COMIC ASPECTS OF FENIANISM

  Comic Aspects of Fenianism.-In"The New Gospel of Peace according to St. Benjamin," an American publication of the year 1867, the author says: "About those days there arose certain men, Padhees, calling themselves Phainyans, who conspired together to wrest the isle of Ouldairin from the queen of the land of Jonbool. Now it was from the isle of Ouldairin that the Padhees came into the land of Unculpsalm. . . . Although the Padhees never had established government or administered laws in Ouldairin, they diligently sought instead thereof to have shyndees therein, first with the men who sought to establish a government for them; but if not with them, then with each other. . . . Now the Padhees in the land of Unculpsalm said one to another, Are we not in the land of Unculpsalm, where the power of Jonbool cannot touch us, and we are many and receive money; let us therefore conspire to make a great shyndee in the isle of Ouldairin. . . . And they took a large upper room and they placed men at the outside of the outer door, clad in raiment of green and gold, and having drawn swords in their hands. For they said, How shall men know that we are conspiring secretly, unless we set a guard over ourselves? And they chose a chief man to rule them, and they called him the Hid-Sinter, which, being interpreted, is the top-middle; for, in the tongue of the Padhees, hidis top, and sinter is middle. . . . And it came to pass that after many days the Hid-Sinter sent out tax-gatherers, and they went among the Padhees, and chiefly among the Bidhees throughout the city of Gotham, and the other cities in the land of Unculpsalm, and they gathered tribute, . . . and the sum thereof was great, even hundreds of thousands of pieces of silver. Then the Hid-Sinter and his chief officers took unto themselves a great house and spacious in the city of Gotham, . . . and fared sumptuously therein, and poured out drink-offerings night and day unto the isle of Ouldairin. And they set up a government therein, which they called the government of Ouldairin, and chose unto themselves certain lawgivers, which they called the Sinnit. . . . Now it came to pass when certain of the Padhees, Phainyans, saw that the Hid-Sinter and his chief officers . . . fared sumptuously every day, . . . and lived as if all their kinsfolk were dying day by day, and there was a ouaic without end, that their souls were moved with envy, and they said each within his own heart, Why should I not live in a great house and fare sumptuously? But unto each other and unto the world they said : Behold, the HidSinter and his officers do not govern Ouldairn righteously, and they waste the substance of the people. Let us therefore declare their government to be at an end, and let us set up a new government, with a new Hid-Sinter, and' a new Sinnit, even ourselves. And they did so. And they declared that the first Hid-Sinter was no longer Hid-Sinter, but that their Hid-Sinter was the real Hid-Sinter, . . . and moreover they especially declared that tribute-money should no more be paid to the first Hid-Sinter, but unto theirs. But the first Hid-Sinter and his officers would not be set at nought, . . . and so it came to pass that there were three governments for the isle of Ouldairn; one in the land of Jonbool, and two in the city of Gotham in the land of Unculpsalm. But when the Phanyans gathered unto themselves men, Padhees, in the island of Ouldairin, who went about there in the night-time, with swords and with spears and with staves, the governors sent there by the queen of Jonbool took those men and cast some of them into prison, and banished others into a far country," &c.

   Events from 1888 to 1896.-The revelations made in 1888 and i 89o before the "Special Commission," have rendered the history of the Fenian conspiracy quite familiar up to that date. Of subsequent events the following are noteworthy. On the 22d October i 89o the Convention of the Fenian brotherhood in America was held at New Jersey, when it was resolved to make it an open association-de facto,it was already so after the disclosures before the Commission-the council only being bound by oath, and that the object should be to form naval' and military volunteer forces to aid the United States in the event of war with any foreign State. At a convention held at New York in July 1891, it was again argued that the only organisation now advisable was one with a military basis. The Clan-na-Gael continued to hold abortive meetings; outrages of every kind, including murder, were rife in Ireland up to 1892, since which time Ireland is supposed to be pacified, though the frequently repeated dynamite outrages in England, and the revival of Fenianism in America, would lead to a very different conclusion. As to this revival, the Irish Convention, commonly called "the physical farce convention," met in September 1895 at Chicago, and resolved on the formation of a permanent organisation for the recovery, by arms, of Irish independence. Among the delegates-there were more than one thousand present-were O'Donovan Rossa and Tynan (No. i), and the chairman, Mr. John Finerty, ex-member of Congress.

