Assess the contribution of Parnell and Davitt to the success of the Land Movement 1879 - 82
From ZuluNotes - Free Leaving Cert Notes
Charles Stewart Parnell (CSP) was a Protestant land owner from Co. Wicklow. From early on in his life he had a distinct dislike for the English and once said "these English hate us because we are Irish; but we must stand up to them. That's the way to treat the Englishmen - stand up to them". He had no interest in the Irish language, culture or history but was interested in mining, farming and engineering. From his very first speech in the Parliament, he was very good at winning support for his causes. Parnell was purely a Home Rule politician, he had no interest in a fully indepenent Ireland and since Home Rule wasn't the bigger concern for the vast majority of the population of Ireland. He adopted the Land Movement to gain popular and public support for himself as a politician and ultimately to procure Home Rule.
After the National Land League was formed on August 16th 1879, Parnell spent the first 3 months in America and returned as a new liberal government had been elected. the Liberals had little interest in Ireland but Gladstone felt some good will towards the country and he introduced a mild Compensation for Disturbances Bill which failed in the House of Lords. Gladstone had no plans to do anything else so Parnell decided to move the battle ground from Parliament back to Ireland.
Parnell held meetings and demonstrations (along with Davitt) virtually every day. At one of these meetings he urged people to shun anyone who took a farm from which anyone had been evicted as an alternative to violence. This lead to an incident with Captain Charles Boycott in which people made his workers stop working in his fields and forced local shops not to supply his house. these practices were repeated around the country and these along with calls from Liberal and Conservative MP's to deal firmly with law breakers and the fact that the first Land Act failed, forced Gladstone to introduce a new Land Act along with a Coercion Act. Parnell fought this bill and once made the Commons sit for 41 hours after which the Commons rules were changed to avoid it happening again. This prompted Parnell and his followers to leave in protest. The government used it's new powers to the full and arrested the Land League leaders but this turned out to be an unwise move as it left the League in the hands of radicals and violence increased instead of decreasing.
Gladstone's 2nd Land Bill was introduced to the Commons on April 7th 1881. It was an improvement on the first Land Bill but it didn't help leaseholders or tenants in arrears. Parnell opposed the bill but voted in favour of it if it was in danger of defeat. The Bill was eventually made law on August 22nd 1881. Parnell then insulted Gladstone and 4 days later he was arrested and sent to Kilmainham jail. Whilst in jail, he issued the "No Rent Manifesto" which urged tenants not to pay rent until the rights of the people had been restored. Parnell eventually declared he would denounce violence and boycotting if all the Land League prisoners were released and that the 1881 Lanf Act was amended to help tenants in arrears and leaseholders. Gladstone agreed to this and Parnell was released. This deal is known as the "Kilmainham Treaty".
When the amendments were made, it removed the land problem from the forefront of Irish political concern and allowed Parnell to focus on Home Rule. As we have seen before, Parnell was an astute politician, who used the Land movement to gain support for his latr attempt for Home Rule.
Michael Davitt was almost the exact opposite to Parnell. Born in Mayo, he moved to England with his family at the age of 6 after they had been evicted from their home. In England he saw the abuse the small Irish community endured but he never developed the hatred of the English that Parnell had. In 1865,he joined the IRB and after the failed rebellion in 1867, he became a full time IRB organiser in Northern England and Scotland. Davitt was imprisoned for 7 years of a 15 year sentence for gun smuggling. Even after this time, he never had hatred for the English.
Davitt was not a politician and believed in armed rebellion. Although both Parnell and Davitt believed in the Land Movement, Davitt believed in it purely for the increased autonomy it would give the Irish, unlike Parnell who used it as a way of gaining support. Davitt was also much more radical than Parnell, not only did he want more power for the tenants, he believed in land nationalism i.e. he believed the country should own the land and farmers should tend the land for the good of the country. He also believed in integrated school becayse of his experiences of one when he lived in England. Eventually both Davitt and Parnell diverged when Parnell formed the Irish National League, their aim was for Home Rule not Land Reform.
Overall, both Parnell and Davitt were important leaders in the Land Movement. Parnell was a realist who believed that the only way to win Home Rule was through parliament and demonstration. On the other hand, Davitt was a revolutionary and an idealist who believed the way to get land reform was to demand it and the way o get Home Rule was to demand it and if that didn't work, armed rebellion was the only option left. Parnell was a constitutional politician, he always worked for change within that frame work. Not with-standing this, he was well able to arouse support by oratory and understood the need for popular support. Davitt was driven more by ideals than by political ambition. He was an organiser and motivator and he was a perfect partner for Parnell to gather the support of the population at large. Davitt's commitment was whole hearted but not realistic. The leap from landlordism to nationalism was not attainable and was not what individuals aspired to.
