*tar fitostitaltrast avenittr+
EY ROBERT WHITE MIDDLV11011:1
4.21 ED Cs/.t DELLI3IDo
-"With sweetest flowers enrich'd.
From various gardens cull'd with care."
FOR THE GETTYSBURG!! STAR AND BANNER
TO ATTAR.
WRY, Oh! why should a soul of light
So linger from this lovely sight!
Thou beauteous Star, oh! why from thee,
So often does my spirit flee?
Come, let me turn my thoughts away
From transient, fleeting things of day,
And bring them all—yes, bring and give
My ev'ry thought to things that live;
Live! yes, while countless ages roll,
Will live the free and happy soul!
And shall it dwell with thee, bright Star!—
Bright beaming in the heavens afar!
When evening'' shadows fall around,
lAnd hushed is ev'ry note and sound—
! When silence reigns in solemn night,
I watch thy trembling, twinkling light,
And wish my Foul was pure and free,
To dwell, lone Star! to dwell with thee!
For inix'd with pain are all things here,
We fondly smile—then shed the tear!
"114 so with all upon the earth—
AI:! Sorrow follows Joy and Mirth!
But in thee—beauteous Orb of Eve!
That shines by Can't, command and leave,
The spirit pure, from passion free,
Shines peerless, lovely, bright like thee!
Could I throw off this cumbrous clay,
To thee I'd fondly wing my way!
I'd wing my flight, lone Star, to thee—
To thee, to thee—Lone Star, to thee !
G::T'Cranunu,l'A
VEBUI faaT:9E.ziacirrol;l4.
For the GellyBburgh Star er Republican Banner
2aLtierLPV.iir
Delivered before the "Berlin Improvement Society,'
on the 24th of February, 1M37.
By Dr. George L. Faoss.
[PUBLISHED AT: , 1,1111 REQUEST Or TILE SOCIETY
LIGHT, whatever its, real character may be,
enables us to perceive the visible properties o
objects with which we arc surrounded. For
when lightlswithdmwn or withheld from us, we
aro unable td' perceive either the forms or colors
of material substances, So far as vision is con
cerned. Light is not sensible to any extent, in
its operation upon ally_ part of our bodies, but the
eye, for which it is r the appropriate stimulus.
Light is to the eye what noise is to the ear—the
effect produced by the former is sight, whilst the,
latter excites the sensation of :sound.
or the real nature of light, nothing definite is
yet known. Various hypotheses have, from time
to time, been advanced; but each' successive one
has been made to yield to that which immediately
followed. . .
Two only are considered at the present day as
entitledto any merit; that of Deactutes, Huyghens
and Hook, and that of Sir Isiuic.llrowton. Accord
ing to the former, the Universe is. filled with an
invisible and extremely subtle fluid, which is put
I in a certain vibratatory or uniiitlating motion by
the sun and other luminous bodies, end upon being
.comtnunicated to the eye, excites it in a peculiar
- manner, so as to render the object causing the
• motion visible, what similar to the ettlict
produced uponlf ail:, by a sonorous body when
struck, which,4i3tetnunicated to the car, excites in
us the sensationosound. This theory was first
noticed by Descartes, and subsequently advocated
by Huyghens and Hook, who were answered by
Newton. It is not dm present intention to enter
into a discussion of the truth or falsehoOd of the
hypotheses just referred to; but wo shall proceed
to a brief review of tho theory of Newton, which
• is placed; by a variety of circumstances, upon a
basis entitling it : at least to the merit of an inge
nious hypothesis, as well as rendering it highly
probable. By the. extensive researches of this
distinguished philosapher, into this subtle and
mysterious natural, agent, ..we are enabled to ac
count for many visiblelrilteneruena, with the sem
blance, at least, of truth. -r . Xccording to the New
tonian theory, light is emanation from
luminous • bodies ; a subtle fluid, consisting of
certain peculiar particles of matter, which proceeds
from the luminous bodies, and entering our eyes,
excites in us the sensation of sight, or the per
ception of luminous objectit.
Adopting then the latter theory, we shell pro
ceed to mention some of its most familiar and
striking peculiarities with which we Ore acquainted.
