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THE 
 
 History of Orangeism: 
 
 ITS ORIGIN, ITS RISE, ITS DECLINE. 
 
 -BIT 
 
 DUBLIN ; 
 
 M. H. GILL & SON, 50, UPPEE SACKVILLE STEEET. 
 Glasgow : Cameron & Ferguson, West Nile Street. 
 
 18 S 2 . 
 

 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/historyoforangeiOOmp 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 IRISHMEN AT HOME AND ABROAD; 
 
 TO PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC ALIKE; 
 
 TO THE ORANGEMAN AS WELL AS TO THE RIBBONMAN 
 
 TO THE LAND LEAGUER 
 
 AS WELL AS 
 
 TO THE EMERGENCY MAN 
 
 il&is Falunu ta reaptttfuUn JSetiicateli 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
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INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Jttst a few words before starting. The history of the Orange Institution has yet to 
 be written. Why this is so might be accounted for by one, or other, or all of many 
 reasons. While demanding no higher qualities than those possessed by every citizen 
 of sense and understanding, who seeks in the present to draw a lesson from the past, 
 it would be affectation to say that the task is not an onerous, in some respects a difficult 
 one. We live in the hurry and contusion of excited times. Every man belongs to a party. 
 Every party has a monopoly of virtue, in the opinion of its own members, and, reversing 
 the telescope, can see little or no good in that which is opposed to it. In such a 
 time it may be easily foreseen that qualities of patience and of research, though amongst 
 the humblest, are amongst the rarest to be found, when notoriety is mistaken for 
 distinction, when the ambition that clamours for a place receives censure as the next 
 best substitute for praise, and when to be generally condemned as the leader of an 
 ignorant faction is a gratification second only to being praised as the Tribune ol a free 
 people. It is no wonder, then, that men who claim no merit but that which industry 
 brings have hitherto shrunk from a , painful task which must result in little profit to 
 themselves, and the certainty of their being placed in the pillory of some political 
 faction, an aim for the rotten eggs of political partisans. Why those gentlemen who, 
 from the pulpit, the platform, and the Press, have found it their interest to paint 
 history as they would have it, have not undertaken as a labour of love the details of 
 a lengthened narrative such as this, even in justification of themselves, is, on first sight, 
 a matter of surprise. But there are some undertakings at v/hich even enthusiasm and 
 selfishness stand alike appalled. Those who most benifited by the revolution against 
 Charles were most backward in defending the measures which sent their king to the 
 block. They should first grant themselves regicides before proceeding to justification. 
 Those who gained a monopoly by the Bevolution of 1688 hurry in silence over the 
 accusation of having called in a foreign Power. Their attempt to right themselves 
 should be preluded by an admission that they were traitors. In a like sense may be 
 interpreted the ominous silence which prevails amongst Orangemen in all things that 
 
Till. 
 
 INTEODTJCTION. 
 
 have regard to the history of Orangeism. To gush forth from prostituted pulpits and 
 political platforms to unlettered people requires, fortunately for those who practice it, but 
 little thought and nj historical accuracy. The object is gained however. A delusion 
 is continued which had its origin in bigotry, its reward in monopoly, and to which 
 ignorance gives a prolonged existence. Others have thought, and for some time I 
 have thought so too, that the game was not worth the candle. An Institution, they 
 said, born in tumult must wither and die in the very dawn of religious and political 
 freedom. The result is that we have at the present day, even amongst the majority of 
 those who claim an exclusive lovalty and parade their Orangeism, a widespread 
 bewilderment as to what was the origin and what the history of the institution they 
 have sworn before their Maker to uphold. It is the object of its leaders that this 
 ignorance should be perpetuated. Prejudice has no more invincible foe than knowledge, 
 and the reign of one must be the dethronment of the other. To assist as far as I can 
 by the aid of history to let id 4;,^ light of day upon an organization more dangerous 
 than Nihilism, because it is in the gluae of loyalty ; more destructive than Communism’ 
 because it turns the arms of a peoplB. against themselves ; more degrading than 
 Ribbonism, being the servile tool of an autocratic conspiracy, shall then be the object to 
 which in these pages I shall devote myself. My weapons may be rusty. They will 
 be not the less invincible. Facts, from the great store-room of history, incidents, the 
 pain of reading which will be lost in the memory of what terror and carnage 
 associated with their enactment, and truths of recent date, best read by the light of 
 past events — these shall be my weapons. Should they compell those interested to stand 
 on their ilefence my object will be '-but half accomplished. The end is to bring 
 conviction to upright men of all classes. “No people,” says Edmund Burke, “will 
 look forward to posterity who do not often look backward to their ancestors,” and 
 in this I find my justification. Whether we blush at their crimes, or teel elated at 
 their heroism, the lesson will be the same. In their errors we may find a warning ; 
 in their virtues an example. 
 
 The Author. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 Cliapter I. — The Romance of its Origin. 
 
 ,, II. — The Glorious Revolution; Retrospect of a Century. 
 
 ,, III. — The Whiteboys, Hearts of Steel, Peep o’ Day Boys. 
 
 ,, IV. — The Dawn of Reason and the Night of Bigotry ; Plots and Counter-plots. 
 
 ,, V. — The Reign of Terror. 
 
 ,, Vf. — The Massacre of the Diamond. The First Orange Lodge. 
 
 ,, Vir. — More about the Diamond. 
 
 „ VIII.— After “ The Battle.” 
 
 ,, IX. — The First Orange Meeting; the First Orange Toast; the First Orange 
 
 Leader ; the Original Rules and Regulations. 
 
 ,, X. — “ To Hell or Connaught.” The Government Plot : It Thickens. 
 
 ,, X. (continued). — Just a Few Orange Outrages. 
 
 ,, XL — A Happy League. The Camden Administration ; the Magistrates and the 
 
 Orangemen. 
 
 ,, XII. — The Orange Regime : Its Early Victims. 
 
 ,, XIII. — An Historical Parallel. 
 
 ,, XIV. — The Yeomanry: A Legalised Orange Banditti. 
 
 ,, XV. — Early Reformers : The United Irishmen, 
 
 „ XVI. — Chaos Made Order ; Persecution Reduced to a System. The First Grand 
 
 Lodge : Its Tests and Its Resolutions. The First “ Twelfth.” 
 
 „ XVII. — Centralization: The First Lodge Edtablished in Dublin ; Extension 
 
 Southwards. 
 
 ,, XVIII. — Exploding the Rebellion. 
 
 „ XIX.— 1798. ■ . 
 
 ,, XX. — After the Rebellion. An Inaugural Ceremony. The Grand Lodge in Dublin. 
 
 The Amended Rules and Regulations of the Society. 
 
 „ XXr.— The Union, 
 
 ,, XXII. — After the Union. Protestant Ascendancy and its Effects. 
 
 ,, XXIII. — “JSo Popery.” 
 
 „ XXIV.— Words of Warning. 
 
 ,, XXV.' — The English Institute. 
 
 ,, XXVI. — The Irish Question. Plots and Counter-plots. 
 
 „ XXVII. — After Emancipation. “ No Surrender.” 
 
 „ XXVIII.— At Bay. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 TTC,. 
 
 „ XXIX. — The Cumberland Conspiracy. ^ ^ V . r 
 
 „ XXX.— In the Dock. >v> V f 0 
 
 „ XXXI & XXXI Guilty.” r-'' > f'' 
 
 ,, XXXIII.— Scotched, not Killed ; Dolly’s Brae, ^ 
 
 XXXIV.— Boycotted, ' 
 
 „ XXXV.— ’64. 
 
 „ XXXVI.— From ’64 to ’74. 
 
 XXXVII.— Legal. 
 
 ,, XXXVIII. — Orangeism and the Land League, 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Battle of the Diamond, ... ... ... ... .,. 
 
 Judge Fletcher’s Charge, ... ... ... ... " 
 
 Beport of the Select Committee (English) of the House of Commons, 1835,... 
 Legal.— Orangeism Declared Illegal in Montreal, ... ... ... 
 
 
 . i i 
 
 Page 271 
 
 M 272 
 
 „ 276 
 » 297 
 
 Errata.— At page 20, end of chapter VI., read ♦‘Loughgail” for “Timakeel.” 
 
 Owing to the hurry with whieh these pages were run through the Press and the 
 impossibility of the Author reading the proof-sheets some errors have slipped in, for which 
 the writer must claim the reader’s kind indulgence. 
 
THE HISTORY OF ORANGEISM ; 
 
 |Is Origin, Hs ^isf, itnA Hs gtHme. 
 
 CHAPTEB I.— THE EOMANCE OP ITS OEIGIN: 
 
 Those who wish to escape the odiuin of all trans- 
 actions connected with the Diamood massacre, and 
 of any movement which might have found its 
 origin in that event have gone backwards into 
 history upon a voyage of discovery in the hope 
 of finding some more creditable auspices as 
 epoasors for the Orange Institution. The first 
 Orange lodge, they say, was founded in the camp 
 of William Prince of Orange, at Exeter, early in 
 November, 1688.* Allowing for the excite- 
 ment which must attend all declamations upon 
 public platforms, it must still be held that the 
 allusions, however vague, are put forward with an 
 apparent seriousness sufficient to justify inquiry. 
 William landed on the 5th November, 1688, at 
 Torbay, in Devonshire, with a Dutch fleet of 52 
 mea-of-war, 25 frigates, 25 fire-ships, and 400 
 transports, conveying a land army of about 15,000 
 men (some authorities say 30,000, but they may be 
 reasonably held as exaggerated), a force not 
 exactly of that character best suited to in- 
 vestigate the birth of the Prince of Wales, 
 which he ascribed as the reason o^' his coming, 
 and .which he affected to consider as sur- 
 reptitious. He set out for Exeter, where he 
 
 • This was the contention of a Mr. Bee’-s, D.G M , at an 
 Orange mee ing in Downpatrick about eight ye irs ago; of 
 the Eev. A' r. Smith, Armagh inalec'uie delivered t.bout 
 the same time; and has hec me of late ^ears a matter of 
 requeut refereno . upon Orange platfonaa. 
 
 stopped ten days to refresh his troops, and as 
 Burnet puts it, in the History of His Own 
 Time,” to give the country time to show 
 its affection. It would appear, however, that 
 the display of affection towards the aspirant to a 
 Throne which was not vacant was anything but 
 hopeful. 
 
 The rebellion of Monmouth had just terminated ; 
 the time was passed when men grew old in camps, 
 and the people, disgusted with fighting the battles 
 of men who had little sympathy with their suffer- 
 ing, longed after peace. Dr. Vaughan, in his 
 history of the English Eevolution (vol. 3, 
 page 559), says — "Exeter received tha Prince 
 with quiet submissivenes.” On William’s ar- 
 rival the clergy as well as the magistrates 
 were very timid and exceedingly backward.* 
 The bishop rai; away, the dean followed his 
 example, the clergy stood aloof, and only came when 
 the Prince sent for them. But, " the rabble of the 
 people,” we are informed by the last-mei^tioned 
 authority, which upon this point, at least, is not to 
 be doubted, as Burnet was the henchman of the 
 Prince, mindful of favours to come;t "the rab- 
 ble of the people came into him in great numbers 
 so that he could have raised many regiments of 
 
 * " Bishop Burnet's History,” vol. iii,, fage 251. 
 
 t Bu net was mada B shop of Silishury by William at tb« 
 elo.3e of the j ear lt8&. 
 
6 
 
 HISTOET OF OEINGEISM. 
 
 foot if there had been any occasion for them.” 
 And now comes the incident of which B arnet is the 
 Bole authority (Harris, in his Life of William,” 
 quotes Burnet), and upon which the Orange leaders 
 of the present day build their castle-in-the-air of 
 an ancient pedigree. The reader will please mark — 
 After he had staid eight days at Exeter, Seymour* 
 ** came in with several other gentlemen of quality 
 '*and estate. As soon as he had been with the Prince 
 he sent for me. When I came to him he asked 
 ** me why we had not an association signed by all 
 ** that came to us since ; till we had that done we 
 " were as a rope of sand ; men might leave us when 
 they pleased, and we had them under no tie ; 
 ** whereas if they signed an association they would 
 '' reckon themselves bound to stick to us. I an- 
 " swered it was because we had not a man of his 
 " authority and credit to offer and support such an 
 ** advice. I went from him to the Prince, who ap- 
 proved of the notion, as did also the Earl of 
 “ Shrewsbury and all that were with us. So I was 
 ordered to draw it up. It was, in few words, an 
 engagement to stick together in pursuing the end 
 ** of the Prince’s Declaration, and that if any at- 
 " tempt should be made on his person it should be 
 revenged on all by whom, or from whom, any 
 ** such attempt should be made. So it was en- 
 ** grossed in parchment and signed by all those 
 “that came in to him.”t Now, this passage, 
 which I have troubled the reader with in its en- 
 tirety, is the only authority that gives the colouring 
 of truth to the oft-repeated assertion that the first 
 Orange Lodge was founded at Exeter in William’s 
 camp. In it there is no mention of a “ lodge,” or of 
 an “ Orange institution no oath, and none of the 
 mummeries of inauguration. These simple, country 
 gentlemen not being, as the Eecorder of Exeter 
 possibly well knew, of a character that would war- 
 rant William depending on their words were ask 
 to give a written undertaking that they would 
 support the Prince with their swords. This they 
 did with a wUl, and as their swords had not even 
 to be drawn on his behalf Burnet’s celebrated asso- 
 ciation fell through, and was never afterwards 
 heard of. Sir Richard Musgra j'e, the paid chonicler 
 and defender of the Protestant cause, himself dis- 
 poses of the matter. He says “ In commemora- 
 “ tion of that victory (the Battle of the Diamond), 
 “ the hrst Orange lodge was formed in the County 
 “Armagh, though the name of Orangemen existed 
 some time before.” 
 
 ♦ Tills ^ eymonr was Uecor Icr of Exeter in 168?. 
 t “ Bu- net’s Histoiy,” . iii„ pigo 26;-'’', 
 
 That “some time before” cannot refer to the 
 association spoken of by Burnet, for he makes no 
 mention of “ Orangemen,” and Musgra ve, 
 evidently from the tenor of his remarks, refers to 
 its exis'^ence in the County Armagh a short time 
 before September, 1795. 
 
 That there was an association seems beyond 
 doubt, but that that association in no way fore- 
 casted the combination of litter days is equally 
 reliable. Lingard says in his history (vol. xiv., p. 
 248) that soon after the invitation was seat to the 
 Prince a “ secret association in his favour had been 
 “formed among the officers of the arny encamped 
 “on Hounslow Heath, and a communication est..b- 
 “ I'shed between them and the club at the Rose 
 “ Tavern, Covent Garden.” This cannot have been 
 the same referred to by Barnet, for the latter 
 originated after the arrival of William. The 
 Orangemen would, therefore, be as justified in 
 claiming this as their origin. But they do not. 
 The secret is they cannot well afford to share the 
 infamy. Bad as this silly old monarch may 
 have been, his soldiers who formed this association 
 were per j urers and traitors, and to this they added 
 the crime of inhumanity. For when James sent 
 his infant son to Portsmouth to escape to France 
 Dartmoor’s fleet was lying at Spithead, and was 
 ordered by the king— the reigning king, mark — to 
 give the unfortunate baby conduct to France. The 
 admiral would have done so, but was thwarted in 
 his humane intentions by the “associated officers” 
 on board. This is why the incident is not referred 
 to, and why that other association of which Burnet 
 speaks of is quoted as the authority. 
 
 Another and an effectual way of testing the 
 question is to see how much of a similarity exists 
 between the subscribers in the camp at Exeter 
 under their chief and those who a century after- 
 wards on the field of the Diamond, spattered and 
 besmeared with the warm blood of their neighbours, 
 while bestriding the mangled bodies of their 
 countrymen and kinired, swore before heaven t® 
 continue a war of extermination. 
 
 The Prince’s Declaration, which kis adherents 
 at Exeter promised to pursue, and which was 
 signed by him on the 10th of October of the same 
 year, announced amongst other things “that he 
 would suffer such as would live peaceably to enjoy 
 all due freedom in their conscience.” So much for 
 1688. Come to 1795. I am justffied by every 
 reliable authority who has written upon the subject 
 in saying that this political Rip Van Winkle, the 
 Orange Institution, revived, as alleged, after a 
 
HISTORY OF ORANGEISM. 
 
 7 
 
 sleep of a century and seven yearfa has pursued a 
 course of intolerance and of cruel unrelenting 
 bigotry, unexampled in the history of this or any 
 other country. 
 
 “ A Society,” says Coote in his H story of the 
 Union, “ denominated, in honour of William IIT., 
 the Ore nge Club, laboured with sanguinary zeal 
 “ to check the extension of mercy to the rebels and 
 to multiply the horrors of capital punishment.’, 
 Plowden says, in his History of Ireland (vol. 1 
 page 53) “ It has teen asserted by well informed 
 (though anonymous) authors, that the original 
 “ obligation or oath of Orangemen was to the fol- 
 lowing effect, * I. A. B. do swear, that I will be 
 true to King and Government ; and that I will 
 ‘ exterminate the Catholics of Ireland as far as 
 ‘ in my power lies.’ The frequency and earnest- 
 ness with which the latter part of the oath has 
 ‘‘been acted upon by Orangemen, has rendered the 
 “charge of taking it too credible.” 
 
 O’Connor, in a pamplet written by him in 1797, 
 “The present state of Ireland,” gives this form 
 of oath as authentic, and the same genetlemen on 
 examination before the Select Committee of the 
 House of Commons, says “it came to my know- 
 ledge that the oath of extermination was admin- 
 istered.” 
 
 Lord Grosford, Governor of Armagh, addressing 
 the body of magistrates of the County Armagh, on 
 the 28th December, 1795 (three months after the 
 battle of the Diamond) said, “ It is no secret that 
 a persecution, accompanied with all the circum- 
 “ stances of ferocious cruelty which have in all 
 “ ages distinguished that calamity, is now raging in 
 “ this county. The only crime which the wretched 
 “ objects of this ruthless persecution are charged 
 “ with, is a crime indeed of easy proof. If is 
 “ simply a profession of the Eoman Catholic 
 “falth.”^ • 
 
 ■“Never did any society exhibit such a glaring 
 inconsistency j rather such a positive contradic- 
 “ tion between its professed principles and its actual 
 “ practice. The practice of the society was to 
 “ resort to every contrivance to insult, to domineer 
 “ over, to offend, to irritate their Eoman Catholic 
 “ neighbourfsj ^ — Edinburgh Review, vol. clxxxiii. 
 
 Ml. Giattan said in 1796, in the House of Com- 
 mons, “ These insurgents call themselves Orange- 
 “meior Protestant Boys; that is a banditti of 
 murders, committing massacre in the name of God, 
 “ and exercising despotic power in the name of 
 “ Liberty.” 
 
 Hay describes their conduct in the County of 
 Wexford as inhuman. Even Musgrave furnishes a 
 negative proof by passing over in silence their 
 acts, or, when he does make reference to them, by 
 attempting to shift the respousitility “ to the low 
 classes of Protestants,” forgetting that according 
 to every authority it was “ the rabble” who first 
 belonged to the association. 
 
 In addition, we have a plain denial of the con- 
 tention in the examination of Lioutenant-colonel 
 Veriior, M.P., before the Select Committee of the 
 House of Cemmons in 1835 (7th April), question 
 7. He was asked : — 
 
 “Were there any Orange Institution in existance 
 previous to 1795 in any other form ? None.” 
 
 Surely this authority must satisfy the Orange - 
 men themselves. 
 
 Indeed, whether William had a fixed aversion to 
 all persecution, as Macaulay puts it, whether, as 
 Froude states, “ he was studiously lenient,” and 
 from inexperience of the Irish character, foolishly 
 attempted to conciliate by indulgent terms, or 
 whether be actually did desire, according to 
 Godkin, to have the Treaty of Limerick rescored, 
 one thing is certain — throughout the whole of 
 the Revolution, and during the entire of William’s 
 reign no incident is recorded, if we overlook his 
 perfidy, which would justify Orangemen in sub- 
 scribing themselves his followers, or enable them to 
 claim an identity with ihose who surrounded him even 
 when he had one foot upon the steps of the throne 
 and the lawful king was seated upon it. The 
 alleged connection of Orangeism with the camp of 
 William must then be regarded, in an historical 
 sense, as having no foundation in fact. I account 
 for the claim by that desire found in most mis- 
 guided people not utterly lost to a sense of their 
 wrong-doing which prompts them to seek a 
 parallel in history where it does not exist, or some 
 more honoured name, to bear with them the burden 
 of their iniquity. 
 
 ♦ “ Parnell’s Historical Apology,” page 18. \ 
 
niSTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 
 CHAPTER II.— THE « GLORIOIJg EEVCLETION, RETROSPECT OF 
 
 A CENTURY. 
 
 An unfoundei assertion necessitated my com- 
 mencing this narrative so far hack as the Revolu- 
 tion of 1688. I cannot do better now than continue 
 it in the order of time, particalarly as a review of 
 the intervening century will furnish an explanation 
 of the sad and stirring events which are to follow. 
 The revolution was accomplished. William was on 
 the throne. James was a runaway King and an 
 outcast. Than the English there is no nation so 
 calculated to lose its temper when they discover, 
 or think they have discovered, an intended fraud 
 being practised upon them. Barnet’s simple story 
 about that dubious warming-pan which v/as put 
 into the (Queen’s bed before her delivery, and 
 which he remarked was not opened that it might 
 be seen that there was fire and nothing else in it,” 
 was, with a hundred ether foolish pieces of gossip 
 equally unworthy of belief, circulated in the London 
 pot houses, and led to the general opinion that the 
 young Prince of Wales (afterwards called the 
 ‘"Pretender”) was surreptitiously being palmed efi 
 as a royal body. The divinity that had ’hedged 
 the person of that foolish and weakminded monarch 
 James, now deserted him in his utmost neei. His 
 Queen and her baby prince fled, with scarce a decent 
 covering, taking refuge in France, and the poor 
 old man himself, disguised as a servant, having 
 been picked up at Feversham by a few fishermen 
 while attempting to follow, was taken for a 
 priest and put in the lock-up. Ho probably 
 shed a few tears ^ and told a pathetic tale, 
 for out cf his jailers he formed the nucleus 
 of the great Jacobite party. Flinging the Great 
 Seal into the river, where it would have been far 
 better he had flung himself, he eventually crossed to 
 France to seek th e aid of his cousin ,whose too submis- 
 sive lackey, it must be acknowledged, he had been. 
 Thus, an event unheard of in the records of govern- 
 ments, since people had been taught to see in 
 kings something more than human and something 
 less than divine, was brought about W’thout a 
 sword leaving its scabbard. By the suspicions of 
 prying and selfish ecclesiastics, who were not 
 ashamed to be caught peeping through the key- 
 holes of ladies’ chambers, by the gossip of old 
 women, who believed that Mother Hubbard once 
 upon a time rode to the moon upon a broomstick, 
 by tho filthy gibes of debauchees reeking with the 
 
 smell of the ale house, and by the nods and winks of 
 enfeeb’eo frequenters of fjondon brothels, who were 
 too happy to make the subject of their obscene 
 jests a woman who was young, and virtuous, and 
 handsome, and a foreigner, a king was dethroned 
 and an entire people handed over to an adventurer. 
 No wonder it has been written “that the revolu- 
 tion succeeded; at least that it succeeded without 
 bloodshed or commotion was principally owing lo 
 an act of ungrateful perfidy such as no soldier had 
 ever before committed, and to those monstrous 
 fictions respecting the birth of the Prince o^ 
 Wales which persons of the highest rank 
 were not ashamed to circulate.” * It 
 was a successful revolution. Possibly for 
 all parties concerned. Catholic as well as Protes- 
 tant, it was a revolution not to be regretted, now 
 that we have outlived the ordeal. But there is 
 one thing it was not. It was not a “ glorious revo- 
 lution.” Both before and after Englishmen upheld 
 their cause, whether right or wrong, by the 
 strength of their good right arms. In this revolu- 
 tion calumny was the weapon. The lie took the 
 place of the sword; the former did what the latter 
 alone might not have accomplished; and a half-witted 
 King and a virtuous but weak-spirited Queen had 
 to sneak out by the back-door of Whitehall, and 
 give to the valiant English people their room 
 instead of their company. In the whole of the 
 proceeding, as well as much that followel, we trace 
 the clever hands of cunning clergymen. 
 
 Before entering upon the subject of our story 
 — Orangeism . its origin, its rise, and its decline, 
 its secret workings, and its political consequences 
 — it is essential that we take a restrospecti^ e 
 view of the century proceeding it, the events of 
 which culminated in the Battle of the Diamond. 
 The reader may be impatient. And it will Le poor 
 consolation to him to know that that impatience is 
 to some extent even shared by the person 
 who pens those pages. The inevit?.ble consequences 
 of things doile in a hurry furnish not alone an ex- 
 cuse hut a warning. No history of Ire- 
 land in latter times can be read aright without an 
 adequate knowledge of the greac events which oc- 
 curred in that period, bounded on one hand by 
 the Revolution of 1683 and the Broken Treaty, and 
 
 ♦ Macaulay, " EUmbu’-gh Review, ’* Sept., 1828 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM- 
 
 9 
 
 on the other by the Irish Kebellion. As this nar- 
 rative must to some extent partake of a history of 
 Ireland, my readers must set before them this task 
 as an introduction to the interesting details which I 
 promise them will follow. 
 
 There is nothing more calculated to relieve the 
 tedium' of historical narrative than to speculate 
 upon what would have been the current of events 
 if things, which to us seem to Lave taken place by 
 chance, had not taken place at all. If Eemus had 
 killed Romulus, and Rome had not been built 
 where would have been the Grecian Empire ? If 
 William had turned back when the clergy of 
 Exeter ran away, and the aristocracy were “not 
 at home” to him, where would have been 
 England and the Thirty - nine Articles, and 
 who would now be sitting upon the throne ? 
 In like manner, if that worthless morsel of royalty, 
 James, had been attached to the Great Seal when 
 it sank in the . river ; or, to to take a more 
 humane view of it, if James when he went 
 to France had stopped there, had said his 
 prayers like a good old man, nursed the 
 iaby, and taught the Pretender his catechism — 
 a branch of instruction, I fear, very much neglected 
 in the early education of this as well as all the 
 other Stuarts — if he had leen contented with his 
 condition, and not been hankering after a crown 
 which never fitted him, which he was unable to 
 retain, and unwilling to fight for, w'hat then would 
 have been the current of events ? Heavens ! what 
 a change ! The Recording Angel, at whom poor 
 despairing Byron yelped out his loud gufiaw; who 
 Had st ipped oft I'O^h his win»s in quills, 
 
 . And yet was in arrear of human ills. 
 
 would have been saved much trouble. Limerick 
 would never have fallen. The records of crime 
 would have wanted many of its blackest items. 
 But deeds of heroism unexampled in history would 
 never have been accomplished. If there had been 
 no Limerick and no treaty to break, there 
 would, on the other hand, have been no 
 Linden or Steihkirk; no Ramillies, no Eonte- 
 noy, before the conquering arms of William 
 Franco might have become a province of 
 England, the world wculd probably have been 
 spared the iniquities of a French Revolution, and 
 have lost the glories of a people who had risen 
 above king -craft. The people might have fared 
 even better in Ireland. The animosities which a 
 century of civil warfare was the occasion of might 
 have settled into toleration, the conquered paying, 
 of course, with their estates the penalty of defeat, 
 and’ the Irish during the whole of the last two | 
 
 hundred and ninety years have been living upon 
 terms of brotherhood and charity. Anne, who 
 secretly longed after the occupants of St. Germains, 
 might have had in the Pretender, and all subsequent 
 history have been turned topsy-turvy. It was not 
 decreed so. Had it been, this history might never 
 have been written. 
 
 The fiight of James was taken as an abdication, 
 and William, who had been invited to take the 
 throne 6e/ore James had relinquished the Crown, 
 was, therefore, chosen. But taking it that James 
 did abaicate the throne, which he certainly did not 
 do,* the Prince of Wales would have been the 
 legitimate heir. If he had no son his eldest daughter, 
 Mary, would have inherited it, and it was the inten- 
 tion of the majority of the Convention assembled 
 to proclaim her Queen, with William as Regent. 
 Lingard and Burnet differ upon the issue. The 
 former says, without quoting his authority, that 
 William would not consent to be a subject of his 
 wife ; while the latter relates a personal interview 
 in Holland, in which, though I cannot recollect the 
 exact passage, be says that Mary scouted the idea 
 of her being the superior of her husband. Whether 
 in consequence of any family difference or not, 
 William and Mary werechoeen as King and Queen, 
 t being agreed that the former should govern in 
 the name of both. James returned from I’rance 
 landing at Kinsale on the 12th March, 16S9. In 
 the meantime Derry had closed its ga,tes against 
 Lord Antrim, the only thing for which this noble- 
 man was ever remarkable,! and the valiant — aye 
 and noble fellows, as certainly they 'were, resolved 
 to hold the city for the Protestant cause 
 and King WiUiam. In , ihe meantime the 
 ministers who had left the church at Exeter 
 when the Prince’s Declaration was readj 
 found they were on the winning side. They came 
 back to share the spoils. In Ireland, then, the 
 army of William took the field. James, believing 
 that the walls of Derry would, like those of Jericho 
 of old, have crumbled before a majestic presence, 
 set out for that place. Finding, however, that he 
 was received with a shower of cannon and musket 
 balls from the ramparts, which killed an officer 
 standing beside him, he took fright, turned 
 pale, and — returned to the capital. The 
 subsequent history of Derry, its determined 
 
 * See Bu’-not. Macaulay, a d Lirgavd. 
 t Hil', editor of the “Mont:?omery Manuscripts.” 
 
 J “Dr. Burnet, ia tlie catliedral, read the Prince’s Decla-^a 
 tion, and the minister 3 riesent -were so sn'piu. e I that they 
 immediately lelt the church. Howe'^er, the Doctor con- 
 tinued rea i' g to the end.”— Burnet’s “ Hi tory ol His 
 Own Time.” 
 
10 
 
 HISTORY OH ORANOEISM. 
 
 siege, and its heroic defence, are matters 
 too familiar to he repeated. The same day 
 tl at Derry was relieved an Irish army under J astiu 
 M'Caithy, Lord Mountcashel was defeated by the 
 Enniskillen ers at Newtownbutler, which it would 
 seem was occasioned by a mistaken word of 
 command.* To the enervating cry of ^‘No 
 Popery,’^ which has so often been the 
 watchword of many a cowardly deed done 
 in the dark, the Enniskilleners fell upon 
 the fugitives, whom they hunted into the 
 bogs and woods with a savage ferocity ‘‘ that has 
 made even the Williamite historians blush.” WhiU 
 James, from whom neither energy nor wisdom was 
 to be expected, was holding his mimic court in 
 Dublin, and strutting about in his pasteboard 
 crown, the wiley foreigners were making their 
 game. SehomlDerg landed at Bangor (on the 13th 
 August), and with his Dutch troops and French 
 Huguenots and his raw English levies he made for 
 the Boyne. On the 1st July (old style), 1690, was 
 here fought one of the most eventful fights in his- 
 tory, and as to which the conquerors have compa- 
 ratively little room to boast and the conquered no 
 reason to feel ashamed of themselves. The his- 
 torians of Williamf cemplaiu of the incomplete- 
 ness of the victory, and those of James admit that 
 the fighting was done in the main by the Irish. But 
 as this is not a history of William, nor of James, 
 we have but to deal with results. Attended though 
 it was hy important consequences the least impor- 
 tant to the Irish people was the setting aside of 
 the reigning dynasty. An ungrateful monarch was 
 never a good one. A Stuart never wanted in in- 
 gratitude; and James, true to the instincts of his 
 line, blamed the Irish who held the pass of the 
 Boyne, while he himself took care to be out of the 
 way when the fighting was to he done. 
 
 Limerick, which Lanzuu said he could have taken 
 with roasted apples, was abandoned, and the un- 
 divided honour of its memorable defence left to the 
 Irish. Thera is no seige with which the people of 
 the present day are more familiar. The answer of 
 the garrison, that they hoped to merit the good 
 opinion of the Prince of Orange by a vigorous de- 
 fence rather than by a shameful surrender, was' 
 justified by subsequent events. But the intrepid 
 valour of Sarsfield and his troops, the enthusiasm' 
 of the limerick matrons were of no avail 
 against the indifference of French officers 
 yearning after the gilded saloons of Ver- 
 
 * PlunkotMSB. 
 
 t Sto'y sa\ s tli-it only Uco Idsh Btiiidaids wore captured, 
 
 sailles, and the jealousy of an ambitious com- 
 mander, who would not sell his country at a low 
 figure, and had not the courage to fight for it. And 
 so Limerick fell. The political existence of Irish 
 Catholics fell with it. The articles were signed 
 oa the 3rd of October, 1691. They included a 
 general engagement, independent of the Royal 
 promise of future Parliamentary relief, to protect 
 Catholics from all distuihauce, giving them 
 such privileges in the exercise of cheir re- 
 ligion '‘as were consistent with the laws of Ire- 
 land,” or as they did enjoy in the reign of Charles II. 
 It also provided that “ the oath to be submitted to 
 such Roman Catholics as submit to their Majesties’ 
 Oovernment shall be the oath above mentioned 
 (the oath of, allegiance) and no other;” and it further 
 secured the properbiea, rights, immunities, and 
 privileges (such as in the time of Charles II.) of 
 those who were under the protection of the 
 garrison, but residing in the counties Limerick, 
 Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayo* Scarce an 
 hour passed in the long night of persecution which 
 followed without a distinct and shameful breach of 
 this treaty by the English. And here, even beneath 
 the shattered walls of Limerick, do we find the 
 first of that unbroken train of incidents which led 
 up to the Massacre of the Diamond. In conformity 
 with the articles of capitulation the Irish infantry 
 were marshalled on the Clare side of the Shannon, 
 and given an opportunity of choosing between de- 
 parting for France and remaining at home under 
 the new Government. An Ulster battilion of about 
 
 1.000 men entered into William’s service, 
 
 2.000 accepted passei to return home, and 11,000, 
 together with all the cavalry, voluoteered for 
 France. Ships were to bs provided in sufficient 
 nnmbers for the transit of the conquered to France, 
 with their wives and families. The wild cry that 
 went up from the women of Limerick who were 
 left behind was the first pretest against the Broken 
 Treaty. In all, about 30,000 men departed the 
 country.! The war cost ^6,637,000. Two months 
 did not elapse until, accord nj to Harris, that 
 treaty was broken. Many Catholics were dis- 
 possessed of their property, “to the great reproach 
 of their Majesties’ Gevernment.” The English 
 House of Commons decreed also that no person 
 should sit in the Irish Parliament, nor should hold 
 any Irish office, civil, military, or ecclesiastical, 
 nor should practise law or medicine in Ireland 
 
 * Story, Harris, and Burnet. 
 
 t O’Ca lagliau’s fistory of tlie Irish Brigade,” vol, t, 
 page 61. ' * 
 
HISTOEY OF OEAU^GEISM. 
 
 11 
 
 until they had taken the oaths of allegiance al^c^ 
 supremacy, and subscribed the declaration against 
 transubstantiation, saving only those lawyers and 
 physicians who were within the walls of Galway 
 and Limerick when those capitulated. 
 
 This was the beginning of those Penal Laws 
 which honest Englishmen have learned in the 
 present day to be ashamed of — laws which robbed a 
 people of their inheritance, and sent them in 
 droves to the English shambles, while their own 
 countrymen were aiding in the slaughter or reap- 
 ing the benefits of it, and fattening upon the blood 
 of their kindred. William was not a fanatic. He 
 was too good a soldier to be cruel. In fact, that 
 he would have restrained the bigotry of those 
 around him is made evident. But he was made 
 King by the Protestant party, and the tenth part 
 of the population of this island were determined, 
 in the words of Gloster, that they would not be 
 called fools as well as villains, and having got the 
 advantage they were resolved to keep i^. Accord- 
 ingly the minority, headed by their clergy, insti- 
 tuted a reiga of persecution, fur which they 
 cannot even claim the palliation of avarice, seeing 
 that it was carried out with unexampled and 
 unnecessary cruelty. A strange event in the 
 history of nations — one-tenth part of the popu- 
 lation set about exterminating the remain- 
 ing nine. The Irish Peers and Commoners 
 of the Catholic persuasion who attended on 
 the summoning of the next Parliament in 1692 
 were asked to swear that the Mass was damnable j 
 they left the House in a body, and the political 
 existence of the Irish Catholic became extinct. 
 Mitchel says, referring to this incident, that 
 ‘thereafter tley had no more influence upon public 
 affairs than have the red Indians in the United 
 States.” The same monarch who signed the death 
 warrant of- the Maclans, of Glencce, gave his Royal 
 assent to Bills which were a direct breach of faith 
 with the Irish people. 
 
 Sarsfield and his Irish exiles were in the mean.* 
 time fighting the battles of Louis, and on many 
 bloody fields taught the English William what 
 valiant subjects be had lost. “ The rights of Ire- 
 land and the prosperity of England,” says an 
 authority who at least has had the courage of his 
 convictions, ‘‘ cannot exist together ” and accord- 
 ingly every defeat of English arms on the Continent 
 was followed by concession towards the Catholics 
 at home. But this period of quiet did not last 
 long. Catholics had been excluded from the Legis- 
 lature, from Corporations, and from the Liberal 
 
 professions, and even Darby Ryan, a Papist who 
 subjected Ned Sprag and other coal-porters of 
 Dublin to much inconvenience by employing porters 
 of bis own persuasion, received the attention of the 
 Committee of Grievances. A whine went up from 
 the Protestant colonists that they were being un- 
 fairly dealt with. Disappointed in the hope of ob- 
 taining all the estates of the Catholics, it was pro- 
 claimed openly from pulpics that faith should not 
 be kept with Papists, and that the terms made with 
 the Catholics were too lenient. Accordingly, an 
 Act was passed* ‘‘for the better securing of 
 the Government by disarming the Papists.” 
 By^this Act, which subsequently gave a colouring 
 to the illegal proceedings that depopulated 
 Armagh, all Catholics were required to discover and 
 deliver up all their arms and ammunition, and after 
 a certain day search might be made in their houses. 
 Any two justices, or mayor, or sheriff might grant 
 a search-warrant, and compel any Catholic sus- 
 pected of having arms to appear before ttem and 
 answer the suspicion upon oath, the punishments 
 being fine or imprisonment, with the pillory, or 
 whipping, at the discretion of the Court. “No 
 Papist was safe from suspicion who had any money 
 to pay in fines, and woe to the Papist who had a 
 j handsome daughter.” f Not satisfied with the 
 
 I forfeiture of l,0a0,0:'0 Irish acres, the colonists 
 j should have entire monopoly even in 
 I the ^matter of education. The fourth of 
 William and Mary came next, and placed 
 a ban upon education, Catholics not alone 
 being prevented from instructing their children at 
 home ; but prohibited, under the pain of forfeiting 
 all their estates and the guardianship of their own 
 children, from sending them to be educated beyond 
 the seas. It was further enacted, that no Papist 
 should have a horse of the value of £o, or more, 
 with the usual clauses, to induce Protestants to in- 
 form and cause search to be made for the contra- 
 band horses; the property to be vested in the 
 discoverer. Here we find the first premium held 
 out to that swarm of creepi/ig things called- 
 informers,' a^ho settled down u^cn the island and 
 enj^yhd its lilJSpitality, that yiey might learn to 
 betrWit. The next'stepjvas to enjoin all arch- 
 bishops -^mnnk-sr^iars, and all other Popish 
 (vlergy to depart the kingdom by the First . 
 of May, 1693, not to return under pain of being 
 guilty of high treason. But it was not the Papists 
 alone who felt the heavy hand of the conquerer. 
 
 * 7th William III., cap. 5. 
 
 t Mitchell’s History. 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY OF OEAHGEISM. 
 
 English interests now took a fit of jealousy, and 
 on the principle that Irish interests should he sub- 
 ordinate to them, William was compelled, in order 
 to appease his sutjects at home, to say, in reply to 
 addresses from both Houses, “ I shall do all that in 
 me lies to discourage the woollen manufacture in 
 Ireland ; and to encourage the linen trade there, 
 and to promote the trade of England” — rather a 
 strange resolve for one who professed to be a fa^-her 
 of all his people. And, accordingly, he did dis- 
 courage the woollen trade, for by an Act passed in 
 the session of 1689, the duties on Irish woollen 
 goods amounted to prohibition ; the woollen 
 trade was destroyed, and forty thoasand 
 I)3rsons reduced to beggary. At the same time 
 they did not encourage the linen trade, and Arthur 
 Young, in his “Tour,” quotes the 23rd of George 
 II. as a direct breach of the compact. The latter 
 drjs of William were embittered with disappoint- 
 ment. The English Parliament refused to sanction 
 his grant to his favourite, Elizabeth Yilliers, 
 created Countess of Orkney, and an Act was passed 
 resuming the forfeited estates of James as public 
 property. William fell from his horse, broke his 
 collar-bone, and went over to the majority on the 
 26th of February, 1702, only surviving by five 
 n onths the dethroned James, who died at St. 
 Germains in the previous September, leaving the 
 Pretender the empty title of a king, with none of 
 its emoluments. 
 
 To Anne, Haverty says, was reserved the dis- 
 tinction of bringing the execrable Penal Code to 
 full maturity. The co’onists did not feel their 
 monopoly secure, and the advent of the Duke of 
 Ormond to the Lord Lieutenancy was the occasion 
 of passing anotber Bill “ for preventing the growth 
 of Pupery,” though by this time Popery, one would 
 have imagined, might have ceased to be the ghost 
 in the Pfolestant cupboard. With the assistance 
 of a few other Acts subsequently passed by a 
 servile Parliament, in which there was not one 
 voice to be heard on behalf of toleration or 
 humanity, the Penal Code became perfect. Con- 
 ceived by tbe malignant genius of monopoly, they 
 were now well fitted for the debasement and de- 
 degradation of a people. Tbe common enemy 
 were the Catholics, and every address of every 
 Lord Lieutenant urged union of all sects against 
 them. Then, as now, honest Protestants existed ; 
 but they were afraid or ashamed to raise their 
 voices. What could they do, with the Church 
 hounding the dogs of war upon their prey ? 
 
 The Tory Ministers of Queen Anne were chiefly 
 
 occupied during her latter years in preparing to 
 bring in her brother, the “ Pretender,” at 
 her death, and to this she lent her 
 sanction. They had not resolution • enough. 
 But the Whigs had. And accordingly during 
 her lifetime they invited over “the first of those 
 fools and oppressors called George,” put .£50,000 
 as a price upon the Pretender’s silly head — a big 
 price for such a worthless article — and sent poor 
 Anne prematurely to her grave, the flickerings of 
 an expiring soul being still visible upon her pallid 
 cheeks while loyal England was ringing with the 
 cry “ Long live King George the First.” George 
 had packed his portmanteau and come to England, 
 finding there was a vacancy for a Protestant king. 
 He put in his credentials and got the situation ; 
 not because he was a good Protestant or a good 
 man. He was neither. It is told by Thackeray 
 that an agent of the Fr 3 nch King once asked the 
 duchess when she lived in her squalid little Court 
 in Hanover of what religion was her daughter, to 
 which she replied, ‘ of no religion as yet.” She was 
 waiting to see of what religion her husband would 
 be. 
 
 While Sc3t]and was in arms for the P^^'etender 
 the Irish remained inactive. A few, when no 
 strangers were nigh and the doors were locked, 
 still secretly drank tbe health of Louis and to the 
 mole whose mole-hill killed Kiag William. 
 But the Catholics in no way a’ded the Pretender. 
 Still they had to endure al! the horrors of perse- 
 cution as if they weie, or had been, in the field. 
 The unthirikiug Protestants were, however, soon 
 taught that ihey were but the instruments, and 
 not the principals, of this persecuticn, and that 
 they too were despised by their English masters. 
 Eeiulting out of the litigation of Sherlock v. 
 Annesley, an Act was passed in I7i9 which had 
 the effect of making the Irish Parliament a mere 
 provincial assembly. Then came the days of 
 “ the Patriots,” as they were termed — or as 
 they termed themselves; every man of them 
 a bigot, and a bigot without a conscience or a 
 country at their head. Dean Swift could say, “ If 
 we do flourish, it is like the thorn in Glastonbury, 
 without blossom, in the midst of winter;” he could 
 I’compare Ireland to a Lapland or an Iceland, but 
 during the entire of his career he had not one 
 word in defence of his Catholic countrymen. He 
 was not the first, and will not he the last, to assume 
 a specious name, and beneath it hide the workings 
 of a narrow mind and a selfish heart. 
 
 The revolution opened in England the floodgates 
 
 b 
 
HISTORY OR ORANGEISM. 
 
 13 
 
 of immorality. By the time of George^s 
 death, "religion had long since disappeared, 
 and honour had followed.” George II., 
 his successor, assumed the control of a 
 Kingdom, in which millions laboured to prolong 
 and add variety to the debaucheries of the Court ; 
 assumed control of a Church in which nothing was 
 thought of by the clergy but the benefices, and 
 by the people but how to minimise them. Primate 
 Boutler, who ruled in Ireland during the early pa^t 
 of this reign, was so solicitous upon the salvation 
 of those poor creatures, whom he actually admitted 
 to be his fellow-subjects, that he endeavoured by 
 all the refinement and dexterity of one who was 
 born to b& an executioner, and had a genius for 
 slaughter, to bring them to a knowledge of the 
 true religion. "But” says he, "instead of con- 
 verting thoie who are adults, we are daily losing 
 several of our meaner people, who go off to 
 Popery.”* The rumour of a French invasion, 
 suggested, it is said, the advisabiLty of getting rid 
 
 * Boulter’s Letters, vol. II. 
 
 CHAPTER HI— THE WHIT 
 HEARTS OF STEEL, 
 
 George the Third was King and William Pitt 
 was still Prime Minister. The depravity of a 
 Premier, run riot under the control of an imbecile 
 King, had at last secured its object. The torture 
 which the Catholics of the South had for years 
 been subjected to at length br d the spirit of law- 
 lessness, and in 1 “’GO the great aim of the English 
 Cabinet for half a century was realised — a secret 
 society was organised in Ireland. With laws used 
 only to persecute them, seeing upon the bench only 
 their acknowledged opponents and oppressors " in 
 the interests of Protestantism,” the lower classes 
 in the South, upon the first principles of 
 humanity, gathered together, and the outcome was 
 Whiteboyism.*= Now, this class cf conspiracy is 
 fortunately beyond aur present icquiry. We will 
 have iniquities enough to face in the course 
 cf this history without intruding upon onr 
 neighbours ; but lest silence should be mistaken 
 for approval, or even palliation, I must para- 
 phrase of the Whiteboys, that their deeds were 
 alike cruel and inhuman, the only approach to- 
 wards a defence being that if weighed in the scale 
 
 * Prima'e Boulter, in ore of liis sermors, actual'y re- 
 gretted tlae growing ter dency towards union which, at his 
 time was appa’^ent between Catho ic=. honest Pi’otestants, 
 and Lib-ral Presbyterians. " E ngland’s infl.ue..ce,” he said, 
 
 “ could never exist n the face of such a union.” The Most 
 Pev. Primate Eonlter is qui'e right. The c ock that never 
 goes is right once in the twelve hours. 
 
 of the Papists by a general massacre. It is hard 
 to place reliance upon such general rumours, 
 whether relating to the invasions or massacres. The 
 only particular instance quoted is that where 
 the humane Protestant publican of Lurgan 
 prevented his co-religionists by the aid 
 of a clergyman, from falling upon their Catho- 
 lic fellow-townsm<^n iu the night time and 
 massacring them. That a general massacre was 
 suggested, according to Curry, by a nobleman in 
 the Privy Council seems reliable, and a conspiracy, 
 saj’-s Haverty, was formed in Ulster to carry in out. 
 Priest-hunting had now become a profession ; per- 
 secution an art : long familiarity with bloodshed and 
 sights of cruelty had blunted the sensibilities of 
 many honest Protestants, and in time, in a country 
 which was a nursery for young tyrants, they too 
 turned into persecutors. We now arrive at that 
 period when secret societies, begotten of bigotry 
 or of persecution, came into existence, and the one 
 which we will find begot in its turn that Cerberus, 
 Orangeism, which is the subject of these memoirs. 
 
 EBOTS, HE AITS OF OAK, 
 
 PEEP O* DAY BOYS. 
 
 of justice the blood spilled in the name of liberty, 
 and under the spacious guise of law and order, 
 would far outbalance that which followed the acts 
 of a misguided and infuriated people. There were, 
 and always are — for no religion has a monopoly of 
 virtue— a few honest Protestants who did not catch 
 the contagion. With the vast majority, however, 
 anniversary sermons and inflammatcry phamph- 
 lets had done their work^ and the reign of 
 conspiracy, which is ever a reign of terror, set in 
 with earnest. For a period of 20 years, over which 
 we must hasten, the existence of the Whiteboys 
 gave excuse for unbeard-of outrages. Musgrave 
 placidly remarks that *• all our disgraces and mis- 
 fortunes are to be found in the history of our Penal 
 Laws, and in the feeble execution of them,” It is 
 evident the only thing he regrets is that they were|not 
 executed with greater vigour. Have we yet reached 
 the depths of depravity ? He must, indeed, be 
 bloodthirsty who could not be satiated with the 
 " energy” and " loyalty” displayed during this 
 
 Lord Clare, speaking' of this combination, said, "It was un- 
 possible for human wretchedness to exceed that of the miser- 
 able peasant ry in IMunser; he knew that the unhappy 
 tenantry were ground down by the butchery cf relentle'-a 
 landlord-'.” 7 he scheme of extensive gjazing initiated in 
 the South rnd th high price for cattle were the immediata 
 causes of Whiteboyism.” The Act relating to ‘Whitehoyism 
 deals -with “ all classes and persuasions j” hut tlis mus^ bo 
 atken as meaning little. 
 
14 
 
 IIISTOET OE ORANGEISM. 
 
 momentous period. But Sir Eichard was not as 
 the rest of men. The Catholic bishops and clergy 
 no doubt hurdled their anathemas at the White- 
 boys, but in \ ain. It is useless to clean the stream 
 •when the fountain is muddy. 
 
 People now began to be uneasy in the North. 
 The Sacramental Test Act still remained on the 
 statute book, and led to their exclusion. Bat com- 
 mercial restriction cf the most depressing 
 kind pressed upon them, and prevented that 
 manufacture which vas to take the place of the 
 woolen trade from prosjDering. Chuckling for a 
 time over the chains their neighbours wore they 
 soon learned cnat they, too, were chained, and the 
 spirit of rebellion, so dangerous alike to Kings and 
 Governors when cherished by the dogged followers 
 of John Knox, now first displayed itself. 
 
 The Hearts of Oak originated in the North, in the 
 year 1762. The lo-wer classes of labourers had 
 learned the impositions that were being made upon 
 them in regard to the repairing cf roads, and 
 objected to the practice of many of the gentry who 
 iasi&ted upon private jobs being done for thorn. 
 They b.an^ed together for the purpose of redressing 
 these grievances, put oak leaves in their hats, de- 
 dared iu the County Armagh that they would 
 repair no moro roads, and frightened the gentry 
 into subjection. Their immediate grievances 
 were remedied. From the abolition of 
 this compulsory system of road making, 
 known as six day’s labour, they turned 
 their attention to tithes, which were at that 
 time pressing upon the peorfie heavily, as they 
 did in after time. The Hearts of Steel originated 
 in 'the County Down, in 1762. The Marquis of 
 Hownshire own^d a vast tract of country, but was 
 an absentee landlord. His agent, owing to the ex- 
 tensive traffic in land, occasioned by the success of 
 Northern weavers, determined, like most of his 
 kind, to make the most of the occasion. He initiated 
 a new mode of letting land out of lease by accept- 
 ng large fines and lowering the rent accordingly. 
 This suited admirably the monopolists of Belfast ; 
 but as James Hope, who gave an account of the 
 
 proceedings to Madden, stated, it did not suit the 
 occupiers. In Carnmoney a Presbyterian 
 elder was allowed by the occupants to 
 become the purchaser of a tcwnland on tbe 
 condition that their farms should be re-let on the 
 terms at which he purchased. But the compact 
 being completed he raised the rents exorbitantly. 
 This will give an idea of the cause which led 
 to the combination kn.uwn as the Steel Boys. 
 ^Hearts of ouk and hearts of steel as they were, it 
 must certainly be admitted they were very pacific 
 bodies, and their acts in no ways contrasted with the 
 lawlessness and cruelty displayed by the White- 
 boys or Levellers of the South. The former was 
 the outcome of persecution, however ; the latter of 
 injustice. 
 
 We are now face to face with the father o 
 Orangeism. The Peep ’o Hay Boys,or the Protestant 
 Boys, Nv’ei’e the begetters of the institution with 
 which -we have cow to deal. Taaffe says their 
 organisation arose out of a drunken broil in the 
 County Armagh, at Markethill, at which two Pres- 
 byterians fell out, and a Catholic] foolishly inter- 
 fering in the quarrel, the party whom he advised 
 was beaten. As on most occasions, where parties 
 meddle in family differences, the defeated party 
 turned upon the generous Papist, and quarrel 
 number two resulted in the Nappich Fleet” and 
 the " Bawn Fleet,” the former being tbe Peep ’o 
 Day of lifter times, and the latter the orginators of 
 the Defenders.f 
 
 And having at length approached the subject of 
 of our inquiry, let us hope after time not ill-spent, 
 for the prologue has to be studied as well as the 
 tragedy, we may well break tbe journey and leave 
 the interesting events which immediately follow 
 to the honour of a new chapter. 
 
 * Tliose wlio w sh to pe”nse the histoi-T of th^se combina- 
 t'ous farther -will find details in Talfe’s History of Ireland. 
 Madmen’s History, ^'eeling’s His ory, and Arthur Youn/s 
 Tour. 
 
 t The onl"' reTSonahle conclusion to tahen from the 
 narrative of Taffe and of Mus .rave is that, the defeated 
 party tamed upon his adviser, and between both the quarrelt 
 subsequently lay. From alig’hfc evtuts what desperate 
 causes opring ! 
 
 CHAPIEK IV— THE DAWN OF EEASON AND THE NIGHT OF BIGOTEY, 
 PLOTS AND COUNTEE-PLOTS. 
 
 Gerorge the Third was fast losing his wits. The 
 grass was soon to grow where the Bastile stood. 
 Young America, guided by the immortal Washing- 
 ton, had cast off the old wcrld ways of the parent 
 country, and just tasted the sweets of freedom. 
 
 Divine right was doomed. The days when Lings 
 were all in all were passing away, and Princes of the 
 Blood now no longer struggled tc hold the shirt 
 of Louis XIY. when his most Christian Majesty 
 thought tit to change that garment.” The wave 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 15 
 
 of revolution whicU arose in the West swept over 
 France, and its influence extended 'to this remote 
 corner of the world’s surface. The Volunteers 
 rose, and though I am far from ascribing to that 
 brief period through which they li^ed the glory 
 it is the custom to surround it with, they deserve 
 all the credit of being the first amongst us 
 to discover that men were not made to be the sport 
 of princes, nor religion demised that people might 
 prey upon each other. With this most momentous 
 epoch in Irish history we have little to do. It is 
 necessary to note, however, thc*t with the dawn of 
 enlightenment and liberality came hopes for the 
 Irish Catholic — hopes which were too much in- 
 dulged and TOO little realised. “ The penal 
 statutes,” says Barrington,^ under the tyran- 
 nical pressure of which Catholics had so long and 
 so grievously laboured, though in some instances 
 softened down, still bore heavily upon four-fi‘'^ths of 
 the Irish population— a code w'hich would have dis- 
 honoured the sanguinary j)en of Draco, which in- 
 flicted every pam and penalty, every restriction and 
 oppression under which a people could linger out a 
 miserable existence.” The laws weie on the statute 
 book, and it remained at the option of the evil- 
 disposed to put them in execution. Religion was 
 still a crime, and the education of a Catholic child 
 a misdemeanour j the son was still bribed to betray 
 the father, and the house of God had not yet 
 ceased to be a public nu'sance. But a feeling of 
 toleration began to show itself which made bigots 
 quake and the despoikis tremble for the safety of 
 their ill-gotten goods. Though the Volunteer 
 period still showed the remnant of the old intoler- 
 ance — for Catholics were not trusted into their 
 ranks — we must still admiie that short-lived spirit, 
 which, being fanned into a flame, flickered and went 
 out before the emancipation of a people was even 
 partially ensured. A few years, and they who had 
 been the terror of England ceased to exist, or 
 existed only in name. With the dispersion cf the 
 V olunteers the hopes of Ireland again fell. Still, 
 intolerance had received its death-blow ; the spiii^ 
 of freedom remained, and lived through a period cf 
 a dozen years, when it burst out into rebellion. 
 
 But if we turn our eyes to one corner of the island 
 we will find that the most degrading page of Irish 
 history has yet to be written. It is still more de- 
 grading when viewed side by side with the dawning 
 toleration elsewhere. I speak of Armagh County 
 between the year 1784 and the Insurrection. There 
 is another period, following the Rebellion and cul- 
 
 minating in the Union, which may outrival it for 
 the multiplicity of its horrors and the ingenious 
 barbarity of its persecution. But those who have 
 read the history of civil war in all ages, and in all 
 countries, know that it is intestine broil which un- 
 bridles the worst passions of mankind, and makes 
 man prey upon his neighbour. 
 
 When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug 
 of war,” is but the heroic rendering of ibe sad 
 truth that your former friend makes an unrelenting 
 foe. We may, therefore, ascribe the atrocities of the 
 Irish Rebellion to the natural outcome of human 
 passions. But here in the fourteen years that pre- 
 ceded that Rebellion we look in vain for such pal- 
 liation. On the one had, we find in a pro- 
 sperous country a large population, happy if 
 allowed to retain what little had been left them, 
 asking for nothing only not to be persecuted ; and 
 on the other, a small gang of needy ruffians, yelling 
 like hungry wolves for another mouthfuh The few 
 honest Protestants who were disinclined to join in 
 the sacrifice and share in the spoil stood aloof ; for 
 they dare not protest. Disinclined to rob their 
 neighbour, they were compelled to look on while 
 he was being robbed. This, in short, was the con- 
 dition of the County Armagh duiing the period 
 under notice. It is a common error to suppose 
 that this was all due to religious enthusiasm or a 
 mistaken zeal for the blessings of an open Bible. 
 There could be no greater error. It was prom pted 
 by a greed for other’s property and an insatiable 
 deeiie for monoply. Encouraged by law, this fancy 
 for possessions not their own grew into a passion, 
 and when it was ripe, the Government, ever awake 
 to English interests, availed themselves of it. 
 Prom the statement of Mr. Longfield in the House 
 of Commons as to the encouragement directly given 
 by the Government to “ Capt. Right” and his men 
 at this period, in the County Cork, it is not going 
 beyond reason to ciedit M‘Novin’s statement, that 
 the Peep o’ Day Eojs were aided and abetted by 
 Government in order to secure what they did 
 secure — a premature Irish rebeliion. The fact was 
 the English were becoming alarmed at the action 
 of the Northern Presbyterians, and recollected tco 
 well Primate Boulter’s warning, that, if the Pro- 
 testants and Catholics united, they might bid fare- 
 well to English interests. Dissention 2 nd domestic 
 tumult was their only game. They found the Peep 
 0 ’ Day Boys but willing instruments, too easily 
 caught when something was to be gained. In the 
 early dawn these deluded people visited the houses 
 of Catholics in order to search for arms,” and. 
 
 * Hisiorical Memoirs, vol. 1, page 14. 
 
IG 
 
 HTSTOET OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 Bays Musgrav-^, the impartial historian, “ it is most 
 certain that in so doing they committed the most 
 wanton outrages, wsuZtmpr their persons, and break- 
 ing their furniture.” Even in the very next page 
 (54 — his “ Memoirs cf the Different Kebellions”) 
 he grants all we have be°n concluding; for be 
 admits “ to exasperate the Defenders, and to induce 
 them to embody themselves from motives of fear, 
 prophecies were frequently made that the Scotch, 
 meaning the Presbyterians, would rise on a certain 
 nighc and massacre the Eomaii’-ts, who, being 
 credulous and timorous, postei watches all nig.rt 
 to give the alarm. As such reports were constantly 
 made, some time previous to, and during the re- 
 bellion, as cl''vi'',es to inflame the Popish multitude 
 againf^t the Protestants, we may reasonably cone ride 
 ih.\t the authors of them at this early period, had the 
 same si ister des'gns. By a seasonable exertion of 
 the Government this spirit, or comVination and out- 
 rage might have been easily extinguished; but 
 I have been assured that it was fomented by the 
 improper conduct of country gentlemen who 
 espoused one party or another for election 
 purposes.” The idea of Protestant country gentle- 
 
 CHAPTEE Y.— THE 
 
 The reign of terror set in. Every effort was made 
 by these in authority to perpetuate and intensify 
 it, and to put the population of the North in hostile 
 camps under the banners of Protestant and 
 Catholic. Taffe assures us that innumerable squabs 
 of an iuflamatory character were circulated by 
 thousands. These combustibles fell iuto the hands 
 of the lower cla.sses, for whom they were intended 
 and so kindled the flame. That the exist eace of 
 the Peep o’ Day Boys gave rise to the Defenders is 
 obvious ; one was the natural consequences of the 
 other. 
 
 Orange eulogists with more loyalty than logic 
 boldly say the Defenders were the cause of the 
 Peep o’ Da.y Boys. Musgrave, for instance, states 
 
 many gentlemen of the North have assured me 
 that the origin of the Defenders, and the excesses 
 which they committed, may properly be imputed 
 to the savage and sanguinary spirit of the lower 
 class of Eomanists in the County Armagh, where 
 they are peculiarly barbarous.”* It is scarcely 
 necessary to point out the blundering dishonesty of 
 this historian when he ascribes the origin of the 
 Defenders to their own acts, which could only prove 
 their existence. Their origin must have been out- 
 eide themselves. And the existence of the Peep o’ 
 Day Boys at this time is s'.rikingly suggestive. 
 There is no reason to discredic the statement of 
 Taffe and Plowden. But that the formation of one 
 followed fast upon the other is quite apparent. 
 
 * Musgr arc’s History of Eebellions, page 59. 
 
 men espousing the Catholics "‘for election 
 purposes,” at a time when Catholics were of as 
 much political importance astheEed Indians, is 
 worthy the special pleader of a hostile Government. 
 Catholic historians all agree that this policy was 
 initiated to rouse the Catholics irto rebellion, and 
 set those of each creed at the others throats. On 
 the other side, Godkin says the object of the 
 Government a few years la‘er was the mutual ex- 
 termination of both Pre byterians and Cathol cs, 
 BO that having followed the exa pie of the Kil- 
 kenny cats they nLight Isave the island to be 
 divided amongst the Church party.* 
 
 * ” The Pro bvtenans weratoo strong in Ulst r f r the 
 Government, and fea’-ing them, the Guve nment I'e olved to 
 make th m. p li’ioal none tinv. The p licy was in- 
 uug r ted by conv rting the Itehellion or ’98 into a religious 
 war. The organisati m by hich this policy has b en pei’- 
 petiiated is the Orange Society, which has always been 
 mor e or less fostered by he nobility, intcrist ates, and 
 gentlemen of the ruling classes, and i'osie ed by anniver- 
 saries of civil w.t.r. IVe wounds iufiic ed on a vanquished 
 Church and asuhjngatel n ti m wrre thus trumphantly 
 and ta mtiugly orn oiien afresh, two or three times every 
 yeai’.” Religious His., page i93. 
 
 EEIGN OF TEEEOE. 
 
 Musgrave, however, uses this ingenious piece of 
 special pleading in order to excuse the outrages 
 which, strange to say, he does not admit, and for 
 the purpose of narrating a tale of peculiar atro- 
 city, if it be true, to justify the Peep o’ Day Boys 
 iu all their doings. As I am inclined to hold the 
 balance fairly between these two parties — for their 
 bones lie mouldering during the past century, 
 and reputations of to-day may well take care of 
 themselves — I feel disposed to quo^-e this state 
 meut. We will take it even from Musgrave him- 
 self, and the matter will be more interesting when 
 we come at a later stage to examine the depositions 
 of a certain member of the Verner family in regard 
 to this e/ent when before the Secret CommiHee of 
 the House of Commons. Masgrave says* that 
 one Kichai'd Jackson, of Foikhill, who died on the 
 11th July, 1787, devised an estate of about £4,000 
 a year to the following charitable purposes That 
 his demesne, consisting of 3,000 acres, should be 
 colonised by Protestants, and that four school- 
 masters should be established on it, to instruct, 
 gratis, children of every religious persuasion. The 
 trustees, two year's afterwards, obtained an Act of 
 Pailiaiiient to carry the provisions of the will into 
 execution, and they appointed the Eev. Edward 
 Huston, rector of Forkhill, one of the trustees, 
 as agent to transact the business of the charity. 
 “ The Papists,” says Musgrave, “ who lived in the 
 neighbouring county, a savage race, the descen> 
 md 
 
 c 
 
HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 17 
 
 dants of the rapparees, declared without reserve- 
 that they would not suffer the establishment to 
 take place ; and they soon put their menaces into 
 execution. They fired twice at Mr. Hudson. On 
 one occasion an assassin was sent from a Pdjpish 
 cJiajpel, when the congregation was assembled, to the 
 road side, where Mr. Hudson was passing by, and 
 he deliberately fired at him with a musket, from 
 behind a bush, and killed his horse. The new 
 colonists were hunted like wild beasts, and treated 
 with savage cruelty ; their houses were demolished 
 and their property was destroyed.^’ He then pro- 
 ceeds to detail the ' treatment which Alexander 
 Barclay, one of the school masters received in 
 February, 1791,” and he quotes a document signed 
 by the trustees, dated “1st February, 1791,” which 
 slates that “ on Friday evening, at seven o^ clock,” a 
 number of villians went to the house of Barclay 
 and stabbed one Terence Byrne, who opened the 
 door for them j put a cord round his neck which 
 they so tightened as to force out his tongue, part 
 of which they cut off. They then cut off the four 
 fingers and thumbs of his right hand. They treated 
 Barclay’s wife in the same manner, and also her 
 brother, a boy of thirteen, who had just come from 
 Armagh to see her. The Grand Jury at the ensuing 
 assizes stated that the rage amongst the Eoman 
 Catholics for illegally arming themselves jras truly 
 alarming, and offered a reward for the conviction 
 c£ those concerned in the outrage. Musgrave, in 
 the same account, quotes many circumstances 
 as improbable as they are foolish, which 
 show that the “ historian” is guided not by 
 reason but by prejudice. It must be mentioned 
 that the nobleman to whom this author dedicated 
 his volume actually refused to accept the honour, 
 as upon a.11 sides the production was regarded as a 
 tissue ^|j||^lsehoods. There is also upon the face 
 of the document a slight inaccuracy, for while Mus- 
 grave says the outrage occurred “ in February,” 
 the report of the trustees bears date “ 1st Feb,” 
 detailing an accident which took place “ on Friday 
 last.” That the transaction is painted in glowing 
 colours there can be no doubt, for the author never 
 touched anything that ho did not “embellish.” 
 If true, as it must be in part, it is a fact to be re- 
 gretted, and serves co show the sad results of seek- 
 ing to force a religion upon the people. That it 
 could justify the long train of atrocities which 
 followed in retaliation would be inhuman to up- 
 hold. 
 
 In order to make our story consecutive, we may 
 here quote one of the questions asked Lieutenant- 
 
 Colonel Verner when being examined before the 
 Select Committee of the House on the 7th April, 
 1835. 
 
 At question 29 of the report occurs the follow- 
 ing 
 
 “ Can you state from your knowledge the occa- 
 “sion, the origin, and the period of the formation 
 “ of the Orange Societies ? The first formation of 
 “the society was in the year 1793. Previously 
 “there were other societies existing; one under 
 “ the name of Defenders, exclusively consisting of 
 “ Eoman Catholics. They were in ths habit of 
 “ taking arms'from the houses of Protestants, and 
 “ bodies of men, called Peep o’ Day Boys went 
 “ generally early in the morning for the purpose of 
 “recovering their arms, and from that circum- 
 “ stance derived their name. I think the first 
 “ occasion upon whif^h the opinion became general 
 “ that there existed a decided hostility upon the 
 “part of the Eoman Catholics towards the Protes- 
 “tants was a, circumstance which occurred at a 
 “ place cafied Forkhill, in the County Armagh” — 
 and in answer to the next question he therefore 
 proceeds to relate it. 
 
 Now, the reader should mark the very nice dis- 
 tinction which Lieutenant-Colonel Verner made 
 between recovering arms and taking arms, and he- 
 may form a very amusing picture in his own mind 
 of those conscientious Peep o’ Day Boys, fearful of 
 robbery, examining minutely in the grey dawn of 
 the morning those arms which they wanted to re- 
 cover, and quietly returning them to their places 
 whenthey found they had not been ‘taken’ from them, 
 dgain, if they wanted to recover arms which had 
 been stolen from them, where were the police (of 
 those days) and taeir amiable friends the magis- 
 trates, and why, of all things, select the break of 
 day for the recovery of them ? Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Yernor might have honestly held these opinions. 
 I suspect very much, however, that the preoeed- 
 ings pointed rather in the direction of rape, of 
 rapine, and of robbery. 
 
 And this view of the case is on all sides held— 
 with the exception of Sir Eichard Musgrave. 
 
 “From the spoliation of arms the privileged 
 party proceeded to more general acts of plunder 
 and outrage, which were perpetrated on most 
 occasions with the most scandalous impunity”* 
 
 “ The Defenders had long and frequently com- 
 plained that all their efforts to procure legal re- 
 dress against the outrages committed upon them 
 by the Peep o’ Day Boys were unavailing; tha^ 
 
 * Maddeu’s United Iriihmen, First Series, page S9. 
 
18 
 
 HISTORY OR ORANGEISM. 
 
 their oppressois appeared rather to he counte- 
 nanced than checked by the civil power, and that 
 the necessity of the case had driven them into 
 counter combinations to defend their lives and pro- 
 perties against these uncontrolled marauders/^* 
 
 For a long succession of years this persecution 
 continued, the “ privileged party” aided and 
 abetted by the authorities. The Catholics were, 
 however, increasing in importance. Nor were they 
 now wanting manly Protestants and Presbyterians 
 to come forward and advocate their claims of being 
 released from years of unexampled injustice and 
 oppression. The Protestant first company of vo- 
 lunteers had long before issued a manifesto con- 
 demning the perpetrators of these atrocities, and 
 declared their intention of protec4ng the Catholics 
 This old spirit still existed. The following may 
 be accepted as an instance : — 
 
 Declaration and resolutions of the inhabitants 
 “of the parish of Tullylish (Cc. Down)— George 
 “ Law, Esq., in the chair — 
 
 “Resolved — ^■hat we hold in just contempt and 
 “ abhorrence the criminal advisers and wicked per- 
 “ petrators of that inhuman, murderous, and savage 
 “ persecution which has of late disgraced the County 
 “ of Armagh. 
 
 * Plowden’s Historical Eeview, page 297. 
 
 “ That if these barbarities are not immec>iately 
 " opposed, and some wise, firm, and efiectual steps 
 “ taken by men in authority to arrest their progress 
 “ they will instantly involve this kingdom in all 
 “ the horrors of civil war, and deluge our land with 
 “ blood. 
 
 “ That in our opinion the present existing laws 
 “ are full adequate to the detection and punish- 
 “ ment of every species of offence, in case the civil 
 “ magistrate do his duty,” &c. 
 
 Defenderism had now become formidable, and 
 even alarming to the Government. It had spread 
 through all the Northern counties, and into the 
 adjoining provinces. But the old device of Popish 
 plots had not yet been “abandoned by statesment to 
 aldermen, by aldermen to clergymen, ’and by clergy- 
 men to old women j”* the most absurd stories cf 
 massacres were fabricated with a facility which 
 some inflaentlal authorities in the pay of the Go- 
 vernment conceived it no degradation to stoop to ; 
 a Catholic dare not remain in his house ; seven 
 thousand had, according to Plowden, been driven 
 from their homes already, and those who remained 
 took to the hillside returning, only under cover of 
 the night. In this state we find the country a few 
 days before the first Orange Lodge was established. 
 
 * Macaulay. 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— THE MASSACREE OF THE DIAMOND, 
 THE FIRST ORANGE LODGE. 
 
 On the 21st September, 1795, the massacre, 
 euphoniously called the Battle of the Diamond, took 
 place. There is yet living one who was present 
 and witnessed the shocking scenes of that eventful 
 day. At my request he dictated to me some few 
 years ago the following: — 
 
 “NARRATIVE BY AN EYE-WITNESS OF 
 THE DIAMOND MASSACRE. 
 
 “I was born in 1780, and was fifteen years of age 
 at the Battle of the Diamond. My father was a 
 Protestant. He was a well-to-do farmer, living in 
 Loughgall, and had married a Catholic, the daugh- 
 ter of a neighbour. For this reason he met with a 
 great deal of annoyance and persecution from the 
 ‘ Peep o’ Day Boys,’ or ^ Wreckers,’ as we used to 
 call them, and in my recollection his house was 
 wrecked three different times by them. For a 
 coujfie of years before the Diamond affray occurred, 
 I remember distinctly that it was his habit to keep 
 a loaded blunderbus — a gun three times as big as 
 those you see now — on a table by bis side every 
 night while in bed. On Wednesday, I think it was. 
 
 the IGth or I7th of September, in the year ’95, 1 
 was sleeping with a little brother (there were but 
 two of us) in a room off my father’s when, about 
 half an hour before midnight, a loud knocking 
 came to the back door. My father jumped out of 
 bed. I got up and found a gun, and then stole to 
 a window overlooking the back, for I had little fear 
 in me at that time, and was up for * sport,’ as we 
 called the sad business of those times. I was able 
 to pull a trigger on my own account. But it was 
 not the ‘ Wreckers,’ as we all expected, for I heard 
 some few pass- words of the Defenders being ex- 
 changed with my father, who, on account of my 
 mother’s religion, was much trusted by them, 
 though I don’t believe he was one of them. 
 They asked him— there Avere about fifty in 
 all — for any arms he had in the house, 
 as they said the ‘ Protestant Boys,’ or ‘Wreckers’ 
 were going to attack the house of a one Jemmy 
 Dugan (he lived about a mile off) that night, and 
 they were determined not to let them. After seme 
 p:»rley my father gave up the blurderbus, my gun 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 19 
 
 as well together and an old rusty sword, and they 1 
 went off shouting and cheering. I ren?ember it as 
 distinctly as the doings of yesterday. The next 
 morning we heaid there had teen a ^scrimmage,’ 
 and that two of the Wreckers and one of the 
 opposite party were killed, and their bodies pri- 
 vately disposed of by their friends. Dugan’s house 
 had really been attacked that night, and a few days 
 after I saw his body being dragged from * the 
 field’ cf the Diamond, for he was amongst the 
 killed. Now, the Diamond was then, as I believe 
 it is now, a place where four roads meet, that is, 
 two roads crossing, where there were a, couple of 
 houses, with a rising ground not far off. It is in 
 Lcughgall, not far from Armagh City. The De- 
 fenders vere afraid to return home after the 
 night’s business, for the magistrates had got the 
 scent, and one of tnem a Mr. Atkinson,* was par- 
 ticularly active (in regard to them), so they were 
 sure to be pounced upon. They knew if caught 
 they were certain to be hanged without a trial* as 
 many of them were before, and they remained 
 there, and about the locality, all the next day and 
 the several days following up to Monday. 
 
 On Friday a strong party of Wreckers assembled 
 from PortadownandE/ickhiil. They were well armed, 
 with the old Volunteer guns and bayonets; and 
 they approached the Diamond with shouting 
 and yelling in the hopes of dislodging the De- 
 fenders. There was a scrimmage in daylight, 
 actually, for I was looking on from the rising 
 ground, but the Defenders, though their numbers 
 were about the same, beat the Protestants to little 
 bits, and they ran pell-mell for their lives. That 
 night most of the houses belonging to the Ca- 
 tholics were burned, and their wives and daugh- 
 ters came to “the camp” next morning early 
 with the most shocking tales of the usage some of 
 them had received. One fine young girl of eighteen, 
 I saw hide her face in a shawl, and cry bitterly on 
 meeting her sweetheart, a fine strapping fellow- 
 Poor fellow, he little guessed the cause. Her 
 father butst out like a child when his wife 
 whispered to him what was part of the unhappy 
 night’s transacticDS. In fact, she had been shame- 
 fully outraged. There were a couple of encounters 
 during the next day, but none on Sunday, for the 
 protestant Boys were too religious to fight upon 
 the Sabbath. I should tave said that our own house 
 had been wrecked in the meantime, for some 
 of them had got the scent of my father lending the 
 
 * This Mr. Atkinson was amongst the first Orangemen, 
 strange to say. 
 
 guns. The house was burned, and my mother, who 
 was with her fourth baby at the time, died soon 
 afterwards from the fright. 
 
 The shooting and wrecking continued on Mon- 
 day, the 21st. Mr. Atkinson and the priest did all 
 they could to make peace, and they succeeded so 
 far that both parties agreed to return home ; and! 
 have heard that a compact was actually signed, hut 
 I don’t know about that. Both parties left, with 
 the exception of a few stragglers on each side, and 
 1 felt rather disappointed to think that all the fun 
 was over. I wish to God it had been, and it would 
 have saved me recollections that have saddened all 
 my life. While they were on their way to their 
 different homes a large party of Defenders from 
 Monaghan, Cavan, and Tyrone — for the organisation 
 had spread over all the adjoining counties, and 
 they had a regular system of communication — as I 
 was saying, these parties came up, for they had 
 heard their friends were in trouble. Like myself 
 some of them were not at all pleased that matters 
 had assumed such a shape, and no wonder, for the 
 trace wouldn’t have lasted long, and they would 
 have had the same journey another time. There 
 was then near the Diamond the house of a Protes- 
 tant named Winters — Dick Winters, I think, they 
 called him. Some of the Monaghan or Cavan men 
 broke some of the windows of Winters’ house. 
 His son made off and told the news to the re- 
 treating Protestants, and so the murder was out. 
 About “ the boys” wheeled, and after wrecking and 
 smashing everything on their way in, took the 
 Portadown direction. This, of course, brought 
 back all the Defenders, and here they stood face to 
 face — neighbours glowing at each other like tigers. 
 The Defenders were of course by this time more 
 numerous, but amongst the whole lot they had oLly 
 a couple of dozen rusty old guns and my fdther’a 
 blunderbus, the rest being armed with pitchforks, 
 scythes, and all sorts of implements. Few who 
 had guns had ammunition. But the Protostants 
 were well armed with guns, horse-pistols, old 
 sabres, and bayonets, most of which had seen good 
 service since ’82. 
 
 The fighting recommenced about mij-day. 
 Amongst the Protestants were, I was told after- 
 wards, a number of old soldiers who had seen ser- 
 vice — I don’t know where ; I suppose in the French 
 wars — and a good many militiamen, and they were 
 directed, too, by some Protestant young men of 
 considerable education and position in the neigh- 
 bourhood cf Portadown. The Defenders were sadly 
 wanting in the matter of drill. As the Wreckers 
 
20 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 held the side of the hill the Eoman Catholics were 
 considerably at their mercy. Their artillerymen, 
 as you would call them, had to keep in front, and 
 besides, they wanted to protect their wives and 
 children who were behind. A good many of them 
 were soon picked down by the old soldiers, 
 while the Defenders’ rusty old guns wouldn’t 
 half reach their opponents. Those who 
 were left of them soon ei^hausted their powder 
 before they had inflicted the slig’atest damage on 
 the enemy. There was a lull, if you could call it a 
 lull, Vkhere the air was thick with the screams of 
 the women over their dying husbands and brothers. 
 Within forty feet of where I was perched — for I 
 had never got back my gun, or I might have been 
 m the thick of it~and I know which side I would 
 have fought on — within forty feet or sixty feet of 
 me one little girl was shot dead, ani the mourning 
 of the poor mother was heartrending in the ex- 
 treme; but there was a lull in w'hat we might call 
 the fighting,” for want of a better name, and I 
 think there was some notion of trying a hand to 
 hand struggle. It didn’t last long for in an 
 instant down swept the Protestant Boys from the 
 hill, shooting as they came, and with their swords 
 and bayonets they spread the wildest confusion, 
 and made terrible slaugter amongst the Papists, 
 on who e side men, women, and children 
 were now huddled up. All that followed 
 was a havoc— a cold-blooded and brutal massacre, 
 the scenes which live in my memory to this day, 
 old as I am, and which has prevented me from 
 associating the place with other than carnage ever 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— MORE 
 
 It may be interesting at this juncture to call a 
 witness from the Orange side to corroborate, in 
 however prejudiced a manner, the statement 
 already given respecting tbe Diamond massacre. 
 That gentleman is Lieutenant-Colonel Blacker, 
 one whose family had ever been active in per- 
 petuating tbe discord which prevailed between the 
 Catholics and Protestants of the country previous 
 to September, 1795. First let me say that the 
 Blackers of those days were the intimate friends of 
 the Rev. Mr. Mansell, of P«. rtadown ; and Plowden 
 says of the latter gentleman : — “ The ascendancy 
 party was worked into an enthusiastic ebullition 
 of renovated fury, by the sermon of a rev. divine 
 of the Established Church, Mr. Mansell, of 
 Portadown, who some few days previous to the 1st 
 of July, 1795, had from his pulpit given a very 
 
 after. Everyone fled, and you could see men drag- 
 ging their wives and brothers, pulling their 
 wounded sisters after them, leaving their fathers 
 dead on the ground. Even then the rage of these 
 fiends was not abated, and the Protestants cut 
 down men, women, and children, especially women 
 and children, without mercy. I suppose I saw the 
 mangled corps of about sixty people lying dead, 
 and there might have been very many others that 
 I did not notice; in tbe hurry of the route I have 
 heard that the number killed was really more than 
 this, and that their bodies were made away with 
 through fear of prosecution, and cf the certain 
 prosecution that would await their families after- 
 wards. 
 
 I have read some descriptions in my time, in old 
 newspapers, of the horrible massacre, and was 
 often templed to send a sketch of it to the papers, 
 for, to my mind, they were all imperfect. 
 I dare say it was not the fault of those 
 who wrote them. They would not have 
 been inaccurate if they had been there. Still I am 
 sure I have given a very faint idea of the horrible 
 and deliberate slaughter of that day, and but im- 
 perfectly conveyed to you what the massacre of the 
 Diamond was like. / 
 
 Every hovel belonging to a Catholic in the sur- 
 rounding neighbourhood for miles was that evening 
 wrecked. 
 
 On tke 21st September, 1795, by these men, 
 
 FRESH PROM SUCH A SCENE OF CARNAGE, THE EiRST 
 
 Orange Lodge was started tn the house of 
 ONE James Sloan, at a place called Timakeel. 
 
 ABOUT THE DIAMOND. 
 
 marked notice to his congregation, that all persons 
 disposed to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle 
 of the Boyne m the true spirit of the institution, 
 should attend his sermon on ♦’hat day. This 
 evangelical labourer in the vineyard of the Lord of 
 peace so worked up the minds of his audience that 
 upon retiring from service, on the different roads 
 leading to their respective homes, they gave full 
 sccpe to the anti-Papistical zeal with which he 
 had inspired them — falling upon every Catholic they 
 met, beating and bruising them without provoca- 
 tion or distinction, breaking the doors and windows 
 of their houses, and actually murdering two unoffend- 
 ing peasants who were digging turf in a bog. 
 This unprovoked atrocity of the Protestants revived 
 and redoubled religious rancour. The flame spread 
 and threatened a contest of extermination.” This, 
 
 d 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 21 
 
 wbicli Plowden gives as one of the immediate in- 
 cidents that led to the Diamond outrage, was 
 prompted by the Rev. Mr. Mansell’s blood-thirsty 
 eloquence, the character of which we may very 
 accurately estimate b/ having regard to recent 
 utterances from the same platform made by a 
 clergyman from the same district. Having 
 said so much, we may now call the Lieutenant- 
 Colonel and allow him to describe the Diamond 
 massacre, in which he was a sharer, in his own 
 Ian gi’ age. 
 
 On the Ist August, 1835, he was called before the 
 Select Coa:n?ittee and examined as follows: — 
 
 You are a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Armagh 
 Militia ? Yes. 
 
 Are you also Deputy-Lieutenant of the County 
 of Armagh ? Not at present ; I was. 
 
 Have you also held a Commission of the Peace in 
 the County of Armagh for several years ? I haye. 
 
 Did you also fill the office of Deputy Vice-Trea- 
 surer of Ireland fcr some time? For thirteen 
 years. 
 
 Are you a member of the Orange Society ? I 
 am. 
 
 How long have you been so ? It w mts about six 
 weeks of forty years. 
 
 We may rest here for a time. This admission is 
 a highly important one. Lieut.-Colonel Blacker 
 became an Orangeman 39 years and 46 weeks pre- 
 vious lo the day upon which he was examined — 
 the 1st August, 1835. A hasty calculation back- 
 wards brings us to the 12th September, 1795, as 
 the day upon which he took the Orange oath. The 
 association was not started until the 21st Septem- 
 ber of the same year, so that if we ab’de by his evi- 
 dence he must Lave been sworn in not as an Orange- 
 man but as a Peep o’ Day Boy, confounding the 
 two, a conclusion w hich if correct would account 
 for his anxiety to supply bullets to his 
 blood-thirsty hie'hren, as disclosed further on. 
 But, considering his use of the word about,” it 
 would be scarcely fair to bind him to this calcula- 
 tion. We may, however, assume, with all reason- 
 able accuracy, that he was amongst the first that 
 joined the Orange Association when it started; 
 that the Diamond still bore the horrifying marks 
 of the bloody fray, when the future Deputy Lieu- 
 tenant of Armagh, and Deputy Vice-Treasurer of 
 Ireland, and Lieutenant Colonel, and Justice of the 
 Peace was calling Heaven to witness that he, so 
 far as in him lay, would exterminate his Catholic 
 fellow countrymen. Rather a strange position for 
 such a person to occupy. But the consideration 
 
 becomes still more startling when we remember 
 that this man, who had shown himself an accom- 
 plice and'a partizan, this man who had made bullets 
 for others to fire, and was so w'anting both in 
 humanity and self-respect as to give his endorse- 
 ment to the transacticn of the Diamond, was, for a 
 long period of years, to sit and decide upon eases 
 in which party spirit was paramount, and in which 
 Catholics and Protestants were at issue. It 
 contained a lesson to both parties, but 
 one side alone benefitted by it. Catholics 
 soon lost confidence in the constitution ot 
 a magistracy in which too many of them w’ere of 
 the same brotherhood as Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Blacker. Protestants failed to see, and are only 
 now beginning to learn, that it has ever been the 
 practice of the Orange gentry to make the bullets 
 while the rank and file fired them ; to sit at home 
 and applaud the ruffianism while their own heads 
 were out of danger. To continue — 
 
 You, of course, then, are able to give the com- 
 mittee soma account of its origin ? I think I am. 
 
 Can you do so Lora hearsay or from personal 
 knowledge ? Both. 
 
 From whom have you chiefly acquired your infor- 
 mation ? My principal information was derived 
 from a very respectable old gentleman in the 
 County Armagh— Captafii AlJcinson, of Crowbill — 
 who took a principal part in the transaction that 
 led to the ofigin of the Orangemen, and also from 
 several others of a lower rank in society, who were 
 mixed up with these transactions. 
 
 Do you consider the information which you re- 
 ceived from thesve persons to be authentic ? Per- 
 fectly so. 
 
 Will you state the amount of it ? ihe amount 
 of the information which I received at different 
 times was, that a large body of persons called De- 
 enders had made an irruption into a district of the 
 County Armagh, near Loughgali ; the Protestants 
 of that district assembled to oppose their progress 
 -I believe their principal intention was to disarm 
 the district — the Protestants assembled to oppose 
 taem, and there came in to thair assistance Pro- 
 testants from other districts of the country, part 
 cularly from the neighbourhood in which I reside. 
 
 What neighbourhood is that ? The neighbour- 
 hood of Portadown. 
 
 Is this information derived from others ? Yes; 
 it is derived from the authentic sources above men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Can you state the date of it ? Monday was the 
 21st — the great day— and I think it began abou 
 
22 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANGEIS^kl. 
 
 Wednesday before, in September, 1795. The 
 parties skirmished, if I may use the expression, for 
 a day or two without much harm being done. Mr. 
 Atkinson on one side, and the priest of the parish 
 on the other, did their best to reconcile matters, 
 and thought they had succeeded, as the Defenders 
 had on their part agreed to go away, and the Pro- 
 testants to return to their houses. I bePeve both 
 parties were sincere at that time in their wish to 
 separate, and that they were going away to their 
 respective hemes. At that time, as I understand, 
 a large boiy of the Defenders, not belonging to the 
 County of Armagh, but assembled from Louth, 
 Monaghan, and, I believe, Cavan and Tyrone, came 
 down, and were much disappointed at finding a 
 truce of this kind made, and were determined not 
 to go home, without something to repay them for 
 the trouble of their march. In consequence, they 
 made an attack upon the house of a man named 
 Winter, at a place called the Diaroond: it is a 
 meeting of crossroads, where there are only three 
 or four houses. Word was brought to the Protes- 
 tants, who were on their way home, of what had 
 taken place. They returned to the spot, attacked 
 the Defenders, and killed a number of them. 
 
 Were you yourself at all mixed up 'g^ifch the 
 transactions of the Diamond ? I Was. 
 
 To what extent ? I was a very young lad at the 
 time; it so happened that my father was making* 
 some alterations in his house, which occasioned a 
 quantity of lead to be removed from the roof. A 
 carpenter’s apprentice and myself took pos- 
 session OF A CONSIDERABLE QUANTITY OF THIS 
 lead, ran it INTO BULLETS, AND HAD IT CON- 
 VEVED TO THE PERSONS OF MY NEIGHBOURHOOD 
 WHO WERE GOING TO FIGHT THE BATTLE OF TEE 
 
 Diamond. 
 
 Were you on the spot vyhen the battle was 
 fought ? I was not in time to be under fire, but 
 immediately as it was terminating. 
 
 Can you speak from your knowledge as to the 
 state of the Protestants prior to the battle ? I 
 have always understood that they were in the most 
 persecuted state, that they were worried and 
 beaten coming from fair and market upon various 
 occasions. , 
 
 Had this state of things been continued for a 
 long time prior to that event ? I understood from 
 those that knew more about it than I did (for I 
 was at school till just before this period) that i!- 
 was so. 
 
 What did you see at the Diamond ? When I got 
 up I saw the defenders making off in one direction, 
 
 and the firing had nearly ceased, I may say had 
 ceased except a dropping shot or two, and I saw a 
 number of dead bodies. 
 
 Can you state about the number ? No ; they 
 were conveying them away upon cars in different 
 directions, so that I could not make an ozact cal- 
 culation. 
 
 Were there fifty? No; if there were thirty 
 killed that was the outside. 
 
 Were there any Protestants killed ? None that I 
 could hear of. 
 
 How did that happen ? The Protestants were in 
 a very commanding situation. Winter’s house and 
 the Diamond generally is at the foot of a very 
 steep hill, the other party were in that hallow, and 
 ccnsequently the men firing upon them from above 
 could do great execution without being liable to be 
 injured themselves. 
 
 Was there tiring from the other side too ? I be- 
 lieve there had been, but I do nob know of my own 
 knowledge. 
 
 How were they armed on both sides ? With all 
 sorts of old guns. 
 
 Which appeared to be the best armed ? I should 
 say the Protestants were the. best armed, and I 
 will state reison ; there were a great number of old 
 volunteer fire-locks in that quarter of the country, 
 and I believe they were almost exclusively Protes- 
 tants. 
 
 The Defenders were the assailants, were they ? 
 Yes ; they were. 
 
 Waat was the nature of the fight ? I have 
 already stated that the parties who were first at 
 variance had separated; the Protestants were on 
 their return home when they received information 
 that the Defenders from Louth and Tyrone and 
 Monaghan had attacked the house of this Winter 
 in the hollow. They counter — marched at once, they 
 returned in haste, and the road led them to the top 
 of this hill that overlooked the part where the De- 
 fenders were in full work, and they immediately 
 fired on them. 
 
 Then the Defenders did not occupy this hill as a 
 military position? They had occupied the opposite 
 hill, from which they] descended to the attack at 
 Winter’s. 
 
 Was there any fire directed against the Protes- 
 tants upon the Diamond? I have no douht that 
 there was ; the fellows did not go away so tamely as 
 that. 
 
 How long did the engagement last ? I do not 
 think the actual engagement lasted about fifteen 
 minutes perhaps. 
 
IIISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 23 
 
 Was the first Orange Lodge formed then ? It was. 
 
 Where? I understood it was formed in the house 
 of a man named Sloan, in the village of Lousrhgall. 
 
 Have you ever seen any of the original wariants ? 
 I have ; I think I have one of them with me. 
 
 Will you have the goodness to produce it ? 
 
 [The same was delivered in, and read as 
 follows : — ] 
 
 “No. 89, Timakeel, July 7, 1796. 
 
 "James Sloan. 
 
 “To be renewed in the name of Daniel Bulla, 
 Portadown district,” 
 
 Now the above, upon close examination, will be 
 ^ound to contain as startling an amount of infor- 
 mation as any we have up to the present time met 
 with. Upon the admission of one who subse- 
 quently held the position of Deputy Lieutenant for 
 a county, and Deputy vice-Treasurer of Ireland, 
 we find that this ingenuous youth stole his father’s 
 lead, cast it into bullets, and conveyed them to those 
 who “ were going to fight the battle of the 
 Diamond.” This places him not in the compara- 
 tively innocent position of having been an accom- 
 plice after the fact, but of being an accomplice 
 before the fact — one of the instigators. Bat lead 
 cannot be procured in an instant, and it takes 
 some considerable time to convert it into bullets. 
 The Blacker bullets were on the facts stated above 
 used at the Diamond by those who were go’ng “ to 
 fight” that battle. Now, the Protestants counter- 
 marched in hot haste on learning of the attack on 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII.— AF^ 
 
 The instinct of self-prtservation was probably 
 that which first prompted the heroes of the 
 Diamond, upon the evening of the 2Ist September, 
 
 ] 795, to change their name from that of “ Peep o’ 
 Day Boys” to the more pretentious one of “ Orange- 
 men.” It is the first device of every wrong-doer, 
 from the pickpocket in the market place to the 
 swindler and murderer. The change was never 
 more necessary than in this instance. Though they 
 had as patrons and protectors some or most magis- 
 trates of the surrounding neighbourhood, they stiU 
 had very good reason to fear, and their latest 
 crimes so far outweighed in magnitude their every 
 day offence’, that even a partial Government could 
 not help but interfere. It was, therefore, under 
 the direct advice of justices, whose bigotry made 
 them forget the solemnity of their oaths, that they 
 undertook to appear under a new name as the best 
 method to avoid prosecution. After completing 
 one of the most sanguinary slaughters in the 
 
 Winter’s house, so we may reasonably presume that 
 they did not wait, or rather had not to wait until 
 young Blacker had melted down his lead. It be- 
 comes, therefore, a question of extreme probability 
 that those bullets had been manufactured a con- 
 siderable time before the Diamond was fought; 
 that the whole was part of a deliberate scheme in 
 which this junior branch of the Blacker family 
 took anything but a creditable par:. Men on their 
 road homewards who hastily turn round to save their 
 comrade’s house from being wrecked don’t, as a 
 rule, wait for bullets to be cast for them, and there 
 very possibly is a slight error regarding the dates 
 as to when the bullets really were cast. 
 
 The fact that this witness had derived his infor- 
 mation from Capt. Atkinson, who it is now proven, 
 played the role of a partisan upon that eventful 
 occasion ought not to escape the reader’s attention, 
 and also that this inf ormation was supplemented by 
 accounts from persons “in a lower rank in life” — 
 in other words from the rufSans who shared 
 the ignomy of that day’s doings. 
 
 This is not the place to deal with the question of 
 the persecution of the Protestants. When the 
 time comes I will produce witnesses of reliability 
 to show, if a doubt should exist even at present 
 upon which side the persecution lay. In the 
 meantime we must pass to the doings of the “ first 
 lodge,” assembled in Mr. James Sloan’s house, in 
 the remote village of Loughgall. 
 
 EE “THE BATTLE.” 
 
 records of civil broils, they returned, flushed with 
 success, to the house of Sloan to slack their thirst 
 and consider upon the next step. The tradition of 
 the neighbourhood is that a prominent magistrate, 
 whose baronial residence was not far removed, and 
 who soon after became prominently connected with 
 the association, sent them to this* house a large 
 quantity of liquor to refresh them after their 
 day’s exertions. So that Drunkenness joins hands 
 with Murder, Eape,and Eapine in the dance of death 
 round the first Orange Board. This very likely 
 established that custom which, up to the present 
 day, is held sacred — the circulation of the bottle 
 freely at all Orange meetings. We can scarcely hope 
 that those who indulged their worst passions in the 
 bloody excesses of the day were very temperate in 
 their use of intoxicants. On this night was first sworn 
 that oath breathing of murder which subsequently 
 became the test of the society, and which continued 
 60 until grave political reasons necessitated a change 
 
24 
 
 HISTORY OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 THE ORANGE OATH. 
 
 The wording of the Orange Oath originally was : — 
 X, A. B., do swear that I will be true to the 
 King and Government, and that I will extermi- 
 nate the Catholics of Ireland as far as in my 
 ''power lies.” 
 
 Plowden, who quotes this as the original obliga- 
 tion, says it has been asserted to have been so by 
 well-informed, though anonymous authors.* The 
 impossibility of other sviee roving it is apparent, 
 particularly when secrecy has been one of the first 
 principles of this institution. Plowden, as I have 
 already quoted, says the frequency and earnestness 
 with which the latter part of the oath has been acted 
 upon render the charge of taking it tco reliable. 
 
 I must do the Brethren the justice of saying 
 that they have denied this oath ; but the ease with 
 which, in times recent, they have denied facts when 
 their admission was found to be inconvenient 
 throws an air of suspicion over their denial that we 
 cannot pass ever in silence. However, unless Lord 
 Claie and the Secret Committee whichacted under 
 Lis directions had either distinctly known, or had 
 good grounds for believing, that the oath of Exter- 
 mination had been usually taken by Orangemen, 
 they would have scarcely questiocel Mr. O’Connor 
 in 1798 as to " whether the Government had any- 
 thing to do with the oath of Extermination.” 
 
 “Government,” said a member of the Adminis- 
 tration, had nothing to do with the Orange Society, 
 nor with the Oath of Extermination,” to which 
 Mr. Arthur O’Connor replied, “You, my Lord 
 Ca.stlereagh, from the station you fill, must be 
 sensible that the Executive of any country has it 
 in its power to colleci a vast mass of information 
 of every act of the Irish Government. As one of 
 the Executive (of the United Irish menj, it came to 
 my knowleige that considerable sums of money 
 were expended throughout the country, and that 
 the Orange Oath of Extermination was admimstered ; 
 when these facts are coupled, not only with the 
 general impunity which had been uniformly 
 extended to all the acts of this diabolical associa- 
 tion, but the marked encouragement its members 
 have received, I find it impossible to exculpate the 
 Government from being the parent and protector 
 of those sworn extirpators.”t 
 
 Lieutenant- Colonel William Blacker, when 
 questioned by the Select Committee, must submit 
 to the charge, at least, of prevarication, as the fol- 
 
 * Histoiy of Ireland, vol. 1, page 51. 
 t Memoir of Examination of Messrs. O’Convor, Emmet 
 and M'Nevin. 
 
 lowing extract will show : — 
 
 The oath of the Orangemen was altered, was it 
 not? The oath of the Orangemen was done away 
 with. 
 
 Was there not an alteration in the oath when it 
 existed ? I do not recollect that circumstance. 
 
 Do you recollect the original oath ? 1 can hardly 
 recollect it. 
 
 Were not the fiist rules and regulations those 
 adopted in 1799? No; they were from the com- 
 mencement. 
 
 The Committee have no information of any oath 
 previous to 1799 ; do you recollect the oath taken 
 previous to 1799, when the institution w^as first 
 formed? I think I do recollect the oath first 
 taken. 
 
 Can you give the substance of it ? The sub- 
 stance of it was this, that they would bear true 
 allegiance to the King, and be true to one another, 
 and not divulge the secrets and passwords. 
 
 Do you recollect the Yoemanry oath ? Yes. 
 
 What is the Yoemanry oath ? “I do swear that 
 I will bear true allegiance to bis Majesty King 
 Will am the Fourth, his heirs and successors, ani 
 to support the laws and constitution of this king- 
 dom and the success 'on of the Throne.”* 
 
 In this evidence it will be apparent that tbe gal- 
 lant Colonel entirely ignores, in giving the substance 
 of the original oatb, the conditional loyalty which 
 upon all sides is admitted as having been contained 
 therein. It is not denied but actually adoiittd 
 that the following was at an early but subsequent 
 period the form of the Orange oath : — 
 
 “ I. A. B., do solemnly swear that I will to the 
 utmost of my power support and defend the King 
 and his heirs so long as he or they support the Pro- 
 testant ascendancy P 
 
 Now when Lieutenant - Colonel Blacker could 
 ignore that feature in the oath which was con- 
 sidered so important as to necessitate a change, it 
 is equally possible, if not probable, that he conve- 
 niently forgot certain other clauses cf the original 
 oath, which could have borne out Plowden and 
 O’Connor, and male the oath one of wholesale 
 externiination of Catholics. 
 
 If we turn now to the evidence of the Rev. M. O’Sul- 
 livan, vho had more reasons than one for justifying 
 his very suspicious conduct in reference to the in- 
 stitution of which he was member, we will find a 
 very important piece of evidence bearing upon this 
 point. At 588 we find — 
 
 “ Can you state the professed object ef the per- 
 
 ♦ Miuiites of Felect Committee, question 93 ,'7-9391. 
 
HISTOBT OP OEANGEISM. 
 
 25 
 
 sons who formed themselves into ^’hat association? 
 The professed objects of those who formed that 
 association were that they should assist each other 
 for mutual defence ; that they should assist each 
 other in maintaining the laws; and that they 
 should assist each other ia ma'n'aining the Pro- 
 testant religion ; and that they should in all things 
 be feithful and obedient to the King. 
 
 “ You say that you were bound to be obed'ent to 
 the King, was there not a condition attached to 
 their allegiance to the King ? There was at one 
 time a condition that Orangemen should be in all 
 cases obedient to the King so long as he maintained 
 Protestantism; fiudin f that these wo ds were not 
 in exact accord »nce with the oath of alleg iance, and 
 that they were susceptible of an objectionable inte'?- 
 pretatioD, that oath was discarded and the oath of 
 allegiance substituted." 
 
 And farther on we find — 
 
 ‘^The condition of the oath was that the King 
 should support Protestantism ? The condition of 
 oath which had been previously taken was to that 
 effect. 
 
 '^By Protestantism do you mean the Established 
 Church ? I believe the condition contemplated rather 
 was called Pjrotestant Ascendancy than the main- 
 tenance of the Ettablished Church. Originally 
 OranseuAen were almost exclusively Church of 
 England men ; but a number of Presbyterians were 
 induced to join them, and the character of the 
 society became in consequence somewhat changed. 
 I can state, if de ired, the circumstances which led 
 to the june'eion^between the different descriptions of 
 Protestants. 
 
 You do not conceive that the Protestants of tho 
 Established Church merely are identified with 
 the sease in which ■‘hey have used the word Pro- 
 testants ? I do not think that could be the moan- 
 ing of the Orange Society at any time ; certainly 
 not of lute years. 
 
 So tuatif the King-should assent to the total sub- 
 version of tbe Established Church, the Orangemen 
 would not be released from their allegiance ? No 
 man, from tbe circumstances of bis being an 
 Orangeman would be released from his oath of 
 allegiance. 
 
 From their oath? 1 ivould not undertake to say 
 what would be my opinion if I were sitting in 
 judgment upon the oath previ.,usJy taTten by the 
 Orangeman. 
 
 Now in the above extracts we have tbe oath of 
 conditional loyalty established ; we have it ad- 
 mitted that the condition was the upholding of 
 
 Protestint Ascendancy and we have tbe 
 gentlemen who undertook to give the substance 
 of the original oath, quietly ignoring these impor- 
 tant considerations. Will any man in his senses 
 allow himself to be guided by such prevarication 
 and take it for granted that there was no such 
 thing as an oath of Extermination, as against the 
 calm reasoning of unprejudiced Plowdei and the 
 distinct statement of O’Oonnor as to what came 
 under his own knowledge? As a bo iy of Exter- 
 minators, when first'eonstituted, we may therefore 
 tike those original Orangemen. We may pJso con- 
 clude that in that same James Sloan’s house at 
 Lougbgall, from which the first warrant issued, 
 these impious men — besmeared with their neigh- 
 bours’ blood; like the wild beast hungering for 
 more ; and besotted and brutalised by whiskey — 
 first went upon their bended knees and swore 
 “to wade knee-deep in Papist blood.” This they 
 forthwith proceeded to do. 
 
 The attentive reader will find in the circum- 
 stances immediately to follow much to strengthen 
 this assumption. The first regular meeting was 
 held on the 27th September, .1795, but before we 
 proceed to its consideration I may occupy tbe time 
 usefully by turning your attention for a moment to 
 what is the first recorded official act of the 
 Orange Institution immediately following the 
 inauguration ceremony of the 21st September. If 
 we find that in the beginning, the middle, and 
 drawing towards the end, the Orange Society has 
 been always the same, actuated by tbe same 
 motives, and seeking the accomplishment of the 
 same base purposes, we will have but little trouble 
 iu determining whether their deeds were the result 
 of accident or design. 
 
 THE FIRST ORANGE OUTRAGE. 
 
 The following, which is the first Orange outrage 
 we have upou record, will be read with interest 
 Within a mile and a half from the City of Armagh 
 there resided in those days an old and feeble priest 
 named M‘Meekin. He had lived through all tbe 
 persecuiions of the eighteenth century, and fol- 
 lowed by a few of his faithful flock, had been 
 hunted from hill-side to hill-side in the Counties 
 Armagh and Down, celebrating Mass now in some 
 lonely glen and again upon the mountain 
 slopes in tbe wildest parts of the country. During 
 all that time his constant companions were 
 his niece, and her son, now (1795) a young lad of 
 about sixteen years, This young woman had been 
 married to a comfortable farmer anl graz'er from 
 Dundalk, whose goods and chattels were held in 
 
26 
 
 HISTOHY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 the name of a respectable and lar^e-hearted Pro- 
 testant neighboar in orJer to save them from 
 Beizare. The son of this Protestant, a scapegrace 
 and a drunkard, turned informer in the certainty 
 of securing a share of the spoils, the result being 
 that the goods were confiscated, and the owner who 
 was transported soon after lost his life on board 
 the fieet where he was compelled to do service. 
 The widow, a young woman of pre-possessing 
 appearance and refined manners, was cast adrift 
 upon the world, and being subjected to many 
 brut al insu’ts, with the fear of worse treatment, at 
 the hands of those who had robbed her of her pos- 
 sessions, she sought a home with the old priest 
 who was himself dependent upon the hospitality of 
 his neighbours. At last, towards the cl^^se cf the 
 century, the days of toleration dawned, and he with 
 his niece and her orphan boy settled down in the 
 County Armagh, in a district known as Ballymac- 
 nab, which had been the place of his birth. Here, 
 in the midst of en increasing congregation — for 
 persecution had created sympathy — he spent the 
 latter days of a useful life. 
 
 As a hare whom hounds and horns pursue, 
 
 Pants to the place fro n whence at first he flew. 
 
 He still had hopes, his long' vexations pist. 
 
 Here to return — and die at home at last. 
 
 And he did die at home at last ; and at the hands 
 of the newly created Orange faction, as the sequel 
 will show. 
 
 It is generally supposed that this diabolical crime 
 was planned at the same time and pl?cc as wit- 
 re ssed the formation of the new association for the 
 mamtamance of Protestant ascendancy. The fact 
 that a priest was the object cf it ; the proximity 
 of the scene to Loughga.ll, and the occurrence of 
 the horrible outrage on the very night following 
 the starting of the First Lodge give credence do the 
 supposition. At any rate a writer of those days 
 asciibe it to tie Orangemen, and his records of 
 many another horrible deed committed as well by 
 the Defenders, as by the Peep o^ Day Boys and the 
 Orangemen, show alike his impartiality and his 
 extensive knowledge. 
 
 On the night of the 22ad Geptemoer, 1793 (some 
 two hours before midnight), a party of Orangemen, 
 most of them half-drunk, and “ headed by a well- 
 known and infamous character from Portadown” 
 proceeded to the house of Priest M Meekiu. All 
 the family were in bed save the old priest, 
 who v'as seated in a room opening on to the 
 roadway, piously engaged in reading his offi:e. 
 The Orange party purposed effecting a surprise. 
 The leaders stole noiselessly to the window. See- 
 
 ing the old man engaged as desciibed, one of the 
 foremost, with an oath, “ damned the Papisb w — 
 and raised his gnu to his shoulder to fire. A com- 
 panion, whose intentions were notqu teso humane, 
 insisted that it would spoil sport to “ do him right 
 off at once,” but the gun went off, and wounded 
 the poor old man m the arm. In went the fore- 
 most through the window, the rest of the gang 
 smashing the doors, and t ins giiaing admission to 
 the house, the oily accuoants of which were Piiest 
 M'Meekin, the niece, her son, aud an old woman 
 servant. A dozea of them ruahe 1 upstairs to secure 
 the affrighted inmates, w'ho were in bed, while the 
 others secured the old priest, now wounded and 
 fainting fr .m loss of blood. They placed him 
 upon his knees, and threatened to cut him up, 
 joint by joint, if he did not tell them at once where 
 he kept •■'that damned waLr that be frightened 
 the devit wiih.” Of course, he did not impart the 
 required information. ^True to their promise, they 
 brutally chopptd oft' the fingers of his right hand. 
 Again the question was asked; but no answer. 
 They were then proceeding to do like vise with the 
 fingers of tie other hand. Up to this time they 
 had not noticed, however, that the poor old man 
 held firmly his left hand within his breast. This 
 was now noticed, and they at once tore 
 open his vest, pulling from beneath it the 
 Blessed Sacrament which he had there concealed. 
 Horrible to relate, it was subjected to the vilest 
 and most sacrilegious treacment, spat upon and 
 tramphd Daring all this time the ruffi ns over- 
 head had been all but equally as busy as their 
 companions below. This fine young woman was 
 biutally and shamefully dragged from her bed 
 tier screams attracting her sou ; he ran to her aid. 
 He was detained, and compelled lo look on at the 
 accomplishment of a cr'cce, tlie bare mention of 
 which freez s up the blood — so foul and brutal as 
 to make, if it were possible, even the Father of 
 Evil turn aside in shameful disgust. The horrors 
 of tnat night’s transactions might now, surely, have 
 been completed. Not so. For the fiend of lust 
 is not so appeased. It will murder what it has 
 destroyed. The young woman, now half dead, was 
 diagged just as she was to the room below, together 
 with the boy and the servant, and here the next 
 act of the tragedy was commenced. In presence 
 of the good and pious old priest, the brutal work of 
 ravishing was repeated. The priest was then sub- 
 jocted to an outrage of the most diabolical kind, 
 aud which half a century previous a legislator in 
 the Irish Parliament had been infamous enough to 
 
HISTOTIT OF OIIANGEISM. 
 
 27 
 
 Uggesb as the best method of ridding the country 
 of priests, and upon which an Irish Parliament 
 actually did pass an Act soliciting their English 
 masters to give ellect to it.* 
 
 The boy had then his two eyes put out in pre- 
 sence of his almost inseasitle mother. Her 
 sufferings and hf'r shame were, perhaps 
 fortunately, soon pub an end to, for those mid- 
 night murderers, having divested her of all 
 her garments, stabbed her, and afterwards brutally 
 mutilated her. The priest was then hanged from 
 one of the rafters of his humble cabin, but the old 
 servant managed to escape wich the now blind 
 
 * In 1723 a '•erios of resolution’ was aTreed upon and re- 
 portel by the Comm )as, 'o tlie eSect that Pop ary was on 
 the infSrea e, partly owiu'^ to the in ny nhifts and devices 
 the in-iests had of ev:i,(ling th ; laws, aa i ('artlv owing to the 
 magistrate’s neglect in no’ se ociiiug them out and pu' idi- 
 ing them. A Bill based ui)oii th an was intro. luce 1 in o the 
 Commons. Cn that occa.oio i one of the most zedous ])ro- 
 moters .'f it in a Imigthe ed speech, informed che House, 
 
 “ that of all countries wherein ills reformed religion pre- 
 vailed Swe len was observed to e thi mo t free from tho-e 
 irreco cilable e emies of ol Protest ait dove ninents— the 
 Cathol c p -i'-sts. This happy ex mptio ■, so needful to Pro- 
 testant interests, was obtained by a who esome prictice, 
 which prev died i i that f n-. unate laui — n mel\ , the oractice 
 of castrating all Po ish priests who were f mud th re” A 
 clause to the effect was con lly introdu -ed dnto the Bill. 
 It was passed, aid his C ace the i like of Gr ifton was r.'- 
 quested “to recommend the same in the most effectud 
 manner his M je-t . His gra -e did recomincnd it, but 
 the Eiig’ish Connei', influenced by Cardinal P eum, di - 
 appioved of the Hill, and it was not passed into law.— Curry’s 
 Review, Plowden’s H.s^ory, and Brmua’a’s Eccled stical | 
 History. i 
 
 Mitc ell says this was the first occasion on which any 
 penal law met with any obstacle in England. [ 
 
 Child, arid in tTe course of her flight, as she turned 
 to take a parting look at a spot which was to her a 
 qaieb and a happy home in her old days, she saw 
 fl imes rkiing into the sky. By thus setting fire 
 to the house those ass-^ssins thought to demolish 
 all evidence of their crime. The old woman died 
 in her hid n^-place in the course of a few days, and 
 the poor blind child, whose chief offence was that 
 he assisted at the Popish Mass,” wandered about 
 the couLtry a maniac, and was lost sight of in the 
 rebellion ( f ’P8, having possibly fallen a victim to 
 tie brutal Yoemanry of those days.* 
 
 One of those who took part in this outrage after- 
 waids confessed te it, and said he had been forced 
 to j )ia in it against his will. But no prosecution 
 followed. The ringleader was arrested, and dis- 
 charged two days after. 
 
 If asked i.’hy do 1 dwell upon such a loathsome 
 and shocking incident I answer — the necessities of 
 the time demand it. Wnen men pretend ignorance 
 of their history, or know so lictle of it that they 
 can be taught to glory in it, it is surely time that 
 all delicacy be abandoned, so that murder, rape, and 
 robbery may stand unmasked in their horrible 
 realities. 
 
 I 
 
 I * Thf’se f lets are t' ken from an ably-written and now rare 
 I pamohlet — “ Tiie ntroc tes that let to the Irish Uehelliou,” 
 
 1 pii li shed in ^802. and have heea sub tautiated by some old 
 inhabitants of the district. A very b ie account may be 
 1 .ound also in the JJnblin Journals of the period. 
 
 CHAPTER IX.— THE FIRST ORiNGE MEETING, THE FIRST ORANGE LEADER, 
 THE FIRST ORANGE TOAST, THE ORIGINAL RULES AND REGULATIONS. 
 
 The first regular Orange meeting was held on the 
 27th September, 1795. It would appear from the 
 reco.ds dealing with those times thot, even at the 
 outset, it brought together a consicerable number 
 of the lower class of P.mtestf n^s, chit fly from 
 the Portadown district. PI wden says* an 
 apothecary named G ff ird, notorious in the annals 
 of Orangeism, has the undesirable leputatiou of 
 having been the founder of the institution. It 
 appears that ‘.his p' rsou had quitted the peaceful 
 pursuit of medicine fer the then more lucrative one 
 of arms. He became a captain in the City of 
 Dublin militia, and was now quartered in Poita- 
 down. Up to this tine he had been prominently 
 forward in encouraging the Peep-o-daj boys against 
 the defeaders, and his zealous exertions were 
 
 a Histoi-y of Ireland, vol. I., page 21. These V 'luraesit 
 shaul I be recol rc ed, are dedicated 'o the ihen ! rince of 
 Wales, and his Historic 1 'ketcb which was similarly ded- 
 cated received the sanction and counteneuce of the same 
 distinguished jiersouage. 
 
 not left unrewarded. To him are attributed by 
 Plowden the adoption of the title of Orangemen,” 
 their original oath and obligations, and the first 
 regulations by which they were organised into a 
 society. While this gentleman was travelling in a 
 public carriage from Newry to Dublin he met with 
 a Mr. Bernard Coyle, a respectable Catholic nranu- 
 facturer of Lnrgan. In the course of the conversa- 
 tion while driving between Dur.dalkand Drogheda 
 Mr. Coyle observed that Robespierre was a second 
 Cromwell, to which Giffard in part assented, adding 
 that he would forgive Cromueil everything but 
 one. Coyle asked whai that was, and G ffard sharply 
 replied — “His not having exterminated the 
 Catholics erom Ireland,” a rather striking cor- 
 roboration of the existence of the Extermination 
 Oath. Coyie professed himself a Catholic, and in- 
 sisted upon Giffard being put out of the carriage, 
 but, by the in erference of a Mr. Page, Dundalk, 
 and his son, and a Mr. MacLelland (father of Baron 
 
28 
 
 HTSTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 MacLelland), -who were fellow-past eogers, the 
 quarrel was patched up. 
 
 The association was in its earliest stages, com- 
 posed of the lowest rabble. This is evident, indeed, 
 from the cirourostances out of which it arose, but, 
 irrespective of this, most writers are agreed upon 
 the point ; however, they admit that in the course 
 of the two following years some gentlemen of 
 property became cornected with it. Musgrave, 
 for once, “does not attempt to deny chat outrages 
 were committed by the lower orders of Orange- 
 men,” though he excuses them through “ mis- 
 taken zeal.” Very much mistaken zeal, indeed, 
 did these early Orangemen display. In his “His- 
 tory of the Rebellions” (page 73) this inconsistent 
 historian furnish* s an example of the necessity of 
 certain persons having long memories. He there 
 says that “the Orange Association should not be 
 confounded with the disgraceful outrages done in 
 the County Armagh by the lowest class of Pres- 
 byterians as Peep o’ Day Boys and the Roman 
 Catholics as Defenders,” as the association 
 was not instituted until the Defenders had 
 manifested hostile designs. If this historian 
 means anything, he must mean that the early 
 Orangemen were not Peep o’ Day Boys, or that if 
 they bad been the outrages ceased as soon as they 
 adopted the new name, and they should therefore 
 “ not be confounded” with their former deeds. 
 Take the last inteipretation first in tie passage I 
 have quoted, he does admit that outrages were 
 committed by the lower orders of Oiangemen. If 
 he means that the early Orangemen were not those 
 low people called Peep o’ Day Boys, he may be 
 again convicted out of his own mouth. At page 
 70 of his history be says, “ In commemoration of 
 that (the Diamond) victory the fi^'st Orange lodge 
 was formed in the County Armagh.” The “ victory” 
 was "won” by the Peep o’ Day Boys, and surely 
 respectable Protestants did rot fcrin themselves 
 into an association to commemorate a battle which 
 they never fought ! Again he says, at page 7l> 
 that the lower class of Protestants cf the Estab 
 lished Church stood forward at this perilous 
 time” — that is that these were the men 
 who fought at the Diamonl, and after- 
 wards became Orangemen “in commemoration 
 of their victory.” But w'hen he comes to 
 deal with outrages, he conveniently shifts them 
 over to the shoulders of the “ lowest class of Pres- 
 byterians,” with whom he is horrified to think the 
 early Orangemen should be confounded. 
 
 I think we have it now that the association was 
 
 first made up of the rabble; that of the labble 
 directed possibly by a few choice souls, the scions 
 of one or two families, since become noted if not 
 famous, the first meeting of the 27th September, 
 1795, was made up; and that t^hey did then for 
 the first time as Orangemen, and as their succes- 
 sors still continue to do at every lodge mte'^iEg, in 
 dutge very considerably in intoxicating drinks. 
 THE TOAST. 
 
 Sir Jonah Barrington, who is an authority upon 
 this subject, at least, gives us (“Personal 
 Sketches”) the fi-li text of the Orange toast, which 
 he calls “a most ancient and unparalleled senti- 
 ment.” Considering the times in whicn Sir Jonah 
 lived, the many opportunities he Lad of knowing 
 and also remembering the character and social 
 position of the men with whom we are dealing, we 
 are justified in concluding that it was the text of 
 the original charter toast of the society. 
 
 The first of July — the Anniversary of the Battle 
 of the Boyne (our authority says) — was the favourite 
 night of assembly. “ Then every man unbottoned 
 the knees of his breeches and drunk the toast on 
 his bare joints, it being pronounced by his lordship 
 in the following words, composed expressly for the 
 purpose, in 1689, and afterwards adopted by the 
 Orange Association generally, and still, I believe, 
 considered the Charter toast of them all. This 
 most ancient and unparalled sentiment runs 
 thus : — 
 
 “ The glorious, pious, and immortal memory of 
 the great and good King William — not forgetting 
 Oliver Cromwell, who assisted in redeeming U3 
 from Popery, slavery, arbitrary power, brass money 
 and wooden echoes. May he never want a Williamite 
 
 to kick the cf a Jacobite, and a for the 
 
 Bishop of Cork. And he that wont drink this, 
 whether he be priest, bishop, deacon, bellow s- 
 bl^wer, g.avedigger, or any other of the fraternity 
 of the clergy, may the North wind blow him to the 
 South, and the West wind blow him to the East ! 
 May he have a dark night, a lee shore, a rank 
 storm, and a leaky vessel to carry him over the 
 river styx. May the dog Cerberus make a meal of 
 
 his r p, and Pluto a snuff-box of his scnll, and 
 
 may the devil jump down his throat with a red- 
 hot harrow with every pin tearing out a gut, and 
 blow him with a clean carcase to hell. Amen.” 
 
 In later days some low enthusiastic Ojangemen 
 in out-of-the-way districts made an “improvement ’ 
 upon this, rounding the conclusion somewhat in 
 this fashion 
 
 “ May he be lammed, crammed, and jamed into 
 
HISTORY OH OEANGEISM. 
 
 29 
 
 the great gun cf Atbloce and blown on to the hob 
 of hell, where he’ll be kept resting for all eternity^ 
 the devil basting him with melted bishops, and his 
 imps pelting him with priests.” 
 
 That the above toast was drunk in the Orange 
 lodges of his time Sir John BarringttTn assures us, 
 and when regard is had to the faot, that the knight 
 was an intimate friend and counsellor of Dr. 
 Duigenan, it isreasonab'e to conclude that, though 
 not an Orangeman, but the cerfidant and associate 
 of some of the earliest leaders of the Brotherhood, 
 he is here speaking upon a subject, with respect to 
 which, he had means of accurate information, and 
 on a point upon which be may be regarded as an 
 authority. Sir Jonah adds that the extraordinary 
 eal with which this toast was drunk could only be 
 equalled by the enthusiasm v,ith which the blue 
 jugs and the pewter pots were resorted to to test 
 the quality within. Before vie pass from this 
 phrase of the question it may said that Bariiagton 
 jocularly but significantly remarks in one of bis 
 notes, that “ could his Majesty King William learn 
 in the other world that he has been the cause of 
 more broken heads and drunken men since his de- 
 parture than all his predecessors he must be the 
 proudest ghost, and the most conceited skeleton 
 that ever entered the gardens of Elysium. 
 
 In a letter quoted by Madden in the first series of 
 his United Irishman (page 341) will he found evi- 
 dence upon this subject. Mr. T. F tzgerald 
 Geraldine, County Kildare, says “ When I was ex- 
 amined before the Council in June, 1798, Arthur 
 Wolfe, the Attorney-General, now Lord Kilwarden, 
 interrogated me if I bad not amongst my papers 
 the Orangeman’s oath. I replied that I had an 
 oath, which was enclosed under cover to me by 
 post, entitled the Orangeman’ oath, and the words 
 were “ Eely upon it, sir, the Orange system is 
 rapidly increasing about the town cf Athy.” The 
 Attorney-General then asked Mr. Fitzgerald do 
 you conceive it possible that any gentleman, or 
 any person of principle or education could take 
 tuch an oath ? I answered, I believed it to be the 
 Armagh oath. The oath I do not recollect nor did 
 I, at the time, understand it ; it spoke of rivers of 
 blcod, of wading through the Eed Sea, and a 
 brotherhood, &c.” If we add this to all that is 
 gone before respecting tie existence of the exter- 
 minating oath we cannot but believe that they who 
 were so ready to take upon them the most fearful 
 and bloody obligations would not Lave much delicacy 
 of conscience under circumstances not so awful ; 
 and that when the punch went round the enthu- 
 
 siasm of each member of this banditti was exer' 
 cised in devising the most novel, and the most 
 original toast to give expression to their bigotry 
 and intolerance. 
 
 What were the rules and regulations of the first 
 Orange Lodge ? The answer to the question would 
 be alike deeply interesting in an historical as a 
 social sense. From a careful perusal of the point, 
 I am inclined to the opinion that the early Orange- 
 men, like most of the other guerrila tribes that 
 preyed up n the possessions of honest men, were 
 first banded together and bound together more by 
 verbal than by written agreement. It was not 
 until they found that their association would be 
 o-erated by Government, of which more hereafter, 
 that they went to the trouble of placing upon record 
 the regulations by which their association should 
 be bound. Accordingly we find that in the first six 
 or perhaps twelve months of their existence, there 
 was nothing which denoted the objects cf tbeir 
 band but a general understanding that they were 
 to do all in their power to haraso their Catholic 
 neighbours, and to prey upon them so effectually 
 as to render their remaining in the country impos- 
 sible. That this was their primary object we have 
 established upon all sides. In fact, it can best be 
 understood by the results. In the County Armogh, 
 in which the association first started, there were 
 then a large number of comfortable and well-cir- 
 cumstanced Catholics, who, even beneath the pres- 
 sure of the penal laws, had acquired a considerable 
 cempoteucy. The Catholics of those days were in- 
 dustrious and frugal, and, paying no attention to 
 matters political, in which they were not allowed to 
 interest themselves, they concentrated all their 
 attention upon impreving their condition finan- 
 cially. Their success operated as one of the 
 primary causes of jealousy, the result being a 
 determination to rid the country of them at all 
 hazards. They were got rid of. History sajs that 
 7,000 Catholics were driven “ to hell or Connaught’’ 
 out of the county, and tradition assures us that in 
 twelve months after the starting of the institution 
 scarce a Catholic resident was to be found in the 
 entire County of Armagh. But the new associa- 
 tion soon extended itself beyond the limits of 
 Armagh, for in the adjoining counties Catholics, 
 too, were beginning to prosper, and there, too, the 
 Defender pystem was strong <nd powerful. We 
 must pass for a time — with the promise to return 
 to it— over a considerable period, every day of 
 which left some mark behind of the trail of the 
 serpent, and come to June, 1797, before we find any 
 
30 
 
 HISTOET OE OEAN^EISM. 
 
 written law that was looked upon as binding upon j 
 i^ie associates. At Lisbellaw, in the County 
 Fermanagh, on tbe 4th of June of the year men- 
 feoned, were framed in a series of resolutions the 
 ^rsi general rules of the Orange brethren. They 
 are the solemn declarations of the Loyal Boyne and 
 Orange Association, the assembly at Lisbellaw play- 
 ing then, and for some considerable time afterwards, 
 the part of the now Grand Orange Lodge of 
 Ireland, and on more than one occasion dictating the 
 principles upon which the body of lodges should 
 Act. They are embodied in a series of seven reso- 
 'lutions, but as most of them are of a formal 
 character I will trouble the reader with the follow- 
 ing only as being those in which interest is alone 
 centred 
 
 Besolved— That we hold ourselves bound to 
 our God and to each other, in no less a penalty 
 than our oaMs, our lives, and j^roperlies, to assist 
 his Majesty King George III., and his lawful suc- 
 cessors, against his or her enemies, whilst we reside 
 in his Majesty’s dominions, and he and they 
 support, uphold, and maintain the true Protestant 
 religion and ascendancy, as established and 
 declared at the glorious Revolution of 1688 to be 
 the principles for the guide and government of all 
 future monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland.’* 
 
 “ Resolved— That, inasmuch as h-ttory and ex- 
 perience have truly informed us that the members 
 of the Popish Church will keep no faith with us, 
 whom they denominate ‘ heretics,* and that they 
 are also bound by tbe most sacred tie to disclose 
 and make known to their priests at confession all 
 secrets, whether of the State or of ourselves; and 
 also for the reason of their being almost univer- 
 sally disaffected to cur good King, that we do 
 declare that no member of the said Popish Church 
 shall have any inheritance in our loyal brother- 
 hood.”* 
 
 Immediately following these resolutions we find 
 detailed the constitution of the Grand Orange 
 Association, and the names of the grand officers, 
 amongst whom are to be found those of Captain 
 William Blacker, Thomas Veruer, and David 
 Verner, names which are already familiar to the 
 readers of this history. 
 
 The Grand Orange Lodge was not founded until 
 a year later, as will be seen from the report of the 
 proceedings of that body in 1858, when ac a special 
 meeting in Belfast, on the 21st January, a report 
 
 * Annals aid D6fonc6 of the Loyal Oran^A Institution by 
 O. K. Qowon. late Grand Secretary; published in Dublin 
 in 1825 
 
 was read stating that all the books and recordg 
 remaining in the hands of the late Mr. Swan, D.G» 
 Secretary, had been pr3served by his widow, and that 
 in 1857 the Grand Master, accompau’ed by the 
 Deputy-Grand Secretary, got up from Mrs. Swan, 
 all the books m her possession, commencing with th« 
 foundation of the lodges in 1798.” 
 
 The rules and regulations under which the Boyne 
 Society met to pass the foregoing resolutions were 
 the following : — 
 
 Rules and Regulations of the Boyne Society* 
 
 COMMONLY CALLED ObANQEMEN. 
 
 1st. We associate for the defence of our persoUg 
 and properties, and for preserving the poace and 
 good order of the country, 
 
 2nd. That we are exclusively a Protestant Asso- 
 cia+ion, 
 
 3rd. That we will, to the utmost of our power 
 defend and support his present Majesty King 
 George the Third, the laws and constitution of this 
 kingdom, and the succession of the Throne in his 
 Majesty’s illustrious house — being Protestant. 
 
 4tb. That we will aid and assist all magistrates, 
 and all high and petty constables, in the lawful exe- 
 cution of their office, when called on. 
 
 5th. That we wi.l upon all occasions aid and 
 ass’st each other when promptitude and propriety 
 appear to give rise to the necessity of such assis- 
 tance, and that the same do not exceed the juris- 
 diction of the laws, or tend to promote insurrection 
 or internal disturbance. 
 
 6:h. That we are to be true to all brother 
 Orangemen in all their actions, neither wronging 
 any, nor feeling or knowing them to be wronged, 
 and as far as in ojir power promote each other’s 
 interest and welfare. 
 
 7th. That we are not to give the first assault to 
 any person whatsoever. 
 
 8th. That we are individually bound not only to 
 observe the peace ourselve'*, but also to be active 
 in preventing all others, of whatever persuasion or 
 denomination (who may come within our know- 
 ledge) that may have an intention to do an ill or 
 riotous act. 
 
 9th That we are to meet every first day of July 
 (old style) in full body, to commorate the signal, 
 victory gained by King William, Prince of Orange, 
 a,b the Boyne ; who bravely supported our Rights 
 and estahlishei the Protestant religion; that on 
 this day we are to walk wherever may be agreed 
 on, always behaving with propriety and decorum* 
 
 • “ The rriucioles of the Orange Associatioa stated and 
 vinaicated," 
 
HISTORY OF ORANGEISM. 
 
 31 
 
 ^ Now this looks admirable, upon paper. As was 
 , flhrewdly remarked on the publication of the rule^ 
 and regulations of the Society, when the Goyein- 
 ment resolved to dispense with its services, the 
 laws of the Society were so cunningly framed that 
 .-.(they showed upon the face of them the utmost 
 concern fci thelpeace and happiness of the country j 
 ^ while at the same time, its constitution was such 
 ^that it was doing all in its power to mar both the 
 one and the other. But if we even take the pub- 
 ^|ished document as it here stands, and ignore, 
 what must be the effects upon an ignorant and 
 .misguided peasantry of a combination, the pro- 
 £tess€d object of which was to support the true 
 religion, we will find that even in their very 
 . earliest regulations they were holding out to ill- 
 minded and misguided enthusiasts a premium for 
 intolerance. The idea of any body of men, however 
 vloyal, setting themselves up the judges of what 
 pwere the intentions of other portions of bis Majesty’s 
 rAubjects is a suggestion monstrous in itself, and 
 one which must inevitably lead to social disorder, 
 ^^as we will find it did. By the 8th regulation 
 Individuals constituted themselves judges not of 
 the actions but of the intentions of their fellow-men, 
 and were “ individually Ix-und to be active in pre- 
 , venting all others, of whatever denomination, that 
 ^ may have an intention to do an ill or riotous act.” 
 . Now if we couple f^at regulation with the resolu- 
 £^^tion of the same lodge given by Mr. O. B. Gowan, 
 and which meant purely and simply that all 
 Catholics were rebels, we will find in it an instruc- 
 
 tion to all Orangemen, as they valued their oatha^ 
 prevent all Papists from doing au ill or riotoi^ 
 act — in other words to exterminate them all, aup 
 their very existence was a proof of their dispositi<^ 
 towards riot. This is a startling ^ fact vyhich hg^ 
 not yet been treated of by any who have briefly 
 dwelt upon the subject, and is a point worthy ,t^ 
 calm consideration of all unprejudiced thinkers,^^|> 
 By the 7lh regulation they, were charged nob ^ 
 give the first assault to any -perLon what soever^ p 
 rule which was entirely unnecessary if the Associ^,- 
 tion were not of a belligerent charac^er and we]|p 
 marked by those desires for law and order, which 
 the advocates of Orangeism claim for Iheir Institi^- 
 tion. 
 
 Mercutio is made to say to Benvolio : — * 
 
 ‘ Thou art like one of these fellows, that when 
 he enters the confines of a tavern, claps down, bis 
 sword upon the table, and says, God send me no need 
 of thee ! and, by the operation of the second cirp 
 draws it on the drawer, when indeed there is no 
 need.” i 
 
 It is a fitting caricature of the Orange Society, 
 not as it really was at this period, but as it pro- 
 fessed to be ; and finding its professions so full of 
 bluster and braggadacio we may have little hesita- 
 tion in crediting the tales of its practices. Whether 
 those who walked on the 1st cf July behaved them- 
 selves “ with propriety and decorum” is a question 
 as to which all my readers have ample means of 
 ansv'^ering by their knowledge of recent events. 
 
 * Komeo ani Juliet, Act iii., sceuei. 
 
 CHAPTER X.— «TO HELL OR CONNAUGHT,” THE GOVERNMENT 
 PLOT— IT THICKENS. 
 
 We have now sufficiently studied the rules and 
 regulations of the Orange Association at its start 
 to be enabled to properly estimate the objects fer 
 ■vsbich, under the obligation of fearful oaths, they 
 set out upon their mission of blood and plunder. 
 In keeping quite within this combination we find 
 the County of Armagh at once a scene of terror 
 and persecution, a scene in which the wildest deeds 
 of barbarism, and the most shocking acts of cruelty 
 were perpetrated in the name of religion. 
 
 Madden says,* “few of the Orangemen in the 
 North were probably actuated by the motives to 
 which their proceedings are commonly attributed. 
 It is generaby supposed tbab they were animated 
 by a bh'nd, indiscrimate fury against the people, 
 solely on account of their religion. This is not a 
 
 fair statement, and whoever inquires into the 
 history cf these times will find it is not true. These 
 men were impelled, as their descendants arcy by a 
 simple desire to get prssession of property and 
 privileges belonging to a people who bal nrt the 
 power to protect either, and to give their rapacity 
 the colour of a zeil for the interests of their 
 our religion. It is doing the ascendency party a 
 gross injustice to suppose that their animosity do 
 their Roman Catholic countrymen arose from a 
 mere spirit of fanaticism, or of mistaken enthu. 
 siasm in their religious sentiments. Ihe plaufof 
 converting souls by converting the soil of the old 
 inhabitants of a country to the use of the new 
 settlers is of an ancient date. With this party the 
 matter is one of money, and patronage and prefer- 
 ment, and of property in land, which wears the 
 
 ♦ Madden’s Lives and Times, first series, page 112, 
 
32 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 outward ^arb of a religious question. The Puri- 
 taus who sought a refuge in America, when they 
 found the most fertile portion of Massachusetts in 
 the possession of the Indians, did not think of dis 
 possessing the rightful owners of the broad lands 
 they coveted without giving the sanctimonious air 
 of a religious proceeding their contemplated 
 spoliation. They convened a meeting, which was 
 opened with all due solemnity and piety, and the 
 following re'^olutions are said to have b3en passed 
 unanimously 
 
 Eesolved — ‘^That the earth is the Lord’s, and 
 the fullness thereof.” 
 
 Resolved — ‘‘ That the Lord hath given the earth 
 as an inheritance unto Lis saints.” 
 
 Resolved — “ That we are his saints.” 
 
 Now, this was practically what the Orangemen 
 of Armagh did immediately after their organisa- 
 tion, as may be seen from the original regulations 
 in the proceeding chapter. 
 
 Resolved — “That we Orangemen are toe only 
 loyal subjects of his Majesty King George III.” 
 
 R solved — “ That, as loyal subjects, we are bound 
 to prevent all subjects from acting riotously ; and 
 that, by the virtue of our oaths, we are compelled 
 ‘ to prevent all who may have an intention of act- 
 ing riotously.’ ” 
 
 Resolved — “That Catholics are universally dis- 
 affected towards the King.” 
 
 Resolved — “That we exterminate the Catholics” 
 
 Those who cannot follow, by these easy stages, 
 the argument are afflicted with that A^orst of all 
 infirmities — the blindness that will not see. The 
 zeal of Orangemen,* in behalf of their religion, 
 cannot impose upon a close observer of its history 
 The Penal Code was framed for the protection of 
 confiscate! property, and the assumed hostility 
 to the religion of the people who were dispossessed 
 was only a practice, in accordance with the pur- 
 port and pretence of the iniquitous statutes, which 
 had already legalised three general confiscations 
 within a period of 200 years. This legalized 
 system of rapine and proscription has been 
 productive of evils which still are felt ; and thoso 
 who, along with the lands of the proscribed people, 
 obtained all the political privileges that were 
 thought essential to the security of their own pos- 
 sessions, would have been more just than the gene- 
 rality cf mankind, if, having the power to protect 
 the spoils they had obtained, or were encouraged 
 to expect, they had not abased their privileges, and 
 did not see in every extension of the people’s 
 
 liberties another encroachment on the limits, now 
 daily nairowing, of their power, influence, and 
 political pre-eminence. 
 
 Accordingly, we find numerous specimens of 
 notices, generally of a very illiterate character, that 
 were posted upon the doors of the residences of the 
 obnoxious and proscribed Papists, notifying them 
 that they were at once to quit the country under 
 pains and penalties of the most murderous charac- 
 ter. These generally took the shape of “ To he’l, 
 Cennau^ht won’t receive yoa,” or the still more 
 laconic form of “ Hell or Connaught.” The follow- 
 ing may be taken as a specimen : — 
 
 “TO JOHN HOLLAN, COOPERNACK, GILFORD. 
 
 “ John Hollan, you are desirred to abandon your 
 house agim the 21st March; and if you don’t we 
 will reck yon worse than never we did Devlin, and 
 the resen is this — that you preten to be a Protestant, 
 and is not; moreover, you have a Papish wife. You 
 also harbour at your house one Lenny Lennon, one 
 of the Lisnagade Defenders, who fired a pistol at 
 an Orangeman. We pipered him, and gave him a 
 fortnight’s warning, and sin he is not gone yet, but 
 if he waits our coming he shall pay double for all 
 
 his iniquities. Given uider our hand this day 
 
 of March, being the second year of the destruction 
 of the Pope, the great scarlec wh — re of Babylon, 
 and his infernal imps, the priests.” 
 
 Or again — 
 
 “ To THE Inhabitants of 
 
 “ Take Notice. — If any person willbuy any turf 
 from any Papis in glass moss, that we will sow no 
 feavr to any person, friend or stronger, by any means ; 
 for, bytbe living God, if you will go against my 
 word, that Captii Recker will vizib you when 
 you not aware of him.*»-BoLD Anty M'Cusker, 
 Dannal Hcgan.” 
 
 “ Morthugh M^Linden, we have speared you as 
 long as possa&Ze, but we will see you shortly; wa 
 ceme unexpectedly. Now more at present, but re- 
 mains your humble servant. Captain R acker and 
 brave old Humphy, will be there also.” 
 
 “ Farrell, we desire you to clear aff, and if you 
 do not, we wdl fetch Captin Slasher Raker, God’s 
 craluT, and Humphy to you, and Captin Slasher 
 wh — re. Go to Hell, Connat, or Butney Bay. And 
 if ony one harbours you or your goods, by Hevens 
 we will pitch the Thatcher and Glasser to them.” 
 
 In the present day we may be inclined to smile 
 at such illeterate effervescence of intolerance. But 
 to estimate such notices at their proper value, at 
 the timp they were circulated, we must recollect 
 that mob-law was then reigning throughout the 
 
 • Ibid. 
 
IIISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 33 
 
 country ; that if the hand of the Government was 
 not paralyzed, which it certainly was not, cunning 
 legislators were playing a deeply-laid scheme, anl 
 were pulling the wires which put selfishness and 
 bigotry in motion, and that above and beyond 
 these there resided in the County Armagh, pj set of 
 magistrates who were themselves either deeply in- 
 te^-ested in the success of the plo^ or who, prompted 
 by motives generally of prejudice but sometimes of 
 ft ar, refused to move iu the matter, and set the 
 ordinary courses of the law in motion. 
 
 Iu fact, the grand policy of the Government 
 then was to resist the Catholic claims, and so exas- 
 perate them as, to promote a rebellion that would 
 in all probability, destroy all rema’ning vesliges of 
 Ireland having been once a nation. But, in addi- 
 tion to this, it saw, with much dread of after con- 
 sequences, the growing feeling cf union and libe- 
 rality which was now springing up between the 
 Catholics upon one side and the respectable and 
 intelligent Protestants fni Presbyterians on the 
 other. The triumphant principles of the French 
 Eevolution had made monarcbs cjuake, and George 
 saw in that liberality I speak of the basis upon 
 which his Irish authority rested being gradually 
 but surdy undermined. [ Thus the feeling of los- 
 ing wbat was the great scurco of English revenue 
 operated, and with a view to count 'ract the effects 
 of this union of different creeds,'the Government 
 had recourse to its old and successful t.rick of divi- 
 sion, finding fit and willing instruments in the 
 Orange Institution. “ Would it bo a rash, though 
 a harsh conclusion,” asks Plowden, that from 
 complacf^ncy in the' outrages of the Armagh perse- 
 cutions, Government took to their embraces the 
 associated perpetrators of its horrois. Certainly, 
 upen the actual extermination of the Catholic 
 population from pait of the country, Government 
 anxiously propagated them (the Orange Lodges) 
 throughout the realm, and promoted the forma- 
 tion of new lodges . with its power and in- 
 fluence.”*= 
 
 Having proceeded so far it may he recessary to 
 refer t® the outrages which followed in the track of 
 this institution from it start, and in doing so we 
 must necessarily tarn our attention a little back- 
 wards. 
 
 Curran in his speech in the case of Hevey v. Sirr 
 very truthfully said thac when you endeavour to 
 convey an idea of a great number of barbarians, 
 practising a great variety cf cruelties upon an 
 incalculable multitude of sufferers, nothing defined 
 
 ♦ Plowden’s His cry, vol. 1, page 49. 
 
 or specific finds its way to the heart, nor is any 
 sentiment excite! save that of a general erratic 
 unappropriated commiseration.” Following out 
 the suggestion therein contained it might be well 
 to embody in a short quotation all the atrocities 
 which were committed from the starting of the 
 Orange Institution to the close of the year in which 
 it saw its existence. The quotation is a familiar 
 one amongst those who are interested in the details 
 of this period, but is not so generally read as it 
 should be. 
 
 On the 23th December, 1795 (a few months 
 after the Diamond massacre), thirty of the 
 magistrates and Giand Jurors of the County 
 Armagh attended upon summons of the Governcr, 
 Lord Goiford, to consider the state of the county. 
 
 His lordship then said — “ Gentlemen, having 
 requested your attendance here to-day it becomes 
 my duty to state the grounds upon which I thought 
 it advisable to propose this meeting, and at the 
 same time to submit to the consideration of this 
 meeting a plan that occurs to ma as most likely to 
 check the calamities that ha-p'e already BuouafiT 
 DISGRACE UPON THIS COUNTRY, and may s oon reduce 
 it into deep distress. It is no secret that a perse- 
 cution, accompanied with all the ciroumstanecs of 
 a ft;rocious craeby, which have in all ages distin- 
 guished that calamity, is now raging in this 
 country. K'either age nor sex nor even acknow- 
 ledged innocence as to any guilt in the lite distur- 
 bance is sufficient to excite mercy or afford protec- 
 tion. The whole crime, which the wretched objects, 
 of this ruthless persecution are charged with, is a 
 crime indeed easy of proof. Jt is simply a 'profession 
 of the Roman Catholic faith. A lawless banditti 
 have constituted themselves judges of this new 
 species of delinquency, and the sentence they have 
 denounced is equally concise and terrible. It is 
 nothing less than a confiscation of all property, 
 and an immediate banishment. It would be 
 extremely painful, and surely unnecessary, to deCail 
 all the horrors that attend the execution of 
 so rude and tremendous a proscription. A 
 proscription, and certainly exceeds, in the com- 
 parative number of those it consigns to ruin and 
 misery, every example that ancient and modern 
 history can supply ; for where have we heard, or 
 in what story of human cruelties have we read of 
 more than half the inhabitants of a populous coun- 
 try deprived at one blow of the means, as well as 
 of the fruits, of their industry, and driven, in the 
 midst of an nnclcmerit season, to seek shelter for 
 themselves and families where chance may guide 
 
2h 
 
 llUTOHr OF OE-INGEISM. 
 
 them. This is nob an exag-^erated picture of the 
 horrid scenes now acting in this country. Yet, 
 surely, it is sufficient to awaken sentiments of in- 
 
 dignation 
 
 and 
 
 compassion in 
 
 the 
 
 coldest 
 
 bosoms. 
 
 Those 
 
 horrors ace 
 
 now 
 
 acting 
 
 with .impunity. 
 
 The spirit 
 
 of : 
 
 impartial 
 
 justice. 
 
 without 
 
 which law 
 
 is 
 
 nothing 
 
 better than an instrument of tyranny, has for a 
 time disapp<^ared in the country, and the supine- 
 ness of the magistracy of Armagh is become a 
 common topic of conversation in every corner in 
 the kingdom.’’ His lordship then proceeds to say 
 tliat he is a Protestant, so that his opinions cannot 
 be taken as in any way biased, and that it cannot 
 be said he was actuated by any other feeling than 
 that of justice, and expressed regret that on “ the 
 night of the 21st” (possibly the 21st September) 
 there was no civil magistrate present, concluding 
 by proposing a series of resolutions, of which the 
 following v/as the chief : — 
 
 ** That it appears to this meeting that the County 
 Armagh is at this moment in a state of uncommon 
 disorder; that the Roman Catholic inhabitants are 
 
 grievously oppressed by lawless per-ious unknown, 
 who attack and plunder their houses by night, and 
 threaten them with instant destruction unless they 
 abcond'jn hnmedlxtely their lands and habitations 
 
 In resolutions referred to were subscribed to by 
 Lord Gosford, Capel Molyneux, William Richard- 
 son, Arthur Jabob M'Cann, Robert Bernard 
 Sparrow, Alexander Tnomas Stuart, Obins, Hugh 
 Hampton, John Ogle, \fiiliam Clark, Claries W. 
 Warburton, William Lodge, William B &set, Tiaos. 
 Quinn, Owen O’Callaghan, John MaxweT, Joshua 
 M‘Geogb, James Verner, Richard Allott, Steward 
 Blacker, Robert Livingston, William Irwin, Joseph 
 Lawson, and William Blacker. 
 
 Having so far given, upon undoub'ei authority, 
 a sketch of what was the condition of the boasti-d 
 County of the Diamond at that period, it m’’ght be 
 unnecessary to supplement it even in the least, but 
 that there sbill remain^some few incidents which, 
 for completeness and ingenious atrocity, bearing, 
 as they do, directly upon the Orange Institution, 
 deserve a place in the present history. 
 
 CHAPTER X— rCONTINUED.l— JUST A FEW ORANGE OUTRAGES. 
 
 Of course it was, and still is, the object of those 
 who find an interest in upholding ascendancy to 
 deny, in the first instance, all the statements con- 
 tained in Lord Gosford’s address, and to siy, in the 
 next, that on his examination before the select 
 committee he recalled most of what he had said. 
 Neither of these positions are justified by fact. .As 
 to the wholesale denial. Lord Gosford’s words are 
 borne out in the fullest manner, not alone by the 
 solemn statements of w^riters in those days v/ho 
 detail what knew they from personal ob3ervation,but 
 by a long record of horrifying details, which would 
 bring conviction to any capable of examining the 
 subject impartially. 
 
 Emmet, M'Nevin, and O’Connor, who gave a 
 succinct account of the Armagh persecutions of 
 those times, say* that the county had been 
 desolated by two contending factions, agreeing 
 only in one thing, an opinion that most of the 
 active magistrates in tha,t county treated one party 
 with the most fostering kindness and the other with 
 the most rigorous persecution. It was stated that 
 so marked a partiality exasperated tbe sufferers, 
 and those who sympathised wiih their misfortunes. 
 It was urged with indignation that notwithstand- 
 ing tbe greatness of the military establishment of 
 
 Ireland, and its having been able to suppress the 
 Defenders in various counties, it was never able, 
 or was not employed, to suppress these outrages 
 in that county, which drove V,000 persons from 
 their native dwellings.* The magistrates, who 
 took no steps against the Orangemen, were said 
 to have overstepped tbs boundaries et tbe law to 
 pursue and puuish the Defenders. The Govern- 
 ment seemed to have taken upon themselves those 
 injuries by tbe Indemnity Act.f and even 
 honoured tbe violators, and by the Insurrection 
 Act, which enabled the same magistrates, if they 
 chose, under colour of the law, to act anew the 
 same abominations. Notbiog, it was contended, 
 could more justly exci*-e the spirit of resistance, 
 and determine men to appeal to a'’ms, than the 
 Insurrection Act; itpunished with death the admi- 
 nistration of oaths. . . . The power of proclaim- 
 
 ing counties, an 5 quieting them by breaking open tbe 
 cabins of the peasants between sunset and sunrise, 
 by seizing the inmates, and sending them on board 
 
 * Here wo liavo corroboration c f the ptatement that such 
 a number of Catholics were driven out of Armagh. 
 
 t The ludemni^y Act was a measure passed by the'Irish 
 Parliameut r stensibly to protect the magistrates in the exo- 
 cut on of their dnty.'but had the effect of givinsr to them an 
 unlimited power iu the entry of the houses helongiug to 
 Catholics, and 1 gulising nil the outrngas that wers com- 
 mitted under the colour of the law. By it no Catholic could 
 recover for any loss or damage done therein. 
 
 Memoir o the Irish Union, page It. 
 
niSTOIlT OF OFANGEISM. 
 
 35 
 
 tenders without the ordinary interposition of a jury, 
 bad, 'it was alleged, irritated beyond endurance the 
 minds of the reflecting and the feelings of the un- 
 thinking inhubitants of that province. 
 
 In may be remarked that the right of entry in 
 being limited to the hour between “ the setting and 
 rising of the sun’' in no way gave protection to the 
 peesants. It rather tended to exaggerate their 
 grievances. In the dark hours alone it was that 
 this armed banditti cared to exercise their terror- 
 ism and carry oa their work of plunder. 
 
 An Observer on the state of Ireland” (whom 
 Dr. Madden extensively quotes) writing in 1797 
 gives a long list of successive Orange outrages. 
 This pamphlet, published in London and addressed 
 to the people of England, bears, Dr. Madden 
 says, throughout its pages the eternal marks of 
 authentie statements, wholly divested of exaggera- 
 tion, and the opinion of a contempory, James Hope, 
 of Belfast, was that this pamphlet contained more 
 truth than ail the volumes he hsd seen on these 
 events. This able writer says that shortly after the 
 peace concluded with America, Ministers perceived 
 they had been playing a losing game in Ireland ; 
 the Volunteer associR-iions had materially altered 
 the fall of the country ; in many cases the Ca- 
 tholics had embodied themselves into Volunteer 
 corps; a friendly intercourse with their Protestant 
 brethren naturally followed ; they felt that as Irish- 
 men their interests were co-equal, hatred on ac- 
 count of religion was banished, harmony prevailed, 
 and, if not an union of affection, at least a union 
 of political sentiment appeared to exist amongst 
 the people. Of this the Administration was well 
 informed, and Ministers trembled for what might 
 IjC the result. To ave»’t reformation they felt it 
 their duty to create division. Various were the 
 means employed to e:ffect this immoral object; 
 among others they reverted to the old diabolical 
 one of fomentiog those religious feuds which had 
 so often consumed the vitals and pals’ed the native 
 energy of the land. He further states that the 
 Administration taught the weak and credulous 
 Protestant and Presbyterian to believe that if the 
 Catholics who had obtained arms during the war 
 were suffered to retain them they would seize on 
 the first opportunity to overrun the Government, 
 and erect Popery on the ruins of the Protestant 
 religion. 
 
 Here then is to be found exposed to the full 
 light of day the objects of the Government and the 
 secret influences which set the Armagh Orangemen 
 and the Armagh inagigtrates at the throats of their 
 
 Catholic neighbours. For mark what fellows — 
 “This, and other acts equally insidious, had the 
 desired effect on the minds of many persons, 
 varticularly in the County Armagh, where the Metro- 
 pol tan resided. Here fanaticism reared her 
 standard, and a number of deluded people entered 
 into combination for the purpose of depriving 
 Catholics of their arms by force-, For some time 
 the Catholics remained patient and tranquil under 
 their culferiiigs, although they declared that all 
 their efforts to obtain legal redress had been un- 
 availing, and that the necessities of the case would 
 oh ige them to enter into counter-combination to 
 defend their lives and properties against a banditti 
 of plundering ‘ruffians (the Orangemen), who ap- 
 peared to be countenanced by authority, inasmuch 
 as they were not punished by the criminal laws of 
 the land. These two parties had several encounters, 
 in which victory was various; but many of tho 
 Catholic party, wearied out by continual persecu- 
 tion, fled from Armagh to different parts of the 
 kingdom, particularly to the counties of Louth and 
 Meath.” 
 
 A banditti of plundering ruffians ! Surely, the 
 phrase, coming as it does from such a quarter, is 
 sufficient to strike terror into the hearts of those 
 who boast the name of Orangemen, without exactly 
 knowing the r^^ason why ! At least, this account 
 of the early days of the early Orangemen is enough 
 to create a doubt in the minds of thinking and 
 honest men. Granted, for one moment even that 
 the affair of the Diamond had never taken place; 
 or having occurred that the Defenders were all to 
 blame ; granted, that it was they got up at early 
 morning and wreekel the houses, and outraged 
 the persons of their neighbours; that most of the 
 burning, the pillaging, the robbing began on their 
 side, and not on the side of the Orangemen to whom 
 they were opposed ; that the purity of young and 
 innocent peasant girls was desecrated by — not the 
 Orangemen — but the Defenders, and ail of that 
 ilk ; that it was they who hunted the priest and 
 hanged the peasant, and drove the unfortunate 
 people from their homes — grant all these, and 
 much more, and surely the evidence of this im- 
 partial, and apparently English writer, the evidence 
 of Lord Gosford, and the evidence cf Lord Fi^z- 
 william, without taking into account the testimony 
 of a host of others, in denial of this assiumption, 
 is enough to cast a doubt over the minds of all men 
 as to what was the origin and what the objects of 
 the early Orangemen ? If it is not the child of 
 bigotry aai cupidity, at least it was born of 
 
36 
 
 lilSTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 illegality. If the doubt once exists, let theca then 
 see whether the tiger has changed his skin, or the 
 leopard his spots. To bring about this wholesome 
 state of mind, and assist Orangemen to see them- 
 selves, as others see them, let me proceed to show 
 that this mishapen child of intolerance — as it really 
 is — this cffspring of robbery, fostered, from its 
 birth, by designing men in high places, became 
 soon ths ignoble tool cf a Government f.iction. 
 
 The same author I have been quoting says ^ 
 that, led by passion and gcaled by persecution, 
 they (the Orangemen) proceeded (like the Peep ’o 
 Day Boys, v)\o first set the cxxmple, and who never 
 were punished) to acts of felony, by taking arms 
 by force, but they soon fell victims to their folly 
 end the'r imprudence. This, then, whatever in- 
 terested and designing men assert to the contrary, 
 was the true origin and progress of Defenderism in 
 Ireland. The tumultuous spiiit which manifested 
 itself in several counties could have been crushed 
 on its first appearance with much ease, but the 
 Administration looked on with an apathy which 
 many enlightened men declared criminal. Had 
 the Administration then proclaimed an amnesty to 
 all who might be willing to take the oath of allegi- 
 ance many lives would have been preserved, and 
 those shocking massacres, which have outraged 
 humanity and tarnished the character of the Go- 
 vernment, -would not have taken lolace.’" 
 
 Here we have proof direct of Government com- 
 plicity in the outrages then being enacted. If the 
 Government can be so charged it becomes a ques- 
 tion, what are the charges to he preferred against 
 the actual perpetrators; against those who per- 
 mitted themselves to he the instruments of a domi- 
 nant faction; who allowed their avarice, or, if you 
 will, their animosity, to overwhelm all those feel- 
 ings of friendship and good-fellowship that should 
 exist between those of a common country; men 
 whoee interests were identical, however their re- 
 ligions might differ ? Orangemen 
 
 call it freedom 
 ■Wiien tliemselves are free. 
 
 And this feeling, which first took possession cf 
 the Orange faction, will be found, when we come to 
 deal with later periods, to have been perpetuated. 
 
 No doubt that in this dark period of our history 
 there is still a relieving feature which should 
 not be ignored. It is to be found even in that com- 
 plicity which Government extended to Orange in- 
 tolerance. That Orangemen were intolerant even at 
 the outset ^ here can be no question. But that they 
 
 * Yiew of present stale of Ireland. 
 
 ere solely responsible for their crimes is an error 
 into which it is common to fall. It is not justifiable 
 under any circumstances for one section of the com- 
 munity to prey upon the other. B at, and especially 
 in the early stages of society, it is natural. We, 
 therefore, find in it nothing but the violent and un- 
 feeling exercise o that prerogativ-.>, the grinding 
 spirit of the age, comparatively speaking, only 
 partially civilised, expressed by Scott in 
 
 JTe may take wlio has the power. 
 
 And he m iy keep who can. 
 
 Though the charge of intolerance is grave i i 
 itself, there is a blacker and still more iniquitous 
 one to be laid at the door of the Government. With 
 power to restrain and paralyse the intolerance in 
 their hands, the Administration not only failed to 
 perform its first duty to the State, but encoumged* 
 and even counselled, this systematic prosecution, 
 in order that their own hands might be strengthened 
 and Ireland left prostrate at the feet of social dis- 
 sension. With a strong militaiy force at their 
 command, the Executive could at once have put a 
 stop to such outrages. Intolerance is an epidemic, 
 soon spreads, even in the face of passive encou- 
 ragement. Those who stand to-day aghast at its 
 horrible enactments leara to-morrow to look with 
 complacency upon them, and soon join in ihe out- 
 cry. Though the body of respectable Protestants 
 still kept loof from the Orange movement, the 
 system found many new adherents. The magis- 
 tracy found in it a road, however bloody a one, to 
 distinction. The magistracy joined it. The 
 military found coercion a sure way to preferment. 
 The military joined it. Governmt nt looked on, and 
 chuckled at the success of its daring scheme. 
 
 Accordingly we find a long Hot of atrocities, for 
 the perpetration of which the Orangemen and the 
 military shared the unenviable distinction between 
 them. Let us take a few instances. In the County 
 of Meath it is told that a number of Defenders had 
 assembled, and a p>art of the army -was sent in pur- 
 suit of them. On the first appearance of the 
 soldiery they dispersed with that haste -which 
 characterize the disbanding of all organised uubs 
 of the present day in the face r.f trained troops. 
 But a few of the flying Defenders took refuge in a 
 gentleman’s house, where, after securing the doors, 
 they defended themselves for some time, till at 
 length a capitulation was proposed aud agreed to 
 by all. The terms were that the Defenders were 
 to deliver themselves up to bo conveyed o the 
 county jail for trial at the ensuing Assizes. The 
 doors were opened and the military and yeomanry 
 entered. Instead cf abiding by their agreement 
 
IIISTORT OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 87 
 
 every Defender in the house was put to death. I’he 
 narrator gays that the body of each man “ killed 
 off” was cajt from a window into the streBt, and 
 for this brutal ferocity the participators \7ere not 
 even reprimanded. In fact the exterminating 
 policy so well iniMatiated by the Orangemen had 
 now begun, and seeing their brutal ferocity 
 applauded by their masters, it was but in hum?n 
 natui'e to continue them, the rank and file leav- 
 ing to their superiors the task of deciding between 
 right and wrong. 
 
 In the County Louth a party of those unhappy 
 men were attacked by a squadron of dragoons, who 
 could have easily made the whole of them pri- 
 soners, Still, no mercy was shown them, and those 
 who escaped the sword were driven into the river 
 and drowned. At the head of this military corps 
 was a magistrate of the county holding an eminent 
 seat in the Irish Parliament.'^ The part that 
 the leaders of the Irish Parliament took in inciting 
 the peasantry to rebellion by encouraging and 
 fostering Orangeism is proven by the various ad- 
 dresses delivered during the recesses of 1793 and 
 l79d, when the resident gentry returned to their 
 seats in several districts of the country. Those 
 who seek further proof upon this point may consult 
 the journals of the day, or find details in the his- 
 tories of Plowden, Madden, and Gordon, 
 
 In Cavan, near the village of Ballnaaugb, a num- 
 ber ef troops were ordered out to attack a body of 
 Def< ni3rs. On the approach of the military they 
 dispersed. Many of them sought shelter in the 
 village, hiding themselves beneath beds, &c., and 
 the like. From this it is ev dent that their re- 
 sistance was not of the most stubborn character, 
 for persecute 1 as they were that condition had net 
 yet arrive at when they had no choice but to 
 stand at bay. The making of them prisoners 
 would not satiate the fury of this brutal soldiery, 
 or enable them to obey the orders of their com- 
 oanders, and accordingly we find rec^'-rded one of 
 the most brutal scenes that took place during 
 the few years that preceded the insurrection 
 The magistrates and officers commanding the 
 party of soldiers ordered them to saircund the 
 village and set it on fire. This order was obeyed. 
 With one single exception every house in the 
 village of Ballanaugh was burned, and with the 
 guilty many innocent people perished in the 
 flames. What a scene of terror and wild dismay ! 
 The Furies would have stoed aghast, ani bloody 
 Murder and hungry Kapine might have ahed a 
 
 pitying tear. Mothers, now made widows, running 
 with babes at their breast from threatening death 
 that knew no pity, hoping to find one relenting 
 heart amid a gang of military cut-throats ; finding 
 nme, and babe and mother perishing together at 
 .tie hands of those to whom she rushed for 
 STCBOur, and beneath the fiendish jibes and scofis 
 of organised murderers. Surely Hell itself let 
 loose could not create a scene of such mad con- 
 fusion as did those brutal soldiery, indulging in 
 slaughter for slaughter sake. 
 
 No wonder the writer I have been quoting-— 
 after saying that it was unnecessary to mention 
 the barl arities and scenes of horror which took place 
 in Connaught, says The last Parliament, by an 
 Act which disgraced it, and betrayed the rights of 
 its constituents, gave them more strongly to the 
 world than any detailed Act can possib’y do. So 
 flagitious, illegal, and unconstitutional was the 
 conduct o the magistracy, that the Administration 
 {yes, the Administraiion of Ireland) was afraid to 
 let the atrocities which had been committed meet 
 the public eye ; and Ministers procur d a Bill of 
 indemnity to be passed ii Pailiatrent to screen 
 from punishment those officers of the peace, who, 
 at the hour of midnight, tore men from the arms 
 of their families, merely on the saspicion of their 
 h'Ang seditious, and dragged them on board loath- 
 some prisonships, transporting them to destructive 
 Climates, without examination, without trial, un- 
 heard, un pleaded ! And for chose services and 
 gallant exploits, the man who figured foremost in 
 the scene have been promoted to situations of the 
 first importance in the nation.’’’-^ 
 
 Now, if wo recall the eight rule of the Boyne 
 Society, “ commonly called Orangemen,^’ as pub- 
 lished in the foregoing chapter, we will find that it 
 bound ell members by virtue of their oaths to 
 be active in preventing all others that may have an 
 intention to do a riotous act.’* The second gene- 
 ral declaration of the same society specified all 
 Papists to be disloyal, and therefore riotous. To 
 drag all Papists from tbe’r ho nes, and to either 
 murder or transport them, must have been, as I be- 
 fore indicated, the meaning, and certainly the re- 
 sult of the Orange Society. We have here a striking 
 connection established between the Orangemen and 
 the deeds alluded to by "Observer,” aid in refer- 
 ence to which he uses such significant phrases as 
 " suspicion of their being seditious,” "without exa- 
 mination, without trial, unheard and unpleaded.” 
 Here surely is the trail of the serpent ! 
 
 * Ibid. 
 
 * Lord Carbampton. 
 
HISTOEY OP OEANGEISM. 
 
 S8 
 
 Notwithstanding the impossibility that existed 
 necessarily in recording one-tenth of the outrages 
 committed by the early Orangemen during the first 
 twelve months of their existence, we Lave still an 
 abundant store of atrocities, the most horrible, 
 bearing in all instances the impression of truth, 
 and vouched for by some one or other respeccablo 
 author of those days. Of course a few more can 
 only be selected. 
 
 In January, 1796, aparty of Orangemen, headed 
 by Wm. Trimble, carce t) the house of Mr. Daniel 
 Corrigan, a very respectable citizen in the Coun ty 
 of Armagh, parish of Kilmore, and, having before 
 robbed him of his arms, which being registered, he 
 was by law entitled to retain, they demanded a 
 pistol he had subsequently purchased to protect 
 him as he travelled round the country (he being a 
 dealer in cattle), which having obtained, they re- 
 tired, promising his family protection; but re- 
 turned in twenty minutes, and forcing the door, 
 Trimble murdered Mr. Corrigan, by lodging 
 seven balls in his body from a blunder-buss, 
 and then destroyed the house and furniture. 
 Trimble was afterwards apprehended, tried, found 
 guilty, and ordered by the judge for execution in 
 forty-eight hours ; but through a certain influence 
 he was respited. He continued in jail till the 
 ensuing Assizes, when he was again arraigned for 
 having murdered Mr. Arthur M'Cann, as also for 
 several robberies; but Lis trial was put off, and 
 in a few days he was ordered for transportation, 
 when he was only sent to Cork, from whence he 
 was suffered to go on board the fleet like a good 
 and loyal subject.” 
 
 If I linger longer over this chapter than has 
 hitherto been my custom, I can assure my readers 
 that it is through no desire to pander to that de- 
 praved taste which thirsts after everything 
 atrocious. If it is hard to crnvince Orangemen of 
 the errors of their way even in the present, and if 
 they fail to see in the light of crimes their deeds of 
 but a few months or a few years past, how much 
 more difficult will it be to bring home to their 
 minds the historical fa3t that the outset of their 
 career is one long record of blood and plunder. A 
 few more instances may, therefore, be necessary, 
 promising, at the same time, to pass over those 
 transactions which were not peculiarly marked for 
 their unnatural atrocity. 
 
 Madden (quoting from An Observer”) tells us 
 *that the house of one Bernard Crossan, who in 
 those days resided in the parish of Mullanabrack, 
 
 was attacked by Orangemen in consequence of his 
 being a reputed Catholic. The reader will recollect 
 that upon the authority of Plow den. Madden, Hay, 
 and “Observer” (already quoted), that these 
 founders of the institution did not confine their 
 attention to Catholics alone. A ruffian, whether to 
 gratify his malice or satisfy his avarice, had but to 
 suggest that his neighbour was reputed a Catholic, 
 that his wife was a Catholic, or of Catholic parent s, 
 or that he was accustomed to give shelter to the 
 proscribed of that religion, and forthwith the 
 terrible machinery of the new institution was at 
 once set in motion, the envied or the hated 
 one was subjected to the cruellest persecution, 
 made to quit the country, and chose the customary 
 alternative of “ hell or Connaught.” There is 
 something deeply significant ip the fact that most 
 of those suspected ones were numbered amongst 
 the most wealthy and well-to-do farmers of the 
 county. 
 
 When Crossan’s house was attacked his son pre- 
 sented the Orangemen from gaining an enl ranee 
 by the front door. Their plan was well laid, how- 
 ever, and while defending the premises against the 
 marauders in front, their companions effected an 
 entrance in the back. Mr. Crossan was shot 
 down, as was also his son, and his daughter, after 
 being shamefudy used, was then similarly de- 
 spatched. This was done by professed Orange- 
 men, amongst whom were numbered, no doubt, 
 many of the heroes of the “ Diamond.” 
 
 Upon the same pretence the house of Hugh 
 M'Jb’ay, in the parish of Seagoe, was broken into 
 by a party of armed Orangemen. Mr. M‘Pay was 
 wounded by a gun shot, his wife was barbarously 
 outraged, and what furniture was incapable of 
 being removed was totally destroyed. 
 
 The same author also assures us that iaforma- 
 tion having been lodged against a few individuals 
 living in the village of Kilrea (County Derry), a 
 party of military were ordered to apprehend 
 them. The men avoided arrest, and about three 
 o’clock in the morning a “reverend’^ magistrate, 
 accompanied by a clergyman of the same descrip- 
 tion, and by the commanding officer of the party, 
 ordered the soldiers to set fire to the houses of the 
 accused. The men obeyed, and all was consumed. 
 There were four houses which could not be burned 
 without endangering the whole of the village. 
 They, theiefore, gutted them, and, carrying out 
 the moveable furniture, they burned them in the 
 street. The wife of one of the accused men had 
 been delivered of a child the preceding evening. 
 
 First series, page 119. 
 
HISTOET OF OEAIN'GEISM. 
 
 39 
 
 This vroman, in that weak and helpless state which 
 called for the sympathy of all that are mortal, was 
 carried out into the street, and, with her new-born 
 infant, was casu into the snow, while her blanket 
 and wearing apparel were consigned to the flames. 
 Oar authority adds that none of those savage vio- 
 lators of the law and humanity were brought to 
 justice ; but that, on the contrary, the reverend” 
 magistrate was afterwards promoted to a larger 
 beneflce. 
 
 In the month of May, 1779,* a party of 
 Essex Feocibles, accompanied by the Enniskillen 
 Yeomen Infantnj, commanded by their first lieu- 
 lieutenant, marched to the house of a Mr. Potte’', a 
 very respectable farmer, who lived within five 
 miles of Enniskillen. On their arrival they de- 
 manded Mr. Potter, saying that they were ordered 
 to arrest him, as he was a United Irishman. His 
 wife, with much firmness, replied “ that to be a 
 United Irishman was an honour, and not a dis- 
 grace,” adding her husband had gone from home 
 on business the preceding day, and had not returned. 
 They answered her that if he did not surrender 
 himself in three hours they would burn his house. 
 Mrs. Potter answered that she did not exactly know 
 where he then was, but that if she did know she 
 believed it would he impossible to have him home 
 in so short a time. True to their promise, they set 
 fire to the house, which, it is said, was a very neat 
 one, and only five years built. The servants brought 
 out some beds and other valuables in the hope of 
 preserving them, but those destroyers dashed all 
 into the flimes. The house and property, to the 
 amount of <£600, were consumed by the flames, and 
 Mrs. Potter, with seven children, one of whom was 
 scarce a month old, were turned out homeless into 
 the fields in the hour of midnight. 
 
 Few who have read the history of those sad times 
 but are familiar with the names of the Ancient 
 Britons, a fencible regiment commanded by Sir 
 Watkins William Wynne, and iucluding in their 
 ranks a large number of Orangemen. f The first 
 atrocity that we have upon record in which these 
 ferocious men were implicated occurred in the 
 month of June, 1797. They were ordered to search 
 for arms the house of a Mr. Eice, an innkeeper in 
 the village of Ooolavil, in the County Armagh. 
 After making a very diligent search none could he 
 found. Some country people were drinking in the 
 house, and spoke in their native tongue, a 
 matter which was in no way surprising in 
 
 • Ibid. 
 
 t Vide I lowdens History, from 1801 to 1810, page 91, 
 
 the County Armagh, and especially in those 
 days immediately following a period during which 
 the simplest elements of an education was not left 
 within the reach of the Catholic inhabitants. If, 
 therefore, this circumstance were evidence of guilt 
 at all, which it is hard to see, it was evidence of 
 the guilt of successive persecuting administrations. 
 But the Antient Britons were more expert at u.sing 
 the sword upon an unarmed people, than at solving 
 the simplest propositions in logic. They damned 
 their eternal Irish souls, swore they were speaking 
 treason, and instantly fell upon them with the 
 most brutal ferocity, maiming several of them des- 
 perately. Miss Eice, the daughter of the Inn- 
 keeper, was wounded almost to death, while her 
 father “after receiving many cuts from the sabres 
 cf those assassins,” escaped with difficulty. 
 
 In the same month a similar outrage was perpe- 
 trated in Newtownaids, in the County Down. In 
 an inn kept by a Mr. M'Cormick in that town, some 
 persons, merely casual visitors, who dropped in 
 to refresh themselves, were, it was alleged, 
 overhead uttering sentiments of a seditious'charac- 
 ter. Having regard to what is seen to have taken 
 place in the County Armagh, where the use of the 
 Irish language was construed into treason, it is not 
 difficult to determine that the grounds of accusation 
 here were probably of the most slender character. 
 M'Cormick was called upon to give an explanation. 
 He denied having any knowledge of them (a state- 
 ment which was surrounded with all appearances 
 of probability), observing that many persons might 
 enter his house of whom he knew nothing, and for 
 whom he could not be held responsible. This ex- 
 planation would not suffice, for the administration 
 of impartial justice would not answer the ends 
 which the Administration and its minions had in 
 view, and accordingly he was taken into custody, 
 and the next day his house and an extensive pro- 
 perty were reduced to ashes. This was not 
 the only instance of demolition upon sus- 
 picion. The house of Dr. Jackson, in the 
 same town, was taken down upon the same 
 grounds and “many other houses in the same town 
 and barony were destroyed, or otherwise de- 
 molished, by English Fencibles on similar pre- 
 texts.” 
 
 On the 22ad June Mr. Joseph Clotney, Ballyna- 
 hinch, was committed to the military barracks of 
 Belfast, and his house, furniture and books, worth 
 X3,000, destroyed ; as was also the valuable house 
 of Mr. Armstrong, of the same place. 
 
 In the month of April a detachment of the Escex 
 
40 
 
 lll^TOHr OF OElNGErSM. 
 
 Fencibles quartered at Eunit-kJ en v^ere crdeitd, 
 under tbe command of a captain and aJjutanfc. ac- 
 companied by the First Fermanagh Yeomanry, in*o 
 an adjoining county io sear Ji for arms. About two 
 o’clock in +be morning ibey arrived at the house c f 
 one named Duinian, a farner, -which without any 
 intimation whatevei’ they broke open, and on en- 
 tering: it, one of tie fencibles fired his musket 
 throuf^h the roof of the house. An officer 
 instantly discharged his pistol into a 
 bed where tvo young men were lying 
 and v/ounded them both. One cf them,- the 
 only child of Dui’iuan, rose -with great difficulty, 
 and on making this effort, faint with the loss cf 
 blood, one of the party stabbed him through the 
 bowels. The distracted mother ran to support 
 him, but in a few moments she sank upon the floor^ 
 covered with the blood which issue I from the side 
 of her unfortunate son. By this time the young 
 man had got upon his knees to implore mercy, de- 
 claring most solemnly that he had not been guilty 
 of any crime, when a fencible delibei^a^ely knelt 
 down, levelled his rciusket at him, and was juft 
 going to fire when a sergeant of yoemanry rushed 
 in, seized him, and prevented his committing the 
 horrid deed. “There were persons present who 
 smiled at the humanity of the sergeant.” 
 
 In Newry, information had b«’en lodged that a 
 certain house in that town contained concealed 
 arms. A party of the Ancient Britons repaired to the 
 house, but not finding the object of their search> 
 they set it on fire. The peasantry of the neigh- 
 bourhood came running from all sides to ex*;inguish 
 the flames believing the fire to be accidental, a fact 
 which is accounted for by its having been the first 
 mi]i*-ary one in that district. On coming up they 
 were attacked upon all sites and cut down by the 
 fencibles. Thirty were killed, a woman and two 
 children being included amongst the number. An 
 old man of 70 years, it is related, seeing the 
 dreadful slaughter of his neighbours and friends 
 fled for safety to some adjacent rocks. He was 
 pursued and, though ou his knees imploring mercy, 
 a brutal Welshman cut off his head at one blow. 
 
 “I have stated,” says “an observer,” “incon- 
 trovertable truths. Months would be insufficient 
 to enumerate all the acts of wonton cruelty which 
 were infl'eted on the inhabitants of Ireland from 
 the 1st April to the 24 th July, 1797.” 
 
 That the incidents stated in the last paragraph 
 but one are founded upon fact, may be seen when 
 placed side by side with the following, which I take 
 from Mr. Plowden’s authentic history of these 
 
 tidie^^ and which will be read with interest.— 
 ^ In May, ] 779, a corporal’s guard h d been ordered 
 out in the aftertoan to cearch the house of one 
 Hedge at Ballyholan, who was a Prebyterian, for 
 arms; none were found. It happened, however, 
 on this, as on many such occasions that the 
 searchers made free with articles of dress or furni- 
 ture, as their fancies suggested. Here the search 
 ended in the appropriation of a silk handkerchief, 
 which one of the military purloined. This pro- 
 duced some observation and sarcasm from several 
 of the neighbeuring peasants, whom curiosity had 
 brought round Sedge’s dwelling during the search. 
 There lived el se by one B ennan, a weak, half- 
 witted man, who was a private in the Newry Yeo- 
 manry. He ran instantly to town, and gave out, 
 ti a'; the party was surrounded, and perhaps cut to 
 pieces. Immediately the trumpet and bugle sounded 
 and the Ancient Britons, some of the Dublin Milit'a 
 UNDER CAPTiiiN GiFFARD and some of the Newry 
 Yeomanry turned out, and Las'eaed towards 
 Bailyholau, without order, or any special com- 
 mand. For the space of a mile or two the face cf 
 the count-iy was covered with military moving in 
 disorder, and acting without any other fixed plan 
 than that of a general massacre and extermina- 
 tion. The Ancient Britons hewed down all the 
 counlrymen in coloured clothes they met or over- 
 took ; they took no prisoners. The militia fired at 
 some fugiiive-^, but made several prisoners, 
 amounting in the who^e to about 21. The Yeoman 
 infantry principally showed their prowess by firing 
 into the thatch of the cabins, anl setting fire to 
 them. Upon the first appearance of the militaiy 
 the most active of the peasantry* made their 
 escape. 
 
