The New Irish Constitution Part 22

The Report of the Devon Commission proved the case of the tenants up to the hilt. What was done?

In May, 1845, Lord Devon declared in the House of Lords that if a Bill were pa.s.sed giving tenants compensation for improvements made by them in the land "it would much strengthen the industry of the people of Ireland."

In the same year Lord Stanley, in behalf of the Government, introduced a Bill proposing that tenants should be ent.i.tled to compensation, on disturbance, for prospective improvements of a permanent nature, made with the consent of the landlord; or, without his consent, provided the improvements had been effected with the authority and approval of a Commissioner of Improvements, to be specially appointed for the purpose.

The functions of the Commissioners were to inspect the lands, and to examine and inquire whether they would "bear" improvement; and then, if he thought well of it, to authorise the works contemplated by the tenant and to award, in case of eviction, such measure of compensation as was deemed fair and equitable. This Bill was read a second time, then referred to a Select Committee, and abandoned. In 1846 substantially the same Bill was brought forward by the Government, and read a first time. Then the Government fell and the Bill disappeared. In 1847, Mr. Sharman Crawford brought forward a Bill to extend the Ulster Custom (practically fixity of tenure and free sale) to the rest of Ireland. The Government-a Liberal Government-took no interest in the subject. Crawford spoke to empty benches and the Bill was defeated on the second reading by an overwhelming majority. In 1848 Crawford brought forward his Bill again, and it was again defeated. In the same year the Government brought forward a Bill which was the same as the Government Bill of 1846. It was read a second time, then referred to a Select Committee and heard of no more that session. So far Parliament had done nothing to carry out the recommendations of the Devon Commission-nothing for the protection of the tenants. But in 1849 Lord John Russell pa.s.sed a Bill for the relief of the landlords-a Bill giving landlords facilities for selling their enc.u.mbered estates. This measure is well known as "The Enc.u.mbered Estates Act." Let me quote what Lord Russell of Killowen said about it before the Parnell Commission:

"It is hardly conceivable that a Legislature in which Ireland was represented-imperfectly, it is true-that a Legislature purporting to deal with Ireland should have so misconceived the position as to have pa.s.sed that Act. For what did it do? It sold the estates of the bankrupt landlords to men with capital, who were mainly jobbers in land, with the acc.u.mulated improvements and interests of the tenants, and without the slightest protection against the forfeiture and confiscation of these improvements and interests, at the hands of the proprietor newly acquiring the estate. It was intended, I doubt not, to effect good. It proved a cause of the gravest evil."

What a mockery of legislation! The Devon Commission had reported in favour of the tenant's claims, and recommended the enactment of laws for his protection. Parliament pa.s.sed an Act introducing into Ireland a new set of landlords who were worse than the old, and leaving the tenant hopelessly at their mercy.

In 1850 the Irish Secretary of the day brought in a Bill (practically the same as Lord Stanley's Bill of 1845) giving the tenant compensation for improvements. The Bill was read a second time, committed, and dropped. In the same year Sharman Crawford again introduced his "Tenant Right" Bill, but it was never read a second time.

In November, 1852 (when the Irish Parliamentary Party held the balance between English parties),(153) the Tory Government introduced a Bill giving to the tenant compensation for improvements, prospective and retrospective, made by him in the land. The Bill was read a second time without opposition in December and then referred to a Select Committee.

When the Whigs came into office in 1853 they took up the measure which, subject to certain alterations, was approved of by the Select Committee.

The Bill was finally read a second time in the Lords and then dropped for the session. It was reintroduced in 1854, and read a second time in the Lords; referred to a Select Committee, condemned by the Committee, and lost. Between 1854 and 1860 Land Bill after Land Bill was introduced by the Irish Parliamentary Party for the purpose of giving compensation to tenants for improvements, but all were rejected. Finally (in 1860), imitating the example of 1849, the Whig Government of the day pa.s.sed a Land Act in the interests of the landlords. Let me describe this Act in the words of Lord Russell of Killowen. "This was an Act pa.s.sed to help the landlords, and not one pa.s.sed for the protection of the tenants. It turned the relation between landlord and tenant from relation by tenure into relation by contract;(154) it gave certain facilities in the matter of proceedings in ejectment; it recognized and formulated what had been an existing law in Ireland-going back for a long period-a state of law unknown in this country. I mean the right of ejectment, pure and simple, for non-payment of rent." The recommendations of the Devon Commission were not only not carried out but were absolutely ignored. Happily however the Act proved a dead letter. "This enactment," said the Bessborough Commission of 1881, "has produced little or no effect. It may be said to have given utterance to the wishes of the Legislature, that the traditional rights of tenants should cease to exist, rather than to have seriously affected the conditions of their existence." It was in reference to the Enc.u.mbered Estates Act, and this Act, that Mr. Gladstone once exclaimed in the House of Commons: "In our very remedies we have failed."

