ABSTRACT
A political theory, a certain form of government, may have an almost universal support, yet it cannot be successfully transplanted unless due attention is paid to the prejudices of its adoptive country. Political theory, after all, can decide no more than the forms of political institutions. It is the history of the people which determines the spirit in which those institutions are to be worked. Representative Government is more than an abstract conception of polity. Its vitality is inspired, by the dictates of an unchanging doctrine, but by the readiness of its response to the changing needs of political life. The history of the Irish Question has shown that the difference between the settlement proposed by the Unionists and that proposed by the supporters of Home Rule was one only of degree. The principle underlying both was the political unity of the British Isles. Economic nationalism was an important aspect of the thought of Sinn Fein.
