GLADSTONE, PARNELL AND HOME RULE

PARNELL AND THE IPP Determined to turn the Home Rule group in the Commons into tightly knit party over which he could exercise authority Created the National League in Ireland which became in effect the electoral arm of the Irish Parliamentary Party with over 1,000 branches 1885 the Roman Catholic Church officially came out in support of HR and Parnell agreed to go along with the church’s policies on education

PARNELL AND THE IPP Parliamentary candidates were chosen by Parnell Required to sign a pledge they would vote only with the IPP Parnell acknowledged as “the Chief” His power was “irresponsible and more or less despotic”

PARNELL AS LEADER His ability recognized by all Courted by both Whigs and Tories who both recognized that the IPP might well come to hold the balance of power

POWER-BROKER Election due in 1885 In June Parnell switched his support from the Whigs to the Tories Tories dropped the Coercion Act and introduced the Ashbourne Act which allowed tenant farmers to borrow money to buy their own land Refused to throw his lot in with Gladstone unless he committed himself openly to Home Rule

POWER BROKER Election results in 1885: IPP: 86 Liberals:335 Conservatives: 249 Real victor was Parnell since neither party could govern without his support and he had also captured all seats in Ireland outside Ulster

GLADSTONE’S CONVERSION Gladstone came to realize that his religious reforms and his land reforms had not been enough to satisfy the demands of the Irish Realised the moral necessity of HR Said HR was based on the “first principles of religion” Possible that his conversion to HR more due to opportunism than conviction, allowing him to reunite a disintegrating Liberal Party under his own leadership.

FIRST HOME RULE BILL Gladstone became prime minister in Jan 1886 and immediately grasped the HR nettle. Most liberal MPs supported his first HR Bill, not because they were enthusiastic for it but because they were loyal to Gladstone and could see no alternative to HR but continued coercion.

CRITICISMS OF THE BILL Home Rule would lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom Could the new Irish MPs in a potential Dublin Parliament be trusted to look after the welfare of Protestants, since many of these MPs had been involved in violent agitation in the past? How could Irish nationality and unity be said to exist when all classes in Protestant Ulster opposed it so vehemently

FATE OF THE BILL Defeated in the commons by 313 votes to 343 Parliament was dissolved Victory for Unionists in the election of summer 1886: 316 conservatives and 78 liberal unionists against 191 HR liberals and 85 IPP

FALL OF PARNELL In spite of the election results Parnell was still determined to stick to the constitutional path to gain HR He joined the fortunes of the IPP firmly to the fortunes of the Liberals By 1887 the Kitty O’Shea scandal had broken and Gladstone was to cut all links with Parnell Kitty marries Parnell after her divorce – 1891. he dies in her arms 4 months later.

FALL OF PARNELL He refused to resign as leader of the IPP He attacked Gladstone personally and denounced the Liberal alliance He thus appeared to overthrow the political strategy he had built up over the past 5 years Irish Catholic clergy called on all Irish people to repudiate Parnell

FALL OF PARNELL The IPP had to choose between Parnell or the Liberal alliance without which they would never obtain HR 37 supported him but 45 rejected him He refused to accept his fate and toyed with a return to unconstitutional methods Died in 1891 aged 45

SECOND HOME RULE BILL 1892, Gladstone aged 84 formed his fourth ministry and proposed a new HR Bill 1893 the bill passed through the Commons but was overwhelmingly defeated in the Lords Gladstone retired 1894 It became clear that HR would never be a realistic possibility without major reform of the House of Lords Commitment to HR remained an integral part of the Liberal party’s program