The Probert Encyclopaedia of Places of the World

IRELAND

The Republic of Ireland is a country and island west of Wales. It has a total area of 70,280 km2. The climate is temperate maritime; modified by North Atlantic Current with mild winters, and cool summers; consistently humid; overcast about half the time. The terrain is mostly level to rolling interior plain surrounded by rugged hills and low mountains; sea cliffs on west coast Natural resources are zinc, lead, natural gas, crude oil, barite, copper, gypsum, limestone, dolomite, peat, silver. The religion is 94% Roman Catholic, 4% Anglican, 2% other. The language is Irish (Gaelic) and English; English is the language generally used, with Gaelic spoken in a few areas, mostly along the western seaboard.

The earl history of Ireland is shrouded in fable. As in Western Europe generally, the earliest inhabitants are believed to have been of Iberian race, and, therefore, akin to the modern Basques. They were followed by the Celts, different tribes of whom probably arrived at different times, giving rise to such names as Firboigs, Milesians, etc. Among these the Scots were the latest, and latterly got the upper hand, so that their name became generally applied to all the inhabitants. There is no evidence that the Irish had the use of letters before the middle of the 5th century, when Christianity and Christian literature were introduced by St. Patrick. Subsequently Ireland became the seat of western learning; and its monasteries were the schools whence missionaries proceeded throughout continental Europe. Its internal condition, however, was far from satisfactory.

Divided among a number of hostile kings or chiefs, Ireland had been long torn by internal wars, and for nearly two centuries ravaged by the Danes, numbers of whom settled in the country, when, in the beginning of the llth century, Brian Boroimhe united the greater part of the island under his sceptre, restored tranquillity, and subdued the northern invaders.

After the death of Brian at the close of the battle of Clontarf in 1014, gained against the Danes and their Irish allies, the island relapsed into its former state of division and anarchy. In this state of matters Henry II of England obtained a papal bull giving him the right to subdue it, and the way was paved to this when Dermot, prince of Leinster, who had been driven from the country, was reinstated by the aid of Richard de Clare (Strongbow) and other Norman nobles.

In 1172 Henry II entered Ireland himself, and partly through the favour of the clergy and his affability, the great princes did homage to him and acknowledged his supremacy. Many Norman barons and their followers now settled in the country, but the English power was far from being established over it. For long only a part was recognized as English territory (generally known as 'the Pale'), and this was governed by various nobles, subject to a viceroy. The nobles quarrelled among themselves, and were very often at open feud. In 1315 Edward Bruce, brother of the Scotch King, landed at the head of a large force, and was crowned king, but was defeated by the English in 1317 near Dundalk. The English power was greatly reduced by this expedition however, and a number of the barons renounced their allegiance to England, and adopted the Irish language, laws, manners, and customs. This led to the passing of the Statute of Kilkenny in 1367, forbidding, under severe penalties, intermarriages between English and Irish, the assumption of Irish names by persons of English blood, the use of the Irish language, the native (Brehon) law, etc. But the English rule became so weak that the viceroy found it necessary to protect the Pale by payments of money to the Irish chiefs, and this state of matters long continued.

In the reign of Henry VII in 1495 was passed Poyning's Act (so called from Sir Edward Poyning, lord-deputy of Ireland), which provided that all former laws passed in England should be in force in Ireland, and that no Irish parliament, that is the parliament of the English settlers, should be held without previously stating the reasons why it was to be summoned, and the laws it was intended to enact. At the beginning of the 16th century the greater part of the island still remained unconquered by the English. The native Irish lived according to their old customs under their own chiefs, and in manners and mode of life were still totally uncivilized.

Henry VIII assumed by act of the Irish parliament the title of King of Ireland, instead of Lord, which he had before borne as a vassal of the pope, and the Irish chiefs generally acknowledged his authority; but the change of religion was bitterly opposed, and Mary was easily able to undo all that had been done in this direction by her two predecessors. Elizabeth I imposed a Protestant clergy upon the people, and her reign was marked by a series of uprisings, which terminated in the reduction of the whole island. Great stretches were taken from the Irish chiefs, and distributed among English noblemen and others, who were to settle their new estates (plantations) with English farmers. Little was done in this way, however, compared with the great plantation of the North by James I, under whom 800,000 acres of land in Ulster were declared forfeited, a large part of this being entirely withdrawn from the Irish, and divided among Scotch or English settlers.

In 1641 there began an attempt to shake off the English yoke, in which great atrocities were perpetrated on both sides. In 1649 Oliver Cromwell was appointed lieutenant, and energetically, but cruelly, reduced the whole country within nine months. The next struggle was that which followed the Revolution, when James II landed in 1689, and hoped to regain his crown by French and Irish aid. He failed to reduce Londonderry, which held out, enduring the extremity of famine, until it was relieved by some ships from England.

In the following year, 1690, William III arrived, and on the 1st of July gained a decisive victory over the forces of James on the Boyne, near Drogheda. In 1691 another victory was gained over the Irish at Aughrim in Galway, and in October Limerick, the last place that held out for James, capitulated, a treaty being concluded at the same time, by which the Catholic Irish were to be allowed the free exercise of their religion. The Treaty of Limerick was ill kept by the English. By a decree of parliament upwards of 1,000,000 acres were confiscated and divided among Protestants. Cruel penal laws were passed against those who adhered to the Catholic religion. The Catholic ecclesiastical dignitaries were banished; the subordinate priests were not allowed to leave their counties; no Catholic could hold a public office, acquire landed property, enter into a marriage with a Protestant, etc.

