CHAPTER IV.

POLITICAL RELATIONS.
Of old sat Freedom on the heights, The thunders breaking at her feet :
Abov^e her shook the starry lights : She heard the torrents meet.
— Temtyson.
The societies may be political, or they may not. They may first be considered as polit- ical.
Under a despotism, political secret societies may furnish the only means whereby the Spirit of freedom can be kept alive, or resistance to tyranny maintained. Where the freedom of the press and the right of assocjation do not exist, as in Russia, they seem almost a necessary agency for organization and for the promulgation of ideas. They probably had a great influence in disseminating the ideas and influences which led to the European revolutions of this century. They were "the secret conventicles of indepen- -- dent thought.'" The Carbonari and the Young Italy, of which the latter was the creation of Mazzini's genius for the liberation of Italy, " kept alive for half a century, by their secret meetings and their secret correspondence, the spirit of resistance to foreign domination."^ Yet even here, for reasons which will appear, they are probably admissible only as a last re- sort; and it has been noticed that England and
^ Frost's Secret Societies of the European Revolution, Vol. I, p. 304.
2 Do., Vol. II, p. T99.
THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM. 49
Switzerland, countries which have won and kept more freedom than any others in Europe, have made least use of such agencies. Open agita- tion, as explained in passages already quoted from Lieber, is the method of A-nglican liberty, whose freedom is the most perfect known.
The circumstances which would justify a rev- olution would also justify and usually necessi- tate secret organization. The object could hardly be reached in any other way. When the govern- ment was weak, again, some private organiza- tion might be needed for mutual protection, like the citizens' Vigilance Committee of San Fran- cisco, in the old days of violence in that city. Such organizations, says Lieber, '*are generally and necessarily for a time secret societies."^ But plainly both of these are exceptional cases, like those which warrant the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.
In free countries the case is quite different.
1. The multiplying of parties tends to disun- ion and bitterness. Says Burke, the " artificial division of mankind, into separate societies, is a perpetual source in itself of hatred and dissen- sion among them." '^ Secrecy and exclusiveness much strengthen these effects. There is a con- stant jealousy and distrust, which easily ripens into bitter animosity.
2. In relation to the general government, they tend to exalt society over public allegiance, and to diminish public spirit. Their peculiar claims are calculated to weaken the public attachment. Says President Fairchild, of Oberlin, ^ ** Every
^ Poliiical Ethics, 2d edition, Vol. II, p. 195.
2 Works, Vol. I, p. 22.
^ Moral Philosophy, p. 271.
50 THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM.
organization, political or social, which tends to clannishness, weakens the common interest, and diminishes the proper national feeling, is incon- sistent with the highest patriotism. Secret polit- ical and social organizations, as existing in this and other lands, seem to be of this nature. They tend to disorganize society, to sunder the ties upon which national unity depends."
3. Parties properly represent principles, not men ; men only as they stand for principles. All parties easily forget this, but where they do not stand on public platforms, as secret societies do not, the tendency is very strong for them to become cliques, struggling only for power. The committee of the New York Senate, on Ma- sonry, said in their report, *'The opposers of Masonry at the West entertain no doubt that the institution was originally intended, and is now kept up, for the sole purpose of securing to its members, unjust advantages over their fellow- citizens, in the various concerns of life, but chiefly with the view of facilitating their acqui- sition of political power." ^
4. Secret societies are exposed to a further special danger, that of intrigue and corruption. At the time of the Morgan excitement, Mr. Golden, ex-Mayor of New York, who had been "elevated to the highest honors of Masonry,'^ and was "a citizen highly respected for his talents and character," wrote a letter giving his reasons for opposing Masonry, and among others mentioned "the peculiar adaptedness of Masonry to purposes of political intrigue and corrup- tion."^
^ Report in Vol. 91, of College Pamphlets, Yale Li- brary, p. 14. 2 Do., do., p. 21.
THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM. 5 1
5. Political secret societies dispel the confi- dence essential to the stability of government. They are a perversion of the caucus principle, itself probably legitimate within certain limits, though doubtless often abused. '' Confidence is indispensable for the government of free coun- tries— it is the soul of loyalty in jealous free- men," says Lieber.^ " This necessary influence is two-fold — confidence in the government, and confidence of society in itself It is with refer- ence to the latter that secret political societies in free countries are essentially injurious to all liberty." The committee already referred to said in their report that the people were jealous of combinations '^for purposes either unknown or known to affect improperly, the even and healthful current of our political affairs," and proposed to withhold "political support from all its members indiscriminately, until they shall sunder their obligations to that institution (Ma- sonry) and to each other, and return with us upon equal footing into the social compact."^
6. '' All secret associations," says Edward Everett, " particularly all such as resort to the aid of secret oaths, are peculiarly at war with the genius of a republican government." " They are intrinsically hostile to liberty," says Lieber.* '* They are, as all secret societies must inherently be, submissive to secret superior will and decis- ion,— a great danger in politics, — and unjust to the rest of the citizens, by deciding on public measures and men without the trial of public discussion, and by bringing the influence of a
^ Civil Libert)% p. 135.
