TILE ORANGE PLOT.
lavish] probably still be a deficiency in the revenue : but could not 1st. That the number of Orange Lodges is about 1500, each con- 31r. SPRING RicE talk over the matter with Lord Howlett, and tanning from 30 to:300 members.
5th. That they are known to each other by secret signs and symbols.- their bayonets? 6th. That their principal avowed object is to maintain Protestant Secondly, what would be the effect on the newspaper trade ? On Ascendancy. toint opinions are very various. At first there would be a 7th. That their funds are used in defending any of the members r, et rush into the business,—fur with most it would be a matter of who may he arraigned for political offences; and that they interfere panels, shillings, and pence, notwithstanding poor patriots might with the Registration, to procure the return of "Constitutional" gentle- s") pour about disinterestedness. It would not be long before the men to the House of Commons.
rash speculators would discover, that in spite of the repeal of the 8th. That the Duke of CCMHERLAND, as Grand Master, has autho- dety, to set up a newspaper is au expensive affair. To advance rity to summon the whole body to assemble at any one place at any the duty requires some capital; to pay editors, contributors, re-
time.
porters, foreign correspondents, paper-makers, printers—to credit 9th. That twenty-four Lodges at the least have been established in edvertisers anal newsmen—requires much more : and this the different regiments of the Army; and that warrants for the formation pat iotie adventurer would soon find out. and probably wish of Lodges have been sent to regiments on foreign stations—Malta, for instance.
dzit he had invested his money even in Spanish Bonds at 65, lOrh. That it is deemed prudent not to send written communica- rather than in newspaper " property." The result of experience in tions to the brethren in the Army, but verbal ones.
the business of establishing newspapers would be the withdrawal 11th. That the books produced before the Committee are only the of many from the profitless attempt; and then, perhape, the old- public records of the body, and that other secret memoranda and regula- established concerns might reap some benefit from the extended tions are not produced. sale consequent upon a reduction in price. That there would be 12th. That the officers of a regiment are never consulted on the an increase of sale, appears as certain with regard to newspapers, formation of Orange Lodges among the men ; but that the privates and as with regard to coffee, or soap, or gin. non-commissioned officers are the active persons in the work. We are inclined, then, to think that the influx of competitors— lath. That no official communication has been made to Lord HILL respective the existence of Orange Lodges in the Army. mi. taken and ill-informed persons generally—might for an indc- 14th. That warrants for the establishment of such Lodges, called lieite period prevent existing and well-conducted journals from "marching warrants," have been issued as lately as April 1833, signed, levying any pecuniary benefit from the abolition of the Stamp- a: all the warrants are, by the Duke of CUMBERLAND as Grand Master. duty. Peehaps they might in time establish an extended sale, ( His Royal Highness is a Field-Marshal.) which would produce an increased profit. But, with regard to N.13. That these facts were elicited front the officers of the Orange the pecuniary interests of newspaper proprietors, we consider that Society themselves. the question of profit or loss is involved in uncertainty. Much has been said, and more surmised, as to the extent of the
Thirdly—and this is the really important consideration—how Orange combination; but, if we mistake not, the public generally would the public be affected by the abolition of the Stamp- will be startled by the disclosures made before the Committee. It duty ? There would be a great effort to supply such papers as the appears that not only is the great mass of the male adult popula- masses would prefer; and an amazing quantity of trash, seme of it floss of Irish Protestants banded together in a secret saciety, but harmless, some of it pernicious, would he poured into the market. that, in direct contravention of military law, a system of political, Eut our maxim is, " Magna est veritas, et preevalehie" By and by, organization has been established in the Army. generally, if not useful and sensible writings would be preferred. The better article invariably, without the privity of the officers of that Army. At
