Was the Potato Famine Genocide?

I've been reading and watched a VHS on Irish history about it. I don't think cold blooded deliberate genocide, (though Moriarty and many Irish would beg to differ). It was more misguided policies, but I can't help but think many in Her Majesty Government were relieved at fewer tenants to make the land work. Much like the Highland Clearances in Scotland. There, the lords wanted the lands to be sheep ranching and game preserves, which were much more profitable.

To feed so many people, farming in Ireland had become inefficient. No question, the government would not have said this in so many words, but they were relieved farming could be made more efficient with fewer people. One lord, Lord Madden actually paid the passage to Quebec for his tenants. It was cheaper for him to do that and use the land for other purposes.

The famine also changed much of the culture of this communal people. It forced people to not take care of their neighbors and become more self centered to survive. This is how I built my character where he gives the people working for him just enough. All they want is food, drink and a roof over their heads. It has happened in history. I will give you two examples.

In Haiti, under Papa Doc Duvalier. The Tonton Macoutes were his secret police. Most of them was poor peasant boys given a little more food and some power.

Romania right after the execution of Nicolae Ceaucescu. The miners who broke up student demonstrations. You can build a sort of Pretorian Guard this way.

I made my character such he plays on this. He realizes he is smarter than the others around him and uses this.

The famine certainly changed Ireland and the Irish. Was it Genocide? Again, it depends on the viewer.

Why Would Moriarty Attack Holmes.

The publisher and show host Dindy Robinson asked me an important question tonight. Why would Moriarty go after Sherlock Holmes? Why not go straight for the top and assasinate Queen Victoria?

Well, it would ruin a good story LOL! To paraphrase John Cleese, "what's the bloody point if Moriarty is Sherlock Holmes worst nightmare if Moriarty doesn't confront Holmes?" What I worked out is that Moriarty blames Holmes for his difficulties. Moriarty thinks he can go around having British officials killed up the food chain until he hits the top. Holmes is the only man out there able to thwart Moriarty.

You can also carry this out on limb. (Please put the saw away, LOL)! Moriarty spent a childhood being raised to hate the English, to see what the English did to Ireland, what happened in the Potato Famine. His schemes start kicking his enemies in the side and now this...Holmes makes an apperance and thwarts it all. Moriarty would never admit it, but Holmes emasculates him and he is the weak little boy again. The English thwarting the Irish. Moriarty is becoming more and more out of control, emotional and megalomanical.

Conan Doyles Birthday.

It is today, May 21st. After all without the great man, I would not be writing Moriarty's story.
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur!

Nature vs. Nurture.

Two words close in meaning but different meanings. Nature vs. Nurture. Was Moriarty the "bad seed" or made by his environment.

A friend who is a psychotherapist wrote the following:

"The question you leave your audience with was an age-old question of environment vs. genetics. It seems that it is now accepted by most psychologists and even philosophers that both genetics and environment impact the formation of personality. Given this, the question becomes moot. This means the reader is going to have to dig deeper if they want to attribute evil actions to something. What can you give them to do that? Think it might rest in an individual's spiritual evolution?"

In other words you, the reader are going to have to decide for yourself whether Moriarty would have been evil regardless, whether his experiences made him that way or a little of both.

The writer T.J. English just wrote Paddywhacked, a history of the Irish Mob in America. The last chapters describe the last major Irish American gangster, James (Whitey) Bulger. He described Bulger as the "bad seed" in an otherwise conservative, churchgoing family. So who knows where one ends and the other begins. For those who watch the Sopranos, in the story Tony Soprano is seeing a therapist because of what he is and does. In his mind, he was born into the mob life, he does not have a choice.

I am going to post some side notes about some folks I am going to be introduced to who should have become violent and have had experiences no one should have to deal with. More later.

If Moriarty Hated the Bloody Sassenach, I mean English so Much, Why Would I Have Him Go to London?

Let me start with a helpful note from JimMcCool at irishinbritain.com

On 3/24/06, jim mccool <coolmccool@gmail.com> wrote:

Glad to be of help, Michael.

" The first and largest Irish colony in London could be found in St Giles in the Fields. But by the early nineteenth century Irish migrants could be found living in all parts of the capital with the exception of the City within the walls. Beyond St Giles, recognisable Irish communities could be found in Whitechapel and Saffron Hill, Poplar and Southwark, and perhaps most notoriously in the Calmel Buildings off Orchard Street in Marylebone."

from http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/history/communities/irish.html

There were also very substantial Irish populations in later 19c and from early 20c in Elephant and Castle [Southwark] and most famously, Camden Town and Kilburn.

Fares:

"For the very poorest, Britain became the final destination; those who could not afford even the lower fares across the Atlantic paid the few pence for deck passage across the Irish Sea. Conditions on such crossings were appalling. Deck passengers had a lower priority than baggage or livestock, and up to 2000 people could be crowded onto an open deck in all weather, clinging to each other to avoid being washed overboard.

In 1830-35, 200,000 Irish people made such crossings, and by 1841 over 400,000 lived permanently in Britain, mostly in the largest cities, Glasgow, London, Manchester, and Liverpool itself."

from http://website.lineone.net/~cannonfhs/irishemi.htm

and http://www.uhb.fr/Langues/Cei/lpret3.htm contains much interesting material.

hth!

Good luck with the book.

Jim McCool
IrishinBritain.com

In other words, for reasons you will see in my book, the preferred destinations, Boston or New York were out of the question. This gives you some idea of which Irish emigrants would go to Britain. They would not have been changing citizenship, they were already British subjects. The American equivilent would be a Puerto Rican moving to New York.

