On the contrary the whole
trend of Colonial experience confirms, in the most striking fashion, the
essential soundness of the position which Unionists have maintained
throughout, that the material, social and moral interests, alike of
Ireland and of Great Britain, demand that they should remain members of
one effective, undivided legislative and administrative organisation.
The whole argument, indeed, plausible as it is, is based on a series of
confusions, due, in part, to deliberate obscuring of the issue, in part
to the vagueness of the phrase "Home Rule," and to the general ignorance
of the origin and real nature of the British Colonial system. There are,
indeed, three main confusions of thought. There is, first of all, the
confusion between "free" or "self-governing" institutions, as contrasted
with unrepresentative or autocratic rule, and separate government,
whether for all or for specified purposes, as contrasted with a common
government. In the next place there is the confusion between the status
of a self-governing Dominion, in its relations to the Imperial
Government, and the status of a Colonial state or provincial government
towards the Dominion of which it forms a part.
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