1 In a large bibliography, the following are selected: Matthew, H. C. G., Gladstone (2 vols, Oxford, 1986-95)Google Scholar; Hammond, J. L., Gladstone and the Irish nation (London, 1938)Google Scholar; Cooke, A. B. and Vincent, John, The governing passion: cabinet government and party politics in Britain, 1885–86 (Brighton, 1974)Google Scholar; O’Day, Alan, Parnell and the first home rule episode (Dublin, 1986)Google Scholar; Loughlin, James, Gladstone, home rule and the Ulster question, 1882–93 (Dublin, 1986)Google Scholar; Curtis, L. P. Jr., Coercion and conciliation in Ireland, 1880–1892: a study in Conservative Unionism (Princeton, 1963CrossRefGoogle Scholar); Gailey, Andrew, Ireland and the death of kindness: the experience of constructive Unionism, 1890–1905 (Cork, 1987Google Scholar). See also the present author’s earlier writings: ‘Gladstone, land and social reconstruction in Ireland, 1881–1887’ in Parliamentary History, ii (1983), pp 153–73; ‘Forster, the Liberals and new directions in Irish policy, 1880–1882’, ibid., vi (1987), pp 95–126; ‘Disraeli, the Conservatives and the government of Ireland’, ibid., xviii (1999), pp 45–64, 145–68.

2 Pomfret, J. E., The struggle for the land in Ireland, 1800–1923 (Princeton, 1930)Google Scholar; Bull, Philip, Land, politics and nationalism: a study of the Irish land question (Dublin, 1996)Google Scholar; Vaughan, W. E., Landlords and tenants in mid-Victorian Ireland (Oxford, 1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Donnelly, J. S. Jr., The land and the people of nineteenth-century Cork: the rural economy and the land question (London, 1975)Google Scholar; Clark, Samuel and Donnelly, J. S. Jr., (eds), Irish peasants: violence and political unrest, 1780–1914 (Manchester, 1983)Google Scholar; Dooley, Terence, The decline of the big house in Ireland: a study of Irish landed families, 1860–1960 (Dublin, 2001)Google Scholar.

3 Clark, G. S. R.Kitson, ‘“Statesmen in disguise”: reflections on the history of the neutrality of the civil service’ in Hist. Jn., ii (1959), pp 19–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Daunton, Martin, Trusting Leviathan: the politics of taxation in Britain, 1799–1914 (Cambridge, 2001)Google Scholar.

4 Jackson, Patrick, Education Act Forster: a political biography of W. E. Forster (1818-1886) (New Jersey & London, 1997)Google Scholar; Florence Arnold-Forster’s Irish journal, ed. Moody, T. W. and Hawkins, R. A. J. (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar; The red earl: the papers of the fifth Earl Spencer, 1835–1910, ed. Gordon, Peter (2 vols, Northamptonshire Record Society, xxxi, Northampton, 1981)Google Scholar (henceforth Spencer papers).

5 For the contribution of ‘expert’ opinion see Report from the select committee on the Irish land act, 1870 ..., p. 103, H.C. 1877 (328) (henceforth Rep. on land act (1877)), xii, 111; Report from the select committee on the Irish land act, 1870 ..., H.C.1878 (249) (henceforth Rep. on land act (1878)), xv; Minutes of evidence taken before her majesty’s commissioners on agriculture (henceforth Richmond Comm.) i [C 2778–1], H.C. 1881, xv; Report of her majesty’s commissioners of inquiry into the working of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870 ... (henceforth Bessborough Comm.), ii: Digest of evidence ... [C 2779–11], H.C. 1881 xix; First report from the select committee ...on land law (Ireland)..., H.L. 1882 (249), xi; Second report from the select committee ...on land law (Ireland) ..., H.L. 1883 (279), xiii; Report of the Irish Land Commissioners ... [1881-2] [C 3413], H.C. 1882, xx; ibid. [1882-3] [C 3897], H.C. 1883, lxiv; ibid. [1883-4] [C 4231], H.C. 1884–5, lxv; ibid. [1884-5] [C 4625], H.C. 1886, xix; ibid. [1885-6] [C 4899], H.C. 1886, xix; Report of the Royal Commission on the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881 [C 4969, C 5015] (henceforth Cowper Comm.), H.C. 1887, xxvi. Within this vast body of material the evidence of the following is of particular interest: Mr Justice O’Hagan, Viscount Monck, E. R Litton and J. E. Vernon (the first Land Commissioners); Denis Godley (secretary to the Church Temporalities Commission and later the Land Commission); Murrough O’Brien (inspector of estates for the Church Temporalities Commission, chief agent of land sales to the Land Commission, and a Land Commissioner (1892)); Stanislaus Lynch (registrar of the Landed Estates Court, and Land Commissioner (1885)); George Fottrell (solicitor to the Land Commission); E. W. O’Brien (assistant Land Commissioner and cousin of Robert Vere O’Brien, who married Florence Arnold- Forster).

