Largest Amount of Good: Quaker Relief in Ireland, 1654-1921 9780773563698

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The Largest Amount of Good

From their arrival in Ireland in 1654, some Quakers conceptualized and acted to reverse philanthropic and economic orthodoxy, moving from mutual help to modern methods of relief and development. While philosophical radicalism was anchored in British tradition, the Quakers were distinctive. In the Great Famine of 1846-49 they rejected mainstream practice and denned an ethos tuned to the realities of the modern state, clarifying state responsibility in disaster and the limits of philanthropy. Friends rejected religious partiality, refused to equate poverty with vice and betterment with Protestantism, and subverted the government's dictum of destitution as the criterion for relief. It is the Quakers, not the British government, who are remembered for feeding the starving. More than $3 million of Famine aid was consigned to the Quakers, principally from North America. In contrast to other agencies, the Quakers' avowed motives were neither profit nor conversion to Protestantism. Instead the Friends argued that labour and reward sufficient to lead a decent life would raise commitment to order, and they taught the Irish to use their resources. The Quakers provided grants and unguaranteed loans to revitalize agriculture, fisheries, industry, and women's employment, taught new techniques, and introduced green crops. They looked for the causes of poverty, using publicity and political pressure to help reform the land-holding system. The power of the landed interests was too entrenched to overcome entirely, but there is no question of the Friends' contribution to Ireland. Evolution of Quaker welfare service from mutual help to international authority was marked by the embodiment of their principles in the direction of the Society. The Great Irish Famine was a turning point as inchoate relief systems were organized into methodology and later institutionalized in the Friends Service Council. This is the first full account of Quaker work in Ireland, the evolution of their thinking on the purpose and limitations of philanthropy, and the development of their views on the responsibility of the state for its citizens. HELEN E. HATTON teaches History at the University of Toronto.

Ireland, mid nineteenth century

The Largest Amount of Good Quaker Relief in Ireland 1654-1921 HELEN E. HATTON

McGill-Queen's University Press Kingston & Montreal • London • Buffalo

McGill-Queen's University Press 1993 ISBN 0-7735-0959-3 Legal deposit first quarter 1993 Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec

Printed in Canada on acid-free paper This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and a grant from the University Publications Fund of the University of Saskatchewan.

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Hatton, Helen Elizabeth, date The largest amount of good: Quaker relief in Ireland, 1654—1921 Include bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7735-0959-3 i. Quakers - Ireland - Charities - History. 2. Famines — Ireland - History. 3. Food relief— Ireland — History. 4. Ireland — History. I. Title. H This book was typeset by Typo Litho composition inc. in 10/12 Baskerville.

For M

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Contents

Acknowledgments ix Introduction

3

1 From Conviction to Action 15 2 Good to All and Harm to None: Early Years in Ireland 34 3 A Condition Low and Degraded

45

4 Rehearsals for Disaster 58 5 A National Misfortune, a National Sin 79 6 A Remarkable Manifestation of National Sympathy 108 7 Feeding the Hungry and Clothing the Naked 127 8 A Little Thing Helps a Poor Man 169 9 Help the Men to Help Themselves

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10 Ever Widening Circles 223 11 Conclusions 248 Appendix 1: Grants by Province and County 272 Appendix 2: A Page of Contributions from North America 275

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Contents

Appendix 3: Weekly Distribution by Province, 30 January - 7 August 1847 280 Notes

283

Bibliography Index 349

329

Acknowledgments

Without assistance generously given, the work could not have been accomplished. Grateful acknowledgment must go to Richard A. Rempel, professor of history at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, who suggested the topic to me when I was his undergraduate student. I was also working on a degree in social work and was interested in the development of social policy. There seemed to me to be an unexplained and almost unbridgeable dichotomy between the nineteenth-century concepts about poverty, relief, philanthropy, and state responsibility and modern practices in state responsibility and third world development. Neither the embodiment of laissez-faire in the Charity Organization Society, nor the line of concern about poverty and the solutions proposed to deal with it, coming from Carlyle through Dickens, Mrs Gaskell, and Ruskin, bridge the gap. Dr Rempel pointed out that the Quakers had carried out an unprecedented relief operation in the Irish Famine and that there was not yet any full account of what they had done. In London I benefited enormously from discussions with Edward Milligan, librarian (retired), and Malcolm Thomas, librarian, of Friends House, on the taxing questions of motivation and Quaker philanthropy. Malcolm Thomas also drew material to my attention, produced statistical information, and answered endless questions by post and telephone. The library, Lambeth Palace, London, made available the papers of Richard Whately and relevant works by Poulet Scrope.

x Acknowledgments

In Ireland I must first acknowledge the boundless assistance of Professor Thomas P. O'Neill of University College, Galway (retired). He shared his encyclopedic knowledge of Famine sources, arranged access to crucial collections, and took me to sites in Galway, Connemara, Dublin, and Wicklow that brought the condition of Ireland in the 1840s vividly to life. Professor O'Neill and his wife, who is a professor of law, answered innumerable questions and also extended warm hospitality far beyond professional courtesy. At Friends House, Eustace Street, Dublin, members of the Meeting and the small staff made it possible to complete that part of the research in limited time. I was given access to the Historic Library and a room in which to work. The late Terrence Mallagh stepped in to act as librarian, and also patiently photocopied many hundreds of documents. I owe an enormous debt to the willingness of the directors and staff of the National Library of Ireland, the library of Trinity College, Dublin, the State Paper Office, Dublin Castle, and the Public Record Office, Four Courts, Dublin, to recognize the problems of time and cost that beset a researcher today. Most critically, no limitations were placed on the numbers of photocopies allowed, making it possible to complete the work without the prohibitive cost of a year of handcopying documents that were not too fragile for photocopying. Officials of the Bank of Ireland, Trinity College Green, Dublin, kindly undertook the translation of 1840 funds to modern valuation, and officials of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Canada offered suggestions. In North America, I am indebted to Elizabeth Potts Brown and Barbara Curtis, Quaker Collection, Haverford College, and Albert Fowler, Quaker Library, Swarthmore College. Christopher Densmore, SUNY Buffalo, kindly sent material he discovered. Discussions with Professor Thomas Basset, University of Vermont, focused direction. Dr Judith Jennings, Kentucky Humanities Council, shared her work on the ethos underlying Quaker abolition work. Professor Edward Wall Jr of Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass., made available his work on Joseph Lancaster. At the University of Toronto, Professor Sidney Aster generously provided stringent editorial review. Professors Michael Finlayson, Trevor Lloyd, and Peter Morgan raised useful questions, and Richard Rempel of McMaster University returned to the work he had suggested and offered a rigorous critique informed by his own extensive work on Quaker sources. The two words "Thank you" to Professor Richard Helmstadter of the University of Toronto cannot begin to convey that I owe to him.

xi

Acknowledgments

Among individuals who gave generous assistance I must acknowledge, sadly, the late Ambassador Henryk Szeryng, who maintained a lively interest in the work despite the pressures of his work as musician, teacher, and ambassador. His colleague Isaac Stern encouraged my studies. Thanks to Mr and Mrs Leonard Court and Mr and Mrs Daniel Samuel in London, Mrs Patricia Dean Flynn of New York and Dublin, and especially Mrs Alice Hirsch and the late Henry Hirsch of New York and Palm Beach. Vital assistance was given by Yvonne Place of Queen's University. At the University of Saskatchewan Jacqueline Fraser generously sorted out computer problems, and Jean Horosko provided much help, as did Joni Aschim who also prepared the tables. For financial assistance I owe a very special debt to an association of friends who wish to remain anonymous and to the wonderful Third Age Learning groups of Guelph and Kitchener, Ontario, with whom I worked and from whom I learned much in turn. Grateful thanks also to Mrs Ruth Clark, the Associates of the University of Toronto (New York) for a Travel Fund Grant, and the Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Saskatchewan. At McGill-Queen's University Press, much is owed to the support of editor Donald Akenson, executive director Philip Cercone, and co-ordinating editor Joan McGilvray. Copy editor Elizabeth Hulse endured my stylistic foibles and occasional flashes of testiness, patiently imposing order on idiosyncratic citations and punctuation.

Since the book went to press, new material has appeared on the Claddagh Piscatorial School at Galway, with which the Quakers worked to revive the fishing industry. As religious considerations were not the Quakers' purpose, their original information that the school was run by the Jesuits was not an issue and was not corrected. In fact it was founded and maintained by the Dominicans

Return of food distribution from CRC grant, Father James Brown of Ballentubber, 13 May 1848.

The Largest Amount of Good

We are persuaded that these considerations need not to be urged on many whom we now address, but that their hearts have already been deeply affected in witnessing and hearing of the destitution around them, and it is no unimportant part of the work now before us ... whereby their willing labours may be so directed as to effect the largest amount of good with the means at their disposal, [italics added] Address of the Committee to the Members of the Society of Friends in Ireland, 13th of nth Month, 1846

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Introduction

In Ireland, a nation long torn by religious animosity, one Protestant sect has consistently been held in affection by Catholics. The rancour which divides Catholics and many Protestants has not existed between Catholics and the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers. An explanation lies in the fact that from their arrival in Ireland in 1654, Quaker responses to the condition of Ireland were positive and always distinctive. Both Irish and English Friends were actively concerned with the welfare of the island, much of which seemed sunk in eternal poverty. Their concern was especially evident in the nineteenth century, particularly in the overwhelming crisis of 1846— 49 - the Great Famine - when Quakers mounted a massive relief program. Friends' relief work, however, had begun in an inchoate way soon after their arrival in Ireland. Over the following two hundred years the evolution of Quaker methods prepared the structure for their individual, systematic, and singularly intensive labours during the Famine. While still green in popular memory, that great work was not the end of organized Quaker endeavour in Ireland. They continued their efforts to better the condition of Ireland and to relieve distress up until the troubles of 1920-21. In the process, the Quakers came to significant conclusions about the causes of endemic poverty, the limits of philanthropy, the nature of catastrophe, and the extent of government responsibility for its citizens. Among many trying to alleviate Irish suffering, the Quakers were the most successful and are still remembered gratefully in Ireland, where, despite the thou-

4 The Largest Amount of Good

sands of pounds poured into famine relief, the efforts of the British government are recalled with abiding bitterness. After the revision of the Poor Law in 1834, with its unions, utilitarian principles of less eligibility, and the workhouse test of complete destitution, nineteenth-century English philanthropy was mainly concerned with those unsheltered by official provisions. There is a superficial similarity between Quaker benevolence and that of others, but those Quakers who worked for Ireland revealed features which are markedly outside of the mainstream of nineteenth-century British philanthropic theory and economic practice. Massive poverty, they recognized, resulted from factors beyond the control of the individual, and they did not base their work on the assumption that the sufferer was the cause of his own misery. This was crucial, for in nineteenth-century England many were content to view the Irish either as lazy and hapless or as persistently seditious and ungrateful. Quaker aid was not directed to the inculcation of middle-class virtue as the cure for poverty, investigation of the worthiness of the individual to receive help, nor the supervision of the poor. The Quakers did not attempt to remake the poor in their own image. While formulated somewhat later, the Charity Organization Society is the embodiment of mainstream nineteenth-century British charitable philosophy, methodology, and endeavour. In contrast to cos doctrine, Quaker relief stands unencumbered by the imperatives of laissez-faire economic theory and utilitarianism, institutionalized in the Poor Law and in the efforts of Prime Minister Lord John Russell to deal with the catastrophe that overtook Ireland. Russell's policies were dominated by a Treasury which adhered implacably to the practice of economic and philanthropic ideas as they were understood at mid-century. J As Russell clung to the dictum that there could there be no interference with domestic trade and therefore did not stop the export of Irish foodstuffs, polemicists such as the (in) famous John Mitchell claimed that Ireland produced enough food in the Famine to feed eighteen million, or twice its population. In truth, the food that left Ireland would not have prevented the Famine, but both the short- and long-term effects on the Irish imagination of seeing food leaving a starving country for England is hard to overestimate.2 When Russell put relief measures under the Irish Poor Law in the fall of 1847, the crisis was greatly intensified. Ireland was not England, and Irish resources could neither accommodate so much human need nor produce the revenue to bear the cost. A large part of the relief work, therefore, fell to private endeavours. Many groups struggled to allay the misery of those terrible years, but some of them used the opportunity to forward aims that were

5 Introduction dear to their hearts but offensive to the debilitated Irish. Among them were evangelical Protestants who tended to view Ireland with the same fervour with which they set out to Christianize the heathen. For them, the Famine was a heavenly directive to begin Irish regeneration on fundamentalist terms. Others, particularly those advancing land-reform schemes, saw Irish need and British obligation to Ireland in the comfortable light of an investment. Useful in providing employment and reducing unrest, such investment would, they believed, also return a gratifying twenty per cent. Some blamed the Irish labourer for the conditions under which he endured. Others were happy to lay the ills of that woeful country at the feet of Roman Catholicism. There were those who convinced themselves that the Famine was Divine retribution for Ireland's many sins, not least of which was ingratitude for all that England had done for Ireland. Humane practicality and total non-sectarianism distinguished Quaker relief. Building on the experience gained from their earliest days, when they were persecuted, the Friends were sensitive to suffering, especially that arising from religious and political harassment. Perhaps because of the vilification they had borne, Friends moved from mutual help in the seventeenth century to assisting others suffering from oppression. In Ireland the Quakers went on to speaking out on Irish issues, giving evidence before parliamentary commissions, and developing plans to eradicate Irish misery. Theyjoined in relief measures during the regional Irish famines of the early nineteenth century, and in 1842-43 themselves organized an aid program to assuage distress in the textile areas of England. During the Great Famine their experience of limited relief and unsystematized work coalesced into policies which set the Quakers significantly apart from other relief agencies. Catholic curates were excluded from the government relief committees, perhaps on the assumption that the parish priest would participate, a regulation which left neglected those large areas where only a curate presided. Friends worked with anyone capable of administering aid. Statistical returns were required from those distributing relief, so that an accounting could be made of the aid consigned to them, but need was the Quaker's only criterion for relief grants. The Friends were unyieldingly rigorous in enforcing it. Nor would they tolerate "souperism," that use of philanthropy which made relief contingent upon a religious duty. Some who worked in the famine distributed tracts with their cornmeal, preached sermons with their soup, or withheld relief until children were sent to a school where they received instruction in Protestant doctrine. A few fanatics made

6 The Largest Amount of Good

conversion the price of relief food. Such became the Quaker reputation for non-sectarian probity that more than three million dollars of aid from places as diverse as Upper Canada and India were consigned to their trust. Donations poured in, frequently with letters attesting to the sender's belief that the Quakers would deliver relief goods to specific locations, even to individuals, and that the Friends would administer unspecified contributions of provisions and funds with total impartiality. To the best of their ability they did so, carefully publishing details of all the cargoes received and their consignment or redirection. Quaker relief was combined with painstaking investigation into the causes of Ireland's endemic poverty. In their correspondence about the potato blight, there are rare references to God's will, but there are a great many more comments about the conditions that produced a destitute peasantry and a bankrupt landlord class. Unlike many considering the condition of Ireland, Quakers did not deem the Irish peasant farmers or fishermen lazy, hapless, or improvident because of their generally low level of expertise. Instead, the Friends set out to do something about a situation they deemed intolerable and undertook to raise the labourers by encouraging them to diversify and by teaching them to use modern methods. In the process Quakers knowingly ignored major precepts of classical political economy. Laissez-faire economists generally maintained an uncritical view of the English economic system and were hostile to government intervention, although Nassau Senior did recognize that government action might be necessary in a backward economy such as Ireland's. Consciously critical of received theoretical wisdom, the Quakers pragmatically rejected classical economic practice in Ireland twenty years before Mill disavowed Ricardo and the wage-fund theory. That theory, which placed limits on the capital set aside for wages, was principally used to show that attempts to raise wages were futile. Long before Mill rejected it, Irish Quakers consistently deplored wages below subsistence level and provided opportunities for employment.3 Early in 1847 news °f the Irish famine reached a Quaker family farming in Ohio. In an evocative and appropriate analogy, the family's little daughter imagined that famine must be a monster "like an ancient dragon, which swallowed up whole provinces at a mouthful."4 In the terrible summer of 1847, tne Quakers came to a crucial decision about the nature of philanthropy. It was clear to them that the famine was not an event, an emergency which would be relieved when the next crop was harvested. Rather it was a monster, like the little child's imagined dragon, an overwhelming catastrophe feeding

7 Introduction on the condition of Ireland. Until there were fundamental structural changes, famine would go on devouring the resources poured into it and never be satiated. At that moment Russell threw the cost and administration of relief on to the Irish Poor Law and invited the Quakers to commit their resources to the poor law unions. They refused. The Friends had recognized that permanent betterment could never be accomplished through the succouring of individual need under the Poor Law, nor could charity deal with disaster. Catastrophe, they concluded, was the province of the state, and the Quakers would not relieve the government of its responsibility. They understood thoroughly the great precedent set by the abolition of slavery in 1833: massive evil could only be eradicated by the state acting through Parliament. Withdrawing from general famine relief when the government policies were implemented, the Quakers continued to aid those barred from official relief and organized pressure on the government to bring about change. Their remaining resources were used in measures which the Quakers believed had the potential for long-term alleviation of unemployment and underemployment. Recognizing how tenuous was the security offered to a population subsisting on one fragile crop, the Quakers began with a twofold program. Seeds for green crops — turnips, parsnips, carrots, mangels, and the like - were distributed freely to provide food at once and reduce the dependency on the potato. Agricultural experts were sent to show the farmers how to deal with these new crops. Large acreages were rented in the west to produce food quickly and to serve as examples. Permanent measures began with loans to landlords to provide employment and bring uncultivated land into production. In the west a model farm was created as an enduring teaching resource. Flax was introduced into the west and south as a crop, and loans were made to start up linen production. Directed by the Protestant-dominated Linen Board, the industry had been noticeably concentrated in Protestant Ulster. To revitalize and expand the fishing industry, major efforts were made, including the purchase of trawlers and the provision of funds to redeem existing gear from pawn. To give the revived industry viability, deep-sea fishermen and fish curers were brought in to demonstrate new methods. Care was taken to provide employment for women, who were in many cases the sole support of their families, and to find purchasers for the goods they made. In all they did, the Quakers were thorough. Scientific methods were patiently taught, for the Friends saw that the Irish were not innately debased, but were so from long poverty and lack of op-

8 The Largest Amount of Good portunity. Great care was taken not to offend Irish cultural and religious sensibilities. Supplies were given generously, and interestfree loans for materials and equipment were made, repayable in very small amounts as earnings began to accumulate, so that the Irish would own their industry. Contrary to government policy, no guarantees were required, and the Quakers admitted that no doubt some of the loans would never be repaid. Neither did they foresee profit from their investments. Indeed, they made it clear in their appeals for relief funds that none would be expected. If the perilous condition of Ireland was to be reversed, political pressure was required, something the Quakers knew how to exert. Friends drew on the campaign skills they had honed in the mighty anti-slavery crusade: pamphlets, publicity, parliamentary pressure, and patience. Patience they especially demonstrated, for they sustained pressure over many years in areas that concerned them, including the abusive land-holding system, unregulated emigrant ships, and fishing restrictions. The fisheries board was persuaded to change detrimental regulations, and the Admiralty was pressed into providing the first accurate charts of the Irish coast. Many of the soundings were taken on the Quaker trawler which investigated the fishing potential of the south and west coasts. Quaker pressure was instrumental in the passage of the first major land act, the Encumbered Estates Act of 1849, an(^ others followed. It would be more than thirty years before some Quaker aims were embodied in the succeeding Irish land acts. The Friends' great work is remembered in Irish memory, and there are references to Quaker relief in various studies of the Famine, but there has not been a full recounting of their long century of work in Ireland.5 Friends themselves published an austere auditing of their dispersal of famine relief funds in 1852 under the title Transactions of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends during the Great Famine in Ireland (Transactions), a volume which accounts for every ha'penny but reveals only a fraction of Quaker labours. In Victorian Quakers Elizabeth Isichei described Quaker relief in the Great Famine only as "a generous corporate response to an international crisis."6 In fact, the famine relief was not a corporate response. It was the labour of concerned Friends working in groups, including the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends, but not as official committees of the Society. Torn in both Britain and America by divisions over the degree to which the exacting Quaker doctrine could accommodate evangelicalism, the Religious Society of Friends did not add the relief program to its official welfare projects. As the work was not an official expression of Quaker

9 Introduction policy, the relief committees did not come under the direction of Yearly Meeting, the Quaker "parliament" in each autonomous area, nor the authority of Meeting for Sufferings, the executive committees of the Society. Yearly Meetings circulated Epistles of advice and several encouraged the relief work, commending it to all Quakers; but without the full, official weight of the Society behind them, the committees' accomplishments were even more remarkable. Mrs Isichei stated that space limitations excluded a review of all Friends' charities. This omission led to her judgment that Victorian Quaker philanthropy was not distinctive. She restricted her examination to English Friends, despite the prominence of Irish affairs in the nation's life. Perhaps archival considerations influenced her, since there is not yet a full record of Irish Friends. Dublin Yearly Meeting served Ireland, although some Irish Friends also attended London Yearly Meeting. But as each Yearly Meeting is autonomous, not a great deal may be drawn from that fact beyond the indication of close connections.7 Isichei concluded that Quaker members of Parliament "tended to become conscientious but obscure backbenchers,"8 a statement she might have modified had she included Irish Friends. In her recent, coolly detached study The Famine in Ireland, Mary Daly devoted a few pages to Quaker relief, but she based her assessment only on Transactions and on an account of his investigation of the famine published by the English Quaker James Hack Tuke. Daly chided the Friends for a "cautious attitude towards relief, an unwillingness to interfere with the social and economic order or to criticise the government." She concluded that because of its "undoubtedly conservative ideologies," the Dublin committee "rejected any proposed reform of land legislation — such as fixity of tenure — as a 'violation of the rights of property.'" She has missed the fact, probably from so narrow a selection of sources, and particularly as she did not consult the Quaker correspondence, that it was that same Jonathan Pirn of the Dublin committee whom she upbraids for being "conservative"9 who led the Quaker campaign for the Encumbered Estates Bill and sustained parliamentary pressure up until the passage of Gladstone's great 1881 act, which he is popularly believed to have drafted. As for criticism, both the Dublin and London committees steadily bombarded Russell with unassailable statistics throughout the Famine in an effort to change official policy, and they consciously rejected economic theory in their relief and rebuilding efforts. Tuke was himself one of the most innovative of the Friends working in Ireland. He devoted the rest of his life to bettering the life of the Irish peasant, particularly through the creation

io The Largest Amount of Good

of an emigration scheme that supplied the emigrants with tools and other necessities, received them at the end of their journey, and assisted in placing them in employment. Not first in the field in 1846 nor the largest group working in Ireland, the Friends, through their attitudes and the work they undertook, hold pride of place and an enduring love and respect accorded to few in Irish history. In his popular novel, Famine, Quakers are exempted from Liam O'Flaherty's devastating condemnation of the government's harsh economic policies, which are portrayed as punishment for the unrest and Repeal agitation of the ungrateful Irish. O'Flaherty indicted the government, ruthless landlords, and avaricious merchants who imported Indian corn because "there's a fortune in it"; but he described the Quaker relief workers as the ones who helped. His Quaker worker says, "We make no distinction in our work of mercy between the disloyal and faithful subjects of Her Majesty." Sectarian bitterness still blights much Irish life, but mention of the Quakers will bring a smile and the remark that "they fed us in the Famine."10 The coherent methodology the Quakers developed in Ireland became a model, however unwitting, for much of the relief work being done in this century. Developing resources and helping victims to help themselves without attempting to modify the religion or culture of the people being aided typifies modern Third World relief and development. Once committed to relief, Friends ultimately institutionalized their efforts under the Friends Service Council. For those outside the Society of Friends, the long catalogue of relief and development undertaken by them is probably the most outstanding characteristic of the Quakers. Few of those whose lives have been touched by Friends' work in the twentieth century will remember that Quakers were once a people standing apart from society, marked out by singular dress and speech. After nearly a century and a half, even the Quakers themselves may not remember that their relief methods are rooted in the great Irish famine. Their work raises a number of questions. Who were the Irish Quakers? Does their background explain their extraordinary effort? Although principally of English origin, their correspondence makes it clear that they identified themselves with Ireland. 11 They considered themselves "Irish" when the term was pejorative and usually meant Catholic Irish. Moreover, the work raises questions about the nature of Quakerism itself. Why were the Quakers who worked on the famine relief able to give their time and money to such an extraordinary degree? How could they apparently abandon their busi-

11 Introduction ness concerns literally for months, even years, on end to undertake the relief work? Subscription lists show columns of donations from Quakers in amounts from £500 to modest sums of a few pounds. In the context of average annual income for the period, a contribution of £25 could be a third of a man's yearly income.12 Because of the Quaker practice of breaking up a large donation among family members for the sake of modesty and so that the less affluent would not feel demeaned by comparison, several donations of £100 each might actually originate with the same person. Many Quakers were extraordinarily wealthy, but how wealthy were they? In cash alone the English and Irish Quakers gave £42,221, or over $1,055,600 in modern terms, to the general relief fund. This figure does not include individual contributions for specific purposes. Irish Friends kept a book of their "private subscriptions," which in 1847 showed receipts of £1,568 8s 3d, all of it paid out. 13 When in mid-1847 and again in 1848 the Quakers reached a low ebb, what direction did they then adopt? Did their experience thus far in the Irish famine influence the direction they took subsequently? Why were the Quakers, almost alone among those working philanthropically in the nineteenth century, able to conceptualize beyond the idea of the individual in dealing with endemic poverty, to define the limitations of philanthropy and the responsibility of the state? Why were they able to organize their work in pragmatic, practical terms when the British government seemed unable to do so, despite the vast amounts of evidence accumulated from individuals, officials, and a plethora of commissions and committees between 1800 and 1845? Why did the Quakers appear either to reject consciously or to have been unaffected by theoretical dogma, whether about philanthropy or economic practice? This last question suggests some dichotomy in Quaker thinking. As successful business men, Quakers should have been resolute supporters of laissez-faire practices, yet they deliberately abandoned those tenets in Ireland. Few hints appear in their writings beyond rare references to duty and stewardship. Given their idea of stewardship, why were they able to act outside the accepted concepts of economic practice when the money they were using was entrusted to their care? Conventional mid-nineteenth-century ideas about laissez-faire were something of a cloak of assumptions that tended to envelop independent thought. They involved a concept of the minimal state14 which fitted in with the prejudices and ambitions of the ruling classes. Minimal intervention would seem to have been ideal for Quaker purposes. Yet the Quakers consistently called for innovative state intervention in

12

The Largest Amount of Good

Ireland. Their profound discouragement in 1847-48 grew out of two things. First, they were aware of the limitations of philanthropy in disaster. Secondly, they recognized that Russell could not shed the strictures of received economic wisdom. He was incapable of conceptualizing beyond a narrow framework, despite the information presented to him by the lord lieutenant, other major figures concerned in the famine measures, and the Quakers themselves. Russell's government would not utilize the power of the state for innovative change, only implement the practices it knew. As the government was intransigent, Ireland's poverty seemed destined to go on forever, like the little girl's monster. Although they did not formally articulate it as a body of thought, the Quakers' correspondence and publications clearly reveal that they were working out a concept of state responsibility for the welfare of its citizens which justified a degree of state intervention. For the historian there is a genuine paradox in working on Quaker records. The daily record exists in their remarkable archives. Well educated, the Quakers were thoroughly experienced in solid business practice. Consequently, in keeping with their concept of stewardship, the material record was kept, but their records are both open and closed. Their correspondence and accounts are rich in the detail of investigation and relief organization, but they are closed in a number of ways. Minutes of committee meetings give only decisions not debate. We rarely know how they reached their decisions and seldom know the opinion of individuals. A few private letters comment on the neglect of the writer's business, but their published work gives no indication of how they were able to devote their time to relief. Moreover, the work was sustained by only a portion of the sect. While contributions from Friends poured in generously to the relief fund, there is paradoxically no mention whatever of the crisis or the intense labour that convulsed those undertaking the relief in many Quaker diaries, letters, documents, and Meeting records from the period. Throughout the famine years the Meetings for Sufferings carried on with their official projects. In America, for example, their principal concerns were abolition of slavery and education for native Indians. There is also the question of motive, beyond duty and humanitarian response to misery. Why did some members of this small and exclusive sect undertake so overwhelming a task? Their public entreaties for funds appeal to the claims of common humanity and Christian duty in the face of catastrophe, and there is clearly a strong undercurrent of frustration, even disgust, at the intransigence of

13 Introduction

Russell. On the scene the Quakers measured the degree of suffering at first hand and they knew irrefutably that their relief methods were working. Perhaps this knowledge afforded a degree of satisfaction, but were they also inspired by fear that an unrelieved Ireland would explode into violence? Two hundred years of Quaker history in Ireland were marked by suffering, abuse, and loss in Ireland's religious-political turmoil. There is no doubt that some leading Quakers were seriously concerned by the possibility of violence, even revolution. Insurrection did not seem an impossibility in 1848 when revolution spread like wildfire across Europe. As men of property and substance, business men, and manufacturers, Irish Quakers had a vested interest in Irish stability. Yet it becomes clear that this apprehension was far from their principal motivation. Quaker work in the Great Famine is the heart of this book, but that work did not spring full-fledged into being. Their conception of relief and philanthropy embodied many strands of Quaker experience: their idea of duty, their earlier, limited relief projects, their efforts over many years to better the condition of Ireland, and the directions the Quakers themselves had pursued. Concern to educate their own children, for example, extended into educational endeavours outside the sect. Consequently, while working to their limit to allay the Famine, nevertheless, they included practical education in their efforts. As leading figures in the anti-slavery movement, the Friends had learned how to raise and sustain public interest, how to pressure government until the abuse at hand could no longer be ignored. They used all that experience in trying to force Russell to deal with Ireland. Their work in the Great Famine was neither the full extent nor the end of Quaker relief in Ireland. Despite their disillusionment, the demands of brotherhood and conscience impelled the Friends to organize assistance again in the distress of 1860-63 and 1880-82 and in the conflicts of 1920-21. Beyond the necessary context, this work is not an examination of the many divergent threads in nineteenth-century British philanthropic and economic thought. Nor is it a history of the Great Famine, nor of Irish and English Quakerism. It is about what a portion of a small and exclusive sect did about their concern for the condition of Ireland. The Quakers' work in Ireland clearly reveals that members of the sect were able to conceptualize outside of entrenched mainstream ideas and, crucially, that they acted on their conclusions. Quaker confidence and conviction allowed them to challenge ideas which they showed to be invalid suppositions. They made a significant contribution to the development of modern relief policies and

14 The Largest Amount of Good

the concept of the state's responsibility for the welfare of its citizens. This work, therefore, explores the development of the Quakers' distinctive position in a narration of what they did, what they tried to do, and what they achieved in Ireland. It is a story that deserves to be told.

i From Conviction to Action

Established in England about 1647 by George Fox during the civil war, members of the Religious Society of Friends are commonly called Quakers, from their founder's admonition to quake before the word of the Lord.* One of many dissenting sects to arise in that tumultuous period, the Quakers are the only one to survive. Initially they provoked hostility from sectors of English society which feared the spread of insurgent ideas. Fox, an imposing figure and a notable orator, believed that evil should be vilified and was not loath to confront magistrates and officialdom in general with their wrongs. Calling themselves the "First Publishers of Truth" and bristling with all the fervour of the newly convinced, his followers hastened to spread the new gospel, kindling much antagonism and repression for their pains. A few of the first Quaker leaders appear to have been potentially radical, even hoping to sweep all England with their new faith. As explained by earlier Quaker historians, it was their religious convictions which brought them into conflict with authority, but undoubtedly some of those early "Children of the Light" also caused many a civil disturbance, for the pacifism and aloofness associated with Quakers came later. Zealous, enthusiastic, and initially not disciplined by the structure of the Quaker Meeting, early Quakerism and Quaker doctrine incited fear in both Puritans and the establishment. Quakers rejected an established state church, refused to swear any kind of oath, even of loyalty or allegiance, and stoutly proclaimed that the Puritans preached a false dogma, failing to practise what they preached.

