Nassau William Senior - Controversy: Irish Famine

Controversy: Irish Famine

Nassau reportedly said of the Great Irish Famine of 1845

"would not kill more than one million people, and that would scarcely be enough to do any good."

This is one of the points frequently quoted by theorists who propose that the inaction of the British government and their laissez-faire attitude in supplying aid & relief during the Great Irish Famine is tantamount to deliberate genocide.

More specifically, believers in the genocide theories claim that the mindset of the highly educated and well regarded such as Nassau, is demonstrated through this quote, and supports motives or personifies the contempt which existed among the English élite for the Irish subjects of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Costigan argues however, that this quote is taken out of context and reflects Nassau's opinion purely from the viewpoint of the theory of political economy; in other words, that even such a large reduction in the population would not solve the underlying economic, social and political problems (which was to be proved correct). He argues that Nassau made attempts over many years to improve the lot of the Irish people, even at considerable personal cost (in 1832 he was removed, after one year in office, from his position as Professor of Political Economy at King's College, London, for supporting the Catholic Church in Ireland). In his letter of 8 January 1836 to Lord Howick Nassau writes,

With respect to the ejected tenantry, the stories that are told make one's blood boil. I must own that I differ from most persons as to the meaning of the words 'legitimate influence of property'. I think that the only legitimate influence is example and advice, and that a landlord who requires a tenant to vote in opposition to the tenant's feeling of duty is the suborner of a criminal act.'

Also, his notes of his visits to Birr in the 1850s mention his surprise and concern that the everyday lifestyle of the Irish poor had changed so little, despite the famine disaster. His theme is anti-poverty and not anti-Irish.

Though the aspect of Ireland is somewhat changed since 1852, and much since 1844, I doubt whether any great real alteration in the habits to feelings of the people has taken place. They still depend mainly on the potato. They still depend rather on the occupation of land, than on the wages of labour. They still erect for themselves the hovels in which they dwell. They are still eager to subdivide and to sublet. They are still the tools of their priests, and the priests are still ignorant of the economical laws on which the welfare of the labouring classes depends.