. ititideiMatiott Of. the , order , do 'sod r n ront. - 4130-Incia competeal_and_aridilde, thOUgh ticliwilliv--tiven from the very hearts of its adhering members?, What! would , not a father initiate his son ,' the pride of his liktheliorki - of his age, the object of his prayers, into an association of honorable teen most exclusively designed, and most wisely Adapted, to the inculcation of science, charity,-religiori ? How have good fathers done, who have become freemasons? • Let each one look around among his.acquain tances, and recall his•past observation, for the answer . They have discontinued at sentience upon the lodges. They have pre ferred other schools of science, for their children. They have resorted to better means of impressing the love and practice - tfobarity upon their hearts. They have looked, higher, for their religion. Either the best of fathers, who had joined the lodge, _were?" anti masons in the bottom of their hearts knowing theinstitution to be a base impos ture; or iliey hated, their children. -AvkimoNi But - how have members, who were most distinguished for public honor and private .virtue out ef_the _lodge, conducted; in relit "lions to it? Franklin is said to have re plied to his brother, who asked his advice about joining the society, "one fool is enough in a family." When the reputable and benevolent Jeremy Gridley, was Grand Al as .ter-of-the—Mwmachusetts- Masons, before -the most criminal degrees of tho order were known in our country, he was enquired of, by a-frit"d,whether it was worth his while te 'became a. mason?—and - he answered 'NO—with this pregnant addition, "by ag gregation to the bociety a young man might acquire 'a little artificial support, buf that he did not need it; and there was nothing in the masonic institution worthy of his seeking - •-tii be associated with-it.Y? --The en : afterwards, by his bold and freedom freighted thoughts, and the high bearing of his devoted expression of them was the most prominent agent in carrying the de claration of Independence, in the illustrious Cottgress of '7B. But, Washington, and ltis brother officers of glorious memory, were masons. True. They were admitted to three degrees.— None of them went higher, in the early t days of our independence. ashington never visited a lodge but -once or twice after 1768; and never resided in one. He afterwards in e i , , renown , . i • an , so fm ---7 / 1 I • majority-of-the-officers before-alluded-to, in 'their voluntary determination to extinguish the Cincinnati _Society. To this Society they were bound by stronger ties than ma sonry can offer' to uncorrupted minds—by those of a natural and generous sympathy, A/ which the golden links were struck out limi forged, in the welding fires of our revo lutionary war. The origin of this society was innocent; its objects were laudable; its laws were pub lished; its meetings were not secret; it ad ministered no oaths, imposed no bloody pen alties, had no division into degrees, and its members were respected and honored as the benefactors of their country; but it introdu ced distinctions between. its members and other citizens; its associates wore badges, a ribbon and eagle; it was hereditary; admitted honorary members; and had funds for chari ty. - Thus constituted all the whigs of the country, in civil life, as soon as it was known to them, opposed it, as eminently dangerous 'to liberty. It had no political objects. The conduct of its members, and the true pur imse of the association were excellent. But it was liable to abuse. Political means were minted to, for its abolition. Governors of states denounced it; legislative bodies ex pressed their opposition to it, by resolutions; assemblies of private citizens reprobated it; the press - sternly and universally rebuked it; the whole country was excited to a flame a ~ gainst it. ' Washington soon became sensible that it might produce political evils, which the , • - • , , ~ . . g-motivesTitr which-it-origins-- • Sed; had hidden from the_observation of its _members. And he attended its first annual meeting determined to exert all hilinfluence . far--ibiauppression. He did so exert it.— dthe order was.on tfib point of beirwam., 444 by the vote the great majority of ib merniiiws. , Its en'inplete annihilation was - 'Prevented, only byls. sense of courtesy . and consistency towards their foreign - brother officers, whom the members had - o:ficially and formally invited to join it, herore they bad well considered the .abuses of which it was susceptible, and the political' tendencies, which it might foster. They did destroy its essential features, by resolvh* that the order should be no longer hereditary, and that no new members s h ould be admitted. They discontinued* wearing its badges, in this country; and left, nothing of its exis tence; but its name, its meetings, which were changed from being .annual to triennial, and itscharitable funds, which were ordered to be deposited with the state legislatures.