For a parliamentary minority will, if only it throw scruples to the winds, be constantly able to transform itself into a majority by the unconstitutional admission of the Irish vote.  This is not a power which any party, be it Conservative or Radical, English, Scottish, or Irish, ought to possess.  Partisanship knows nothing of moderation.  And the reason of this blindness to the claims of justice is that the spirit of party combines within itself some of the best and some of the worst of human passions.  It often unites the self-sacrificing zealotry of religious fanaticism with the recklessness of the gambling table.  Let an assailant of the Contagious Diseases Act, a fanatic for temperance, a protectionist who believes that free trade is the ruin of the country, an anti-vivisectionist who holds that any painful experiment on live animals is the most heinous of sins; let any man who has come to believe that his own credit, no less than the salvation of the country, depends on the success of a particular party, know that the triumph of his cause depends upon his voting that a particular measure operates beyond Great Britain, and we know well enough in which way he will vote.  He will vote what he knows to be untrue rather than sacrifice a cause which he believes to be sacred.  He will think himself both a fool and a traitor if he sacrifices the victory which is within his grasp to the maintenance of technical legality, or rather to respect for a rule of constitutional procedure.

Suppose, however, that I have underrated the equity of human nature, and that no faction in the House of Commons ever attempts to violate the spirit of the Constitution.  The supposition is bold, not to say absurd; but even if its reasonableness be granted, this does not suffice for the protection of England’s rights.  The question whether a given Bill does or does not operate exclusively in Great Britain may often give rise to fair dispute, and (what should be noted) this dispute will always be decided against Great Britain in the only instances in which its decision is to Great Britain of any importance whatever.  An example best shows my meaning.  Let a Bill be brought forward for establishing Home Rule in Wales.  Is the operation of the Bill confined to Great Britain?  An English member, unless he is a Home Ruler, will answer with an undoubted affirmative.  An English, or Irish, or Welsh Home Ruler will with equal certainty, and equal honesty, give a negative answer.  The question admits of fair debate, but we know already how the debate will be decided.  If the Unionists constitute a majority of the House, the Irish vote will be excluded.  But in this case its exclusion is of no practical importance.  If the Unionists constitute indeed a majority of British representatives, but do not constitute a majority of the House, the Irish vote will be included.  The Irish representatives will decide whether Wales shall constitute a separate State, and the right of Great Britain to manage British affairs will not prevent the dismemberment of England.  Home Rule, such as it is for England, means at best a totally different thing from Home Rule for Ireland.  In the case of England it means a limited and precarious control of legislation for Great Britain by British members of Parliament.  In the case of Ireland it means the real and substantial and exclusive government of Ireland by an Irish Ministry and an Irish Parliament.