The Early Years By S. E. LONG
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The Loyal Orange Institution was founded after the Battle of the Diamond on September 21, 1795. The "skirmish" was between the Roman Catholic Defenders and the Protestants of the area. When it ended the Protestants formed a circle, joined hands and declared their brotherhood in loyalty to the Crown, their country and the Reformed religion.
Hostile critics of Orangeism have claimed that the Institution was just another name for the Peep O' Day Boys who from 1784 had terrorised the countryside in their bitter struggles against the Defenders.
But the Rev. Snowden Cupples, Rector of Lisburn, Co. Antrim, writing in 1799 as Grand Master of the Co. Antrim Orangemen pointed out that "The Orange Association should not be confounded, as it has often invidiously been, with the mutual and disgraceful outrages which prevailed in the County of Armagh for several years preceding that period, between certain Protestants, under the designation Peep O' Day Boys, and Roman Catholics who assumed the name of Defenders. With their transactions it has no connection or affinity."
Before the Battle of the Diamond efforts had been made by representative Protestants and Roman Catholics to keep the peace. There was the Council of Seven - Colonel Cope, Archdall Cope, Mr. Hardy, Councillor Archdall; and the priests, Taggart, McFarland and Traynor, had negotiated a short-lived truce.
The first shots at the Diamond were fired by the Defenders on Monday September 21, 1795. The 'armies' faced each other across the valley, the Protestants on Cranagill Hill and the Roman Catholics on Faughart Hill. The Protestants routed their enemies without suffering any casualties. The Defenders who were killed have been estimated at figures between 16 and 60. An eye witness put the number at 30, among them their commander, Captain McCarthy of White Cross. near Markethill. It had been the intention of the Roman Catholics to drive the Protestants out of the country.
The Diamond affray might have had a different result had not James Verner seized the boats to prevent Defenders from Throne and Derby from reaching the scene.
The authorities kept a low profile, apparently satisfied to leave the combatants to it. Their attitude was probably governed by the area commander's liking of the Protestant cause and he anticipated its victory. The commander, Captain John Gifford, of the Royal Dublin Militia, stationed at Portadown was to be accorded a pivotal place in the founding of the Institution. Plowden, the English Roman Catholic historian, said of Gifford, "To him is attributed the adoption of the title of Orangemen, their original oath and obligation and the first regulations, by which they were organised into a society."
Gifford was present in Sloan's Inn at Loughgall when the Orange Order was founded. He wrote a few days afterwards to his friend Captain Beresford in Dublin telling him that he had founded at Loughgall a society that for generations would curb both Pope and Popery in Ireland.
Gifford's strong detestation of the Pope and his adoration of King William III was well known. John Best, Worshipful Master of L.O.L. 41, on May 4, 1813 in a statement claimed that Gifford made the Orange Oath and drew up the rules of the society.
Oath
The original oath was, 'I ... do solemnly swear that I will, to the utmost of my power, support and defend the king and his heirs as long as he or they support the Protestant ascendency."
Some Protestants wrought havoc in the wake of the Battle of the Diamond and many Roman Catholics were forced to flee the area. Lord Altamount, on November 5, 1796, estimated that 4,000 Co. Armagh refugees were living in Co. Mayo, 1,000 on his own estate; while the Dublin "Evening Post" (August 27, 1796) had reported that 1,000 were living on the estate of Colonel Martin in Co. Galway. The terror spread to Co. Tyrone and Co. Down where many Roman Catholics were forced to leave their homes.
Mob violence was having such a disturbing effect on life in Co. Armagh that the authorities used special measures to quell disturbances. They had limited success.
Lord Gosford, the governor of the county, in a specially convened meeting of magistrates, told them: "It is no secret that a persecution, accompanied with all the circumstances of a pernicious cruelty, which have in all ages distinguished that calamity, is now raging in this country.
"A lawless banditti have constituted themselves judges in this new species of delinquency, and the sentence they have announced is equally concise and terrible. It is nothing less than a confiscation of all property, and an immediate banishment."
The Gosford speech made no reference to Orangemen, though it has often been quoted against them, probably for the reason that there were no more than about 200 of them as he spoke. A. T. Q. Stewart in his book, "The Narrow Ground," says: "Because the Orange Institution has so often been held to be the cause of fomenting sectarian strife, it has long ago been forgotten that its birth was not the cause but the consequence of prolonged and severe sectarian conflict lasting for 20 years in a part of Co. Armagh."
Present at the first meetings of the Orangemen were James Wilson, of the Dyan; Thomas Sinclair, of Derryscallop; and James Sloan, the Loughgall inn-keeper at whose house they were held. Sloan was evidently regarded as the first leader.
