In theory it is not.

An arrangement might quite conceivably be made (which if Home Rule were to be conceded might be the least objectionable method of carrying out a radically vicious policy) under which it should be distinctly agreed that Ireland should occupy the position of a self-governing colony with all the immunities and disadvantages thereof, and should cease to be represented at Westminster, whilst the British Parliament retained the right to abolish, or modify, the Irish constitution.

Such an arrangement would, however, make it perfectly plain that the sovereignty of the British Parliament meant in Ireland what the sovereignty of the Imperial Parliament now means in New Zealand.

But 'the retention of the Irish members is a matter of great public importance' (at any rate in the opinion of Mr.Gladstone) 'because it visibly exhibits that supremacy' (_i.e._ the supremacy of Parliament) 'in a manner intelligible to the people.'-- Mr.Gladstone, Feb.

13, 1893, _Times Parliamentary Debates_, p.306.See as to Home Rule in the character of colonial independence, _England's Case against Home Rule_ (3rd ed.), pp.