Wilmington expositor. (Wilmington, Del.) 1831-18??, 1831-09-09

voluntary oaths and other selI-assuHieu ooh- ~
cations which bind them to the brotherhoodlm
are of higher authority than the laws, no mat q
ter under what mistaken notions of those oaths Ia
and obligations they act; from that moment the Il
whole Institution, from which such rank de- o.
lusions and tremendous perils proceed, asst el
mes new relation to society. 1t is placed IN a
the attitude Of an aggressor 1t rides over the t
laws. 1t is guilty; constructiyely you will,
but obviously and legally guilty. 1t stands re-
sponsible for the blood of citizen. In vain v
it may alege that its precepts inculcate obedl- u
ence to the laws, whilst its ignorant or wicked a
members violate them through feeling which p
the Institution generates, in their minds at t
least. The cry that it is "perSecuted," is a /
contradiction to common sense. 1t can no L
longer claim protection like other fodies of
men, united for their own purposes. Society
and such an Institution cannot exist in safety I
together and the latter must give way. The
first principles of society all the securities
that keep it from flying assunder, stamp this
reasoning with truth. 1t springs from the first
impulses of the mind, and is rated by the
covenants OF every code. Nolawyer, no judge
no publicist, in whatsoever cline he may live,I
unless his understanding be subdued by Ma
sonry, can gainsay its force. The master isl
answerable for the servant, the superior for the
inferior, the party paramount, for him who acts
under influence. The very dog unclaimed,
who does injury to the streets, fixes liability
upon the owner. These are primordial max
inns of jurisprudence, locally and universally.
They lie at the foundation Of individual, social
and political safety. No governments, mol
communities, none of the links of civil life.
could hold together day without their shield.
They are the cement of each within itself, and
all to each other. Let it not be said that the
responsibilities for civil misconduct, not crime.
This is distinction that can avail Masonry
nothing. Nobody dreams of indicting innocent
Masons for the murder of Morgan; but only OF
putting an end to the Institution for the suih-
cient reason that guilty Masons itook his life
through an ignorant misunderstanding or cor
rupt perversion of their ties to that Institution.
1t is this that brings legal guilt home to the
Institution, on the question now raised as be.
tween itself and a society. 1t shows the In
stitution to have been the moving spring to the
crime the influence paramount that instigatet
it; the superior power, | do not say that com
manded-this is not necessary to the argument
but that caused the crime. Here is enough
(unless indeed this fungus of human device
this mere craft of man, is to 60 on with it
claim to co-equaty with Christianity quit
enough to bring it under the broad conserva
tive maxim of the law to which appeal. w
must look at the maxim in its highest reason
not merely as one to be revealed in court O
common laws Dul uGSlSuSus III inc Ear WIutl
range of its dignity and justice, to throw it,
protection over mankind. We make masonr,
amendable to it, in the only way in which tht
American people in their collective capacity
can apply its saving efficacy: Wis by insisting
that the Institution which caused the crime, bt
dissolved. The great coroner of the nation
such would the press have been on this emer
gency if it had not shamefully deserted its pos
holding an inquest over the dead body o
Morgan, could render no other verdict, il tht
verdict covered the whole ground, than tina
he came to his death BY Masons, and Mrous.
Masonry. IF the verdict were qualified b.
saying the bad spirit of Masonry, not its good
what difference would this make to the nation
seeing that Masonry, in some form other
was the source of the whole transaction. II
the nation therefore is Masonry, upon til
soundest principles of law, accountable for hi
DEATH The safety of TIE people is THE sU
pREME LAW, which will disdain all shadow
distinctions in case Of this magnitude an
concern. 1t is from Masonry that the Con
inonwealth has received deteriment in the d(
structon Of citizen, and the old custom
Rome should be reyived: the people must tax
care that ii receives no more.
This conservative maxim Of iurisprudenc,
is seen in its broadcast application when in fore
between nation and nation. The entire fami
of independent nations, acknowledging its il
disputable validity. Hence governments, an
consequently nations, are heldresponsible for
mere indignity offered to the person of cit
zen Of another nation, although the nation co
lectively within whose limits the indignity ma
have been committed. be free from all imp,
tation of an intentional guilt.--History abount
with such facts. and with accounts of wars 70
lowed up to the overthrow of nations, CROWN
out Of them. might mention, as very fires
illustration of the general doctrine, the cOurs
just pursued by France in despatchinga squad
ron to the Tagus, to aveuge the degrading trea
ment shown to French subject in Lisbon, a
though it would appear to have been denie