1879 AD

1879 AD There was to be an economic crisis throughout the Winter in Ireland, leading into and throughout 1880 AD, where there were to be further mass evictions of the tenants and their families off of the Land Lords' Estates, and the energies of the Irish Land League now had to be directed toward the relief of the ongoing rural distress, with Connacht Province and Co. Donegal in the west of the Ulster Province faring the worst and further evictions of the tenants and their families were to be carried out in Ireland over the next 3 years also by the Land Lords, and this cruel action was to be also coupled with near Famine, and this period in Ireland was to become known as the Land Wars, which would last until 1882, as it was to be another grave crisis year for the rural tenants in Ireland. As the bad season progressed on 14,600 tenant farmers and their families were now to be evicted in Ireland by the Land Lords for the "non - payment of their rent," which under British Imperial Conservative Government legislation had taken away any protection they might have gained previously, To be evicted meant the loss of any compensation money also for Disturbance, which meant their creditors now also had no means of recovering any monies they had lent them on this previous surety. Together with another threat of ongoing further Famine, all these factors, coupled together with no sign of any British Imperial Government relief under the Immoral Union and the British Conservative Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, who had no interest in Irish Affairs, were to bring on and continue the "Irish Land Wars."

February: Another Conference was held in Dublin by the members of the "Irish Home Rule Party," which was still under the control of the dower Isaac Butt, but the young activist Charles Stewart - Parnell was becoming more popular all the time, especially so with the Clann na Gael in America who at this time was raising funds to purchase further arms for use in Ireland if they were needed, to bring pressure on the British Conservative Government and their Dublin Castle authorities in Ireland to bring about further reform. John Devoy, the leader of the Clann na Gael, was in the meantime also considering a "New Departure Strategy," proposing to the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood, who were the revolutionary wing in Ireland, to give their support to the Constitutional movement for Irish Home Rule, if it was to come under the control of the young activist, Charles Stewart - Parnell who was to use Obstructionism in the British Westminster Parliament, not violence. The possibility of an "Irish National Movement" under his leadership was now possible, as the whole Country was truly in a desperate situation, and all of the population in Ireland were now linked by a common cause that was the continuing low economic situation, which was allowed to  persist without anything being done to correct it by the British Conservative Government still under the Immoral Union and the control of Benjamin Disraeli in England, to alleviate their terrible shared distress. The I.R.B. Supreme Council in Ireland having laid off and suffered such previous attempts of obtaining democratic reform with negative results rejected this "New Departure Strategy" proposal by John Devoy and the followers of Charles Parnell in the Irish Parliamentary Party.  

      Benjamin Disraeli, the British Conservative Prime Minister in England, continued  to virtually show no interest at all in Irish Affairs, which was now in a state of total collapse, as he was preoccupied with British Imperial Foreign Affairs, but despite this he did appoint a Committee of Inquiry to look into the situation, and the result was that he was to bring in the University Act, where he dissolved the Queen's University and replaced it with the Royal University of Ireland, which was to be established, granting degrees to those who were capable of passing the required examinations regardless of attending colleges or other institutions, except for medicine. This new arrangement then suited the students from the Catholic University who could now "officially" graduate, and they also received 15 Fellowships from the 29 granted all up, which was worth 400 pounds each per annum.  

April 20th: The Irishtown meeting was launched for land agitation, and Michael Davitt had also returned from America, were he had personally studied the land schemes of Henry George there, and he began his campaign for Irish land rights, forming the first "Irish Land League" in Co. Mayo in the mid - west of the Connacht Province from were his family had been previously evicted when he was a 4 year old child and James Daly, who was also from Co. Mayo, was also installed as the Secretary of the Mayo Tenants Defence Association. To achieve his goals of tenant ownership of their own Irish land he wanted them firstly not to pay any "unjust" rent, and also any reduction in their rents that were still too high to be eventually economically able to buy back their own land in Ireland and he also wanted them to set up their own organization against any further evictions carried out. To this end he began what became generally known as the "Boycotts" against the hard - line Land Lords, and while taking this action he was also to convince Charles Stewart - Parnell the Anglo - Irish Land Lord and Irish Home Ruler, to back him and to even become the President of the Irish Land League who were to set up their own courts of law to ensure that real justice was carried out.    

      At this time, O Gorman - Mahon, was still representing the people at Ennis in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province, as their M.P. in the Westminster Parliament in England.

