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Former Riots.

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turned out, armed with their yeomanry firelocks; they attacked Annahagh, and burned and wrecked nine houses, when they were stopped and driven off by the police and military. It is almost superfluous to record that for beating the man and his daughter four Roman Catholics were transported, but for burning nine houses, not a single Orangeman was punished in any way. There is a melancholy similarity in the details of these occurrences, proving that they did not arise from accidental or different causes; but were the certain result of a system, according to which the Orange processions were arranged on recurring anniversaries, in the way calculated to produce the utmost excitement and irritation.

They assembled with drums and banners, and were well armed. Magistrates were at their head, and they were generally reviewed by some man of rank and influence. They were informed that peace and harmony was the rule of all Orangemen, but were bid to remember their rights; they were charged to die in defence of their religion, and they answered by a cheer for Protestant ascendency. They were told not to upbraid any one, yet at the very time the bands were playing Croppies lie 'down': they were instructed to obey the law, but they knew they were safe from its operation: a sermon was preached, but the text was, 'love the brotherhood': if police or military were present, they were a protection but no restraint, for they could not act except under the orders of the Orange magistrate: and 80,- with ringing cheers, music playing, banners waving, drums beating, guns firing, confident in their superior strength, mad with sectarian bigotry and political hatred, and excited to the utmost, the Orange procession approached a Roman Catholic village. On the other hand, the Roman Catholics, full of ancient quarrels, and galled by intolerable insult, seldom lost an opportunity of revenge, and sometimes ventured on open resistance. They swarmed from their cabins like bees from their hive; old guns were brought out, and pikes, scythes, and pitchforks made up in some sort for the want of better arms.

When two such bodies came into contact, collision was certain and instantaneous. It signified nothing who began: a push, a blow, a shot fired in the air, sufficed to hurry both parties into the predetermined conflict. But mere numbers have never been a match for an armed and organised body. The Orangemen were invariably successful; and they inflicted a terrible retributionwhile the Roman Catholics, driven from the field, read the hopelessness of resistance written upon their plundered houses and burning villages. In the courts of law their defeat was still more matter of course. Roman Catholics were arrested and punished;

but the dominant faction was always safe. Informations against Orange offenders had to be sworn before Orange magistrates, bills to be found by Orange grand jurors, the jury was impanelled by an Orange sheriff, and the verdict was given by an Orange jury, upon prisoners ostentatiously wearing Orange rosettes even in the dock! Intimidation of witnesses prevailed to a frightful extent; but when that failed, acquittals were given against evidence, against the judges' charges, and even against the prisoners' own confession. So that after every fresh struggle the parties retired to prepare for another contest,- one animated by their victory, the other feeling that Protestant ascendency was Roman Catholic slavery, and doggedly determined not to submit to the one nor acknowledge the other.

It was very extraordinary to see men of education, principle, and otherwise estimable character, so deceived by their own assertions, and so bewildered by the noxious influence of partyspirit, that though familiar with the state of things we have described, they actually denied its existence, or boldly attempted to justify it to the world. Colonel Verner asserted that the Orange Society, as a body, had never interfered in any political question; Colonel Blacker did not consider Croppies lie down' a party tune; affirmed that the anniversaries of the 12th of July were peculiarly tranquil, and that the administration of justice was pure. The inquiry by the Committee of 1835, however, brought the truth fully to light. The exposure was complete, the condemnation universal: all classes, creeds, and parties then united in declaring, that the Orange organisation must be arrested, that the supremacy of the law must be vindicated, and that no party in the State should be permitted to arrogate to themselves superior privileges, and insult their fellow subjects, on the ground of a purer religious belief or on the false and insolent plea of superior loyalty.

The Orange leaders, we are happy to say, at this juncture yielded a manly and dignified obedience to the will of the nation as expressed in an address of the House of Commons and the answer of the Crown. Notwithstanding considerable resistance from the Irish portion of the body, the Grand Lodge, in April 1836, dissolved the society; and through their organs proclaimed that they did so, not in compliance with expediency, but for the sake of principle,—that they would neither repent of the deed nor recall it.

Old Sir Harcourt Lees was, we believe, the only one who resisted to the death. The Widdrington of the party, he fought upon his stumps, for pure fighting's sake, when all hope was gone. Orange to the backbone, and priding himself on his loyalty, his

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6

Dissolution of the Society.

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fidelity to his order, his religion, and his acuteness, he defied to the last the King, the Grand Master, the precepts of Christianity, and the dictates of common sense; declaring that he would not 'be humbugged,' and in the blasphemous and ferocious slang of the party, calling on his brave brethren of Ulster to increase ' and multiply-to be tranquil and vigilant,—to put their trust in God, and keep their powder dry.' Poor Sir Harcourt Lees! had he lived to march with the procession from Lord Roden's park to Dolly's Brae, and to read Mr. Beers' letters, he would have died contented. He indeed has gone-but his mantle has descended upon not unworthy shoulders.