All visible bodies aro eithei: -"ominous or non_
luminous. Luminous bodies are those which
shine by the aid of their own light,:whose visible
properties we see by the light emitted by them
selves. Non-luminous bodies shine only by re
flection, shedding upon surrounding objects the
light they have borrowed from others—they have
not the power of shining of themselves as
nous bodies have. One non-lumihous body may
derive light front another, as a. polished mirror
reflects its borrowed lustre , upon other bodies; but
' being itself non-luminous, the light it reflects is
not its own, but originally proceeds front some
sclf-lutninous body. The sun is the great fountain
1: of light; but besides this principal source, there are
- s . yet minor ones.
All bodies, whether luminous or non-luminous,
emit light of a color corresponding with them
selves. Iron heated to redness, will emit a red
light; and when heated to a whiteness, it will dis
charge a white light. If a white light, whether
from the sun or a eandle, fall upon a colored
surface, the light reflected will he precisely similar
in color with the surface reflecting it. At first
view,..there is somewhat of a resemblance between
botlieS which shine only by reflection, and those
individuals who shine only by borrowed lustre,
arrogating to themselves that which legitimately
belongs to others; thus, by this dishonest policy,
often robbing the meritorious, and imposing them
selves upon the community for what they really
are not. But upon more minute investigation, it
, is obvious, that tlicre is an essential difference;
for while a non-luminous body always presents
its proper colors, under what circumstances snorer
it be placed, the individuals of the class referred to,
instead of appearing in their own true colors,
shine forth fora space in all the borrowed splen
dor of others,: oftentimes to the great detriment of
the community.
Bitt. to return:' Every portion of a luminou
body emits light in every direction in which it is
visible. Light travelsin Straight lines, and con
sists of separate parts or rays. The velocity with
which it moves is almost incredible, being, accord
ing to Brewster and J. W. Herschel, at th
of about one hundred and ninety two tho
five hundred miles in a second. The spa of
time it requires, at this rate, to travel from the sun
to our earth, a distance of upwards of ninety mil
lions of miles,does not exceed seven and a half mi
nutes. According to La Place, the light of the sun
does not reach our earth in less than about nine and
a half minutes. The weight of a particle of light has
been supposed does not exceed the
lionth part of a grain. All speculation on this
su! , ject must forever be useless, as it must be
utterly impossible by any human agency to arrive
at any correct result on this subject, by any process
of demonstration.
When a ray of light falls upon any body, how
ever smooth, regular, or transparent it be, a cer-
Lain portion of it is reflected or driven hack. If
the surface upon which it falls, be highly polished,
the portion reflected will be much greater than if
it fall upon a rough or uneven surface, and vice
versa. Were it possible for the surface of a body
to be perfectly smooth and es en, so that not tht
sltghtest porosity or inequality could be traced
not a particle of light falling upon it would hi
ahsortfed, but every portion of it would lie again
reflected : provided the hotly be incapable of trans
mitting light. However highly polished a body
may appear, if we examine it minutely with a
microscope, we shall Ise able to trace myriads of
pores and irregularities upon its surface. A ray
of light falling upon a perfectly diaphanous body,
as colorless glass, almost enti r ely passes through
it, a very tun di portion being reflected or absorb
ed. When a ray of light falls obliquely upon a
flat surface, the angle of reflection will be equal
to the angle of incideneedhe same rule also applies
' to a convex or concave surface, provided it form
a sngtnent of a perfect sphere; but, if it fall perpen
dicularly upon it, it will he reflected directly back
ward. When a number of parallel or divergent
rays is made to fall upon the concave surface of
a mirror, they will he reflected and converge in a
common focus at sonic intermediate point between
the mirror and the body whet . they issue, the
distance between the mirror and the forms is called
the focal distance; the length of which is depen
dent upon the degree of concavity; for the greater
the degree of concavity, the shorter will be the focal
distence, and vice versa.
We have said that light travels in straight lines.
