Above : Photo Of John Russell, Prime Minister At The Time The famine had aggravated the land troubles, and evictions with all their attendant misery were terribly frequent. Much of this was due to the wanton greed of men who wished to re-let at higher rents the land whose value the toil of the poor peasants' hands had increased. But there were also numbers of land¬lords, naturally humane and anxious to do justice, whose estates were so much ... Read More

Above : Maynooth College, Founded In This Period The population of Ireland at the time of the passing of the Act of Union is estimated as something between 40 and 45 millions. In spite of the wave of relative prosperity which marked the closing decades of the eighteenth century, there was much poverty, both in the urban and in the rural districts. The land laws, in many of their worst features, remained still unreformed, but long leases or freeholds could now be ... Read More