VIII. Opinions.

Conclusion.
INTRODUCTION.
When one has enjoyed the advantages of the college course, it is no gracious task to make any public criticism involving the institution to which he owes so much, and which he has hon- ored and loved ; but there are principles of fidel- ity which transcend all personal considerations, and the statement of the truth is sometimes the highest service. Great and noble as our foster- mother is, it is in behalf of a larger and a nobler life within her walls, and in all other commun- ities as well, that these words are written.
Still less gracious is it to utter criticism upon institutions whose honors and privileges one has shared, and whose trusts have been confided to his keeping; and perhaps, in view of the peculiar nature of the institutions in question, it will be simple justice for me to say, at the outset, that the organization, with whose membership I was honored in Senior year, was almost ideally per- fect, of its kind. I do not see how any organi- zation of that sort could have been much better.
But institutions exist for men, not men for institutions; and though loyalty to an institu- tion is an important principle, yet loyalty to the truth is one far more sacred. Every man — par- ticularly every young man — must be granted the right to change his party with his convictions. The opposite principle stifles all freedom and honesty, and it may be added that secret socie- ties have a tendency to this which is not in their favor. The first principle was recognized in the many changes of party at the time of our late
5 THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM.
war. There were new circumstances, but new facts and principles should be as potent as new circumstances; perhaps more so. Luther doubt- ing-ly^ entered a monastery, and lived a monk for some years; but he was not thereby kept from speaking the truths of the Reformation. In English history, Charles James Fox was driven by his convictions "to detach himself from his early surroundings;" and "he dissolved his partnership with Sandwich and Wedderburn, and united himself to Burke and Chatham."^ So acted Mr. Gladstone, and English Protestants were surprised "when one who took so high a view of the duties and privileges of the Estab- lished Church, became, a generation later, an advocate for the disestablishment of the Irish branch of that church." ^ In 1845, ^^ form an impartial opinion, said Mr. Gladstone,* " I have separated myself from men with whom, and under whom, I have long acted in public life, and of whom I am bound to say * ^ that I continue to regard them with unaltered senti- ments both of public regard and private attach- ment."
It is involved in this principle that the right of free discussion and action is in no way for- feited. It is limited by the obligation not to use against a party what has been confided to one as a member of it, and that obligation I shall always recognize.
A discussion of this topic violates what has come to be one of the first rules of college eti-
^ Life, p. g.
^ Trevelyan's Early History of Fox, p. 452.
^ Smith's Life of William Ewart Gladstone, p. 73.
4 Do., do., pp. 85, 86.
THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM. 9
quette ; but for this — not a light matter — there is ample warrant. Whether political or not, these institutions in college are practically public, not private; their influence, whether so intended by them or not, is a great, in some instances perhaps the great factor in college life; and every year they look for support from the incom- ing or lower classes. I hold that bodies of men have no right to establish institutions whose in- fluence is as public and far-reaching as that of those in question, and demand that nothing shall be publicly said about them. The right of free discussion of public matters is one of the guar- antees of our liberty, for which our fathers fought; *' one of the most precious and neces- sary rights of the individual, and one of the in- dispensable elements of all advancing humanity ; ^ ^ ^ an element of all civil liberty," says Francis Lieber,^ the able and patriotic author of the work on civil liberty used as a text-book by the Yale seniors; and in the name of freedom I claim and exercise this full right.
The need of some discussion of this subject rests on this principle : that men should under- stand the principles and tendencies of the insti- tutions which they are called on to support. Now under the class system, particularly, col- lege classes are held for years, without being in a position to understand its nature, which may even make some discussion of this a public duty. Graduates and college officers, also, often give the system active or virtual support, when it is probable that they would not, if they under-
^ Civil Liberty, p. 87 ; see also Chapter XIII, on Pub- licity.
lO THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM.
Stood its real character and influence. More- over, open debate is most healthful in its influ- ences; it opens the windows of the mind and lets the truth come streaming in like the sun- light.
It is unfortunate that none w^ho are identified with the system will enter the debate, though Baird does close his book on ^^Ainerican College Fraternities^'' with a defense cf them. But if none of their members will appear, this cannot be laid to the charge of any one else; and here, too, it may be added that this principle of refus- ing to appear before the tribunal of public opin- ion, is not in favor of the secret societies. The nature of them may afford some explanation of their silence; but this mode of proceeding is not in harmony with the spirit of republican institutions, and the societies should have good reason for doing that which, before the law, would certainly bring' judgment against them by default, if for no other reason.