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The Irish council bill and the fall of Sir Antony MacDonnell, 1906-7

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2017

A.C. Hepburn
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Extract

In any account of the liberal party’s dealings with Ireland, Gladstone must occupy a dominant and dynamic position. Yet perhaps his most significant legacy was a negative one. His dramatic and, from the party point of view, destructive failures with home rule in 1886 and 1893 demonstrated to two generations of liberal leaders, Morley and Lloyd George no less than Rosebery and Crewe, and even to his own son Herbert, that so long as the house of lords retained a legislative veto, home rule for Ireland could not be a practical part of the liberal programme. A recent article has shown that ‘ disengagement ‘ from home rule was evolved during the period from 1894 to 1905 as a matter of deliberate policy, and was not simply the result of a huge independent majority won by the party in 1906. It was a policy dictated by necessity, but it evolved, nonetheless, only gradually, through a series of compromises between two warring factions of the party. Where Rosebery and the extreme liberal imperialists worked to exclude home rule from the party programme altogether in 1900-1, Gladstonians wanted only to put it into cold storage. Again, when liberal imperialists and even uncommitted liberals called for a self-denying ordinance on home rule for the 1906 election, Gladstonians wanted the party simply to steer clear of any firm commitment. What averted a split on the earlier occasion was Asquith’s enunciation of a ‘ step by step ‘ principle on home rule in such a way as to differentiate it clearly from Rosebery’s ‘ clean slate’, while in the autumn of 1905 party unity was restored by Campbell-Bannerman’s promise to translate this principle into a legislative proposal.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 17 , Issue 68 , September 1971 , pp. 470 - 498
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1971

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References

1 McCready, H. W, ‘Home rule and the liberal party, 1899-1906’, above, xiii, no. 52 (Sept. 1963 Google Scholar).

For permission to make use of manuscript material I am grateful to the following: the director and trustees of the National Library of Ireland, the Public Record Office, London, the trustees of the British Museum, and the librarian of the Bodleian library, Oxford.

2 Even Augustine Birrell, speaking at Birmingham on 29 Nov. 1905, said that ‘to introduce a home rule measure into the next parliament would only be to court disaster’ (The Times, 30 Nov. 1905).

3 McCready, above, xiii, 335-6.

4 Above, xiii, 344-5.

5 For the background to MacDonnell’s appointment see Mackail, J. W and Wyndham, Guy, The life and letters of George Wyndham (London, 1925), ii, 754–62 Google Scholar.

6 ‘The “Dunraven” scheme was drawn up by me’, wrote MacDonnell to James Bryce, II Feb. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11012). For details of this scheme see Dunraven, , The outlook in Ireland (London, 1907) pp 271–80 Google Scholar.

7 See Lyons, F S. L., ‘The Irish unionist party and devolution, 1904-5’, above, vi, no. 21 (Mar. 1948)Google Scholar.

8 The phrase was used by Lord Crewe, speaking at Crewe, on 2 Jan. 1906 (The Times, 3 Jan. 1906).

9 ‘Note of an interview with Sir A. McD.’ in Redmond’s hand, n. d. [31 Dec. 1905] (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15203).

10 Sir A. MacDonnell to James Bryce, 3 Feb. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11012). The most important transferred agencies were the local government board, the congested districts board, the department of agriculture and technical instruction, and the public works commission. Control of police, justice and land purchase finance remained at West minster.

11 This particular change was unlikely to commend itself to the catholic hierarchy, but MacDonnell thought that ‘it throws overboard that balancing of protestants against catholics which has hitherto been thought high statesmanship in Ireland’ (MacDonnell to Bryce, 8 Feb. 1906. N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11012). For the hierarchy’s position, see Miller, D. W., ‘The politics of faith and fatherland: the catholic church and nationalism in Ireland, 1898-1918’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Chicago, 1968), pp 8offGoogle Scholar.

