Irish-American History

Lesson 6: The Political Situation

Political Reactions

John Mitchel , who was one of the leaders of the Young Ireland Movement and was ‘transported ‘ to Australia , wrote in 1861:

‘I have called it an artificial Famine; that is to say, it was a Famine which desolated a rich and fertile island that produced every year abundance and superabundance to sustain all her people and many more. The English, indeed, call the Famine a “dispensation of Providence;” and ascribe it entirely to the blight on potatoes. But potatoes failed in like manner all over Europe; yet there was no Famine save in Ireland. The British account of the matter, then, is first , a fraud- second a blasphemy.

The Almighty , indeed, sent the blight, but the English created the Famine.’(11)

This idea of the Famine being providential and reducing the ‘Irish problem’ was widespread among advisers to the British Government. Nassau Senior , Professor of Political Economy at Oxford , said,

‘ the Famine in Ireland would not kill more than one million people, and that would scarcely be enough to do any good.’(12)

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