Star. — London, England, 1823-03-06 00:00:00

Mr. Parker was an emigrant to the Cape of Good Hope, where lie was so unfortunate as to meet with losses in his speculation. These losses, however, the Petitioner went on to attribute to Colonel Bird's being a Jesuit.. Ile never thought of attributing his, mis fortunes. en the natural causes of rust in the wheat, And othets *proceeding fro,i, the climate. Then this Gentleman went on very jesuitically to connect the subject of his losse , with the establishment at Stoney burst. Nothing, in fa:t, could be less connected than the subject of the Petition, which was one of private grievance, and the discussion into which the Hon. Baronet had led the Hou,e, He was surprised, that ss hen the Hon. Baronet had given notice of this Petition, and therefore had ?tad at least twenty-four hours to consider of it, he should not have been able to make out a better chain of connection. It the Henonrable Baronet would pi esent a Petition which ermined itself to the matter of grievance, he assured him he would be ready to give the House same in formation to form a judgment upon it. And he as tured the Henourable Baronet, that so voluminous and prolix were the statements sent in to the Colo nial Office by this Gentleman, that if he were to give them to the Honourable Baronet, they would occupy him twenty-four hours longer before he could make anything of them.. And when he told the Hoo,e, that in almost every one of them the failure of the harvest was attributed to Colonel Bird being a Je suit, they would excuse him for not having answered every one of his communications. He must again express his surprise at die lion. Baronet's having sanctioned the Petition he had brought forward. if the Hon. Baronet agreed with the Petitioner, that Je suitry could have the effect of spoiling the harvest, and doing that which others thought to be beyond all human controul, he could only say that he must infer that the lion. Baronet's opinioleon the subject of agricultural distress was no longer what it used to be—(llene, and lanetier). Mr. HOBHOUSE rose, to tell the Honourable Ba ronet why he had laughed. It was because he had gone on to attribute every evil known to afflict Le land, even, he bel;eved, to the failure of the potatoe - crop, to the Jesuits. Withnut meaning personal dis respect, he could not help smiling at the pieiposel for us to imitate the example of his 'to tarian Majesty, who expelled the Jesuits from his domieions. He .should be glad to see this Petitioner come to the Bar of the House, and be itig a Jesuit in his hand. He should like to see such a thing as a Jesuit, for he had travelled far, and conle,sed he had never had the good fortune to fall in with one. lie should like to see one at the Bar, that the House might know what sort of an animal it was the Government of this coun try had to contend against—( Hear). Mr. HUME thought that Mr. Porker had a fair charge against the Colonial Government, but ad mitted that he had not stated the greunds of it in this Petitio t. He wished the Hon. Member for Ar magh would state, in his piece, w :ere the institutions of Jesuits were founded in Ireland. Ile had been in formed that there was no such thing, although he (Mr. Home) shoals! have no objection to their being spread all over the country. e Mr. BROWN LOW said, that the Petitions he had , lately le esented came f‘ um a number of most re spectable ineivi.inais in Ile:county of Armagh, linen drapers and °the:s, ti.l;o-cte firmly persuaded of the existence of Societies in Ireland. Since Itialciog that cornmeeication in the House, he had xeceive2 many letters from d7frei Len parts of Ireland, thanking Lira for hevinn- dune so, -and confirming the truth of the stateeitit. These persons al as• seeted . that one Jesuit institution sea, in the county of Kildare, and he (Mr. 11:ownli.w) had no doubt whatever that it was sr). . Mr. M. FITZGERALD admitted the irrelevancy I of the discussion iota which the !Lime had been led. He, however, would take the liberty of extending it, so far as to remind the I louse of a letter of Lord .Sidmouth, some time back, in which it was stated to be an insuierable objection on the part of the Prince Regent and the Government, to the establish ment of Jesuit Societie, in Ireland. It appeared that the Pope had given for answer to Cardinal Gonsalvi, that he would not authorize the restoration of the Order on that plea ; and it was therefore plain that, if they did exist, it was contrary to the injunction of the Pope, contrary to the law of the realm, and thci e fore they might by law be put down. Sir H. PARNELL did not think that the Society of Jesuits existed in this country or in Ireland.— As to the mansion stated to have been bought by Dr. Murray, near Dublin, it was for-the purpose of ex tending schools all ova: - Ireland, from which the poor derived the greatest benefit.