To balance coercion, Gladstone opted for conciliation with Parnell in the Kilmainham Treaty. Gladstone decided (without reference to Forster) to send Chamberlain to Kilmainham gaol to compromise with Parnell that the government would settle the current arrears of all tenants on the conditions that Parnell would denounce the violence of the Land League and the rest of Ireland. It is clear that this Treaty wasn’t enough as the same issue had to be followed up by the 1883 Arrears Act. Gladstone’s way of dealing without the consent of Forster led to his resignation – Forster was convinced that doing deals with ‘trouble makers’ should have been further coercion instead. Likewise Lord Cowper also resigned over the matter. Essentially, Gladstone and parliament was forced to work with Parnell as they had no choice due to conciliation balancing out coercion, exposing weaknesses in Gladstone. This was the complete opposite from Gladstone’s attempt to prosecute Parnell in Dublin in December 1880 for conspiracy of obstruct payment of rent, which again failed as it was impossible to find someone to testify against him. This illustrates why Gladstone’s conciliation with Parnell was a failure due to Forster’s resignation and the idea of dealing with a trouble maker.
Coercion was also balanced with the 1881 Land Act to relieve some of the problems of the farmers in Ireland, but even this had its shortcomings, hence Gladstone’s reactions to the Land War being a general failure. The Act had brought short term problems as the definition of fair rent was ambiguous, whilst it did nothing to help the thousands of tenants that were already in arrears and on the point of eviction. Likewise, the main long term problem was that Parnell saw the act was victory for his tactics of ceaseless protesting and was determined more than ever to apply pressure on the government in this way until Home Rule was established. Hence the Land Act, although dealing with the Land War, had led into a more important problem of Home Rule, which eventually led to the Liberal Party splitting into factions. This shows why the Land Act’s failures contributed to why Gladstone’s reactions to the Land War were unsuccessful on a whole.
Despite this, Gladstone did find some successes in the Land Act. As part of meeting the demand of the 3Fs by the Land League, Special Land Courts were set up to establish a fair rent and both landowner and tenant were to be bound by the court’s decision. The rent was fixed for 15 years, as well as the fact that the tenant was safe from eviction, assuming that he paid the rent. Likewise, the rent could not be raised against a tenant’s improvements. The Land Act was remarkably successful in the fact that the Rents were on average 20% lower, which brought down the price of land. As a consequence, this made it easier for tenants to buy land, with assistance from the government loan schemes. By turning around the prospects of the disadvantaged Irish peasant by helping them step towards ownership of the land they farmed, the Land Act was Gladstone’s main answer to the underlying problems of the Land War, suggesting that Gladstone was partially successful in this aspect. However, we must keep in mind that this act spurred on Parnell to carry on his protests to achieve a bigger goal of Home Rule, hence encouraging, rather than hindering one of the main characters in the Land War issue.
The Land Act found its successes through earlier work in the form of the Bessborough Commission – another aspect that could be regarded as an successful Gladstone reaction. Set up in June 1880, the Commission investigated Gladstone’s earlier Land Act 1870, that fell short of the farmer’s needs in Ireland and the Irish Tenant League, which wanted the 3Fs of free sale, fair rent and fixity of tenure. With these recommendations, this formed the basis of the new 1881 Land Act. Gladstone is viewed as persistent as these findings eventually led him and the act going through 58 sittings in the Commons and he even called the Queen’s help in order to get it through the Lords. This demonstrates Gladstone’s commitment to pacify Ireland in the context of the Land War, but it could be argued that Parnell’s drive in his work with the Land League pushed Gladstone to act, rather than the findings of the Commission alone.
Gladstone also found some successes in smaller acts. The 1882 Arrears Act cleared the rent arrears of all tenant farmers that had built up during the Land War. With the advice of Erskine May, the Clerk of the House of Commons, he introduced a new system of grand committees into the commons to deal with English, Scottish and Irish legislation separately, reorganising the Irish government. This suggests some successes in Gladstone’s smaller acts. However, his Compensation for Disturbance Bill in 1880, was gesture to compensate certain classes of evicted tenants out of the Irish church surplus, but this failed as it was reject by the house of Lords showing that Gladstone’s reaction to the Land War through his smaller acts were not always successful.
Overall the way Gladstone dealt with the Land War in Ireland was on a whole, not successful. He tackled issues by balancing coercion and conciliation with Parnell, but failed in both aspects. However, Gladstone did have few successes despite the difficult situation such as his Land Act, but all in all he was unsuccessful.