 “ A party of Ancient Britons came up to a cluster 
 of houses which they set fire to. They had been 
 all abandoned except one which contained an old 
 infirm man, that was bedridden, attended by his 
 
 * Ibid, pn^e 91 and 92. “ In this same ^ear the se.’ds of 
 Oran«'eism were p ofusely sown in and about Isewry, and pro- 
 mised an early and plentiful harvfc't. The Anoieut Brit ms, 
 wbo w. re mostly Oranjremen. and Mr. G-itfaid, the grert 
 apostle of Orangeism, then a caiitaiu in the Lublin City 
 Militia, were quartered there ; and by far the gr 1 1. r part of 
 the Newry cava ry and infantry Yoemen were also firaage- 
 meii. No wonder then that this spot was chosen for a re- 
 newal of some of the Armagh scenes of extermination, ' no 
 of which is submitted to the reader, as it h s been n rrated 
 to the author, by a gentlein ni of respectability who, being 
 out with his corps on that d^y, saw and licard the greatest 
 7 )art himse'f, and recorded the rest from the confession of 
 the principal actor in that scene, which took pi ice a*- a dis- 
 tance.” The author ad'ls in a fo t-notc that this scene is 
 s dec ted from among-t others, not merely f' om his posses- 
 sions of the mosc udeniahle evidence reip cting it, as he had 
 evidence of many others which he sunpressed, but because it 
 bad always been considered ay contributing much to the. re- 
 bellion which took place in the next year. 
 
HISTORY OR ORAHOEISM. 
 
 41 
 
 daughter. She threw herself upon her knees, and, 
 after several refusals, at last obtained leave 
 from the comminding offi3er to permit her 
 father to be carried ouc of the house. He had 
 scarcely been removed one minute before the roof 
 fell in. After the bugle had sounded to rally, and 
 the troops were drawn up in a line in Mr. Hanna’s 
 park, one of the Ancient Britons rode up to Sir 
 Watkins William Wynne, their commander, and 
 said the rebels were in the park and the wood ad- 
 joining, when they received orders from the com- 
 mander to spare no one. They immediately dis- 
 persed. Three of them, perceiving something 
 mosring in a thicket, successively fired into it ; and 
 one of them shot an unfortuna'-e lad, of about ten 
 years of age, through the left eye. He had been 
 attfnding some cows on a road, hut on seeing the 
 military he had endeavoured to conceal himself 
 from their fury in a thicket. He was shown to Sir 
 Watkins William Wynne by an officer, whose 
 humanity was shocked, and the commanler, ob- 
 eerving that he was sorry for the mistake, orderel 
 one of bis men to take him up behicd him and 
 convey him to the hospital.* Another lad, of 
 about fourteen y^^ars of age, had been most in- 
 humanly butchered, his head split in twain, and 
 nearly severed from his body. His father and 
 uncle having beard of bis misfortuno,went after his 
 corpse, and were takpn prisoners by the militia- 
 men under Capt'iin Giffard. One man, a revenue- 
 cffi er, at the risk of his life went up to a gende- 
 man of the Yoeman cavalry, to whom he was 
 known, and entreated him to return to the party, 
 and inform them, that s^me of Ancient Britons 
 after having killed the lad, had fired into his (the 
 revenue-officer’s) house at his wife, who was far 
 gone with child, and he was afraid that he should 
 be murdered himself. He enteated to have the 
 boy brought down to the road, through which the 
 military were to pass, in order, that the command- 
 ing officer should aee him, and be thereby in iuced 
 to release the father and uncle. Captain Giffard 
 expressed high offence at the boy’s corpse having 
 been brought into sight, and immediately look the 
 
 CHAPTER XI.— A HAPPY LEAGUE, 
 THE MAGISTRATES A 
 
 Before we quit this subject for the events more 
 stormy and more interesting, we have still further 
 to pay the penalty so frequently demanded by a 
 due investigation of the truth. We may now take 
 a passing glance over the broad and once fertile 
 
 two men, who had brought it to the read, into 
 custody. Sir Witkius William Wynne, when he 
 was informed of the circumstance, ordered the 
 father and uncle to be released. Two Ancient 
 Bi'itcns, one of them by name Ned 
 Allen, had strayed, about a mile from 
 from the main body to a farm bouse of Mr. Robert 
 Maitland. Near the gate stood a boy named 
 Ryan, about six years of age, whom they ordered 
 to open it ; the child said he would if they would 
 not hurc him. Before he could open it, one of them 
 struck at the child with his sab^e over the gate, 
 and broke bis arm. They still insisted upon his 
 opening it, which the child did with his other hand, 
 and they rode through and cut up the boy with 
 their sabres, and one of them made his horse 
 (though with much difficalty) trample upon him. 
 They entered they house, and having taken the 
 key of the cellar, sat down to drink ; in the mean- 
 time three of the Dublin City Militia came up to 
 the house, and joined them in drinking. The 
 Ancient Britffns gave Ora'^ge toasts. The 
 militiamen gave Irish toasts. They quarrelled 
 and fought ; one of the militiomen was killed, aiad 
 the ether two were severely wounded with the 
 sabres of the Ancient Britons. The two Ancient 
 Britons were aftei wards tried for murder, and were 
 instantly acquitted. About thirty houses were 
 burned, anl eleven persons were killed. This closed 
 this unsought day of blood.” 
 
 In a note to this circumstantial narrative 
 Mr. Plowden says:— “Such was the vindictive 
 animosity which the people bore to the corps of 
 Ancient Britons, that after the insurrection had, 
 partly by tbeit means, been made to explode, as 
 Lord Castlereagh boasted, they never came into 
 contact with the rebels without being reminded of 
 Ballyholan. 
 
 These are but a few of the outrages committed 
 by the early Orangemen. 
 
 * Tnanotft Mr. Plowden adds tlia'" he lad’s mme was 
 Fagan, and th .t at the time he wrote he was still living in 
 Newry. 
 
 THE CAMDEN ADMINISTRATION— 
 
 ^D THE ORANGEMEN. 
 
 fields of Armagh. There, where there were once 
 comfortable homesteads, where groups of evening 
 gossips might still have assembled to tell of other 
 times and other days, and listened with rural sim- 
 plicity to the tales of the wandering beggar and the 
 
42 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 " broken soldier,” nought now was to be seen but 
 misery and desolation. Many districts of the county 
 ■were covered with the blackened ruins of humble 
 cabins that had, at least, affDi’ded shelter to a 
 people whose best riches were “ ignorance oi 
 wealth.” Thousands were wandering homeless 
 and starving, not indeed in the County Armagh, 
 for to be there was death, but in the adjoining 
 counties and provinces, while those whose age pre- 
 vented them enduring the hard-hips of the time 
 had, fortunately for them, gone over to the 
 •majority, and were saved the fearful trials of the 
 two subsequent years. 
 
 It was at the Lent Assizes of the year 1796 that 
 the Sheritf-Governor and Grand Jury of the County 
 Armagh, bethinking them t’aat it would be well to 
 do away with the impressions produced by these 
 horrible events some, and only some of which are 
 recorded in the last chapter, published an address 
 and resolutions. Mr. Piowden says that they were 
 calculated to do away with the impressions 
 generally received by the public upon the ferocious 
 outrages of those exterminators, the Orangemen; 
 but their annunciation of impartial justice, and a 
 resolution to punish offenders of every denomina- 
 tion was rather unreasonable when there remained 
 no longer any of one denomination to commit out- 
 rages upon, or to retaliate injuries. Mr. Mitchell, 
 in his history, says that Piowden (who was as much 
 opposed to Defenderism as to Orangeism) “ might 
 hive added that many of the gentlemen composing 
 that Grand Jury had themselves encouraged and 
 participated in the extermination of the Cathobcs. 
 But they knew very well that no coercive law of 
 that Parliament was at all intended to be enforced 
 against Orangemei; that the un’awful oaths, 
 * forbidden under the pain of death,’ did not mean 
 to exclude the ‘ purple oath’ of Orangemen to ex- 
 terminate Catholics, but only the United Irish 
 oath to erccurage brotherly union und seek an im- 
 partial representation of all the people of Ireland. 
 In fact, no Orangeman was ever prosecuted, nor 
 was any punishmeit ever inflicted on the extermi- 
 nators of Armagh Catholics.” 
 
 The address and resolutions of the High -Sheriff, 
 Governor, and Grand Jury of Armagh above re- 
 ferred to is an important and, indejd, an interest- 
 ing record, and I therefore think it advisable to 
 transfer it into these pages. It lan as follows . — 
 
 “To HIS Excellency John Jeffreys, Earl Cam- 
 den, Lord Lieutenant-General and General 
 Governor of Ireland, &c., &c. 
 
 “ The unanimous Address of the Sheriff, Governor, 
 
 Grand Jury, and Magistracy, of the County of 
 
 Armagh, assemble! at lent Assizes, 1793. 
 
 “Deeply impressed with the attention which your 
 Excellency has been pleased to show to this county, 
 and sensible of the readiness with which military 
 aid has been afforded, whenever it has been re- 
 quired on occasion of the disturbance that in some 
 places have unfortunately prevailed, we return 
 you? Excellency or.r warmest acknowledgments, 
 and beg leave to express the firmest confidence in 
 the wisdom and energy of your Excellency’s Go- 
 vernment. 
 
 “ We have seen with the deepest regret the out- 
 rages whichj for some time past, have disturbed 
 the peace and interrupted the industry of this 
 prosperous county. And as the Grand Jury of the 
 county have always discharged t''‘eir duty with 
 that vigorous and impartial justice which is cal- 
 culated to protect the person and the property of 
 all its inhabitants of every description, so we shall 
 continue to use our utmost exertions to punish 
 offenders of every denominetion. 
 
 We trust that the pea-’e of the county will, in 
 consequence of the proceedings at this Assizes, be 
 restored universally; but should that unfortunately 
 not be the case we beg leave to assure your 
 Excellency that we must feel it to be our duty a .d 
 the duty of all the other magistrates of the county 
 to resort to immediate proceedings under the law 
 of the present session of Parliament, however much 
 we must lament the unusual rigor which it will 
 impose upon offenders, and however m'aoh w'e 
 must deplore the burthens as well as the digraee 
 which such measures must necessarily impose upon 
 the county. 
 
 “John Ogle, Sheriff. 
 
 “Gosp3Rd, Governor. 
 
 “ Caufield, Foreman, for self 
 and fellow- jurors.” 
 
 Eesolved— That the thanks of the G -and Jury 
 be given ce our High Sheriff for the care he has 
 taken in making returns of the very cnV ghtened and 
 dispass'Ott,ate juries that have attended, and for his 
 proper condu ;t throughout these Assizes. 
 
 Ke'OLved — T hat the thanks of the Grand Jury 
 be given to the Eight Hon. the Attorney-General 
 for the ve.'y able speech in which he addressed 
 the county, for the candour and unwearied exer- 
 tions with which he has conducted the prosecutions 
 of this Assizes, and for his readiness in com- 
 municating with the Grand Jury on every occasion 
 when applied to. 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 43 
 
 It will, of couiso, be noticed that the governor 
 of the county who subscribed to the above was 
 Loid GosArd, who had previously been so cut- 
 epohen regarding the banditti of Orangemen.’, 
 The fact of his name being atiacbed to such a 
 covert document, in which there is no mention 
 made of the real nature of the outrages, must, 
 having regard to the utterance of the previcua 
 December, be taken as evidence of the overwhelm- 
 ing influence of the Magisterial Ascendancy Party 
 of Armagh than as in any way derogatory to his 
 character for strict impartiahiy. In point of fact, 
 this was but a part played by the magistrates of the 
 county to cloak their iniquity, and partiality in 
 the guise of justice. This excuse the Executive 
 were but too witling to accept, as will be seen from 
 the following answer which his Excellency was 
 pleased to return to the above address : — 
 
 “ I return my most sincere thanks to the Sheriff^ 
 Governor, and Grand Jury and Magistrates of the 
 County Armagh for the address which has been 
 presented to me. 
 
 ‘^Ifc gives me the greatest satisfaction to observe 
 the anx'ous solicitude that has appeared during the 
 course of the last Assizes, amongst all descriptions 
 of persons, to extinguish the spirit of outrage 
 which has existed within your county for some 
 time. I lament that those exertions have not 
 hitherto proved totally successful, but I look 
 forward with confidence to the expectation that a 
 continuation of that temper and unanimity which 
 have appeared at the late assizes may render it un- 
 necessary to recur to those powers that have been 
 given by the wisdom and energy of Parliament, 
 which powers, I trust, will be called for with cau- 
 tion, bat when granted will be used with effect.” 
 
 The additional powers of which the Viceroy 
 spoke were, of course, the Insurrection and Indem- 
 nity Acts. 
 
 The report of the Secret Committee of the Com- 
 mons shortly afterwards informs us that in the 
 summer of 1796 the outrages committed by a ban- 
 ditti, calling themselves Defenders, in tbe Counties 
 of Eoscommon, Leitrim, Meath, Weslm<'ath, 
 and Kildare, together with a religious 
 feud prevailing in the County Armagh, induced 
 the Legislature to pass a temporary Act of Parlia- 
 ment, generally called the Insurrection Act, by 
 which the Lord Lieutenant and counsel were 
 enabled, upon the requision of seven magistrates 
 of any county, assembled at a sessions of the 
 peace, to proclaim the whole, or any part thereof, 
 to be in a state of disturbance.” There is here 
 
 mention of Defenderism which, no doubt, was re- 
 sponsible for many, anl even wanton, outrages, for 
 which alone there was the excuse of persecution 
 driving people to despair; while the extirpaGon 
 of a whole people from one county was mddly set 
 down aj ‘Ga religious feud,” arising between one 
 sect and another, for no other reason than on ac- 
 count of their religion. 
 
 Sir Eicbard Musgrave affords further corrobora- 
 tion of the league between tbe magistrates and the 
 Orangemen. He says* — “ Lord Carbarn pton, 
 finding that the laws were silent and inoperative 
 in the counties which he visited, and that they did 
 not afford protection to the loyal and peaceable 
 subjects, who, in most places, were obliged to fly 
 from their habitations, resolved to restore 
 them to their uuial energy by the follow- 
 ing saluatary system of severi' y ; — In each 
 county he assembled the most respectable gentle- 
 men and landholders in it, and having, in concert 
 with them, examined the charges against the 
 leaders of this banditti (the defenders), who were 
 in prison, but defied justice, he, with tbe concur- 
 rence of these gentlemen, sent tbe most nefarious 
 of them on board a tender, stationed at Sligo, to 
 serve in the King’s troops.” Alluding to this, Mr. 
 Mitchell says in his history f : — 
 
 “ Thera is no doubt that great numbers of people 
 were obliged to fly from ther habitations; but then 
 those were the very people whom Lord Carhampton 
 and the magistrates called honditti, and sent to the 
 tender as nefarious. Such is, however, a specimen 
 0 £ the history of those times, as told upon Orange 
 authority.” 
 
 But this is not the only proof of flagrant par 
 tiality bn tbe part of Camden Admmstration. The 
 Dublin Evening Post ol the 24th September, 3 796, 
 contained the following: — “The most severe 
 strobe made against the character and conduct of 
 the Viceroy, as a moril man, and first magistr.ite 
 of a free people, who ‘ ought not to hold the sword 
 in vuin,' nor to exercise it partially has been in 
 Faulkner's Journal of this day.J That hireling 
 print is undeniably in the pay of his lordship’s 
 Administration, and what Administration permits it 
 is supposed to prompt or patronize. In that print 
 the blind fury of the banditti wh’ch usurps and 
 disgraces the name of Orange in the North is 
 applaused, and all their Voody ea.cesses justified 
 
 * History of tbe different rebellions— page 145. 
 t Cap. XXIX, page 224. 
 
 i Fa-ilkner's our 1 is acknowlelgel to have been the 
 Government organ, and it was loud inpr ise of tbe deeds of 
 tbe Armagh Orangemen 
 
IIISTOET OF OEANGETS^r. 
 
 U 
 
 Murder ia ail its horrid forms, assassinations in 
 cold hlood, the mutitation of members without 
 respect to age or sex, the firing of whole hamlets, 
 BO that when the irhabitants have been looked 
 after nothing but their ashes were to be 
 found ; the alrocioug excursions of furiogs hordes, 
 armed with sword, fire, andbaggot, to exterminate 
 the people for presuming to obey the divine com- 
 mand, written by the fiogir of God Himself, 
 
 ‘ Honour thy fatter and thy mother,’ and walijing 
 in the religion which seemed good in their eyes ; 
 the* e are the fligitious enormities which attract 
 the mercenary applause of Faulkner's Journal, the 
 literary proof of the Camden administration.” 
 
 The is no public record of those times extant 
 which affords such full and reliable information of 
 the duplicity of the Camden Government, as the 
 debates which took place in the Commons early in 
 1793 upon the introduction cf the Insurrection and 
 Indemnity Acts before alluded to, and certain re- 
 solutions calling for their enactment. P.owden 
 gives bis opinion upon it in the following words 
 (His Eeview, 562) “This debate is in fact the 
 chief historical source of information for the Irue 
 nature of Armagh prosecution, Suppression 
 of the truth on the one hand, the fear of publish- 
 ing it on the other, confusion, exaggeration, and 
 viohnie on all sides have left little else upon the 
 subject that can be credited.” I will, therefore, 
 venture to place it before my readers seeing that 
 this important recerl is now h’dien away in rare 
 and expensive volumes utterly beyond the reach of 
 those who are mainly interested in it. I will pre- 
 face it by say ng it should be remembered 
 that these extraordinary powers, w'hich these two 
 Acts sought for, had long been in full operation 
 in the hands of both the military commanders and 
 the magistracy. Lord Car lamptonin Connaught bal 
 practically anticipated the powers of the Act by 
 inaugurating a system of martial law wherever he 
 went, and by seiz ng and sending beyond the seas 
 hundreds whom, without trial, he considered dis- 
 affected. For these acts he received the thanks of 
 the Attorney- General, and obtained high favour 
 with the Camden Administration, no doubt, for 
 hia having so loyally fulfilled his mission. In the 
 North ue have aleo seen that previous to 1796, the 
 Orange magistrates had acted in a bimilar manner 
 43 Lord Gosford’s address proves. We may, there- 
 fore, take it that Mr. Plowden’s conclusion was a 
 reasonable one ; that the Insunection and In- 
 demnity Acts (the latter meant to have a retro- 
 epec^ive action), were intend d to secure what they 
 
 practically did secure ; that the chief object of one 
 was to incite insurrection rather than prevent it, 
 an I that of the other to place in the hands of the- 
 Orange magistracy an effective instrument with 
 whtch, without fear of consequences, they could the 
 more easily accomplish the diabclica! intents of the 
 jGG\ernment. With the Beresford party at the 
 head of affairs, and a secret understanding between 
 Pitt and his willing henchman to resist Cathol c 
 claims, there was nothing too atrocious providing 
 it furthered the ends cf this ambitious minister, 
 tyhose great aim in life was to secure a Union at 
 all haz irds. 
 
 ^From the records of Parliament we find* that 
 on the 20th of February, 1796, the Attorney Geae" 
 ral — having previously obtained leave to bring in 
 a Bill for indemnifying Gucb magistrates aid 
 others who might have since the Ist January, 1795, 
 exceeded the ordinary forms an I rules of law for 
 the preservation of the public peace ani suppres- 
 sion of insurrection prevailing in some parts of 
 this kingdom — proposed f.mr resolutions to the 
 House, with an elaborate detail of the outrages of 
 the offend -rs. In doing s'**, he said that the country 
 had been for a series of .\ears disturbed in various 
 parts of i". He did not then enter into 
 the causes of those disturbances, but he 
 should take them up at the period of 1790, when 
 those disturbances chiefly raged in the County Meath . 
 The Defenders’ object, then, ,ras to plunder the 
 peaceable inhabitants of their firearms; they 
 associated together, and bound themselves by the 
 solemn tie of an oath. The Defenders, it had sicce 
 appeared, had their committee men and theii^ 
 captains, whom they were bound to obey, and their 
 object was to overthrow the established order of 
 Government. Seditious emissaries dispersed 
 themselves amongst the people ; in one place 
 telling the labouring man that his wages wouli be 
 raised, and in another working upon their feelings, 
 and enticing them ti acts of outrage and of 
 violence. To repress these disturbances, the efforts 
 of the Government were exerted in 1790, ’91, ani 
 ’92; and the consequence was that a great numle: 
 were brought to justice, and several were trans- 
 ported; notwithstanding these examples the dis- 
 turbances continued,and proceeded from east to west> 
 and in three counties in Connaught these banditti, 
 in open day, made an attack upon the King’s 
 forces; the army always routed them, and in 
 one engagement forty or fifty of these 
 miscreants fell; thee were proseoublone in 
 
 ♦ 16 rarliaemntary Debates, pa;c 102. 
 
 J 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGETSM. 
 
 45 
 
 the province; that province then was in a 
 state of traquillity (thanks to Lord Ca'-haropton, 
 through whose exertions humanity, and good con- 
 duct, 4 uiet w as restored). Notwithstanding these 
 examples, disturbances continued in ether parts of 
 the kinsrdom. These wretches associated together 
 by night for the purpose of plunder, murder, and 
 devestation. To prevent witnesses appearing 
 against th^ni on trial they had adopted a system 
 of assasv'sination. The Attorney-General he^d 
 instanced a transaction saM to have taken place 
 about ten days previous, near Lutrelstown, where 
 persons named M‘Coimacks, who were to prosecute 
 Defenders on the next day at Kilmainbam Quarter 
 Sessions, were inhumanly murd red. Continuing, 
 he said another part of their sys‘em was to put 
 w tnesses to death after trial, instancing a case 
 where a witness who had prosecuted Defenders at 
 the A-ssiz' S of Dundalk, had been murdered after 
 the trial. He instanced man^ ac’^s of atrocity com- 
 mitted in the County Longford, particularly 
 in the case of Mr. Harman, one of the r'pr - 
 sentatives of the county, a»’d in the counties 
 Westmeath, Cavan, and Meath. Under these 
 circumstances he said some new scheme 
 was necessary to put an end to such enormities. 
 His first object was to prevent these risings in 
 future, and in order to do this it was proper to en- 
 able Government, on the petition of gentlemen 
 rssident in the coun+y where any rising should be, 
 to send a Iforce to that county, sufficient to quell 
 such rising ; another, was. to enable magistrates at 
 sessiens to take up at r nseasonabie hours all per- 
 sons who could not give a satisfactory account of 
 themselves, and, if they could not find bail at the 
 Assizes, the justices might send them to serve on 
 board the fleet ; another was to enable magistrates 
 to search houses, and if the persons were not at 
 home, they might le brought to the Quarter 
 Sessions, and if they could not give a satisfactory 
 account of the cause of their absence from home, 
 they were to be dealt with as persons found abroad 
 ftt unreasonable hours; but previous to that pro- 
 clamation should be made, and fair notice given, so 
 that no person should have any excuse to plead ; 
 another object was to enable magistrates to search 
 houses for arms and ammunition. It might be 
 spread abroad by evil ard disaffected men, that it 
 was the design of the Government to di*-- 
 arm the people ; hut there wag ne such 
 design ; it was only to take away arms 
 from improper persons. But be said he 
 ■hould introduce a clause in the Gunpowder 
 
 Bill to make all persons, great and small, register 
 their fire-arms. He should propose to make the 
 administration of such oiths as hound the parties to 
 any t'easonahle purpose a capital offence. There 
 was another measure, which was that in case of a 
 witness being murdered his written testimony 
 should be competent to go as evidence before a 
 jury. The Attorney General then read the resolu- 
 tions, which he afterwards separately proposed, as 
 f Hows 
 
 1. " Resolved, — That the spirit of conspiracy and 
 outrage which has appeired in certain parts of this 
 kingdom, and has shown itself in various attempts 
 to assassinate magistrates, to murder witnesses, to 
 plunder houses, and to sleze by the force of arms 
 his M.ij<^sty*8 peaceable subjects, r quires that 
 more effectual powers should be given to the 
 magis^^racy.” 
 
 2 ** Resolved, — That in such park’s of this king- 
 dom as the said spirit has shown itself, or to wh ich 
 there may be cause to apprehend its being 
 extended, it will be necessary that the magistracy 
 should have enlarged power? of starching for arms, 
 ammunition, and weapons of offence, and of seizing 
 and securing the same, for the preservation of the 
 peice and the safety of the lives and properties of 
 his Majesty's perceable and Icyd subjects.” 
 
 3. ** Resolved — That from the manj attacks which 
 have been made on the houses of individuals by 
 large bodies of armed insurgents, for the purpose 
 of taking money and arms by force, and murdering 
 those who had the spirit to enforce the laws or 
 give information against offenders, it will be neces- 
 sary that the magistracy should have enlarged 
 powers to prevent such bodies hereafter from as- 
 sembling or meeting either to plan or execute sveh 
 horrid purposes. 
 
 “ 4. Resolved — That it will be necessary to give 
 the magistra-'y further powers with respect to va* 
 gahond?, idle and disorderly persons, and to per 
 sons liable to be deemed so, or who have no lawful 
 trade, or any honest means to obtain a livelihood.* 
 
 A spirit of impartiality could not ignore the im- 
 portance of these resolutions at such a time. It 
 may be faid that they were to some extent ren- 
 dered necessary to a .'Government whose firsi- ir- 
 stincts must ever be those of self-preservation. 
 Still, though it must he admitted that affairs a 
 this period in Ireland were assuming a threaten- 
 ing aspect, they were nothing hut the necessary 
 outcome of persecution. Il» was a condition which 
 the Government had desired for year?. And even 
 if the Adm'nistration sought an tffectaal remedy 
 
40 
 
 IIISTORT OR OKATfGEISM. 
 
 they bad it in the ordinary p >wers of the lawr whicVi 
 were alb-veed to remain inactive or u:ed only by a 
 prejudiced and malignant magistracy to aggravate 
 the feelings of a people already driven to 
 despair. But the complaint, as will be seen 
 from the debate \ibich follows, and from the inci- 
 dents 1 have yet to relate, was not to the resolu- 
 tions themselves but to the unfair manner in 
 which the Acts based upen them shonld be admi- 
 nistered. Ic may he interesting to state that the 
 only persfui in the House who was found to oppose 
 those resolutions was the il'-fat^d Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald, at d of this opposition Plowden remarks 
 •— ** His unfortunate end may affix a retrospective 
 import to his conduct, perhaps,before he harboured 
 the dreadful designs which tarnished the latter 
 period of his life. 
 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald said — Sir, I stall 
 oppose this resolution” [they were proposed separ- 
 ately] “ because I think that this resolution will 
 not prevent the crimes of which the r’gtt hon. 
 gentleman complains. The disturbances of the 
 country, sir, are rot to be remedied by any coercive 
 measures, however strong; such measures wi’l 
 tend rather to exasperate than to remove the evil. 
 Nothing, sir, can effect this and restore 
 tranquility to t e country but a serif us 
 and candid endeavour of Government, and 
 of this Douse, to redress the grievances of the 
 people. Kedress thoze, and the people will return 
 to their allegiance and their duty ; suffer them to 
 continue, and neither your resolutions nor your 
 Bill will have any effect. I shall, therefore, sir, 
 oppose not only this resolution, but all the resolu- 
 tions » h'-ih right hon. gentleman has read to 
 you excepc, perhaps, one — that which goes to cou- 
 etitule the written testimony of a dying witness 
 good evidence. This, I think, is fair, and likely to 
 facilitate the course of justice, without violently 
 infringing, as all the other resolutions seem to do, 
 the liUrty of the subject.” 
 
 Mr. Vandaleur perfectly agreed with the 
 Attorney General as to the necessity of adopting 
 some strong measures at that juncture. With 
 respect to the last of the resolutions — that which 
 related to the investing of the magistracy with 
 new powers— he should cot now give ary opinion. 
 Of the others he heartily approved, though he 
 could not help expressing a wish that they Lad 
 taken some robice of the wanton and barbarous 
 outrages which had been conamitted by the Peeu o* 
 Day Boys (or Orangemen), as wel as those of which 
 the Defenders had been guilty. 
 
 On llw* 21st, when the Attorney .General’s four 
 resolutions were read, 
 
 Mr. Grattan rose and said that he had heard the 
 right hon. gen4eman*s statement, and did not sup- 
 pose it to be inflamed. But be must observe at the 
 same time that it was partial. He did, m leed, expa- 
 tiate vtry fully and justly on the offerees of the De- 
 fenders, but with respect to another description of 
 Insurgents, whose barbarities had excited general 
 abhorrence, he had observed a complete 
 silence; that he had proceeded to enumerate the 
 counties tl at ^•^ere affl cted by disturbances, and he 
 h\d omitted Armagh. Of that county neither had 
 he comprehended the outrages in his general de- 
 scription, nor in his particular enumeration. Of 
 those out.ages Le (Mr. Grattan) had received the 
 most dreadful accounts; that the object of the 
 Orangemen was the saiermmaiioaof all the Catholics. 
 It was a persecution conceived in the biiterness of 
 bigotry, carried on with the most ferocious bar- 
 barity, by a banditti, who being of the religion 
 of the State, had committed with the greatest 
 audacity and confidence, the most horrid murders, 
 and had proceeded in robbery and murder to 
 extermir ation ; that they had repealed by their 
 own authority all the laws lately passed in favour 
 of 'the Catholics, and established in the place of 
 those laws the inquisition of a mob resembling 
 Lord George Gordon’s fanatics, equalling them in 
 outrage, and surpassing them far in perseverance 
 and success. Their modes of outrage were as 
 numerous as they were atrocious; they sometimes 
 forced by terror the masters of families to dismiss 
 their Catholic servants ; they sometimes forced 
 landlords by terror to dism’ss the’r Catholic 
 tenantry; they seized as deserters numbers of 
 Catholic weavers, sent them to the County Jail, 
 transmitted them to Dublin, where they remained 
 in dose prison until some lawyers, from compassion, 
 pleaded their cause and procured their enlarge- 
 meit — nothing appearing against them of any bind 
 whatsoever. I; hose insurgents, who called them- 
 selves Orange Boys, or Protestant Boys — that is, 
 a banditti of murderers, committing massacre in 
 the name of Gcd, and exercising despotic power in 
 the name of liberty— those insurgents had orga- 
 nised their rebellion and formed themsdves into a 
 committee, who sat and tried the Catholic weavers 
 and inhabitants when apprehended falsely and 
 illegally as deserters. That rebellious committee 
 they called the committee of elders, who, when the 
 unfortunate Catholic was torn from his family and 
 his loom, and brought before them, in judgment 
 
IITSTOUT OF ORA.XGEISM. 
 
 47 
 
 apoa his cise — if tbe^ gave the o liqaor or money 
 they sometimes dischaiged him — ochf^rwise th^•y 
 cent him to the recruiting officer as a deserter. 
 They had very generally given the Catholics notice 
 to quit their f um? an T dwellings, which notice 
 was plos^-eredon their nouses, and conceived in 
 these short but plain words — “ Glo to hell, Con- 
 naught won’t receive you— tire and faggot. WiU 
 Treaham and John Thrustoul.” They followed 
 those notices by a faithful aid ] unctual execution 
 of the horrid threat, and soon after visited the 
 houses, robbed the family, and destroyed what they 
 did not take, and finally complete I the atrocious 
 persecution by furcirg the unfortunate inhabitants 
 to leave tleir Ian 1, thei; d wel ings, and their trade, 
 and to travel with their miserable family 
 and with whatever their miserable family con'd 
 save from the wreck of their house’s and tenements, 
 and take refuge in villages or fortifications against 
 invaders, where they described themselves, as he 
 had seen in their affilavits, in the following man- 
 ner: — “We , fo-'merly of Armagh, weavers, 
 
 now of no fixed place of abode, or means of liv^ing, 
 &c. In many instances this banditti of persecu- 
 tors threw down the houses of the tenantry, or 
 what they called racked the hiuses, so that the 
 family must fly, or te buried in the grave of their 
 own cabin. The extent of the muiders that had 
 been committed by that atrocious and rebellous 
 b-inditti we had heard, but had not so ascertained 
 as to state them to the hour, but from all the in- 
 quiries we could make we collected that the inha- 
 bitants o? Armagh had been actually put out of 
 the law; that the magistrates had leen 
 supine or partial, and that *he horrid banditT 
 had met with complete success, and from the 
 magistracy very little discouragement. This 
 horrid persecuct .on, this abominable barbarity, an 3 
 this genernal extermination bad been acknowledged 
 by the magistrates, who found that the evil had 
 now proceeded to so shameful an excess that it had 
 at length obliged them to cry out against it. [ Che 
 speaker, as we find from the debater, here alluded 
 to the remarkable pronouncement of Lo»*d Gosford 
 and t ) the resolutions passed by the thirty magis- 
 trates of the county, which have been already 
 quoted.l 
 
 Proceeding Mr. GraHan remarked — It was said 
 by the mover of the resolution t^hat of the Defend- 
 ers multitudes had been hanged, multitudes had 
 been put to death on the field, and that they were 
 suppressed though they were not extinguished j 
 but with regard to the outrages on the Orange 
 
 ti lys he could mike no sub b'*ast:, on the contrary 
 th-^y ha 1 ru; t wit i imputy, and success, and 
 triumph; they ha t t iumphed over the law, they 
 iia I triumphed over the magistrates, and they had 
 triumphed over the peonle. There persecution, 
 rebel'ion, inquisition, murder, robbery, devastation 
 an.l e.Kterrn nitio 1 hal botn entirely victorious. 
 The pissing over these offences in the statement 
 introducing the reso'ution, w>'uld be of little 
 inornet t, if they were not also paiied over in the 
 resolutions themselves ; the resobitions described 
 fourdff;reat kinds of offences; 1st, attempts to 
 asspssicate migi^trates ,2 id, to murder witnesses j 
 3rd, to pluudjr Louses; -lb, to seize 
 by force the arms of His Mijesty’s sub- 
 ject; but of attempts to seize the persona 
 of his Maj^-sty’s subjects, and to force them to 
 abandon their lauds and h ibitations ; the resolution 
 s'lid not one fybahle; crimes not less great, nor 
 less notorious, and more emphatically calling for 
 the interposition of the State, because they had 
 triumphed over the supineuess of the magistracy, 
 and had no chance of being checked, but by the 
 interposition ©f the Government or Parliament. 
 In the other lesolntions, which desfribed that kind 
 of armed insurgency, which the magistracy were 
 to prevent by extraordinary exertions, the crime of 
 driving away his Majesty’s subjects is also omitted- 
 The words were — “That from tbe many attempts 
 which have b en made on the homes of the indi- 
 vidual by large bodies of armed insurgents for the 
 purpose of taking arms and money by force, and 
 murdering those who had the spirit to enforce the 
 law, or give information against offenders^ 
 it will be necessary t^* gi^^e the magistrates 
 enlarged powers ; !’ “ attempts made on the 
 
 houses of indi^iiduals to rob or take arms;** 
 “ attempts to murder witnesses ” — those 
 Were the offences which attracted their notice, but 
 the attempt to exter nmite his Majesty’s subjects 
 — attempts in part completed, whicn were very 
 different from seizing arms, or takieg money, or 
 murdering witnesse- — these attempts and perpe- 
 trations, as notoiious as horrible, appeared to be 
 neither in the contemplation of the resolutions nor 
 of the member who moved them. Turns the silence 
 of the resolutions might become a hint to the 
 supineness of tbe niagistracy, and where they 
 should have counteracted their par iality, gave it 
 countenance. On a further examination of tbe resolu- 
 tions he found them not merely defective in describ- 
 ing tbe offence, but they seemed to have omitted the 
 remedy; certainly the giving magistrates further 
 
43 
 
 HT^TOTtT OP ORANOEISM. 
 
 powers to seal ch for arms and amaiunition, tr to 
 prevent from assembling or meeting bodies of men 
 assembling for the purpose of taking arms abd 
 money, or murdering witnesses; or the giving 
 the magistrates enlarged power to seize vagabonds 
 for the fleet or army, did not go to the case of 
 Armagh, where the subjects complained, that they 
 had been seized as deserters, falsely and illegally, 
 through the supineness or partiali y, or connivance 
 of the magistrate?; and through the same supine- 
 ness, to say no worse, had been by force driven 
 with impunity from their lands and habitations. 
 Many of the weavers of Armagh had at that 
 moment sworn against the magistrates. To give 
 the magistrates extraordinary powers as the means 
 of redressing the complaints, seemed to him, how- 
 ever, a remedy for some part of the kingdom, 
 but a very inadequate one for another. In short, 
 the measure of the right honouroble gentleman 
 in its present shape, did not go to the whole of 
 the situation of the country. It did not gc to re- 
 dress the North ; it was, therefore, a defective 
 measure; it was a partial description of the cu*'- 
 rages of the kingdom, and a partial remedy ; it 
 proposed to suspend the operation of the Constitu- 
 tion, with a view to produce peace, leaving at the 
 same time, in one great county, violence and in- 
 surrection in a state of triumph. It left the families 
 of Armagh, whom a violent mob, and a supam 
 magistracy had caused to abandon their dwellings 
 — it left them without any certainty of redress, so 
 that they might carry themselves and theii 
 families, and tales of woe to their brethern in th^ 
 other parts of the kingdom, and spread the flames 
 of discontent, and spirit of retaliation, notwit n- 
 stand'ng the members Bills and resolutions. On 
 principle, therefore, that it was necessary for the 
 redress of that description cf subjects, who 
 had suffered in Armagh, that the magistrates 
 should be called upon to act for the 
 protection of the subject, and that the country 
 should be obliged to pay those inhabitants, who had 
 been aggrieved, full compensation for all their 
 losses, charges, and distress, he had taken the 
 liberty to suggest to the right hon. member 
 amendments which he did not move, because the 
 Attorney-General ought to have moved them, and 
 made them his own measure. T he amendments 
 be suggested were, after the words ‘‘to seize by 
 force of aims,” to add, “and also the persons of 
 bis Majesty’s suljects, and to force them to 
 abandon ♦heir lands and habitations and in the 
 thiid resolution, after the woids “ to murder those 
 
 who had the spirit to give information,” to add 
 “ a’s^ att“mp ing to seize the persons, and obliging 
 his Maj^>sty’s subjects by force to abandon their 
 lands and habitations.*' 
 
 Sir Lawrence Parsons arraigned the Govern- 
 ment for not having timely sent a general officer 
 and a mi itary force to the dipourbed parts of the 
 North as they had dooe to the South, particularly 
 as lord Camden had avowedly come over to resist 
 the Catholic claims. 
 
 The Attorney- General opposed Mr. Grattan*8 
 amendment. He said he had, throughout the whole 
 of those resolutions, avoided making any distinc- 
 tion as to persons. They were intended for general 
 good, and persons of every class would partake of 
 their benofits. Were the amendments received, 
 they would have a different complexion. 
 
 Mr. Secretary Pelham followed on the same 
 ground. If no general officer was sent to the 
 North, it was because they were all before 
 engaged. An officer, however, was sen^", and an 
 experienced officer (Colonel Craddock). Upon this 
 officer the secretary delivered a high eulogium 
 both as to his character and capacity. He further 
 mentioned that Lord Camden did not come over to 
 oppress any part of his Majesty’s subjects, but to 
 afford equal protection to all. 
 
 Colonel Craddock avowed that he had the most 
 decided instructions from Government to act in 
 the commission, in which he had been employed, 
 with equal justice to all offenders. He had hceu 
 assisted by General Nugent, end such was the 
 nature of the disturbance that, after repeated con- 
 sideration, they could see no possible way in which 
 the troops could be employed. He therefore re- 
 commended his recall in letters to Government, 
 as he thought that be could he of no use. He 
 admitted that the conduct of the Protestants, called 
 Peep o’ Day Boys (tne Orangemen), in the County 
 of Armagh, was at that time most atrocious, and 
 that their barbarous practices must certainly he 
 put down, but at the same time he must mention 
 that in September last the Catholics were the 
 aggressors. 
 
 Mr. Grattan, in reply, observed tbat the emend- 
 ment appeared the more necesary from what fell 
 from an honourable member, a magistrate of the 
 County Armagh, who dissenting from every ether 
 person, had spoken of the use of what he called 
 Orange Boys; of the services rerdered by these 
 murderers this atrocious landitti ; the Nor- 
 thern rebels whose larlarity exceeded rre 
 dein limes and brought back the reco 
 
 E 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 49 
 
 lection of ancient ferocity and bloodshed. 
 He asked gentlemen who had heard the magis- 
 trates apologise for such murderers whether in- 
 creasing the power of the magistracy would be cf 
 itself sufiGlcient to redress the sufferings of the 
 Northern Catholics. He must, therefore, persist in 
 recommending to the right hon. gentleman his 
 amendments, which, if he persisted to refuse, it 
 was vain for him to move them, lamenting, at the 
 same time, that he should have lost an opportunity 
 of so clearly displaying what he must presume he 
 wished — impartiality and justice. 
 
 The Attorney-General presented the Bill, which 
 was read a first time, and ordered to be read a 
 second time the next day. 
 
 On the second reading of the Insurrection Bill 
 Sir Lawrence Parsons said he thought that a Bill 
 80 severe in its nature should have been preceded 
 by some measure which would evince the dis- 
 position of the House to attend as well to the suf- 
 ferings as to the offences of the people. If the 
 design were to tranquillise the country it would 
 have been right first to have inquired into the 
 cause of f" e disturbance before such severe mea- 
 sures were taken to repress them. If,” said he, 
 the root of the evil were once come at, the evil 
 itself would have been easily removed ; but by 
 applying merely to the effect, the cause of the evil 
 was left untouched, and the consequence would 
 be that it would continue to germinate new evils.” 
 He was willing to admit that the situation of 
 the country was rather improved, but who 
 would deny that the peasantry of Ireland were still 
 m’serable to a very great degree. Let gentlemen 
 enter into tbe cabin of an Irish labourer, and see it 
 without a chimney, often without a fire, and some- 
 times without food,* and then compare his state 
 with the affluence, the elegance, and the pomp with 
 which the casual circumstances of birth surround 
 themselves. Having expressed a hope that no man 
 would impute to him a desire to inflame the popular 
 mind,he said the Bill was unnecessarily severe, was a 
 useless violation of the first principles of the Con- 
 stitution, and that, instead of doing service, it was 
 likely to produce the opposite effect. He could not 
 
 • I cannot allow this expression to pass without drawing' 
 the reader's attention to the startling fact that in the long 
 interval of nigh a centu-y which has elapsed since these 
 strikingly truthful words fell from Sir Lawrence Parsons in 
 the Irish House of Commons no progress has been made in 
 the condition of the suffering people whose misery he then 
 deplored. In 1881, as in 1796, tbe peasantry of Ireland are 
 “still miserable to! a ve^y great degree the Irish labou er 
 knows quite as little now as he did then of the luxuries of a 
 fire or a chimney, while long-continued privation seems to 
 have made him all but superior to the necessaries of life. 
 Yet we boast the progress of this nineteenth century ! 
 
 bring himself to think that the Irish country 
 gentlemen wished to drive their chariot wheels over 
 the necks of the people j they wished only to restore 
 tranquillity, but certainly they would not surrealer 
 the established constitution as an experiment. It 
 wa? a peculiar quality of tbe common people of 
 Ireland that they communicated quickly their plea- 
 sures and their discontents, and he argued that 
 magistrates having the power, without the form of 
 trial by jury, to send suspected people out of the 
 kingdom would only aggravate the disorders. If 
 this law would probably be a cause of discontent to 
 every quarter of the country, how much more 
 so must it be in the County Armagh ? 
 In that county it had been proved on oath that 
 several magistrates refused to take the depositions 
 of the injured Catholics. By some of those magis- 
 trates they had been most cruelly prosecuted ; 
 others would hear them only out of the window, 
 and some actually turned them from their doors 
 with threats. If such men were entrusted with a 
 power of transporting men at pleasure, what was 
 to be expected but the most gross and flagrant 
 violation of justice ? As they were then engaged 
 in a war of which the wisest could not foresee the 
 event, it might become necessary to appeal for 
 assistance against the enemy to those very persons. 
 It would, therefore, be wise to include some clause 
 of amnesty for past offences, excepting murders. 
 To neglect it would be to reduce the Irish peasantry 
 to the alternative of either persisting in guilt and 
 treason or si^bmitting to the halter. 
 
 Mr. Archdale, in the course of the debate, re- 
 ferred to the affairs of Armagh; professed habits 
 of intimacy with the noble lord (Gosford), whose 
 letter or speech upon the condition of that county 
 had made such a noise ; he declared he thought 
 the letter incautious, and such as the noble lord on 
 reflection would not approve of; he finally recom- 
 mended rather the conduct of that nobleman than 
 his publication as an object for imitation. 
 
 At two o’clock in the morning the Bill was read 
 a second time, the young Lord Edward Fitzgerald 
 being found alone in opposing it on the question 
 for committal. 
 
 The subject we are now considering is an all 
 important one vitally affecting the question 
 whether the Armagh magistrates countenanced 
 and fostered Orangeism in its extermination of the 
 Catholic inhabitants of that county, and (whether 
 their doing so was connived at by, or in obedience 
 to, the Administration of the day. I will therefore 
 take the liberty of quoting one other extract from 
 
 L 
 
50 
 
 HISTORY OR OKziNGEISM. 
 
 these impDrtant debates. 
 
 When the report from the Committee on the 
 Attorney-General’s BJl for the better prevention 
 of.conspiracies in Ireland, was before the Ho ise on 
 the 29 h Fcbrnary, Mr. Grattan* asked to have 
 the Bill recommitted as he wished to propose an 
 amendment to compel the country to pay the 
 countryman, whether labourer or manufacturer, full 
 compensation for damages and loss to his person, 
 family, or dwelling suffered in consequence of 
 violent mobs. He was apprehensive that if the 
 compensation were left to the Grand Jury nothing 
 would be done. The Grand Jury would readily 
 present for damages suffered by magistrates or 
 witnesses, but they probably would not, in ihe County 
 Armagh particularly, give any adequate or indeed 
 any satisfaction for losses suffered by the Catholic 
 weaver or peasant. Government trifled with the 
 Northern weaver, when he sent him for satisfaction 
 to a iGrand Jury composed of those very magis- 
 trates, whose supineness, or bigotry, or partiality 
 had been'the cause of his loss or of his emigration. 
 The Bill complained of violence to magistrate, 
 of the murd-^r of witnesses, of illegal oaths ; but of 
 the threats, and force and violence offered to cer- 
 iam of his Majesty’s subjects (referring to tbe Ca- 
 tholics of County Armagh) whereby they had been 
 forced to quit their trades, their lands, and their 
 tenements, outrages of which the governor of a Nor- 
 thern county had complained as unexampled in his- 
 tory, and to which violence and atrocity the magis- 
 trates of the county had borne testimony of a formal 
 resolution, there was inBlll complete silence and 
 omission. The Bill, Mr. Grattan, continued, pro- 
 poses to give extra power to magistrates. This 
 may be very effectual as to ceitain parts of the 
 country. But what are the grievances of Armagh ? 
 That the magistrates have not used the 
 ordinary powers, and in some cases they 
 have abused those powers in such a man- 
 ner that the subject has not been pro* 
 tected, and that the rioter' had been encouraged. 
 The Bill, therefore, punishes disturbance in one 
 part of the kingdom, while it compromises with 
 disturbance in another ; it says — if you murder a 
 magisirate you shall pay his representative, but of 
 you drive away whole droves of weavers from 
 Armagh, you shall pay nothing except those per- 
 sons by whose fault they have been driven away 
 and scattered over tb© whole face of tbe earth. 
 
 The Attorney-general replied to Mr. Grattan 
 His argument admitted the description of the state 
 
 of the County Armagh, given by the hon. member ; 
 for he said those offences called papering — viz., the 
 expulsion of persons in Armagh from their lands 
 and habitations, by affixing written threats upon 
 their houses were already made a felony of death 
 by the Acts of the 15th and 16th of George II.* 
 He suggested (no doubt in satire) that the hon. 
 gentlemau should bring in a Bill if he wished to 
 amend the existing law. 
 
 Sir Lawrence Parsons complained of the nn- 
 lirrited power the Bill gave for encroachment upon 
 the liberties of the Press, as, according to one of its 
 clauses, eyery printer and bookseller in the king- 
 dom could be taken at the will of any two magis- 
 trates. and sent cn board the fleet. He continued 
 — Yet that is but a subordinate part of the present 
 Bdl. Look at the other clauses ; in every one of 
 them the same summary power deposited in the 
 same persons Now, if the popular disturbances 
 made it necessary to deposit an arbitrary power 
 somewhere, would it not be wise to pause a little 
 and consider where it best might be deposited ? 
 Was it with the magistrates ? Men, in order to be 
 good judges, should be cool and impartial, but in 
 all disturbed counties the magistrates, instead of 
 being cool are in a high state of inflammation 
 against the objects of that Bill, and it is natural 
 th?t ifc should be so. They were not to be repre- 
 hended for that, but certainly on that account, they 
 were among the last persons that should be en- 
 trusted with an uncontrolable power. And so far 
 from being impartial, it was impossible that they 
 should be so, for they were themselves parties. 
 What was the temper observable in that house ? 
 There, from superior manners and education, the 
 human passions wore much mitigated, and they 
 saw far more temper and clemency in that house 
 than could be expected from the inferior magis- 
 trates in the country. Yet what was the fact? 
 That even there, everything said, however violent, 
 against the disturbers of the peace was received 
 with ; plaudits, but if anything be said to soften 
 over-charged resentments and mix mercy with 
 punishment it was received with discontent and 
 murmurs. He alluded to the religious feud exist- 
 ing in Armagh between the Orangemen and the 
 Defenders, and said that the result of this Bill 
 would be that a person, without any form of 
 
 * This was so. 'But Mr. Grat an’s argument was that 
 the oi'dmary powers of the law had not been used, or were 
 abused. It is peculiarly suggestive that in the whole County 
 Armagh during this period not one person, so far as can be 
 a certained, was tiled or sentenced for this description of 
 felony under the 15th and 16th George II, 
 
 16 Parliamentary Debates, page 1 
 
niSTOBT OF OJ1A.NGEISM. 
 
 51 
 
 trial, withouj aay regular julge or jury, 
 might on the warrant o? two magistrates, be torn 
 from the bisom oE his family ani sent on boird 
 the fleet: — for what ? Not for being a defender, or 
 any way connected with Defenders, but for being 
 a little too late or a little too early in going in or 
 coming out of his hovel. Gentlemen talk of the 
 mischief of inflaming the people, but he would tel^ 
 them that one such act uc justly done would in- 
 flame them more than wh-at could be said in that 
 House for ages. It was not what they might say, 
 but what they were going to empower others to do 
 that would iaflame them. 
 
 In this debate not one of the speakers at- 
 tempted to contradict or even to extenuate 
 the guilt of the Orangemen cf Armagh. Mr* 
 Giorge Ponsonby said the enormities committed 
 in the county Armagh had been declared to be l:e- 
 yond any that had ever disgraced a ccuaty. If the 
 Administration were sincere they could not hesitate 
 for one moment to adopt the amendment. 
 
 After a heated debate the question was nega- 
 tived without a division. Parliament was pro- 
 rogued on the 15th Apiil without any other debate 
 cf interest; 
 
 To add further corroboration to the charge 
 against the Government of complicity with and 
 connivance at the outrages of the Armagh Orange- 
 men, I might quote extensively from the debates 
 of the succeeding session, when Government in- 
 troduced the Habeas Corpus Act, hut relying upon 
 the foregoing and upon the few historical facts 
 that are to follow, I forbear doing so lest I be open 
 to the charge of unnecessary tediousness in ccrro- 
 borating what is now a matter of authentic history. 
 Both in and cut of Parliament this serious 
 accusation was levelled at the Camden 
 Administraiion, the only reply upon all sides 
 being an ominous silence. As to the outrages 
 themselves no one dare attempt to deny them. 
 As will be seen from the debates quoted, the 
 Ministers themselves admitted their existence. 
 Upon the authority of an interesting parophleb 
 dealing with those times and written by the cele- 
 brated Capt. Pock,” the statements contained in 
 the address or Lord Gosford were corroborated by no 
 less a personage tfcau a Mr. Macau, the sovereign 
 of Armagh ; but this fact, I am bound to say, I do 
 not find elsewhere mentioned. To substantiate the 
 truthfulness of this address no proofs are wanting. 
 The chief difficulty to a writer upon those times is 
 a judicious selection for the purpose from the 
 mass of facts presented to him. 
 
 Three Orangemen voluntary made oath before a 
 magistrate of the Counties of Down and Armagh 
 that <^hey met in committees, amongst whom were 
 some members of Parliament who gave their people 
 money and promised they should not suffer for ary 
 act they might commit, and pledged themselves 
 that they should “ hereafter he provided for under 
 the auspices of the Government.” The magis- 
 trate, before whom this startling information 
 was made, wrote to the Secretary of State 
 inquiring how he should act in these 
 criwical times ; that hitherto he had preserved 
 peace on his large estate, but he wished to know 
 how he should act in future ; that if it were neces- 
 sary for the preservation of the present system for 
 him to connive at or encourage the Orangemen in 
 their depredations, he as a man knew his 
 duty. If it were not necessary, he hoped the magis- 
 trates of the county would be held responsible, and 
 be compelled to act against these depredators.* 
 It is further stated that the Executive neglected 
 for several months to reply to this pertinent inquiry, 
 and when at last it did vouchsafe a response it was 
 dictated in such vague terms as to be utterly devoid 
 of reason. 
 
 In the spring of 1796 a large number of delegates 
 from the various Orange bodies met in the city of 
 Armagh. Here, at what was possibly the first 
 delegated meeting of this body, they entered into 
 various resolutions which they published in print. 
 One of those resolutions contained a recommenda- 
 tion to the gentry of fortune to open a public sub- 
 scrip ion in support of the organisation, declaring 
 that tin two guineas per man allowed them hg Go~ 
 vernment was not sufficient to purchase clothes and 
 accoutren-jcntSs These resolutions were published 
 in Mr. Giffard^s Dublin Journal and also in FalJcners 
 Journal of that period, and are sufficient in 
 themselves to show that the Orangemen had not 
 been six months in organi, ation until they were 
 taken into the secret pay of the Government; no 
 doubt on the undertaking that they would do the 
 behests of a vile Administration of which Pitt and 
 his underling Camden were the dictators. No 
 wonder Mr. Grattan was found to exclaim That 
 the audacity of the Armagh mob arose from a con- 
 fidence in the connivance of the Government; 
 under an Admistration sent thither to defeat a 
 Catholic Bill, a Protestant mob very naturally con- 
 ceived itself a part of the State, and exercised the 
 power of life or death, of transportat’on, of murder, 
 and of rape, with triumph.” Had the ascendancy 
 
 * Plowden’s Hist. Eeview, £47. 
 
52 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 party of those days not shown a willingness to con- 
 strue even the inaction of the Government into a 
 sanction of their acts, however bloody, they could 
 not have transmitted the desire that permeates 
 their successors of the present day, and prompts 
 the foolish boasts, an exclusive loyalty, and a right 
 cf entree up the back stairs of Dublin Castle. 
 
 In those days the star of Dungannon had set. 
 The representative of a bloody faction usurped 
 the seat of the once famous Volunteers. Though 
 these men m have legislated with a view 
 to their particular interests though’; empty 
 pockets may have inspired their patriotism ; 
 though their views did not extend beyond those 
 petty measures which they foolishly thought were 
 calculated to replenish them ; though they voted 
 Ireland free, and left live-sixths of her people in 
 bondage, like, as it has been truly said, the English 
 barons of old, who extorted a charter from their 
 monarch, but refused to untie the fetters of 
 their vassals ; still comparatively they were 
 men of tolerance, and if they did not free 
 their fellow, men they refusid to persecute 
 them. In little more tlau a dozen years 
 behold the change ! The children who in and 
 about this neighbourhood had looked with admira- 
 tion upon the glancing sabres of the Volunteers, 
 and, emulating them, no doubt played at 
 soldiers as a pastime, who listened to 
 
 the beat of drum and the blast of trumpet when all 
 mustered for parade, were now in the prime 
 of life arrayed in hostile camps, one side 
 preserving the glorious memories of the past, and 
 foremost in the ranks of the people; the other, 
 wise in their generation, and first amongst their 
 oppressors. It is told by Mr. Plowden that a Mr. 
 James Verner — ominous name ! — was nominated 
 for the borough of Dungannon by Lord 
 Northland. He was by profession an attorney, by 
 trade a magistrate, and by commission a Parlia- 
 ment man. He was then, as he continued long 
 afterwards to be, prominently conspicuous for per- 
 secuting the Catholics — for, of course, all the 
 Verners were Orangemen. His uncle, also an 
 attorney, had by professional “ and other means 
 realised a very considerable property in those parts* 
 which he devised to the youngest son of Mr. James 
 Verner. Amongst other exploits of this purple 
 Orangeman he eviscerated the estate of his own 
 son by ruining and exterminating ninety-six 
 Catholic families who were tenants upon it. Mr. 
 James Verner’s corps of yeomanry displayed their 
 zeal and prowess on their way to church on Sun- 
 
 day by firing into a congregation of Catholics (in a 
 chapel near Tartarahan) whilst attending the rites 
 of their own religion, wounding several, and 
 some mortally.’" On their return they razed t^e 
 chapel in the presence of Mr. Obery, J.P., 
 whose two sons were actively employed in it 
 and who, with a thrift, that brands them 
 as plunderers, instead of fanatics, afterwards con- 
 verted the principal timber into looms for their own 
 use. These ingenious youths were, it is stated by 
 the same authority, in the habit of selling written 
 protections weekly to Catholics, and upon the biack 
 mail not being forthcoming the impoverished 
 weavers were left to meet the general fate of their 
 exterminated brethren. These Verners lived in the 
 County Armagh. 
 
 Messrs. Ford, Greer, and Brownlow, three 
 Lurgan magistrates, were next to Mr. Verner, the 
 mcst conspicuous in fostering and encouraging 
 this Buddha of bigotry, the Orange Association. 
 On their estates they had mostly Catholic tenantry 
 from whom their agents readily obtained a sur- 
 render of their arms. No sooner had this surren- 
 der been effected than notice was actually given 
 by Mr. Ford, J.P., to the Orangemen of the locality, 
 who, in that district of Armagh, were very 
 numerous, that they would be safe in 
 plundering that part of the country, as 
 the Catholics were totally disarmed. On the 
 Sunday following the day upon which the notice 
 was furnished by this exemplary Armagh Justice 
 of the Peace the O^rangemen crossed the River 
 Bann in boats, and indiscriminately attacked, 
 plundered, and destroyed all the property belong-^ 
 ing to the Catholic residents. Two of Mr. Ford’s 
 most respectable Catholic tenants, whose webs and 
 yarns, with their houses and furniture, had been 
 destroyed^ applied to their landlord for counsel, 
 confident of redress. He briefly told them if they 
 would read their recantation and become Protes- 
 tants they would be protected. The surrender of 
 the arms of Mr. Ford’s tenents was made on Satur- 
 day, and early on the next morning he set out for 
 Dundalk.* The surrendered arms were put into 
 the hands of the Orangemen by his servants, and 
 were actually employed in exterminating the 
 disarmed owners. “ The example,” says the nar- 
 rator, ‘^of Mr. Ford was followed by other magis- 
 trates.” 
 
 The reader will recall the name of Mr. Coile. 
 
 * This gentleman wn s Collector of Cnstoms at Dnndalk. 
 From this office he was discharged soon after the incident 
 related above, having been detected inteeveral gross frauds 
 upon tne Revenue. It would no^ be difficult to fathom the 
 depths of this gentleman’s “ loyal y.” 
 
HISTOET OE OEANaEISM. 
 
 53 
 
 The principal part of that gentleman’s property was 
 in the bands of Lurq;an weavers, and was at this 
 time destroyed by the Orange rioters, under the 
 sanction ( f the Lurgan magistracy. He applied 
 for redress to Mr. Greer, one of the famous Lurgan 
 trio, but the “ justice” refused to take informations 
 or grant warrants, notwithstanding that there were 
 four persons besides the prosecutor ready to identify 
 the culprits. Mr. Ocile, a man of iidepond nt 
 mind, but who suffered for his independence, \ r )ie- 
 cuted Mr. Greer at the Armagh Ass’zes. He was 
 found guilty upon four counts, so fligrint were the 
 offgnccs and so pointed the directicu of the judge. 
 He was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, 
 fi led in .£230, sU’uck off the Commission of the 
 peace, and committed to Newgate. It may 
 be thought that there was weeping and 
 wailing amongst the Orangemen that this 
 ^taunch supporter of ascendancy was thus treated 
 by an ungrateful Administration. Not so. In the 
 solemn farce each man knew his part. Greer ’ =1 fine 
 of il200 was reduced to sixpence. Lord Clare re- 
 stored him to the Commission of the Peace. Write 
 he was a convicted and imprisoned felon he held the 
 sinecure office of General Inspector of Ulster under 
 the Lineu Board, and secured, through the interest 
 of Mr. Foster, an rdlitioual allowance of iliOO per 
 year with leave ta take his sou as Assistant-In- 
 spector. A conspiracy was in the meantime got up 
 against Mr. Coile, h aded by Mr. Brownlow, J.P.^ 
 resulting in his being cast into prison upon a 
 trumped-up charge of distributmg ball cartridge 
 amenget paxiists. The Sev. Mr. Mansell, J P., the 
 bloodthirsty evangeliser of Portadown, before whom 
 
 CHAPTER Xir.— THE ORANGE 
 
 I HAVE referred at the close of the last chapter to 
 the case of Mr. Bernard Coile, Lurgan. His suffer- 
 ings at the hands of an Orange magistracy and an 
 Orange Administration were so acute and so 
 peculiarly harsh that the proofs of them deserve 
 consideration. I, therefore, think it right, his case 
 having been the rule rather than the exception of 
 those times, to devote a chapter of this history to 
 the reproduction of two highly important docu- 
 ments which fe w of my readers have had an oppor- 
 tunity of perusing. They are to he found hidden away 
 in the musty records of those times. And though we 
 might well afford to pass them over as furnishing 
 what must be considered only corroboration to facts 
 already stated, they are such interesting relics of 
 the past that their existence should not be wholly 
 lost sight of, particularly as I have reason to believe 
 
 the informations were sworn, induced such of them 
 as were or had been Cathclics to read their recan- 
 tation before being ex imined.* Mr. Coile was 
 confined for eight months in prison vainly entreat- 
 ing and urging to be put upon his trial. Feur of 
 the conspirators, touched with remorse, swore be- 
 fore magistrates that they had been suborned to 
 swear falsely against him, some of them 
 stating that they had been rewarded for doing so. 
 Mr. Coile, after eight months’ imprisonment, was 
 enlarged without trial, and was prevented from 
 prosecuting the conspirators because ‘‘his own 
 tr’al was hanging over him.” Ever after he was a 
 “ marked man.” 
 
 At the Spring Assizes of 179'?, more than 103 
 Orangemen were trieJ. The witnesses were way- 
 laid und murdered, and the jury intimidated. 
 Eleven of the banditti were found guilty, and one 
 — 1 Protestant dissenter — was alone executed, the 
 remainder being let loose upon +he country to 
 carry on the bloody work of a bloody Administra- 
 tion. 
 
 These are but a few of the many instances that 
 could be quoted from authentic sources to prove 
 that the Government, the tnagistrates of Armagh 
 and the adjoining counties, and the Orangemen 
 were in league ; for what piirpcse their acts best 
 demonstrate. 
 
 * “ The following is a copy of a certificate given to one 
 Janies Murray on this occasioi : — ‘ James Murray, of 
 Dsryhosua, came before me this day and. renounced the errors 
 of tiie Church of Kome, rnd embraced the Protestant Faith 
 as hy law establishei.’ George Mansell, Prum, January 13, 
 17.G,” 
 
 REGIME : ITS EARLX VICTIMS. 
 
 that wilik Orange eulogists of the pre=5ent day their 
 suppression is “ a consummation devoutly to be 
 wished for.” 
 
 Mr. Bernar 1 Coile. Lurgan, presented, in Novem- 
 ber 179G, a memorial to the Lord LieutenanL in 
 which he staged, “that in the latter end of the 
 year very dangerous riots and tumults broke out, 
 which were fomented by hidden agents, and pro- 
 pogated amongst t'le ignorant of all persuasions 
 under the pretext cf religion; that memoralist, 
 le’ng a professor of the Roman Catholic religion, 
 usod every effort to moderate the spirit of his own 
 persuasion, particularly by promoting the printed 
 resolutions of the Reman Catholics of his and the 
 adjoining parish, and enforcing by all his influence 
 the observance of those resolutions, in hopes by 
 setting an example of good will and moderation, to 
 
HTSTOTtY OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 54 
 
 disarm the animosity of a faction denominated 
 Peep-o-Day )x>yS;, and since called Oroangemen, 
 whose only object was the persecution of the 
 Cstholics. Taat, notwithstanding this, the most 
 unheard of cruely w?s inflicted upon the Eomrn 
 C .tholics of the said county by the said 
 Orani’cmen, who, in many instances, boasted 
 of the countenance and protection of ma- 
 gistrates and other persons in power.’^ He 
 then says that from a sense of duty and pity to th® 
 afflicted he laid before the Court of King’s Bench 
 an affidavit ‘^charging John Greer, Sjlverwood, 
 Eeq., a magistrate of said County Armagh, with 
 corruptly encouraging sni fomenting the said in- 
 human persecution,^’ and that at the same time 
 four other persons respectively made affidavits of 
 similar facts. It then recites ‘^that immediately 
 on the service of notice of the said order Patriclr 
 Haraill, one of the above-mentioned deponents, was 
 beaten nearly to death, his father "soon aft r wards 
 was fhot in the dead of night in his own dwelling- 
 house for ha ;ing dared to complain. One M'Clasby, 
 another of the said deponents had his dwelling- 
 house r.t'^ached at night, and was driven from 
 thence by many acts of menace and violence, and 
 at the same time a consp’racy was also formed to 
 take away the life of your memorialist by false ac 
 cusation of the crime of high treason. Thathemg 
 apprised of this by Andrew Thomas Corner, a 
 member of the Established Church, who had first 
 taken part in the said conspiracy, your memorialist 
 applied to Mr. Brownlow, a neighbouring magis 
 trate, fer a summons to bring the parties instantly 
 before him that he might have an opportunity of 
 confronting them and preventing so diabolical an 
 attempt. That this request was made on Wednes- 
 day, the 13th January, but the only summons 
 which Mr. Brownlow was pleased to grant was for 
 the ensuing Friday. 
 
 On the intervening day, Thursday, the 14th of 
 November, he was warned by some of the neigh- 
 bours to fly because, however innocent, there was 
 enough sworn against him to hang, as they said, 
 one hundred men; but conscious of his innocence, 
 and relying on the justice of the law of his 
 country, he rejected this advice with indigmtion. 
 
 Memorialist was accordingly arrested on the said 
 day (Thursday), and taken before Yr. Brownlow, 
 who, without waiting for the effect of the sum- 
 mens, which he had granted the day before, or any 
 further inquiry, together with Michael Obins, Esq , 
 another magistrate, committed your memoralist 
 to the county jail, under the following commit- 
 tal 
 
 We herewith send you, the body ot Bernard 
 Coile, a reputed Papist, charged with distributing 
 a large quantity of hall cartridges amongst a r um- 
 ber of Papists for the purpose of destrojing the 
 Protestants, and also, at the same lime, swearing 
 a person to be one of his soldiers, to assist in over- 
 tbicwing the King, Government, and the magis- 
 trates. 
 
 /Q. (Michael OBfNS. 
 (Signed) 
 
 ^ William Baow^NLOw.” 
 
 Memoralist had not long been in jail until J imea 
 M urray, one of the conspirators, came before the 
 Eev. William Bristow, Sovereign of Belfaso, and 
 mado a voluntary confession, which he after- 
 wards confirmed by effi lavic before a commissioner, 
 fearing, as he deposed, to make the same in his own 
 county, lest he should be put to death; stating 
 that ne had been suborned by persons in his affi- 
 davit mentioned, to swear falsely against memo- 
 rialist to the following effect,” &c. : — The memo- 
 rial further proceeded to detail that one Bernard 
 Cujh* and also one Daniel Kearns made affidavits 
 to a lilje effec*-, all of which he forwarded. It details 
 his lying in jail until the ensuing Assizes, his bail 
 being refused, his subsequently being refused a 
 trial, the adjournment of the cases to the Summer 
 Assizes, and continues : — 
 
 “ That In the meantime one Owen Burns, a fourth 
 of the said conspirators against your memorialist’s 
 life, came ft r ward and voluntarily swore, as the 
 former conspirators had done, that he had been 
 threatened by twelve men, in his affidavit particu- 
 larly named, and by them compelled to swear a 
 false oath against your memorialist’s life ; and 
 further, that he had received a new suit of clothes 
 from a gentleman of the name of Burke, by pro- 
 fession an attorney, by order of Mr. Brownlow, to- 
 gether with two ruffled shirts ; that he was taken 
 to Dublin in a chaise, conducted and guarded by 
 two of his fellow. conspirators — G3:5rge Cull and 
 John M'Comb — who paid all his exp uses ; that he 
 was kept prisoner in Dublin thirteen days, during 
 wbi^h time he was once brought before James 
 Yerner, Esq., a magistrate in said county, in 
 Dawson Stieet, who there appointed a day for him 
 to come again before him and swear something 
 new against your memorialist, but that said de- 
 ponent, shocked and penitent for what he had done. 
 
 * I have the aiitboritv of Mr. riowdeu fo- saying that 
 tliis Cu'li, who helonged to the 5th Dragoons, made oath in 
 the case of 51 r. Coile, before 51 r. Secretary Cooke, that the 
 o ith of extermination was that which was tendered to him 
 on bei'ig a ked to become an Orangeman. Ho refu ed to 
 swear i*- ; hut Cush says that five ot the oth r con3pira*or3 
 did snb-cribe to it. On receiving the deposit ons, the S cre- 
 tary pledged himself to have the conspirators prosecuted. 
 Of course, they never tvere. 
 
HISTOET UE OEANGEISM. 
 
 55 
 
 before the dj,y appointed cau*e, effected his escape 
 and returned to the County Armagh.” 
 
 The aflSdavit then proceeded to detail the parti- 
 culars already briefly reverted to. The Press of 
 November 14, 1'796, contains a lengthened narrative 
 of the subsequent interview of Mr. Coile with Mr. 
 Secretary Cooke; the repeated prom ses made to 
 inquire into his case; the evident desire of the 
 Government to hush up the matter^ and their ulti- 
 mate refuoal to grant an inquiry or any other satis- 
 faction to this persecuted man. But the persecu- 
 tion did not end with Mr. Code. 
 
 Thomas Hawthorn, a servant of Mr. Coile, a Pro- 
 testant, made an affidavit at the direction of Mr. 
 Secretary Cooke and the Attcrney-Genc r il, in order 
 that they might prosecute Wm. P»rownlo.v, Esq., 
 J.P., M.P. Mr. Brownlow was never vrosecuted. 
 Whether he should or nob may be seen from the 
 following : — 
 
 affidavit MSDE by THOM" as HAWTHORN IN THE 
 COURT OF king’s BENCH. 
 
 ‘*1, Thomas Hawthorn, of Lnrgxn, in the County 
 Armagh, servant of Bernard Coile, formerly of 
 Lurgan, but now of the city of Dublin, merchant, 
 maketh oath, and saith that this deponent for two 
 years and upwards, previous to the month of May 
 last, lived in the capacity of servant with the said 
 Bernard Coile. Deponent saith that, on or about 
 the 13th of May last, to the best of deponent’s re- 
 collection and belief, he was standing at or near 
 the said Bernard Coile’s dwelling-house in Lurgan 
 aforesaid, and about the hour of nine o’clock in the 
 evening of the said day, two men, whom deponent 
 did not know, came towards the place where de- 
 ponent was standing, and one of the said persons 
 having come up to the said deponent, asked him if 
 he would go and take part iu a quart of ale. The 
 deponent saith he refused to do so, andga\e aa his 
 reason for fuch refusal that he was not accustomed 
 to go and diink with persons he was not acquainted 
 with, or to that effect. Deponent paibh he believes 
 that the said persons who spoke to deponent as 
 aforesaid well knew that this deponent had for 
 the period aforesaid, been in the employment of 
 the said Bernard Coile, and consequently ac- 
 quainted with and privy to all or most of the said 
 Bernard’s affairs; that the said person intimated 
 so to this deponent, and told him that it was in 
 deponent’s power, as alleging deponent to be in 
 said Bernard Code's secrets (as he termed it) to 
 make some affidavit against the said Bernaid 
 Coile, in order to injure him, and told deponent, if 
 he would do so that deponent should never know 
 what want was, or made use of some such expres- 
 
 sion, meaning thereby, as deponent verily believes, 
 to bribe deponent to swear some false and mali- 
 C'ous affiiavits against the said Bernard Coile, 
 who was then confined a close prisoner in the gaol 
 of Armagh for some pretended cffence. Deponent 
 saith he refused to make such affidavit, inasmuch 
 as deponent could not make any affidavit what- 
 soever to the prejudice of Bernard Coile. Depo- 
 nent saith that on Fiiday, the 20fch May aforesaid, 
 about nine o’clock in the evening, as this depo- 
 nent, in company with John Lapsay, foreman to 
 said Bernard Coile, and Matthew M‘Evoy, servant 
 to Captain Kemmis, were going from Lurgan to 
 deponent’s house at Silverwood, in the said 
 county, where deponent’s wife and family re- 
 side, they were overtaken on the road by 
 a number of persons who assumed the 
 appellation of Orange Boys or Break-of-Day 
 men, amongst whom were William Williscroft, 
 Georg'^ Douglas, John Forsyth, James Doyle, and 
 several other persons, whose names deponent did 
 not then know, to the number of twenty persons 
 and upwards, and amongst them do we verily 
 believe wao the person who, on the 13th day 
 of May, attempted to bribe deponent to make the 
 said false c>ath against the said Bernard Coile, and 
 the said William Williscroft, George Douglas, John 
 Forsyth, and James Doyle, all of the said 
 county, and Francis Johnston, of Kilmaie, la 
 the County Down; and William Crothers, of Lur- 
 gan, aforesaid, without the slightest provocation, 
 whatsoever, or without e^en speaking to them, or 
 any of tl em, knocked deponent down, and when 
 down, seized deponent by the hair of the head, 
 kicked, battered, and cruelly beat and otherwise 
 abused deponent, and threw deponent into the 
 gap cf the ditch, and leaped upon and trampled 
 upon deponent, with an intention, as deponent be- 
 lieves, to take his life ; the aforesaid persons hav- 
 ing repeatedly encouraged each other to kill de- 
 ponent, alleging that deponent was one of the de- 
 luded persons called Defenders, otherwise that de- 
 ponent would not live with a Papist, the said 
 Bernard Coile, they or some of them having ex- 
 pressed words to that effect. Saith that said 
 John Lapsay and Matthew M‘Evoy, having inter- 
 fered to prevent deponent from being mur- 
 dered by the aforesaid persons, the said 
 Lapsay and M'Evoy were heat and abused by 
 them, and having battered him in the manner afore- 
 said they left him lying in the ditch, having, ac 
 deponent believes, imagined deponent dead. De- 
 ponent saith that on the next day he went to Wm. 
 Brownlow, Esq., a magistrate of the said County 
 
56 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 of Armagh to give information against the perpe- 
 trators of the said assault, and the said William 
 Brownlow, having seen the manner in which de- 
 ponent then was, declared he had never seen a man 
 more abused, and directed deprnsnt to come to 
 him on the following Monday v;itb examica':ions 
 drawn against the said Wm. Williseroft, George 
 Douglas, John Forsythe, and James Doyle. De- 
 ponent saith that in pursaar.ce of the orders and 
 directions he received from the said Wm, Brown- 
 low he applied to one John Allen, who usually 
 draws up examinations and warrants for the said 
 William Brownlow ; who drew no an examination 
 and warrant against the said Wil.liscroft, Douglas, 
 Forsythe, and Douglas, which examinations de- 
 ponent, on the 23 fd of May, brought to 
 the saM William Brownlow, and the said Willis- 
 ford and Douglas having then appeared before 
 the said Mr. Brownlow he desired di ponent and 
 others to attend at said B'ownlow’s house; and 
 deponent saitli that he accordingly attended, as 
 did the said Williscroft and Doug’as ; bub none of 
 the other persons concerned in the assault ap- 
 peared before said Mr. Brownlow. Anil depo’^eat 
 swore examinations against the said William 
 Williscroft, George Douglas, John Forsyth, and 
 James Doyle, being the only persons whose names 
 deponent then knew, who had assaulted deponent 
 in the manner aforesaid ; and the said Mr. Brown- 
 low then took bail for the appearance of the said 
 Williscroft and Douglas to abide their trial at the 
 next general Quartor Sessions of the Peace, to be 
 held at Lmgan, aforesaid, in and for the said 
 County of Armagh ; and t ) the best of deponent’s 
 recoil ction and belief, bound dtponent in the fun 
 of <£10 conditioned to prosecute the said Wdlis- 
 croft and Douglas at the said sessions. Deponent 
 saith he then requested the said Mr. Brownlow to 
 give ihis deponent a warrant against said Forsythe 
 and Doyle, who had neither appeared or given bail, 
 in order that Ibis deponent should give the same 
 into the bands of Wm. Coulter, of Lurgan aforesaid, 
 the high constable, which the said Wm. Brownlow 
 refused to do, but told Wm. Coulter that he would 
 deliver same to the said Wm. Coulter. And this 
 deponent saith that he had been informed by the 
 said Wm. Coulter, which he believed to be true, 
 that the said Wm. Brownlow never did deliver 
 same to Wm. Coulter. . . . Deponent soon after, 
 wards discovered that Wm. Cratbers and Francis 
 Johnston were two of the persons concerned n 
 assaulting deponent . . , and had an examina- 
 
 tion drawn up against them, and offered to swear 
 same before Mr. Brownlow, which the said Brown- 
 
 low absolutely refused to tike, or to a£s'gn any 
 reason for his refusal. Deponent saith he attended 
 at the next General Q larter Sessions at Lurgan, 
 with witnesses, in order to prosecute the said 
 Williscroft and Djuglas, who had given biil before 
 the said Brownlow to abide their trial, and this 
 deponent employed an attorn ^y for that pifpose ; 
 but to deponent's and hie attorney’s surprise and 
 astonishment they discovered that the said Mr. 
 Brownlow had suppressed said examinations, and 
 neelectel to return same to the Clerk of the Peace, 
 by which means and by the said Brow, low’s re- 
 fusal to take exam nitions against the said John- 
 ston and Crothers, and by bis refusing this de- 
 ponent a warrant against the said Forsyth and 
 D ryle a‘’oresa d, or putting the same into ih.e hands 
 of any constabP, the said Williscroft, Douglas, 
 Forsytb, Doyle, Johnston, and Crothers have seve- 
 ra’ly escaped from all manner of cri il or p anish- 
 ment for the aforesaid assaalt and unprovoked 
 attemp j cn deponent’s life.” 
 
 The conclusion of the affllavifc details how Mr. 
 Coile, “ to avoid the rage and fury of that faction 
 denominated Orangemen,” had to leave bis place of 
 r sidenee. 
 
 On Friday, the 30th December, 1793, Hawthorn 
 wa? attacked outside Lurgan, and had bis leg 
 broken by one Ardrew Curry. After be'ng under 
 the care of a doctor for five weeks, he was wheeled 
 into Lurgan on a cart, and requested Robert 
 Douglas, J.P., to take bis informalicns against his 
 assailant, but this the magistrate refused to do. 
 The Orange party, seeing that Hawthorn was de- 
 termined to have justice, for he had intimated to 
 the magistrate that he would seek justice else- 
 where, resolved to ‘ake time by the forelock. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the 20th February, 1797, between 
 eleven and twelve o’clock, a large armed party of 
 O angeman attacked his house, there heitig then no 
 persons in it but himself, his wife, aid three small 
 children. Hawthorn fired upon them and killed 
 two, and his wife, with a bravery pecu’iar to 
 miterLity when the fate of its young are in ti e 
 balance, killed one of the ruffians v i :h a spade as 
 he was entering by a window. After defending his 
 house for an hour with success. Hawthorn cried out 
 to his wife that he should surrender to his fate, 
 when one of his children, concealed beneath a 
 bed, cried out, warning him cf the fate that 
 awaited them if he did so. Animated w:th 
 a new courage he continued to fight against over- 
 powering numbers until his neighbours hearing the 
 fi 'ing came to his assistance. His assailants then 
 and then only retreated. One of them named HarrL 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGETSM. 
 
 57 
 
 son was arrested by an araiy major tlie following 
 day in Lurgan, and overtures were made by Harri- 
 son’s father to stop the prosecution, and he would 
 piy compensation. This Hawthorn refused to do. 
 But the same end was otherwise accomplished. An 
 Orangeman named Thos. Humphreys swore a false 
 information against Hawthorn, and had him com- 
 mitted at once to the assizes without bail, the re- 
 sult of this trumped up charge bein? a verdict of 
 
 not guilty.'® 
 
 Neither lilr. Coile nor his servant ever got the 
 slightest satisfaction at the hands of the Govern- 
 ment, though their cases were taken up by some of 
 the most influential men of those days. In addi- 
 tion, the former was refused rooms in the Belfast 
 Linen Hall, as may be seen from a document which 
 Mr. Plovtden quotes at page 127 of his history. 
 
 * lliese particulars will be found recorded in The Press 
 newspaper of li9/. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIIT.— AN HISTOEIOAL PAEALLEL. 
 
 We have been reading the history of those days 
 chiefly by the light of contemporaneous records. 
 Times of great political excitement, such as those 
 we are t reating of, undoubtedly were, when social 
 disorder and tumult reign supreme, and when a 
 community is divided into two hostile camps, the 
 members upon one side seeing little merit upon the 
 side opposed to them, are not, it must be honestly 
 confessed, those best calculated to facilitate the 
 forming an upright and just estimate between con- 
 tending parties. Such circumstances must ne- 
 cessarily depreciate the value of inferences drawn 
 by contemporary writers where they are not based 
 upon stated facts. For this reason I have as fur as 
 possible confined myself to a matter-of-fact record 
 of events from which readers of the present day 
 can draw their own conclusions. Opinions we 
 certainly have had. They are the opinions of men 
 whose works have made them famous in history, 
 whose abilities make them still living examples to 
 those who would leave their footprints behind, and 
 against whose character for integrity and truth- 
 fulness not even the breath of suspicion has been 
 entertained. Bub ability, and integrity, and 
 truthfulness, though some times, are 
 not always bulwarks against prejudice. It 
 might bo well before we proceed further 
 in the narrative to seek, as I have already 
 ventured to do in preceding pages, for corroboration 
 under circumstances less calculated to leave room 
 for honest doult, or even for cavil. 
 
 We have to pass rapidly down the stream 
 of time, through no less than two successive gene- 
 rations, to leave behind those scenes of turbulence 
 and confusion, in which the worst passions of men 
 were becoming aroused beneath the darkening 
 clouds of a bloody insurrection ; the dreadful melo- 
 drama, of which the curtain has been already drawn, 
 fades from cur view into a past of nigh forty years, 
 and the groans of the dying — aye, and gallant 
 peasant, and the shrieks of murdered women, and 
 
 all that horrible hurly-burly that agitated society 
 to its depths have died away. These scenes are 
 not forgotten ; but men’s minds have settled into 
 a calm, such as best befits the juror, and they who 
 have lived through those times, and have thought 
 of them and talked of them over many a winter’s 
 fire, have learned to apportion to the dread actors 
 in the drama their proper share of censure and of 
 praise. Around a council board some few dozen 
 men are seated, and one whose foot is almost on 
 the brink of the grave— ^ an old man belonging to a 
 noble sect whose character for truth has made the 
 simple assurance- of its members equal to the 
 testimony of their fellows, though witnessed 
 by their Maker, a man of sixty -four years who has 
 lived down through all those scenes of horror 
 comes upon the table to leave behind a narratire 
 of preceding events. Mr. James Christie, a quaker, 
 born in 1771, and residing on the borders or the 
 County Armagh since 1793, is before the Select 
 Committee of the House of Commons in 1835 to 
 give evidence. 
 
 At 5,566 of the report of the evidence, he says, 
 that the first disturbances that he recollected in 
 the North occurred in the neighbourhood of Church - 
 hill, the residence of Colonel Vernor. Those dis- 
 turbances were the “ wrecking” of the houses of 
 Eoman Catholics, and then he proceeds to state 
 how exact were the Peep o’ Day Boys of those days 
 in their nomenclature. “ Wrecking.” he siys, 
 ** was when the pai ties broke open the door and 
 smashed everything that was capable of being 
 broken in the house — looms and webs that were 
 probably weaving ; they broke the webs and des- 
 troyed the yarn and everything, and sometimes 
 they threw the furniture out of the house smashed j 
 and in other cases they set fire to the house and 
 burnt it.” This practice which he says spread 
 soon over the adjoining counties, and “ after the 
 Catholics were driven, many of them from the 
 county and took refuge in other parts of Ireland— 
 
 N 
 
58 
 
 HISTORY OF OKAXGEISM. 
 
 he understood they took refuge in Connaught. 
 Some years after, when peace and quietness were 
 in a measure restored, some returned again, pro 
 bably five or six years afterwards; they got 
 some employment; hut they stayed out of 
 the county while they thought their lives 
 were in danger ; bub the property which they left 
 was transferred, in most instances, to Protest ints.*’ 
 It occurred within his knowledge that where they 
 bad houses and land they were handed over by the 
 landlord to Protestants, in some cases where the 
 former occupants had life leases. Sometimes he 
 heard of twelve or fourteen houses being wrecked 
 in a night, and he pitied the Catholics very much 
 in the straits they were driven to. He was 
 asl'fd— 
 
 Up to what period did it continue ? For two 
 or three years ; it was not quite so bad in l79o 
 and 1797 as it was earlier; but after this wreck- 
 iug, and the Catholics were driven out, what was 
 called the Break-of-Day party merged into Orange- 
 men. They passed from the one to the other, and 
 the gentlemen in the county procured what they 
 termed their Orange warrants to enable them to 
 assemble legally, as they termed it; the name 
 dropped, and Orangemen succeeded to Break-of- 
 Day Men.*' 
 
 That the wrecking was not quite so bad in 1798 
 and 1797 as it was earlier” is urged by Orange 
 panegyrists as a consequence of the new associi- 
 ticn in Armagh. Did a doubt exist we might 
 reasonably aff md them the benefit of their special 
 pleading, but we have it upon undoubted autho- 
 rity that so furious was the exterminating system 
 carried on in the latter part cf 1795 and the early 
 months of the following year that the county was 
 completely cleared of its Catholic population. The 
 very word “ extermination” implies a speedy end. 
 Like Alexander, the Orangemen might well have 
 wept, that they had no more Catholics to exter- 
 minate. 
 
 Mr. Christie proceeds to say, in answer to the 
 question whether the Orangemen were of the same 
 cb.ps as those that composed the Break-of-day Men, 
 that he supposed they were ; the same people who 
 made use of intemperate language towards the 
 Catholics whilst the Break-of-day business lasted, 
 were the same people that he saw afterwards walk- 
 ing in Orange processions. Ho says he saw three 
 Catholic chapels destroyed. Commencing at 5589 
 we find the following 
 
 Were any Protestant or Presbyterian places of 
 worship luraed or injured ? No ; I never recollect 
 
 heariug of any such thing in the North of Ireland. 
 
 Can you form any conjecture of the number of 
 families that were driven from their hemes ? I 
 cancot fo^m any just idea of it, to ascertain it with 
 certainty ; but it was said that several hundreds 
 were driven out of the country, and there must 
 have been from the number of houses destroyed, 
 particularly in the County of Armagh; it was 
 worse there than in any other part of the North of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Hid you any oppportuaity of kaowing any 
 persons seeking refuge in your own place from the 
 outrage ? Yes ; my father was living at the time ; 
 he and I lived together; the poor creatures, when 
 they apprehended that their houses would be de- 
 stroyed, my father and I permitted them to stow 
 their furniture in our barn and granaries, and they 
 remained there for a length of time. I have 
 known them myself to leave their homes at niglb 
 and come to our plantation to be out of the way of 
 being murdered. A man, who took care cf my 
 plantation, has told me that they frequently came 
 to his place in the course of the night and took 
 shelter there till morning for fear of being at- 
 tacked. 
 
 Did any murders take place ? Yes, there did. 
 
 Did any investigation take place by the magis- 
 trates upon the occasion ? I never heard that 
 there did. 
 
 Did you ever hear cf a man having been prose- 
 cuted or punished for those attacks upon the houses 
 by wrecking and burning, and for the murders that 
 were perpetrated ? I do not, I think, recollect any 
 instance of a person being prosecuted at that period 
 for those offences, for no investigation took place ; 
 the magistrates were supine and inactive; they did 
 not exert themselves in the manner that I and that 
 many others who wished the peace of the country 
 thought they should have acted. 
 
 Did you receive any threatening letters ? My 
 father received notices, which I saw — threatening 
 letters commanding him to turn off his Catholio 
 servants, and not employ them in his work. 
 
 Do you recollect any other circumstarce from the 
 period of 1795 ? Nothing bub occasional wreckings 
 and disturbances. There scarcely has been a 12th 
 of July, to the Lest of my recollection, in any year 
 from the commencement of Orangeisra till the pre- 
 sent period when a breach of the peace has not 
 occurred, and frequently lives have been lost in 
 consequence of these processions. 
 
 You mention that there were processions of the 
 Defenders previous to the processions of the Orange- 
 
IirSTOIiT or ORANGEISM. 
 
 59 
 
 men ? So there v, ere, but not before the Peep-o’-Day 
 men. There were processions of that party previous 
 to the establishment of the Orangemen, but not 
 previous to the est iblishment of the Peep-o’>Pay 
 men. 
 
 You state that there were a considerable num- 
 ber of the houses of Catholics wrecked in 1794 
 and 179 j; were th'^re not also a considerable num- 
 ber of the houses of Protestants wrecked by the 
 Defenders ? J am not aware that there were ; 
 there were none in my neighbourhood; I did not 
 hoar of any Protestant houses being attacked and 
 destroyed ; I did hear that there were some places 
 in the neighbouring coun'ies where the Catholics 
 had taken arms from the Protestants. 
 
 Do you know any of your soeiety that belong to 
 Orange Lodges ? >'’'0 ; nothing of the sort ; they 
 would be expelled if they did. 
 
 Can any member of the Friends’ Society belong 
 to a lodge ? If it comes to the knowledge of the 
 B03ie*y he cannot. 
 
 Then no Orangeman can be a Quaker? Do 
 Quaker can be an Orangeman. 
 
 When Orange processions take place, do the 
 magistrates take an active part in preventing 
 them, cr what course do they adopt ? I tbiok ?hey 
 do not exert themselves to prevent them. Here- 
 tofore I saw several going in processions with them, 
 but not of late years. 
 
 Did thoy exert themselves to prevent these pro- 
 cessions ? Witness stated on the authority of Mr. 
 John Holmes Huston, County Down, how Hat 
 gentleman had preven^el an Orange proc'^ssion 
 when all the neighbouring magistrates had ab- 
 sented themselves from home. Twenty ringleaders 
 were prosecuted and fined; a subscription was set on 
 foot by the Orange party, and one magistrate of 
 the neighbourhood actually subscribed to it. 
 
 Do you regard the punishment of a fine on an 
 Orangeman violating the law as being little cal- 
 culuted to produce any effect ? I think under these 
 circumstances it is, but my opinion is that it is 
 not the lower class of the Society that the Govern- 
 ment ought to deal with ; it is the people of the 
 higher classes that stimulate them to it. I think 
 it is those in the higher ranks of society that are 
 the cause of those processions; and when they 
 were dying away that excited them to it a second 
 time; it is those H at have official situations, and pro- 
 bably men that hold commissions;* and I think 
 
 • Mr. Chnsfcie is. no doabb, here referri^sr to <hat smali 
 tribe of feitber-b^'d warriors, the major?, the colonels, and 
 the captains whose n mes and the ames of whose ancestors 
 have been intimately associated with Orangeisra in tho 
 No th of Ireland. 
 
 it would subside at tho present time, but for the 
 efforts of those who keep in the back ground, and 
 encourage the others on by violent speeches and 
 public meetings. I am siti-fiM that if the Govern- 
 ment . . . would not inflict fines and punish- 
 
 ment upon the lower clis^ who are the too’s of 
 others, but take it at the fountain head, the 
 gentlemen of rank and fortune. ... it would 
 settle these disturbances. ... I have been 
 an observer of these things for many years, and I 
 have long been of opinion that this party 
 business has been kept up by the tupine- 
 ness of the magistrate?, and by their 
 encouragement ; walking in the first place 
 in their processions and dining with them at their 
 clubs. ... I never belonged to any political 
 society, and I think I am pretty impartial with re- 
 spect to the parties ; and I can say that it is not 
 only my opinion but the opinion of the moderate 
 people generally, who are disposed to keep peace 
 in the country, that it is the gentlemen and the 
 people of rank and fortune in the country that 
 have stimulated others to these party processions 
 which tend to keep up party feeling. 
 
 What is your opinion of the effect of the Orange 
 Lodges upon the peace of society and the good 
 feeling of the people of the country ? I think 
 they have a tendency to keep up a bad 
 feeling, and if anything could be devised 
 to pot them down I think the country 
 would be much quieter. It is not the 
 poor people who go into the lodges, but the clergy 
 and the magistrates cond the gentlemen of the 
 country; and so far as Government can interfere 
 I think these are the people to lay their hands on. 
 I thinJc no man should hold a Commission of the 
 Peace or any ‘place of profit under the Crown 'who i$ 
 an Orangeman. 
 
 What is the effect of those Orange processions 
 and lodges upon the minds of the Catholic people 
 with regard to the administration of justice both 
 by magistrates and jarers? Where an Orange 
 magistrate is sitting on the bench the Catholics 
 consider that he is part'al in his decisions. . . . 
 
 I have Ea’d before with respect to Orangemen 
 being magistrates in my opinion it is not fit, but 
 when magistrates, men of respectability and in- 
 telligence, well-informed and impartial magistrates 
 cannot be got — and I believe there are some parts 
 of the country where they cannot be got. I believe 
 Hat a stipendiary magistrate in such districts of 
 the country would be absolutely necessary. 
 
 For what reas.n do you believe they could net 
 
60 
 
 IIISTOET OP OPANGETSM. 
 
 be got? Becatiie there are so many completely 
 Orangemen in principle, althcugh net professed 
 Orangemen; they are biassed in their opinion 
 against Catholics so that justice cannot be obtained 
 at their hands. 
 
 You yourselves are impartial ; do you cr do you 
 not think that the Orange magistrates are or are 
 not likely to be biassed? I think they are un- 
 suitable to try questions which oiiginate in party 
 feeling when they themselves belong to a party 
 and encoura£»-e party feeling. 
 
 From whence do you derive your knowledge of 
 the magistrates ? My observations of their con- 
 duct and cbeir attending processions when the law 
 was rot against it, and for tteir language to the 
 people at these precessions; from the feelings of 
 the Catholics when they are brought before them, 
 and, knowing the circumstances of the case, a 
 person of middling capacity can judge whether a 
 mnghtrate is doing r'ght or wrong. 
 
 Are the committee to understand that the evi- 
 dence you have given with regard to magistrates 
 is derived from the observations you have stated ? 
 From the observations I have made upon the con- 
 duct of magistrates, what I have seen, and heard, 
 and known. I have sometimes attended the 
 Quarter Sessions, and I have seen Orange magis- 
 trates sitting, and I myself, and many others, were 
 not satisfied with their decisions. 
 
 Did you see any act performed that you could 
 gay was partial ? I thought so. 
 
 Can you mention the act ? I think the principal 
 thing was in the examination of witnesses ; the 
 credit that was given to one witness above another. 
 Where two men of equally good character were 
 brought forward to prove a thing, the one a Catholic 
 and the other a Protestant, the Protestant evi- 
 dence was admitted as good, and the other was 
 considered as doubtful. 
 
 You were understood to say that any fee’ings of 
 irritation that existed between parties in Ireland 
 are rather between Catholics and Orangemen than 
 between Catholics and Protestants ? It is. 
 
 Here we find a striking parallel to the facts as 
 related by historians contemporary with the events 
 of which they treated. If in time? of peace magis- 
 trate? can be thus actuated by party motives, it is 
 for the reader to determine whsther there can have 
 been exaggeration in the description of their con- 
 duct w’hen civil war agitated the community, and 
 when, with all their misdeed?, they took shelter 
 beneath the protecting arm of a patronising Ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 Are you an Orangeman ? If so, and if the inheri- 
 tanc3 be worthy of possession, it sur dy is a^.so worth 
 examining into the title-deeds. Go read history 
 for yourself. You will find the doings of your 
 ancsstors, the founders cf your “glorious” insti- 
 tution, written in every line, frequently between 
 the lines of your country’s history. Place those 
 f lets side by side with the records of recent years, 
 and the cpinions cf moderate and impartial men cf 
 the present day, and you will find in the coinci- 
 deacesuffihtnt to bring the blush of shame to your 
 brow; to send a ping to your heart, no^", let me 
 hope, because you have alio we I ycurself to be the 
 tool of a malignant faction, with whom you have 
 nothing in common but a name, but because, 
 blinded by sophistry and captivated by bombast 
 you have worked yourself into the belief that 
 you have an ancient, and an honoured, and a 
 noolo ancestry. It is hard, no doubt, to alter those 
 opinions which bigotry, whispering into a young 
 mind, instilled in you when a boy. And it is an 
 easy solution of the difficulty to say that James 
 Christie was a “prejudiced old quaker,” a “ con- 
 founded old rebel” whose statement? are not 
 worthy cf belief. Mark it, he was as loyal a man 
 as you are; a man who unlike you probably, had. 
 nothing to gain, and much to lose by cl^il 
 warfare and party strife ; and mark it too that he 
 but echoed the sentiments of most writers of that 
 period. Kaowieg the reluctance with which men 
 alter their opinions, particularly when it implies a 
 charge of principle ia manhood, I have, in this 
 volume, abstained, up to the present, from quoting 
 many authors whose pronounced views might, 
 with some, have cast a doubt over their honesty, 
 and afforded excuse to those so blind that they 
 would not see. Go you and read the writings of 
 those men who cheated the gallows of its victim— 
 who came safe, I wou^d add honourably, out of the 
 terrible struggle of ’ 93 , and lived to tell, in the 
 early part of thia century, the story of past abuses. 
 The same parallel will be found. Contrary to what 
 you likely have been taught, you will find this new 
 reservoir of history opened to you full of instruc- 
 tion ; principles enunciated in it that are only 
 revolting to those who have not studied them, or 
 even read them ; at least, you will find in it the 
 expressions of great and unselfish men, whose chief 
 fault was that they lived a century before their 
 time, in a period when reason and justice in this 
 country were yet in their swaddling clothe?, when 
 the sword was mightier than the pen. And you 
 will have the satisfaction of the perusal being re- 
 
HTSTOET OP OBAKGEISM. 
 
 61 
 
 Warded. You will fiad palliation, not excuse, or 
 misdeeds of your early brethren ; that in facf, they 
 claimed a protection above the law, through 
 being encouraged in their excesses by th te 
 whose first duty was to administer it.* 
 Even seek in the newspaper chronicles 
 of the time for infora’ationf I? your 
 
 * MacN'^'viTl in his ‘ Pieces of Irish History,” pa^e ll"^, 
 Biys : “ The Peep-o’-Day Po, s who ha I rng’'nally pre'enlerl 
 
 oul to en'orce the ' opety 1 IV s by dcpnving the '.atholics 
 o Aimsnova£E CjCd more important obj c s. Iher claimed 
 to he asso date I for the support o th • P' otesta t Govern- 
 ment and the ’^rote tant succession, which the said were 
 in danger by th inceael newer of the C ith lies in the 
 State, ani t < y, the efore. adopted the mine of Ora gemen 
 to<xp'ess hmr a ta liment to the memo -y of that Prince 
 to whom they owed those hlessinas. Wit’i this change of 
 name thev a<^ertcd that they hr.d alsa gained an ac ession 
 of stri ngt’i, for the Peep-o’-Dav Boy- only imag'ned t'ley 
 we' e sapperted by the law of the land in their depredat'ons 
 O ’ their Ca bolic ncighb n s, but the Orans’emen boast d 
 protection great r even than the law— the connivance and 
 coneea ed sn- port of tho e who we o hound 1o see it fairly 
 administered. Thus emb l'ened and, as they alle ed, 
 re nf arc- d. they renewed their ncient pprsecii'inus, and not 
 content with ' ripjiing Oath dies of arms thev now went to 
 great '!’ length than they had ever do e before 'n addi g 
 ii’S’ilt to inju-y, sometimes bymockmg the solemnities <f 
 their wrishic. and at others even by firing into the cofims of 
 the dead on their way to the sepulchre.” 
 
 t The Dublin F ecrn'in-’s Journal (then tho Goverr ment 
 organ), Tli^ Press and the Ncrihern S r (both ihe adv c t^s 
 cf reform) (f those diys furrish nnmerors e ampl s of 
 Orange atrocities. For insta ice, in i s issue of 2 tli March, 
 1796, the la t me tionel jiaps- p bli bed the oUowing : - 
 
 P' r several days past r ports were in his‘rous'y circulated 
 that tnoso misc eants the Oraneenei mediUited an a tack 
 on the own of Beif st, and were deter n ned to d stroyihe 
 persons and property of those in th s country who h d pro- 
 moted the union of rish'nen ; in slioit aT Gio e who 
 ] reached the iiivine doctrine of ‘ pe ce and goodwill to all 
 men:’” and it proceeds, ‘‘thercc nuts of t e atrocities in 
 the County Armagh had so far corrohor ted this th t Gen ra 
 Nugent put the girrisoti of the town n readiness and 
 donb’ed the guards” In the same iss e I al o find the 
 following significant warning : — ” Iii some parish’s the e a e 
 accounts of unusual d scontent. T mre are ce t linly reasons 
 for di-content, and let us beware lest by -ad ing fa.l to the 
 fire we iacreasi rather th n le sen ihe flame. If an 
 abhorrence of and a wish to defend t ems elves again t toe 
 incursi ns of the Orangemen actuate the districts to which 
 we allude they mav rest in peace, for should those daring 
 offenders ever attem t an attack o i this c 'untry the’-e is 
 force iufiicitut, civil und mi itary, within the town of Belfast 
 
 CHAPTER XIV.— THE TOEMANRY, 
 
 All ibe Yoemanry who played a part ia the bloody 
 drama of '93 were not Oiasgemen. By far the 
 greater proportion of them were. Seme honest 
 Protestants, moved, not by malice or cupidity, but 
 by a strict sense of the’r duty as citlzaus, whose 
 allegiance, in their opinion, bound them to defend 
 their acknowledged king against rebels without 
 questioning the justness of the revolt, jo’ned the 
 movement at the outset. And we will find that when 
 these men came to discover, but too late, the de- 
 fcpicabla part thty Lad to play, when they d s covered 
 that they were used not as they thought, to put, 
 down an insurrection, but to excite one, they learned 
 to bewail their impetuous loyalty, and repent 
 
 inquiry be not co.:iliQed t^ those journals then 
 knowingly in the pay of the Government aT 2 d the 
 
 0. ’augg faction, you c.xu trace ia every page — like 
 to the trail of the serpent or that bloody track, 
 such as sometimes provident! illy connects the 
 murderer with the victim — a continuous chain of 
 circumstances that lead to one irresistable con- 
 clusion — that at all even'^s the founders of tho 
 
 Loyal ” Orange Institution were not the honoure 1 
 followers of the lil eral-miuded monarch whose 
 memory they pretended to venent’, but a base, 
 bloody, and brutal faction, rucked in the cradle of 
 crime, nurtured by cruelty and lust, moved as much 
 by selfishness as by fanaticism ; not the loyal sup- 
 porters of their King and Constitution, but .men 
 who made it a condition of their loyalty that five- 
 sixths of the population should be pi iced at their 
 feet; men who nominated their blood-money at the 
 maximum amount they could pluudeq and the 
 Government secure to them by confiscation.* So 
 much, at least, for the founders of tie Oip.nge 
 Institution. Let us advance a stage and examine 
 who were the actors on each side of the dread 
 drama now opening upon us. 
 
 a’one to annihilate the entire horde.” Tlrs would indicate 
 that the Orangomen e nb fidened by the success of t o r 
 schenaes in Ai’iu igh, atid fee ia^ semre in the connivance of 
 the Government, did at an eaiB period ii t itir car er 
 contemplate an aTaci npon Belf.ist, then the stronghold ,.f 
 reforaae.s. 
 
 * Mhen before the Select Co'nmitt'e oa the 2‘?nl July, 
 
 1. ssq Mr. Piitiic'c M‘Co neti. soli dtox”, Tandragee, gave a 
 s' riking corrohor.a'ion of the horrible murder descri ed in 
 Ooaoter X.. as having he.ni commictid by T/im le, a violent 
 Orange leader, u on Mr. Dan el Oo ri an e irl in 179G. Mr. 
 TVI'Co.inel ’a auot was m rried to Mr Corrigan the u - 
 for unite. He then states t at Mrs. Coi-rigan who bad .a, 
 Lirge farm ha J to sell it. cn such terni-i as she could and quit 
 the country. An Ora-igem nhoujat it Wh le awaiting tho 
 trial o Trimble a' the As izei Lord Ga fo.d hid to afford 
 her protection in his own c.istle, lest the ordina y mode of 
 preventing prosecution woaa d be resorted to, 
 
 A LIGALISED ORAXGE BANDITTI 
 
 even their passiveneis in the bloody work of 
 extermination. Still those whose sympafuics 
 lie with a struggliug people driv n to the 
 utmo.st verge of despair must di this sec- 
 ti'on of the c^rps the credit of haviug 
 done according to their eot'mite no more than 
 their duty. Ascendancy had procured ^hem p >3ce, 
 monopoly, guirrantecd the’oi we Ibh, if it had not 
 Iready sicured it. Two elements so favour ibla 
 to loyalty could not bat have infl lence upon th so 
 who forgot in their own contentm^ n*" the mucry of 
 their neighbours; upon those who,coutea ed wit h tho 
 order of things, were for self-interests opposed to a 
 change. They deserve no blame, unless in a nega. 
 
 O 
 
C2 
 
 IIISTOET OP OKANGEISM. 
 
 tive sense. They can claim no praise. Self-pre- 
 servation, the first instinct of man’s nature, 
 prompts one to extinguish the fire in his own kouse 
 first ; a higher attribute sends kim, forgetful of 
 immediate interests, to the aid of poorer brethren 
 similarly threatened. You cannot condemn the 
 wisdom of the one ; but you must applaud 
 the generosity of the otbe-. The very 
 conditions under which the services of such men 
 were obtainei were cilculated to make their as- 
 S'stance valuable. They were but the units, how- 
 ever. There was another class of men, Protestants 
 likewise, who compri ed che vast majority consti- 
 tuting the yeomanry of 1798, but, unlike their co- 
 rel'gioni&ts, their services were obtained under 
 circumstances which *• rendered them formidable to 
 everyone but the enemy.” This class was the 
 Orangemen. Mr. Pitt was nearing the goa’ of his 
 ambition. Tne great aim of a checkered life, in 
 the course of. which he played many parts, was the 
 accomplishment of a union between the two 
 countries. Giftel by nature, imperious by disposi- 
 tion, haughty and overbearing from an educa- 
 tion calculated to fit him as a statesman 
 of the sixteenth rather than the eighteenth 
 century, a great Minister, and a greater tyrant, 
 he was ill -calculated to brook defeat, and 
 on the rejection of his commercial pro- 
 positions in 1785 resolrel upon the degrada- 
 tion of Ireland. With this view he debauched her 
 under the Duke of RutlaUil. He re-established 
 her dependence upon the British Minister through 
 the Marquis of Buckingham. He weakened her 
 under the Earl of Westmoreland. He tantalised 
 and taunted her by the transit of Eail Fit z william. 
 He exasperated her under the Earl of Camden. He 
 debased her under Marquis Cornwallis. An! by 
 continuing the Earl of Hard wicke in his Govern- 
 ment he insiduously rivdttel by pretending to 
 lighten her fetters. The principles of the French 
 Kevolution had extended long since to Ireland. 
 Men despairing of Parliamentary reform began to 
 hope that they might transplant its great virtues 
 without reaping its concomitant vices. Mr. Pitt 
 saw the ingrafting of the new plant, and cherished 
 it for a time. He played -a desperate game, and 
 like the gamester who had cast his last stake he 
 watched io with desperation. 
 
 War ! that dread game the world so loves to p’ay, 
 had no horrors for him j and by an insiduous 
 policy that long accustomed a faction to deeds of 
 blood he had made for himself rcaiy tools to his 
 purpose. An unsuccessful rebeLion was 
 
 the one thing needed. Dissention might 
 secure its failure. If this failed persecution 
 could alone cause its premature explosion. He soon 
 found that dissension could not singly accomplish his 
 ends. Since the Volunteer move nent the Presby- 
 terians of the North had tasted the sweets of 
 liberty. Eepublicsn by religion, reformers by 
 nature, they were men little incliued to forego their 
 rights when once they had established them, men 
 whose busy minds were stirred, too, into revolt by 
 commercial restrictions when persecution and ex- 
 termination had fa iled to excite it in a class so long 
 accustomed to suffering as to be all but insens ble to 
 it. Between those two classes, of whom we musttreat 
 further on, an union sprang up which soon became 
 formidable, and Mr. Pitt had to play his last trick 
 or give up the game when nearest winning. 
 Persecution must be resorted to. lathe remote 
 County of Armagh a faction in the pay of the Go- 
 vernment could carry it on, and minions of the 
 Castle wh) had forgotten the way to blush could 
 boldly give the lie io any charge arising out of it. 
 But this must be a persecution on an extended 
 scale, which not even a Camden Administration 
 could pretend ignorance of. The English soldiery 
 would not safely answer his purpose, and looking 
 abroad he found the Orangemen, that favourite fac- 
 tion which he hai fashioned for his own ends. To 
 legilise this banditti was now bis object, and 
 accordingly in the autumn of 179o we find the 
 yeomanry established in Dublin beneath the shadow 
 of the Castle. Some of the anti-Ministorialists did 
 their best to discourage the project, and one of 
 them characterised it thus “ The manner 
 in which the Administration are about to pre- 
 pare a force in this kingdom is exceedingly 
 suspicious. Were the liberty of the nation 
 to be desfvoxed, its independence or imperial existence 
 to he voted away, the plan to be acted upon could 
 be CO other than that which developes itself. In 
 the metropolis the cmaille de la cour only are to be 
 armsd; w« are to have armed pensioners, armed 
 Excise men, armed Revenue officers, from the 
 commiesioner to the gauger; aimed contractors, 
 armed clerks from all the public offices ; every 
 person in the Court, about the Court, or deriving 
 from the Court are to be armed. In the coun*^ry 
 our little great men known at Court, and none 
 others, are to be armed ; their parasites and re- 
 tainers are to be armed; their domestics are to be 
 aimed; their devoted tenants are to be armed; 
 and this piebald mass of incongruous particles, this 
 disjointed piece of patchwork— a just emblem of 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 63 
 
 folly, weakness, and ridicnle — is to be called Yoe- 
 manry. See, then, in what situatioa vve will 
 eventually find ourselves. All the partizans of 
 corrupt influence — all those whose interest it is to 
 continue and multiply the abuses of our political 
 system — will have arms in their hands. All these 
 who rely upon their own independent properties, 
 or upon their own industry — the oeople whom it 
 has become of late the fashion to asperse — will be 
 naked. Thus naked, the people will stand lise a 
 fcol in the middle, surrounded by a treble army — 
 an army of policemen and pensioners, a mercenary 
 standing army, and an army of militia, officered by 
 the Court.’’ 
 
 Mr. Plowden says that the formation of the 
 lawyers’ corps gave favour and sanction to the mo- 
 vement in Dublin,and at a meetingou the 16th Sept., 
 1796, it was resolved ^‘That they held it expedient, 
 with the permission of the Government, to form 
 an armed association for the defence of the king- 
 dom,” while immediately folio wing we have this signi- 
 ficant sentence, “ great elf )rts were made to fester 
 the soreness of the Catholics, and to inflime the 
 differences between the Protestants and them.” 
 The fact is that by the agency of Governr.Aent an 
 alarm was created in the minds of many honest 
 Protestants that the rebellion (which only occurred 
 two years later as a consequence of excesses) might 
 burst out at any moment. A few Catholics were 
 at first admitted into some of the corps, but the 
 reluctance with which they were accepted, and the 
 cold-shouldering which they experienced afeer- 
 wards, plainly demonstrated that they were 
 not wanted, and they took the hint ac- 
 cordingly. The Catholics, resenting their 
 rejection, waited upon Mr. Pelham, the dear friend 
 and champion of the Armagh Orange wreckers, and 
 asked for leave to form a Catholic corps. They 
 were told to join the corps then being raise! by the 
 Protestants. Some fsw individuals, it appears, 
 did join, but the large majority kept aloof. 
 
 In the North the new movement spread like wild- 
 fire. By this time the Orange weavers and 
 labourers had found that plundering was a paying 
 game, and much more to their metal than honest 
 employment. Out of their dens and hiding-places, 
 from which even yet they seldom ventured to crawl 
 save beneath the cover of night to pursue their 
 depredations, they now rushed forch. Events had 
 shapen themselves much in their favour. While 
 receiving the pay of the Government, armed by 
 Government, and legalised by Government, they 
 could now, and la the light of day, plunder by order 
 
 of Council ; pillage had become a virtue, murder a 
 test of loyalry, and lust one of the corporal works 
 of mercy. The Masters of lodges made fit lieu- 
 tenants for such a guerilla troop ; the District 
 Masters and District Secretaries ranked as cap- 
 tains, and in the Grand Misters of counties, the 
 Grand Secretaries, and that host of conspirators 
 who dealt in the mystic mummeries cf the County 
 Grand Lodges we find their colonels and comman- 
 ders — all, from the bumpkin who had cast aside the 
 plough for the sword, and the weaver who found the 
 blunderbuss a readier instrument than the shuttle 
 with which to secure a fortune, from the under- 
 strapper, the miserable tenant, and the bailiff to 
 those neeiy gentlemen who saw now a means of 
 securing their rents by pocketing the pay of their 
 men, all came swarming out like carrion flies in 
 summer time, bub armed with a double 
 power — the right of creating havoc and 
 the privilege of fattening upon it. Forth 
 they went in that autumn of 1798, ” Salus 
 fadionis suprema lex'’ their mocto, an army of 
 despicable but loyal” cowards, upon a work which 
 the naked savage m his wilds would abhor, and 
 from which the Author of Evil must have turned 
 aside in disgust, sickening at the thought that he 
 was to be linked to such asso3iates. If prescience 
 be vouchsafed to the doomed, many an unborn babe 
 and many a blooming village maiden, “ sweet as 
 the primrose-peeps beneath the thorn,” and many 
 an aged parent must have felt the cold shudder of 
 coming death or degradation upon that ominous 
 14th September. 
 
 From the report of Lord Castlereagh to the 
 British Parliament, just after the completion of 
 the Union, I find that the forces in Ireland were 
 45,839 regulars, 27,104 militia, and 53,557 yoe- 
 manry, making a total of 126 500 men, while the 
 defensive and offeusive means of warfare were pro- 
 portionally great in other parts of the kingdom. 
 From the most reliable source open to us, Mr. 
 Madden’s interesting series, we find that Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald when pressing “ W. M ’’ to join 
 the revolutionary movement, said “ examine these 
 papers — here are returns showing 100,000 men may 
 be counted on to take the field,” to which W. M.” 
 gave this pregnant reply, ” 100,000 on paper will 
 not furnish 50,000 in array.” With 8 ),000 descip- 
 lined soldiers at their command, with a large reserve 
 force distributed over the United Kingdom, 
 and with ample facilities for transportation to Ire- 
 land it is not unreasonable to presume that the 
 Government could have easily suppressed a rebel- 
 
Ill '-TOM OF ORANGETSM. 
 
 G4 
 
 lion of such discrganisHd forces, as they knew well 
 the Uoited men consisted of, withoui calling to 
 their aid a boJy of men inflimed by party feud, 
 and bound by secret ties and oaths of extermina- 
 tion, No dvuibb their offer of assistanee inig’bt be 
 too tempting for such a Government as that of 
 Pitt's to refuse; too tempting especially at a time 
 ■when continental n atters were in a state of dreadful 
 and disastrous confusion. But if we recollect, that 
 Administration had in its employ a band of in- 
 formers, who laid bare before them all the secrets of 
 the organisation ; (bat they had fairly estimated its 
 power; were acqui'n'-ed vi-h its projects; that 
 they had the names of all it? le .ders pigeon-holed 
 in the Ca?t]e ; that with the movement within 
 bheir grasp they coquetted with rebels in order to 
 tempt a people to ^heir ruin, and neglected to dis- 
 charge the first du'y of a Government under 
 such circumstarioes. in saving the revolting from 
 the results of their own folly, •we will be driven 
 to the irresistible conchision that the object of the 
 Adminis'ration wis no*-, as some honeit Protes- 
 tants thought, to keep down an msurrection, but to 
 foment one that they might suppress it at the can- 
 non’s mouth, and so clear the road by blood and 
 extermination for the projected Union. For the 
 purpose of extermination we must, therefore, be- 
 lieve they paid those who were sworn extermi- 
 nators. 
 
 With the exception of Sir Elchard Masgrave, 
 there is nob to be found a writer who does not 
 admit and denounce the outrages committed by 
 the Orange yeoma'ory of 1793, while at the present 
 day they have taken their place in history as facts 
 which no man dare deny. Sir William, with his cus- 
 tomary blundering, first denies them and then 
 justifies them. 
 
 TiOrd Holland, in his Memoirs of the Whig 
 Party,” speaking of the reign of terw r of Irish 
 O angeism, and the clemency” of Lord Camden’s 
 rule, says, “The premature and ill-concerted insur- 
 rections which followed in the Catholic districts, 
 were quelled, rath or in consequence of want of 
 concert and skill in the insurgents, than of any 
 good conduct or di?cipl no of the King’s troops, 
 whom Sir Ealph Abercrombie described as formid- 
 able to no me but tbe'r friends. That experienced 
 and upright commander had been removed from 
 bis con.mand” (the fact is he resigned), 
 “even after those just and spirited gene- 
 ral orders, in which the remarkable judg- 
 ment just quoted was conveyed. His recall 
 vrjiconveyei as a triumph by the Orange faction. 
 
 and they contrived, about tho same time, to get 
 rid of Mr. Secretary Pelham, who, thm^bt seme- 
 what time-serving was a good natu’cd and 
 prudent man. Indeed, surrounded as they were 
 with b irning cottages, tntured backs, and fceciucnb 
 executions, they were yet full of their sneers at 
 what they whimsically termed “the clemency” 
 of the Givernment and the weak charac'-er of their 
 Viceroy, Lori Cam leo. Tne fact is inconcrover- 
 tibli that the people of Ireland were driven to re- 
 slstencp, which, possibly, they meli*'ated before, 
 by the free quarters and expenses of the soldiery, 
 which were such as are not permitted in civilised 
 warfare, even in an enemy’s country. Trials, if 
 they must be so cp*lled, were cirried on wUhout 
 number undv martial law. It often happened 
 that three officers composed the Court, and that of 
 the three two were under age and the th’ri an 
 officer of the yoemanry or the miUtia who had 
 swo’-n in his Orange lodge eternal hatred to the 
 people over whom he was thus constitu'-ed a judge. 
 Floggings, picketings, and death, were the usual 
 smtences, and these were sometimes commu^-ed 
 jn''o banishment, serving in the fieet, or transfer- 
 ence to a foreign se»’vice. Many were sold at so 
 much per head to the Prassians. Other more legal 
 but not less horrible outrages were daily committed 
 by the d’flerent corps under the command of the 
 Government. Even in the streets of Dublin a man 
 was shot and robbed of £i0 on a loose recollection 
 of a soldier’s having seen him in the battle of 
 Kilcally,aud no proceeding was in-tTu>-ed <o ascer- 
 tain the murler or prosecute the mu-derer. Lo-'d 
 Wycombe, who was in Dublin, a’^d who was him- 
 self shot at by a sentinel between Blackrock and 
 that city, wrote to me many details of similar out- 
 rages which he bad ascertained to be true. Dr. 
 Dickson (Lori Bishop of D )wn) assured me that 
 be had seen families returning peaceably fiom 
 Mass assailed, without provocation, by drunken 
 yeomanry, and the wive? and daughters exposed to 
 every species of indignity, brutality, and outrage, 
 from which bis remonstrances nor those of other 
 Catholic gentlemen could rescue them.” 
 
 Sir Jonah Barrington, writing up'^n the same 
 subject, says*:— “This measure (free quarters) 
 was resorted to -with all its attendant horrors 
 tbreughout some of the best parts of Irelani pre- 
 vious to the lasurrectioQ.” He a 'ds, “ slow tor- 
 ture was inflicted under pretence of extorting con- 
 fessions ; the people were driven to madness. 
 General Abercrombie, who succ^edei as c 'm. 
 
 • B-isc and fall of the Irish Nation, pages 130-1. 
 
mSTORY OF OEANGETSM. 
 
 65 
 
 mander-in-chief, was rot permitted to abate these 
 enormities, and, therefore, resigned in disgust. 
 Ireland was reduced to a state of anarchy, and ex- 
 posed to crioies and cruelties, to which no nation 
 had ever been mbjeefc. Tbe peopLv can no longer 
 bear their miseries ; Mr. Fiit'z object was now 
 effected.’* 
 
 Huverly says (page 743) The ferocity of the 
 Orange Yeomanry was iniesctihable j a notion 
 appeared to have generally pre'railed among them 
 that tbe time to extirpate the Catholics had arrived, 
 and they aotei accordingly ; their conduct during 
 the insurrection was that of incarnate fiends. It 
 was a fearful dragonnade, in which the usages of 
 ci\iilisation were set aside; and, such being the 
 case on the part of the Eoyal troops, it is not 
 wonderful that the unlisciplined peasantry should 
 have been guilty of many acts of barbarity. The 
 crimes of the latter, however, were doie in retalia- 
 tion; they were often prompted by private malic®, 
 and it should be remembered that they were the 
 work of exisperated multitudes, goaded by injuries 
 and unrestrained by authority.” 
 
 Lord Moira, speaking on the 22ad November, 
 1797, in the English House of Lords, said— “ I ad- 
 dress you this day my lords on documents equally 
 sure end staple. Before God and my country I 
 speak of what I have seen myself. What I have 
 to speak of are n:)t solitary and insulated 
 measures, nor partial abuses, but what is adopted 
 5 S.S the system of Government ; I do not talk of a 
 casual system, but of one deliberately d*:;termined, 
 and regularity persevered in. . . . I have seen 
 
 in Ireland the most absurd as well as the most dis- 
 gusting tyranny that any nation ever groaned 
 under, . , . I have seen troops that have been 
 
 sent full of this prejudice — that every inhabitant 
 in that kingdom is a '•ebel to the British Government” 
 He then proceeded to compare the regime to the In- 
 quisition, to describe the picketings and the 
 torturirg, and the half-hanging in order to extort 
 confessions, and added, No person could say who 
 would he the next victim of this oppression and 
 puelty.” 
 
 The Rev. James Gordon, rector of Killegney, 
 Ferns, a gentleman “ wholly British by descent,” 
 and with *‘a natural bias on tbe side of Protestint- 
 iem and loyalty,” ashe himself stated* says : "Great 
 numbers of houses were burned, with their furni- 
 ture, where concealed arms were found, or 
 meetings of the United Irish nen had been 
 
 • Gordon's Eist. of the Eebel ion, paje 65-76. 
 
 he'd, or whose occupants had been guilty of 
 the fabrication of pikes, or of other 
 practices for the promotion of the conspiracj* 
 Many of the common people, and some even in cir- 
 cumstances superior to that class, particularly in 
 the city of Dublin, were scourged — some picketed 
 or otherwise put to pain — to force a confession of 
 coucealei arms or plots. To authorise the burning 
 of Louses and furniture the wisdom of the Adminis- 
 tration may have seen as good reason as for any other 
 acts of severity, though to me and many others 
 that reason is not clear.” 
 
 To exhaust all the authorities upon this feature 
 of the question were useless. But there is another 
 point which has not been adequately brought before 
 the public in reference to the Orange yeomanry. 
 They were loyal only in profession. Bound by the 
 oath of conditional loyalty, and such a fearful one 
 as the early oath of the Orange Insti- 
 tution, it would be hard to expect it other- 
 wise. Of the feline species, they purred, 
 and were content so long as plunder was 
 permitted and they shared largely in the booty. 
 But rub them against the grain, compel them to 
 be honest men, to abide by military regulations, 
 and to obey the laws, and forthwith they showed 
 their claws. The instances are many in which 
 these same loyal men, these supporters of King and 
 Constitution, mutinied against their offiiers and 
 refused to serve. Several very notable cases of 
 this sort occurred after the brief reh d’ion of 1803 
 had been suppressed, and the conduct of some of 
 the corps, the Armagh corps amongst the number, 
 was so disloyal that they had to be disbanded. 
 Through the year ’93 the cases were few, compara- 
 tively, fur then they were allowed free quarters, but 
 when, a few years later, the work of extermination 
 was done, and a spirit something nearer toleration 
 showed itself, these gallant plunderers in their 
 turn revolted, were censured, f<ill into dis- 
 organisation and into disgrace. As law-bi'eakers 
 they distinguished tiemaelves in refusing to obey 
 such measures as the Party Procession Act, another 
 proof of conditional loyalty ,* and by orier of tha 
 
 * Before the Select Committee of ISS'iLorl Gosford, the 
 son of Ea 1 Gosford, whose dmiunciatioa in 1795 so dis- 
 turbel the p^aee of the <)ran"emen. erave corroborative 
 t stiinooy as to the trathfulne s and accuracy of his 
 f ither’s address. He is then at No 3,:129 asked “ Have the 
 o aen tike i a pTominent part i;i those Orange procession % 
 
 O ’ ha 4 it appeare I from the chir icter and description of the 
 persons t'^at vre-e in those proce sions that amongst hem 
 mmy of t’le Yeomanry must h ve be^ n ?” to which he 
 replies: — “I should think so ; hut not iu their dress, or 
 appeari''^ as Yeomen; but that there were men belonsrin? 
 t ) the Yeoman -y corps in these proce sions I believe there 
 is no doubt.” This wis afte’ the passing of the Mr. Stanley 
 Ah i-Proco s on Act. In the previous page we find Loi’d 
 Go'fo’ d making use of the follow! ig pregnant remark : - 
 “In discharge of my duty as Lieutenant of the County 
 Armagh I have found holies of them (the Oran emen) resi it 
 the law; I have found theca resist the law, and refuse to 
 obey the law as Orangeme , 
 
 P 
 
65 
 
 HISTORY OP ORANGEISM. 
 
 Lord Lieutenant many were dismissed Various 
 peculations have been proved against members of 
 the body. The depth and intensity of their loyalty 
 were measured by their pockets, and accoriirgl 3 f 
 we find numerous instances recorded in which 
 Masters and District Masters (such as Captain 
 Patten, of Tandragee) allowed persons of their own 
 nomination to fill the place of deceised lieutenants 
 and receive tt elr pay without the knowledge of Go- 
 vernment; in which majors and captains retaining 
 the pay of their men for rents, debts, &o.. and in 
 which men purloined the property of their equals 
 and their superiors when their hands were not 
 otherwise employed. A guerilla troop, these Orange 
 yeomanry possessed all the ferocity of the bucca- 
 neer, with none of his bravery ; all the brutality of 
 the savage, with none of his nobility ; the cupidity 
 of the highwayman, with no relieving dash of 
 courage or of recklessness ; the lust of the brute, 
 the heart of the slave, and the hand of the assassin, 
 
 CHAPTER XV.— EARLY EEFORl 
 
 Thb prejudice against Irish history, prevalent 
 amongst the profusely loyal to British connection, 
 argues more a weakness than a strength in the 
 virtue they boast the possession of, showing as it 
 does a fear to place it in jeopardy by a due investi- 
 gation of the truth. That prejudice has been the 
 parent of much popular error in regard to the 
 history of ths United Irishmen. It has contrived 
 to prolong error, and may be effectual to the end 
 in perpetuating it. Nothing is more common, 
 even in the present day, than to suppose that the 
 United Irish movement was distinctly a Roman 
 Catholic one. Yet nothing could be more erroneous?. 
 The ascendancy party has even gone so far as to 
 connect with it the Pope, the College of Cardinals, 
 the Irish Episcopacy, and the Irish priests ; a huge 
 ultramontane conspiracy for the overthrow of Pro- 
 testantism, in which, from the occupant of the 
 Throne of Peter down to the humble Iiish curate, 
 all were alike concerned. Those who are respon- 
 sible for this misrepresentation must bear either 
 the infamy of falsely representing facts or the dis- 
 grace of being ignorant of them. Of the grosser 
 charge many, with their minds fixed upon the 
 significance of passing events, will likely hold them 
 convicted. This is but one of the several means 
 by which a clique seeks to divide and con- 
 quer. As a matter of fact tho United Irish 
 movement found its origin, not in any diabolical 
 Popish conspiracy, but in the broad spirit of en- 
 
 It is notoricuB, the real fighting w is done without 
 them. They came in at the tail aud completed the 
 carnage. 
 
 Harsh words!"* Yes; bub harelirr truths. 
 Some who have learned to abhor the deeds of these 
 men may deem it unwise this “ re-opening of an old 
 sore,” as th^y would term it. To this 1 can best 
 reply in the words of Hamlet — silence “ will but 
 skin and film the ulcerous place; while? rank cor- 
 ruption, raining all within, infects unseen.” This 
 emVjraces a melancholy consideration. But it must 
 be boldly faced. And if, in these pages, I call a 
 spade a spade, I ask my readers to do me the justice 
 of believing that my motive is not to revile the 
 memory of the dead, or to hurt the sensitiveness of 
 the living, but, within the lines of historical accu- 
 racy, to mark a canker :n our system, so that, look- 
 ing upon it, all may learn to avoid it. 
 
 “ I must be cruel only to be k’nd. 
 
 Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind." 
 
 [ERS, THE UNITED IRISHMEN. 
 
 lightenment and reform, which spread amongst 
 the Northern Presbyterians in the latter end of 
 the last century. Of foreign extraction, conquerors 
 in a strange land, estranged from its people ly a re- 
 formed religion, which laughed at all the cherished 
 dogmas of the ancient faith, the grandfathers of 
 these men — stem, relentless, even cruel, rot the 
 children of Fate, but the carvers cf their own 
 destiny — had settled down upon the forfeited lands 
 of tbo early occupiers. Too accustomed to the 
 fortunes of war to feel remorse, and too practical 
 to become elated, they ab once made the best of 
 their good luck, and applied themselves to busi- 
 ness. That intercourse which the trade of a 
 century ensured had rubbed away the intolerant 
 and despotic manners of the soldier of fortune. 
 With a widening civilisation, we find their 
 succesoors moderate, liberal, and tolerant, but 
 inheriting the fierce republican spirit of the old 
 Cromwellians, the dogged austerity of the Puritan 
 reformers, which classed crowns and royal sceptres 
 amongst children*s playthings, hurried a king to the 
 block, and brought an ancient Parliament House* 
 with its thousand fond memories ai<:d thousand 
 dear privileges, about the ears of its occupants. 
 The interests of these men had become identical 
 with those of their country. As Irish as the 
 Irish themselves, they were not of that mettle 
 to calmly submit to exclusion. They learned 
 to protest against the monopoly and injustice 
 
HISTOEY OE ORANGEISM. 
 
 67 
 
 which made Ireland the never fariin^ sourc'^ 
 of British revenue, and, in arms against bo':h, they 
 Boon came to abhor prosecution as the mi aas by 
 which they were accomplished. England having 
 Bowei the wind, had well-nigh reaped the 
 whirl-wind. In the sons of her early Irish settlers 
 Bhe found her early Irish reformers. They were 
 the founders and the directors cf the United Irish 
 Society, and the leaders in a rebellion which, but 
 for a succession of misfortunes, might have cest 
 her her Irish dependency. 
 
 To say it was a Eoman Catholic movement is to 
 pay a compliment to the members of that religion 
 of those days that, in truth, they are not deserving 
 of.* Fettered and degraded by the persecution 
 of centuries, wilh bitter recollections that every 
 revolt only served to rivet their chains the faster, 
 it is scarcely to be wondered that the National 
 spirit was broken and depressed. Local con- 
 Bpiracies, known here under one denomination, 
 there under another, formed escape valves for long 
 pent-up indignation ; but in all cases their objects 
 were purely the redress cf local grievances. One 
 society did get so far as to entertain the idea that 
 ‘^someth'ng should be done for Ireland;’* but 
 what that something was neither they nor 
 their illiterate leaders could suggest. In 1793 
 when continental politics were in a muddle, the 
 first real remission of the penal code came to Irish 
 Catholics in the 32ad of George III., by which cer- 
 tain restraints and disabilities were removed, and 
 Papists were permitted to become barristers, 
 attorneys, notaries, and attorneys’ clerks. Protes- 
 tant barristers w;er 0 permitted to marry Catholic 
 wives and bring up their children Papists, and 
 Bcboolmaslers relieved from taking out licences 
 from Protestant bishops. In the following year the 
 difficulties abroad thickened around England, and 
 accordingly an Act was passed to enable Roman 
 Catholics to held and take degrees for any profes- 
 sorship in any college thereafter to be founded, 
 provided it was not ror the exclusive education of 
 Papists, and for a similar reason 1795 brought the 
 Act in rslation to Maynooth. The ostensible object 
 of these concessions was to conciliate the Irish 
 jieople in a time of need, but there was a sinist» r 
 motive behind them all — to alienate the respectable 
 
 • Father Taffe in his history of Ireland, page 94, says, 
 
 ** It is well know ijjthat the Catholics, of all others, are the 
 least inclined to rebel, and have borne with persecution 
 when others wo Id have been in arms. Compare the suffer- 
 ing of the Catholics of Ireland with the refractory spirit of 
 the Protestants of the Transatlantic Colonies ; the sub- 
 missive temper of the Catholic provinces of Cunada conquered 
 by France, and the stuViborn / esistance of the Protestant 
 (.olonies, united aud cherished into growth by hnglaad 1** 
 
 Erisa Roman Catholic from the mass of the people, 
 and above all, to separate from them the Irish, 
 prie&thood. The first object was wholly accom- 
 plished, the other only partially, if at all. Ac- 
 cordingly, we find the wealthy Roman Catholic 
 gentry content with small mercies, si'iisfied that a 
 way had been opened in life for their sons, forget- 
 ful of the grievances under which the large masa 
 of the people laboured, and not unfreqnently 
 hounding the dogs of war upon their track to show 
 wha': lojal subjects King George the Third had 
 found in them. Of such men, with an occa5ional 
 reformer of another religion who looked beyond 
 their programme but dared not declare his inten- 
 tions, we find that the Catholic committee was 
 made up ; men who coefiaed their labours to pre- 
 senting elaborate addresses to newly-arrived Vice- 
 roys, who lost themselves in enthusiasm over the 
 many excellencies which they professed to find in 
 his Gracious Mijesty the King, and who a thoUr 
 sand and one tioces signed themselves as ** in duty 
 bound to ever pray” for one of the most rotten 
 Parliaments, made up of the most menial “ repre- 
 seatatives” that ever befooled an intelligent people 
 or pe.’*secuted an illiterate one. Thiu then, waS 
 the position of the Irish Catholics in those days. 
 And being so, who dares say that the United I risk 
 movement was a Roman Catholic one ! Who dares 
 pay to selfish respectability and easily purc’iased 
 loyalty a compliment of which they wmre not de- 
 serving ! Who dares roh a sect that was in ad. 
 vance of their fellows of the reputation of being 
 the onlv intelligent people who contemplated re- 
 form, and the people most willing to suffer in its 
 attainment ! The rebellion failed for want of 
 leaders. Had the respectable Raman Catholics 
 allied themselves with their reforming Presbyterian 
 and Protestant brethren it is reasonable to conclude 
 it would have been successful ; that 1 798 had been 
 “ a glorious victory, and not a shameful rout;” that 
 it had now taken its place beside the brilliant era of 
 Ameridjan indeoendence ; that Tone would have 
 been our Washington, and that some years hence 
 another free people would have been joining in an 
 universal ji’e Deum at the centennial celebration of 
 Irish independence. 
 
 That the mass of the rebels were Catholic there 
 is no doubt. But they were rebels because perse- 
 cution made them such, not because Catholicism 
 ncliued tuem to be. Long suffering drove them 
 into revolt, and they in desperation ranked them- 
 selves beneath the leadership of men whose reli- 
 gion furnished no reason for doubt, but rather ax) 
 
C8 
 
 HISTOKT OP ORANGEISM. 
 
 assurance, that their motives were sincfre. 'the 
 total number enrolled up to February, 1798, was 
 6GO,COO ; the available forces counted on, 250^000 
 Lord Edward Fitzi^erald reckoned uo^n 100,000 men 
 on paper, while shrewd W. M. (William Murphy, 
 of Smithfield) held that 100 000 men ou paper 
 meant nob half chat number (50,000) in the fi Id 
 From these figures subtract the numbers of the 
 Northern Presbyterians, those men who fou;yht at 
 Antrim, Sa’n'field, and Ballyuahinch, and the 
 residue will make but a poor comparis)n with more 
 than four millions of Irish Eoman Catholics. 
 
 There is still another popular e-ror, and a no less 
 grievous on?, in regard to this movement. The 
 idea has been long since d spelled that its leaders 
 ■were men of humVe origin, illiterate, and insig- 
 nificant ; but there still remiins with miny th« 
 belief that the movement was that of a political 
 juntvo, an isolated inst '.nee of factisus opposition to 
 the Administration of the diy ; th b in the society 
 of United I-’ishmen were gathered all the irrecon- 
 cllables of the period, while outside their ranks was 
 to be found, at all points of the three kingdoms, an 
 unbroken cilm exteuaing away to the nt nost verge 
 of the 'political horizon. Why, it was the age of 
 reform all the world ever. In England it was an 
 age of reform because it was an age of corruption. 
 The scathing sarcasms of Junius had not yet lost 
 their point*, and the eloquent denunciations of 
 Burke and his contemporaries were echoing over 
 the Emx)ire. There were in England such societies 
 as “ the Eevolution S Dciety of London,” the Whig 
 Club,” the “Frhrds of the Universal Peace and 
 the Eights of Man,” the “ Westminster Committee 
 of Eeform,” the “ Friends of the L'berty of the 
 Press,” the Socidy of United Englislimsn'* the 
 ^‘London Corresponding Society” (seeking Parlia- 
 mentary reform), t tho ^■'Mnnenester Constitution 
 Society” (Eepuhlican) j in Scotland some similar 
 associations were to be found, while in Ireland we 
 had the Catholic" Committee, the Wnig Club, 
 
 * This my'terioii'? and able author had used these 
 prophetic words — *■ i'he evil lies too deep to be cured by any 
 rereody less than some great convulsion which may brin.g 
 bacii the Constitution to its original principles, or utterly 
 de troy it.” 
 
 t hir. Pitt who started in life as a reformer attended on 
 IGthMay. 1782, “ a meeting of m mbers of Paidianicnt friend y 
 to a con titutional reformation,” at which delegates w re 
 pr 'sent from several committees of counties and cities. One 
 of tho resolni ions pa SO'I was that the sense of tho country 
 Bhould bo tiken during tlie summer in order that the 
 ntembors miurht ho able “ to lay th-ir several petitions bo "ore 
 Parliament early in tlio next session, when thes ' proposals 
 for a Pailiamentary reformation (withont which neither the 
 liberty of tlio nation can bo preserved nor tho permanence of 
 any virtuous Ad • ijiistrati. n be secxrrc) may rece vo that 
 ample and mature discussion which so momeutous a ques- 
 tion demands.'* 
 
 the Political Society of Dublin, and the 
 United Irishmen avowed in the light of day. 
 If the Uni'e 1 M^ju wore disloyal in the beginning 
 they were in such good company as the Right Hon. 
 William Pitt and Lord Castleraagh, who surely 
 could do no wrong; if they were rc:bols in the end, 
 it was their misfortun3j not their fault, and th3y 
 have only to thank the Administration for making 
 them so. 
 
 O’ Connor, Wyse, and Curry founded the Catholic 
 Cemmitbe in Dublin in 1757, the first meeting being 
 held in the Grloba Coffee-housb Essex Street, at 
 which but eight persons attended. It is not within 
 the scope of this history to give details of its work- 
 ing, further then to say that they seem to have 
 been f )r a coneiderable part of t’ie:r early career a 
 Vi)e-Eegal Congratulatory Society. After Tone 
 became conn-'cted with them as assistant secretary 
 in the opring of 1793, they did assist in pr.-paring 
 the way for reformers of a spirit more in keeping 
 ■with the necessities of tho time. They sought 
 merely to relieve Catholics from the Penal Code. 
 When their claims ware taken up by t’le Presby- 
 terians of Belfast, the Ascend incy Party took 
 fright at what they termed “ the exorbitant pre- 
 tensions of the Catholic Committee,” Ab through 
 the country wherever it was possible, anti- 
 Catholic meetings wera called, and elsewhere the 
 Grand Juries did the work. The Grand Jary of 
 Louth, with the Speaker of the House of Commons 
 at their head, declared that to allow the E 'man 
 Catholics the right of voting for members to serve 
 in Parliament, or admitting them to any partici- 
 pation in the Government of the Kingdom, was in- 
 cotupatible with the safety of the Protestant 
 establishment.” 
 
 The Corporation of Dublin went further. Al- 
 luding in their resolutions to the possibility of 
 Government finally acceding to the Catholic claims, 
 they boldly pronounood the doom of Catholics fer 
 all time to come in the folio vving significant words : 
 — "That the Protestants of Ireland would not be 
 compelled by any authority whatever to abandon 
 that political situation which their fathers won 
 with their swords, and which is, therefore, tbeir 
 birthright,”and to this threatened resistance againe^ 
 constituted authority they in addition pledged the 
 lives and fortuces of its memlers. To leave no 
 room for doubt as to what Protestant Ascendancy 
 ment, they put thmr modest clums thug ; — " A 
 Protestant King of Ireland, a Protestant Parlia- 
 meat, a Protestant Hierarchy, Protestant Electors, 
 and Goverament; the Bench of Jus'ice, the Aimy^ 
 
HISTORY OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 G9 
 
 and tbe Rtvenup,tnrough all branched and details, 
 Protestant, and this system supported by ccn- 
 oection with the Protestant realm of England.” 
 Here we may t^ace the hand of some of these 
 constitutional loyalists who ruled the city with an 
 iron rod a few y^ars afterwards under the auspices 
 of the Orange InstlUition. Mr. Grattan, when on 
 the 10th Jan., 1/93, he moved an amendment to 
 the Address, reftr'-ed to tl is resolution of the 
 Dublin Corporation, and said be considered the 
 publication of it as “the act of the Castle ; the act 
 of their city delegation ; the composUkn of their 
 city agents.” 
 
 The “Whig Club,” in imitation of that iu Eng- 
 land, was establ shed in 179), and amongst its 
 original members were Lords Charlemont, De Clif- 
 ford, Moira, O’Neill, the Hon. Robert Stewat, 
 Archibald Rawan Hamilton, William Todd Jone.s, 
 Colonel Sharman, Hon. E. Ward, and Hon. H. 
 Rowley. To give an indication of the objects of 
 this club to those unacquainted with them, it is 
 only necessary to quote a resolution passed by them 
 on the 16th April, 179)— Riwan Hamilton in the 
 chair. It ran as follows: — Resolved unanimousiy 
 — That when an unmasked and shameless system 
 of Ministerial coriuption manifests an intention to 
 sap the spirit, virtue nni independence of Parlia- 
 ment, it is time for the people to look to themselves. 
 Plovden says that the most memorable act of this 
 club was the drawing up of a petition to the King 
 at a meeting of the society, held on the 5th April, 
 1798 — Mr. Grattan in the chair — iu order to lay 
 before his Majesty the state cf the country, and 
 “ a vindication of its people ag-'inst the tradition 
 of his Ministers.” He further adds that the Ca- 
 tholic question was not permitted to he discussed 
 in the club. 
 
 it will therefere be seen that the nec<=S3lty for 
 Parliamentary reform .vas generally aduiitted so 
 early ao in 1790. Dr. Madden, in his first series 
 (page 174), says — “Various poliiical clubs, ema- 
 nating from the Volunteer associations, had been 
 formed in Belfast, advocating reform and Catholic 
 Emancipation, before either of these questions had 
 gained ground in the metropolis. The Belfast 
 leaders were so far in advance of those of Dublin 
 on both subjects that, long before the change in 
 the organisation of the united Irish societies, 
 ultericT views to those set out with advocating 
 were entertained by a great many of the former.’* 
 That Belfast was foremost in the struggle against 
 corruption there can he no doubt. Tone, 
 tfhose pen had. In August 1791, been ably 
 
 employed in behalf of the Catholics of 
 Ireland, was invited to Belfast in Octo- 
 ber cf the same year by a Protestant club 
 of volunteers, under the guidance of a secret 
 committee, to spend a few days m order 
 to assist in framing rules and declaritiona 
 of the first club of United Irishmen, and “ lo culti- 
 vate an acquaintance with those men whon?, 
 t rough he highly esteemed, he knew as yet by repu- 
 tation.”* The persons whom he met in Bel- 
 f.ist, and whom he names as “ having some reason 
 to esteem himself particularly fortunate in formir g 
 connections with” were Samuel Neilson, R.^berfc 
 Sims, Williarc. Sims, William Sinclair, and Thomaa 
 M‘Cabe ; these he classifies as “ the men most dis- 
 tinguished for their virtue, talent, and pa'riotism.” 
 He proceeds — “We formed our club, of which I 
 wrote the declaration, and certainly the formation 
 of that club commenced a new epoch iu tbe politics 
 of Ireland.” The idea of forming the society, the 
 first meeting of which was held on the 18th of 
 October, would seem to have originated with 
 Samuel Neilson, and to have met with the concur- 
 rence of Henry Joy M'Cracken and Thomas Rus- 
 sell, while Wolfe Tone acted at the outset iu ac- 
 cordance with the opinions of those who had sug- 
 gested its formation. 
 
 They started with a declaration of Iheir prin- 
 ciples, read at their first general meeting on the 
 18th October, 1791 > 
 
 “ That the great measure essential to the pro- 
 sperity and freedom of Ireland was an equal repre- 
 sentation of all the people of Ireland.” It pro- 
 ceeded to say that the great evil was EagHsh in- 
 fluence, and continued — “ We have no national 
 Govetnment. We are ruled by Englishmen and 
 the servants of Englishmen, wh'se object is the 
 interest of another country, whose instrument is 
 corruption, and whose strength is tbe weakness of 
 Ireland.” To effect these objects, the declaration 
 states the society had been formed. The folio ing 
 was adopted : — 
 
 “We have agreed to form an association to bo 
 called the Society of United Irishmen ; and we do 
 pledge ourselves to our country, and mutually to 
 each other, that we will steadily support acd en- 
 deavour by all due means to carry into effect the 
 following resolutions 
 
 “ I. Resolved — That the weight of English in 
 fluencs in the Government of this country is so 
 great as to require a cordial union among all the 
 people to maintain that balance which is eseential 
 
 • Tone’s life, paje 53, vol. 1, 
 
 Q 
 
70 
 
 niSTOBT OP OKANGEISM. 
 
 to the preservation ef our liberties and the exten- 
 Bion of our commerce.” 
 
 ** II. That the sole constitutional mode by which 
 this influence can be opposed is by a complete and 
 radical reform of the representation of the people 
 in Parliament.” 
 
 III. That no reform is practical, efficacious, or 
 just which shall not include Irishmen of every re- 
 ligious persuasion.” 
 
 That some of its founders, particularly those of 
 Belfast, entertained ulterior views which went 
 beyond Parliamentary reform there can be no 
 doubt, but it is equally certain that they were con- 
 tent at this period to sink those views, to ex- 
 tend their project no farther than the aims set 
 forth in their public declarations, and sought not 
 to engraft their PepuLlican ideas upen ♦he original 
 constitution. That it was therefore a perfectly 
 legal association at the outsot there can be no 
 doubt, but the fact that it proposed union amongst 
 all classes of Irishmen was sufficient to appal a 
 Government that formed its strength only in the 
 division of those whom it aspired to rule. 
 
 The first petition that ever emanated in Ireland 
 from a Protestant body in favour of Emancipation 
 we owe to them. Early in January, 1792, the fol- 
 lowing requisition extensively signed was addressed 
 to the inhabitants of Belfast: — 
 
 “ Gentlemen, — As men, and as Irishmen, we have 
 long 1 imented the degrading state of slavery and 
 oppression in which the great majority of our 
 countrymen, the Roman Catholics, are held — nor 
 have we lamented it in silence. We ^ishtosee 
 all distinctions on account of religion abolished — 
 all narrow, partial maxims of policy done away. 
 We anxiously wish to see the day when every Irish, 
 man shall be a citizen — when Catholics and Protes- 
 tants, equally interested in their country’s welfare, 
 possessing equal freedom and equal privilege?, 
 shall be cordially vnited, and learn to look upon 
 each other as brothers^ the children of the same 
 God, and the natives of the same land — and when 
 the only strife amongst them shall be, who shall 
 serve their country bett. These, gentlemen, are 
 our sentiments, and these, we are convinced, are 
 yours.” Then followed a requisition to held a 
 general meeting of the principal inhahilantiat the 
 Townhouse on the following Saturday at noon, to 
 consider the propriety of petitioning Parliament m 
 fa*70ur of their Eoman Catholic hrethern. 
 
 Tone and his frioad Eussell returned to Dublin 
 with instructions tc cultivate the leaders of the 
 popular interests there, being Protestant, and, if 
 
 possible to form in the metropolis a club cf the 
 Baited Irishmen. In the month of November, 
 1791, Tone, aided by Napper Trndy established a 
 club in Dublin — the Hon. Simon Butier being 
 chairman.* 
 
 Plowden saysf that in the month of June, 
 1791, a paper was circulated in Dublin coatuuiug 
 the design of an association to be called the Society 
 of United Irishmen at Belfast, and says that a 
 complete plan and prospectus was published in the 
 Northern Star in October following — 1791. It is 
 possible, but not probable, that the question may 
 have been discussed iu Dublin in Jaae previous to 
 the formation of the club ‘n Belfast in October, bub 
 there is certainly an error as to dates, evidently 
 upon Mr. Plowden’s part, as we have the undoubted 
 authority of Mr. Madden that the North rn Star 
 was only issued in 1792, the first number appearing 
 on the 14th J anuary of that year, Samuel Neilsoa and 
 eleven others of his townsmen being joint proprie- 
 tors. 
 
 Shortly after their formation the United Irish- 
 men at Dublin issued an address to the Volunteer! 
 over the names of William Drennan and Archibald 
 Eowan Hamilton as follows : — 
 
 “ To be soldiers you becamo citizens, nor can wo 
 help wishing that all soldiers partaking the 
 passions and interests of people >/ould remember 
 that they were once citizens and seduction made 
 them soldiers, but nature made them men.” 
 
 In four words lies all our honour — universal 
 emancipation and representative legislature. Yet, 
 we are confident that on the pivot of this principle 
 a convention, still less a society, less still a single 
 man, would be able first to move and then to raise 
 the world. We therefore wish for Catholic Eman- 
 cipation without any modification, but still we con- 
 sider this necessary enfranchisement as merely a 
 portal tc the temple of national freedom. Wide 
 as this entrance is — wide enough to admit three 
 millions — it is narrow when compared to the 
 capacity and comprehension of our beloved prin- 
 ciple which tafees in every individual of the Irish 
 nation, casts an equal eye over the whole island, 
 embraces all that think, and feels for all that 
 suffer. The Catholic cause is subordinate to our 
 cause, and included in it, for, as United Irishmen* 
 we adhere to no sect but to society, to no creed, 
 but Christianity, to no party, but to the whole 
 people. In the sincerity of our souls do we desire 
 Catholic Emancipation; but were it obtained to- 
 
 • Madden’s First ?eri83, page 223, 
 
 t Hist. Koyiew, rol. 1, page 33), 
 
HISTOET OF ORINGEISM. 
 
 71 
 
 morrow, to-morrow would we go on as we do to- 
 day in pursuit of that reform which would still he 
 wanting to ratify their liberties as well as our 
 own.’* 
 
 Thus was s*:arted that society of United Irish- 
 men which furnished excuse to an Orange regime 
 for the bloodiest persecution to be found in the re- 
 cords of huttan cruelties. 
 
 It is not within the range of this work to present 
 the readers wifh a detailei history of the United 
 ^rish movement. A brief outline is, ho w ever, neces- 
 sary ia order that a fair estimate may be formed of 
 the men against whom the Orange yoemen of 
 Ireland were pitted. At the same time, I must say 
 that history furnishes but few examples of inte- 
 resting narrative like to it. It breathes a spirit of war 
 and daring valour that can favourably compare with 
 the most brilliant days of chivalry. Fall of touch- 
 ing domestic love, of romance, and of unselfish 
 patriotism, the history of this movement forms at 
 once the most captivating, the most entertaining, 
 and the most instructive reading that the joung 
 Irishman could select for study. What pages could 
 be perused with more interest than Tone’s admir- 
 able diary, in which his enthusiasm, his hopes, his 
 despair, his bold, ingenuous, and generous nature, 
 all find graceful, striking, and dramatic expres- 
 sion? How bis heart bounded as that me- 
 morable expedition left the French shore, 
 and the ships of war spread thei sai's 
 to catsh the breeze — ‘^All as gay as is 
 we were going to a ball ; the wind 
 
 right aft; huzza!” How ho cursed on that un- 
 lucky Christmas morning — the last be was ever to 
 eee on earth ; how he damned the wind, and looked 
 longingly to the shore which he was not yet des- 
 tined to touch, but when to touch only to step 
 upon his grave ; and how his heart sank a few days 
 later when the Commodore gave orders to weigh 
 anchor and steer for France 1 Where is there a 
 passage quoted in the literature of any time and 
 any country breathing more of conjugal affection 
 than that in which a man, his mind busy with 
 daring schemes of revolution, seeks to sustain his 
 wife, whom he loves ten thousand times more 
 than all the universe” by picturing in his own 
 striking manner the happy rural life awaiting 
 failure — the little patch of land a few miles outside 
 of Paris, the wife milking the cows and making 
 the butter, and, no doubt, Theo. and Mat and 
 Maria tumbling upon the grass. *‘Who will milk 
 the cows,” he asks, “and make the butter if you are 
 not stout ?” What tenderness is to be found in 
 that letter, written “ to hia little daughter Maria” 
 
 while standing upon the brink of a fearful 
 precipice ! Think of how the heart of the 
 patriot gladdened, and how the tears rushed 
 up from the dauntless soul as ho reads 
 the “pretty little le tei ; ” how touchingly 
 be asks, in his reply, if Frank has got a breeches 
 yet ; when he tells his daughter to tell mother that 
 “ we do defer it most shamefully, Mr. Shandy;” 
 when he commands her to take great care of poor 
 mamma, whom ke ftars is not vtry well, to kiss 
 her and her little brothers ten thousand times, and 
 “ to love me as long as I live’* Poor Tone ! Poor 
 little Maria ! Your father had not long to live 
 when he penned those lines, and in them you might 
 have traced, had you been old enough, the darken- 
 ing shadow of the coming doom. And tell me, 
 where is ths.re in romance anything more in- 
 teresting than the intercourse between the young, 
 handsome, truly noble, but ill-fated. Lord Edward 
 and the captivating Pamela ? And what more 
 touching or more romantic than the correspon- 
 dence between poor Emmet and Sarah Curran ; the 
 defeated and hunted rebel, risking bis life for a 
 farewell interview; Nature’s nobleman offering to 
 sacrifice his life without a word that the young 
 girl’s name should not be stained by the world’s 
 knowledge that her betrothed ended life upon the 
 scaffold ; the broken-hearted girl withdrawing from 
 the idle, dancie g throng, and sioging that plain- 
 tive meiody which he so loved to hear; the silly 
 crowd gathering round this wreck of woman’s love 
 and hashed into reverence, and the young woman 
 finally going to an early touib, a sacrifice to 
 patriotism and constancy to the last— 
 
 He had lived for his love, for hia country ho died, 
 
 'Ihey where all that to life had entwiaed him. 
 
 Nor soon shall the tears of his conntrv be dried. 
 
 Nor long shall his love stay behind him. 
 
 Oh ! make h-’r a grave where the sunbeams rest. 
 
 When they p omise a glorious morrow. 
 
 They’ll shine o’er her sleep like a smile from the west, 
 yrom her own loved island of sorrow, 
 
 if you are an Irishman, and have not yet become 
 so respectable as to blush at the name, read the 
 lives of these men; for it is my convicrion that by 
 the majority they are either not read at all or 
 merely glanced into. You will come from the 
 study a better Irishman, a better man — aye, and 
 even, a better subject ; for you will likely value 
 freedom when you find it, if you have learned to 
 respect the efforts of those who fought for it, and 
 died for it, when they had it not. 
 
 It must be particularly borne in mind, through 
 theye subsequent pages, that the administration 
 of those times was one of the most notoriously 
 despotic that had luled the country on both sides 
 
72 
 
 niSTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 of the channel for many years ; that Mr. Pitt swayed 
 with the malignity of a pervert and, himself a 
 renegade reformer, initiated a autocracy almost 
 Wiequalled; that some of the ablest leaders of tte 
 English Opposition retired in disgust from their 
 Parl’amentary labours j and, that, having placed 
 the Government of this country in the hands of 
 a decperate faction, whose leader was more power- 
 ful than the nominal head of tho Irish Adminis- 
 tration, he gave it, for a purpose, over to a regime 
 that destroyed the last vestige of the Constitution, 
 all this calling forth the most eloquent and 
 the most pronounced denunc’ation from the moder- 
 ate ot all sections. These particulars, forgotten, or 
 proved to be untrue, and the memory of men who 
 loved their country “not wisely but to w^ll,* 
 must suffer at the hands of posteiity. 
 
 The unfortunate msn of whom I have been wri'- 
 ing gave expression to nothing but tte truth when 
 he snd, I must do the society the justice to say, 
 that I believe there never existed a political body 
 which included among its members a greater por- 
 tioii of sincere, uncorrupted patriotism, as well as 
 a very respectable portion of talent.’* 
 
 It would appear that on the society having been 
 formed in Dublm Tone lost al! influence in it, in 
 consequence of his advanced opinions, 1 ut in Bel- 
 fast his influence remained unabated. In the latl er 
 town Tone, Neilsor, M'Cracken, Kussell, Hazlett, 
 the two Simms, M'Lornan and M‘Cabe, at once ap- 
 plied themselves to carrying out the o/iginal orga- 
 nisation. In their praise it must be said that no 
 declaration came from them that did not breathe a 
 spirit of toleration and friendship for their suffer 
 ing Catholic countrymen. They at the earliest 
 mement applied themselves towards quelling the 
 disturbances then raging in the County Armagh 
 between the Feep-o’-Day Boys and the Defenders, 
 seeing that so long as it continued unity in the 
 North could not prevail. To some exbent they 
 were successful, and in the ranks of the Defenders 
 they found many new adherents. The United 
 Irishmen have been accused of stirring up bigotry 
 between the Protestants and the Catholics, hut 
 proof of this is no where to be found. In fact their 
 course must have been the contrary, at the outset at 
 all events, did they wish to take the speediest 
 means of securing their object. This certainly 
 could not be furthered by protracting religious dis- 
 eectioTT. That such was not their endeavour may he 
 eeer from the letter of September, 1795, addressed 
 to Tone from Belfast,* to the effect that“Neilson 
 
 • Tone’e Life, vol. 1, page 290. 
 
 had been called away by express to settle some dis- 
 pute in the County Armagh between the Peop-o’- 
 Djy Boys and Defenders, Charles Tee iag being 
 there before him.” The feud then raging 
 iu the County Armagh was that which culm’nitej 
 in the bloody massacre of the Diamond, and it was 
 to prevent this that these two left Belfast. Teeling 
 was then a boy of seventeen, but his family bad 
 much influence in the county over the Catholic in- 
 habitants, and “ learning, with deep concern, that 
 the adverse parties were preparing for a general 
 conflict with the full knowledge and under the 
 very eye of those authcrlties whose duty it •vas to 
 have restrained them,” he proceeded^to the scene iu 
 the hopes of opening up “some channel, if possible, 
 for a pacific arrangement, and to preserve the 
 county from a wanton expenditure of blood.” Oa 
 setting out from Lisburn he despatched a letter to 
 Neilson, in Belfast, asking him to meet him in 
 P^rtadowj, but before he had reached Lurgan he 
 learned tho news of the Diamond massacre, and re- 
 tracted his steps, meeting Neilson on the retura 
 journey. The TJoited Men favoured the scheme 
 of Catholic Emancipation, but in all the addressee 
 of the Belfast leaders there is noticeable a boldness 
 of speech and a determination for a complete 
 emancipation which are not to he found in those 0| 
 their brethren of the metropolis. 
 
 The Eev. Mr. Gordon’s figurative description cf 
 the society is possibly the most accurate we have, 
 and certainly the most fitting that could be em- 
 ployed in conveying an idea of its completness in a 
 few words. In his “ History of the Eebellion” 
 (vol. 2, page 355), he says — “ The United Irish As- 
 sociation consisted of a multitude of societies, 
 linked together and ascending like the component 
 parts of a pyramid or cone, to a com mon apex or 
 point of union.” The members of the society were 
 both ordinary and honorary, but to the latter posi- 
 tion none were eligible save those ^‘who had dis- 
 tinguished themselves by promoting the lihe/tiea 
 of mankind,” and were not inhabitants of Ireland, 
 Candidates were admitted by ballot, having been 
 previously proposed by two ordinary members. 
 E\rcry person elected a member, whether ordinary 
 or honorary, was required to take and subscribe to 
 the following test 
 
 I, A. B. in the presence cf God, do pledge myself 
 to my country, that I will use all my ablities and 
 influence in the attainment of an impartial and 
 adequate representation of the Irish nation in Par- 
 liament; and as a meano of absolute and imme- 
 diate necessity in the establishment of this chief 
 
HISTOEY OE OEAlSraEISM. 
 
 73 
 
 good in Ireland, I will endeavour, as much as lies 
 in my ability, to forward a brotherhood of affec- 
 tion, an identity of interests, a communion of rights 
 and an union of power among Irishmen of all reli- 
 gious persuasions, without which every reform in 
 Parliament must be partial, not national, inade- 
 quate to the wants, delusive to the wishes, and in- 
 sufficient for the freedom and happiness of this 
 country.” 
 
 The seal with which the secretary of the Gociety 
 in Dublin was furnished bad upon it the re- 
 presentation of a harp, over which were the 
 words, I am new strung,” and beneath, I 
 will be heard,” and on the exergue, the 
 '' Society of United Irishmen, Dublin.” It is 
 to oe presumed that a similar one existed for 
 Belfast, though I have not discovered any men- 
 tion made of it. A. code of rules were drawn up 
 which amply provided for the regular despatch ol 
 business. 
 
 Amongst the original members, both in Belfast 
 and in Dublin, were a number of men of cul- 
 ture, talent, and literary attainments, so it is not 
 surprising that they learned early to resort to the 
 use of the pen as a means of spreading wide their 
 principles. Addresses Sowed from them without 
 number to the people of Ireland, to the Volun- 
 teers, to the Orangemen, all of which 
 sought to bind all sects together in more 
 general unity ; but those most remarkable 
 for li'erary merit were from the pen of Wolfe Tone 
 and Dr. Drennan. The chief medium for circulat- 
 ing these epistles were the Northern Star in the 
 North and by pamphlet in Dublin, for it was not 
 until September, 1797, that the Press newspaper 
 was established in the metropolis. An indication 
 of the tone of political cpinion then existing in 
 Belfast may be found in the character of the cele- 
 bration of the French Kevolution on the 14Lh July, 
 1792, when there was a grand military display, in 
 which the remnant of the local Volunteer corps 
 took part. Many of the mottoes on the flags and 
 standards were of so pronounced a character that 
 to-day they would be classed as seditious. The 
 first toast drunk was ‘^Tne Fourteenth July, 1789,” 
 and then followed such significant sentiments as 
 The Constitution of France,” The French 
 Army,” " Confueicu to the enemies of French 
 liberty,” and May the example of one revolution 
 prevent the necessity oj another.*’ The Dublin com- 
 memoralion was a comparatively feeble one. 
 
 At this time the Catholic Committee were busy 
 at work, fighting their way to the steps cf the 
 
 Throne, and awakening the people to a sense of 
 their degradation. Without attaining any very 
 important results they swelled the tide of popular 
 indignation, and helped to turn the attention of 
 the people to this new association which had 
 arisen from the ashes of their former enemies, and 
 was now foremost in advocating their claims. To 
 the success of the Catholic Convention of 1793 
 Tone, the chief organiser, largely contributed. In 
 Belfast the delegates chosen to lay the petition 
 before the King were received on their way to 
 London with public honcu ’s. Lord Moria gave 
 them the hospitality of his mansion in London, 
 and when the delegates went before the King, his 
 Most Gracious Majesty even condescended to smile. 
 The Catholic cause seemed now to prosper. Lord 
 Arthur Wellesley was found inside the House of 
 Commons to advocate the ex'ension of Constitu- 
 ' tional rights to these whom the hon. member in 
 his maiden speech declarid to be ‘^as loyal and as 
 trustworthy as any other of bis Majesty’s suljects.” 
 If corroboraticn of his statem' nt be nfcessary, we 
 will find it in the report of the Secret Committee 
 cf the House cf Lords which sat in this year to 
 inquire into the cause of the disturbances, and 
 reported ” that nothing appeared bef re them that 
 led them to believe that the body of Eoman. 
 Catholics in this kingdom were concerned in pro- 
 moting or continuing such disturbances.” Lord 
 Portarlington, a member cf the committer, said^ 
 if he was not convinced that the Catholic body 
 had no coniection whatever in the distmbinces 
 created by some of their communion in the 
 North he should not give this (the Catholic) 
 Bill his support.” The Act which fallowed — 
 that of 1793, and of which I have already 
 spoken — is attributed by Mr. Plowden to the 
 parental tenderness of his Majesty towards his Irish 
 Catholic subjects.” The bishops of the long 
 oppressed and reluctantly enfranchised religion 
 honoured the Lord Lieutenant with an expres- 
 sion of thankfulness which did not confine 
 itself to panegjrio on bis admin stiation,* 
 but virtually contradicted many of the 
 charges which had been preferred by the 
 laity of the same persuasion, and applauded 
 “ that spirit of conciliation by which his Excellencies 
 Government w’as eminently characterised.” But 
 the Beresford party still ruled Ireland, and so long 
 Protestant Ascendancy had little to fear. The 
 famous “ Captain Eocke’ ( Com Moore), writing in 
 his memoirs (page 339) upon the effec's of this 
 
 • MacNev'in’s Pieces of Irish. History, paje Cl. 
 
 R 
 
74 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGETSif. 
 
 Act, says that the influence of the Beresfords ^as 
 sufficient to neutralise its effect; that the Corpora, 
 tions and other civil bodies were so made up of 
 factions, and the Administration so determined to 
 maintain them, that no benefit was practically de- 
 rived from it. Such was the “ parental tenderness 
 of the King, and such the “ spirit of conciliation” 
 of h’s Irish representatives' Administration. It 
 is not without its lesson to Kings and rulers, how- 
 ever. The very pretence of conciliation is with 
 suffering people more effective than the most 
 vigorous coercion. The hope of complete emanci- 
 pation now became general. Though the advocacy 
 of the United Irish Society, and of its organ, the 
 Northern Star, was powerful in behalf of emanci- 
 pation, it is but too apparent that the Catholic 
 Committee, fearful of sinster designs, and of being 
 too closely allied with them, refused, or at least 
 neglected, to give due credit to their influence. It 
 remained, however, to be seen that the advanced 
 party properly appreciated the signifieance of pass- 
 ing events. Nelson and his fiiends, who had 
 rescued the Catholic cause “ from the cold 
 dull shades of Catholic aristocracy,” protested 
 against the slight ; but a short time had only to 
 elapse, during which expectalion was all on tip- 
 toe, until the hopes of the c:untry were blasted, 
 until the cup was dashed from its lips, just when 
 about to drink deep the draft of comfort, until 
 Lord Fitzwillan was recalled, until the Beresfords 
 were reinstated, and until a general defection fol- 
 lowed from the ranks of the disappointed Consti- 
 tionalists to the military organisation that now- 
 raw no remedy but by the sword. 
 
 About this period there were influences 
 powerfully operating, not alone to multiply mal- 
 contents, but even to change their disaffection into 
 the bold and reckless disloyalty of desperate men. 
 For distributing in 1792 an address — an extract of 
 which I have given, and which had for its object 
 the re-embodiment of the Volunteers— Archibald 
 Kowan Hamilton was in January, 1794, prosecuted 
 by the Government. The postponement of the 
 trial which took place was, with much show of 
 justice, attributed to anxiety on the part of the 
 Administration to secure a conviction at all hazards. 
 For this purpose, “ the ablest architects of ruin” 
 that Ireland ever saw devised that very ingenious 
 and novel method of jury-packing, which for many 
 years afterwards continued to be one of the cruellest 
 means of legalised torture known to any cirihsed 
 country. Here we also find the first introduction 
 of those wretches known as informers into the 
 
 witness-box, so that to this trial we owe the incep- 
 tion of two of the worst, two of the most infamous 
 practices that could be resorted to for the “ lawful' 
 extermination of a pecple. Nor is it strange that 
 we should here find figuring the celebrated Jack 
 Giffard (afterwards to distinguish himself as a 
 leading Orangeman), and acting the congenial 
 part of the ‘‘Cimmerian zealot” with the pro- 
 ficiency of one long skilled in deception. It was 
 upon this occasion that Curran made that cele- 
 brated speech, which in itself wo ild be sufficient to 
 make his name imperishable. “ I rpeak in the spirit 
 of the British law,” he said, “ which makes liberty 
 commensurate with aud inseparable from British 
 soil ; which proclaims even to the stranger and 
 the sojourner the moment he sets his foot upon 
 British earth, that the ground upon which he treads 
 is holy, and consecrated by the genius of universal 
 emancipation. No matter in what language his 
 doom may have been pronounced ; no matter what 
 complexion incompatible with freedom an Indian 
 or an Africa i sun may have burned upon him ; ns 
 matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may 
 have been cloven down; no matter with what 
 solemnities bis liberty may have been devoted upon 
 the altar of slavery, the first moment he touches 
 the sacred soil of Britain the aUar and the god sink 
 in the dust, his soul walks abroad in her own 
 majesty, his loly swells beyond the measure of his 
 chains that burst from around him, and he stands 
 redeemed, regeneratsd, and disenthralled by the 
 irresistible genius of universal emancipation.” 
 
 A very beautiful piece of oratory no doubt, 
 There is only one thing to be regretted in regard 
 to it — that it was not true. Eowan was found 
 guilty two years after the commission of the offence 
 by a packed jury and on the evidence of informers, 
 who have since been proved to have sworn falsely; 
 was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and 
 condemned to pay a fine of iJSOO. 
 
 There now remains no doubt that this was the 
 turning point of the United Iiish movement. That 
 they had confined themselves up to this period 
 within the lines or constitutional agitation is 
 equally certain. True, their addresses were bold, 
 fearless, and outspoken ; but, whatever they may 
 at that period have been according to the unwritten 
 law of the land, it is clear that they wore not illegal, 
 nor could theirs at the present time be classed 
 among seditious writings. But now in one 
 moment all was changed. Men who had been 
 hoping for reforna, and would have continued 
 hoping to the end, perhaps, stood confounded on 
 
HISTOEY OF OEAYGETSM. 
 
 75 
 
 seeing the first right of a citizen — trial by jury — 
 tom from them. As Dr. Madden has forcibly put 
 it, So long as the people thought that the foun- 
 tain of justice was moderately pure and did not be- 
 lieve that it had been poisoned at its very source 
 so long was popular discontent kept within bounds.” 
 On the 7th of February, 1794, the Society of United 
 Irishmen presented an address to Mr. Eowan, who 
 was then undergoing his sentence in Newgate. It 
 stated that “ while they were endeavouring to 
 establish the constitutional rights of their country 
 they found themselves suddenly at a loss for this 
 first and last slake of a free people” — trial by jury; 
 and they assured him of their inflexible determina- 
 tion to pursue the great object of their association 
 — an eqml and impartial representation of the 
 people. 
 
 Such language could not but be distasteful to a 
 despotic Government. The daring manner in which 
 they carried out their schemes — which had now 
 assumed a revolutionary complexion — were no doubt 
 calculated to challenge the Administration to act, 
 and in a few short months brought down the ven- 
 geince of the Executive upon them. On the 4th 
 May, 1794, they had assembled at Tailors’ Hall, in 
 Back Lane, when it was attacked by a body cf 
 police ; their papers were seized, and the assembly 
 dispersed. Some of the leaders v/ere successfully 
 prosecuted and imprisoned; others prudently se- 
 ceded from the society, while the revolutionary ele- 
 ment, then a strong one in the body, remained 
 steadfast, and, committing the first and conse- 
 quently the gravest blunder of their lives, they 
 withdrew from the sight of day and formed what 
 has henceforth beenknovn as the New Organisa- 
 tion of United Irishmen. It was a revolutionary so- 
 ciety from that period ; a secret society, bound by a 
 secret oath, and connected by secret signs and secret 
 passwords a society ot that character from which 
 the world, now a pretty old one, has derived little 
 benefit ; by means of which few of the ills of human 
 kind have been redressed, but through which many 
 of its mi-ieries have been multiplied and prolonged. 
 While we condemn their wisdom, however, we 
 stould not be unmindful of their devotion, con- 
 scious, as every man of them must have been, of 
 the sacrifice they were making; neither must we 
 forget the character of the times nor fail to bestow 
 a liberal share of the blame, if we do not allot it all, 
 to a Government that left a distracted and tortured 
 people but one dreadful alternative. Their former 
 programme — " the equal representation of the 
 people in Parliament” — now became *^a full repre- 
 
 sentation of all the people.” The civil organisation 
 also underwent a change, and became a military 
 one ; a Directory was appointed, with a Sub- 
 Directory for each of the provinces, and an 
 elaborate plan devised for bafflieg detection and 
 keeping the secrets of the organisation within the 
 body. In all the’r arrangements, and with all their 
 foresight, they forgot, however, one essential par- 
 ticular, which it bad been well they remembered. 
 They forgot that Ireland has been— and I blush to 
 wTite it, but that the truth must out — that she has 
 been the hot-bed of informers as well as of patriots. 
 Whether we ascribe the cau e to weak humanity, 
 or the abundance of English gold, or to the one 
 powerfully operated upon by the other, the effect 
 remains the same. She has had traitors in plenty. 
 Her sons have ever been the executioners of one 
 another. An abundant crop of rascals, the biggest 
 and the basest that ever degraded humanity, has 
 sprung up out of every agitation that went beyond 
 the limits of law. We hare too long ignored this 
 fact. They ignored it in the United Iiish move- 
 ment, and many a gallant fellow and many an 
 innocent man paid the penalty upon the scaffold. 
 
 The New Organisation of the United Irish Society 
 was completed on the 10th May, 1795. Its objects ex- 
 tending far beyond Parliamentary reform and Ca- 
 tholic Emancipation, the means, keeping pace with 
 the end, went beycni the pale of the Constitution. 
 Some months seem to have been spent in graft- 
 ing the military upon the civil character, for 
 it was not until 1793 that the officers were elected 
 to their respective grades. Those of the lower rank 
 were selected by the committee, while the higher 
 officers, some of whom were destined to play a pro- 
 minent part in the subsequent insurrection, were 
 chosen by the executive. A commauder-in-chief 
 being now wanted. Lord Edward Fitzgerald waa 
 nominated by the Leinster Directory and elected 
 That election, though the free exercise of a pre- 
 ference in his regard, was still but a matter of 
 necessity ; for in him were to be found most of the 
 attributes that qualify for leading an armed multi- 
 tude. Brave almost to rashness, generous to a 
 fault, with a resolution that levelled mountains 
 into mole-hills, and a vigour that laughed at toil, he 
 brought to the task the experience of a soldier 
 and the enthusiasm of a patriot. However 
 illegal may have been the objects for 
 which they were associated, it must be acknow- 
 ledged that their motives did credit to tbeir 
 hearts. Eebels as they were, they were unselfish, 
 and splf-sacrifieing to a degree which modern civi- 
 
7G 
 
 HTSTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 lisation would laug'h at. Their oath was not an 
 extertniDa^inw one, but broad and liberal, and with 
 the exception that it was an oath, and a s^^cret oath, 
 it had nothing’ to offend the most sensitive moralist 
 or the most constitutional loyalist. 
 
 The Press of October 9, 1797, publishes the folio vs- 
 ing contrast, which gives the version of the oath 
 as laid tePore the Secret Committee : — 
 
 THE Orangeman’s cath. 
 
 ^‘I A. B do hereby swear that i will be true to 
 *he King and Government, and that I will exter- 
 minate, as far as I am able, the Catholics of Ire- 
 land.” 
 
 “Let this be contrasted with the United Irish- 
 man’s oath, as taken from the report of the Secrr t 
 Committee, and the peop’e of Engleind will s^e who 
 are the real traitors to their country, although 
 there are none of the Orangemen hanged or sent to 
 jail. 
 
 “the united irishman’s oath 
 
 “'In the aw^ul presence of God, I, A. B., do 
 voluntary declare that I will p’^rsevere in endeavour- 
 ing to form a brothe hood of affection amongst all 
 Iii^hmen or every religious persuasion ; and that I 
 will also persevere in my endeavours to obtain an 
 equal, full, and adequate representation of all the 
 people of Ireland ; and do furtl er deciare that 
 neither hopes, fears, rewards, or punishments 
 Bhall ever induce me, directly or indirectly, to in- 
 form or give evidence against any member or 
 members of this or other similar societies for any 
 act or expression done, or made collectively in or 
 out of this society, in pursuance of the spirit of 
 these obligatioEs.” 
 