  In August 1896 a Belfast paper stated that, owing to the discovery of a secret society of Ribbonmen in Armagh, special detective duty had been ordered by the constabulary authorities at Dublin Castle.

  And yet, in spite of all this, Government has recently released some of the most atrocious dynamiters, originally and justly sentenced to lifelong penal servitude !

  In September 1896, the notorious Patrick Tynan, known under the name of No. i, and who was implicated in the Phoenix Park murders, was arrested at Boulogne; but the demand of the British Government for his extradition was refused by that of France, on the grounds that sufficient evidence identifying him with No. i had not been produced ; that even if such identification were established, there was not sufficient proof to identify Tynan as one of the men who participated in the murder of Mr. Burke; and, lastly, that his case was covered by "prescription," which in France is acquired after ten years, an extension to twenty years being allowed only after a trial at which the accused had been present. But Tynan had effected his escape after the murders. And so he was set at liberty by the French Government, though it was shown that he had been in frequent communication whilst at Boulogne with English dynamiters, plotting against England at that very time. Of course the French acted on the strict letter of the Code Napoleon and of the Extradition Treaty between the two countries; but when the law and the treaty afford such loopholes to the vilest of criminals, it is high time both were revised. On his release from the French prison, Tynan wrote a long letter to his wife-why should it be published?-inwhich he expresses his admiration of Russian civilisation (!), and thanks God for tempering the wind to the shorn lamb(!). Beware of a murderer who gives vent to such language ; he is more dangerous than the one who is violent and brutal in his speech.

  Most Recent Revelations.-One of the dynamiters whom Tynan had been in close and recent communication with was Edward J. Ivory, alias Bell, an American, who had been apprehended on British territory, and was charged at the Bow Street Police Court, on the 13th November 1896, 'with conspiring with others to cause dynamite explosions within the United Kingdom. He was committed for trial, but when that took place at the Old Bailey, in January 1897, the prosecution, in spite of the fact that the prisoner's movements gave room for very grave suspicions, suddenly collapsed on a purely technical point, and Ivory was, by the judge's direction, pronounced 11 Not guilty" by the jury, and of course immediately discharged.' Were it necessary to vindicate the impartiality of English justice, and its tender regard for the interests and claims of a person accused, the issue of this trial would afford a very striking and honourable instance of both. How far the interests of justice, the maintenance of law, and the dignity of the country are served by such verdicts, is altogether a different question, the answer to which cannot be satisfactory.



MISCELLANEOUS SOCIETIES



  A B C Friends, The.-Asociety whose avowed scope was the education of children, its real object the liberty of man. They called themselves members of the A B C, letters which in French are pronouncedabaissd; but the abased that were to be raised were the people. The members were few, but select. They had two lodges in Paris during the Restoration. Victor Hugo has introduced the society in Les Misdrables, part iii. book iv.

  Abelites.-A Christian sect, existing in the neighbourhood of Hippo, in North Africa, in the fourth century. The members married, but abstained from conjugal intercourse, because, as they maintained, Abel had lived thus, since no children of his are inentioned. To maintain the sect, they adopted children, male and female. A sect having the same name existed in the middle of the last century, who professed to imitate Abel in all his virtues. They had secret signs, symbols, passwords, and rites of initiation. Their principal meetings were held at Greifswald, near Stralsund, at which they amused themselves with moral and literary debating.

   Academy of the Ancients.-Itwas founded at Warsaw by Colonel Toux de Salverte, in imitation of a similar society, and with the same name, founded in Rome towards the beginning of the sixteenth century. The object of its secret meetings was the cultivation of the occult sciences.

  Almusseri.-Thisis an association similar to that of Belly Paaro," found among the negroes of Senegambia and other parts of the African continent. The rites of initiation bear some resemblance to the Orphic and Cabiric rituals. In the heart of an extensive forest there rises a temple, access to which is forbidden to the profane. The receptions take place once a year. Thecandidatefeigns to die. At the appointed hour the initiated surround the aspirant and chant funereal songs; whereupon he is carried to the temple, placed on a moderately hot plate of copper, and anointed with the oil of the palm-a tree which the Egyptians dedicated to the sun, as they ascribed to it three hundred and sixty-five properties. In this position he remains forty days this number, too, constantly recurs in antiquity-his relations visiting him to renew the anointing, after which period he is greeted with joyful songs and conducted home. He is\ supposed to have received a new soul, and enjoys great consideration and authority among his tribe.

