Gladstone’s Ministry of 1868-74 as a Great Reforming Government
‘We came in on the principle of not harassing the country’ Benjamin
Disraeli on the 1874 general election.
Gladstone’s ministry of 1868-74 was renowned for reforming, this is
largely due to the number of reforms passed in the six year period and
the vast variety of the reforms. Indeed there were thirteen reforms
during this ministry and they covered areas such as: education; the
armed forces; trade unions; Ireland the electoral system and many
more. Despite this to truly gauge how great a reforming government
this was one must consider what ‘a great reforming government’ is.
For instance, was the large number of reforms unusual to ministries of
this time? And how successful were the reforms passed by Gladstone’s
ministry?
To answer the first question, this was definitely an era of reform,
however no single ministry had reformed to this extent or covering
this many different areas. Some of the most noticeable reforms took
place in Ireland. Perhaps the single most important reform of this
ministry for the liberal party was the Disestablishment of the Irish
Church in 1869. Gladstone saw this as an opportunity to establish his
,and the liberal parties, authority on British politics. This subject
proved to be extremely effective because: firstly religious liberalism
united the party more firmly then most other issues; as champions of
the Established Church, the conservatives would be obliged to defend
the institution; and lastly it was a relatively guaranteed reform
because: only 12% of the Irish population was Anglican by religious
belief; and the Liberal party still held a majority in the house of
commons due to the 1865 election. The passing of there first reform
in Gladstone’s first ministry meant a lot to the Liberal party and
Gladstone himself saw it as an immense personal triumph. Two other
reforms were passed involving Ireland, in 1970 the first Irish Land
Act was passed this included the introduction of the three F’s: fair
rent, free sale and fixity of tenure.
It could be argued that Gladstone’s failure to unite his party, during a time when their ultimate support and confidence in his leadership was crucial, was a significant tactical error that contributed heavily towards the failure of the 1886 Home Rule Bill. The results of the 1885 general election were to have a significant impact on the political landscape of Britain; despite winning the most seats, the Liberals did not have an overall majority.As Parnell and the Irish Parliamentry Party (IPP) held the balance...
The growth of government from 1877 through 1920 was the worst example of “America the great exception” because every time the government took one step forward toward making America better, it would inevitably take 5 steps backward.
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First off, it is important to understand the political and social whereabouts of Northern Ireland from 1898 to gage the changes that have been made in policy. Before 1921, the North and South of Ireland were under British rule. When the government of Ireland Act 1920 partitioned the island of Ireland into two separate states, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, the North of Ireland remained under British rule while...
of the affairs in the way that he did - for example Ireland - as some
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