1848 AD

1848 AD The enforced evictions of the tenant farmers and their families, by the Land Lords from off of their 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 Whig Government's devastating 1/4 acre clause of ineligibility for any assistance, which would be also continued on until 1852 AD, when these small subsistence plots were to go into further decline and 22 Special Constables were even employed by the British Whig Government's Dublin Castle authorities again, to continue to drive the excess starving Irish population from out of the Cities. Sheep and cattle stealing were now utilised in desperation by the starving population in Ireland as a means 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 Estates in the Ulster Province, donated 20 Pounds to Famine Relief and his wife,10 Pounds, while at the same time spending 15,000 Pounds renovating their Mansion House at Mount Stewart while the Society of Friends / Quakers had raised and spent 200,000 Pounds on Famine Relief, which was no mean feat during this period of time.

February: The overall 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 had to be done soon to to try and bring about further reform in Ireland and they all began to realise 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.

May: The Poor Law Commissions advised the local Boards, after seeing the effect of the Gregory Clause in promoting "forced starvation," to finally allow in the women and children of the tenant farmers in Ireland, who were holding more then 1/ 4 of an acre.

   The tenant farmers in Ireland were also now encouraged by their previous success in growing some of their potatoes, although it was still to be a small harvest, due to the Blight again, and what followed from this small success was massive plantings of more potatoes, but the Fungus Blight then returned once again, with the tonnage retrieved dropping from 6 ton an acre, to 3 ton 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 in Ireland as he had previously been involved in founding the "Young Irelanders," to remove the completely negative stranglehold of those in the Ascendancy who still had the authority in England over Ireland still under the Immoral Union. He had also come under the influence of James Fintan Lalor who saw the British Imperial 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 in authority in England were still at War although at first he had 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 Government who continued to have the authority in England and Ireland. He wanted to try and force them physically to improve conditions in Ireland, which upset some of his other "Young Irelander" members who were still living in hope of a democratic solution. The British Imperial Government's Dublin Castle Corporation stronghold (The Devil's 1/2 acre) then had John Mitchell arrested for Sedition, and Lord Clarendon made sure that he was convicted, and he was sentenced to 14 years transportation to Australia to get him out of their way and he was taken from Dublin to Spike Island situated at the mouth of the Cork harbour in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, which was used as a convict prison, Because of the way that he was now 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 chance of further reform or change in Ireland's dire circumstances.  

      38,522 people in Ireland were to be charged by the British Whig Imperial Government's Dublin Castle authorities with various offences, while still under the overall total control of the British Government's Immoral Union, and this would not be the end of it, as these figures too were to further increase substantially in the future as the starving population continued to carry out attacks on the British Governmnet's food depots, their convoys of food, or other food locations where the produce was being hoarded, while the population in Ireland continued to starve and the individual "Secret Associations" in the rural areas in desperation continued to stand up to the ongoing oppression being carried out by the Land Lords and their agents.     

      Among the "Young Irelanders" also was John O Mahoney, who was a scholar and a non - Catholic land owner, whose family had previously become non - Catholic to try and hang onto the territory, but it had still been confiscated and given to the English Land Lords the Kingstons, but despite thia 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 Government's Imperial sickening rule and lack of any real sign of Humanity. 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 and a non - Catholic landholder also, who had been educated at Harrow in England and who was an M.P. in the British Westminster Parliament and a Land Lord in his own right. William - Smith O Brien had shocked his older brother, Lucius - Smith O Brien and his mother by joining the Catholic Association as he believed in equality and had also voted for 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 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 - 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 set up a "Temperance Society" in Limerick and Ennis for the town folk and peasants 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," although he 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 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 arrested 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 actions in Ireland and also wanted to push forward the cause of Irish Freedom, but he was opposed in carrying out these 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 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 had to release him and he then 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 IrelanderUprising, which was to last until 1849 AD, against the British Whig Imperial Government's continuing oppression in Ireland under the Immoral Union and their total lack of any Humanity in regards to the Irish population, who were really desperate by now for proper 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 his personal actions in 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 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 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. He went nearby into Co. Tipperary, 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 Government's Dublin Castle authorities sent their R.I.C. police to Ballingarry to arrest him, and also what was by now a 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 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 was exiled out of Ireland, and he 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 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, and 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 forever. Eventually Thomas Francis Meagher was to escape from Australia, and travel on to America also, where he was to become the Governor of Alabama. 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. 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 who was also for using democratic means, and who was 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 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 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 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 that make up 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 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.

   A British Whig Government Act was passed in the Westminster Parliament, once again, to support the "Land Lords" in Ireland, by increasing the sale of their Estates in Ireland, which were by now much encumbered by their irresponsible lifestyles, and the repressed commercial opportunities previously imposed by the various British Imperial Governments on Ireland, but this still only resulted in a small turnover of the land.

  Jack Duggan the Wild Colonial Boy of Australian ballad fame was born this year at Castlemaine in Co. Kerry in the south - west of the Munster Province.  

   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. 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 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 Work Houses were told by the British Whig Government's Dublin 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 a measure used by the British 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 lucky labourers who had found employment were by now financially able to emigrate out of Ireland.

     The continuing "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 had been allowed to just die by the wayside without any type of assistance whatsoever from the British 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 be sent by previous emigrant relatives, back to Ireland from America, to convey new emigrants from Ireland to the U.S.A. 

A Committee of Inquiry, held in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province, at this time, was moved to comment on the difference of attitude, and implementation in the Poor Law conducted by the British Whig Government in England, compared to Ireland, "Whether as regards the plain principles of humanity, or the literal text and admitted principle of the Poor Law of 1847, a neglect of public duty has occurred and has occasioned a state of things disgraceful to a civilized age and Country, for which some authority ought to be held responsible, and would long since have been held responsible had these things occurred in any Poor Law Union in England." 

     Nassau Senior, the English Economist advisor to the British Whig Conservative Government, told them that he feared that, "The "Great Famine" would not kill outright more then 1,000,000 of the population in Ireland, and that would scarcely be enough to do much good" and  "Paying workers in Ireland a living wage would stimulate every Irish man to marry and populate as fast as he could, like a rabbit in a warren."

1848 AD - 1851 AD The Cork Poor Law Unions sent 720 supposed orphans, who were mostly females, to Australia as servants.

1848 AD  - 1858 AD The Chartists, who were a political reform group who had previously formed in 1836 AD in England over appalling working conditions, were to also come to an end there.

      285,448 tons of Cereal Grains were once again exported from out of Ireland to Britain this year.

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