RIBBONMEN AND ORANGEMEN.
THERE are two colours in politics, which are what the dyers term "fast "—Orange and Green. In their native soil and in foreign lands the Orangemen and Ribbonmen are essentially the same. The cold and heat of Canada does not mitigate the flaming hue of a faction which has been one of the curses of Ireland, nor does the atmosphere of the United States produce any effect on the glaring brightness of the other. The Irish element in the United States furnishes abundant recruits to the great army of rowdies, and the Orange element in Canada has recently shown that it is the counterpart of its American antagonist. When the Prince of Wales appeared in Upper Canada we know that the Orangemen, who would have displaced his mother in fa- vour of their patron saint, Ernest of Cumberland, endeavoured to make the Prince an involuntary accomplice in their factious de- monstrations. Not satisfied with setting up Orange arches, and thereby preventing the Prince 'from-landing in his mother's cities, they used brute force on one occasion,- and showed the value of their pretended respect for religion, by trying to drag him per- force under an Orange arch on the Sabbath day. Municipal au- thorities degraded themselves by subterfuges, and in various these Upper Canada Orangemen contrived to show contempitvaZ authority under the pretext of the ultra-loyalty. Their spirit is exactly that of the Irish in New York. There is not a pin to choose between the two factions. Colonel Cor- coran, of the New York Militia, who avows "eternal hostility" to the Royal House of England, who refuses "to pay court to monarchs,' who holds "the Lord Prince of Wales" "responsible for the wrongs inflicted upon Ireland," and therefore will not pa- rade his men on the occasion of Lord Renfrew's visit to New York, is precisely on the same level as Mr. Flanigan the butcher of Kingston. Discourtesy and disrespect, vehement and intolerant party views, are at the bottom of both manifestations. The King- ston and Toronto Orangemen, who profess devotion to the throne, are animated by the same hectoring spirit as the New York Irish, who avow eternal hostility to the British Crown. Each is law- less. In Ireland, Orangemen insult Roman Catholic Judges on the bench itself. In Canada, they insult the heir to the throne with the same facility. A persecuting domineering sect, whose existence has done more harm than good, are these Irish Orange- men all the world over. To them we owe the demoralization and degradation to which Ireland was reduced in this eentury. The only service they ever rendered was in aiding King William to conquer King James. Ever since they hare represented in Ire- land the spirit of persecution, and they have succeeded in in- fecting their opponents, the Ribbonmen, with the same im- placable and inhuman spirit. Orangeman Flanigan, and ltibbonman Corcoran, wide as they consider themselves asunder, come within the same category. It may be said, indeed, in favour of the New York Irish, that, like the "white trash" at Richmond, Virginia, slaves to their passions, they know no better. That is something in their favour. But it cannot be said of the Orangemen that they know no better, for they profess especial respect and reverence for the House of Han- over, and show it by insulting the heir of that House. Between the Irish mob of New York and the Irish mob of Kingston there is a difference in degree but no difference in substance ; and the same may be said of the Orange and Ribbon societies generally. They have each a disrespect for law. They are practically secret societies. They have no reverence at all for authority, unless it be their stave. In Ireland, the Orange lodges are simply political organizations for Tory purposes, and' as much as Ribbon lodges, are opposed to the best interests of the country. But we may look for better times.
The Dean of Down has followed the good example set by the Bishop of Derry on the 12th of july. Dean Woodward has had the sound sense to prevent the Orange lodges of his district from
making use of the cathedral of Downp is, on the 5th of Novem- ber, for their factions purposes. It s, indeed, time that Chris- tian churches should be free from ceremonies intended to set man against man. The Orange creed is as far from the creed of Wil- liam of Orange as Dr. Cullen is from Dr. Tillotson, and it would quite as reasonable to permit Dr. Cullen to preach in Down- patreek cathedral on the 5th of November, as it would be to per- mit some furious bigot of the old Protestant-ascendancy school. The Northern T/Thig very justly says, "we cannot have our Pro- testant cathedrals timed into pro re nata Orange lodges ; " and we trust the citizens of New York have effectually prevented their streets from being turned into pro re nate Phcenix clubs by Colo- nel Corcoran and his truculent followers.
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