November 13th, 1846: A meeting of Quakers in Dublin leads to the formation of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends.
The Friends in New York begin their well organised Irish relief work. Subscriptions from the rich are raised through the president of the Merchants' Bank and from the poor through Bishop John Hughes.
At home, as the destitute stream into the workhouses, Baltinglass is declared full.
The government has committed itself to acting as a supplier of last resort west of the Shannon. In the rest of the country, ministers and relief officials consider themselves bound by a policy of non intervention. This leads to exorbitant food prices.
Relief Commissioner Randolph Routh tells a delegation from Achill Island "it was essential to the success of commerce that the merchantile interest should not be interfered with the government is determined to act in accordance with the enlightened principles of political economy.
The leader of the delegation, Father Malachy Monahan, points out that the people of Achill know nothing about political economy. Routh insists there is nothing more essential to the welfare of a country than a strict adherence to the principles of free trade. He fobs off the delegation by inferring that- Edmund Burke would oppose - any interference with trade, even in present conditions.
Father William Flannelly, of Clifden, Co Galway, denounces "the slowness and the bungling of officials and the greed of the merchants and hucksters". Forbidding relief committees to undersell the market means protecting "famine prices".
At a meeting in Dublin, David Creighton, a Presbyterian minister, seconds a motion by Archbishop Daniel Murray criticising the government which "allowed the poor to perish sooner than interfere with the interests of the general trader".
Privately, however, Routh can no longer disguise his disillusionment with government policies and accuses the Treasury of not having made sufficient provision for Ireland. The purchase of foreign corn began too late in the season to expect the arrival of sufficient quantities before Christmas. Routh considers the export of 300,000 quarters of oats "a most serious evil".
Charles Trevelyan admonishes Routh: "We beg of you not to countenance in any way the idea of prohibiting exportation. The discouragement and feeling of insecurity to the trade from such a proceeding would prevent its doing even any immediate good and there cannot be a doubt that it would inflict a permanent injury on the outcry."
This rigid adherence to laissez faire economic doctrines ensures a gap in domestic food supplies before the arrival of Indian corn ordered from America. By its refusal to prohibit exports, the British government seems prepared to allow a large proportion of the Irish people to starve.