ORANGEMEN
In matters Irish it is quite usual to talk of aiming at the manifestly
impossible. If we could get rid of the priests, say some, Ireland would
be a happy country; but nobody suggests how it is to be done, because
everybody knows full well that it cannot be done. And nobody pretends to
be quite sure that benefits would result if it were done. For myself,
I believe that one of the most salutary things that could be done for
Ireland at the present moment would be to get rid of the Orangemen.
Though they are, of course, a much older organization, they occupy in
Ireland pretty much the same position as the Passive Resisters occupy in
this country. In other words, while they proclaim themselves to be the
friends of liberty, they are in reality nothing more nor less than the
friends of intolerance and tyranny.
“A Grand Orange demonstration will be held in Donegal on
Tuesday, 12th July 1898. Who fears to speak of Derry, Aughrim,
and the Boyne? Papists, stand aside! We conquered you before,
and can do so again. Our motto still is: Down with Home Rule,
Hurrah for King William, and to Hell with the Pope!”
This is a sample Orange proclamation quoted by Mr. M. J. F. M’Carthy in
_Five Years in Ireland_. Now seventy-five per cent. of the population of
Ireland are Roman Catholics; what is more, they are Roman Catholics of
the devoutest and most devoted type. Probably the Orangemen do not number
ten per cent. of the population; yet they are allowed to insult the Head
of the Roman Church in the grossest manner, with absolute impunity. If
any secret society or other body in Ireland were to post a notice in
Donegal to-morrow announcing a grand national demonstration, and winding
up with some such ejaculatory remark as “To Hell with Mr. Balfour,” there
would be arrests and terms of imprisonment and howls from every corner
of England. It goes without saying that the Pope is not Mr. Balfour, and
when His Holiness is wished “to Hell” nobody is really a penny the worse.
But can it be claimed for a moment that there is either justice or reason
in allowing such insults to be placarded in the midst of a Catholic
population? Nobody above the level of a Scotch Presbyterian would attempt
to justify anything of the kind. It may be that when the Orange lodges
were founded they had a use and were necessary for the protection of
the Protestant religion against the wiles of Roman Catholicism. At the
present moment they serve no purpose whatever that is not essentially
evil. In point of fact they are organized centers for the encouragement
of bibulous sentiment and the open flaunting of the power of an
ill-conditioned minority over a decent and fairly tolerant majority. The
Protestant religion in Ireland must be in a distinctly parlous condition
if it requires any such backing or any such “protection.” The fact is
that nothing of the sort is necessary, or believed to be necessary,
even by the more bigoted Irish Protestants. That being so, Orangeism
would seem to be ripe for extirpation. If the English Government were
as secular as it is commonly held to be, the Orange lodges would have
short shrift. It is their supposed connection with religious liberty
which shields them from suppression. Yet every Irishman, Protestant or
Catholic, knows well that the religious element in Orangeism is little
more than pure farce. The entire Orange forces of Ireland could not
muster a couple of saints, lay or clerical, to save their lives. At the
present time the Orange faction is literally powerless to do anything but
create disturbances which are, in effect, street rows of the most vulgar
and ill-considered nature. The stoning of Cardinals belongs properly to
the same order of sport as the baiting of Jews. Neither pastime would be
tolerated for a moment in England.
Why the Northern Irish should be indulged passes comprehension. The
majority in Ireland is Green and Catholic as opposed to a tiny minority
of Orange and Protestant. The majority has an admitted right to its way
in England—why not in Ireland? Much has been said as to the “sinfulness”
and “wickedness” of Mr. Gladstone in disestablishing the Irish Church.
I am not sure that even the Catholics are quite convinced that Mr.
Gladstone’s action was wise. But one thing is certain, namely, that
the disestablishment of the Irish Church was eminently just, having
regard to the relative position of religious parties in the country.
The suppression of the Orange lodges, or, at any rate, the penalization
of Orange demonstrations, ought to have followed as a matter of course.
There will never be real peace nor content in Ireland till Orangeism
is deprived of its present scandalous powers of annoyance, disturbance
and tyranny. Toleration on both sides, Catholic and Protestant, is
the only hope for a “United Ireland,” or for an Ireland that is to
work out its own social and political salvation. And you cannot have
tolerance where you have an organization of chartered reactionaries
who, in spite of their alleged religious purpose, are little removed,
whether in temper or intention, from the common Hooligans of London.
The Irish Catholic Church, which, after all, possesses some say over
its adherents, has, during late years, done all that lies in its power
to prevent collisions between Catholics and Orangemen; it avoids as far
as is possible the occasions of such collision; it is careful neither
to provoke nor challenge, and in practise it literally “turns the other
cheek.” The Irish Protestant Church is equally anxious for peace and
equally assiduous in its efforts to secure it. Yet Orangeism flaunts
itself at large and without let or hindrance. It furnishes forth “riots
o’ Monday” at its own sweet will, and hoots, and mobs, and waves crimson
handkerchiefs, and throws stones, and breaks windows and heads to its
heart’s content. There is really nobody to say it nay. Authority stands
by and winks, for is it not the great principle of Protestantism that is
being protected? And are not these same Orangemen vigorous and violent
anti-Home-Rulers? Herein, indeed, you have the true inwardness of the
modern English attitude toward King William’s men. The domestic quietude
of Ireland and the religious freedom of two-thirds of her population
cannot be of the remotest consequence compared with the maintenance
of the Union. That Ireland no longer seeks Home Rule does not matter.
Orangeism has severed the Unionists passing well in the day that is
just past. Let it reap its reward in the shape of leave and license. It
deserves well of England; who shall raise a finger against it? And,
moreover, it is Scotch, and the Scotch are the backbone of Ireland, as of
England—manners and morals and all other decent things on one side. As
I indicated at the beginning of this chapter, to attempt to rid Ireland
of Orangemen were to attempt the impossible. But to deprive Orangeism
of English approval and countenance is possible. Break up the lodges,
bring to bear on the suppression of Orange demonstrations and Orange
disturbances one tithe of the forces you brought to bear against Irish
nationalism, and you will have gone a great way toward removing the last
obstacles to the peace and contentment of the Irish people as a body.