148-521: The United Irish League ( UIL ) was a nationalist political party in Ireland, launched 23 January 1898 with the motto "The Land for the People" . Its objective to be achieved through agrarian agitation and land reform , compelling larger grazier farmers to surrender their lands for redistribution among the small tenant farmers . Founded and initiated at Westport, County Mayo by William O'Brien , it
296-703: A Ribbon tradition, their Ulster Protestant counterpart the Orange Order . Joseph Devlin, the AOH Grandmaster had attached himself to the Dillonite section of the Irish Party, was now additionally General Secretary of O'Brien's adopted UIL. Devlin was already known as "the real Chief Secretary of Ireland ", his AOH spreading successfully and eventually saturating the entire island. Even in Dublin
444-646: A devolved Irish parliament within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . The first two Irish Home Rule Bills were put before the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in 1886 and 1893, but they were bitterly resisted and the second bill ultimately defeated in the Conservative's pro- Unionist majority controlled House of Lords . Following the fall and death of Parnell in 1891 after
592-501: A " National Petition " for a referendum on repeal of the union; in 1861 Daniel O'Donoghue submitted the 423,026 signatures to no effect. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and Fenian Brotherhood were set up in Ireland and the United States, respectively, in 1858 by militant republicans, including Young Irelanders . The latter dissolved into factions after organising unsuccessful raids on Canada by Irish veterans of
740-563: A League pledged to attack landlordism, turning more and more to the traditional weapons of boycott and outrage. The attitude of the Dublin Castle administration hardened to such a degree that O'Brien moved a parliamentary amendment in January 1901 condemning a resort to the methods of Arthur Balfour . A steady stream of proclamations and arrests continued so that between 1901 and 1902 among others, thirteen Irish MPs were imprisoned under
888-702: A National Directory. This threat to the divided factions of the IPP began a reunification among MPs, led from above, to counter the UIL threat growing up from below. The League immediately took up the issue of land redistribution , which the Irish Land League had campaigned on two decades earlier, but had been sidelined after the IPP split into the declining Irish National League and the Irish National Federation. The League's first electoral target
1036-490: A concerted campaign for self-government. Mass nationalist mobilisation began when Isaac Butt 's Home Rule League (which had been founded in 1873 but had little following) adopted social issues in the late 1870s – especially the question of land redistribution. Michael Davitt (an IRB member) founded the Irish Land League in 1879 during an agricultural depression to agitate for tenant's rights. Some would argue
1184-523: A consciousness of dispossession and defeat at the hands of British and Protestant forces, became enduring features of Irish nationalism. However, the Irish Catholic movements of the 16th century were invariably led by a small landed and clerical elite. Professor Kevin Whelan has traced the emergence of the modern Catholic-nationalist identity that formed in 1760–1830. Irish historian Marc Caball , on
1332-508: A day in each direction. On Sundays route 440 does not operate however Expressway route 52 provides an evening journey each way to/from Westport and Galway . Today the nearest train station is Westport railway station , approximately 14 km south. There had once been a Newport railway station , on the Westport to Achill line, but it closed in 1937. The station building remains, and has been refurbished and repurposed. Newport
1480-635: A divorce crisis, which enabled the Irish Roman Catholic hierarchy to pressure MPs to drop Parnell as their leader, the Irish Party split into two factions, the INL and the INF , becoming practically ineffective from 1892 to 1898. Only after the passing of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 which granted extensive power to previously non-existent county councils, allowing nationalists for
1628-583: A dynamism which had long been lost by the older bodies. The ill-feeling between the League and many clergymen transcended the political conflicts within the Irish party. The dominance of the Church in Irish rural life made almost inevitable a sense of frustration on the part of young men of ambition among the lower classes. A generation earlier such men had gravitated into pathetic secret protest movement. Now they found
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#17327726135141776-552: A full-scale attack on O'Brien and the Act. The conciliatory approach and achievement in solving the land question aggravated Dillon who generally detested any negotiations with landlords. Together with Thomas Sexton and his Irish party's Freeman's Journal , Dillon denounced the legislation and the "doctrine of conciliation". This divergence, was in a few short weeks to turn the two old and once intimate friends into mortal enemies. Davitt condemned both peasant land proprietorship and that land
1924-801: A guerilla war broke out between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) (as the Irish Volunteers were now calling themselves) and the British security forces (See Irish War of Independence ) . The campaign created tensions between the political and military sides of the nationalist movement. The IRA, nominally subject to the Dáil, in practice, often acted on its own initiative. At the top, the IRA leadership, of Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy , operated with little reference to Cathal Brugha ,
2072-436: A half-hearted abortive Bill, its terms, as urged by O'Brien, rejected by the party, so that the measure was withdrawn. There then arose one of the most striking and richly complex initiatives in the entire political history of modern Ireland. In June a landlord of moderate views, Lindsay Talbot Crosbie, wrote to the press calling for an agreed settlement between representatives of the proprietor and tenant interests. On 3 September
2220-480: A means of putting pressure on parliament. Coinciding as it did with the extension of the franchise in British politics – and with it the opportunity for most Irish Catholics to vote – Parnell's party quickly became an important player in British politics. Home Rule was favoured by William Ewart Gladstone , but opposed by many in the British Liberal and Conservative parties. Home Rule would have meant
2368-552: A new organisation, the United Irish League (UIL) in January 1898 under the banner of 'The Land for the People'. The League had as its prime declared object the breaking up of the large grassland farmers, by compelling them to surrender their lands voluntarily to the Congested Districts Board , established by Balfour in 1891, for redistribution among the tenants of smaller agricultural holdings. It
2516-418: A partition amendment. Redmond rejected their proposals. The amended Home Rule Act was passed and placed with Royal Assent on the statute books, but was suspended after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, until the end of the war. This led radical republican groups to argue that Irish independence could never be won peacefully and gave the northern question little thought at all. The Irish Volunteer movement
2664-556: A place in the United Irish League. One crucial problem had yet to be faced – the question of who should be president of the League. O'Brien, now at the pinnacle of national popularity, had created the League primarily to promote land purchase through vigorous agitation. This had been crippled earlier by Parnell in the National League. To avoid this in the future he saw the only way was by retaining control of
2812-470: A political tradition that favours an independent, united Ireland achieved by non-violent means. The more militant strand of nationalism, as espoused by Sinn Féin , is generally described as "republican" and was regarded as somewhat distinct, although the modern-day party is a constitutional party committed to exclusively peaceful and democratic means. 55.8% of voters in Northern Ireland voted for
