Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the Government of the United
States that sundry secret lodges, clubs, or associations exist on the
northern frontier; that the members of these lodges are bound together
by secret oaths; that they have collected firearms and other military
materials and secreted them in sundry places; and that it is their
purpose to violate the laws of their country by making military and
lawless incursions, when opportunity shall offer, into the territories
of a power with which the United States are at peace; and
Whereas it is known that traveling agitators, from both sides of the
line, visit these lodges and harangue the members in secret meeting,
stimulating them to illegal acts; and
Whereas the same persons are known to levy contributions on the ignorant
and credulous for their own benefit, thus supporting and enriching
themselves by the basest means; and
Whereas the unlawful intentions of the members of these lodges have
already been manifested in an attempt to destroy the lives and property
of the inhabitants of Chippewa, in Canada, and the public property of
the British Government there being:
Now, therefore, I, John Tyler, President of the United States, do issue
this my proclamation, admonishing all such evil-minded persons of the
condign punishment which is certain to overtake them; assuring them that
the laws of the United States will be rigorously executed against their
illegal acts, and that if in any lawless incursion into Canada they fall
into the hands of the British authorities they will not be reclaimed as
American citizens nor any interference made by this Government in their
behalf. And I exhort all well-meaning but deluded persons who may have
joined these lodges immediately to abandon them and to have nothing more
to do with their secret meetings or unlawful oaths, as they would avoid
serious consequences to themselves. And I expect the intelligent and
well-disposed members of the community to frown on all these unlawful
combinations and illegal proceedings, and to assist the Government in
maintaining the peace of the country against the mischievous
consequences of the acts of these violators of the law.
Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the 25th day of
September, A.D. 1841, and of the Independence of the United States the
sixty-sixth.
[SEAL.]