Could the Great Irish Famine be handled better?

Vinization

The Great Famine was one of the (if not the) worst catastrophes to ever hit Ireland. The enormity of the death toll and the emigration that followed meant that, even today, the Irish population today (counting both the Republic and NI) is still smaller than what it was before the famine.

So, was there any way the British government could've handled things better? Could they, for example, stop or at least restrict food exports? Would a Peel ministry that doesn't fall apart over the repeal of the Corn Laws be more likely to give some sort of relief for the Irish than the Whigs were?
 
wcv215

wcv215

Given that the man in charge of relief said:

“a direct stroke of an all-wise and all-merciful Providence", which laid bare "the deep and inveterate root of social evil” and “the sharp but effectual remedy by which the cure is likely to be effected. God grant that the generation to which this opportunity has been offered may rightly perform its part”

It is difficult to see how any alternative government would be worse than the people actually in charge.
 

Enigmajones

If they actually tried to help besides soup kitchens, they could have attempted to halt the famine. The bastards were literally exporting grain and didn’t feed the starving the entire time.
 

Crazyduck156

Metempsychosis said:
I mean, considering the British government's actions throughout the famine, what else can be said? Considering English policy in general and English society's disdain for the Irish, what exactly did they want to happen?
Click to expand...
Rank Incompetence =\= malicious intent

The government were deep in the laissez-faire mentality at the time to the detriment of all
 

BlueTrousers

A slightly different take....

Under the laws prevailing at the time, any relief provided had to be funded by the ratepayers of the district. This had the effect of increasing the tax burden on people who would otherwise have been scraping by, forcing them into debt to pay taxes they could ill afford - or to flee. Selling food for export was the only way that the ratepayers had to raise funds to pay the taxes to provide relief for their communities. The starving poor generally emigrated to Britain, Canada or Australia - those being the cheapest destinations and to some extent subsidised - if they were able to do so. Those who were not quite so badly off but were faced with unjust taxation tended to leave the Empire, since they couldn't be pursued for their debts in Boston or New York.

If there's a change in policy that allows for famine relief to be funded from the British Treasury, even without any actual improvement in the efficacy of famine relief, you reduce the motivation of that squeezed middle to emigrate. Unfortunately, economic policy at the time made that politically impossible.

Realistically, avoiding the worst of the famine (and there was a famine across Europe at the time - Scotland and the Low Countries also suffered badly) requires a fundamentally different relationship between the English government and Ireland from at least the 17th century, and probably the middle of the 16th century.
 
Pangur

Pangur

Donor
RLBH said:
A slightly different take....

Under the laws prevailing at the time, any relief provided had to be funded by the ratepayers of the district. This had the effect of increasing the tax burden on people who would otherwise have been scraping by, forcing them into debt to pay taxes they could ill afford - or to flee. Selling food for export was the only way that the ratepayers had to raise funds to pay the taxes to provide relief for their communities. The starving poor generally emigrated to Britain, Canada or Australia - those being the cheapest destinations and to some extent subsidised - if they were able to do so. Those who were not quite so badly off but were faced with unjust taxation tended to leave the Empire, since they couldn't be pursued for their debts in Boston or New York.

If there's a change in policy that allows for famine relief to be funded from the British Treasury, even without any actual improvement in the efficacy of famine relief, you reduce the motivation of that squeezed middle to emigrate. Unfortunately, economic policy at the time made that politically impossible.

Realistically, avoiding the worst of the famine (and there was a famine across Europe at the time - Scotland and the Low Countries also suffered badly) requires a fundamentally different relationship between the English government and Ireland from at least the 17th century, and probably the middle of the 16th century.
Click to expand...
Oh so just die rather than burden then tax payer?
 

Brunaburh

Banned
I don't know, this is a toughie. We should probably also ask ourselves if the Soviet Union could have possibly done a little more to stop the holodomor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top