The Land Purchase Bill enabled landlords in Ireland—mostly Protestants—to sell their land to their tenants for the price of 20 years' rent. The purchases were to be financed by government loans funded by £120,000,000 secured on British credit at 3%. The bill was a shock to Liberals and brought down Gladstone's government in a matter of months. Irish nationalist reaction was mixed, Unionist opinion was hostile, and the election addresses during the 1886 election revealed English radicals to be against the bill also. Among the Liberal rank and file, several Gladstonian candidates disowned the bill, reflecting fears at the constituency level that the interests of the working people were being sacrificed to finance a rescue operation for the landed elite. The Land Purchase Bill was criticised from all sides and was dropped. The Home Rule Bill was defeated by 343 votes to 313, with 93 Liberals voting against. Thus nothing was accomplished except the permanent disruption of the Liberal Party.