16 The Largest Amount of Good

Friends believe that the essence of Christian faith is the "Inner Light," the presence of God in every person. Guided by scripture, inspired and given understanding by the Inner Light, Quakers rejected priests, liturgy, rites and sacraments, and the elitism of social rank. Quaker rejection of theoretical dogma paralleled a rejection of worship of the state, suggesting to those who were already uneasy about them that the Quakers would not recognize the authority of any secular government. Not in the least awed by "great men" or high position, Quakers had assurance and the courage of their convictions. Whether or not they were genuinely radical is a moot point, but there is no doubt that the Puritans considered them a serious challenge in the interregnum. In a period of great religious turmoil, extravagant contentions about the Inner Light were made by extremists, raising serious problems. Did the experience of the Inner Light, God's presence, mean that to follow its direction signified that one was free from sin? The issue taxed Fox and fuelled the Friends' enemies, who attacked them as antinomians and blasphemous Ranters.2 There was something about the Quakers' uncompromising confidence, their visible rejection of society, that made for disquiet. Eschewing ornament and ostentation, Friends adopted a distinctively plain dress and speech, referred to weekdays and months simply by number, used "thee" and "thou" as terms of address regardless of rank, and doffed their hats to no one, not even, after the Restoration, to King Charles himself. Their very individuality invited hostility. While Oliver Cromwell admired Fox personally, even Cromwell could not prevent the actions of extremists in a turbulent epoch. Consequently the sect suffered harsh persecution. In 1662 about 4,200 Friends were in "prisons of the vilest description." Sustaining imprisoned members, succouring their families, and especially caring for the children of abused Friends quickly became Quaker practice. In 1659 a petition was presented to Parliament, signed by 164 Quakers, offering to take the places of Friends held in prison. The Quakers used the letters of imprisoned Friends to strengthen the faith and endurance of the sect, circulating them for inspiration, but also using them as weapons to defend their cause and support their demands for reform. While largely spiritual testimonies, these letters and journals show the efforts made by the early Friends to care for their persecuted members. They also illuminate the equality of Quaker women missionaries, who suffered the same harrowing persecution, even martyrdom, as the men. From the historical perspective, these documents are valuable in disclosing the roots of Quaker methodology. As early as 1652—54, addressing Cromwell directly, the Friends recorded the inequalities, savagery,

17

From Conviction to Action

rampant corruption, and vice prevailing in jails. As God had given Cromwell responsibility, it was, they said, his duty to correct injustice. Presaging reform campaigns later undertaken by Elizabeth Fry, the Quakers recommended specific reforms, including gainful employment for prisoners, better food and treatment, and the separation of male and female prisoners. Fox himself was arrested at least eight times and spent six years in different prisons. Friends offered to be incarcerated in his place, and Cromwell is said to have asked his council, "Which of you would do as much for me?" Through his circulating letters and Epistles, Fox alerted Friends to the horrors of British jails. We are here under great persecution, betwixt thirteen and fourteenhundred in prison; an account of which hath been lately delivered to the King. Besides the great spoil and havoc which is made of our Friends goods, by informers; and besides the great spoil of about two-thirds of our estates ... for meeting to worship God, and we are kept out of our meetings in streets and highways and many places of the land, and beaten and abused. And therefore prize the liberty, both natural and spiritual, that you enjoy. And many are cast into prison because they cannot pay the Priests' tithes. So that at present we are under great sufferings, persecutions, and imprisonments; but the Lord's power is over all, and that supports His people.3

Fox's last letter was directed to the comfort and support of suffering Friends in Ireland. From exile at Breda, Charles II had declared that he desired religious tolerance, but his restoration in 1660 did not end persecution. Beginning the following year, a series of parliamentary measures known as the Clarendon Code reinforced the position of the Church of England as the state, or Established church. Nonconformists, or Dissenters, were barred from civil and political office, effectively entrenching a breach between them and the establishment which endured until 1828. For Friends the code was anathema. Convinced of the Inner Light, they opposed the imposition of a state church and refused to pay tithes, attend or be wed in the established church. They held their own meetings, weddings and funerals, refusing to be buried in the Church of England graveyard. So obdurate a stance was a visible challenge to authority. Not only did Quakers refuse to pay tithes, but they kept extremely exact and embarrassing records, which they hastened to present to king and Parliament, outlining unfair distraint of their goods in lieu of tithes; seizure, for example, of animals worth £28 for tithes of £1 58. In consequence, they endured great antagonism. Nevertheless, the infant Society survived

i8 The Largest Amount of Good

its birth, the perils of the Commonwealth, and the Stuart restoration. In the end the Friends themselves contained any penchant for radicalism within the sect, and Quaker doctrine proved to be too intellectually demanding for widespread popular appeal. Although Quakerism has no structural hierarchy, once past its birth pangs the young Society did require some organization. Friends met for worship on Sundays, and Fox early saw the need for discipline of the Meeting, lest the fervour of avid converts or individual interpretation of the Inner Light lead to excesses and false doctrine. Therefore in 1656 he recommended setting up Monthly Meetings throughout the country "to take care of God's glory and to admonish and exhort such as walked disorderly ... not according to Truth."4 Through supervision of doctrinal writings, and of travelling minister — those Friends who journeyed among Meetings to give their testimony - any propensity for radicalism was controlled. Potential division resulting from claiming the inspiration of the Inner Light was subdued by insisting that the Light must be experienced within the religious community and must be subjected to the "sense of the Meeting." Under the influence of Margaret Fell, the wife of a judge and a woman distinguished in her own right, Monthly Meeting in each area became the structure which undertook the business of the Society, the consistent Quaker practice of caring for persecuted Friends and their families, and the needs of travelling ministers. Fell is accorded the title "Mother of Quakerism" for her courage and organizing skills. Judge Fell had not become a Friend, but Margaret Fell and many of her household were convinced of Quaker teaching. Swarthmoor Hall, her home near Ulverston, became a haven and meeting place for early Friends. It was to Swarthmoor that the ministers returned to recover when they had been imprisoned. Quaker meetings were held in the large hall of the house from 1652 until 1690, when the Swarthmoor Meeting House was built. After her husband's death, Margaret married George Fox.5 As early as 1654 Margaret Fell had begun the collection and distribution of money for such necessities as the heavy fines imposed on Quakers, maintenance of the families of imprisoned Friends, and care of travelling ministers. A paid clergy was an execration in Quaker eyes, but those Friends who were judged to be particularly blessed in grace travelled among the Meetings to share their testimony, and in Quaker parlance were called ministers. From these first business meetings came the Meeting for Sufferings, which would evolve from its original purpose of dealing in an organized way with the needs of the persecuted into what might be called the

ig From Conviction to Action

executive standing committee of Quakerism. It handled matters as they arose, undertaking the direction of such relief issues outside the sect as assistance to the persecuted and the great social concerns, such as the abolition of slavery, upon which the Society was agreed. Despite insecurity and turmoil, the Quakers gradually established a formal structure of meetings and finances. Regional meetings were soon followed by the first annual meeting in 1660. Yearly Meeting became both the annual "parliament" which all members may attend and an autonomous division comprising the Monthly and Preparative Meetings in a large geographical area. Thus there are London and Dublin Yearly Meetings and, in America, New York, Philadelphia, and Ohio Yearly Meetings, among others. The direction the Society will take is debated at Yearly Meeting, which sets policy. No vote is taken; all abide by the final decision. Yearly Meetings soon began to circulate epistles of advice and encouragement printed by Quaker presses. Secular benefits flowed from the structure of the Society and its Meetings, for Friends met constantly both through visitation of local Meetings and at regional and national meetings. In the development of the great Quaker businesses the connections were vital, for the Friends were constantly able to discuss new processes and methods and the progress of their interests. The frequent meetings served rather like an association of manufacturers, as well as providing an essential venue for young Quakers to meet, for the sect maintained endogamous marriage.6 It was in the difficult early years that Quakerism revealed an outstanding and enduring characteristic: pacifism. If the Inner Light, God's presence, exists in all people, then aggression towards another may not be countenanced. Whether or not pacifism was originally adopted simply to survive, the depth of Friends' conviction cannot be doubted.7 Quakers have staunchly maintained their stance in the face of great physical abuse and vilification and have borne much for the sake of pacifism. Fox lived to see the Society gain freedom of worship and the right to make an affirmation instead of an oath, which Quakers resolutely refused to swear. Outright religious persecution ended in 1689 with the settlement accorded by the Bill of Indulgence (Toleration Act), but as Dissenters from the Church of England, Quakers remained barred from public office until the final disabilities were lifted by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in 1828. In Ireland, however, tolerance did not prevail, and the Quakers fared much more harshly. Their travails endured until the Union of 1800. Their pacifism irked both the Catholics and the Protestant Dissenters, since

20 The Largest Amount of Good

Quakers would side with neither. Nevertheless, the Society gradually established itself as a distinctive element in British life, respected, albeit sometimes grudgingly for its peculiar foibles. After some initial hostility at their rejection of the time-honoured custom of haggling, the Quaker practise of setting a fair price for their goods and refusing to bargain eventually gained them great esteem, as did their steadfast courage and unwavering rectitude. Stature was added to the sect with the conversion of people of considerable rank in society. Prestige accrued to the Friends when William Penn became a Quaker. Penn was the scion of a substantial family. His father, Admiral Sir William Penn, had been a commander in the Royal and parliamentary navies. Well educated and widely travelled, William Penn was a friend of James, Duke of York, later James II. Penn held large estates in Ireland and through his influence with the government and with King James was able to gain some amelioration of Friends' persecution there. It was at Cork in 1667, through the preaching of the Irish Friend Thomas Loe, that Penn had been convinced of the truth of Quaker doctrine. Penn's successful founding of Pennsylvania in 1682 further validated the now established position of Quakerism. Adhering to the code of non-violence, the Pennsylvania Quakers went out unarmed to make treaties with the Indians, treaties which the Quakers consistently respected. As the infant colony flourished, credence was given both to Quakerism and the doctrinal position of non-violence. Barred as Dissenters from public office in Great Britain, Quakers put their energies into commerce and the professions, including medicine and science. Many great names which are still household words for a particular product or process were Quaker or had Quaker connections, such as Lister, who developed the practice of antisepsis in surgery, and Wedgwood in the production of porcelain china. In banking and finance, Barclay, Gurney, and PriceWaterhouse became great names, as did Lloyds in insurance. Distinguished names in chemistry, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, soap and metallurgy, textiles, and shipping, were Quaker. Lever Brothers, giant of the soap industry, was built on a Quaker company. Disapproving of stimulants, some Quakers did not drink tea or coffee, but they accepted chocolate. The great names in British chocolate production, Fry, Cadbury, and Rowntree, were all Quaker, as were two of the great names in biscuit manufacturing: Jacob, and Huntley and Palmer. Irish Quakers took up linen and cotton manufacture, milling, shipping, and the importing of tea and coffee. It would scarcely be an exaggeration to say that the industrial revolution rested on Quaker shoulders, as it was Friend Abraham

21

From Conviction to Action

Darby who solved the problems of declining charcoal resources by smelting iron with coke in 1707, and developed the process of casting iron in sand moulds. A great metallurgist as well as a manufacturer, Darby produced a range of new processes for the iron and steel industry. His company made cast iron pans and pots for the inexhaustible domestic market, but he was not the only Quaker ironmaster, for they dominated the trade. Significantly, in keeping with their principles, the Quaker ironmasters refused to produce armaments, and some of them refused to take out patents on their discoveries, believing that all should share benefits. Darby's son introduced the first steam engine used in the iron industry in 1744 and pioneered the use of iron rails on which were run the horse-drawn tubs and wagons that transported materials and finished products from foundry to canal. Wooden railways had been used around coal mines since the seventeenth century, but they were fragile and could carry only light weights. Darby designed and produced iron rails of much greater strength and endurance, which ultimately would take the great weight of an engine and facilitate the leap to steam-drawn transport once a reliable locomotive was developed. It is no coincidence that the first railroads attracted Quaker investment. Indeed, the first two lines, which were built by George Stephenson — the Stockton and Darlington of 1825 anv. fur that octive and self-denying co-operation in the distressed districts on which we hod formerly relied, and without which-we could not work usefully. In shoJt, that our plan of acting was no longer practicable alongside of the Poor Law, and that the relief of destitution ou any extended scale must in future bo trusted to those arrangements which the Imperial Parliament has provided for that purpose. Seeing that the difficulty was so far beyond the reach of private exertion, and that the only machinery which it was practicable to etnply was: that under the control of the public authorities, and beUeuing that the government alone could raise the funds, or carry out the measures necessary in many districts to save the lives of tke people, we feared, that if we ventured to undertake a work for which our resources were so inadequate, we might through our incompctency, injure the causa of those whom we desired to serve. Under these circumstances, we arc not now jn a position to undertake the distribution of charitable relief, and we are truly sorry that it is therefore nut of our power to offer ourselves as the distributors of Lord John Russell's bounty to our suffering fellow-countrymen. Trusting thou wilt excuse this long explanation of our views,

(Signed)

JONATHAN Pm.

Last page of galley proof of Pirn's letter to Sir Charles Trevelyan on behalf of the CRC, 3 Sixth Month [June] 1849, refusing Russell's offer of £100 if the CRC would undertake a new relief campaign and placing responsibility for relief on the government. Corrected in Pirn's hand.

7 Feeding the Hungry and Clothing the Naked We consider ourselves bound also to keep in view the object, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked prescribed to us in the minute of our joint conference ... the value of which objects are in no wise lessened in our view since that period.1

After a month of operation, assessing need and organizing the distribution of relief, the Friends' Central Relief Committee in Dublin took stock. The London Committee was advised on 22 February 1847 that the CRC had spent £2,000 on food supplies, delivering much of them to the south and west. Boilers had been purchased, some had been installed, others awaited conveyance. On his journey through the midlands and west, W.F. Forster had set up a network of correspondents among individuals and local relief committees. About 160 applications for assistance had come in, and another 100 in response to circulars sent out to 150 districts inquiring about local conditions. Grants of £1,550 had already been made, and Forster had also given out £500 in small grants of about £10 to £20. Realizing that it was pledged to a "very considerable" outlay in funds the CRC girded itself for a task which obviously would be of overwhelming magnitude. Fortunately the subcommittees were functioning and a considerable portion of the investigation and administration of relief in their districts could be delegated to them. Indeed, the CRC had little choice but to delegate some of the load, for already it was simply too heavy for the members. The Cork Committee had already distributed £800 in that county. Similar arrangements were underway with the Friends auxiliary committees in Waterford, Limerick, and Clonmel to deal with the work in Munster and a few small contiguous areas of Leinster and Connaught. But one month's work had made it clear that this was no regional crop failure and that a more substantial structure was going to be required. To that end,

128 The Largest Amount of Good

the CRC was revised. Membership was increased to twelve members, of whom four were named to deal with the three remaining provinces. The London committee had the CRC'S report printed for circulation as the most current and accurate information available, and a copy is pasted into the CRC minute book. The minute book reveals that the Friends had already begun to pressure the government to change its policies. The CRC'S letter to the London Committee is recorded in the book together with a report of an interview that day, 22 January 1847, which W.E. Forster and Josiah Forster had with Russell. The prime minister was advised in detail of the conditions in the midlands and west Ireland, which Forster and his father had seen and documented so carefully on their tour. Russell was firmly pressed to implement adequate relief measures. London's interest in the interview was also first hand since the grants W.F. Forster had made on his journey came from the initial funds gathered by the London committee.2 With relief supplies purchased and distribution of bulk cargoes underway to the principal ports where Quaker subcommittees, other relief committees and individual agents could take charge, the CRC turned to how best to forward the foodstuffs to the west. In April Joseph Bewley took up with Trevelyan the matter of storing the CRC'S cargoes with the Commissariat, which, with Peel gone, was again under the direction of the Treasury. An arrangement was made with the government whereby the cargoes arriving at Irish ports would be accepted by the Commissariat, which would credit the CRC with their value. The CRC could draw on that credit at any of the Commissariat depots. This was useful in areas where there was only sea transport, or difficulties in organizing a relief committee, but it was not an ideal solution, for two reasons. Prices were rising, and Trevelyan demanded that the cargoes be valued at current market price. Moreover, the Commissariat stores were principally of corn and cornmeal. Foods beginning to pour in from America were much more varied, and the CRC was anxious to get them into the relief being distributed, along with more rice. Even at this stage it was recognized that famine fevers took a less inexorable toll where the diet, however meagre, had some substance. The CRC printed Trevelyan's letter of instruction without comment. "The Committee of Friends, or other consignees of the American charitable supplies, to be credited by us with the value of the supplies, at the current market price of the port at which the transfer takes place."3 Printing without editorializing became a stock Quaker ploy in the Famine, whenever Friends were up against Trevelyan's intransigence or Russell's soon-to-be-familiar tactic of giving a hearing but making no

129 Feeding the Hungry

changes. In effect, the Friends allowed laissez-faire to damn itself as policy for a catastrophe. Working with Friends in Liverpool, the London Committee purchased 294 tons of supplies from the initial contributions and was anxious to get them to the west Ireland ports. Consequently the Quakers approached the Admiralty, presenting their case for transport. The Admiralty released first the steamer Albert and later the steam sloop Scourge to the committee. Albert was chartered at public expense, and the Admiralty loaned Scourge. Friend George Hancock went aboard Albert as supercargo to supervise the distribution of supplies. On Scourge Edmund Richards undertook the same duties. The Albert carried 140 tons of peas, biscuit, cornmeal, rice, beef, Scotch barley, some of the Coalbrookdale boilers, and packages of clothing to Dunfanaghy, Arranmore, Killybegs, Ballina, and Killala. Albert was a small ship and could not carry the full cargo prepared for the west. Accordingly, when the Admiralty released Scourge, it carried 154 tons of similar supplies to Dunfanaghy, Ballina, Killala, Belmullet, Newport, and Clifden. These two cargoes, with the provisions already sent by the CRC, exceeded £11,000 in cost, including the shipping of the cargoes already sent from Dublin. No commissions were charged by the agents. Hancock's reports to the CRC confirmed earlier ones from the Friends' travelling agents. In Donegal the wild weather had made fishing impossible. Only the government depot had any food supplies, but it sold cornmeal at £15 a ton. Barely one-third of the people had work, at gd per day. More alarming even than the present desperate conditions, Hancock thought, was the fact that the poor had no means of sowing any crop. Albert put in to the Aran Islands off Galway Bay, a desolate and isolated area that concerned the CRC. With Achill and Clare Islands, which lie further north, and North Arran Island off Donegal, these were probably the most neglected parts in those windswept, barren, forsaken counties. Letters coming in begging for assistance as well as the reports from their investigators alerted the CRC to the harrowing conditions there.4 Albert delivered supplies to the coastguard officer on Aran, the only person in the entire district capable of dispensing relief, who told Hancock that a plough once brought to the island was a great curiosity, "the only one ever seen in the whole parish." In Killybegs, Hancock went to see the people working on a road, including women and children; only 1,500 were employed out of a population of 10,000 in the parish. The sight of those poor creatures trying to use blasting powder and struggling to cut up once cultivated land greatly distressed Hancock. He recognized that they were not working on their own plots,

130 The Largest Amount of Good

and thus no crop was being prepared for the year ahead. Terrible conditions, "painful to see," said Hancock, shocked the steamer crew severely. He thought it impossible that any area could be in a more distressed and wretched state, but the coastguard officer told him that County Mayo was even more neglected. Despite the misery all around, Hancock wrote that the cargoes were unloaded and delivered without any pilfering. The starving stood and watched but made no move to seize the food. In this remote area, it was the coastguard officers who acted as agents for the CRC, because there was simply no one else who could deal with the distribution. Famine fever was so entrenched on North Arran, a mainland magistrate warned Hancock, that it would be very dangerous to go ashore and move among the people. Hancock had himself rowed out and found about 200 people in the last stages of starvation, most of whom had left family in their cabins too sick from fever to come for relief.5 Getting food into the west was not the only difficulty. Scourge put in at Belmullet in County Mayo, a district Forster had found desperately deficient in resources. Supercargo Richards went ashore to follow up the visit of the Albert, which had landed two soup boilers on the rocky shore. He found the boilers still on the rocks, no one capable of setting them up and virtually nothing to put in them had they been functioning. "The fearful state of starvation and desitution of the barony of Erris is such as no language can pourtray [sic]," wrote Richards. One soup kitchen was working but supplied "a very inferior article of soup." What passed for a relief committee in the district could not function, as the work fell on the vicar and the parish priest, who could not or would not, get along. No relief had been given gratuitously although there were "multitudes of destitute." Said Richards, "These things want much to be looked into and stirred up." Belmullet's relief committee remained a scandal. Richards looked into the statistics, finding a population of 30,000 "of whom 18,000 have no means of subsistence."6 When Friend Richard Webb arrived there in May amidst wretchedness beyond his powers of description, he was told, Everyone is against the Belmullet Relief Committee. Everyone tells me that they do no good, they are so busy quarrelling among themselves that they have no time to help the poor. - the Rector wishes to have it all his own wa and he dont like the curate to meddle and he wont have the priest share the patronage — the priest will not be browbeaten by the rector nor the coast guard officer by either, and so it goes round whilst hundreds and thousands are starving.7

131 Feeding the Hungry

Finding adequate agents to deal with supplies remained a problem and occupied the CRC throughout the year. Webb continued, "The difficulty with [relief] Committees seems not to be so much any dishonesty of the individuals as their love of patronage and power which is affronted and annoyed when they are associated with others but the fact is there are extremely few to do anything, and the few must be made use of if anything is to be done." Webb estimated that all the CRC'S stock of relief supplies in the area would not be enough "to give the people of Erris a good meal for a single day." As for the government's new relief act, Webb summed up its effectiveness succinctly. "The machinery is too complicated and the wheels are not to be found in this place."8 Compounding the difficulties, the CRC was profoundly concerned by the reports from all its agents that little tillage was underway for the new crop. Too destitute to buy seed, the people were, in any event, too weakened to cultivate their plots. Those who could work and had the opportunity were labouring on the public works for subsistence. Nor was fuel being prepared for the coming winter. Many landlords were unable to help their tenants, and with rents uncollected for a second year, even landlords anxious to sow a crop were in difficulty. Evictions were increasing as others took advantage of the situation to clear the unproductive very small farmers and cottiers from their land. Friend Harvey of the Limerick Committee expressed his views in strong terms, which nevertheless, reflected much of the information coming in to the CRC. "In the County of Clare a great breadth of land remains still uncultivated — and on small farms in this Co. Limerick the same may be said. I do not hear of many Landlords providing or offering to provide seed for their Tenants — such cases I think will form the exception — in general I imagine they will await the test of the new outdoor relief ... The landlords in general talk more of their wish to benefit the farmer than put it in practice." Harvey discussed his worries about the failure to secure peat for the winter. "Many a poor man could have been usefully & I might almost say not unprofitably employed last summer & this in cutting Turf on the bogs ... turf cutting was neglected last year in the Public works — it will be nearly abandoned this year - unless those who labour get subsistence money ... The price of Fuel was high all this winter & Rich and poor felt it - but it will I fear be still higher next winter." Harvey suggested that peat cutting might be undertaken with government loans. That solution would not answer the problem entirely because government loans had to be secured and many landlords were too mortgaged to offer a guarantee.

132 The Largest Amount of Good

"Any landlord that had the money could do it [employ tenants to cut peat], easily, & sell the Turf by auction in Oct. — any who had not, & would give security could ... borrow from Govt — it is a subject of much importance to town and country."9 To support its public statements, accurate information remained vital, and the CRC continued to gather as much as possible. Those administering relief, whether individuals or committees, who applied to the CRC for a grant were sent statistical questionnaires to complete, and except that need was to be the one criterion for relief, the only condition made for the grant was that the returns be sent back. Furthermore, the inspection and fact-finding journeys of Friends continued. William Bennett set out at the beginning of March 1847 to examine the state and prospects of agriculture and to distribute seed for crops other than potatoes. In March 1847 Jonathan Pim and James Perry journeyed to Connaught to inspect the soup kitchens. Those operating in the city of Galway were working well, and the various relief organizations were functioning together. But this was not the case in the countryside, and people coming into the city were found dying in the streets. By spring 1847 ^ was obvious to all that the Russell government's public works scheme had failed. The government decided that relief must be accomplished through the union poor houses. At once, the government-funded public works projects were reduced by twenty per cent in preparation for the implementation of the new policy, which would throw the entire official relief program on to the Irish Poor Law. Overwhelming apprehension followed the announcement, and the CRC was profoundly disturbed. The Quakers understood that the famine was no ordinary event. It was a catastrophe to which the government was responding with ill-thought-out measures, unsuited to the conditions in Ireland. Pim and Perry recommended that the CRC issue another circular at once, indicating that its relief was directed at helping to sustain the population "in the emergency." It could not be expected that the Friends could continue their work at the present level. That level was very substantial indeed. The CRC minute books for spring and summer 1847 show weekly expenditures averaging around £3,000, with two weeks when £7,000 each were distributed.10 Issuing another circular would put pressure on both government and the landholders who would have to strike the district poor rate and then pay it. While it was fashionable in England to blame much on that convenient whipping boy, "the landlords," and the Quakers acknowledged that some were not acting for their tenants, the Friends also had statistics to show that there were many in the most distressed districts who could

133 Feeding the Hungry

not pay the poor rate. Some had literally beggared themselves in the emergency, and others were trying to do as much as could possibly be done for their own tenants. Where there was no food in the district and none to purchase, striking a rate was not ineluctably the solution for the immediate emergency. In the meantime, said Pirn and Perry, conditions in Connaught were such that "we should be glad to see £10,000 distributed in money or value during the coming fortnight." As they continued on, the conditions they saw everywhere convinced them that the rents available would be unable to support an adequate rate. They were equally upset to see the near total absence of cultivation, with dismal portents for the coming season. At Clifden, as distressed as anything at Skibbereen, they met with the revised relief committee organized to deal with the government's new regulations. Recognizing that the union could not possibly raise sufficient funds to sustain the district, Pim and Perry offered to supply meal to one-quarter of what was needed, on condition that the government match the grant. This would leave the union to raise only half the cost. Having had experience with Trevelyan, Pim and Perry were not very sanguine about success and observed that the CRC would likely have to make good the deficiency. From the extreme poverty they saw around them, Pim and Perry doubted that the district could even raise its half.11 Their stratagem is a particularly interesting example of Quaker acuity. Throughout the century they had volubly deplored the government insistence that all Irish loans had to be guaranteed. In the emergency, they took the opportunity to turn the tables on the government to demonstrate incontrovertibly how unsuited this policy was to Irish conditions. At Newport they met Count Strzelecki,12 who was the agent of the British Relief Association, and discussed his assessment of County Mayo. In the end Pim and Perry agreed to make the same grants to the Newport union as they had at Clifden. Their grant of £200 for a population of 80,000 was meagre, they admitted, and in addition they feared that the untried local committee which would be formed under the new regulations would not function quickly or well. Furthermore, the landholders who would have to find the money to pay the rates would not be eager to proceed with all dispatch, especially since they would be able to blame the government for misfortune. Pim and Perry also recognized that relief by the government's notorious "unreproductive" public works was keeping a starving population from sowing a new crop. For that reason they thought the works schemes should end or be amended, but they could not see any benefit from throwing the relief on the overburdened unions, fearing that many more deaths would result.

134 The Largest Amount of Good

Some idea of the true nature of the need becomes apparent when reading the carefully calculated assessments made by these two seasoned workers. Pirn's experience was unique, for in addition to this investigation, he had made an earlier journey with Forster. As CoSecretary, he had himself read each letter applying for a relief grant from the CRC, and had noted the disposition on each and initialled it. Pirn and Perry reviewed the population of the poor law unions in Connaught, West Munster, and West Ulster, estimating how much could be raised locally. If their offer of a start-up grant of onequarter for the new committees was accepted, even "supposing that the Government would double our grant," the CRC would still be trying to help support four million persons with its share, £10,000. If the CRC did undertake so vast a grant, however, Pirn and Perry believed that "the expenditure will be among the most valuable that we have made."13 They recommended that a questionnaire be circulated at once to union inspectors, and enclosed a suggested draft. In the end, however, the project was dropped. As superintendent of the government's relief commission, Sir John Burgoyne, who was actually an army general seconded to the government from his duties as inspector of fortifications in Ireland, could not make the recommendations for the government share, because of the new policy of relief through the union poor-house. The CRC did not have sufficient funds to go it alone.14 In May Richard Webb set out at the CRC'S request to inspect the district of Erris, County Mayo, which he described as "inhabited by as wretched a class of human beings as could probably be found on the face of the earth ... Whole families are exterminated by dysentery, fever, and starvation, and this catastrophe has become so common ... that it excites no notice ... Such wretchedness, starvation, filth and degradation I never saw before ... Nowhere else did I see anything so bad as here."15 Webb remarked on the absence of robbery, looting, or violence on land by the starving, although he heard that a provision vessel arriving on the coast was plundered. At Rossport, a relief ship lying offshore was looted of thirty sacks of Indian corn by thirty-four men using coracles. Subsequently they were captured by the coastguard. Webb saw them in prison at Belmullet and observed that, with two exceptions, the men were well fed and well clothed.16 His "strict inquiries" satisfied Webb that the lives of thousands had been saved by the CRC grants. But, he added, it was much easier to be a donor than a distributor of relief. It was the "zeal and devotedness" of the workers "in the midst of a starving and mendicant population" that were keeping the wretched thousands alive, but those undertaking the relief were in great danger from

135 Feeding the Hungry

pestilence. "There was no collection of houses ... no villages scattered over the country, in which fever was not prevalent." Webb also found that some of the coastguard, who had government meal, were going beyond their orders in the quantity they put in the boilers,"so desperate was the starvation."These officers were volunteers, taking time outside their duties to undertake the relief and working from four in the morning until late at night. The situation was made much worse by the topography of the barony, for the"miserable villages"were cut off by sea and bogs from the few resources in the district. It was a barren, windswept, treeless waste, which yet sheltered many thousands of peasants. Webb doubted that the inhabitants had ever seen a tree taller than a bush the height of a garden wall. He discussed the prospects of the area with R.R. Savage, coastguard officer at Achill Sound, who acted for the CRC. Savage told Webb that when his eight-year-old daughter first saw trees, she was terrified that they would fall on her as they waved over her head.17 In September Friend William Todhunter undertook to examine the relief distribution in Galway. He found that three cargoes had arrived from America in good condition, but lack of an organized, capable relief administration had been detrimental. I regret to say that the storing of these 3 cargoes could not have been managed more carelessly than it has been, everything in confusion & no person at all capable of stating where the exact quantities of each particular description of articles by the several vessels was stored tho' I expect the cargoes are entirely separate — I spent the whole of yesterday sorting and arranging yet in the evening matters were not in a fit state ... & I was really ashamed of shewing such supplies in the state they were.18

Setbacks there were aplenty, but there was evidence that the cue's work was having effect. At Clifden in County Galway, an area that had reduced W.E. Forster to underlines and exclamation points and Pirn to gloomy comparisons with Skibbereen, Edmund Richards, Quaker supercargo on Scourge, found that the relief committees were functioning efficiently, but the distress was beyond the available resources. Here too the population was too weak to undertake crop preparation. Richards reported all resources nearly expended and a population sinking into fatal apathy. There was "scarcely any seed to sow the land. The people are heartless and depressed, and in many instances lie down and die by whole families."19 Yet another problem was that almost every type of food arriving at the Quaker depots was unknown in the diet of most of the people

136 The Largest Amount of Good

they would be relieving. In the best of times, most of the rural population would not know how to cook the food and quite likely would not have had the utensils needed. This phenomenon was commented upon by a remarkable figure, the redoubtable Asenath Nicholson. She was an American woman who at one time had run a vegetarian boarding-house in New York. In 1844 and 1845 Nicholson had travelled throughout Ireland by herself "for the purposes of investigating the condition of the Poor."20 Unattended and unafraid, she went off into the wild isolation of the west, staying with the peasants in their pitiful cabins, to conduct her investigation. In 1847 at the height of the Famine, she returned as the field agent of the New York Irish Relief Society. Full of blunt, outspoken Yankee common sense, Nicholson was not a ranter, and did not approach her task from a "missionary" frame, as did some of the relief officers of the evangelically based agencies. Nicholson described how the poor attempted to deal with relief supplies. They had no idea of what to do with the food to make it digestible, and they had no salt. "The poor complained that it made them sick: they were accused of being ungrateful. The effect was increased by giving it out uncooked, for the starving had no fuel and they could not keep up fire to stew it, and many of them ate it raw." Ever blunt, she stated, "There are some kind slaveholders in the United States, and some kind landlords in Ireland, but in too many cases both are synonymous terms as far as power may be equal."21 Flint cornmeal Nicholson labelled a "frightful formidable," and assailed the stupidity of printing recipes that were "incomprehensible as well as impossible." The destitute had neither the experience nor the equipment to deal with the methods and the starving certainly had no "suet, fats, sweets and spices." Most of the peasants could not have read the recipes anyway. She described how the starving attempted to eat the famishing dogs, which in turn had gnawed at the skeletal corpses. This account does not appear to be an exaggeration. Similar stories appear in the descriptions of Skibbereen, where dogs were seen carrying the skulls of corpses in their jaws. The Freeman's Journal also reported instances of the abandoned dogs eating corpses on 11 and 19 February 1848. Nicholson described seeing at Achill the body of a girl lying in a hole in a bank being eaten by starving dogs.22 She cooked relief supplies herself in the peasants' cabins, showing them how to deal with the foods, and she paid the rent for others, "for turning out in the street was the consequence."23 At the height of famine, even the means to use the foods were gone: pawned to raise cash to buy food, lost in the increasing evictions, or unavailable for want of money to buy peat for firing. As the

137 Feeding the Hungry

Friends discovered from their travellers' reports, many in the west had no right of cutting peat in the turbary areas and those who were evicted were also without fuel. Countless numbers of the letters and reports sent to the CRC tell of the starving trying to eat raw corn, cornmeal, and rice, and of the almost equally debilitating effects of eating these foods improperly cooked. Flint cornmeal could not be simply boiled, as the peasant would cook potatoes, put in a pan with water and boiled. The cornmeal had to be soaked overnight and then boiled for some hours the next day. Moreover, the nature of the water in Ireland requires that soda be added when soaking cornmeal or dried legumes, otherwise they will not soften at all. Irish peasants know the uses of soda — witness their famous soda bread — but any extra commodity was unlikely to be at hand in a famine. Rice, salt beef, arrowroot, biscuit, and the dried peas and beans coming from America were unknown foods in the peasant diet. In the circumstances the Quakers turned to their well-tried standby for distress — the soup kitchen. Their Cork Committee had opened a soup kitchen even before the CRC itself was formed. More soup shops, as the CRC called them, should be launched with all dispatch. On 23 January 1847 a Quaker soup kitchen was opened on Charles Street in Dublin. It served the dual purpose of feeding the multitudes of starving who daily poured into the city from the countryside and providing a model for those to be set up elsewhere.24 Using the Charles Street shop as a paradigm was a deliberate action on the CRC'S part, in order to introduce this method of relief and to familiarize prospective operatives with the details of efficient management. The soup, or "stirabout" as the Irish called it, was a thick stew, sold at a penny a quart, or a penny and a half with bread or a mealcake. Benevolent persons could purchase tickets for the stew at that price to be distributed to the destitute. Ultimately, much of the food was given gratuitously, as it was obvious that the starving were completely without resources. This was especially true outside of Dublin, and it increased as the months went by. Destitution spread upwards from the cottiers to the small farmers and artisans. The need for gratuitous relief then increased in the cities, as the starving and evicted poured into the towns in barren hope of finding work or passage out of Ireland. As early as January 1847, Jonathan Pirn commented on the hordes of people crowding into eastern towns and passing over into England in great numbers or leaving for America. "Emigration will be on a scale never before known ... the country will be left to the landlords and paupers. What between emigration ... disease 8c starvation, our numerous population will indeed be thinned. a s

138 The Largest Amount of Good

Rural depopulation was a marked feature of the Famine years. William Bennett also commented on the flood pouring into Dublin as he left on an inspection tour of the west in March 1847. "Left Dublin by coach on 12th and saw corpses lying along the road, and multitudes of emigrants on foot with bundles on their back, proceeding to Dublin, abandoning a country which should have nourished them and their children. We met several thousand in the course of the morning only, and the guard assured me it was the same every day."26 Between 1,000 and 1,500 quarts of stew were dispensed daily at the Charles Street shop from three aoo-gallon vats and one 8o-gallon kettle. In six months the shop sold 54,880 quarts and gave out 48,357 quarts by gratuitous ticket, in addition to 5,975 loaves of bread. Not a thing was wasted; 6s 6d was recovered from the sale of empty rice bags.27 A less obvious advantage of the Quaker soup shop was that the Quaker foods were distributed in the barrels in which the provisions arrived. Asanath Nicholson reported, "The government sent sacks to Ireland, which sold at a half crown each, the meal taken from barrels and deposited in them, which answered two purposes, it made sale of thousands of sacks at a tolerable profit, and was an effectual method of heating the meal which soon gathered dampness thus became mouldy and wholly unfit for use. The hungry in some cases took it gladly, the consequences in many instances fatal." Never one to mince words, Nicholson believed that having paid the freight, the government thought it had a "right to use a little dictation in the arrangements, in order to secure partial remuneration."28 The Quakers kept an eagle eye on the quality and handling of their supplies. American Friends required that the corn shipped be kiln-dried to circumvent its disposition to damp, which caused spoilage and promoted spontaneous combustion. Nicholson later reported on the black bread used in the union houses, which "appeared to have been made from continental flour stored 29 years, and for it, a man must give up all he had." The smell of the bread was so bad she could not remain at the other end of a long room with the door open. She sent some of it off "to the London Committee [the BRA] with a letter, but it was never received." In her decided opinion, under the Poor Law, the destitute Irish "are prisoners under a different name."29 Quantities of rice were purchased by Joseph Crosfield in Liverpool30 at the outset of the relief effort, and the CRC mixed it with cornmeal. As Forster's reports of widespread famine diseases and dysentery came in, the CRC made a special effort to make rice avail-

139 Feeding the Hungry

able to the relief committees. By 8 February 1847, the CRC had prepared a six page circular on the use of rice, including four pages of simple ways to prepare and cook it, a description of the various kinds of rice including Indian and American, and how to deal with it in bulk. The soup kitchens were recommended to use rice as amply as possible, but users were warned that diseased and spoiled rice was also circulating. How to recognize the diseased grain was outlined in detail, necessary information in a land where rice was little used. Other recipes were circulated from time to time, particularly those that used rice in combination with meal.31 Whether for rice or cornmeal, the Quaker recipes were distinctive in their congruence with the resources of the people who would be using the food. Unlike other recipes published in the newspapers at that time, they did not rely on eggs, milk, suet, spices, and sweeteners such as treacle. The Quakers were concerned with adequate softening of the meal, grain, or legumes by presoaking and sufficient cooking. As the scientific understanding of nutrition hardly existed, the Quakers could not have known just why fats are necessary in the diet, and salt in famine, but users were urged to add dripping and salt if possible for nourishment, not simply to make a bland concoction palatable. Requests for boilers and supplies rained down on the CRC offices. Typical was one signed by two justices of the peace from the Lack electoral district, County Fermanagh. Lack was "one of the very poorest in the Union ... situated in a Mountainous District and with a dense pauper population wholly unable to provide for its present destitution ... fever and dysentery are raging."32 Literally thousands of letters survive in the CRC famine papers, tied neatly in bundles with faded red string. Each letter was numbered, read by Pim, the instructions to the clerks for response written across the top, and initialled. In varying degrees of descriptive force and literacy, the misery contained in those letters still has power to stir the reader despite the passage of nearly a century and a half. In the midst of such desolation, the impact of so much misery must have been overwhelming, and indeed Pim nearly collapsed at one point. In spring 1847, after Russell decided that relief must be accomplished through the union poor-houses, the government acknowledged that it would take time to close the works projects and bring the new system into operation. To bridge the gap, Russell brought in what was popularly called the "Soup Kitchen Act."33 Originally the government was opposed to issuing cooked food, because Trevelyan believed the theory that it would make the poor reliant upon relief. Sir Randolph Routh, who supervised the Commissariat for Peel, ini-

140 The Largest Amount of Good

dally had asserted that the destitute should be taught to prepare their own food from government supplies, but he soon recognized that so cumbersome a system could not work with so many homeless, without resources or helpless with fever. Finally the government was forced to admit the success of the Quaker soup shops, and undertook to set up its own kitchens.34 Much English enthusiasm greeted the news that the government was sending the renowned Alexis Soyer, chef of the Reform Club, and earlier of the Prince Regent, to Dublin to supervise. Newspapers rejoiced when London society poured out en masse to attend public tastings of the proposed relief soup and bestowed its approbation on Soyer's recipes. London society also approved of Soyer's economy, as 100 gallons of his concoction could be made for under £1, including fuel. The people of Ireland say of the Quakers, "They fed us in the famine." That statement acknowledges the Friends' direct work in their soup shops, in their travelling agents, in their grants to local committees, in the quantities of supplies they distributed, and their absolute insistence on non-sectarian distribution. It also recognizes the fact that what the Quakers gave the Irish if destitute, or sold them for a penny if they could buy it, had substance. Quaker stew was warm, nourishing, filling, sustaining. A comparison of the Quaker recipe for "soup" and the government's Soyer recipe is enlightening. The ingredients are for 100 gallons of water. Quaker soup:

75 Ibs of beef; 35 Ibs [dried] peas; 21 Ibs each of oatmeal and barley; i Va Ibs pepper; 14 Ibs salt.

Soyer soup:

i2'/ a Ibs beef; 6'/4 Ibs dripping; 100 onions; 25 Ibs each flour (seconds) and barley; i v4 Ibs brown sugar; 9 Ibs salt.

