A ROYAL VICEROY FOR IRELAND.
IT is again asserted, with what looks like some autho- rity, that the Duke of Connaught is to go to Ireland as Viceroy. There is nothing improbable in the statement,— indeed, the appointment of the husband of the Princess Louise as Viceroy of Canada, and Lord Beaconsfield's disposi- tion to bring out the showy and personal side of Government, make it rather likely than not to be true. The Prime Minister genuinely believes, we imagine, that loyalty is a better thing than patriotism, at all events in the somewhat business-like sense in which patriotism is now for the most part under- stood ; and it seems plain that the conciliation of Ire- land has occupied of late a considerable part of his thoughts. If the appointment of the Duke of Connaught proved popular in Ireland—and there is every reason to sup- pose that it would do so—some part of the popularity would for a time be reflected on the Government which sent him there, and the adhesion of a contingent of Irish Members would prove a useful make-weight to any losses that the Conservatives may hereafter sustain in England. To have devised a message of peace for Ireland which Mr. Gladstone can claim no share in, is an achievement of which a Conservative Government may well feel proud. Nor are we at all prepared to say that the idea is not in itself a good one. After all, Government is to a considerable extent a matter of show, and though Lord Beaconsfield may exaggerate the part which show plays, that need not prevent him from being in the right as regards a particular application of the principle. If it is to work well anywhere, it will probably be in a nation so sensitive to per- sonal influences as the Irish. It is quite possible, we believe, that the demonstrative side of Irish loyalty may be very strik- ingly drawn out by the presence of one of the Queen's children in the capacity of their visible Sovereign, and though there may not be much ground for supposing that the loyalty called out by this means is more than skin-deep, still if there are no serious objections to be made to the suggestion on other grounds, even superficial loyalty is worth cultivating. The crop is not of any great value, but then if the labour bestowed costs nothing, the harvest will be so much clear profit.
If the Duke of Connaught goes to Ireland, he will go there, it may be assumed, with the intention of living there perman- ently. Probably there would be no formal change in the method of appointing the Lord-Lieutenant, but there would be a tacit understanding between the Government and the Oppo- sition that the Duke should not follow the general rule of Vice- regal retirement. He would be reappointed by each succeeding Government, and provided that he chose to remain in Ireland, this process might go on for the term of his natural life. It is clearly not to be desired that the experiment should be tried only to fail. What we must hope for is that the Duke of Connaught, if he enters Dublin as Viceroy, may like the king- dom of his adoption so well and be liked so well in it, that for the future the part of his time that is passed in England will, as compared with the part of it that is passed in Ireland, be only in the nature of a visit. He may come to London for the season, just as any Irish nobleman may come there, but his home will be in Ireland.
The more desirable it is that the appointment, if made, should thoroughly answer its end, the more important it becomes to consider whether there are any inconveniences to be apprehended from it which may conceivably lead to the abandon- ment of the experiment. To expect much from a Royal Prince becoming Viceroy of Ireland is to desire, as a matter of course, that nothing should happen which could bring his Viceroyalty to an end. The nation which is capable of being conciliated by having the Duke of Connaught as its Viceroy will be equally capable of being irritated if he should here- after be recalled. Though we call it an experiment, it is none the less an experiment which ought not to be tried, unleis its success is assured beforehand. The most obvious objection that presents itself is the Constitutional objection. The Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland is a very great personage as regards Irishmen. He is the visible representative of the Sovereign, and as such can claim all the external and official respect which is paid to the Sovereign. But as regards the Cabinet, he is merely an agent chosen to carry out their Irish policy, and holding office at the pleasure of the Prime Minister. He may have, indeed, a consultative voice in Irish affairs, but it is only in virtue of the mole intimate knowledge he may be supposed to possess of Irish opinion. He has no voice in the determination of what measures shall be taken, either in legislation or in administra- tion. He is simply the agent of the English Government,— free, of course, like any other agent, to tender advice, which may or may not be taken, to offer remonstrances, which may or may not be attended to, and to resign his office, if holding it under these conditions becomes burdensome to him. How will this position be liked by a son of the Queen ? It is a different position from that of the Sovereign, because the Sovereign is cognisant of the growth of a policy, and while it is growing, may exercise some influence in giving it the shape he wishes. But the Viceroy of Ireland is merely the subordinate of the Cabinet,—not a personage whose consent has to be gained to every important step, although as a matter of fact that consent is always given, and could not constitu- tionally be withheld, but a personage whose consent has not to be asked, and who receives not proposals to be entertained, but instructions to be carried out. In Canada the difficulty will not arise, because the Princess Louise is only the wife of the Viceroy. But in Ireland it obviously might arise. The remedy for this will be to make the position of the Viceroy more conspicuously that of the instrument of a policy, in framing which he has had neither part nor lot. The natural way of accomplishing this will be to make the Chief Secre- taryship for Ireland a more imposing office, by in- variably associating it with a seat in the Cabinet. With- out this, very inconvenient complications might easily arise. The Viceroy and the Chief Secretary would only be two subordinates together, neither knowing any more of the Cabinet's intentions than he had been told, and neither consequently being able to control the other's action in that numerous class of questions which are too small indi- vidually to be referred to the Cabinet, and yet are large enough in the aggregate to colour the Irish policy of the Go- vernment. With the Chief Secretary always a Cabinet Minister, the Lord-Lieutenant's function would naturally be of a purely ceremonial character. He would give external dignity to the Executive, and for this purpose a Royal Prince would be better fitted than any one else. There is always an air of unreality about the pageantry of the Viceregal Court, when the Viceroy has only the temporary usufruct of the honours habitually paid to Royal personages.
So far, there is no objection to the plan, supposing that it turns out on examination to have sufficient positive recom- mendations. There is another aspect of it, however, which deserves to be taken into account, and that is the possibility of a Royal Viceroy becoming a tool in the hands of the Home- rulers. The Duke of Connaught's appointment will, if the Home-rulers are judicious, be represented as a significant, though informal, concession to their views. They will say that the motives which have led the English Government to invest the Irish Executive with increased dignity will lead it, if only sufficient pressure is brought to bear, to re-establish the Irish Legislature. Ireland has been more honoured than Canada in the appointment of a Viceroy. Why should Ireland be less considered in the matter of a Parliament ? It is conceivable that a Prince of less prudence than the Duke of Con- naught might unintentionally aid and abet this tend- ency. The greater the separation is between Ireland and England, the more important and dignified becomes the position of the Viceroy, and an able and energetic Prince might not be proof against the natural temptation to magnify his office. It might then become necessary to recall him, in order not to excite false hopes in the Irish people, and at the same time difficult to recall him without giving immense dissatis- faction to the nation to which he had endeared himself, and from the government of which he would be removed on the very ground that he had so endeared himself. Can Ireland be best conciliated by a policy which veils while it secures her real identification with England, or by a policy which proclaims and accentuates that identification ? On the answer given to this inquiry will depend the decision upon the proposal to make the Duke of Connaught Lord-Lieutenant.
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