Hi Jean, thanks for this, very interesting. mike On 12/13/08, Jean R. <jeanrice@cet.com> wrote: > > SNIPPET: Like all famines, most victims in Ireland did not actually starve > to death -- they didn't live long enough to die of starvation. Disease > carried the malnourished, weakened majority away -- fever, dysentery, > smallpox, influenza, tuberculosis, measles - later, in 1849 Asiatic > cholera. > Crowded work programs and workhouses were breeding grounds for disease. At > the same time, foodstuffs were being exported out of the country. Faced > with a mounting disaster of their own making, British officials abandoned > public works programs and authorized the opening of soup kitchens to > provide > free soup to all. By July 1847, the kitchens were serving a simple yet > nourishing soup called 'stirabout' to three million people, 37% of the > population. By the end of September 1847, the British, increasingly > concerned about the cost of Irish relief and worried that the Irish might > become dependent on the care, declared the Famine to be 'over' and > terminated the soup kitchens. Their underlying goal was to shift all the > costs of relief from the British government to individual Irish landlords > under a provision called the Poor Law Extension Act. > > The taxes on landlords to pay for this policy hit them hard, causing many > to > evict their tenants; thousands more sold their land or terminated their > leases in order to get food, causing still greater distress and > homelessness. Evictions increased in every year of the Famine up to 1850 > and > remained high through the early 1850s. All told, approximately half a > million people were evicted from their homes during the Famine Years, often > in a cruel and callous manner. Frequently, landlords called in arms guards > to serve eviction notices and to keep people away while men pulled down the > houses and set them ablaze. Evicted tenants often built simple shacks > called > 'scalpeens' along roadsides nearby. > > Some notable exceptions included the EDGEWORTHs of Co. Longford and Henry > MOORE of Galway, both of whom nearly went bankrupt feeding their tenants. > It should also be pointed out that some Catholic landlords resorted to > evictions in order to save their farms. Families who had supplemented their > diet by fishing were forced to pawn their nets and small boats called > "coracles," the herring population was greatly diminished and most river > and > lakes were bounded by private property whose owners refused to allow people > to fish. > > Unable to purchase expensive grain and dairy foods, unable to fish, the > poor > first ate their seed potatoes, greatly limiting future plantings, > slaughtered pigs, bled cows to drink blood, ate horses, birds, dogs, > cats,mice, rats, frogs and then insects and thistles. When these were gone, > they turned to grass. Corpses were found alongside roads with green-stained > mouths. Resistance to eviction and other forms of injustice were common, > especially in the early years of the Famine - mainly against property - > usually stealing food. Occasionally, attacks against landlords, rent > collectors, evictors, and police did occur. The most sensation of these was > the assassination of Roscommon landlord, Major Denis MAHON, in late 1847. > > The Quakers took an early interest in the Irish crisis and provided some of > the most important relief. As early as October 1846 they were serving free > soup in Ireland, a policy later adopted by the British government. The many > Quakers who went to Ireland to directly assist the relief effort wrote some > of the most important first-hand accounts of the suffering and lackluster > British measures. With an eye to the future, Quakers also distributed seeds > and set up workers in small business ventures. Per author Edward > T.O'DONNELL, at least 18 Quakers died of disease and exhaustion while in > Ireland. The Quakers also raised 200,00 pounds both in Britain and the U.S. > > All added up, the British spent approximately 10 million pounds on Irish > Famine relief. More than half of this money came in the form of a loan for > which repayment was due. Most of the money was spent on the misguided, > punitive public works phase of relief in 1846 and 1847 - ironically, the > period of greatest mortality - because the British government could not > bear > the idea of giving food away without having to work for it. Clothed in > rags, > often shoeless, malnourished men worked at hard labor 12 hours a day > six days a week on work projects such as building roads, even in snow, to > earn food for their families. As a result, they had no time to plant any > crops for themselves. > > Funding after that was sharply curtailed as a means of forcing Irish > landlords to bear the cost of relief. Although the British press and > government accused Irish landlords of shirking their duty, the latter > actually spent 9 million in pounds in poor relief. Historian Christine > KINEALY says that famine relief was small when one considers the fact that > the Treasury expected repayment for approximately 5 million