Second Home Rule Bill Rejected (1893)
In 1893 a second Home Rule Bill found its way through Parliament. The Lords rejected the bill. Gladstone soon afterwards retired. By 1898 hopes of Home Rule vanished. Even in 1900 when the IPP was technically reunited, chances of Home Rule remained slim, with the cause now entirely dependent on the English who increasingly viewed the scheme as a shameful electoral liability. In Ireland, Home Rule seemed intangible, with many exhausted by the Irish Party’s repetitive dogma.[1]
[1] Robert Kee, The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism (Penguin Books, 1972), 425.
