Two collected volumes of 31 Anti-Masonic pamphlets (full descriptive list below). Bound for Epaphras Hoyt, of Deerfield, Massachusetts. [7700]
Two volumes in full leather with brown leather title labels - “Anti- | Masonry” - and gilt rules to spines. 5 1/2 x 9 inches (vol. i.), 5 3/4 x 9 1//2 inches (vol. ii.); handwritten list of contents at front of each volume, “Particular Articles” within different pamphlets noted on verso of both lists of contents. For instance, the first item in vol. i. is “Antimasonic Convention of Mass. in 1830, 48 pages”. The note on the verso is Col. Merrick’s Speech, 1 - 26.” So within the first item (1) on p. 26 (of 48) you find Col. Merrick’s Speech. Both volumes tight and very good, handwritten numbers corresponding to the Contents on the front of each. Wrappers not included; contents with varying degrees of foxing; in order as bound:
Volume One.
A Brief Report of The Debates in the Anti-Masonic State Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, December 30, 31, 1829, and January 1, 1830. Boston: John Marsh. 1830. 48 pp.
Walgren 3337. Cummings p. 10. “McCarthy refers to this as of special importance in connection with the national organization of Anti-Masonry.”
An Abstract of the Proceedings of the Anti-Masonic State Convention of Massachusetts, Held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, Dec. 30 and 31, 1829, and Jan. 1, 1830. Boston: John Marsh, Jan. 1830. 32 pp.
Sabin 45548. Walgren 3334. "This is the first Massachusetts Anti-Masonic State Convention." Cummings p. 10.
Includes an address on the false antiquity of Freemasonry, by Moses Thacher; a Report on the connection between French Illuminism and the higher degrees of Free Masonry, by Ethan Smith; and a list of the delegates to the Convention, including Gen. E. Hoyt.
An Abstract of the Proceedings of the Antimasonic State Convention of Massachusetts. Held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, May 19 & 20, 1831. Boston: Printed at the Office of the Boston Press, 1831. 78 pp.
Epaphras Hoyt is listed as one of the Vice-Presidents of the Convention.
Sabin 45548, where he groups the First & Second State Conventions as one entry. Walgren 3499. Cummings p. 10.
Reports focus upon the murder of Morgan and the expediency of breaking up the Masonic conspiracy, calling upon Masons to open their meetings to the public, and the corruption of the courts by the Masons - specific court cases are described at length. Another topic is the importance of defeating Freemasonry at the ballot box. A report by Mr. Hallett describes the investigation of a Masonic pamphlet written in code. It was found among the papers of a Mason from Rhode Island who died at sea. Includes the list of delegates. Includes correspondence with Richard Rush, former US Attorney General who in his career held many important legal and diplomatic positions in the federal government.
[Third AntiMasonic State Convention] AntiMasonic Republican Convention, of Massachusetts, Held at Worcester, Sept. 5th & 6th, 1832. For the Nomination of Candidates for Electors of President and Vice President of the United States, and for Governor and Lt. Governor of Massachusetts. Proceedings, Resolutions, and Address to the People. Boston: Printed by Perkins & Marvin. 1832. 55 pp.
Walgren 3652. "Includes Benjamin F. Hallett's Reply of the Convention to the Declaration of 1200 Masons. Cummings p. 11.
Last appeared in the 1963 Midland Notes. No. 88. Americana catalogue.
The Convention the nominated William Wirt and Amos Ellmaker as candidates for president and vice-president, and Samuel Lathrop and Timothy Fuller for governor and lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. Includes letters from Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Emmons, James Madison, and letters refuting Masonic claims of connection with George Washington. The nominating address by Mr. Hallett delineates the danger the country faces from the evils of Freemasonry. Includes the list of delegates; Hoyt does not attend this year.
No. 4. Fourth AntiMasonic State Convention. AntiMasonic Republican Convention, of Massachusetts, Held at Boston, Sept. 11, 12 & 13, 1833, For the Nomination of Candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor of the Commonwealth, and “For the purpose of ‘Consulting upon the Common Good, by Seeking Redress of Wrongs and Grievances Suffered’ from Secret Societies.” Boston: Printed by Jonathan Howe, for the Convention. 1833. 48 pp.