--.- This flAndamental modification, with the sten known cause of its. continuance, in the Over' it, was made to assume by its own Matnberss, appeased the . public; though Jef itriten and many others, expressed wdecided dionAnnbithsa .of its continuance at all. inparWitsis society with Freemasonry, wits motives its origin, its deriding cere monies, its accumulation of titles, its numer: fais exprm3vc• though Tanta' badge* its anaketit* tg obedience in the lower degrOes, and-iiiltaponfiblo authority in the - higher; * istOttley t its p aths .; :its penalties; •i - Itoeini. of privide l 'iwognitidly command, eAd universal lulsoert ; its affiliatiim with 4116044 . 'in olli fon*. countries ; its its botuitki power; its &buds, • ' r Ibe ' pei*mmity: ~with. _ Which • it is jal' - ',- - by. ir,s• adherilif ' meinbers ; .., • . 0441111i1110011016P-. pot to be cenvino. ,i4.,thotcompingry denim% arti that those, -who Were willing. o renounce the ineinbati Society,_Would be compelled, by the same patriotic motives, which controlled them, in that act, if they had lived till now; to renounce freemasonry. They would have insisted upon its total abrogation. It must be abrogated. The unavoidable inference drawn by eve -ry prudent man, from observing the conduct of its best members, in all, past time, is, that its character is bad. This inference is great ly strengthened, by the intelligible hints and friendly advice of the most trust worthy among them. It should be ripened into un hesitating conviction, by. a consideration of the secrecy, which it enjoins. Standing secrecy always implies shame and guilt. It is utterly unsonsi.stent with social improve ment, confidence, and happiness. All the descendants of Adam inherit his nature.— While he was innocent, he . was ingenuous, communicative, without the need, or the desire, of coneealment. For the float crime he committed, even before she sentence of banishment from Paradise, was pronounced upon him, he sought concealment. But wo are not left to our own reasonable inibrences, or to hints and a few honest litjt guarded expressions, from its best member% to decide upon the character of freemasonry. That character has been revealed, under oath, by it; adhering members, and by a great band of seceders. And hoiv does it stand! Infamous beyond all parallel , in hu man annals. Its principles are vicious, murderous, treasonable; and so. far as they prevail,-fatally hostile to those of our govern ment. . In the first degree, the candidate pledges himself under oath, and upon forfeiture of his life if he does not redeem the pledge, to ever conceal and never reveal the secrets of freemasonry, which he has then received, is about to recei - Ve - , - or thay life - ides& be in structed in. Among the secrets, which the candidate may, and must be instructed in, if he takes the. second degree, is that of his pledge of passive obedience to the laws of the lodge, and all regular summonses sent him by a brother Of that degree. If he takes the third degree, among those secrets are pledges to fly to the relief of a brother of that degree, when masonically required so to do, at the risk of life, should there be a greater probability of saving the life of the brother requiring, than of losing his own to Apprise a brother of all approaching danger: if_pessitile--anto conceal the secrets of a brother master mason, When communicated to him as such, murder and treason only ex cepted, and they left at his discretion. And if he takes the Royal Arch degree among those secrets are pledges—to extricate a brother of that degree from danger, if he can, whether that brother be right or wrong—to promote* bisaolitical preferment before that of all others of equal qualifications—and to conceal his secrets, murder and treason: not excepted. Tuns is the concealment ofcrimes made a masonic duty; and the candidates expressly di iclaiin all equivocation, mental reservation, or evasion of mind, both in the first degree, and in the last. How dothese parts of masonry affect the moral character of its members? In the first degree, and every other, no man knows any of its obligations, till after he has sworn to conceal them. It is a first principle in morals that there is no accountability with out knowledge and free will. Such oaths, therefore, are not binding, and no forms, or objects, -- or solemnities - , can make-them- so.- But what is the purpose of the order, in the ceremony of imposing them? Can it be good? U is certainly such as can be ac complished only by men divested of all sense of accountability. The less of this sense the better, gor all the purposes of fraud and crime —and the more of it the better, for all the purposes of integrity and.Qner . These are truths, which nobody can gauisay. All the history of piety, on the one hand, and of sin on the other, asserts them. They are ob vious to the - common sense_ ef all _ men.