the man guilty of such things;-the proceedings, you say, are a Jesuitical plot; or they are an Inquisitorial proceeding. The man is a Jesuit; a crafty, Jesuitical fellow. Fasten those names on him or his schemes, and whatever an ill name can do, is done.

Yet notwithstanding this secret character-perhaps we should say, according to it-the Romish Church has invariably sought to destroy all secret organizations not professedly subordinate to it, by arms spiritual and temporal-sometimes by cursing, and sometimes by burning. The Freemasons were excommunicated by a Bull of Clement XII. Freemasonry has been the crime for which many victims of the Roman Inquisition have died in the fire, or suffered torture and confiscation. The purely literary or philosophical Illuminati and Rosicrucians in Germany, the Carbonari in Italy and France, the Freemasons and Odd-Fellows everywhere, have operated under open opposition, and even actual persecution.

To leave organizations distinctively religious-The Illuminati and Rosicrucians, although they proposed only philosophical investigations, or the moral and intellectual improvement of their members, yet used doctrines so liberal as not to be orthodox in the estimation of established governments; and therefore necessarily worked secretly, as long as they existed. The United Irishmen, who aimed at establishing an independent government in Ireland, worked in the profoundest secrecy; were a terrible bugbear to the English government, and were finally suppressed by it. The Italian Carbonari, as well as their successors who are yet seeking the freedom of Italy, held their lives in their hand. They existed, as they yet exist, only because the Romish despots of the Peninsula could not find them. Patriot Republicans, seeking the freedom of Hungary, yet live amidst the oppressive and penetrating espionage of Austrian soldiers and Austrian pettifoggers, solely by secrecy. The bullet, or the hangman's rope, would be their portion within the day of their discovery.

But it is needless to multiply instances. In religious, politicoreligious, and political movements alike, for purposes good or bad, in every case when they have directly or indirectly opposed strong

constituted interests, secrecy has been an element. Especially, it is hardly possible to name an important political enterprise, successful or not, which has not been nursed under a secret shadow. Our own history informs us, that the Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States sat with CLOSED DOORS from the 25th of May, to the 17th of September following.

Few words, indeed, are more familiar to the reader of history, than plot and conspiracy. We barely suggest the English Revolution of 1688; the Irish revolutionary efforts from 1780 to 1848; the various French Revolutions; the Hungarian Revolution; the Italian, German, and other Continental Revolutions of 1848; the periodical pop-gun revolutions of Mexico and South America; and our own Revolution of 1776. The beginnings of such enterprises, according to the Greek fable, must be hidden, as the baby Jupiter was on Mount Ida, otherwise they will be swallowed up by the powers that be; as Saturn, the constituted authority of the period, swallowed up all Jupiter's little brothers and sisters; and for a like reason. The old monster knew that it was foretold that one of them should supersede him. But when the new-born power has strength enough to proceed openly, it does as Jupiter did-it vigorously assaults and dethrones the wicked Titans.

In the political management of the present day, more peaceful phases of the spirit which operated the bloody plots of old times, yet prevail. Secret political machinations are perhaps as numerous, and as harmful, in our free nation, as in any other. Our parties originate in secret scheming, and are managed by secret scheming. Who knows the facts of the political life of any leading politician of the present century?-how he secured a nomination; arranged with the "friends" of this or that rival; secured the support of this or that leading newspaper? Mackenzie's notorious Collection of Letters is a series of confidential communications passing among the set of New York politicians, of whom Martin Van Buren was one. It furnishes a great mass of details relating to the mingled threads of their personal and political fortunes, as unreservedly discussed among them

selves. That collection, embracing many documents referring to the lives and fortunes of Van Buren, Hoyt, Swartwout, B. F. Butler, Cambreleng, and the numerous tribe of their allies and followers, furnishes the best illustration ever yet published, of the spirit and practice of American politicians. And throughout the long and tortuous series of transactions of which it treats, it is secrecy always, and inviolable, which is assumed to be the cloak and necessary medium of all the enterprises and combinations.

