Factors Contributed to the Great Famine in Ireland - Research Paper Example

The British government’s failure to act in the face of impending famine in Ireland in the late 1800s, and subsequent failure in dealing with the reality of the situation makes them culpable accessories to the disaster. The Great Famine--a period of mass starvation brought on by a failure of the potato crop—occurred between 1845 and 1852. It reduced the country’s population by a shocking 20 to 25 percent1, sending an estimated million to their graves and as many emigrating to other countries, including the United States. Although potato famines occurred during the 19th century in other countries throughout Europe, nowhere did it have the impact in human terms as in Ireland. The political, social and economic reasons for the famine have long been the subject of historical discussion and debate. The fact that from 1801, under the Act of Union, Ireland was governed as part of the United Kingdom, with executive power in the hands of British officials, is a damning reality and one that casts primary blame for this historically horrific event squarely on Britain. The role of in the tragedy can not be denied. From the "Address to the People of Ireland," by the Continental Congress of America, adopted July, 1775: ...That an island which is said to be (following quote from the Act of Union, repeated in the Continental Congress of America Address from its inclusion in Mitchel’s The Last Conquest of Ireland )an integral part of the richest empire on the globe—and the most fertile portion of that empire;—with British Constitution, Habeas Corpus, Members of Parliament, and Trial by Jury—should in five years lose two and a half millions of its people (more than one-fourth) by hunger, and fever the consequence of hunger, and flight beyond sea to escape from hunger,—while that empire (Britain) of which it is said to be a part, was all the while advancing in wealth, prosperity, and comfort, at a faster pace than ever before ,—is a matter that seems to ask elucidation.2 Elucidation of the subject comes to a great degree from John Mitchel, political writer and Irish patriot whose The Last Conquest of Ireland provides valuable and extensive information to support the thesis that Britain, while not entirely responsible for the causes that created the famine, was largely responsible for the extent to which the Great Famine, as it is called, devastated the country. Other primary and secondary resources support the information covering the two major elements involving the British government that contribute powerful and devastating evidence of British nonchalance in the face of the tragedy, collusion with powerful entities for political gain, and failure to sacrifice lassaiz-faire capitalist economic policies in the temporary, at least, interest of humane governance. Landlords, Tenants and British Collusion W.E. Vaughn includes statements (Whyte, Indep) that illuminate what may have been the crux of the problem that propelled Ireland toward the Great Famine, and it involves the unholy relationship between the British government and those in Ireland who owned and controlled the land on which millions of Irish poorest residents lived and worked in tenantry.“There was more to landlordism (in Ireland) than the mere payment of rents...landlords played an important part in returning members to parliament; a substantial proportion of those returned were landlords , or landlords’ relations.”3 As one might imagine, the degree to which this relationship affected decisions on the part of the British government concerning the famine and how to deal with it is apparent. An excellent collection of documents of the time appear in Fearful Realities: New Perspectives on the Famine edited by Chris Morash & Richard Hayes. The following articles from periodicals of the time emphasize the issue of the government’s role in turning a blind eye to the problem many believe was at the very root of the famine: the economic rape of Irish tenants by English and Anglo Irish landowners. The Illustrated London News writes, "There was no laws it (British Government) would not pass at their (landlord’s) request, and no abuse it would not defend for them."4 The Times reveals the situation in Ireland as ..."a mass of poverty, disaffection, and degradation without a parallel in the world. It (British Government) allowed proprietors to suck the very life-blood of that wretched race.”5 The British government did, in 1843, set up a Royal Commission to look into tenant/landlord laws in Ireland. The primary reason for this, however, were fears that enmity between tenants and landlords and movements to repeal the Act of Union would eventually erupt into hostilities and make governing the already feisty Irish even more difficult, and the future of landlords, all of whom supported the governments policies, precarious. To that end, ineffectual in dealing with the worsening famine, a proposal was suggested in the Devon Commission report to evacuate one million Irish tenant farmers to work on land considered not yet cultivated, or uncultivatable, in the interests of the landholding elite. Mitchel describes the government’s collusitory intent and its effect upon the million already starving Irish. ... the potato blight, and consequent famine, placed in the hands of the British government an engine of State by which they were eventually enabled to clear off, not a million, but two millions and a half, of the "surplus population"—to "preserve law and order" in Ireland.6 British Politics and the Marketplace In a letter to the editor of the Cork Examiner, O writes, Political economy is doing its bloody work-- slowly, steadily, but