§ 2. The Roots of Religious Conflicts 

1. In what way was Ireland involved in the events of the Glorious Revolution? 

The events of the period of the Glorious Revolution aggravated the situation in Ireland. In 1685 James II became king after his brother Charles II’s death. James tried to remove the laws which stopped Catholics from taking positions in Government and Parliament. He also tried to bring back the Catholic Church, and allow it to exist beside the Anglican Church. James almost certainly believed sincerely that this would result in returning to the Catholic Church. But Parliament opposed him strongly, and invited the ruler of Holland, William the Orange, the husband of James II's daughter Mary who was Protestant, to invade Britain. William and Mary were proclaimed monarchs while James II fled from England.

In Ireland the Catholicism of James II had raised the hopes of those who had lost their lands to the Protestant settlers. When he lost his throne in England, James naturally thought that Ireland would make a strong base from which to take back his throne. In 1689 he landed in Ireland, with French support.

In Dublin a Catholic parliament immediately passed an Act taking away all the property of Protestants in Ireland. But it was not so easy to carry this out. Thirty thousand Protestants locked themselves in the city of Londonderry. James encircled the city, but defenders refused to surrender. After fifteen weeks, English ships arrived bringing fresh supplies and the struggle for Londonderry was over. The battle cry of the Protestants of Londonderry ‘No Surrender!’ has remained to this day the cry of Ulster Protestantism.

King William landed in Ireland in 1690, and defeated James's army at the River Boyne. James left Ireland for France a few days later, and never returned to any of his kingdoms. With the battle of the Boyne the Protestant victory was complete. 

2. Why did Irish Catholics protest against the British rule? 

James II’s defeat by William of Orange in 1690 had severe and long-term effects on Irish people. Over the next half century the protestant parliament in Dublin passed laws to prevent the Catholics from taking any part in national life. Catholics could not become members of the Dublin parliament, and could not vote in parliamentary elections. No Catholic could become a lawyer, go to university, join the navy or accept any public post. Catholics were not even allowed to own a horse worth more than £5. It was impossible for Catholics to have their children educated according to their religion, because Catholic schools were forbidden. Although there were still far more Catholics than Protestants, they had now become second-class citizens in their own land.

 New laws were passed which divided Catholic families. The son of Catholic parents who became Protestant could take over his parents' pro­perty and use it as he wanted. These actions put the Irish Catholic popula­tion in the same position as other colonized peoples later on. Hatred be­tween the ruling Protestant settlers and the ruled Catholic Irish was una­voidable.

By the 1770s, however, life had become easier and some of the worst laws against Catholics were removed. Inspired by the French Revolution of 1789, the Irish began their struggle to be free from England. Many of the new Irish nationalists were Protestant. However, the majority of the Protes­tants, particularly in Ulster, felt threatened by the Irish Catholic majority, and formed the Orange Order, a solidarity association of ‘lodges’, or branches. The title ‘Orange’ refers to William of Orange, or King Billy as Protestant Ulstermen call him. It says much about entrenched sectarian attitudes, that both Loyalists and Nationalists prefer to forget that King Billy's army con­tained a large number of Catholic soldiers. 

3. How did the political and economic situation in Ireland develop in the XIX century? 

In order to increase British control Ireland was united with Britain in 1801, and the Dublin parliament closed. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland lasted for 120 years. Politicians had promised Irish leaders that when Ireland became part of Britain the Catholics would get equal voting opportuni­ties. But George III, supported by most Tories and by many Protestant Irish landlords, refused to let this happen.  

In the nineteenth century, an increasing number of Protestant Irish turned to England as a protection against the Catholic inhabitants. To the Catholics, however, most Irish Protestants were a reminder that England, a foreign country, was still as powerful in Ireland as it had been in 1690. The struggle for Irish freedom from English rule became a struggle between Catholic and Protestant. The first great victory for Irish freedom was when Catholics were allowed to become MPs in 1829. In fact in Ireland this deci­sion was accompanied by a repression of civil and political liberties. Even so, the fact that a Catholic could enter Parliament increased Irish national feeling. After the extensions of the franchise in the XIX century a nation­alist party won most of the seats. Soon its MPs were demanding self-government, or ‘home rule’ - a status similar to Canada's. But while this feeling was growing, Ireland suffered the worst disaster in its entire history. For three years, 1845, 1846 and 1847, the potato crop, which was the main food of the poor, failed. Since the beginning of the century, the population had risen quickly from five to eight million. In these three years 1.5 million (about 20 per cent) died from hunger. At the same time Ireland had enough wheat to feed the entire population, but it was grown for export to England by the mainly Protestant landowners. The government in London failed to realize the seriousness of the problem. 

 4. Why did the term ‘Irish Emigration’ become widely spread?

 Many Irish people had little choice but to leave. At least a million left during these years, but many more followed during the rest of the century because of the great poverty in Ireland. Most settled in the United States. Between 1841 and 1920 almost five million settled there. Some went eastwards to the towns and cities of Britain. Many helped to build Britain's railways.

The Irish population has still not yet grown to the same level. Today it is less than five million (three million in the Republic of Ireland, 1.5 million in Northern Ireland), only a little more than half of what it was in 1840. Emigra­tion from Ireland continues.

The Irish who went to the United States did not forget the old country. Nor did they forgive Britain. By 1880 many Irish Americans were rich and powerful and were able to support the Irish freedom movement. They have had an influence on British policy in Ireland ever since. 

Questions:

1. What are the two lasting problems of Anglo-Irish relations⁹
2. The battlecries ‘Remember the Boyne!’ and ‘No Surrender!’ are used until now. Who uses them? Why?
3. When was the law adding Ireland to the UK passed? What events followed it?
4. What was the first nationalist party in Ireland? Why was it given its name?

 Additional Reading                          The Coat of Arms of Ireland   

Do you know that on the coat of arms of Ireland there is a picture of a red right hand? Why does Ireland have a picture of a hand on its coat of arms?

It happened three thousand years ago. Two Viking chieftains went with their men in two big boats to Ireland. The first chieftain’s name was Heremon O'Neill, the name of the other we do not know. ‘The first of us who will touch the Irish land will be the king of it’ they said. At last they were near the Irish coast. The two boats were going faster and faster. But the boat of Heremon O'Neill was not so fast as the boat of the other chieftain.

When the boats were quite near the land, O'Neill quickly cut off his right hand and threw it over to the land. His hand touched the land and he became the king of Ireland. That is why there is a picture of a hand on the coat of arms of Ireland.