The Quaker recipe was the "minimum." Other vegetables and grains were to be added as rice and the American supplies became available. The CRC circulated its printed recipe widely.35 From 11 November 1846 to i May 1848 the CRC gave out 294 boilers, of which fifty-six had come as a donation from the Darby works at Coalbrookdale, distributed as follows: Leinster Connaught

37 65

Ulster Munster

35 157

141 Feeding the Hungry In tons, the food supplies distributed were Leinster Connaught

448 1,849

Ulster Munster

1*053 8*852

for a total of 7,202 tons. In addition, money grants in each province totalled Leinster Connaught

£1,890 12S od £4,32058 nd

Ulster Munster

£3,123 145 5d £10,062 135 2d

The CRC had received 9,904 tons of provisions, valued at £148,560.36 It distressed the CRC to admit that the distribution of relief supplies was not in perfect ratio with the level of misery in each province. This was attributable largely to the lack of persons who could administer relief in the most distressed districts, especially in the west and south. While the calamity in Donegal, Kerry, Clare, and in Co. Cork "was as sore as in any part of Ireland," the whole province of Connaught "in extremity of want and extent of destitution ... unquestionably presented upon the whole the darkest shade of distress." It was impossible in some parts of Connaught for a private agency to carry out relief measures. "It is very difficult for those who are not intimately acquainted with the state of that province, to conceive how completely that machinery is wanting in its extensive rural districts, which in a well-ordered community, can be made available for investigating and administering to the wants of the poor."37 In addition to the dearth of people able to undertake relief, the CRC reminded its contributors that "in all cases it was needful to keep in view the Government measures," for the CRC set out not to interfere in the official relief policies. In practice, however, this was not always so. While they were willing to let the government policies indict themselves as ill advised, Friends were not above quietly subverting policies which they believed were so inappropriate to the actual conditions that even greater distress would result. Many returns of relief distributed include the information that food was given to the starving who had been refused workhouse relief, and the CRC a cepted this without comment. In their bleak statistics, these returns give as devastating a picture of the condition of most of Ireland in 1847 as any of the investigating officers' reports or the letters pleading for grants. For example, James Brown, parish priest of Ballintubber in County Mayo, reported 115 persons relieved on 13 May 1848. From the quantities of meal given out, measured in stones, it

142 The Largest Amount of Good

is apparent that the persons relieved were the heads of households. Many were women, and many of them were widows. Father Brown appended remarks or "observations" beside each name. Twenty-one had been refused relief by the authorities. In the columns of comments, "died since" and "died from starvation" or "died of fever" follow each other in stark procession, alternating with "sick wife died" or "dysentery" and "family in fever."38 (See p. xii) Money was distributed in over 8,900 individual grants, many times renewed, at an average value of about £15 8s. Returns of the distribution were a condition of the grant and where the applicant could not, or would not, undertake to supply a return, the grant was not given. The return from the Kingsland porridge shop for the week ending 27 June 1847 reported 86 pounds of rice and 176 pounds of cornmeal used, relieving 144 persons in 68 families. Of the heads of families listed, 23 were women.39 From the first the CRC had been concerned by the need for warm clothing, and a clothing subcommittee had been set up quickly. The Friend (both London and Philadelphia) and the Friends' Weekly Intelligencer asked for contributions of clothing, bedding, and materials. Then the winter of 1846-47 brought deep snow and freezing temperatures, which continued unabated for weeks on end. Correspondence described the condition on the public works as the near-naked wretches struggled to work on the roads in the deep snow. Maria Edgeworth wrote to the CRC from County Longford on 18 February, describing the plight of "750 desperately shiveringly cold in this weather from Snow." The thermometer was holding at twenty degrees. If the CRC could send leather, the archdeacon of Dromore West in County Sligo offered to employ shoemakers himself and give the shoes to the poor. "Many go miles to a mountain road to work and from their insufficiency of clothing have been attacked with dysentery."40 The CRC issued a three-page appeal in January 1847, asking for warm articles of clothing, bedding, and donations. Donors were begged to consider their contributions as separate from that given to the general CRC fund, for the overall destitution was so desperate. Appropriate excerpts were included from Forster's journey, describing the near total lack of garments and bedding. Even at that early stage the committee was concerned with providing employment for women, asking for money and materials which could be made up.41 All the clothing, whether used or made up for the distressed, was transported free of charge by the English railway companies and the steam packets to Ireland. A few parcels of clothing

143 Feeding the Hungry

seem to have been "appropriated" in transit. There are a number of letters reporting that various bales of clothing which had been sent by the committee had never arrived.42 So great was the need that the Quakers did not attempt to investigate, although they disapproved of the arbitrary appropriation. Clothing was an area where the Quaker women came into their own. They managed the endeavour, although the subcommittee itself was made up of five Quaker men.43 A large warehouse was made available, and the ladies processed 210 packages of clothing contributions, making 668 grants: Ulster Leinster

121 224

Munster Connaught

145 178

Donations of £1,819 2S id arrived, together with £500 from the CRC. A liaison with the other clothing committees working for Ireland was maintained, and the various reports and appeals of these agencies are included in the clothing subcommittee papers.44 By August 1847 tne clothing subcommittee had exhausted its store of funds, goods, and materials. Donations had virtually ceased coming in from England, where the pressure of destitute Irish arriving in the port cities and the famine in west Scotland also demanded attention. The intense effort had fallen heavily on the little committee, its three clerks, a packer, and a boy. In the circumstances, as the new government measures were underway by September, the committee was wound up.4^ By November 1847, however, as winter drew in, lack of clothing again became an urgent matter and, accordingly, the CRC set up another subcommittee. It determined to put more emphasis on buying materials in order to give employment to women who were in desperate straits for want of work. Shoe leather was also purchased. Not only was there was an outstanding need for shoes, but also for work for starving shoemakers since few could afford to give them employment. Shoes were given to the needy, but for those who had work, they were valued at a token price — a small portion of the value - which the recipients were to repay at a penny or so at a time as they earned. The CRC enforced this policy to maintain the feeling of self-sufficiency among the needy. Clothing could be given to those who had no employment, but the idea was to maintain the dignity and avoid pauperization of those who had a chance of working. The sum of £6,333 2S 6d was spent and £1,377 6s 1C^ recovered, indicative of the enormous level of unemployment. There were 612 grants.

144 The Largest Amount of Good

Ulster Munster

173 130

Leinster Connaught

129 180

Great care was taken that the shoes and other goods not be pawned for food money. Where possible, the items were marked in the way the Friends had marked clothing and bedding in their relief work in England in 1842—43. A Caution to Pawnbrokers was circulated, warning all money-lenders not to take in any article with the CRC clothing subcommittee stamp on it. Grantees were sent copies and were asked to distribute them to all pawnbrokers in the district, and to give them to all influential or "suitable" residents in the area.46 Some of the clothing work was done in co-operation with the British Relief Association, which agreed to grant £2,000 to the nonsectarian Ladies Clothing Committee of Ireland on condition that the Friends' London Committee also make a contribution of not less than £1,000 to the organization. London provided the £1,000 and advised the CRC, asking for suggestions as to the best method of appropriation.47 As the Cork and Waterford Committees were operating with considerable autonomy in their areas, clothing grants totalling £793 145 gd were made to them. The CRC estimated that its net expenditure on clothing (without putting any value on the clothing donations received) was £6,015 7s 5d.48 They soon found that it was not enough to send materials to be made up into clothing. Many women who were to make up the garments had no experience in doing so, as most of the peasants' clothing was second-hand from the start. Accordingly, patterns for cutting out trousers, jackets, and other articles were prepared and circulated. No charge was ever levelled against the Quakers of misappropriating the clothing donations. Grant applications to the CRC were rapidly, but carefully, checked. The Catholic bishop of Clonfert was sent a double grant, except for shoe leather, but a request for the parish of Thornhill in County Roscommon was refused. The writer begged for 400 people "needing clothing of every kind from head to foot, the people are naked, not one blanket among the 400," but she could not guarantee that regulations for distribution and completion of the return would be met. Across the application in Bewley's hand was written, "denied," with the comment "considerable supplies already sent to same part of the county."49 Such care unfortunately was not the case with all the clothing agencies. Asanath Nicholson applauded the Belfast Ladies Association, composed of "women of all faiths," and the CRC subcommittee, but she had hard words for "the meanness bordering on dishonesty" of some of the

145 Feeding the Hungry

women engaged in sorting the clothing donations received in Dublin. "Articles sent in the clothing boxes were taken by the workers who paid as cheaply as possible, instead of replacing with something good and suitable for the cabin peasants."50 Statistics only suggest what the CRC accomplished in feeding and clothing the ragged hordes. Letters from the grantees and comments on the clothing returns voice graphic descriptions of the conditions for the nearly naked in the long bitter winter of 1846-47. Those escaping the country were little better off. The mayor of Londonderry asked for clothing and bedding for the flood of destitute who were boarding the emigrant ships with nothing but the tatters on their backs.51 Always rigorous in assessing its own work, the CRC might have taken comfort from Mrs Nicholson's words on what she saw in the west of Ireland in 1847. "Let me record," she began in her blunt way, "the scenes I have witnessed, when some box of warm clothing was opened and the naked starving women and children would drop upon their knees, clasp their emaciated fingers and bless the gifts that the blessed Quakers had sent them ... Let me say that no language is adequate to give the true the real picture."52 When faced with misery perpetrated by bureaucracy, the Friends were not above subverting officialdom. Indeed, it would become the CRC'S policy. Once the government relief operations were placed under the Irish Poor Law, the organ of relief became the union poor house. Poor house meant union rules, which included the regulation that its clothing could not be worn when the inmate left the care of the union. John Hodgkin, a London barrister who seconded himself to the CRC to undertake special projects, received a letter from J.J. Fisher of Limerick with respect to the Scariff Union. Fisher wrote of the miserable situation of the children discharged from the workhouse with their widowed mothers. "The law does not allow us to give them any clothing so that on being discharged the children are obliged to leave behind them the warm work-house dress and redress them in their insufficient rags. Many poor children are suffering severely from this cause in this inclement weather."53 Hodgkin sent £25 from his own pocket for the children by return and later sent another £25 from the London Committee, asking that it be used to set up as "far as is practicable of your local manufacture so as to encourage industrial remuneration and employment." He took the matter up with the CRC, writing that London would put up £200 "to encourage industry." They did not want to "interfere with the Poor Law relief ... but where it could be combined with food to the hungry or clothing to the naked it would be greatly preferred."54 So bottomless was the need that the import of Hodgkin's kindness

146 The Largest Amount of Good

tends to slip by unrecognized. How wealthy were the Quakers that such a donation as Hodgkin's £25 could simply be sent off by return? At twelve pence to a shilling, the labourer earning the maximum on public works of ten pence a day made at best five shillings a week. At twenty shillings to the pound — it is not necessary to continue, except to point out that many were earning only four pence a day, when they could work. In bad weather the operations were suspended, and the winter of 1846-47 was one of the worst on record. It may have distressed the Quakers that they were not able to effect all the assistance needed, but they could take pride - if the rectitude imposed by the Quaker conscience would allow it - in the fact that no charge of souperism was ever levelled against them. Souperism is a pejorative term which even today evokes acrimonious resentment in Ireland. Souperism is that use of philanthropy in which the giving of aid, whether food, employment, or clothing, was contingent upon attending a church, or even of conversion. Children's attendance was demanded at a religious school and was coercive when the children who attended received food and clothing. Souperism was not new in Ireland, and it remained an issue until at least 1861, but the activities of its practitioners during the Famine aggravated ill feeling between Catholics and Protestants. Souperism undermined the efforts of the clergy to work together on the relief committees, as had happened in Belmullet. Catholic resentment surfaced in a bitter jingle for which a Catholic woman, Annie Fagan, was fined £1 in Dublin for singing in the street. Souper, souper, ring the bell, Souper, souper, go to hell.55

Protestant "missions" to Ireland had caused significant controversy before the Famine. Clergymen were accused of attempting to bribe Catholics into attending Protestant churches, especially in the west where the poverty was extreme at the best of times. In the 1845 crop failure, clergymen in Castletown Bere and Dingle were found to have offered food to Catholics in return for conversion.56 Some Evangelicals saw the total failure of 1846 as God's signal to undertake a missionary endeavour. Convinced that the misery was sufficient to break down the barriers against "the truth," the Reverend Alexander Dallas of Wonston, Hampshire, organized an appeal to raise funds for a tract blitz of Ireland, utilizing the new penny post. Another such fund was begun in Belfast.57 Daniel O'Connell spoke out against such proselytizing in the Freeman's Journal on 12 January 1847, and the issue reached the House of Commons in February.58

147 Feeding the Hungry

Dr John McHale, the fiery archbishop of Tuam, charged in the Freeman's Journal on 24 February 1847 that the Protestants were "purchasing souls," and in the same paper on 11 April 1847, a priest in County Roscommon stated that forty-one of his parishioners had attended the Protestant church to receive clothing. There were charges, countercharges and denials. Eventually the controversy reached such a pitch that the Protestant archbishop of Dublin, Dr Richard Whately, felt compelled to issue two addresses to his clergy on the use and abuse of beneficence. In the first, issued in 1847, he contended that in such a dreadful time, "national animosity and also religious animosity between Protestants and Roman Catholics ... can in no way be more effectually checked than by a cordial cooperation ... of persons of all persuasions."59 Whately acknowledged the complaints in the papers and charged those giving relief to recognize that "there cannot be a more emphatically tmsuitable occasion for urging any one to change his religion and adopt our's [sic] than when we are proposing to relieve his physical distress." Whately dealt with the two arguments most ardently held by the Evangelicals, who claimed that it was right - a duty - to show Cat olics the errors of their ways. "A man may, it is true, be induced by such motives to adopt a creed or a course of conduct that is in itself right; but they are motives which may serve the wrong course equally well; so that by having recourse to them, we are, so far as lies in us, putting truth and falsehood on a level ... Even if any be induced, by the pressure of physical distress, or by any such influence to pursue a course which is in itself right, still he is wrong in pursuing it." In a few biting words, Whately disposed of the arguments put forward by those who claimed that the Famine and the cholera epidemic of a few years earlier were divine judgment sent for the punishment of national sins, especially for the degree of toleration shown to Catholics. It was supposition to attribute "such and such causes" to divine wrath, and it left the proposer open to rebuttal. "When once men begin to take upon them the office of inspired prophets, and to pronounce boldly what are the counsels of the Most High, it is as easy to do this on the one side as on the other ... Roman Catholics ... may contend that, on the contrary, it is the Protestantism that is the national sin."6° Whately's refusal to accept the complacently didactic, self-righteous posture of some of the evangelical missionaries is refreshing in the literature of the period. He had no patience with extremism at either end, neither Catholic, nor Evangelical, nor Tractarian, and maintained his ecumenical conviction through a long career, supporting equally the rights of Catholics, Jews and Protestants.61

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Asenath Nicholson also refuted bluntly the idea that the Famine was "God's will," asking, "Was there a Gods's [sic] Famine in Ireland in 1846—7—8—9?" She answered herself, "No! It is mockery to call it so." Nicholson recognized the effect of religion in the people's stolid acceptance of suffering, but she also saw a degree of political awareness that much stemmed from government activity or failures. She quoted the questions put to her by the peasants. "Don't you think the Government is too hard on us or do ye think we shall ever get the repale and will Ireland ever be any better?"62 A year later, in September 1848, Archbishop Whately deemed it necessary to issue a second charge, reminding his clergy that the "duty" to recommend what they believed was the truth should not be put forward with any appeal to temporal wants and sufferings. He was forced to speak very strongly yet again. "There is an imposing air of piety in those teachers ... who in reality are guilty of the most presumptuous mpiety in taking on themselves to pronounce, without any commission from Him, that such and such a national calamity is a judgment for such and such a sin." At the end of his long epistle, Whately referred again to "the false humility of confessing and bewailing the supposed sins of others, as having called down divine judgments - the false piety of using the language of Scripture, as uttered by God's inspired messengers, when we have no such inspiration, and of assuming to ourselves the prophetic office." As Ireland was still gripped by immeasurable destitution and disease, the archbishop urged the clergy to continue their labours, dangerous and wearying though they were. This pamphlet brought a letter of congratulation from Lord Clarendon, the lord lieutenant. "I have never read even from your pen, a statement of fact more convincing or an exposure of hypocrisy and falacies [sic] more overwhelming. "63 The Baptist Irish Society typified those evangelically inspired denominations that regarded Ireland with missionary zeal. Catholicism, they were genuinely convinced, was the source of Ireland's evils, for surely the Famine itself was the visible evidence of Divine wrath for Ireland's popery. For persons so-minded, the famine provided a heaven-sent opportunity to show the poor Irish the error of their ways and bring them to the true faith. The society issued its yearly report throughout the Famine. In 1849, wnen Ireland was at a very low ebb after four years of misery, the society did not hesitate to offer its opinion of the causes of the "indescribable destitution." Racial differences, government tyranny, absentee landlords, politics, all were a "very superficial view ... Its true source must be looked for elsewhere." The society stated categorically, "The religion of Ireland has degraded both priest and people. A gross corruption of

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Christianity, a false system of morals, false ideas ... have robbed this nation of all self-reliance, and engendered carelessness, superstition and misery ... Irish pauperism ... has been proportioned to the intensity of its popery."64 No doubt the BIS failed to see the wry dichotomy in the next paragraph, which urged Baptists to their duty of "saving Ireland," to be accomplished as they "drink largely into the spirit of Christian love." That the fervour of the society's position was genuinely heartfelt is recognizable, but the statement was hardly tactful in the circumstances. The Baptist Irish Society operated a relief fund, but used part of it to set up reading-rooms and a seamen's chapel. When charges of souperism were levelled, the society vigorously denied them, while readily admitting that tracts and sermons were part of its soup distribution, but it insisted that "Ireland's regeneration is the peculiar mission of British Churches."65 For the Catholic Irish, a population literally faithful to its religion unto death — they refused meat soup on Fridays and in Lent even though perishing of starvation — this was offensive.66 The society, unfortunately or unwisely, referred to its relief officers as "missionaries" labouring in a "moral wilderness." Prevailing social-economic doctrines were embodied in its policy that gratuitous relief made dependent paupers of the needy. The BIS stressed that "they withheld all grants up to the latest moment, consistent with the claims of humanity. Very little has been given away in the form of gratuitous relief."67 As much relief as possible was contingent upon labour: breaking stones and cutting peat. Breaking stones and cutting peat contrasted sharply with the Quaker relief policy which was entirely free to the destitute. Quaker stirabout was only sold to those who had the token penny, or to those who wished to distribute it. Quaker loans were made to redeem fishing tackle and to buy hemp and materials so that women might earn making nets and other goods. Those loans, or the work for which they were given, were separate from the food distribution. The loans were made without any guarantee and with the knowledge that they would not likely be repaid, and, they were interest free. Despite the questionable position held by the Baptist Irish Society, many Baptist clergymen did work desperately hard to relieve distress, and the CRC granted their requests for aid. James Milligan, pastor of the Baptist church on Lower Abbey Street in Dublin, had a discussion with Jonathan Pirn about the Baptist ministers undertaking aid in summer 1847, when the CRC was distributing between £3,500 and £7,000 a week. Milligan sent Pirn a list of Baptist churches in the most distressed areas that required aid, saying, "Many of our churches mentioned here are not wealthy and have

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been distributing their charities in the same catholic and unsectarian manner pursued by the Society of Friends."68 A list of churches in the west and south and in Dublin, Derry, and Tyrone was attached, with a request for fifty barrels of meal. Written across the top in Pirn's hand are instructions to send to the persons listed the orders on the depots as requested. Despite the attitude of some of the more fervent Baptists, the CRC worked with them and with other religiousbased groups, Protestant and Catholic, but always on the understanding that the CRC'S grants were contingent upon the guarantee that the distribution was made on the CRC criteria, that the returns must be submitted, and that "no preference would be made in the distribution of relief, on the ground of religious profession."69 Despite charges and countercharges of proselytizing, there can be no question that the soup kitchens, whether run by Quakers or by other relief workers, did stand between life and death for multitudes. Asanath Nicholson asserted that the Quakers "carried through without sectarianism," adding, "While speaking of proselytism, the soup shops should not be cast into entire contempt, for tho they may and undoubtedly have been used for bribery, yet they have been used for better purposes." Her relief supplies and funds from the New York relief group for whom she was the agent, were channelled to her through the CRC. Despite some contretemps over bags of meal, she was warmly generous in her appraisal of the Quaker work. She also recorded some acts of Joseph Bewley which do not appear in Transactions, writing that he "possessed a warm heart and a full purse, which do not always go together, and put into operation a soup shop which fed many hundreds. This soup was of the best quality." When applications became so heavy and funds were low so that a suggestion was made to cut the quantity of meat, Bewley's "answer was that more should be added, at his own expense. He insisted that the soup should be rich and nourishing."70 Reports from Friends who undertook the investigative journeys were usually published complete, except for personal greetings or family information. Correspondence chosen for the printed appeals and reports was cut, but the sections published were not edited. On one occasion, however, the Friends did resort to editing, apparently to reduce the possibility of further inflaming religious bias. In May 1847, during the worst period of the Famine when the CRC distributed over £26,023 of aid,71 Friend Richard Webb journeyed into the grim desolation of Erris and Achill on the west coast, "an immensity of wretchedness." His letters to the committee were, as usual, printed, but on this occasion the report was edited. Outside of Belmullet, a group of men "on their way from mass" took him to a

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cabin where he found a family with the father dying of dysentery and the others dead, except for one tiny naked girl found crouching in the ashes of the fire. Webb wrote, "They told me in plain words and in one anothers presence that their priest refused to anoint the dying man, to church his dying wife after the childbirth, or to baptise the new born infant until paid by them for his trouble. I heard the worst account of him as an extortioner, selfish and dishonest. He is Father Tom Welsh and report says that he says he is going to Australia where only he could find a flock worthy of such a pastor." Webb's letter exists in the CRC records with that section crossed out by another hand. (See p. 168) The passage does not appear in the published version. In February 1848 Webb returned to Erris and reported that "the plundering avaricious Wretch who was abhorred by his people" had run away shortly after Webb's first visit. Richard Webb was not without his own biases. He was solidly appreciative of the Catholic clergy who worked for the benefit of their parishioners, but he believed that the widespread illiteracy and ignorance in the west could be laid at the door of those priests who made "no effort to promote their education" and who showed the "most determined hostility ... when any one else steps in for the purpose."72 No matter how heart-rending the appeal, the CRC would not make a grant unless the applicant guaranteed complete impartiality. Marianne French, wife of the rector of Kellereran parish, replied to the CRC'S questionnaire that there was no one in the area "with whom I would wish to work, the number of Protestants are very few ... [Catholics] are more inclined to give to their most comfortable tenants than to the wretched under tenants. We have no Protestant gentry." Mrs French said that it would be impossible to conform to the CRC'S regulations. She added that "our parish is not one of those that receive clothing & food from the British Association of the Children of the School [sic]." On her application in Bewley's hand is written "no grant, regulations not likely to be complied with." This despite the description she gave of the numbers of near-naked and starving and the distressed condition of the few landlords who were "unable even to provide food for their wretched tenants.'"73 Conversely, Anna Maria Davidson, wife of the Presbyterian minister of Drumquin, County Tyrone, was given a grant, despite admitting that she could not ask the rector's wife and daughter to work with her because "they would not be willing to act conjointly." Across her letter is written in Bewley's hand, "Granted, add that the Comm. rely on the strictest impartiality being observed in the management of the grant as it is made for the benefit of the poor of all religious denominations."74

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As the long weary months dragged on, the government's interim relief under the "Soup Kitchen Act" came into effect. The CRC found, however, that its own distribution was not lessening, despite the fact that by August 1847 3,020,712 persons received daily rations at the government soup kitchens. But many were ineligible under the stringent criteria enforced. Some of the overseers interpreted the Government regulations so strictly that they refused soup under the Gregory clause, a provision in the Irish Poor Law that denied relief to any person holding a rood (quarter-acre) of land. Pleas for help poured in to the CRC as the closing of public works and the implementation of the new regulations under the Poor Law added a new burden. The Ladies Relief Society of Killarney begged for clothing but did not know how to comply with the regulations for payment. Their own funds were exhausted, so they could not employ local women to make up materials, "on a mere chance of being able to dispose of them here after - the poor people are now in so distressed a condition owing to the absence of all public works that they have no means of earning money even for the purchase of food ... they are absolutely without the means to obtain even [a] trifling sum."7^ The society did not receive a grant: the CRC was not about to pull the government chestnuts out of the fire. The guardian of the Gort union wrote to Jonathan Pirn on 21 August 1847, asking for a grant for the disallowed. "On the i7th inst. a reduction of five or six thousand rations was carried into effect and I fear many of the recipients are now in a bad way, we still provide for 21,000 and a further reduction cannot be carried out until the harvest which is very backwards here is collected." He feared that twothirds of the people would be utterly destitute. The poor-house was filled with fever victims, who, leaving half-cured, spread disease further, relapsed, and died. Lack of food "has destroyed many lives."76 When the CRC moved to assist in these cases, in contravention of the new government policy, the CRC explained, "There were several classes of persons whose claims we were bound to recognize."77 This is the CRC'S tactful public indictment of the government's system and the hated Gregory clause, or quarter-acre, clause. The "prospect of a starving host of able-bodied men being thrown upon the country without legal means of relief filled the CRC "with deep anxiety."78 Moreover, the transfer of relief to the poor law unions greatly increased the misery, for the union poor-houses were already swamped with victims. Despite the aid pouring into the country through the government projects and private agencies, the famine raged on and showed no sign of abating. In mid-August 1847, with the government soup kitchens operating, the CRC'S ex-

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penditure was still over £3,083 a week and continued at just under £ i ,000 a week in September and October, when the new system of workhouse relief was in full operation. In the third week of October and again at the end of December it rose again to over £ i ,000 a week and remained at that level until mid-April i848.79 At the rate of dispersal maintained in the summer of 1847, that is, when the change over to the new official poor house policy was well under way, the CRC'S funds would have been expended by fall, yet the government closed down its soup kitchens and works projects. In July, Trevelyan attempted to prevail upon the CRC to join with the British Relief Association, which had become an arm of the government. He asked the CRC to throw in its resources as grants to the unions to help get the new relief system into operation. The Quakers declined. Government policy had been decreed despite ample advice from Ireland, well supported by statistics, that it was very badly advised, and the Quakers would neither ease the government's responsibility nor appear to condone the policy by tacitly cooperating. The British Relief Association did direct its funds to the unions and curtailed its relief operations, although it gave £145,253 in grants to the unions after the poor harvest of i848.8° In the circumstances prevailing in summer 1847, the Quakers reviewed their position. Clearly the government relief measures were miserably insufficient, and Friends were far from the only ones pointing this out. Clarendon, who had succeeded Bessborough as lord lieutenant, the government's chief officer in Ireland, was outspoken on the question, writing wearily to Russell on 27 December 1847, "I keep repeating that only a certain number of Irish could be allowed to die of starvation, and that sooner or later, repayable or not, relief must be advanced by England." Russell hedged by arguing that if the imperial Treasury was to bear the cost, since the two Exchequers had been amalgamated, Ireland would have to take on more taxes.81 This sort of argument begged the question, as distress mounted, but the Quakers could not carry the burden alone. "Our funds were altogether inadequate for any general system of relief." The CRC decided to phase out its universal relief once the union system was fully underway and to assist those outside of the official provisions: the sick, aged, and children who had been discharged from the union houses to make way for the able-bodied paupers and those in areas too remote for union assistance.82 The provisions of the Irish Poor Law denied outdoor relief to all but the permanently disabled destitute. Under the new relief regulations, all aid was to be given within the confines of the union poorhouse. The cost in full was to be born by the ratepayers of each

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union. The policy was totally incongruent with the condition of Ireland, even though the government was prepared to make loans to the unions. The prevailing mood at Westminster was to make Ireland pay for its own relief. Peel had given half the cost of his public works relief as a grant, with the other half payable by the barony; Russell had made the whole charge payable by a rate assessed locally, collected like the poor rate. As the government was intransigent on the issue of public works being "unreproductive" the landlords were understandably reluctant to pay for public works which benefited no one, and in many cases did a lot of damage when good roads were broken up. Under the new regulations, relief costs were assessed under the poor-rate on both landlords and tenants of property valued at £4. The official view was, "Why cannot the Irish gentlemen do as the English gentlemen do and borrow their money from private lenders?"83 In view of the numbers of indebted Irish estates held in Chancery, and others too debt-ridden to stand as security for further loans, this is not very comprehensible. The government certainly knew about the degree of indebtedness among Irish landlords, because the policy of demanding guarantees for development loans had been in place since the Union. Fear that landlords would take loans and use them to pay off debts held at higher interest rates lay behind the demand for guarantees. Ultimately overcrowding forced the government to allow some extension of outdoor relief in 70 of the 130 unions. Even less comprehensible was the insistence on the policy when the government was well aware of the vast size of the unions, especially in the south and west, where the distress was at its worst. The Quakers were well informed of the straits of the remote unions. James Hack Tuke undertook a tour of the province of Connaught in the fall of 1847, anf ^ tne Friends immediately published his report. He commented in detail on the utterly unworkable sizes of the western unions. Ballina union, in County Mayo was about sixty miles by thirty, with a population of 120,797 spread over 509,154 acres. Belmullet in Erris was fifty miles from the Ballina poor-house. Tuke summed up several pages of commentary on Erris as a place where "human wretchedness seems concentrated ... the culminating point of man's physical degradation seems to have been reached in the Mullet." Quaker investigations revealed the impossibility of raising enough from the rates to carry the full burden of the poor-rate, and the CRC had been flooded with correspondence describing conditions in the poor-houses. Publicity was something the Quakers knew how to use. Extracts from this correspondence were included in reports and later were printed in Transactions. Although the Quakers did not at-

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tack openly, readers were referred to Trevelyan's article "The Irish Crisis" in The Edinburgh Review in January 1848 rationalizing the government's policy.84 Nevertheless, Trevelyan ordered the Commissariat depots closed and all unsold food removed. Food remaining in the CRC'S credit was sold, realizing £37,544 igs 6d.8s Once the depots closed the CRC could not have shipped supplies to the west and south without incurring enormous cost, adding to the impossibility of maintaining relief at the previous level, although the committee did manage to continue aid to those who were outside of the government provisions. Such was the grisly toll of epidemic famine disease that despite the CRC'S resolution to reduce relief, expenditures remained between £500 and £1,000 and more a week in 1848 until mid-August brought some harvest. In summer 1849, tne relief expenses would still be about £700 a month.86 The winter of 1847-48 was nearly as brutal as that of the previous year.87 In January the Friends' committees were induced to consider expanding relief, and questionnaires were sent to agents. Responses showed that cumulative exhaustion and the loss of many vital workers from famine disease, combined with the drain of the union rates, were such that re-establishing the soup kitchens was not practical. The Friends' subcommittee in Cork replied that it was providing employment for those excluded by the Gregory clause. It was still supporting a soup kitchen dispensing 620 quarts a day in Valencia, where there was no other help, but in its opinion little assistance would come forward to start up the soup kitchens again. Furthermore, restarting the kitchens would allow the union guardians to refuse to aid even more persons than were already excluded, and "the Guardians of some Unions have determined to give no outdoor relief at all." The guardians forced families to separate to reduce the demands on the union. In the Cork Committee's opinion, those people were suffering very greatly. Thomas Jacob of Waterford wrote to Pirn and Bewley at the beginning of February 1848 about continuing relief, stating that parts of his district were so remote that the poor had great difficulty getting to the soup kitchen and carrying away the stirabout, yet it was necessary to give cooked food, for the destitute could not have used it otherwise.88 After much deliberation, the Quakers again declined to undertake a full-blown relief effort but continued with limited relief and focused on their projects in agriculture, fishing, and industrial improvement. Richard Webb went out again to Erris and other parts of Connaught in February 1848 to inspect for the CRC. He found much wretchedness and evidence of evictions. "I never before saw so great a scene of devastation," he wrote in describing the eviction of one

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hundred families at Belmullet. "Death has fearfully thinned many families since my last visit." A virulent cholera was now raging in addition to the famine fevers. Government medical reports showed mortality rates around 50 per cent. Webb noted that the cattle were gone from Erris, "formerly the great nursery for cattle for the rest of the country." Although the famine relief commissioners in their report to Parliament recorded the gratitude of the starving for the government's relief, Webb discovered a different sort of appreciation when he discussed the condition of the country with the remaining officials and landholders wherever he travelled. "The general opinion throughout the country is, that the attempt to support the people by the public works last year was a great mistake; and that if the amount of money and labour expended in this way, had been employed in supplying the people with seed, and supported them while they cultivated their grounds, a vast amount of death and suffering might have been avoided."89 It seemed that Ireland was doomed to eternal misery as the winter of 1848-49 brought more reports of starvation and death. Father Brown of Ballintubber wrote yet again to recount deaths by starvation and to ask for clothing. "There are thousands in these parishes who have nothing but whatever turnips they can pick up ... It would be impossible for any resource except by a legislative action to contend with the present frightful calamity ... population is thinned by % in some localities by death and emigration.90 The year 1849 boded as ill for Ireland as the previous four years.91 In June, Quakers themselves again raised the question of resuming extended relief operations. This was not undertaken. The correspondence and minutes, however, do not suggest that the Friends worried that if they put forward another great appeal, response might not be forthcoming from a public wearied of Irish misery. Letters to the CRC in 1847 assured the Quakers that America was always ready to share its bounty with the people of Ireland. But the Quakers also understood that response to a new appeal might have been less energetic than to the original appeal, especially in Ireland, because their agents were tired, ill, even dead, and money was short. Conditions were now irrefutably worse than at the first appeal. While it seemed likely donations would have come at least from North America if the Quakers had asked, England was more problematical after 1848 and Young Ireland's brief fizzle. It is true that the English people gave very generously in 1847, despite the general tenor of leading newspapers, which fulminated against Irish indigence and ingratitude. Nor had a question ever been raised of squandering, bigotry or corruption in the Quaker's relief work to

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curdle innate generosity, but it appears that the CRC understood the general exhaustion of its volunteers, the serious depletion of Irish resources and, most crucially, the true nature of the crisis. To understand the Quakers' response it is vital to grasp that they recognized that the Famine was not an emergency, a limited crisis where private philanthropy might rightly step into the breach. Since the Union, British governments had consistently failed to act on the recommendations of their own officials and investigative commissions, and Ireland had staggered along, always on the brink of disaster. The Great Famine sprang from the condition of Ireland. Its seemingly unending nature reflected the narrow nature of the theoretical conceptions on which an intransigent government based its policies. With the best of intentions, that government had decreed inappropriate policies for its citizens that could not fulfil the purpose of the procedure. Vivid examples currently before the Friends were the requirement that all development loans had to be guaranteed, the "unreproductive" public works schemes for famine relief, and policies that could not be carried out without greatly increasing suffering, such as the insistence that the famine relief must now function under the Poor Law. The Quakers saw that poverty, misery, and periodic famines would go on until substantive change was made. It must have been a painful decision to make, given the CRC'S knowledge of conditions, allied with the Quaker concept of duty, but they held firm in their resolve not to relieve the government of its responsibility. Instead, they determined to devote their resources to projects with the potential for permanent betterment. The London Committee underlined this position by forwarding £2,000 for the CRC'S program to assist small farmers.92 Trevelyan attempted yet again to induce the CRC to undertake relief in June 1849, tni§ ^me on behalf of Lord John Russell, who offered the CRC a grant of £ 100 if it would continue. The CRC minutes do not contain the discussion, which must have been decidedly pointed. Russell's offer was declined, although Pirn was instructed to advise him through Trevelyan that the CRC appreciated his confidence.93 Pirn's long letter to Trevelyan declining to continue was printed and circulated to make clear the CRC'S explanation of its refusal to undertake another relief campaign. Undeniably too, circulating put pressure on the government. The galley proof of the printed letter exists, corrected in Pirn's hand. He must have been very weary of Trevelyan by then, since the final closing, the formal "I remain, Thine, very respectfully," is crossed out, and the final copy ends bluntly with the printed line "(Signed) Jonathan Pirn."94 (See p. 126) In his letter, Pirn reviewed the CRC'S purpose and his-

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tory since the failure of 1846. Such effort could not continue, "for the work was far too great, and those qualified to labour far too few. Moreover, it became hopeless." Note the choice of words in the next sentence. As "the Imperial Parliament thought it right to extend the provisions of the Poor Law," the CRC felt the difficulty of engaging in private relief when the distress was "under the care of a legally organized body." Deliberately using the phrase "Imperial Parliament" illuminates the CRC'S opinion of Ireland's treatment despite the Union. The British Relief Association, continued Pim, neatly turning the government's coup on itself, apparently felt the same way, as it gave its funds in aid of rates to the unions and retired from active relief. The CRC, however, preferred to continue to aid those excluded by the regulations, and pursue its policy of encouraging industry and employment. In the present crisis, Pim wrote, the CRC had consulted with its agents, but "we felt that even if we asked for another contribution, the utmost amount we could expect would be utterly insufficient; that even with ample funds we could no longer hope for that active and self-denying cooperation in the distressed districts on which we had formerly relied, and without which we could not work successfully ... our Plan of acting was no longer practicable alongside the Poor Law."95 Behind this very long and public letter lay profound discouragement about the prospects of Ireland and the possibilities of private philanthropy, combined with recognition of state responsibility. The closing section comes as close as the Friends ever came during the Great Famine to questioning the purpose and limits of charity, and it should be read uncut. The typographical errors in the galley have not been corrected. The relief of destitution on any extended scale must in future be trusted to those arrangements which the Imperial Parliament has provided for that purpose. Seeing that the difficulty was so far beyond the reach of private exertion, and that the only machinery which it was practicable to emply was that under the control of the public authorities, and belieuing that the government alone could raise the funds, or carry out the measures necessary, in many districts to save the lives of tke people, we feared, that it we ventured to undertake a work for which our resources were so inadequate, we might through our incompetency, injure the cause of those whom we desired to serve.