 Even previous to this time the United Men had 
 learned to adopt the tactics of their English 
 masters of 1688. The difference was that the Eng- 
 lish rebels called in the aid of the Dutch to assist 
 them in dethroning their King because he jro- 
 fessed the Catholic faith, while the Irish rebels 
 called in the aid of the French to relieve an entire 
 people from an exterminating persecution. With 
 the latter no doubt the blame rests, for their 
 treason wanted that important element, success, 
 which can cover a multitude of sins. “ But,” said 
 Tone, when before the court martial, that illegal’y 
 pronounced his death sentence, “in vulgar eyes 
 the merit of the cause is judged by its success-— 
 Washington conquerfd— Koskiusko failed.” 
 That it alters not the moral aspect of the question 
 is a point scarcely worth treating of. Thomas 
 Addis Emmet, one of the shrewdest men of the 
 party, was many years afterwards known to express 
 
 the opinion that the expectation of Foreign aid 
 was the ultimate cause of their destruction j that 
 if they had relied upon their own resources there 
 was a greater chance of success. While 
 considering that chance more remote than Mr. 
 Thomas Addis Emmet did, many will at the same 
 time be struck wich the apparent truthfulness of 
 the observation. Practically no assistance was 
 derived from France. Up to the time when the 
 dictator Napoleon took the matter in hand several 
 honest but unsuccessful attempts had been made 
 to give assistance. But afterwards, while Tone 
 was living in hopes, the promises and preparation 
 of France — all of which were duly reported in Eng- 
 land by males and females whose high birth d’d 
 not tfach them the first pdnciples of morality — ■ 
 produced a decided action amongst the loyalists of 
 Ire' and that otherwise would probably not have 
 had to be contended with. Thus the application 
 for foreign aid left the United men in the singular 
 position of having to contend, without that aid. 
 against the repugnance which their application for 
 it had excited. In this sense their appeal did them 
 more harm than good, while their implicit confi- 
 dence in its final result Relaxed that spirit of self- 
 rt liance which should le one of the first elements 
 of a people in arms seeking to achieve their fiee- 
 dom. 
 
 It was in the few years that intervened between 
 the starting of the Orange institution at the 
 Diamond and the rebellion that the United system 
 obtained a strong told upon the people of the 
 country, plainly demonstrating that where one 
 secret society exists those opposed to it will, by 
 opposition societies of a similar character, seek to 
 foil their antagonist? with their own weapons. 
 The Orange eulogists who appeared to give evi- 
 dence before the Select Committee in 3 835 laid 
 great stress upon the fact that after the formation 
 of the Institution the country became in a compa- 
 rative sense more peaceful. We have the autho- 
 rity of the Neits-Letter of May, 1797, that the County 
 Armagh was in almost peifect quiet. But it was 
 the quietness, the silence of the tomb. Elsewhere 
 over Ireland a period of comparative calm did 
 actually set in, and upon it the Orangemen rest 
 their claim to never-ending fame. Starting with 
 the silly assumption that an entire populacion 
 stood in awe at a handful of exterminating cowards, 
 who only risked a battle when behind the backs of 
 the king’s troops, these people forgot to discrim'- 
 nate between the ominous calm that frequently pre- 
 ceies a gre^t revolution, and the natural calm which 
 
HISTOBY OB OBANOBISM. 
 
 always follows one. They ijjnored the fact,too, that a 
 secret organisation is most determined, and, there- 
 fore, most dangerous, when apparently most pas- 
 sive. Whatever is due for bringing about this 
 short-lived quiet the Orange Institution, no doubt, 
 is deserving it. The popular verdict has already 
 been pronounced, and its award is censure, not 
 praise. But if the United Irish Society derived 
 strength from the existence of a bitter opponent, 
 the Orange Society, by the operation of the same 
 law, reaped a corresponding benefit. Owing, indeed, 
 to their favourable circumstances their harvest was 
 the richer, having due regard to the limited field of 
 operation. The Insurrection and Indemnitj Acts 
 had dubbed them loyal, and their apologists in the 
 House of Commons rightly interpreted for them the 
 significance of those measures. Confined in 1796 
 to a few Northern counties, they spread in the 
 following year, extending so far as Dublin, and 
 c»,rrying their bloody banner of extermination into 
 many of the ictervening countifs. Bigotry, after 
 s'* umbering for a century, was again called into 
 action even in remote districts where the revolution- 
 ary movement had not, and, otherwise, might nevtr 
 have reached. Persecution folio wed. Thus even the 
 natural consequence of the institution suited ad- 
 mirably the proposed object of its patrons in the 
 Government, who sought to secure at all hazards a 
 premature explosion of the rebellion. Finding 
 neither succour nor sympathy elsewhere, with their 
 altars desecrated, their homes laid waste, their 
 substance gone, their wives and daughters ra- 
 vished, their children butchered, and themselves 
 driven to despair by the refined torture of the 
 pitch-cap, the bayonet, and the rack, they rushed 
 half-destracted from the hell-hounds let loose upon 
 them, straight into the arms of this society of 
 rebels, and determined at last to earn the char- 
 acter, since, under any circumstances, the punish- 
 ment was theirs. The silence which followed was 
 therefore significant. 
 
 When Thomas Addis Emmet was being examined 
 before the Lords Committee in August, 1798, it was 
 shown that the outrages, particularly those in the 
 County Armagh following the affray of the Dia- 
 mond, were largely instrumental in decermining 
 the military character of the organisation, and that 
 it was not until the passing of the Insurrection and 
 Indemnity Acts that the returns to the Society 
 included fire-nrms and ammunition. 
 
 He says : — “ I was then apked as to the military 
 crgauisaticn, which I detailed. They asked when 
 the returns included fire-arms and ammunition ?” 
 
 77 
 
 Emmet— 'After the Insurrection and Indemnity 
 Acts had been passed, when the people were led to 
 think on reeistence, and after 4,000 persons had 
 been driven from the County Armagh by the 
 Orangemen. 
 
 Committee — Was the name of Orangeman used 
 to terrify the people into the United system ? 
 
 Emmet — I do not know what groundless fears 
 may have been propagated by ignorant people ; but 
 I am sure no unfair advantage was taken by the 
 Executive. The Orange principles were fairly dis- 
 cussed, as far as they ivere known, and we always 
 found that wherever it was attempted to establish 
 a lodge the United Irish increased very much. 
 
 Lord Dillon— Why, where was it endeavoured to 
 introduce them, except in the North and in the city 
 of Dublin ? 
 
 Emmet — My lord, I cannot tell yfiu all the places 
 in which it was endeavoured, but I will name one, 
 in the County of Roscommon, where I am told it 
 made many United Irishmen. 
 
 Lord Dillon — Well, that was but very lately, and 
 I endeouvaured io resist it. 
 
 Lord Chancellor — Pray, Mr. Emmet, what caused 
 the late insurrection ? 
 
 Emmet — The free quarters, the house-burnings, 
 the tortures, and the military executions in the 
 Counties of Kildare, Carlow, and Wicklow. 
 
 Lord Chancellor — Did you not think the Govern- 
 ment very foolish to let you proceed so long as they 
 did? 
 
 Emmet— No, my lord; whatever I impute! to 
 Government I did not accuse them of folly. 1 
 knew we were very attentively watched, but 1 
 thought they were right in letting us proceed. I 
 have often said, laughing, among ourselves, that 
 if they did right they would pay us for conducting 
 the revolution, conceiving as I did then, and still 
 do, that a revoluLion was inevitable unless speedily 
 prevented by very large measures of conc'liation. 
 
 Dr. MacNeven, when on examination on the 8th 
 August, in answer to the question, What occa- 
 sioned the rebellion ?” said it was occasioned by 
 “ the wrongs, the whippings to extort confessions, 
 the torture of various kinds, the free quarters, and 
 the murders committed upon the people by the ma- 
 gistrates and the army.” It was then that Lord 
 Castlereagh made use of those remarkable words— 
 ^^You a knowledge the Union would have been 
 stronger but for the means taJeen to make it exploded* 
 
 From this we see that the Orangemen were made 
 party to the crime ; and though you may sometimes 
 -find excuse for the men who- are induced or driven 
 
 s 
 
73 
 
 niSTOKY OF OKANGEISM. 
 
 itt) ciimicality, you CdU seldom if ever exte d 
 pardon to those who, beint^ accomplices by insn- 
 gation, want the courage, but share the guilt cf the 
 actual effenders. lu the observations ot Lord 
 Dillon we ha^e further proof that the O-ange In- 
 stitution was during those scenes of outrage i i full 
 working order in Dublin. Did (ve wish to seek fo< 
 fuither proof that Orargeism played au important 
 part in fomenting the re'oeliiojs, be'ng the instru* 
 raent by which the Castle cl’que determined to 
 make it explode, we can find it readily at hand. 
 
 From the memoir d< livered to the Govet-jmenr. 
 by Msss's. Emmet, O'Connor, rnd M icNevea, and 
 furnishing a detailed statement of the origin ai d 
 progress o? the Irish Union, the following is 
 tatea ; — 
 
 To the Armagh persecution is the TmioD of 
 I ishmen most exceedingly indebted. The person's 
 and properties of the wretched Catholics of thst 
 coun'^y were exposed to the merciless attacks of an 
 Orange faction, which was certainly in many in- 
 stances uncontrol © 1 by the justices of poace, and 
 claimed to be in all supported by tbe Govern- 
 ment. When those men found that illegal acts 
 of magistrates were indemnified by occasii n*.! 
 statutes, and the courts of justice shut again, t 
 them by Parliamentary lariiers, they began 1o 
 think they had no refuge but in joining the Union. 
 Their dispositions so to do were much increasi d by 
 finding the Presbyterians of Belfast especially step 
 forward and espouse their cause and succour their 
 distress. We will here remark once for all what we 
 solemnly aver, that wherever the Orange system 
 was introduced, particularly in Catholic couoties, it 
 was uniformly observed that the nu nbers cf 
 United Irishmen increased most astonishingly. The 
 alarm which an Orange Lodge created among the 
 Catholics made them look for refuge by joining to- 
 gether in the United system; and as their numl er 
 was always greater than that of bigoted Pro ei’ 
 tants, our harvest was tenfold. At the same tim3 
 that we mention this circumstance we must con- 
 fess, and most deeply regret, that it excited a 
 natural acrimony and vindictive spirit which was 
 peculiarly opposite to the interests and abhorcent 
 to the feelings of the United Irishmen, and has 
 lately manifested itself, we hear, in outrages of so 
 much horror.’* 
 
 Even after the formation of the United Irish 
 Society its members still sought to put an end to 
 the dissensions that raged in the North between 
 the Defenders and the Orangemen. Their pro- 
 gramme professed to seek the greatest good 
 
 lor tbe gieaWei nuoiter.^, anu tce,v e alt a^rouied to 
 d) this by promoting union amoRgst all classes of 
 Iri^h^nen. But tbe absolute necesaity of t^uppress* 
 ing t tcse outrages, not only for the advantage that 
 union would bring, but from tbedirger their plans 
 were exposed to of premature exples'oo, compelled 
 Them to ke^'p a strict watch upon Armagh e.ni ad- 
 jt iaing coucties. For sonetime t* ey weresuccess- 
 lul-— after tho accessiou of the Defenders to their 
 ranks — not in quieting the O^augem '.n or making 
 them m -re tolerant, but in inducing the Defe iders 
 to abandon as far as possible the policy of retalia- 
 tion, Hundreds who were driven out of their 
 homes sought refuge in Belfast, and were there re- 
 ceived with oprn arms. According to MacNeven, 
 the United Irishmen, having failed in allaying 
 these animosities, determined to expose t’le out- 
 rages, so that if the connivance of magistrates and 
 higher auth-rtes should succe<^d in fosterieg local 
 perse ution, at least the horrible atrocities them. 
 i: elves would be exposed beyond the possibility of 
 concealment or dmial. By the desire of the Pro- 
 vincial Committee prosecutions were instituted by 
 the Executive against some notorious offenders 
 and some of the most guilty magistrates, but that 
 measure only seemed to red<^uble the outrages.’* 
 The witnesses were intimidated, waylaid, or mur- 
 dered, and where these did notintervene legal artifice 
 prolonged the inquiry and rendered them nugatory. 
 They were ultimately compelled to alandon this 
 course, but thenceforward the Catholics as a body 
 learned to look upon them as their natural friends, 
 to corfi'le m the sincerity of those Protestants who 
 had originated cr joined the Union, and " no longer 
 to look With hope of vindication towards the exist- 
 ing law or its remedies.** 
 
 The years 1795 and ’96 marked the progress of 
 the asscciatioD. Lord Edward Fitzgerald threw 
 in his fortunes with his revolting countrymen, 
 having long since despaired of effecting reforms by 
 constitutional means. Sampson says, and Madden 
 copies tbe expression, that when he delivered him- 
 self of the speech* opposing the Attorney- 
 General’s four resolutions. Lord Edward was not a 
 United Irishman, and “ did not join for a long iime 
 a/ier.’* Ignoring the date of this debate, Mr. 
 Madden says Lord E Iward was brought into the 
 Union in 1796 by Arthur O’Connor,” while Moore 
 states that he was admitted in the beginning of 
 1796, the usual formalities, as in the case of 
 O’Connor, having been dispensed with. If Sampson 
 made the comment, as he evidenbly did, to give 
 
 • In Februarj, 1796, already quoted 
 
insTOUT OF ORAXaEISM. 
 
 79 
 
 L rd Edward’s uittripce in February, 1796, an 
 unbiased character, he seems to Lave shot wide of 
 the mark. Accord n ( to M »ore, he became a 
 Unitedm m in the beginnim^ of 1793. and we have 
 it an uadoub‘:ed record that ia less than two 
 months after he spoke in the Hou e he proceeded to 
 France on Lis first treasonable mls-ion. He, there- 
 fore, either was ia February, 1796, a member of the 
 organi sati‘ m, or m ist have become < no very soon aJUr 
 of O’Connor did act as Lord Edwards’ sponsor, 
 this conclusion, it must be observed, is at varia c ■ 
 with the statement of Emmet, O'Connor, aid 
 MacNeven delivered to the Irish Government to 
 the effect that “none of them were mem hers of 
 the United system unt 1 September or October of 
 the year 1796.” for if O’Conoor were not a mem- 
 ber before that time he could not have introduced 
 Lord Edward Fi’z^^erald “in t’ e beginning of 
 1796.” It is Giffiiult to say where the error lies. 
 The confusion is, however, easily explained by the 
 fact that the sympathies of both these men were 
 for a long time with the society, and the usual 
 ceremonies of initiation having in their regard been 
 dispensed with, the date at which their sympathies 
 and connection took the definite shape of active 
 co-operation may have been even to themselves nn. 
 certain. 
 
 Mr. Grattan had now retired from Pirliament, 
 intimating that having discharged his duty he 
 should trouble the House no more. He, wiih 
 Lord Henry Fitzgerald, declined longer to sit 
 in Pirliament, and Mr. Curran, and Mr. Arthur 
 0’Connor,and Lord Edward followed their example. 
 Though an offer had been made in 1792, and re. 
 peated in 1793, on behalf of the French Convention 
 to deposit the pay of 40.00r men for six months 
 in any bank la Europe, and though 
 Jackson had been sent by the French Govern ment 
 to Ireland on a revolutionary mission in 1794i for 
 which be paid the penaPy of his life, no “formal 
 or authorised” communication, if we are to believe 
 O’Connor, took place previous to the year of 1798 
 between the Executive of the United Irish Society 
 and the French Government. Towards the close 
 of that year, as a result of Tone’s entreaties and 
 Fitzgerald’s and O’Connor’s interviews, the French 
 fleet appeared in (but soon after disappeared 
 from) Bantry Bay, and a loyal Catholic straight- 
 way ran off with the news to Dublin Castle. 
 If the calling in of foreign aid, proving more dis- 
 tasteful in 1796 than it had done ia 1688, 
 augmented the ranks of the yoemanry, it did 
 not pass without a corresponding effect upon 
 
 the d.saffccted. Believing that aid from France 
 was now rot a visionary scheme, and flnding that 
 the French Executive had fulfi'led cne promise^ 
 the l(ish were too easily led to believe that they 
 would ultimately fulfil the many they had pr 3 - 
 fiously mide and broken. Accordingly, they 
 united with those whose negociation had brought 
 th’s long-looked- for compict about. During all 
 this time, the miniens of the Castle were busy at 
 the work of extermination. Continued persecu- 
 tion produced co itinucd accession to the United 
 Irish ranks, and that in its turn begot new and yet 
 undiscovered modes cf torture, until, in the end, 
 persecitiou and disaffection, disaffection and per- 
 secution, operating alternately as cause and effect, 
 the people were driven to despair ; the peasants 
 preferred death upon the hill -side to butch, ry in 
 their cabins ; they insisted upon immediate revolt; 
 the rebellion “exploded.” Lord Castlereagh’s wishes 
 were fulfilled ; and his day-dreatn of years brought 
 within the reach of certain accomplish raent. 
 
 Even at the risk of wanting in that desirable 
 feature of all narrative, consecutive narration, I 
 have paid considerable, but let me hope, not more 
 than necessary attention to the circumstances 
 und r which the Orange Institution found its 
 origin, and to the condition and character of the 
 men who through several bitter years of conflict 
 were their dread opponents. The existence of the 
 United Irish Society has been urged by some as an 
 excuse, by others as an necessity, for Orangeism 
 in those times. Not to give a brief history of their 
 movement would, in my opinion, have been secur. 
 ing ccnsecutiveness at the expense of complete- 
 ness. While the former is only a fault, the Utter 
 would be a grievous error. 
 
 I will now take my readers back to the Orange- 
 men of Armagh, whom we left a banditti, and 
 trace them as an organisation down their 
 history. 
 
80 
 
 HISTOIiT OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI.— CHAOS MADE ORDER, PERSECUTION REDUCED TO A 
 SYSTEM, THE FIRST GRAND LODGE— ITS TESTS AND ITS 
 RESOLUTIONS; THE FIRST “TWELFTH.” 
 
 The rise of the Orarige Institution dates from that 
 period, when, all the Armagh Catholics havingbeen 
 exterminated or driven “to hell or Connaught” the 
 faction had to seek fresh fields of labcu”. The 
 Peep o’ Day Boy system had be 3n carried into the 
 adj )ining counties, and, th?ir name disgraced even 
 in the eyes of their own adter’ents by the dreadful 
 massacre of the Diamond, those who did not 
 share the crime were still forced into a change of 
 title, lest they might bear the burthen of their 
 Armagh brethren. Henceforth they, too, were known 
 as “Orange-men.”*^ For some considerable 
 
 * A writer in the Bablin University Mag zine of April, 1835 
 — a date peculiarly sigriific 5 .nt, seeing that the Orange Insti- 
 tution was soon to be on i s tri d bef >re the Select Committee 
 of the Commons (the proposa' of appoint! g the Committee 
 Avas just then under debase)— has written an elaborate de- 
 fence of 'h< Orange Institution, the histo ical b'undering 
 and ' ishonesty of which is the more remarkable, seein ? that 
 it l>rof esses to correct ‘‘the blundering and dishonest ” cf 
 others. 3 he mode of justification adopted by this writer was 
 scouted two months subsequently by the Orange partisans 
 who were ® i or examined before the Select Committee, see- 
 ing that they had this brief m their hand and faile 1 to adopt 
 its absurd argument. The author w s evidently con- 
 scio'’S that he wa^ pleading a hopeless cai se. Wi h no 
 autho ity in the world for it, for Musgi-ave’s unfounded 
 ii.'iserti on does not count, h? says that the name “ Orange- 
 man” had been used sometime previous to the Diamond 
 Massacre. He then proceeds to sketch out an or'ginal and 
 highly inge ious pedigree for these Anna 'h exterminate s. 
 He fir t admits that “ They (the Peep o’ Day Hoys) were 
 Prot slants, borne persons— (had he been writing two 
 months later, he might have added, “Some Orange members 
 of Parliament sitting on Select Committees”) have been led 
 by Mu sgrave into the erroneous belief that they were exclu- 
 sively Presbyterians;’’ and he then d liberal ely says, “'ihey 
 were ludisc in i lately composed of the lower ord r of Pr t s- 
 tautsP This, it should b - marked i j 3 , highly important ad- 
 mi'Sion, as, upon the authority of an advocate, it id ntifies 
 the Protest 'nts of the Diamoi. d, who were “of the lower 
 order,” with the Pe^^p o’ Day Poys. But this ingenious 
 writer made the remarkable discovery that Orangeism arose 
 as a defensive association fiom the ac ion of the United 
 Irishmen and the “ barPai-ities” they initiate 1 — “ barbarities 
 of so revolting a nature” that, from a sense of dehcacy, he 
 did not Avish “ to shock his readers -vAnth tbem.” No doubt ! 
 He builds up hs theory thus— “Thi Defenders extended 
 beyou i Armagh “ tligi-e is no evide mp that the Pee ■ o’ Day 
 Boys existed in any place but Armagh conseqAiently. the 
 Defenders were not defenders at nil, but simnly exterminators 
 who joined the United movement and assisted in the “ bar- 
 Ti.irities.” He tben adds, as a positi e in’oof — “The Peep o’ 
 Day Poys, it should be mentio ed, never had any organisa- 
 1 i' n — tl ey were merely desultory bands of peasants eugag^ed 
 in a petty aud disreputable feud, and 0 ng hefo e the • eriod 
 of Hie 0 angc to ges then, o,a< alio ether di appear d.” Fiom 
 ibis be conclude.s that the “ respectable Protestants” having 
 nothing to do Avith defunct Peep o’ Day Boyism, assembled 
 at the Diamond, aid fought that memorable fight. This j 
 drives the Orangemen into the disagi-eeable position of ac- | 
 cepting Lord Gosford’s tddress as aimed solely at them. 
 But dishonesty, particularly in those Avho attempt to Avrite | 
 liistory, has OA'en to b j saA’od from itse'f, and it is truly a 
 lamentable thing that men of evident .abi ity an ! re.si>ecta- 
 bility, no doubt, — for wo are dealing with a Avriter in the 
 Unioersity Mogazin —can fird in this country cf ours no better 
 employment for their pens than the fahlfying of history. 
 There a' e several important items in the nbOA'e that need 
 (AoirecHou. Firstly, Mr. PloAvden states, at p. 386. vol. ii , 1 
 imit 1, that the Peep 0 ’ Day Boys did extend beyond A', magh, 
 
 time, it would seem, they eontinued their 
 career without •winning over many new adhe- 
 rents, the association being simply the 
 Peep o’ Day Boy system under a new 
 and more presumputous title. The five sons cf 
 James Veruer, of Churchi 1, appear, however, 
 with the rising generition of Dean Blacker’s 
 family, to have lent the association dignify by join- 
 ing it at the outset. The future Daputy-L'euten- 
 ant. Deputy Vice-Treasuer of Ireland, and embryo 
 Lieutent-Colonel (William Blacker) would seem 
 to have been so hasty in giving in hie adherence, 
 that be joined it, if his own dates be correct, some 
 time before it was established.* The eldest 
 young Mr. Verner (Thomas) became the acknow- 
 leiged leader, and with such influence as 
 bis family and that of the Biackers, at 
 that time commanded, the brotheihood con’d 
 not Lng remain in a dormant state. Tyrone 
 would appear to have been the first county 
 invaded, and a careful perusal of the slovenly com- 
 piled statistics of the society shows that the issue 
 
 for he describes them, p.articularioing by liame, at their old 
 game, in the County Cav m, where they committed, it may 
 be ad !ed, a se ies of most atrocious murders upon Defend rs, 
 who seem to have oiigina ly h en the aggressors. Secondly, 
 the Peep o’ Day Boys did not disappear long before tbe period 
 of tbe Orange lodges. I* they did, General Craddock, an 
 emissary of the Gove nment, told an u' tmthin the House of 
 Commons 01 the 21st February, 1796, when he said that “ the 
 conduct of the Protestants called Peep o’ Day Eoys, in the 
 County Armagh was at t at tirm most atrocious, and th t 
 t>iei barbarous practices shpuld ce tainly be put down 
 Government played a foolish part in sending the General to 
 Arm 3 ,gh to quell thi jf disturbances ; General Crad lock and 
 General Nugent were conspiring at misrepresentation, when 
 the former recommmided his Avirhdrawal, s^ei g that he 
 could be ot no possible service ; and all the Parliamentary 
 debaters on the Inde nnitv Bill of 1796 were hopelessly in the 
 dark in assuming the existe. ce of Peep o’ Day Boys, when it 
 was to be found thirty-nine years afterwards that the really 
 did not exi-t at all. Thirdly, it is not reasonable to presume 
 that the Defenders were the exteiminators of themselves. 
 Foui'thly, the United Irishmen were not responsible for any 
 acts of the Defenders, for though in 1792 they had so far in 
 fluenced them as “ to chqnge their religious feud into one 
 actuated by polii ical motives,” it wa< not, accorting to the 
 Kev. Holt-Waring, when before the rfelec Committee of the 
 Lords in 1825, until after the starting of Orangeism th t the 
 United system was established in Armagh, and according to 
 Dr. Madden, not until 1716 did the Defen iers’ Society merge 
 into tha Un ted 'rishmen In ad litioc the above statements 
 are all disproved by the ad u;ssion subsequently made before 
 tbe H use of Commons Commitiee, where it may be intei-c'^t- 
 iug, or rather, amusing, to state, the argument for the de- 
 fence was, ou the lines of Musgrave, that the low Presby- 
 terian Peep o’ Day Boys exterminated tbe Catholics 
 thiit Lord Gosford’s add ess alluded to the exterminatiny 
 Presbytei’ians ; aud that then the “respectable Protesiant.®” 
 came to the fore aud fought at the Diamond for what pur- 
 pose it would be bard to ascertain. It is oulv such a mon- 
 strous heap of absurdities aud mis-statements cjuld justify 
 this exteuded note. 
 
 * See Minutes of Select Committee of 1835 — question 8.9 29 
 page 213. 
 
HISTOET OP OEANGEISM. 
 
 <of wairanfca was for a long period confined to 
 Armagh, Tyrone, and Down, in those districts im- 
 mediately surrounding the locality in which the 
 Institution had its origin. Antrim is far 
 down on the list, and Belfast is the third 
 district named in that county in which a 
 lodge was established. This li«t can be 
 little relied upon, not alone from the fact that it 
 was admitted in evidence that the documents were 
 all in the most hopeless state of confusion, but that 
 what were called dormant” warrants or numbers 
 where lodges had ceased to exist were usuady 
 given to new applicants, generous rivalry pre- 
 vailing, no doubt, as to who would get the lowest or 
 first number on the register, that being at first 
 ▼iew an appearance of early adhesion to the cause. 
 For this reason we may presume that Loughgall, 
 which should occupy the honoured place of Number 
 One, fell away from its early principles and gave 
 way to Benburb in the County Tyrone wh'ch heads 
 the list on the register of the Committee. Before 
 the Committee of the House of Lords in 1825 
 Colonel Verner and tbe Eev. Holt Waring were 
 e’ramined respecting the early constitution of the 
 Orange Society. From their evidence it appears 
 that secrecy was one of the first rules at the outset. 
 
 From the many versions of those rules that have 
 came down to us in the old pamphlets of the time 
 it is evident that, according to the original custom, 
 the Orangemen of each locality or district usually 
 formed a series of rugged and generally ungram- 
 matical rules of their own chosing for the govern- 
 ment of each respective district, the entire 
 beiug animated, of course, by the one eotrnion 
 principle, tbe destruction of Catholicis m. When 
 the means of communication between the brethren 
 in remote parts of the Northern counties became 
 more perfect by the gentry of one district attend- 
 ing at and becoming patrons of lodges in adjoining 
 counties, these local rules were assimilated and 
 formed into one general code the most grimmatical 
 and the most plausible version prevailing. I find 
 in a volume of old pamphlets on Irish affairs that 
 have lately come into my possession a roughly- 
 pr’Dted documfnt giving, 'I he early ordinances 
 of the Armagh O.angemen,” by a “ loyal Protes- 
 tant.” It was primed in 1801 by King, of Wes*^- 
 moreland Street, and gives the rules under which 
 the Armagh lodges met in the first yei:r of their 
 history. These rules were j — 
 
 Ist. That we, the loyal and true Protestants of 
 Armagh, calling ourselves Orange — men in honour 
 ©£ the great King William, do promise to uphold 
 
 bi 
 
 with our lives the property and the lives of all our 
 brethren when they make known to us that they 
 are attached membtrs of our body, and have 
 not abjured its principles ; that we will not see the 
 same brother oSended f^r the sake of a penny ; 
 neither shall we offend a brother for a penny’s sake, 
 but that we will stand by him in the time of need, 
 and assist him, even at our lives’ risk, and fight in 
 his cause as though it was our own, all of which we 
 most solemnly declare. 
 
 2ad. That we will not admit into our society any 
 member of that superstitious gang of rebels call 
 ing themselves Papists, and our association being 
 a secret one, that any Orangeman introducing 
 same, or making known the secrets of our body to 
 such Papists, will be treated by us as a renegade 
 and a pe 'jurer, and in all other respects like to a 
 Papist. 
 
 3rd. That our association being an exclusively 
 Protestant association, meant for Protestant pur- 
 poses, all Papists are not onlj to be excluded from 
 our community, but we pledge ourselves ttat we 
 will not sell to such or buy from such, neither will 
 we drink with them, talk with them, or walk with 
 them, but we wili treat them as enemies to our reli- 
 gion and traitors to the good Protestant king who 
 holds the succession of the throne in the noble 
 House of Hanover. 
 
 4th. ‘'That we will not permit a brother Orange- 
 man to offend or assault a brother Orangeman 
 without interfering in the cause of peace ; for ‘a 
 house divided against itself cannot stand but 
 that we will defend an Orangeman against the 
 insult of a Papist with the last drop of our blaod.” 
 
 5th. “ That this Protestant and Orange associa- 
 tion of loyal men is, firstly, a religious society for 
 the upholding of the open Bible, and secondly, a 
 defensive one for the protection of our lives, pro- 
 perties, and interests, and that our first principle 
 shall be, therefore, an open Bible, at the 68th 
 Psalm thereof,* and the second a short notice 
 and a sure coming to all our enemies.” 
 
 The writer then summarises the 6ih, 7tb, and 
 
 * “ That thy foot may be 'tipped n the t nque of thine enemiei ; 
 and that the t^nyue of thy dogs may be red vnth the same!” — 
 6Sth Psalm. W. .1; Batte-sby, 33, Winetavern Street, Dub- 
 lin, who wrote and p blishel in 1825 a aeries of papers, under 
 tbe beadinsT of the Ghosc of the Catholic Association of Ire- 
 land, addressing- — 1st, her Majesty’s Ministers ; 2nd, the 
 Orangemen ; 3rd. the Lib=>ral Protestants ; and 4th, the 
 Catholics of Ireland, says, in his “ Second Apparition,” page 
 21, “ The whole fo'ios of the Statu' e Bock would not 
 contain tbe dreadful instances which the Orangemen hare 
 given in exemplifi ation of adopting the letter of thi^ pap- 
 sage.” No doubt, M-. W. J, Batter-by was another of the 
 numerous co-Spirators for defaming the Orange Institu- 
 tion I 
 
 T 
 
82 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISlVr. 
 
 8Lh r’lles by Bay id g they in effect declared thut i 
 all Orangemen wera bound ** to obey the laws j to 
 make others obey the laws at the risk of their 
 Iwes; to punish all Papists whom they suspected 
 of evil designs, and not to allow the lives and p-c- 
 perties of Papists to stand in the way of Protestant 
 Ascendancy or of Orange interests.’* 
 
 A series of rude and ut.meaniag ceremonies, 
 borrowed chiefly from the Freemasons, in which 
 their was a strange contrast’ng of the open Bible 
 and the loaded blunderbuss, was adopted. Having 
 regard to the remote prriodand the uneducated 
 men with whom we are dealing, it is not surprising 
 to find in the original ritual much unnecessar 
 mysticism, partaking more of the ridiculous than 
 of the impressive. This is natural. In the early 
 days of conspiracies this mysticism seems to have, 
 in all countries, been the means by which cunning 
 men excited the av^e and commaeded the obedience 
 of misguided accomplices, and by which it stimu- 
 lated the curiosity of the uninitiated. 
 
 THE FIRST COUNTY GRAND LODGE. 
 
 At a meeting held at Eichill, the first County 
 Grand Lodge in connection wPh the Orange Insti- 
 tution, was formed, Plowden tells us cf a meeting 
 of Orange delegates held in Armagh City in the 
 spring of 1796, for the purpose of protecting against 
 the inadequate pay of the Goveinment. As this 
 would suppose a condition of organisation, it would 
 argue that the meeting at Eichhill took place 
 earlier; likely in the beginning of the same year. 
 But the balance of evidence inclines to the con- 
 trary. Colonel Verner when befoie the committee 
 was asked — 
 
 ** From the records of the Orange lodge, who was 
 the first Grand Master ?” and he answers, My 
 eldest tirothei.” 
 
 “ How soon after December, 1795 did your 
 brother become Grand Master ?” to which he re- 
 plies, “ I cannot state the precise time of tie year 
 that he became Grand Master.” 
 
 Was your brother Grand Mast n the year 
 1796 ?” in reply to which he says, I rather think 
 the latter part of 1796.” 
 
 As it is likely the appointment of the firs'- Grand 
 Master mast have been the immediate consequence 
 of this formation of the first Grand Lodge, it 
 would follow on the lines of the Lieuenant 
 Colonel’s vague reply that the Eichhill meeting 
 alluied to must have takon place in the latter” 
 part of 1795. This is th? more probable too, from 
 the fact that the brotho»rhood seems not to have 
 progressed rapidly within the fiist nine months. 
 
 The Dublin University Magazine (refe»’ring to this) 
 says* : — ” The institution, however, soon receivtd 
 the countenance of the gentry, who, confiding in 
 the principles of the mea who had formed it, and 
 perceiving its usefulness as the means of prevent 
 ing the scattered and unorganised loyalists from 
 beiag absorbed into the illegal combinations which 
 were extending over the country, came forward to 
 enrol their names amongst its members, and to take 
 the lead in its affairs. The five sons of James 
 Yerner, E q., of Churchhill, were initiated iu the 
 brotherhood, and Djaa Blackei-’s family were also 
 among the earliest of its associates ; and many of 
 the leading gentry having followed their example, 
 a meeting was held at Eichhill, at which the fiist 
 County Grand Lodge was formed.” At this meet- 
 ing the oatb, the local rules, and ordinances were 
 by that delegated assembly made the oath, rules 
 and ordinances of the County Grand Lodge, and, 
 for the first time in its history, the Grange Institu- 
 tion had the requirem-nts of a perfect body pos- 
 sessed of all its members. 
 
 The Verners and the B lackers in those days 
 were precocious youths. With much forethought, 
 those gentlemen generously undertook, with their 
 landed acquaintances, to form the head of the body, 
 to comprise the ” County Grand Lodge” within 
 themselves, and adjourned to commemorate the 
 occasion, while the rank and file dispersed over the 
 country to do the fighting, and place their necks 
 in jeopardy by spilling the blood of unoffending 
 neighbours. And history has many times repeated 
 itself ! 
 
 It may now be interesting to traoe, so far as we 
 are able, the early tests of the brotherhood. Mr. 
 William Simpson, a barrister who in those days had 
 extensive practice as junior with Curran, in the 
 Courts of Law, and who, though in the secrets of 
 the United Irish movement, as was necessiry owing 
 to the nature cf his professional occupations, was 
 not a sworn associate, wrote and publisted in 1807 
 his memoirs, in which he gives many interesting 
 particulars respecting the early Orangemen. From 
 it we find the following : — 
 
 * Here is contained an admission that there was a proba- 
 bility of the iinorganize I loyalists being absorbed into com- 
 binations that existed and actually “extmded over t*"* 
 country,” at that time. The writer cannot mean that the 
 Protestant loyalists would permit themselves to be absorbed 
 by the Catholic Dcfemlers. The Peep o’ Day Boys cannot, 
 therefore, have been defunct ; and as he says the combina- 
 tions “ extended over the country,” the writer must also 
 have been consciou-! that the Peep o’ Day Boy system ex- 
 tend d beyond the Count' Armagh. Be 'ore the Committee 
 the. o was abun'lant evidence that immediately after the 
 starting of the Orangemen, the fcsrm Peep o' Day Eoys sub- 
 sided. 
 
HTSTOIiT OF OEA.NGEISM. 
 
 83 
 
 OKANaEM4.N’s OLIGINAL OATH. 
 
 I do hereby swear that I will be true to the 
 King and Government, and that I will exterminate 
 as far as I am able the Catholics of Iie.and. 
 
 CRiaiNAL TEST. 
 
 Q lestion — Where are ycu? 
 
 Ans.rer — At the house of bondage. 
 
 Q. Whfre are you groing ? 
 
 A. To the P.ojnicp(i Land. 
 
 Q. f^tand past yourself ? 
 
 A. Through the Ked Sea. 
 
 Q. What is your haste ? 
 
 A. I am afraid. 
 
 Don’t be at raid, for the man who sought your life 
 is dead. 
 
 Q. Will you hold it or have it ? 
 
 A. I will hold it. 
 
 SIGNS CF THE ORANGEMEN. 
 
 “Take yonr right hand and pub it to your right 
 hunch, turn round, saying, ‘ great is the man that 
 sent me then take your left hand and say, ' wel- 
 come brother. Prince of Oraiige.’ 
 
 The author, who assures uathat the abo vewas what 
 was called the “ Purple Oath,’* and what they evi- 
 dently acted upon, adds “such was the gross- 
 ness of that faction which now governs both Eng- 
 land and Ireland that it was almost incredible.^’ 
 
 AMENDED OATH OP ORANGEMEN 
 
 as it is said to have issued from the hands of the 
 Grand Master of the Orange lodges of Ulster 
 (Thomas Verner) : — 
 
 “ I, in the presence of Almighty God, do solemnly 
 and sincerely swear, that I will not give the secret 
 of an Orangeman, unlets it he to him or them I find 
 to be such after strict trial, or on the word of a well- 
 known Orangeman. I also swear that I will answer 
 all^ summonses for an assembly of Orangemen, 
 eighty miles distance; and that I will not sit, stand 
 by, or baby and see a brother Orangeman struck, 
 battered, or* abused, or know his character in- 
 juriously injured or taken away, without using 
 every effort in my power to assist him at the haz- 
 ard of my life. I further declare, that I will not 
 lie to or upon an Orangeman, me knowing the same 
 to be detrimental to him, but will warn him of all 
 dangers as far as in my power lies; and that I will 
 bear true allegiance to his Majesty, and assist the 
 civil magistrates in the execution of their offices 
 if called upon, and that I will not 
 know of any conspiracy against the Pro- 
 testant Ascendancy ; and that I will not 
 make, or be at the making of a Koman Catholic an 
 Orangeman, or give him any offtnce, unless he 
 offends me, and then I uill use my endeavours to shed, 
 
 the last drop of his hlood, if he cr they be not a 
 warranted Mason ; and that I will stand three to 
 ten to relieve a brother Orangeman, and I will not 
 bo a thief, or the companion of a thief, to my 
 knowledge. 
 
 AMENDED TEST. 
 
 Q lestion — What’s that in your hand ? 
 
 Answer — A secret to you. 
 
 Q. From whence came you ? 
 
 A. Froru the land of bondage. 
 
 Q. Whither goeth thou ? 
 
 A. To the land of promise. 
 
 Q. H tve you got a pass word ? 
 
 A. 1 have. 
 
 Q. Will you give it to me ? 
 
 A. I did not get it so. 
 
 Q. Will y u halve it or letter it ? 
 
 A, I wil' halve it. 
 
 Q March ? 
 
 A. Deizo, through the Eed Sea. 
 
 Q. What Eed Sea ? 
 
 A. The wall of the Eed Sea. 
 
 Q. I am afraid ! 
 
 A. Of what ? 
 
 Q. The secrets of the Orangemen being dis- 
 covered. 
 
 A. Fear not for he that sought your life is dead. 
 
 Q. Have you got a grand word ? 
 
 A. I have the grand, I am that I am. 
 
 Q. Did you hear the crack ? 
 
 A. I did. 
 
 Q. What crack did you hear ? 
 
 A. A crack from the bill of the fire. 
 
 Q. Can you write your name ? 
 
 A. I can. 
 
 Q. With what sort of a pen ? 
 
 A. With the speir of life, or Aaron’s rod, that 
 buds, blossoms, and bears almcnds in one night. 
 
 Q. With what sort of ink ? 
 
 A. Papist blood. 
 
 Now, it will of course be said, not alone by the 
 thousands in whom nature, education, and associa- 
 tion have implanted that worst of all dispositions, 
 the disposition not to be convinced, but it will be 
 said by many upright men, however misguided 
 they may be, that such records as these are not to 
 b« relied upon, and that they prove nothing as 
 against the Orange Institution. To such I can only 
 say that the Orange Institution must he the most 
 villified organisation that ever existed if historical 
 records such as these are not to be depended upon. 
 Nay, more, that there must have existed a huge 
 conspiracy of which the world has not yet heard 
 on the part of historians, both Protestant and Ca- 
 tholic, of orators and statesmen of every persua- 
 sion ; of judges, magistrates, priests and parsons ; 
 of newspaper editors and newspaper reporters, al 
 
84 
 
 HTSTOHY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 o? whom, from the political writers who swayed a 
 nation by their pens down to the ballad-mongers, 
 who in the streets caught the ears, enlisted the 
 sympathies, and pocketed the halfpence of the 
 gaping multitude, were united together for no pur- 
 pose under the sun save pure malignity, iu black- 
 ing the character of this famous institution. 
 
 Even by judging the document upon its merits we 
 are likely to arrive at a fair conclusion as to its 
 authenticity. The exterminating oath is sustained 
 by too many corroborating circumstances to deserve 
 further inquiry, but a. due examination of the 
 amended oath, as given above, will show that it is 
 deserving of every weight as being possibly the 
 original from which the cath of 1793 (laid before 
 the Select Committee by the Orange lastitutior) 
 ■was ammied. There are more than one striking re- 
 semblance. In the latter there is, as in the former, 
 an obligation to bear true allegiance to his Majesty; 
 to keep the secrets of the association from all but 
 Orangeniea ; an assurance that deponent never 
 was a Roman Catholic, while the necessity in the 
 original to uphold Protestant Ascendancy is in the 
 latter, or amended form, transferred from the de- 
 ponent to the Sovereign, the person who takes the 
 oath being thus bound to uphold the upholder of 
 Protestant Ascendancy. These are certainly 
 strange coincidents, which the reader would do 
 well to mark, and which, in my judgement, lead 
 but to one conclusion, that William Sampson 
 the suspect, the companion of Curran, and the 
 counsel of many prosecuted United men, has given 
 a document relating to the Orange Institution to 
 the world which is deserving of just the same 
 credit as that submitted by the Grand Lodge of 
 Ireland before the select committee of 1835. The 
 really criminal passage is in the 1798 version, judi- 
 ciously omitted, for, as will be seen in the following 
 pages, a compact to that effect was eiteredinto 
 before the passing of the Act of Union, by which 
 the organisation was to be moderated in its written 
 law, arid made the acknowledged protector of Pro- 
 testant ascendancy in this country in return for its 
 services in facilitating the passing of that Act. 
 That passage, at the close, breathes of nothing but 
 blood, and in every sense corresponds with the ex- 
 terminating oaths alluded to. By it an Orangeman 
 is not to offend a Roman Catholic unless the Roman 
 C^tl.olic offends him, but ia such a contingency he 
 swears “that he will use his utmost endeavours 
 to shed the last drop of his blood.” Now, we have 
 ample moans at hand to ascertain what an Orange- 
 man would construe into rn offence on the part”of 
 
 a Roman Catholic. Everything short of the 
 existence of aR^man Catholic is off .nsive to an 
 Ocangeman, aid, indeed, as all Pip'sti are pre- 
 sumed by him to bo rebels, or disaffected citizens, 
 or, at least, opposed to Protestant ascanlancy, it 
 might he reasonably concluded tha*-. their very 
 existence is an offence. The oath, therefore, in no 
 way fell short of wholesale extermination, and in 
 effect was the same as the fearful vow of the 
 Diamond heroes. 
 
 There is se mething remarkable, if not suspi. 
 cious, in the fact that neither a copy of the original 
 oath nor of the original rules were produced before 
 the committee of 1835. None of the original 
 records, though asked for, w^re forthcoming 
 although it was admitted by Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Veiner and others in evidence that they were in 
 existence and in their possession. Unfortunately 
 they were always “in Ireland’' when inquired 
 after. Lieutenant- Colonel Veruer, when examined 
 on 7th April, said that he had such documents, but 
 that he hai thzm not with him. Four months after- 
 wards. on his second examination (Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Blacker having crossed to Ireland and 
 returned meantime), he seems to have been in 
 precisely the same condition. It is to be regretted 
 that on a point so vitality affecting their reputa- 
 tion they did not take the trouble of refuting 
 “the slanderous accusation/’ that on aU sides had 
 been made for the previous f)rty years against 
 their a’sociation. The rules were in existence. 
 Their simple production would have set the ques- 
 tion for ever at rest. 
 
 THE ORIGINAL WARRANT. 
 
 The original warrant, a specimen of which was 
 handed to toe Select Committee of the House of 
 Commons, bears the date July 7th, 1793, and the 
 number 89. If we may reasonably presume that 
 at this early period the energies of the secretary 
 were equal to the duties of an cffiie almost a 
 sinecure, it follows that original warrants were 
 i-isued consecutively, and that the new institution 
 for the first n'n^ months did not make as rapid 
 progress as we are generally led to believe. Tbe 
 document ran as follows : — 
 
 “No. Eight-nine — Timakeel, July 7fch, 1796. 
 
 “James Sloan.” 
 
 “ To be renewed iu the name of Daniel Bulla, 
 Portidown district.” 
 
 The last line is not belonging to the original docu- 
 ment, as we find by the meeting of the Grand Orange 
 Lodge in Dublin, in 1793, that new numbers were 
 “ ordered to be printed on parchment,” and that 
 for every old number renewed or e/ery new number 
 issued a sum of Ss 5d should be paid. No. 89 was 
 a district claiming a renewal. 
 
 THE AMENDED WARRANT. 
 
 The following is an exact copy . — 
 
HISTOET OF OEANaEISM. 
 
 85 
 
 ORANGE INSTITUTION. 
 
 Bg fairtue of tfjts Sutfjorits, 
 
 Our well beloved 'Brother ORANGE-MAN of the ©rtftl* 
 
 (and each of his Successors) is permitted to hold a LODGE, ^o* in the 
 
 County and District above specified^ to consist r^^TRUE ORANGEMEN, and 
 to act as MASTER and perform the requisites thereof 
 
 countersigned by \ 
 
 >• 
 
 Co. Gd Master, J 
 
 Grand Master, 
 
 Deputy Gd. Master. 
 Grand Secretary. 
 Deputy Gd. Secretary. 
 Grand Treasurer. 
 Deputy Gd. Treasurer. 
 
HISTOUT OF OKANGEISM. 
 
 It is not remarkatle to fird that Presbyterians 
 were in the few years preceding the rebellion, and 
 for many years after, generally excluded from the 
 Orange society. That they were so excluded will, 
 I think, be granted by those who take the trouble of 
 perusing the journals of those days. Their columns 
 not alone bear ample testimony to the rindictive 
 spirit which prevailed, by the repeated protests 
 against murders, arsons, and robbeiies of the most 
 outrageous kind, but show that the Northern Pres- 
 byterians were not sharers in the disgrace or afraid 
 to denounce the crimes of the dominant faction. 
 Page after page that we turn to discloses some new 
 atrocity and some fresh pretest from the local resi- 
 dents. Neither must we forget, however the ad- 
 mission may operate, that Presbyterianism was 
 Boeially, though not religiously, outlawed almost to 
 the extent of Catholicism. Piom its ranks, as we 
 have seen, came the leaders of refoim, the men of 
 thought, of independence, and of action, and, born 
 with little respect for kings and a great regard for 
 popular rights, the great body of Presbyterians, if 
 they did not assist, must have sympathised in the 
 movement. The Corh Gazette oi July, 1796, says: 
 — It is by no means the opinion of the South, 
 as our friends in Dublin imagine, that the Orange 
 murderers of the North are Presbyterians. We 
 are far from thinking that men so enlightened, so 
 early in the field of toleration, so devoted to the 
 liberties of mankind, would cut the throats of their 
 Catholic fellow-countrymen on any score, much 
 less on the score of religion. Those, therefore, who 
 spill the blood of their fellow citizens cannot be 
 Presbyterians. They may be monopolists of loaves 
 and fishes j of rights and privileges.” That there 
 were exceptions to this rule is beyond doubt ; but, 
 as after the rebellion, it beeame the desire for an 
 obvious reason to represent the Presbyterians as 
 having formed the great portion of the Orange 
 b® Jy, it is not surprising to find their paid cham- 
 pion, Musgrave, stating that ‘‘ in the Counties of 
 Fermanagh, Derry, and Armagh, there were 14,000 
 yeomen, and most of them Orangemen, and much 
 to the honour of the Presbyterians, three- 
 fourths of that were of that order.” In 
 Tyrone, so he adds, ** there were about 
 6,000 yoemen, tbe majority of whom were Pres- 
 byterians, and there were about 4,200 Orangemen 
 among them.” This is a gross exaggeration. 
 Plowde a, alluding to this statement, says “ It is 
 unquestionable that the Presbyterians generally 
 abhorred the principles of the Orangemen ; but it 
 s also certain that many of them were sworn in to I 
 
 their society.” How it came that these attached 
 themselves to it he reasonably and justly explains 
 by saying that they were mostly of the lower 
 orders, who depended for their subsistence upon 
 the landlords. This is of course quite consistent 
 with the truth, for at that time the Orange men 
 themselves were of the lower orders, with the ex- 
 ception of those who figured as their leaders, and 
 it is but natural to conclude that as Presbyterians 
 were not likely to be given prominent posi- 
 tions in the Institution those who went 
 into the rank and file were like to the 
 rank an file of the lower or rather 
 the lowest order. The author I have been quoting 
 mentions, evidently as an excuse for these Presby- 
 terians having joined the Orange Institution, 
 that several persons of great landlord interest in 
 those parts (Armagh, Down, Tyrone) Insistei upon 
 their Protestant (I give the term its wider signifi- 
 cation) tenants and labourers becoming Yeomen 
 and Orangemen. Such were the Marquis of Hert- 
 ford, Marquis of Abercorn, Lord Northland, the 
 Earl of Londonderry, Mr. Cope, Messrs. Brownlow 
 and Kichardson, and other possessors of great 
 landed estates in Ulster.” This statement is now 
 to be received with greater reserve than when fost 
 it met the eyes of the public, for we have directly 
 to the contrary in at least one of those particulars 
 the authority of a person who had every oppor- 
 tunity of knowing the facts. The Earl of Grosford, 
 when examined cn the 23rd June, 1835, was asked 
 a question fouaded upon this statement of Mr. 
 Plowden : — 
 
 3657. Is not your lordship aware that the parties 
 who compelled the Presbyterian tenants to become 
 Orangemen were the Lords Hertford, Abercorn, 
 Londonderry, Northland, and the Messrs. Cope, 
 Brownlow, and Eichardson ; did you not hear that 
 these noblemen and gentlemen compelled their 
 tenants to join the Orange Institution ? Never ; a 
 great proportion of the persons named lived not in 
 any county that I am connected with, but many of 
 them in the County of Down, and others in the 
 County Antrim ; but with respect to one name, 
 Mr. Eichardson, whom I knew intimately, a con- 
 nexion of my own, my own positive belief is that 
 he never did attempt to coerce his tenants to join 
 that society ; that is contrary to any communication 
 I ever had with him.” The same answer, with a 
 little more reserve, he applies to Mr. Brownlow. 
 
 At any rate we may take it for granted that few, 
 if any, Presbyterians of independence entered the 
 society. In the Presbyterians of Belfast the Ca- 
 
HISTOTIT OP OEANGEISM. 
 
 87 
 
 tholicsj of Armagh found staunch friends. Thiough 
 their assistance many of them having been ex- 
 pelled from their homes were enabled to cross over 
 to Scotland, and encouraged to settle in the 
 neighbourhood of Glasgow and Paisley. This,” 
 says Plowden, “ was the beginning of that colony 
 of Irish in that part of Scotland, which at this 
 time (1811) computed to amount to nearly 
 20,000.” In addition, we have also the fact that 
 where Presbyterianism most prevailed the new in- 
 stitution found the greatest difficulty in entering. 
 Belfast was, as I have said, a long time free from 
 the presence of such partisans. It is probable that 
 a lodge was not established in that town before the 
 autumn of 1796. That it was not later than 
 June, 1797, we have an established fact, as an 
 Orange meeting took place in Belfast on the I7th 
 of that month, particulars of which appear in the 
 columns of the News-Leiter. Previous intimation 
 of their existence in Belfast I have failed to fiad> 
 and though I must admit, there is a possibility of 
 its having been overlooked — so ilLarranged and 
 ill-placed was the local intelligence of those early 
 days in newspaper literature— a patient search re- 
 sulting in failure has as a natural consequence 
 given rise to the belief, not formed without much 
 labour, that no such record is to be found. We 
 can, at all events, limit the period within a year. 
 On the 8th July, 1796, the Northern Star published 
 the following : — “ It is currently reported that an 
 underhand attempt is being made to spread 
 this (the Orange) association into the counties of 
 Down and Antrim — nay more, some say 
 into the town of Belfast. Lest some honest, well- 
 meaning men should be deluded into this assoc'a- 
 tion, we think it our duty to lay before them rhe 
 following test, which we understand is the bond of 
 tbeir association. Some men of infamous character 
 are prominent in this diabolical business. They are 
 well known. They shall be exposed.” Then 
 follows the Orangeman’s exterminating oath as 
 already quoted. This would show that about that 
 time there was a lurking desire entertained by 
 some men of infamous character’ to establish a 
 lodge in Belfast. This discovery of the Northern 
 Star and its disclosure no doubt had the effect of 
 deferiing the establishment of the first lodge in 
 Belfast for some period. That there had been no 
 lodge even secretly established in Belfast up to 
 that time we have satisfactory evidence of in the 
 absence of any demonstration upon the occasion of 
 the first Twelfth of Ju^y that occurred in their 
 history, or any mention of Belfast brethren sharing 
 
 ia the ceremonies of that omiaous e\ent. 
 
 THE FIRST ORANGE CELEBRATION. 
 
 Considerable interest must surround any record 
 we have left to us of the first Orange celebration of 
 the 12th July. Though meagre enough they are 
 still sufficient to afford a fair idea of its character 
 and an unpleasantly accurate knowledge of its 
 bloody consequence. There would seem to have 
 been ever in close attendance upon this Orange In- 
 stitution an Evil Genius that has directed its steps 
 at all times through blood. We have found it the 
 offspring of massacre. Through its various stages 
 of progress, not excepting its first carnival, we shall 
 trace it by means of the bloody marks it has left 
 behind. That in aU eases its members were pri_ 
 marily in fault would be hazarding an assertion 
 scarcely in accordance with the natural order of 
 things, but that in the large majority of instances 
 tke crime was theirs and theirs only, and that in 
 all instances the sad results were but the natural 
 consequences of such a combination is unhappily 
 but tco apparent. The Armagh brethren who 
 justly claim the honour of being the founders of the 
 association have also whatever credit attaches to 
 the first celebration. The numbers who took part 
 in it, as will be seen from the following, were ex- 
 ceedingly small when we recollect the gatherings 
 of subsequent years. 
 
 The News-Letter gave a brief description of the 
 first Orange twelfth, this year, 1796, which con- 
 trasts strangely with the innumerable columns ia 
 latter days devoted by that organ to the records of 
 the Orange saturnalia, showing the advocacy of 
 the brethren had not yet become a paying specula- 
 tion. Its issue of the 15 th July contains the fol- 
 lowing : — “ We understand that on Tuesday, fceihg 
 the anniversary of the Battle of Augrim, a great 
 body of Orangemen, amounting to upwards of 
 2,000, assembled in Lurgau and spent the day with 
 the utmost regularity and good order. It unfor- 
 tunately happened that in the course of the after- 
 noon some words took place between a Mr. 
 M'Murdie, at Ahalee, near Lurgan, and one of the 
 Queen’s County Militia, when coming to blows, 
 Mr. M'Murd’e received a stab of which he died. 
 As the whole business will come before a Court of 
 Justice we would think it highly improper to make 
 any remark on either side of the question.” 
 
 The Northern Star of the 15th July, 1796, thus 
 describes the same: — “On Tuesday last (12th of 
 July O.S.) the gentlemen calling themselves 
 Orange-boys, who have desolated the County of 
 Armagh during the last year, paraded publicly in 
 
88 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 large bodies, with Orange cockades and colours fly- 
 ing, through the towns of Lurgan, Waringstown, 
 Poriadown, &c. Their colourSj which were new 
 and costly, bore on one side King William on horse- 
 back, and (will it be believed?) on the reverse King 
 George the Third!!! This banditti, who have 
 hunted upwards of 700 families from their homes, 
 and their all, who have put the Catholics of the 
 county out of the ‘ King’s peace,’ paraded in open 
 day, under banners bearing the King’s effigy, and 
 sanctioned by the magistrates ? Irishmen, is this 
 not plain enough ! One of the captains of the 
 name of M'Murdie was killed in the afternoon in 
 an affray with some of the Queen’s County Militia.” 
 
 From the Neivs Letter oi a few days subsequently, 
 Friday, July 22nd, we learn that" the trial of James 
 Delaney, of the Qaeen’s County Militia, for the 
 murder of Mr. M‘Murdie, came on at the Antrim 
 Assizes, before Justice Chamberlain. It lasted 
 about two hours, and after a great deal of evidence 
 being adduced on both sides, the jury, having re- 
 tired for a short time found a verdict of guilty of 
 manslaughter. He was sentenced to be burned in 
 the hand, which having been inflicted in presence 
 of the Court he was immediately dismissed.” 
 
 It will be seen from this that the flrst Orange 
 procession did not pass without its quota of 
 blood. Upon what side the blame rested in this 
 instance, or whether upon any, we have no means of 
 ascertaining, but it was likely in a family " quarrel” 
 the flrst blood was spilled. Though we have it on 
 the authority of Mr. Plowden that there were Ca- 
 tholics in the Queen’s County Militia it is a fact 
 that the large majority were of a different religion, 
 so that the probabilities are two to one in favour of 
 this view, there being no mention of a party differ- 
 ence. In all probability drunkenness was its origin, 
 for we have it on the authority of the great ma- 
 jority of witnesses examined before the Committee 
 and corroborated by the experience of later times 
 that these celebrations have ever been a fruitful 
 source of dissipation. 
 
 The Earl of Caledon, when under examination, 
 said the flrst Orange Lodge in the County Tyrone 
 was introduced on his father’s estate in 1795 — very 
 probably alluding to the district of Killyman, which 
 is destined to play a prominent part in our history. 
 From Mr. Plowden’s History we learn (page 63 of 
 the 1st vol.) that Tyrone was then rivalling 
 Armagh for the number of atrocities committed by 
 the members of this new institution. Indeed, it 
 would seem that by this time the outrages had be- 
 come general over the counties Armagh, Antrim, 
 
 Down, and Tyrone. One of ihe most shocking be 
 instances as being that in which two brothers, in- 
 dustrious tenants of Lord Hertford, Catholics, by 
 name Branagan, were burnt, with their whole 
 family, consisting of eight persons, and their house 
 and furniture, while "the savage Orangemen’^ 
 encircled the flames to prevent escape, and made 
 merry over the carnage. Lord Hertford was then 
 in Lisburn. Instant investigation and exemplary 
 rigour nere threatened, but, as usual, no punish- 
 ment ensued. To the bigotry and narrow 
 prejudice of some members of the Episcopal 
 ministry is due the advance of the organi- 
 sation at this period. The Eevs. S. 
 Cupples, Lisburn, and Philip Johnston, Derriaghy^ 
 were prominently zealous in evangelizing the new 
 code. Deputations were sent* from the 
 County Grand Lodge in County Armagh to 
 various districts of the country with the object 
 of " inoculating the new lodges with the gf-nuiue 
 matter and the erruption was exuberant.” Besides 
 encouraging his Orange partizans in their orgies, 
 the latter rev. gentleman is said to have in one of 
 his unwonted fits of " loyalty,” attacked, with a 
 large force of newly initiated brethern, the house 
 of a Scotch Presbyterian named James Cochrane. 
 He was an industrious man of the most exemplary 
 character. The outrage took place at two o’clock 
 in the morning, and the Kev. gentleman "hurried 
 him to Carrickfergus Jail where he languished 
 twelve months without even the remotest appear- 
 ance of crime, merely because he judged him a friend 
 to the Catholics.” 
 
 The year with which we are dealing was not an 
 eventful one in the history of the Institution, and 
 furnishes little of diversity save the repeated hor- 
 rors that were now becoming general in the Ulster 
 counties, and that were by the Yeomanry carried 
 towards the close of the year into other provinces. 
 With these I have already dealt, perhaps too fully. 
 I will request that the reader will bear in mind 
 that neither through the intervention of Govern^ 
 ment or of the heads of this Institution was this 
 bloody persecution put a stop to. In Belfast mili- 
 tary despotism had long since set in, and though 
 many were sufferers in the raids made upon that 
 town, the spirit and intrepidity of the inhabitants 
 that saved the thousands from becoming victims to 
 this " vigour beyond the law.’* During all this 
 time, while Eepublicanism was rampant, and when 
 loyal men of all persuasions, particularly in the 
 North, were meeting and passing resolutions con- 
 
 * Plowden’s Ten Years’ History, vol. i., page 65, 
 
HISTOET OP OEANGEISM. 
 
 demning: “ the plots of these wicked men,” the 
 United Irishmen, the Orangemen as an Institution 
 was not heard of, its attention being, no doubt, 
 confined to those districts in which a display of 
 loyalty could be attended with pecuniary advantage 
 to those taking part in it. The disaster which, 
 fortunately for the British occupation, overtook the 
 French fleet in BaotryBay in the December of this 
 year was the turning point in the history of the 
 United conspiracy. It was a turning point in the 
 history of our country too. Mr. Plowdea says the 
 news created the greatest consternation, and that 
 nothing could exceed it save the loyalty and zeal 
 with which all ranks of the people showed to go 
 out and meet the enemy. The peasantry vied with 
 each other to see who would do service to the 
 troops cn their march, and administered to them 
 whatever comforts their scanty means would 
 allow. He adds, “The fortuitous failure of 
 the French invasion was a critical moment for 
 Ireland ; it had furnished a very strong and un- 
 expected test of the loyal disposition of the Irish 
 people, a’ld some real patriots fondly augured for 
 it favourable symptoms fiom Giovernment towards 
 their countrymen. Eeports were circu^a^ed with 
 credit that measures of conciliation towards Ireland 
 had been resolved on by the Cabinet. Catholic 
 emancipation and temperate reform were now 
 confidentially spoken of, and Lord Camden, 
 whose Administration was pledged to resist these 
 two questions, it was generally expected would re., 
 sign.” The scheme was all but perfected, but the 
 power of the Irish junto prevailed, and intolerance 
 had its sway. The Irish, it will oe seen, were not 
 rebels but If yabsts at this important crisis. Tl^ey 
 were shortly to be made rebels. The news arrived 
 in Belfast on Friday, the 29th December, and on 
 the following Saturday a town meeting was called 
 by the Sovereign to consider the propriety of the 
 citizens arming themselves against invasion. By 
 an adroit diplomatic move the United men turned 
 the occasion to account, and, as will be seen 
 by an extended report in the News-Letter of 
 the 2nd of January, 1797, every effort was made 
 for the ventilation of grievances. Strange to say, 
 such men as Arthur O^Connor, Sims, Sampson, and 
 Tennant were appointed on the committee to con- 
 sider the proposal. On the 5th of January they 
 published a series of resolutions declaring for Par- 
 liamentary reform, and calling upon the Govern- 
 ment to permit them to arm after the manner of 
 the old Tolunteers. To the credit of the Govern- 
 ment, it must be said that they at least were not 
 
 m 
 
 s ch fools as harken to the prayer of the 
 re.olutions. These resolutions the Sovereign, 
 ore John Fro^n, en l a clergyman named Bristow 
 refused to agree to, and thoy accordingly left the 
 meeting. Two days prior to this, a volunteer 
 corps was started by the Sovereign, and 120 
 inhabitants of Belfast enrolled their names. This 
 course was adopted like wise in other districts. 
 By the means of these Yf lunteers the Orange 
 Yoemen now sought the extension of their system, 
 and, armed as they were wi':h the patronage of 
 the Government, it is hut natural that they 
 succeeded. As the outcome of this increased 
 loyalty, cn the SOfch January, 1797, the Northern 
 Star was illegally suppressed, for thelaw for 
 seizing the materials, &3., was not then in force. 
 I's propiieiors and staff wore imprisoned. Thi^ 
 a. t effected as it vras in the most wanton and 
 outrageous manner, by a violent military mob, had 
 the effect of rousing the ill-feeling of both sides 
 into activity. 
 
 There is in the declaration of the Belfast 
 Volunteeis, published on the 9th of March, some- 
 thing suggestive, to mj mind, of the creeping 
 influence of Orangei&m in its ranks. According to 
 that declaration it would seem “that erroneous 
 ideas were being formed as to tbe’r motives,” and 
 they accordingly came forward to protest that 
 their ends remained still the same — the liberty of 
 alb A ceitain French proverb about the excuser 
 being the accuser will here occur to the reader 
 without its being quoted. That at this period the 
 Orange Institution first obtained anything like 
 a general hold upon the nobility and gentry of the 
 Noithern counties is a fact to be admitted in their 
 favoui, and had the leaders but the wisdom to dis • 
 solve when the clouds of rebellion had passed they 
 might, in the general confusion of those times* 
 have acquired the title of heroes, and their names 
 have come down to us as the self-sacrificing 
 preservers of the English occupation. Sanctioned 
 now openly by the Government, favoured >y the 
 nobility, headed by the gentry, and having the 
 perfect machinery of the yeomanry system imme- 
 diately at their command, the Institution reached 
 its full tide of popular progress, and animated, aa 
 in their early days, by the principles of cruel ex- 
 termination, its members succrfcdedin swelling the 
 ranks of the malcontents and in driving the 
 populace into rebellion. 
 
 ADDRESS OF THE UNITED IRISHMEN OF ARMAGH TO 
 I’HE ORANGEMEN. 
 
 In the month of May, 1797, the following inte 
 
 V 
 
90 
 
 HISTOEr OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 resting address was issued by the United Irishmen 
 of the County Armagh to the Orangemen : — 'and 
 appended is also the Orangemen’s reply : — 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 “We have heard with inexpressible sorrow that 
 those men whose wicked designs have already ren- 
 dered our county infamous through Ireland^ are 
 again endeavouring to establish amongst you their 
 abonrinable system of rapine and murder, persecu- 
 tion and bigotry. To us the moti^’es or their con* 
 duct have been long obvious ; permit us therefore 
 to explain to you the diabolical principles on whicla 
 they act, and to contrast them with those genuine 
 precepts of Christianity and reason which influence 
 United Irishmen. The men who have hitherto led 
 you astray ave anxious to turn those differences in 
 religion which result from abstruse and perplexed 
 questions in theology into flxed principles of hatred 
 and animosity. What is the ultimate cause of this 
 odious attempt ? Is it not that whilst you are 
 employed in idle contentions with your neighbours 
 about heaven, they may enjoy and monopolise the 
 goods things of earth ? You quarrel with your 
 fellow-citizens about another world. They and 
 their abettors laugh at the silly dispute, and riot 
 ib the luxuries and pleasures of this. Their safety 
 and power is built upon the disunion of the people, 
 and therefore they urge you to commit the most 
 atrocious crimes against society, for matters of as 
 little import to true religion, as that which agitated 
 the Blefuscans and Lilliputians mentioned in Gul- 
 livers Travels, when they slaughtered each other 
 about breaking eggs at the broad or narrow end. 
 Brethren, as long as your attention is engrossed 
 with these absurd disputes, which do not originate 
 in religion, but in that bigoted zeal which dares to 
 trammel Christianity in the dogmatic creeds of 
 particular sects, so long will you be ruled with a 
 rod of iron by men who have overwhelmed the 
 people with taxes in support of a war which they 
 detest, who ha\e destroyed our commerce, an- 
 nihilated our manufactures, placed us under 
 military government, transported our fellow- 
 subjects without trial beyond sea, and when we 
 gently remonstrated against these evils, branded 
 us with the odious name of refractory rebels. Have 
 not the Ministry, whose creatures your leaders 
 avowedly are, overwhelmed us with debts and 
 taxes in support of an unjust war, in which Ire- 
 land had no natural interest. Do they not persist 
 in maintaining all the corruptions which they have 
 introduced into the Constitution. They obstin- 
 ately resist a reform in Parliament, because if the 
 
 people were fairly represented, their abominable 
 system of corruption must be annihilated. They 
 oppress you with unjust burdens to support their 
 extravagance j and with the very money they tear 
 from you and your families, they are enabled to 
 purchase votes in the House of Commons, and 
 thereby overwhelm you with fresh taxes and fresh 
 impositions. They grudge you the common neces. 
 saries of life, and their revenues arise not from 
 taxes laid on articles of lu'cury, but from matters 
 escential to your very existence. Even salt is not 
 permitt d to pass untaxei. Look now at these 
 men who thus scourge the people with scorpions, 
 you will see them and their creatures wallowing in 
 wealth, indulging in the wantonness of unbridled 
 luxury, laughing at your contentions, and fattening 
 on your miseries. The poor starve, th it pensioners 
 may riot in excess. Placemen, and the whores of 
 placemen, squander that money for the want of 
 which your wretched families endure hunger and 
 cold. Even Germans ani other foreigners feast 
 sumptuously at your exp<^nse. lo is your business, 
 it seems, to till the ground, it is theirs to enjoy the 
 crop. You labour and feed them, your tyrants use 
 your donations, yet despise and trample on your 
 donors. Know that, if union prevailed amongst 
 you and your fellow-citizens, you would discover 
 that the present Ministers and their creatures are 
 your enemies, and not United Irishmen. They 
 wish to engage you in religious battles, for the 
 same reasons that Henry the Fourth wanted to lead 
 his people to the Holy War at Jerusalem — namely, 
 that they may turn your attention from their own 
 misdeeds, and their own unjustifiable assumptions 
 of power. Consider now, on the other hand, what 
 are the objects of the Irishmen — union, peace, 
 love, mutual forbearance, universal charity, and the 
 active exercise of every social virtue. We know 
 that true religion consists in purity of heart, in love 
 to God, and goodwill to men. We persecute no 
 man for speculative opinions in theology ; we know 
 the mind of man is free, and ought for ever to re- 
 main unfettered. Our principles lead us to wish 
 for a reform in Parliament, because it is to us in- 
 dubitably clear that the present system of things is 
 inconsistent with your happiness as well as ours, 
 and erected in violation to the common rights of 
 man. Already we have forgiven you the injuries 
 you have committed against us ,- we offer you the 
 right hand of fellowship, and entreat you to co- 
 operate with us in that great work, which we ars 
 able and ready to effect, whether you aid us or 
 not.” 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGETSM. 
 
 91 
 
 REPLY 
 
 “ Yourplansand scbemes are now before tbe Select 
 Committees of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 
 and such measures we trust will be adopted towards 
 those among you, who penitent for the crimes ye 
 have committed, and the crimes you intended to 
 commit, throw themselves on the mercy of our 
 rulers. The blood of four soldiers of the Monaghan 
 militia, who were shot a few days ago at Blasis 
 Camp 5 and the blood of the unfortunate wretches 
 who shall suffer for connecting themselves with ye, 
 will at an awful tribunal be demanded at your 
 hands, d he unfortunate soldiers took an oath of 
 allegiance to their King at the time they were en- 
 listed; cut ye tempted them with a promise of 
 making them officers in your new diocese, and suc- 
 ceeded in making them perjure themselves, and 
 thereby brought them to an untimely end. In 
 future we desire ye will not call us friends as ye 
 have done in your last address. We will not be 
 your friends until you forsake your evil ways, and 
 until we see some marks of contrition for your past 
 conduct ; neither do we wish to hold any inter- 
 course with [you, for evil communication corrupt 
 good morals as well as good manners. We are 
 satisfied in the enjoyment of what we can earn by 
 honest industry, and neither envy those above us, 
 nor desire to take from them a single farthing 
 of their property ; we wish ye to be of the same 
 mind.” [May 2', 
 
 In most centres of Orangeism large meetings 
 were now held, sufficient to indicate the increasing 
 popularity of their scheme. Armagh, Fermanagh, 
 and Antrim were successively the rendezvous of the 
 brethren, and every effort was used to give a more 
 respectable character to the Association. From the 
 News-Letter of Monday, June the 5th, 1797, we find 
 that a meeting of the masters of the different 
 Orange Societies in the Province of Ulster was held 
 in the city of Armagh on the 2l8t May — James 
 Sloane, whose name we find attached to the origi- 
 nal warrant, occupying the chair. The resolutions 
 passed <7ere as follows. — “We, having seen cur 
 association caluminated and stigmatised, our obli- 
 gations bePed and exaggerated, and ourselves 
 abused and insulted by a coalition of traitors, styl- 
 ing themselves United Iiishmen: being determined 
 in this public manner to declare the principles 
 upon which onr glorious iustitution is estab- 
 lished : — 
 
 “ 1st. We associate together and defend ourselves 
 and cur properties to preserve the peace of the 
 country, to support our King and Constitution, and 
 
 to maintain the Protestant Ascendancy for which 
 our Protestant ancestors fought and conquered 
 — -in short, to uphold the Protestant system and 
 establishment at the risk of our lives, in opposi- 
 tion to the wicked claims of rebels of all descrip- 
 tions. 
 
 “ 2ad. Our association, being entirely composed of 
 Protestants, has afforded an opportunity to people 
 who undeservedly assume the appellation of Pro- 
 testant to insinuate to tbe Eoman Catholics of Ire- 
 land that we are sworn to extirpate and destroy 
 them, which infamous charge we most openly 
 deny and disavow. Our obligations bind us to 
 second, not to break up, the existing laws of the 
 land, and, so long as we remain under that obli- 
 gation, the loyal well behaved men may fear no 
 injury of any sort from us. 
 
 “ Sri. We earnestly request that the several mem- 
 bers of the Administration in this country will not 
 suffer themselves to be prejudiced against us by 
 the unfounded calumnies of unprinci^pled traitors 
 of ambitious dispositions and desperate circum- 
 stances, who detest us from no other cause than our 
 unshaken loyalty, and who are using every 
 exertion to increase their consequence, and 
 to repair their shattered fortunes by plung- 
 ing the kingdom in all the horrors of rebel- 
 lion, anarchy, and civil war ; and we likewise re- 
 quest the nation at large to believe our most solemn 
 assurance that there is no body of men more 
 strongly bound to support, or more attached to the 
 Govemmeut of the Empire than the Orangemen of 
 Ireland. 
 
 “4th. We further warmly invite the gentlemen 
 of property to reside in the country in order that 
 we may enroll ourselves as district corps under 
 them, and as two guineas (Government allowance) is 
 not a sufficient sum for clotheing (sic ) a soldier, we 
 entreat gentlemen to subscribe whatever they may 
 think proper for that necessary purpose ; many an 
 honest fellow having no 'personal 'property to contend 
 for or any other object thanthe laiidable patriotic ties 
 of our association. 
 
 “Abraham Davidson, Secretary.” 
 
 That the association was in the pay of the Go- 
 vernment at this period was evident from the above, 
 and from the statement of Mr. Plowden regarding a 
 similar complaint made at a similar meeting in the 
 same city in the spring of 1796, we may presume 
 that the brethern in Armagh were determined to 
 have their services adequately remunerated. But 
 this is not the important consideration 
 which forces itself upon us from reading 
 
92 
 
 HTSTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 this document. Even foregoing the conclusion s 
 thak should follow from binding by oath a number i 
 of men of the lowest classes in society to uphold 
 Protestant ascendancy, and hew their efforts in 
 sunport of it would naturally be dir acted — foregoing 
 this and many other minor considerations, we come 
 to the fack that this body of arrogant men assumed 
 to themselves the prerogatives of dispensing 
 justice and mercy, and of dealing out punishment 
 to those who did not support the existing law. 
 Their obligation was such that all well-behaved 
 men might fear no sort of injury” from them. 
 Then, those who were not “ well -behaved” or 
 “loyal” might, as a natural consequence, fear 
 injury from them. But the question suggests 
 itself, how was the ill-behaviour or the disloyalty 
 to be determined. Not by the known and legally 
 established methods of the Constitution, for the 
 Government and not the Orangemen would then 
 be the chastisers of offended jus', ice — the 
 expression being, “fear no injury from 
 us.” Having no form of trial save 
 the rude caricature of l9gal formality which 
 is said to have been in those days attempted within 
 some lodges the question of ill-behaviour could 
 then be merely a matter of opinion in which ear h 
 individual, prejudiced by assumptions of exclusive 
 loyalty, was bound to judge, and, according to 
 his obligation, 1 o act for himself. So far as that 
 opinion led the individual Orangemen to think 
 his neighbour ill-behaved or disloyal that neigh- 
 bour had much reason to fear injury from him. It 
 appears likewise by the third resolution that those 
 who did not agree in the theory that the Orange 
 Institution was a model of magnanimity and loyalty, 
 and who gave expression to these sentime'ii‘‘s, were 
 nothing but “unprincipled traitors,” which affords 
 a fair idea of who they were who were considerf d 
 to be ill-behaved and disloyal. In fact the very 
 exclusive Protestant nature of the association it? If 
 'would without further aid afford sufficient in iica 
 tion of the opinions of Orangemen in this respect. 
 This is nothing more or less than a justification of 
 the Armagh outrages, and i*' should be borne in 
 mind that these arrogant professions of loyalty 
 and these promises cf an impartial dispensation of 
 justice were made t»y men whose name had not yet 
 lecome known to history save by the exterminating 
 policy of their brethren in Armagh. 
 
 On the 4th June, of the same year, a meeting of 
 theCrangemenof Fermanagh was held atLisbellaw> 
 at which a series of resolutions, already quoted, 
 were passed which, it would appear, were up to the 
 
 starting of the Grand Lodge in Dublin, looked 
 upon as the general written law of the Institution. 
 Epferences are male to them in more than one of 
 the numerous pamphlets of the time in defence of 
 the principles of Orangeism. 
 
 That the association hid by some mischance 
 acquired a bad name throughout the country is 
 evident from the repeited protests and declarations 
 we find recorded about this time. At a meeting of 
 the Orange Lodge of B&Ta^t, held on the 19th 
 June, 1797 — the “ Eight Worshipful James Mont- 
 gomery (master”) in the chair — the Allowing series 
 of resolutions were passed : — 
 
 “1st. Eesolved — That at this critical juncture 
 we feel ourselves called upon, collectively and in- 
 dividually, to declare our sentiments in the most 
 public manner.” 
 
 “ 2ad. Eesolved — That we will with our lives and 
 fortunes support and maintain his present Majesty, 
 King George the Third, our happy Constitution* 
 ard the succession to the Throne in his Majesty’s 
 illustrious house.” 
 
 “ 3rd. E=>solved — That we will aid and assist, to 
 the utmost of our power, all civil magistrates in the 
 execu^on of their duty.” 
 
 “ 4th. Eesolved— That we will use our utmost 
 endeavour to suppress all rmt and disorder, and 
 supnort and maintain cur most ancient and honour- 
 able society in its truest interest and meaning.” 
 
 “5th. E-solved — That we do recommend all 
 lodges to enter into similar resolutions.” 
 
 J\MES Montgomery, Master. 
 
 John Brown, Past Master. 
 
 John Galt Smith, Secretary. 
 
 In addition to these numerous declaraticns of 
 the most loyal intentions, an a^comrlishment for 
 which the brethren have been from their eark'est 
 existence remarkable, resort was also had to the old 
 policy of Popish massacres, to assassination com- 
 mittees,* and varioui other vague generalities 
 likely to spread alarm amongst the Protestant in- 
 habitants. That the large body of r^„ 
 spectable and liberal-minded Piotestants cf 
 
 * Some individuals, who can only measure their own loyalty 
 ' b the acrimony with which thev calumniate their country, 
 have, upon the strength of this (the Committee of the Lords 
 t rapoi’t) specifically cliargcd the United Irishmeu with hold- 
 ing regular committees of as 'ussination. But no evidence 
 
 ■ whatever is offered by the Lords even to support their lose 
 iuiiendo or charge of systematic assassinations. T1 e private 
 murders, though numerous and bloody, rather rehut tha» 
 
 ■ substantiate the charge of any orga-'ised sj’^stein of that 
 at ocious nature. — PJowden’s Hist. Reidew, vol. ii., part i., 
 
 ’ page 572. In the memorandum delivered to the Govoi'niaeut 
 the leaders gave distinct denial to this charge. They 
 ’ solemnly declared that they believed such a committee uevoi 
 ' existed, and there is no pi'oof that it ever did. 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 93 
 
 Ireland were little affected by the outcry 
 is without question, but in the minds of many 
 these concoctions did not pass without receiv- 
 ing credence, thus to some extent fulfilling the ends 
 for which they wtra intended. The attention of 
 the founders was now directed to a new field of 
 labour. The Yeomen were all their own with the 
 exception of a few members in odd corps ; but the 
 militia had not yet been experimented upon and a 
 move was now made in that direction. When we 
 consider the case of a large body of men subsisting 
 by the pay of the Government, with promotion and 
 pension an olject of their lives, we cannot, recol- 
 lecting the fact that the Orange Association was 
 now openly patronised by Government, exp ct 
 that as a rule it would be received otherwise than 
 with favour by those whose jersuasion made them 
 admissible. With the Adoiin’stiation it had 
 become a test of loyalty and as oUch by the milifia 
 it was now considered. There was a'so powerfully 
 operating both iu the military as well as in the 
 civil character of the Institution the fact that it 
 allowed men cf the lowest grades, who quailed be- 
 neath the glance of an ignorant country squire, or a 
 tyrant village attorney, to meet with superiors 
 if not always in education at lease in fortune ; to 
 sit with them in their lodges, to drink at the same 
 board, to cuddle their secrets and their mysteries 
 and in ail respects to meet with them on terms of 
 equality. The first wairant that appeared to have 
 been granted to a military regiment was No. 
 which was issued co the Monaghan militia in 1 797. 
 It would appear from the statement of Mr. 
 Baker, a gentleman who occupied the high position 
 of Deputy Grand Treasurer of the society, that this 
 warrant was issued in consequence of a branch of 
 the United Irish Society existing in that regiment. 
 The exact date of the issue we have not. It would 
 be important to prove priority. Any further evi- 
 dcnce we have on the point goes to corroborate the 
 statement, as four members of the Monaghan 
 militia were shot in this year for such an offence. 
 Both civil and military departments now spread far 
 and wide, and, beneath the patronage of a ciuel 
 Administration, that was false to its duty in refus- 
 ing Catholics protection and rights which the Con- 
 stitution entitled them to, the outrages increased as 
 they weat,the Orange contagion being taken up and 
 passed from county to county. It is not, therefore, 
 a matter of surprise that the next Orange celebra- 
 tion we find upon record was treated as a much 
 more auspicious event than that vvhich had pre- 
 ceded it. 
 
 THE 12rH July, 1797. 
 
 At Lurgan upon this day General Lake, com- 
 mander-in-chief of the northern district, with Gen- 
 Kqox, reviewed a large body of Orangemen, whose 
 numbers are variously estimated at 12,000, 20,000 
 and 30,000. Colonel Blacker says the Orangemen 
 numbered 15,000. The review took place in Lur- 
 gan Park, in presence of Mr. Brownlow, its proprie- 
 tor. Geaetally speaking, those in the park were 
 unarmed and without uniform. The yeomanry 
 who took part in the demonstration were small in 
 number. A similar demonstration took place in 
 Belfast on the same day. The following desciip- 
 tion cf the event is taken from the News-Letter of 
 July 14ch, 1797 : - 
 
 ‘‘BATTLE OP THE BOYNE. 
 
 “Wednesday being the anniversary of the 
 Battle of the Boyne, conformable to the old style, 
 a Very great number of the inhabitants of this 
 town and neighbourhood, denominating themselves 
 Orangemen, assem bled at an early hour in the 
 morning to celebrate the return of the auspicious 
 day. The different detachments moved from their 
 respective places of rendezvous, and paraded 
 through the streets, with music playing, drums 
 beating, and colours flying. On the last were 
 different devices, a painting of King William on 
 horseback, &c. A large party of the Artillery 
 and Monaghan Militia, as also a nume- 
 rous body of yeomanry, drew up side by side, with 
 a very numerous body who had assembled for a 
 similar purpose as those of this town. As soon as 
 General Lake had set off, the corps in Linen Hall 
 Street marched in grand procession thiough High 
 Street, &c., and the other parties took different 
 routes. It is estimated that between six and seven 
 thousand were present. Previous to this proces- 
 sion being resolvtd upon by the parties, a deputa- 
 tion from their number waited on General Lake to 
 obtain his permission. The General very politely 
 granted it, under the express condition that they 
 should conduct themselves with the strictest de- 
 corum f»nd preserve the most respectful demeanour. 
 This they pledged themselves to maintain ; and 
 we have it to say to their honour that they 
 punctually and faithfully adhered to and fulfilled 
 what they promised ; not the smallest indiscretion 
 was observable, and the most exact regularity pre- 
 vailed. After the procession was concluded the 
 several corps marched to their respective district's 
 and then separated highly gratified with the ex- 
 hibition of the day, heightened by the peace and 
 good humour which prevailed. 
 
 W 
 
91 
 
 HISTOUT OF OliANGEISM. 
 
 It was novel and pleasing to obse*’ve numerous 
 groups of girls range themselves in the ranhs, and 
 walk in procession, many of whom had come from 
 distant parts of the country for the sole purpose. 
 
 Every person in the procession wore orange and 
 blue cockades or ribbons, on many of which were 
 imprinted a crown, and under it God save Ihe King 
 and Constitution ; and others a crown and and 
 under, < Tie glorious, pious, and immortal memory of 
 King William. 
 
 AT LURGAN. 
 
 the procession was still more numerous than here ; 
 net less than 12,000 were present. Flags, with 
 similar devices, were flying, and orange and blue 
 ribbons worn by the company bearing inscriptions 
 of like import. Genetal Lake and his suite were 
 received with every mark of respect and honour. 
 The processions of the day were conducted with 
 great decorum, and concluded with much mirth 
 and innocent festivity. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII.— CENTRALISATION, THE FIRST LODGE ESTABLISHED 
 IN DUBLIN, EXTENSION SOUTHWARDS. 
 
 Flushed with its success in the Northern and 
 Midland counties, the Orange Institution now 
 directed its attention towards centralising its in- 
 fluences, that it might the more effectually operate 
 all over the country. The first lodge was estab- 
 lished in Dublin in the year 1797, and rules and 
 regulations drawn up for its guidance. Unfor- 
 tunately they too are lost to history, for Colonel 
 Verner when asked for them happened to have 
 them — at home. The date of its formation was 
 the 4th of June. It appears that it gathered 
 round it at its formation a large number 
 of noted, or soon to be noted, individuals. 
 As many of the names of its original members are 
 familiar to most of my readers or likely to be so it 
 may not be uninteresting to give a complete list. 
 Mr. TTiomasFeraer was chosen master. The following 
 were the members : — Hamilton Archdall, Earl 
 Annesley, Earl Athlone, John Armstrong, James 
 Armstrong, Richmond Allen, Thomas P. Ayres, F. 
 
 owe 1 Armstrong, Thomas Babington, Henry 
 Brooke, Rev. Henry Bruce, Matthew Bathurst, 
 William Bathurst, Christopher Bowen, Jonah 
 Barrington, George Barnes, Marcus Blair, Charles 
 Bury, Rev, Charles Beresford, Henry Brabazon, 
 James Bathurst, Rev. Mr. Brickie, Captain 
 Caulfield, Henry Colclough, Robert Con wall, 
 George Carr, Hugh Cochran, Lord Corry, Cotting- 
 ham, John Conroy, Henry Coddington, Hans Caul- 
 field, Wel. Corbett, Wm. !<. Cowan, Patrick Duignan, 
 Stephen Draper, Frederick Darley, Wm. Darley, 
 John Sakhey Darley, Edmund Darley, James Eus- 
 tace, Captain Henry Eustace, Francis Eardley, T. 
 Emerson, E. Emerson, Henry Faulkner, Robert 
 Frazer, John Burke Fitzsimons, John Ferns, Wm. 
 Ferns, Hon. Captain Ginchell, Walter Giles, Cor- 
 nelius Ganton, Geo. Hill, Andrew Higginbotham, 
 David Hay, Wm. Stewart Hamilton, Thomas John- 
 ston, Arthur Jones, James Johnston, Rev. John 
 
 Eeating, Arthur Kelly, Elliott Knipe, Rev. Thos. 
 Kaipe, Thomas Knit, Benjimin Lucas, Richard 
 Lucas, John Lindsay, Charles Leslie, John Leslie. 
 William Large, Samuel Montgomery, Rev. Henry 
 Maclean, Geo. Vaughan Montgomery, Geo. Moore, 
 Slmund Alexander M'Naghtan, Sir John Maesrt- 
 ney, Wm. Mills, Hamilton Max veil, Wm. Newman, 
 George Newman, Thomas Norman, Luke Norman, 
 Thomas Orley, Charles Oulton, William Ormsby, 
 Samuel Pend'eton, James Poe, Andrew Price, God- 
 win Pilsworth, S. W. Plunkett, Alderman Poole, R. 
 Powell, J. S. Rochefort, Rev. H. Roper, Wm. Roper, 
 Thomas Reid, Captain Ryan, William Rawlins, 
 William Stanford, Hon. Benjamin O’Neale Strat- 
 ford, Hon. John Stratford, John Steele, Major 
 Sa'idys, Charles Henry Sirr, Richard Sayns, John 
 Stanlan, Captain Shanley, Nathaniel Sneyd, 
 William Bellingham Swan, Richard Carpenter 
 Smith, Thomas Townsend, Francis Thomas, 
 Urquhart Thompson, James Verner, David Verner, 
 John Verner, William Verner, Alexander James 
 Vance, Henry J. Worthington, Joseph Worthing- 
 ton, Thomas Worthington, William Wilson, James 
 Warren, Roger VTetherall, and Thomas White. 
 
 From this list it will be re idily seen that though 
 we find here many of the Browns, Joneses, and 
 Robinsons of the metropolis, there was a consider- 
 able sprinkling of men high in position and autho- 
 rity who played important parts in the governing 
 clique, or who afterwards were destined as their 
 minions to er joy unenviable notoriety. This lodge 
 was afterwards divided into two ledges, and Mr. 
 John Claudius Beresford made Master of the second. 
 
 The Dublin lodge was no sooner founded than it 
 gathered together the most prominent members of 
 the noted Beresford clique, who now, meeting in 
 midnight conclave under the security of an oath of 
 secrecy, found a means by which their reign of 
 terror could be secured and prolonged. In the 
 
niSTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 95 
 
 course of a few mvinths various lodges were opened. 
 Through a dispensation of Providence, the wisdom 
 of which we dare not scrutinize, it generally 
 happens that wicked men are endowed with those 
 qualities which fit them for their wickedness. The 
 professional duellist has a quick eye ard a dexter- 
 ous hand making death sure and sudden to his 
 unfortunate victim ; the highwayman, an athletic 
 form and a vigorous constitution to face the mis- 
 chances of the road and overcome its hardships j 
 the burglar, an expert ness, activity, and daring that 
 laugh at bolts and barsj the pocketpicker, a 
 sleight-of-hand, with an instinct that scents alike 
 the presence of a purse and the proximity of a 
 policeman j the informer, a bloodless countenance, 
 which nature has forbidden to blush, a glib tongue 
 and a long memory ; and the selfish politic'an, a 
 knavish duplicity, which perplexes his contempo- 
 raries and not unfrequently convinces himself he is 
 the purest of patriots. Amongst the founders of 
 the first lodge in Dublin there were many men of 
 shrewdness and ability. They were in power, 
 and the main question was how to pro- 
 long it. At this time it must not be 
 
 overlooked the Orange Association had not any- 
 thing that could be termed a good tame. Not- 
 withstanding the labours of its friends in the Go- 
 vernment, and its representatives in both Houses 
 of Parliament, notwithstanding the unceasing 
 efforts of Mr. Pelham and Mr. Duigenan to dress 
 H up in a respectable appearance, the name of 
 Orangeman was damned before the country ; nor 
 could its apologists succeed before the eloquent 
 denunciation . of Grattan, the plain matter-of-fact 
 reasoning of Parsons, the unlooked for admissions 
 of General Craddock, and the annihilating testi- 
 mony of Lord Gosford, in whitewashing it in the 
 eyes of humanity. The early efforts of the Dublin 
 brethren were then directed towards making a re- 
 spectable appearance before the country. The ad- 
 vantages which politicians derive from the assump- 
 tion of a virtue readily enable men in public life to 
 dispense with that self-congratutatory reflection 
 which first rewards the possession of it. By the 
 people the Orange Society was held in abhorrance. 
 *rhey resented the Orangeman’s proscription 
 of above four millions of their fellow-subjects as 
 objects of distrust and enmity. They retained a 
 lively sense of the atrocities of Armagh. They 
 knew them sworn to secrecy, and were convinced 
 of their oath of extermination. They were in- 
 dignant at the aggravated provocation of Gevern- 
 * Plowden’s Ton Years’ History, vol, i., p. 76, 
 
 ment encouraging them to assume the tone and 
 function of aff ording protection to the great popula- 
 tion of the country, whom they swore to exclude 
 from their societies a? unworthy to unite 
 with them in their boasted lojaUy— men to whom 
 they, with peculiar inconsistency, proffered protec- 
 tion while designating and excluding them as 
 rebels. Sensib’e of the popular impression, and 
 staunch to tbeir original spirit of deceit, five of 
 the leading memlers of the Orange Society put 
 forth in the newspapers of 1797 a solemn manifesto 
 of their order, by way of an address to the public, 
 disclaiming the imputations of their enemies and 
 speaking language of refined loyalty : — 
 
 “TO THE LOYAL SUBJECTS OF IRELAND. 
 
 “From the vaiious attempts that have been 
 made to poison the public mind, and slander those 
 who have hai the spirit to adhere to their King 
 and Constitution, and to maintain the law — We, 
 the Protestants of Dublin, assuming the name of 
 Orangemen, feel ourselves called upon not to vin- 
 dicate our principles, for we know that our honaur 
 and loyalty bid dtfi.ince to the shafts of male- 
 volence and disaffection, but chiefly to avow those 
 principles, and declare to the world the objects of 
 our institution. 
 
 “We have long observed with indignation the 
 efforts that have been made to foment rebellion in 
 this kingdom by the seditious, who have formed 
 themselves into societies under the spacious name 
 of Ufiited Irishmen. We have seen with pain the 
 lower orders of our fellow- subjects forced or seduced 
 from their allegiance by the threats and machi- 
 nations of Traitors. And we have viewed with 
 horror the successful exertions of miscreants to en- 
 courage a foreign enemy to invade this happy land, 
 in hope of rising into consequence on the downfall 
 of their country. 
 
 “We therefore thought it high time to rally 
 round the Constitution, and there pledge ourselves 
 to each other, to maintain the laws and support 
 our good King against all his enemies, whether 
 rebels to their God or to their country ; and by so 
 doing, show to the world that there is a body of 
 men in this island, who are ready in the hour of 
 danger, to stand forward in defence of that grand 
 paladium of our liberties, the Constitution of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, obtained and established by 
 our ancestors, under the great King William. 
 
 “ Fellow-subjects, we are accused of being an in- 
 stitution founded on principles too shocking to re- 
 peat, and bound together byoaths at which humanity 
 would shudder ; but we caution you not to be led 
 
93 
 
 niSTOHT or OEANGEISM. 
 
 awaybysuch malevolent falsehoods. Forwesolemnly 
 assure you, in the presence of Almighty^ God, 
 that the idea of injuring any one on account of his 
 religious opinions, never entered our hearts. We 
 regard every loyal subject as our friend, be his reli- 
 gion what it may ] we have no enmity, but to the 
 enemies of our country. 
 
 “We further declare, that we are ready, at all 
 limes, to submit ourselves to the orders of those in 
 authority under his Majesty; and that we will 
 cheerfully undertake ary duty which they shall 
 think proper to point out to us, in case either a 
 foreign enemy shall dare to invade our coasts, or 
 that a domestic foe shall presume to raise the 
 standard of rebellion in the land. To these princi- 
 ples we are pledged, and in support of them we are 
 ready to shed the last drop of our blood.” 
 
 “ Signed by order of the several 
 lodges in Dublin for selves and 
 other Masters. 
 
 “Thomas Verver. 
 
 “ Edward Ball. 
 
 “ John Claudius Beresiord. 
 
 “William Jones. 
 
 “Isaac De Joucourt.” 
 
 This spacious address, Plowden says, tended to 
 irritate the great body of the people proscribed 
 from the society. It certainly was a discovery of 
 which the world had not previously heard that the 
 English Constitution, which has been justly said 
 to have “broadened down by slow degrees from 
 precedent to precedent,” was obtained by those of 
 our ancestors who lived under William. In a de- 
 base in the Commons which followed shortly after, 
 this address was referred to by Dr. Duigenin as 
 “ breathing nothing but loyalty,” an expression 
 which, if it ended there, would have been nothing 
 but the truth. But he was tempted further. It 
 showed, he said, a desire to “ protect” all 
 dcbcriptions of persons that should be- 
 have themselves in a neighbourly and peaceable 
 manner, as well Catholics os others. He 
 wondered that, any charge should be made against 
 Orangemen in that debate, “particularly as what- 
 ever excesses might formerly have been committed 
 by them, and which certainly could not be justified, 
 however they might be extenuated, by a spirit of 
 loyalty from which they sprung, were now at an 
 end.” Mr. Pelham, in the same debate, said that 
 “ with respect to the Orangemen and Defenders 
 whom an honourable gentleman bad in the inad- 
 vertence of debate called rebels, he did not, for his 
 part, think that either description of these men 
 
 deserved the epithet.” If the Defenders were not 
 rebels how could that persecution which Dr. 
 Duigenai admitted, hut extenuated, spring from 
 a spirit of loyalty ? If, ia Armagh, the Orange- 
 men persecuted those who were not rebels, was 
 t unreasonable for the people of the South to re- 
 ceive with suspicion the specious offer of protection 
 which they now made. Such protection the wolf 
 gives the lamo. This address was issued in the 
 at ter end of 1797 Mr. Plowden says j in 1798, says 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Verner, but from a pamphlet 
 — “ The defence of Orangemen,” — containing a 
 number of those productions, this one is gi\eii first 
 pi c and immediately precedes “ a declaration of 
 the loyal inhabitants of Dloter, styling themselves 
 Orangemen,” of February 15th, 1798, so that it 
 likely saw the light in the latter part of *97, or 
 very early in the following year as the subsequent 
 addresses follow in order of time. 
 
 Dublin having been so far thoroughly organised 
 the association, pushed further South. In the neigh- 
 bourhood of Wickliw they found a large class of 
 landed proprietors who hid ever been foremost in 
 opposition to Catholic claims. The question of 
 tithes was then regarded by the peasantry as a 
 great injustice, and now, examined by the light of 
 a broadening spirit of toleration, there are few who 
 wouli venture to deny that, peasants though they 
 were, they had a fairer sense of justice than the 
 educated classes, and lived three-quarters of a 
 century before their time, In Wicklow this agita- 
 tion was deep-seated, aiid was a sure precursor of 
 any association that had as its result the fostering 
 of enmity between classes. While the landlords 
 favoured the introdu :tion of the Orange system, and 
 furthered it in every way, the pegsantry, little dis- 
 posed towards constitutional agitation at a time wL e a 
 conditional loyalty was practised by heads of Go- 
 vernment, soon followedthe exampleof thoir betters. 
 They went over to the United Irish Society, out- 
 raged as they were by the military then quartered 
 amongst them. So towards the close of 1797 we 
 find in all those counties embraced between Wick- 
 low and Derry a complete network of Orangeism, 
 prompted by one common object — the extermina, 
 tion of Catholicism, euphoniously styled “Proies- 
 tant ascendancy.” 
 
 During all this time County Wexford was in 
 comparative peace. It is true that its population 
 had, as in the aJ joining County of Wicklow, been 
 stirred into discontent by the unhappy legislative 
 enactments of a few years previous — enactments 
 which still remained on the statute-book ; that the 
 
HISTOET OE OEANaEISM. 
 
 97 
 
 determined opposition -wiiicli its landed gentry 
 gave to every measure of reform made more galKng 
 the condition of servitude in which a community, 
 almost universally Catholic, was placed, and that 
 circumstances, in spite of which a thrifty and in- 
 telligent people became comfortable if not opulent, 
 tended to aggravate their feelings in so far as they 
 made them more sensitive to inferiority, more 
 qualified to detect, and more capable to resent in» 
 justice. Here the t.the agitation found determined 
 adherents. The Catholic clergymen of the dis- 
 trict are accused by some historians of having 
 advised this opposition, but whether in justice or 
 not it would be difficult to say, for we have no 
 proofs save the assertion of authors not altogether 
 unprejudiced upon such points. At all events, if 
 we would judge such advice by the spirit of our 
 own time, the general verdict would be that how- 
 ever illegal it might have been, it was neither 
 opposed to justice or humanity. The fact that the 
 weekly gatherings at chapel in country dis„ 
 tricts was taken advantage of in some cases 
 for administering oaths against tithes is likely 
 to have given rise to the supposition — a suppo- 
 sition which, in the absence of further evidence 
 would be wholly unfounded. Though this agita- 
 tion gave rise to some tumultuous assemblies, the 
 condition of the country was peaceful and law. 
 abiding. That the United Irish system had not 
 spread into this country to any appreciable extent 
 is admitted upon all sides ; that the inhabitants 
 had to endure all the hardships and indignities 
 that incipient rebellion could scarce tolerate, is 
 equally undeniable. The petty magistrates of the 
 country, who in most instances reaped the 
 benefits of the abominable tithe system, received 
 with exultation their increased powers which the 
 spirit of the law had intended for other counties. 
 These powers they exercised with cruel vindictive- 
 ness.* The system of accusation and espionage 
 necessarily admitted, but not sufficiently limited 
 by Government, made ample room for the exercise 
 of private malice and malignancy of disposition. 
 Magistrates and military officers were empowered 
 to receive information, but keep the names of the 
 informers profoundly secret, and to proceed against 
 the accused according to their own discretion. Mr. 
 Gordon, a benevolent clergyman, profoundly confi- 
 dent of the honesty of human nature, says 
 that to suppose any magistrate should so abuse 
 his great trust as to feign information for the 
 indulgence of private spite would be invidious,*’ 
 
 but he admits that " some gentlemen vested with 
 these powers were led into most grievous errors 
 by false informers, whose names^ notwithstanding t 
 have never been divulged.’* The latter admission 
 would be sufficient with -men having more limited 
 confidence in their kind to show that the suppo 
 sition would be in no way invidious. At all events, 
 these measures gave ample grounds for suspicion 
 to a peasantry already disposed to scrutinise 
 closely, and possibly uncharitably, every act of 
 those in power. The trial of some men for con- 
 nection with the united system, and their convic- 
 tion upon the evidence of notorious informers of 
 the most degraded character, served the purposes 
 of the united men in this county, in so far as it 
 showed to a community that had hitherto kept 
 aloof from the movement how needful were the 
 measures of reform proposed. At the time these 
 men were being charged there was little proof to 
 support the arrogant assumption.* It would be 
 contrary to the truth to say that there were no 
 United Irishmen in the County Wexford, but from 
 every statement worthy of credit it appears that 
 their numbers were comparatively fewer in ♦’his 
 than in any county in Ireland, and such as were of 
 that description seemed to have been sworn in 
 privately in an undetached, unconnected way, 
 before the society had assumed the forms of a 
 regular organisation. 
 
 Whether intentional, by ** designing men,” or 
 simply the natural effect of the general alarm 
 which the Armagh atrocities occasioned in the 
 minds of the Catholic body, it is certain that 
 rumours of the most startling character were 
 spread abroad, to the effect that the Protestants 
 would rise in a body and massacre the Catholic in- 
 habitants ; Plowden says that reports of this nature 
 were spread by some United Irishmen in Wicklow, 
 and gave the character of a religious war to the 
 contest in that district; so that if it weie done in 
 one county, it may be presumed to have been done 
 in another. Judging events as we are now able to 
 do, with the light of three-quarters of a century, 
 to read them by, the probable conclusion, and 
 likely the right one will be, that rumours of this 
 kind were spread by some incautious local leaders 
 (for the Dublin leaders were then seeking to 
 restrain their country associates), but that in 
 general the terror caused amongst the inhabitants 
 of Wexford, and the subsequent evacuation of 
 their houses, arose from the widespread fear which 
 atrocities and house-burnings elsewhere had oc- 
 
 Eev. Mr. Gordon’s History, vol. ii., p. 360. 
 
 X 
 
 Hay’s History of the Eehellion in Wexford. 
 
98 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 casioned. That the fear of Orangemen riding 
 knee-deep, or where it was possible saddle-deep, 
 in Papist blood was grounded upon extreme pro- 
 bability, is best judged from the subsequent per- 
 fecution. That persecution having followed as a 
 consequence upon the introduction of the Orange 
 system, it is reasonable to conclude that the dread 
 of it was caused not by any deep-seated conspiracy 
 to excite the minds of the Catholics, but by the 
 natural effects of its intolerance upon a people who 
 had little to hope for in the way of protection from 
 the governing classes. That they did 
 quit their houses is established upon all 
 sides. As this movement must have created 
 a corresponding alarm amongst the Protestants 
 the natural current of events was so fashioned as 
 to prepare in the county the way for Orangeism. 
 When it did enter, no county in Ireland, particularly 
 during the brief period of the rebellion, but in a 
 lesser degree, for many long years after, ex- 
 perienced — as the County Wexford did — the in- 
 tensity of Oiange cruelty, or so deeply drained the 
 dregs of Orange despotism. 
 
 It was not until the beginning of April, 1798, 
 that the Orange system made any appearance in 
 the County Wexford. It was introduced by the 
 North Cork Militia (commanded by Lord Kings- 
 borough), in which regiment there was a large 
 number of Orangemen, who were zealous in the 
 making of proselytes. In their public parade they 
 displayed Orange decorations upon their bosoms, 
 and flaunted their colours and emblems tauntingly 
 in the face of the inhabitants. Hay says that pre- 
 vious to this period there were few actual Orange- 
 men in the county, but soon after all those whose 
 opinions were inclined that way, finding themselves 
 supoorted by the military, joined the associalion, 
 and publicly avowed themselves by assuming the 
 devices of the fraternity. Orangeism soon after 
 became prevalent throughout the county, and was 
 strengthened by the accession of almost every Pro- 
 testant in it. This, Seiys Hay, was forwarded by 
 the received prejudice that no man could be loyal 
 who was not an Orangeman. Dr. Jacob, a captain 
 of a yeomanry corps, did not at first deem 
 Orangeism an essential to loyalty, and refused to 
 become a member, but he was soon induced to alter 
 his opinion. By a resolution entered into by the 
 majority of his corps — that they would resign if he 
 did not join the Association — they absolutely com- 
 pelled the captain to take the oath, thus affording 
 an instance of how readily their exuberant loyalty 
 ceuld be turned aside at a most critical period. 
 The Association became at length so general and 
 indiscriminate that their members could by no 
 means be considered capable of constituting a 
 select assembly. Multitudes of them were of the 
 lowest, and most uninformed vulgar, and, of 
 course, subject to the weakest passions, prejudices. 
 
 and frailties of human nature.’* By similar means 
 the Association was carried further southwards, 
 and was productive of the same unhappy conse- 
 quences. We now find the whole of Ireland 
 covered with conspiracy, comprised of two 
 secret societies, whom the intriguing of Govern- 
 ment had placed at deadly enmity. One the chila 
 of reform and advanced thought, but of whom a 
 system of cruelty had made a rebel ; the other the 
 outcome of monopoly, which immunity had 
 fashioned into an absolute tyrant j the 
 United Irish embarked in that desperate game 
 in which, all the odds being against them, 
 few men engage without some desperate cause j 
 the Orangemen resolved to resist them, and to 
 maintain their monopoly, full of that fierce deter- 
 mination which the tiger can command when s me- 
 thing unforeseen imperils his plunder, deluded by 
 self-interest into a belief of the righteousness of 
 their cause, convinced by guilty Government 
 patronage that they were loyalists, determined to 
 suspect all who were not Orangemen, and to treat 
 as rebels all who were Papists. 
 
 That .some prominent members of the society at 
 this time were actuated by more liberal principles 
 it is my pleasure to acknowledge.* In the worst 
 conspiracies that selfishness or passion has called 
 into existence, we do find men to whom we can 
 point with satisfaction, not as proof of the blessings 
 of such associations, but as solitary examples of 
 generous natures rising superior to their contami- 
 nating influence, making more marked the lines 
 which divide them from their criminal associates, 
 and by contrast rendering more revolting the per- 
 nicious principles which neither their presence nor 
 example was capable to control. 
 
 * On tlie 15th February, 1798, the Oranjremen of Ulster 
 presented Lord Can den with an address of loyalty, “ signed 
 by several thousand loyal inhabitants," in which 
 we find the following : — “ We have no doubt of the sincerity 
 of such declarations, and that the Catholics of I'-eland, 
 sensible of the benefits they enjoy, will not suffer themselves to 
 he made the dupes of wicked and designing men for the most 
 diabolical pui poses, and we flatter ourselves that such decla- 
 rations will he embraced, and have the happiest effects in 
 other parts of this kingdom. Such conduct mus be accept- 
 able in the eyes of God and man. We declare most solemnly 
 that we are not enemies to any body of people on ; ccount of 
 their religion, their faith, or their mode of worship. We 
 consider every peaceable and loyal man our brother, and they 
 (sic.) shall have our aid and protection.” Their practices 
 having been at all times contrary to their professions, we 
 must regard, if not with suspicion, at least with credulity, all 
 documents of such a nature that issued from the Orange 
 body. While we must contemplate with pity tlis disposition 
 of those arrogant men who could at that time speak of 
 Catholics being sensible of benefits, it is only by the most 
 overwhelminsr testimony we could be driven to the sad con- 
 clusion that all were alike concerned in making professions 
 which they d d not believe, for the rendeidng of their power 
 more effective. The more generous, and possibly the more 
 rational construction is, that some few were sincere in their 
 decliratious, while the general body little inclined to he 
 bound by trammels that would disarm their vind c'iveness, 
 regarded them as so mu h wa^te paper. And it is also likely 
 that intolerance was so inevitably the consequence of an ex- 
 clusively Protestant conspiiacy in Irekind that no amount of 
 good intentions on the part of a few men could divert it from 
 its allotted end. Such views alone would reconcile the above 
 declarations with the persecution of Catholics in subsequent 
 years, and with the malignant hatred and barbarous cruelty 
 (the former cherished where the latter was imi>os«ible) that 
 ever characterised the Orange Association, handed down as 
 they have been an inheritance to all succeeding generations 
 of Orangemen, 
 
HISTOET OF OEANOETSM. 
 
 99 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. — EXPLODING THE REBELLION. 
 
 There is no class, save one, who would dispute 
 that the rebellion of 1798 was “ exploded” by un- 
 necessary and unrelenting cruelty. That class is 
 the Orangemen of the present day. Their opinions 
 — considering the utter ignorance of the great ma- 
 jority of all things relating to Irish history, and 
 also the light in whicn early prejudices have taught 
 them to read it — are indeed of little moment. 
 English statesmen have learned, and are by modern 
 legislation continuing to acknowledge, that Ireland 
 has been treated with shocking injustice by the go- 
 verning monopolists. And there are men who, judg- 
 ing from the beneficent enactments of late years, 
 would be inclined to say that had it suited the pur- 
 poses of Administration a few wise concessions 
 granted even on the eve of that unfortunate ex- 
 plosion would have saved an immensity of blood, 
 and the blackest record of cruelty which man, when 
 before his Maker, will ever have to account 
 for. A little conciliation, and the reformers of 
 ’92 would have been the Oppositionists of ’95, and 
 might have been directors of an Administration in 
 1798. At this time but two alternatives remained 
 to Government. By concession they might have 
 made loyalists of the malcontents ; by persecution 
 they could have made rebels. They chose the 
 latter, and while those who, seeing in the union be- 
 tween the two countries much commercial advant- 
 age, may not question the wisdom of the selection, 
 all must agree in questioning its humanity. From 
 end to end of the island we find practiced the most 
 inhuman barbarity ; tales of outrage and untold 
 crime which, if they came to the ears of the civilised 
 English multitude of to-day, would arouse the 
 indignation, and call aloud for the sympathies of 
 all. That there were cruelties upon the side of the 
 rebels no one dares deny. But the apologists of 
 the English occupation have fallen into the very 
 grave mistake when dealing with them of entirely 
 ‘ ignoring the fact that the greatest and most 
 wanton outrages were committed by the Orange- 
 men and soldiery previous to the rebellion, and for 
 the purpose of exploding the rebellion ; while the 
 outrages upon the other side were committed 
 during the rebellion and were but the natural 
 results of an ignorant and desperate multitude in 
 arms. Macaulay has said, I think in his essay upon 
 Machiavelli, that it is an established principle, and 
 one, in his experience, without an exception, that 
 
 the violence of a revolution is always equal to the 
 injustice which has created it. If we judged the 
 rebels upon this principle they would be in no 
 measure accountable for their acts, and might be 
 considered but rude, implements of chastisement in 
 the hands of an offended Providence. 
 
 There is no blacker page in Irish history than that ' 
 which details the multiplied horrors of the few 
 months that preceded the rebellion of ’98. Bloody 
 persecutions we have had in plenty, but none so de- 
 grading as this. When that Deputy of Munster, 
 obedient to Queen Elizabeth, put the suspected 
 Irish to the rack, and to terture when he found it 
 convenient,” he was putting in practice political 
 principles prevailing in England 300 years ago^ 
 When, under the milder reigns of a few subsequent 
 generations, Ireland again was quivering beneath 
 the lash, there was one consolation still remaining 
 to her in her sufferings — the torture was alone in- 
 flicted by her conquerors. But ’98 came, and brought 
 with it all the accumulated horrors of previous 
 persecutions with none of their consolations,making 
 it at once the darkest and most degrading epoch 
 in our sad calendar. Now the torture was multi- 
 plied ten fold, but worse still the instruments were 
 prepared by those of our kindred and our country ; 
 the lash was applied with redoubled vigour, but it 
 was wielded by the strong and willing arms of 
 fellow-countrymen, while familiar voices in shrieks 
 of savage laughter aggravated the pain a thousand 
 fold. The pitch-cap, inhuman at any time, was 
 made more galling by the recollection that it was 
 an Irishman invented it, or rather borrowed the 
 invention from the devil, and that the hands of 
 neighbours formed, fashioned, and applied it to the 
 head of unfortunate victims. Et tu Brute. The 
 Orangemen were the executioners of these days. 
 Wherever an Irishman — take the presumptions 
 against him and call him a rebel if you will — was 
 to be placed in the rack, whether by half -hanging, 
 picketing, or “ crucifying,” an Orangeman was not 
 wanting to put into practice those ingeriious and 
 barbarous contrivances that shocked the humanity 
 of the English soldiery. If there is anything which 
 makes this consideration more saddening it is that 
 I speak upon authority which permits of no other 
 conclusion; which leaves no room for rational doubt. 
 Cruel as the English soldiery were, they were not 
 much more so than, as a rule, soldiers of fortune 
 
100 
 
 HTSTOET or OEANGEISM. 
 
 are in a conquered land, and even in their wildest 
 freaks of passion and drunken debauchery we find 
 revealed occasionally traits of a better humanity. 
 But the Orangemen exhibited no such weakness. 
 Theirs was a double game — extermination as well 
 as plunder. They came to the persecution with 
 more freshness because they carefully avoided the 
 dangers of the field. The Orangemen were the 
 walking gibbets of those days, the mutilators of 
 the honoured dead, the ravishers of female chastity, 
 the dread enemies of women and of children — in 
 the absence of their natural protectors — and the 
 willing instruments of torture for making rebels of 
 an entire people. It would be a most surprising 
 feature in the consideration of these events if the 
 brethren of the present day were not, in this re" 
 spect at least, convinced of the iniquity of their 
 ancestors. 
 
 The acknowledgment of error being at all times 
 disagreeable, it would be unnatural to expect that 
 the admission of guilt would come more easily. 
 The public are, therefore, wise in concluding that 
 the silence which' prevails amongst them is prima 
 facie evidence of admission, and in construing the 
 occasional protests of platform orators more as an 
 effort to catch the crowd than to convince the 
 reasoning. And still it does seem stiange that in- 
 telligent men should at the present day, for such a 
 purpose, or for any purpose, seek to divert history 
 to other ends than that for which it is intended. 
 The object of these crators*»reverned and other- 
 wise — is apparent, and the more to be regretted be- 
 cause it will partially succeed with a confident, and 
 unhappily an unlettered, people. And yet this can 
 be only effected by the suppression of the fact that 
 history is bristling upon all sides with proofs of 
 Orange atrocities. I do not now speak of the 
 bloody deeds done during the rebellion, but of those 
 enacted previous to it, and of which the rebellion 
 was but a consequence. 
 
 AU those who have written upon the subject 
 admit — because they dare not deny — that the 
 Eebellion was hastened, if not actually caused, by 
 the cruelty of the Orange Yoemanry. Hay, Plow- 
 den, Gordon, Barrington, Sampson, and Madden 
 are at one upon the subject ; the newspapers of the 
 time are teeming with horrible details of nameless 
 outrages and unheard-of crimes ; and the records 
 of Parliament and reports of trials of subsequent 
 years amply corroborate them. Too often the tor- 
 turing seems to have been indulged in for torture’s 
 sake j the scourging, the half -hanging, the mutila- 
 tion appear to have been often inflicted to afford 
 
 amusement to the merry crowd of drunken yoemen 
 who laughed at the groans of an unoffending fel 
 low-creature ; too often the pitch-cap was applied 
 for no better reason than to see how the victim 
 would conduct himself under the pangs of this 
 newly-invented and heUish mode of torture. A 
 ready pretext was found for these proceedings — 
 the victim would not confess — and seeing that this 
 was a condition that could as easily belong to a 
 loyalist as to a rebel, if there were nothing to con- 
 fess, the pretext was of the greatest convenience, 
 and applied under every possible circumstance. 
 That it was taken advantage of largely is evident 
 from the shocking disclosures that came out upon 
 the trial of Wright against the celebrated 
 Thomas Judkin Fitzgerald, High Sheriff of 
 Tipperary. Fitzgerald’s inhuman and unjustifiable 
 conduct became subsequently the subject of dis- 
 cussion in Parliament, where he was vigorously 
 censured, John Claudius Beresford defended the 
 High Sheriff’s conduct. There is reason to suspect 
 that the defence by this notorious Orange leader 
 was prompted by selfish motives, as well as by 
 brotherly love. If Judkin Fitzgerald, for his half- 
 hangings and scourgings, did not receive the pro- 
 tection of indemnity, where would end the respon- 
 sibilities of this scourger-in-chief of theMarlborcugh 
 Riding School, this director of that infamous pack 
 of exterminators who swarmed the metropolis 
 during that period ? It is not the intention to 
 disgust my readers and weary myself by giving a 
 detailed chronicle of the cruelties perpetrated by 
 the Orange Yoemen, and which brought about the 
 rebellion of 1798. I confess I did at one time 
 intend it. I thought it would indeed be a gratifi- 
 cation and a public benefit to silence those mouth- 
 ing demagogues who seek to justify their 
 intolerance by a reference to those times. But 
 these men are playing too deeply laid a scheme to 
 justify our considering them fools. As they are 
 not fools, they can read history as well as others. If 
 they can now command the effrontery to ignore the 
 overwhelming evidence spread widely through the 
 writings of the period, and contributed to by many 
 authors of their own way of thinking, bigotry 
 would still furnish an excuse, or villiany a justifi- 
 cation to overlook any accumulations of such proofs 
 that I could offer in these pages. One of the most 
 silly and laughable replies to these charges of 
 atrocity on the part of the Orange Yoemen was 
 made by an Orange witness before the Committee 
 of Inquiry in 1835 — that the United Men dressed 
 themselves in the garb of Yoemen and committed 
 
HISTOET OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 101 
 
 the outrages. It is an important admission coming 
 from such a quarter that outrages were committed 
 at all. Whether it is a reasonable explanation of 
 them I leave my readers to judge. It was also 
 stated before that Commission that many of the 
 United Men became Orangemen previous to the 
 rebellion, this being, af course, meant to indicate 
 the extraordinary benefits the institution conferred 
 upon the State. Any such must have first been 
 perjurers, for the terms of the oath bound them to 
 swear — *‘I am not and never was a United Irish- 
 man.” 
 
 That the atrocities were knowingly permitted 
 and connived at by the Administration is evident. 
 They could not plead ignorance of it. General 
 Abercrombie put them in possession of the facts in 
 one brief sentence — The very disgraceful fre- 
 quency of court-martials and the many complaints 
 of irregularities in the conduct of troops in this 
 kingdom having too unfortunately proved the army 
 to be in a state of licentiousness which must render 
 it formidable to every one but the enemy, &c.” 
 This commander resigned in a few short 
 months because he would not be allowed to curb 
 the inhuman practices that prevailed.* But 
 there are still remaining even more substantial 
 proofs that Government connived at this system in 
 order to explode the rebellion and disconcert its 
 leaders. The Northern Star having been sup- 
 pressed — for in the North the Governm ant’s work 
 was now done — the prospectus of The Press was 
 published in Dublin on Thursday, the 28th Sept., 
 1797. In its very first issue it bristled with 
 sedition, and all its subsequent issues were such 
 as to afford secret gratification to a Government 
 that sought to excite the people to rebellion. With 
 the best intentions, its contributors told plain truths 
 and sought for no mild language in conveying 
 them. Even Tom Moore, then a young student of 
 Trinity, did not hesitate to contribute secretly an 
 address to his fellow-students urging them to join 
 in a rebellion in which, if not unwilling, he was at 
 
 * See the general orders Of February 26th, 1798, to be 
 found in extenso in Pl-wden’s Appendix, or a summary of 
 which can be seen at the end of Madden’s series. Writing in 
 the Edinburgh Review upon Sir John Moore’s services at this 
 time in Ireland, Major-General William Napier says, “ What 
 manner of soldiers were then let loose upon the wretched 
 districts which the ascendency-men (the Orangemen) were 
 blessed to call disaffected? They were men, to use the 
 Venerable Abercrombie’s words,' who were ‘formidable to 
 every body but the enemy.’ We ourselves were young at that 
 time; yet being connected with the army, we were con- 
 tinually amongst the soldiers, Listening with boyish eagerness 
 to their conversation— and we will remember, aud with horror, 
 to this day, the tales of lust and blood and jsillage— the record 
 of their own actions against the miserable peasantry which 
 they used to relate,’* 
 
 least unable to take part as well from his youth as 
 from his natural effeminacy of character. For six 
 months this publication was allowed beneath the 
 shadow of Dublin Castle to disclose the most hor- 
 rible crimes, to beard the perpetrators of them, the 
 Orangemen, and dare them to a denial which never 
 came, and to urge the people to prepare for armed 
 resistance since they fouud no other protection but 
 in the rifle and the sword. When the people had 
 prepared it was then suppressed by Orangemen 
 under Mr. Maxwell, an Orange leader, and the 
 insurrection burst forth in all its venom. On 
 Saturday the 25th November, 1798 (No. 26) The 
 Press published the following, which as an interest- 
 ing record I venture to transfer into these pages 
 
 ORANGEMEN «. UNITED IRISHMEN. 
 
 At a moment when the rulers of this country 
 profess loudly to hold no wish amidst the struggle 
 of parties, but the preservation of peace and good 
 order, and the maintenance of the laws j at a time 
 they would impress on Ireland aud the world, a 
 belief that they side with no class of partisans j that 
 they hold all in equal abhorrence ; that the de- 
 nominations of United Irishmen and Orangemen, are 
 to them equally obnoxious j that the cruel and 
 sanguinary expulsion of the Northern Catholics 
 from their peaceful industry, and humble lots, had 
 not their sanction ; at a time when every man who 
 ventures to’ profess a wish that Ireland was United 
 against every foreign or domestic influence 
 inimical to prosperity, is harrassed by prosecution 
 and persecution j but even in his own dwelhng, his 
 house and property burned about his ears, his wife 
 and daughters violated, and himself and his sons 
 hanged, shot, or hunted through the country like 
 beasts of prey — will it be belie red that in the 
 narrow vicinage of a Northern village, Lisbnrn, 
 no less than fourteen societies of illegal associa- 
 tors under the denomination of Orangemen, and 
 numbered from 138 to 354, which proves that so 
 many other societies of the same kind exist, avow 
 themselves in a public advertisement, which ap- 
 peared in the Evening Post of Thursday, publicly 
 addressing a Mr. Johnson as their chairman, and 
 publishing their resolutions, publicly entered into ' 
 at a meeting held on the Sabbath Day, at the parish 
 church of Derryaghy, 
 
 The world are no strangers to the oath of the 
 Orangemen, any more than to that of the United 
 Irishmen, They have been publicly contrasted in 
 this paper, that the world might fairly judge of 
 their comparative deserts or demerits — and the 
 world has seen that the former is an oath of 
 
 Y 
 
102 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 intolerance, bigotry, patricide, persecution, civil 
 warfare, and extermination to tbeir Catholic fellow 
 subjects. 
 
 ''The other — % solemn vow of unity, peace, 
 charity, and Christian tolerance with all sects, in 
 the common prosperity of their country. 
 
 " If oaths then be the tests of principle, let the 
 world jndge between the two parties — 
 and if impartiality, peace and national prosperity, 
 be the professed wish of the ruling powers, let the 
 world judge of their sincerity, when Orangemen, 
 openly and avowedly professing and practising 
 their principles — are not only unmolested, but 
 cherished and caressed ; while the very suspicion 
 of a connection on the other side is tantamount to 
 felony of death. Nay, the Orange party go so far 
 as to assemble by thousands, in arms by day and 
 by night, with Orange ribbons at their breast , and 
 cockades of the same colour ; while a green ribbon> 
 or a green handkerchief even accidentally worn, 
 being suspected as an emblem of affection to Ire- 
 land — subjects a man to imprisonment— transpor- 
 tation — the rope or the bayonet — and exposes 
 women to the brutal insults of the common soldiery. 
 
 Such things, however, cannot be deemed new in 
 a country where &o much pains have been taken by 
 the English party to deter, or erase every symptom 
 of the amor ^atrioe, from the bosoms of the inhabi- 
 tants. The modern sham of tolerance to the 
 antient religion, and revival to ancient prosperity 
 of Ireland, backshaded as it is by .the persecution 
 of fire and sword — cannot erase from the minds of 
 the insulted Irish, the memory of those laws here- 
 tofore passed to destroy their religion, to annihilate 
 the language of their country, and blot out for ever 
 the family names of their ancestors ; noi can they 
 be unmindful that such is the ruling system now 
 received under different forms. 
 
 " Facts are too palpable to be veiled in the 
 flimsy texture of pretence — those that run may 
 read — and the people of Ireland are not such dolts 
 as to mistake the evidence of their senses. 
 
 " If military generals were legally considered as 
 gaolers, gaols would be ambulatory j as every flying 
 camp would become a prison, with the’assistance of 
 summary proceedings, and a few walking gallows's, 
 the commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, would 
 have little business to transact on circuit.” 
 
 If we had not the evidence of Lord Gosford to 
 show that the Rebellion became a religious war by 
 reason of the outrages of the Orangemen we have 
 indicating it a plentiful supply of facts, precisely 
 stated, and vouched for over the names and ad- 
 
 dresses of the writers, showing how fermented 
 was the public mind -in consequence. On the 23rd 
 of January, 1793, the Press published an able letter 
 over the signature of Vincent. It was addressed 
 to the Orangemen of Ireland and expressed con- 
 cern at the horrible idea entertained by them of 
 exterminating the Catholics of Ireland— sorrow that 
 the Protestants, Presbyterians, and Catholics of 
 Ireland had not been melted down into one great 
 and indissoluble mass of Irishmen — and called upon 
 them to forsake their cruel practices and unite 
 with their fellow-countrymen in a peaceful agita- 
 tion for reform. Scarce a page of this paper you 
 turn over but discloses some new act of Orange in- 
 humanity and some direct charge of perfidy against 
 the Administration. That it was tolerated as a 
 means for exploding the Rebellion is evident from 
 the statement of Thomas Addis Emmet before the 
 Secret Committee — “ I know we were very atten- 
 tively watched ; but I thought they were right in 
 letting us proceed.” Two direct and powerful in- 
 fluences we therefore find urging the people for- 
 ward to the awful brink of insurrection — before 
 the tempting hopes held out by the reformers ; 
 behind the advancing bayonets of Ascendancy. 
 
 The chosen instruments of torture — cruel, bar- 
 barous, and unrelenting — these Orange yeomen 
 prosecuted their bloody task with a vindictiveness 
 that all but brutalised our kind, that left an indel- 
 ible stain upon our character as a nation, and in- 
 flicted a vvound upon the great majority of the 
 population, the degrading scar of which even 
 centuries will not be able to remove. Yet to 
 Orangemen of tne present day " the gallant Orange 
 yeomanry who fought in Ninety-eight” are upheld 
 in rude poetry and in ruder prose as patterns of all 
 that is good, and loyal, and just, and generous in 
 humanity — as fitting models to men who, fortu- 
 nately, can imitate their example only in so far as 
 the principles and the conspiracy they inherit from 
 them prompt them so to do. They are as profoundly 
 ignorant of the deeds as they are unconscious of the 
 infamy of their ancestors. 
 
 As a fair specimen of the poetry I allude to, the 
 following (sung at Orange boards after the 
 mysteries of the lodge have been disclosed) may be 
 taken as a fair specimen — that it is authentic is 
 best shown from the fact that it is from a volume 
 of Orange poetry published in the interests of the 
 Grand Treasurer of Ireland, and edited by our pre- 
 senc distinguished Inspector of Fisheries, William 
 Johnston, M.A,, of Ballykilbeg 
 
HISTOET OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 103 
 
 THE OEANGE YEOMANET OF ’98. 
 
 Air — Partant Pour La SyrieP 
 
 I AM an humble Orangeman— 
 
 My father he was one ; 
 
 The mantle which the sire once wore 
 Has fallen to the son : 
 
 He ranked with those who quelled their foes— 
 The foes of Church and State — 
 
 The gallant Orange Yeomanry 
 Who fought in Ninety-eight ! 
 
 The light which led their spirits on 
 O’er battle-field did shine. 
 
 Each breast was Freedom’s temple pure, 
 
 Each heart was Freedom’s shrine; 
 
 As sinks the day in glorious ray. 
 
 Some simk — and bright their fate. 
 
 The gallant Orange Yeomanry 
 Who fought in Ninety-eight ! 
 
 Behold the Orange peasant, or 
 The Orange artizan ; 
 
 Go view his home, observe his ways ; 
 
 You’ll find it is his plan. 
 
 Through woe or weal, with godly zeal. 
 
 True men to imitate — 
 
 The gallant Orange Yeomanry 
 Who fought in Ninety-eight ! 
 
 CHAPTEE 
 
 This is not a history of the rebellion. Its subject 
 — Crangeism— is so intimately interwoven with 
 all its surroundings, and was so prominently a 
 cause in promoting the rising, that a patient and 
 laborious effort was required to show in what light 
 Orangeism was connected with it. Having traced 
 its working to the fearful threshold of insurrec- 
 tion we will fofiov it no further in that 
 direction. Happily we can, with consistency, 
 pass over in silence this awful chapter 
 of horrors. In excuse for some of the French 
 Sevolutionists it has been urged by a noted writer 
 that the most peaceable and amiable citizens 
 know not what passions they possess until they 
 find themselves whirled amid the vortex of a great 
 revolution. When contending elements arouse the 
 passions of men in arms, particularly of men en- 
 gaged in civil warfare, to form an estimate of their 
 character would lead to an exaggerated opinion 
 which those of sense and moderation are ever 
 anxious to avoid. That it was a sanguinary war 
 between the Orangemen on the one side and the 
 United Irish and CathoUce on the other is but 
 
 To guard the faith which Luther preached— 
 The ri hts which William won. 
 
 The Orangeman relies upon 
 His Bible and his gun ; 
 
 He prays for peace, yet war will face. 
 
 Should rebels congregate ; 
 
 Like the brave Orange Yeomanry 
 Who fought in Ninety-eight. 
 
 Who fears to speak of ’98 ?’* 
 
 This was the silly note 
 Of one who was afraid to put , 
 
 His name to what he wrote; 
 
 He was afraid — they’re all afraid— 
 
 They know we’d gag their prate. 
 
 As did the Orange Yeomanry 
 Who fought in Ninety-eight ! 
 
 In peace, like watchful silent stars, 
 
 • Can Orangemen remain ; 
 
 In war, their energies are like 
 The surges of the main ; 
 
 And each true-hearted Orangeman 
 Would smile, though death await. 
 
 As did the Orange Yeomanry 
 Who fought in Ninety -eight ! 
 
 Little wonder that Orange outrages follow fast 
 upon Orange Lodge meetings, where such blas- 
 phemous productions, rendered more exciting by 
 deep potations, are permitted to arouse the re- 
 ligious frenzy of ignorant fanatics. 
 
 XIX.— 1798. 
 
 too apparent. Towards the close, and particu- 
 larly in the Counties Wicklow and Wexford, where 
 the Catholics were most numerous, it became a 
 war of extermination, for the outrages of the Orange 
 yeomanry were met with reprisals on the part of 
 the rebels, the one party ingenious in its modes of 
 extermination ; the other, if not as inventive, at 
 least as reckless in its species of retaliation. 
 “Among the loyalists,” says Gordon, “whoever 
 attempted to moderate the fury of his asso- 
 ciates, or prevent the commissions of .wanton 
 cruelties on defenceless prisoners or helpless 
 objects was generally browbeaten and silenced by 
 the cry of cropp]/.” And again “ to suppose that 
 the insurgents were all alike sanguinary or prone 
 to cruel deeds would be as little conformable to 
 truth as to probability. Many of even the lowest 
 were men of humanity ; but amid so wild an agita- 
 tion, so furious a commotion, the modest and feeble 
 voice of compassion was drowned by the loud and 
 arrogant clamour of destruction to enemies ; revenge 
 on the bloody Orange dogsP The same author 
 assures us that even some officers in the army were 
 
104 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 shy to restrain the sergeants and others under their 
 command from the commission of cruelties, lest 
 they should he charged with " croppy ism,” adding, 
 When this was the case under a regular Govern- 
 ment and established military discipline, what was 
 to be expected from tumultary bands of ignorant 
 peasantry suddenly starting into action without 
 order or subordination ?’* 
 
 We may close the account of the fearful 
 transactions of the rebellion. Nor can there be 
 a doubt upon which side the sacrifice is made. 
 The desperate and inhuman retaliation of Scul- 
 labogue and the blood spilled by an infuriated 
 mob upon Wexford Bridge may well be blotted 
 out before the savage massacre of the Enniscorthy 
 invalids, the conflagration of and slaughter 
 at Carlow — in the midst of which, Cox 
 says, an Orange trumpeter was seen parading with 
 a crucifix stuck upon his bayonet, crying behold 
 the wooden Jesus” — the cool, deliberate massacre 
 of Kilcomney, the slaughter at the Gibbet Gate 
 of Kildare, the dreadful havoc mad© by the An- 
 cient Britons in the Counties Wicklow and Wex- 
 ford. In one respect, which deserves to be re„ 
 corded, the rebels did not imitate the practices of 
 the yoemen and soldiery ; not an instance is to be 
 found, and Gordon himself admits it, where the 
 person of a female was violated. 
 
 Lord Camden was recalled, having executed the 
 work for which he was sent, and on the 20th of 
 June Lord Cornwallis made his entrance in the 
 capital, bringing with him hopes of a milder admi- 
 nistration. As the one had been sent to create a 
 rebellion the other was commissioned to allay it. 
 It would be tedious and scarcely in keeping with 
 the above intimation to detail the horrors which 
 followed in the course of a few months succeed- 
 ing the suppression of the rebellion. But there is 
 one incident of more than passing importance, 
 which, as it serves to illustrate the intimate con- 
 nection lasting to this day, between a certain noble 
 family and the Orangemen, deserves some atten- 
 tion. In the early part of October a circumstance 
 occurred of singular notoriety and importance to 
 the welfare of Ireland. The Earl of Enniskillen, 
 who ranked as a colonel in the army, had ever been 
 prominently zealous for the system of coercion and 
 severity. ** It is to be hoped,” says Plowden, that 
 few of his colleagues, associates, and co-operators 
 in those measures supported them by the same 
 infamous injustice and profligacy he notoriously 
 did. It is to be feared from the common cause 
 which most Orangemen made with this nobleman’s 
 
 disgrace and punishment that the sympathy of that 
 association with the noble lord’s disposition and 
 conduct was lamentably too general.” Lord Corn- 
 wallis was now in power. Disliked at first this 
 benevolent nobleman became after the incident I 
 am about to relate henceforward execrated by the 
 Orangemen. They villified him and lampooned 
 him wherever they found it possible, and attempted 
 to blacken his unstained character by the oppro- 
 brious application of ** Croppy Corny.” In fact 
 every evidence was afforded that the Orangemen 
 of those days were alone loyal to their own 
 nominees and to that Administration which per- 
 mitted them without question to carry out their 
 plundering intolerance. On the 13th of October, 
 1798, a court-martial, by order of Lieutenant- 
 General Craig, was held, at which an Orange 
 yoeman named Hugh Wollaghan, of Middle wood. 
 County Wicklow, was charged with having on the 
 1st October murdered Thomas Dogherty. The 
 circumstances of the murder, which will be found 
 disclosed in the following, were of peculiar atrocity. 
 The Presiient of the court martial held upon this 
 Orangeman was the Earl of Enniskillen, and the 
 other members of it Major Brown, Captain Onge, 
 Mr. Leslie, Fermanagh ; Capt. Irwin, Fermanagh ; 
 Captain Carter and Lieutenant Summers of the 
 68th. It is an instructive example given us of 
 what will inevitably be the result when an Orange- 
 man is put upon his trial before his brother Orange- 
 men. The prisoner, on being arraigned, pleaded 
 not guilty. Ic appeared from the testimony of 
 Mary Nulty, of Delgany, that the prisoner came 
 to her house and demanded *Tf there were any 
 bloody rebels there,” to which she replied that 
 there was no one in the house save a sick boy who 
 was then lying in bed. Woollaghan went over to 
 the bedside and asked the boy “ If he were 
 Dogherty* s eldest son.” The boy sat up and said 
 he was, Wollaghan then said, ** Well, you dog, if 
 you are you are to die here.” To this the boy re- 
 plied " I hope not. If you have anything against 
 me bring me to Mr. Latouche and give me a fair 
 trial, and if you get anything against me give me 
 the severity of the law.” Wollaghan replied, **No, 
 dog. I do not care for Latouche, you are to die 
 here,” at the sametime levelling the gun. The 
 mother threw herself between her son and his 
 murderer, and asked him for Heaven’s sake to 
 spare his life and take hers. To this piteous ap- 
 peal the ‘‘ gallant Orange Yeoman” had no reply 
 save “ no, you bloody whore, and if I had 
 your husband here I would give him the 
 
mSTOET OP OEANGEISM. 
 
 105 
 
 same death/* He then snapped the gun, but it 
 missed fire, again snapped it and again it missed, 
 upon which a yoeman named Fox rushed in and 
 
 damned his gun’* that there was no good in it. 
 While making the third attempt to shoot the boy 
 the mother caught hold of the gun and endeavoured 
 to turn it aside from her enfeebled son, but it went 
 off grazing the boy’s body, the ball lodging in the 
 arm; he staggered; leaned on a form; turned 
 his eyes towards his distracted mother and said, 
 
 Mother pray for me,” upon which he fell senseless 
 into her arras. Wollaghan then left the house, 
 but in a short time he returned and asked, Is not 
 the dog dead yet ?’* The mother replied, Gh yes, 
 murder was set up on the ground tl at it had been done 
 under the order of the commanding officer. It was sworn 
 by several witnesses, some of them Orangemen, that 
 Captain Armstrong,oi the Queens County Militia, who 
 commanded, gave orders that if any yoeman on a 
 Scouring party(then scouring parties occurred daily) 
 met any person whom they knew or suspected to be 
 rebels they need not go to the trouble of bringing them 
 in — they might shoot them off-hand for convenience.* 
 
 * This is no exrg’geration. Such was the distinct and pre® 
 cise orders of the celebrated Captain Armstrong. It was an 
 order that the Oranre Yoemanry availed themselves of to the 
 utmost. The Orangemen facetiously called these scouring 
 excursions “ Partridge shooting,” and they actually did em- 
 ploy dogs to scent cut parties who lay concealed in the woods 
 and thickets to avoid their fatal cruelty. When a “ rebel” 
 ("the “ rebel” might be and often was a decrepid old man, or a 
 feeble child, or perhaps a female) when a “rebel” was started 
 the gallanf Orange Yoemanry without condescending to in- 
 vestigate commenced at rifle practice. Most shocking of all 
 bets were actually made as to who would bring down the 
 iugitive first. 
 
 After some deliberation, tbe Court acquitted the 
 prisoner, and Hugh Wollaghan walked forth an 
 unstained soldier and a better Orangeman, while 
 his hands were actually wet with the blood of a 
 defenceless and unofending boy. 
 
 The minutes of evidence having been forwarded 
 to the Lord Lieutenant, his Excellency “ utterly 
 disaproved of the sentence acquitting Hugh 
 Wollaghan of the cruel and deliberate murder of 
 which, declared in the evidence, he appaared to 
 have been guilty.” But now comes the incident 
 ^ hich has linked the fortunes of the Enniskellins 
 with that of Orangeism for all time, for the 
 simple fact that it made them fellows in mis- 
 fortune. The president of the court-martial was 
 disgraced. By order of Lord Cornwallis, the 
 the Court was dissolved immediately, and Hugh 
 Wollaghan, the Orangeman, was dismissed the 
 service, and disqualified from entering any other 
 in the kingdom. A new court martial was also 
 ordered to be immediately convened for the trial 
 of such prisoners as might be brought before 
 them, and by express orders Lord Enniskillen and 
 other members of the former Court were prohibit- 
 ed from being members of it. 
 
 This was an instance in which an Orange mur- 
 derer was acquitted by sympathising Orange 
 judges aud Orange jurymen. Plowden remarks 
 upon it that the profligacy was too rank not to be 
 stigmatised — for the Union was yet an awfully 
 uncertain distance. 
 
 CHAPTER XX.— AFTER THE REBELLION, AN INAUGURAL CEREMONY, 
 THE GRAND LODGE IN DUBLIN, THE AMENDED RULES 
 AND REGULATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 The rebellion was suppressed. Havoc was abroad 
 ever the land. Destitution was everywhere. Star, 
 nation and misery stared the unhappy people in 
 the face. Lord Edward had fought his last fight, 
 and death had happily conquered. Wolfe Tone 
 had given up his young life, and hundreds of others 
 had made a like sacrifice to swell the roll of martyrs 
 to a noble but losing cause. A handful of hunted 
 rebels remained still in the- fastness of Wicklow- 
 but they, too, were soon compelled to give way to 
 hunger and superior force, and the last remnants 
 cf the rebels of *98 soon found in some desperate 
 death-struggle a welcome release from all their 
 sufferings. The ferocious soldiery and brutal yoe- 
 manry, having accomplished their work of extermi- 
 nation in the country districts, now gathered into 
 
 the towns and, more brutalised by their late unre- 
 strained excesses, pursued a course of shocking and 
 overbearing despotism, in the exercise of which 
 they paused not to distinguished between 
 the loyalist and those sympathising with the rebels. 
 To dwell on the sad propensity to extortion, cheat- 
 ing, pilfering, and robbing acquired or encourage! 
 by a temporary dissolution of civil government ; 
 on the practice of perjury and bribery in the accu- 
 sation and defence of real or supposed criminals : 
 and of perjury in claims of losses, even by persons 
 who might be supposed superior to such meanne. ^ 
 laying aside religious considerations, would be at- 
 tended with more pain than utility. Even 
 dissipation which might reasonably be expected to 
 be checked by the calamities attendant upon this 
 
 Z 
 
106 
 
 HISTOET OF OEINGEISM:. 
 
 cruel commotion seemed to revive with augmented 
 force on the subsiding of the Insurrection. Col- 
 lected in towns in the folio mng winter many of the 
 lower sort of loyalists spent the days in drunken- 
 ness, and their superiors the nights in late suppers 
 and riotous conviviality. It was a time peculiarly 
 suited for the rooting of Orangeism into our social 
 system. While affording men the secret pleasure 
 which is derived from the possession of something 
 (if it be only a name) which is not shared by the 
 majority; it congregated its members in the 
 taverns and rude ale houses of the towns and vil- 
 lages, and having excited their enthusiasm by 
 mysteries which were the more effective in propor- 
 tion as they were bewildering, ic soothed their 
 feelings by a liberal indulgence in strong drinks. 
 Ever ready to put a generous construction upon the 
 motives of its members, and never disposed to a 
 literal reading of its rules, the Orange Institu- 
 tion was not then inclined to be over delicate in the 
 promotion of its ends and little likely to scrutinise 
 where meetings, beginning* with mystery, were 
 continued in revelry Jand ended in debauchery. 
 The means which lodges thus afforded for the 
 gratification of the loose passions of the period 
 was a sure stimulus to Orangeiam, while it at the 
 same time served to gather together the scattered 
 forces which the rebellion had partially dissevered. 
 Dublin having now become the great centre of 
 Orangeism the importance of making it literally so 
 was soon made evident. It was the only place 
 where its prominent leaders, the members of the 
 Beresford clique could with facility or advantage 
 assemble Accordingly the Dublin Grand Lodge 
 was established. From the fact that it assumed 
 the title of the Grand Lodge of Ireland it is evident 
 that higher powers appertained to its members 
 than those retained by the Grand Lodge of Armagh 
 the existence of which was tor a time tolerated. 
 
 RULES OF THE SOCIETY, 1799. 
 
 The first rules and regulations that we have 
 under the authority of the society are those which 
 were revised immediately at the close of the 
 rebellion, and presented to a meeting of the Grand 
 Lodge of Ireland in Dublin. At this meeting,* 
 held on the 20th November, 1798, and of which 
 Thomas Verner was Grand Master and Chairman, 
 and J. C. Beresford Grand Secretary, Messrs. 
 Harding, Giffard, and S. Montgomery presented the 
 following 1 — 
 
 REPORT. 
 
 Having been honoured by the Grand Lodge with 
 ♦ see appendix 3 to second report on Orange Lodges, 
 
 instructions to revise and select a proper system of 
 rules, for the government of Orange Lolges, we 
 beg leave to make a report of our progress. 
 
 We are happy in being able to say, that in our 
 duty upon this occasion, we received the greatest 
 assistance from the experience of the Grand Master 
 of Ireland, and his Deputy Grand Secretary, who 
 did us the honour of imparting to us their senti- 
 ments. 
 
 Encouraged by their help, we have ventured very 
 materially to alter the shape of the confused system 
 which was referred to us, preserving the spirit, and, 
 as much as possible, the original words, except 
 where we had to encounter gross violations of 
 language and grammar. 
 
 The general plan of our proceeding has been this» 
 we have thrown what are, in our opinion, very im- 
 properly called the Six First General Eules into 
 one plain short declaration of the sentiments of the 
 body. 
 
 Next in order, we have given the qualifications of 
 an Orangeman, selected from the Antrim Eegula- 
 tions; and the rather, as it breathes a spirit of 
 piety, which cannot be too generally diffused 
 throughout an institution whose chief object, what- 
 ever political shape it may assume, is to preserve 
 the Protestant religion. 
 
 After this comes the obligation of an Orangeman, 
 from which we have struck out the word “ Male,” 
 as we learn from the Grand Master that it is an 
 unauthorised interpolation, and as it might lead to 
 unnecessary and injurious cavils. 
 
 The secret articles are as nearly as possible in 
 their original shape ; they have, however, been a 
 little improved in point of language, and two of 
 them, which were mere matter of private economy, 
 are placed among the bye-laws. 
 
 The marksman’s obligation is, on the suggestion 
 of the Grand Master, here introduced. 
 
 Then follow the master, treasurer, and secretary’s 
 obligations. 
 
 We have endeavoured to reduce the general rules 
 for the regulation of lodges into a degree of 
 method ; and we hope we have at least given hints, 
 in our arrangement, which may be adopted. 
 
 For the same reason Which we have given for 
 adopting the qualification of an Orangeman, we 
 have recommended the insertion of two prayers, for 
 opening and closing the lodge ; they are to be found 
 in the Antrim Eegulations. We confess, however, 
 that we think the first of them rather too long to 
 have a good effect; but this not being exactly 
 within the line of our knowledge, we beg leave to 
 
HISTOET or OTIAXGEISM. 
 
 107 
 
 transfer the duty of abbreviating it to some of our 
 clerical brethren. [It was accordingly referred to 
 the Eev. Mr. Knipe, and the prayer is here in- 
 serted in the abridged form.] 
 
 Samuel Montgomery. 
 Harding Qiffard. 
 
 Nov. 20, 1798. 
 
 BTTLES AND REGULATIONS, &C., &C. 
 
 General Declaration of the Objects of the Orange 
 Institution. 
 
 We associate to the utmost of our power to sup- 
 port and defend his Majesty King George the 
 Third, the Constitution, and laws of this country, 
 and the succession to the throne in his Majesty’s 
 illustrious House, being Protestants ; for the de- 
 fence of our persons and properties, and to main- 
 tain the peace of our country ; and for these pur- 
 poses we shall be at; all times ready to assist the 
 civil and military powers in the just and lawful 
 discharge of their duty. We also associate in honour 
 of King William the Third, Prince of Orange, whose 
 name we bear, as supporters of his glorious 
 memory, and the true religion by him completely 
 established ; and in order to prove our gratitude 
 and affection for his name, we will annually cele- 
 brate the victory over James at the Boyne on the 
 1st day of July, O.S. in every year, which day shall 
 be our grand sera for ever. 
 
 We further declare that we are exclusively a 
 Protestant association ; yet detesting as we do any 
 intolerant spirit, we solemnly pledge ourselves to 
 each other, that we will not prosecute or upbraid 
 any person on account of his religious opinion, but 
 that we will, on the contrary, be aiding and assist- 
 ing to every loyal subject of every religious de. 
 scription. 
 
 Qualifications Requisite for an Orangeman. 
 
 He should have a sincere love and veneration 
 for his Almighty Maker, productive of those lively 
 and happy fruits, righteousness and obedience to 
 his commands; a firm and steady faith in the 
 Saviour of the world, convinced that he is the only 
 Mediator between a sinful creature and an offended 
 Creator. Without those he can be no Christian. Of 
 an humane and compassionate disposition, and a 
 courteous and affable behaviour, he should be an 
 utter enemy to savage brutality and unchristian 
 cruelty; a lover of society and improving com- 
 pany ; and have a laudable regard for the Protes- 
 tant religion, and a sincere regard to propagate 
 its precepts ; zealous in promoting the honour of 
 his king and country ; heartily desirous of victory 
 and success in those pursuits, yet convinced and 
 
 assured that God alone can grant them ; he should 
 hove an hatred of cursing and swearing, and 
 taking the name of God in vain (a shameful prac- 
 tice) ; he should use all opportunities of discou- 
 raging it among his brethren ; wisdom and pru- 
 dence should guide his actions, honesty and in- 
 tegrity direct his conduct, and honour and glory be 
 the motives of his endeavours. Lastly, he should 
 pay the strictest attention to a religious observance 
 of the Sabbath, and also of temperance and 
 sobriety. 
 
 Obligation of an Orangeman, 
 
 I, A. B.y do solemnly and sincerely swear, of 
 my own free will and accord, that I will, to 
 the utmost of my power, support and defend 
 the present King, George the Third, and all 
 the heirs of the Crown, so long as he or they support 
 the Protestant ascendancy, the Constitution and 
 laws of these kingdoms; and that I will ever hold 
 sacred the name of our glorious deliverer, William 
 the Third, Prince of Orange; and I do farther 
 swear that I am not nor was not a Kcman Catholic 
 or Papist ; that I was not, am not, nor ever will be, 
 an United Irishman; and that I never took the 
 oath of secrecy to that society ; and I do furtbe*^ 
 swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will 
 always conceal, and never will reveal, either part 
 or parts of this that I am about nov/ to receive, 
 neither write it, nor indite it, stamp, stain, nor en- 
 grave it, nor cause it so to be done, on paper, 
 parchment, leaf, bark, brick, stone, or anything so 
 that it might be known ; and that I am now be- 
 come an Orangeman without fear, bribery, or cor- 
 ruption. 
 
 SECRET ARTICLES. 
 
 1. That we will bear true allegiance to his 
 Majesty King George the Third, and his successors, 
 so long as he or they support the Protestant ascen- 
 dancy; and that we will faithfully support and 
 maintain the laws and Constitution of this king- 
 dom. 
 
 2. That we will be true to all Orangemen in all 
 just actions, neither wronging one or seeing him 
 wronged to our knowledge, without acquainting 
 him thereof. 
 
 3. That we are not to see a brother offended for 
 fid or Is, or more, if convenient, which must be re- 
 turned next meeting, if possible. 
 
 4. We must not give the first assault to any person 
 whatever that may bring a brother into trouble. 
 
 5. We are not to carry away money, goods, or any- 
 thing from any person whatever, except arms and 
 ammunition, and those only from an enemy. 
 
108 
 
 itisto:rt of oeangeism. 
 
 6. We are to appear in ten hours’ warning, or 
 whatever time is required, if possible (provided it 
 is not hurtful to ourselves or family, and that we 
 are served with a lawful summons from the Master), 
 otherwise we are fined as the company think 
 proper. 
 
 7. No man can be made an Orangeman without 
 the unanimous approbation cf the body. 
 
 8. An Orangeman is to keep a brother’s secret as 
 his own, unless in case of murder, treason, and per- 
 jury, and that of his own free will. 
 
 9. No Korean Catholic can be admitted, on any 
 account. 
 
 10. Any Orangeman who acts contrary to these 
 rules shall be expelled, and the same reported to 
 all the lodges in this kingdom, and elsewhere. 
 
 God save the King. 
 
 Marlsman^s Obligation. 
 
 1, A. B.y of my own free will and accord, in the 
 presence of Almighty God, do hereby most solemnly 
 and sincerely swear that I will always conceal, and 
 never will reveal, either part or parts of this which 
 I am now about to receive j and that T will bear 
 true allegiance to his Majesty King George the 
 Third, and all the heirs of the Crown, so long as 
 they maintain the Protestant ascendancy, the laws 
 and constitution of these kingdoms ; and that I 
 will keep this part of a marksman from that of an 
 Orangeman, as well as from the ignorant ; and that 
 I will not make a man until I become master of a 
 body, nor after I am broke j and that I will not 
 make a man, or be present at the making of a 
 man, on the road, or behind hedges ; and that I 
 will be aiding and assisting to all true Orange 
 honest marksmen, as far as it in my power lies, 
 knowing him or them to be such ; and that I will 
 not wrong a brother marksman, nor know him to 
 be wronged of anything of value, worth appre- 
 hending, but I will warn or apprize him of, if in my 
 power it lies. All this I swear with a firm and 
 steadfast resolution, so help me God, and keep me 
 steadfast in this my marksman’s oblis^ation. 
 
 General Rules Jor the Government of Orange 
 Lodges. 
 
 1; Each lodge is to be governed by a master, 
 deputy-master, treasurer, and secretary ; the 
 master appointed by the Grand Lodge; and the 
 deputy-master, treasurer, and secretary, by the 
 Master, with the appobation of his own lodge. 
 
 2. These officers, upon their appointment, shall 
 take the following obligations ; — 
 
 Master, Secretary, and Treasurer's Obligation. 
 
 I, A. B., do solemnly and sincerely swear, that 
 
 I am not, nor was not, a Roman Catholic or Papist; 
 that lam not, was not, n^-r ever will he, an United 
 Irishman, and tuat I never took the oath of secrecy 
 to that society. 
 
 For the Master and Deputy -Master, add. 
 
 That I am not now made a Master for any pri- 
 vate emolument or advantage ; that I have not a 
 sitting in my house for the purpose of selling beer, 
 spirits, &c., and that neither I, nor any other 
 person for me, will admit anyone into the society 
 of Orangemen who was, or is a Papist, or has been 
 a United Irishman, or has taken their oath of 
 secrecy ; and that I will use my authority to keep 
 proper behaviour and sobriety in this lodge, and that 
 I will not certify for any person without having 
 first proved him, and knowing him to be of good 
 character. So help me God. 
 
 For the Secretary, add. 
 
 And that I will keep safe the papers belonging 
 to this lodge ; and that I will not give any copy of 
 the number of secret articles, or lend them to make 
 an Orangeman out of the lodge I belong to, or lend 
 the seal, so that it may be affixed to any forged 
 paper, or irregular Orangeman’s certificate. So 
 help me God. 
 
 For the Treasurer, add. 
 
 And that I shall fairly account for all the money 
 I have, or shall receive, for the use of this lodge, 
 when called upon by the master of this lodge. ' So 
 help me God. 
 
 3. That a committee be appointed to conduct the 
 affairs of each lodge, to consist of the master, 
 deputy master, secretary, and treasurer, and five 
 members, the first of whom is to be nominated by 
 the master, the second by the first, and so on until 
 the number five be completed. 
 
 4. That in the absence of the master, the deputy 
 master shall preside, and in his absence, the senior 
 committee man who shall be present. 
 
 5. That each candidate for admission shall be 
 proposed by one, and seconded by another member 
 at one meeting, and admitted or rejected at a sub 
 sequent one. 
 
 6. That one negative shall exclude. 
 
 7. That any person wishing to become an Orange- 
 man must be admitted in the lodge nearest his 
 abode (except in cities or great towns), or have a 
 recommendation from that lodge, that he is a 
 proper person, before any other lodge can accept 
 him. 
 
 8. That the names of persons rejected in any 
 lodge shall be sent by the master or secretary to 
 the district master, with the objections to such per- 
 
HISTOET OP OEANaEISM. 
 
 109 
 
 eons, in order that the district master may com- 
 muHicate the same to other lodges, as those who 
 are unfit for one lodge must be so for every other. 
 
 9. That each member on admission shall pay 
 
 10. That all Orangemen shall be considered as 
 members, but none to vote in any lodge except the 
 particular members thereof. 
 
 11. All members to be subordinate to the master 
 or person presiding for him. 
 
 12. Any dispute arising, not provided for by the 
 rules, is to be decided by the committee, and the 
 parties must abide by their decision, on pain of ex- 
 pulsion. 
 
 13. 'I'hat each new resolution shall remain on the 
 books from one.raeeting to the subsequent one, pre- 
 viously to its being adopted or rejected by the 
 majority of the members then present. 
 
 ] 4. That no election or other business do take 
 place unless ten mfmbers at least be present, pro- 
 vided the lodge consist of so many; if it do not, 
 ^hen two-thirds of the lodge must be present. 
 
 15. Tt at no business be done in any lodge after 
 dinner, supper, or drink have been brought in, but 
 every motion shall le previously decided. 
 
 16. Any new member attending intoxicated can- 
 not be admitted at that meeting; any old one so 
 attending to be fined. 
 
 17. The secretary is to read out. before the books 
 are closed, tbe names of those pers ns proposed for 
 the next night. 
 
 18. A person is to attend on the outside of the 
 door while business is going on ; that person to be 
 nominated by the muster, or whoever presides at 
 the time. 
 
 19. The master to have full power of fining all 
 
 disorderly persons to an amount not exceeding 
 
 20. No gentlemen are to be ballotted for unless 
 the person proposing or seconding him be present, 
 or some reasonable excuse for his absence be 
 offered. 
 
 21. Order of business for each night :—l. Lodge 
 to open with a prayer (members standing). 2. 
 General rules read. 3. Members proposed. 4. 
 Eeports from committee. 5. Names of members 
 called over. 6. Members balloted for. 7. Members 
 made. 8. Lodge to close with prayer (members 
 standing). 
 
 Prayer for Opening the Lodge. 
 
 Gracious and Almighty God, who in all ages has 
 shown thy mighty power in protecting righteous 
 kings and states, we yieid thee hearty thanks for 
 so miraculously bringing to light and frustrating 
 the secrte and horrible designs of our enemies. 
 
 plotted and intended to have been executed against 
 our gracious King, our happy Consstitution, and 
 the true religion established by our glorious de- 
 liverer, William the Third, Prince of Orange. 
 
 Vouchsafe, O Lord, to continue unto us thine 
 Almighty protection j grant to our pious King long 
 life, health and prosperity ; let thy providence ever 
 guard our happy Constitution, and enable us to 
 transmit it to our latest posterity, unimpaired, and 
 improved by our holy religion. Bless, we beseech 
 thee, every member of the Orange institution with 
 charity, brotherly love, and loyalty. Make us 
 truly respectable here on earth, and eternally 
 happy hereafter. These, and all other blessings, 
 we beg in the name, and through the mediation of 
 Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen. 
 
 Or this. 
 
 Almighty God, and Heavenly Father, who in all 
 ages hast showed thy power and mercy, in gra- 
 ciously and miraculously delivering thy Church, 
 ana in protecting righteous and religious kings 
 and States from the wicked conspiracies and mali- 
 cious practices of all the enemies thereof; we yield 
 thee hearty thanks for so wonderfully discovering 
 and confounding the horrible and wicked designs 
 of our enemies, plotted and intended to have been 
 executed against our most gracious Sovereign Lord 
 King George, and the whole estates of the realm, 
 for the subversion of Government and established 
 religion. Be thou, O Lord, still our mighty pro- 
 tector, and scatter our enemies that delight in 
 blood ; infatuate and defeat their cDuncils, abate 
 their pride, assuage their malice, and confound 
 their devices. Strengthen the hands of our gra- 
 cious Sovereign, and all that are in authority under 
 him, withjudgment and justice to cut off all such 
 j workers of iniquity as turn religion into rebellion, 
 and faith into faction, that they may never prevail 
 in the ruin of thy Church amongst us ; but that 
 our gracious Sovereign and his realms, being pre- 
 served in thy true religion, and by thy merciful 
 goodness protected in the same, we may all duly 
 serve thee with praise and thanksgiving. And we 
 beseech to protect the King, Queen, and Royal 
 Family, from all treasons and conspiracies ; pre- 
 serve him in thy faith, fear, and love ; make his 
 reign long, prosperous and happy here on earth, 
 and crown him hereafter with everlasting glory. 
 Accept also, most gracious God, our unfeigned 
 thanks, for filling our hearts with joy -and gladness, 
 by sending Thy servant, the late King William, for 
 the deliverance of these nations from tyranny and 
 arbitrary power. 
 
 1 
 
110 
 
 HISTOET OP OEANGEISM. 
 
 JLet truth and justice, devotion and piety, con. 
 cord and unity, brotherly kindness and charity, 
 •with other Christian virtues, so flourish amongst 
 us, that they may be the stability of our times, and 
 make this our association a praise here on eaath. 
 This we most humbly beg, in the name and for the < 
 sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. 
 Amen. 
 
 Form of Prayer to he used at Closing. 
 
 O Almighty God, who art a strong tower of de- 
 fence unto Thy servants, against; the face of their 
 enemies ; we yield Thee praise and thanks for our 
 deliverance from those great and apparent dangers 
 wherewith we were encompassed : we acknowledge 
 Thy goodness that we were not delivered over as a 
 prey unto them, beseeching Thee still to continue 
 such Thy mercies towards us, that all the world 
 may know Thou art our Saviour and mighty De- 
 liverer, through Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 Resolutions of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland. 
 
 Resolved, — That new numbers be printed on 
 parchment, and stamped according to the specimen 
 produced, and that any lodge wishing to get them 
 instead of their old numbers, shall have them on 
 paying half a crown. 
 
 Resolved, — That for all new numbers issued on 
 parchment the sum of 5s 5d be paid, half a crown 
 for the Grand Lodge of Armagh, and half a crown 
 for the Grand Lodge of Ireland. 
 
 Resolved, — That after the date hereof, every old 
 number renewed, and every new one granted, must 
 be signed by the Grand Master for Ireland, or 
 Grand Secretary for Ireland, and countersigned by 
 the Grand Secretary of Armagh, and that no other 
 shall be valid, and that the Grand Secretary of 
 Armagh do issue them to the Grand AEaster of 
 counties, and to no others, save and except to the 
 Grand Lodge of Ireland, and that he do receive the 
 fee of 5s 5d, as before directed, for each number so 
 granted, and shall make a monthly return to the 
 Grand Lodge of the numbers by him granted, and 
 to whom. 
 
 Resolved, — That in a county where there is no 
 Grand Master appointed, an application for a num- 
 ber must be made to the Grand Ledge of Ireland. 
 
 Many persons having introduced various orders 
 into the Orange Society, which will very much tend 
 to injure the regularity of the institution, the 
 Grand Lodge disavow any other orders but the 
 Orange and Purple, as there can be none others 
 regular, unless issuing from and approved of by 
 them) 
 
 Resolved,— That the secretary of the Grand 
 
 Lodge do write to Wolsey Atkinson, Esq., Grand 
 Secretary of Armagh, enclosing him these resolu. 
 tions, and requiring him to make a return of num- 
 bers granted up to this time, and that he do not 
 issue any new numbers until he has the parchment 
 numbers, signed by the Grand Master and Secre- 
 tary* 
 
 Resolved,— That the thanks of the Grand Lodge 
 be and are hereby given to S. Montgomery and H. 
 Giflard, Esqrs., for their great trouble in revising 
 these Regulations. 
 
 Ordered,— That the foregoing Rules and Regula- 
 tions be printed, under the directions of the deputy- 
 secretary, and by him dispersed co Orangemen only* 
 
 The Grand Lodge will meet, the first Tuesday in 
 every month, at Harrington’s, in Clifton Street, at 
 seven o’clock in the evening, and the third Tuesday 
 in every month, at three o’clock in the afternoon, 
 at the same place. 
 
 Form of Summons. 
 
 Orange Society, No. 
 
 Sir and Brother, — You are requested to attend a 
 meeting of your Society, at on 
 
 the day of at the hour of 
 
 o’clock. 
 
 I’ail not as you are an Orangeman. Signed by 
 order of the Master, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Form of Certificate. 
 
 Loyal Orange Association, No. 
 
 We, the Master, Deputy-Master, and Secretary 
 of the Loyal Orange Association, No. held 
 
 at in the kingdom of Ireland, do hereby 
 
 certify that Brother has regularly re- 
 
 ceived the degrees of a true Orangeman, in this 
 our Association ; and that he has conducted him- 
 self, during his stay amongst us, to the entire 
 satisfaction of all our Brethren. We, therefore, 
 request that all the regular associations of the 
 universe do recognise and admit him as such. 
 
 Given under our hands and the seal of the 
 Society, this day of 17 
 
 Master. 
 
 Deputy Master. 
 
 MAKING AN ORANGEMAN. 
 
 THE POLLOWINQ IS THE RITUAL OP THE OSANQE 
 INTRODUCTION : 
 
 The applicant shall be introduced between his 
 two sponsors : namely, the brethern who pro- 
 posed and seconded his admission, carrying the 
 Bible in his hands, with the book of rules and 
 regulations placed thereon. Two bro'.^hers shall 
 
HISTOTIY OF OR^NOEISM. 
 
 Ill 
 
 precede him. On his entering the room, a chap- 
 lain, if present, or in his absence a brother ap- 
 pointed by the master, shall say the whole or 
 part of what follows 
 
 O Lord God of our fathers, art Thou God in 
 Heaven ? And rulest not Thou over all the king- 
 doms of the heathen ? and in thine hand is there 
 not power and might, so that none is able to with- 
 stand thee ?” 2 Chron. xx. 5. 
 
 “ Who is like unto Thee O Lord among the Gods ? 
 Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in 
 praises doing wonders ? Thou in thy mercy hast 
 led forth thy people which Thou hast redeemed ; 
 Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy 
 holy habitation.” Exodus xiv. 11, 13. 
 
 " Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us j for Thou 
 hast wrought all our works in us. 0 Lord our God 
 other lords have had dominion over us ; but by 
 Thee only will we make mention of thy name.” 
 Isaiah xxiv. 12, 13. 
 
 Wherefore, glorify ye the Lord in the fires, 
 even in the name of the Lord God of Israel in the 
 isles of the sea.” Ibid. xxiv. 15. 
 
 [^During the reading of these the candidate shall 
 stand at the foot of the table, the brethren all 
 standing also in their places, and strictly silent.] 
 The Master shall then say — Friend, what dost 
 thou desire in this meeting of true Orangemen ? 
 
 And the candidate shall answer—Of my own free 
 will and accord I desire admission into your loyal 
 institution. 
 
 Master— Who will vouch for this friend that he 
 is a true Protestant and loyal subject ? 
 
 [The sponsors shall bow to the master and signify 
 the same, eacn mentioning his own name.] 
 Master — What do you carry in your hand ? 
 Candidate — The Word of God. 
 
 Master — ^Under the assurance of these worthy 
 brothers, we will trust that you also carry it in your 
 heart. What is that other book ? 
 
 Candidate — The book of your rules and regula- 
 tions. 
 
 Master — Under the like assurance, we will fur- 
 ther trust that you will study them well, and that 
 you will obey them in all lawful matters. There- 
 fore, we gladly receive you into this order. Orange- 
 men, bring to me your friend. 
 
 [The candidate shall then be brought by his spon- 
 sors before the master; the two brothers stand- 
 ing at each side of the centre of the table ; dur- 
 ing this the chaplain or brother appointed shall 
 say]— 
 
 '‘Many shall be purified and made wise, and 
 
 tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none 
 of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall 
 understand. Blessed is he that waiteth, and 
 cometh the thousand three hundred and thirty days. 
 But go thou thy way, until the end be ; for thou 
 shalt rest and stand in thy lot all the end of thy 
 days.” Daniel xii. 10, 12, 13. 
 
 [The Candidate shall then kneel on his right knee; 
 and the Master shall invest him with the decora- 
 tion of the Order — an Orange sash. Then the 
 Chaplain or Brother appointed shall say : — ] 
 
 " When thus it shall be in th-^ midst of the land 
 among the people, there shall be as the shaking of 
 an olive tree, and as the gleaming of the grapes 
 when the vintage is done. They shall lift np their 
 voice; they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord; 
 they shall cry aloud from the sea.” Isaiah xxiv., 
 13, 14. 
 
 “ Then the mountain of the house of the Lord 
 shall be established in the top of the mountains ; 
 and it shall be exalted above the hills, and the 
 people shall flow unto it.” Micah iv. i. 
 
 ** And this shall be for a token upon thine head, 
 and for a frontlet between thine eyes ; for by 
 strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of 
 Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance 
 in his season from year to year.” Exodus xiii. 
 16, 10. 
 
 Then the Master shall say •— 
 
 We receive thee, dear Brother, into the religious 
 and loyal Institution of Orangemen ; trusting that 
 thou wilt abide a devoted servant of God and true 
 believer in his Son Jesus Christ, a faithful subject 
 of our King and supporter of our Constitution. 
 Keep thou firm in the Protestant Church, holding 
 steadily her pure doctrines and observing her 
 ordinances. Make thyself the friend of all pious 
 and peaceable men; avoiding strife and seeking 
 benevolence; slow to take offence and offering 
 none, thereby so far as in thee lieth, turning the 
 injustice of our adversaries into their own reproof 
 and confusion. In the name of the Brotherhood I 
 bid thee welcome ; and pray that thou mayest long 
 continue among them, a worthy Orangeman, namely 
 — fearing God, honouring the King, and maintain- 
 ing the Law. 
 
 [Then the Master shall communicate, or cause to 
 be communicated, unto the new Member the 
 Signs and Pass-words of the Brotherhood, and 
 the Chaplain or Brother appointed shall say : — ] 
 Glory to God in the highest ; and on earth 
 peace, good-will towards men.” St. Luke ii. 14. 
 [After which the Brother shall make obeisance to 
 
112 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 the Master, and all present shall take their seats ; 
 the Certificate of the new Brother being first 
 duly signed and registered.] 
 
 The ritual for the introducon into the Purple 
 Order is in most respects so similar to the above 
 as not to need quotation. The same misterious 
 mummery prevails, with an evident effort to make 
 the impression upon the mind of the applicant 
 more lasting by the influence of the supernatural. 
 
 The reader may be inclined to smile at the holy 
 arrogance — the pious hatred expressed in almost 
 every line of the foregoing. The feeling, however, 
 must be that of pity and mournful contempt. Ee- 
 ligion has been a clcak for some of the greatest 
 crimes done in the history of mankind. Without 
 stopping to consider how often 'the qualifications 
 of an Orangeman were forthcoming ; how often 
 (in 1798), the members were “ righteous,” “ obe- 
 dient,” humane,” courteous,” “ affable,” “ tem- 
 perate,” sober,” opposed to cursing and swearing 
 — possessed of all those qualities calculated to make 
 him quite an angelic being — we pass to another 
 and more important consideration. If there be 
 anything that the Orangemen of to-day make boast 
 of it is that they are loyalists to the core, and 
 that the institution has ever been founded upon 
 loyalty. This is not true. From the above rules 
 and regulations it is plain that the institution was 
 as illegal and unconstitutional as any that ever 
 existed in the State. By the common law of the 
 land allegiance— absolute, unqualified, and per- 
 petual allegiance is due from every subject to his 
 Sovereign. An oath binding the deponent to give 
 allegiance only ‘'so long as be (the King) shall 
 support Protestant ascendancy” is conditional, 
 qualified, and temporary, and is of a treasonable 
 character. It should be borne in mind that the 
 oath did not stipulate that the King should be a 
 Protestant; but that he should support and main- 
 tain Protestant ascendancy, which are conditions 
 widely differing. This illegality, however, need 
 not surprise. We will find through all its subse- 
 quent history, where it did not ignore Acts of 
 Parliament, all its efforts were directed towards 
 evading them, and in a manner which 
 shows extreme inconsistency and absence of 
 honesty in persons wont to boast of their 
 loyalty to the Constitution. As a proof, the asso- 
 ciation was made felonious by the 47th Geo. III., 
 section 3, cap. XIII, which enacted that every 
 person who should administer, or cause to be ad- 
 ministered, to any person in Ireland any oath or 
 engagement importing to bind the person taking 
 
 same to be of any association formed “ to disturb 
 the public peace, or to injure the property of any 
 person or persons whatsoever, or to do, or omit, or 
 refuse to do any act or acts whatsoever, under 
 whatever name, description, or pretence, such asso- 
 ciation, brotherhood, committee, society, or con- 
 faderaoy, shall assume, or pretend to be formed or 
 constituted j or any oath or engagement importing 
 tD bind the person taking the same to obey the 
 orders, or rules, or commands of any committee or 
 other body of men not lawfully constituted, -ic., 
 shall he adjudged guilty of felony, and he transported 
 for life,’* No. 5 of the Secret Articles is a plain 
 contravention ©f this Act, as it specifically binds 
 the members to carry off arms and ammunition 
 from an enemy — enemy, no doubt, meaning 
 Catholic — and the whole constitution of the society 
 was directly opposed to the intention and meaning’ 
 of the Act. It is needless to- say that none of its 
 members were transported for life ; neither did the 
 “ loyal” Orange institution then cea?e to exist. 
 
 It is unnecessary to point out the immorality and 
 the disastrous consequences likely to ensue from 
 an exclusive combination under the above rules. 
 The secret articles, which for a long time were 
 kept hidden from the world and then disclosed only 
 by virtue of a Parliamentary Committee, afford a 
 plain and matte^’-of-fact sanction to the waylaying 
 and the robbery of Catholics. The brotner was by 
 No. 4 not to give the first assault to any person 
 who might bring a brother into trouble— a very 
 discreet provision, which implied that the first 
 assault might be given under all other circum- 
 stances. No. 5 literally lays down robbery of Ca 
 tholics as a duty. Eeasonable men can easily 
 understand how far a mob of ruthless Orangemen, 
 after breaking into “ an enemy’s house” in the 
 stillness of the night would be inclined to discri- 
 minate between arms or ammunition and other 
 but more valuable property. They will incline, 
 I am sure, to the opinion that the precise terms 
 of No. 5 of the secret articles, would under 
 such tempting circumstances, be for the moment 
 forgotten. 
 
 The illegality of those articles were admitted by 
 the Orange Grand Secretary before the Select Com- 
 mittee (1835), though he was unable to show by 
 his books that they had at any time been repealed 
 by the brethren. For all we know they are at pre- 
 sent existing, and are certainly implied by the pre- 
 sent rules of the institution. By this witness the term 
 Protestant ascendancy was specifically defined bylhis 
 saying that he looked upon a banner with equal 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 113 
 
 laws” upon it as a party flag, and loyalty to the 
 ting therefore rested upon the very questionable 
 condition of justice not being vouchsafed to the Ca- 
 tholic inhabitants of these countries. The opinion 
 of most of the witnesses examined, that the prac- 
 tices of Orangemen were, in most instanc3s, diame- 
 trically opnosed to these rules (Lord Gosford, 4536), 
 is of little moment when dealing with this period of 
 their history, for we fiudin their rules not only a jus- 
 tification for intolerance, but a solemn avowal of ille- 
 gality because of provisional loyalty. The expediency 
 and lawfulness of Secret Article No. 6, which bound 
 a large mass of men with arms in their hands to ap- 
 pear on receiving ten hours notice at any specified 
 spot, is too apparent to need comment. It was in 
 the power of any master, whether drunken or other 
 wise, of a private lodge to send out such a sum- 
 mons. A very dangerous power this is at all times, 
 but particularly so In the hands of irresponsible and 
 uneducated men, and when dealing with such in- 
 flamable material. 
 
 As in most secret societies of the kind, which 
 have at intervals for their object the working out 
 of schemes which would not only not bear the light 
 of day, but into the secrets of which it would not 
 be safe to admit the great body of humbler asso- 
 ciates, the Orange Society consists of two orders — 
 the Orange and the Purple. Colonel Verner a,<3- 
 mits that the latter, which is the higher grade, was 
 devised for the purpose of excluding improper 
 persons” (471), a phrase which must be talken to 
 mean persons who could not he trusted with the 
 more important secrets of the body. If it means 
 anything else, it means that all outside the Purple 
 order are improper persons — an interpretation 
 which nowwould find many adherents, seeing that it 
 includes the vast body of Orangemen. There can 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Amongst the most discreditable transactions of 
 the leaders at this time was the sale of the 
 brethern g^erally to Mr, Pitt for the purposes of 
 the Union. The machinery of the Purple Order 
 was put into motion for the purpose. This sale was 
 transacted for certain considerations, that can 
 easily be guessed at guaranteed to the Beresford 
 and Verner clique. Mr, Pitt was about perfecting 
 his project of a legislative union, for the purposes 
 of which he had sacrificed thousands of lives, and 
 he made overtures to Mr. Beresford and Mr. 
 Verner to aid him in the disgraceful trick. The 
 
 2 
 
 be no doub*:, seeing th3 use which was afterwards 
 made of it, that this Purple order was intended for 
 keeping the se3ret8 of the body within a small 
 clique of leaders. This it was well qualified for 
 doing. It was, and is yet, carefully guarded by an 
 exclusive system of signs and passwords unknown 
 to the general body. 
 
