William Morgan, Or, Political Anti-Masonry
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WILLIAM MORGAN; POLITICAL ANTI-MASONRY, 1 1 , GROWTH AND DECADENCE. BY ' r ROB MORRIS, LL.D., t 0 N- X k Ita comparatum esse homlnum naturam omnium, «J Aliena ut melius videant et dijudicent, Quam sua! —Terence. (Strange nature In Anti-Masons, that they can see and judge vhe affairs of Freemasons better than their own!) FIFTH THOUSAND. N E W YORK: ROBERT MACOY, MASONIC PUBLISHER, No. 4 B arc lat St r e e t . 1884. «?- - ° 1 ' Digitized by A-" < AI 7 /<■■ Z Os • 3 ' A- syibi.2. C o p y r ig h t , 1883. By ROB MORRIS, LL.D. ______ I KNIGHT & LEONARD . I Digitized by U o o Q l e TO THE EHEEMASONS OF CHICAGO AND VICINITY, W HOSE B R O T H E R L Y KINDNESS I HAVE LONG EXPERIENCED, AND WHOSE PATRONAGE OF THE PRESENT WORK HAS GIVEN ME RENEWED COURAGE TO PERSEVERE IN MY LIFE-TIME DEVOTION TO MASONRY, THIS FIFTH EDITION IS FRATERNALLY DEDICATED. Digitized by P E E FACE. I t is well nigh two score years since a gentleman at Oxford, Mississippi, then, as now, honored and beloved,* pronounced the mystic words that proclaimed me a member of the Masonic fraternity. I have not forgotten— can I ever forget? — even the smallest details of the time, place and occasion. The cold, stormy night in March; the little circle of ten or fifteen, all well known to me as neighbors and friends; the dilapidated apartment, then transformed under the magic of Masonic symbolism into “ the checkered pave ment of King Solomon’s Temple” ; the ceremonies, quaint and pregnant with ancient saws and apothegms; finally, the E x p l a n a t o r y L e c t u r e s , so eloquently delivered by one whose equal in that branch of inculcation I have rarely met through all subsequent years,— such is the vision that recurs vividly to my mind as, in the loneliness of my study, I indite this preface. Among the injunctions laid on me upon that memora ble occasion was one which in a lifetime of active labor in Freemasonry I have never violated, either in letter or spirit; It was this: “ Neither are you to suffer your zeal for the [Masonic] institution to lead you into argument with those who, through ignorance, may ridicule it.” In the volume to which these remarks are prefatory the superficial reader will detect, or fancy that he detects, an infringement of this ancient law of Masonry. This would subject me to the reproach of coming out of the retirement appropriate to the veteran teacher in Masonry, and entering * The reference is to the Hon. James M. Howry, of Oxford, Mississippi, Past Grand Master, whose advanced years are crowned with civic and Masonic honors and enlivened with the sure hope of a blissful immortality. Digitized by L ^ o o Q l e PREFACE. into arguments with, those who ridicule Masonry. The little coterie who scatter their poison weekly through the “ Christian Cynosure ” at Chicago, 111., may think they find me upon the defensive in answering their scurrilous charges, and may glorify themselves accordingly. Finally, all that class, both within and without the Masonic Order, whose minds are made up as to the questions discussed in this vol ume, may deprecate the reopening of matters long buried in silence. My one reply to all these critics is that my book is not in any sense an apology for Freemasonry or an answer to the stuff that passes for argument in Anti-Masonic publications. It is simply a statement of the facts connected with the Morgan affair, and its consequences. No unbiassed history o f these events has been written. The facts are scattered through hundreds of documents. In general, it is taken for granted that Morgan was murdered by the Freemasons, and some even intimate that the principles of Freemasonry jus tify the act upon such a perjured traitor as Morgan was. Now, if anything negative can be proven, it is that William Morgan was not murdered, but that his departure from W est ern New York, September, 1826, was entirely of his own free will and accord. The facts, as I present them in the following pages, will bring the unprejudiced mind to such conclusions, and it is for this purpose only that I now put to print a work for which I began to gather materials in 1846, or earlier. To afford a standard to historians; to remove the last shade of suspicion that the falsehood of our opponents has left upon the mind of a Mason; to put beyond the possi bility of loss, valuable truths long in process of accumula tion, and to perform this last duty to the craft that I have loved so well, “ while yet the evil days come not,” — these are the motives that have prompted the present publication. La Grange, K entucky, 5th M arch, 1883 Digitized by SYNOPSIS OF THE TWELVE CHAPTERS. [For a most elaborate index to the volume see the last pages.] CH APTER 1. Pages. Revival of the Morgan Controversy by Thurlow W eed, in 1882 ........................................................ 