of these societies, but merely that they, as well as
other secret societies, should meet the disapprobation of the crown.
His motion was agreed to without a division; and the address having been
presented to the king, his majesty, on the 25th of February, returned
this answer:--"I willingly assent to the prayer of the address of my
faithful commons, that I Would be pleased to take such measures as may
seem to me advisable for the effectual discouragement of Orange lodges,
and generally of all political societies, excluding persons of a
different religious faith, using secret signs and symbols, and acting by
means of associated branches. It is my firm intention to discourage
all such societies in my dominions, and I rely with confidence on the
fidelity of my loyal subjects to support me in this determination." The
home-secretary transmitted a copy of the address and the king's answer
to the Duke of Cumberland, as the official head of the Orange societies,
and his royal highness replied, that before receiving the communication,
he had recommended the dissolution of the Orange institutions
in Ireland. The Orange societies immediately acquiesced in this
recommendation, and from that time they were professedly dissolved; but
it was soon discovered that the law and will of king and commons were
only evaded, and that Orange lodges were as numerous as ever. The
conduct of O'Connell and his Irish adherents in this discussion was as
faithless as in their professions of the voluntary principle. They knew
well that ribandism was far more extensively prevalent in Ireland than
orangeism, and that, whatever might be the character of the latter, the
objects and spirit of the former were utterly atrocious. The riband-men
were banded for purposes subversive of all law and order--of all
liberty, civil and religious--and they were utterly reckless as to the
means by which they promoted their ends. Assassination and incendiarism
were the common instruments of this diabolical association of fanaticism
and bigotry. Yet O'Connell and his confederates glossed over the evils
of this system, or denied their existence, while he and they pretended
zeal for public justice and liberty in the destruction of the Orange
confederation. The true policy would have been the suppression of all
secret political societies.

BILL TO REFORM THE IRISH MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.

A commission had been appointed to inquire into the state of the
corporations in