The Irish Question: Two Centuries of Conflict
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge European History History 1995 The Irish Question: Two Centuries of Conflict Lawrence J. McCaffrey Loyola University Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation McCaffrey, Lawrence J., "The Irish Question: Two Centuries of Conflict" (1995). European History. 3. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_european_history/3 The Irish Question This page intentionally left blank The Irish Question Two Centuries of Conflict Second Edition Lawrence J. McCaffrey THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Copyright © 1995 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McCaffrey, Lawrence John, 1925– The Irish question : two centuries of conflict / Lawrence J. McCaffrey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8131-1928-6 (acid-free paper).—ISBN 0-8131-0855-1 (acid-free paper). 1. Ireland—Politics and government—19th century. 2. Ireland— Politics and government—20th century. 3. Great Britain—Foreign relations—Ireland. 4. Ireland—Foreign relations—Great Britain. 5. Nationalism—Ireland—History. 6. Home rule—Ireland. 7. Irish question. I. Title. DA950.M327 1996 941.508—dc20 95-6860 ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-0855-1 (acid-free paper) This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. Member of the Association of American University Presses To Joan This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface tx Introduction 1 1. Catholic Emancipation, 1800-1829 13 2. Repeal, 1829-1845 31 3. Famine, Revolution, Republicanism, 1845-1870 55 4. Home Rule, 1870-1880 75 5. Home Rule, 1880-1906 93 6. The Crises of Home Rule Nationalism, 1906-1914 110 7. The Rose Tree, 1914-1922 133 8. Unfinished Business, 1922-1994 153 Conclusion 177 Recommended Reading 189 Index 212 This page intentionally left blank Preface In the mid-1960s when I was teaching modern British history at Marquette University in Milwaukee, I noticed that although the Irish Question was one of the most important, and certainly the most divisive and defining, issue in nineteenth-century British politics, few textbooks gave it sufficient attention. To assist my own and other students in American colleges and universities in their under standing of the Irish dimension of modern British history I wrote The Irish Question, 1800-1922. Since the University Press of Kentucky published it in 1968, the crisis in Northern Ireland has revived the Irish Question as a major factor in Anglo-Irish relations and as a disturbing element in British life and politics. The massive expan sion of Irish historiography since the original publication of The Irish Question is another good reason for taking a further look at the relationship between Ireland and Britain. Therefore, I was most happy to accept the invitation of the University Press of Kentucky to revise my original manuscript and to extend its narrative beyond the beginning of the Irish Free State. In this new version of The Irish Question I do not use footnotes, but pay tribute to the research of the many scholars who contributed to my knowledge of Irish history in the Recommended Reading section of the book. In addition, I would like to thank the graduate students I have worked with over the years: Eileen Brewer, Michael Funcheon, Brian Griffin, Terrence La Rocca, Eileen McMahon, Michael Murphy, Kevin O'Neill, Timothy Sarbaugh, Maryann X Preface Gialanella Valiulis, and Andrew Wilson, Loyola University of Chi cago; Elizabeth S. Meloy, Northwestern University; Frank Biletz, University of Chicago; and Troy Davis, Marquette University. Their research and writing have affected my interpretation of Irish history in positive ways. I also learned a great deal from associations and conversations with such close friends as Thomas N. Brown, Patrick Casey, Vincent Comerford, Thomas Cunningham, Joseph M. Curran, Thomas Fla nagan, Thomas E. Hachey, Joseph M. Hernon Jr., T.W. Heyck, John Kelleher, Emmet Larkin, Sean Lucy, Ailfrid MacLochlainn, John A. Murphy, Maureen Murphy, Janet Nolan, Harold Orel, Ellen Skerrett, Mary Helen Thuente, and Alan Ward. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my wife, Joan; children, Kevin, Sheila, and Patricia; their spouses, Jean Luft, Fernando Trigosa, and Bob Jacques; my grandchildren, Sean, Emily, Brian, Kathleen, and Alex; and my West Highland White Terrier friends, Andy and the late Fergus, for frequent morale boosts. Much of this book is the result of my own research and writings on Irish nationalism, as indicated in the 1968 publication. In my discussion of the recent troubles in Northern Ireland, I borrowed from my Chicago Tribune essay of May 10, 1981, "Crisis in Northern Ireland." Introduction In many ways a study of the experience of the British in Ireland and Irish reactions to their unwanted presence provides insights into our world of disappearing empires, emerging nations, cultural conflicts between affluent and underdeveloped countries, and ethnic and religious feuds within and between nations. Traditional and popular versions of Irish history have traced the origins and attributed the success of Irish nationalism to the failure of Britain to react adequately or in a timely manner to the basic religious, political, economic, and social needs that created and encouraged opposition to the Union. They have described most British concessions to Irish demands as expedient measures de signed to frustrate agitations before they became insurrections. Ac cording to this thesis, these hastily designed sops to Irish Catholic complaints were palliatives rather than remedies; their deficiencies created new and deepened old grievances, and, in the long run, antagonized rather than conciliated majority Irish opinion. There can be little quarrel with the thesis that Irish national ism owed much to British ignorance of and insensitivity toward conditions in Ireland and Irish points of view. Still, it is too easy to blame sectarian strife, economic exploitation, and the denial of political and cultural sovereignty in Ireland entirely on the inadequa cies of British politicians. Even when viewed from a contemporary perspective the complexity of the Irish Question defies simple solu tions, and in their attempt to respond to Irish discontent British 2 Introduction Introduction 3 leaders have been confronted with the limitations placed on political action by the party system; economic and political dogmas; cultural, religious, and class conflict in Ireland; and the pressures and preju dices of British public opinion. At first glance the Irish Question appears to have been essen tially religious in nature. Protestants controlling the Irish Parliament in 1800 accepted the Act of Union as a compact with coreligionists on the other side of the Irish Sea to maintain their privileged position. Although the Crown and the Tory party endorsed Protestant Ascen dancy, the Catholic majority in Ireland refused to accept an apartheid policy that would condemn it to a permanent inferiority. But sectari anism in Ireland involves much more than theology. For the most part, Protestants were the educated, propertied, prosperous, and politically and socially dominant class. Ulster Pres byterians were businessmen, shopkeepers, professionals, members of the gentry, and tenant farmers. As Noncomformists dissenting from the Protestant Church of Ireland, they suffered discrimination for a considerable period of time, but not nearly to the same extent as Catholics. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, New Light Presbyterians, influenced by the liberal spirit of the Enlightenment, displayed tolerance toward Catholics. But the Evan gelical triumphed over the New Light strain, and Anglicans and Presbyterians found common ground in fervent no-popery. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was a substantial Catholic middle class, a small aristocracy and gentry, and a few successful professionals, but in general Catholics represented the landless, rack-rented, illiterate, and politically underprivileged portion of the Irish population. While most of the emotional content of the Irish Question centered on the sectarian issue, its essence was the attempt of a besieged minority, aided by an alien legislature, to maintain religious, political, economic, and social dominance over a deprived and resentful majority increasingly aware of the power of organized and disciplined numbers. Irish nationalism emerged in the nineteenth century as a badge