y, or what at least seemed to be the
discovery, of a great and portentous plot against the established order
of succession to the throne. This plot was declared to be carried on
by the Orange societies which had for many years been growing up in
Great Britain and Ireland, and throughout many of the colonies and
dependencies. This Orange {275} organization began in the North of
Ireland, and was originally intended to crush out the Catholic
associations which were then coming into existence all over Ireland for
the political and religious emancipation of the Roman Catholics, and
for strengthening the national cause in the Irish Parliament. There is
so little to be said in defence, or even in excuse, of the Orange
organization in its earlier years that it seems only fair to admit the
possibility of its having been seriously intended, in the beginning,
for the defence of Great Britain against an Irish rebellion fomented
and supported by France.

The Orange associations took their title from the name of the royal
house which had given William the Third as a sovereign to England, and
the name of Orange was understood to illustrate its hostility to all
Jacobite plots and schemes, which were naturally assumed to have the
countenance and the favor of England's foreign enemies. We have seen
already, in the course of this history, how the Orange societies acted
before the rebellion of '98 in Ireland, and how orange and green became
the rival colors of those who denounced and those who supported every
Irish national movement. When the rebellion was suppressed, and
Grattan's Parliament was extinguished, the Orange associations were not
in the least disposed to admit that their work had been accomplished
and that there was no further need for their active existence. On the
contrary, they increased their efforts to spread their power all over
the country, and, claiming for themselves the credit of having been a
main influence in the suppression of the Irish rebellion, they appealed
for the support of all loyal Englishmen to increase their numbers and
strengthen their hands. Orangeism, which had at first only been known
in Ireland, began to spread widely throughout Great Britain. Orange
Lodges were everywhere formed; Orange Grand Masters were appointed; a
whole vocabulary of Orange titles, passwords, and phrases was invented;
a complete hierarchy of Orange officialism was created, and an
invisible network of Orangeism held the