The political stroke having failed, agrarianism again occupied the
ground. The "plan of campaign" was started, against Parnell's wishes,
towards the end of 1886. The gist of this movement was that tenants
should offer what they were pleased to consider a fair rent, and if it
was refused, should pay the money into the hands of a committee. In
March 1887 Sir M. Hicks-Beach resigned on account of illness, and Mr
Arthur Balfour (q.v.) became chief secretary. The attempt to govern
Ireland under what was called "the ordinary law" was necessarily
abandoned, and a perpetual Crimes Act was passed which enabled the
lord-lieutenant to proclaim disturbed districts and dangerous
associations, and substituted trial by magistrates for trial by jury in
the case of certain acts of violence. In August the National League was
suppressed by proclamation. The conservative instincts of the Vatican
were alarmed by the lawless state of Ireland, and an eminent
ecclesiastic, Monsignor Persico, arrived in the late summer on a special
commission of inquiry. He made no secret of his belief that the
establishment of an occupying proprietary was the only lasting cure, but
the attitude of the clergy became gradually more moderate. The
government passed a bill giving leaseholders the benefit of the act of
1881, and prescribing a temporary reduction upon judicial rents already
fixed. This last provision was open to many great and obvious
objections, but was more or less justified by the fall in prices which
had taken place since 1881.
The steady administration of the Crimes Act by Mr Balfour gradually
quieted the country. Parnell had now gained the bulk of the Liberal
party, including Lord Spencer (in spite of all that he had said and
done) and Sir G. Trevelyan (in spite of his Hawick speech). In the
circumstances the best chance for Home Rule was not to stir the land
question. Cecil Rhodes, hoping to help imperial federation, gave Parnell
L10,000 for the cause. In September 1887 a riot arising out of the "plan
of campaign" took place at Mitchelstown. The police fired, and two lives
were lost, Mr Henry Labouchere and Mr (afterwards Sir John) Brunner,
both members of parliament, being present at the time. The coroner's
jury brought in a verdict against the police, but that was a matter of
course, and the government ignored it. A telegram sent by Gladstone a
little later, ending with the words "remember Mitchelstown," created a
good deal of feeling, but it did the Home Rulers no good. In October Mr
Chamberlain visited Ulster, where he was received with enthusiasm, and
delivered several stirring Unionist speeches. In November Lord
Hartington and Mr Goschen were in Dublin, and addressed a great loyalist
meeting there.
Parnell Commission.
In July 1888 an act was passed appointing a commission, consisting of
Sir James Hannen, Mr Justice Day and Mr Justice A. L. Smith, to inquire
into certain charges made by _The Times_ against Parnell and his party.
What caused most excitement was the publication by _The Times_ on the
15th of May 1887 of a _facsimile_ letter purporting to have been written
by Parnell on the 15th of May 1882, nine days after the Phoenix Park
murders. The writer of this letter suggested that his open condemnation
of the murders had been a matter of expediency, and that Burke deserved
his fate. Parnell at once declared that this was a forgery, but he did
nothing more at the time. Other alleged incriminating letters followed.
The case of _O'Donnell_ v. _Walter_, tried before the Lord Chief Justice
of England in July 1888, brought matters to a head, and the special
commission followed. The proceedings were necessarily of enormous
length, and the commissioners did not report until the 13th of February
1890, but the question of the letters was decided just twelve months
earlier, Richard Pigott, who shot himself at Madrid, having confessed
to the forgeries. A few days later, on the 8th of March 1889, Parnell
was entertained at dinner by the Eighty Club, Lords Spencer and Rosebery
being present; and he was well received on English platforms when he
chose to appear. Yet the special commission shed a flood of light on the
agrarian and Nationalist movement in Ireland. Eight members of
parliament were pronounced by name to have conspired for the total
political separation of the two islands. The whole party were proved to
have disseminated newspapers tending to incite to sedition and the
commission of crime, to have abstained from denouncing the system of
intimidation, and to have compensated persons injured in committing
crime. (See PARNELL.)
New Tipperary.
The conduct of the agrarian war had in the meantime almost passed from
Parnell's hands. The "plan of campaign" was not his work, still less its
latest and most remarkable exploit. To punish Mr Smith-Barry (afterwards
Lord Barrymore) for his exertions in favour of a brother landlord, his
tenants in Tipperary were ordered to give up their holdings. A sum of
L50,000 was collected to build "New Tipperary," and the fine shops and
flourishing concerns in the town were deserted to avoid paying small
ground-rents. The same course was pursued with the farmers, some of whom
had large capitals invested. Mr William O'Brien presided at the
inaugural dinner on the 12th of April, and some English M.P.'s were
present, but his chief supporter throughout was Father Humphreys.
