The division bells ring; the absentees come trooping in, learn at the
door of the lobby, each from his respective Whip, whether his
spontaneous, independent judgment has made him a Yes! or a No! and vote
accordingly in the light of an unsullied conscience. The Irish
officials, with a sigh of relief or a shrug of contempt, collect their
hats and umbrellas, and retire to their hotels to erase from their minds
by slumber the babblings of a mis-spent evening. And the course of
administration in Ireland is as much affected by the whole proceedings
as the course of an 80 h.p. Mercedes is affected by a cabman's oath.
So much for exclusively Irish affairs. When Ireland comes into some
"general" scheme of legislation the parody of government becomes if
possible more fantastic in character. Let me take just three
instances--Old Age Pensions, Insurance, and the Budget. In regard to the
first it was perhaps a matter of course that no attempt should be made
to allow for the difference in economic levels between Great Britain and
Ireland. This is the very principle of Unionism: to apply like methods
to things which are unlike.
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