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Home rule and the liberal party, 1899–1906

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

H.W. McCready
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Extract

Gladstone’s dramatic commitment of the liberal party to a policy of home rule for Ireland in 1886 was followed by the Grand Old Man’s two attempts at turning his policy into legislation. The first home rule bill, that of 1886, was defeated in the house of commons and then in a general election: the second, that of 1893, was overwhelmed in the house of lords and then dropped by Gladstone’s fourth government. Though the Gladstonian commitment remained and the liberal party continued to be a home rule party — and though the pros and cons of the union of 1800 remained the major structural feature of British party politics — it was not until 1912 that the liberals did anything further about their major Irish policy. For most of the period 1893-1912 they were, of course, impotent in opposition and consequently in no position to take the initiative on home rule. In 1906, however, they won a landslide victory over their unionist opponents and it is striking that this electoral victory and the great impulse it gave to one of the most dynamic governments in the whole history of British liberalism was not followed, as had the last two liberal victories under Gladstone, by the introduction of a third home rule bill. Had the liberal landslide of 1906 been put behind another home rule measure the whole history of the matter would certainly have been radically different. The house of lords would have been easily overwhelmed; the great advance in constitutional reform for Ireland would have been carried in a spirit of liberal reform rather than of political surrender; the development of Sinn Fein would have been frustrated or at least diverted. But the liberal victory of 1906 was not so used. Home rule was postponed and sidetracked and was taken up again only when the liberal party once more desperately needed Irish votes in the budget election which followed the rejection of Lloyd George’s financial measures by the lords in November 1909. The home rule banner was hoisted afresh by Asquith, the prime minister, in his Albert Hall speechof 10 December 1909 and the third home rule bill appeared in due course in 1912 in direct — and significant — succession to the budget and the parliament act for both of which the Asquith government needed Irish support in the commons.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 52 , September 1963 , pp. 316 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1963

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References

1 For one among very many statements of this point see H. H.Fowler’s letter of 5 May 1902, quoted in E.H. Fowler, Life of H. H.Fowler, Viscount Wolverhampton (1912), pp. 471-7. The author wishes to thank the Nuffield Foundation for a grant which enabled him to complete the research for this paper.

2 The discussion of the 1899 re-assessment of home rule is basedon the following MSS in the B.M.: Herbert Gladstone’s autobiographicalsketch, Add. MS 46118, ff. 79 ff., his memo, of 8 Dec. 1899, Add. MS 46098, ff. 13-5 (‘Secret’), and his letters to C.B., 4 & 8 Dec. 1899, Add. MS 41215, ff. 153-5, 158-61, 162-4; and on the commentsof his colleagues — Kimberley, Tweedmouth, Asquith, Bryce, C.B., Ripon, Fowler — and of Gladstone himself in Add. MS 46098, ff. 16-24;46057, f. 257. The Spencer Papers, Althorp, 1899, A-R, have also been used.

3 See Westminster Gazette, 19 & 22 Sept. 1900.

4 Ibid., 30 Sept. 1901; Liberal Magazine, 1901, pp. 504-5.

5 Grey to Gladstone, 11 Oct. 1901, Add. MS 46005, ff. 3-6. ‘ Private ’.

6 Haldane publicly identified himself with Asquith in a speech to his constituents, 3 Oct.; see Westminster Gazette, 4 Oct.

7 C.B. to Spencer, 14 Oct. 1901, Spencer Papers, 1901, A-C.

8 Spencer to C.B., 30 Sept. 1901, Add MS 41229, ff. 118—127.

9 C.B. to Spencer, 14 Oct. 1901, Spencer Papers, 1901, A-C.

10 C.B. to Ripon, 30 Oct. 1901, Add. MS 41224, ff. 191-2.

11 Liberal Magazine, Nov. 1901, p. 570.

12 Spender thought it one of the very few speeches of his life which in a real sense influenced events ( Life, journalism and politics (1925), i. 105-6Google Scholar.)

13 Gladstone to C.B., ‘Private and Confidential’, 17 Dec. 1901, Add. MS 41216, ff. 171-2. For the Chesterfield speech itself seeWestminster Gazette, 17 Dec. 1901 or the pamphlet edition published by the Liberal Publications Dept.

14 C.B. to Spencer, 23 Dec. 1901, Spencer Papers, 1901, A-C.

15 Grey to Spencer, 25 Dec. 1901, ibid., D-J. Grey was entirely ignorant of the contents of the speech until it was made (Grey to Spencer, 19 Dec. ibid.).