Parnell was invited, but neither came nor answered. No shopkeeper nor
farmer had any quarrel with his landlord. "Heretofore," a tenant wrote
in _The Times_ in the following December, "people were boycotted for
taking farms; I am boycotted for not giving up mine, which I have held
for twenty-five years. A neighbour of mine, an Englishman, is undergoing
the same treatment, and we alone. We are the only Protestant tenants on
the Cashel estate. The remainder of the tenants, about thirty, are
clearing everything off their land, and say they will allow themselves
to be evicted." In the end the attack on Mr Smith-Barry completely
failed, and he took back his misguided tenants. But the town of
Tipperary has not recovered its old prosperity.
Land purchase.
The principal Irish measure passed in 1891 was Mr Balfour's Purchase
Act, to extend and modify the operation of the Ashbourne acts.
L30,000,000 were provided to convert tenants into proprietors, the
instalments paid being again available, so that all the tenanted land in
Ireland might ultimately be passed through if desired. The land itself
in one shape or another formed the security, and guaranteed stock was
issued which the holder might exchange for consols. The 40th clause of
the Land Act of 1896 greatly stimulated the creation of occupying owners
in the case of over-incumbered estates, but solvent landlords were not
in a hurry to sell. The interests of the tenant were so carefully
guarded that the prices obtainable were ruinous to the vendor unless he
had other resources. The security of the treasury was also so jealously
scrutinized that even the price which the tenant might be willing to pay
was often disallowed. Thus the Land Commission really fixed the price of
all property, and the last vestige of free contract was obliterated.
Compulsory purchase became a popular cry, especially in Ulster. Owners,
however, could not with any pretence of justice be forced to sell at
ruinous prices, nor tenants be forced to give more than they thought
fair. If the state, for purposes of its own, insisted upon expropriating
all landlords, it was bound to find the difference, or to enter upon a
course of undisguised confiscation. The Purchase Act was not the only
one relied on by Mr Balfour. The Light Railways Act, passed by him in
1890, did much to open up some of the poorest parts of the west, and the
temporary scarcity of that year was dealt with by relief works.
Parnell's downfall.
An action begun by Parnell against _The Times_ was settled by the
payment of a substantial sum. The Nationalist leader seemed to stand
higher than ever, but the writ in the divorce proceedings, brought by
Captain O'Shea against his wife, with the Irish leader as co-respondent,
was hanging over him. To public astonishment, when the case came on for
trial there was no defence, and on the 17th of November 1890 a decree
nisi was granted. Parnell's subsequent marriage with the respondent
before a registrar did him no good with his Roman Catholic supporters.
The Irish bishops remained silent, while in England the "Nonconformist
conscience" revolted. Three days after the verdict a great meeting was
held in the Leinster Hall, Dublin, attended by 25 members of the Irish
parliamentary party. The result was an enthusiastic vote of confidence
in Parnell, moved by Mr Justin M'Carthy and seconded by Mr T. M. Healy.
Five days later he was unanimously re-elected chairman by his party in
parliament, but the meeting was scarcely over when Gladstone's famous
letter to Mr Morley became public. The writer in effect demanded
Parnell's resignation of the leadership as the condition upon which he
could continue at the head of the Liberal party. He had to choose
between the Nonconformist vote and the Irish leader, and he preferred
the former. Next day the secession of the Irish members from their chief
began. Long and acrimonious debates followed in committee-room 15, and
on the 6th of December Parnell was left in the chair with only 26
supporters. The majority of 45 members--Anti-Parnellites, as they came
to be called--went into another room, unanimously deposed him, and
elected Mr Justin M'Carthy in his place. Parnell then began a campaign
as hopeless as that of Napoleon after Leipzig. He seized the office of
_United Ireland_ in person. The Fenian element was with him, as he
admitted, but the clergy were against him, and the odds were too great,
especially against a Protestant politician. His candidate in a
by-election at Kilkenny was beaten by nearly two to one, and he himself
was injured in the eyes by lime being thrown at him. Similar defeats
followed at Sligo and Carlow. He went over to France to meet Messrs
Dillon and O'Brien, who had not yet taken sides, but nothing was agreed
to, and in the end both these former followers went against him. Every
Saturday he went from London to Dublin and addressed some Sunday meeting
in the country. The last was on the 27th of September. On the 6th of
October 1891 he died at Brighton, from the effects of a chill following
on overwork and excitement. His funeral at Glasnevin was attended by
200,000 people. At the general election of 1892, however, only 9
Parnellites--the section which under Mr John Redmond remained staunch to
his memory--were returned to parliament.
