The above image is from the 10 October 1846 issue of the Pictorial Times. It has the title “Cahirciveen, the retreat of the Liberator.” It accompanies an article discussing the plight of the Irish people who are suffering from hunger after the failure of their potato crops.
Words of the time—written by a British, not an Irish author—help us to understand what the Irish people were enduring when they needed help the most. Keep in mind that it was only the potato crop which had failed (not all other crops).
Since only the potato crop had failed, how was it that people were starving, leading to food riots? Was there no other food in Ireland? If not, why not?
If there was other food available, to feed the starving Irish people, why does this author seem to blame the Irish peasants for their desperate condition? If the potato crop failed…
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