not the more surely. One day we read of 47 deaths from starvation in Mayo, ratified by the solemn verdicts of so many coroners’ juries. Another, we read of frightful destitution in Skibbereen, dreadfully augmented by fever and dropsical complaints. Not a single day passes by without abundant evidence of the total inadequacy of the present government, to wield the destinies of this great empire, or to preserve from actual starvation the great majority of this long misgoverned and unfortunate country.7 The Corporation of Dublin begged Queen Victoria to have Parliament approve funds for public works projects to employ the thousands who had been driven off their land. Suggestions were also made to open the ports of Ireland to foreign corn to stave off starvation. In the face of bureaucratic foot-dragging by the British government, Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel fought for the repeal of the Corn Laws, which instituted import tariffs that supported domestic British corn prices against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. While recognizing the benefits of free market policies for Britain, Peel further argued the human considerations of that policy as it related to the low or non-existent wages of Irish peasantry and its ability to purchase food. “...that the rate of wages varies with the price of provisions... is a question of justice rather than of policy.”8 While the issue was being argued by Peel before Parliament, Peel secretly purchased corn from America, which arrived unground and uneatable thus failing to eleviate the famine. The efforts of Peel in the face of British bureaucratic ineptitude and political resistance are well documented. In Edwards and Williams, The Great Famine: Studies in Irish History, 1845 – 1852, Thomas P. O’Neill writes, “Peel decided in favour of repealing the Corn Laws and immediately made the Irish potato failure a matter of political contention. Many English opponents of the repeal denied the existence or danger of any scarcity in Ireland.”9 Repeal of the Corn Laws, which kept price of bread artificially high, did not help, and in the end Peel, under pressure from economic Conservatives, resigned with a parting statement consistent with his belief that he had done the right thing in face of resistance from the British government and establishment. “... I shall leave a name... remembered with expressions of good will in the abodes of those whose lot it is to labour and to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow...10 The statement is a clear indication that while those who promoted economic policies harmful to the Irish and their dire situation, Peel recognized their failure and placed himself in the minority on the side of those suffering over those whose interest lay with the monied classes. In a parting statement, he clearly condemns the British government for its failure to put people over economic interests. Speaking of the starving Irish workers, he wishes a time for them “... when they shall recruit their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it is no longer leavened by a sense of injustice.” 11 Before his resignation, Peel also set up public works programs which, after his electoral defeat, were continued for a short time by his successor, Lord John Russell, a Whig. Influenced by the laissez-faire economic policies of his party which contended that if left to its own devices, the market would provide needed food, Russell and The Whigs dismantled the programs leaving thousands out of work and starving. O in The Cork Examiner writes of his own district,"...one of Gods poor people-- has already gone to his account, a victim of Whiggery...12 The writer condemns the British government, and in typical Irish fashion, predicts its judgment by a greater power than man. “... awful God, who on the last day will see no distinction between...the beggar and the prime minister-- before that Court of Justice where paltry special pleading on...political economy will not avail.13 A remarkably damning fact is that in the face of the British unwillingness--one of the wealthiest nations in the West--and its failed attempts to relieve the starving Irish residents, help in some form came from countries as far flung as Asia and from the Choctaw Nation of the United States. Shame, obliviousness or perhaps sheer guilt might have each played a role in Queen Victoria’s donation of 2000 pounds to the British Relief Association for the Irish cause. Whatever prompted the move, it did not deter the ruler from once again turning a blind eye to Ireland’s request for corn shipments that were being diverted to England and other nations. Once again, the marketplace and commerce were to trump the needs of British subjects starving in the thousands. Other evidence of this abomination is set out by in Mitchel in The Last Conquest of Ireland. “Another thing, which to a spectator must appear anomalous, is that during each of those five years of "famine," from 46 to 51—that famine-struck land produced more than double the needful sustenance for all her own people; and of the best and choicest kind.”