Dividing Ireland: World War I and Partition

202 THE IRISH CONVENTION AND CONSCRIPTION
responsible for spending public money should also be responsible
for raising it by taxation and that, consequently, Ireland would be
required to draw upon all branches of taxation in order to have
sufficient funds to pay the expenses of government. 18 The crux of
the Nationalist argument was that:
We regard Ireland as a Nation, an economic entity.
Governments exist to foster the economic interests of their
peoples. Self-government does not exist where those
nominally entrusted with affairs of government have not
control of fiscal and economic policy. No Nation with selfrespect
could accept the idea that while its citizens were
regarded as capable of creating wealth they were regarded as
incompetent to regulate the manner in which taxation of that
wealth should be arranged, and that another country should
have the power of levying and collecting taxes, the taxed
country being placed in the position of a person of infirm
mind whose affairs are regulated by trustees. No finality could
be looked for in such an arrangement, not even a temporary
satisfaction. 19
Opposing these demands were the Ulster Unionist delegates who
rejected any alteration in the fiscal unity of the British Isles. In
November 1917, in an effort to break this deadlock on the fiscal
question, the Southern Unionists conceded that an Irish
parliament, with minority safeguards, should have control of
internal taxes, administration, legislation, judicature and the
police. 20 Since this was still insufficient to bridge the gap between
Southern Unionists and the aspirations of Nationalists, Lloyd
George assured John Redmond that if substantial agreement was
reached, based upon the scheme proposed by the Southern
Unionists and carried by a majority of the convention, with the
Ulster Unionists alone opposing, then he would use his personal
influence with his Cabinet colleagues to get their acceptance of the
proposals and give them legislative effect. 21 With this assurance
the Convention took up a resolution put forward by Lord
MacDonnell, a moderate home ruler, which suggested that Irish
control of customs and excise should be postponed for further
consideration until after the war, on condition that such control
should come into automatic effect three years after the cessation
of hostilities, unless the Imperial Parliament decided otherwise. On
12 March 1918, the first part of MacDonnell’s resolution appeared
in altered form, proposing the imposition of customs and excise
under the Imperial Parliament during the war and thereafter until