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Isaac Butt and the Home Rule Movement: A Study in Conservative Nationalism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2009
Extract
The formation of the Irish Home Rule movement was a significant factor in influencing subsequent Irish and British history. Irish Federalism produced a political party that often controlled the balance of power in the House of Commons; split the Liberal party on the question of Irish self-government, a prelude to its eventual collapse; secured extensive agrarian reform for Irish tenant farmers, the first serious blow to traditional property rights in the British Isles; and was instrumental in destroying the political power of the House of Lords.
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- Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1960
References
* Research on this paper, a part of which was read at a joint session of the Conference on British Studies and the American Historical Association in Washington D. C, December 29, 1958, was made possible by a grant from the American Philosophical Society.
1 Probably the two most important recent studies of the Home Rule movement are Conor Cruise O'Brien's, Parnell And His Party, 1880–90 (Oxford, 1957)Google Scholar, and Lyons', F. S. L.The British Parliamentary Party, 1890–1910 (London, 1950)Google Scholar.
2 For detailed biographical information on Butt consult DeVere White's, TerenceThe Road of Excess (Dublin, 1945)Google Scholar.
3 While lecturing at Trinity, Butt used his free time to study law at the King's Inn.
4 Butt, Isaac, Irish Municipal Reform (Dublin, 1840)Google Scholar.
5 Butt, Isaac, Repeal of the Union (London, 1843)Google Scholar.
6 Butt, Isaac, Profit and Labour (Dublin, 1837)Google Scholar, Protection to Home Industries (Dublin, 1846)Google Scholar, and The Poor Law Bill For Ireland (London, 1837)Google Scholar.
7 In the 1840's a number of prominent Irishmen were Federalists. In October, 1844, O'Connell announced his willingness to accept Federalism as an alternative to Repeal. A month later he withdrew his offer when Federalists failed to respond to his proposal and when Repealers, particularly the Young Ireland group, objected to the abandonment of the traditional national demand [SirDuffy, Charles Gavan, Young Ireland (London, 1896), Vol. II, pp. 107–124]Google Scholar.
8 At this time, Butt was willing to co-operate with nationalists in an effort to obtain a seat in Parliament. He wanted Duffy, Smith O'Brien, and T. F. Meagher to recommend him to an Irish constituency. Duffy and Meagher indicated a willingness to comply with Butt's request if he would declare himself a Repealer [SirDuffy, Charles Gavan, My Life In Two Hemispheres (London, 1898), Vol. I, p. 313]Google Scholar.
9 Butt, Isaac, The Irish People and the Irish Land (Dublin, 1867)Google Scholar, Land Tenure in Ireland: A Plea for the Celtic Race (Dublin, 1866)Google Scholar, The Irish Querist (Dublin, 1867)Google Scholar. Butt did some of his writing during a brief stay in prison for inability to pay his many creditors.
10 Butt, Isaac, The Liberty of Teaching Vindicated (Dublin, 1865)Google Scholar, The Problem of Irish Education (London, 1875)Google Scholar, and Irish University Education (Dublin, 1877)Google Scholar.
11 For an interesting discussion of the relationship between Irish Conservatives and Home Rule see Thornley, David, “The Irish Conservatives and Home Rule, 1869–73,” Irish Historical Studies, XI, No. 43 (03, 1959)Google Scholar.
12 This report of the Bilton meeting is taken from Final Report of the Home Government Association presented at the last meeting of the H. G. A., Dec. 16, 1873, reported in the Evening Mail (Dublin), 12 17, 1873Google Scholar; and Sullivan, A. M., New Ireland (London, 1877), pp. 341 ffGoogle Scholar.
13 The resolutions adopted by the H. G. A. can be found in New Ireland, pp. 344, 345. In September, 1870, the H. G. A. sent letters to prospective members guaranteeing existing religious and property rights (Nation, Sept. 17, 1870).
14 Irish Federalism, p. 55.
15 Three Irish M.P.'s—William Shaw, Bandon; Philip Callan, Dundalk; and George Browne, Mayo—were charter members of the H. G. A. The following Home Rulers were elected to Parliament: P. J. Smyth, Westmeath; Isaac Butt, Limerick City; John Martin, Meath; Rowland P. Blennerhassett, Kerry; William Archer Redmond, Wexford City; Joseph Ronayne, Cork City; Hon. Charles French, Roscommon; Mitchell Henry, Galway. (In 1872, Captain John Nolan was elected for Galway County but the verdict of the electors was reversed on the grounds of clerical intimidation). The following M.P.'s elected as Liberals in 1874 came out for Home Rule: John Francis Maguire (he died in 1872 and his seat was won by Ronayne), Cork City; McCarthy Downing, Cork County; O'Conor Don, Roscommon; Kenelm Digby and Edmund Dease, Queen's; Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, Galway City.