While the details of the post-battle events are not clear it would seem that a number of the victors pledged themselves by oath to form an association for defence against their enemies; to support the Protestant Religion and to uphold the King and the Constitution.
At the beginning the membership was of the labouring and artisan classes. Only a few of the gentry joined among them Viscount Northland, of Dungannon. The small number of professional men were represented by Joseph Atkinson; the Rev. George Maunsell, rector of Drumcree in 1781-1804, described by Plowden as an "over-zealous" Protestant preacher; the Rev. George Marshall, Rector of Dromore, Co. Tyrone; Captain Clarke, Summer Island; Mr. Brownlow, Lurgan, and Major Waring, of Waringstown. The Verners, of Church Hill, also became members.
The Institution grew so rapidly that district and county lodges were formed.
The several counties had their own rules and soon the need was recognised that there should be uniformity of practice and with this in mind a delegates' meeting was held on July 12, 1796 at Portadown when the idea of a Grand Lodge was also mooted.
Wolsey Atkinson, of Portadown, was appointed secretary and requested to issue printed lodge warrants. These had been issued previously by James Sloan on poor quality paper and hand-written.
The reason why Warrant No.l went to Dyan Lodge has been explained in three ways.
Firstly, Edward Rogers, an authority on Orange origins, said: "After the struggle at the Diamond some persons from that locality came to Loughgall for the purpose of procuring from Sloan the necessary authority for admitting members into their lodge. Being in the garden at the time Sloan directed them to the village to procure writing materials. During their absence James Wilson on a similar errand arrived from the Dyan. On being informed that there was neither pen nor ink, he at once replied, 'If that be all I can provide against that, and 'tis best; for the first Orange warrant should not be written by anything made by the hand of man.' Taking a sprig from a tree of hyssop, which grew in the garden, he handed it, together with the cover of a letter, to Sloan. Sloan, on being taken aback at the novelty of the proceeding, incautiously signed the paper, establishing the claim of the Dyan men to a number which by right should not have left the vicinity of the field of victory. When the men who had gone to the village returned, and found what had been done, nothing could exceed their disappointment; and finally they refused to take a warrant. Others more fortunate were stepping in, and these poor fellows now rejoice in the possession of No. 118."
The second account came from Mr. Woods, a Loughgall Orangeman, who made no reference to the sprig of hyssop, but spoke of many men coming to Sloan for warrants and from him the Dyan men got No.l by chance. The Diamond men got a late number because they were determined that they must get No.l and held back either from pique or from the expectation that their claim would be met.
A third account was given by James Verner Hart. When speaking at an Eldon Lodge No.7 meeting on March 8, 1875 he said: "The tired Protestants, whose homeward road from the Diamond led through Loughgall, stopped for refreshments at the inn kept by Mr. James Sloan whom I personally knew, and there they formed an Orange lodge, after the model of the Freemasons.'
He went on to explain, "Every neighbourhood formed its own lodge; but as it was soon found necessary to summon delegates to represent the lodges at large meetings, the members were obliged to number them. They summoned a meeting for the purpose, put the requisite numbers into a hat and drew them out one by one; and thus the Dyan, near Caledon, happened to get No.l instead of Loughgall where the first Orange lodge was formed. My father, who was a clerk in Lord Hertford's office in Lisburn at the time was delegated to go to Loughgall, and being there initiated, to bring the system down to Lisburn. He did so, and was energetically assisted by Thomas Verner (brother-in-law to Lord Donegall) who resided then in Lisburn as collector of Excise."
Relatives
Hart spoke of three of his relatives being at the Battle of the Diamond. His explanation of how things happened has much to commend it. As Orange historian R. M. Sibbett says the sprig of hyssop could well have had another origin. It is most unlikely that an inn would be out of paper and ink. The writing in blood is romantic but probably fantastic.
The first Orange parades were held on July 12. 1796 at Portadown, Lurgan, and Waringstown. By 1798 large parades were held at Belfast, Lisburn and Lurgan when the General Officer Commanding in Ulster, Lieutenant General Lake, inspected the parade.
In the Rebellion of 1798, the Orangemen were on the side of the Crown and had much to do with the defeat of the United Irishmen. That organisation had been founded in 1701 by the Anglo-Irishman Wolfe Tone and had many Presbyterians in its ranks, though Tone was Church of Ireland. After the quashing of the Rebellion the English Government with William Pitt the Younger, as Prime Minister, decided to unite the London and Dublin governments. The decision was deeply resented by most Orangemen, though the Grand Master, Thomas Verner, was in favour of the plan.
