net to draft the first Home Rule Bill, it had been an aspiration for the Irish but untested in England, and had no Reviews need for a concrete form. The proc- ess of definition crystallised all the difficulties, which have ever since ‘There are Things Stronger bedevilled the Irish peace process and the introduction of devolution anywhere in Britain. What powers Than Parliamentary Majorities’ should be devolved? What reserved for the imperial parliament? Should (Andrew Bonar Law, 1912) there be representation at Westmin- ster? Should it be more closely re- Alan O’Day: lated to the size of the electorate? Irish Home Rule 1867–1921 Should the representatives of the de- volved countries have the right to (Manchester University Press, 1998) speak and vote on the affairs of the other countries at Westminster? How Reviewed by Tony Little should the rights of minorities within the community be protected? While not accepting Gladstone’s Devolution has been the policy of the Liberal and Liberal proposals as fixing ‘the boundary to Democrat parties for more than a century, and is so ingrained the march of a nation’, Parnell sup- ported the bill. For the majority of in the party that its origins and strange history are often Liberals such devolution chimed in forgotten. An argument can be made that in the form of with trusting the people. However, home rule for Ireland it was a policy that almost destroyed about one third of Liberal MPs on the radical left and Whig right of the the Liberal Party and that it was an accident of parliamentary party not only harboured prejudices circumstances rather than a natural outcome of Liberal about obstructive and rebellious philosophy. Irish, but saw the bill as heralding the break-up of an Empire then Ireland was the last nation for- mission ‘to pacify Ireland’, adopted a nearing its peak. At times it is hard mally to join the United Kingdom, policy initially of disestablishment of to see the distinction drawn, espe- and union with Britain never ap- the Anglican Church of Ireland, and cially by Radical Unionists, between pears to have sat comfortably with later of land reform. schemes of local government reform the majority of the population. Un- From the conjunction of the which they would have accepted and ion was a reaction to the rebellion forces in Ireland emerged the Home the proposals Gladstone made, but of  and, at intervals thereafter Rule party under Isaac Butt. While it should not be forgotten that in idealistic but inept revolutionaries it made progress in winning seats in , there was no county council unsuccessfully attempted to cut the Ireland, its impact at Westminster was system as we know it today. Irish lo- chains. While sometimes led by limited until Joseph Biggar and cal government was provided by a high-minded and even upper-class Charles Stewart Parnell developed series of grand juries dominated by Protestants, these uprisings drew obstructionism. They exploited the an elite of Protestant landowners. whatever strength they had from the then easy-going rules of the Com- The break with the Liberal Un- dissatisfaction, poverty and despera- mons to slow down the pace of Eng- ionists was fatal to the bill. Contin- tion of the Catholic peasants. lish business and highlight the needs ued advocacy of home rule gave Strangely it was the failure of the of Ireland. Parnell replaced Butt as Gladstone and the remainder of the Fenian outrages in  which acted the leader of the party and in  party a sense of purpose over the fol- as the catalyst for change. A campaign the party won (just) the balance of lowing years, but guaranteed that to secure clemency for Fenians suf- power in the Commons. The Home there would be no reunion. This put fering long prison terms overlapped Rule party won the vast majority of paid to the prospect of Liberals gov- with a reaction among respectable seats in Ireland, including a major- erning for the best part of twenty Catholics towards a non-violent con- ity in Ulster, and one in Liverpool. years. structive constitutional form of na- In the ensuing crisis, Gladstone Alan O’Day argues that there tionalism. Meeting them part-way, in both adopted home rule as Liberal were two kinds of home ruler – the , a new Liberal government un- policy and defined its structure. Until moral and the material. For the der Gladstone, with a self-proclaimed Gladstone sat down with his cabi- moral home rulers, the appeal was journal of liberal democrat history 22: spring 1999 29 primarily to achieve a form of na- tial for exploiting their fears, and solve the Ulster problem and grant tionhood for Ireland to which she Gladstone was prepared to give some dominion status to the rest of Ire- was entitled. For many, this emo- protection to the religious