Failure Flashcards
The Patriots
• Neither managed to introduce Emancipation
Daniel O’Connell 1823-1829
> The 230,000 “Footsoldiers of Emancipation” who were so vital to O’Connell’s victory in 1826 and 1828 saw a “crushing blow” (Jackson). Their franchise was raised to £10.00, and this meant only 14,000 of the original dissenting freeholders survived.
> Nowlan points out O’Connell did not fight very hard against this policy when he should have.
> Many historians point out that while O’Connell had mobilised Ireland’s population in politics, he had done so by creating a “Catholic Nationalism” (Whelan).
> The United Irishmen’s had an inclusive programme, O’Connell had set up Emancipation exclusively for Catholics-The Catholic Association, the Catholic Rent, the central role of Catholic clergy). For example. This alienated many protestants who saw Emancipation as “merely a prelude to Catholic Superiority” (Boyce).
> The Catholic Association was banned after the Relief Act, and O’Connell did little to stop this occurring; however he did bypass this by starting up the Loyal National Repeal Association instead.
Daniel O’Connell 1829-1843
> One could make the obvious case that Repeal was a failure because the Repeal campaign did not achieve Repeal of the Union.
> Drummond suppressed the Orange Order, and O’Connell had managed to alienate the Ulster Protestants away from his movement. He was unable to “rise above the bitter sectarian feeling of the time” (Jackson) no matter how hard Young Ireland and himself tried.
> This ultimately continued the feeling of uneasiness Protestants had begun feeling since Emancipation.
> The Lichfield House Compact reforms were not far enough, and were the only 3 real legislative successes to show for 15 years of campaigning:
- The Tithe Rentcharge Act failed to abolish Tithes
- The Poor Relief Act only created over 100 workhouses which was an “English solution to an Irish Problem”
- The Municipal Corporations Act was limited in devolving powers.
Parnell and the Land League
> Captain Moonlight outrages during the land war (rose from 2,600 in 1880 to 3,500 in 1881) were perhaps an indicator of not complete harmony and control within the New Departure and Land League.
> Parnell’s ability to disguise his real situation behind a veneer of O’Connellite verbal extremism however means we may never know if the Moonlight outrages were sanctioned by the leadership or whether he could not fully control the extremist wing but was brilliant at disguising that fact.
Parnell and Home Rule
> The pinnacle of Home Rule in 1886 was the Home Rule Bill; ultimately it was defeated.
> The quasi-religious praise of Parnell meant that when it became clear he was human, a major fracture not healed until the 20th Century developed.
> With this were dashed the hopes of Home Rule.
> There was no clear leader for Nationalism for a decade with Parnell’s death.
> People became disillusioned with Constitutionalist Nationalism.
Emmet 1803
> The aim of establishing an independent Irish Republic was nowhere near being established. Therefore the rebellion could be considered a failure.
> It was put down in one day: this showed how far the event was militarily unorganised. (big failure)
> Jackson accuses Emmet’s rebellion of helping “fuel the sectarianism of Irish politics” as it became dubbed a “popish affair”.
Irish Confederation 1848
> Absolutely. Both Cronin and O’Cathaoir describe the uprising as a “pathetic farce”.
> The rebellion was mockingly dubbed the “Battle of Widow McCormack’s Cabbage Patch” by the Times.
> Nothing was achieved except the deaths of 2 Irish Confederates and the arrest of many major leaders.
> The leaders were not even granted Emmett’s martyr status. They were only exiled to Van Diemen’s Land!
The Fenians
> The establishment of a republic did not occur; in fact the uprising was put down in 24 hours.
> The IRB were one of the first major Irish transatlantic organisations; they had resources, manpower and the right context (“England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity” Wolfe Tone) and managed to squander it because the twin organisations could not agree within themselves or each other.
> The IRB managed only to perpetuate the Irish as the violent drunks the English believed them to be; however Gladstone did state that his policies aimed to “draw a line between Fenianism and the Irish people”.
Young Ireland
> The 1848 Rebellion
Gaelic League
> Lee states, the League achieved its initial aim of arresting the decline of the language but “failed to revive it as a vernacular”.
> Never did the number of Irish speakers gets above 15%.
> Irish has been confined to 7 major Gaeltachts, where only 67% of people speak Irish daily.
D.P. Moran
Irish Ireland effectively proclaimed that Catholicism was integral to Irish nationality, that there was a clash of civilisations between Britain and Ireland (“Pale versus Gale” he calls this), that any sort of conciliatory politics should be abandoned. Many Gaelic Leaguers therefore changed from Hyde’s anti-sectarian message to that of “Irish Ireland” proclaimed by D.P. Moran.
