The New York herald., 1875-12-22
secret Socfotfem.

mas made profound sensation. The an
nouncement that there is an Order. in this
country secret opposing the Catholic
Church, or, to use its own words, "the in
tolerant, persistent, oppressive efforts of the
Romanists and their evident Determination
TO control the government of the United
States and destroy our civil and religious
liberty, is grievous event. 1t is more par
ticularly so when we remember General
Grants Des Moines speech, Mr.. Blaine's
letter on the constitutional amendment, the
declaration of Bishop Haven at the Method
ist Conference in Boston, and this disposition
Of many followers of General Grant to make
the third term an opposition to the Roman
Catholic Church These are the elements
of the new political canvass Take any
one of these incidents by ITSELF and it is i'm
portant enough as shadowing the purposes
Of the campaign but when we come to con-
slider them as whole, as part Of the same
drama, the object is clear. We see con-
spiracy against liberty, the magnitude Of
which cannot be exaggerated.
This society, as our readers have learned,
is devoted to the tanning of the flames of
religious and sectarian bigotry. There are
no chapters in our politics so dreary as those
which tell of the efforts Of Native Americans
and Know Nothingism and Loyal Leagues
to affect political results by appealing to the
religion of the people, to control the suffrage
through secret, oath bound, dark-lantern
lodges. But when we see that President
Grant, Postmaster General Jewell and the
Cabinet, and Mr.. Blaine the leader of the re-
publican party in the House, have taken the
oath of allegiance to this Order-for this
information thus far stands uncontradicted-
then it assumes even new Importance. The
duty of patriotic men, without regard to
party, is to wage a persistent, earnest war
upon this whole system. The presence Of
any secret society in q republic is sure
sign of disease in the body polite 1t Is
as dangerous to liberty as treason to the
government, mutiny to the army, or can
Ger to the body. When we see this secret
society, combined with the friends of the
third term, military class system, the Loyal
Leagues. the Grand Army of the Republic
clubs throughout the country, the most pow
erful Church in the nation in sympathy with
brilliant and daring intellect, openly leading
it, and, above all, we'll drilled political
party which has for years been in control
of the government which is now repre-
sented in Washington by men of ability and
ferce-when we see all these evidences Of con-
spiracy, we cannot say with too much en-
phasis that all questions in the next cam
Apaign must give way before this one ques-
ton, ''Can we preserve our Liberties from
religious and military despotism?"
1t is easy to sneer at political campaign
based upon these apparently alarming ideas
But there is nothing 50 dangerous to liberty
as over-confdence. five permit the first in
vasion of our rights, we surrender. 1t is like
the dyke which keeps the ocean in its place );
the breaking of fingers gap would admit
the resistless wave; and if we were to
go back to the government as it was
before Mr.. Lincoln came into Office
and before the pressure of the war compelled
many extraordinary exhibitions of power, we
could show how steadily there has been vio-
lation after violation of the constitution.
Things are done to-day which, twenty years
ago, would have been looked upon as treason
able in spirit if not in fact. Therefore the
only way to win the next campaign is to lay
down the one principle that the only
question at issue is the liberty of the people.
Men, without distinction of party, must rally
around this platform. They must oppose os-
tracism as shown in the attempt to enforce
iron-clad oaths and Force laws upon the
South; they must oppose Casarism as
shown in the effort to give President Grant q
third term they must oppose fanaticism
as expressed by the efforts of Bishop Haven
and his Methodist friends and they must
oppose that demagogism which President
Grant exhibits in his messages, which has led
him to threaten war against Cuba and
Mexico and Spain in the interest of personal
ambition.
But the dangerous issue of all is that in
volved in this secret society. Here comes
the duty of the independent press. Of
course our citizens have right to assemble
in secret, form their own passwords and ar
range grips and signs and countersigns, and
call themselves Indians" or patriots" or
''enemies of the Pope, or what they please.
There is no law against this but there
should be public opinion strong in this
doctrine, that whatever seeks darkness is cor
rupt, that any secret association attempting
to carry political influence by intrigue is in
imical to our Republic. When we need a
secret society to save our liberty or our re-
ligion neither will be worth saving.
The Methodists and the Third Term.
We are sorry that the meeting of Metho-
dist ministers in Cincinnati adjourned with