The Duke of Devonshire, speaking at the Drill Hall, Bristol,
on Thursday, insisted on a point to which he has often called attention before,—the necessity for the agreement of both partners, if there is to be a dissolution of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland. " The Treaty of Union embodied in the Act of Union possessed every attribute of an international engagement which ought to bind two States, and when it comes to a question of altering its terms, I say that England and Scotland—Great Britain—the other parties to this com- pact, had every right to have their nationality considered as well as the nationality of Ireland." Before it was proposed to alter the terms of the agreement, means ought to have been taken to ascertain " whether England and Scotland, as well as Ireland, were consenting parties to the change." That is a point which must be dwelt on till the people of Great Britain are forced to understand it. The Duke went on to show that if the Constitution is to be remodelled accord- ing to Mr. Gladstone's proposals, a Convention ad hoc, and not Parliament, would be the appropriate machinery for accomplishing the end in view. The United States Constitu- tion was drawn up by a body of fifty-five delegates.
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