put in operation in this emergency and in this country. This is a power for you to wield—and in its exercise remember the warning voice of the Father of his country to beware of all secret societies.'

July 4th, 1828, a mass convention was held at Le Roy, a large number of seceding Masons and many others being present. Many men of prominence were there, among them three Judges of County Courts, seven ministers, three attorneys,, and four editors. At this time was adopted what was called

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

"When men attempt to dissolve a system which has influenced and governed a part of the community, and by its pretensions to antiquity, usefulness, and vir tue, would demand the respect of ali, it is proper to submit to the consideration of a candid and impartial world the causes which impel them to such a course. We, seceders from the Masonic institution, availing ourselves of our natural and unalienable rights, and the privileges guaranteed to us by our Constitution freely to discuss the principles of our government and laws, and to expose whatever may endanger the one or impede the due administration of the other, do offer the following reasons for endeavoring to abolish the order of Freemasonry, and destroy its influence in our government.

In all arbitrary governments free inquiry has been restricted as fatal to the principles upon which they were based. In all ages of the world tyrants have found it necessary to shackle the minds of their subjects, to enable them to control their actions; for experience ever taught that the free mind ever exerts a moral power that resists all attempts to enslave it. However forms of government heretofore have varied, the right to act and speak without a controlling power has never been permitted. Our ancestors, who imbibed principles of civil and religious liberty, fled to America to escape persecution; and when Britain attempted to encroach upon the free exercise of those principles, our fathers hesitated not to dissolve their oaths of allegiance to the mother country, and declare themselves free and independent; and exalting millions of freemen yet bless their memories for the deed. A new theory of government was reduced to practice in the formation of the American republic. It involved in its structure principles of equal rights and equal privileges, and was based on the eternal foundation of public good. It protects the weak, restrains the powerful, and extends its honors and emoluments to the meritorious of every condition. It should have been the pride of every citizen to preserve this noble structure in all its beautiful symmetry and proportions. But the principle of self-aggrandizement, the desire to control the destinies of others, and luxuriate in their spoils, unhappily still inhabits the human breast. Many attempts have already been made to impair the freedom of our institutions and subvert our government. But they have been met by the irresistible power of public opinion and indignation, and crushed. In the meantime, the Masonic society has been silently growing among us, whose principles and operations are calculated to sub

Before

vert and destroy the great and important principles of the commonwealth. and during the Revolutionary struggle, Masonry was but little known and practiced in this country. It was lost amid the changes and confusion of the conflicting nations, and was reserved for a time of profound peace, to wind and insinuate itself into every department of government, and influence the result of almost every proceeding. Like many other attempts to overturn government and destroy the liberties of the people, it has chosen a time when the suspicions of men were asleep; and with a noiseless tread, in the darkness and silence of the night, has increased its strength and extended its power. Not yet content with its original powers and influence, it has of late received the aid of foreign and more arbitrary systems. With this accumulation of strength, it arrived at that formidable crisis when it bid open defiance to the laws of our country in the abduction and murder of an unoffending citizen of the republic. So wicked was this transaction, so extensive its preparation, and so openly justified, that it aroused the energies of an insulted people, whose exertions have opened the hidden recesses of this abode of darkness and mystery; and mankind may now view its power, its wickedness, and folly.

That it is opposed to the genius and design of this government, the spirit and precepts of our holy religion, and the welfare of society generally, will appear from the following considerations:

It exercises jurisdiction over the persons and lives of citizens of the republic. It arrogates to itself the right of punishing its members for offences unknown to the laws of this or any other nation.

It requires the concealment of crime and protects the guilty from punishment. It encourages the commission of crime, by affording to the guilty facilities of

escape.

It affords opportunities for the corrupt and designing to form plans against the government, and the lives and characters of individuals.

It assumes titles and dignities incompatible with a republican form of government, and enjoins an obedience to them derogatory to republican principles.

It destroys all principles of equality, by bestowing favors on its own members to the exclusion of others equally meritorious and deserving.

It creates odious aristocracies by its obligations to support the interests of its members, in preference to others of equal qualifications.

It blasphemes the name, and attempts a personification of, the Great Jehovah. It prostitutes the Sacred Scriptures to unholy purposes, to subserve its own secular and trifling concerns.

It weakens the sanctions of morality and religion by the multiplication of profane oaths and an immoral familiarity with religious forms and ceremonies.

It discovers in its ceremonies an unholy commingling of divine truth with impious human inventions.

It destroys a veneration for religion and religious ordinances by the profane use of religious forms.

It substitutes the self-righteousness and ceremonies of Masonry for the vital religion and ordinances of the Gospel.

It promotes habits of idleness and intemperance by its members neglecting their business to attend its meetings and drink its libations.

It accumulates funds at the expense of indigent persons and to distress their families, too often to be dissipated in rioting and pleasure and its senseless ceremonies and exhibitions.

