Cardwell introduced a number of much needed reforms to the Army in the 1870s and 80s. It was Liberal policy to attack privilege and inefficiency so Cardwell's reforms implemented two of Gladstone's political principles. The reform of the army was made more urgent by the victories of the Prussian army over Austria in the Seven Weeks' War (1866) and over the French in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). It was clear that Bismarck had created a new, very professional and effective military power in Europe which could be seen as a potential future threat to Britain.
The University Tests Act of 1871 abolished the communion "Tests" and allowed non-conformists to take up fellowships at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham. The act was to obtain support from the non-conformists since these were a major support group for the Liberal party. Furthermore, its purpose generally was to remove another aspect of religious inequality. However, the act angered some Anglicans who believed that no such applicants should be allowed into the Universities of England.
Historians regard The Trade Union Act of 1871 and The Criminal Law Amendment Act as Gladstone’s most serious misjudgement as it cost him working class support at the general election of 1874. By passing two such contrasting pieces of legislation Gladstone left many of the skilled artisans’ bitterly disappointed. Licensing Laws, which gave magistrates the power to issue licenses to publicans, to fix opening and closing hours and to prohibit the adulteration of beer also worked against Gladstone, as they alienated the brewers and distillers who in future voted Conservative and gave generously to conservative party funds. In addition, public houses became centres of Conservative propaganda. The Public Health Act (1872) was a compulsory appointment of medical officers of health and The Judicature act of 1873 tidied up the organisation and roles of the courts and simplified the cumbersome and lengthy appeals.
Martin Pugh suggests that Gladstonian Liberals set out on their reform programme with good intentions. Yet, in spite of passing laws to overcome injustice and abuses in the army, the civil service and the universities, by 1874 they has succeeded in antagonizing almost every group of former supporters, leaving the way open for a conservative victory by Disreli in the 1874 election.
Gladstone’s adoption of interest in Irish affairs in 1867 puzzled many of his contemporaries and has continued to puzzle historians. Up until 1867 Gladstone had shown very little sympathy towards the Irish, all his life he had held them in contempt, visiting only once. His ‘mission to pacify Ireland’ was surprising and his motives suspect. Many historians believe that Ireland was a cause through which Gladstone was to unify his divided party. Others have said that it was in reaction to the agrarian violence raging through Ireland, it was clear that something had to be done. Gladstone declared that it was his ‘high hope and ardent desire’ that Ireland would be united to Scotland and England by ‘enduring ties of free will and free affection, peace, order and a settled and cheerful industry’. It is clear from the situation in Ireland today that Gladstone did not achieve his highly ambitious and rather idealistic aims.
Between 1868 and 1894 Gladstone was responsible for numerous Irish schemes. Excepting only coercion, which was pressed by Irish officials and gained Gladstone's assent only with reluctance, he took the chief role in formulating Irish policy. His motives were both pragmatic and idealistic. The Fenian conspiracy was responsible for fastening Gladstone's eyes on Irish disaffection. In 1865 the Home Office calculated that 18,000 men on the British mainland alone were in the movement. He also sensed that Ireland's troubles reflected unfavourably on the British government rather than the Irish people.
Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland had first priority because it was a measure which enjoyed the highest degree of unanimity. Catholic ecclesiastics, Irish Presbyterians and other non-episcopalian Protestants (i.e. those disapproving of bishops), along with British Nonconformists, were all agreed. Fewer than thirteen per cent of Ireland's people belonged to the Irish Church and its status had been debated for decades. In 1869 the Established Church lost its privileges but was spared despoliation. No subsequent Gladstonian proposal achieved an equivalent success.
Like the Church legislation, the Land Act of 1870 was Gladstone's personal handiwork. He appreciated that Irish landlord-tenant relationships were undermining social stability. Tenants wanted security of tenure, a right to sell their interest in a holding on evacuation, legal entitlement to compensation for any improvements on departure and relief from arbitrary rent increases. Irish tenant farmers were an influential and vocal group of mainly substantial agriculturalists, who aimed to consolidate their own position at the expense of landlords and the poorer segment of labourers and cottiers (tenants who rented small plots of land at rents fixed by competition). Substantial tenants possessed the ballot and Irish politicians listened. Gladstone had to balance conflicting aspirations, appease the Irish landlord interest and calm disquiet in his own party and the House of Lords.
Other limitations in his and the Liberal outlook came to the fore over Fenian prisoners and coercion. Here Gladstone followed rather than led his chief colleagues. Despite resistance, Gladstone persisted with his hope that Irish feeling could be appeased through compassion.
During 1872 and 1873 Gladstone attempted to unravel the Irish university problem. Protestant colleges were hotly opposed by Irish Catholics and the Catholic Hierarchy, who wanted a Catholic university for the education of the rising middle class. Gladstone devoted time and energy to the problem, but the resulting bill was rejected by a combination of Irish bishops, Irish MPs and dissenting Liberals.
Between 1868 and 1874 Gladstone was committed to implementing change in Ireland. He personally took charge of drafting and defending the major bills, and his diaries reveal that he devoted immense study to individual Irish questions. But his only durable achievement was the Church Act, and his period in office witnessed and may have stimulated the growth of the Home Rule movement. His primary goals of establishing a framework of stability, of respect for the law and of acceptance of the Union were not achieved. Gladstone had proved more adept at articulating Ireland's grievances and outlining broad remedies than in devising concrete successful legislation.
In conclusion, Gladstone’s reforms challenged the notion of privilege, encouraged the promotion of meritocracy and, taken as a whole, underlined the principles of equality in a just society. However, they also alienated a lot of non- conformists (people who he needed voting for him). The Alabama case and Black Sea Causes led to failure abroad and in turn resulted in the liberals losing the 1974 general election.