.14 As an example of this behavior on the part of the British is related by Mitchel as an observation of Governor Wise of Virginia, who happened to be in Brazil at the time. Mitchel writes, “...while the ends of the earth were resounding with the cry of Irish starvation; and was surprised to see unloaded at Rio abundance of the best quality of packed beef from Ireland”.15 Other market policies practiced by Britain after Ireland came under its control through the Act of Union might be defined as the gradual pillaging of the Irish economy by the British capitalist establishment that quickened and exacerbated the severity of the famine. It is described by Mitchel. “Four millions sterling of the rental of Ireland was... to be spent in England; and the few remaining manufactures which our island has struggled to retain, were growing gradually less and less...”16 Mitchel reinforces the control of England over the very life-blood of the Irish economy and the intentional refusal by the British to heed the call of Ireland that it was being slowly starved economically. All great public expenditures were still confined to England; and, in the year 1844 there was, quite as usual, Irish produce to the value of about fifteen millions sterling exported to England. We cried out that our trade was ruined, and our fine harbours empty....We complained that nothing was done in their Parliament for Ireland... We represented that our factories had stopped work, and our citizens were starving...Parliament and Government were steadily confirming, extending, strengthening their grip upon all things Irish17 Restatement of Thesis/Conclusion It is difficult to explore every aspect—political, social and economic--that contributed to the Great Famine, including the intrigues of Irish politics itself, which saw Irishman from one part of the country and from one economic strata abusing their fellows and their rights in collusion with the British government. It is certain, however, that the British, with ultimate power of governance under the Act of Union, must take the better part of the blame. The ruthlessness of placing economic philosophies over human survival, and political expediency and power over concerns of people starving amid your own progress and wealth is, at least, uncivilized, and at worst, genocide. The British must accept the blame. That some in the government, such as Peel, attempted to ameliorate the situation is undeniable; that British individuals might be appalled by the action or inaction of their government does not exonerate the British establishment. In the National Review article, Pete Hamill sums up the dubious identity of blame the British must live with because of their role in this infamous era of Irish and British history. ...immense numbers of rural Irish were deprived of property rights, education, and religious freedom, forced to subsist on the potato, while paying rents to English landlords and tithes to the Church of Ireland (which they did not attend). This vicious system was perfectly designed for maintaining power (Oliver Cromwell was one of Hitlers heroes), but it created a seething population. The calamitous British mismanagement of the 1846-52 famine removed from the Irish any temptation to believe in the myth of British justice.18 Bibliography Edwards, Dudley R. and Williams, Desmond T.,eds. 1957. The Great Famine: Studies in Irish History, 1845-52, New York University Press. Hamill, Pete. 1999. Irish: Ever After. National Review. Questia Media America, Inc. www.questia.com Kinealy, Christine. 1994. This Great Calamity. Gill & Macmillan ISNB- 10: 0 7171 4011 3. Mitchel, John. The Last Conquest of Ireland. http://www.libraryireland.com/Last-Conquest-Ireland/John-Mitchel-7.php. Morash,Chris and Hayes, Richard,eds. 2000. Fearful Realities: New Perspectives on the Famine. Irish Academic Press. O. 1847. Death from Starvation: Another Victim of the Whig Administration. The Cork Examiner: Churchtown, December 29, 1846. http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/FAMINE/Examiner/Archives/Jan1847.html Vaughn, W.E. 1994. Landlords and Tenants in Mid-Victorian Ireland. Clarendon Press Endnotes Christine Kinealy, This Great Calamity ( Gill & Macmillan 1994), ISNB- 10: 0 7171 4011 3, 357. John Mitchel, The Last Conquest of Ireland, Introduction—Address of the American Congress "To The People of Ireland” in 1775, I:7, (http://www.libraryireland.com/Last-Conquest-Ireland/John-Mitchel-7.php). W.E. Vaughan, Landlords and Tenants in Mid-Victorian Ireland, Clarendon Press, 1994, 4. Whyte, Indep. Ir. Party90; Thornley, Isaac Butt, 207; OBrien, Parnell & his Party, 15-18; Hoppen, Elections, Politics, and Society, 152-70. Chris Morash and Richard Hayes, eds, Fearful Realities: New Perspectives on the Famine, (The Illustrated London News, February 13, 1847). Chris Morash and Richard Hayes, (Times, March 24, 1847). John Mitchel, The Last Conquest of Ireland, IX: 82-83. (http://www.libraryireland.com/Last-Conquest-Ireland/John-Mitchel-7.php ) O, “Death from Starvation: Another Victim of the Whig Administration,” The Cork Examiner, January 1, 1847, Churchtown, December 29, 1846. (http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/FAMINE/Examiner/Archives/Jan1847.html) O, “Death from Starvation...” (http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/FAMINE/Examiner/Archives/Jan1847.html) Sir Robert Peel, (January 22, 1846), speech before Parliament, HANSARD (LXXXIII [3d Ser.], 67-95. Thomas P. O’Neill, “The Organisation and Administration of Relief,” in Dudley R. Edwards and Desmond T. Williams, The Great Famine: Studies in Irish History, 1845-52, New York University Press, 1957: Chapter IV, 212, (www.questia.com). Sir Robert Peel, (June 29, 1846), Extract from Peel’s final ministerial speech in The House of Commons. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/pms/peel/peel7.html. Extract from Peel’s, http://www.victorianweb.org/history/pms/peel/peel7.html. O, “Death from Starvation: Another Victim of the Whig Administration.” John Mitchel, The Last Conquest of Ireland , I:8. Mitchel, 8. John Mitchel, The Last Conquest of Ireland, VIII: 64. Mitchel, 64-65. Pete Hamill, “Irish: Ever After,” National Review, September 27, 1999, 54. Read More