It contracts the sympathies of the human heart for all the unfortunate by confining its charities to its own members, and promotes the interests of a few at the expense of the many.

An institution thus fraught with so many and great evils is dangerous to our government and the safety of our citizens, and is unfit to exist among a free people. We, therefore, believing it a duty we owe to God, our country, and to posterity, resolve to expose its mystery, wickedness, and tendency to public view; and we exhort all citizens who have a love of country and a veneration for its laws, a spirit of our holy religion, and a regard for the welfare of mankind, to aid us in the cause which we have espoused; and, appealing to Almighty God for the rectitude of our motives, we solemnly absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the Masonic institution, and declare ourselves free and independent; and, in support of these resolutions, our government and laws, and the safety of individuals, against the usurpations of all secret societies and open force, and against the 'vengeance' of the Masonic institution, 'with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.'

July 4, 1828."

This document was signed by one hundred and three men who thus renounced Masonry and so proclaimed to the world.

states.

Such scenes as these were being enacted all over the northern What wonder then that Masonry was shaken to its very foundation! What wonder, that in Michigan, where such a large proportion of the people that were flocking into the Territory were from western New York, that the intense bitterness and malignant opposition to Masonry should shake the pillars of the institution, and cause its almost total annihilation! The greatest wonder is that Masonry survived the attacks that were made upon it, and when the terrible storm had passed over, raised its head, bruised and bleeding as it was, and entered upon a new life. Such were the scenes and such the

events that by their far-reaching effects, combined to extinguish the lights upon the Masonic Altars of Michigan in 1829 and caused a suspension of work until 1841.

Several of the persons who were more or less connected with the Morgan affair came to Michigan and made themselves new homes in this growing state. Israel R. Hall, the jailer at Canandaigua, in whose custody Morgan was when taken away from the jail, settled in Branch County, a few miles south of Coldwater, where he died at an advanced age. The settlement known as "Hall's Corners," took its name from him.

Col. Edward Sawyer, who suffered one month's imprisonment, was so persecuted that his prosperous business was ruined and he driven penniless from his home to seek a new home in the then wilderness of Michigan. He settled first, in 1836, upon a farm in Grand Blanc, on the County line between Oakland and Genesee Counties, where he suffered all the hardships and privations of pioneer life in those days. He subsequently removed to Grand Blanc Village, Genesee County, where he made for himself and family a handsome home.

He died February 2, 1885, aged ninety-seven years, loved and respected by all who knew him.

In August, 1882, he met with an accident which he thought would result fatally, and then, in contemplation of death, he made to his nephew, in the presence of his wife and son-in-law, the following statement concerning the Morgan affair:

GRAND BLANC, August 22d, 1882.

I, Edward Sawyer, solemnly declare that I never knew who originated or executed the Morgan affair. I understood that Morgan had said that if he could get out of jail he would leave and have nothing more to do with Miller. When the party went to the jail to pay the debt for which he was imprisoned, the Sheriff was away, and, by request, I went to the jail and told Mrs. Hall that if the debt was paid, I saw no impropriety in letting Morgan go. This is all I did and all I know about the affair of my own knowledge. Soon after, hearing that Morgan was in Fort Niagara, I went there for the purpose of ascertaining all the facts and giving them publicity, but I could learn nothing. The fort was open and I went into the room where Morgan had been confined and examined it and inquired of the parties who appeared to be in charge. There was a family there and a few soldiers. I went from there across to Canada and tried to find an Indian Chief who was supposed to have had something to do with it, but didn't find him.

SECOND GRAND LODGE.

THE STORM OVER-THE SKY CLEARING.

THE REVIVAL OF MASONRY

IN MICHIGAN.

We return now to Michigan. The year 1840 has come. During the ten or twelve years preceding that date, the population had increased from about 20,000 to 250,000. Enterprising cities and villages had sprung up all over the lower peninsula. Prosperity and thrift were visible on every hand. Michigan had now been a state for three years, and with its admission to statehood, its prosperity, great before, seemed to take on a wonderful impetus. The storm of fanaticism and fury against Masonry had exhausted itself and reason had again resumed her sway. The silence of eleven years was now to be broken. Here and there over the state, the devoted members of the proscribed fraternity took fresh courage and began to search for missing working tools, abandoned altars and scattered records.

In the little village of Mt. Clemens the first definite action was taken toward a resumption of Masonic labor. A number of zealous and earnest Masons had made themselves new homes in that place and they were naturally desirous of again securing those Lodge privileges from which they had so long been debarred. Several informal conferences were held and it was finally determined that the proper course to pursue was to organize a Grand Lodge. Certainly the wrong way to begin but it seemed right to these brethren, and they were sincere in their efforts, if mistaken in judgment.

A convention was called by personal letters and oral invitations, and on November 13, 1840, the brothers met in convention. The orig