1848 AD
"The Great Famine / Young Irelanders."
1848 AD The "enforced evictions" of the "tenant farmers" and their families, by the Land Lords from off of their confiscated Estates in Ireland were now carried out in "great numbers" due to the "non - payment of rents" with heavy rates, and they were also still subject to the British Imperial Whig Government's devastating 1/4 acre clause of ineligibility for any "assistance," which would be also continued on until 1852 AD, under Lord John Russell, when these small subsistence plots were to go into further decline, while 22 Special Constables were continued to be employed by the British Imperial Whig Government's Dublin Castle (The Devil's 1/2 Acre) authorities again, to drive the "excess starving" Irish population from out of the Cities. Sheep and cattle "stealing" were álso now utilised in desperation by the "starving" population in Ireland as a means for them and their families to try and "survive," and this then led on to further Irish "transportation" to Australia, with penalties of 7, 10 and 15 years for the Labourers. Lord Londonderry who was one of the "richest" Land Lords in Ireland, who held his confiscated Estates in the Ulster Province, donated the grand sum of 20 Pounds to "Famine Relief" and his wife, 10 Pounds, while at the same time they spent 15,000 Pounds "renovating" their Mansion House at Mount Stewart, on the positive side in comparison the Society of Friends / Quakers raised and spent 200,000 Pounds on "Famine Relief," which was no mean feat during this period of time.
February: The "overall previous success" of the general mass of the common people / low orders in the French Revolution, and the introduction of Chartism a political "reform" group previously formed in 1836 AD in England, finally convinced many in Ireland that something similar had to be done soon in Ireland to to try and bring about further "reform" as they all now realised that "democratic peaceful persuasion" had never, and would never, persuade the British Imperial Conservative Governments in England to "improve" matters for the general population in Ireland while they were still subject to the continuation of theier overall control under the "Immoral Union."
May:
The
Poor Law Commission advised the local Boards, after
seeing the effect of the "Gregory Clause" which only
promoted
"forced starvation," to finally "allow" in to the
Workhouses the
unfortunate women and
children of the "tenant farmers" in
Ireland who were
still holding more then 1/ 4 of an acre
May: John Mitchell, (1815 - 1875 AD) the "Irish Nationalist," was to become the disdain of the British Imperial Conservative Government, first as a journalist as he was later to write his "Jail Journal," and as a Unitarian "Young Irelander," he became one of their most "militant members," who was in frustration of ever seeing any chance of further "reform" being introduced under the "Immoral Union" in Ireland as he had previously been one of those involved in founding the "Young Irelanders," while attempting to remove the completely "negative stranglehold" of those in the Ascendancy who still had the authority in England and Ireland over the population in Ireland, under the "Immoral Union". He had also come under the influence of James Fintan Lalor who saw the devestating conduct of the British Imperial Conservative Government's Lord Lieutenants in Ireland as the "main cause" of Ireland's ongoing problems, and he put forward the proposition that the population in Ireland should take the opportunity to obtain their "freedom," while those Imperialists in authority in England were still at "War," although at first he had naturally pushed for "rural reform," but in further "frustration" of achieving any chance of this at all, his other alternative was for an "armed" Irish Uprising against those in the British Imperial Conservative Government who continued to have the overall authority in England and Ireland to do "good," but always managed to do the "opposite." He now wanted to try and force them by "physical means" to improve conditions in Ireland, which "upset" some of his more democratic minded "Young Irelander" members who were still living in hope of a chance that the British Imperial Conservative Government would finally have a change of heart and a "peaceful democratic solution" would then evenuate. The British Imperialconservative Government's Dublin Castle Corporation stronghold (The Devil's 1/2 acre) then had John Mitchell also arrested for "Sedition," and Lord Clarendon made sure that he was "convicted," and sentenced to 14 years transportation to "Australia" to get him out of their way forever, and he was then taken from Dublin and put on Spike Island, which is situated at the mouth of Cork Harbour in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, which was also used as another convict prison, Because of the way that he was to be so "severely treated," many of the "Young Irelanders" then also became convinced that his proposition of an "Irish Uprising," as usual, was now the only way "left open" to the population in Ireland to bring about any further chance of "reform or change" in Ireland's dire and constant circumstances.