2960-685: A purely defensive body, under Connolly's leadership, the ICA became a revolutionary body, dedicated to an independent Workers Republic in Ireland. After the outbreak of the First World War, Connolly became determined to launch an insurrection to this end. Home Rule was eventually won by John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party and granted under the Third Home Rule Act 1914 . However, Irish self-government
3108-415: A repeat performance, and it thrived in those areas where land-hungry men were particularly dominant. The League organisers worked furiously during the months following the reunion to spread the UIL organisation into the eastern and southern parts of the country, the sharp rise during 1900 probably reflected the absorption of old National League and National Federation branches, the new organisation possessing
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#17327726135143256-632: A similar letter was published by another Galway landlord, Captain John Shawe-Taylor setting out proposals for a landlord-tenant conference. They were important because they articulated the desires of a small but influential group of moderate landlords, who, encouraged by the Administration in Dublin Castle, heralded an era of landlord-tenant rapprochement in Ireland. What saved Taylor's letter from being branded, as Crosbie's scheme
3404-579: A struggle with constant assistance having to be brought to Newport by visiting Quakers. By 1736 the Newport Quakers started to think about moving from their settlement. They were unable to find suitable marriage partners from within their own community as they were all closely related and this caused them concern. The Newport Quaker community struggled on for a few more years and eventually bought some land in Roscommon where they would be closer to
3552-561: A young MP of remarkable political ability who in time gained complete control and leadership of the entire party organisation. It deprived O'Brien of all authority. Devlin was devoted to Dillon, who had helped him greatly in his rise to eminence, and Dillon in his turn had come to heavily rely on him, not only for control of the United Irish League and the Catholic organisation, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), but also because he
3700-495: Is a small town in the barony of Burrishoole , County Mayo , Ireland . The population was 626 in 2016. It is located on the west coast of Ireland, along the shore of Clew Bay , north of Westport . The N59 road passes through the town. The county town of Castlebar is approx 18 km east of Newport. The Black Oak River flows through the centre of the town and there are walking paths along its banks. Bus Éireann route 440, via Westport and Knock Airport , operates once
3848-572: Is an angling and tourist centre with two main hotels, Newport House (opened during the summer) and Hotel Newport (opened all year round) which are conveniently located on main street and the track of the Greenway. The Kelly homestead , the ancestral home of the actress Grace Kelly , the Princess consort of Monaco , is situated off the main road from Newport to Castlebar near the Leg of Mutton Lake. It
3996-515: Is not an exaggeration to term it a social revolution, and it was the first large-scale rural public-housing scheme in the country, with up to a quarter of a million housed under the Labourers Acts up to 1921, the majority erected by 1916", changing the face of rural Ireland. The combination of land reform and devolved local government gave Irish nationalists an economic political base on which to base their demands for self-government. Some in
4144-572: The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election , Sinn Féin won the highest number of seats, the first time a nationalist party had done so in Northern Ireland's 101-year history. This resulted in the Assembly's first nationalist First Minister, Michelle O'Neill being selected in February 2024. Newport, County Mayo Newport ( Irish : Baile Uí Fhiacháin ), historically known as Ballyveaghan and for many years also known as Newport-Pratt ,
4292-677: The All-for-Ireland Party as well as Sinn Féin and other national bodies. It resulted in the Conscription Crisis of 1918 . In May at the height of the crisis 73 prominent Sinn Féiners were arrested on the grounds of an alleged German Plot . Both these events contributed to a widespread rise in support for Sinn Féin and the Volunteers. The Armistice ended the war in November, and was followed by elections. In
4440-594: The American Civil War , and the IRB launched Clan na Gael as a replacement. In Ireland itself, the IRB tried an armed revolt in 1867 but, as it was heavily infiltrated by police informers, the rising was a failure. In the late 19th century, Irish nationalism became the dominant ideology in Ireland, having a major Parliamentary party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster that launched
4588-515: The Celtic Revival , grew up in the late 19th century. Though largely initiated by artists and writers of Protestant or Anglo-Irish background, the movement nonetheless captured the imaginations of idealists from native Irish and Catholic background. Periodicals such as United Ireland , Weekly News , Young Ireland , and Weekly National Press (1891–92), became influential in promoting Ireland's native cultural identity. A frequent contributor,
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4736-520: The Crimes Act and by the Spring of 1902 the counties of Cavan, Clare, Cork, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary and Waterford were proclaimed to fall under the Act. The UIL agitation focused attention on the fact that many families lived on patches of land too small to provide a decent livelihood even without rent. Agitation by tenant farmers continued to press for compulsory land purchase, but
4884-732: The Curragh Camp indicated that they would be unwilling to act against the Ulster Volunteers should they be ordered to. In response, Nationalists formed their own paramilitary group, the Irish Volunteers , to ensure the implementation of Home Rule. It looked for several months in 1914 as if civil war was imminent between the two armed factions. Only the All-for-Ireland League party advocated granting every conceivable concession to Ulster to stave off
5032-512: The General election of 1918 , Sinn Féin won 73 seats, 25 of these unopposed, or statistically nearly 70% of Irish representation, under the British " First past the post " voting-system, but had a minority representation in Ulster. They achieved a total of 476,087 (46.9%) of votes polled for 48 seats, compared to 220,837 (21.7%) votes polled by the IPP for only six seats, who due to the "first past
5180-621: The Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689. The Jacobites demanded that Irish Catholics have a majority in an autonomous Irish Parliament, the restoration of confiscated Catholic land, and an Irish-born Lord Deputy of Ireland . Similarly to the Confederates of the 1640s, the Jacobites were conscious of representing the "Irish nation" but were not separatists and largely represented the interests of the landed class as opposed to all
5328-528: The Great Famine had been accompanied by the conversion of previously cultivated land into large grazing ranches, so that in many areas most of the local population was still crowded on tiny, uneconomical holdings within sight of open, untilled fields. At the very place in Westport where in 1879 Parnell once launched the Irish Land League , and in response to the near-famine of 1897–98, O'Brien established
5476-652: The Home Rule League in 1873. Charles Stewart Parnell (somewhat paradoxically, a Protestant landowner) took over the Land League and used its popularity to launch the Irish National League in 1882 as a support basis for the newly formed Irish Parliamentary Party , to campaign for Home Rule . An important feature of Irish nationalism from the late 19th century onwards was a commitment to Gaelic Irish culture. A broad intellectual movement,
5624-684: The Irish Parliament , full rights for Catholics and an end to the confiscation of Catholic-owned land. However, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649–1653) destroyed the Confederate cause and resulted in the permanent dispossession of the old Catholic landowning class. A similar Irish Catholic monarchist movement emerged in the 1680s and 1690s, when Irish Catholic Jacobites supported James II after his deposition in England in