In 1866 the Government brought in a Bill to amend the Act of 1860 in the interest of the tenants, but it never became law. The Bill was again brought forward in 1867 and again lost. While every Land Act in the interest of the tenant between 1849 and 1867 was rejected, the Statute book continued to be filled with Coercion Acts. Thus:

1850-1855. Crime and Outrage (Continuance) Act.

1856, 1857. Peace Preservation Act.

1858-1864. Peace Preservation (Continuance) Act.

1865. Peace Preservation (Continuance) Act.

1866-1869 (off and on). Habeas Corpus Suspension Act.

As Parliament treated the land question, so it treated the church question, and every question in which the Irish people were interested.

Their complaints, as Bright said, "were met with denial, with contempt, with insult." Ministers, indeed, slumbered peacefully as if there were no Irish question, until they were rudely awakened in 1867 by the ringing of the "Chapel bell." Fenianism-a Society founded to sever the connection between England and Ireland-brought Liberals and Tories to their bearings; and under the pressure of that great revolutionary organization (which set Ireland in a blaze), the Church was disestablished in 1869, and the first Land Act (which in the slightest degree served the interests of the tenants) pa.s.sed in 1870. This Act provided that tenants, when evicted, should receive compensation for improvements, and in certain cases, for disturbance. It also contained clauses for the creation of a peasant proprietary, and recognized and legalized the Ulster custom of tenant right. But the Act was a failure. The peasant proprietary clauses did not work; rack-renting continued, evictions increased, and the general discontent remained the same as ever. In these circ.u.mstances the Irish members demanded fresh legislation, and introduced several Bills for this purpose between 1876 and 1881. They were all rejected by overwhelming majorities. Then the Land League came; lawlessness and outrage came; treason and anarchy came; and the Land Act of 1881 was pa.s.sed in a storm of revolution. The reasons given by Lord Salisbury for not opposing the Bill in the House of Lords are too remarkable, and too little known not to be quoted. He said:

"In view of the prevailing agitation, and having regard to the state of anarchy (in Ireland), I cannot recommend my followers to vote against the second reading of the Bill."

and in the same speech he added:

"What will be the att.i.tude of the tenant all this time? He, like the landlord, will be looking to the future, but in a very different temper. He knows perfectly well that all he has. .h.i.therto got he has not got because he has moved your convictions, but because he has moved your fears."

"The pivot of the Act of 1881," to use the language of Mr. Forster, was the "Land Court" established to stand between landlords and tenants, to fix fair or judicial rents. Previously, the landlord was master of the situation. The compet.i.tion for land placed the tenant at his mercy, and he accordingly fixed the rent at his own pleasure. But henceforth rents were to be fixed by legal tribunals; and while the tenant paid the rent so fixed, he could not be disturbed in his holding for a period of fifteen years. Roughly speaking, the Act changed Irish tenancies from tenancies at will practically to leaseholds, renewable every fifteen years, subject to revision of rent by the Land Courts. It also recognised the tenant's right to sell his holding, and provided facilities for the creation of a peasant proprietary.

But the Land Act of 1881 did not settle the land question. The system of dual ownership which it set up was agreeable neither to landlord nor tenant, and both now combined to demand fresh legislation for the purpose of enabling the tenants to purchase their holdings. The Act had destroyed the prestige of the landlords; they were disgusted with the spectacle of seeing "briefless barristers," (as the Judges of the Land Courts were called), "rambling about the country" and fixing rents independently of their wishes; their occupation as territorial magnates was gone and they were now willing to dispose of their estates, if only they could obtain good terms. The cry of the tenant always had been the "land for the people," and they raised that cry now louder than ever. Extraordinary as it may seem the English Tory party took the lead in responding to it. In 1885 the first of a series of Tory Land Purchase Acts was pa.s.sed. By this measure the state was empowered to advance the whole of the purchase money to tenants who had agreed with their landlords to purchase their holdings; forty-nine years were allowed for repayment of the purchase money, at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum. Between 1885 and 1912 six more Land Purchase Acts were placed on the Statute book. With a single exception, all these Acts were pa.s.sed by Tories. Therefore the Tories take credit to themselves for the policy of land purchase. But rather the credit belongs to Charles Stewart Parnell and the Land League, who, by the revolution of 1881, not only made land purchase possible, but made it inevitable. I cannot here deal with these Acts in detail(155) but the following table gives a list of them and shows how they have worked. It also mentions other Acts which contain provisions for facilitating the creation of a peasant proprietary.

Act. No. of Purchasers. Amount of Advances.

I.-Irish Church Act, 6,057 1,674,841 1869 II.-Landlord and 877 514,536 Tenant Act, 1870 III.-Land Law 731 240,801 (Ireland) Act, 1881 IV.-Land Purchase 25,367 9,992,536 Acts, 1885, 1887, 1888 and 1889 V.-Land Purchase 46,806 13,633,190 Acts, 1891, 1896 VI.-Irish Land Act, 117,010 41,293,564 1903 VII.-Evicted Tenants 550 307,550 Act, 1907 VIII.-Irish Land 1,444 422,562 Act, 1909 Total 198,842 68,079,580(156)

Mr. Gladstone once said to me that he was deeply moved by the Parliamentary history of the Irish Land question. It was a subject of the greatest magnitude affecting as it did the life of the country. Yet the Imperial Parliament failed for three quarters of a century to realize the importance and the gravity of the case; and even then did not grapple successfully with it.

"A sad and a discreditable story," was his comment.

Nowhere, I repeat, can a stronger argument in favour of Home Rule be found than in the history of the Irish Land Question.

VI

There is one fact in connection with the Government of Ireland during the nineteenth century with which, I think, English Statesmen are but imperfectly acquainted, viz., that the Catholic Emanc.i.p.ation Act of 1829 was an utter failure. It was thought that when Irish Catholics were admitted to the English Parliament all would go well with Ireland. But the Irish Catholic member in the English Parliament was absolutely useless to Ireland; and it was that uselessness which led to the Repeal Agitation, Young Ireland, Fenianism, and the Home Rule movement.

The policy of the English Parliament in truth fostered the idea of Irish nationality. It is, perhaps, within the range of possibility, that good legislation, and good administration might have put out the fire. I know not. But as it was those who made the laws, and those who administered the laws, fed the flame. Every Coercion Act was a nail in the coffin of the Union; and a reminder that the foreigner ruled in the land. When O'Connell was "master of the situation" in 1835, he thought that the opportunity had at length arrived of obtaining important remedial measures for Ireland. We know how his hopes were disappointed. When the Irish Members held the balance between English parties in 1852, they thought that the time had come for securing a beneficial Land Act; but they also were doomed to disappointment.

In fact between 1829 and 1869 the Irish Members failed to place upon the Statute book one single measure for which the Irish people had loudly called; and the measures of 1869 and 1870 were due to Fenianism and not to parliamentary action.

Between 1870 and 1881 the efforts of the Parliamentarians were again marked by failure, and we know, from Mr. Gladstone himself, that, there would have been no Land Act in 1881 if there had been no Land League. In 1884 household suffrage was extended to Ireland. The General Election of 1885 made Parnell "master of the situation." What was he able to do? He certainly got the Home Rule _Bill_ of 1886 and converted the Liberal party to the cause; but he did not win Home Rule. Between 1892 and 1895 a Liberal Government was once more kept in office by the Irish vote. But though a Home Rule Bill was carried through the Commons in 1893 Home Rule was not won. Finally between 1895 and 1906 Home Rule was thrust into the background by an English majority.

Well might Sir Spencer Walpole have written: "The treatment of Ireland made representative Government in Ireland a fraud. It is absurd to say that a country enjoys representative inst.i.tutions if its delegates are uniformly out-voted by men of another race."

While the Irish representation in the Imperial Parliament was a fraud, the English Administration of Ireland was an outrage on national sentiment.

After Catholic Emanc.i.p.ation, as before, it was, in the main, based on Protestant Ascendency principles, which meant not Ireland for the Irish, but Ireland for an English faction. As a rule no man in touch with popular feeling was allowed to have a voice in the government of the country.

Catholics as Catholics were habitually excluded from office. Since Catholic Emanc.i.p.ation there has not been a Catholic Lord-Lieutenant, nor a Catholic Chief Secretary. There have been 3 Catholic Under-Secretaries.