Among the "Young Irelanders" also was John O Mahony, who was a scholar and a non - Catholic land owner, whose family had previously become non - Catholic to try and hang onto the original territory, but it had still been "confiscated" and given over to the English Land Lords the Kingstons, but despite this as a non - Catholic he had been allowed to be educated at Trinity College to be able to play his part in trying to bring about "Irish Freedom" from the British Imperial Whig Government's sickening rule and lack of any real sign of Humanity under the auspices of the "Immoral Union." John O Mahony had joined the "Irish Confederation" with William Smith - O Brien,who was of Anglo - Irish descent, who was originally from Co. Clare in the Munster Province also, and a non - Catholic landholder, who had been educated at Harrow in England and an M.P. in the British Westminster Parliament and also a Land Lord in his own right. William - Smith O Brien had shocked his older brother, Lucius - Smith O Brien and his mother by first "joining" the Catholic Association as he was unusual as he had "empathy" for his fellow human beings and believed in "equality" and had also voted and promoted Catholic Emancipation. He had inherited his grandfather's Estate at Cahirmoyle in Co. Limerick and married Lucy Gabbet whose father was also a Land Lord at High Park and a Mayor of Limerick, and he had previously produced a pamphlet on "Disestablishing the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland," which had also upset his father, Sir Edward O Brien who had his Estate at Dromoland Castle in Co. Clare. William Smith -O Brien had been elected to the British House of Commons when he was only 14 year old and had originally voted with the Whig Party beginning with Lord Melbourne pushing for Irish "Poor Law" for "Outdoor Relief," not a Workhouse, and with his sister, Grace he had founded the "Emigrants' Friends Society" in Limerick to advise intending "emigrants" what was out there for them, and with his younger brother, Henry - Smith O Brien they had also set up a "Temperance Society" in Limerick and Ennis for the town folk and local people to be "educated" and study at night.
Among their group was Charles Joseph Kickham (1828 - 1882 AD) who was from Mullinahoe near Knocknagow on the Suir River in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province, who was a novelist, a poet and an "Irish Patriot" who was the leader of the local "Confederate Club," who had been "blinded" by gunpowder while in his teens, and he was also the composer of many well known Irish ballads, and Thomas Clarke Luby / Lubaigh, was another member of their group, who was from Dublin,who was the son of a non - Catholic clergyman, and had therefore also been "allowed" to be educated at Trinity College, and was a member of both the "Young Irelanders" and the "Irish Confederation." Other "Young Irelander" members were John Blake - Dillon who was a lawyer, and Charles Gavin Duffy who was later to become the Premier of Victoria in Australia, and possibly the initial Father of Federation there, and he too would be "arrested" and "imprisoned" many times for his thoughts on "Irish Freedom" along with another member John O Leary who was from Co. Tipperary who had also been educated at the Trinity College / Dublin University.
James Fintan Lalor, the grandfather of Peter Lalor of Australian "Eureka" fame, was among those also "arrested" for his thoughts on "Irish Freedom" and put in Nenagh Jail in Co. Tipperary, and then transferred to Newgate Prison in Dublin, where due to his ill - health he was to be released after a few months, and he too tried to found a "newspaper," to expose the British Imperial Whig Government's continuing devastating and cruel actions in Ireland, and also wanted to push forward the cause of "Irish Freedom," but he was opposed in carrying out any physical actions by Charles Gavin Duffy who still believed that it could be acheived in a "democratic" way. Despite this he too was to be "imprisoned" in Newgate Prison from where the British Conservative Imperial Whig Government where to try him 5 times, under their "Treason Felony Act," with their packed juries, but he was able to defeat them every time, and they always had to release him, and he tried to revive, not only the "Irish Nationalist" newspaper, "The Nation," but also the "Young Irelander" movement to "democratically and peacefully" bring about further "reform" in Ireland.
Due
to the previous "incarceration" of John
Mitchell, the
"Young Irelanders"
were now led by
John O Mahony,
and this saw the beginning of their desperate
"Young Irelander Uprising,"
to try and bring on a solution to the dreadful circumstances still prevailing in
Ireland,
which was to last until
1849 AD,
against the British Whig Imperial Government and
their continuing "oppression and total
disinterest" in the conditions continuing on in
Ireland
under the "Immoral Union" and also their total lack
of any "Humanity" in regards to the general Irish population,
who were really desperate by now for any "normal leadership" just to survive.
