The story of the Home Rule Bill of 1886 is both a story of nationalism and a story of colonialism, the of the rise of Ireland and the reshaping of British colonial and imperial policy. And while every nationalist story is unique, that of Home Rule in Ireland does offer us insight into the rest of imperial policy during the late 19th century and into the 20th century as Britain would cease from being a direct imperial power and resume its own national story. Ireland and Irish intellectuals helped to lay the grounds for the development of colonial nationalism in other places, helping to show how nationalism could unify a local population against colonizing forces: The Indian National CongressÂ’ role in IndiaÂ’s struggle against British colonialism and the African National CongressÂ’s role in gaining black African rights in South Africa would be in many ways the result of the struggles begun by Ireland in the 19th century (Gilbert and Tompkins 154). But even as Ireland was a sign within the British Empire of things to come, it was also in many ways unique. Too close to be a proper colony, it was also too different (and too difficult) to be quite part of England itself), and this alike-but-unalike status of Ireland was at the heart of home rule arguments in the 19th century.