Pim explained that the CRC felt "compelled" to state that the distribution of charitable relief was "out of our power" and therefore it declined to be "the distributors of Lord John Russell's bounty to our

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suffering countrymen."96 It is difficult to resist the conclusion that there was a modicum of censure in the closing words on Russell's "bounty," if not outright irony. Russell may have been offering £100 personally and not on behalf of the government, but he had approached the CRC through the Treasury and Trevelyan, thus officially, and not through his private secretary as a private person. There was no suggestion of his £100 heading a new subscription list. It is nearly impossible to believe that he was acting privately. Pirn wrote the response, and he would write Transactions, but the CRC circulated draft texts among the committee for comment before they were printed. The archives contain printed drafts of many publications with the name of the Friend to whom each was sent for opinion written on it, together with the commentary. The final version printed gives then, in Quaker parlance, "the sense of the Meeting." The CRC'S record of its relief effort, Transactions, in which Pirn's hand is nearly palpable, seems a straightforward accounting of the work, but close examination discloses some revealing subtleties. The CRC refrained from openly criticizing the government, perhaps because the relief committees had been ad hoc, though the Friends recognized that the general public believed that the CRC spoke for the Society. Care was taken, therefore, not to speak for the Society as a whole. Nevertheless, the judiciously circumspect wording and selected quotations leave no doubt as to where the CRC stood. The 1847 amendment to the Irish Poor Law, which put the relief onto the unions, ordered the Union guardians to make provision to relieve all the destitute, effectively establishing the right of the destitute to support. The legislation of 1838 establishing the Irish Poor Law had only allowed the guardians to support the poor. If the state determined to make the regulations and enforce a system for the care of its citizens, then the state must undertake that care. It could not suppose that failures and inadequacies brought about by short-sighted or rigid policies would be filled by private charity. The CRC made its position clear. "This poor law was sufficiently comprehensive to meet the emergency, but there seemed at the time little probability of its being soon brought into effective operation."97 This statement was underlined by the inclusion in Transactions of that part of William Bennett's narrative of his journey in which he said, "Absolute thousands ... are dying like cattle ... Is this to be regarded in the light of a Divine dispensation and punishment? Before we can safely arrive at such a conclusion we must be satisfied that human agency and legislation, individual oppressions, and social relationships have had no hand in it."98 The Quakers maintained their policy. They would not relieve the government of its responsibility.

160 The Largest Amount of Good

Russell's government acted only rarely on the information that the CRC, among many, supplied through its exacting investigations, returns of relief, pamphlets, books, direct interviews, and correspondence. Even the reports and policy recommendations from the government's own agents and civil servants were largely ignored. The Famine correspondence is full of letters from Lord Clarendon and from Sir Randolph Routh, who administered the Commissariat, expressing in varying degrees of ire their frustration at the intransigence of Trevelyan, Wood, and Russell. Lord Monteagle also kept up a furious correspondence with the government in a futile attempt to modify policy. He was a great aristocrat, not the least awed by Trevelyan, and he too knew how to use the press. His correspondence with the Board of Works was printed. Monteagle possessed a trenchant mind and a blistering command of invective, backed by an exacting knowledge of Irish conditions which can stand with the best, as witness this, to Trevelyan. When you raise analogies to ordinary times and circumstances ... you commit a signal mistake. This is no repetition ... of common distress. It is the failure of the staple food of the people ... This is not our fault. The sword of conquest passed through our land but a century and a halfback ... tithes collected at the bayonet point — penal laws continued until 1829, and then reluctantly repealed — these things have destroyed our country — have degraded our people, and you, English, now shrink from your own responsibilities; you keep gabbling about the incompetency of the Celtic race and the injustice of Irish landlords; rouse yourself above these miserable, and, in many cases, vindictive thoughts, and remember a Wilberforce said that England owes us a debt for the wrongs of centuries; endeavour to repay it, not by pauperising us, but by raising us above our present condition.

Trevelyan replied, "It forms no part of the functions of Government to provide supplies of food, or to increase the productive powers of the land."99 The CRC too used the stratagem of publishing its correspondence with Trevelyan. Those polemicists are too harsh who blame the Russell government entirely for the misery in which a million people died and from which a second million fled. Little precedent existed for guidance. No nation had ever attempted to relieve distress on such a scale before. In earlier famines relief had been accomplished through public works combined with philanthropic aid. The government did make an effort, but it was an effort seriously circumscribed by laissezfaire policies as the mid nineteenth century understood them. While Russell himself did eventually seem to grasp that the Famine was a disaster which demanded more than temporary measures, he never

161 Feeding the Hungry

appeared to understand that it was rooted in the condition of Ireland and could not be remedied by coercion and charity. Russell's government dealt with Ireland entirely from Westminster. In the crisis it turned to what it knew. The tried and true was the 1834 English Poor Law, but the utilitarian theorizing of those who had formulated it was based on the condition of rural England. Applied to Ireland, it was faulty from the start. Local responsibility and individual relief could not deal with Ireland. Ireland, as the Famine made brutally clear, was a different matter. Private philanthropy could not organize resources on the scale needed, nor could the rates meet the cost. The Russell government did attempt amelioration, and a very great deal of money was poured into the relief effort, but Russell was unable and unwilling to think beyond the narrow confines of received wisdom. Unrealistic rigidity marked policy at every stage. Some policies were simply stupid, particularly the requirement that public works be "unreproductive" and that the cost of £4,848,235, and the cost of the workhouse relief be repaid from rates. Together those two qualifications would drain capital from the country without doing anything to increase industry and employment, the lack of which were the two major factors in the distressed condition of Ireland. While that money would not have added to the amount of food in the country, which would still have had to be purchased, the potential of that great expense to have created some long-term benefit was ignored. Even landlords sympathetic to the plight of their tenantry were angered at being forced to shoulder the burden of such waste, and sadly for their tenantry, were in many cases completely unable to shoulder the burden of the rates when relief was put under the Poor Law. A great deal of government money was spent overall. The debts of nearly £1,000,000 accumulated by the soup kitchens were consolidated into a debt charged to poor-rates and the county cess. Only half of the £4,848,235 expended on public works was remitted in 1848. By 1850 Ireland had repaid £500,000 of the £8,111,941 expended on relief; "a further £3,722,255 was to be repaid over a period of forty years with interest at 3 V4 per cent."100 The burden of such a debt on a country long known to be seriously undercapitalized only helped to defeat the efforts to raise Ireland out of the conditions that had made the Famine inevitable. Subsequently Ireland suffered through further periods of severe distress and localized famine in 1862-63 and 1879-81. The Quakers would step in yet again to assist. Russell's policies revealed more than the government may have realized. A rate in aid of the bankrupt and desperately overburdened unions in the south and west was levied on all the Irish

162 The Largest Amount of Good

unions. Russell failed to carry the concept of all sharing in the responsibility for the welfare of all to the rest of the British Isles. If the political union of England and Ireland had been genuine, the rate in aid would have been levied on all the British unions. 101 The failure to do so further underlines the influence of the English landed interests. Russell's government must bear responsibility for permitting the amount of single-minded power exerted by a civil servant. As the correspondence flew thick and fast, and much was published in the papers, the conclusion must be that the government concurred with Trevelyan's measures.102 Wood and Trevelyan are also to blame for the rigidity, but as Prime Minister, the responsibility ultimately falls on Russell for refusing to shed the strictures of received wisdom and use the power of the state for innovative change. He had access to ample advice, but neither the Quakers, Lord Devon, Lord Monteagle, nor even the government's own administrators in Ireland were able to influence the Russell-Wood-Trevelyan triumvirate sufficiently. 103 There is some validity in blaming individuals, but it is too harsh to censure them entirely. Acknowledging that the sources of revenue available to the Exchequer in mid-century were limited and that economic theory insisted on a balanced budget may offer some insight into the Russell-Wood policies. So too does the fact that Russell had a minority government, both initially and after the 1847 election. He would have faced the pressure of English landed interests if he had attempted to tax all the British unions to aid their beleaguered Irish counterparts in 1847. He could not afford to affront the landed interests or risk losing the unenthusiastic support of the Peelite rump. Moreover, the Hungry Forties were not an Irish phenomenon. England too suffered the potato failure and a much reduced grain production, while west Scotland was comparable in its misery to Ireland. With a far greater population to feed, Russell had to consider the danger of stripping English resources at a time when England too was under pressure. Nonetheless, it is clear that the development of economic theory had not yet reached any real degree of sophistication. Concepts were elucidated and accepted as fact without really being tested. As will become clear in later sections of this work, the Quakers did conceptualize far beyond the so-called iron laws, and, most importantly, they acted on their convictions, but even they did not actually put their conclusions into a concrete body of thought. In summary, the Irish Famine was a crisis which severely tested the economic and philosophical underpinnings of mid-nineteenthcentury Britain as its rulers understood them. The government's

163 Feeding the Hungry

failings were fivefold: its adherence to doctrinaire laissez-faire policies despite the advice and information coming from Ireland; the application of relief measures based on the English system, when English conditions did not obtain in Ireland; its dealing with Ireland from Westminster; the amount of power wielded by one civil servant, Trevelyan; and the refusal to deal with Ireland as an integral part of Britain. A lack of imagination might also be included. In the circumstances, the CRC'S discouragement should not undercut what that small and faithful group accomplished at significant cost. Both Quakers and their agents in the field died of famine diseases. Abraham Beale, the rock on which the Cork subcommittee was founded, died of famine fever, and William Todhunter and Joseph Bewley died in 1850 from over-exertion. Jacob Harvey died in New York from his efforts to assist the flood of Irish immigrants, who provided him with this epitaph, "By all who knew him he was loved as few are loved, and he has died and left not an enemy on earth."104 Jonathan Pirn almost collapsed in 1847 from overwork, exhaustion and the sheer toll on nervous energies, writing in March, I have always been used to a well managed office, to accounts correctly and handsomely kept, and written up to the day. I cannot work without it... I don't know what quantity of provisions we have on hand in any place. We have no clear cash accounts ... I don't know the parties we have assisted, some of them are probably cheating us. There are many perfectly honest, to whom we aught to make much larger grants. We want Joseph Bewley, an efficient system of oversight ... I cannot go on longer on the present plan. My business is totally neglected. My health, neither of body nor mind would bear it.1"5

Pim undertook the task believing that he would have "official assistants, so that my duties would be merely to direct." As it was, he found it difficult to find an assistant secretary. The committee was unhappy about dispersing funds on paid assistants. Pim discussed the financial sacrifice demanded. Either he would have to become the actual secretary of the CRC, or become simply a committee member. To become the secretary "would require my whole time from 10 AM to 7 or 8 in the evening and would require me to give up all attention to my private business. The sacrifice would be a very great one and I have not been used to such close application for several years and the pecuniary loss would probably far exceed the subscriptions from our firm. I don't think my partners would consent." This was a very long letter. No response from Bewley seems to survive, but as they were co-secretaries and met almost daily, no doubt they talked the problem over. Pirn's letter underlines the intensely private

164 The Largest Amount of Good

aspects of Quaker undertakings. The CRC minutes a few days later simply announced the revision of the committee and the delegating to subcommittees which was noted earlier.106 There are no hints of the exhaustion, nervous frustration, and agonies of soul searching which lay behind the decisions. Their businesses, family, and orderly lives were badly disrupted, but as the Friends said in their original address, they believed they had a duty. There is foreboding about what lay ahead for Ireland in their writings, but in the CRC minute books there is no hint of apprehension with respect to a small group's ability to undertake the work they had set themselves. Carefully broken down into tasks - publicity and fund raising, purchase and transport of supplies, coordination with relief committees, ongoing investigation and collection of statistics — the straightforward, methodical outline of work in the minute books suggests the Quakers' quiet confidence in their ability to carry out their work. They had the confidence of believing that they were doing God's work, but so did the other relief agencies in the field, and none were as successful as the Friends. Quaker confidence was bolstered by the nature of Quakerism and the Friend's history of close fellowship and interconnected business and family networks. It underlines the ties that bound Irish, English, and American Friends. The Friends working on the relief program were "professionals." That is, they organized the work on the principles which had made them so successful in business. They looked for the most capable management, thorough methods, and innovative concepts, they refused to be bound by tradition, and they could rely on one another and work together in a formidable undertaking. As relief agents, they worked with any person or religious group capable of organizing aid, tried to reduce religious conflict as much as possible, and — significant in their success — they carefully maintained their autonomy. Never themselves tarred with the brush of souperism, the Friends never faced the obloquy of being thought government agents. Down the road there would be brief instances of individual despair as Ireland slid ever deeper into disaster, but those moments of discouragement never threatened the overall unity of purpose laid out in the initial appeals. Rather the committees regrouped and reformulated their aims. In the course of carrying out the demands of duty, the Friends indeed laboured mightily. How then did their labours compare with those of other agencies? Statistically no one agency can be seen very accurately in relation to the others. Comparisons are virtually impossible to make for three reasons. First, at this distance it is an insurmountable task to compute the numbers of persons sustained by

165 Feeding the Hungry

other, smaller agencies, private individuals, and through the vast numbers of individual donations sent through their priests by expatriate Irish or other Catholics. In their Address to the Public of May 1849, tne CRC estimated the distribution by small relief associations at £200,000, the amount collected by local committees in Ireland at £300,000, and the BRA expenditure at £400,000, adding, "If we add to these, the numberless contributions of private benevolence, and the remittances from emigrants for the relief of their friends at home, the aggregate may be safely estimated at one million and a half sterling. The advances by Government were on a gigantic scale, amounting to nearly ten millions sterling."107 Second, there is no uniformity in computing returns. Outside of the Friends, they hardly exist as the statistical methodology used by the Friends was far ahead of most concepts about philanthropy. But not even the Quakers with their unique records could ascertain how many did survive because of their efforts, given the contagious nature and fiercely debilitating effects of famine diseases, which attacked the well fed as well as the starving. The CRC worked with individuals and committees. Their statistics were collated and reported by county. Even assigning all the Quaker grants individually to town or district and county would not be a reliable assessment of where the need was greatest, or where the blight hit hardest, because the Friends so often commented on the problems of finding an agent to dispense aid in the west and south, where the need was so great. This dilemma is discussed in Transactions. Correlating the Quaker aid with the government effort is equally futile. Initially the government Distress Papers were collected by barony, which bear little relation to the counties. Then when the official relief was thrown onto the poor law unions, the relief commission returns were reported under electoral districts in the 130 poor law unions. The unions were composed of varying numbers of electoral districts, and union boundaries lay within from one to four counties. Of the 130 Unions, only 67 lay within one country, 45 were in two counties, 17 in three, and i in four. Thirdly, even supposing that it were possible to assign every return to its electoral district and correlate all with the baronies, the whole would be suspect because of the fact that from summer 1845 the population was on the move. Reports from the Quaker travellers attest to this phenomenon; so too does the famine literature in general and even the government's relief commissioners noted it when commenting upon how the numbers applying for relief exceeded the numbers on the census.108 People came into the towns from the countryside looking for food, they walked to the port cities in hopes

166 The Largest Amount of Good of getting out of Ireland, and they emigrated in their thousands throughout the Famine years. Their numbers skew any idea that the more prosperous Protestant areas did not suffer to the degree that the west and south did. No part of Ireland escaped the impact, even if a greater concentration of wealth in the Protestant north-east or around Dublin allowed more individuals to be relatively unaffected. Just the fact that the Quakers made substantial donations to the east Ulster counties substantiates this conclusion. Moreover, when the variables of previous health, age, sex, season of year, availability of employment, the connection of wages and weather, numbers of dependents, and living conditions are considered, it becomes clear that attempting a concrete assessment would be ill advised. What of the impact of evictions on those fed by the Friends or other groups? Evictions could not be controlled by the relief agencies. Nevertheless, with this caveat in mind, for what conclusions may be drawn, the Quaker grants by provinces and counties are given in Appendix i. The expenditures break down by province as follows.

£ Munster Connaught Ulster Leinster

76,893 43>3n 21,332 9>576

s

d

3 3 17 17

o 2 4 6

By far the greatest expenditure lay in Munster, which includes Tipperary, the very severely distressed south-western counties of Kerry and Clare, as well as Limerick, Cork, and Waterford, where Quakers were established in sufficient numbers to set up subcommittees. The large expenditure in Ulster may seem contradictory if that province was really as well off with its diversified economy as it was said to be, but nineteenth-century Ulster contained the vast, barren wastes of Donegal and the off shore islands, a county where the Quakers experienced the greatest difficulty in finding anyone to administer relief. All of Connaught was severely distressed, especially Galway, Roscommon, and Mayo. It was through Donegal, Connaught, and the western counties of Munster, that the Quaker investigators journeyed continuously, but no county escaped the Famine and the Friends' relief extended through all. The distribution of boilers suggests the degree of resources in the provinces, as Ulster received 35, of which 19 were sent to Donegal, Munster was given 157 and Connaught 65, of which 29 went to Mayo, 18 to Galway, and 14 to Roscommon. In Leinster, Wexford received 10 and Kil-

167 Feeding the Hungry

kenny 12 out of a total of 37. But even the distribution of boilers is not an accurate measure of need, for if there was no one in the district to organize relief and no supplies to fill it, a boiler could save no one, as the Friends found with the two boilers landed at Belmullet in County Mayo. Largest of the relief agencies, the British Relief Association, certainly saved many lives, but as it became virtually an arm of the Treasury, it probably was not as effective as it might have been. In contributing its funds to the poor law unions in 1847, ^ could be argued that the BRA helped them to deal with the clamouring hordes and so saved many more. It could also be argued that forcing the destitute into the fever-ridden and hopelessly overcrowded union houses killed more of them than might have died on outdoor relief. The Quaker reports from fall 1847 attest to this. Moreover, one can only speculate on the extent to which the government's hand might have been forced in rescinding an ill-advised policy had the BRA joined forces with the CRC to dig in their respective heels and send a unified "No" to Trevelyan, the Gregory clause, and workhouses in general. In summarizing the Quaker relief in the Great Famine, it is especially significant from the Irish perspective that no charge of souperism was levelled against them, nor were the Quakers guilty of appropriating relief articles as was charged against some of the other clothing committees. Some clothing bundles did disappear in transit to the relief committees to which they were assigned, but that was the doing of the destitute, not the Friends themselves. The need was so great that the Friends did not try to investigate and recover lost consignments, however much they may have regretted disorderly distribution. As far as can be found in the records, there were never any charges of misappropriation or corruption in the distribution of Quaker relief. The CRC tried to guard against this by insisting on specific returns, and while it is possible that the name of some deceased or non-existent person might have been entered on a return, there were no such imputations against the Quakers. When weighing Quaker success, more must be considered at this distance than a balanced ledger or living bodies. It is significant that of all the Protestant and non-sectarian relief agencies, whether Irish or "foreign," it is the Quakers who are remembered in Ireland as having fed the starving, not Queen Victoria, who is popularly believed to have given £5 when actually she gave £2,500, and certainly not the British government. When they presented the story of their relief effort in Transactions in 1852, the Quakers judged their work to have been a failure, for despite the immeasurable effort, Ireland

i68 The Largest Amount of Good was still sunk in misery. Surely, though, in evaluating the Quaker endeavour, it would be more accurate to assess what the Quaker relief meant to the people of Ireland. Perhaps the formidable Asenath Nicholson said it best in her direct, blunt way. The Society of Friends did much to help stay the plague and their work was carried on by volunteers who asked no reward ... [The Quakers] spent no time in idle commenting on the Protestant or Papist faith, the Radical, Whig or Tory politics, but looked at things as they were and faithfully recorded what they saw ... they relieved, they talked and wrote but acted more. As I followed in their wake through the country the name of the "blessed William Forster" was on the lips of the poor cabiners ... When the question was put Who feeds you, or who sent you these clothes, the answer was the good quakers, lady and its they that have the religion entirely.109 That is no mean epitaph for a "failure."

Page of Richard Webb's report to "CRC showing editing of portion describing renegade priest.

8

A Little Thing Helps a Poor

Man If they live to reap it they will have bread. Had these industrious people been supplied with seed ... they would not need charity. 1

On 12 March 1847 a heavy travelling coach loaded with seeds for green crops — turnips, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, and other vegetables — left Dublin on the road heading west. Friend William Bennett had attended a meeting of the CRC on the previous day, placing before it his proposal to distribute green-crop seeds in the west of Ireland. Having observed the committee at work, Bennett remarked in his memoirs that the Friends were working full time, day and night, for famine relief management. 2 Following the meeting, his coach was loaded and Bennett set out for Connaught. Bennett was convinced that he had persuaded the CRC that seed distribution was an essential part of the relief work. According to him, the members questioned his proposal on the ground "that all which had been done for Ireland in the way of relief had only acted injuriously." He countered with the argument that he had worked out a plan designed to produce some concrete good. Furthermore, he had bought seed from the premier Irish dealers, W. Drummond and Sons, Dublin, based on their expert opinion of the best varieties for the area and the purpose. Not only was his coach loaded with two hundredweight each of swede (turnip), carrot, mangel-wurzel, flax, cabbage, and parsnip seed, but he carried pamphlets on the best methods of sowing the seed and crop management.3 Slowly rolling west, Bennett's coach creaked past unattended corpses lying along the road, threading a way through a ragged army of walking cadavers straggling on foot towards Dublin. He was dismayed to see the peasants abandoning the countryside. "The land

170 The Largest Amount of Good

was evidently much neglected or lying wholly waste," wrote Bennett, firmly convinced that there could not be a much greater service or "a more beneficial apportion of some small funds than in the purchase of seed for green crops and the distribution of them in some of the most remote districts in Ireland."4 Bennett himself may not have been sure of the CRC commitment to seed distribution, but it is clear from the minute books that the Friends were already prepared to take up this crucial endeavour. Ireland could not be left at the mercy of a food staple so susceptible to blight as the potato. Moreover, the failure to prepare for the coming year's harvest had been before the CRC from the beginning. Jonathan Pirn wrote to his brother James at the beginning of January 1847, declaring that "the country must be cultivated under any circumstances and at whatever cost, otherwise the coming year may only bring an aggravation of the present distress."5 As early as 20 January 1847 London Committee accepted several hundredweight of cabbage and other seed which was already in Dublin. 6 Land cultivation became the particular province of Friend William Todhunter, who devoted himself fervently to the cause. He evinced a remarkable capacity for work, as indeed did the other committee members. In February 1848 Todhunter wrote, "I give 13 to 14 hours a day to work, for some weeks, having no assistance." In addition to the seed distribution and farm projects, Todhunter would undertake the equally demanding work on the fisheries.7 As it did with the food and clothing distribution, the CRC had already begun the methodical collection of statistics. From the outset of the relief effort, applicants for assistance were sent a Questionnaire that included queries regarding the state of cultivation in the area and the condition of small farmers as well as labourers. By mid-December 1846 the CRC had received answers reporting a lack of tillage and the absence of resources among farmers throughout Ireland. In answer to your first Question, "Is the land in the possession of the small farmers in your Neighbourhood in as forward a State of Cultivation as usual at this Season of the Year." It is not The People ... neglect their land and flocked to the Public Works ... there is nothing doing in the way of Tilling or Preparing the land they have also Neglected to Clean the land that was under the Potatoe Crop and the land was covered with weeds ... and I fear the next crop will be much injured from this neglect.8

The writer, from Boyle in County Roscommon, attributed the neglect entirely to the need to labour for food money on the public

171 A Little Thing Helps a Poor Man works. It was not just the unemployed labourers who flocked to the works, he reported, but with very few exceptions, "almost all" the small farmers in his area. He was convinced that the farmers had no alternative. No potatoes were being planted in his county as no seed potatoes were available, "and if so, the People have no means to buy them." No grain crops were being sown, "nor do I think one out of 50 will have as much Corn as will Supply them in Seed after they supply in food." The resident landlord sent out a notice encouraging his tenants to prepare their farms, but "not an inch of land was prepared for the Seed." Quaker travellers and letters from their agents reported many hundreds, soon totalling thousands, of fields lying unfilled. Their findings were brought to public attention when the Friends published Distress in Ireland: Extracts from Correspondence, as well as the various reports circulating among Quaker meetings. What might seem a rather peculiar preoccupation with "turnips" on the Friends' part was in fact recognition that the need to ensure food production for the following year was just as vital as the immediate relief of starvation, especially in the west and south, where reliance on the potato was so high. Sheer, overwhelming human misery dominates the Famine literature, both contemporary and later assessments, perhaps because human suffering on such a scale could hardly leave the observer unmoved. Human affliction is more likely to unlock generosity from fellow humans. This is certainly visible in current appeals for famine victims, when television cameras focus on the helpless, rarely on barren fields. Just how critical was the failure to sow the new crop, whether from lack of seed, seed potatoes or from debility or destitution, was not discussed to the degree that the immediate famine relief needs were. In responding to forestall potentially even greater disaster, the Quakers would work again with anyone in a position to further the cause, and, as in the famine relief where they set aside popular theory about philanthropy, in this work they would overrule economic theory even more notably. Initially the Quakers undertook the supply of seed in a limited way. Although their great concern was to feed the people, they were wary of providing a grant of money or seed for a crop which the landlord might claim for rents owed. In March 1847, however, the Waterford Auxiliary Committee reported that it had made grants for seed to a number of small cottiers. Through their own efforts these men had made arable common waste land on Forth Mountain. No landlord could benefit from their labour since the cottiers were now the proprietors. The lack of tillage greatly concerned the Cork Committee, which advised the CRC at the height of the growing season in August that there were 3,439 fields, equalling about 3,884

172 The Largest Amount of Good

(Irish) acres, lying uncultivated in Dingle. "If all the food of every kind now growing comes to perfection it would not more than support the population for 10 weeks." The potatoes failed again in the Cork area in 1847, and the committee gave out turnip seed.9 The committees were soon reassured that although landlords could, and did, claim grain crops for back rent, it was virtually unknown to take root or green crops such as turnips or cabbage, perhaps for the simple reason that the produce was so little known and used that there was no market for it. The CRC concluded that it could safely undertake the distribution of seed. It soon became apparent that seed distribution was not entirely the solution to the lack of tillage. Some landlords were taking the opportunity to evict their hapless tenantry and consolidate small farms. Others, facing the burgeoning poor-rate under the government's new relief provisions of 1847, were anxious to eliminate excess population and the consequent burden of unsupportable rates. Where agents and middlemen managed the estates of absentee landlords, their interest lay in rents and the productivity of the estate, not the support of its tenantry. Moreover, encumbered — that is, indebted estates administered in Chancery — were notoriously badly run. Four-fifths of their income was taken for the debt and nothing was returned to the estate for improvement. Some landlords were willing to assist their tenants to emigrate, but others simply evicted and cleared the land by pulling down the tenant cabins, which forced the hapless peasants off the land. Newspapers on both sides of the Irish Sea described, and illustrated, the attempts of the evicted to subsist in miserable ditches roofed over with boughs or in dens hollowed out of a hillside. Consolidation of grossly subdivided farms was a measure essential to the stabilization of the Irish economy and agricultural system, particularly if the landlord wished to change over to livestock. The situation is illustrated by those so picturesque old stone walls which in some areas still divide the landscape into pocket handkerchiefs of fields, measurable in square yards rather than acres. This is particularly true in the west. Those tiny fields are impossible to farm efficiently, too small even for a plough or other equipment. The degree of labour involved in gathering those stones — for they are stones not rocks - from the fields and building them into walls indicates how poor was the land from which thousands tried to wrest a living. It was a tragic irony that the clearances, which would have made Irish agriculture more competitive, brought distress that endures in Irish memory with a unique degree of bitterness. The Irish believed they were a people robbed of the ownership of their country by the En-

173 A Little Thing Helps a Poor Man

glish Protestants and debased by the Penal Laws. Now they were being cast off without redress from the plots which were their only livelihood. It is true that there were good landlords like Lord George Hill at Gweedore, Lord Headly, or Lord Monteagle in Limerick. Landlords who beggared themselves trying to sustain their tenants in the Famine were reported by the Quaker travellers.10 It was not the well managed estates which drew attention, but the brutal abuses which provoked outraged leaders in the newspapers and rampages of tenant violence. Particularly in the west and south, where many landlords were non-resident, there is no doubt that the wholesale evictions increased the misery and spread disease, while the disruption further inhibited cultivation. The Russell government was not unaware of the fearful consequences of the failure to undertake the spring planting. Unfortunately the Russell Government's conception of economic policy only rubbed salt in the wounds. Until summer 1847 able-bodied men were not working on farms, drainage, or land reclamation but on the circumscribed, "unreproductive" public works, digging up roads. Once the new relief regulations went into effect, the ablebodied were to be collected within the Union houses, with no outside relief, except to the aged and children evicted to make room for the flood. Even the arable land was untilled. Seed had been made available through the Commissariat, but in line with the government's grasp of economic wisdom, it was to be sold, not given, so that there would be no interference with Irish trade. Very few farmers and few landlords, could buy seed after two successive years of famine, mounting poor rates and uncollected rents. The government's insistence that the seed was to be sold provoked another barbed retort from Asenath Nicholson, who experienced the consequences of government policy at first hand. "The Government had sent a supply [of seed] around the coast, the expected gift was offered at a price considerably higher than the market one, not one was able to purchase a pound. And we have since been told the lazy dogs were offered seed and refused, not willing to take the trouble to sow it."11 At Arranmore she saw barley nearly ready for harvest which had been grown from seed supplied by Bennett. As the planting season drew to a close at the end of May, the government found itself with 40,000 pounds of unsold seed on hand, even after reducing the price. Sir Randolph Routh of the Commissariat offered it to the CRC. Despite the lateness of the season, concern for the failure to till the land overcame CRC wariness. The seed was accepted and the committee marshalled its formidable resources to speed distribution. The Dublin Steam Packet Company and

174 The Largest Amount of Good

James Hartley, proprietor of a coaching firm, were approached, and both agreed to carry the seed on their routes without charge. Through its network of agents the CRC distributed 35,196 pounds of the seed in grants to 40,903 destitute farmers at a total cost for transport of only £110 55 gd, thanks to Hartley and the Dublin Steam Packet Company. William Todhunter estimated that about 9,652 acres were sown, producing about 20 tons of food per acre, or about 193,040 tons of food. This was indeed a major contribution to the support of the common people, for this was food consumed by those who produced it. It was grown neither for the payment of rent nor for export. An additional 15,680 pounds of seed was placed directly in County Mayo under the charge of Edward White, a navy officer. Overtaxed by his exertions in distributing the seed and showing the people how to use it, White succumbed to famine disease, but that seed produced another 86,000 tons of food.12 Meanwhile, William Bennett continued his journey in the west. Near Ballina he was disconcerted to see women and girls working on the roads, "labouring in mixed gangs ... digging with pick and shovel, carrying loads on their backs and wheeling barrows like men, breaking stones ... I need hardly say that the soil was totally neglected." Bennett looked for persons who were capable of organizing distribution and planting. He gave seed and pamphlets to a widow who was convinced that she could re-establish her tenants if she had seed for them. At Ballina, Bennett found a clergyman who had urged his flock to prepare the land in hopes that he would find seed. Bennett made a grant. West Ireland, he wrote, was "an ocean of destitution and nakedness." Hardly more than three months into the relief effort, Bennett found evidence that the Friends' work really was alleviating some of the misery, even if only "a drop in the ocean." The clothing sent, the fishing tackle redeemed, thirty women earning two shillings a week by spinning and manufacturing a coarse flannel — there were a few flickers of light in the darkness which was Connaught. Bennett's observations were similar to those made by the other itinerant Friends who continued with the investigative journeys throughout the Famine, to maintain as accurately as possible statistics on the true condition of Ireland. J 3 Bennett's main purpose, though, was not to collect statistics, but to encourage cultivation in order to provide food for the coming year. He did, however, record rents, which he found to be "more than double the same in England, the Irish peasant has been kept to the lowest verge of pauperism." Rents on arable land ranged from £5 to £14 per acre. "I afterwards heard of £20 per acre but was not able to substantiate so high a rent." He cited rent increases for improved