5772-505: The Irish Patriot Party , led by Henry Grattan , who achieved substantial legislative independence in 1782–83 . Grattan and radical elements of the 'Irish Whig' party campaigned in the 1790s for Catholic political equality and reform of electoral rights. He wanted useful links with Britain to remain, best understood by his comment: 'The channel [ the Irish sea ] forbids union; the ocean forbids separation'. Grattan's movement
5920-682: The Irish Socialist Republican Party in Dublin. Connolly's party was small and unsuccessful in elections, but his fusion of socialism and Irish republicanism was to have a sustained impact on republican thought. In 1913, during the general strike known as the Dublin Lockout , Connolly and James Larkin formed a workers militia, the Irish Citizen Army , to defend strikers from the police. While initially
6068-540: The Irish land question and pursuit of Irish Home Rule . William O'Brien was the prime mover, and the difficulty of the project can be gauged from the fact that the parliamentary leaders had very different opinions on the land question. Dillon regarded the unresolved land issue as an essential motor for the nationalist home rule movement. O'Brien championed the smallholders against the large graziers while Davitt, whose original idea had been state ownership and agrarian socialism,
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6216-537: The Land (Purchase) Act 1903 through Parliament. The Act provided generous bonus-subsidy terms to landowners on sale, the Irish Land Commission overseeing the new landowner's low interest annuities. O'Brien saw his achievement as having guided the official nationalist movement into endorsement of a new policy of "conference plus business" and of having set in motion events of decisive importance in reversing
6364-742: The National Volunteers , and were among the 180,000 Irishmen who served in Irish regiments of the Irish 10th and 16th Divisions of the New British Army formed for the War. A minority of the Irish Volunteers, mostly led by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), refused to support the War and kept their arms to guarantee the passage of Home Rule. Within this grouping, another faction planned an insurrection against British rule in Ireland , while
6512-785: The New English Protestant forces sponsored by England . This vision sought to overcome the old ethnic divide between Gaeil (the native Irish) and Gaill (the Normans) which had been a feature of Irish life since the 12th century, following the Norman invasion of Ireland . Protestantism in England introduced a religious element to the 16th-century Tudor conquest of Ireland , as many of the native Gaels and Hiberno-Normans remained Catholic. The Plantations of Ireland dispossessed many native Catholic landowners in favour of Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. In addition,
6660-446: The Plantation of Ulster , which began in 1609, "planted" a sizeable population of English and Scottish Protestant settlers into the north of Ireland. Irish aristocrats waged many campaigns against the English presence. A prime example is the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill which became known as the Nine Years' War of 1594–1603, which aimed to expel the English and make Ireland a Spanish protectorate . A more significant movement came in
6808-405: The UK general election saw more nationalist MPs elected in Northern Ireland than unionist ones for the first time ever (nine nationalists and eight unionists). Two months later, Sinn Féin won the most votes in the 2020 Irish general election , thus ending 100 years of dominance in the Republic by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil , but still finished one seat behind the latter in the Daíl. Finally, at
6956-477: The Ulster Protestant tenant leader T. W. Russell to compulsory land purchase, O'Brien whipping up enthusiasm for his winter program of boycotting and agitation together with the cost of maintaining a huge police force to quell agrarian unrest, influenced Wyndham to recognise that the time had come to construct a Land Bill for Ireland. Balfour gave Wyndham the go-ahead to prepare for a Land Purchase Bill early in 1902, which when introduced in spring turned out to be
7104-437: The harp , and located its mass meetings in sites such as Tara and Clontarf which had a special resonance in Irish history. The Great Famine of 1845–1849 caused great bitterness among Irish people against the British government, which was perceived as having failed to avert the deaths of up to a million people. British support for the 1860 plebiscites on Italian unification prompted Alexander Martin Sullivan to launch
7252-430: The people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state . Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cultural nationalism based on the principles of national self-determination and popular sovereignty . Irish nationalists during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries such as the United Irishmen in the 1790s, Young Irelanders in the 1840s, the Fenian Brotherhood during
7400-416: The " Land War ", turned increasingly violent when Land Leaguers resisted attempts by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) to evict tenant farmers by force. This upheaval eventually resulted in the British government subsidising the sale of landlords' estates to their tenants in the Irish Land Acts authored by William O'Brien . It also provided a mass base for constitutional Irish nationalists who had founded
7548-441: The 1640s, after the Irish Rebellion of 1641 , when a coalition of Gaelic Irish and Old English Catholics set up a de facto independent Irish state to fight in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms ( see Confederate Irelan d ). The Confederate Catholics of Ireland, also known as the Confederation of Kilkenny, emphasised the idea of Ireland as a Kingdom independent from England, albeit under the same monarch. They demanded autonomy for
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#17327726135147696-406: The 1790s with the founding of the Society of the United Irishmen . It sought to end discrimination against Catholics and Presbyterians and to found an independent Irish republic. Most of the United Irish leaders were Catholic and Presbyterian and inspired by the French Revolution , wanted a society without sectarian divisions, the continuation of which they attributed to the British domination over
7844-420: The 1880s, Fianna Fáil in the 1920s, and Sinn Féin styled themselves in various ways after French left-wing radicalism and republicanism . Irish nationalism celebrates the culture of Ireland , especially the Irish language , literature, music, and sports. It grew more potent during the period in which all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom , which led to most of the island gaining independence from
7992-400: The 1904 devolution scheme and the 1907 Irish Council Bill , a bill rejected by the UIL, as a step in the right direction, or "Home Rule by instalments". These involvements inflamed the Dillonite section of the IPP to the extent that they were determined to destroy both O'Brien and Sheehan "before they poison the whole country" and published regular denunciations of their conciliatory policies in
8140-489: The 1920s, and increase the stability of the transitions to the parliaments of the Irish Free State . The first local government elections under the Act were held in the spring of 1899 when the Leagues' candidates swept the field and Nationalist county and district councillors began to conduct the local administrative functions hitherto performed by landlord-dominated grand-juries. In some areas such as county Cork , where long standing trade union and labour traditions existed,
8288-471: The AOH could draw large crowds and stage impressive demonstrations. In 1907, Devlin was able to assure John Redmond , the Irish Party leader, that a planned meeting of the UIL would be well attended because he would be able to get more than 400 AOH delegates to fill the hall. From the founding of the UIL, O'Brien held the view that Ireland's problems were caused by the manoeuvrings of the parliamentary politicians who were out of touch with popular opinion. Under