There have been 3 Lord Chancellors. In the High Court of Justice there are 17 Judges; 3 of them are Catholics. There are 21 County Court Judges and Recorders; 8 of them are Catholics. There are 37 County Inspectors of Police; 5 of them are Catholics. There are 202 District Inspectors of Police; 62 of them are Catholics. There are 5,518 ordinary Justices of the Peace; 1,805 of them are believed to be Catholics. There are 68 Privy Councillors; 8 of them are Catholics. And in other offices, through the whole gamut of the administration, the same principle of exclusiveness was observed. Nor was this all. Catholics who were appointed to office, feeling that they were "suspect" as Catholics, only too often, in order to show that their loyalty was above suspicion, became more Protestant than the Protestants, and more English than the English. "We have now captured the Castle," I heard an Irish Catholic official say, in reference to a Catholic appointment which had recently been made. The retort was obvious.

"No, but the Castle has captured you." In truth, no matter what was the religion of the official, he appeared before the people as the instrument of a foreign government, not as the servant of the Irish nation. Let us remember that it was in the year 1885, not in "ancient times," that Mr.

Chamberlain said in memorable language:

"I do not believe that the great majority of Englishmen have the slightest conception of the system under which this free nation attempts to rule the sister country. It is a system which is founded on the bayonets of 30,000 soldiers encamped permanently as in a hostile country. It is a system as completely centralised and bureaucratic as that with which Russia governs Poland, or as that which prevailed in Venice under the Austrian rule. An Irishman at the moment cannot move a step-he cannot lift a finger in any parochial, munic.i.p.al, or educational work, without being confronted with, interfered with, controlled by an English official, appointed by a foreign Government, and without a shade or shadow of representative authority."

It was not until 1898 that popular control in local affairs was established by the County Councils' Act.

Englishmen often say to me: "What an illogical and unreasonable people you Irish are. At the very time when we were showing our determination to do justice to Ireland, when we had disestablished the State Church in 1869, and pa.s.sed the Land Act of 1870 at that very time, in the very year 1870, you started the Home Rule movement." Englishmen say many foolish things about Ireland, because they know nothing about Irish history, and indeed give very little serious thought to Irish affairs. The fact that the English State Church was not disestablished for sixty-nine years after the Union, and that an Act for the protection of the tenants and for securing the proper cultivation of the soil was not pa.s.sed until seventy years after the Union; and that it took constant agitation and incessant outbursts of lawlessness and crime and finally a revolutionary convulsion to accomplish these things, was a sufficient justification for the establishment of the Home Rule movement in 1870. Had the government of Ireland in the nineteenth century been as good as it was bad, still I hope that the Irish people would not have relinquished their national claims-would not have sold their birthright for any mess of porridge; but they did not get the porridge; rather vinegar and gall had been the offering of England to the "sister" isle during sixty-nine years of "Union." I have said that the seed sown by O'Connell and Young Ireland took root, so did the seed sown by England. Extremes meet. The agitator-the rebel-and the English Government combined to keep the spirit of nationality alive, and to make the demand for Home Rule inevitable and irresistible.

It was on May 19th, 1870, that the Home Rule a.s.sociation was founded. It was no wonder after seventy years of the Union that failed that the following resolution should have been pa.s.sed:

"That it is the opinion of this meeting that the true remedy for the evils of Ireland is the establishment of an Irish Parliament with full control over our domestic affairs."

The objects of the a.s.sociation were then set forth.

"To obtain for our country the right and privilege of managing our own affairs by a Parliament a.s.sembled in Ireland, composed of Her Majesty, the Sovereign, and her successors, and the Lords and Commons of Ireland.

"To secure for that Parliament, under a federal arrangement, the right of legislating for, and regulating all matters relating to the internal affairs of Ireland, and control over Irish resources and expenditure, subject to the obligation of contributing our just proportion of the Imperial expenditure; [leaving to] an Imperial Parliament the power of dealing with all questions affecting the Imperial Crown and Government, legislation regarding the Colonies and other dependencies of the Crown, the relations of the United Empire with foreign States, and all matters appertaining to the defence and stability of the Empire at large...."

At the General Election of 1874, 59 Home Rulers were returned to Parliament. At the election of 1880 the number was increased to 61. At the election of 1885 it was increased to 85, at which figure it stands to-day.

On June 30th, 1874, a motion by Isaac b.u.t.t for an enquiry into the subject of Home Rule was defeated in the House of Commons by 458 votes to 61.

Nineteen years afterwards a Bill to establish a Parliament and an Executive in Dublin for the management of Irish Affairs was carried through the House of Commons by the Government of Mr. Gladstone. On the retirement of Mr. Gladstone from public life Home Rule received a set back in England, but to-day it holds the field once more.