This is however only true during its transmission
through a medium of uniform density; for a ray
of light passing obliquely through the atmosphere
into a denser medium, whether solid or fluid, the
direction of the ray Will be changed at the surface
and inclined toward the perpendicular; and when
passing from a denser into a rarer medium, it will
he still further diverted from the perpendicular.—
This 's called th — e — refraction, or breaking back of
a ray. The refractive Power varies in different
bodies, some possessing it in a greater degree than
others. It has been ascertained that the most re
frangible substances are likewise the most combus
tible. This fact led Sir Isaac NEwToN, to infer
that the diamond was of a highly inflammable char
acter, which upon experiment, ire discouered to be
the fact, being carbon in its purest form, yielding.
upon explosion with oxygen, a greater quantity
of carbonic acid gas than any substance known of
equal weight. The oils, and more especially the
oil of Cassia, are the most refrangible as well as
the most inflammable substances we are acquain
ted with, hydrogen gas excepted, which, owing to
its extreme levity, and the repulsive character of
its particles, does not apparently exert the same
refractive power upon a ray of light, yet it is in
reality the most refrangible, s well as the most
combustible, substance we know of, and were it not
for its exceeding levity, it would actually indicate
a greater degree of refrangibility than the oil of
Cassia or diamond. Doubtless, the refrangibility
of those highly Inflammable metallic bases, potas
sium and sodium, is superior to hydrogen; but in
consequence of their powerful offenity for oxygen,
it would be exceedingly difficult, if not utterly
im
possible, to demonstrate the fact by actual experi
ment. Enough is known on this subject, to set it
down as incontrovertibledhat the greater the actual
refrangibility of a substance the more inflam
mable it is,
HARRY PERCY
Were it not for the refrangibility of the atmos
phere, there would be no twilight. Twilight is
occasioned in consequence of the obliquity with
which the rays of the sun full upon the earth, after
the sun has really sunk beneath the Western hori
zon sixteen or eighteen degrees; it is by the same
11101.1118 that we are apprized of the approach of that
luminary in the morning bolore he is actually visi
ble. Were the atmosphere of equal density in the
higher regions and at the surface of the earth,there
would be no twilight, or it would at most he of
comparatively short duration, as the rays of light
would suffer no further refraction after entering it.
Hence it is evident, that if the atmosphere were
utterly destitute of refrangibility, we should he en-
veloped in midnight darkness the instant the sun
disappeared from our view,as well as in utter igloo.
anco of his rising, until he bursts upon us in all
his splendor. Every observer, no doubt, is familiar
with the circumstance, that twilight is of shorter
continuance in a cloudy evening than when the
atmosphere is clear and calm; this is doubtless par
tially attributable to the interception of the sun's
rays by the vapor with which til, atmosphere is
surcharged; but it is also true, ti , -t the atmosphere
is much lighter on a rainy or 'cloudy day than when
it is clear and calm. With a knowledge of these
facts, it is rational to conclude, that the shorter
duratinn of twilight in cloudy weather is principal
ly, if not wholly,dependent upon the unusual quan
tity of vapor, and the lightness of the atmosphere
which invariably attends.
Light was, until recently, and indeed is at the
present day, very generally regarded as a simple
substance. This is however not the fact, havin g
been incontrovertibly demonstrated that a beam of
white light, such as emanates from the sun, or a
canine, is composed of seven distinct varieties of
color—namely, red, orange, yellow, green, blue.
indigo and violet. For this brilliant discovery, we
are indebted to the philosophic denies of the itn-
,portal NLWTON, who, by his indefatigable re.
'searches disco‘ered that a sun beam passing
through a triangular glass prim, and recLi . .....1 up-
on a white surface, instead of presenting the same
appearance as bethre entering the prism, funned
all °Hone image, consi:liii4 of the beven above
11.11110 d COIIMS
"I WISH NO OTHER HERALD, NO OTHER SPEAKER OF Hy 'LIVING ACTIONS, TO KEEP MINE HONOR FROM CORRUPTION."—' so4KB.
62Utt - eIraWUPMV.U O U;kaia, JRWPIDdITE, A2PaLtat X 39 aaal.
Light promotes crystallization. Camphor,when
exposed in a window,w ill form crystals in the side
of the jar more immediately exposed to the influ
ence of the light, with greater facility than in the
other parts of the jar.
Light also performs a highly important part in
the process of vegetation. Plants or vegetables are
invariably seen, when so situated that the sun's
rays have access in one direction only, to incline
to that quarter whence the light procecds,as is ve
ry strikingly illustrated in the case of ornamen
tal plants reared in windows to protect them
from the cold of winter. It has likewise been oh
served, that in a clover-field in the morning the
heads were all directed toward the East—at noon
they were erect, and in the evening they had turn
ed toward the West. Plants entirely excluded
from the light, are sickly and delicate in their ap
pearance, utterly destitute of that beautiful variety
and brilliancy of color which characterize plants
that flourish in the open air, exposed to the direct
operation of the sun. The. stalks of celery and en
dive are colorless when raised under ground; but
if reared in the air and exposed to the sun, they
are of a beautiful green color.
