Do You Agree with the View That Gladstone Failed to ‘Pacify Ireland’ in the Years 1868-85 Because He Consistently Offered Too Little, Too Late? Explain Your Answer, Using Sourced 4,5 and 6 and Your Own Knowledge.

There is evidence that supports the idea that in Gladstone’s first and second ministries he actually did try to introduce acts that would help “pacify Ireland.” Source 4 was quoted from 1868, which was before Gladstone’s terms as prime minster of England. I can infer from this that Gladstone was preparing to help Ireland before he could really do anything effective. From my own knowledge I know that Gladstone also started quite early in his first term and was seen as a “man of vision”. Gladstone started his reforms with the Church Act in 1869, which was a key point in Gladstone’s election campaign. The Church act included the disestablishment; which broke the link between the church and the state, and disendowment; which made the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church equal through grants and removing ownership of some land. This was one of the most successful acts that Gladstone passed in his terms. From source 5 I can infer that actually not much was done to “pacify Ireland” before Gladstone’s first ministry; “Before Gladstone’s first administration little was done…” So actually the fact that Gladstone did something at all showed that he was trying to “pacify Ireland” more than anyone else had done before. Source 6 shows that in Gladstone’s seconds ministry he was “confronted” with unparalleled challenge” and that he also continued to pursue “coercion” and “coupled with reform”. From my own knowledge I can see that Gladstone responded to the Land war even though Ireland was not really on his political scheme in his second ministry, he introduced reforms that helped Ireland, for example the seconds land act, coercion, and Kilmainham. Although Gladstone did introduce a few acts that would help the problem of Ireland, both political problems and also the land problems, some of the acts he introduced did not go far enough to fully address the issues at hand.

Despite the fact Gladstone had clear aims to try and pacify Ireland in his first and second ministry there...