The Orangemen feared a weakening of the Protestant ascendency with the removal of the Protestant Irish Parliament. Grand Lodge issued statements in December, 1798 and January, 1799 advising Orange men still to abstain from expressing any opinion pro or con upon the question of a legislative union between this country and Great Britain, because such expressions of opinion, and such discussion in lodges would only lead to disunion."
It saw neutrality as the safer option for the well being of the Institution.
The decision of Grand Lodge was not accepted by all Orangemen. In February, 1800 the three Dublin Iodges expressed their disagreement with it when they declared, 'We consider the extinction of our separate legislatures as the extinction of the Irish nation.'
The disagreement spread to the North and Orange meetings were held to denounce the proposed union and the attitude of Grand Lodge to it. Not one Ulster resolution favoured the Union of Great Britain and Ireland and most Grand Lodge members who were members of parliament in the Dublin administration voted against it.
Hereward Senior makes this observation: "After the third anniversary of the Battle of the Diamond the Orange Lodges evolved from an obscure rural Protestant society in Ulster into the strongest political movement in Ireland."
It was to lose the position because of the struggle for the Union which produced divisions and animosities in the membership.
The British determination to have close alliance with Ireland was not for purely selfish reasons. The loyalty of Ireland's Parliament to the Crown was never in question, but the British had a conscience about the treatment of Roman Catholics by a Parliament which was regarded as corrupt even by the not very high standards of contemporary British politics.
The Act of Union was passed on August 1, 1800 and became law on January 1, 1801. On that date the new Union Colours of the Royal Tyrone Militia were paraded, escorted by the Grenadier company and the new Union Flag was hoisted at Dublin Castle and Great Britain and Ireland were formally united. With the Union a reality there were no more loyal supporters of it than the Orangemen.
Enlarge
After the Union the Orange leadership was anxious to improve and enlarge the Institution and to counter the persistent demand for Roman Catholic Emancipation. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy had supported the Union in the belief, voiced by the Archbishop of Tuam, that "it alone can restore harmony and happiness to our unhappy country."
Certainly there was a strong feeling in England that the Roman Catholics should have parliamentary representation at Westminster. At this time consideration was given to providing financial aid for the training of clergy at the Royal College of St. Patrick, Maynooth, which had been founded in 1795, and endowed by the Irish Parliament. That kind of help had already been given to Presbyterian Ordinands.
King George III refused to consider Roman Catholic Emancipation because he believed it to be a breach of his coronation oath.
The campaign of Daniel O'Connell for emancipation was to be made a divisive factor in British politics for the next 20 years.
In 1823 O`Connell formed a political / religious organisation, 'The Catholic Association.' It was financed by the "Catholic Rent", a penny a month levy on every Irish Roman Catholic and collected at Masses. It paid for a press and literature propaganda campaign and for public meetings convened to keep the issue of emancipation constantly before the people.
The Grand Master, the Right Hen. George Ogle (1801-1818), Thomas Verner had resigned in 1801-- and other Orange M.P.s had the constant task of defending the Institution against the attacks at Westminster by parliamentarians who favoured O'Connell and his cause.
They had the sympathy of Robert Peel and those members of the Government who recognised the need for an organised body of loyalists in Ireland which would provide recruits for the yeomanry which had the task of keeping the peace in the country, and discouraging rebellion and internecine strife.
Peace
The Orange leaders, conditions being as uncertain as they were, were anxious that displays and processions should be as few as possible for the sake of peace.
With the rebellion at an end the lodges were to be less fighting societies, and more political and fraternal clubs. They needed some sort of ideas to hold them together, and Duigenen and Musgrave were men of ideas," was their thinking.
Patrick Duigenen was Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ireland and Sir Richard Musgrave, the historian of the "98," was Grand Treasurer. These two men were to prove able apologists for the Order, and to them must be credited consequential developments in Orange Institution thinking and practice.
In March, 1823, the Co. Armagh Grand Lodge issued this statement: "We feel not less surprised than grieved that Orange associations should be accused of illegal interference in the state, or branded as an intolerant and persecuting faction ... Where in this land have the laws been so well enforced and so cheerfully obeyed as in those districts where the Orange association has more power and influence? and we call on them to show in all the outrages and rebellious insults which have disgraced the very name of Ireland, where had the true Orangeman been found who were not ranged on the side of these laws?"
When Sir Robert Peel became Chief Secretary for Ireland the Orangemen had someone who was anxious to be fair to them. The O'Connellites recognising this as partiality to the Protestants called him "Orange Peel." The Orangemen needed his protection, for in the two years of his secretaryship the attacks on the Orange movement were many and furious.
