JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

ESSAYS 69mission and moral refonn.lo Preoccupied with sin and its multitudinous social expressions, evangelicalsoffered personal regeneration and social improvement. Though intensel y individualistic, evangelicalswere also capable of grasping a wider social purpose and therein lies many of their emotionalstrengths and unresolved ambiguities~ But, for good or for ill, and there was a good deal of both inevangelicalism, this organisationally pragmatic and emotionally volatile fonn of religion made asubstantial contribution to the lives oflarge numbers of Ulster men and women even before the muchmisunderstood revival of 1859. How this was achieved and with what consequences are the questionsto which we must now turn.The complex inter-relationship between religious expression and popular culture suggests that thefull extent of religious influence cannot be measured purely in terms of church attendance orinvolvement in specifically religious exercises. Thus, while the actual number of adherents to acommitted evangelical lifestyle was always a minority in terms of percentage of population, its socialideology penetrated deep into Ulster culture. In times of political insecurity and social stress,evangelicalism's strong emphasis on personal morality and its conservative social code came to be seenas major stabilising factors. Against a background of rising Catholic nationalism, radical politics,secularisation and industrialisation, aristocrats, employers, clergy, churchmen and women, imbuedwith evangelical seriousness, attempted to propagate a scripture-based culture which upheld social andpolitical stability. Their target was the spiritual regeneration and' moral elevation' of the lower classesof society, and their weapons were temPerance, education, sabbatarianism, charity and moral campaignsunlimited. Through new agencies such as Sunday schools, temperance movements, townmissions, tract and Bible societies, as well as more traditional modes of control, evangelical leaderssought to promote 'higher and nobler ideals of life'. From pulpit and press, attacks were launched ona whole range of traditional leisure-time activities - drinking, dancing, theatre-going, cockfighting andboxing. This pietistic campaign was thus a combination of cultural conflict and social control in whichpublic respectability was generally interpreted as a reflection of personal morality. The extent whichthese were in fact synonymous is highly debatable.In Ireland, at least before the mid-nineteenth century, the part played by the landed aristocracy intenns of organisation, leadership and finance was an important element in the campaign for moralrefonnation. Their enthusiasm for this new type of religious experience can only be understood in thecontext of the post -revolutionary shock -waves experienced by all western European societies in the lateeighteenth, early nineteenth centuries." The Reign of Terror was a stark indicator of the transience ofworldly things, and in Ireland the stability of long-held privileges was shaken both by developmentsin the rural economy, and by the rise of Catholic nationalism. Evangelical landlords, for whom political,social and moral issues were inextricably interwoven, utilised their wealth, prestige and personalinfluence in the furtherance of a creed which offered both personal and constitutional reassurance. Thesize of their holdings, in addition to their marital interconnections and contacts with evangelical andpolitical leaders in England, gave them a strong power base and ensured their extensive influencePFor aristocratic landlords such as the Earls of Roden, Farnham, Mandeville and Gosford, the dailyroutine of life was dominated by the duties and responsibilities of their pietistic faith.13 Scriptural rulegoverned not only their personal and family lives, but determined their relations with local tenantry.For these men the extension of their own religious beliefs was not a matter of choice or politicalpragmatism, but a sacred responsibility, and one which required personal intervention in areas such asBible instruction and Sunday school work. Their paternalism was not, however, limited to the provisionof religious facilities on their estates. The system of 'moral management', giving secular expressionto the evangelical idea of responsibility for the salvation of one's fellow man, was introduced by LordFarnham in his county Cavan estate in 1830, and subsequently came into operation in several ofIreland's largest estates, and in many smaller ones. 14 Farnham explained the foundation of his systemas 'the religion of the Bible, and the principles upon which it is built up' .15 In return for the landlord'sprovision of churches, day schools, Sunday schools, a lending library, and material aid for those whoearned it, the tenant was expected to respond with· punctual payment of rent, hard work, and a