Walgren 3756. Cummings p. 11.
Includes a list of 60 allegations against Freemason and Freemasonry. Continues the discussion of Washington’s involvement with the Masons, that all of Washington’s correspondence was in the keeping of Jared Sparks, and that claims of letters written by Washington to various Lodges are false, there being no manuscript evidence of them.
John Quincy Adams was nominated for governor and Samuel T. Armstrong for Lt. Governor. Adams accepts, Armstrong declines; William Reed is chosen in his stead. Includes 12 point discussion of and warning against Masonic jurors. Includes the list of delegates, including Epaphras Hoyt.
No. 5. Fifth AntiMasonic State Convention, for 1834. AntiMasonic Republican Convention, for Massachusetts, Held at Boston, Sept. 10 and 11, 1834, For the Nomination of Candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, and to Advance the Cause of Equal Rights, by the Suppression of Secret Societies. Boston: Printed by Leonard W. Kimball, for the Convention. 1834. 40 pp.
Walgren 3835. Cummings p. 11.
Last appearance, Goodspeed catalogue, 1968.
Contains a report by Epaphras Hoyt [the collector of these pamphlets] expressing the sense of the Convention by proposed resolutions: 1. The nation has a great lack of moral courage, 2. The exposure of Freemasonry has left previous national leaders unable or unwilling to provide necessary leadership, 3. “…there can be no violations of the constitution of more fatal bearing…than those which have feloniously deprived the United States of one of its free citizens, and suppressed the impartial administration of criminal justice,” 4. “That a power unknown to the laws [Freemasonry]…cannot exist but in contravention of the rights of free men,” 5. That the growth of AntiFreemasonry is gratifying, and if the claims of Freemasons of being for what is right are true, the society will collapse as they learn the truth, 6. The signs of the times are auspicious for AntiFreemasonry, 7. The patriotism of any party will lead them to exclude Masons, 8. American political leaders must avowedly separate themselves from secret societies, 9. That the Antimasonic Republican Party is a national party, 10. “Whenever public virtue shall have become so far extinct in a country as to look with indifference upon an association which claims a right to kidnap and murder its members, and has carried that ‘prerogative’ into effect, in defiance of the laws, the people of that country have lost their patriotism and no longer deserve the name of freemen,” 11. “That on this 8th anniversary of the Masonic outrage committed on a free fellow citizen, William Morgan,” the people of the country must gird themselves for battle agains Freemasonry.
There are memorials for the recently deceased William Wirt; Hon. John Bailey is nominated for President due to Wirt’s death, and there is an appendix of the nominating address. A call for reform of the Law of Naturalization due to a flood of immigrants from the Old World - including a renunciation of oaths to foreign powers and secret societies, implying Roman Catholicism as well as Freemasonry. Includes the list of delegates, including Epaphras Hoyt. Hoyt is also nominated to attend a National Convention to be held in Philadelphia.
A Letter on Speculative Masonry: by Charles Pinckney Sumner, Sheriff of Suffolk County. Being an Answer to a Letter addressed to him on that subject by the Suffolk Committee. Boston: John Marsh, 1829. 20 pp.
Sabin 93694. Walgren 3215. "State a." Cummings p. 36.
Last record a Goodspeed catalogue, 1968.
Charles Pinckney Sumner (1776-1839), b. Milton, MA; d. Boston, MA. Sumner graduated at Harvard, studied law under Josiah Quincy, practiced law for about 15 years, and was appointed Sheriff of Suffolk County in 1825. A close associate of William Ellery Channing, he was an early abolitionist; his son was the abolitionist and US Senator Charles Sumner, the victim of the famous beating with a cane in the Senate chamber after delivering his speech, The Crime Against Kansas.
There is a duplicate of this pamphlet in volume i. of The Anti-Masonic Review, and Magazine, below.