    Another positive occurred when Dr. Henry Neville took over as head of the Catholic University at Maynooth in Co. Kildare in Central Southern Leinster, which also brought about a change of attitudes there by the younger priests who were students there, who had previously been educated by mentors who had been anti - Republicans previously created by the treatment of the clergy in France during the French Revolution.

May: Isaac Butt who had been the first leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and who had also founded the Irish Home Rule League, died, suddenly, and the Irish Parliamentary Party members chose William Shaw another non - Catholic bank manager from Co. Cork in Southern Munster to replace him as being conservative they were wary of the young Charles Stewart - Parnell and his small, but aggressive group of Irish MPs in the Westminster Parliament and especially of his fast growing popularity throughout Ireland.   

June: Charles Stewart - Parnell, although a Land Lord himself began, for the first time, a campaign to call for "rural" agitation for tenant rights in Ireland at Westport / Cathair na Mart (The Stone Fort of the Oxen) on the Carrowbeg River in Co. Mayo in the mid - west of the Connacht Province.  

August 27th: A vision occurred on this day at Knock in Co. Mayo in the mid - west of the Connacht Province were the images of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and St. John were seen accompanied by a Lamb with a cross, that was sighted initially by two women who thought they were all statues until they moved, and they called on the parish priest there to come out and have a look, but he said he was too busy and this vision then continued to occur for 3 1/2 hours in the pouring rain, behind the old Church there in the presence of the 35 people who were attending the Mass there on that day, and who were to continue to confirm their sighting until the day they died. (Knock is a very World wide popular place of Holy Pilgrimage in Ireland today). 

October 5^th: Charles Stewart - Parnell held a rally in Cork City in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, where a crowd of 25,000 - 30,000 people came to hear him call for the Land Lords to share the losses that were being incurred by the tenants on their Estates in Ireland.

October 21^st: Michael Davitt now formed the "Irish National Land League" in Dublin, which later was carried out under the generic term of Captain Moonlight, which took in his already existing Mayo Tenants League and the Irish Tenant’s Defence Associations, who were now calling for a reduction in the "rack" rents, the defence of those tenants and their families who were threatened with eviction, and the personal ownership of their own Irish land. It was also intended that the Irish tenants would be able to pay for their holdings as a fair rent over a certain number of years and he was supported by Charles Stewart - Parnell the MP for Meath who had become its first President, and who would combine the Irish land movement, and the Irish Parliamentary Party when he was to eventually become it's leader also.

      Joseph Gillis Biggar, who was now well known for his Obstructionism in the British Westminster Parliament in England, to bring attention to the matter of Irish Home Rule, became the Treasurer of the Irish Land League, and he made the following amusing comment that, "It was wrong to shoot at the Land Lords, as they often missed and hit someone else."  John O Connor - Power was the first of the non - Catholic M.Ps. to join the Irish Land League. Anna Parnell, who was a sister to Charles Stewart - Parnell, at this time also organised a Famine Relief Fund forwhat was by now the starving population in Ireland.  

     John Devoy, the leader of the Clann na Gael / The Organization in America, made a visit to France and Ireland were he met up with Michael Davitt and Charles Stewart - Parnell and gave them the moral and financial support they needed from the Clann na Gael in America, and this created an informal alliance, which then became known as the "New Departure Strategy" of trying to use constitutional means instead of violence to achieve reform in Ireland from the British Imperial Conservative Governmen and their Immoral Union.  

     The British Imperial Governments in England had always previously given themselves extraordinary powers to be used against the Irish population in 3 out of every 4 years for the last 35 years, and from 1835 AD until 1885 AD only 3 years were to pass without any further Irish Coercion Acts or Irish Crime Acts being introduced in Ireland with the Ascendancy anti - Irish newspaper, The English Times so exuberant about this that they published the fact that, "Now for the first time in 600 years England has Eire - Ireland at her mercy, and can deal with her as she pleases." 

      Edward Saunderson, the previous Ulster Whig and hard - line anti - Catholic, who had resigned from the Liberal Party under the Statesman William Gladstone, over the disestablishment of the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland and had joined up with the Conservatives, paid homage to the "siege mentality" that still existed in the Ascendancy and was convinced that the non - Catholics must organize themselves in the interests of their self defence, as the momentum to gain Irish Home Rule grew stronger for the population in Ireland.

     It was in this year that John Henry Newman the former Ascendancy Church of England prelate from Oxford University became a Catholic Cardinal.

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