175 A Little Thing Helps a Poor Man

holdings and rents for bog land of 358 an acre, extorted by a middleman who had rented it from the landlord at 75 6d.14 Understandably, a multitude of small farmers were unable to buy seed. All the CRC'S grants were given without requirement for repayment. The only stipulation was that the person distributing the seed be assured that the recipient had his land ready for sowing. This practical requirement, although self-evident, did not originate with the CRC. The committee had on file a poster dated 16 November 1846 by which Lord Lorton advised his tenants on the Boyle and Rockingham estates that he would supply seed freely to those who had up to ten acres of land ready for sowing within three weeks.15 Friend Barclay Fox followed Bennett into the west two weeks later to investigate the state of cultivation and the possibilities for industry. Reports arriving daily in Dublin described the desperation of many women who were the support of their families yet lacked any means of employment whatever. At Clara, not far from Limerick, Fox found that the Friends relief committee there had employed a number of them in knitting. There was no market for the goods, yet the women laboured on, producing articles of very fine quality at a wage of only two pence a day. Throughout the west and south-west Fox found the same conditions: excellent work being done by the women where there was someone who could employ them, but no market for what they produced. Fox recommended urgently that the Friends set up a distribution organization in England. At Limerick, he visited the Friends' Female Employment Society, giving a grant of £10 and the same amount to a similar organization run by a clergyman. The latter was fortunate in having a contract to supply 150 dozen pairs of stockings. In King's County and Tipperary, Fox found some cultivation underway, but was depressed to see broad tracts of bog, some partially reclaimed, all lying waste. The area contained vast amounts of limestone, needing only simple processing in a lime kiln to be turned into lime, an essential dressing for bog soil, but hardly a single kiln did Fox see. He recognized that flax would thrive in that district, where there was ample water for the steeping pools needed to prepare the fibre, but much land was uncropped. He recommended grants of seed and some type of fertilizer "as the most beneficial form of relief to the small farmer, who is now suffering, not merely from his own loss but also from the bankruptcy of his conacre tenants."16 In preparation for the government's revision of the relief program, Fox found that several hundred men had been discharged from the public works at Ennis in County Clare and were without any means of support. A county magistrate was attempting to em-

176 The Largest Amount of Good ploy the women, and Fox made a grant of £ 10. The magistrate tried to involve his neighbouring landowners in draining and reclaiming waste land, but they would not co-operate to do what was necessary to carry away the water. At Gort, Fox found "some thousands" turned off the public works, no gratuitous food relief, and a crowd of women pleading for employment. Between Ennis and Galway the land was almost totally neglected. After touring Galway, where 2,000 men had been discharged from the public works, Fox concluded that seven-eighths of the arable land in counties Mayo and Galway was uncultivated. Few landlords provided seed, Fox believed, because few could or would encourage their impoverished tenants. They in turn were afraid to undertake cultivation because of the rent owed and fear that any crop would be taken for debt. "Employment is now the great want of the Irish poor — labour the great want of the Irish soil ... it appears evidently our duty to give as much efficiency as possible to the existing machinery for relief ... When that is done, I think our funds might be legitimately applied to the encouragement of productive employment.,"17 Responding at once to try to find a market for the goods manufactured by the destitute women, the London Committee sent a circular letter round the Meetings, announcing a general meeting of Friends in London on 3 6th Month 1847 to deal with the question. A committee was appointed and a large printed folder was prepared by R. Fowler, containing some of the now sadly familiar recitations of distress but making a strong appeal for the purchase of the products. Various types and weights of linen available were described, including twilled linen for sheets, thick soft towelling, and table linens. The "soft knitted stockings made by the poor women" were recommended, as were the "most beautiful shooting stockings" knitted by women who "walked many miles to obtain the work." The folder contained the names and addresses of persons who were attempting to employ the women and who were looking for orders.18 Barclay Fox went on to argue eloquently for the establishment of industrial-agricultural schools, particularly for the children. This he thought ultimately even more important than the need for employment. The Irish peasants had hardly any experience whatever beyond the spade-labour cultivation of potatoes and one or two grain crops raised for rent. Fox ended his report by urging that the Friends "not be discouraged by the thought that individual exertion can accomplish little." Fox had touched on a critical issue. Irish labourers had been debased for so long that they simply did not know how to do things. Much public work was wasted because there

lyy

A Little Thing Helps a Poor Man

were not enough experienced people who knew how to measure and lay out the work and who knew how, technically, to do the various tasks. This general lack of experience existed at higher levels than among country labour. An enraged, if hilarious, letter exists from Jacob Harvey in New York to Jonathan Pirn. Harvey had attempted to find a market for Guinness ale, but the brewery was inexperienced in shipping to America. "I am sorry to have to tell thee that Guiness deserves to be dipped in a porter vat!! Only think of sending out porter in Champaign [sic] bottles & without wires to this climate! Half or so was lost on arrival. The London brewers never commit such blunders. It was no fault of thine but I hate to see so much good liquor lost thru carelessness."19 James Hack Tuke of York, who had travelled with W.F. Forster, undertook a return visit to Connaught in the autumn of 1847 to look into cultivation and evictions.20 He discovered that of the 46,000 farms in County Mayo, 44,000 were under fifteen acres, and many were held by men who clung tenaciously to the title of "farmer" yet were too poor to employ labourers. In Mayo and Galway a very considerable portion of land that in other years had produced crops was left waste and uncultivated. "This is no doubt in part owing to the decrease in population which is much more perceptible than I had anticipated ... In Mayo alone the diminution of the population by death or emigration is estimated ... at 100,000 or one quarter of the whole."21 Tuke's observations were substantiated by a worried Pim, who wrote to William H. Pim, also on the CRC, "There were over 6400 evictions at the Ballina sessions, a large portion for rent and much of those for con acre where the potato had failed."22 Tuke confirmed that the seed distribution had benefited the poor farmers. "In some places the crops of mangel wurzel and turnips were really good." Ignorance of root crops was apparent, for the farmers had not known how to sow them in rows or to thin them for the proper development of the root. They had broadcast the seed like grain and consequently produced top growth but not very substantial roots. "Notwithstanding this, the value of the distribution of this seed can hardly be over-estimated, even the tops and scanty root of the turnip have formed the diet of thousands of poor people, many of whom would otherwise have perished, and multitudes are daily looking with anxiety to the failure even of this subsistence."23 In line with its quiet policy of operating in its own way and presenting the government with evidence of its own inadequate policies, the CRC kept the cultivation and seed distribution issue before Trevelyan. On 7 June 1847 he was advised that up to 5 June, 21,753 pounds of turnip seed, 2,960 pounds of mangel-wurzel seed, and

178 The Largest Amount of Good

2,490 pounds of carrot seed had been granted through west Ulster and Connaught. Letters from the recipients "expressed much anxiety for a further supply." Todhunter also reported in detail to Routh at the Commissariat, and Pim used the opportunity to keep the CRC'S concerns on other matters before Trevelyan as well.24 May I request thy attention to his remark about the turnip seed, the institution of which will have cropped many a field which would otherwise have remained unproductive this season ... There are many parts where the Gentry have neither the will nor the power to distribute at their own cost ... Some of our correspondents fear want of firing next winter, since so little is now being down for its preparation. Our poor people are but children in industry & there are few to put them aright.*5

Significantly, in measuring the success of the CRC'S efforts, the government's relief Commissioners reported at the end of 1847 "that beans, carrots, turnips &c., have been largely planted in the country instead of potatoes and that their cultivation is better understood."26 Sometimes, however, even the best of intentions turn sour. The turnip crops the CRC spread over west and south Ireland fed the starving in 1847—48, but where the turnip was the sole food, it contributed to the debilitating dysentery. "The chief food of the poor now is turnip, these do not agree with them and produce dysentery where the turnip, except the Swedes of which there is not very much, become bad ... a gentleman told me that nearly all the turnip were plundered but he did not punish the [thieves] knowing their fearful distress and mortality. 27 Nevertheless, the benefit of the initial distribution of green crops was so valuable that the CRC considered another distribution in 1848, debating the issue at the meeting of 10 February. The committee invited the British Relief Association to participate in the endeavour, but the BRA declined, as it had done the previous year when Routh had offered it the unsold seed as well as to the CRC. Despite this rejection, the CRC determined to continue distribution on its own, as its "conviction of the importance of this object is so strong that we think it right to appoint William Todhunter, James Perry, Thomas Pim jun., and the Secretaries to a sub-committee to carry it into effect; and it is proposed to place sufficient funds at their disposal, even should the required sum amount to £5000 which is about the present estimate."28 Turnip, carrot, parsnip, and cabbage seeds were purchased and distributed in twenty-four counties, excepting only the relatively prosperous north east, but including south and west Ulster. Henry

179 A Little Thing Helps a Poor Man

Christy and the London Committee pulled all the strings at their considerable disposal to gain the best prices and types of seed, even looking to the introduction of new strains from America and Germany. In March, Christy wrote that the distribution was "the boldest and most promising effort to introduce a widely extended culture of green crops in the West of Ireland, that has yet been attempted." Great care taken for the quality of seed bore fruit when reports came in of the failure of seed purchased from local dealers. "The people say that it was not only that the gratuitous distribution was a great boon, but that while Country bought seeds failed generally, and as they say 'robbed the farmers,' the seeds sent by your Society were every where sound and productive beyond all precedent."29 The seed purchased- 122,872 pounds-was sown over 31,593 Irish acres in grants to 143,252 persons. There were 505 pounds of onions distributed, but no returns were received on their distribution. The cost was £6,271 145 2d. Some small stock of seed remaining from 1847 was given out, for a total distribution of 133,796 pounds, sown over 32,446 Irish acres in 148,094 grants30. There is no denying the importance of the Quakers' work in introducing a variety of crops and reducing dependence on the treacherous potato. Indeed, when in the summer of 1848 yet another crop failure appeared inevitable, the government, in near panic, approached the CRC. Would the committee undertake a relief program and put in seed orders for distribution in 1849? As has already been discussed, the Quakers declined to consider general relief distribution, for they maintained their insistence on government responsibility for its policies, but they were ready to continue with the seed program and the encouragement of industry. Unending rain and storms marked 1848. Aware of reports of blight and crop failure, the CRC polled its agents all over Ireland on the condition of the crops, adding the responses to the statistical returns on the seed program. Despite some patches of potato blight, the crops were adequate, although the growing season had been poor. Trevelyan was sent the reports.31 Evictions coloured consideration of further seed distribution. Untold scores of evicted cottiers affected the possibilities of introducing new crops, for Ireland was farmed with spade labour. Areas where evictions were high presented a double dilemma: the depopulation of farm labour and the hordes of those same labourers desperately looking for employment. It was a vexing and ironic problem that what was supposed to be the salvation of Irish agriculture caused such distress. Moreover, in the crisis, employment and food crops seemed more needful than raising livestock. Friends' humanitarian

180 The Largest Amount of Good

principles were also affronted by the harshness of the "drivers," the Irish Constabulary, who enforced the evictions and by the pitiful condition of those forced out of their cabins, which were pulled down behind them. Therefore, as well as surveying the state of cultivation, 'Tuke's tour of Connaught in fall 1847, was undertaken to investigate the evictions which were then a matter of great scandal in the newspapers. In his report, Tuke acknowledged that there were "noble exceptions," but he castigated those landlords who were "pursuing a course which cannot fail to add to the universal wretchedness and poverty." He described the callous brutality of the bailiffs and reported in detail the numbers of cabins, pulled down giving the names of the landlords and the depopulated villages. It is never apparent in his "official" writing, but Tuke had a sense of fun. Some of the landlords, irate at being named in Tuke's Visit as evictors, threatened to lay hands on him if he were ever again caught setting foot in their villages. Tuke obviously relished the situation and managed to get into the villages he wanted to inspect, chortling to Hodgkin from Ballina, where he had gone to investigate a complaint,"Notwithstanding the horsewhipping I was told would be my lot were it known that I was here, I found all the houses but one in village pulled down and the whole of the people dependent on the poor rate for support." Tuke's statistical bent would later cause the CRC great embarrassment.32 Tuke reported that the soil and conditions of Connaught were well suited to the growing and manufacture of flax. He discussed at length the flax farming project underway at Newport, directed by Sir Richard O'Donnell, which was currently employing one thousand workers. O'Donnell's undertaking was a product of the CRC decision to encourage industry and provide employment in order to reduce dependence on the potato. O'Donnell had written to the CRC on 25 April 1847, acknowledging receipt of relief provisions entrusted to him and urging the CRC to consider the neglected state of cultivation. "Only if prompt and decisive measures are taken without a moments loss of time, nothing can save the country from the repetition next year of the present circumstances ... Even now the time has past for sowing oats, but we still have time to put in a flax crop." Flax was O'Donnell's "only hope for the poor," since he believed it was the one crop likely to be remunerative. Seed was available in Westport at a good price, "but unless very many of the people can procure the seed gratuitously they will not be able to purchase it." O'Donnell asked the Society to consider a grant, offering "all my influence and exertions to accomplish this most important object, the cultivation of the land, indeed I have not the smallest doubt in my

181 A Little Thing Helps a Poor Man mind if I had 100 Ib of flax seed at my disposal which would cost £250 it would do much for the poor. I will give you my subscription towards this most desirable object £50 and would willingly give the entire amt. if it was in my power to do so."33 Pim responded by return with further inquiries, and O'Donnell replied that he had already "purchased 94 tons, 13 cwt 61/* qrts seed and hopes for £200 to give to those who are making exertions to till their land." Said O'Donnell, "A little thing helps a poor man." O'Donnell was already £4000 out of pocket for seed and fertilizer given to his tenants. He asked the tenants to promise repayment but admitted that the country was so destitute that the likelihood of getting anything back was slim. Nevertheless, it was important for his tenants' self-respect that they could feel they were taking a loan. In the circumstances, O'Donnell had engaged to purchase the flax seed conditionally until he heard whether the CRC could make a grant, knowing that the tenants might not be able to repay.34 In the time between receiving O'Donnell's initial request and the reply just noted, Pim did a remarkable thing. Because time was so late and he was unable to consult with his co-secretary, Bewley, he sent £250 out of his own pocket "rather than incur the risk of delay." He thought O'Donnell should take whatever promise of repayment the recipients could give, but "I dont ask thee to be in any way security for the payment but should hope for thy assistance in obtaining payment of the debt when the crop may be gathered and fit for sale and consider that they should enjoy a priority over thy own rents. We know the destitute condition of the districts in thy neighbourhood and are aware that some of those to whom seed may be supplied may actually be in want of food."35 Aside from the fact that this was his own money, Pim deliberately eschewed the shibboleth that loans should be guaranteed. After O'Donnell's second letter arrived, Pim wrote again on 5 May. "I am fully aware of the doubtful character of any security the poor farmers can give and the strong probability that much and probably the whole may be lost. I still wish thee to make the proposed use of the money taking the best security the farmers can give, acting in short exactly as thou would in thine own case. If anything be repaid it is well, if not, we cannot help it. I wish it to be fully understood that I do not hold thee in any respect accountable"^ Pim laid the undertaking before the CRC and wrote again to O'Donnell asking for more local information on cultivation, industrial employment, and the working of the amended Poor Law. He particularly wanted to know what proportion of the land was being tilled compared with the previous year, the crops sown, the poor-

182 The Largest Amount of Good

rate, and whether the new relief system could "support the poor alive." He expected the CRC would be "prepared to make some addition" when the £250 was expended, but as this was "with one exception the only grant we have made for seed," he needed the information to "prove the importance and value of the expenditure.'^ When in early summer 1847 tne Russell government moved to bring its entire famine relief under the Poor Law, the direction the Quakers were to take became an urgent issue. As well as the enormous burden of relief, they had undertaken the first seed distribution and compiled a statistical picture of Ireland second to none. Furthermore, the Quakers were not blind to the fact of structural poverty in Ireland and attributed it neither to innate flaws in the Irish character nor to Catholicism. Their perception of the true nature of the emergency - that it was rooted in the condition of Ireland - resulted in their decision to direct their resources to projects with the potential for long-term betterment. Their various projects reveal the clarity and degree of Quaker understanding of Ireland and of the limitations of philanthropy. The issue is complex, because the Quakers did not elucidate their reasoning in one aggregate argument. Their position, directed always by their sense of duty and stewardship, developed from their various undertakings which were formulated to meet the exigencies of the moment, combined with their understanding of Ireland's broader need. It was partially a question of refocusing priorities. Relieving the Famine had been their first goal, yet they saw clearly that its causes must be attacked. From the beginning of their work, the Quakers looked for permanent betterment, as the seed distribution shows. Moreover, their position was tied to their conception of state responsibility and to their belief that they had "a duty" to relieve the starving. Clearly, land cultivation, the diversification of crops, industry and employment were needs as pressing as the famine relief. Russell's government was about to bring the relief system under the rigid aegis of the Poor Law, and the Quaker position had been, at least officially, not to interfere in government measures. There was no doubt, though, that the leading members of the committees were convinced that private philanthropy could not possibly relieve the additional distress this measure would cause. Tuke declared forthrightly, "It is impossible for any charitable association to supply the vacuum caused by the expiration of the 'Temporary Relief Act,' which, whatever may be said of it, doubtless saved multitudes of lives."38 Accordingly, the Friends called a steering conference in

183 A Little Thing Helps a Poor Man

London on 31 May 1847 an Pim Papers, MS 8668 [no number]. 23 Ibid. Pirn identified the extract copies as from Letters of Lord Chesterfield (1845). 24 T. Wemyss Reid, Life of the Rt. Honourable William Edward Forster, i: 174-5, 181. W.F. Forster (1784-1854), the great abolitionist, was the father of W.E. Forster, later known as the much reviled Buckshot Forster during his term as chief secretary for Ireland. There is much confusion in the literature as to which Forster made the journey for the London Committee, confusing W.F. Forster's long journey with his son's preliminary venture. Most authors repeat one another and state without support that it was W.E. Foster, possibly relying on an early article by O'Neill, "The Society of Friends and the Great Famine." It is clear from a study of the Quaker documents that it was his father, W.F Forster of Norwich, who undertook the investigative journey. W.E. Forster joined his father from 18 to 26 January 1847. The son's report includes the date in the title, and the opening sentence begins, "I left Dublin by mail, on the 17th ultimo, and joined my father and his companions at Westport." Old Forster travelled first with Joseph Crosfield of Liverpool and Dr. Bewley of Moate, joined by Marcus Goodbody, who owned the linen mills at Clara, and for a short time by Thomas Clibborn of Moate, who only went as far as Athlone. James Hack Tuke joined Forster and Goodbody for the second, third and fourth week of the trip, and the party occasionally split up to cover more ground, as they were delayed by the severe weather. William Dillwyn Sims joined Forster for the fifth and sixth weeks, Goodbody and Tuke left, and George Alexander joined, followed in a few days by William Todhunter and Jonathan Pirn. Sims refers to Forster throughout his Narrative as "W.F." 25 London Committee, The Distress in Ireland, 2 12th Month, 1846. 26 Jonathan Pirn to W.H. Pirn, 29 ist Month 1847, NLI, Pirn Papers, MS 8669.

299

Notes to pages 93—104

27 PROI, iA42~4328 London Committee, minute books, FHL London, MSS box ¥—3, book i. 29 Daly, The Famine in Ireland, 89—92. 30 Crosfield and London Committee, Letter from Joseph Crosfield, containing a Narrative of the first week of William Forster's Visit to some of the Distressed Districts in Ireland, London, 9 12th Month 1846, FHL London, tract box 99. 31 Ibid. 32 Jonathan Pirn to James Perry, 2 ist Month 1847. This letter was printed and circulated by the London Committee. See London Committee, minute books, FHL, MSS V—3, no. 2. 33 "Mixed manure" was a requisite dressing for bog soil which included barnyard manure, lime, and seaweed. 34 Tuke and London Committee, Narrative of the Second, Third and Fourth Weeks of William Forster's visit to Some of the distressed Districts in Ireland, FHL London, tract box 99, rxGi. 35 O'Flaherty, Famine, 364—5. 36 Sims and London Committee, Narrative of the Fifth and Sixth Weeks of William Forster's Visit to Some of the Distressed Districts in Ireland, FHL London, tract box 99, 1—759. 37 W.E. Forster and London Committee, Distress in Ireland, Narrative of William Edward Forster's Visit in Ireland. This pamphlet too was widely reprinted in Quaker journals on both sides of the Atlantic. 38 W.F. Forster, Ballina, to Joseph Crosfield, 17 3rd Month, 1847, FHL London, MSS box 8—164. 39 Ibid. A very long extract from Forster's report was printed in CRC, Transactions, 153—60. 40 Forster, Distress in Ireland. 41 Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger, 162—64. Among polemicists, see for example, Gallagher, Paddy's Lament. 42 CRC, Distress in Ireland: Extracts from Correspondence, i: 19—22, reported the sequence in detail, including long extracts from the correspondence with the Cork subcommittee. 43 James Perry, London Committee, to Jonathan Pirn, 6 ist Month 1847, NLI, Pim MSS 8669. 44 CRC, minute books, 22 4th Month 1847, 82, PROI, ^42-139. 45 CRC, Distress in Ireland: Extracts from Correspondence, i: 25. 46 Letter from Bewley in Dublin advising that the bank would not charge commission, London committee, minute books, 6 ist Month 1847, FHL London, MSS box ¥—3. 47 London Committee, To The Subscribers To the Irish Relief Fund of the Society Of Friends, London, 2nd ist Month 1847, FHL London, tract box 99- 1:758-

300 Notes to pages 104-9 48 Ibid., 26. 49 The addresses and narratives printed to date cost 1,32 i8s lod. London committee, minute books, 30 i2th Month 1846, FHL London, MSS box ¥-3. 50 London Committee, To the Subscribers, 2 ist Month 1847. 51 London Committee, minute books, 6 ist Month 1847, FHL London, MSS box ¥—3. 52 See Irish Folklore Commission, Famine Papers, book 1069, no. 231. These papers are at University College, Dublin. 53 CRC, Transactions, 55—6; Extracts from Correspondence, i: 16, 2: 49—63; CRC grantees books, PROI iA42, 116—19. 54 CRC, minute books. PROI, i A42-39, book i : 38. 55 London Committee, minute books, 6 ist Month 1847, FHL London, MSS box V—3. 56 CRC, Transactions, 58—9; CRC, Distress in Ireland: Extracts from Correspondence, 2: 30—1. George Hancock and Edmund Richards were aboard the ships. Hancock's letters to Crosfield in Liverpool will be discussed below. 57 London Committee, minute books, 30 i2th Month 1846; 6, 13, 15, and 20 of 1st Month 1847, FHL London, MSS box V-3 58 London Committee, minute books, 30 12th Month 1846, FHL London, MSS box V—3. CHAPTER SIX: NATIONAL

A R E M A R K A B L E M A N I F E S T A T I O N OF

SYMPATHY

1 CRC, Distress in Ireland: Extracts from Correspondence, 3:3. 2 Yearly Meetings, minute books, QL Swarthmore; London Y.M. Yearly Meeting 1849, FHL London, tract box 99, vol. E: 783. 3 C. Saunders to Edward March, 27 12th Month 1846, FHL London, MSS box V~3- In the 18405 Greater London had not yet swallowed Surrey in the agricultural south. British agriculture had not recovered from the post-1815 slump, and in the Hungry Forties Saunders's Meeting likely was "few ... and poor" compared with London and those in the Midlands and north. 4 CRC, Transactions, 35. 5 Richard Bell, of Taunton, to London Committee, 23 i2th Month 1846, FHL London, MSS box ¥—3. 6 London Committee, Minute books, 30 i2th Month 1846 and 2 ist Month 1847, FHL London, MSS box V-3. See Rolt, Brunei, 257-72 on crossing times. 7 London Committee, Address to Friends in North America, FHL Dublin, room 4, shelf J, box i, 236. See also London Committee, Minute books, 2 ist Month 1847, FHL London, MSS box ¥-3.

301 Notes to pages 109—12 8 London Committee, Minute books, 2 ist Month 1847, FHL London, MSS box V-3. 9 Dublin Committee, Minute books, 22 4th Month 1847, PROI, i A42—139, 79-80. 10 Richard Allen, Dublin, Letter to the Secretaries and members of the Central Relief Committee, Dublin, 2 February 1847, Printed, 3 pages. FHL London, MSS 164, 34. 11 Friends' Weekly Intelligencer 2, no. 13 (December 1845): 293; 3, no. 4 (1846): 3113 (October 1846): 222, reporting the total failure, and copying reports from the Mayo Constitution and the Belfast Chronicle. The last issue, 294, reported the government's public work projects, which were also described in The Friend (Philadelphia), 20 (1846-47): 112. 12 Letter from Benjamin Ladd, Smithfield Jefferson County, Ohio, London Committee, Minute Books, 20 ist Month 1847. 13 See the Cope Correspondence at QC Haverford. The Pim Correspondence, NLI, MS 8669, contains many letters between Pim and American Friends, especially to Jacob Harvey and Thomas Pim Cope. 14 New York Year Meeting, Circular: Distress in Ireland, 6 ist Month 1847. I am indebted to Christopher Densmore, SUNY, Buffalo, who found this reference bound in a copy of the Non-Slave Holder and kindly made it available. The Friend (Philadelphia), 20 (1846-47): 119, printed the Circular of the Philadelphia Committee, announcing its establishment, appealing for donations, and asking that members spread the information widely. The Friends' Weekly Intelligencer printed the Philadelphia Committee appeal on 20 February 1847, m> 37 2 15 Sarbaugh, "A Moral Spectacle." Eire-Ireland, 15, no. 4, n.d, 6—14. 16 Thomas Hunt of Springfield, Guildford Co. N.C., to Henry Cope, Philadelphia, QC Haverford, Cope Family Papers, box 1013, additions box lE, 1793—1865, Henry Cope File. Cope's reply is written on the bottom of the letter and is dated "3rd Month i, 1847." 17 See Potter, To The Golden Door, 450, 453—5. 18 Forbes and Lee, Massachusetts's Help For Ireland, \. This 82-page publication is substantial and very detailed. The records of the New England Relief Committee of Distribution to Ireland and Scotland are preserved in the Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House Collection, Milton, Mass. Thomas D'Arcy McGee was a leading figure of the Repeal Association. He would later play a fiery but brief role in the politics of the newly created Canada as a member of the first parliament, but he was assassinated within a year of Confederation. 19 Transactions, 46—7, 220, 256. 20 Forbes and Lee, Massachusetts's Help for Ireland, 7. 21 IRC, Philadelphia, to the CRC, 25 February 1847. 22 Forbes and Lee, Massachusetts's Help for Ireland, 8.

302

Notes to pages 113—6

23 Boston Daily Advertiser, 23 October 1846. 24 Forbes and Lee, Massachusetts's Help for Ireland, refering to Punch 11: 106, 118; 12: 83, 125, 220, without indicating the year. Edwards and Williams, The Great Famine, 130, printed an example of Punch's anti-Irish stance in a cover identified as "Punch, 1846". See also Darling, Political Changes in Massachusetts. 25 "Report of the Proceedings of a Public Meeting Held at Washington for the Relief of the suffering Poor of Ireland," Transactions, 224—6. Letter to the CRC, 10 February 1847, signed by Daniel Webster, E.A. Hannegan, Orville Dewey, Edward Curtis, and W.E. Robinson, ibid., 227. Nearing the end of his great career, Webster was a Senator from Massachusetts. It is a somewhat irrelevant piece of esoterica, but the Texas city was named for Vice-President Dallas. 26 Transactions, 49, 267. 27 Josiah Forster to M. Cope, Philadelphia, 3 3rd Month 1847, Qc Haverford, M. Cope Correspondence, box A-J. Forster asked Cope to advise Friends of this concession, if they could send meal or provisions. See Transactions, 349, for tables of freight paid. 28 Forbes and Lee, Massachusetts's Help for Ireland, 21; Transactions, 334. Sarbaugh, "A Moral Spectacle," 18. Sarbaugh asserts unequivocally that "most of the United States' relief passed through the Society of Friends." For the Indian donation, see IRC, New York, to CRC, 19 May 1847, PROI i A42—39. A variety of letters are printed in Transactions, 216—328, illuminating the broad range of people who were moved to send what they had. 29 Transactions, 335. 30 Howitt, Our Cousins in Ohio, 237—43, based on the diary of her sister. Christopher Densmore of SUNY, Buffalo, made this available. 31 Jacob Harvey to William H. Pim, 30 March, 1847, NLI, Pirn MSS 8668, 521. 32 Philadelphia Committee, Report of the Central Committee of Friends of Philadelphia, 9 gth Month 1847 QL Swarthmore. 33 IRC, Lexington Va., to CRC, 8 May 1847; IRC, Steubenville, Ohio, to CRC, 17 May 1847; Anthony Barclay, British consul in New York, to CRC for Port Hope, Canada West [Ontario], 31 March 1847; PKOI, iA42—39. Middlings are pork cuts (bacon) taken between the shoulder and the ham, hence the middle of the hog. 34 State of Michigan to Bewley and Pim, July 10, 1847, with Address, PROI, iA42—39. 35 Philadelphia Committee, Report. 36 Boston Daily Advertiser, 25 February 1847; Friend (Philadelphia), 20 (6 March 1847): 192. Burritt began life as a blacksmith, became a pacifist, and founded the League of International Brotherhood. He

303

37 38 39

40 41 42 43 44 45

46

47 48 49 50

51 52 53

54

Notes to pages 117—23

organized a peace congress in Brussels in 1848, and from 1863 to 1870 was U.S. consul at Birmingham. Polk, Diary of James K. Polk, 2: 396. Forbes and Lee, Massachusetts's Help for Ireland, 35. Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger, 245. The Americans were surprised by the quantities of fine foods available at the height of the Famine to those who could afford it. Jacob Harvey to William H. Pirn, 29 May 1847, NLI, Pim Papers, MS 8668. PROI iA42~39Transactions, 343. Parsippany is still tiny; it is in the Mountain Lakes area of New Jersey, northwest of Newark, between Dover and Denville. Friends' Weekly Intelligencer 4 (18 gth Month 1847): 197. Friend (Philadelphia), 20 (1846—47): 152, 160, 168, 192, 200, 288. IRC, Brooklyn, to CRC, 11 May 1847; IRC, Cincinnati, to CRC, 22 October 1847, PROI ^42-39. Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849), was a British writer living in Ireland. Jacob Harvey, New York, to W.H. Pim, 30 March 1847, NLI, Pim MSS 8669. Harvey thought Pim was on the Tweed. He was not, but Friend Matthews was lost. CRC, Distress In Ireland: Extracts from Correspondence i (January 1847); 2 (February 1847); 3 (March 1847). Transactions, 328. Ibid., 232. Ibid., 235. Certainly there were many Irish in America, even before the vast influx of wretched people escaping the Famine. The United States was in the midst of its great rail boom and the tough, experienced Irish navvy was greatly in demand. Miller, Emigrants and Exiles, provides an excellent study of Irish immigration to America and the experience of the Irish in their new land. PROI, ^42-40. The correspondence, all carefully marked by Pim with its disposition, and the copy of the £30 draft, survive. Sarbaugh, "A Moral Spectacle," 8. Four pages of ledger, listing port of export, ship, consignee, tonnage, and value, PROI, ^42-34. Unfortunately another twenty-one pages of ledger, tied together, listing the American contributions by donor group, does not contain dates. See also Transactions, 324-7; Bewley to James Reyburn, Treasurer of the IRC, New York, 14 7th Month 1848; Transactions, 328; Friends' Weekly Intelligencer, 4 ( 1 8 September 1847): 197. IRC, Charleston, S.C., 19 February 1847; CRC, Distress in Ireland: Extracts from Correspondence, 3: 15—6. A further £300 was forwarded on 23 February 1847.

304 Notes to pages 124-30 55 BRA, minute books, NLI, MS 2022. See, for example, 16 February 1847 and 25 February 1847. 56 Forbes and Lee, Massachusetts's Help for Ireland, 14. 57 Transactions, 333—4. 58 Transactions, 474—8. Writer's discussion with officials at Head Office, Bank of Ireland, June 1983. Canadian banking officials have suggested that to multiply by eight for current North American value would be more accurate, bringing the figure to about $5,993,000. 59 IRC, Madison, Ind., to CRC, 21 May 1847: Transactions, 243. 60 IRC, Ottawa, Lazalle County, 111., to CRC, July 1847; Transactions, 246—7. 61 Lord Palmerston to the British Ambassador at Washington, for transmission to the American government. Printed in Transactions, 329—33. Russell's reply to a donation sent via his care is included, as well as a section of the debate in Parliament on a motion asking the Queen to respond to the American people. 62 Transactions, 48. 63 CRC, Distress in Ireland: Extracts From Correspondence, 3:3. CHAPTER SEVEN: FEEDING THE HUNGRY AND CLOTHING THE NAKED 1 Joseph Bewley to Josiah Forster, 9 2nd Month 1848, commenting on the Treasury's request to unite with the British Relief Association and to direct CRC relief to the union houses under the Poor Law, FHL London, MSS box 8—164, 49. 2 Jonathan Pim and Bewley to London Committee, 22nd ist Month 1847, FHL London, Minute book 2, MSS ¥—3. See also CRC, Minute books, 25 3rd Month 1847, PR OI, iA42—139, 55—56. 3 CRC, Minute books, 22 4th Month 1847, 79—83, PROI, iA42—139, Trevelyan to Routh, 6 April 1847; Transactions, 369—71. The Cork subcommittee received its own cargoes as it was able to take charge. Correspondence with the Commissariat officials and Trevelyan is not all available; part is missing from the designated box in the PROI, i A42—38. Fortunately, enough was printed in Transactions and was written into the minutes to trace the negotiations. 4 Cargo details in Distress in Ireland: Second Report of the London Committee, 17 3rd Month 1847, FHL London, tract box 99, 1-759. 5 George Hancock, aboard Albert, to the CRC, 2nd Month 1847, FHL London, MSS 8—164; excerpts are printed in Transactions, 169—71. 6 Edmund Richards, Belmullet, to CRC, 6 3rd Month 1847, Transactions, 172. 7 Richard Webb, Belmullet, to Bewley and Pim, 8 5th Month 1847, 1A42-34.

