Successes and Failures in Irish Constitutional Nationalism, 1800-1900. - page 9
Keywords: ireland constitutional nationalism 1800 1900 19th century success failure henry grattan daniel o'connell isaac butt charles stewart parnell catholic emancipation home rule repeal of the act of union
By exploiit on 19/06/2010
Level: A Level (Year 13)
Page Number: 9 of 12 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
in the Commons known as ‘parliamentary obstruction’, through which he and his supporters exploited every opportunity to delay business in the House of Commons, hoping that Home Rule proposals would be made to convince them to stop. Biggar’s attempts were remained unsuccessful but his level of support within the party proved that there was no concrete party discipline and no clear characterization of policy. “What was needed was a new leader of impeccable origins and unmistakable dynamism. And the hour was to produce the man. In April 1875, a by-election victory in Meath resulted in the advent of a new recruit to the Home Rule Party” – Charles Stewart Parnell (F. S. L. Lyons).
Elected to represent Co. Meath in 1875, his aggressive attitude and contempt for English opinion soon made Parnell a popular hero for militant Irish nationalists everywhere. Although he was opposed to violence and thought it futile, as constitutional nationalists before him had, he recognised that the Fenians who were prepared to work with the Home Rule Party could alter the direction of politics if given the opportunity. Parnell remarked, “Did O’Connell gain catholic emancipation by conciliation? It was because the English King and hi ministers feared revolution. Why was the English Church in Ireland disestablished? Why was some measure of protection given to the Irish tenant? It was because there was an explosion at Clerkenwell and because a lock was shot off a prison wall in Manchester. They would never gain anything from England unless they trod upon her toes.” What Parnell had meant by this was that the government needed to be directly confronted for reform and he believed that links with the Fenians would be useful in achieving this and it was these ties that saw him gain support within the party; “Butt’s isolation in 1878-9 was paralleled by the consolidation of Parnell’s position and in particular by the strengthening of his ties with Fenianism” (Alvin Jackson). In 1877, he was elected to replace Butt as President of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain and later won control of the movement in 1880, a year after Butt’s death. Of course, Parnell’s furthering support was not due solely to his work with revolutionary nationalists.
The land question had become immediately important in Irish politics after bad harvests had occurred between 1877 and 1879, and food prices had slumped with the importation of cheap American grain. Michael
Last 5 comments…
There have been no comments posted for this article, but you need to register if you want to be the first!