May: William Smith - O Brien, who was of Anglo - Irish origins, and part of the Land Lord establishment himself, and a non - Catholic M.P., was now also "arrested" this month because of his personal actions in also trying to bring about "reform" in Ireland, but due to his Ascendancy connections, he was to be soon "released", but was just as committed as ever to try and bring about "reform" in Ireland for the whole of the Irish population.
July 23rd:
William
Smith - O Brien
decided that he would "personally" lead an
"Irish
Insurrection"
himself,
against the suspension
of the "Habeus Corpus Act"
in
Ireland
by the British Imperial Conservative Whig Government, and by doing this he was hoping to gain
"public exposure" of the terrible plight and treatment being handed out to the
"tenant farmers"
in
Ireland and their families
who
were being so harshly treated on the various Land Lord Estates, and also try and bring about
further "reform" by using the only means that was ever possible in
Ireland,
under the British Conservative Imperial Whig
Government, with
some type of "resisting violence" as it always seemed that this was the "only
message" they ever understood.
He went nearby into
Co. Tipperary
in the
Munster Province
to see if the local "tenant farmers" and the general
population there, were
up for an "armed"
Uprising,
and as his intentions became more widespread
word got out, and
the British Imperial Whig Government's
Dublin Castle
(the Devil's 1/2Acre) authorities sent their R.I.C. police
to
Ballingarry
to arrest him, and
also
what was by now a a fairly large group of
3,000
"Young Irelander"
supporters, who mostly only had "pikes." The R.I.C. police on seeing the size of the assembled group, decided instead to
"hide out"
nearby in Mrs.
Mac Cormack's house, and
William Smith
- O Brien
seeing them in there
then
requested that they
come out and give themselves up, but as the R.I.C police were the only ones with the firearms, they
panicked instead and "opened fire" on the assembled
crowd, and 2 of the
"Young Irelander" supporters were
killed and several were wounded, and when more R.I.C. police
reinforcements
arrived with further firearms his
"Young Irelander"
group then "dispersed," and what could have grown into a major disaster, became only a scuffle, as the
"Young Irelanders"
were
either "driven off" or "arrested," while
William
Smith
- O Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher / Maher
and
Terrance
Mac Manus
were able to
depart the scene and
were from then on, "on the run" from the British Whig Imperial
Government's
Dublin Castle
authorities.
August 5th:
William Smith - O Brien,
had returned to his own property at
Cahirmoyle
in
Co.
Limerick
in the mid - north - west of the
Munster Province, where
he was "arrested" again by the R.I.C police, and taken to the police station at
Thurles
in
nearby
Co. Tipperary,
and the
British Imperial Whig Government's
Dublin Castle
(The Devill's 1/2 Acre) authorities this time
sentenced him
to be "hung, and drawn and quartered," while
Thomas Francis Meagher / Maher
from
Co.
Waterford
was also to be " transported," and
Terrence Mac Manus
who
was "exiled"
out of
Ireland
decided to go to
America,
where he was later to die, and still be capable of playing a major role in the
future scheme of
things even after his "demise." The ramifications of all of this continuing
British
Imperial Whig Conservative Government oppression
under Lord John Russell was to be the birth of the
modern
"Irish Republican"
movemen as
James Stephens
who was
also a
non - Catholic, who had been with
William Smith
- O Brien also,
who was from
Co.
Kilkenny
in the south - west of
Southern Leinster, was among those
"Irish
Rebels" who had managed to
"escape," and
he had fled to
France,
were he came to gain an overall view of the
results of the French Revolution occurring there. Because
of
William
Smith
- O Brien's connections
with the Landed Gentry, the "death sentence" passed on him was changed to "Life
Transportation" to
Australia,
after
special legislation was put through the British Ascendancy Westminster Parliament, and they
were then transported together to
Tasmania
15,000 miles away, to get them out of
Ireland
once again
"forever."
Eventually
Thomas Francis Meagher
was to "escape"
from Australia, and travel on to
America
also,
where he was to become a successful "American Army" leader and also be
appointed the
Under - Secretary of Alabama
prior to his unfortunate death there.
John Blake - Dillon was also to be able to escape to
America
on his own volition, which saw
the
"Young Irelander"
movement begin it's growth there in America, and the foundation of the
"Fenian Brotherhood / The Organization"
there,
which was to
build great support in America for the move for
"Irish
Freedom" from the
ongoing oppression of the
British Imperial Conservative
Governments in
England. The
"Fenian Brotherhood,"
when set up there in America, eventually was to send back
Thomas
Terrence Mac Manus's
body,
after he died there,
for "political" purposes,
were 20,000
Irish
men
and
women
were to view his coffin, before he was interred in
Glasnevin
Cemetery near
Dublin
as a true
"Irish Nationaist."
