Whatever may be said against the present occupants of the Judicial Bench, their integrity and fairness have never been seriously questioned.  Since the days when the Irish judges issued a writ of habeas corpus for the release of Wolfe Tone, while the Irish Rebellion was actually in progress, they have consistently held an even balance between the two parties.  Their learning, their impartiality and their wit have rightly made Irish judges respected throughout the world.  Their reputation and their services alike demand that they shall not be set aside wantonly or without consideration.  But there is no doubt that Home Rule must mean the end of the Irish Bench as we have seen it in history.  The men who have been proud to represent the British Crown would resent with indignation the idea that they should become the tools of the Hibernian caucus.  They realise that the judges who oppose the lawless will of popular ministers will have to face obloquy and perhaps direct attack in the Irish Parliament.  Even if the concurrence of both Houses in the Irish Parliament were made necessary for the removal of judges, it would not adequately safeguard their independence.  The lower House would be composed of the men whom Nationalist constituencies already return to Parliament—­excitable, fierce partisans, always ready to subordinate private convictions to the exigencies of party discipline.  Nor would there be in Ireland under Home Rule any power or influence, either of property or station, sufficiently strong to furnish a constituency which would return a senate representing interests, opinions, or desires substantially distinct from those of the more powerful House elected upon the wider suffrage.

The situation has been strongly complicated by the promulgation of the Motu Proprio decree, and the refusal of the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church to say definitely whether it applies to Ireland or not.  We may assume that, if Archbishop Walsh could have given a categorical denial to the statement that the decree must operate in Ireland under Home Rule, he would have done so.  The decree Motu Proprio forbids any Roman Catholic to bring his priest or bishop into court under pain of excommunication.  The Roman Catholic Church has made many similar efforts during history to oust the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts, and each attempt has had to be sharply and sternly resisted by the civil authorities of Roman Catholic countries.  We need not discuss how much there may be said from a theological standpoint for the decree; we are only concerned to show that it raises pretensions which no State can possibly permit to be recognised.  There have been too many attempts, successful and unsuccessful, to oust the jurisdiction of the King’s Courts in Ireland, for this new attempt to be viewed with equanimity.  The United Irish League has set up courts which try men for imaginary offences committed during the exercise of their ordinary