  Anonymous Society.-This society, which existed for some time in Germany, with a grand master resident in Spain, occupied itself with alchymy.

  Anti-Masonic Party.-In 1826 a journalist, William Morgan, who had been admitted to the highest masonic degrees, published at New York a book revealing all their secrets. The Freemasons carried him off in a boat, and he was never afterwards seen again. His friends accused the Masons of having assassinated him. The latter asserted that he had drowned himself in Lake Ontario, and produced a corpse, which, however, was proved to be that of one Monroe. Judiciary inquiries Jed to no result. Most of the officers, it is said, were themselves Masons. The indignation caused by the crime and its non-punishment led to the formation, in the State of New York, of an Anti-Masonic party, whose object was to exclude from the public service all members of the masonic fraternity. But the society soon degenerated into an electioneering engine. About fifty years after the occurrence, Thurlow Weed published, from personal knowledge, precise information as to Morgan's assassination by the Freemasons. His grave was discovered in 1881 at Pembroke, in the county of Batavia, State of New York, and in the grave also was found a paper, bearing on it the name of a Freemason called John Brown, whom, at the time, public rumour made one of the assassins of Morgan. To this latter a statue was erected at Batavia in 1882. Certain American travellers, indeed, asserted having, years after, met Morgan at Smyrna, where he taught English; but their assertions were supported bynoproofs.

  Anti-Masons.-This wasa society founded in Ireland, in County Down, in 1811, and composed of Roman Catholics,  whose object was the expulsion of all Freemasons, of whatever creed they might be.

  Apocalypse, Knights of the.-This secret society was formed in Italy -in 1693, to defend the Church against the expected Antichrist. Augustine Gabrino, the son of a merchant of Brescia, was its founder. On Palm-Sunday, when the choir in St. Peter's was intoning the words, Quis est iste Rex Glorice P Gabrino, carrying a sword in 'his hand, rushed among the choristers, exclaiming,Ego sumRex Glorice. He did the same in the church of San Salvatore, whereupon he was shut up in a madhouse. The society, however, continued to flourish until a, wood-carver, who had been initiated, denounced it to the Inquisition, which imprisoned the knights. Most of them, though only traders and operatives, always carried a sword, even when at work, and wore on the breast a star with seven rays and an appendage, symbolising the sword seen by St. John in the Apocalypse. The society was accused of having political aims. It is a fact that the founder called himself Monarch of the Holy Trinity, which is not extraordinary in a madman, and wanted to introduce polygamy, for which he ought to be a favourite with the Mormons.

  Areoiti.-This is a society of Tahitian origin, and has members throughout that archipelago. They have their own genealogy, hierarchy, and traditions. They call themselves the descendants of the god Oro-Tetifa, and are divided into seven (some say into twelve) degrees, distinguished by the modes of tattooing allowed to them. The society forms an institution similar to that of the Egyptian priests ; but laymen also may be admitted. The chiefs at once attain to the highest degrees, but the common people must obtain their initiation through many trials. Members enjoy great consideration and many privileges. They are considered as the depositaries of knowledge, and as mediators between God and man, and are feared as the ministers of the taboo, a kind of excommunication they can pronounce, like the ancient hierophants of Greece or the court of Rome. Though the ceremonies are disgusting and immoral, there is a foundation of noble ideas concealed under them; so that we may assume the present rites to be corruptions of a formerly purer ceremonial. The meaning that underlies the dogmas of the initiation is the generative power of nature. The legend of the solar god also here plays an important part, and regulates the festivals; and a funereal ceremony, reminding us of that of the mysteries of antiquity, is performed at the winter solstice. Throughout Polynesia, moreover, there exists a belief in a supreme deity, Taaroa, Tongola, or Tangaroa, of whom a cosmogonic hymn, known to the initiated, says: "He was; he was calledTaaroa; he called, but no one answered; he, the onlyens, transformed himself into the universe; he is the light, the germ, the foundation ; he, the incorruptible; he is great, who created the universe, the great universe."