— This proceeding . Of reemasoury — os tliere fore, obviously in hostility to good morals. It is more than that. To take such wreath' deliberately and with an intent to perform it, is an attempt at the voluntary extinguish : it of the highest tights of the soul, and a complete foreclosure of the source of every duty. It is not possible to ipaginea more' aggravated. crime Rape; Ilhurddx, . treason, may be repeated of, and their perpetrators reclaimed. But to forego the rights of knowledge and yolition, ie regard to every proposition, whidh can be offered to a moral agent, amenots to a desperate erasure of the image of God from the breast. It would necessarily preclude repentance, refOrma tion, pardon hope; and he death; in its most unutterable horrors. It would be as much worse than common suicide, as the value of -the immortal spirit is greater than that of thd corruptible body. • In the degrees, higher than the Royal . Arch, the.members Swear to oppose the In. terest, dern4 the business, and destroy the reputation, of unfalthfiil brethren, through life—to prefer the interests of a companion of the order, and of a companion'Sfriend, for whom he pleads, to those of any -tow man of the world, iernatters of diffelsice submit ted to them—rieverAd engage in ',Mean party strife, nor conspiracies against the govero ment or religion of their country, whereby their reputation may seer, nor ever to as ' sociate with dishonorable men,. for a Me ' mAnt l -EXCEPT it be to secure the interest. of such person, his fan - lily,. or friends, •to a companion, olose necessities require this degradation at their hands—to follow strict ly everycomrnandrof the Illitstriowt Knights, and Grand CernmAnder, and especial's:: to sacrifice the. traitors of masonry. - • *Thiel pledge sometiines omitted in the Royal Arch degree; and sometimes inoladod in ttir r ms. ter's degree. • Have these pointsof masonic obligation any political beariugl All the rightS ofrnan are founded in his moral nature. It is the intention of . free goverment to secure him in tip - possession of these 'rights. W hatever is hostile togood morals is therefore epposed, ID the civil 'policy - of freemen. We have seen large numbers of the Most intelligent, wealthy, and respectable freemasons in N. York, deliberating in their lodges and else where, on the m?ilos of suppressing a written disclosure of thei'r secrets, by one of their number—we have seen notices of a slander ous character, simultaneously printed; a few days before the seizure and murder of Mor gan, in newspapers'a hundred miles apart, warning the public against the designs; of the author of this disclosure and especially directed to the masonic brotherhOod—about the same time we have seen masons set fire to a building prepared by them with pecu liar care for sudden combustion, because it was supposed to contain this disclosure in manuscript—we have seen them employ a 'masonic printer, who was a stranger and an alien, to go into the office where it was printing, with the offer to aid in that work by labor and money, for the sole purpose of stealing the manuscript—we have after waols seen them kidnap the writer - of -it, - carry him hoodwinked and hound, with the greatest secrecy and caution, through a great extent of p pulous couutry„ to a fort of the United States--utilawfully' and forcibly im orison him there—collect together in. fre quent deliberation, upon the means of his, final disposition--communicate, while in this situation, with several members of a chapter of their body, then numerously at- ' tended in the neighbourhood 7 -and resolve unanimously, though with painful reluctance, on the part of some, that their masonic obli ations required them to murder him; not or any otlbnce against the state, but for the sole cause of his attempting to publish the secrets of the order, which be hadn. lawful right to do, and which, considering their character, he was bound tO do, by every con sideration of private morality_ and fidelity to his country. On the night of the 19th of Septeniber 1826, they accordingly murder ed him. To this fearful consummation none were privy, but those who had as masons, sworn to assist each other, right or wrong, and to conceal each other's murder and trea son. After the murder, all the precaution possible_was taken for enneeii I i not whollybeing successful, and legal prose. cutions being threatened, _the criminals fre quently met and consulted together, for their mutual safety. The most influential among them insisted, that if called by the legal au thorities of our country to testify, they one and all must swear they'knew nothing of the matter; otherwise they would be forsworn to - masonry and might lose-the life they would thus forfeit.