Explain What the Land Question Was and Asses the Importance of It in Irish Politics

Explain what the land question was and asses the importance of it in Irish politics

The land question was the relationship between landlord and tenants. The land was owned by the landlords and rented by the farmers. The land question was about ownership and control of the land . Tenant leaders demanded the 3f's fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale. This was essentially the land question although it seems simple the events that it initiates are very important in the role of Irish history. These simple definitions bring about the British passing acts that favour tenants and appease the masses. These are little to expectations of the Irish and thus it ensues a patriotic "war" for their land headed by Parnell Davitt and Devoy.

The influence of the tenant farmers grew in the late nineteenth century because they had more votes than any other group , farming was the biggest industry and other businesses such as shopkeepers depended on farmers for a living. Gladstone said "my mission is the pacify Ireland". One of the problems he had to solve was the land question but if he satisfied tenants he would offend the landlords. So he created the 1880 land act. The aims of his act were to give some security to the tenant but also maintain the landlords rights. To reduce the number of evictions. This again was easier said than done and can be seen through the terms of the act. The terms of the act were that Ulster custom(3 f's) was legalised. When tenants left farms they were compensated for any improvements they had made on the farm. Farmers got compensation for eviction except if the evection was for non payment of rent these terms did not help the tenants much because prior to 1880 the number of evictions other than because of lack of rent was minute so the act had little effect. The most prominent part of the act was the bright clause although it was vague and did not facilitate the needs of the tenant it was the first land purchase bill. Under the bright clause tenants could get two thirds of the purchase price as a loan to buy the farm it was to be paid back over 35 years at 5 percent this was called land purchase. The act failed most tenants were evicted for non payment of rent so compensation for eviction did not apply. The Ulster custom was hard to define so tenants had to prove it applied to them in the courts. Landlords were not given incentive to sell loans were too small and fewer than 1000 tenants bought their land under Bright's land purchase. The land act was a step in solving the land question it set an important precedent for the future the government had interfered in an economic area and begun to limit the power of the landlords thus crating a void for the Irish politicians to fill and take advantage and push for their cause.

In the early 1870's harvests were good and farmers obtained decent prices for their product in Britain. But all this changed for 1877 onwards. The Irish economy almost collapsed towards the end of the 1870's due to mainly a general British and European depression. There was a drop in the price of grain. There were fewer seasonal jobs in Britain for the migratory workers form Ireland. Harvests in the west of Ireland were bad the potato crop failed and may people starved. Because of the poor prices and bad harvests tenants fell into arrears. There were increased evictions and this led to agrarian outrages against landlords and their agents. These conditions led to the creation of the land league which all in all pushed for the land wars. All the bad fortune built up and took its toll on the tenants. As a result of cause and effect they got evicted. The tenants believed the landlords should have lowered the rent due to the lack of money coming in due to the lack of efficient crops thus it resulted in a mass hatred towards and already disgruntled class.

Davitt went to America and met john Devoy. This led to the new departure with Parnell. The new departure was the coming together of the revolutionary and the constitutional/parliamentary movement backed by the Irish America and supported by the tenants. They came together to agitate for a solution to the land problem in Ireland. A meeting was held at irishtown co mayo in April 1879 to protest about unfair rents. It was organised by James Daly and over 10,000 people attended it forced the local landlord to reduce his rent by 25 percent. Davitt called another meeting at Westport in June of the same year. Parnell addressed the meeting and demanded a fair rent and said to the people to keep a firm grip on their households. This initial signal of intent led to a more organised movement which was the Irish National Land League. The Irish national land league was formed in Dublin in October 1879 Parnell was president and Davitt was secretary . The aims of the league were to get fair rents for tenants and to prevent evictions . And in the long term to abolish the landlord system and to bring about peasant proprietorship. This was the start of a huge movement that would play a vital role in Irish politics.

In 1881 Gladstone gave the league what it demanded , the 3F's.the bill also had a better land purchase deal which gave three quarters of the purchase price to buy the land. There was also dual ownership of the land which meant both landlords and tenants shared control of the land. The act was not as successful as hoped only a few hundred tenants took advantage of the land purchase section and most of the tenants could still not raise the quarter needed for deposit as most of them were in arrears. Parnell had a dubious decision ahead of him as he needed to keep both sides happy. The extreme section of the league was against the act they wanted to drive out the landlords they wanted full land purchase. But the moderates like the priests bishops and most mps wanted the gains they won and wanted to end the question peacefully. Parnell got himself suspended from parliament and arrested and jailed under the coercion act. This made Parnell a martyr and declared "captain moonlight" would take his place meaning agrarian crime. Parnell was in prison from October 81 until April 82 when he signed the killmainham treaty. In the treaty Parnell agreed to calm down the agrarian crime if the coercion acts were relaxed. The treaty was seen as a sell out by the extremists put Parnell now favoured the moderates as he realised the act had gone a long way towards solving the land question. The phoenix park murders in 6th may 82 gave Parnell his ideal chance to distance himself from the extremists as he condemned the executions of Cavendish and burke by the invincibles. This was a huge step in Irish politics as now Parnell and the government could work on the land question peacefully.

When the conservatives came to power in 1885