   Avengers, or Vendicatori.-Asecret society formed about 1186 in Sicily, to avenge public wrongs, on the principles of the Vehm and Beati Paoli. At length Adiorolphus of Ponte Corvo, grand master of the sect, was hanged by order of King William II. the Norman, and many of the sectaries were branded with a hot iron.

  Belly Paaro.-Among the negroes of Guinea there are mysteries called "Belly Paaro," which are celebrated several times in the course of a century. The aspirant, having laid aside all clothing, and every precious metal, is led into a large wood, where the old men that preside at the initiation give him a new name, whilst he recites verses in honour of the god Belly, joins in lively dances, and receives much theological and mystical instruction. The neophyte passes five years in absolute isolation, and woe to any woman that dares to approach the sacred wood ! After this novitiate the aspirant has a cabin assigned to him, and is initiated into the most secret doctrines of the sect. Issuing thence, he dresses differently from the others, his body being adorned with feathers, and his neck showing the scars of the initiatory incisions.

   Californian Society. -Several Northern Californian tribes have secret societies, which meet in a lodge set apart, or in a sweat-house, and engage in mummeries of various kinds, all to frighten their women. The men pretend to converse with the devil, and make their meeting-place shake and ring again with yells and whoops. In some instances one of their number, disguised as the master-fiend himself, issues from the lodge, and rushes like a madman through the village, doing his best to frighten contumacious women and children out of their senses. This has been the custom from time immemorial, and the women are still gulled by it.

   Cambridge Secret Society.-In 1886 a number of young men formed the "Companions of St. John" secret society, under the leadership of the Rev. Ernest John HerizSmith, M.A., Fellow of Pembroke College. In1896it was supposed to number upwards of one thousand members. The primary and avowed object was to inculcate High Church principles and confession; its real object to be a member of a secret society. They took an oath; the candidate had his hands tied, knelt at a table, had his eyes bandaged, and took a vow to obey the head of the society in all things, and never to mention anything relating to the society except to a member. If he disobeyed he was sent to his room, and tied to a table leg. They wore for some time a badge with the letters L and D (Love and Duty); afterwards they wore it concealed under their clothes, whence the members were named "Belly-banders." Whether this society still exists, or whether ridicule has killed it, we cannot say.

  Charlottenburg, Order of. -This was one of the numerous branches grafted on the trunk of the Union of Virtue.

  Church Masons.-This is a masonic rite, founded in this country during this century, with the scarcely credible object of re-establishing the ancient masonic trade-unions.

  Cougourde, The.-Anassociation of Liberals at the time of the restoration of the Bourbons in France. It arose at Aix, in Provence, and thence spread to various parts of France. Its existence was ephemeral. Cougourde is French for the calabash gourd.

  Druids, Modern.-This society, the members of which pretend to be the successors of the ancient Druids, was founded in London in 1781. They adopted masonic rites, and spread to America and Australia. Their lodges are called groves; in the United States they have thirteen grand groves, and ninety-two groves, twenty-four of which are English, and the remainder German. The number of degrees are three, but there are also grand arch chapters. The transactions of the German groves are printed, but those of the English kept strictly secret. In 1872 the Order was introduced from America into Germany. The Order is simply a benefit society.

  Duk-Duk.-A secret association on the islands of New Pomerania, originally New Britain, whose hideously masked or chalk-painted members execute justice, and collect fines. In carrying out punishment they are allowed to set houses on fire or. kill people. They recognise one another by secret signs, and at their festivals the presence of an uninitiated person entails his death. Similar societies exist in Western Africa (see 723).

  Egbo Society.-An association said to exist among some of the tribes inhabiting the regions of the Congo. Egbo, or Ekpd, is supposed to be a mysterious person, who lives in the jungle, from which he has to be brought, and whither he must be taken back by the initiates alone after any great state ceremonial. Egbo is the evil genius, or Satan. His worship is termed Obeeyahism, the worship of Obi, or the Devil. Ob, or Obi, is the old Egyptian name for the spirit of evil, and devil-worship is practised by many barbarous tribes, as, for instance, by the Coroados and the Tupayas, in the impenetrable forests between the rivers Prado and Doce in Brazil, the Abipones of Paraguay, the Bachapins, a Caffre tribe, the negroes on the Gold Coast, and firmly believed in by the negroes of the West Indies, they being descended from the slaves formerly imported from Africa.

