12 SEPTEMBER 1835, Page 13

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

ORANGE PLOT AGAINST OUR FUTURE QUEEN.

THE Tories fume at O'CONNELL'S saying that an Orange plot, 4‘ a treasonable conspiracy" to alter the succession and to su- persede the Princess VICTORIA, has exploded ; and the inference be would seem to draw from the evasion of the " Most Noble Grand himself" with his blushing honours and gray whiskers, is quite intolerable. The Times, Standard, and Post, deny the existence of the conspiracy, and refer to the Report of the Orange Committee; where, certainly, nothing to that effect is set down in black and white.

But what are we to infer from the facts staled in the Report, and the conclusions which the Committee on Orange Lodges have come to ? We find that in Great Britain and Ireland nearly 900,000 men, the majority of them armed, are banded together in a society, of which the Duke of CUMBERLAND is the chief, " with absolute, uncontrolled, illimitable power." Should the Grand Master order all the Orangemen within reach of his summons to assemble on the 1st of October on Penenden Heath, they are bound by the most solemn sanctions to obey him. For although the Orangemen admitted since 1621 have not been actually sworn to the rules of the association, they have placed themselves under an obligation possessing all the solem- nity of an oath. We find that the members of this Orange Association are known to each other by, a system of secret signs and pass-words ; that they are pledged to support what they call Protestant Ascendancy—a most significant phrase ; that they hold meetings and have established lodges in the Army in defiance of the General Orders issued from the Horse Guards, and in wilful, determined disobedience of the oflicers placed in com- mand over them. We find that the authorized acting officers of the Imperial Orange Lodge encourage the plotting Orange soldiers in their mutinous conduct; anethat, when the political party to which the Duke of CUMBERLAND is attached, is in oppo- sition, then it is found inconvenient to enforce the doctrine of passive obedience to "the powers that be," save and except the Im- perial Grand Master of the Orangemen. We find from the letters of the Deputy Grand Secretary, published in the Evidence, that the probability of altering the succession was a subject of discus- sion in 1830 among thee'Orangemen. We find that the Duke of CUMBERLAND is cognizant of the proceedings of his subordi- nate officers; that he has sanctioned the establishment of Orange Lodges in the Army ; that he has held out peculiar facilities for seducing the military, by admitting them into lodges without payment of the regular fees ; and that all this has been done in secret. The Duke has denied all knowledge of these secret pro- -ceedings ; but the actual cognizance of them is brought home to him, and in effect, though not in words, he is branded by the Re- port of the Committee as a deliberate liar. Now there must have been some motive for all this underhand, unlawful work. Why should the Duke of CUMBERLAND do that which the Duke of YORK desisted from doing on account of its ille- gality? Why should he league himself with any faction—any set of men whose proceedings will not bear the light—whose records are -carried off, and whose officers are kept in hiding ? The Duke's legal position is fixed, and is not assailed. No one aims at despoiling -him of his dukedom or his pensions; and if he quits, even osten- sibly only, his post as Grand Master of the Orangemen, his pay as Field Marshal is safe. After the death of WILLIAM the Fourth he will be the undisputed Sovereign of the Hanoverians—God help them! Nothing that he has a right to have or to expect is menaced. Why then should he place himself at the head of this armed confederation of 400,000 men ? Public opinion may be wrong ; but is it suprising that the inference drawn by many from the Duke of CUMBERLAND'S conduct is, that he aims at the throne of England as well as of Hanover ?—that although he may be acquitted of any treasonable plot against the authority of WILLIAM the Fourth, there are those who suspect him of a design to interfere with the succession of his niece, VICTORIA the First ?