A beam of solar light is refrangible into three
varieties of rays, each variety possessing separate
and distinct properties—namely, the calorific or
heating rays, the calorific or luminous, producing
vision and color, and the decomposing or chtuni-
c.ll rays.
Much more might be said on this interesting
subject, but not without wandering beyond our o
riginal design. In the course of these observations,
we had occasion to advert to the extreme velocity
with which light moves, travelling at the amazing
rate of one hundred and ninety-two thousand five
hundred miles in a second, and that the time it oc
cupied in travelling ninety-five millions of miles,
the mean distance of the sun from our earth, was
only seven arid a half minutes.
A certain philosopher conceives it highly pro..
bable, that notwithstanding the amazing rapidity
with which light traverses the illimitable regions
ofspace, that there are bodies within the Universe
whose, light has not yet reached us since the crea
tion! However extravagant the idea may at first
appear,there is nothing absurd or inconsistent con
nected tl.erewith—nothing irreconcilable or at va
riance with reason and sound philosophy.
The distance of such a body from our earth
would necessarily he so great as to be utterly be
yond our feeble powers of calculation, as well as
the power of langungeto utter. However startling
this may at first seem, upon a little reflection eve.
ry difficulty vanishes—for when we contemplate'
that the Universe is infinite in extent, that its Ae
ruea infinite in all His attributes, it is not dif
ficult fur us to imagine that the most remote re
gions of a boundles creation are tilled with count
lcss millions of suns, no le.:. luminous than that
Those rays do not occupy an equal spaco in the
image, for upon AividiLg it into throe hundred and
sixty equal parts, it will be perceived that the red
ray occupies forty-live parts, the orange twenty
seven, the yellow forty, the green and blue each
sixty, the indigo forty-eight am' tho violet eighty.
These rays or colors are not alike in brilliancy,
being scarcely vi!.ible at the lower extremity of the
red ray, growing gradually more vivid to the mid
dle of the yellow, where it is brightest, whence it
gradually decreases in brightness to the upper or
violet ray, where it becomes imperceptible. After
this discovery of the composition of light, Sir Isaac
proved that all the colors combined, recomposed
white light.
Having established the fact, that a beam of white
light is composed of seven distinct rays of so many
different colors, it was upon this fact that Newton
founded his theory of colors, which is based upon
the supposition that each of the seven (primary)
colors absorbs all the rays but that of the color
which it exhibits, which is reflected; thus green
substances absorb all the rays but the green, which
it reflects; and so of the remaining primary colors.
In white bodies all the rays are reflected, whilst in
black they are :ill absorbed. All other shades of
color are combinations of two or more of the pri-
mars colors.
Doctor Barw ST lilt thinks, that when we see
the red ray, our eyes are affected in a second four
hundred and seventy-seven thousand millions or
limes; and when we see the violet, no less than
six hundred & ninety-nine millions of times! Elvcry
person is at liberty to think as he pleases on this
subject; lin; it is greatly to be doubted, whether a
'single philosophical fact will ever lie elicited by
such extravagant and unfounded suppositious ns
the foregoing.
The rays of light also differ in refrangibility,the
red being die least,and the violet the most refran
gible. The several rays of light also differ in their
temperature. the thermometer indicating the great
est elevation in the red ray or immediately beyond
it. This circumstance was first noticed by Dr.
IIEIIY.CIIF:L, and upon subsequents experiment of
sir H. EN LESFIELD and Mr. Bell A ll,the results
were found to be nearly similar,with this diffrence
only, that instead of finding the maximum of tem
perature immediately beyond the red ray„, they
foutid it to be within the red ray itself. Sir Hum-
NinEr Dxv r, by znea 115 of a series of experiments
recently instituted at Geneva,bas arrived at a simi
lar conclusion with Herschel, that the greatest de
gree of temperature actually exists a little beyond
the red ray; front which he likewise inferred, that
independent of the culorifle or luminous rays, oth
er invisible rays proceed from the sun, which pro•
duce merely an elevation of temperature, and are
less refrangthle than the luminous rays.
