USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Lodge no. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkesbarr?, Pa. with a collection of masonic addresses > Part 7
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The next year (1829) the storm of anti-Masonry began to rage in earnest in Pennsylvania.
In June a convention was held, and Joseph Ritner was nominated for Governor, in opposition to George Wolf, the Democratic candidate. In October Ritner received a large vote, but Wolf was elected Governor.
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September 11th, 1830, the first anti-Masonic convention which assumed the name and character of National, assem- bled in Philadelphia, in the District court-room. Ninety- nine delegates were present, representing ten States and one Territory. Fourteen committees were appointed upon as many topics appropriate to the purposes of the convention. Their reports were collected and published, with the entire proceedings, in a volume which was disseminated broad- cast in enormous quantities. Among the more active mem- bers of this " self-constituted Congress, convoked together for the purpose of sealing the doom of Free Masonry," were William H. Seward, of New York, Thaddeus Stevens and Joseph Ritner, of Pennsylvania, and Henry Dana Ward. One of the resolutions adopted by the convention was as follows: "It is the right and duty of the people to abate the evils of Free Masonry in the same manner as under our free institutions other great moral and political evils are abated,-by the exercise of the right of suffrage."
In September, 1831, a National anti-Masonic convention was held at Baltimore, Md., and William Wirt, of Balti- more, who had been for twelve years Attorney General of the United States, was nominated for the Presidency, and Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania, was nominated for the Vice Presidency. The method of nominating Presidents by conventions dates from this time. The first Democratic National convention was held at Baltimore in 1832.
The following resolutions were passed by the National anti-Masonic convention of 1831 :
I. " That the existence of secret and affiliated societies is hostile to one of the principal defences of liberty-free discussion, and can sub- serve no purpose of utility in a free government.
2. " That the organization of the anti-Masonic party is founded on the most satisfactory and undeniable evidence that the Masonic Insti- tution is dangerous to the liberties and subversive of the laws of the country.
3. " That discussion, persuasion, and argument, in connection with
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the exercise of the rights of suffrage, is a correct and speedy method of dispensing information upon the subject of Free Masonry, and is the best method to insure the entire destruction of the Institution."
It was now perceived that the crusade was of the most de- termined character, and that the complete annihilation of the Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons was the ob- ject. The Institution at that time had arrayed against it some of the best talent in the country, whose best energies were employed in attempting to controvert our history. And no revolution in any country, at any time, was the means of bringing to light so many facts, where there was such a searching investigation, and which elicited so much philosophical research into the history of the past, as this persecution of Free Masonry.
Anti-Masonic newspapers, reviews, magazines, and alma- nacs found eager and ready purchasers. The press groaned with publications of every grade, from the broadside to the thick octavo. Orators of all ranks, from a Wirt to a Bumpkin, rode circuit through city, town, and village, scattering their arrows of pestilence on every side as they passed. Pulpits were not free from the infection. Ministers of several sects and denominations made the awful avowal from their pul- pits that they had sworn to conceal the secret practices of the Fraternity, and in the same breath, in the presence of their Maker, publicly revealed (?) them to their wondering congregations. One miserable Universalist preacher-who had been converted into a most stupid and superstitious fanatic by the anti-Masonic excitement, publicly said of Ma- sonry : " I believe it had its origin in heathenish darkness. It has for its object the destruction of religion and civil gov- ernment, and it has been supported by blood and murder from its commencement up to the present time ! "
During the years 1829-31 there came forth from the press various "Expositions," " Lights," " Letters," et id genus
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omne, ad nauseam ; all pretending to throw some light on the mystery and landmarks of Free Masonry !
In April, 1829, " Elder" David Bernard published his " Light on Masonry," a book full of errors and misrepre- sentations. In November, 1830, " Major " Avery Allyn published his " Ritual," a book illustrated with hideous cuts of men " neither naked nor clothed, barefoot nor shod," with the tops of their heads chopped off, their throats cut across from ear to ear, and their breasts and abdomens slit open so as to expose their internal economies ! Of course this book was very attractive to "the seekers after light." The " Major " styled himself "K. R. C.," "K. T.," "K. M.," &c., of high rank and standing in the Brotherhood, and be- coming an itinerant lecturer he not only renounced (?) but denounced Free Masonry. He spent many months in de- livering lectures before crowded audiences in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, but his bare- faced impositions were at length detected, and he was pelted off the stage in disgrace.
