No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Dicey's conversion to unionism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
Extract
During the struggle for Irish home rule and independence, A. V. Dicey, Vinerian professor of English law at Oxford, appears as the leading academic spokesman for the unionist forces. In 1886, while he denied having any special knowledge of Irish affairs, he rejected all proposals for altering the union on constitutional and national grounds:
Whatever may be the difficulties, or even the disadvantages, of maintaining the union, it undoubtedly has in its favour not only all the recommendations which must belong to a policy of rational conservatism, but also these two decisive advantages—that it does sustain the strength of the United Kingdom, and that it does not call for any dereliction of duty.
Information
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1973
References
1 Dicey, A. V., England's case against home rule (London, 1886), p. 283 Google Scholar.
2 Dicey, A. V., The verdict (London, 1890), p. 147 Google Scholar.
3 Dicey, A. V., A leap in the dark (2nd ed., London, 1911), pp xvi–xvii Google Scholar
4 The Times, 15 Sept. 1913.
5 Dicey, A. V., The law of the constitution (8th ed., London, 1915), pp xxxvii–xlviii Google Scholar.
6 For a history of these developments in history and political science, see Ford, Trowbridge H., ‘ Towards a better relation between history and political science ‘ in Government and Opposition, vii, no. 2 (Spring 1972), pp 207–28Google Scholar.
7 Rait, Robert S. (ed.), Memorials of Albert Venn Dicey (London, 1925), pp 107–8Google Scholar.
8 See, e.g., Hurst, Michael, Joseph Chamberlain and liberal reunion (London, 1967), pp 87, 176Google Scholar.
9 Curtis, , Coercion & conciliation, p. 319 Google Scholar.
10 New, Chester, Life of Henry Brougham to 1830 (Oxford, 1961), p. 40 Google Scholar.
11 Ford, Trowbridge H., ‘ Dicey as a political journalist ’ in Political Studies, xviii, no, 2 (June 1970), pp 220–35CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
12 For the standard interpretation of Dicey's relation to The Nation, see Rait, , Memorials of Albert Venn Dicey, p. 75 Google Scholar.
13 SirHolland, T. E., ‘ The late Professor Dicey ’ in Law Quart. Rev., xxxviii, 276 Google Scholar.
14 Rait, op. cit., p. 8.
15 Ibid., p. 13.
16 Ibid., p. 3.
17 Quoted in Lawson, F. H., The Oxford law school, 1850–1965 (Oxford, 1968), p. 71, n. 1Google Scholar.
18 Ibid, (italics his).
19 Harvard Univ., Cambridge. Mass., Houghton Library, Godkin papers, bMS Am 1083.
20 Ibid.
21 Rose, Paul, The Manchester martyrs (London, 1970), p. 11 Google Scholar.
22 For Bright's efforts in these areas, see Sturgis, James L., John Bright and the empire (London, 1969)Google Scholar.
23 Ausubel, Herman, John Bright (New York. 1966). pp 173–5Google Scholar.
24 For Bagehot's dependence upon J. S. Mill, see Ford, Trowbridge H., ‘ Bagehot and Mill as theorists of comparative politics ’ in Comparative Politics, ii, no. 2, pp 309–24Google Scholar.
25 Ford (Jan. 1970). ‘ Dicey as a political journalist ’, as above, pp 224–5.
26 The Nation, 28 [1879], p. 329. On the matter of the source of the articles, it is contended here that Dicey was the regular London correspondent during the second administrations of Disraeli and Gladstone. In particular, all columns signed with ‘ ’ , ‘ Y.’ ‘ D.’ ‘ H. ’, and ‘ D. B. ’ are Dicey's, plus, of course, those to which he actually signed his own name. This judgment is based not upon the handling of principal figures and issues but upon the treatment of people like Lord Coleridge, Sir John Holker, Charles Darwin, Lord Lawrence, Countess Waldegrave, Lord Cairns, Sir George B ram well, and Louis Napoleon. The changing designations of the writers of articles were adopted for tactical advantage, and when he merely introduced himself as a new writer in order to escape from difficulties he was confronted with as the regular correspondent. For more on this, see Rait, , Memorials of Albert Venn Dicey, pp 106–8Google Scholar, and Ford, ‘ Dicey as a political journalist ’, as above, p. 226, n. 2, and p. 230, n. 4.
