The Irish Dilemma

Reasons

• Ireland might side with Britain’s enemies

• Anglo-Irish opposed independence

19th-Century Dilemma

• No way found to govern

• No way found for self-governance

Political Defeats and Divisions

• 1801: Pitt the Younger on Act of Union

• 1829: Wellington on Catholic Emancipation

• 1845: Peel on Maynooth Question

Political Defeats continued

• 1846: Peel on Corn Law Repeal

• 1868: Disraeli on Irish Church disestablishment

• 1873: Gladstone on Irish Universities Bill

• 1886: Gladstone on Home Rule Bill

Economic Background

• Ireland not industrializing

• Most Irish dependent on agriculture

• Tenant farmers

Average Income in 1860s

• England and Wales: 32 pounds/year

• Scotland: 23 pounds

• Ireland: 14 pounds

Religious Background

• 75% of Irish were Roman Catholic

• Governing class mostly Protestant

Isaac Butt Charles Stewart Parnell

Douglas Hyde

Political Background

• Viceroy

• 100 MPs to Westminster

• No religious restriction after 1829

• More Protestants met property qualification

The Mid-Victorian Years

Daniel O’Connell

Population Change

• 1831: 7.8 million

• 1841: 8.2 million

• 1851: 6.6 million

Famine’s Effects

• Starvation and death

• Emigration

• Economic prosperity to the survivors

The Late-Victorian Years

• Home Rule Federation

• Parnell replaces Butt

• Irish Nationalist Party

• Election of 1885

• 85 of 103 Irish MPs for Home Rule

Arguments against Home Rule

• Would dissolve British Empire

• Would reward criminal behavior

• “Home Rule means Rome Rule”

• Protestant Irish opposed

Lord Randolph Churchill

• “Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right.”

Irish Land Act of 1881

Nationalist ideology