Col. Wm. L. Stone wrote and published in 1831 “ Letters on Masonry and Anti-Masonry." Col. Stone was a gentle- man of culture and education, was the editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser, author of "The Poetry and History of Wyoming," and of other works, and had been a Mason. He pretended to have great respect for the Fra- ternity, but contended that after the abduction of Morgan it ought to have been abandoned. The reasons he assigned for coming to that conclusion were : (I) The Society has
(2) It is puerile and frivolous. no pretensions to antiquity.
(3) It is useless. (4) It is symbolical. (5) It is illegal.
(6) It involves a great waste of time. (7) The people are jealous of its secret influence. (8) The Institution has been abused, and therefore it may be abused again! Stone doubtless wrote under a high state of anti-Masonic excite- ment, and he afterwards regretted the part he took. He
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made no attempt to divulge any of the secrets of Free Ma- sonry.
In 1832 the anti-Masonic party of Pennsylvania again put Joseph Ritner in nomination for the Governorship, but, while he made a great gain over his former vote, he was again defeated by George Wolf. In this year General Jackson was re-elected President of the United States, despite the candidacy of Henry Clay and William Wirt, and the stren- uous opposition of the anti-Masons.
Vermont was the only State in the Union which gave her electoral votes (seven) to the anti-Masonic candidates.
In 1834, a number of Representatives and Senators hav- ing been sent to the Pennsylvania Legislature by the anti- Masonic party, an attempt was made to legislate Free Ma- sonry out of the Commonwealth and out of existence.
Thaddeus Stevens, who made his first appearance in the Legislature in January, 1834, as a Whig representative from Adams county, became the acknowledged political leader of the fanatics, and was styled the " High Priest of anti-Ma- sonry." Stevens was an unscrupulous and cunning poli- tician, who saw in the anti-Masonic excitement the means to break up the domination of the Democratic party, in Pennsylvania and the United States. In addition to this he was a rejected candidate for Masonry. At this period he was to Pennsylvania what Thurlow Weed was to New York. He boldly wielded the patronage of the State ad- ministration during Governor Ritner's term, and carried things with a high hand. He was strictly a revolutionary leader ; reckless, unsparing, vehement, vindictive, loud for the rights of conquerors intolerant of opposition, and as ab- solutely incapable of fine discrimination and generous judg- ment as a locomotive of singing. He was very illogical, as well as intolerant, in his war upon secret societies, as he afterward proved in 1854 when he joined the " Know-Noth- ing " party. He had no single quality of a statesman, ex-
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cept strong conviction and fidelity to principle. His name has been saved from oblivion only because of his vigorous efforts in behalf of the common or free school system of Pennsylvania, and his fierce battles against slavery.
Plutarch, in speaking of the Greek Lysander, said :
" That where the Lion's skin fell short,
He eked it out with the fox's."
This might be said of Thaddeus Stevens.
In February, 1834, Representative Stevens offered in the House a resolution "That a committee be appointed to in- quire into the expediency of providing by law for making Free Masonry a good cause of peremptory challenge to jurors in all cases where one of the parties is a Free Mason and the other is not; and that the said committee have power to send for persons and papers." There were 31 votes for the resolution, and 45 against it.
In March, 1834, Mr. Stevens, from the committee ap- pointed to investigate Masonry, read a long report setting forth :
" That numerous petitions, signed by a large number of highly re- spectable citizens of this Commonwealth, have been presented to the Legislature, stating their belief that the Masonic Fraternity is asso- ciated for purposes inconsistent with the equal rights and privileges which are the birthright of every freeman ; that they are bound to- gether by secret obligations and oaths, illegal, immoral and blasphe- mous, subversive of all public law, and hostile to the pure administra- tion of justice. They ask for a legislative investigation into the truth of these charges, and if supported, a legislative remedy. * * In pursuance of what was supposed to be the prayer of the petitioners, a committee was appointed and the petitions referred to them. The committee met and organized, and supposing it to be their duty to proceed to investigate the charges made against the Masonic Institu- tion, and thus referred to them, they gave a precipe for a subpoena for witnesses to the Clerk of the House, to be by him issued, and in the usual way, signed by the Speaker. *
* The Clerk and Speaker of the House declined issuing the subpoena. The committee appealed to the House to grant explicitly the questioned power. But the House, by a vote of every member except two, of all parties not politi-
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cally opposed to Masonry, refused the request. The committee were thus prohibited from ascertaining, by legal testimony, the true char- acter of Free Masonry as practiced in Pennsylvania. * * *
" To show the necessity of the power asked for, and to justify their failure to make a more extended report on the subject confided to them, the committee will briefly state the nature and quality of the testimony which they had intended to submit to this House.
