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

mates all ctaer information, ably as it discusses
I all other questions, will not touch that of An
! ti-masonry. 1t will not permit itself ''t2 BIZ
: HSHumenfdl IN foment1ng an excitement, 1Ohich,
PreVa1hnS extensively in some parts ofthe c0un-
4 try had rs origin in the Indignation Justly ea-
cited BY he abGuction some years ago, of a per-
son by the name ef AiorSan!' A PERSON BY
/ THE NAME OF MORGAN! Thus do these ex-
: perienced editors speak of the case as it were
: still new to large part of their numerous rea-
ders, which probably was the fact. 1t seems
. to have been the first time that they had med
died with II, and it is :ntmateG that their press
: VIII nleddle with it no more. is not this en-
J ough to shock us?-Will more proof be called
/: tor. except by the infatuated, of the bowling
/ down OF the press before the unseen, wide
/ sweeping scourge of the Masonic Institution?
The estimablc citizens, no less than accom-
, plishcd editors to whom, and to whose press
here venture to allude in furtherance of the
principle have in hand, may be well assured
that it is done in not the slightest spirit of per-
sonaidisesteem They are themselves, dare
say, unaware of the controlling influence UNI
der which they lal or, they do not perceive how
they breathe them in with the social atmos-
EPhere, how they are dripping with the deleteri-
GUS damps of Masonry without knowing how
they come, any more than the damps of the
might.
/ AS to the Law, never in any age or nation
was it more completely laid prostrate to nv
power, than masonry has done it in the case of
| Morgan. 1t this be not enough to consign il
\ to rcprobaton in free state, there is nothing.
else that will, We have been wont to talk Of
the law being SOVEREIGN with us: but it is
MASONRY that is sovereign, as things now
stand. This IS no unconsidered assertion.
shall proceed to the proof. with a confidence
than which the human mind never would JUS
| tilted III feeling more, ON any moral PROPOSE
ton. 1t rest Oh evidence strong as adamant,
!. though it be not all technical evidence. II
rests on principles coexten5ive with the civil.
4 lized world; principles out of which empires
have arisen, and will rise again. Did our IA
theirs Of '76 consult Gilbert's law Of evidence,
or the chapter in Hawkins, to know if every
act of oppression against them could be tech
nically proved in court! Did the English of
1888. or the French Of last July, stand upon
such doctrine? The public safety is not thus
to be cavilled away. 1t is not, as Lord Chatam
said, to depend upon books with the leaves
turned down in dogs ears. Every successive
day, that finds the murder of Morgan unaven.
\ ged. marks continuation of the outrage which
the longer existence of Masonry in our coun-
try, carries with III as the Masons who COM
mittcd it, or kwew of it. shall elude punish
ment by clingug to their Masonic obligations,
which they hold to be superior to the law.
| Though it be even admitted, that this arises
| from fanaticism in them, which perverts the
true intention of the Masonic obligation, soc-
lety equally suffers and is equally outraged.
j When the institution, affecting to complain CT
! s'perSecHtioa," exclaims, ''bunish The gRiity,
but not the innocent,' it falls into q mockery,
| which afronts society anew; for it is the very
i Masonic obligation ITSELF which never would
f. Al IL.
the guilty to elude the law. When. too, the
Institution, rearing its presumptuous crests to
a parallel with Christianity, tells us that crimes
committed in the name of the latter are not all
lowed 10 recoil upon religion, and claims for
Masonry the same indulgence, it advances a
claim more audacious than absurd a claim
/ that no unbiased mind will notice, unless to
remark upon its greater sacrilege than sophis@
/ try; if the oaths, and grips, and mysteries, and
titles, and the whole train of anticks, in ali4
ance with which Masonry finds it indispensa-
BILE to perform her charities, were all of sacred
origin; all jure diVino, like the claim of mon
Iarchs of old to their thrones. The thoughts
of such parallel, make Masonry doubly hate
fIful, showing that it is blown up by impious in.
4 Aation; that not content with causing murder
upon earth, it is for mounting up afterwards
u into heaven.
i But its pretensions to religion form branch
of the discussion into which did not go, nor
do desire to go. The only concern that So
ciety at large can have with Masonry POLITICAL
! ly, is on the ground of its doing a positive in
Iiury to society. What its predictions may in
cite it to cherish in theory or enact in practice,
within its own walls, those outside need not
care about. Let it employ itself as any other
benevolent, or festive, or theological brother
hood, if any or all such it constitutes, with its
own duties and pastimes, as long as it keeps
within its own limits But the line must ne
Liver be passed. 1t exists permissively, under
the license of society. This must be unequiv-
ocal and invariable. There must be no exeep-
Il 80, -ollo.er;oll,, any N, ore than drectIv The