Eckert[17] shows that at present all secret societies are divided into
two parties—the party of direction and the party of action or war party.
The duty of the intellectual party, is to plot and to contrive; that of
the party of action, is to combine, recruit, excite to insurrection,
and fight. The members of the war party are always members of the
intellectual party, but not _vice versa_. The war party thus know what
is being plotted. But the other party, concealed as common Freemasons
amongst the simpletons of the lodges, cover both sections from danger.
If the war party succeed, the peace party go forward and seize upon the
offices of state and the reins of power. Their men go to the hustings,
make speeches that suit, are written up in the press, which, all the
world over, is under Masonic influence. They are cried up by the
adroit managers of mobs. They become the deputies, the ministers, the
Talleyrands, the Fouchés, the Gambettas, the Ferrys; and of course they
make the war party generals, admirals, and officers of the army, the
navy, and the police. If the war party fails, the intellectual party, who
close their lodges during the combat, appear afterwards as partisans,
if possible, of the conquering party, or if they cannot be that, they
silently conspire. They manage to get some friends into power. They
agitate. They, in either case, come to the assistance of the defeated war
party. They extenuate the faults, while condemning the heedless rashness
of ill-advised, good-natured, though too ardent, young men. They cry for
mercy. They move the popular compassion. In time, they free the culprits,
and thus prepare for new commotions.
All Freemasonry has been long thus adapted, to enable the intellectual
party to assist the war party in distress. It must be remembered that
every Carbonaro is in reality a Freemason. He is taught the passes and
can manipulate the members of the craft. Now, at the very threshold of
the admission of a member to Freemasonry, the Master of the Lodge, the
“Venerable,” thus solemnly addresses him:
“Masons,” says he, “are obliged to assist each other by every means, when
occasion offers. Freemasons ought not mix themselves up in conspiracies;
but if you come to know that a Freemason is engaged in any enterprise of
the kind, and has fallen a victim to his imprudence, you ought to have
compassion upon his misfortune, and the Masonic bond makes it a duty
for you, to use all your influence and the influence of your friends, in
order to diminish the rigour of punishment in his favour.”
From this it will be seen, with what astute care Masonry prepares its
dupes from the very beginning, to subserve the purposes of the universal
Revolution. Under plea of compassion for a brother in distress, albeit
through his supposed imprudence, the Mason’s duty is to make use not only
of all his own influence, but also “of the influence of his friends,” to
either deliver him altogether from the consequences of what is called
“his misfortune,” or “to diminish the rigour of his punishment.”
Masonry, even in its most innocent form, is a criminal association. It
is criminal in its oaths, which are at best rash; and it is criminal in
promising obedience to unknown commands coming from hidden superiors.
It always, therefore, sympathises with crime. It hates punishment of
any repressive kind, and does what it can to destroy the death penalty
even for murder. In revolution, its common practice is to open gaols,
and let felons free upon society. When it cannot do this, it raises
in their behalf a mock sympathy. Hence we have Victor Hugo pleading
with every Government in Europe in favour of revolutionists; we have
the French Republic liberating the Communists; and there is a motion
before the French Parliament to repeal the laws against the party of
dynamite—the Internationalists, whose aim is the destruction of every
species of religion, law, order and property, and the establishment
of absolute Socialism. With ourselves, there is not a revolutionary
movement created, that we do not find at the same time an intellectual
party apparently disconnected with it, often found condemning it, but
in reality supporting it indirectly, but zealously. The Odgers and
others of the Trades Union, for instance, will murder and burn; but
it is the Bradlaughs, and men theorising in Parliament if they can,
or on the platform if they cannot, who sustain that very party of
action. They secretly sustain what in public they strongly reprobate,
and if necessary disown and denounce. This is a point worthy of deep
consideration, and shows more than anything else, the ability and
astuteness with which the whole organization has been planned.
Again, we must remember, that while the heads of the party of action are
well aware of the course being taken by the intellectual party, it does
not follow that the intellectual party know the movements of the party
of action, or even the individuals, at least so far as the rank and file
are concerned. It therefore can happen in this country, that Freemasons
or others who are in communication only with the Supreme Council on the
Continent, get instructions to pursue one line of conduct, and that
the war party for deep reasons get instructions to oppose them. This
serves, while preventing the possibility of exposure, to enable the work
of the Infidel Propaganda to be better done. It is the deeply hidden
Chief and his Council that concoct and direct all. They wield a power
with which, as is well known, the diplomacy of every nation in the world
must count. There are men either of this Council, or in the first line
of its service, whom it will never permit to be molested. Weishaupt,
_Nubius_, Mazzini, _Piccolo Tigre_, De Witt, Misley, Garibaldi, Number
One, Hartmann, may have been arrested, banished, etc., but they never
found the prison that could contain them long, nor the country that would
dare deliver them up for crime against law or even life. It is determined
by the Supreme Directory that at any cost, the men of their first lines
shall not suffer; and from the beginning they have found means to enforce
that determination against all the crowned heads of Europe. Now, you must
be curious to know who succeeded to the Chieftaincy of this formidable
conspiracy when Nubius passed away. It was one well known to you, at
least by fame. It was no other than the late Lord Palmerston.