A Case of Genocide?

The Famine Plot: England's Role in Ireland's Greatest Tragedy
by Tim Pat Coogan

Most people know about the so-called Irish Famine...that time in 1846 when a blight started infecting Ireland's Potato crop, and best estimates indicate 1.1 million people were killed by famine and its associated diseases.  Another 1.3 million were forced to emigrate.  This is how the history books primarily portray this tragic moment in Irish history.  What most people don't know is that the Irish people do not refer to this time period as a Famine.  Instead it is called the Great Hunger.  The other aspect of the Famine not known is the role the British government played in actually causing it, not the blight itself of course, but the starvation of the Irish people.

Ireland's best-known historian, Tim Pat Coogan, tackles this dark period in Irish history and argues that it constituted one of the first acts of genocide.  Through meticulous research and documentation, Coogan presents a vivid and horrifying picture of this catastrophe and holds specific individuals within the British government to account.

As with most tragedies of this magnitude, there is usually a villain.  In the case of the Great Hunger, that role falls squarely on the shoulders of British civil servant, Sir Charles Trevelyan.  While Trevelyan may have been just a civil servant, it was his responsibility to implement and enforce any policies and programs proposed by the British government.  The British response to the tragedy primarily consisted of evictions, emigration and a policy of laissez faire economics. Trevelyan believed the fate of the Irish people should be left in the hands of Providence.  In other words, according to Trevelyan, those who died of starvation were meant to because they deserved it.  In reading this book, I felt I was listening to the Republican party's response to poverty here in the United States.  According to some of the rhetoric one hears in the media, it is a poor person's own fault if they are poor, and the federal government should not do anything to help them.  The rhetoric makes it sound as if they borrowed that philosophy directly from the British government's response to the Irish "famine".

Coogan does not totally condemn the British government.  There were attempts with some government policies to alleviate the suffering of the Irish people.  For example, Prime Minister Robert Peel made some effort to assuage the problem, however misguided, allowing the purchase of Indian maize from America.  There also were efforts to set up workhouses and soup kitchens, but Trevelyan made sure there was not adequate funding for these programs to work.  In disturbingly graphic images and compelling language based on true stories from the Famine archives and using the actual language from the United Nations Articles on Genocide, Coogan clearly shows intentional culpability for the famine by the British government.

Another powerful Irish Literary Voice

Red Sky in Morning by Paul Lynch
Another powerful literary voice from Ireland.  Red Sky in Morning is a unique tale, but in another way, it epitomizes the tragic history and diaspora of the Irish people.  The protagonist, Coll Coyle, has been pushed too far. The landlord is about to evict him and his wife and new child from their hovel.  He decides he would try to talk to the landlord, but looses his temper and accidentally kills the landowner's son in the spring of 1832.  He is forced to abandon his wife and daughter and flee County Donegal for America.
Coyle is on the run, but the landlord’s sadistic henchman, John Faller, is a trained tracker, and manages to stay one step behind Coyle all the way to Philadelphia.  Faller is a relentless and sadistic killer.

This is a grim, but poetic story, that in so many ways illustrates the tragic story of the Irish immigrant.  First, circumstances force Coyle to leave his homeland and his family. Second, he books passage to America on a "coffin ship".  After a long sea voyage, Coll eventually arrives in America and finds work laying railroad track in Pennsylvania.  This work is scarcely less exploitative and brutal than what he was having to do in Ireland for a landowner. During this part of the novel, Lynch seamlessly weaves in an actual historical event. Use one of the library's databases and search for "Duffy's Cut", and read more about this tragic event in U.S. immigrant labor history about a choleric work camp along the Pennsylvania railroad.

Lynch's lyrical prose paints a vivid picture and builds suspense with this tale of a man on the run, and being doggedly pursued by a determined hunter/killer.  It will be interesting to see what this fresh young Irish writer comes up with next.  Stay tuned!

Restoring a King's Reputation

The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones

I was immediately drawn to this story, when it first appeared in the Star Tribune newspaper.  The story talked about how Philippa Langley believed she had pinpointed where the remains of Richard III were buried following his defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 against Henry Tudor for the English throne.

The article stated they had located the fairly complete skeletal remains in a Leicester car park, and would be conducting DNA tests to determine if the bones were those of last king of England to die in battle. Langley and her team of archaeologists had a male DNA sample provided by a Canadian citizen who claimed to be a descendant of Richard III.

Several months later there appeared a follow-up article claiming the carbon dating and DNA tests performed verified the bones were the remains of King Richard III. The photograph of the skeletal remains showed a curvature of the spine, at first reinforcing the image of Richard III as portrayed over the years in various productions of Shakespeare's play.  A forensics pathologist diagnosed the condition as severe scoliosis, but the disability did not hamper Richard's skills in battle.  The skeleton’s wounds showed this last English king to die in battle led a courageous and carefully planned cavalry charge at Bosworth against an inexperienced, fearful Henry Tudor luckily saved by mercenary French pikemen.  Langley states upfront in the book her intention was to quash the caricature of a murderous, hunchbacked psychopath vilified by Tudor propagandists and Shakespeare alike.

The work and findings from this three week dig and subsequent publication of The King's Grave successfully restores the dignity and reputation of one of England's most maligned members of royalty.  While Richard reigned only two years, the true historical record shows Richard was an idealistic king with a keen sense of justice and humor, as well as a courageous warrior who was devoted to his father and brother.  To paraphrase the old adage, "To the victor may go the spoils, but not necessarily the final historical record."

An interesting and fascinating read!