Sir, - It may be that the Portadown Orangemen are hoping that history might repeat itself.
In 1832, following the granting of Catholic Emancipation of 1829, which was considered by the Orange Order to be a direct Catholic attack on the rights of the Protestant established Church, the English Parliament introduced the Party Procession Act which outlawed, or at least curtailed all sorts of sectarian, including Orange, demonstrations. A new Party Procession Act was put into the statute book in 1850.
The Act was strongly challenged on July 12, 1867, when the Orange Order undertook a parade from Newtownards to Bangor in defiance of the Act. The leader, William Johnston, refused an apology to the authorities and was given a short prison sentence. On his release he was given a rapturous reception in Belfast. He subsequently entered politics and, to the delight of his followers, got the Party Procession Act repealed by a private members Bill in 1870. The Act had become completely unenforceable and was in danger of bringing the law into contempt. - Yours, etc., James G. Barry,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.