'To what extent did Protestant support for an independent Ireland change in the period 1798 - 1921?'

The 1897 uprising and the war with Revolutionary France in 1799, Britain was aware of potential dangers if Ireland was to remain outside British jurisdiction, they were worried that Ireland was a back door that could house revolutionary intent. To the majority of British Prime Minister’s they saw Ireland as lawless and felt that intervention by force was necessary and Adelman suggests that it was this lack of understanding that caused some of the troubles. Though, Kennedy and Johnson believe that it was the fact that the Protestants “Ruling Ascendancy didn’t want to be ruled by Westminster” and they liked to rule themselves. It has been argued that following the post-war recession of 1815, with falling agricultural prices and financial deficit, the Union with Britain was arguably acting as a catalyst for the subsequent state of Ireland’s internal decay. It’s apparent that Britain was taking everything it could out of Ireland and was giving nothing back and the Ruling elite in Ireland, the Protestants were worried that the British market was out competing the Irish one and thus revenue coming into Ireland was grinding to a halt. Kennedy and Johnson go on to say that this fact online meant that some Protestants questioned the gains of the ‘Union’ during this period and felt that it ‘was a one sided arrangement’.

 Pelling, ‘the dissolution of the Irish Parliament did not provoke popular discontent.’ This is apparent in the fact that the majority of Catholics saw the Grattan Parliament as anti-Catholic and also corrupt. William Pitt’s promise that the Act of Union would be adjacent to an Act of Catholic Emancipation undermined the Protestants; the Protestant Ascendancy’s struggle for independence was being slowly digressed by the Catholics into a movement for Emancipation. The Protestants were more willing to be rule under England so therefore we can say that at this point the Protestants were united behind a Union, as there was no hope in uniting with the lower Catholic class as they both wanted different things. In 1823 O’Connell formed the Catholic Association in order to push for Catholic emancipation. 216,000 Catholics were working to undermine Anglican constitution by legitimate means. The Irish Nationalist Movement from this point onwards was entirely focused on Catholicism and devolution from Westminster. The Young Ireland’s movement, supported the issue of independence, but Protestants became distant with time, especially after the Great Famine of 1845-48.

The Protestant’s dependence on the Union was of great importance, and emigration and famine N Pelling argues, caused the situation in Ireland at the time ‘nourished all manner of nationalist movements.’ With the famine finished and many Irish now in America there was increased pro-active movements being set up in the USA with the main one being the Fenians, it was evident that Land redistribution would be the next item on the list for the nationalists.  The Protestants were becoming more and more isolated and were being pushed towards the Union due to the benefits of being in Unions and also because of the sectarian violence increasing. Charles Stewart Parnell, had legitimate control over the Land League, and was also respected amongst the Fenians, and had an able control over a loose coalition of nationalist groups. This meant that he had the majority of the control over the Irish. We can see that when Edward Carson came into power over the unionists, unionism as a political force grew out of Protestant fears that ‘Home Rule’ would mean ‘Rome Rule in reaction to implementation of ‘de-Anglicisation’ by the Nationalists.

It possible to say that the Irish Nationalists split into two distinct sections with Protestant support for an independent Ireland with the notion of a self- governing Ulster Union and those who saw the rebirth of Irish Nationalism as strictly Catholic and therefore supported the Union more strongly for economical and social benefits of the Union. We can say the Protestant support during this time period changes dramatically due to a number of issues but coexistence was never going to be seen in a independent Ireland because of the fundamental issues of religion and lifestyles.