- As witnesses, as- magistrates, as sheriffs, as grand jurors, as petit jurors ; as legislators, these masons and others with whom they were intimate, - would know nothing of it. In all their civil relations they violated their oaths and the most sacred duties. They Hew to each other's assistance knowing their criminality, They gave each other notice of the approaching danger of legal prtecution. They spirited away wit nesses who, they feared, would disclo - se ton much. They perjured themselves in court. They contumaciously refused to answer questions decided to be legal. They declin ed to answer, on the ground, that it' they -should, , t hey: would -c riiniriate.thenwely.es_M relation to the 'murder.- They prevented the judicial ascertainment, and punishment 9f the foulest criminals. They made com mon cauSe in behalf of these cri inals,imirist the rights of the citizen, and the laws of the land. Thousands of them were acquainted with some of the steps of these crimes a gainst the State-- Ilandreds of them know the leadin g malefactors. . ' A- goodcitizen.cannot look on with indif ference and see a fellow freeman kidn'apped and murdered.- He- cannot know that such crimes aro successfully pnitected, by-ii tensive, artful, and powerful conspiracy, without being.excited against. it. The sym pathies of a patriot embrace his whole coin try.. The poorest man, the most defence less woman, the weakest child in- it, Cannot be assailed with unlawful violence, without quickening his, pulse, and stiffeiung,his sin ews, with. indignation.- Lars , blood up in every .case of high crime;' and it keeps up against the . aggressori till the law performs its Ace upon him. To the law he is will ing to submit, because he knows it is the deliberate expression of the public . good; the great shield spread by the hands-olall r over the rights of all. • . . Individual rights are, separately consid ered, of immeasurable and indefinable worth. They partake of the infinitude of moral. ex istence and responsibility.. 4s contemplated .by our government, a single individual, and one as much as another, is an august being, entitled to inviolable reverence, and bearing upon him the badges-of a most majestic ori gin, and the stamp of most transcendant de stinations. His Bala)/ .iiielDeV, his life, WS improvement, his happiness, it designs; at all times and places, faithfully to protect, by the application of all its delegated means. The law is the be iciallostrument of this protection; and should be appreciated by every .reflectitig man is the• sacred, living, 'and most venerableexpression of the nation al mind and' will. Break this, and the .na tion has but one right left, which it can peaceably enforce; the right of suiling,%___ The masonic institution is answerable .for the crimes to which we have referred. They were...,committed . in obedience toits pre scribeland specific oaths, and in Peer . of its The - wittn-stealing and murder, Weir for-no, ether than a..masonic offence. The whple army af its frightftilanime:s; out of court, and. in . Caul, iwere 'no other 'that' MIZE! necessary means of Carrying into effect the Obligations it has deliberately and universal ly exacted of its members. All who uphold the crimes. No adhering mason has aderd ed the least willing assistance Co the. exposure apti _punishment of them. No, lode or chapter has called the criminals to account. Many of them are known to ° the public.— Chesebro, and . Sawyer, arid Lawson, and Bruce, and Whitney, have been convicted of the conspiracy to kidnap, and have been condemned and suffered nifinnous punish ments; and the very murderers are known with moral, though not with strict judicial, certainty. Not one of these men has been expelled. The grand lodge, or grand chap ter, of which, they were members, has the power Of expulsion, but has decl;ned to ex ercise it in relation to them; and such of them as are still living, are, in masonic esti mation, worthy members of the order. 'I.: But the fraternity have gone inneli ther to make that crime their own. In 182 f the grand lodge gave $lOO to one of its,members then under -public accusation fOrltidnapping Morgan, and afterwards con victed of that offence ; and the grand chap ter, 'by its - vote, placed $lOOO - at the control of another of its members, ostensibly for charitable, uses, of which a part has been proved, in a court of justice, to have been applied for the benefit of other kidnappers; and the trustee of the charity has never been Called to an account by the grand chapter; fur any part of the stun, though in ull other cases such accountability is enforced by the chapter. The records of this last body, apparently relating to this transaction, have been produced in court, and were seen to be mutilated. The fraternity have also employed and paid able counsel to defend the criminals. litthis way, while the chief magistrate of the state of New-York was, - by - prodania: tion, offering money, fur the conviction of the offenders, the highest masonic bodies, in that state, were