Masonic Notes And Queries.

writes : — ' Such , then , are the written principles of the order in which the neophy te is instructed , and which he is sworn to cherish and observe as his rule of action when , with arms placed in his hands , he is called upon to engage in the overthrow of his Government . This declaration—first , of the absolute right

of slavery ; second , of State sovereignty and the right of secession ; third , of the right of armed resistance to constituted authority on the part of the disaffected and the disloyal whenever their ambition may prompt them to revolutionise—is but an assertion of that abominable theory whichfrom its first enunciation

, , served as a pretext for conspiracy after conspiracy against the Government on the part of Southern traitors , until their detestable p lotting culminated in open rebellion and bloody civil war . What more appropriate name , therefore , to be communicated as a password to the new member upon his first admission

to the secrets of the order could have been conceived than that which was actually adopted—that of " Calhoun ?"—a man who , baffled in his lust for power , with gnashing teeth turned upon the Government that had lifted him to its hi g hest honours , and upon the country that had borne him , and down to the very close of his fevered life laboured incessantly to

scatter far and wide the seeds of that poison of death now upon our lips . The thorns which now pierce and tear us are of the tree he planted . ' " The ' specific purposes' of the order are then detailed . First among them is , aiding soldiers to desert , ancl harbouring and protecting deserters . He states that through the schemes of the order in Indiana

whole companies were broken up ; a large detachment of a battery company , for instance , deserting on one occasion to the enemy , with two of the guns , and the camps were imbued with a spirit of discontent and dissatisfaction with the service . Some estimate of the number of deserters at this time may be derived

from a report of the Adjutant-General of Indiana , of January , 1863 , setting forth that the number of deserters and absentees returned to the army through the post of Indianopolis alone , during the month of December , 1862 , was nearly 2 , 600 . The second of the objects of the organisation as enumerated by Mr .

Holt is discouraging enlistments and resisting the draft . This was done by formidable combinations in certain counties in Indiana , by shooting the enrolling officers , by breaking into the Marshal's offices ancl destroying hooks and papers , by speeches , by violent newspaper articles , and by instructing members of the order who were drafted to desert to the Confederates

at the first opportunity . The third object of the order was the circulation of * disloyal and treasonable publications . ' - According to Mr . Holt , the order has , especiall y in Missouri , secretly circulated throughout the country a great quantity of treasonable publications , as a means of extending its own power and influenceas well as of giving encouragement to the

, disloyal and inciting them to treason . Of these , some of the principal are the following , ' Pollard ' s Southern History of the War , ' ' Official Reports of the Confederate Government , ' 'Life of Stonewall Jackson , ' pamphlets containing articles from the Metropolitan Hecord'Abraham Africanusor

Mys-, , teries of the White House , '' The Lincoln Catechism , or a Guide to the Presidential Election in 1 S 64 , ' ' Indestructible Organics , ' b y Tirga . Its fourth object was keeping up communication with , and

giving intelligence to , the enemy . This was done h y protecting Confederate spies , emissaries and mail carriers , ancl by spies furnished by the order , among whom were many women . In Missouri and Kentucky there were wide-spread organisations for these purposes . They communicated military intelligence , apprised the rebels of weakly-defended pointsand

, invited raids and expeditions of which they were previously well apprised . " To show how efficient the order was in this work , Mr . Holt states that the Federal military authorities have , in a number of cases , been informed , through members of the orderemployed in the interest of

, the Government , of impending raids , and important , army movements of the rebels , not only days but * sometimes weeks , sooner than the same intelligence could have reached them through the ordinary channels . On the other hand , the system of

espionage kept up by the order , for the purpose ot obtaining information of the movements of the Federal forces , & c , to be imparted to the enemy , seems to have been as perfect as it was secret . The Grand Secretary of the order in / Missouri states , in his confession , ' One of the especial objects of this order was to place members in steamboats , ferry-boats ,

telegraph offices , express offices , department head quarters , provost-marshal's offices , and , in fact , in every position where they could do valuable service ; ' and he proceeds to specify certain members who , at the date of his confession ( August 2 last ) were employed at the express and telegraph offices in St . Louis . Again , the order devoted its energies to recruiting for the Confederates , and assisting them to recruit in the Federal lines . This was done extensively in Missouri

and Kentucky , and it is estimated that m April and May 1864 as many as two thousand men were seut-to the rebel army from Louisville alone . It also did its best to furnish the Confederates with arms , ammunition , & c . The female Confederate sympathisers of Louisville ancl Kentucky are represented by Mr . Holt as having rendered the most valuable aid to the

Southern army , by transporting very large quantities of percussion caps , powder , & c , concealed upon their persons , to some convenient locality near the lines , whence they could be readily conveyed to those forwhom they were intended . It is estimated that at

Louisville , up to May 1 last , the sum of 17 , 000 dollars had been invested by the order in ammunition and arms to he forwarded principally in this manner to the rebels . The order has also actively co-operated with the Confederates in making raids and incursions into the Federal lines . At one time , Mr . Holt says there was a grand lan for a general rising of the

p order . This p lan was twofold , and consisted—first , of a rising of the order in Missouri , aided by a strong detachment from Illinois , and a co-operation with a Confederate army under Price ; second , of a similar rising in Indiana , Ohio , and Kentucky , and a co-operation with a force under Breckinridge , Bnckner ,

Morgan , or some other Confederate commander , who was to invade the latter State . In this case the orderwas first to cut the railroads and telegraph wires , that intelligence of the movement may not be sent abroad , and the transportation of Federal troops might be delayed , and then to seize upon the arsenals at Indianopolis , Columbus , Springfield , Louisville , and Frankfort , and , furnishing such of their number as were without arms , to kill or make prisoners of de-