305 Notes to pages 131—4 8 Ibid. This was a very long letter. 9 James Harvey, Limerick, to "Dear Jonathan" [Pirn], 19 8th Month 1847, PROI 1 A42-34. Peat is dug in the summer and cut into brick-sized blocks, which are dried for use. It is still a principal fuel source in Ireland, sold commercially in briquettes, and in the west, used in the traditional form. Families rent a section of peat bog and may be seen cutting and stacking their peat throughout the summer. Discussion with T.P. O'Neill, University College, Galway, and visit with him to the turbary areas, June 1983. 10 Pim and James Perry, Galway, to the CRC, 28 3rd Month 1847, PROI, ^42-39; Transactions, 194; PROI ^42-139-40. Transactions, 468—71, lists gratuitous distribution by week. 11 Pim and Perry, from Clifden, to the CRC, 30 3rd Month 1847, PROI iA42—39; Transactions, 196. Trevelyan's avowed policy was to force the landlords to carry their share by refusing grants until a relief committee was functioning, then matching grants were allocated. Ultimately, the government granted £3,041 is 3d in Clifden, and in the Clifden union in total, the sum of £12,096 145 id. How much was repaid is not known. See "Supplementary Appendix to the Seventh Report of the Relief Commissioners," PP, 1847—48 (956), xxix. 12 The count was a throw-back to the eighteenth-century universal man, famous for his account of his exploration of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, which was long the standard work on Australia. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Geographical Society, which awarded him its Founder's Medal in 1846. During the famine he acted as the BRA'S agent in Ireland. After the Famine, he worked on the Duke of Wellington's emigration committee. Later, he worked with Sydney Herbert in the Crimean War on behalf of the wounded, going to the front to meet Florence Nightingale. It was due to Strzelecki's influence with John Delane, editor of The Times, that Nightingale's articles were published by that paper. See Strzelecki Committee, Life of Sir Paul Edward, Count Strzelecki. 13 Pim and Perry from Newport, to the CRC, i 4th Month 1847, PROI, iA42—39. Extracts in Transactions, 194—8. 14 Bewley to Sir John Burgoyne, 5 5th Month 1847, and Burgoyne to Bewley, 13 April 1847, PROI, Relief Commission Papers, iA5O—71, no. 17293 and no. 19570. See also Transactions, 362—6, and CRC, Minute books, 15 4th Month 1847, PROI, ^42-139. 15 Webb to CRC, 8 5th Month 1847; letters collected as "Richard D. Webb's Visit to the Counties of Mayo & Galway by desire of The Central Relief Committee of Friends," FHL Dublin, MS Collection, room 4, shelf 0—33. Extracts were included in Transactions, 198—204. Webb revisited Erris in 1848. For a review of the famine diseases, which car-

306 Notes to pages 134-41

16

17 18 19

ried off as many as starvation, see MacArthur, "Medical History of the Famine," in Edwards and Williams, The Great Famine, 260—318. Webb, from Belmullet, to CRC, 13 5th Month 1847 FHL Dublin MS Collection, room 4, shelf 0—33. Webb commented no further on the prisoners. The lack of violence among the starving and the safety of those travelling among them is noted in letters from many agents and travellers. Ibid., from Ballycroy, Erris, Co. Mayo, 16 5th Month 1847. William Todhunter to Pirn, 16 gth Month 1847, PROI, ^42-41. Letters of Edmund Richards to the CRC; excerpts printed in Transactions, 172—73.

20 Nicholson, Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger. A portion of this volume was printed in the Friends' Weekly Intelligencer 4: 318. 21 Nicholson, Annals of the Famine in Ireland, 30—8, 45.

22 Ibid., 34, 126—8. 23 Ibid., 45. 24 See Transactions, 53—4.

25 Jonathan Pim to W.H. Pirn, 29 ist Month 1847, NLI, Pim MSS 8669. 26 William Bennett, Narrative of a Recent Journey of Six Weeks in Ireland, 6.

27 Accounts of the Charles St. Soup Shop, PROI, i A42—162. Also extracts in Transactions, 358—60. 28 Nicholson, Annals, 60. 29 Nicholson, Annals, 171, 174—5. 30 London Committee, Minute books, 14 4th Month 1847, FHL London, MSS box V-3- ("£1000 paid to Geo. Crosfield & Co. for rice. Agreed.") 31 CRC, Rice, six-page printed circular, FHL London, MS vol. 8—164, and "Rice Porridge," printed recipe pasted into CRC, Minute books, PROI, iA42—139. Also, a one-page circular dated 26 3rd Month 1847, from the CRC, recommending the use of rice for the sick, was pasted into London committee, Minute book no. 2, FHL London, MSS box V—3. 32 PROI, iA42-i6. 33 10 Viet., c-7. Sir John Burgoyne headed the new commission, whose members represented the poor law commissioners, the Board of Works, the constabulary, and the Commissariat. 34 See O'Neill, "The Distribution of Relief in Edwards and Williams, The Great Famine, 235—7. See a'so SPOI > Commissariat Correspondence, i: 33335 Quaker recipe, CRC, Minute books, February 1847, 4^> PROI, iA42-i39, (printed recipe and instructions pasted in). The Soyer recipes are printed in Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger, 178. 36 Statement of Receipts and Distribution of Money Provisions & Boilers

307

37

38 39 40

41 42 43 44

45 46

47 48 49

50 51 52 53 54

Notes to pages 141-5

... from the ggth of nth Month 1846 to the ist of 5th Month 1848, CRC, Ledger, PROI, ^42-34. The expenditures in predominately Protestant Ulster should have given the lie to those who claimed the famine was a punishment for popery. CRC, Distress in Ireland: Preliminary Report, 19 6th Month 1848. Transactions, 438-45; Friend (London) gth Month 1848: 163-5; Friend (Philadelphia) 22 (1848), 122-3. James Brown, PP, Ballintubber, to CRC, Return of relief granted, 13 May 1848, PROI, iA42— 39. Kingsland porridge shop, Returns of supplies and persons relieved, week ending 27 June 1847, PROI, iA42— 16. Maria Edgeworth to CRC clothing committee, 18 February 1847, [no number]; Archdeacon Trulock of Dromore West to CRC clothing committee, marked no. 427; both in PROI, iA42—43. London committee, An Appeal for Clothing the Naked and Destitute Irish, 3 pages, printed, January 1847, PROI, ^42-43. PROI, iA42— 43; Transactions, 70. CRC, Distress in Ireland: Address of the Sub-Committee for Clothing Affairs, May 1847, FHL London, MSS box 8—164. For example, Irish and Scottish Destitution, Fund for Clothing, Report of the Committee, March 1847, FHL London, MSS box 8—164, showing £279 75 5d distributed. The reports of the various ladies' societies to encourage women's industry are included in the clothing files, since the two groups worked together. CRC, Minute books, 10 7th Month 1847, 108, PROI, iA42— 141. CRC, Distress in Ireland: Sub-Committee for Clothing Affairs, Regulations and Observations (no date, but obviously early 1847, since a copy is pasted into London committee minute book of early 1847, FHL London, MSS box 8-164-18). London committee, Minute book, 2 6th Month 1847, FHL London, MSS box V— 3. Ibid., 72—3. Dr John Derry, bishop of Clonfert, to CRC, Clothing Subcommittee, no. 268; Request from Thornhill, Roscommon, no. 6747; PROI, 1a42-43. Nicholson, Annals, 164. Mayor Alexander Lindsay, Londonderry, to CRC Clothing Subcommittee, no. 2586, PROI, iA42— 43. Nicholson, Annals, 22. JJ. Fisher to John Abell, Limerick, who sent the letter on to John Hodgkin. FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, box i, folder i. Hodgkin to John Abell, Limerick, 2 4th Month 1848, FHL Dublin,

308 Notes to pages 146-51

55

56 57 58 59 60 61

62 63

64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Hodgkin Correspondence, box i, folder i. Also London committee, Minute books, 26 ist Month 1848, FHL London, MSS V—3, authorizing £25 to Fisher for the children discharged from the Scariff union. Quoted in O'Neill, "Sidelights on Souperism." Bowen, Souperism, is the definitive account of the practice in general, but O'Neill is specific for Ireland and the Famine. Cork Examiner, 4 September 1846; Cork Constitution, i September 1846; Kerry Evening Post, 14 January, 25 November 1846. London, Standard, 9 January 1847; Belfast Warder, 9 January 1847. Hansard, gd ser., (582) 634, February 1847. Whately, Address to the Clergy and Other Members of the Established Church, 4, 6, 8. NLI, Joly Pamphlets, no. JP— 8. Ibid., 10. Akenson, A Protestant in Purgatory, 119-22. Whately strongly supported Catholic emancipation and campaigned for relief of Jews from exclusion from Parliament. He maintained that any law "giving to Christians generally as such or to Christians of any particular Church, a monopoly of any civil right, is to make Christ's Kingdom, so far, a kingdom of this world, and is a violation of the rule of rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's." In 1853 he asserted that not allowing the electors to choose whomever they desired, Christian or non-Christian, abrogated their rights. He suggested that the 1853 bill should be renamed: "It should not be called a bill for removing the disabilities of the Jews, but should be considered as a measure for the relief of the electors." Nicholson, Annals, 56, 16. Whately, The Right Use of National Afflictions, A Charge, 9, 23; NLI, Joly Pamphlets, no. JP—8; Lambeth Palace, Whately Papers, MS 2107 f~56. The archbishop's personal papers contain no direct reference to the Famine whatever, except for a comment to his daughter that he was very busy. BIS, Report, 1849: 30, PROI, iA42—45. BIS, Report, 1847, ^48, 1849, 185O, PROI, iA42—45. See especially 33rd Report, 26; 34th Report, 21; 1850 Report, 39. H. Thomas to the Lord Lieutenant, 29 June 1847, S P O I > Registered Papers, Zi 144. BIS, Report, 1849: 28-9. James Milligan to Pirn, 3 August 1847, letter numbered 3998, PROI, iA42-45. Transactions, 35. Nicholson, Annals, 243, 307, 43. Transactions, 468—73. Richard Webb, from Erris, near Belmullet, to "Dear William"

309

73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81

82

83

84

85 86 87

Notes to pages 151—5

[Todhunter], 16 5th Month 1847, PROI ^42-34; Webb to CRC, [2nd Mo. 1848], PROI, iA42— 34. (Written copy of a portion of his Narrative of a Tour through Erris and Some Other Portions ofConnaught in Second month 1848). Marianne French to CRC, 15 January 1848, clothing application, no. 3781, PROI, iA42-43Ibid., application 4043. Ladies Relief Society of Killarney to CRC, 1 1 January 1848, PROI, iA42-43J. Burns, Gort, to Pirn, 21 August 1847, PROI, ^42-34. Transactions, 65. Ibid., 60-1. Ibid., 468-71. Randolph Routh and C.E. Trevelyan to Pirn and Bewley, 19 July 1847, PROI, iA42—38; Second Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, SPOI, Registered Papers, 1847, Hi 1829, 7. See O'Neill, "The Organisation and Administration of Relief," 238—54, for a detailed account of the organization and functioning of the unions under the Act. Quoted in Black, Economic Thought and the Irish Question, 128. See Hansard, 3d ser., 103 (2 March 1849): 109—12. O'Neill pointed out in "The Organisation and Administration of Relief," 237, that the transfer of relief to the Poor Law was recognition by the government that "the famine could no longer be dealt with as a temporary feature of Irish poverty but that the regular poor law system should be equipped to meet it." Transactions, 67. For example, the soup kitchen on Valencia Island off the south coast was continued because there was no other help. Valencia Island, off Dingle Bay in the south-west, is variously spelled Valentia and Valencia. On the size and exhaustion of the unions see also Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger, 310—14. Quoted in Black, Economic Thought and the Irish Question, 114. This illustrates how poorly Ireland was understood at Westminster, given the failure of rents from fall 1845 and the mortgaged condition of so many Irish estates. See also NLI, Monteagle Correspondence, MS folder 13396. Even Monteagle, so informed, forceful, and unawed by bureaucracy, could not make the government listen to what it did not want to hear. Tuke, A Visit to Connaught in the Autumn 0/1847, Extracts were printed in Transactions, 204—7, along with extracts from Richard Webb's second visit to Erris in February 1848 (208—11). Transactions, 66—7. Ibid., 67, 470-1. Ibid., 252-6.

310 Notes to pages 156—62 88 Abraham Beale, Cork subcommittee, to CRC, 31 ist Month 1848; Thomas Jacob, Waterford, to Pim and Bewley, 2 2nd Mo. 1848; PROI, iA42~4589 Webb, reports from Erris, to CRC, 2nd Month 1848. The CRC chose to print these extracts in Transactions. Relief commission report and medical commission report in "Supplementary Appendix to Seventh Report of the Relief Commission," PP, 1847-47 (956), xxix. 90 James Brown, PP, Ballintubber, to Hodgkin, 22 November 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, box i, folder 5, no. 265. 91 To review the Famine years: 1846 was hot and wet (hence the lightning spread of the potato fungus); 1847 had been the coldest in memory - Ireland froze in the bitter winter of 1846—47 with snow drifts and sleet; 1848 was a year of storm and rain and poor harvest; 1849 a 7ear of drought. The potatoes failed totally in 1845 and 1846, partially in 1847, and totally in 1848. Other crops in 1847 were fairly good, but limited in quantity. Very few potatoes were planted in 1847 and 1848, since by then almost no seed potatoes were available. 92 CRC, Minute books, 17 7th Month 1849, P R O I > ^42—141, 115—16; Transactions, 67—8, 93—5, 375, 452—8. 93 CRC, Minute books, 5 6th Month 1849, PROI, ^42-141, 115. 94 Pim to Trevelyan, 3rd 6th Month 1849, P R O I > iA42—39. Pim states that he delayed replying until the CRC could discuss the issue, yet the minutes at which the offer was discussed are dated very clearly 5th of Sixth Month. 95 Ibid., (louche indeed!). 96 Ibid., 2. 97 Transactions, 67. 98 Rennett, Narrative of a Recent Journey, 138; Transactions, 168. 99 Monteagle to Trevelyan, i October 1846. Trevelyan to Monteagle, 9 October 1846, NLI, Monteagle Correspondence, ^3525 B6. 100 O'Neill, "The Organisation and Administration of Relief," 255-6. 101 Professor O'Neill made this cogent point in several articles, particularly in "The Organisation and Administration of Relief," 248. Poor law provisions were always more harshly applied in Ireland than in England. As late as 1863, only 12 per cent of those receiving relief in England were made to enter the workhouse, compared with 91 per cent in Ireland. See Black, Economic Thought and the Irish Question, 132—3. 102 O'Neill, "The Organisation and Administration of Relief," 230, on the extent to which Wood and Russell ignored representations from Ireland and allowed Trevelyan to set policy. Woodham-Smith's whole thesis in The Great Hunger is that Trevelyan was the near culpable villain who must bear the responsibility for the misery.

311

Notes to pages 162—70

103 The Quaker correspondence with the government and with Trevelyan amply support this contention, as does the Monteagle correspondence, also see O'Neill, "The Organisation and Administration of Relief," 230. 104 Greenwood, Quaker Encounters, i: 35. The CRC was very distressed by Harvey's death and retained copies of newspaper obituaries in its files. See also NLI, Pirn Correspondence, MS 8668. Bewley's death was a serious blow, despite the fact that the worst of the famine was over by 1850, but the CRC still functioned to deal with its industrial and agricultural projects, and the minute books give voice to the sense of loss. 105 Pirn to Bewley, 22 3rd Month 1847, NLI, Pirn Correspondence, MS 8669. 106 CRC, Minute books, 25 3rd Month 1847, P R O I > iA42—139, 55—6. 107 CRC, Address to the Public from the Relief Association of the Society of Friends in Ireland, 8 Fifth Month 1849; a'so printed in Transactions, 445-5°108 "Supplementary Appendix to the Seventh Report of the Relief Commissioners," PP, 1847-48, (956), xxix. 109 Nicholson, Annals, 66—7, 315. CHAPTER EIGHT: POOR MAN 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9

A LITTLE THING HELPS A

Nicholson, Annals, 106—7. Bennett, Narrative of a Recent Journey of Six Weeks in Ireland, 1—6. Ibid., 3. Ibid., i, 6. Jonathan Pirn to James Pirn, 8 ist Month 1847, N L I > ^im Papers, MS 8668. London Committee, Minute books, 20 ist Month 1847, F H L London, MSS V—3. The entry does not identify the source. It is possible that some of it was seed distributed by Bennett, but he states that he purchased his in Dublin, and he was working on his own. The Quakers were so scrupulous in accounting for every donation that the distribution would have been noted if the CRC undertook it, so perhaps it was added to his store. The 40,000 pounds passed on to the CRC by Routh from the Commissariat was given later in the season and was a great deal more than "some cwts of cabbage and other seeds." William Todhunter to John Lees, February 1848, PROI, iA42—64. Mr Leland, Boyle, County Roscommon, to Todhunter, 14 December 1846, PROI, iA42~34. CRC, Minute books, 25 3rd Month 1847, PROI, iA42—139, 56; and Abra-

312

10

11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26

Notes to pages 170-8

ham Beale, Cork, to the CRC, 16 yth Month 1847, PROI, ^42-34. These projects may have utilized the seed offered, as noted above. The Cork Committee would undertake a major industrial-fisheries project in Dingle. See also Magnusson, Landlord Or Tenant? Lord George Hill published a book describing his methods, which produced efficient farming and satisfied, secure tenants. Facts from Gweedore was justly famous and was quoted in many works of the period in support of the possibility of dealing fairly with Irish tenants. On the same line is Wiggins, Hints to Irish Landlords. Wiggins was the agent of Lord Headly at Glenbegh, an estate of 15,000 Irish acres. Headly turned this area into a secure prosperous estate. It had been one of the wildest, most savage and remote in Ireland. Nicholson, Annals, 107. Todhunter, Memoranda to the CRC, PROI, ^42-142; see also Transactions, 76—7, and for the grants, 384—6. Bennett, Narrative, 9. The clergyman at Ballina who was not named was likely John Lees, who worked closely with the CRC in its land cultivation projects as secretary of the Ballina committee. Ibid., 6-9. Poster, dated 16 November 1846, in the CRC papers, PROI, 1A42-34. Fox, Distress in Ireland. This publication consists of Fox's letters to the CRC, published in the same format as the letters describing W.F. Forster's journey. Ibid., 3. FHL London, Tuke Correspondence, MSS box V—3. Fox, Distress in Ireland, 6. Jacob Harvey to Pirn, 13 7th Month 1847, NLI, Pirn Papers, MS 8668. Tuke, Visit, second edition, with additional notes of a subsequent visit to Erris and responses to questions raised by the first edition. Ibid., 6. Pirn to W.H. Pim, 29 ist Month 1847, N L I > P^m Correspondence, MS 8668. Tuke, Visit, 7. Todhunter, Memoranda, and Commissariat Correspondence, and Pim to C.E. Trevelyan, 7 6 Month 1847, PROI, ^42-37. The draft of this letter, with various crossings-out is in the Cope Papers, QC Haverford, underlining how close knit the Quaker world was. Pim to Trevelyan, 23 6th Month 1847, NLI, Pim Correspondence, MS 8669. "Relief Commission Report, Supplemental Appendix to the Sev-

313 Notes to pages 178-84 enth Report of the Relief Commission," PP, 1847-48 (956), xxix, 277-8 (report dated 21 December 1847, 5-6). 27 John Abell, Limerick, to John Hodgkin, 29 January 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, file i, folder i. 28 CRC, Minute books, 10 2nd Month 1848, PROI, ^42-141. 29 See Henry Christy to CRC, 16 2nd Month, 22 3rd Month 1848, PROI iA42—37. On seed failure, see Sidney Smith, Brookeboro, to Todhunter, 16 April 1848, PROI, ^42—37. 30 Transactions, 388—9 (tables of seed distribution in 1848 by county). 31 Trevelyan to CRC, 20 July 1848; CRC to Trevelyan, 27 July 1848; PROI, iA42~3332 Tuke, Visit, 10-12; Tuke to Hodgkin, 1 3rd Month 1849, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, box i, folder 2. See also Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent, which says much about the activities of drivers. 33 Richard O'Donnell to Pim, 25 April 1847, NLI, Pim PaPers, MS 8668. This endeavour pre-dated the great initial distribution of Commissariat seed. 34 O'Donnell to Pim, 2 May 1847, NLI, Pim Papers, MS 8668. 35 Pim to O'Donnell, 1st 5th Month 1847, FHL Dublin, Pim MSS, room 4, box 2. 36 Pim to O'Donnell, 5 5th Month 1847, NLI, Pim Papers, MS 8668. 37 Pim to O'Donnell, 13 5th Month 1847, NLI, Pim Papers, MS 8668. The exception was the Waterford grant to the Forth Mountain cottiers. Bennett's funds had come from England. 38 Recognition that the poor law unions could not bear the burden is amply supported by the letters and reports quoted. For Tuke, see Visit, 26. 39 London Committee, Minute books, 31 5th Month 1847, FHL London, MS V—3. 40 Transactions, 431 (expense of the flax crop on waste land per Irish acre). See also Royal Belfast Society to Todhunter, January 1848, PROI, iA42~35; CRC, Minute books, 24 loth Month 1847, PROI, ^42-136; Hodgkin Correspondence, FHL Dublin. 41 CRC, Minute book, 15 3rd Month 1849, PR OI, ^42-141. 42 Ibid. Also Transactions, 428-9, on the cultivation loans. 43 PROI, ^42-38. The insurance extended from 25 November 1848 to 25 April 1849, at a cost of i8s gd. 44 Arthur Barrington to the CRC, 14 July 1849, Transactions, 434-545 See Todhunter to Tuke, 15 3rd Month 1848, PROI, ^42—64, on the success of O'Donnell's work in co-operation with the CRC and the employment offered to hundreds of destitute people. It is sad, considering the recognized superiority of Irish linen over Belgian and

314 Notes to pages 185—90

46 47 48

49

50 51 52

53 54 55 56

57

58 59

60

Czech, that there is now only one linen mill operating in Ireland and it is in Ulster. Author's discussion with T.P. O'Neill in Galway, the Kilkenny Design Centre in Dublin, which is an Irish trade centre, and the Irish Export Board, Sandymount, Dublin, June, 1983. Transactions, 435. CRC, Minute books, 10 yth Month 1849, PROI, 1A42-140, 116-7; Todhunter to Thomas Redington, 8 i2th Month 1848, PROI, iA42—65. London Committee, Minute books, 22 2nd Month 1848, FHL London, MSS V—3; Hodgkin to Abell, Limerick, 2nd Month 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence. The grant to the Dublin Ladies Industrial Society Lace Making Normal School is listed in "Receipts and Disbursements," Transactions, last 2 pages (unpaginated). CRC, Minute books, 25 5th Month 1848, PROI, iA42—141; Ehdgar, Statement Respecting the Belfast Ladies Industrial Association for Connaught. See Todhunter, memoranda, etc. with receipts for expenses, PROI, iA42-37Report of Tounsend and the CRC decision. CRC, Minute books, 23 3rd Month 1848, PROI, iA42— 140, 18—19. O'Donnell to CRC, 17 January 1848, with commentary added by Todhunter, PROI, iA42— 34. O'Donnell followed up his letter with two more. Ibid., CRC, Minute books, 15 ist Month 1848, PROI, iA42— 140, 172—3. Pim to Tuke, 20 ist Month 1848, NLI, Pirn Correspondence, MS 8669. Roger Palmer, Rathlacken, to Pim and Bewley, 28 July 1849, P R O I > iA42— 34; CRC, Minute books, 5 gth Month 1849, PROI, iA42— 141. CRC, Minute books, 3rd 2nd Month 1848, PROI, iA42— 140, 5—6. It was at this meeting that the CRC decided to essay another seed distribution after the BRA declined to be involved. The CRC also declined to attempt general relief for the destitute small farmers of Mayo, despite an appeal received from Henry Butt, the county surveyor. Copy of a very long report, dated April 1848, to Todhunter from Ballina, but missing the signature, outlining progress and describing the difficulties and benefits, which included the peasants' willingness to adopt new farming methods and a reduction in discontent; PROI, 1A42-37. Vaughan Jackson to Todhunter, 10 February 1848, PROI, iA42— 63. Aims of the spade cultivation projects, as drawn up by Todhunter, PROI, iA42~37- Also Todhunter to Sir Randolph Routh, 25 3rd Month 1848, an explanation of CRC position on potatoes, SPOI, OPMA 81/9. Todhunter's report of costs, 23 gth Month 1849; anc' return of acres

315

Notes to pages 190-5

cultivated at Ballina, 27 5th Month 1848; PROI, ^42-37. 61 Report of James Perry and Edward Harrington, CRC, Minute books, 28 7th Month 1848, PROI, ^42-140. No one seems to have thought to investigate the immunity afforded to root crops by the guano-seaweed fertilizer. 62 Jackson to Todhunter, 10 April 1848; Thomas Skilling to Todhunter, 16 April 1848; PROI, iA42—37. 63 Jackson to Todhunter, 13 April 1848, PROI iA42—37. 64 "Fifth Report on the Operation of the Irish Poor Law," PP, 1849 (507), xvi: 951. 65 Todhunter to John Lees, 9 gth Month 1848, PROI, iA42—64. 66 "Fifth Report on the Operation of the Irish Poor Law," PP, 1849 (507), xvi: 951.95367 CRC, Minute books, 29 7th Month 1848, PROI, ^42-140, 51. 68 Alex Thomson to Todhunter, 15 January 1849, FHL Dublin, room 4, box II, F-6, 2950. 69 Henry Brett, from Ballina, to Jackson and CRC, 19 June 1848, PROI, 1A42-37. 70 James Starkey to CRC, n.d. [May 1848], PROI, ^42-37. 71 Jackson to Todhunter, 10 April 1848, PROI, ^42-37. 72 Newspaper leader identified only as a Ballina paper, quoted in the report of the Ballina project sent to Todhunter, undated but appears to be about June 1848, PROI, ^42-37. An excerpt from the leader is also quoted in Transactions, 425. 73 CRC, Distress in Ireland, Preliminary Report, 19 Sixth Month 1848. This Report is also printed in Transactions, 438—45. 74 Jackson to Todhunter, 10 April 1848, PROI, iA42—37. 75 CRC, Minute book, 5 3rd Month 1852, PROI, iA42—141; Transactions, 88-91, 94—5, 415-32. Grants are listed in CRC, Minute book, 17 and 24 7th Month, 6 gth Month 1849, PRO1. ^42-140. 76 Transactions, 457—8. These letters dispel the cherished English common wisdom that the Irish were ungrateful and lazy. 77 Thomas Skilling to Todhunter, 16 April 1848, PROI, ^42-37. 78 Draft of the undertaking, with estimates of staff and costs, based on the work of Dr. Bewley, CRC, Minute book, 9 gth Month 1848, PROI, iA42—140. The proposal for Quaker communities survives in an eightpage handwritten "Short Address to the Society of Friends," undated and unsigned, but appears from the contents, to be 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, room 4, shelf J, box 4. 79 The Connaught Industrial and Relief Fund, Liverpool, 10 May 1847. The copy examined belonged to Joseph Crosfield, the CRC'S indefatigable shipping agent in Liverpool; see FHL London, MS vol. 8—164, no. 47. 80 CRC, Origins and Objects of a Model Farm and Agricultural School in Ireland,

316

81

82 83

84 85 86 87

88

Notes to pages 195—202

Pamphlet issued Fourth Month 1849, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, Room 4, shelf J, Box 4. Joseph Bewley to Hodgkin, 13 gth Month 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, no. 218. See also the Distress Papers, 1847, SPOI, nos. 9525, 9553, Bewley's correspondence with the Lord Lieutenant on agriculture. CRC, Minute book, 31 8th Month 1848, PROI, iA42— 138. Edward Bewley to T. Murdock, 25 4th Month 1849, P R O I > i A42— 18. In Transactions the farm is spelled Colmanstown; in the Final Report of 1865, it is spelled Colemanstown, and in some of the minute book entries it appears to be spelled Colmonstown. CRC, Minute book, 11 6th Month 1852, including the printed report pasted in. PROI, ^42-41. CRC Minute book, no date (August 1852). PROI, iA42— 141. CRC, Final Report, 11. Society in Scotland for Aiding the Irish Presbyterian Home Mission, The Farming Operations at Ballinglen, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Pirn's copy of this report survives with his initials and some lines marked, but no comments. One would give much to know what that acute and perceptive co-secretary really thought. Hodgkin to Abell, 12 2nd Month 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, file i, folder i.

CHAPTER N I N E : HELP THE MEN TO HELP THEMSELVES 1 Joshua Strangman, Waterford, to John Hodgkin, 21 3rd Month 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, box i folder i. 2 Tuke, A Visit to Connaught, 34, 32. See also PROI, iA42— 34. 3 John Abell, Limerick, to Hodgkin, enclosing a report from R. Fisher of Galway, 29 3rd Month 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, file i, folder 2. 4 See, for example, "Report Respecting the Waterford Harbour Fishery," which appears to have been made by the coastguard officer, 15 November 1847, with additional comments by Todhunter, 29 i ith Month 1847, PROI, iA42— 34. 5 Pollen Fishery Lough Neagh (proclamation from the fisheries commissioners, dated 22 April 1846); report originally made to Maurice Townsend, and sent on by him to the CRC (copy missing the signature), PROI

iA42-37-

6 Jos. Thompson of Glenavy, Antrim, to Hodgkin, on the inland regulations, 5 and 31 4th Month 1849, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, file III, nos. 299, 309.

317 Notes to pages 202-9 7 Thompson to Hodgkin, December 1847, 4 January, 10 February 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, file i, folder i, unnumbered and nos. 11, 25. 8 G.H. Whalley to Monteagle, 5 October 1847, NLI, Monteagle Papers, MS 13361. 9 "Report of the Commissioners of British Fisheries for 1844," quoted in The Irish Fisheries Company, prospectus of a proposed company to be set up to exploit the Irish fisheries, NLI, Monteagle Papers, MS 13361. 10 CRC, Transactions, 78. 11 William Todhunter to Abraham Beale at Cork, 22 12th Month 1847, PROI, iA42~3412 Hodgkin to J.H. Tuke, 17 nth Month 1848; handwritten copy of Strangman's letter to the Times, sent to Hodgkin; Hodgkin to Strangman, 12 nth Month 1848; Strangman to Hodgkin, 25 nth Month 1848; FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, box III, nos. 269, 270, 276. 13 Todhunter to John Carter, Castletownsend, County Cork, i 4th Month 1848, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, box i, folder 2, no. 9514 Beale to Bewley and Pirn, 15 7th Month 1847, letter marked #3590, PROI, iA42—34. 15 Captain Hoare, R.N., Arklow, to the CRC, 3 August, i November 1847, CRC > Minute books, PROI, ^42-142. Extracts are printed in Transactions, 391. 16 CRC, Minute books, 10 6th Month 1847, PROI, ^42—142; also Mulvaney's appeal and the CRC response are printed in Transactions, 391—3. There must have been days at CRC headquarters when even those articulate campaigners who had seen it all raised eyebrows. The neat copperplate lines marching down the pages of the minute books reveal little, but occasionally they deteriorate into rather wild squiggles as the recording secretary struggled to keep up, yet find a balance between Quakerly objectivity and accuracy. 17 CRC, Minute books, 15 7th Month 1847, PROI, ^42-141. 18 CRC, Minute books, 10 7th Month 1847, PROI, ^42-139. 19 See CRC, Minute books, 13, 18 nth Month 1847, PROI, ^42-142. 20 Return of the clothing granted for prizes, 31 3rd Month 1848, amounting to £30 2S 2d, with Todhunter's instructions regarding the packing and shipping appended on the bottom, together with a note recording the CRC'S agreement, FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, file i, folder 2. 21 This long letter, seven closely written pages of legal-sized foolscap, fairly bristles with anger at the commission's deliberate obtuseness.

318

Notes to pages 209—15

Strangman to Todhunter, 18 i2th Month 1848, PROI, iA.^2—34. 22 Hodgkin to Arthur Chard, 29 3rd Month 1848, requesting detailed information from the Claddagh "to support the case to the Government," FHL Dublin, Hodgkin Correspondence, file II, no. go. 23 Strangman to Todhunter, 18 i2th Month 1848, PROI, iA42—34. This is not the same letter as the report of the fisheries board hearing. 24 Transactions, 80—1, 394—5. 25 Ibid., 80-1. Italics added. 26 CRC, Cork Auxiliary Committee, Review of Four Months Proceedings and The Blessing of the Blight The Dublin University Magazine, the Cork Constitution, the Cork Examiner, Dublin Advocate, and the London Daily News all reported on Ballycotton. As the Society of Friends printed the reports, there must have been at least a modicum of approval of the criticisms of the government inaction. These reports are much more tough-minded than the usual Quaker approach of allowing statistics and facts to speak for them. 27 CRC Minute book of nth Month 1847 give details of the various arrangements made on these terms with the agents. The agreement with W.T. Campbell of Belmullet was printed in Transactions, 396—7, as a memorandum dated 4 i ith Month 1847. Loan details in handwritten statement of fisheries expenditures to 25 4th Month 1849, Pre~ pared by Todhunter, PROI, iA42—69. 28 CRC, Minute books, 9 6th Month 1849, P R O I > iA42—140; see also Transactions, 398—9. 29 Log of the Erne, 30 May 1848, PROI, iA42—68. 30 Reports of Joshua Fayle, 20 nth Month 1849, 3r LIVSecond Report of the Poor Law Commissioners. SPO (England), Registered Papers, 1847. Fifth Report on the Operation of the Irish Poor Law. 1849 (507), XVI.

1849 1850 1865

Reports and Minutes of Evidence from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Irish Poor Law. 1849 (192), xvi. Report from the Commissions for Sale of Incumbered Estates in Ireland. 1850 (1268), xxv. Report and Minutes of Evidence from the Select Committee on the Tenure and Improvement of Land (Ireland) Act. 1865 (402), XI.

NEWSPAPERS AND CONTEMPORARY JOURNALS

Annual Register (London) Belfast Warder Boston Daily Advertiser British Friend Cork Constitution Cork Examiner Dublin Evening Post Dublin University Magazine Edinburgh Review Freeman's Journal Friend (London) Friend (Philadelphia) Friends' Weekly Intelligencer Irish Times (Dublin) Kerry Evening Post Limerick Chronicle London Standard Morning Chronicle Punch (London) Times London

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342 Bibliography Hobson, John. A. Imperialism, a Study. London 1902. Holt, John H. "The Quakers in the Great Irish Famine." M.Litt. dissertation, Trinity College, Dublin, 1967. A narrative based on Irish sources, its usefulness is compromised by consistent errors of transcription: Hodgkins for Hodgkin, Walliscourt for Lord Wallscourt, Erie for the Quaker trawler Erne. As all of these names are printed several times over in Transactions and other documents, as well as written in the reports and correspondence, the reliability of the work is questionable. It was read, but has neither been cited as an authority nor used as a source. Houghton, Walter. The Victorian Frame of Mind. New Haven: Yale University Press 1964. Howitt, Mary. Our Cousins in Ohio. New York 1849. Huntington, Frank C., Jr. "Quakerism During the Commonwealth: The Experience of the Light." Quaker History 71, no. 2 (fall 1982): 69—88. Huzel, James P. "Malthus, the Poor Law, and Population in Early Nineteenth-Century England." Economic History Review 22 (1969): 430-52. Ingle, H. Larry. "From Mysticism to Radicalism: Recent Historiography of Quaker Beginnings." Quaker History 76, no. 2 (fall 1987): 79—94. Isichei, Elizabeth. Victorian Quakers. London: Oxford University Press 1970. James, Sydney V. A People Among Peoples: Quaker Benevolence in i8th Century America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1963. Jennings, Judith. "Bourgeois Benevolence: Quakers, Abolition and the Emerging Ethic of Liberalism." A paper delivered at the 1984 Biennial Conference of Quaker Historians at Providence, R.I.. The inference is in the paper, but not spelled out, that Quakers were instrumental in the formation of a new economic ethos attuned to the realities of industrialism. Jones, Rufus. George Fox. Philadelphia 1919. — The Later Period of Quakerism. London: Macmillan 1921; re-issue, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood 1970. Jorns, A. Quakers as Pioneers in Social Work. 1911, trans. Thomas Brown, 1931, re-issue, Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press 1969. Kennedy Liam. "Why One Million Starved: An Open Verdict." 7mA Economic and Social History 11 (1984): 101-6. Kennedy, Thomas C. "The Quaker Renaissance and the Origins of the Modern British Peace Movement, 1895—1920." Albion 16, no. 3 (1984): 243-72. Kent, John. Elizabeth Fry. London: B.T. Batsford 1962. — Jabez Bunting. London: Epworth 1955. Lebow, Richard. J.S. Mill and the Irish Land Question. Philadelphia 1979. Life of William Allen. 3 vols. London, 1846. Lockhart, Audrey. "The Quakers and Emigration from Ireland to the North American Colonies." Quaker History 77, no. 2, (Fall 1988): 67-92.

