IRISH QUESTION & HOME RULE.   Term Paper ID:25292 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines origins & evolution of political & religious antagonism between England & Ireland & reasons why movement for Irish home rule failed.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines origins & evolution of political & religious antagonism between England & Ireland & reasons why movement for Irish home rule failed. Paper Introduction: IRISH QUESTION AND HOME RULE This research paper examines the nature and origin of the Irish question, the political antagonism between England and Ireland, and the reasons why the movement for home rule for Ireland failed. By the second half of the 19th century an accumulation of deep grievances had impeded progress toward a more normal or healthy relationship between England and Ireland which dated back many centuries and had deep historical roots. Despite some reforms, the Union of England and Ireland in 1800 had been opposed by significant elements of the Irish middle and upper classes which became focused upon a demand for home rule, self-government within an imperial framework. In the middle 1880s home rule was supported by Prime Minister William Gladstone's Liberal Party and government. It failed to pass Parliament in Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Conclusion The Irish question ultimately turned out to be whether the Irish andthe English could co-exist as a part of one nation. He also led the fight for Repeal of Union,which after his death, and under the leadership in Parliament of Isaac Butteventually turned into the campaign for home rule. IRISH QUESTION AND HOME RULE This research paper examines the nature and origin of the Irishquestion, the political antagonism between England and Ireland, and thereasons why the movement for home rule for Ireland failed. TheIrish Nationalists were weakened by the scandals and party quarrelsattendant upon Parnell's last years. During the mid and late 187 s, a dynamic new Irish leader, CharlesParnell (1846-1891), emphasized Ireland's separate distinctiveness. you will haveto resort to coercion" (Morton 4 ). Parnell capitalized on peasant unrest at homeand rallied opposition against Benjamin Disraeli, the Conservative PrimeMinister who made home rule the chief issue in the election of 188 whichwas won by the Liberals. . . Under the leadership of theYounger William Pitt, Parliament in Westminster abolished the separateIrish Parliament under the Act of Union of 18 . They causedmore than one million deaths and the emigration of more than one million toAmerica and to other parts of the British Isles. Works CitedBeckett, J. It became an albatross around the neck ofthe Liberal Party to the demise of which it made a major contribution.After 1886 or at the latest after the death of Parnell, probably only arepublican solution in the South and partition of the North and its Unionwith England were the only feasible solutions. In 1886 Gladstone placed his full weight behind the Home Rule Bill heintroduced which provided for Irish representation in an Irish Parliamentbut no Irish representation in Westminster. In the middle 188 s home rule was supported by PrimeMinister William Gladstone's Liberal Party and government. British public opinion was,however, deeply divided over home rule. the power of mass opinion organized underclerical influence" (3 4-3 5). New York: Knopf, 1966.Manchester, William. After fierce debate in Parliament and in thecountry, the Bill became law by a narrow margin, but, says Pelling, "thesituation in Ireland steadily deteriorated and approached the brink ofcivil war" (54). Woodham-Smith says thattheir legacy and the government's ineptitude and callous reaction was a"bitterness without parallel [that] took possession of the Irish mind"(4 7). . Their revolt of the late 184 s was easily suppressed by theEnglish. It did so after a groupcalled the United Irishmen, mostly upper class Protestants, includingTheobald Tone, raised the flag of revolt with the ineffective assistance ofNapoleonic France in 1798. Origins of the Irish Question First invaded by the Norman forces of King Henry II in 1169, Ireland,says Woodham-Smith, "had been neither assimilated nor subdued" (15).According to Manchester, "for nearly eight centuries, they [the Irish] hadbeen governed like serfs by English viceroys entrenched in Dublin Castle"(452). Because of thetortured, tragic and one-sided nature of their historical association, theonly relationship which proved to be possible was an arms-length one.However, home rule, which was one of the most important issues of late 19thand early 2 th century British politics, might have been doable had it beenintroduced earlier and pursued more vigorously by the leaders of both themajor English political parties. . Ninety three Liberal M.P.s or one third of them defected fromthe government resulting in the defeat of the bill in June 1886 by a voteof 343 to 317. a promise that home rule would be included in the government'selection program" (422). Beckett says that "it left in the popular mind a feeling ofresentment against the whole system of government in Ireland" (349).Another largely Protestant-led, middle class nationalist movement, theYoung Irelanders, like the United Irishmen of 1798, justified recourse toviolence. Although home rule passed the House ofCommons by 3 1 to 261, it was rejected 419 to 41 by the House of Lords.While the home rule movement languished in southern Ireland, opposition toit further hardened in Ulster. According to Morton,"the lack of consistency and cohesion among the Home Rule parliamentarygroup was compounded by Butt's indecisiveness as a leader" (16). The first Home Rule billintroduced in Parliament in 1874 was defeated by a lopsided vote of 458 to66. Between 1891 and 19 6 the Conservatives held power in all but threeyears, 1893-1895. After a brief dalliancewith the Tories, a strong nexus developed between the Irish Nationalistsand the Liberals. . Modern Britain 1885-1955. In the South, the IRB and related revolutionarygroups resorted to strikes and terrorism. Lord Randolph Churchill played the Orange card, telling acheering crowd in Belfast: "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right"(Morton 33). AfterWorld War I broke out, home rule was held in abeyance for