Corydon Press, and Anti-Masonic Democrat, Volume 2, Number 10, Corydon, Harrison County, 3 November 1830 — Page 2

orydon Preoo, and J2ntioJ2aoonie -Democrat.

Other Ovidcncei of malice against the printer

bave been manifested. On one (vccalion, large numbers of maconid ruffian, armed with clubf, assembled under different leaders, in the night time, in (he vicinity of the printing office, with declared purpose of obtaining the intended publication, by violence, from which they were prevented only, by the formidable preparations to defend it, cade by the printer. On another occasion, a masonic constable accompanied and abetted by & crowd of his brethren, under a false pretence of-havmg a criminal process, for that purpose, arrested hirn carried him to .. neigh boring village there illegally confined him in a lodge room nesaol ted him, und threatened him with the fate of Morgan. By the assistance of friends, and the exettion of his owu active intrepidity, the printer at length escaped. It is a remarkable circumstance, evincing extensive concert and premeditation, that on the day of this arrest, all the magistrate ol thu. town, where it look place, were summoned into another town as witnesses, autT could not be applied to, for any interposition of the civil authority, to preserve the public peace, 01 to protect the rights of the intended victim. For these offences the constable and several others were indicted and convicted. The seme of these occurrences was the western part of the State of Now York. Where the people are intelligent and free, fuch enownities as those, to which we have referred, could not be committed without producing excitement. Every unpervcrted feelipg, and every upright voice, anxiously claimed the impartial and prompt application to them, of the appointed powers of our criminal jurisprudence. Then began to draw cn, that dark eclipse, upon the vaunted lights of Free Masonry, which, to Che public eye, ia rapidly becoming total, and Through the eternal shadows of which, nothing will be discernable hereafter, but blood. Is this alarming emergency, the agents of government seemed paralyzed. Our public -institutions and provisions for the preservation of tranquility, and the repression of crime, seemed nugatory. And without the use of other means than the law, and its official ministers, the most daring and brutal inroads, upon our dearest rights, would have passed off, without effort to understand their origin, punish their instrumentg,or provide againsf their recurrence. No arts were left untried by Free Masons tu baffle the pursuit of truth and defeat the administration of justice. The lion's grip of the order whs upon our courts, and loyalty io ihat, displaced fealty to the State. A large proportion of the constables, justices of the peace, lawyers, judges, sheriffs, and jurymen, of the counties where these act wore performed, were members of the society, and had taken oaths binding them, in terms to conceal each other's crime The high sheriffs were all masons, and at that time, summoned as grand juror?, at their discretion, any such men as had the common qualifications. In the counties of GeneBee and .Niagara, where the fraternity were afraid

of criminal prosecutioc - majorities cf Free Ma

w

m

ons arc known to have been corruptly retOmefl at grand jurors. And these sheriffs of the conn ties were both indicted, subsequently, aa.partiea to the conspiracy for the abduction of Morgan.--One of them was tried and convicted, and the trial of the other has not yet taken place. Perceiving that the public functionaries, rho?e duty it is to institute proceedings in criminal cafes, were totally inactive through c&'vardice or corruption, the people, who are both the proprietors and benefichriee of every department of government, undertook to inquire and present for themclve, in i elation to these offences; with the do termination, however, to use, us far as possible, d r nrtat ittif nut Itrtri 1 1 AC trrl in rr r o 1 w avail

ptcp the right reorvd to them. They4prouec$ -ed, in the generous spirit of men, to whose enlight ' ened views, the general safety affords enough tff motive and reward, for the most arduous eicrtion. Thev called public meetings, at which horv

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est and intelligent committee were raised, to as certain facts, and aid the public functionaries.And these committees entered with patriotic alacrity, upon the performance of come of the most difficult and responsible duties of freemen. Without any emolument, at great expense of time and money, iu defiance of the most malignant, perpe vei ing, and ingenious cotfpteraction of Free Ma sons, they suspended their private concerns, and; gave themselves up to all the labours of acompli, cated investigation. In these proceedings thep could obtaio no testimony, which was not vnlun tary, they derived no assistance from office, their motives wre most venemously slandered, their conduct belied, and their lives endangered. Still they went on fearlessly, disinterestedly, sagac iously, and successfully, The outrages had es tended ever six counties. It was a singular spectacle, indicative of the safety, and prophetic of the perpetuity, of our free institutions, to see private citizens traversing these counties, inquiring :

ly, and persistingly, into all the circumstances of crimes'the moat revolting, for the sole purpose of . opening the way, most likely to be effectual, for their judicial exposure and punishment. Whatever could be done by good and wke men, ,f2f hrwif a n AS i 1 lntrnl ouf Vrn!tr was rxarCnwmnrA

VlilllVUt CVblUi 114 1111 , HUB JV 1 J Vf I IUIV4 by these committees. They ascertained the prin cipal facts respecting the kidnapping and mur der, both a to the persons directly concerned in them, and their motives and principles of action and thus laid a sure foundation, not for the lawfal . conviction and condemnation of those who are most guilty; that has hitherto been rendered im-, possible, by the felon sympathies and powerful interposition of Free Masonry but for the universal and eudlus execration of their crimes and . of the institution in which they originated. TJilh of indictment have been found for several of the minor offences; and convictions have followed in a few cases upon the confession of th& culprits in some, and after protracted trials, ia others. But most of those who have been indicted have been acquitted. In the conduct of these trials the influence of Free Uasonrjr bas beop