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the account between the two countries, it was quite as important to take note of what Ireland took out of the common purse as of what she put into it.

In the last year for which accounts are given, 1893-4,” he wrote, "Ireland paid into the common fund, in round numbers, 7,570,000l., and took out of it, in the form of expenditure on Irish services, 5,600,000l., leaving about 2,000,000l. as her contribution towards what are called imperial services. These services cost in 1892-3 about 62,000,000l. Taking that figure, which is less than their present cost, Ireland's contribution to the expenses of the empire was less than one-thirtieth of the whole. The relative taxable capacity of Ireland is estimated by the commission at not more than one-twentieth or one-twenty-first of that of the United Kingdom (it is fair to add that many of the Irish members thought it much less), and it is upon this proportion, which was adopted by the English members, that most of the arguments to which I have referred are founded. . . It follows that if the relative taxable capacity of Ireland is to be taken as one-twentieth or one-twenty-first, and if her relative taxable capacity is to be taken as the standard of what she ought to contribute to the common expenses of the empire, Ireland, instead of paying more than her proper share towards those expenses, actually pays 1,000,000l. less than she ought, which deficiency falls, of course, upon the taxpayers of Great Britain.”

Lord Farrer then went on to show that the arrangement seemed likely to become more and more burdensome to the richer partner as time went on, and he concluded by suggesting the various courses of action which lay open to politicians:

"1. To leave matters as they are. It is doubtful whether in the face of the present agitation such a course is possible. Moreover, it is open to the objection that it does nothing to meet the Irish grievance, and it is open to the further objection that it leaves the British taxpayer burdened with the great and growing burden of Irish expenditure. . . .

“2. To make out of the common purse of the United Kingdom some large annual grant for allowance to Ireland in order to compensate her for her over-taxation. This has been seriously proposed by high authority, and it may be the line of least resistance. But it is at the same time the worst course which could possibly be pursued. It would not only continue the burden of Irish expenditure now borne by the British taxpayer, but would largely and immediately increase that burden and it would intensify that dependence of the poorer on the richer partner, which is already so demoralising to Ireland and so fatal to a wholesome relation between the two countries.

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"3. To reduce Irish taxation by some 2,000,000l. or 3,000,0001. and to raise British taxation by the same amount, so as to com

pensate the common purse for the Irish reduction. Such a scheme is not one to which the British taxpayer is likely to submit. . .

"Finally, to grapple seriously with the problem of Irish expenditure and to revise, root and branch, the ruinous and demoralising system under which Great Britain now over-taxes Ireland, and attempts to bribe her into compliance by overexpenditure on Irish administration."

As however time went on and the opening of the session drew near it became more and more obvious that the question was one of sentimental rather than of practical politics-except in so far as in a debate, followed by a division, the Irish Unionists might be expected to combine with the Nationalists in order to obtain further concessions from the British Exchequer, and thus be forced to commit themselves to one plank at least of the Home Rule platform. Mr. Asquith, who occupied a leading position among the Opposition leaders, dexterously took advantage of the question thus brought into prominence, and speaking at Dewsbury (Jan. 7) assured his hearers that the country was confronted with the fact that a royal commission, comprising the greatest financial experts the country possessed, had found with something very nearly approaching unanimity that Ireland contributed one-eleventh of the taxes of the United Kingdom, whereas her taxpaying capacity, put it at the very highest, did not exceed one-twentieth. The Act of Union certainly meant Ireland to be treated as a separate entity. Mr. Courtney thought we had only to consider whether the individual income-taxpayer or whisky-drinker in Ireland paid more or the same as a person in England or Scotland. This, Mr. Asquith retorted, was not the language of statesmanship, but of pedantry. It was true that if the people of Ireland became teetotalers to-morrow the excessive burden of their present taxes would be mitigated if not altogether removed. But we had got to deal with Irishmen not as they ought to be, or as philanthropists and social reformers would make them, but as they actually are; and to suppose that fiscal justice could be secured by a revolution voluntarily undertaken in the social and moral habits of a community was to subject the equities of our financial system to what he might call "the incidence of the miraculous," and miracles in politics did not occur, or did not occur with sufficient frequency to enable them to be made the basis of sound induction. Ireland had a real grievance, and the true remedy was to be found in reducing the cost of Irish administration. But the necessary reforms to this end could only be carried out when we allowed the Irish people to govern themselves upon their own soil by their own citizens, in accordance with their own ideas, and to meet their own social and local requirements. In the course of his speech Mr. Asquith said that, as representing a Scotch constituency, he could not regard any inquiry into the financial relations of different parts of the

United Kingdom as complete till full inquiry had been made into the case of Scotland, an inquiry which he predicted would produce startling results. Touching on the question of employers' liability, he repeated his warning that the cost of any scheme of universal insurance against accident, however carefully devised, would ultimately be found to come out of the workmen's pockets.

