1847 AD

                                                                                                                                  "The Great Famine Continues on under the Immoral Union" 

1847 AD The cost to "emigrate" to the "USA" and "Canada" from Ireland was by now "doubled" to what it was in 1846 AD, due to the increased demand, and even later still it was to be "further increased" to go to the "USA" to 75 / - shillings, and 65 / - shillings to "Canada," and 15 pounds for the families of any of the "tenant farmers" and "shopkeepers" until this year, while by now 500 people a "week" were actually dying in Cork City alone in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, and overall for every 1,000 persons in the Irish population 50 human beings were dying.

       It was truly "the survival of the fittest," now and many of those in dire straits who were still under the overall total control of Lord John Russell and the British Imperial Whig Government and their "Immoral Union," and now mainly due to the dreadful "starvation" and "emaciation" now occurring, in desperation those still surviving took matters into their own hands to gain "sustenance" for themselves and their families and because of this 31,209 people in Ireland were to be "charged" this year alone with "various offences," and those to be "charged" in the future were to "increase substantially" as attacks were carried out on the "storage" food depots, and on the various "convoys" of food that was constantly being "exported" out of Ireland, or on "other" locations where "food" was being "hoarded," while the general Irish population continued to "starve to death." ( The individual rural "Secret Associations" were to also continue to take on the Land Lords and their "agents").

January: Temporary "Soup" kitchens were set up in Ireland @ 1/4 of a penny / a farthing a quart of "watery" soup, but as "meagre" as it was, it assisted to remove the pressure from off of those in charge of the Workhouses, who were by now in a quandary as to the lack of any "humanity" by the British Imperial Whig Government under Lord John Russell due to their lack of "response" to the dreadful calamity that was allowed to continue to occurr in Ireland under the auspices of their "Immmoral Union" that gave the British Imperial Whig Government "complete control" over the lives of the millions of desperate human beings who were now "dying" without any recourse.

January: Lord John Russel and the British Imperial Whig Government Cabinet were by now under extensive pressure from "World" opinion, and  finally had started to come to the reality that things were "not so good" in Ireland as they had intended for the "rest of the World" to believe, and they decided to save face by advancing some funds towards "assistance," on the condition that they would still have to be "repaid" for this "concession" along with the "running costs" by the ratepayers themselves in Ireland.

February: As there was by now really terrible "Great Famine," Daniel O Connell - the Liberator made a "last" plea to the British Westminster House of Commons Parliament itself for "relief" in Ireland, but "no one" of any authority there seemed to be really interested, and as the conditions in Ireland became even worse, with 100,000 devestated and "dying human beings" now in the Institutions, of which 63,000 were "children" from within the Irish population, the British Imperial Whig Government started up "soup kitchens" themselves, but then "cut off" this even this relief, as the 130 Poor Law Unions in Ireland were by now "bankrupted." The immense amount of numbers of people in Ireland dying and their "emaciated" bodies there was growing "Fever" everywhere that was continuing to spread throughout the "whole of the Irish population," especially due to the terrible dilapidated conditions that applied in the Workhouses themselves, as in one single Co. Limerick Workhouse alone 130 people were continually dying every week, just as a small Blight free "Potato" crop finally began to grow, which gave the "opportunistic" British Imperial Whig Government under Lord John Russell a further out to announce that they considered that the "Great Famine" was over, and they then "stopped" any further financial "assistance" at all to those who were still suffering from the debilitating diseases and starvation within the remaining "surviving" population in Ireland.  

     Charles Trevelyan the British Imperial Whig Assistant - Secretary of the Treasury who was the "miserable opportunistic" British Imperial Whig Government Overseerer of Famine Relief was now to be given a British "knighthood" for his "good works" in Ireland by the British Imperial Whig Government, and he then had the audacity to "publicly defend" the "export" of all the produce from out of Ireland during the "Great Famine," and expressed his indifferent opinion that, "The "Great Famine" was a design of GOD to relieve the overpopulation of Ireland." It seemed that there were those in power in England who saw all of the "unbelievable misery" and never - ending starvation, the "futile deaths" and the long - running "emigration" of the Irish population as an "economic and political boon" for the British Imperial Whig Government, as they could now "clear the confiscated Land Lords' Estates in Ireland without too much" further trouble" from these unthankful "rebellious" people, and be able to easily "bend" their "political" will now, without too much trouble.