8436-430: The British Parliament – particularly the repeal of Poynings' Law , which allowed the latter to legislate for Ireland. They were supported by popular sentiment that came from the various publications of William Molyneux about Irish constitutional independence; this was later reinforced by Jonathan Swift 's incorporation of these ideas into Drapier's Letters . Parliamentarians who wanted more self-government formed
8584-444: The British administration felt initially that paying for such a degree of land and housing reform amounted to an unofficial policy of "killing home rule by kindness", yet by 1914 some form of Home Rule for most of Ireland was guaranteed. This was shelved on the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. A new source of radical Irish nationalism developed in the same period in the cities outside Ulster . In 1896, James Connolly , founded
8732-518: The Dillionite anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation and the Healyite Peoples Right's Association. O'Brien had become disillusioned with the internal party quarrels and its failure to rouse the people to a new sense of involvement with national goals. After O'Brien had withdrawn to the West of Ireland he experienced at first hand in his Mayo exile the plight of the peasant tenant farmers and landless labourers, their distressed hardship trying to eke out an existence in its rocky landscape. In contrast,
8880-516: The Dáil's Minister for Defence or Éamon de Valera , the President of the Irish Republic – at best giving them a supervisory role. At local level, IRA commanders such as Dan Breen , Sean Moylan , Tom Barry , Sean MacEoin , Liam Lynch and others avoided contact with the IRA command, let alone the Dáil itself. This meant that the violence of the War of Independence rapidly escalated beyond what many in Sinn Féin and Dáil were happy with. Arthur Griffith , for example, favoured passive resistance over
9028-429: The Fenians saw that they could use the groundswell of support for land reform to recruit nationalist support, this is the reason why the New Departure – a decision by the IRB to adopt social issues – occurred in 1879. Republicans from Clan na Gael (who were loath to recognise the British Parliament) saw this as an opportunity to recruit the masses to agitate for Irish self-government. This agitation, which became known as
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#17327726135149176-490: The Hibernian Order, on the occasion of the rigged Dublin National Convention in February 1909, called the " Baton Convention ", in a dispute over the financial arrangements for the next stage of the 1909 Land Purchase Act. As a consequence, O'Brien next founded his new political movement, the All-for-Ireland League , which returned eight independent MPs in the December 1910 general elections . The United Irish League remained politically active as Devlin's support organisation for
9324-406: The IPP's Freeman's Journal . By 1907, there were seven MPs outside the parliamentary party. Proposals to reunite the party were made by Redmond and a meeting summoned for the Mansion House, Dublin, in April 1908. In the interest of unity, O'Brien and others rejoined the party, though a year later O'Brien left it for good. This time he was hounded out by Devlin's Molly Maguire baton troops, a wing of
9472-431: The IRB. In April 1916, just over a thousand dissident Volunteers and 250 members of the Citizen's Army launched the Easter Rising in the Dublin General Post Office and, in the Easter Proclamation , proclaimed the independence of the Irish Republic . The Rising was put down within a week, at a cost of about 500 killed, mainly unengaged civilians. Although the rising failed, Britain's General Maxwell executed fifteen of
9620-442: The Irish Party was in due course eclipsed by Sinn Féin – a hitherto small party which the British had (mistakenly) blamed for the Rising and subsequently taken over as a vehicle for Irish Republicanism. Two further attempts to implement Home Rule in 1916 and 1917 also failed when John Redmond, leader of the Irish Party, refused to concede partition while accepting there could be no coercion of Ulster. An Irish Convention to resolve
9768-427: The Irish people. Also similarly to the Confederates they suffered defeat, in the Williamite War in Ireland (1689–1691). Thereafter, the largely English Protestant Ascendancy dominated Irish government and landholding. The Penal Laws discriminated against non- Anglicans . ( See also History of Ireland 1536–1691 .) This coupling of religious and ethnic identity – principally Roman Catholic and Gaelic – as well as
9916-479: The Irish speaking areas or Gaeltachta í, where the language has continued to decline (see article ). However, these organisations attracted large memberships and were the starting point for many radical Irish nationalists of the early twentieth century, especially the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916 such as Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, and Joseph Plunkett. The main aim was to emphasise an area of difference between Ireland and Germanic England, but most of
10064-465: The Land League had its direct roots in tenant associations formed in the period of agricultural prosperity during the government of Lord Palmerston in the 1850s and 1860s, who were seeking to strengthen the economic gains they had already made. Following the depression of 1879 and the subsequent fall in prices (and hence profits), these farmers were threatened with rising rents and eviction for failure to pay rents. In addition, small farmers, especially in
10212-487: The League with considerable zeal, one parish priest called for a branch to hunt the grabbers and Scottish graziers out of the country . Elsewhere the clergy were in no hurry to sanction the League's agitation. Except for Archbishop McEvilly of Tuam , who expressed sympathy for the goals of its agitation. By September 1899 the League had spread to the extent that all six Connacht bishops expressed approval of attempts "to create peasant proprietorship with enlarged holdings in
10360-431: The Newport area it is unlikely that they could recognise him from their vantage point 300 yards away . There was only one shot. In retaliation Michael Kilroy's home was fired upon, and his wife had to throw herself over their baby Peadar as bullets shot t he plaster off the walls. The house was then burned down. His brother John Kilroy's shop in Newport was also destroyed. Newport has a disused railway viaduct crossing
10508-407: The O'Brien-Dillon relationship. Organised by John O'Donnell MP as its general secretary the UIL performed extremely well and threatened the position of the divided Irish Parliamentary Party. As a consequence, it quickly gained popular support among tenant farmer, its branches sweeping over most of the country, dictating to the demoralised Irish party leaders the terms for reconstruction, not only of
10656-466: The Parliamentary party, becoming largely infiltrated by members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians , up until the rise of Sinn Féin after the outbreak of World War I in 1914. From 1918, the UIL was restricted to Northern Ireland ; it was defunct by the mid-1920s. Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that
10804-518: The Quaker community at Ballymurray. During the winter of 1739/1740 the last of the Newport Quakers left their Newport land and homes and moved to County Roscommon where their lives would be less wretched. Some Quakers went to America to make new lives for themselves in the years that followed. The O'Donel family, who took over from the Medlycotts, were Protestant . However, George O'Donel's wife
10952-499: The Rising's leaders, including Pearse, MacDonagh, Clarke and Connolly, and arrested some 3,000 political activists which led to widespread public sympathy for the rebel's cause. Following this example, physical force republicanism became increasingly powerful and, for the following seven years or so, became the dominant force in Ireland, securing substantial independence but at a cost of dividing Ireland . The Irish Parliamentary Party
11100-484: The UIL through individuals who were agrarian agitators. A National Convention of the League was called and held in Dublin on 19 and 20 June 1900. It registered the triumph of the League as the national organisation with elaborate rules and a constitution drawn up by O'Brien. Redmond was elected chairman. He himself had no doubt as to the future action to be taken. Redmond intended to capture O'Brien's organisation and subordinate it to party Parliamentarian interests. He assumed
