Lords Sitting of 25 February 1836

MINUTES.
Bills, Read a first time:—Dean Forest; Transfer of Aids; and Exchequer Bills.
Petitions presented. By Lord WYNFORD, from Owners and Occupiers of Land at Wallingford, Berkshire, for Relief.—By Lord DENMAN, from Rugby, in favour of the Ecclesiastical Courts' Consolidating Bill.—By the Marquess of LONDONDERRY, from Wells, Somersetshire; from Bridgend, Cambridge, and other Places, against the Probate Clause in the Ecclesiastical Courts' Consolidating Bill.—By the Bishop of EXETER, from Peterborough and another Place, to the same effect.

ORANGE ASSOCIATION.
The Marquess of Londonderrysaid, he took that opportunity to state to their Lordships that it was his intention on this day week to move, "that a message be sent to the House of Commons, requesting that a Copy of the Commons' Report upon Orange Societies be communicated to their Lordships." He would have selected an earlier day, but the subject which he was about to bring before the House, in consequence of extraordinary insinuations, and extraordinary party observations, that had been made on certain letters of his in another place, might lead to some discussion with respect to Orange societies in general; and he was therefore unwilling; to introduce the question in the absence of a noble Earl, who, he hoped, would be in his place when the discussion came on. In justice to himself, he could not allow one single hour to pass, without stating his intention to bring under the notice of their Lordships the mode and manner—he might say the scandalous manner—in which, for party and political purposes,
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attacks had been made on individuals who, perhaps, least of any others, should have been dragged before the public, as being connected with any Orange society or institution. It was extraordinary that he should have been thus alluded to—he who had always given his strongest support to Catholic emancipation. But that circumstance showed to what extent party-men would go, when they thus dragged individuals before the public, for the purpose of insinuating that a change had taken place in their minds on that important question. He stood merely in this situation—that he had received letters from an individual whom he did not know, and to whom he had not written, in the first instance, while he was in the north of England, which letters might have been written to any noble Lord on that or on the other side of the House; and then his complimentary answer was worked up by the public press, and by the parties to whom he had alluded, into a sort of charge, as if he had been, at any time in the course of his life, connected with Orange societies, or had attended their meetings. He could not, without the utmost indignation, think of any change in the succession to the Crown, as was said to be mentioned in some of the correspondence that had been referred to. If any thing of the kind had been brought under his consideration, he should have spurned it with all the indignation that it merited. He felt so warmly on this subject, that he would certainly bring down the whole of those letters, and read them verbatim to their Lordships. He would then answer the calumnies that had been levelled at him; and he would show to that House, and to the public, that so far as he was concerned, that he never had any communication, good, bad, or indifferent, with the Orange Association. The mode in which this subject was brought forward by an individual in another place, had the effect of insinuating base calumnies against those who did not merit them; and when the noble Viscount (Melbourne) talked of base and slanderous insinuations, it would be well if he would think how unjustly parties were dragged before the public by those who supported the noble Viscount's political views. He would take the opportunity, when he brought forward his Motion, to enter at large on the question of those base insinuations to which the noble Viscount had alluded on a former evening, and he

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trusted that the noble Viscount would give some explanation on the subject. He had pronounced a speech on the occasion to which the noble Viscount had alluded, but as the noble Viscount had not referred to it the other evening, he had not deemed it necessary to make any observation on what had fallen from him. It was not his intention to do so now; but when the proper occasion arrived, he should certainly state his opinion. The advice which he gave to the body of people whom he had addressed on the occasion to which reference had been made, he was ready to abide by. When he found persons in another place carrying; to the utmost extent their calumnies and insinuations against noble Lords who sat on that (the Opposition) side of the House, he thought it was high time for them to stand forward and meet those calumnies and insinuations with the most distinct, direct, and positive denials. They, unfortunately, lived in times when the innocent, yes, even the most innocent, were, in consequence of the base statements that were fabricated against them, falsely supposed to be guilty. Their Lordships ought not to suffer those insinuations against public men to go abroad uncontradicted. They must be met in a manly and straightforward manner. Injurious allegations were hourly made, in an underhand manner, against those who cherished the feelings of loyalty, and who were anxious to stand by the institutions of this great country. Such allegations ought to be repelled; and, that noble Lords might have an opportunity of stating their opinions, he should on Thursday nest move for a Copy of the Commons' Report on Orange Societies.
Lord Wynfordwas happy that the noble Marquess had given notice of his intention to bring this subject before their Lord hips. If the noble Marquess had not done so, he should have felt it to be his duty to take that step. It was not his intention to make any observations on the subject at present, but when the Motion was introduced, he would claim the indulgence of their Lordships while he stated his opinions. When the proper time arrived, he would show that those insinuations, so far as they respected himself, were perfectly and absolutely false and unfounded.