Southern shield., 1855-10-20
LETTER FROM Col. Glenn ems to Gen. Class
HUNTSVILLE, Ala, Sept. 1855

days confined to my room with a brok-
 en limb, and may be for many more. l cannot hope therefore to do justice to the great question upon which I pro pose to address you. Writing only at such intervals as the temporary cessa- ton of pain will allow, the chain of thought must necessarily often be brok- en, and like the fragments of the hu- i man body, when once parted, it is al- ways difficult, sometimes impossible, to reunite them perfectly. Notwithstand- ing these disadvantages I cannot per init your letter to the "Detroit Free Press" to pass unnoticed. In common with many others of your warmest and truest friends l had indulged the hope thatif the American party did not have the sanction of your name, 1t would at least escape your censure. From brain less editors, and corrupt, me-serving politicians, we expected nothing but abuse. From you we hoped for sym pathy, and in any event expected jus tice. Pardon me, General, when I tell you that 1t has not been accorded.- Your statement of facts is not true, and your deductions, therefore, must be false. The Washington Union would consider perjury venial if it advanced its purposes; and it must have been from that and kindred prints you de- rived the information on which you based the opinions expressed in the fol- lowing paragraph:
 l have no sympathy with this plan of pol;t- lcal organization--non whatcver; neither with the means it employs, nor the object, it seeks to attain. Its secreSv, its oath-bound obligations. its control of the ballot-hON. its system of prescription, striking both at polit- cal rights and religious duties. and its inevit- able tendency to array one portion of the com munity against another, and to carry deadly leudS into every corner of the land. of which we have just had terrible proof, written in characters of blood"
 It would be difficult to find a more comprehensive list of accusations in a shorter space; If l were not afraid # you really and seriously believe an this. If you do, it is only another proof that the greatest statesman may be as easily blinded by prejudice as the merest child. In what does the secrecy of the American Order consist? Its aims, its objects, its principles have been known and avowed throughout the length and breadth of the land The Philadelphia Convention resolved that "aH the principles of the Order shall be henceforth everywhere openly avowed." What remains after that avowal to which you as Democrat can object? Caucuses have been the life blood of your party. They meet in secret-thcy vote by ballot-they keep no record of their proceedings-none but privileged few are admitted, and the member who dares to murmur at it's decrees is regarded with suspicion, if not absolutely excluded from fellow
 ship with his brother Democrats. Du- ring the pendency of the Compromise both parties had repeated secret meet ings. At the beginning of every ses- sion of the Senate your Committees are selected by a secret meeting. Even your Clerk and Sergeant at-arms are selected in the same way. You and have participated in these meetings again and again, and presume neither of us imagined he was committing a moral wrong, or justly subjecting him. self to the charge of being a cabalel and plotter. The secrets of an Amer ican Council are no more impenetrablc than yours-its obligations no more binding upon its members. But sup pose they were, what harm is done?-- What individual or public injury car flow from it? You assume, as others have done before you, that secret soci- cites are dangerous to good order il not to liberty. But where is the proof It is easy enough to say this. It k
 easy enough to build up high sounding
 sentences about dangers which neve1
 existed, and to draw bloody pictures which alike violate probability anC
 shock common sense. In newspape,
 scribblers and petty demagogues thi
 may be pardoned. It is the highest figh I that most of the tribe are capable Q
 taking. Detestation of their malic'
 may well be merged in pity for thei
 stu pidity, and the calumny which i
 harmless need not be remembered witl
 resentment. But you are of a highe,
 order: you occupy the first place (anC in my opinion, deservedly,) among American Statesmen. From your lip! assertion comes with the potency of ar.
 gument, and we cannot safely permi what you say derogatory to our asso citation to pass without scrutiny. If am not mistaken you are yourself ; z Mason. You would feel very indig
 nant if any one were to tell you tha society was wrong and dishonorable ol account of its secrecy. Ought you no therefore to extend a little charity t
 whatever of secrecy you may suppos