16 C.B. to Ripon, 31 Dec. 1901, ‘Secret’, Add. MS 41224, ff. 205-7.

17 Spencer to Grey, 18 Dec. 1901, Spencer Papers, 1901, D-J.

18 J.A. Spender to C.B., 22 Dec. 1901, Add. MS 41236, ff. 253-6.

19 C.B. to Spencer, Gladstone, James Bryce, 23, 25, 31 Dec. 1901, Spencer Papers, 1901, A-C; Add. MS 45995, ff. 206-7; 41221, ff. 181-3 ‘ Secret ’.

20 Asquith to Gladstone, 5 Jan. 1902, Add. MS 45994, ff. 44-7 ‘ Secret ’.

21 Ibid.

22 Grey to Spencer, 25 Dec. 1901, Spencer Papers, 1901, D-J.

23 Haldane to Asquith, 5 Jan. 1902, Haldane Papers, National Library of Scotland, box 1902-3. It is abundantly clear from Haldane’s letters of these weeks that he was Rosebery’s most devoted follower among the liberal imperialists. On 3 Jan. 1902 we find him writing Rosebery that he is busy with organizing business in Glasgow on Rosebery’s behalf and that one of the principles he has suggested is: ‘explicitly exclude the home rule policy of 1886 and 1893 as having been made impossible by the action of the Irish ’ (ibid.).

24 Liberal Magazine, Mar. 1902, 76 ff. 94 ff.

25 Haidane to Rosebery, 16 Feb. 1902, Haidane Papers, box 1902-3.

26 Herbert Gladstone memos, 18 & 19 Feb. 1902, Add. MS 45986, ff. 54-7.

27 Liberal Magazine, Mar. 1902, 98 ft,

28 Gladstone to Grey, 28 Dec. 1901, Add. MS 46005, ff. 14-9‘ Confidential ’.

29 See Spender, J.A., Life of the Rt. Hon. Campbell-Bannerman, Henry (1923), ii. 19 ffGoogle Scholar; Halevy, E., History of the English peoplein the nineteenth century, (1951), v. 109–110 Google Scholar; Inman, W.G., ‘The British liberal party, 1892-1939’, unpublished doctor’s thesis, Clark University, chap. ivGoogle Scholar.

30 Asquith to chairman of the East Fife Liberal Association, 1 Mar.1902, Liberal Magazine, Apr. 1902, pp. 102-3.

31 Asquith to Spencer, 4 Mar. 1902, Spencer Papers, 1902, A-D.

32 Spender to Spencer, 3 Apr. 1902, ibid., Ro-S.

33 Westminster Gazette, 4 Mar. 1902.

34 Liberal Magazine, Apr. 1902, p. 179.

35 Ibid., p. 140.

36 Westminster Gazette, 26 Mar. 1902.

37 Spender to Spencer, 3 Apr. 1902, Spencer Papers, 1902, Ro-S.

38 Gladstone’s speech at Leeds, 25 Mar. 1902 included a forthright admission of this point.

39 Liberal Magazine,Apr. 1902, pp. 172 ff. By the closing months of 1902 the Asquith policy had secured the powerful backing of the great ‘ smoother ’ of party differences — J.A. Spender began propounding this solution in the editorial columns of the Westminster Gazette,

40 See, for example, Lloyd Sanders, ‘ The new whigs and the old ’,Nineteenth Century, Apr. 1902, pp. 562-7.

41 Liberal Magazine, May 1902, p. 72.

42 Gladstone to C.B., 24 June 1903, Add. MS 45996, ff. 44-6 ‘ Private’.

43 Spencer to C.B., 7 Dec. 1903, Add. MS 41229, ff. 219-25 ‘ Secret ’.

44 Bryce to C.B., 28 Dec. 1903, Add. MS ff. 254-7.

45 That is, in addition to those constituencies with large proportions of Irish voters which the liberals already held. Bryce’s estimate is found in a letter to C.B., 28 Dec. 1903, Add. MS 41211, ff. 254-7; Gladstone’s in a memo, Add. MS 46107, ff. 33-5. For a full analysis ofthe matter see Gladstone’s memos headed, ‘ Liberals seats “ Dominated ”by Irish vote’, n.d., Add. MS 46100, ff. 151—5, and ‘Seats held byunionists in 1886 and 1892 which may now be won by an appeal tothe Irish vote’, n.d., ibid., ff. 140-1. These lists together give totals of 85 seats for the 1886 election and 118 for that of 1892.