     Lord John Russell's only comment was that, "It forms no part of the functions of government"to provide" supplies of "food" or to increase the productive powers of the land. In the great institution of the "business" of society, it falls to the government to protect the "merchants," and the agriculture in the free exercise of the respective employment, but not to carry on those employments. A remedy has been applied to that portion of the "maladies" of Ireland, which was traceable to "political" causes and the morbid habits, which still to a certain extent survive, are gradually giving way to a more "healthy" action. The deep and inveterate root of "social evil" remains. The "cure" has been applied by the direct stroke of an all wise Providence in a manner as unexpected and un - thought of as it is likely to be effectual. "GOD" grant that we may rightly perform our part and not turn into a curse what was intended for a "blessing." (And they called themselves "Christians)."

     Lord John Russell now "closed down" the soup kitchens in Ireland and retired from his position, and received a "knighthood" also and wrote a book personally about the "Great Famine." The overall responsibility for the continuing distress in Ireland was now thrown on local rates in Ireland by the British Imperial Whig Government, and the "surviving" population of Ireland was left to the operation of "Natural Causes" although they had no actual overall control over their own lives under the "Immoral Union." Was all of this once again blatant "ethnic and religious" opportunism ?, for when it suited the British Imperial Whig Government to set aside their policy of Laissez Faire, they did, as even Charles Trevelyan himself was to do later on in India when it was to suite their agenda.

    The "London Times," which was always an Ascendancy Establishment newspaper with total anti - Irish "bias" ran an article this month stating,"Before "our merciful intervention" the Irish nation were a "wretched, indolent, half - starved tribe of savages" ages before Julius Caesar landed on this isle, and not withstanding a gradual improvement upon the "naked savagery," they have never appreciated the standards of a "civilized" World. We "help" all those who help themselves, but we do not like throwing money in a "ditch."

      The "Young Irelanders" in desperation of it all had by now set up a "rival" organization to Daniel O Connell's Repeal of the Immoral Union Association, known as the "Irish Confederation" under the leadership of William Smith - O Brien, who was himself a Land Lord and an M.P. in the Westminster Parliament in England, as they were now more determined than ever to bring about an "Irish Republic" where those who were "destitute" would not be made to "suffer the consequences of such a disaster" as that brought about by the "Immoral Union" under the British Imperial Whig Government's "overall control" anymore. The British Imperial Whig's Lord Lieutenant in Ireland was now in a quandary as to what "tactics" he should now follow in Ireland, as the Conservatives in England were now somewhat in disarray after their "split," and he was also pushing for Public Works that would increase productivity, which was also the policy of Daniel O Connell's Repeal of the Immoral Union Association and also the policy of the "Young Irelanders" new association, the "Irish Confederation," giving them all now another "common cause." A meeting was held in Dublin of all the "Peers," the Landed Gentry and the Irish M.P.s who were in the Westminster Parliament and there was a definite "demand" now to bring about a "radical change" of attitude within the British Imperial Whig Government's "policies" towards Ireland, which should have been the opportunity for any chance of National Unity in Ireland, but unfortunately as usual it did not come to fruition. An "Irish Tenant's Rights Association" was now also formed in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, due to the continuing "terrible dire circumstances" still existing there and to just try and "survive" the never - ending ongoing disaster that was still occurring in Ireland, as they had by now due to the prevailing disaster "lost" their interest in any chance of "Repeal of the Immoral Union" or in any desire for an Irish Republic, as they now only wanted to concentrate on trying to "survive" and "stay alive" instead, if possible, and this immediate desire would culminate in the formation of the many "Irish Tenant Protection Associations" in Ireland that would "increase" further over the next 5 years.

April: A British Imperial Whig Government Order was now given by those in control in the Dublin Castle (The Devill/s 1/2 Acre) in Ireland "to drive the excess" Irish population, who were still desperate and "starving," out of the Citys, and to this end 22 "Special Constables" were now employed to carry this order out, while at the very same time in the first six months of the year 2,850,000 tons of foreign "Grain" arrived into Ireland for sale at 13 pounds a ton, if you could afford it.