6 The duke of Bedford’s committee (Tuke’s committee and fund) had over thirty Liberal members, both Radical and Whig, as well as moderate Tories. The executive was chaired by W.H., Smith, with Samuel, Whitbread as vice-chairman, and included SirBuxton, Thomas Fowell, Henry, Cowper, SirNorthcote, Stafford, Arthur, Pease, William, Rathbone, Tuke, and Forster, (Emigration from Ireland, being the third report of the committee of ‘Mr Tuke’s Fund’ (London, 1882)Google Scholar). It is also interesting to note that the executive of the land tenure reform committee, whose views had an important influence on Forster in late 1880, included ‘experts’ such as Monck, Mr Justice O’Hagan, E. W. O’Brien and Murrough O’Brien, as well as other Liberal land reformers such as Lord Monteagle, Lord Emly, Stephen de Vere, and the Quaker reformer interested in emigration, J. T. Pirn.

7 Thornley, David, Isaac Butt and home rule (London, 1964)Google Scholar; Jenkins, T. A., Gladstone, Whiggery and the Liberal Party, 1874–1886 (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar; Allen Warren, ‘The Liberal Party and Ireland: years of opposition and a new beginning, 1874–1880’ (unpublished paper).

8 Rep. on land act (1877), evidence from Dr Neilson Hancock, Denis Godley, Stanislaus Lynch; Rep. on land act (1878), evidence from J. E. Vernon; Murrough O’Brien; Mr Justice O’Hagan; Professor Thomas Baldwin.

9 Richmond Comm., i, evidence from Professor Thomas Baldwin, Murrough O’Brien, R. V. O’Brien; Bessborough Comm., i-ii, evidence from J. B. Greene, E. W. O’Brien, Murrough O’Brien, John E. Vernon, Professor Thomas Baldwin .

10 For distress policy see Warren, ‘Disraeli ...’; idem, ‘Forster...’.

11 On Canadian emigration see Houston, C.J. and Smyth, W.J., Irish emigration and Canadian settlement: patterns, links and letters (Toronto & Belfast, 1990), p. 219Google Scholar; Storz, G. J., ‘Archbishop Lynch and New Ireland: an unfulfilled dream for Canada’s Northwest’ in Cath. Hist. Rev., lxviii (1982), pp 612-24Google Scholar. For Tuke and his writings see SirFry, Edward, James Hack Tuke: a memoir (London, 1899)Google Scholar; Tuke, J. H., Irish distress and its remedies (London, 1880)Google Scholar; idem, ‘Peasant proprietors at home’ in The Nineteenth Century, viii (Aug. 1880), pp 182–94; idem, ‘Irish emigration’, ibid., ix (Feb. 1881), pp 358–71; The Times, 18 Apr. 1881; Tuke, J. H., ‘Reminiscences of William Edward Forster’ in Friends’ Quarterly Examiner, xxiii (1889), p. 161Google Scholar. On imperial migration more generally see The Times, 20 Jan., 3, 12 Aug. 1880, 13 Apr. 1881; C. S. Roundell to Spencer, 6 July 1880 (B.L., Althorp papers, Add. MS 77013 (the Althorp papers are in the process of being catalogued and are not yet fully foliated)); Lord Emly to Forster, 5 Nov. 1880 (ibid., Add. MS 44157, f. 208). Roundell had been a contemporary of Spencer’s at Harrow, subsequently becoming his private secretary and a longstanding friend. His correspondence with Spencer is an important source for Spencer’s thinking. Emly was a member of the Limerick clique of Irish Liberals, with whom Forster established close contact whilst in Ireland: see Florence Arnold-Forster’s journal, ed. Moody & Hawkins, pp ix-xxi.

12 See Warren, , ‘Gladstone...’; The Gladstone diaries, ed. Foot, M. R. D. and Matthew, H. C. G. (14 vols, Oxford, 1968-94 (henceforth Gladstone diaries)), ix-xGoogle Scholar.