  In the ju-ju houses of the Egbo society are wooden statues, to which great veneration is paid, since by their means the society practise divination. Certain festivals are held during the year, when the members wear black wooden masks with horns, which it is death for any woman to see. There are three degrees in the Egbo society; the highest is said to confer such influence that from Lioooto ;1500 are paid for attaining it.

  Fraticelli.-Asect who were said to, have practised the custom of self-restraint under the most trying circumstances of disciplinary carnal temptation. They were found chiefly in Lombardy; and Pope Clement V. preached a crusade against them, and had them extirpated by fire and sword, hunger and cold. But they were guilty of a much higher crime than the one for which they were ostensibly persecuted; they had denounced the tyranny of the popes, and the abuses of priestly power and wealth, which of course deserved nothing less than extermination by fire and sword!

  Goats, The.-About the year 1770 the territory of Limburg was the theatre of strange proceedings. Churches were sacked, castles burnt down, and robberies were committed everywhere. The country people were trying to shake off the yoke feudalism had imposed on them. During the night, and in the solitude of the landes, the most daring assembled and marched forth to perpetrate these devastations. Then terror spread everywhere, and the cry was heard, "The Goats are coming!" They were thus called, because they wore masks in imitation of goats' faces over their own. On such nights the slave became the master, and abandoned himself with fierce delight to avenging the wrongs he had suffered during the day . In the morning all disappeared, returning to their daily labour, whilst the castles and mansions set on fire in the night were sending their lurid flames up to the sky. The greater the number of malcontents, the greater the number of Goats, who at last became so numerous that they would undertake simultaneous expeditions in different directions in one night.

  They were said to be in league with the devil, who, in the form of a goat, was believed to transport them from one place to another. The initiation into this sect was performed in the following manner:-In a small chapel situate in a dense wood, a lamp was lighted during a dark and stormy night. The candidate was introduced into the chapel by two godfathers, and had to run round the interior of the building three times on all-fours. After having plentifully drunk of a strong fermented liquor, he was put astride on a wooden goat hung on pivots. The goat was then swung round, faster and faster, so that the man, by the strong drink and the motion, soon became giddy, and sometimes almost raving mad; when at last he was taken down, he was easily induced to believe that he had been riding through space on the devil's crupper. From that moment he was sold, body and soul, to the society of Goats, which, for nearly twenty years, filled Limburg with terror. In vain the authorities arrested a number of suspected persons ; in vain, in all the communes, in all the villages, gibbet and cord were inconstant request. From1772 to 1774 alone the tribunal of Foquemont had condemned four hundred Goats to be hanged or quartered. The society was not exterminated till about the year 1780.

   Grand Army of the Republic.-A secret society founded after the Civil War in the Northern States of America, to afford assistance to indigent veterans and their families. The Order is a purely military one; its chief is called the Commandant-General, the central authority the National Camp, and subordinate sections are styled Posts. In 1887 the society counted 370,000 members. .

  Green Island.-Asociety formed at Vienna in 1855. The language used at their meetings was a parody on the knightly style as it was supposed to have been; its object was merely amusement. The society reckoned many literary men of note among its members. Whence it took its name is not clear, but it appears to have been a revival of the Order of Knights founded in 1771. See infra, under Knights, Order of."

   Harngari.-Asecret society, dating from 1848, among Germans in North America. They pretended to be descended from an ancient German order of knighthood, and possess about two hundred lodges, with 16,000 members. The diffusion of the German language is one of their chief objects. But why surround themselves with the mist of secrecy but from a childish love for mystery mongering?

  Hemp-smokers, African.-At Kashia-Calemba, the capital of the natives of Bashilange-Baluba, in Africa (lat. 3° 6', long. 210 24'), a sacred fire is always kept up in the central square by old people, appointed for the purpose, who also have to cultivate and prepare for smoking the chiamba (Cannabis indica); it is known in Zanzibar as Changi or Chang. It is smoked privately, and also ceremonially as a token of friendship, and is also administered to accused persons as a species of ordeal. As the symbol of friendship, it is considered as a religious rite, known as "Lubuku," practised by an-organisation, of which the king is ex officio the head; a social organisation only indirectly of political importance. Its rules, signs, and working are secret; its aims and objects unknown to outsiders; its initiatory rites have never been witnessed by an uninitiated person, much less by any European.