" That the evidence might be above suspicion, they had determined to call before them none but adhering Masons, who could not be sus- pected of testifying out of hostility to the Institution. To leave no doubt as to the character of the witnesses it was proposed to examine the Masonic members of this House and of the Cabinet. It was par- ticularly desirable and intended that the Governor of this Common- wealth should become a witness, and have a full opportunity of ex- plaining under oath, the principles and practices of the Order, of which he is so conspicuous a member.
" It was thought that the papers in his possession might throw much light on the question, how far Masonry secures political and executive favor. Their inspection would have shown whether it be true that applications for offices have been founded on Masonic merit, and claimed as Masonic rights ; whether, in such applications, the signifi- cant symbols and mystic watchwords of Masonry have been used ; and in how many cases such applications have been successful in se- curing Executive patronage. It might not have been unprofitable, also, to inquire how many convicted felons, who have been pardoned by the present Governor, were Brethren of the 'mystic tie,' or con- nected by blood or politics with members of that Institution, and how few of those who could boast of no such connexion, have been suc- cessful in similar applications.
" The committee might possibly have deemed it necessary, in the faithful discharge of their duty, to have called before them some of the Judges who are Masons, to ascertain whether, in their official character, the 'grand hailing sign' has ever been handed, sent, or thrown to them by either of the parties litigant; and if so, what had been the result of the trial. This would have been obviously proper, as one of the charges against Masonry is, its partial and corrupt in- fluence in courts of justice.
" Who the witnesses were to be, was distinctly announced to this House, by the chairman of the committee, on the discussion of his re- solution. The House decided that no evidence should be taken- every member of the Masonic Institution voting in the negative.
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" The committee have deemed this brief history of legislative pro- ceedings necessary, to justify them for failing to make a report which is anxiously looked for by the people. The committee are aware that most of those who opposed the power to send for ' persons and papers ' did it on the avowed grounds that it was unnecessary, as the princi- ples of Masonry were fully disclosed and known. For themselves, the committee have no hesitancy in saying, that Masonry is no longer a secret to any but those who wilfully make it so ; and that its princi- ples and practices are as dangerous and atrocious as its most violent opponents have ever declared. * * * It is the duty of govern- ment, while it looks with charity and forbearance on the past, to take care that in future none of our respectable citizens should be en- trapped into such degrading and painful thraldom. To effect this ob- ject, and to give those who profess to be morally opposed to Masonry an opportunity to record such opposition, the committee report 'A Bill to prohibit in future the administration of Masonic, Odd Fellows, and all other secret extrajudicial oaths, obligations, and promises in the nature of oaths.'"
Two thousand copies of this report were printed in Eng- lish, and one thousand copies in German, and they were dis- tributed over the Commonwealth. On April Ist, following the report of Mr. Stevens' committee, Mr. Patterson, from the committee appointed to inquire into " the political mo- tives and evils of anti-Masonry," made a report, from which the following extracts have been made :
* * * The questions between Masonry and anti-Masonry are of a nature better fitted for discussion in the columns of the press, the halls of moral science, and the sacred desk or pulpit, than in the Capitol of legislation. Your committee think it equally dignified to inquire and legislate on the fantastic fashions of the bonnets and frocks of our 'last and best gift' as on the vanities of Masonry and anti-Masonry. If we admire one for the sake of the being and beauty it envelopes, we must tolerate the other for the sake of that liberty which allows it. * * Your committee does not wish to be under- stood as recommending Masonry. We are not Masons, and have no peculiar motive or inclination to support the Institution, except those to which we are driven by that unjust principle of anti-Masonry, which includes all in the general proscription who will not join in the chase, and assist in running down their prey.