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345 Bibliography lin 1876. Written for the Statistical Society of Ireland, of which Pim was president. Pim, Jos. Ireland in 1880 with Suggestions for her Land Laws. London and Dublin 1881. Potter, George. To the Golden Door. Boston: Greenwood 1960. Poulet Scrope, GJ. A Plea for the Rights of Industry. London 1848. - Remarks on the Irish Poor Relief Bill. London 1847. Poynter, J.R. Society and Pauperism: English Ideas on Poor Relief, 1795—1834. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1969. Polk, James K. Diary of James K. Polk During His Presidency 1845 to 1849. Edited by M.M. Quaife. 2 vols. Chicago: A. C. McClurg 1910. Raistrick, Arthur. Quakers in Science and Industry. 1950; reprint, Montclair, N.J.: Kelly 1968. Read, Donald. Cobden and Bright, a Victorian Political Partnership. London, Edward Arnold 1967. Reay, Barry. The Quakers and the English Revolution. London: Temple Smith 1985Rempel, Richard A. "British Quakers and the South African War." Quaker History 64, no. 2 (fall 1975): 75—95. — "Edward Grubb and the Quaker Renaissance in Britain, 1880—1914." Paper presented at the Victorian Studies Conference, Regina, Saskatchewan, 1978. Richardson, J.M. Six Generations in Ireland, 1655—1890. London: Edward Hicks Jnr 1893. Includes verbatim transcriptions of the journals of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Irish Friends. Robbins, Keith. John Bright. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1979. Roberts, David. "How Cruel Was the Victorian Poor Law?" Historical Journal 6 (i9 6 3) 97~107— "Tory Paternalism and Social Reform in Early Victorian England." American Historical Review 63 (1958): 323—37. Roll, Eric. A History of Economic Thought. London: Faber and Faber 1938. Roll, L.T.C. Brunei. Harmondsworth: Penguin 1970. Royal Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland. Report and Transactions ...for the Year 1845. Dublin 1846. Also partially published in Dublin University Magazine 28 (October 1846): 443—56. Royal Society for the Promotion and Improvement of the Growth of Flax in Ireland. Directions for the Cultivation and Management of Flax. Dublin 1846. Russell, Lord John. The Later Correspondence of Lord J ohn Russell, 1840—1878. Edited by G.P. Gooch. London: Longmans Green 1925. Salmon, David. Joseph Lancaster. London 1904. Samuel, Raphael, ed. Village Life and Labour. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1975.

346 Bibliography Sarbaugh, T.J. "A Moral Spectacle, American Relief and the Famine 1845—49-" Eire-Ireland 15: 6—14. Scheffler, Judith. "Prison Writings of Early Quaker Women." Quaker History 73, no. 2 (fall 1984): 25-37. Scott, Janet. "Women in the Society of Friends." In A Quaker Miscellany for Edward Milligan, ed. D. Blamires, J. Greenwood, A. Kerr, 125—31. Manchester: David Blamires 1985. Seebohm, S. Life of William Forster. Vol. i. London 1865. Senior, Hereward. Orangeism in Ireland and Britain, 1795—1836. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1966. Senior, Nassau. Journals, Conversations and Essays Relating to Ireland. Vol. i. [n.d.] Sims, William Dillwyn, and London Committee. Narrative of the Fifth and Sixth Weeks of William Forster's Visit to Some of the Distressed Districts in Ireland. London 1847. Smith, Frank. History of English Elementary Education, 1760—1902. London, !93iSmith, W. O. Lester. Education in Great Britain. London: Oxford University Press 1958, 1964. Smout, T.C. A Century of the Scottish People, 1830—1950. New Haven: Yale University Press 1986. Society in Scotland for Aiding the Irish Presbyterian Home Mission. The Farming Operations at Ballinglen, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Edinburgh, October 1849. Society of Friends. Report of the Committee for the Relief of Famine in Finland. London 1858. Solar Peter. "Why Ireland Starved: A Critical Review of the Econometric Results." Irish Economic and Social History 11 (1984): 107—15. Steele, E.D. "J.S.Mill and the Irish Question." The Historical Journal 13, no. 2 (1970): 216-36. Strauss, Eric. 7mA Nationalism and British Democracy. London: Methuen 1951. Strictures of the Proposed Poor Law for Ireland as Recommended in the Report of George Nicholson. London 1834. Stromberg, Roland. "The Intellectuals and the Coming of War in 1914." Journal of European Studies 3 (1973): 109—22. Strzelecki Committee. Life of Sir Paul Edward, Count Strzelecki, 1796—1873 London: [n.p.] 1943. Swift, David. Joseph John Gurney. Middletown, Conn. 1962. Swift, Jonathan. Drapier's Letters. Dublin 1724—29. — A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to Their Parents. Dublin 1729. Taylor, James S. "The Mythology of the Old Poor Law." Journal of Economic History 29 (1969): 292-97.

347 Bibliography Thompson, E.P. The Making of the English Working Class. Harmondsworth: Pelican 1968. Torrens, Robert. Systematic Colonization, Ireland Saved, without Cost to the Imperial Treasury. 2nd ed., with preface of an Introductory Letter to Earl Grey. London 1849. Tracts on Pauperism, 1833. [n.p.] Trevelyan, C.E. "The Irish Crisis." Edinburgh Review 87 (January 1848): 229-320. Trevelyan, G.O., ed. The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay. Vol. 2. London: Longmans Green 1901. Tuke, James Hack. The Condition of Donegal (London 1889). — Irish Distress and Its Remedies: The Land Question and a Visit To Donegal and Connaught in 1880. London 1880. — A Visit To Connaught in the Autumn of 1847. London, 2nd ed., 1848. — and London Committee. Narrative of the Second, Third and Fourth Weeks of William Forster's Visit to Some of the Distressed Districts in Ireland. London 1847. Tylor, Charles. Samuel Tuke, His Life, Work and Thoughts. London: Headley Bros. 1960, re-issue of 1900. Vann, Richard. Social Development of English Quakerism, 1655—1755. Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1969. Wall, E.F., Jr. "Joseph Lancaster and the Origins of the British and Foreign School Society." PhD dissertation, Columbia University, 1966. - "Joseph Lancaster and the Religious Society of Friends." Paper delivered at the 1984 Biennial Conference of Quaker Historians at Providence, R.I. Waller, Sir Charles Townshend. A Plan for the Relief of the Poor in Ireland. Bath 1827. Webb, Sidney & Beatrice. English Poor Law History: Part I, The Old Poor Law. London: Longmans Green 1927, 1929. Webb, Richard, and London Committee. Narrative of a Tour Through Erris and Some other Portions of Connaught in Second Month 1848. Dublin 1848. Whately, EJ. Life and Correspondence of Richard Whately, D.D. Vol. i. London 1860. Whately, Richard. Address to the Clergy and Other Members of the Established Church on The Use and Abuse of The Present Occasion For The Exercise of Beneficence. Dublin 1847. — The Right Use of National Afflictions, A Charge. Dublin, September 1848. Wiggins, John. Hints to Irish Landlords on the Best Means of obtaining and Increasing Their Rents, Improving Their Estates and Bettering the Condition of the People, [n.d. circa 1845]. Wilberforce, William. A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Addressed to the Freeholders and Other Inhabitants of Yorkshire. London 1791.

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Index

Abell John, CRC Limerick Subcommittee: and Claddagh project, 216; pursues sale of fish products, 220 Abolitionists of Boston, 120 Abolition of slavery, 7,8, 13, 19, 23, 29, 263, 269 Acadians, 28 Achill, 129, 135, 136, 150, 129, 200 Achill Bay, 214 Address to Friends in North America (CRC), 109, 111, 116, 119 Address To the People of Michigan, 116 Address to the Public (CRC) May 1849, 165 Admiralty, 72, 106, 2 2 2 ; CRC presses for Irish charts, 213, 254 African Committee, 31 Agricultural and Commercial Bank, 103 Agriculture, 56. See also Ireland Alcock, James, Vicar of Ring, 207; Quaker

funding of Ring project, 207-8; Ring reports, Facts from the Fisheries, 207-8 Alexandria, Va., 118, U9

Allen, Richard, no Allen, William, 24, 29, 30, 31, 71, 74-5, 120; advises in 1822—23 famine altercation with Maria Edgeworth, 59; colonies at home, 74—5 America: CRC purchases fishermen's clothing, 206; U.S. Congress, 116-17. $ee also American relief American Quaker Indian Schools, 12 American Quakers, 29; abolition, 109; appeal for donations, i n ; in Great Famine, 108-26; Indian schools, 109, 114; Mexican War, 109; opening relief, no; peace issues, 109 American relief in Great

Famine: opening, first committees, 111-13; distrust of British, 121, 124; donations and counterfeit money, 115 116, 118; donations from slave states, no; duration 122, 123; free transport, i n , 113, 116; Quakers publish American correspondence, 121; resolutions to CRC, 113; shipping ports 118; unconsigned cargoes, 120; totals, 118, 120, 124; totals to CRC, 124; value, 114; Quakers acknowledges North American contributions, 125; Queen and British government acknowledge, 125. See also Quakers; Quaker relief American Revolutionary War, 28, 39 Anderson, Sir James, 62 Antagonism against Quakers, 15—16, 56 Anti-Catholicism, 27,

350 Index 36—7. See also Quaker impartiality; souperism Apalachicola, Florida, 118, H9

Aran Islands, 129 Archbishop of Dublin, 1683, 37 Arranmore, 129, 173 Arrowroot, 101 Ascendancy (Ireland): persecution of Catholics and Dissenters, 36—7 Athenaeum, Boston, 113 Athlone, 94 Ballina, 95, 99, 129, 154, 174, 177, 180, 184, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 197; Ballina spade labour project, 192. See also CRC spade labour model acreage Ballinagoul breakwater, 207 Ballinakillig, 206 Ballinamore, 95 Ballintubber, 141, 156 Ballitore, 42 Ballycotton, 255; fisheries project (Cork Subcommittee), 210: grants, 210; reports published, 211; success, 211; women's employment, 210 Baltimore, Md, 109, 112, 118, 122 Banking, 29; Barclay's, 20; Gurney, 20 Bantry Bay, 213, 214 Baptist Irish Society, 148, 149; on cause of famine, 148; grant policy, 149; and Quakers, 248, 252, 255; relief, 248, 252, 255; reports, 148; souperism, 149 Barbados, 34, 38 Barnsley, England, 77 Barrington, Arthur, CRC crop inspector, 184;

inspects CRC farms July 1848, 190; Palmer case, 189 Battle of the Boyne, 38 Beale, Abraham, Cork Subcommittee, 163, 259; dies of famine fever, 257; hemp grants 1847 and women's employment, 204 Beale, Joshua, 103 Beauvais, Captain, 120 Bedlam, 29 Belfast: early industry, 47-8; Quakers, 35 Belfast Ladies Association, 144 Belfast Ladies Industrial Association for Connaught, 186, 255 Belmullet, 90, 100, 129, 130, 134, 146, 150, 154,

156,

167,

2 1 1 , 212

Benett, J., manager of BAIFIS station, Valentia, 202; and BRA, 202 Benezet, Anthony, 29 Bennett, William: 132; inspection and seed distribution tour March 1847, 138; barley crop from his distribution, 173; collects statistics on lack of crop preparation, 170; pamphlet distribution, 169; records rents, 174; seed distribution, 169; seed grants, 174; and women on public work, i?4 Berehaven fishing station: boats added, 213; closed April 1852, 213; costs and failure, 213; difficulties, 212, 213. See also Castletown Bernard and Koch, linen mills, 184 Bessborough, Lord, 84, !53

Bewley, Dr Edward: advises and directs model farm, 195-7 Bewley, Joseph, 2, 66, 73, 89, 105, 181, 190, 195, 196; Clerk of Dublin Y.M., 43; Co-Secretary of CRC, 43, 128, 144, 150, 151, 155, 163; and model farm, 195; failure of model farm acreage 1848, 190; plans fisheries strategy, 203; dies of exhaustion, 163; assessment by Asanath Nicholson, 150; appreciation, 257-9 Binns, Jonathan, 73, 74 Blaugdon, Barbara, 35 Blight, 250. See also potatoes Board of Inland Navigation, 48, 52 Board of Trade: lobbied by Hodgkin, 203 Board of Works, 46, 48, 52, 83, 85, 90, 95, 160, 203, 205, 208, 209, 218, 219; offers no matching grant to CRC, 205; and Trevelyan, 160 Boilers, 94, 166—7. $ee a^° Quaker relief Boston Jesuit, 111 Boyle, 170, 194 Boyle and Rockingham estates, 175 Brett Henry, Surveyor of Mayo, reports on CRC farms, 191 Bristol, 35 British and Foreign Bible Society, 31 British and Foreign Schools Society, 31, 32 British and Irish Ladies Committee, 58 British Association for Improving the Fisheries of Ireland and Scotland, 202

351 Index British donations in Great Famine, 125 British Friend, The, 23, 108 British Relief Association (BRA), 86, 123-5, *33. 138, 144, 153, 158, 167, 183, 248, 253, 256; declines investment in fisheries, 202; declines seed distribution with CRC, 178; expenditure, 165; success, 167 British thanks to America, J

25

Bronte, Charlotte, 73 Brookfield School (Quaker), 73 Brooklin White Lead Works, 120 Brooklyn Navy Yard, 113, 120 Brown, Rev James, PP, Ballintubber, 141, 142, 156 Buffalo, NY, 116 Bunting, Jabez, 253 Burgoyne, Sir John, 134; fisheries analysis and CRC, 205 Burke, Edmund, 42 Burritt, Elihu, 116 Bushe, Charles, rector of Castlehaven, 212 Butcher & Sons, boat builders, Yarmouth: donates services, 220; prepares CRC Trawler, 219 Cabbage, 169, 170, 172, 178 Campbell, William T, Belmullet fisheries station, 211—12 Canada West, 113, 118 Canals, 52. See also Grand and Royal canals Cape Clear, 214 Carlyle, Thomas, 26 Carramore, 189

Charlock, 58 Charts of Irish coast, Carrick-on-Suir, 258 2i3-!5> 254 Cherry Street Meeting, Carroll, Captain William Phila., 118 of Erne: reports on Chesterfield, Lord, 90 fish, banks, trawling, Children of the Light, 15 214; reports on winds, Choctaw Indian nation, shelter, 214 Carrots, 169, 178, 192, ^3 Christie, Henry, 106, 179, 250 Castlebar, 100 213 Church of England, 17, 28 Castlerae, 95 Castletown fishery station, Church of Ireland, 36, 43, 248, 255, 263 211; transferred to Cincinnati, Ohio, 118 Berehaven, 212 Claddagh fisheries project, Catholic Church, 18, 28, London Committee 36, 40, 41, 248, 249, and Limerick Subcom263; Catholic clergy outmittee, 101; fishing lawed, 36; as cause of clan and community, famine, 79—80; relief, Galway, 215; suspi86; transmits aid donacious, independent nations, 124, 146-9, 252. ture, 216; Claddagh See also Quakers and Admiral, 216; Quaker CRC curing house, 216; Caution to Pawnbrokers curing with wood or (CRC), 144 peat, 217; fundCentral Relief Committee raising, 217; Galway of the Society of committee, 217; grant Friends, Dublin. See CRC for instructor, 216; ArChalmers, Thomas, 25 thur Chard's work, Chancery, 172, 188 217—20; Jesuit PiscatoChard, Captain Arthur: rial School, 216; nets engaged for Claddagh out of pawn, wrong March 1848, 216; arkind, 217; opposition rives Galway, 217; reto trawler, 218-21; susports to Hodgkin, 217; picion of Vivid, 220; Claddagh curing stathreat of violence, 219; tion work, 217—20; reviolence May 1850, turns to England 221; new curer, Jan January 1850, 220 1850, 221; Vivid sold Charitable Loan societies, May 1850, 221; assess60 Charity Organization Sociment, 252 ety, 4, 25, 29, 266 Clapham, George, 41 Charles II, 16, 17; restora- Clapham sect. See Evangeltion, 35, 36 icals Charles Street soup Clara, 97, 175, 259 kitchen (CRC): distriClare, 60, 92, 141, 175 bution, 138; model, 137 Clare Islands, 129, 214 Charleston, sc, 113 Clarendon, Lord, 148, Charlestown, Va., 122 153, 160, 203, 211, Carrick-on-Shannon, 95, 96

352 Index 220, 256; approached for salt, 219; assists CRC BerehavenCastletown project, 212; opposes Russell in "numbers die" letter, *53 Clarendon Code, 17 Clay, Henry, no Clibborn, Colonel John: conversion, 39; persecution of, 39; and relief, 36 Clibborn, Thomas, 186 Clifden, 129, 133, 135 Clonfert, Bishop of, 144 Clonlonan, 89 Clonmel, 84, 86, 253 Clothing, 100-1, i n , 113—18, 121, 124, 127, 129, 142, 143, 144, M5-7. 151' 15*< !56> 167, 251, 259; for destitute fishermen, 201, 202, 205, 206, 210—12, 222; misappropriation, 143—5; peasant, 61; transported free, 142. See also CRC Clothing Subcommittee Coalbrookdale, 105, 129, 140 Coastguard, 201, 205-7, 210, 262; as CRC agents, 201; illegal seizure of nets, 207 Cobham, Surrey, 109 College of African Languages, 32 Colmanstown, CRC Model Farm, 195—7; sa'e i° 1863 famine, proceeds given to Hospital for Incurables, 197 Commissariat, 80, 81, 83-5, 100, 128, 139, 155, 160, 173, 178; food depots, 85; seed distribution, 173; seed sale program, 173

Trevelyan closes depots, !55 Committee for African Instruction, 30, 63 Committee for AntiSlavery Concerns, 30 Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 29 Conacre, 50, 55 Condition of Ireland, 6, 56, 57, 264; in 1830, 69, 70; in 1848,192; in 1849, 156; Quakers and,249 Congested Districts Board, 250, 267 Connaught, 44, 47, 56, 127, 132—4, 140, 141, 143, 144, 154, 155, 166, 169, 174, 177, 178, 180, 186, 187, 195, 197, 222

Connaught Industrial and Relief Fund: model farm prospectus, 195 Connemara, 187 Consolidated Fund, 52 Cope, Henry, 111 Cope, Thomas P., i n , H9 Cork, 20, 34—7, 42, 43, 62, 67, 72, 84, 86, 102, 103, 117, 119, 253, 257, 259, 270, Cork Meeting, 36; Quakers in, 34 Cork Subcommittee (CRC), 144, 155, 163, 257; grants, 127; reports on lack of crop preparation, 171; and Skibbereen, 103; small landholder grants 1849, 193; soup kitchen, 137; soup kitchen at Valencia, 155 -fisheries:Ballycotton reports, 211; and Commissioner Mulvaney, 205; fisherwomen's em-

ployment grants, 186; grants, 210; hemp grants, 204 Corn Laws, 82 Cornmeal, 80, 82, 85, 88, 94 128, 129, 136-9, 142; cost, 94 Cottiers, 58, 268 Cotton, 47 Cowan Bridge School, 73 Cowper Commission, 50 CRC (Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends), 9, 26, 86, 90-3, 96, 101, 103, 104, 105, 108, 109, 110-12, 113—20, 121-3, 124—5; acknowledges agents, 92-4; correspondence, 96; division in Society, 118, 119; first report of 22 February 1847, 127-8; and government, 93; records, 117; reports, 94, 104; statistics, 100; statistics and publicity, 172; unconsigned cargoes, 120; weather, 97; women's employment, 118; women's work, 98. See also Clothing Committee; London Committee; Quaker publicity; Quaker relief; Quakers - organization, 86; auxiliary committees, 86, 253- 259; Clothing Committee, 105; Cork Committee, 103; donations, 108, 114; food stocks, 104; food supplies, 93; fund raising, 94, 104-5, 9^! nonsectarian policy, 109; office, 108; procedures and policy, 9, 87, 93; questionnaire policy, 93

353 Index - relief distribution, 116; boilers, 105, 166—7; Clothing Committee, 118; Ladies Industrial Relief Association of Dublin, grant £500, 210; Skibbereen, 103; soup kitchens, 104 - relief from America: acknowledges North American contributions, 125; American correspondence published, 121; counterfeit money, 115; donations from slave states, no; unconsigned cargoes, 120 CRC agents: danger from disease, 130, 134 CRC and Irish Fisheries: Admiralty and Irish coastal charts, 213; fisheries structure, 211; assembles coastal fisheries statistics, 202; fishermen's clothing and clothing patterns needed, 206; fisheries as possibility for employment, 202; need for cutters, 212; polls coastguard for statistics, agents, 205; prizes of clothing, 207; proves fishing beds nonexistent, 214; proves Irish coast unfit for trawlers, 215; purchases yawls for Cork, 204; refutes English opinion that Irish fishermen were lazy, 215; cost of fisheries investment, 221;judges failure, 2 2 1 ; true assessment, 222 — CRC fishing stations: Ballinakill station, 211; Belmullet station and

loans, 211—12; Berehaven, boats added, 213; Berehaven closed, 213; Berehaven continued, 213; Newport station, 211; Ring grants, 207, 209; Ring grant for larger boat, 207; Ring reports, 207 — and government: forces revision of Board of Trade regulations on nets, 209; government asks to aid fisheries, and response, 205; official stupidity and lack of redress for ruined nets, 207; pressure exerted when Facts from the Fisheries published, 207; requested by Undersecretary of State to help fisheries, October 1847, 212 — grants: first grants, 202, 204; food grants to Claddagh fishermen, 218; grants interest free, 206; grants to agents, 204; grants to coastguard agents, 206; grants totals, 206; loans, repayment & renewal fund, 206; small loans, 204; women's employment grants, 207 - CRC trawler Erne: chartered November 1847, 212—13; charts coast, 213; charts fishing grounds, 214; description, 213; proves banks do not exist, Irish waters unsuitable for deep sea fishing, 214 Cromwell, Henry: and Irish Quakers, 35 Cromwell, Oliver, 16, 17, 34 Crop failures and famine

(Ireland): 17th century, 36; i8th century, 36 Crosfield, Joseph, London Committee and Quaker agent, Liverpool, 2, 93, 101, 103, 104,138,257,264;tour with W. F. Forster 1847 and report published, 94—6 Crossmolina, 99 Daily Advertiser, Boston, 112 Dallas, Rev. Alexander, 146 Dallas, George M., 113 Darby, Abraham, 21. See also Quaker manufacturing, 20 Darby, Abraham and Alfred, 105 Darcy, Rev. John, Vicar of Galway, 220; Claddagh committee, 217, works with Hodgkin and Chard, 217-19 Darton, Samuel, 212 Davey, Professor: CRC consults re proper smoke for curing, 217 Davidson, Anna Maria, 151 Deaves family, 259 De Decies, Lord, Ring landlord, 209 Depopulation in famine, 138, 156, 169, 179; Dingle, 177; Mayo, 177 Depots, government, 129; CRC and, 155; sales, 129; Trevelyan closes, !55 Derry, 84, 150 Devon, Lord, 162 Devonshire trawlers, 201 Diaries and journals. See Quaker diaries Dickens, Charles, 25—6, 53> 73

354 Index Disraeli, Benjamin, 26, 257 Dissenters, 17, 28, 36, 37,

41-6

Distress in Ireland: Extracts from Correspondence (CRC, three volumes), 25, 86, 89 Distress Papers, government, 165 Dombrain, Sir James, Coastguard commander, 205 Donegal, 47, 96-9, 104 Dromore, Archdeacon of, 142 Drummond and Sons, seed dealers, Dublin, 169 Drumquin, 151 Dublin, 19, 26, 34-8, 39, 43. 253, 254, 259, 264, 265, 269, 270; justices, 35; Quaker meetings, 35; Quakers in, 36 Dublin and Kingstown Railroad, 72, 259 Dublin Evening Post, 79 Dublin Steam Packet Company, 173, 174 Dublin Yearly Meeting: Epistles, 39 Duke of York. See James II Dunfanaghy, 129 Dungarven, 207 Dunglow, 98 Duty. See Quakers and Eastwood, T.F., CRC agent, Ballinakill station, 212 Economic theory, 251; Quaker rejection, 250; untested simplicity, 162 Edgeworth, Maria, 59, 74, 120, 142, 259 Edict of Nantes, 28 Edinburgh Review, 155 Edmundson, William, 41; established first Irish Meeting, 35; father of

Irish Quakerism, 34; and Fox, 35; Irish tour with Fox, 35; persecution of 41 Edwards, Richard, CRC agent, Ballycotton coastguard officer, 21 o Edwards and Lister, curers at Ring, 209—10 Emigrant remittances, 165 Emigrant ships, 8 Emigration from Ireland, 96, 137, 145, 156, 257; 17th-18th centuries, 36 Employment for women, 7. See also CRC; Quakers Encumbered Estates Bill, 29; 257; Act 1849, 8, 9. See also Quakers Engels, Friedrich, 78 English generosity in 1847, 156 English perception of Irish, 4, 252; fractious, too lazy to fish, 214; lazy, 173; newspapers disparage famine, 112, 113, 117. See also Quakers Ennis, 176 Epistles (Quaker advice), 108, 109 Ericson, Erik, 257 Erie Canal, 113, 116, 118 Erris, 90, 130, 131, 134, 150, 151, 154, 155, 156, 251 Establishment (Irish Ascendancy), 15, 17 Evangelicalism, 8, 248 Evangelicals, 23, 24, 25, 28—32, 147, 252, 266. See also Quakers Evictions, 131, 155, 173, 179, 187; agents, 172; for consolidation, 172; Irish bitterness, 172; for poor-rate, 172. See also Quakers, James Hack Tuke

Exchequer, 83, 85 Facts from the Fisheries, Ring reports, 207; used as pressure, 207, 222 Fagan, Annie, 146 Falmouth, Cornwall, 216 Famine disease, 163; cholera, 156; dysentery 94, 98, 138; fever, 95, 128, 130, 135, 257; mortality by February 1848, 156 Famine food: prices, 128 Famine in Ireland, 4, 250, 265; in 1822-23: 48, 52, 58; in 1862-63, 161; in 1880—81, 161; reconstruction, 60, 61,71; relief, 60; report, 59, 60. See also Great Famine, Quakers; Quaker relief Fayle, Joshua, CRC agent, Castletown station, 212 Fell, Margaret, 18, 23, 270 Fennell, John, 38 Fennell, William, Roundstone, CRC agent, 204 First Publishers of Truth, J 5 Fisher, J.J., 145 Fisher, Robert, Galway, 217 Fisheries (Irish), 8; in 1848, 201; condition of fishermen, 202, 203; conflicts, 201; CRC proves Irish waters unsuitable for trawling, 215; detrimental winds, weather, 214; fish species, 200; Government regulations unsuitable, 200, 201; enforced, 201; Irish market, 202; lack of market, 214; licence cost, enforcement, 201; primitive condition, 201; Quaker assessment,

355

Index

101; Quaker revival, 7, 46, 52, 62, 200—2; transport lack, 203, 211. See also CRC and Irish fisheries Fisheries Board, 200, 203 Fisheries Commission, 201, 256; legislation not congruent with Irish conditions, 200; hearing December 1848, 208; condescension and stupidity raises Quaker ire, 208; refuses to change regulations, 208; report conclusions subvert law, 208-9 Fisherwomen: Quakers provide net making employment, 204 Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Boston, 124 Flax, 7, 60, 61, 68, 74, 169, 175, 180, 181, 183, 184, 185, 187, 190; cost, 184; CRC establishes in Mayo, 184; linen industry, 183. See also Quakers Flax Improvement Society, 183 Fletcher, Elizabeth, 35 Food depots, government. See Commissariat Food stocks, 100; 1846—47, 100 Forster, Anne, 186 Forster Josiah, 106, 128, 216 Forster, Robert, 106 Forster, William E., 26, 135, 264; tour of west Ireland September 1846, 91; with father 1846—47, 100-2; report, 102; and Russell, 128; co-introduces Gladstone's 1881 land act in House, 235

Forster, William F., 128, 138, 256, 257, 264; tour 1846-47, 91-102, 104; grants, 100; fishing grants January 1847, 202; grant to Jesuit school for Claddagh fishermen, 216; and weather, winter 1846—47, 97; report, 121 Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, Fla, 122 Forth Mountain, 171 Fowler, Lucy, 186 Fowler, R., 176 Fox, George, 15—17, 18, 19, 24, 270; Irish tour, 35; letters to Irish Meetings, 35; and oaths, 37; and William Edmundson, 35 Fox, G.L., Falmouth, 216 Fox, R. Barclay, 91, 257, 264, 270; grants, 176; grants, women's employment, 175; recommends distribution centre for women's production, 175; recommends industrial schools, 176; report, 176; tour April 1847, assesses unfilled area, Mayo, Galway, 175-7 Fox R. W., Falmouth, 216 Fox, Samuel, 213 Freeman's Journal, The, 82, 120, 136, 146, 147 French, Marianne, 151 Friend, The, London, 23, 142, 108, 111 Friend, The, Philadelphia, 43, 109, 111, 116, 119, 123, 142 Friends' Female Employment Society, 175 Friends' Relief Committee, New York, 115, 123 Friends' Relief Commit-

tee, Philadelphia, 115, 116, 119, 120; report, 115 Friends Service Council, 10, 269, 270 Friends Tract Association, 3i

Friends' Weekly Intelligencer, 24, 40, 109, 110, 118, 123 Fry, Elizabeth, 17, 20, 22, 31, 66, 67-9, 73, 76, 264 Fry-Gurney Report, 73, 76, 251, 263 Galway, 60, 61, 91, 93, 100, 101, 176, 177, 186, 192, 196, 200, 202, 211, 213—18, 219, 220, 221, 249, 255, 257;condition 1846—47, 101 Galway Bay, 129; violence 221 Galway Committee: decline to manage curing house, 218; Galway officials refuse land for curing house, 218 Gambia, 32 Gaskell, Elizabeth, 26 General Central Relief Committee, 86 General Dispensary, London, 28 Georgia, State of, 113 Ginger, 101 Gladstone, W.E., 9, 235 Glasgow Emancipation Society, 110 Glorious Revolution, 37 Glorious Twelfth, 41 Goff, Dinah: journal, 39, 40; in Wolfe Tone Rebellion, 39 Gombeen-man, 51 Goodbody, Marcus, 97, 99 Goodbody family, 259 Gorman, Lord, 122 Gormanstown, 122 Gort Union, 152

356 Index Government - under Russell, 1846-50: asks CRC to distribute seed 1849, 179; closes failed curing houses, 219; economic theory, 173; and failure to prepare new crops, 173; fish curing stations, failure 201; no allowance for crop preparation, 173; policy, 260; refuses fisheries revision, 201;"unreproductive" public work, 173; untested theory, 262. See also Russell - Peel: relief in Great Famine 1845-6, 79-83; discards economic theory, 80; subverts Treasury and Trevelyan's influence, 80; acknowledged successful, 82 - Russell: relief in Great Famine 1846—50: initially following Peel, 83—4; food depots, 93; relief policy spring 1847, 131; loans and guarantees, 131; economic theory and "unreproductive" public work, 173; discharge from public work, 175; new policy, and revision, untested theory, 249, 260, 262; interim soup kitchens 140, 152; soup recipe and English enthusiasm for, 140; soup kitchen cost, 161; new policy of poor house relief under Irish Poor Law, 132, 134, 139, 153; advances to union funds, 165; union relief and Gregory clause, 152; numbers fed, 152; outdoor relief granted

154; policy inappropriate, 157; responsibility for relief failure, 160-1, 163; and Trevelyan, 162; Russell ignored information from Ireland, 160; intransigence, 160; requires relief at Irish expense, 154; relief costs, 161; consolidation of debt, 161; Irish repayment, 161 - agriculture: failure to prepare new crops, 173; no allowance for crop preparation, 173; asks CRC to distribute seed 1849, 179; — fisheries: curing stations, failure, 201; closes failed curing houses, 219; promises salt to Quakers, reneges, 219; refuses fisheries revision, 201; and Quaker pressures, 205-7 Graham, Sir James, 81 Grand Canal, 48, 70 Grand juries, 69 Gratton, Henry, 60, 61, 62 Great Exhibition, 186 Great Famine 1845—1849, 3, 6, 52-4, 248, 250, 251, 253; cause, 79—81, 146, 147, 157, 248; Catholicism as cause, 80, 252; food export during, 4; food supplies, 106; grain shortage, 108; looting of supplies, 134; test of economic & philanthropic theory, 162; English misconceptions and perception, 94, 102; funerals, 96, 98; opening, 79; Gregory clause, 105, 152,155,167,256,267; Scotland, 81; seaweed 97; unattended corpses,

169; winter 1846—47, 96. See also Government, Peel; Government, Russell; relief; Quaker relief Greek War of Independence, 30 Guano, 190 Guinness ale, 177 Gurney, Joseph John, 31, 66 ~9. 73. 7 6 > 264 Gweedore, 173 Hancock, George, CRC supercargo on Albert, 129-301 Hartley, James: transports CRC green crop seeds free, 174 Harvey, Becky, 115 Harvey, Jacob, New York Y.M., 111, 112, 115, 117, 120, 123, 131, dies of exhaustion, 163; and exploding beer bottles, 177 Harvey, Jacob, 257, 258 Headly, Lord, 173 Heep, Uriah, 267 Helvick, 207 Hibernian Fishery Association, 217 Hicksite Friend, 24

Hicksites, 108, 118, 123 Hill, Lord George, 173 Kingston, George, Ballycotton, 210 Hoare, Captain, CRC agent, Arklow: reports to CRC August 1847, 205; reports November 1847,2O4 Hoare, Samuel, 29 Hobson, J.A., 62 Hodgkin, John, 145, 14 257, 259, 264; assesses employment grants, 198; and poorhouse children, 145; Tuke's report, 180 — Irish fisheries: coast guard reports, 201; fish-

357

Index

eries campaign, lobbies Clarendon and Board of Trade, 203; pressures government on regulations, 202;thanks Butcher & Son, 220; Trevelyan's pusillanimity, 219; urges tact & religious toleration, 219; coordinates Claddagh project, 215; pressures government on nets, 217; urges cooperation with Jesuits, 216; lays out prerequisites for lecturer, 216; requests grants under 11—12 Victoria, 219; and Irish Reproductive Fund, 219; urges patience, 220 Holmes, Thomas, 34 Holy Cross Cathedral, Boston, 113 Hospital for Incurables (Irish): given proceeds of model farm sale, 197 Howard, John, 22 Huguenots, 28 Hungry Forties, 76, 84, 162 Indiana, state of, 118 Industrial schools: and CRC, 186; to 1851, earnings, wages, 186 Inner Light, 16, 17—19, 23, 27, 28, 33, 106 Ireland, 17, 19-22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31—3; coastal charts, 8; condition of, 3, 6, 9,45-7,49, 53; distress 1920-21, 13; economy, 48, 49; English perception of, 62, 63, 78, 98, 101, 252; expatriots, 53; famine of 1820-22, 32, 58-9; famine of 1830—31, 69; famine of 1860—63, 13, 239-41; distress of 1880-82,13, 241—2;

conflict of 1920—21, 3, 13, 26, 243—6; industrial development, 47; laissez-faire, 54; and poor rate, 133; people's affection for Quakers, 252, 267; population, 46; railways, 48; rainfall, 45; resources depleted by 1849, 157; textiles, 57; transport, 48; unrest, 49, 51 — agriculture, 45, 46, 49, 51; land holding system, 8, 51, 185; labourers, 53, 58, 61, 64, 70, 71, 74, 145, 252, 253; lack of expertise, 176; farmers ignorant in green crops, 177; farm size, 49-50, in Mayo, 177; landlords, 49, 51, 56; landlord .evictions, 131, 155; subsequent agricultural improvement 1848 attributed to Quakers, 192 — fisheries. See CRC and Irish Fisheries; Government, Russell; Hodgkin; Limerick Subcommittee; Quakers and Irish Fisheries; relief in Great Famine Irish-American aid in Great Famine, 112 Irish Crisis, The, 252, 260 Irish Friends. See Quakers Irish Poor Law. See Poor Law Irish Quaker donations in Great Famine, 125 Irish Relief Association, 86 Irish Relief Committee: Baltimore, 122; Boston, 117; Brooklyn N.y., 120; Charleston, s.c., 114; Cincinnati, Ohio, 118, 120; New Bedford, Massachusetts, 121; N.Y., 114, 117, 121, 123; Philadelphia,

