“The excommunication of the clause Cogentes, is not decreed against all who oblige lay judges to compel the attendance of ecclesiastics in their courts. It is decreed against those who do this in violation of the Canon Law. There must first, then, be a canonical offence. It is to that offence that the clause Cogentes attaches the penalty of excommunication. But, there being no canonical offence in the discharge of their duty by our Catholic Judges, and Catholic Law Officers of the Crown, our Catholic Police Magistrates and Catholic Policemen, and our laity in general—who were so ludicrously paraded before the public a few weeks ago as the unhappy victims of the Motu Proprio—there is in their case no offence to which an ecclesiastical penalty can be attached, and so, no ecclesiastical penalty is incurred.”
Nothing is to be feared in Ireland from the Motu Proprio “Quantavis Diligentia,” and there is really no necessity for the restrictions contained in Section 3 of the Bill, although no person will object to their insertion as a matter of precaution. The Unionists profess to be alarmed at the prospects of Ireland under Home Rule; but when their fears are analyzed they are seen to be illusory, and when their arguments are considered they are found to amount to a single assertion that a great measure of reform is not to be passed, and the will of the people is not to prevail, because a small minority is irrevocably opposed to any measure which will give to the Irish people power to manage their own affairs.
When Unionists complain of an occasional case of boycotting or cattle-driving—and it is almost all they have to complain of now—they should read Lord Durham's report on Canada in 1838, and they will see how favourably Ireland, even in its darkest hour, contrasts with the Canada of that day. Lord Durham adopted the courageous policy of trusting the people, and his policy brought peace, prosperity and contentment to that country. Mr. Asquith's great measure is an embodiment of the same policy, and will be attended with the same results, and indeed the situation could not be better summed up than it was by Mr. John Redmond in the House of Commons three years ago.[119]
“As it happened in Canada, so it will happen in Ireland—when you throw responsibility on the shoulders of the people, and not till then. Then respect for law will arise in Ireland; then confidence in the administration of justice will arise; and when that day comes, I am perfectly convinced that Ireland will become the most peaceable and most law-abiding, as she is to-day the most crimeless, part of your Empire.”
VII.—The Present Position Of The Irish Land Question. By Jonathan Pim, K.C.
Introductory
The following chapter contains an account of the change which has been wrought by legislation in the position of the Irish tenant farmer and labourer during the last forty years. The change is large—the benefit and improvement equally great. The task is, however, not much more than half completed. The holdings purchased, or agreed to be purchased, by tenants under the Purchase Acts amount to about 378,000. There remain to be purchased about 227,000. The Congested Districts Board have done good work in the congested districts, but what has been done has hardly gone beyond the experimental stage. The experiments have, to a large extent, succeeded, but their very success enlarges the vista of work to be done in the future. The work of the District Councils in providing better dwellings for agricultural labourers is perhaps more nearly completed. Nevertheless, much still remains to be done.
Under the second section of the proposed Bill “to amend the provision for the Government of Ireland,” the “general subject matter of the Acts relating to Land [pg 167] Purchase in Ireland” is reserved. This would seem to include the Land Purchase work of the Congested Districts Board, but it is doubtful if it would include any part of the Labourers' Acts. Taken in conjunction with the whole scheme of the Bill, and especially with its financial provisions, the wisdom of this reservation is evident. That work which has gone so far and has been so beneficial in its operation should be stopped, or even hampered, in its development, would be an injury which, even the undoubted benefits a Home Government will bring with it would scarcely out-weigh. No doubt Ireland, if thrown altogether on her own resources, could, after a few years' time, continue the work of land purchase and could finally complete it, but the interregnum would be most mischievous. All those who had not purchased would be dissatisfied, and the Irish Government would be subjected to a pressure which they would find it hard to resist. The danger would be two-fold. On the one hand the Government might attempt to raise money at an excessive rate of interest and would thereby embarrass themselves financially; on the other hand an attempt might be made to force the Government to pass a “Compulsory Purchase Act” and to fix the price of purchase at a much lower figure than could be obtained under a system of free agreement. The Imperial Government itself runs no risk in reserving Land Purchase; on the contrary, it will run less risk under Home Rule than it does now. At the present moment, there is due to the Treasury a sum of about £71,000,000, money advanced for the purchase of land. The amount of the annual instalments payable on this sum is about £2,226,785, and on the 31st of March, 1912, there was due for arrears the sum of £44,156.[120] The purchase [pg 168] annuitants have up to the present discharged their obligations in a most faithful and honest manner. There is not the slightest reason to think that they will act differently in the future, but if, as some political prophets seem to consider possible, they do, in the future, strike against the payment of the instalments they themselves will be the principal sufferers, for under the proposed Bill the Treasury may, out of the sum to be transferred to the Irish Government, before making the transfer, deduct each year the amount then due on account of purchase annuities. This, if it happened to any large extent, would render fresh taxation necessary—a contingency which would certainly not be desired by the Irish Government. The proposed Bill does not contain any specific provision giving power to the Irish administration, in the case of local repudiation, to make the counties in which repudiation had taken place repay to the Irish Treasury such sums as they had been forced to pay to the Imperial Treasury. If such a provision were inserted, it would make the position of the Treasury extremely secure.