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.

They had no money to replace these, or to carry on agricultural in return for mere food. Public works millions for the purpose as before. The labourers who had worked for them found without means of subsistence. Wages sank, and many were the exiles who had prospered in their new homes across the Atl tic sent large sums of money to their distressed relatives at home, ci wlv the country began to recover. Other results of the famine there were h wever, which did not so speedily pass ; which indeed, are still with us.

For over two centuries previous to 1846, the population of Ireland had been generally increasing ; even the great famines of the eighteenth century had not checked, save very partially and temporarily, the prevailing tendency. During the years 1845, 1846 and 1847, probably at least a million persons had died of starvation or of disease resulting from it; more than as many had left the country, the vast majority going to the United States.

The resultant diminution of population would, under ordinary circumstances, have been repaired in twenty years or less, but this was not to be. Owing to a variety of circumstances, the tide of emigration continued to flow. At length a custom was established. It became almost a matter of course that some members of every family amongst the small farmers and the labourers should, when eighteen or twenty years of age, cross the Atlantic to seek their fortunes. Those who went were generally the most vigorous and most intelligent of the sons and daughters.

Very few of them ever returned to their native land ; save, if they prospered especially, for a passing visit. Owing chiefly to this constant drain, the population declined. Each census showed a cor.siderable decrease. The 8,175,000 odd of 1841 had changed in 1857 to about 6J millions. Thirty years later there were about 5,000,000 persons in Ireland. The last census (1911) shows not much more than 4I millions. The rate of decrease is, however, becoming less rapid, which is a hopeful sign.

The Irish emigrants who, during the famine years, left their native and for America, carried to their new homes a bitter hatred of England, to whose prejudices, injustices, and, perhaps, deliberate malice and reachery, they ascribed their sufferings. This feeling they have handed °n to their descendants, and the Irish element in the United States has than once influenced profoundly international relations and the of Public feeling in regard to questions affecting the British Empire.
Tide of Emigration
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.

They had no money to replace these, or to carry on agricultural in return for mere food. Public works millions for the purpose as before. The labourers who had worked for them found without means of subsistence. Wages sank, and many were the exiles who had prospered in their new homes across the Atl tic sent large sums of money to their distressed relatives at home, ci wlv the country began to recover. Other results of the famine there were h wever, which did not so speedily pass ; which indeed, are still with us.

For over two centuries previous to 1846, the population of Ireland had been generally increasing ; even the great famines of the eighteenth century had not checked, save very partially and temporarily, the prevailing tendency. During the years 1845, 1846 and 1847, probably at least a million persons had died of starvation or of disease resulting from it; more than as many had left the country, the vast majority going to the United States.

The resultant diminution of population would, under ordinary circumstances, have been repaired in twenty years or less, but this was not to be. Owing to a variety of circumstances, the tide of emigration continued to flow. At length a custom was established. It became almost a matter of course that some members of every family amongst the small farmers and the labourers should, when eighteen or twenty years of age, cross the Atlantic to seek their fortunes. Those who went were generally the most vigorous and most intelligent of the sons and daughters.

Very few of them ever returned to their native land ; save, if they prospered especially, for a passing visit. Owing chiefly to this constant drain, the population declined. Each census showed a cor.siderable decrease. The 8,175,000 odd of 1841 had changed in 1857 to about 6J millions. Thirty years later there were about 5,000,000 persons in Ireland. The last census (1911) shows not much more than 4I millions. The rate of decrease is, however, becoming less rapid, which is a hopeful sign.

The Irish emigrants who, during the famine years, left their native •and for America, carried to their new homes a bitter hatred of England, to whose prejudices, injustices, and, perhaps, deliberate malice and reachery, they ascribed their sufferings. This feeling they have handed °n to their descendants, and the Irish element in the United States has ^° than once influenced profoundly international relations and the of Public feeling in regard to questions affecting the British Empire.