The Act of Union of 1800

The Act of Union of 1800 led to the merging of Great Britain and Ireland and resulted in the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The union between Britain and Ireland was not smooth, as Ireland’s Christian values explicitly conflicted Britain’s Protestant values. Under this union, Ireland suffered a widespread famine. This contrasted with how Scotland and Britain’s union in 1700 was successful, as evidenced by the expansion of imperialistic conquests of the British Empire during the 1700s. In Scotland, as the Jacobites lost power, the Scottish viewed British nationalism as the embodiment of Protestant ideals, and the Scottish asserted that the Scottish Enlightenment played a pivotal role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689, the union of Scotland and Britain seemed sensible and somewhat inevitable. In light of this contrast between Scotland’s and Ireland’s experiences of union with Britain, Britain’s sense of nationalism increased after the Act of Union of 1800, as Britain attempted to suppress the Catholicism of the Irish.

 This assertion of English Protestantism appears in Mill’s section on the influences of the continent and “especially from the St. Simonians,” whose school of thought brought “home to [Mill] a new mode of political thinking” (Mill 127). Mill notes that M. Comte, who developed much of the St. Simonians’ principles, posited that the “social science must be subject to the same three-stage law,” one of which includes viewing Protestantism as “the start of the metaphysical state and the doctrines of the French Revolution were its consummation” and that “its positive state was yet to come” (Mill 127). Here, Mill suggests that Protestantism is the driving force behind society’s progression and that Christianity is the “concluding phase of the theological state of the social science” (Mill 127). While Mill was not religious, he understands Protestantism through a historical lens and depicts it as an institution that paves the way for more freedom and the establishment of Enlightenment principles once its religious stage inevitably fades away. Moroever, Mill, who elsewhere underscores his Protestant ethic, suggests that Protestantism is a religion of an advanced post-French Revolution society while Catholicism is stagnant and outdated. These views align with the view toward Catholicism that Britain would have adopted to oppress the Irish.

 "Act of Union: The Creation of the United Kingdom." BBC, 27 February 2021, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/acts_of_union_01.sh...

The Crimean War

The Crimean War occurred from October 1853 to February 1856. It was a conflict involving Russia, France, Britain, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire that centered around the status of the rights of Christian minorities living in the Ottoman Empire’s Holy Land. This war has also been understood to be the product of the Ottoman Empire’s disintegration, and specifically a tension between Russia’s insistence to protect Orthodox members of the Ottoman Empire and France’s and Britain’s insistence to manage the Russian Orthodox and Christian churches in Palestine. Public unrest emerged in Britain as the country’s involvement resulted in a high death toll and misinformation about the war spread. These tensions manifested in protests such as the 1955 Snowball Riot. Besides this dispute for former Ottoman territory, Britain and Russia were involved in conflicts over disputed territory in India.

While Mill explicitly refers to the American War for Independence and details his position on slavery, he only implicitly alludes to the Crimean War, as evidenced when he writes: “The renewed oppression of the Continent by the old reigning families, the English Government’s apparent acceptance of the conspiracy against liberty called the Holy Alliance, and the enormous weight of the national debt and taxation caused by that long and costly war, made the government and parliament very unpopular” (Mill 103). Mill notes that as a result of this war, the Radicalist movement was placed under scrutiny and eventually became more extreme as “a spirit that had ever appeared before” appeared (Mill 103). Mill uses the financial and military blunders produced from the Crimean War to contextualize the rise of radicalism in England and how Bentham’s school of thought gained more prominence. Thus, understanding the Crimean War is useful for making sense of Mill's philosophy, his involvement with Bentham, and his overarching views on liberty and utilitarianism. 

“Crimean War.” Enclopaedia Britannica, 27 February 2021, www.britannica.com/event/Crimean-War.

Dissolution of the East India Company

The British East India Company (BEIC) began as a small enterprise of London Merchants in 1600 and eventually expanded into a globally recognized economic and military power. They officially asserted their military dominance after seizing control of Bengal, an Indian province, in 1757. Their presence in India was wholly oppressive and in 1857 ignited a rebellion in India known as the Indian Mutiny. This uprising sparked concern among the British Parliament who worried about the company’s overwhelming political presence in India as opposed to purely economic. Parliament ultimately dissolved the company in 1873 after shareholders in the company received compensation with the “East India Dividend Redemption Act.” The company’s dissolution meant imperial rule in India was given completely to the British Raj. Haimabati Sen was born in Bengal in 1866 and remained there until moving to Benares in 1886, thus she experienced life both under BEIC rule and the rule of the British Raj.

Sources:

Margaret Makepeace, 'A Brief History of the English East India Company 1600–1858', Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/en/brief-history-english-east-india-company-1600–1858> 

“East India Company and Raj 1785-1858.” UK Parliament. Accessed February 28, 2021. https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/le....

1921-22 - The Formation of the Irish Free State

Despite having a history of violence and distrust between the Irish Republic and England for years prior, from approximately 1916-1921, the Anglo-Irish war, or the Irish War of Independence, resulted in the formation of the Irish Free State. To conclude the war, the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed which declared the Irish Free State as an independent dominion similar to the then Dominion of Canada and the Commonwealth of Australia within the British Empire. Because of this treaty, the Irish Free State essentially had political independence, but the treaty included the Irish Free State as part of the British Commonwealth and included a heavily debated oath of allegiance that declared, 

  “I….do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free  State as by law established and that I will be faithful to H.M. King George V., his heirs and successors by law, in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of Nations” (Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland). 

There was a three-step process for the transfer of power from British rule that included a provisional government, an assembly of constituents to approve a constitution, and the election of the first parliament (Corcoran). Exactly one year after the treaty was signed, December 6th, 1922, the Irish Free State government officially gained political control under the leadership of Prime Minister William T. Cosgrave. The next day, Northern Ireland decided to remain separate from the Irish Free State. 

As a newly independent state, the first few months and years of the Irish Free State suffered from many internal issues (Corcoran). Conflict broke out into what is considered to be the Irish Civil War between those who approved the Anglo-Irish treaty and those who refused to recognize the state as a free state. Because of this internal fighting, the government of the Irish Free State had a primary focus on Law and Order and therefore passed acts such as the Public Safety Act 1923, the Punishment of Offenders Act 1924, the Firearms Act 1924, and the Treasonable and Seditious Offences Act 1925 (Corcoran). Ultimately, those in favor of the Anglo-Irish treaty won the civil war, and the fighting wasted many resources in a newly independent dominion (Corcoran). Despite the internal political fighting; however, a government was established relatively quickly which is significant as the Irish Free State is still separated from Great Britain and the United Kingdom in the 21st century and remains a heavy political discussion among cultures, citizens, and religion. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF3P7cdgU_I

Works Cited 

Cocoran, Donal. "Public Policy in an emerging state: The Irish Free State 1922-25." Irish Journal of Public Policy, vol. 1, no. 1, Dec. 2009.

Great Britain and Irish Free State. treaties.un.org, https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/LON/Volume%2026/v26.pdf#page=9. Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland signed in London on December 6. 1921.

The Irish Free State. , 2016. RTE The Week In Politics www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF3P7cdgU_I.