13 For Smith and Northcote see Hansard 3, cclx, 1571 (2 May 1882); cclxi, 897 (19 May 1882). For an analysis of the Conservative division on the second reading see Annual Reg., 1881, pp 92–9; The Times, 21 May 1881. For Salisbury see Hansard 3, clxiv, 254 (1 Aug. 1881). For Smith’s Irish interests more generally see SirMaxwell, Herbert, The life and times of the Right Honourable William Henry Smith, M.P. (2 vols, London, 1893), i, 190Google Scholar; ii, 57; Chilston, Viscount, W. H. Smith (London, 1965), p. 142Google Scholar. For the stance of the Liberal cabinet see Warren, ‘Forster... ‘.

14 For Salisbury’s and Northcote’s speeches see The Times, 13 Apr. 1882. For Salisbury on Lansdowne’s motion to establish a select committee see Hansard 3, cclxvi, 1510 (24 Feb. 1882). For critical comment on the land act from the Land Commission and its officials see First rep. from select cttee on land law ..., evidence from Denis Godley, Murrough O’Brien, George Fottrell, E. F. Litton, Mr Justice O’Hagan, J. E. Vernon, Stanislaus Lynch. For emigration see Tuke, J. H., ‘Emigration from Ireland...’ in Contemporary Review, xli (Apr. 1882), pp 694–714Google Scholar; Forster to Gladstone, 10 Apr. 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 44160, f. 92). For legal difficulties arising from the case of Adams v. Dunseath see The Times, 1 Mar. 1882. For Treasury comment see R. E. Welby (assistant financial secretary), 29 Oct. 1881 (B.L., Add. MS 44627, f. 81). For overall background see Warren, ‘Forster... ‘.

15 The following analysis of policy formation under Earl Spencer is based on a detailed chronological reconstruction of the correspondence flowing on a daily basis between politicians and officials in London and Dublin and uses largely the Gladstone and Althorp manuscripts in the British Library. During the autumn of each of the years 1882–4 discussions took place between ministers on the general political and parliamentary situation and possible Irish legislation to be introduced. Decisions in principle were usually made in the weeks leading up to the opening of the parliamentary session. A period of legislative evolution then followed, with Irish bills normally being introduced late in the session. The progress and final fate of such legislation is then followed through both Houses of Parliament. There are no specific policy files for Irish business in this period, hence the need for the reconstruction of the process through the correspondence. So as not to burden the reader with excessive detail, reference is made here only to the principal correspondence and files which provide the foundation of the analysis.

16 For the work of Tuke’s committee see Emigration from Ireland ...; Spencer to Trevelyan, 22 May 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 77508); First rep. from select cttee on land law ..., Godley’s evidence. For ministerial discussion see Forster to Gladstone, 10 Apr., 15 June 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 44160, ff 92, 182); Spencer to Trevelyan, 22 May 1882 (ibid., Add. MS 76944).

17 Spencer to Trevelyan, 14 July 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 76944); J. H. Tuke to Courtenay Boyle, 2 June 1882 (ibid., Add. MS 77026).

18 Gladstone diaries, x, 300; Trevelyan to Spencer, 17 July 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 76947); Gladstone to Spencer, 19 July 1882 (ibid., Add. MS 76855).

19 For the Commons debate see in particular Hansard 3, cclxxi, 1671 (6 July 1882); cclxxii, 152, 1226 (11 July 1882).

20 For Spencer’s tour of the west see Spencer to Granville, 17 Sept. 1882 (Spencer papers, i, no. 279); Spencer to Gladstone, 20 Sept. 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 44309, f. 152). For development of relief policy see Spencer to Trevelyan, 10, 17, 19 Nov. 1882, Trevelyan to Spencer, 16, 20 Nov. 1882 (ibid., Add. MS 76950–51); cabinet memo, 20 Nov. 1882 (ibid., Add. MS 44627, f. 114); Gladstone diaries, x, 372–3. For government circular regarding administration of poor relief see The Times, 14 Dec. 1882. For Spencer’s more general anxieties on Irish affairs see Spencer to Hartington, 10 Dec. 1882 (Spencer papers, i, no. 294).

21 For the unpopularity of the decision on poor relief see The Times, 22 Dec. 1882; memo [9 Jan 1883] of meeting between Spencer and bishops from Connacht (B.L., Add. MS 77315). For Spencer’s general assessment see Spencer to Hartington, 13 Jan. 1883 (Spencer papers, i, no. 302).