Stereotype Edition. A Letter on Freemasonry, by the Hon. Richard Rush, to the Committee of the Citizens of York County, Pennsylvania. Boston: Kimball and Johnson, Pollok Press, 1831. The edition printed by John Marsh appears below.
Sabin 74261. Walgren 3562, with 12 locations. "Not in NUC." See Cumming p. 66 for variations; this imprint not included.
Last record an Anderson Galleries auction, 1920.
Richard Rush (1780-1859), son of Benjamin Rush, former US Attorney General who in his career held many important legal and diplomatic positions in the federal government, holding posts under six successive Presidents. He served in the administrations of James Madison and James Monroe (as AG); James Monroe (as Secretary of State); James Monroe and John Quincy Adams (as Minister to the UK); John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson (as Secretary of the Treasury); and James Polk and Zachary Taylor (as Minister to France).
Arguments against Freemasonry with the murder of Morgan taking prominence.
Supplement to the National Observer, March 4, 1829. Speech of Solomon Southwick, at the Opening of the New-York Anti-Masonic State Convention, at the Capital, in Albany, February 19th, 1829. Containing, 1. A concise statement of every important fact, relating to the Masonic outrages on William Morgan and David C. Miller. 2. A concise statement of every important fact, amounting to a presumptive proof of the murder of William Morgan near Fort Niagara. To which is added, The Declaration of Independence, agreed upon and published by the Convention of Seceding Masons, at Le Roy, on the 4th of July, 1828, with the names of the signers. Albany: Printed by B. D. Packard & Co. 1829. Outer margin trimmed too close, affecting the first/last letter of many lines.
Sabin 88653. Walgren 3213. Cummings p. 69. “Southwick was a master of invective. He was editor of the ‘National Observer,’ a strongly Anti-Masonic paper.”
Last seen in the 1928 Henkels Catalogue no. 1419, Americana: Rare and Scarce Books, Pamphlets…&c. The 1911 Merwin-Clayton auction no. 387 offered a copy with the note, “One of the rarest of Anti Masonic tracts.”
Solomon Southwick (1773-1839), b. Newport, RI; d. Albany, NY. Southwick was primarily a journalist and publisher, beginning in NYC and by 1792 in Albany. He was a respected member of his community and held at different times the offices of sheriff, postmaster general, and was a regent of the State University. His periodicals and publications were varied - political, religious, agricultural, and controversial. He established the National Observer as an AntiMasonic paper. By the mid 1830's he retired from political strife and devoted himself to public lectures and writing upon Christian themes, which were met with success.
The Trial of James Lackey, Isaac Evertson, Chauncy H. Coe, Holloway Howard, Hiram Hubbard, John Butterfield, James Ganson, Asa Knowlen, Harris Seymour, Henry Howard, and Moses Roberts, for kidnapping Capt. William Morgan; at the Ontario General Sessions, held at Canandaigua, Ontario County, Aug. 22, 1827. New-York: Printed for the Publishers. 1827. 24 pp.
Sabin 38467. Walgren 2873. Cummings p. 56.
M&S Rare Books sold a copy in 2002. The only other record is from 1954 (Goodspeed).
This was the third in a series of trials regarding the Morgan kidnapping. Previous guilty verdicts had been served with sentences of one month or less. The results of this trial further inflamed the growing anti-masonic sentiment.
Trial for alledged [sic] Embracery, and Challenge of a Juror decided by Triors. Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Ebenezer Clough. Before the Municipal Court of Boston Judge Thacher. October Term, 1833. For the Prosecution - S. D. Parker, Commonwealth’s Attorney. For the Defendant - B. F. Hallett. Reported by B. F. Hallett. [This is the first trial for Embracery, in this country, of which any record has been found. Its novelty, and the great importance of the principles it involves, connected with the administration of justice and the impartiality and purity of the trial by Jury, seem to render it desirable that it should be preserved in a permanent form. It will be found a valuable treatise upon the duties of jurors themselves, and of citizens in their intercourse with jurors; a subject but little understood, though it directly interests the whole community.]. [Copy Right Secured.]. Boston: Printed by Beals, Homer & Co. 1833. 52 pp.