Light is much inure readily absorbed by some
substances than others—color, as well as the me
chanical texture of bodies, exercise n powerful in
fluence upon its absorption. Light,as well a; heat,
is absorbed to a much greater extent by dark than
light colored bodies. Highly polished substances
absorb a proportionally trilling quantity of light
as well us heat.
Light, in certain instances, is a powerful chem
ical agent; important changes, that are with diffi
culty- effected without it, very readily take place
with the aid of light. Some rays are possessed of
much greater chemical energy than othera.
The more refrangible rays of light possess the
power of magnetizing iron and steel. Mrs. So m En
v LLE ascertamed,that by exposing common sew
ing needles for several hours to the action of the
violet ray, that they were rendered magnetic.—
Some of the other rays possess a small share of the
magnetic property, but as the rays decrease in re
frangibility, their magnetic powers become more
feeble.
which illumines our earth, with their attendant
I
planetary terns,. whose distance is so immense
that it w be utterly vain for finite inttelligence
rli
by the m ou'lltful elThrt of tlf) imagin ' t
attempt I omprehend their distance from
minutiv II we inhabit. It is not at all irri
ble,but p cctly consistent and in accordance with
the divi nature of the Almighty Architect of the
Univer that these bodies so remote that their
light, travelling directly toward our earth, would
not be able to reach us in a million of ages hence,
travelling at,instead of the rate of one hundred and
ICI thousand five hundred miles, the al
:onceivably greater rate clone hundred and
`o thousand live hundred millions of miles
,nd!
t.
}Arid i
111108
ni
in i.
.1 N OLD AND CURIOUS LAW.—The loi!otv
ing is copied from the Albany Tratiscrip
and will be interesting to courting beaus o
the prelieni day:
"A law in Massachusetts, adopted in the
year 1617. was such that it any young man
attempted to address a young woman with
o ut the cow:e t a of her parents, or in ease ol
their ab.enee, he should pay a line of A.:5 for
the first oll..nce, Ilt for the second, and he
imprisoned for the third. Thus, in 1694,
one Matthew Stanley was tri e d for engage
Mg the affections of the danirhter of John
Tarbox, with , art the coi.sent of her pitiunts,
and fined rt,ls; fees2s'•d. The same year,
three married women were tined ss. fir
scolding. We apprehend such fines would
he of no avail at the present time. Five
shillings would not stop the tongues of some
women, or lineen pounds the gallantry ut
some young men."
The following conversation is said to have
taken place between Mrs. —, of this city,
and her maid: "Leah, bring some water,
with the chill taken oil:" "Yes, ma'am.
directly." "Leah, what on earth keeps
you?" "I've been looking ever since for the
chill, ma'am, and I Can ' t find it." This re
minds us of the boy sent to hail some eggs
soli; when questioned what detained hint,he
answered—"[tot the things, it uint no use,
they wont bile soft. I've been at them more
nor an hour, and the more biles 'em the
harder they gets."—lV. F. Mirror.
An old ‘‘ ()man was recently tried in Ent;•
land for feloniously taking a pair of boots,
and the jury, to the amusement of the court
and spectators, returned the following ver
diet: "Kat guilty, hut admonished never to
do the lilt again."
PATRONAG E.-A poor poet was accustom
ed to show his productions to a rich old fel•
low, whose skull was adjudged by the learn
ed in such motto's to he unusually thick.
By this means the poet frequently secured
an invitation to dinner. One of his friends
once demanded of him why ho showed his
ellitsions to that old dunce. "What is his
opinion good for?" asked he.
"Good for the teeth," responded the bard.
Pnssrw•rlENr.--"J)oes not that bell tol
ling," observed his companion to Col.—,
on hearing a funeral knell, "put you in mind
of your latter end?" 'No. but the rope puts
me iu mind of yours."
"It is a very dark night, Crrsar, take
care," says Cato. The caution was a good
one—but, like many others, was given too
late—For Caesar, striking his foot against
the small remains of a post, which time had
long be , n hacking to pieces measured his
length upon the ground, before the friendly
caul on ofCuto had met his ear. "I wonder,"
says Cesar, rising and rubbit g the mud from
his holiday suit, "why de deuce de sun no
shine in deese dark nights, Cato, and not al.
ways keep shining in do day time, when
(lore's no need of him."
