... desire to see justice done. In 1868, the year Gladstone entered office in his first ministry; the majority of Ireland was a peasant society. Individual farmers had small plots of land upon which they depended for food, as well as a small amount of money. This feudal system, long since in decline elsewhere in Britain, meant a large proportion of the population were effectively chained to their landlord, in the sense that their only means of existence was through their farm; other industries simply did not exist in most of Ireland. In Ireland at the time, much of land was owned by the Anglo protestant ascendancy. This made land rights and tenancy rules a major issue in Ireland. The peasantry felt very much oppressed and exploited by the ruling classes, as they were not only perceived to have stolen the Irish peoples land, they provided no rights to tenants, depriving ...

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