264 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK oh. 



confess I should feel much less hopeful ; but now that 

 the population is more in relation to the resources of the 

 Country, I hope the people may be more comfortable 

 and consequently more contented ; though of course, 

 this will require a long time. 



In standing out for " one Parliament " we occupy 

 tangible ground, and I should be sorry to agree to any 

 legislative assembly in Dublin, because in the first place, 

 I believe that such a concession would greatly weaken 

 our position in Britain ; and secondly, so far from 

 removing difficulties, it would only give the Parnellites 

 a leverage for further demands. 



Separation seems to me a lesser evil than Home Rule. 



I do not see that we are called on to frame any new 

 constitution. It is clearly no use to suggest half 

 measures which would not satisfy Parnell. 



It is, I think, for them to tell us what they want, and 

 then we can consider it. 



If they were to have a separate legislative body, and 

 yet sit in the Imperial Parliament, it seems to me clear 

 that we must also have a separate Legislative Body for 

 Britain, for we could not allow them, in such a case, to 

 interfere with our special affairs. 



But in that case, I take it, we must also have a 

 Supreme Court to determine, as the highest authority, 

 what were, under the new constitution, to be the powers 

 of the separate Legislatures and of the Imperial Parlia- 

 ment. 



The Home Rulers do not seem to recognise this, and 

 yet to it they will inevitably be driven. 



Trevelyan says that the old Bills are dead, and that 

 concessions have been made which ought to remove our 

 difficulties. For my part, I have no idea what the 

 present policy of the Gladstonians is. 



We should, I think, try to elicit what they now 

 propose, and we can then consider it ; but it is no 

 part, I think, of our duty to construct any new con- 

 stitution. 



I am sorry the Government have proclaimed the 

 League. 



I think it would have been better to punish boy- 

 cotting and petty persecution under the Crimes Act, 

 and I would levy fines on newspapers. 



In the next session, I think we should suspend 



