Imperial supremacy in the colonies was, as regards the protection of unpopular individuals, admitted to be a farce.

What, however, rendered the three travellers unpopular?
They were Irish informers who had aided, unless I am mistaken, in the conviction of the Phoenix Park murderers.

Let us now in imagination conceive our new constitution to have come into being, and transfer the transactions at Melbourne in 1883 to Dublin in 1894.

Will the Imperial supremacy which is supposed to be so effective in the colonies be of any more worth in Ireland than in Victoria ?[121] Were it true, then, which it certainly is not, that the conditions exist in Ireland which conduce to the maintenance of federal power in the State of a well-arranged federation, and to the maintenance of Imperial power in a self-governing British colony, this would not be enough to support the argument in favour of the new constitution.

For the Imperial Government needs that the law should be maintained, and the rights of individuals be protected, in Ireland with greater stringency than the law is enforced or the rights of individuals are protected either under a federal government or in a British colony.