The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-08-10
Mr.. ThurlOw Weed on the Masonic
Order.

NH. ThurIow Weed on tho Masonic
Order.
1t is singular that after nearly fifty years
of doubt, derision and finally of Indifference
the questions involved in the disappearance
of William Morgan should again command
public attention. Mr.. Thurlow Weeds letter.
which we published yesterday, recapitulated
the principal features of the event, as they
came within his personal knowledge, and to-
day it is supplemented by another COM
munication from him. in which additional
facts are included.
It is clear that Thurlow Weed has no doubt
that Morgan was murdered, whatever may
be the opinion as to the identity of the body
found year after his disappearance. The
argument he makes is in answer to the as
sumption that Morgan could not have been
murdered, because the Masons could have
had no adequate motive" for his assassina-
ton. Mr.. Weed says that no intention of kill
ing him existed in the minds of those
who were connected with his abduction.
He had been arrested on charge of
larceny in order to prevent the publication
of his book, in which it was understood the
secrets of Masonry would be revealed. He
was imprisoned in Fort Niagara, and it was
intended to convey him to the Far West,
where he was to remain in charge of the
Indians. Whether the Indians were Masons
or not does not appear, but they were
evidently obedient to the wishes of
the Order. But here the plan failed
The Canadian Masons refused to. assist
in the affair, and the captors of the
apostate member were embarrassed. They
could not Danish Morgan and they could not
keep him in Fort Niagara. According to Mr..
Weed a few excited members of the Order
determined to kill him, and did drown him
in Lake Ontario. He says of these parties
they were "all men of correct habits and
good character, and all, l doubt not were
moved by an enthusiastic but most
misguided sense of duty" He says
that both King and Whitney "would'
have shrunk from the commission of
known crime, and yet both, i'm
PEELED by the delusive idea that they were
dischargng duty, participated in the COM
mission of the highest crime" Finally, he
says, ''of all the persons connected with the
abduction, arrest, imprisonment and subse-
quent fate of Morgan, there was not one who
did not possess and enjoy the respect and
confidence of his fellow citizens"
Mr. Weed writes with judicial calmness,
but his explanation and his tribute to the
merit of the men who, according to his tes-
tmony, murdered William Morgan only
makes his statement more startling. Masonry
must be a dangerous institution if it can
thus destroy the sense of right and wrong
in men of correct habits and good charac-
ter"-men who enjoyed ''the respect
and confidence of their fellow citizens"
secret organization which has the effect of
persuading worthy men that murder is some
times duty is greater danger to society
than the worst vice. We do not believe that
Masonry authorizes or practises this theory,
yet Mr.. Weed makes this accusation against
the Order fifty years ago. His second letter
is far more important and definite than his
first, because it deals with the underlying
principles of the event.
Masonry permeates society, and to con-
denim it is to condemn the human race
Masons are everywhere. We may not there
FORE assume that the Order has new code
of morals, and of crimes and of penalties,
different from those which are recognized
and provided for by the law. But what we
must believe-if we accept Mr.. Weeds
theory of the Morgan affairs, that
when secret societies enter into po-
ltical disputes their immense influence is
likely to be exercised in evil ways. 1t is in
the nature of things that this should be the
result. II is the same when religion, which
has all its true aims and ends in heaven, de
sends to battle for earthly prizes of power.
We trust that as the Masonic interference
with politics has long been a memory of the
past, so religious interference with State af-
fairs will never be danger in our future.
Atheism itself is but the negation of Prov
idence, but bigotry is the affirmation of that
supreme insolence which substitutes the will
of one man for the conscience ofanother