Surplus £512,000
Total £4,660,000
The schemes of 1893 again illustrate the difficulties inherent in a severance of the two Exchequers. The revise left more points open for difference between the two Governments, and it had the serious defect of revision after the short interval of six years.
The original scheme was far preferable. The retention of the Customs as the Imperial contribution reduced opportunity for conflicts of opinion to a minimum, and the interval of fifteen years before revision left ample time for the new Irish Government to put its house in order. I venture to think it would have been wise to make good the error in estimating the “true” revenue of Ireland (which invalidated the scheme) by an Imperial Grant, at all events for a time. Under the scheme the Imperial Government provided £500,000 for the constabulary. If it had granted £300,000 or £400,000 more, the net Imperial contribution derived from the Customs would have been reduced to say £1,400,000, not a large sacrifice for the end in view—reconciliation with Ireland.
The Bill as amended passed the House of Commons but was thrown out in the Lords. This Parliament refused to accept Mr. Gladstone's proposals to give Ireland Home Rule, and nineteen years elapsed before a third Home Rule Bill was submitted to Parliament.
In the three schemes of 1886 and 1893 the Imperial contribution was very similar, perhaps somewhat larger in 1893. In all three schemes, also, the net gain to the British Exchequer was reduced by the grant from that Exchequer of £500,000 to the cost of the Irish Constabulary.
The difficulty of devising a financial scheme fairly simple and workable, which was experienced in 1886 and 1893, has been disappointing, but not discouraging. It was inevitable but it can be surmounted.
The Bill of 1912
In 1911, Mr. Asquith pledged the Government to take up again in the ensuing session the question of Home Rule. In 1910 the Conservative Party, at least a considerable part of it, in presence of a probable dissolution on the Parliament Bill, showed, as in 1885, a disposition to coquette with Home Rule, but the movement came to nothing, and the Party settled into determined opposition to the Home Rule policy, submitting themselves to the lead of the Ulster extremists, who preached sedition in no measured terms. In other respects, the prospects of Home Rule are fairly favourable. England, apart from Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, still returns a majority opposed to Home Rule, but public opinion does not show any signs of vigorous or violent opposition as in 1886. The Liberals, the Irish, and the Labour Party are united in its favour. The passing of the Land Acts is rapidly removing the agrarian evil, and the landlords have not the same cause for anxiety as formerly. The grant of Local Government is working well, and in spite of much poverty the condition of the people is improving. Lastly, the passing of the Parliament Act has made it possible, in spite of opposition in the Lords, to pass a Home Rule Act within the limits of the present Parliament.
On April 11th, the Prime Minister introduced the Government Bill. He regarded it as the first step in a comprehensive policy of devolution. It retains permanently at Westminster 42 Irish Members, so that Ireland will have a voice, not only on questions in the Imperial Parliament which concern Ireland, but on questions of Imperial interest, such as war and peace. The Bill of 1886 reserved to the Imperial Parliament [pg 141] certain questions. The Bill of 1893 also made necessary reservations, though its tendency was towards more complete autonomy; but in the interval between 1893 and 1912 great changes have taken place, and the Imperial Government finds itself hampered by new liabilities. The Old-Age Pension Act, the Land Purchase Act of 1903, the National Insurance Act, and Labour Exchanges have added very greatly to Irish expenditure. On the other hand, the contribution to Imperial expenditure, unluckily for the British taxpayer, has disappeared. The problem is, therefore, a new one, and the Government solves it, at all events for the present, by keeping in its own hands a large number of Services, as will be seen hereafter.