Above : Portrait Of Jeremiah O’Donovan

FOR the next few years there was tranquillity in Ireland. The activity of the constitutional politicians had ceased ; the ” physical force ” party gave no sign of life. Within a decade each had made a great effort ; both had failed. The English people in general believed that the Irish were at last ” settling down,” and that agitations and rebellions would be heard of no more. In truth, however, the apparent peace was but ” smothered war.”

Above : The Emigrant Prepare To Leave

By the closing months of 1847 the distress had greatly lessened. The harvest was a very good one, and, before the end of the year, the famine might be regarded as over. Its effects, however, long remained. Results of the Famine.—The classes which had been the employers of labour had been greatly impoverished. The smaller farmers h id been obliged to sell their live-stock, their implements, often even their seed-corn.