Gladstone's+second+ministry,+1880-1885.

= **__Gladstone's second ministry 1880- 1885__** =

__ Electoral Reforms & Home Rule __ •1872 Secret Ballot Act meant that Irish could vote against landlords without fear of eviction. •1884-5ReformAct tripled the number of Irish voters

__ Charles Stewart Parnell __ • 1875 - Charles Stewart Parnell(Protestant landlord) was elected to Parliament. • 1878 - Parnell became an active opponent of the Irish land laws • 1879 Parnell was elected president of National Land League**.** • In 1880 he visited the U.S. and succeeded in gaining both funds and support for his cause.

__ GLADSTONE’S SECOND MINISTRY 1880-5 __ • In the 1880 elections Parnell supported Gladstone, but when Gladstone sponsored the Land Act, which fell far short of nationalists' demands, he joined the opposition. • 1881 & 1882 Irish Land Acts attempted to end Irish unrest by giving Irish tenant farmers greater rights to the land they farmed. • The Land League planned to commit a number of deliberate violations of the Land Act in order to test it in the courts.

__ Parnell in prison 1881 __ • Parnell encouraged boycott as a means of influencing landlords and land agents. • This led to the jailing of Parnell and several of his principal followers at Kilmainham prison and to the suppression of the league. • One of Parnell's first acts after entering prison was to issue a manifesto calling upon the Irish peasants not to pay their rents.

__ 1882- Murder in the Park. __ • Parnell's peaceful policy was completely shattered by the murder of Lord Cavendish and Thomas Burke, chief secretary and under-secretary for Ireland, respectively, at Phoenix Park, Dublin, by the Irish Invincibles, a militant terrorist group - • This murder was a protest against the Coercion Act of 1881, which gave the lord lieutenant of Ireland (John Spencer, 5th Earl) power to arrest any person on mere suspicion of treason, intimidation.

__ 1882 Crimes Act __ • Parnell strongly denounced this murder but was unable to prevent a wave of terrorism that caused the enactment of new coercive legislation. • The Crimes Act, which was passed soon after the dual murder, made the provisions of the Coercion Act more stringent.

__ 1885- Gladstone loses the election __ • Gladstone’s government had tried to extend the Crimes Act of 1882 past their expiration date, but Parnell, whose party held the balance of power in Parliament, voted against him and brought about the fall of his ministry. • In 1885 election Parnell’s party won 4/5th of the Irish vote.