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questionably they would use all their powers to thwart and embarrass England, and aid her enemies. The men that cheered in the House of Commons the defeat of British troops in South Africa are not the men to entrust with the custody of the many-harboured island lying on the flank of Britain, and at the heart of the British Empire. Nor can England expect that if she betrays the loyal minority any of them that remain in Ireland will feel any sympathy whatever with her in any conflict with her Nationalist enemies to whom she has abandoned those who were the main supporters of the Imperial connection.
The Regency Conflict and French Invasion.
The danger of having an independent Parliament in Ireland is illustrated by the conflict which occurred in 1789 between the British and Irish Parliaments in reference to the Regency during the mental incapacity of George III. The controversy terminated on the recovery of the King, but the relations between the two countries were seriously strained, and it is a remarkable fact that:
"One of the consequences of the conflict between the two Parliaments on the Regency question, and the exaggerated language that was used about the danger to the connection was that Irish affairs began to attract the serious attention of the French Government."—Lecky, History of Ireland, vol. ii., pp. 486-488.
A secret agent was sent over to Ireland, and this was probably the first step of a series of French dealings with Ireland, which a few years later assumed a grave importance. If a Continental power during the control