 During the period intervening after the Rebtllion 
 and before the Union the progress of Ascendancy 
 and the significance of the compact between the 
 faction and the Government were sufficiently indi- 
 cated by the periodic processions of the Orangemen 
 military and Government officials round the statue 
 of King William in Dublin. These insulting dis- 
 plays in many instances led to riot, but the fact 
 that they were offensive to their Catholic citizens 
 was one of the chief reasons for the Orangemen 
 persevering in them. 
 
 About this time the Institution received a check 
 at the hands of Ljrd Hardwicke, Colonel of the 
 Cambridgeshire Militia. It appears that the 
 brethern were very active in obtaining recruits 
 from the English regiments, and having become 
 a .vare of the fact the Earl of Hardwicke issued, on 
 the I7th April, 1797, regimental orders prohibiting 
 any of his men from joining the Orange Institution, 
 which he pronounced to have been formed for 
 party and other mischievous purposes.” Plow- 
 den regrets that when two years later the Earl was 
 appointed Chief Governor of Ireland, and when the 
 purposes of the society were in no way changed, he 
 did not follow up this condemnation. The colonel 
 could honestly condemn what was pernicious and 
 subversive of the discipline of his regiment, but 
 the Lord Lieutenant dared not disapprove of what 
 was prejudicial to the best interests of the 
 country. 
 
 —THE UNION. 
 
 large majority of Orangemen in the country were 
 then strongly opposed to the measure, for they fore- 
 saw in it the certain downfall of ascendancy in the 
 transfer of the legislative machinery to the other 
 side of the channel. Mr. Pitt had his schemes 
 deeply laid. Mr. Beresford could net be eonvinced 
 of the necessity or the advantages of the Act of 
 Union until he crossed to London. When there, 
 his opinions underwent a change, and he came 
 back to Dublin with such indisputable arguments 
 that the Grand Lodge were but too willing to con- 
 sent to the pipoposal. Feeling that the general 
 
114 
 
 HISTORY OP ORA.NGEISM:. 
 
 opinion of the body would be against them, the 
 Grand Lodge issued “ general orders’* that the 
 question of the Union was not to be discussed by 
 them as Orangemen, and to this Thomas Verner, 
 as Grand Master, and John C. Beresford, as Grand 
 Secretary, subscribed their names. This had the 
 effect of disarming the brethren against any agi- 
 tation of the question. For the purpose of seduc- 
 ing them to political emasculation, the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, in a Viceregal tour during the year 1'799, 
 exercised all his personal and private influence in 
 promoting the plan of the English Minis- 
 . ter. To the Catholics he held out the allure- 
 ment of emancipation. They trusted him and 
 were deceived. To the Orangemen he pledged 
 amnesty and favour.* But the discussion of 
 the Union \»as in some districts persisted in, and 
 was likely to disconcert the plans of those who had 
 effected the d'screditable sale of such a large body 
 of men. The result was that Thomas Verner, Esq., 
 Grand Master of all the Orange Lodges of Ireland* 
 sent in his resignation. This, together with the 
 revealing cf a portion of the Government compact, 
 had the desired effect, the Grand Master was asked 
 to recall his resignation, and with much condescen- 
 sion he undertook to do so. That portion of the 
 compact to which I allude and which concerned the 
 brethren generally, for the remainder aft’ected only 
 those who betrayed their associates, was that the 
 term " Protestant Ascendancy” should be made an 
 established condition in the affairs of this country. 
 Thenceforth they were allowed to use it not only*as 
 the bond and test of their union but as the condi- 
 tion and measure of their allegiance. In return 
 they undertook to abstain fmm opposition to the 
 Union and to so model and moderate the rules and 
 regulations of their society that no Protestant 
 should in future be shocked with the oath of exter- 
 mination or deterred from enterinar into their 
 
 ° f 
 
 society by any pbdge, obligation, or oath, unpala- 
 table to ihe most tender Protestant conscienoe.f 
 It was thus by the selflsh duplicity of a few and 
 the blind bigotry of the masses that the entire 
 body was bundled up and disposed of wholesale to 
 that cunning political trickster' William Pitt. Who 
 pocketed the purchase money the pension list will 
 tell. 
 
 This compact having been so far completed, the 
 Grand Lodge met in Dublin on the 10th January, 
 1800, and again revised the rules and regulations. 
 
 There is a material difference to be found in the 
 general declaration as revised on this occasion. 
 Instead of abiding by their former declaration that 
 they would not persecute or upbraid any person 
 on account of his religious opinion,” we now find 
 an important change, which makes the sentence 
 read, "That we will not persecute, injure, or up- 
 braid any person on account of his religious opi- 
 nions, provided the same he not hostile to the State,** 
 &c., a reservation which gave the members full 
 scope for injuring, upbraiding, and persecuting all 
 Catholics, seeing that then, as now, that religion is 
 regarded by Orangemen as hostile to the State.” 
 
 These revised rules further provide, in a more 
 formal and precise manner than those of the pre- 
 ceding year for the government of lodges. The 
 only important one we find introduced in the fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 14. " That, as regiments are considered as districts, 
 the masters of all regimental lodges do make half- 
 yearly returns of the numbers, names, and rank of 
 the members of their lodges to the secietary of 
 the Grand Lodge, but that they shall not make an 
 Orangeman except the officers, non-commissioned 
 officers, and privates of their respective regiments j 
 and that they do remit to the Grand Treasurer of 
 Ireland the half-yearly si^bscription, as well as that 
 which is immediately to take place.” 
 
 This was a point upon which the institution in 
 latter years underwent considerable question, and 
 wisely incurred not a little condemnation by those 
 who saw in it a means of putting an end to all 
 that discipline which is the first requisite of an 
 efficient military body. It was also specially pro- 
 vided that Masters of cities and counties divide 
 their respective cities and counties into districts and 
 regulations were made for the election of District 
 Masters and other officers. The Grand Lodge was 
 also reformed. 
 
 ♦ Plowden’s Tryors History, vol. 1, page 135. 
 t Ibid , poge 139, 
 
HISTORY OF ORYYOEISM. 
 
 115 
 
 CHAPTER XXII.— AFTER THE UNION, PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY 
 AND ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 Had we not already a surfeit of shocking and 
 barbarous outrages, for which Orangeism and 
 Orangemeu alone is responsible, we could find in 
 the pages of Plouden, Hay, G )rdon, and others re- 
 velations of the most inhu man deeds perpetrated 
 by the brethren upon the disarmed and cowed 
 Catholics of Ireland during the four or five years 
 subsequent to the Union. Outrages such as the 
 exbumantion and desecration of the corpse of James 
 Redmond, in Wexford, in 1801* (where the 
 Orangemen dug up the body, maltreated it and 
 placed it on the site of Monamolig chapel, which 
 they had burned, so that the worshippers would 
 meet with it at their ^Sunday devotion) ,• such as 
 the cannabalism at Naas,t where the Orange- 
 men declared that Paddy ate sweetj” such as the 
 barbarous outrages committed upon women in the 
 Counties of Wicklow and Wexford, vouched for by 
 Plowden and Barrington. 
 
 “ Of comfort do man speak ; let i s talk of graves, of worms, 
 and of epitaphs.” 
 
 The Catholics of Ireland had previous to and 
 during the days of tbe rebellion drunk deep of the 
 cup of misery. They were now draining it even to 
 the dregs at the hands of an intolerant and dispic- 
 able Orange faction. But there was another phase 
 of refined misery awaiting them, and to which 
 they were destined to be subject for a much longer 
 period. After the brief rebellion of 1803, which 
 revived for a time the old and bloody system of 
 extermination, and when the ordinary machinery 
 of the State for the administration of justice was 
 put into something like working order the Catholics 
 were made to feel if possible more bitterly than 
 before the degrading condition to which they had 
 been reduced. The Government being distinctly 
 and unblushingly composed of an Orange faction 
 for a change of Ministers only brought to them a 
 change of executioners, all departments of the Irish 
 Government had within it its Orange nomuiees. Not 
 only were they to be found in the Senate and the Bar 
 but even the Bench in its superior grades boasted 
 its Orange adherents. It may then be easily 
 understood how and why Orangeism predominated 
 amongst the Irish magistracy. Those country 
 squires, being mostly ignorant, uneducated, and 
 prejudiced men, did not even take the trouble to 
 
 ♦ Hay’s History, page 301. 
 
 t Sampson’s Mems , page 438. 
 
 conceal their partiality. No wonder the foun- 
 tains of justice were not clean since they were 
 poisoned at the very source. When we come to 
 examine the letters and correspondence of Mr. 
 Wilson, a magistrate of the County Tyrone, who 
 reveals the shocking state of the magistracy at 
 that time we will find disclosures that could 
 scarce be credited, but that they are founded on the 
 most indisputable testimony. As showing that 
 their excesses were of the mo.^t varied kind, and 
 included the affording of protection to murderers, 
 I may give the follow'ng incident as af^ir specimen 
 of the Orange justice of the day, and how the 
 Orangeman endeavoured to awe the Government 
 -into acquiescence with their misdeeds : — 
 
 In July, 1806, an Orangeman named Saunders 
 or Alexander B ell, a yeomau of Colonel Blacker’ s 
 corps, committed, near Portadown, an unprovoked 
 a tempt at murder upon a Catholic named James 
 Biimingham. That the crime was one of peculiar 
 atrocity is proved by docuusentary evidence, bearing 
 the signature of the Judge of Assize. Bell re- 
 ceived a notification from one of the magistrates 
 (the account does not say that it was not Colonel 
 Blacker) that the law would be put in motion, and 
 he escaped. In those days it required but a little 
 effort for an Orange culprit to elude the vigilance 
 of sympathising Orange magistrates and Orange 
 yoemen. That he remained in the district is 
 evident from the fact that the same man made a 
 second attempt upon Birmingham’s life nine months 
 after the commission of the first offence. Notwith- 
 standing the fact that a warrant was the for the ar- 
 rest of Bell, that he remained in the neighbourhood 
 of Portadown, and that his presence there was 
 known to both the magistrates and yeomanry no 
 earnest effort was made to arrest him. In those 
 days the district of Portadown was disturbed by an 
 Orange faction that made life almost a burden to 
 the Catholics of the locality, and outrages were 
 daily committed upon them without any attempt 
 to afford them protection. Though there existed 
 a desire on the part of one or two magistrates, 
 such as Mr. Brownlow, to put a stop to this species 
 of terrorism, they found themselves helpless in the 
 face of the fostering sympathy of the Messrs. 
 Verner, Blacker, & Co., who had the Orange Yeo- 
 manry under their complete control, and wh^ 
 
116 
 
 HISTORY OR ORANGEISK. 
 
 feared to forfeit their good-will by the bare exer- 
 cise of justice when it ran counter to their preju- 
 dices. Bell was accordingly not arrested. In the 
 year 1807 Colonel Blacker’s regiment was in Tuam, 
 and — how strange is the coincidenee—Bell turned 
 up there too.* He actually offered himself for 
 re-enlistment in his old corps. It .must be recol- 
 lected that, though then a prosecuted felon, he was 
 an Orangeman and a member of Colonel Blacker’s 
 corps. The offer of Bell was politely declined, and 
 the Orange felon was allowed to depart in 
 peace to the knowledge of Lieuteaant-Colonel 
 Biaeker. who says — “I believe he continued a 
 considerable time in the town of Tuam, and i think 
 when we left it he remained there.’^ Certainly 
 the Lieutenant-Colonel seemed to have been accu- 
 rately acquainted with the movements of thiS 
 would-be murderer. At last, after an interval of 
 three years. Bell was by accident arrested, and 
 tried in Armagh. The Oranee jury finding the 
 evidence most convincing, and believing that the 
 Government dared not execute an Orange yoeman, 
 returned a verdict of guilty, which verdict they 
 understood would mean no more than many 
 similar verdicts against Orangemen meant at the 
 time — a gentle reminder not to do it again if he 
 could conveniently avoid it. The judge, however, 
 to the surprise of all, ordered Bell to be executed. On 
 leaving the court Lieutenant-Colonel Blacker and 
 another magistrate waited upon the judge, Baron 
 M'Clelland, and asked him to save the prisoner’s life. 
 They did not ask the Government through the judge 
 to exercise clemency, which was within his power 
 to do, but simply put it to him that the Govern- 
 ment dared not execute him, as it would lead to 
 the certain murder cf the prosecutor and those who 
 had given evidence in the case; also, representing 
 that they feared he would be rescued by his com- 
 panions in the Yeomanry, This threat the judge 
 wisely refused to regard, and Bell was brought up 
 for < xecution at Portadown, on the 7th August, 
 1807. In order to resist the expected attempt at 
 rescue on part of the loyal” Orange leomanry, a 
 large number of troops, consisting of a regiment of 
 infantry, two troops of dragoons, having five pieces 
 of artillery, were drafted into the district. Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Blacker was present inside the 
 circle in regimentals, and was the last to speak to 
 the prisoner words of encouragement. He was 
 executed, and owing, no doubt, to the strong force 
 
 * See Lieutenant-Colon* 1 Rlncker’s evidence the before 
 Select Committee of U36, question 9,300 
 
 present, no attempt at rescue was made. In 
 justificatien of the above facts I may quote the foL 
 lowing letter from Baron M'Clelland, who tried the 
 case, replying to the Government as to whether the 
 memorial of the Orangemen of the district should 
 be complied with 
 
 " Annaverna, Ist August, 1809. 
 
 ** I have the honour of receiving your letter this 
 morning, in which you request I would acquaint 
 you, for the information of his Grace the Lord 
 Lieutenant, whether it would be proper to comply 
 with the petition from the inhabitants of Porta- 
 down which you enclosed to me. The convict 
 alluded to in the petition is a person of the name 
 of Alexander Bell, who was found guilty before me 
 at the last Assizes on two indictments— the one 
 charging him with having stabbed James 
 Birmingham with a bayonet, in July, 1806, vnte 
 intent to murder him ; the other indictment charg- 
 ing him with having wouaded him (same person) 
 on the head with a hatchet, in the month of 
 March, 18G7, with intent to murder him. The case 
 on the trial appeared to be one of peculiar atrocity, 
 and the prisoner was convicted on the clearest 
 testimony. It appeared on the trial that for three 
 years the prisoner had set the law at defiance ; 
 appearing publicly in the neighbourhood where 
 the crimes were committed, and effectually resist- 
 ing any attempt to take him in that neighbour- 
 hood {which the petition represents so peaceable and 
 quid), although on one occasion the military were 
 called in aid of the peace officers. He lately 
 ventured to a fair at some distance from 
 Portadown, and was there arrested. In a 
 few minutes after the trial was over, two 
 of the magistratis who have signed the petition 
 Mr. Lofty and Major Bla^lcer applied to me in 
 favour of the prisone, and requested I would have 
 his li(.e saved and his punishment reduced to. trans- 
 portation, and assigned as a 5 easoa for the applica- 
 tion that the prosecutors and those who bad as- 
 sisted in the prosecution would be murdered by 
 the friends of the prisoner, if the prisoner was 
 executed, I infoi med theso gentlemen I could not 
 comply with their application, and that the reason 
 they assigned for saving the prisoner’s life rendered 
 his execution indispensable as an example and a 
 warning to that riotous and disorderly neighbour-, 
 hood. Immediately after a counter application was 
 made to me by some cf the most respectable gen- 
 tlemen of the county, and in particular by Mr. 
 Brownlow, who stated to me that in his opinion 
 he peace of that part of the country depended on 
 
HISTOET or OEANOEISM. 
 
 the execution of Bell, and that it would have the 
 most salutary effect to order the execution to take 
 p^ace in the viciniiy of the place where the crimes 
 had been committed, and that Portadown was the 
 fittest place for that purpose. I accordingly 
 ordered the execution to take place at Portadown 
 on Monday next. On my leaving court, Mr. Dawson 
 the assistant-barrister for the county, waited on 
 me and laid before me several informations sworn 
 before him and other magistrates, whereby it 
 appeared that the district immediately around 
 Portadown had been of late much disturbed by a 
 combination of the landholders against their land- 
 lords, licciting the rent of lands and prev(nting 
 any stranper frem tiking lands n the neighbour- 
 hood. On the next day I called the attention of 
 the Grand Jury to this important subject, and gave 
 them such advice as I thought w( uld enable them 
 to check this dangerous combination. Several 
 of the Grand Jury then stated to me that they had 
 great hopes that the execution of Bell at Forta- 
 down would have the desired effect of quieting the 
 neighbourhood, and that they would consider it 
 their duty to attend at the execution and ad- 
 monish the people who would assemble there, and 
 caution them against such illegal combinations 
 For the reasons above mentioned, I am of opinion 
 that it would not be advisable to comply with the 
 petition. — T have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 James McClelland. 
 
 *c To Sir Charles Sexton, Bart.” 
 
 It is woHhy of remark the Lieutenant- Colonel 
 in his evidence (see third report) admi\ted a con- 
 fidential interview with the culprit Bell ; repre- 
 sented him as the mildest type of Christianity, in- 
 sisted that the attempted murder vas all moon- 
 shine, that Birmingham had fallen accidentally 
 upon Bell’s bayonet while the latter was cleaning it, 
 but at any rate the dffair was the effect of a sudden 
 impulse for which he was not responsible. It is a 
 very suspicious circumstance that Birmingham at 
 the time the cowardly attempt was made upon his 
 life had called upon Bell to execute the summons 
 of a magistrate. To suppose that the Lieutenant- 
 Colonel’s representation was correct would also 
 necessitate supposing that nine months afterwards 
 the hatchet fell accidentally out of Bell’s hand 
 upon Birmingham’s head, or that Biriuinghaoi had 
 awkwardly knocked his head against P. Can any 
 sensible man doubt it — this Orange magistrate. 
 Orange major, and Orange leader, protected 
 an Orange felon for three years from the just 
 
 nr 
 
 punishment of the crime committed upon an un- 
 offending Catholic ? 
 
 No more powerful indictment was ever made, 
 and so successfully sustained against the Orange 
 Institution than that contained in the correspon- 
 dence and narrative published in 1807 and 1608 by 
 Eichard Wilson, Esq., a Protestant and a magis- 
 trate for the County of Tyrone, and at one time a 
 member of the British Parliament. An English- 
 man, a resident of Tyrone, just across the borders 
 of Armagh, and a neighbouring Justice of the 
 Peace to the Verners and the Blackers and all of 
 that ilk it can be distinctly understood that his 
 lot was cast just in that quarter in which best to 
 be made acquainted with the proceedings by which 
 the Orangemen mainlained Protestant Ascend- 
 ancy. His narrative, I think I am war- 
 ranted in saying, is the most unparalleled 
 record of audacions crime that stains the pages of 
 our history. The only regret in connection with the 
 subject is that the pamphlets, which ran through 
 no less than five editions, are now placed beyond 
 the reach of most readers, and, fortunately, 
 (hitherto) for the already shattered reputation of 
 our I.oyal Oiange Institution, copies are to be 
 found in but few libraries in the kingdom, and 
 then only where the collectors have had a partiality 
 for the political pamphlets of the past century. 
 Through the kindness of Dr. Kavanagh, of Kings- 
 town — a gentleman as eminent in his profession as 
 he is distinguished for literary taste and antiqua- 
 rian lore — I have been enabled to obtain the use of 
 the pamphlets I refer to. For the purposes of 
 our history, their importance cannot be exag- 
 gerated or their value too highly prized. That 
 they are well worthy of reproduction I have not a 
 doubt. To do so in these columns would be cumber- 
 some as well as beyond the issue; I will, therefore, 
 content myself with extracts such as will be 
 sufiBcient to give the reader an idea of the times in 
 which the author lived. It should first be men- 
 Uoa9d that Mr. Wilson, finding that he could not 
 oDtain the relief of Catholics, or bring the Crange- 
 men to justice by the ordinary means at his dis- 
 posal as a magistrate, oppospd as he was by the 
 Messrs. Verner and the Orange magistracy, found 
 it necessary to write to the Secretary of the Lord 
 Lieutenant with full assurance that there his 
 efforts would at least be seconded. An Orange 
 Government wa? in power, however, and an Orange 
 faction directed it. The result was that justice 
 was not obtained, and, as will be seen in the sequel, 
 Mr. Wilson was dismissed the magistracy, it being 
 
 3 
 
 % 
 
118 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 no doubt found that he was a very inconvenient 
 and a much too honest person to administer 
 justice upon the Irish Bench. The fadure cf Mr. 
 Wilson to secure any justice for Catholics, even in 
 cases of murder and robbery by Orangemen, kd to 
 the publicaiion of his correspondence v?ith Govern- 
 ment, which constituted the first pamphle^ (printed 
 in 1807, by John King, 2, Westmoreland Street), 
 and th’s was followed in the following year by a 
 second pamphlet, styled ''A Narrative of the 
 Various Murders and Eobberies committed in the 
 Neighbourhood of the Eelator upon the Eoman 
 Catholics by a Banditti describing themselves 
 Orangemen.’^ 
 
 Taking up the story in the order of events, we 
 first have to deal with the correspondence. It is 
 styled — “ A correspondence between Bicha*'d 
 Wilson, Esq., a magistrate of the County Tyrone, 
 and late member of tl^e British Parliament ; the 
 late Eight Hon. Wm. Elliott, Principal Secretary 
 to his Grace the Duke of Bedford, and the Eight 
 Hon. Geoige Ponsonby, Lord High Chancellor of 
 Ireland, relative to the persecutions of the Eoman 
 Catholics in his district by a certain description of 
 Orangemen, and the manner in which the laws are 
 administered with regard to the former class of 
 people ; with a short introduction in which allusions 
 are made to former communications and conversa- 
 tions which Mr. Wilson had wi^h Mr. Wyndham, 
 Lord Eldon, Mr. Wickham, and Sir Even Nepean, 
 upon the above-mentioned subjects. Invitus ea 
 vulnera attingo, sed nisi tacta tractaque sanari non 
 ^possunt.^’ which simply says it was with unwill- 
 ingness he touched those wounds, but that unless 
 they were touched and handled they could not be 
 healed. 
 
 The author (who it may be stated was related to 
 one of the highest families in the kingdom), in his 
 introduction, admitted that he subjected himself to 
 the resentment of those who might consider them- 
 selves glanced at by ois observations, upon which 
 bead he was perfectly at ease, as he challenged the 
 production of a single instance in his political life 
 of a factious or interested nature. He further — 
 and the italics are not mine — says : — Soon after 
 I had settled in Ireland fifteen hundred young 
 Eoman Catholics, inhabitants of the parish I re- 
 side in, offered, through me, their services to the 
 Government to be employed in any part of 
 Europe, provided I was placed at their head. The 
 address I conveyed to the then Irish Secretary 
 Mr. Wickham ; the answer, however, he wished me 
 to convey to the addresses was to the following 
 
 purport . — That Government had already received 
 from other bodies of the Eoman Catholics many 
 similar offers, but, that, as no decision had as yet bean 
 made upon those previous ones it could not accept 
 of this present one, and, therefore, could only 
 thank the Eoman Catholic inhabitants of Clanfecle 
 for their loyil offers of service, &c. S-^metime 
 after this Mr. Wickham was replaced by Sir Evan 
 Nepean. With that gentleman I was well ac- 
 quaiut<"d, and called upon him in consequence of 
 the following circumstance. A poor diminutive 
 Eoman Catholic tailor saw a huge Orangeman un- 
 mercifully beating an acquaintance of his, who 
 appeared unable to resist him; he implored the 
 Orangeman ’ to spare his friend.” This out ageous 
 provocation, was punished by instanMy attack- 
 ing the little unarmed tailor, whose skull 
 was soon fractured and he was carried off with- 
 out any prospect of his outliving the night. 
 Indeed it would have been happy for the poor 
 wretch if he had died, as he now lives, or rather 
 exists in a state nearly approaching to idiotcy ! 
 A few days after this (and during the time the 
 surgeon who attended the poor man had little or 
 no hopes of his recovery) his savage assailant was 
 seized in my presence as a murderer. Whilst I sent 
 to enquire into the state of the tailor’s health, I 
 committed this alleged murderer to the charge of 
 a constable, who, whilst he was conveying him to a 
 place of safety, was uttaclced by two 0 angemen in 
 nxilitvry dress, who, drawi-ig their swords, and pre- 
 senting a pistol at his breast, swore “ they would put 
 the contents of it into his heart if he did not deliver 
 up his prisoner.*^ The constable was obliged to 
 yield him to them, and he was carried off in 
 triumph ! I applied to the then Commanding 
 Officer of the Benburb cavalry to assist me with a 
 party to seize these fellows; he answered me that 
 *■ he was sure none of the Yeomen would stir, as 
 they were not upon permanent duty.” I do not 
 think, however, he made the experiment ; the truth 
 is, he knew there was a more forcible reason than 
 their not being on permanent duty.” What that 
 reason was the reader may guess, when I inform 
 him that the Benburb Cavalry are to a man, I be- 
 lieve, Orangemen. 
 
 When I related this business to my friend. Sir 
 Evan Nepean, ho appeared both shocked and irri- 
 tated ; he, after mentioning many acts of tyranny 
 within his own knowledge, exercised by the Orange- 
 men against the Eoman Catholics, declared “ his 
 determination that nothing on his part should be left 
 untried to bring these villians to punishment he 
 
niSTOTJT OP ORANOEISM. 
 
 119 
 
 desired me, “ on my return to the country, to trans- 
 mit to him the necessary documents, with the de- 
 position of t'he constable, &c., &c., in order tliat he 
 mi^ht be enabled to carry into execution his and 
 my wishes/’ I did so, but although I wrote to my 
 right hon. friend three cffieiil and as mony private 
 letters, from that day to this (the 12th December, 
 1806) I never heard one syllable from him upon the 
 subject, ncr was ever a single step taken to punish 
 the agressor or his rescuers ! Here ends my inter- 
 course with the late Irish Administra+icn. I shall 
 now proceed to my correspondence with the present 
 one. I must, however, just observe, by-the-bye, 
 that at this very a man of respectable rank 
 
 in life is assisted by two magistrates (one of them 
 bred an attorney) in opposing my execution of 
 the law, when he himself absolutely irsisted upon 
 my punishing poor people vho violated it through 
 ignr ranee, and the supreme conduct of the acting 
 magistrate of the district — one of the above-nien- 
 iioned two !” 
 
 His CO respondence with Mr. Elliot, the Chief 
 Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant was based 
 upon a statement contained in a letter 
 bearing date 11th April, 1806, from the Eev. 
 Dr. Con well, parish priest of Dungannon and Killy- 
 man, relative to the persecution and ruin of one 
 Constantine O’N’eill. The Eev. Dr. Conwell’s letter 
 ran as follows ; — 
 
 “ Dear Sir, — Constantine O’Neill, the bearer, is 
 an honest, industrious man, who has often suffered 
 great injury, but bas been totally ruined within 
 this week past. It was heretofore useless for him 
 to make application for redress, for Government 
 was considered as encouraging these proceedings 
 for political purposes, which was evidently the case 
 But from the great providential change that has 
 happened lately, and from the consideration that 
 no wise policy can direct apathy or encouragement 
 of such n easures at present I now begin to think 
 that the men who have been ruining this country 
 by fire and sword these ten years would now 
 experience a check. This poor man was a hatter by 
 trade, and lived by his honest earnings, and was 
 every way independent, for he was out of debt and 
 had saved some money. But on Saturday night, 
 which was a meeting night of the Orange lodge, 
 this banditti, who are generally Yocmea, and 
 armed, came to his house, which was 
 a thatched cabin, burned it, and all his 
 property to ashes, except what w as carried 
 upon their backs. They fired several times at him- 
 self and his wife, who both providentially escaped 
 
 witli thejr lives, which are all that now rehaains to 
 them, for their wearing apparel were also destroyed. 
 I request you will be so obliging and so charitable as 
 to give him instructions how to be redressed. 
 The magistrites I know ought to be applied to in 
 the first instance ; but this measure will be unavail- 
 ing, for the magistrates abetted these proceedings 
 from the beginning, and this man lives in the 
 County Armagh, and accordingly not within ihe 
 limits of your jurisdiction as a magistrate. Hence 
 your charitable advice is all that is wanted, which 
 I am convinced y< u will not refuse to give him. His 
 sitution in life is too humble for his address to 
 be attended to with effect, /or the mm against whom 
 his charges would he directed are men of some impor- 
 tance as having high authonty, and there is no good 
 to be got from applying to any magistrate except 
 yourself in such cases as this. I have the honour 
 to be with sentiments of esteem and respect your 
 most obedient servant, 
 
 “ Henry Conwell.” 
 
 Mr. Wilson says he examined the bearer O’Neill, 
 and found his narrative so simple and affecting that 
 he without hesitation promised to lead assistance 
 towards prevailing upon seme Armagh magistrate 
 to take his examinations, O’Neill having solemnly 
 assurred him that he durst not apply to any of 
 them lest his apnlication would come to the ears of 
 the Yoemen and Orangemen which would be at- 
 tended by certain loss of his life.” He met 
 O’NeDl by appointment in Armagh, and applied 
 to a Mr. Lawson, J.P., who, though 
 he lived near the scene of the outrage, pretended 
 ignoranc3 of the whole transaction, appeared much 
 astonished, atd advised him t© apply to the barris- 
 ter then sitting. Before there was time to draw 
 up the depositions, the barrister had left the town, 
 and Mr. "Wilson sent O’Neill to the resident magis- 
 trate, who had him turned out of doors, with a 
 threat that he would be kicked out if he did not be 
 off. The resident magistrate afterwards confessed 
 to Mr. Wilson that the reason for his conduct was. 
 
 He could not take examinations against his par- 
 ticular friends the Messrs. Verner ! ! ! ’ 
 
 So far unsuccessful in getting justice done to 
 this poor man, Mr. Wilson transmitted a memorial 
 of O’Neill’s to the Lord Lieutenant’s Secretary, Mr. 
 Elliott, with a letter in which he said, “ I have 
 taken great pains to satisfy myself as to 
 the truth of what is stated in the enclosed 
 papers, and fiom a thorough inquiry into the 
 character of the unfortunate subject of them. I 
 learn that his only crime is that he is a Eoman 
 
120 
 
 HISTORY OF ORANGEISM. 
 
 Catholic, a crime which in tho minds of certain 
 men makes him undeserving' of the protection of 
 the laws. It is with great concern that I feel war- 
 ranted to declare that where an Orangeman and a 
 Koman Catholic are concerned, a most disgraceful 
 partiality in favour of the former governs the pro- 
 ceedings of nine out of ten of the magistrates in 
 the part of the kingdom I reside in. The numbers 
 of affecting incidents of this nature that I met with 
 on my arrival m Ireland (with the earnest en- 
 treaties of the people in my neighbourhood) in- 
 duced me to take out a Commission of the Peace, 
 which from the part I take, has subjected me to 
 great personal fatigue, expense and obloquy. I 
 have, however, the great satisfaction of knowing 
 that I have often prevented tyranny and oppression 
 and to a certain degree tranquilized the district 
 which formerly had contained a nest of villians who 
 harrassed the poor without redress or opposition. 
 . . . I had determined to confine mj self vhiLt 
 
 I remained in Ireland to private efforts towards 
 ameliorating the condition of the oppressed, ir- 
 sulted, deceived, and basely misrepresented 
 people (the Catholics.) Nothing could have 
 induced me to depart from this de- 
 termination but the conviction that jus- 
 tice in its common course could not be obtained 
 by O'Neill. I broke through my resolution with 
 the more reluctance as I had once occasion to treat 
 with some severity the father of the two alleged 
 aggressors (the fathei of the Messrs. Verner) on 
 account of his attempt to prevent the operation of 
 the law — merely because an Orangeman was the 
 delinquent — which marerially affected the public 
 revenue as well as the morals of the people.’' After 
 paying a compliment to the Lord Lieutenant, 
 which, from the ultimate issue, seemed any- 
 thing but justified, he ended by saying, “ I 
 cannot ccnclude this letter without particularly 
 and distinctly declaring that if the system 
 with respect to the Roman Catholics is not ma 
 terially altered, and that the Irish gentlemen (the 
 magistrates particularly) do not adopt very con- 
 ciliatory conduct towards them there cannot exist 
 a hope of cordially attaching them to the Govern- 
 ment, and sure I am if they were properly and 
 humanely treated their hands and hearts would 
 unite to support British independence.” 
 
 The result of this letter was that Mr. Sergeant 
 Moore, one of the Law cflScers of the Crown, was 
 instructed to repair to Armagh for the purpose of 
 fully investigating” the grave disclosures con- 
 tained in O’Neill’s depositions. Sergean t Moore, 
 
 accompanied by Mr. Hamilton, Crown Solicitor, 
 waited upon Mr. Wilson at his residence, Ovvna 
 Lodge, Dungannon, where the sergeant and his 
 companion expressed the same opinions as those 
 contained in the above regarding the treatment of 
 che Catholics by the Orj,ngemen and Orange 
 magistracy, and rtj'gretted that such proceedings 
 on the part of both should be allowed to pass un- 
 punished. Attention should be paid to such ex- 
 pressions of opinion in order the better to 
 understand how far the public and the 
 private conduct of these gentlemen differed. 
 The first day of the icq dry held in Armagh, Mr. 
 Moore seemed anxious t o get at all the facts of the 
 case, and adjourned to visit the scene of the out- 
 rage upon O’Neill (in close proxim'iy to the Verner 
 Mansion), it being understood that Mr, Wilson, 
 would in the meantime, make out a list of all the 
 ‘'inaccuracies” of the local Orange magistrates. 
 Mr. Moore, on his return, refused to receive Mr. 
 Wilson’s written statement, made out at 
 his (Moore’s) own r- quest, and refused to 
 hear further evidence. The cause of this 
 sudden change is thus stated by Mr. Wilson. 
 Mr. Sergeant Moore, after great coitiveness, 
 allowed it to be drawn out of him that on his ar- 
 rival at the appointed place, he called upon the 
 elder Verner in order to learn from that gentle- 
 man how he would get at the particulars of the 
 ov.trage. Mr. Verner kindly undertaking to allow 
 his two sons (who were actually the persons 
 charged with directing the a':'a'‘k on and the burn- 
 ing of O’Neill’s house) to assist in bringing forward 
 evidmce. I his Mr, Moore consented to. In other 
 words he allowed the criminals to select and 
 direct the evidence for the prosecution of them- 
 selves. The result of this inquiry was he found 
 O’Neill’s house was burned at all events, but that 
 it did not transpire who were the cu'prits. Of course 
 not. And if the culprits had bet n discovered the 
 young Verners were less ingenious youths than 
 their father took them for. Upon the singular 
 conduct of Mr. Moore the author comments very 
 strongly, and says he actually did observe to that 
 gentlenan upon the absurdity of employing the 
 offenders to collect evidence to bring them to the 
 gallows. Dr. Conwell who was present expressed 
 the same opinion, upon which this impartial Com- 
 missioner said, " If you want to thrust the two 
 young Mr. Verner’s into jail you certainly are 
 mistaken ; hut that I suppose is the only thing 
 that will satisfy you.” To this Dr. Ccnwell made 
 the very pregnant reply — ” By no means ; that he 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 121 
 
 only wanted such an investigation as might be the 
 means of permitting his people to live in peace, 
 but that it was well known that the inhabitants in 
 Mr. Verner’s neighbourhood stood in such droad of 
 that gentleman and his yoeman and his Orange- 
 men that they would not dare to state anything 
 which could affect him or his party.” The result 
 of such an inquiry may be anticipated. And th 2 re 
 was joy in Israel, and bonfires at Mr. Verner’s ! 
 
 Mr. Wilson had a formal inter^^iew with the 
 Secretary and Chancellor, both of whom declared 
 “ that the conduct of Mr. Sergeant Moore met 
 with the entire approval of Government. As show- 
 ing how corruption had permeated the magisterial 
 body at that time, it may be said that, in the 
 course of the conversation, Mr. Wilson recom- 
 mended the issuing of a new Commission for the 
 entire magistracy of the county as the only re- 
 medy of a grievance, the existence of which the 
 Lord Chancellor admitted. 
 
 The event which led to a renewal of his corres- 
 pondence with Government was an application 
 made to him “by certain Yoemen and Orangemen,” 
 who were unable to get their pay from their 
 officers, and unable also to get any magis- 
 trate to take a matter in hands, which Mr. 
 Wilson, upon investigation, found “ to rest upon 
 grounds which warranted the complaint.” He 
 accordingly wrote to the Chief Secretary 
 (letter dated Ist July, 1806, page 31 of 
 jamphlet) in which he condemned the 
 policy of the Government towards the Catholics 
 and their sanction of Orange outrages upon Catho- 
 lics as a most infatuated one, and saiv? he should 
 “ make one effort more to draw the attention of 
 Ministers to the hourly increasing tyran lies exer- 
 cised against these unoffending creatures.” He 
 then alludes to the significant change in Mr. 
 Moore’s conduct after his visit to Mr. Verner, and 
 closed by stating that since the abortive investiga- 
 tion “ many daring and atrocious violences have 
 been committed against these poor people by a 
 banditti calling themselves Yeomen and Orange- 
 men, who, with arms in theii hands, bid defiance to 
 the law and its ministers,” adding, “ You may be 
 told * I exaggerate ;’ I wish it was not in my power 
 to give repeated instances, and recently, too, of the 
 certainty of this statement.” He then reqnestei 
 to be placed upon the Commission of the Peace for 
 the County Aimagh (upon the borders of which he 
 lived), as before he could get an Armagh magis- 
 trate to back his warrants the culprit was in conse- 
 quence able to escape. This re quest was distinctly 
 
 refused. 
 
 Upon the 12th July of this year Mr. Verner 
 caused great rejoicings in bis neighbourhood 
 amongst the Orangemen by way of celebrating the 
 acquittal of his two sons, and with his consent and 
 approval Mr. Wilson’s effigy, together with that 
 of the Pope’s, were burned. A party of the most 
 rabid ruffians of the locality paraded past his house 
 offering insult and threatening an attack on the 
 return journey. Hearing of their approach the same 
 evening, Wilson, with more bravery than discretion, 
 ventured out alone to request them to proceed by 
 some other route, when the five hundred fell upon 
 him and beat him almost to death, his life being 
 saved only by the interference of a servant of his, 
 who was also an Orangeman. These facts were, 
 together with several subsequent attempts to 
 murder him, brought under the notice of the Go- 
 vernment, as will be seen from the following in- 
 teresting and important letter : — 
 
 “THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM ELLIOTT. 
 
 “Owna Lodge, August 16th, 1806. 
 
 “ Sir, — Five weeks have elapsed this day since I 
 acquainted you with the daring and wanton outrage 
 which had been committed upon me the preceding 
 evening ; and somewhat more than a month since 
 I received your reply to my information, ‘ lamenting 
 that disorderly and tumultuous transaction, with 
 your intention of laying my letter before the Lord 
 Lieutenant.’ Your silence leaving me in ignorance 
 of his Grace’s opinion upon that disgraceful busi- 
 ness, I hold myself justified in demanding why I 
 have not obtained that “ opinion” long before this, 
 peculiarly and dangerou&ly situated as I am ? It 
 rests with you, sir, to show, why justice and 
 humanity should be so far apparently violated as to 
 have their operation withheld in protecting the life 
 of a magistrt)te in the performance of his duty, 
 when the meanest subject is constitutionally en- 
 titled to the prompt, active, and vigorous exertion 
 of them, when either his life or property is en- 
 dangered ? 
 
 “ In consequence of the observation in your letter 
 of the 16th July, I wrote to the Chancellor, * to 
 rectify the error you apprized me of having com- 
 mitted in not applying to his lordship, instead 
 of the Government, to extend my magisterial power 
 to the adjoining County of Armagh.’ In my letter 
 to his lordship I took leave to state, ' that I had 
 been attacked a second time on the 19th of the 
 above-mentioned mon<h ;’ the particulars I did not 
 then, nor shall I now, enter into — the limits of a 
 lettei, indeed, would not permit me,* even was I 
 
 4 
 
122 
 
 HISTORY OH ORINGEISH. 
 
 disposed (which I confess lam not) so to do ; hav- 
 ing much important matter iniependent of what 
 relates to myself, that ought to be submitted so 
 grave a^^d deliberate consideration. When I per- 
 ceive Government disposed to afford that to my 
 communications, I will cheerfully, bub personally, 
 detail them ; in the meantime, I am to observe that 
 I am prepared to prove that the laws (as I, in my 
 first letter to you, intimated) are most partially 
 and carelessly (E wish to speak mildly) ad- 
 ministered with regard to the Roman Gatholics — 
 that I have instances, within these few days, of 
 robbers, assassins, forgers of bank notes, and public 
 disturbers being protected ; and their prosecutors 
 frightened from following up their complaints — 
 also of examinations being either secreted (tay those 
 who ought to have been brought forward) or with- 
 held from the Clerk of the Crown; or, if given to 
 him, his being prevailed upon not to form bills of 
 indictment upon them ! All this, sir, I say, I am 
 prepared to prove, and call upon the Government 
 to put me to the proof — If I fail (provided I am en- 
 abled to bring forward my witnesses and assured 
 of their personal protection then and hereafter, 
 also that my judges shaU not be prepossessed) let 
 me be held out to the public as the very opposite 
 to what I have dedicated my life to substantiate — 
 a man devoted to its interests, iis happiness, its 
 tranquillity and its freedom ! In my letter to the 
 Chanceller I hinte i that there was an idea rather 
 too prevalent with a great part of the public, that 
 “ Government was either unable or unwilling to 
 protect the oppressed.” If the outrage com- 
 mitted agaiLst me continues unnoticed, and the 
 means denied me of bringing forward the charges 
 I have declared myself to make good, you cannot, 
 sir, be surprised at noy being confirmed in this 
 opinion, not only with regard to the Roman 
 Catholics, but also with respect to those who are 
 bold enough to stand forward as their advocates, 
 and venture to vindicate a conduct, which, instead 
 of procuring the tbanks and support of Govern- 
 ment, has excited a vindictivness which, unless I 
 speedily desert my residence, will not be allayed 
 until I fall its victim ! 
 
 “ The Chancellor not replying to my letter, I con- 
 fess, a good deal puzzles me, as whatever opinion 
 his lordship may please to form of my representa- 
 tions and objects, I cannot bring, myself to believe 
 him deficient in the politeness of a gentleman. — I 
 have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 Richahd Wilson.” 
 
 The result of these communicatioao was that Mr. 
 
 Wilson was told to seek the ordinary mode of 
 remedy open by the law, and was dismissed the Com- 
 mission of the Peace. That “ the ordinary modes of 
 jus4ce” were not open to bim in such cases was I 
 think admitted by the Government sending down 
 Sergeant Moore to investigate O’Neill’s case, and to 
 it no better answer could be given than that of Mr. 
 Wilson that if he put himself t) a couple of hun- 
 dred pounds expense to retain counsel and bring up 
 a horde of witnesses to Omagh he should have for 
 his pains a host of gentlemen to appear to the cha- 
 racter of the accused parties, which would have ob- 
 tained for them expressions of esteem and honour, 
 able acquittal by the jury.” 
 
 So frequent were the attacks now made upon his 
 life that Mr. Wilson drred noo appear outside his 
 door in day light, and in the wh de narrative there 
 is good reason to suppose that this Orange perse- 
 cution — if you would not give it a stronger name — 
 was directed by their leaders, the Verners. He wrs 
 finally compelled to leave the country; — “Nor have 
 I anything now more at heart since my hopes of 
 proving myself a really useful me nber of the com- 
 munity have failed than to q lit a country where 
 oppression and injustice are formed into a system, 
 and where true patriotism meets with obloquy, in- 
 stead of honour, gratitude, and protection.”* 
 
 These disclosures, it must be borne in mind, nave 
 as their author a gentleman of high birth, of edu- 
 cation and of unblemished character ; an ex-mem- 
 ber of Parliament, a magistrate, and Protestant. 
 
 Mr Wilson’s narrative furnishes a striking pioef 
 of how unmixed an evil must be the result of any 
 exclusive combination for the upholding of the 
 ascendancy of a class. An exclusive Catholic Ass:- 
 ciation formed in Ireland now or at any other time 
 in our history, for the sole purpose of upholding 
 Catholic ascendancy, for preserving all the places, 
 honours, and emoluments of the country in the 
 hands of Catholics, for having the Bench, the Bar, 
 and the Senate open to none but Catholics, and for 
 the maintaining of an exclusively Catholic magis- 
 tracy would meet with the strenuous opposition of 
 every intelligent and right-minded man, whether 
 Catholic or Protestant, in the community. If tha^ 
 Catholic association were bound by a secret oath 
 and connected by secret signs and passwords, the 
 evil would be greater and the necessity for its sup- 
 pression in a tenfold degree more apparent. It is 
 a pleasing consideration that in those days, when 
 village despots ruled the land, when honours were 
 
 *Mr. Richard Wilson to ihe Right Hon. Wm. Ellio'.t, 
 Au?. 23, 1 C6. 
 
HISTORY OF ORYNTGErSM:. 
 
 123 
 
 heaped upon men in proportion to their 
 iniquity, when Protestant intolerance wr.s 
 bure to receive reward and favour, there 
 wero some men who, without conceding one io^a of 
 true Protestant principle, could afford to condemn 
 the sway of a faction and despise the means by 
 which they prolonged their int:)’erable reign. It 
 may strike some of my readers as strange, that the 
 Orange Institution has found its bitterest and most 
 determined opponents amongst the ranks of Pro- 
 testantism. Than their own co-religionists no men 
 were more likely so socn to discover how hollo w was 
 the cry Protestant Ascendancy,’* which meant 
 not the triumph of Protestant principles, but that 
 all the good things of the eaith should be showered 
 upon those who made of them an empty profes- 
 sion, without cariag as to their practice. By them 
 it was felt that this boastful Institution was cal- 
 culated to retard Protestantism rpdher than ad- 
 vance it. The very questionable aid which it prof- 
 fered to enforce the survival of the fittest, looked 
 in their eyes not alone as bombast, but as a blas- 
 phemous insinuation of the insufficiency of Provi- 
 de ace. Amongst this class, at present a numerous 
 one, including the vast body of reflecting Protes*^- 
 ants, the Orange Society found even at this early 
 stage of its career many strenuous opponents not 
 ashamed to express their convictions. Of that class 
 the Earl of Grosford was the first exponent. Mr. 
 Wilson followed a di.zen years afterwards, and 
 amply corroborated his statements. 
 
 The entire pamphlet breathes a spirit of hope- 
 lessness on the part of a brave and just man 
 struggling against intolerance without effect. The 
 object for which it was given to the public was ta 
 prove those statements which he was not allowed 
 to substantiate before a Gruvernment inquiry," That 
 there was scarce an outrage, however fiigitious, 
 which could be committed in his quarter of the 
 kingdom agaipst a Koman Catholic, by an Orange- 
 man, that by some means or other did not generally 
 pass unnoticed, but always unpunished to the 
 extent of its enormity ; that in matters of dispute 
 between Eoman Catholics and Orangemen a most 
 disgraceful partiality in favour of the latter 
 governed the proceedings of nine in ten of the 
 magistrates in his district ; that the murderer, the 
 forger, and the felon were, v. hen Orangemen, pro- 
 tected and screened from justice by the Orange 
 magistracy, and bills of indictment suppressed or 
 smothered by Orange officials ; and lastly, that the 
 man who had hardihood sufficient to protect a 
 Roman Catholic subjected himself not only to 
 
 obhquy but to personal danger.” These are grave 
 charges, and the realer will, by a calm perusal of 
 thj following be enabled to see whether they are 
 established by facte. The painful history of Mr. 
 Wilson’s persecution proves but too plainly the 
 latter, which io certiiuly not the least grievous in- 
 diotmeut. 
 
 He first gives the history of a Romau Catholic, 
 a blacksmith, resiling near Dangannoa. During 
 the rebellion he had been arrested on suspicion of 
 making pikes. The two facts combined, a Romxn 
 Catholic and a blacksmith, were in those diysa 
 hanging matter, and the surprise is that he was not 
 summarily disposed of. Reasonable suspicion is 
 likely to have pointed quite the other way, when 
 we fiid that this Roman Catholic blacksmith living 
 in ’98 was not hanged but imprisoned. It should 
 be mentioned tnat he had been ordered to be hanged 
 by a neighbouring Orange magistrate, but the 
 edict was not carried out. There being no proof 
 of guilt he was discharged. The blacksmith’s 
 business was ruined, and he opened a public-house 
 with the proceeds, of which he supp arbed his wife 
 and family. Being cottier to an Orangeman who 
 desired to repossess his house and field, his 
 landlord — seconded by the hanging magistrate 
 before referred to — prosecuted him in the most 
 illegal manner in order to drive him cut 
 of the country. Not succoeding as he desired, 
 he got the magistrate to cancel his licence, then to 
 fine him d610 for selling wichout a licence,he then ar- 
 rested him, then to grant a warrant for the re- 
 covery of the dSlO, and, finally, the landlord became 
 a special bailiff, broke into the house in the absence 
 of the owner, destroyed everything he could cap- 
 able of destruction, and, in his hurry, appropriated 
 five guineas that were carefully placed by. Mr. 
 Wilson, on hearing the facts, granted a warrant 
 for the arrest of the Orange burglar. As the 
 constable, who was charged with the execution of 
 it approached, the landlord judiciously made off — 
 the constable said he dared not follow — and the 
 narrator states he was not a little surprised on see- 
 ing him present himself at his (Mr. Wilson’s) own 
 house " determined that no man should take him. ’ 
 Two stout servants took him into custody, Mr. 
 Wilson made out his committal, and they conveyed 
 him to Dungannon. On the route they met the con- 
 stable who took charge of the prisoner, and 
 conveyed him to the friendly Orange magistrate 
 who liberated him (notwithstanding he was charged 
 with robbery and burglary), on the ground that 
 from " his knowledge of his respectable character 
 
124 
 
 HTSTORY OF OEANGEiSM. 
 
 he was incapable of the crimes.” Mr. 
 Wilson referring to this says — If the prisoner is 
 not foully belied this robbery was a feather to the 
 other crimes which he committed.’^ He says the 
 landlord appeared at the bar in Omagh but that no 
 bill was found against him, and he continues: — 
 “ Q aery, why was this bill of indictment smothered ? 
 The aggrieved parties were Roman Catholics and 
 the aggressors an Orangeman and a Yoeman — re- 
 verse the case ani would the issue have been 
 similar ? I boldly answer it would not.” 
 
 Having thus dealt with the protection of robbers, 
 the author proceeds to justify his assertion regard- 
 inor the cloahing of forgers because they happened 
 to be Orangemen, detailing several glaring cases 
 tlat ‘ame directly under bis own knowledge and 
 quoting the expression of the prosecuting solicitors 
 on the failure of justice in one instance *^that there 
 was no use to attempt convicting at Omagh a man 
 charged with forgery, huwever strong the proofs.” 
 
 In this pamphlet (page 14), the author distinctly 
 charges the .Administration with “ scandalous en- 
 couragement of the abuses he called upon it to 
 redress, by the neglect of its constitutional duty in 
 disregarding representations which he had bound 
 himself to confirm by irrefragable proofs.” In a 
 letter, dated June 12, 1807, to the Chancellor, Lord 
 Eldon, with whom he had been on terms of inti- 
 macy, he warns him that the existence of the Ad- 
 ministration depended ‘ upon its pursuing measures 
 pointed by the reverse of those of the proceeding 
 one, relative to this country, and that it ought to 
 direct its powers to the amelioration of the condi- 
 tion of the lower classes in general, ard the cu“b- 
 ing the licentiousness and piofl'gacy of a set of 
 men who are protected in their oppression of the 
 Koman Cotholic poor.” After bringing many cases 
 of the character he alluded to under the notice of 
 the Administration, he received the curt oflSual 
 reply that the ordinary remedy at law was open to 
 the afflicted paities, a statement which, as I have 
 before remarked, was not founded on fact, seeing 
 that Government had undertaken to supersede 
 it by a commission of inquiry. 
 
 Addressing Lord Eldon as to the policy he should 
 pursue regarding the Catholic people, and the 
 means he should adopt for affording them protection 
 from the armed Orangemen, our author says. — 
 
 “ The con.<5istent language you and most of your 
 friends have held with regard to the Catholic 
 question augurs to me a hope (whatever my private 
 opinion upon that great point may be) that you 
 will leave nothing untried — oh J heaven how have 
 
 I been deceived !) short of yielding it — ‘o conciliate 
 the great body of people interested in it. My intimate 
 knowledge of the real grievances which the lower 
 orders labour under enables me to p unt out the most 
 probably effectual mcaas towards their couciliation. 
 Without a moment’s delay or hesitation you are to- 
 convince the general body of Catholics that though 
 you resist their groat political object, yet you are 
 determine! (I need not observe that I am now 
 speaking of administration when I say you) to 
 afford them every relief short of that j you will free 
 them from the insults of the armed Orangemen ; 
 that you will take care that the law shall in future 
 be administered with vigour, justice, and impar- 
 tiality! juries shall not be packed to screen 
 their oppressors (to my knowledge sometimes their 
 murder»-rs) ; that the magistracy shall be placed in 
 the hands of honourable, just, and independent 
 gentlemen ; that some favourable modification with 
 regard to ty thes shall be adopted ; that the Lord 
 Lieutenant shall take into his councils men who 
 have a thorough knowledge of the state of tha 
 country ; that he shall depute persons (fully com- 
 p4ent to the duty) to pervade every part of the 
 Kingdom, and examine into all sorts of abuses, 
 and report them with boldness and integrity ; that 
 he shall set his face against every species of job- 
 bing! that he shall rid himself ef the swarm of 
 locusts who at present devour the bread of the in- 
 dustrious poor — I mean the Castle Crew who some 
 way or other never fail thrusting themselves into 
 office about the Viceroy, whoever he Cuay happen 
 to be. Gloriously and wisely has my friend availed 
 himself of these hints,as will appear in the following 
 pages.” 
 
 Accompanying this letter he enclosed affidavits, 
 proving that a shocking outrage had been com- 
 mitted upon the person whose cause he had under- 
 taken to lay before the Chancellor. The case is 
 thus stated by him : — “ I sbaU now return to the 
 case I seat the Chancellor for his lordship’s consider- 
 ation. As it is very long, I will extract from it all 
 its material features, leaving the technical rubbish 
 where it ought (o be — on the lawyer’s shelf, 
 M— ’s deposition states that on the 29th of April, 
 1807, after he was in bed, his house was forcibly 
 
 broken open by H Y , accompanied, as he 
 
 verily believes, by his brother-in law, H H , 
 
 both of B C in the Couniy of Tyrone, that 
 
 he was most violently assaulted, beaten, stabbed, 
 and knocked down, and kicked under his 
 
 bed by Y , who, having lighted a candle, robbed 
 
 him of his silver w’atch, breeches, and some money, 
 
HISTOET OE OEANG-EISM. 
 
 125 
 
 with Eeveral other articles, such as shirts, a bed- 
 quilt, wearing apparel to the value of ten pounds 
 
 and upwards, which articles the said T put into 
 
 a sack, whilst his accomplice A (whom he con- 
 
 fidently believes, as aforesaid), assisted and held 
 the candle, after which they made off with the 
 
 plunder, M further deposes that he verily 
 
 believes, from strong circumstances, that S , a 
 
 pedlar who frequented Y *s house, was the man 
 
 who guarded the window without and talked to the 
 robbers. He further says that he has good reason 
 t ) believe that A , sen., of B C — — afore- 
 said was head plotter in said robbery. Said M 
 
 deposed that he had lodged examinations to the 
 above effect, before Mr. F— — , on the 1st of June 
 inst., and that he was prevented from prosecuting 
 said Y and A the last Assizes for the fol- 
 
 lowing reasons : — For fear of his life through the 
 threatening of said Y— — and A— — , and also of 
 
 A , sen., and M , of C ; also from his 
 
 bad state of health through the injuries he had re- 
 ceived when he was robbed ; that he was rather in- 
 duced to withhold his prosecuting the robbers 
 through the flattering speeches and promises of 
 
 A , sen., who said he would free M from 
 
 every fine and trouble that might attend his non- 
 appearance at Omagh, &c., &c., &c. 
 
 Sworn before Richard Wilson, Esq., 
 March 20th, 1807. 
 
 I desire not to be understood as assigning the 
 above affidavit as a ground for troubling the Chan- 
 cellor ; no, I was induced to endeavour to interest 
 bis lordship in this unfortunate man’s behalf on 
 account of the following statement of his persecu- 
 tions through the immediate means of the villains 
 who had abused and plundered him. His state- 
 ment is u^on oath, and sworn before me. It is to 
 the following purport: — That, having been de- 
 ceived through promises of the father of the 
 robbers and his associate, M was thereby pre- 
 
 vented from prosecuting. He attended at the 
 Easter Assizes, and took out a Bench warrant for 
 
 the Slid A (the person who, he verily bslieve", 
 
 was the accomplice of Y , and who had so 
 
 ciuelly abused him) ; that the Clerk of the Crown 
 
 desired him to deliver it to M , of said county, 
 
 to have it executed ; that said M 
 
 refused taking it in the presence of the 
 Rev. Mr. Lowry. (N.B. — Mr. Lowry con- 
 firmed this fact to me). M states he 
 
 was made prisoner on the 30bh of April last by the 
 
 robber himself accompanied by one G who 
 
 hurried him away to jail for a fine as they said of 
 
 £50 for prosecuting the said Y (now turned 
 
 into a constable; a tolerably natural transition^. 
 When on the road they met the above-mentioned 
 
 M ■, the H.C., who gave one of the constables a 
 
 paper and desired him to deliver it to the jailer ; 
 that he veiily believes they had no warrant or order 
 to take him unt.l then, and that he is persuaded 
 they were not constables (indeed I know they are 
 not, for they constantly refused showing deponent 
 their authority for taking him prisoner). He 
 further goes on to state that on the 3rd day of May, 
 inst., he was pressed to take some liquor (by 
 persons whom he had good reason to believe were 
 in the confidence of the parties who had injured 
 him, particularly of A— — , the father of the 
 robbers) ; that he had gone to his bed in prison and 
 slept for some time ; that on his awakening suspect- 
 ing some treachery he examined his pocket end 
 found it bad been picked of the warrant which 
 M—— had refused to take; .that he made great 
 cry of distress but to no purpose; he further 
 deposes that he has good ground to know that the 
 above-mentioned prisoners were the persons who 
 robbed him of his bench warrant againt A — — the 
 younger, &c., &c. 
 
 In another deposition of M ’s, which I sent 
 
 to the Chancellor, he enters into the particulars of 
 the means which were pursued to prevent his pro- 
 secuting the fellows who robbed him ; that he was 
 
 cajoled to go before a magistrate by A , sen., 
 
 and persuaded also by his parish priest, when he 
 said he would give up the prosecution, but that the 
 magistrate can certify he said he did give it up 
 through fear of his li^'e, of this he mentioned many 
 proofs in the various depositions I sent to the 
 Chancellor, bub as I believe I have stated sufficient 
 to prove that this poor old man has been most 
 cruelly treated (with the addition of his lying 
 several months in jail until discharged on 
 account of his poverty) and that examina- 
 tion into his case and into the conduct 
 of the H. C., as weB as the persons concerned in the 
 robbery and assault would not have reflected any 
 discredit upon either the Lord Chancellor’s justice, 
 humanity, or dignity, although his lordship was 
 not the immediate and exact channel through 
 which the investigation should be set on foot. i 
 must not omit that this old man is a Roman 
 Catholic, and that his pfrsecuters and plunderers 
 are of the loyal school of Orangemen. 
 
 I cannot refrain from mentioning a circumstaac 
 which will tend to show the accuracy of the magifc 
 terial gentry of my part of the county, although it 
 
 5 
 
126 
 
 HISTOET OF OEATOEISM. 
 
 took place some months previous to M— — ’s 
 robbery. On the evening of which the Orangemen 
 had made the attempt to assassinate me, 
 (mentioned in my correspondence with the late 
 administration) a very respectable Eoman Catholic 
 ■was driving his cow towards his house, when he 
 was overtaken by a straggling party of the as- 
 sassins who were, of course, extolling their exploit 
 in having nearly murdered Papist Wilson, &c., &c. 
 The man incautiously desired them to speak re- 
 spectfully of a gentleman who had done so much 
 good since his residence in the country. He was 
 immediately knocked down, aud would have been 
 despatched but that some of the party knew him to 
 be a Freemason, and rescued him before tbe spark 
 of life was extinguished. He was, however, beaten 
 most dreadfully, in so much that his life was con- 
 sidered in danger. I was informed of his situation, 
 and not being well enough to go abroad from the 
 abuse I myself had received on the same evening, 
 I advised his brother-in-law, who is a tenant of 
 mine, to go to an M.P., the magistrate who is the 
 agent of the estate the injured man lived upon, 
 bringing with him an authenticated state cf the 
 man’s health, abuse, &c. This was done. The 
 magistrate’s clerk or stewart, although acquainted 
 with the object of their interview with the magis- 
 trate, and of the very precarious state of the man’s 
 health, and that there was but very little hopes of 
 the man surviving any length of time yet the 
 clerk or servant refused acquainting his master as 
 he was then dressing to go to dinner with Lord 
 C ” his employer ! ! ! 
 
 The man, however, did recover. Some of the 
 persons who abused him were sworn to by a person 
 who happened to be on the road, but nothing was, 
 or indeed could be done, for the Orange party to 
 whom this detached one belonged, had commenced 
 a prosecution against me for beating 500 of them, 
 though unarmed and unsupported. Little, there- 
 fore, could be expected from his informing until 
 the issue of the prosecution against me should be 
 known, lest he with equal consistency might have 
 been proved to have commenced the affray, &c. 
 This prosecution, T must observe, still hangs over 
 me, and has been carried on by an open subscrip- 
 tion, under the legal advice of a Mr. Pettigrew, 
 who utrumque 'jgaratas officiates one day as a magis- 
 trate the next as an attorney ! 
 
 I shall now proceed to give a detail of some atro- 
 cous murders and violations of justice — I might 
 say even of the common forms of justice — which 
 have occurred near me since the entrance into 
 
 office of the present Admiaistration. The first act 
 of this kind to which I shall advert was one com- 
 mitted near the town of Ballygawley, a few miles 
 from my house, last spring. I do not mention it 
 as having been occasioned by any party dispute, 
 but as a proof of the laxity of our administration of 
 justice. Two m3n had some altercation in the fair, 
 but it was supposed to be too trifling to predict 
 any serious or future consequences, however, as 
 one of the disputants was returning home, at a 
 little distance from the town, he was overtaken by 
 his adversary, who without saying a word dashed 
 out his brains with, I believe, a spade he had 
 purchased in the fair ! I never learned that the 
 murderer was even put in the way of punishment I 
 I will not insult the understanding or attempt to 
 excite the indignation of my re ader by a com- 
 mentary. 
 
 The next murder I shall relate is still more 
 atrocious in its circumstances as well as more mo- 
 mentous as to the effect which it has produced. 
 
 ' On the 25th December, 1806 (I must here anti- 
 cipate an objection that this murder was commit- 
 ted previous to the present people’s coming into 
 power, by observing that the trial took place just 
 about the time of their entrance into office, and 
 therefore that their predecessors could not be 
 charged with any blame, if there wag any blame in 
 the mode of carrying on the prosecution, or the 
 means which were adopted to obtain an acquittal of 
 
 the murderer), as one D , accompanied by 
 
 one M‘Gr , was returning home after having 
 
 conveyed a young woman to her master’s house, 
 who’had spent the evening with his family, and 
 
 passing by the house of one S , two shots were 
 
 fired at him by S without him or his companion 
 
 having given the smallest provocation to S * 
 
 either then or before, whereupon the deceased went 
 
 forward to S , and declared himself to be 
 
 F. D , and that he was Dr. B ’s servant, 
 
 and that he had no intention to hurt his person or 
 
 property, upon which S opened his door and 
 
 leaning upon the underpart ©f it (being a divided 
 door), fired his third shot which instantly deprived 
 
 D of life. This is the substance of what was 
 
 proved at the inquest, which was held upon the 
 
 body of D . The verdict was wilful murder 
 
 against said S . There were two magistrates, 
 
 one of whom (as he himself informed me) wag for 
 sending the murderer to gaol, but the other in- 
 sisted upon taking the murderer under his own 
 protection until he could get another magistrate 
 Mr. A , of Dungannon, to join him in taking 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 127 
 
 bail— he did so, and the murderer was at large 
 until it was necessary he should appear in the dock 
 at the ensuing assises— he was there convicted of 
 manslaughter, as it appeared to the jury from the 
 testimony of his captain, that he the captain had 
 put the murderer upon his guard shortly 
 before the murder on account of his havi‘'g re- 
 ceived some intimation that a riot was expected on 
 the night that the murder was committed ! ! ! I 
 will only add that the murderer, the magistrate, 
 the witness and I firmly believe most part of the 
 jury were Orangemen, and the murdered man an 
 unfortunate Roman Catholic ! However, th e j udge, 
 
 I suppose, saw into the real state of this nefarious 
 business, and though he could not alter the verdict 
 of the jury, he, I understand, punished the mur- 
 derer as far as he could by imprison- 
 ment, which I have since heard great in- 
 terest has been made to free the murderer 
 from. 1 beg the reader will bear in mind the mode 
 we have of punishing murder in our country, and 
 contrast it with the punishment for an affray which 
 I shall presently advert to, where the convicted 
 party had Orange witnesses, magistrates, and jury 
 to contend with, and was himself, the vile wretch, 
 a Papist. The next murder, or rather murders, for 
 two were perpetrated almost on the same instant, 
 took place on the 30bh day of March last (1807). 
 A man of a most excellent character and inoffensive 
 manners was at the fair of C— , and without even 
 an indicat'on of previous resentment on the part 
 of the assailants, beaten down and stabbed by a 
 
 party of Mr. P ’s yoetnen. He lingered, I 
 
 believe, a day, and expired. A principal in the 
 murder was advised to surrender himself and turn 
 King’s evidence. He did so, but none of the other 
 murderers having been taken (for reasons which 
 may be accounted for through the sworn documents 
 which I shall insert of the murdered man’s brother) 
 he was discharged, and now q uetly enjoys himself 
 under the patronage of hi 5 Grange commander. 
 The deposition of the murdered man’s brother is 
 as follows. He commences it by stating that he 
 firmly believes that due means were not taken 
 towards seizing the murderers of his brother for 
 the following reasons — first, because the magistrate 
 confessed he was acquainted with certain of the 
 murderers against whom examinations were lodged, 
 yet would not grant warrants against more than 
 three of them, whereas seven were sworn against, 
 
 exclusive of W , the Kiog’s evidence j that 
 
 upon application of said brother to the deceased on 
 the 15ih July following the magistrate did the 
 
 grant a warrant against the whole party, dating 
 said warrant as on the 4bh April ; that said magis- 
 trate was heard to say in his office to one B 
 
 (one of the accused persons) that he B might 
 
 go home, as he had enough against him, thereby 
 appearing to caution him to keep out of the way. 
 He further deposes that he believes said magistrate 
 was well acquainted with all the circumstances of 
 the murder, as well as with the persons who had 
 
 committed it, before W the King’s evidence, 
 
 was examined, from what he, said magistrate 
 had observed to deponent upon his appli- 
 cation to him, deposes that sa d magistrate 
 gave directions for the Yeomen to appear who had 
 their arms and clothing to be inspected, yet, to this 
 day the 23rd of July, there never was an inspection 
 of their arms,* though several of the Yeomeu did 
 come in to the magistrates as ordered — that de- 
 posed then applied to another magistiate, brother 
 to the other— for a guard to bake up certain per- 
 sons suspected of the murder j said magistrate 
 positively refused, saying it was nonsense, how 
 could he allow him a guard ? Said magistrate was 
 commander of the Yeomen, many of whom were 
 suspected of the murdtr; said magistrate asked 
 deponent at the same time whom he suspected 
 Deponent replied, his own Yeomen and no others. 
 Deponent afterwards applied to the first mentioned 
 magistrate to sign deponents description of the 
 persons sworn against, in order to have 
 it published in the newspaper ; said mag’s- 
 trate refused, saying it was an odd sort of pro- 
 duction, and he wculd have nothing to do with it j 
 but deponent is persuaded that the magistrate’s 
 objection arose from depouent’s describing the 
 
 person as C Yeomen, with their names and 
 
 occupations. All the persons alluded to deponent 
 believes to be Ormgemen. Depoueat and his 
 brother were Roman Catholics. The above facts 
 I am ready to prove if called upon 
 
 (“Signed) H. M. 
 
 “ Various persons appeared ready to corroborate 
 the above statement and have left their names 
 with me. “ Richard Wilson.” 
 
 The Other murder committed on the same day 
 at the same fair and by the same party, had 
 little to distinguish it from the foregoing, I do 
 no not think it necessary to detail it ; he was also a 
 man of fair character, who had gone to the fair ac- 
 companied by his wife, and niece, and was mur- 
 dered (as api-ears by the confession of one of the 
 party) merely because he was a Papist, and that 
 none of his sect were to escape that night. Several 
 
128 
 
 HISTORY OF ORANQEISM. 
 
 other persons (R. C.’s) were grossly abused on the 
 above day, and who had been prevented from in- 
 forming against the Orangemen (as they positively 
 
 swear) for fear of the sharing the fates of M 
 
 and M‘S . I will insert one deposition to prove 
 
 that the attack upon theB. C/s was a preconcerted 
 
 one. showeth that on the night of the 
 
 30th May, 1807, M . the deceases, was in the 
 
 inn of E of C when W (the King’s 
 
 evidence), and P , with others, came to said inn 
 
 and demanded in a peremptory manner to send or 
 put out the Papists, or that the above mentioned 
 would pull down his sign-board and destroy the 
 
 house. Further, that P on the evening of said 
 
 day drew out a pistol and presented the same at 
 
 W , but was prevented firing it by a young girl 
 
 who Avas in his company.” 
 
 These somewhat startling details are interrupted 
 by the insertion of a correspondence between the 
 author and the Lord Lieutenant relative to the 
 dismissal of Mr. Wilson from the magistracy. He 
 seems to be a man vo»’y much given to calling a 
 spade “ a spade,” for without the slightest attempt 
 at inuendo he charges the Government for this act 
 with direct complicity in the crimes which he 
 attempted to prevent ; that they objected to his 
 endeavours to serve the great mass of the afflicted 
 Roman Catholics, then suffering at the hands of 
 the Orange faction, and warned them that this act 
 would be construed by those most intimately con- 
 cerned as having originated in principles hostile 
 to their interests and protection.” From his 
 narrative it would seem that this must, 
 indeed, have been a trying time upon any person 
 who ventured to raise his voice in favour of the 
 afflicted. Not alone was Mr. Wilson’s property 
 pillaged, his person insulted, and his character 
 villified by a paper “ notoriously in the pay of the 
 Orange faction but attempts upon his life were 
 applauded, and public rejoicings recommended 
 for Richard Wilson, Esq., of Owna Lodge, having 
 been deprived of the po^er of any longer commit- 
 ting acts ot injustice and oppression,” with 
 acknowledgments of gratitude to the Lord Chan- 
 cillor for Lis removal of him.” This, which at such 
 a time, and under such circumstances, meant 
 neither more nor less than an organised attack 
 upon Mr. Wilson, an attack likely to end in blood, 
 calls forth the following exclamation from the 
 author : — “ Merciful God ! I an oppressor ! If in 
 my min’stryone single act of oppres.sion, injustice, 
 or partiality appears— nay, on the contrary, if my 
 accusers can shew that I ever even omitted an oc- 
 
 casion to prevent oppression, restrain violence, and 
 promote tranquillity, then I will confess that the 
 Chancellor and those who advised the late mea- 
 sures are justly entitled to the eulogy of the Orange- 
 men of Tyrone, and the gratitude of the country.” 
 It may be, he added, that his removal from the 
 Justiceship of the Peace discloses a piece of poli- 
 tical duplicity seldom equalled. All his demands 
 for an opportunity to justify his conduct were 
 refused, 
 
 Mr. Wilson’s personal sufferings at the hands of 
 the Orangemen are thus partially recounted by him- 
 self : — A person whom I had employed by contract 
 early in the summer of 1806 to make some altera- 
 tions and repairs in my house, having for near a 
 year and during the whole of the ensuing winter 
 neglected to finish the work he had begun (and 
 thereby occasioned considerable injury, not only to 
 the house itself, but also to the furniture through 
 the defective state of the gutters), I found myself 
 obliged, after repeated efforts to get him to finish 
 his job, to commence an action against him for 
 breach of contract and the injury I had sustained, 
 both with regard to my furniture, as also with 
 respect to my less in not being able to advertise my 
 place fi r a tenant, which last was my principal view 
 in the repairs and altera' itns I had contracted with 
 him to c implete. Alarmed at this step, he began 
 about the middle of last summer to proceed in the 
 repairs, &c. After various delays, he at last told 
 some of my servants that he had finished. Upon 
 examining, however, I found that no one part of 
 Lis contract was completed, and that the rain still 
 made its way through the leads of the gutters. 
 However, I sent him a message that I was ready to 
 have the work examined by proper and competent 
 judges and then submit to them the injury I had 
 received through his neglect, leaving them finally 
 to settle the business, and in the meantime I would 
 withnold my prosecution, &c. Instead of comply- 
 ing with this offer, he consulted an attorney who 
 he knew had before succeeded (by means which, 
 for the sake of some persons whom I venerate, 
 I will forbear to state) in obtaining a verdict 
 against mo for a claim of a person whom 
 I had never any dealings with, and who I proved 
 had confessed he had no demand whatever upon 
 me, having entered upon the work about my place 
 before I had settled in the kingdom, upon the 
 credit of my steward, to whom only he should look 
 for payment. This steward, however, having fled 
 the kingdom (oii acccunt of frauds cemmitted 
 against others as well as me), he had been advised 
 
HISTOET or ORANGEISM. 
 
 129 
 
 to make his claim upon me. I mention this ciicum- 
 stance to give an additional weight to any de lara- 
 tion of false debts being sworn against me. I couM 
 give several more instances, but this one, I trust, 
 will be considered as sufficient to establish the fact. 
 The measure fas the man himself toM me) he was 
 advised to pursue to get payment of his bill was to 
 arrest me. Accordingly, two fellows forced past 
 the servant who had opened the door to them, ard 
 made into my study, where I was writing. Seeing 
 a man with a most savage countenance bursting 
 open the inner door of the room, I was immediately 
 struck with the idea that he came to assassinate 
 me (repeated attempts having been made with that 
 intent). I instantly se’zed him by the throat, and 
 certainly had nearly choked him, but upon his tell- 
 ing me that he was a bailiff and come to arrest me, 
 and another man at the moment coming to his 
 assistance, I let him go. I rung my bell, and the 
 servant who attended was threatened with instant 
 death if he did not quit the room, two 
 pistols being held at his head. I implored 
 the officers not to injure the man, my only 
 object being to send him for persons who 
 would be answerable for the supposed debt, 
 (they having at first consented that they would be 
 sati- fied with security till T could give bail). Two 
 of my tenants, men of substance, soon after were 
 brought, but the bailiff’s tone was changed : — No, I 
 must either pay the money or go to gaol. Upon 
 this I requested them to permit me to send to Dun- 
 gannon to the sheriff, as my state of health (not 
 having been beyond my own gate for near five 
 months), was rather delicate, and riding then 
 might be attended with the most dangerous conse- 
 quences. After some objections, this request was 
 complied with, and I sent my groom to Dungannon 
 with a note to a friend there to secure the sheriff in 
 a debt of <£49. About this time a servant of mine, 
 to whose gallantry and fidelity I twice before owed 
 my life, came into the room. As soon as he appeared 
 the man who was the chief spokesman of the 
 bailiffs addressed himself to him as follows. — (I 
 am to entreat the readers will pay due attention to 
 this eonveroation, for I have entered into this cir- 
 cumstantial detail chiefiy upon its account ) 
 
 Pray, Mr. Moore, are not you an Orangeman ? 
 
 Moore — I am. 
 
 Bailiff — Then I desire sir you will leave this room, 
 you have no business here. 
 
 Moore— I will not leave the room — 1 am doing 
 no harm, nor mean any, aud I think it my duty to 
 remain with my master placed in the situation I 
 
 see him in. 
 
 Bailiff — Tf you do not go when I order you I tell 
 you jou are a perjured man and no Orangeman. 
 
 Moore — I am an Orangeman, and do not think 
 I act unworthy of one |ia staying to protect, if 
 necessary, a master who bas been a father to me 
 and my family. 
 
 Bailiff — Well, you shall answer for this another 
 day. 
 
 Moore did not leave tha room, nor did the bailiff 
 again insist upon it. In the courie of conversation, 
 sometime after the bailiff observed, on my making 
 a remark upon the baseness of tte attack upon me, 
 that 1 had brought it upon myself, for it was uni- 
 versally allowed I was the best and justest magis- 
 trate in the county, and this would never have 
 happened if I had not fallen out with Colonel (so 
 tbe bailiff denominated that gentleman) Verner 
 and protected the Papists ! ! Though I had before 
 suspected the motive that had induced the advice 
 which made the tradesman adopt this method of 
 getting payment of an unjust demand, and to stop 
 my prosecution of him I was now convinced. In 
 the meantime the second-bailiff had been collecting 
 some Orangemen about the house, armed with 
 swords, &c. As soon as they conceived there was 
 no danger of their being overpowered (in case of 
 their attempting any abuse of my person), I was 
 told that I must prepare to set off to Dungannon, 
 as it would soon be dark, and that possibly a rescue 
 might be attempted. I observed that there was 
 not time yet for the servant to go to Dungannon 
 and return, even though the sheriff and my friend 
 should happen to be in the way, which. possibly 
 might jnot be the case, as there was a fair at Moy, 
 where most of the people in business attended. 
 I said it was impossible for me to go to 
 Dungannon without risking my life, un’e^s I had 
 a carriage, as I was not able to put on a boob, to 
 say nothing of my catching cold from the damp- 
 ness of the evening, and my not having for 
 several months ventured abroad. To this 
 was answered — that that was not their 
 affair. If I could not walk, which he 
 did not see but I was very we'l able to 
 do, they would get me a horse, but go I must. 
 They accordingly sent one of their attendants for 
 a horse. As soon as the horse was procured, my 
 room was filled with their attending Orangemen. 
 I was ordered to get up and quit the house. I re- 
 monstrated again, and told them that I would not 
 be accessory to my own death, which I conceived I 
 should be if in my state of health I encountered the 
 
 6 
 
130 
 
 IIISTOHY OF ORIYOETSM. 
 
 night air, ani, therefore, though I would mxke 
 no resistence, yet I would not move, and that if I 
 must go they shouM carry me. I will not vindi- 
 cate my mo3e of reasoning at that time ; others 
 have condemned it, and, perhaps, they may be 
 right. I, however, thought otherwise. Upon this 
 the chief bailiff ordered me to be taken off my chair* 
 I was then placed upan the carpet, and two of the 
 sava jes seized me by the feet and dragged me 
 through the adjoining room, hall, and down the 
 stone steps, with my head beating upon the ground 
 as they proceeded (for no one was permitted to 
 touch me but those persons who dragged me by 
 the heels). I was then laid upon the wet grave^ 
 upon the terrace, my clothes from the dragging 
 having lef o my back quite uncovered, where I re- 
 mained for at least twenty minutes, until a ser- 
 vant, who was acquainted with one of the assist- 
 ants, prevailed upon him to allow me to sit on a 
 chair, which had been brought out in the meantime* 
 My faithful orange servant was imploring the 
 bailiff to let me return to the house, and he would 
 instantly send for a carriage to carry me to Dun- 
 gannon, appealing to him as a man and a Christian 
 not to murder me, which most likely he would do 
 if he insisted upon me going to Dungannon such 
 an evening (it was then raining). All was in vain. 
 Four pistols were held at his breast, which, with 
 horrid imprecations, they swore should be fired 
 into it if he offered to lay a hand on me, as there 
 were enough present to prove he meant to rescue 
 me. I called out to Moore, for his own sake as 
 well as mine, to make no further efforts to protect 
 me from those men. Their object was plain that 
 they only wanted an excuse to murder me, which 
 they would find in what they might call a rescue ; 
 that my death one way was certain, in the other by 
 God’s assistance it might be preserved. Moore 
 upon this ceased to interfere further than by en- 
 treating leave to have a horse of my own prepared, 
 which with great reluctance was permitted. I was 
 then mounted and, attended by a strong guard, 
 carried off. When we came to a village upon the 
 road entirely inhabited by Orangemen, one of the 
 bailiffs who was next me called out '* Now, see this 
 is for your conduct to the Orangemen.” The motive 
 for this remark at that spot was obvious, but it failed 
 of its object, for not one of the inhabitants showed 
 even the appearance of exultation, much less made 
 use of a term of abuse ; on the contrary, I perceived 
 rather an expression of sorrow at the treatment I 
 was receiving, ^’his I think a tribute due to the 
 villagers. Ujoon our arrival in Dungannon, I 
 
 asked the bailiff’s parmisoion to go directly to the 
 Sher'ff s house, as it wa=5 late, and the only hope I 
 had of being preserved from the effects of the rain 
 and cold would be by getting home as soon as pos- 
 sible. The answer was completely of a piece with 
 what had before taken placC'-'^No, by God; I’ll 
 leave you in the ptcperest place for you, the body 
 of the j lil.” I said, as he liked, and turned my 
 horse to the prison. Upon entering the prison, to 
 the honour of the jailor be it toli, he appeared 
 shocked at the treatrae it he understood (from the 
 servant who had attended me) I had received, and 
 tamed the bailiff instantly out of the room. He 
 went off immediately to the Sheriff, saying he was 
 convinced tne Sheriff knew nothing of the situa- 
 tion I was in, &3. In as short a time as possible, 
 he returned expressing his regret that the Sheriff 
 was not to be found. However, he at once proved 
 that he possessed, whatever his superior 
 did, humanity, and liberated me, upon 
 a most worthy and truly respectable 
 friend cf mine (a Q taker) saying he would be 
 answerable fjr my appearance, but had n )t this 
 friend interfered, I feol perfectly convinced the 
 jailer would not have detained mi a moment after. 
 I had warmed myself by an excellent fire, which 
 his wife placed me before. I then got on my horse, 
 attended by my two servants, and rode home as 
 fast as I could. T confess, I thought that the con- 
 secpiences would be very fatal, but so far from the 
 effect this out’-age threatened, I have been daily 
 geTing strength, and am at this momeni-j (Dec. 14) 
 in better health than I was for six months before, 
 though I have taken up too much of my pamphlet 
 already with this attack upon my life, I am per- 
 suaded that was more the object of the adviser? of 
 i% than the forcing an unjust debt for a knavish 
 tradesman, although I am far from soying that, too, 
 had not its share, as the ruining me in a pecuniary 
 way has long been, with success, resorted to (of 
 which I shall have occasion to hint at one or two 
 more instances before I conclude yet, I have a few 
 more words to add upon the above business which 
 are not altogether unimuortant, ai th-^y will tend to 
 corroborate the opinion already expressed of the 
 motives of my persecutors, 
 
 On the day appointed to give bail to the sheriff 
 I attended with tw )of my tenants as my securities, 
 whom I had fixed upon as they were the fathers 
 of two of my domestic servants. One of them 
 I had a freehold worth a profit rent of ^£25 per 
 1 annum for his life, the other one of £lo, also for 
 1 his life; I confess I imagined these were sufficient 
 
^HUSTORY OP ORl^^GEtSM. 
 
 131 
 
 securitiefa for a debt of £4i). I was Laistaken. The 
 sheriff said he did not know them (ne knew me, 
 however, very well) and he must take care of him- 
 self, the men replied that he ou^bt to know them, 
 for he himself had registered thtir freeholds, and 
 if he wo aid look at his books he would be con- 
 vinced. No, that would not do, I must get some- 
 body else. I accordingly sent for my friend the 
 Q'laker, the sheriff having also refused the secu- 
 rity of an officer settled in Dungannon, a man of 
 the most honourable character (but in that town 
 unfortunately of a most independent mind). I very 
 well knew that though my friend would willingly 
 pay the money, if necessary, yet that he did not 
 like entering into any legal disputes. However, as 
 there was no alternative but my going to jail, he 
 signed the bail bond for which the sheriff, or 
 rather under-sheriff, thought proper to demand 
 two gu’neas, which I paid him. I had before, as 
 may readily be believed, satisfied his jailor. I 
 leave it in the hands of the under- sheriff’s supe- 
 riors to examine into that. I shall now finish this 
 detail by stating that the two bai’iffs, all their as- 
 sistants, and the under-sheriff, were Orangemen. 
 The latter, indeed, is in a high office amongst them, 
 I learn. Grand Seeretary.” 
 
 Mr. Wilson continues — Though I think I might 
 rest my declarations upon what I have already 
 stated, yet I will take leave to detain the reader a 
 little longer by acquainting him with our mode of 
 hearing cases and deciding upon them at our 
 solemn sessions meetings. Before I begin this part 
 of my narrative, I am to entreat the reader to be 
 assured that I do not mean to make refleetions upon 
 the private honour of our magistrates or to throw 
 out a hint that they may not be, as far as I know 
 excellent husbands, fathers, &c., and faithful 
 stewards to their masters, hut this I cannot help 
 thinking, that gentlemen, however mentally en- 
 dowed or independent they miy be in their for- 
 tunes, who accept of the office of a steward and 
 have large estates to manage are not the prcperest 
 persons, if only for that reason, to regulate (at such 
 times as these particularly) the policy of the 
 country, and it is a certain truth that there is not 
 one magistrate within several miles of my house, 
 with the exception of my Lord Northland (now I 
 have bf^en dismissed), who is not either the steward 
 of some absent possessor of an estate, a practising 
 attorney, or retailing shopkeeper, and that every 
 man of them, as far as I can learn, are afc the head 
 o', or belonging ti., yeomen ccrps and Orange 
 parties. 
 
 The author then proceeds to detail the particu- 
 lars of a correspondence which took place between 
 himself and Lord Northland, in reference to a 
 coirm ttal issued by Mr. Wil on against a cele- 
 brated Orangeman, who had been gudty of a dis- 
 graceful crime, which was one of a long calendar 
 of similar offences. Lord Northland used the 
 significant expression, on learning of the incarcera- 
 tion of his brother, thit “ he (Mr. Wilson) would 
 never have it in his power to imprison a maa 
 againj” His Lordship indirectly denied the charge 
 of hav.'ng used the expression, and to prove that 
 he did use it, Mr. Wilson produced numerous affi- 
 davits, which placed the matter all but beyond 
 doubt. He next narrates the usual course of pro- 
 cedure by the Orange magistracy sittting in Petty 
 Sessions, when a case in which an Orangeman and 
 a Catholic were opposed ao each other. The 
 Catholic was invariably a perjurer and a ruffian, 
 and the Orangerran a model of truth and magna- 
 nimity. 
 
 “What! would you believe what that rascal would 
 say ? I never saw such an ill-locking dog in my 
 life,” were the phrases he has heard addressed to 
 Roman Catholic witnesses. In short, from his 
 narrative it would appear that inside, as well as 
 outside ohe Courts of Justice the Catholic was by 
 the Orangeman regarded as an outlaw, beyond the 
 paie of the law, and deserving no protection from 
 it. 
 
 I am tempted to apologise to the reader for hav- 
 ing thus so extensively quoted from this pamphlet. 
 The interesting statements it contains, and the 
 hope of not having them altogether lost to history, 
 is, I think, an ample excuGe. Mr. Wilson con- 
 cludes 
 
 “I shall now conclude with showing tlat the 
 hostility of the Orangemen to me did not altogether 
 arise from my falling out with Mr. Verner (I beg 
 his pardon, Colonel Verner), and protection of the 
 Papists. It had, if possiLle, a more irreconcilable 
 ground, powerful as these others would have beea. 
 I refused becoming a member of their body ! This 
 I am the rather led to trouble the reader with a 
 mention of, as sorre pains have been taken (amongst 
 other equally true motives which have been as- 
 signed for the line of conduct I have pursued 
 since my residence in Ireland, such as dis- 
 appointment, a desire of becoming the head 
 of a party, &;c.) to account for my resent- 
 ment against them, because they retused 
 to admit me amongst them. Before I enter upon 
 this part of my subject I must take leave to set 
 
132 
 
 HTSTOUT OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 the repectihle part of tue Orangemen right with 
 regard to my gentimentsof them. I am, therefore, 
 to observe that Oringemen who aet up to the 
 principles which were assigned for theii original 
 institution have my most u’^qualifisd respect and 
 approbation : but when I see these principles de- 
 generating into party, and the ins^ituion made a 
 plea for cruelty, inj ntice, and oppression : when I 
 see a set of narrow-minded men, of mean extrac- 
 tion and vulgar manners, without education or any 
 one qualification to entitle them 'o distinction, save 
 what the strange caprice offirtune has bestowed 
 upon them ; when I snyl see such men misleading 
 the Government for the purpose of ingratiating 
 themselves with it, affeefng to take a lead encourag- 
 ing a splric of discord amongst the lower classes 
 under the pretext of loyalty j harrassing, persecu' ing 
 four-fifths of the population of the country, and | 
 not only paralysing its great physical strength but I 
 as it were forcing it into a rebellion as its last re 
 fuge for preservatim— then, indeed, to such 
 Orangemen am I a p-ofessed and irreconcil ible 
 opponent. I am now to show tbe reader how well 
 founded the charge of the Orangemen is of their 
 having refused tc admit into their soe'ety. A 
 lev. genlleman, who is at the head of the Northern 
 Orange district — I really forget the t't^e which dis- | 
 tinguishes his office — but we will call it president, j 
 having heard me frequently mention acts of atro- 
 city committed in my neighbourhood by men who 
 described themselves as Orangemen, wished to 
 gi^e an opportunity of judging of the respecta- 
 bility of that bedy by dining with him at the next 
 general meeting in Dungannon. To this invitation 
 I Very readily acceded, and accordingly attended j 
 him at the next quarterly Orange dinner. With j 
 the exceptivm of the rev. gentleman himself, the ! 
 secretary (’he person before mentioned as the pre- ! 
 sent under Sheriff cf Tyrone), and one other person^ I 
 I never had even seen any of the company. Aft'-r ; 
 the cloth was removed and the usual toasts were j 
 drunk, a gentleman at the lower end of the table 
 rose up and in the name of the company begged 
 leave to return the president thanks for his having 
 introiuced Mr. Wilson ta the meeting which wonl I 
 he proud to receive Mr. Wilson amongst them as a 
 member, and, therefore, hoped he (M»*. Wilson) 
 would permit him to propose him as such, per- 
 suaded that then there would not be one. dis- 
 sentient vo'C'. I confess I was a good deal 
 starUed at this address, for it was entirely unex- 
 pected. However, 1 recollected myself sufficiently 
 to reply to the following pu*-port that I felt much 
 
 honoured by the mark of respect intended me. I 
 was, however, obliged to dechne availing myself of 
 it as I had, for reasons which it was not then ne- 
 cessary to exp’a'n, formed a determination 
 ne-er to enter into any party or political asso- 
 ciation whatever. After some expressions of regret 
 oa the part of the proposer and a hope that I might 
 be induced at a future period to break thiough my 
 re olution from a more intricate knowledge of the 
 national beaefils arising from the Orange institu- 
 tion, the rev. president observed that he would 
 expect to see me at their next dinner, of which he 
 would give me timely notice how the matter rested. 
 The rev. president, however, did not remind me of 
 his invitation. I trust the reader is satisfied that 
 my hostility to the Orange system did not arise 
 from having been refused the honour of hfc^ming 
 one of its members. I must say a word or two 
 about the rev. gentleman whose guest I had been 
 at the Orange dinner. Oar acquaintance com- 
 menced at the houses of two of the most particular 
 friends I had in Ireland. The rev. gentleman was 
 good enough to honour me with some marks of dis- 
 tinction ; he even invited himself to partake of my 
 humble hospitalities, yet at the very moment of 
 friendly intercourse this rev. gentleman, forgetful 
 of the duties imposed upon him not only by his 
 presen'- but former profession, descended to become 
 the associate in calumniating me with one of the 
 most despicable reptiles that ever disgraced the 
 clerical function ! Of the former rev. gentleman I 
 will say no more. My affectionate regard for those 
 persons through whom I became acquainted with 
 him withholds further allusion to the rancour, 
 I duplicity, and direliction of honour which he has 
 j exhibited in his persecution of me. Of the reptile 
 i it would, indeed, have been a degradation 
 ! to havtj noticed him at all. His wretched 
 I phillipic I should have disdained to not'ce, tad it 
 ; not been calculated (and unhappily but too well 
 i succeeded) to ruin an unfortunate person and 
 tnree children whom humanity, honour, religion 
 and morality ought to have taught him to pity and 
 protect. 
 
 *'It is now necessary for me to wind up my nir- 
 rative, I cannot, however, conclude it without 
 slightly adverting to some other instances of out- 
 rages committed against the Roman C ilholics by 
 the Orangemen, which these wretched victims of 
 oppression dared not f pply to the laws for redress 
 of. O’Neill (the man who was the cause of my 
 correspondence with Messrs. Elliot and Ponsonby), 
 was lately attacked on a market day in the streets 
 
HISTORY OR OBANGBISM. 
 
 133 
 
 of Dungannon by a party of Oran/emea, who beat 
 him altnoat to death. I understand that they 
 thought they had killed him. The person who in- 
 formed me of this co staidly attack was himself an 
 Orangeman but not one of the assailants. He also 
 confessed that O’Neill had not given any sort of 
 offence then to the partj — the beating had been 
 long promised him, and he was well off in escaping 
 with his life. I have reason to believe that O’Neill 
 has not dared to apply for redress, experience hav- 
 ing shown him that legal interference only in- 
 ert a >ed his calamities. A young man who formerly 
 lived in my service (and lately returned to it), .vas 
 in the course of last Summer overtaken by a party 
 of Orangemen as he was returning home to his 
 father’s. They askei if he had not lived with that 
 rascal. Papist Wilson. He replied he had, and was 
 idiot enough to speak of me in terms of respect. 
 The consequence was that they fell upon him, and 
 had not some people appeared at a short distance^ 
 there is little reason to doubt of his sharing the 
 fate of his brooher Catholics, who were but shortly 
 before murdered at Caledon. Since I left the 
 country I have heard that a tumultuous aasembly 
 of Orangemen, on the 5th inst., had endeavoured to 
 provoKe the Roman Catholics to some act of violence 
 by insulo and invective, but as this proceeding was 
 described to have happened in a neighbourhood 
 which, on O’Neill’s memorable trial in Armagh, 
 appeared to be a quiet and respectable one, through 
 the conciliating manners and undeviafng exertions 
 of Colonel Verner and his sous to prevent all party 
 disputes and distinctions, I am apt to think that 
 my information is eYioneous. However, I do know 
 that, notwithstanding the efforts of that truly 
 patriotic and conciliating gentleman, yet a most 
 scandalous outrage was committed since O’Neill’s 
 trial by some of his Orange friends, who destroyed 
 a part of the chapel of Dr. Conwell, situated in his 
 vicinity. 
 
 It is a matter of some consolation to me, though 
 a very melancholy one, to find that others feel 
 themselves warranted to speak not only hardly of 
 Orangemen in their private capacities, but also in 
 their judicial ones. A learned gentleman lately 
 accounted for the acquittal of an Orangeman 
 (who had been proved to be a most 
 abandoned villian as well as robber) through 
 his being acknowledged by an Orangeman to 
 be an Orangeman, and from his having the good 
 fortune to be tried by a jury of twelve Orangemen. 
 I myself was a witness of a similar instance where 
 a set of Orangemen were acquitted of a most 
 
 wanton assault upon a Roman Cathclic, they after- 
 wards, through a direct perjury, had the imfortu- 
 nate injured party put upon his trial when, by a 
 dexterous manoeuvre in getting an Orange friend 
 upon the jury, they absolutely convicted the un- 
 happy real sufferer. His punishment, indeed, was 
 not very severe, from the circumstance, I am 
 thoroughly convinced, of there being two Orange- 
 men implicated with him in his supposed trans- 
 gression. 
 
 “ I mast mention one more proof of the impunity 
 with which Orangemen or Yoemen may commit 
 the most atrocious offences. A poor man in the 
 parish of Killy man was nearly murdered and rob- 
 bed of a three-guinea note by one of these villians. 
 I took the man’s examinations. He said he could 
 only know the thief by his voice, as it was dark, 
 but that he had no doubt of his being the person 
 who abused and robbed him. However, he, a few 
 days after, was thoroughly convinced by the thief 
 h'mself who came to his cottage whilst he lay 
 without hopes of life, and told him that if he 
 offered to swear against him he would finish the 
 work he had begun and murder him outright. The 
 man was too ill to go to the ensuing assizes. In the 
 meantime the robber entered in the artillery corps 
 of Charlmont, and was sent of to Dublin. 
 
 ** I will Inot exhaust the patience or irritate the 
 feelings of the reader with but very few instances 
 more of the vindictiveness of my, as well ae the 
 Roman Catholic persecutors. 
 
 *‘I must mention one instance more of the 
 candour and liberality which the directors of the 
 Dungannon newspaper exhibited against me. Ic 
 was stated in this print that Dr. Conwell was 
 making a collection to support me for my exertions 
 in favour of the Roman Catholics. As I have not 
 seen that gentleman for at least these eight months, 
 nor have had any sort of communication with him 
 on any subject relative to Catholic persecution, I 
 cannot pretend to say what steps he may have pur- 
 sued towards enabling me to bear up under the 
 calamities I have subjected myself to through my 
 endeavours to prevent it. That rev. gentleman is 
 now called upon by me to prove cr disprove the fol- 
 lowing statement. la consequence of the various 
 expenses I had been vexatlously harassed with, I 
 certainly did apply to Dr. Co iwell and three or four 
 other persons of respectability 'to borrow for me a 
 few hundred pounds on the most unquestionable 
 security only. I made my application to him par- 
 ticularly and his friends, having reason to know 
 that in consequence of the prominent part I had 
 
 7 
 
134 
 
 HISTOEY OP OEANGEISM. 
 
 taken n the Catholic cause I had no chance what- 
 ever of obtaining a loan through a Protestant 
 channel. I will do Dr. Con well the j ustice to ac- 
 knowledge that I have reason to believe that he 
 used his endeavours to procure me the loan. That 
 he failed I had fatal experience to know. This cir- 
 cumstance, whieh I certainly took no pains to 
 conceal, gave occasion to the Orange directors of 
 the Dangannon paper to distort it in the manner 
 above recited. In alluding to a false representa- 
 tion, I feel myself called upon to relate a true one. 
 
 A short time after Dr. Conwell’s disappoint- 
 ment to assist me, one of my own tenants sent me 
 a message that he wished to speak to me on par- 
 ticular business. When the man came into the room 
 he drew out of his pocket a canvass bag as it ap- 
 peared to me(and as it really was) filled with money 
 and notes, he said that the poor people in the 
 country hearing of my difficulties and late disap- 
 pointment, had made a collection amongst them- 
 selves to extricate me from the distress my protec- 
 tion of them had occasioned me ; that the persons 
 who had been entrusted with collecting the money 
 were without, and requested permission to see me. 
 This unequivocal proof of gratitude and generosity 
 for some moments deprived me of utterance. When 
 I had recollected myself sufficiently, I desired the 
 man to take up the money and restore it imme- 
 diately to the generous owners, and at the same 
 time, assure them how very sensible I was of their 
 kindness ; that it was true I had solicited and 
 really did want a loan, but never thought of extricat- 
 ing myself by any otheir means. That as to my 
 seeing his friends, I must be excused, as also from 
 a knowledge of the persons who had contributed 
 to the intended gift, I could not answer for my im- 
 partiality in case any of them should hereafter be 
 brought before me in my character as a magistrate, 
 when I recollected their generous and grateful dis- 
 positions towards me. I need make no observations 
 upon the true character of the people, who could 
 feel and act under all their oppressions and poverty 
 as these men did, but it would not be unwise, I con- 
 ceive, to give them a more enlarged field for a dis- 
 play of their natural benevolence and generosity. 
 
 “ I must here add that though I did not not re- 
 ceive any assistance to defend myself against 
 Orange prosecutions, yet it is a well-known fact 
 that a man of the name of George actually per- 
 vaded the whole country to collect money amorgst 
 his Orange brethren to enable them to carry on a 
 suit against me for having assaulted and abused 
 five hundred of them (though unarmed even with 
 
 a stick, and entirely uusupported) at a preceding 
 Orange procession. Mr. Pettigrew, an attorney and 
 magistrate, (as the case might be) actually served 
 me with a subpoeia on this charge, and it still 
 hangs over me. This is the outrage I stated in one 
 of my letters to Mr. Elliot to have been committed 
 upon me in consequence of my endeavours to pre-’ 
 vent these Orange gentlemen from persevering in 
 the insults which in the early part of the day they 
 had directed against the lioman Catholics, lest a 
 riot might be the issue. 
 
 I shall now fiaish my narraTve with observing 
 that the late attempt to murder me, and the Duke 
 of Richmond’s resolution not to afford m3 aiy pro- 
 tection but such as I could obtain from my persecu- 
 tors, detertniued me to abandoa my place to enable 
 me to remove and discharge my pecuniary engage- 
 ments. I advertised a sale of my effects, but such 
 was the virulence of the party that my advertise- 
 meats was pulled down as soon as they appeared.The 
 consequence was that few people attended the sale, 
 and those who did attend took care that nothing 
 should be sold } two gentlemen only purchasing 
 some trifling matters at a fair price. The auc- 
 tioneer gave notice that on a future day he would 
 distribute regular catalogues i but this man (for 
 what cause I don’t pretend to say) never after 
 came near me. The consequence was that I was 
 obliged to set off, and leave my property under the 
 care of my gallant and faithful Orangeman (who 
 I know will honourably discharge the trust I have 
 reposed iu him) to sell it upon certain terms of 
 credit to such people as might be induced to be- 
 come purchasers through that induce ment. I have 
 not heard, however, that even upon that condition 
 he has disposed of anything. I should not have 
 alluded to a matter so uninteresting to the public 
 but for the purpose of showing that every means 
 are resorted to for he purpose of ruining me, the 
 public’s un variably faithful 
 
 “ Richard Wilson. 
 
 ** Dublin, December 19, 1807.” 
 
 To comment upon such statements coming from 
 such a quarter is unnecessary. Mr. Wilson speaks 
 chiefly of the district of Verner’s Bridge, Dungan- 
 non, and Killyman. Allowing for the fact that in 
 this locality the notorious leaders of Orangeism 
 resided, we have sufficient in the narrative to show 
 that the country elsewhere, where Orangeism pre- 
 vailed, was in a like state of lawlessness, and that 
 
 Protestant Ascendancy” had for its effects the 
 fostering of crime, and the encouragement of pil- 
 age, robbery, andmurder. 
 
HISTOET OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 135 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII.— “NO POPERY.” 
 
 It was over the notorious veto question and tne r 
 Catholic claims which called it into existence that 
 the “ No Popery” cry became the watchword of the 
 Orange party. The No Popery administration of 
 the Duke of Richmond was in power; No Popery 
 had placed them in office, and No Popery kept 
 them there. During the previous administrations 
 of the Earl of Hardwicke and the Duke of Bedford, 
 if ascendancy in its most violent forms were not 
 practically discouraged, a spirit of toleration had 
 get in which found man^ adherents. It is not easy 
 to ascertain actually the cause, but it is more than 
 probable it was the result of disgust created by the 
 systematic ruffianism of the Orange yeomanry, who, 
 now let loose upon the community, their occupa- 
 tion gone, too lazy to work, and unwilling to beg, 
 exercised unexampled despotism over the defence- 
 less Catholics. This, too, so paralysed trade that 
 those with a stake in the country felt its injurious 
 effects. The desolation which followed the triumph 
 of Ascendancy in its early career was a natural 
 check to ferocity. The hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water being exterminated or driven from the 
 land, those who had hitherto been taught to con- 
 sider themselves the equals of men of substance 
 were little inclined to do the drudgery. The ex- 
 pulsion of the enemy was as with the Egyptians of 
 old, but a waste of substance, bringing in- 
 numerable and unexpected difficulties in it® 
 train. Plowden says that the destroying 
 bands did not choose to hold and cultivate 
 the lands as the former tenants had done, 
 but if any of them took farms they claimed the re- 
 duction of naif, and frequently two-thirds, of the 
 former reiits as the price of their meritorious de- 
 vastation. The consequence was a partial dis- 
 couragement of Orangeism by those who did not reap 
 an immediate benefit from its monopoly. This was 
 the first sign of that breach to-day widened 
 into a broad gulf between genuine, respect- 
 able Protestantism and Orangeism. The Ca- 
 tholics, who had for some time previous been 
 discussing in private and brooding in silence 
 over their wrongs, now came forch in the light of 
 day and began that remarkable agitation which 
 ended, as we all know, in their emancipation. 
 Many of nature’s noblemen who had fought in the 
 vanguard of the people, in the debased assembly of 
 the Ip'sh House of Commons during its latter years, 
 and in the equally corrupt Imperial Parliament, 
 
 had now gone over to the majority or had become 
 grey in the service of their country. A guiding 
 spirit was wanted ; some man equal in genius to 
 those who had gone before, but possessing more 
 invincibility of purpose, more scornful indifference 
 to English opinion, mare perseverance, and in 
 whom were allied the highest mental powers with 
 the greatest capacity for physical endurance. 
 Young O’Connell leaped forward to the helm. In 
 him the necessity of the time found its man. The 
 que dionof Emancipation then became a tangible 
 thing. Iq proportion as the Catholics felt their 
 growing strength, so was it dreaded by their 
 enemies, who then were with few, if any, exceptions 
 the Orangemen.* Intolerance now concentrated 
 itself in “ those deep and pestiferous dunghills in 
 which the serpent’s eggs were hatched undisturbed.” 
 So much undeniable truth had lately been brought 
 before the public concerning the Orange Institu- 
 tion, and so glaring was the illegality and mischief 
 of the system, that it had now become fashionable 
 even for the Oraage aristocracy to disown the or- 
 ganisation, to affect to disclaim everything objec- 
 tionable in the system, and while winking at it 
 with both eyes, to throw all that was blameable in 
 it upon the incorrigible ignorance and bigotry of 
 the rabble. While disclaiming it they did not fail, 
 however, to foster it in private. Some honest men 
 in office were outspoken enough to condemn it. 
 Baron Fletcher, in his charge to a jury in a case 
 where William Todd Jones (who had been arrested 
 at the instance oc the Orangemen under the Earl 
 of Hardwicke’s Administration) was plaintiff, used 
 these remarkable words : — “ I cannot entertain the 
 disrespectful idea, in viewing the whole process of 
 Mr. Jones’s arrest and confinement, that a.iy Go- 
 vernment of Ireland could have known of or coun 
 tenanced such an imprisonment. I take it for 
 granted that Mr. Jones was arrested under the very 
 unhappy ferment of the hour in Dublin at the 
 vulgar instance of some secretary’s secretary’s sec- 
 retary, some understrapper’s understrapper’s under- 
 strapper, who, in a drunken 'paroxysm of party or 
 personal spleen, signed an order for Mr. Jones’s 
 committal, which, when sober, he forgot having 
 done, and never afterwards recollected till Mr, 
 Jones’s printed letter to Mr. Wickham entreating 
 tor trial refreshed his memory, and informed him 
 where be lay.” This was aimed directly at the 
 
 PloTV den’s Ten Years Eistory, vol, iii., page 749, 
 
135 
 
 iiisTOEY OF oeangeism; 
 
 Orange clique of the Castle then in power. For 
 Jones had in 1802 fought a duel with the noted 
 Orange historian. Sir Wm. Musgrave, ani proved 
 himself too formidable an opponent to be at large. 
 
 With the advent of the Richmond Administra- 
 tion the Institution received new life and vigour, 
 and with foresight not unjustly described as dupli- 
 city the exterminatory programme was softened 
 into perpetual warfare ; massacre and conflagra- 
 tion lowered to proscription and oppression, 
 and the whole lacquered over with the trea- 
 sonable varnish of conditional allegiance.” 
 In England many of these regiments which had 
 been largely augmented by the Irish Orange- 
 men during the period of the rebellion were now 
 quartered, and under the old warrants of the Irish 
 Grand Lodge they continued to hold their meet- 
 ings. Regiments received civilians into their 
 lodges, and these regiments left on their removal 
 to other towns the seeds of Orangeism behind, 
 which ultimately gave rise to the English establish- 
 ment. Lodges were held amongst the milling 
 population of Lancashire during the year 1807, and- 
 in the latter portion of that year a County Grand 
 Lodge was formed in Manchester, with Colonel 
 Samuel Taylor of Moston as Grand Master.* The 
 idea was then entertained of forming a Grand 
 Orange Lodge for England, a circular letter 
 having been received from an Orange Lodge 
 in London (the only one then in existence 
 there) suggesting the same, and requesting 
 delegates to be appointed for the purpose 
 of proceeding to London to consider of its 
 advisability. Mr. James Lever, BJton (le Moors), 
 and Mr. R. Nixon, Manchester, were nominated, 
 and the result is thus described by the latter gen- 
 man — ‘*On our arrival in Loudon we were dis- 
 appointed to find the society neither so numerous 
 nor quite so respectable as we anticipated, or as 
 the nature of such establishment rcquhes 
 we, therefore, deemed it prudent to with- 
 hold our countenance to the measure, 
 and the meeting dissolved without adopt- 
 ing anything whatever towards the plan.” 
 From this and a subsequent letter we find that the 
 I)ish Grand Lodge, though in the words of Mr. 
 Verner it had " almost ceased to exist,” had prac- 
 tically set their face against the establishment of 
 
 * Mr. Kixon, secretary, -writing from Ma-ncliester, on Sep- 
 tember 3, 1808, to John Vprner, Esq , says “ I beg respect- 
 fully to direct your attention to my letter of the 2nd of De- 
 cember, -wherein 1 apprised you of the establishment of a 
 County Lodge, -sshich establishment yon -\vere pleased to 
 approve of iu a subsequent letter to Colonel Ta. lor.” 
 
 the Gr ind LDdge in Manchester, fearful, no doubt, 
 oF finding iu it a rival for patronage. The English 
 hr thren persisted, established their Grand Lodge, 
 and in the year 1808 set actively to work, calling 
 in all the old Irish warrants, and granting new 
 English warrants in their place. The systems, both 
 as regards the lectures, the signs and passwords, 
 were the same, and no practical difference existed 
 in the rules, which were mostly based upon these 
 of the parent institution. From the correspon- 
 dence appended to the English report, it appears 
 that their first work was to set the regimentctl 
 lodges on a firm footing, this being a branch of the 
 Institution in which the Iraiers, even from the 
 outset, evinced a peculiar and abiding interest. 
 A strong condemnation of the Orange system, as 
 applied to the array was contained in the General 
 Orders of General Cockburne in 18L0 to the brigade 
 then quartered at Chelmsford, iu which the ofideers 
 of all regimButs were directed “ to confine any man 
 who dared to wear any ribband or emblem which 
 might create dispute amongst the men.” It 
 must be evident,” the order continues, “ that this 
 order applies chiefly to the Irish soldiers. The 
 mischief which all such party divisions occasion to 
 the state is unfortunately too severely felt in Ire- 
 land ; nothing of the kind can be allowed here. 
 Soldiers have no concern with such matters. They 
 should serve his Majesty and their country with 
 unanimity, which it is impossible for them to do 
 if the spirit of party be allowed in a battuTon.” 
 The 11th Infantry, amongst whom were a large 
 aumber of Orangenen, recruited from Ireiaad, 
 formed part of this brigade. Notwithstanding 
 this order, and many subsequent orders of a like 
 nature, ihe Loyal Orange party continued to in- 
 crease and multiply in regiments, much to the in- 
 efficiency of his Majesty’s forces. 
 
 The Catholic question, under the influence, i 
 not yet under the guidance of O’Connell, was i ow 
 making itself felt, and only in the Orange Societies 
 did it receive anything like strong opposition. 
 Actuated by honest motives. Lord Grenville in the 
 House of Lords and Mr. Grattan in ^’he House 
 of Commons, in moving the reception of a peti- 
 tion from the Catholics of Ireland, gave grounds 
 for the supposition that emancipation 
 would be acceptable even on condition that the 
 King had a veto upon the appointment of Irish 
 bishops. O’Connell saw plainly that the enemies 
 of Catholicism were not likely to appoint as 
 bishop those best fitted to be its directors, and 
 that the purity of religion, would not alone 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 137 
 
 te thus tampered with, but that in the com- 
 promise Ireland would lose the most patriotic 
 advocates of their cause. Ha saw more. He 
 descerned an ultimate abandonment of -that Ca- 
 tholic creed in substituting for Papal supremacy 
 -the supremacy of an Eaglish king. While the 
 English Catholics, represented by their Board? 
 were willing to purchase concession at almost any 
 cost, the Irish Catholics, labouring under far 
 heavier penal restrictions, decidedly refused to pur- 
 chase concession at such a price. The proposition 
 was received with general indignation. That it 
 was a cunning device to effect in Ireland what the 
 sword could not accomplish there was no doubt. 
 In the meantime the Orange associations were busy 
 in opposition. While the Catholic bishops were 
 assembled to oppose the veto the Orange Associa- 
 tion deputies, with a representation by delegates 
 from seventy-two English lodges, assembled on the 
 15th September, 1808, in Dawson Street, to 
 consider what steps should be taken against 
 *^the alarming growth of Popery.” The 
 business was conducted with closed doors j 
 but Plowden, who gives the names of the leadtrs 
 present and particulars of the proceedings, 
 says that expressions were used by Mr. Giffard 
 to the effect, that he so fondly anticipated the dis- 
 tructive powers of the Eoyal Veto upon Catholic 
 purity, that he would be the first freeman of Dublin 
 to propose Emancipation upon such terms. To the 
 confusion of Orangemen the proposal was reffised 
 and the Veto question for ever put at rest. That 
 the important change from the extirpatory pro- 
 gramme was made at this meeting, Mr. Plowden 
 seems convinced, and he is so far borne out in his 
 assumption by the evidence of the Rev. Mortimer 
 O^Sullivan, when before the Committee of Inquiry, 
 who admitted that about the year 1810 
 the oath of conditional loyalty was done 
 away with. Plowden asserts that refusal to 
 take the new oath was the cause of many being ex- 
 pelled the society, and, amongst the historical 
 documents which he alludes to as proving this 
 statement, he refers to a cancelled Orange certifi- 
 cate of June 29, 1809, which he himself saw as 
 evidence of expulsion for such refusal. 
 
 In the Corporation of Dublin we find the most 
 remarkable evidence of growing liberality. In 1810 
 a petition against the Catholic claims was 
 negatived by a majority of five, and but a few 
 months afterwards we find them petitioning Par- 
 liament for a Repeal of the Union. Such rapid 
 progress spread dismay amongst the Orange body. 
 
 more particularly as they saw they broad-minded, 
 intelligent Protestants of the country joining in 
 the Catholic movement. Some of the most prudent 
 and least factious brethern saw even at this early 
 stage of the agitation the necessity of accepting 
 the inevitable. The Veto question was violently 
 opposed by the Catholics. Opposed to all things 
 Catholic a portion of the Orange party thought it 
 wise to favour it, a id urged the Government to grant 
 redress of grievances to the Catholics on the lines 
 laid down by Lord Grenville. At a county meeting 
 in Tyrone, held at Omagh, and called on the re- 
 quisition of Earl Belmore and other leaders of the 
 Orange party, resolutions were passed to this effect. 
 These declarations were received by the general 
 public as signs of returning sanity, but Mr. 
 Plowden, writing a few years afterwards, refused 
 to give that credit to the promoters which the 
 public had a varded. He seems to see beneath it 
 the hand of Mr. Giffard, the Orange leader, who, 
 on his own alleged statement, hoped for the total 
 destruction of Catholicism. 
 
 In the ranks of the Yeomanry the No Popery” 
 cry enlisted the great body of sympathisers. The 
 large majority sworn Orangemen, every man o 
 them with Government arms in their hands, they 
 were not inclined to look on peaceably at the 
 Government granting, even if it were never so well 
 disposed, any measure of equity to the Irish Ca- 
 tholics. The doctrines they had learned had 
 taught them to consider not alone equal laws, but 
 a relaxation of penal restrictions on the Catholics 
 as aimed directly at their downfall, and in their 
 action we find the first glaring examples of condi- 
 tional loyalty, of how little they regarded loyalty 
 even to the House of Brunswick, when their im- 
 mediate interests wereonly apparently in jeopardy. 
 The instances are innumerable in which we find 
 the yeomanry not alone in mutiny against their 
 officers, but in which they actually threw down 
 their arms and deserted that loyal cause to which 
 they proclaimed themselves so much attached, 
 rather than parade beside a few Catholics of 
 loyalty much less questionable than theirs. The 
 first remarkable instance of this kind occurred at 
 Bandon, where the whole body of Teemanry, amount 
 ing to 600, on the 6th July, 1809, mutinied. His 
 Grace the Duke of Richmond was about making a 
 viceregal tour through Munster, and it seems to 
 be thought on some sides that an order had gone 
 forth to discourage Orange displays as much as 
 possible in the ranks of the Yeomanry. The 
 Bxndon Yeomanry were in the habit of making 
 
 8 
 
138 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 great demonstration on the 1st July, and Brigade- 
 Major Auriol, with the officers, thought fit to curb 
 this offensive display as much as possible, ordering 
 the parade to take place on the 6th. Fearful of 
 fatal consequences. Captain Kingston, however, 
 paraded them on the 1st July, “in order to gratify 
 them in moderation,knowing that they would have 
 assembled without orders otherwise. They paraded 
 were permitted to fire a feu, de joie, and pro- 
 ceeded to march, decked with orange lillies 
 through the town. The officer, “expecting 
 there would be some disturbance and 
 insult offered to the Catholic inhabitants,’ 
 got before them and gave the order to dismiss* 
 This they refused to do, but at the moment Lord. 
 Baadon came upon the scene, addressed them upon 
 their want of loyalty, and the necessity of putting 
 an end to such foolish demonstration s,and succeeded 
 in dismissing them. That night a shot (a musket 
 ball) was fired into the room of Capt. Kingston, from 
 which a lady, who slept in it narrowly escaped with 
 her life. For the discovery of the offender a reward 
 of ^6586, subscribed by the officers and the principal 
 inhabitants, was offered. The attempt to discover 
 the ringleaders in the breach of military discipline 
 was resisted, as also the attempt to bring the 
 would-be murderer to justice; “In order to show 
 their defiance” (the words are those of Lord Ban- 
 don), “they all wore orange lilies on parade on the 
 6th.” On seeing this further breach of discipline, 
 their commanding officer lectured them upon the 
 impropriety of it ; said such conduct was not be- 
 coming to loyal men, and told them either to 
 take the orange badges out of their caps 
 or throw down their arms. They threw 
 down th'Ar arms. The only punishment that 
 followed this act of mutiny, which under existing 
 statutes was a felony, was that the Bandon Yeo- 
 many were disbanded. But they were within a 
 year afterwards reorganised. One William Eoberts, 
 an Orange Yeoman, lodged a complaint against 
 Colonel Auriol with the Commander- in-Ohief of the 
 Forces in Ireland, which had no other result but 
 to give to the world Lord Bandon’s opinions of the 
 want of loyalty of these same Yeomanry. The 
 conduct of Captain Connor, of the Ballyaneen Yeo- 
 manry, and a violent Orangeman, in refusing to 
 pay Colonel Auriol the salutation due to his posi- 
 tion, was also the occasion of the latter contributing 
 some interesting correspondence which shows the 
 disorganisation and bigotry of the Yeomanry at 
 that period.* 
 
 A similar instance of the results of the *' No 
 Popery” cry upon military discipline was found in 
 September, 1810, in the County Down, when — on 
 the 12bh of that month the Bann and Upper 
 Iveagh Corps, in the latter of which there were 
 six Catholics — the Upper Iveagh men conspired 
 with the Bann men to refuse to parade, believing 
 that by this means they could get the six 
 Catholics dismissed. On the officia report of 
 Brigade-Major Wallace we find that the meeting 
 was a most violent one, and that almost all the 
 infantry, together with the cavalry, laid down their 
 arms, leaving alone the six battalions who ultimately 
 retired from the field. “ Every argument,” says 
 Brigade -Major Wallace in his report, “ was used 
 by Captain Reilly and myself, and also by several 
 gentlemen present, to convince the men of the 
 enormity of such behaviour, as an arm°d body, and 
 the fatal consequences to the pubUo service, as well 
 as the great illeberality and impolicy of entertain- 
 ing such sentiments and feelings for our Catholic 
 fello v-suojects > that great part of the army and 
 navy was composed of such men ; that his Majesty 
 was pleased to accept and authorise the services of 
 all his loyal subjects; and that it was their 
 bounden duty to yield implicit obedience. At 
 length, after much advice and, I may add, entreaty 
 from me that they would rtflect on their disgrace- 
 ful behaviour and atone for it in soma degree by an 
 immediate return to a state of order, they complied 
 at my request (as they said), resumed their arms, 
 and mounted their horses. Some, however, seemed 
 to retain their prejudices and wished to make sti- 
 pulations not to parade with the Catholics. 
 Captain Reilly would not pledge himself to any 
 such terms thinking them unreasonable with his 
 duty and opinion, and that he would not wish to 
 command men who would hesitate to do their duty 
 by co-operating with their fellow-subjects in de- 
 fence of their King and country.” One man was 
 dismissed. No further punishment followed. A 
 similar instance occurred in the Moira corps under 
 the command of Mr. W. S. Crawford, M.P. 
 
 In the case of the King at the prosecution of 
 
 fallen into a few errors, bnt such as were only natural, seeinsr 
 that he had not the official correspondence before him. It is 
 well to state this fact, however, since he attributes most of 
 he blame to the officers for opposing the demonstration. The 
 fault lay with the men, since, from the above, they 
 were allowed to demonstrate “ in moderation,” which fact 
 Plowden does not admit. It is right to say that this author 
 takes Hoberts’ side, and says it is no wonder the yeomanry 
 did not believe in Colonel Auriol’ s anxiety on the part of the 
 Government; to put down Orangeism, which had been encou- 
 raged tho previous year. He looks upon it as a bait thrown 
 out to catch the Catholics, and that it took. “ Long priva. 
 tion is apt to engender voracious credulity,’* 
 
 • In the narration of the above circumstance Plowden has 
 
HISTORY OR ORANGEISM. 
 
 139 
 
 Butler V. Howard (a yeoman), for murder tried at 
 the Kilkenny Assizes in 1810, Mr. Burrows, counsel 
 for the prosecution, elicited from one of the 
 witnesses, also a yeoman, that by the nature of the 
 oath he had taken he felt himself absolved from 
 his allegiance should the King grant emancipation 
 to the Catholics. Counsel asserted, in open court, 
 that such an oath was treasonable, and challenged 
 the judge and Crown counsel to deny it. Both 
 were silent. 
 
 In the County Fermanagh, at Derragonaly, on 
 the 11th July, 1811, an instance occurred which 
 helps to illustrate, amongst other things, the use 
 to which the arms of the yeomanry were turned by 
 the Orangemen. A riot occurred, in which sticks 
 were used freely. The Catholics had the best of it. 
 Beaten at the sticks, the Orange yeomanry retreated 
 for their guns and fired upon the people, which 
 was the common way of concluding the fights in 
 those days.” One, Denis Murvounage, was killed, 
 and the father of the deceased went from magis- 
 trate to magistrate without avail seeking for some 
 one to take the necessary depositions. All refused, 
 and Kitson, the man charged, escaped to Am 3 rica. 
 J ustice was so completely defeated that at the en- 
 suing Assizes Justice Osborne gave the magistrates, 
 one and all, a severe reprimand, and ordered them 
 to make what little reparation lay in their power 
 by then taking the depositions. The rioters on the 
 occasion were tried by an exclusively Orange jury j 
 all the Catholics were convicted ; all the Orangemen 
 acquitted. When Kitson returned to the country 
 the Grand J ury found a true bill. He was also 
 acquitted. 
 
 There were many Catholics and many Orange- 
 nien tried? Yes. 
 
 The jury was exclusively Orange and Protes- 
 tant ? Yes ; and the Catholics were convicted and 
 the Orangemen acquitted. 
 
 “ Kitson was acquitted though he had absconded ? 
 Yes; he had absconded. I thought I would try 
 the conduct of the magistrates, and I sent the 
 father of deceased from magistrate to magistrate 
 until everyone of them had refused. 
 
 What is your observation generally as to the 
 administration of justice ? In all cases, civil and 
 criminal, between Protestant and Catholic justice is 
 positively denied to the Catholic"’* 
 
 • See Mr. Keman’s evidence before the Select Committee 
 of 1855 (page 75, question 7313), in which the facts are re- 
 corded. He says it was a constant practice with the Orange- 
 men to lodge their arms i n some convenient place in order 
 to be prepared for such emergencies. 
 
 We have more than one instance recorded in 
 which the Yeomanry absolutely refused to obey 
 the orders of their superior officers where the latter 
 had signed petitions in favour of Catholic emanci- 
 pation. The most notorious is that in which the 
 Yeomen of Armagh threw down their arms and re- 
 fused to serve uuleis Lieutenant Barns were dis- 
 missed for having signed such a petition. The 
 men who had thus offended were dismissed by 
 Lieutenant-General Mackenzie, and the remainder 
 of the corps reassembled. In an historical memoir 
 of the City of Armagh, written by James Stuart, 
 an Orangeman, we find it stated “The corps was 
 reassembled, and the officers used every argument 
 which pruience and loyalty could have suggested 
 to bring the mal- contents to a due sense of their 
 misconduct. Every effort proved abortive.” The 
 greater part of the privates made common cause 
 with their brethren, and the corps was disbanded. 
 
 But the ramifications of Orangeism extended be- 
 yond the yeomanry at this period. They cannot be 
 better described than by an extract from the evi- 
 dence of Mr. E. Kernan, a barrister of note, who had 
 wide experience of the administration of justice in 
 the times we are dealing with and for a long period 
 subsequently. 
 
 Commencing at question 7213, in vol. 3 of the 
 Eeport of the Select Committee of 1835, we find 
 the following : — 
 
 What has been the effect of the society, as to the 
 administration of public justice ? I think it has in- 
 j ured it very materially. 
 
 Have the goodness to state how the administra- 
 tion of public justice is affected by the existence of 
 the system ? Tn the first place, the returning offi- 
 cer at the assizes and sessions, the high sheriff 
 generally, and sub-sheriff always, are both Orange- 
 men, and I conceive that for the last 30 years to 
 the best of my recollection, there has been no jury 
 (in Fermanagh at least) consisting of other persons 
 than Orangemen; I think the administration of 
 justice has been most materially injured in that re- 
 spect ; and the reason I think so, because the ver- 
 dicts were generally in all cases between Orange- 
 men and Catholics contrary to the judge’s charges 
 as well as contrary to the evidence ; that is my im" 
 pression, and I can state several cases in proof of 
 the fact. 
 
 Do you recollect any instance in which the judge 
 expressed his disapprobation of the verdict I do. 
 
 Will you state it ? I recollect the case of the 
 King against Hall, an indictment preferred by the 
 parish priest of the town of Enniskillen against 
 
140 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 the prisoner Hall, for breaking and entering the 
 chapel, and taking thereout the vestments and 
 carrying them away ; this case was tried before Mr. 
 Justice Fletcher. 
 
 About what time ? I think in 1810 or 1811 ; the 
 evidence given to sustain the indictment was very 
 short, and therefore I shall mention it briefly. It 
 was given by the provost of the town of Ennis, 
 killen, William Stewart, Esq. ; he is deceased; the 
 evidence consisted of the admission and confession 
 of the charge by the prisoner to the provost and 
 another person. 
 
 Was the provost a magistrate ? He was virtute 
 officii ; the judge I recollect told the jury that they 
 had nothing to try ; that the prisoner’s admission 
 and confession as aforesaid, was sufficient in point 
 of law to warrant his conviction ; the issue was sent 
 up to the jury ; the prisoner was called upon for his 
 defence, but declined to examine witnesses; he 
 gave no evidence whatever. In a few minutes 
 afterwards, the jury returned a verdict of Not 
 Guilty;” the judge expressed great disapprobation. 
 He said he thanked God it was their verdict and not 
 his, and he then turned round and said — “ Gentle- 
 men, I will not treat you in this case as my highly 
 esteemed departed friend Judge Fox treated a jury 
 of this country ; I will not placard your names on 
 the session house or grand jury room door; you 
 shall not have an opportunity of dragging me be- 
 fore Parliament, but I will immediately order the 
 sheriff to discharge you from doing any further 
 duty at these assizes,” and they were discharged 
 accordingly by the sub-sheriff ; the prisoner was 
 also discharged, and on his going into the street I 
 did not see what followed, but I heard the noise, 
 he was hoisted on the shoulders of Orangemen and 
 carried through the town of Enniskillen in triumjph. 
 
 Was that man, the prisoner, an Orangaman ? 
 He was; I recollect he had an orange riband in 
 his breast on the day of his trial, when he was in 
 the dock ; that is frequently the case. 
 
 You do not think that an uncommon thing in 
 the County of Fermanagh ? No ; one of the Grand 
 Jurors, Mr. D’Arcy, seldom is seen in the grand 
 jury box at Assizes without appearing with orange 
 ribands or lilies, without a bunch of orange riband 
 appended to his watch. 
 
 Of what description of persons were the jury 
 composed ? Of rather respectable persons. 
 
 The question refers to the jury who tried that 
 man ? They were respectable men, freeholders of 
 Fermanagh; they are very respectable; highly 
 respectable before these societies were established 
 
 I do not think there was a happier set of people in 
 any county than the people of Fermanagh ; it is 
 merely that unfortunate fiend of dissension which 
 destroys the peace of the county ; there are not 
 better men any where than in that individual 
 district, Wxth the exception of their conduct as 
 members of the Orange Lodge. 
 
 What was the religious persuasion of the jury? 
 They were all Protestants. 
 
 Were they deemed Orangemen ? I think they 
 were Orangemen. 
 
 You have never heard that disputed ? I never 
 heard it disputed, and I have seen most of them in 
 procession. 
 
 Do you think the verdict would have been 
 different had not the system of Orangeism pre- 
 vailed, the jury being composed of Orangemen, and 
 this man who was tried being an Orangeman ? I 
 cannot doubt it, seeing what the evidence was. 
 
 The case was so clear ? The case on admission 
 and confession ; he brought one of the witnesses to 
 the place, influenced by feeling compunction after 
 he committed the act, he had the vestments dug 
 out of the ground, and by his own particular desire 
 they were handed back to the parish priest, to 
 whom they belong. 
 
 The man confessed this guilt ? Yes, his admission 
 and confession were the only evidence on the trial. 
 
 You stated that the man confessed his guilt? 
 Yes ; not on his trial, but before the provost, of 
 which the provost gave evidence. 
 
 It was proven that the vestments he had stolen 
 from the chapel he had restored to the priest to 
 whom the chapel belonged, and whose property of 
 right they we e ? Yes. 
 
 The priest appeared on the trial to identify the 
 property that was stolen, and the provost who was 
 also a magistrate of the County of Fermanagh, 
 gave evidence of previous admission and confession ; 
 the evidence was clear and conclusive to such a 
 degree, that the judge told the jury they had 
 nothing to try Just so. 
 
 The jury found a verdict of acquittal in what 
 time ? Immediately. 
 
 They found a verdict of acquittal under such cir-. 
 cumstances for this man ? Yes. 
 
 That man you say was a reputed Orangeman 
 Yes. 
 
 The jury were deemed Orangemen ? Certainly. 
 
 Had not the jury been Orangemen and the sys- 
 tem prevailing, the verdict you say must necessarily 
 have been otherwise Certainly, it must have been 
 so ; there could be no other conclusion. 
 
HISTORY OR ORANOEISM. 
 
 141 
 
 You mentioned a case that occurred in 1810 ; 
 have you had an opportunity of observing the ad- 
 ministration of justice since that time ? I have 
 had. 
 
 Do you think the same feeling which produced a 
 verdict so illegitimate in 1810, has prevailed from 
 that period to the present, and still operates on the 
 administration of justice ? Y es ; I positively swear 
 it does to that extent from my own knowledge as a 
 professional man, as between Orange and Catholic 
 parties. 
 
 You stated that the sheriffs and sub-sheriffs are 
 generally Orangemen ? Yes, they have been as 
 long as I can recollect, with a few instances excep- 
 ted, as referrible to high sheriffs. 
 
 Do you mean in all cases, or are there not excep- 
 tions where the sheriffs are not Orangemen ? Not 
 to my knowledge, there may be exceptions with re- 
 spect to sub-sher’ffs. 
 
 You speak of Fermanagh ? Yes, and the County 
 of Donegal ; there are exceptions In Donegal. 
 
 Who is the present high sheriff of Fermanagh ? 
 A Mr. Lendrum ; he is an Orangeman ; the present 
 sub-sheriff of Fermanagh is a Mr. Dean. 
 
 Is he a reputed Orangeman ? I have not the 
 least doubt of his being one. 
 
 Is he violent as such ? No, indeed ; I never saw 
 him violent, nor heard of his improper c( nduct ; 
 but he is an Orangeman. 
 
 Is not Mr. Auchinleck an Orangeman ? He is, I 
 think ; and he has been an Orangeman for many 
 years past. 
 
 Has not be been repeatedly sub-sheriff of that 
 county ? Yes, he has been four, or five or six years 
 in succession. 
 
 He is deemed an Orangeman ? There is no doubt 
 of that. 
 
 Do you recollect any sentiments expressed pub- 
 licly by that Mr. Auchinleck with respect to the 
 composition of jures, how he had acted, and how 
 he would act ? I was not present at the meeting, 
 but I have heard and I believe it, that he has made 
 declarations ; if they be not evidence I will not 
 state them. 
 
 Have the goodness to slate them ? It was re- 
 ported in a newspaper published in Enniskillen, in 
 a speech he made. 
 
 What were those sentiments ? He said in his 
 speech, as reported by Mr. Duffy, and by one of 
 the other papers, that he never would impannel 
 any Catholic on a jury on any occasion whose con- 
 science was in the keeping of his priest ; I think 
 that was his expression ; and in the last four or 
 
 five years that he has been sheriff I do not think 
 that he ever impannelled a single Catholic free- 
 holder. 
 
 Are there many Roman Catholics in the County 
 of Fermanagh who would be entitled from their 
 property and condition in life to be upon juries ? 
 A great many. 
 
 Can you state the relative proportion between 
 the Catholic and the Protestant population ? Not 
 very well ; there is a majority of Catholics; there 
 are many respectable of both classes, and very 
 competent jurors of juries of each. 
 
 Your evidence is that the sheriffs generally speak- 
 ing were Orangemen, and the sub-sheriffs Orange- 
 men in the County Fermanagh ? Yes. 
 
 And in many other counties in the North of 
 Ireland to which you go circuit ? No doubt. 
 
 And yet the result of this was, the composition 
 of juries in your County of Fermanagh is almost 
 exclusively Orange ? Yes, I have hardly a recollec- 
 tion of an exception ; I have heard of one or two 
 instances. 
 
 Have you any recollection of a Catholic being o^i 
 a jury ? Yes, I have only one or two. 
 
 Do you mean to say that in your experience as a 
 barrister for nearly 30 years you recollect but one 
 or two Catholics on j uries in that county ? I do 
 say so, neither in the civil court nor for the Crown 
 
 CCU''t. 
 
 Were there any other instances besides that yoa 
 have mentioned in which the judge reprimanded 
 the jury? I do not know any other; but I can 
 state a very remarkable case tried by Chief Justice 
 Bushe in the Count y of Tyrone of a verdict given 
 against his charge and against evidence. 
 
 Can you state the date ? I cannot give the date 
 precisely without referring to my notes ; it was 
 about ten years, or from ten to twelve, it was an 
 indictment for murder by the son of the deceased; 
 
 Do you recollect the name of the party ? I do; 
 the name of the party was McCabe; M'Cabe against 
 Robinson and others. 
 
 Who was the prosecutor ? The son of the de- 
 ceased, a man residing near Portadown of the name 
 of M'Cabe, I think. 
 
 Was he a Roman Catholic? He was. 
 
 Were the defendants Orangemen ? They were, 
 for it was in the lodge room the conspiracy by the 
 prisoners was hatched. 
 
 Where was the trial ? It was at Omagh, either 
 the first or second time the judge went that circuit. 
 
 Under what circumstances did it appear that 
 M‘Cabe had met his death ? It appeared in 
 
 9 
 
142 
 
 HISTORY OF ORANGEISM. 
 
 evidence that at the lodge room held near the town 
 of Portadown, the persons who committed the 
 murder proceeded directly from the lodge room to 
 the deceased man’s house and perpetrated the act, 
 and killed him. 
 
 Who were the persons who committed the 
 murder ? Oae of the men was, I think, Robinson. 
 
 Then the case was the King, on the prosecution 
 of M‘Cabe, against Robinson and others ? Yes. 
 
 Have the goodness to state the facts r The 
 prisoners and several other men in the Lodge, it 
 appeared in evidence, proceeded from the lodge 
 room, and went to the deceased M'Cabe’s house and 
 there committed the murder; the judge charged 
 the jury very strongly, indeed, for a conviction 
 against the prisoners ; the j urors found a verdict 
 of not guilty. Immediately after they returned 
 their verdict I loft the court, and soon after the 
 judge sent for me ; on receiving the message from 
 the Chief Justice I went and spoke to him, and 
 this has been the reason I am not so accurate in 
 respect of dates or names of the prisoners ; he said, 
 in substance, “ Kernan, you are the only bartisLer 
 in court who I have seen taking a full note of this 
 trial.” 1 said I had a full note of ; he then said* 
 
 Do you intend to publish it ?” 1 said, “ Certainly 
 
 sir, I do,” and gave him my reason. He said. 
 “ Kernan, my dear fellow, do you think its publica- 
 tion would tend to pacify the country and establish 
 peace in this country to nave this made pubic ?” 
 Said I, “ I cannot tell that, but it is at present the 
 chief remedy the Catholics have to bring these 
 cases before the public, and expose such outrages ; 
 but, however, if you think it would excite a feeling 
 to disturb the peace on the part of the Catholics, I 
 shall submit my opinion to your better judgment, 
 and will not give it publication.” I did not give 
 it publication ; it was the strongest case of un- 
 provoked homicide I ever recollect in my profes- 
 sional practice. 
 
 What do you mean by the strongest case you 
 ever recollect in your professional practice ? It was 
 the clearest case for conviction, and the Chief 
 Justice was of the same opinion who recommended 
 me not to publish it. 
 
 In the face of such evidence, could any more 
 pregnant reply be given to the following question 
 (4,973) that* that of Mr. James Sinclair, J.P., D.L., 
 after forty years experience of the magistracy : — 
 
 “ One of the rules (of the Orange society) is that 
 they will not admit any one into their brotherhood 
 not well known to be capable of persecuting or 
 upbraiding any one on account of his religious 
 
 opinions ? That is ridiculous* 
 
 Or could anything appear to have more evidence 
 of justice than the opinions ot Lord Gosford, Mr. 
 Hancock, and others, that if such were their rules 
 their practices were exactly the reverse ? 
 
 Oo/ernment had ra’sed a spirit which, if they 
 would, they could not lay. They had to abide the 
 issue. But they had raised more spirits than they 
 had bargained for. The formation of all such 
 illegal and exclusive associations is the sure pre- 
 curser, not alone in Ireland, but all the world over, 
 to the starting of opposition societies as a couater- 
 poise to their iafluence. The peasantry, of course, 
 the vast majority Catholic, had borne the yoke t )0 
 long. The Ribboa lodges now started into exist- 
 ence ; ind if, in many instances, their menbers 
 exercised a wild spirit of revenge, they have ab 
 least the palliation due to those who seized in 
 desperation the only means of redress at their com- 
 mand, the use of which in their opinion jusbifiid 
 the end. If among their enemies they spread dis- 
 may, they unconsciously spread confusion amongst 
 their friends. 
 
 From the evidence of Swan, the secretary of the 
 society, we find that the reconis of the institution 
 were not forthcoming from the 11th July, 1810, to 
 the 20th November, 1817, and he accounts for the 
 absence of them by saying that perhaps the Grand 
 Lodge was not sitting during those times. The 
 omission is not without some significance, as we 
 find not only that the Grand Lodge did sit during 
 that period, but that they made in the yes r 
 1814 a very important alteration in the rules and 
 regulations. Omitting the secret articles, they in 
 the declaration, “ "We shall not prosecute any one 
 on account of his religion,” inserted, “ provided 
 the same he not hostile to the State and Mr. 
 Swan, when questioned as to whether he thought 
 the Catholic religion hostile to the State, 
 honestly answered, “I do.” Tbe oath also under- 
 went a change about the year 1814, the condition 
 to support the King “ so long as he would main- 
 tain Protestant Ascendancy,” being substituted by 
 the phrase, “ being Protettant,” which, read 
 between the lines, means but one and the same 
 thing — No Popery, even at tbe sacrifice of loyalty. 
 
 The significance of this phrase, ” being Protest- 
 ant,” IS easily understood when we recollect that it, 
 has ever been the custom of Orangemen to put an 
 interpretation upon the term “ Protestant” widely 
 differing from that in which it is generally under- 
 stood. It does not sufiioe with them to absolutely 
 endorse the Thirty-nine Articles. Nor does even 
 
HISTORY OF ORANGEISM. 
 
 143 
 
 an eai nest profession and a steadfast practice of 
 tiue Protestant principles, entitle one to be con- 
 sidered a Protsstant in the eyes of this institution. 
 Lu her himself, did he walk the earth in our time, 
 and venture to oppose even the most violent 
 schemes of Orangemen, or indirectly from what- 
 ever motive to discourage the Orange Institution, 
 would be pronounced “ a Papist” by the members 
 of the society with as little hesitation, and as much 
 confidence in its accuracy, as if the term were 
 being epplied to the head of the Hfiy Eoman 
 Empire himself. Prej idice, when cherished in the 
 minds of ignorant men, has oftentimes worked novel 
 inconsistencies. Mr. Wilson, of Dungannon, the 
 generous-hearted English Protestant, was^' Papist 
 Wils jn Mr Handcock, Lurgan, himself a staunch 
 Protestant, and ihe representative of a long 
 line of Protestants, was “Papist Handcock;” 
 \/hile Lord Gosford, of whom it may be said 
 that the mantle ot the father descended to the son 
 was stripped of hh titles and distinctions, and 
 plainly designated “ Papist Gosford.” In connec- 
 tion with this feature of the sabject, a circum- 
 stance occurred in the year 1832 which it might be 
 well briefly to anticipate, for the purpose of further 
 illustration. la the prosperous days of the Eng- 
 lish Orange Institution, a Mr. Chetwoode Eustace 
 Chetwoode was the Grand Secretary of the Insti- 
 tution. He enjoyed the honoured companionship 
 of dukes as Grand Masters, while marquises, 
 earls, lords, and men of high degree swelled the 
 mil of D.G.M.’s. Mr. Chetwoode Eustaee Chet- 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV.— W 
 
 The dark clouds of social disorder, which for so 
 long had hung ominously over Ireland, were now 
 beginning to break. The unlimited sway of faction 
 which prevailed was going down for ever but not 
 without a struggle on the part of ascendancy. The 
 \ioleut efiorts which they made at this 
 period to prolong their reign of despotic tyranny 
 called forth public attention, and set inquiring 
 minds to investigate the causes which gave rise to 
 Euch tumult and frequent outrage. A band of con- 
 epiring ruffians, “ broken tools whieh tyrants fling 
 a way by myraids,” was to be found in every village 
 of the land. Attention was directed in high places 
 to them by men who read aright the writing on the 
 wall, and saw the bane of a country’s happiness. 
 
 In the House of Commons on the 29 th June, 1813, 
 Mr. William Wynne rose pursuant to his notice to 
 bring before the attention of the House the forma- 
 
 woode somehow got into disgrace with his brethren. 
 He was not a chicken-hearted Orangeman, but 
 quite the reverse. But his accounts got into dis- 
 order. Amongst numerous charges which we find 
 from the report of the Grand Lodge of England 
 were male against hi or, was a distinct indictment 
 “ that Mr. Chetwoode, the late Deputy Grand Sec- 
 cret iry, was no trus Orangeman, but a Papist,” the 
 latter following, of course, as a natural consequence 
 of the foi mer. The Grand Lodge, of which Field- 
 Marshal H.R.H. Prince Earnest Duke of Cumber- 
 land, K.Q., &c., &c , was President and Imperial 
 Grand Master, received this charge against their 
 D.G.M. without a smile, and with all earnest- 
 ness proceeded to investigate it. A Commit- 
 tee of Inquiry was actually appointed to give 
 the matter their consideration, and at a subse- 
 quent meeting they reported their decision chat 
 Mr. Chetwoode Eustace Chetwoode be expelled, 
 thinking it “ their duty at the same time to state 
 that they consider no ciiarge bad been made out 
 against him as being a Papist.” “ Being Protes- 
 tant” was, therefore, a very shaky foundation 
 upon which Orange loyalty had to rest. When 
 Orangemen could charge their trusted leaders with 
 being Papists it would have required but a very 
 trifling act of conciliation towards his Catholic 
 subjects for a Protestant king to be regarded as a 
 Jesuit in disguise. Loyalty and allegiance were 
 then scattered to the winds, and we would stand 
 face to face with a tumultuous armed assembly of 
 “ Xo Popery” rebels. 
 
 )RDS OF WARNING. 
 
 tiou of societies which existed in direct contradic- 
 tion of the law.* The existence of 
 
 Orange societies, he said, was directly in opposi- 
 tion to a specific Act of Parliament, 39 George HI., 
 cap. 79, which was parsed in the year 1799 for the 
 very purpose of putting down societies meeting for 
 political purposes, and bound to each other 
 by oaths and tests. This Act expressly 
 
 * A large number of petitions were during tMs and the pre- 
 vious sessions presented to Parliament praying for the suppres 
 sion of the Orange societies. In the Bublm Monthly M s urn for 
 September, 1814, a number of “ Belfast resolutions” a-e pub- 
 lished, in which the first is thus worded— “That, as tha evils 
 of the Orange system still remains unabated, we will renew 
 our petitions to both Houses of Parliament in the ensuing 
 session.” lu this year the Duke of Sussex presented petf- 
 tions in the Lords from a number of Protests-utand C itholic 
 inhabitants of Ireland against Oiange societies, and they 
 were allowed to lie on the table. In the Commons somo 
 me obers who saw the evils of the system were still more 
 active, but no results followed th ir activity. The Orange 
 societies were encouraged though declared il • gal, while 
 the Catholic Board was suppress ,cl. 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY or ORANGEISM. 
 
 mentione I divers societies existing’, where unlawful 
 oaths were administered, and where members 
 hound themselves to secrecy and fidelity, and knew 
 one another by signs. It then proceeded to prohibit 
 meetings of these societies, and of all others the 
 members whereof should be required to take an 
 oath, test, or declaration not authorised or required 
 by law, or which should be composed of different 
 divisions acting separately from each other. By 
 this statute those oaths were to be considered un- 
 lawful, and severe penalties were to be imposed on 
 persons becoming members of such societies, who, 
 in certain cases, were liable to transportation. 
 There was a particular clause omitting the Free- 
 masons from the operations of the Act on condition 
 of them registering thems^^lves with the Clerk of 
 the peace, but that was extended to no other de- 
 nomination of meeting. It did not matter, he said, 
 what might be the professed objects of the society; 
 if there was a seciet oath, and members were 
 bound together by a secret system of signs and 
 pass-words, it was capable of b°ing perverted to 
 the worst purposes. For the first time it was pro- 
 posed to establish thes^ societies in England, and 
 certainly it was impossible to conceive an institu- 
 tion more ill-timed in itself or more misch’evous 
 in its operation. (Hear, hear.) In delivering 
 himself of what he had to say upon the 
 question, he wished to divest himself of 
 every feeling that could have ♦he remotest 
 reference to the question of Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion. Everyone should see that if these societies 
 were permitted they should give rise to others of a 
 similar character, and thus one part of the country 
 would be arrayed against the other with all the 
 jealousies of political faction and hatred. He' 
 said he was saved from much he had intended to 
 say, by the distribution in the lobby of a pamphlet 
 containing the rules and regulations of the 
 Orange Society. At the time when he gave notice 
 he had founded his ob’ections upon another 
 pamphlet, containing an account of the laws and 
 regulations of the Orange Society, and at the end 
 of which it was announced that a smaller and 
 cheaper edition would soon be published. But 
 there was a great difference between the two 
 pamphlets, for the former contained in the oath a 
 condition of allegiance, “ only so long as the King 
 should support Protestant ascendancy,” and the 
 latter omitted it. What could be thought 
 of such an oath ? Conditional allegiance ! — 
 loyalty depending upon the maintenance of the | 
 Protestant ascendancy ! terms hitherto unknown in ' 
 
 that country. What construction would necessarily 
 be put upon this oath. Would not every man put 
 his own, and in that case might nob everyone con.» 
 sider himself as discharged from his allegiance 
 supposing the Koyal assent should be given to a 
 Bill for the relief of the Irish Eoman Catholics. 
 Such would infallably be the case upon weak and 
 extraordimry minds. He next alluded to the eath 
 of the marksman in which the House would recog- 
 nise no salvo was made for inquiry in a court of 
 justice. Another instance in which the two pam- 
 phlets differed occurred in the secretary’s oath, for 
 while in the former the oath merely related to keep - 
 ing sa f e the papers belon ging to the lodge, &e., in the 
 latter the oath included a declaration that 
 he (the secretary) would not give any 
 copy of the secret articles of the lodge, 
 &c.” Here, again, was manifestly an illegal 
 oath, as it openly set aside the authority of the 
 law and the power of a court of justice, and avowel 
 that there existed further regulations than those now 
 pri ted and communicated to the public. He next 
 alluded to the regulations for the establishing of 
 military lodges, in which non-commissioned officers 
 and privates were to meet on a footing of equality 
 He warned the House to check the evil in its 
 growth, said it was its duty to make further in- 
 quiry, remarked that the existing law would be 
 found suffici' nt to suppress those illegal associar 
 tions, said if not the hands of the Government 
 should be strengthened to put down this imperium 
 in iniperio, and concluded by moving “ that a com- 
 mittee be appo’nted to inquire into the existence 
 of certain illegal societies under the denomination 
 of Orangemen.” Mr. Bathurst was prepared to go 
 the length of saying that the Orange societies had 
 rendered themselves amenable to the law as it 
 stood, and that the House might take up the sub- 
 ject as tending to a breach of the principles of the 
 Constitution. It was impossible to say to what 
 purpose such societies might be perverted if allowed 
 to proceed. With respect to the army, if such 
 societies were carried into effect one must see 
 from the practices in another country to what 
 dangerous consequences it might lead. As he had 
 no doubt the Orange Societies were amenable to 
 the law, he did not see any occasion for the inter- 
 ference of Parliament. Mr. Stuart Woitley thought 
 the subject was nob to be contemplated as a mere 
 breach of the law, .vhich was punishable, but that 
 the principles of the society ought to be condemned 
 with the utmost severity. He was in doubt whether 
 the better mode would not have been to have treate4 
 
HISTORY OF ORANGEISM. 
 
 U5 
 
 these Orange lodges with silent contempt, and 
 their intemperance would have soon put an end to 
 their existence. The same speaker severely can- 
 snred the proceedings of the Catholic Committee, 
 and pronounced as disgraceful the resolutions of 
 the Catholic bishops respecting the veto. Sir Henry 
 Montgomery read a letter, dated 4th June, 1813, 
 from a resident magistrate in Donegal, describing 
 an outrage that bad recently taken place at Carrow- 
 keel, arising out of a dispute in which two Orange- 
 men were concerned. The fight, friends on each 
 side joining in, led to the loss of nine valuable 
 lives, which might have been lost in abetter cause* 
 He said Donegal had been ever in perfect quiet 
 until the revival of the Orange clubs among them. 
 In the year 1809 about fifty Protestants of a very low 
 description resolved to walk in procession'* with 
 the orange flag and paraphernalia of the society 
 through the populous town of Letterkenny, several 
 miles distant from their habitations j a town which 
 was chiefly inhabited by Catholics, and in which 
 there never had been before an Orange procession. 
 All the Catholics of the town — men, women and 
 children — m'‘t them in the suburbs of the town, 
 and after much blood had been spilled the Orange- 
 men were obliged to return home. Since that period 
 all confidence between both parties was at an end. 
 Sir Henry Said, a nobleman lately appointed to the 
 high oflElce of Lord Lieutenant, bad an arduous duty 
 to perform. He had not the advantage of high 
 birth and exalted rank to support him ; but he 
 trusted he would show an example of sobriety to 
 the count-y, and that when he visited the interior 
 of the kingdom they should not hear of “ midnight 
 orgies” of songs and toasts tending to inflame one 
 part of his Majesty’s subjects against the other. 
 Mr. Peel, with considerable warmth, protested 
 against the unfounded insinuations on the charac- 
 ter of the nobleman at the head of the Govern- 
 ment. Mr. M‘Naughten insisted on the absolute 
 necessity of the Orange societies, and thought it 
 would be extremely severe if the 39th Geo. 3, pas el 
 against traitors should be applied to the liege 
 subjects of the king. If the act was to be applied 
 to Orangemen, why was it not applied to Friendly 
 Brothers and Freemasons, to both of which 
 societies he belonged. Whether he was or was not 
 an Orangeman after what had been said he dare^ 
 not confess. Mr. Whitbread alluded to statements 
 of persons of high rank being connected with these 
 societies — it had been imprudently said that the 
 Prince of Wales and the Duke of York were at the 
 head of them; referred to the insiduous publication 
 
 of two distinct sets of pamphlets for the purpose of 
 misleading ; pronounced these associations worse 
 than illegal — as outrages upon common decency 
 and common sense, and asked were the robes of a 
 peer to be proof against the sword of justice, or was 
 there a magic charm about the great which be\«il- 
 dered the understanding and made that appear in 
 them a virtue which in others was an unpardonable 
 crime. He challenged Mr. M'Naughlen, vrlio had 
 spoken of signs and passwords, which were meant 
 only to distinguish associates, to point out what 
 members on the Opposition side of the House be- 
 longed atany time to Orange Associations. Mr. Pres- 
 ton thought the Orange Society equally illegal with- 
 out the oath as with it. Mr. Canning thought it was 
 consolatory to reflect that amongst all the diegres- 
 sions the evening, no one had branched into anysuchof 
 anomaly as to stand up in defence of the innocence 
 of the Orange Institution ; nor had anyone denied 
 that those who entered into its full design were 
 guilty of an attempt against the peace of the em- 
 pire. Was the Act of 1799 founded on avowed in- 
 tention ? No. The devolution Society, the Con- 
 stitution Society, bore on their faces no intention 
 to destroy, but to preserve and purify the Consti- 
 tution. Nor was it in the profession, nor even in 
 the design, of the Orange Society that tne danger 
 existed. He referred to the modest assumption of 
 the institution vesting in itself the care of the 
 public safety, and saw that this presumptions, this 
 stupid proceeding, bat for the contempt it excited, 
 would call not only for inquisitorial but vindictive 
 proceedings. He hoped that this soc'ety need only 
 be noticed to sink into oblivion. He thought that 
 the decided sense of the Hiuse and a declaration 
 (which he did not doubt would be given) from one 
 of his Majesty’s Ministers that the law would be 
 recurred to if the association were persisted 
 in, would put an end to this despicable society 
 which, if suffered to exist, might shake to its 
 foundation this noble country. Lord Castlereagh 
 concurred entirely with Mr. Canning, and expressed 
 his obligations to Mr. Wynn f^r the temperate 
 manner in which he had discussed the subject. He 
 pronounced such associations dangerou? particularly 
 so in Ireland, where if there had formerly been 
 some cause for them they had survived the danger. 
 Su3h associations, he said, were very dangerous but 
 particularly sj in military bodies. He felt it was 
 unnecessiry to press the subject as he was convinced 
 that the good sense of the people would prefer the 
 empire of the law to the domination of clubs and 
 associatioiis. Mr. Wynn said the unqualified dis- 
 
 10 
 
146 
 
 HISTOEY or OEANGEISM. 
 
 avowal and disapprobation of the society rendered 
 reply unnecessary. He hoped his Majesty’s 
 ministers would be alive to every attempt to carry 
 the plan of these societies into execution, and with- 
 drew his motion. 
 
 Whether the Government of the day feared or 
 cared not te act up to their expressed opinions is 
 not worth inquiry. It is possible that both feelings 
 equally influenced their non-interference. With 
 the result we have to do. The appeal of a Minister 
 to the good sense of the people, who would prefer 
 the empire of the law to the empire of faction, was 
 made in vain. With this new letter of credit, for 
 it was interpreted as such, the Orange Institution 
 went on its way rejoicing. 
 
 On the above declaration of illegality reaching 
 Ireland, the Dublin Grand Lodge met and issued a 
 proclamation to its members, calling upon them 
 to resist the feeling of the Government, and rot to 
 be intimidated by it. The meeting was held on 
 the 12tb July, 1813, and on that game day (how 
 strangely consistent were the events I) a horrible 
 tragedy was enacted in Belfast. Six or eight 
 lodges met in that town to celebrate on the Twelfth 
 a triumph which had been gained a century and a 
 quarter previously. The lodges marched out of 
 town, and on the return journey they marched 
 through North Street. A crowd collected, and on 
 their reaching the house of a man named Thomp- 
 son mud and stones were thrown, by whom 
 the record does not say. The result was 
 a riot in which five persons were shot, throe fatally. 
 The shooting must be laid at the doors of the 
 Orangemen, for the person who took a prominent 
 part in it was a member of an almost exclusively 
 Orange corps. The 'Nem-LeiU'i of the following 
 day gives particulars of the riot, and, in a tone in 
 no sense parallel with its later pronouncements, it 
 condemns the foolishness of such displays and the 
 illegality of such associations. It says— “It is 
 much to be regretted that any circumstance should 
 have been permitted to take place yesterday that 
 had a tendency to excite party spirit. A few days 
 only have elapsed since the politics of Orange socie- 
 ties drew the attention of the Legislature. The topic 
 was discussed in a most deliberate and dispassion- 
 ate manner. The illegality of such associations 
 was declared and admitted by the most distin- 
 guished characters in the British Sjnod. Mr. 
 Wynn, who introduced the subject, exhibited the 
 unconstitutional nature of all such societies, and 
 declared that he could not imagine an association 
 that was morepregcant with alarm. Mr. Canning 
 
 and Lord Castlereagh expressed thsir opinions in 
 the most explicit terms that they were illegal, and 
 ought to he suppressed. In fact the House was 
 most unanimous in reprobating them. With such 
 a recent expression of the sentiments of the Synod, 
 we certainly did expect that some deference would 
 have been paid to it by those societies, and that 
 they would not have thus so soon manifested their 
 opposition to the declared opinion of Parliament by 
 this public parade. When this intelligence reaches 
 London how will it be taken up, and what severe 
 animadversions will it give rise to against this town, 
 which was so long the theme of eulogium, alike 
 distinguished by its internal peace, its opulence, 
 and its industry ? All those high and honourable 
 qualities are thus thrown into the shade by 
 an idle parade having enkindled those animosities 
 and heartburnings which should have for ever 
 sunk into oblivion.” (See News-Letter, July ISth, 
 1813.) Strange language for an organ no ^ the 
 acknowledged representative of the Orange party 
 and its defender upon all occasions, even at the 
 risk of truth. The class is, unfortunately, a 
 numerous one who would pay such a forfeiture to 
 have their bread buttered on both sides. 
 
 The disturbance and fatalities were not confined 
 to Belfast this year, for in various parts through- 
 out Ulster riots occurred of the most un- 
 seemly character, and we have it on the authority 
 of the report of the Select Committee that 
 in one village in which a large force of mili- 
 tary were drafted for the preservation cf the peace, 
 that the Orangemen were received by some mem- 
 bers of a dragroon regiment with open arms, that 
 they drank with them in the house in which their 
 lodge was being held, deserting their post in the 
 meantime, and that some of them who had not 
 been already initiated into the system, returned to 
 their post full blown Orangemen. 
 
 On July 18th, 1814, cn the introduction of the 
 Peace Preservation (Ireland) Act, Mr. Peel re- 
 ferred to such societies as the “ Thrashers,” the 
 “ Carders,” the “ Cara vats,” as necessary to be sap- 
 pressed, but made no mention of the Orange 
 societies. Sir Henry Parnell, commenting upon 
 this, exposed the Orange system in the course of 
 an able speech. Mr. Peel defended it, and said 
 their outrageous conduct was “ the exuberance of 
 loyalty;” admitted that he would not eneourage 
 them, hut in no way attempted to reply to the 
 charges made against them. 
 
 From the Irish Bench words of warning to the 
 same effect weie heard one year later. In August, 
 
niSTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 147 
 
 1814, the Hon. Justice Fletcher, when opening the 
 As'izes in Wexford, delivered an able and 
 lengthened address to the n?embeis of the Grand 
 « Jury, in which he dwelt at length upon the evil 
 effects of Orangeism. He congra‘:ulated them upon 
 the fact that the county was then in the same con- 
 dition as when he bnew it thirty years previously. 
 He regarded it as a moral cn»’iosity. When other 
 pirts were lawless and d'sturbed, it had a 
 peasantry, industrious in their habits, social in 
 their disposition, sati fiei with their si,ate, and 
 amenable to the laws j cultivatiag their farms with 
 an assiduity which assured a competency. This 
 led him to dwell largely upon " the exaggeration 
 of misrepresentation’* that had gone abroad about 
 the extent and causes of disturbance. He declared 
 unhesitatingly, after lifelong experience, that he 
 had never observed any serious purpose or settled 
 scheme for assailing his Majesty’s Government, or 
 any conspiracy connected with internal rebels or 
 foreign foes. “ But,” he continued, “ various deep- 
 rooted and neglected causes, producing similar 
 effects throughout the country, have conspired to 
 create the evils which really and truly do 
 exist.” One of those causes he said was the 
 existence of Orangeisn. He had found those 
 societies, called Orange Societies, had produced 
 most mischievous results, and particularly in the 
 North of Ireland. They had poisoned the very 
 fountain of justice, and even some magistrates, 
 under their influence, had in too many instances 
 violated their dnty and their oaths. (Is it neces- 
 sary to remind the reader of the charges made 
 by Mr. Wilson, and of the corroboration which 
 these words convey ?) He referred to the conduct 
 . of the Orange Yeomen in terms which meant to 
 brand them as nothing but murderous extermina- 
 tors, who took occasion of every fair and market to 
 carry out their bloody work, and said that where 
 legal prosecutions had followed such had been the 
 baneful • effects of these factious associations that 
 under their influence pecty juries had declined to 
 do their duty. “ These facts,” I give his own woids 
 as reported in a periodical of the day, and the ac- 
 curacy of which has been accepted by the Orange- 
 men themselves, “Lave fallen under my 
 own view. It was sufficient to say such a 
 man displayed such a colour, to produce an 
 utter disbelief of his testimony ; or when 
 another has stood at the bar, and the display 
 of his party badge has mitigated the murder 
 into manslaughter.” His description not alone of 
 the evils of Orangeism but of the state of the coun- 
 
 try consequent upon its existence is heartrending, 
 and creates a feeling of amazement that such a 
 state of things could have existed in a civilised 
 land. But his lordship agrees with Mr. Wilson in 
 more respects than one, if he does nob even outstep 
 him in the bold honesty of his language and in the 
 fearless eloquence with which he condemned exist- 
 ing abuses. He recommended, as Mr. Wilson had 
 done to the Lord Chancellor seven years previously, 
 a complete reformation of the magistracy, without 
 which all expectations of tranquillity or content 
 were vain. Some were over-zealous, others over- 
 supine. Distrac'^ed into parties, they were often 
 governed by their private passions to the disgrace 
 of public justice and the frequent disturbance of 
 the country. He described ** a hideous but com- 
 mon picture,” in which poor innocent people were 
 rained in health and morals by the flagrant acts 
 of injustice of the Orange magistracy, and 
 how the industrious cottager was converted 
 into a beggar and a vagrant. There are,” he 
 says, “ parts of Ireland where, from the absence of 
 gentlemen of the country, a race of magistrates has 
 sprung up who ought never have borne the king’s 
 commission. (For expressing similar sentiments, 
 or rather for proffering to justify them, Mr. Wilson 
 was dismissed the Commission of the Peace). The 
 needy adventurer, the hunter for preferment, the 
 intemperate zealot, t e trader in false loyalty ^ the 
 jobbers of absentees — these he recommended should 
 be expunged from the magistracy and replaced by 
 gentlemen of property and consideration. Should 
 their number be inadequate he recommended the 
 appointment of clergymen long resident on their 
 benefices, more inclined to follow their Divine 
 Master’s precepts by feeding the hungry and cloth- 
 ing the naked Catholic — not clergymen who, in a 
 period of distraction, perusing the old testa- 
 ment with more attention than the new, 
 and admiring the glories of Joshua (the 
 son of Nun) fancied they saw in the Catholics 
 the Canaanifces of old ; and at the head of militia 
 and armed yoemanry wished to conquer from the 
 promised glebe. He cautioned the gentlemen of 
 the grand jury to discourage Orange and Green 
 associations. Suffer them to prevail, and how can 
 justice be administered ? ^ I am a loyal man,’ says 
 a witness, that is, “ gentlemen of the petty juries 
 believe me, let me swear what will.’ When he 
 swears he is a loyal man, he means * gentlemen of 
 the yary forget your oaths and acquit the Orangeman’** 
 Such men, the learned judge described, as mere 
 pretenders of loyalty ; men who were loyal in times 
 
148 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 of tranquility ; men who were attached to the pre- 
 sent order so far as they could get anything by it ; 
 men who maligned every man of different opinions 
 from those whom they served ; men who brought 
 their loyalty to market, exposed it for sale, and 
 were continually seeking for a purchaser. (See 
 appendix.) 
 
 Such was the warning voice of one of the ablest 
 and most upright judges that ever sat upon the 
 Irish bench. It was not heeded. An incorrigible 
 perversity seems to have been implanted in human 
 nature by which, as by the slime of some crawling 
 thing, we can trace man lack through rolling ages 
 — here his misdeeds, there his mistakes — until we 
 find him in his original state, bent upon plunder, 
 deaf to the warning voice of conscience, smiling at 
 the hissing whispers of the serpent ; the weak, 
 coveteous imbecile, swallowing the apples which 
 she could not pocket, the infatuated fool rushing 
 to wrong-doing even when he recognised it, and 
 both fixed upon perpetuating a race having per- 
 versity in evil and insensibility to advice as their 
 sad inheritance. As with a man, so with a nation. 
 It is painful to look back and mark the numerous 
 errors of the past. Still it is wholesome. One of 
 the greatest errors in this countrj/’s past was inat- 
 tention to those who said, There lies the canker 
 in your wound ; you ci,n cure it if you will.” By 
 many a dreadful holocaust and a sacrifice of count- 
 less lives we have had to atone for that perversity. 
 
 On July 4th, 1815, Sir Henry Parnell moved an 
 address to the Crown, praying for a Commission of 
 Inquiry into the proceedings of the Orange socie- 
 ties in the North of Ireland, which was supported 
 by the Knight of Kerry, and opposed by Mr. Peel 
 and the Ministerial party. Mr, Peel said since the 
 
 CHAPTKK XXV.— THE 
 
 We have seen in a previous chapter how tl e 
 dying embers of intolerance — not Protestant intole- 
 rance, for those concerned had little in common with 
 that creed, save the name— we have seen how they 
 were stirred up and fanned intoaflime. On the 
 other side of St. George’s Channel the brethren 
 had no circumstances of necessity by which to 
 justify their existence. To be sure they worked 
 on the prejudices of party, if they did not absolu- 
 tely create them, and cried “ wolf, wolf,” by times, 
 to keep up a show of self-defence. For the first few 
 years of their existence in England the lodges 
 afforded a rendezvous for all the intolerant old 
 fogies who had played a part in the late rebellion 
 
 illegality of such associations was borne out by Mr. 
 J ustice Fletcher and J udge Day (who in Dublin, in 
 1813, on the trial of Dr. Sheridan, also pronounced 
 them illegal) there was no need of an inquiry. 
 Twenty members voted for the motion and eighty- 
 nine against it, and it was thus lost by a majority 
 of sixty-nine. Men’s minds were not yet ripe for 
 such a measure. They preferred fostering their 
 prejudices amid doubt and uncertainty to disi.elling 
 them by hard but unpleasant truths. 
 
 The five subsequent years in our history present 
 no feature worthy of comment. With the dissolu- 
 tion of the Catholic Board those who, but a few 
 months previously, ha i been moved to enthusiasm, 
 and re mlved upon obtaining redress from the reign 
 of a cruel faction, now returned to a state of apathy 
 and despair. They bent with resignation to the 
 lash of their prosecutors, and only resumed an up- 
 right posture to bend again. The tales of horror 
 which followed our social life during these five 
 years, particularly in the course of those periodic 
 displays when men seemed to have lost their 
 reason — to have divested themselves of their 
 humanity, are all amply recorded in the current 
 history of the time. Novelty in crime there could 
 not be. Cruel invention had exhausted itself. Into 
 these five years a mu] tiplicity of horrors, ccmmit- 
 ted by a hand‘’ul of tyrants upon a population 
 accumulated not by thousands but by millions, was 
 compressed with an ingenuity that bespoke a most 
 barbarous persistency. In lethargy the body ef 
 the people submitted until, by the arrival of the 
 King in 182i, they were momentarily aroused, and 
 soon after hurried on in that unbroken whirlwind 
 of events which ended in their emancipation, and 
 the overthrow for ever of ascendancy. 
 
 ENGLISH INSTITUTE, 
 
 in Ireland, some of whom had found the island tco 
 hot for them, even beneath the laxity of its ad- 
 ministration, and most of whom had left their 
 ountry for their country’s good. But bigotry had 
 no part to play. They were all in a greater or 
 lesser degree of a mind. There were none to 
 oppress. The Orange Institution , as a natural 
 result, became first an association fcr the distribu- 
 tion of patronage, and in years afterwards ripened 
 into a huge conspiracy, of which the humbler 
 members were content to divide the loaves and 
 fishes, whilst its leaders secured political power, 
 beneath which lay concealed the diabolical 
 intention of changing the succession. The first 
 
HISTORY OR ORANGEISM. 
 
 149 
 
 effort towards insinuating itself with those in power 
 is seen in a letter from Mr. E. Nixon, the Grand 
 Secretary a*- Manchester, to the celebrated Mr. J. 
 Giffard, at Dablin, in 1811, in which he asked, “If 
 tbe Duke of Cumberland bad ever been initiated 
 an Orangeman,” and if it was likely “ H s Boyal 
 Highness would countenance and support the In- 
 stitution” by becoming its Grand Master? 
 Whether application was then made, or whether, 
 if made, the reply was favourable we have no means 
 of ascertaining, but we ba/e for a guidance, 
 though possibly not a safe one, the statements cf 
 the newspapers of the time to the effect that the 
 duke and his brother had been iDitia*ed into the 
 Orange Society. Lord Kenyon and the Earl of 
 Yarmouth were, about the year 1813, mad? mem- 
 bers, and on the 4th August of that year a com- 
 mittee was appointed for the purpose of altering 
 their rules to enable them, as the Grand Secretary 
 bluntly put it, “to elude the grasp’ of the law. 
 The advisability “of framing some suitable instru- 
 ment as a substitute for the old form of warrant” 
 is, by the secretary, suggested ; the necessity “ of 
 calling the masters, sub-masters,” in order to 
 get rid of the idea of delegation is hinted at, the 
 question of legality or illegality of the oath (fac- 
 simile with the Irish oath) is left to the committee, 
 but under no consideration can he see how the 
 signs and tokens “ can be dispensed with.’’* 
 
 In this year one-fifth part of all the lodges in 
 England existed in regiments, an important but 
 very unpleasant fact admitted by Mr. Nixon in a 
 letter to Sergeant James Green, of the 4th 
 Garrison Battalion at Guernsey, with whom he 
 condoles over the meddling propen^'ity and erro- 
 neous conception of his superior officer. Major 
 Doyle, who prohibited lodges in his regiment. In 
 tbe face • of the most direct evidence, that 
 this clique within a clique was opposed to the 
 wishea of commanding officers, and with knowledge 
 that wherever the existence of lodges in regiments 
 came to be known they were forthwith suppressed, 
 the officials of the English instituti'^n, with a 
 chivalrous a-xiely persisted, they saw that 
 the Constitution was ir danger, that those charged 
 with the care of it were sleeping at their post, and 
 accordingly proceeded to increase and mul- 
 tiply in regiments with the utmost indifference to 
 constituted authority. So pertinacious were they 
 in this particular that one would be inclined to 
 pay them the compliment of greater foresight than 
 
 * See appendix to English Report, pagG 179— Mr. R, Nixon 
 wilting t o the Earl of Yarmouth, 
 
 they were possessed of, and to suppose they foresaw 
 even at this early date the “ moral weight” which 
 w'-uld be available in the plundering of a throne, 
 with half the standing army were their sworn con- 
 federates. Up to the year 1820 the society seems 
 to have been feeliag its way secretly in the Eng- 
 lish commercial centres, dependent upon the 
 humbler classes chiefly, but gaining proselytes here 
 and there from the ranks of the aristocracy by the 
 promises of political power which it flaunted before 
 their vision. Stealthily, silently, within closed doors, 
 every “ brother” a sworn accomplice, and every 
 accomplice a conditional loyalist, these men pur- 
 sued their devious and designing course, occasion- 
 ally vaunting their loyalty, feeling tolerably cer- 
 tain that the profuseness of their declarations would 
 in the nature cf things preclude the probability 
 of question. Euboed against the grain, their cau- 
 tion forsook them, their ire rose, they bristled all 
 over, bid defiance to all law, cast aside all autho- 
 rity, and stood boldly forth, outlaws to all order 
 hich did not bend itself to their infatuation, and 
 a menace to that Constitution which in their 
 me. ker moments they affected to support. In 1819 
 the Loyal Orange Institution of Great Britain, at 
 a meeting of the Grand Lodge, resolved, on a sub- 
 scription, to prosecute Sir John Tobin, Eat., Mayor 
 of Liverpool, and the magistrates, for interrupting 
 in the interest of peace an Orange procession on 
 the 12th July of that year. Lord Kenyon was a 
 large subscriber to the fund. To this purpose the 
 funds of the institution have often been applied, 
 both in Ireland and Eogland. It evidences little 
 indication to bend before the symbol of constituted 
 authority. 
 
 Communication seems to have been kept up be- 
 tween the Grand Lodge of Ireland and that of 
 Great Britain, though only at long intervals, from 
 an early period, and from this correspondenoe we 
 are enabled to see that the Irish Institution fell a 
 prey at this period “ to one of those fatalities to 
 which all human institutions are liable.” In other 
 words, a number of persons had been admitted as 
 loyal brethren who were proceeding “to initiate 
 rebels into the secrets cf the Institution in order to 
 facilitate their treasonable and murderous plans.” 
 This, in simple terms, mcjant that some few Orange- 
 men, convinced of the necessity of granting eman- 
 cipation to the enslaved Catholics of the kingdom, 
 had the courage of their convictions in the face of 
 the anathemas hurled against them by the institu- 
 tion. Expulsion followed. An immediate change 
 in the signs and passwords was made, and the 
 
 11 
 
150 
 
 HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 brethren, expelled, for a liberty of conscience in 
 advance of their kind, were excluded from both the 
 Irish and English syttems. 
 
 On the 14th March, 1820, Lord Sedmouth pre- 
 sented a dutiful address from the Grand Master, 
 officers, and members of the Lo>al Orange Institu- 
 tion of England, which his Majesty was pleased 
 graciously to accept. 
 
 On the death of Colonel Taylor, the Grand Lodge 
 was, on the suggestion of Mr. Chetewoode, removed 
 to London, and the Duke of York, with the sanction 
 of a member of the Ministry, accepted the office o"' 
 Grand Master, Lord Kenyon b ing appointed as his 
 deputy, and the fi'st meeting was held on the 2 1st 
 April, at the house of Lord Kenyon, in Portman 
 Square, the Deputy Grand Master occupying the 
 chair. On this day it was resolved that no 
 communication, written or printed, of the proceed- 
 ings of the Grand Lodge be made without the special 
 orders of the Grand Lodge, Grand Master, or Deputy 
 Grand Master, and ever afterwards this resolution 
 binding all the confederation by virtue of their oath 
 to secrecy, seemed to lave been acted upon. The 
 acceptance by the Duke of York of the posHion of 
 Grand Master was conveyed in a letter dited The 
 Horse Guards, 8lh February, 1821.^' On the 22nd 
 June following, a question regarding the accept- 
 ance of the office having been previously asked in 
 the Commons, his Eoyal Highness writes that he 
 had learnt “ that the Law Officers of the Crown and 
 other eminent lawyers were decidedly of opinion 
 that the Orange Institution, under the oath ad- 
 ministered to their members, was illegal, and he 
 accordingly withdrew frona the association. Lord 
 Hertford, Lord Lowther, and others also resigned 
 But the confederates were playing too high a game 
 to be thus foiled by constitutional restrictions. In- 
 stead of forthwith dissolving as an illegal body, 
 bound together by an illegal oath, they submitted 
 a case to Mr. Serjeant Lens and Sir Wm. Horne, 
 by whose advice they hoped to devise some means 
 of more successfully ‘‘ evading the law” than the 
 first Secretary, Mr. Nixon, had done. The rules and 
 regulations havmg been revised, the Orange oath 
 omitted, and oaths of Allegiance and Abjuration 
 substituted, 1st William and Mary, c. 1, s. 8 ; oath 
 of supremacy, 1st Anne, c. 22, s. 1 j and of Abju- 
 ration, 6 Geo. III., c. 53 ; substituted, a case was 
 submitted for the purpose of ascertaining if the 
 society violated the common law or any existing 
 statute, particularly the Acts of the 37th Geo. III., 
 c. 123; 39th Geo. IIL, c. 79; and 57th Geo. III., 
 c. 19j which referred to traitorous conspiracies 
 
 iaconsistent with the public tranquillity and calcu-* 
 lated to endanger the Constitution. *‘To evade 
 the law” (the words now are those of the members 
 of the Select Committee) ‘^the word ‘warrant' 
 was substituted for ‘ lodge the original form was 
 to grant a warrant to hold a lodge in a particular 
 house or place ; and by the alteration it was given 
 to the person hold a lodge wheresoever he 
 pleased." This, no doubt the professed object, 
 was but a technical evasion for the new authority 
 answered, and was applied to the same end as the 
 old. 
 