minority land in . It was a messy solu- tional and spiritual ambition was sec- overall. By , the Ulster Union- tion with few friends for which we ondary to the reforms required to ists were better prepared, and in  are still paying a price, but for most give the Irish people the day-to-day the support given to their intransi- practical purposes Ireland had ceased government which reflected their gence by the Conservatives brought to be of contention in Britain. own needs and agenda. The party the greatest crisis for parliamentary O’Day’s book provides a full cov- leadership worked on both ambi- government since the civil war. The erage of each stage in the develop- tions and it is this which differenti- even greater European crisis of  ment of home rule. Written in the ates the party from any Irish pred- put the Irish debate on hold, though form of a textbook, it also comes ecessors. Even short of achieving a with home rule on the statute book with a clear chronology, potted bi- parliament for Ireland, the party but not implemented. ographies of each of the main char- could always put proposals forward The Great War changed many acters and an assortment of relevant and sometimes achieve successes things, not least the landscape of Irish brief documents for students to use which met the needs of the elector- politics. The  rebellion resur- as evidence. However, the general ate for land reform, better education, rected the military strategy. The in- reader should not be dissuaded by economic aid and local government. troduction of conscription for Ire- this structure. It is a clear and en- This service function sustained land in  delivered the election joyable read, written from the per- the Home Rule party through the into the hands of Sinn Fein. Those spective of the Irish but not in any crisis of the fall of Parnell, the frus- of its members not in prison met in partisan way. This difference in view- tration of the  Gladstone gov- Dublin rather than Westminster. But, point provides a valuable counter- ernment and the growing disengage- perversely, their boycott allowed the point to the traditional English Lib- ment of the Liberals from home rule British parties at Westminster to re- eral historiography. that followed. Nationalists were able to exploit the alliance of the Con- servatives and Liberal Unionists to secure and improve the lot of the Three Acres and a Cow Irish tenants. Despite splits within its ranks and the growth of Sinn Fein, David Stemp: with its more militant philosophy of boycotting Westminster, the Home Three Acres and a Cow: The life and works of Rule party was ready and able to Eli Hamshire exploit the hung parliament which followed the elections of  and Reviewed by John James the removal of the Lords’ veto. O’Day provides another useful analytical tool by enumerating the When I saw this title on the bookshelf I guessed it would eight groups each of whom was vital to the legitimacy of self-government. contain at least some kind of reference to land reform and These included, naturally, the Catho- poverty; I reached for my wallet; and I’ve not been lic population of Ireland, and the disappointed. The book, written by the subject’s great-great- adoption of the plan by one of the major British parties, support of the grandson, is an ideal purchase for anyone interested in mid- press and the consent of the British to late nineteenth century history. public. The plan needed to pass both the Houses of Parliament. ‘Southern The book begins with some of educated and became, amongst other Irish Unionist opposition had to be the Hamshire family background things, a carrier. He was a thrifty moderated; and, finally, Ulster Union- and genealogy and is itself full of in- chap: he was renting a field at the ist interests needed to be satisfied.’ teresting anecdotes such as: ‘had to age of fourteen, and if he came upon Catholic support was sustained, but pay sixpence for the redemption of a toll bridge he would unhitch the the first two attempts in  and English captives taken by the Turk- horse, lead it over and then pull the  failed the parliamentary and ish pyrates’. It’s Eli and his works, cart across himself to save a penny. English public support hurdles. however, that really interested me. Eli At the age of twenty-nine he mar- Strangely, the position of the Ul- Hamshire was born on Christmas ried Rebecca, who brought a mod- ster Protestants was not recognised Day , at Ewhurst in Surrey, into est fortune with her; it was not by Gladstone in , though Lord a family of yeoman farmers down squandered. He also brewed his own Randolph Churchill saw the poten- on their luck. He was largely self- beer, after falling out with the local

30 journal of liberal democrat history 22: spring 1999