From 1815, the Institution had been seriously affected, by internal disputes. Many of them were about lodge ritual and the attempts to form higher orders. It was to stay in the doldrums until an Orange Order revival was brought about by the agragrian troubles of the 1820s; the resurgence of the O'Connell movement and a new vice-regal administration with questionable aims in so far as Orangeism was concerned.
In January 1820 the Orange central leadership was strengthened by having the Grand Lodge meet twice a year in February and August, and a committee was appointed to take care of the affairs of the Institution between meetings.
A new set of rules and regulations were published. They laid it down that Orangemen "could not assist at, nor sanction the making of any member in any other order purporting to be part of the Orange system, than the Orange and Purple."
The rule did not meet with universal approval and Black Knights and Knights of Malta continued to claim affiliation with Orangeism, though they went unrecognised by Grand Lodge. The Unlawful Oath Act of July, 1823, though it was aimed at the Ribbonmen, affected Orangemen, too.
By March, 1824 in an attempt to meet the requirements of the Act the Grand Lodge commissioned the production of a new constitution and rules which would be legally acceptable to Parliament in every particular.
Later it prohibited demonstrations on the Twelfth of July and in so doing seriously endangered its authority over the private lodges. Such restraint could have driven militant Protestants out of the Orange Lodges and caused them to return to membership in secret societies of the type of the Peep O' Day Boys.
In spite of the risk, James Verner appealed to all Orangemen "to act in the most strict conformity with an order which tends so strongly to show how much the members of the Orange Association are willing to sacrifice to the feelings, and even prejudices, of their fellow subjects and how desirous they are that no excuses should be left for ascribing any of the disorders that afflict Ireland to their conduct of example.''
Historians say that while "complete conformity to these instructions was not obtained,... on the whole they were obeyed."
In 1824 the Government was faced with O'Connell's Catholic Association and its threat to take over the country. The Catholic Association "was designed to organise the Catholic peasantry into a huge political association, which though rejecting force in theory, would, in fact, have the power to commence civil war at will."
To meet the challenge in the threat of Government passed the Unlawful Societies Act in 1825 outlawing certain named organisations. The Roman Catholic lobby at Westminster insisted that the Orange Institution must be included in that proscription and it dissolved itself on March 18, 1825.
The Orange representatives before the House of Lords studying the state of Ireland, Colonel William Verner and the Rev. Holt Waring, took the opportunity the debate on the Act gave them to clear the Orange Order of many of the ridiculous charges which had been made against it.
The final meeting of Grand Lodge was held in Dublin with Colonel Pratt in the chair. A statement drawn up and addressed to all lodges said: "At no period was the Institution in a more flourishing condition, or more highly respectable in the number added to its ranks. Notwithstanding which, the Parliament of the United Kingdom have considered it necessary that all political societies should be dissolved. Of course, our society is included. It therefore become our duty to inform you that any lodge meetings after this date commits a breach of the law."
While that was the attitude of the leaders their exhortation fell on deaf ears. The lodges continued regardless. Daniel O'Connell was not to be beaten by an Act of Parliament. He maintained the Catholic Association by devices which were legally most questionable. It influenced elections, and the one which took O'Connell himself to Westminster as M.P. for Co. Clare in 1828. The strength and determination of O'Connell and the Catholic Association persuaded the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, to press for the passing of an Act for Catholic Emancipation. That act became law in 1829.
The Orange Order opposition to emancipation from 1808 had been led by Lord Kenyon. It was he who was instrumental in persuading His Royal Highness Frederick Augustus, Duke of York, second son of King George III, to become Grand Master of England in 1821.
Legality
The Duke resigned the office when questions were asked in Parliament about the legality of the Orange Order. On the reorganisation of the Institution. within the law, His Royal Highness Ernest Augustus, fifth son of George 111 became Grand Master of England in 1827. Those who hoped that he would influence his brother King George IV, and the House of Lords, were disappointed.
Cumberland, already much maligned, brought only further abuse on himself when he became Orange Grand Master. Incidentally he was a High Tory and an opponent of all reforms. He became King of Hanover in 1837 on the death of King William IV and had a very stormy reign.
The Institution had been revived when the Act of 1825 lapsed. At a Dublin meeting on Septemher 15th, 1828 Cumberland was elected Grand Master of Ireland but soon afterwards he resigned the office and membership of the Order and its connection with royalty ceased.
The O'Connell campaign against the Union which he blamed for all the ills of Ireland, caused Protestants to fear for their future in this country. They turned in large numbers to the Institution for leadership and protection in their determination to maintain the Union.
