Chapter 588 Allies on the Island of Ireland

In 1845, there were already many organizations on the island of Ireland trying to fight for the rights of the Irish. In addition to the two more radical organizations, Young Ireland and Irish Liberator, there were also:

Such as the "Orange Order" composed of Irish Protestants, and the "Defenders League" supported by the French, which was mainly Catholics.

Of course, there was also Daniel O'Connell's Catholic Association. This organization was equally radical, but the leader was extraordinary. He accomplished many things that the Irish had not dared to think about for hundreds of years, the "Catholic Emancipation Act".

O'Connell's political skills were brilliant. He could always find a balance between unrest and protests. He liked to use large-scale gatherings to put pressure on the government. In 1843 alone, he held more than 30 large-scale gatherings of more than 100,000 people, but there was no violence.

At the same time, O'Connell also formed an alliance with the Whig Party because the two had a common enemy, the Tory Party.

In addition, he also sought supporters overseas, but this man was very smart. When he sought help, he would not leave any promises, and would not contact any politicians to give others a handle for treason.

The first thing Robert Peel's government did when it came to power was to put him in prison and try to coerce and bribe him with all his property and the status of a member of the House of Lords.

But Daniel O'Connell did not give in, but regained his freedom under the active rescue of his allies, the Whigs.

Later, Robert Peel tried to divide and disintegrate O'Connell's organization by increasing the subsidy allocated to Maynooth Seminary and establishing three universities open to some Catholics, but all ended in failure.

O'Connell believed that only through parliamentary reform could Ireland gain autonomy. His idea was obviously not in line with history. After all, both the Tories and the Whigs only regarded it as a tool for political struggle.

Franz also had different views from O'Connell, and Ireland's "peaceful autonomy" was not in line with the interests of the Austrian Empire, but this did not affect the cooperation between the two.

Moreover, it was reasonable for the Austrian Imperial Church to send "doctrinal" priests to the island of Ireland to support it, because the Irish had a low literacy rate.

At this time, Austria had more than 3,000 priests stationed on the island of Ireland, and nearly 500 other officials.

This made Archbishop Rauscher very confused. He didn't know what would happen on this land, and what was worth doing.

After all, from the intelligence collected, this place only highlighted the word "poor". The people were so poor that the priests could only rely on the relief of their own country, and the tithes paid by the Irish were almost negligible.

Even if they wanted to use it to contain the British, they couldn't do it. After all, they had neither weapons nor training. And historically, Spain, the Netherlands, and France have all supported the Irish, but the results were all a complete failure.

This is enough to prove the stability of Britain's rule in Ireland, and the church does not like O'Connell very much.

Because there are many signs that the latter has been selling the list of his supporters and Austrian missionaries to the British government.

Franz had not expected this at first. He always felt that this Irish national hero should not do such a dirty thing, but after thinking about it, it was actually very normal. After all, this was the reality. Betraying allies did not conflict with his desire to save Ireland.

Fortunately, Franz had already prepared that the officials entered through other channels, and it didn't matter if the identities of the priests were exposed. It was better to say that exposure was more conducive to the next plan.

In Belgium (the Flemish region of the Netherlands at this time), 900 kilometers away from Ireland, potato late blight had begun to rage.

The German Customs Union immediately issued an emergency decree to ban the import of Dutch potatoes on the grounds that potato late blight might be contagious.

This proposal was made by a small state that had nothing to do with it. Prussia was the first to respond. After all, they were in competition with Dutch agricultural products. Frederick William IV was so happy to ban Dutch potatoes from entering the German market, and the Junker nobles planned to celebrate with cannons.

The Austrian Empire issued an urgent order to reduce the proportion of potato planting. After all, Franz is not absolutely sure that the disaster will not affect Austria.

Although this virus is powerful, there will be no such trouble as long as potatoes are not planted. However, this does not apply to the island of Ireland. This is not because only potatoes can be planted locally, but only potatoes can feed so many people.

There are only a very small number of Irish people like the Jennings family who can rent five acres of land. Generally speaking, the land they rent will not exceed three acres, and in some areas, there is even less than one acre of land.

In fact, Franz has also tried other high-yield crops, but the temperature on the island of Ireland is too low throughout the year, and the sunshine is too short. It is only suitable for planting those cool crops, such as cassava, sweet potatoes and other potato crops that need greenhouses to grow.

Most of the cool crops are vegetables, and the only staple foods that can be used are wheat, potatoes, barley (highland barley), and beets.

The first thing Franz set his eyes on was sugar beets. After all, Austria had advanced sugar-making technology, and it seemed reasonable to let these Irish people grow sugar beets and use the money they earned to buy food.

However, the reality is that due to the cheap sugar from America occupying the market, there is not much market for sugar beet in the UK. The reason why the Scots and Welsh grow sugar beets is because of state subsidies.

The Irish do not receive subsidies for growing sugar beets. As second-class citizens, they are only qualified to grow food crops.

So the only things left are wheat and barley. At this time, the per-acre yield of wheat is really terrible. In addition, there is a lack of fertilizer and scientific farming methods on the island of Ireland. Planting wheat on more than ten acres of land really cannot feed the whole family.

In addition, the land of Irish farmers is usually relatively barren, and these lands are not suitable for wheat growth.

(1 acre = 6.07 acres)

The yield of barley is much higher than that of wheat at this time, and it has strong adaptability, but the taste is very poor, and the nutrients are not easily absorbed by the human body. Long-term consumption is prone to illness. It is usually used to feed livestock or brew beer.

And according to tradition, local landlords can let livestock eat the barley grown by farmers, which makes many farmers afraid of growing this crop.

Imagine that the food you worked so hard to grow was eaten directly by those animals, and you were powerless to do anything about it. It was very desperate.

And due to the restrictions of the Corn Law, the price of livestock sold to Britain has been rising. The nobles and landlords have been considering restoring grazing.

But the farmers and small farmers who have experienced the tragedy of sheep eating people resolutely resisted it, and the landlords had to slow down their actions.

However, from 1820 to 1845, the land used for animal husbandry quadrupled, accounting for 85% of the total agricultural land area.