May: Robert Beamish a Land Lord at Highfield near Skibbereen in Co. Cork in Southern Munster "evicted" 117 tenant farmers and their families from his confiscated Estate this month, while the "Ribbonmen," the "Hearts of Oak", the "Whiteboys," and other rural "Secret Societies" continued to carry out their successful organized "attacks" on the Landed Gentry and the Land Lords in general by securing their livestock, burning their barns and houses, while threatening the Land Lords. their "families," and their "agents," who in their desperation they either "threatened" or "shot" at and even "killed", all of which had a certain "stabilizing" effect on the actions of some of the Land Lords had been previously taking against their "tenants" in Ireland. Some times these actions also "backfired" on occasions, such as when Major Mahon, a Land Lord, was "killed" in Co. Roscommon in the east of the Connacht Province, and his "death" was then used as an "excuse" to ensure that Famine "Relief" was not to be discussed at all, as all of these activities were only seen by the British Imperial Whig Government's Dublin Castle (The Devill's 1/2 Acre) authorities as acts of "betrayal" and "ingratitude."    

June: Bessborough the British Imperial Whig Government's Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, died this month, who had previously been "opposed" to the "export" of food from Ireland while people were "dying" during his period in office, but to no avail, and Lord Clarendon was appointed to take up the position and immediately stated that."He was being thrown into an Irish bog," and at this time he was also fervently convinced that, "The failure of the Potato crops and the establishment of the Poor Law would eventually be the salvation of Ireland, as the failure of the crops would prevent the land from being used' Two /  2 years later on he was to have a "rethink" and with further hindsight he was to openly "attack" the British Imperial Whig Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, stating "What is to be done with these hordes? Improve them off of the face of the Earth, you will say, let them "die," but there is a certain amount of responsibility attaching to it. Surely this is a state of things to justify you asking the British House of Commons for an advance, for I don't think there is another legislature in Europe that would "disregard" such suffering as now exists in the west of Ireland, or coldly persist in a policy of "extermination." There never was so open or so widely extended a "conspiracy" for shooting Land Lords and their agents, and my fear is this will "spread" and that the flame that now rages in certain districts in Ireland will become a general conflagration."

    Daniel O Connell - the Liberator was by now totally "discouraged" by the "sorry mess" that Ireland now found herself in under the "Immoral Union" and the British Conservative Whig Imperial Government's total "apathy" to all of the misery that was still occurring in Ireland, and he decided it was time to make a last visit to Rome once again before he died, but he was only to reach Genoa where on May 15th he did die and his heart is kept in the Chapel of the Irish College in Rome and his body was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. One of his sons, Maurice O Connell became the M.P. for Tralee and the Manager of the Association for Deeds, and his other son, John O Connell was the M.P. for Athlone, and took over the administration of the "Repeal of the Immoral Union," and he also had 3 daughters, Ellen, Kate and Betsy. During his previous push for Catholic Emancipation and fearing that he might eventually succeed in his endeavours many non - Catholics had moved to the Ulster Province, including the "Industrialists" who nevertheless still held onto their confiscated Estates in the south of Ireland.

June - July: A British Poor Law Amendment Act recognized all "poor destitute" persons, but only in "emergencies," yet the Workhouses were still to be "overcrowded" until 1849 AD with 1 in 4 persons or 25% of the population in Ireland now continuing to "die" due to "malnutrition" and the subsequent onset of "disease," but the Dublin Castle (The Devill's 1/2 Acre) authorities acting for the British Imperial Whig Government still tried  to "force" them to enter the Workhouses despite the continuing outbreaks of "Cholera" etc. so as to test their "eligibility," as they were now subject to many of the Poor Law Unions, "rejecting" women and children whose husbands "did not apply" for admission themselves. (Under the Gregory Clause anyone at all who was "renting" 1/4 acre or more was "barred" from the Workhouses regardless of their circumstances.) The British Imperial Whig Government had only granted 50,000 Pounds to originally begin the Poor Unions who had then tried to keep alive the surviving 3,000,000 destitute human beings in Ireland, and who certainly had no chance of collecting any taxes from the wealthy "Absentee Land Lords" who were living in England. 

July: Every Poor Law Union had a "soup" kitchen made up of a "Relief Committee."

    The English Earl of Cork who was a Land Lord at Charleville / Rath Luirc in Co. Cork in Southern Munster "evicted" 400 of his "tenant farmers" and their families this month from off of his confiscated Estates, and it was also recorded that 10,000 human beings "died" in the Workhouse alone in Co. Cork out of a population there of 100,000 people, while Skibbereen in the west of Co. Cork was to typify the never - ending "starvation" and terrible "suffering" that was occurring during the "Great Famine" as under the overall control of Lord John Russell and the British Imperial Whig Government that no longer accepted or gave protection to its most susceptible citizens, under their "Immoral Union." Lord Dufferin and George Frederick Boyle M.P. recorded that "The terrible scenes we have seen in Skibbereen are equal to anything that has been recorded in history or could be conceived by the imagination." Meanwhile the "Poor Unions" who had to run the Workhouses were also now made totally "responsible for outdoor relief," despite the fact that many of them were "bankrupt," and the roads leading up to the Workhouses were now known as "The Pathway of the Dead " / Cosan na Marbh as 25% of all of the people admitted to the Workhouses were to die.

