IRELAND 



3048 



IRELAND 



complete amalgamation 

 with England and the 

 agitation for Home Rule 

 was kept up with vary- 

 ing intensity. In 1914, 

 after years of struggle, 

 a Home Rule Bill was 

 actually passed, but it 

 was not received with 

 enthusiasm by the Irish 

 Protestants of Ulster, 

 and violent dissension 

 was the result. The out- 

 break of the War of the 

 Nations in that year 

 quelled the disturbance 

 and united Ireland in 

 defense of Britain, but 

 it also made necessary 



A peasantV'tourincj car 



secretary for Ireland, 

 who is usually a mem- 

 ber of the British Cabi- 

 net and always of the 

 House of Commons. 



As in England, the 

 highest court of appeal is 

 the House of Lords. The 

 chief court with original 

 jurisdiction, however, is 

 the High Court of Ju- 

 dicature, and there are 

 other courts with special 

 jurisdiction. The police 

 force in Ireland is not a 

 municipal but a govern- 

 ment institution, united 

 under one inspector- 

 general and known as 



llacje scene in the interior 



a postponement of the 

 actual Home Rule ar- 

 rangements. In 1917 a 

 plan was offered, but 

 the terms of settlement 

 were not satisfactory, 

 and the matter was 

 dropped again, pending 

 further discussion. 



The f chief executive 

 official of Ireland is a 

 Lord Lieutenant, or 

 Viceroy, who is the rep- 

 resentative of the Crown. 

 As his advisers he has 

 a privy council (which 

 see) . Most of the actual 

 work of governing, how- 

 ever, falls on the chief 



An important household art, even to-day 



the Royal Irish Con- 

 stabulary. 



Previous to 1898 local 

 government in Ireland 

 was complex and un- 

 systematic, but in that 

 year there was passed 

 an Irish Local Govern- 

 ment Act which greatly 

 simplified conditions. In 

 each of the thirty-two 

 counties with which the 

 four ancient provinces of 

 Leinster, Munster, Con- 

 naught and Ulster are 

 divided, the chief au- 

 thority was placed in 

 the hands of a popu- 

 larly elected council, and 