22 For the reaction to bankrupt unions, and disputes with the Treasury about funding if existing procedures failed, see Gladstone to Leonard Courtney, 1 Jan. 1883 (B.L., Add. MS 44546, f. 65); Gladstone to Childers, 8 Mar. 1883 (ibid., f. 85); Spencer to Childers, 9 Mar. 1883 (ibid., Add. MS 76914); Childers to Spencer, 13 Mar. 1883 (ibid.); Hansard 3, cclxxviii, 1257 (26 Apr. 1883).

23 See above, n. 11; also The Times, 23 Mar. 1881; Tuke to Courtenay Boyle, 14 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 77513); notes relating to emigration 5, 6, 7 Mar. 1883 (ibid., Add. MS 77057); Spencer to Childers, 8 Mar. 1883 (ibid., Add. MS 76914); Childers to Spencer, 13 Mar. 1883 (ibid.); Spencer to Trevelyan, 29 Apr. 1883 (ibid., Add. MS 76494); Spencer’s memo on emigration, 4 May 1883 (ibid., Add. MS 44629, f. 34); Gladstone diaries, x, 441; The diaries of Edward Henry Stanley, 15th earl of Derby between 1878 and 1893: a selection, ed. John Vincent (Oxford, 2003 (henceforth Derby diaries)), p. 441 ; Carlingford to Spencer, 3 June 1883 (Spencerpapers, i, no. 319). For a final verdict on the scheme and its failure see The Times, 4 Aug. 1883.

24 For early omission of Irish measures for the following session see Carlingford to Spencer, 6 Nov. 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 76910); Spencer to Trevelyan, 10 Nov. 1882 (ibid., Add. MS 76950, f. 265). In early 1883 there were extended discussions prompted by Gladstone’s personal desire to introduce Irish local government, with the cabinet deciding against on 6 February (Derby diaries, p. 505). Similarly, in face of Irish members’ pressure to amend the land act, the cabinet also decided against, a decision announced by Gladstone on 14 Mar. 1883: see Hansard 3, cclxxvii, 476. For Irish Liberal members see Trevelyan to Spencer, 17 Apr. 1883 (B.L., Add. MS 76594, f. 432).

25 Spencer to Gladstone, 20 May 1883 (B.L., Add. MS 44310, f. 93).

26 Spencer to Hartington 4 June 1883 (Devonshire MSS, Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, 340/1361). For the 1883 legislative programme see Carlingford to Spencer, 6 Nov. 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 76910). For Gladstone on the need for Irish local government see Gladstone to Trevelyan, 5 Dec. 1882 (ibid., Add. MS 44546, f. 43); Trevelyan to Gladstone, 23 Dec. 1882 (ibid., Add. MS 44335, f. 80). For Spencer’s reactions see Spencer to Hartington, 10 Dec. 1882, 13 Jan. 1883 {Spencer papers, i, nos 294, 302); Spencer to Hartington, 29 Dec. 1882 (Devonshire MS 340/1301); Hartington to Spencer, 25 Dec. 1882 (B.L., Add. MS 76898); Spencer to Harcourt, 15 Jan. 1883 (ibid., Add. MS 76930); Spencer to Granville, 28 Jan. 1883 (Spencer papers, i, no. 304); Spencer to Gladstone, 3 Feb. 1883 (ibid., no. 305). For the cabinet finally deciding against the scheme see Derby diaries, p. 505. For minor measures see Trevelyan to Spencer, 12 Feb. 1883 (B.L., Add. MS 76952); Spencer to Trevelyan, 16 Feb. 1883 (ibid.); Hansard 3, cclxxvi, 1063 (27 Feb. 1883). For the decision not to accept any amendment to the land act see Gladstone diaries, x, 415; Gladstone to Spencer 12 Mar. 1883 (Spencer papers, i, no. 311); Hansard 3, cclxxvii, 476 (14 Mar. 1883). For the meeting of Irish members with Trevelyan about the condition of the west and the need to construct light railways see Trevelyan to Spencer, 13, 17, 18 Apr., 3 May 1883, Spencer to Trevelyan, 16 Apr. 1883 (B.L., Add. MSS 76494–5). For long and important letters by Spencer on the condition of the west, including memo from Hamilton and Gladstone’s reply, see Spencer to Gladstone, 20, 25 May 1883 (ibid., Add. MS 44310, ff 93,102); Gladstone to Spencer, 21 May 1883 (ibid., Add. MS 44546, f. 116).

