Tis hard to argue starvation into quiet’: Protest and resistance, 1846–47

Since the mid-1840s, 'Molly Maguires' had become a sobriquet for members of the Ribbon Society, an oath-bound secret society had built a lodge network across much of the northern half of Ireland, physically confronting the Orange Order, and articulating Catholic nationalist ambition. In the east of the county, there was a substantial Protestant population, and there was spasmodic friction between lower-class Protestants and Catholics, most especially in Letterkenny, Milford, Fanad and in Donegal Town, Pettigo, Ballyshannon. In contrast, West Donegal was predominantly Catholic, with only small pockets of Methodists and Churchmen. Certainly, colonial realities were never far from view. If few in numbers, Protestants, in Irish, Gaill or Albanaigh, were visibly advantaged, most families holding more and better land than most of their Catholic neighbors, and their religion and preferred language were those of the state. In Irish-language song and story, the Gaeil gave voice to an abiding feeling of oppression.