Although members of the organization participated in the campaigns, the H. G. A. made it a rule never to interfere in by-election contests. Butt believed that a private organization like the H. G. A. had no right to select candidates for or dictate voting behavior to Irish constituencies.
16 A lack of records makes it difficult to estimate the actual number of Protestants who joined the H. G. A., 1870–73. The author's research has convinced him that only a few members of the gentry became Home Rulers and that most Protestant Federalists belonged to the business community. Almost all of the Protestant majority at the Bilton meeting were merchants (Isaac Butt to P. J. Smyth, May 23, 1870, P. J. Smyth Papers, M.S. 8215, National Library of Ireland), and Protestant nationalism was described by one Ulster Protestant M.P. as a device to put money into the pockets of Dublin business men (Thomas Conolly, M.P. Donegal, to Jonathan Pirn, M.P. Dublin, Nov. 14, 1871, Jonathan Pim Papers, M.S. 8669, National Library of Ireland). Protestant merchants were critical of Gladstone's Irish policy, but they were also disturbed by the decline in the Irish economy resulting from rents paid to absentee landlords, emigration, and British industrial competition.
In 1871, Protestants composed two-fifths of the H. G. A. membership and had a majority of three on the sixty-one-man Executive Council (Nation, May 25, 1872). In 1872, Catholics had a majority of seven on the Executive Council and only one-third of the ballots in the election of Council members were cast by Protestants (Nation, June 22, 1872).
17 Alfred Webb to William J. O'Neill Daunt, Aug. 14, 1871, O'Neill Daunt Papers, M.S. 8048, National Library of Ireland.
18 The editor of the Evening Mail supported Home Rule in 1870 because he thought Federalism would destroy the political power of the Catholic clergy and their allies, the British Liberals. Too long, complained the editor, had the peasant masses been the prey of the ambitions of ultramontane priests and place-seeking demagogues. Now was the time, said the Mail, for an alliance between landlord and tenant farmer that would place the gentry in command of the forces of Irish nationalism.
19 Letter of Lord Clancarty to the , H. G. A., Evening Mail, 10 28, 1870Google Scholar. William Lecky, the respected Irish Protestant historian, though critical of English rule in Ireland, opposed Home Rule because it would encourage religious and agrarian strife (Mulvey, Helen, “The Historian Lecky: Opponent of Irish Home Rule,” Victorian Studies, 06, 1958, pp. 337 ff.)Google Scholar.
20 Evening Mail, Jan. 1, 1872.
21 Patrick Leahy, Archbishop of Cashel, to O'Neill Daunt, Dec. 7, 20, 1870; Feb. 14, April 1, 1871; August 3, 1872, O'Neill Daunt Papers, M.S. 8046. Michael O'Hea, Bishop of Ross, to O'Neill Daunt, Nov. 18, 1870, O'Neill Daunt Papers, M.S. 8047. Mathew McAlroy, Parish Priest Tullamore, to O'Neill Daunt, Oct. 3, 1872, O'Neill Daunt Papers, M.S. 8047. Dr. David Moriarity, Bishop of Kerry, in February of 1872, attacked some Home Rule leaders as anti-Catholic and advised Irish voters to place their trust in Gladstone and the Liberals (Address to the Kerry electors first published in the Tralee Chronicle, Jan. 9, 1872, and reprinted in the Nation, Feb. 17, 1872).
22 In the Archdiocese of Dublin, 1870–1873, only two priests joined the Home Government Association and one of them eventually withdrew (O'Neill Daunt Journal, April 18, 1873, M.S. 3041, National Library of Ireland). The names of twenty Protestant clergymen compared to only twelve Catholic priests appeared in a list of H. G. A. members published in the Nation, Aug. 20, 1870. It was reported to Butt that Sir John Gray, M.P. Kilkenny City, and proprietor of the Freeman's Journal, was reluctant to join the H. G. A. because it was frowned on by the Catholic hierarchy (Hugh Heinrich to Isaac Butt, June 25, 1873, Butt Papers, M.S. 8695, National Library of Ireland).
