powers at peace with the Porte. The Porte declares, that under nɔ pretence whatsoever will it throw any obstacle in the way of the exercise of this right, and engages, above all, never hereafter to stop or detain vessels, either with cargo or in ballast, whether Russian, or belonging to nations with which the Porte shall not be in a state of declared war."

In the manifesto, published by the Emperor Nicholas, on the 1st of Dctober, 1829, he says:

"The passage of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus is henceforth free and open to the commerce of all the nations of the world."

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Thus the stipulation was, that all nations at peace (not, be it observed, with Russia, but with the Porte), should enjoy the right of unimpeded passage; but how has that been affected by the treaty of the 8th of July Will it be said, that nothing was accomplished by the Autocrat by that treaty? If so, why was it signed without the knowledge of our ambassador, and in a clandestine and surreptitious way? What are its provisions? Do the public journals give a just account of it? Is it true, that it provides that no vessels belonging to a power at war with Russia shall enjoy that right? If so, the alteration is palpable; and if there be no express declaration to this effect, let there be an alliance, offensive and defensive, and the Porte is bound to consider every enemy of Russia as its own; the consequence is precisely the same as if the Porte surrendered to Russia the possession of the Dardanelles, and the last of the Sultans is the first satrap of Nicholas the Great.

There does not appear to be any sound reason for withholding this treaty. It has been the subject of remonstrance by France-of debate in the French Chamber-of diversified commentary in the public journals. Why withhold it? There must be a strange inconsistency in publishing all the enormous answers to protocols respecting Belgium, where the transaction is as yet incomplete, and in refusing to furnish anything but materials for surmise on this treaty. Ponderous folios of fruitless negociations on the affairs of Belgium have been given to the world. Let the government act upon the principle adopted in that case, and give the English people the means of forming a judgment of the policy which his Majesty's ministers have adopted in a question where the national honour and interest are so deeply involved. It may be said, "Trust in the minister, be sure that he will not desert his duty, or acquiesce in any measure incompatible with the honour of England." I should be disposed to do so, when I take into account that the Secre tary for Foreign Affairs was a political follower of Mr. Canning, who considered the interests and the honour of England as so closely blended, and although the noble lord may have abandoned the opinions on domes tic policy which were entertained by Mr. Canning where he was in the wrong, it is to be presumed that he adhered with a closer tenacity to those opinions in foreign policy where Mr. Canning was in the right. But this ground of confidence in the noble lord is modified, if not countervailed, by the recollection, that in many recent transactions he has been baffled by that power which has gathered all the profligate nobility of Europe together, in order to compound a cabinet of Machiavellian

mercenaries to ma ntain the cause of slavery through the world. Look at Belgium-look at the Russian-Dutch loan. The noble lord, although guided by the prince of Benevento, has lost his way in the labyrinth which Russia has prepared for him and Poland. "We shall," he exclaimed, "remonstrate." We did remonstrate, and despatched Lord Durham to St. Petersburgh (why was not Sir Stratford Canning there?) and what has been the result? If confidence be to be entertained in the noble lord, it must be built on some firmer basis than his entertainment of the treaty of Vienna. Instead of calling on the people of England to confide in him, let him build his confidence in the English people. They are attached to peace, but they are not afraid of war. Our fleet could blow the Russian navy from the ocean. England is yet match for the Northern Autocrat, and there is might enough left in her arm to shatter the colossus that bestrides the sea by which Europe is divided from Asia, and which has been accounted from time beyond record one of the demarcations of the world.

ORANGE LODGES

SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, AUGUST 11, 1835.

Ir is remarkable that the gallant colonel (Verner), the Deputy Grand Blaster of Ireland and Viceroy to the Duke of Cumberland, has not stated that ne was ignorant of the existence of Orange lodges in the rmy. This omission is the more deserving of notice, because he was colonel of the 7th dragoons-because he was examined twice before the committee and because the several other functionaries of the Orange body have declared their utter ignorance of that which they ought to nave known so well. Independently of these considerations, it appears by a report of the proceedings of the English Grand Lodge, that the gallant colonel was present when (the Duke of Cumberland being in the chair) a resolution respecting the establishment of Orange lodges in the army was moved. Is it true that he was present?

Colonel VERNER.-I was never asked, in the committee, whether I knew of the existence of Orange lodges in the army. I now declare that I was utterly ignorant of the fact; and I do not remember whether I was or was not present when the resolution, to which the honourable gentleman adverts, was carried in the English Grand Lodge.

Mr. SHELL.-How far the answer fits the question let the house judge It appears that the gallant colonel did attend the English Grand Lodge, on what occasion he does not distinctly recollect-his memory is misty -but it would be important that he should state how far the impression is correct, that Orange lodges have been established in the army with the sanction of the Duke of Cumberland, and by virtue of resolutions, passed when the Orange Grand Lodge was graced by the presence of his Royal Highness! I turn from the gallant colonel to the general question. At the commencement of the session I charged the Conservative government with having advanced Orangemen to places of high station, and having given to Orange lodges answers amounting to a recognition of their public usefulness. This motion was not unattended with a salutary effect; immediately after, the member for Kilkenny,* to whom the country is greatly indebted for the disclosures which he has been instrumental in producing, moved the appointment of the committee. On that committee the leading functionaries of the Orange body were placed. And yet it is said that the committee was packed; but let us see who were the members of it:-the honourable members for Sligo and for Cavan were upon it; and there were also Mr. Jackson, Mr. Wilson Patten-I suppose that he is a Conservative-Colonci Wood, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Nicholl, Sir James Graham-(I really do not know with which party to class him)—Colonel Conolly, and Colonel Perceval. I do not think that this selection can be said to be an unfair one, but it is alleged that the mode in which the witnesses were examined was unjust. The Grand Master, and the Grand Treasurer, and the

Mr. Finn.

