After centuries of struggle to emancipate themselves from British rule, the Irish decided to take diplomatic action, launching the “Home Rule” project in 1870. This project was designed to give Ireland the internal autonomy it had never had before, enabling it to control its own administration and various state bodies, despite the tutelage of Great Britain.
Charles Stewart Parnell – Public domain
It all began in 1870, when Isaac Butt, an Irish politician firmly committed to the cause of Irish independence, set up the Home Government Association to continue the fight for Irish emancipation. The aim of the Home Government Association was to drive forward the process of gaining autonomy for Ireland, and to negotiate the various terms of this autonomy with London. Butt’s first objective was to create a Dublin Parliament, working in close collaboration with the British.
In 1873, the Home Government Association was renamed the Home Rule League, and the organization received a major boost in 1875, when Charles Stewart Parnell, an elected member of the House of Commons, decided to make the project his top priority. To everyone’s surprise, the British government doesn’t seem to be opposed to the project, which then allows things to move forward.
A first draft of the Home Rule Bill was presented to the House of Commons on April 8, 1886. This first draft was not well received, however, and was rejected at first instance.
Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone was stubborn, and decided to reintroduce the text on February 13, 1893. Although this was accepted by the House of Commons, the proposal failed again in the House of Lords, prompting Gladstone to resign, disgusted by so many abortive procedures.
Much later, in 1912, a new Liberal prime minister named Herbert Asquith decided to bring the text back to the table. As with the previous attempt, it was accepted by the House of Commons, but rejected by the House of Lords. Nevertheless, luck changed, thanks to the Parliament Act of 1911, which confirmed that the House of Lords’ right of veto could only extend for 2 years, and therefore implied a vote in favor of the Home Rule Bill.
Nevertheless, the vote created major tensions on the island. Opponents of the text from Ulster protested by creating the Ulster Volunteer Force”, a 200,000-strong militia, while pro-independence supporters retaliated by founding the Irish Volunteers. Faced with the conflict, King George V decided to postpone application of the text until after the First World War. But tensions remained high, and the Irish Volunteers fomented a revolt known as the Bloody Easter of 1916. From then on, Home Rule no longer seemed capable of resolving the problem of Irish autonomy. The text was then abandoned, giving way to a new struggle and civil war…
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