Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-29
Unnecessary Alarm.

Unnecessary Alarm.
We understand that on yesterday the Governor
requested a meeting of the State officers for con
sultation and upon assembling. His Excellency
stated that he had requested the interview for the
purpose Of devising some measurures, ifposslble
for the suppression of secret order. which he
denominated the Knights of the Golden Circle.
This order, he said. extended throughout the
State, and he represented it to be powerful in
numbers and influence, and dangerous in its OBJ
jects and character. General Darlington in his
order number six, which appeared in the Sentinel
of yesterday, in referring to associations thus
classified, says " Thier Oaths are disloval; their
signs and signals are dislOyal."
We have never belonged to a secret political
order of any kind, and we have ever opposed
such organizations as inimical to our free insti
tutons- We do not believe any such order
lists in Indiana known as the Knights of the
Golden Circle. or having a basis the objects of
that organization. There was, as we are in
formed, such an organization in the Southern
States, which had existence loug before the
breaking out Of the rebellion. Its purpose was
to acquire territory, either by purchase con-
quest, suited to slave labor. and thus to extend
the area of African slavery Their objects were
to be accomplished as citizens of the United States
and by duplicating the Government in their
schemes. AS a matter of course, with the
cession of the Southern States and the inaugura
ton of civil war, the motive for extending and
continuing the order longer existed
Now it is the hight of FOLLY to even assume
that such an organization exists in Indiana. or ir
any Northern State There can be no possible
motive for an organization having in view the
objects and purposes of the Knights of the
Golden Circle. There can be no more loyal citi
zens than the Democracy Of Indiana. They have
no other motive. no other object, no other wish.
no other desire than the preservation of the Gov
ernment, the maintainance of the Constitution
and the restoration of the Union. No other citi
zens would rejoice with more heartfelt JOY to see
the Flag of the Union again wave over united
States. equal in rights and equal in dignity,
yielding that willing obedience to the COnsttu-
ton and the laws which alone viii insure union.
harmony and peace.
Knowing that the Democracy of Indiana are
loyal, we cannot but feel that the Governor and
his partisan friends have the nightmare over
secret political organizations. They have dreams.
and visions, and scares which only diseased I'm
aginations suffer. It is idiOsyncrasy
which should be pited, if acts Of injustice
did not grow out of IT, When His Excel
lency and his political friends organized
the Know Nothing order, which. for time, was
power in the land. they we're indignant at being
suspected of disloyaI practices. II a
secret political order. Ii was foreign to our in
stitutiOns, hence It was short lived. Such
CARNATIONS cannot have IA permanent existence,
for the supposed or real necessities which develop
them soon pass away, other overshAdowing issues
arise, and they decline as rapidly as they came
into existence This will be the history of all the
secret political societies of the present day, no
matter what may be their political sympathies
Opposition generally gives them a rapid growth,
and it is the ailment which, for the time being,
gives them strength and influence Without
this nursing, like hot house plants, they will soon
die. Uniting with secret political organizations
does not change the character, the thoughts or
opinions of their members. The only object they
can accomplish, and that is temporary, is to pro
duce unity OF action among those who have n
common purpose or common enterprise to
secure.
The reply of the State officers TO the Governor ;
request, was appropriate They told him that it
he would use his influence to suppress Republican
secret orders-secret armed associations-with
secret obligations. signs and Signals. which he
knew had been organized all over the State. they
would use their influence with their political
friends for a similar purpose. In tins city, the
Governor well knows, is a secret Republican or
der, the u C's. or the s. BIS. which, we under
stand he says. numbers a thousand. They meet
in Wnghts Hall on Washington street. IL has
its sentinels prevent the ingress Of any but mi
tated members IL has arms lt has its military
drills. It's character is intensely partisan. Simi
lar orders exist all over the State. It is charged
that the Governor furnishes them with arms
Why does not His ExcelIency. OF General CAR
RTSsrOS, issue an order recommending. or urging
or insisting upon their abandonment? When
orders issued only against side, it looks
though there was TOO much partisan partiality for
the other.
In all seriousness we advise our Republican
officials 70 quiet their alarms about secret p0liti
cal associations; let them alone, and our word
for it, their existence will be SO short, so transi
tory. that the wonder will be. what they were
begun for. Aa