The Irish Problem

Abstract

In 1867 Ireland was in turmoil. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, popularly known as Fenians, staged a potentially explosive armed rebellion. According to the proclamation which declared an abortive Irish Republic the revolt was justified because the rights and liberties of the people had been trampled on by an alien aristocracy which had confiscated the land and sucked wealth out of the country.¹ As successive British governments had not ended injustice in Ireland, no honourable alternative remained but this resort to revolution. Only a few men in Ireland responded to the Fenian call to arms but it was evident that there was more widespread sympathy for the rebellion. British military superiority swiftly suppressed this insurrection but the event sent a shock wave through the political elite and initiated an era when Irish reform was a top priority with British ministries.