[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The new Legislation for
Northern Ireland bears more than some superficial resemblance to what is already in force on the other side of the Border, which may lead to sonic permanent system of a " Droit Administratif," instead of the spasmodic Coercion Acts.
During the viceroyalty of the late Lord Carlisle in Ireland, his secretary Mr. Drummond made his classic pronouncement that "Property has its duties as well as its rights," which some humorist tried to improve on, by saying that in Ireland at least, "Property ma Y have its duties, yet has no rights."
There is many a true word spoken in jest, and if" Persons" are substituted for " Property " this saying may yet come true. The excuse at the root of all this may be that whatever be the case with the "People," there is, so far, no "Terri- torial Nationality" in Ireland, which would enable the nation to hold up and cheek an overgrown expression of the State itself, which is also true in the quite modem States, which exist at present in Germany and Italy, where the " nation " does not balance the "State," and expand along- side it.
In England the individual has been protected by the " Rule of Law," and he belongs to his country, while in France, after a true system of Territorial nationality had been created after the revolution, all the " Rights of Man" were embodied in a new constitution, although all French Governments have held fast by their " Droit Administratif."
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