LORD GREY ON IRELAND.*
To say that Lord Grey writes of Ireland and Irish affairs as if he were in another planet, would perhaps be unfair. To say that he treats the Irish Question as if he lived in another century, exactly expresses his mental standpoint. The value and interest of Lord Grey's political writing is to be found in the fact that he treats contemporary politics like a wise and clear- sighted historian, not like a statesman who is confronted with the actual hard, practical problems of the world. Lord Grey's counsels are all counsels of perfection. He will not, he cannot be content with less than ideal faultlessness. For the best thing under the circumstances, he has not only the supremest contempt; he regards it as no better than the worst. It never for a moment occurs to him to point out the possible, rather than the super- excellent impossible. It is thus that his attitude, when least idealistic, when most mundane, is that of the historian who has to consider the mistakes of an age that has passed away. In writing thus of Lord Grey, however, we must not be held to consider that his political criticism is too ideal to possess a practical worth. On the contrary, we believe that though it is never possible to attain absolute per- fection in statesmanship, it is extremely useful and important that the ideal of what would be done, were all men reasonable and wise, should be put clearly before us. If we are sometimes bound to be opportunists, let us at least be opportunists with our eyes open, and never fall into that most capital of political errors, the idealisation, nay, the canonisation of some course which, in truth, has been merely dictated by the exigencies and necessities of complex political action. If statesmen must have "House of Commons consciences," for heaven's sake let us not pretend that they are following by instinct the perfection of ideal righteousness.
Lord Grey, in tracing the manner in which Parliament has dealt and is dealing with Ireland, writes, as we have just said, as if he were a historian whose chief business it was to criticise and point out how the various statesmen and their schemes failed because they came short of perfection. Lord Grey begins by pointing out how the beneficial working of the Act of Union was ruined by the refusal of those measures of relief to the Catholics which Mr. Pitt himself considered its necessary corollaries. Equally disastrous, no doubt, was the manner in which the Tithe question was neglected till it festered into lawlessness, and the Protestant Established Church was allowed to continue in Ireland for forty years after its existence had been admitted as an anomaly and a grievance. It is on the Irish Church question that Lord Grey makes a very determined attack upon Mr. Gladstone. He starts from the point of view that the only true plan for dealing with the subject would have been to apply some of the Irish Church funds to the spiritual instruction of the Irish people, under a scheme for endowing a central Catholic body,—or, in Lord Grey's own words, for paying a fixed annual sum, to be applied for the benefit of the Roman Catholic Church at the discretion of a Council constituted as the members of the Church might think best. This was the perfect plan, says Lord Grey. Such a scheme, though it might have met with opposition from various quarters, could have been carried out by Mr. Disraeli's Govern- ment in 1868, and would have been, had that Administration been given a little time. Mr. Gladstone, however, wished to upset his rival's Government, and in order to do this, and to deprive it of the power of dealing with the question of the Irish Church, he overthrew it by a series of resolutions which, though they skilfully combined all the elements of enmity to that Administration, at the same time committed Mr. Gladstone to a way of dealing with the question which has had, in Lord Grey's opinion, the most far-reaching results for evil Mr. Gladstone, Lord Grey declares, by the manner in which he moved his resolutions, and explained them in his speeches, committed the House of Commons to prohibiting "the applica- tion of national property in any manner to the religions in- • Ireland: the Causes of its Present Condition, and the Meditt4111 Proposed for its Improvement. By Earl Grey, LG. London : John Murray. 1988.
struction of the Irish people." The declaration of this principle gained Mr. Gladstone the support of many Radicals and Non- conformists, but was disastrous to the best interests of Ireland.
We have thus stated Lord Grey's charge against Mr. Gladstone in connection with the Irish Church question. Into the merits of the case we do not propose to enter. The point is interesting enough for the historian, but as far as practical considerations are concerned, it has no special value at this moment.