 The opinions given upon this submitted case in 
 no respect differ from those of all lawyers. In-» 
 deflrte, obscure, and wanting in that bold, blunt 
 honesty which commends man to man the opinion 
 of Mr. Serjeant Leno was that the institution 
 could not be deemed a violation of the 
 statutes referred to. But that it was 
 opposed to the principles of common law and to the 
 unwritten code of the Constitution, in his opinion 
 we may see from the following extra ! ; — “ I think, 
 therefore, that this society if it be objectionable at 
 all must be so on the principles of common law and 
 not as falling within the particular penalties of the 
 statutes. It is rightly remarked that the denomi* 
 nation of * loyal’ or any o her epithet which a so- 
 ciety affixes to itself, and pleases to announce as the 
 objects of its institution will not decide or alter the 
 nature or legal description of it. No one will, in 
 this case, suspect the society of that declaration, or 
 that any other purpose is in view than that which 
 is exhibited ; but it must be observed that an insti- 
 tution of the extent and influence which must 
 from its constitution, belong to the present, may be 
 made the ergine of great power if it should be 
 capable of abuse in its application. It must also 
 be observed that its object is not distinctly defined 
 as to the nature of what is to be done. ‘ Its 
 affairs’ are mentioned in general terms, but 
 the affairs are not specified, nor are the 
 particular functions or duties which the Grand 
 Master has to execute anywhere defined. 
 The Grand Orange Lodge is, I presume, to be com- 
 posed of all the members” — which presumption 
 was wrong, thereby adding to its illegality by the 
 fact of its being a delegated assembly — “ and there 
 is to be no separate division inaccessible to the 
 general body” — also wrong ; the purple order was 
 rendered inaccessible through a separate system of 
 signs and pass- words to those of the Orange order 
 — “ and in that and other respects it is clear of the 
 particular objection made to such societies in sec. 
 
HISTORY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 151 
 
 2 of 39 Geoige JII., chap. 79. The secrecy of the 
 signs and symbols, which may be changed from 
 time to time, I cannot help thinking is objectionable, 
 and, if any question were hereafter to arise on the 
 legality of any of its proceedings, might be urged 
 as a circumstance of great suspicion. It is atso to 
 be remembered that the societies known as regular 
 Freemasons’ Lodges are particularly and specially 
 exempted from the operation of the Acts only under 
 certain conditions to be observed in future.” Only 
 the wilfully or woefully blind could construe the 
 above iuto a sanction of legality. But when we 
 find that the opinions of other eminent lawyers 
 were taken upon the same issue, and that they 
 were less favourable than the opinion of Mr. 
 Serjeant Leno,” we see the Orange Institution face 
 to face with the dilemma, gross illegality, or 
 dissolution.* They selected the former. 
 They did not dissolve ; nor does it appear that they 
 went to further trouble in so altering their ruks 
 and constitution as to cheat the law with more 
 certainty of success. That the Institution — mean- 
 ing both the English and the Irish branches— had 
 at this period two distinct sets of rules was stated 
 openly in the House of Commons, without receiv- 
 ing denial. That there wac a secret and probably 
 unwritten code of laws is fairly to be implied from 
 those laid before the Committee. Their reproiuc- 
 tion here would scarce be interesting. So far as 
 the general management of the body was con- 
 cerned, they were similar to those existing in 
 Ireland, and precise provisions were made, it would 
 seem contrary to the wishes of the Duke of York, 
 for the conduct of lodges established in regiments. 
 *^It has been alleged (says the committee) 
 by some cf the officers of the Institution 
 that the orders of the Commander of the 
 Forces of 1822 and 1829 were merely confiden- 
 tial recommendations and not General Orders pub- 
 lished from the Horse Guards. Your Committee 
 are desirous of removing that error bv referring to 
 the evidence of Major-General Sir J. Macdonald, 
 the Adjutant-General of the Army, who on the 6th 
 August stated to the Committee of the Orange 
 Lodges in Ireland that the confidential letter of 
 
 ♦ “ Do your lordsMtis recollect whetlier they were to the 
 same purp rt, or whether they differed from these ? I think 
 I should say, upon the whole, during the earl'er period their 
 opinions w.:re less favourable than the opin on of Serjeant 
 Lens. I am not sure whether it was precisely ihe same case 
 or not. I think, I recollect, in the o inion of Mr. Dallas, he 
 wished very mnch (hern? connected with Government at the 
 time) t - abstain from giving any opinion as to the course to 
 h pursued by a society not considered strictly legal, with a 
 view to that society rendering it elf legal. — “ Lord Kenyon’s 
 evidence before the Select Commiltee of 1835, English Re- 
 port, question 2,6.7,’* 
 
 July, 1822, was embodied in the edition printed in 
 the year of ihe General Regulations and Orders of 
 the Army; tbat it is the duty of the colonel or 
 commander of every regiment to have one of those 
 books; that every regimental officer is directed to 
 supply himself with a copy of it; ani that every 
 regimental orderly-room ought to have a copy. Of 
 the orders of the Duke of York Sir J. Macdonald 
 adds no officers ought to be ignorant.” Of very 
 doubtful loyalty under statute law, plainly illegal 
 by common law, and directly contrary to the re- 
 gulations of the Horse Guards, by which the army 
 was regulated, the Orange Institution stiU con- 
 tinued to exist and multiply. Writing a year sub- 
 sequently to 'a military brother in Woolwich the 
 sercetary, Mr. Chetewooie, uses those pregnant re- 
 marks which he, no doubt, at the time of writing 
 them, believed would never see the light — "All 
 masters of warrants are, according to the present 
 rules, members of the Grand Lodge, and entitle! 
 to sib therein, but from many consideraiions it is 
 highly objectionable for any brother to attend in 
 uniform, and it is earnestly hoped that none will 
 think of appearing but in coloured clothes.” 
 Though this will serve to illustrate the irreconcil- 
 able ignorance which the Grand Master affected 
 when brought to question upon this point by the 
 House of Commons it cannot rid him and his 
 associates of winki’j.g at the offence, and of so 
 wilfully closing their ears to the correspondence 
 from military lodges, as to render ignorance a 
 matter of their own selection. All was nob at this 
 period open and above board on the part of thig 
 institution. Mr. Blount, at a meeting of the British 
 Catholic Association, held in London in November, 
 1825, read warrant 99, which bore only the signature 
 of Kenyon as Deputy Grand Master, and he re- 
 marks — " A Peer of the Realm is their Deputy 
 Grand Master and no name appears of the Grand 
 Master himself. He must, of course, be some 
 illustrious person who towers above the Peerage, 
 but whose name it is thought imprudent to 
 divulge.” 
 
 From the year 1825 to the year 1828 the Orange 
 Institution being dissolved in Ireland by an Act of 
 the Legislature, the English brethren came to their 
 aid, enabling them to evade the law. Though dis- 
 solved and presumed to be not in existence, 
 the Irish lodges secured warrants 
 from the English Grand Lodge, under which lodges 
 were held in Ireland as before the passing of the 
 Act. "And the objects and intentions of the law 
 were thus frustrated,” say the committee of the 
 
152 
 
 IIISTOUT OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 House of Commons in treating npon this 
 manoeuvre. The stratagem ryas an audacious one, 
 strangely inconsistent with th“ professions of men 
 •who not only boasted exclusive possession of 
 loyalty, but whose every act of intrigue was glossed 
 over with a sanctimonious surface, and who in 
 their public utterances pretended they held 
 the key of all the cardinal virtues in their pockets. 
 Not for a trifle do men in high places off md 
 against the law or enable others to frustrate its 
 intentions. Was the stake so high a one as to 
 demand such a risk and recklessness ? 
 
 It now became indisconsible for the brethren to 
 set their own house in order. A shockingly irreve- 
 rent reforming spirit was abroad. With religions 
 horror, eyes upwards; with a sickly prayer to 
 Heaven to stay its avenging hand for the wicked- 
 ness of the times; that at least its thunderbolts 
 would only be directed against those traitors to the 
 Constitution who proposed to emancipate vile 
 Catholics ; with a 
 
 “ God conf iimd fheir stubliorn face. 
 
 And blast their name, 
 
 Wna briiiGT tby elders to disgrace 
 And public shame ” 
 
 they met — button -holeing the Deity — and resolved 
 upon what? — simply to amend their rules and regula- 
 tions. All soueties bound by oaths were now, 
 under the law, illegal. The Engl sh Orange Insti- 
 tution dropped the oaths, for even the legality of 
 others than nsagistrates administering those of 
 allegiance, supremacy, &c. was now denied. Mem- 
 bers claiming admission required to produce evi- 
 dence of their having taken those oaths before the 
 regular authorities, and were called upon to make 
 the following declaration against Transuostan- 
 tion : — 
 
 “I, A. B., do solemnly and sincerely, in the 
 presence of G-od, profess, testify, and declare that 
 I do b'^lieve that in the Sacrament of the Lord’s 
 Supper there is not any transuhsfantiation of the 
 elements of bread and wine into the body and blood 
 of Christ, at or after the consecration thereof 
 by any person whatsoever ; and that the invoca- 
 tion or adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other 
 saint, and the sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now 
 used in the Church of Eome, are supersti^iius and 
 idolatrous. And I do solemnly in the presence of 
 God profess, testify, and declare thai} I make this 
 declaration and every part thereof in the plain and 
 ordinary sense of the words read unto me as they 
 are commonly understood by the English Protes- 
 tants. without any evasion, equivocation, or m'-'ntal 
 reservation whatsoever, and without any dispensa- 
 
 tion already granted me for this purpose by the 
 Pope or any other authority or person wha^-soevf r, 
 or without any hope of any such dispensation from 
 any person or authority whatsoever, or without 
 thinking that I am or can be acquitt9(^ before God 
 and man, or absolved of this declaration, or any 
 part thereof, althou ^h ohe Pope or any other person 
 or persons, or power whatsoever, should dispense 
 with or annul the same, or declare that it was null 
 and void from the beginning.” To the above de- 
 claration add the solemn mummery of the initia- 
 tory ceremony, the Bible in the one hand, the rules 
 and regulations iu the other, here a dash of reli- 
 gious frenzy, there some mystic ceremony calculated 
 to excite the awe of the new brother, and it will 
 be easily seen how readily the Orange Institution 
 could do without their oath and at the same time 
 accomplish all the ends which they could with the 
 oath. 
 
 “ The effect of the religious ceremonies and forms 
 has been to enforce, with the apparent ohl'gation 
 of an oath, secrecy on the members admitted ; as 
 the Deputy Grand Master of England and Wales, 
 and all the Orangemen examine! by the committee 
 (with one exception) refused to communicate the 
 secret signs and passwords of the ins'i'ution, and 
 it appears that a disclosure of the system by a 
 member would subject him to expulsion.”* 
 
 A committee was appointed in October, 1826, for 
 the purpose of forming a new system o*’ signs and 
 passwords for both the Orange and the Purple 
 order, which committee comple'ed their labours in 
 the Eebruary of the following year. Thus armei 
 against busy bodies, and iniependent of the Con, 
 stitution, Orangeism set out anew on its career* 
 The rules of 1826 remained in force till 1834. Atten- 
 tion was at this period (1826) about being paid to 
 the Colonies, to which a large number of the Irish 
 brethren, experiencing beneath the sway of grind- 
 ing landlordism the common lot of cultivators of 
 the soil in Irtlvnd, bad emigrated.! But it was 
 
 * See Report of Select Committee (English), page vii, 
 paragraph 5 
 
 t That the majority of Ulstpr landlords, when the question 
 wa^ £. s d.. tro'.ted th ir OT.-mge w th as much h rshness as 
 they lUd their Catholic tenant , is ^ow a n atter upon which, 
 all sides are p-etty much agree'!. T is w s one of -ihe 
 bitterest delusions that awaited the br^tlu’en in the North 
 who saw, as the outcome of the c 'nfe leracr in which tbeywere 
 engaged wit « tneir landlords as leaders, leases m perpetuity 
 at o .e-third the market value of the laud. Blessed a-e they 
 w lo exnect not (from the landlords) for they shall not he 
 iiappointod. H w miserably mistaken were these Orange 
 ten nts histo y has yiroved. They knew not the (iei>th of 
 landlord villainy. They believed that when as a magistrate 
 the r G M polluted the stream o' just ce and > efoiiled'the 
 bench in th ;ir behalf he won d as a landlord make pecuoiarv 
 sac ifices to scenre their monopoly, f u’getting aU the ime 
 thij essent al difference— the one requ.red but a sacrifice of 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 interrupted in its earlier stages. In 1827 the 
 Duke of York died, and at a meeting of the Eng- 
 lish Grand Lodge, held at the residence of Lord 
 Kenyon on the 15th Eebruary, it was resolved to 
 commit the consideration and management of 
 appointing a substitute to Lord Kenyon, who, 
 “ with his usual urbanity towards the brethren 
 and zeal for the institution, most kindly undertook 
 the same.’* Generous Lord Kenyon ! It is sweet 
 to be liberal with other people’s property. Here 
 was a throne to be given away, and the noble lord 
 kindly underto:)k to bestow it. The Duke of 
 Cumberland “consented” to be Grand Master. 
 The prefix Imperial, now added, gave an air of 
 sovereignty and a suggestive significance to the 
 title. There was soon observable, not to the outer 
 world, and but indistiactly to the rank and file oE 
 the Orange order, a stealthy and subdued bustle 
 in the world of Orangeismj some great proj'^ct 
 was on foot j the lodge doors were well watched, 
 were opened quietly at midnight, and — sure 
 enough the tyler was there! not sleeping! and 
 the road clear ! —closer still over their deep 
 potations — and a stage whisper went round 
 that a Great Deliverer was coming to fetch 
 them out of the land of Egypt, out of the 
 
 honour, the o'^her a sacrifice of money. Writing upon this 
 point, Thomas Mo "re, under the title of “Captain Eock,” 
 says. “ Notwithstanding all his (the Orangeman’s) crimes. 
 I cannot help pitying him ; he is the victim of unprincipled 
 men ; and could he divest himself for a moment of his pre 
 3 udices I wou'd convince him that his antagonistic position 
 is not a prudent one. He has only to recodect the events of 
 the last ten years ; within that period, how many tnousands 
 of h s brethren have from poverty been compelledto emigrate ? 
 His answer to this question, if honestly given, will involve in 
 it matter for serious consideration. The result would be, I 
 am convinced, that Ora geisin has been beneficial only to the 
 cles’gning few,” 
 
 153 
 
 house of bondage, one who would feed them wit 
 manna in the desert and could give them milk and 
 
 honey when beyond it; the Duke of , but 
 
 hush ! not a word m>ore ; and away at cockcrow, 
 out of the hells, the public-houses, the public 
 liquor-brothels of the Kingdom, scattered those 
 intoxicated King-makers, drunk with their own 
 conceit, their own selfish greed, their fantastic 
 fanaticism, and doubly drunk from a liberal indul- 
 gence in had liquor ; away to dream of the mil" 
 lenium, when they could reap abundantly where 
 they did not sow, when work for them would be no 
 more, when an Orange King would sit upon an 
 Orange throne, dispensing favours and royal boun- 
 ties to his Majesty’s right trusty and well-beloved 
 brothers, the country squire, ignorant as debauch- 
 ed, the village ruffian, again the village tyrant, the 
 Orange tinkers, the Orange tailors, the Orange 
 cobblers of the Kingdom, and when the entire of 
 the Government, with all its honours, places, and 
 fat pensions— particularly the pensions— was to be 
 comprised within one mighty Grand Orange Lodge, 
 in which all the officers, from the bailiff to the 
 King, were to be sworn brothers and true Orange- 
 men. A novel conception, truly ! Not too novel 
 for a drunken fanatic to conceive. Not too novel 
 for the scatter-brained directors of this Institution, 
 men with the hearts of conspirators and the heads 
 of school-boys, to seek, during a period of eight 
 years’ plotting, to realise to its fullest.* 
 
 * The “Dublin University Magazine” (of 1835), an ackncv?- 
 ledged and devoied advocate of Orangeism, speaks with the 
 utmost contempt of the “ ahsiird vagaries” of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Pahman, the silly --nccessor of Mr. Chetewoode as 
 Gland Secretar '. It goes further. It throws all that was 
 d scredit ihle upon the English Institution, thus seekin" to 
 shift the blame from the shoulders of the Irish Institution, 
 “ When rogues fallout, &c,” 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI.— THE IRISH QUESTION, PLOTS AND COUNTER PLOTS. 
 
 The period over which, in the course of the last 
 chapter,, we have passed covers many outrages in 
 the history of the Irish Institution. It would 
 seem, indeed, as if about this time the forces of the 
 organisation were being concentrated towards a 
 combined effort to establish monopoly and intoler- 
 ance upon a permanent footing. George the Third 
 died in 1820, and in the following year the hopes 
 of the Irish Catholics were excited by the idle 
 pageantry of three weeks, during which his suc- 
 cessor, the Iasi of the Georges, paraded to the 
 edification of his Irish subjec's. It is ea^y to 
 delude an expectant people. They see in every 
 trifling occurrence out of the ordinary routine of 
 
 events some reason for grounding a hope that a 
 change for the better is at hand. That George the 
 Fourth came with a message of peace to the perse- 
 cuted Catholics was believed in by some who 
 boasted more than common political shrewdness. 
 The consequence was that all sections of the Irish 
 united in making the Eoyal tournament as brilliant 
 as possible. Fearful of disturbing the equa- 
 nimity of the Royal bosom, the Catholics withheld 
 all complaint. No lamentation of grievance, no 
 petition for redress, was heard during the whole 
 of the period of that Royal visit. Everything 
 looked happiness, harmony, and good order. The 
 Catholics, with a temperance (it has .been given 
 
 12 
 
154 
 
 HTSTOEY OP OEANGEISM. 
 
 a worse name) that was the astonishment 
 of all Europe, refrained from the 
 slightest allusion to their oppressed con- 
 dition. The fraternal embraces of Mr. O’Con- 
 nell and Alderman Bradley King are nob yet for- 
 gotten.* The silly monarch so paraded 
 his affection for his faithful people” that he 
 pressed their national emblem to his bosom, 
 dropped a few crocodile tears, and, on his depar- 
 ture, addressed a fraternal epistle to them, in 
 which he “ trusted that every cause of irritation 
 would be avoided and discountenanced, that 
 mutual forbearance and good-will would be observed 
 and encouraged, and a security be thus afforded for 
 the continuance of that concord amongst themselves 
 which was no less essential to his happiness than to 
 their ownJ* If concord amongst the Irish was 
 essential to the happiness of George the Fourth, 
 his Majesty took very little trouble in securing 
 peace and contentment to the Royal bosom. What 
 an unhappy monarch he must have been too ! No 
 change took place. The same men continued in 
 office. Nothing was done bo raise the Catholics 
 out of their depressed condition' — nothing to de- 
 press their enemies. The letter was regarded, 
 says Mr. Wyse, as an idle proclamation for tempo- 
 rary purposes ; the Protestant laughed at the cre- 
 dulity of the Catholic, and scornfully assumed his 
 anciont ascendancy ; the Catholic, ashamed and 
 indignant at the diception, sank at once into his 
 former lethargy. 
 
 The Orange magistracy continued to exercise 
 their despotic sway without intermission. A 
 writer in the Edinburgh Review of January, 1836, 
 analysing the evidence before the Committee, re- 
 marks upon the state of the Irish magistracy, and 
 gives from Mr. Kernan’s evidence an intelligent 
 summary of an outrage that took place in 1821, 
 which I cannot do better than utilise. The writer 
 tays — 
 
 “We shall less wonder at the proceedings of 
 these magistrates, when we learn who and what 
 some of tnem are. For this purpose, and as an 
 exemplification of the unequal and savage state of 
 society consequent upon a long indulgence of parly 
 feelings and factions, we know of no case more in- 
 structive than that of Lieutenant Hamilton. We 
 shall, therefore, make no apology for the length of 
 our extracts. 
 
 “ This was a trial for murder. The transaction 
 out of which it arose occurred on the evening of 
 
 * Wyse’3 history of the Catholic Association, vol. 1 , pagre 
 
 2-3. 
 
 the fair day of Dromore. Mr. Hamilton, the re- 
 puted murderer, was a lieutenant of yeomanry, of 
 which his father, also a magistrate, was the captain^ 
 In the morning all was perfectly quiet; and, as it 
 appeared, in evidence, ‘ Lieutenant Hamilton came 
 marching inte the fair in the evening with a party 
 of his own company of yeomanry. They were 
 armed with their guns and bayonets; the country 
 had been disturbed a good deal with par by feuds. 
 The corps assaulted several Catholic persons as 
 they came into town.’ It was also stated that 
 stones had been thrown at the yeomanry. ‘ They 
 were armed, and marched through the fair. When 
 they arrived opposite the house of a man of the 
 name of James Kelly, a publican. Lieutenant 
 Hamilton ordered them to halt, and immediately 
 af that, he gave them the word of command to 
 prime and load, and fire into the house, which order 
 they obeyed. Several persons that were then tak- 
 ing refreshment in the house were wounded by the 
 shot, and the deceased Michael M'Brian was killed. 
 According to custom, of course, the next day Kelly 
 and severH others came to consult me upon the 
 business, in the town of Enniskillen, and I advised 
 them to go to Lord Belmore, who was a magistrate 
 of the counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh. L rd 
 Belmore received them, and listened to their case, 
 and told them he would meet them at a meeting of 
 the magistratss, in a day or two afterwards, at 
 Omagh. In the interim the friends of the deceased, 
 and the party who were assaulted at the fair by 
 the yeomanry, heard that Hamilton intended to fly 
 the country ; an I, without waiting for the meeting 
 of the magistrates, they made a prisoner of him, 
 and brought him before two magistrates. The 
 Rev. Mr. Stack was the name of one; I have not 
 the name of the other magistrate.’ The father of 
 the prisoner, who was also a magistrate, came, and 
 attended before them. ‘ The people applied to 
 those magistrates to grant a warrant for the pur- 
 pose of committing Lieutenant Hamilton for trial, 
 and the magistrates refused— saying they would 
 take bis father’s security for the son’s appearance ; 
 and they did take his verbal security for his ap- 
 pearance at a future day at the town of Omagh, 
 where Lord Belmoie was to meet the magistrates, 
 and where his lordship did attend. Informations 
 were taken by Lord Belmore against Mr. Hamilton 
 and against the whole corps of yeomanry ; but 
 young Hamilton thought proper to forfeit the ver- 
 bal bail taken by the magistrates. He fled from 
 the country, and did not return for some years 
 afterwards, but is now returned, and he is a justice 
 
HISTOEY OE OEANaEISM. 
 
 155 
 
 0 / the feace of the County of Tyrone/ Mr. Kernan 
 then goes on to state, ‘ that the person aiding and 
 assisting — in fact, all the yeomanry that were of 
 the party — were, after much delay, in consequence 
 or the absconding of Lieutenant Hamilton, tried at 
 the Summer Assizes for murder, convicted of man- 
 slaughter, and sentenced to nine months’ imprison- 
 ment.’ The committee then asked if Mr. Hamilton 
 was ever tried, Mr. Kernan replies, ' that he 
 believes not •, but he knows he is now a juFtice of 
 the peace in that county, m which he was charged 
 with committing the murder; that there is no 
 doubt he commanded his yeomanry to fire the shot 
 which killed the deceased ; and the chief defence 
 of the yeomen was, that they, in firing the fatal 
 shot, acted by command of Lieutenant Hamilton, 
 their officer, and that, therefore, they were not 
 liable ; and it was by that means that the j iry 
 ound them guilty of manslaughter, and not of 
 murder.’ (7326 to 7332.) Here is a deliberate 
 murder, in broad daylight, in the presence of hun- 
 dreds. The homicid<?s scatheless, and roaming the 
 country. The friends of the murdered man fleeing 
 for justice to a noble lord, who tells them be will 
 meet them in a day or two. As a further proof of 
 the low state of even the sentiment of law, we may 
 add that Mr.. Kernan attaches no blame to Lord 
 Belmore for this rem.issness — but, on the contrary, 
 expresses his praise ; adding, that but for Lord 
 Belmore’s interference, not one of the delinquents 
 would have been brought to justice. — (7421, and 
 Foot Note.) The principal offender charged with 
 the murder, and an attempt to abscond — admitted 
 to bail by two magistrates, on mere verbal security. 
 The principal absconding from this bail— -the acces- 
 ories to his crime tried and found guilty of the 
 minor offence of manslaughter, on tlie plea of the 
 superior guilt of the principal. That principal re- 
 turns, and is not tried for felony, but made a justice 
 of the peace in the very county in which the widow 
 of Michael M‘Brian lives under the protection of 
 the laws ! !” 
 
 In connection with the above it may be well to 
 state that Lieutenant- Colonel Blacker gave it as 
 his opinion (9078) that the yeomanry then doing 
 permanent gar»’ison duty in the country did good 
 service, an expression strangely contrasting with 
 that of Sir F. Stovin, the luspector-General of 
 Police, who says (4778) For the past ten 5 ears 
 the yeomanry were useless, and more than useless, 
 in my opinion. I think they are dangerous and 
 more than dangerous/* 
 
 About this time appeared in Dublin a series of 
 
 ably written pamphlets under the head of ^‘The 
 Ghost of the Catholic Association of Ireland, ad- 
 dressing, first. His Majesty’s Ministers ; secomi, 
 the Orangemen; third, the Liberal Protestants; 
 fourth, the Catholics of Ireland,” the publisher, 
 and I have good reason to believe the anther, of 
 which was Mr. W. J. Battersby, 33, Winetavera 
 Street, Lublin. In the second of these pamphlets 
 the author, addressing the Orangemen of Ireland, 
 says— “ 
 
 “ It is evident that the Government is determined 
 to abolish your associations ; that his m^st gracious 
 Majesty has expressed his disapprobation of them ; 
 that the great body of the nation are opposed to 
 them. It is likewise evident, that your supporters 
 have become ashamed of you; that your best 
 friends have scorned to vindicate you ; and, that 
 some of your own body, have betrayed you into the 
 hands of your enemies, by making known those 
 signs, passwords, and oaths, which kept you to- 
 gether. 
 
 “ Sacrifice, then, on the altar’.of Christian charity* 
 on the altar of the peace of your country, your 
 prejudices and your folly; let justice triumph 
 over the combined machinations of servile interest 
 and malicious bigotry; prefer the peace and hap. 
 piness of a- nation, to the futile forms of a worthless 
 confederacy. 
 
 Say not that a love of the established religion 
 has induced you to uphold your Association, or to 
 contaminate genuine loyality, with worthless 
 faction or party spirit. This is a libel on the 
 Protestant Eeligion. — Is the Protestart Eeligioa 
 under the necessity of being supported by into- 
 lerance? Is its creed composed of calumny, 
 virulence, and falsehaod ? Is bigotry entwined in 
 the essence of its nature ? Does it require the 
 eo-operation of injustice and uncharitableness ? 
 Does it consist in mi.srepresenting the principles 
 and practices of Catholics ? Are you, who are 
 always declaiming against the Catholics, convinc- 
 ing them by your example, that the principles of 
 jour Eeligion inculcate that you should hate your 
 neighbour, and detest your brother ? Oh ! how by 
 your actions, can you answer all this ? He then 
 narrates in a foot note the following incidents — 
 'In Brownlow’s county of Armagh, in 1822, at 
 Creekvekenagh, a James Gormley, the only son of 
 aged father, was shot to death by an armed party 
 of Orangemen — and the only crime laid to his 
 charge was being present at one of their meetings. 
 His covsin-german Catherine Gormley, happened 
 to be with him at the time — she fled, they pursued 
 
166 
 
 IIISTOUT OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 har, although a woman, shs escaped barely with 
 her life ; — she saved her life, but lost her senses — 
 and is still a manaic The two leaders of this 
 Orange party were the sons of the Eev. Mr. Smith j 
 they were tried and acquitted. But though they 
 made some efforts to stop the murderers in their 
 course, neither of them attempted to arrest one of 
 them. The murderers were tried, and of course 
 acquitted, for the Sheriff, the Jurors, and wit- 
 nesses were all Orangemen. And is it to be 
 doubted that the heart-rending prayers, the dis- 
 ordered cries and shrieks of this wretched manaic, 
 will plead powerfully to the Almighty. 
 
 Upon the 12th of July, 1823, as usual there was 
 an Orange procession at which a Catholic was 
 murdered. A person named Hamilton fired the 
 shot; and after this deed of horror was pepetrated, 
 the Orangemen marched back to their Lodge-ro^m, 
 at Hamilton’s house, and spent the remainder of 
 the evening in a species of festivity suitable and 
 accordant with the deeds which they executed dur- 
 ing the day. That blood has fallen on the ground 
 unrequited and unrevenged ! ! ! There was another 
 murder committed as horrible, if possible, more 
 horrible, than those which I have related, Patrick 
 Hughes, a Catholic, was way-laid and murdered on 
 his way from the fair at Cade, in March 1823. He 
 was shot dead, without any pretence of having 
 given offence.. The Orange murderer lay under a 
 hedge ; another of his companions was posted 
 near him, and cried out. “ There goes old Hughes, 
 shoot him!” 
 
 It is not alone that the Catholics are liable to be 
 murdered by Orangemen in their habitations, but 
 even in courts of justice as Jurors they are deter- 
 mined to shew no justice to Catholics.” 
 
 For a further illustration of this statement we 
 may again revert to the evidence of Mr. Kernan 
 (7275). It will be amply verified in the details of 
 the King by M'Cabe v. Kobinson and others, tried 
 at Omagh Assizes, before Chief Justice Bushe. 
 The murdered man M‘Cabe the prosecutor’s son, 
 was a Catholic, and the parties implicated, about 
 five in all, were Orangemen. That the particulars 
 of the murder were arranged in the lodge room is 
 shown by the facts appearing in evidence. There 
 had been a lodge meeting held near Portadown, 
 and the Orangemen selected for the perpetration 
 of the cowardly deed went directly from the lodge- 
 room to the house of the deceased man and there 
 committed the murder. The prisoners were directly 
 connected with the deed, being traced from the 
 lodge to the actual commission of the crime. With 
 
 this evidence before him, the judge charged the 
 jury so strongly for a verdict of guilty as to 
 amount to a direction. The jurors, all of whom 
 were Orangemen, returned a verdict of Not Guilty. 
 “ Immediately after they returned their verdict I 
 left the court,” says Mr. Kernan, *"and soon after 
 the judge sent for me, and he said in substance, 
 ‘ Kernan, you are the only barrister in court whom I 
 have seen taking a full note of this trial.' I said I 
 had a full note of it; he then said, ‘Do 
 you intend to publish it?’ I said ‘certainly, 
 s r, I do,’ and gave him my reason. He said, 
 ‘ Kernan, my dear fellow, do you think its publica- 
 tion would tend to pacify the country and establish 
 peace in this county to have this made public ?’ 
 Said I, ‘ 1 cannot tell that, but it is at present the 
 chief remedy the Catholics have to bring these 
 cases before the public and expose such outrages ; 
 but, however, if you think it would excite a feeling 
 to disturb the peace on the part of the Catholics I 
 shall submit my opinion to your better judgment 
 and will not give it publication.’ I did not give it 
 publication ; it was the strongest case of unjirovolced 
 homicide I ever recollect in professional practice. I 
 have not the slightest doubt that the prisoners 
 were acquitted because the jury were Orangemen 
 and through party feeling.” 
 
 The case of the King on the prosecution of 
 M‘Custer against Alexander Coulter, and others, 
 exhibits an Orange magistrate, a Mr. William 
 Gabbet, peremptorily discharging a party of Orange 
 Yeomen, who had been duly committed by two 
 other magistrates on a charge of capital felony, at 
 Tempo, in which the aggrieved persons were 
 Catholics. “For this,” says the Edinburgh Jxeview, 
 “ he would have been removed from the Bench but 
 for his connection with the great Orange chieitain. 
 Lord Enniskillen,” and the evidence amply bears 
 out the statement. Mr. Gabbet, in the following 
 year, expiated on the Catholics his lenity towards 
 Orangemen, for Mr. Blackburn, the Attorney- 
 General, having been officially sent to Enniskillen, 
 found, on examining the jail, eighteen or twenty 
 Catholics who had been confined for three weeks, 
 without any committal or cause whatever assigned 
 for their imprisonment. For this good deed he was 
 again reprimanded, and Mr. Blackburn ordered the 
 immediate discharge of the persons thus illegally 
 confined. 
 
 On the 12th June, 1823, we find from the Annual 
 Register that a fight of a party nature took place at 
 Maghera, in the County Derry, between the Orange- 
 men and the Eibbonmen, who had now become a 
 
HISTOUT OP OPvANaETSM. 
 
 157 
 
 power in the country, particularly in the Northern 
 province where Orangeism most prevailed. The 
 result of the quarrel was that the yeomen were 
 driven “ into their barracks,” where, after provid- 
 ing ttemselves with arms and ammunition, they 
 returned to the scene of their recent defeat and fired 
 repeated volley s up on the country pe 3ple, “of whom,” 
 says the record, “ some were killed and from 1 to 30 
 persons wounded. “ The Orange triumph was 
 afterwards celebrated by an attack on the hou"es 
 and windows of the Koman Catholics.” I quote 
 this not as possessing any isolated interest in itself, 
 but because it is a case illustrative of the conduct 
 of the Orange pxrty ail over the country at this 
 particular period. Their outrages now were even in 
 excess of those committed in previous years, as the 
 efforts of the Cat hol’cs towards emancipition and 
 the advocacy of their claims by many distinguished 
 minds exasperated the Orange party and drove 
 them to the utmost desperation in those remote 
 districts of the country where the law could not or 
 would not follow in their bloody track. 
 
 Speaking recently with a prominent member cf 
 the legal profession in the North of Ireland, a 
 g ntlemau whose business made him familiar 
 with some of t’-e worst deeds of Orangeism in its 
 latter days, I was reminded by him of the fact 
 “ That as it is the unwritten code of Orange laws 
 is the worst so the unwritten history is the 
 blackest.” The statement is pregnant wilh mean- 
 ing. It is the murders concocted within the secret 
 assemblies of the brethern, and done at midoight 
 bydespeiate and ©ften times chosen accomplices 
 (as we have seen in at least one of the 
 above instances) with no ear to h( ar the faltering 
 accents of the victims as they died away upon the 
 lips of the unoffending Catholic, no eye to mark 
 the laot deadly blow administered to one whose 
 greatest offence was (as Lord Gjsford expressed 
 it), because he was a Catholic; it is these, and such 
 cas>s as these, that would form the blackest record 
 in the history of this institution. But the wisdom 
 of a higher power so decreed that °ven the machi- 
 nations of the lodge-room should sometimes be 
 revealed by the members themselves, and at this 
 period we have recorded, upon undoubted testi- 
 mony, one of the most glaring cases of conspiracy to 
 murder ever yet attempted, in which the victim was 
 none other than the REt’KESENTATivB cf Majesty 
 iTSFLP. Lord Wellesley came to this country “to 
 administer the law and not to alter i*-,” and he cer- 
 tainly set out upon that administration with con- 
 scientious vigour and impartiality, notwithstanding 
 
 the adverse opinions heM by the contending parties 
 of those days. His administration was not palatable 
 to the Orangemen. His Excellency took too much 
 to do with the Executive. He did not leave the 
 work of governing Ireland to the Sesretary, and 
 t'oe Secretary’s secretary, and the Secretary’s 
 secretary’s secretary. But, so far as the law cf 
 the time permitted, he cnieavoured to save 
 the Catholic from assault and from insult. 
 The consequence was that he, aided 
 by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, put 
 a stop to those disgraceful and offensive displays 
 which periodically took place in the Metropolis on. 
 the dressing of the statue of King William. Lord 
 Welle s’ey was, according to the wont of the 
 Orangemen, called “Papist” or “Popish.” Wel- 
 lesley. To “ necessitate his resignation” (in 
 plain terms to murier him or frighten 
 him out of the country), and to give such 
 au expression as would lead the Gavernment to 
 believe that his admiuist ration was not a popular 
 one was then the object of the Orange party. An 
 occ:asioa was not long wanting which, on being 
 taken advantage of, resulted in the bottle riot in 
 the Theatre Bay al, Hawkins bTreet, on Saturday, 
 14bh December, 1822. His Excellency was engaged 
 to witness a perfermance at the Theatre Eoyal. 
 On the Friday night previous a lodge metting (No. 
 1612) of which Robert Fletcher was Grand Master, 
 was held iu Peter Daly’s public-house, in Wey- 
 burgh Street. Purple men alone were present. At 
 this lodge meeting the diabolical scheme was 
 hatched of assaulting the Lord Lieutenant — the 
 subs( queat indictment arising out of it called it a 
 conspiracy to murder, and there are more features 
 than one in connection with the transaction which 
 leaves it open to this construction. That a pre- 
 meditated assault upon the person of the repre- 
 sentative of Majesty and upon the Lord Mayor was 
 was in this lodge arranged there is now no 
 doubt. A subscription was proposed by the 
 Grand Master to defray expenses. In this 
 other lodges of the city joined, and it was deter- 
 mined that those who could not buy tickets for 
 themselves should, by aid of the common fund, 
 “ be sent” to the gallery of the house. “ It was 
 not necessary to secure tickets to any other parts 
 of the house, as there were plenty to go there at 
 their own expense” — tVe expression is an extract 
 from the evidence of John Atkinson, a Deputy 
 Grand Master, an Orangeman since the year 1818, 
 and one who admittedly took a prominent part in 
 the conspir cy of the night, one who had in his exa- 
 
 13 
 
158 
 
 HISTOET OE OEAJTGEISM. 
 
 mination said " he had taken the oath of allegiance, 
 and yet had not done anything to prevent this, 
 huge conspiracy against the Government, but had 
 actually farthered it.’^ That there were ninety 
 Orangemen (armed with sticks, &c ) in all, we have 
 proven in evidence, but from another and not less 
 reliable source upon the point — the Irish Protestant 
 — we find, " There were hundreds of Orangemen 
 present in the theatre that night — we recognised 
 many of them/" Forbes, one of the parties pre- 
 sent, and subsequently a prisoner, made use of 
 these expressions — ** The devil mend him (Lord 
 Wellesley) ; I don’t care if I be transported, so as 
 I can raise an Orange Lodge wherever I 
 go” — a phrase which, coupled with another of the 
 conspirator’s advice, Be wicked, boys,” and read 
 by subsequent events, afford a fair idea of the 
 desperate nature of the plot, and how reckless were 
 the conspirators of consequences. “ Look out” was 
 agreed upon as the pass-word for the night. It 
 was arranged that the assault should begin after 
 the Eoyal Anthem was performed, and that they 
 should insist upon “ The Boyne Water” and The 
 Protestant Boys” being played by the orchestra 
 immediately afterwards; otherwise the programme 
 was not to proceed. The doors of the theatre were 
 surrounded an hour previous to the opening, and 
 when the time arrived a rush was made by this 
 band of “ loyal” desperadoes upon every part of the 
 house. The respectable members of lodges took 
 their places in the pit and stalls, and the hired 
 assassins occupied the gallery. These men were, 
 as stated by the witnesses at the inquiry, all tipsy, 
 and had drinJc with them, with which they drank to 
 " Protestant ascendancy.” When the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant appeared in the theatre he was received 
 with loud hissing and groans, cries of "Popish 
 Wellesley,” "No Popish Lord Lieutenant,” "No 
 Popish Government,” " Out with the bloody Papist 
 Lord Lieutenant,” and the like expressions. The 
 performance, amidst this unseemly disturbance, 
 proceeded. At a stage in the performance 
 when the curtain was down the signal was 
 given, and the preconcerted disturbance was 
 pushed to the highest pitch, in the midst of which 
 a quart bottle was thrown from the gallery at the 
 Viceregal ' ox, and a stick was cast at the Lord 
 Mayor. For the simple reason that the person who 
 fired the bottle had finished its contents, his greed 
 alone defeating his diobolical purpose, the bottle 
 fell wide of the mark j but the second missile, 
 though missing its object, was better directed, and 
 struck the side of the Lord Mayor’s box. (" Amid 
 
 cries of no Popish Lord Lieutenant they drank 
 * the Glorious Memory, and * Protestant Ascend- 
 ancy, and ^ the Boyne Water to-night, when tl © 
 gallery is ours’ ” — evidence of Christopher Morans, 
 which accounts fully for the empty bottle.) ’ The 
 result was the greatest confusion, in the course of 
 which the Viceregal guard made iheir appearance 
 and arrested several of the conspirators. The pri- 
 soners were James Forbes and William Graham, of 
 lodge 1660; William and Henry Hardwick of 
 lodge 780 ; and George Brownlow, of lodge 1612, 
 in which the attack was planned. George Graham, 
 also an Orangeman, but whose lodge the witness, 
 an Orangemen, could not specify, was also amongst 
 the prisoners. Henry Hardwick was distinctly 
 identified as having thrown the bottle; George 
 Graham as having thrown the stick ; Forbes, 
 Brownlow, and Wm. Graham as accomplices and 
 persons of good position. Deplorable as was 
 this outrage, the means taken of thwarting justice 
 were more to be condemned. The Grand Jury was 
 packed by Sheriff Thorpe, a noted party man, who 
 had supplied him a list of men from the Mer- 
 chants’ guild, all of whom were certified as " good 
 men in bad times.” He boasted that he had taken 
 measures to have the Grand Jury all true Orange- 
 men, and said there need be no fear of the result- 
 The result was that the Grand Jury ignored the 
 bills ; and on the application of Attorney-General 
 Plunkett ex-offi,cio informations were filed against 
 the prisoners. The case was tried in February of 
 the following year in the King’s Bench; and of it 
 "The Annual Eegisfcer” says that " the political 
 connections of the prisoners lent the trial im- 
 portance.” Here we also find recorded that 
 " Sheriff Thorpe exchanged smiles of recognition 
 with some of the traversers” as they entered court ; 
 that "fifteen counsel appeared for them;” and 
 " that there was no Eoman Catholic on the jury.” 
 The prisoners were charged with riot, with con- 
 spiracy to riot, and with conspiracy to murder the 
 Lord Lieutenant, but the latter charge was subse- 
 quently withdrawn. The Attorney-General, in his 
 opening statement, described the conspiracy as the 
 foulest he had ever heard of, and did not hesitate 
 to say that its intention was to murder the Lord 
 Lieutenant. The evidence given was to the effect 
 already stated, the plots of the lodge-room having 
 been divulged by Orange witnesses and distinct 
 evidence having been given of identification. The 
 jury disagreed, were locked up for the night, still 
 disagreed, and were ultimately discharged, the 
 Attorney -General saying that he would bring for- 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 159 
 
 ward the case again. “ But it was not thought 
 prudent to carry the contest with the Orange party 
 any further,” says the authority already quoted, 
 
 and a nolle jprostqui was entered upon the infor- 
 mations.” 
 
 This incident was net allowed to pass without 
 comment. The Orange plot was discovered, and 
 the conspirators had no means of defence but by 
 the old, worn-out cry of a Popish plot, which has 
 so often brought a smile to the face of sensible 
 men. Sir Harcourt Lees wrote a pamphlet which, 
 for villainous vituperation and bigotry, exceeds 
 any produefon of the sort I have seen. He jusffied 
 all that the Orangemen did, and then proceeds to 
 say that it was a ruse of the bloody, abominable, 
 perjured, and murderous scoundrels — the Pope, the 
 Papish prelates, and rufiEianly priests, who hired a 
 Kibbonman sitting near the orchestra to fling a 
 ** flask” bottle, and not a “ quart” bottle, as the 
 Irish Protestant admitted, over the footlights. Such 
 a production as this pamphlet is useful. It affords 
 us evidence of what was the extent to which Orange 
 violence could reach in those times. 
 
 In Parliament the matter received attention. 
 The charge of jury-packing was investigated by a 
 committee of the House, and evidence produced by 
 the Eight Hon- Mr. Plunkett of the most convinc- 
 ing nature. Sir Abraham B. King, an Orangeman 
 since 1797, who was one of the jury, was questioned 
 as to the signs and oaths of Orangemen, and threat- 
 ened with the displeasure of the House, but re ‘‘used 
 to divulge them. It is not surprising that the 
 House of Commons was satisfled with regard to the 
 inculpatory allegations of the Attorney-General. 
 As then constituted Houses of Commons were 
 easily satisfied upon such questions. But while 
 recording this fact, ihe Annual Register admits that 
 the inquiry had another and a more important 
 issue, for it showed how familiar corruption in the 
 administration of justice was to the minds of the 
 Irish people.” One would be inclined to think that 
 the inquiry could not well show the latter and 
 justify it without proving the jury-packing alle- 
 ga4ons of the Attorney- General. 
 
 Owing to an Act passed in 1823 affecting societies 
 bound by an oath and using signs and pass-words, 
 and declaring them illegal, the Orangemen at 
 their half-yearly meeting in Dublin “ dissolved,” 
 graciously altered their written code of resolutions, 
 and again reappeared upon the scene, consoling 
 themselves that they had acted a noble part. 
 
 The Parliamentary history of the Institution from 
 1823 to 1825 is one continued wail against its 
 
 existence in spite of its declared illegality. In the 
 House of Commons on the 5th March of the former 
 year Mr. Abercromby brought forward the subject, 
 on motion of an address to the King, regard- 
 ing the dissensions created in Ireland by this 
 secret organisation. A lengthened debate followed, 
 in which Mr. Goulburn, 8ir John Newport, Mr. 
 Dawson, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Peel, Mr. J. Grattan, 
 and Mr. Canning took part. The Association was 
 denounced even by the prominent leaders of the 
 House as an illegal and dangerous conspiracy, and 
 the prevalent opinion was generally and in a high 
 degree adverse to it. Scarce anyone attempted to 
 speak in its justification. The motion was with- 
 drawn. 
 
 A few months later the Duke of Devonshire 
 said in ihe Lords, ‘'The whole of the Govern- 
 ment of Ireland demanded a prompt and 
 thorough examination.” His Majesty’s Ministers 
 had defended their Irish policy by saying that 
 their object was not to give a triumph to any 
 party, and the result was that the Government of 
 Ireland was completely in the hands of the Orange- 
 men. He moved a resolution expressive of regret 
 at the spirit of violence which existed to an alarm- 
 ing extent in Ireland, and that extra powers were 
 requited as the laws had not been sufficient to 
 eradicated the evil. The motion was negatived 
 by a majority of 135 to 59. 
 
 On the 30th of March, 1824, on the presenting 
 of a petition to have the Freemasons ex- 
 empted from the workings of the Act before 
 mentioned, Mr. Hume called attention to the 
 Societies, and demanded Government to remove 
 from the Commission of the Pea«e those magis- 
 trates who lent their names to party processions, 
 then illegal in Ireland. * While Mr. Brownlow 
 referred the House to a recent charge of Baron 
 M'Clelland where he pointed out that many 
 murders and other outrages were the result cf 
 those processions. Though an Orangeman himself 
 
 * la February, 1825, the Grand Society of Ireland an- 
 nounced by circular to the brethern that on the opinion if 
 the most eniinen counsel the Oiacge Societies, as then con- 
 stitute d, were leo al,and did not militate against the law of the 
 land or that if anything could ■'ause even an approach to its 
 doing so it shoula be a dev'ation fivni the rules. Pi’oces- 
 sions, the fruitful source of oirtrago and of murder, were at 
 the same time being held all over the country. Remarking 
 upon this the DiMinlUniversity Magazine of April, 1835, con- 
 d nes the sins of the Orangemen and says -“It i not 
 stranse that they should not widely acquiesce in the legisla- 
 tive enac ments which suppressed with a high and haifghty 
 rigour of the Administi’ation, the good-feel ng which were 
 wont, by their periodical returns, to be kindled up in the 
 enthusiasm of their hearts, &c.’’ Strange expressions for 
 the organ of the Grand Lodge. It smacks much of the sug. 
 gestive defiance of all law, particula' ly when the brethern 
 were actually defying it. 
 
160 
 
 HISTOET OF OFANGEISM. 
 
 be condemnei these processioiis. Mr. Aberciron^by 
 followed, denouncing Orange Societies, wi’^h all 
 tbe'r alterations of rules, as an illegal conspiracy, 
 but LO result followed. 
 
 We find from a statement of Mr. John Smyth in 
 the Commons on the 4th May following, oa pre- 
 senting a petition against Orange societies, that 
 they bad largely increased in consequence of the 
 law which intended to suppress them ; while Sir 
 John Newport called the attention of the II use to 
 the judicial remarks made on the last circuit to the 
 G -and Jury that if they allowed Orange societies, 
 they must be prepared for Ribbon societies, one of 
 which created the other.” Later on in the session. 
 — in June — Sir John -Mackintosh presented the 
 petition of Mr. John Lawless, Belfast Honest 
 Jack”), praying to have an end put 
 to these Orange displays, and foPo wing immediately 
 in the pages of Hansard, we come upon an old 
 acquaintance, Mr. Bernard Goile — rising as if from 
 the grave, but still outliving the turmoil, abrca^^^h- 
 ing e.£ample of intolerance in the past quarter of a 
 century — petitioning the House for redress of his 
 grievances at the hands of the O. atige faction. Sh 
 James Mackintosh, who presented the petrticn, said 
 the outrages mentioned in it were so cruel, and 
 abounded with expedients so calculated to degrade 
 our nature and to revolt public feeling, they formed 
 such a combination of menaces and rualice, they 
 were so miserable, ani yet for the base objects of 
 vexation and cruelty so nefariously operative that 
 he would not disgust the House by repeating them. 
 The petition, so revolting in its horrible details that 
 the hon. member dared not read them, was with- 
 drawn on the guarantee that the matter would be 
 investigated on the opening of the next session. 
 
 The Catholic Asso®ia^ioa had now become a 
 power in Ireland. Moved by the one impulse — re- 
 dress of grievances, and aided from the outGle by 
 a large mass of respectable and liberal Protestants, 
 who felt for their fellow-creatures woe, the organi- 
 sation moved forward, with O’Connell in the lead, 
 the prelates and priests of Ireland ably supporting 
 him, bat more than all, the people, the great 
 power — the people, without whom no agination 
 can succeed, and with whom none can fall of u f- 
 mate success, pushing them on to fearless assert iou 
 of their rights. No popular organisiliou in Ire- 
 land can be said to be nearing success until the 
 English Government directs its powerful and 
 convenient machinery towards the suppres- 
 sion of it. The time had now arrived 
 for the suppression of the Catholic Association, and 
 
 the clamour of the Orange faction who feared its 
 power afforded a pretext to the Government. But 
 a strange dilemma presented itself. If the Ca- 
 tholic Association, with their meetings open to the 
 Press and public, were to be suppressed how was 
 Government to deal with those who were on its 
 own admission conspirators? It was endeavoured 
 to be solved in this fashion. Mr G:)ulburn ob- 
 tained leave in 1825 to introduce a Bill to a nend 
 certain act? relating to unlawful societies in Ire- 
 land.” the Attorney- General assuring them it wa 
 intended to apply the Act to the Orangemen as 
 well as to the Catholic Association ; and a month 
 later, on Mar h 3rd, Mr. Browulow presented a pe- 
 tition praying for inquiry into Orangeism. There 
 is something here suggestive of the adroit move, 
 notwithstaadiug that Mr. Brownlow said “ he 
 d d not apprehend that after the Bill before Pa'*- 
 liament passed, the Orange Association would con- 
 tinue m Ireland,” when we recall the fact that two 
 years previously the Orange leaders vigorously op- 
 posed ail irquh’y, and did all in their power to 
 prevent inquiry into what they now voluntarily 
 offered to dis dose. Both Mr. Abercromby and 
 Mr. Secretary Pe'l expressed pleasure at hearing 
 that there was soon to be a complete end to Orange 
 Societies in Ireland. The inquiry was not granted. 
 The Bill passed. The Orange Societies as well as 
 the Catholic Associations were illegal in Ireland. 
 Did they cease to exist ? Not a bit of it. They 
 had been too loag exercised in the work of evasion. 
 They ” dissolved” (in the Orange sense) the Irish 
 branch of the Association, and in the few cases 
 where they could not ineet the expenditure of 
 securing English warrants they simply did without 
 them. All over the country the lodges were ram- 
 pant as ever, and equally capable of evi .* 
 
 The Relief Bill of 1825 was thrown out hy the 
 L^rds. T1 e Bill of suppression, the Algerine Ac i 
 alone passed both Houses. The most subtle Act of 
 Parliament is but a feeble restraint upon the ex- 
 
 * See question 7063, and read !?lso the carefu ly-worded 
 ciriularof “ dissolutioa” at questiou 17 of the Select Com- 
 mittee’s Irish Rep n-t. lu the circu ar the Grand Secretary 
 say- “Parliament have considered it nece sary titat all 
 political societies should be dissolved. Of oou e our so iety 
 is i icluded. VV’e were pledged tofhep iuciules of Oran e- 
 ism, ’>‘hic't '’re inv ol h e, and we sh 11 feel pl^ s re in in- 
 cu eating them to our neighhoors ani othe s and i i ijstil- 
 lin; them into the irfant breasts of our children, so h t 
 they may g ow with their gr wth an i ftrengthen with their 
 strength, and so he hinded down entire and u ompaired 
 from g n-'ration t ) generation.” R.ath-’r iaconsist-Jiit 1 .u- 
 guage from thi society of an illegal associition when dec a - 
 ing an uteution to ■ is olve ! Possirive proof I am, sind [ 
 think my re ders w 11 be inc ined to tike it, that this 
 V u tel asso iatiou was only a name which, wp ping ’ip 
 the orga i ation 'n even more seer cy. withd a viug it more 
 from pu ’lie scrutiny, and decei ing the peop'e i do a false 
 coufide..ce, made the Institution mo.e poverfal for evil. 
 
HISTORY OF OEAYGEISM. 
 
 161 
 
 pressions of a sufCtricg people. No legislative 
 euiictments can repress the troubltd elements of a 
 persecuted community. “Junius” has wLely said 
 that “ dealing the fountain is the best and 
 shortest way of puiifyiug the stream.” Press down 
 the foul and stagnant waters here ; there they will 
 o..ze to the surface as foul and pestilential as before. 
 To draw Lhem off by precautionary measures is the 
 ody effeotual remedy. The truth of this hygienic 
 principle the Commons had partially actn jwledg^d. 
 B at the born legislators, the hereditary rulers of their 
 species, ref use 1 with their usual obtuseness to see 
 it, and the foolish work of repression proceeded. 
 The statute in all its bearings was examined by 
 O’Connell and found to contain numerous absurdi- 
 ties, many inc nsistencies, a long catalogue of in- 
 coherencies uf which the Catholic Association, now 
 put upon their metal, were not slow to take ad- 
 vantage. The Association was roformed. They 
 made no pretence of being any thing but str'ctly legal. 
 They boldly took advantage of the many chinks in the 
 armour of an hostile assembly, and bt^arding the 
 Legislative power they met openly in the light of day. 
 The Orangemen acted otherwise. The quest ion is not 
 before us for consideration whether the Catholics 
 acted wrongly. It is simply did the Orangemen 
 act rightly ,or had they even legality to atone for any 
 indiscretion? Of the two charges they stand con- 
 victed, and of an additional one surpassing loth in 
 gravity in the estimation of honourable men. They 
 acted wrongly by continuing thtir institution in 
 the face of such ad\rerse opinions expressed as well 
 by their friends as by their enemies ; they acted 
 illegally by ignoring the precise terms of the mea- 
 sure which declared them dangerous conspirators ; 
 aud they played their old trump card of deceit in 
 pretending to the world they had dissolved, while 
 the fact is established that they did nothing of the 
 kind. They met in secret in the garrets of Orange 
 pot-houses, and shot their poisoned arrows out of 
 the window at the thousands of men who boldly 
 deded coercion and took the consequences, into the 
 v..st multitude who pressed forward for complete 
 emancipation. We have in the evidence of Mr. 
 E-ichardson Bell the fact that the Orange Lodges 
 continued to meet during this period in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Dungannon with > he same frequency 
 and the same regul uity (7083), and that the pro- 
 cessions were of precisely the same ctaracter as 
 previous to the passing of the Act; that on the 
 usual occasions for display “ they marched through 
 the town and behaved in a most ridiculous manner ; 
 so much 20 , that none but low Orangemen would 
 
 a.-ociate with them.” On the authority of the 
 Belfast Nexs-Letter of July, '1826, I find that on 
 the 12 :h July of that year there were Orange pro- 
 cessions at Aghalee, County Antrim ; at Dromara, 
 at Lisburn, at Lurgan, &c. In the issue of the 
 same jouinil for lOfch July, 1827, we find the fol- 
 lowing . — “ We are happy to learn that it is the de- 
 termina'.ion of the everal Orange lodges of Belfast 
 not lo have any procession on the 12th July. This 
 will have the tff ct of preventing those scenes of 
 riot which frequently take places upon the returns 
 of this day,” In its issue of two days’ subsequent 
 to this, it commends the propriety of the Orange 
 ledges in not holding a demonstration. Again, on 
 the i2th of July, 1828, we find in the News-Letter 
 the following: — “The Orangemen of Belfast re- 
 solved to have no public demonstration. The 
 lodges accordingly met in their respective rooms, 
 and passed the evening in unobtrusive hilarity. A 
 small party went off to Lisburn. . . . Arches 
 
 were formed across the principal streets.” It 
 further states that demonstrations were held in 
 Lisburn, Hillsborough, Dungannon (where 170 
 lodges met), and where the cavalcade was headed 
 by several protestaat gentlemen of rank, who “ap- 
 peared to countenance the procession, dressed in 
 costumes suited tj the occasion,” in Dromore, in 
 Kilmora, in Saintfield (forty lodges met here), in 
 Portadown (where between thirty and forty 
 lodges met), in Lurgan (where eighty or ninety 
 lodges assembled), in Bahy money (with 28 lodges), 
 in Ballymena, Antrim and Coleraine. How in the 
 face of this testimony the Orange Insiitution could 
 boast (with truth of course, for with them boastful- 
 ness is built upon slender fcunditions) or how 
 they could unblushingly assert that they had dis- 
 solved in deference to the Act of Parliament is one 
 of those undefiaabla questions which each party 
 must solve for himself. Of those demonstrations 
 the News-Letter remarks — “Everything has been 
 peaceably and orderly conducted, and though the 
 simple fact of having a procession for a specified 
 purpose may be aa infraction of the existing 
 statute, yet does it not carry in it some redeeming 
 qualities when not a solitary depa lure from pio- 
 pi’iety has occurred in all the numerous assemblages 
 to which our extracts of coirespondents refer.” 
 That it was a deliberate and wilful breach of the 
 law cannot be gainsaid as we find by the 
 opinion of Attorney. General Plunket and bJolicitor- 
 Geaeral Joy given in 1827, that the Orange Asso- 
 ciation and processions came within the pro- 
 visions of the 3rd seel ion of the 6 th, 
 
 14 
 
162 
 
 HISTORY OR ORANGEISM. 
 
 George IV., cap. 4, and that as they did 
 noi come within any of the exceptions in section 
 8 of that statute such societies were illegal 
 That this net-work of conspiracy still continued 
 over the country, and with the knowledge and con- 
 nivance of respectable and titled wirepullers, who 
 fulfilled all the purposes which they had previously 
 avowel, is placed beyond doubt. Eegeneration for 
 the illegal demonstrations of July would otherwise 
 have been a work difficult of accomplishment upon 
 such an extended scale and within such a brief 
 period. The report of the Select Committee saves 
 us all trouble of drawing conclusions on this head. 
 
 As the constitution in no way changed neither 
 did its immediate consequences. Indeed, the latter 
 are so numerous and so fearful during this period 
 that we might reasonably accept them, tracing 
 for the effect the cause as proof in themselves 
 that the Orange Institution was full of life and 
 activity. As in the case of the Bottle Eiot, where 
 the Orangemen sought by their de.'^perate attempt 
 to frighten his Mijesty’s representative out of the 
 country, and make his Ministers believe the fac- 
 tion was sufficiently powerful to be feared, so now 
 we find over the country the dread results of the 
 last efforts of a faction whose light was soon to be 
 put out, like to the redoubled exertions of some 
 noxious thing who scented dinger in the air; 
 of some beast of prey, doubly dangerous 
 through seeing approaching a superior force 
 to pare its claws; of some venorcous 
 reptile spreading death indiscriminately 
 around, hoping to avenge itself in anticipation of 
 hastening doom; the last efforts of a band of 
 bigots, their strength in their intolerance, their 
 power in their recklessness, who, knowing too 
 well how often the braggart is mistaken for the 
 hero, how slowly a whole people perceives the 
 ears of the jackass protruding through the lion’s 
 skin, ran stark mad into the community, kicking 
 and belching round about, leaving many murders 
 in its tract, no doubt, but withal, having an air of 
 sanctimonious greatness — the giant presumption of 
 the frog in the fable, who would be an ox ; the 
 silly pretensions of a body, whose folly outstripping 
 its discretion, gives to mankind an object of shame 
 and of ridicule, and, who’ly blind to the world’s 
 smiles or its frowns, boastfully 
 
 Assumes the god. 
 
 Affects to nod. 
 
 And seerr s to shake the spheres. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the merning of 
 emancipation had dawned. Like to the tiger when 
 
 disturbed at his prey, a wail went up from the 
 Grange community upon discovering that they 
 were no longer to be allowed to persecute the 
 Catholics. Upon this persecution they hai lived 
 and fattened, as we have seen in the foregoing, and 
 the idea of emancipation was to them a sacriligious 
 wrong. Anxious to stem the advancing tide 
 of intelligence and liberality, they assembled in 
 their lodges, and reorganised that system of 
 guerilla warfare which in the days of the Eehellion 
 had bepn so fruitful. No longer to be allowed to 
 persecute the Papists ! It was an irreverant inno- 
 vation. The wail which went forth was justified 
 if not by reason at least by precedent. For pur- 
 poses of extermination, William Pitt had created 
 the Orangemen ; and when his successors in the 
 Administration objected to their domination, the 
 fault of being no Irnger useful was not 
 alone theirs. Isolated, disregarded — a 
 broken tool which tyrants cast away 
 without respect the Orangemen gathered together, 
 and in a huff struck out at all institutions which 
 appeared to favour the advance of liberty. Orange 
 lodges were by law prohibited. A show of com- 
 bination was necessary as well for the appearance 
 of strenght as to afford a mouthpiece to the organi- 
 sation. Conservative Clubs were thought of, and 
 the idea seeming to require all the requirements of 
 the body, “Brunswick Clubs” were started all over 
 the country. Wherever an Orange lodge '‘had 
 been’ there started up a “ Brunswick Club,” and 
 under the latter title all the'r utterances were put 
 forth. That they were regarded as Orange lodges 
 purely and distinctly appears from the debates in 
 Parliament at the time, and from the general 
 expression of opinion recorded in the newspapers 
 of the time. Under the title of a biunswick 
 Club the leaders of Orangeism in Dublin issued 
 their orders, and managed the affairs of that 
 association, which Government, no doubt in their 
 blindness had thought it wise to do without. The 
 iteration in the name in no way affected the char- 
 acter of the association. Somehow outrages st 11 
 continued and multiplied. Their recurrence had 
 succeeded in uniting more firmly the large mass of 
 Catholics together, and the Orangemen now sought 
 by the same means to oppose the outcome of that 
 unity which their own intolerance had greatly 
 furthered. No more striking example of their con- 
 duct and inconsistency could be had than that de- 
 tailed before the Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons by Eichard Bell, of Killymuddy, near 
 Dungannon. In 1827 a Catholic, a butcher, named 
 
HISTOEY OP ORINGETSM. 
 
 163 
 
 Thomas M'Crory, was returning from a fair with 
 his wife and daughter. He was brutally murdered 
 by an Orangeman named R chey, who, with two 
 o^^hers, set upon him. To get an Orangeman out 
 of ♦‘he meshes of the law was then no d fficult task. 
 A note from his clergyman to the eff jct that A. B. 
 was not a likely person to commit a murder 
 anwered all the purposes of an aHbi, and 
 forth the murderer walked fresh for fur- 
 ther slaughter. In this instance the 
 Eev. Mr. Brydge, or Bridges, was applied to for a 
 character for Richey. Believing that Richey was 
 abaut to quit the country, he gave him such a cha- 
 racter as would kelp to disarm suspicion ik the 
 iuterval. Confident of an acquittal, Richey did not 
 leave the country, and to the rev. gentleman his 
 friends applied for a second character. In stric'er 
 terms, they appeared with a written acJcriow''edg merit 
 of his innocence, which they requested him to sign. 
 When questioned as to who were the murderers, 
 the mother of the culprit Richey said that two of the 
 murderers, whose names she gave, were known. The 
 name of the third she refused to give until after a 
 subscription had been raised by the Orangemen for 
 the defence of her son. The Rev. Me. Bridges 
 naturally concluded that Richey was number three 
 murderer and refused to sign the character.*’ 
 A verdict of wilful murder had been returned 
 against him, and at a subsequent trial R'chey’s at- 
 torney requested the clergyman to stop away, as any 
 character he could give would only militate against 
 him. The agent of the estate upon which Richey’s 
 father lived left the court just before a character 
 was called for. Strange to say, Richey was found 
 guilty, and stranger still, considering that the 
 Brunswick Clubs were powerful in Dublin, Richey 
 was hanged. But now comes the moral of the 
 story. The leaders of Orangeism, with Mr. Verner 
 at their head, took it into their silly brains that 
 their brother was hanged, not because Richey 
 murdered a Papist, but because his clergyman had 
 refused him a character. All the lodges in Tyrone 
 were set in motion, and a person was selected from 
 amongst them to murder the Rev. Mr. Bridges. 
 Upon a certain Sunday contingents from all quar- 
 ters of the country appeared — to attend an in- 
 teresting sermon at the ISpiscopalian church — Mr. 
 Bridges’ meeting-house was besieged by an organ- 
 ised mob of Orangemen, an attack was made upon 
 his person, and an effort made not alone to interfere 
 with the course of worship, but to do personal injury 
 to the clergyman himself. He succeeded in escap- 
 ing with his life, but for three suceesoive Sundays 
 
 this work continued, efforts being made each day by 
 deputied parties to murder him. The result was 
 that he had to fly from his residence, and despite 
 all the entreaties of the Synod the Orangemen, 
 headed by the Episcopalian clergy of the place, 
 continued irreconcilable 1 3 the last. For refusing 
 a certificate of innocence to a murderer, Mr. 
 Bridges was compelled to fly the locality. Mr; 
 Crossley, J.P., agent to Colonel Verner, played a pro- 
 minent part in this prosecution. 
 
 Instances such as this are too numerous for quo- 
 tation, but the above may be taken as a fair indi- 
 cation of the character of the Association. With 
 all, they did not, nor could they stop the march of 
 events. Waterford election had been won by the 
 C itholic freeholders, and Clare followed in rapid 
 succession. The South was und^r the complete 
 control of the Catholic Association, and O’Connell 
 seemed to hold the reins of Government in his 
 hand, so great was the revolution that had taken 
 place. Onward the great current of emancipation 
 swept, carrying with it Brunswick Clubs, Orange 
 Lodges, Conservative Associations, and all those 
 feeble barriers which prejudice er ignorance had 
 opposed to it. 
 
 The North, says Mr. Wyse in his history of the 
 Association, was* not yet ripe for this measure ; 
 nor was it to be expected that a delegate or deputy 
 of the association could carry it so immediately and 
 quietly into effect, as the inhabitants themselves, 
 in possession of superior knowledge of local difficul- 
 ties, and of the means by which they might most 
 easily be obviated ; but, besides this, the moment 
 selected was more than ordinarily inauspicious. 
 The lately established Brunswick Clubs had per- 
 vaded every part of the country. The yeomanry, 
 so far from having been disarmed, had considerably 
 augmented their military resources. The entire 
 country had been roused to the utmost degree of 
 excitation by the invectives and denunciations of 
 the Orange party. An open and shameless cry for 
 the blood of their fellow-citizens, and a direct 
 avowal of an anxiety to bring back the scenes of 
 179S, had been heard from even the ministers of 
 the Gospel at several of their late meeting. The 
 association and its leaders in all these har- 
 rangues had been pointed out in precise 
 terms, as the prime source, the fertile prin- 
 ciple, of the existing distractions of the 
 country ; and the veageance, sometimes of the 
 
 ♦ History of the C itholic Associationby Mr. Wyse, vol; 
 I., page 400. Mr. Lawless had just been chosen as a 
 delegate to extend the Catholic Association in the North, 
 
1G4 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 Legislature, sometimes of the p^^pulation, been re- 
 peatedly invoked agaiast them and thei proceed- 
 ings. To send then a member of that body, and 
 in the aathorised character of its representadve, to 
 such men and at such a moment, was little less 
 than a direct provocative to open combat, an im- 
 mediate signal for civil war. Many of the most 
 considerate Cathol cs deprecated this unadvised 
 intrus’on on the territory of their enem'es, and re- 
 gretted that their voice had not been consulted, or 
 had not been allowed to be heard, in a ma- ter of 
 so much public moment. Nor was Mr. Lawless ihe 
 person precisely the most calculated for such an 
 adventure. His sincerity, his ardour, his persever- 
 ance, aie beyond all impeachment; his popular 
 talents have been felt— the enthusiasm which he 
 felt himself, and knew so well to communicate to 
 an assembly of his countrymen, v ere better testi- 
 monies to his efficiency than any commendution of 
 mere phrase. But Mi. Lawless is more sparingly 
 gifted with other qualities of a less shining nature, 
 but far more important, for the judicious discharge 
 of the delicate functions with which he was en- 
 trusted. A nice discrimination of time and place ; 
 a keen p?rception of the innumerable shades of 
 public feeling; a calm and even cold judgment of 
 popular excitation ; a prospective regard to conse- 
 quences; ani an exceeding discretion in the m in- 
 agement of popular resources, are qualities w aioh 
 we require even in an ordinary diplomatist. In 
 the diplomacy j ust no* iced, they were more than 
 especially necessary. Mr. Lawless would have male 
 a good Commissioner to the Departments, under 
 the French Republic. Hai it been necessary to 
 stimulate, to kindle, to force into immediate action 
 a slumbering province, or to call out on a sudden 
 emergency a levy en masse of fierce aud determ ned 
 mea, no person, I am persuaded, would go through 
 such a labour of love” with higher spirit, more 
 success, or greater physical and moral intrepidity 
 But the task here was of an opposite description, 
 and Mr. Lawless either mistook the character of 
 his miasion, or, with the best intentions, fouud 
 nothing in his nature which was calculated to se- 
 cond the intentions of the association. Had it 
 really been bis purpose to organise the North, it 
 would appear to a reasonable man, that the most 
 obvious mode which, ruder the circumstances, 
 could have been adopted, would have been to have 
 gone at once to the North, and in a manner the 
 most private and unostentatious possible. In si ch 
 a country, as little notice, as little delay, as little 
 crowd as possible, was the obvious policy oi the as 
 
 sociation. Mr. Lawless, personally objectionable as 
 he undoubtedly was to very many, even of the most 
 moderate of his antagonists, adopted every expe- 
 dient which could most ioflame their animosity. He 
 hovered for several weeks on the borders of Ulster, 
 aud though it is not to be denied, that in . those 
 places he did much good, aud with as much alacrity 
 as could reasonably be expected, yet the very good 
 which he did, the time which he spent in doing it, 
 the excitation which accompanied, and the lofty 
 terms in which he announced it to the association, 
 and through that body of course to the entire coun- 
 try, pub it altogether out of his power to execute 
 the really important part of his mission, when the 
 period arrived for its accomplishment. All this 
 time was spent m preparation; when the contest 
 came, his enemy was also prepared. Bat this 
 want of political generalship was likely to 
 have produced consequences far more fatal 
 than mere pc-rsonal defeat. Mr. Lawkss was 
 inadvertently on the point of involving the two 
 great contending parties in instant conflict, and by 
 no very strained inference suddenly plunging both 
 bodies, and perhaps both countries, into civil war. 
 
 Mr. Lawless had now addressed several succes- 
 sive meetings iu the d fforent parts of the country 
 through which he had passed, K Jls, Dundalk. &c., 
 with his characteristic eloquence, and had every- 
 where been received with the loudest acclamabioris. 
 The rent was established as he moved along, and 
 hopes were indulged that the representations 
 hitherto made to the association of the state of the 
 Catholics of the North were false, or grossly exag- 
 gerated. In every chapel where he appeared 
 crowds came to meet him, aud many even of his 
 opponents joined the people, and reiu ned with 
 f ivourable impressions. As he proceeded the usual 
 results of such assemblies became perceptible. 
 Meetings, bad never been faquent in that part of 
 the country, and tne people were fresh and easily 
 affected by such appeals. The exertions of Mr. 
 Lawless were indefatigable. His success exceeded 
 his anticipations. The numbers of the auditors 
 augmented as he had advanced — a coiresponding 
 enthusiasm grew up with their numbers. Through- 
 out all this, too, the temper and order of the 
 populace were marvellous. They had studied with 
 success the lessons of Waterford and Clare. Theu 
 thousands and tens of thousands were grouped 
 around him a single violation of good order had not 
 yet taken place. These were emphatic proofs that 
 the spirit of organisation as well as agitation had 
 spread through every part of the country. But 
 
HISTOET OP OEANOEISM. 
 
 165 
 
 Mr. Lawless was carried away, no extraordinary 
 case, by Lis own victories. The time now 
 seemed arrived for the subjugation of the 
 * black North,” Mr. Lawless determined to enter it 
 at Bally bay. He was accompanied, it is said, by one 
 hundred and forty thousand peasants, all well 
 clothed, and, it is added, well armed j but their 
 arms, on closer inquiries, have been reduced to a 
 certain number of bludgeons and pistols, concealed 
 under their freize coats. This was of itself impru- 
 dent, but it was without the cognisance of Mr. 
 Lawless. There were circumst mces which ren- 
 dered ic infinitely more so. The Orangemen were 
 alarmed at the hostile incursion, and prepared for 
 defence. They were impressed wilh an idea that 
 Ballybay was devoted to destruction by the Papists, 
 and their allies were summoned for every pari of 
 the country to support them without delay. Three 
 thousand Orangemen, who soon increased to five 
 thousand, took possession of the hill immediately 
 above the town. They every moment expected re- 
 inforcements. The next day it is very probable 
 they could have counted a force of from ten to 
 twenty thousand men. The two armies, for literally 
 they were such, were now very near each other, 
 and no sort of disorder had yet marked th3 con-luct 
 of either. It was a singular sight, in the midst of 
 perfect peace, and a general in her Majesty’s ser- 
 vice, General Thornton, standing close by. In a 
 happy moment, ere it was quite too late, Mr. Law- 
 less perceived his mistake. He had trusted too far 
 to his sway over the multitude. To a certain point 
 such rule is omnipotent — beyond it, it vanishes 
 into air. The people, as long as they are not at- 
 tacked, will not attack others ; they are orderly, if 
 not provoked. Even a certain degree of provoca- 
 tion they can bear j but this forbearance has its 
 limits, and these limits are easily passed in the 
 North. The men here brought into collision were 
 not like the men he had lately been witnessing — 
 the men of Clare — neither were their wrongs, nor 
 their quarrel, nor their hatreds, as theirs. This 
 was not a question between an old friend and a, 
 popular leader, between Mr. O’Connell and Mr. 
 Fitzgerald j but it was a deadly and inextinguish- 
 able national feud between two parties, the one 
 mastei s, the other servants ; one oppressors, the 
 other oppressed — burning with mutual detestation 
 — heated by rememl ranee of centuries of injury, 
 and closing gradually on each other in the full con- 
 viction that they could not separate without blows. 
 That the Catholic party had any intentions of ven- 
 geance or outrage, it would perhaps be unjust to 
 
 assert; that they could never have entered the 
 town, and preserved their tranquillity and good 
 order, is now beyond a doubt. Their dispositions 
 might have been the most peaceable — their inten- 
 tions the most pure — their peace and their purity 
 no longer depended upon themselves. A single 
 man with difficulty bears an insult — a hundred 
 thousand men would certa’nly not bear even its 
 shadow or intimation. The alarms of the Orange- 
 men would have produced the same results as the 
 confidence of the Catholic?. A collision would have 
 been inevitable : a single shot would have been 
 enough. It was easy to begin, but where would it 
 have ended ? The entire North in four-and-twenty 
 hours would have been up. But would the South 
 have remained quiet ? In the meantime Mr. Law- 
 less adopted the only best course to that of not hav- 
 ing appeared there at all. The people took his en- 
 treaties to peace and order, as words of course, 
 plausible pretexts for the better concealing of real 
 intentions, ard were for the most part persuaded 
 that he intended heading them in military array 
 against their enemies. They hurried him on in his 
 carriage to within a very small distance from the 
 town. In a moment the difficulty and the danger 
 flashed upon him. He rushed with a sudden effort 
 from his carriage, mounted a grey horse, instantly 
 dashed throogh the crowd — and fled. In the very 
 moment of his escape a partisan of his own is said 
 to have presented a pistol to his breast, indignant 
 at the failure of the expedition. It happily missed 
 fire. Another leader was to have taken his place. 
 What the consequences might have been it is not 
 very difficult to conjecture. Balljbaj might have 
 been entered, but a rebellion that very night would 
 have commenced in Ireland. 
 
 It is someMmes as courageous to retreat as to 
 advance, and, unquestionably, the flight, as if 
 really was, of Mr. Lawless from Ballybay was one 
 of those exceptional instances. Popular excite- 
 ment was at its highest point. The Catholic 
 element was aroused to a pitch never before 
 exemplified, and the slightest spark would have 
 fired. the breasts of those one million five hundred 
 thousand Catholic associates who met in their 
 respective chapels, in January, 1828. That the 
 Orange body, comparatively few and insignificant, 
 could ha'^e coped single banded with such an out- 
 raged multitude, men who felt their grievances 
 and their power to redress them, is an idea that 
 cannot be retained for an instant. It verges into 
 the ridiculous. Wo must pay them the credit of 
 not even entertaining this thought. But their 
 
 15 
 
166 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 object, as acknowledged by their platform orators, 
 such men as John Claudius Beresfoid, the Master 
 in Chanc< ry, Mr. Ellis, Sergeant Lefroy and others, 
 was as brutal as it was nefarious. To bring back 
 the bloody days of 1798 was now the only means by 
 which Catholic Emancipation could be successfully 
 resisted. From an Orange platform in Dublin 
 the design was made known. Could a collision 
 be brought about between the two contending 
 
 rt\es Government could scarce allow them to 
 fight t out without interfering, and there was little 
 doubt upon which side English influence would be 
 exerted. It was this design that called forth the 
 memorable, though somewhat indiscreet, challenge 
 of Mr. O’Connell — Oh ! would to God that our 
 excellent Viceroy, Lord Anglesey, would but only 
 give me a commission, and if those men of blood 
 should attempt to attack the property and persons 
 of his Majesty’s loyal subjects with a hundred 
 thousand of my brave Tipperary boys I would soon 
 drive them into the sea before me.” But Govern- 
 ment could not afford to stake their existence upon 
 such a trial of strength. The army was in great 
 part Catholic and Irish, and the events of the Clare 
 election rendered it doubtful that the arms of the 
 soldiery would be used in shooting down their 
 Catholic fellow-countrymen. 
 
 The Brunswick Clubs had continued the system 
 ©f exclusive dealing which had been long recognised 
 as one of the regulations of the Orange Society. 
 This reprehensible conduct had — but chiefly in the 
 North — very disasterous consequences in many in- 
 stances. A resolution recommending similar con- 
 duct on the part of the Catholics of the South was 
 proposed in the Catholic Association by some of its 
 most violent members and summarily negatived, Mr. 
 O’Connell and The O’ Gorman Mahon being amongst 
 its strenuous opponents. Upon this occasion it was 
 Mr. O’Connell said, Whether the death of a human 
 being be hastened by the horrors of starvation or 
 by the gun of the Orangeman or the yeomanry 
 bayonet the crime is equally detestable in the eye 
 of God and in the opinion of every good man. Yes, 
 I repeat it, a persecution of this nature has been 
 carried on by the Brunswickers, and the backing” 
 system has by them been acted upon to a frightful 
 extent.” 
 
 That emancipation was bound to come was be- 
 yond question. Still it is questionable whether it 
 would have come so soon but for the praiseworthy 
 action of the Liberal Protestants of Ireland, who 
 had kept themselves aloof from what they honestly 
 characterised as the violence of the Catholic party. 
 
 *and were too broad-minded and too loyal 
 ^0 mix themselves up with the machinations of the 
 Orange Society, then known as Brunswick Club?. 
 “The neutrals bring about revolutions,” and they 
 who so long had stood carelessly, at any rate list- 
 lessly, watching the two parties confronting each 
 other new joined in the contest. A few went over 
 to the Brunswick side, hut the vast majority, 
 says Mr. Wyse, thinking that the hour of 
 action could no longer be deferred, declared 
 for the Catholics and for Ireland. The 
 celebrated Protestant declaration in favour of 
 Emancipation, the remarkable pronunciation of 
 Lord Morpeth, the verbal puzzle which Wellington 
 sent for Dr. Curtis and Ireland to unravel, the 
 bold, out spoken, and manly declaration of the 
 Viceroy, Lord Anglesey, that emancipation 
 could no longer be denied, all now followed in rapid 
 sucession, and are matters ha\iag more to do with 
 the general history of Ireland than with our un- 
 Bsuming story. The sudden recall gave room for 
 high hopes in the Orange bosom that the old days 
 of intolerance and of blood were about to comeback 
 again, and from many quarters came the empty 
 boast that the Government dared not emancipate 
 the Catholics for fear of tbe Orange party. “ Papist” 
 Anglesey was abused and vilified, and Wellington 
 and Peel idolised as “ true Orangemen” and Protes- 
 tant heroes. Great was the jubilation. The nest 
 of vipers in the Castle, who, by garbled reports, had 
 been poisoning the mind of each successive Vice- 
 roy, had been rooted out by Lord Anglesey, and they 
 now hoped for a return of the old misrule. A secret 
 alliance between the Government and their faction 
 they openly proclaimed, and, ever loyal to those 
 whom they thought favourable to their own pre- 
 judices, they called on their clubs “ to support the 
 hands of his Majesty’s Government.” Or the other 
 hand, there was over the Catholics a sorrow, 
 which was the more significant from its expression by 
 a silence, almost unbroken save at the departure of 
 Lord Anglesey from Dublin. It was a demon- 
 stration of the most affecting kind, resembling 
 that which took place on the memorable depar- 
 ture of Lord Fitzwilliam. By those who witnessed 
 it the two occasions were likened, and an inference 
 by no means comfor ting drawn, that the same ter- 
 rible results would follow. 
 
 • Mr. W. Sharman Crawford, M.r., in his osamination 
 before the Select Committee, in 1 85, gave it as his opinion 
 that the Catholics did not take any step to secure emancipa- 
 tion which the circumstances did not warrant. “They pro- 
 ceeded mildly in the first instance, until their patience was 
 tried, and until no resource remained kat a bold and deter- 
 mined assertion of their rights,” 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 167 
 
 Befoie the occurrence of these events the Orange 
 Society had openly avowed their existence. The 
 statute of 1825 lapsing in 1 28, they could now 
 with safety acknowledge themselves. Ernest, 
 Duke of Gum’ eriand graciously condescended to 
 extend his imperial sway and to become Grand 
 Master of the Irish Institution, the Earl of Ennis- 
 killen, Colonel Wm. Verner, and Kobert Hedges 
 Eyre acting as deputies. Bead by the light of sub- 
 sequent results, we will find the annual” of this 
 year, that is the password to all the lodges 
 of the Institution, pregnant with meaning. 
 We have it on the authority of Mr. Swan, 
 who this year Joined the Society and shortly after- 
 wards filled the place of Deputy Grand Secretary 
 that the annual” for this the year of “ revival” 
 of the Orange A.ssociation was Ernest.” The 
 word suggests plots, dark designs, and revolution ; 
 a faint streak of light, by following which we can 
 unearth the traitors. , The rules, which in little 
 sense differed from those of 1824, were submitted, 
 and received, we are told, the sanction of legal 
 authority. The Orangeman’s oath being omitted, 
 the applicant was required not alone to take the 
 oaths of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration, but 
 had to subscribe to the declaration against transub- 
 stantiation, and to solemnly and sincerely, in the 
 presence of God, profess, testify, and declare” that 
 the sacrifice of the Mass was idolatrous, supersti- 
 tious, and damnable, as well as the invocation of 
 the Virgin Mary. In the face of this declaration 
 the Grand Lodge of Dublin, meeting in November, 
 1828, had the effrontery to issue an address to the 
 Protestants of the Empire in which, after speaking 
 about their religion being menaced by Popery and 
 infidelit}, they said they rejected from amongst 
 them an intolerant spirit, and only accepted as 
 brothers those whom they knew to be incapable of 
 persecuting, injuring, or upbraiding anyone on ac. 
 count of his religion. This epistle ends 
 with a- threat which is in itself an aeknow" 
 lodgement that the Institution had not 
 been dissolved during the three previous 
 years. “ The Orange Institution • cannot 
 be suppressed but by means which would subvert 
 the Constitution of Great Britain, and erase the 
 name of the Prince of Orange from among her 
 sovereigns! After that” — no ; not the deluge, but 
 something akin to it — the Brunswick dynasty 
 would soon follow, the liberty of these realms, our 
 religion, and our monarchy would again be placed 
 under Papal darkness and despotic oppression.” 
 How far this prophecy was true v»e in the present 
 
 are able to judge. The Orange Institution was 
 suppressed not many years after as we shall see. 
 What followed? Not the Brunswick dynasty. 
 Neither was the liberty of these realms, their rel> 
 gion, or their monarchy placed under “ Papal dark- 
 ness or despotic oppression.” 
 
 How far the Grand Lodge was sincere in implor- 
 ing the brethern over the country to respect the 
 law, and refrain from processions may be seen from 
 the following rule inserted this year 
 
 ^*21. In as much as a popular error prevails re- 
 specting the landing of King William III. of 
 glorious and^.mmortal memory, that happy event 
 having taken place on the 5th and not the 4th of 
 November, as generally supposed, the former day 
 being recognised by law, and a solemn prayer ap- 
 pointed to be used in all churches— viz., for the 
 happy deliverance of King James I. and the three 
 estates of England from the most traitorous and 
 bloody-intended massacre by gunpowder, and also 
 for the happy arrival oc his Majesty King William 
 III. on this day, for the delivery of our church and 
 nation, the members of the Orange Institution will 
 henceforth celehratetlae Sth of November asthe grand 
 sera, the same to be observed hy the brethern at' 
 tending Divine Service in their respective churches/* 
 
 With such a rule inculcating processions it would 
 be difficult to attach blame to the ignorant masses 
 when they wantonly broke the law. Though the 
 Secret Articles were omitted from the rules they 
 had not been repealed, so that all who had been 
 sworn in previous to 1824 were bound by them. 
 Secrecy was still the motto of the institution. At 
 all their lodge meetings the tyler, the guardian 
 spiiit, presided outside the door. Up to this year 
 (1828) the Trinity College Lodge met within the 
 walls, and it is now for the first time that we find 
 the young law student, Isaac Butt, who, in years, 
 after, learned to repent the follies of bis early days, 
 figuring as an Orangeman. At a meeting of the 
 Grand Lodge, held in the Merchants’ Hall, he made 
 a violent Orange speech, which was thought suffi- 
 ciently bigotted to receive the praise of the Orange 
 organ, the Evening Mail. Mr. Butt soon after was 
 raised to a place of distinction in the order. 
 
 The association was now used in every possible 
 shape for the purpose of thwarting the generous 
 intentions of his Majesty’s Ministers. Mr. James 
 Christie in his evidence before the Committee 
 (6691) says— “I have known and seen instances in 
 which the Orangemen have been collected and 
 stimulatea to assemble and march in erder to the 
 church ; I saw them go into one church to sign a 
 
168 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEAISTGEISM. 
 
 petition against Catholic emancipation, and the 
 church was kept open and they marched in proces- 
 sion, and I was myself in a gig with an Orangeman 
 who reprimanded them for so doing ; be said they 
 were ordered in, but not to go in a procession. 
 They were ordered in by the District Ma&ters, as I 
 understand.’'* This leaves little room for wonde^^ 
 that there were presented to the House of 
 Commons 2013 petitions against the Emancipation 
 Bill, as compared with 955 in favour of it. The 
 petitions in the Lords’ were — against, 2521 ; in 
 favour, 1014. Had the Orangemen confined them- 
 selves to the constitutional course of petition, ev^en 
 signed under circumstances of menace, there would 
 be little room to quarrel. But they sought by 
 every possible means to terrorise those who differed 
 from them from adopting the same course, and by 
 many acts of outrage endeavoured to show how 
 fierce and bloody would be their resentment if the 
 Bill became law. Mr. W. J. Handcock (“ Papist” 
 Handcock) says (7913) that a violent and most dis- 
 graceful riot took place in May, 1823, in Lurgan. A 
 rumour was raised that the Catholic Bill had been 
 thrown out by the Committee, and in the evening 
 fligs were hoisted on the church of Holt Waring, a 
 reverend and venerable Orange firebrand of those 
 days, and the church bells were rung. An Orange 
 mob paced the streets, shouting “ Verner for 
 ever,” and sending the Pope and Papist” Hand 
 cock to hell. Prom house to house in which Catholics 
 resided they proceeded, sma hing and wrecking as 
 they went, until at length Mr. Handcock read the 
 Eiot Act, and sent for Mr. Forde, a neighbouring 
 magistrate, to assist him in restoring peace. Our 
 police system was not then so perfect as in latter 
 years. The yeomanry, every man of them Orange 
 about Lurgan, were presumed to be the peace 
 preservers in time of tumult. Desirous of 
 preserving order, the magistrates sent for 
 George Douglass, the permanent sergeant of the 
 yeomanry corps, and the person in whose care 
 were the yeomanry arms, to see if the assistance of 
 the yeomen could be relied upon. This course, 
 though no doubt necessary on the part of the au- 
 
 * The News-Letter of Tuesday, January, 27, 1829, contains 
 the f llowmg:—“ Orangemen of Londondeury.- On Wed- 
 nesday last, the 21st inst., the city district of Orangem n 
 was reorganised by the County Grand Master, under the 
 au hority of the Grand Qrnnye Loda-e. On the ensuing 
 morning at seven o’clock the lodges of thoNewtown’amivady 
 district assembled in great numbers at Ballykinly for t e 
 puri)ose of siguiug their petitions against Papish ascendancy 
 in Ii-eland. At nightfall they adjourned to]their lodge-rooms 
 in Newtownlimavady, where they occupied the evening in 
 alBxing their signatures to the rolls of parchment, which, 
 being short, another fold was lent to them by the Bruns- 
 wick ers of ths barony of Kenanght, the great majority of 
 whom belong to their body.” 
 
 thorities, seems silly in the extreme, seeing that 
 the very persons upon whom reliance was placed 
 for preserving order were then actually engaged in 
 wrecking cheir neighbours’ houses. Douglass was 
 a true Orangeman — much mor Hoyal as an Orange" 
 man than as a yeoman. Ha accordingly refused 
 to assemble tbe yeomen to aid the magistrates, 
 approved the action of the rioters, and told Mr. 
 Handcock, J.P., *‘he cared no more about 
 him than he did about the tail of a scallion.” 
 The conduct of Douglass was such as to 
 induce the magistrates at once to take 
 m.easure3 to have the arms removed from his 
 custody, and after some difficulty this was accom- 
 plished. lu the mraatirae the riot proceeded, the 
 drums beat to arms with “ Croppies lie down” and 
 the “ Boyne Water,” and after satiating their 
 frenzy by house- wrecking and burning to their en- 
 tire satisfaction, the “ Loyal Orange Yeomen” retired 
 from the scene. Nine of the rioters were arrested* 
 and the sergeant of the yeomanry waited upon 
 them and urged them not to give tail. By two 
 magistrates they were committed formally and 
 legally, and sent und^r an escort to Portadown, the 
 the Orange bands undertaking to cheer them on 
 their march by discoursing the tnnos before men- 
 tioned. When they arrived at Portadown, Curran 
 Woodhouse, J.P., actually set at nought the com- 
 mltal of the two Lurgan magistrates, and released 
 them on bail. Douglass, the yeomanry sergeant, 
 was one of the securities. The incident will suffice 
 to illustrate where and how the yeomanry secured 
 their arms. 
 
 Indeed, the entire North was about this time a 
 scene of violence and outrage. Towards the close 
 of the year riots of a serious character took place in 
 Monaghan, and many upon both sides were arrested. 
 An Orange jury was picked, who acquitted all the 
 Orangemen and convicted all the Catholics (7,355), 
 the verdict being so fligrantly unjust that the 
 barrister discharged the convicted on payment of a 
 nominal fin?. Mr. E. Kernan, B.L., who defended 
 the Catholics, narrowly escaped assassination at the 
 hands of the Orangemen, for, on the night he was 
 supposed to be returning from Monaghan, the Bel- 
 fast coach was stopped, attacked and wrecked, and 
 a clergyman in mistake dragged out by the 
 would-be assassins. Mr. Kernan had stopped to 
 dine with a friend, and so escaped. 
 
 Meantime, the associates in Dublin were arrang- 
 iagto break up the great Liberal Protestant meeting 
 in theEotunda. That the arrangemeats fell through 
 was not on account of their forbearance or from any 
 
HISTOET OF OEAXGEISM. 
 
 169 
 
 wise counsel imparted by Mr. Beresford. Tbe 
 amalgamation of the Catholics with the Liberal 
 Protestants by means of the '* Society of Friends of 
 Civil and Keligious Freedom” now made the 
 quarrel, not one between Catholic and Protestant, 
 as it unhappily had been, but between Ireland on 
 the one side and England on the other. 
 
 The year 1829 must be for ever memorable in 
 the history of Ireland. It was the jear of Catholic 
 Emancipation. And Catholic Emancipation broke 
 the spine of Protestant ascendancy. The speech 
 from the Throne on the 6th February announced 
 the introduction of a Catholic Relief Bill, but this 
 wis to be preceded by an Act intended for the sup- 
 pression of the Catholic Association, but extending 
 to every species of political associations in Ireland. 
 This announcemen*’, notwithstanding the coercive 
 measure accompaajiog it, was received with delight 
 
 all over the country. Before the Act of suppres- 
 sion was passed, the Catholic Association, after 
 many years of earnest work, seldom unaccompanied 
 by danger, and in its early days cold-shouldered by 
 friends, and sneered at by enemies, voluntarily dis- 
 solved, and contemporaneously with it the " Society 
 of the Friends of Civil and Religious Freedom.” A 
 few dayn later the Royal assent was given to the 
 Suppression Bill, and on the same evening in the 
 House of Commons Mr. Peel brought in a Bill ** for 
 the relief of his Majesty’s Roman Catholic sub- 
 jects.” The Bill was passed in the Commons by a 
 maj irity of 180 on the second reading and in the 
 Lords by a majority of 105. On the 13th April 
 1829, the Royal assent was given, and there was 
 placed upon the statute book an Act which has not 
 been unjustly termed the new magna charta. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII.— AFTER EMANCIPATION, *'NO SURRENDER.” 
 
 It has been truly said that it was not the Duke 
 of Wellington who originated the measure of Eman- 
 cipation. It was the stern hand of necessity. He 
 admitted it. To the degenerate successors of 
 the Orangemen of this period it will biing little ; 
 consolation to know that the action of their fathers 
 accelerated the emancipation of the Catholics by, 
 at least, a quxrter of a century. Had the South 
 A merican slave drivers been kinder to their species 
 they wouMjin all probability,have been drivio g slaves 
 to-day. Had the Orangemen of the Diamond been 
 less blood-thirsty, or had cheir successors learned 
 wisdom and moderation in time, Protestant ascen • 
 dancy would have been rampant for another 
 quarter of a century. They, fortunately for our 
 time, played the part of the ass between the two 
 bundles of hay. They would have all. They re 
 tained none. They would concede nothing. They 
 were left nothing to concede. An Act of Parlia- 
 ment had, however, no magic in it to exorcise the evil 
 which had for sc mony years held undisputed sway 
 over the affairs of Ireland, and for so long given 
 forth with the arbitrary power of usurper the de- 
 crees of life or death. The snake was scotched j 
 not killed. The wound inflicted, it gathered 
 itself up, and crawled into those infamous hol< s 
 80 numerous over the United Kingdom, there 
 ti hatch new treason. The ** Glorious Cin- 
 stitutioD, as established by William of immortal 
 memory” had been violated beyond a doubt. There 
 was no disguising it, even to themselves. Into 
 their lodges they crept. In every filthy tavern of ' 
 
 16 
 
 the country they were to be found — these men, once 
 the boasted exclusive loyalists \ —there they brooded 
 in sullen silence over their plans, and in muttered, 
 in whispered phrases communicated their guilty in- 
 tents the one to the other : “ The Constitution has 
 been betrayed !” ** The King has betrayed it ! !” 
 “Ernest is our Imperial Grand Master!!!” 
 “ Ernest shall be King ! ! ! !”* 
 
 The management of this wide-spreading con- 
 spiracy to alter the succession fell, as a matter of 
 
 * It must be recollected that at this time the " first 
 e'en tleman”— and the bigr.est fool— in Europe was gi-nn^^ 
 to en of approaching dissolution. That he was fast losing 
 what little wi^s he ever ha'l, and had prematurely arrived at 
 second childhood, was shown by the great partiality he had, 
 though always his failing, of weeping upon all occasions of 
 pe plexity. The occ sion seemed, therefore, an opportune 
 one, but tbe early demise of the last of the Georges perplexed 
 the conspirators, and did not give them time to gather their 
 force- acainst the popular Luke of Clarence. I wish to 
 guard myself from being misunde stood The conspiracy 
 was not again t George IV , although had he long survived 
 he would in all probability have b en made the object of it. 
 But tbe King bavin?, in the opinion of the Orangemen, bo- 
 tray ed the Constitutk n of 1688, these men thought them- 
 selves justified, no doubt, in conspi ing to alter tae succes- 
 sion, anxious to place upo i the throne the head of their 
 faction, and fearful lest the legitimate heir, an acknowledged 
 and broad-minded Liberal, should succeed. It may be 
 said that the conspiracy would not have been exerted 
 against the then reigning monarch ; that George t''e 
 Fourth opposed Emancipation. Well, possibly it would 
 not. Rut George really < id not oppose Emancipa- 
 tion. He made a s-how of doing so, blub* e-ed a great deal, 
 spluttei't d o..t that he would run away to Hano ver, or drown 
 him=elf in some of the German b tbs. But he did nothing 
 of the sort. M, Gu zot, in his life of Si- Robert Peel, aid 
 that this weeping was all dumb show to plense the prejudices 
 of ihe Engli-h people. At any rate, shedding tea s w s not 
 the oppo i ion that the O'nngemen wanted f om the King 
 against Catholic Emancipation. Shedding blood would have 
 been more after th ir heart, and would possibly have beeu 
 the course adopted by their “ dear and vene-ated monai-ch 
 George III.” In the eyes of Orangemea the King hai, there- 
 fore, betrayed the Cotstitution. 
 
170 
 
 HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 course, to the English Grand Lodge. Before enter- 
 ing upon this important feature of the subject we 
 have to do first with the Irish Grand Lodge, and 
 what were the more immedia‘:e affects of Emancipa- 
 tion in this country. It is worthy ot inquiry how 
 the brethern respected the laws of this land which 
 gave to Catholics the right of every free-born 
 citizen. The Belief Bill was received \^ith deep 
 thankfulness by the Roman Catholics, by the 
 wholesome advice of their clergy they abstained 
 from demonstration of any kind* The result was 
 that the first day of Emancipation passed in uu-^ 
 broken quiet. No outward expressions of joy were 
 indulged in lest they might, by a hostile party, be 
 construed into appearances of triumph. Wanting 
 an excuse the Orangemen contrived to do without 
 one. All over the entire country, from April to 
 the latter end of July, we have one continued record 
 of excitmenb and outrage. The lodges were let 
 loose upon the community, and stimulated by 
 s’rong drink nightly administered in the lodge- 
 rooms, all of them tap-rooms, they commenced a 
 system of warfare upon the Catholic inhabitants 
 which nothing but the most unholy hate 
 
 could prompt.* We find from the minutes 
 of evidence before the Irish Select Com- 
 mittee that on the 6t'a May, of this year, 
 
 a boat belonging to Mr. Peter Clarke, a 
 Roman Catholic, was proceeding on the canal from 
 Portalown to Newry with a cargo of potatoes, 
 when it was attackei by a large party of Orange- 
 men armed with yeomanry rifl > 3 , who fired upon it, 
 and compelled its inmates to take refuge on the 
 opposite side of the shore. Such instances of out- 
 rage were numerous, and spread terror all through 
 the north, which in no sense was calculated to be 
 quieted by the feeling that the Orange celebrations 
 of July were approaching. So fearful was the 
 alarm that the Lord Lieutenant, now the Duke of 
 Northumberland, thought it necessary to issue 
 specific instructions against all party processions, 
 and to warn, by circular, the oMcers of yeomanry 
 against permitting their men to take any share 
 in such demoDsI rations. The Irish Grand Lodge 
 was equal to the occasion. The reccrds of the day 
 gave them credit for desiring to stop proceessions 
 on the 13th July (the 12th was a Sunday), but from 
 our reading of their doings in the present day we 
 must be disposed to give them credit for a knavish 
 duplicity which was well calculated to befool their 
 
 * “Mr. Peel, af er Ema’^cipatioTi, left the Or^ngomon 
 still in full power iu I e'a id.” M. Guizot’s life of Sir Roht. 
 Peel, pa^jo Id. 
 
 contemporaries. The Imperial Grand Master, 
 early in July, addressed a letter to the 
 Earl of Enniskillen, *' dissuading the Grange- 
 men of Ireland from having any process- 
 sions on the anniversary of the Boyne and 
 the Irish Grand Lodge issued an order recommend- 
 ing the same. This order was signed by the Earl 
 of Enniskillen, Colonel Vernor, and all the grand 
 officers of the Irish institution. If it were really 
 intended to produce the effect which it professed 
 on the face of it we are driven to the conclusion 
 that the Grand Lodge of Ireland have little powe’^ 
 in controling the mischievous disposition of the 
 institute over which they are presumed to preside. 
 But, from the terms of the circular, it is more than 
 likely that they did not wish to do so, that it was 
 part of the desperate game from the consequences 
 of which they wished, as far as possible, to secure 
 themselves. The circular did not lay stress upon 
 the fact that processions were contrary to the law, 
 that they were an express violation of the procla- 
 mations of the Lord Lieutenant; that they might 
 lead to murder and anarchy ; it mildly suggested 
 not to nail the ears of the Catholics to the pumps, 
 and the Grand Lodge having first offered up a 
 prayer that heaven might pardon those 
 traitors to the Constitution, the Duke of Wel- 
 lington, and Mr. Peel, they departed their several 
 ways to stimulate their blind brethern in the 
 country districts to set at nought the very advice 
 which they pretended to have given. If we pay 
 the Orangemen the compliment of being better 
 skilled in the interpretation of circulars of the 
 Grand Lodge than are those without the pale of 
 Orangeism, we are driven to no other conclusion 
 from the unanimous and general action which fol- 
 lowed than that the circular was intended to pro- 
 duce what it actually did produce. All through 
 ^he North the Orange Lodges, in spite of statutes, 
 proclamations, and circulars, met that year in their 
 strength. All throi’gh the North the 13th July, 
 1829, was one scene of bloodshed and confusion. 
 
 Orange processions were held in Belfast, Newry, 
 Portadown, Lurgan, Lisburn, Darriaghy, Tandra- 
 gee, Richhill, Armagh, Moira, Waringstown, Cale- 
 don, Strabane, Banbr dge, GKsslough, Kdlelea, 
 Monaghan, Aughnacloy, Coleraine, Magherafelt, 
 Maghera, Caatledawson, Raudalrtown, Castle- 
 welLin, Kilkeel, Rathfriland, . Ballybay, Clonee, 
 Newtownstewart, Newtownbutler, Enn’skillen, 
 Dungannon, Stewartstown, and, indeed, if all the 
 districts in which a lodge could muster sufficient 
 numbers to beat a drum, blow a wkistle and suifi- 
 
HISTOET OP OEANGEIS:VP 
 
 in 
 
 cient cash to steep themselves in intoxication. In 
 Belfast a meeting of the magistrates was called, at 
 the request of the Marquis of Donegall, and sworn 
 informations having been made that serious re- 
 EuVs might follow a procession, the magistrates 
 issued a proclamation prohibiting it. Proclama- 
 tion piled upon proclamation, and statute upon 
 statute would have had no result with those 
 “loyal” men. The lodges of Belfast met in Chi- 
 chester Street, formed into procession, marched 
 and counter marched to the lively airs of the 
 “ Boyne water,” and “ Croppies lie down,” and 
 * defied the Municipal authorities to their face. 
 Nor were the expectations of serious consequences 
 without foundation. A fearful affray tooh place in 
 Brown Street, the Orange locality; many hou<^es 
 were wrecked, shots were fired ; one man was 
 killed, very many wounded, and the rioters dis- 
 persed at the point of the bayonet. 
 
 In Enniskillen a desperate riot took place, in 
 which large numbers were killed, the ultimate re- 
 sult being that 500- Catholic families were left 
 houseless, and driven for refuge to the mountain 
 side, where they were compelled to remain en- 
 camped for many weeks. 
 
 A similar tale came from Strabane, where the 
 havoc was dreadful. The Derry Journal of a few 
 days later records the particulars, and adds, “We 
 have rather fearful anticipations of accounts of 
 some similar disturbances in the town of Donegal.” 
 
 In Monaghan the riots were of an alarming 
 nature, and in Stewartstown and Coalisland the 
 News-Letter admits that a party of drunken brethren 
 — “ heated with drink” is the mild expression — 
 caused the wholesale sacrifice of blood in that 
 locality. So general was the action on the part of 
 the Orangemen In the latter district that upon the 
 same authority we have it all the ammunition in 
 Moy and Armagh was purchased at an early hour, 
 and every evidence was given that the Diamond 
 tragedy was about being enacted anew. Portadown, 
 Comber, Maghera, &3., all offered up their sacrifice 
 of bloed in atonement for the outrage on the Con- 
 stitution by the emancipation of the Catholics. 
 
 The Macken case, recorded in the evidence 
 so often referred to (7,428), furnishes us with 
 similar proofs of the desperation of the Orange 
 party and the excitement prevalent amongst the 
 Catholics. Macken is a village in the County Fer- 
 managh. An Orange demonstration was about to 
 take place there on the 13th July of this year, and 
 a large number of Catholics assembled to prevent 
 it. Lord Eaniskillen, the Deputy Grand Master, 
 
 was in the district, and proceeded to the Catholics, 
 requestiag them to disperse. This they undertook 
 to do, provided he prevented the Orange processic n 
 through the district on that day, and that he would 
 order them to take down the fligs which were flying 
 all round the country* This Lord Enniskillen 
 undertook to do, and the people quietly dispersed. 
 Lord Enniskillen fulfilled his part of the engage- 
 ment, but in the evening the Orangemen got tipsy, 
 armed themselves with their yeoman rifles, and 
 proceeded to the village, fired three rounds of ball 
 cartridge, and a desperate and bloody encounter 
 ensued. A large number of Catholics were arrested 
 and but one Orangeman, though it appeared that 
 the Catholics suffered most loss on the occasion. 
 The petition of the nineteen Catholic prisoners, 
 which was given in evidence by Mr. B. Kernan, 
 shows, if it is to be believed, and there is nothing 
 contrary to reputation upon the face of it, how 
 gross was the partiality displayed by the sub-sheriff 
 and the exclusively Orange jury who tried them. 
 Hanging and transportation for life awaited the 
 poor Papists ! 
 
 This state of excitement and outrage continued 
 daring the month, displaying itself at intervals. 
 The result was that the Lord Lieutenant had to 
 issue a private circular to magistrates, in which he 
 expressed regret that such demonstrations were 
 countenanced and abetted by persons of respect- 
 ability, and pointed out how illegal they were, and 
 how obvious was the necessity of suppressing them. 
 
 Daring the remainder of the year the Iiish 
 Grand Lodge, allowing their hum’-ler brethern to 
 demonstrate as far as possible to the Government 
 “ that the balm of Catholic Emancipation had not 
 soothed as it was intended,” turned its attention to 
 farthering the Institution in the army,* and to- 
 wards perfecting a scheme for the Protestant 
 colonisation of Ireland. 
 
 The summary wiping out of the forty-shilling 
 freeholders had little of that effect it was intended 
 to have. They were sacrificed to the injured feel- 
 ings of the Irish Ocangemen. Such an immolation 
 went a short way to appease them. The sudden 
 change of front on the pa^’t of Tory Ministers, the 
 emancipation of the Catholics, carried through 
 fear of a civil war by one who had lived his life in 
 camps and fought more battles than any man of 
 
 * That many warrants were renewed and ne /v warrants 
 issued in the army appears by the records before the com- 
 mittee. Progress in this direc ion row became impo-tant 
 if a hope was to be entertained of a change in the suocession. 
 With the navy the legitunate heir to the throne was a 
 spsci il favourite. Hence this movement 
 
172 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 hi3 time, was a still grievous sin for wLich there was 
 no 'Redemption. It must be admitted that the very 
 circumstances under which the Act of Relief was 
 ; 2 ;ranted were calculated to aggravate the resent- 
 ment of the Orange party. Under other conditions 
 the granting of emancipition might have shown 
 advancement in a general desire for freedom. 
 But conceded through fear, its concession now 
 plainly demonstrated to the Orangemen the inWn- 
 cibility of the Catholic cause. Though we find in 
 this no excuse for their subse:iuent violence, we 
 might see some palliation were we not dealing 
 with men who boasted entire subjection to, and 
 nndeviating respect for, the laws. But for ‘‘ the 
 betrayal of the Constitution,’" the outrages of the 
 nine months following the passing of the Act 
 .might have been sufficient to appease the offended 
 dignity and the disregarded prejudices of the 
 Orange party. Both sides would then have settled 
 down peaceably to enjoy the blessings and make 
 the most of the advantages the new Constitution 
 bestowed. A deeper plan was, however, on foot. 
 It wag not meet, therefore, that the wounds of 
 Ireland should be immediately healed by the appli- 
 cation of this new salve. The Orange leaders in 
 the Lords and Commons had prophesied that 
 emancipation would produce results quite contrary 
 to those hoped for ; that turbulence and not peace 
 would be its product. It was the prophecy of men 
 who first predicts what the desire and then exeits 
 their utmost to bring about their prediction. Some 
 people would call it a threat. Towards the close 
 of the year the Duke of Cumberland pointed, 
 with a smile of Satanic satisfaction, at the 
 dire consequences which had followed it. 
 To directly undo the measure must have appeared 
 even to men steeped deep in bigotry an impossible 
 task. But they were not unmindful of the fact, for 
 they bad many instances of it in their experience, 
 that the best of measures may be neutralised by 
 concomitant evil ones. No act is good but in the 
 j nst administration of it. Nor were they blind to 
 the strong current of reform setting in in all direc- 
 tions, threatening to wash away the last stronghold 
 of monopoly Agitation was, therefore, kept alive 
 by the most disreputable and guilty contrivances ; 
 by disgraceful and infiammatory harangues from 
 Orange platforms ; by the filthy outpourings of un- 
 known scribes, whose productions had a money 
 value set upon them in accordance with the numbe^ 
 and character of the libels they contained ; by the 
 incentives to blood of men who forgot alike 
 the iniquity of their calling, the sacredness of their 
 
 mission, and that the ground whereon they trod 
 was holy, but, above and beyond all else, by those 
 private circulars of that huge compound of hypo- 
 crisy — the Grand Lodge of Ireland. From the 
 opinions taken relative to the legality of proces 
 si nj, we see that secret preparations were mid 
 for a grand demonstration all over the country on 
 the 12bh July, 1830. The result wa? that the 
 embers that these men were busily engaged in 
 fanning prematurely burst into a flame in several 
 localities, and bad the effect of warning the autho- 
 rities. For instance, we find that Crossgar, 
 in the County Down, was during the months 
 of May and June in a most excited state. That 
 district lying between Saintfield and Downpatrick 
 had been given over to a species of civil warfare. 
 The drumming parties of the night became the 
 shooting parties of the morrow, anl for many 
 weeks Protestant and Catholic, litGe recking loss 
 of blood upon either side, contended for the 
 mastery. In May a Roman Catholic was shot 
 at Crossgar, in one of those shooting parties, 
 and many persons were wounded. The Rev. 
 Richard Curoe, parish priest, Crossgar, made an 
 in ‘formation before the magistrates of Saintfield, 
 in which he swore that he was convinced that party 
 processions on the part of either Protestants or 
 Catholics had been attended with deplorable con- 
 sequences, and that he was fu^ly persuaded that 
 the peace of society in that part of the kingdom 
 could not be preserved unless such processions be 
 effectually stopped upon both sides. TUe Rev. 
 H igh Green, parish priest of Saintfield, made a 
 similar declaration. The consequence was that 
 the magistrates issued a proclamation prohibiting 
 all such demonstrations. The Right Rev. Dr. Crolly, 
 Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor, had, on the 
 previous I7th March, succeeded in preventing any 
 Catholic demonstration taking place in Crossgar; 
 th’s, as we shall see, in no way induced the Orange- 
 men to abandon their display of July. In Armagh, 
 in the beginning of July, we find twenty-seven 
 magistrates, amongst whom were Colonel William 
 Verntr, James S. Blacker, and other leaders of the 
 Orangemen issuing an aadrtss ‘^<^0 the peace- 
 able and wel - dispesed citizens of the 
 County Armagh. The proclamation did not 
 forbid processions, but said that the magistrates 
 having met to deliberate upon the best measure to 
 be adopted, were unanimously of opinion that they 
 ^ might rely on the good sense and good disposi- 
 tion of the majorit © th population not to coun- 
 tenance or in any c lebration of any day in any 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGrEISM. 
 
 173 
 
 manner which may be construed, however e'* *- 
 roneously, into the intention of giving offence to 
 any person or persons whatsoever.’* Whether “ the 
 great majority of the population’’ were wanting in 
 good sense or in good dispositions it would be diffi- 
 cult now to say. Possibly the res alt was due to 
 failure in both respects. At all events the addreis 
 by no means prevented the holding of a demon- 
 stration on the 12th, which did not pass off with- 
 out many unpleasant consequences. The Grand 
 Lodge now became conscious that they were push 
 ing their offensive policy too far, and, alarmed for 
 their own safety, they, in an address issued to the 
 biethren on the 26 :h June, 1830, recommended 
 them to abstain from party demonstrations on the 
 12th July, because “the public processions were 
 likely to lead to great loss of life, and prove inju- 
 rious to the Orange Association,” and might “ ic 
 all likelihood be made the groundwork of some legis- 
 lative enactment for the suppression of the Grange 
 Society.” Too late! Goaded into activity by that very 
 body which now sought to restrain their violence, 
 the vast body of bigots over the country overleaped 
 the traces, broke away from all control, and making 
 light of the reins which had too long been used net 
 as a check, but as an incentive, less for retard mg 
 than for guiding, they rushed madly forward to 
 blood and to their own ultimate destruction. The 
 demonstrations of this year are full of instruction. 
 They are all the more significant, seeing that they 
 occurred while the nation had on all “ the trap- 
 pings and the suits of woe” for the demise of the 
 King. The light of the last of our Gmrges had 
 been put out, and the popular Duke of Glarencf’, 
 amid the acclamation of the people, ascended the 
 Thorne under the title of William IV. 
 
 On June 23rd, 1830, the eve of the Feast of SS 
 Peter and Paul— a day generally regarded as a 
 festival by the Catholic Irish — a number of boys 
 and girls assembled in a field, by leave of its 
 owner, ab mt a mile and a half from Tandragee, in 
 the County Armagh.* There this merry group, 
 heedless of the impending dinger, spent their 
 evening in those rustic sports peculiar to their 
 time. But in Tandragee there was once upon a 
 time, and, for all I know, is still, an orange hall. 
 Close by lived the Rev. Dean Carter, the most vio- 
 lent Orange firebrand of his time, and one who 
 placed much less reliance upon the open Bible than 
 
 * See question 6,389 in the Irish report of the Select Com- 
 mhte^ on O anseism. Mr, P. M'Connell, wh"» de ails the 
 cir u I stances, says th°re w s nodidinction of party or sect, 
 and that he beli ved both Protestants and Catholics were 
 
 * mcerned in it. 
 
 the sword. In Dean Carter’s employment there 
 was a certain Deputy Grand Master named Wm. 
 Murphy. On this evening, whether by accident or 
 design, the Tandragee lodge he’d its meeting. 
 And for the sake of our humanity, let us sup- 
 pose that the liquor distributed upon the occasion 
 was worse, or more plentiful than usual. The 
 Orangemen, their meeting over, assembled at the 
 lower end of the town, under the lead of Murphy, 
 and, with fifes and drums and colours flying, they 
 marched to the tune of “ Croppies lie down/’ by a 
 circuitous route to the field in which the party was 
 enjoying themselves. By a manoe ivre which sug- 
 gests the presence of yoemanry, they surrounled 
 the field in all directions. The “ Protestant Boys” 
 was then s*^^ruck up, and a determined attack made 
 upon the crowd of amazed villagers from every side- 
 The owner of the field remonstrating, was knocked 
 down. One Samuel Ganlt drew a dagger from his 
 sleeve and mortally wounded a Cathclic named 
 Peter M Glade. Several others were stabbed and 
 wounded. At the inquest upen M Glade a verdict 
 of wilful murder was returned against Gault, and 
 also against his accomplices, Wk.. Murphy (Dean 
 Carter’s mau), Wm. Ford, and James Hagan. They 
 were all arrested. Gault and Hagan “ escaped,” 
 while Marphy.and Ford were tiled for the murder 
 at the Armagh Assizes in the following spring, 
 before Mr. Justice Johnston. They were acquitted 
 of murder by a jury of Orangemen, and found guilty 
 of riot and assault, and sentenced each to 12 months’ 
 icnpiisonment. Ford, on his release, was taken into 
 the police, on the recommendation of Dean Carter. 
 Murphy was at the same time admitted a member 
 of Dr. Patten’s Orange yeomanry at Tandragee. 
 What an impartial body of men the Armagh poliee 
 of those days must have been, since the murdering 
 of a Catholic was regarded as a proper preliminary 
 examination ! Dean Carter also refused to receive 
 ioformations sworn against, other parties concerned 
 in this murder. 
 
 Fearful of an outbreak, the magistiates of Down 
 had issued orders, as we have seen, agains‘^ pro- 
 cess! ens in Crossgar. The Executive had been 
 communicated with, and the Duke of Northumber- 
 land, the Lord Lieutenant, in Council, sent down a 
 prcclamation to the same effect, which was exten- 
 sively posted in the district. Setting aside at the 
 same time the advice of the Grand Lodge and the 
 proclamation of the Lord Lieutenant, the Orange 
 party assembled on the 12th July. Instructions 
 were sent to Mr. Sharman Crawford to be 
 present, and from his sworn depositions 
 
 17 
 
174 
 
 HISTOEY OF OKANGEISM. 
 
 made a few days afterwards, and his evi- 
 dence before the committee in 1835, we find 
 that on his arrival in Crossgar he found there 
 a force of twelve police, under the command of 
 Chief-Constable Fielding Givean. An orange arch 
 had been erected at the Cock Public-house, about 
 a mile distant from Crossgar, and Mr. Crawford 
 detached a party of four men, under the chief 
 constable, to take it down. Mr. Giveen reported 
 on his return that from the threats and violence of 
 the persons assembled he did not think it prudent 
 to attempt the removal of the arch. By this time 
 the Orangemen had assembled in large numbers in 
 procession, with fife and drums and colours. They 
 had gathered into Crossgar, a Catholic locality, 
 from Protestant districts distant ten miles and 
 more, a fact which made Mr. Crawford believe that 
 the demonstration was intended as an insult to the 
 Catholics. Some individual in the procession 
 carried short poles or halberts, with pikes on the 
 ends of them, while in some instances drawn swords 
 were carried by persons at the head of the lodges. 
 Pistol shots were fired, and a determined disposi- 
 tion exhibited to resist the civil power. Mr. Craw- 
 ford met the first lodges in the procession, stopped 
 them, read to them the proclamation of his Grace 
 the Lord Lieutenant and commanded them to dis- 
 perse. They laughed at him, and proceeded. He 
 attempted to stop other lodges, but with the same 
 result. They forcibly marched on, says the de- 
 ponent, Mr. Crawford, apparently defying the civil 
 power. An express was despatched to Downpatrick 
 for further assistance, and in the meantime Mr. 
 Crawford* “procured the attendance of Mr. 
 Hugh Taylor, the District Master of Saintfield, and 
 a few other masters ©f lodges, in a house in Cross- 
 gar, read to them his Grace’s proclamation and 
 commanded them to disperse, and seated every 
 consideration in his power to induce them to do so. 
 They treated the communication with respect, but 
 gaid they had warrants for marching hearing th^ 
 authority of Government, and that they considered 
 themselves justified in marching until these 
 warrants were withdrawn. They produced to in- 
 formant some of these warrants, bearing, as well 
 as informant recollects, the signature of his Royal 
 Highness the Duke of Cumberland” — the Imperial 
 Gra,nd Master be it recollected — “ Lord EuEiskillen, 
 and some other individuals. Informant endeavoured 
 to impress upon them that they were acting under 
 a wrong impression, but without effect, in saying 
 
 * Mr. W. Sharnran Crawford’s evideace before the Select 
 C ommittee, question 4,313, 
 
 that the Duke of Cumberland’s name being attached 
 to the document was an authority equal to that of 
 the Government of the country or greater. I 
 argued the point with them; they stated to 
 me that the Duhe of Cumberland is a greater 
 Duke than the Duke of Northumberland. I at- 
 tempted to remove this delusion, but without 
 effect. They said they had a warrant from Govern- 
 ment, though it appeared, when I came to investi- 
 gate it, that they had no warrant from Government 
 but those warrants.” Here, truly, is “ something 
 more than natural.” A number of intelligent men, 
 not wholly blinded by passion, for they could re- 
 ceive the magistrate’s communication “ with 
 respect,” defended the defiant and lawless attitude 
 of their brethren, in which the proclamation of the 
 representative of the reigning monarch was set at 
 nought by saying their Grand Master, “the Duke 
 of Cumberland, was a greater duke than the Duke 
 of Northumberland,” by alleging the warrant'of the 
 Grand Lodge superior to an order in Privy Council. 
 The sad consequences which might result from 
 such an opinion being seriously entertained count 
 as nothing when compared with the traitorous de- 
 signs of which it gives us an indication. When we 
 come to examine the political aspect of affairs 
 in England we will find that at this time 
 the duke who was esteemed greater in 
 Ireland than the Viceroy was an aspirant to the 
 throne, of which he was not the legitimate heir. 
 An additional force arrived from Downpatrick, and 
 by the temper and vigilance of the magistrates, 
 and the wisdom of the Catholics, a violent out- 
 break was averted. Taylor was arrested and 
 liberated on bail, and in the evening he re-appeared 
 upon the streets, riding about amongst the multi- 
 tude, his horse decked with orange ribands. 
 
 It would be wearisome to wade through the 
 many proofs furnished this year of the conditional 
 anallegice of the Orangemen. All over the North* 
 and in many places, at the sacrifice of life, they set 
 the law at defiance. In Dungannon, County Tyrone, 
 they assembled, contrary to proclamation, erected 
 arches, and were so menacing that the magistrates 
 would not permit the chief constable. Captain 
 Duff, to remove the decorations, although he 
 offered to do so at the risk of his life. This pro- 
 cession of loyal law breakers was headed by six 
 gentlemen of position, one being a lieutenant of 
 yeomanry. In Magherafelt, County Derry, the 
 Orangemen on the same day assembled while the 
 Barrister was sitting, broke into the jail, and 
 rescued several prisoners from custody. For a few 
 
HISTOTIT OF OEANGElSM. 
 
 175 
 
 days previous to this the Eibbonmen and Orange- 
 men were engaged at skirmishes on the adjacent 
 hills. 
 
 In the face of these outrages the Orangemen still 
 persisted in holding their processions. The Grand 
 Lodge, which appeared to be so anxious, previous 
 to July, about the bloody consequences that must 
 follow such demonstrations, found their former 
 triends in the Government more earnest than usual, 
 resolved to have the best legal advice to aid them in 
 their difficulty. Their taking the opinion of counsel 
 as they did in October, 1830, as to the legality of pro- 
 cessions, savours very much of an inclination 
 to continue them. The Grand Committee caused a 
 case to be laid berore two eminent barristers 
 Mr. Serjeant Pennefather and Mr. Holmes, both of 
 whom gave it as their decided opinion ‘Hhat under 
 existing circumstanceSj and the present state of the 
 law. Orange processions are not only decidedly ille- 
 gal but dangerous.’* The Grand Committee, there- 
 fore, made a virtue of necessity, and felt called 
 upon " to recommend to the whole body at once 
 voluntarily to give up all processions, and publicly 
 to make known their intention of doing so.” 
 
 We now come to one of the most shocking inc'- 
 dents in the history of Oran geism ; -an outrage 
 which has made the name of the Killj man 
 Wreckers” noted to this day. On the 19th Nov., 
 1830, a party of Orangemen from Killyman passed^ 
 with drums and fifes playing, and colours flying 
 through the village of Maghery, in the Co. Tyror e, 
 inhabited by Catholics (within a short distance 
 from Churchhill House, the residence of Colonel 
 William Verner) to attend what is denominated a 
 Black lodge meeting” of Orangemen in the neigh- 
 bourhood. This “black” sitting, as its name indi^ 
 cates, was an assembly of brethren, constituted 
 after the fashion of a formal court, for the purpose 
 ©f trying and passing sentence upon some person who 
 had been so unfortunate as to incur the resentment of 
 Orangemen. The result in many places in the 
 North was that the brethren, thus banded together, 
 permanently united under a separate or “black” 
 warrant, and combined to execute the decrees of the 
 Court. On Saturday, 20th November, the Orangemen 
 returned through Maghery. The Catholics refused 
 to let them pass unless they played “ Garryowen,” 
 a request which, having complied with the previous 
 day, they passed unmolested. The Orangemen re- 
 plied by playing the “Protestant Boys,” and a 
 scuffle ensued in which some of the Orangemen 
 were knocked down and wounded, and their drum- 
 heads broken to the extent of ten shillings worth. 
 
 Their wounds, however, were not serious, nor did 
 the Orangemen care much for the damage to their 
 drums or the loss of their caps, six or eight of 
 which they left behind in their hasty retreat from 
 the village. It was the complete route which 
 galled them. On Sunday following, if they read 
 their Bible, which is questionable — though an open 
 one (at a very significant passage) is their motto— 
 they also cherished their resentment, and at day- 
 break on Monday, the 22nd November, the drums 
 of Killyman beat to arras, and the brethren assem- 
 bled to march on Marghery for revenge. They were 
 armed with guns (the Eev. Mr. Donaldson swore 
 he counted 49), 47 muskets, bayonets, swords, &c., and 
 with drums beating and fifes playing they marched 
 along the road “with the declared and avowed in- 
 tention of tahiog revenge upon, the inhabitants of 
 Maghery for the affair of Saturday.” The alarm 
 spread. Mr. Boretree, a lieutenant in Colonel 
 Verner’s yeomanry, having heard this, rode after 
 the Orangemen and remonstrated with them in 
 vain. He then hastened to report to Mr. Jackson 
 Lloyd, Captain of the Killyman yeomanry, and to 
 Colonel Verner, Captain of the Churchhfll yeo- 
 manry and Justice of the Peace for the Counties of 
 Armagh and Tyrone, “ that the Killyman boys 
 were armed and coming over the bridge to wreck 
 Maghery, and that if Col. Verner could not stop 
 them by shutting the iron gates on ihe bridge over 
 the Blackwater, nothing could stop them.” Col. 
 Verner^ his captain, his lieuteniint, and a seigeant 
 of police met them at the bridge, the gates having 
 been locked by the order of Colonel Verner, and a 
 parley ensued in which the magistrate, without 
 taking the slightest means to disperse, arrest, or 
 identify any of them, engaged to send two ambas- 
 sadors to the village of Maghery from this illegal 
 assembly, demanding of them to pay lOs for the 
 missing caps and the broken drumheads. It was 
 engaged that the Orangemen should await 
 at the gate the return of the embassy, 
 and not attempt io pass it — a wise 
 
 precaution Having been made by the gallant colonel 
 that the police should be sent on with the deputa” 
 tion to the village. Unfortunately for the people 
 of Maghery, it was now breskfast hour at Church - 
 hill House. The colonel and the captain returned 
 to Churchhill to enjoy what was no doubt a sub- 
 stantial repast, leaving an armed and tumultuous 
 assembly of Orangemen bent upon revenge to be 
 restrained by one man — the keeper of the toll 
 bridge. But gatekeepers have to breakfast, too, 
 and this particular one seems to have hungered for 
 
170 
 
 HISTOET OE ORANGEISM. 
 
 it quite as much as did the colonel or the captain. 
 The gatekeeper went to his breakfast, and the 
 Orangemen commenced to climb the gate. Mr. 
 Boretree, who was absent for his horse, on return- 
 ing found them mating the attempt. He proposed 
 to them to go back to a public-house a quarter cf a 
 mile distant, and he would treat each man to a 
 glass of whiskey. They went back. They got the 
 whisky. Mr. Bjretree, the lieutenant of yeomanry, 
 having paid fcr it, rodi off to Dungannon, leaving 
 the Orangemen drinking it. It is no wonder that Mr. 
 Serjeant Perrin, in his report to the Government on 
 the occurrence here breaks out into a sort of exclama- 
 tion. It IS here to be observed that neither Col 
 Vernor, nor Lieu'enant Boretree, Mr. Murray, nor 
 the police sergeant, nor the gatekeeper can tell the 
 name of any one of those who spoke or took a part, 
 or had arms on the occasion, and Captain Lloyd is 
 almost eq Tally uninformed!*’ None blind as 
 those who will not see ! Waen the breakfast was 
 over at Churchhill, the drums were heard approach- 
 ing, and the refreshed Orangemen seen proceeding 
 on the road. '' They hai,” says Mr. Serjeant Perrir, 
 passed the bridge and through the gate, which 
 had been thrown open by the gatekeeper, who went 
 into the lodge to eat his breakfast.” Captain Duff 
 reports that they burst through the gates, shouting 
 that '' Bloody Wellington would not stop them j” 
 and that " they would shoot him if they had him.” 
 Very probaVe, indeed I Colonel Verner, who was 
 ia the midst of his own tenantry, and his own yeo- 
 manry, a hundred of whom he could have as- 
 sembled in half the time he took to eat his break- 
 fast, contented him-elf with putting the Riot Act 
 in hi? pocket, and with writing the following note 
 to his lieuteiant, a Mr. O’Neill: — “I am afraid 
 there will be bad work in Mtgbery. J ickson, 
 Lloyd, and I are going down to prevent it. Will 
 you have a few steady men ready in case I shouli 
 need your or their assistance.” According 
 to the official report, he wrote this fearing 
 there might he opposition in Majhery, so that 
 the force seems to have been meant m ae 
 for the protection cf the Orangemen than for the 
 defence of Maghery or it? Catholic inhabitants. 
 Colonel Verner, with h’S friend?, rode after the 
 Oiauge party, which by this time were augment* d 
 largely by their brethren of the locality — no doubi 
 the yeomanry of Churchhill. They overtook 
 them at the entrance to the village. The people cf 
 Maghery had escaped^ with exception of the old 
 arid decrepid, who were compelled to abide the fu'y 
 of the Orangemen. The Killyman boys had 
 
 their own way of it this time. Just as they 
 were about commencing operations, the colonel 
 pulled the Rmt Act out of his pocket, and — one can 
 almost imagine there was a smile on his countenance 
 at the time — he proceeded to read it. He might 
 as well have read Dens’ Theology.” He had indeed 
 remembered the Act, but, with a supernatural want 
 of judgment, had neglected to provide the means 
 of enforcing it j consequently twenty-eight houses, 
 belonging to Catholics, were wrecked, all their 
 owners* little wretched furniture, and clothes, and 
 tools, were broken and destroyed, and the few in 
 habitants who could be caught were beaten and 
 abused. One unhappy widow, within eight days of 
 childbed, was knocked down with an infant in her 
 arms, whilst her half-witted son was shot at (the 
 ball pierced his coat), and every article of furniture 
 torn from her. These proceedings lasted for nearly 
 an hour, at the end of which time Colonel V erner 
 persuaded the Orangemen to move off. They did 
 so with colours flying and drums beating, wrecking 
 also two or three houses by the way j Colonel 
 Verner, Captam Lloyd, and Lieutenant O’Neill, 
 who joined the party after the Maghery wrecking 
 was over, marching either with these ruffians, or 
 following in ^he rear along the high road through 
 a populous country ! What Colonel Verner’s feel- 
 ings on this occasion may have been, we do not 
 pretend to guess j we know only that he followed 
 the Killyman boys as far as the gate of his own de- 
 mesne, when he turned in, "never having” (we 
 copy his own deposition, App. 154) " called upon 
 a-iy of the persons mentioned by him to a'^rest or 
 stop 2 ny of the party, nor did he on his return de- 
 sire them to do so.” Captain Lloyd, in the same 
 manne”, continued with them only until he reached 
 his own house beyond the Blackwater. They were 
 then left alone, and were so met by Captain Duff 
 and a partv ot police that he had collected and 
 brought to Dungannon on hearing a report of the 
 threatened riot. He stopped and questioned them; 
 but they had the wit to say that everything had 
 been settled by Colonel Verner. Finding no one 
 with them, or following them, to give a contrary 
 statement, he passed on to Verner’s Bridge, where 
 he first heard the state of the case. He immedia- 
 tely went to Colonel Verner for orders. The answer 
 was, " Colonel Verner was reporting the affair to 
 the Castle, and hai no orders to give” Mr. Perrin’s 
 report declares these wreckers " to have been guilty 
 of felony,” and concludes : — " I am further of 
 opinion that Colonel V r 'er appears not to have 
 performed his duty as a magistrate at Verner s 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 177 
 
 Bridge, in order to disperse (as he was bound and 
 required by law) the persons there tumultuously 
 and unlawfully assembled, and compel them 
 to depart to their habitations. That he 
 did not take the measures and precautions proper 
 for that purpose, which he was empowered and re- 
 quired oy law to take, and which the result evinces 
 to have been necessary for the preservation of the 
 peace and the threatened breach thereof, and that 
 he is liable to be prosecuted at the suit of the 
 Crown by information for such (as it seems to mt ) 
 criminal neglect of his duty. I do not deem it 
 within my province to observe on the non-exertion 
 of Captain Lloyd and Lieutenant Boretree, or ot 
 Constable Crawford, not being, as I apprehend, the 
 subject of legal cognizance.” 
 
 It will be asked, what were the consequences of 
 all these outrages, and of this criminal neglect of 
 duty? Was Colonel Verner prosecuted? On the 
 contrary, he and Colonel Blacker were selected as 
 the two magistrates to whom the informations 
 were specially forwarded by the Crown (Mr. Black- 
 burn was then Attorney-General) for the institu- 
 tion of prosecutions (8687). But the Maghery men 
 and the wreckers of their village were tried. The 
 result IS instructive. Mr. Perrin’s report names 
 and specifies ten persons as spectators, more oi less 
 active, besides Colonel Verner and his officers, six 
 others as countenancing, and twenty-nine (eleven 
 Armagh and eighteen Tyrone men) as armed, and 
 engaged in the outrages of the Monday — that is, 
 fifty persons are named as present. Informations 
 were laid, and true bills found against many of 
 them. But when the first seven were succes- 
 eively acquitted’ the trial of the others was thrown 
 up. It appeared, that out of all these depredators 
 with whom there had been so much communication, 
 both on the Saturday and on the Monday, not one 
 could be recognised in the dock, either by Colonel 
 Verner or his companions (8697). Other witnesses, 
 the sufferers themselves, did recognise and identify 
 some of the prisoners (8705) ; but their testimony 
 was overborne by Colonel Veruer’s (8678). All 
 wpre acquitted (8678). Up to this hour, not one 
 person has suffered for the Maghery outrage. Bu^ 
 not so the Catholics of Magbery, They indeed had 
 breken drum-heads and hats on the Satuiday to the 
 value of ten shillings, according to the estimate of 
 the Orangemen to whom they belonged. This had 
 been done in a chance medley scuffl3, which those 
 Orangemen had provoked as they were illegally re- 
 turning from an illegal or black Orange meeting. 
 For this offence those Catholics were tried, con- 
 
 victed, and sentenced to three months’ imprison- 
 ment ! aid possibly this may have been a mitigated 
 sentence, in consideration of the trifling loss of 
 their houses and property on the following Monday. 
 The constitution of the Bench on the Maghery in- 
 quiry was so remarkable as to need mention. Capt. 
 Atkinson, who was at the Diamond, and was an 
 Orangeman from the commencement, was the 
 senior magistrate; Colonel Verner, an Orangeman, 
 occupied a place on the bench, not in the dock, where 
 he should have been ; Mr. Ford, an Orangeman ; 
 Mr. Woodhouse, an Orangeman ; Mr, Hardy, sub- 
 sequently suspended by Lord Chancellor Sugden ; 
 Col. Blacker, an Orangeman and Mr. Hancock 
 were the magistrates who took upon themselves to 
 inquire into this Orange outrage. Little wonder 
 that none of the Orange party were brought to 
 justice, and that the huge farce ended in the incar- 
 ceration of the Catholics only ! Lord Charlemont 
 subsequently obtained their release. 
 
 Towards the close of the year we find the Orange 
 brethern banded against Parliamentary Reform ; 
 applying, as against Emancipation and the Tories, 
 all the secret machinery of their institution 
 towards regarding the measure to which a Whig 
 Ministry, reading aright the signs of the times, 
 attached their fortunes. They were, cf course, not 
 less an enemy of Repeal, and many brethren who 
 identified themselves with the movement were 
 summarily dismissed by the Grand Lodge. In truth 
 much dread seems to have filled the Grand Com- 
 mittee at this period, the records of this year laid 
 before Parliament show'ng a giving in at various 
 points along the line. The results were that the 
 efforts of the District Masters were, in compliance 
 with the request of the Grand Lodge, redoubled for 
 the purpose of keeping alive and vigorous that old 
 spirit of bigotry, without which the occupation of 
 the Grand Committee was gone. For “ uniting 
 with the Papists” and hoisting a green and orange 
 flag on a platforrr at Randalstown half a dezen 
 brethern were dismissed, while a court of inquiry 
 formed to consider the conduct of certain Orange- 
 men of Sligo who voted for a reform candidate at 
 the recent eltctions, reported against the brethern 
 for having the effrontery of exercising 
 
 * Colonel Blacker voluntarily undert''o\ to supply a re- 
 poi't of the transaction, wh'ch is full of the most g aring 
 inaccuraci s, and seeks to throw a cloak over his friend 
 Verner, whom, he say.?, “used every exertion to stop the 
 ou rage,” and the Churchhill Yoemanry. Mr W. J. Hand- 
 cock, conscious that there were two ways of telling the truth, 
 would not trust Colonel Blacker, and him elf reported to the 
 Government. Mr. Handcock’s rep rt, with that of Mr. 
 Serjeant Perrin, inculpate Mr. Verner and his gallant Orange 
 Yeomanry, 
 
 18 
 
178 
 
 HTSTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 the franchise otherwise than as the 1 
 Grand Lodge directed. They were dubbed 
 
 Papists’* and dismissed. This mu^t be regarded 
 as a most trying time for the institution. While 
 from the outside they were subjected to the stern 
 criticism of O’Connell, of the celebrated Dr. Doyle 
 and party j there was not wanting within its ranks 
 many who for selfish if for no other reasons 
 sympathised with the great tithe agitation then 
 beginning to move the country. 
 
 About this period we find some of the brethern, 
 for the first time in their eventful history entertain- 
 ing a vague suspicion, if not becoming actively 
 alive to the fact, that while on the one hand the 
 organisation might be used for the furthering cf 
 political schemes far outside the reach of their 
 interest, it was on the other being utilised by the 
 numerous landlords who appeared at its head as a 
 means for exacting oppressive rents from their 
 tenantry. The Orange tenant had enlisted under 
 the Orange standard of his Orange landlord in the 
 firm belief that while he would be free to 
 persecute and drive hence the neighbouring 
 Papist his leader and sworn accomplice 
 would not be so unbrotherly as to call 
 upon him for the payment of such a paltry thing 
 as rent. In the progress of the g’^eat cause of 
 ascendancy, and where, too, the great, glorious, 
 and immortal memory was at stake, such thrash, 
 he not unnaturally expected, would be overlooked. 
 To men bound together in such a holy cause, pos- 
 sessed of common secrets, united by the same mystic 
 ties, and sworn in " heart, pocket, and hand” to be- 
 friend each other, it would be an indignity to men- 
 tion such a thing as rent ! The word had an odious 
 and rebel ring about it as well, and recalled horrid 
 phantoms of the O’Connellites and the Catholic 
 Associations. Thus the Orangeman reasoned, and 
 thus was he betrayed into that false security which 
 was rudely shattered by a notice to qu't, a sheriff's 
 sale, and the subsequent horrors of the emigrant 
 ship. The humble yeoman had yet to learn in the 
 bitter school of experience how selfish were those 
 above him ; how hard were the task masters whom 
 he had chosen in fitful spleen to lead hiin against 
 his countrymen. To such men Protestant ascen- 
 dancy was not in itself a good. It was only esteemed 
 a blessing for the advantages it brought, the powers 
 it gave them of strong thing their grasp upon pos- 
 sessions which their consciences told them were not 
 their own. Given to exaction, and having now no 
 opportunity of sacrificing those, the persecution of 
 whom could be done in the name of the Lord, 
 
 they soon failed to recognise any essential 
 difference between a Papist and a brother, 
 where their interests were at stake. The rents in 
 various parts of the North were now doubled, in 
 some places actually trebled. Emigration on a 
 wholesale scale followed, while amongst those who 
 remained behind we find springing up a secret 
 society, an association within an association, under 
 the title of the Tommy Downshires,” who for a 
 long period carried on in the most notoriously 
 Orange districts of Ulster an inveterate war against 
 rents and tithes. 
 
 In their struggle against rack-renting those men 
 still preserved their hatred to the Catholics, and 
 wherever occasion offered they resorted to their old 
 game of robbing them of arms. They were of the 
 lowest order of Orangemen and Protestants. It was 
 but natural. The poorest being first to feel the 
 extortion of tyrannical landlords, would, in the 
 order of things, be the first to resist. A large force 
 of soldiers were, at tbe request of the magistrates, 
 drafted into Lurgan and Banbridge, and a reward 
 of ^6200 offered to any person who would discover 
 upon persons calling together those illegal 
 assemblages of the dreaded “ Tommy Downshires.” 
 In their raids for arms upon Catholic houses 
 lives were in many instances lost. At a 
 meeting of the magistrates of Down, Lord 
 Dufferin expressed his surprise at drafting in 
 soldiers when they had the yeomanry to fall back 
 upon. His lordship evidently had little knowledge 
 of the men with whom he was dealing. The very 
 yeomanry of Lurgan and thereabouts were them- 
 selves, in a large measure, augmenting the forces 
 of these marauders. Mr; Handcock, better 
 acquainted with the circumstances, laughed at the 
 suggestion, and said tbe Orange yeomanry could 
 not be depended upon, a remark which, when re- 
 ported to tbe Castle by his lordship, brought about 
 a searching investigation into the constitution and 
 character of the Lurgan yeomanry. Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Molyneaux reported that they could not be 
 relied upon, that they were in a most disorganised 
 state, that some looked upon their captain, Mr. 
 Handcock, as a rebel and a Papist, and would not 
 obey his orders, and that Douglas, the permenent 
 Orcnge sergeant, of whom we have before heard^ 
 had been guilty of many peculation. The Lurgan 
 yeomanry were Orangemen with the exception of 
 Mr. Handcock ; meet successors of “ loyal Orange 
 yeomanry, who fought in ’98.” 
 
 On the 11th February, 1831, the Committee of 
 the Grand Ledge passed a resolution, in which they 
 
179 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 called upon the Government to afford encourage- 
 ment and support to to the loyal Protestants of 
 I eland, urging that the only means of giving con- 
 fidence to ihe Protestant mind was by the imme- 
 diate embodying, augmenting, and arming the 
 Protestant yeomanry of Ireland, and stating that 
 they felt it imperative on them to hesitate in 
 yielding an implicit confidence (obedience), or in 
 forming any resolutions of unreserved support, so 
 long as yeomen were dismissed for appearing in 
 Orange processions. In the following April the 
 Grand Committee renewed their protest against 
 the Emancipation Bill, and gave expression to great 
 apprehension at the introduction of the Eeform 
 Bill which was ** fraught with consequences the 
 most dangerous both to the empire at large and to 
 Ireland in particular.” 
 
 The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland were by 
 this time fully aware of the illegality of proces- 
 sions. Inclined, as they might have been, to con- 
 veniently forget it, the activity of the Executive 
 cuthorities were not disposed to allow them. Ac- 
 oardingly, we find the circulars of the previous two 
 years re-issued, and proclamation after proclama 
 tioa flooding the country to try and rid the land of 
 the periodic effusion of blood now ntar at hand. 
 What were in 1831 the consequences of this know- 
 ledge of the law ? What the result of the half- 
 hearted iojunctioDS of the Grand Lodge P From 
 the official return,* we find the astounding fact 
 that in the province of Ulster alone there were this 
 year not less than fifty Orange processions repre- 
 senting attendances in each case of from 5,000 to 
 1,000 persons, and these headed and countenanced 
 by Orangemen in high civil station and authority, 
 as well as by members of the Grand ^Lodge who 
 had prepared the anti-procession injuction of 1830. 
 
 In Tandragee, we learn that a procession of 10,000 
 a sembled on the 12bh July of this year ; that they 
 were armed with not less than one thousand guns 
 and an equally unpleasant number of pistols and 
 side-arms ; that they were preceded and followed 
 by carts holding amunition (ball, not blank car- 
 tridge) ; and that a demonstration, insulting as it 
 was cowardly, took place, in which all authority 
 was set aside. At the same time that this body of 
 desperate men were parading in arms at Tandra- 
 gee, to the terror of his Majesty’s subjects, and in 
 open defiance of the law, a like body of Orangemen 
 were assembled at Dungannon, headed by two 
 officers of the yeomanry — Lieutenant Thomas 
 I .win, Moy corps, and Lieutenant Francis Irwin, 
 
 ORANGEISM. 
 
 Dromara corps — both of whom were dismissed 
 from the yeomanry for their conduct on the occasion. 
 Captain Harpur,Moy Infantry, was at the same time 
 dismissed for a similar offence. Fifteen of the 
 Lurgan yeomen were likewise dismissed. In order 
 that the yeomen could plead no excuse the orders 
 of the Government forbidding their appearance in 
 Orange processions were repeated in the most pre- 
 cise terms. They were prohibited from taking 
 part in processions '‘in any garb or in any way.” 
 The breach of orders was in each case, therefore, a 
 deliberate act of disloyalty. 
 
 The Orange organ of Ulster, after calling atten- 
 tion to the proclamation of the Lord Lieutenant, had 
 reminded the brethren that no respectable Orange- 
 man would walk in procession on the 12th July. 
 If we take them at their word, and apply the oppo- 
 site term to all those who did walk in procession, 
 it leads us to appalling conclusions. Bloodshed 
 followed the meeting of 10,000 Orangemen that 
 year at Portadownj murder (of four Catholics) was 
 the result of a numerous meeting at Eathfrilan 1, 
 rioting and house-wrecking resulted from a demon- 
 stration held in Belfast, in spite of Government 
 proclamations, magisterial orders, and the couns d 
 of literary advisers. 
 
 But while these scenes of turbulence ware pro- 
 ceeding in Armagh and Tyrone, we find a dreadful 
 tragedy, unsurpassed for its cold-blooded brutality, 
 being enacted in the neighbourhood of Banbridge, 
 County Down. In this district preparations on an 
 extensive scale had been made for the celebration 
 of the 12th July. As in the case of the Orange- 
 men of Maghera on the previous year, chal- 
 lenges passed between both sides, the one party 
 threatening to walk in the face of the other’s 
 determination to prevent them, and both resolved 
 upon risking their lives in the issue. Upon 
 the morning of the 12th the Orangemen as- 
 sembled to the number of several thousands. The 
 Catholics had also congregated, though in much 
 smaller forces, to prevent their passage through 
 Tullyorier, a townland in the parish of Gariaghy, 
 in the barony of Upper Iveagh, through which the 
 river Bann flows. How the belligerents escaped 
 each other in the morning of this eventful day 
 does not appear upon the face of the depositions, 
 lutupon the return journey in the evening, a 
 number of the Catholics having by that time left 
 in security for their homes, the Orangemen, the 
 uajorityof whom were armed, cam? up with a 
 crowd of unarmed villagers, who had assembled on 
 the roadside in the neighbourhood of the Bann. A 
 
 ♦ Irish Report, appendix 3, page 98. 
 
180 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 volley from the guns of the Orangemen was the first 
 notification of an attack. Implements of war were 
 hastily improvised, and an opposing force, though 
 of no formidable kind, made its appearance upon 
 the ground. A determined struggle ensued, 
 in the course of which we are told 400 shots 
 were fired, and many persons lost their lives 
 Amongst the victims was a bedridden old woman 
 named Strain, who was killed by a bullet which 
 passed through the window and struck her as she lay 
 upon her bed. The story is but half told, however. 
 The result naturally to be expected when an armed 
 force of yeomen and a motley group of unarmed 
 villagers come into collision followed. The Ca- 
 tholics were routed and pursued with vindictive- 
 ness by the Orange yeomanry. Those who took to 
 the fields were deliberately shot down by the skilled 
 marksmen, and the only hope of refuge from cer- 
 tain death lay, therefore, in the waters of the Bann. 
 Into it they ran in hundreds — men, women, and 
 children, the Orangemtn following and shooting at 
 them as the unfortunate victims were actually 
 struggling with death, which threatenened in 
 another though less formidable shape. Four un- 
 armed Catholics, Peter Farrell, Peter Byrnes, 
 Patrick Macken, and Bernard M‘Lenan, none of 
 whom appeared to have taken any active part in 
 the day’s prooeedings, were deliberately shot at 
 while in the river. One Gdly Lo^an, a District 
 Grand Master of an Orange lodge, and his brother 
 Eobert approached to the edge of the Bann, delibe 
 rately loaded their muskets, fired, loided and fired 
 again, repeating their cowardly act so often as one 
 of their victims rose tc the suiface. The four per- 
 sons just nimed were, with many others, either 
 shot or drowned and as each one of the Papists” 
 sank to rise no more, Gilly Logan “ threw up his 
 hat and shouted there’s another Kiln-cant gone.” 
 
 That challenges” were frequently issued be- 
 tween the Orangemen and the Catholics previous 
 to these dreadful occurrences need not surpris ) 
 But they were of a description not altogether im- 
 plied by the n^me. It is evident from the elabo- 
 rate arrangements of the Government to prevent 
 those celebrations that bouse- wrecking, not, and 
 bloodshed were their natural consequences. On 
 their approach the Catholics of the North in those 
 districts in which the demonstrations were thiea- 
 tened saw nothing but ruined homes and remorse- 
 less havoc staring them in the face. A determina- 
 tion consequently followed to prevent such scenes, 
 which is the more excusable, seeing that law and 
 order were upon their side. But the determination 
 
 of the Catholics was Uvsually followed by the reck- 
 less resolve of the Orangemen to march, and hence 
 we have upon the face of the depositions of those 
 days so many references to the challenges that 
 were given. That the Catholics outstepped the 
 boundaries of the law there is no question. That 
 in many places those lawless bands of malcontents, 
 the Thrashers and Slashers and Crashers of the 
 North — bands of men whose existence argue some- 
 thing wrong in the social state, frequently lent 
 their aid to their co-religionists, there is no doubt, 
 but that all this was due to the presence in their 
 midst of an armed band of conspirators, who with- 
 out the power to gratify them, had all the extermi- 
 nat ng propensities of their ancestors, is equally 
 undeniable. 
 
 The days of adversity had indeed set in. The 
 very alliance of the Orange party seemed to bring 
 with it nothing but disaster. Did a Government 
 weary of oflSce it had only to allay itself with the 
 Orange party. Did any measure of reform need to 
 be passed the opposition of the Orangemen 
 furthered its progress and made its success a cer- 
 tainty. The Emancipation Bill was proposed. By 
 them it was vigorously opposed. In the face of 
 that opposition the Emancipation Bill was passed. 
 Tile Eeform Bill was suggested. Parliamentary 
 reform was by the Orangemen scouted as an impos- 
 sibility. One hundred thousand loyal Orangemen, 
 every one a good man and true, were ready to lay 
 down their lives rather than permit it to become 
 law and allow the representation of Ireland to pass 
 into the hands of O’Connell.” But the Reform Bill 
 passed. On the 16th December, 1831, there was 
 found in the Commons a majority of 162 in its 
 favour.* The truth was that the unrelenting 
 hostility of the Orangemen to all things Catholic 
 and Irish opened the eyes of Liberal English sta'-es- 
 men to the fact that wheie there was so much 
 bigotry there must needs exist much injustice. 
 
 If the hundred thousand loyal Orangemen” 
 were wise enough in their generation not to risk an 
 appeal to arms, they were not loyal enough to pasr 
 sively submit to this act of the Legislature. An 
 appeal to arms did not follow ; but the old muskets 
 were burnished up, the rus y bayonets were put in 
 order, and secret preparations made thro ighoat the 
 land to defend Protestantism against Popish 
 
 * The King, tiis speech at th • opening of the sepion, 
 had reco nmended the measu’ e of Keform to his faith nl 
 Commons. The fulfilment of his commands wis a doiible 
 hetrijil of the Con-titution as established by King William. 
 T us rea oned the Orangemen. Heieiu they found a doubly 
 justification of their treason ! 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 181 
 
 aggression” — whicli in other terms meant to as- 
 sist at the first opportunity in placing upon the 
 .Throne the Eoyal libertine whose fortunes were 
 identified with the cause of Orangemen, and whose 
 name figured as their Imperial Grand Master. 
 
 In Dublin a great Orange meeting was held, at 
 which all the leaders of the Institution assembled. 
 Here it was resolved to form a Protestant Associa- 
 tion to repel the advance of Liberal reform. In 
 order to effect the views of the founders of the As- 
 sociation the Orange system was adopted at the 
 meeting, and it was resolved to recommend and to 
 spread that system as much as possible throughout 
 the country.”* The grafting of this new asso- 
 ciation upon a semi-military establishment such as 
 the Orange Association was, particularly at this 
 period, a sufficient indication of the means by 
 which the associates sought tc accomplish 
 their ends. But theic is another, and pos- 
 sibly a more reliable proof at hand. At 
 this meeting Lord Viscount Mandeville, an 
 Orangeman of the belligerent type, proposed the 
 following resolution, every word of which breathes 
 war to the knife : — ** The Irish Protestants (Orange- 
 men) are no paltry faction as they have been re" 
 presented, but a gallant people possessed of physical 
 and moral energy which no power can crush, com- 
 prising the vast proportion of the property, educa- 
 tion, and industry of Ireland, the descendants of 
 brave men who won their privileges and rights, 
 and which their posterity must not forfeit by in- 
 dolence or neglect.” This, unmistakably, alludes 
 to a resort to those dreadful means towards pre- 
 serving their privileges which their fathers had 
 employed for obtaining them ; a means which the 
 hoary old tyrant J. C. Beresford, who, like the 
 skeleton at the feast, was present at the meeting, 
 right well understood. It meant armed resistance. 
 It meant treason. Bead by the light of events 
 occurring just then in England, it meant much 
 more — it meant the usurpation of the Crown, the 
 stealing of the precious diadem from the shelf and 
 lodging it in the stronghold of the Grand Orange 
 Lodge of the Three kingdoms. 
 
 Before the year was out, we have furnished to 
 us further proof of the desperate intents of this 
 treasonable facbion. On the 28 bh December, a 
 meeting similar to that of Dublin was convened by 
 the High Sheriff of Armagh, and held in the Court 
 House of that city. Here we again find that 
 amiable sprout of the old nobility. Lord Viscoun’ 
 Mandeville, at the same good work of “ awakening 
 
 * Belfast ^ewsTLett.r, 16th December, 18.1. 
 
 the Protestants to the abominations of Popery, 
 and arousing them to ** the necessity of arming 
 themselves for resisting its encroaches.” The 
 third resolution passed at the meeting is almost as 
 significant as that adopted by the Orangemen of 
 Dublin: — ‘‘Resolved — That the alarm now agitat- 
 ing the minds of the Protestants of Ireland is in 
 our opinion amply justified by the spirit which ap- 
 pears to influence the counsels and dictate the 
 measures of the King in this part of the Dnited 
 Kingdom.” Then it was that Lord Viscount 
 Mandeville, in vulgar parlance, let the cat out 
 the bag. In a speech of the most violent natu 
 he said it was the wish of the King’s Government 
 to eradicate Protestantism from Ireland and to 
 stablish Popery ; that the Government had mis- 
 tikenfor apathy and indifference the determina- 
 tion of the Orangemen to defend their rights, and 
 warned the authorities that the lion of the North had 
 been aroused. A voice from the crowd here called 
 out give us guns,” and, impulse getting the better 
 of discretion, his lordship replied in these signifi- 
 cant words, “ I will give you as many as I can ; but 
 you have your watch and clock clubs, why not have 
 your gun clubs as well.” This expression was what 
 led to the starting of gun clubs in connection with 
 the Orange Institution. The brethren were not 
 slow to take the hint given by the Grand Master 
 of Armagh, and Deputy Grand Master of the 
 Orangemen of Ireland. Very probably they had 
 already got advice in plainer terms within the 
 privacy of their lodge rooms, As a result, we find 
 soon after gun-clubs covered the entire province ; 
 a vast net-work of secret organisations, constitut- 
 ing the armoury of the Orange lodges in their re- 
 spective localities, wherein busy preparations gave 
 fearful warning of some approaching struggle. 
 ^ Children and fools may play with edged tools 
 But men of intelligence and position like Lord 
 Mandeville do not handle them for nought. It was 
 not for mere amusement, then, the Orangemen were 
 playing at soldiers. Their arming and their parad- 
 ing were alike significent of their purpose. 
 
 A hint is afforded us also as to against whom 
 those arms were to be used by the following pas- 
 
 * Mr, W. Stratton, a p^l'ce constable, from Pointspaps, 
 in bis evidence before tbe Select Committee (Irish) directly 
 attribute 1 gun clubs o this speech. At 4545. Sir P. Stovin, 
 Inspector-General of PoUce, on examination is asked “ Are 
 the majority of the gun c'ubs Protestant,” to which he 
 answers, “ As far as I have h ard they are ! I have heard 
 that a great number of the landlords of the highest class are 
 encouranging their tenantry to arm.” Lord Cosford gives 
 evidence, showing that these clubs existed to an alarming 
 extent in the North shortly after the dehvery of Lord 
 Viscount Mandeville. 
 
 19 
 
182 
 
 HISTOET OF OEAISTGEISM. 
 
 sage, taken from Lord Mandeville’s speech on this 
 occasion : — “Dr. Doyle told his people not to pay 
 tithes, and the King’s speech and the King’s 
 Government echo the same. 
 
 In the course of his examination before the Irish 
 Select Committee, the great spokesman and ethical 
 expounder of Orangeism, the Kev. Mortimer 
 O’Sullivan, laboured earnestly in defence of Orange 
 exclusiveness and intolera’cce to prove that Dr. 
 Doyle, as representing the Catholic bishops of 
 Ireland, was a traitor to the King and a menace to 
 our Constitution. It is due to the position and 
 calling of Mr. O’Sullivan to give him the credit of 
 sincerity, however incomplete his proof. He spoke 
 the opinions of the Grand Lodge. If the Deputy- 
 Grand Master of I'^eland, Lord Mandeville, found 
 in the King’s Speech nothing but an echo of prin- 
 ciples enunciated by Dr. Doyle, he must have seen 
 in the King himself a traitor to the Protestant 
 
 CHAPTER XX' 
 
 We have, after the exercise of not a little 
 patience, arrived at a period possibly the most in- 
 teresting, certainly the most instructive of any in 
 our unpresu captive history. A dense mid-night of 
 doubt, had to contemporaries, surrounded all 
 things Orange Bat with the morning of 1832 a fierce 
 sunlight broke in upon its affairs and revealed 
 the conspiring band in all the naked deformity 
 of rebel to that authority which it bad pre- 
 tended to uphold. We now find the heroes of the 
 Diamond, the exterminators of the few years pre- 
 ceding the rebellion, the bloody runaways of 1793, 
 the dictators during the first years of the Union, 
 the exclusive loyalists up to 1829, and the oppo- 
 nents of Emancipation, chased into those dens 
 wherein massacre and treason had been hatched# 
 and standing at bay at the doors of their lodges 
 yelping out a fierce defiance at law and all const! ■ 
 tuted authority. It did not require Mi. Stanley’s 
 Anti-Procession Act of 1832 to make Orange pro- 
 cessions illegal. At common law they had again 
 and again been declared so. But common law fail- 
 ing, statute law was revolted to with a no more 
 salutary effect. January we find ushered in with 
 the murder of some Catholics in the neighbourhood 
 of Armagh, while the criminal records of Cavan and 
 Monaghan were being stained by the record^ of 
 atrocious crime. Under the date of 29bh February 
 a sum of .£20 is devoted by the Grand Orange 
 Lodge of Ireland to “ the defence of our brethren 
 about to be prosecuted at the ensuing Cavan 
 
 principles of 1688 and in his prerogative a merace 
 to the Protestant Constitution as then established* 
 The maxim that the King could do no wrong, had, 
 since the revolution which placed William upon the 
 Throne, taken its place amongst the nursery 
 legends of the period. It answered admirably as 
 the head-line of a copy-book. But, if it really ever 
 were a principle of the Constitution the theory, 
 now, was at variance with the piactice. A be- 
 trayal by the King’s Ministeis meant a betrayal 
 by the King, and the shout of “ treason,” which 
 went up from the Orange platforms, penetrated 
 both Houses of Parliament, and vibrated at the 
 foot of the Throne. Those measures, which the 
 Orangemen of that time looked upon as treason# 
 the world has since learned to regard, not alone, as 
 necessary acts of justice, but as the dictates of 
 political wisdom and foresight. 
 
 'ill.— AT BAT. 
 
 Assizes in the case of the King v. Beckett, Souddon, 
 and others j” while on two subsequent dates suras of 
 ^659 17s 9d and 45 guineas are applied to the like 
 purpose, mak’ng in all a grant of ^£125 for “ secur. 
 ing justice” to “Beckett, Souddon, and other?,”* 
 Costly justice, beyond a doubt ! Not a pleasant 
 prospect for those numerous Catholics who had not 
 <£125 to ihrow away. At an early period of the 
 session it became evident that Government was 
 determined to stop party processions at all hazards# 
 the consequence being that the leaders of Irish 
 Orangemen determined at an early stage to de- 
 monstrate their determination to resist, hopeful of 
 the old results of temporising legislation. 
 
 So early as the 27th April, 1832, Captain David 
 Duff reported a procession of Orangemen in Dun- 
 gannon. That offi dal report is headed, “ Orange 
 processions, headed by Colonel Verne r and others, 
 magistrates, &c., wearing ‘ orange and purple’ in 
 Dungannon.” It appears that at mid-day on the 
 date mentioned, between four and five thousand 
 Orangemen marched in regular procession, carrying 
 twenty-four stands of colours into Dungannon, the 
 bands playing the “ Protestant Boys” in front. 
 
 * This is quite custom ir/ not alone on the part of the 
 Grand Lodge but a'so tue p rt of the County Grand 
 Lodges. In ISiii I fi d that a la ge .-uin of money was voted 
 by the Grand Lodge for the defence of an Orangeman named 
 Leith, charged at Dundalk Assizes wich urn dering a Ca*^ho- 
 dc with an oyster knife. Hy judicious swearing and an 
 adroit mauipu ation of the jur. lanel the mu- der was re- 
 duced to mans aughter, of which the prisoner was found 
 gui ty The gentlemen of the Grand Orange Lodge were not 
 the less aiders i.nd abettois of the murder by this traus- 
 action. 
 
HISTOET OF ORANGEISM. 
 
 183 
 
 The police inspector says (7864) “ I observed the 
 following gentlemen decorated with orange and 
 purple : —First, Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. Verner, a 
 Deputy-Lieutenant of this county, as also a magis- 
 trate for it and the County of Armagh ; second, 
 Mr. Joseph Greer fa Grand Master) also a magis- 
 trate for the Counties Tyrone and Armagh, and 
 captain of the Moy corps cf yeomanry ; third, 
 Mr. Jackson Lloyd (the Margbery hero), 
 a captain of the Kdlymin corps of 
 yeomanry ; several other gentlemen of this 
 neighbourhood also accompanied the procession.” 
 Some insulting language was used towards them 
 by four or five Eoman Catholics on which a riot 
 ensued, stones thro wn by each party, the Eoman 
 Catholics retreated, and when on their retreat, 
 either two or three pistol shots were fired by the 
 Orangemen, one ot which took effect and broke the 
 left arm, close to the elbow of a man named Peter 
 Tully, a Koman Catholic.” The Inspector further 
 reports that “ on the procession halting in the 
 centre of the town, the several masters of lodges, 
 forty in number, together with the gentlemen 
 before mentioned returned to the Courthouse where 
 a private meeting was held for upwards of two 
 hours, the object of which was for making the 
 necessary arrangements for the 12th July, as I 
 have since heard, as also for the purpose of for- 
 warding petitions against Eeform, and the 
 Education System.” The belief was well founded; 
 for the meeting subsquencly published their reso- 
 lutions, in one of which thanks were voted to 
 Colonel Verner for his attendance. Here two 
 resolutions were passed in favour of Protestant 
 colonization for the preservation of a Protestant 
 population, with, at its head, an aristocracy tiuly 
 Protestant. It wag a sickly effort to bolster up a 
 rotten system : — That such of us as are tenants 
 will endeavour to merit this encouragement, and, 
 that such of us as are landlords, pledge ourselves to 
 give it, seeing no reason why Protestant coloniza- 
 tion should be attempted on lands that are 
 reclaimed as well as on lands that are not re- 
 claimed.” 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel William Verner was now in 
 a difficulty. He was called on by Government for 
 an explanation. He found one at his fingers’ ends. 
 The gallant colonel pleaded an alibi. He was not 
 in the procession at all he said ; he was not deco- 
 rated. This was his justification to the Lord 
 Chancellor, and also to Lord Caledon, the Lord 
 Lieutenant of the county, who felt it his duty to 
 take cognisance of the matter. In the face of this 
 
 denial we have the resolutions at the meeting in 
 the court house before referred to, and to be found 
 at 8056 of the report — "That the thanks of this 
 Grand Lodge are eminently due, and are hereby 
 given to Brother William Verner, Brother James 
 Verner, and Brother John Ellis, Esqs., /or their at- 
 tendance here this day.” These records were then 
 locked up in the archives of the Institution, how- 
 ever, and in the face of Mr. Verner’s denial, Capt. 
 Duff was called upon by Sir Wm. Gosset, on the part 
 of the Ex c'ltive, to verify his statement upon oath. 
 This he did without hesitation, forwarding at the 
 same time the affidavits of one sergeant and two 
 privates of the const abularly, " who not only ob- 
 served Colonel Verner in the manner reported by 
 Captain Duff but saw him distinctly take off his 
 hat and cheer the procession he was leading: 
 These affidavits the magistrates of Tyrone (all 
 Orangemen) refused to have sworn, the result 
 being that the deponents had to proceed to Dublin 
 and swear them before Major D'Arcy. In a letter 
 to Sir William Gosset, Captain Duff stated that he 
 was prepared to prove that Colonel Verner not only 
 headed the procession through the streets of Dun- 
 gannon decorated w»tb an orange scarf but that he 
 "pledged” himself to do sc some four or five 
 days previous to the procession of the 27th April 
 taking place, "stating at the same time that he 
 was regardless of consequences.” There is no 
 getting over the face. The gallant Colonel was 
 convicted of lying. It can, in truth, be pleaded in 
 his favour that many a gallant colonel lied before. 
 
 Lord Caledon, when on examination before the 
 Irish Select Committee, was asxed (at question 
 5,473) th© following : — 
 
 What is your lordship’s opinion as to the effect 
 of those processions and drum-beatings and party 
 tunes as it respects the peace of the country ? I 
 think the processions are very miscievous ; but I 
 should, as regards the other part of the question, 
 that is what I think of the effect of the Orange 
 system, prefer with the permission of the Com- 
 mittee to read the extract of a letter which I ad- 
 dressed to a gentleman who, I believe, belongs to 
 the Committee, and who is a member of Parlia- 
 ment. An Orange procession took place on the 
 27th April, which led to a correspondence be- 
 tween me and Colonel Verner, and I find by 
 reference to that correspondence I wrote what fol- 
 lows— "It is hardly necessary for me to add that 
 I neither did nor can subscribe to your position that 
 the word Orangemen means Protestants generally. 
 I believe there are few who value the Protestint 
 
184 
 
 HISTOEY OF OEANGEI8M. 
 
 popula!:ion of Ulster more highly than I do, but 
 when a portion only of that body become members 
 of a political society, I cannot consent that such 
 portion should assume to itself the right of being 
 considered the Protestant body at large. I look 
 upon the Protestants as the main support of the 
 Brit'sh connection, as the most industrious and in- 
 telligent part of the community j but I consider 
 the Orange system as tending to disunite us when 
 our religion alone should be a sufficient bond for 
 our union that is the opinion I entertained on 
 the 5th July, 1832, and which I still entertain. 
 
 Mr. Greer, J.P., was called uoon by Lord Caledon 
 immediately after the occurrence at Dungannon 
 for some explanation of his conduct. Hi? reply I 
 have not been able to lay my hands upon; but from 
 the records of the Grand Lodge, I find that it 
 was so manly, straightfordward, and spirited*’ as to 
 deserve the thanks of the gentlemen in Grand Lodge 
 assembled. 
 
 Mr. Stanley’s Act was now before the House, 
 where the Orange representatives used every effort 
 to protract the debates in order to prevent the pass- 
 ing of the Auti-Piocession Bill before the 12th July. 
 All over the country secret preparations such as 
 those unearthed in Dungannen were made for such 
 a display this year on the Orange anniversary as 
 might terrorise the Government into inaction, or 
 paralyse their measures of restriction. The Grand 
 Lodge of Ireland, it was known, was in favour of 
 the demonstrations. The Duke of Cumberland — 
 whether from the dictates of a sounder political 
 wisdom or fearful that the desperate game in which 
 he hoped to be the winner might be spoiled by the 
 silly trifl’ng of children, few of whom had brains 
 enough to conceive they were playing for a throne 
 — the Duke of Cumberland now addressed a letter 
 to his Irish brethren, whose precipitate rashness 
 threatened to spoil the snort. It is dated St. 
 James’s Palace, June 21st, 1832,” and ran as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 “ As Grand Master of the Orange Institution in 
 Great Britain and Ireland, honoured as I feel 
 myself in being so placed in a station, the more 
 flattering because wholly unsolicited by myself, as 
 the successor to my beloved brother the Duke of 
 York, and fully inheriting his Orange feelings and 
 attachments, I think myself called on to give proof 
 of such principles and attachment, even at the 
 risk of doing what my zealous and warm-hearted 
 Irish brethren may disapprove. We are now 
 assuredly in an awful crisis. We know not in whom 
 to place confidence for our security from reprehen- 
 
 sion, even when influenced solely by the most loyal 
 sentiments of attachment to our gracious Sovereign, 
 and to that sacred Protestant cause j or, to express 
 the same thing in other words, that Orange cause, 
 to maintain which our family of Brunswick were 
 called to the throne, and which I for one will never 
 abandon. Bound as we are, all of us, by every 
 religious and loyal prineiple to support the true 
 Protestant cause (for in its support are involv'd 
 alike the altar and throne of our country) bound to 
 that united, and I pray God it may ever be indis- 
 soluble cause, still determined resolutely to maintain 
 that union to the last hour of our lives, we must 
 beware that we do not let our passions (praise- 
 worthy and honourable as they are) mislead us into 
 acts which, however laudable as they undoubtedly 
 are in their design, may yet by artful and v. icked 
 men be construed into illegality, and which it seems 
 the intention of the Government to declare by 
 statute illegal. 
 
 Under these circurr stances we shall best consult 
 the dignity and promote the objects of our institu- 
 tion by voluntarily abstaining from all public de- 
 monstrations of feeling. With regret, therefore, 
 but with full conviction of the wisdom of my advice* 
 I call upon you, one and all, to make the sacrifice 
 of declining this year to attend the Orange proces- 
 sions usual on the glorious 12th July. 
 
 " In making this appeal to your self-denial, I de- 
 sire to be understood as recognising to the same 
 extent as ever the sacred duty of co-operation for 
 furthering the Protestant cause. I call upon all 
 Protestants, without distinction, throughout the 
 United Kingdom to combine peacefully, but firmly, 
 for the defence of our common liberties, our com- 
 mon religion, and our one Protestant King ; for it is 
 by union alone, not in procesions, both in heart 
 and mind, that we can hope to escape the encroach- 
 ments and the tyranny of our enemies. 
 
 ** Ernest, G.M.” 
 
 If this document were intended in the light in 
 which it appears to the ordinary reader, if there 
 were no private directions given in lodge to ignore 
 it, if sundry winks and nods did not hint that it 
 was not intended to be acted upon, but merely to 
 act as a justification and a cloak for the Imperial 
 Grand Master, certainly a result followed such as 
 might be expected if in all pxrticulars the contrary 
 were .the case. It was treated everywhere as so 
 much waste paper. On the 2nd July the Grand 
 Lodge of Ireland met to arrange for the cele- 
 brations of the 12bh. It was there resolved — 
 ** That under the existing circumstances, and the 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 185 
 
 present excited state of the public mind, it will be 
 inexpedient to put forth the address of the Duke of 
 Cumberland, written under the impression that the 
 Procession Bill, then passing through the Com- 
 mons House of Parliament, would be passed into 
 law. That an address from the Grand Committee 
 be prepared to the Orangemen of Ireland, impress- 
 ing upon such of our brethren as intend celebrating 
 the coming festival of the 12th July the strict ob- 
 servance of order and decorum, and the absence 
 from all demonstrations calculated to insult their 
 fellow-countrymen or lead to the violation of the 
 public peace.** This was plainly recommending 
 the carrying out of their programme to the fullest. 
 The honesty of recommending the celebration, and 
 in the same breath advising an absence from all 
 demonstrations " calculated to insult their fellow- 
 countrymen,’* must certainly be questioned. No 
 one knew better than the Grand Orange Lodge of 
 Ireland that these demonstration not only were 
 calculated to insult the Catholics, but were abso- 
 lutely organised for that purpose. Blood here, 
 blood there, blood everywhere in the track of these 
 demonstrations tohi how offensive and how danger- 
 ous they were. 
 
 The address of the Grand Lodge followed, and 
 left no doubt that they meant to beard the Go- 
 vernment on this question of processions. They 
 recommended them,* and stated their determi- 
 nation to uphold and protect those members of 
 their body who joined in them, concluding thus, 
 “ You now have leaders whom you can trust. 
 Watch, obey, and co-operate with them, and by your 
 own exertions, under the help of the Most High, you 
 will overturn your oppressors, secure your own 
 rights, and render the country prosperous and the 
 people happy a production quite as blasphemous 
 as that hackneyed Orange refrain, ‘"Put your trust 
 in God, my boys, keep your powder dry !’* 
 
 All over the country these preparations excited 
 the utmost consteruati''n, in which the members of 
 the Administration were sharers. 
 
 On July 9fch, in the House of Commons, Mr. 
 Hume called the attention of the right hon. 
 Secretary for Ireland to the fact that the Orange 
 Lodge of Ireland had assembled on the 2nd inst. to 
 arrange measures for celebrating the 12th July. It 
 was said, he remarked, that the Lord Lieutenant of 
 a county presided at the meeting, and that several 
 
 * Lord Eod^n appears to have been the only exception. 
 He wrote previous to the passing ot Ihe Anti-Processioas 
 Act and before the 12th July, 183 strongly condemning 
 
 demonstration?, and advise i the brethren to abs ain from 
 them. 
 
 magistrates were present. He wished to know 
 whether the Government intended to strike the 
 names of those persons out of the Commission of 
 the Peace ? Mr. Stanley said, fn reply, that Go- 
 vernment had certainly received information that 
 the Orangemen were preparing to celebrate the 
 12th July by processions. Government had made 
 their arrangements for preserving the public peace, 
 and would mark with proofs of their disapprobation 
 any person under their control who would encourage 
 or attend those processions.* While the Go vein- 
 meat was taking every precaution in the re-issuing 
 of circulars of instruccion to the magistrates and 
 others, the Catholic clergy were upon their part 
 doing still more effective work in cautioning their 
 people from all interference. To the wise counsels 
 of the clergy and ihe forbearance of their followers 
 must be attributed whatever saving of life was this 
 near effected. 
 
 The action of the brethren ou the 12bh July, 1832 
 evinced not only a decided hostility to the Govern- 
 ment but a determination, too fully persisted in, 
 to be bound by no enactment of the legislature at 
 variance with their prejudices. Not a district in 
 which a lodge was known to exist failed to swell 
 the clamour, and for weeks the entire of the North 
 was again given over to scenes of menace and con- 
 fusion, It is needless to dv ell in detail upon them, 
 but one incident reported by Captain Duff to the 
 Government cannot be passed over. On the 12th 
 July at Dungannon a great Orange procession took 
 place at which 9,000 Orangemen with sixty stand 
 of colours were present. 230 of them,** says 
 Captain Duff, “ were armed with muskets indepen- 
 dent of concealed arms.** Further — " it was headed 
 by several gentlemen of respectability and property, 
 and amongst others by Hon. A. G. Stuart, Deputy- 
 Lieutenant, as also a magistrate of this county, and 
 captain of the Killyman Corps of Yeomanry, his 
 horse decorated with Orange and purple but none 
 on his person ; Mr. Greer, a magistrate for this 
 county as also for Armagh, his embjem of his oflS^ce 
 of Grand Master of the county suspe^ed from an 
 orange ribband around his neck. Thirdly, Mr, 
 Lowry, jun.. Captain cf the Cameroy Corps of 
 Yeomanry, decorated with an orange and purple 
 scarf. Fourthly, Mr. Lloyde, second captain of 
 the Killyman Corps of Yeomanry. Also, that the 
 Earl of Oastlestuart, headed the procession in his 
 own neighbourhood. His second son, the Hon. 
 Charles Stuart, was decorated, and marched in 
 the procession from Mr. Lowry’s to Mr. Greer’s. 
 
 Hansard’s Deb:.tes for 1832, 
 
 20 
 
186 
 
 HISTOEY OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 Several clergymen of the Established Church also 
 attended.’" Mr* Greer was soon after dismissed 
 from the magistracy for signing an Orange docu- 
 ment, inconsistent with his character as a magis- 
 trate. Two days before the passing of the Anti- 
 Processions Act he headed, with the Hon, Mr. 
 Stuart, an Orange procession into Dungannon. 
 Lord Caledon asking him if he still intended, not- 
 withstanding the passing of the Act, to attend pro- 
 cessions, which were now made a misdemeanour, 
 received the reply, from Mr. Greer, that he would 
 give no promise whatever, and was ready to take 
 the consequences. 
 