When the question of the right of Orangemen to march in procession was asked many felt that the leaders were far removed from the rank and file in their thinking. It was contended that the leaders were only concerned with the Constitution, Repeal and the situation of the Established Church. The determination of the Orangemen to have their processions and demonstrations took no thought of the effects of these on Westminster and their enemies there and elsewhere. The issue was again debated in Westminster in 1836 and the Whig Government, dependent on the support of O'Connell and the Radicals, decided to move against the Institution
The judgement was delivered by King William IV, on February 25, 1836 when he said he would he "pleased to take such measures as may be seen to be advisable for the effectual discouragement of Orange lodges and generally of all political societies, excluding persons of a different religious Faith, using secret signs and symbols, and acting by means of associated branches."
It was his firm intention to discourage all such societies in his dominions- and he relied on the "fidelity of my loyal dominions to support him". On February 26, the Home Secretary received an assurance from Cumberland that he would 'take immediate steps to dissolve the Loyal Orange Institution in Great Britain.' The promise was kept and officially the institution was dissolved again in England and Ireland.
The Northern Irish refused even to think of dissolution. Grand Lodge might agree to it, but it had no power to dissolve the Order. Many lodges acted as they had done after 1825. They just carried on as before.
Business
The Armagh County Grand Lodge resolved on June 13, 1836: "That the business of the Institution in this country be entrusted, as in the early days, to Grand Lodge of the same until the Grand Lodge of Ireland resumes its function."
The Grand Lodge was reconstructed on November 15th, 1837 in Dublin with Lord Roden as Grand Master. Because it appeared to lack strength and determination in the struggle for the Union a Grand Lodge of Ulster was formed in February 12, 1844, with the aim oigiving "mutual support and defence in these perilous times."
In 1845, the Party Processions Act having expired, the Orangemen were openly demonstrating in many places. The Grand Lodge was reconstructed again on August 3, this time at the Town Hall, Enniskillen, and the Earl of Enniskillen was elected Grand Master.
The Roman Catholic Ribbonmen were most active in the spring of 1848. They killed a few people and attacked the Orange procession at Dolly's Brae. The aftermath of that affair was the dismissal of Lord Roden and William Beers, the Co. Down Grand Master and his brother Francis from the Commission of the Peace.
William Beers has been credited with the expression "Dolly's Brae no more" when he suggested that its name be changed to King William's Hill after the successful march and the planting of two Orange Flags at the top of the hill.
Incidentally the Oath of the Ribbonmen was: "I swear that I will never pity the moans or groans of the dying, from the cradle to the crutch; and that I will wade knee deep in Orange blood. I swear that I am to hear my right arm to be cut off, before I will waylay, or betray, or go to a court to prosecute a brother, knowing him to be such. A man, acting contrary to this oath to be put an end to as soon as possible.'
In 1866 when the 1850 Party Processions Act was about to be enforced because of the fracas at Dolly's Brae - it was aimed at preventing Orange and Green organisations from marching on their special days -- William Johnston of Ballykilbeg organised a demonstration against it on July 12, 1867.
He led Orangemen in procession from Newtownards to Banger. IIe had the support of the Belfast County Lodge and altogether 100 lodges walked in the parade with 40,000 people as participants and spectators. While Johnston and a hundred others were named for prosecution only he and a few others were charged and he only went to prison.
The others had pleaded guilty and were fined. Johnston refused bail set at £500 for himself and two other sureties of £500 each. In jail he composed a couple of Orange songs which are still sung by Orangemen at their social functions. One of thetn has the verse ...
"Shall
Ulster furl the flag we bore
So proudly on to Bangor?
The watchword of the brave and free
Will still be 'No Surrerrder.' "
Johnston served a few days short of two months being released on April 27, 1868. Ten thousand people were at the prison gate that day to greet him and there were bands and party tunes. Bonfires were lit on many of the hills in Ulster that night. What William Johnston had done on the Twelfth 1867 was distasteful to Grand Lodge but he was unconcerned for he had the evidence that the membership were behind him. When the Act was repealed Orange procession were resumed everywhere in the country.
The first Grand Orange Conference was held in the Belfast Orange Hall on July 18, 1866, "in response to the suggestion from Canada where Orangeism was now very strong, and where they say Bro. Sir John Macdonald got the notion of the Confederation of Canada from the organisation of the Grand Lodge of British America, the Orangemen of the world came together then to provide a means of consultation in the new imperial Grand Orange Council."
A long cherished wish to sponsor an orphan society was realised in 1888 when the Lord Enniskillen Memorial Orphan Society was founded by the Rev. E. F. Campbell, Rector of Killyman, Co. Tyrone.