If the Irish were poorly armed, it was not through their choice. In fact, the only thing that even begins to explain, though never to excuse, the obscenity of British occupation was that if the Irish were ever given half a chance, they would revolt; and so, their masters ground them lower and lower, until they were reduced to an illiterate, penniless rabble kept alive by potatoes - and then the blight, with willing support from the oh-so-Liberal Lord Russell, completed the work.