 Mr. Stanley, in the House of Commons, while 
 condemning the proceedings and the menacing 
 attitude of the Orangemen this year, admitted that 
 the peace was kept owing to the praiseworthy con- 
 duct of the Catholics and to the manner in which 
 they followed the excellent advice of their pastors. 
 That the Catholics were willing, if allowed, to live 
 on terms of amity with their neighbours, was 
 placed beyond a doubt by their general conduct. 
 In fact their efforts towards conciliation Tvent, in 
 some places, beyond mere passivity. Mr. William 
 Crossley, in the report, supplied the Government, 
 relative to an Orange procession in Maghera, 
 County Derry, notes the fact that the 
 Eev. Mr. Quinn, P.P., and his niece displayed 
 large bunches of orange lillies in their breast in 
 Magherafelt, and the Orangemen determined, it 
 may be supposed, not to be outdone spent the 
 evening in a Eoman Catholic public-house.” This 
 unfortunately was but an isolated instance of good 
 fellowship. Elsewhere over the country a deep- 
 seated rage took possession of the Orangemen, and 
 revealed the conditional loyalists to the Government 
 and the country. Mr. Slacker’s description of the 
 state of the country and of the feeling of his brethern, 
 which, it may be said, he rightly understood, is 
 anything but reassuring. For playing the role of 
 an Orange part iz an on the Portadown Petty 
 Sessions bench he was called upon by Government 
 for an explanation. This production opens with 
 the following words, which if they did not threaten 
 armed rebellion give, at least, a very significent hint 
 of its proximity : — “ Subsequent to the Assizes (of 
 1833) the country was in a state of excitement such as 
 my recollection car not parallel. It was not a ti an sient 
 effervescence, a momentary ebulition of popular 
 feeling, or confined to the rabble, or unthinking 
 portion of the people ; it was a fierce, stern exas- 
 peration, in which men of sober minds and religious 
 habits evinced an extensive participation ; it was 
 
 general, it was deep-rooted, springing, as it seemed, 
 not from ordinary party feeling, but from a wide- 
 spread alarm of endangered liberty — endangered by 
 the statute prohibiting the manifestation of politi- 
 cal sentiments.” If I read the signs of the times 
 correctly, it was, in plainer terms, a rebellious 
 spirit such as the Orangemen had often menaced 
 the Government with before and since, and arising 
 out of dissatisfaction at the ** betrayal of the Con- 
 stitution” by the King and his Ministers. As sub- 
 sequently found to be, it was dogged determination 
 to secure in the person of royality, by a change in 
 the succession, a partisan who would, if not re- 
 establish the old Constitution, at least secure to 
 the Orangemen the remnants of ascendancy that 
 had been left them in the new one. 
 
 During the subsequmt winter and the interven- 
 ing spring of 1833, efforts were made to strengthen 
 their hold upon the army. In many regiments new 
 lodges were secretly established. That the Grand 
 Lodges were aware of the dangerous ground upon 
 which they were treading is seen in their refusal 
 to send Orange initiatory documents to the Sappers 
 and Miners, then quartered at Ballymena, unless 
 ** under cover” to some faithful brother who could 
 be depended upon.” Mr. Andrew Crosbie, saddler, 
 was thereupon chosen as the ** faithful” medium 
 through whom Orange documents could be smug- 
 gled into one of his Majesty’s regiments without 
 the knowledge of its commanding officers. The 
 resolution of the Grand Committee in Dublin 
 touching this proceeding is that the Committee 
 would most willingly forward all documents con- 
 nected with the Orange system to any confidential 
 person in Ballymena, as prudence would not per- 
 mit that documents should be for«varded direct to 
 our military brethren.” This resolution Dears the 
 signature of Mr. William Swan, the then Grand 
 Secretary for Ireland. 
 
 It may be thought that party demonstrations 
 now being a misdemeanour, the Orangemen bowed 
 obediently to the law. Not so. They had been 
 again and again declared illegal at common law, 
 and were now rendered doubly so by statute. It 
 mattered little. Orange turbulence could make 
 light of either. The Executive sent out its cir- 
 culars j large forces of military were drafted into 
 the North, and every effort made to preserve the 
 peace. The Orangemen utterly ignored the law, 
 and walked in as large numbers as on previous 
 years. At Portglenone the Eiot Act was read, and 
 the intervention of a large force of military alone 
 prevented the usual scenes of riot and disorder. 
 
HISTOET OE OEANaETSM:. 
 
 187 
 
 At Cootehill the Orangemen wal&ed, and an affray 
 took plaoe in ivhich several persons lost their 
 live?. A verdict of wilful murder was found 
 against some persons unknown, and a similar 
 verdict returned against cne John Allen, an 
 Orangeman, who was subsequently acquitted. 
 In Garvagh, County Derry, a like scene 
 took place. The Eiot Act was read, 
 but at the words, **Our Sovereign Lord 
 the King chargeth and commandeth all persons 
 here assembled immediately to disperse them- 
 selves,” the brethren simply responded by striking 
 up *‘No surrender” and “The Protestant Boys” on 
 their drums, an intimation that their Sovereign 
 Lord the King was a personage of very little con- 
 sequence indeed. At Killisandra a demonstration 
 took place. The entrance gate to the glebe of the 
 Protestant curate, the Eev. Henry Marten, had 
 been decorated with an Orange arch, which the 
 chief -constable had removed lest it might lead to a 
 breach of the peace. The family subsequently left 
 the house, unmistakably winking at the illegal pro- 
 ceedings of the Orangemen, for immediately after- 
 wards the Petty Sessions Clerk, who acted also as 
 agent to one of Mr. Marten’s brothers, actually re- 
 decorated the gate. At Ballyhagan, near Porta- 
 down, a serious attack was made by a procession of 
 Orangemen upon a few Catholics assembled on the 
 roadside. Shots were fired from the procession, 
 and several persons wounded. The Catholics 
 issued summonses against their assailants, but, 
 being naturally reluctant to appear before Colonels 
 Verner and Blacker, at the Portadown Bench, they 
 petitioned the Government to assist them, stating 
 at the same time that their lives had been 
 threatened if they persisted in the prosecution. 
 The case subsequently went before the Portadown 
 magistrates. Colonel Blacker suggested the with- 
 drawal of the prosecution, upon which Mr. 
 M‘Connell, who appeared for the Catholics, agreed 
 to do so if the Orangemen promised not to insult 
 and assault his clients in future. Colonel Blacker 
 refused to allow the Orangemen to enter into 
 such a condition, and the proposal was received 
 with a loud shout of “ No surrender” in court, in 
 leading which Mr. Harvey John Porter, the moral 
 agent of Lord Mandeville who occupied a seat on 
 the bench, took the chief part.** The reason 
 why Colonel Blacker would not alio w the compact 
 to be entered into is fully explained. He said in 
 court to Mr. M'Connell that the Anti-Procession 
 
 * See Mr. Mi'Ccunsll’s evidence before Select Committee 
 
 Irish Report, 6412, 
 
 Act “ was a law made by the Whigs, and that they 
 made many laws as well as that that ought not to 
 be obeyed.” 
 
 In July, 1833, there was an Orange procession in 
 Lurgan. The parties engaged in it had no excuse 
 in pleading ignorance of the law, for Mr. Hancock 
 had at the Petty Sessions taken the precaution of 
 reading and explaining that law to those assembled. 
 There was no rioting, and it appears from the 
 letters of Mr. Hancock that “ This was in great 
 measure to be attributed to the exertions of the 
 Eoman Catholic clergymen,” who had on the pre- 
 vious Sunday “used every exertion to prevent the 
 people of their congregation from attending the 
 market for fear of some collision arising between 
 the parties.” But the law had been publicly defied. 
 A great number of arrests were made, and Mr. 
 Hancock and Mr. Brownlow committed the most 
 prominent leaders to jail on their refusal to give 
 bail. Great excitement prevailed, and as a rescue 
 was feared, the thirteen prisoners were marched to 
 Armagh after midnight. The trial took place be- 
 fore Mr. Justice Moore, and the jury, after a con- 
 siderable time, found three of the prisoners guilty 
 and acquitted eleven on the ground that they wen 
 ignorant of the law, notwithstanding the fact of 
 proclamations and notices having been issued and 
 had been notorious for years. The judge dis- 
 charged there three without punishment. Justice 
 Moore even told them, “ I concur in the verdict 
 which the jury have returned. It does just as 
 well as if every one of you had been found guilty.” 
 So, indeed, it did ! The worthy Judge concluded, 
 after flourishing about obed'ence to the laws, by 
 discharging the men upon their own recognizance 
 to appear at the next Assizes if required. As 
 might be expected, the prisoners exclaimed in 
 court, “Thank God, we have so mild a judge!” 
 The natural result of this was, of course, that there 
 were riots, with flagrant breaches of the peace, im- 
 mediately afterwards. The Orangemen, to the 
 number of 3,000 dressed with sashes, &c., and 
 headed by that same moral agent of Lord Mande- 
 ville, marched in triumphal procession from 
 Armagh to Lurgan, escorting the acquitted and 
 their unacquitted brethren. Colonel Blacker awaited 
 them upon the steps of the hotel in Lurgan, and 
 cheered and waived his hat as they passed. On 
 reaching “ Papist” Hancock’s house, a desperate 
 attack was made upon it, under the able and 
 reverend direction of Mr. Kent, the curate of the 
 parish. Mr. Hancock, his wife and family, were 
 relieved from their just terrors by the timely arrl. 
 
188 
 
 HISTOET or OEANGEISM. 
 
 val of a party of the 52nd Kagiment. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. Blacker makes use of 
 some very strong language in writing upon these 
 arrests. In a letter dated " Carrick, Portadovrn, 
 July 18, 1833,’^ he throws all the blame for the ex- 
 citement which followed upon the Government for 
 passing the Anti-ProoeEsion Act and upon the two 
 magistrates for putting it in force. The law 
 breakers seemed in his eyes to have been acting a 
 noble part; He threatens Government that if they 
 persist in this they will have three processions 
 where they had but one. He disavows an inten- 
 tion to ask the Government to yield to clamour, 
 and in the following sentence hints that it is neces- 
 sary to do so, winding up a most nonsensical effu- 
 sion thus : — Much allowance must be made, and 
 I am sure will be made, by a person of Lord Angle- 
 sey’s high mind for the long-cherished and heredi- 
 tary feelings, to say nothing of their being fostered 
 and encouraged by Government after Government 
 for so many years ; and I feel confident, from my 
 knowledge of the country and its people (the 
 Orangemen), that it will effect more with them than 
 all the laws the Legislature could enact or all the 
 force Great Britain could supply to support them. 
 I am a Christian, and I wish for ^goodwill among 
 men,’ and both these I unhesitatingly aver have 
 been placed in greater jeopardy by the events of 
 this day than by all the celebrations of those forty 
 years put together.” Eemarkable language from 
 a Deputy-Lieutenant of a county upon an incident 
 in which the law was put into fo ce and the peace- 
 able inhabitants protected. 
 
 There is an incident in connection with this 
 celebration worthy of note. On the 12th J uly in 
 Lurgan an unfortunate man named Devlin who 
 was in the market on business was so unhappy as 
 to obstruct the Orange procession with his cart, 
 which he had left inadvertently standing in the 
 street. The poor animal was beaten unmercifully. 
 On the subsequent Thursday, the 18th July, 
 the Eev. Mr. Kent, who had witnessed the 
 obstruction of the 12th, was in the town of Lurgan, 
 and left his mare standing in the street without 
 any one to hold it. The mare ran away, and the 
 identical Devlin succeeded in catching the mare ; 
 but, for his services, he received from the rev. 
 gentleman a sound rating for having obstructed 
 the procession a few days previously. Mr. Han- 
 cock, who came up, took Devlin’s part, and said 
 he was in the market on lawful business, and had 
 no right to leave the way for people who were 
 breaking the law. The Eev. Mr. Kent replied — 
 
 ” Orangemen have as good a right to walk in pro- 
 cession as the Catholics on St. Patrick’s Day, and 
 the Government is composed of a set of base, 
 cowardly rascals, not fit to govern any country.” 
 Mr. Hancock, a Justice of the Peace, very naturally 
 replied to this — I warn you Mr, Kent, I hold his 
 Majesty’s Commision of the Peace and will 
 not permit you or any other person to 
 speak contemptuously of his Majesty’s Go- 
 vernment in my presence.” " Oh,” said 
 Mr. Kent, “ I did not intend what I said 
 to be personal, but since you take it so I repeat 
 what I said before, that the present Government 
 is composed of a base, paltry, and cowardly set of 
 poltroons, unfit to govern any country.” Mr, Han- 
 cock — “ Not so base, so cowardly as you and such 
 as you, who skulk in safety yourselves, but put for- 
 word ignorant deluded people to brexk the law by 
 walking in processions when yon dare not head 
 them yourselves.” The Eev. Mr. Kent — “ You are 
 a damned liar.” Mr. Hancock replied to this by a 
 blow upon the left cheek, which some say put down 
 the Orange cleric. Ample apology was afterwards 
 made by Mr. Hancock for his hot headedness, but 
 the very natural results were used by the Orange 
 clique for blackening Mr. Hancock’s character be- 
 fore the committee of the House of Commons be- 
 fore whom he was examined. 
 
 But the Orange triumphs ©f the Armagh ascen- 
 dancy men were drawing to a close. Lieutenant 
 Colonel Blacker on this 12ch July, countenanced 
 and encouraged an Orange procession of 2,000 in 
 Portadown. In the words of Captain Patton “ He 
 and his brother magistrates acted as if no such 
 law as the Anti-Processions Act were in force.” He 
 received the brethern in his demesne, the entrance 
 of which was decorated with orange ; entertained 
 them at his residencel; appeared at his window be- 
 side the members of his household, who wore 
 Orange decorations ; and after addressing an 
 eloquent harrangue — what did think you ? 
 Send for the police to take them into custody ! Not 
 likely. He quietly sat down while the brethern 
 were in retreat from his lawn, and wrote a report to 
 the Castle which is about the most remarkabie ex- 
 ample of the effects of light and shade to be 
 found in the history of these doings. Eiots 
 occured in Portadown in which some of the gentle- 
 men to whom Lieutenant-Colonel Blacker had 
 addressed himself were concerned. The names of 
 the offenders were taken and sent to the Castle. 
 The Attorney-General ordered informations to be 
 taken and the parties returned for trial. Mf. 
 
HISTOEY OE OEANaEISM. 
 
 189 
 
 Blacker refused to take those informations, and 
 prevailed upon the other magistrates to follow him, 
 showing a disposition to frustrate the operations of 
 the law, as well as to screen those Orangemf n who 
 had violated it. An inquiry was instituted into 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Blackei’s conduct, and — the 
 Fabian Colonel” was dismissed. 
 
 Misfortunes came not now in single file. Dean 
 Carter had by this time also got into disgrace. The 
 acquittal of the brethren arrested in Lurgan at the 
 instance of Mr. Hancock and Mr. Brownlow was 
 too inviting an incident not to demand special com- 
 memoration. In the following week Lord ManJe 
 ville provided tar-barrels and timber to the 
 Orangemen surrounding his demesne to burn in 
 honour of the acquittal of their brethren. Beer was 
 supplied by his lorlship in large quantities, the 
 impartial distribution of which his moral agent,” 
 Mr. Porter superintended. We find from the de- 
 scription given of the rejoicings by Lord Gosford 
 that the Orangemen dressed up a figure as an effigy 
 of “ Papist Hancock,” the magistrate who had in- 
 curred their displeasure by proceeding, under the 
 Anti- Procession Act, to commit the Orangemen 
 who had m- 3 ,rched contrary to law. This effigy had 
 a rope tied around its neck, and was hoisted up on 
 a pole, or gallows ; the tar-barrels were set fire to, 
 and the effigy was consumed amid the shoutings 
 and hurraings of the people assembled about it. 
 This compliment to a brother magistrate was got 
 up by Lord Mandeville’s agent. During the gaities 
 of the evening this agent, Mr. Porter, was chaired 
 around the bonfire by the mob. But the 
 hero of the day was Dean Carter, a reverend 
 magistrate, who, having dined with Lord 
 Mandeville came forth from his lordship’s gates, 
 attended by Lad/ Mandeville, her ladyship’s 
 children, and some ladies of their suite. 
 They took their stand upon an elevated postion 
 opposite the bon-fire, and joined in the proceedings 
 With evident zest. Cheers were given for the Dean 
 and the lady, as well as grcans for “ Papist 
 Hancock,” and the worthy and reverned justice 
 joined in the unseemly demonstration. Mr. Cramp- 
 ton, the Solicitor-General, in his report, rightly 
 expressed surprise at “ a magistrate countcnmcing, 
 accrediting by his presence and by his approbation 
 the indecent exhioiticn of an Orange triumph over 
 an Act of the Legislature, coupled with the infiic- 
 tmn of on infamous punishment upon the effigy of 
 a brother ma gistrate.” Dean Carter was dismissed 
 from the Bench also, and that gentleman, whom in 
 
 describing the occurrence, a writer in the Edinburgh 
 Reviev}, calls the Marcellus of the party. Colonel 
 Verner himself, the Deputy-Master of Armargh, 
 threw up his commission as a migistrate in indig- 
 nation at this invasion of Orange rights and privi- 
 leges. 
 
 To exaggerate the outrageous conduct of the 
 Orangemen of Ireland during the greater part of 
 tbe year 1834 would be simply impossible. Not 
 alone did they conceive themselves not bound to 
 pay allegiance to the King’s ministers, but they 
 demonstrated their hostility by crimes as brutal as 
 they were unprovoked. To a Whig Government 
 the Orangemen owe no allegiance ; to a Tory they 
 owe rnly a conditional obedience, founded upon the 
 quid pro quo principle, to which they rigidly 
 adhere. A.t the period we are treating of they 
 certainly acted as if they owed no allegiance to 
 the Government. They assumed hostility to all 
 men who did not actually belong to their body. 
 It would be practically impossible to embody 
 within the compass of a small volume even a brief 
 summary of all the outrages which found during 
 this year their origin in Irish Oraageism. To the 
 minute inquirer I would recommend the Parlia- 
 mentary Blue Books dealing with the subject, and 
 if in the particulars there stated he does not find, 
 within the brief records of nine months, sufficient 
 ref sons for judging the institution an evil to society 
 he has read indeed to little advantage. In fact, 
 for all practical purposes we may now denominate 
 the Orangemen of the United Kingdom as the 
 rebels of the time. The Ninety-Eight movement 
 had gone out; the Forty-Eight reaction had not 
 come in, and during the brief reign of the reformed 
 Parliament the Orangemen occupied the position 
 which had been deserted by the disaffected Irish, 
 and appeared boldly and unblushingly in the light 
 of rebels to the Crown and Constitution. The 
 Repeal movement, under the guide of O’Connell, 
 was still making strides amongst the Irish pea- 
 santry, and in the beginning of this year its 
 veteran leader became serious in his projects for a 
 dissolution of the Union. The result was a re- 
 action on the part of the Orangemen who, though 
 belonging to a professedly non-political association, 
 offered every opposition to the movement both 
 within their councils and outside. Mr. Scott, the 
 Sheriff of Dublin, was expelled the association for 
 fceing favourable to repeal. It appears he was 
 present at a breakfast at which Mr. O’Connell was 
 the guest which gave dire offence to the gentle- 
 
 21 
 
190 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 men of the Grand Lodge. It was only ©n the part 
 of the Grand Lodge that this virtuous indignation 
 was at all apparent. Elsewhere many of the 
 brethren seriously lent the repeal movement 
 their support, which only had the effect of 
 making the Orange autocracy and its minions 
 mor.) determined and more pronounced in its 
 oppcsltion. Indeed there is no tetter proof of the 
 gross illegality of the association thin that afforded 
 this year. Oaths and s,olemn orlinances had long 
 bound the brethsrn together, and when their 
 existence was put to the test both were conveniently 
 denied. A simple declaration on the part of any 
 person entering a society at this time was by Act 
 of Parliament reidered illegal. Yet we find the 
 Orange Grand Lolge at which were present most 
 >1; the dignitaries of the institution, adoptiog a 
 declaration for the a 1 mission of brethern, which 
 was manifistly illegal. This declaration was 
 circulated amongst the brethern, and when atten- 
 tion was privately .^alled to it Mr. W .rd, the solicitor 
 of the G"and Lodge, adopted the simple method of 
 Bcritchiag the record of its existence off the books 
 of the institution in order to make amends for the 
 glaring illegality. A communication had been 
 received from Trinity College L)dge respecting this 
 declaration aid a resolution adopi-ed in reply. 
 That reply was of a nature admitting the existence 
 of th® Orange declaration. It was q lietly scratched 
 out behind the back of the secretray and the word i 
 inserted "resolved that Brother Swan will orally. 
 make known the opinion of the Grand Committee 
 upon the subject of their communicat'on.” While 
 making the erasure in one book the brethern 
 ignored the record in another, and they 
 have only to blame their own ohtuseness for the 
 fact of the glaring illegality cf the association 
 becoming thus revealed. From the same book, 
 which gave a record of the daily proceedings of the 
 Grand Lodge in Committee, we find that three 
 leaves had been torn cut before it was submitted 
 to the inspection of the Committee. The supposition 
 may have been an unwarrantable one- It was a 
 supposition, however, which found credit at 
 the time, that these three missing pages had 
 ref9rence to matters relating to the succes- 
 sion of the Crown, which had better be 
 hidden away in the strong box of the Institution. 
 These pages were missing in the minute book of 
 the Grand Lodge for February, 1834. Mr. Ward, 
 solicitor, could not account for them; Mr. Swan, 
 the secretary, could not account for them ; Mr. 
 Blacker never saw them ; Colonel Yerner shook his 
 
 head whenever he was asked for them, and the ex- 
 istence of the three pages remains wrapped in 
 mystery to the present day. 
 
 The existence of the conspiracy was now a subject 
 of question in the House of Commons, and, as ap- 
 pears upon the pages of Hansard, the leaders of 
 the Institucion took care to disarm suspicion. A 
 pamphlet, professedly containing the rules and re- 
 gulations of the Orange SDciety, was distributed 
 amongst the members of both Houses by the 
 Orange body; but when a comparison was made 
 between them and those actually in circulation 
 amongst the Orange body, it was found that the 
 declaration hadheen omitted. 
 
 On the 17th March the Catholics abandoned 
 their display, which they were bound to do by law. 
 
 The Orangemen, instead of following their ex- 
 ample,, verified the truth of Colonel Blacker's 
 solemn warning to the Government-^Tbat so long 
 as the Party Processions Act existed the Govern- 
 ment would have not one but three processions on the 
 part of the Orangemen to deal with. The most 
 trifling opportunity was taken advantage of now 
 for an Orange demonstration. If the magistrates 
 were less supine than usual the result of their 
 vigilance was disastrous. The parties arrested for 
 breaking the Arti-Pcocessions Act were invariably 
 brought to trial before an Orange jury, who 
 acquitted them. On their release they were 
 received in triumph outside the very court of justice 
 by their brethren, who made heroes and martyrs of 
 them, and improvised Orange demons crations home- 
 wards in their favour. On the homeward route it 
 may naturally be supposed that the brethren would 
 not be in the best of moods, and the result was 
 house wrecking, pillage and murder, in which the 
 Catholic inhabitants as usual were the sufferers. 
 
 With the Anti-Procession Act in force the de- 
 monstrations of the 12th of July weie as numerous 
 as ever. Not alone did the Orangemen demon- 
 strate all over the Province of Ulster as usual, but 
 they exhibited a wanton and reckless defiance of 
 authority such as brands them unmistakeably as 
 rebels to the Governmeat of the day. At the same 
 time the inner workings of Orangeism were such 
 as to lead a more tragic import to their proceed- 
 ings. In the County of Wexford a handful of 
 Orangemen made a sally at midnight from their 
 lodge, and murdered three Catholics who were pass- 
 ing upon the road. In Cavan a shot was fired from the 
 window of an Orange lodge, and a Catholic farmer 
 was shot dead upon the spot. Fermanagh was at that 
 time a scene of midnight outrage, in which the breth- 
 
HISTORY OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 191 
 
 ren played a conspicuous part. In a remote village 
 on the borders of the county a midnight attach was 
 made by the members of the Black Lodge upon the 
 houses of a few Catholic inhabitants. Tae latter 
 were brutally ill-treated, while their residences were 
 burned to the ground. We find about the same 
 date a Black Lodge located between Lisburn and 
 Lurgan, at a place called Maralin, taking an active 
 part in outrages upon unoffeni ng Catholics, all of 
 which, owing to the constitution of the magisterial 
 benches, were duly allowed to go unpunished. In 
 fact, the Black Lodges never made themselves 
 more conspicuous than at th's particular period, 
 and, after being allowed to carry on a sanguinary 
 warfare for the space of ten months, the Grand 
 Lodge, in November, 1831, quietly got rid of all 
 the odium connected with their murderous proceed- 
 ings by declaring that they should no longer ac- 
 knowledge the existence of such lodges in connec- 
 tion with their institution. 
 
 But the proceedings of July revealed the Orange 
 party more vividly than ever in the light of rebels. 
 If before they had defied the law, they now menaced, 
 intimidated, and outraged its supporters and ad- 
 ministrators. On the 1st July Counsellor Costello 
 arrived at Dungannon to discharge some legal busi- 
 ness. It was rumoured that the Catholics from Coal- 
 island would draw his carriage into the town, but 
 whether this was entertained or not we have the 
 fact that Mr. Costello entered the town by an un- 
 frequented route, with the object, it appears, of 
 avoiding outrage at the hands of the Orange party 
 and to give the slip to his Catholic admirers. The in- 
 cident did not end thera. The Orange Yeomanry 
 were at midnight called to arms and paraded the 
 town for hours. Mr. Stronge, a magistrate, directed 
 an Orange arch to be taken down, a proceeding 
 which at the time rendered him exceedingly un- 
 popular, and for which he subsequently was nearly 
 forfeiting bis life. It secured for him the term 
 ** Papist Stronge” ever afterwards. 
 
 On the 12th July, at Portglenone, the Orangemen 
 of the Counties of Derry and Antrim united in forc- 
 ing their way through a large force of military 
 drawn across the bridge leading to the town. The 
 Riot Act was read, and also the Dispersion Act, but 
 with no effect, and the entire military force were 
 paralysed by the 3,000 armed Orangemen who 
 paraded. In Dungannon, a great demonstration 
 took place of Orange Yeomen, which passed into 
 the town in spite of all efforts on the part of the 
 authorities to the contrary. At Stewartstown, a 
 village about six miles distance from Dungannon, 
 
 a lodge was sitting on the same evening, when by 
 chance a Catholic was passing, and he was fired at 
 from the window of the lodge. The would-be- 
 assassin was a fair marksman. He shot his fiuger 
 off. In consequence, both the Dungannon 
 and the Stewartstown corps of yeomanry were 
 ordered to be dismissed. It would be tedious to 
 go minutely into the various demonstrations, not- 
 withstanding that the effort would be mere or less 
 justified by the intimate connection which they 
 had with outrages of the most shocking descrip- 
 tion. It is suffifient for our purpose, however, to 
 say that the records supplied the Government 
 show that in this year, with the Anti- Procession 
 Act in force, there were little less than fifty 
 Orange demonstrations over the Province of 
 Ulster, most of which were attended with violence 
 and bloodshed. 
 
 This state of things was prolonged through the 
 whole of the subsequent autumn, with little less 
 disastrous effects. The clamour of the Orangemen 
 were not without results— results which, however 
 gratifying at first, still lead to a more speedy 
 dissolution. 
 
 At a sham fight near Keady on the 5th Novem- 
 ber the military were alone prevented from assert- 
 ing the law through fear of blood being shed. 
 
 In the second week of November the death o! 
 Earl Spencer took Lord Althop from the Lower to 
 the Upper House, and on Lord Melbourne waiting 
 upon his Majesty for his commands respecting 
 the appointment of a new Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, William. lY. expressed disap. 
 prove 1 of the conduct of the Government 
 in regard to the Irish Chur eh question, and by the 
 advice of the Coaservat’ve chief, the Duke of 
 Wellington, Sir Robert Peel was sent for to form a 
 Ministry. This act of his Majesty gave rise to high 
 hopes that the Orangemen of Ireland were about 
 to have back the old regime oi intolerance. But 
 those days had gone, and for ever. There was, 
 however, in the change of Ministry enough to give 
 rise to a feeling of triumph over the downfall of the 
 Whig reformers, and meetings were at once called 
 at various centres through mt the country** to 
 thank his Majesty for dismissing his late advisers.” 
 At a meeting of the Royal Luther Lodge (No. 
 1483), in Dublin, on the 2ni December, at which 
 most of the leaders of the Irish Orangemen were 
 present, an addr ss of thanks was voted to the 
 King after the delivery of speeches breathing of 
 extermination to all things Catholic and Liberal. 
 On the 8th December a ** grand concurrent Orange 
 
192 
 
 HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 meeting of the County and City of Dublin’* was 
 held in the Merchants* Hall for the purpose of 
 “addressing the King relative to the late dismissal 
 of his Ministers.” The Lord Mayor, who a few 
 days subsequently entertained the Vi3eroy, took 
 the chair at this meeting. From the report of the 
 Evening Mail, I find that one of the most import- 
 ant resolutions passed upon the occasion was — 
 
 “ That we will shed the last drop of our blood in 
 defence of our Protestant Institution.” 
 
 During the proceedings, a violent Orange bigot 
 achieved a brilliant success by the introduction of 
 a blasphemous production, which is attributed in 
 Orarge poetic publications to the pen of Colonel 
 Blacker. As this sanguinary rhapsody was such 
 as to warrant the exclusive attention of the House 
 of Commons, its transfer into these pages may net 
 be out of place : — 
 
 The night is rather'ng g ron ily, the d'y is clos'ng fast — 
 The temi est flaps its raven ^ings in lond and angry blast : 
 The thunder clouds are d iving athwart the lurid sky — 
 
 But, “pnt yfur trust m Gon, nr>y boys, and keep your 
 ’,:owder dry.” 
 
 There was a day when loyalty was hail’d with honour du«'. 
 Our h nner the protection wav’d to all the good and true 
 And gallant hearts beneath its folds were link’d in honour’s 
 tie, 
 
 We put our trust in God, my boys, and kept our pow’er 
 dry. 
 
 When Treason brr’d her bloody arm, and maddened round 
 the land, 
 
 For ting, an law, and order fair, we drew the re"dy brand : 
 Our g Thering s. ell was William’s name— our word was 
 “ do or die,” 
 
 And still we put our trust in God, and keep our powder 
 dry. 
 
 But now, alas ! a wondrous change 1/ as correthe nation o’ r, 
 And worth and g llant services, remea ber’d are no more. 
 And, cm h’d beneath oppression’s weight, in chains of giief 
 we ie. 
 
 But “ { ut youf trust in J God, my boys, and keep jour 
 powd r dry.” 
 
 Forth starts the srawn of Treason, the ’scap’d tf li ety- 
 eight. 
 
 To ba?’^ in courtly favour, and seize the helm of state ; 
 
 E’en they whose hands are re king yet with murder’s 
 crimson dye — 
 
 But ‘ pnt your t'ust in God, n y boys, i nd keep your 
 lowder dry.” 
 
 They come, whose deeds incarnadin’d the Slangy’s silver 
 wave — 
 
 They come, who to the foreign foe the hail of wclcoire 
 ga e ; 
 
 He comes, the open rebel flerce he comes the Jesuit sly; 
 But ‘‘put yorrr trust in God, my bojs, and keep your 
 I>owder dry,” 
 
 They come, whose counsels wrapp’d the land in foul re- 
 bellion’s fl me. 
 
 Their hoart-s, unchastised by remorse, their cheek's un- 
 ti g’d by .‘•‘h me 
 
 B still be still, indignant heart— he tearless, too, each eye. 
 And “ ) ut yo r irtst in God, my boys, and keep your 
 powder ary.” 
 
 The Pow’r that led his chosen, by pillar’d cloud and flame. 
 Through i arted sea and dese t waste, the Pow’r is still the 
 s me. 
 
 He fails not— H r — the loyal he rt " that firm on Him rely — 
 So ‘‘ put yo r tru t in God, my boys, end keep your 
 powder dry.’* 
 
 The Pow'r that nerv’d the stalwart arms of Gideon’s chos 
 few 
 
 The Pow’r that 1 d great William, Boyne’s reddening tor- 
 rents through — 
 
 In his protecting arm f o fide, and e ery foe defy 
 Ti.en “ ut your trust in God. my boys, and keep yotr 
 powder dry.” 
 
 Already s<-e the Star of Hope emits its orient blaze. 
 
 The cheering b aeon of leUef, it glimmers tbro’ the haze ; 
 
 It tells of better days to come^ it tells of succour nigh 
 The a ‘‘put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your 
 powder dry.” 
 
 Pee, all along the hills of Down, its rising glories spread, - 
 But brightest i earns its radienca from Uonard’s lofty head. 
 O'anbrassil’s vales aie kindling wide, and ••|Eoden” is the 
 cry— 
 
 Then “put your trust in God, my boys, and keea your 
 powder dry.” 
 
 Then cheer ye heart of lo alty, nor sink in f ark despair. 
 Cur banner shall again unfol 1 its glories to the air, 
 
 T e storm that aves th * wildest the sooner passe bj 
 Then “put your trust in God my boys, and keep your 
 powder d.y.” 
 
 For ‘ happy homes,” for “ altars free,” we grasp the 
 ready sword. 
 
 For Freedom, Truth, and for our God.’s unmutilated Word. 
 These, these the war-cry of our march, our hope the Lo d on 
 high ; 
 
 The' ‘‘put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your 
 powder d’y.” 
 
 We are told by tbe Evening Mail that this pro- 
 duction was received with the most deafening 
 cheers. It expressed the seutiments of the as- 
 sembled brethren, who overlooked the blasphemy 
 in its violence. It did not pass without remark in 
 the House of Commons, in the course of the defiate 
 which this gave rise to, that the Duke of Welling- 
 ton had recalled Lord Anglesea bf cause he had 
 dined with Lord Cloncur y, a member of the 
 Catholic Association. Clamour for a brief interval 
 was supreme, and no recall followed this coalition 
 between Viceroyalty and Orangeism. 
 
 A meeting was held on the 19th December at 
 Dungannon, and by a series of successful manoeu- 
 vering on the part of the Orangemen of the county 
 Lord Caledon, who was decidely opposed to the 
 Institution, was prevailed upon as lord Lieutenant 
 of the county to call the meeting. Under colour of 
 a Protestant demonstration to address the King an 
 Orange demonstration and procession was orga- 
 nised, and the evidence before the committee justi- 
 fied the supposition that Verner, Blacker & Co. 
 had been busy at \/ork behind the scenes. At mid- 
 night on the night previous to the meeting a vio- 
 lent Orange circular was sent out to the following 
 effect “ WiT you desert your King ? No ; yon 
 wifi die first. Tbe King, as becomes a son of George 
 III., has spurned from his Council the men who 
 would have overturned the most valued institutions 
 of ycur country, and would have led your monarch to 
 a violation of his Coronation Oath. Tour Sovereign 
 has dene his duty j will you abandon yours?* If 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 193 
 
 you Will not; if you will maintain the liberties 
 which your fathers purchased with their blood, you 
 will be found at the great Protestant meeting to be 
 held at Dungannon on Tuesday, the 19th inst, at 
 twelve o’clock, and your cry will be — the King and 
 the Constitution, the Altar and the Throne’” 
 
 So complete were their arrangements that it was 
 not until Lord Caledon had actually taken the 
 chair that thousands of armed Orangemen came 
 trooping in, with fl^.gs flying and drums beating, 
 surrounding the platform. A scene of the greatest 
 violence followed. Lord Ca’edon had to leave the 
 chair prematurely amid cries of “Pap'st Caledon,” 
 and Mr. Stronge, J.P., who had on the 1st July 
 ordered the removal of an Orange arch, was sub- 
 jected to the grossest treatment, had to fly for his 
 life from the meeting, and was finally compelled to 
 steal by a back way out of the hous3 in which he 
 sought refuge. 
 
 Sir Frederick Stoven, the chief of the police, was 
 upon the same occasion fired at by the Orangemen 
 while outside his own house, the ball passing wiihin 
 a yard of his person. Sir Frederick had, like Capt. 
 Duff, incurred the displeasure of the Orange 
 party fcr doing his duty,” for such 
 are his words, like him he’ was called Papist 
 Stoven, and such were the speedy means they 
 adopted in getting rid of him . In the course of 
 his examination before the Select Committee, and 
 immediately after the reading of Captain Duff’s 
 report of this outrage to the Government, we find 
 the following : — 
 
 Is that a correct report ? Yes; two or three of 
 the gentlemen called upon me, one of them a 
 clergyman, with very strong opinions. I went to 
 the gate with him, from which I could look down 
 the street, and they were hurrahing and drinking 
 at public-houses, and shots firing in all directions ; 
 and I walked up and down before my house, and 
 certainly to my great surprise a shot came within a 
 yard of me, close by my ear and struck the house. 
 
 Did you observe whether it struck the wall of 
 your house immediately behind you ? Yes. 
 
 Do you take for granted that the shot was fired 
 kill me, and it was a very long distance that it was 
 at yourself ? Yes, I do not say that they wanted to 
 fired from. 
 
 Had you any reason to apprehend mischief at that 
 meeting, from any intimation made to you or any 
 other person, previous to that meeting ? No, I 
 was very much surprised at this shot, and I went 
 
 I down to the magistrate who lived within a hundred 
 ' yards of me, where the orange fiags and things 
 were standing close to the magistrate’s door at a 
 public-house opposite ; and I went to Mr. Murray 
 and said Why Mr. Murray you may call this 
 keeping the peace of Dungannon, but I never saw 
 anything so bad in my life ; I have just been shot 
 at, if ycu do not stop this firing I think it is the 
 most disgraceful thing I ever saw ;” however the 
 firing was not stopped, but I was a good deal sur- 
 prised at the shot, because, though I do not conceal 
 my ideas upon this subject, I have never made 
 myself offensive, I believe ; but the following Sun- 
 day, a lady, the wife of the chief constable, Mr. 
 Duff, went to church ; she had not been to church 
 the previous Sunday, and when she opened the 
 prayer-book a paper dropped ouc, and she saw 
 it was a curious sort of thing, and she gave it to 
 Mr. Duff, 
 
 Have you the paper here ? I have, Mr. Duff 
 looked at it and saw what is was and put it into his 
 pocket and brought it to me, and asked what he 
 should do with it ; I said as to myself I did not 
 care, but it was a most disgraceful thing to put a 
 threatening notice into a church, particulary into 
 the cover of a lady’s prayer-book, and this is a copy 
 of it : — “ Sir, — As this is the last day to be in this 
 rotten town, I send you this advice, tell Eobinson 
 that he and that damned scout Strong, will do very 
 little on Friday at the Protestant meeting ; that 
 Duff and Sir F. Stoven had better stay in the house 
 or they may get an orange ball which may cause 
 them to stay at home on the 12th July. Tell Duff 
 that he and Strong, that they will not be able to 
 stop the meeting nor the walking on the 12th ; tell 
 them to kiss my ■ - and suck my I re- 
 
 main yours, something, Dodd,Amen.” This was 
 clearly put into the prayer-book the Sunday before, 
 but it was not found in consequence of Mrs. Duff 
 not having gone to church till the following Sun- 
 day ; I said he might do what he pleased with it, 
 and he sent it to the primate, what was done I 
 cannot say, but I believe Mr. Horner, the rector of 
 Dungannon, took some pains to endeavour to find 
 out the author. But Mr. Duff, by my advice, sent 
 it to Mr. Jones the secretary of the primate, and 
 this is his answer ; — “ Dear Sir, — I cannot say how 
 greatly the primate was shocked at the disgraceful 
 notice put into Mrs. Duff’s prayer-book; his Grace 
 has written to Mr. Horner to use all the means in 
 his power to detect the person who placed it there ; 
 I write in a great hurry,” and what was done I do 
 not know. 
 
 " * Sir P. Stoven’ s evidence before the Select Committee of 
 the House of Commons— queg ion 4573. 
 
194i 
 
 HTSTOEY OF OEANOEISM, 
 
 But tho author of it was not found out ? No. 
 
 Had ycu ever bsfore reason to suppose that the 
 Orangemen had any spite against you ? No, I 
 never came into collision with them, (xcept in 
 this instance at Dungannon, where I happened to 
 be living. 
 
 Have you heard that Lord Claude Hamilton was 
 made an Orangeman at that very meeting ? Yes, 
 it is notorious. 
 
 Had you an particular account of it ? No, I had 
 no account of his being made an Orangeman, except 
 that I know he was made one in the afternoon of 
 that day about three o’clock. 
 
 Was it at the meeting itself that he was made, or 
 in a public-house ? In a public-house. 
 
 Do you know what public-house ? A man of the 
 name of Lilburn. 
 
 Muat not Lord Hamilton have witnessed all this 
 scene that occurred ? I suppose so. 
 
 And heard the shots firing ? No, perhaps not * 
 at the time of the meeting on the hustings I do 
 not believe there were any shots firing ; it was after 
 the meeting had terminated in the afternoon. 
 
 Lord Hamilton was witness of course to all these 
 colours and the scarfs and the colours, and every- 
 thing of that kind at the meeting ? He must have 
 been. 
 
 Did you receive any information, or d'd you 
 observe yourself, as to tbe yeomanry arms being 
 amongst tbe arms used upon the 19th of Decem- 
 ber ? None whatever. 
 
 We also find from the evidence of Captain Duff 
 that about that time an attempt was made on the 
 life of Inspector Crofton — called Papist Crofton— r 
 m the County Down, ample proof of which the 
 witness proffered to bring before the Committe. * 
 
 * The Grani Lodge of Ireland we-e not Plone aware of 
 these fl-'eranb breaches of the law but actii.olly retume I 
 the breth’-en ever tbe country their tbanbs f r illesraly 
 ns~emb ing. to the terror and danger of his Majesty’s sub- 
 jects The books of the G'and Lodge cont .in the follow'ng, 
 under the date of Nove^nber 12. l'^3‘ “ And las ly. we beg 
 
 to call the att ntion of tbe G and Lo ge. and fwougb them 
 return onr heartfelt thanks and congratulations to our 
 brethren through the vo ions i arts of Ireland, who in the 
 1 ie meetings of 3 OijO in Dublin, "i, 01 at Bandon. 3 ,0 0 at 
 Cavan, and 7 ',000 at Hillsborough, by their strength of 
 numb r -, the rank, re ■spec' ability, and orderly conduct of 
 their attendance, the manly and eloquent expressions of 
 every Christian and loyal sent! < ent vindic ted ^o nob’y tbs 
 character ef our inst tution against he aspersions thrown 
 on it -s ‘the paltry remnant o an exp'ring faction ’ And 
 ■we ardei tly hope tha*- our trethern in the other i art - of t e 
 Lingdom, who have not as yet co i e forward to do so ('sic) 
 and no forget the hint given to us in our Sovereign’s last 
 most trccious declaration ‘ to speak out.’ ” To say that tbe 
 Grand Lodge did no couutenauce bese i'te ml demonstra- 
 tions is, then, not founded npo'i fact. Nat alo e did it 
 countenance them, but, ns proved by the foregoing, it 
 fnrtliered iliem iu all possib’e ways The days o^ William 
 IV. were numbered as they kno.v. They needei to he on the 
 alvrt. AluJ so they we e. 
 
 At the races, in Armagh, a bastion fight took place, 
 i 1 which, from the evidence at hand, it seems both 
 parties were implicated. The results, as disastrous 
 as they were dreadful, was the subsequent burn 
 ing— three months after— of an entire village, 
 while the Orange party surveyed from an adjacent 
 hill the terrible ruin their handiwork was accom- 
 plishing. 
 
 I an giving L 3rd Mandeville and his Orange con- 
 temporaries all credit that they sought for in taking 
 it that the .burning of Annahagh, on the 17ch 
 January, 1835, was the result of the Armagh races — 
 race held more than 3 months previously, in which 
 they allege a Protestant named M^Whinney was 
 beaten. It must strike even the ordinary reader, 
 however, that we might with as much rea on re- 
 gard the Belfast riots of recent years as the imme- 
 diate result of the 1688 revolution. But granted 
 t lat in this instance cause and effhet were so 
 widely sundered none but an absolute bigot could 
 find in a simple assault palliation for so brutal, cold- 
 blooded, and fiendish a crime as this which stains 
 the criminal calendar of Orangeism. For the assault 
 at the races four Catholics suffered transportation, 
 a fact whi ;h needs to be borne in mind, until we 
 come to consider what fate awaited the destroyers 
 of Annahagh. This, coupled with the fact that 
 M‘Whinney survived the assault, and we see little 
 to justify the giving of a whole village to fi tmes. 
 B at while Lord Mandeville connects this outragewith 
 the race accident. Lord Gosford, theLord Lieutenant 
 of Armagh, more reasonably connected it with ths 
 electio i of Colonel Verner for the county, which took 
 place exactly two days previous. 
 
 Though the Whigs had been put to con- 
 fusion by the recent exercise of the Eoyal pre- 
 rogri'.e the Eeform Party was still powerful in 
 the C .mmons. Iu the face of this. Sir Eobert 
 Peel could not afford to break with the Orange- 
 men* Since the splitting up of Lord Liver- 
 pool’s Administration, which was the close of their 
 long reign, all had been with the Tories 
 make shift. They were too weak to stand alone, 
 and they knew it. With one hand leaning upon 
 Orangeism they beckoned with tke other to a 
 faction of the Liberal party. Though Sir Eobert 
 Peel might hint a fault when pressed upon Orange 
 matters, he still was compelled to give very 
 grac’ous answers” from the Throne to their ad- 
 dresses, and seats on the Bench, in the Treasury 
 and the Cabinet to their leaders and abettors. 
 There was now, therefore, a substantial coalition 
 * Edinhnrgh Review, No. CXXVI., page 522. 
 
HISTOET OE OEANaEIS^I. 
 
 195 
 
 l*3tweeii the Tories and the Orangfemen. The 
 latter were enraptured at what they considered the 
 revival of the old ascendancy days ; the former, 
 satisfied so long" as the exultation of the Orange- 
 men could afford the colourable excuse of “ vigour 
 beyond the law” and both parties agreed to coalesce, 
 without caring to enter very minutely upon either 
 aide into the precise terms of the coalition. More 
 than one of the elections bad, during the close of 
 the preceding year, been largely influenced by the 
 menace, intimidation, and even the active violence 
 of armed Orangemen — instance the elections of 
 Drcheda and Trim * 
 
 The Armagh election took place on the 15th 
 January, 1835. In the evening an Orange party 
 chaired Colonel Yerner on his return, and as the 
 electioneering contests of those days were, without 
 exception, attended by a liberal distribution of 
 cash, it is reasonable to conclude that Brother 
 Yerner” was more than liberal in his treatment Of 
 his brethren. Inflamed with drink, they passed 
 to their homes late at night, and on their way 
 attacked the houses of c .vo Catholics, in one of 
 which, belonging to a publican named Hughes, it 
 was alleged the persona who had committed the 
 assault three months before on M‘Whinney had 
 previously been drinking. The houses were wrecked, 
 the furniture broker, and what liquor could not be 
 consumed was allowed to run off' 
 
 Election times were then not a season for active 
 or earnest labour. With nothing particular to 
 occupy their attention, the Orangemen of Killy- 
 man, alias the Killyman Wreckers, resolved on 
 the 16th to burn down the village of Annahagh, 
 situate between Armagh and Charlemont, and in 
 this resolve they were ably seconded by their 
 Armagh brethren. Preparations on a vast scale 
 were made. Three church bells were kept ringing 
 ^he entire of the day in Killyman, one of these 
 being that in which the Orange firebrand, the Hev. 
 Mortimer O’Sullivan, officiated. In Loughgall, and 
 
 * Dr. Robe t Mallen gave evidence before tbe committee 
 of tb.e House of 0 mmons that 2 ' armed Orangemen col- 
 lected from tbe n ighbouring counties of Kildare, West- 
 mea^-b, and Ca an ma"cbed in o T im on tbe day of the 
 election. On statinv that they were beaded by tbe Rev. Mr. 
 Preston, tbe witness was ask_d tbi^ signi-’cant question by 
 a member of tbe committee -y Had be a c ucifix in bis 
 band ?” to wbicb tbis equally significant answer was given 
 — “ No, HE HAD A PIST01 in liis band” (6101). This Orange 
 mob was actually lodged in the old county ja 1 and upplied 
 witb bedding by tbe Sberiif. Cn tbeir way back tbey 
 marcbe^i tbrougb Kells, where tbey murdered a Catbolic 
 named Henry in cold blood. And \ et these we^e tbe men 
 whom tbe Orange candidates, Mr. Wade and the Hon. R. 
 Plunket (the latter of whom was a high dignitary in tbe 
 Institu'ionj, could thank “ fcr tbeir fervices.” A= i*" was 
 proved that not one of them was a voter, it is not difficult to 
 imagine what was tbe nature of tbe services renlered. 
 
 also iu Charlemont, the powder vendors’ stock 
 ran short, and the Orangemen were therefore com- 
 pelled to fall back upon the supplies in the 
 King’s stores. In obtaining it, both powder and 
 ball cartridge, they experienced little difficulty, 
 and absolute proof of its distribution is found in 
 the evidence of Sir F. Stovin, Inspector-General, 
 of Captain Duff, Inspector of Police, and 
 Charles Atkinson’s (Chief Constable) report to the 
 Government, all of which are faithfully recorded. 
 Captain Duff says that one George Weir, the 
 yecman sergeant at Charlemont, gave gunpowder 
 out of the King’s stores to Captain Clarke’s yeomen 
 prior to the Annahxgh outrage, making use at the 
 time of tbe expression “I would be sorry to see 
 Colonel Yerner’s boys lost” (8104). On the I7th 
 January tbe Orangemen assembled at midday oa 
 the Hill of Kiniiego to the number of several 
 thousands. They were all armed, and so regular 
 in their movement as to lead Sir Frederick Stovin 
 to describe them as resembling “ a regiment of 
 soldiers on parade, previous to their falling in line.” 
 While the main bo3y remained on guard upon the 
 hill, a detachment was dispatched to the village to 
 execute their fearful mission. A’l of the in- 
 habitants who could fly flad. And wise were they 
 in so doing. In half an hour the whole 
 village was in flames,* _aud the detachment re- 
 turned to the main body on the hill to join in tbe 
 fiendish dance of death. A military force arrived 
 from Charlemont under the command of Sir Fred. 
 Stovin in time to see this Orange detachment 
 joining the main body, and to see the conflagration 
 they had made. One old man named Moore, who 
 was bed-Tidden, was carried out of his house and 
 placed at his own door in the snow to contemplate the 
 ruin of his humble homestead. Death soon released 
 him from his misery. How many more victims 
 were added to the black records of that day’s doings 
 it is impossible to say, for, upon the authority of 
 Sir F. Stovin, we are assured that the Catholics 
 were so intimidated that they were afraid to come 
 forward to give evidence. In this affair several of 
 the Armagh police were implicated and punished. 
 They refused to assist Captain Duff and another 
 constable in pointing out where several of the 
 Orange party lived. " They did not know,” they 
 said, although the parties wanted” resided not 
 more than a mile and a half from their station. 
 
 An in c'estigation was held by Lord Qosford on the 
 
 * Lord Grosford, in bis evidence, says tba*; as fi-astbe 
 subsequent investiqra ion afforded i formation all tbe bon es 
 burned, numbering sixteen, were those of Roman O..tbolicj. 
 
lOS 
 
 HISTORY OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 28th January, which resulted in the stern condem- 
 nation of the Orange party and the implication of 
 more than one person of position. It was proved 
 that a Mr. Hardy, J.P., aided and abetted in the 
 transaction. He was dismissed the magistracy. It 
 was also proved that a Mr. ObreejU landed proprietor 
 and a Deputy Grand Master of Ar magh,headed about 
 150 Orangemen on their march through the Lough- 
 gall district. From the I7th January, 1835, to the 
 present date not one single Orangeman has been 
 punished for his part in that outrage. 
 
 It was evident that the criminals were not un- 
 known to the district Grand Lodge of Armagh. In 
 the House of Commons attention was called to the 
 transaction. Lord Mandeville, moved by a fit of 
 desperation, defended the Orangemen in a manner, 
 which in his calmer momen's, he must have re- 
 gretted. He wildly and fiercely attacked Lord 
 Gosford for the manner in which he had corsK 
 tuted the Bench (which was not constituted by him 
 at all, as it was an es;-parte inquiry in which he was 
 absolute). He stated that it was not proved the 
 Orangemen were concerned in the outrage and, 
 what was much more, that he Tcnew they were not 
 concerned. Dr. Lushington, an English member, 
 here interfered, and said that the matter should 
 be inquired into, that Lord Gcsford’s character 
 should be cleared of the imputations, or the reverse. 
 He called the attention of the House to the words 
 of Lord Mandeville ; if he knew that the Orange- 
 men were not there he must be in a position to prove 
 who were there ; and he might, therefore, be in a 
 position to assist the Crown. Lord Mandeville was 
 silent. 
 
 Is it any wonder that O’Connell wrote almost co- 
 incident with this transaction in his letter to Lord 
 Duncannon, ** their (the Orangemen’s) souls are so 
 hardened in guilt, and so accustomed to an avowed 
 desire of practical cruelty that they do not affect to 
 conceal their wishes to render Ireland once more a 
 desert, and to irrigate her plains with the blood of 
 her inhabitants or, viewed in connection with 
 the foregoing, in connection with the Eev. Mr. 
 Preston, with his pistol where the crucifix ought to 
 have been, with his band of Orange desperadoes 
 following close upon his heels ready for anything 
 from the pillaging of a public-house to the murder- 
 ing of a Papist, is it any wonder that O’Connell was 
 at this time denouncing the Orangemen in such 
 terms as the following : — the Orange faction are 
 in point of intellect and understanding the most 
 despicably degraded that even excited the con- 
 tempt or scorn of mankind. Then, as to their 
 
 moral guides, what are they ? They preach up 
 wholesale proscripfen, massacre, and extermina- 
 tion. They call themselves Christians ! They 
 preach up doctrines almost too bad for the eternal 
 enemy of mankind ta suggest to human depra\ity< 
 Bayonets and blood — bayonets and blood — bayonets 
 and blood form their text and their commentary. 
 Their laymen vie with their parsons in ruthless 
 audacity, and it becomes doubtful which of the two 
 are the more ready to preach rapine, murder, and 
 desolation. An infernal spirit of religious persecution 
 reigns over the whole, and renders Trirh Orangmen 
 the most depraved, as well as the most despicable 
 of the human race.^ 
 
 It will be recollected that on the occasion of the 
 great Dungannon meeting Lord Claude Hamilton 
 was made an Orangeman. The initiation of this 
 nobleman into the Orange system took place in a 
 common public-house. Whether one of the un- 
 written laws or not, it has certainly been the usual 
 practice with the Orange body to promote to the 
 Bench, and, indeed, into all high places, as man/ 
 of their brethren as possible. An Orangeman on 
 the Bench becomes doubly armed in the cause, and 
 those who are in a position to occupy such a place, 
 and who refuse to avail themselves of it for the 
 hmefit of the Irethren are as black sheep, in the 
 socie^^y. The honour of the magistracy may not 
 have been coveted by Lord Claude Hamilton ; but, 
 since he was Lord Claude Hamilton and an Orange- 
 man, he had no option but to assume it, if for 
 nothing else, at least “for the benefit of his breth- 
 ren.” Accordingly, we find him a few weeks after 
 his initiation (in this low public-house), applying 
 ^o the Lord Lieutenant of the county for the com- 
 mission cf the peace. This application gave rise 
 to the following interesting correspondence : — 
 
 “ Dublin, Feb. 9^, 1835. 
 
 “ Sir,— As Lord Claude Hamilton has requested 
 me to recommend him for the Commission of Peace, 
 it becomes necessary for me to mention, for the 
 information of his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, 
 the difficulty I feel in complying with his lordship’s 
 wishes. 
 
 “ Since I had the honour of being named Lieu- 
 tenant of the County of Tyrone, it has been my 
 study to suippress party feeling; and I had the 
 satisfaction to know that my exertions had been so 
 (ar successful as to prevent the display of it upon 
 all periodical occasions, except in the town of Dun- 
 gannon. 
 
 ** On the requisition of the cusios rotulorum^ 
 * See O’C.nnell’s letter to tke people of Ireland in 183i 
 
HISTOET OF OEANaEISM. 
 
 197 
 
 Lord Abercorn, Lord Castle- Stuart, and nineteen 
 magistrates, in addition to several clergymen and 
 county gentlemen — I convened a meeting of the 
 county on the 19th December, for the purpose of 
 addressing the King on his Majesty’s assertion of 
 the Koyal Prerogative ; and it was upon this occa- 
 sion, I may say, in the face of the country, l^ord 
 Claude Hamilton was initiated into the Orange 
 Society, was decorated with Orange emblems, and was 
 publicly chaired through the town by a large body of 
 Orangemen who were assembled on that occasion. 
 
 This open and avowed adhesion to a particular 
 party, and this disregard of what I consider the 
 spirit which guides his Majesty’s counsels, has been 
 very painful to me, and pla3es mein the embarrass- 
 ing position which I attempt to describe. 
 
 When I consider how my hopes of trarquillis- 
 ing the country have been counteracted, and know- 
 ing, as I do, that the conduct of Lord Claude 
 Hamilton had caused increased excitement, I can- 
 not offer this recommendation to the Lord Chancellor 
 without exposing myself to animadversion. 
 
 “ On the ocher hand, when I reflect that he has 
 been elected member for the county, and that his 
 rank and station fully qualify him for the appoint- 
 ment, I know not how to withhold my recommen- 
 dation, more especially as I do not believe that the 
 act of which I complain was in itself illegal — and, 
 alove all, when T am willing to hope, that, if ap- 
 pointed to the magistracy, his decisions will not be 
 biassed by party prejudice. 
 
 Under these conflicting considerations, I lay 
 the case before his Majesty’s government, and if I 
 find no objection is taken on their part, I shall 
 submit his lordship’s name to the Lord Chancellor. 
 — I have, &c.. 
 
 Signed Caledon.” 
 
 “ Castle, 9bh Feb., 1835. 
 
 “ My Lobd, — I have laid before the Lord-Lieu- 
 lenant your lordship’s letter of this day’s date, and 
 I am desired by his Excellency to say that the sen- 
 timents you express, and the judicious conduct you 
 have always observed in the county of Tyrone, in 
 suppressing all party feelings, meet with his Ex- 
 cellency’s entire concurrence. 
 
 “ The line you have pursued is in strict accord- 
 ance with the principles by which his Majesty’s 
 councils are guided ; and it is only r)y a firm and 
 imparlial adherence to this system that the peace of 
 the country can be preserved. 
 
 ** The Lord-Lieutenant regrets that any circum- 
 stance should have occurred by which your lordship 
 
 should have been thwarted in carrying into effect 
 this most desirable system of discouraging popular 
 excitement ; but his Excellency, after an attentive 
 consideration of the statement made by your lord- 
 ship, concurs in opinion witn you that in the exer- 
 cise of your discretion it is expedient not to with- 
 hold the Commission of tbe Peace. — T have the 
 honour,” &c. 
 
 “ Sigaed ** H. Hardinoe.” 
 
 This is an instructive specimen of the ** sayings 
 and doings” of the then Government. Here is the 
 us lal conforming flourish about “ the firm and im- 
 partial adherence to the system by which alone the 
 peace of the country can be preserved followed 
 by the promotion to the Bench of an out-and-out 
 Orange neophyte, who is reported by the lord-lieu- 
 tenant of his county for diregarding this spirit 
 (^the firm impartial system’) of his Majesty’s 
 Ministers — the whole gracefully crowned by the 
 old Eory doctrine of expediency. It is expedient 
 not to withhold the Commission of the Peace.” 
 Undoubtedly ! For Lord Claude was a county 
 member, and his brother. Lord Abercorn, had in- 
 fluence and votes; and the Orange chiefs were 
 staunch and recently reconciled allies. True, the 
 discountenancing of Orangeism and all other fac- 
 tions might be the salvation of Ireland ; but votes 
 would be the salvation of power and place. So 
 expediency made firm and impartial” justice kick 
 the beam.”* 
 
 From the Eecords of the Irish Grand Lodge, of 
 which Lord Enniskillen was now Deputy Grand 
 Master, we find the utmost activity exhibited at 
 this period in augmenting the numbers of the 
 brethren. Deputies had been sent through the 
 various counties during the previous winter 
 months. They returned with the most glowing 
 reports of progress, but with little or no cash. 
 Their services the brethren freely rendered; the use 
 of their good right arms in knocking down a Papist 
 at all possible times, but further they were delicate 
 in moving; We have it from the hon. secretary 
 of the Institution that £200 a year was all that 
 this body of men could be got to contribute to the 
 general fund, though in 1834 that sum was doubled 
 by the extrordinary liberality of the Ulster Orange 
 landlords, whose agents were almost exclusively 
 dignitaries of the institution. 
 
 While typhus fever was making fearful havoc 
 amongst the half-fed, ill-clad peasantry, the Orange 
 
 • See Edinburgh Eeviiw, No. OXXVII,, for /aTiuary, 183 
 
 page 87. 
 
 23 
 
198 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 Association was at this time busy iu opposing such 
 schemes as the Poor-law and National Education* 
 Those whom the tide of emigration had left 
 behind were a prey to the scourge of pestilence 
 and famine. ‘^Itie iu such a state of things,” 
 wrote O’Connell, “ that the tell fiends of Orangeism 
 exult.” Conscious of their supremacy, they sought 
 by every means in their power to initiate the 
 horrors of ’98 ; they wanted by a pretext ‘Ho cry 
 havcc, and let slip the dogs of war.” Their supre- 
 macy was a short lived one. The most was made 
 of it by Sir Eobert Peel and his coadjutors in the 
 Government in the hope of strengthening the Tory 
 party, and by the Orangemen in the desire to ob-, 
 tain a firm hold upon the Administration of Irish 
 affairs. Numerous Government appo’ntments were 
 made from the ranks of the directorate, and even 
 Lord Eoden was offered a place in his Majesty’s 
 household. In answer to an address from some of 
 the Orangemen o! Ireland the Ministers, in the 
 name of the King, replied that “ his Majesty’s bad 
 been pleased to receive same in the most gracious 
 manner.” These words were penned by the Secre- 
 tary of the Home Department, who in 1827 had 
 admitted the illegality of the Orange Association- 
 Attention was called to this in the House of Com- 
 mons on the 6th March, when Mr. Sheil moved for 
 papers showing the acknowledged illegality of the 
 Orange Society. This gave rise to a protracted de- 
 bate upon the Orange system. The members of the 
 Government were charged with secretly coun- 
 tenacing the Orange Societies, a charge which they 
 vigorously denied. In maintaining this charge 
 Lord John Eusseli ably assioted, much to the con „ 
 fusion of the Tory Ministers. It was admitted in 
 the course of the debate, by Colonel Percival on the 
 part of the Orangemen, that there were tests in 
 connection with the initiatory ceremony,- upon 
 which admission Mr. O’Connell followed and showed 
 how by law the organisation was therefore illegal. 
 A speech of a most violent character, recently made 
 by the Recorder of Dublin in Exeter Hall, called 
 for much comment. In the course of it the learned 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX.— THE Cl 
 While on the one hand the Irish Orangemen were, 
 through the aid of numerous gun clubs, arming 
 themselves for some great coming struggle, 
 but vaguely hinted at, they were upon the other 
 exhausting their energies and exposing their plots 
 by their cruel, exterminating practices. Inveterate 
 malice ever defeats itself. Here was its triumph 
 
 gentleman had observed “that they would lay 
 their bodies upon their bibles before they would 
 allow the King to touch them, and that their rally- 
 ing cry would be ‘To your tents, O Israel.’ ” The 
 Irish Orangemen had got their war paint on. 
 
 But the tide of reform which came steadily on- 
 wa^'ds, gathering strength as it came, gave fearful 
 warning that the reign of intolerance was to be a 
 short one. A great upheaval amongst the toiling 
 millions of England sent terror to the hearts of 
 
 The Orange processions on the July anniversary 
 following (while the committees of inquiry into 
 Orangeism were actually sitting) trebled the num- 
 ber of the preceding year, and the Orange outrages 
 increased in the same ratio. 
 
 those hereditary task-masters who lived upon the 
 labour of others. The new reformation had begun 
 in earnest. The old Tory clique was fast losing its 
 hold upon the cafc.o’-nine-tails. In despair they threw 
 themselves into the arms of a conspiring faction — 
 a faction which never allied itself to any Govern- 
 ment it did not bring to destruction. Boldly they 
 together faced the storm ; desperately they awaited 
 the issue ; arm in arm they both went down — pig- • 
 headed, obstinate, unrelenting, conditional loyalists 
 to the last. 
 
 Under the guidance of Lord John Russell, in the 
 House of Commons, a series of defeats, commenc- 
 ijg on the SOfch March, awaited Peel and his sup- 
 porters, and the Sch of April witnessed the 
 dissolution of the Tory Administration, after a brief 
 Parliamentary existence of 6 weeks. With the Tory 
 faction ascendant the Orangemen were content. On 
 the downfall of Sir Robert Peel a savage growl was 
 heard from the Orangemen which showed they had 
 been disturbed before half completing their work 
 of plundering desolation. Erect they stood in 
 defiance of law. The long expected hour was at 
 hand. Conditional loyalty bared its arm for the 
 struggle, and not a man amongst them but rejoiced 
 that he had had so little trust in Providence as to 
 keep his powder dry. 
 
 MBERLAND CONSPIRACY, 
 over treason. That triumph [saved the Crown to 
 the lady who at present wears it. These Irish 
 weie looked upon by their English brethren as a 
 contemptible, silly-headed set, who, unfortunately, 
 could not be done without. When the foolisb,boastful 
 old hen goes cackling through the farmyard it reveals 
 i the little conspiracy it has been hatching in 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 199 
 
 defiance of law and order in the household ; and 
 the freshlaid egg adds to the dainties of the break- 
 fast table. Irish Orangeism was the cackling, 
 ranting, old hen in a way. Had its members been 
 less boastful, more discreet, less intolerant, the 
 plot would have been hatched with probable 
 success j the, nest of the traitors would not have 
 been discovered, or discovered only when too late j 
 under the dominion of an Orange autocrat, the 
 worst days ot absolutism would have set in j for a 
 decade England might have been a Turkey, with 
 Turkish despotism ; then a France, with sewers of 
 blood and tumbling bastiles j and possibly now an 
 America, with American institutions, and American 
 independence. Whether the present generation be 
 indebted to the Irish Orangemen of those days is a 
 vexed question upon which we need not enter. 
 Certain it is they intended not to be our creditors. 
 Much however wo owe to the wisdom which 
 regulates most human contrivances, makes 
 the engineer the victim of his own petard, and 
 tumbles the conspirator into the hole he has dug 
 f®r his neighbours. 
 
 While all this was proceeding upon this side of 
 the Channel, there were upon the other a set of 
 cunning, shrewd, an J hoary kingmakers, pegging 
 noiselessly away at the very roots of the Constitu- 
 tion. Crangeism in England was quietly eating 
 its way into the strongholds of the State. Into 
 the aristocracy, into the democracy, into the army, 
 into the navy ; particularly into the Court and into ! 
 the camps it crept; it^> promoters insidiously seeking 
 to instil its treacherous principles into all those 
 iastitutions whicn Englishmen were wont to regard 
 as the bulwarks of the Constitution. 
 
 William the Fourth was King and aged seventy- 
 three. His brother Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, 
 was iMPEEian Gteand Mastee of the Crange In- 
 stitution of Great Britain, Ireland, and the Colonies. 
 Ernest was the eldest surviving brother to the 
 King, and, bad the Salic law prevailed, the Im- 
 perial Grand Master of the Orangemen would 
 have been the legitimate successor of William. 
 But it did not prevail. Failing legitimate male 
 issue the young Princess Victoria, then in her 
 ** teens,’* was heir to the Crown of England. A 
 female had not swayed the sceptre since 
 the days of Anne, who came to the throne 
 almost one hundred and fifty years ago. 
 To restrict the English Crown to males only would 
 after all seem but a harmless innovatioL— surely 
 but a trifiing injustice to the legitimate successor. 
 That accomplished the Duke of Cumberland was 
 
 the next to reign. Much wa<5 at stake recollect. 
 Autocracy was playing its last card against the 
 masses — and that card was up its sleeve. Weak- 
 minded kings had played them falsely hefcre ! 
 If a kink had destroyed the Constitution 
 of 1688, what might a Queen not do ! ! The thing 
 was surely feasible enough ! ! ! Earnest was an 
 Crangeman, and little less than King. The step was 
 a short one. Though a deep it was a narrow gulf 
 which divided “ constitutionalism” from treason ; 
 and, as th^y stood upon the brink, the Tempter 
 suggesting tie platitude that "‘kings were made 
 for men”— the Eubicon was passed— and — upon the 
 opposite side, stood the great exclusive loyalists of 
 other days, glowering, in slouch hat and conspira- 
 tor’s cloak, even at that established Constitution 
 which they so pretended to admire. 
 
 We have reached aperiod of our history which, 
 of all Gibers, demands careful, critical, and minute 
 inquiry. The charge is the gravest that can he 
 made. If sustained, it swells the list of rebels to 
 the English Crown and the English Constitution; 
 it brands as traitors two hundred thousand subjects 
 or these realms; judged by a true standard of 
 morality, it places in a much more criminal position 
 than that which the rebels of ’98 occupied, a great, 
 unlettered multitude, who, wanting the courage to 
 revolt, sought by traitorous and cowardly designs 
 to secure a baser end— the complete overthrow of 
 the Constitution; it puts beyond the pale of the 
 law a band of conspirators who had no excuse under 
 heaven save loss of monopoly for conspiring; it re- 
 veals to us one of the saddest spectacles in the history 
 of a people, where an ignoble few surrounding the 
 Throne led the deluded masses into treason, not to 
 save a nation or assert the rights of a plundered 
 people, but that a despot and a libertine- 
 stealing the precious diadem from the 
 shelf and putting it in his pocket— might 
 mount the steps of that Throne and cheat 
 the scaffold. To read the evidence aright we must 
 endeavour, even at some cost, to form an idea of the 
 times we are treating of. It is not without much 
 difficulty that those of our generation, accustomed 
 as we have been of Into years to breathe the ceol 
 and temperate atmosphere of political life, can 
 form an adequate idea of the diverse feelings 
 which moved men’s minds in the closing days of 
 William’s reign. The agitation of the last few 
 years may in some slight sense assist in arriving 
 at an estimate of the turmoil of the political life 
 half a century ago, when all the cherished privi- 
 leges of a favoured class of idlers defiantly shouted 
 
200 
 
 HISTOET OF OEx\NGElSM. 
 
 No’* to the loud demands of a hard-working 
 people just awakening to, a sense of their power. 
 
 There were thousands,” says a celebrated writer — 
 aye and tens of thousands — “ who knew 
 little about themselves except that they 
 w-ere very hungry and very miserable.” The 
 great uprising of the “ hewers of wood” 
 who lived down in the coal mines and iron mines 
 «f England, and who came to the surface but to 
 die, had sent the Eeformers into the Commons. 
 These Eeformers did, with what then seemed 
 tardy and unwilling hands the task which had been 
 pieced out to them. Latterly we Lave come to look 
 upon the.slow progress of reform as the necessary 
 result of the inveterate odds that were against 
 them. Between the Lords and the Commons there 
 was a deadly struggle in which the existence of the 
 one, the independence cf the other appeared bang- 
 ing in the balance. Behind the backs of the Com- 
 mons were the Chartists pushing forward their re- 
 presentatives, urgi g them to lay rude, unmerciful 
 hands upon all the weeds which precedent had 
 allowed to creep into the Constitution, and mono- 
 poly had cherished these. Upon the other side were 
 the Lords, leg’ slators from the cradle, who escaped 
 the rule of the nursery, that they in turn might 
 rule a nation, who only laid aside their feeding 
 bottles and their coral bells that they might play 
 with a sceptre and sway the destinies of millions. 
 That such a class would bow before the storm was 
 out of question. That they would stop even at 
 treason to secure their privileges was scarcely to 
 be expected. The’r fathers had played at chuck- 
 farthing for thrones, knocked sceptres about the 
 ears of lawful kings, and made light about the 
 heads of some of them; while these their sons 
 boasted that they were made of the same stern 
 stuff. 
 
 It was a time, in fact, of revolutionary con- 
 spiracy ; the conspirators, on one hand, being 
 around the steps of the Throne ; on the other, 
 around the gates of the workhouse. The peers, 
 opposed to all remedial legislation, expected to 
 undo the Eeform Bill. While the Kenyons, and 
 the E^dens, and the Newcastles, and the Wynfords 
 were expecting a speedy restoration of domination 
 in the State, the people were asking themselves, 
 “ What will we do with the House of Lords ?” and 
 that question which in the present has a living, 
 breathing existence was then breaking upon the 
 people with a faint ray of its necessity and possi- 
 bility. 
 
 It was a time, too, when the moralities were 
 
 laughed at as fit only for old women and the 
 common people. The loose state of society which 
 pervaded the Courts of the Georges, and which 
 bad never been looser than during the rule of the 
 last of them, had little improved in the brief reign 
 of Williarc. Theyoung voluptuaries who had accom- 
 panied the first gentleman -of Europe in his mid- 
 night rambles, who reduced the Court to a huge 
 brothel in which all was sin, dazzling gaiety and 
 never-ending revel, were the old roues of to-day, 
 the bad, unrepenting, effete old men, limping about 
 the Court, leering at the ladies — who leered at 
 them in turn — making coarse, brutal, and dis- 
 gusting jokes, to be laughed at in a measure equal 
 to the dignity and consequence of the old fools 
 who made them. Wicked to the last, they were 
 bent still upon pleasure, and upon that monopoly 
 which ensured it. 
 
 Now we have it upon the most reliable authority 
 that the biggest blackguard, the greatest despot, 
 and the coarsest and most brutal of all that jolly 
 senile throng, was no other than H.E.H. Ernest, 
 Duke ©f Cumberland, K G., Field Marshal of Eng- 
 lanJ, and luiperial Grand Master of the Orange- 
 men of Great Britiin, Ireland, and the Colonies. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington, whom Ernest hated, once 
 asked George IV. why his brether (the Duke of 
 Cumberland) was so unpopular, and the King re- 
 plied, Because there never was a father well with 
 his son, a husbaad with his wife, a lover with his 
 mistress, or a friend with his friend that he did not 
 try to make mischief between.” 
 
 Hear Lord Brougham what he says of him, as 
 well as of his character. In his biography, speak - 
 ing of the schemes which Ernest was hatch- 
 ing against Lord Grey’s Government, he re- 
 marks—*" I had an opportunity of stating, 
 through Sir H. Taylor (private secretary to the 
 King), many of the alarming symptoms. I refer 
 in particular to one man, whom recent circum- 
 stances had made particularly conspicuous— I mean 
 the Duke of Cumberland, against whom 
 personally I had not a word to say. 
 I respect the courage with which he had faced 
 tbe odious charges made against his reputation, the 
 effect cf which courage had been to clear him; I also 
 held him to be a fair, open enemy, and not one who 
 pretended to more liberality than he possessed. He 
 was content to appear what he really was — a rank, 
 violent ultra Tory of the strongest Orange order, 
 and whose principles and propensities were purely 
 srhitrary. He had for many years lived abroad, 
 and there formed his habits of thinking and hi 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 201 
 
 political opinions. He kept himself for seme time 
 after his return in ■‘•he hack-ground, knowing how 
 unpopular he was all over England, with the single 
 exception of the universities of Oxford and Dublin, 
 and was put‘‘-ing himself more and more ii* the 
 popular eye.’* 
 
 " His manners,” says Mr. Justin M'Carthy, in 
 his recent great work, A History of Our Own 
 Times,’* " were rude, overbearing, and sometimes 
 even brutal. He had personal habits which seemed 
 rather fitted for the days of Tiberius ©r for the 
 Court of Peter the Great than for the time and 
 sphere to which he belonged. Rumour not 
 unnaturally exaggerated his defects, and in 
 the mouths of many his name was the 
 symbol of the darkest and fiercest passions and 
 even er’mes. Some of the popular reports with 
 regard to him had their foundation only in the 
 common detestation of his character and dread of 
 his influence. But it was certain that he was pro- 
 fligate, selfish, overbearing, and quarrelsome. A 
 man with^these qualities would usually be described 
 in fiction as, at all events, bluntly honest and out- 
 spoken; but the Duke of Cumberland was deceitful 
 and treacherous. He was outspoken in his abuse 
 of those with who in he quarrelled, and in his style 
 of anecdote and jocular conversation ; but in no 
 other sense.” 
 
 With such a voluptuous tyrant reigning supreme 
 over Court circles around the Throne, as the 
 eldest brother of the King, we can readily 
 imagine that the atmosphere was not the purest, 
 especially with a people having all opportu- 
 nities to sin inclining them to take the key note 
 from the greatest sinner amongst them. From 
 this Court the Duchess of Kent rigidly excluded 
 her fatherless daughter, and that exclusion accounts 
 for the purity which has hung, like an incense, 
 round the Throne during the long and happy reign 
 of Victoria. But go back nigh half a century of 
 our lifetime and judge what must have been the 
 result under such circumstances, and in such a 
 Court, of that seclusion of the heir to the 
 Throne, then a minor. A complete isolation 
 of interest, a want of that first link which connects 
 the Throne with its legitimate heir, the esteem and 
 personal respect of its immediate supporters. Tha^ 
 a woman, that a girl, that a child in fact, should 
 succeed to that throne was repugnant to all theij. 
 cherished notions. Such a girl, unknown and unseen 
 by them, and pure and simple-minded as though 
 she came from behind a convent wall, should dis- 
 pel the heavy mist of immorality in which those 
 
 people loved to breathe, completely overturn the 
 established Older of things, and prevent men cradled 
 in crime going down in public iniquity to the grave. 
 It was not in harmony with their wishes. In addi- 
 tion, the suspicion received favour with many 
 reputed possessors of common sense, that the 
 Princess would turn Papist on her accession to the 
 thione, and so general did this belief take hold of 
 the Tory party that the Times thought it necessary 
 soon after her accession to warn her that for her 
 Majesty to turn Papist, to marry a Papist, '' or in 
 any manner follow the footsteps of the Coburg 
 family,” wou^d involve an ” immediate forfeiture 
 of the British Crown.” 
 
 la a Court with ** a full flavour such 
 as a decent tap room would hardly ex- 
 hibit, iu a time like the present,’* it was 
 not simply a question of rule that was involved 
 in the accession of Victoria. It was a queg"- 
 tion of the curbing of passions which bad already 
 grown part of those who indulged them. William 
 was now an old man. Seme said he had lost his 
 senses, a feat at no time very difficult. Once it was 
 suggested that he was coming round on the Ee- 
 f rom question, it was resolved by" those interested in 
 the plot that he had lost his senses, and a Regency 
 was proposed, who the Regent was to be being a 
 matter about which there could be no dispute. 
 A similar scheme was on foot during the last 
 days of George IV. Writing to Earl Grey, 
 Lord Brougham uses these significant 
 words:— “You might observe a mysterious 
 statement in the Times as if from authority, 
 about the King having come round on the Catho- 
 lic question. Is'obody seems to understand how 
 far this is correct ; but certainly, if he is to be 
 brought round, it ought to be tried before the Duke 
 of Cumberland comes, who is fuller of spirits and 
 all mischief than ever ; and says he will eome if he 
 lives in a coffee-house. In fact, he wants to start for 
 the Regency under the Orange colours — making th© 
 Brunswick Clubs his handle for the purpose of 
 setting himself up with the country.” 
 
 The Duke of Cumberland had, in fact, assumed 
 the lead of the ultra-Tory party, ostensibly headed 
 by the Duke of Wellington. “ With Kenyon and 
 Falmouth for his supporters,” writes Lord 
 Brougham, “ and Wynford to hack him, he 
 claimed as distinct a place as the Duke of Wel- 
 lington on the opposite side of the House of Peers, 
 He no longer confined himself to asking questions 
 upon the order of business, &c., &c. It became 
 therefore manifest that his Royal Highness viow 
 
 24 
 
202 
 
 HTSTOEY OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 thought himself destined to play a great pa) t, 2 Lndi 
 that he was flying at high game.** But that it is 
 proved by documentary evidence, what was that 
 
 great part’^ he had to play — what the ^‘high 
 game” he was flying at, the story would seem an 
 incredible one. 
 
 Qn the 15th February, 1827, the appointment of 
 a Grand Master in the room of the deceased ^luke of 
 York, was committed to the care of Lord Kenyon. 
 To overcome his reluctance must have been a task 
 of some trouble, for it is not until the meeting of 
 the 17th June, 1828, that we And the Grand Lod^ e, 
 on the motion of Lord Kenyon, “ hailing with 
 heartfelt satisfaction and gratitude the distin- 
 guished honour,”&c., canferred on the Institution by 
 the acceptance by H.E.H. the Duke of Cumberland 
 of the office of Grand Master, R.H. took the chair 
 upon that day. Having once put his hands to the 
 plough he resolved not to turn back. Prom that 
 day until the dissolution of the society I fail to find 
 a single meeting over which he did not pres’de. 
 
 High up in the Grand Lodge of the Orange 
 Society of England there was at this t’snea certain 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Fawman, who was destined to 
 play a most prominent part in the conspiracy 
 revealed in 1835. He confessed himself be^’ore the 
 Committee of the House of Commons “to have 
 been so much behind the curtains that he might 
 almost say he was a legislator although never in 
 Parliament.” Though Quixotic to the la^ t degree* 
 and professing to have done the State some service, 
 he paid sufficient attent’on to his own interests to 
 he moved to regrst “ that he had never been re- 
 warded for it.” If not absolutfly a very wise man be 
 was possibly of more use than if be had been wiser. 
 That he was doing a little trade upon his own ac- 
 count was plain. One of the chief po’nts upon 
 which, in his numerous Orange circulars, he recom- 
 mended the institut’on to Protestarts is the faci- 
 lity it afforded for securing place and patronage to 
 those within it. He was the obedient tool of the 
 Duke of Cumberland and Kenyon, and was never 
 happy except when he was in a private conference 
 at the private residence of either of them. He saw 
 with the eyes, and heard with the ears of his 
 masters. To a tyrant such a man would be ex- 
 tremely serviceable ; to a usurper ho would be ab- 
 solutely indispensable. When rumours were spread 
 abroad during the last illness of George IV. as to 
 the necessity of a Regent, Cumberland, Kenyon, 
 and Fairman were at the bottom of it. When, 
 again, it was whispered loudly that William IV. 
 was insane, it was the invention of the trio. They 
 
 kept throughout a steady, even a jealous eye upon 
 the Crown. ?o jealously did they .guard it, that 
 when tbe Duse of Wellingtoa was carrying 
 the Catholic B 11 through tie House of Commons, 
 a general fear was entertained by the brethren 
 that the Duke of Wellington meant himself to 
 seize the Crovn. Harriet Martineau. in her 
 ‘^History of the Peace,” says — “Men laughed 
 when they first heird th s, and men will always 
 laugh whenever they bear it; but that such was 
 the apprehension of the Orange leaders is shown 
 by correspondence in Colonel Fairman’s handwrit- 
 ing, which was brought before the Parliamentary 
 Committse of 1835.” The fohowing is an extract 
 of a letter evidently designed for the Grand 
 Master Ernest, and written during the last illness 
 of George IV. Should an indisposition which 
 has agitited the whole country for a fo-tnlght take 
 a favourable tarn — should the Almighty, in His 
 mercy, give ear unto the supplicat'ons that to 
 His heavenly throne are offered up daily to 
 prolong the existence of one deservedly dear 
 to the nation at large, a divulgeme t I have ex- 
 pressed a willingness to furnish, would be deprived 
 of no small portion of its value. Even in this case, 
 an event for the consummation of which, in com- 
 mon with all good subjects, I obtest the Deity, it 
 might be as well your Royal Highness should be 
 put in possession of the rash designs in embryo, 
 the better to design measures for its frust.-ation ; 
 at any rate, you would not then be taken by sur- 
 prise, as the nation was last year, hut might have 
 an opportunity of rallying your farces and of orga- 
 nising your plans for the defeat of such machina- 
 tions as might be hostile to your paramount claims. 
 Hence, should the experiment he made, and it* 
 expediency be established, your Royal Highness 
 would be in a situation to contend for the exercise 
 in your own person of that office at which the wild 
 ambition of another may prompt him to aspire.” 
 Miss Martinueau says <vho this^other’of wild ambi- 
 tion is plainly expressed in two subsequent letters. 
 “ It was Wellington !” she exclaims, “ the devoted 
 Wellington, who perilled his reputation for con- 
 sistency, and what his party called political honour, 
 over and over again rather than desert his Sove- 
 reign. Wellington lived to 'have this said of him 
 by a man claiming to be a colonel in his own ^ per- 
 fect machine’ of an army !” 
 
 In a letter to Sir James Cockburn, giving an im- 
 posing account of the institution, Coltnel Fairman 
 speaks of the “ grovelling worms who dare to vie 
 with the omnipotence of Heaven,” and of one 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGETSM. 
 
 203 
 
 those groyellio^ worms” he writes as follows : — 
 ^'One, moreover, of whom it might ill become me to 
 speak but iu terms of reverence, has nevertheless 
 been weak enough to ape the coirseress cf a 
 Cromwell, thus recalling the recollection to wh it 
 would have been far better left in OfUivion. * His 
 seizure of the diadeai, anl his planting it. upon his 
 brow was a preco^'oiis sort of self -inauguration.*’ 
 That the gallant colonel was doing all in his power 
 to win hia colou’’s and bring the question of 
 Regency within the reach of “practical politics” is 
 made distinctly evident by the following letter, 
 dated April 6rh, 1830, during the illness of George 
 IV., and addresed to the editor of the Morning 
 Herald : — 
 
 ^^Dear Sir, — Prom those who may be supposed 
 to have opportunities of knowing ^the secrets of 
 the Castle,* the King is stated to be by no manner 
 in so alarming a state ag many folks would have 
 it imagined. His Majesty is likewise said to dic- 
 tate the bulletins of his own state of health. 
 Some whisperings have also gone abroad that, in 
 the event of the demise of the Crown, a Regency 
 would probably be established for reasons which 
 occasioned the removal of the next in succession 
 from the offlie of High Admiral (William Duke of 
 Clarence had been removed from that ofiGlce). That 
 a maritime Government might not prove consonant 
 to the views of a military chieftain of the most un- 
 bounded ambition may admit of easy belief, and as 
 the second heir-presumptive is not alone a female 
 but a minor, in aiditiou to the argument which 
 might be applied to the present, that in the ordi- 
 nary course of nature it was not to be expected 
 that his reign could be of long duration, in these 
 disjointed times it is toy no means unlikely a 
 vicarious form of Government may be attempted. 
 The effort would be a bold one, but after 
 the measures we have seen, what new violations 
 should surprise us ? Besides, the popular plea of 
 economy- and expedience might he urged as the 
 pretext, while aggrandisements and usurpation 
 might be the latent sole motive. It would only be 
 necessary to make a plausible case which, from the 
 facts on record, there could be no difficulty in doing 
 
 the satisfaction of a pliable and obsequious set 
 of Ministers, as also to the success of such an ex- 
 periment. — Most truly yours, 
 
 " W. B. F.** 
 
 Prom these extracts it will be seen that the 
 lientenant-colonel was moved by some other motive 
 than the welfare of the State; nor is it unreason- 
 bale to assume that within the closed doors of the 
 
 lodge rooms the suspicions regardin.; the motive of 
 the Duke of Wellington seizing* the Crown were 
 used by him as a powerful lever for bringing 
 the aims and intentions of the Duke of Cumber- 
 land forward without shocking the feelings of the 
 brethren. 
 
 The new Pretender and his right-hand man. Lord 
 Kenyon, now began to see that Fairman was not 
 in his proper place ; that his selfish enthusiasm 
 and his obsequiousness could be better utilised; 
 that he would be extremely useful and more 
 to be depended upon as Deputy Grand 
 Secretary of the Orange Institution. Now, 
 in 1828, and for a considerable period prior to it, 
 there was a Mr. Chetwoode Eustace Chetwoode, 
 an Irishman, acting as Deputy Grand Secretary of 
 the Orange Institution. He seems to have been 
 an honest, simple-minded man in his way — cer- 
 tainly, one not fib for treasons, stratagems, and 
 broils. Under his supervision as secreta- , the 
 Institution lived out a few years of his es.s ence, 
 when indications began to appear of some 
 smothered, half-expressed dissatisfaction, existing 
 amongst the higher members of the Grand Lodge, 
 with regard to him. He was not the man for the 
 place, they said, an excuse the first and 
 most tangible that offers itself to those who 
 wish to rid themselves of an objectionable official. 
 Then it was found that he did not keep his mind 
 to himself. Next the fortunate discovery was made 
 that the books and accounts were not kept in 
 proper order, and lastly he was dubbed a “ Papist,’* 
 called upon by the Grand Lodge with all serious- 
 ness to prove he was not a Papist, and — dismissed. 
 
 The Duke of Cumberland was Field Marshal of 
 England. On the 19th of April, 1833, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Fairman, his intimate friend and confidant, 
 was, after several private interviews at Kew with 
 Ernest upon the nomination of the Du^ie, seconded 
 by Lord Kenyon, elected to the office of Deputy 
 Grand Secretary of the Orange Institution 
 of Great Britain, &c. The grand object seems 
 to have been to win over the army to 
 Iheir side, and immediately afterwards we find 
 great efforts put forth to spread the institu- 
 tion in that direction, the General Orders of 1822 
 and 1829 to the contrary notwithstanding. A new 
 system was now devised, new pass words invented, 
 the signs changed, and every means of securing 
 secrecy resorted to. Three months had only elapsed 
 after the significant appointment of Col. Fairman, 
 when we find the Imperial Grand Master issuing 
 an itinerant warrant or commission— '*givei^ iwader 
 
204 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANaEISM. 
 
 our Great Seal, at St. James, this 13th day 
 of August, 1832, Earnest, G.M ” — to his “ trusty 
 well-beloved, and right worshipful brother, Lieut." 
 Colonel Fairman,” to make a tour of inspection 
 through the kingdom, and visit Ireland, in order 
 to bring the two systems into unison. This docu- 
 ment, given at St. James under the Great Seal of 
 Orangeism, has all the formality and significance 
 of an imperial mandate, and between it and a com- 
 mission under the Great Seal of the Empire the 
 most striking parallel exists. While Col. Fairman 
 was sent on the home journey, a Mr. Naoella re- 
 ceived a like commission for Italy and our garrison 
 in the Mediterranean, while the Grand Mabtership 
 of Canada with extensive local powers was con- 
 ferred upon a Mr. Gowan. The machinery was 
 now set agoing, the liveliest anticipations being 
 entertained that it would produce a full-blown 
 Orange king. 
 
 The first precaution that would naturally suggest 
 itself to men engaged in such a desperate struggle 
 would be to provide against discovery through the 
 medium of the dismissed secretary. This is what 
 actually did suggest itself. Accordingly, we find, 
 from the evidence before the Parliamentary com- 
 mittee, that a short time before Mr. Chetwoode was 
 formally dismissed a tylei and messenger of the 
 Grand Lodge named Condell, another man named 
 Osborne, who occasionally acted as tyler to the Grand 
 Lodge, and an Orangeman of the name of 
 George Payne, broke into Mr. Chetwoode’s cham- 
 bers in Lyons* Inn during his absence, and 
 abstracted therefrom all the papers they could 
 lay their hands upon. It is not surprising that many 
 private papers of the former secret iry had to be 
 sacrificed, even at the risk of augmenting the 
 danger. The best proof that the Grand LoJge were 
 the instigators of this robbery is to be found i^ the 
 fact that they produced some of those stolen books 
 before the Parliamentary Committee. Letter-books 
 and a note-book in which the secretary was in the 
 habit of entering all transactions from day to day 
 were missing. On handing over the stolen docu- 
 ments to the Grand Lodge, the robbers were 
 actually paid for their services by Colonel Fairman. 
 
 Immediately on Colonel Fairman becoming De- 
 puty Grarad Secretary the Sotal Arms were 
 adopted for use on all documeuts, and from this 
 period we find, on the assurance of Lieutenant-Col. 
 Fairman himself, that the Grand Committee sat 
 like a Cabinet, or Privy Council,*’ at it 3 periodical 
 meetings, and that its proceedings were con- 
 ducted with regal pomp and circumstance. Hu 
 
 Royal Highness never entered or left the 
 lodge without the mace been bor e in scate before 
 him ; the members and grand dignitaries were 
 bound to attend in their orders and regalia; the 
 rev. functionaries of the Institution in cmonicals ; 
 his Royal Highuess sit behind the mace, whilst 
 the doors were guarded by Condell, the tyler, and 
 Osborne, his assistant ; the reports were read aloud, 
 put seriatim from the chair, and approved or re- 
 jected, the Imperial Grand Master — still keeping 
 up a striking pc-rallel with Royalty — having an 
 absolute veto upon every proposition. 
 
 The three emissaries were now about setting out 
 on their traitorous mission.* 
 
 Before starting in June, 1832, upon his tour of 
 inspection. Colonel Fairman had frequent, long, 
 and confidential interviews with the Duke o^ 
 Cumberland. Lord Londonderry now appears upon 
 the scene. Just before starting upon his mission. 
 Colonel Fairman learned from the lips of the Duke 
 of Cumberland that he (his Royal Highness) had 
 written to Lord Londonderry upon <^range matters. 
 Colonel Fairman, theri^fore, wrote with more ex- 
 plicitness than he should have otherwise done** to 
 Londonderry relative to the establishing of orange 
 lodges amongst the pitmen on the estate of the 
 Marquis. After much mouthing about “ a Popish 
 Cabinet, and a democratical ministry having given 
 birth to a mcnater they could not control,** he 
 suggests, ^'by a rapid augmentation of our p%si- 
 cal force, we might be able to assume a boldness of 
 attitude which should command the respect of onr 
 Jacobinical rulers. .... If we prove 
 not too strong for such a Government as the pre- 
 sent is, such a Government will prove too strong 
 for us; some arbitrary steps would be taken in this 
 case for the suspension of our meetings. Bence 
 the necessity for our laying aside that non-resistance, 
 and passive obedience which has hitherto been reli- 
 giously enforced to our own discorrfiture.” In this 
 letter Colonel Fairman further relates how he was 
 reproached by Lord Longford the day before for 
 
 the tameness of the English Orangemen, while the 
 Irish were resolved to resist all attempts on the 
 
 • If we take the character of one'o’’ those three emissaries 
 
 from the Ir sh brethreu it w mid appear th-t he was one of 
 the most de'Tra'Ied an.l ahandone > characters to be found. 
 Mr. Ky es Biker, t'l > D puty t^rand Secretar’ of the Irish 
 Orange Lodge, declared him <Ogle Robert Powan, Esq ), lo 
 b’ so. after he bad, with much eulofry and flourish from the 
 Duke of Cumbsrland, been insti Jed into th ^ O and Master- 
 ship of Canada. The Irish Gran 1 Lod^o actual’y forwarded 
 dccum''ntary evidence in su »port * f this opinion, and re- 
 monstrated with their Rngl sh b ethern ngiinst the appomt- 
 ment. on the ground of Gow in’s moral unfitne s and of their 
 own jurisdiction over the Canadians. The English Lodge 
 waived their jurisdiction but retained their nan. 
 
HISTOET OE OEANaEISM. 
 
 205 
 
 part of the Government to put them down/' This 
 anxiety for laying aside that foolish non-resistance 
 policy, so out of harmony with the gallant colonel’s 
 character, this absolute contempt for passive 
 obedience is shown in several letters written to 
 different parties about the same period, and within 
 a few days of his starting upon his tour of inspec- 
 tion.” They will help the reader to form in an ici- 
 pation an idea of what were the principles he was 
 about to inculcate. In a short letter, written on 
 the 30th July* 1832, to Lord Londonderry to sup- 
 plement his communication of the previous day, 
 he says — I omitted to mention than we have the 
 military with us as far as they are at liberty to 
 avow their principles and sentiments, but since 
 the lamented death of the Duke of York 
 every impediment has been thrown in the way of 
 their holding a lodge.” To these communications 
 Lord Londonderry replies " that the moment had 
 not yet arrived,” but promising that he would lose 
 no opportunity of embracing any opening that 
 might arise. Lord Londonderry when questioned 
 about this correspondence in the House of Com- 
 mons admitted it, and stated that he complied with 
 the wishes of the Duke of Cumberland which were 
 made known to him by Lord Kenyon. But the 
 colonels out poken letter tD the Duke of Gordon, in 
 reply to an invitation to pay a visit at Gordon 
 Castle during his tour of inspection, is possibly the 
 most significant of any we owe to his pen. Not 
 only do we find here the doctrines of obedience 
 and non-resistance condemned as unworthy of an 
 Orangeman, with an additional assurance than they 
 would shortly " be assuming an attitude of bold- 
 ness such as would strike the foe with awe;” but 
 we have the following : — " Our brethren in that 
 country (Ireland) are determined to resist all at- 
 tempts that shall be made by a Whig Ministry to 
 interrupt their meetings or to suspend their pro- 
 cessions; but they complain of our not affording 
 them that support which would give vigour to their 
 proceedings, and which would be an eternal source 
 of terror to the enemy. Their charges are, I must 
 admit, too well founded ; however, the time is fast 
 approaching when matters will he brought to an issue. 
 A conciliatory course will be laid aside, and an 
 opposite one will be resorted to. But to return to 
 our own society. What we want chitfiy now is 
 men of influence to take the lead in the country.’* 
 
 It was after writing the letters from which the 
 above are extracts that Colonel Fairman was ac. 
 orded, previous to setting out upon his mis- 
 sion, a final private interview at Kew with 
 
 the Imperial Grand Master. For three hours 
 according to the admission contained in 
 his own letters, he was closeted wi^-h his 
 chief, and after receiving specific instructions he 
 set forth upon his journey through the Three King- 
 doms for the great manufacturing house of Cum- 
 berland, Kenyon & Co. The letter book of the 
 Grand Lodge was, upon the admission of the writer 
 in the Edinburgh Review, most reluctantly and 
 partially submitted to the inspection of the Com- 
 mittee b/ Co lonel Fairman.”* But partial as 
 was that inspection, we are afforded sufficient in- 
 sight for our purposes. For this, however, 
 we are in no way indebted to the gene- 
 rosity of the Grand Committee. The Colonel visited 
 Dublin, and afterwards most of the great English 
 manufacturing towns, and at various stages of his 
 route he reported progress, sometimes by private 
 letter to Lord Kenyon, sometimes by letter to the 
 Grand Lodge. It was while in Manchester that 
 he is alleged to have made in Grand Lodge the 
 treasonable communication respecting the succes- 
 sion to the thro le, and the intention of securing 
 it to their Imperial Grand Master, which 
 was subsequently revealed by Mr. Haywood* 
 an Orangeman of Sheffield. Haywood alleged 
 that Colonel Fairman distinctly intimated to the 
 brethren, of which he was one, that the great 
 crisis for which they were preparing was the ac- 
 cession of Prince Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, 
 Imperial Grand Master of the Orangemen of Great 
 Britain, Ireland, and the Colonies, to the Throne of 
 England. To throw in a sprinkling of heroism and 
 loyalty into their proceedings, and to give the zest 
 of contention to their movements, he would seem 
 to have put the matter before them somewhat in 
 this light: — William “insane”; Victoria, “ a woman 
 and a minor;” Wellington, “ambitious, and a second 
 Cromwell ;” Ernest, the King’s brother, strong 
 minded, and an Orangeman ; the tide of revolution 
 “a menace to our altar, our throne, and our house- 
 holds,” leaving no alternative between vigorous 
 Imperialism and Eepublicanism ; a king (not a 
 queen), therefore, absolutely necessary ; and their 
 interests and those of the country pressing to no 
 other conclusion than that Ernest should be 
 King. 
 
 It was after this partial tour, that upon the 
 24th October of the same year Lord Wynford wrote 
 to Colonel Fairman, expressing himself in the 
 most eulogistic terms on the character and estim- 
 able qualities of his Eoyal Highness Prince Ernest 
 
 • See Edinburgh Review for Jan nary, 183C — page 504 
 
 26 
 
206 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 Duke of Cumberland, and explicitly stating that 
 The Tories have not been sufficiently grateful to 
 him,*’ winding up with the following, every word 
 of which requires to be calmly and deliberately 
 considered " As you are so obliging in your last 
 letter as to ask my advice as to whether you 
 should pursue the course you have so ably begun, I 
 can only say that you must exercise your discretion 
 as to the company in which you make 
 such appeals as that which I have seen re- 
 ported. When you meet only sure Tories 
 you may well make them feel wli%t they 
 owe to one who is the const rut, unflinching cham- 
 pion of the party, and who by his steady course 
 has brought on himself all the obloquy that a base, 
 malignant faction can invent.” Now, what were 
 those appeals that should fce made only to sure 
 Tories, and the disclosure of which to those who 
 were not sure Tories” seemed to be attended by 
 disastrous consequences ? What was it the “ sure 
 Tories” owed to the unflinching champion” of 
 their party ? Was it something they dare not re- 
 veal to the outer world ? Was it something be- 
 yond the ordinary giving of a political part/ ? If 
 it was, what was it ? Lastly, who was this con- 
 stant and unflinching champion” to whom so much 
 was diie ; but whose claims to something undefined 
 were tp be mentioned in a whisper ? These are 
 questions which each reader may determine for 
 himself. Colonel Fairman quoted Lord Wynford 
 and Lord Kenyon to each other as consulted 
 by him on the propriety of my continuing 
 to introduce the Duke’s name in the prominent 
 shape I had previously done.”* He notifies the 
 fact to Kenyon that he had written to Wynford as 
 to ^*the advisability of bringing the Duke’s name 
 into prominence in the lodges” and the expression 
 of Lord Wynford above quoted he interprets into 
 an intimation of its being “ a policy with which he 
 (Wynford) seemed to agree.” The Colonel con- 
 cludes his letter, dated from Doncaster, by showing 
 the wonderful popularity he hai won for the 
 Duke, intimating “if he would make a tour into 
 these pait3,/oriehic?i I have prepared thewiy, he 
 would be idolized.” Following this is a letter 
 written to the same person (Lord Kenyon) from the 
 same place and upon the same date — so rapidly 
 were events moving — in which he said that a sub- 
 cription of ^650 each was talked of to get up an 
 entertainment for their illustrious Grand Master, 
 “if they might be permitted to look forward to so 
 distinguished an honour as a visit from him.” He 
 
 enters into a narrative of the maudlin loyalty of 
 the old women of both sexes with whom he came 
 in contact; of how “the Blue belles of Yorkshire,” 
 and the gentlemen as well, actually shed tears at 
 the 'mention of the Duke’s name — so enamoured 
 were they of the reputation of that hoary reprobate 
 whose conversation was “ unfit for the lowest pot- 
 heuse of our time.” In recounting this affecting 
 scene tie worthy and gallant colonel himself 
 seems, by his own account, to have been unnerved — 
 so powerful is the excitement of success — for he 
 says — “ By excess of toil my own nerves are so un- 
 strung, too, that in making to your lordship this 
 report I am playing the woman.” It was truly an 
 affecting scene; the.confidential spy of a pack of 
 grey-haired conspirators mingling his tears with 
 the “ noble dames of Yorkshire” over the success of 
 a plot which was to place a bald-headed libertine 
 upon the throne. Time was when noble dames of 
 high degree, young, beautiful and fair, risked their 
 tender necks for a smile from the handsome out- 
 lawed Stuart ; when love, romance, and chivalry 
 lent a charm to plots which meant to secure to a 
 fool his rightful possessions. But, behold, now all 
 is changed. Into it no single element entered but 
 monopoly an I unvarnished treason. Harriet 
 Martineau, in treating of this document, seems at 
 first to think it a good joke, and describes it as a 
 letter “ too- absurd to have been penned by che con- 
 fidential agent of princes and lords on the gravest 
 political matters;” but, breaking into that high 
 strain of serious criticism which was her wont, she 
 continues — “ It was a grave affair to the interests 
 of some of the brethren, if we may judge by a 
 letter of Lord Kenyon’s to Colonel Fairman in 
 January, 1833. * The good cause,’ writes his lord- 
 
 ship, * is worth all the help that man can give it, 
 but our only trust must be in God. In the last 
 two years and a half I have spent, I suspect, in its 
 behalf nearer ^20,000 than ,£10,000.’ ” 
 
 The reports of Colonel Fairman from Scotland 
 show in the same sense a desire for “ lighting up a 
 flame” in that part of the country, for the raising 
 “ of our standard,” and an anxiety for bringing for- 
 ward the name of the Grand Master into all pro- 
 minence with the brethren. “ On my landing at 
 Leith, I called my troops together,” is his phrase 
 and having imbued his troops with the seditious 
 sentiments of the Grand Lodge, he sought for 
 fields green and pastures new in which treason 
 might take rcob and fructify. The Colonel’s 
 visit to these parts led to the opening up of a cor- 
 respondence with a Mr. Laurence W. Craigie, which 
 
 * See appendix to English Report, No, 13— page 112. 
 
HISTOTiT OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 207 
 
 for violent and i libellous abuse of the Constitution 
 as then established is unequalled. ButCraigie was 
 profuse in his denunciations of more than the Con- 
 stitution, for it appears that he saw in his brethren 
 much that was condemnatory. For instance — I 
 detest the idea of punishing the accounts of the 
 Institution to any but the Grand Committee, for 
 the bass villians who compose some of the town 
 lodges are apt to become presumptuous.” Again 
 The scoundrels in Donaldson’s lodge are a set 
 of thievish g amblers j who spend all their money in 
 drink.” The secret of this gentleman’s loyalty to 
 the cause was contained in a postscript to one or 
 his letters May I remind you of the little mat- 
 ter, which I would request you would attend to in your 
 conference with the Duke of Cumberland” — which 
 “ little matter” meant that he wanted employment 
 of some sort in London. 
 
 But Mr. L. W. Craigie was not the only person 
 to abuse the brethren. The description of Colonel 
 Fairman himself shows them to be anything but a 
 happy family. Eeferring to some of those who 
 possibly opposed his seditious purposes, he speaks 
 of “ their fell machinations of the most specious 
 villainy j” of his being made “a victim for the 
 appeasement of a vile -junto of his refusing to be 
 again “immolated upon the shrine of iniquity ;” of 
 the “clamours of men indecently murmuring at 
 calls on them for less than a halfpenny a week,” 
 while the high digmtxries, with their splendid 
 donations, stood by in silence ; on their being 
 allowed fees of initiation, which “ were spent in a 
 single night’s debauch j” of their “ embezzling the 
 funds of their warrants;” and of all the moral 
 depravities of which “ perfidious colleagues” could 
 be guilty. These letters probably afford better 
 evidence than any that the Purple party had re- 
 solved themselves into a clique. 
 
 One of the results of this tour was the determi- 
 nation to issue an address to the Carleton Club. 
 The headings of this address were furnished by 
 the Hon. B. E. Plunkett, which document con- 
 tains the following : — “ The Orange Institution is 
 the only society peculiar to Great Britain and Ire- 
 land which already includes individuals of every 
 rank and grade from the nearest to the Throne to 
 the poorest peasant.*^ In this phrase we find 
 the rights of the young Princess Victoria sum- 
 marily laid aside to make room for the Duke of 
 Cumberland’s accession. It is an unblushing 
 acknowledgment of all charges made against them 
 under this head, and a happy illustration of how 
 
 continued concentration of the mind upon a desi- 
 rable object leads to the ignoring of prior claims 
 and brings that object within the reach of possible 
 accomplishment. The Duke of Cumberland was 
 not the “ nearest” to the Throne. The Regency 
 Bill of three years previous had settled the right 
 of succession upon Victoria, with the position of 
 Regent upon the Duchess of Kent, her mother, in 
 the event of the demise of the Crown. “ People 
 now began to underttxnd,” says Miss Martineau, 
 “ the strange proceedings and the violence of the 
 debat.' about a regency after the accession of 
 William IV. . . . People began to remem- 
 
 ber how from one occasion to another rumours of 
 the insanity of King William came floating abroad 
 from the recesses of Toryism, till exploded by 
 contact with free air and light.” This phrase, 
 signifying that the Duke of Cumberland wsis'iiearest 
 to the Throne, seems to have been considered too ex- 
 plicit by the Grand Lodge, for we find in the docu- 
 ment,as issued to the Carleton Club,the expression is 
 toned down to “ the first male subject in the realm,” 
 a phrase of almost equal significance when the then 
 question of succession is regarded. In their “appeal 
 to the Conservatives of England,” in which we may 
 also see Colonel Fairman’s hand, we find such a 
 passage as the following : — “The Church, the dear 
 sister of the State, is exhibited to public view in 
 the mangling embraces of a lustful ravisher,” and 
 with the object of inciting greater enmity a post- 
 script is added to this address to the effect that 
 this should be posted “upon all church doors” and 
 in other public places. Little wonder that Harriet 
 Martineau wrote of this infamous production “ in 
 one of these circulars the position of the Church in 
 the eyes of Orangemen of the period is described 
 in language too indecent for quotation !” 
 
 Recollect that Fairman was not at this time act- 
 ing upon his individual responsibility. Proof of 
 this is everywhere at hand. “We find the Orange 
 peers continuing their confidence to Colonel Fair- 
 man up to the time of the demand of a Parliamen- 
 tary committee. Lord Roden writes to him about 
 ‘ our cause.’ Lord Kenyon confides to him his views 
 of the comparative influence of some Scotch peers, 
 and observes, ‘It is a great pity, too, that the ami- 
 able Duke of Bucc^ech does not see the immense 
 importance of sanctioning such a cause as the 
 Orange cause.’ Lord Thomond writes to him about 
 his subscription in England and Ireland. Lord 
 Wynford reports to him a private consultation be- 
 tween the Duke of Cumberland, Lord Kenyon, and 
 himself about the purchase of a newspaper, and 
 
 * Ibid. No. H— page 114, 
 
208 
 
 HISTORY OP OKANGEISM. 
 
 declares it highly probable that something would 
 soon be done about it by the Carlton Club.’^ 
 
 •^‘The gleanmgs/’ says the author already referred 
 to, ‘'which might be made from the evidence of the 
 report would afford material for a curious inquiry 
 into the theory of Christianity held by men whose 
 boast by the mouth of Lord Kenyon was, ‘ Ours is 
 the cause of all friends of Christianity’ ; and whose 
 most Christian hope was of ‘ the arrival of a day 
 of reckoning’ when certain ‘hell-hounds’ would be 
 called on to pay the full penalty of their cold- 
 blooded tergiversations.” 
 
 Pcssibly a document as significant as any for 
 indicating the future the Orangemen hoped to have 
 in store for their Imperial Grand Master is the ad- 
 dress of the brethern of London to his Koyal High- 
 ness, which we find inserted in the minutes of a 
 meeting held at the residence of Lord Kenyon. In 
 this document the brethern express a hope that his 
 Eoyal Highness’s valuable life might be prolonged 
 1o watch over the destinies of the nation. 
 
 But if we give the Orangemen the right claimed 
 by every British subject of not being convicted 
 from evidence eut of their own mouth, we have 
 still manifold proofs that treason to the Monarchy 
 was in the wind. We have besides Lord Broug- 
 ham’s assurance that his Koyal Highness was 
 “ flying at high game” under Orange colours, and 
 that he “ conceived himself destined to play a great 
 part” in the Empire, a further evidence of the 
 greatness of his aspirations. 
 
 Writing to the Chancellor in October, 1833, Earl 
 Grey says — “ Wellesley writes me that the Duke o^ 
 Cumberland as Grand Master is giving great ac- 
 tivity to the Orange lodges, and if his proceedings 
 are not checked that the Coercion Bill will be 
 rendered nugatory in that part of the country. I 
 have desired him to get an accurate account of all 
 that is being done to he laid before the Cabinet when 
 it reassembles officially.” — Vol. 3, rage 309 of 
 Brougham’s life. 
 
 Brougham to Grey — “ The enemy are already at 
 work, I doubt not. There are, I know, flying re- 
 ports about town in all directions of the King in- 
 sisting on Lydhurst , and who knows what the 
 
 Duke of Cumberland may put into certain people’s 
 heads.” — Ibid., vol. 3, page 315. The blank is a 
 significant one. 
 
 At the meeting at which Colonel Fairman was 
 installed as Deputy Grand Secretary the Duke of 
 Buckingham acted as secretary. From the “ Courts 
 and Cabinets of William IV. and Victoria,” a par- 
 tial compilation of events of this period by the 
 
 Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, we find Prince 
 Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, writing to the Duke 
 of Buckingham — “ I shall ever be found at my 
 post, but think it better for you, being unwell, to 
 nerve yourself for another occasion, as I know you 
 are staunch, and I can depend upon your support.” 
 The italics and capitals are the Duke of Cumber- 
 land’s. What need had Ernest for the support of 
 a brother duke ? In what was he to be staunch 
 to him P Wellington was chief of the Tories, and 
 not Ernest. Was it “ that other thing” which 
 seemed not to have a name outside the lodge-room, 
 but to be perfectly well understood between the 
 conspirators ? Between the Dukes of Cumberland 
 and Wellington there existed a deadly hostility, 
 for Cumberland was the most jealous and narrow- 
 minded of men. The existence of this feud may 
 be inferred from the character of the correspon - 
 dence published in Wellington’s life. To appre- 
 ciate a high-minded, chivalrous, and patriotic pur- 
 pose was beyond the scope of the Orange King, 
 and, seeing everyone in a high position actuated 
 by motives similar to his own, he regarded their 
 progress in popular favour as an encroachment upon 
 his own claims. 
 
 “Mr. Hume had got hold of these letters of 
 1830-31, and the members who cheered so loudly 
 on the perplexity of the ministers were aware how 
 the loyal Orangemen had listened to “suggestions 
 for making the Duke of Cumberland King to pre- 
 vent the usurpation of the Duke of Wellington — 
 expecting that William IV. would be superseded 
 on an allegation of insanity, and the Princess 
 Victoria, because she was a woman, and probably 
 still a minor. . . . Such was the Institu- 
 
 tion—the great conspiracy against the National 
 will and national interests — the conspiracy against 
 the rights of all, from tke King on the Throne to 
 the humblest voter, or soldier, or sailor, or Dis- 
 senter, or Catholic (for all were excluded from the 
 Association save Protestants), which was dis- 
 covered by the energy and diligence of Mr. Hume 
 in 1835.” — Chambers’ Pictorial History of Eng- 
 land, vol. 8, page 486 8. 
 
 “ Not many of George III.'s sons were popular— 
 the Duke of Cumberland was probably the least 
 of all. He was believed by many persons to have 
 had more than an indirect, or passive, or i nocent 
 share in the Orange plot discovered and exposed 
 by Mr. Hume in 1835, for setting aside the claims 
 of the young Princess Victoria, and putting him- 
 self — the Duke of Cumberland — upon the Throne ; 
 a scheme which its authors pretended to justify by 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 209 
 
 many preposterous assertions that they feared the 
 Duke of Welling ‘■on would otherwise seize the 
 Crown for Mmseli:.’^ — Justin M‘Carthy’s History of 
 our own Times, vol. 1, page 16-17. 
 
 From an ably written paper upon this subject, 
 published in the columns of the Northern Whig of 
 November last, and coming from the pen of a 
 gentleman of high position in Belfast, remarkable 
 alike for his literary taste and persevering re- 
 search, we find that reports of the insanity of 
 King William had been carefully reported, and a 
 egency suggested, and the propriety of a female 
 ruling as successor over a great nation, and she a 
 minor, was questioned, and the Orange mind was 
 being prepared by the Tory journals for the as- 
 sumption of power by the earnest, virtuous, loyal> 
 and saintly Duke of Cumberland.’’ 
 
 Can there be a dou’ t in the face of this body of 
 
 CHAPTER XXX.- 
 
 When Mr. Finn rose in his place in the House of 
 Commons on the 4th March, 1835, to put a ques- 
 tion to the Home Secretary respecting Orange 
 addresses honourable members laughed. Honour- 
 able members generallly do laugh at anything they 
 cannot unders'and. The gravity of the question 
 did not just then present itself to them. But there 
 remains now no doubt that Mr. Finn and Mr. 
 Joseph Hume both had in their possession docu- 
 ments which but too truly intimated the serious 
 constitutio lal question with which it was con- 
 nected. Since the dismissal of the Liberal 
 Ministry, Sir Robert Peel’s associates in the 
 Government had deliberately winked at the pro- 
 ceedings of the Orangemen, though more than one 
 of them had from time to time declared them an 
 illegal association. Viscount Cole, Mr. Leicester, 
 and Earl Roden had presented addresses thanking 
 his Majesty for the exercise of his prerogative,” 
 and to those addresses his Majesty was made to 
 reply by their acceptance “in the most gracious 
 manner.” A protracted debate followed upon 
 the advisability of giving such an unusual 
 reply to addresses from an acknowledged illegal 
 body of men. Out of this dilemma the Govern- 
 mert could only get by assuring the House that 
 they in no way meant to sanction these associa- 
 tions. Mr. O’Connell asserted that he could prove 
 that the lower class of Orangemen still took oaths 
 on their iniatition, a statement which Mr. Anthony 
 Lefroy denied, stating “ that nothing now was re- 
 quisite for being eligible other than a reputation of 
 
 26 
 
 testimony that we are dealing with traitors ? I 
 incline to the belief that no man of unbiassed judg- 
 ment, whose opinion is worth the having, can deny 
 the conclusion that the Orange Institution stands 
 convicted of one of t.he most dastardly and ignoble 
 attempts ever made upon the monarchy in thes® 
 realms. Some may incline to make light of the 
 danger when the tempest is past. It is difficult, 
 I must admit, to withhold laughter at their absurd 
 vagaries j at the bombastic effusions of Fairman, 
 the turgid patriotism of Craigie. But there was 
 that beneath which might well make the nation 
 gro.v pale, and induce those who appreciate the 
 merits of Government by a limited monarchy, to 
 send up a loud Te Deum that a storm did not break 
 over their heads, which would inevitably have led 
 to despotism, and probably ended in Republican- 
 ism. 
 
 -IN THE DOCK. 
 
 being a good Christian and a loyal subject.” There 
 seems to have been a measure of error on both 
 sides. If the administering of the oath had been 
 abandoned there existed a declaration tantamount 
 to an oath, and little less than an oath in its 
 solemnity. But every one with the “ reputation of 
 being a good Christian and a loyal citizen” was not 
 eligible. Granted, Catholics could be neither one 
 nor the other j there were numerous dissenters to 
 whom these requisites could not be denied and who 
 were still rigidly excluded. Indeed the House 
 managed successfully to overlook the main point, 
 and the great majority of the brethren 
 were associates bound by a secret oath. 
 When taken it mattered not. The danger 
 was the same. The illegality in no sense 
 lessened. The English members, though knowing 
 practically nothing of Orangemen, were loud in their 
 denunciation of the encouragement they were re- 
 ceiving from the Government. Mr. Hume, at this 
 sitting, and Lord John RusseR. on the 6th March, 
 two days subsequent, charged the Ministry with 
 being abbettors of traitors, and affording every 
 approbat.on to Orangeism it was possible for them 
 to afford. The majority of the Liberal members 
 did not yet understand the meaning of these 
 heated debates. All they saw was that the 
 Ministry were perplexed. 
 
 On the 23rd March Mr. Finn, according to 
 notice, moved, as an amendment to the House 
 going into Committee of Supply, “for a select 
 committee to inquire into the nature, character 
 
210 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 and tendency of the orange lodges, or associations, 
 or societies in Ireland, and bo report thereon to 
 the House.’* His speech upon the occasion shows 
 the utmost acquaintance with the doings of the Irish 
 Orangemen. In the course of it he called the at- 
 tention of the House to the recent foimation of an 
 Orange lodge in Newry, styled the Adelaide 
 Orange Lodge,” and the inauguration of which had 
 been publicly announced in the following terms 
 “ Her gracious Majesty has been much blamed for 
 supposed interference in great political matters. 
 Whether or not she shall express herself highly 
 gratified at the high honour which the High Street 
 boys have conferred on her, by making her their 
 patroness, we cannot presume to say. This, how- 
 ever, we can assert, that she neither would Sing 
 dead cats and rubbish over the High Street Nun- 
 nery wall nor annoy the ladies walking through 
 the grounds by indecent expressions ; nor, we are 
 assured, would she have joined in the wrecking of 
 the convent, or lent the weight of her little finger 
 * to the crowbar which was used in attempting to 
 force the gate.” To show the violence of reverend 
 Orange demagogues he produced some remarkable 
 extracts from the speeches of the then notorious 
 Eev. John M'Crea, a chaplain of the Grand Lodge. 
 This clergyman was annojed at so many Catholic 
 churches then rising in Dublin, and suggested, in 
 the language of Knox, that “ to banish the crows 
 they should pull down their nests. He publicly- 
 pledged himself to God in one of bis Christian lec- 
 tures to raise such a spirit that no power on earth 
 or in hell could resist it. Every Popish altar must 
 be pulled down. The Popish priest must be 
 banished to the congenial soil of Cherokee, or fall 
 a victim to the righteous indignation of the people, 
 the blood of whose fathers cries to Heaven for 
 vengeance against the sins of many.”* 
 
 Mr. Maxwell (an Orangeman) seconded the motion 
 for an inquiry. Whether he saw that the House 
 was in a temper for an inquiry, and thought it wise 
 to yield with a good grace ; whether he thought 
 his brethren would be equal to the occasion, and 
 could successfully baffla the curiosity of the Com- 
 mittee it would be difficult to say. Possibly neither 
 of those would be a solution. Mr. Maxwell was of 
 the Irish Institution, and was likely one of those 
 
 * The Rpv. Johiiiiiy M'Crea, as he was familiarly called, 
 was h'gh in the esteem of the brethren. His sermons 
 asainst Catholics and the Catholic religioa were the most 
 filthy 1 bels — so fi.1 hy as to prevent reprodnctioa. For his 
 outrageous and violent conduct at a meeting at the Royal 
 Eicharge, in 183', he won the approval of the Grand Lodge 
 and was presented with a service of plate. See append x t» 
 Irish Report -page 77. M‘Crea was the poet laureate of 
 the Irisn Grand Loiie. 
 
 members whom it was thought unwise to let into 
 the secrets of the plot. That he knew little about 
 the institution and its progress in the army was 
 evident from his speech. It cannot be forgotten 
 that the Grand Lodge had before violently opposed 
 all inquiry of the nature now suggested. The Go- 
 vernment assented to the proposition with reluc- 
 tance, and after a debate which shows a widespread 
 suspicion that the inquiry was likely to turn upon 
 a far more important constitutional question than 
 at first imagined, it was agreed to impannel a jury 
 and place the Orange Institution in the dock. 
 
 The inquiry having been extended to England,tw© 
 distinct committees were appointedto inquire into 
 the origin, nature, extent, and tendencies of Orange 
 Associations in Great Biitain, Ireland, and the 
 colonies. The committee in Ireland originally con- 
 sisted of twenty-seven members, of whom thirteen 
 were Conservatives, one or two neutrals, and the 
 remainder Liberals. Amongpt the Conservatives 
 were Colonel Verner, Mr. Maxwell, Sir Edmund 
 Hayes, Mr. Shaw, Serjeant J ickson. Colonel Per- 
 cival. Colonel Connolly j the fir^t mentioned three 
 were grand officers of the Dublin Grand Lodge and 
 prominent members of the Orange Institution. 
 During the five months which the committee sat 
 some changes took place. Mr. Shaw, Colonel Per- 
 ciral. Colonel Connolly were exchanged for other 
 Conservatives, as Mr. Spring Rice, Mr. Cutlar Fer- 
 guson, and ethers were replaced by Liberals on the 
 formation of a new Administration. Twenty-two 
 were examined by this committee. Eight of these 
 were grand officers or leading members of the Irish 
 Orange Institution, and, of course, strongly im- 
 pressed with the virtue of Orangeism, and blind to 
 all its vices, its faults, and its dangerous tenden- 
 cies. The remainder of the witnesses examined con- 
 sisted of four officers of police, two lord lieutenants 
 of counties, three magistrates, two lawyers, one 
 physician, and two farmers. They all resided in, 
 or were connected with, the districts where Orange- 
 ism was most active ; they were of various religious 
 persuasions, but chiefly of the Church of England, 
 and all expressed opinions condemnatory of the 
 Orange Institution. 
 
 Lieutenant- Colonel Verner, Deputy Grand 
 Master j Eev. Mortimer O’Sullivan, Deputy Grand 
 Chaplain; Mr. William Swan, Deputy Grand 
 Secretary; M^. Stewart Blacker, A-Ssistant Grand 
 Secretary ; Mr. William Ribton Ward, Solicitor to 
 the Orange Institution ; Mr. Hugh Eyves Baker, 
 Deputy Grand Treasurer ; and Lieutenant- Colonel 
 William Blacker, all, of course, gave evidence in 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 211 
 
 farour of the institution, basing their arguments 
 upon the belief that the violence of the Catholics 
 of Ireland necessitated its existence. Now, as the 
 point of inquiry was not whether the Catholics had 
 done wrong, but whether the Orangemen had done 
 right, these arguments seem beside the issue* 
 “ Admit,*’ says the writer in the Edinburgh 
 Review, writing upon this point, ** admit all the re- 
 criminations against the Catholics for violent 
 obstruction of Orange processions, for severe 
 and often savage retaliation of wrongs, for 
 party spirit in the witness box — they seldom 
 reached the jury or the bench — and for all the 
 secret working of their ribbon societies; yet, if 
 proved to the fullest extent, to what do all these 
 charges amount ? They make out no case or ex« 
 cuse for the existence of Orangeism. On the con" 
 trary, these offences ©f the Catholics are the 
 necessary consequences of the Orange insults and 
 outrages. Thus, the heavier the charges which 
 the Orangemen substantiate against the Catholics, 
 the stronger is the recoil upon themselves** 
 
 As the Irish Committee made no report to the 
 House, it is necessary that the reader should have 
 some idea of the character of evidence given 
 and facts ascertained as t® the extent of the Irish 
 Orange Institution Those facts, which best indi- 
 cate the nature and the tendency of Irish Orange- 
 ism, have already been brought in chronological 
 form under the notice of the reader. 
 
 It was found that the ramifications of Oramge- 
 ism in Ireland extended far and wide— into the 
 magistracy, army, militia, yoeiaanry, county and 
 Grand Jury officials, and most positions of trust 
 and emolument — that the Imperial Grand Master 
 alone had control over the entire body ; that the 
 council or military staff” was made up of fourteen 
 Deputy Grand Masters, of whom eleven were peers, 
 twelve grand and thirty-two deputy grand chap- 
 lains, and a grand committee of 186 leading gentle- 
 men, magistrates, members of Parliament, and 
 clergymen. These persons, all bound together by 
 a unity of views and known to each other by secret 
 signs and passwords, commanded twenty Grand 
 Lodges of counties, under whose control were placed 
 eighty district lodges, which, again, were in con- 
 stant communication with, and were responsible 
 for the obedience of, a cDrps of 1,500 private lodges, 
 whose members, varying from 20 to 250, were esti- 
 mated at a grand total of 220,000 men, all, as 
 already stated, under the absolute control 
 of Ernest, the Imperial Grand Master, and 
 “Ihe nearest to the Throne” of England! 
 
 all of whom, bound as they were to obedience, he 
 had the power of calling together, so far as prac- 
 tical, at his pleasure. Mr. William Swan, the As- 
 sistant Grand Secretary of Irish Orangemen, stated 
 that 30,000 Orangemen were assembled in 1798, 
 and being asked if 30,000 were assembled in 17-98, 
 could not 30,090 be assembled in 1835 ?” and he 
 answered " yes, three times 30,000,1 think.” He was 
 then asked, ** Is there power in any functionaries 
 of the Orange body to call together that enormous 
 mass of 220,000 men to assemble thus in one 
 place from all parts of the country ?” To this 
 the Assistant Grand Secretary of the Orangemen 
 of Ireland replied, I think a Grand Master might 
 order it.” 
 
 Earl Gosford, who attended by permission of the 
 House of Lords, said, in the course of his examina- 
 tion (3535), that he thought Orangeism, instead of 
 being necessary for the defence of Protestantism 
 in Ireland, rather weakened it ; that the society 
 was most certainly employed for the promotion of 
 party and political purposes ; that beyond doubt it 
 had chiefly been used by persons of rank and con- 
 siderable property for their own political further- 
 ance and advancement ; that it not only was not 
 necessary, but that it was dangerous to the protec- 
 tion of the property and political rights of Protes- 
 tants in Ireland, and had led to a great deal of law- 
 lessness ; that beyond the aristocracy of Ireland, 
 who promoted these societies for their own ends, 
 there was a lower or middle class of Protestants 
 who regretted their existence as an evil ; and that 
 there was no doubt of the fact, if what he had seen 
 of the rules of the society was correct, he could say 
 that their practices differed greatly from the rules in 
 several instances, and that their conduct had been 
 diametrirally opposed to those rules in many in- 
 stances.” 
 
 Mr. W m Sharman Crawford, M.P., who was exa- 
 mined, justified the Catholic want of confidence 
 in the Orange magistracy and in the Orange 
 juries (437t) ; upbraided the successive Adminis- 
 trations for pretending to suppress and at the same 
 time encouraging the Orangemen by placing its 
 leaders in high positions (6067) ; thought the Pro- 
 testant Church in Ireland was in no way in danger or 
 requiring the aid of Orangeism (4410), and believed 
 that those societies led to social disorder (4418). 
 
 Sir Frederick Stovin’s evidence to be sufficiently 
 understood would require to be produced in its 
 entirety. He says (4464-90) he received the 
 greatest resistance from the Orange processions in 
 the execution of his duty; that he was told th 
 
212 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 professions of Orangemen were most brotherly, but 
 that the results were anything but that (4519) ; 
 that the Orange Society was certainly not requisite 
 for the support of Protestantism or calculated to 
 give it strength (4627); that it was absolutely 
 injurious, and gave rise to bad blood, as their con- 
 duct was the reverse of their professions (4628-30); 
 that drum beating and processions were calculated 
 to insult Catholics (4651) ; thac if Orangeism 
 ceased religious dissension would as gradually 
 cease in the community (4700-3) ; and that Orange- 
 ism existed extensively in the army in spite of 
 positive orders to the contrary, and was calculated 
 to produce the most mischievous effects (4639). 
 
 The inspector of police admitted that he could 
 find no trace of a Eibbon Society in the North of 
 Ireland, and never found anyone who could. 
 
 Mr. James Sinclair, J.P., said he had observed 
 the course of Orangeism with that attention 
 which a magistrate should pay to passing events", 
 and it had been, in his opinion, productive of 
 great evil; nor had be been able to discover any 
 possible advantage from it (4952) ; that the society 
 was productive of very injurious consequences to 
 the Protestant religion (4967) ; that some clergy- 
 men, principally curates and rectois, of the Pro- 
 testant Church, violently encouraged party ani- 
 mosity between Catholics and Protestants for their 
 own ends, and that the poor men in humble con- 
 dition of life who take part in Orangeism for the 
 purpose of selling their whiskey were less to blame 
 than men of education and rank who do not dis- 
 grace themselves by these outrages, but institute 
 and encourage them” (5016). 
 
 Mr. Wm. Stratton, police-constable, was of 
 opinion that the country would be very quiet but 
 for Orange processions and drum-beatings, which 
 were the natural results of the Institution, and 
 which were calculated to give offence to Catholics. 
 
 The Eight Hon. the Earl of Caledon thought it 
 would very much tend to the administration of 
 justice if magistrates were exempted from the 
 suspicion, or even the supposition of belonging to 
 a secret society of any nature; that whatever 
 would prevent party processions would be an 
 advantage (5538) ; that the system must be 
 detrimental to the administration of justice in 
 regard to having jurors with party bias trying 
 cases, 
 
 Mr. James Christie, a member of the Society of 
 Friends, was of opinion that the existence of 
 Orangeism produced most injurious effects upon 
 society ; that it prevented the development ©f 
 
 tr ade, fostered party spirit, destroyed the fair ad^ 
 mmistration of justice ; that the Orange magis- 
 trates did not act impartially upon the bench, and 
 that the suppression of the society would lead to 
 many good results. (5750-71.) 
 
 Mr. Eobert Mullen, M.D., instanced numerous 
 cases of Orange vielenee, the packing of juries, and 
 the way-laying of Catholics by Orangemen ; that 
 there was no attempt on the part of the Catholics 
 to attack Orangemen, as if such were their disposi’ 
 tion they would be all annihilated in ten minutes, 
 armed as they were. (6141). 
 
 Mr. Patrick M'Connell, solicitor, detailed in the 
 amplest manner murders and outrages, plotted and 
 contrived in Orange lodges and carried out by 
 Orangemen, and while representing the Institu- 
 tion as leading to the most dire mischief and the 
 most wilful injustice, said he believed there was no 
 such thing as a Eibbor Society in Ireland to oppose 
 it. 
 
 Mr. Eichardson Bell, Mr. William John Han- 
 cock, J.P. ; Mr. Eandall Kernan, B .L. ; and Capt. 
 David Duff, the other witnesses examined, who 
 were not connected with the Institution all con-, 
 demned the Orange Society in the same manner, as 
 promoting lawlessness and animosity, and leading 
 to outrage and murder. Captain Daff instanced 
 many cases in which he had received the most vio- 
 lent opposition on the part of Orangemen, repre- 
 sented Orangemen as an armed faction opposed to 
 all law and order, and invariably denominating as 
 
 Papists*’ all persons discharging their duty im- 
 partially, whether as policemen or magistrates. 
 
 Mr. John (lore, stipendary magistrate, and 
 formerly an Orangeman, condemned Orangeism as 
 leading to bad spirit; condemned Orangeism as 
 opposing the law most violently in the North ; con- 
 demned the Orange magistracy for not co-operating 
 with the military authorities except to thwart their 
 ends ; condemned the administration of justice by 
 them as lea ling justifiably to suspicion ; con- 
 demned Orange landlords as playing a double part 
 with the people, and in general made out a for- 
 midable indictment against his former brethren. 
 
 Such was the evidence for the prosecution. The 
 principle has not yet been recognised in English 
 criminal jurisprudence of hearing parties in their 
 own cause. Notwithstanding the modern tendency 
 to admit it I am inclined to believe that few men 
 desiring t© form a fair approximation ef the effects 
 of any secret society will seek our the members of it as 
 their informants. The very fact of being members 
 precludes pessibility ©f impartiality. Everything 
 
HISTORY OF OEANGETSM. 
 
 213 
 
 prompts them towards their own justifi-jation. 
 Everything leads them to start upon the inquiry 
 with a mind open but o one convict’oi. But give 
 the Orange witnessfs every scope and their evi- 
 dence, contras''ed with the above (from gentlemen 
 whoB3 position well fitted them to form an opinion), 
 simply urges the unsettled state of Ireland at the 
 time as an excuse for their existence, while in reply 
 to the numerous outrages laid to their charge they 
 point, as a set off to otheis, outrages committed by 
 the Catholics in retaliation. 
 
 While the commit cee were sitting, part «f the 
 evidence was communicated to the newspapers. 
 On [the 17th July Mr. Hume asked a question 
 in the Commons as to the truth of the report 
 relative to a most violent and disa trous disturV 
 anoe having taken place at Belfast on the preced- 
 ing 12bh of July, in which many parties lost 
 their lives- Lord Morpeth answered fiat the 
 report was cnly too true. Mr. Hume, amid great 
 excitement and much interruption, proceeded to 
 make an important stxtement, which he said was 
 a question involving not an ordinary individual, 
 but meant that “ a person of the highest rank in 
 the country had been guilty ©f a high crime and a 
 misdemeanour against the State.” This state- 
 ment cr«a*:ed the utmost consternation in the 
 Rouse, which ended by Mr, Hume giving notice to 
 move for that portion of the Orange evidence com- 
 pleted to he laid upon the table of the House, 
 
 On the 20th July, on the motion of Mr. Wilson 
 Patten, it was ordered that the part of the evidence 
 then completed relating to Orangeism in the army 
 be laid on the fable. During this debate, Mr. 
 Serjeant Jackson assured the House, on the 
 highest anihority,” that the Duke of Cumberland 
 had never sanctioned lodges in the army, and that 
 th® warrants had been signed by him in blank 
 form ; Captain Curtis followed, and assured the 
 House that Orange lodges had been formed in his 
 regiment, which was chiefly Catholic, without the 
 slightest knowledge of the officers generally ; and 
 Mr. Maxwell stated that he was net aware of the 
 existence of any lodges in connection with the army 
 or militia. [See Appendix for Eeporfe of the Eng- 
 hsh Committee.] 
 
 Time passed. The committees on both sides of 
 the Channel were placing together, link by link, a 
 chain of evidence of th© most overwhelming cha- 
 racter. Tbe scraps of eviden'^e which still con- 
 tinued to leak out were sufficient to show to bonest- 
 minded citizens the appaling nature of the 
 conspiracy, and to produce general alarm in the 
 
 public mind at the mine which had been so noise- 
 lessly and so dexterously laid beneath their very 
 fert. So general was the excitement and indig- 
 nation that the members who had unearthed the 
 plot feared to wait until the labours of th© com- 
 m t‘:ees had been concluded before moving in the 
 matter, aiad on the 4th of August Mr. Hume, when 
 that portion of the evidence relating to the army 
 was laid upon the table of the House of Commons, 
 rose to ca 1 attenticn to the Orange conspiracy. 
 He condemned the Whigs for being afraid during 
 their previous term of office to put down the 
 Orangemen ; said he would have put his heel upon 
 their necks and trampled them to death, and in- 
 sisted that every military Orangeman, from a 
 field-marshal down to an ensign, should be 
 struck off tue army list. If such proceedings 
 were allowed t© continue, better, he said, 
 dismiss the army altogether. The yeomanry, 
 who were all Orange, should be dismissed, and 
 every Orange magistrate should be dismissed the 
 Bench. Taese expressions must have met with 
 general approbation, for we find him immediately 
 afterwards saying he was glad to find that his 
 opinions were so favourably received. The police 
 are also Orangemen. I would make a clean sweep 
 of them all.” He moved the following resolu- 
 tions, stating that he found it difficult to imagine, 
 even if the warrants were signed in blank form by 
 the Grand Master, how the Duke of Cumberland 
 could be ignorant of the use that had been made 
 of them 
 
 1. That it appears from the evidence laid 
 before the House that there exist at present in 
 Ireland more than 1,500 Orange lodges, some 
 parishes containing as many as three or four pri- 
 vate lodges, consisting of members varying in 
 number from 16 to 260, acting in eop^manication 
 with each other, and having secret signs and pass- 
 words as bonds of union, and all depending on the 
 Grand Lodge of Ireland. 
 
 The second resolution described the manner 
 in which these bodies weie bound together, and 
 declared ^ that the Orange Institution of Ireland 
 is unlimited in numbers and exclusively a Pro- 
 testant association j that every member must first 
 belong to a private lodge, to which he is admitted 
 under religious sanction and with religious cere- 
 mony, carrying a Bible in bis hands, submitting to 
 certain forms and declarations, and taught secret 
 signs and passwords.^ 
 
 ** 3. That no lodge can be constituted without a 
 warrant of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, signed by 
 
 27 
 
214 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 the Grand Master and office-bearers for the tine 
 being, and having the seal of the Grand Lodge 
 thereto afilxed. 
 
 *'4. That it appears by the laws end ordinances 
 of the Orange Institution of Ireland, dated 1835, 
 that the secretary of each private lodge is directed 
 to report to the secretary of the district lodge ; the 
 secretary of each district lodge to report to the 
 Grand Secretary of the county lodge ; the Grand 
 Secretary of the county lodge to report to the 
 Deputy-Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of 
 Ireland; and the Grand Lodge to hold meetirxgs at 
 stated periods, to transact the ordinary business of 
 the society; and the Deputy-Grand Secretary of 
 the Grand Lodge to communicate half-yearly to 
 each lodge in Ireland, and also to the Grand Lodge 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 ^'5. That Orange Lodges have individually and 
 collectively addressed his Majesty, both Houses of 
 Parliament, the Lord Lieutenant, and others, on 
 special occasions of a political nature, such as on 
 subject of the colonies, the change of the Ministry, 
 the education of the people, the repeaiof the Union 
 Catholic Emancipation, and reform of Parliament. 
 
 6. That the Grand Lodge of Ireland has inter 
 fered in political questions and expelled members 
 for the exercise of their constitutional and social 
 rights; has interfered at elections, and defended 
 criminal prosecutions, as appears from the evi- 
 dence and from the minutes of proceedings in the 
 book of the Grand Lodge, produced before the 
 Selec Committee. 
 
 “ 7. That it appears by the books of the Grand 
 Lodge of Ireland, produced by its Deputy Grand 
 Secretary before the Select Committee of the 
 House, that the undermentioned warrants for con- 
 stituting and holding orange lodges have bean 
 issued to non-commiasioned officers and privates of 
 the following regiments of the cavalry and infantry 
 of the line at home and abroad ; te non-eomtais- 
 Bioned officers of the staff of several militia 
 regiments ; to members of other corps ; and to 
 the police (the warrants and regiments are here 
 enumerated). 
 
 “ 8. That such warrants are sect privately and 
 indirectly to such non-commissioned officers and 
 privates, without the knowledge or sanction of the 
 commanding officers of such regiments or corps, 
 and every lodge held in the army is considered as 
 a district lodge. 
 
 “ 9. That the general orders of the Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Forces, addressed in the years 1822 
 and 1829, to commanding officers of regiments and 
 
 o'-' depots, aod t) general officers, and other officers 
 on che staff, at home and abroad, strongly repro- 
 bate the holding of Orange lodges in any regiment 
 as ‘fraught wi‘h injury to the disiiplme of the 
 army,’ and ‘ that on military grounds the hoMimg 
 of Orange lodges in any regiment or corps is 
 contrary to order and the rules of the service;’ 
 and ‘ that a disregard of this caution will subject 
 offending parties to trial and punishment for dis- 
 obtd'ence of orders.’ 
 
 “ 10. That these resolutions and the evidence 
 taken before the Select Committee ©n Orange 
 lodges be laid before his Majesty. 
 
 “11. That an humble address be presented to big 
 Majesty praying that he be graciously pleased to 
 direct his Royal attention to the nature and extent 
 of Grange lodges in his Majesty’s aimy, in con- 
 travention of the general orders of the Commander- 
 in-Ohief of his M ijasty’s forces issued in the years 
 1822 and 1829, which strongly reprobate and forbid 
 the holding of Orange lodges in any of bis Majesty’s 
 regiments ; and also to call his attention to the 
 circumstance of his Royal Highness Earnest Duke 
 of Cumberland, a field marshal in his Majesty’s 
 army, having signed warrants, in his capacity of 
 the Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of 
 Ireland (some of them dated so recently as April 
 in the present year), which warrants have been 
 issued for constituting Orange lodges in the army.” 
 
 Mr. Wilson Patten corrected an error in the 
 resolutions in regard to Orange interference in the 
 Colonie?, saying that the Colonies referred to ©nly 
 related to the Protestant colonisation of Ireland. 
 Admitting the danger attendant upon the exist- 
 ence of Orange lodges in the army, he moved as an 
 amendment that instead of the resolutions pro- 
 posed the following be adopted “ That a humbla 
 address be presented to his Majesty praying that 
 he will be graciously pleased to direct his Royal 
 attention to the nature and extent of Orange lodges 
 in the army, in contravention of the general orders 
 issued by the Commander-in-Chief in 1822 and 
 1829, -which strongly prohibits the holding ©f 
 Orange lodges in regiments, and that his Majesty 
 will be graciously pleased to direct an investigation 
 to take place with reepect to other secret societies 
 in the army.” 
 
 No man seems to have been m©re alive to the 
 gravity of the question than Lord John Russell, 
 who had to speak for the Government. “ He went 
 through this affair with eminent prudence, courage, 
 and moderation,” says a contemporary writer. He 
 saw that beneath that eleventh resolution lay a 
 
HISTORY OR ORANGEISM. 
 
 215 
 
 charge of ch' pa.i'Mli j' an'i disieyalfcy to the Crown, 
 for like to wbi h ambitiona men had lost their heads. 
 While objecting to the iatroduction of the duke’s 
 name, he ck m'cs vd surprise “ that when those 
 distinguished ii dividuals saw that the whole dis- 
 cipline of b** r.?a?y might be subverted and 
 destroyed undt r (o’our of their hi^^h au- 
 thority they should lose one moment in 
 making known rhat they should cease to be 
 members of luih an association. He couM not 
 conceive that thn illu-trious duke would hesitate 
 for one moment on knowiig the use that had been 
 made of those warranrs/’ and with this significant 
 hint to the Duke of Cuia-'crland, he proposed the 
 adjeurnmen’" of the debate to the 11th August, 
 which was ag eed to. 
 
 The did not take the hint. Having pro- 
 
 ceeded so far wit h the game, he was reluctant to 
 draw back just when he had a chance of winning. 
 He simply wrote a letter to the chairman of the 
 committee, denying “ that he had issued warrants 
 to soldievs,” a statement which might be litarally 
 correct, seeing t at he had simply signed warrants 
 for Fairman, his subordinate, to issue them. He 
 also declared that he had “ declined sending out 
 military warrants oa the ground of their violation 
 of the military orders of 1823 and 1829” — a state- 
 ment which could also bo accurate according tothe 
 letter, side by side with the most criminal know- 
 ledge of their being sent out by others. How far 
 these assertions w 3 e believed by the com mi tee 
 may be seen from the sentence towards the close of 
 the report — " Tour committee submit that it would 
 have been very easy for bis Royal Highness 
 to have published the document by which, 
 and the time and place where, he issued any 
 order, or made any declaration, against Orange 
 lodges in the army, instead of a general disclaimer.” 
 It was manifest to everybody that his Eoyal High- 
 ness had taken refuge in prevarication, a conclusion 
 which was subsequently confirmed when he wrote 
 to the chairman of committee stating that he had 
 no Btatament to make,” and declining the oppor- 
 tunity offered of vindicating himself. 
 
 ** Lord John Russell on the 4th had shown his 
 prudeucp,” says Miss Martineau ; he now on the 
 11th showed his courage.” Mr. Hume having 
 withdrawn the fifth a-nd sixth of his resolutions, 
 thus confining the proposition to the military 
 aspect of the question. Lord John Russell boldly 
 stated in the House that he did not think the 
 letter written by the Duke of Cumberland was all 
 that was required.” He said he did not think the 
 
 House would be satisfied with the Duke’s Ftitement 
 that he was not aware of warrants being issued to the 
 army, and that any such should be annulled j 
 nor was it, in his opinion, the one he ought 
 fo hav'^ made. He was in lopes that the 
 whole of the charges Irought against him— 
 namely, the signing of blank warrants and presid- 
 ing at the meetings at which the warrants were 
 issued — had all been carried on without his know- 
 ledge and consent. If so, he did expect when suck 
 underhand practices were discovered the duke 
 would cease all communication with parties who 
 had been guilty of such unwarrantable acts. Not 
 .vishing to press the inquiry further, he suggested 
 that the words which warrants have been issued 
 for constituting Orange lodges in the army” should 
 be omitted from the 11th resolution. The resolu- 
 tions thus modified were carried by a majority ®f 
 183 to 40. 
 
 On the 15th the King’s address was read to the 
 House, protri-iag the u'^most vigilance and vigour 
 in suppressing political societies in the army. In- 
 stead of ceasing all communication with the 
 brethren, the Duke issued an edict on the 24tli 
 August calling together the Grand Lodge to go 
 through the farce of annulling” the regimental 
 warrants as well to correct a glaring irregu- 
 larity” ‘which of itself would have rendsred the 
 institution illegal. L:)dge3 being proscribed by 
 law, they had adopted the expedient of calling 
 them warrants,” giving power to the possessor to 
 call a meeting of Orangemen anywhere on its pro- 
 duction. This shallow trick was exposed, for by 
 the documents it appeared that the meetings were 
 *Modge meetings”pure and simple, and were styled 
 as such. 
 
 The English Committee were still sitting and 
 the inquiry proceeded, eliciting such information 
 as to show that the House was, fortunately for the 
 Orangemen, rather premature in their decision. 
 Much more than the existence of Orangeism in the 
 army demanded attention. But first, touching 
 those regimental lodges, it must be remarked that 
 their existence in the army without the knowledge 
 of the leaders and directors of the Institution — 
 their existence in Eagland, Ireland, Scotland, and 
 the Colonies ; with Serjeant Ktibh as proxy in the 
 Grand Lodge ; Fairman complaining of how they 
 were persecuted by the military commanders ; 
 Nucella, their special commissioner, writing from 
 Corfu and stations on the Mediterranean of his 
 difficulties in promoting Orangeism in the army ; 
 the Grand Lodge giving him thanks for his efforts ; 
 
216 
 
 HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 the ru’esandregulationsprovidingfor tbe existence 
 of regrimental lodges, and affording actually special 
 faci’ities to lodges in the array — is one of th se 
 problems which plain, commoa-sense men will be 
 inclined to solve but in one way. Still it must be 
 recollected that Prince Ernest and the Eight Hon. 
 Lord Kenyon say they did not know of it. And it 
 must be true. For they both plead ignorance. And 
 both were " honourable” men. As it relates to the 
 statements of one of those ‘'honourable” men it 
 may not be out of place to say that Lord Kenyon 
 in his evidence before the select committee sitting 
 in England, first denied all knowledge of lodged 
 existing m the army; then admitted (2736) that 
 rule 47 (1821), referring to the regulations of regi- 
 mental lodges, had been inserted with Lis sanction. 
 He then admits (2743) that he become aware of the 
 existence of that rule, and “knowing that lodges in 
 the army were forbidden, it occurred to his mind 
 that no lodges did at the time exis^in regiments* 
 and consequently that they could not exist after- 
 wards.” Bub then we find the rules year after year 
 up to 1831 sanctioned and revised by his lordship 
 in which not alone are the previous provis'oas made 
 regarding regimental lodges, but certain privileges 
 allowed to relieve soldiers from paying regular 
 fees. These rules of 1834 were revised and ap- 
 proved by his Eoyal Highness the Duke of Cumber- 
 land. But the climax was reached when a letter 
 was put into Lord Kenyon’s hands, addressed to 
 and endorsed by Lord Kenyon, and coming from 
 the correspondent of a regimental lodge at Dover, 
 enclosing aremiltince. 
 
 In many letters in Lord Kenyon’s hand writing, 
 addressed to Coloiiel Fairman, it would seem that 
 the promotion of Orangeism in the army was a sub- 
 ject about which they were constantly in communi- 
 cation, and it is little ro be wondered at that the 
 Parliamentary Committee could not explain away 
 the flagrant inconsistency between the facts and 
 statements. Writing from Peel Hall on the 28th 
 December, 1832, to Fairmac,his lordship says — “His 
 Eoyal Highness promises being in England a fort- 
 night before Parliament reassembles, and I hope 
 will come well. To him, 'privately, you had better 
 address yourself about your military proposition 
 which, to me, appears very judicious.” Again, 
 writing Fairman from Poitman Square, on the 13th 
 June, 1833, he says — “The statements you made to 
 me before, and respecting which I have now before 
 me particulars from Portsmouth, are not of my 
 sphere, and should be referred toties qmties to his 
 Eoyal Highness, as military matters of great deli- 
 
 cacy. At the same tirae private intimation, I sub- 
 mit, should be made to the militiry correspondents, 
 letting them know how highly we esteem them as 
 brethren.” Farther, on the IQMi July of the same 
 year “if you hear anything further from the mili- 
 tary districts let his Eoyal Hi,ghuea3 kuDw all par- 
 ticulars fit to be communicated.” And, again, on 
 the 27rh April following “I think we had better 
 communicate it to his Eoyal Highness, as 
 he is the only person, except yourself, who can 
 judiciously interfere in military mat teiS connected 
 with the Orange luslitution.” Why, the Duke of 
 Cumberland and Colonel Fairman were so quali- 
 fied, is evident from the fact that the one was 
 Field Marshal of England, and the other had been 
 a captain in the 4th Ceylon regiment. Whether 
 Colonel Fairman in those frequent visits which he 
 made to Kew, and during which be was “ closeted” 
 at times for three hours with his Royal Highness, 
 communicated upon the subject of the regimental 
 lodges, it is impossible to say. That Lord Kenyon 
 was aware of che movement in the military is es- 
 tablished in spite of his solemn and repeated 
 assurances to the contrary. 
 
 “ Your committee must repeat that they found it 
 most difficult to reconcile sta'^ements in evidence 
 before them, with ignorance of these proceedings 
 on the part of Lord Kenyon, and by his Royal 
 Highness the Duke of Cumberland” — see the Eng- 
 lish Committee’s Report in appendix. In diplo- 
 matic circles he is vulgar who calls a spade a spade. 
 When the Blue Book was published, however, the 
 great body of the pubb’c who perused it found a 
 much shorter name for tbe representations of these 
 Orange leaders. 
 
 It remained, however, for Colonel Fairman, the 
 Deputy Grand Secretary and Chief Engineer of 
 this complex piece cf machinery, to carry off the 
 palm. During the course of his examination in 
 its earliest stages he made frequent protestations 
 of his desire in every way to forward the inquiry. 
 It, however, became known to the committee that 
 the gallant colonel kept a pri^-ate letter-book, in 
 which he entered the great secrets of tbe Institu- 
 tion, and he admitted that he had that private 
 letter-book in his possession. The letters 
 entered in it were, he admitted (1,073), principally 
 connected with the Orange Insftution, but “ there 
 were letters from himself to Lord Kenyon entered in 
 that hook, which he considered private, and was not 
 disposed to lay before the Committee.^’ Again and 
 again he was questioned as to what it did contain, 
 and again and again he replied in the same vague 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 217 
 
 manner, but always admitting decidedly” that it 
 contained correspondence relating to the Institu- 
 tion. He considered them strictly confidential 
 and though it might show many documents in re- 
 lation to military lodges, it might also contain 
 letters to Lord Kenyon upon Orange business, 
 interspersed here and there with references which 
 he would not make known to the Committee.” He 
 refused to allow the members to read only the 
 public Orange letters, protesting that it would 
 establish a bad precedent in a country where a man 
 was never expected to convict himself, but said 
 he might be induced to copy letters re- 
 lating to military lodges and any letters to the 
 Duke of Grordon, that he considered of a public 
 nature. The examination for that day closed. 
 Two days intervened, during which the Colonel 
 had ample time to examine that letter- 
 book. He was again called before the Committee 
 and asked had he got the letter book or the copies 
 of the letters he promised. He had neither. He 
 stated distinctly he refused to produce or copy it. 
 He was asked were the Committee to understand 
 that he would not under any circumstances produce 
 that part of the letter book which did not refer to 
 military warrants and his answer was Certainly 
 not.” A few more days intervened during which 
 the Committee reported to the House of Commons 
 the refusal of Colonel Fairman to produce a book 
 which had relation to the subject of inquiry. He 
 was called before the House on the 19fch August 
 and admonished, but still persisted in h's refusal, 
 Whereupon, the House ordered that the witness 
 be called in and informed that it was the opinion of 
 the House that he is bound to produce the book 
 which has been alluded to on his evidence.” Again, 
 Colonel Fairman was called before the Committee, 
 on the 20th August, 1835. The following was the 
 closing scene : — 
 
 The committee have assembled agreeable to the 
 order of^the House to receive that book which you 
 have been directed to bring, in order to their pro- 
 secuting their inquiries. Have you brought the 
 book ? I shall endeavour to extort the approba- 
 tion of the committee though I may incur their 
 hatred. I have not brought the book. 
 
 Have you brought the book with you ? I have 
 not. 
 
 Do you intend to bring it? I should consider 
 myself the veriest wretch on the face of the earth 
 if I did. 
 
 Do you intend to bring it agreeable to the order 
 of the House of Commons or not ? I cannot. 
 
 Will you ? I have already said that I will rot, 
 and must adhere to the resolucion I have before 
 expressed. 
 
 Will you or not P I have stated that I adhere 
 to my former resolution. 
 
 Will you produce the book — yes, or no ? No. 
 
 This was a breach of privilege. The reader may 
 surmise for himself what that public-piivate letter 
 book of Lieutenant- Colonel Fairman, Deputy Grand 
 Secretary of the Orange Institution of England, 
 contained. There is, however, evidence at hand 
 ikely to assist him in his calcu lations. 
 
 . In October, 1835, Mr. Haywood, the Sheffield 
 Orangeman before spoken of, addressed a letter to 
 Lord Kenyon in which we find the following : — 
 
 Did not his Koyal Highness, as Grand Master, 
 and Lord Kenyon, as Deputy-Grand Master, know 
 what their missionary. Colonel Fairman, had dor e 
 in 1832 ? Or rather did he (Colonel Fairman) not 
 act under the directions of his Koyal Highness or 
 Lord Kenyon; and was he not under their direc- 
 tions instructed to sound the brethren how they would 
 be disposed, in the event of King William IV. being 
 deposed, which was not improbable, on account of 
 his sanctioning reform in Parliament ; and that 
 that being so it would become the duty of every 
 Orangeman to support his Koyal Highness, who 
 would then in all probability be called to the 
 Throne.” 
 
 Keferences upon this subject “ between my Lord 
 Kenyon and myselt” we may reasonably presume 
 the letter book contained. Was this, then, the 
 great crisis” in the history of Orangeism, for which 
 all the brethren were watching and waiting ? 
 
 The London and Westminster Review, from Jan. 
 to April, 1836, contains an ably-written article, en- 
 titled the “ Orange conspiracy,” in which a circum- 
 stantial account of these proceedings may be found 
 by those desirous of proceeding further in the in- 
 quiry. Various important letters not inserted in 
 the Keport of the English Select Committee, are 
 there to be found, which the publishers offered 
 to produce should the Duke of Cumberland be pro- 
 ecuted. In addition, they publish the following, 
 which is one of the sworn depositions upon which 
 the prosecutors of the Orange conspirators meant 
 to rely ? — 
 
 That the deponent, in the autumn of 1832, was 
 
 sitting in the house at which Lodge was held, 
 
 in ; and that deponent was informed by a 
 
 brother Orangeman that Colonel Fairman had 
 arrived ; that deponent proceeded up stairs to the 
 lodge room, and fqund that the brethren were all 
 
 28 
 
218 
 
 HISTOEY OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 assembled, the night baing regular lodge night. 
 That soon afterwards the said "W. B. Fairman 
 appeared in the room decorated with the orange 
 sash and robe, and took the chair. That the said 
 W. B. Fairman aHressed the meeting shortly, 
 stating that he had been specially appointed by his 
 Eoyal Highneis the Duke of Cumberland to make 
 this tour; and he then produced a scroll of parch- 
 ment which he read alcud to the meeting, and 
 ■which purported to be, and deponent believed was, 
 a commission from his Royal Highness the Duke of 
 Cumberland to said W. B. Fairman to make a tour> 
 &c., &c. ........ 
 
 That on the following morning, about nine o’clock 
 
 deponent went to- , where the said W. B. Fair- 
 
 man was staying, for the purpose of making 
 inquiries of him as to the nature and objects of his 
 tour, 01 which occasion deponent was with him 
 several hours. That deponent afterwards left the 
 house with Colonel Fairman, and as they walked 
 
 towards the following remarks were made by 
 
 the said W. B. Fairman (that is to say) : — He, the 
 said W. B. Fairman, drew comparisons between his 
 Majesty William IV. and the Duke of Cumberland, 
 as regarded their attachment to the Protestant 
 Church. That this was a critical time for Orange- 
 men ; that they ought to make a stand ; that if any 
 ^row’ took place would they rally round the Duke 
 of Cumberland ? That his Majesty had no right to 
 sanction the revolutionary measures of the Govern- 
 ment in passing the Reform Bill; that a * row’ was 
 expected to take place. The result of all this on 
 deponent’s mind was that Fairman was sounding 
 him as to whether, in the event of a ‘ tumult’ 
 taking place, the Orangemen would adhere to the 
 Duke of Cumberland in preference to the King. 
 
 “ That the said W. B. Fairman also related to 
 the deponent the circumstances that* preceded and 
 led to the grant of the travelling warrant, which 
 •were as follows That he, the said W. B. Fairman, 
 having been in the country one day, on returning 
 home he went into his parlour and found two letters 
 lying on his table, one from Lord Kenyon and the 
 other from the Duke of Cumberland; that he went 
 to Lord Kenyon’s first, who directed him t) go to 
 Kew to his Royal Highness, to which place he 
 accordingly went, and passed several hours with 
 his Royal Highness, when his appointment as 
 grand treasurer and tourist was arranged.” 
 
 The original of this was at the time in the hands 
 of an eminent attorney. Between the expressions 
 contained in the above and those in the various 
 letters which passed between Colonel Fairman, Lord 
 
 Kenyon, the Duke of Gordon and their confede- 
 rates, there is remarkable similarity. V/hy the 
 letters, published in this review, and handed by 
 Mr. Hume to the writer, were not published in the 
 Parliamentary report,it would be difficult to say. Mr. 
 Madden, in his history of the United Irishmen, says 
 (at page xiii. of vol. 4), and evidently with more 
 reason than has been hitherto supposed, that 
 •'proofs of the existence of that conspiracy (the 
 Orange succession conspiracy) during the time his 
 Royal Highness was Grand Mister of the Orange 
 Institutioa of the Empire, that were considered of 
 too formidable a character by the Government of 
 that day to be published in a Parliamentary re- 
 port, exist in the hands of the gentlemen by whom 
 that committee was moved for.” 
 
 On the 20th August the Committee again reported 
 Colonel Fairman’s refusal to prodace the letter 
 book, and the House of Commons ordered that he 
 be committed to Newgate. But by this time Colonel 
 Fairman had absconded. It was next proposed to 
 search his house, but this was not carried out, it 
 being believed, apart from the odium of the pro- 
 ceeding, that wherever Colonel Fairman was con- 
 cealed there too was the letter book. 
 
 It was now resolved that as the case was anala- 
 gous to that of the Dorsetshire labourers, who had 
 been convicted and sent to penal servitude for 
 similar proceedings, the Orangemen were liable 
 under the same law. The Duke of Cumberland, 
 Lord Kenyon, the Duke of Gordoj, Col. Fairman, 
 and others, were to be brought before the Central 
 Criminal Court. Haywood, the Orangeman, had 
 taken fright at Fairman’s treasonable suggestions, 
 and made them known. The next move was check- 
 mate. A coup de main was resorted to by the 
 Orange leaders. It was resolved to prosecute 
 Haywood for libel, if possible, before the prosecu- 
 tion of the conspirators came off. A favourable 
 verdict would have been an easy matter. Sworn 
 accomplices generally give preference to the oath 
 of the brotherhood, if they have preference for any. 
 But Haywood was to bo the principal witness for 
 the prosecution of the Orangemen, and to the com- 
 mittee it was clear that his testimony was borne 
 out by the evidence produced before them. It was, 
 therefore, determined to appoint counsel for his 
 defence. Those retained were Serjeant Wilde, 
 Mr. Charles Austin, and Mr. Charles Buller, 
 For the prosecution the most eminent coun- 
 sel were retained. The indictments upon both 
 sides were drawn up. The original letters were 
 arranged. All was prepared. The public anxiously 
 
HISTOET OE OEANaEIS^I. 
 
 219 
 
 awaited the great event when on the one side the 
 brother to the King and his co-conspirators would 
 be placed in the dock on a charge of treason, and 
 when the chief witness for the prosecution would 
 be tried for libel on the other. Thus matters stood 
 when two things happened which rendered further 
 proceedings unnecessary. Haywood burst a blood 
 vessel from excitement and died ; and Mr. Hume 
 having an important motion to make in the Com- 
 
 mons, and knowing that the House would not 
 entertain it if the subject was at the same time 
 occupying the attention of a criminal court, re- 
 quested that the prosecutors of the Orangemen 
 would stay proceedings. Events shortly after- 
 wards happened which still further obviated the 
 necessity of placing in the dock those titled 
 traitors 
 
 Who unconcerned could at rebellion sit. 
 
 And wink at crimes they did themselves commit. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXL— GUILTY. 
 
 It was late in the session of 1835 when the Eng- 
 lish Committee on Orangeism (which was the last 
 to rise) completed their labours. The report was 
 not, therefore, presented in time to afford mem- 
 bers to examine minutely its interesting details, as 
 well as the evidence furnished by the Irish Com- 
 mitteCi and then enter upon a discussion of the 
 question. The subject was regarded in too grave 
 a light to permit of haste j and considering all the 
 bearings of the question, the Whig Government — 
 still inclined as of old to that laxity euphoniously 
 termed “ moderation” — were disposed to let the 
 matter drop, if they could successfully put an end 
 to this dangerous conspiracy. No doubt, they were 
 largely influenced towards this dispositioij by the 
 reasonable belief that once the light of day was let 
 in upon the organisation and the force of public 
 opinion brought to bear upon it, it would be- 
 come powerless and insignificant. But the fact 
 of such prominent individuals in the State being 
 mixed up with it, for the Orange plot extended 
 much further into the high places of the Kingdom 
 than dared be mentioned, and the fear that extreme 
 proceedings might only defeat the end sought for, 
 largely influenced their decision as well. The dis- 
 cussion upon the report of the English Committee 
 and the resolution thereon were therefore looked 
 forward to with hope, as likely to accomplish the 
 objects of the Administration without any accom- 
 panying danger. 
 
 But in the interim more than one leading journal 
 in the kingdom had anticipated the verdict. The 
 London and Westminster Review, at the close of 
 1835, had denounced the institution as an illegal 
 conspiracy to alter the succession, showed why the 
 leaders should be placed in the dock, and pointing 
 out that even the organisaTon itself was contrary 
 to law, from the fact that the same Act which 
 rendered the administering of an oath illegal, also 
 prohibited all tests, declarations, and signs. 
 The Edinburgh Review, of January, 1836, 
 
 avoided, as it distinctly admitted, all consideration 
 under the graver heading of treason, as the 
 criminal proceedings were then pending. But 
 upon the general question of the tendencies of the 
 institution it sums up its conclusions, in the fol- 
 lowing which is tco remarkable to avoid quoting : — 
 
 *'Our task is now nearly complete. We have 
 seen enough of * the proceedings, extent, and ten- 
 dency of the Orange Institutions of Great Britain, 
 Ireland, and the colonies’ to feel satisfied that the 
 existence of this ‘ oldest, best, and most sacred of 
 institutions’ is not for the peace or well-being of 
 the community. It may be objected that many of 
 its proceedings are so silly that they can scarcely 
 be dangerous. But this is a mistake; The Orange- 
 men, and more especially the Irish Orangemen, 
 have had a firm and fierce faith in the truth and 
 righteousness and utility of their pernicious insti- 
 tution. Founded on principlss of exclusiveness 
 and insolence, they have believed themselves to be 
 meek and charitable ; existing as a privileged 
 minority amongst a conquered and oppressed popu- 
 lation, they have considered them selves the injured 
 and offended ; combining against, or acting beyond 
 the law, they have thought themselves the most 
 loyal of subjects; and reprobating bigotry, they 
 have been at best but the bigoted persecutors of 
 imputed bigotry. There are many, too, who have 
 entered and used the association as a stepping- 
 stone to power and connection, or who have seen 
 in it an engine well fitted for securing that ascen- 
 dency in Church and State which has been a fruit- 
 ful source of ascendency in patronage and pelf to 
 them and their party. 
 
 “ There can be no doubt that Orangeism has 
 been, and continues to be, hurtful to the very cause 
 and principles it jgrof esses to support; Our charges 
 against it are — 
 
 “That it has rendered Protestantism weaker 
 than it found it. 
 
 “ That it has fomented hostile and intolerant 
 
220 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 feelings between co-sects of the Christian religion. 
 
 ** That by its annual processions and commemora- 
 tions of epochs of party triumph it has exasperated 
 and transmitted ancient feuds, which have led to 
 riots, with loss of property and life. 
 
 *' That in consequence of the civil and religious 
 antipathies thus engendered, the administration of 
 justice in all its departments, whether of the bench, 
 the jury, or the witness-box, has become tainted or 
 suspected. 
 
 “ That, prompted by the encouragement or remiss- 
 ness of former Administrations, the ambition or 
 presumption of individuals has at length organised 
 an association of nearly half a million of men, held 
 together by secret signs, and an affiliation kept up 
 throughout the empire, contrary to law. 
 
 “ That this society has strengthened itself by 
 secretly introducing its lodges amongst the privates 
 of mors than fifty regiments, both at home and on 
 foreign service, contrary to the known rules and 
 regulations of the army. That gatherings, or de- 
 monstrations of physical strength, have been re- 
 commended by the executive authorities of the 
 society both in England and in Ireland, and have 
 frequently taken place to a great extent. 
 
 That this association, addressing itself to the 
 religious passions of the multitude, is placed under 
 the absolute command of a prince of the blood, 
 who, as imperial grand master, has, amongst other 
 powers, that of assembling the whole Orange body, 
 as far as praeticable, at any given place or time. 
 
 Those are grave charges. We have carefully 
 quoted the authorities upon which they art 
 founded.” 
 
 On the 12th February 1836 Mr* Finn in the 
 House of Commons moved— ‘"That Orangeism 
 had been productive of the most painful effects 
 upon the character and administration of public 
 justice in Ireland and that its prevelanee in the 
 Constabulary and peace preservation forces and 
 yeomanry corps of that country, as well as in large 
 bodies of the above description of forces to the 
 gross neglect and violation of their public duty, 
 and to the open daring and lawless resistance of 
 the authority of the magistrates and the 
 Executive Government ; that a system of 
 surreptitious introduction of Orangeism into 
 every branch of the military service, 
 in almost every part of the empire in direct viola- 
 tion of the orders issued in 1822 and 1829 by the 
 Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty’s forces, and 
 the absolute power and control vested by its govern- 
 ing body, the Grand Orange Lodge of England and 
 
 Ireland, in his Royal Highness the Duke of Cum- 
 berland, together with the rank, station, influence, 
 and numbers of that formidable and secret conspi- 
 racy, were well calculated to excite serious appre- 
 hension in all his Majesty’s loyal subjects, and im- 
 peratively call for the most energetic expression 
 on the part of the representatives of the people of 
 this Empire to secure a safe, peaceable, legal, and 
 righiful succession to the- Throne of these realms 
 He distinctly asserted that the object of the con- 
 spiracy was to alter the succession in favour of the 
 Duke of Cumberland, stated that this was the 
 great “ coming crisis” for which they were all arm- 
 ing, and argued that it was proved by the report 
 of the Select Committee that the organisation was 
 one of deadly hostility to the great mass of the 
 population, setting law and justice at defiance. 
 Mr. E. Bulwer seconded the motion. As notice 
 had bten given by Colonel Verner, member for the 
 County Armagh, for a motion upon the same ques- 
 tion, the debate was adjourned to that date, this 
 course being also influenced by the fact that Mr. 
 Hume was upon that day also to move a resolution 
 having the same object in view. 
 
 On the 23rd of February Mr. Hume entered in- 
 to an elaborate criticism of the evidence, which 
 will be found in the pages of Hansard. It is need- 
 less to reproduce it. Suffice it to say that he 
 branded the Orange Confederation as an illegal 
 conspiracy ; that their assemblage, instead of being 
 restrained, were headed by the magistracy, deputy- 
 lieutenants, and gentry of weight and considera- 
 tion, and urged that every one connected with it 
 holding a public office should be dismissed. “ If,” 
 he said, “the Duke of Cumberland persisted in 
 continuing to be head of such a body it was time to 
 consider whether he was to be King or subject— 
 for that was the real question.” The evidence, in- 
 complete as it then was before the House, gave rea- 
 son to suspect “ that the individual who had been 
 sent through the Kingdom to forward the objects 
 of the Institution under the warrant of the Grand 
 Master had hazarded speculations on the possibility 
 of the King being deposed and a regency at the 
 least established under the Duke of Cumberland 
 during the minority of the heir apparent.” Mr. 
 Hume moved “ That this House, taking into con- 
 sideration the evidence given before the select 
 committee appointed to inquire into the 
 extent, and character, and tendency of the Orange 
 Lodges, associations, and societies in Ireland, Great 
 Britain, and the Colonies; and seeing that the 
 existence of the Orange societies is highly detri- 
 
HISTORY OP ORANGEISM. 
 
 221 
 
 mental to the peace of the community by exciting 
 discord among the several classes of his Majesty’s 
 subjects, and seeing that it is highly injurious to 
 the due administration of justice that any judge, 
 sheriff, magistrate, juryman, or any other person 
 employed in maintaining the peace of the country 
 should be bound by any secret obligation to, or be 
 ’n any combination -with, any society unknown to 
 the laws, and united upon principles of religious 
 exclusion ; that even if justice were impartially ad- 
 ministered under such circumstances, which is in 
 itself impossible, yet connection with such socie- 
 ties would create suspicion and jealousy detrimen- 
 tal to the peace and good government of this 
 country ; that Orange societies, and all other socie- 
 ties which have seciet forms of initiation, and 
 secret signs, and are bound together by any reli- 
 gious ceremony, are paiticularly deserving of the 
 severest reprobation of the House, and should be no 
 longer permitted to continue, an humble 
 address be presented to his Majesty to 
 direct measures to be taken to remove 
 from the public service at home and abroad 
 every judge, privy councillor, lord-lieutenant, &c., 
 magistrate officer, inspector, &c. j and, in Ireland, 
 every functionary in the justice of the peace who 
 would not, feeing an Orangeman, quit the society 
 after one month’s notice,” Sir William Moles- 
 worth, an English member who followed, likewise 
 contended that the Grand Lodges in England and 
 Ireland were illegal under the statutes 37, 39, and 
 57 of George III., and said that the ritual, as then 
 existing, was to all intents and purposes an oath. 
 He likened the case to that of the Dorsetshire 
 labourers, who were not headed, he remarked, by 
 a Prince of the blood. He was sure that sufficient 
 evidence would be forthcoming to obtain a con- 
 viction for misdemeanour against its chiefs in any 
 court of justice, and concluded thus : — Let then, 
 the law officers of the Crown, without delay, pre- 
 fer a bill of indictment before the Grand Jury of 
 Middlesex against the illustrious Grand Master of 
 the Orange Institution, against Lord Kenyon, the 
 Deputy Grand Master j against Lord Chandos, 
 against Lord Wynford,* not forgetting the pre- 
 late of the order^ Thomas, Lord Bishop of Salis- 
 bury. Thus, the society will easily and quickly be 
 annihilated, and a few years residence on the 
 shores of the Southern Ocean will teach those 
 
 • This peer had actually teen made an Orangeman while 
 Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, the mummeries of 
 initiation hav'ng been gone through in +he Deputy Speaker's 
 private room attached to the House of Lords. 
 
 titled ciiminals that the laws of their 
 country are not to be violated with im- 
 punity, and that equal justice is to be distributed 
 impartially to both high and low.” Lord John 
 Eussell, in a speech characterised more by prudence 
 than by manliness, agreed with all the accusations 
 made against the Orangemen, but, fearing that the 
 removal of all public functionaries connected with 
 Orangeism would create resentment, he proposed 
 an amendment, That an humble address be pre- 
 sented to his Majesty praying that his Majesty 
 would be graciously pleased to take such measures 
 as to his Majesty seemed advisable for the effectual 
 discouragement of Orange lodges, and generally all 
 political societies, excluding persons of different 
 faiths, using signs and symbols and acting by asso- 
 ciated branches ” The Orange leaders in the House 
 had nothing to urge in their defence. An attempt 
 was made at the last moment, by appealing to the 
 good nature of Lord John Eussell, to get the word 
 
 Orange” omitted from the resolution, but without 
 avail. Lord John was determined that the verdict 
 of the nation should be given directly against the 
 Orange conspirators. Mr. Hume, though still 
 maintaining that his resolution was the better of 
 the two,having no object to serve but the abolition of 
 the association, and he accordingly withdrew the 
 original motion, and Lord John Eussell’s resolution 
 
 WAS UNANIMOUSLY AGREED TO. 
 
 Through the lips of royalty itself came the ver- 
 dict and sentence of their doom. The address 
 having leen presented to the King, his Majesty, 
 on the 25th February returned the following 
 reply 
 
 I will willingly assent to the prayer of the ad- 
 dress of my faithful Commons that I will be 
 pleased to take such measures as may seem to me 
 advisable for the effectual discouragement of Orange 
 Lodges, and generaVy of all political societies, ex- 
 cluding persons of different religious faith, using 
 signs and symbols, and acting by means of associated 
 branches. It is my firm intention to discourage all 
 such societies in my dominions, and I rely with con- 
 fidence on the fidelity of my loyal subjects to sup- 
 port me in this determination.’* 
 
 The Home Secretary transmitted the reply to 
 the Duke of Cumberland, the leader in the con 
 spiracy, and his Eoyal Highness answered, that, 
 before receiving the communication he had recom- 
 mended the dissolution of the Orange Institution 
 in Ireland, and that he would forthwith adopt 
 steps for the dissolution of the institution in 
 England. 
 
 29 
 
222 
 
 HISTOBY OF OBANGEISM. 
 
 Was his Majesty depending too much upon " the 
 fidelity of his loyal subjects ? Unquestionably he 
 was. The English Orangemen dissolved. The 
 Irish Grand Committee met in Dublin, and after 
 debate published a series of resolutions to the 
 effect that the will of the King was not law, and 
 that therefore they were strongly opposed to dis- 
 solution. They at the same time passed a vote of 
 thanks “ for his conscientious preference of prin- 
 ciple to expediency’' to Colonel Verner, whom, for 
 some reason unexplained, they presumed to counsel 
 resistance to the King’s wishes. The greatest 
 excitement prevailed, for the fear was entertained 
 that the indiscretion of the Irish members might 
 necessitate criminal proceedings against the 
 leaders. The interval between the meeting of the 
 Irish Committee and the 14th of April, the date of 
 the special meeting summoned to consider the 
 question of dissolution, the Orange organs occu- 
 pied in debating the subject. The Dublin University 
 Magazine, ever loud in expressing the virtues of 
 Orangeism, now acknowledged the truth. In its 
 April issue it said the organisation of Orangemen 
 was designed simjgly for the concentration of 'physical 
 force — these times demand the exhibition of moral 
 power it admitted “ that tne dangers which 
 menaced Protestantism when these societies were 
 formed were not now exactly of the same charac- 
 ter;” said that “ for the purposes of nolitical inter- 
 ference the Orange societies were not originally 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIIT.— SCOTCHED, 
 
 It has been stated by more than one wiitar, mak 
 ing casnal reference to the subject of our story, 
 that Orangeism was non-existant from the year 
 1836 to 1845. This is an error. The face is, 
 Orangeism was not dead. Nor was it even sleeping. 
 After Sir Harcourt Lee’s advice to the Ulster 
 brethren, “ To increase and multiply,” and “ Keep 
 their powder dry,” the lowest classes, particularly 
 in country districts, still remained bound together 
 by the mystic secrets of the local lodges. The 
 guilty thing dragged itself into the dark corners, 
 and there, in the sulks, maintained a miserable 
 existence ; with the air of a martyr, it cherished 
 recollections of the “ glorious past,” when its 
 members were the paid persecutors of the State 
 secretly it bewailed the evil days of reform 
 which made intolerance a crime instead of a virtue. 
 It was a head without a body up to the close of the 
 year 1837. In the month of November of that 
 year an effort was made, but with little success, to 
 
 intended, and were never adapted;” hinted that 
 the association would still remain united in 
 reality;” and coaaselled dissolution. The result 
 was that the Irish Society was abandoned by all 
 who gave It weight or respectability. The dis- 
 reputable portion of it threw off their yoke of 
 allegiance, asserted that a Royal proclamation was 
 not an act o! the Legislature, and, though formally 
 dissolved, became more secret and more illegal 
 than ever.* 
 
 This is what Orangemen of the present day call 
 lojal obedience and a yielding t3 the wishes of 
 their sovereign ! 
 
