soldier marched out of Italy, yet Austria is at this moment less unpopular with the Italians than France, and Garibaldi’s death evoked tributes of respect at Vienna.  For fifteen years the whole force of European law was employed to keep Belgium united to Holland; the obvious interests, moreover, of all the inhabitants of the kingdom of the Netherlands told in favour of union.  Yet year by year the two divisions of one country became more and more hostile to each other.  Fifty years of separation have, as far as appearances go,