The Irish Potato Famine

Extraits de l'exposé

[...] However, his ultimate decision was to repeal the Corn Laws gradually over three years time. Peel hoped that the gradual implementation of repeal would better facilitate the bill's passage. He maintained that the repeal tariffs and the relaxation of protective duties was in itself a wise policy. Furthermore, he proposed that Indian corn (maize), buckwheat, and every kind of animal or vegetable food be admitted duty free. He also helped pass the Catholic Emancipation Act, giving more rights to the Catholic population ( 90% of Irish people were Catholic). [...]

[...] The occupation of the troops, from year to year, was to prevent the cultivation of the land, to destroy the growing crops already planted, for ?famine was judged the speediest and most effectual way of reducing the Irish?. Meantime the old chieftain of clans, the owners of the soil, the leaders of the people, the ?great rebels?, as they were called, were becoming fewer and fewer. In few years, the Irish were indeed reduced. b. Various theories - Starvation among the peasants is blamed on a colonial system that made them dependant on the potato in the first place. [...]

[...] He also fought for free trade, advocating the Irish people's right to export goods. Various relief schemes were tried and abandoned: public work projects, importing corn from America, soup kitchens, workhouses, even sending agricultural advisors to the west of Ireland where they found no surviving farmers. In November of 1845, to lessen the plight of the Irish, Russell approved the purchase of corn and meal. However, the shift from potatoes to corn as the staple food caused dysentery and scurvy due to the lack of nutrients and resulted in additional deaths. [...]

[...] shipowners crowed hundreds of desperate Irish onto awful coffin ships. In many cases, these ships reached port only after losing many of their passengers to disease, hunger and other causes. In 1851, the largest number of emigrants, of a million people, left for overseas destinations. The emigration continued through the 1850's and into the 1860's, with an average of 1/8 of a million people. Emigrants tended to follow along family routes, which were found mostly in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. [...]

[...] The British were reluctant to provide relief to the people of Ireland. In the 1840's, laissez-faire philosophy dominated the British economic policy. The government officials supported a policy of non-intervention, which maintained the belief that it was counterproductive to interfere in economics ( Ricardo?) . However, several men compromised their political careers in order to alleviate the effects of the famine. Prime minister sir Robert Peel realized the need to get cheap food into Ireland. His solution was the abolishing of the post-Napoleonic Corn Laws in order to get cheap foreign grain into Great Britain. [...]