Liberals and Ireland
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Journal of Issue 33 / Winter 2001–02 / £5.00 Liberal DemocratHISTORY Liberals and Ireland Jonathan Parry Lord John Russell and the Irish Catholics Ian Machin An Intractable Problem? Gladstone and Irish Home Rule Roy Douglas Lloyd George and the Partition of Ireland Berkley Farr Liberalism in Unionist Northern Ireland Denis Loretto Alliance, Liberals and the SDP Liberal Democrat History Group Issue 33: Winter 2001–02 Journal of Liberal Democrat History Special issue: Liberals and Ireland The Journal of Liberal Democrat History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. 3 Introduction ISSN 1463-6557 Guest Editor (special issue): Sam Crooks Lord Alderdice introduces this special issue of the Journal Journal Editor: Duncan Brack Assistant Editor: Alison Smith Biographies Editor: Robert Ingham 6 Charles James Fox, the Repeal of Reviews Editor: Sam Crooks Poynings’ Law, and the Act of Union Patrons 1782 – 1801 Dr Mark Pack Dr Eugenio Biagini; Professor Michael Freeden; Professor Earl Russell; Professor John Vincent 9 Lord John Russell and the Irish Editorial Board Catholics Dr Malcolm Baines; Dr Roy Douglas; Dr Barry Doyle; Dr David Dutton; Professor David 1829 – 1852 Dr Jonathan Parry Gowland; Dr Richard Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Ian Hunter; Dr J. Graham Jones; Tony Little; Professor Ian Machin; Dr Mark Pack; 13 Gladstone and Ireland: The Legacy Dr John Powell; Iain Sharpe 1868 – 1974 Alan O’Day Editorial/Correspondence Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles, 16 An Intractable Problem? Gladstone and book reviews – are invited. The Journal is a refereed publication; all articles submitted will and Irish Home Rule be reviewed. Contributions should be sent to: 1880 – 1886 Professor Ian Machin Duncan Brack (Editor) 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ email: [email protected] 20 Asquith, the Third Home Rule Bill All articles copyright © their authors. and the Easter Rising Advertisements 1910 – 1916 Jeremy Smith Adverts are welcome; please contact the Editor for rates. 23 Lloyd George and the Partition of Ireland Subscriptions/Membership An annual subscription to the Journal of Liberal 1916 – 1921 Roy Douglas Democrat History costs £10.00 (£5.00 unwaged rate). This includes membership of the History Group unless you inform us otherwise. 29 Liberalism in Unionist Northern Overseas subscribers should add £5.00; or, a Ireland special three-year rate is available for £40.00 total. 1921 – 1971 Berkley Farr Berkley Farr Cheques (payable to ‘Liberal Democrat History Group’) should be sent to: Patrick Mitchell 33 Alliance, Liberals and the SDP 6 Palfrey Place, London SW8 1PA; email: [email protected] 1971 – 1985 Denis Loretto Cover design concept: Lynne Featherstone 39 Reviews Published by the Liberal Democrat History Group, Peter Gray: Famine, Land and Politics; reviewed by Iain Sharpe; David Bebbington c/o 38 Salford Road, London SW2 4BQ & Roger Swift: The Gladstone Centenary Essays; reviewed by Tony Little; Stephen Printed by Kall-Kwik, Howe: Ireland and Empire; reviewed by Michael SteedSteed; Gordon Gillespie: Albert 426 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5TF H. McElroy: the Radical Minister; reviewed by Bob Bell. February 2002 2 Journal of Liberal Democrat History 33 Winter 2001–02 Introduction Lord Alderdice introduces this special issue of the Journal of Liberal Democrat History LiberalsLiberals andand IrelandIreland he Northern Ireland Assembly has now I was unaware of the extent and longevity of Lord been in place since . A power-sharing John Russell’s interest and commitment to Ireland T Executive is governing. The major cam- before reading Jonathan Parry’s sympathetic article, paigns of republican and loyalist terrorism are rela- which shows his prescience in addressing – albeit tively quiescent and relations between North and unsuccessfully – the power of the churches in Irish South and between Unionists and Nationalists are society. Iain Sharpe’s review of Peter Gray’s Famine, on a wholly new footing. This has all come at the Land and Politics describes the more conventional end of a generation in British politics where the memory of Russell as the Prime Minister who failed three major parties at Westminster have held to a to resolve the problems brought about by the failure largely agreed approach. While there were minor of the potato crop in . differences of emphasis, Northern Ireland has not But the century is dominated by W. E. Gladstone been a matter of substantial inter-party dispute or for whom Ireland was a mission. He pursued the even debate over the thirty years of ‘the Troubles’. It question with evangelical zeal. First he tried coercion. was not always so. Attitudes towards the Irish Ques- When this failed he tried reform, especially land re- tion were for long time a defining characteristic of form. Then he tried doing business with Parnell, but the two major parties in British politics. For