Sabin 96850. “Relates to service of Masons and Antimasons as jurors.” Walgren 3735. "Trial of Ebenezer Clough for embracery, which is 'wickedly and unlawfully intending and devising to hinder a just and lawful trial.' During the trial of Moore and Sevey for a criminal libel on Samuel D. Greene, Ebenezer Clough (an anti-Mason and partisan of Greene), was alleged to have committed embracery by delivering to Nathaniel Frothingham, one of the jurors in the Moore and Sevey trial, a printed letter by Samuel Dexter responding to letters from Josiah Bartlett, Grand Master of Massachusetts. Clough was acquitted by the jury."
No sales or auction records at RareBookHub.
Masonic Lecture, spoken before the brethren of Union Lodge, New-London, on the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, June 24, A. L. 5825. Second Edition. By Brother Wm F. Brainard, Esq. [A Royal Arch Mason]. Published at the Request of the Brethren. New-London, Printed by Samuel Green, 1825. Boston: Re-Printed for John Marsh, and Sold at the Anti-Masonic Book Store. 1829. “The climax of masonry” in faint pencil on front. Tidemark in the top margin throughout.
Evidently printed by Marsh to show the frame of mind of the Masons just before the Morgan affair. Great confidence is expressed by the author, which was soon to be dashed.
Walgren 3056. "Antimasons reprinted this oration - originally delivered before Masons - to draw attention to the power and arrogance of the Craft."
The only reference we find is to a 1914 auction catalogue of Americana by Merwin Sales Company. No copies at WorldCat. AAS has a copy; not at LOC.
Volume 2.
An Investigation into Freemasonry by A Joint Committee of the Legislature of Massachusetts. Printed by Order of the House of Representatives. March, 1834. Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, State Printers. 1834. 76 pp. Appendix containing the Testimony and Documents Received in Evidence by the Committee. 54. pp. The whole is House Doc. No. 73.
Walgren 3837. Cummings p. 43
A Legislative Investigation into Masonry; Being a correct History of the Examination, under Civil Oath, of more than Fifty Adhering and Seceding Masons, before a Committee of the General Assembly of Rhode-Island, Held at Providence and Newport, between December 7, 1831, and January 7, 1832. Reported from Minutes taken at the time, by B. F. Hallett, Geo. Turner and Others, and carefully compared. Boston: Office of the Boston Daily Advocate. 1832. 85 pp., printed in double columns, with Index.
Sabin 29888. Walgren 3636. "Unofficial version of Rhode Island legislative report of committee appointed to investigate Freemasonry, with commentary." Cummings p. 46.
Last appearance was a 1937 Goodspeed catalogue.
The New York Register and AntiMasonic Review. Vol. I. No. 1-6. New York: Published Semi-Monthly by Henry Dana Ward. 6 consecutive issues with dates from Jan. 1, 1831 to March 15, 1831. 96 pp. total. A complete run of this rare periodical.
The first no. is Sabin 54844; the other five are not included. “Ward appears to have published a few numbers only.” - note on Sabin 101298.
Referenced in Walgren but no entry. Not in Cummings. Not located at AAS. LOC indicates they have the title but without information on number of issues. There are no sales records for this item at RareBookHub.
Henry Dana Ward (1797-1884), b. Shrewsbury, MA; d. Middletown, CT. He was the grandson of the Revolutionary War major-general Artemas Ward. Henry graduated at Harvard with an A.B. in 1816 and an A.M. in 1819. Ordained as an Episcopal minister, he had a parish in Virginia. He renounced his involvement with Freemasonry in the 1820's, authored Free Masonry: Its Pretensions Exposed in Faithful Extracts of its Standard Authors (1828), and was an influential figure in the Antimasonic movement. H was also active in the Temperance and Abolitionist causes. He also embraced the Millerite sect and was counted among their supporters. He was pastor of several Episcopal parishes during his career, in Virginia and New York City.
Rev. H. Tatem’s Reply to the Summons of the R. I. Royal Arch Chapter. No imprint, written from Warwick, March 22, 1832. 8 pp.