It is stated in some of the last English
papers that 11L• Buckingham, the celebrat•
ed traveller and the powerful advocate of the
Temperance cause, will resign his seat in
Parliament, and visit this country with his
family.
VAN BunEN's A MI flfAsoNny—Mr. Vac'
Buren in his letter to the committee or the
Anti• Masonic National Convention, stated
that in. making appointments, he would not
inquire whether the person appointed was
a Mason or not. What are the facts? Joel
R. Poinsett, has been appointed to the head
of the war department, and George M. Dal
las, who advocates the doctrine of destroy
ing all vested rights, minister to Russia, and
both high and adhering Masons. Can Anti-
Masons who honestly supported Van Buren
at the last election any longer question
whether he is an Anti-Mason or not? Look
to his very first acts, and you have proof
positive that if he be not a member of the
Masonic institution, he is de:ermined to re
ward those who are.---Erie Gazelle.
oz: - WORTHY OF ATTENTION!
We stated in our last, that the Masonic
party had determined to mount the "black
abolaion horse," as a last hope to put down
the present administration. Every move
ment of them goes to prove this. They
have given up the bank hobby, poll tax, &c.
as dead dogs, and all their hops now hang
upon getting up an Abolition exeitement,and
making politcs turn upon it. The word has
been "given, handed, `or sent" from the
Lodge, and henceforth Anti-Masons will
find the craft and their supple tools, in every
part of the country exerting every nerve t
make that the question.
Ve want no better evidence of this fact
than the union of the intelligences, Repor
ter and Keystone. These veracious prints
--the ex•hidnapper, ex•forger &c., have
*oiaed in common cause to sustain Mr. Van
Garen, and put down Gen. Harrison! This
is the grand secret of their collusion, and
the people will see it before many months.
We have often said that the editor of the
telligencer was shaping his course in op
. -
n to the old hero: and we are now
stained an the assertion. They have
tat their ground, side by side, and soon
will be found striving who can bestow the
most abuse upon the gray head of the war
worn patriot, and upon his supporters.
We want no stronger evidence of this filet,
than the following: Last night and early
this morning, there were thrown into the
houses of our citizens a ticket for borough
officers, headed "Abolition Ticket," on
which was a coarse cut representing a white
man and black woman, arm in arm,—sup•
posed to be the production of a certain lung
legged A nii-A inalgamationist, who is o•
Waged to pay his weekly contributions to
support a mulatto child of Its own! On this
ticket was placed the name of the Rev. Mr.
stem, the highly esteemed Episcopal cler
gyman of this place, for Chief Burgess, as
sociated with a negro for Assistant Burgess.
Ilalf of the Council was made up of respec
table white men, alternately associated with
blacks. This ticket is said to have been
the joint elf art of these three offices—copies
of it beino printed at each of them,
We ask our sober and respectable citi•
zens to look at this attempt to stigmatize
and slander snore of our mist respectable
citizens, by the depraved wretches who fled
the•r country for crimes! They have even
drugged forth not only citizens of the high•
e t moral standing, to gratify their malevo
lence and depravity, but assaulted the very
sanctuary, and entered the sacred desk!
How must such miscreants he looked up-
on by a civil community? Will such out
rages be sanction d! What citzen of Hat
risburgh is (here who will not stamp the
act with the brand of infamy; and hold the
wretched authors—the ex•kidnapper, ex-
forger &c. of the Intelligoncer, Reporter
and Polecat Organ, in that contempt which
is always visited upon such beings in civi
lized communities. —Ufarrisbarg Tel.
The Dcinocracy of the Senate [of
Nr.tj !MVP stricken frimi the Preamble
to the Rusolutions censuring Mr. LEIGH,
he seteence "the voice of the People is the
voice of God." This is a specimen of ex
ceeding modesty and condescension on the
part of the wise men who sit in the upper
chamber.—Richmond TV/: ig.
We understand that the family of the illus.
trious ,MADISON are prepartog for the press
live or six volumes of htu MSS. Ono
volume is to be devoted to Constitutional
Doctrines, and the others to his interesting
Correspondence. These are, or course, ex
clusive of his Reports of the old Cong r e ss
nod of the Federal Convention, for the pur
chase of which the last Congress have ap
propriated s:lo,ooo—Richmond Enquirer.