—The Petition was then brought up and read. Sir 'l'. LETHBRIDGE, in moving that the Peti. tion be laid on the table, took occasion to say, for the benefit of the Colonial Secretary opposite (Mr. Wilmot), that he was no more to be told how he was to employ his time in the mar niniT. than how he was to give his vote in the evening. He must say, in op position to the Ilon. Secretary, that be never saw a clearer chain of connection than between the aver ments of the Petition and what he had said.—The Petition was then.ordered to be printed. ORANGE INSTITUTIONS. _ _ _ Mr. A I3ERCROM BY .stated the motion which he • was about to submit to the House was - not calculated • to interfere in any way with that of which notice had been given by the Hon. Member for Armagh. That • Pon. Gentleman proposed to ra;se . a question on the conduct of the King's Attorney-General in Ireland. It was not intended to deny that the law warranted the course which had been pursued, but the discre tion exercised by the Attotney-General would be called in question-in a particular case, where an ex officio information had been filed by the Right Hon. Gentleman. He stated thus much to spew that the motion of the Hon. Gentleman (the Member for Ar magh) was very different from that now to be sub mitted to the consideration of the House. The motion of the Hun. Member for Armagh was of a limited and temporary character, beginning and ending with the partictdar circumstances to which it referred.— The present one was of a general nature and durable character, and related •to that situation of things which must endure so long as Orange Clubs or any other Associations, founded on -exclusive principles, -continued to exist. To him(Mr. A bercromby.), there fore, the present motton.did not seem at all to inter fere with that of the Hon. filember for Annagh ; and he had been surprised on a former night, when he Iwas requested to postpone it in consideration of die! notice which bad been given. He was unprepared !for the appeal which had been made, but, acting from his reason at the moment, he had refused to put it ofF; and subsequent reflection had served but to con vince him that, in coming to that determination, he was right—(Hear).—ln order to avoid all misappre hension, he begged to state that it was not his inten tion to allude to the merit or demerit of Lord Wel lesley's government, and it was not his purpose to bring forward anything that would at all connect itself with the Catholic Question. The motion with which he should conclude was one which he con sidered entitled 40' the vote of those who were un willing to concede the claims of the Catholics, and also those who were most anxious for the removal of the disabilities of which that important body corn phoned. It had been said that this motion would be likely to cause great heat and much agitation.— He did not expect this would be the case generally, though such might be the case in particular quarters, where persons were acting under what he called the Orange System—(Hear).—The subject was one which appeared to him most fitting to be brought under the consideration of Parliament. If the Orange Institu tions could be maintained on the ground that they were necessary to the peace and good order of Ire land, then . let truth prevail, and let their friends fairly, openly, and manfully defend them. If, on the con trary, it should be proved that they tended to irritate', the people of Ireland, and were subversive of peace and good order, then also let truth prevail, and let those Associations be put down—(H ear, hear).—The present motion, he would not conceal from the House, was one in which the Catholics of Ireland were much intereqed, hut, in his opinion, it was not less impor cant to the Protestants. Though anaons for the well being of both parties, he preferred the . Coestitution to the separate interests of either Catholic or Protest ant, and it was in the hope of being enabled to secure to the people of Ireland the blessings of an undivided Constitution, that he was encouraged to come for ward on the present occasion—Vleary—lt was not his purpose to impute motives to any individual, or to any bandy of men, acting under the Orange Sys tem. What lie wished to attack was the system itself. That system, he maintained, was unconstitutional— in.many respects illegal, and had been productive of the most serious evils. Ile considered it a great mis fortune tbr Ireland that ever this system had been introduced at all, and he wished to prove that it waz against the interests of all parties, and totally subver sive of the legitimate controul of good Government. To trace the evil to its origin he must open that por tion of history which commenced w ith the fecal of Earl Fitzwilliam from Ireland, in 1795, and was completed by the Act of Union between England and Ireland. No man could turn back to that period without regret, who took into Iris consideration the consequences of that recal—(Year).