By all means look at one tiny piece of the picture if you wish, your choice, but it does not for one instant alter the veracity of what has been said.

On the subject of Trevelyan's letter. Here is a challenge of your own integrity. If you place so much emphasis on one of Trevelyan's letters how much credence do you place on another in which he quite clearly stated the following?

In one letter dated 29 April 1846, Trevelyan wrote:

Our measures must proceed with as little disturbance as possible of the ordinary course of private trade, which must ever be the chief resource for the subsistence of the people, but, coûte que coûte (at any cost), the people MUST NOT, under any circumstances, be allowed to starve.

As to Britain not facing a financial crisis at this time I would direct you to look at the 1840's Railway Boom, the Bank Charter Act of 1844 and the "Panic of 1847" and the ensuing failure in Britain of many finance houses.

By the way, it was around this point in history that the British Empire started to cost Great Britain money, i.e. the Empire cost more than the British got out of it. If you doubt that read Niall Ferguson

1: Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9615-3.

2: Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02328-2. American edition.

If we are going to discuss this subject please confine the discussion to fact, not fictional fantasy.

As far as the songs go, it would appear that there have been no songs of the period that mention Trevelyan. Only latter day efforts designed to make money.

Perhaps you should consult Cecil Woodham Smith's book and look up the extremely rare occurrences of people Stealing Trevelyan's Corn. You will find that there were only six instances of such thefts and they all occurred in what is now known as Northern Ireland where there was no "famine" and where the thefts were perpetrated as a means of getting to Australia. All there in the book for you to read.