11248-509: The UK in 1922. Irish nationalists believe that foreign English and later British rule in Ireland from the 1169 English Norman Invasion of Ireland onwards has been detrimental to Irish interests. At the time of the partition of Ireland most of the island was Roman Catholic and largely indigenous, while a sizeable portion of the country, particularly in the north, was Protestant and chiefly descended from people of Great Britain who colonised
11396-599: The Union, or Irish self-government under the Crown. Catholic Emancipation was achieved, but self-government was not. O'Connell's movement was more explicitly Catholic than its eighteenth-century predecessors. It enjoyed the support of the Catholic clergy, who had denounced the United Irishmen and reinforced the association between Irish identity and Catholicism. The Repeal Association used traditional Irish imagery, such as
11544-705: The United Kingdom to remain a part of the European Union in the 23 June 2016 referendum in which the country as a whole voted to leave the union. The results in Northern Ireland were influenced by fears of a strong border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as well as by fears of a hard border breaking the Good Friday Agreement . Three significant events occurred in December 2019, February 2020 and May 2022, respectively. First,
11692-419: The War was going on. Critical in this regard were Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, and Thomas Clarke. These men were part of an inner circle that were operating in secret within the ranks of the IRB to plan this rising unknown to the rest of the volunteers. James Connolly, the labour leader, first intended to launch his own insurrection for an Irish Socialist Republic decided early in 1916 to combine forces with
11840-747: The West Mayo Flying Column of the Irish Republican Army to provoke the Royal Irish Constabulary RIC). The Newport raiding party of four led by Captain Jim Moran shot dead Sergeant Francis Butler of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as he returned from his home to the RIC station on Castlebar Road. Although Sergeant Butler was believed by the IRA to be one of five RIC men who abused civilians in
11988-514: The conflict (compared to c. 400 until then). For the first hundred years of its existence, Northern Ireland had a unionist majority, but had a large nationalist minority who would prefer to be part of a united Ireland . In Northern Ireland, the term "nationalist" is used to refer either to the Catholic population in general or to the supporters of the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party . "Nationalism" in this restricted meaning refers to
12136-546: The consequences of centuries of alien domination. In the period 1903 to 1909 over 200,000 peasants became owners of their holdings under the Act. There is no reason to doubt O'Brien's sincerity in viewing the settlement of the land question as the first step in the attainment of Home Rule. Unfortunately few others would have the same outlook, for which he was yet to suffer. The passing of the Land Act in August 1903 precipitated
12284-761: The country. They were sponsored by the French Republic , which was then the enemy of the Holy See . The United Irishmen led the Irish Rebellion of 1798 , which was repressed with great bloodshed. As a result, the Irish Parliament voted to abolish itself in the Act of Union of 1800 –01 and thereafter Irish Members of Parliament sat in London. Two forms of Irish nationalism arose from these events. One
12432-540: The deadlock was established in July 1917 by the British Prime Minister, Lloyd George , its members both nationalists and unionists tasked with finding a means of implementing Home Rule. However, Sinn Féin refused to take part in the convention as it refused to discuss the possibility of full Irish independence. The Ulster unionists led by Edward Carson insisted on the partition of six Ulster counties from
12580-436: The eight delegates met in Dublin on 20 December 1902 in a conference publicly hailed by Redmond as "the most significant episode in the public life of Ireland for the last century". After only six sittings, the conference report as framed by O'Brien was published on 4 January 1903, making eighteen recommendations. The report was received favourably by people holding most shades of public opinion. After O'Brien and Redmond had met
12728-625: The electorate tended to adhere to representatives of their allegiances. The depth of support for labour was particularly displayed in Mid-Cork, no doubt due to the growth of another organisation, the Irish Land and Labour Association (ILLA), assiduously cultivated by D. D. Sheehan the then editor of the Skibbereen based newspaper, The Southern Star , who assured that UIL and ILLA branch reports were given weekly press coverage, crucial for
12876-514: The expansion and growth of the UIL in Cork. The existence of these two organisations, the UIL centred on popular broad-nationalism, the ILLA based on 'labour nationalism' at first apparently corroborative of one another, would within a decade ultimately lead to self-destructive class-tensions, schisms and divisions. The UIL tactic at the time of setting the have-nots against the haves naturally appealed to
13024-587: The first time through local elections to democratically run local affairs previously under the control of landlord dominated " Grand Juries ", and William O'Brien founding the United Irish League that year, did the Irish Parliamentary Party reunite under John Redmond in January 1900, returning to its former strength in the following September general election . The first decade of the twentieth century saw considerable advancement in economic and social development in rural Ireland, where 60% of
13172-471: The four years of almost ceaseless activity that O'Brien put into the League had not brought the benefits for the tenants he had hoped for, apart from giving the Parliamentary party a new lease of life. Nevertheless, the Chief Secretary for Ireland Wyndham came to recognise the dire situation of the starved population of the west of Ireland. The existence of the United Irish League, the conversion of
13320-701: The government. By 1914, 75 per cent of occupiers were buying out their landlords' freehold interest through the Land Commission , mostly under the Land Acts of 1903 and 1909. O'Brien then pursued and won in alliance with the Irish Land and Labour Association and D.D. Sheehan , who followed in the footsteps of Michael Davitt, the landmark 1906 and 1911 Labourers (Ireland) Acts, where the Liberal government financed 40,000 rural labourers to become proprietors of their own cottage homes, each on an acre of land. "It
13468-448: The grazier ranches on the rich plains of counties Mayo, Roscommon and Galway were in the hands of local town shopkeepers, retired policemen, and other middle-class Irish elements. They were, according to O'Brien, the real infernal evils , the so-called grasslands-grabbers, from whom the small tenant farmers were obliged to rent land for their needs. O'Brien saw the necessity to tackle the owners of these grazing ranches. He wanted to have
13616-813: The harbour. In 1719 a community of Quakers came to Newport under a Captain Pratt who established a colony of linen weavers in the town which was known as Ballyvaughan at that time. Quakers, due to their reputation of being honest and hard-working tenants, were sought after by the landlords of estates at the time. Quaker communities usually prospered wherever they went, but the Quakers in Newport were reported to be in poor circumstances, and they needed support and help from other Quakers across Ireland and further afield from whom they were now far removed geographically by their remote location. The nearest community of Quakers
13764-653: The head of the Civil Service in Dublin Castle, Sir Anthony MacDonnell , for informal talks on 6 February, the National Directory and the Parliamentary party gave approval to the Land Conference terms on 16 February. The bill to achieve social reconciliation in Ireland was finally introduced by Wyndham on 25 March 1903. The Irish Landowners' Convention which met in April acclaimed the bill as "by far