Home Rule Bill 1893.
The "Parnellite split," as it was called, proved fatal to the cause of
Home Rule, for the Nationalist party broke up into factions. No one of
the sectional leaders commanded general confidence, and personal
rivalries were of the bitterest kind. An important result of these
quarrels was to stop the supply of American money, without which neither
the Land League nor the Home Rule agitation could have been worked. The
Unionist party had adopted a policy of local government for Ireland
while opposing legislative independence, and a bill was introduced into
the House of Commons by Mr Balfour in February 1892. The principle was
affirmed by a great majority, but the measure could not then be
proceeded with. At the general election in July the Gladstonians and
Nationalists together obtained a majority of 40 over Conservatives and
Liberal Unionists. Lord Salisbury resigned in August, and was succeeded
by Gladstone, with Lord Houghton (afterwards earl of Crewe) as
lord-lieutenant and Mr John Morley as chief secretary. The Crimes Act,
which had already been relaxed, was altogether suspended, and the
proclamation declaring the National League illegal was revoked. The
lord-lieutenant, on taking up his quarters in Dublin, refused a loyal
address because of its Unionist tone; and in October the government
issued a commission, with Mr Justice Mathew as chairman, which had the
restoration of the evicted tenants as its avowed object. Two of the
commissioners very shortly resigned, and the whole inquiry became
somewhat farcical. It was given in evidence that out of L234,431
collected under the plan of campaign only L125,000 had been given to
evicted tenants. In February 1893, on the application of the sheriff of
Kerry, an order from Dublin Castle, refusing protection, was pronounced
illegal in the Queen's Bench, and persons issuing it were declared
liable to criminal prosecution. In the same month Gladstone introduced
his second Home Rule Bill, which proposed to retain 80 Irish members in
the imperial parliament instead of 103, but they were not to vote on any
proceedings expressly confined to Great Britain. On the 8th of April
1886 he had told the House of Commons that it "passed the wit of man" to
draw a practical distinction between imperial and non-imperial affairs.
On the 20th of July 1888 he informed the same assembly that there was no
difficulty in doing so. It had become evident, in the meantime, to
numberless Englishmen that the exclusion of the Irish members would mean
virtual separation. The plan now proposed met with no greater favour,
for a good many English Home Rulers had been mainly actuated all along
by the wish to get the Irish members out of their way. The financial
provisions of the bill were objected to by the Nationalists as tending
to keep Ireland in bondage.
During the year 1892 a vast number of Unionist meetings were held
throughout Ireland, the most remarkable being the great Ulster
convention in Belfast, and that of the three other provinces in Dublin,
on the 14th and 23rd of June. On the 22nd of April 1893, the day after
the second reading of the bill, the Albert Hall in London was filled by
enthusiastic Unionist delegates from all parts of Ireland. Next day the
visitors were entertained by Lord Salisbury at Hatfield, the duke of
Devonshire, Mr Balfour, Mr Goschen and Mr Chamberlain being present.
Between the second reading and the third on 1st September the government
majority fell from 43 to 34. A great part of the bill was closured by
what was known as the device of the "gag" without discussion, although
it occupied the House of Commons altogether eighty-two nights. It was
thrown out by the Lords by 419 to 41, and the country undoubtedly
acquiesced in their action. On the 3rd of March 1894 Gladstone resigned,
and Lord Rosebery (q.v.) became prime minister. A bill to repeal the
Crimes Act of 1887 was read a second time in the Commons by 60, but went
no farther. A committee on the Irish Land Acts was closured at the end
of July by the casting vote of the chairman, Mr Morley, and the minority
refused to join in the report. The bill to restore the evicted tenants,
which resulted from the Mathew Commission, was rejected in the Lords by
249 to 30. In March 1895 Mr Morley introduced a Land Bill, but the
government majority continued to dwindle. Another Crimes Act Repeal Bill
passed the second reading in May by only 222 to 208. In July, however,
the government were defeated on the question of the supply of small-arms
ammunition. A general election followed, which resulted in a Unionist
majority of 150. The Liberal Unionists, whose extinction had once been
so confidently foretold, had increased from 46 to 71, and the
Parnellites, in spite of the most violent clerical opposition, from 9 to
12. Lord Cadogan became lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and Mr Gerald
Balfour--who announced a policy of "killing Home Rule by
kindness"--chief secretary.