27 For cabinet discussion see Gladstone diaries, x, 464; Derby diaries, p. 559. For cabinet decision on light railways see Hansard 3, cclxxx, 1074 (20 June 1883). These modest improvement measures prompted long letters from Hamilton to Spencer (7, 10 July 1883) on the relationship of public finance, social improvement and local government (B.L., Add. MS 77057). For Gladstone on the need to pass these measures see Gladstone diaries, xi, 6, 8.

28 Spencer cabinet memo, 24 July 1883 (B.L., Add. MS 44629, f. 56); Gladstone diaries, x, 8; xi, 13; Derby diaries, p. 574.

29 For episcopal and parliamentary difficulties and amendments to the bill see The Times, 1 July 1883; Hansard 3, cclxxxii, 1965 (7 Aug. 1883); cclxxxiii, 550 (14 Aug. 1883); Gladstone diaries, xi, 14.

30 For the debate on fisheries see Hansard 3, cclxxx, 1047 (20 June 1883).

31 For Gladstone’s rejection of the Irish members’ land act amendment bill, and Lord George Hamilton’s land purchase motion, see Hansard 3, cclxxvii, 476 (14 Mar. 1883); cclxxx, 446 (12 June 1883).

32 Spencer’s cabinet memo, 1 Apr. 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 77321). The evolution of the memorandum was an extremely complex process, starting on 10 November with the cabinet meeting to discuss the Irish legislative programme. No purchase measure was then anticipated (Gladstone diaries, xi, 36). Pressure for action came from a range of sources: Irish landlords through the committee formed under Lord Castletown; Irish Liberal members led by T. A. Dickson; the Parnellite members; and leading Conservatives such as W. H. Smith. Childers travelled to Dublin to meet both the landlords and the Land Commission in early January 1884, his visit initiating the extensive correspondence that later formed the core of Spencer’s cabinet memo of 1 April. The timetable was dominated by the need to decide a response to the Irish members’ land act amendment bill introduced on 5 March, which the cabinet had decided to reject earlier that day, including as it did both purchase provisions and the admission of leaseholders. Continued pressure from all sides led on 16 March to the decision to revisit the purchase question through the publication of much of the previous correspondence along with a commentary, which formed the basis of Spencer’s cabinet memo of 1 April. For the cabinet discussion on 5 March 1884 see Derby diaries, p. 642. For the decision to produce the cabinet memo see Childers to Spencer, 16 Mar. 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 76916). On Parnellite links see Gladstone to W. H. O’Shea, 1 Mar. 1884 (ibid., Add. MS 77321); O’Shea to Gladstone, 3 Mar. 1884 (ibid., Add. MS 44269, f. 61); O’Shea to Gladstone, 6 Mar. 1884 (N.L.I., O’Shea papers, MS 5752, f. 156). For Irish Liberal anger see Trevelyan to Spencer, 28, 30 Mar. 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 76962). Spencer’s cabinet memo of 1 April was discussed in cabinet on 28 April, immediately before the introduction of a purchase resolution by Castletown in the Lords and a purchase bill from the Irish Liberals in the Commons: see Gladstone diaries, xi, 139; Derby diaries, p. 657; Dodson cabinet notes, 28 Apr. 1884 (Bodl., dep. Monk Bretton, 62).

33 For Childers’s earlier interest in 1880 see his ‘Scheme for dealing with Irish land’, 20 Dec. 1880 (B.L., Add. MS 44625, f. 30); Childers to Gladstone 26 Feb. 1884 (ibid., Add. MS 44131, f. 37). For Castletown’s committee see The Times, 5 Feb., 6 Mar. 1884. For Irish Liberals see Spencer to Childers, 31 Jan. 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 76915); The Times, 7 Feb. 1884; T. A. Dickson to Spencer, 9 Feb. 1884 (Spencer papers, i, no. 341); Hansard 3, cclxxxvi, 570 (5 Mar. 1884). For cabinet discussions on Irish finance, 26 Jan. 1884, see Derby diaries, p. 630; Dodson cabinet notes, 26 Jan. 1884 (Bodl., dep. Monk Bretton, 62); also Carlingford to Spencer, 4 Mar. 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 76910), in which he regrets the decision to continue to exclude leaseholders from the benefits of the land act. For the Irish committee of M.P.s see Heyck, T. W., The dimensions of British radicalism: the case of Ireland, 1874–95 (Urbana, Ill., Chicago & London, 1974), pp 95-6Google Scholar.

