The New York herald., 1875-12-23
Secret Societies In POIittes-Let
Have Light.

purposes and It's leadership, out tney never
took serious shape, because our people, who
have d good deal of common sense, could not
believe that in this enlightened time free
thinking and fair-minded Americans would
90 up into dark room and bind themselves
together with grips and passwords and oaths
to stimulate religious excitement, to force
third term upon the people under the pre-
| tence of uniting the Protestants against the
Catholics" and saving the schools from the
Pope" The history of all secret political
societies in America has shown that our SOIL
is not congenial They grow rapidly; some
| times they have threatened to overshadoW
the land But the growth was like that OF
the gourd and sure to go down in night. be-
fore the rising sunshine of virtuous public
opinion.
We do not share in the objection to secret
societies which is urged by many thinkers
even when they confne themselves to social
objects. We have sometimes thought that
social intercourse and charity could be
served as we'll by societies with open doors
as by those which meet with ceremonies and
passwords and lodge rooms. But the
Imagination enters largely into the pursuits
of men, and if our people choose to become
Masons, Odd Fellows, or even members OF
the Columbian Order, and call themselves
''Knights Templars," ''Sachems" or ''De-
scendants of Solomon = if they find com
fort in these harmless games and exhibit
tions, far be it from as to deny them. But
when secrecy enters into politics it
offends the genius of our institutions.
The excuse for such a society is
the effort to overcome tyranny by
union of the friends of freedom This was
the excuse of the leaders of the republican
movement in France and Italy under the
old Bourbon reigns. History shows that it
would have been far better for the people to
have submitted even to the reign of the
Bourbons than to permit the government to
pass into the possession of irresponsible Sc
cret clubs In republic like America, or
in any free country indeed, where there is
liberty of press and speech and action, the
secret society is in itself q confession of
weakness or wrong intent. Suppose that
some of our citizens, spurred on by the fer
vor of deep religious conviction, believed
that there was movement on the part of
the Catholic Church to interfere with the
! schools or take possession of the country,
can they not do as much toward antagoniz-
! ing that influence in the open air, through
the public press and platform and the pull
| pit as in a dark room? If the Catholic
| Church were paramount body in America
we might see reason for Protestants to or
ganize and protect their religion. This is
not the case The Catholic Church is only
fraction-a moderate fraction-of our peo-
pie 1t is not growing Church with US,
except as it grows from emigration. So far
from its controlling the country there is q
latent Protestant feeling which makes it i'm
possible for any Catholic to be elected to any
national office. Mr.. Herman found this
when running for Governor, and with the
New York and ST. Louis, and New Orleans
and Baltimore, there is not q part of the
country where the Catholic faith is an ad-
vantage in the race for preferment.
Therefore the allegation that it is necessary
for Protestants TO form into secret political
society to ''arrest the Vaccinations of the
Catholic Church" is lie. There have been
movements of this kind before, and every
one ended in disaster. 1t was seen that the
men who inspired them were not earnest,
God fearing, religious men, but shrewd poll
ticians who knowing how deeply seated in
the Anglo-Saxon heart is the sentiment of
respect for religious institutions, summoned
IN L. g he, e.,
political ends. The disaster which befell
Know Nothingism and Native Americanism,
the contumely that is visited upon all who
took part in that erratic movement, was
so widespread, that for the last gen.
Grafton, at least, every honest politician,
without regard to party has made it
fundamental maxim that TO attempt to bring
religion into politics or to control political
action by secret societies is the lowest kind
of demagogism. Therefore, when we see
this attempted, not by small-beer poll
ticians seeking place in the Legislature or
the Board of Aldermen, but by the Presi-
dent of the United States himself and the
heads of great political party, we feel that
we are in the presence of o danger the
gravity of which cannot be exaggerated. We
see the President of the United States and
the leaders of his party in accord. First we
had the Des Moines speech, in which the
President practically said that the agitation
Of religion was about to take the place of the
agitation of slavery. Then we had Mr.
Blaine's letter throwing the frebrand of
''free schools and no Popery." Then came
the Presidents Message, urging the
anti-sectarian amendments to the con-
stitution. Then came Bishop Havens
pronunciamento in favor Of Grant for a third
term. All these events, which appeared
isolated and inexplicable at the time, be-
come plain in the light of present dis