The Orange Order has released details of its plans to commemorate the 1798 rebellion, including re-enactments of the battles of Antrim and Ballynahinch and a memorial exhibition in the Orange Hall at Comber, Co Down.
Antrim will be re-staged by local members of the Order on June 6th, 1998 and the Ballynahinch re-enactment takes place on June 13th. The memorial exhibition at Comber will be held March 2nd to 6th.
The education committee of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has also published two booklets to mark the bicentenary, The Sunshine Patriots: the 1798 Rebellion in Antrim and Down by R.M. Sibbett and Murder Without Sin by Ogle Robert Gowan. The order will also host a bicentenary dinner and lecture on June 12th.
The order or, more properly, the Loyal Orange Institution was founded in 1795, three years before the rebellion. The Rev Brian Kennaway, convenor of the education committee, said it could trace its history to both sides.
"It is true that the members of the institution in 1798 supported the forces of the Crown and in many instances whole lodges joined the yeomanry. But it is not to be forgotten that it was the children of the men who were `out' in '98 who became the leaders of the institution in the next generation. There is a shared history to be commemorated in 1798."
He also said the rebellion involved issues of social justice: "The core values of the men of '98 were in the tradition of the French Revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity. The core values of Orangeism are `civil and religious liberty'. It stands for equality with no racial or ethnic privileges. It promoted the ideals of liberty and the values of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 which began the creation of constitutional government and the securing of civil and religious liberty for everyone. Social justice stands at the heart of Orangeism."
Noting that the insurgents were known as "the disaffected" because they lacked civil and religious liberty and suffered economic deprivation, he said their descendants today could readily understand their feelings.
"By and large the Unionist/ Protestant population of Northern Ireland are disaffected. Disaffected with the lack of local democracy - or the `democratic deficit', to which politicians often make reference. Our people are disaffected by the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the Downing Street Declaration and the Framework Documents, to which they appear to have no redress. We can, looking back, well understand how our forefathers were `disaffected'," Rev Kennaway said.
He continued: "We are commemorating 1798 because of the elements of shared history, social justice and `disaffection'. We have a lot to learn as citizens, from the events of 1798, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Equally the government has a lot to learn from how they handled the `disaffection' of the past. We can only hope and pray that they will not repeat the mistakes of the past."