13912-597: The hierarchy of the Catholic Church were opposed to republican separatism on the grounds of its violent methods and secular ideology, while they usually supported non-violent reformist nationalism. Daniel O'Connell was the leader of the moderate tendency. O'Connell, head of the Catholic Association and Repeal Association in the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s, campaigned for Catholic Emancipation – full political rights for Catholics – and then Repeal of
14060-506: The introduction of a Land Bill with a provision for the compulsory purchase of untenanted grazier-ranches for distribution among tenants. The failure of the Conservative Government to provide for compulsory purchase under Balfour's 1891 Land Act , convinced O'Brien that something more than Parliamentary oratory was needed to encourage official circles to attend to the needs of the people. The decline in population since
14208-463: The land as settlers during the reign of King James I in 1609. Partition was along these ethno-religious lines, with most of Ireland gaining independence, while six northern counties remained part of the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists support Irish reunification . Generally, Irish nationalism is regarded as having emerged following the Renaissance revival of the concept of the patria and
14356-491: The land question had a nationalist resonance in Ireland as many Irish Catholics believed that land had been unjustly taken from their ancestors by Protestant English colonists in the 17th-century Plantations of Ireland . Indeed, the Irish landed class was still largely an Anglo-Irish Protestant group in the 19th century. Such perceptions were underlined in the Land league's language and literature. However, others would argue that
14504-602: The lands redistributed, a new idea at the time. The land agitations during the 1880s saw the introduction of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 , also known as the Ashbourne Act, which helped to eliminate the old cry of "land-grabbers" but since the 1890s the cry was supplemented by "grass-grabbers". O'Brien thus began to take the first steps in his new campaign of agrarian agitation that would ultimately establish peasant proprietorship. This prompted him to call for
14652-427: The largest and most liberal measure ever offered to landlords and tenants by any Government in any country". A League Convention on 16 April saw 3,000 Nationalist supporters applaud the bill and O'Brien's resolution which "pledged the Irish nation ... to the vital principle of the policy of national reconciliation". He followed this by orchestrating the greatest and widest piece of social legislation Ireland had yet seen,
14800-474: The linen industry picked up in the mid-18th century and for the next forty years or so the town prospered around the industry. By the early 19th century it again fell into decline, and it was superseded as a port by the town of Westport seven miles to the south. At the end of the 18th century, the Medlycott Estate was taken over by the O'Donel family who built Newport House, now a hotel, overlooking
14948-429: The new arrangements after 1900, O'Brien proclaimed that the party should be subordinated to the League, which represented the true feeling of the country. But what in fact happened was that party members soon dominated the councils of the League and its administrative machinery. Redmond never attempted to hide the necessity for the party to be dominant in policy-making. Once O'Brien began to campaign against party policy, he
15096-471: The new councils had a significant effect on Ireland as it allowed local people to take decisions affecting themselves. The County and the sub-county District Councils created a political platform for proponents of Irish Home Rule , displacing Unionist influence in many areas. The enfranchisement of local electors allowed the development of a new political class, creating a significant body of experienced politicians who would enter national politics in Ireland in
15244-599: The other hand, claims that "early modern Irish nationalism" began to be established after the Flight of the Earls (1607), based on the concepts of "the indivisibility of Gaelic cultural integrity, territorial sovereignty, and the interlinking of Gaelic identity with profession of the Roman Catholic faith". The exclusively Protestant Parliament of Ireland of the eighteenth century repeatedly called for more autonomy from
15392-479: The parliamentary movement. Davitt reported that it was also virtually dead in United States. The League continued to decline nationwide over the next years seriously affecting the funding of both the party and the League. At the November 1904 National Convention, the General Secretary of the League, O'Brien's loyal John O'Donnell MP, was replaced by Dillon's close protégé and Belfast ally Joseph Devlin
15540-462: The party but the nationalist movement in Ireland. The UIL platform included commitments to such themes as language revival and industrial development. The movement was backed by O'Brien's new newspaper The Irish People (Sept. 1899 – Nov. 1903). In it he declared that the new League was the people's organisation and that the people, and not the politicians, should be its base. Its organisation included an elaborate representative structure linked to
15688-695: The poet John McDonald 's stated aim was "to hasten, as far as in my power lay, Ireland's deliverance". Other organisations promoting the Irish language or the Gaelic Revival were the Gaelic League and later Conradh na Gaeilge . The Gaelic Athletic Association was also formed in this era to promote Gaelic football , hurling , and Gaelic handball ; it forbade its members to play English sports such as association football , rugby union , and cricket . Most cultural nationalists were English speakers, and their organisations had little impact in
15836-498: The population continued to speak English. The cultural Gaelic aspect did not extend into actual politics; while nationalists were interested in the surviving Chiefs of the Name , the descendants of the former Gaelic clan leaders, the chiefs were not involved in politics, nor noticeably interested in the attempt to recreate a Gaelic state. Although Parnell and some other Home Rulers, such as Isaac Butt , were Protestants, Parnell's party
15984-468: The population lived. The introduction of local self-government in 1898 created a class of experienced politicians capable of later taking over national self-government in the 1920s. The Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 (the Wyndham Act), passed largely through the efforts of William O'Brien, abolished landlordism , and made it easier for tenant farmers to purchase lands, financed and guaranteed by
16132-627: The post" voting system did not win a proportional share of seats. Unionists (including Unionist Labour) votes were 305,206 (30.2%) The Sinn Féin MPs refused to take their seats in Westminster, 27 of these (the rest were either still imprisoned or impaired) setting up their own Parliament called the Dáil Éireann in January 1919 and declared the Irish Republic to be in existence. Nationalists in
16280-426: The prestige of being the Irish party leader. O'Brien was not in the true sense a politician, he possessed great popular gifts, but lacked that will to power which is the hallmark of the politician. The result of the rapid growth of his UIL as a national organisation in achieving unity through organised popular opinion, was to effect a quick defensive re-union of the discredited IPP factions on 6 February in London under
16428-528: The realities of Irish society. By 1901 revolutionary nationalism was moribund, though it was, of course, to undergo a miraculous recovery. Throughout the early months of 1901 agitation was limited, merely thirty-five cases of boycotting reported, due to O'Brien's weak health and Davitt being in America for most of the year. Despite this the Nationalists felt the old sting of League meetings being outlawed,
16576-629: The religious struggle between the ideology of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation . At this early stage in the 16th century, Irish nationalism represented an ideal of the native Gaelic Irish and the Old English banding together in common cause, under the banner of Catholicism and Irish civic identity ("faith and fatherland"), hoping to protect their land and interests from