We shall refrain, also, from following Lord Grey into his criticisms of the Land Acts, though there he makes what he considers a practical suggestion as to the manner in which what he believes to be the evils of those measures could be eradicated. Of his scheme, we can only say that it could not be adopted without the approval of the tenants, and that such approval is not likely to be given unless the Irish farmers, as a class, become experts in the science of political economy. Lord Grey's final suggestion for the improvement of Ireland is, however, by no means so transcendental. He proposes to govern Ireland for a term of years like a Crown Colony. In Rome, in moments of national peril, a Dictator was appointed for a limited time. Lord Grey would have the Lord-Lieutenant appointed by Parliament as an Irish Dictator for ten years. The following is Lord Grey's proposal :—
"An Act of Parliament might be passed suspending for ten years the right of Ireland to be represented in Parliament, and entrusting its government during that time to a Lord-Lieutenant to be named in the Act. The Lord-Lieutenant so appointed not to be liable to removal daring that time, except by the Crown, in compliance with an address from both Houses of Parliament. The Lord Lieutenant to have full power to awry on the executive government according to his own judgment, and to be solely responsible for his acts, but to report all his measures to Her Majesty's ministers, and to keep them fully informed as to his views and intentions, so as to enable them to call his attention to whatever observations they might consider to be required. The Lord-Lieutenant in Council to be empowered to make from time to time such orders, having the force of laws, as he may think fit, but before finally passing these orders, drafts of them pre- pared by a committee of the Lord-Lieutenant's Privy Council to be published, not less than a month beforehand, in the Dublin Gazette, except in cases of great emergency, when they might be made at once. In order to assist the Lord-Lieutenant in the work of legisla- tion, additional members of various opinions to be added to hie Privy Council. From this enlarged Privy Council the Lord-Lieutenant to nominate, as occasion might arise, committees to consider such sub- jects as he might refer to them, and when legislation was found to be necessary they should prepare drafts of the Orders in Council they might think it proper to recommend, with reports explaining the reasons for their proposals. When these reports and draft orders met with the general approval of the Lord-Lieutenant, they should be published in the Dublin Gazette before being finally considered by him in Council, except in cares in which he might judge it to be in- convenient for some special reason to take this course. On each occasion of a meeting of the Privy Council being called, the Lord-Lieutenant to decide what members should be summoned, having full discretion to summon a larger or a smaller number of councillors according to circumstances, and to select those whose services be considers most likely to be useful in the business to be transacted. When the report of a committee recommending legisla- tion, together with a draft Order, is brought before the Lord. Lieutenant in Council, it should be his duty to decide, after hearing the opinion of the councillors present, whether the Order should be passed, with or without amendments, or should be referred again to a committee for further consideration. All Orders made by the Lord-Lieutenant in Council to be communicated to Her Majesty's ministers and to Parliament, but not to require to be confirmed by either."
Lord Grey goes on to state that "an annual sum, equal to the average expenditure for the public service in Ireland during the last three or four years, should be placed by Parliament at the disposal of the Lord-Lieutenant." This sum should be spent by him as the Governor-General disposes of the Indian revenue, and with the same provision as to Parliamentary supervision. Lord Grey adds that he only puts forward his scheme as a rough sketch. He admits, also, that no proposal such as his is likely to be taken up just now, though he believes that it is, sooner or later, what we shall have to come to. That Lord Grey's plan is not likely to be entertained at once, we agree, though, perhaps, not so much because any particular individual who considers it will regard it as unworkable, as because every one will fancy that his neighbour will think it impracticable. With a very large number of persons, we expect the feeling will be,—' Of course, it is the proper plan ; but the country would never agree to it, and so what is the good of thinking about it at all ? we must just muddle on as before.' That this is the feeling of the present moment, there can be little doubt. Whether a very little more Irish disorder might not turn public opinion in favour
of the plan, appears to us very much an open question. Demo- cracy is so new in England, that people do not understand it. They fancy that the notion of sovereignty is absolutely opposed
to it, and therefore would consider it useless to ask the people to rule Ireland. We shall learn in time, however, that democracies have no objection to ruling, and that such a task as holding Ireland like a Crown Colony is no more instinctively im- possible to popular than it is to any other form of govern- ment. If the opinion of the people of England, without Wales and Scotland, were taken, they would to-morrow grant any powers necessary for governing Ireland. It is by no means impossible to imagine the people of Scotland and Wales being taught by facts what the majority of the population of England, who seem quicker at using the imaginative faculties in politics, have learnt already. Of course, an absolute government under a democracy would be something very different from the rule of the old Protestant and landlord class. It would mean govern- ment by trained, impartial officials, as in India, which, though the least sympathetic, is in some ways the most democratic system imaginable. There is no recognition of privilege. There is complete equality. Crown Colony rule, or rather, the Indian system, would probably he more obnoxious to bad landlords than even Irish independence. Lord Clanricarde would far more easily gain influence in an Irish Parliament than he would in a Board of Official Administrators. The time, however, for dis- cussing such schemes has not yet come. If it ever does come, we cannot help thinking that the impossibilities will not be found so impossible as they seem at present.
We must not leave Lord Grey's book without noticing that one of the objects with which he tells us it has been written is to counteract the tendency, common among many Unionists, to adopt measures which are in reality very dangerous, for the purpose of conciliating the Irish supporters of Home-rule. We are perfectly willing to admit that such a course is most unwise, though we might perhaps differ with Lord Grey when we came to consider what measures were dangerous and what were necessary.
Previous page