9-28 CHAPTER II. History and Literature of Freemasonry at the Com mencement of the Anti-Masonic Strife . 29-54 CHAPTER III. W ho was William Morgan? Answered by His Co- temporaries . ........................................................ 55-88 CHAPTER IV. The Deportation of Morgan from Batavia to West ern Canada ........................................................ 89-112 CHAPTER V. The Proceedings at Batavia, September 12, 1826, at the Arrest of David C. M ille r ......................... 113-136 7 Digitized by SYNOPSIS OF THE TWELVE CHAPTERS CHAPTER VI. Pages. The Trials at Canandaigua of Chesebro, Lawson, Sawyer, Sheldon and Others, 1827 to 1829 . 137-162 CHAPTER VII. Oral Testimony of Whitney, Chesebro, Brown, W right, Giddins and Others, Concerning the De portation of M o r g a n ............................................ 163-202 , CHAPTER VIII. The Case of Eli Bruce, the “ Masonic Martyr ” . 203-248 i CHAPTER IX. The Affair of Timothy Monro, “ The Good-enough Morgan ” .............................................................. 249-280 CHAPTER X. The Spirit of the Anti-Masonic Attack . 281-308 CHAPTER XI. The Spirit of the Masonic Defense .... 309-364 CHAPTER XII. Modern Anti-Masonry as Personified in the “ Ameri can Christian Asssociation ” ..... 365-388 Digitized by Google THE CELEBRATED JAIL AT CANANDAIGUA. Digitized by Google WILLIAM MORGAN. CHAPTER I. REVIVAL OF THE MORGAN CONTROVERSY. H E oft-repeated and stale story of the Morgan abduc tion has recently reappeared with new particulars. The persistent clamor of the Chicago clique, representing the so-called “ National Christian Association,” has won for it the attention of the press, and through thousands of jour nals, political, religious and indifferent, “ the hideous and deformed subject of Anti-Masonry,” as it was forcibly styled fifty years since, comes again to the surface, with all the lies, half lies and distorted facts gathered by the depraved and abandoned crew who, upon defajnation, founded the Anti-Masonic Party of 1826 to 1836. “ An infatuated horde ” they were truthfully termed. “ Guilty followers of a reckless political bandit,” their writers “ the panderers of worthless politicians,” their operations for ten years “ deso lated with sirocco breath the scenes of social intercourse, setting father against son, wife against husband, sisters against brothers, and rending asunder every sacred tie.” Anti-Masonry in the last generation was a continued scene of wanton and cruel thrusts upon an innocent society. “ Its principles were the meanest and most despicable that ever disgraced a political party.” “ The chiefs in the movement were Thurlow W eed, Frederick Whittlesey, Samuel Works and John Marchant, than whom there never was a more vin dictive and unrelenting crew.” Such are a few expressions culled from the literature of 1826 to 1836, and quoted now as applicable to the movement recently inaugurated in Chicago. 9 Digitized by Google 10 WILLIAM MORGAN. The declaration of Mr. Thurlow Weed, from what proved to be his death-bed, was as follows. It was first published in the New York “ Sun” of September, 1882: The unveiling1 of a monument to William Morgan recalls an event of startling interest arousing deep popular feeling, first at Batavia, Le Hoy, Canandaigua and Rochester, then pervading our own and other states. After reading the proceedings of a meeting at Batavia, with Hon. David E. Evans as presiding officer, I wrote a six-line paragraph for the Rochester “ Telegraph,” in which I stated that a citizen of Batavia had been spirited away from his home and family, and that, after a mysterious absence of several days, a vil lage meeting had been held and a committee of citizens appointed to investigate the matter, adding that, as it was known that Freemasons were concerned in this abduction, it behooved the fraternity whose good name was suffering to take the laboring oar in restoring the lost man to his liberty. That paragraph brought dozens of our most influ ential citizens, greatly excited, to the office, stopping the paper and ordering the discontinuance of their advertise ments. I inquired of my partner, Robert Martin, what I had done to exasperate so many of our friends. He brought me a book and directed my attention to an obligation invok ing severe penalties as a punishment for disclosing the secrets of Masons. I saw that my brief and, as I supposed, very harmless paragraph would ruin the establishment. Unwilling that my partner should suffer, I promptly with drew, leaving the establishment in the hands of Mr. Martin. The paper was doing- well, and until that paragraph ap peared my business future was all that I could desire.