—ile begged not to be supposed to speak now as to the merits or de merits of the renal. Ile would only say, that the appointment of Earl Fitva Wiam,.and his recur], ex hibited a strong and convincing pr'oof that the worst policy with respect to the Government of Ireland was a vacillating and indeci,ive coarse—( Hear). — Considerable hopes and fears had been excited by the appointment of Lord Fitzwiliiam. The tears of those who expected to lose their power in consequence of, his appointment, ultimately procured his recal, while ], those .rho had hoped tidy:ire:l7;e from his adnrinistra thin were plunged in the deepest disappointment by that event. lie feared it was too true that those ahe had prevailed at that period mar keJ their triumph by the increased severity of their rule. Never had anything more disgraceful or more atrocious occurred than what had :::ken place in the county of Armagh: Tire county was divided between two parties, the one called the Catholics, the other the " Peep of Day Boys.", The Pecp of Day Boys had the ascendancy, as they greatly surpassed their opponents in numbers, and a war of the most atrocious character was carried on agahrst the Catholics. In the p: oceedings which then wok place, the Peep of Day Boys were judges, prosecutors, witnesses, jut ors, and executioners. In this way it xs as that the war between the parties was prosecuted. The unhappy Catholics were finally ex pelled and driven away wish their families from the county. It might be thought that he overstated the case; but to prove that he :lid not, he would read to the House w hat bad been said by Lord Gosford, at a Mee:ing of the Magistrates in the month -of No vember, 1795. One t,f the Resolations proposed at that meeting declared the county of Armagh to be at present in a state of disorder, and represented the Etonian Catholics to be constantly exposed to nightly attack from lawless and unknown persons. It was on this resolution that Lord Gosford made that speech Pram which he would now read a passage.—(The Learned Gentleman read a part of the speech which he had mentioned, which decribcd the secret perse cutions and the ferocious cruelty which pursued the Catholics). N.tr age, it went on, nor sex, nor ac• knowledged innocence, could afford security—(Hear). The only crime charged was one which was easily proved, that the patties professed the Roman Ca tholic faith, or were intimate with persons of that persuasion. The most lawless proceedings had fol lowed, amounting to nothing less than a confiscation of property, and the proscriptions of that day had exceeded, in regard ro the number ruined, every ex• ample which ancient or modern history could supply. In December, 1795, the Learned Gentle man continued, a battle was fought between the Peep of Day Boys and the Roman Catholics, in which the Peep of D'ay Boys were victorious, and it was shortly after that event, that the first Orange Lodge was opened—(Hear, hear).—He wished to direct the at tention of the House to the origin of this Association, because that would justify him in saying that a great and fa al error had been • committed by those who had assumed that particular name, as the effect of it was to perpetuate Associations which, while they were retained in the mind, could not but tend to disturb the general tranquility, and made it almost impossible to hope for that harmony -and good-will which every friend to the country must desire to see established. Immediately after the name to which he objected had been assumed in December, 1795, this Association had strewn itself anxious to extend its influence in every possible way, and had become connected with very important transactions. To i thew the House what had been the professed object, l of the Orange Clubs, he would direct attention to two sets of their resolutions, embodying their eon- Istitution, in 1800 and 1820. The general nature of. this institution might be described in a few averds. l It consisted of a large number of persons, having a Master, Grand Mastef, Treasurer, Secretary, alai., ' Committee.' There were various orders, and nu merous meetings in different parts of the country, but the most important of was the Grand Lodge, in Dublin: He read a list of the names subscribed to the papers which he had just mentioned, and stated a Committee to have been appointed to inquii e into the state of the Association, in order to correct abuses which had crept in and to make it more useful, pure, and meritorious than it had been. Fr om the language held by this Committee, the House would gain some idea of the natur.e of the abuses which had occurred. It was stated that forms of initiation had been adopted in various Lodges. which departed from the simplicity of the original design, and which were ie pognant to common sense, to the religious feelings of many worthy brethren of the Order, anti even to common decency. The Committee, therefore, pre pared a form of admission which combined with pro per brevity sufficient solemnity to hind the Member to those doctrines which it was his duty to maintain as a loyal Protestant. Here, then, they had it on the authority of an Orange Committee, that some of the forms which had been in use amongst them were re pugnant to common sense, to the religious feelings of v..orthy men, and even to common decency. He proceeded to shew that the Committee had thought it necessary to check the over-zeal of some indiscreet members; and he then read to the House the decla