Hi Maggie: Missed seeing the information about England shipping potatoes abroad. Personally think that is false, but if anyone has something to support the idea would be interested in see the site to investigate. Can see a few seed potatoes being shipped to the colonies, but not enough to cause a famine. However, the Corn Laws did further the famine and its deadly course. There is no doubt the famine was caused by the potato blight. Ireland simply didn't have enough land for all its people and for people who lived on the subsistance edge, the blight resulted in famine. Most people do not realize just how unjust the tenant/land ownership relationship was back then. The clearances in Scotland were devasting and to this days in some areas where cruel lairds ruled, mention of the Laird raises hackles. In the early 1700's, a similar system of land ownership existed in North America. A few in the King's favour had large plantations with a steady supply of debentures and slaves. Many of debentures were Scottish and less well treated than the slaves. Through the Revolution and hard work, ordinary men came to own land which really resulted in the push westward. Most of the Palatines who arrived in 1709/1710 were under indentures for their passage. Modern agricultural practices were perhaps introduced to further the industrial revolution and force people to work in factories by enclosures, clearances, etc. Agriculture became less important than commerce. You might find this sight of interest regarding some of the history: http://www.umbc.edu/history/CHE/techerpages/indrev.html My great uncles worked on factory floors in Scotland at age 13, common in Scotland where there was a sort of compulsory education system until about 12 years. Child labor was quite common in North America too. After the Revolution, the Canadian colonies had little choice but to offer land grants to loyalists, immigrants, etc. Failure would have seen these people move or support the U.S. It was not only the Americans who benefitted from the Revolution, but also the Canadians in a round about fashion. The ownership of property by the common man was most unusual in Europe. Personally think that any history on how our ancestors lived is genealogy, but there will be some who disagree. Found your comments very interesting. Lauraine (Canada) ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 3:12 PM Subject: Re: [CAN-USA-MIG] Grosse Ile and potatoes > Hi Laurine, > > It was a quotation from a website talking about quarantine stations in an > earlier post - and while the website doubtless just threw those few words > in, I > felt I couldn't let them pass as they are so misleading. The words were: > > " > > A shortage of >> potatoes occurred because the British exported their potatoes leaving >> millions of Irish to starve to death. > > " > I'm not trying to say the British landowners were saints: they were driven > by self-interest as all human beings are. And sometimes self-interest got > the > upper hand. The blight surely caused the famine. You might find some > Americans > who have knowledge of the suffering the same blight caused there too, in > the > years before 1840 if my memory serves correctly, and the Americans had > wholly different political systems and wealth distribution from Ireland. > > There was a separate problem of land reform, which as you say was being > carried out across the whole of the UK, and which created a condition in > which > the blight's economic effects were more quickly turned to disaster because > in > trying to get a more efficient use of land, there was a move generally to > concentrations of one usage in any one area. So it was exaggerated. But I > find it > hard to blame agricultural modernisers for trying to make more efficient > use > of land. > > Yes, there were Poor Law Unions in Ireland which acted exactly the way the > Poor Laws were enacted in England via the parishes. One major difference > was > that because of the poorer quality of the land in Ireland, it had always > been a > poorer country to start with. In both countries (I can't really speak for > Scotland) the Parish or the Union raised a kind of local tax to pay for > relief > to the poor. And when suddenly local wealth or income dried up, so did > their > funds. > > The assisted passages were, as far as I know, at the discretion of the > individual landowner: a man who wanted to move smallholders off his land > in order > to change its use to cattle-grazing would have considered it - and I hope > would have preferred it to forcing people to become landless, though I > know both > happened. And the clergy? I don't know - but if they saw it as a way to > solve > their flock's endemic poverty, who could blame them if they pushed > emigration? > > What annoys me is the way the Famine has been hijacked to enhance modern > political points of view as a form of propaganda. It was a disaster. But > it was > in origin a natural disaster, compounded by many factors, rather than a > demonstration of the evils of colonialisation. If anyone's interested, > the > Wikipedia article at _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Irish_Famine_ > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Irish_Famine) is quite good and > readable. > > Sorry to sound off about it: no-one can blame Canada after all! :) and > maybe > it's not appropriate on this list. If so, apologies to all. > > best wishes > Maggie , please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message