Although these laws were not always rigorously carried out, yet they excited great bitterness of feeling, and produced frequent revolutionary associations (Whiteboys and others), which mark the history of Ireland. In 1778 the penal laws against the Catholics, though not repealed, were made much more lenient. Catholics were henceforth permitted to acquire landed property, to erect schools, and to observe their own religion under fewer restrictions. In 1782 Poyning's Act was repealed, and freedom of legislation allowed to the Irish, though Catholics were still excluded from parliament, and did not even have the franchise until 1793. The French revolution had a great effect on the minds of the Irish people, and it was partly through this influence that the Society of United Irishmen was formed, and that rebellion broke out in 1798. Great atrocities were perpetrated, but the rising was speedily crushed. A body of French soldiers, 1500 strong, landed in Killala Bay, but were compelled to surrender.

The British government now resolved to unite the Irish and English parliaments, and an act providing for the legislative union of the two countries passed the Irish parliament in May, 1800, and the British parliament in July of the same year, in virtue of which the union was effected on the 1st of January, 1801. But although this measure bound the destinies of the two countries still more closely, yet it was far from putting an end to the troubles which had so long divided them. In 1829, mainly through the efforts of O'Connell, the Catholic Emancipation act was passed under which Catholics could take a seat in parliament, and were admitted to most public offices. The Irish national party now tried to repeall the Union, for which purpose O'Oonnell founded the Repeal Association. This movement collapsed in 1843, and afterwards the potato famine in 1845, and again in 1846, cast all other interests into the back-ground. To mitigate this calamity parliament granted enormous sums of money; yet thousands died from starvation, and hundreds of thousands emigrated to America.

Anarchical outbursts, agrarian murders, and other acts of violence distracted the land. Meanwhile O'Connell died, and his party was replaced by one still more advanced, called the Young Ireland
party. In these circumstances the French revolution in 1848 had a great effect upon Ireland. The leaders of the Young Ireland party, Smith O'Brien, Mitche , Duffy, Meagher, and others, entered into relations with the provisional government at Paris, and the people began openly to exercise themselves in the use of arms. But the rebellion turned out a mere fiasco. After the famine and great emigration a general improvement. became visible among the inhabitants. Agriculture revived, and the manufacturing industries began to compete with those of England.

The year 1865 witnessed a new conspiracy designed to separate England and Ireland. This originated in the United States, when the numerous Irish during the civil war in that country hoped for a rupture between it and England, of which they might take advantage. This conspiracy, the members of which called themselves Fenians , soon. spread to Ireland; but before they could take any overt action in that island their design was stifled by the British government in 1865-1866. The ministry now resolved to do all in their power to render the Irish people loyal and contented; and accordingly the Irish Church was disestablished by the act of 1869, an act to improve the tenure of land being passed in 1870.

In 1871 an agitation for what was called Home Rule made itself prominent. Its chief supporters, designated 'Nationalists', first professed not to desire the severance of Ireland from Britain; what they mainly wanted, was to have an Irish parliament for matters exclusively Irish. In 1880 Ireland became the scene of an agitation carried on mainly by a body known as the Land League. The movement was so lawless that two special acts, a 'coercion' act and a peace preservation act, were passed. Still further to redress Irish grievances a land act was also passed in 1881, the chief provisions of which have already been mentioned. The Land League was suppressed, but a body called the National League was soon organized in its place.

In 1885, 86 Nationalist members (under the leadership of Parnell) were returned to parliament, and their pressure on the government led to Gladstone's scheme in 1886 by which Ireland was to receive a parliament of her own and the Irish members to be withdrawn from the Imperial parliament. This and the accompanying scheme for the buying out of Irish landlords were rejected by parliament and the majority of the constituencies, thus bringing a Conservative government under Lord Salisbury into power. A permanent act for the repression of crime was passed in 1887, and an act (Lord Ashbourne's) for the benefit of Irish tenants. A Home Rule bill passed the Commons but not the Lords in 1893. The Local Government Act of 1898 established local councils similar to those in Great Britain. The Land Purchase Act of 1903 was intended to put an end to dual ownership, by enabling tenants to buy their farms.

However, nationalist feelings continued and in 1916 a revolution occurred. A peace deal was brokedred between the Irish nationalists and the British government, by which a republic was declared, being finally recognised in 1921 though the British retained control of a small part of contested northern Ireland. Not all the Nationalists were happy with the deal, many considering it to be treacherous and the nationalist movement split, one group continuing to fight a guerrila war against the British invaders until the end of the 20th century when another compromise was finally reached resulting in self government for Northern Ireland.

The population of Ireland in 1841 was 8,175,124 but in 1851 it had decreased to 6,552,385, the decrease being partly owing to the famine resulting from the potato disease in 1846-1847, and partly to emigration. Between 1851 and 1905 over 3,800,000 emigrants left Ireland and in 1901 the population of Ireland was just 4,458,775.
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