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Mr. Nicholas Cummins. Letter to the Duke of Wellington on

the Great Irish Potato Famine
Mundos Anglófonos en Perspectiva Histórica y Cultural (UNED)

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A Famous Letter
Analysis of Mr. Nicholas Cummins’ Letter to the Duke of Wellington

Fco. Javier Gallardo Puga

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The letter that will be studied in this work is both a political and a literary document, since
it is a letter written by a Cork magistrate –Mr. Nicholas Cummins and aimed towards
Field Marshall Arthur Wellesley, a Dubliner politician regarding the desolated situation
that Ireland was going through because of a blight that affected the whole potato
production in this island. It was written on December 17th, 1846 and it was published on
The London Times on December 24th of the same year. It cannot go unnoticed that the
date it was made public was a significant one: it was Christmas Eve, a day in which British
families would get together to share a sumptuous meal and a good fire. Although this
piece of writing was sent to the Duke of Wellington, it can be assumed that it was directed
towards the whole British nation in order to raise awareness about the disastrous events
that were taking place in Ireland.

On this document Mr. Nicholas Cummins describes his visit to Skibbereen during the fall
of 1846, a period in which the South and West of Ireland was in a famine as the country
had never seen, and he appeals to the Duke’s compassion so that he transmits the message
to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Mr. Cummins uses a descriptive style which reminds that
employed in gothic literature. He creates visual images full of suffering and despair, and
he takes his time to describe the awful situation that the people from Skibbereen are going
through. He narrates how his personal efforts are futile. At first he explains that he had
some knowledge about the current situation but then he discredits his own thoughts: the
image of Mr. Cummins himself loaded with loaves of bread shows his naivety about the
famine, and the truth hit him hard when he saw how people were barely surviving in their
barracks. Even though he claims that he won’t go into details he doesn’t miss a single
point and he tells the tale of his trip in a manner that would distress even the more
dispassionate reader. The magistrate goes as far as citing the Bible in order to get a
reaction from England, and then he proceeds on talking about Her Majesty who, being a
woman herself, is supposed to have ‘feminine traits’ such as compassion and piety. He
finishes his letter by appealing to the Duke of Wellington’s bloodline, being an Irish as
himself, and alludes to the Roman name of Ireland –Hibernia as a metaphor of the ancient
link that they share with all the people who are dying in his homeland. All in all, this letter
illustrates the despair of the Irish people during the allegedly worst year of the ‘Irish
Potato Famine’ with the intention of rising a resolute response from the central
government of England, whose measures on the topic had not been successful so far.

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England’s policy up to this period had been slightly directed towards decentralization,
although the main body of the political power still remained in the main island, and the
Devolution process was still not complete. The Industrial Revolution was building up but
it was limited to the capital towns. Ireland was still an agrarian nation with 8 million
inhabitants, three quarters of which were illiterate and did not own the farms. The land
and the farms were still owned by the English ruling class, and most of that land was
seeded with “lumper” potatoes, which were the only class of potato that existed in the
island. It is thought that 3 million people lived on those potatoes alone and thus when the
blight struck they lost their only source of food. The Irish were left without any mean to
provide for themselves, being their country one without industry, with no variety on crops
and almost no fishing industry.

The fungus that caused the outbreak amongst the potato plantations was supposed to have
been brought on boats. Ireland’s damp climate contributed to its dissemination, and in
1845 almost the totality of the harvest was lost. Despite the fact that the Government
issued several policies to alleviate the famine, people kept starving. Relief Commissions
were created to provide food for those in need, but the donations on which they depended
stopped eventually. Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel oversaw the process personally but
his actions were taken late and were insufficient. One measure was the importation of
corn from the U.S., which was no cure for the malnutrition that Irish people were
suffering. Charles Trevelyan took place as Assistant Secretary after Lord John Russell
became the Prime Minister. His liberal ideology leaded him into a laissez-faire attitude:
he firmly believed that by providing the Irish with public work they could sustain
themselves by buying food from private merchants, which would be charged taxes to
sustain the public work. When this flawless plan was taken into action, reality struck: the
payment for the public work turned out to not be enough to buy food, since prices had
sky-rocketed. No money from taxes was ever levied and eventually this system had to be
called off. Ireland was left almost on its own to resolve the famine disaster, with a
dwindling population and almost no money to buy resources to improve the condition of
the people.