Walgren 3695, first state mentioned, without the "c" in "March" at end. Cummings, p. 71. Not in Starr.
Last recorded sale was in a group of seven pamphlets listed in a 1925 Anderson Galleries catalogue of Unusual & Important Americana.
Elder Henry Tatem, a Free Will Baptist, was pastor of churches in Rhode Island. The substance of this pamphlet “has recently appeared in the Providence Advertiser…”. Tatem had been a Mason, but had not been in a lodge for some 14 years, and had quietly withdrawn his interest after becoming convinced that Freemasonry was not in keeping with his Christian testimony. At the request of a fellow clergyman, he affirmed in writing the content of a Masonic oath. On this basis he was summoned before the Chapter, to which Elder Tatem here responds in print.
Mr. Colden’s Letter. [By Cadwallader D. Colden. Boston: Eastburn, Printer. 1829]. 8 pp.
Walgren 3070. Cummings p. 23. “Colden had held many Masonic offices and honors, but for some reason, best known to himself, abandoned Masonry and joined the forces of its enemies.
Hon. Cadwallader D. Colden responds to a letter sent, and the suggestion of Henry Ward Dana, to several prominent Masons in New York state, to ask their opinion of the “general character and tendency of Masonic Societies.” His reply is more than satisfactory to the anti-Masonic element. “The pretence that Masons are possessed of any peculiar knowledge, is as fallacious as their claim to a supernatural and ante-diluvian origin.”
We were able to find a sale record in a 1908 Goodspeed catalogue.
A Letter on Freemasonry, by the Hon. Richard Rush, to the Committee of the Citizens of York County, Pennsylvania. Boston: John Marsh & Co. 1831. 20 pp.
Sabin 74260. Walgren 3561. Not in Cummings. No sale or auction records at RareBookHub. “Text of a public letter from Richard Rush to the Anti-Masonic Committee of Correspondence of York County, dated May 4th, 1831, discussing the William Morgan affair and supporting the anti-Masonic movement.” - WorldCat.
Reasons, assigned by The Church at North Wrentham, for withdrawing from their Masonic Brethren and Others, and being formed into a Distinct and Separate Church. Published by Vote of the Church. Boston: T. R. Marvin, Printer, 1830. 32 pp.
Sabin 95154. Walgren 3340. "Petition of the Pastor, Moses Thacher, and others, asking dismissal from the Church of Christ in the North Parish of Wrentham, and claiming the right to separate and style themselves, 'The Church in North Wrentham.'" Cummings p. 73.
No sale or auction records.
Rev. Moses Thacher leads a portion of his church in separation from the Masonic members of it.
Rev. Moses Thacher (1795-1878) b. Princeton, MA; d. Cambridge, IL. He was one of the founders of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, was active in the Temperance movement, and editor of the New England Telegraph and Eclectic Review (1835-6). “He is a gentleman of great modesty and worth - great moral courage in every cause - great perseverance, industry and talent. He is deeply interested in the cause of emancipation…” - Wm. Lloyd Garrison, June 29, 1832 Letter to Ebenezer Dole, on the occasion of Thacher’s 4th of July Address before the Anti-Masonic State Convention held at Augusta. He is the author of several tracts below. No original copies of any of his pamphlets are for sale at BookFinder as of September, 2021.
An Address delivered before the Members of the Anti-Masonic State Convention; assembled at Augusta, Maine, July 4, 1832. By Moses Thacher, Pastor of the Church and Minister of the Cleaveland Religious Society in North Wrentham, Mass. [Published by Vote of the Convention.]. Hallowell: Published by Herrick and Farwell. 1832. 32 pp. Errata printed at end.
Referenced in Sabin 95158. Walgren 3700. Cummings p. 73.
Last appearance, Goodspeed 1931.