pounds of the > funds, and when compared to other large-scale expenditures by the Treasury. > For example, compensation to British slave owners when slavery was > abolished > in 1833 was 22 million pounds and after the Famine, British would spend 69 > million pounds in the disastrous Crimean War. > > Queen Victoria's donation of 2,000 pounds was seen as a pittance compared > to > her wealth and indicative of British indifference. The Queen visited > Ireland > in August of 1849, in part to demonstrate that the Famine was 'over.' She > visited Cork, Dublin, Belfast, and Cobh (which was renamed Queenstown in > her > honor), but stayed far from the suffering. Many Irish mocked her visit by > singing "Arise ye dead of Skibbereen/And come to Cork to > see the Queen." > > The efforts of America and other countries such as Russia's endeavour to > provide a shipment of rye to Ireland once the waterway had been cleared of > ice were well published in the press. So too were expressions of gratitude > by the Irish famine victims. Upon arriving in Cove (Cobh), County Cork with > a load of relief supplies, the officers and crew of the unarmed > sloop-of-war > 'USS Jamestown' were given an official reception by a grateful Irish > delegation. The 'Cork Constitution,' reporting on this humanitarian mission > pronounced blessings on the heads and hearts of those who sent and brought > supplies declaring it 'the noblest offering that Nation ever made to > Nation.' > > Many small grants were given by 'A General Central Relief Committee for > AllIreland' organized in 1847 to collect funds for relief by Daniel > O'CONNELL and the Young Irelander William Smith O'BRIEN, which, like most > relief agencies, disbanded prematurely at the end of 1847. A second major > organization was the British Relief Association. It raised and distributed > 400,000 pounds before disbanding in the summer of 1848. Its most notable > achievement, the result of its chief agent Count Paul Edmund de > STRZELECKI,a > Polish nobleman, were schools that fed 200,000 children a day in western > Ireland. When STRZELECKI appealed to the Treasury for money to continue the > program, however, Secretary Charles TREVELYAN refused. > > Countless priests and nuns worked tirelessly throughout Ireland to relieve > suffering and administer last rites to the dying. They were overwhelmed in > these efforts and an untold number of them perished with the masses. The > Irish Catholic Church raised money from abroad and expended a great deal of > its own meager resources on relief. Pope Pius IX sent one thousand Roman > dollars in Jan 1847 and issued an encyclical instructing Catholics all > around the world to pray for Ireland and to raise money. This served to > gain international attention for the crisis and brought in much-needed > donations totally 400,000 pounds. > > The term "souperism" relates to the practice in rare instances of small > groups of private relief workers in Ireland demanded that starving Irish > peasant renounce their Catholic faith and convert to Protestantism as a > qualification for receiving soup. One group wrote in a Belfast newspaper > that the Famine provided a great opportunity "for conveying the light of > the > Gospels to the darkened mind of the Roman Catholic Peasantry." > > Besides the Quakers, private donations totaling more than 2 million pounds > poured into Ireland from six continents. The first from India, a collection > taken up by British soldiers. Donations also came from the Sultan of > Turkey, > the Czar of Russia, ex-slaves in the Caribbean, two Jewish congregations in > NYC. In America, the Senate passed in Feb 1847 a bill > authorizing $500,000 in aid to Ireland and Scotland. When that was deemed > unconstitutional, Congress approved the use of the warships 'Jamestown' and > 'Macedonia' to bring privately raised supplies to Ireland and Scotland. > Destined for Ireland, the 'Jamestown' began loading in Boston on > St.Patrick's Day 1847 and arrived in early April. The American Indian > Choctaw tribe sent $170 to Ireland through the Quakers. No strangers to > oppression and starvation, themselves, they had been forced to travel the > Trail of > Tears to OK in 1831 by President Andrew JACKSON. Total aid to Ireland from > America during the years of the famine in donations, foodstuffs and > clothing > was massive. > > More than one million fled Ireland during the Great Famine. . Some > emigrants managed to sell a few possession to buy cheap steerage tickets. > Others with only a few pounds bought tickets on ferries and coal barges to > Liverpool. Many were given free tickets by landlords and British officials > eager to rid Ireland of its 'surplus' population. For their > destinations,some went only as far as London or Liverpool. Others booked > passage on ships to the continent, Australia, Latin America, and Canada. An > estimated > 80% shipped out for the United States. Most of them landed in the principal > ports of NY, Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IRELAND-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~spire/Yesterday/index.htm