12 This summary of the scheme in its original form is based on Mac Donnell to Bryce, 3 & 8 Feb. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11012); Bryce to MacDonnell, 9 Feb. 1906 (Bodl., MacDonnell papers, MS Eng. hist. C350, f. 21); and on a draft ‘Outline of Irish constitutional reform’, 14 Feb. 1906 (Bodl., MacDonnell papers, MS Eng. hist. С 369, ff. 1-14).

13 Howard, C. H. D., ‘Joseph Chamberlain, Parnell, and the Irish “central board” scheme, 1884-5’, above, viii, no. 32 (Sept. 1953)Google Scholar.

14 MacDonnell to Bryce, io Feb. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11012).

15 MacDonnell to Bryce, 15 May 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11013).

16 MacDonnell to Bryce 7 Apr. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11012).

17 MacDonnell to Bryce, 21 Aug. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11013).

18 MacDonnell especially stressed this, and was very annoyed when one of his financial consultants committed an indiscretion in March 1906. MacDonnell to Bryce, 20 Mar. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11012).

19 John Redmond to John Dillon, 26 July 1906 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15182).

20 MacDonnell to Bryce, 30 July 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS H013).

21 MacDonnell at the Dublin Master Builders’ Association dinner, 1 Aug. 1906 (The Times, 3 Aug. 1906).

22 MacDonnell to Bryce, 4 Aug. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11013).

23 MacDonnell to Bryce, 9 Aug. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11013).

24 Bryce to MacDonnell, 13 Aug. 1906 (Bodl., MacDonnell papers, MS Eng. hist. C350, f. 27).

25 MacDonnell to Bryce, 21 Aug. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11013).

26 See O’Connor, T. P., Sir Henry Campbell-Banner man (London, 1908), p. 72 Google Scholar; ‘Note of an interview with Sir H. C. B.’, in Redmond’s hand, 14 Nov. 1905 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15171).

27 Redmond to Athlone, 7 Oct. 1906 (Weekly Freeman’s Journal, 13 Oct. 1906).

28 ‘Outline of another scheme’, a cabinet paper submitted by the Irish office, 26 July 1906 (P.R.O., Gab. 37/83/71). Membership of the cabinet committee included Bryce, Asquith, Grey, Haldane, Crewe, Burns and Lloyd George. See MacDonnell to Bryce, 12 Mar. 1907 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015); and John Burns’s diary, passim (Burns papers, B.M. Add. MS 46324-6). There is a draft scheme dated 3 Oct. 1906 among MacDonnell’s papers (Bodl., MS Eng. hist. C369, f. 59).

29 Redmond to Dillon, 8 Oct. 1906 (Dillon papers, cited in Banks, M. A., Edward Blake: a Canadian statesman in Irish politics (Toronto, 1957 CrossRefGoogle Scholar), p. 309).

30 Bryce to Campbell-Bannerman, 8 Oct. 1906 (Campbell-Bannerman papers, B.M. Add. MS 41211, f. 344).

31 C.B. to Bryce, io Oct. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11014). Bryce felt that Sexton’s inclusion in discussions would be useful, both because he was a financial expert and because he owned the Freeman’s Journal (hereafter cited as F.J.). Bryce to C.B., 8 Oct. 1906.

32 ‘MacDonnell’s position’, a note in Bryce’s hand, 8 Oct. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11014).

33 Redmond at Coalisland, 14 Oct. 1906 (FJ., 15 Oct. 1906).

34 MacDonnell to Bryce, 17 Oct. 1906 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11014).

35 ‘Memorandum by Messrs Redmond, Dillon and T P O’Connor’ (P.R.O., Cab. 37/85/97).

36 Journals and letters of Viscount Esher, ed. Brett, M. V. (London, 1934), ii, 211 Google Scholar. Esher, of course, was an incorrigible intriguer and gossip, but in this instance the general drift of his allegation is confirmed by a comment made by Morley to C.B. on 1 Jan. 1907, to the effect that ‘the danger to the cabinet and its solidarity seems to be Ireland and Mr Haldane’ (Campbell-Bannerman papers, B.M. Add. MS 41223, f. 207).

37 Dillon to Morley, 19 Dec. 1906 (copy in Bryce papers, N.L.I., MS 11014).

38 ‘Interview with L.G.’, a note in Redmond’s hand, 1 Nov. 1906 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15189).

39 Morley to C.B., 1 Jan. 1907, as above.

40 Dillon to Redmond, 17 Jan. 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15182).

41 Morley to C.B., 20 Jan. 1907 (Campbell-Bannerman papers, B.M. Add. MS 41223, f. 229).

42 The licensing bill, which was not in fact introduced until 1908.

43 Lord Grewe to Lord Ripon, 22 Jan. 1907 (Ripon papers, B.M. Add. MS 43552, f. 109).

44 T P O’Connor to Redmond, 27 Jan. 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15215).

45 Morley to Birrell, 15 Jan. 1907 (Liverpool Univ- Lib., Birrell collection, MS 10. 2, f. 24).

46 Jenkins, R., Asquith (London, 1964 Google Scholar), passim.

47 MacDonnell to his wife, 13 & 17 Feb. 1907 (Bodl., MacDonnell papers, MS Eng. hist. E220, f. 43, 63).

48 MacDonnell to Bryce, 12 Mar. 1907 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015).

49 Ibid.

50 MacDonnell to his wife, 23 Feb. 1907 (Bodl., MacDonnell papers, MS Eng. hist. E217, f. 5).

51 This is something of a guess. T P Gill seems to have thought that such a change had been made, though if it had been it was rapidly reversed. See T. P Gill to Birrell, 25 Feb. 1907 (N.L.I., Gill papers, MSS 13478-13526).

52 MacDonnell to Bryce, 12 Mar. 1907 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015).

53 Birrell to Redmond, 23 Feb. 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS

54 MacDonnell to his wife, 23 Feb. 1907 (Bodl., MacDonnell papers, MS Eng. hist. E217, f. 5).

55 MacDonnell to Bryce, 12 Mar. 1907 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015).

56 Ibid.

57 Lord Aberdeen to C.B., 26 Feb. 1907 (Campbell-Bannerman papers, B.M. Add. MS 41210, f. 87).

58 MacDonnell to Bryce, 12 Mar. 1907 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015).

59 Memorandum on the Irish council bill prepared by the Irish office (i.e. MacDonnell) for the cabinet, 28 Feb. 1907 (P.R.O., Gab. 37/87/23).

60 Memorandum on the Irish council bill submitted by Birrell, 5 Mar. 1907 (P.R.O, Cab. 37/87/26).

61 MacDonnell to Bryce, 12 Mar. 1907 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015).

62 MacDonnell to Bryce, 15 May 1907 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015).

63 John Burns’s diary, 13 Mar. 1907 (Burns papers, B.M. Add. MS 46325).

64 C.B. to the king, 13 Mar. 1907 (P.R.O., Gab. 41 /31/9).

65 On 11 Mar. Birrell told MacDonnell that the bill might not appear at all. See MacDonnell to Bryce, 12 Mar. 1907 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015).

66 MacDonnell to his wife, 16 (telegram) and 19 Mar. 1907 (Bodl., MacDonnell papers, MS Eng. hist. C354, f. 110, E220, f. 47).

67 C.B. to the king, 23 Mar. 1907 (P.R.O., Gab. 41/31/11).

68 MacDonnell to Lord Ripon, 24 Apr. 1907 (Ripon papers, B.M, Add. MS 43542, f. 182).

69 MacDonnell to his wife, 25 Apr. 1907 (Bodl., MacDonnell papers, MS Eng. hist. E217, f. 12).

70 Birrell to C.B., 27 Apr. 1907 (Campbell-Bannerman papers, B.M. Add. MS 41239, f. 238).

71 MacDonnell to his wife, 1 May 1907 (Bodl., MacDonnell papers, MS Eng. hist. E220, F. 55).

72 C.B. to the king, 3 May 1907 (P.R.O., Gab. 41 /31/17). In the printed version of the bill, the total council membership was 107.