A July 4th Sermon denouncing Freemasonry as dangerous and antithetical to a free society of patriots. He describes a chain of oaths, “the very constitution and laws of the order”; these oaths demand secrecy, subordination, submission - Thacher says what the oath of each of the first seven degrees demands; he then shows that the rites and ceremonies of Freemasonry degrade the participant, mock the Scriptures, and bind the conscience, &c., with particulars of the first seven degrees; “Who, then, in view of what has been said, can deny, that Freemasonry is repugnant to the Constitution of these United States?” p. 16; he goes on to say that it is against the Constitution and laws of the United States for there to be a society with separate laws and oaths that form a secret bond in opposition to them; he references the Morgan affair and other events that show the unAmerican nature of the craft; “The masonic institution being an empire within an empire, a distinct and independent government, exercising juridical jurisdiction over the liberty and lives of its own members; it is evident that its members, by their oath of allegiance and pertinacious adherence to such independent power, constitutionally disenfranchise themselves from any civil immunity under our own national compact.” p. 21; he finishes the speech with warnings of how Masons corrupt the civil courts and the churches.
An Oration delivered at Stoughton, Mass, July 5, 1830. In Commemoration of the 54th Anniversary of American Independence. By Amasa Walker, of Boston. Boston: John Marsh, and William Souther. 1830. “Presented by the Author,” top front. 31 pp.
Sabin 101036. Walgren 3438. Cummings p. 75.
Last recorded sale a Eberstadt catalogue, 1938.
A warning against the vast conspiratorial power of Freemasonry. Walker says that Freemasonry is a “gross imposter,” that its claims to antiquity, to promoting science & religion, to being a charitable organization, are all false; that “its government consists of a code of laws, in other words, a system of oaths, the most barbarous in the requisitions, the most inhuman and bloody in their penalties, that human depravity ever devised, or savage ferocity ever inflicted”; he references the murder of Morgan; he compares the patriotism and heroism of the leaders of the American Revolution - their principles - with the principles of Freemasonry.
Amasa Walker (1799-1875), b. Windham, CT; d. North Brookfield, MA. Walker was successful in commercial businesses, enabling him to retire from them in 1840 to devote himself to public affairs. He was president of the Boston Temperance Society (1839); lectured on political economy at Oberlin College (1842-48); the same at Harvard (1853-60); and at Amherst College (1859-69). He was a frequent contributor to the press, as an economist.
Walker was an abolitionist and one of the founders of the Free Soil Party (1848). He fulfilled terms in the Mass. House & Senate, was Secretary of the Commonwealth for three years, cast his ballot for Abraham Lincoln as a member of the Mass. electoral college, and was a member of the US House of Representatives as a Republican (1862-63).
A Freeman on Freemasonry. No imprint. 8 pp. Printed in double columns. Written “To the Editor of the Massachusetts Yeoman.”
Sabin 25800. Walgren 3596. Cummings p. 17, “Published anonymously.” WorldCat with 3 locations; attributes authorship to George Allen.
No sale or auction records.
A response to the printing in the Commercial Gazette of Boston, Dec. 31, 1831, of a Masonic “Declaration,” in which a wholesome and blameless Masonic character is claimed. Our anonymous author argues in refutation, anchoring his argument on the kidnapping and murder of Morgan.
Appeal of Samuel D. Greene, in Vindication of Himself against the False Swearing of Johnson Goodwill, Morgan Conspirator, in the case of Commonwealth vs. Moore & Sevey, Editors of The Masonic Mirror, for A Libel on said Greene. Boston: 1834. 64 pp. Errata slip pasted on verso of front.
Sabin 28610. Walgren 3815. Not in Cummings. WorldCat holdings are reproductions from an original at AAS.
Last record, a 1920 Anderson Galleries auction catalogue.
Greene was a member of the same lodge as William Morgan, in Batavia, NY. His disclosure of the plan to kidnap Morgan and Miller made him a hunted enemy of the Masons (he claims). He details attempts to ruin his reputation, includes court documents, and refutations of claims against him.
Proceedings of the Sangerfield Meeting, held at the Presbyterian Meeting House in the Village of Waterville, January 14, 1830. With the Address of Elder Nathan N. Whiting, on the Subject of Speculative Free Masonry. Utica: William Williams, 1830. 16 pp. “Gen. Epaphras Hoyt, Deerfield, Mss.” at top front. “Wm. Ferguson, Sangerfield, N. Y.” top of first page.
