He undertook to prove that years after the Society was reconstituted the members did use secret signs and symbols and that as regarded the inner circle-the "Purple Arch," the "Purple Order," and the "Black Preceptory"-no person was admissible without the preliminary of an oath. Now, he took his stand on the declaration that the oath at the present moment was not administered, and that no secret signs or symbols were employed. Gentleman said those two points were that, in 1836, the Orange Society made use of secret signs and the other was that the initiatory proceedings were attended by religious ceremonials partaking of the nature of an oath. Gentleman had dwelt upon two points which induced him to arrive at the conclusion that the Society was very different now from what it was in 1836. Member, pretended for one moment that Roman Catholics could be admitted? The right hon. Sexton) denied that since 1836 the Orange Society had made any change in that respect and he asked if the right hon. The fourth point urged by the Prime Minister was that the Orange Society was not exclusive in point of religion. He contended that the connection of these persons with the Orange Society of the pre- sent day constituted as grave a case as did the membership of the Duke of Cumberland in 1836. Sexton) was not aware that any Prince of the Blood Royal gave his countenance to the Orange Society now but, if not, it was, nevertheless, excited to acts of violence by the son of a noble Duke who had held the Office of Viceroy of Ireland by Lord Lieutenants of counties by magistrates by Members of the House of Commons and by High Sheriffs, who were entrusted with the administration of the law. The third point adverted to by the Prime Minister was, that the Orange Society was, at the time referred to-namely, 1836-presided over by a Prince of the Blood Royal. Gentleman of the appeal made at the meeting at Rosslea, by Lord Rossmore, to the sympathy that existed between Orangemen and the soldiers, and of the significant declaration that was contained in an exclamation which came from one voice at that meeting-"There are 400 Orangemen in the regiment"-a statement referring, no doubt, to the local Militia. The second point of the Prime Minister was that it had reached very extensively into the Army. Gentlemen, who were members of the Orange Society, in that House, that Society was extremely extensive now. Gentleman said that the case against the Orange Societies at that time was, first of all, that they were extremely extensive but on the admission and avowed declaration of noble Lords and hon. The Prime Minister, in replying to the Question, gave as his reason for refusing to enforce, in the Public Service in Ireland, the provisions of the Treasury Minute of 1836, that since that time the Orange Society had been transformed. He believed he should be able to show that the Orange Society at the present moment did not exclude the use of these illegal tests and declarations, and that it was conducted upon a complete and elaborate system of signs and symbols. Sexton) proposed to show the House that the impression conveyed in the Question of the noble Viscount was directly contrary to the fact. The noble Viscount asked- "If the Prime Minister is aware that since the issue of the Treasury Minute of the 15th March 1836, requiring public servants under the control of the Board to withdraw from the Orange Institution, that Society was dissolved, and has since been reconstituted upon a basis expressly excluding the use of oaths, illegal tests or declarations, and secret signs and symbols?" He (Mr. Gentleman the Prime Minister would have answered the Question but, before he was able to do so, the noble Viscount the Member for Fermanagh (Viscount Crichton) interposed with another Question. He had asked if the Government were aware that oaths and secret signs were enforced in connection with the existing Orange Lodges? The right hon. He had lately addressed two Questions to the Chief Secretary upon the subject. Said, that, before the House passed this stage of the Address, he was anxious to elicit from the Government some statement in regard to the Orange Society in Ireland.
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