offering, and in their as sociate capacity actually paying, money to protect and support them. Can it be justly thought surprising, then, that so few con victions have followed upon such enormous offences, and that no more of the facts have been ascertained in legal form ; The criminals, in all these atrocities, tes tified their devotion to the institution, and by its own laws are only the more entitled to its guardian care, b_y all the hazards they involved. That care has_ been extended to them in every form of expression tending to iheir relief and comfort. Besides the exer tions of their brethren already alluded to, adhering masons have, at great expense, established and circulated newspapers to vilify all who were engaged in exposing the crimes, and•to call into action the entire re, soti.Fgesof the fraternity, in behatf . of those who committed them. 'These• newspapers haye,:viiith the most onblushing hardihood, asserted the innocence and praised the vir tues of the convicts, several of whom they knew to have confessed their offences.— They have commended the most stubborn refusal in court to reveal the truth by ma sonic witnesses, us manly firmness. They have in every forth , -ef misrepresentation, which they could devise, .labored to' darken all knowledge 6141fellacts - relating to the outrages; and to bldi out the mural sense of the community.. Hundreds of the brethren in different counties in the state of New York, have published addresses, under their names, in which they have delibibirtely contradicted facts established judicially, by many of their_ adhering brethren and by many seceding masons ; and which under the sanction of a !awful Oath, and subject to cross examina tion before the nubile, they would be com pelled *.o admit. Similar. falsehmxls have been published in an address of a' oeMmit tee of the grand lodge of Rhode Island—and the grand secretary of the grand lodge of New York. has reeer.tly issued an official letter,. in which he represents that body as - ex - tending its dependants, confident it its strength, and determined to outbrave all.the consequences of their detected guilt, and the public indignation. Nothing could ac count for this universal course of falsehood, but the unhappy trill!), that the men who are engaged in it, have sworn, under the penalty of death,. to conceal the secrets of freemasonry, a most .essential branch of which consists in the crimes ofits members. This course is countenanced by, the Presi dent ofthe . U. States, who is a mason, and who has recently appointed. as heads of the departments in the national government, a majority of distinguished masons. One of these heads of departments—the Post Mas ter General, the only one retained of the late-cabinet, has removed a large number of his most competent and faithful deputies, in. New York, for the sole cause of the zeal and patriotism with-which they sought .to bring into just disrepute the crimes and in 'stitution of freemasonry. The mime of these transaction& is rapid ly corroding and wearing away the 'Very' -basis of all public and private virtue in our country; and eradicatino. e) that mutual eon fidencei upon . which the business of life, -its peace; and itS.:enjOyments essentially de-, pond. '"When men refuse td- bear testimony in court, to public offences, of which they - know the perpetrators, and are- praised for it when they perjure themselves, and are not disgrace I-7when they are convicted of a-conspiracy to kidnap a free citizen, and ere applauded as victims to the prejudices of their ciente ryinen-Lwhieri the distinctions between right and. wrong are practically superseded,lry :the systematic and- solemn it►junot ions of a wealthy, tc I I igent, Owner- , oua'and .pcerful-seciety, .diffused. and sus taining itself in al tbe places Uf social influ ence and honor—when in"pursuantin of this injirction, the. ,laWs of the' land, in the ..• , _ solemn places of their judicial appliCaticr , for the admonition and punishment of the most flagrant etlences, are foully bathed, set. aside and scorned--ilien, the social . fabric is tremblingthen there can be.- but one alternative, that of refcvin_or_ruintlien,. looking beyond; but not forgetting, - all - the considerations of attachment to the policy • of encouraging, this or that branch of nation al industry—this or that scheme of financial management,—this or that exposition of the principles of our political organization-- this or that object of all our foreign and do mestic policy, the considerate - friend of his country will govern hihiself primarily, by the obvious necessity to which is .he redu ced of persevering for his country the pow er of determining for itself upon any course of policy, and of disengaging the heart of the body politic from the fangs of a nlon. ster fl ire blood thirsty, remorseless and insoible t _thati any, -,which has 'ever come to prefekon the hopes of