16724-543: The rest of Ireland, stating that the 1916 rebellion proved a parliament in Dublin could not be trusted. The convention's work was disrupted in March 1918 by Redmond's death and the fierce German spring offensive on the Western Front, causing Britain to attempt to contemplate extending conscription to Ireland. This was extremely unpopular, opposed both by the Irish Parliamentary Party under its new leader John Dillon ,
16872-485: The reunited party fought its first election on the program of the United Irish League. The unity disturbed O'Brien however as it resulted in most of the ineffective party candidates being re-elected, preventing the UIL Directory from using its power in the pre-selection of candidates. The task facing the united Irish Party's new leader Redmond was now to create a unified political organisation, effectively grounded in
17020-557: The river which, together with the Catholic church on top of the hill, dominate the town. St. Patrick's Church was built in 1914 in the Irish Romanesque Revival style by Rudolph M. Butler. It has a stained glass east window of the Last Judgment , the last window completed by Harry Clarke in 1930. Burrishoole Friary and Grace O'Malley 's Rockfleet Castle are both just to the west of the town. The town
17168-474: The role of president in December. Within two years he and Dillon were to tactically adjunct the UIL under the wing of the IPP, manoeuvring it out of O'Brien's control. In the September general election . O'Brien swept back to Parliament again for his old Cork constituency as the only begetter of the League and as a senior member of the inner circle of party managers. He could feel proud of his achievement after
17316-434: The self-interest of the simpler peasants and was the main reason for the rapid spread of the movement. By April 1900 the League's listing showed 462 branches, representing between 60,000 and 80,000 members in twenty five counties. Within two years O'Brien's UIL was by far the largest organisation in the country, comprising 1150 branches and 84,355 members. Around 1900 O'Brien, an unbending social reformer and agrarian agitator,
17464-399: The south of Ireland, impatient with the lack of progress on Irish self-government, tended to ignore the unresolved and volatile Ulster situation, generally arguing that unionists had no choice but to ultimately follow. On 11 September 1919, the British proscribed the Dáil, which had met nine times by then, declaring it an illegal assembly, Ireland being still part of the United Kingdom. In 1919,
17612-611: The town. The convent managed Newport secondary school which opened in September 1956. However following the introduction of free education and free transport for second level pupils in the late sixties, the secondary school which had always experienced some difficulties in attracting a sufficiently large number of pupils was finally closed in June 1969. Since 1969 then, Newport pupils again travel to secondary schools in Westport . On 18 May 1921, Michael Kilroy sent out three sections of
17760-443: The traditional reaction of the Administration to the least sign of popular unrest. In August 1901 the UIL reached nearly 100,000 members, when its Directory issued a resolution calling for active agitation throughout Ireland. O'Brien now at the height of his prestige, dominated the UIL machine and in a vigorous speech on 15 September called for "a great national strike against ranching and grabbing" as its winter program. What he wanted
17908-477: The unanimously agreed leadership of John Redmond MP, largely fearing O'Brien's return to the political field. The National League and the Irish National Federation, representing the two wings of the IPP, both merged with the UIL, which actually became accepted by the parliamentarians as the main support organisation of the parliamentary nationalists. The UIL resembled the old INL, however, in its organisers; many of them were old INL cadre whom O'Brien had recruited for
18056-490: The use of force, but he could do little to affect the cycle of violence between IRA guerrillas and Crown forces that emerged over 1919–1920. The military conflict produced only a handful of killings in 1919, but steadily escalated from the summer of 1920 onwards with the introduction of the paramilitary police forces, the Black and Tans and Auxiliary Division into Ireland. From November 1920 to July 1921, over 1000 people died in
18204-406: The west faced the prospect of another famine in the harsh winter of 1879. At first, the Land League campaigned for the " Three Fs " – fair rent, free sale and fixity of tenure. Then, as prices for agricultural products fell further and the weather worsened in the mid-1880s, tenants organised themselves by withholding rent during the 1886–1891 Plan of Campaign movement. Militant nationalists such as
18352-432: The west of Ireland". The Tuam provincial hierarchy's accommodation of the League up to 1900 reflected predominantly the genuine congruence of their social ideals with the stated aims of the movement. The League was equally and explicitly designed to reconcile the various parliamentary fragments by bringing them together in a new grass roots organisation around a programme of agrarian agitation, political reform, settlement of
18500-533: Was O'Brien's and Davitt's hope that reunion could be forced on the party from the outside, by organising the country and transforming the Irish representation in Parliament through the election of "good men". Dillon became ambivalent about the new association, believing that it would lead to confrontation with the government and endanger the alliance with the Liberals . This marked the first significant strain in
18648-489: Was a Catholic and he donated three acres of land on Barrack Hill to the Sisters of Mercy to build a convent in Newport. It was noted that when the foundations were being dug out for the new convent in 1884, many coins and buttons were unearthed, the buttons bearing the inscription of "Pratt". In 1887 the convent was completed and St. Joseph's Convent National School opened with a roll of 211 girls and 34 boys. The school
18796-521: Was a radical movement, known as Irish republicanism . It believed the use of force was necessary to found a secular, egalitarian Irish republic, advocated by groups such as the Young Irelanders , some of whom launched a rebellion in 1848. The other nationalist tradition was more moderate, urging non-violent means to seek concessions from the British government. While both nationalist traditions were predominantly Catholic in their support base,
18944-409: Was a success and numbers continued to grow. The nuns were a popular addition to Newport and local merchants donated gifts to the convent. In 1894, a lace school to train girls in the lacemaking industry opened and provided some industry - until the lace market collapsed after World War II . Due to rationalisation, the sisters vacated the convent in 1977 and took up residence in a rented building in
19092-470: Was a very serious matter for the party, throwing it into a state disarray not experienced since the Parnell crisis in 1890. It had repercussions at home and abroad. Laurence Ginnell of the central office reported 22 lapsed divisional bodies by December, 489 lapsed branches by the spring of 1904. The League was wholly dead in the west and in Dublin. Particularly younger men turned from any support whatever for
19240-744: Was allegedly sworn into the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood in May 1882. However, the fact that he chose to stay in Westminster following the expulsion of 29 Irish MPs (when those in the Clan expected an exodus of nationalist MPs from Westminster to set up a provisional government in Dublin) and his failure in 1886 to support the Plan of Campaign (an aggressive agrarian programme launched to counter agricultural distress), marked him as an essentially constitutional politician, though not averse to using agitational methods as
19388-511: Was based in Ballymurray , County Roscommon . The Newport Quakers appear to have had no meeting house , instead meeting for religious worship in each other's homes. With many deaths of their young people occurring within the community in the years after resettling in Mayo, a burial ground had to be established for them in the town. The linen business interests fell on hard times and life was
