But it is not my purpose to criticise the Restrictions, or the Bill itself, in detail.

The drafting of the Government of Ireland Bill needs much amendment, but at the present juncture it is waste of time to criticise defects removable by better draftmanship or by slight changes in the substance of the measure.

My object is to dwell on such points relating to the Restrictions as show their bearing on the character of the new constitution.[70] _First._ The Restrictions are one and all of them limits upon the powers of the Irish Parliament; they are none of them limits upon the powers of the Irish Executive.

The new constitution does not contain--from its nature it hardly could contain--a single safeguard against abuse of power by the Irish Ministry or its servants.

Yet in all countries there is far more reason to dread executive than parliamentary oppression, and this is emphatically true of Ireland.
_Secondly._ The Restrictions contain no prohibition against the passing of an Act of Indemnity.
Yet of all the laws which a Legislature can pass an Act of Indemnity is the most likely to produce injustice.