GLADSTONE, PARNELL AND HOME RULE

PARNELL AND THE IPP

Determined to turn the HR group in the Commons into tightly knit party over which he could exercise authority

Created the National League in Ireland which became in effect the electoral arm of the IPP with over 1,000 branches

1885 the RC Church officially came out in support of HR and Parnell agreed to go along with the church’s policies on education

PARNELL AND THE IPP

Parliamentary candidates were chosen by Parnell

Required to sign a pledge they would vote only with the IPP

Parnell acknowledged as “the Chief” His power was “irresponsible and more or

less despotic”

PARNELL AS LEADER

His ability recognised by all Courted by both Whigs and Tories who

both recognised that the IPP might well come to hold the balance of power

“No man has the right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation. No man has a right to say to his country: thus far shalt thou go and no further”

POWER-BROKER

Election due in 1885 In June Parnell switched his support from the

Whigs to the Tories Tories dropped the Coercion Act and introduced

the Ashbourne Act which allowed tenant farmers to borrow money to buy their own land

Refused to throw his lot in with Gladstone unless he committed himself openly to Home Rule

POWER BROKER

Election results in 1885: IPP: 86 Liberals:335 Conservatives: 249 Real victor was Parnell since neither party

could govern without his support and he had also captured all seats in Ireland outside Ulster, except for TCD

GLADSTONE’S CONVERSION

Gladstone came to realise that his religious reforms and his land reforms had not been enough to satisfy the demands of the Irish

Realised the moral necessity of HR Said HR was based on the “first principles of

religion” Possible that his conversion to HR more due to

opportunism than conviction, allowing him to reunite a disintegrating Liberal party under his own leadership.

FIRST HOME RULE BILL

Gladstone became prime minister in Jan 1886 and immediately grasped the HR nettle.

Most liberal MPs supported his first HR Bill, not because they were enthusiastic for it but because they were loyal to Gladstone and could see no alternative to HR but continued coercion.

CRITICISMS OF THE BILL

Home rule would lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom

Could the new Irish MPs in a potential Dublin parliament be trusted to look after the welfare of Protestants, since many of these MPs had been involved in violent agitation in the past?

How could Irish nationality and unity be said to exist when all classes in Protestant Ulster opposed it so vehemently

FATE OF THE BILL

Defeated in the commons by 313 votes to 343

Parliament was dissolved Victory for Unionists in the election of

summer 1886: 316 conservatives and 78 liberal unionists against 191 HR liberals and 85 IPP

FALL OF PARNELL

In spite of the election results Parnell was still determined to stick to the constitutional path to gain HR

He joined the fortunes of the IPP firmly to the fortunes of the Liberals

By 1887 the Kitty O’Shea scandal had broken and Gladstone was to cut all links with Parnell

FALL OF PARNELL

He refused to resign as leader of the IPP He attacked Gladstone personally and

denounced the Liberal alliance He thus appeared to overthrow the political

strategy he had built up over the past 5 years Irish Catholic clergy called on all Irish people

to repudiate Parnell

FALL OF PARNELL

The IPP had to choose between Parnell or the Liberal alliance without which they would never obtain HR

37 supported him but 45 rejected him He refused to accept his fate and toyed

with a return to unconstitutional methods Died in 1891 aged 45

VERDICTS

Davitt: “He had attacked and beaten the enemies of Ireland in the citadel of their power, the British Parliament”

He was pre-eminently a practical politician Turned the vague notion of HR into

practical politics Created a united disciplined IPP backed up

by an efficient electoral machine in Ireland

VERDICT ON PARNELL AND HR

Under-estimated the problems in achieving it Had no understanding of the concerns of the

Ulster Unionists Was able to convince the Irish people that

they wanted HR and that it was feasible It was his commitment that convinced

Gladstone and later the Liberal party of the necessity for HR

SECOND HOME RULE BILL

1892, Gladstone aged 84 formed his fourth ministry and proposed a new HR Bill

1893 the bill passed through the Commons but was overwhelmingly defeated in the Lords

Gladstone retired 1894 It became clear that HR would never be a realistic

possibility without major reform of the House of Lords

Commitment to HR remained an integral part of the Liberal party’s programme