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involves of course having your own judges,-but that is a detail, though one which will set you in opposition to powerful vested interests. You need, if you are to be a nation, control not only of liquor laws,-so that you can go dry if you want to, or remain wet," irrespective of what England chooses to do-but of marriage and divorce, and all that concerns the birth of children, provision for the old, provision for the young-all this is essentially and really a national affair, and by the methods of dealing with such matters, a nation can express itself and will be known among nations. Finally, as a consequence and condition, you will need full control of your national finance. Here is one of the many points in which Wales and Scotland can do service not only to Ireland but to a government which is sorely perplexed how to deal with Ireland. For, let me say in passing, a demand for Home Rule from Wales and from Scotland is the best service that can be rendered to Mr. Lloyd George. He desires to set up self-government in Ireland and many of his colleagues cannot be supposed to be equally anxious for that end. He realises, and possibly some of them do not, how great an injury is inflicted on Great Britain's position in the world by failure to solve the Irish question. While the Irish demand is alone in its kind, it is harder to deal with. Historically, it is and must remain unique. But it can be strengthened by a similar demand from the other nations within these islands. They will be wise and they will be serviceable to the Empire if they ask no less, and no more, than such a nation needs, if it is to deal effectively with its own national affairs, and in so doing to contribute to the civilisation of the world. How far is it true that a parliament with a ministry responsible to it should be the sole taxing authority in its own boundaries ? That question connects itself with another-the problem of defence. Here it is certain that conditions have changed. No nation in Europe can be solely answerable for its own protection. Professor Zimmern lately in the pages of this review pointed out how little reality there was in the independence of such small neutral states as Holland and Switzerland. Last summer a distinguished Frenchman was saying to me, that after the war neither France nor any other nation would be really independent-there would be a western group and an eastern. He did not then foresee a decisive result to the war; yet, now that France has been victor beyond all he or I then hoped, France clearly is frightened to stand alone. It is not that France lacks courage, but France knows and feels in its marrow the need for a stronger social organisation against the untamed barbarism of humanity. France is no less a nation, but more a nation for seeking to temper freedom by a mutual de- pendence. Time was when every man had to protect himself and his family. Time was when every clan felt itself dishonoured and subjugated if it could not defend its own boundaries. Nowadays (except in Irish politics) no head of a family is ashamed to call in the police; and clan warfare is a sur- vival of barbarism, which in all Europe persists only in the Balkans. A nationality finds its earliest expression in the business of killing, but that is seen in the long run to be not the most characteristic or valuable expression. We can delegate defence, as individuals, to society, and, as nations, to a society of nations. The nations within the British Empire delegate it to the Commonwealth of those nations. But especially for these two islands there is an absolute strategic unity. Wales, Ireland, and the others will have to pay their share to a common defence force. This to my mind carries the consequence that they must have a say in the employment of that force; and so there arises the necessity for a common assembly-reposing on the ultimate necessity, which is a vital necessity-of common arrangement? for protection. Part of the central government's function must be the establishing and maintaining treaties with other defensive groups-that is really part of defence. Also it will have to fix the quota to be paid by each of the parties to it. The raising of that money is an affair for each nationality. But with the existence of this central assembly, call it the Imperial parliament or what you will-dictated by necessity, comes the question of convenience in levying taxes. Customs barriers are in themselves a nuisance to ordinary persons, and a hindrance to trade. Unless there is a common system of customs and excise, each nationality must have its own fiscal boundary and spend a deal of money in maintaining. There is a strong case on the ground of convenience for having a common customs system to be fixed by the assembly which regulates defence. The collection can and should be done by each national unit and the product of the Welsh customs for instance should go to Wales, wherever it may be collected. I cannot see that the separate control of indirect taxa- tion is an essential of nationality any more than the separate control of defence. But that view is argued by many Irish nationalists. So much as this is true, that the economic conditions of Ireland are so unlike those of Great Britain that taxes which press heavy on the one, might fall light on the other. It does not seem to me necessary that either Wales or Scotland should have fiscal independence because Ireland wants it; or necessary that it should be denied to Ireland because Wales and Scotland can get on without it. I suggest however that the ideal for these islands is a system by which England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland would each have full self-government in all matters other than defence, and those relations with foreign countries which are a part of defence; and I believe that a fiscal union would be established for the four nations through the central assembly which controlled defence and imperial affairs. It is unnecessary to labour the point that parliament at present has neither time nor patience to meet all the demands upon it. Devolution is a business necessity for the four nations. The United Kingdom and the British Empire need Home Rule for Wales. But in writing here for Wales, I think rather of what Wales can give to the world. It has given the world a man-at the world's moment of supreme need. And, as