At the end of his speech to the Eighty Club
on Monday Mr. Birrell made some allusions to the possibility of com- bining Home-rule with Imperial Federation. He believed that in the last few weeks opinion had been ripening on the subject. Although he was responsible to Parliament for the administration of Ireland with its four million inhabitants, not a single day had been devoted this Session to a discussion of his salary. It was impossible for a central Parliament to deal satisfactorily with such a mass of local questions. People were beginning to notice the federal system in the Colonies. He believed a federation beginning here at home was ripen- ing for a rapid and speedy decision. Home-rule not only for Ireland, but for Scotland, Wales, and England as well, would leave the Imperial Parliament free from local details for the task of governing the Empire.
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