ration of their resolution to reverence the memory of King IViliam, the Constitution established by him, and the succession of the present Royal Family to the Throne. They resolved annually to eelebi ate the de feat of King James in the battle of the Boyne, and tie anniversary of that event (the Ist of July, old style), was to he always their grand sera.. In the Re solutions of ISO°, a declaration of some importance was found, which had been omitted in 1820. The declaration which he ieferred to set forth a determi nation never to persecute any one on account of re ligions differences, provided the parties were not hos tile to the State ; but, on the contrary, to protect their fellow-subjects ho might be of adiffeient per suasion from themselves. • Ile proceeded to describe the oaths of the Orat.ge Clubs. The first oath a member was ob!iged to take ran thus: " I, A. B. solemnly swear allegiance to King Geor g e tjae Fourth, and will, to the utmost of my power, maintain the Bri tish Constitution and the successiGn of his Majesty's titular, being Protestants, to the Throne." Ile sheaved that the words " Protestant ascendancy" had a different meaning in Ireland from that which attached to them in this country. In the year 178'2, the same party, who were now distinguished by their ' zeal for Protestant ascendancy, were called " The Friends of English interest." When Ireland, by her efforts to gain independence, had emancipated her self from the thraldom of which she had previously complained, the distinction which he had mentioned was no longer preserved. The friends to the Pro testant ascendancy succeeded, and it was the same party which now called itself the Orange Associa tion. He was far from objecting to the words, " being Pi otestant," in the oath which he had quoted. He was friendly to them in themselves, as he asso ciated with them the idea of everything that was good and beneficial to the country, the establishment of the present Royal Family, and the assertion of English liberty. The oath to betaken by a mem ber of the Orange Association went on to declare that the indivi. ual had never belonged to the society of United Irishmen; had never been bound to any S:,ciety by oaths of secrecy. It.bound the party to be faithful to all Orangemen in all just actions, and wade the initiated solemnly swear, hi the presence of ALMIGHTY Goo, never to reveal part or parts of what was about to be privately communicated to him to any one, without strict trial being made, arid proof obtained, of his being a brother Orangeman ; and further, that he would not write, print, or stamp, or cause to be. written, printed, or stamped, any part or parts of such communication, nor in any other way disclose it, so help him GOD, and keep him steadfast in this his oath. When the members were sworn thus never to reveal what was communicated, it was no uncharitable construction to suppose that this self-constituted Society, making such an oath, supposed that there %VAS something connected with the institution which it was most essential to conceal. Such a Society ought to be viewed with great sus picion in the present situation of Ireland. The state of that country being remembered, did not the pro ceedings of that Society demand their serious atten tion, which, from the manner in which .its members were registered, could, at any time and place, bring forty, .fifty, or sixty thousand men together ? He de scribed more minutely the regulations of the Orange Lodges. The system of the Society, the oaths of se crecy administered, and its general regulations, would justify them in looking with the greatest jealousy at its intentions. Very soon after its estab lishment, the Association had distinguished itself by adopting a most important tone-L4 tone equal to that of the Government. It had subsequently con sidered it necessary, in consequence of the notice taken of it, to disclaim the principles which had been imputed to it, and to declare before ALMIGHTY GOD that it was not their object to persecute those who differed from them in matters of religion—(Hear).— He thought it but justice to the Association to state this, but at the same time he had more reasons than one for doing so. He particularly wished it to be noticed, that so long ago as in the year 1797, it had been obliged to defend itself against the imputation of acting on principles which were opposed to the interests of the country; and that they were bound together by oaths that would make human nature shudder. He mentioned this to shew that the name of an Orangeman, must for ever be associated in the minds of the people of Ireland, with outrage and bloodshed. This had been felt when that vindica tion to which he alluded was considered necessary. He found in one of the papers issued by the Asso ciation, 'that its members set forth it was in their judgment high time to rally round the Throne, and support their good King against all his enemies, whether those enemies were rebels to GOD or their country. He wished to know who had given this body authOrity to determine when a man was in a! state of rebellion against Goer? Who was to be so', considered? Suppose the case of an Atheist, who ac knowledged no Dattt.