[Sidenote: Conditions to be satisfied by plan of Home Rule.]

How far Home Rule under these forms, or any one of them, is compatible
with the interests of the English people must be determined by
considering what are the conditions which an acceptable plan of Home
Rule must fulfil, and by then examining how far any given form of Home
Rule satisfies them.

Any scheme of Home Rule which can conceivably be accepted by England
must, it is admitted, satisfy the following conditions.[29]

It must in the first place be consistent with the ultimate supremacy of
the British Parliament.[30]

It must in the second place be just; it must provide that each part of
the United Kingdom take a fair share of Imperial burdens; that the
citizens of each part have equality of rights; that the rights both of
individuals and of minorities be safely guarded.[31]

It must in the third place promise finality; it must be in the nature of
a final settlement of the demands made on behalf of Ireland, and not be
a mere provocation to the revival of fresh demands.

It must, in short, to sum up the whole matter, be, as already insisted
upon, a scheme which promises to England at least not greater evils than
the maintenance of the Union or than Irish independence.

These conditions constitute the touchstone by which any given plan of
Home Rule must be tested. No scheme, however ingenious, can be accepted
which lacks any of these characteristics, namely, the maintenance of