Land Act 1896.
In the session of 1896 a new Land Act was added to the statute-book. The
general effect was to decide most disputed points in favour of the
tenants, and to repeal the exceptions made by former acts in the
landlord's favour. Dairy farms, to mention only a few of the most
important points which had been hitherto excluded, were admitted within
the scope of the Land Acts, and purely pastoral holdings of between L50
and L100 were for the first time included. A presumption of law in the
tenant's favour was created as to improvements made since 1850. The 40th
clause introduced the principle of compulsory sale to the tenants of
estates in the hands of receivers. The tendency of this provision to
lower the value of all property was partly, but only partly, neutralized
by the firmness of the land judge. The landlords of Ireland, who had
made so many sacrifices and worked so hard to return Lord Salisbury to
power, felt that the measure was hardly what they had a right to expect
from a Unionist administration. In their opinion it unsettled the
agricultural mind, and encouraged judicial tenants to go to law at the
expiration of the first fifteen years' term instead of bargaining
amicably with their landlords.
Financial relations.
In the autumn of this year was published the report of the royal
commission on the financial relations between England and Ireland. Mr
Hugh C. E. Childers was the original chairman of this commission, which
was appointed in 1894 with the object of determining the fiscal
contribution of Ireland under Home Rule, and after his death in 1896 The
O'Conor Don presided. The report--or rather the collection of minority
reports--gave some countenance to those who held that Ireland was
overtaxed, and there was a strong agitation on the subject, in which
some Irish Unionists joined without perceiving the danger of treating
the two islands as "separate entities." No individual Irishman was taxed
on a higher scale than any corresponding citizen of Great Britain. No
tax, either on commodities or property, was higher in Ireland than in
England. The alleged grievance was, however, exploited to the utmost
extent by the Nationalist party. In 1897 a royal commission, with Sir
Edward Fry as chairman, was appointed to inquire into the operation of
the Land Acts. Voluminous evidence was taken in different parts of
Ireland, and the commissioners reported in the following year. The
methods and procedure of the Land Commission were much criticized, and
many recommendations were made, but no legislation followed. This
inquiry proved, what few in Ireland doubted, that the prices paid for
occupancy interest or tenant right increased as the landlord's rent was
cut down.
Local Government Act 1898.
The session of 1898 was largely occupied with the discussion of a bill
to establish county and district councils on the lines of the English
Act of 1888. The fiscal jurisdiction of grand juries, which had lasted
for more than two centuries and a half, was entirely swept away. Local
government for Ireland had always been part of the Unionist programme,
and the vote on the abortive bill of 1892 had committed parliament to
legislation. It may, nevertheless, be doubted whether enough attention
was paid to the local peculiarities of Ireland, and whether English
precedents were not too closely followed. In Ireland the poor-rate used
to be divided between landlord and tenant, except on holdings valued at
L4 and under, in which the landlord paid the whole. Councils elected by
small farmers were evidently unfit to impose taxes so assessed. The
poor-rate and the county cess, which latter was mostly paid by the
tenants, were consolidated, and an agricultural grant of L730,000 was
voted by parliament in order to relieve both parties. The consolidated
rate was now paid by the occupier, who would profit by economy and lose
by extravagance. The towns gained nothing by the agricultural grant, but
union rating was established for the first time. The net result of the
county council elections in the spring of 1899 was to displace, except
in some northern counties, nearly all the men who had hitherto done the
local business. Nationalist pledges were exacted, and long service as a
grand juror was an almost certain bar to election. The Irish gentry,
long excluded, as landlords and Unionists, from political life, now felt
to a great extent that they had no field for activity in local affairs.
The new councils very generally passed resolutions of sympathy with the
Boers in the South African war. The one most often adopted, though
sometimes rejected as too mild, was that of the Limerick corporation,
hoping "that it may end in another Majuba Hill." Efforts not wholly
unsuccessful were made to hinder recruiting in Ireland, and every
reverse or repulse of British arms was greeted with Nationalist
applause.
The scheme for a Roman Catholic University--of which Mr Arthur Balfour,
speaking for himself and not for the government, made himself a
prominent champion--was much canvassed in 1899, but it came to nothing.
