This is obvious from any consideration of the circumstances under which the policy of Colonial self-government originated.  Under the old Colonial system which preceded it, the Governor not only controlled the executive government, whose members were simply his official subordinates, but also controlled legislation through a nominated Upper Chamber or Legislative Council.  The object of this restrictive policy was not interference with local affairs, but the supposed necessity of safeguarding general Imperial interests.  Local affairs were, in the main, left to the local government.  But the peculiar constitution of that government rendered it almost inevitable that the practical control of those affairs should fall into the hands of a narrowly limited class, clustering round the Governor and his circle, and by its privileges and prejudices creating in those excluded from that class a spirit of opposition, which extended from its members to the whole Imperial system which they were supposed to personify.  In each of the North American Colonies a small oligarchy, generally known as the “Family Compact,” was able to “monopolise the Executive Council, the Legislative Council, the Bench, the Bar, and all offices of profit.”  It was against this system, and not against the Imperial connection or even against undue interference from England, that the Canadian rebellion of 1837 was directed.  In 1838 Lord Durham made his famous report in which he attributed the troubles to their true cause, the disregard of public opinion, and proposed that the Governor should in future govern, in local affairs, in accordance with the advice given by Colonial Ministers enjoying the confidence of the popular Assembly.  A few years later his policy was put into execution by Lord Elgin in Canada, and rapidly extended to other Colonies.  Five years ago the same system of government was applied to the Transvaal and to the Orange River Colony.[55]

From the foregoing brief summary, it is sufficiently clear that the really vital feature of the policy inaugurated by Lord Durham was the acceptance of responsible popular government in local affairs, and not the separation of Colonial government from Imperial control.  The policy did not involve the setting up of new legislative machinery or a new definition of Imperial relations.  For an existing system of separate government in local affairs, which created friction and discontent, it simply substituted a new system which has, in the main, worked smoothly up to the present.  From the success of this policy, what possible direct inference can be drawn as to the effect of setting up in Ireland, not a similar system of government, for Ireland already enjoys political institutions as fully representative as those of any Colony, or of any other portion of the United Kingdom, but a separate centre of government?