Relief
.Lord Clarendon said in August 1847 in the House of Commons 'We shall be equally blamed for keeping the Irish alive or letting them die and we have only to select between the Economists or the Philanthropists – which do you prefer?' Sadly, they preferred the economists and let the Irish die.
British Government relief was inadequate and inneffective.The existing Poor Law system could not cope with the disaster. Peel implemented emergency relief measures, which were reasonably effective but unpopular with the anti Irish British public and he was voted out of office. Russell's Government, relying on Trevelyan's advice, was incapable of dealing with the Famine. Many charitable individuals worked hard to save their neighbours, often giving up their lives in the effort. The churces and evangelists provided relief but would have been much more effective if they had combined resources and worked together. |
The Society of Friends commissioned Pim and Tuke to investigate conditions in the west. Both produced long, detailed and harrowing reports. Both concluded that the Poor Laws were inadequate and unworkable and would result in mass starvation and death in the west (Pim, 1848) (Tuke, 1848). The Quakers set up a Central Committe immediately to organise funding and relief. They had much less money than the Government but proved more effective because they were properly informed and acted promptly.
The Quakers informed the international community of the disaster in Ireland. Travel writers like Asenath Nicholson also helped to raise funds through thier haunting descriptions of famine conditions - 'naught but desolation and death reigned; and the voice of nature, which was always so pleasant on the sea-coast, now united with the whistling of the wind, seemed only to be howling in sad response to the moans and entreaties of the starving around me' (Nicholson, 1850, p. 353). Click HERE for Information on Government Relief
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