"Anti-Masonry owes its origin to the same latitudes which produced
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the celebrated blue-lights and blue-laws, and Golden Bibles, and Mormon religion, and seems akin to the similar infatuation instituted against the fairer sex at Salem for witchcraft, who were tied by their legs and arms and thrown into deep water-to swim if witches, and be burnt; if innocent, simply to drown. The ordeal and justice of anti-Masonry seems equally equitable and wise. The annals of our country have condemned such past folly, and your committee cannot sanction the present.
"Anti-Masonry comes from the land of notions, and is quite un- adapted to the climate, common sense, and sober feelings of Pennsyl- vania. It aspires to public honors, without the stamp of merit. It envies the possession of office, and influences that power and respect- ability which it feels not to be its own. * *
Anti-Masonry ab- surdly denounces, as a mysterious Institution, full of guilt and blood, a Society of which your committee suppose 10,000 or 15,000 of our most useful, intelligent and eminent citizens, of all parties, are mem- bers; and to which, we understand, any and every citizen may be admitted upon payment of certain dues, and compliance with certain rules. It ascribes to the Masonic Society as a crime, that political in- fluence which merely results from the habits of association, friendship, and confidence, thus proclaiming itself an enemy to the social ties which bind mankind together.
** * No facts have come to our knowledge which impute or establish guilt on any Mason in Pennsylvania. Certain books, ro- mances, pamphlets, and almanacs have been sold and circulated with regard to Masonic crimes in New York, where society has been in a measure disorganized, and even the venerable deceased father of their prosperity, the late DeWitt Clinton, did not escape the arrows of anti- Masonic slander."
Four days after the reading of the foregoing report in the House, a very lengthy minority report was presented by Mr. Cromwell. The closing words of this report, or vindi- cation of the anti-Masons, were as follows :
" Henceforth there can be but two effective parties in this Common- wealth-the Masonic and anti-Masonic. The votaries of the Order, who love Masonry better than their country, will adhere to the former ; all others, no matter by what name they are now known, will join the thickening ranks of anti-Masonry, and aid in rescuing the country from the fangs of secret societies and the grasp of a tyrant.
" Anti-Masonry may for awhile be misrepresented by faction, and
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misunderstood by the people, but it will finally triumph. It is a tem- ple reared by a ' blessed spirit,' in which truth, and virtue, and patri- otism worship. Founded on the rock of eternal justice, the winds of folly may blow against it, and the storms of party descend upon it, and it will not fall."
In 1835 the anti-Masons were at the zenith of their power. In Pennsylvania this year there was a split in the Demo- cratic party, and its vote for Governor was divided between George Wolf and H. A. Muhlenberg. Ritner had the full support of the anti-Masons, and of the German element of Pennsylvania, and receiving a plurality of the votes polled was inaugurated Governor. In his inaugural address he used the following language : "The supremacy of the laws, and the equal rights of the people, whether threatened or assailed by individuals or by secret sworn associations, I shall, so far as may be compatible with the constitutional power of the Executive, endeavor to maintain, as well in compliance with the known will of the people, as from ob- ligations of duty to the Commonwealth. In these endeavors I shall entertain no doubt of zealous co-operation by the en- lightened and patriotic Legislature of the State. The people have willed the destruction of all secret societies, and that will cannot be disregarded."
Joseph Ritner was a native of Berks county, Penn'a. He served six years as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Washington county, previous to his election as Governor. He was graced with less school education than any other Governor who ever occupied the chair of State. He was an easy-going man, and had behind him the wire-pullers who used the Morgan business to advance themselves. " The influence of Ritner's administration upon all the interests of Pennsylvania was evil in an inexpressible degree." He did good service for the people of the Commonwealth in his firm and steady support of the common school system, of which his prede-
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cessor-Governor Wolf-was the projector and father. For this Governor Ritner is remembered.