Was it open management that organized the opposition that latterly arose against Washington's administration, under the name of the Republican party? Was it open management that nearly made Aaron Burr President of the United States? Is it open management that at the present day presents candidates for the suffrages of American freemen? Did open management nominate Polk or Pierce for the Presidency? Who knows, indeed, how his own State Governor was nominated and chosen; how many sly bargains and private schemes were contrived and executed to complete the present organization of any State Legislature? Who knows even the precise mode in which were selected and appointed the municipal government of his town or city, and the business committees under it, or even the officers of his school district? Who knows precisely how are originated and carried through such measures as the Nebraska Bill; the Collins Mail Appropriation; or any other of the public or private measures that yearly are enacted by Congress? Who knows how the State Legislature is guided; or how the vote in town meeting or city council, for or against a sewer or a park, is arranged? It is not claimed that nobody knows, by any means. A few know; and these few take very good care not to tell. The main body of voters DO NOT KNOW how or why the men for whom they vote, were set up for suffrage.

It is true that the old political parties, in their "nominating conventions," proceed with open doors; speeches are made, and resolutions adopted, but all this machinery amounts to nothing more than the mere publication of the acts of secret committees, the moving

cause and reason for the resolves being unknown and unseen. When the great elections are pending, does not each party have its secret agents in Washington-meeting in dark conclave-flooding the country with sealed packages? And does not the party in power carefully keep the key of the Post-office? Is not then the finger pressed on the lips? "Say nothing!" "Keep dark!" These and other cabalistic words, with all the mysterious inuendos of conspiracy, are uttered with low tones and smothered breath; and all justified, commended, practised, and applauded. What, then, is there so strange in the practice of the American party, desiring to keep its own secrets?

Secret management, by the retention of these "State secrets" in the hands of a few astute men, who handle the caucus and convention machinery, the parties through it, and the nation through the parties; is the whole essence of political operations in the United States. Indeed, our political parties belong to the most perfect species of secret organizations, because the rank and file of the army do not know its leaders.

The conclusions thus far reached in this chapter are these:

1. Secrecy is indifferent in itself, and good or bad according to the use which is made of it.

2. Secrecy is often necessary in the beginnings of reformatory enterprises which interfere with established interests.

3. Secrecy is an established and universal element in the usual course of American politics.

The American Party is young. It has grown to its present stature by the spontaneous gathering of the people to its standard, rather than by the efforts of any apostles. Its strength has come voluntarily from either of the two great parties, or from the increasing host of political sectarians or neutrals. The active enmity of all these it naturally would and did incur. The masses of these established organizations were not altogether opposed, as the success of the new

comer shows, to its principles: but the leaders of them were in the unhappy case of a sleeping cur whose tail is pinched. They jumped up in a fury, and barked at all creation. But they did no execution, because they did not know where the trouble came from. Under such irritating circumstances, it is perfectly natural that they should indulge in condemnations of the very practices which are the basis of their own influence. People seldom relish being attacked with their own weapons. Their editorial yokefellows were in the same difficulty, and were further annoyed at the slight put upon their professional importance. They could not discover the facts about this new movement, either for their personal gratification, for paragraphs and editorials in the paper, or for the use of "the party." They considered that they had a prescriptive right to know every thing first, and to tell it or not, at their discretion; and here was something of which they seemed doomed to know nothing, first or last, except by its results. So they very generally joined in the outcry. It was to be expected that editors, shut out from all participation, would revile an organization that they knew nothing about; and that politicians, with their legs knocked from under them by invisible blows, should cry out in distress as they fell into the pit which their own hands had prepared.

No one doubts, however, that the safety ensuing upon this mode of action has, in fact, saved the American Party from very great dangers, if not from destruction. It has confounded and confused all measures of opposition. If there had in the beginning been open proselyting, importunate grasping after disciples, and all the ordinary "advertising department" of new enterprises, would not the usual party discipline have sufficed to keep the new party down, and the old ones together? There would have been a great blustering show of argument for some, and of threats and promises for others. But these accustomed weapons were useless, because the enemy was invisible. There may have been very many errors in the practical details of the plans adopted to secure this secrecy. It is not necessary to claim perfection for human productions. But this secret mode of