As a matter of fact the form of government of these various Dominions and their relations to the Mother Country are largely a geographical accident. It is impossible to conceive a system of “Home Rule all round” in which England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland would have the same positions and powers as Canada, Australia and South Africa, and would maintain the same relations towards each other as all three Dominions now occupy towards the United Kingdom. Nor could such an idea be entertained by any one framing a constitution, intended to be the commencement of the federalisation, first of the United Kingdom and afterwards in due time of the British Empire, when circumstances and the growth of public opinion render it possible to secure the representation of the Dominions in an expanded Imperial Parliament. In a truly federal system such as those of Canada and Australia, the citizens who elect representatives direct to the Federal Parliament to deal with the broader issues and interests of the Commonwealth, are naturally fully represented. If the Irish Legislature is to be precluded from dealing with Imperial matters, it is obviously only just that the Irish people, as citizens of the Empire, should send a proportionate number of representatives to the Imperial Parliament to express their views on Imperial subjects, and, under a perfect federal system, the expression of their views would be confined to Imperial subjects. This would consequently necessitate the continued presence of a certain number of Irish members at Westminster. In view of the fact that the “in and out” system, which caused so much criticism of Mr. Gladstone’s Bill, has been in force for over forty years in the Hungarian Parliament at Budapest, in which the Croatian representatives are only entitled to vote on matters affecting the whole Kingdom, while precluded from voting on those affecting Hungary alone, it is evident that the practical inconvenience cannot be anything like so great as has been imagined. But whatever inconvenience might result to the Government from the presence of Irish representatives in such circumstances, it certainly cannot be allowed to outweigh the injustice of leaving such a large section of the British electorate, as is the Irish people, unrepresented in a chamber which deals with matters that may very seriously affect their interests. Mr. Asquith’s hint at the possibility of such a change in the Standing Orders of the House of Commons as will distribute legislative business between English and Scotch Standing Committees, suggests a method of combining the retention of the Irish members at Westminster, with their exclusion from participation in other than Imperial matters.