Education Act, 1889, was another.  The establishment by the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899, of a Council of Agriculture, as Agricultural Board, and a Board of Technical Instruction, was a third.  By these statutes wide powers are delegated to representative bodies directly or indirectly elected by popular vote; but in each case the delegated powers are strictly defined, their exercise is made subject to central control, and the right of Parliament to modify or withdraw any of them is absolute and unquestioned.  The appointment by the House of Commons of a Grand Committee for Scottish Bills is another experiment of a similar character, though on different lines.  Such delegations of power are consistent with the maintenance in its entirety of the Union of the Kingdom, and there is no reason whatever why further progress should not be made in the same direction.  The events of 1907 are evidence that Devolution, regarded merely as a means of satisfying the political cry for Home Rule, is indeed “dead.”  But when the din of political battle has once more passed by, it may be possible to obtain consideration for a moderate and clearly defined scheme of delegation which, if applied not exclusively to Ireland, but to the whole country, might relieve the House of Commons of much of its work, and strengthen the habit of local self-government throughout the United Kingdom.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 20:  See “Times Special Commission,” vol. v. p. 175, and “Home Rule.  What is it?” by A.W.  Samuels, K.C. (Simpkin Marshall, 1911), p. 60.]

[Footnote 21:  See No. 213 of the Liberal League publications.]

[Footnote 22:  Erskine Childers, “The Framework of Home Rule” (Arnold, 1911).]

[Footnote 23:  See speech of J.M.  Robertson, M.P., London, January 11, 1912.]

[Footnote 24:  “Home Rule Problems” (P.S.  King & Son, 1911).]

[Footnote 25:  Written in March, 1912.]

[Footnote 26:  See Egerton, “Federations and Unions in the British Empire” (Clarendon Press, 1911).  Introduction.]

[Footnote 27:  On the financial questions involved the Government have been advised by a Committee containing financial experts; but the Report of this Committee is withheld from publication, and it is believed that its advice will not be followed.]

[Footnote 28:  House of Commons, April 8, 1886.]

[Footnote 29:  Quoted in “The True History of the American Revolution,” by S.G.  Fisher (Lippincott, 1903).]

[Footnote 30:  Childers, p. 340.]

[Footnote 31:  See Cambray, “Irish Affairs and the Irish Question” (Murray, 1911), p. 146.]

[Footnote 32:  Mr. Gladstone always declined to call it a “Parliament,” but some Ministers of to-day are less scrupulous.]

[Footnote 33:  Dicey, “A Leap in the Dark” (Murray, 1911), p. 71.]

[Footnote 34:  See “The Church of Ireland and Home Rule,” by J.H.  Bernard, D.D., Bishop of Ossory, 1911.]