Orange And Ribbon.

ORANGE AND RIBBON .

LONDON , SATURDAY , rtJHY 14 , 1866 .

A veiy interesting paper with the above title has appeared in a recent number of " All the year Round . " It gives , on the Avhole , a very fair statement of the two great secret societies Avhich have agitated , and still continue to agitate the

unfortunate country Avhich has given them birth . As it is asserted in that paper that " the organisation , i . e . Orangeism , seems to have been borrowed from the Freemasons , " and as moreover as Masons we cannot but feel an especial

interest in secret societies , Ave venture to give a resume of of the article in question , and to offer a few comments thereupon , in a spirit becoming the organ of Freemasonry Avhich numbers within its ranks , good men and true of all religious persuasions , and of every shade of political

opinion . Orangeism and Ribbonism both seem to have had their origin in the religious bitterness which has always characterised the dwellers at the other side of St . George's Channel . We shall not take upon us to say whether the penal laws were , at

the time that they were enacted , necessary or not . Certain , however , it is that they produced in the Protestant but too frequently a tyrannical spirit , and in the Roman Catholic , a yearning for revenge which burns fiercely to the present hour .

For mutual defence , and we fear we must add defiance , the two parties enrolled themselves respectively under the badges of the Orange and the Ribbon . The first Orange Lodge Avas formed on the 21 st of September , 1795 , at the house of a

person named Sloan . A Grand Lodge was constituted at Dublin in 1800 . The system quickly spread to London , Manchester , Liverpool , and other towns in England . From the year 1813 it appears to have begun to decay . In 1827 ,

however , it experienced a great revival , having been then entirely reorganised , aud its rules revised . Ernest , Duke of Cumberland became the Grand Master . Numbers of the Bishops , nobility , and gentry enrolled themselves in the Order ; and it

could boast , twenty-five years ago , of 1 , 500 private lodges , and over 200 , 000 members . Just now , however , its prospects are by no means as bright as they were . Men of all creeds and politics disapprove of secret societies—always excepted , that beneficent one which inculcates brotherly love , relief and truth .

The Ribbon Society seems to have been the offspring of the " Whiteboys , " the " Threshers , " the "Carders , " the " Steelboys , " the "Terry Alts , " the " Molly M'Guire ' s , " & c , and is itself the parent of the Phcenixites , and the now famous

"Fenians . " The following is the organisation of the Ribbon Society ; the lowest officer is the " Body Master /' next to him is the " Parish Master , " and after him comes the " County Delegate . " The " body "

signifies the same as " lodge" among the Orangemen , and each "body" consists of about fifty members .

There are in each district abaut fourteen "jurymen" AVIIO decide as to the murders of obnoxious landowners . They actually name the person Avho is to perform the dreadful deed . This person is usually selected from a county remote from that in

which the hapless victim resides . . The following is the oath taken by a newmember on his initiation into the Order . With his hands

laid upon a Roman Catholic Prayer-book he repeats with a loud voice , " In the name of the Father , Son , and Holy Ghost . Amen . " I , A . J 3 . do swear in the presence of these my brotherly members , and , on the contents of this holy

book , the cross of Christ , that I will , by every means in my power , aid and assist the French , or any other Catholic poAver that is endeavouring to free us from the bonds of tyrannical slavery and the oppression of unjust laws ; that I will be ready at a moment ' s warning , sickness or death alone preventing me , to take up the cause of au oppressed brotherknowing or believing him

, to be such ; and that I will obey without murmuring , all orders received from a county delegate , parish , or body master ; and that I will silently abide by any decision of the jurymen of my parish , either in a dispute with a brother , or if it be necessary , in the destruction of life or property , or other punishment of transgressors against honour , laiv , and justice ; and that I will allow neither ,

father , mother , sister , or brother to come between me and the carrying out of our glorious Ribbon system into final and immediate execution ; that I will spare neither person nor property of the bloody heretics , but more especially those who feed upon the tenth part of our labours . I further swear that I will never appear before judge or jury to prosecute a brother , knowing him to be

such ; and that neither torture , death , nor execution shall ever moike me divulge the slightest atom of the plans and secrets entrusted to me , to any magistrate or other person , not Avithin the pale of this our glorious institution , though I were to be hung iu chains ancl dried in the sun ; and that I will never write or inscribe upon any paper or parchment , or other substance or thing , any

word , letter , sign , or token , by Avhich the secrets of our society could transpire or become known ; that I will never admit , with my knowledge , any person into this grand design except a Catholic , or some ivorthy Protestant Avho is Avell known to stick to us , and who regularly subscribes to the Committee . I further swear that I will myself subscribe lOd . per quarter , if not more , according to my circumstances , to this committee or others , towards the support of the objects of this our immortal institution , £ further swear that I will keep a