Gladstone

392 Pages·1987·26.35 MB·English

by  Loughlin

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Description
Home
1986 is the centenary ofthe First Rule Bill,
one of the climactic moments of nineteenth-
Home
century British parliamentary life. Irish
Rule was a question that split the Liberal Party
and sowed the seeds of its eventual decline.
This book is an outstanding original contribution
to the history of the Home Rule movement.
The traditionalview ofthe Home Rule struggle of
the 1880’s and 1890’s is essentially one ofa
contest between the forces ofenlightenment and
reaction. Inits broad outlines, this picturedepicts
Home
the Irish nation earnestly desiring Rule,
being responded to by Gladstone who was
deeply influenced by his ‘European sense’ and
sympathywithstrugglingnationalities. HisHome
Rule proposals, althougheagerlyacceptedbythe
Irish, were defeated by a reactionary alliance of
English Conservatives and Ulster Unionists. This
simplistic outline stems in large part from a
Home
tendencytosee RuleinEnglishpartyterms
as a contestbetweenLiberalsandConservatives.
The actual ideas and proposals which provoked
Home
Rule have tended to be subsidiary
concerns.
It is to these hitherto neglected areas thatJames
Loughlin addresses himself He demonstrates
that Irish support for Home Rule was byno
means overwhelming in the early 1880’s. He
emphasises Gladstone’s ignorance ofIreland
and the extent to which he was panicked into
declaring for Home Rule, not in the way ofa
dramatic ‘conversion’ as has been traditionally
suggested, butbyasequenceofalarmingreports
on the state ofIreland from apparently reliable
informants. Moreover, this book examines
seriously for the first time the nature ofUnionist
objections to the Home Rule schemes and finds
that they had a solid foundation and were even
shared in part by some nationalists! By focusing
on Gladstone and on the Ulster opposition to
Home Rule,James Loughlin has materially
altered historical perspectives onone ofthemost
important movements in modem Irish history^
BOSTOISI
PUBLIC
LIBILZULY
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in 2017 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
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GLADSTONE, HOME RULE AND THE
ULSTER QUESTION,
1882-93
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JAMES LOUGHLIN
S.
Gladstone,
Home
Rule and
the
Ulster Question
1882-93
Humanities Press International, Inc.
First published in 1987
in the United States of America
and Canada
l)y
Humanities Press International, Inc.,
Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716
©
James Loughlin, 1987
Library ol’ Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
3.
Loughlin, James.
Cladstone, Home Rule and
the Ulster Question, 1882-93.
— —
1. Ireland Politics and Covernment 1837-1901.
2. Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart), 1809-1898.
Home Rule (Ireland) 4. Ulster (Northern Ireland and
— —
Ireland) Politics and Government. 5. Nationalism
— —
Ireland History 19th Century. 1. Title.
DA95LE68 1987 941.5081 86-27832
ISBN 0-391-03503-7
All Rights Reserved.
No Reproduction, Copy or Transmission
ol' this publication may be made
without written permission.
Printed in Great Britain
To Caroline, Carmen, Jacinta
and my parents