Account for Gladstone’s conversion to home rule in the period 1868 to 1886.

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

Account for Gladstone’s conversion to home rule in the period 1868 to 1886

By Laurence Sharifi

In 1845, Gladstone wrote a letter to his wife describing Ireland as “that cloud in the west – that coming storm.” Ireland was to become the dominant feature of Gladstone’s time in office. However, his attitude to the “Irish problem” changed over time. Initially, the liberal, god fearing politician felt that the most appropriate means by which Ireland could be pacified without the British loosing face was to embark on a series of measures to make the idea of self rule less attractive to the Irish. He did this by introducing land reforms, altering the church in Ireland, adopting a lenient approach to the Fenian movement, and attempting to establish a catholic University. However, by 1886 Gladstone had embarked on a spectacular u-turn, directing his party toward a goal of Irish home rule. This policy change was in part a natural progression of his Irish policy up to that point, an attempt to reunite the Liberal party, and a natural humanitarian desire to see justice done.

In 1868, the year Gladstone entered office in his first ministry; the majority of Ireland was a peasant society. Individual farmers had small plots of land upon which they depended for food, as well as a small amount of money. This feudal system, long since in decline elsewhere in Britain, meant a large proportion of the population were effectively chained to their landlord, in the sense that their only means of existence was through their farm; other industries simply did not exist in most of Ireland. In Ireland at the time, much of land was owned by the Anglo protestant ascendancy. This made land rights and tenancy rules a major issue in Ireland. The peasantry felt very much oppressed and exploited by the ruling classes, as they were not only perceived to have stolen the Irish peoples land, they provided no rights to tenants, depriving them of a vote, eviction notice, or an type of legislation over rents. The fact many of the landowners were protestant also added to the sense of mistrust and hate. This issue over land bred much unrest, which in turn could, and did, lead to extremism. Gladstone took this issue, which affected so many of the Irish people, very seriously.

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The Irish people had had their church disbanded as part of the act of union. The Catholic Church of Ireland, followed by the majority of the people, was replaced by an Anglican Church, the idea being to switch the Irish peoples allegiances to the crown. In order to fund the new church, a mandatory tithe (church tax) was imposed, as well as the confiscation of all the Catholic Church’s property. To the Irish, this was seen as a destruction of one of the most important parts of Irish society. In a simple peasant community such as Ireland, the church was a central part of everyone’s life. To remove an institution so many had dedicated their lives to, did not weaken the church but strengthened not only the Catholic allegiance of so many, but intensified their hatred of the British. Many who had not taken religion too seriously, were actually drawn toward the church by this act.

The main cause of the Irish peoples unrest was to be found in the act of Union. Passed in 1800, it removed the Irish parliament, replacing it with 25 Irish constituencies to be represented in the London House Of Commons. The Protestant ruling classes dominated both parliaments, however the difference was more symbolic than anything. Taking away Irish rule from Ireland and placing it in England stripped the Irish of any notion of being an independent state. Also, with the transport systems of the day, basing Irish politicians in London made them out of touch with issues in Ireland. This undermined Irish politics, and was a major factor in the development of groups such as the Fenians.

Before Gladstone, the policy of the British government was one of the suppression of Terrorism and the upholding of British control. Robert Peel attempted to establish secular colleges in an attempt to damp down Irish nationalism. However, this did not succeed. When Gladstone entered office, he began to initiate policies in a similar vein to those of previous governments. On the question of Land Reform Gladstone passed the Land act in 1870, which did not in any way remove power from the Protestants, but improved the tenancy agreements for Irish peasants, to make them less hostile. It provided compensation guarantees against eviction and 6 months notice for any eviction. This fell short of The Irish Land leagues demands, and was carefully engineered in order to avoid spreading these rights across the UK. Under further pressure from the land league and in his second ministry in 1881, passed another Land act creating a commission to set fair rates of rent, and uphold existing laws. However, the Irish still felt this was not enough and boycotted the committee. This was known as the Land War. To Gladstone’s credit, he did improve conditions for Irish peasants, giving them some guarantees. However, these were not enough to quell the peasant attitudes, and even if they were, Parnell and his Irish Home Rule Party campaigned hard for people not to accept them, for reasons of political bargaining, and placing continued pressure on Gladstone.

On the issue of the Church, one of Gladstone’s first bills in 1869 was the Church Disestablishment Act of 1869. This legislation dismantled the Anglican Church in Irelands, and changed it from being a state church, which collected tax and administered areas to becoming a place of worship in the eyes of the law. All property was confiscated and the majority of money raised was putt into Irish poor relief. However, this was not a signal for the Catholic Church to re-emerge as a political force. To show his commitment to this, Gladstone abolished the Meyooth Grant created by Peel that trained Catholic priests. There was much opposition to this from Unionists and the Lords, but was passed following an intervention by the queen. The impact of Gladstone’s policy was positive as it showed the Irish that compromises could be reached in their favour. Even though Gladstone did not reinstate the Catholic Church as the official state church, due to fears of interference from Rome, he legitimised Catholicism to an extent through this act.

In 1873, the Irish university act was passed. This followed on from the Church disestablishment act by forming a Catholic University. However, Gladstone forbade the teaching of History, philosophy and Religion. This was viewed from all sides with contempt. The Catholics felt it was hardly catholic at all when it did not teach religion or philosophy, Irish nationalists felt the lack of History was preposterous, the Liberals felt imposing restrictions on free speech was wrong, and the Unionists disliked any notion of a Catholic institution. This bill led Gladstone to the view that token gestures were not going to solve the problems of Ireland, and can be viewed as a factor in his conversion to home rule.

In 1886 Gladstone announced his conversion to home rule. The proposed bill was a return to the Irish parliamentary system, but with the majority of power remaining in Westminster. Issues such as the budget, and defence would still remain in London. There was a predictable uproar. Some accused Gladstone of plotting this course from the beginning. Giving the Irish tenancy rights. Taking away the Irish Anglican church, even building Catholic institutions was seen by many as nation building. The bill was however more symbolic than anything. The amount of power transferred was small. However many felt that the increased dominance of the new Irish parliament by Catholics could increase influence from Rome. The Anglo protestant ascendancy also feared for their power, reflected in the House of Lords when the Bill was read. Gladstone countered however that Home rule would create a more stable Ireland, which in turn would drift towards the more developed United Kingdom in its own time rather that have unification thrust on itself.

Gladstone’s second ministry saw him converts to the idea of home rule. However, it is argued that Gladstone’s conversion was actually taking place some 30 years earlier. On visits to Italy to see the unification of the country, and the relationship between Norway and Sweden, where home rule seemed to work very well, Gladstone’s opinion may have been swayed toward the idea at this point. However seeing the impossible situation in Ireland, where giving way could mean political uproar, and an undermining of the British Empire, he may have attempted to exhaust all other options before tackling home rule. It may however be the case that he was swayed during his first and second ministries by the ability of Parnell in the organisation of a legitimate Irish political party, and the opposition in Ireland to his more modest reforms. It is also possible that Gladstone wished to move the Liberal party away from the issue of Ireland onto other matters such as foreign policy, and felt home rule could solve everything. In conclusion, it is probable that Gladstone’s conversion to home rule was a combination of all these factors, as is the case with so many decisions of this magnitude. However the overriding cause of his apparent u-turn seems to be the continued opposition to Biritsh rule by the Irish people and the consequential threat to British security posed by the Fenians.