HIG LILY [NI PORTANT LE'T'TER
Lefler from Joseph 'Wader,
ro a Select Committee of lie House of Represeuta
tives of Punusylvania, un the
Masonry of Gen. Washington
[CONCLUDED FROM OUR LAST.]
Having thus shown from Masonic records;
from his own writings; from the recollec
lions of his contemporaries; from the know
ledge of his biographers; and from his whole
' life and character, the nature of his feelings
towards Free slasoory,and also the probable
reason why he did not, at any early day,
denounre the society, as well as withdraw
froth it, the question may fair! • be asked:--
Did he take no means to guard his country
from the evils of such combinations? Ho
did. Ile who never shrunk from danger
when its encounter could serve his fellow
citizens, took the most effectual means, and
embraced the most solemn occasion, to place
his testimony against them on lasting re•
cord. In his farewell Address of Septem.
her, 1796, we find these warnings, which
camnit be mist aken.
"All obstructions to the execution attic, laws,
all combinations and associations, under what.
ever plausible character, with the rout desi,en to
direct, control, counteract, or awe, the regular
delikeraimas and uctims of the constituted au
thoritmx, are destructive of this fundamental
principle, and of fatal tendency. They ierve to
organize faction; to give it an artificial and extra_
ordinaryforce; to put in the place of the delegated
wilt of the nation, the will of the pnrty, often a
small but artful and enterprizing minority of the
community; and, according to the alternate tri
umpbe ordarerein parties, to make the public ad
ministration the inirior of ill-concerted and in
congruous prejccts of faction rather than the or.
gars of consistent and wholesome plans, digested
by common councils, and modified by mutual in
Wrests "
"However combinations or associations of the
above description may now and thou answer popu
tar ends, they are likely in the course of time and
things to become potent engines, by which cnn
nig, ambitious, and unprincipled men, will be en.
a bled to subvert the power of the people, and to
usurp for themselves the reins of government;
destroying afterwards the very engines Which
have lifted them to unjust dominion "
It will be perceived that Washington here
makes no express , mention of Mee.slason.
ry. It would have been undignified in him
to have alluded by name to any particular
society; especially to one whose bloated ex•
iStence was even then marked with its own
destruction, although it could count back to
a bar,room birth in an obsbure tavern of
London. in the year 1717, and whose only
chance of immortality would be such a teen•
.tion by him; us loathsome insects are some '
times found preserved in the purest amber.
No. ,His lust testament to his country,
efi will mime as lung as liberty shall be
.cherished among men, was not to b q mark
ed with the ephemeral name of a society
which forms only one of the temporary ox-
creseences ofthe time. Neither his address
to America was to be thus disgraced, nor
Masonry thus honored. In that address his
bit'et Wild to deal with general and lima-
[VOL. 8--NO. 1.
table truths, and the fundamental principles'
of our government. His remarks on the"
subject ofcombinations and associations, are
therefore applicable to every deScription of
them, past, present and to come, whether,
they be sworn or • 'was worn, foreign or do
mestic, secret or open.
Upon a deliberate consideration dell the
facts and circum-) •nces which have been
detailed and referred to,- I believe that no
impartial and unprejudiced mind will doubt
but that rnuit•mAsoxity, with all other com
binattons maculated to "control, counteract
or awe, the regular deliberations of the con
stituted authorities," was, denounced, and
was intended to be denounced by Washing-
ton in his Farewell Address to the people
of the United States.
