The Success of Sir Robert Peel’s Irish Policy

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The Success of Sir Robert Peel’s Irish Policy

Sir Robert Peel’s strong-nerved and far-sighted approach to Ireland’s

social discontent demonstrated all the best attributes of the

innovative politician that he was. However, the minimal effect felt by

Irish people highlights the eventually fatal inefficiency of his

leadership. Peel’s policies were largely based on the principle of

“coercion and conciliation”: at first he took an authoritarian stance,

and only later looked to be persuasively appeasing. In doing so, Peel

hoped to promote Unionism, and hence to instil in the Irish a sense of

loyalty towards Britain. He aimed to stop Ireland’s radical threat by

winning over the Irish Catholics, and to create a convincingly secure

long-term relationship between the two governments. Tragically, it was

this last aim that Peel, and many of his successors, found most

elusive.

The challenge posed by Ireland’s resistance to British rule

necessitated willingness on Peel’s part to gain the support of the

country’s people. The Catholic population made up over seventy percent

of the main, and with the vote granted them by 1829’s Emancipation,

they had become a vital election target. It was widely understood that

the Catholic clergy guided and inspired the laity, and Peel recognised

their vital place in Irish society. It was they who had mobilised the

mass movements that had so pressurised the British government;

Catholic Emancipation of the late 1820s and the Repeal of the Union a

decade later had been forced by their immense weight. It was therefore

imperative that the Catholic clergy were converted from Nationalism to

Unionism: for Peel, the fa...

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...ic. His policies

were well-funded and well thought out, but lacked the effectiveness

needed to seriously impact on Ireland’s people. Whilst being driven by

the correct intention, the Maynooth and Colleges Bills exposed Peel’s

inability to engage with the Irish public. Other political manoeuvres,

such as the introduction of Lord Heytesbury, appeared to be hollow

gestures; certainly, their impact was minimal. From this perspective,

it appears that Britain’s true objective in Ireland was not to provide

long-term prosperity to the ailing population, but to guarantee

England’s short-term safety, and to deter other potential rebels. In

this sense, Peel was successful. But, as the Irish Famine affirmed

soon afterwards, Ireland’s public had been poorly served by Britain’s

Government. It is no wonder that they wanted their own.

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