46 On all this see F.S.L. Lyons, The Irish parliamentary party, 1890-1910 (1951), p. III ff., and C.B., to Gladstone, 20 Nov. 1905, Add. MS 45996, ff. 196-7.

47 Gladstone and C.B. exchanged a number of letters on this matter from the close of November until Christmas 1904. See Add. MS 41217, ff. 136 ‘ Private ’, ff. 139-140 ‘ Secret ’, ff. 143-4, 145-6 ‘ Secret ’, ff. 147-8; and Add. MS 45996, ff. 132-3.

48 Gladstone to C.B., 25 Dec. 1904, Add. MS 41217, ff. 147-8.

40 C.B. to Gladstone, 5 Dec. 1904, Add. MS 45996, ff. 132-3.

50 Gladstone to C.B., 27 Nov. 1904, Add. MS 41217, ff. 139-40. Lough’s memo is headed ‘ Suggested scheme for the settlement of the Irish question’, Add. MS 41222, ff. 233-54.

51 Spencer to C.B., 7 Dec. Add. MS 41229, ff. 282-5, ‘Confidential ’.

52 26 Jan. 1905, Goldwin Smith Papers, Cornell University.

53 Entry of 13 Feb. 1905. On 26 May 1905 Gladstone wrote to C.B.that Redmond had been to see him again — ‘ very friendly and not making any conditions ‘ — and that he fully understood the impossibility of the liberal party coming out fully for home rule.

54 Westminster Gazette, 21 Nov. 1905.

55 Haldane to Rosebery, 26 Oct. 1905, Haldane Papers, 1904-5

56 22 Oct. 1905, Add. MS 45994, ff. 116-7.

57 Gladstone to C.B., 26 Oct. 1905, Add. MS 41217, ff. 269-70.

58 C.B. to Gladstone, 26 Oct. 1905, Add. MS 45988, ff. 196-7.‘ Private ’.

59 C.B. to Gladstone, 20 Nov. 1905, Add. MS 41217, f. 276 ‘ Private ’

60 29 Oct.1905, Add. MS 41222, ff. 141-4.

61 19 Nov. 1905, Add. MS 41213, ff. 337-8, ‘Private’.

62 Crewe, Lord, Lord Rosebery (1931), ii. 593 Google Scholar; G.M. Trevelyan, Grey of Fallodon (1937), pp. 94-5.

63 And even the Freeman’s Journal, so Gladstone pointed out to C.B., Add. MS 41217, ff. 279-80.

64 E.g., in Crewe, Rosebery, ii. 593-4; Spender, , Campbell-Bannerman, ii. 183-4Google Scholar

65 Morley to C.B., Add. MS 41223, ff. 162-3.

68 Lyons, Irish parliamentary party, pp. 111-3.

67 D. Gwynn, Life of John Redmond (1932), p. 115; T. P. O’Connor,Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1907), pp. 72-5.

68 C.B. to Gladstone, 20 Nov. 1905, Add. MS 41217, f. 276 ‘ Private ’.

69 Gwynn, Redmond, pp. 114-5.

70 O’Connor, Campbell-Bannerman, p. 75.

71 See John Redmond’s memo in Gwynn, p. 115; and also O’Connor, P. 75.

72 25 Nov. 1905, Add. MS 41210, ff. 247-52.

73 30 Nov. 1903, Add. MS 45996, ff. 199-203, ‘Secret’.

74 N.d., but clearly Dec. 1905, and addressed to ‘ The first lord ofthe treasury’, Add, MS 41211, ff. 336-7.

75 Autobiographical sketch, Add. MS 46118, ff. 102-3.

76 7 Dec. 1905, Add. MS 41214, ff. 13-4.

77 19 Oct. 1907, Devonshire Papers, Chatsworth, 340.3291.

78 20 Nov. 1905, Add. MS 45996, ff. 196-7.

79 St Loe Strachey to Gladstone, 6 Dec. 1905, Add. MS 46056. ff. 174-5.

80 Ibid. A note in Gladstone’s hand on Strachey’s note and dated 7 Dec. indicates that he replied to Strachey and gave him C.B.’s answer.