At the present stage of my argument I purposely omit all minute
examination of the applicability to the relations between England and
Ireland, either of the English Colonial system or of federalism as it
exists in the United States or in Switzerland. Any scheme of Home Rule
must follow in some degree one or other of these models. It will,
therefore, be necessary to consider in subsequent chapters how far
either of them may admit with advantage of imitation. Two observations,
however, may even at this point not be out of place. An English colony,
such as Victoria, is a virtually independent country, attached to
England mainly by ties of loyalty or of well-understood interests, but
placed at such a distance from the mother country that England could
without inconvenience, and would without hesitation, concede to it full
national independence when once it was clear that Victoria desired to be
a nation. Victoria, in short, is a land which might at any moment be
independent, but which desires to retain or strengthen the connection
with England. Ireland, on the other hand, is a country lying so near to
the English coast that, according to the views of most statesmen,
England could not with safety tolerate her independence, and also a
country, which, to put the matter in the least exaggerated language,
feels the connection with England so burdensome that the greater part of
her population desire at least the amount of independence conceded to a
self-governing colony. The case of Victoria and the case of Ireland each
constitute, so to speak, the antithesis to the other. There is,
therefore, at any rate no _a priori_ ground for the assumption that the
system which successfully regulates the relation of England to Victoria
is equally adapted for regulating the relation between England and
Ireland. The federalism, again, of America or of Switzerland is the
consequence of the existence of the States which make up the Federation.
The United Kingdom does not consist of States. The world has heard of