Anglo-Irish Relations (1868-93)

Question 1

Who set out the 3Fs? What were they?

Answer 1

=> Irish Tenant League, (1850) represented tenant farmer interests.
=> Called for fixity of tenure, freedom to sell, and fair rent.

Question 2

Aims and methods of republicans like the Fenians and Irish Republican Brotherhood?

Answer 2

=> Both set up in 1858.
=> They were seeking independence for Ireland.
=> Promoted revolutionary violence.

Question 3

What did the republicans do in GB and abroad that shocked the British public?

Answer 3

=> Attacked British forces in Canada.
=> Attacked police in Manchester and Clerkenwell transporting Fenian prisoners.

Question 4

When did Gladstone form his first ministry. What quote is associated with him and Ireland?

Answer 4

=> 1868.
=> “My mission is to pacify Ireland.”

Question 5

Achievements with the Irish Church Act, 1869?

Answer 5

=> Disestablishment of the Protestant Church in the predominantly Catholic Ireland.
=> Abolished the tithe.

Question 6

Proposals of the Irish Land 1870 designed to solve the Irish land problem?

Answer 6

=> Extend Ulster Custom - these were customary rights providing things such as security of tenure as long as they kept up with rent payments, and rights to sell holdings to another.
=> Introduced principle of fair rent. -> Empowered magistrates to determine this.
=> Attempted to regulate evictions. - Financial penalties if this was violated.
=> Compensation if tenant improved the land.
=> Loan scheme to buy land.

Question 7

Why was the Irish Land Act 1870 a failure/ response of tenants and landlords? Why would this be a big problem?

Answer 7

Tenants:
=> Unable to extend Ulster custom.
=> Fair rent was ill-defined.
=> Lack of rent control, and then landlords could evict the tenant for non-payment after raising rent.
=> Magistrates were unsympathetic.
=> FAILURE OF 3Fs.

Landlords:
=> Landlords felt threatened and resisted purchase of land, saw as an attack on property rights.

Problem as depression would hit farming in the 1870s.

Question 8

Why did Gladstone’s policies indicate he was treating Ireland as a special case in GB?

Answer 8

=> This was a departure from the typical laissez faire attitudes of the Liberals and intervention into the landlord-tenant relations.

Question 9

What is meant by ‘Bright’s Clause’ and what happened to it?

Answer 9

=> Land purchase proposal intended for inclusion in the Land Act (would have been able to borrow up to 2/3rds of value, paid back with 5% of interest, repayable over 35 years).
=> Excluded due to Whig objections.

Question 10

What was proposed by the Irish Universities bill 1873 and why did it fail?

Answer 10

=> Proposed non-denominational universities -> Rejected by Catholic and Anglican opposition.
=> Led to resignation of Gladstone’s ministry due to defeat.

Question 11

What were the political consequences of Gladstone’s reforms for the Irish Liberals and the Liberal government in 1874?

Answer 11

=> Irish Protestants antagonised; tenant farmers felt betrayed; Irish Liberals turned to IHR and Liberals destroyed as an electoral force in Ireland.

Question 12

Who set up the Home Rule League in 1874?

Answer 12

=> Isaac Butt set it up, campaigned for Irish Home Rule.

Question 13

What is Irish Home Rule?

Answer 13

=> Ireland would be in charge of its domestic affairs, but would still leave foreign relations, defence and foreign trade to Westminister. Would remain in the union.

Question 14

Who was Charles Parnell and what strategies did he and his supporters implement in the HOC for IHR?

Answer 14

=> Charles Parnell was a Protestant landowner.
=> He attacked Butt’s leadership as being weak and disorganised.
=> Methods such as parliamentary obstructionism via filbustering was used.

Question 15

What economic factor contributed to the land wars?

Answer 15

=> Agricultural depression.

Question 16

How many tenants were evicted between 1879-83?

Answer 16

=> 14,600.

Question 17

Who led the Irish Land league, political background, and what did they demand?

Answer 17

=> Davitt and Devoy.
=> They were Fenians.
=> They demanded the 3Fs.

Question 18

What is meant by the Great Departure? Who became president of the league in 1879?

Answer 18

=> The Great Departure meant that the organisations departed from their tradition of working independently of one another (Irish Home Rule movement + Republicans + Land League).
=> President was Parnell.

Question 19

What methods was organised by the league in the Land Wars? Deaths? Outrages?

Answer 19

=> Use of boycott, non-payment of rent, violence towards landlords.
=> 2,600 outrages, 67 murders.

Question 20

What did the land wars do to Ireland?

Answer 20

=> Make it ungovernable.

Question 21

What are kicks and kindness?

Answer 21

=> Strategies used to help tackle the land wars.
=> Kicks involved policies of coercion to try and crush them - Coercion Act 1880 (Imprisonment of those involved in organisation of strikes and boycott).
=> Kindness through ways such as the Irish Land Act 1881.