 On the dissdution of the English and the tem- 
 porary submersion of the Irish Society the public 
 breathed again. A feeling of relief pervaded the 
 community that the English Crown was saved to 
 its rightful inheritor. One year afterwards, a 
 young and virtuous and noble-hearted girl as- 
 cended the Throne of England amid the general 
 acclamations of her people ; and the hoary repro- 
 bate who so longed to wear a c^'own, who, had so 
 long wielded his mock sceptre, exchanged his 
 pasteboard diadem for a real one. The Duke of 
 Cumberland became King of Hanover, the Crown 
 being limited to males, and there was not a law- 
 abiding subject in these realms who did not wish 
 the Hanoverians luck of a bargain of which they 
 soon learned to repent. 
 
 * See “ Westminster Eeview’ for 1836 page 2)1. 
 
 NOT KILLED— DOLLEY’S BRAE. 
 
 creep out of their hiding places into the public 
 thoroughfare. The Evening PacTcet of the 16th 
 November, 1837, contains a report and resolu- 
 tions of a meeting of Orangemen assembled 
 for the purpose of reviving the Grand Lidge. 
 This report, a summary of which will also be found 
 in the Dublin University Mag izine for December of 
 that year, disposes of the assertion that the Insti- 
 tution was defunct until 1845. It is headed, “ Re- 
 establishment of the Orange Society,” at the same 
 time stating that the meeting at 85, Grafton Street, 
 was an assembly of the members of the Orange 
 Society of Ireland.” The object seems to have been 
 he formal revival of the Orange Institution. No 
 names of those present were published, but to the 
 series of resolutions and to the address is appended 
 the name of William Swan as secretary, who, it will 
 be seen, was also secretary before the formal diss - 
 lution. Notwithstanding the fact that the Grand 
 Lodge had at their meeting in April, 1836, 
 
HISTOET OF OEANOEISM. 
 
 223 
 
 declared “ that the end for which the Orange 
 Institution was originally framed will no longer 
 be served by the further continuance of that 
 Institution,” the objects of the Institution de- 
 clared in 1837 to be such ‘^as heretofore.” Up 
 to 1845, however, there was little in connection 
 with the Institution that could induce us to linger 
 over it. The Anti-Procession Act having ex- 
 pired, an effort was made in 1845 to revive them 
 against the wishes of Lord Eoden and other 
 noblemen who sympathised with the society. The 
 result was an armed procession in Armagh, where 
 one Roman Catholic was killed and three were 
 wounded, A Mr. Watson, Deputy Lieutenant, 
 res’ding at Brookhill, presided over an Orange 
 meeting at Lisburn, and, replying to lord 
 Roden\s letter condemning demonstrations, he 
 said their minds were made up, and that 
 they would proceed. The result was the sus- 
 pension of Mr. Wateon. The Orangemen had 
 been too long accustomed to regard party intole- 
 rance as a sure passport to Ministerial favour, and 
 they at once made common cause with Mr. Wat- 
 son, and also with a Mr. Archdale, of the County 
 Fermanagh, who had been suspended on 
 similar grounds. Through the Press they 
 called upon he Orangemen “ to make 
 themselves feared,” and said that there should 
 be monster meetings held to serve that end. Lord 
 Roden now praised Mr. Watson for having done the 
 very thing he had written to him not to dd. Lord 
 Enniskillen, the Marquis of Downshire, Lord Lon- 
 donderry, and other noblemen of Ulster now placed 
 themselves at he head of hat contemptible band 
 of malcontents who had, as the remnants of an ex- 
 piring faction, existed since 1836, and the organ- 
 ization in Ireland again came forth into the light 
 of day. Meetings cf Orangemen were held in all 
 the northern counties; the flame of party 
 spirit spread like wild-fire. On the 10th October, 
 1845, a meeting was held in the Town Hall, Ennis- 
 killen — Lord Enniskillen in the chair — for the 
 purpose of receiving and considering the answers 
 of Mr. Napier, Q C,, to three questions put to him, 
 as to the legality of openly re-establishing the 
 society. These answers were read, but even the 
 Warder newspaper was not sufficiently in the con- 
 fidence of the brethren to be allowed to copy the 
 legal opinions. The reporter, ho wever, was assured 
 that the opinions were quite favourable, &c., &c.^ 
 and this meeting, thereupon, resolved to make 
 public acknowledgement of their existence, pro- 
 tected as they were beneath the spacious name of En- 
 
 killen. We are assured by this authority that 
 signs and pass-words were to be discontinued. 
 He was told so. In an address from a meet- 
 ing of noblemen, amongst whom was Lord Ennis 
 killen, published in the News-Letter, October 24, 
 over Lord Rolen’s name the Protestants were 
 called upon to unite but warned not to weaken 
 their union by administering oaths or using secret 
 signs — a system which modern sedition had polluted 
 and the law denounced.” While calling upon them 
 to unite, it warned kern not to seek aid from any 
 source which the spirit of the laws or the Constitu- 
 tion denied.” Mark the consistency ! A few 
 weeks after this address appeared the Orangemen 
 were called upon by the same Lord to come boldly 
 out into the open day. With a spirit of wild exul- 
 tation over a miserable people, a prey to the mul- 
 tiplied horrors of famine and its concomitants, the 
 Institution was formally re-established. There is 
 reason for belief that it adopted that system which 
 sedition had polluted” — signs, passwords, and 
 observances, only less sacred than an oath. Lord 
 Enniskillen became its Grand Master ; Lord Loden, 
 its Deputy Grand Master. 
 
 The rules, as revised by Joseph Napier in 1845, 
 and which were adopted by the Grand Lodge of 
 Ireland assembled at Monaghan in 1849, display 
 great professional skill in the way in which a clever, 
 wily adviser of a political clique can drive a coach- 
 and-four, not through one, but through half a dozen 
 Acts of Parliament. But above and beyond all 
 they show the truculency of the Orange Institution. 
 Mr. Madden begins the fourth volume of h:s Lives 
 and Times of the United Irishmen” with an ad- 
 dress to the people of England, in which he shows 
 up the infamy of this institution. The author re- 
 issued this address in 1861 in pa nphlet form, hav- 
 ing extended it, and in the extended pamphlet of 
 1861 (whether it has been published in any of the 
 late editions of his work 1 have not ascer- 
 tained) will be found a complete copy of 
 the rules of the Orange Institution as they 
 came from the revising hands of Mr. Napier. 
 Their voluminous character, and indeed their 
 general similarity to the old rules in most respects, 
 prevent their being included in this work. It is 
 sufficient to say that conditional loyalty alone was 
 still promised to the occupant of the Throne and 
 her successors, as the phrase “ being Protestant” 
 sufficiently implies ; that the association was 
 formed upon the old exclusive basis, the qualifica- 
 tion being the religion of the Reformation ;” that 
 an oath was not required upon entering or any 
 
224 
 
 HISTOEY OY OKANGEISM. 
 
 illegal test or declaration/’ though the absence of 
 all three was very successfully and effectually 
 atoned for ; that an Orangeman was bound not to 
 wrong a brother or know of a brother being wronged 
 without giving him due notice ; that a brother be- 
 fore being admitted should be found to be one 
 who would not in any manner communi- 
 cate or reveal any of the proceedings or counsels 
 of his brother Orangemen, in lodge assembled, 
 or any matter or thing therein coromunicated to 
 him ; and that a Purple man, before being 
 initiated, should be distinctly known to be a man 
 who would not reveal things confided to him, even 
 to an Orangeman. To Mr. Napier there were three 
 questions propounded 1st, whether the Orange 
 Society, retaining its former name, and acting by 
 affiliated branches, could be recognised consistently 
 with the law as it then existed ? 2nd. In what 
 manner, if at all, the organisation could be 
 effected; and he was requested to remodel the 
 rules so as to render them conformable with the 
 law 3rd. Was it lawful for a magistrate in the com- 
 mission of the peace to advise or encourage such 
 reorganisation ? Before this small clique of the 
 Irish nobility attached themselves to the remnant 
 of the faction of 1835 they resolved at last to hedge 
 themselves round wi!:h the technic ililies and quib- 
 bles of an astute lawyer. To these questions Mr. 
 Napier replied by reviewing the several Acts which 
 operated against secret societies, and said : — 1st — • 
 That no oath could in any manner, or under any 
 pretence, lawfully be used or administered ; 2nd, 
 that secret signs and passwords, or other secret 
 modes of communication, could be employed; 
 and 3rd, that any test or declaration used should 
 be approved of by two magistrates in the county 
 where it was being used, and should subsequently 
 be sanctioned by the majority of magistrates at 
 Quarter Sessions, and registered with the Clerk of 
 the Peace. A magistrate who approved of the 
 principles of the society might be believed also 
 assist in reorganising it in conformity with the 
 existing law, but the propriety of such a course, 
 like the exercise of any privilege, must be decided 
 by himself for his own guidance.” He suggested 
 the importance of cautioning the branch associa- 
 tions of the old society against any premature or 
 partial revival of combinations which might 
 violate the spirit in attempting to evade the 
 letter of the law,” and concludes his opinion in 
 these words, remarkable because coming from a 
 lawyer of a decided leaning towards a confederacy 
 which had many favours to dispose of : — I with is 
 
 should be understood that I do not mean to express 
 or insinuate any opinion as to the propriety or im- 
 prudence of the course upon the legality of which 
 I am requested to advise. Popular confederacies are 
 perilous, because they generally become unman- 
 ageable ; but allowance of them under a free con- 
 stitution shows that circumstances may exist which 
 may require such united vigour as they call into 
 activity.” With all due deference to Mr. Napier’s 
 memory, such *• allowances under a fiee constitu- 
 tion” show nothing of the sort. There being no 
 express prohibition upon the statute books 
 against confederacies of an exclusive kind such 
 as this, does not argue their occasional 
 necessity. It rather argues that it is a free con- 
 stitution; that men’s desires may be as intolerant 
 as their selfish natures will prompt, but so soon as 
 those desires proceed to acts or threats they be- 
 come responsible to the common law of the 
 country. Why they were nob held responsible as 
 often as might be is because the magistrates who 
 administered that common law in most instances 
 took Mr. Napier at his word, and became part and 
 parcel of the confederacy. Little wonder, how- 
 ever, that the reporter of the Warder was not 
 permitted to give that precious document to the 
 public, and that it remained hidden in the 
 archives of Orangeism until Mr. Madden laid un- 
 holy hands upon it. 
 
 But it should be here stated that the 57 
 of George HI., chap. 19, provided for the 
 more effectual preventing seditious meet- 
 ings and assemblies.” By section 39, this 
 Act is made not bo extend to Ireland, but under it 
 this representative” body might in England have 
 been held to be illegnl, thus placing the Orange 
 institution in the anomalous position of being 
 tolerated by law in Ireland, and expressly pro- 
 hibited in England. The legal ingenuity of 
 lawyers identified with the Orange cause here set 
 the existing laws in Ireland at defiance, and placed 
 before the British Parliament the necessity of 
 framing a special measure for their suppression. 
 Mr. Madden quotes upon this question the opinion 
 of a legal gentleman of eminence at the bar who 
 says : — ** When English writers in the Press, and 
 English politicians upbraid Irishmen for the 
 existence of such an institution amongst them, 
 they mast have singularly short memories for, 
 within thirty years the institution was in full 
 operation in England, and but for a law against it, 
 would be so still. All the Irish Liberals who seek 
 the suppression ©f the Orange Institution 
 
HISTOET or OEANGEISM. 
 
 225 
 
 ask is to have the same law in Ireland as in Eng- 
 land.” The blind folly and prejudice of the Irish 
 Orangemen prevented them from seeing the dis- 
 creditable position they occupied. The times were 
 exciting, no doubt. But the threat of armed resist- 
 ance, for this was its true meaning, against the Ke- 
 pealers, who were taught to run from the sound of 
 a gun as did the naked savages of Central Africa^ 
 was for that very reason the more cowardly and the 
 more criminal. It was the opposition o^ brute force 
 to numbers. Certainly the movement which ended 
 in the miserable fiasco at Ballingarry was not of a 
 character to leave the English Government in Ire- 
 land in need of assistancp. Oppression, it is said, 
 makes wise men mad. Opprf ssion and famine, act- 
 i ig upon men who at best were never very wise, 
 certainly who were not selfish enough and too big 
 hearted to display it, as the world goes, had made 
 a handful of men lunatics. But it acted in a 
 directly oppos te sense on the oppressors. It made 
 them jubilant. And seeing their countrymen flying 
 before famine and the law, they gave cry. 
 Halloo, mad dog,” and resolved to follow. What 
 a position, now that we look ba-k upon it ! 
 
 On the 8th July, 1848, Lord Koden addressed a 
 letter, dated 8th July, to the Northern Orange- 
 men, expressing regret that they were not able to 
 make Tullymore Park their place of meeting, in 
 order that he might have an opportunity of wit- 
 nessing their numbers.” He denied, when after- 
 wards called to account for the consequences, that 
 his letter was an invitation, and said it simply 
 meant that “'he would not shut his gates against 
 them,” which explanation most readers will regard 
 is a distinction without a difference. lord Eoden 
 was a peer and a Privy Councillor ; he was for years 
 a Deputy Lieutenant of the County Down, and 
 custos-rotulorum of another county. Being a man 
 of mature age and full of sanctity, he deserved the 
 compliment of being capable of estimating the re- 
 sults of his acts-. The result of the demonstration 
 of Orangemen in 1848 was most unfortunate. 
 “The seed of mischief was now sown,” says a 
 writer in the Edinburgh Review. " The evil of these 
 exclusive associations is the ill-will which they 
 engender, the resistance which they provoke, and 
 the counter associations which they infallibly call 
 into existence.” While life and strength remain no 
 men fit for anything but slavery will submit to be 
 trampled over, or to accept the badge of inferiority 
 sought to be fastened upon them by a rival faction. 
 The Eoman Catholic element now determined to 
 celebrate their festival on the 17th of March, the 
 
 consequence being the perpetuation of that cursed 
 party spirit which has ever since been the bane of 
 Ulster. 
 
 The hint thrown out by Lord Eoden to the 
 Orangemen in 1843 did not need to be repeated in 
 the following year. It was resolved to assemble 
 on the 12th of July, 1849, at Tullymore Park and 
 Dolly’s Brae, an exclusively Catholic district of the 
 County Down, adjacent to Castlewellan, and a place, 
 for many long years sacred from Orange demonstra- 
 tions, was to be “ taken” on the route. When it be- 
 came known that the Orangemen had resolved upon 
 this step the utmost consternation prevailed. The 
 legality of the procession became so much a subject 
 of discussion that the assistant barrister at the 
 Newry Quarter Sessions thought it advisable to 
 warn the country that “none but persons duly 
 authorised by law were entitled to assemble in 
 numbers and in public with arms;” the Bishop of 
 Down and Connor besought, by public letter, the 
 Orangemen “to refrain from processions, calculated, 
 as surely they were, to engender party strife,” while 
 Lord Massereene hastened to assure his lordship 
 “ that the clergy appeared to be the chief pro- 
 moters of the Orange demonstration.” Thus 
 matters stood previous to an event which, for its 
 sanguinary nature, rivalled the bloody disaster of 
 the “ Diamond,” and which, in more respects than 
 one, resembled that massacre, seeing that it cele- 
 brated the awaking, as the Diamond did the 
 inception, of Orangeism. The Dolly’s Brae conflict 
 IS thus admirably described by one who must be 
 taken as an impartial witness * : — 
 
 This spot had already become notorious in the 
 annals of party strife. Thirty-four years ago, in a 
 contest which took place there, a Eoman Catholic 
 was killed. His widowed mother seon followed 
 him to the grave; but left her dying injunction, so 
 the story goes, that no Orange procession should 
 ever be allowed to pass that way. After her death 
 her name was given to the hill ; and it became a 
 point of honour with the Orange party to march in 
 procession over “Dolly’s” Brae, and with the 
 Eoman Catholics to prevent them. It is situated 
 about two miles from Castlewellan, on the old road 
 from Eathfriland, which passes through Bally ward, 
 the hamlet of Magberamayo and Dolly’s Brae. 
 This road is so bad and hilly that a new one was 
 made a few years ago, which, diverging from the 
 other at Ballyward school-house, about three miles 
 from Castlewellan, takes the level ground to Castle- 
 wellan where the roads unite again. The hill road, 
 
 * Edinburgh Review for Januarj, 1831'. 
 
 80 
 
226 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANGEiSM. 
 
 though the shorter of the two, is rarely used — the 
 new one being more level and convenient. So that 
 a procession going from Bally ward to Castle wellan 
 would avoid Dolly’s Brae, unless, indeed, they went 
 out of their way on purpose. 
 
 The arrangement of the procession and the choice 
 of the route devolved, as before, upon Mr. W. Beers. 
 He was aware that the new road was the natural 
 one — he admits that on the preceding anniversary 
 it had been adopted, and that no collision toolt 
 place. But he had heard that to pass through 
 Dolly’s Brae would be regarded as a triumph by* 
 the Orange party ; and this motive appears to have 
 outweighed all other considerations in the mind of 
 the magistrate. About the middle of June, accord- 
 ing to his c wn account, he issued his orders through 
 Mr. Jardine of Kathfriland, that the procession 
 should tike the Dolly’s Brae road, and he was 
 careful to communicate the order to his friend and 
 Correspondent — Dord Eoden. That there should 
 be no mistake, the rendezvous of the lodge was 
 fixed at Bally ward, near the point of divergence of 
 the two roads, at the house of his brother, Mr. F. 
 C. Beers, another magistrate, and in Tollymore 
 Park he himself repeated the order to the Orange- 
 men to return, as they had arrived, by Dolly’s 
 Brae. 
 
 The consequences of this order were foreseeen. 
 After consultion among the magistrate?, one of 
 them, Mr. T. Scott, went to Dublin, and requested 
 that a strong force should be sent down. Accord- 
 ingly, two stipendiary magistrates, two troops of 
 cavalry, two companies of infantry, and a sub- 
 inspector and forty policemen were despatched to 
 Castlewellan and Eathfriland, where the sub- 
 inspector, Mr. Hill, was stationed with thirty-four 
 of his own constabulary. In the meantime proof 
 was accumulating that these precautions were not 
 unnecessary. It was openly stated in the news- 
 papers that the Eoman Catholics had he’d a meet- 
 ng, and were determined to resist the march of 
 the Orange procession through Dolly’s Brae, and 
 an anonymous letter was sent on the 9th of July 
 to a magistrate, Mr. George Shaw, Lord Aunesley’s 
 agent, professing to come from the repealers—" To 
 give you and Moore, and the Beers, and Eoden, and 
 Hill, and Skinner, and all other magistret’s, with 
 the pig-drovers, the police, and your handful of 
 BoJgers to meet us on Dolly’s Brae on the 12 morn- 
 ing inst., to show your valure,” &c. We have 
 quoted the date and some of the words of this 
 epistle that our readers may see the character of 
 the " challenge,” which the member for Fermanagh, 
 
 in a style of argument savouring rather of Tip- 
 perary than Wf si minster Hall, and with. a great 
 contempt for the date of Mr. Beers’ order, adduced 
 in Parliament as the cause and justification of th^ 
 march through Dolly’s B^rae. 
 
 Early on the morning of the !12th, the military 
 and police occupied the pass of Dolly’s Brae, and 
 the EibbonmSn, who had begun to collect in great 
 numbers, finding their intentions anticipated, 
 moved off towards Maghermayo; and, after firing 
 and manoeuvring in their own fashion, finally 
 posted themselves on the side of the hill above the 
 road. The Orange lodges from the Eathfriland 
 district collected at Mr. F. C. Beer’s house at Bally- 
 ward. The magistrates who had gone to the same 
 place, seeing that the Orangemen were armed and 
 preparing to advance, and perceiving through a 
 telescope that the Eibbonmen had assembled in 
 force to oppose them, became alarmed for the re- 
 sult, and Mr. Scott proposed to Mr. Beers that the 
 procession should go by the level road to Castle- 
 wellan. The reply was almost in the same words 
 as those previously used by Mr. Jardiue to Mr. 
 Hill — " that no power on earth would prevent the 
 Orangemen going by Dolly’s Brae.” The magis- 
 trates seem to have thought that the only course 
 open to them in such circumstances was to intimi- 
 date the Eibbonmen by a display of police and 
 military, and by main force prevent an actual con- 
 flict. Accordingly the military were hastily 
 brought up from Eathfriland and the procession 
 was formed, the police and dragoons going in front 
 followed by the Orangemen, many of whom were 
 armed, and at intervals in the line were carts 
 covered with grass and containing fire-arms. Be- 
 fore they reached Dolly’s Brae, a negociation with 
 the Eibbonmen had been opened by the party 
 there through the medium of two Eoman Catho'lic 
 priests, and by great exertions a kind of armed 
 truce was established, so that the procession passed 
 on undisturbed towards Tollymore Park. 
 
 Lord Eoden, on horseback^ received the party at 
 his gate and entered the Park at their head. He 
 describes the procession as consisting of fifty 
 lodges,'compesed of 2,000 men, of whom he saw 300 
 armed, besides women and children. Eefresh- 
 ments were then served in tents, and there were 
 barrels of beer and bread and cheese for the crowd. 
 
 Captain Fitzmaurice, the stipendiary magis- 
 trate, now applied to Lord Eoden, urging him to 
 use his influence with the Orangemen to induce 
 them not to return by Dolly’s Brae, saying — " The? 
 have had triumph enough now, and why go back 
 
HISTOET OF OEINOEISM. 
 
 227 
 
 ani rua the risk of bloodshed ?” He replied that 
 he feared he had no influence, but would speak to 
 the Hrand Master, Mr. W. Beers. He did so, and 
 even suggested — Would it not be better for them 
 to go that way ?” but on receiving from the Grand 
 Master the answer — Oh, there will be no danger, 
 and it would be impracticable or impossible, as 
 there would be a split,” he felt the answer to be so 
 satisfactory that he did not press the matter any 
 further. 
 
 The Orangemen having enj oyed the hospitality 
 of Tollymore Park, were summoned by the sound 
 of a bugle round a platform, where Mr. Beers ad- 
 dressed them, requesting them to return quietly 
 by Dolly’s Brae. Lord "R-oden also spoke — 'he con- 
 gratulated them on their numbers, told them that 
 it was for the right of private j adgment in the 
 study of God’s word t>hat Orangemen contended ; 
 trusted that they would never forget the preserva- 
 tion of iheir rights ; talked about the magnificent 
 scenery and the coming of the Queen, and incul- 
 cated forbearance and love. Lord Roden, but ap- 
 parently only after the manner of Lord Masserene, 
 
 disapproves of processions altogether.” He takes 
 some credit for alio ving the procession to come to 
 his park, “ for then I should have an opportunity of 
 addressing them and requesting them to conduct 
 themselves properly, and by all means to preserve 
 the peace.” If Lord Roden felt that his influence 
 would be efficacious in inducing an excited multi- 
 tude to avoid a breach of the peace it seems extra- 
 ordinary that when he was requested to persuade 
 them to take the ordinary road homewards, he 
 should have told Captain Fitzmaurice that he had 
 no influence. The peaceful address which he was 
 BO anxious to deliver, and on which his adherents 
 now lay so great stress, was after all not particu- 
 larly successful, perhaps, because, as Mr, Scott tells 
 us, part of the speech was quite inaudible in con- 
 sequence of the uproar.” 
 
 Towards six o’clock the drums of the Orangemen 
 announced to the party at Dolly’s Brae the return 
 of the procession, which was about three-quarters 
 of a mile long, armed, as Major Williamson says^ 
 to the teeth. The guns in fact had now been taken 
 out of the carts, and Constable Scanlon counted 
 four hundred and twenty-eight stand of arms in the 
 procession, exclusive of those in the hands of the 
 Castlewellan party. In front came Mr, Hill’s 
 police, then the Orangemen, next came the dra- 
 goons, then another party of police, and last of all 
 the infantry. Mr. Scott makes honourable mention 
 of the Roman Catholic priest, Mr. Morgan, who 
 
 exerted himself to the tmost to keep the people 
 quiet. But the excitement, which in the morning 
 had been almost uncontrollable, had now risen to 
 fury. Tne women and children of the Roman Ca- 
 tholic party collected on the sides of the road, and 
 covered the Orangemen with taunts and execra- 
 tions. They retorted with the cry — “ There’s a 
 priest — to hell with the priest — to hell with the 
 Pope !” and in this manner Dolly’s Brae was 
 passed. 
 
 When the police at the head of the procession 
 reached the place where the Ribbonmen had col- 
 lected on Magheramayo Hill, they found them in 
 three divisions, numbering about 1,200 men, posted 
 behind some walls the nearest about a hundred 
 yards from the road. On coming abreast of the wall 
 the police halted between the Ribbonmen on the 
 hill and the Orangemen on the road, and remained 
 stationary until the rear of the procession was in 
 the act of passing them. At this critical moment 
 a shot or squib was fired from the head of the pro- 
 cession,* immediately came two shot from the 
 hill, then a volley, and then the firing was general 
 on both sides. Mr. Hill’s police charged up the 
 hill and fired upon the Ribbohmen, who soon broke 
 and fled, on which the fire of the police ceased, and 
 they secured a number of prisoners. Nearly two 
 hundred Orangemen also began to ascend the hill 
 and kept up a fire upon the retreating Ribbon- 
 men ; and while the rear part of the procession 
 were thug engaged those who were in front broke 
 loose from all restraint in Magheramayo, where 
 there was no opposition, and began to burn and 
 wreck the houses, while some scattered themselves 
 over the fields to complete the same work of devas- 
 tation. The dragoons now pushed forward and 
 drove the Oiangemen onwards towards Rath- 
 friland. By this time a number of houses were 
 blazing, and a party of police were sent to ex- 
 tinguish the flames. Mr. Scott saw two men 
 trying to set fire to a bouse, he struck one and 
 took the gun from the other. Mr. Tighe, a magis- 
 trate, saw an Orangeman firing into the thatch of a 
 house, but never thought of arresting him. Inspector 
 Corry went into six burning houses j from one an 
 old woman was struggling to escape, but the door 
 was partially closed and the blazing thatch falling 
 
 • With reference to this po'nt the R vim says : — “ The 
 evidence is conflicting, whether the squib came from the 
 road, or the hill. There are seven or eight witnesses in 
 support of each opinion ; but where there Is plainly a general 
 leaning tmoards the Orangemen— the agreement against them 
 of the three commanding officers. Major White, of the 
 Fnniflkillens, Captain Fitzmaurice, the stipendiary, and Mr. 
 Hill, the laspeoter^f Folioe, is to oftf jmdgmenc conclusive. 
 
228 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 in ; and she would have been burned to death had 
 he not saved her. A policeman rescued a girl 
 eighteen years old from another Louse. Sub-Con- 
 stable Fair took a woman out of a house on fire in 
 a desperate state, blackened and wounded. Another 
 constable saw an Orangeman strike a woman with 
 the butt end of his gun as she was trying to get 
 away. 
 
 The work of retaliation, both on life and pro- 
 perty by the Orange party, was proceeding lower 
 down the hill and along the side of the road in a 
 most brutal and wanton manner, reflecting the 
 deepest disgrace on all by whom it was perpetrated 
 and encouraged. One little boy ten years old was 
 deliberately fired at and shot while runnin g across 
 a 6 eld. Mr. Fitzmaurice stopped a man in the act 
 of firing at a girl who was rushing from her father’s 
 house ; an old woman of seventy was murdered ; 
 and the sknll of an idiot was bea'^en in with the 
 butts of their muskets. Another old woman was 
 severely beaten in her house, while another, who 
 was subsequently saved by the police, was much 
 injured, and left in her house which had been set 
 on fire. An inoffensive man was taken out of his 
 house, dragged to his garden, and stabbed to death 
 by three men with bayonets in the sight of some cf 
 his family. The Eoman Catholic chape’, the house 
 of the Eoman Catholic curate, and the National 
 school-house were fired into and the windows 
 broken, and a number of the surrounding houses of 
 the Eoman Catholic inhabitants were set on fire 
 and br.rnt, every article of furniture having been 
 first wantonly destroyed therein.” (Mr. Berwick’s 
 Eef o‘^t.) 
 
 The scenes which took place in the houses are 
 best described in the witnesses’ own wotds : — 
 
 Bridget King — I know Pat King who was killed 
 on the 12th of July. He was taking care of his 
 mother on that day. The door was shut. I saw 
 the Orangemen fire at the house. They broke in 
 the door. They pulled him over the garden ditch 
 and stabbed him. He died in ten minutes after- 
 wards. He was not out of the house that day. 
 
 We condense the evidence as to Arthur Tray nor. 
 He was standing near his own house. Had no 
 arms in his hands on the 12ch. Was hit with a 
 ball in the cheek. Ean to Mr. F. C. Beers to save 
 his life. Mr. Beers thought him a peaceably dis- 
 posed man. Ean him among the prisoners where 
 he was handcuffed. No attention was paid to him 
 for four day.s. On the 16th, when under exa- 
 mination before the coroner, it wa^ made 
 known that the ball was still in his face. 
 
 On the IT th, this man, who had not had arms in 
 his hands, and was known by Mr. Beers to be a 
 peaceable man, having had his house burned, all 
 his property destroyed, and being himself severely 
 wounded, was discharged ! 
 
 Margaret Traynor — The men with sashes on 
 them fired into ray house and burned it and def- 
 troyed it; they chased the old woman who is dead 
 into the byre, and followed her. I saw her after 
 they went away ; she was drawing breath, but she 
 died in about an hour afterwards. They shot my 
 husband in the cheek and made a prisoner of him. 
 I saw Pat King a killing. They dragged him out 
 of his house. He begged for mercy. He got away 
 from them and ran into the garden. Three of the 
 men made a bounce at him, others following them, 
 they stoned him in tne garden. I saw him gather- 
 ing himself up and begging for mercy. 
 
 Margaret King — I w as in the house when the 
 door was broken, and my uncle, Pat King, killed* 
 The house filled in with Orangemen. One of them 
 hit him on the head with a stone. Three of them 
 then took him down to the low room. I got into a 
 field. One of the Orangemen said — D — n your 
 
 soul for a Popish b h,” and knocked me down 
 
 off the garden ditch with a stone. When I re- 
 turned to the garden three of them had my uncle 
 down and were stabbing him. I got into a byre 
 and hid in some hay. Some of them came in and 
 stabbed the cow in two places, broke the stake, and 
 let her out. When I could do so with safety I went 
 to my uncle, and got his head on my knee. He 
 lived about ten minutes after that. The dragoons 
 came up just as my uncle was dying. One of them 
 said — "" May be he’ll come to again.” They (the 
 
 Orangemen) d d my grandmother, who is an 
 
 old bed-ridden woman the last year and a half^ 
 spat in her face, hit her on the head with a stone, 
 cut her arms, and then smashed a chair on her fore- 
 head. 
 
 The result of this day’s proceedings seems to 
 have been that four Eoman Catholics lost their 
 lives, besides a considerable number wounded. 
 And it is particularly to be noticed that only one 
 of these lives was lost in the conflict on the hill. 
 When armed parties are firing on each other 
 bloodshed is the natural consequence ; and some 
 allowance may be claimed on account of the ex- 
 citement of the actual struggle, and the absence 
 of individual animosity. But even this can hardly 
 be said of the little boy, Hugh King, for though 
 shot in the field, he was deliberately singled out. 
 The other three were cases of cold-blooded, delibe 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 229 
 
 rate, wilful murder, where there waa neither 
 danger, provocation, nor resistance. John Sweeny, 
 an idiot, was found on the road with his skull 
 battered to pieces. Patrick King was dragged out 
 cf his cabin, stabbed, and beaten to death. Ann 
 Traynor, a woman seventy years of age, was cruelly 
 beaten, and died soon after. Eight houses, one of 
 them belonging to Buck” Ward and a half a mile 
 from the scene of conflict, were wrecked and burned ; 
 and a great many others, including the Eoman 
 Catholic curate’s house, the chapel, and school- 
 house, were fired into and more or less injured. 
 That three women, one of them badly wounded, 
 were not burned to death in their houses, was 
 solely owing to the timely interference of the 
 police. 
 
 So perfectly, in the short space of twelve months, 
 did Lord Eoden and Mr. Beers, by re-establishing 
 Orange processions in the County of Down, re- 
 produce the horrors of Maghery and Annahagh. 
 But savage and brutal as was this scene, the events 
 which followed are, to our minds, more deeply dis- 
 gusting. 
 
 On the Monday following an inquest was held on 
 the bodies by Mr. George Tyrrell, the coroner of 
 the district, no notice in these inquisitions. In his 
 charge he informed the jury that this armed pro- 
 cession of 2,000 men was a legal assembly. He ad- 
 mitted that some persons were of a different 
 opinion, but “ he believed that he carried with him 
 the opinion of many of the magistrates who sat on 
 the bench.” He might, we humbly conceive, have 
 been more positive on this point; considering that 
 Mr. F. C. Beers was sitting beside him, along with 
 Captain Hill, Lord Eoden’s agent, and other magis- 
 trates who had accompanied the procession. He 
 further instructed them “ that the Go vernment so 
 far countenanced these processions that they sent 
 an armed force to protect not only the proces- 
 sionists but to guard the peace of the country.” 
 The jury, we must presu’ue, were satisfied with 
 Mr. Tyrrell’s exposition of the law and of the 
 policy of the Government; because instead of 
 returning a verdict of wilful mnrder against those 
 persons known or unknown who had entered a 
 Cabin and beaten to death an offending man and 
 an old woman, they simply found that the deceased 
 had died from injuries inflicted by persons un- 
 known in a party procession. The intrepid coroner 
 went so fur as to suggest a verdict of justifiable 
 homicide! but this was rather too much ; but the 
 ury confined themselves to the established pre- 
 cedent. 
 
 Next day there was a magisterial inquiry. 
 Captain Skinner, a magistrate and agent to the 
 Marquis of Downshire, having asserted that the 
 people ought to be satisfied with justice as it is 
 administered in Castlewellan Petty Sessions,” it 
 becomes interesting to observe how even-handed 
 is the justice which an Orange magistrate, undone 
 of the most upright of his class, thinks good 
 enough for “ the people,” and to test the moral 
 obligation on Eoman Catholics to have entire confi- 
 dence in the impartiality of Mr. Shaw (Lord 
 Annesley’s agent). Captain Teigh, Mr. Hill (Lord 
 Eoden’s agent), and the two Messrs. Beers, who 
 were present on this occasion. We are glad to learn 
 that for firing upon the Orangemen and police 
 twenty of the Eibbon party were committed for 
 trial; but we were hardly prepared to find that for 
 firing upon the Eibbonmen — even when running 
 away in defiance of the orders of the stipendiary 
 magistrate, Captain Fitzmaurice — for murdering 
 three helpless, unoffending Catholics — for burning 
 eight Louses — for robbing, wrecking, and injuring 
 a great many more, including a chapel and school- 
 house, all done in broad daylight, in the midst of 
 hundreds of witnesses, in the presence of several 
 magistrates who had actually seized some of the 
 offenders in the act, and who had at their com- 
 mand seventy-fi^e policemen, two troops of cavalry, 
 and two companies of Infantry — not a single 
 Orangeman was arrested or molested in any way 
 whatever ! 
 
 At a subsequent period, when the Government 
 thought it right to interfere, Mr. Euthven, the 
 Crown Solicitor, tendered informations against 
 a number of Orangemen, and Mr. Berwick attended 
 to advise the magistrates as t® the law ; although 
 if any doubt had existed on this point it could 
 hardly have failed to have been dispelled by the 
 discussions which had taken place, and the autho- 
 ritative opinions which had been expressed in the 
 House of Commons and elsewhere, as well as 
 officially by the Irish Attorney-General. Mr. 
 Keown, the brother of the High Sheriff, appeared, 
 however, as counsel for the Orangemen. Five of 
 the magistrates, under these circumstances, were 
 willing to receive the informations ; but the 
 course of justice, which in other parts of 
 Ireland is sometimes arrested by aecomplices 
 on the jury, was turned aside at the Castle- 
 wellan Petty Sessions by accomplices on the 
 Bench. Lord Eoden himself came to the rescue, 
 accompanied, we grieve to say, by three clergy- 
 men— Mr. Annesley, Mr. Forde, and Mr. Johnston 
 
 31 
 
230 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 — who had not attended the previous investigation ; 
 and these gentlemen being, according to their own 
 confession ignorant of the law, and preferring to 
 be guided by their own ignorance rather than by 
 the eminent advice at their command, outvoted the 
 others, and refused to accept the informations ! 
 
 It is painful to say that worse than even this 
 remains behind. We should have thought that, 
 although the madness of party might have led men 
 into unjustifiable actions, and even into an open 
 evasion of the law, yet that the ordinary feelings of 
 gentlemen, and, we must add, of clergymen, might 
 have in this instance occasioned some little com- 
 punction and have induced them to cast a veil over 
 these excesses, 'and to give to the poor Eoman 
 Catholic peasantry some thin excuse for bearing 
 with patience their unredr^ssed wrongs. But the 
 victory (for that is the word used by an Orange 
 clergyman, Mr. Drew) of Dolly’s Brae would have 
 lest half its charms, had any such feelings been 
 allowed to temper the full-blown triumph of the 
 Orange party. w 
 
 On the day week after the burning of Magh era- 
 mayo, on the second day after the magisterial 
 inquiry which taught the Eibbonmen the precise 
 amount of protection to life and property afPorded 
 to them by the law as administered at the Castle- 
 wellan Petty Sessions, a grand Orange dinner was 
 given to the hero of the day, the Grand Master of 
 the County Down Orangemen, Mr. William Beers. 
 No pains were spared to do him honour. The 
 Seneschal of Downpatrick gave the use of the 
 Manor Court House ; a hundred guests sat down to 
 dinner; Mr. Maxwell, of Finnebrogue (another 
 magistrate, by the way) hurried from a Church 
 Education Society to join in the festivity ; and the 
 chair was filled by Mr. Keown, the High Sheriff of 
 the county. No cloud seems to have dimmed the 
 gaiety of the evening : no one cared to consider 
 what at that moment was passing in the minds of 
 the villagers of Magheramayo, mourning over 
 their murdered relatives, the poor idiot, the inoffen- 
 si'^e man, the young boy, the aged woman, and con- 
 templating the blackened ruins of their cottages, 
 and the ground strewed with the remnants of their 
 little property wantonly destroyed. Or, if such 
 thoughts occurred, they were soon dispersed by the 
 music of The Protestant Boys,” and the triumph- 
 ant cheering which greeted the “ Glorious, pious, 
 and immortal memory.” Grace was said by the 
 Rev. Mr. Breakey, who seems to have thought it 
 better to rejoice with those that rejoice, than to 
 ■weep with those that weep. The High Sheriff gave 
 
 the toast of the evening, ‘^William Beers, Esq., 
 our County Grand Master, with nine times nine, 
 and the Kentish fire;” and then this gentleman, 
 thoroughly appreciating the taste of his hearers, 
 and encouraged by their sympathy, delivered the 
 following speech, which, remembering the time, 
 place, and circumstances, we think absolutely un- 
 paralleled ; — 
 
 He thanked them! for the high honour con- 
 ferred upon them by their entertainment of that 
 evening. If consistency to his principles were the 
 cause of it, he did claim that he had been con- 
 sistent to his principles as an Orangman ; but he 
 regretted that he had not done as much for the 
 cause as his feehngs had dictated. They had only 
 lately celebrated the anniversary of the 12th of 
 J uly, and such an anniversary as it would have 
 been, only /or the little blot, if blot he could call it. 
 No j it was a treacherous attempt to betray inno- 
 cent Protestants of the district j he had been well 
 aware of the plots which had been got up against 
 them, but knew that God was with them. There 
 was nothing contemplated by their enemies but 
 murder and treachery— only think of 1,000 men 
 attacking 25. What would have saved them 
 only they had God directing them, &c.” 
 
 On this oration we cannot trust ourselves to say 
 one single word. The audience, however, seem to 
 have highly approved of it, for it was received, 
 according to the DownpatricJc Recorder with loud 
 and continued cheering. 
 
 One more incident and we pass from this part of 
 our subject. Where, as in Ireland, the spirit of 
 party is so much stronger than the love of justice, 
 complaints of packed juries are frequent; and how- 
 ever unreasonably, people think it important to 
 have a Sheriff of their own way of thinking. It 
 was therefore an encouraging fact that the Orange 
 dinner was presided over by the High Sheriff ; and 
 the vice-chairman, Mr. Ellis, Grand Master of the 
 Newry Orangemen, took care to bring it pro- 
 minently forward, saying that ** they ought to be 
 proud to see at their table the first officer of the 
 county;” — a sentiment to which Mr. Keown, as 
 ** Chief Magistrate,” promptly responded. But it 
 may be doubted whether all this tends to create 
 confidence in the pure administration of justice ; 
 and whether a Magheramayo man is to be blamed 
 for distrusting a Sheriff who is brother-in-law ef 
 the County Grand Master, presides over an Orange 
 dinner, and is one of those who hail with loud and 
 continued cheers Mr. W. Beers* opinion, that, when 
 committed by Orangemen against Roman Catholics, 
 
HISTOEY OE OEANaEISM. 
 
 231 
 
 robbery, burglary, fire-raising, and murder, are only 
 a little blot, if blot he could call it/’ 
 
 Sucb is the bistory of this crime, the inaugurating 
 sacrifice of the second reign of Orangeism. It 
 stands not without a parallel. Our narratire has 
 already furnished many a one, but for cold blooded 
 ▼iudictiveness, for deliberate and heartless blood- 
 shed it is unsurpassed. An effort has been made 
 to fix the blame upon anyone, save the real offen- 
 ders. The blackest crime has seldom wanted an 
 apology, and they have been loudest in their ex- 
 cuses who were the real criminals. It is even so 
 with the Orangemen. It has been alleged that 
 the procession was legal and, therefore, those who 
 ©bstructed it provoked the contest. 
 
 But was the procession legal ? 
 
 Did not the precautions taken by the Govern- 
 ment demonstrate that there were reasonable ap- 
 prehensions of a breach of the peace ? 
 
 Has an armed multitude a right to assemble 
 upon the Queen’s highway to the terror of her 
 Majesty’s subjects ? 
 
 Did not the the threat that no power on earth 
 could prevent the Orangemen going over Dolly’s 
 Brae,” indicate an intention -to commi t a breach 
 of the peace, and their selecting an unfrequented 
 route clearly showed that they were willing to go out 
 of their way t© commit it ? 
 
 'Take it that the squib cam© from the repealers, 
 and the evidence IS in favour of the opposite as- 
 sumption,* did that squib justify a reply with 
 loaded rifles, make the murder of an idiot boy and 
 the bayoneting of a helpless woman heroic acts of 
 self-defence, and the pillaging of humble cabins 
 subjects for glory and congratulation ? 
 
 Take it that the procession was legal, will we find 
 in that legality a justification for the acts of one 
 set on men, while the actual contest was being 
 carried bn by another set of men in another place P 
 
 And supposing that the poor idiot was a 
 danger and a menace to that gang of stalwarth 
 murderers, and that they were justified in putting 
 an end to his miserable existence ; that the old 
 woman who ran into the byre went thither not for 
 shelter but for some infernal machine which would 
 have hurled destruction amongst the Orangemen, 
 and that, therefore, her assailants were justified in 
 murdering her ; let us suppose even that Pat King, 
 unarmed as he was, was so powerful as to be able 
 to kill the three armed Orangemen, and that they 
 hftd n© other alternative but t© stab him to death j 
 
 take, in fact, any view you like of it, and was not the 
 whole transaction, at least, something to keep 
 silent over ? 
 
 Supposing it not to be a massacre, but a battle 
 and a victory, can anyone point me out anything 
 of glory in it, or is there a single Orangeman living 
 who took part in that day’s bloody work — and if 
 there is his head is hoary, and he must shortly be 
 summoned before his God — is there any one of 
 them who will come forward in his sober meaaenta 
 and say he has not learned to blush for his share 
 of the work, that he does not feel the brand of Cain 
 upon his brow, that he will not shrink from before 
 the Judgment Seat when the soul of that idiot boy 
 or of that miserable woman comes forward as his 
 accuser ? And yet, for we live in a truculent time, 
 it has inspired the pen of some village poet, and 
 furnished a drinking song to the Orangemen of to- 
 day ; A song seldom heard in the lodge room save 
 when fanaticism is at his height, when men’« 
 minds are debauched with drink and debased by 
 the orations of skilful mountebanks, who hoodwink 
 the ignorant and mislead the prejudiced to their 
 certain advantage. The poet represents ” William’s 
 sons in peaceful mood,” as a matter of course, 
 homeward all returning,” and to rhyme wit 
 mood” we are introduced to the “ viperous brood” 
 who crept near with passions burning.” He then 
 takes the customary licence o? the muse, and, con- 
 trary to truth, represents the peaceful heroes as 
 having been fired on by “ the fiendish Eibbon ban^ 
 the ground with brave blood staining.” And next 
 he describes the massacre in true heroics 
 
 Over the ditch, and np the hill, 
 
 Eush’d on the brave pursuers. 
 
 Who prov’d to all the world they still 
 Were talkers le s than doers. 
 
 The foremost of their little band 
 Had stretched some of the foemen. 
 
 As they, with pike and scythe in hand. 
 
 Fled from the Orange yeomen. 
 
 Come now, applaud with heart and voice. 
 
 The heroes in this action ; 
 
 And in their triumph we’ll rejoice. 
 
 Who crush’d the rebel faction j 
 To God above all praise we’ll give. 
 
 For shielding them in danger. 
 
 And for the truth we all will strive 
 ’Gainst false friend, foe, or stranger. 
 
 And tbug it runs tbrough the entir© gamuts 
 without honour enough to avoid a crime— with- 
 I out feeling enough to be ashamed of it 
 
232 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI.— BOYCOTTED. 
 
 We have seen sufficient to show that the adn?inis» 
 tration of justice in the hands of the Orange 
 magistracy was not pure. It could not fee pure. 
 We have seen enough to show that the Orange- 
 men, still inspired fey the dogged pugnacity of 
 fanatics, were determined to carry on their 
 annual carnivals in spite of the interference 
 of the authorities, or of the more 
 solemn enactments ©f the Legislature. To enter 
 into the details of the prrtiality displayed feefor® 
 the feench by Orange partisans would be an endless 
 labour. That a sign from ihe dock put a prisoner 
 on good terms with the jury and procured his 
 acquittal contrary to evidence, and that the Orange 
 criminal in many cases, if not in most cases, found 
 upon the feench an absolute partizan is best judged 
 fey the subsequent action of the Govern- 
 ment, recollection feeing had to the fact that 
 even a Whig Government never ir.oved in 
 the matter except under the strongest compulsion. 
 The Procession Act, 13 Vis., passed in 1850, was 
 based upon Mr. Stanley’s Act of 1832, which has 
 already been noticed. In introducing that Act Mr. 
 Stanley had said that the reason why the Bill was 
 directed against Orange Lodges was because the 
 Orange paity alone persevered in endeavouring to 
 keep alive religious animosity, which had led to so 
 many fatal consequences. The object of the Go- 
 vernment, he said, was to declare fey special enact- 
 ment all such processions illegal, and he called upon 
 the Orangemen, if they were the loyalists that they 
 pretended to be to show it fey their actions ; to 
 prove they were not the blind and bigoted par- 
 tisans ot an expiring faction, which would fee loyal 
 just as far as it suited their own interests and their 
 own convenience, and who would exert themselves 
 to maintain the peace of the country just so long 
 as that peace could be preserved fey the Govern- 
 ment placing implicit reliance in them and in ihem 
 alone'’* We now find those words veri- 
 fied to the letter, and abroad over Ulster 
 were scattered the seeds of dissention year after 
 year until in the end it became evident justice 
 under such auspices was a farce that peace 
 an impossibility. We pass ever seven years during 
 which every effort was made fey the landed pro- 
 prietors of the North to keep alive that spirit of 
 
 * Se« Hansard’s d«bate3, Vol. XIII., pag« 1035. 
 
 faction in the certain^^y that they would fee the first 
 to thrive fey it.* 
 
 In 1857 Lord Carlisle was Viceroy, and Maziere 
 Brady Lord Chancellor. This Lord Chancellor de- 
 serves the honoured place of being the first who 
 gratuitously administered a blow to the Orange 
 faction. Entering upon its period of decline ©n 
 the compulsory withdrawal from public notice, 
 after the succession conspiracy, the Orange institu* 
 tion had fanned the agitation into a comparatively 
 feeble fiame, which flickered until Lord Chancellor 
 Brady all but totally extinguished it. To drive its 
 nominees out of all responsible offices was, at any 
 rate, his aim, and this he, with considerable suc- 
 cess, accoomplished. The following are import- 
 ant documents touching upon this question which 
 the Irish Orangemen of the present day would 
 desire to see lost utterly in oblivion » 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN WHIG. 
 
 Sir, — The enclosed extract from a letter I hava 
 received from the Lord Chancellor, which I have 
 his lordship’s permission to make public, is of 
 sufficient moment to warraat my asking you to 
 give it a place in your columns. — I am, sir, your 
 obedient servant, 
 
 '^Londonderry, Lieutenant 
 County DownI 
 
 " Newtownstewart, October, 6, 1857.” 
 
 " In reference, generally, to appointments to the 
 Commission of the Peace for the County of Down 
 and some other counties in the North of Ireland, 
 I feel obliged, fey recent events, to introduce con- 
 ditions which seem to me imper^-tively called for, 
 with the view to the maintenance of public tran- 
 quility. 
 
 “A our lordship is, no doubt, well aware of the 
 success of turbulence and riotous outrage which 
 have BO long prevailed in the town of Belfast. 
 Whatever party may have been to blame for the 
 acts which more immediately led to these disgrace- 
 ful tumults, it is very manifest that they 
 have sprung from party feeling, excited ©a 
 the recurrence of certain anniversaries which 
 
 * Instances hav* occurred where the bailiffs iipen par- 
 ticular es ate? in the North of Ireland spent their leisure 
 hours at night-time in swearing in Eihbonmen, that they 
 might at the proper time inform upon them, while bailiff's 
 upon the same estates were engaged in stirring up Protest 
 tant bigotry against the deluded Rihhonmen. 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 233 
 
 for years have been made the occasion of irritating 
 demonstrations, too often attended by violations of 
 the public peace, and dangerous, and sometimes 
 fatal, party conflicts. The Orange Society is 
 mainly instrumental in keeping up this 
 excitement; and, notwithstanding the pro- 
 ceedings respecting that association which are 
 now matter of history, and, in consequence of 
 which, it was supposed that it would have been 
 finally dissolved, it still appears to remain an ex 
 tensively organised body, with but some changes 
 of system and rules, under which it is alleged 
 to be secure from a legal prosecution 
 However that may be, it is manifest that the exist- 
 ence of this socuty and the conduct of many of 
 those who belong to it tend to keep up through 
 large districts of the North a spirit of bitter and 
 factious hostility among large classes of her 
 Majesty’s subjects, and to provoke violent animo- 
 sity and aggression. It is impossible rightly to 
 regard any association such as this as one which 
 ought to receive countenance from any in authority 
 who are responsible for the preservation of the 
 peace; and however some individuals of rank 
 and station, who hold her Majesty’s com- 
 mission, may think they can reconcile the 
 obligations of that office with the continuing 
 in membership with the Orange Society, it 
 floes appear to me that the interest of the public 
 peace, at least in the North of Ireland, now requires 
 that no such encouragement should be given to this 
 society by the appointment of aay gentleman to 
 the Commission who is or intends to become a mem- 
 ber of it. 
 
 “ Intending the rule to he of general application, 
 I think it right to ask from every gentleman the 
 assurance that he is not, nor will, while he owns 
 the commission of the peace, become a member of 
 the Orange Society. I think it right to inform 
 your lordship that in expressing the foregoing 
 opinions and determination, I do so with the entire 
 concurrence of his Excellency the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant.” 
 
 Let me explain. The time in which the foregoing 
 letter was written was one of great excitement in 
 the North, a time teenaing with events which 
 ultimately placed Orangeism again on its trial with 
 the result indicated. For the previous ten years 
 every Twelfth of July had been attended with more 
 or less of turbulence and outrage. On the 12th July 
 of 1857, the Eev. Dr. Drew came upon the scene, 
 and subsequently a clergyman who yet survives 
 to reap the reward of his insolent and unchristian 
 
 bigotry — the Kev. Hugh Hanna, a Commissioner of 
 Natioral Education. Now all was changed. 
 The turbulence of the previous years burst forth 
 under their stimulating sermons into civil war, 
 casual assaults now became open and deliberate 
 massacre, and for the boyish freaks of window- 
 breaking we find substituted pillage and 
 wholesale conflagration. On the 12th July 
 (Sunday) there was a service for the Orange- 
 men of Belfast in Christ Church. As the 
 report of the Commission of Inquiry sufcse- 
 quently pointed out, it was a place dangerously 
 situated between two opposing districts — Sandy 
 Eow, the Orange quarter, on one side ; the Falls, 
 the Catholic locality, on the other. The Orange- 
 men walked in military style, and though the great 
 body of them abstained from further outward show 
 a minority of them stopped in the open space op- 
 posite the church, formed in line, and donned their 
 sashes previous to entering the “House of God.” 
 There was then no opposing mob, there being none 
 present save the Orangemen and the cocstabulary. 
 Inside the church all the brethern wore their scarfs. 
 The Rev. Dr. Drew preached a sermon which in the 
 quiet of his own study he had prepared. The 
 text was taken from Matthew, chap, v., verses 13, 
 14, 15, and 16, which went to show that the 
 brethren were “the salt of the earth” and “ the light 
 of the world,” and which conjured them to “let their 
 light so shine before men that they might see 
 their works and glorify their Father, who was in 
 Heaven.” For rampant bigotry that sermon of the 
 Eev. Dr. Drew probably stands unparalleled. It 
 is equally remarkable for the falsification of his- 
 tory. This Christian minister having shown the 
 “ errors of the Church of Rome,” and how the perse- 
 cution of it was a work to glory in, said, in the 
 history cf the maligned and indomitable Orange 
 Institution, it will be found, when a great part of . 
 the aristocratic leaven was withdrawn from it, and 
 by a majority, j:he leaders consented to its extinc. 
 tion, the masses IieZd together; and again in time 
 of treason and expected insurrection, the gentry once 
 more flocked under the folds of the Orange banner. 
 Then a Lord Lieutenant was glad to commit the 
 Castle of Dublin to the special care of Orange- 
 men, and to supply them with arms. * The 
 
 * This relates to the ’48 movement, and to the arming of 
 the Orangemen of Dublin, reference to which will be found 
 in Madden’s History. Lord Enniskillen wrote t > the Master 
 of Horse, Major Turner, for arms fo- the Irish Orangemen, 
 and a sum of £5 0 was handed by Major Turner to t’olonel 
 Phayre (an Orangeman), who gave it to Lord Enniskillen. 
 Arms were prr cured, and a diffi u ty arising as to how they 
 could be brought into Dublin— a proclaime 1 district, Colonel 
 Brown, the head of the police, ordered them in. The qaes- 
 as to who had contributed this sum was left in abeyance. 
 
 82 
 
234 
 
 HISTOEY OF OEANOEISM, 
 
 General of the North of Ireland, at the same 
 time, gratefully accepted the proffered services 
 of the Orangemen of Belfast, while Belfast, 
 in its quietness, remained for days without even a 
 sergeani’s guard of soldiers. And so, the Lord 
 reigning, it is ever likely to he, Orangemen will by 
 God’s help hold together ^ at least, till laws are 
 honestly and impartially administered, and till our 
 lost ground is regained, and the Parliament is 
 purified [of the Catholic repredentation of course] 
 and the nation exalted in righteousness. Could we 
 bear in mind the Scripturality and magnificence of 
 Orange principles, the line towards all men which 
 they enjoin, and the purity of life which they in- 
 culcate ; could we be all that men of such a goodly 
 profession ought to be, in sobriety, unity, and con- 
 sistent lives, then we need never dispair. By such 
 a confederation all society would be influenced and 
 swayed. The principles of Protestant truth would 
 then stand in victorious array against the detest- 
 able machinations of the Confessional, of Jesuitism, 
 and of the Inquisition. The deadly night-shade 
 would wither, and the emblematic flower of loyalty 
 would flourish and gladden all hearts.” And then 
 with a violent outburst in which bigotry surpassed 
 itself, having painted the dangers that threatened 
 the land, he came to a close with the following 
 significant quotation : — 
 
 Peart? re^olreT, and hands prepared 
 
 The freedom of their land to guavd. 
 
 It could not be otherwise than as it was, and the ter- 
 rible conclusion must force itself home to all 
 thinking men, that those who, by impartial judges 
 such as the Govermment Commissioners, were 
 held responsible for the subsequent riots, had 
 actually laboured to produce them. 
 
 The night of the 12th was spent in fearful pre- 
 parations for the morrow, and before the morning 
 sun broke over Belfast, the town was precipitated 
 into a riot, in which all property was trans- 
 ferred from its rightful owners into the bauds of 
 two opposing mobs, and in which the lives of all 
 were at the mercy of contending factions. What 
 does it matter now who fired the first shot? Did 
 the murdered, as they lay between earth and — 
 Heaven onl> knows what fate — did they ask who 
 fired the first shot ? — did the maimed, the house- 
 less, and the rum id either ask or care who first 
 struck the blow ? The Orange party now came out 
 fully armed into the public thoroughfares, and 
 carried on a war of extermination which it is pain- 
 ful to chronicle. Each lodge had its arms, 
 and every member came well prepared for 
 
 the struggle. It was a time in which 
 the constabulary was not as efficient a force 
 as in the present day, and with the cognisance 
 of a partisan and exclusively Protestant magis 
 tracy (there was but one Catholic magistrate then 
 upon the Belfast bench), the Orange party pursued 
 their work of destruction unrestrained. Houses 
 were wrecked, passengers in the street shot down 
 with the calm deliberation exercised by sharp- 
 shooters. White the Eiot Act was read m Sandy 
 Eow aud the resident magistrate shot at, the 
 paving scones of the Pound vere heaped up ready 
 for actual warfare. Patrick M'Oiveny, a police 
 constable, attached blame to the superior officers 
 for their glaring partiality, while James MTutyre, 
 bewailing the inactivity of the police, exclaimed, 
 “ It was a shame to see such conduct in the streets 
 of Belfast.” In full view of the police houses were 
 wrecked, aud the furniture brought out intcthe 
 street and burned before the doors. This was done 
 in many instances where Catholics resident in Pro- 
 testant districts did not quit their houses in com- 
 pliance with the notice. 
 
 At this time the Catholic populat’on were un- 
 armed, disorganised, and unprepared j living — as 
 was the duty of all citizens depending for protection 
 upon the power and effectiveness of the Executive 
 — without ostentation, while their neighbours like 
 the braggart of Shakspeare were placing their 
 rapiers upon the table and praying, “ Heaven grant 
 we may have no need of them.” It was, therefore, 
 resolved to form Catholic gun clubs by some of 
 the most respectable inhabitants of tbe town, men 
 whose voices were not for war, and the peaceful 
 demeanour of whose lives indicate now as then that 
 all they asked was to live on terms of amity with 
 their neighbours of all religious. It should be 
 marked that the meetings were of no hole-and-corner 
 character. The Catholic residents openly met, 
 charged the local government of the town with 
 being permeated with partiality, and openly re- 
 solved to ferm gun clubs for their defence against 
 Orange intolerance. The formation of these clubs, 
 granting all the necessity claimed for them, had 
 the effect of inflaming the minds of the Catholic 
 population towards resenting the outrages com- 
 mitted upon them, and while ib may have tended 
 to massacre reduce upon one side, it at the 
 same time helped to prolong the civil war. A 
 “ Protestant Defence Association” was the next 
 aud natural issue, and thus both sides sto)d face to 
 face with each other when, fortunately, active steps 
 were taken to suppress the disturbance. The local 
 
HISTOET OP OEANGBISil. 
 
 235 
 
 forces and constabulary, under the omenous control 
 of such men as Captain William Verner, Captain 
 Thomas Verner, Mr. Getty, and Mr. Thompson, 
 were either unable or unwilling to quell the dis- 
 turbance, but a great accession of military into the 
 town restored peace, and put the conflict to an 
 end. 
 
 It was during the progress of this conflict that 
 a few Protestant and Presbyterian ministers 
 thought it wise to carry out their objectionable 
 proceeding of open-air preaching — not preaching 
 in which the Word of God was inculcated, but in 
 which the rev. lecturers stooped to the baseness of 
 inflaming men’s minds against the ^^abom'nations” 
 of the Romish religion. The riots which followed 
 are familiar to many men living at the present 
 day, and all, whether of one religion or another, 
 looking now at both cause and results, will agree 
 in the one prevalent opinion that this open-a*r 
 preaching was not calculated to inculcate peace 
 and Christian charity in the minds of men, but 
 to produce quite an opposite remit. That they 
 did produce opposite results is now apparent, and 
 those reverend gentlemen who have lived to look 
 back from a distance upon he work of their early 
 days, must indeed have lived to little purpose, and 
 have failed to acquire wisdom with their years, if 
 they do not regard it with sorrow, and exclaim, 
 mea culjpa, mea maxima culpa. 
 
 But we have entered now upon debatable 
 ground, and possibly it is better, even at the 
 expense of a little consecutiveness in the narra- 
 tive, if we should be guided by the report of the 
 Commissioners, Mr. David Lynch, Q.C., and Mr. 
 Hajiilton Smythe, Q.C., who in September follow- 
 ing held an inquiry, under the Commission of 
 the Lord Lieutenant, into those riots. The report, 
 which is an elaborate one, and in which disapproval 
 of the Orange regime in Belfast during those days is 
 implied rather than expressed, says : In prac- 
 
 tice it [the Orange Institution] is not as in the 
 letter of its constitution. Lord Enniskillen knows 
 nothing of secret signs and passwords, yet we 
 refer to the evidence of George Stewart Hill and 
 others to show that they still exist in the very 
 classes of the society where they are most dan- 
 gerous, Lord Enniskillen condemned in his evi- 
 dence the practice of wearing orange scarfs in 
 church ; yet openly and ostentatiouly in Belfast 
 these Orange emblems were worn in a parochial 
 church during service. The milder and kindlier 
 men belonging to the Orange confederacy would, 
 ho doubt, condemn tho preaching of a sermon by 
 
 a clergyman to a large congregation assembled for 
 religious worship, coot lining denunciations of a 
 large class of his fellow- men j yet such a sermon 
 was preached in Chris '•’s Church last July, 
 and afterwards published in the newspaper by 
 Dr. Drew, who is himself a Grand Chaplin of the 
 Orange Society. Lcrd Enniskillen, no doubt, con- 
 demns the violence and outward manifestations of 
 insult to the Roman Catholics exhibited by the 
 Sandy Row mob ,* yet it is seen that they are 
 directly the effects on /algar minds of these 
 celebrations that are kept alive and in offensive 
 activity by the Orange Society. Security against 
 Ribbonism and other secret societies can hardly be 
 needed in Belfast, where the population of Pro- 
 testants considerably outnumbers the Roman 
 Catholics ; and it can hardly be necessary to imitate 
 the vices of the Ribbon system in order to counter- 
 act it. The Orange system seems to us now to 
 have no other practical result than as a means of 
 keeping up the Orange festivals, and celebrating 
 them, leading as they do to violence, outrage, 
 religious animosities, hatred between classes, and 
 too often bloodshed and loss of life. I*i the midst 
 of conflict, of course, everything is perverted, and 
 these remarks will, no doubt, be denounced by those 
 who live and have their proiit in scenes of confusion 
 and riot that mark the conflict ; but the prudent 
 and humane should remember (and the Belfast 
 riots are evidence of the truth) that the war of class 
 is of little moment, comparatively, to the higher 
 orders, many of whom have in it the m°ans of 
 worldly honour and advancement j but to the 
 poorer and humbler orders it is different ; with 
 them the war is a real one, personal suffering 
 attends it with them, they are maimed in limb, and 
 rendered houseless and homeless often by it ; on 
 them falls the misery of what brings advancement 
 to the more exalted.” 
 
 The report then proceeds to detail the results of 
 the open air preaching. How the Rev. Mr. (now 
 Canon) MTl wine, who was in the habit of distri- 
 buting placards of his controversial discourses in 
 language net unaturally considered offensive by the 
 Roman Catholic people for whose sake they 
 were stated to be delivered,” published 
 his advertisement during the time the 
 riots were actually proceeding (though the 
 Commissioners state that they had been written 
 beforehand) and announced a series of open-air 
 sermons ; how the Rev. Mr. MTlwaine, having 
 ascertained from the magistrates the probable re- 
 sults of these proceedings with commendable good 
 
236 
 
 HISTOEY OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 sende, retired from the field, and how the Eev. 
 Hugh Hanna stepped defiantly into the deserted 
 breach, reckless of all consequences, and with the 
 certainty of confiict and bloodshed staring him in the 
 face, called on the Island bludgeonmen to arm, 
 warned them that their “ blood-bought and 
 cherished rights were being imperilled by the 
 audacious and savage outrages of a Popish mob,” 
 and calmly wrote, in his address to the Orangemen 
 of Belfast, " Where you assemble around, leave so 
 much of the thoroughfare unoccupied that such as 
 do not choose to listen may pass by. Call that 
 clearance ‘ the Pope’s Pad.’ ” 
 
 Now that we read those violent and shocking 
 utterances we are only surprised that the results 
 were not even more dreadful than they actually 
 proved. It furnishes, too, a sad and dangsrous, but a 
 tempting example; an example which has incur time 
 been faithfully copied by some, those weak-minded 
 men who have a craving for oflSce, emolument, and 
 distinction without the ability or education to win 
 them in horcurable contest with their fellow-men. 
 It is little to be wondered at that “ the conflict of 
 July was thus more dangerous than before renewed, 
 and the pious and weak-minded of the Protestant 
 inhabitants of Belfast were easily persuaded that 
 the question at the issue was whether Protestant 
 worship was to be put down by violence, while 
 those of the Catholic inhabitants were as easily per- 
 suaded that the question now was whether Belfast 
 was henceforth to be proclaimed as a Protestant 
 town, in which Eoman Catholics could barely find 
 sufferance to live in a state of degradation;”that '‘the 
 former class became, by this teaching, almost the 
 supporters of the mobs of Sandy Eow, and the 
 latter of the mots of Pound Street.” We have the 
 moral. It would be useless to go into particulars of the 
 narrative. Many persons now living can recall that 
 fearful reign of terror in Belfast. It is suf&cicnt to 
 quote Mr.Hanna’s words — “Out of conflict our rights 
 arose, and by conflict they ought to be maintained,” 
 to indicate what must have been the state of 
 things with such a tody, and with such a warlike 
 follower of Chr'st at their head. Pity ib is, that 
 those who are so fond of the open Bible should 
 forget the oft repeated advice of their Divine 
 Master, and ignore the inculcations towards peace 
 and Christian charity which adorn every line of its 
 teaching ! The Commissioners threw all the 
 blame upon Mr. Hanna, but for whom “ matters 
 might easily have passed cff without further 
 trouble,” and in addition expressed regret that 
 there was butene Catholic magistrate in Belfast 
 
 at the same time seeking, but with poor success, to 
 throw a veil over the misdeeds and partiality of the 
 large majority of those who then held the position 
 of justices of peace. 
 
 We have seen in the foregoing that the Orange 
 Institution was a subject of inquiry before the Com- 
 missioners. Messrs. Lynch and Smythe state that 
 the evidence regarding its constitution was forced 
 upon them, and that they, therefore, thought it 
 better to receive it. Whether they had made out 
 a clear case that they did not use signs and pass- 
 words may be seen from the report. At any rate, 
 some of its leaders (Lord Enniskillen amongst the 
 number) swore that signs and passwords were not 
 in use. I may possibly be able to account for the 
 great anxiety of the Orangemen to be heard upon 
 this point; I have been assured by a respectable 
 Catholic solicitor in Belfast, whose word I dare not 
 doubt, and who in turn had the information from 
 an Orangeman, that upon the night of the 25ch 
 September, 1857, a meeting of the Grand Orange 
 Lodge of Ireland was convened in a public-house 
 (the name and number were given, and are now be- 
 fore me), and that then and there the Orange In- 
 stitution of Ireland was dissolved, the Grand 
 Master being in the chair. It was,my informant pro- 
 ceeds, reorganised in such a way that the Grand 
 Master, Lord Enniskdlen might go into 
 court the next morning and swear there 
 were neither signs nor passwords in connec- 
 tion with the Institution. I do not vouch 
 for the accuracy of the information. I know too 
 well how readily the most exaggerated stories re- 
 ceive credence, and are spread abroad in times of 
 public ferment, but three things bearing upon the 
 matter, and Tkely to assist the reader, I do know— 
 1st, that such conduct would not be inconsistent 
 with the history of the Institution j 2ad, that Lord 
 Enniskillen was examined on the 26th September, 
 1857, before the Belfast Commission of Inquiry, 
 and 3rd, that he did deny all such associations such 
 as signs and pass-words in connection with the 
 Orange Institution as then established. 
 
 The Commissioners declared in their report that 
 the riots of 1857 owed their origin to the insulting 
 manifestations and outrages of the Orangemen on 
 their principal anniversary on the one part and to 
 the resistance of them on the other, of those whom 
 they insulted and assailed, and to the formation of 
 gun clubs by the Catholics in their defence. They 
 recommended that the magistracy and constabu- 
 lary should be remodelled and rendered indepen, 
 dent, of Orange influence and politics. 
 
niSTOUT or OrANGETSM. 
 
 237 
 
 It was after tbe facts above stated had btea 
 ascertained and duly reported to the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, that Chancellor Brady issued the order 
 already qucted. 
 
 The Orange Institution was now for the second 
 time engaging public attention. The leaders in 
 the North, alive to the fate which threatened 
 them, rose up in arms, and everywhere were held 
 meet'ngs denouncing the Papists, denouncing the 
 Government, denouncing the Execut've, hold- 
 ing out over the heads of the authorities the 
 old but nov disregarded threat of constitutional 
 loyalty. Still the blow of the Lord Chancellor 
 was regarded as a fatal one to Orangeism. The 
 institution had been of late used for electioneering 
 purposes, and for the securing of favours by 
 aid of the influence which connection with it lent, 
 to persons who would otherwise have pursued to 
 the end a life of honest and honourable obscu- 
 rity. The honours gone, it was argued with truth 
 that all the respectability would go with theo. 
 The Times. of October, 1857, declared 
 the Chancellor’s letter the death blow of 
 the Irish Institution. Orangeism,” it said, 
 ** should have expired in the midst of a storm, or 
 on the field of battle — not in the long vacation 
 when statesmen have gone to Scotland to shoot 
 grouse; when all the world is touring in Switzer- 
 land, Germany, Norway, and hardly anybody is left 
 at home ; when even the news of its death will be 
 a week old before it meets the eyes of the greater 
 part of the legislators. Orangeism had, indeed, 
 lingered so long in the last feeble stage that its 
 death i<j now hardly felt as an event. It was like 
 the old year at 11 p.ra. on the 31s*; December.” It 
 then went on to state that there would be a few 
 wild Orangemen who would speik as in the days of 
 George IIL, that there would always be men who 
 when life was gone would assert that it was not 
 dead. It declared that the Institution was 
 dead, indeed, and that had it lived it 
 could only do mischief or go on doing 
 nothing. The Grand Committee met shortly 
 afterwards in Dublin and protested, as the Time^ 
 inlicated, that the Institution was not dead, and 
 issued an 'address signed by Edward Waller, 
 Chairman, commenting upon the situation. Ee- 
 ferring to their production in a subsequent article 
 the Times sajg, ^*The Institution, it was expected 
 would die hard. Gameness may be justly predicted 
 to be the quality of an Orangeman. Pugnacity in 
 the face of superior numbers, forms the very 
 esBeace of his character. He is the descendant of 
 
 a victcrious race; the propogator of aspreading 
 language, thepartizan of a prosletizing religion. His 
 father and grandfather before him were accustomed 
 to rpgard themselves as the real Church militant, as 
 the salt of the earth, as the few who, in the midst 
 of idolators would not bow the knee to Baal. The 
 present representatives of those who slammed the 
 gates of Derry and charged across the Boyne have 
 not achieved rny deeds of heroism. Bat they are 
 ardenc admirers of former prowess. If they had 
 only been their own ancestors whit great things 
 they would have done for King William or the 
 Hanoverian Georges ! ... If Orange’sm is to 
 
 be abolished, at any rate let it be with something 
 like a spirit that bites and kicks tc the last.” The 
 writer then proceeds to ridicule the claim of the 
 Orangemen for all the prospeity of tbeNortti of Ire- 
 land ; says “ that the best proof that its time was 
 come was to be found in the Grand Committee 
 denying that they kept alive party animosity,” and 
 conclu led with the salu*-ary warning that the time 
 had come when “ they should undertake to govern 
 Ireland without Orangeism. The Protestant as 
 well as the Catholic must be content with the laws 
 of the country. The Orange Soeiety will do well to 
 dissolve itself again, after the precedent of twenty 
 years since, and if, after another decade, public 
 opinion calls for the step, it may again open its 
 lodges and martial its processions.” 
 
 But from the LaVy Express, of Dublin, came the 
 unkiudest cut of all. Its connection with the 
 party and with its politics, and the relations exist 
 ing between its proprietor and the two most 
 eminent men of the Orange party whose politics 
 were advocated iu that paper, made its expreesloas 
 the more remarkable, and gave corroboration to 
 the oft-repeated opinion that some of the ablest 
 leaders of the Institutioa heartily wished its dis- 
 solution. But it goes further, for, condemning the 
 institution as a secret one, connected by secret 
 signs and passwords, it suggests a strange incon- 
 sistence between the facts and the statement in 
 evidence of Lord Enniskillen. The Express said 
 that the institution was identical in essence and 
 form with that which was condemned by a Parlia- 
 mentary Committee '(in 1835) and by the Crown. 
 It is a secret political society, excluding persons 
 of a different faith and acting by associated 
 branches.” In a subsequent article the Express 
 counsels dissolution as being unfit for an age like 
 the this, and argues upon the religious aspect, that 
 Church of God being divinely ordained for the cul- 
 tivation of Christian worship, if the Church did not 
 
 33 
 
238 
 
 HISTOET OF OExVNGEISM. 
 
 accomplish its object it should be reformed, but that 
 it was blasphemy to pay that the Orange Institution, 
 being a human one, coaid do it. It then asVs this 
 pregnant question, By what right does the Orange 
 Society impose an oath to bind the consciences of 
 Christian men ?” Tne writer in the Express must 
 be presumed to have known the workings of an in- 
 stitution with which very probably he was con- 
 nected, and his opinion upon the existence of an 
 oath mast be tiken as one of weight. Declaring 
 that the religious object had not oeen fulfilled, he 
 proceeds to say that equally untenable is the 
 Grange Society as a political institution. Its ob- 
 ject, they were told, was to “uphold’* the Consti- 
 tution. Ee then details how the Constitution 
 should be upheld, and says, “ this is the way 
 the Constitution is to be upheld ; not by 
 arming ourselves, by meeting in secret societies, 
 and by combining against another class of our 
 fellow-3ubjec*s. Tnis is the first step to anarchy. 
 It tends directly to the disruption and dissolution 
 of society. It is a libel on the British Constitution 
 to say that it requires to be aided by a perpetual 
 “Vigilance Committee like the Orange Society. 
 . . . The Orange Institution is a secret one un- 
 
 known to the law, antagonistic in principle to the 
 larger portion of the people, and an anomally 
 which it is utterly impossible to defend. There is 
 one thing connected with Orangeism which we hold 
 to be utterly unworthy of a free country nurtured 
 by Protestantism and the British Constitution, and 
 that is iis secrrcy. What should Protestants have 
 anything to say to one another which they must 
 whisper in private lodges as if they dwelt in a land 
 cursed by despotism and espionage, dogged by 
 gens d'armes? Why should honourable high- 
 spirited gentlemen and brave hearted yeomen 
 stoop to the self-imposed necessity of communicat- 
 ing with one another by secret signs and passwords ?" 
 Et tu Brute ! In the death struggle of respectable 
 Orangeism came the blow, from a f lend, which 
 finished its existence. 
 
 In this condition, with all the respectability and 
 intelligence of the Three Kingdoms crying them 
 down, and with former friends disowning them, a 
 small clique cf gentlemen termed the Grand Lodge, 
 who had not yet derived all the benefits they had 
 hoped for, met in Dublin and resolved to carry 
 their complaint by petition to the head of the 
 Government. 
 
 The advocates of Orangeism, on the 18th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1858, waited on Lord Palmerston for the 
 purpose of presenting a memorial protesting 
 
 agaiust the [then] recent letter of Lord Chancellor 
 Brady. 
 
 A report of “ the deputation of Conser-vative 
 members of Parliament ard gentlemen, represent- 
 ing the Orange Associations of the North of Ire- 
 land,” consisting of the Earl of Enniskillen, the 
 Earl of Belujore, Lord Claude Hamilton, M.P.; Mr. 
 Vance, M.P.; the Hon. H. Corry, M.P.; Mr. G. A. 
 Hamilton, M.P,; Mr. Richardson, M.P.; Mr. Miller, 
 M.P.j Mr. Davison, M.P.; Mr. Arohdall, M.P.; Mn 
 Cairns, M.P.; Mr. Whiteside, M.P.; &c., appeared 
 in the London morning papers of the 19th of 
 February. 
 
 Mr.(nowLord)CAiRNs introduced the deputation to 
 the Premier, and explained to him the purport of the 
 memorial, signed by 2,700 persms, including 32 
 peers, 38 members of Parliament, 17 baronets, 641 
 J ustices of the Peace, 162 deputy lieutenants, 377 
 clergymen, 40 barristers, 100 members of the medi- 
 cal profession. 
 
 lord Palmerston, in reply to Mr. Cairns’ 
 lengthy address in reprobation of Chancellor Brady 
 for the insult offered to the Orange Institution, 
 said— I am clearly of opinion that it would be far 
 better for us to look to the future than to the past; 
 and what, let me ask, is the object, and what are 
 the prospective advantages of this Orange asso- 
 ciation? Is it an organisation which belongs to 
 the age in which we live ? Is it not rather one 
 that is suited to the middle ages — (a laugh) — 
 those periods of society when anarchy prevailed, 
 and when one body of people were in the habit of 
 arming themselves to resist some outrage or vio- 
 lence committed by another — and this because 
 they felt that they could not depend upon the Go- 
 vernment of the country for adequate protection or 
 security. But this state of things no longer exists ; 
 and not being an Orangeman myself, I confess I 
 am at a loss to understand the use of the associa- 
 tion in the present age. (A. laugh.) 
 
 The Eirl of Enniskillen — Self-defence, my 
 lord. 
 
 Lord Palmerston — Self-defence against what ? 
 (A laugh.) I must really say that I think it is 
 offensive as regards the Government and institu- 
 tions of the country, to say that the general 
 government of the nation is not adequate to pro- 
 tect individuals from violence. 
 
 The Earl of Enniskillen — It is too true, my 
 lord. 
 
 Lord Palmerston — Well, I have no intention to 
 say anything offensive to the Orange association ; 
 but I must be allowed to say, that the very founda- 
 
HISTOET OP OBANGEISM. 
 
 239 
 
 iion on which it rtsts casta a reflection on the 
 institutions of the empire; and coupled as it is 
 with old recollections of periods when the action of 
 the Government and the authority of the state 
 were less effecient than they are now to protect life 
 and property, I really do submit to the impartial 
 consideration of gentlemen belonging to that as- 
 sociation, whether it would not be more in accor- 
 dance with that spirit of conciliation which I am 
 sure animates every gentleman connected with 
 Ireland — (a laugh) — to dissolve the association, and 
 to put an end to an organisation whieh cannot 
 answer any practical purpose; to rely for defence 
 upon the action of the executive government, admi- 
 nistered by persons responsible to parliament. 
 Should the laws prove defective or inadequate, it 
 were easy to appeal to the legislature for their 
 emendation. I do think that the protection of indi- 
 viduals should be left to the law of the land, and 
 that the formation of private associations for the 
 purpose of supplying defects in the law is not a 
 system suitable to the spirit of the times in which 
 we live. If those who now belong to the Orange 
 association would, upon full consideration, and as a 
 gracious act of national conciliation, resolve that 
 this bond of union is no longer necessary, I am 
 sure that there is nothing that they could do which 
 would more materially contribute to the peac<^ of 
 Ireland and to the obliterat’on of ancient preju- 
 dices. The dissolution of the association would 
 not, I am persuaded, be viewed as an admission of 
 the illegality of the association, but it would be 
 taken as a gracious tender on the part of its mem- 
 bers towards effacing former animosities ; and I do 
 believe that it would be an important step in the 
 direction of a general union of feeling among 
 both parties, and that by this means it would be 
 of essential advantage to the country at large. In 
 stating this much, I am only submitting my own 
 private views, and as far as my sentiments go. I 
 can but repeat, that nothing could be more desir- 
 able for the real interests of Ireland than the com- 
 plete abandonment of the assoication. 
 
 Mr. Whitsside said he was not an Orangeman, 
 but that he would cut off his right hand before he 
 would subscribe to the Brady declaration. He 
 begged the noble lord to reconsider the subject, and 
 withdraw the objectionable letter. 
 
 Lord Palmerston said that the memorial should 
 have the consideration of the government; but that 
 the deputation coul not expect him to make any 
 further promise. 
 
 In a debate in the House of Lords, 15th March, 
 
 1858, on the Orange society and the magistracy of 
 Ireland, with respect to the letter of Chancellor 
 Brady, the Earl of Derby said : — This was one 
 of the subjects which had engaged the attention of 
 his noble friend the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland a 
 short time before he left this country, than whom 
 there was no man who would wish to hold the 
 balance more evenly between parties in Ireland. 
 The Earl of Eglinton was no more connected with 
 the Orange society than he was himself; and 
 looking at the entire subject he was of opinion 
 that no matter what may have been the advan- 
 tages of that society formerly, upon the whole the 
 organisation of the Orange association was rather 
 a misery than a benefit to Ireland. They were, 
 however, of opinion that the letter of the late Lord 
 Chancellor, which laid down an absolute disqualifi- 
 cation, was a step beyond what the law required, 
 and although the society was one whose existence 
 they regretted, he thought that the members of it 
 should not be subject to any disqualification. 
 
 Three months later, we find Earl Derby, in a 
 discussion on the Belfast riots and the Orange 
 lodges, in the House of Lords, 7th of June, 1858, 
 deploring the disgrace of the minor civil war which 
 had been lately carried on in Bejfast, “ to the dis- 
 credit of tJie inhabitants and the local authorities 
 of one of ,he largest, the wealthiest, and most com- 
 mercial towns in Ireland.’* 
 
 Commenting upon this, Mr. Madden says Lord 
 Derby (in referring to the local authorities) evi- 
 dently alluded to the magistrates in the first place ; 
 and of these magistrates of Belfast, Lord Derby 
 must have known there was only one Koman 
 Catholic amongst them; and he must also have 
 known a considerable number of them were Orange- 
 men, and yet his lordship would not disqualify one 
 of that body for the office of magistrate on that 
 account. How is this inconsistency to be ex- 
 plained ? Lord Dfrby repudiates the Orangemen 
 as mu.h as Lord Palmerston, but the interests of 
 party aie more potent than the interests 
 of peace and the interests of the Em- 
 pire, and Lord Derby’s party think they cannot 
 dispense with the electioneering services of 
 Orangemen, nor could Lord Derby’s administration 
 afford to lose the votes of the Orangemen in Par- 
 liament. This is a very lamentable and a pitiable 
 fact — it is what the French call a misere. 
 
 The Government was made aware by the report 
 of the Commissioners of 1857 that a most objection- 
 able practice largely prevailed in the Orange Insti- 
 tution in reference to the exclusion of members 
 
240 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 The reports of the Grand Lodge meeting in the 
 November of this year showed that a large number 
 of members were expelled for various offences, such 
 as for marrying a Papist ; for voting at an elec- 
 tion against d dignitary of the msritution and, 
 again, for practice unbecoming an Oiangemanj” 
 an undefined offence, which might mean anything 
 from refusal to join in a riot to the extending by a 
 magistrate of even-handed justice to Catholics and 
 Protestants alike. The records of the fourth day 
 of this meeting in Grard Lodge (rhe 6th November, 
 1857, Edward Waller, J P., D G.M., in the chair) 
 are made more than ordinarily interesting by a list 
 of some fifty members of the County Derry, all of 
 whom “ were expelled for voting against their 
 Grand Master— Sir F. F. Bruce, Bart., at the 
 late ParliameLtiry election while some fifty 
 others in the same county were suspended 
 for seven years "'for using their influence 
 against their Grand Master at the election.” 
 The reports of this period disclose the most appall- 
 ing information of the intimidpt'on and evil in- 
 fluence exercised by the leaders of the Inst'tution. 
 So constant was the fluctuition of party power 
 it is not surprising to find that Chancellor Brady’s 
 letter was partially ineffective. For this, how- 
 ever, the Government of the day, though whofly 
 responsible, were not solely at fault. The Orange- 
 men bad been too long accustomed to the various 
 tricks by which office is attainable to find in this 
 edict any insurmountable difficulty. Of ibis the 
 best proof is forthcoming in the appointment of 
 Mr. Cecil Moore, Deputy Grand Master of the 
 Orangemen of Tyrone, to the position of Crown 
 Prosecutor for the county in 1853. The appoint- 
 ment had been brought under the attention of 
 Parliament by Mr. Fitzgerald, the lato Attorney- 
 General, and by the advice of Mr. Whiteside, Mr. 
 Moore was induced to resign bis position in the 
 Orange Associat'on before the matter came under 
 the notice of the Ff^use. It is easy to divest one- 
 self of those borrowed dignities which the Orange 
 Institution so lavishly scatter amongst its 
 favourites. Not quite so easy, however, is it 
 to divest oneself of the prejudices which such 
 associations inevitably produce. The appointment, 
 therefore, if objectionable before, had now lost none 
 of its objectionable features — some would be in- 
 clined to think they bad been augmented. 
 
 The stigma, however, was there, and could not 
 be removed. Orangemen could be male public 
 officials, and by baok-stair influence might obtain 
 pay and pension, but once in office they had now to 
 
 kick from under them the ladder by which they 
 had ascended, and to disown those — their associ ates 
 — whom they had so skilfully befooled. The end 
 attained, the means were soon learned to bedespis edj 
 and this in turn brought about another and an Im- 
 portant change in the history of the Institution. 
 Becoming too disreputable to permit an Admini- 
 stration with the slightest respect for good order or 
 decorum to make it an instrument of Government 
 preferment, a number of needy gentlemen, eager 
 for notoriety as the next best thing to popularity, 
 seized bold of this disused weapon of an ascendancy 
 faction, and, furbishing it, they applied it to their 
 own individual advancement. Such men had to 
 select either to be known as Oiangemen or not to 
 be known at all. Their choice was not unnaturally 
 in favour of the former, and bow they utilised their 
 position ov3f tboir brethren we have seen in the 
 expulsions of 1858. It they did not derive imme- 
 diate betefib, and that was seldom the case, there 
 was always a reward in the patronage of noblemen, 
 to whom, as henchmen, they were useful. Fearful 
 of the advancing wave of democracy which 
 came threateningly on a few of the nobility, 
 who saw no other means of preserving the 
 feudal dominion of their families in Ulster 
 lent it previous ta general elections, a sort of left- 
 handed support. By this means these lords and 
 lord ings secured seats in Parliament which would 
 otherwise have been beyond their reach. Per- 
 petuating the old Tory regime of landlordism, they 
 made a few couct’es in Ulster their strongholds, out 
 of which they looked grimly down upon the rising 
 tide of intelligence and libera! ty beneath. It is 
 needless to say that, st mulated by these men, the 
 Orange brethren determined to die game. Prom 
 1857 to 1860, scenes of riot and bloodshed on a 
 more or less moderate scale ensued. In Derryma- 
 cash, Lurgan, on the 12th July, in the latter year 
 they met to hold ‘^a musical festival” in order to 
 avoid the penalties of the Procession Act. The in- 
 struments were exc^u&ively made up of drums and 
 fifes. It might have been a matter of accident, but 
 the tunes played at this “ Orarg? musical festival” 
 by the perambulating orchestra of Derrymacash 
 and Lurgan did happen to be party tunes. A few 
 Catholics jeered at them. The Orangemen 
 loaded and fired into the crowd, wrecked 
 the chapel, and left not less than fourteen persons 
 either dead or wounded upon the highway. 
 Mr. Cogan, member for Kildare, on the 2'Jth July 
 called attention in the Commons to this scene in 
 an able and manly speech, and ptoposed the intrcs 
 
HISTOET OP OEANQEISM. 
 
 241 
 
 duction cf a Bill to restrain the use of Orange em- 
 blems- Ibis was abandoned on Mr. Cardwell’s 
 undertaking, on the part of the Government, that 
 a sufficient measure would be introduced by him* 
 Accordingly, the 23 and 24 Victoria, c. 141, “ An 
 Act to Amend an Act (13 Vic., c. 2) to Eestrain 
 Party Processions in Ireland” was introduced, and 
 became law on the 20i:h August, 1860, to remain in 
 force for five years. This Act had chiefly for its 
 object to restrain the use of party emblems. No 
 sooner was it passed than the Orange societies 
 mauifested their feelinsrs of loyalty to the throne 
 of Orangedom in a manner not likely to leave a 
 very pleasing impression upon their Sovereign. 
 They outraged all — the Sovereign, the Parliament, 
 the judges of the land, even the dignitaries of the 
 Established Church, with the utmost audacity. 
 Befcrethe Parliamentary Emblems Bill had been 
 a month the law of the land an address wa-s issued 
 to the Orangemen by '*A Member of G Wynne’s 
 True Blues, No. 728,” bombastically calling upon 
 them to arm, and to tell their Sovereign — Hear, O 
 Queen of yet mighty England! hear, O Monarch 
 of a Protestant and much honoured line I Behold 
 the increasing concessions made to Popery by suc- 
 cessive Parliaments, and know that these must end 
 in woe to a Protestant nation and exhorting the 
 brethren to “ stand ready, if it must come to that, 
 to march to the banks of the ever-memorable 
 Boyne, and there plant the standard of Orange once 
 
 more, and repeat the deed of our conquering 
 fathers.” 
 
 While this Orange twaddle was being written 
 by some unknown scribe, the Downshire Protestant 
 was boldly throwing off the mask. That news- 
 paper threatened the Government that before they 
 would permit any attempt to interfere with the 
 Orangemen they would crush the English rule in 
 Ireland, and added, “Before the Orangemen of 
 Ireland will submit to be hunted down by Popish 
 law officers, only for being Orangemen, and before 
 the public worship of God on the 12th of July, 
 shall be allowed to be male penal, the persecutors 
 of the loyal Protestants of Ireland must be taught 
 a lesson, and freedom and truth be protected and 
 guarded by 100,000 Orangemen in arms”* One 
 would be inclined to laugh at such blustering, 
 conditional loyalty but for the sad results 
 which it has left behind^ One of the most painful 
 aud disastrous proofs of the evil influence of 
 Orangeism and cf the incendiary writings of its 
 infuriated fanatics is to be found in Belfast but a 
 few years later. Unfortunately it has so well 
 earned for itself discreditable distinction that it 
 may well claim the prominence of a separate 
 chapter. 
 
 * But other and more important individuals were not 
 ayerse to the appeal to arms. There are in the British 
 museum two octavo volumes, originally .'rcm the lilrary of 
 Dr. Drew, and amongst many other matters relating to the 
 In titution, these volumes conta'n letters of Lord Ennis- 
 killen counselling the Orangemen to arm. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXV. — ’64. 
 
 The fearful riots of 1864 in Belfast will live long 
 in the recollection of its inhabitants and of the 
 country at large. Many of the citizens will never 
 recall it but with pain j for through the shades of 
 the past will ceme back t@ the wife, the familiar 
 face of the husband who is gone, to the mother, the 
 sweet and laughing countenance of the child, 
 offered an innocent sacrifice to the demon of reli- 
 gious fanaticism ; the houseless, the homeless, 
 the ruined in health, in fortune, and in character 
 cannot lecollect without regret the events of 
 this sad year. And that large number of re- 
 spectable and sensible men who have survived the 
 disgraceful struggle in which they had taken more 
 than a passive part, must now look back with shame 
 upon their share of the work, and with thankfulness 
 that they have lived into times of, let us hope, greater 
 toleration. If we are not all that we should be, at 
 east that day is past, when difference in religion 
 
 justifies a man in cutting the throat of his neigh-, 
 hour, 
 
 . On the forenoon of Monday, August the 8th, 
 Belfast seems to have been in the absolute enjoy- 
 ment of entire tranquillity, nor was there any ap- 
 prehension on the part of the authorities that dis- 
 turbance was meditated by any part of the popula- 
 tion. Others may have had a faint suspicion of it, 
 for it was known so early as eleven o’clock in the 
 morning that the Orangemen of Sandy Eow 
 intended to burn an effigy of O’Connell. 
 Why they selected that particular day 
 for offering the insult to their Catholic fellow 
 citizens is explained by the fact that a 
 site for a statue to the Liberator was, in Sackville 
 Street, Dublin, opp' site that bridge now known as 
 O’Connell Bridge, upon the same day inaugurated. 
 Such a testimony of veneration to the dead the 
 Orangemen of Belfast cculd not regard with calm- 
 
 34 
 
242 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 ness. And so, in the secrecy of the lodgeroom of 
 Sandy Row they resolved — after the regular busi- 
 ness was over, let us hope-— that Dan O’Ccnuell’s 
 effigy should be burned upon the Boyne Bridge, 
 S!> called by the spirit of faction because of its 
 position between the Orange and Catholic dis- 
 tricts — burned on the evening of the day upon 
 which a site for a statue was dedicated to him in 
 he metropolis. It may seem strange that this 
 intention only became known to the authorities 
 late in the evening. The mysterious lodgeroom 
 explains it. That the intention was known to most 
 of the local police, some of whom were likely pre- 
 sent in lodge when it was debated, is now beyond 
 question. It was about five o’clock p.m. when 
 Head -Constable M‘Kittrick, of the local police, 
 first received a report from lospecto’-s Duff 
 and Robinson, also of the local force, of 
 this intention to bun the effigy. As soon 
 as he received the report, he immediately pro- 
 ceeded to Head -Constable Rankin, then in v^harge 
 of Albert Orescent Constabulary Barracks, adjacent 
 to the district in which the burning was to take 
 place, and requested him to turn out as many men 
 as possible. The Mayor, Mr. Lytle, who resided in 
 Bangor, had by this time gone home, and Rankin 
 undertook to communicate with the only resident 
 magistrate in town, Mr. Orme, who resided within 
 a short distance. It was near six o’clock when 
 Rankin was spoken to, and he experienced con- 
 siderable delay in getting his men together, owing 
 to its being Assize time. It was consequently n-'ar 
 eight o’clock in the evening when he reached the 
 Boyne Bridge, having then with him thirty-two of 
 the constabulary and twelve of the local force, 
 under M^Kit trick. In the meantime he had sent 
 for Mr. Orme, who at once attended. The brethren 
 had stolen a march upon them. When they 
 arrived upon the scene about 4,000 of the low 
 Orangemen of the district were assembled to- 
 gether upon the bridge, burning the effigy 
 and dancing with fiendish glee around the 
 flames, while others were beating “The Pro- 
 testant Boys,” “We’ll kick the Pope be- 
 fore us,” and such inoffensive tunes upon the drum 
 of the Sandy Row Orange Lodge. Mr. David 
 Taylor, J.P., was, with the police, in at the death, 
 but they confined their efforts to “ inducing the 
 people to desist and go home,” an effort in which 
 they seem not to have been at all successful. Mr. 
 Orme, R.M., arrived when “ it was all over,” as he 
 himself stated. But Mr. Orme was mistaken. It 
 was not all over. The effigy having been burned. 
 
 a determined effort was now made to pass the 
 bridge and get into the Soman Catholic quarter* 
 This the police opposed. In their opposition they 
 are represented as having been successful, that the 
 Orange mob ultimately dispersed, and that the re- 
 mainder of the night was spent in quietness. This 
 demonstration, and the occasion and the object 
 must also be recollected, was made in a prominent 
 position within a stone throw of the Catholic 
 quarter of the town. To the credit of 
 the residents there, it is established upon 
 authority* that they did not openly exhibit any 
 resentment, or by any outward act manifest their 
 displeasure. On the evening of the 9th, however, 
 another very extraordinary and far more objection- 
 able scene took place, in which the Orangemen of 
 the previous evening were the chief actors. A vast 
 crowd, numbering about 2,000 persons, assembled 
 on this evening in Sandy Row, for the purpose of 
 “ burying Dan O’Connell,” whom “ they had hanged 
 and burned the night before.” They formed into 
 procession ; were armed with staves, carried with 
 them at the head of the procession an ordinary 
 coffin, black in colour j with a conspicuous cross 
 on top; with drums and fifes playing party 
 tunes, and they themselves indulging in party 
 cries and imprecations, too long familiar to, and 
 too well understood by the Catholics of Belfast, they 
 proceeded to Friar’s Bush Roman Catholic Burying 
 Ground, situate about a mile distant. The burial 
 ground is walled in, and the gate was locked. Having 
 arrived at the gate they called out to the sexton, 
 offensively bidding him “ open the gate till we 
 bury O’Connell,” and at the same time “using 
 some of the familiar party cries of the locality.” 
 The sexton and his son, who were licensed to carry 
 arms, were not to be intimidated ; and the appear- 
 ance of a gun at the gate-lodge window sent those 
 sacrilegious ruffians scampering round the most 
 convenient corner. Baulked in their original 
 intention, they now, from a safe point of attack, 
 wrecked the sexton’s house, and otherwise indulged 
 their fiendish propensities by actually throwing 
 stones at the crosses adjacent. They then re- 
 traced their steps to Sandy Row to seek for some 
 better opportunity of indulging their malignant 
 desires. A small party of constabulary, a con- 
 stable, and six men had been posted upon 
 the Boyne Bridge to “ intercept” the pro- 
 gress of the Orangemen, it being feared 
 that they would at once proceed towards 
 the Pound or Catholic district. The absurdity of 
 
 ♦ See rep rt of '64 Commission, page 9. 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGErSM. 
 
 243 
 
 placing such, a mere handful of men to intercept 
 irresponsible ruffians, whose acts during the previous 
 two days plainly showed they were intently and 
 irresistibly bent upon riot, must be apparent to 
 all. At any rate, the six policemen were not able 
 to Intercept them, and wanting only an excuse 
 to justify their opposition, the Orange party found 
 a ready one, by alleging that Christ’s Church was 
 being attacked. The rioters proceeded towards the 
 Pound, where they wrecked some houses, but a 
 strong force of constabulary coming up under com- 
 mand of Head-Constable Kankin, they were driven 
 back through Durham Street towards the Boyne 
 Bridge and Sandy Eow. No arrests weie up to 
 this time made, the smallness of the force being 
 alleged as an excuse. The magistrates were not 
 aware of this second attack of the Orange party, 
 but when it became known to them, and acting on 
 the belief that it would be renewed, Mr. Orme and 
 the Mayor determined upon obtaining a reinforce- 
 ment of constabulary. Sub-Inspector Garraway, 
 upon their requisition, undertook to have and did 
 actually have 150 additional men in Belfast on the 
 following evening. The riotous proceedings of the 
 8th subsided, as we have seen, into quiet. The at- 
 tack upon the Catholic quarter was again made on 
 the evening of the 9th. Quiet again followed, but 
 it was no more an assurance than that of the pre- 
 vious evening that the 10th would not bring 
 another and still fiercer attack upon the inhabitants 
 of the Found district. All that evening was occu- 
 pied n the Pound in preparations for defence. That 
 the police force were unable to protect them had 
 been, in fact, acknowledged, nor had the reinforce- 
 ments yet airived. Stones were heaped up in the 
 centre of the streets, and every evidence shown 
 that the residents were preparing for a state of 
 actual siege. Nor were they mistaken. In 
 Sandy Eow at the very same time similar 
 preparations for attack were being made. The 
 lodge swords were being brought down and 
 committed to the charge of the most distinguished 
 members, rusty ©Id guns were brought out from 
 their hiding place, staves, and clubs— a fearful style 
 of weapons peculiaily the arms of the Belfast 
 Orange mobs — were distributad about with the 
 magnanimity of brothers in arms. At eight o’clock 
 the entire force was mustered in Sandy Eow. The 
 signal was given, and a raid of a most terrific cha- 
 racter was made into Durham Street. If once 
 past this they were in the middle of the Catholic 
 quarter, where small streets were numerous, and 
 the possibility of dislodging them by a combined 
 
 attack more remote. The Pound party met the 
 Sandy Eow mob near the end of Durham Street, 
 and here a fearful encounter took place. The air 
 was thick with missiles thrown by those in the rear 
 of each faction, while the men in the front rank 
 were engaged in an actual hand to hand combat; 
 the Orange party seeking to advance, the Catholic 
 party to retard them. While they were actually 
 contending Mr. Orme, E.M., with all the available 
 force of constabulary, appeared upon the scene. So 
 violent was the struggle that the Eiot Act was 
 read, and with difficulty the rioters were ultimately 
 sepirated into their own districts, each party re- 
 moving their wounded beyond the reach of obser- 
 vation. While engaged in quelling this riot news 
 reached Mr. Orme, E.M., that the windows of the 
 Methodist chapel on the Falls Eoad had been 
 broken. Leaving a small force in Durham Street 
 to guard the pas^, he proceeded thither, and 
 found that the windows had been broken. Mr. 
 Orme’s vigilance was now summoned into 
 activity. Two attacks had been made upon the 
 Catholic quarter, and no arrests were made. 
 The sexton’s house had been wrecked, and 
 no arrests made. Houses belonging to 
 Catholics in Durham Street had been wrecked, and 
 no arrests made; but the breaking of the windows 
 of a Methodist chapel — no doubt a wan ten and 
 malicious act — could not be tolerated with im- 
 punity. He pursued the Catholic party, now for 
 the first time a Catholic mob, into Milford Street, 
 and five persons were arrested and lodged in +he 
 Police Office. These were the first arrests made 
 during the three days’ tumult through which we 
 have already passed. The fact of their being so 
 in no way tended to allay the excitement in the 
 Pound quarters, or restore confidence with the 
 Catholics in the police force and the magistracy, 
 the want of which, if not altogether reason- 
 able, was pardonable under the circumstances. No 
 further disturbance took place daring that night. 
 The Orange party retired to glory in their triumph, 
 and the Catholics to brood in silence over their de- 
 feat and the capture of their friends. The long 
 expected reinforcement soon arrived, and there 
 were now in Belfast 210 constabulary, mak- 
 ing, together with the local force, about 
 370 in all for police purposes upon Thursday morn- 
 ing. At five p.m. on the llfh the constabulary as- 
 sembled for duty. All was then tranquil. At seven 
 o’clock the same evening Mr. Lytle, the Mayor and 
 Chief Magistrate of Belfast, left for Harrogate to 
 breathe the sea air, an unfortunate preference which. 
 
244 
 
 HISTOEY UE OEANGEISM. 
 
 bad he recobected the proceedings of the previous 
 evenings and wisely construed the ominous quiet 
 which preceded each tumult, he ought not have 
 indulged. Within an hour after the Mayor sailed 
 from Belfast, and almost before he was well outside 
 the lough the town, of which he h d taken charge, 
 was again a scene of riot and disorder. Rioting of 
 a serious character took place in Durham Street, 
 where the opposing mobs •igain came into collis’on 
 upon the same scene and under exactly similar 
 circumstances as on the previous night. 
 
 Work done, opposing parties, full of the excite- 
 ment of the hour, met at the street corners of their 
 respective localities to discuss the contest of the 
 preceding days. Discussion gave rise to interest 
 interest created excitement ; excitement was fol- 
 lowed by a desire for a renewal of the conflict upon 
 one side ; a desire for retaliation upon the other. 
 Rioting of a serious character again took place. 
 Expec ing the customary evening raid upon the 
 Catholic quarter, a number of the Pound party 
 had assembled to guard the “gap” in Durham 
 Street, when an attempt was made to dislodge 
 them by the Sandy Row party. The conflict now 
 assumed a still more serious character than before", 
 and it became with both sides a question of 
 strength as to who would carry the trophy o2 the 
 field. The shooting was in3essant, and, for the 
 first time, the houses in the respective locahties 
 were utilized as convenient points of atf-ack. After 
 not less than half-an-hour’s free fighting, Mr. 
 Orme and Head-Constable Rankin, with a party of 
 the Constabulary and some local police, inter- 
 erred. Before we proceed further it must be 
 recollected that the old locals wei’e, of all 
 others, the most objectionable parties who 
 could have interfered as peace preservers. 
 They were, with few exceptions, Orangemen — 
 practically they were an exclusively Protestant 
 corps — with syn:^athie3 and prejudices antagonistic 
 to the Catholic population, who had suffered griev- 
 ously at their hands. The appearance of the “ old 
 locals” upon the scene was not calculated to allay 
 excitement. In their presence the riot continued, 
 the residents of the Pound occasionally dividing 
 their attention between the Orangemen and the 
 “ locals,” while the Inhabitants of Sandy Row dis- 
 tributed their favours liberally between the Catho- 
 lics and the constabulary. Several prisoners were 
 made, who were lodged in the Police Office by the 
 Resident Magistrate. On his return to Durham 
 Street he was again attacked, and was compelled 
 to charge his assailants, driving them to the Boyne 
 
 Bridge, where he made tvrelve prisoners. Tais 
 assault was so threatening that some of the con- 
 stabulary who had chirge of the prisoners had to 
 take refuge in an adjacent house, which was 
 besieged and wrecked, the constabulary escap- 
 ing with their prisoners by a back entrance. 
 Then, as now, the Irish constabulary was not in 
 favour with the Orangemen. Out into the open 
 street the brethren came, deliberately knelt, and 
 picked down their men. This species of warfare 
 lasted up to midnight and past it, and at one 
 o’clock on Friday morning, the 12bh, the constabu- 
 lary returned to their quarters, and Mr. Orme to 
 his residence. 
 
 The authorities imagined they were dealing with 
 a case of riot of, perhaps, something more 
 than the ordinary character. In this they were 
 mUtiken. It is diffljult to impress upon the mind 
 of a reader the state of excitement upon that morn- 
 ing of the 12t’i. The reign of civil war had now 
 absolutely and actually set in in that portion of the 
 town to which the rioting was still confinad. Civil 
 authority was upon one side set aaide as an unne- 
 cessary incumbrance, upon the other, as a broken 
 reed, and each party becoming emboldened by the 
 absolute helplessnees of the police force, they now 
 came out bo’dly into the highway to fight the 
 matter out to the death. It has been the custom 
 of late to regard the riots of ’64 as excesses conse- 
 q lent upon the mere casual and momentary 
 excitement of a town mob. The conclusion, 
 though a highly natural cne, is eironeous. Frcm 
 the morning of that 12th of August, 1864, to the 
 amnesty which brought the fighting to a close, 
 military manoeuvring of a very efficient and fear- 
 fully suggestive kind was shown, such as might 
 have rivalled the dreadful science of the boule- 
 vards and put to shame the desultory fighting over 
 the street ramparts of Paris. It is impossible to 
 say who commenced this bloody night’s wort. No 
 doubt, each party will say they expected attack 
 from their opponents. But, begin it who may, at 
 half-past one o’clock upon that eventful morning, 
 word was sent round in both the Sandy Row and 
 the Pound districts that every man was wanting at 
 his post. Out of their beds they jumped, some whole 
 dressed (for not a few expected the summons, and 
 were prepared for it), some half dressed, and many 
 scarcely dressed at all, and from the safety of the 
 blankets they betook themselves to the streets 
 to join in the contest. Looking at it now, we judge 
 it a sacrifice; but then, amid excitement the most 
 intense, with shouts of defiance, and the whizaing 
 
HISTOET OE OEANaEISM. 
 
 245 
 
 of bullets breaking upou the ear, men — 
 Orangemen and Catholic alike, with a wife, a 
 family, or a sweetheirt, must have felt 
 that hasty knock at tbeir doors after the hour 
 of midright, as a fearful summons to duty. I have 
 talked with men, of this party and of ♦hat, 
 and thus it was they regarded it. A fearful dread 
 seems to have reigned over the inhabitants of the 
 Pound that some night, not far distant, they would 
 be attacked and murdered er burnt d in their beds. 
 The reasonableness of the con dusion let each man 
 judge for himself. By two o’clock in the morning 
 both parties were again face to face with each other 
 upon the old battle ground. Fiihng recommenced 
 and for the first time during the warfare, there 
 seemed an ^ibsolute desire for extermii adon. In 
 the middle of the struggle Mr. Orme and the consta- 
 bulary, under the charge of Head-Constable Lamb 
 arrived. While they were endeavouring to quell the 
 riot in Durham Street, small contingents were en- 
 gaged in trials of stiength in the adjoining streets, 
 so that their efforts were wholly ineffectual. The 
 locality was in the hands of the two mobs, and 
 they kept it witJi a perversity which showed that 
 both parties now entirely disclaimed foreign aid. 
 It is customary to regard street mobs as 
 unruly and reckless, and ib may be true, as a rule. 
 But here, with, no doubt, the feeling of self-preser- 
 vation still strong within, we find the utmost caution 
 in both attack and defence. Having thus fought 
 it out for two hours, each party withdrew to its 
 respective quarter, and the constabulary were lef^ 
 occupying a somewhat ignoble position upon the 
 neutral ground in Durham Street, with a few 
 persons as their prisoners of war. The truce was 
 a signifi }ant one. 
 
 At half.past five o’clock on the morning of the 
 12bh, workers— naturally those who had nothing to 
 do with the morning’s fighting, for rioters would be 
 little disposed to work — proceeded to the mills 
 and factories as usual. With the exception 
 of in one place of business, the great majority of 
 the Catholics had to pass to work through Orange 
 quarters, and on their way both males and females 
 were rudely set upon and assaulted. It appears 
 from the report of the Commission that this 
 course of conduct was pursued by one party as well 
 as the other, but from the peculiarity of the cir- 
 cumstances, the Catholic workers, being the mino- 
 rity, and surrounded as they were by the vast 
 milling population in which Orangeism prevailed, 
 were the greater sufferers. 
 
 In the mills and warehouses of Belfast the Pro- 
 
 test mts were, without exception, in the ascendant* 
 Those Catholics who wanted to work, and cared not 
 for rioting, would now not get leave to work. The 
 ferment had spreai into the business houses and 
 localities, and the few who did succeed in gaining 
 their respective workshops were either rudely 
 thrust out or found the doors closed against them. 
 Civil war was upon that morning openly pro- 
 claimed, and the inhabitants of the Pound saw 
 notbiag before them now but fighting it out to the 
 bloody end. And fight it they did. “Houses,” 
 says the Commissioners, Messrs. Barry and Dowse, 
 in their report regarding this p rrticular period of 
 the contest, “ houses of both Protestants and 
 Roman Catholics in several parts of the town were 
 wrecked. Riot had, in fact, become rampant, and 
 authority appeared to be set quite at defiance j the 
 insufficiency of the force at the disposal of the ma- 
 gistrates again ‘enabling the criminals to escape the 
 consequences of their acts.” Immediately follow- 
 ing this we find detailed an event which had 
 better be left to the descriptive powers of the Com- 
 missioners, lest there might be some lingering 
 suspicion of exaggeration : — 
 
 “The early part of this day (the 12th} was 
 signalised by an outrage than which nothing more 
 brutal and unmanly was perpetrated throughout 
 the riots — namely, the wrecking of the Bank more 
 Roman Catholic Female Penitentiary. The title, 
 of course, explains the character of the institution ; 
 and considering that its only inmates were women 
 — poor creatures who sought a refuge in which 
 they might atone for evil courses, and ladies, who 
 through motives of the purest charity, undertook 
 the task of their reformation ; the fanaticism that 
 could make it the object of attack could be re- 
 garded as nothing less than revolting. This 
 institution was twice attacked on the day in ques- 
 tion. On the first occasion the windows were 
 broken by the mob. Soon after, by way of retalia- 
 tion, it is supposed, the windows of Dr. Cooke’s 
 church, and those of t he houses of several Protes- 
 tants^ were smashed by the opposite party. This 
 seems to have led to a second and more violent 
 attack on the Penitentiary, which the cons tabulary 
 suppressed with some difficulty, having had to load 
 their carabines before they were able to disperse the 
 crowd*” 
 
 From the evidence of Dr, Dorrian, who was then 
 coadjutor bishop of the diocese of Down and Con- 
 nor, we find disclosed the still more dreadful fact 
 that the intention was to burn the Penitentiary, 
 and, of course, its inmates, all of whom were 
 
 35 
 
24G 
 
 HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 females. His lordship had receivred information of 
 this intention, and wrote to Me. Orme, E.M., who 
 upon that same morning handed the letter to Sub- 
 Inspector Garraway. “ That officer proceeded with 
 a body of constabulary to the locality, but after an 
 hour, seeing no symptoms of disorder, withdrew, 
 and the wrecking thm took place.'’ The significance 
 of this may be fuither verified by the fact that upon 
 the same night the bishop’s residence, in Howard 
 Street, was attached, the windows Ire ken, and two 
 clergymen assaulted as they entered the house. 
 All through this day the town was in the utmost 
 state of excitement, acts of violence upon person and 
 property being perpetrated in several localities. In 
 that part of the town to which the fighting was con- 
 fined, the rioters had it all their own way. Even 
 the local police would not now venture into it 
 excent suppoitsd by a strong force of constabulary, 
 while the magistrates were for the first time 
 brought to believe that they were face to face with 
 actual civil war. Two hundred ad litional police 
 arrived, which included a hundred men and two 
 officers from the depo*". Mr. Coulston, R.M., and 
 Mr. M'Cance, J.P., also arrived to aid Mr. Orme, 
 who by this time had gone through more than an 
 average amount of laborious duty. As on the pre- 
 vious days, the evening was spent by the contend- 
 ing parties in seeking to settle the quarrel, and the 
 duel was fought out with reverse and victory aHer- 
 nating upon both sides. The weather favoured the 
 belligerents, for, according to all accounts, those 
 summer evenings of ’64 were such as to entice 
 people into the streets, and we have long learned 
 to know, while the law recognises the fact, that 
 there is little difference, and a very short 
 s^ep, indeed, between looking on at ard actually 
 engaging in a riot. This is more especially so when 
 both parties are warm sympathisers, as we find it 
 here. 
 
 On the following Saturday there would seem to 
 have been somewhat of a lull in the conflict, which 
 the commissioners attributed to the faat of the 
 police force having been augment 3 d to over 400 
 strong. On Saturd»y evening the authorities took 
 it into their heads that they would disperse the 
 Catholics who were assembled in the Pound, and 
 accordingly ordered the 8th Hussars to go up the 
 “loney,” by which rame the Pound was generally 
 known. They advanced with sabres drawn, officers 
 shouting, and with all the pomp of war, but hai 
 only gone about ten yards when they were assailed 
 principally by women from the windows of the 
 houses on both sides of the street, with all the 
 
 household crockery and what they contained. The 
 Hussers were compelled to beat a hasty retreat 
 (cursing vehemently all the while as troopers alone 
 can curse), amid the derisive cheers of the people. 
 Sunday and Sunday night were comparatively 
 tranquil ; but the actual excitement remained 
 to a great extent unabaied. Tfce following 
 Monday was the 15th of August, and a holiday in 
 the Catholic Church. The report of Messrs. Barry 
 & Dowse say 3 —“ That, as a consquence, large num.^ 
 bers of the lower orders of Catholics did not go to 
 work.” In this I am inclined to think they are 
 mistaken; being, no doubt, led into error by the 
 practice which, almost with'^ut exception, prevails 
 in the South of Ireland in regard to the observance 
 of Cathclic holidays. lu the North the observance 
 of Chuch holidays is, through pure necessity, con- 
 fine 1, more or less, to the attendance at chapel pre- 
 vious to going to work; and it is, therefore, 
 questio table whether the large numbers who 
 remained from work did it through necessity, or as a 
 ma.ter of choice. Certainly it was not the cu: tom. 
 I incline to the belief that they remained from 
 work purely and simply because they would not be 
 allowed to work, and the facts justify the asser- 
 tion. Prom the mills and workshops, on the 
 previous Priday and Siturday, they were driven 
 forth, and the reasonable presumption was that 
 they would not be allowed to resume work 
 upon the Monday morning. At any rate, whether, 
 by choice or necessity, it would seem that herein 
 we have that cause of the renewal of a dreadful 
 reign of terror which prevailed during the latter 
 portion of the previous week. The early part of 
 Monday was quiet, but at half-past ten o’clock in 
 the morning large crowds began to assemble in the 
 vicinity of Si. Milachy’s church, and amongst them 
 were a number of navvies, who were then engaged 
 at tie making of the new docks. The riots of the 
 previous days were, of ciurse, the subject of dis- 
 cussion, and moved by a spirit of revenge, with 
 which no peaceably-disposed person can sym- 
 pathise, they marched in a body to Brown Street, a 
 Protestant quarter, firing shots and shouting de- 
 fiance as they went. This and their subsequent 
 behaviour were such as to call for the strongest re- 
 probation. On reaching the Brown Street Na- 
 tional Sihcols, chiefly attended by members of the 
 Presbyterian Church — and then occupied by 41flt 
 innocent mortals, who, unless on the principle that 
 the sins of the father descend upon the children, 
 were in no way responsible for the conduct of their 
 elder co-religionists — an attempt, it is said, waj 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISK. 
 
 247 
 
 inade to break open the door. Failing in this 
 the windows were shattered, and even shots fired 
 into the school. After being engaged at this das 
 tardly work for ten minutes they proceeded up the | 
 Shankhill Road. The belief that the handful of 
 men who sallied out of the Soho Foundry were 
 sufficier t to disperse that large, r^a’ly terrible and 
 desperate body of stalwart ruffi .ns seems absurd. 
 Toe sortie was judiciously made as the navvies 
 were retreating, and upon some of the few strag- 
 glers; So it is at least evident that much more 
 damage could h ive been done if they really desired 
 it. Their havirg been dispersed by the Soho 
 Foundry men is not alt''gether consistent with the 
 fact that the navvies tcok as their course a direct 
 route into a densely Orange locility — the Shank, 
 hill Real. They were, beyond doubt, a body of 
 men whom few mobs in Belfast could safely, and 
 would willingly, encounter. It appears that so 
 great was tie terror inspired by their march 
 through the district flat even to the present 
 day the mothers of the Shaakhid keep the navvies 
 of ’64 a? the ‘^bogies” with which to frigltsn their 
 children. When the ghost,” or “ the booh man,” 
 or “ the swrep” will fail utterly ^o bring unruly 
 children (ff the street, the mere mention of “the 
 ravvies ! the navvies !” will send them scampering 
 to their mothers’ kcee. 
 
 The intention was to pass into Sandy Row, where 
 a mob from that quarter had as<^embled, but too 
 ready to encounter them. The opposing parties 
 were every moment increasing, and if lives 
 were to be saved not a moment was to 
 be lost by the authorities. In the nick of 
 time Mr. Orne, a force of constabulary, and 
 a number cf cava’ry arrived, and succeeded in 
 sundering the mobs, thus preveLting what mutt 
 have bein a most dir-astrous collision. 
 
 About ten o’clock on that day a party from tne 
 Shankhill made a raid upon the Found, by way of 
 the Falls Road, but were met by the Pound mob at 
 Milford Street, beside St. Peter’s Church, then in 
 the course of erection. Here a very desperate en- 
 counter with firearms took place. A man named 
 Heyburn who was working at the Church, and 
 who was on the scaffold at the time, was shot’ dead 
 by the retreating Orangemen. 
 
 It was now evident that peace had not been 
 made, and at once additional troops were tele- 
 graphed fer to Dublin, were sent down that 
 evening. They consisted of two troops of the 4th 
 Hussars and 300 men of the 84th Regiment. The 
 inhabitants of Brown Street now prepared 
 
 for an attack upon their Catholic neighbours. 
 Notices were served, doors were hastily chalked, 
 and over an extensive district it was evident that 
 I the angel of death had marked and passed 
 where next his blighting hand should fall. 
 Immediately on the arrival uf the addi- 
 tional troeps they were despatched to Brown 
 Street, and, in the midst of great excite- 
 ment and considerable danger, the distr’et was 
 cleared. Shone^throwing and firing were kept up, 
 however, in the locality, and towards nightfall a 
 Protestant named Murdock was shot. It remained 
 now for the Protestants to retal ate upon the Ca- 
 tholics for the march to Brown Street. About six 
 o’clock the same evening an Orange mob assembled 
 in the Sandy Row district, and marched in military 
 order, with guns, staves, anl other woipons, for 
 the purpose of wrecking St. Milachy’s Church. 
 News of their intended visit had reached the Catho- 
 lic body, and large crowds assembled around it to 
 protect it from sacrilege. A regular engige- 
 ment here took place, in which firearms were 
 used upon both sides. Many of the parties 
 contending received gunshot wounds, and 
 ivere carried to the hospitil. The corsfevbu- 
 laiy and troops arrived before the issue of the con- 
 flict was decided, and both parties were dispersed 
 by a free application of the bayonet and the sabre. 
 A Catholic named Heyburr, who died on the IStk, 
 is said to have been shot in the course of this en- 
 counter. This fight was one of the fiercest 
 that had yet taken place, and gave painful evidence 
 of the spirit of both parties engaged. The evening 
 was spent in rioting in the disturbed districts. 
 Scarcely a resident in Sandy Row retired to rest, 
 and the continued and regular discharge of fire- 
 arms gave ominous warning of what would follow. 
 The Catholic mill girls going to work had been 
 maltreated. On the morning of the 16th a small 
 party of police was posted upon the Boyne Bridge 
 to afford them protection as they passed to their 
 occupation. The declared intention of the Orange 
 paity was now to prevent the Catholics from working 
 in the same concerns with them under any pretence, 
 and, enraged at the interference of the police, the 
 Orangemen ef Sandy Row attacked them. The 
 constabulary were a small party, but with muskets, 
 and the hope was entertained that they could be 
 dislodged. About 1,000 of the Oiangemenassembled 
 and joined in an organised attack upon the police 
 who were stationed on or adjacent to the Bridge. 
 With stones and other missiles they were beset, 
 some of them having te take refuge iu the few 
 
248 
 
 HISTORY OF ORANGEISM. 
 
 hospitable doorways that were opened to ajfford 
 them shelter. The assault was a most violent and 
 desperate one, and would have resulted in the com- 
 plete annihilation of the party but for the timely 
 arrival of a strong detachment of constabulary 
 under the command of Sub-Inspec'^or Caulfield. 
 Their forces beinpf now largely augmented they 
 took up their position upon the b»':dge, but the 
 Orangemen were not to be intimida^^ed. This con- 
 struction had but recently been christened the 
 * Boyne Bridge” as indicative of a pass which 
 was not open to the Catholic residents from 
 whose district it divided the Orange quarter. En- 
 raged at seeing their sanctuary desecrated by the 
 presence of poli jemen, seeking io aid the passage 
 of the enemy, the cry of ‘'Take the bridge” was 
 raised upon all sides. A moment’s hesitation, and 
 then with steady and well-ordered step they pushed 
 on to drive the police from their position, while 
 stones and brick - bats were flying in all 
 directions. A couple of their most expert 
 marksmen where sent forward to the front who dis- 
 charged their pieces and then gave p'^a^’e to their 
 ^ellows. It must be recollected that this was amii 
 a scene of the most dreadful excitement in which 
 no man’s life was worth a minute’s purchase. 
 Beset as he was with Orangemen upon one side of 
 the bridge and Orangemen upon the other, Caul- 
 field was pushed to the last desperate extremity of 
 fighting the mob upon their own ground. A shoot- 
 ing party was at once ordered to the front from 
 the ranks of the police. The order to load was 
 given. The Orangemen still came fiercely on. 
 “ Load, !” and they loaded. “ Ready !” and to their 
 knees they went. Still the Orangemen were bent 
 upon having tbebridge, and the wild cry of fanatic^ 
 ^sm “ to hell with the Pope” rent the air, 
 “ Present, !” and true to the order, and their duty, 
 they cooly presented. One moment more to see if that 
 mad crowd would shrink from their dcom; but they 
 halted not, “ Fire, !” and those policemen fired and 
 upwards of twenty persons lay stretched upon the 
 earth. In that truly, tragic onslaught John 
 M'Connell and Robert Davidscn, both Protestants, 
 met their death. 
 
 About the same hour a serious riot took place in 
 Millfield, in the Catholic quarter, in which a Ca- 
 tholic mob and the constabulary were the parties 
 concerned. The conflict on the side of the Catholics 
 was chiefly carried on with stones, but so violent 
 was the assault that the police had to fire, and 
 several men received gunshot wounds. In the 
 course of the day, owing to the violence of the re- 
 
 spective mobs, Mr. M'Cance, E.M., had repeatedly 
 ti order the constabulary and troops under his 
 command to fire. 
 
 It was now nothing more nor less than a species of 
 cruel warfare in which each party sought fo exter- 
 minate the other, the military and police being in 
 the extremely unpleasant position of being be- 
 tween two fires, while seeking to keep both asunder. 
 
 All that day and the following evening Belfast 
 was like a beleagared city, and so general was the 
 riat in the working locahties of the town that it 
 would be useless ti seek to combine all into one 
 comprehensive photograph. 
 
 In the disturbed districts no one dared venture out, 
 particularly in the evening, whose religious sympa- 
 thy was not distinctly known to the mob-leaders of 
 the locality, and as the more daring passengers 
 walked the stree's, possibly to night work, the 
 dread whiz of the speeding bullet reminded them 
 unpleasantly of their danger. Tne sharp-shooting 
 tactics were again resorted to, and those skilled in 
 rifle practice stealthily approached the outposts of 
 the enemy, musket in hand, deeming it as much 
 an honour to pick down a straggler in the enemy’s 
 quarter as to hit the bull’s-eye in a shooting 
 gallery. Beyond doubt the military proclivities of 
 each party were no w brought into play, and the 
 regret is that their reckless bravery was net 
 engaged in a better quarrel. Fortunately, the 
 arms were of that character which were, from 
 their age and construction, peculiarly adapted for 
 shooting round a corner. The C itholics, as was 
 ever the case in such contingencies, were handi- 
 capped. Marshalling and drilling, and arming, 
 and threatening armed resistance had not with 
 them been a political program me — I mem with the 
 Catholics of Belfast— and they found themselves in 
 this respect but ill- matched with their Orange oppo- 
 nents. From the tactics pursued by the Orangemen, 
 particularly upon this and the following day, it was 
 clearly seen that the question was now one of ab- 
 solute extermination, and a number of respectable 
 Catholics prominently connected with BeKast 
 formed themselves into a club for the pur- 
 pose of providing arms. It is not for me to 
 comment upon this movement. There were men 
 connected with it respect ible, aye, and peaceable 
 in character, some of whom are still living — men 
 who would willingly hold out the right hand of 
 fellowship to any man of any religion, but who 
 saw, or thought they say, in that complex state of 
 affairs no other means of preserving their existence 
 and the existence of the community with whose 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGEISM. 
 
 249 
 
 welfare they were interested, and I will say with 
 whos3 prejudices they were identified. There are 
 times when this call to arms is a duty. It is for 
 the reader to say whether, having regard to the 
 evident insufficiency of the police in town, to the 
 threats of the Ora age me a, and to the comparative 
 helplessness of the Catholics, that time had now ar- 
 rived. 
 
 Reprisal upon both sides was now alone thought 
 of ; and the authorities, and the small garrison of 
 armed men that supported them, were cast aside 
 with that contempt which showed how conscious of 
 superiority were the rioters. The walls were re- 
 gularly loop-holed, for the purpose of enabling the 
 contending parties to perform rifle practice with 
 greater safety, and. from oehind these enclosures, 
 passers-by were cooly shot down if regarded as of 
 the adverse faction. An incident now occurred 
 which, more than all others, indicates the desperate 
 intents of the Orange faction. At about ten o’clock 
 upon the morning of the 16th, the ship-carpenters 
 abandoned their work and, following tbe example 
 set them on the previous day by the navvies, they 
 marched in a body through the town, armed with 
 those dreadful weapons, which from the nature of 
 their trade they could easily extemporize for use 
 in close conflict. On their way down North Street 
 they halted opposite Hercules Street, an almost ex- 
 clusively Catholic locality, occupied by butchers. 
 A wild shout was heard from the women 
 of the street, and immediately with cleavers 
 and knives they rushed to the head of the street 
 where the Orangemen were, and after a very short 
 figh^, in which one of the ship-carpenters had his 
 arm cloven off by a woman, they hastily retreated. 
 The terror which their passage through High 
 Street communicated can scarcely be described. 
 The shops, at least any of them whose 
 owners still hoped to pursue business under 
 such precarious circumstances, were hastily 
 plosed, and the fearful presentiment ran 
 through town that all propeity would soon 
 be in the hands of faction. This mob 
 marched into Peter’s Hill, and on to Brown Street, 
 the scene of the previous day’s wrecking, a visita- 
 tion which in itself bore terrible significance. Here 
 they were joined by large crowds of sympathisers, 
 who urged an immediate incursion into the Pound. 
 This being decided upon, they returned to High 
 Street, determined first to provide themselves with 
 arms. At this time a gunsmith named Neill carried 
 on an extensive business in High Street. Arriving 
 here the mob halted, while some of its ringleaders 
 
 went forward and demanded arms. Brooking no 
 delay, a rush was at the same time made for the 
 entrance. Immense stones, crowbars, and the 
 shoulders of a dozen stalwart men were as the 
 “ ‘ Open, Sesame,’ of the fable.” Beneath such 
 overpowering influence, the door now quaked, now 
 gave way, and amid the triumphant cries of a 
 thousand fanatics the shop was entered, the 
 shutters then removed to give easier access, and 
 the store with all its dread implements of 
 death, and all its destructive combustibles, were 
 in the hands of an Orange mob, wild with passion 
 and blind with prejudice. Will they stop at this ? 
 must have been the question of the neighbouring 
 traders as they waited in breathless anxiety for the 
 issue. Not likely. The assault upon the gun shop 
 had been too successful not to suggest further pil- 
 lage. The mobocracy of our big cities hold the 
 reigns of government so seldom that when once in 
 authority they, like the hungry man at a banquet, 
 are not easily content. A hardware shop was next 
 the object of attack. In alike manner the harriers 
 were diTposed of, and shovels, scythes, hatchets, 
 and other weapons little less destructive, when 
 wielded by vigorous arms, were added to the arm- 
 oury of the Orange rioters. Several pawn-offices 
 in the adjoining st"e8t3 were next visited, and in 
 the same manner entered and pillaged. The 
 gold rings, gold watches, and other jewellery 
 which were carried away were of course neither 
 weapons of offence nor defence. But entering with 
 a comparatively chivalrous intent, it is not hard to 
 see how in the face of such temptations they could 
 scarce keep their hands from plunder. •* Where 
 were the authorities at this time ?” A very natural 
 question, which I will leave Messrs. Barry and 
 Dowse to answer ; — 
 
 ** The raid here described, and the plundering in 
 the midday of shops in the High Street of Belfast, 
 and this at a time when a force of some 400 con. 
 stabolary, 300 infantry, and a troop of ca-valry were 
 in town, in addition to its regular police, its quota 
 of constabulary, and the men of the depot battalion 
 ordinarily stationed there are certainly amongst 
 the most astonishing instances of lawless daring 
 that have ever occurred in a civilised community. 
 The robbery took place in no obscure quarter, in 
 the midst of an ignorant and turbulent population, 
 but in the great commercial centre of this wealthy 
 and enterprising town, the property of whose in- 
 habitants was thus proved to be utterly at the 
 mercy of the marauders who perpetrated it. No 
 circumstance could more strongly show how outrage 
 
 36 
 
250 
 
 HISTOET OE OEANGEISM:. 
 
 gains strength from impunity, an i how necessary 
 it is for authority to be in a position to check with 
 strong arm its first manifestations”* 
 
 Thus armed, emboldened by success, and fit for 
 the work of slaughter, th's gang of desperadoes 
 proceeded in search of the navvies. Fortunately, 
 owing to the concentration of troops in the vicinity 
 in which, the struggle was expected, further out- 
 rage was for the time prevented. While these 
 scenes were being enacted, the magistrates were 
 engaged in making formal arrangement for pre- 
 S3rving” (rather a misnomer) the peace of the 
 town by dividing it into districts, giving each 
 magistrate a separate charge. At this meeting 
 special constables were sworn in, and Sir Thomas 
 Larcom was telegraphed to despatch at once 500 
 addiTonal constabulary, a regiment of infantry, 
 and all the cavalry at his disposal. All that even- 
 ing and night Belfast was given over to mob i'aw. 
 Few dared to venture out of the'r homes, and many 
 Catholics of prominence, likely to be made ob- 
 jects of attack, no longer trusted t) the safety of 
 their residences, but awaited armed and ready for 
 a midnight assault. The furniture of many Catho- 
 lic residents in Sandy Eow and on the Shankhill 
 were taken from their houses and burned befire 
 their doors, while they themselves took refuge in 
 flight. 
 
 The confligration had now spread beyond the 
 limits of Belfast. W.rd was sent to the Orange 
 lodges in the suburbs and in the adjacent 
 towns and villages of L'sburn, Hillsboroagb, 
 Broomhedge, and Lurgin, that the Belfsst 
 brethren needed their assistance, and faithful 
 to their brotherly compact, tley came, f 
 Whether the Catholics derived assistance from out- 
 side it is difficult to say. Probably they did not, 
 for wanting the ties which bound Orangemen in 
 life or death, they were more or less thrown upon 
 their own resources. Whether from actual know- 
 ledge that Catholic aid was arriving — and the 
 rumour ran like wildfire through the Orange 
 quarters that the Catholics of Dundalk and Dublin 
 were sending assistance — or whether from a fear 
 that the same tactics were pursued by their oppo- 
 
 * See reDort of 186-1 Commi f ion. page 13. 
 
 t After the rio*^s h d terminated part’es from the district 
 of Hillsborough vi it>d Belfast to se rch for their relatives 
 who came to town during the riots. They neve” found them. 
 Some years afterwards I am told that a party of workers 
 were t ngaged in making excavations for the building of a 
 hne of new houses in a street off Sa- dy Eow, and they 
 came npon a numbsr of coffins. The builder procured the'r 
 silence, fearful that his property would be ruined as build- 
 ing ground. The coffins remained undisturbed, piles were 
 driven as a substitute for fecundations, and beneath a row 
 of humb e houses of the artizan class rest, I am assured, 
 the remains cf m ny of those who fell in this conflict. 
 
 nen^s as by themselves, a large party of armed men 
 waited the arrival of the five o’clock evening train 
 from Dublin, and an attack was made upon the pas- 
 fengers in the train, who were mistaken for Ca- 
 tholic sympathisers. The same night, at ten 
 o’clock. Major Esmond, Assistant Inspector- 
 General of Constabulary, arrived by express train/ 
 bringing with him a large force of police. He was 
 accomp-anied by Colonel Lightfoot, of the S-lth 
 Regiment, with a detachment of 217 men. Of this 
 regiment 115 men more arrived the following 
 morning, making in all, with the detachment that 
 arrived on the 15fch, 24 offliers and 560 men of all 
 ranks then in, Belfast of the 8ith Regiment. 
 
 The rioters were perhaps weary of their day’s 
 labour, and the night of the 16th passed over in 
 comparative peace, a system of guerilla warfare' 
 feeing alone indulsed in. On the l7th the mobs 
 were again on the street, busy at housewrecking. 
 The military and constabulary now, for perhaps 
 ^he first time, d d efficient work, and dispersed 
 them at the point of the bayonet, making nume- 
 rous arrests. Shortly after mid-day Brigadier- 
 General Haines arrived from Dablin. Uader the 
 presidency o-f the Marquis of Doaegall, a meeting 
 of magistrates was held, at which an immediate 
 search for arms in the Pound and Sandy Row dis- 
 tricts was decided upon, warrants from Dublin 
 Castle having been received for the purpose. This 
 search only resulted in the capture of twenty-one 
 stand of arms, a result in no way surprising, con- 
 sidering ho vv hopeless was the task undertaken. 
 
 While this search wai being made at one side of 
 the town the most shocking and most inhuman 
 outrage that occurred during the whole progress 
 of the riots was being enacted at the other side. 
 Some navvies, and as it follo'^s as a natural con- 
 sequence, those who were not implicated in the dis- 
 graceful conduct of their former fellow-labourer?, 
 went as usual to work upon the slob-land?, at the 
 new dock, that morning. At about three o’clock the 
 workers upon the Queen’s Island sallied foith upon 
 them. Those navvies were chiefly old men. Tame 
 blood and constitutions weakened by arduous and 
 unrelaxing toil little inclined them towards 
 joining ii those wanton exhibition s of 
 ruffianism in which their younger brethren feal in- 
 dulged and were possibly then indulging. But it 
 mattered little to the Islandmen. They were 
 " navvies” all the same ; and a point was actually 
 gained in their being navvies who .vanted the 
 young blood of the Brown Street heroes. The 
 chances of war were this time in favour of the ship 
 
HISTORY OF ORAXQEISM. 
 
 251 
 
 Carpenters, and forgetful of all humanity this mul- 
 titude of men cast aside the hammer and the adza 
 and issued ^orth like a pack of hungry wolves upon 
 the industrious mudlarks, who were at the time 
 knee deep in mire. I have heard that assault de- 
 scribed to me by those who w t aessed it ; described 
 in language simple, ungrammatical no doubt, and 
 adorned here and there with expletives not recog 
 nised in polite society ; and I have come away with 
 the conviction that here, upon the slob-lands of 
 Belfast, in the midst of a populous town, of a big 
 Christian city, with the spires pointing heaven- 
 wards to b 11 that there there is a G^od and a home ; 
 here, where men boast of the open bible and button- 
 hole their Maker, was committed upon that 17th of 
 August, 1864, one cf the most dastardly acts that 
 disgraces humanity; au outrage in miniathre that 
 ou‘ -rivals the massacre cf Glencoe, because having 
 neither necessity nor convenience to justify it. 
 
 Desperate and determined the onslaught. 
 So perplexing was their situation, the victims were 
 placed completely at the mercy of their lavage as- 
 sailants. No escape was left them. To escape by 
 the land meant to rush into the arms of those very 
 persons who sought their death. To retreat meant 
 to traverse a vast domain of mud, in which suffo- 
 cation was certain, which was again bounded by 
 the lough which cfferodno friendly shelter. Placed 
 as they were in that pillory' they were subjected to 
 the fiercest attack with muskets, stones, brickbats, 
 and iron nuts, some of the assailants being so far 
 forgetful of the common principle of fair play, 
 which should hold good amongst rioters as amongst 
 thieves, as to rush into the mud and court a per- 
 sonal encounter with their helpless victims. In 
 order to be as far as possible outside the reach of 
 their pursuers, the navvies retreated into the mud 
 until they were immersed beyond the waist, 
 and now commenced a revolting rifie practice more 
 inhuman than all else. Helpless, and placed 
 beyond the power of self-defence, they were now 
 relentlessly shot down by the island men. George 
 Nolan, who gave evidence upon the point, described 
 the encounter; he said there were betv/een 300 and 
 400 of the Orange party there, described them as 
 shooting at the navvies in the mud, as if they 
 were so many wild geese,” and said that each 
 volley, of which there were many, consisted of 
 upwards of twenty shots. Some partifs who wit- 
 nessed the attack from the opposite lack of the 
 lough put off in boats, and came to the rescue ef 
 the navvies, who were thus conveyed beyond the 
 reach of pursuit. In the meantime, a troop of 
 
 cavalry and some police came to the rescue, and 
 drove the Ormgemen from their position. Nolan 
 expressed surprise in his evidence that more pri- 
 soners were not made — only a few arrests were 
 effected — and said that Mr. Lyons interfered to 
 have one man released who was strapped, a pri- 
 soner, to the saidle of one of the cavalry men. 
 One man named Pagan, residing in Barry Street, 
 was killed by a gunshot wound in this affray, and 
 it was a well-known fact that he had nob in any 
 sense taken part in the previous rioting. 
 
 “ The entire transaction,” say the Commissioners 
 in their report, “ indeed, furnishes a sad illustra- 
 tion of the fury that had taken possession of the 
 people.” And further, “ The state of alarm and 
 excitement into which Belfast was thrown at this 
 period, may be he^t judged cf by the circumstance 
 that on this day, the 17th, a memorial to the L)rd 
 Lieutenant, praying to have the town and district 
 forthwith placed under martial law, was laid on the 
 table of the Commercial Beading Eocm, and ob- 
 tained the signat re of sixty-three persons, includ- 
 ing several of the principal merchants and manu- 
 facturers of the towr. The next day, the 181h, au 
 event occurred which appears to us to call for the 
 most serious consideration, as the circumstances 
 connected with it, in our opinion, indicate, even 
 more distinctly than the violence and outrage 
 which we have described, the .strong and dangerous 
 infiuence which fanaticism and party spirit at this 
 time exercised over the population of Balfast.” 
 
 The event herein referred to was the funeral of 
 M'Connell, who had been.shot while engaged in the 
 attack upon the constabulary ah the Boyne Bridge. 
 On the 18th there were at least three dec ased 
 persons, whose deaths were generally known, 
 awaiting interment. Fear was reasonably enter- 
 tained by the authorities that the funerals would 
 be made an occasion of party display, if not of 
 party riot. As the report says, the authorities 
 seemed to have altogether overlooked the obvious 
 necessity of forestalling the danger apprehended, by 
 the apparently simple method of preventing any 
 unusual concourse of people at the funerals, and 
 strictly limiting attendance to the friends and re- 
 latives of the deceased. One magistrate, indeed, 
 suggested something of this sort, hut no consideration 
 seems to haveheen given to the proposal. It is right 
 to say that owing to the exertions of the Eoman 
 Catholic clergy, the funerals of those of that per- 
 suasion were attended only by near relatives, and 
 passed over quietly.”* When Fagan, the unfor- 
 
 * See report of Commission, page 13 ,* paragraph 7. 
 
252 
 
 HISTOTIT OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 tunate navvy, was to be buried. Dr. Dorrian had 
 an interview with the person who had charge of 
 the interment, and from that person directly I have 
 
 received his words. “ Now, M‘ he said, " by 
 
 all means have this funeral as private as posssible.” 
 And it was private. Four men li^’ted the 
 body of the unfortunate man from the hospital 
 bed upon which he expired to a car waiting 
 for it outside ; four men accompanied it to 
 Friars Bush Burial-Ground ; with their own hands, 
 aided by the sexton, four men dug his grave and 
 silently and mournfully they lowered him into it in 
 the twilight, with nothing save a whispered 
 “ Heaven rest his soul !” to break the stillness cf 
 that midsummer evening. It was so with the 
 other Catholics who were interred. 
 
 Not thus did the Orangemen bury their dead. 
 The Mayor waited at an early hour upon the friends 
 of the deceased seeking to persuade them to have a 
 private funeral, but without success. As a 
 large concourse oE Orangemen was expected 
 to be present, and the belief entertained 
 that what should be an occasion of mourn- 
 ing would be made a means of party triumph, 
 a troop of cavalry and a number of censtabulary 
 were told off to accompany the funeral. Bat with 
 irreverent haste the paries having the direction 
 of the ceremony stole a march upon the authori- 
 ties, and while the magistrates were ectually 
 engaged in making the arrangements the proces- 
 sion started. During the meeting Mr. Lyons, 
 J.P., left to procure the attendance of the milirary, 
 and on his arrival at Albert Crescent Brtrracks he 
 learned that M'Connell’s funeral was actually 
 starting. He left at once for the purpose of 
 accompanying it, informing Mr. M'Cance, B.M., 
 who had intended going with the funeral, that he 
 would do so. He ordered up the constabulary 
 and hucsars, and when he got up “ there were a 
 lot of cars at the corner of Howard Street,’* which 
 he considered part of the funeral cortege. These 
 cars are said to have contained arms and ammu- 
 nition. The direct route to the Knock Burial- 
 ground, the place of interment, would have been 
 a straight line from the west end of Howard Street 
 through to Lagan Village. But had they taken 
 this line Hercules Place would not have been 
 passed, and the displey would have lost all its 
 significance. The funeral cortege,’* and again we 
 have to make the acquaintance of our friends the 
 Commissioners, lest I may ba accused of exagge- 
 rating — “the funeral cortege, it is right to inform 
 your Excellency, by no means consisted of 
 
 persons in a very low rank of life ; on 
 the contrary, many of those composing it 
 were stated in evidence to be cf respectable sta- 
 tion, including several of those who had been sworn 
 %n as special constables, and who carried their batons 
 openly in the procession. Tue numbers who at- 
 tended the funeral seam to have been between 2,000 
 and 3,000 persons (rather an uusual number of 
 friends, or even accquaintances, for a person in a 
 low rank in life.) Some of them on foot, walking 
 twelve or fourteen abreast, and a considerable 
 number on cars. Several, both of the pedestrians 
 and those on cars, carried firearms, aud discharged 
 them from time to time.” Wnat a melancholy 
 spectacle ! In the presence of death ; when the 
 head is bent, and the heart is softened, and old 
 feuds are forgotten, and a truce is made with all 
 the miserable contentions of a brief existence ; whea 
 all man’s feelings are nerved to the unravelling of a 
 mysterious future, and all his fiaer faculties are en- 
 gag,edia peering into an impenetrable void— here we 
 have instead — cries of exultation — hisi iag impreca- 
 tions that told of better enmity-shots and shouts and 
 cheers — to hell with the Pope, and no -surrender ; 
 and all that demonstration which to'd — not alas ! of 
 the triumpn of death over one of their kindred — 
 but the triumph of a faction over their next-door- 
 neighbours. 
 
 O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, 
 
 And men have lost their reason ! 
 
 Mr. W. T. B. Lyons with that officiousness which 
 characterises little men upon great occasions, took 
 control of the military out of the hands of an official 
 who was better fitted for the duty. With au air 
 which Wellington was much too sensible to assume 
 when going to fight the battle of Waterloo he 
 headed the troops and actually led the way amid 
 sympathising cheers into a district which it was 
 his duty to avoid. Then, when in the midst of a 
 perplexity in which his own presumption had en- 
 tangled him, he helplessly exclaimed, “ Here I am, 
 with her Majesty’s hussars, al tending a a illegal 
 process on — what am I to do ?” Nothing ! No- 
 thing, Mr. Lyons ; but go home and learn to know 
 that nature did not fashion you for a soldier. 
 Taking advantage of the incompetency displayed 
 by the “-military commander,” the processionists 
 pushed on through Dbaegall Place to Hercules 
 Street, hundreds of shots being discharged as 
 they proceeded. Now, reader — I am placed 
 at a disadvantage. Probably you are not 
 a Belfastman; likely you have only heard ef 
 TTlster as a place where men brain each other 
 for God’s sake (for boiled down, thaPs what it 
 
HISTOET OE OEANaEISM. 
 
 253 
 
 means) and possibly you are not an Irishman at all. 
 But try and imagine two thou'and armed men, fo’- 
 lowing a mournful-looking hearse, with drooping 
 plumes expressive of woe; those t^vo thousand 
 fringed by military and preceded bv a troop 
 of cavalry, having been led by a magistrate 
 to the very verge of a quarter whose inhabi- 
 tants the demonstration was intended to 
 offend ; imagine those t wo thousand — Christians” 
 let us call them, cheering, shouting, and still 
 shooting in order to provoke a combat over the re^ 
 mains. Tou can’t imagine it, unless you had 
 witnessed it. That scene was so inconsistent and 
 so repugnant as to defy description. The idea 
 seems to have been suggested of surrounding and 
 disarming the multitude, but even Lieut. Kennedy’s 
 proposal to Mr. Lyons, to draw up his hussars 
 across Douegall Place,” received no audible 
 answer.” E verything practical seems to have been 
 abandoned, and possibly new with reason, for the 
 fear was that if any such attempt were made the 
 inhabitants-—'' the respectable inhabitants of Done- 
 gall Place, who cheered from the windows” — would 
 have afforded to the processionists a means of 
 escape. At the end of Hercules Place the funeral 
 procession halted, and several volleys were fired!; 
 but, wanting opponents to encounter, they passed 
 on, ' special constables” and "respectable inhabi- 
 tants” to the number of between 2.000 and 3,000, 
 and p’’Oceeded to bury their dead. 
 
 "When we consider the numbers who attended 
 it,” say the Co mmissioners; '' when we remember 
 the long lime of public streets it traversed, and at 
 a funeral pace moreover; when we bear in mind 
 the universally acknowledged fact that many per- 
 sons of a respectable class attended it, including 
 special constables, made remarkable by their official 
 staves, openly carried ; and when we know that all 
 the circumstances connected with it made it an 
 object of marked observation to everyone — we find 
 it altogether unaccountable that the police should 
 have failed to identify or discover a single man 
 of those composing the assemblage. The two 
 chief constables, Green and M‘Kittrick, saw the 
 procession turn into Donegall Place ; laid 
 hold of the heads of the horses attached 
 to the hearse, and tried to turn them into Chiches- 
 ter Street. They a: least were in a position to 
 observe those composing it ; bat neither they nor 
 one of their men ever discovered a single indivi- 
 dual of the crowd. This we cannot but regard as 
 most ansatlsfaeto'*y ; for nothing, surely, should 
 have attracted their notice more than such a for- 
 
 midable array of persons openly violating the law 
 by carrying and discharg'ng firearms in a pro- 
 claimed district, where, as we have before observed, 
 the possession of them without a licence was a 
 crime.” 
 
 The disturbances in the different quarters were, 
 of course, renewed, and housewrecking and desul- 
 tory shooting was continued that evening. At 
 night-time a parly of Orangemen proceeded to 
 Friar’s Bush and sawed down the tree of the large 
 Cross which was there standing, leaving this, the 
 emblem of salvation to all Christian men, levelled 
 to the ground. 
 
 On t'i 0 following day, the 19tb, a respectable 
 young man named Halliday was shot down in 
 Millfield, while piFsing through the street, the 
 assassin being located iu Brown’s Square. At the 
 funeral on the following Sunday, the Kev. Malachy 
 Kelly and the Eev. George Conway nobly exerted 
 themselves to keep the neace, and succeeded in 
 doiug so, by restraining those anxious to join in 
 the funeral procession. 
 
 I will now give one more quotation, and it will 
 be the last and not the least interesting one, from 
 the report of the Commissioners, The second 
 paragraph of page 16 begins— 
 
 "Such is the melancholy outline which we have to 
 present to your Excellency of these deplorable out- 
 rages, which during so many days disgraced a town 
 the most fliurishing and prosperous we believe in 
 Ireland. We are serry to say it is but an outline, 
 and that it would need a vivid imagination to 
 fill up the picture. A few broad facts may help to- 
 wards its realisation. Dr. Murney, a magistrate, 
 drew up a statistical report (which we publish in 
 our appendix) of the number and nature of the in- 
 juries sustained by persons during the riots, so far 
 as be could ascertain them. In this report we find 
 that 316 were more or lees injured, of whom 11 
 died, 9 from gunshot, ani 2 from other wounds. * 
 
 * la referenca t > this record the accuracy of which I do 
 not wish to dispu'e, I can oily siy I am assure I that 
 the system of privat ^ burial was largely pursued. In the 
 neighb 3urho id of Sanhy Bow < arts egul rly called, I am 
 told, at nigh i ce and con eyel the deal to bar al grounds 
 in the suburb?. If relatives wishel to inter privately it 
 may reasonably be assumed that many suffered aud died 
 privately, In truth, the doctors knew but little a'^out 
 t e results, though the public are at the same time in- 
 debted lo Dr. Murn'’y for hij p ai'’ewo thy effo ts. One 
 in id o.,t especially struclc me as strange, tnd even in this 
 note I will relate it as told to me. While the riots were 
 ac uall/ proceeJiig a blustering Orangeman chJlcnged a 
 neighbour as to the want of activity on tho part of the 
 brethren ; asked why they d d not go out and fight, and said 
 with an oath how he would do so-and-so. The person 
 challenged was standi ig at his own door ia Sandy Bow, he 
 made no reply, pub his ha d to the latch of the doo", lifted 
 it, and to'd h s friend to look ius'de. Within that bravado 
 saw the de d bodies of no less than twenty men who had 
 fallen in that days fighting. The story may be an exaggera- 
 tion, but it carries a certain signifi auce wi h it. 
 
254 
 
 HlSTOEt 0¥ OEANGEISM. 
 
 The entire nnmbsr of gunshot wounds was 93, of 
 which 34 are pronounced severe/’ The cases of 
 contusion and laceration were 212; of stabs or in- 
 cised wounds, 5 ; and 1 of ‘ mania caused by 
 fright/ This last case, we think, calls for special 
 notice, as it shows how much mental agony and 
 terror may have been caused during this dismal 
 period to persons of whose sufferings no recorlis 
 to be found. Dr. Murney tried to ascertain the 
 dates of the injuries, in which he only partially 
 succeeded; but he ascertained that on the IGfch, 
 54 contusions and 40 gunshot wounds were in- 
 flicted; on the 18tb, 41 contusions and 23 gunshot 
 wounds ; these being the two most formidable days 
 of the rioting. 
 
 *^It may not be out of place for us to remark 
 that, having regard to the irregular and desultory 
 character of the firing, the inferiority of the fire- 
 arms, and tho probable badness of the ammuni- 
 tion, the proportion of the shots that told with any 
 effect was, in all likelihood, very small. If so, 98 
 gunshot injuries inflicted tell a fearful tale of vin- 
 dictiveness and of hate. For it is only too probable 
 that they indicate many hundred shots, fired by 
 fellow-townsmen and neighbours on each other, 
 with deadly intent, or at least with the design of 
 inflictiag serious injury, and no thought as to 
 whether that injury might not prove fatal. We 
 ourselves saw regularly loop-holed walls, from be- 
 hind which, doubtless, deliberate aim was taken at 
 the passers-by, if regarded as of the adverse faction. 
 
 *'The following brief and simple narrative, given 
 us by a Presbyterian clergyman (Rev. Isaac Nelson), 
 of what came under his own observation, gives an 
 insight into the character of the scenes that must 
 have been too common at this melancholy time, 
 and may help to show how impossible it is, by any 
 mere detail of houses wrecked or injuries sustained, 
 to convey a true idea of the misery suffered by the 
 victims, often wholly unoffending, of the outrages 
 committed: — 
 
 For these four — or I shall say three — melan- 
 choly nights my Protestant neighbours remained 
 up, wandering round the houses, playing ‘The 
 Protestant Boys’ and the ‘Boyne Water,’ and using 
 phraseology which I hope will in future be foreign 
 to our towns. Having taken possession of the 
 highway, they maltreated, in spite of all my re- 
 monstrances, every passer-by who would nob use 
 certain language. I am speaking of a number of 
 persons with whom I had been to a certain extent 
 acquainted for years, and can state to be most well- 
 conducted and quiet persona. I saw that crowd 
 
 come up to the houses of four poor members of the 
 Latiu Chu'ch. I did not then know myself exactly 
 their religiius denomination. I saw the furniture 
 broken to pieces on the flocr, and I siw the houses, 
 as you express ib, gutted. ... I hold as re- 
 sponsible for these three or four nights’ m elancholy 
 proceedings all who heard and did not oppose 
 them. . , . The mobs in my neighbourhood 
 not only bunted poor Roman Catholic neighbours 
 out of their houses, but I had to go and beseech 
 them to go and grant so many hours to these poor 
 people to take their furniture out of the place. I 
 had also to go and get horses and carts to remove 
 the furniture, and I had a great deal to do to re- 
 press the violence of the mob. . . If I were 
 to tell you, and wanted to work on the feelings of 
 others, I could have sat down and wept when a 
 poor little girl came with a pet canary bird in a 
 cage, when the poor people bad been driven from' 
 their houses, the children in one direction and the 
 father and mother in another. I had to protect a 
 family in whose house there was a dying person, 
 and I believe that death bad actually taken place in 
 the house when they were obliged to vacate. 1 
 regret that there was uo interference on the part 
 of the authorities, so called, I presume, qmsi lucus 
 a non lucendo.** 
 
 When the riots were at their height Mr. A. J. 
 M'Kenna and a number of influential Catholics met 
 by arrangement an equally representative number 
 of Protestant gentry, and the result of their con- 
 fereuce was that each and all of them should exert 
 themselves to get the workers back to their 
 employment as the best means of finishing 
 tte riots. “But for this the town would have 
 been in a blaze in a few days,” says the person on 
 whose information I have for some of the foregoing 
 particulars relied. Th’s arrangement, with the 
 I aid of the large garrison then in town, brought tho 
 rioting of ’64 gradually to a close. The latter in- 
 fluence must, I am inclined to think, have been a 
 powerful auxiliary. Those who began the fight 
 found to their disappointment it was a game at 
 which two could play ; those who held it on were 
 painfully reminded that under some circumstances 
 a third party, the military, could take a hand. 
 
 And now, reader, will you again answer the ques- 
 tion were the Catholics justified in arming ? Were 
 men who are gone, but who have left living, some 
 brilliant memories behind, and were men who are 
 living justified in enabling their co-religionists to 
 defend themselves ? The report of that subsequent 
 commission recommended the dissolution of that 
 
HISTOET OE OEINGETS^M. 
 
 255 
 
 exclusively Orange force, the local police. Why 
 did they recommend it ? In 1857 they were an 
 exclusively Protestant force with seven exceptions, 
 and the Commissioners, Messrs. Lynch and Smjthe, 
 
 felt constrained to call attention to it.” In 1864 
 they were an exclusively Protestant force — and 
 the Po ice Committee refused to have a test declara- 
 tion adopted that they were not Orangemen — an 
 exclusively Protestant force with five exceptions ; 
 8D that under the regime of Mr. Black, who has 
 earned the reward of his servility and who admitted 
 that he would desire to "uphold” the old fashioned 
 exclusiveness, we find the number of Catholics in 
 the force reduced to five.* What, let me ask, can 
 it have been in quiet times when even in the midst 
 of party conflict Orangemen could be sworn in as 
 
 special constables,” and when those men could be 
 BO forgetful of the duty they undertook as to join 
 in a demonstration as illegal as it was unseemly at 
 M'Connell’s funeral? 
 
 The Eev. Tsai c Nelson, a clergyman, "held re- 
 sponsible for those three or four nights’ melan- 
 choly proceedings all who heard of and did not op- 
 pose them.” If we are all but constrained to in- 
 culpate those who had no interest at stake, and 
 who, therefore, held aloof from the rioting, have 
 we no word of excuse for the excesses of those who 
 saw in the conduct of the Orangemen a war of ex- 
 termination, and who had their feelings more 
 powerfully operated upon by seeing their household 
 gods given over to the sacreligious hands of in- 
 furiated fanatics ? Eecall the shocking incidents 
 of that mock funeral procession. O’Connell, the 
 dead tribune of a people, whose memory was ren- 
 dered still more dear from the ceremonies taking 
 place in the metropolis — ceremonies into which no- 
 thing of party was allowed to enter — represented 
 in a begging attitude, with a large wallet by his 
 side to indicate his love for " rent;” the effigy given 
 to the flimes amid the wild shrieks of the Orange- 
 men, who sent the Pope to perdition ; the meek 
 interment ; the real coffin, with its five Roman 
 
 * Dr. Dorrian, in his evidence before the C'mmission, 
 narrate ’ , that one day while the riots were proceeding-, he was 
 was standing in the pub.ic street of Belfast (I thi k it was 
 ComlMarket) talking to a gentleman, a Protestant, when 
 two rioters went past armed with stares or bludgeons. Just 
 at the comer weie Suationed twe local polici*, who took no 
 more notice c£ them than if they wore peaceable citizeas, 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVI.- 
 
 The year 1834 inaugurated in Belfast a reign of 
 intolerant party spirit the fruits of which we are 
 reaping in the present. The following year did not 
 
 can lies placed on the top;* recall the 
 scene at Friar’s Bush; the desecration of the 
 crosses ; the return journey and its rioting ; the 
 ashes of O’Connell pitched into the Blackstaff ; 
 the attack made upon the Catholics of the Pound; 
 the attempted entry of the Penitentiary ; the 
 wrecking of Catholic houses; the furniture of 
 the Catholic residents strewn in heaps about the 
 highway, and should we blush to say a word in 
 excuse for those whose manly feelings took the 
 place of what would have been ignoble descretion f 
 Let the conduct of the navvies be described as 
 wanton and ruffianly, if you will — and do I have 
 ventured to describe it — have we not all a fearful 
 misgiving that their survivors of to-day can con- 
 found us by recalling from that peacceful seclusion, 
 which is the reward of a well-spent and useful life, 
 a great patriarch as their advocate and their witness, 
 by placing Isaac Nelson in the witness-box, and 
 calling upon him to recite in their justifica- 
 tion : — 
 
 "I hold as reponsible for these three or four 
 melayicholy nights’ proceedings all who heard and did 
 not oppose them.” 
 
 What — and it is a still more vital question — was 
 the cause of all those disastrous riots of unfor- 
 tunate, disgraceful ’64 ? Mesors. Barry and Dowse 
 now live as judges in the land, and if they dare 
 answer I would leave the reply to them. I will 
 speak for them. It was Orangeism. During those 
 twenty-one days upon which they sat to investigate 
 the riots they had conclusive evidence bringing 
 home to ttem the fact that the exclusive Orange 
 tigotry of Belfast had culminated in those disas- 
 trous events which cost the town much more 
 money than the estimated ^£50,000. They had to 
 deal with results, however, and nob with causes — a 
 stupid arrangement which men in office have not 
 yet learned to ignore; and if we do not find it ex- 
 pressed upon the pages of their elaborate report, 
 no sensible reader can deny that it is implied there 
 — implied that Orangeism created the riots of ’64; 
 and that when the last dread reckoning cornea 
 Orangeism, or its promoters, will be held responsible 
 for their consequences. 
 
 * The Annual Register of 1861 assures of these particn* 
 lars. 
 
 -FEOM ’64 TO ’74. 
 
 pass over without its complement of rioting! July 
 was election time, and the record is becoming so 
 appalling that there is a natural anz'ety to shift 
 
256 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM* 
 
 the responsibility wherever feasible to other 
 shoulders. Let us a^ree to say, then, that those 
 riots of 1865 were not solely due to the existence 
 of Orangeistn, though it is a conclusion, I grieve 
 to say, at which the resident magistrate, Mr. 
 O’Connell, did not arave after sitting from day to 
 day for whole weeks in the Police Couit? to hear 
 the numerous charges that were made against those 
 arrested. YIe wiP, however, give the benefit of the 
 doubt, if doubt there be, to the Orangemen j say 
 that the immense body of shipcarpenters who took 
 possession of Howard Street Court House on the 
 morning of the 12fch, the day of the nomination, 
 was an electioceeriag mob, and not a gang of 
 Orange rioters, and that the disturbances which 
 followed, and which were prolonged for a couple of 
 days in the Sandy Row and Pound districts, owed 
 much to the eleefon contest then pending. In 
 the provinces we cannot, even though we look 
 for it, fiud a like excuse. In defiance of 
 the law the Orangemen in various localities 
 marched in procession. The district of Dun- 
 gannon specially distinguished itself. There 
 the Killy man Orangemen to the number of 
 5,000 marched into Dungannon in opposition to 
 the police, and wrecked the houses of the Catholic 
 residents. 
 
 July had now become a period of increased 
 anxiety to Governmenr, and it was a matter 
 of ordinary routine of office to draft into the 
 various towns and districts of the North large 
 forces of police and military to preserve the peace. 
 In 18G6 Belfast was duly garrisoned, and though 
 great excitement prevailed the peace was kf'pt, 
 the Orangemen but stealthily taking an opportunity 
 here and there of insulting their Catholic neigh- 
 bours. A faction they were now pure and simple, 
 and though cccasionally such men as the 
 Prestons, the Hendersons, and the Hamilton s — 
 men who are now magistrates and respectable — 
 might condescend to be present at their convivial 
 tea parties, the gentry and merchants rigidly kept 
 aloof from their annual carnival of the 12th July. 
 There are never wanting, however, a few dema- 
 gogues so mean as to climb to office from 
 the shoulders of their compeers. Of this character 
 were the Johnstons and the Beers; men who but 
 for their truculency would have pursued to the 
 end the quiet walk of country squireens ; who in 
 the latter as in the eirlier period of their career 
 would have been wholly engrossed in the honour- 
 able struggle of providing for the wants of the day; 
 men^ whose poor abilities would have been put to 
 
 the stretch, solving the all but impossible problem 
 of making both ends meet. 
 
 On the 12th of July, 1836, an Orange demonstra- 
 tion was held a Ballykilbeg, County Down, the 
 demesne of Mr. William Johnston, who now for the 
 first time becomes a necessary quantity in the 
 history of these people. Mr. William Baer' took 
 the chair. Large forces of military had been drafted 
 into Downpatrick, as a fear was reasonably enter- 
 tained that a breach of the peace would ensue. Tbe 
 Chief ■ySecrelary wrote to this effect to the inspector 
 o*' police, who in his tu’"n served the document upon 
 Mr. Johnston. It stated that there was reason to 
 apprehend a serious breach of the peace at what 
 was called*^ the great Protestant demonstration,” 
 to be held at Ballykilbeg, and his Excellency 
 trusted that Mr. Johnston would at once see the 
 propriety of instanTy countermanding the meeting, 
 while he (his Excellency) had given strict orders to 
 preveiit the assembling of persons under such cir- 
 cumstances as might lead to a breach of the peace. 
 Did Mr. Johnston at once loyally respond to the 
 reasonable request made upon him by the represen- 
 tative of the Queen in Ireland ? No. Mr. John- 
 ston wanted to become a member of Parliament, 
 and having his eye upon some snug little place, 
 such as the Inspectorship of Fisheries, he could 
 not affsrd to be loyal. He accordingly encouraged 
 and promoted the meeting. In his address 
 to the assembled brethren, he said he cruld 
 not see how his Excellency knew there 
 would be riots, though he 'found that 
 the priest of the parish, Mr. O’Kaie, on Saturday 
 last entertained the magistrates with an absurd 
 story of a contemplated firing at a huge cross, with 
 a sponge and spear, recently set up in Down chapel 
 yard under the auspices of the Eedemptorist 
 Fathers.” Mark the mocking tones of this 
 Christian demagogue ! Mr. Johnston refused, 
 therefore, to countermand that meeting, hut riot- 
 ing and disturtance followed it, nevertheless ; 
 and, if they were not of so violent a character as 
 was anticipated, no thanks are due to the action 
 of Mr, Johnston. 
 
 Demonstrations were held the same year in Lis- 
 burn, Kilwarlin, Warringstown, Lurgan, Porta- 
 down. and Dungannon. In the latter place lodges 
 ] 78 and 1620, on returning home from a meeting in 
 Killyman suddenly discovered that they had busi- 
 ness to call at Dungannon. They accordingly pro- 
 ceeded upon that route. The magistrates, however, 
 had unpleasant recollections of the previous yearns 
 doings of the brethren in that town and resolved 
 
IITSTORT 01? 0RA?^GE1SM. 
 
 257 
 
 to prevent them. i’laey fi'-et sought to pursua'le 
 them to take the direct road ho-oe^ards. P(.r- 
 suision has ro tff ct upon such men save to mike 
 them more conscious of their stre ^>;t’i and, there- 
 fore, more eb3ti>:ate. The police and military were 
 then diaivn across the real, wlt'ti fixed bayou t^, 
 the magistrates refusing to allow them a passage. 
 The force was a strong one, and noth'n j was to be 
 gained by fighting their way through. The Orange- 
 men accordingly sat down upon the road side^ de- 
 termine! to try the patience of the authorities. Jq. 
 can easily be imagined that in this foolish competi- 
 tion ^-he moo had the p,d vantage. A compact was 
 accordingly made that they should not, if a lowed 
 to pass, play any party tnaes, and would go 
 quietly through the town, guaranieeing that they 
 ■would give no insult, and the Orangemen proceadtd. 
 
 It is suggestive of the confilence placed by magis- 
 trates in the Catholic inhabitants of Dangannon, 
 whom they must evidently have pre-supposed 
 would not have interfered in that Orange proces- 
 eion, unless grave insult was offered them. It 
 seems st'aige, however, that no attests were made, 
 for every man of them, unon that highway, were, 
 at the time, doubly criminal, offending, as they 
 were, against the statute law and the common law 
 of the land. 
 
 The 12fch July, 18S7, should be a memorable date 
 in our history. It marks on the one side a violent 
 attempt made by Orange conditional loyalty to 
 outrage and defy the law, and upon the other a 
 praiseworthy effort made by the Government to 
 uphold it. Parry processions were by Act of Par- 
 liament not only illegal, bu*- the revision which the 
 statute had undergone on its re-enactment had 
 made it illegal and a misdemeanour to display 
 party emblems, cr to parade with bands, banners, 
 or with arms. Tbe aristocratic Orangemen and 
 the hig J.P.’s were content with presiding at tea 
 parties in honour of the glorious, pious, and im- 
 mortal memory, where they aired their eloquence 
 and befooled the smaller fry with bigoted decla- 
 mations, in which they did not believe. Mr. John- 
 ston, D.G.M. of Ireland, and Grand Secretary of 
 theOrangement of County Down, now saw an oppor- 
 tunity of striking out a new line for himself, and 
 the democratic section of which he aspired to be 
 the leader. To openly outrage Ihe law was the 
 nearest road to those men’s hearts, for of all others 
 the lower classes of the Irish people love their 
 martyrs. Mr. Jdbnston then aimed at becoming a 
 martyr — and something more. He realised his ex- 
 pectations in the fullest. The celebrated march to 
 
 S3 
 
 B ingor was, therefore, re.soUed upon, in order to 
 openly defy the authorities and dare them to 
 put the law in rootioa against them. There 
 were men amongst them who did throw in 
 their counsels in the opposite side, but enthusiasm 
 and conditional loyaPy were at their height, [and 
 moderate men were classed among the “old 
 f iggies” and re'egated to the tea-drinking section 
 of the brethren. For months before the 12th pre- 
 parations were made upon a vast scale for the cele- 
 bration, and even arms and ammunitioa were pro- 
 cured “should the worst come ta the worst.” The 
 quotation is taken from an address delivered by a 
 gentleman now living and enjoying a position of 
 independence, in a lodge in Belfast to the as- 
 sembled brethren a few weeks before the Bxn got 
 domoustration came off. In that address (and I 
 have it on the authority of an ex-m mber of the 
 lasticntiun who heard it) the speaker ad^jised every 
 man t) be prepared wi!h arms, but “not to use 
 them unless the circumsf aacr^s necessitated it.” 
 Immense numbers of Orangemen left town upon 
 the morning of the 12th July for Bangor, where 
 tlsey were met by the local brethren. Here they 
 formed in procession, and with guas, with flags (a 
 constaVe afterwards counted G7), with drums and 
 fifes they marched to Newfownards and back, the 
 musical programme tendered on tbe route being 
 comprised chit fly of three tunes — “Tbe Protestant 
 boys/’ “Croppies lie down,” and “ Ths Boyne 
 water.” At the meeting Mr. William John- 
 ston, Baliykil'-eg, spoke. In that speech 
 the future member of Parliament and pre- 
 sent Inspector of Fisheries declared that they 
 would not tolerate any longer being told that it 
 was illegal for Protestants on the 12th July, to 
 display Orange flags and beat Protestant drums 
 while it was perfectly legal and perfectly proper 
 for Cathclics to march through the streets of Dub- 
 lin, with their chosen emblems. They, he said, 
 had with them Orange flags, and had played and 
 would play, suen tunes as wm’e suitable to them, 
 and they would boldly declare they were [no party 
 procession.^ They wore tired of hole and 
 
 ♦. Mr. .To'hn'5ton, t slionld he’-e be reTarlred, was indulg- 
 ing’ a li tie in tbe license t ii-cn b Oranpe orators, I > fact, 
 lie was simply boodwi-k nr bis bearers in order that they 
 miiibt persist in tbeir ihfg >litv. The legal que t o.i wrs rot 
 simply one of i ar y procession even. Tbe >*ct fo bf.de 
 Tr'cesdo’is with party emblems, no doubt; but it also 
 forbad' pr 'cessions with drum* and nmsic playing party 
 tunes, and the membe s of which carriol and displij ed 
 arms. If the Fxecutiv.r had adowed such processions in 
 D iblin as that of Earl Miilgrave’s, it was because they 
 could not righ'ly characterise t'rem as rarty demonstrations. 
 Th rj had never allowed demonstrations by arred multitudes, 
 which were manifestly iUega', to go unpunished. 
 
258 
 
 IIISTOET OP ORANaEISil. 
 
 corner tneetings; of the gentlemen who assetuLl^d 
 at small tea parlies, and who implored them for 
 Qod’a sake to keep quiet on the 12th Jaly.” They 
 would disregard those gentlemen he added, and 
 and would send a voice aero s to the Prime Minister 
 and the Uovernment of England, telling them that 
 they, the Orangemen and Protestants of Ulster, 
 would no longer stand oppression and tyranny. 
 After such p''aiQ speak. ng it waA evident that Mr. 
 William Johrston, of Balljkilbeg, had fair 
 prcspects of becoming an Orange martyr. The 
 most remarkable, if not the most audacious, inci- 
 dent of the entire day’s proceeding} was, that they 
 resolved to petition td Parliament against th&t 
 Act which, at that very moment, they were break- 
 ing and defying. U pon the samo day the brethren 
 throughout the Province of Ulster were, in a like 
 manner, defying the law, deraonstratiens being 
 held in most of the 0<^a!ige centres, some of them 
 being attended with tho usual riots and disturb- 
 ance. 
 
 On the 15th August following, tho Catholics of 
 Rithf.iland and L)ughbrickland foolishly resolved 
 ♦•o copy the bad example stt them by the 
 Otangemen, For the first time Lady Day was ce- 
 lebrated. But the Orangemen were ill-disposed to 
 allow to the Catholics the liberty they were 
 seeking for themselves, and riots took place in 
 which some lives were lost. In England, the 
 
 AZurphy riots” were at the same time proceeding, 
 over which many persons lost their lives. 
 
 In July, 18G7, an Imperial Grand Council of 
 Orangemen met in London and issued an address, 
 in which the public generally cannot be interested. 
 
 Two months afterwards, on the 4<th September, 
 1367, William Johnston and twenty-five others were 
 prosecuted by order of tho Attorney-General 
 for having, on the 12th of JuV. formed part of an 
 unlawful assembly; for meeting and parading 
 together; firing arms, and displaying arms and 
 other offensive weapons, with banners and symbols 
 the display whereof was calculated to provoke 
 animosity between different classes of her Majesty’s 
 subjects. The prosecution was brought, as io may 
 be seen, from the above under the Act of 1850 
 which was an Act “to restrain Paity Processions 
 in Ireland.” With tho exception of two defendants, 
 who were not identified, all the parties were re- 
 turned for trial to the Spring Assizes. 
 
 Up to this time the public generally, even of the 
 North of Ireland, had known no more about this 
 Mr. Johnston than they did about the numerous 
 Browns, Jones’, and Robinsons who directed the 
 
 tag rag of the fact’on. lie was now a maityr. 
 Having defied the law the next step was atA easy 
 ooe. He becxoie a hero. And this Mr. — Johnston 
 of somewhere in the County Down became Wm.- 
 Johnston- f Billyki beg, the great idol of Orange 
 Democracy, the “ People’s William” before whom 
 these haters of Popery, superstition, and idolatry 
 humbly lo ved d^wnin worship. His picture was in 
 every window side by side vs it h the great hero of the 
 Boyne, than whom, though he had never drawn a 
 s word. O' palled a trigger in defence of any one right, 
 he was bub a shade inferior. It is true be mighft 
 have banl.'eda sabre as old women do a broom- 
 stick. With firearms in his hands he very pro- 
 bably would have proved himself bis greatest 
 enemy. Bub he had broken an Eugbah Act of 
 Parliament, and with conditional loyalists the re-- 
 snlb was the sane. So he was hung up it the 
 shop windows, depicted with a grave but heroic 
 counteraoce, posturing with one hand npod his 
 heart and the other raised aloft in solemn adjura- 
 t'oi, in all the gravity of a martyr at toe stake; 
 anl those * who would have made mouthr, at him” 
 a few weeks ago, now gave two, three, and even 
 ten thillings “ for his picture in little.” 
 
 At the Down Spring Assizes, on tho 23th of 
 Pebrua.*'y, 1363, Win. Johnston, with four others, 
 were indicted by the Chairman before Mr. Justice 
 Mcrriy, the Attorney- General, prosecuting. Two 
 of the prisoners pleaded guilty, and the prosecu- 
 tion did not ask for punichment. Mr. Johnston 
 and two others were pat on thiirtr.’ab ind from 
 the clearest testimony were found guilty upon the 
 second count in the indictment charging them 
 with marching in procession, accompanied by flags, 
 carrying arms, in a manner calculated to 
 create animosity between different classes of her 
 Majesty’s subjects; and upon a third count charg- 
 ing them with unlawful assembly. They were 
 lectured by Mr. Justice Mirris, upon the illegality 
 of their prv^'ceedings, who said the meeting was osten- 
 sibly to petition for a repeal of the very Act which 
 those whe planned the procession and formed it were 
 03tenoatious''y violating. He sentenced ea^h to one 
 month’s imprisonment. At the expiration, William 
 Johnston was to enter into personal security to the 
 amount of ^£500, and procure two sureties of £2o0 
 each, to be of good behaviour for a period of two 
 years, or in default of doing so to be imprisoned 
 for a further term of one month. A like provision 
 wap, irale in regard to the other two prisoners, the 
 securities being JB50, and two of jB25. 
 
 All the other prisoners pleading guilty, they 
 
mSTOUT OF OFANGETSK. 
 
 259 
 
 were al’owei oat on their own recog tihances t? be 
 of good behaviour. 
 
 Oa Wednesday, the 23rd' April following, Mr. 
 Johnston, who refused to give bail “ to be of good 
 behaviour” was discharged from prison on the re- 
 commendation of the medical officers, having put 
 np in prison vichin four days ct his alloted time. 
 He had utilized the time not soeat in picking 
 oakum by writing a mongrel Orange la'lad 
 'vith a refrain of no surrender” which he gene- 
 rously distributed anongst his devotees after his 
 liberation. Mr. William J hnsto’^j of Ballykilbeg, 
 was now in a fair way to fame and f )rtua". Had 
 he nob marched to Bango^*, he would not soon after 
 have been member for Belfast, nor would he now 
 be drawing the r.'spec'-able sdary of £700 a year 
 from Government resource?* When the time 
 came, however, tie great Orargo leader 
 became a representative in Parliament with 
 a party to sell. He had not to wa t long until he 
 found a purchaser. Tae conflict between principle 
 and pocket cannot have been a great one. So, 
 selecting respectability and opulence instead of 
 being the leider of a party who had nothing to 
 bestow, the great William Johnstoa of Bally kil- 
 beg, the people’s Williar, the hero whoso march 
 to Bangor, where there was no foe, was thought as 
 memorable as William’s passage of the Boyne in 
 the face of imbecile James and his cowardly treops, 
 the second Prir.ce of Orange, the future author of 
 Nightshade,” ignobly subsided into an Inspector 
 of our Fisher :es,leavia g his brethren to fight out that 
 great battle against Popery, which very probably in 
 the beginning, as in the end, he thought nob worth 
 the winning. 
 
