ABSTRACT
FROM PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS (1835) XV. 440–1, Report from the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the nature, character, extent and tendency of Orange lodges, Appendix 3. Although a highly articulate defender of the concept of the ‘Protestant Constitution’, Orangeism never at any time secured the confidence of the governments, Whig or Tory. Inspired by a ludicrous and unfounded rumour that Orangemen were conspiring to set up a Regency under the Duke of Cumberland, a select committee of the House of Commons was appointed to examine the whole structure of the Orange movement. Their three reports constitute the most valuable source for information about the Order. The Orange oath and an extract of the rules of the Orangemen were printed as an appendix to the first of the committee’s reports. In 1836 the government dissolved the Order.