23 Some of the Limerick clergy were not friendly to Butt's candidacy, Ronayne was opposed by many of the Cork priests, and the Bishop of Kerry vigorously fought Blennerhassett. In these cases the clergy endorsed supporters of Gladstone but the Home Rulers won. However, Joseph Biggar was defeated in Derry because the bishop, Francis Kelly, and his clergy campaigned for the Liberal candidate, but by splitting the nationalist vote, the clergy helped elect a Tory.
24 There is evidence that the bishops consulted Butt during their deliberations on the University Bill (Bartholomew Woodlock, Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, to Butt, March 15, 1873, Butt Papers, M.S. 8695).
25 In January, 1873, O'Neill Daunt, one of O'Connell's lieutenants in the Repeal Association, was appointed chairman of all the committees of the H.G.A. In effect, this made him executive director of the organization. O'Neill Daunt was selected for this position because of his influence in clerical circles.
26 James Donnelly, Clogher; Thomas Nulty, Meath; and George Butler, Limerick spoke favorably of legislative independence. John MacHale, Tuam; William Keane, Cloyne; and Michael O'Hea, Ross, complimented the H. G. A. Dr. Patrick Dorrian, Down and Connor, wanted to join the H. G. A., but decided against it because such action might alienate Ulster Protestants friendly to Home Rule (Dr. Dorrian to Butt, Oct. 8, 1873, Butt Papers, M.S. 8695).
27 Soon after the passage of the Land Act, it became obvious that the Bill was an inadequate solution to the Land question. Butt realized that while the rules of the H. G. A. would not permit the Association to champion tenant right, Federalist M.P.'s could not afford to ignore agrarian discontent. He advised them to support tenant right, denominational education, and other popular causes because their parliamentary conduct would influence the support the Catholic masses gave to Home Rule (Isaac Butt to Philip Callan, Dec. 12, 1872, M.S. 830, National Library of Ireland).
28 Butt feared that discussions and debates emanating from a meeting that included Federalists, Repealers, Fenians, Whigs, denominational educationalists, Protestant Conservatives, and tenant-righters would divide rather than unite Home Rulers (Butt to A. M. Sullivan, two undated letters, 1873, M.S. 831, National Library of Ireland). Bishop Keane of Cloyne was one of the leaders behind the demand for a conference, and Archbishop MacHale also supported the idea.
29 William Shaw to O'Neill Daunt, Sept. 2, 1873, M.S. 831.
30 Evening Mail, June 4, 11, 26; Sept. 19, 23; Oct. 3, 22; Nov. 1, 8, 10, 1873. The Mail was supported by prominent Protestant members of the H. G. A. George Moyers wrote Butt that he could no longer endorse Home Rule because it would end in “Rome Rule” (Moyers to Butt, Nov. 3, 1873, Butt Papers, M.S. 8695). James Spaight wanted to leave the movement because he was convinced that it had been captured by revolutionaries and denominational educationalists (Spaight to Butt, Oct. 31, 1873, Butt Papers, M.S. 8695). In a letter to O'Neill Daunt, an Ulster Protestant landlord attributed the declining interest of the gentry in Federalism to the activities of Home Rulers in promoting tenant right and denominational education (Daunt, William J. O'Neill, Eighty Five Years of Irish History, 1800–1885 (London, 1886), Vol. II, pp. 190, 191)Google Scholar.
31 Proceedings of the Home Rule Conference held at the Rotunda, Dublin, on the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st, November, 1873, with a list of conference ticket holders, index to speakers, index to subjects treated of in the debates, constitution and laws of the Home Rule League (Dublin, 1874)Google Scholar.
32 Irish Times, Nov. 22, 1873.
33 Evening Mail, Nov. 22, 1873.
34 For a detailed analysis of the general election of 1874 in Ireland see McCaffrey, Lawrence J., “Home Rule and the General Election of 1874 in Ireland,” Irish Historical Studies, Vol. IX, No. 34 (09, 1954)Google Scholar. In fact, the Irish voters elected sixty Home Rulers, but after the election one of the successful candidates who campaigned as a Federalist, Sir John Esmonde, Waterford County, refused to join the Irish party.
35 Most of the Home Rule M.P.'s in their election addresses pledged themselves to tenant right and denominational education as well as Home Rule.
36 For an interesting discussion of the difficulty Irish movements had in finding suitable parliamentary candidates see Whyte, J. H., The Independent Irish Party (Oxford, 1958), pp. 39–53Google Scholar.
