THE ORANGE PLOT.
THE Standard has taken up the cudgels for the Duke of CUM- BERLAND, and declares that there is no such thing as an Orange plot. In a leading article of that journal, on Monday, we find the following passage.
" As to the Orange plot to sopersetle the Princess Victoria, it at pre%ent rests upon a letter written, rather MOP' than six vears;tgo, by Colonel Fairman. ' This letter,' says the .tipeciator, • discloses the fact that the probability of altering the succession was a subject of tli,ens,. in Is30, amongst the Orangemen.' Note, this later discloses no such fleet."
This is coolly said ; but we appeal to the readers of the Standard itself whether it is truly said. Eor our contemporary goes on to explain, that there was a suspicion of danger to the succession arising from the ambition of the Duke of WELLINGTON, and that its readers will take its word for the fact- 44 That the supposed danger to the succession from the ambition of the Doke of Wellington, a danger in which the Prinvess Victoria and the then Duke of Clarence must participate with the Duke of Cumberland, was the only danger or question affecting the succession alluded to in Mr. Fairman's
prieuteletier."
Now we knew this full as well as the Standard. We could not be ignorant that the Duke was the man who was alluded to as likely to interfere with the succession of the Duke of CLARENCE to the throne: we sa,k1a*as much when commenting on FA IRM AN'S letter; but we said, acid his present Majesty been set aside, would not the physical iorce of which Orangemen boast have been used to make their Imperial Grand Master Imperial Grand Vicar ? It seems strange that a writer generally so acute as our contem- porary should positively deny that the letter disclosed the fact that the probability of altering the succession was a subject of discus- sion among the Orangemen, and then immediately proceed to explain to his readers that FAIRMAN'S letter did refer to the ru- moured designs of the Duke of WELLINGTON to prevent the Duke of CLARExcE from succeeding to the throne. So much for the Standard of Monday. On Thursday, the sub- jeet is resumed by that journal, in consequence of the receipt of a letter from Mr. CHE.TWOODE, NOW was Colonel FAIRMAN'S prede- cessor in the offiee of Deputy Grand Secretary, stating that FAIR.. MAN was not appointed to that oilier: until about three years after the date of the letter. This, sass the Standard, is a " severe blow to the pla-al." How so? The Standard must prove that FA notAN was not in the Orange secrets, before this is made out, and account far his letter being found among the records of the Institution. It does not fsllow that because be was not Deputy Grand Secretary, there neither was nor is any plot. Beside.., the inference as to the unlawful designs of the Orangemen by no means rests singly upon this letter of FAIRMAN, but upon others, and upon a variety of undisputed facts. The Standard sass- - It i, highly illo,trdtk i mt the &Rusty with ttnit1n this letter has been brought fi.rward, that ii. liie has been 71I, Y111111g snmirtssed. It was, in fiict, only from the context lit fli,COVerell that it IIIIItit hall` been written during the reigo of Ceorge the Fou rt h."
This sneer at our honesty is quite uncalled-for. In last week's Speete/or, in time article on the " Orange Plot," we said that the letter proved that the alteration in the succession was discussed in Isao, and in the Poetseript article, where the letter itself is quoted, we also mentioned that it was written in April 1830. Where was the uniform suppression," and where the dishonesty, and where the sagacity of the Standard in discovering from the con- text that the letter was written in the reign of GEORGE the Fourth ? One word on Mr. Cinerwoonli's letter. That gentleman states that he was actin!, Secretary of the Orange Institution ftona March 1Sel to February 1833, and he also says- " During the perMil, nearly twelve years, that I neted, I tlo not know that elIql MO. new warrant was granted by the Crawl Lodge of Great Britain to aiiy individual vonnected with the Allay."
But on page 20 of' the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, we find that at a meeting held at Lord KENYON'S On the 17th NIarch I 9, durim,, Mr. Chetwoode's Secretaryship, at which the Duke of CUMBERLAND presided, resolutions were passed " that new warren Is' be granted" to five soldiers,—three of them being stationed with their reeiments in Gibraltar, one in Malta, and one at Devonport. So mach for Mr. CHETWOODE 6 recollection !
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