D. Colden, (the friend and biographer of Fulton,) had all been

masons in their youth. If they had died before the masonic mur-
der of Morgan aroused the attention of the people to the tendency
and the acts of masonry, they would have been enrolled by masons
among the great men of the order, and the public ear would have
been deafened with the chime of Marshall, Wirt, and Colden, as it
was with the changes rung on the names of Washington, Franklin
and Lafayette.

But fortunately for truth and liberty, they survived that crisis
in the progress of our free institutions. Yet attempts to appro-
priate some of them masonically have not been wanting. In
August 1833, an eastern paper stated that Judge Marshall said
ii that Freemasonry was a jewel of the utmost value; that the pure
in heart and life couid only appreciate it fully — and that in a free
government it must, it will be sustained and protected." This pub-
lication was made in Massachusetts, upwards of live hundred miles
from Richmond, \vhere the Judge resided, and he was at that time
about 78 years of age. If he had never heard the assertion, or if
hearing of it he had deemed it too absurd to merit notice, then at
his death (which in the course of nature could not be remote,) the
publication would have been assumed as true, by every Lodge*
Chapter and Encampment throughout the United States. They
would have alleged triumphantly that the story was published in the
lifetime of the Chief Justice, and that he never denied its correctness.

But happily, as is seen from his letter of October 18, 1833,
before referred to, the publication was seen by him, and most ex-
plicitly denied, and the important facts added, that he had not
been in a Lodge but once for forty years, and that he never "affir-
med that there was any positive good or ill in the institution itself."

In September 1831, the illustrious and pious Wirt published
to the world that he had not been in a Lodge for more than thirty
years, and that he considered masonry "at war with the fundamen-
tal principles of the social compact, treason against society, and a
wicked conspiracy against the laws of God and men, which ought
4u be put down.''9

v ^

23

In May 1829, Golden addressed to a meeting in New York, a
long, most valuable, and interesting letter on the subject of mason-
ry; in which he says, 4i It is true that I have been a mason a great
number of years, and that I held very high masonic offices and
honors. It is equally true that I have for a long time ceased to
have any connexion with the institution, because, I have believed*
and do now believe, it is productive of much more evil than good.
It is also true that I have on no fit occasion hesitated to express
this sentiment. I have long entertained my present opinion, that
a man who would eschew all evil should not be a Freemason —
Indeed I have never known a great mason who was not a great
fool,7'

Since the publication of these letters, the sentiments of masonry
towards Marshall, Wirt and Golden appear to have been not a
little changed. No aproned or mitred processions accompanied'
their bodies to the grave : No mallets, crowns, compasses and
acacia, were displayed at their funerals : No masonic orations
commemorated the fact that they had ever belonged to the order.
Their mortal remains were consigned to the earth with the dig-
nified simplicity of plain republicans.

No one can doubt that if Washington had lived within the last
few years, his public relation to masonry would not have been dif-
ferent from that of Marshall, Colden and Wirt.

And even before 1T99, the period of his decease, if masonry had
ventured to hold him up before the American people as a sup-
porter of their order, they would have been spurned with indig-
nation. For even so far back as 1T80, he called masonry "child's
play," as has been already shown ; he subsequently announced
to the committee cf right worshipful s of Ring David's Lodge, that
it was not agreeable to him to be addressed as a mason: And in
1798, he was prompt and most decisive in correcting the erroneous
supposition of the Reverend Mr. Snyder, that he presided over the
Lodges of this country: and added, that lie presided over no Lodge,
and had not been in one more than once or twice for thirty years.
It was not till after death had silenced the lips of Washington, thai
masons dared to trumpet him to the world as a devotee of masonry,
and to exhibit the. masonic attire and mallets, and cable-tows,
which they pretended he had had in frequent use, and held in awful
veneration.

I have thus complied with the request of the House, more at
length than was at first intended, but not more full v than the exceed-

24 *

ing great importance of the subject seemed to demand. I cannof
however, dismiss it, without calling on the Legislature to adopt the
proper measures for removing the abomination of Freemasonry
from the land.

Putting aside all other objections, the desecration and invalida-
tion of oaths which it inevitably produces, should cause a moral
and religious people to banish it forever. In the words of Wash-
ington, to be found in another part of the Farewell Address, "Let
" it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputa-
*f Hon, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths
" which are the instruments of investigation in the courts-of justice."

To this may be added the opinion of our own Snyder, contained**
in his annual message of December 5, 1816. "The frequency of
" oaths, and the levity with which they are commonly administered,
"on occasions trifling and unnecessary, beget indifference aDd
i( irreverence for the most awful appeal which the creature can-
" make to his Creator. This has not only a most pernicious influ-
V ence upon the morals and the order of society generally, but it
" causes the commission of numerous injuries by perjury. This
" abomination in our land, it is feared, will increase whi'e oaths
"are uselessly multiplied, and so long as the distinction between
" merely moral and constructively legal perjuries, shield the per-
" jured against prosecution and deserved punishment."