  Certain external evidences of its inward nature are however sufficiently obvious to all who care to investigate the subject. Chiamba-smoking has a most disastrous effect on both the health and wealth of its devotees. A dark inference of its true nature may be drawn from the lax, and indeed promiscuous, intercourse between the sexes. Another indication of its licentiousness is afforded by the customs observed at the marriages of its male members, and repeated for three successive nights, in which all decency is outraged in the most revolting and most public way imaginable. The initiatory rites are performed generally by the king, or by Meta Sankolla, the present king's sister, on an islet in the Lulua, an affluent of the Sankoro River, a short distance above Luluaburg, a European station on the top of a hill 400 feet above the river. The public smoking is begun by the chief or senior man present placing the prepared weed in the "Kinsu dhiamba," or pipe, and after smoking a little himself, passing it on to the man next to him. The pipe consists of a small clay bowl, inserted in the larger end of a hollow gourd, the smaller end of which has a large aperture, against which the smoker places his mouth and inhales the smoke in great gulps, till his brain is affected, and he becomes for a time a raving madman.

  Heroine of Jericho.-This degree is conferred, in America, exclusively on Royal Arch Masons, their wives and widows. Its ritual is founded on the story of Rahab, in the second chapter of the Book of Joshua. The first sign is in imitation of the scarlet line which Rahab let down from the window to assist the spies to make their escape. It is made by holding a handkerchief between the lips and allowing it to hang down. The grand hailing sign of distress is given by raising the right hand and arm, holding the handkerchief between the thumb and forefinger, so that it falls perpendicularly. The word is given by the male heroine (not the candidate's husband) placing his hand on her shoulder and saying, "My Life," to which the candidate replies, "For yours." The male then says, 'I If ye utter not," to which the candidate answers, "This our business." The word Rahab is then whispered in the lady's ear. The latter swears never to reveal this grand secret. She is told that Rahab was the founder of the Order, but it was most probably invented by those who were concerned in the murder of William Morgan (681), who, by swearing their female relatives to conceal whatever criminal act perpetrated by Masons might come to their knowledge, hoped to protect themselves.

  Human Leopards.-A black secret society in the country near Sierra Leone, who indulge in cannibalism, buying young boys, feeding them up, and then killing, baking, and eating them. They also attack travellers, and, if possible, kill them for the same purpose. Three members of the society were hanged in the Imperi country, a British colony, on the 5th August 1895, for this crime. Dressed in leopard skins, they used to secrete themselves in the bush near a village and kill a passer-by, to be eaten at a cannibal feast. One of those three men had been a Sunday-school teacher at Sierra Leone. His conversion to Christianity had evidently not been very profound. Cannibalism is as prevalent on the east coast of Africa as on the west, but in the former, where the natives eat father and mother and any other relations as soon as they grow old, it has a sort of sacramental meaning, the fundamental' idea being that the eater imbibes the properties of the person eaten. At the meeting of the British Association in September 1896, Mr. Scott Elliott read a paper on the Human Leopards.

  Hunters, The.-In 1837, after the first Canadian insurrection, a society under the above title was formed, whose object was to bring about a second insurrection. The United States supported them. MacLeod, one of the insurgents of Upper Canada, came to St. Albans, the centre of the society's operations, and was initiated into all the degrees, which he afterwards promulgated through Upper Canada. There were four degrees-the Hunter, the Racket, the Beaver, and the Eagle. This last was the title of the chief, corresponding with our rank of colonel; the Beaver was a captain, commanding six Rackets, every Racket consisting of nine men; the company of the Beaver consisted of seventy affiliates or Hunters. Every aspirant had to be introduced by three Hunters to a Beaver, and his admission was preceded by fear-inspiring trials and terrible oaths. Though the society lasted two years only, it distinguished itself by brave actions in the field ; many of its members died on the scaffold. 704. Husdanawer. -The natives of Virginia gave this name to the initiation they conferred on their own priests, and to the novitiate those not belonging to the priesthood had to pass through. The candidate's body was anointed with fat, and he was led before the assembly of priests, who held in their hands green twigs. Sacred dances and funereal shouts alternated. Five youths led the aspirant through a double file of men armed with canes to the foot of a certain tree, covering his person with their bodies, and receiving in his stead the blows aimed at him. In the meantime the mother prepared afuneral pyre for the simulated sacrifice, and wept her son as dead. Then the tree was cut down, and its boughs lopped off and formed into a crown for the brows of the candidate, who during a protracted retirement, and by means' of a powerful narcotic called visocean, was thrown into a state of somnambulism. Thence he issued among his tribe again and was looked upon as a new man, possessing higher powers and higher knowledge than the non-initiated.

