The Irish Disestablishment Conference of 1869

John D. Fair

doi:10.1017/S0022046900047734

The Irish Disestablishment Conference of 1869

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

John D. Fair

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John D. Fair: Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama

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The Reform Bill of 1867 inaugurated a new era in the political history of Great Britain. By enlarging the electorate and increasing the possibilities for party organisation this Act brought to a close that period of the mid-nineteenth century when parties were in a state of flux. This was manifested in Parliament by a growing disparity between the popularly elected House of Commons and the hereditary based House of Lords. In 1868 and 1869 these bodies converged in a constitutional struggle over the disestablishment of the Irish Church. By toppling Disraeli from the premiership and acquiring a clear mandate from the electorate for a change in the status of the Irish Church Gladstone was able to make an irrefutable case for disestablishment. When Gladstone placed his bill before Parliament opposition developed in the first instance, as expected, from churchmen and Tories in the House of Lords who feared that the passage of disestablishment would admit a host of further changes in the constitution. Through the efforts of archbishop Tait, however, and other moderates the upper house wisely passed the principle of the bill. But opposition to the measure was based not so much on upholding the principle of establishment in Ireland, which was indefensible, but on a disagreement with the substance, or the details by which the Irish Church was to be disendowed. During the committee stage the House of Lords precipitated a crisis by so amending the bill as to maintain the financial security of the Irish Church. For the purpose of reaching a compromise on the disendowment clauses of the bill a conference of party leaders was summoned. To this end the mediation efforts of the queen were directed. But any settlement of the crisis depended in the final analysis on the extent of Conservative opposition and the ease with which party divisions could be bridged.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , October 1975 , pp. 379 - 394

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900047734 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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References

^{page 379 note 1} Parliamentary Debates, 3rd Series, CXCI, Commons (23 March 1868), 32–33.Google Scholar

^{page 380 note 1} The report of the census commissioners of 1861 placed the population of Ireland at 5,788,415, while members of the Established Church numbered only 693,357. Roman Catholics numbered 4,505,365, or about ten out of every thirteen people in Ireland. See Shearman, Hugh, How the Church of Ireland was Disestablished, 1970, 10.Google Scholar

^{page 380 note 2} Morley, John, The Life of William Ewart Gladstone London 1903, ii. 240.Google Scholar

^{page 380 note 3} Disraeli to the queen, 23 March 1868: Buckle, George Earle, The Letters of Queen Victoria 2nd series, London 1932, i. 516–18.@ (Hereafter cited as Buckle, Letters.)Google Scholar

^{page 381 note 1} Grey to the queen, 24 March 1868: Royal Archives, Windsor, Victoria D23/59.

^{page 381 note 2} The queen to Disraeli, 24 March 1868: Buckle, Letters, i. 518–19.

^{page 381 note 3} 3 Parl. Debs., CXCII, Lords (25 June 1868), 2067.Google Scholar

^{page 381 note 4} For the text of these papers see Beckett, J. C., ‘Gladstone, Queen Victoria, and the Disestablishment of the Irish Church, 1868–9’, Irish Historical Studies, XIII. (1962), 38–47.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 382 note 1} Marsh, P. T., The Victorian Church in Decline: Archbishop Tait and the Church of England, 1868–1882, Pittsburgh 1969, 31–32.Google Scholar

^{page 382 note 2} The queen to Gladstone, 31 January 1869: Buckle, Letters, i. 578–79.

^{page 382 note 3} Gladstone to the queen, 1 February 1869: ibid., 580–83.

^{page 382 note 4} RA Queen Victoria's Journal, 3 February 1869.

^{page 383 note 1} Memorandum by Grey, 11 February 1869: Victoria RA D25/31.

^{page 383 note 2} The queen to Gladstone, 12 February 1869: Victoria RA D25/34.

^{page 383 note 3} Gladstone to the queen, 14 February 1869: Victoria RA D25/40.

^{page 384 note 1} The queen to Tait, 15 February 1869: Davidson, Randal and Benham, WilliamThe Life of Archibald Campbell Tait, London 1891, ii. 8–10.Google Scholar

^{page 384 note 2} Tait to the queen, 22 February 1869: ibid., 12–14.

^{page 384 note 3} 3 Parl. Debs., CXCIV., Commons (1 March 1869), 412–66.Google Scholar

^{page 384 note 4} Diary, 14 March 1869: Davidson, Life of Tait, ii. 17–18.

^{page 384 note 5} Disraeli to Tait, 24 March 1869: ibid., 18–19.

^{page 385 note 1} Diary, 10 April 1869: Tait Papers, Lambeth Palace Library, 75/268.

^{page 385 note 2} Derby to Cairns, 4 May 1869: Cairns Papers, PRO 30/51/8.

^{page 385 note 3} Memorandum by Tait, 8 May 1869: Tait Papers, letters, 75.

^{page 385 note 4} Tait to Disraeli, 8 May 1869: Disraeli Papers, Hughenden Manor, B/XXI/T/8.

^{page 385 note 5} Stanley to Grey, 2 June 1869: Victoria RA D26/14 and 026/15.

