Ireland and Home Rule

Catholic Ireland had been dominated by Protestant England since the sixteenth century. In the first third of the 1600s, the English sent out one hundred thousand Protestant settlers who were loyal to the British crown. The settlers colonized mostly the northern part of Ireland, and are the ancestors of today's Protestants who wish to maintain their link with Britain. English dominance of Ireland was secured in 1690, when the Protestant English king, William of Orange, was victorious over the Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne. James had been trying to regain the English throne.

In the nineteenth century, there was a strong movement towards home rule for Ireland. The Irish leader in this campaign was Charles Stewart Parnell. Parnell, who was himself a Protestant, headed a group of Irish members of the British parliament who pledged themselves to the repeal of the...