     "It's well I do remember that bleak December day, The Land Lord and the Sheriff came to "drive us all away," They set the roof on "fire" with their demon yellow spleen, and that's another reason why I left old Skibbereen, O Father dear, the day will come when vengeance loud will call, and we will rise with Erin's boys and rally, one and all, I'll be the man to lead the van beneath our flag of green, and loud and high we'll raise the cry "Remember Skibbereen."

       Later on in Skibbereen an association was slowly founded to "defend" the "tenant farmers" and their families there, and as it was "illegal" to seize the tenants' crops on Sunday they tried to harvest their crop on that particular day, and hide them, but there was also a "double fine" if the "tenant farmers" were found taking measures to "stop" the Land Lords from collecting the crops, if proven

Summer: General Elections were held for the Westminster Parliament in England and because of what had occurred in Ireland previously and was still occurring  39 M.P.s who were now fully committed to the "Repeal of the Immoral Union" this time were to be "successful," but with Daniel O Connell - the Liberator gone from off of the scene any chance of still receiving the proceeds of his Repeal Rent also for the "Repeal of the Immoral Union" seemed to now be on the "downward" slide, but some "positives" were still in the future pipeline, as Isaac Butt a non - Catholic lawyer in the Ulster Province had now taken over the leadership of the "Irish Parliamentary Party," and Daniel O Connell's previous confidant O Gorman - Mahon was also elected the new  M.P. for Ennis in Co. Clare (The Banner County.)  

August: The price of Grain was now "reduced" to 7 - 10 pounds a ton, which was to assist the "soup kitchens" no end, and 40,000 tons of "Potatoes" were now also to be eventually "produced," although they were "small," due to the previous affects of The Blight over the previous 2 years.       

     3,000,000 desperate people in Ireland were now being fed on a "daily" basis just to keep them "alive" and the Poor Law Unions who had been made responsible were nearly "bankrupt," as it was impossible under the continuing prevailing "Great Famine" to "collect" any rates from anyone at all in Ireland.

   The British Imperial Whig Government still under Lord John Russell now made the "Guardians" of the Irish Poor Law Unions personally "legally liable" for any money that they advanced them, and they also "abandoned" the previously "imposed" Workhouse Test just to get in, as they were totally "overcrowded" and the British Imperial Whig Dublin Castle (The Devill's 1/2 Acre) authorities now reluctantly had to embrace "Outdoor Relief" as an emergency measure, which had to be then continued during the following year in 1848 AD, and then again in 1849 AD.

    The Blight in the "Potato" crop "eased," but due to the previous prevailing conditions of decay there was only a small crop retrieved, and 215,000 more people from out of the Irish population were to "emigrate," with those going to "Canada" leaving from Liverpool and were to see 1 in every 14 of them also "die" on that torrid journey, while of those who left from Cork in Co. Cork in Southern Munster 1 in every 9 "died" in what became known as the deplorable "Coffin Ships."

    William Crawford a "progressive" Land Lord from Co. Down in the north - east of the Ulster Province who championed "tenant rights," put forward a Bill to legalise the "tenant rights" customs at this time that were occurring in Ulster, but it was "defeated" and later on he and James Mac Knight were to found the Ulster Tenant's Association backed up by the "Presbyterian" ministers there.

    Edward Walsh, a Hedge Schoolmaster, who had been "imprisoned" during the "Enforced Tithe Wars" was "dismisse" as a teacher in Co. Cork in Southern Munster for "interviewing" John Mitchell the Unitarian progressive who had sought Irish Freedom, while he was locked away in prison.

September: John Norris a non - Catholic "tenant" was "evicted" from the English Earl of Shannon's confiscated Estate at Brownstown in Co. Cork in Southern Munster and he was so "upset" by it all that he actually "shot" the man who removed the first slate from his roof, as earlier on" tenants" had prevailed by taking possession of the house, but soon the Land Lords also began to "totally remove" their roofs from their abodes followed by the "firing, burning and the levelling" of the homes altogether to the ground, as the Land Lords hired crowbar brigades at 3 shillings a house, who were also supported by RIC armed police and the British Militia.