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Grand Secretary were examined --(they are all Grand)—the order of investigation was altogether inverted, and the Orange party were allowed to open the case themselves, and for a number of days none but Orang witnesses were examined. Colonel Verner was twice examined-first on the 7th of April, 1835, and again on the 9th of April. Then came the Reverend Mortimer O'Sullivan-certainly a very competent witness to give evidence with respect to both religions, for with regard to one he could indulge in the Pleasures of Memory," and to the other, he, doubtless, looked with the "Pleasures of Hope;" Mr. M. O'Sullivan, the Grand Chaplain, was produced, and was examined on the 13th of April, on the 21st and 26th of May, and again on the 27th of May: so many days expended upon theology and the Reverend Mortimer O'Sullivan. Then came Mr. Swan, the Deputy Grand Secretary; next came Mr. Stewart Blacker, the Assistant Grand Treasurer, who was examined on the 8th, 10th, 12th, and 13th of June; next Mr. W. Ward, the solicitor of the Grange body, who was produced to show that they never in any way interfered with the administration of justice; then again, on the 15th of June came Mr. Mortimer O'Sullivan-ecce iterum Crispinus-and lastly, came Mr. Hugh Baker. Yet it is alleged that there was unfair dealing in the examination of witnesses, although every word of the resolutions of the honourable member for Middlesex is founded, not upon the testimony of a party adverse to Orangeism, but upon the testimony of Orangemen supported by the journals and the records they themselves produced. What appears to be the state of Ireland in reference to the Orange institution, from the evidence adduced by Orangemen themselves? A confederacy exists, exclusively sectarian. It consists of 150,000 men; the members are initiated with a solemn and mysterious ritual-they enter into a compact of religious and political brotherhood-signs and pass-words are employed by them for the purposes of clandestine recognition-their proceedings are regulated by a code of laws, the most specific and the most minute-they are governed by a great representative assembly called the Grand Lodge of Ireland, consisting of delegates from every part of Ireland-the whole country is divided into departments, in which lodges affiliated and corresponding to each other are established-and this enormous mass of organized Protestantism is in arms, while a Prince of the Blood, not next but near the throne, is at its head!

How has this unparalleled institution worked? Let us inquire what has been its effect with respect to the administration of justice and the peace of the country, and ask how has it been employed as a political engine for the purpose of persecution, and under what circumstances and with what cognizance it has extended itself into the army? The Orange Grand Lodge have defended a series of prosecutions instituted against the members of this turbulent fraternity, by the crown. Orangeman, in the streets of Dundalk, strikes a Roman Catholic dead; he is prosecuted by the crown, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to two years imprisonment. His defence was conducted by the Orange body, and the Orange lodges came to a resolution to support him. Cer tain Orange rioters at Newry were sentenced to sixteen months' inpri

An

nment by a Protestant magistrate; to these malefactors the Grand Orange Lodge extended their pecuniary aid, and they conducted their defence. They not only defended but prosecuted. Three magistrates in Cavan dispersed an Orange procession; the Grand Orange Lodge determined to institute a prosecution against the civil authorities who had the audacity to interfere with them; they sent down to Cavan their solicitor, and the grand jury threw out the bills. At the last Meath election a body of 200 Orangemen, gathered from the adjacent counties, entered the town of Trim. They fill the Court-house; a dagger is seized in the hand of one of them by the High Sheriff; they spread confusion and dismay, and after having enacted their part, return to the town of Kells. Here they meet a Roman Catholic, and put him to death; they are prosecuted, and the Grand Orange Lodge, by a specific resolution, advances money to conduct the defence. An Orangeman is indicted; in the jurors' box twelve Orangemen are placed; the magis trates, if the case be tried at quarter sessions, are members of this fatal fraternity; under these circumstances, what a mockery is the administration of justice! Sir Frederick Stovin speaks of it as a subject of public ridicule and contempt. But facts are better than opinions. Take the following:-In a prayer-book a notice of Orange assassination is written; Sir Frederick Stovin and his subordinate, Duff, who was employed in the police, had incurred the displeasure of the Orangemen of Tyrone, and in the prayer-book belonging to the wife of Mr. Duffleft in the church that she had been in the habit of attending an Orange notice, threatening death to Sir Frederick Stovin and to her husband, is written. Almost immediately after, a meeting is called at Dungannon at which the Lord Lieutenant of the county Tyrone attends, and the Orangemen appear in considerable force, with military music, and invested with their factious decorations. A scene of excitement ensues -shots are discharged-a musket is levelled at Sir Frederick Stovin, and the ball whistles at his ear; and all this occurs in the pacific province of Ulster.

What, the house will ask-atrocious as the circumstances may appear -what has all this to do with the administration of justice? At that meeting, attended with so many incidents of a revolting character, Lord Claude Hamilton was made an Orangeman-he was initiated at the house of a publican of the name of Lilburne; and immediately afterwards he was made a magistrate. In this state of things, what other feeling but one of dismay amongst Roman Catholics, and one of impunity can exist amongst the Orange population of the country? I appeal to a fact again: At the last spring assizes for the county of Armagh, three Orangemen were prosecuted for marching in a procession. Baron Pennefather suggested to them, with a view to a mitigation of their sentence, that they ought to express regret for having violated the law. Did they intimate their contrition? Did they declare their determination never to commit a similar outrage on the public peace again? In open court, and in the face of the judge, these audacious confederates whistled an air, called "The Protestant Boys." And what was the course taken by indignant justice? — what, do you conjecture, was