If such were the opinions of Washington and Snyder on the
irreverent and unnecessary administration of oaths, at the time when
the masonic penalties attached to them were either unknown to the
people, or believed not to be intended for actual execution, what
would they not now say, when the judicial proceedings of the
country bear ample record, both of the correct revelation of the
oaths, and of their literal construction in practice,, and of the actual
infliction of the penalty for violation? Disregard of the obligation
to "always hail, ever conceal and never reveal," any of the mys-
teries of Freemasonry, produced the murderous infliction of the'
proper masonic penalty, viz: the destiuction of life, (most proba-
bly in literal accordance with the oath.) and the committal of the
body to a watery grave. This inhuman outrage in its turn
brought into action the oath of a higher degree, which bind^
masons to assist each other M whether they be right or wrong,"
under dread, no doubt, of the more fearful penalty annexed. And
this again accomplished that concealment of "murder" by wit-
nesses and that perpetration of "treason" to law and justice by

2f>

peace officers, jurors and judges,which seem to be the very perfec-
tion of masonry in the arch Royal Degree, the conception of
whose enormous penalty is disgraceful and horrible to humanity.
Nothing but the absolute fear of the infliction of such penalties,
could for a moment reduce an honest mind even to silent acquies-
cence in the binding force of such unlawful and immoral oaths.
These things are not mere surmise.

Whatever may be the proceedings of the Legislature now or
hereafter,on the subject of extra-judicial oaths and secret societies,
1 hope, with the blessings of Providence on my exertions,tobe able
when resigning my charge, to join in the honest boast ot the Dem-
ocratic Findlay in his last Executive Message of December 7, 1 820,
to the Legislature.

11 My public life," said he, "has no doubt been clouded by many
" errors of the iudy-ment, but in reviewing the numerous intrinsic
" difficulties which pertain to the exercise of an extensive patron-
" age, and especially when an inordinate avidity for power and
44 emolument was so prevalent, 1 shall always regard it as a
44 source of high satisfaction, that every attempt on the part of ambi-
4; tious individuals, or secret associations, to exercise an uncon-
4< stitutional control over the executive authority of the Common-
4k wealth, has been successfully resisted during the period those
'• functions have been entrusted to my care."
I am, Gentlemen,

Very respectfully)

Your fellow. citizen,

JOS. RITNER.

To Messrs. Ford, "*)

Evglish, |
(jARRiiisox, J>Committee.
Stark,
Dimmick,

26 I

After the reading of the report, a motion was made by Mr.
Watts,

That 5000 copies in the English language, and 3000 copies in
the German language, of the said report, be printed for distribu-
tion.

The motion being under consideration,
A motion was made by Mr. Garretson,

To amend the same, by striking therefrom^" 5000," and insert-
ing in lieu thereof "3000," and by striking therefrom " 3000,"
and inserting in lieu thereof " 2000."

When a motion was made by Mr. Darsie,

To amend the amendment, by striking therefrom " 3000 copies
in the English language, and 2000 copies in the German lan-
guage," and inserting in lieu thereof "the usual number of copies."

And on the question, will the House agree so to amend the
amendment ■? The yeas and nays were required by Mr. Watts
and Mr. M'Ilvaine of Philadelphia, and areas follows:

YEAS — Messrs. Al ricks, Beatty of Crawford, Boyer, Brawley,
Cooley, Coplan, Crawford, Curtis, Darsie, Dimock of Susquehan-
na, English, Erdman, Espy, Gilmore, Harman, Hasson, Hill,
Hinkson, Hopkins, Hughes, James, Johnston, Leech, Lewellen,
Longaker, M'Clelland, M'Curdy, Rambo, Reed of Bedford, Reea
of Philadelphia, Reynolds of Luzerne, Reynolds of Westmore-
land, Rheiner, Shearer, Sheetz, Shortz, Stark, Sturgeon, Taylor
of Lycoming, Thompson, Woodburn, Yearick, Yost, Dewart,
Sneaker — 45.

NAYS — Messrs. Beale, Beaty of Mercer, Brooks, Carnahan,
Chamberlain, Collins, Cunningham, Diller, Duncan, Etter, Fe-
gely, Ferguson, Flanagan, Fling, Ford, Frederick, Fries, Garret-
son, Gorgas, Hammer, Harshe, Jackson of Berks, A. Kauft'man,
A. I. Kauft'man, Lehman, MTlvain of Chester, M'Ilvaine of the
<*,ity, Miller, Morton, Mowry, Oliver, Park, Parker, Picking, Ri-
chardson, Sebring, Smith, Snyder of Philadelphia, Spackman, Ste-
venson, Taylor of Indiana, Trego, Tyson, Watts, Weidman — 44.

So the question was decided in the affirmative.
And the amendment as amended was agreed to.

And on the question, will the House agree to the motion as
amended? The yeas and nays were required by Mr. Reed of Phil-
adelphia, and 51r. Rheinek, and are as follows — yeas 62, nays 18.
in» die question was decided in the affirmative.