physician, set out on a journey to Rome to seek renewed health. He died before reaching his destination, however, passing away at Genoa on May 15, 1847. In accordance with his express wish, his heart was taken to Rome, while his body was carried to Ireland, where it was buried in the great cemetery at Glasnevin, his monument being modelled after one of the round towers of Ireland, surmounted by a cross. 304. The Great Famine, 1845–47. O'Connell thus escaped the misery of beholding the awful tragedy through which Ireland was to pass in the next few years. Failures of the potato crop had happened before on several occasions, and, as the masses of the poorest population lived chiefly on potatoes, they experienced periodical suffering. But in 1845 and 1846, the entire crop failed, and the misery of the country was complete. The worst famine and pestilence known to modern European history raged through Ireland during the next few years. One quarter of the population, which was at that time more than eight millions, died of starvation. No western country has ever suffered a calamity equal to that of the "Black Forty-Seven," as the year after the famine was called. England did something to relieve the suffering of the people by sending large sums of money and quantities of food; but these contributions were quite inadequate when divided among the starving millions. The "Black 305. Emigration to America. Before the famine, the population of Ireland was nearly nine millions; to-day, it is less than half that total, having diminished every Decrease of year in the last half century, something that population. has happened in no other European country, and probably in no other country in the world. Statistics show that Ireland has the fewest marriages and the smallest families in Europe, a fact accounted for by the widespread misery of its inhabitants. But the small families alone were not the cause of the startling diminution of population. A more powerful cause lay in another direction. The people of Ireland, after a century and a half of suffering and oppression in their own land, had at last found a way of escape. Tens and hundreds of thousands fled across the ocean to America, where they could hope to escape starvation, find fair opportunities, and receive protection from the laws. The immigration returns of the United States show in a remarkable way the suddenness and extent of this new flood of life from Ireland. In 1824, only seven thousand people of foreign birth entered the Great numUnited States. The numbers then began to bers leave rise steadily, and in ten years reached about 60,000 or 70,000 yearly, a figure which was maintained until about 1844, on the eve of the Irish famine. 1854, the number of immigrants to the United States had risen to more than 425,000 yearly. Almost all of these came from Ireland. Taking the same question from the other side, we find that in fifty years after the famine 4,000,000 emigrants left Ireland, the vast majority of them for the United States. Ireland. By Of this movement, T. W. Russell, M. P., who held office in Lord Salisbury's last ministry, has written: “These exiles became American citizens. They nursed the Fenian rebellion, which threw England into a panic; they financed the Land League, and changed the very basis of that feudal land system which so long cursed the country; they hatched dynamite conspiracies, and paid England back, at least in part, for the sufferings of their fathers and their friends. But they have done far more, they prevented in the past, and they prevent to-day (1903), any understanding between England and the United States-such an understanding as Mr. Chamberlain thinks would dominate and control the world. Yes, beyond all doubt, England has paid dearly for the luxury of Irish landlordism for this is what it all means and she will continue to pay until she rids herself of the incubus." SUMMARY The first step in the resurrection of Ireland after many centuries of increasing misery was Catholic emancipation in 1829. The introduction of the National School System followed in 1831. The Whately Commission was appointed to investigate the conditions of extreme poverty caused by the enormous increase of population during the last half century, and by the legal destruction of trade and industry. As a result, the first Poor Law Act was passed in 1838. The same year, a struggle over the injustice of the tithe system brought about a transfer of the tithes from tenant to landlord. The movement for the repeal of the Act of Union, headed by O'Connell, ended in failure, in 1843. The "Young Ireland Party," revolutionary in character, was then formed. O'Connell died during the "Black Forty-Seven," the year of the famine. The famine was followed by a great and steady tide of emigration to America. Between 1850 and 1900, upwards of 4,000,000 emigrants left Ireland, mostly for America. CHAPTER XXIX THE FENIANS AND DISESTABLISHMENT 1848-1869 ENGLISH SOVEREIGN: Victoria, 1837-1901 306. Free trade. The lesson taught by the famine made a strong impression on the English government. Sir Robert Peel was at this time prime minister, and he immediately changed England's policy toward Ireland by opening the latter to free trade through the repeal of the Corn Laws, which removed the import duty on wheat. The result was that wheat could be imported corn Laws into Ireland repealed. free of duty from any country on the continent, or from America, thus lowering the price of bread for the poor inhabitants of Ireland. SIR ROBERT PEEL On the other hand, the repeal of the Corn Laws was a blow to the Irish farmer because he had formerly been able to send his wheat and oats to England free of duty, while all other countries were compelled to pay a heavy import duty on wheat. As Ireland is so largely agricultural, it is probable that the permanent loss more than counterbalanced the temporary gain. 307. Condition of the Irish landlords. The evils of the famine fell very heavily on the landlord class. The farmers whose crops failed, and the laborers who could find no employment, were able to seek new forReduced tunes in America, but no such opportunity was to poverty. open to the landlords, who were reduced to bankruptcy by the complete inability of their tenants to pay rent for several years in succession. They were unfitted by training and tradition for the hard work of an emigrant's life, which would have meant sickness and misery to their wives and daughters. They were, perhaps, more to be pitied than any other class in Ireland, although the system of things which they represented and supported was the cause of most of the suffering of the people, and of the famine itself. Need of 308. Encumbered Estates Court Act, 1849. The British government saw that the poverty of the landlords affected the whole country very unfavorably, because, lacking money, they were unable to introduce proper improvements on their estates, to recapital. claim new land, or to fertilize the old. English statesmen devised a plan which they hoped would introduce capital. This plan was embodied in the Encumbered Estates Court Act, a law passed July 28, 1849, which provided for the establishment of a court empowered to examine the affairs of heavily indebted Irish landlords whose estates were encumbered by mortgages and loans, which consumed all the money that might have gone for improvements. The courts were |