Click here to load reader
Upload
samuel-valko
View
2.268
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
PARNELL
THE RISE OF PARNELL
ORIGINS OF HOME RULE
1870 Butt founded the Home Rule Association
1873 became the Home Rule League 1874 won 59 parliamentary seats 1874 became properly constituted as
the Home Rule Party
PARTY WAS INEFFECTIVE BECAUSE…..
Had no real unity of ideas, organisation or membership
Only one third were genuine H Rulers. The rest were a mixture of Fenians and crypto-Liberals
Butt was a weak leader He began to lose influence to more
dynamic H Rulers like Parnell
THE LAND LEAGUE
Agricultural depression in 1879 transformed the situation and linked the cause of H R with the agrarian crisis
Depression led to farmers being unable to pay rents and this in turn led to evictions
This led to formation of a popular agrarian movement against the landlords and so the Land War had begun
MICHAEL DAVITT
Had been a Fenian and imprisoned for 7 years
On his release he rejoined the Fenians but believed in working with the constitutional nationalists
Determined to put the land question at the centre of politics
Believed that agrarian agitation could force the government to agree to demands for constitutional change as well as land reform
DAVITT
Encouraged Parnell to support the land campaign
Arranged a meeting between Parnell, Devoy and himself which led to agreement to support tenants’ demands and self-government
This is sometimes referred to as the “New Departure”: a fusing together of representatives of constitutional nationalism, revolutionary nationalism and agrarian agitation
NEW DEPARTURE
“The fusing into one national movement of all the elements of Irish protest and grievance”
THE LAND LEAGUE
Founded in Oct 1879 by Davitt Parnell became president Agreed with the three Fs but was never as
radical as Davitt. After all he was a landlord himself
Parnell’s main motives were political: support for the Land League would encourage the cause of constitutional nationalism and give leverage to the H Rulers at Westminster
PARNELL’S MOTIVATION
“I would not have taken off my coat and gone to this work if I had not known that we were laying the foundation in this movement for the regeneration of our legislative independence”
Believed he would be able to win over the landlords to the nationalist cause and cooperate with them
Davitt believed landlords would have to be eliminated
ACTIVITIES OF THE LAND LEAGUE
Large scale occurrence of agrarian outrages against landlords
Difficult for the police to act for the Land League was a legal organisation and couldn’t easily be prosecuted
Created difficulties for Parnell, the constitutionalist, who was also president of the Land League which was committing this violence
LEADER OF THE PARLIAMENTARY PARTY
1880 Parnell was elected leader of the parliamentary party although it was a split vote
Provides evidence that moderate H Rulers disapproved of his connection with the Land League violence and with the Fenians
THE SECOND LAND ACT
When Gladstone became P.M. for the second time in 1880 he had no clear programme for Ireland
Continuing violence convinced him of the need for a new land act
As an immediate step he introduced a tough new Coercion Bill which Parnell and the H R party opposed.
SECOND LAND ACT
Using the new Coercion Act, Gladstone had Davitt arrested and 36 MPs, including Parnell, expelled from the Commons
This unified and strengthened the IPP and made Parnell more popular.
Gladstone then passed the Second Land Act, granting the three Fs.
This was a political masterstroke, wrong-footing Parnell and removing the Land League’s raison d’etre.
PARNELL’S DILEMMA
If he supported the Land Act he would alienate the radicals in the party who wanted much more sweeping land reform
If he opposed the Land Act he would antagonise the moderates and all those tenants who had fought to get the three Fs
Parnell played for time and was fortuitously rescued by Gladstone
IMPRISONMENT
Parnell was arrested and imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol on the grounds that he was deliberately trying to wreck the workings of the Land Act
It was the best thing that could have happened to him, turning him into a martyr
While he was in prison the Land League was banned and gradually disintegrated
THE KILMAINHAM TREATY
During the 6 months of his imprisonment violence escalated and Gladstone came to realise that only Parnell could control the violence
Parnell accepted that the Land Act had defeated the Land League and was now ready to resume his role as the purely constitutional leader of a purely constitutional party
THE KILMAINHAM TREATY
Agreed in April 1882 Government agreed to release Parnell
and relax the Coercion Act Parnell agreed to use his influence to
end the violence and to accept and support the carrying out of the Land Act
PHOENIX PARK MURDERS
May 1882 Lord Cavendish and the Under-Secretary were murdered in Phoenix Park
Parnell’s horror at and condemnation of the murders went down well in Westminster
A general reaction against violence set in
Politics superseded the agrarian struggle and the fate of Ireland centred on the House of Commons