Laurie, a chara, The perception of lawlessness is one of perspective. Often the magistrates had other agendas than justice, as did tithe proctors, and evictors. In the posts about the eviction, the dates correspond to An Gorta Mor, when the rack rents being charged the poor tenant farmers was excessive - even in the face of famine. During this time, Ireland was EXPORTING food. The food which the tenants grew for sustenance - the potato - was the crop which did not grow. And, it never did for three years. The misery and anxiety of these poor starving people is a lesson to us all. But these were hardly lawless men. Even the others - from the 1786 post - who were involved in a local rising of sorts - are hardly more guilty than those they sought to confront. The renrs were excessively high, and all were required to pay a tithe (even though the Catholics were not part of the flock of the Protestant clergyman). The total cost for rent and tithe amounted to the entire potential income from the land. There was not a penny left over for clothing, or maintaining one's cottage. When extra charges for burial were added, or for marriage, it was beyond the means of those charged with paying it. At the same time, their commonage was fenced in - removing the only grazing land that enabled them to feed their animals. Taken in combination, these measures were a death sentence. Those who decided to rise up were chosing to fight - risking even death - rather than perish slowly with their families from want of food. So if the reports were written by those listed as being charged, it would be the other side which seemed to be criminals. Ted ----- Original Message ----- From: "Laurie Thompson" <lt030329@bigpond.net.au> To: <cotipperary@rootsweb.com>; "Tipperary IRL" <IRL-TIPPERARY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2008 5:56 PM Subject: Re: [COTIPPERARY] Tipp News > Mary . After reading your stories , I wonder were there any god fearing > people in Ireland and reading todays newspapers , things haven`t changed , > Laurie Thompson Australia > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Mary Heaphy > To: Tipperary ; Tipperary IRL > Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 12:56 AM > Subject: [COTIPPERARY] Tipp News > > > 21-9-1786 Freeman's Journal. > > Extract of a letter from Clonmel Sept. 4th. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > COTIPPERARY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Just to add a quick note to Ted's excellent reply, one has to remember that this is NEWS being reported and "Bridget going to town to buy food" (ordinary life) was not news. Janet On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 11:30 PM, TED MEEHAN <TMEEHAN@arczip.com> wrote: > Laurie, a chara, > > The perception of lawlessness is one of perspective.