34 For Hamilton’s and Spencer’s reactions see Spencer’s cabinet memo, 1 Apr. 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 77321); Hamilton to Spencer, 13, 18 Jan., 26 Feb. 1884, Hamilton to Trevelyan, 5,8 Mar. 1884, Spencer to Gladstone, 28 Feb. 1884 (Spencer papers, i, no. 342).

35 For cabinet discussion of Spencer’s cabinet memo see Gladstone diaries, xi, 139; Dodson cabinet notes, 28 Apr. 1884 (Bodl., dep. Monk Bretton, 62); Derby diaries, p. 657. For Trevelyan on the Irish Liberal members’ bill see Hansard 3, cclxxxvii, 1009 (30 Apr. 1884).

36 For continuing cabinet difficulties see Kimberley to Spencer, 1 May 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 76912); Spencer to Kimberley, 4 May 1884 (ibid.); Spencer to Trevelyan, 7, 11, 12 May 1884 (ibid., Add. MS 76963); Trevelyan to Spencer, 9, 12 May 1884 (ibid.); J. E. Vernon to Spencer, 8 May 1884 (ibid., Add. MS 77321); cabinet committee notes, 8 May 1884 (Derby diaries, p. 661); Childers to Gladstone, 12 May 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 44131, f. 78); Spencer to Childers, 12 May 1884 (ibid., f. 116); Spencer to Gladstone, 12 May 1884 (Spencer papers, i, no. 352); Gladstone to Spencer, 13 May 1884 (ibid., no. 353); Carlingford to Gladstone, 14 May 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 44123, f. 211); Gladstone diaries, xi, 148; Dodson cabinet notes, 17 May 1884 (Bodl., dep. Monk Bretton, 62); Derby diaries, p. 663. For the introduction of the bill see Hansard 3, cclxxxviii, 1510 (27 May 1884). For flaws in the scheme see Childers’s note, 7 July 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 76916). For the bill’s abandonment see Hansard 3, ccxc, 692 (10 July 1884).

37 For Spencer’s overview of the Irish situation see Spencer to Henry Fowler, 21 Sept. 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 77546); Spencer to E. G. Jenkinson, 23 Sept. 1884 (Spencerpapers, i, no. 362); Spencer’s undated memo on legislative achievements during his viceroyalty and his hopes for educational reform (Devonshire MS 340/1588). For Hamilton’s views see his memo on state interference with industrial enterprise, 1 Dec. 1884 (P.R.O., 30/6/127, f. 8). For the legislative programme see Spencer to Gladstone, 26 Jan. 1885 (Spencer papers, i, no. 386); Spencer to Gladstone, 28 Mar. 1885 (B.L., Add. MS 44312, f. 36); Gladstone to Spencer, 29 Jan., 30 Mar. 1885 (Gladstone diaries, xi, 285, 315); Spencer cabinet memo, 25 Mar. 1885 (B.L., Add. MS 44312, f. 38).

38 For the suspension of Tuke’s committee’s operations see Emigration from Ireland...

39 For Childers’s continuing enthusiasm for land purchase see Childers to Spencer, 25 Dec. 1884 (B.L., Add. MS 76916); Spencer to Childers, 4 Jan. 1885 (ibid.). For the emergence of the idea of vendor’s guarantee and Spencer’s and Campbell-Bannerman’s conversion see E. F. Litton to Spencer, 27 Jan. 1885 (B.L., Add. MS 77322), E. W. O’Brien to Hamilton, 5 Mar. 1885 (ibid.); Spencer to Childers, 6 Apr. 1885 (ibid., Add. MS 76916). For Hamilton’s continuing doubts see Hamilton to Spencer, 26 Apr. 1885 (ibid., Add. MS 77060); Gladstone diaries, xi, 330; Lord Carlingford’s journal: reflections of a cabinet minister, 1885, ed. Cooke, A. B. and Vincent, J. R. (Oxford, 1981), p. 95Google Scholar. For Irish Liberals’demands see their memo, 20 Mar. 1885 (B.L., Add. MS 44312, f. 44). For landlords’ demands see Castletown to Spencer, 26 Feb., 14 Mar. 1885 (B.L. Add. MSS 77552–3). It is interesting to note that a draft purchase bill printed on 24 April 1885 included the advance of the whole purchase price, a repayment period of 47 years, and a sum of £20 million to be made available. The later Ashbourne Act extended the repayment period to 49 years, but only set aside £5 million (B.L., Add. MS 77323.) A memorandum by the parliamentary draftsman, Henry Thring, 3 July 1885, outlined that land purchase along these lines now minimised the political and financial risks (B.L., Add. MS 44642, f. 72).