• lie could. net be called a rebel, because he only denied the: power of a being whom he did not believe . to exist. It was, iherefOre, I difficult to define what was meant by the language r which he had quoted; but he thought extreme dui. ger was to be apprehended from an Association of this description. Having spoken thus nnsch in es. planation of the constitution of Orange Chili-, Ise proceeded to the consideration of the consequence s which had resulted from them to Ireland, and of the effects which might yet be expected. About ores , fifth of the population of Ireland consistedasf Protest. ants; a large proportion of the inhabitants were Ro man Catholics; so that when the•lrish pe o ple were spoken of generally, they must be descr ibed as Ca; that. The Protestants enjoyed an almost exclusive monopoly of nearly all the offices of the State, many of which they filled in the most meritorious manner. The Catholics had no• Church establishment of theii own ; their Priests wet e dependant for support on the casual bounty of their followers ; and above all, there was a total absence of that link to connect the higher ' and the lower classes, the most important link in the chain of society, a wealthy independent middle class of men. When the population of a country wee divided like that Of Ireland, by religious d,fferenees--:. from the moment the Government abandoned system of ruling by an unmixed despotism—from the moment the principles of liberty began to be under stood, and a free press had furnished the means for diffusing knowledge, from that moment a state of things arose which it required the greatest wisdom and the greatest temper to controut and direct. It was especially necessary to guard against private , piques, and it therefore behoved the higher classes to set an example of moderation and forbearance. (fler:r).—He disapproved of the Orange institu :loss, because they were exclusive in their character. A man known to be of good moral character, and most ardently and since; ely attached to the interests of his country, was excluded from this Society, if it were formed for any gout purpo a., because lie was not a E'.otestant. The rules of the Association pro vided, that every year there should be a celebration of the victory obtained by King William over King James at the Boyne. Now, it this ctlehration took place in a country where the inha'nrants wet e %%holly Prc testants there could be no oisjsctierr to it. ,Bat when they reflected that such a celebration ir ti,t net only recal the triumph of those who were ti c rity in Is elatid, hut also the 1111 . mill:1:ion of th .sr who formed the majority, the effect must be injurietu from the irritation thus constantly kept alive. These celebrations, he contended, were most fatal to the - peace of Ireland ; stud they had been known hut too frequently to terminate in bloodthed. The Prsaestant e Ito desired to be distinguished for his lot shy, ought to endeavOur by his conduct and example to make others contented and loyal. But did the Orange As sociation do this? Were the Catholics if Ireland likely to be made more loyal by the annual ptoces. sions in commemoration of the defeat of King James at the Boyne? Could this be effected by reminding them that that day had witnesstd the triumph of t!.e Protestants, and the humiliation of the Catholics, the proof of which was to be found in the name of the family now on the 1 hrone? Was this the Day to secure their loyalty ? If it went forth that a laree body of Protestants, say from 1.50 to '200,000 men, were connected by oaths of secrecy, he should be glad to know why a like number of Catholics might not be connected in the same way? Was it to be answered, because the former were loyal, and t h e . latter disloyal? Ile thought the Hon c would le slow to make a distinction so frightful and appal ling. If none but the Members of the Protestant Church, separating from it the Presbyterians and the Unitarians, were to he deemed well affected to the Government, within alas narrow limits would they compress the- loyalty of the coun try ? Another subject was worthy of vernal k; he alluded to the Yeomanry of Ireland. The larger proportion of the Yeomanry were Orangemen.— If, unfortunately, the Yeomanry should be called in to aid the Civil P.swer, what might not be appre hended from the patty feeling known to exist - ? He would put the case of a Catholic brought to trial, the Magistrate, the Sheriff, the Pannel, and the Judge being all of the Orange party. He did not say that they would forget their oaths, that the Jury' would find the innocent guilty, or that the Judge would pass a severer sentence than theoffence proved might demand, but he would ask, if such a circumstance would not be most unfortunate?—(Hear, hear). - -He would ask if it were not likely that the individual might be considered to suffer from patty feeling, and . if this would not detract materially tions the weight and authority which ought to belong to the admi- • ministration of the law?—(Hear).