The New Irish Constitution: An Exposition and Some Arguments — Story, Setting & Ideas

Legal Architecture and Constitutional Limits

The first part of the book offers a technical commentary on the proposed constitution. Morgan himself contributes a chapter on the constitution's provisions, while Sir Frederick Pollock examines the role of the Judicial Committee in interpreting the new framework. Sir John Macdonell discusses constitutional limitations on Irish legislative power, and Lord Welby addresses financial relations. These essays treat the constitution as a legal instrument subject to specific constraints, not merely a political aspiration. The excerpts do not reproduce these chapters in full, but the table of contents indicates a systematic approach: the constitution is analyzed clause by clause, with attention to how it would interact with existing British institutions.

Notably, the volume includes a chapter by Thomas F. Molony on the judiciary, police, and maintenance of law and order—a subject that hints at contemporary anxieties about stability under Home Rule. The legal contributors write from positions of authority: Morgan was Professor of Constitutional Law at University College, London, and several others held academic or judicial posts.

Historical Grievance as Constitutional Context

The second part of the book shifts from legal analysis to historical argument. Mrs. J.R. Green contributes a chapter on Irish nationality, while A.F. Pollard examines Ireland as a dependency. The excerpts include a lengthy passage from what appears to be Pollard's chapter, detailing the penal laws and commercial restrictions of the 17th and 18th centuries. The language is pointed: industries were 'massacred,' Catholics were excluded from professions and land ownership, and mixed marriages were declared null. The author argues that the penal code's motive was not religious but political—'to shut out the Irish by means of their religion from political and social influence.'

This historical section serves to ground the constitutional proposals in a narrative of past injustice. The contributors do not present a neutral chronology; they select events that illustrate English domination, such as the breach of the Treaty of Limerick and the statutes that restricted Irish trade. The effect is to frame Home Rule as a remedy for long-standing grievances, not a novel experiment.

Contemporary Voices and the Religious Dimension

The third part brings together contemporary perspectives, including a chapter by L.T. Hobhouse on Irish nationalism and liberal principle, and a section on the religious question with contributions from both Catholic and Protestant viewpoints. Monsignor O'Riordan offers a Catholic view, while other pieces address Catholic tolerance in practice and the papal decrees. The inclusion of 'some Protestant views' suggests an attempt at balance, though the excerpts do not reveal their content.

This section also includes practical considerations: Cecil Harmsworth writes on the state of parliamentary business, H. de R. Walker reviews the statute book for tendencies toward legislative disintegration, and Sir Alfred Mond discusses colonial forms of Home Rule. The volume thus moves from abstract constitutional design to the concrete political and religious tensions of 1912 Ireland. The religious question is treated as a distinct topic, separate from the legal and historical arguments, indicating its perceived importance to the Home Rule debate.

Readers approaching this volume should note its dual character: it is both a technical exposition of a proposed constitution and a partisan argument for Home Rule. The essays are interconnected by a shared assumption that Ireland's legislative subordination has been historically unjust and that the new constitution offers a legal remedy. The book does not include opposing Unionist viewpoints, but its detailed treatment of constitutional limitations and financial relations provides material for critical assessment. The excerpts suggest a work that rewards careful reading of its legal chapters alongside its historical and contemporary sections.

Years at this desk have taught me that every constitution is a promise whispered to an uncertain future. That 1912 volume on Irish Home Rule carries the same hopeful, anxious breath as our Connecticut friend’s address, Count the Cost An Address to the People of Connecticut, On Sundry Political Subjects, and Particularly on the Proposition for a New Constitution — Text and Context. Two centuries apart, yet they ask the same quiet question—what are we willing to pay for self-governance?