112; Woonsocket, R.I., 121 Irish Relief Society, N.Y., 136 Irish Yearly Meeting, 43 Jacob, Joshua, 22 Jacob, Thomas, 155 Jails: Fry-Gurney report (1827), 73-6; Quakers in, 35; seventeenth century. 35. 36' 4 1 : sheriffs and fees, 35 James II, 20, 36, 38 Jane Eyre, 73 Jenkins, Hugh, 122 Jesuits, 101, 255; Piscatorial School, Claddagh, Galway, 216, 218; prior member of Galway committee, 217. See also CRC and Irish fisheries Journals. See Quaker diaries and journals Kellereran parish, 151 Kelly, Hugh, 122 Kelly, Mrs Julia, 122 Kerry, 141 Kildare Place Society, 69 Kilham, Hannah, 24, 32, 58 Killala, 99, 129 Killybegs, 129 King's County, 94, 175 Kingsland Porridge Shop, 142 Kingston, Lord, 201 Kinsale fisheries: statistics, 203 Knox Gore, Col, 184; agricultural loan 1849, !93 Lack Electoral district, 139 Ladies Clothing Committee of Ireland, 144 Ladies Industrial Society, 186, 255 Ladies Industrial Relief Association of Dublin: CRC grant £500, 210

358

Index

Ladies Relief Society, Killarney, 152 Laissez-faire, 4, 6, 11, 62—3, 80—1, 83, 129, 160, 163, 253, 267-8 Lancaster, Joseph, 31, 32 Land Acts (Ireland): 1870, 234; 1881, 9, 235. See also Encumbered Estates Bill Landed interest, English, 162 Leather for shoes, 142—4 Lecky family, 259 Lefevre, J. G. S.: and Fisheries Board, pressured by Hodgkin, 218 Leinster, 35, 43, 44, 127, 140, 141, 143, 144, 166 Leitrim, 47, 94 Letterkenny, 97 Lettsom, Dr, 28 Lever Brothers, 20 Lewis, F. A., 122 Lexington, Virg., 116 Liberia, 32 Limerick, 35, 37, 43, 86, 91-3, 120, 173, 175, 193, 198, 253, 259, 270 Limerick Chronicle: promotes quality of Claddagh fish, 220 Limerick Subcommittee (CRC), 131; agricultural work; small landholder grants, 1849, 193; Mulvaney's request for fisheries, 205; women's employment, 175. See also London Committee (Quaker); John Hodgkin - Claddagh project, 215—21; inspects Claddagh August 1849, 219; pursues sale of Claddagh products, 220; produces flyer on equipment, care of fish, April 1848, 217; investigates gear, meth-

odology, 217; lobbies Clarendon, 203 Lindfield, 29, 59 Linen, 47, 60—2, 68, 76, 176, 183, 184, 185 Linen Board, 7, 47, 61, 62, 76; loans, 59, 60—2, 65,69, 71, 76 Linen Industry, 7, 43, 183; French Huguenots in, 43; Presbyterians in, 43; Quakers in, 43 Lister, Joseph, 20 Liverpool, 101, 103—6, 123, 129, 138; famine immigration, 195; Liverpool Committee, 106 Loans: guarantee requirement for government investment, 157 Loe, Thomas, 20, 39 London Committee (Quaker), 89, 91, 92, 92, 93' 94. 98> 103. 104> 105, 106, 109—11, 113, 123, 127-9, !38> !44-5> 157, 264; founding and first address, Distress in Ireland, December 1846, 89; Address of January 1847, 104; donation refused, no; Address to Friends in North America January 1847, 109; American aid raises hard questions, 108—11; deals with transport cost, i n , 113; Address to the Subscribers, January 1848, 104; employment, 145; food purchases, 129; £1000 grant for clothing, 144; minute books, 254, 256, 259; poorhouse children, 145; pressures government for Admiralty charts April 1848, 213; seeks market for women's industry, 176;

women's employment grants, 186. See also CRC; Quakers, publicity and pressure - agricultural work: grants for farmers, 157; accepts seed donation January 1847, 170; seeks new varieties of seeds, 179; small landholder grants 1849, 193 — Claddagh project, 215—21; hires deep water fishermen to demonstrate, 216; grants £500 for Claddagh curing house, 218; pays for curing house, costs, 218; pressures government for Admiralty charts April 1848, 213; purchases Vivid, 219; sells Vivid May 1850, 221. See also CRC; John Hodgkin; Quakers Londonderry, Mayor of, J 45 Longford, 142 Lorton, Lord, 175 Lough Neagh, 201, 206 Lowe, Robert, 75 Lurgan, 35 Macaulay, Lord, 56 McHale, John Dr, Archbishop of Tuam, 147 McNeill, Hugh, Dean of Ripon, 80 Madame Du Pree's Female Seminary, 113 Malthus, Thomas, 54 Margate, 29 Marriott, General W. H., 122 Maynooth, 86 Mayo, County, 47, 60, 95, 96, 100: condition 1847, 130; statistics, 130 Meal (cornmeal), go, 94-6, 98, 101; cost, 96, 08, 101

359 Index Medical Benevolent Fund Society, 73 Meeting for Business: Cork, 36 Meeting for Sufferings, 9, 18, 30, 31, 36, 87, 89, 91, 107, 108-10, 119; and famine relief, 119, Indiana, 119, New York, 119, Ohio, 119, Philadelphia, 119 Meeting Houses, 39 Mexican War, 109, 111 Michigan, state of, 113, 116; state donation to CRC, 116 Mill.J. S., 6, 75 Milligan, Rev. James, 149 Minute books, CRC and London Committee, 19, 128. See also CRC; London Committee Mitchell, John, 4, 52 Moate, 89, 94 Monteagle, Lord, 85, 160, 162, 202, 256, 258 Monthly Meeting, 18, 43; established in Ireland, 35; New York, 119 Monthly Meeting of Women Friends, Dublin : gain support of Dublin Yearly Meeting, 241; Irish distress, 241; issue appeal Distress in Ireland, 241 Montreal, Quebec, 113 More, Hannah, 32 Mountmellick, 41 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 113 Mulvaney, William T., Fisheries Commissioner of the Board of Works: asks CRC to aid fisheries on behalf of government, 205 Munster, 35, 36, 43, 44, 127, 134, 140, 141, 143,

144,

l66,

Nashville, Tenn., 120 National Half-Year's Meeting for Ireland, 40 National Meeting, Ireland, 40, 42 Nets and netmaking, 219, 221; Quaker projects, 211 Nettles, 58 Newark, N.J., 118 New Lanark, 65; Irish, 65 New Model Army, 34 New Orleans, La, 118 Newport, 129, 133, 211 Newry, 120 Newspapers (English): disparage famine, 156; publicize evictions, 172 Nicholas Nickleby, 73 Nicholson, Asenath, agent of New York Relief Society, 136, 138, 144, 145, 148, 150, 168, 251, 257; assesses Bewley, 150; assesses Quaker work, 145, 168; causes of failure to cultivate, 170; clothing committees, 144; CRC clothing committee, 144; evictions, 172; famine cause, 148; Galway, 176; government seed sale policy, 173; lack of seed, 171; political awareness of Irish, 148; spoiled government supplies, 138; tour 1844-45, 1$6> tour 1847, 136 Nonconformists. See Dissenters North Arran Island, 129, 130 Norwich, 91 Nova Scotia, 28, 113 Nymph bank: proves fable, 214

222

Museum Theatre, Boston, 1J 3

Oaths: Quakers and, 37 Oatmeal: cost, 95, 99

O'Brien, W. Smith, 261 O'Connell, Daniell, 91, 111, 206 O'Connell, Maurice, MP: administers CRC fishing station, 206; CRC grant, 206 O'Donnell, Sir Richard: correspondence with Pirn, 180-1; CRC cultivation loan, 180—2; evictions at Kiel, Achill, 187; imbroglio over Tuke book, 180 Office of Ordnance: Berehaven houses offered to CRC, 212 O'Flaherty, Liam, 10 O'Flaherty, Rev. Thomas, 111 Ohio, 109, 111, 113, 114, 116, 118, 119; three Ohio farm children, and defining famine as a "monster," 6, 114—15, 264 Orange Order, 27 Ottawa, 111., 125 Owen, Robert, 65 Oxfam, 269 Palmer, Roger, 188 Palmerston, Lord, 125 Parsippany, N.J., 118 Parsnips, 169, 178, 192, 250 Pawnbrokers, 94. See also CRC Peat, 48, 131, 136, 137, 149; cost, 98 Peel, Sir Robert, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83-5, 128, 139, 154, 263; relief program 1845-46, 79-82; rejects laissez-faire, 80; lifts fisheries regulations for emergency, 201; relief program successful, 82; repeal of Corn Laws and fall, 82; last service to Ireland, 233-4

360 Index Connaught and report Peel's brimstone, 81, 84 March 1847, 132, 133; Penal Laws, 173 uses Hoare's reports in Penn, Admiral Sir WilTransactions, 91; writes liam, 20 published letter on bePenn, William, 20, 24; half of CRC and Lonconversion, 39; and don Committee to East Jersey, 37; influRussell refusing his ence, 36—7 £100 to begin new relief Pennsylvania, 20 program in June 1849, Penny post, 146 157-8; deletes formally Perry, Henry, 105, 257 polite signature, 157, Perry, James, 178, 190; inspection tour of Con258 - and agriculture: connaught, March 1847, cern over lack of cultivai3 2 > !33 Persecution, 16, 17, 19, 20, tion, 96, 170; cultivation grants, 181; 22, 28 evictions, 177; O'DonPhilanthropy, 3—6, 9, nell loans, 180-2; up11—13 27, 29; ideolroar over Tuke's book, ogy, 4, 32; Quaker view, 260—1, 266 188 Piers and Breakwaters, 60, - Encumbered Estates Bill: Observations on the 72, 76; lack, 200; presevils... 226-8, long sure to build at memo to Clarendon, Ballinagoul, 209 Pietists, 28 228—30; Condition and Prospects, 230—1; leads Pike, James Martin, 74 fight or Encumbered Pike family, 259 Estates Bill, 230-3, 257 Pike, Wight, CRC Bantry - after famine: as author Bay fishing station, of Transactions, 236—7; 212 as MP, 234, 257; writes Pim, James, 72, 73, 90, 91, Land Question in Ireland, 170, 259 235; Review of Economic Pim, John Jr, 73 Prospects...Since the FamPim, Jonathan, Coine, 235; Ireland and the Secretary of CRC, 9, 26, Imperial Parliament, 235 61, 66, 73, 89, 90, 91, Pim, Thomas, Jr, 178 92, 95, 96, 99, i n , Pim, William H., 177 12O, 122, 123, 126, 254, Pim Brothers, 259 256—9, 263; and chilPine Coffin, Edward, 81 dren in Poor houses, Pinkerton, Mr, Westport, 145; critique of government fisheries policy, "9 Polk, President James K., 205; disheartened, 116 fears revolution, Poor law, 4, 7, 53, 80, 82, 99-101, 225; and Em89, 256, 261, 262, 266, igration, 137; exhaus267; English, 53, 54; tion, 163; motives, go; Irish, 53, 54, 132, 145, public image, 257; tours J in west Ireland: in 52, 153' !59; Irish unions, 7, 55; poorMayo, 1846, 95, tour house mortality, 98; 1846-7, 99, tour of

poor houses, 53, 94-96, 99; rate in aid levied, 161; union relief, 205 Porter, Captain John of Vivid, 221 Port Hope, Canada West, 113, 116, 119 Potato blight: cause, 79, 80; cost, 97; 1846, 83; scientific commission, 80 Potatoes, 46, 50, 55, 58, 68, 69, 74, 170, 171, 177, 179, 180, 183, 189, 197, 198, 250, 252, 261 Poulet Scrope, George: asked to present CRC statistics in House, 203; defends Irish Poor Law, 54 Poverty, 26, 63, 68, 70, 73, 78; igth century definitions, 25 Presbyterians, 27, 34-6, 43- 35 Price-Waterhouse, 20 Prince Regent, 140 Proselytizing, 69 Protective legislation: antiIrish, 37 Provincial Bank, Galway, 217 Provincial Bank of Ireland, 104 Provincial Meeting: Ireland, 35 Public works, 82, 83, 96, 176; condition of discharged workers, Galway, 176; damage, 154; failure, 132, 156; mismanagement, 100; reduction spring 1847, 132; wages, 98, 100; women working on roads, 97, 98, 129, 174 Punch, 63, 113 Puritans, 15, 16, Quakerism, 10, 15—17, 27; nature, 253; nature and famine work, 164,

361 Index 253; structure, 19 Quaker relief: early distress, i7th century, 28, 29, 30; i8th century, 28; American and French revolutions, Napoleonic wars, 28; appearance of inchoate methodology, 29; soup kitchens in i8th century, 42; 1842-43 relief in England, 5, 76, 77, 91; Finland 1855, 242; Hebrides & Highlands 1855, 239; continental relief to 1919, 246, institutionalized in Society as Friends' Service Council, 269 Quaker relief in Ireland: i7th century, 5, 1 1 J- 9> 37' 38; in Jacobite war 1689-90 and after, 38; in Wolfe Tone Rebellion 1798, 39, 42; in famine of 1820-82, 32, 58—9; 1822 famine report, 63; in famine of 1830—31, 69; in famine of 1860—63, 13, 239—41, grants, 240; in distress of 1880-82, 13, 241—2; in 1920-21 conflict, 3, 13, 26, 243—6, 251; appeals, 245; criteria, 245; grants, 245; soup kitchens, 243; statistics and reports, 245; hands over to White Cross, disbands, 246. See also CRC; London Committee; Limerick and Cork Subcommittees - Great Famine: opening, 86, 89; organization, 93; and policy in Great Famine, 5, 11, 87 149; influence of auxiliary committees, 5, 11, 149, 259; expenditure,

166; fund raising, 92; motives, 12—13, 86, 87, $9> 93; perspective of Irish, 167, 168; relief foods unknown to Irish, 106; relief foods recipes and Quaker and government soup recipes, 139-40; soup kitchens, 84, 86, 92, 137, 150, 259; statistics and reports, 92, 245; success, 164, 166 231, 267—9; success to March 1847, 174; summary 167; question of resuming relief June 1849, 156. See also Quakers; Irish Relief Quakers (members of the Religious Society of Friends): archives, 12; asylums, 43; businesses, as business men, 21, 250—1; Catholicism as cause of famine, 252; Catholic Irish, 252; confidence, 106, 164, 208, 253; credit for revealing true situation in Ireland, 112, 121, 262; diaries and journals, 12, 16, 36, 258; discipline, 42; distinctiveness, 261; distinctiveness of view of Ireland, 253; doctrinal divisions, 8, 22, 23, 30, 73, 108, 243; duty, 164, 182, 105, 106; education, 13, 31, 33, 42, 250; emigration, 36, 257; English-Irish conflict 1920-21 strains Society, 244; Evangelicals, 23, 248, 252, 266; Friends Service Council, 269, 270;independence, 124, 244-5;institutionalize relief work, 1870—73, 242; as Friends' Service Council, 269—70; manufac-

turing: of biscuits, 20, of chocolate, 20, of iron, 20; members of Parliament, 9, 234-5; ministers, missionaries, 16—18, 259; nationalism, 27; networks, 36; Oxfam, 269; pacifism, 15, 19, 20, 38, 40, 243; parsimony, 258; prisons, 15, 17, 35-6, 66-7; publications, 262; radicalism, 15, 18, 261; Religious Society of Friends' formal position on famine, 109; reputation and respect for, 6, 10, 27, 37, 40, 41, 119, 121, 122, 124, 146, 156, 167, 207, 262, 268, 270; Richmond Declaration, 243; Save the Children Fund, 269; schools, 42, 43, 72; scientific methods, 7, 16 9-99; shipping, 43; tenacity, 207; Third World relief, 10, 251; trade practises, 42; tributes, 251; Unitarian Service Committee, 269; United Nations, 269; vision of society, 267; War Victims Relief Committee 1870, 242; wealth, 11, 146, 259, 260; welcomed by government in 1920—21 distress, 244; women, Quaker, lack of information, 259; women ministers, 18, 259 abolition of slavery, 263, 269; anti-slavery testimony, no; donations from slave states, 109 early years, England and Ireland: distrainment, 43; hostility to, 15-16; identification of, 36; imprisonment, 36;

362

Index

occupations, 43; persecution of, 19, 36, 37, 41, 43; at Restoration, 35; prisons, 15, 17, 35—6, 66—7; trade guilds, 37 economic and philanthropic theory and practise: ad hoc committees, 30, 77, 87, 108, 118, 258; advanced concepts, 314, 251, 261; catastrophe, 3, 7, 132; decline to invest relief funds in business for own profit, 187, 262—3; define purpose of charity, 159; donations from outside society, 109; economic theory, 6, 218, 251, reject classic theory, 171, 250; government policies, 90, 93, rejected, 256, 260—1; government responsibility in catastrophe and disaster defined, 3—4, 94, 182, 157-9, 230, 251, 263-4, 269, refuse to relieve government of responsibility, 157; grasp nature of crisis 1846, 157; impartiality: 245, 249, 251, 254, in Irish distress 1920—21, 243; laissez-faire, 253, 267, 268; loans, 7-8, 49, subvert economic loan theory, 185, make unsecured loans 256, 261; philanthropy 3, 4, 6, 11, 22, 24, define purpose of, 158, 250, limitations of, 182, 260-1, 264, 266; state responsibility for, 94, 182, 158-9, 230, 251, 264; stewardship, 24, 182, 121—2, 222, 255 government: Admiralty, 106, 129, 254;

anti-government resolution 1920, 244; Encumbered Estates Bill: 8, 224, 226, 257;and printed address, 232; and subcommittee, 232; and pamphlet, 232; and influence on new Encumbered Estates Bill, 231; and Act as start of reform only, 228; Charts of Irish coast, 254; land acts, 254 Ireland: affectionately remembered by Irish, 3, 10, 251—2, 267; concern for condition of Ireland, 7, 58—60, 64—6, 72—4, 223, 249-50, 251; conference 1920, 244; contribution to Ireland, 251; in Irish folk memory, 95, 97, 252; Irish land holding system, 8; land question, 224; linen industry, 183; reports on lack of yeoman class in Ireland, 185; recommendations for Ireland, statistics not theory, 232. See also Land Acts; Encumbered Estates Bill agricultural projects: agricultural program, 7, 169—99; assessment of agricultural work, 199, and lack of cultivation, 1847-48, 129-31, 133, 135, fear of landlords seizing crops, 171; evictions affront, 180; green crop seed program, 169-99, 250; Gregory clause 256, 267; model acreage program (spade labour and employment) and model farm, 7, 182—99; model farm at

Colmanstown, 195—7; seaweed fertilizer project, 251; seed distribution program, 7, 169—79, initial distribution of, 171, agents for, 171, assessment of, i?9 fisheries projects: Claddagh fishing clan, 215-21, 252, 255; demand to present evidence at Fisheries Commission hearing, 208; fisheries, 3, 7, 8, 98, 101, 251, primitive, 203; fisheries as "concern," 202; Fisheries Commission, 256, revitalization program, 200—22; focus on employment, agriculture, fisheries, 155; Ring project, 255; Ring project acknowledged success, 209 Irish Friends: aldermen and burgesses, 37; British origins and ties, significance, 34, 264; confusion in identifying, 235; development and growth in Ireland, 39, 169—222; in Wolfe Tone rebellion, 39, 40; occupations, 34; losses, persecution in Jacobite war, 38, 39; membership, i7th century, 36; Plan of 1823, 63, 65, 66; statistics of Irish Meetings, 43. See also Quaker relief in Ireland Irish Poor Law, 89, 159, 256, 261, 262, 26 267; relief theory, 258, 253; relief policy changed, 241; and Quaker apprehension of inadequacy, 132; poor-rate and relief cost, 154; Quakers de-

363 Index cline support of union relief, 183; public works as relief, 97 Irish relief, 1846—50: aims for Irish work, 7, 183; American appeal, 106, 108; assess position June 1847, 153, 182; conflict of 1920—21, 243—6; correspondence published, 121; criticism of, 262; decline 1848 relief renewal, 155; discouragement, 12, 100, 163, 164; discouragement June 1849, 15^> distilling during famine, 106; distress of 1880; See Monthly Meeting of Women Friends, Dublin ; estimates of food stocks in Great Famine, 100, 135; famine of 1860—3, 239-41; famine of 1880-2, 241—2; frustration, 256; General Meeting for women's employment June 1847, 176; Hospital for Incurables given fund residue 1865, 238; investment, 37;judge work as failure in Transactions, 167; London conferences April, June 1847, 255; Medical Charities Acts, 238; methodology in relief, 10, 26, 32, 33, 262-3; motives, 12, 251, 262-3; neglect businesses in relief effort, 163; pragmatism, 255; preoccupation with turnips, 171; relief foods recipes, 139, Quaker and government soup recipes, 140; resources channelled to Irish betterment, 157; statistics,

132, 262, published 121; steering conferences May, June 1847, 182; "stirabout," 137; Subcommittee, to promote women's employment, sales 176; Subcommittee, for use of famine fund for blind, 56, 238; women's employment, 9, 241, 255, 259; work with other agencies, 249. See also Quaker Relief in Ireland for specific relief work. pressure and publicity, 7-8, 27, 29, 94, 105, 128, 132, 157, 203, 230-1, 253; and access to sources of power, 208, 231; publicity, 104, 120, 121, 203, 267: publicity for Condition and Prospects of Ireland, 230, for Encumbered Estates Bill, 232; signature campaign to MPS forwarding Encumbered Estates Bill, 232, publicity 1920—21, 244 religious and philanthropic groups: Baptist Irish Society, 248, 252, 255; British Relief Association, 248, 253, 256; Catholic Church, 248-9, 254, 263; Church of Ireland, 248, 255, 263; ecumenical relations, official Society position, 254; Jesuits, 255; Jesuit Piscatorial School, 255; Protestant churches, 254—5; Quaker autonomy, 164, 254-256; sectarian conflict, 164, 249, 259; souperism, 146, 252, 255' 265, 267 significance of Great

Famine: 263, 265; cost to Quakers and Quaker deaths, 163, 256; failure in Great Famine?, 265, 266-7; Irish perspective, 167, 168; government responsibility, 268; methodology derived from Great Famine, and famine as turning point in Society's philanthropic purposes, 10, 242, 269, 270; institutionalize relief work, 1870-73, 242; and as Friends' Service Council, 269—70 Quarterly Meeting, 43 Queen's County, 36 Querns, 81 Quietism, 22 Radicalism, 261 Railroads, 21, 48, 72; Liverpool and Manchester, 21; proposed railway to Galway, 221; Stockton and Darlington, 21 Randall, Francis, 38 Rapparees, 38 Rathbarry fisheries, 203 Rathlacken, 188 Rawden, 77 Redington, Thomas N., Undersecretary for Ireland, 185; sends CRC requests for help for fisheries, 212 Reform Club, 140 Relief, 3, 4-8, 8-13; food cost, 117; foods, inability to use raw, 136—7; inappropriate recipes, 136; Quaker, 4—6, 8-10, 13 Relief commissioners: and CRC seed distribution, 178; report, 156 Relief committees, nonQuaker: costs, 165;

364 Index sectarian dysfunction 130-1 Religious Society of Friends. See Quakers Rents in Ireland, 46, 50—2, 55, 61, 64, 68, 136 Repeal Association, Boston, 111 Repeal of Union, 193 Revolutionary Year, 1848, 192 Ricardo, David, 6, 54, 75 Rice, 81, 84, 101, 104, 106, 128, 129, 137, 138, 139, 140, 142; diseased, 139; recipes for, 139 Richard Grubb and Son, 258 Richards, Edmund, supercargo on Quaker relief ship Scourge, 129, 130, !35 Richardson, J.M., 27 Richmond, Va., 118 Ring Project, 255; CRC investment, 209; description, 207; farm losses, 210; nets seized and rotted, 207; success, 209 Rockbridge County, Va., 116 Roscommon County, 94, 95 Rossport, 134 Routh, Sir Randolph, 81, 85. !39> 173. i?8 Rowntree, Seebohm, 22 Royal Agricultural Improvement Society, !9!

Royal canal, 48 Royal Society, 217 Royal Society for the Promotion and Improvement of the Growth of Flax, 183 Rush, Thomas, Jesuit Prior at Galway, 217 Ruskin, John, 26 Russell, Lord John, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 54, 83-5,

106, 110, 113, 116, 128, 132. 139. !53' !54> 157-62, 252-4, 256, 260, 262, 266, 268, 201-3; agrees to pay Quaker relief transport costs, 113; asks CRC to resume relief June 1849, 157; blames landlords for distress, 99; economic theory, 83; Irish connection, 83; pays all relief transport costs, 111, 116; pressure of minority government, 162; relief cost, 91; relief policies, 83; relief policy 1846, 84; responsibility for distress, 161-2, 252-4 Sabbatarians, 253 Sago, 101 St Vincent de Paul Society, 86 Salem, Mass., 120 Saunders, Friend, of Cobham, Surrey, 109 Savage, Robert, Coastguard, CRC agent, Achill station, 135, 212 Savannah, Ga., 118 Save the Children Fund, 269 Scariff Union, 145 Scotland, no, 116, 119, 162 Scots Presbyterians, 34 Scutching mills, 183 Sea Bathing Infirmary, 29 Seaweed, 186; as food in famine, 200; Quaker fertilizer project, 186, 25 1 Sectarian animosity, 69, 147, 151, 249, 259 Seed distribution agents, 174 Senior, Nassau, 45, 54, 75 Shannon River, 48, 52, 84, 88, 93-6

Sharp, Anthony, 37 Shipping agents: American, 118; English, Irish: forego commissions, 129 Shipping trade, Quakers in, 34 Ships carrying Quaker relief: Andrew Foster, 123; Britannia, 112; Hibernia, 112; Isabella, 119; Jamestown, 117; Lucy, 119; Macedonian, 117; Martha and Mary, 120; Rothschild, 119; Tweed, 120, seconded to CRC by Admiralty, Albert, 106, 129, 130, Scourge, 106, 129, 130, !35 Sierra Leone: and Sierra Leone Company, 31—2 Sims, William D., 99, 100 Sixty-Sixth Light Infantry, 217 Skibbereen, 133, 135, 136, 207, 214; Quaker relief before scandal broke, 102—3 Skilling, Thomas: assesses CRC landholder grants, 194; assesses CRC model spade labour acreage, Ballina, 192 Sligo, 47, 93, 96, 98, 99, 104 Smith, Elizabeth, 35 Smith, Preserved, 257 Smith, Dr Sidney, Brookeboro, Fermanagh, 192: cultivation loan, 193 Smith, Sydney, 63 Smithfield, Ohio, 111 Society for Improving the Condition of the Lower Order of Tenantry and Labour Population of Ireland, 71 Society in Scotland for Aiding the Irish Presbyterian Home Mis-

365 Index sions: assesses Ballina spade operations, 197; investment farm, Connaught, 197 Sons of Temperance, Cincinnati, 113 Souperism, 5, 146, 252, 255, 267; "Souper, souper, ring the bell," 146; See also Quakers; other religious groups Soup kitchens, 42, 86 88, 94, 98, 130, 137, 139, !52, !55> 259; Quaker, 84, 91 "Soup Kitchen Act," 139, !52

Soyer, Alexis, 140 Spade labour employment project and model farms (CRC), 179, 189-94, '97 Spitalfields, 29 Spring-Rice, Stephen, 84 Spring-Rice, Thomas. See Lord Monteagle Stacey, George, 106; Claddagh project, 216 Starkey, James, RAIC inspector, 191; refutes CRC failure 191 Starvation, 86 Stephenson, George, 21 Stephenson, Robert, 21 Steubenville, Ohio, 116 Strangman, Joshua, Waterford Subcommittee (CRC), 256; analyses faulty legislation in The Times, 203; demands fisheries board accounting, 203; fury at Commission's condescension and stupidity, 208; personality, 209; recommends registered number on boats, 208; report on legislation and Ring, 209; reports on fisheries hearing December 1848, 208; statistics at hearing, 208

Strzelecki, Count, 133 Suir, 84 Swarthmoor Hall, 18 Swedes (turnips), 169 Swift, Jonathan, 47, 61 Switzerland, 59 Tapioca, 101 Templecrone, 98 Tenants, Irish, 46, 49-51, 55 Tennessee, 113 Test and Corporation Acts, 19 Third World relief, 251 Thompson, Alex, CRC Killeries fishing station, 212 Thompson, Joseph, coast guard officer, Sandy Bay: and CRC 201; reports February 1848, 202 Thornhill, 144 Tighe, R.S. of Linen Board, 62 Times, The, 102, 103, 112, 202, 203 Tipperary, 38, 175 Tithes, 43 Todhunter, William: 135, 163, 257; assesses Galway relief, 135; adds five fish species to Irish list of fauna, 215; analysis of south and west fisheries, 213; fisheries report, 214; manages fisheries loans, 206; reports to government on fisheries, charts, 215; tour on Erne 8-12/48, 215; investigates yawls versus trawlers, 204; manages seed distribution project, 170; prepares agreements for CRC land rental for spade labour project, 189; Ballina spade labour acreage, 192; dies of exhaustion, 163, 257

Toronto, Canada West, "3 Torrens, Robert, 75 Tounsend, James, 186 Tractarians, 146 Trade guilds, Quakers in, 37 Transactions of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends During the Famine in Ireland in 1846 and 1847, 91, 104, 114, 115, 117, 122, 123, 125, 150, 154, 159, 165, 167, 192, 255, 267 Transport, 97, 254; costs, 251; lack of for fisheries, 211 Treasury, 48, 80, 81, 83-5, 102, 128, 153, 159, 167; relief policy, 4. See also Trevelyan Trevelyan, Sir Charles E., Assistant Secretary of Treasury, 81-4, 85, 102, 177, 178, 179, 252, 256, 258, 260—3, 267, 268; asks CRC to resume relief June 1849, 157; blames landlords for misery, 260; new policy, 83 102; and Peel, 81-3; promises salt to CRC, reneges, 219; rationalizes policy in "Irish Crisis" 155; relief policies when Russell succeeded Peel 1846, 83; and role in government responsibility for distress, 160 Trimmer, Mrs, 32 Tuke, James Hack, 2, 9, 96—9, 257, 260, 264; opening tour with W.E. Forster late 1846 to assess extent, reality of famine, 96-8; report of tour, describes emigration, and insurrection possibility at that date, 96, 99, 100; as-

366 Index sesses CRC seed distribution, 177; assesses Mayo farms, 177; Connaught tour 1847, 154; Connaught tour and evictions, 177—80; flax, 180; publishes A visit to Connaught, 187; threatened with horsewhipping, 180; O'Donnell evictions, 187; Pirn on book, 188; prints amended edition, 188; and fisheries, 200; fisheries campaign, 203; serves on committee examining lack of medical facilities on west Irish islands, 238; post-famine emigration work, 238; tour of famine districts 1882, 238—9; report published as Irish Distress, 241; publishes Irish Distress and its Remedies, 239; publishes Condition of Donegal, 239 Tuke, Samuel, 29 Turner, Robert, 34 Turnips, 169, 172, 177, 178, 189, 190, 193, 196, 250 Tyrone, 150, 151 Ulster, 7, 34-6, 38, 43, 44, 47, 48, 50, 51, 56; Quakers, 38; Union, England and Ireland, 43, 48, 51-3 Unitarian Service Committee, 269 United Nations, 269 United States Army Engineers, 113 Valentia (Valencia) fishing station, 202 Vaughan Jackson, Col, 190; and CRC cultivation loans for flax,

189—90; evictions at Kiel, Achill island, 187; rural unrest, 193 Victoria, Queen, 117, 125, 167 Vivid, London Committee trawler, 219, 2 2 2 : cost, 219; three-month trial at Galway, 220; inadequate for Irish seas, 221; mixed success with Claddagh men, 220; refutes claims of fishing banks, 221; sold, May 1850, 221 Wages, Irish labourers, 62-4, 70, 71, 85, 220 Wakefield, Thomas, 73 Waller, Sir Charles Townsend, 65 Wallscourt, Lord, 192 Warne, Thomas, 37 War of 1812, 24 Waterford, 35, 48, 79, 84, 86, 88, 253, 259, 270 Waterford Subcommittee (CRC), 144, 155, 216; fisheries, 203; fisheries hearing, December 1848, 208;and Mulvaney, 205; persuades Lord De Decies to build storehouse at Ring, 209; seed distribution March 1847, 171; two ton hemp grant for rotted nets, 207 Waterloo, 49 Weather in Ireland: in 1847, 85, 129; winter 1846-47, 120, 142, 256; winter 1847—48, 155; in 1848, 179, 190, 218; winter 1848—49, 156; in 1849, drought, 193; winter 1846—47, 256 Weavers' Corporation, 37 Webb, Richard, 130, 131,

!34> !35> 15°> 151' 155, 156, 257; inspects

fishing stations, 2 1 2 ; tour of Connaught and Erris, Feb. 1848, 151—5; tour of Erris, Achill, May 1847, 150; tour of Mayo, 134, 135 Webb family, 259 Webster, Daniel, 113 Wedgwood, Josiah, 20 Wellington, Duke of, 102 Welsh, Father Tom, 151 West Ireland, conditions 1847, 129 Westmeath, 89 West New Jersey, 37 Westport, 61, go, 93, 100, 119, 187 Wexford, 39, 79 Whately, Dr Richard, Archbishop of Dublin, 248; addresses to clergy, 147-8; chairs 1836 Poor Law Commission, 54; and causes of Great Famine, 147-8; and souperism, 147 White, Edward: seed distribution Mayo May 1847, 174; dies of overexertion and famine disease, 174 White Quakers, 22 Wight family, 259 Wilberforce, William, 29 William III, 38 Wolfe Tone Rebellion: 40; Quaker losses, 39 Women's employment, 186, 241; American market, 186; lack of work, 176; wages, 175. See also CRC; Quakers Women's Yearly Meeting, Ireland, 35 Wonston, Hampshire, 146 Wood, Sir Charles, 160, 162 260, 262, 268 Wood, Sir James, 83, 85 Woonsocket, Rhode Island, 120

367

Index

World War I, 269 World War II, 269 Wyndham Act, 254 Yearly Meeting, 19, 30, 31, 35- 39» 43' Io8 > 110 >

111, 115, 120; American meetings, 109; Dublin, 9, in 1845, 77' 78; London, 9, 66; New England, 120; Philadelphia Yearly Meet-

ing: relief of Irish Friends, 38, 39 York, 22, 187 Youghal, 35, 84, 86 Young, Arthur, 42 Young Ireland, 99, 156