The voluntary dissolution of the Orange Institution was a political act of some importance. It was an acceptance by that body of the principle already enunciated through the public voice -that the assumption of ascendency by any one class of men over another, in virtue of their political or religious opinions, was repugnant to the spirit of the British constitution; and that, whatever the theory of Orangeism might be, its practical result was to produce and perpetuate dissension, and to endanger property and life. The propriety of the dissolution, too, was speedily seen in the improved state of the public peace: for twelve years we hear little of Orange riots, and nothing of such burnings and wreckings as those of Maghera, Maghery, and Annahagh. But there are men, as there are political parties, who can learn nothing and forget nothing,-who cannot forget the excitement of party cheers and the pride of a party triumph, nor learn that he who stimulates the passions of a crowd must be responsible for the excesses which they afterwards commit. It seems incredible, that after such experience of the pernicious results of the Orange Society, and after the enjoyment of twelve years' peace in consequence of its dissolution, men should be found sufficiently rash and blind to consequences, to resuscitate it again, and reopen its bitter fountain of strife. It is, if possible, still more extraordinary to see a peer coming forward in his place in Parliament, and boasting of his religious feelings and pacific speeches and good intentions, when wreckings, burnings, and murders on the very spot where he reestablished this mischievous organisation, and in consequence of it, and by the very men whom he had harangued, attest the gravity of the responsibility which rests upon his head, and the folly of expecting that the old tree would bear any but the old fruit.

From 1836 to 1845 Lord Roden and the other leading men exerted their influence, honestly and successfully, in discountenancing processions; and no disturbance of any consequence took place: But in 1845 the scene changed. Notwithstanding

the agitation for repeal, the Government of the day refused to rule through the medium of a party, or on the principle of ascendency; and while they opposed repealers, they supported measures to which they thought Roman Catholics were entitled. This policy gave deep offence to the Ulster Orangemen; and much discussion followed, whether, the 'Party Processions' Act' having now expired, the system of Orange processions should not be renewed. On the whole the general feeling was against such a step; and Lord Roden, on the 3rd of July in that year, issued a letter deprecating it in strong language. In some quarters his influence was of no avail: an armed procession took place at Armagh, and one Roman Catholic was shot dead, and three others wounded. A Mr. Watson of Brookhill presided over an Orange meeting at Lisburn; and, in reply to Lord Roden's letter, informed him, That the minds of his friends were made

up, and

they were resolved to proceed with their procession.' A manly and forcible remonstrance from Lord Londonderry was answered with a rude and insolent rebuke, and Mr. Watson, though a deputy-lieutenant, accompanied the procession he had encou

raged.

The Government now attempted to quell the growing evil, and superseded Mr. Watson-on the broad principle which they were then applying to those magistrates who attended repeal meetings, that where criminal acts were likely to arise out of violent party meetings, the administration of justice could not be safely entrusted to magistrates who, by attending and countenancing such meetings, constituted themselves open and acknowledged partisans. But the Orangemen had been too long accustomed to regard a violent partisan spirit as giving them a claim to the favour of Government, to submit to the honest and impartial application of a different principle. They instantly made common cause with Mr. Watson, and also with Mr. Archdall of Fermanagh, who was superseded on similar grounds. Through the press they called upon Orangemen 'to make themselves feared, in order to be respected by the Govern" ment there must be monster meetings, but no infringement ' of the law.' Lord Roden now praised Mr. Watson for having done the very thing he had written to him not to do. Lord Enniskillen, the Marquis of Downshire, and other noblemen, placed themselves at the head of the movement; meetings were held in all the northern counties; the flame lighted by party spirit spread like wildfire; and in October, Lord Roden, as the trusted leader and Deputy Grand Master, though Lord Enniskillen was the Grand Master, issued a formal address announcing the re-establishment of the Orange Society. But though the

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Policy of Lord Clarendon.

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Society was re-organised, the influential members thought it prudent to discountenance processions: and, with the exception of a considerable meeting in honour of Mr. Watson, which produced a riot of no great importance, their advice was generally followed, and tranquillity prevailed during 1846 and 1847.

The next step was taken in 1848. The events of that year induced most of the principal bodies in Ireland to come forward and offer their services to the Queen's Government. Lord Clarendon did not undervalue the moral support thus afforded to him, and he replied to their addresses in terms of courtesy and thankfulness: But for the means of crushing rebellion he looked only to the civil and military power, which the law places under the control of the constitutional authorities. Notwithstanding the alarming aspect of the times, he gave no encouragement to volunteer associations, nor to any extra-legal manifestations of physical strength, by the well-disposed portion of the community. He did not permit any arms to be issued to volunteers; he received with becoming and grateful acknowledgments the address from the Dublin University, but prohibited the intended procession of two thousand students. But this steady and cautious policy did not suit the views of the Orange party; and they resolved to make the occasion of manifesting their loyalty an opportunity of displaying the strength of their organisation, by reappearing on the stage, and celebrating the 12th of July in 1848, as they had done twelve years before, with every well-remembered device by which the enthusiasm of their own party could be stimulated. How little any support of this nature was required by the Government may be judged from the fact, that when the time came for the Government to put forth its strength, it overpowered all resistance with such extreme facility as to cast an air of ridicule over its previous preparations.

The Orange manifestation having been determined on, the processions for the county of Down were arranged by Mr. W. Beers, a magistrate and the county grand master; and in reply to a note from this gentleman Lord Roden addressed to him a letter, from which we copy the following extracts:

Tollymore Park; July 8. 1848. 'Had it been consistent with your arrangements, I should have been happy that the ground chosen for your meeting was within the gates of Tollymore Park, where an opportunity would have been afforded me of witnessing the numbers, as well as the order and loyalty, of those lodges over which you preside. I am anxious to assure the brethren that, though I am advanced in years, and time has rapidly rolled on since in the year 1834 we met in such force, order, and loyalty on the hill of Rathfriland, yet the principles I then held, I still maintain.'