Year: 1861

Work fOr Pcace-MaAers.


GJust at the moment when mems hearts
are failing them for Jsar, some of our read
ers who know j. ADAMS ALLEN person
ally, or have been thrilled by his elo-
quence and kindled by his patriotism, will
be glad to know that the DIR. is for the
Union and the Constitution still and that
he has still the tongue of fire. We copy
q paragraph from the Ashlar, OF which
DR.. Allen is Editor:


"Tha great nations Of the Old World
seem on the brink of what must prove
the most sanguinary struggle the race
have ever known. In our own land, the
morning papers, the telegraph and the
hearts of men are heavily sombre with
apprehensions of internecine strife, whilst
treason stalks triumphant in the high
places and low places of the nation. We
have, until this day, not allowed ourselves
to dream even of appeal to the "ultimate
reason"-brute force, in the adjustment
of the petty distractions about which
the politicians have been contending.-
We have SO long been accustomed to the
peace ful sway Of law and order, that not
even yet can we bring our mind fully to
comprehend the awful plunge which we
are about to take from prosperity aud
power unparalleled in history, to the low
est depths of anarchy, rapine, bloodshed
and fratricidal strife. II is vain any
longer to shut our eyes against the fear
full truth. The civilization of the age is
about to be rolled backward toward me-
dieval barbarism. Unmitigated mad
ness, unexampled treachery and peridy
of the darkest hue rule the hour. The
placemen, the politicians and the dema-
gogues are conducting the ship of State,
fast and faster still; upon the breakers of
disunion and national death. The grand
est experiment OF all times, even as it be-
gan to touch the meridian of its highest
success, hsstes to its setting in darkness
and blood The eagle in its pride and
strength is being hswked at and struck
down by mousing owls. Crawling rep
tiles, with venomous fangs, coil in new
and strange growth Of Upas trees, whilst
the Tree of Liberty withers in the foul
and unwonted atmosphere. From being
a figure of speech, a rhetorical flourish
upon the stump, the question has sprung
upon us as imperatively practical, and
which must be decided: Shall the Union
continue? Shall the Constitution and
the laws be sustained and enforced, or
shall we permit


SWAN Treachery, with its thirsty dagger drawn
to strike its victims unopposcd? Is the
year 1861 to contain among its rolling
months carnival of blood? Are havoc
and ruin to hold their demoniac saturna-
liza in this decade past and noon of the
Nineteenth Century?


The placemen, the politicians, tho dem
agogues so will it! 1t remains for the
solid citizens, the psace-loving men, the
artizans, the students, and last, but not
least, the women of America, to still the
storm by exercising that reserved power
which unseen rs gravitation is yet om-
nipotent in its effects.


In these United States, there are at
least two hundred and twenty-five thous-
and solid citizens, peace-loving men who
bow before the sublime fraternities of
Free Masonry. This vast host can, at
will, put their feet upon the dragon Of
discord, and crush it to invisible atoms.
If their cardinal tenet, brothorly love,
prevail, they will do it'll Now is the
time to test Free Masonry. If it fails to
illustrate through it's membership "the
things which make for peace" now in the
time of our nations sore peril-aye, in
this time when tho dearest interests OF
innumerable millions are at stake, then
are its boasted principles delusion and
a snare, its ritual mummery; and its
solemn forms farce. If Masonry be not
a practical thing, away with tit has nc
place for existence in this age of stirring
events, of throbbing pulses, and Of far
reaching thoughts.


We know there is kind of moral as
there is of literary confectionery, done uT
in neat parcels, but the time for mere
pettinesses has passed away. Now is the
time for action. In this apparent au
tumn Of our national existence, let the
Masonic tree be known by its fruits. L
the blighting winter aud chilling frost'
nevertheless come, we humbly trust ther,
is still life in the roots Of that grand ole
tree, which another year may cause tc
put forth leaves and blossom like the ROSE
in goodly land.