Search Results

This chapter discusses the intensity of communal feeling during the home rule crisis in Ireland. All the various animosities of race, religion, and class were involved in this crisis, and even the word Irish itself became almost a term of abuse. Some farmers suggested that what the Irish people wanted was to drive out the capitalists just as they had driven out the landowners.

This chapter outlines the historical background of the home rule crisis in Ireland. It started in 1885 when rumours began to circulate that the British Prime Minister William Gladstone was planning to implement a measure of home rule for Ireland. Unionist Belfast reacted to these rumours with dismay and disbelief. In May 1886, Gladstone introduced the first Home Rule Bill in parliament. However, during this time the question of Irish self-government already had a distinct religious or sectarian dimension, and this was highlighted in the result of the 1885 general election where home rule supporters won every seat with a Catholic preponderance.

This chapter traces the events leading to the civil war in Ireland caused by the home rule crisis. The Irish government's intelligence sources on the Ulster Unionist Council suggested that a significant section of the Belfast unionist leadership was not interested in an explosive encounter with the government. However, it was reported that Sir Edward Carson had urged employers to recruit male workers into the Ulster Volunteer Force. Police authorities also had no doubt that some of the most prominent businessmen in Belfast were already associated with the Unionist movement and fulfilling its programme by every means in their power.

This chapter discusses issues associated with the project of Redmondism in Ireland. After the outbreak of the war, the rules of the game of the leaderships of the two principal factions were immediately changed. The Irish unionist leadership became inhibited, feeling that they had lost their freedom of action. They also believed that the government would launch new attempts to placate John Redmond on the home rule issue. However, Redmond was very firm on his instance on the Home Rule Bill being placed upon the statute book.

This chapter discusses political issues associated with the home rule crisis in Ireland. In April 1912, the Home Rule Bill was introduced in the British House of Commons, but despite this the British government remained formally committed to the principle of Irish unity. A serious affray at Castledawson on June 29 initiated a marked deterioration in the intercommunal relations. Inflamed Protestants regarded this attack on children as an indication of the baseness of nationalist intent.

This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on Ulster Nationalism, the Irish Question, and the home rule crisis. It suggests that Nationalist Ireland should concentrate on preventing any new legislation that would stereotype Orange ascendancy in the Ulster of the Ulster Nationalists. It also clarifies that the part of Ulster that is left outside home rule shall remain under modern British rule directly and indirectly in small and large affairs.