^{page 385 note 6} Tait to Gladstone, 3 June 1869: Davidson, Life of Tait, ii. 20.

^{page 386 note 1} Gladstone to Tait, 3 June 1869: ibid., 21.

^{page 386 note 2} General Grey, like many other observers, was surprised by Cairns's change of attitude. Grey told the queen he had always believed that ‘the Lds. wd. surely pass the 2d Reading.—He had always been assured that such was the determination of the Leaders of the Opposition.—It is only within the last few days that a contrary belief has gained ground—caused by the pressure put upon Ld. Cairns by the more violent members of the Party—&, it is said, by Ld. Derby himself!’: Grey to the queen, 7 June 1869: Victoria RA D26/23.

^{page 386 note 3} Ellicott to Tait, 5 June 1869: Tait Papers, personal letters, 87/129.

^{page 386 note 4} The queen to Derby, 7 June 1869: Buckle, Letters, i. 603–4.

^{page 387 note 1} Derby to the queen, 9 June 1869: ibid., 606–8.

^{page 387 note 2} Tait to the queen, 7 June 1869: Davidson, Life of Tait, ii. 26–27.

^{page 387 note 3} The queen to Granville, 9 June 1869: Buckle, Letters, i. 605.

^{page 387 note 4} 3 Parl. Debs., CXCVI., Lords (14 June 1869), 1662.Google Scholar

^{page 387 note 5} Times, 15 June 1869, 11c.

^{page 387 note 6} Bright to Granville, 17 June 1869: Granville Papers, PRO 30/29/31.

⁷ 3 Parl. Debs., CXCVII., Lords 17 June 1869), 10–14.Google Scholar

^{page 388 note 1} Grey to the queen, 20 June 1869: Victoria RA D26/43.

^{page 388 note 2} Gladstone to Granville, 21 June 1869: Granville Papers, PRO 30/29/57/62.

^{page 388 note 3} Granville to Salisbury, 23 June 1869: Salisbury Papers, Christ Church College, Oxford, Granville/1869/6.

^{page 388 note 4} Granville to Salisbury, 4 July 1869: ibid., Granville/1869/7.

^{page 389 note 1} Granville to Gladstone, 6 July 1869: Gladstone Papers, British Museum, Add. MS. 44166.

^{page 389 note 2} Gladstone to the queen, 4 July 1869: Buckle, Letters, i. 612–15.

^{page 389 note 3} Wellesley to the queen, 7 July 1869: Victoria RA D26/57.

^{page 389 note 4} Granville to Gladstone, 11 July 1869: Gladstone Papers, Add. MS. 44166.

^{page 389 note 6} Diary, 8 July 1869: Tait Papers, 46.

^{page 390 note 1} Gladstone to the queen, 10 July 1869: Victoria RA D26/10.

^{page 390 note 2} 3 Parl. Debs., CXCVII., Commons (15 July 1869), 19025.Google Scholar

^{page 390 note 3} Queen Victoria's Journal, 17 July 1869: Buckle, Letters, i. 618.

^{page 390 note 4} Memorandum by Gladstone, 17 July 1869: Gladstone Papers, Add. MS. 44758.

^{page 390 note 5} Cairns to Disraeli, 16 July 1869: Disraeli Papers, B/XX/Ca/77.

^{page 391 note 1} Memo, by Gladstone, 19 July 1869: Gladstone Papers, Add. MS. 44758.

^{page 391 note 2} ibid.

^{page 391 note 3} ibid.

^{page 391 note 4} ibid.

^{page 392 note 1} Gladstone to the queen, 21 July 1869: Victoria RA D26/98.

^{page 392 note 2} Granville to Gladstone, 21 July 1869: Gladstone Papers, Add. MS. 44166.

^{page 392 note 3} Cairns to Granville, 22 July 1869: Memo. by Gladstone, ibid., Add. MS. 44758.

^{page 392 note 4} Granville to Gladstone, 4 August 1869: ibid., Add. MS. 44166.

^{page 392 note 5} Memo. by Gladstone, 22 July 1869: ibid., Add. MS. 44758.

^{page 393 note 1} Granville to Gladstone, 4 August 1869: ibid., Add. MS. 44166.

^{page 393 note 2} Granville to the queen, 22 July 1869: Victoria RA D26/105.

^{page 393 note 3} 3 Parl. Debs., CXCVIII., Lords (22 July 1869), 408–9.Google Scholar

^{page 393 note 4} The queen to Granville, 27 July 1869: Granville Papers, PRO 30/29/31. The queen, however, believed that ‘the Archbishop had not been very dexterous’ in arranging a settlement: RA Queen Victoria's Journal, 24 July 1869.

^{page 394 note 1} Granville to the queen, 23 August 1869: Gladstone Papers, Add. MS. 44166.

^{page 394 note 2} I acknowledge the gracious permission of Her Majesty queen Elizabeth 11 to use documents under the Crown copyright. I am also grateful to the archbishop of Canterbury and the trustees of Lambeth Palace Library for permission to publish material from the Tait papers.

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The Irish Disestablishment Conference of 1869

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