“But about his salary,” said Clithering. “Is that to be an Imperial charge, or are you—?”
“I forgot to ask about that,” I said, “but if there’s any difficulty I expect Conroy will agree to pay it. It’s not much, is it?”
“I’m not sure of the exact figure; but I know it’s never supposed to be enough.”
“I’ve no actual authority for saying so,” I said, “but I expect we’ll want to do the thing decently if we do it at all. Cahoon has the mind of a statesman, and in his opinion something will have to be done to soothe the Dublin public. A first-rate Viceregal establishment was his idea. However, we needn’t go into details. The main thing is that we want a Lord Lieutenant. If your Government undertakes to supply suitable men from time to time I think I may promise that we’ll find the money. Write that down, Godfrey.”
“When you speak of the English clearing out of Ireland,” said Clithering, “and leaving you the country to yourselves, you don’t of course mean absolute fiscal independence.”
“We do,” I said.
“You can’t mean that,” said Clithering. “It’s costing us nearly two millions a year to run the country, and if that’s withdrawn you will go bankrupt.”
“What McNeice said,” I replied, “was that you were to clear out, bag, baggage, soldiers, police, tax-collectors, and the whole—”
“Tax-collectors!” said Clithering. “I’m not sure—”
“Didn’t your Prime Minister say he’d be glad to get rid of us? What’s the use of your arguing on about every little point?”