Agreement
In gaol Parnell had begun to turn over in his mind the possibility of coming to an arrangement with the Government. He had been corresponding with Mrs Katharine O'Shea who engaged her husband Captain O’Shea in April 1882 to act as a go-between for negotiations on behalf of Parnell. O’Shea contacted Gladstone on 5 May having been informed by Parnell that if the Government would settle the rent-arrears problem on the terms he proposed, he was confident that he would be able to curtail outrages (violent crimes). He further urged for the quick release of the League’s organizers in the West, Sheridan and Boyton, who would then work for pacification. This shocked Forster, but impressed Gladstone.
Accordingly on 2 May Gladstone informed the House of Commons of the release of Parnell and the resignation of Forster (who was replaced by Lord Frederick Cavendish). Gladstone always denied there had been a ‘Kilmainham Treaty’, merely accepting that he ‘had received informations'. He kept his side of the arrangement by subsequently having the Arrears of Rent (Ireland) Act 1882 enacted, cancelling £2m of accrued rent arrears.
Read more about this topic: Kilmainham Treaty
Famous quotes containing the word agreement:
“That which corrodes the souls of the persecuted is the monstrous inner agreement with the prevailing prejudice against them.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“No one can doubt, that the convention for the distinction of property, and for the stability of possession, is of all circumstances the most necessary to the establishment of human society, and that after the agreement for the fixing and observing of this rule, there remains little or nothing to be done towards settling a perfect harmony and concord.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“The doctrine of those who have denied that certainty could be attained at all, has some agreement with my way of proceeding at the first setting out; but they end in being infinitely separated and opposed. For the holders of that doctrine assert simply that nothing can be known; I also assert that not much can be known in nature by the way which is now in use. But then they go on to destroy the authority of the senses and understanding; whereas I proceed to devise helps for the same.”
—Francis Bacon (1560–1626)