proper relation between England and Ireland on the concession by Denmark
to the scanty inhabitants of a desolate island lying 1100 miles from her
coast of as much autonomy (if that be the right term) as under the Crown
of England has been enjoyed for generations by Jersey or Man, and which
suggests lamentations over the splendid triumph of constructive
statesmanship embodied in the treaty of Union with Scotland. _De minimis
non curat lex_ is a maxim of judicial procedure which in spirit applies
to proposals for legislation. Arguments from Iceland and the like may be
set aside as the ornaments or curiosities of debate, and may be allowed
as much weight and no more as would be given to an argument in favour of
petty states from the flourishing condition of Monaco, or to reasonings
in support of Republicanism from the condition of Andorre. Though there
is something slightly ridiculous in the zeal with which the advocates of
Home Rule, using at least as much industry as discrimination, have
scraped together every instance they can lay their hands upon of
constitutions under which something which can be called Home Rule exists
without producing palpable injury to the State, it would be unfair to
deny some real weight to a kind of induction, which, if not convincing
as argument, yet possesses undoubtedly a good deal of rhetorical
effectiveness. Nor ought the concession to be refused that if there be
any man dull or ill-informed enough to suppose that countries cannot be
politically united unless they are subject to a common legislative
power, the slightest knowledge of lands outside England is sufficient to
make manifest his ignorance. When, however, the instances on which the
induction is supposed to be founded are carefully scrutinised, it will
be discovered that those examples which deserve attention are far less
numerous than might be supposed from a glance over the lists now well
known to the public of what may be termed successful experiments in Home
Rule, and, further, that this limited number of instances do not go far
to make out the conclusion in favour of which they are adduced.