As far as my character is concerned, he was forced to move into the "devils den," and he is going to make them pay for it.

Story Introduction.

Let me start out with my introduction here, which my publisher has read.

Chapter One: The Meddlesome Holmes is Closing In.

September 15, 1890:

I am writing down my thoughts, for I am at my wits end! I have tried to be kind. I have tried blackmail. I have tried subtle threats, direct threats, but alas, to no avail! His Boswell, Dr. Watson, writes missives to praise Holmes, while slandering me. I can hardly get relief from the courts in my position. I am a hunted Irishman in the English lair. A Catholic and the descendant of great Celtic kings, persecuted and hunted like the animal the Sasanach think I am. I abhor what Holmes has done to me. The outrages are building over the years and getting to be more than I can bear.

He calls me the “Napoleon of Crime.” I take his compliment on that score; however, he does not acknowledge the other things I do. The orphanages I set up worldwide. The organizations I set up to help people dispersed the world over by English evil and cruelty and An Ghorta Morta. The Great Hunger, which dispersed many Irishmen, myself included from the land of their birth. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you don’t know yet how you will pay. You and all of the so-called Great British Empire. You will be shown how one man with I daresay a higher intellect than yours shall bring you and your arrogant Empire to its quivering knees. For you shall be quivering. Your arrogance will be your undoing. I shall laugh. I shall build a better world for all those you have oppressed by spreading the color pink over the atlases of the world. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you have thwarted and vexed me! With the Naval Treaty, I could have brought your rotten nation down. You meddled and snatched it from my hands! You uncovered my alliances worldwide! In India, Canada, the United States Australia! You are dogging my every step. I tip my hat to your brilliance. I will best you in the end though. Your Cocaine addled brain is no match for me. You may think me a stupid ignorant mick. I assure you Mr. Holmes, go on thinking me not as brilliant as you. That works in my favor. You shall underestimate me.

Your companions I know are no match for me. That ignorant buffoon from Yorkshire, Lestrade. If ever there was a bumbling peeler, he is it! I realize why you have to help the police regularly. The Welsh idiot Jones is no better! Inspector Hopkins, I do have respect for. He helped to thwart me in the bank robbery. My Red Headed League scheme.

Now I come to your Boswell. Dr. John Watson. As God is my witness, I will fix him. For he Mr. Sherlock Holmes is your voice to the British masses. You make my life hard Holmes. Watson makes it public and makes you a hero. It would be a shame for Dr. Watson to meet with an accident that might ruin his hands, therefore ending his writing and his medical career and his writing. I have to admit, I tried blackmailing him, bribing him. I have to admit Dr. Watson is a proper British gentleman. That and that alone, makes him an enemy as well.

Your brother Mycroft. Don’t think for a minute I can’t get to him at his club. I can and I shall if you do not leave me to my business. I have been to Sicily and studied the Mafia and its techniques. Trust me, if you don’t back off, I shall find a way.

The ladies in your life, Irene Adler and Mary Russell. I will not harm a lady, but there are those of my acquaintance who are women and will not hesitate.

You don’t realize the fire you are playing with Mr. Holmes with no one to put the fire out. Why not leave the battle and keep the fire from burning in the first place?
Mr. Holmes. I am prepared to make you one final deal. I know you will not take my money. I have tried that through my associates. However, I will make this deal with you. There is no negotiation. You must accept and move out of the way or be disposed of. The deal is as follows:

1. You allow an Irish independence movement to thrive.

2. The British government uses its vast economic resources to pull the Irish masses out of their poverty.

3. A timetable is drawn up for Irish independence.

4. The Gaelic language is promoted and not repressed.

5. Reparations are made for An Ghorta Morta. Mr. Holmes, as far as I am concerned, Her Majesty’s Government has blood on its hands; the blood of millions of Irishmen.

6. The Catholic Church is the official church of Ireland.

7. You stay out of my affairs completely. If you want to be a consulting detective, that is fine. You may not investigate me and Dr. Watson may not write about it if you do.

All of these are non-negotiable. I hope this is clear. I expect an answer forthwith.

If this goes on, one of us must be destroyed. There isn’t room in the same mortal world for both of us. I have men all over the world, ready to do my bidding.

Who do you think bankrolled the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania? Fenians in Canada? Who helps to raise funds in Boston and New York? Certain goings on in India? There are many lonely deaths in the Irish countryside, enemies of my people. I shall not give you specifics; however, a man of your brilliance gets the idea. I have connections in many places. My point Mr. Holmes? Think you can flee your beloved London, which I know you don’t like to do? Think again! I shall be waiting and plotting. For your life, take the offer of safety, while you still can. You have hounded me these long years and you shall not get another chance. What will it be Mr. Holmes? You have two weeks to make your decision. Choose wisely.

Welcome to Holmes vs. Moriarty

This blog is a compliment to a novel I am writing. Professor Moriarty is the main character and most of it is written in first person from his point of view. You will learn why Moriarty is the way he is.
Of the sixty Conan Doyle stories with Sherlock Holmes, only two mention Moriarty in detail. No one ever explains why Moriarty became what he became. He is just "the bad guy." Maybe Victorian Novels were just supposed to be that way, good vs. evil. I would like to delve deeper into this.

Is Moriarty just plain bad, or did something help to make him that way? I have Moriarty grow up as a victim of the Great Irish Potato Famine. He sees himself as an Irish patriot. As the book goes on, I want the reader to decide if his patriotism is real, or just a way to excuse his dirty deeds.