A LEAP IN THE DARK.*
PROFESSOR DICEY published this book in 1893, while the Home Rule Bill of that year was still under the consideration of Parliament, before, indeed, it had been sent up to the Lords. He brings it out again in compliance with an earnest request from the Irish Unionists. In a new introduction he emphatically repeats his protest against the principle on which that Bill was founded, while he points out that the danger with which it threatened the prosperity, even the existence, of the Empire is more imminent than ever. A com- bination of Socialists, Separatists, and Destructives is bent on forcing through Parliament a similar measure : the details are of little importance ; no one can suppose for a moment that they will be changed for the better. Eighteen years ago the Nationalists had every reason to show as much moderation as they could bring themselves and the driving power behind them to put up with ; now they are masters of the situation. Is it likely that they will diminish their demands by one jot or tittle ? Is it not certain that they will increase them ? Meanwhile all the objections to Home Rule remain unanswered. It is as impossible as ever to tow Ireland a thousand miles into the Atlantic. Till that can be done it would be madness to make her into a self-governing colony. And even then we should have to keep a permanent garrison to help the loyal minority in defending themselves. As to the arguments of the book now republished we need not dwell on them. They have never been answered, and they seem to us unanswerable. One criticism only we will make, and this is in the title. Is it really a leap in the dark that we are about to make? Is not the gulf lighted up with a lurid light? Do we not know what was done or attempted by the one Home Rule Assembly that history knows, the Irish Parliament of 1689 P Are we not familiar with the Nationalist ideals as the orators of the party set them forth to congenial audiences of rebels and enemies ? Yes ; there is no " dark " in this matter.
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