On Wednesday, Mr. Gerald Balfour moved an amendment intended to
prevent Members of the Irish Executive Com- mittee sitting in either Irish House, on the ground that our Cabinet system might very likely not bear transplantation. The Irish Executive had a threefold character, the Lord- Lieutenant having to act sometimes on the advice of the Irish, and sometimes on that of the Imperial Ministry, and sometimes on his own responsibility, and therefore the English system would not work. Mr. Gladstone took a high line in his answer, and declared that "if ever there was a principle which had been worked out by our race, it was the principle contained in the Bill,"—i.e., the Cabinet system. Mr. Arthur Balfour neatly retorted by pointing out that Mr. Gladstone apparently did not count the Americans among our race. They had worked out exactly the opposite system. The amendment was lost by 45 (274 to 229) ; as was also by 42 an amendment intended to give the Lord-Lieutenant the right to withhold assent or reserve Bills for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure, as in Canada. Mr. Morley's excuse for adopting the weaker form of veto was very lame. The real reason for instructing the draftsman to depart from precedent was, of course, the notification of the Nationalists that they would not consent to a workable veto.
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