^ Report as above, p. 12.
2 Civil Liberty, pp. 128, 135.
52 THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM.
secretly united body to bear on the decision or election. Secret societies in free countries are cancers against which history teaches us that men who value their freedom ought to guard themselves most attentively." The expounder of our Constitution, Daniel Webster, asserts that "All secret associations, the members of which take upon themselves extraordinary obli- gations to one another and are bound together by secret oaths, are naturally sources of jealousy and just alarm to others, are especially unfavor- able to harmony and mutual confidence among men living together under popular institutions, and are dangerous to the general cause of civil liberty and good government."
The societies may not be political. This would much better the case ; but many of the above objections would still hold. While maintaining secrecy, they must still have political signifi- cance. It is not known that they are not polit- ical; hence they still create dissension and dis- pel confidence. Their members are often sup- posed to be backed by the organization, and therefore have precisely the same influence as if they were, sometimes, perhaps, without knowing it. There is also a strong tendency within the society itself to exert its latent power in politics, particularly at certain crises. These last points were illustrated at the time of the Morgan ex- citement. It is doubtful if Masonry was ever a political society in this country, though it was made such in Mexico. Yet it had exerted so much political influence, in one way and another, as to cause the formation of a national party against it, on such grounds as this, that while
THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM. 53
Masonry comprised one-ninth of the voting pop- ulation of the State of New York, its members held three-fourths of the offices. If it had not become political, it was nevertheless regarded as such. Many of the above objections, there- fore, apply to non-political societies, though not to the same degree.
The societies may be viewed as that union of the political and social called an aristocracy, and this is probably their truest aspect. Secrecy, exclusiveness, and badges are the expression of an aristocratic spirit. In the letter already men- tioned, Ex-Mayor Golden said, "' Foreigners must think we are not less fond of the show and trapping, and titles of aristocracy and royalty, than any other people, when they see that we are so eager to adopt them, in the only way tolerated by our political institutions."^ Their strength and w^eakness is almost exactly that of an aris- tocracy. They generally seem to aim at pres- tige and power by the choice of prominent men. They "would of course have little prestige," says President Hitchcock, of Amherst, "were they not strongly exclusive, so as in fact to leave out a majority of the students, nor unless those selected embraced the elite as to scholarship.'"^ " Everything for the few, nothing for the many," is an aristocracy, the world over; and that is the essential principle of these societies. Plainly this is true as to social and literary advantages ; and, for reasons already given, it is often true politically.
In this land and age, itself in one aspect a glorious refutation of aristocratic principles, it
^ Report as above, p. 21-22.
■^ Reminiscences of Amherst College, p. 320.
54 THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM.
can hardly be necessary to dwell on the larger truths of republicanism, or the objections to aristocracy. Its social aspect has been already considered ; I only add here that, like every aris- tocracy, it has its advantages, sometimes of a very noble kind. That is a poor idea of an aris- tocracy which limits these to food and clothing, houses and carriages. But much nobler things may be misused, as already explained. The "glorious good-fellowship" of college would be far more glorious and much more of a real fellowship, to say nothing of its goodness, with- out the aristocratic element; which means sel- fishness, in plain English, and w^hich really does not belong to it at all. The nobler spirits are united in a natural aristocracy, which needs no external forms; and their due influence class- mates are ready and glad to recognize. "Within the ethnical circle of good society," writes Emerson, " there is a narrower and higher circle, concentration of its light, and flower of courtesy, to which there is always a tacit appeal of pride and reference, as to its inner and imperial court, the parliament of love and chivalry."^ Politically, aristocracy means what John Stuart Mill calls " the monster evil — the over-ruling influence of oligarchy,"^ establishing an op- pression more or less grievous. The kind of oppression here is what Lieber means when he says, " Oppression does not come from govern- ment or official bodies alone. The worst oppres- sion is of a social character, or by a multitude." ^
^ Essays, 2d series, p. i6o.
^ Dissertations and Discussions, Vol. IV, p. 39.
' Civil Liberty, p. 88.
THE SECRET SOCIETY SYSTEM. 55
As aristocracies, these societies are an anachro- nism. They abandon the free and progressive ideas of modern civilization, and go back to the narrow and selfish and unprogressive systems of mediaeval times.