I have made a hobby of studying irish history - and after reading all the posts that began with the ? regarding "orangeman", I am surprised that no one mentioned what I consider the cause of all the troubles of Ireland from begin- ing to end (now)......England!! They should have given the whole island their freedom in 1922 instead of keeping the 6 northern counties Now today they keep the troubles brewing with their presence. There is too much to say to discuss this further on our genealogy site - but I think a separate website just for history would be great. BTW, both my parents came from Ireland (1900 &1912) so I learned a lot from them. Kathleen Pearson

Excuse me but I seem to remember that the history is that the Protestant MAJORITY of Ulster did not want to become part of Eire, nor do they now."Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right" was the slogan. Oh and the "English" soldiers (don't forget the ones from Scotland , Wales and , oh yes Ulster as well) in the Northern Counties ? they were ASKED to go there in the 1960's because the Catholics wanted them there because they were getting fed up with being beaten up and intimidated by their protestant neighbours. The British army presence has been much reduced with the lessening of terrorist activities and the fact that there are not enough troops to maintain a presence in Ireland and fight other people's oil grabbing exercises in Iraq. If they had been withdrawn earlier the bloodbath would have been far worse. Do you think most English (welsh and Scottish) people wouldn't be glad to see the whole troublesome lot floated out to sea to stop them bombing the mainland? Only thing is the MAJORITY population of the Province are Protestant , it's called democracy. To start the cause of the problems at 1922 is far too simplistic. England may have caused many problems in Ireland but please don't expect us to believe that the Irish themselves have no responsibilty for their own actions. Terrorism has been a way of life in Ireland for far too long now, it has come and gone time and time again and not all of it has been the direct fault of the English. regards Jane Pearson jtpoutdoor@xtra.co.nz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathleen Pearson" <kirish@webtv.net> To: <IRL-CAVAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 5:06 PM Subject: Re: [IRL-CAVAN] Orangemen > I have made a hobby of studying irish history - and after reading all > the posts that began with the ? regarding "orangeman", I am surprised > that no one mentioned what I consider the cause of all the troubles of > Ireland from begin- ing to end (now)......England!! They should have > given the whole island their freedom in 1922 instead of keeping the 6 > northern counties Now today they keep the troubles brewing with their > presence. There is too much to say to discuss this further on our > genealogy site - but I think a separate website just for history would > be great. BTW, both my parents came from Ireland (1900 &1912) so I > learned a lot from them. > Kathleen Pearson > > > ==== IRL-CAVAN Mailing List ==== > For the IRL-CAVAN-L archives, go to > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/IRL-CAVAN >