19536-562: Was being purchased rather than confiscated from the landlords. O'Brien requested from his conciliatory friend Redmond that they be disciplined, which to O'Brien's consternation he refused to do, fearing a renewed party split. Seeing himself thus alienated from the party O'Brien informed Redmond on 4 November 1903 that he was resigning from Parliament, leaving the UIL Directory, ceasing publication of his newspaper, The Irish People and withdrawing from public life. Despite appeals from friends and allies he refused to reconsider. O'Brien's resignation
19684-542: Was boycotting and the filling of Irish jails. Dillon also made several fiery speeches against the government, and to tenants encouraging them to demand rent reduction and "for the purpose of driving every landlord out of the country" . With the National Convention in January 1902 claiming 1230 branches, the scene was thus set for a clash between a strong government, which was in no mood to allow an Irish land war to deflect it from its own constructive ideas, and
19832-538: Was by O'Brien's Irish People , as "a stale and rotten red-herring across the path of the National movement" was its endorsement by the Chief Secretary Wyndham, who grasped the chance to salvage his Land Bill for reintroduction on terms agreed to in advance by both interested parties. When letters of approval by Redmond and O'Brien were published in response by the press at the end of September there
19980-667: Was discredited after Home Rule had been suspended at the outbreak of World War I, in the belief that the war would be over by the end of 1915, then by the severe losses suffered by Irish battalions in Gallipoli at Cape Helles and on the Western Front . They were also damaged by the harsh British response to the Easter Rising, who treated the rebellion as treason in time of war when they declared martial law in Ireland. Moderate constitutional nationalism as represented by
20128-472: Was divided over the attitude of their leadership to Ireland's involvement in World War I. The majority followed John Redmond in support of the British and Allied war effort, seeing it as the only option to ensure the enactment of Home Rule after the war, Redmond saying "you will return as an armed army capable of confronting Ulster's opposition to Home Rule". They split off from the main movement and formed
20276-503: Was established in the early 18th century by the Medlycott family. James Moore, working for the Medlycott Estate, designed the quay at Newport in a formal layout. The Medlycott family's land agent was a Captain Pratt. Pratt introduced linen manufacturing to the town under the management of immigrant Quakers who relocated to County Mayo from Ulster. It would appear that, although the immigrant Quakers found living conditions in Mayo difficult,
20424-471: Was largely welcomed even among some of the clergy while the authorities on the other hand kept the new movement under close observation. Actually, O'Brien put more life into the country in the first six months of the League than the Nationalist party had aroused in years, after widespread agrarian agitation recommenced in 1898. The clergy in the district around Westport and Newport, County Mayo promoted
20572-827: Was limited by the prospect of partition of Ireland between north and south. This idea had first been mooted under the Second Home Rule Bill in 1893. In 1912, following the entry of the Third Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons, unionists organised mass resistance to its implementation, organising around the " Ulster Covenant ". In 1912 they formed the Ulster Volunteers , an armed wing of Ulster Unionism who stated that they would resist Home Rule by force. British Conservatives supported this stance. In addition, in 1914 British officers based at
20720-443: Was no turning back. It resulted in Wyndham calling for a Land Conference to strive for a settlement by mutual agreement between landlord and tenant. It was to be among four landlord delegates to be led by Lord Dunraven on the one hand and William O'Brien MP, John Redmond MP, Timothy Harrington MP and Ulster's T. W. Russell MP representing tenant farmers on the other hand. Thus after considerable internal deliberations on both sides,
20868-417: Was not particularly enamoured by peasant proprietorship. Though O'Brien claimed that his organisation had no political objective, he became intrinsically aware that to further their cause the three split factions of the IPP needed to be re-united. He strongly believed that only agitational politics combined with constitutional pressures, rather than physical force, were the best means of achieving its goals. It
21016-488: Was notable for being both inclusive and nationalist as many of its members were descended from the Anglo/Irish minority. Many other nationalists such as Samuel Neilson , Theobald Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet were also descended from plantation families which had arrived in Ireland since 1600. From Grattan in the 1770s to Parnell up to 1890, nearly all the leaders of Irish separatism were Protestant nationalists . Modern Irish nationalism with democratic aspirations began in
21164-528: Was overwhelmingly Catholic. At local branch level, Catholic priests were an important part of its organisation. Home Rule was opposed by Unionists (those who supported the Union with Britain), mostly Protestant and from Ulster under the slogan, "Home Rule is Rome Rule ." At the time, some politicians and members of the British public would have seen this movement as radical and militant. Detractors quoted Charles Stewart Parnell's Cincinnati speech in which he claimed to be collecting money for "bread and lead". He
21312-516: Was supported by Michael Davitt MP, John Dillon MP, who worded its constitution, Timothy Harrington MP, John O'Connor Power MP and the Catholic clergy of the district. By 1900 it had expanded to be represented by 462 branches in twenty-five counties. In 1895 William O'Brien retired from Parliament and the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) in the wake of the Parnell split, by which the party became fragmented into three separate networks of local organisation—the Parnellite Irish National League ,
21460-442: Was the county council elections under the new revolutionary Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 . The Act broke the power of the landlord ascendancy dominated "Grand Juries", for the first time passing absolute democratic control of local affairs into the hands of the people through elected Local County Councils. Next to full Home Rule a no more remarkable concession to popular rights and economic reconstruction . The creation of
21608-506: Was the most influential and powerful figure within the nationalist movement, although not formally its leader. The period was marked by considerable political development in which Davitt had been of great help during the crucial years of the League's existence, but in February, worn out and ill, he left for abroad. The settlement of the party leadership question now focused on the two most important men in Irish politics, O'Brien and Redmond. The initiative seemed to lie with O'Brien, yet Redmond had
21756-474: Was the outstanding representative of Ulster Nationalism. O'Brien had always been gravely disturbed by the Irish Parliamentary Party's involvement with "that sinister sectarian secret society", the Ancient Order of Hibernians, often known as the Molly Maguires , or the Mollies – what he called "the most damnable fact in the history of this country", and was bitterly resentful and unsparing in his attacks upon it. AOH members represented Catholic-nationalism of
21904-603: Was treated as a "factionist". In 1900 the leadership of the UIL had consisted of O'Brien and Dillon. In 1905, it consisted of Redmond, Dillon, and to a lesser extent, Joseph Devlin and T. P. O'Connor . O'Brien, by refusing to play the game according to the unwritten rules, forfeited his place in the leadership of the League. O'Brien subsequently became involved with the Irish Reform Association 1904–1905, then turned to and allied with D. D. Sheehan and his Irish Land and Labour Association , which became his new platform for renewed political activity. In addition O'Brien supported both
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