The Famine as seen by the French: The Journal des Débats and the Great Famine 1846-1847

This paper looks at how the politically orthodox Journal des Débats politiques et littéraires, close to governmental circles in France, perceived and reported on issues concerning Ireland in the critical years 1846 and 1847. Its sources of information were the English and Irish press, and the columns of its pages reveal sympathy both for the British government – with the emphasis placed heavily on lessons to be learnt on how to avoid social unrest in times of dearth - but also for the (Catholic) Irish people suffering at the hands of fate in a situation engendered by English colonialism: wrought by God, abetted by the English