40 For educational endowments, later reintroduced by Salisbury’s government see Hansard 3, ccxcvi, 207 (23 Mar. 1884); ccc, 1855 (11 Apr. 1884). For national education see ibid., ccxcvi, 518 (24 Mar. 1884). For the select committee on Irish manufactures see Report from the select committee on industries (Ireland)..., H.C. 1884—5 (288), xi.

41 For the Carnarvon experiment see SirHardinge, Arthur, The life of Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, fourth earl of Carnarvon, 1831–1890 (3 vols, Oxford, 1925)Google Scholar; Hammond, Gladstone & the Irish nation, pp 376–90; Cooke, & Vincent, , Governing passion, pp 1–168, 255–309Google Scholar; Cooke, A. B. and Vincent, John, ‘Select documents XXVII: Ireland and party politics, 1885–7: an unpublished Conservative memoir’ in I.H.S., no. 62 (Sept. 1968), pp 154-72Google Scholar; no. 63 (Mar. 1969), pp 321–38; Cooke, A. B. and Malcomson, A. P. W., The Ashbourne papers: a calendar of the papers of Edward Gibson, 1st Lord Ashbourne (Belfast, 1974)Google Scholar. For more recent biographical treatments see Steele, David, Lord Salisbury: a political biography (London, 1999), pp 141–242Google Scholar; Roberts, Andrew, Salisbury: Victorian titan (London, 1999), pp 321–93Google Scholar.

42 For the politics of 1885–6 see above, n. 1.

43 Curtis, Coercion & conciliation, esp. pp 331–92; Pomfret, Struggle for the land, esp. pp 220–75.

44 Cowper Comm., evidence of Mr Justice O’Hagan, Stanislaus Lynch, E. F. Litton.

45 First report of the Royal Commission on Irish Public Works [C 5038], H.C. 1887, xxv; Second report of the Royal Commission on Irish Public Works [C 5624], H.C.1888, xlviii. For the history of Irish railways see Tumock, David, A historical geography of railways in Great Britain and Ireland (Aldershot, 1998), pp 140–45Google Scholar; Conroy, J. C., A history of railways in Ireland (London, 1928), pp 250–75, 295–304Google Scholar; Steward, H. A., The Light Railways Act, 1896 (Dublin, 1897), pp 48–51Google Scholar.

46 For details on the take-up of the Irish labourers legislation see Return of the operations under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts up to 31st March 1888..., H.C. 1888 (133), lxxxiii; Labourers (Ireland) Acts (Cottages), return ..., H.C. 1893–4 (469), lxxv.

47 For outline details of Balfour’s land purchase policies see Curtis, Coercion & conciliation, pp 343–55, Pomfret, Struggle for the land, pp 220–75; Dooley, Decline of the big house, pp 79–111.

48 There is no modern history of the Congested Districts Board, but that of Micks, W. L., An account of the constitution, administration and dissolution of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland from 1891 to 1923 (Dublin, 1925)Google Scholar, is a unique and revealing document itself, written as it was by a man who in effect was the chief administrator of the board from its inception in 1891 until his retirement in 1924. It has been little used by historians. For Micks’s relations with Balfour see their correspondence in 1889–90 (B.L., Add. MS 49817, ff 108–248). For Howard Hodgkin see Hodgkin to J. H. Tuke, 26 Mar., 4 Apr. 1890 (Friends’ Library, London, Tuke MS 20/21). Hodgkin was Tuke’s brother-in-law and had been one of the secretaries to Tuke’s committee.

49 The author would like to thank the Warden and Fellows of New College, Oxford, for generously electing him to a Visiting Fellowship in Michaelmas term 2001, during which much of the work for this article was completed. He also thanks the librarians and curators of the following manuscript collections for permission to consult and quote material in their keeping: the Bodleian Library, the British Library, Friends’ Library, The National Archives [of the U.K.] (Public Record Office), the National Library of Ireland, and the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement.