AiIiirdIartrattd.
The Committee on the Orange Lodges sent an invitation, on Tues- day, to the Duke of Cumberland, to attend and give evidence in expla- nation of the difference between the assertions in the Duke's letters and the written and oral testimony laid before the Committee. The Duke, no doubt for cogent reasons, has declined the invitation. Lord Kenyon has been examined by the Committee ; but his mode of giving evidence is said not to haVe been very creditable to his Lordship. He refused to give up the secret signs and pass-words of the Orangemen ; and it was with difficulty that he could be made to admit the fact of Lis own cognizance of the formation of Orange Lodges in the Army. But the fact was, however, brought home to him ; and the following official proclamation and summons, which was published in the Stan- dard of Monday, was probably occasioned by what passed in the Com- mittee.
" TO THE MEMBERS Or THE LOYAL ORANOE nrcriTtrriosr, ETC. ITC. ETC. " Having learned. through the especial information of the Deputy Grand ,Master Of Endand and Wales [Lord Kenyon] that, owing to acknowledged indiscretion cud negligence on his wen.part, a'n4 a like tad scretion or negligence, as hy reports, Is tA, part of other ewers of the Orange Institution, many grants of *arrant* ct renewals of former grants, have without my knowledge, and contrary to my de- clared determination. been issued from time to time iu contravention of the order of the late illustrious Commagderdn-Chief, his Royal Highness the Duke of York—this instrument is signed by me, and countersigned by the Deputy "Grand Master of the Orange Institution of England and Wales. for the purpose of declaring that all warrants held by any persons in any regiment belonging to his Majesty's service, must henceforth be considered as uull and void. It having been further noti- fied to me by the Deputy Grand Master of England and Wales, that an irregularity Inconsistent with the due construction of law has, by his oversight, been allowed to creep into the last published rules and regulations of the Society, by which district Lodges are acknowledged to exist, instead of distinct warrants issued to imbchluals. This is also to require a special meeting of the Grand Lodge, at Ito 9, Portman i Square, on Tuesday, September 1, at eleven u the forenoon, to correct such mistake. " ERNEST, Grand Master. Aug. 24, 1835. " Witness, lizisvorr, Deputy Grand Master." It is said that there is abundant evidence to prove that the Duke of Cumberland himself must have known and sanctioned the formation of Orange Lodges in the Army, notwithstanding his solemn denial. But
. are long we shall have positive information on this point.
The Morning Chronicle has very opportunely published a letter written by the Duke of York in 1821, resigning the cffice now held by the Duke of Cumberland, on account of the illegality of the Orange
Association. The following is an extract from the letter.
I have learnt, within these few days, that the Law Officers of the Crown and other eminent lawyers are decidedly of opinion that the Orange Associations, under the oath Administered to their members, are illegal. Under that circumstance. and from the roomoot I bat I had satisfied myself of the existence of this objection, it became my duty, as a subject of these realms, and more particularly in the station which 1 hold in them, to withdraw myself from an office and from an association of which I could no longer be a member without violating those laws which it has ever been my study to uphold and maintain."
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