Powers That Be

This chapter examines the role of the government in the political violence in Ireland during the 19th century. It suggests that the most outstanding quality of the administrative and judicial infrastructure of 19th century Ireland was its weakness. Former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once stated that the weakest executive in the world is one of the four cardinal elements of the Irish problem. From this it can be concluded that the Union of Britain and Ireland was more substantially breached by the British government than by Irish nationalists during its first century.