During the session of the Legislature in 1835 petitions and memorials for the suppression of the evils of Free Ma- sonry poured in from every county in the State. On De- cember 7th Thaddeus Stevens reported in the House a bill entitled, "An Act to suppress secret societies, bound to- gether by secret and unlawful oaths ; " and on December 19th a committee of five, with Stevens as chairman and " chief inquisitor-general," was appointed to investigate the evils of Free Masonry, " with power to send for persons and papers."
These five criminal judges-for such they were-were invested by the House of Representatives with full power to try all the crimes charged against Masons! Had this power been expressed in appropriate terms it would have been regarded with abhorrence by every man at all ac- quainted with the government of Pennsylvania. The in- sidious terms used to cloak the high power claimed by the committee, marked its character. Instead of a criminal court-its appropriate name-it was called a committee ; instead of a trial, the proceeding was called an investiga- tion ; and instead of charging the crimes against individuals, they were charged against Free Masonry.
The committee vainly endeavored to make Masonry con- vict itself. Thirty-four of the most prominent Masons and eminent citizens of the State were summoned to appear and answer before this inquisitorial committee.
Among those thus summoned were: Ex-Gov. GEORGE WOLF; GEORGE M. DALLAS, Grand Master of Masons of Pennsylvania in 1835, Vice President of the United States, 1845-49 ; JOHN M. READ, Grand Master in 1837 and 1838, and afterwards Chief Justice of Pennsylvania; JOSEPH R. CHANDLER, editor of the United States Gazette, Philadelphia, Grand Master of Pennsylvania in 1841 and 1842, and United
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States Minister to Naples in 1858; FRANCIS R. SHUNK, Governor of Pennsylvania, 1845-48 ; SAMUEL H. PERKINS, a well-known lawyer of Philadelphia, and Grand Master of Pennsylvania in 1839 and 1840; JOSIAH RANDALL, an emi- nent lawyer of Philadelphia, and Grand Master of Pennsyl- vania in 1822 and 1823 ; Judge GARRICK MALLERY, Judge EPHRAIM PENTLAND, Rev. WILLIAM T. SPROUL, and Col. JAMES PAGE.
To prepare for the inquisition the committee procured Allyn's and Bernard's "Expositions" of Free Masonry, casting aside as unworthy of notice Morgan's " Illustrations," the very work upon which the anti-Masonic edifice had been erected! A form of oath, and a series of eight ques- tions, were prepared to be administered and read to the wit- nesses summoned. On January IIth, 1836, ex-Governor Wolf responded by a written protest to the subpoena served on him. He denied the authority of the House to compel his attendance before the committee to testify, and declined to appear. He said further: "I am constrained, by principles coeval with liberty itself, to question the power claimed, as in direct contravention of constitutional rights, and an infringement of principles on which rests the foundation of American liberty. I feel myself bound by considerations of duty which I owe, not more to myself individually than to the freeman of Pennsylvania generally, to resist by all lawful means every encroachment upon the rights of conscience ; every attempt, however spe- cious, to abridge the privilege of the citizen, or to infringe in any degree upon the liberties and immunities of the peo- ple, as secured to them individually and collectively by the constitution."
On January 13th an attachment was issued against Gov- ernor Wolf, and other non-attending witnesses, and on the 18th they were brought before the committee. Bro. Joseph R. Chandler was the first one called to testify .. He de-
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clined to be sworn, since he denied the right of the com- mittee to make the investigation ; and he read a noble pro- test and declaration in defence of the Fraternity of Free Masons from the unjust and unholy charges preferred against it. Bros. Samuel M. Stewart, Charles Schneider, Samuel H. Perkins, and Josiah Randall were then severally called before the committee, and each, following the exam- ple of Brother Chandler, refused to be sworn, and read a written protest. Bro. George M. Dallas was next called, and answered from near the door,
" I am here."
Chairman-" George M. Dallas !"
G. M. D .- " I am near enough; I can hear very well where I am."
Chairman-" Mr. Dallas is requested to come before the committee."
G. M. D .- " Is that call by resolution of the committee ?"
The chairman put the question to the committee, "Shall Mr. Dallas come before the committee ?" It was agreed to, and then Mr. Dallas came forward.
Chairman-" Will you take the book ? "
G. M. D .- " What is the form of the oath ?"
Chairman-" The form always administered to witnesses in courts of justice."
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