37 The Kilkenny Journal, champion of tenant right, and the Galway Vindicator, a staunch advocate of denominational education, were the newspapers most critical of the Home Rule M.P.'s and the Irish Party. In the summer of 1875, a group of Repealers led by P. J. Smyth, M.P. (he left the Irish Party early in 1874) and Peter Paul McSwiney, Lord Mayor of Dublin, attempted to destroy Federalism by organizing a Faith and Fatherland movement to agitate for Catholic needs. The Kilkenny Journal and Galway Vindicator supported the proposed new movement as an alternative to the Home Rule League, but the Faith and Fatherland movement was never launched because of the criticisms of Catholic nationalists who opposed this attempt to exploit the Catholic sentiments of the Irish people to discredit Butt and other Protestant Federalists.
38 Nation, July 8, 15, 1876.
39 For a detailed study of the Federalist agitation, 1874–76, see McCaffrey, Lawrence J., “The Home Rule Party and Irish Nationalist Opinion, 1874–1876,” The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. XLIII, No. 2 (07, 1957)Google Scholar.
40 Biggar was censured by Butt for practicing obstruction in 1874 and 1875.
41 Parnell and Biggar could usually count on the support of F. Hugh O'Donnell, Dungarvan; John O'Connor Power, Mayo; Major Purcell O'Gorman, Waterford City; Captain John Nolan, Galway County; George Harley Kirk, Louth; Edmund Dwyer Gray, Tipperary.
42 The Freeman's Journal published letters sent by Butt to Biggar and Parnell criticizing their parliamentary conduct on May 24, and May 26, 1877.
43 The Freeman's Journal published Parnell's reply to Butt on May 28, 1877, and Biggar's on June 4, 1877. Parnell also defended his policy in a letter to the Times (London), 07 30, 1877Google Scholar. Parnell and Biggar preferred to have their parliamentary conduct described as the active policy rather than obstruction.
44 This is a summary of a speech delivered by Parnell at Belfast reported in the Ulster Examiner, Sept. 27, 1877.
45 Only two important nationalist papers consistently supported Butt, the Freeman's Journal and the Cork Examiner.
46 Richard O'Shaughnessy, M.P. to Butt, Aug. 31, 1877, Butt Papers, M.S. 8699. William J. O'Neill Daunt also thought Butt should adopt an active policy (O'Neill Daunt Journal, Aug. 4, 1877).
47 O'Brien, R. Barry, The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell (London, 1910), p. 115Google Scholar.
48 A report of the proceedings of the conference can be found in the Nation, Jan. 19, 1878. The apathy and discord in the Irish party had an adverse effect on the numerical strength of the party and the Home Rule League. In the period 1874–1878, Federalists split six by-election contests, but three M.P.'s completely severed relations with Home Rule while two others left the Home Rule League (at least they stopped paying their dues) and very few new applications for membership were received. As a result, the League was in constant financial difficulties.
49 Devoy's Post Bag, edited by O'Brien, William and Ryan, Desmond (Dublin, 1948), Vol. I, p. 395Google Scholar.
50 Ibid., pp. 266, 269.
51 Ibid., pp. 266, 269, 298, 324.
52 Ibid., p. 370. The contents of the cable were published in the New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 26, 1878, and the Nation, Nov. 16, 1878. The cable was sent to Charles J. Kickham for transmission to Parnell. Kickham said he sent it on to Parnell, but Parnell denied receiving it. The program of the New Departure was first outlined to Parnell by Michael Davitt in July, 1878 [Davitt, Michael, The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland (London, 1904), pp. 110 ffGoogle Scholar.].
53 Freeman's Journal, Nov. 9; Dec. 3, 1878.
54 Butt to Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Feb. 11, 1878, M.S. 832. Although Irish nationalists were aware that Butt had consulted with the Government on the Intermediate Education Bill, they did not know that he promised anything in exchange for this concession to the education demands of Irish Catholics.
55 Hansard, 3rd Series, Vol. 242, cols. 1084 ff. Butt believed in a strong Empire and a vigorous foreign policy to maintain it against Russian and German competition.
56 Nation, Dec. 7, 14, 1878.
57 Cork Examiner, Aug. 5, Dec. 2, 1877; Freeman's Journal, Aug. 5, 1877. The Galway Vindicator attempted to justify Butt's conduct. The editor wrote that as long as Butt believed that an amendment to the Queen's Speech might endanger a University Bill, he was justified in his actions (Galway Vindicator, Dec. 4, 1878).
58 Freeman's Journal, Feb. 5, 1879.