CHAPTER XXI.

THE ORANGEMEN^
•When founded in Ireland, in 1795, was a secret politi- cal society composed entirel}- of Protestants. The n^me was taken in honor of King William the Third, Prince of Orange. The professed object of the society was "to support and defend the reigning sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland, and the succession to the throne in the present royal family as long as it remains Pro- testant." Working men and men without much wealth joined the society at first, but when the society spread rapidly over Ireland, England and the British posses- sions, people of all classes began to seek initiation. The society felt itself so strong in Canada in 1860 that it attempted to com.pel the Prince of Wales, during his visit there, to recognize the order and to pass under its arches and banners, which the Prince, however, re- fused to do.
Though the society met with much opposition from the British Plouse of Commons, it has still mucli influ- ence in England and her possessions. To concede some- thing to the spirit of the age and American principles, members of the society in the United States proclaim themselves theoretically the friends of religious tolera- tion, but facts have shown, within my o^.'ai personal observations, this, as in most similar cases, to be a n ere delusion.