Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1832-12-06

haze erer become members Of the Masonic
Frate,r;tu. unless they ,eiii formally abjure
their connection nth that fraternity, shall
be fcrevsr sreiuded from public tustsi-|
A1ti-masons do more than this. They
denounce as unworthy Of confidence, and
oppose in all elections to political Offices,
not only Free -masons, but all persons
who refuse to unite with themselves in
denouncing Free-masonry and Free-ma.
sons A principle more intolerant, we
will venture 10 say, was'never avOwed byI
any political society whatever. 1t is a
principle which strikes at the root of all
public confidence, and in proportion as it
is adopted As rule Of action il must serve
to destroy the harmony and good order
Of society.
To illustrate the nature Of this funda-
mental principle Of their association, we
will look at the application which was
made Of il in the late election. The An
t-masons refused to support Mr.. Clay for
the Presidency ofthe Union, exclusively
on the ground that he many years ago
united himself with the society OF Masons,
and refused TO Tenounce his connexion
with that society, and to denounce his as
sociates therein as unworthy Of public
confidence. This is substantially avow-
ed in the whole course Of their election
eeriDg. They opposed him not on ac-
count of his political character or princi-
pies, but beca,.se he is Mason, and one
of the most distinguished of their party
has publicly stated that he was extreme
ly destroys that he should bring himself
within he qualification which they have
prescribed, by renouncing masonry, S,
that be might become their candidate. -
On the other hand they supported MI
Writ distinctly on the ground that b.
wade remuneration oimasonry, or wha
they saw fit TO consider such, of kin
which they Cndeavolcd in vain to obta
from Mr.. Clay. Here then a politica
test is prescribed to n candidate for OF
fce, entirely independent of his fines
for the discharge of the duties Of tha
Office, and this test has been made tn
means of excluding from the prssidcnc
man possessing the most eminent quail
fcations for it, and OF continuing in tn
Ifiice one hom the whole Ani-nusoni
la'ty unite III pronouncing entirely unf
for it.
What renders the course pursued b
the Anti-masons still more unreasonable
and in our judgment even absurd, is th;
they proceeded TO nominate candidate
and persisted in Withdrawing their sup
port from every other candidate, whe
they had not the rcmotest prospect G
choosing their own. They had not
reasonable prospect Of commanding
majority Of votes in single State in th
Union, yet they pressed forward thei
candidate, with the same pertinRcitv, i
States where they had not the least pros
pect of choosing their electors, as if the
had been confident of success. In th
State, no Anti-mason could have been S
blind as to believe, that there was on
chance in a thousand of their choosin
their ticket Of electors, yet every effol
was made to obtain so many votes a
would be sufficient, with the Jackso
votes, 10 prevent choice. The conse
quence Of this degree Of success woul
have been, that an extra session Of tn
Legislature would have been rendere
necessary to choose electors, at an e,
pense of from ten 10 twenty thousan
dollars to the Commonwealth, and tn
same electors would have been chosen
are now chosen by the people. We n
serve it TO another occasion to NAL
some remarks upon the effects, upon Il
late election of President, Of the cour
pursued by the An,i-masonic party.