Written in 1848 by the senior Treasury civil servant who directed government relief during the Great Famine, this essay reviews the potato failure, public works, soup kitchens, the Poor Law and private charity. Trevelyan presents the catastrophe as a providential remedy for Ireland’s economic ills and argues against further state intervention.
An essential primary source on the Famine, read today largely as evidence of the attitudes that deepened it. Download the free EPUB.