The Kilmainham Treaty was an informal agreement reached in May 1882 between Liberal British prime minister
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
and the Irish nationalist leader
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
. Whilst in gaol, Parnell moved in April 1882 to make a deal with the government, negotiated through Captain
William O'Shea
Captain William Henry O'Shea (1840 – 22 April 1905) was an Irish soldier and Member of Parliament. He is best known for being the ex-husband of Katharine O'Shea, the long-time mistress of the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell. ...
MP. The government would settle the "rent arrears" question allowing 100,000 tenants to appeal for fair rent before the land courts. Parnell promised to use his good offices to quell the violence and to co-operate cordially for the future with the Liberal Party in forwarding Liberal principles and measures of general reform.
Gladstone released the prisoner and the agreement was a major triumph for
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...
as it won abatement for tenant rent-arrears from the Government at the height of the
Land War
The Land War ( ga, Cogadh na Talún) was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 18 ...
.
Background
The agreement extended the terms of the
Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881, with which Gladstone intended to make broad concessions to Irish tenant farmers. But the Act had many weaknesses and failed to satisfy Parnell and the
Irish Land League
The Irish National Land League ( Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farme ...
because it did not provide a regulation for rent-arrears or rent-adjustments (in the case of poor harvests or deteriorated economic conditions).
After the Second Land Act became law on 22 August 1881, Parnell in a series of speeches in September and October launched violent attacks on
William Forster the
Chief Secretary for Ireland and even on Gladstone. Gladstone warned him not to frustrate the Act, but Parnell repeated his contempt for the Prime Minister. On 12 October the Cabinet, fully convinced that Parnell was bent on ruining the Act, took action to have him arrested the following day in Dublin.
Parnell was conveyed to
Kilmainham Gaol
Kilmainham Gaol ( ga, Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the lead ...
, where he joined several other prominent members of the Land League who had also protested against the Act and been jailed. There, together with
William O'Brien
William O'Brien (2 October 1852 – 25 February 1928) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons o ...
, he enacted the
No Rent Manifesto
The No Rent Manifesto was a document issued in Ireland on 18 October 1881, by imprisoned leaders of the Irish National Land League calling for a campaign of passive resistance by the entire population of small tenant farmers, by withholding rents ...
campaign. He was well aware that some in the
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Cabinet—in particular
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the C ...
—were opposed to the mass internment of suspects then taking place across Ireland under the
Irish Coercion Act
A Coercion Act was an Act of Parliament that gave a legal basis for increased state powers to suppress popular discontent and disorder. The label was applied, especially in Ireland, to acts passed from the 18th to the early 20th century by the I ...
. The repressions did not have the desired effect, with the result that Forster became isolated within the Cabinet, and coercion became increasingly unpopular with the Liberal Party.
[ Bew, Paul, '' Parnell, Charles Stewart (1846–1891) '']
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (2004–5)
/ref>
Agreement
In gaol Parnell had begun to turn over in his mind the possibility of coming to an arrangement with the Government. He had been corresponding with Mrs Katharine O'Shea
Katharine Parnell (née Wood; 30 January 1846 – 5 February 1921), known before her second marriage as Katharine O'Shea, and usually called Katie O'Shea by friends and Kitty O'Shea by enemies, was an English woman of aristocratic background ...
who engaged her husband Captain O'Shea in April 1882 to act as a go-between for negotiations on behalf of Parnell. O'Shea contacted Gladstone on 5 May having been informed by Parnell that if the Government would settle the rent-arrears problem on the terms he proposed, he was confident that he would be able to curtail outrages (violent crimes). He further urged for the quick release of the League's organizers in the West, Sheridan and Boyton, who would then work for pacification. This shocked Forster, but impressed Gladstone.
Accordingly, on 2 May Gladstone informed the House of Commons of the release of Parnell and the resignation of Forster (who was replaced by Lord Frederick Cavendish). Gladstone always denied there had been a 'Kilmainham Treaty', merely accepting that he 'had received informations'. He kept his side of the arrangement by subsequently having the ''Arrears of Rent (Ireland) Act 1882'' enacted. The government paid the landlords £800,000 in back rent owed by 130,000 tenant farmers.
Results
Calling the agreement a "treaty" shows how Parnell placed a spin on the agreement in a way that strengthened Irish nationalism, since he had forced concessions from the British while in gaol. Since real treaties are usually signed between two states, it led to the idea that Ireland could become independent from Britain. After the 'treaty' was agreed, those imprisoned with Parnell were then released from gaol. This transformed Parnell from a respected leader to a national hero.
Four days after the Treaty the two top British officials in Ireland were assassinated by an Irish nationalist group known as the Irish National Invincibles
The Irish National Invincibles, usually known as the Invincibles, were a freedom fighter organization based in Ireland active from 1881 to 1883. Founded as splinter group of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the group had a more radical agenda, ...
. This event became known as the Phoenix Park murders
The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland and Burke was the Permanen ...
, and undid much of the goodwill generated in Britain by the Kilmainham Treaty. Though strongly condemned by Parnell, the murders showed that he could not control nationalist "outrages" as he had undertaken to do. Frank Byrne, one of the leaders of the Invincibles, had in fact been an aide to Parnell as well as secretary of the Irish Home Rule League
The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...
and the Irish National Land League
The Irish National Land League (Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmer ...
. After the murders, Byrne escaped to Paris. Parnell was said to have given Byrne £100 to finance the escape, but Parnell denied involvement in the Invincibles and any of their activities.
Notes
{{reflist
Further reading
* D. G. Boyce and A. O'Day, eds. ''Gladstone and Ireland: Politics, Religion and Nationality in the Victorian Age'' (2011)
* J. Enoch Powell, "Kilmainham–-The Treaty that Never Was." ''Historical Journal'' 21#4 (1978): 949–959
online
History of Ireland (1801–1923)
1882 in Ireland
1882 in the United Kingdom
May 1882 events
Treaty
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pe ...