  Indian (North American) Societies.-Nearly all the Indian tribes who once roamed over the vast plains of North America had their secret societies and sacred mysteries, but as the different tribes borrowed from one another religious ceremonies and symbols, there was great similarity between them all, though here and there characteristic signs or tokens distinguished the separate tribes. Dancing with all of them was a form of worship from the aborigines of Hispaniola to those of Alaska, as, in fact, it was with all savage nations, whether African, American, or Polynesian. The Red Indian tribes all had their medicine-huts and men, their kivas, council-rooms, or whatever name they gave to what were really their religious houses. Most tribes kept up a sacred fire, which was extinguished once a year, and then relighted. The sacred dogmas and rites of the Indians of the Gulf States bore so close a resemblance to those of the ancient Jews, that it was long seriously contended by ethnologists and 'historians that they were the Lost Tribes! The Cherokees, Delawares, and Chippewas kept records on sticks, six inches in length, and tied up in bundles, which were covered with devices and symbols, which were called Kepnewin when in common use, and Keknowin when connected with the mysteries of worship.

  The most remarkable record was that contained in the Walum-Olum, or red score ; it contains the creation myth and the story of the migrations of the tribes, represented in pictorial language. Such pictographs are owned by every tribe. The Ojibwas have produced some very elaborate ones, showing the inside of the medicine-lodge filled with the presence of the Great Spirit, a candidate for admission standing therein, crowned with feathers, and holding in his hand an otter-skin pouch; the tree with the root that supplies the medicine; the goods offered as a fee for admission; an Indian walking in the sky, a drum, raven, crow, and so on. The Iroquois mysteries were elaborate, but are not well known; but it appears they were instituted to console Manabozko for the disappearance of Chibiabos, who afterwards was made ruler of the dead-the parallel in this case to Persephone is as curious as is the similarity of the instrument used in the Kurnai initiation to the Greek pobos (72). The Iroquois were originally made up of five different tribes, which afterwards were increased to seven, and their national organisation was based, not on affinity, but on an artificial and arbitrary brotherhood, having signs and countersigns resembling those of modern secret societies. The secret associations of the Dakotas were more numerous and more marked than those of the Iroquois, but some of them were mere social societies, while others were simply religious. Miss Alice Fletcher, who has lived among them, and the Rev. J. 0. Dorsey, testify to the number of societies among them, but to their secrets they were not admitted. Mr. Frank Cushing was, in 1883, initiated into the secret societies of the Zunis ; Dr. Washington Matthews has given us descriptions of the sacred ceremonies of the Navajos, and Captain R. G. Bourke of the snake-dance of the Moquis. Dr. Franz Boos has described the customs of the Alaskans, and shown that there are many societies among them, some of which require that a person should be born into them to be a member . In 1890 the Sioux ghost-dance attracted much attention. But what of all these Indian mysteries which in recent years have been endowed with a factitious interest and importance? They may have a special attraction for the comparative ethnologist; to the general reader they merely convey the conviction that from China to Peru, and from the Arctic to the Antarctic Pole, man is everywhere ruled by the same instincts, fears, and aspirations, which reveal themselves in the same customs, beliefs, and religious rites.

  Invisibles, The.-We know not how much or how little of truth there is in the accounts, very meagre indeed, of this society, supposed to have existed in Italy in the last century, and to have advocated, in nocturnal assemblies, atheism and suicide.