Question 22

Why was Parnell the uncrowned King of Ireland now?

Answer 22

=> Parnell had the support of the IPP (league now called this), support of the Catholic Church and Land League. 80% of the population also supported him.

Question 23

How did the Irish Land Act of 1881 achieve the 3Fs? Issues?

Answer 23

=> Achieved fair rent: This was fixed to 15 years.
=> More generous land scheme purchase set up.
=> Eviction only justified on ground of rent arrears (fixity of tenure).
=> Also Independent magistrates.

BUT:
=> Land purchase was not as popular as first thought.
=> West of Ireland suffered from poor farmland.
=> Accumulation of rent arrears during land wars (130,000).

Question 24

What political problem did the Irish Land Act 1881 present Parnell and how did Forster solve it for him?

Answer 24

=> If he should support the legislation and lose radical support or reject it and lose moderate support.
=> Forster arrested and placed him in Kilmainham.

Question 25

What was involved in the Kilmainham Treaty and why did it suggest progress to resolving the land wars?

Answer 25

=> Gladstone promised to introduce a Rent arrears bill and consider IHR, as well as relaxing coercion if Parnell helped to make the Irish Land Act 1881 work and quell the violence.

Question 26

Who committed the Phoenix Park Murders and what were the consequences for the progress suggested by the Kilmainham Treaty?

Answer 26

=> They involved killing the new Irish secretary and his undersecretary by a group called the Invicibles (Fenian).
=> Sabotaged the process and abandoned the treaty.

Question 27

How did the Catholic Church, the Secret Ballot Act 1872 and the third Reform Act 1884 benefit Parnell and his supporters?

Answer 27

=> The Catholic church advised its followers to vote for Parnell’s party.
=> Voters could vote secretly and avoid pressures or intimidation of landlords
=> Vote extended to rural householders to thus to most tenant farmers – who voted for the IPP ; for IHR.

Question 28

What measures did Salisbury take in Ireland to weaken the link between Gladstone and Parnell?

Answer 28

=> Land purchase by 100% government loans (Ashbourne Act 1885); relaxation of coercion.

Question 29

Why did the Liberal party resign in 1885?

Answer 29

=> Liberal divisions over Ireland, Parliamentary arithmetics.

Question 30

Which party did Parnell advise his supporters in mainland Britain to vote for in 1885 and why?

Answer 30

=> Conservative as they seemed to support the introduction of IHR.

Question 31

Election results in 1885?

Answer 31

=> Liberals won 335.
=> Cons won 249.
=> IPP won every seat south of Ulster (89).
=> Liberals were destroyed in Ireland.

Question 32

Why was ‘86 in 86’ so important to the composition of the Commons in 1886?

Answer 32

=> Meant the IPP held the balance of power in the Commons, difference between Libs and Cons was 86.

Question 33

IHR Bill of 1886?

Answer 33

=> Bi-cameral parliament in Ireland for domestic affairs
=> Power over trade, defence and foreign trade reserved for Westminster.
=> No Westminster representation for Ireland.
=> Also second bill of land purchase scheme to resolve Irish land problem (buying out land via treasury at £50m).

Question 34

Why did the Whigs, Chamberlain and the Conservatives
opposed the Bill?

Answer 34

=> They view it as a stepping stone to independence, which would break up the union and weaken the Empire.
=> Lack of protection for the Protestant minority.
=> A reward for violence.

Question 35

What is the orange card and who said it?

Answer 35

=> Randolph Churchill.
=> Brought in threat of religious violence, warning that IHR would lead to Ulster seeing IHR as Catholic rule.
=> ‘Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right.’

Question 36

What happened to the IHR Bill 1886 and what were the consequences for the Liberal Party immediately afterwards and in the general election of 1886?

Answer 36

=> Gladstone refused to compromise.
=> Bill lost by 30 votes, 93 votes by own Liberals.
=> Hartington and Chamberlain left Liberal and set up Liberal Unionist Party.
=> Liberal Unionists would win 78 seats in 1886 election, join with Conservatives.

Question 37

What happened to (a) Parnell, (b) the IPP and IHR between 1886 and 1893?

Answer 37

=> Parnell remained committed to the constitutional path, rejecting the agrarian protests of ‘Plan of Campaign’ which aimed to further empower tenant farmers.
=> Would lose support over affair with Kitty O’Shea - Catholic Church refused to back, non-conformists lobbied Gladstone to reject him.
=> IPP became divided over its future: Parnell or Parnellite principles - voted narrowly to dismiss Parnell.
=> IHR would be a lost cause until Gladstone came back into power, passed in 1893 in HOC by narrow majority - but vetoed by the Lords.