ABSTRACT

The Home Government Association was founded as another attempt to discover the holy grail of Irish politics: a comprehensive nationalism that corresponded to the pluralist nature of the Irish people. Charles Stewart Parnell, for his part, was making friendly overtures to the ‘advanced’ nationalists, and he met John Devoy, a prominent Irish American Fenian, in January and March 1878. This did not make them pro-British: it simply meant that they realized that Parnellism, the Parnellism of 1877-1885, offered less hope of making Ireland a nation than did the Liberals’ promised home rule bill. Between 1877 and 1885 Parnellism carried Parnell to power and near-success; after 1886 Parnell disentangled himself from Parnellism with relief, and committed all to the Liberal alliance. But the party and the country would not follow him: they shared his emotions, but disapproved of his tactics. It was perhaps tragic, but appropriate, that in 1886 Parnell destroyed Parnellism, and in 1891 Parnellism destroyed Parnell.