Enigma by Paul Bew

Author:Paul Bew
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: Gill & Macmillan
Published: 2011-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

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Parnell’s action at this juncture was typical. His Westminster strength lay in his freedom of manoeuvre. His duty was to pursue the interests of his electorate, and while in a general way this was perhaps best pursued by association with the Liberals, there were exceptions to this rule. In the summer of 1885 such an exceptional situation clearly existed. The Liberals had committed themselves to introducing a further measure of repression in Ireland. Meanwhile Parnell had received a strong hint from Lord Randolph Churchill that a Conservative ministry might not consider it necessary to renew coercion. And with a general election only a few months off, a caretaker minority Conservative government might also be prevailed upon to do something for Ireland.

This indeed proved to be the case. The Conservatives not only dropped coercion, but they also passed the Ashbourne Act, which was a useful step in the creation of a peasant proprietary in Ireland. Parnell must have been well satisfied.

However, Parnell’s rapport with Conservative views on the Irish land question was not a startling development—leading Liberals had noted it many times—the whole situation turned on whether a deeper accommodation on Irish self-government could be reached. And here the appointment of the Earl of Carnarvon as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland with a seat in the cabinet was significant. Carnarvon was known to be sympathetic to the notion of Home Rule. On 6 July, however, the new Conservative premier, Lord Salisbury, warned Carnarvon that he as Prime Minister would not split the Tories on the issue of Ireland.

With Salisbury’s consent, a secret meeting was arranged between Parnell and Carnarvon for 1 August 1885. They seem to have been mutually impressed. Parnell agreed that in ‘the first instance’ the land question could be left to the imperial parliament for settlement, but he insisted that protection for Irish industries was a ‘public necessity’. Carnarvon was impressed by Parnell’s moderation. It is much more important to note, though, that the vast majority of Tories were not prepared to go as far as Carnarvon. The Tory leadership as a whole seems to have been anxious to keep Parnell as sympathetic to their side for as long as possible for largely opportunist reasons.

Parnell seems to have felt that Carnarvon accepted not just his political but also his economic nationalism: ‘We were discussing a general outline of a plan for constituting a legislature for Ireland on the colonial model. When I took occasion to remark that protection for certain Irish industries against English and foreign competition would be absolutely necessary, upon which Lord Carnarvon said, “I entirely agree with you but what a row there will be about it in England.”’17

Carnarvon’s reply is hardly a ringing denial as to his own attitude, though, of course, it does insist that the government had made no decision on the matter:

As regards the question of protection, I remember his alluding to his belief that some kind—I think ‘some limited kind of protection’—was necessary for the promotion of Irish industries, to which

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