the this too was unsuccessful and he resorted to the re- To r ies it was a matter of keeping the place under pression of the Coercion Acts. Finally he turned to control. For those of a Liberal disposition it was a Home Rule. Perhaps one of the reasons why Ireland problem to be resolved. This timely collection of became such a destructive experience for Gladstone papers looks at how Liberals have approached Ire- was that he saw it and treated it as one homogenous land and her problems. country – a small country like Norway where he had Perversely I would read the last paper in the col- spent a holiday in , becoming, through the expe- lection first. Michael Steed’s review of Stephen rience, a convert to Home Rule. Tony Little’s review Howe’s Ireland and Empire demonstrates how the of the Gladstone Centenary Essays describes other in- colonial paradigm is an inadequate basis for under- fluences that were also at work, including his experi- standing the relationship of Britain and Ireland. In- ence of Egypt and his response to Edmund Burke’s stead he identifies key moments as ‘missed oppor- writings on America and Ireland. The terms devolu- tunities’ when the relationship went wrong, when tion and subsidiarity are more commonly used and it might so easily have been otherwise. One such very widely accepted in the new Europe, and the moment was the failure of Grattan’s Parliament, principle that decisions should be taken by those peo- analysed by Mark Pack in his article on Charles ple responsible who are as close as possible to those James Fox. A second is considered by both Alan concerned is now a fundamental liberal principle es- O’Day and – in detail – Ian Machin, namely poused across a wide political spectrum. Why then Gladstone’s inability to carry his home rule bill should Gladstone and the Liberals have broken their and the split in the Liberal party which ensued, leav- back in attempting to implement this principle? Were ing the party in the political wilderness for twenty they simply too far ahead of their time? years, aside from his last short ministry. And a third is The experience of the first two Home Rule Bills described by Jeremy Smith in his article on Asquith. made the Liberals more wary of the Irish question, We forget that that much admired, yet much criti- but it was inescapable. When it returned to plague cised, Prime Minister did actually place home rule Asquith and Lloyd George they realized that while on the statute book, only for his government’s un- Ireland is of course one country in a physical sense, necessarily harsh reaction to the Easter rising of its social and political geography is much more com- to drive constitutional Nationalism into the plex. This was the beginning of a realisation that it is arms of Sinn Fein in a matter of weeks. not necessarily nation states but communities that Journal of Liberal Democrat History 33 Winter 2001–02 3 are the key to identity and self-govern- Ireland. A series of measures have been What then went wrong? There are at ment. Communities have a complex put in place to protect human rights and least three elements. First, as with the social, cultural and economic definition equality of opportunity. There has been a unsuccessful Heath/Whitelaw rather than being a simple matter of new start to policing and the administra- Sunningdale initiative, the Treaty physical geography. It was this greater tion of justice. The transition from con- emerged after a relatively short but in- sophistication as well as pressures from flict to stability should require measures tense period of violence. The former the Irish Unionists (both Liberal and on prisoners, the decommissioning of Taosieach, John Bruton, has argued in a Conservative) and the chicanery of the weapons and demilitarisation, all of recent Princeton lecture that armed ac- To r ies generally which led them to ex- which have come about in varying de- tion, even as a tool of an otherwise justi- plore partition as an option. Roy grees. The Agreement has been validated fiable struggle for independence, has had Douglas describes how (Welsh) Liberal by the people of the island of Ireland, in the long term a negative outcome in wizardry – for which read pragmatism both North and South. Ireland. What seems clear is that in both – was applied to the problem and in a By comparison, the Treaty of and not enough was done to remarkably short time the partitionist gave Dominion status to the twenty-six deal with the sequelae of the violence. settlement came into being. Neither Southern counties but maintained Secondly, the focus in was on side in Ireland wanted it, but both some links with the United Kingdom. creating acceptable arrangements, but could live with it, and did, for fifty years. The Government of Ireland Act in those days the process of bringing In recent decades the Lloyd George had already created a parliament in Bel- people to accept outcomes was less settlement has had a bad press, not fast for Northern Ireland because the well understood.