Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-10-28

mere association or similarity of taste,
or pleasant acquaintance undisturbed
by quarrel or aught of friction, which
the social world has gilded with that
name; nor yet that which gratitude
returns for favors done and is repaid in
kind and cancelled when favors are
even, nor that which grows of business
or finds its source in the obligations
which the world imposes upon blood
or traces its origin to the uncertain
spring OF passion or changing breath
of fancy. All no! we mean nobler
thing. It is marriage of principles,
the wedding of convictions, the nup-
tials of thought.
" II is the cement of two minds,
As of one man the soul and body is;
OF which one cannot sever but the other
Suffers a needful separation"
90 1t is an abstract of Loves noble flame;
'Tis love refined and purged from all its
dross,
IT'S next to angels love, If not the same;
'Tis strong as passion is, though not so
gross.'
1t is the uniting bond of intelli-
gence, strong as life and as immortal.
This, and this only, is the friendship
of our order.
Another primal article in our creed
is Charity. 1t is term of all terms
least understood and oftenest misap-
piled. 1t has become synonym for
aims, confounded with benevolence.
Institutions for relieving the sick or
starving, places of refuge where the
public discharge the duties of common
humanity upon an economical plan,
by organized action, have borrowed
the sacred phrase. Insurance against
broken limbs, cracked skulls and early
death, although paid twice for by the
victim, is paraded under the head of
Charity. The act of taking ones
money during his lifetime, to be re-
turned without interest to his heirs
when death shall have stopped his
ability to produce, is called Charity.
1t is not this commerce in health and
gambling upon accidents that we rec
ognize in our faith. 1t is "that spark
of Divine love-that part of God HIM
self, planted within his image to make
it nearer like himself-the bud of hea-
ven, the flower of Gethsemane, the
crown of Christ" 1t is the charity
described by the scholar of the Jews,
the man of Tarsus, the teacher of the
christian world, the inspired apostle,
the sublimity of whose eloqueEce has
been, and through all time will be,
unrivaled and unimitated.
But, sir, the principal object of our
organization was political. Not in
the narrow meaning given it by the
demagogues with whom policy has no
other signifcation than personal
emolument, nor yet the subdivision of
the people into parties, but in a broad
er sense-a governmental sense. 1t
was political in the sense that itwas a
league of right.thinking, honorable
men for the establishment and MAIN
tenance of a system of government for
themselves, their associates and chill
dren, upon the principles of the broad
est freedom, the highest liberty, that
liberty whose essence, whose end,
whose boast, whose fruit is security
1t was born of the feeling that every
man was the equal of every other
man; that every man had the right to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness; a conscience unfettered; that the
people were the source of power, and
the good of the people the political
object of society itself. It was not
alone to the Inauguration of such a
system, the laying the foundation of
this proud monument Which was des-
tined to throw its shadow across the
two great oceans of the earth, and
draw around it's base the lovers of lib
erty from every land and cline. Nor
yet to carrying up the column, or
placing on its summit the lofty, hea-
ven-kissed capital. But it was to the
protection, maintenance and perpetu-
alton of the structure the members of
our order were pledged.
That the attempt to establish such u
system was a success is best attested
by the growth, development and pros
perity Of our country during the half
century succeeding the revolution.
Beneath this benignant system enter
prise was encouraged, art fostered, SCI
ence nurtured, religion protected and
education made free for all. Our gov
ernment was strong because it was
pure. 1t awarded to it's citizens equal
rights at home and secured the same
for them abroad. There was no man
beneath the security Of the law, there
was no man above the reach of its be-
hests. The aim of the layman and Of
ficer, the private citizen and the pub
lie, active statesman, was for the
country-the aDhole country-for all,
the good of all, the security of all, the
prosperity of all, the blessing of all.
The sweet and lofty music of the Fare
vrynlI A IIrDga hon r1 in fh a
land and the memory of Jefferson and
Adams still preserved and venerated.
A public office was public trust, and
the breach of it, crime. The Consti-
tuition had a fixed and settled mean
ing and was an organic law; the Ark
of the Covenant, upon which none had
the temerity to lay impious hands.
The judiciary was an independent
branch of the government and admin
istered justice unawed by the require
ments of ward leaders and pot-house
politicians. Congress was a body of
honest and wise lawmakers, not an
association of public plunderers. The
Executive was the father of the whole
country, not the leader of clique or
faction. The public lands were the
cherished property of the nation, care
fully guarded for the good of all, not
the accredited plunder of grasping
corporations and corrupt Cabinet Off
GERS. Responsibility and honor con-
stituted the reward of merit and vir-
tue, and were not purchasable with
mining stocks or coal-oil. In short,
our government was honored at home
and universally respected abroad.
Is it so to-day? Does it occupy the
proud position of other years? Can
we boast of our prosperity? Can we
turn with pride to the purity of the
elective franchise? Dare we boast of
that higher liberty and freedom? Can
we truthfully claim that individual
security of high and low in property,
thought, religion and social standing?
Let us for q moment contemplate the