27 The Nation, 29 [1879], pp 8–9 Google ScholarPubMed.
28 Ibid., 30[1880], p. 56.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid., p. 57.
31 Ibid., 29 [1879], p. 109.
32 Ibid., 30 [1880], p. 57.
33 Ibid., 31 [1880], p. 217.
34 Ibid., 32 [1881], pp 40–1
35 Ibid., pp 126–7.
36 Ibid., p. 127
37 Ibid., p. 237
38 Ibid., p. 126.
39 Ibid., p. 292.
40 Ibid., p. 420.
41 Ibid., 33 [1881], p. 172.
42 Ibid., p. 193.
43 Ibid., pp 249–50.
44 Ibid., pp 371–2.
45 Rose, op. cit., p. 121.
46 The Nation, 34 [1882], p. 29.
47 Ibid, 33 [1881], p. 469.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid. 34 [1882], pp 95–6.
50 Ibid., p. 333.
51 Ibid., p. 249.
52 Ibid., p. 333.
53 Ibid., p. 334.
54 Ibid., p. 396.
55 Ibid., p. 460.
56 Ibid., p. 478.
57 Ibid., p. 519.
58 Ibid, 35 [1882], p. 29.
59 Ibid., p. 48.
60 Ibid., p. 306.
61 Ibid., p. 129.
62 Ibid., p. 89.
63 Ibid., 36 [1883], p. 186.
64 Ibid., p. 228.
65 Ibid.
66 Ibid., p. 358.
67 Ibid., p. 464.
68 Ibid., 37 [1883], p. 30.
69 Note the prosaic, laudatory article that Dicey wrote as regular correspondent in preparation for the celebration, ‘ The Bright festival at Birmingham ’ (ibid., pp 9–10).
70 Ibid., p. 30.
71 Ibid.
72 For the relations between the Clan na Gael, the Irish National League of America and Dicey, see Reports, conventions: Irish National Land League and Irish National League of America, 1881 to 1886 (Lincoln, Neb., 1886).
73 The Nation 37 [1883], p. 48.
74 Ibid., p. 73.
75 Ibid., p. 96.
76 Ibid., p. 137.
77 These articles are ‘ Irish political cycles ’, ‘ Law and order in Ireland ’, ‘ Irish reformatories and industrial schools ’, ‘ The condition of the west of Ireland ’, ‘ The debate on the administration of justice in Ireland ’, ‘ The Irish franchise and the registration question ’, ‘ The Irish question ’, ‘ The Channel Islands ’, ‘ The “invasion of Ulster” ’, and ‘ Orange action in Ulster ’.
78 The Nation, 37 [1883], p. 115.
79 Ibid., p. 135.
80 Ibid., p. 160.
81 Ibid., p. 182.
82 Ibid., p. 270.
83 Ibid., p. 430.
84 Ibid., p. 465.
85 Ibid., p. 505.
86 Ibid.
87 Ibid., 38 [1884], p. 10.
88 Ibid.
80 Ibid.
90 Ibid., p. 52.
91 Ibid., p. 94.
92 Ibid., p. 29.
93 Godkin papers, as above, bMS Am 1083.
94 Dicey, A. V., What is ‘ Castle government’? (Chicago, 1884), p. 11 Google Scholar. While in an earlier article I had said that I thought that this was a genuine article by Dicey which had been tampered with—see Ford, ‘ Dicey as a political journalist’, as above, p. 231—I no longer think that it was seriously altered. At that time, I did not know that Dicey was willing to excuse or understand violence by fenian types, provided that the Parnell movement did not promote them. Consequently, when references to violence occurred, I thought that they had been added, not realizing that Dicey did not care, provided that they were perpetrated by Invincible types. Of course, on the basis of Ford's selective editing of the article on Dublin Castle for the Irish World, it is most likely that passages were left out. The simple construction of sentences was Dicey's concession to the educational attainments of Irish-America. For further corroboration, see the explanatory notes in the margin of each page, the hallmark of Dicey's scholarly work.
95 Ibid., p. II.
96 Ibid., p. 9.
97 Ibid., p. 13.
98 Ibid., p. 4.
99 Ibid., p. 6.
100 Ibid., p. 5.
101 Ibid., p. 41.
102 Reprint of The Times, 7 June 1887 (London, 1887).
103 Ibid.
104 Annual Reg., 1884, p. 160.
105 Devoy's post bag, ii, 242 Google Scholar.
106 The Nation, 38 [1884], p. 228 Google Scholar.
107 Ibid, 40 [1885], p. 175.
108 Ibid., p. 217.