73 Burns’s diary, 1 May 1907 (Burns papers, B.M. Add. MS 46325).

74 Ibid., 3 May 1907.

75 Dillon to his wife, morning of 3 May 1907 (Dillon papers, in private hands. I am grateful to Professor F S. L. Lyons for showing me this letter and the subsequent one of the same date).

76 Dillon to his wife, 4 p.m. 3 May 1907 (Dillon papers).

77 Lord Crewe to Lord Ripon, 25 May 1907 (Ripon papers, B.M. Add. MS 43552, f. 150).

78 Memorandum on the Irish council bill submitted by the Irish office, 28 Feb. 1907 (P.R.O., Gab. 37/87/23).

79 Hansard 4, clxxiv, 112-27. The pledge was made initially at Grange, Co. Limerick, on 23 Sept. 1906 (W.F.J., 29 Sept. 1906).

80 See, for example, Tribune, Westminster Gazette, The Times, all 8 May 1907.

81 Dillon to Redmond, 9 May 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15182). The full text of the bill was not published until 11 May.

82 Ibid.

83 “Dillon to Redmond, u May 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15182).

84 F.J., 8, 9, 11 and 14 May 1907.

85 Dillon to Redmond, 12 May 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, M£ 15182); Ir. Ind., 9-19 May 1907- Obviously, figures based on suď sources have no statistical validity. They are intended only to demonstrate the general trend of Irish press opinion.

86 F.J., 8 May 1907.

87 Statement, to the press (Ir. Ind., 8 May 1907).

88 Hugh Law to Redmond, 20 May 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers MS 15247).

89 For the views of these M.Ps, see Joseph Nolan M.P to Redmond 19 May 1907 and D. M. Moriarty to Redmond, 17 May 1907 (N.L.I. Redmond papers, MS 15247); Ir. Ind., ‘tabloid opinions’, 9 May 1907 F.J., 20 May 1907.

90 Ir. Ind., 9, 14 and 15 May 1907.

91 ‘I suppose your convention will pass this bill,’ asked a liberal M.P of Ginnell at the end of the debate.’ Yes’, replied the member for North Westmeath, ‘we will pass it to the flames’ (typed statement of Mrs A. Ginnell to the Irish bureau of military history., based on Ginnell’s shorthand notes. I am grateful to Professor F S. L. Lyons for showing me a copy of this document).

92 F.J., io and 20 May 1907. A few days later Dolan resigned his seat, and subsequently contested north Leitrim in the Sinn Fein interest at a by-election.

93 W.F.J., 18 May 1907.

94 Ir. Ind., 9 and 10 May 1907.

95 Dillon to Redmond, 11 May 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15182).

96 Bryce later commented: ‘The Irish leaders, if they honestly meant to pass the bill—and very likely they did—made two great mistakes. The first was in letting their people expect a large measure. The bill ought from the first to have been presented as neither home rule nor a substitute for it, nor anything like it, but merely as an administrative reform. The other mistake was to let judgement go by default against it. They ought to have gone to Ireland and explained the bill, and shown how, though it wasn’t home rule, it might be worked so as to do much good’ Bryce to Grey, 6 July 1907 (P.R.O., Sir Edward Grey papers, F.O. 800/99).

97 See, especially, F J., 18 May 1907.

98 F.J., 17 May 1907.

99 “D. M. Moriarty to Redmond, 17 May 1907 (N.L.I.,, Redmond papers, MS 15247).

100 MacDonnell to Bryce, 15 May 1907 (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015).

101 Ir. Ind., 13 May 1907.

102 Letter in F]., 13 May 1907. See also a statement by Cardinal Logue (The Times, 15 May 1907); for a more detailed discussion of the schools question see Miller, D. W., ‘The politics of faith and fatherland: the catholic church and nationalism in Ireland, 1898-1918’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Chicago, 1968), pp 116–28 Google Scholar.

