Liam's Irish Traditional Music - Irelands culture and tradition

After O'Connell's death the Irish Parliamentary Party continued to exist and grew again under the leadership of Isaac Butt. In 1872 he founded the Irish Home Rule Party. However, Politics at Westminster seemed far removed from the Land War which was being waged in Ireland between landlords and tenants. This was organized by Michael Davitt, who founded the Irish Land League in 1879, and was supported by agrarian societies and the Fenians. After the famine years, and because of the bitterness felt towards Britain, there was strong support also from ordinary people in Ireland. The Land War gave the Irish Parliamentary Party a political issue to take to Westminster.

In 1868 William Gladstone became the Liberal Prime Minister of Britain, He was convinced that it was important to solve the problem of the government of Ireland. His first ministry was responsible for disestablishing the Anglican Church in Ireland, removing Church tithes, which had to be paid by the people, and for a Land Act, which allowed compensation for eviction. Compensation was also given to people who had improved their land; and had been unable to claim a reduction in rent because of their hard work. Gladstone's act was essentially "English" in attitude, and did nothing to satisfy Irish demands for the "three Fs” Fair rent, Fixity of tenure and Freedom of sale.

The British government tried to deal with the Land War by coercion, and more troops were drafted into Ireland. Many of the leaders of the Land League were arrested and imprisoned. Between 1881 and 1900 new acts were passed which made land tenure in Ireland fairer, and put the balance back in favour of Irish tenant farmers. In 1881 Land Courts were established which had the power to fix rents fairly, By 1900 the British government was buying out landlords, offering mortgages to tenants and giving them the right to own the land on which they had lived and worked. These new laws had come too late, however, to prevent the growth of a militant Home Rule Party, which demanded freedom from British rule. This new party represented over half of the total Irish seats in the Westminster Parliament. It focused on the issues of land and independence.