England's Case Against Home RuleDicey, A. V. (Albert Venn)
History
England's Case Against Home Rule
Dicey, A. V. (Albert Venn)
Home rule -- Ireland
that the right was one which either Lloyd Garrison or his disciples were
able to exercise. Mr. Godkin[40] has repeated with perfect fairness the
tale of the persecutions suffered by Prudence Crandall in Connecticut
because she chose in exercise of her legal and moral rights to educate
young women of colour. Mr. Godkin apparently draws, as I have already
pointed out, from the fact an inference--which I confess myself not well
able to follow--against all attempts to enforce an unpopular law. The
more natural conclusion is that the Federal Government was not able to
protect the rights of individuals against strong local sentiment. This
moral at any rate has an obvious application to any scheme of Federalism
for Ireland.
The experience of Canada, again, is adduced to prove that a Federal
constitution is compatible with loyalty to the British Crown. Why should
an arrangement which produces peace, prosperity, and loyalty across the
Atlantic not be applied to Ireland?
The answer is, that the case of Canada is as regards Federalism
irrelevant. Canada is not part of a British Federation. The Dominion as
a whole is simply a colony, standing essentially in the same relation to
England as Victoria or New South Wales. The laws of the Parliament that
meets at Ottawa need the Royal sanction, or, in other words, may be
vetoed, or rather not approved, by the English Ministry of the day. The
Act itself on which the existence of the Canadian constitution depends
is an Act of the British Parliament, and cannot be modified by any other
authority. The British Parliament is supreme in Canada as throughout the
British dominions; and Canada sends no representatives to the British
Parliament. The provinces, no doubt, which compose the Dominion are
under an Act of Parliament a Federation; but the dangers and
difficulties of Federalism are to a great extent avoided by the
supremacy of the British Crown. These difficulties, however, do arise.
If any one will study the "Letellier case," he will soon perceive that
Canada has exhibited the germ of the conflict between the central
authority of the Dominion and the "State right" of the provinces; he
will also perceive that the conflict was determined by a reference to
the English Ministry, who in effect gave judgment in favour of the
Dominion. The example of Canada suggests, if anything, that Irish
difficulties might be solved by turning Ireland into a colony without
representatives in the Imperial Parliament.
We have now the materials for comparing, as regards the interests of
England, the effects of Irish independence with the effects of Home Rule
as Federalism. The case as between the two stands thus:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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