would supersede the worse. the head of this illegal confederacy is Field-Marshal the Duke of The Newspaper-tax bears this original taint about it, that it CUMBERLAND; between whom and the Throne, the Princess was imposed with a view to keep the masses in a state of political VICTORIA alone will stand after the demise of WILLIAM the ignorance. This was the grand object of the men who imposed it Fm r.h. If it were possible that his Royal Highness could liar- in the beginning of the last century; and that their project sue- hour any foul designs towards his niece, what a feirful power of ceeded to a certain extent, appears from the correspondence of executing them is lodged in his hands! If his Royal Highness, in Swine On this account, the advocates of anti-popular doctrines c use of the demise of the Crown, and the succession of a minor aid measures have . always been partial to the Newspaper-tax ; Queen, should think it for the benefit if the cause of " Protestant and it is within the memory of the young of the present genera- Ascendancy," that he should be joined in the Regency with the Lion that CASTLEREAGH and SIDMOUTH did their best to fetter Dutchess of KENT, what an instrument for accomplishing his pur- the press. pose would be found in the chieftainship of the two hundred and
Take, then, the evidence of friend or foe to popular improve- twenty thousand armed Orangemen! Of course the Duke has no went, and you have the same result—that the enhancement of such evil, no such ambitious propensities : but, considering the the price of newspapers tends to keep the masses in a state of odour in which he stands with the public, who, unfortunately, sel- profitaMe subserviency to those who gain by misgovernment. This doe see him busied in any thing that has not an anti-popular is the opinion of Earl SPENCER, and of the Liberal Whigs gene- tendency,—considering that he is a violently, though he has in rally, including Mr. SPRING RICE. Lord ALTHORP went so far some instances proved himself to have been a wrongfully, suspected as to propose a reduction of the tax in his first Budget ; and Mr. person,—it is not to be wondered at that the alarm which is felt at RICE does not pretend to deny the expediency of repealing the the existence of the Orange combination, is greatly augmented by Newspapeeduty, but he pleads the poverty of the Exchequer. the circumstance of the Grand Master being the Duke of We have, however, already shown that Mr. RICE has no choice; CUMBERLAND.
for that if the tax is not legally, it will soon be virtually, re- And though we do not mean to charge the Duke of CUMBER• pealed : and we challenge any man to prove that the recusant LAND with any intention of using the power thus illicitly parties would deserve blame for their resistance to the payment of placed in his hands, for the overthrow of our liberties, or for inter- an imposition which is not fairly levied. awing with the line of succession to the Throne, we are not so
existence, until he learned the fact from the evidence before the Committee. When we find Mr. STEWART BLACKER, Mr. MAX- WELL'S Assistant Secretary, producing the books of the Lodge, in which the transmissions of the warrants to the various regiments are regularly entered, it indeed requires no small degree of faith in Mr. MAXWELL'S honesty to credit his assertion of what he himself calls his " deplorable ignorance." But, of course, Mr. MAxwees would not state what is false ; and we must believe that he, as well as the Duke, were '• deplorably ignorant " of the pro- ceeding: of a Soeeity of which the one is Grand Master and the .other Grand Secretary.
Admitting this ignorance, we must, however, remark, that the dangerous character of the Orange Association is thereby more fully made out. Who can tell what use may have been made of the Duke- of CUMBERLAND'S r me by the subordinate function- aries of the Orange Lodges? His name, it scents, has been at- -Welled to papers which have been used to sanction illegal combi- nations in the At what may not have been the nature of those secret verbal communieutiota which were addressed to the military members? Much underhand work has been going on, of which the nominal leaders of the Orange pasty were till lately ignorant. This is one of the very worst features in this dark and suspicious affair.
We apprehend that there can be but one opinion among loyal subjects of Al
.:ILLIAM the Fourth, who hope in due time to be loyal subjects of VICTORIA the First, as to the imperative neces- sity which rests upon the Legislature and the Government to take immediately effective measures for prsbing the Orange plot to the bottom, and suppressing the Society altsgether. Next week %t e shall probably have occasion to revert to this subject, when noti- cing the Parliamentary proceedings on the motion which Mr. HUME means to found on the evidence of the Orange Committee.
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