Their
learning, their impartiality and their wit have rightly made Irish
judges respected throughout the world. Their reputation and their
services alike demand that they shall not be set aside wantonly or
without consideration. But there is no doubt that Home Rule must mean
the end of the Irish Bench as we have seen it in history. The men who
have been proud to represent the British Crown would resent with
indignation the idea that they should become the tools of the Hibernian
caucus. They realise that the judges who oppose the lawless will of
popular ministers will have to face obloquy and perhaps direct attack in
the Irish Parliament. Even if the concurrence of both Houses in the
Irish Parliament were made necessary for the removal of judges, it would
not adequately safeguard their independence. The lower House would be
composed of the men whom Nationalist constituencies already return to
Parliament--excitable, fierce partisans, always ready to subordinate
private convictions to the exigencies of party discipline. Nor would
there be in Ireland under Home Rule any power or influence, either of
property or station, sufficiently strong to furnish a constituency which
would return a senate representing interests, opinions, or desires
substantially distinct from those of the more powerful House elected
upon the wider suffrage.
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