 Even in their mistaken triumph they found their 
 defeat. T.ds walk to Bangor was the beginning cf 
 a split which has gone on widening and widening, 
 and will go on so doing until it ends in total dis- 
 ruption. An announcemerit was male by adver- 
 tisement in the columns of the Wh\g that a meet- 
 ing of the Protestant (Orangemen) of Belfast” 
 would be held in the Ulster Hall on the 4th March. 
 It was in it stated that the Grand Jurors of Down 
 had betrayed the cause (by not breaking their 
 oaths ani ignoring the bill against Wm. Johnston). 
 A Blip or proof sheet of this advertise- 
 ment, with '^charge to Whig’* upon it having 
 been sent to the News-Letter, the latter 
 the organ of the aristocratic Orangemen, took 
 offence and refused to insert it. It was not, they 
 urged, through the medium of their contemporary 
 that they had been accuBtomed to be inducted into 
 
 Orange secrets. 'Che Nevus- Let'er nov warnel ” the 
 Protostants of Belfast” not to bold the meeliog j 
 to stop at home from the meeting j that nothing 
 could be more calculate! to iaj ire the Protestant 
 cause than the holding of such a meit'ng, and said 
 a great meeting of the Protestant gentiy of the 
 province— -the Marrriis of Dowpshire presiding — 
 would shortly be held, for which they should re- 
 serve t hi ir fire. But tho meeting was held, the 
 distinct purpose being, to express sympathy with 
 William Johnston, to form the Workingmen’s Pro- 
 testant ^Lssociation, and to present a memorial to 
 Mr Disraeb*, for repeal of the Party Procession’s 
 Act. The representative of the News Litter was 
 expe'led from the. hall, but was subsequeLtly re- 
 ca'Ied, and, on the following dtiy, he presented the 
 readers of that crgai wi‘h a summatised report of 
 two columns of wh 2 .t really a significant aud 
 important demonstration. On the following night, 
 March the 5:h, a demonstration of the aristociatic, 
 or Protestant party, was held in the sama 
 hall. Nobody spoke who was not a marquis 
 or a J.P. No vote of sympathy was 
 passed ia regard to the incarcerated Mr. 
 Johnston. Ihe Newi-Lctter now devoted ten 
 columns of Its pages to the r3f orting of this meet- 
 ing. It was evident there was a split in the larty. 
 Orangeism had ceased to be respectable even in the 
 estimation of those who obtained their icflaenceby 
 it. A few months later found them face to face 
 with each other in two hostile camps contesting the 
 represent ition of Belfast, Mr. Johnston being the 
 nominee of tho Orangemen, Sir Charles Lecyon the 
 representative of the Li>h Tory clique. The 
 Orangemen were victorious. The Protestiuts were 
 defeated, and from that day to this respectable 
 Protestantism is neither in name ror in inteiests 
 identified with the Crangeism of Ulster. 
 
 From the report of the Grand Lodge, held this 
 year in Armagh, it seems that the brethren were 
 much amazed that the secrets of the lodge were 
 being discovered. The Whig bad for obvious rea- 
 sons being publishing reports ef proceedings 
 of the Belfast Grand Lodge. The matter was re- 
 ported to the Grand Lidgo cf Ireland, and 
 ” Brother Charles N. Davis stated that although 
 every effort was made the delinquent was not yet 
 discovered, and suggested that there should be a 
 re-ballot of the County Grand, and stated that 
 there was then in the Room a Brother who held a 
 situation in the office of the Noythern Whig, and 
 being asked for his name, said it was Jeremiah 
 M'Kenna. Brother M'Keniia being called on, if h« 
 
260 
 
 ITISTO-RT OF OEANGEfS 
 
 knew aaj thing of the author of thebe publics tioa^, 
 replied in the negntire, acd stated that he was in 
 the commercial depertment of the A^orf/i^rn. ir/i-ic;, 
 and knew nothing whatever of the reporting de- 
 part?nent. A statement ha'.ing been mad* that 
 there were several Oringeraen on the staff of the 
 Northern Whig, Brolli'T M'Kenca, in reply, said 
 there were fifteen. It was also stated by Brother 
 Will’am Mortimer, that Thomas Henry had said 
 that a certain article aff-cting the Cour tv Grand 
 Lodge would appear in the Noithem W/rij, and 
 that it did accord ng^y appear. “ Moved by Brother 
 Dr. Drew, seconded by Brother James H. Moore, 
 and 
 
 ‘No. 3. — Besolved — Inasmuch as at various 
 times puhlicxtioiia have been made of proceedings 
 connec'ed with the Orange Institution, without 
 the sanction of the Grand Tiodge, and as it is 
 desirable tnat persons connected with newspapers, 
 Y»’lio thus encourage an improper u^e of our docu- 
 ments, should not be in connect'oi with cur 
 Institution ; that brethren employed in such 
 printing otH*GS be requested to w ihdraw from the 
 Ins'ihaGon, pending their employment in sucVi 
 offices’.* But the resolution did not mend 
 matters, for upon the followiugday the offeree was 
 repeated, which led “to stringent and imme- 
 diate steps” being taken to allow all members to 
 exencrate themselves. In other words, the 
 members were separately pnt to their oath? to say 
 they had no connection with the publication. 
 
 The laHer part of ISoS gave the Orangemen a 
 new c^y. The English reformers, who if they 
 march n t in a pace with the ideas of our time, 
 should yet be re'p'^cted for their boldness in 
 assaulting and taking the bulwarks of monopoly 
 which rematned even un‘o our day as the relics 
 of a med’soval age — the English reformers re- 
 solved that the time had co ne for disestablishing 
 the Irish Church. Most of us, who are 
 not children, can easily recall the violent 
 agitation of the Orangemen over that qu'‘S- 
 t’on. “ Flaming O’Planaghan’ at many of the 
 O"iargo meetings stated, amid the applause of the 
 multitude, that they would “kick the Q ieen’s crown 
 in^o the Boyne” rather than allow the Church to he 
 disestablished. The phrase was an expressive one, 
 and becoming the watchword of the Orange party, 
 it was echoed and rc-eeboed through all the Orange 
 lodges of the kingdom. But few knew bht^er than 
 
 • This i? til en word for word from the report of 18 a .«i 
 docnmrwt which the ' rethren believe to bo ia the exclusive 
 VOBsession of the lustitution. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone and the Marquis of Hartingt)n that 
 this was all hr ivado— indeed, both of them so ex- 
 pressed themselves — and while giving Orangemen 
 credit for the desire to kiok the crown into the 
 Boyne, they knew too well that the brethren had 
 not the cou’age to do so. Acco-dingly, in spite of 
 all their menace and all their blaster, despite the 
 v.aponnng of O'Planaghan and the bouncing of the 
 peopL’s William, despi*^e the threats of the “ great 
 Imperiil Council of O angemen for England, Ire- 
 land, Scotland, and the Colmies,” held in London, 
 
 < he Church was disestablished. The Bill received 
 the Royal assent the following year, and the crown 
 rests up'^n the brows of her Majesty yet. 
 
 In 1863, the rul'^s of the institat'on were again 
 revised, an 1 were printed in book form in the News~ 
 Letter printing rffice, every precaution being made 
 to keep them exclusively within the range of the 
 members of the ics'itution. They are present be- 
 fore me in their entirety, but they bear such a 
 similarity to the former rules, that I cannot bo 
 tempted into an analysis of them. It is enough to 
 say that they consist of 93 provisions iu all ; that 
 conditioral lojalfcy (“the succession to the Throne 
 being Protestant”), is still the programme, and 
 that under the qualifica,tions of membership, we 
 fnJ “ that the candidate must, to the utmost of 
 his power, support and maictiin the laws and 
 CoEif tution of the United Kingdom.” IfWm. 
 Johnston and his Bangor brethren were not dis- 
 missed, vre may excuse the inconsistency. It ia 
 not the first in the history of the institution. 
 
 Mr. Ji huston this year brought in a Bill to re- 
 peal the Party Processions Act, wl ich the Govern-, 
 ment refused to adopt; nor was it until a consider- 
 able time after they were tempted into the rash 
 adventure of yielding to the clamour of dema- 
 gogues, giving Uhter over to an annual reign 
 of terror, and the Catholics co repeated, deliberate, 
 and wanton insult. 
 
 In 1871 we find Orangeism in Canada showing 
 tbe cloven foot. Riots occurred this year of a des- 
 perate character. The Orangemen persisted in 
 walking despite the direct orders of tbe Govern- 
 ment and the objections raised by the Cp.thclics, 
 the result being the loss of about 30 lives. Mon- 
 treal was again and again the scene of riot, the 
 Orangemen persisting in their demonstrat'on eten 
 in the face of opposition from tbe military and 
 police authorities. An effort had been made ten 
 years previous, on the occasion of the visit of the 
 Prince of Wales to Canada, to secure official recogni- 
 tion of the institution, but the plot was defeated 
 
HISTORY OF ORANOETSM. 
 
 2G1 
 
 by the firmness of His Koyal Highness who would 
 have nothing to do with it, and by the judicious 
 counsel of his advisers. Up to this time as Cham- 
 ber’s Encjclop-dia assures us they had but 
 distinguished themeelves by the wrecking of con- 
 vents. Fr^m 1871 to 1873 each recurring 12 h 
 July (it is needless to 3 well upoi pAiticulars) was 
 a scene of r ot and bloodshed in Canidi such as the 
 inhabitants of Ulster had long since become fami- 
 iar with. In t'le latter year an abortive effort wa-; 
 made in New Brunswick to ha/e the Institutio^i 
 recognised by the Governor-General of the domi- 
 nion and Isaac Butt, formerly a member of the 
 Institution, on behalf of 25,000 Iiish- 
 Oanadian Catholics, presen'^ed a pe':itioa to the 
 Q leen, praying to have th» Society discountenanced. 
 That p 'bitioa, sho viug the expn’ieace of Catholics 
 in another hemisphere, tells simply the tale of 
 suffering which Irish Cat'iol'os at home have ex" 
 perieuced at the ha ids of the Orange Institution. 
 Its eyprers ons will, I am assured, find an echo 
 in every Irish Catholic heart. 
 
 Having rehearsed the &t iry of ’61, it is needless 
 to dwell at length upon the sad tale of 1872. This 
 year Belfast was again a scene of dreadful liob, iu 
 which no man could count either his life or his 
 property his own. Taking every opportuaity of 
 celebrat'ng the triumph of fa t on, it was but 
 natural that the Catholics, now that the Party Pro- 
 cessions Act was repealed, would resort to the same 
 devices. It was decided to test the Orangemen 
 whether they would alliw that freedom of pre- 
 cession to others which they claimed for themselves. 
 Accordingly the Crtholics resolved to hold a meet 
 tng at Hinnahstown on the 15th of August, at 
 which a Protestant, Mr. Joseph Big!>ar, was to 
 take the chair. They assembled at Carlisle Circus, 
 and marched to Haunahstown, a few miles distant 
 from Belfast. On the outward journey, the Orange 
 workers having by this time left their mills and 
 workshops, they were savagely set upon at a plaoa 
 known as the Brickfields, which has ever since been 
 the battle-ground of the two parties. Shots were 
 fired into their ranks, and many persins wounded. 
 The preeence of a small army, both horse end foot, 
 alone saved them from assault on the return jour- 
 ney, This attack again set the ball rolling, and for 
 a fortnight business was practically suspended in 
 Belfast; the scenes of 1361 were re-enacted; the 
 Catholics resident in Protestant districts had again 
 to fly for their lives ; Catbohe workers would not 
 get leave to enter establishments where the ma- 
 ority was Protestant ; the discharge of niusketry 
 
 broke the stillness of the midnight air; the assassin 
 picked down his man from behind street comers and 
 out of g irret windows, and riot and massacre ruled 
 the town. The ratepayers were again subjected to 
 pay a fine for fostering Orangeism in their midst. 
 Not alone in Belfast, but all over Ulster the same 
 course was pursued. “ The Catholics were rebels 
 and should not ha allowed to walk.” Driven thus 
 to the necessity of assarting their right, they re- 
 solved upon walking, and, at the risk of their lives 
 and tie loss of many of their companions, they 
 until lately continued doing bo. ‘During those 
 periods of party conflict Uister presented a pitiable 
 scene, in which civilisation seemed to be breaking 
 in upon the people rather than achi<»ving its final 
 and ultimate development. 
 
 it au inquiry in Magherafelt, in April, 1874, re* 
 lative to a riot on the 17ch March, at Bellaghy 
 and Castledawson, in the County Derry, some 
 facta were elicited worthy of attention. Not only 
 was it there sworn that the Orange Lodge was 
 utilised tor the purpose of getting up” evidence 
 for these inquiries, bub it was elicited in the cross* 
 examination o? some of the Orangemen that an 
 oath was taJan upon thsir entering t ie societg ; 
 that secrets were revealed in the lodge room which 
 they dared not diselr s i even for the purposes of the 
 administration of justice. It was also sworn that 
 there were secret signs and passwords in connec- 
 tion with the inst tub’on. Some extracts from the 
 evidence may prove interesting : — 
 
 Joan Marcia, in answer to Mr. M‘Erlean, swore 
 — [ am an Orangeman, and a ^ood one too. In our 
 lodge it was deciled that we should not interfere 
 with the Ko nan Catholic procession on the l7th of 
 March. These were fourteen or fifteen in tha 
 lodge loom when this was agreed to. 
 
 Tell me, now that we have got so far, do yon get 
 in by giving this (Mi. M'^Eclean here gave throe 
 raps on the desk) ? Witness gave no answer. 
 
 Now, upon your oath, is not the password — " ask 
 and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, 
 knock and it shall be opened unto you” ? No 
 answer. 
 
 The question was repeated, and witness swore 
 that he would not tell, as it belonged to the secrets 
 cf the society. 
 
 On the following day the witness was recalled^ 
 and on being questioned, said he refused to say 
 how long he was an Oiaageraan. 
 
 Mr. Guussen, J.P. — Answer the question. You 
 should nob be ashamed to show your colours. 
 
 Witness said he was fifteen years an Orangeman. 
 
 39 
 
262 
 
 HISTOET OE OKANGEISM. 
 
 Mr. M'Erlean— 'How far are you advanced in the 
 order ? 
 
 Mr. Gaussen ruled that the witness was not 
 bonnd to reveal the secrets of his society. 
 
 Witness ultimately state! that he was a Purple 
 Orangerran, and on being asked to repeat the oath 
 dechned to do so. 
 
 Mr. Gaussen observed that the Orange Society 
 wag a legal institution, as ba! been proved in the 
 Houses of Parliament. He warned Mr. M'Erlcan 
 not to proceed with that line of cross-examination. 
 
 Mr. M^Eriean—T suppose I am on dmererous 
 ground when at the Purple Order ! (To Witness) 
 — Have you ever taken an oath in your life except 
 in a court of justice ? 
 
 Mr. Gaussen — He is not bound to answer that 
 question. 
 
 Were you at a club called the Brunswick Club* 
 at or near Migherafelt, for the purpose of prevent- 
 ing Catholics obtaining land in this district. Ques- 
 tion overruled. 
 
 Did you ever state that ** you would allow your 
 throat to be cut w'th a rusty sword, and you tongue 
 to be dragged out by the roots, before you would 
 allow a Roman Catholic prooessioi to pass through, 
 Bellaghy ? Question disallowed. 
 
 Did you ever sea a person three times carried 
 round a room, with hia back to the ground, and, if 
 »o, for what purpose ? Q lestiou disallowed. 
 
 Were your shoes taken off your feet and your 
 feet and your trousers rolled up ? Question disal- 
 lowed. 
 
 Did you, sir, ever, for the purpose of illustrating 
 that text of Scripture where you are told to take 
 the shoes off your feet, as the ground whereon you 
 stand is holy, do this ? Did you take the shoes off 
 your feet ia any room or place, and was Moses in 
 the burning bush represented at the same lime ? 
 Qaestion disallowed. 
 
 Remember you have admitted to me that you as- 
 sumed the Purple order; and do you swear that 
 these or similar words were repeated? Qaeetion 
 disallowed. 
 
 On your oath, sir, though Bellaghy is a pro- 
 claimed district is it not impossible to give a man 
 the Parp''e and other orders without a pistol being 
 fired on the occasion ? Question disallowed. 
 
 Are there secret signs and passwords in connec- 
 tion with the Institution. 
 
 Witness objected to answer. 
 
 Mr. Gaussen ruled that he was bound to answer 
 providing ho did not tell the secret signs and pass- 
 words were. 
 
 Witness — There are secret signs and passwords 
 in connection with the Oraage Institution and that 
 is all I will tell you. 
 
 Is there a secret oath in connection with the 
 Orange Instition. 
 
 Mr. Gaussen — You are not bound to answer that 
 question. 
 
 Did you ever this — I. A. B., swear never to hear 
 reveal, and for ever to conceal, all that is now about 
 to be s jcretly communicated to me ; never to make 
 an Orangeman behind a hedge, or in bye-ways; to 
 assist a brother in distress ; never to know of an 
 injury to a brother without communicating it to 
 him.’* H&ve you heard these words before, or any- 
 thing like them ? 
 
 Mr. Reid, Sessional Crown Solicitor — That ia not 
 a legal question in this case. . 
 
 Mr. M'Erlean said there were magistrates who 
 were Orangemen. 
 
 Mr. Gaussen — No doubt. There is nothing to 
 prevent magistrates from being Orangemen. 
 
 Mr. Rea — Lard Enniskillen is a magistrate, and 
 I he is the Gand Master of the Orange Society. 
 
 Mr. Gaussen — It is a recognised society by the 
 Government. 
 
 Mr. M Erlean — I don’t say there is a gentleman 
 on the bench who is connected with the Orango 
 Society. 
 
 Mr. Gaussen — There is not one. 
 
 Mr. Rea — I have been trying to get into the 
 society during the last five years, and I would not 
 be admitted because I am too good a Protestant. 
 
 Mr; M‘Erlean — Were you ever beaten with a 
 holey or a knotted rope ? 
 
 Mr. Rea — I will withdraw my application for ad- 
 mission. 
 
 Qaestion overruled. 
 
 Martin Davidson, a publican in bellaghy, and an 
 Grangeman for five years, and Master of Lodge 
 1,511, was prevailed upon by the Court to answer, 
 and corroborated Martin’s evidence by saying— 
 Of course, there are secret signs and passwords 
 in connection with the Orange Society.” He said, 
 in answer to Mr. Rea, that as long as he had been 
 connected with the society there had been sacrel 
 signs and passwords. 
 
 Mr. Rea — I suppose also there are secret oaths 
 iu the order. 
 
 Th j Bench ruled that the question need not b« 
 answered. 
 
 Mr. Rea — When this evidence is laid before Par- 
 liament it will read like a Waverley novel. 
 
 On being cross-examined as to the facts, this 
 
HISTORY OSAN’GSIS^r. 
 
 263 
 
 witness swore thab he saw one of the defendants 
 named Dougherty throwing stones at his (wit- 
 ness’s) windows. On the previous depositions 
 being prcduced, it was found that he had stated 
 twice in theta that the damage was i - fiicted by 
 some person ot persons unknown.” He also admi ted 
 that he Lad been at the Orange Hall getting up 
 evidence, but that nobody told him to go. ‘^He 
 heard two men and a woman in the street saying 
 that Mr. Ward (the attorney for the Orangemen) 
 would be there.” 
 
 Mr. M‘Erlean said theOrrange Society was upon 
 its trial. It was for the members of the society to 
 say that the oath he had read was not taken. It 
 might be true Orangemen were not sworn j but 
 there were three orders in the society that were 
 sworn — the Purple men, the Knights of Malta, and 
 the Black Preceptory — and every one of these 
 orders were illegal. The 37th of George III., cap. 
 173, made it an offence against the law for any oae 
 to take an oath not required by law, to subscribe 
 or assent to any oath or declaration or test not 
 sanctioned by law; 
 
 Andre v Kennedy, for about two years a. ixiQmher 
 of the Orange Society, Lodge 96, Castledawsou, 
 said he did not know that he ever knew an Orange- 
 man who had not the signs and paB£-*words. 
 
 Mr. Rea— la this the first time ever yon were 
 sworn in a court of justice ? Yes. 
 
 Is this the fiist time ever you have been sworn ? 
 
 Mr. Gaussen — You are not bound to answer that. 
 
 Mr. Rea— Well, of course* the refusal will do as 
 well as if he answered. How often have you been 
 sworn before this day, which you say is the first 
 time you ever were sworn in a court of justice ? I 
 wjs sworn ones. 
 
 About how long ago is that P I don’t remember. 
 
 Is it a year, or two years, or three years ? It 
 might be about two years ago since I was sworn. 
 
 Was it in Magherafelt, in Belleghy, or in Castle- 
 dawson P It was in Castlsdawson. 
 
 Was it before a magistrate ? No. 
 
 CHAPTER XX; 
 
 Tans legal question is one which may be briefiy 
 dealt with. According to the present law every 
 club and society is an unlawful combination or 
 eonfedracy of its members, according to its rules, 
 or according to any previous provision or agree- 
 ment for that purpose, are required or permitted 
 to take any oath not required or authorised by law ; 
 
 The Cbairmiin — Well, now, you see, there’s the 
 point, because no one can lawfully administer an 
 oath except a magihtrate. 
 
 Mr. Rea — Wasn’t it as a member of the Orange 
 organisation that the oath was administered P I 
 decline to answer. 
 
 Well, is it because it would subject you to a 
 criminal prosecution you decline to answer ? 
 
 Tbe Court decided that he was not bound to give 
 a reason, and the witness refused to give one. 
 
 William Gray, a letter-carrier, and a member of 
 the Orange Society for about eight or nine years, was 
 sworn, and in cross-examination by Mr. Rea, gave 
 corroborative evidence relative to the existence of 
 signs and pass- words, which he believed always 
 came from Dublin, and were given him by the 
 Master of the Lodge. 
 
 Were you ever sworn outside a court of justice ? 
 (After a pause)— ITl not answer that question. 
 
 Were you ever sworn on the Evangelist except in 
 a court of justice or before a magistrate ? I don’t 
 see that I have a right to answer that question. 
 
 The Chairman— Can’t you answer the question P 
 
 Witness — I was once. 
 
 The Chairman — Why did you hesitate to tell ? 
 
 Mr. Rea — Was that in Castledawson or in Bel- 
 laghy ? It was ia Castledawson. 
 
 Wdsa't it about seven or eight years ago P It wag 
 between seven and eight years ago. 
 
 Now, you neei not answer this question if you 
 don’t like. Wasn’t it as a member of the Orange 
 Society that you were sworn — ^you may decline to 
 answer it if it would tend to criminate you ?* No 
 answer. 
 
 Do you decline to answer it cn that ground ? j 
 do. 
 
 From the above sworn depositions the reader may 
 draw his own conclusions. Recollect the fact tha 
 Mr. M'Erlean was at the close sentenced to seven 
 days’ imprisonment for alleged contempt of court. 
 
 :VII.— LEG AL. 
 
 or take^ or in any manner bind themselves by any 
 such oath or agreement on becoming or in conse- 
 quence cf being members of any such society j or 
 any society the members of which shall take, sub- 
 scribe, or assent to any test or declaration not re- 
 quired or authorised by the law, whether 
 ihat test or declaration bo by words, sign# 
 
264. 
 
 IITSTOEY OF OFANGEISM' 
 
 or otherwifae, either in order to become 
 or in consequence of becomiag a member of 
 of Euoh society. To this there is a reservation 
 where the form of test has been approved and sub- 
 scribed to by two or more justices of the peace of 
 the coutty in which the society exists, and where 
 it id registered with the Clerk of the Peace. Agiio, 
 any society is an illegal combination if the names 
 of the members, or any cf th» m, are kept secfect 
 from the society at large ; or where there is a select 
 body so chorea or appointed that the membe-'s con- 
 stituting the same aie not known by the society at 
 large to be members of such select body. 
 
 The 4th George IV., Cap. 87, recites the 5uth 
 of George Ilf., Cap. 1C2, which I think I have 
 already quoted, and enacts that every society 
 now established, or hereafter to be established, 
 of the nature hereinafter described, shall be an 
 unlawful combiration and confederacy — viz., 
 ©very society, association, brotheroohd, coni- 
 mitte, lodge, club or confederacy the mem. 
 bers whereof shall, according to the rules thereof, 
 or to any provision or agreement for that purpose, 
 be rf quired, or admitted, or permitted to take any 
 oath or engagement which shall be an unlawful 
 oatb, or engagement with tie intent or meaning of 
 laid recited Act, or to take any oath not required 
 or authorised by law ; and any and every socitty, 
 association, &c., the members whereof or any of 
 them, shall take or in any m inner bind themselves 
 by any such oath or engagement upon be- 
 coming, or in consequence of being members of 
 •uch society, association, &c., and any and every 
 society, association, &c., the members whereof shall 
 take cr subscribe, or assent to any test or declara- 
 tion not required by law; and any and every 
 society, associaGon, &c., of which the names of the 
 members, or any of them, shall be kept secret from 
 the socie’y at large, or which shall have any com- 
 mittee or selet-t body chosen or appointed in such 
 manner that the members constituting srme may 
 not be known by the scoie'y at large to be mem- 
 bers of such committee or select body, or which 
 shall have any president, treasurer, secretary, or 
 other officer chosen or appointed in such m inner 
 that the elect! 3n or appointment of such person t o 
 such v^ffices may not bo known to the society at 
 large ; or of which tbe names of all the members, 
 and of all committees or select bodies of members, 
 acd of all presidenta, treasureis, secretaries, dele- 
 ffates, and ether officers shall not be entered in a 
 book or books to be kept for that purpose, and to 
 b© open to the inspection cf all members of such 
 
 society,’' &/*., &}., ‘'shah be deemed guilty of un- 
 lawful combination and confedraoy." 
 
 From the above it is manifest that the Orange 
 S'^ciety is i’legil. It isnotiuchiied in the exception 
 which applies only under this Act and other.s to be 
 read with it, to Freem isois a d Friendly Societies, 
 nor does the reservation in regard to tests secure 
 them from illega’ity, as the testa of this society are 
 not suts3ribed to “by two magHtra^ei ii the 
 county in which it exbts.” The administering of 
 an oaih by them is illegal under all circum stances. 
 That the Orange Society administers an oath as a 
 rule on the admiss’on of associates is n^t proven. 
 That certain sections of tbe s ociety, these being 
 chiefly the lodges which are hidden away iu remote 
 district i and situated in localitit^s where bigotry 
 and par'^y strife largely prevail, do administer 
 oath to afSOciat?s is plainly made evident upon de^ 
 positions which would hold good in any court of 
 law. If this illegality is ’nevitable as a natural 
 consequence of the society itielf, which I hold it to 
 be, the s'ciety is then unlawful, and must be hel 
 responsible for the adtiuilstritioa of unlawful 
 oaths under the 4 George IV., Cap, 87. But under 
 the same section of this Act it is also evident 
 that the eo'^iety as a body is renderel illegal by 
 the prohibition of tests, unless thoso subscribed by 
 two magistrates which it contains. The Act for- 
 bids all tes s or declarations u ed by persons upon 
 becoming or in coa,sequence of becom ng members of 
 s icb society. What is a test ? It is tx) have some 
 secret mode by which one member can ebaU snge, or 
 make himself known to another without the ordi* 
 nary means j:rov:d“d by the act —namely, the “ book 
 or books” in which the names of the associates are 
 enterel. Such a test exists in the Orange Society. 
 The lecturer visits the diutrict lodges peii ?dically, 
 and upon all occasions when a change in those 
 tests, signs, and piss-words are rendered necessary, 
 and personally communicates them to the Master, 
 by whom they are again commuaicatel the mem- 
 b rs. It Is needless to refer to “ the half o five or 
 the fourth of ten,” and to tbe various other 
 means by which the brethren can make themselves 
 known to each other. Tests these are, pure 
 and simple. Say, an Orangeman meets a 
 friend in a public-hou?e, which is too frequently 
 the place of rendezvous. He gives the sign to 
 which the brother responds. The brother t'lus ac- 
 costed decides to test the person who has so chal- 
 lenged him, and he accordingly proceeds with a 
 routine of tests prescribed by the society for the 
 purpose, and actuilly communicated in secret by 
 
HISTOEY OE OEAXGEISM. 
 
 265 
 
 the representative of the Grand Lodge. By these 
 tests he ascertains if his companion is an Orange- 
 man. Herein is found illegality under the statute 
 of George IV., already quoted; but the illegtl ty 
 of the socieiy extends further in my opinion. That 
 Act provides '' that any socieiy vfhich shall have 
 any committee or sdect body chosen or appointed 
 in such manner, that the members constituting the 
 same may not be knovm by the society at large to 
 be members of such committee or select body, shall 
 be deemed guilty of unlawful combination and 
 confederacy.’^ In the Orange Society there are 
 such select bodies. Toe rules themselves plainly 
 provide that Parplemen shall not reveal their 
 secrets to Orangemen ; and there is also set apart 
 a district order of tests, signs, and passwords, not 
 alone to keep the inner circle within itself, but to pre- 
 vent Purplemen from communicating with or being 
 known by Orangemen. The same regulation prevails 
 in regard to, the Black Preceptory and other orders. 
 It is therefore evident that not only is it a fact, but 
 that it was the intention to bring that fact into 
 existence, that the Orangemen and Purplemen do 
 not, and cannot know each other. This is illegal 
 under George IV., Chap. 87. By the 2ad and 3rd 
 of Victoria, Chap. 74, the use of all secret modes of 
 communication by signs and passwords amongst 
 the members of any society was prohibited. That 
 Act, which extended the provisions of the 4th of 
 George IV., was continued by the 8th and 9th of 
 Vi ,toria. Chap. 55, and Mr. Napier, in giving his 
 opinion in ’45, not only said that no oath could in 
 any manner or under any pretence be lawfully 
 used^ but that secret signs and passwords were 
 illegal, as were also the use of a test or declaration. 
 
 not sanctioned or already specified. In the face of 
 this distinct opinion the society still hell in by its 
 signs and passwords, its tests and its declarations, 
 and, in all probability, it still held on by its oath in 
 s.me form or other. Those Acts are now obsolete. 
 
 By the 27tb George III., cap. 15, sec. 6, it is 
 illegal to administer or cause to be administered 
 an oath which is not compelled by inevitable neces- 
 sity ; and the 50tb George III., secs. 1, 2, and 3, 
 prohibits the administering, tendering, or causing 
 to be administered or tendered, or by undue mians 
 causing to be taken any oath er engagement binding 
 to belong to any society formed for seditious pur- 
 poses, or to disturb the peace, or t> compel any 
 person to do or not to do any act; binding to obey 
 the orders of an unlawful committee or leader; or 
 to assemble at command.” Of course, it is plain 
 that the Orange Society does fall within the provi- 
 sions of this Act of George III., as it is undoubtedly 
 tended to disturb the peace, and as its members 
 bind themselves to obey unlawful committees and 
 leaders, and to assemble at command.” 
 
 Under 27th George III., the penalty for taking 
 an illegal oath is S'^ven years’ imprisonment, to 
 which, I have good reason to fear, many Orange- 
 men are to-day liable. 
 
 That it is an illegal association there can he no 
 doubt, and it would soon be declared to be such if 
 legal authorities and our Irish Attorney-Generals, 
 chosen as they have been from that class who 
 sympathises with and finds its interest in the 
 maintenance of political supporters, would chcose 
 to be consistent at the expense of expediency, and 
 put those laws into motion that we find upon the 
 Statute Book. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII.— OR ANGEISM AND THE LAND LEAGUE. 
 
 When Michael Davitt, the Fenian, and the felon, 
 rose amid the mins of a demolished homestead to 
 preach that new doctrine, “ the land of Ireland for 
 the people of Ireland,” to some thousands of poli- 
 tical sympathisers, he little thought he was sound- 
 ing the death knell of Orange ascendancy in Ire- 
 land. It was a result beyond the purpose of the 
 moment. It was a result devoutly to he 
 wished for. But it was a result which could 
 not reasonably seem within reach to the most 
 sanguine expectations. Many national projects 
 some, wild in theory, impossible in practice, bad 
 again and again been placed before the country. 
 The warm Celtic blood of the Southerners, which 
 
 disdained difficulties.snatched at every new scheme, 
 and eager for something which might help to drive 
 the wolf from the door and save a starving people, 
 joined with their usual enthusiasm in each new 
 movement. The cool-headed Northerners still 
 kept aloof. Finding nothing to appeal to their 
 selfish natures, they bent to the dic^^^ates of their 
 leaders — namely, their landlords — with the 
 same meekness which a slave would to a 
 master of whom he found it impossible 
 to rid himself, and whom he thought it his interest 
 to at least, conciliate. The result was to consoli- 
 date and unite the Orange party. Though they 
 grumbled and growled by times beneath the hard 
 
 40 
 
266 
 
 HtSTOET OE ORANaEISM. 
 
 rale of their task- masters, tlio system of discipline 
 was such that they dared not rebel. The Orange 
 henchmen, the Orange bailiffs, and the Orange 
 agents met the first murmur of disaffection against 
 the landlords, with a cry, “ Are they not our 
 brethren ?” and at onco the regime of the 
 lodgeroom overpowered all natural expres- 
 sions of feeling. But, in the face of all, it 
 was still dreadful'y apparent that the fact of being 
 “brothers” to men whose rent-rolls were counted 
 by the thousand did not any better enable the 
 tenant to struggle against adverse seasons, and 
 that the lip-sympathy which was annually given 
 from Orange platforms by men who crossed from 
 the hells of London, Paris, and Berlin for the pur- 
 pose, and thereupon took their flight, but ill- 
 compensated for the harshness of office rules 
 and the exacting nature of office cupidity. 
 The question was muttered in whispers be- 
 tween lodge night and lodge night. “If they 
 are our brothers where is the brotherly love ?” 
 But the discipline of the order prevailed, the rank 
 and file still suspecting that they bad placed at 
 their head a number of men who had their eyes 
 open only to their ovu interests. The youngest 
 son had now to find a home in Canada, for the 
 facilities for emigraHou were not withheld them, 
 and the agents boastfully talked of that other 
 home beyond the se^s where Orange men would 
 find a land of plenty. The daughter went 
 next “ lovelier in her tears” leaving the rural sim- 
 plicity of Irish country life for the big cities of 
 America. But stiB the rent-ccllect jr called and 
 could not be paid. The agent then followed, as 
 did also the clergyman to show how it was the duty 
 cf all true Orangemen to pay their rent ; and to in- 
 sinuate that non-payment was but the practice cf 
 rebels and of Papists. Another sf'n now followed, 
 and then another, and the old couple at 
 home were left to dream over the 
 glcries of the Boyne, the gallant de- 
 fence of Derry, and anon tow&t3h with anxious expec- 
 tation the arrival of the mail which brought 
 the money orders of America to defray the expenses 
 of non-resident landlords, and keep in lux ary those 
 age ts who found compes.sation for their isolation 
 in riotous living. 
 
 While this was proceeding in the counties there, 
 was a body of men growing up in the cities who had 
 already seen the game which the nobles were play- 
 ing, and, though moved by no motives of sympathy- 
 for their agricultural brethren, but rather by that 
 desire to share in power, which generally pervaded 
 
 the labouring classes of the kingdom at the time 
 they struck against the old regime. They saw that 
 Orangeism had too long been the t )ol of the land- 
 lords to secure their ren!-, and of the noblec to 
 secure the'r power, and forthwith they set about 
 altering it, never suspecting for a moment that 
 they could not da so without reconstructing it 
 from its founc’afion j not s'eiugthat they could 
 alone mend it on the principle of the proverbial 
 stocking with the new foot and the new leg. These 
 men were the reformers of ’6S. Down through 
 their entire history, commencing from that unfor" 
 tunate day when neighbours were hounded at each 
 other upon the bloody Diamond had the landlords 
 exclusive hold of the reins, no v tightenins^n aw relax- 
 ing them to suit the stubborn nature of the teem, b it 
 withal managing it with the dexterity of a skilful 
 driver, who saw at any moment the possibility of 
 being pitahed from the box neat. T le wedge was 
 insert ad in 1863, and, recollection being had to 
 their tutoring, praise is duo to a few unselfish men 
 who followed the leaders of that movement. The 
 Land Act of 1870 placed the farmers of the North 
 in a new position. Though it may not have fulfilled 
 all anticipations respecting it, or filled the pockets 
 of the farming classes, it helped to place them in a 
 position of comparative independence for some 
 t'.me. Tae professors of Orangeism were soon 
 after confined to the farmers’ bays and the labourers 
 uyou the holdings of thesa who were formerly of 
 the brethren. But its failure, in accomplishing 
 the ends intended, again placed the tenants 
 at the mercy of the bailiff, and in the 
 hope [of being in a better position to claim 
 mercy under office rules, the tenants again found 
 it their interest to resume their old position 
 in the socie'y. The result was as unsatisfactory as 
 before. A few bad harvests made the payment of 
 rent impossible, and again the human sacrifices 
 followed as of old. Those who have traversed the 
 Northern provinces between the years of 1870 
 and 1878 will easily recall the many affecting 
 scenes which they witnessed at the rail- 
 way stations as sons and daughters took 
 a final leave of relatives and friends, whom they 
 were never more to see upon this side of the grave. 
 The breach went on widening ; and at this criois 
 Michael Davit t— even Davitt, the Fenian and the 
 felon ; but Davitt, a fellow-sufferer, with feelings 
 the same, with wrongs the same, hunted by the 
 same cruel race of men, who allowed neither re- 
 ligion nor politics to interfere with their purses — 
 ' Michael Davitt rose to preach a doctrine for the 
 
HISTOET OF OEANGEISM. 
 
 2G7 
 
 three provinces, in which ne never believed t le 
 fourth would have joined . — 
 
 The land of Ireland for the people of Ireland.” 
 
 For a time Ulster remained passive. Some hoped 
 that good mie^ht come of it; the majority feared 
 it was a scheme as wild and visionary as many 
 another, and meant that the land o" Ireland 
 should be for the Catholici of Ireland. Amongst 
 the starving populut ons of the South and 
 West the agitation spread like wild-fiie. Fearing 
 that it would not stop short of the Boyne, 
 and that if the Ulstermen once tasted of this fruit 
 they would begin to relish it, the Orange Giand 
 Committee met in Dublm and decided that it was 
 time to bestir themselves. These few noblemen 
 and landed gentry, who composed the Grand Com- 
 mittee, had never wanted a few clergymen of the 
 firebrand t^pe, whom they feasted at thc.ir 
 tables and who were prepared to befoul 
 tneir cloth by any menial cffl’e if their 
 relations were only allowed to remain 
 unbroken. The clerical dodge had sujceeded in 
 the past aid the hope was entertained that i*- 
 would again succeed. Away to their pulpits and 
 theic platforms they went to denounce Com- 
 munism and Popery, Lind Leaguers, anl Jesuits 
 in disguise. But the hard-headed puritans of 
 the North were but ill disposed to follow 
 the example of the offiie-ruuuers, who threw 
 up their hats and ciied, “No surrender,” at 
 the appointed moment. A few, it is true, d'd follow 
 as they will always follow with “respectability,” 
 and on these few the Orange clergymen exhausted 
 all tneir rabid utterances with some effect. But 
 the time had passed when it was the highest am- 
 bition of Protestants and Piesbyterians to be 
 Orangemen. The ambition was how to live and 
 the great problen of the day, ho tv it could be 
 accomplished. The wiser and more respectable 
 section, if they quietly acquiesced, occasionally 
 nodded their heads, and rr.uttered there was much 
 to be said ou both sides oE the question. Still the 
 fire vfas spreading dangerously in the South. The 
 agents next j lined the clergy, and failing alike in 
 their efforts, the word went round, over England 
 and the Continent, that the landlords wore wanted 
 at home, for the brethern were likely to became re- 
 bellious. Home they flocked in numbers. Some bad 
 never seen their estates before; many had seen them 
 at therimajority,only and had since contented them- 
 selves with repocketing their rents. Many had only 
 heard of Orangeism as a profession necessary for 
 agents and bailiffs, and with extreme reluctance 
 
 nowsuimittel themselves to tie mummery’s of 
 iniria ion. Forth cvme this happy trio; 
 the lordling, his agent, and the clergyman, to 
 eroibe the people to stand at the ramparts 
 of lindlordism. The text chose i at the beginning 
 had failed. Could it be possible that it had failed 
 because of nob going far enough ? they asked them- 
 selves, and, without waiting to inquire, they rushed 
 into illegility, stepp d upon the dangerous line 
 which mirks off civil wir from the happiness of 
 social life and the healthiness of eonstitutiouai agi- 
 tation, and called on the brethren at once to arm. 
 Th'e wild ult ranees of such men — clergymen^ 
 be it remembered — as B. E. Kane, the Don Quixote 
 of the party, and William Stewart Boss will long 
 be remembered; and when the piesent agitation 
 has ceased, and men settle down to their ordinary 
 avocations, at peace under their own fig-trees, 
 the duplicity of one cf them will still stand 
 as a monument of shame, and a warning 
 to clerical pa tizins. Orangemen were called 
 upon to arm, and were furnished with the means 
 by men who rafu-ed to expose themselves to simi- 
 lar dangers. But the split of ’63 was stiL there, 
 and widening. Many refused the proffered musket, 
 and told the landlords to keep them and fight 
 their own battles. 
 
 The Land Leaguers now determined to meet their 
 opponents upon their own ground, and accepting 
 the challenge that they dared not show fa:ein Ulster, 
 Davitt appeared at a meeting at a place caBed 
 The Kinnego, but a few miles removed from the 
 memorable fisld of the Diamond. Here he again 
 enunciated his doctr'ne, and at the close of the 
 meeting was borne upon the shoulders of six stal- 
 wart Orangemen, amid the acclamations of the 
 people. Amongst the first Protestants who 
 stood by Davitt’s side was the Bev. Harold Byletb, 
 the clergyman of a small but respectable Unitarian 
 eongregauiou at Monayrea, which counts every man 
 of them a democrat alike in politics as in religiin. 
 Bylett was made organiser, and when Davitt went 
 back into his prison cell, his ticket-of-leave being 
 withdrawn, the Unitarian clergyman was left by 
 Mr. Parnell to complete the work which had been 
 so successfully commenced in Ulster. How it 
 prospered is a matter familiar to all. Wbile one 
 section allied themselves with the old faction in 
 the hope of picking up the crumbs of Emergency 
 Committees and Protestant Defence Associa- 
 tions, the other boldly bi eke away from 
 their old associations, heedless of the ana- 
 thema of the Grand Lodge, and joined in a 
 
268 
 
 HISTOET OF OEAISTGEISM 
 
 movement which they believed had for its object 
 the benefit of all their class. Those brethren who 
 did ally themselves with the Land Leaguers were 
 not only vigorously denounced, but the paid libel- 
 lers of the Institution were ready to declare that 
 these men never were Orangemen at all, and for- 
 getful of how much there is in an if,” they in- 
 consistently added, *'if they were Orangemen, 
 they were never good ones.” 
 
 The spirit of the time may well be read in such 
 words as the following, which is an extract from 
 a letter written by an Orange tenant-farmer to 
 one of the Belfast morning papers : — 
 
 ** What does this lesson teach ? — that the 
 mightiest Empire in the world does not require 
 their (the Orangemen’o) puny assistance. The 
 Orangemen are kicked and persecuted when they 
 are not required for electioneering purposes, and 
 caressed when they are the useful tools to return a 
 supporter of Tory landlordism to Parliament. If 
 the Orange tenant-farmers ask themselves these 
 questions — What have they gained by being the 
 electioneering agents of Tory landlords ? Are 
 their rents any lower than their neighbours ? Have 
 Orangemen/s widows or their orphan children in 
 the hour of their distress been spared more than 
 those of Catholics ? Have both not been equally 
 compelled to pay to the uttermost farthing, and 
 equally mulcted in their tenant-right, and the 
 poorer and more helpless the greater the burden 
 placed upon them ? Let all Orangemen cultivate 
 their Orangeism, which means civil and religious 
 liberty, and freedom of Parliamentary election, hut 
 let them cut loose from their Tory task-masters 
 and deceivers, and, like true sons of William, be- 
 come Orangemen in deed as well as in name.” 
 
 Or from this, an answer to the denial of the 
 statements that some Orangemen took the chairs 
 at Land League meetings in the county of the 
 Diamond : — “Those divines — Ellis, Kane, and other 
 Christian men— feel it their duty to leave the pulpit, 
 and for awhile occupy the platform, in order to 
 save their brethren from becoming the easy dupes 
 of designing impostors. We can hardly conceive 
 H possible, at this enlightened period of the nine- 
 teenth century, for men to be so blind as not to 
 comprehend the object these gentlemen have in 
 view, because they are using the same wornout 
 weapon of warfare that landlords always used — 
 namely, the Orange against the Green, and because 
 they krow this old fabric is crumbling to the dust, 
 they summon up all their forces and cry aloud from 
 the Diamond Hill, ' It’s all Popery !’ But the 
 
 response is weak, and there are few to answer. In 
 their last moments, like the Prophets of Bial, they 
 say, ' O, people, hear us.’ Bat the pe ple will no 
 longer sacrifice their own interests; and because 
 they are disobeying these instructions we hear a 
 Kev. Kane, E-ector of Tullylish ; Rev. Ellis, of Killy- 
 lea; a Mr. Psel, of Armagh, all joined hand-in- 
 hand to represent their fellow-men as traitors to 
 the Orange cause. Why ? Because these men feel 
 they can no longer endure the pressure of the land- 
 lords* burden ; and becau e they have become as- 
 sociated with anything likely to improve their con- 
 dition, they must, according to these public 
 teachers, be expelled from that society known as 
 the Loyal Orange Lodge, with which some of them 
 have been connected for mere than twenty years. 
 Why, we ask, have these men to be expelled fram 
 the lodge when Peel says they never were mem- 
 bers ? “Mr. Weir and Mr. Marshall are not 
 Orangemen at all,” is Mr. Peel’s statement at 
 the Diamond. Rev. Mr. Kane says if they are 
 not drummed out he himself will leave the so- 
 ciety. We ask the public which of these gentle- 
 men are we to believe — whether Mr. T. G. 
 Peel, who used to be a Methodist preacher, or 
 the Rector of Tullylish, who eviently intends 
 making a name for himself, if not in the pulpit, 
 at least on the platform. We can hardly suppose 
 Mr. Peel to be ignorant of the fact that both Weir 
 and Marshall have been Orangemen for many 
 years; and if their names are not to be found in 
 the returned lists from the society, it does not alter 
 the fact everybody knows. They are Orangemen 
 notwithstanding. If Mr. Peel would lock over 
 another class of lists nearer home he would pro- 
 bably find the name of both parties connected with 
 a little subscription. But we will push the matter 
 no further at present. As regards the rector of 
 Tullylish, the public are not ignorant of his in- 
 flammatory movements. Is it not a fact that some 
 time ago, on a public platform, the same gentleman 
 said that if a Protestant landlord was shot the blood 
 of two Roman Catholics should flow for it, aniia it 
 not also a fact that for this and similar expressions 
 his own bishop, the Bishop of Down, who we 
 all know is a most liberal gentleman, cautioned 
 Mr. Kane, and wrote to him on the subject; but 
 the fatherly counsel of the bishop was eet at 
 naught, and he would have none of hio reproof. 
 Consequently we are noi surprised at his remarks 
 on this occasion. The spirit displayed by Mr. 
 Peel and others towards the Land League move- 
 ment since its commencement in this county has 
 
HISTOET OP OEANGEISM 
 
 269 
 
 done more to further its interest than anything else 
 we know of. James Weir will strike his name out 
 of the Kinego Lodge, and when he does so, and 
 takes with him his other brother Orangemen who 
 have joined the League, the remaining body will 
 not be difficult to number. There will be a branch 
 of the League established near Mr. Marshall’s, at 
 the Bonihill ; and of course the people will join, 
 let Coroner Peel and Eev. Mr. Kane be ever so 
 much excited. Every arrow they shoot will only 
 kill in their own ranks. The wall of landlordism 
 is already crumbling, and a few more Orangemen 
 in the field of the League will speedily cause it to 
 disappear. 
 
 Weib, Marshall, & Co., 
 Orangemen. 
 
 Kinego and the Bondhill. 
 
 How strangely would the heroes of the Diamond 
 stare if those words could pierce through that im- 
 penetrable space which divides the living from the 
 dead — the men of the Diamond of 1795 from the 
 men of the Diamond of 1881 — and tell them of the 
 change that a century had wrought in the minds 
 of men. 
 
 Despite all the frantic efforts of the Orange 
 leaders, in the face of the bludgeon brigades of 
 Down and the no surrender cries of Tyrone the 
 land agitation kept steadily progressing, until, 
 within a few months from the time I write, the 
 Land League was enabled to make a firm footing 
 in one of the most ultra-Orange counties of the 
 North, and the appearance of a Land League can- 
 didate in Tyrone where greetings everywhere 
 awaited him, where but a year before he would 
 have been received with rotten eggs, told the 
 fanatics and the landlord faction that the reign of 
 Orange ascendency was no more. 
 
 Need we go further ? Just a word more in my 
 
 own justification, and we part, never, let us hope, 
 to meet again over the discussion of such a painful 
 subject. Some men whose intelligence command 
 respect think the appearance of this history un- 
 advisable because inopportune. It may tend, they 
 fear, to keep many Orangemen from joining in 
 with the ranks of the people. I think otherwise. 
 The time has passed when the concealment of 
 the truth can benefit any cause or any 
 people. Let each man learn to know himself, 
 should be the maxim, not only of men, but of 
 parties, and as I cannot esteem the man who, on 
 being shown his failings, is too self-conscious to 
 correct them, neither can I esteem a party who, on 
 reading over the errors of the past, determines to 
 persist in them in the future. Nor do I hold in 
 such low estimation many men of this Orange party 
 as to think, when shown how they have been used 
 by persons who were not of them, whose interests 
 and whose motives were alike opposed to their 
 interests and their motives, that they 
 will not, however reluctantly, sever them- 
 selves from a society so inimical to the 
 prosperity of their country; It is true it may make 
 some men more bigoted, because it is opposed to 
 every passion and every prejudice which bind them 
 to the tail of a political junto condemned to die; 
 but while the ignorant little boys and mistaken old 
 men withdraw themselves behind the barriers 
 which faction has raised against a people’s progress, 
 whatever intellect and whatever respectability still 
 belong to the Orange brethren will come out in the 
 end, I believe, into the open — rank themselves be- 
 side the people in the people’s march, and, seeing 
 in those hastily-put-together pages the sad records 
 of their fathers’ misdeeds, will become more ear- 
 nest, more patriotic and more energetic, in the hope 
 to blot those records out. 
 
■V. . 
 
 
 
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JV :PI=>E liTID ISC 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE DIAMOND^ 
 
 (see chaptek 
 
 The following is an account relative to the fight 
 at the Diamond which will be found in the IT. 
 Tol. of Grattan’s Life,” by his son ; a book de- 
 serving of much more attention from students of 
 Irish history than it has hitherto received. 
 
 The account by Lord Gosford may seem almost 
 incredible, and many may imagine that passion 
 and prejudice might have coloured or exaggerated 
 the facts, and that Government would not have 
 permitted any body of magistrates so far to neglect 
 their duties. But in confirmation of what Lord 
 Gosford said, an evidence has of late appeared — 
 an eye-witness of the facts, and whose testimony 
 may be eonsidered impartial, given as it is after a 
 lapse of time, when the anger and fury of the day 
 has subsided, and when truth may fearlessly be 
 told, with a probability of being believed. An 
 officer of the 24ith Light Dragoons, whose regiment 
 was sent to the North cf Ireland in 1795, thus 
 writes 
 
 [to the editor op the globe.] 
 
 Newmarket, October 19, 1839. 
 
 Sir ****** 
 “As a cornet in th© 24ith Light Dragoons, then 
 commanded by the late Lord Wm. Bentinck, I 
 accompanied the regiment to Ireland in 1795. We 
 disembarked at Dublin, and proceeded to Clonmel, 
 from whence, in the autumn of that year, a 
 squadron was suddenly ordered, in consequence of 
 the disturbed state of the country, to proceed to 
 
 VI., PAGE 18. 
 
 Armagh. To this squadron I was attached. Very 
 shortly after our arrival the Caithness Highlanders, 
 commanded by Sir Thomas, then Major, Molyneux, 
 relieved a regiment of Irish militia stationed at 
 Armagh. The County of Armagh was then in a 
 very disturbed statej arising from the feuds between 
 the Protestant and Catholic population, unhappily 
 too much encouraged by the dominant party ; but 
 of these religious dissensions the Orange Societies, 
 fostered and encouraged by the father of the present 
 Colonel Verner, had their origin. The avowed 
 object of the Protestant party was to drive the 
 Catholics out of the country. 
 
 “ In the course of the following year the whole 
 regiment took up its quarters at Armagh and the 
 neighbourhood. It so happened that I commanded 
 a detachment of the regiment at Loughall, in the 
 very centre of that part of the County of Armagh 
 where the disturbance most prevailed, and not very 
 far distant from the spot where the Battle of the 
 Diamond took place. There I remained several 
 months, and during that period I had witnessed 
 the excesses committed by the Orange party, who 
 now began to form themselves into lodges, and the 
 dreadful persecutions to which the Catholic in- 
 habitants were subjected. Night after night I have 
 seen the backings and burnings of the dwellings of 
 these poor people. And notwithstanding the active 
 exertions of the Sovereign of Armagh, under whose 
 orders the military frequently scoured the country. 
 
272 
 
 HISTORY OF ORANGEISM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 oar movements were so closely watched that these 
 depredations were continued almost with impunity. 
 When we arrived at a burning dwelling the per- 
 petrators had fled across the coun^^ry, and their 
 course could only fee traced by the fires they left in 
 their progress. 
 
 Many of the Orangemen, however, notwithstand- 
 ing the secrecy with which they conducted their 
 proceedingp, were discovered on private informa- 
 tion, and brought to trial. But most of them^ 
 through the influence of their party, escaped, 
 either altogether or with slighb punishment. 
 
 In one case, a most atrocious one, a man had 
 been sentenced to death ; this man’s sentence was 
 respited, and I well remember the whole country 
 ^■o-.md be’ug illuminated with bonfires in manifes- 
 tation of the joy of the Orangemen on that occa- 
 sion. The result was an increased measure of per- 
 secution ; many poor families were driven from 
 thsir homes, their dwellings burnt, and them- 
 selves obliged to take shelter among their Catholic 
 brethren in Connaught. These outrages were not 
 unfrequently accompanied with bloodshed. 
 
 I may mention one of these dreadful scenes, of 
 which I was myself an eye-witness, during our 
 nightly patrol. We had already reached a heap of 
 ruins, when a shot was heard, apparently about a 
 quarter of a mile from the fire. On proceeding to 
 to the spet we discovered a dying man, whom the 
 miscreants had shot in his house in their retreat 
 from the fire. They had fired through the window 
 
 JUDGE ELETC] 
 
 Ihe following is a summary of Mr. Justice 
 Fletcher’s charge at the Summer Assizes of 
 Wexford in 1814, and will, we think, be read with 
 interest by our readers, dealing as it does, from an 
 impartial standpoint, with the condition of the 
 country at the time. As an exposure of the various 
 jobs that were then perpetrated by the landocracy, 
 the charge is, perhaps, unexampled. In conse- 
 quence of its length, much interesting matter has, 
 of course, to be omitted ; but those desirous of 
 perusing it in extenso will find a full report of the 
 charge in the New Monthly Magazim of 1814 ; — 
 Gentlemen, — It is matter of great congratulation 
 that, after a period of tbiny years (at the com- 
 mencement of which I first knew the County of 
 Wexford), I have reason to say, it is precisely in the 
 same situation in which it was then, except as to an 
 increase of wealth and population, and an improve- 
 
 into the room where the man was sitting with his 
 family. The poor fellow died a few minutes after 
 our arrival. 
 
 It is impossible for me to describe, at this dis- 
 tance of time, the horrors and atrocities I witnessed 
 during that period, which Major Molyneux de- 
 scribes as being without disturbance. Indeed, such 
 was the state of the County of Armagh, that our 
 regiment was quartered in the different mansions 
 of the gentry of the county. 
 
 ^'Mr. O’Sullivan states that the Battle of the 
 Diamond broke the neck of the Irish rebellion. It 
 so happened that I was quartered at Market-hill, 
 the house of Lord Gosford, when the rebellion of 
 I7i^8 broke out, and I can positively assert, and I 
 appeal to the history of thoie times, that the Ca- 
 tholics had no share in the disturbances of that 
 period, at least in the North of Ireland. 
 
 “ The rebellion, it is well known, was brought 
 out by the United Irishmen, who were none of 
 them Catholics, and not one of the leaders who 
 were convicted and executed in the Counties of 
 Do vn and Antrim were of that creed. On the con- 
 trary, when the troops assembled at Castledawson, 
 under General Kuox, a most active magistrate, a 
 resident in that town, Mr. Shiel, who with his sons 
 were in a corps of yeomanry, and took a most de- 
 cided part in the suppression of the rebellion, were 
 Homan Catholics. 
 
 ** An Old OrFicsn of Cavalet.” 
 
 [EE’S CHAEGE. 
 
 ment in agriculture, which has ameliorated its con- 
 dition and multiplied its resources. The County of 
 Wexford was then a moral curiosity. When other 
 parts of the country were lawless and disturbed, 
 this county had a peasantry, industrious in their 
 habit=, social in their disposition, satisfied with 
 their state, and amenable to the laws, cultivating 
 their farms with an assiduity which insured a com- 
 peteney. Their conduct was peaceful, their apparel 
 whole, their morals improved, their lives spent in 
 the frequent interchange of mutual good offices. It 
 was a state of th.'ngs which I reflect upon with 
 pleasure. Each succeeding circuit showed me wild 
 heaths and uncultivated tracts brought under the 
 dominion of the plough, and producing corn foi the 
 sustenance of man. As it was then, so it continued 
 for many years, until those unhappy disturbances, 
 which burst out in this county with such a sudden 
 
niSTOET OF OEANGEISM.— AFPENDIX. 
 
 273 
 
 and unexpected explosion. I knev^^ what the state 
 of things was then7"and how that explosion was 
 produced — ^pro'essionally I knew it j because I en- 
 joyed peculiar advantiges of knowledge which 
 other men did not enjoy. For several years I con- 
 ducted the prosecutions for the Crown at Wexford, 
 and hence I derived an intimate knowledge of those 
 transactions. Besides, I was connected with no 
 party, I was indifferent about party. But here I 
 stop; I willingly draw a veil over the events of 
 those days, and their causes. God forbid that I 
 should tear a under wounds, which, I hope, are 
 corrpletely and for ever closed. 
 
 I have now been absent from this county twelve 
 years (with the exception of one Assizes, when I 
 came here in the King’s Commission, but upon 
 that occasion I did not sit, as I now do, in the 
 Crown Court.) I can say, however with the 
 greatest truth, that at no period from my earUest 
 acquaintance with your county, dovi n to the pre- 
 sent time, do I remember to have seen it in more 
 profound tranquility, more perfect peace, more 
 complete security, than at present — a state of 
 things indicating a due administ’-ation of the laws 
 by magistrate?, neither ever zealous and too active 
 on the one h ind, nor too negligent and supine on 
 the other. 
 
 In my circuits through other parts in the king- 
 dom, I have seen the lower orders of the people dis. 
 tnrbcd by many causes, not peculiar to any 
 particular counties, operating with more effect in 
 some, but t) a greater or less extent in all. I have 
 saen them operating with extended eff .>cb in the 
 north-west circuit. In the counties of Mayo, Done- 
 gal, Derry, Boscommon, &c., &c. These effects 
 have made a deep impression on my mind. My 
 observations, certain’ y, have been those of an in- 
 dividual. but of an individual, seeing the same 
 facts coming before him, judicially, time after 
 time, and I do now publicly state, that nf^ver, dur- 
 ing the entire period of my juFcial experience, 
 (comprising sixteen circuits), have I discovered or 
 observed any serious purpose or settled scheme, of 
 assailing his Majesty’s Government, or any con- 
 spiracy connected with internal rebels, or foreign 
 foe?. Brt various, deep-rooted, and neglected 
 causes, producing similar effects throughout this 
 country, have conspired to create the evils, which 
 really and truly do exist. 
 
 First — The extraordinary rise of land, occasioned 
 by the great and increasing demand for the neces- 
 saries of life; and by producing large profits to the 
 possesBors of farms, excited a proportionate avidity 
 
 for acquiring or renting lands. Hence extravagant 
 rents have bean bid for lands, without any great 
 consideration; and I have seen these two circum- 
 stances operating upou each other, like cause and 
 effect — the cauie p"o lacing the effect; and like 
 effect by re-act‘cp, producing the cause. 
 
 Next, we all know that the country has been 
 deluged by an enormous paper currency, which has 
 generated a new crima, now prominent upon the 
 list in ever / caleadir, the crime of making and 
 uttering forged bank notes. In every province we 
 have seen private banks failing, and ruining 
 multitudes ; and thus have fresh mis- 
 chiefs fl )wed f o n this paper circulation. 
 Ta the next place, the country has seen a magis- 
 tracy over active in some iustinces, and quite 
 supme in others. This circumstance has materially 
 affected the airrinistration of the laws in Ireland. 
 In this respect I have found that those societies, 
 called Orange Societies, have produced most mis- 
 chievous effects, and particularly in the North of 
 Ireland. 
 
 They poison the very fountain of justice ; and 
 even some magistrates, under their influence, have, 
 in too many instan ;e?, violated their duty and their 
 oaths. I do not hesitate ta say that all associations 
 of every descriptioi in this country, whether of 
 Orangemen or Bibbonmen, whether distinguished 
 by the colour of orange or of green — all combina- 
 tions of persons bound to each other (by the obliga- 
 tion of an oath) in a league for a common purpose, 
 endangering the peace of the country, I pronounce 
 them to be contrary to law. And should it ever 
 come before me to decide upon the question, I shall 
 not hesitate to send up bills of indictment to a 
 Grand J iry against the individuals, members of 
 such an aasociaf-ion, wherever I can find the charge 
 properly sustained. Of this I am certain, that so 
 long as those associations are permitted to act in 
 the lawless manner they do, there will be no tran- 
 quillity in this country, and particularly in the 
 North of Ireland. There, those disturbers of the 
 public peace, who assume the name of Orange yeo- 
 men, frequent the fairs and markets with arms in 
 their hand?, under the pretence of self-defence, or 
 of protecting the public peace, but with the lurking 
 view of inviting the attacks from the Biblonmen, 
 confident that, armed as they are, they must over- 
 come defenceless opponents, and put them down. 
 Murders have been repeatedly perpetrated upon 
 such occasions, and, though legal prosecutions have 
 ensued, yet, such have been the baneful conse- 
 quences of these facetious associations, that, under 
 
 42 
 
274 
 
 HISTORY OF ORANGEISM.— iiPPENDIX. 
 
 their influence, petty Juries have declined, upon 
 Bome occasions, to do their duty. These facts have 
 fallen under my own view. It was sufficient to say, 
 such a man displayed such a colour, to produce an 
 utter d’sbelief of his testimooy ; or, when another 
 has stood with his hand at the bar, the display o^ 
 his party badge has mitigated the murder into 
 manslaughter. 
 
 Gentlemen, I do repeat that these are my senti- 
 ments, not merely as an individual, but as a man 
 discharging his judicial duty, I hope with flrraness 
 and integrity. With these Orange associations I 
 connect all commemorations and processions, pro- 
 ducing embittering recollect ions, and iLfiicting 
 wounds upon the feelings of others ; and I do em- 
 phatically state it as my settled opinion that, until 
 those associations are eflectually pulled down, and 
 the arms taken from their hands, in vain w 11 the 
 North of Ireland expect tranquillity or peace. 
 
 Gentlemen— That moderate pittance which the 
 high rents leave to the poor peasantry, the large 
 county assessments nearly take from them ; roads 
 are frequently planned and made, not for the 
 general advantage of the country, but to suit the 
 particular views of a neighbouring land holder, at 
 the public expense. Such abuses shake the very 
 foundation of the law ; they ought to be checked. 
 Superadied to these mischiefs, are the permanent 
 and occasional alosented landlords, residing in 
 another country, not known by their tenantry, but 
 by their agents, who extract the uttermost penuy 
 of the value of tne lands. If a lease happens to 
 fall in, they set the farm by public auction to the 
 highest bidder. No gratitude for past services, no 
 preference of the fair offer, no predilection for the 
 ancient tenantry, be they ever so deserving ; but, if 
 the highest price be not acceded to, the depopula- 
 tion of an entire tract of country ensues. What 
 then is the wretched peasant to do ? Chased from 
 the spot where he had first drawn his breath — 
 where he had first seen the light of heaven, incap- 
 able of procuring any other means of existence — 
 vexed with those exactions I have enumerated, and 
 haras zed by the payment of tithes, can we be sur- 
 prised that a peasant of unenlightened mind, of 
 uneducated habits, should rush upon the perpetra- 
 tion of crimes, followed by the punishment of the 
 rope and the gibbet? Nothing (as the peasantry 
 imagine) remains for them, thus harassed and thus 
 destitute, but with strong hand to deter the 
 stranger from intruding upon their farms j and to 
 extort from the weakness and terror of their land- 
 lords (from whose gratitude or good feelings they 
 
 have failed to win it a kind of preference for their 
 ancient tenantry. 
 
 Such, gentlemen, have been the causes which I 
 have seen thus operating in the North of Ireland,- 
 and in part of the South and West. I have ob- 
 served, too, as the consequences of thoee Orange 
 combinations and confederacies, men, ferocious in 
 their habits, uneducated, not knowing what remedy 
 to resort to ; in their despair, flying in the face of 
 the law, entering into dangerous and criminal 
 counter associations, an endeavouring to procure 
 arms, in order io meet, upon equal terms, their 
 Orange assailants. 
 
 Gentlemen, I say it is incumbent upon you to 
 vindicate the state of your county ; you have ampl© 
 materials for so doing ; you know the roots of 
 those evils which distract the country ; they are 
 to be found in those causes which I have now 
 stated. 
 
 But, gentlemen, is there no method of allaying 
 the discontents of the people, and preventing 
 them from flying in the face of the laws ? Is 
 there no remedy but Act of Parliament after Ac^ 
 of Parliament, in quick succession, framed for 
 coercing and punishing ? Is there no corrective 
 bub the rope and the gibbet ? Yes, geLtlemen, the 
 removal of iLose causes of disturbance which I 
 have mentioned to you, will operate as the remedy. 
 I should imagine that the permanent absentees 
 ought to ".ee the policy (if no better motive can 
 influence them) of appropriating, liberally, some 
 part cf those splendid revenues which they draw 
 from this country — which pay no land tax or poor’s 
 rate, and of which not a shilling is expended in 
 this country I Is it not high time for those per- 
 manent absentees to offer some assistance, origi- 
 nating from themselves, out of their own private 
 purses, towards improving and ameliorating the 
 condition of the peasantry upon their great do- 
 mains, and rendering the'r lives more comfor- 
 table ? 
 
 For my part, I am wholly at a loss to conceive, 
 how those permanent absentees can reconcile ;t to 
 their feelings or their interests to remain silent 
 spectators of such a state of things ; or how they 
 can forbear to raise their voices in behalf of their 
 unhappy country, and attempt to open the eyes of 
 our English neighbours, who, generally speaking, 
 know about as much of the Irish as they do cf the 
 Hindoos. Does a vistor come to Ireland to compile 
 a book of travels, what is his course ? He is 
 handed fronr one country gentleman to another, all 
 interested in concealing from him the true state of 
 
HISTOET OF OEANOEISM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 275 
 
 the country; he passes froji sqaire to sqiire, each 
 rivalling the other in entertaining their guest; all 
 busy in pouring falsehoods into his ear, touching 
 the disturbed state of the country, and the vicious 
 habits of the people. 
 
 Such is the crusade of information upon which 
 the English traveller sets forward ; and he returr-s 
 to his own country with all his unfortunate preju- 
 dices doubled and confirmed — in a kind of moral 
 despair of the welfare of such a wicked race, hav- 
 ing made up his mind that nothing ought to be 
 done for this lawless and degraded country. And, 
 indeed, such an extravagant excess have these in- 
 tolerant opinions of the state of Ireland attained, 
 that I shall not be surprised to hear of seme 
 political projector coming forward and renovating 
 the obsolete ignorance and prejudices of a Harr- 
 ington, who, in his Oceana, calls the people of Ire- 
 land an un tameable race, declaring that they should 
 be exterminated, anl the country colonized by 
 Jews; that thus the state of this Island would be 
 bettered, and che commerce of England extended 
 and improved. 
 
 Gentlemen, I had an opportunity of urging 
 some of these topics upon the attention of a distin- 
 guished personage, I mean Lord Eedesdale, who 
 filled the high office of Lord Chancellor here some 
 years ago. • I was then at the bar. His Lordsh'p 
 did me the honour of a visit, after I had returned 
 from circuit, at a time when many an alarm, of one 
 kind or another, floated in this country. He was 
 'pleased to require my opinio n of the state of the 
 country. I averred that I thought it was as tran- 
 quil as ever it had been ; bub I did ask his permis- 
 sion to suggest certain measures, which, in my 
 opinion, would go very far in allaying the discon- 
 tents of the people. One of these measures was a 
 reform of the magistracy in Ireland; another was 
 a commutation of tithes, if it could be satisfac- 
 forily effected ; a third was the suppression of the 
 home consumption of whiskey, and the institution 
 of a wholesome malt liquor in its stead. I re- 
 quested his Lordship to recollect that Hoga-th’s 
 print of “ Gin- Alley is an unerring witness to 
 testify wbat the English people would now be if 
 they had nothing hut a pernicious spirituous 
 liquor to drink. A man who drinks to excess of a 
 malt liquor becomes only stupefied, and sleeps it 
 off ; but he, whose intoxication arises from those 
 spirituous liquors (which we know are too often 
 adulterated by the most poisonous ingredients) 
 adls only fever to his strength. Thus the unfor. 
 tunate peasant in Ireland is maddened, instead of 
 
 being in\igorated ; and he staits out into acta of 
 riot and distuibance, like a furious wild beast let 
 loose upon the community. I took the freedom to 
 add, Reform the magistracy of Ireland, my 
 Load. You have the power to do this ; and, until 
 you do it, in vain will you expect tranquillity cr 
 content in the country.^’ His Lordship was pleased 
 bo lend a courteous atteLtiou to these opinions ; 
 and I do believe that bis own natu.'al judgment 
 and good inclination would have prompted him to 
 measures beneficial to Ireland and honourable to 
 his fame. 
 
 Gentlemen, this subject brings me to a conside- 
 ration of the magistracy of the country. Of these, 
 
 I mnsb say some are over-zealous — others too 
 supine : distracted into parties, they are too often 
 governed by their private passions, to the disgrace 
 of public justice, and the frequent disturbance of 
 the country. 
 
 Here' let n?.e solicit your particular attention to 
 some of the grievious mischiefs flowing from the 
 mis-’ordict of certain magistrates. One is oc- 
 casioned by an excessive eagerness to crowd jails 
 with prisoners, and to swell the calendars with 
 crimes. Hence, the amazing disproportion be- - 
 tween the numbers of the committals, and of the 
 convictions, between accusation and evidence, be- 
 tween hasty suspicion and actual guilt. Com- 
 mittals lave been too frequently made out (ia 
 other counties) upon light and trivial grounds, 
 without reflecting upon the evil consequences of 
 wresting a peasant (probably innocent" from the 
 bosom of his family, immuring him for weeks or 
 months in a noisome jail, amongst vicious com- 
 panions. He is afterwaids acquitted, or not pro- 
 secuted; and returns a lost man, in health and 
 morals, to his ruined and beggard family. This is 
 a hideous but common picture. 
 
 Again, fines and forfeited recognizances are 
 multiplied through the misconduct of a magistrate. 
 He biuds over a prosecutor, under a heavy recog- 
 n zance, to attend at a distant Assizes, where, it is 
 probable that the man’s poverty or private neces- 
 sities must prevent his attending. The man makes 
 default, his recognizance is forfeited ; he is com- 
 mitted to the county jail upon a green wax pro- 
 cess; and, after long confinement, he is finally dis- 
 charged at the Assizes, pursuant to the statute ; 
 and, from an industrious cottager, he is degraded, 
 from thenceforth, into a beggar and a vagrant. 
 
 Other magistrates presume to make out vague 
 committals, without specifying the day of the 
 offence charged, the place, or any other particular. 
 
27C 
 
 IIISTORT OF OKAKGEISM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 from which the unfortunate prisoner could have 
 notice to prepare his defence. This suppression is 
 highly iniecorous, unfeeling, and unjust; and it 
 deserves upon every coecasion, a severe r 'probation 
 of the magistrate, who thus deprives his feUow- 
 suhject of his rightful opportunity of defence. 
 There are parts of Ireland, where, from the 
 absence of the gentlemen of the count •, a race of 
 magistrates has sprung up, who ought never have 
 borne the King’s commission. The vast powers 
 entrusted to those officers, call for an upright, 
 zeilous, and conscientious discharge of their du^y. 
 
 Persons there have been of a sort, differing 
 widely from those I have described. These men 
 identify their preferment with the welfare of the 
 church ; and if you had believe i them, whatever 
 advanced the one, necessarily promoted the other. 
 Some clergymen there may have been, who, in a 
 per'od of distraction, perusing the old testamen^, 
 with more attention than the new, and admiring 
 the glories of Joshua (the son of Nun), fancied they 
 saw in the Catholics the Canaanites of old; and, at 
 the head of militia and armed yeomanry, wished to 
 conquer from the promised glebe. Such mer , I 
 hope, are not to be now found in that most respec- 
 table order; and, if they are, I need scarcely add, 
 they should no longer remain in the commission. 
 
 Gentlemen — I must further admonish you, if you 
 are infested with any of the Orange or Green as- 
 sociations in this county, to discourage them— dis- 
 courage all processions and commemorations 
 connected with them, and y u will promote the 
 peace and concord of the country ; but suffer them 
 
 to prevail, and how can justice bo administered ? 
 
 I am a loyal man,’’ says a witness ; that is, 
 “ Gentlemen of the pe^ty jury, believe me, let me 
 swear what I will.'’ When he swears he is a loyal 
 man, he means, “Gentlemen of the jury, forget 
 your oaths and acquit the Orangeman.’’ A truly 
 loyal man is one who is attached to the constitution 
 under which we live, and who respects and is 
 governed by the laws, which impart more personal 
 freedom, when properly administered, than any 
 other code of laws in existence. If there are dis- 
 turbances in the country, the truly loyal man en- 
 deavours to appease them. The truly loyal man is 
 peaceful and quiet. He does his utmost to pre- 
 vent commotion ; and, if he cannot prevent it, he 
 is at his post, ready to perform bis duty in the day 
 of peril. But what says the loyal man of another 
 description — the mere pretender to loyalty ? “I 
 am a loyal man in times of tranquility ; I am at- 
 tached to the present order of things, as far as I 
 can get any good by it ; I malign every man of a 
 different opinion from those whom I serve ; I bring 
 my loyalty to ma^-ket.” Such loyalty has borne 
 higher or lower prices, according to the different 
 periods of modern times. He exposes it to sale in 
 open market, at all times, seeking continually for 
 a purchaser. 
 
 Such are the pretenders to loyalty, many of whom 
 I have seen ; and incalculable mischiefs they per- 
 petrate. It is not their interest that their country 
 should be peaceful ; their loyalty is a “ Sea of 
 troubled waters.” 
 
 EEPOET OF THE SELECT COMMITEE (ENGLISH) OE THE HOUSE 
 
 OE COMMONS OE 1835. 
 
 The Select Committee appointed to inquire into 
 the Origin, Nature, Extent, and Tendency of 
 Orange Institutions in Great Brlta'n and the 
 Colonies; and to report the evidence taken 
 before them, and their opinion, to the House — 
 have considered the matters to them referred, 
 and agree to the following report 
 Your committee have examiued Lord Kenyon, 
 the Deputy Grand Master of England and Wales ; 
 Lieutenant-Cclonel Eairman, the Deputy Grand 
 Secretary and Deputy Grand Treasurer ; Mr. 
 Chetwoode, the late Deputy Grand Secretary; 
 Mr. Nucella, Commissioner to the Continent, and 
 several other persons, officers and members of the 
 
 Orange Institution of Great Britain. The Duke 
 of Cumberland, the Grand Master of the Empire, 
 communicated to the committee that he had no 
 statement to make to them, as appears by the 
 annexed correspondence. The Duke of Gordon, 
 the Deputy Grand Master of Scotland, was 
 summoned, but being on the Continent did not 
 attend. 
 
 Your committee have also examined several of 
 the books and papers belonging to the institution ; 
 but they regret that their inquiries have been 
 much narrowed by Lieutenant -Colonel Fairman 
 withholding the Book of Correspondence since 
 February, 1834, and also the numerous documents 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANOEISM.— APPENDIX* 
 
 277 
 
 of the institution remaining in his possession ; 
 your committee are, however, of opinion, that the 
 oral and documentary evidence which they have 
 obtained (without reference to the evidence taken 
 before the Committee on Orange Lodges in Ire- 
 land) is amply sufficient to prove the existence of 
 an organised institution pervading Great Britain 
 and her Colonies to an extent never contemplated 
 as possible; and which your committee consider 
 highly injurious to the discipline of his Majesty’s 
 army, and dangerous to the peace of his Mijesty’s 
 subjects. 
 
 ORIGIN. 
 
 The Letter-book of the Loyal Orange Institution 
 laid before your committee commences only with 
 the year 1808, although Orange Lodges were held 
 in England before that time, by warrants under the 
 Grand Lodge of Dublin. The correspondence with 
 Mr. Verner, of the Grand Lodge in Dublin, shows 
 in what manner the tirst Grand Lodge was estab- 
 lished in England. It was formed in Manchester 
 in 1808, under Samuel Taylor, Esq,, of Moston, as 
 Grand Master; and warrants, to hold lodges under 
 the English institution, were then first granted. 
 The Grand Lodge of England, continued to hold 
 its meetings in Manchester, granting new war- 
 rants, and exchanging English for Irish warrants 
 to all who sought for them and were qualified to 
 receive them, until the year 1821, when it was 
 removed to London; and the first meeting (as 
 appears by the minutes) was held at Lord 
 Kenyon’s on the 27feh of April, 1821, his lordship, 
 as Deputy Grand Master, in the chair. 
 
 But, in order to lay fully before the House the 
 nature, extent, and tendency of the Local Orange 
 Institution of Great Britain, your committee con* 
 eider it requisite to explain the constitution, rules, 
 and ordinances under which the lodges ate consti- 
 tuted and conducted. 
 
 nature: or constitution. 
 
 The Loyal Orange Institution of Great Britain 
 is unlimited as to numbers, and exclusively a Pro- 
 testant association, its affairs are directed by a 
 Grand Master, a Grand Secretary, a Grand Trea- 
 surer, a Deputy Grand Master, a Deputy Grand 
 Secretary and a Deputy Grand Tieasurer, a Grand 
 Chaplain and Deputy Grand Chaplains, a Grand 
 Committee and Grand Officers constituting the 
 Imperial Grand Lodge in London. 
 
 IMPERIAL GRAND LODGE. 
 
 The Imperial Grand Lodge meets in the me- 
 tropolis on the third Thursday in February; on 
 the 4th of June, and at such other times as shall 
 
 be appointed by the Grand Master or the Deputy 
 Grand Master. No regulation, resolution, or rule 
 of the Orange Institution can be at any time 
 rescinded, altered, or amended without notice of 
 the intention to move or rescind, alter or amend the 
 same, being given at the regular meeting of the 
 Imperial Grand Lodge previous to such motion; 
 and no complaint, proposicion, matter, or thing 
 can be considered or discussed in the Imperial 
 Grand Lodge until the same shall have been sub- 
 mitted to the Grand Committee, unless the Grand 
 Master or Deputy Grand Master, or dignitary 
 presiding, shall be of opinion that inconvenience or 
 injury would arise from its postponement. The 
 order observed and attention given to all proceed- 
 ings of the Grand Lodge may be judged of from 
 the fact that the Grand Master never enters the 
 lodge or leaves it without the mace being carried 
 before him; that, daring the sittings of the lodge, 
 the mace is always placed on the table before the 
 Grand Master; and that a member of the lodge 
 styled a Tyler is stationed outside the door. 
 Every lodge is opened and closed with prayers, the 
 forma of which are printed in the rules and 
 ordinances of the institution. 
 
 The Imperial Gran 1 Lodge is held in Portman 
 Square, London, at the house of Lord Kenyon, the 
 Deputy Grand Master of England and Wales ; and 
 the Duke of Cumberland, when in England, has 
 always, since he accepted the office of Grand 
 Master, presided at such meetings. The business 
 is generally prepared some days previous to the 
 meeting by the Grand Committee and the Deputy 
 Grand Secretary ; and is submitted to the meeting 
 of the Grand Lodge, as a report, in due form ; 
 there being a rota of business always prepared and 
 placed at the same time before the Grand Master 
 cr cbairman. The report of the Grand Committee 
 and the resolutions prepared by them are read 
 through in the first instance, and then put sepa- 
 rately from the chair ; such resoludons, being 
 seconded and put to the assembly, are decided by 
 dhow of hands ; and the resolutions, when agreed 
 to, have often the initials of the Grand Master 
 affixed to them. The minutes of the proceedings of 
 e '^ery meeting of the Grand Lodge are submitted, 
 after the meeting, by the Deputy Grand Secretary 
 to the Deputy Grand Master, for his examination 
 and correction; and are afterwards printed, as 
 appears by the following extract from the minutes 
 of a meeting of the Grand Lodge, 27th April, 1821 : 
 — " Resolved — That no communication, written or 
 printed, of the proceedings of the Grand Lodge be 
 
 48 
 
278 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANOEISM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 made without the special orders of the Grand 
 Lodge, Grand Master or Deputy Grand Master.'* 
 The Deputy Grand Secretary ojficially signs all 
 those circulars, and copies of them are generally 
 sent to each dignitary of the institution, to the 
 Deputy Grand Masters of districts, and to masters 
 of separate lodges at home and abroad. 
 
 CONNECTION OE IRISH AND ENGLISH ORANGE 
 iLodges. 
 
 The connection of the Oiange Lodges of Ireland 
 and Great Britain is shown by the following 
 rule : — 
 
 Kule 12— The members of the late or present 
 Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland are honorary mem- 
 bers of the Imperial Grand Lodge of Great Bri- 
 tain,. 
 
 Proxies from maoters of lodges and froni digni- 
 taries are admitted to the Grand Lodge meetings/’ 
 
 The grand committee, consisting of thirty-six 
 members, all of them being grand officers of the 
 institution, are appointed bj the Imperial Grand 
 Lodge, with power in the Grand Master and 
 Deputy Grand Master to add to their number; the 
 duty of this committee is to watch over the affairs 
 of the institution while the Imperial Grand Lodge 
 is not sitting, to decide all applications or appeals, 
 and to exercise such other powei^s, conformable to 
 the rules of the institution, as the exigencies of the 
 different cases coming before them shall require. 
 Five members are competent to act; and six mem- 
 bers are annually nominated in the room of six re- 
 tiring, hut who are re-eligible. Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Pairman states that the grand committee, when- 
 ever the Deputy Grand Secretary finds it necessary 
 to call on them for advice, meets to deliberate and 
 advise, in the same m nner as a Cabinet or Privy 
 Council; all the acts of the grand committee are 
 submitted to the scrutiny and concurrence of the 
 Imperial Grand Lodge at its ensuinj: meeting. 
 
 DEPUTY GRAND MASTERS. 
 
 The Deputy Grand Masters of counties, cities, 
 and boroughs, sending members to Parliament, are 
 appointed by the Imperial Grand Lodge. The 
 Deputy Grand Masters of districts are appointed 
 by the Imperial Grand Lodge on the lecommeuda- 
 tion of the brethren of the districts. The Masters 
 of Warrants are annually elected by their respec- 
 tive members, subject to the approbation of the 
 Imperial Grand Lodge, in which they are repre- 
 sented by the Deputy Grand Masters of districts. 
 And each Deputy Grand Mascerof a district con- 
 venes a meeting of the several masters in his 
 neighbourhood, at which ho presides, once every 
 
 six months, or oftener if necessary, to discuss the 
 affairs of the institution. Each master of a lodge 
 is directed, at each regular half-yearly meeting, to 
 present a correct report of the state of his warrant 
 (or lodge) to the Deputy Grand Master of the dis- 
 trict, who makes his return' to the Impetial Grand 
 Lodge on of before the 21th days of May and De- 
 cember respectively. Besides the district ledges 
 there are isolated lodges— that is, such lodges as, 
 by reason of distance or any other circumstances, 
 cannot be conveniently attached to any particular 
 district; and all these may communicate with the 
 nearest Depuiy Grand Master of any district. And 
 at each regular half-yearly district ifieeling the 
 Deputy Grand Master collects, and transmits to 
 the Deputy Grand Treasurer or to the Deputy 
 Grand Secretary of the Imperial Lodge, the re- 
 turns, with the fees, dues, and all moneys received 
 on account of the institution. Every membef of 
 the institution, from the rank of Grand Commis- 
 sioner downwards, must first belong to some speci- 
 fied lodge. No lodge can be constituted except by 
 warrant from the Grand Lodge, under the signa- 
 ture of the Grand Master, and with the seal of the 
 Grand Lodge; and all members of the Imperial 
 Grand Lodge are members of every other lodge in 
 Gn'at Britain. 
 
 RULES AND ORDINANCES OF THE LOYAL ORANGE 
 INSTITUTION. 
 
 Your committee call the attention of the House 
 to the fact that the rules and ordinances of the 
 Loyal Orange Institution in Great Britain, and of 
 the Grand Orange Lodge in Ireland, are nearly 
 similar ; the rules of the foimer having been first 
 formed from those of the latter; the objects of 
 both institutions are also nearly analogous ; the 
 same signs and passwords are used by the members 
 of both institutions ; members of lodges in Ireland 
 are admitted into lodges ot the Loyal Orange In- 
 stitution in Great Britain, and also in the colonies, 
 and vice vera; the systems of England and Ire- 
 land were assimilated in 1831 2*; and ihe new 
 system of lectures, secret signs, and passwords has 
 of late years been adopted by all Orangemen in the 
 United Kingdom and in the colonies ; and the ordi- 
 nances declare that its whole institution is one 
 neighbourhood, within which eveiy Orangeman is 
 at home in the farthest parts of the world/* 
 
 PASSWORDS AND SIGNS. 
 
 The system of signs and passwords adopted by 
 
 * Grand Lodge Minute Book, 4th June, 1832. For 
 reasons at once satisfactory and obvious, the Grand Lodge 
 have judged it necessary te niter their passwords, and to 
 assimilate the English and Irish lectures in both orders. 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGEISM.— appendix. 
 
 279 
 
 the Orang:e Institutioa in Iceland on its revival, 
 16bh September, 1828, «vas framed by the Deputy 
 Grand Secretary of Englaud, and is now in use in 
 Great Britain and Ireland. The English Orange 
 Institution origioaied from the Irish ; and in 1828 
 the Irish was revived from the English; and the 
 same signs became common to both countriesi 
 
 FEES. 
 
 All members must be ballotted for, and (^ith the 
 exception of soldiers and sailors who may be ad- 
 mitted without any charge) are required to pay to 
 the Imperial L( dge for initiation ^s each. Those 
 who attain the Purple Order pay 2s more. The 
 annual Contribution of hot less than 23 from each 
 inember ig collebled by the master of the lodge, 
 who remits eveey half year all moneys he receives 
 to the Deputy Grand Treasurer of the Imperial 
 Lodge. Fees are paid by the grand officers, vary- 
 ing from i!5 byibe right reverend the prelate of 
 the insUtucion to 5s by masters of warrants. 
 
 OATHS. 
 
 Much controversy has existed about the taking 
 of oath at the initiation of members. It has been 
 distinctly proved to the committee that every mem- 
 ber admitttd prior to 1821 took a particular oath, 
 as appears by a copy of the rules and orders, printed 
 in 1800^ and delivered in by Mr* Chetwoode, as fel- 
 lows : — 
 
 ** Obligation of an Orangeman. 
 
 “ I, A B, do solpmnly and sincerely swear, of my 
 own free will and accord, that I will, to the utmost 
 of nay power, support and defend the present King 
 George the Third, his heirs and successors, so long 
 as he and they eupport the Protestant ascendancy, 
 the Constitution and laws of these kingdoms, and 
 that I will ever hold sacred the name of our glorious 
 deliverer, William the Third, Prince of Orange; 
 and I do further swear that I am not nor ever was 
 a Roman Catholic or Papist ; that I was not, am 
 not, nor ever will be an United Irishman ; and that 
 I never took the oath of secresy to that or any 
 other treasonable society ; and I do further swear, 
 in the presence of Almighty God, that I will always 
 conceal, and never will reveal either part or parts 
 of what is DOW to be privately communicated to 
 me, until I shall be authorised so to do by the 
 proper authorities of the Orange Institution ; that 
 I will neither write it nor indite it, stamp, stain, or 
 engrave it, nor cause it so to be done, on paper, 
 parchment, leaf, bark, stick, stone, or anything, so 
 that it may be known ; and I do farther swear that 
 I have not, to my knowledge or belief, been pro- 
 posed and lejectedinor expelled from any other 
 
 Orange Lodge, and that I now become an Orange- 
 man without fear, bribery, or corruption. So help 
 me God.’* 
 
 HIS EOTAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OP YORK. 
 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of York accepted 
 the office of Grand Master of the Loyal Orange 
 Institution in England, as appears by his letter of 
 Srd February, 1821 ; but being informed soon after- 
 wards that ‘*the law officers of the Crown and 
 other eminent lawyers were decidedly of opinion 
 that the Oiange Association, under the oath ad“ 
 ministered to their members, was illegal,” he with- 
 drew himself from the association. 
 
 OPINION OP COUNSEL AS TO THE ORANGE INSTITU- 
 TION. 
 
 The Loyal Orange Institution under Lord 
 Kenyon, the Deputy Grand Master for England, 
 submitted, ill December, 1821, a case for the 
 opinion of Mr. Serjeant John Lens and other 
 counsel as to the legality of the Oiange Institu- 
 tion, under the alterations proposed to be made in 
 the rules and ordinances, leaving out the Orange- 
 man’s oath, but retaining the oaths of allegiance 
 1st William and Mary, c. 1, s. 8; oath of supre- 
 macy, Isc Anne, c. 22, s. 1; and of abjuration, 
 6 Geo. 3, c. 53 ; retaining also secret signs and 
 passwords, and certain religious ceremonies at the 
 initiatio^n. 
 
 The committee refer to the case and opinions 
 thereon, and have to observe that the Orangeman’s 
 oath appears to have been, from that time, left out 
 of the rules and ordinances; and certain religious 
 forms, as prescribed in the Ritual, are stated to 
 have been substituted, and to be now invariably 
 used on initiation of members ; besides the admin- 
 istration of the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and 
 abjuration, which everyone must also take. 
 
 WARRANT FOR LODGE. 
 
 To evade the law the word warrant was sub- 
 stituted for lodge; the original form was to grant 
 a warrant to hold a lodge in a particular house or 
 place ; and, by the alteration, it was given to the 
 person to hold a lodge wheresoever he pleased. It 
 has been a rule that Irish warrants cannot be acted 
 upon in England, or English warrants acted on in 
 Ireland ; and a new warrant is therefore given in 
 exchange, as a matter of course, on application. 
 LODGES IN IRELAND IN 1825 UNDER THE LOTAL 
 ORANGE INSTITUTION. 
 
 It is particularly deserving of notice that when 
 the Grand Orange Lodge was discontinued in 
 Ireland in the years 1825 to 1828 the Loyal Orange 
 Institution of England issued warrants, under 
 
280 
 
 niSTOliT OF OEANGEISM— .x\PPENDlX. 
 
 which lodges were held in Ireland ; and the objtscts 
 and intentions of the law were thus frustrated. 
 
 GRAND ORANGE LODGE PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 The effect of the religious ceremonies and forms 
 has been to enforce, with the apparent obligation 
 of an oath, secresy on the members admitted ; as 
 the Deputy Grand Master of England and Wales, 
 and all the Orangemen examined by the committee 
 (with one exception) refused to communicate the 
 secret signs and passwords of the in3tituti‘>n ; and 
 it appears that a disclosure of the system by a 
 member would subject him to expulsion. The 
 committee are, however, of opinion that the object 
 and effect of these religious ceremonies cannot be 
 letter comprehended than by reading the follow, 
 ing extracts from the Eitual of the Purple 
 Order ; — 
 
 RITUALS. 
 
 (Ritual of the Introduction to the Purple Order.) 
 
 When a brother is to be introduced the tyler 
 shall first enter the room, after him two Puvple- 
 mea, then the two sponsors of the brother, each 
 bearing a purple rod, decorated at the top with 
 orange ribands, and between them the brother 
 himself, carrying in both bands the Bible, with 
 the book of the Orange rules and regulations placed 
 thereon. On his entering the room a cbapla'-n, or 
 in his absence a brother appointed by the Mister^ 
 shall Fay— 
 
 “ We have a strong city ; salvation will Gcd ap- 
 point for walls and bul varks. Open ye the gates, 
 that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth 
 may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
 whose mind is stayed on Thee ; because ketrusteth 
 la Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever ; for in the 
 Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. — Isaiah xxvi, 
 1, 2, 3, 4. 
 
 The Master shall then say — Friend, what dost 
 thou desire in this meeting of true Orangemen ? 
 
 The Brother shall answer — Of my own free will 
 and accord I desire admission into your loyal asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 [Then the sponsors shall bow to the master, and 
 signify the same, each saying — I, N. M. vouch for 
 all these things.] 
 
 Master — What do you carry in your hand ? 
 
 Brother— The Word of God. 
 
 Master — Under the assurance of these faithful 
 Purplemen, wo believe that you have also carried 
 it in your heart. What ie that other book ? 
 
 Brother — The book of cur rules and regulaticus. 
 
 Master — Under the like assurance, we trust that 
 you have hitherto obeyed them in all lawful mat- 
 
 ters. Therefore, we gladly advance you into this 
 order. Purplemen, bring to me our brother. 
 
 f He shall then be brought by the two sponsors 
 before the master, the tyler retiring to the loor, 
 and the two brothers standing one at oach side of 
 the ctntre of tie table ] 
 
 During this the chaplain or brother appointed 
 shall say — 
 
 “ la that day shall the branch of the Lord be 
 beautiful and glorious; and the fruit of the earth 
 ghall be excellent for them that aie escaped oat of 
 Israel. And the Lord will create upon every dwelL 
 mg place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies 
 a cloud and smoke by day, aad the shining of a 
 flaming fire by night; for upon all The Glory shall 
 he a defence.” — Isaiah iv., 3, 5. 
 
 [The brother shall then kneel on his right knee, 
 and the master shall invest him with a purple sash 
 and such other decorations abs may be convenient.] 
 Then the chaplain or brother appointed s’jiall say — 
 " Behold the stone which I have laid before 
 Joshua. Upon one stone sbal) be seven eyes- 
 behold I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the 
 Lord of Hosts, and I will remove the iniqiuty of 
 that land in cne day.” — Zee. iii., 9. 
 
 [Then the master shall communicate, or cause to 
 be communicated, unto the new Puipleman the 
 signs and passwords of the order. 
 
 And the cbaplain or brother appointed shall say — 
 “ Seek Him that maketh the seven .stars and 
 Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the 
 ororning, and maketh the day dark with night ; 
 that calleth for the waters of the sea, and ponreth 
 them out upon (he face of the earth. 
 
 The Lord is his name.” — Amos, v. 8. 
 
 “He that hath an ear, let him hear whatthg 
 Spirit saith unto the Churches.” — Eevelations, 
 ii. 29. 
 
 [After which the brethren shall make e'sance 
 to the master, and take their seats ; the certificate 
 of the new Purpleman being first duly signed and 
 registered.] 
 
 Signed by order of the Grand Lodge, 
 
 W. Blennbbhabsett Pateman, D.G.S. 
 
 POWER OP THE GRAND MASTER. 
 
 By the laws and ordinances of the Loyal Orange 
 Institution, the Grand Masler of the Empire is the 
 chief and supreme head ; his office is permanent 
 and uncontrollei ; no particular functions or duties 
 can be prescribed to him, as hia powers and autho- 
 rity are discretionary, illimitable, and absolute ; 
 and, to him the honour and welfare of the institus 
 tion are implicitly confided, 
 
HISTOET OF OEANaEISM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 281 
 
 t is declared in the report of the Grand Lodge 
 on 13ih February, 1834, “ that implicit obedience 
 to the commands of the Grand Master, due subor- 
 dination to the Grand Lodge and the constituted 
 authorities, and unreserved conformity to the laws 
 and ordinances of the institution, are duties im- 
 perative on Orangemen.’* 
 
 _ His Eoyal Highness Ernest Augustus Duke of 
 Cumberland is now the Grand Master of the Em- 
 pire, being equally the supreme head of the Loyal 
 Orange Institution in Great Britain and of the 
 Grand Orange Lodge in Dublin, thus connecting 
 all the Orangemen in the United Kingdom and the 
 colonies. The same powers are vested in the 
 Deputy Grand Master, either by delegation from 
 or in the absence cf the Grand Master. His Grace 
 the Duke of Gordon is Deputy Grand Master for 
 Scotland, and Lord Kenyon Deputy Grand Master 
 fcT England and Wales; and it is stated by the 
 Grand Secretary that Lord Kenyon “is probab’y 
 better informed than any other man with the work- 
 ing of the institution.” 
 
 OEAKOE LODGES, HOW CONSTITUTID. 
 
 The Orange Lodges are held under warrants 
 from the Grend Lodge of the institution, which are 
 always signed by the Duke of Cumberland as Grind 
 Master of the Empire, and are also generally signed 
 by some of the grand officers of the lodge ; but his 
 Eoyal Highness has also power to grant on his sole 
 responsibility, and without any other signature war- 
 rants to any person to constitute lodges within or 
 without the kingdom. The itinerant warrant 
 granted to Lieutenant-Colonel Fairman, the 
 Deputy Grand Secretary, under which he made 
 two tours of inspection in Great Britain, and the 
 warrant fo»’ foreign countries granted to Edward 
 Nucella, Esq., to hold and to establish ledges in 
 Malta, Corfu, and other places out of England as 
 he might think proper, have been laid before the 
 committee, and copies of them are hereafter an- 
 nexed ia proof of the exercise of the unlimited 
 power of the Grand Master in matters respecting 
 the spread of Oraugeism. 
 
 ITINEBANT WARRANT. 
 
 By that commission or itinerant warrant, dated 
 the 13th of August, in the year 1832, the Duke of 
 Cumberland, as Imperial Grand Master, by virtue 
 of the authority vested in him by the code of laws 
 and ordinances of the 30bh March, 1826, nominated 
 “his trusty, welUbeloved, and right worshipful 
 brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Fairman, Master of 
 the Metropolitan Warrant, Member of the Grand 
 Committee, Deputy Grand Master of London, 
 
 44 
 
 Acting Deputy Grand Treasurer, and Deputy 
 Grand Secretary of the institution, to make a visi- 
 tation, or tour of inspection of the kingdom; to 
 perform, seUle, and terminate every matter of 
 business in anywise connected with the society or 
 its affairs, or tending to promote its prosperity or 
 welfare, with a dispensation and power to enable 
 that dignitary and f fficer to communicate to the 
 brotherhood the signs and passwords cf the new 
 system ; to teach the lectures in both Orange and 
 Purple Orders ; to cp^n new lodges, and to sus- 
 pend or expel contumacicus and refractory mem- 
 bers, subject to a ratification of his proceedings by 
 the Grand Lodge.” 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Fairman, under the above 
 authority, made two visitationn or tours of inspec- 
 tion of the kingdom at the expense o? the Grand 
 T odge, assembling and visiting the lodges at Bir- 
 mingham, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Sheffield, 
 Bolton, Wigan, Ghow'rent, Burnley, Bolton-le- 
 Moors, Presto J, Blackburn, Bury, Middleton, and 
 other places. He visited the established Orange 
 lodges at tho=e places and in their neighbourhood, 
 and exerted himself also to form new lodges wher- 
 ever there was a prospect of success. At Edin- 
 burgh and in other places in the West of Scotland, 
 as stated elsewhere, he visited the old and estab- 
 lished some new lodges, thereby giving life and 
 activity to Orangeism in that country. Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Fairman had the power and authority 
 initiating any person when t»’avelling in the coun- 
 try, or under certain circumstances, by virtue of 
 the special commission ; he has often initiated per- 
 sons at his own house ; he granted to Private Wil- 
 son, of the 6th Dragoons, at Sheffield, a military 
 warrant in the spring of 1834, which, he said, was 
 the only warrant he ever had granted to a regi- 
 me nt. [Here follows a copy of the warrant granted 
 by “ Ernest,” Imperial Grand Master, to Lieut.- 
 Colonel Fairman,] 
 
 THE OSTENSIBLE OBJECT IS RELIGIOUS. 
 
 The ostensible object of the institution is to sup- 
 port the Protestant religion and Protestant ascens 
 dancy, and to protect what they consider the right- 
 of Protestants. Lord Kenyon declares the institu- 
 tion to be essentially re’igious, although he admits 
 that its acts have not always strictly preserved that 
 character. In Lancashire and o'-her places fun^s 
 have been collected for the assistance of decayed 
 brethren, and thereby given, in some degree, the 
 character of benefit or benevolent societies to 
 Orange lodges. The Imperial Grand Lodge, how- 
 ever, has never sanctioned such an object, having 
 
282 
 
 HISTORY OF ORAN OEISM.- APPENDIX. 
 
 stated in the ordinances of 1834! that benefit clubs 
 are excrescences which the institution takes no 
 notice of whatever, and will not recognise ; but 
 they will not prohibit them, provided they do not 
 interfere with any of the rules of the institution. 
 
 QUALIFICATION OF AN ORANGEMAN. 
 
 If the objects of Orange lodges were to be Judged 
 of by the moral qualification required by any per- 
 son before he can be admitted a member there 
 would be little objection to them. The qualifica- 
 tions are stat "d in tho rules and ordinances, and 
 the following are some of the chief roqu'sites : — 
 “ Every person to be qualified to be an Orangeman 
 should love rational and improving society, regard- 
 ing with affection the Protestant established reli- 
 gion, and sincerely desiring to propagate its pre- 
 cepts. Wisdom and prudence should guide his 
 actions ; temperance and sobriety, honesty and in- 
 tegrity, direct his conduct ; and the honour and 
 glory of his King and country be the motives of his 
 exertions.” But your committee are of opinion 
 that the character and proceedings of the Orange 
 Society ought not to be tried by a mere reference 
 to their professions, inasmuch as the conduct of 
 that society and the results which have ensued 
 from their measures, are at variance with the 
 ostensible objects held out by their rules and ordi- 
 nances. 
 
 Your committee find that the Orange lodges have 
 a decidedly political character, and that almost all 
 their proceedings have had some political object in 
 view. 
 
 It appears by the correspondence that the insti- 
 tution has been considered by some Orangemen a 
 source of patronage, and there are various applica- 
 tions from the brethren for the influence and assist- 
 ance of the dignitaries of the Imperial Grand 
 Lodge (which influence and assistance appear fre- 
 quently to have been used) to procure licences for 
 public-houses, pensions in the artillery, end situa- 
 tions in the police and in the docks ; and these 
 applications appear to have increased to such an 
 extent that the Deputy Grand Secretary intimates 
 in the printed circular of the proceedings of the 
 Imperial Lodge, held on the IGth April, 1833, 
 " that the duties of the Deputy Grand Secretary 
 are so irksome and onerous as compels him to 
 notify that his labours will not admit of the addi- 
 tional toils imposed by applications for patronage 
 and places which are pouring in upon him daily. 
 To so oppressive an extent have such importunities 
 been carried as to be sufficient to engross the whole 
 attention of one individual to read (far less to in- 
 
 vestigate the merits of) memorials and petitions* 
 with the prayers of which neither tha illustrious 
 Grand master of the Empire nor the Deputy Grand 
 Master has the power of complying. The Deputy 
 Grand Secretary has to remind the brotherhood 
 that it never was intended the institution should 
 be rendered thus subservient to the personal views 
 and piivate ends of the interested.” 
 
 NUMBER OF LODGES UNDER THE LOTAL ORANGE 
 INSTITUTION. 
 
 The committee have found considerable difficulty 
 in ascertaining the number of Orange lodges hold- 
 ing under the Loyal Orange Institution of Great 
 Britain, as Lieutenant-Colonel Fairman, the 
 Deputy Grand Secretary, declared that he had no 
 register of the lodges made up to the present 
 time ; he stated that there were about 300 lodges 
 in activity, althougb he had kept no general 
 register j but had noted the list of new warrants 
 granted, and of old warrants renewed, on separate 
 slips of paper, wh’ch were sometimes entered on 
 the minutes of the Grand Lodge, and at other 
 times omitted j and, therefore, he could not give 
 the exact number. Mr. Eustace Chetwoode, who 
 who had been (for about ten years) Deputy Grand 
 Secretary, previous to Lieatenant-Colonal i'air- 
 man, stated that there were in his time about 300 
 lodges in Great Britain and the Colonies ; and he 
 delivered in a printed list of 237 lodges, corrected, 
 in manuscript, up to 1830 — thirty of which, as 
 afterwards stated in this report, were lodges held 
 in the army and artillery; with the number of the 
 regiment or corps printed in the list opposite the 
 number of the lodge. The committee directed 
 Mr. Col will, the assistant-secretary to Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Fairman, to make out a register of the 
 existing lodges, as far as they appear to be now 
 entered in the books cf the institution, amounting, 
 as will be seen by the appendix, to 381 warrants, of 
 which 288 are belonging to 47 districts, and 93 
 warrants, are unattached to any districts. It 
 appears by reference to the books of the secretary 
 of the Grand Lodge laid before the committee, and 
 from which the assistant-secretary made out the 
 list, that there are 47 districts, with a Deputy 
 Grand Master appointed to each — viz., in the Ayr 
 district 10 lodges are entered on the books, in 
 Bradford 18, in Cambridge 3, in Glasgow 12, in 
 Liverpool 13, in Leeds 14, in Rochdale 12, in 
 Woolwich 9, &c. ; the 93 lodges unattached, are in 
 tho army, in the Colonies, and in isolated places. 
 
 NUMBER OF ORANGEMEN IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 There is no correct list of the number of Orange- 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM.- APPENDIX. 
 
 283 
 
 men belonging to the London Orange Institution j 
 and it is impossible for the committee to form a 
 correct opinion thereon, from the contradictory 
 statements before them. The Deputy Grtand 
 Secretary would not, or could not, state any specific 
 number. Mr. Cooper, a member of the Grand 
 Committee, who had taken an actirepart in the 
 affairs of the institution, stated that he had met 
 in a lodge in Cockspur Street 209 masters holding 
 warrants ; that the number of Orangemen in 
 London might be 40,000, and that these, if aay 
 emergency should occur, might be assembled by 
 the Grand Lodge ; that if all the dormant lodges 
 were callei into activity there might be 120,000 to 
 140.000 Orangemen in Great Britain. Other 
 witnesses could give no estimate, and your com- 
 mittee can hardly believe, from all the evidence 
 before them, that the numbers are so great as have 
 been stated by Mr. Cooper, 
 
 Atoj number of brethren, not less than five, may 
 meet and transact Orange business in any part of 
 Great Britain, under the authority of a Master’s 
 warrant, provided that a dignitary, or a Deputy 
 Master^ or a committee-man, be amongst them. 
 
 LODGES IN THE ARMY. 
 
 lu the earlier years the applications to the Loyal 
 Orange Institution, from the militia and the other 
 regiments which had been in Ireland, were chiefly 
 for the exchange of Irish warrants, which they had 
 received in Dahlia, for English warrants; and the 
 letters will show that they were very numerous, 
 in the circular of the proceediugs of the Imperial 
 Grand Lodge of the 4th June, 1833, there is the 
 following notice; — “All Irish warrants now in 
 operation in Great Britain should be immediately 
 exchanged for English warrants, by an application 
 to the Deputy Grand Secretary, to whose office the 
 former ought to be sent without delay.” And Mr. 
 Chetwoode informed the committee that he never 
 hesitated to exchange English for Irish warrants 
 to regiments, or to any part of the army, and never 
 made any inquiry or hesitated to grant them. It 
 is, however, stated by him that he had'an impres- 
 sion that all mihtiry warrants had been granted 
 in Ireland to non-commissioned officers and pri- 
 vates, with the previous sanction of the command- 
 ing officers, although he never saw any note or 
 
 rtificate to that purport to warrant that belief. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 Tour committee have selected some letters re- 
 ceived from the non-commissioned officers and 
 privates in the army, and also the answers to them, 
 which will satisfy the House that thj grand officers 
 
 of the Loyal Orange Irstitution have given assist, 
 auce and encouragement to keep up and to estab- 
 lish lodges in the army, although these officers 
 were made acquainted with the orders of the 
 comtnander-in-chief, forlidding the attending or 
 holding them in regiments, and notwithstanding 
 they were informed that some commanding-officers 
 had actually suppressed the lodges in conformity 
 with the general orders. Major Anderson, com- 
 manding the 50th Eegiment, destroyed warrant 
 No. 53, which was held in that corps, and thereon 
 a htter was written to Henry Nichols, of the 
 Light Company, dated May 27, 1830, reque ting a 
 new warrant. Major Middleton, of the 42ad Ecgi- 
 ment, also prohibited the holding of the lodge in 
 that regiment at Malta. It will also be seen by 
 the letters from New South Wales, and the letters 
 to Corfu and other places, that the general orders 
 of the Commander-in-Chief were explained by the 
 Deputy Grand Secretary to the soldiers with whom 
 he corresponded, as being intended, not really to 
 suppress the lodges, but merely to hold out only a 
 semblance of doing so. 
 
 Your committee inserts a list of military war- 
 rants issued to the following regiments to hold 
 lodges under the Loyal ‘Orange Institution, and 
 which was extracted from the printed register of 
 1830, presented by Mr. Chetwoode; and, if the 
 regiments and military corps holding warrants 
 under the Grand Lodge of Dublin, as stated in the 
 evidence before the House, are taken into account, 
 it Will be seen how large a portion of the army has 
 been at different times imbued with Orangeism. 
 
 No. 
 
 30. 13th Light Dragoons. 
 
 31. Eoyal Sapp rs and Miners, 7th Compan/i 
 
 33, 24th Eegiment of Foot. 
 
 58. 95th or Eifle Brigade. 
 
 64. 35th Eegiment. 
 
 65. Eoyal Artillery Drivers. 
 
 66. 43rd Eegiment, 
 
 67. Eoyal Artillery. 
 
 77. Eoyal Horse Artillery. 
 
 84. 42nd Foot (Highlanders). 
 
 87. 59th Foot. 
 
 94. Eifle Brigade, 2ad battalioui 
 
 104. 42nd Eegiment. 
 
 114. Eifle Brigade^ 
 
 120. 31st Foot. 
 
 125. 7th Dragoon Guards. 
 
 131. 16th Light Dragoons. 
 
 165. 51 st Light Infantry. 
 
 181. 6th Foot. 
 
284 
 
 HISTOI^Y OF ORANGEISM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 190. 6th Dragoon Guards. 
 
 204. 5th Dragoon Guards 
 
 205. Eoyal Artillery, 4th battalion. 
 
 232. Eoyal Artillery, 7th battalion. 
 
 238. 67th Foot. 
 
 241. 29th Foot. 
 
 243- Eoyal Sappers and Miners. 
 
 248. Eoyal Artillery, 5th battalion. 
 
 254. Eoyal Artillery, 6th battalion. 
 
 258. S4th Foot. 
 
 260. 17tb Foot, 
 
 269. l3t Eoyal Dragoons. 
 
 204. 6th Dragoon Guards. 
 
 The following ore extracts from the account 
 booh, entitled, ^‘Tbe Grand Orange Lodge Trea- 
 surer” of moneys recGivel from military lodges — 
 viz : — 
 
 [ETere follow extracts of an interesting character.] 
 
 COLOKIE=’. 
 
 It will bo seen by the correspordence botwern 
 non-coniniissioned officers and privates in different 
 regiments of the line, and of the artillery at 
 Bermuda, Gibraltar, Malta, and Corfu, and the 
 Deputy Grand Secretary of the institution, that 
 Orange Lodges have not onlv boon held in regi- 
 ments in these Colonies with the Icnowledge of the 
 grand officers of the institution, but that the 
 soldiers have been encouraged by them to hold 
 such lodges under the most suspicious circumstjnces 
 The boolcs of tho institution show also that money 
 has been received from them from time to time for 
 the warran^s. and there are a great many letters 
 demanding the du'^s owing to the Grand Lodge by 
 the members of these lodges ; and it is difficult to 
 comprehend how all this could he done, and con- 
 tinued for so many years, without the knowledge 
 of the grand officers of the instinition in London, 
 to whom, it may he fairly presumed, that the hooks 
 of the spc’'etary and treasurer have been always 
 accessible. 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES AND VAN DIEMAn’S LAND. 
 
 New South Wales and Van Dieman^s Land 
 appear to he deeply imhued with the sys'-em of 
 Orangeism. Your committee refer to several 
 letters which have come before them, and which 
 will explain the progress of the system there ; but 
 your committee consider it of importance to place 
 prominently before the House one letter dated 
 January, 1833, in which it appears that the then 
 Deputy Grand Secretary of the institution in 
 London induced the writer, a soldier, to disobey 
 the orders of his commanding officer, and did 
 actually exchange an Irish for an English warrant 
 
 to hold a lodge in the regiment, contrary to the 
 orders of the Commander-in-Chief, and at the 
 time he knew that the military orders were in 
 force against such grant : — 
 
 “ Sidney, 13th January, 1833. 
 
 ‘"Sir and Brother, — I beg leave to lay befoi*e 
 you the following account of 260 Loyal Orange 
 Assoc’ation, who are increasing rapidly in the l7th 
 Eegiment at present ; our number of members at 
 present is seventy- three regular good members; 
 our fund is not strong at present, for we allow onr 
 sick Is per week, and our entering charge is only 
 2? 6d. We held a number from the Benevolent 
 Orange Systery of Ireland in 1828, hut I thought 
 better to exchange the same, which I did in 1829, 
 shortly after I was ordered to embark for New 
 South Wales. 
 
 I was ordered, previous to embarkation, if I had 
 or held a warrant of the Orange system, to send it 
 back to the Grand Lodge, which I did not think 
 proper to do; this, I must own, vas direct dis- 
 obedience of orders to my commanding officer; but 
 I wrote to Mr. Chetwoode Eustace, then Deputy 
 Grand Secretary, and he informed me not to be the 
 least afraid, for no hnrm would be done me, I knew 
 there was an order issued in 1829 prohibiting 
 Oronge lodges in the army, but this was only, as 
 I believe, to satisfy our most bitter enemies; but 
 if our beloved Sovereign was depending on them 
 for the support of his Crown he would find the 
 result; but I hope God will keep them from 
 farther power, for they are getting too much 
 in power, both in the army and public. I 
 am of opinion that if Orange lodges were estab- 
 lished in this country it would increase the 
 welfare of the community, for there are 
 numbers of free respectable inhabitant's and dis- 
 charged soldiers would support the same; bat we 
 are not allowed to make inhabitants Orangemen 
 under our warrant as a military one, hut if there 
 was a warrant granted to me, I am assured it would 
 increase rapidly, as I intend to stop in this country 
 by purchasing my * discharge, when I shall make 
 communication to you on the same. 
 
 “Wm. M‘Kee, Corporal I7th Eegiment. 
 
 “ God save the King. 
 
 “N.B. — Direct to Corporal Wm. M‘Kee, H.M. 
 I7th Eegiment, Sydney.” 
 
 EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS LODGES IN THE ARMY 
 UNAVAILIXa. 
 
 When every endeavour on the part of Govern- 
 ment to put an end to Orange lodges in the army 
 has been mot by redoubled efforts on the part of 
 
HISTO'RT OF ORANGEIS^r.— appendix. 
 
 285 
 
 the Orange lactitution not only to uphold but to 
 increase teem, evidently violating the military law j 
 and aggravating its violation by concealing from 
 the officers of the different regiments, and from the 
 Commander of the Forces — from all, in fact, but 
 Orangemen the fixed determination of fostering 
 their institution. When soldiers are urged in offi- 
 cial letters from the Deputy Q-raud Secretary of 
 the society to hold meetinj^s, notwithstanding the 
 orders of the Commander-ia-Chief to the contrary^ 
 but with instructions to act with caution and pru- 
 dence, it is surely time for Oovernment to take 
 measures for the complete suppression cf such in* 
 fititutions. 
 
 COMPL.VINT AQAInTST THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 In a letter, dated 30th July, '1833, addressed to 
 the master of a lodge at Portsmouth, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Fairman writes t — " It is a lamentable thing 
 that the Government is so shortsighted, or so wil” 
 fully blind, as not to encourage Orangeism in the 
 army, which would operate as an additional security 
 for the allegiance and fiielity of the soldier on alj^ 
 occasions ; but the Ministers of the present day are 
 holding oat premiums for disloyalty to subjects Of 
 every class.” 
 
 UPPER AND LOWER CANADA. 
 
 • Although, by aa arrangement between the G.and 
 Orange Lodge in Dublin and the Loyal Orange 
 Institution of Great Britain, the lodges in Upper 
 and Lower Canada are to be under the Ir’sh juris- 
 diction, y< t considerable correspondence has passed 
 between the soldiers and non-commissioned officers 
 of the army there and the Deputy Grand Secretary 
 of the Loyal Orange Institution in England ; and 
 strong encouragement appears to have been given 
 at one time by the Imperial Grand Lodge ia Lon- 
 don to the establishment of new lodges ard to the 
 extension of Orangeism amongst the troops in those 
 provinces. Your committee refer to the correspon- 
 dence with those colonies for the state of Orange- 
 ism there, aud they refer to extracts in the reports 
 of the proceedings of the Grand Lodge in London 
 for further information on that subject. 
 
 Meeting of Grand Lodge, 8*h January, 1827. — A 
 letter from Sir Harcourt Lees, Bart., was read to 
 the meeting, strongly recommending the object 
 cf Brother John Montgomery West’s mission rela' 
 tive to the organisation of the Orange system in the 
 Canadas to the serious consideration of the Grand 
 Lodge as a subject of great and material import- 
 •ance.’* 
 
 A letter was also read from Alexander Mathe- 
 Bon, Esq . cf Perth, in Upper Canada, in which he 
 
 states ‘ that many thousands of Oiangemen at pre- 
 sent in the Canadas are without any regular lodge. 
 The benefit that would result from a regular system 
 to those provinces and to the rising generation 
 would be incalculable.’” 
 
 ORANGEMEN IN POLICE. 
 
 Although there are police in London entered in 
 the returns of some of the Orange lodges, yourcom- 
 mittee have not been able to learn the numbers of 
 Orangemen now in tbe police. 
 
 CLERGY OP CHURCH OP ENGLAND. 
 
 Y )ur Gomoiittee have to observe that the clergy- 
 men of the Church of England appear to have 
 engaged, to a considerable exieat, in the affairs of 
 the Orange Institution. The Eight Eeverend 
 Thomis, Lori Bishop of Salisbury, is Lord Pre- 
 late and Grand Chaplain of the ord^r. There are 
 also twelve or thirteen Deputy G and Chaplains 
 of the institution. Some clergymen have warrants 
 as Masters of lodges, and conduct their affairs. 
 No dissenting clergymen in England, and only two 
 clergymen of any persuasion in Scotland, appear 
 to have joined tie institution. The reverend 
 functionaries of the institution are directed t© 
 appear ia the Grand Lodge in canonicals ; their 
 insignia consist of a purple velvet scarf with gold 
 biniing, gold fringe at the ends, and lined with 
 orange silk. 
 
 DEMONSTRATIONS OF PHYSICAL FORCE. 
 
 In the printed report of the proceedings of the 
 Imperial Grand Lolge, on the 4th of June, 1835, 
 amongst the notices for circulation to the Orange- 
 men of Great Britain and the Colonies, there is the 
 following paragraph, copied from the proceedings 
 of the Grand Lodge of Ireland : — 
 
 The Grand Lodge of Dublin thought proper to 
 thank their Oiange brethren for having assembled 
 in large numbers in one place, to the number of 
 75 00) Orangemen, at H’llsborough; and the Loyal 
 Orange Institution of England, in the same cir- 
 cular, calls the attention of their Or.ange brethren 
 by republishing the resolutions of the Grand Lodge 
 of Dublin, as follows : 
 
 “ And lastly, we beg to call the attention of the 
 Grand Lodge, and through them return onr 
 heartfelt thanks and congratulations to our 
 brethren through various parts of Ireland, who, 
 at the late meetings of the three thousand ia 
 Dublin, five thousand at Bandon, thirty thousand 
 at Cavan, and seventy-five thou'^and at Hills- 
 borough, by their strength and numbers, the rank- 
 respectability, and orderly onduct of their attend, 
 
 I ance, the manly and eloquent expressions of every 
 
 45 
 
286 
 
 HISTOKT 0^' OEANGEISM— .APPENDIX. 
 
 Christiai aad lojal sentiment, vindicated so nobly 
 the character of onr institution, against thu asper- 
 sion thrown on it as ' the paltry remnant of an 
 expiring faction.’ And we ardently hope that our 
 brethren in the other parts of the kingdom who 
 have not yet come forward will do so, and not 
 forget the hint given to us in our Sovereign’s last 
 most gracious declaration, * to speak out ’ ” 
 
 In the letters from the Deputy Grand Secretary 
 to the Marquis of Londonderry and to the Duke of 
 Gordon and others there is a general reference to 
 the advantage of increase of numbers, of boldness 
 of attitude, and even of physical force, to support 
 the views of the Orange Institution. 
 
 (Copy.) 
 
 “ Cannon Eow, Westminster, 
 30th July, 1832. 
 
 ** Mt Lord Marquis, — In my letter of Saturday 
 I omitted to mention that we have the military 
 with us as far as they are at liberty to avow their 
 principles and sentiments j but since the lamented 
 death of the Duke of York every impediment has 
 been thro.vn in the way of those holding a lodge. 
 The same observation that was applied to the col- 
 liers might be attached to the soldiery. As Grange- 
 men, there would be an additional security for their 
 allegiance and unalterable fidelity in times like the 
 present, when revolutionary writers are striving to 
 set them up to open sedition and mutiny* In tres- 
 passing thus upon the attention of your lordship I 
 am not so presumptuous as to suppose that any- 
 thing urged by me could influence your conduct . 
 but understanding the Duke of Cumberland has 
 communicated with your lordship on this subject, 
 I felt it my duty to put you in possession of certain 
 facts with which you might not be acquainted. ~I 
 have the honour to be, my lord maiquis, your lord- 
 ship’s very respectful and obedient servant, 
 
 W. B. Fairman. 
 
 *‘To the Marquis of Londonderry.” 
 
 Extract of letter to the Duke of Gordon. 
 
 “ Cannon Eow, Westminster, 
 11th August, 1833. 
 
 ” Our institution is going on prosperously, and 
 my accDucts from all quarters are of the most satis- 
 factory kind. By our next general meeting we shall 
 be assuming, I think, such an attitude of bold mss 
 as will strike the foe with awe ; but we inculcate 
 the doctrine of passive obedience and of non-resist- 
 ance too religiously by far. — I have the honour to 
 be, my lord duke, your Grice’s most devot d and 
 respectful servant. 
 
 In June, 1833, Lieucenaut-Coloael Fairman 
 writes to Loid liongford in these words: — '‘We 
 shall speedily have such a moral anc^ physical force, 
 I trust, as will strike with terror and sore dismay 
 tho foes of our country.” 
 
 It appears, by a paper endorsed by T.ieutenant- 
 Colonel Pairma 1 that he hid received on the 8th 
 June, 1834, from Randel E. P.unket. Esq., M.P. 
 (Grand Master of County Meath, Deputy Grand 
 Master in Iceland, and member of the Grand Com- 
 mittee of the Loudon Orange Institution), the 
 dfaft of an address to the members of the Carlton 
 Club, to be printed and circulated in the name of 
 and by the Orange Inst'tution. The following is 
 tne first paragraph : — “ The Or inge Institution is 
 the only sooiity peculiar to Great Britun and 
 Ireland which already includes individuals of every 
 rank and grade, from the nearest to the Throne to 
 vhe poorest peasant.” The draft was modified 
 among other alterations, tue expression, “ nearest 
 to the Throne,” was changed for the term “ tke 
 first male subject in the realm;” the address was 
 then widely circulated. Mr. Plunket, in a letter of 
 the 5th July, 1834, to the Deputy Grand Secre- 
 tary, says:— ‘• In the general tenor of the appeal 
 I fully acquiesce ; every word of it must find an 
 echo in every loyal brea.=t.” He further adds— 
 “That the physical stfengthof the Orange Institu* 
 tion, as its last resort, should be explained by a 
 short address.” The Orange body is capable of 
 b-iog rendered eminently “available at elections;” 
 and Mr. Plunket adverts to “ its peculiar and 
 almost unique applicaticn to purposes of commu- 
 nication between persons of all grades and to large 
 bod'cs, whether the intent of such application be 
 for insuring an election or strengthening the hands 
 of a Gjvernm nS &c,;” and he continues, “Con- 
 servatism is inferior to Oraugeism, as it is soleiy, 
 ani almost selfishly political. I cannot consent to 
 lose your valuable exertions by identifying you 
 with the politics of the Carlton Club. I should fiy 
 at higher game, and endeavour to make the 
 members of the Carlton Orangemen.” 
 
 Your committee could not keep out of sight the 
 incidents that took place in Ireland at that gen- 
 tleman’s eleciien by the interference of large 
 bodies of armed Orangremen, as detailed in the 
 evidence on tbe table of the House. 
 
 EFFORTS FOR EXTENSION IN ENOLAND. 
 
 The following paragraphs of the address to the 
 members of the Carlton Club and the Conserva- 
 tives of England, as circulated, are worthy of atten- 
 tion • 
 
 “W. B. Fairman.” 
 
HISTORY OR OEANGEISM— APPRHDIX. 
 
 287 
 
 “ The (?ay has passed when a debate and a vote 
 of either House couid settle, even for a time, a vital 
 question. To restore that day a large portion of 
 the community must be bound in union for the 
 support of the ins’itutious of the country. Their 
 ostensibility -Aould give physical weight to those 
 spirited and truly oatrioiic members o£ both Houses 
 vho should have the moral courage to oppose the 
 will of bold innovators auu ":he rasa measures of 
 wild experimental’s* 5. Where then, is this union 
 tx) be found ? Where is the nucleus around which 
 may be arrayed the advocates of our social system 
 who are now disheartened, passive lookers-on at 
 the march of Ea licalism since they are without 
 leaders cn whom they can rel} ? 
 
 Such an union, such a nucleus, has (to a very 
 limited ext» nt in Inglrmd)) some years existed, 
 and requ res only to be well understood and 
 adopted by the Conservatives generally, to become 
 ao expanded as to present the happiest means not 
 only of preserving the vessel oE ihe State from 
 wreck, but of car ying her in safety clear of all 
 rocks, shoals, and shallop’s which at present peril 
 her navigation; 'hat union, that nucleus, noble 
 lords, gentlemen, and fellow-countrymen, is ^The 
 Eoyal O arge Institution.’ 
 
 “This is the only society peculiar to Great 
 Frltain and Ireland, which a’r.ady includes 
 persons of every rank and grade, from the first 
 male subject in tho realm down to the humblest 
 individual. 
 
 '‘It is nob an occult society; it is not one of 
 concealments ; it is ne t bound by oaths, although 
 every member has either taken, or is willing to 
 take, the oaths of alle,^iance and supremacy ; but 
 it is a socief^, every member of which pledges 
 himself to support to the utmost of his ability, and 
 by all legal means, our Protestant establishment, 
 and ancient institutions in Church and State* 
 
 '‘It is governed by a Grand Master, the first 
 prince of the blood, who, with the aid of noblemen 
 and gentlemen, eminent for loyalty, wisdom, and 
 sound discietioc, will be able (when the institu- 
 tion shall become more extensively ramified) to 
 m’lster, in every pait of the empire, no small 
 portion of all that is sound in the community, and 
 thus present in every quarter a phalanx too strong 
 to be overpowered by the destructives, which will 
 give a moral as well as a known physical strength 
 to the Gcivernment of the King, and will enable it 
 to set at defiance the tyrannous power that has 
 been so madly called into existence.” 
 
 Your committee submit that such publications 
 
 I in lijate the importance which is attached to the 
 increase of numbers in the Orange Ins itution with 
 the view to the effecis likely to be produced by a 
 display of physical force. 
 
 POWERS OF THB IMPERIAL GRAND MASTER, 
 
 In the printed proceedings of the Grand Lodge, 
 4 h June, 1833, the Duke of Cumbarland is re- 
 ported to have stated that " if the Grand Lodge 
 have not confidence in the Grand Master it is 
 better perhaps that I should know it ; but if it 
 have confidence its members must be aware that it 
 IS my wish to simplify the proceedings of the instil 
 tution as much as possible. ‘ Individual opinion is 
 not to be consulted upon vital and important 
 arrangements, involving the welfare and best 
 interests of the institution.’ ” 
 
 It must always be kept in mind that the power 
 of calling out the members of all the Orange lodges 
 in Ireland rests with the Grand Master and his 
 deputy, on the application cf twelve members of 
 the Grand Committee; that the same person is 
 Grand Master of Great Britain and of Ireland hav- 
 iag the same powers, which are stated to be uncon- 
 trollable and arbitrary, of bringing together large 
 bodies of armed and unarmed men, to make a de- 
 monstration of physical force, which might prove 
 highly dangerous. 
 
 ACTIVITY OP THE LOYAL ORANGE INSTITUTION. 
 
 The activity of the institution may be judged of 
 from the declaration of Lieutenont-Colonel Fair- 
 man, that he has leen in the habit of receiving a 
 m’aUiplicity of communications from all parts of 
 the world, and that he now has a cartload of corre- 
 epcndence in his house at Lambeth. 
 
 TENDENCY OF ORANGEISM TO INTERFERE, &C, 
 
 The obvious tendency and effect of the Orange 
 Institution is to keep up an exclusive association 
 in civil and military society, exciting one po'^tion 
 of the people against the other ; to increase the 
 rancour and animosity too often unfortunately 
 existing between persons of different religious per- 
 suasions — to make the Protestant the enemy of the 
 Catholic, and the Catholic the enemy of the Pre- 
 testant — by processions on particular dajs, at- 
 tended with the insignia of the society, fo excite to 
 breaches of the peace and to bloodshed — to raise 
 up ether secret societies among the Catholics in 
 their own defence, and for their own 'protection, 
 against ihe imults of the Ora'ngemen — to interrupt 
 the course cf justice, and to interfere with the 
 discipline of the army, thus rendering its services 
 injurious instead of useful when required on occa- 
 sions where Catholics and Protestants may 
 
283 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANOETSM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 parties. All these evils have been proved by the 
 evidence before the House in regard to Irjlaud, 
 where the system has long existed on an extended 
 scale, rendered more prejudicial to the best in- 
 terests of sDciety by the patromge and protection 
 of so many wealthy members high in offi3e and in 
 rd,nk taking an active part in the proceedings of 
 these lodges, though in Great Britain in a more 
 limited way. 
 
 The Orange lodges have also interfered in various 
 political subjects of the day, and made Orangeism 
 a means of supporting the views of a political 
 party, to maintain, as they avow, the Protestant 
 ascendancy. The Orange lodges have addressed 
 his Majesty, and individuals, on special occasions 
 of a political nature — have patronised and sup- 
 ported, by subscriptions, votes of thanks, &c., parls 
 of the public Press which advocated their opinions 
 and views in politics — have interfered in the course 
 of justice by subscriptions to defend and protect 
 parties of Orangemen, and to prosecute the magis- 
 trates for interfering with them ('as in the case of 
 Liverpool in 1819, when the Mayor of Liverpool 
 interrupted the Orange procession on the 12th of 
 July in that year), and have also interfered with 
 the elective franchise by expelling members of 
 their body, as at Rochdale, in 1835. for voting for 
 the Liberal candidate. The following are some of 
 the many instances recorded in the minute-hooks 
 and in the printed circulars of the society, and will 
 support the statements of your committee ; — 
 
 At Moston, cemmittee mcctl'jg, 11th August, 
 1819. Resohed — “That an imaed’a*:e subscrip- 
 tion be entered into by the Lcyal Orange Institu- 
 tion to defray the great expense attending the late 
 prosecution in L’verpooJ, which expenses amount 
 to a serious sum of money in consequence of the 
 great number of witnesses and the exertions re- 
 eiuired to collect evidence for the support of the 
 prosecution; the amount of expenses attending the 
 prosecution and amount of property destroyed are 
 upwards of ^8200. 
 
 7th August, 1820 — Resolved at a sprcinl meeting 
 of the committee in Manchester, “ That from the 
 conduct adopted by Sir John Tobin, Knt„ Mayor of 
 Liverpool, towards the members of the institution, 
 when walking in p occssion in that town on the 
 12th July last, and seizing and illegally impri- 
 coning Mr. Tjrer. the committee deems it highly 
 necessary for the honour of the ir stitutiou tl at Mr. 
 Tyrer should immcdiatly adopt proceedings against 
 the mayor, unless a prope.* explanation and 
 
 apology be made by the mayor to Mr, 'I'yrer for 
 such outrage.’^ 
 
 Committee meeting, ISbh October, 1819, Man- 
 chester — Thanks to Lard Kenyon for his subscrip- 
 tion towaidj the prosecution in Liverpool, ned to 
 the lodges who hive subscribed and transmitted 
 tht ir subscriptions for the same puipo-e. 
 
 Committee meeting, 26rh July, 1823 — Tne f*-l- 
 lowing resolution, recommended to the Grand 
 Lodge by the Grand Committee, “That the se^e^'a! 
 Deputy Gra d Masters and Sicretaries constantly 
 report to the Giand Committee the increase cr de 
 crease of our en^'mies and their proceedings, as 
 well as the increase ordecrca e of our friends, with 
 any suggestions for the good of our constitudon iu 
 Church and state, and that brothers wto reside 
 where either Popery or disloyalty prevail be espe- 
 cially on the alert.’ ^ 
 
 NEWSPAPIRS. 
 
 At an annual meeting of the Grand Lodge in 
 Manchester, 26:h and 27th June, 1820, it was re- 
 solved, “ That this meeting strongly recommends 
 to the notice of all lodges the newspaper called tie 
 Hibernian Journal, published in Dublin, by our ex- 
 cellent brother, John Burke Fitzsimmons, Esq , as 
 the only paper which has avowed spiritfully, r-nd 
 undauntedly maintains the Orange principles in 
 defiance of all Popish attempts to stifle the swell, 
 ing chorus of loyalty to our King, and sincere at- 
 tachTrent to our glorious constitudon.” 
 
 Meeting at lord Kenyon’s, 27th April, 1821 — 
 Resolved — That the grateful thanks of this meet- 
 ing he given on behalf of the Loyal Orange Insti- 
 tution of Great Britain, to the propr'etora and edi- 
 tors of the True Briton and the Hibernian Journal, 
 for the constitutional part which they took on tha 
 introduction into Parliament of the late Bills f. r 
 the destruefon of the Piotes‘ant religion and 
 glorious ' oP^titution of this countrj-.” 
 
 At a meeting of the Grand Lodge, 161h June, 
 1823 — Thanks were given to the editor of the 
 John Bull, Sunday Newjpap^r, “for his advocacy 
 of constitutional Orange principles on a recent oc- 
 casion.” 
 
 16th Jure, 1823 — Thanks to Sir A. B. K eg, 
 Bart. — For the gentlemanly, firm, and conscien- 
 tious conduct he displayed at the bar of the House 
 of Commons during bis examination on the subject 
 of oaths and constitufon of the O.ange Scciet.>, 
 whereby we have considered him to have complettly 
 established i's entire coimiieace with the true 
 principles of cur glorioi 8 corsdtution.” 
 
 Thanks to Mr; Secretary Peel were given for hi# 
 
HISTOET OF OEANaETSM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 289 
 
 Bopport of Protestant principles. 
 
 ‘'Th^t 1). G. M, FrencH do ascertain what 
 Orangeman of warrant No. 60, authorised atten- 
 dance Gn the Birmingham Political Union, and 
 that be transmit the list of Orangemen who so 
 attended and who have not sufficiently testified 
 regret and contrition for such un-Orange and 
 irrproper conduct.” 
 
 Tnenks moved by the Duke of Gordon in the 
 Grand Lodge, on June 4, 1833, to the editors of 
 Edinburgh Evening Post, Glasgow Courier, and 
 other papers. 
 
 THE COMMITTEE CANNOT PECONCILE THE IGNO- 
 RANCE OP THE GRAND OFFICERS OF THE EXIST- 
 ENCE OF LODGES CP THE ABMT— BOOKS REGTT- 
 
 LARLT KEPT. 
 
 Your Committee, in reviewing all the facts 
 brought before them, and taking into considera- 
 tion the mode in which they have been proved, are 
 unable to recon eile those facts with the ignorance 
 professed by the Imperial Grand Master, the 
 Deputy Grand Master of England and Wales, and 
 by other grand oSBcers of the institution, of the ex- 
 istence of lodges in the array. 
 
 The books of the institution have been from time 
 to time neglected;* the evidence of every witness 
 proves that the Deputy Grand Secretary and 
 Grand Committee prepare the business for the 
 Grand Lodge ; and that every proposition for its 
 deliberation is considered by the lodge ia the order 
 entered on the Rota; and a report of the proceed- 
 ings of every Grand Lodge, detailing the business 
 therein transacted, is printed and circulated soon 
 after the meetings, to every grand officer of the 
 Grand Lodge, and general to every Master of a 
 lodge. All these forms induce your committee to 
 place reliance on the documentary evidence, which 
 may be classed under the following heads — viz : — 
 
 MILITARY WARRANTS. 
 
 There have been minutes of the proceedings of 
 the Grand Lodge kept, with some interruptions 
 since 1819; and in them there are entries respect- 
 ing the military brethren, the granting of warrants 
 and the demanding and the receipt of money from 
 various lodges in the army. The following are ex- 
 amples of such entries — viz; — 
 
 At a. meeting of the Lryal Orange Institution, 
 Manchester, 2Sth June, 1819 — “Besclved that a 
 warrant be granted to brother Brew to hold a lodge 
 in the 6th Eegiment of Infantry.” 
 
 26th and 27th June, 1820. Meeting at Man 
 Chester — Eesolved, “That all military lodges on 
 their ariival in Ireland eball communicate with the 
 
 • No minutes of the rroceedings of the Griond Lodge are 
 
 eatered from 1829 to 1831. 
 
 Grand Lodge of Ireland, but must transmit their 
 returns regulaily to the Grand Lodge of Eng- 
 land.” 
 
 6th March, 1821, Manchester — Eesolved, ** That 
 Sergeant Hill, of the 4th Dragoon Guards, be again 
 admitted as a member of the institution, in conse- 
 quence of the charges originally made against him 
 having been proved to be malicious and false.” 
 
 16th June, 1821. Half-yearly meeting at Lord 
 Kenyon’s — Eesolved, “ That Brother William 
 Bridgemnn, Master cf ledge 131, lately held in the 
 16th Eegiment, be required to account to the 
 Grand Lodge for his conduct on pain of expulsion ;* 
 at the same meeting warrants were granted to 
 Faithful Hall, 11th Regiment of Foot, Thomas 
 MacKcan, 10th Light Dragoons, and to Henry 
 Gray, 2Qd or Coldstream Guards, to hold lodges in 
 their respective regiments. 
 
 25th March, 1823. Meeting of Grand Lodge at 
 Lord Kenyon’s — Eesolved, “ That warrants be 
 granted to John Sempleton, schoolmaster sergeant, 
 3rd Regiment of Guards.” And at this meeting 
 there is a separate resolution — “ That no distinc- 
 tion in numbers be made between military andcivq 
 warrants.” 
 
 At a meeting of the Grand Lodge in Lord 
 Kenyon’s, on the 29th September, 1823, Deputy 
 Grand Master Stockdale in the chair, it was re- 
 solved, “ That our military brethren holding 
 warrants, regularly notify to the Deputy Grand 
 Secretary their change of quarters, that the neces- 
 sary communications may he preserved with the 
 Grand Lodge.” 
 
 Meeting of Grand Lodge 15th June, 1827 — Lord 
 Kenyon in the chiar. '*John Gibson (rilitary) 
 Woolwich,” attended the meeting and was ap- 
 pointed a Deputy Grand Master. 
 
 And at the first meeting of the Orange Inetitu. 
 tion of Great Britain after the Duke of Cumber- 
 land became Grand Master, held at the house of 
 Kenyon on the I7th March, 1829, the Duke of 
 Cumberland in the chair, the report of the Grand 
 Committee was read, received, and confirmed, and 
 ‘•he following resolutions were unanimously 
 adopted ; — 
 
 * That new warrants he granted.” 
 
 No. 66, to Samuel Morris, musician, 43d Foot, 
 Gibraltar. 
 
 94, to Hospital- Sergeant Charles O. Haines, 
 2ad Batt. Eifie Brigade, Malta. 
 
 104, to Private James Bain, 42Qd Foot, 
 Gibraltar. 
 
 114, to Corporal John Parkinson, 2ad Batt. 
 E.fle Brigade, Devonport. 
 
 46 
 
290 
 
 HISTOEY OE ORANGEISM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 248, to E. Lawrence, 5th Batt. Royal Artillery, 
 Gibraltar. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting in the same place, on 
 the 4th June, 1832, where the Duke of Cumberland 
 also presided, the report of the Grand Committee 
 and their resolutions were read before the grand 
 lodge. The tenth resolution is to the effect that 
 
 several additional letters were laid before the 
 Grand Committee, containing complaints against 
 Mr. Chetwoode among these were letters from 
 the following non - commissioned ofiBcers and 
 privates : — 
 
 Bermuda — Sergeant Chainey, Nov. 2, 1831. 
 
 Corfu — Hospital - Sergeant Haines, 2ad Batt. 
 Rifles, April 15, 1832. 
 
 Dublin — Brother Nichols, 50th Reg. May 12, 1 832 
 
 Malta — Brother MTnnes,42nd Reg. Highlanders, 
 let May, 1832. 
 
 Quebec — Inglis, 24th Reg. 
 
 By the report of the proceedings of the grand 
 lodge, held on the 16th of April 1833, the Duke of 
 Cumberland being in the chair, it appears that the 
 proceedings of warrant ?33, Woolwich (being a 
 military warranty EoyaL ^rtillzry, 9th Battalion) 
 were read, and Brother John Gibson (military) of 
 the said warrant was examined; and it was resolved 
 that Charles Nimens (a private in that hatta ion) 
 should be suspended from membership, with right 
 of appeal through the Grand Committee to the 
 next grand lodge. 
 
 LITTER BOOK. 
 
 2ad. In the letter-book of the Institution, from 
 1808 to the latest period, up to which Your Com- 
 mittee have been enabled to obtain evidence, there 
 are copies of letters addressed by the Deputy Grand 
 Secretary of the institution to non-commissioned 
 offictra and privates in regiments, and in detach- 
 ments of artillery at home and abroad (copies of 
 some of which are annexed in the Appendix) all 
 sent by the Deputy Grand Secretary for the time, 
 in the name of the grand lodge. There is also a 
 mass of letters from soldiers belonging to lodges in 
 the army, some of them addressed to Lord Kenyon, 
 which his lordship admitted he must have seen, 
 although he did not at flrst recollect them ; these 
 letters embrace a large portion of the army, and 
 will be seen in the Appendix. 
 
 DUES FROM MILITARY LODGES — DEPUTT-TREA- 
 SURER’s LEDGER OP CASH RECORDS. 
 
 3rd. There are regular entries of the names of 
 the regiments and the corps of artillery, and to 
 others, in the ledgers from 1820 to 1824’; the 
 number of the warrants granted to each of them. 
 
 the amount of dues owing by them to the Grand 
 Lodge, and the amounts received from to time 
 from them;- all these accounts are kept by the 
 Deputy Grand Treasurer, and once a year, or 
 oftener, the accounts of the institution weTe 
 balanced and laid before the Grand Lodge, and in 
 these printed accounts entries from lodges in the 
 army also appear. In the accounts published and 
 circulated within the last three years to every 
 member of the Grand Lodge, there are many entries 
 also of the names of the privates and non-commis- 
 sioned officers from whom money was received — ' 
 vz r — 
 
 Dues received from the following military lodges 
 from the account submitted to the Grand Lodge, 
 4th June, 1835. 
 
 Woolwicb, 133 — 13, dues to March, 1833, £0 15 6 
 „ 296 — 1st Royal Dragoons, ... 2 8 O’ 
 
 Gibraltar — 53rd Regiment, for new 
 
 warran*-, ... ... ... 1 11 6 
 
 Frcm Malta — Fusiliers, granted by 
 Commissioner Nucella, for new 
 warrant,... ... ... ...3 9 0 
 
 Dover 114— Dues from June, 1832, 1st 
 
 Rifle Brigade, ... ... ...100 
 
 ALFHABETICAL REGISTER OP M'lLITARY. 
 
 4th. There is a register in which some thousand 
 names are alphabetically entered, with the number 
 of the lodge thev belong to, and of these some 
 hundreds are entered as military, and opposite to 
 them the number of the regiments they respec- 
 tively belong to. 
 
 LIST OP THE LODGES. 
 
 5th. There exists a register printed in 1826, and 
 made up in manuscript by Mr. Chetwoode to 1830, 
 of all the lodges under the institution having the 
 names of thirty regiments or corps opposite the 
 numbers of the warrants they held, and many of 
 the printed circulars announced that those printed 
 registers of the lodges were on sale at 2s each. 
 An extract of the registors of military lodges '8 
 given in another part of the report. 
 
 PRINTED REPCISTS. 
 
 6fch. In the printed circular reports o the pro- 
 ceedings of the Grand Lodge, at which his Royal 
 Highness presided, there are entries of the war- 
 rants granted to regiments by that Grand Lodge; 
 for instance, it appears from the minutes of pro' 
 ceedinga of the meeting of the Grand Lodge at 
 No. 9, Portman Square, on the 17th February, 
 1831, the Duke of Cumberland, Giand Master of 
 the Empire, in the chair, that the issuing of 
 twenty-four warrants to hold new lodges was 
 
HISTOKY OF OEANGEISM.— APPENDIX 
 
 291 
 
 approved, and three of them are thus inserted— 
 viz. : — 
 
 No. 254 to Samuel Heasty, 6th Battalion Artillery. 
 
 258 to James Smith, 94th Foot. 
 
 260 to Private Wilson, 17th Foot. 
 
 PROXY FROM MILITARY LOI/QES. 
 
 There are also entries (1947) of Sergeant Wm. 
 Keith having attended two meetings as proxy for 
 the 1st K.9giment of Dragoon Guards, warrant 269. 
 And by a resolution at a meeting of the Grand 
 Lodge on the 15th February, 1827, “ No person can 
 be received as proxy in the Grand Lodge who is 
 not of himself qualified to sit and vote therein. 
 
 NO Fills TO SOLDIERS. 
 
 7th. In the laws and ordinances of 1821, 1826, 
 and 1834, there is an apparent encouragement held 
 out for the initiation of soldiers and sailors to be 
 Orangemen by the remission of the fees of admis- 
 sion. 
 
 On the 4lh of June, 1834, there is the following 
 entry in the printed report of the proceedings : — 
 The laws and ordinances of the institution, as 
 revised by the Grand Committee, and submitted to 
 the inspection of his Royal Highness the Grand 
 Master, and his lordship the Deputy Grand Master 
 of England and Wales, were approved and confided 
 by his Royal Highness to the final supervision of 
 Lord Kenyon.” 
 
 And it is difficult to understand how either of 
 them could be ignorant of the following law— 
 viz ; — 
 
 Rule 41st. No person can be admitted into this 
 institution for a less fee than ISs, nor advanced 
 into the Purple order, after a reasonable probation, 
 for less than extra fee of Ss, except soldiers and 
 sailors, when the fee of admission shall be at the 
 discretion of the meeting. 
 
 This rule was entered in the manuscript laws 
 submitted to Mr. Serjeant Lens in 1821, also in the 
 copy. of 1826, and is to be found in the last copy 
 revised in 1834. 
 
 FOREIGN WARRANT TO BROTHER E. NUCELLA. 
 
 8th. A warrant was granted in 1832 to Edward 
 Nucella, E-q , to visit established lodges on the 
 Continent of Europe, and in Malta, and the Ionian 
 Islands, and to establish others where he could, as 
 follows : — 
 
 (Copy). 
 
 No. Foreign Warrant., Granted 
 
 this 10th day of August, 1832. 
 
 BY VIRTUE OF THIS AUTHORITY, 
 
 Our well-beloved Brother Orangeman, Edward 
 Nucella, Erq., of South Lambeth, in the County of 
 
 Surrey, is nrominated and warranted to the office of 
 Worshipful Master in the Orange Institution, and 
 appointed to perform the requisites thereof beyond 
 the realm of Great Britain. 
 
 Given under our seal at London. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 Chan DOS, Grand Secretary. 
 Ernest, Grand Master. 
 
 PUBLICITY. 
 
 Mr. Nucella vas informed, before his departure 
 from England, that there were military lodges in 
 Malta, and he stated to the committee that it was 
 publicly known in that island that Orange lodges 
 were held in the regiments there. He was known 
 in Malta as the agent of the Loyal Orange Institu- 
 tion, and the soldiers and non commissioned officers 
 visited him as such, and he attended their lodges. 
 He wrote several letters from Malta and the Ionian' 
 Islands to the Deputy Grand Secretary describing 
 his proceedings ; these letters were read by the 
 Grand Committee— were read in the Grand Lodge 
 when the Duke of Cumberland and Lord Kenyon 
 were present, and the thanks of the Grand Lodge 
 were gi-ren to Mr. Nucella for his zeal — Mr. 
 Nucella stated in his letters that he had giauted 
 two warrants — viz,, to the 7th and 73rd Regiments, 
 to hold lodges; and these were afterwards approved 
 of by the Grand Lodge, and the dues for the same 
 were entered in the account of the regiment, kept 
 in the book of the Grand Lodge as received. On 
 the 4th of October, 1833, he writes, “I find only 
 two out of four battalion? of regiments and com- 
 panies of artillery stationed in this island — viz., 
 42Qd Highlanders (the head lodge) and the 94th 
 are sitting under warrants, the former, No. 104, 
 Master John M'Kay; the latter. No. 258, Master 
 Frederick Spooner ; the two other regiments, the 
 7th and 73rd, are sitting under precepts.” On the 
 30th October, 1833, he sends a list of the members 
 of lodge No. 258 in the 94th Regiment, and of No. 
 194 lodge in the 7th regiment; he states '‘that 
 Major Middleton, of the 42a<l Regiment, had put 
 down the lodge No. 104 held in that regiment,” 
 and he details his expostulation with the major 
 for so doing. In his lettir from Corfu, 26th 
 November, 1833, he states that he had been pre- 
 vented by Lord Nugent, the Civil Governor, from 
 
292 
 
 HISTOKY OF ORANGEISM— .APPENDIX. 
 
 establishing a lodge there; and he mentions with 
 astonishment the orders of the Commander of the 
 Forces prohibiting the s >ldiers from holding or 
 sitt’ng in any lodge whatevet. In his letter of 7th 
 February, 1834), be mentions that he had granted 
 to Captain M'Dugall, paymaster of the 42Qdlloyal 
 Highlanders, the warrant No. 191 Z lodge for 
 having been an Orangeman for thirty years, and 
 that he had raised him and the Deputy Master, 
 Ensign and Quartermaster Hijtman, of the 73rd 
 Kagiment, to the digaity of the Purple orde**. 
 “ All this,^’ he adds, ‘'subject to the approbation 
 and confirmation of the Grand Master of the 
 Empire, whom you, of course, make acquainted 
 with the whole, and abo the Grand Lodge.” Mr. 
 Vucella never thought of concealing his mission as 
 
 Commissioner appointed by the Orange Associa- 
 tion; but, in every letter, and in his evidence, 
 seems proud of that duty ; his >yarrant was hung 
 np openly in his chambers all the time he was in 
 Malta. These letters were read in the Grand 
 Lodge at different times. Notice of them was 
 made on 4th June, 1833, by Lord Kenyon, in very 
 favourable terms, and at another time the follow- 
 ing entry appears . — 
 
 “ The Zealous exertions of Brother Nucella, 
 M.D.C. and Grand Commissioner on the Continent 
 for the advancement of the institution as detailed 
 in his letters from Italy, Malta, and the Ionian 
 Islands, afforded high gratification, and called 
 forth the unanimous approbation of the Grand 
 Lodge.” 
 
 Your committee call particular attention to the 
 proceedings of Mr, Nucella, aa, he was sent under 
 a foreign warrant of the Duke of Cumberland, 
 Imperial Grand Master, to Malta and other places, 
 and that warrant could not have b?en signed 
 blank; he reports to ihe Deputy Grand Secretary 
 his progress, and the state of Orange lodges in the 
 regiments from time to time — bis letters are read 
 in Grand Lodge — notice of them taken in the 
 printed reports ; and, finally, he received from tbe 
 Deputy Grand Secretary the following letter of 
 thanks from the Imperial Grand Master : — 
 
 (Copy.) 
 
 “OEANQE INSTITUTI-^N. 
 
 “ Cannon How, 6th June, 1834. 
 
 “ My Dear Sir, — It affords me no small portion 
 of pleasure to forward you an extract from the last 
 report of the Grand Committee, which was con- 
 firmed by our illustrious Grand Master in Grand 
 Lodge. My time has been so engrossed as well 
 in preparing for that meeting as in presiding at 
 
 Grand Committees, since another of which, cn 
 fi aance, will be held lo-morrow, that I have scarce’y 
 had one moment which I could call my own. This 
 must serve as my apology foi not offering you my 
 respects in person, wbick. I shall seize the first 
 opportunity of doijg ; in the meanwhile, begging 
 you to accept my best wishes for the restoration of 
 your health, I have, &c. 
 
 “ (Signed.) 
 
 '‘W. Blennerhassett Fairman. 
 
 “ To Edmond Nucella, Esq. 
 
 “ Having heard read the highly interesting, im- 
 portant, and valua-^lo communications of Brother 
 Nucella, M.G.G., &c., t'rom Corfu, Malta, and other 
 remote places, of various dates, as also one of this 
 morning from Vauxhall Place, on his return to 
 England after an absence of two years, during 
 which he had been making a tour no less extensive 
 than useful, your Grind Committee beg to offer 
 him their warmest congratulations and their most 
 cordial welcome on returning to his native land. 
 The acceptable proofs he has afforded cn all occa- 
 sions of his unremitting zeal to promote the objects 
 and to extend the principles of our institution have 
 been such as cannot fail to ensure him the approba- 
 tion of the grand lolg^*. In bearing this testimony 
 to his merits the committee would be gwilty of great 
 in-)ustice were they not to recommend him strongly 
 for some especial mark of honour for the heavy 
 claim he has established on the gratitude of tbe 
 high dignitaries and of the brotherhood in general. 
 They cannot close this weil-deserved tribute of 
 ' espect for him without expressing their regret at 
 his indisposition, with their best wishes for his 
 recovery. 
 
 W. B. F., Chairman.” 
 
 9bh. Lieutenant- Colonel Fairman spates that 
 soldiers from the garrison in the Castle were ad- 
 mitted in their regimentals to the lodges he held in 
 Edinburgh whilst on his tour of inspection; that 
 he granted a new military warrant to the 6th 
 Dragoons at Sheffield; and, as a matter of course, 
 he and his predecessor, the former Depu'-y Grand 
 Secretary, exchanged many old Irish military 
 warrants for English ones without inquiry. At 
 Kcchdale it was publicly and generally known that 
 the military belonged to the Orange Associations. 
 Iq Malta the existence of Orangeism in the army 
 was generally known by officers and men, and Mr. 
 Nucella was recognised by them openly as a Com- 
 missioner from the Duke of Cumberland, the 
 Imperial Grand Master of the Loyal Orange Asso- 
 ciation of England. Mr. Nucella remonstrated 
 
HISTORY OF OEANOEISM:.— APPENDIX. 
 
 293 
 
 with the cominaiiding of the 42ad Eiegioient 
 
 on the subject of his suppressing tUe lodge in that 
 ragicnent ; and he afterwards attended the meetings 
 of other railitxry lodges there, although he knew 
 they were being hel l contrary to the order of the 
 commander of the fore s. 
 
 Your Committee therefore submit to the House 
 these derails, as some of the many proofs which 
 have been brought before ihem, of the manner in 
 which the Or inge Lodges in the army have, from 
 time to time, come under the notice of the Grand 
 Committee and of the grand lodge; and, wben it 
 is also known that, at almost everj’ meeting of the 
 grand lodge since his appsintment, the Imperial 
 Grand M ister and the Deputy Grand Master for 
 Great Britain have been present your Committee 
 must repeat that they find it most difficult to re- 
 concile statements in evidence before them witH 
 ignorance of these proceedings on the part of Lord 
 Kenyon and by his Eoyal Highness the Duke of 
 Cumberland. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 The two tours of inspection in 1833 and ISSI by 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Fammau under his itinerant 
 warrant was intended to extend the Orange sy^item 
 in England and in Srotland, and, with the patronage 
 of the Duke of Gordon as Deputy Grand Master of 
 Scotland, great expectations were formed of the 
 extension of Orangeism from these tcurs. It 
 appears by the evidence that the Deputy Grand 
 Secretary assembled the established lodges in 
 Edinburgh, where some of the military (cavalry 
 and infantry) were admitted in their regimentals, 
 and that he gavs them every assurance of support 
 from the Loyal Orange Institution of London j but 
 the Committee have been unable to ascertain what 
 number of Orangemen were at that time in Edin- 
 burgh. The Deputy Grand Secretary spent some 
 weeks in the north with the Duke of Gordon, but 
 it does not appear that there are any Orange 
 Lodges north of the Firth of Forth. At Glasgow 
 and in the West of Scotland Orange Lodges have i 
 have been establ shed for many yeais, and Lieut.- 
 Colonel Fairman in 1838, visited these established 
 lodges, and also formed the Gordon Lodge in i 
 Glasgow, under the patronage of the Duke of 
 Gordon. By the evidence of Mr. Motherwell, the 
 Deputy District Master, that lodge has not 
 flourished, and may only be noticed as having sent ' 
 addresses to Colonel Blacker on his dismissal from <. 
 the magistracy in Ireland ; and to Colonel Verner ( 
 for having resigned the magistracy in d'sgast at s 
 C:?lon€l Blacket’s dismissal. An address was also j 
 
 sent at the same time to Mr. Judge Smith to thank 
 hi a for an address he had delivered to the Grand 
 Jury, as they supposed, in support of Orangeism. 
 There are Orange Lodges at Airdrie, Port Glasgow, 
 Ayr, KilmarnoGlr, Girvan, Pa'sley, Neilston, Johns- 
 ton, M jybole, Stranraer, Glenluce, Wigton, Dum- 
 fries, Cistle Douglas, Kircudbright, &c., and 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Fairman visited all these places, 
 assembling the lodges at each place and infusing 
 into them as much new life and activity as possible. 
 He was received at Airdrie and other places with 
 processions an I honours as the representative of 
 the Imperial Grand Lodge. The account of the 
 proceeding of Lieutenant-Colonel Fairman in Scot- 
 land is published in the proceedings of the Grand 
 Lodge, 4‘h June, 1833. 
 
 Copy of the proceedings of the Grand Lodge, 4th 
 June, 1833 : 
 
 “A vote of thanks having been passed to the 
 editors of the Glasgow Qourier and Edinburgh Even-’ 
 ing Pas’: for their exertions in the Orange cause. 
 Deputy Grand Secretary observes thereupon ‘that 
 as the noble duke who is Deputy Grand Master of 
 Scotland (Gordon) was not present at the last 
 grand lodge I will now take the liberty of assuring 
 his grace that such a fire bas been kindled in North 
 Britain as must speedily burst into a conflagration 
 not easily to be extinguished.’ Brother I horn j son. 
 Deputy Grand Master for Neilston, &tated at tho 
 sam;* meeting that having had the pleasure to 
 attend Colonel Fairman during a part of his last 
 mission in Scotland, ‘ he could testify it had been 
 the means of infusing new life and vigour into 
 those districts of the institution, that a firm ba'^is 
 was thus laid for great accession of strength to the 
 lighting up of a flame of Orangeism in the North* 
 which all the efforts of its opponents would never 
 be able to smother.” 
 
 It is particularly worthy the consideration of the 
 House to consider what is meant “by lighting a 
 flame of Orangeism which all the efforts of its 
 opponents will not be able to smother,” and your 
 Committee direct their attention to the evidence of 
 Mr. Cosmo lanes, a Deputy Judge Advocate of 
 Scotland, for an explanation. 
 
 NUMBEB OP LODGES IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 Your Committee has been desirous of ascertain- 
 ing the exact number of Orange Lodges and of 
 Orangemen now existing in Scotland, but without 
 success. Lieutenant - Colonel Fairman, in his 
 evidence (1863 to 8), stated tho number of lodges 
 at some of the towns he visited, but withheld the 
 general return of Scotland, on a plea that he had 
 
 47 
 
294. 
 
 HISTOET OF OEANGEISM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 no coirect register. A reference must, therefore, 
 be had to the retmn prepared from the books of 
 the institution by Mr. Colwill, the assistant to the 
 Depu<-y Grand Secretary, from the entries of the 
 districtR, and of the lodges in each of the seven 
 districts in Scotland, amounting to 44 lodges, 
 besides seperate lodges too far distant to be under 
 the Deputy Grand Master of any of these districts. 
 If the evidence of Mr. Motherwell, the editor of the 
 Glasgow Courier, is referred to (3324) the lodges m 
 Glasgow do not appear to be in a very flourishing 
 state, as he, as District Master, has suspended some 
 of , them from communication with the Grand 
 Lodge in London, for offences and disobedience of 
 various kinds ; and the Gordon Lodge, which was 
 to embrace a higher class of members, seems at 
 present at a low ebb. 
 
 TENDENCY OP ORANGEISM. 
 
 Tc show the tendency of Orange Lodges in the 
 West of Scotland, the whole of Mr. Innes’s evidence 
 must be read. Mr. Innes was deputed by the lord 
 Advocate of Scotland, the law of&cer of the Crown, 
 to proceed to Airdrie, Glasgow, and other places in 
 the West part of Scotland, to inquire into the 
 nature and extent of the riots that had taken place 
 in July last in several parts of that country and 
 their causes j he stated to the Committee that the 
 existance of Orange Lodges had been the cause of 
 those riots, some of which had been attended with 
 loss of life and the subsequent execution of the 
 offender, and that some of the late rioters were now 
 waiting their trial. It will be seen that the meet- 
 ing and procession of the Orangemen at one time 
 led to the riot and breach of the peace ; that at 
 another time the Catholics became the agressors, 
 having met and proceeded in great numbers with 
 the determination of preventing any Orange proces- 
 sion which they expected to take place ; and on 
 another occasion the inhabitants of the town were 
 brought forth to put down the riots between 
 those two parties and to drive them from the 
 town. Tour Committee observe that in Mr. 
 Innes's opinion those breaches of the peace, al- 
 ternating from one party to the other, are expected 
 to continue as long as that cause remains. Mr. 
 Inces states, an authority on which your com- 
 mittee place confidence, that the existence of the 
 Orange lodges, their meetings, processions, and 
 proceedings, have roused an opposition on the part 
 of the Catholics to protect themselves from the 
 insults offered by the Orangemen, and that secret 
 societies have been formed for that purpose, by 
 which the members can be called forth at any time 
 
 when occasion shall require their meeting to pro- 
 tect themselves against tne insults of the Orange- 
 men or to be revenged upon them; that the 
 meeting of Catholics on the Green at Glasgow, 
 before they marched to Airdrie, where they ex- 
 pected the Orangemen to walk in procession, was 
 assembled by that means; and, from the proofs 
 already mentioned, although Mr. Innes has been 
 unable to procure any copy of the rules of those 
 societies, he is satisfied that the delegates of no 
 less than twenty-four of these societies, which he 
 calls Eiband Societies, having secret oaths and 
 ssigns, previously met together to arrange the 
 meeting and procession to Airdrie. The opinion of 
 Mr. Innes, after all the informa' ion he has become 
 officially possessed of, is that it will not be possible 
 to restore the West of Scotland to tranquillity, and 
 to prevent breaches of the peace occuriing occa- 
 sionally, unless measures are taken to put down 
 the Orange lodges and Eibandmen, and every other 
 secret society. Whether the existence of Orange 
 longes has produced the Eiband lodges, or the 
 Eiband lodges has produced the Orange, appears 
 to be of little consequence. It is notorious that 
 the Orange lodges exist, under the patronage of 
 men high in rank in England, Ireland, and in 
 Scotland, and the countenance given, in conse- 
 quence of all the orders of the Orange Institution 
 being issued by, and under, the authority of such 
 men as his Eoyal Highness the Duke of Cumber- 
 land, as Imperial Grand Master, and of his Grace 
 the Duke of Gordon, as Deputy Grand Master for 
 Scotland, will be found to have a greater effect on 
 the poor and the ignorant, of which the Orange- 
 men there chiefly consist, than might be expected. 
 When we see an emissary despatched for two suc- 
 cessive years to extend Orangeism in that country, 
 under the special and extraordinary commission 
 of the Duke of Cumberland, bearing his sign and 
 seal, with powers to propagate Orangeism, to form 
 lodges, to dismiss members, or to pardon offences 
 of Orangemen how, and when, he pleases, it 
 appears time for Government to interfere. When 
 that emissary is entertained and countenanced for 
 weeks as an inmate of Gordon Castle the influence 
 of the peer may be by the ignorant transferred to 
 the emissary in everything respecting Orange 
 lodges in that country. There are various ways 
 of enlis ing men in a cause, and when it is seen by 
 the reports of the proceedings of grand lodges 
 that such men as the Duke of Cumberland, the 
 Duke of Gordon, Lord Kenyon, Lord Wynford, 
 peers and members of Parliament, are united by 
 
HISTOET OE OEANGEISM.— APPENDIX 
 
 295 
 
 the same secret signs and passwords, and seated in 
 the same room with a poor pensioner of one 
 shilling a day, or any Orangeman, whatever his 
 state in society may be, allowance must be made 
 for the sacrifices that may be made by such 
 persons, to be able to call the duhe, or any other 
 Orangeman, his brother ; with permission to apply 
 whenever in difficulty or distress, for the assistance 
 of such wealthy and influential men. 
 
 As a proof of the baneful effects of the existence 
 of Orangeism in Scotland, Mr; Innes states one 
 example where a lodge of pitmen lately expelled 
 from their body all the Catholics who had pre- 
 viously lived and worked together with them in 
 peace and harmony. 
 
 Tour committee will only add that the mis- 
 chievous effects of Orange lodges shown, though 
 on a small scale in Scotland, may be expected 
 wherever such a system is upheld and promoted by 
 men of high rank and by influential members of 
 society ; a reference to the evidence before the 
 House of the working of Orangeism in Ireland, on 
 the broadest scale, and after many years con- 
 tinuance, will completely bear out that opinion. 
 
 Tour committee, in looking for a corrective to 
 those evils which disturb both civil and military 
 society so much, and which threaten the most 
 serious consequences to the community of the 
 United Kingdom, if allowed to continue, do not 
 contemplate that any new legislative enactment is 
 recessary, the powers of the law being at present, 
 in the opinion of your committee, sufficient to 
 protect the country from all such associations, 
 bound together, as the Orange lodges are, by a 
 religious sanction, with secret signs and passwords, 
 by which the fraternity may be known to each 
 other in every part of the world. It appears only 
 to be necessary to enforce the existing laws against 
 all such offenders, whether belonging to Orange 
 lodges, to Eiband lodges, or to any other society 
 having secret signs and bonds of union. 
 
 OENERAL ORDERS OP 31ST AUGUST, 1835. 
 
 Your committee have been much pleased to 
 receive a copy of general orders issued by General 
 Lord Hill, the Commander of the Forces, and 
 dated Horse Guards, 31st August, 1835, forbidding 
 all officers and men in the army from attending 
 Orange lodges, by whomsoever, and wheresoever 
 held, which order your committee most anxiously 
 hope will put an effectual stop to the spread of 
 Orangeism in the army. The following is a copy 
 of the order : — 
 
 ** GENERAL ORDER. 
 
 Horse Guards, 31st August, 1835. 
 
 ‘‘Lord Hill has reason to apprehend that the 
 orders prohibi ing the introduction of Orange 
 lodges into the army have not been duly commu- 
 nicated to the non-commissioned officers and pri- 
 vates, or, if communicated, that they have not 
 been sufficiently explained and understood. 
 
 “His lordship now refers commanding officers of 
 regiments to the confidential circular letters of the 
 Isc of July, 1822, and 14ch of November, 1829, 
 upon the foregoing subject ; and declares that any 
 officer, non-commissioned officer, or soldier, who 
 shall hereafter institute or countenance an Orange 
 lodge, or any other meeting or society whatsoever, 
 for party purposes, in barracks, quarters, or camp, 
 shall be brought to trial before a general court- 
 martial for disobedience of orders. 
 
 “His lordship, moreover, peremptorily forbids 
 the attendance of either officer or soldier at Orange 
 lodges, by whomsoever or wheresoever held. 
 
 “ The present order is to be read to the troops 
 periodically on the parade with the articles of 
 war. 
 
 “ By command of tbe Eight Honourable General 
 Lord Hill, Commanding-in-Chfef, 
 
 John Macdonald, Adjutant- General.” 
 
 Your committee, anxiously desirous of seeing the 
 United Kingdom and the Colonies of the Empire 
 freed from the baneful and unchristian influence of 
 the Orange societies, recommend the early atten- 
 tion of the House to that important subject, with 
 a view to the immediate removal from office of 
 all public servants who shall continue, or become 
 members of any Orange lodge, or or any other 
 association bound together in a similar manner. 
 
 LETTERS OF THE DUKE OP CUMBERLAND OP 24TH 
 AUGUST AND 5tH AUGUST, 1835. 
 
 Your committee think it proper to notice that 
 his Eoyal Highness ^he Duk<=> of Cumberland, the 
 Imperial Grand Master*, in his letter of the 24th 
 August, states, that “ owing to the acknowledged 
 indiscretion and negligence on the part of the 
 Deputy Grand Master, and a like indiacretion and 
 negligence on the part of other officers of the 
 Orange Institution, many grants of warrants or 
 renewals of former grants have, without the know- 
 ledge of his Eoyal Highness, and contrary to his 
 declared determination, been issued from time to 
 time in contravention of the order of the late 
 illustrious commander-in-chief, his Eoyal High- 
 ness the Duke of York ; and his Eoyal Highness 
 the Duke of Cumberland “ therefore declares that 
 
296 
 
 HISTORY OF ORYN-QEISM— .APPENDIX. 
 
 all warrant! held by persona in his Mijesty’s 
 service must hencePorih be considered null and 
 void.” Your committee submit that these are 
 important ad mis ions, and they cad the further 
 attention of the House to the letter of his Royal 
 Highness, dated 5bh August last, addressed to the 
 chairman of the committee on Orange Lodges, in 
 which be says he knows of no Orange lodge in 
 any regiment.” It is satisfactory to know thao one 
 result of the inquiry by the committee of this 
 House has been to bring to his knowledge, and to 
 convince his Royal Highness, that Orange lodges 
 did, and do exist in many regiments of the army ; 
 and that he Las presided, as Imperial Grand 
 Master, over an institution which has for many 
 years been acting in contravention of the orders of 
 commanding officers of corps and of the Com- 
 mander of the Forces. Your committee submit 
 that it would have been very easy for his Royal 
 Highness to have published the document by which, 
 and the time and place where, he issued any crder, 
 or rrade any declaration, against Orange lodges in 
 the army, instead of a general disclaimer. 
 
 ORDERS OP THE COMSUA-NDER OP THE FORCES, 
 WHETHER CONPIDENTIAT, OR NOT. 
 
 It has been allegsd by som^ of the offioers of the 
 Orange Institution that the orders of the Com- 
 mander of the Forces of 1822 and 1829 were 
 merely confilential recommendations, and not 
 general orders published from the Horse Guards^ 
 Your committee are desirous cf removing that 
 error by referring to the evidence of Major- 
 General Sir J. Macdonald, the Adjutant- General 
 of the army, who, on the 8th of August, statpd to 
 the Committee on Orange Lodges in Ireland that 
 the confilential circular letter of July, 1823, wug 
 embodied iu the edition printed in that year of the 
 General Regulations and Orders of the Army ; 
 that it is the duty (27) of the colonel or com- 
 mander of every regiment to. have one of those 
 books; that every regimental officer (31) isdirecled 
 to supply himself with a copy of it ; and that every 
 reaimental orderly-room ought to have a copy (31). 
 Of the orders of the Duke of York, Sir J. Mac. 
 donald adds, no officer ought to be ignorant. 
 
 THE DUKE OP CUMBERLAND AS IMPERIAL MASTER. 
 
 Tour Committee further submit whether an 
 institution presided over by the brother of his 
 Majesty, having peers and members of Parl ament 
 as office-bearers, having lodges extended to almost 
 every part of the United Kingdom and also to the 
 Colonies, sht.uld lo allowed to continue, particularly 
 when lodges are establ'ahed in so large a portion of 
 
 the army at home and abroad, having apparently 
 the countenane of a fi?ld-mars'ial at their head. 
 
 NUMBER OP ORANGEMEN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
 
 The number of Orangemen ia Ir-dii.d is 220,000, 
 as stated by tte Deputy Grand Secretary for that 
 country, and tnese chiedy with arms iu their 
 possession ; and if theOraagemen ia Great Britain 
 and the Celonies amount only to half that number 
 the House will judge how dangerous such an 
 association, bound together by religious ce»’emony 
 and sanction almost equal to that of an oatb, might 
 become under possible ciroumetan eiof the country. 
 A great political body thus orgauisei i i the ranka 
 of the army and ia every part of the British Empire 
 is a formidible power at any ti ne ai I under any 
 circumstauces; but when your Committee look to 
 the political tendency of the measures of the Orange 
 Societies in England and in Irelan 1. an 1 particularly 
 to the language contained iu ablresses bo the public, 
 and in the correspondence wi h the grand officers 
 of the institution, and consider the possible use 
 that might be made of such an organised power its 
 suppression becomes, in their opinlou, imperatively 
 necessary. 
 
 OKGANISATION AS A CORRESPONDING SOCIETY. 
 
 The nature of the organisation of \he institution 
 and the dangers from i's existence will appear 
 when the Hou-e is informed tha*: the master o 
 every lodge is required to meet the Deputy Grand 
 Master of his district every half year and deliver to 
 him a return (a copy of which will be seen annexed) 
 of the number of members and of the proceedings 
 of the lodge during the proceedirg hxlf year, he 
 is required also to collect and to piyatthe satrie 
 time the dues of his lodge. The returns and cash 
 are then seat by the Deputy Grand Master of the 
 district to the Deputy Grand Secreta y in London, 
 who lays the accounts and returns before the Grand 
 Committee for their examination, and that Com- 
 mittee reports thereon lo the Imperial Grand 
 Lodge whatever may have occurred of importance 
 in the last six months worthy of their consideration. 
 Lodges communicate sometimes direct to the Grand 
 Lodge, and the Grand Lodge sends copies of all its 
 proceedings and orders periodically to every district 
 master and to every lodge throughout the empire. 
 
 Your Committee think it right to place before 
 the House the words of the statu' e, the 39 Gao. 3> 
 C. 79, regarding corresponding societies. Section 
 9 — ‘'Any society composed of different divisions or 
 branches, or of different parts, acting in any manner 
 separately or diotinct from each other, or of which 
 any part shall have any distinct president, secretary* 
 
HISTOEY OF OEANGEISM.— APPENDIX. 
 
 297 
 
 treasurer, delegate, or otKer officer, elected or 
 appointed by, or for such part, or to act in any 
 office for such part, &c.” And in conclusion your 
 ■Committee submit that it will be for the House to 
 ■consider whether the present organisation of Orange 
 (Lodges, in connection with the Imperial Grand 
 
 Lodge, comes within the words of that statute; 
 and if so whether the law officers of the Crown 
 should not be directed to institute legal proceedings 
 without delay against the grand officers of all 
 Orange Lodges. 
 
 September, 1835. 
 
 LEGAL. 
 
 (See Chapter xxxvii. j page 263.) 
 
 Since the foregoing pages were written, and 
 after that portion of the volume bearing 
 upon the legal aspect of the Orange Institution 
 hid passed through the Press, the Atlantic cable 
 transmitted to this country the following brief but 
 significant corroboration 
 
 ‘^ORANGEISM DKCLAREB ILLEGAL. 
 
 ** Montreal, Friday. 
 
 ** In the case of Grant v. the Mayor of Montreal, 
 for unlawful arrest while attempting to hold an 
 Orange procession, the Court decided that the 
 •Orange Society is illegal under the laws of the 
 Dominion.’* 
 
 The accounts that have since come to hand 
 through the Canadian newspapers confirm this 
 fitatement, so that, at least in one part of her 
 Majesty’s dominions, we have the Orange Associa- 
 stion declared illegal. 
 
 The dispute out of which the proceedings arose 
 took place as far back as 1878. On the memorable 
 anniversary, the 12th July of that year, there was 
 a demonstration at Montreal to commemorate the 
 battle of the Boyne. The Mayor of the city, how- 
 ever, took steps to prevent the display. The Dis- 
 trict Master who headed the party was arrested 
 immediately on his emerging from the Orange 
 Halli with him five of his fellow ring-leaders. 
 All the others .vere surrounded and beleagured in 
 their hall until they were glad to get out, 
 
 and to be allowed to proceed to their homes 
 under protection from the hostile crowds that 
 had assembled. They were marched out in small 
 bodies between lines of armed soldiers and thus 
 escorted out of danger. It was the Mayor who 
 ordered the arrest of the District Master and bis 
 five brethren, thus setting an example which it 
 would be well to have imitated more generally 
 elsewhere. But in return for this act of kindness, 
 and foe which a vote of thanks ought to have been 
 passed to him, he was proceeded against in the 
 Civil Courts for 10,000 dollars damages for illegal 
 arrest. The case was heard in 1830, and the suit was 
 dismissed by the Superior Court, but upon the 
 technical grounds that the plaintiff had not given 
 the Mayor as defendant the full notice as required 
 by law. The ease was taken to the Court of Ap- 
 peal — as might bo expected where such 
 mighty interests were at stake — • and on 
 five judges of that High Court not only sus- 
 tained the previous decision, but, what was 
 eminently more satisfactory, they went much 
 farther, and deciding on the merits of the suit, de- 
 clared that by virtue of chap. x. sec. 6 of the Con- 
 solidated Statutes of Canada, the Orange Order 
 is an illegal body, and its members may be pro- 
 secuted and found guilty of misdemeanour for the 
 reason that the Orange oath enjoins secrecy.” The 
 judgment is final.