How Successful Was Gladstone's First Ministry?

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How successful was Gladstone’s first ministry? If ‘achieving what you set out to do’ defines successful, then Gladstone’s First Ministry was certainly a success. The Acts that were passed during his time as leader of the Liberal party had great impact on the population both then, and in some cases, still now. However not all his Acts were well received and this created some controversy. Gladstone’s main goal was to pacify Ireland and he was the first British politician to tackle the unfair way in which Ireland was run. Firstly the Disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Ireland, removed a major grievance for the Irish people. As only 12% of the population were part of the Anglican Church, yet they still had to pay tariffs towards it, Gladstone felt this was wrong and unacceptable. He felt it was unfair on the people in Ireland, and there was need for action after the Nationalist Fenian activity in 1867. The terms of the Act meant the Church was disestablished and disowned, leaving it to govern itself. It would also be deprived of some of its property which would now be redistributed for education purposes/catholic churches. It was the most successful Irish Act ever and extended the principle of religious liberalism to Ireland. The Act was so liberal, it could be considered radical. As well as this, Gladstone also wanted to improve landlord and tenant relationships as the landlords could easily evict tenants randomly as it was a very unfair controlling system. The Irish Land Act meant there were limitations on the land lords’ eviction power and compensation was given for tenants who had been evicted. Numbers of lordships complained as many Protestants were absentee landowners so it was an incredible achievement to get the reforms through. Gladstone’s First Ministry could be considered successful in many ways. He improved efficiency and tackled the issue of
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