Smyrna times., 1885-08-26

VI Iu0 DOyuc do OllC AOuhAOhAONAO u
their free and religious liberty. While
others look upon it as the day of Ire
lands desOlatiOn and woe, the COM
of which is portrayed by
the Poet Moore as
" The lay the hend returns again
And dives into the water,
And brings triumphant from beneath
His shafts of desolatiOn
And sends them winged with worse than death,
Throughout her maddening natiOu.'
This sentiment so prevailed in the |
British Parliament some years back
that laws were passed prohibiting
Orangemen from parading or wearing
any insignia of their order. During |
that time the order degenerated, the |
most respectable members withdraw
ing from it. And it must also be re-
marked that during those years Fen
ianism and disloyalty increased to such
an alarming extent that Parliament
was glad to relieve the Orangemen from
the disabilities under which they
labOred. Since then they have been
instrumental in coming TO the aid of
the Government in her hour of need
especially in the case of Mr.. Boycott,
when they came with their arms and
reaped and gathered in his harvest.
And again, when the cOnstabulary
struck OF account of their increased
labors, the Orangemen offered their
services and many Il city and town
among them the city of Du5lin-was
partly protected by Orange police.
The society at present is in a very
fourishing condition numbering among
its members many ministers of the
Gospel and men in high positions, and
claiming, in case their religious liberty
is curtailed to be able to bring into the
field an Orange army containing more
than half million of men.
Now it is generally understood by
the American peOple-and a point
which is pressed by the enemies of the
Order-that Orangemen cannot be
good citizens of the United States; that
they are bound by an oath to the
Queen Of Great Britain as long as they
live, and that the order is an institu-
ton in the behalf of royalty. But I
am authorized to declare positively
that such is not the case. 1t is true
they are sworn to the Queen and Con-
stitutiOn as long as they are British
subjects, but when they are initiated
into an American lodge they are sworn
to obey the American Constitution and
to protect the American flag as long as
that flag waves in behalf of free and
religious liberty Neither do they
stand up for royalty, but for the prin-
ciples for which royalty fought and
bled, those great principles of religious
freedom with which the House of
Orange was identified from William
the Silent to William III. Those are
the principles upon which the order
stands to-day and it was the triumph
of those principles that made the
American Revolution possible. Il
James had conquered at the BOyne il
was his express purpOse-as he after.
wards assured the Pope" of restoring
, the Catholic faith not only in the three
Kingdoms but throughout the dis
persed colonies of his subjects in Amer
ica." And if the colonies had thu!
been fettered by sectarian chains st
early in their infancy what the result
would have been no one can fathom
The prosecuted of Europe, fleeing from
3 the intolerance of the Old World anC
> freedom, would no longer have COM
asking an asylum where they cOulC
, worship God as they pleased, Ply
mouth Rock, that name dear to TIA
; American hearts, would long sine
/ have been forgotten as the stepping
stone of American liberty. The Huge
=, not, the poor, earth-hunted HugenOt
: blOOd-stained and weary, would hav
had to rusume his accustomed marcl
signing again: 90! had l the wing
. of dove, that l might fly away an
y be at rest" The peaceful Quaker to
! would have had to wend his way I
|, seek again that peace he found s
sweet amidst his loved Pennsylvania
! hills and valleys. But whether thes
things would have happened or NJ
Americans too have reason to be thanl
= full that the principles of the Reforms
"a tion triumphed at the BOyne. And
- is in America, free America, that thO'
. principles should be fOstered and fe
: for the words of Patrick Henry
- Eternal vigilance is the price of Ii
= erty ARE as true and as needful no
10 as the day in which they were uttere
10 1t is also said that the Orangemt
Us are bigOts and that they are sworn
re hate and persecute their Roman Cat
to Olic neighbOrs. A few years ago the
re allegations were brought before Il
he British Parliament and after full i
1y vestigatiOn were pronounced as utter
It, without foundation, the reverse bell
of the case, as they are sworn to pers
nd cute no man for his religious view
re but to act kindly and compassionate
b. to all to never give an assault and
ey be very slow in receiving one, 1t
he true they protest against the prin
he pies of that Church as William t
ne Silent-an ancestor of their gre
ed leader-prOtested against the innoV
ton of Phillip II and the Duke
'er Alva when they wanted to introdu
re, the InquisitiOn into the NetherlanC
tie TheyprOtest against them as Luther p
lat tested against them when he nailed IL
ln- famous document to the church door
of Wittenberg. They reverberate
mt thunders of Knox as no stood l
he daunted before the Scottish Queen a
en denounced those principles; as well
'H- breathe the spirit of his prayer when
Ied the enclosure behind his house in Hi
street he earnestly prayed, 30, &C
give me Scotland or / die"