It had not been forgotten that this question wrecked the Liberal party
in 1874.
Board of Agriculture.
The chief Irish measure of 1899 was an Agricultural and Technical
Instruction Act, which established a new department (see the section
_Economics_ above) with the chief secretary at its head and an elaborate
system of local committees. Considerable funds were made available, and
Mr (afterwards Sir) Horace Plunkett, who as an independent Conservative
member had been active in promoting associations for the improvement of
Irish methods in this direction, became the first vice-president. The
new county councils were generally induced to further attempts at
technical instruction and to assist them out of the rates, but progress
in this direction was necessarily slow in a country where organized
industries have hitherto been so few. In agriculture, and especially in
cattle-breeding, improvement was formerly due mainly to the landlords,
who had now been deprived by law of much of their power. The gap has
been partly filled by the new department, and a good deal has been done.
Some experience has been gained not only through the voluntary
associations promoted by Sir H. Plunkett, but also from the Congested
Districts Board founded under the Land Purchase Act of 1891. This board
has power within the districts affected by it to foster agriculture and
fisheries, to enlarge holdings, and to buy and hold land. In March 1899
it had from first to last laid out a little more than half a million.
The principal source of income was a charge of L41,250 a year upon the
Irish Church surplus, but the establishment expenses were paid by
parliament.
1900.
At the opening of the session in January 1900 there was a formal
reconciliation of the Dillonite, Healyite, and Redmondite or Parnellite
factions. It was evident from the speeches made on the occasion that
there was not much cordiality between the various leaders, but the
outward solidarity of the party was calculated to bring in renewed
subscriptions both at home and from America. It was publicly agreed that
England's difficulty in South Africa was Ireland's opportunity, and that
all should abstain from supporting an amendment to the address which
admitted that the war would have to be fought out. Mr John Redmond was
chosen chairman, and the alliance of Nationalists and Gladstonian
Liberals was dissolved. The United Irish League, founded in Mayo in 1898
by Mr William O'Brien, had recently become a sort of rival to the
parliamentary party, its avowed object being to break up the great grass
farms, and its methods resembling those of the old Land League.
The most striking event, however, in Ireland in the earlier part of 1900
was Queen Victoria's visit. Touched by the gallantry of the Irish
regiments in South Africa, and moved to some extent, no doubt, by the
presence of the duke of Connaught in Dublin as commander-in-chief, the
queen determined in April to make up for the loss of her usual spring
holiday abroad by paying a visit to Ireland. The last time the queen had
been in Dublin was in 1861 with the Prince Consort. Since then, besides
the visit of the prince and princess of Wales in 1885, Prince Albert
Victor and Prince George of Wales had visited Ireland in 1887, and the
duke and duchess of York (afterwards prince and princess of Wales) in
1897; but the lack of any permanent royal residence and the
long-continued absence of the sovereign in person had aroused repeated
comment. Directly the announcement of the queen's intention was made the
greatest public interest was taken in the project. Shortly before St
Patrick's Day the queen issued an order which intensified this interest,
that Irish soldiers might in future wear a sprig of shamrock in their
headgear on this national festival. For some years past the "wearing of
the green" had been regarded by the army authorities as improper, and
friction had consequently occurred, but the queen's order put an end in
a graceful manner to what had formerly been a grievance. The result was
that St Patrick's Day was celebrated in London and throughout the empire
as it never had been before, and when the queen went over to Dublin at
the beginning of April she was received with the greatest enthusiasm.
The general election later in the year made no practical difference in
the strength of parties, but Mr George Wyndham took Mr Gerald Balfour's
place as chief secretary, without a seat in the Cabinet. Both before and
after the election the United Irish League steadily advanced, fresh
branches continually springing up.
Recent years.
The visit of Mr Redmond and others to America in 1901 was not believed
to have brought in much money, and the activity of the League was more
or less restrained by want of funds. Boycotting, however, became rife,
especially in Sligo, and paid agents also promoted an agitation against
grass farms in Tipperary, Clare and other southern counties. In
Roscommon there was a strike against rent, especially on the property of
Lord De Freyne. This was due to the action of the Congested Districts
Board in buying the Dillon estate and reducing all the rents without
consulting the effect upon others. It was argued that no one else's
tenants could be expected to pay more. Some prosecutions were
undertaken, but the government was much criticized for not using the
special provisions of the Crimes Act; and in April 1902 certain counties
were "proclaimed" under it. In February 1902 Lord Rosebery definitely
repudiated Home Rule, and steps to oppose his followers were at once
taken among Irish voters in English constituencies.
