Madam, - Thomas Dion Russell (August 7th) has the impression that Irish "peasants" would have "taken their chances under Bonaparte in exchange for life under absentee English landlords". It may come as a surprise to Mr Russell, but only a small proportion of Irish "peasants" held land under absentee English landlords and that some of these, such as the Duke of Devonshire, could afford to be very generous to their Irish tenants due to the massive rents they received from their estates in Britain. Mr Russell also seems to regard Irish "peasants" as a heterogeneous grouping, which they were not.
Perhaps he should consider the position of the French peasantry. For over a decade Bonaparte forcibly conscripted hundreds of thousands to die in foreign fields. The emptying of the countryside of these men meant there was no one to till the land and resulted in near famine conditions throughout much of France, with the associated increase in the price of basic goods further impoverishing the rural population. A symptom of this was the reaction of the rural population of southern France when Wellington's army crossed the Pyrenees in early 1814. They welcomed Wellington as the man who liberated them from the yoke of Bonaparte, and supported Wellington's logistical requirements. Wellington reinforced this feeling by insisting that his troops treated the people with respect and pay for any provisions.
Mr Russell also berates Wellington for granting Catholic Emancipation because he had no alternative. While on a superficial level this is true, Wellington granted Emancipation at great risk to his political career. However, he felt that the social and political stability of Ireland and Britain demanded it. Whatever Wellington's personal feelings on the desirability of emancipation he should be commended for this and other reforms (such as the Great Reform Act) he got through Parliament. Others baulked at such reforms as dangerous and potentially destructive to their careers.
I for one am proud that this country produced men such as Wellington, despite Wellington's feelings towards the country he was born in. - Yours, etc.,
WESTLEY FORSYTHE, Harbour View, Camden Road, Crosshaven,
Co Cork.