The Irish people, however, were not dying of starvation. They succumbed to illness due
to their state of weakness, poverty and cold weather. It is said that 1846 was one of the
coldest winters, and also the year where the blight struck the worst. There was almost no
other food left –it had been consumed the previous year. The landlords, who were facing

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heavy taxes from England, had no riches left and could not sustain their peasants. Those
who had some money or properties left hurried to sell them in order to get a week or a
month’s worth food. Thus when winter came most Irish had no place to keep the cold
away, no clothes to cover themselves, and again no food to nourish themselves or their
children. This is the hazardous moment that Mr. Cummins narrates on his letter. Typhus,
dysentery, fever and dropsy run amok through the country, decimating the population.
Those who survived didn’t have it any better. By 1847 the emigration could not be
stopped: ships sailed towards America and England. Some were filled with people that
had been evicted by their landlords and some were leaving forcefully. Few left on their
own volition. The conditions of the voyage were inhuman, and many died trying to reach
the American shores. The trip to England was no better: Liverpool, one of the cities that
received the main influx of immigrants, duplicated its population. Irish emigrants thought
themselves safe but they succumbed once again to poverty and misery, plus the
discrimination from the indolent English people. Even though this year the blight did not
ran wild, plantation had been detained due to the lack of manpower and seeds.

Those who remained grew angrier and angrier at the sight of food being stored in front of
their eyes, unavailable for them: while ships sailed towards America full of people, other
vessels arrived at Ireland full of grain and corn. However, the price of the food was so
high that it was never sold. Instead, it was kept away in warehouses within the reach of
hand. At the same time, whatever grain or oats was being produced in Ireland was
exported to England. This situation did nothing but inflame protest in port cities.
England’s response was to set up soup kitchens at first, which were a kind of hospice
where a meager porridge was distributed, and then they set up military camps: troops
were deployed in Irish cities to demotivate –and supress riots and protest. Several Laws
and Acts were issued as well in an unsuccessful attempt to mitigate the rise in crime: Irish
Poor Law Extension Act, and Crime and Outrage Bill were aimed towards reducing the
emigration to Britain. In 1848 the Young Ireland was formed in an attempt to overthrow
the system. In response to this movement –which lacked the organization and firepower
to success the Treason Felony Act was issued. After the truce from the blight in 1847
people started planting potatoes again in 1848. They were expecting it to be a successful
harvest, but there was another blight outburst. The English grew upset with the Irish
people because both the migration towards their land and because of their unreasonable
insistence on growing potatoes. The ruling class also saw this ambient as an opportunity

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to exert a punitive mentality on Ireland and achieve the so-wanted reform in the
neighbouring island. However, concern regarding the World opinion of the Crown arose
among the political body of the country: there was a fear that their actions could be
considered as those of an oppressing ruler against a suffering nation.

The subjectivity of the author of the letter is in plain sight although there is true to his
words. He might have exaggerated his tale of what took place in Skibbereen but it cannot
be argued back that the situation in West and South Ireland was dire. Millions of people
died, and thousands were left with no other choice than emigration in frail ships towards
an unknown land, far away from their beloved ones. The desperate measures that were
taken by the government –most of them to no avail show how catastrophic the famine
was. Even today the population of Ireland has not reach the same numbers than those
prior to this crisis. Many ruined workhouses and famine memorials can still be seen across
the country, and Irish people still pay a profound respect to this dark part of their history.
The famine victims are still remembered every month of May in the cities were it struck
the hardest, such as Cork, and a National Famine Memorial Day has been stablished on
May 18th.

A century and a half later such events may seem far, far away but they are still happening
around the world. A huge part of the world population starves, in many cases to death,
when food is largely available. Resources are kept in warehouses while those in need eat
whatever they can come by, if they can come by edible food. We should learn from the
past and alleviate the suffering of our fellow humans with effective measures instead of
repeating the same mistakes that happened in Ireland during the Famine of 1845.

Bibliography and web resources

British Civilization: An introduction (Seventh edition) By John Oakland.

https://www.failteromhat.com/southernstar/page11a.php A famous letter

https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Famine-Irish-history Great Famine

https://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/ireland/skibber.htm The Famine in Skibbereen

https://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/ Irish Potato Famine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Charles_Trevelyan,_1st_Baronet

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https://www.youtube.com “The Great Famine” Parts one, two, three and four.

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