Lord Cadogan resigned the viceroyalty in July 1902, and was succeeded by
Lord Dudley. In November Sir Antony Macdonnell (b. 1844), a member of
the Indian Council, became under-secretary to the lord-lieutenant.
During a long and successful career in India (1865-1901) Sir Antony had
never concealed his Nationalist proclivities, but his appointment, about
the form of which there was nothing peculiar, was favoured by Lord
Lansdowne and Lord George Hamilton, and ultimately sanctioned by Mr
Balfour, who had been prime minister since Lord Salisbury's resignation
in July. About the same time a conference took place in Dublin between
certain landlords and some members of the Nationalist party, of whom Mr
W. O'Brien was the most conspicuous. Lord Dunraven presided, and it was
agreed to recommend a great extension of the Land Purchase system with a
view to give the vendor as good an income as before, while decreasing
the tenants' annual burden. This was attempted in Mr Wyndham's Land
Purchase Act of 1903, which gave the tenants a material reduction, a
bonus of 12% on the purchase-money being granted to vendors from funds
provided by parliament. A judicial decision made it doubtful whether
this percentage became the private property of tenants for life on
settled estates, but a further act passed in 1904 answered the question
in the affirmative. After this the sale of estates proceeded rapidly. In
March 1903 was published the report of the Royal Commission on Irish
University Education appointed two years before with Lord Robertson as
chairman, Trinity College, Dublin, being excluded from the inquiry. The
report, which was not really unanimous, was of little value as a basis
for legislation. It recommended an examining university with the Queen's
Colleges at Belfast, Cork and Galway, and with a new and well-endowed
Roman Catholic college in Dublin.
The "Devolution" question.
In August was formed the Irish Reform Association out of the wreckage of
the late Land Conference and under Lord Dunraven's presidency, and it
was seen that Sir A. Macdonnell took a great interest in the
proceedings. Besides transferring private bill legislation to Dublin on
the Scottish plan, to which no one in Ireland objected, it was proposed
to hand over the internal expenditure of Ireland to a financial council
consisting half of nominated and half of elected members, and to give an
Irish assembly the initiative in public Irish bills. This policy, which
was called Devolution, found little support anywhere, and was ultimately
repudiated both by Mr Wyndham and by Mr Balfour. But a difficult
parliamentary crisis, caused by Irish Unionist suspicions on the
subject, was only temporarily overcome by Mr Wyndham's resignation in
March 1905. Mr Walter Long succeeded him. One of the chief questions at
issue was the position actually occupied by Sir Antony Macdonnell. The
new chief secretary, while abstaining from displacing the
under-secretary, whose encouragement of "devolution" had caused
considerable commotion among Unionists, announced that he considered him
as on the footing of an ordinary and subordinate civil servant, but Mr
Wyndham had said that he was "invited by me rather as a colleague than
as a mere under-secretary to register my will," and Lord Lansdowne that
he "could scarcely expect to be bound by the narrow rules of routine
which are applicable to an ordinary member of the civil service." While
Mr Long remained in office no further complication arose, but in 1906
(Sir A. Macdonnell being retained in office by the Liberal government)
his Nationalist leanings again became prominent, and the responsibility
of the Unionist government in introducing him into the Irish
administration became a matter of considerable heart-burning among the
Unionist party.
Mr Balfour resigned in December 1905 and was succeeded by Sir Henry
Campbell-Bannerman, Lord Aberdeen becoming lord-lieutenant for the
second time, with Mr James Bryce as chief secretary. The general
election at the beginning of 1906 was disastrous to the Unionist party,
and the Liberal government secured an enormous majority. Mr Walter Long,
unseated at Bristol, had made himself very popular among Irish
Unionists, and a seat was found him in the constituency of South Dublin.
Speaking in August 1906 he raised anew the Macdonnell question and
demanded the production of all correspondence connected with the
under-secretary's appointment. Sir A. Macdonnell at once admitted
through the newspapers that he had in his possession letters (rumoured
to be "embarrassing" to the Unionist leaders) which he might publish at
his own discretion; and the discussion as to how far his appointment by
Mr Wyndham had prejudiced the Unionist cause was reopened in public with
much bitterness, in view of the anticipation of further steps in the
Home Rule direction by the Liberal ministry. In 1908 Sir Antony resigned
and was created a peer as Baron Macdonnell. Soon after the change of
government in 1906 a royal commission, with ex-Lord Justice Fry as
chairman, was appointed to investigate the condition of Trinity College,
Dublin, and another under Lord Dudley to inquire into the question of
the congested districts.
