Ireland


Book Description

Paralleling his friend Alexis de Tocqueville's visit to America, Gustave de Beaumont traveled through Ireland in the mid-1830s to observe its people and society. In Ireland, he chronicles the history of the Irish and offers up a national portrait on the eve of the Great Famine. Published to acclaim in France, Ireland remained in print there until 1914. The English edition, translated by William Cooke Taylor and published in 1839, was not reprinted. In a devastating critique of British policy in Ireland, Beaumont questioned why a government with such enlightened institutions tolerated such oppression. He was scathing in his depiction of the ruinous state of Ireland, noting the desperation of the Catholics, the misery of repeated famines, the unfair landlord system, and the faults of the aristocracy. It was not surprising the Irish were seen as loafers, drunks, and brutes when they had been reduced to living like beasts. Yet Beaumont held out hope that British liberal reforms could heal Ireland's wounds. This rediscovered masterpiece, in a single volume for the first time, reproduces the nineteenth-century Taylor translation and includes an introduction on Beaumont and his world. This volume also presents Beaumont's impassioned preface to the 1863 French edition in which he portrays the appalling effects of the Great Famine. A classic of nineteenth-century political and social commentary, Beaumont's singular portrait offers the compelling immediacy of an eyewitness to history.




Economic Thought and the Irish Question 1817–1870


Book Description

Originally published in 1960, this book presents a discussion of the relationship between economic theory and economic policy in relation to nineteenth-century Irish history. The text focuses on the period 1816-70 and covers a variety of areas, including the land system, absentee landlords, the poor law, private enterprise, free trade, public works, and emigration. A bibliography is included and detailed notes are incorporated throughout. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Irish history, British foreign policy and economic theory.




Political Economy and Colonial Ireland


Book Description

In a bitterly divided 19th century Ireland, consensus was sought in the new discipline of political economy which claimed to transcend all divisions. This book explores the failure of that mission in the wake of the great famine of 1846-7.










Papers


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