CHAPTER II.
THE NEW CONSTITUTION A critic of the new constitution, intent on ascertaining how it affects the relation of Great Britain and Ireland, will do well to divert his attention from the numerous details of the Home Rule Bill, important as many of them are,[25] and fix his mind almost exclusively upon the four leading features of the measure.
These are:-- _First_.

The supremacy of the Imperial Parliament.
_Secondly_.

The retention of the Irish members in the Parliament at Westminster.
_Thirdly_.

The powers of the Irish Government, in which term is here included both the Irish Executive and the Irish Parliament.
_Fourthly_.

The Restrictions (popularly known as the safeguards) and the obligations imposed upon the Irish Government.
These features are primary and essential; everything else, however important in itself, is subsidiary and accidental.
A._The Supremacy of the Imperial Parliament_[26] The Home Rule Bill asserts in its preamble the inexpediency of 'impairing or restricting the supreme authority of Parliament'; and in clause 33, apparently[27] assumes the right of the Imperial Parliament after the passing of the Home Rule Bill to enact for Ireland laws which cannot be repealed by the Irish Parliament.
The new constitution therefore maintains the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament.
What, however, is the true meaning of this 'supreme authority,' 'supremacy,' or 'sovereignty,' if you like, of the Imperial Parliament?
The term, as already pointed out,[28] is distinctly ambiguous, and unless this ambiguity is cleared up, the effect of the Home Rule Bill, and the nature of our new constitution, will never be understood.
The supremacy of the Imperial Parliament may mean the right and power of Parliament to govern Ireland in the same sense in which it now governs England, that is, to exercise effective control over the whole administration of affairs in Ireland, and for this purpose, through the action of the English Government, or, when necessary, by legislation, to direct, supervise and control the acts of every authority in Ireland, including the Irish Executive and the Irish Legislature.