John Stuart-Wortley

“ It is in point of fact a mere extinction of the Irish Executive, and a proportionate inflation of the Irish office in London. Any one,—a child,—might have conceived it,—the least possible adjustment will suffice to accomplish it. But is it the most judicious, and the most useful mode of effecting the change? This is the important question for Parliament to decide; and I cannot help entertaining a strong persuasion, that in this proposal her Majesty's Government is committing a great and serious and durable error. ”

“ The new Secretary of State cannot of course be subordinate to the Home Department, with the chief of which he is on a par in respect of title, of authority, and of position. He must be co-ordinate in all these with his colleague at the Home Office. He need refer to him upon nothing. He may pursue his own policy upon Irish affairs without any further reference to that of the rest of the internal administration, than is necessarily involved in his belonging to the same Cabinet ”

“ The very changes, social and physical, which have rendered futile the maintenance of a separate Court in Ireland, make the communications to the east as easy as to the west, and will facilitate the intercourse of Ireland with London, in the same degree as they quicken that of London with Ireland. There can, therefore, be no reasonable ground for assuming that the Irish Government, transplanted to London, will very materially change its character ”

“ Scarcely any one, I think, who has any knowledge on the subject, will be found to deny, that when once such an alteration has been rendered possible by the march of these improvements, its adoption must involve,—and the method of its consummation should be determined with reference to,—very different and far more important considerations.
I look upon the consolidation of Irish and English Governments, as an operation of the highest moment, and, I believe, of the greatest value and promise to both countries. ”

“ I shall not of course take upon myself to pronounce upon the merits of this or of any other plan for securing the efficient discharge of some of the most important functions in the public polity of these realms, which require, and I trust will receive, the unbiassed and deliberate consideration of all those who are most fitted by peculiar qualifications for the task. I am not ignorant that it is a matter not to be lightly dealt with, and one which involves a variety of difficulties, professional as well as general. ”

“ I propose that another Secretary of State should be added to the present three Secretaries of State for the purpose of carrying on the important business connected with Ireland. I will not say that the arrangements that may be made will be exactly the arrangement that subsists at present, because there may be some of the functions which are now exercised by the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland which it may be more convenient should be exercised by the Secretary of State for a Home Department ”

“ It is a step in the gradual realization of that true and practical union which consists in an identification of nationality and of interests, and which has so often been pronounced, by the greatest of political authorities of various classes, to be the true end and aim of all wise legislation on the subject. ”

“ No doubt, under existing circumstances, there is a bar to the consolidation of Irish and British internal administration in the same office, which must be admitted to have some actual present weight,—although I hope to be able to shew how it may be advantageously removed;—and which, in point of fact, seems to suggest the only plausible reason for the contemplated arrangement. The Home Office in London is already, if not overworked, at least fully employed ”

“ It is quite true, as may be observed by those who are acquainted with the detailed construction of the Bill for the abolition of the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, that it contains nothing absolutely irreconcileable with the adoption of a scheme such as I have ventured to suggest. The Bill provides, in the first place, for the distribution of the functions and authority of the Lord Lieutenant and his Executive between Her Majesty and the Privy Council in Ireland ”

“ But for my present purpose, it is enough to shew that the promise has been made; and to point out that a juncture, when, by a rare concurrence of circumstances, an announced change in the whole framework of one great department of internal administration, coincides with the promised revision of the highest judicial office in the State, is one which forcibly suggests some arrangement for the former as well as the latter object, more satisfactory than the bare establishment of an Irish Secretary of State in London ”

“ They are to be found, as the commentators say, "passim"—and will rise at once to the recollection of every man who has given them a thought. But there is another fault which has been often, and apparently with justice, found with the presence of a local Irish Government ”