Lord Salisbury said that no one liked the Bill or
believed that the Irish were really fit to govern themselves. Home Rule would not work in a disaffected Ireland. Lord Londonderry defended the Bill as a fair compromise, and declared that to give Ireland complete fiscal independence would be a fatal obstacle to Federation in the future. Lord Bryce said that the Bill was a bad compromise ; the alternatives were to set up one Irish Parliament with "full safeguards" for Ulster and fiscal autonomy, or to let an Irish Assembly devise a consti- tution, subject to Lord Grey's reservations. Lord Aberdeen denied that while he was Viceroy the Irish police force had been neglected, or that he found Ireland peaceful and left it in a state of chaos. Lord Ribblesdale and Lord Donoughmore pleaded for further financial concessions to the Irish. Lord Mayo opposed the Bill because it separated the North from the South. The Southern Unionists of Lord Mayo's type are naturally reluctant to face the facts.
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