the duration ofthe war. After the Easter, 1916 uprising in Dublin, home rule became academicbecause only a Republican solution was acceptable in the South andpartition in the North. now formed a solid and highly disciplined party under his[Parnell's] unquestioned leadership and they held the balance of power inthe new house of commons" (395). It failed to pass in the late 19th century because of alack of English domestic political support. Englishtoleration of such effrontery was short-lived. By the secondhalf of the 19th century an accumulation of deep grievances had impededprogress toward a more normal or healthy relationship between England andIreland which dated back many centuries and had deep historical roots.Despite some reforms, the Union of England and Ireland in 18 had beenopposed by significant elements of the Irish middle and upper classes whichbecame focused upon a demand for home rule, self-government within animperial framework. . Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 196 .Woodham-Smith, Cecil. Largely left alone until late Tudor times, successive kings expandedthe Pale or areas of English control over the countryside. The Great Hunger. Home Rule and the Irish Question. It failed topass Parliament in 1886 and 1894 and was never implemented after it waspassed in 1914. Heforged links with the home rulers, the Irish communities in America andEngland and with the Fenians. Parnell came to be seen as a moderatinginfluence in the countryside after the Phoenix Park murders of the BritishSecretary for Ireland in Dublin in 1882 by Fenians. A conference held at Buckingham Palace in the summer of1914 stalemated over whether Ulster could be included in home rule. C. The protestants in Ulster hated the idea of a Catholic-dominatedIrish parliament. PredominantlyRoman Catholic, Ireland emerged in the 18th century on the losing side ofthe great religious struggles which began in the mid-16th century. Gladstone supported more extensive land reforms promoted by thetenant-oriented Land League. Butthad succeeded in uniting most Irish nationalists, except the Fenians, underthe rubric of the Home Government Association and later the Home RuleLeague, which at first was largely a upper and middle class movementinvolving protestants as well as catholics. The Irish question arose once Irish nationalists began to questionthe legitimacy of British rule. Gladstone now 83 tried once more to pass home rule in 1893. Both North and South smuggled inarms from Europe. During the 183 s and 184 s, agitation and discontent in thecountryside increased over obsolete landlord tenant laws and practiceswhich the English were slow to ameliorate and declining prices. Parnell warned: "if you reject this Bill . Failure of Home Rule Until about 1875, the home rule movement made little progress. Boston: Little Brown, 1983.Morton, Grenfell. Beckett says that "home rulecandidates . Following a brief hiatus of Conservative rule in 1885,the Liberals were returned to power in 1886. The Making of Modern Ireland 16 3-1923. Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) led the struggle in the House ofCommons, ultimately successful in 1829, for Catholic emancipation, theright of Irish voters to elect Catholics to represent them in Parliament.O'Connell abjured violence, but Beckett says he "forced the government toyield by a demonstration of . It wasregarded as the site of papist and French plots against the English crown.From the time of Oliver Cromwell, the irish were subjected to political,economic and religious discrimination by absentee Anglo-Irish landlords andthe Protestant Ascendancy which ruled the emerald isle. A harbinger of the future, the Fenian Society or Irish RepublicanBrotherhood (IRB), a secret society, which believed the English could beousted from Ireland only by force, was founded in Dublin in 1858. Northern Irelandremained part of the United Kingdom, pending the outcome of the recentlycompleted peace talks under which it may be obtaining its own uniquepermutation on the theme of home rule. They pursued policies of conciliation and coercion inIreland. From 1845-1849, a devastating famine, stemming from potato blight, and diseasesassociated with malnutrition and starvation afflicted Ireland. Ulster formed paramilitary forces called the Ulster Volunteer Force.In the Curragh Mutiny of 1914 58 regular British officers refused to takearms against the Orangemen. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.----------------------- 6 The large Liberal majority of 19 6 dwindled in subsequent electionsand the Liberal package of social reforms was imperiled by opposition inthe House of Lords. It never went into effect inthe 2 th century, primarily because of Protestant opposition and growingrepublican sentiment in Catholic Ireland. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith called for reform of theHouse of Lords which was finally achieved under the Parliament Act of 1911.To pass it, he had to make a deal with John Redmond, the leader of theIrish Nationalists who in 19 9-191 , Beckett says, "was able to exact. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill 1874 Visions of Glory 1932. Asquith introduced the final Home Rule Bill onApril 12, 1912 and used Lord Randolph's son, Winston, as his principalParliamentary spokesman. . Prime Minister Lloyd George attemptedunsuccessfully in 1917-1918 to persuade the Irish revolutionaries to acceptfirst home rule and then Dominion status. In the late 18th century the Irishparliament with the support of allies in the House of Commons such asEdmund Burke declared that it alone was competent to legislate on Irishdomestic matters, what became known as the Constitution of 1782. According to Beckett, it "stillassociated the Irish party with agrarian crime and Fenian conspiracy"(396). Gladstone himself was a gradual convert to home rule concentratingduring his first government (1868-1875) on disestablishment of the AnglicanChurch in Ireland and on rather tepid land reforms which Beckett says"failed to convince the majority of Irishmen that their interests couldsafely be entrusted to a British parliament" (375). London: Longman, 198 .Pelling, Henry. . After three years of fighting, inDecember 1921, the new Irish Free State was formed. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.