Though no one man can be accused for the disasters of the famine, It could be argued that an individual by the name of Trevelyan was responsible for exacerbating the fatalities of Irish during the famine years because of a lack of effective action. Trevelyan’s character has been compared to Yeats’s description of Kevin O’Higgins as being “a soul incapable of remorse or rest.”[1] During the famine he was responsible for administering relief in Ireland. He was merely a civil servant but wielded much power as the assistant secretary of HM treasury. As a 21 year old he worked with the British colonial government in India. In 1840 he began his duties as the assistant secretary of Her Majesty’s treasury and maintained the role until 1859 (two famines later).[2] As a supporter of the Whig political party, Trevelyan saw Ireland as an international embarrassment.[3] Trevelyan’s moralistic view was opposed to assistance on the grounds that the relief deprived the poor of the incentives to change the behaviours that made them poor.[4] Trevelyan went as far as to say that “God had ‘sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson… [and it] must not be too much mitigated.’”[5]
Trevelyan refused to do anything to stop the extensive exporting of Irish foodstuffs and even defended it saying ‘do not encourage the idea of prohibiting exports…Perfect free trade is the right of course.’ [6] Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of starving Irish presents looked on as a quarter of a million sheep and close to half a million swine left the island to be exported to England. Trevelyan had to arrange for troops to be sent to Ireland so as to be on the ready for any food riots that broke out in the port cities. Trevelyan was an ideological follower of Adam Smith. Adam Smith is considered by many people to be the father of capitalism. In his celebrated work, The Wealth of Nations, he wrote:
The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition, when suffered to extent its self with freedom and security, is so powerful a principle, that it alone, and without any assistance, is not only capably of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operation.[7]
Trevelyan truly believed in Smiths theory and politically worked on the same basis. This explains Trevelyan’s harsh and enactive governing of the relief in Ireland. Trevelyan’s actions have been seen by many as brutal and inhuman but he may have possibly set the ground work for a new system in Ireland.
[1] Coogan, Tim. The Famine Plot. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. p. 59
[2] Two major famines occurred in the UK during Trevelyan’s time as assistant secretary of HM treasury. The Highland famine in Scotland in the years 1846-1857, and the Irish famine of 1845-1850.
[3] Kelly John. The Graves Are walking. New York: Henry Holt and Company.2012.p.90
[4] Ibid p. 91
[5] Ibid p.91
[6] Woodham-Smith Cecil. The Great Hunger. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.1962.p.123
[7] Ibid.p.61
Trevelyan refused to do anything to stop the extensive exporting of Irish foodstuffs and even defended it saying ‘do not encourage the idea of prohibiting exports…Perfect free trade is the right of course.’ [6] Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of starving Irish presents looked on as a quarter of a million sheep and close to half a million swine left the island to be exported to England. Trevelyan had to arrange for troops to be sent to Ireland so as to be on the ready for any food riots that broke out in the port cities. Trevelyan was an ideological follower of Adam Smith. Adam Smith is considered by many people to be the father of capitalism. In his celebrated work, The Wealth of Nations, he wrote:
The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition, when suffered to extent its self with freedom and security, is so powerful a principle, that it alone, and without any assistance, is not only capably of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operation.[7]
Trevelyan truly believed in Smiths theory and politically worked on the same basis. This explains Trevelyan’s harsh and enactive governing of the relief in Ireland. Trevelyan’s actions have been seen by many as brutal and inhuman but he may have possibly set the ground work for a new system in Ireland.
[1] Coogan, Tim. The Famine Plot. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. p. 59
[2] Two major famines occurred in the UK during Trevelyan’s time as assistant secretary of HM treasury. The Highland famine in Scotland in the years 1846-1857, and the Irish famine of 1845-1850.
[3] Kelly John. The Graves Are walking. New York: Henry Holt and Company.2012.p.90
[4] Ibid p. 91
[5] Ibid p.91
[6] Woodham-Smith Cecil. The Great Hunger. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.1962.p.123
[7] Ibid.p.61