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... and bought the land were not people who were concerned for improvement but speculators trying to make money. There were not as many workers left with the emigration and the death of many Irishmen but the rents were raised yet again. Eviction was happening again to those who could not afford to pay these rents. Tenant Associations emerged from this, in the north Ulster Protestant ministers helped to form the Tenant Right Association and in the south they formed the Tenant Right League.
Both organizations worked together to get politicians elected to office. Forty seats in the parliament were held by men with this platform, soon though, they broke their election promises. They could not get anything accomplished so they lost heart on the matter. No land reform came out of these associations.
A group founded by John O Mahoney called the Fenian Brotherhood came next. The Fenians were not a peaceful group; they wanted radical group that wanted separation and revolution. The people were afraid at first to openly support the Fenians; Priests condemned all secret societies and actually excommunicated people who joined them. Open support started slowly but did come.
The Fenians infiltrated the British Army with their own men and also wanted to take a British town, they tried to take Chester unsuccessfully. They failed because they were not prepared properly to fight and were fighting among themselves. It did make people in Britain become aware however that there were problems in Ireland. William Edward Gladstone, the leader of the British Liberal Party told a public meeting that the Irish violence was a result of Irish grievances, and it was Britains duty to remove those grievances.
He was a devote Protestant but had sympathy for the Nonconformists. He believed it was an injustice that a country that was primarily Catholic had an established Protestant church and all the endowments and revenues that came with it. He used this as his platform to run for Prime Minister. Gladstone had a census taken in Ireland in 1861. The population was 5. 75 million at this time. 4. 5 million were Catholic and members of the established Protestant church were only 700, 000 and most of them were in the north.
He was elected on this ticket. In 1869 he put a bill before parliament to disestablish the Church of Ireland and it was passed. The government confiscated all of the church's holdings. Half of it was put aside to provide for the clergy, schoolmasters and various officials. The rest was put aside to help the poverty stricken, to make agriculture and fishing better and to promote higher education.
Most of the land owned by the church was sold. Gladstone slipped clauses in to give the tenants an opportunity to buy the land they lived on. The clauses Gladstone put in the Irish Church Act helped to make the Irish Land Act in 1870. Before a landlord was presumed to have made it possible for the improvement of the land. The new act made the presumption that the tenant made the improvements.
If the tenant was evicted he had to be given compensation for improvements unless the landlord could prove differently. Landlords did not feel that the state should be interfering with their relationships with their tenants. The act failed though because Gladstones safeguards were taken out and things did not change between the landlord and the tenant. Irishmen were beginning to get discouraged at the failure to receive some justice or rights.
People began again to think of having their own parliament. In 1870 Isaac Butt drew together Protestants, Catholic Liberals and Fenians to form a group called the Home Government Association. This group became the Home Rule League three years later. In 1874 they put their own candidates in the general election, 59 were elected to parliament.
The party did not work together though and the party failed. Isaac Butts leadership was not powerful not cohesive, he was more worried about his own financial problems. He also believed the way to get what they want was to be nice to the British government. J. C. Bugger, from Belfast did not believe this.
He would hold the floor for hours in the House of Commons keeping anything from being accomplished. He was strong but not someone that the gentry would follow. They needed to find a new leader that everyone would follow. Parnell became that leader; he was elected from Meath in 1875. He like Bugger would obstruct business in the Commons.
He didnt have any respect for the British government. He was supported by the Fenians they began a new movement to support a constitutional nationalism, pressed for land reform with protection for tenants and ultimately land ownership. Both the military extremist and the Home Rulers were finding common ground to fight for. There still is so much more that can be said about the years after the famine. This paper just touches on the beginning of the fight for change, rights for the tenant farmers that barely survived because of the Famine. Nobody caused the famine but more assistance could have been given to those who stayed in Ireland.
They had little means to keep their families from starving or dying from disease. They had no rights to stay on the land they worked unless they paid their rent. There is no reason to ask why they did not try to improve their living conditions if they could be evicted at any time or can not even receive assistance when the crop that feeds them fails. Many attempts were made my various people and organizations after the famine to change these conditions. They did not always work or accomplish what they set out to do. These people and organizations paved the way for future leaders to fight and win for Irelands freedom and basic human rights.
Bibliography: Bibliography Somerset Fry, P. and F. , A History of Ireland Routledge, London and New York, 1988. Percival, John The Great Famine, Irelands Potato Famine 1845 - 51 Viewer Books. New York. 1995. Foster, R. F. , The Oxford History of Ireland Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989.
Moody, T. W. , Martin, F. X. , The Course of Irish History Roberts Rinehart Publishers, Colorado 1967, 1984, 1995.
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Research essay sample on History Of Ireland Protestant Church
