Liberals and Ireland: Ulster Question in British Politics to 1914

312 Pages·1980·38.591 MB·English

by  Patricia Jalland

"Dr. Jalland has made a wonderful job of
threading through the maze. All the
complexities are handled with great
assurance and lucidity." DR. PETER
CLARKE, author of Lancashire and the
New
Liberalism.
The Liberals
and Ireland:
The Ulster Question in
British Politics to 1914
PATRICIA JALLAND
T1HIS IMPORTANT NEW STUDY
analyses the last Liberal Govern-
ment's failure to resolve the Ulster
problem, and argues for the vital
roleoftheIrishquestionintheLiberal
Party's decline.
Drawing on more than fifty collec-
tions of private papers, Dr. Jalland
skilfully traces the Liberal Party's
commitment to Home Rule, and the
nature andsignificanceoftheUlster
Question from 1885.
ThechangingrolesofAsquith, Birrell,
Churchill and Lloyd George are
analysed in the context of the
parliamentarydebates andthe secret
negotiations of the party leaders.
The mounting pressure from the
Ulster campaign and the Govern-
ment's miscalculations culminated
in the fatal Curragh crisis of March
1914, which finally wrecked the
Liberal Irish policy.
The Liberals and Ireland argues that
Asquith's weaknesses as a wartime
leader were foreshadowed in his
mismanagement of the Ulster crisis.
The Home Rule question also high-
lighted the difficulty in reconciling
the 'progressive' demands of the
twentieth-centuryelectorate withthe
traditional commitments of Glad-
stonian Liberalism.
HarvesterPress
ISBN 0 85527 627 5 £20.00
BOSTON
PUBLIC
LIBRARY

THE
LIBERALS
AND
IRELAND

THE
LIBERALS
AND
IRELAND
The Ulster Question
in British Politics to 1914
PATRICIA JALLAND
Lecturer in History,
Western Australian Institute ofTechnology
THE HARVESTER PRESS
FirstpublishedinGreatBritainin 1980by
THEHARVESTERPRESSLIMITED
Publishers:John SpiersandMargaretA. Boden
16 ShipStreet, Brighton, Sussex
©
PatriciaJalland, 1980
BritishLibrary CataloguinginPublicationData
Jalland, Patricia
TheLiberalsandIreland.
1. Irishquestion
2. LiberalParty-History
I. Title
301.29'42'0415 DA957
ISBN0-85527-627-4
PrintedinGreatBritainby
StEdmundsburyPress, BuryStEdmunds, Suffolk
Allrightsreserved
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 10
Introduction 13
I THE GLADSTONIAN LEGACY, 1885-1912 19
1. The Home Rule Commitment 19
2. The Prime Minister and the Irish Secretary 30
A
3. Drafting the Bill: Gladstonian Solution or
UnitedKingdom Devolution? 37
II THE 'ULSTER QUESTION' FROM 1886 TO
APRIL 1912 50
1. The Origins and Significance ofthe 'Ulster
Question' 50
2. Gladstone and the Ulster Challenge 52
A
3. Tragic Omission: the Neglected Ulster
Dimension,January 1911 to February 1912 56
4. Ministerial Misgivings on Ulster: Birrell,
Churchill and Lloyd George, 1911-12 58
A
5. Cabinet Decision against Ulster Exclusion,
February 1912 63
6. The Failings ofAsquith's UlsterPolicy 65
7. Cabinet Ignorance and UlsterInformation:
The IrishPolice Reports, 1911-12 72
8. Conclusion: The Ulster Question-Liberal Failure
by Omission 75
III THE FIRST PARLIAMENTARY CIRCUIT 78
1. Debates on First and Second Reading, April-
May 1912: The Unionist Challenge on Ulster
and the Government's Reluctant Response 80
2. Dissident Backbenchers: Nonconformity,
Federalism and the Celtic Fringe 87
3. Agar-Robartes' Amendment forthe Exclusion of
North-East Ulster,June 1912 92
4. The Public Debate,July-October 1912: Asquith,
BonarLaw and Churchill 102
5. The Parliamentary Battle Resumed: Carson's
Amendment for Ulster Exclusion 106
6. The First Circuit Concluded 113
IV FROM DEADLOCK TO REASSESSMENT:
MOUNTING PRESSURE FROM THE ULSTER
CAMPAIGN
120
1. Home Rulein Parliament, 1913 120
2. Pressures towards Compromise: (i) The King and
the Campaign for Settlement by Consent 125
3. Pressures towards Compromise: (ii) The
Unionist Campaign for Dissolution and Royal
Intervention 129
4. Pressures towards Compromise: (hi) The Ulster
Campaign 132
V SECRETMEETINGS AND SHIFTING GROUND:
TOWARDS ULSTER EXCLUSION,
SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER
1913 142
1. Churchill, Lloyd George and UlsterExclusion,
September-October 1913 145
2. Asquith's Meetings with BonarLaw, October-
November 1913 152
3. Ministerial Divisions over Ulster Exclusion 157
4. Lloyd George's Ulster Exclusion Initiative,
November 1913 166
5. Sounding out the Nationalists 170
VI THE DRIFTTO CATASTROPHE, NOVEMBER
-MARCH
1913 1914 176
1. Playing for Time: The Cabinet Policy of
'Wait and See' 176