103 Irish Catholic, 11 and 18 May 1907.

104 Bryce to Grey, 6 July 1907 (P.R.O., Grey papers, F.O. 800/99); Blake to Redmond, 6 Dec. 1906 and 16 May 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond capers, MS 15170).

105 At least one Ulster unionist M.P. thought that the hierarchy had 10 cause for alarm in this particular case. The Hon. R. T O’Neill (mid-Antrim) declared that ‘the handing over of education to the new council limply means handing it over to the priests’ (Ir. Ind., 9 May 1907).

106 F.J., 22 May 1907.

107 Dillon to Redmond, 12 May 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS [5182).

108 Dillon to Redmond, 13 May 1907 (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 1518a).

109 Mr Dillon’s bereavement is a political as well as a personal disaster, for it will almost of necessity prevent his attendance at the convention, and at such gatherings his influence is as incontestably greater than Mr Redmond’s as that of Mr Redmond is superior to Mr Dillon’s in the house of commons’ (Tribune, 17 May 1907).

110 T. P. Gill to Lord Dudley, 31 May 1907 (N.L.I., Gill papers); MacDonnell to Ripon, 23 May 1907 (Ripon papers, B.M. Add. MS 43542, f. 183).

111 E. Barry to T O’Donnell, 10 Oct. 1907 (N.L.I., O’Donnell papers, MS 15456/5).

112 Redmond to Blake, 18 May 1907 (Blake papers, cited in Banks, Edward Blake, p. 323).

113 Tribune, 9 May 1907. For a full report of the convention proceedings see F.J., 22 May 1907.

114 See L. A. Atherley-Jones M.P., letter to The Times, 27 May 1907; John Burns’s diary, 23 May 1907 (Burns papers, B.M. Add. MS 46324); Lord Crewe to Lord Ripon, 25 May 1907 (Ripon papers, B.M., Add. MS 43552, f. 150). Dillon observed to Redmond on 29 May 1907 that if ‘the ridiculous impression that the council bill was killed by the priests gets fixed in the minds of the radicals, it will do a great deal of harm’ (N.L.I., Redmond papers, MS 15182).

115 Birrell to Bryce, 17 June 1907 (Bodl., Bryce Papers, MS 19. Thought most of Bryce’s Irish papers are in the N.L.I., there is some Irish material amongst the main collection of his papers in the Bodleian).

116 Morley to C.B. 23 May 1907 (Gampbell-Bannerman papers, B.M. Add. MS 41223, f. 247).

117 Birrell to C.B., 24 May 1907 (Campbell-Bannerman papers, B.M. Add. MS. 41239, f. 250).

118 C.B. to the king, 29 May 1907 (P.R.O., Cab. 41/31/19).

119 W Long at Preston, 11 May 1907 (The Times, 13 May 1907).

120 ‘It is believed ‘MacDonnell wrote in his cabinet paper of 28 Feb. 1907,’ that in Ireland there is a large body of moderate opinion, catholic and protestant, to which expression is not now given owing to party organisation’ (P.R.O., Cab. 37/87/26).

121 After Birrell had been at the Irish office for four months, Mac Donnell complained to Bryce, 15 May 1907, that ‘I have yet to see a single order in his own handwriting on a file’ (N.L.I., Bryce papers, MS 11015). This has also been the present writer’s experience.

122 Birrell wrote to Bryce in 17 June 1907: ‘My life has been one long controversy—and perhaps my main antagonist has been our excellent friend and “colleague” (woe’s me!) Sir A.M., late of Bengal. We looked at the same problem from opposite ends. I may have attached too much importance to the house of commons. He ignored it entirely, and with the obstinacy of 10,000 mules could only be drawn back with oaths and violence from each position that he assumed. . Sir A.M. still believes that the moderates in Ireland who drink tea in Phoenix Park are capable of compelling the nationalists in the house to accept “moderate” measures. No bigger delusion ever got hold of a man, not even an Anglo-Indian’ (Bodl., Bryce papers, MS 19).

123 Burns’s diary, 23 May 1907 (Burns papers, B.M. Add. MS 46325).