Masonry, with the hope of sheltering it
self from exposure, and averting the certain
desiefiction that awaits it from the righteous
sentence of the American people, points un
ceasingly to the name of the illustrious
man who may once have belonged to the
' order, and for ten years has been ringing
the change on the names of Washington,
Fianhlin and Latimer°. The viewsof Wash
muter) can he judged by his actions end lan
guage just exhibited. Franklin & Lafayette
have left behind them scarcely less clear
iiirl unequivrmal evidence of their disap
probation of Itlasenry. ,
When a number of Masons and others,
soon after the revolutionary war, endeavor
ed to establish Sin order of nobility in this
country, under the name of the Cincinnati,
with the specious guise of preserving the
memory of the deeds of heroism, to which
that glorious time gave birth', the project
was crushed almost in its origin, and the
whole scheme rendered supreMely ridicu
lous, in the eyes of the American people, by
the wit, the ridicule, and the argument of
Franklin and Jefferson—those apostles of
of liberty and detnocracy. And when
Franklin was consulted by a relation on the
propriety of his becoming a Mason, the sage
replied with his characteristic humour and
candor, "one thol ;n a fiunily is enough."-,--
To which may be added the remarkable
fact, that in all his.writinas, particularly in
his memoirs of his own life r . not a single
mention is made of his connexion with.the
craft. Every one who has read his life,.
must remember with what exactness every
occurrence of his varied history is related.
Why then is it that no notice -is • taken of
his Masonic 'membership? The reply is
prompt. He did not wish prosterity to be .
informed of the Ilia. Had ho' deemed it an
honor, or the society oven harmless in its
effects, the case would have been different.
When the justly popular. Lafayette
_was
in this country in 1824 and '5. Masonry,
• gratified at the circumstance of his having
i become a Mason in hie youth, dragged
him, in every town lie visited, to halls and
garrets wherever a Lodge could be assem
bled. Yet the contempt in which he held
Masonry, and the disgust he felt at the de
sire of its devotees, to &hew off their robes
anti jewelry at the expense of his comfort
and convenience, were not concealed.— -
They aro depicted in the following passage
from that very candid, elaborate and able
work, "Letters on Masonry and Anti-Ma
sonry, addressed to John Q. Adams, .by
William L. Stone of New York," hiMself
an adhering Mason.
"This reminds me of a remark made by Gene.
rill La Fayette at the time Masons worn, pulling
the good old General about in this city, striving
among Pilch other for the honor of giving him
seine of the higher-degrees . .To morrow,' ho
said "lam to visit Vt. schools; lam to dine toith
the Mayor; and in the evening, I suppose, lam to
he made V6ItY WISE by the Free -Masons.' I never
shall turret the arch look with which he uttered '
the irony."
If Masons be thus free in the use of the
names of Franklin and La Fayette, although
these distinguished men in reality held Ma.
sonry in derision, it is not surprising that..
they should use the 'name of Washingtonitr:2 :
' ..
the same manner, and with equal injustice, t' , '
to uphold tho tutoring fabric of the tiocie ...:.
ty._ , .
The proneness of Masons to appropriate
to their 'associations the character and
names of great men, is strikingly exempli
fied in the filo that some of them have not
hesitated, publicly to charge the illustrations
founders oldemocracy, Jetlhrson and 'Medi.
son, with having been Masons. Moses.
Richardson, the Grand Treasurer of the ,
Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and
Rhode Island, at the investigation of Ma 4.
sonry held in Rhode Island in December,
1831, and January, 1832, testified, that all
the Presidents of the United. States except
two (the two Adams's) Were Masons. And
the Revefened Bernard Whitney, the ora
tor at the dedication of what is called a Ma
sonic temple at Boston, in June 1832, mule
the same assertion on his individual authori
ty.
The whole of Jefferson's life, devoted to
the cause of liberty and the equal rights of
man, and his jealous and, powerful exposure
in all his writings of all aristocratic combi
nations and, associations, are quite sufficient
to free his name and charactet from the
imputation of his being a Mason. He thus
writes on privileged 'secieties, u a letter
fated April 16, 17 , .'"1, to General Washin
oii, who lord requysted his opinion on the
MEE
ri objoctiong of Ihose whom.° opposed to the
institution • (Cincinnati) shall be briefly sketched.
You will middy till then np. They urge that
they ate against the confederation—against the
letter of some of our constitutions—againat the
spirit of nil of them:--that the foundation on
toilet) all of these in built, is the natural equality
of man, is the denial of every pro eminence hat
that annexed to le2i I race, and particuktly the
denial ofa pre-euilnenre by birth. That however,
in their present dispositions..citivms might de•
cline accepting honorary instalments into- the •
order, a time may corn when a change of disiri.
eitions would re:Woe the.ei flattering, when is well
directed distribution rd them might drevir info the
order all the men of talents, ofoffite and °rarest:lh;
and 1.0 his ease, would probably , preeure eq es,'