The Catholic
Archbishop
Paul
Cullen, at the time who was to be
"fresh" from the
results of the
French Revolution,
and who had been "out" of
Ireland
personally
for the previous
20
years,
and therefore had not been involved previously in the "politics" in
Ireland was also for using
"democratic" means, and who was therefore totally against
"Irish
Republicanism,"
was to "refuse" the use of the
Dublin
Catholic Pro - Cathedral
for his
eulogy.
Bishop
Moriarty,
from
Co. Kerry
in the south - west of the
Munster Province,
also stated at this time that, "Hell was
not hot enough, nor Eternity long enough to punish the
Fenians."
Meanwhile,
James Stephens from
Co. Kilkenny,
another of the "Young Irelanders,"
who had gone to
France, had been imbibed with
the idea that "total liberty" was certainly a
possibility for all
of the
population in
Ireland,
if they were willing to
"physically" fight for it,
which was to lay down the "nucleus" once again for the
"Irish
Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B.
/ Fenians / The Organization,"
as the only way they would ever be allowed by the British
Imperial Conservative Governments to achieve
any chance of real "freedom" in
Ireland
from their continual aggression.
John O Mahony,
Michael Doheny
and
James Stephens, were to
spend sometime together in
France
while in exile there, where they would all be personally inspired by the
"positive results" of the
French Revolution to form
their own
"Irish
Republic,"
and while there they
also discussed
ways of finally bringing to an "end" the
British Imperialistic control
under the
"Immoral Union" over
Ireland,
and
Michael Doheny,
was later to also go on to
America, were he was to found the
"Fenian Brotherhood
/ Clann na Gael
/ The Organization" there, which was
to play such a "major role" in eventually driving the
British Imperial Government
out of 26 Counties of
the 32 Counties that make up the "whole" of the
Republic of
Ireland.
Because of the reporting in
England of the "Irish
Insurrection,"
that had previously occurred,
Charles Trevelyan's,
comments previously on the
population in
Ireland,
were "generally accepted" there, that the
"Great Famine"
was not the
great evil in
Ireland,
but it
was actually "the selfish perverse and
turbulent character of the
Irish
people
themselves" that was the problem, but the
"Potato Blight"
in
Ireland
was also not finished with the population in
Ireland
and it struck the
crops once
again, and although they were
heavily sown down this time it "totally destroyed" them, by
rotting decay, and unfortunately it was to still continue on along
in very similar lines for another 6
years into the future.
The non - Catholic "emigration" from out of Ireland during these "extreme" times were to be centred on Canada, while the Catholic Irish migrated instead to America and 34,000 Pounds was to be forwarded by the "emigrants" in America this year to the United Kingdom, of which 40% were for "tickets" on the dreadful "Coffin Ships," which were so named because of the "great loss of life" on board during the voyages, such as the 20% of passengers who were lost on a single voyage from Co. Cork to Canada.
September: At Bandon in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, those in charge of the the Workhouses were told by the British Imperial Whig Government's Dublin Castle (The Devill's 1/2 Acre) authorities to "discharge all persons" whose fathers, husbands or mothers were "outside" the Workhouse, but to use discretion in the case of children who were too young and not strong enough to be "evicted," another terrible cruel measure that was used by the British Imperial Government's Dublin Castle authorities to try and force the "tenant farmers" in Ireland to give up their land holding no matter how small even a 1/4 acre, while some of the "others" who were lucky labourers who had found employment were by now financially able to "emigrate" out of Ireland.
The ongoing
"Great Famine,"
which was the "worst ever" in
Ireland
had seen the
population
reduced by
2,000,000
people, either by
"starvation," "disease" or "migration," while
over 1,000,000
of the population in
Ireland
had been allowed to just "die" by the
wayside without any real genuine assistance whatsoever from the
British
Imperial Whig Conservative Government who were still in total control of
everyone's lives under their
"Immoral Union,"
and from this year until
1864 AD
13,000,000 Pounds were to also be sent by
previous "emigrant" relatives, back to
Ireland
from
America, to convey members of their families and friends as
"emigrants" from
Ireland
to the
U.S.A.