The apparently undesigned coincidence of Mr. A. J. Balfour having to address his constituents at Manchester on the following day (Jan. 8), enabled the Ministry to put forward a somewhat different lesson to be drawn from the report of the commission. He thought it at least singular that the discovery that Great Britain was robbing Ireland to the extent of 2,700,000l. a year had only been made after eighty years of close financial partnership. As to the facts, England and Ireland were at present under an identical system of taxation, except that Englishmen paid a few taxes, such as the land tax and the inhabited house duty, which Irishmen were not asked to pay. He had never heard that the principles on which Mr. Childers's commission pronounced that injustice had been done to Ireland were accepted by any party in the State as valid between man and man; and if they were not valid as between individuals, their application to different districts, different counties, or different countries must be regarded with suspicion. The extra money paid by Ireland was raised by indirect taxation, chiefly by the whisky duty (which he scarcely thought any Irish patriot would wish to see reduced), and there was an element of free will as to payment which made it quite impossible to compare the duty with a direct tax. Really the conclusions of the commission were arrived at by utterly erroneous methods, and if logically worked out could only land them in absurdities. Even if he accepted the commissioners' arithmetic, it seemed to him that, so far from losing, Ireland was a great gainer by the present system. She only contributed one-thirty-second of the total sum of imperial expenditure, as distinguished from what was spent on local objects, while her taxable capacity was admitted to be one-twenty-first. It had been said that the sum spent on local objects could be greatly reduced, but he had never known Irishmen united in a specific demand for more economical administration. Nor was the cost of that administration relatively so high as had been asserted. In comparing Ireland and Belgium, Lord Farrer had looked only to imperial taxation, but the local rates in each case must be added to get at the true figures. He had done so, and he found that the revenue drawn from local and imperial sources put together amounted for Belgium to 11. 12s. a head, for Ireland to 17. 13s. Great Britain paid in the same ratio as Belgium, so that the three countries were pretty much on a level. Mr. Asquith had drawn from the report of the commission an argument in favour of Home Rule-the first charge upon the

finances of autonomous Ireland to be her just contribution to imperial expenditure, which, according to the commissioners' arithmetic, would clearly be 3,300,000l. Home Rule, in that case, could only spell bankruptcy. Really it was in the maintenance of the Union that lay Ireland's one hope of solvency and prosperity.

Of far greater interest, if not of political import, than the somewhat academic discussion of the taxable capacity of four nations living under the same form of government, was the expression of views given by certain prominent ecclesiastics and laymen representing a large body of Liberal Churchmen, who deplored the absence of a specific policy which could unite the scattered fragments of the party. The letter, which was signed by the Deans of Durham, Winchester, Ely and Lincoln; by Canons Eyton, Gore, Hicks, and Scott Holland, besides many others, showed that, although on Church matters differences of opinion separated them, they were united in their political sentiments. By the irony of fate, their letter, moreover, was addressed to a pronounced and somewhat vehement Dissenter, Mr. T. E. Ellis, M.P., who was senior whip of the Liberal party. The letter, although vague in its terms, was nevertheless important as indicating the anxiety of its authors to keep the Liberal party in touch with the Established Church. The experience of the previous session had shown the leaders of the Opposition relying mainly on the Nonconformists to defeat the Education Bill of the Government. In the coming session education was to occupy a prominent place, and although the ministerial proposals were likely to deal with one portion only of an educational programme, Liberal Churchmen were anxious that their views should not be wholly excluded in favour of those of the Nonconformists. Unfortunately the Liberal party in Parliament was at the moment lacking a leader, and there was small chance of unanimity among the occupants of the front Opposition bench as to the line to be adopted; the ominous increase of the Radical poll at the election for the Cleveland division of the North Riding of Yorkshire may have accentuated the value of Dissenters as political supporters to the exclusion of Liberal Churchmen.

The early assembling of Parliament, however, cut short any discussion which might have arisen on the attitude of the Church towards State Socialism and the other points raised by the Churchmen's letter. The promise given in the previous autumn to give relief to voluntary schools had to be redeemed before the close of the financial year, and consequently Parliament was called together at an unusually early date (Jan. 19), and was opened by royal commission, when the Queen's Speech was read by the Lord Chancellor.

"MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

"My relations with all the other Powers continue to be of a friendly character.

"The appalling massacres which have taken place in Constantinople and in other parts of the Ottoman dominions have called for the special attention of the Powers who were signatories to the Treaty of Paris. Papers will be laid before you showing the considerations which have induced the Powers to make the present condition of the Ottoman Empire the subject of special consultation by their representatives at Constantinople. The conferences which the six ambassadors have been instructed to hold are still proceeding.

"The action undertaken by his Highness the Khedive of Egypt against the Khalifa, with my approval and assistance, has so far been entirely successful. His forces, supported by my officers and troops, have won back the fertile province of Dongola to civilisation by operations conducted with remarkable skill, and the way has been opened for a further advance whenever such a step shall be judged to be desirable.

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My Government have discussed with the United States, acting as the friend of Venezuela, the terms under which the pending questions of disputed frontier between that Republic and my colony of British Guiana may be equitably submitted to arbitration. An arrangement has been arrived at with that Government, which will, I trust, effect the adjustment of existing controversies without exposing to risk the interests of any colonists who have established rights in the disputed territory.

"It is with much gratification that I have concluded a treaty for general arbitration with the President of the United States, by which I trust that all differences that may arise between us will be peacefully adjusted. I hope that this arrangement may have a further value in commending to other Powers the consideration of a principle by which the danger of war may be notably abated.

"The rebellion in Matabeleland and Mashonaland has been repressed by the steadfastness and courage of the settlers, reinforced by my troops and by volunteers, both of English and Dutch race, from other parts of South Africa. I deplore the loss of valuable lives which these operations have entailed.

"The depressed condition of the sugar industry in my West Indian Colonies has seriously affected their prosperity, and I have appointed a commission to investigate its causes, and, if possible, to suggest means for its amelioration.

"It is with much regret and with feelings of the deepest sympathy that I have heard that, owing to the failure of the autumn rains, scarcity and famine affect a large portion of my dominions in India. My Government in that country are making every effort to mitigate suffering and to lessen the calamity. The development of railways and irrigation works, and the forethought given through a long series of years to the preparation of the most effective arrangements for alleviating distress caused by famine, make their task more hopeful than in previous visitations. My people throughout my dominions at home and in

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