John Redmond's Last Years

By Stephen Lucius Gwynn and Stephen Lucius Gwynn

Book Overview

GwynnThe Parliament of 1892-5 was barren of results for Ireland, being consumed

by factious strife, at Westminster between the Houses and in Ireland be-

tween the parties. With Gladstone's retirement it seemed as if Home Rule

were dead. But thinking men realized that the Irish question was still there

to be dealt with, and approach to solution began along new lines. When

Lord Salisbury returned to power in 1895, Land Purchase was cautiously

extended with much success: the Congested Districts Board, originally es-

tablished by Mr. Arthur Balfour, was showing good results, and his brother

Mr. Gerald Balfour, now Chief Secretary, felt his way towards a policy which

came to be described as "killing Home Rule with kindness." A section of

Irish Nationalist opinion was scared by the menace contained in this epi-

gram; and consequently, when in 1895 Mr. Horace Plunkett (as he then

was) put forward proposals for a conference of Irishmen to consider pos-

sible means for developing Irish agriculture and Irish industries under the

existing system, voices were raised against what was denounced as a new at-

3 STEPHEN LUCIUS GWYNN

tempt to divert Nationalist Ireland from its main purpose of achieving self-

government. Mr. Plunkett's original proposal was that a body of four Anti-

Parnellites, two Parnellites and two Unionists should meet and deliberate in

Ireland, during the recess. In the upshot the Nationalist majority refused

to take any part; but Redmond, with one of his supporters, Mr. William

Field, served on the "Recess Committee" and concurred in its Report, out

of which came the creation of the Department of Agriculture and Technical

Instruction.

In 1896 the Commission on Financial Relations, which had been set up by

the Liberal Ministry in 1894, reported, and its findings produced a state of

feeling which for a moment promised co-operation between divided inter-

ests in Ireland. Unionist magnates joined with Nationalists in denouncing

the system of taxation, which the Commission-by a majority of eleven to

two-had described as oppressive and unjust to the weaker country.

Redmond was one of the members of this Commission, which included

also distinguished representatives of his Nationalist opponents-Mr. Blake

and Mr. Sexton; and he no doubt cherished hopes arising from the reso-

lute demands for redress uttered by Lord Castletown and other Irish Union-

ist Peers. Those hopes were soon dispelled; nothing but much controversy

came of the demand for improved financial relations. Mr. Gerald Balfour's

schemeswere more tangible, and in1897 Redmond announced that the Gov-

ernment's proposal to introduce a measure of Local Government for Ireland

should have his support. The Bill, when it came, exceeded expectation in its

scope, and Redmond gave it a cordial welcome in the name of the Parnel-

lites. The larger group, however, then led by Mr. Dillon, declined to be

responsible for accepting it.

Later, in the working of this measure, Redmond pressed strongly that elec-

tions under it should not be conducted on party lines and that the landlord

class should be brought into local administrative work. His advice unfortu-

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HGT18TW7
• ISBN13: 9798240864735
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Katrinabooks
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"