Mr Bryce being appointed ambassador to Washington, Mr Birrell faced the
session of 1907 as chief secretary. Before he left office Mr Bryce
publicly sketched a scheme of his own for remodelling Irish University
Education, but his scheme was quietly put on the shelf by his successor
and received almost universal condemnation. Mr Birrell began by
introducing a bill for the establishment of an Irish Council, which
would have given the Home Rulers considerable leverage, but, to the
surprise of the English Liberals, it was summarily rejected by a
Nationalist convention in Dublin, and was forthwith abandoned. The
extreme party of Sinn Fein ("ourselves alone") were against it because
of the power it gave to the government officials, and the Roman Catholic
clergy because it involved local control of primary education, which
would have imperilled their position as managers. An Evicted Tenants
Bill was however passed at the end of the session, which gave the
Estates Commissioners unprecedented powers to take land compulsorily. In
the late summer and autumn, agitation in Ireland (led by Mr Ginnell,
M.P.) took the form of driving cattle off large grass farms, as part of
a campaign against what was known as "ranching." This reckless and
lawless practice extended to several counties, but was worst in Galway
and Roscommon. The government was determined not to use the Crimes Act,
and the result was that offenders nearly always went unpunished, benches
of magistrates being often swamped by the chairmen of district councils
who were _ex officio_ justices under the act of 1898.
The general election of 1910 placed the Liberal and Unionist parties in
a position of almost exact equality in the House of Commons, and it was
at once evident that the Nationalists under Mr Redmond's leadership
would hold the balance of power and control the fortunes of Mr Asquith's
government. A small body of "independent Nationalists," led by Mr
William O'Brien and Mr T. M. Healy, voiced the general dislike in
Ireland of the Budget of 1909, the rejection of which by the House of
Lords had precipitated the dissolution of parliament. But although this
band of free-lances was a menace to Mr Redmond's authority and to the
solidarity of the "pledge-bound" Irish parliamentary party, the two
sections did not differ in their desire to get rid of the "veto" of the
House of Lords, which they recognized as the standing obstacle to Home
Rule, and which it was the avowed policy of the government to abolish.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Ancient: The _Annals of the Four Masters_, ed. J.
O'Donovan (1851), compiled in Donegal under Charles I., gives a
continuous account of Celtic Ireland down to 1616. The independent
_Annals of Lough Ce_ (Rolls series) end with 1590. The _Topographia
and Expugnatio_ of Giraldus Cambrensis (Rolls series) are chiefly
valuable for his account of the Anglo-Norman invaders and for
descriptions of the country. Sir J. T. Gilbert's _Viceroys of Ireland_
(Dublin, 1865) gives a connected view of the feudal establishment to
the accession of Henry VIII. The _Calendar of Documents relating to
Ireland_ in the Public Record Office extends from 1171 to 1307.
Christopher Pembridge's _Annals from 1162 to 1370_ were published by
William Camden and reprinted in Sir J. T. Gilbert's _Chartularies of
St Mary's Abbey_ (Dublin, 1884). _The Annals of Clyn, Dowling and
Grace_ have been printed by the Irish Archaeological Society and the
Celtic Society.
For the 16th century see volumes ii. and iii. of the _Printed State
Papers_ (1834), and the _Calendars of State Papers, Ireland_,
including that of the Carew MSS. 1515 to 1603. See also Richard
Stanihurst's _Chronicle_, continued by John Hooker, which is included
in Holinshed's _Chronicles_; E. Spenser, _View of the State of
Ireland_, edited by H. Morley (1890); Fynes Moryson, _History of
Ireland_ (1735); Thomas Stafford, _Pacata Hibernia_ (1810); and R.
Bagwell, _Ireland under the Tudors_ (1885-1890).
For the 17th century see the _Calendars of Irish State Papers,
1603-1665_ (Dublin, 1772); _Strafford Letters_, edited by W. Knowler
(1739): Thomas Carte, _Life of Ormonde_ (1735-1736), and _Ormonde
Papers_ (1739); Roger Boyle, earl of Orrery, _State letters_ (1743);
the _Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland, 1641-1652_
(1879-1880), and _History of the Irish Confederation and the War in
Ireland, 1641-1649_ (1882-1891), both edited by Sir J. T. Gilbert;
Edmund Ludlow's _Memoirs_, edited by C. H. Firth (1894); the _Memoirs_
of James Touchet, earl of Castlehaven (1815); and _Cromwell's Letters
and Speeches_, edited by T. Carlyle (1904). See also J. P.
