Sir, - In July 1822 the Lord Lieutenant, the Marquis of Wellesley, attempted to dissuade the Orange Order from decorating the statue of King William III in College Green. In November he took the same stance, and provoked rowdy demonstrations in the Theatre Royal. A number of arrests were made, but the culprits were acquitted, much to the dissatisfaction of the Catholic side.
In 1823, the Government passed an Unlawful Oaths Act to subdue all secret societies, including the Orange order. The Orange order reconstituted itself to evade prosecution, but in 1824, it cancelled Dublin's July 12th parades. So the Orange Order, after firm political action, was driven", as D. G. Boyce puts it in Nineteenth Century Ireland The Search for Stability, "from the centre of Irish political life".
Yours etc.,
Ocean Wave,
Salthill,
Galway City.