'By the same token' is an idiom which means, "however, in contrast."

"Merlin
At the height of its power, the British Empire stood back
Tue Feb 5, 2013 12:05pm
24.187.27.4

and barely raised a finger to help alleviate the starvation, disease, etc., allowing the Forces of the Marketplace to sort it out."

So, by the same token, The British Empire did not stand by and allow market forces to sort out slavery, but rather took active measures to disrupt the slave trade.

I was merely raising a point regarding the amorphous nature of national policy and ethics.

Anglo-Saxon dominated Britain saw the Celtic/Brythonic/Briton nations, even those on mainland Britain, as somewhat lazy and subhuman. The feeling would have been that the lazy Irish were largely to blame for their own desperate situation. Even if the perception had differed, I doubt there was much in the way of dedicated foreign aid at that time.