—The Huse would recollect a discussion which took place in the year 1813, on the introduction of Orange Clubs into this country. The ,Right Hon. Gentleman opposite had then disapproved of them, but considered them too insignificant to make it necessary to put them down, as, by treating them with contempt, they would fall of themselves. If such were his opinion of Orange Clubs in England, on what grounds could it be con tended that they were beneficial to Ireland? Vote in whatever way he might on the present motion, he could not but expect the benefit of the Right Hon. Gentleman's. eloquence in the course of the debate; as, with all his ingenuity, he did not think him capa ble of contending that that which was bad for one country could be good for the other. He had been told that, in consequence of the promulgation of - his Majesty's wish that a system of general conciliation should be acted upon is Ireland, a great increase ia the numbers of the Orange Clubs had taken place hear).—lf this were true, what did it mean, but that numbers of persons had enrolled their names in that Association for the purpose of op declared wish of the King and his Par It had been said in former times, aid he some cases it was nearly the riutfi, that Lieutenant of Ireland acted not under ,the of the King, but under the itsikence.of Clubs at Dublin — (Hear, hear).—lf this wi the inference which he should draw frot be, that the jealous sentiment which I.i Lord Fitzwilliam, and removed that ami man, Lord Cornwallis, with every-species tumely and reproach, was the compressed the Orange Association. When Mr. Yitt , Union in that House, the'great advantage held out as likely to result from it was, tt , secure to the country an impartial Legislature, ing aloof from all local and party conneiti was such a Legislature that could alone - grievances of which -Ireland fiad at plain. He had hitherto abstaiacd. lien; calepoint-,thetic stitution. Whoevel pf'the'la'elKing, t+ from tF the occasion of a I belonged to an a incioa+le of givit oath he had take: oath. he would b to commit perjury King's Bench, upo had been given th which had been m so, for if such a pr spected, it would b Should an individt which had been irr holding himself bo oath (for unlawful ditty to keep to Court and trample an opinion having I it had been unpard omitted bringing - it such oaths were u covered now for t been unlawful fron . been made to put such oaths were a, he wished to sobmi Addtess to the Cu' ciety founded on e: ciples. He wi-..het. H0 0 .,e would sv.alr 'night he bi ought I country with tc•pet proposition he intcn be a great benefit to rid of the Orange CI with in the fit st ins of the 0011 n of suggesting this he that should be inju Without their sui.r could stand. Ile. proposed would bi Ile, therefore, wish tapprobatiou of the see it put down, le; with into effect we: tints of tranquillity trould te'td to act! for England, but Nothing would be: calculated to attrac orders which so fie as no capitalists wet there, who could li absentees now so SI by the change whit possible that .t lard yerty of Ireland sit of absentee..., while sent state. Ilk pu great obs - acle to t opinion of that Hot to tell him that it vernment to put said to pot down, meant, that if the ( subject—( eers)— cicties, they would and obedient subjr If the Government approved of these supported as they s them believed that -vefnment ; and thil .an imrotation upon House to consider doubt a MeASIIIC ble—was a measnr himself, upon its ti Vslattire adopted t and theoretical gm should grow up, an it Was least expect , 'tried upon specula upon the argumei could advance as t would they then b improved the con< mass of its people these processions a np dissentions and for these reasons LI lowing Address to " That an humble stating that his faithful of those dissentions by agitated and convulsed the formation of Soeiet tutional principles, beg Cordial zeal and co , nci aaipportiri g the - law, ano pying an its privileges ciliation and soppressit presence and adnionitit Mr. GOULBU . }louse under such .on; not anxiety in avowing the vie Subject of the•moti upon the time at and upon the irrit send)! distracted It of this debate expr duced, calculated of that country to it would be the di anent or oat of it, avoid. Upon this the motion had be Invent. Re had all the manner in wt part of the Irish G be feared that som bate would intro& • Most desirable and that the Honourab have yielded to his Right Hon. Fri, `the subject came r had been.the cond 'egard to those tra happisiess of Hay ii -- ----- abstained from tbo • ent MOLitin, :3G" the Right 11,41. of the debate; think him ca,pa- as had for one He had been . lulgation of his eral conciliation treat increase in ad taken place hat did it mean, lied their names of opposing the S Pat liament.-- he believed in , that the Lord - ler she authority - e.of ;he Orange' his were proved, 6+ from it would :h had recalled amiable Noble. -species of cow pressed spirit Of 'itt proposed de ,stage wbich,be as, that - it weisdi !gisl attire, nand' conneltionio lone redress present eft ems WO; R f ~~ ,~ .