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Gladstone and Ireland 1868-74

Chronology

Gladstone became Prime Minister in 1868, following the election after the passing of the 1867 Reform Act. He had a majority of 120, and his words on receiving the summons to Buckingham Palace were "My mission is to pacify Ireland". Gladstone concluded that there were three main grievances to be redressed in Ireland and proposed to deal with them all: Church, land and education.

• the Irish Church Act 1869 proposed the disestablishment and partial disendowment of the Church of Ireland, involving the reduction of Church property to £10 million. The Bill met with great opposition in the House of Lords, which was overcome partly by the initiative of Queen Victoria in a speech in which she said

  The rejection of the Bill ... would only serve to bring the two Houses into collision, and to prolong a dangerous agitation on the subject.

• the Irish Land Act 1870
  • force of law was given to tenant right. No tenant could be evicted provided he paid his rent on time
  • when a tenant gave up his farm at the end of a lease the landlord had to pay the tenant for whatever improvements the tenant might have made on the farm (e.g. by adding buildings, drainage, roads). This did not apply if the tenant was evicted for non-payment of rent
  • the "Bright Clauses" attempted to help tenants to buy land, so that they would no longer be tenants. Not many could take advantage of this

Problems of the Act

1. it failed to define clearly the rights of tenant and landlord
2. landlords could raise the rent at the end of a lease, and if the tenant could not pay the new rent, the landlord could evict him - so no compensation could be claimed for improvements
3. landlords made tenants go without compensation or made them fight for it in the courts: often tenants could not afford to do this
4. the Act came too late to provide an acceptable solution: it offered "Too little, too late"
5. it failed to prevent unreasonable rent increases. This was the real weakness: the government was unable to legislate for control of Irish rents because property was sacrosanct and government could not - dare not - interfere in private property

Crime and disturbances increased in Ireland while these Acts were going through parliament because of

1. Fenian activity and money from America
2. the state of agrarian problems

The problem was so bad that in 1870 a Peace Preservation Act (a Coercion Act) had to be passed; then in 1871 the Westmeath Act gave the Lord Lieutenant more dictatorial powers

• the Home Government Association 1870

  This was formed in Dublin by Isaac Butt. It appealed for Home Rule under the Crown. It wanted an Irish parliament elected from the Irish commons and gentry to control all but foreign policy. Gladstone violently opposed the Home Government Association and it was banned, but re-appeared in 1873 as the Home Rule League, with exactly the same aims.

• the Irish University Bill 1873

  This was an attempt to reorganise higher education in Ireland. It failed to pass parliament by three votes because of a religious controversy over the syllabus: history, philosophy, theology etc.

Gladstone's general policy failed:

• the Church Act was effective but too late;
• the Land Act was too little, too late although it laid the basis for a future solution.

The situation was not fully appreciated at the time. Parliament was dissolved in January 1874 and Disraeli was returned as Prime Minister of a Conservative government. He did little for Ireland.