Killing Home Rule with Kindness and the Fall of Parnell
In this chapter you will learn about: • Early Conservative attempts to kill Home Rule with kindness • The Plan of Campaign and improvements in the Land Question • How Parnell’s personal life led to his fall from power • The split in the Irish Parliamentary Party
By the end of this chapter you will be able to: • Fully assess Charles Stewart Parnell’s impact on Irish politics • Discuss the Conservatives’ attempts to kill Home Rule and debate whether they were successful • Weigh up the impact of the Land War • Understand the damage done by the split in the Irish Parliamentary Party
Killing Home Rule with Kindness, 1886–1892
Despite the defeat of the First Home Rule Bill in 1886, Parnell’s popularity remained high. Many saw him as a hero for having convinced Gladstone to introduce the Bill. Support for Home Rule was still as strong as ever among most of the Irish population.
Following the election of 1886, the Conservatives, under the leadership of Lord Salisbury, hoped to ‘kill’ the demand for Home Rule by bringing in new reforms to improve conditions in Ireland. This policy is known as constructive unionism, but is more commonly referred to as killing Home Rule with kindness. The reforms were designed to deal with the issue of land ownership. The Conservatives believed that by solving this problem the Irish people would see the benefits of being part of the Union with Britain and would give up their demands for an Irish parliament.
The Conservatives had introduced the successful Ashbourne Act and appointed Lord Carnarvon as the new Viceroy when they needed the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party to form a government in 1885 (SEE CHAPTER 4). However, following the 1886 elections they secured the support of the Liberal Unionists and no longer needed to rely on Parnell’s party. The Conservatives first attempted to crush support for Home Rule by bringing in laws to suppress agitation against British policies in Ireland.