     Eventually the combination also of the continuing "Great Famine" and the resulting "diseases" was to undermine the Land Lords '"tenants' " resolve to "resist" as the "evictions" then from the confiscated Land Lords' Estates were to be on an even much "larger" scale from now on.     

    The unrelenting Sir Charles Wood / Lord Halifax the British Imperial Whig Government's Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer insisted that the "Irish Poor Rates" should be at the "normal" rate, and this further "cruel and unfortunate" decision would be continued to be carried out, and not be over - ruled for another 5 years under Lord John Russell who would continue as the British Prime Minister until 1852 AD, who would also "replace" the Public Works with Outdoor Relief, and the Irish Poor Law Extension Act was to be also enacted, which was to "deny" relief to anyone in Ireland who held over 1/4 of an acre.

     The English Earl of Shannon now borrowed "huge sums" of money to "create" employment and "charity" at Killaloe in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province and this meant that there was now "no deaths" reported there.

     A "private charity" known as The British Association for the Relief of Extreme Distress in the remote parts of Ireland were feeding 200,000 children daily in the west of Ireland.

     Father Theobold Mathew of Temperance fame from Co. Cork in Southern Munster was to be severely overworked during the Famine Relief, and a "new" charity the St. Vincent de Paul Society was conducting their own "soup kitchens."

     Alfred Webb, who was a Quaker, noted that the non - Catholic religions who distributed their "relief" to the people in Ireland believed that they would "abandon" their Catholic faith, which turned out to be "baseless," and he was of the opinion that they had sacrificed their influence for good as it would have been better to have left  their beliefs alone. The Society of Friends / Quakers, who built up great credit in Ireland personally and other various charitable groups in "America" and "England," privately sent 500,000 Pounds worth of food, mainly Grain, on 118 ships to Ireland, while "private money" was also sent by friends and relatives from there also.

     Charles Gavan Duffy the "Young Irelander" who was later to become the Premier of Victoria in Australia also joined the "Irish Confederation" as did Michael Doheny from the Gaelic Ithian Sept who also wrote articles for "The Nation" newspaper who was to later on found the "Fenians"in "America" of the "Clan na Gael / The Organization" where the anti - British Imperial Government "movement" would then be "forced" to set up their headquarters and he would then be in a position to greatly "assist" those in Ireland "financially" to gain "Irish Freedom" and eventually drive out the Conservative Coalition British Imperial Government at that future time initially from 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland for starters.

   The Tomb of the ancient Irish Kings dating from 2000 B.C. in the Valley of the River Boyne, between Drogheda and Slane, was opened up at Dowth in Co. Meath in the south - east of Northern Leinster this year, and explored by a Committee of the Royal Irish Academy and it is composed of a conical hill "artificially" constructed of stone as a Passage Grave over which grass has grown, with a Sepulchral Chamber below, that has a passage leading into it, with the entrance formed also by large stones set on their ends and "roofed" with large flagstones, that is 27' long leading into a Central Chamber 9' x 7' 11'  with side recesses. In the centre of the chamber is a shallow stone basin adjoining 3 recesses with the southern one leading to another lot of chambers and passages running "southward." In the central chamber, and the passage that leads to it, there are several stones with "spiral, concentric, zigzag and lozenge patterns" on them,. and many antiquities and relics were found including the bones of human remains and domestic animals, amber and glass beads, bracelets, fibulae, copper pins and iron instruments .

     The "Young Irelanders" at this time began negotiations now with Daniel O Connell - the Liberator's son, John O Connell -  the Young Liberator, and who was now the leader of the Repeal of the Immoral Union Association in an attempt to once again "unite" both associations with the same "democratic goal" of the "Repeal of the Immoral Union."

     This year due to the continuing privation that was occurring in Ireland still under the overall control of Lord John Russell and the British Imperial Whig Government and their "Immoral Union" of Ireland with Britain, 41,989 desperate Irish people were now "charged" with various "offences," which was well up from the 20,000 average from 1842 AD - 1846 AD as in the meantime 149,703 tons of Cereal Grains were once again "exported" from out of Ireland to Britain, which was totally "deplorable and definitely  unjustifiable" as the Irish population were still only able to eat once a day, if they were lucky.

1847 AD - 1848 AD 2,000 people from out of the population of Ireland were still to be "transported" by the British Imperial Whig  Government who were still under Lord John Russell every year.

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