Parnell and the Irish Parliamentary Party 1882-5 After the Kilmainham Treaty Parnell was determined to turn the Home Rule group

Authors Avatar

Laura Rea

Parnell and the Irish Parliamentary Party 1882-5

     After the Kilmainham Treaty Parnell was determined to turn the Home Rule group in the House of Commons to turn the Home Rule group in the House of Commons into a powerful, unified Irish Party, subject completely to his own personal authority. At the same time, he intended to make the Irish Parliamentary Party the dominant nationalist organisation in Ireland. 

The National League

The latter aim was forwarded by the creation of the National League in October 1882. Its first aim was ‘national self-government’, and it intended to win support among all classes of Irish society and not just the farmers. The National League’s central organisation was dominated by Parnell and his followers.  It soon possessed over 1000 branches throughout Ireland. 

This increasing identification between the Irish Parliamentary Party and the cause of Irish nationalism was reflected – by the unofficial alliance between the Irish Catholic Church leaders and Parnell in 1885-6. The Church now came out in support of Home Rule, and in return Parnell was prepared to go along with the Church’s policies on education.

Parnell’s influence

As far as the Irish Party (MPs) at Westminster was concerned, Parnell now imposed greater discipline and centralisation. However, by the mid-1880s, Parnell completely dominated the Irish Party.  By 1885, his efforts on behalf the Irish Parliamentary Party and the national cause generally seemed to have been successful. Now he was ‘the uncrowned King of Ireland’, and was also acknowledged as an outstanding parliamentary leader.  He was courted by both Liberals and Conservatives, since both groups recognised that his Irish Party might well hold the balance of power in the Commons after the next general election, due in 1885. In January 1885, in one of his most famous speeches in Ireland, Parnell reiterated his commitment to Home Rule – and perhaps more:

-  “I do not know how this great question will eventually be settled. (Ireland & Britain).  We cannot ask for less than the restitution of Grattan’s Parliament … But no man has a 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 farther’.

Join now!

The 1885 general election

In the election, the Irish Parliamentary Party ended up with 86 seats.  The Liberals won 335 seats and the Conservatives 249.  Neither the Tories nor the Liberals could govern without his support, which of them he now decided to back would depend on the attitude of Salisbury (Conservative) and Gladstone (Liberals) towards Home Rule.

The First Home Rule Bill 1886

 Neither during the election campaign itself not in its immediate aftermath would Gladstone commit himself publicly over Home Rule.  Nevertheless, during the summer months of 1885, he appears to have become convinced that Home Rule was ...

This is a preview of the whole essay