Sabin 65908. Walgren 3379, with 4 locations. Not in Cummings. Not in Williams. Not in A Check List of Utica Imprints. Not at AAS or LOC. WorldCat record has no holdings, but records "Meeting of professors of religion of different denominations, for the purpose of consulting on the moral qualities and tendency of the institution of Free Masonry, and the proper measures to be pursued by the Churches in relation to it ..."--Page [3].
“About three hundred members were present, from the following denominations of Christians, to wit - Congregational, Methodist, Presbyterian, Dutch, Reformed, Baptist, Seventh Day Baptist, and Reformed Methodist.” - p. [3].
Several witnesses affirm that they had been initiated into Freemasonry, and affirmed the William Morgan and Bernard’s Light on Masonry were substantially correct in their representations of it. Then follows an address, the substance of which is “To scrutinize the moral qualities and bearings of Free Masonry, and to recommend…some uniform Gospel course to be pursued in relation to it…” Followed by resolutions to that effect. There is the Address by Elder Nathan N. Whiting of the Baptist Church in Vernon, NY. His discourse defends those who have left Masonry, and instructs them on how to answer their former friends when they are questioned. William Morgan is a central theme.
Oration, delivered at the Antimasonic Celebration, at Syracuse, July Fourth, 1831. By the Hon. William H. Seward. Syracuse: Printed by Campbell & Newton. 16 pp. “Gen. Hoyt from W. H. Seward” in pencil, top front.
Walgren 3567. Cummings p. 67. 5 locations at WorldCat. No sale or auction records at RareBookHub.
Extolls American patriotic virtues and history and compares them with those of Freemasonry. Says “Morgan has brought us in by a secret way…” “This Society, thus extensive and organized, we, as Antimasons, believe to be dangerous to the constitution and laws of our country, & inconsistent with the equal rights and liberties of the whole people. Thus believing, we seek to abolish it by the omnipotent power of public opinion, to be expressed through the ballot boxes.” He gives his reasons why Freemasonry must be so opposed. He uses Morgan as an imaginary guide, holding a lamp and exposing the different aspects of Masonry.
William Henry Seward (1801-1872), a NY State Senator at the time he gave this speech; later governor of NY state, and US Senator. He is best known as Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State.
No. 186. In Senate, February 20, 1830. Report of the Hon. Addison Gardiner, circuit judge of the 8th circuit, relative to the testimony given on the late trial of Elihu Mather, in Orleans county. 20 pp. No imprint. This is a NY State Senate Report.
Walgren 3370, 4 locations. Cummings p. 36. WorldCat with 2 copies.
Only sales record is from a 1920 Henkels catalogue of Valuable Americana. “This is the celebrated case where the illegibility of a juror was challenges on account of being a Free-mason during the trial of Elihu Mather, also a Free mason.”
Witness testimony on the obligation of a Mason to respond to a secret sign given by a brother in trouble, and that they were obligated to help him, “whether right or wrong.” Testimony regarding Morgan and Miller, as Mather was one of the conspirators. Judge Gardiner herein reports to the New York Senate the testimonies and pertinent statements of the case.
"Elihu Mather was indicted on charges of conspiracy to kidnap and abduct William Morgan and the case came to trial in November 1829 with Circuit Judge Addison Gardner presiding. The case was prosecuted by a Special Commissioner appointed by the Legislature, John C. Spencer, son of Justice Ambrose Spencer, and Colonel D. D. Barnard was counsel for the defense. The trial lasted ten days and Elihu Mather was acquitted.
"During the trial, Commissioner Spencer objected to certain of Judge Gardner’s rulings on juror disqualification and the refusal of a witness to answer a question. At the trial’s conclusion, Spencer moved for a new trial and the motion came before the New York Supreme Court of Judicature in May, 1830. The Court denied Mr. Spencer’s motion..." - Historical Society of the New York Courts online.