man. , There lisathearing of freemasonry, not yet embraced in this address, which is re plete with the most distressing apprehen sions. There is located, in Boston, a ma j sonic body denominated the Africap grand lodge, which dates its origin before the A. merican Revolution,- and derived. its exis tence from a Scottish duke. This body. acknowledges no allegiance to any of the associations of American masonry. Its au thority is co-extensive with our union. •It has already granted many charters to rican lodges. We are afraid to intimate their location to look in upon their proceed. ings, to count their inmates, or to specify their resources.; What are the means of removing these dangers? The dangers. are confined to no `one place in our country, and to no one de partment 'of our social interests; but extend , to altpliciii, - -add infect every department. Common prudence demancls,t hat the means should be capable of reach ing, thein,wherever they exist,- and susceptible of a safe applica tion, in their utmost extent. Such means we have; and we are familiar with their use. They consist in the honest exercise of the right of suffrage, and the most patri otic employment of official patronage. The evils of freemasonry operate upon the moral and political condition of the nation, and can be removed only by mind and politi cal means. It is the exalted excellence of our political institutions, that they _ are es , pecially designed and adapted to secure our rights, all of which pertain to us as moral beings. In voting, every elector should always be governed by a knowledge of his rights, and the desire of preserving them. There can be no higher political duty than this. But the use (Jour right of suffrage a. gainst freemasonry is termed proscriptiOn -Proscription-cannot be imputed to a‘party, because it justly opposes what is wrong. It is not proscription to be resolute and -actives in detecting and denouncing opinions of which the obvious tendency is to unhinge society; onto resist, by every lawful means the influence of men,who commit crimes & confederate to support each other in their commission. To call such detection; de. nuuciation and resistance, ' proscription, could never satisfy an honest mind. It would be like stigmatizing with an opprobri ous epithet, those public benefactors, who teach men, that all violations of duty are criminal and disreputable. and make their best exertions' tu discourage them.. Pro sc ription)can apply only to-t nose who oppose and lessen tiro influence of their fellow citi zens, because they innocently and with good Motives, think and act dilibrently from them selves. such proscription deserves repre hension, becathne it invades the equal' rights ofothors, and is averse to the improvement and happiness of all. Tile °deuces of iisemasontrupon. our in divitlual and. national rights, if they had been committed by a foreign nation, would, by the. law of notions, have. 'ustified. a pub he- war to avenge them. Shull we. fall in love with' crime because those who commit it are near us-? Shall we spare the destiny. or because we can subdue him peaceably ? Freemasonry can be destroyed by the votes of freemen, and by nothing else. AU who are truly opposed to it, will always vote a gainst it. And they deceive nobody but themselves, who process oppositiott to it, and yet dare not express that opposition by their vote., • • Isic good reason has been rendered, or can be rendered, why_:a freeman, who is op. posed to freeinusonry, should n.,t vote a gainst it. The application of the rights of suffrage against it is just, peaceable, effec tive, and may be as;coineieliensive as the evils which alarm us. And no other means can be described, or imagined, which unite these characteristics. Voting is the only decisive means by which public opinion can be distinctly ascertained upon the subject. And since many. persons not initiated into the societh. pen y connect themselves with its fortunes, and. make every exertion in their power to Sustain it, by their votes, we cannot safely, if we would, betake ourselves to any other veiled but the ballot boxes for its d s estruettow. These persons effect to con. Sider thernstilvea as entiffeff to the - praise of all candid and unexcited mindS, by the course which they adopt ; and professto bis neither. IfflaSOUs nor antimasuns • olairninrthe res pect of thecommanity for r indifference 'to its rights' and welfare. if it had notlieen for the support of the order, by interested and .profligate politicians, who were not members, : tile forfeiture of public cpnfideuce justly inouried, by its crirm,,l'oult bar* been so carried keine to the Minds dila malt worthy inernbers,as lung ago to have ieditk ced its entire dissolution. It is ah u0 4 : 41 b!." led fact; that the men, whilareneiffier ~1161016i:lantirtrasona, are 'rittrgegrable thq A • - rEAMI
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers