John Mitchel Ulster And The Great Irish Famine

"This collection of essays offers diverse perspectives on the impact of the Great Famine in Ireland, with particular focus on the experience in the province of Ulster."--Back cover.

The Belfast Jacobin is the first-ever biography of Samuel Neilson, a founding member of the Society of United Irishmen whose profound influence on this radical movement was to alter the course of Irish history. Samuel Neilson joined Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell at the inaugural meeting of the United Irishmen in 1791, forming a radical front that would challenge the political realities of the day in increasingly strident ways. As editor of the Northern Star, Neilson was to be a principal figure in shaping the United Irishmen’s ideology before the newspaper was suppressed by the military. He brought the excitement caused by the French Revolution into Irish focus, putting public dissatisfaction into words and, later, gathering the forces necessary for revolt. Kenneth Dawson, conducting original research and drawing upon innumerable archive sources, reveals Neilson’s formidable strength as an organiser of radical politics, his incessant run-ins with the authorities, and his central role in planning the United Irish Rebellion of 1798. Samuel Neilson brought talk of revolution to the street – The Belfast Jacobin is a pivotal history that illuminates the true import of his deeds and writing, sorely obscured in many accounts of the 1790s.

In the fall of 1845, a mysterious blight ravaged Ireland’s potato harvest, beginning a prolonged period of starvation, suffering, and emigration that reduced the Irish population by as much as twenty-five per cent in a mere six years. The Famine profoundly impacted Ireland’s social and political history and altered its relationships with the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. This document collection provides a broad selection of historical perspectives depicting the causes, the course, and the impact of the Famine. Letters, speeches, newspaper articles, and other works are collected within, carefully described and annotated for the reader. A substantial introduction, a chronology of events, and a useful glossary are also included to aid in the interpretation of the primary texts.

The Great Irish Famine tells of the last great famine in European history. First-hand accounts and writings by four contemporary real people are used to give a complete and personal picture of the historic tragedy.

The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps), first published in 1861, gives John Mitchel's perspective on the politics and events surrounding the Great Famine, and he is unequivocal in concluding that the catastrophe was as the result of a deliberate policy on the part of the British government to rid Ireland of its excess peasantry. His famous quotation, 'The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine', comes from this book. Mitchel illuminates not only the horrors of the famine, but the frustrations and absurdities associated with it too as, for example, in food produce leaving Irish ports when so many people in the land were starving. The book also provides a useful insight into the Repeal Association, Young Ireland and the Irish Confederation, with all of which movements John Mitchel was successively involved.

The Great Irish Famine of 1845–52 was the defining event in the history of modern Ireland. In proportional terms one of the most lethal famines in global history, the consequences were shocking: at least one million people died, and double that number fled the country within a decade. The Great Irish Famine surveys the history of this great tragedy through the testimonies of four key contemporaries, conveying the immediacy of the unfolding disaster as never before. They are: - John MacHale – the Catholic Archbishop of Tuam - John Mitchel – the radical nationalist - Elizabeth Smith – the Scottish-born wife of a Wicklow landlord - Charles E. Trevelyan – the assistant secretary to the Treasury Each brings a unique perspective, influenced by who they were, what they witnessed, and what they stood for. It is an intimate and compelling portrayal of these hungry years. The book shows how misguided policies inspired by slavish adherence to ideology worsened the effects of a natural disaster of catastrophic proportions. 'A significant and sophisticated addition to the historiography of the Famine.' Christopher Cusack, Times Literary Supplement 'Delaney's approach to the story is innovative ... (it will be found) in the hands of those who appreciate first-rate history ... a very impressive book.' Breandán Mac Suibhne, Dublin Review of Books '... a genuinely original and illuminating perspective on a subject too often dealt with by means of second-hand narrative and unexamined clichés.' Roy Foster, Professor of Irish History, Oxford University 'There are many books on this terrible event, but this is one of the most fluent and original. Although it is based on large amounts of primary research its style is accessible and engaging, and the result is a valuable study of a truly harrowing crisis.' The Times Higher Education Supplement '... an extraordinarily important subject ... focusing on four fascinating characters.' Ryan Tubridy 'Delaney offers an insightful, readable overview of this overwhelming disaster ... highly recommended.' Choice, America's Library Association publication The Great Irish Famine: Table of Contents PROLOGUE: THE LAND OF THE DEAD PART I. BEFORE THE FAMINE - Encounters - Land and people - Politics and power PART II. THAT COMING STORM - Spectre of famine - Peel's brimstone PART III. INTO THE ABYSS - A starving nation - The fearful reality - Property and poverty PART IV. LEGACIES - Victoria's subjects - Exiles EPILOGUE: THE DEATH OF MARTIN COLLINS

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the famine by Irishmen who suffered through it *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "I have called it an artificial famine: that is to say, it was a famine which desolated a rich and fertile island that produced every year abundance and superabundance to sustain all her people and many more. The English, indeed, call the famine a 'dispensation of Providence;' and ascribe it entirely to the blight on potatoes. But potatoes failed in like manner all over Europe; yet there was no famine save in Ireland." - John Mitchel, Young Ireland Movement Anyone who has ever heard of "the luck of the Irish" knows that it is not something to wish on someone, for few people in the British Isles have ever suffered as the Irish have. As one commissioner looking into the situation in Ireland wrote in February 1845, "It would be impossible adequately to describe the privations which they habitually and silently endure...in many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water...their cabins are seldom a protection against the weather...a bed or a blanket is a rare luxury...and nearly in all their pig and a manure heap constitute their only property." Even his fellow commissioners agreed and expressed "our strong sense of the patient endurance which the laboring classes have exhibited under sufferings greater, we believe, than the people of any other country in Europe have to sustain." Still, in their long history of suffering, nothing was ever so terrible as what the Irish endured during the Great Potato Famine that struck the country in the 1840s and produced massive upheaval for several years. While countless numbers of Irish starved, the famine also compelled many to leave, and all the while, the British were exporting enough food from Ireland on a daily basis to prevent the starvation. Over the course of 10 years, the population of Ireland decreased by about 1.5 million people, and taken together, these facts have led to charges as severe as genocide. At the least, it indicated a British desire to remake Ireland in a new mold. As historian Christine Kinealy noted, "As the Famine progressed, it became apparent that the government was using its information not merely to help it formulate its relief policies, but also as an opportunity to facilitate various long-desired changes within Ireland. These included population control and the consolidation of property through various means, including emigration... Despite the overwhelming evidence of prolonged distress caused by successive years of potato blight, the underlying philosophy of the relief efforts was that they should be kept to a minimalist level; in fact they actually decreased as the Famine progressed." Although the Famine obviously weakened Ireland and its people, it also stiffened Irish resolve and helped propel independence movements in its wake. By the time the Famine was over, it had changed the face of not just Ireland but also Great Britain, and it had even made its effects felt across the Atlantic in the still young United States of America. The Great Famine: The History of the Irish Potato Famine during the Mid-19th Century looks at the history of the notorious famine and its results. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about the Irish Potato Famine like never before, in no time at all.