Parliamentary Tradition in Irish Politics- Daniel O'Connell and C.S Parnell
The Fenians (Irish Republican Brotherhood) + Politics in Britain
In Britain, there is 2 houses. House of Commons elected by the people. House of Lords made up of noblemen and rich people. A law passed in House of Commons can be stopped in house of lords. the lords were be anti-home rule because they were afraid the british empire would fall apart.
Britain had 2 parties, liberals and conservatives. Liberals promised home rule to Ireland. Their leader was Herbert Asquith. Conservatives were unionist and their leader was Andrew Bonar Law.
John Devoy was exiled to the us and founded Clann Na Gael- the U.S branch of the fenian government
Set up in Ireland and US to get Ireland complete independence from uk through physical force
A small scale rebellion occurred in 1867 and after this the irb became a secret society
James Stephens and John O'Mahoney founded the Fenians
Charles Stewart Parnell- 'The Uncrowned King of Ireland'
He lost 3 by elections in a row. His health deteriorates and he died in 1891 buried in glasnevin cemetery.
Parnell began an affair with Kitty O'Shea. O'Shea had separated but not officially. They begin to live together and have a couple of kids. The affair was made public and was disasterous for Parnell.
The liberal party and the catholic church turned against him while the home rule party still endorsed him.
The Home Rule Party split between pro-parnell and anti-parnell
Gladstone asked Parnell to resign and he refused.
The Piggott Forgeries. An article appeared in the times with letters saying that parnell supported the phoenix park murders. A commission was set up and they found parnell innocent. The letters were forged by Richard Piggott.
in 1885 all men who owned/rented property worth £10 or more could vote. this added 300,000 voters which heavily favoured Parnell.
in 1886 the first home rule bill is introduced in parliament. The bill was defeated in the house of commons by conservatives and some liberals.
Parnell sided with the liberals after the 1885 general election
Parliament had 650 MPs so neither Home Rule Party or Unionist Party could have any power unless they could make an alliance with another party.
Parnell was a disciplined leader and made sure the party voted as a block.
by 1880's 80/103 Irish MPS were of The Home Rule Party
the rest were members of the unionist party.
The Irish Parliamentary Party= The Home Rule Party
The Phoenix Park Murders- Two british politicians murdered by extreme IRB members. This put lots of pressure on Parnell and it set back his hopes for a home rule bill and cooperation with gladstone
Parnell offered to resign but Gladstone recognised his worth and rejected his resignation.
William Gladstone-Liberal British prime minister. He introduces the 1881 land act which provides fair rent and a land court to decide the rents. Parnell encourages the farmers to do civil obedience and makes some inflammatory remarks. Parnell was sent to jail because of this.
Gladstone and parnell make a deal. The Killmainham Treaty got a better deal for the farmers as they could now access the land courts easier. and helped in debt tenants to pay rent. Parnell used his influence to stop violence.
Boycott- Isolating someone who took the farm of someone was evicted. this was the main struggle of the land war.
Their main goal was that the british government to provide loans to tenant farmers so they could buy their own instead of renting
The Land war- The land league was founded to achieve fair rent, fixity of tenure (as long as they paid the rent they couldn't be evicted) and free sale (get compensation for any improvements that they made to the land). long term goal to own their farms.
Parnell became president of the land league
Founded by john devoy and michael davitt.
Parnell became the leader of the Home Rule Party in 1880.
The Manchester Martyrs-1867. Two irish men were arrested for acting suspiciously. Kelly and Deasy-major members of the fenian movement. While they were brought to jail 30 fenians surrounded the carriage and' accidentally' killed police sergeant brett.
Allen, Larkin and O'Brien were arrested and hanged. They were known as the manchester martyrs and Parnell said in parliament "I do not believe and never shall believe that any murder was committed in Manchester."
Parnell joined forces with The Fenians. The Home Rule party used 'parliamentary obstruction' where one of their members would talk and talk for a long time obstructing any parliamentary business
New Departure- The fenians worked with parnell to achieve irish self governance and land reform
He was elected to English parliament as a member of the home rule party in a meath by election in 1875.
He owned 5,000 acres and studied at Cambridge.
Born in Avondale, Co Wicklow on 27th June 1846
Why is He Significant?
Parnell supported Catholics as a protestant landlord.
He helped tenant farmers improve their conditions and buy their own farms. Passage of Land Act 1881
He helped combine the parliamentary tradition and the physical force tradition by collaborating with the fenians.
Parliament
He went on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1847 but he only made it to Genoa where he died on May 15th 1847. His heart was buried in Rome and his body was buried in glasnevin century in Dublin.
His last speech appealed to the British government for aid in Ireland to fight the famine.
O'Connell served 3 months in prison for this meeting
released in september 1844.
A monster meeting was organised in Clontarf but the meeting was banned by the British parliament.
O'Connell cancelled to avoid bloodshed and violence
He decides the year of repeal will be 1843 .
In 1841 O'Connell was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin
O'Connell tries to repeal the act of the union. He sets up The Repeal Association in 1840 and helped set up meetings which were called monster meetings because of their size.
He sets up the repeal rent to support the campaign
He wanted the British Government to restore the Irish Parliament
O'Connell was an abolitionist and he supported the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Freed slave and activist Frederick Douglass visited Ireland
this influenced mahatma gandhi and martin luther king jr
O'Connell negotiated for the Irish people and managed to get the tithe reduced by 25% in 1838.
People started to receive sentences for not paying tithe.
In Newtownbarry The Yeomn (militia) shot and killed 14 people.
If you refused to pay tithe you were evicted and your cattle was sold off
You had to pay tithe to the Anglican Church regardless of your religion.
1828 By Election
O'Connell had to denounce his Catholicism to enter parliament. He stood outside parliament with a crowd which created much media coverage. The British government was afraid of another rebellion so they passed the Catholic Relief Act, granting Catholic Emancipation allowing him in.
He persuaded tenants to vote for him and protected them with Catholic rent.
O'Connell goes for election in clare in 1828 and wins easily. His opponent was Willy Fitzergerald..
In 1826 several Catholic candidates and pro-emancipation won in the waterford election.
Voting was not secret so tenants usually voted for what their landlord wanted or else they would be evicted.
Only people with farms worth more than 40 shillings could vote
Fighting For Catholic Emancipation
He raised £20,000 which was used to buy schoolbooks and organise petitions.
The catholic association became very popular especially because of backing from catholic clergy.
He starts the catholic rent- one penny a month to support the campaign
He forms the catholic association in 1823 to campaign for catholic emancipation.
He also wanted catholics to have high government and army positions.
O'Connell wanted the removal of all penal laws against catholic. He especially wanted catholic's right to vote and sit in parliament.
Daniel O'Connell
He believed in bring social change through new laws and parliament
O'Connell was opposed to violence for political purposes.
sent to france to study law and witnessed some of the french revolution which shaped his peaceful methods.
Born in cahiriciveen in 1775. Privileged Catholic background
Nicknamed 'The Liberator'