Prendergast, _The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland_ (1870); Denis
Murphy, _Cromwell in Ireland_ (1885): M. A. Hickson, _Ireland in the
17th Century_ (1884); Sir John Temple, _History of the Irish
Rebellion_ (1812); P. Walsh, _History of the Remonstrance_ (1674);
George Story, _Impartial History of the Wars of Ireland_ (1693);
Thomas Witherow, _Derry and Enniskillen_ (1873); Philip Dwyer, _Siege
of Derry_ (1893); Lord Macaulay, _History of England_; and S. R.
Gardiner, _History of England, 1603-1656_. Further writings which may
be consulted are: _The Embassy in Ireland of Rinuccini, 1645-1649_,
translated from the Italian by A. Hutton (1873); Sir William Petty's
_Down Survey_, edited by T. A. Larcom (1851), and his _Economic
Writings_, edited by C. H. Hull (1899); Charles O'Kelly's _Macariae
Excidium_, edited by J. C. O'Callaghan (1850); and _A Jacobite
Narrative of the War in Ireland, 1688-91_, edited by Sir J. T. Gilbert
(1892).
For the 18th century J. A. Froude's _English in Ireland_ and W. E. H.
Lecky's _History of England_ cover the whole ground. See also the
_Letters 1724-1738_ of Archbishop Hugh Boulter, edited by G. Faulkner
(1770); the _Works_ of Dean Swift; John Campbell's _Philosophical
Survey of Ireland_ (1778); Arthur Young's _Tour in Ireland_ (1780);
Henry Grattan's _Life of the Right Hon. Henry Grattan_ (1839-1846);
the _Correspondence_ of the Marquess Cornwallis, edited by C. Ross
(1859); Wolfe Tone's _Autobiography_, edited by R. B. O'Brien (1893);
and R. R. Madden's _United Irishmen_ (1842-1846).
For the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century see the _Annual
Register_; R. M. Martin, _Ireland before and after the Union_ (1848);
Sir T. Wyse, _Historical Sketch of the late Catholic Association_
(1829); G. L. Smyth, _Ireland, Historical and Statistical_
(1844-1849); Sir C. E. Trevelyan, _The Irish Crisis_ (1880); N. W.
Senior, _Journals, Conversations and Essays relating to Ireland_
(1868); Sir G. C. Lewis, _On Local Disturbances in Ireland and on the
Irish Church Question_ (1836); John Morley, _Life of W. E. Gladstone_;
Lord Fitzmaurice, _Life of Lord Granville_ (1905); and R. Barry
O'Brien, _Life of Parnell_ (1898). Other authorities are Isaac Butt,
_Irish Federalism_ (1870); H. O. Arnold-Forster, _The Truth about the
Land League_ (1883); A. V. Dicey, _England's Case against Home Rule_
(1886); W. E. Gladstone, _History of an Idea_ (1886), and a reply to
this by J. E. Webb entitled _The Queen's Enemies in America_ (1886);
and Mrs E. Lynn Linton, _About Ireland_ (1890). See also the _Report
of the Parnell Special Commission_ (1890); the _Report_ of the
Bessborough Commission (1881), of the Richmond Commission (1881), of
the Cowper Commission (1887), and of the Mathew Commission (1893),
and the _Report_ of the Congested Districts Board (1899).
For the church in Ireland see: Henry Cotton, _Fasti ecclesiae
hibernicae_ (1848-1878); W. M. Brady, _The Episcopal Succession_
(Rome, 1876); R. Mant, _History of the Church of Ireland_ (1840); J.
T. Ball, _The Reformed Church in Ireland, 1537-1886_ (1886); and W. D.
Killen, _Ecclesiastical History of Ireland_ (1875). A. Theiner's
_Vetera Monumenta_ (Rome, 1864) contains documents concerning the
medieval church, and there are many others in Ussher's Works, and for
a later period in Cardinal Moran's _Spicilegium Ossoriense_
(1874-1884). The _Works_ of Sir James Ware, edited by Walter Harris,
are generally useful, and Alice S. Green's _The Making of Ireland and
its Undoing_ (1908), although written from a partisan standpoint, may
also be consulted. (R. Ba.)