  Jehu, Society of.-This society was formed in France during the Revolution, to avenge its excesses by still greater violence. It was first established at Lyons. It took its name from that king who was consecrated by Elisha to punish the sins of the house of Ahab, and to slay all the priests of Baal; that is to say, the relations, friends, and agents of the Terrorists. . Ignorant people called them the Society of Jesus, though this name scarcely suited them, since they spread terror and bloodshed throughout France.  The society disappeared under the Consulate and the Empire, but reappeared in 1814-15 under the new name of' 1 Knights of Maria Theresa," or 1° of the Sun," and by them Bordeaux was betrayed into the hands of the English, and the assassins of the Mayor of Toulouse at Bordeaux, of General Ramel at Toulouse, and of Marshal Brune at Avignon, were members of this society.

  Karpokratians.-Areligious society founded by Karpokrates, who lived in the time of the Emperor Adrian at Alexandria. He taught that the soul must rise above the superstition of popular creeds and the laws of society, by which inferior spirits enchain man, and by contemplation unite with the Monas or highest deity. To his son Epiphanes a temple was erected after his death on the island of Cephalonia. The sect, in spite of its moral worthlessness, continued to exist to the sixth century ; the members recognised each other by gently tickling the palm of the hand they shook with the points of their fingers. log. Klobbergoll.-Associationson the Micronesian Islands, living together in houses apart, and bound to accompany their chiefs on their war expeditions, and perform certain services for them. There are on these islands also female clubs, the members of which attend at festivities given to foreign guests, and render them various services.

  Knights, the Order of.-A satirical order to ridicule mediaeval knighthood, founded curiously enough by Frederick von Gone, a Knight of the Strict Observance, who himself believed in the descent of the Freemasons from the Knights Templars. It was instituted at Wetzlar in 1771. The members assumed knightly names; thus Gothe, who belonged to it, was Gotz von Berlichingen. They held the “ Four Children of Haimon" to be symbolical, and Gothe wrote a commentary thereon. The, Order was divided into four degrees in sarcastic derision of the higher degrees of spurious masonry, called, (i) Transition, (2) Transition's Transition, (3) Transition's Transition to Transition, (4) Transition's Transition to Transition of Transition. The initiated only could fathom the deep meaning of these designations!

  Know-Nothings.-This was an anti-foreign and nopopery party, formed in 1852 in the United States of America, and acting chiefly through secret societies, in order to decide the Presidential election. In 1856 it had almost become extinct, but came to life again in 1888, having reestablished secret lodges throughout the country, but being especially strong in New York and California. It then held large meetings for the purpose of renominating for the presidential post Major Hewitt, who maintained that all immigrants ought to live in the States twenty-one years before they could vote. They were, however, defeated, General Harrison being elected.

   Ku-Klux-Klan.-A secret organisation under this name spread with amazing rapidity over the Southern States of the American Union soon after the close of the war. The white people of the South were alarmed, not so much by the threatened confiscation of their property by the Federal Government, as by the nearer and more present dangers to life and property, virtue and honour, arising from the social anarchy around them. The negroes, after the Confederate surrender, were disorderly. Many of them would not settle down to labour on any terms, but roamed about with arms in their hands and hunger in their bellies, whilst the governing power was only thinking of every device of suffrage and reconstruction by which the freedmen might be strengthened, and made, under Northern dictation, the ruling power in the country. Agitators came down among the towns and plantations; and organising a Union league, held midnight meetings with the negroes in the woods, and went about uttering sentiments which were anti-social and destructive. Crimes and outrages increased the law was all but powerless, and the new governments in the South, supposing them to have been most willing, were certainly unable to repress disorder. A real terror reigned for a time among the white people ; and under these circumstances the Ku-Klux started into existence, and executed the Lynch-law, which alone seems effective in disordered states of society. The members wore a dress made of black calico, and called a "shroud." The stuff was sent round to private houses, with a request that it should be made into a garment; and fair fingers sewed it up, and had it ready for the secret messenger when he returned and gave his preconcerted tap at the door. The women and young girls had faith in the honour of the “ Klan," and on its will and, ability to protect them.

  The Ku-Klux, when out on their missions, also wore a high tapering hat, with a black veil over the face. The secret of the membership was kept with remarkable fidelity; and in no instance, it is said,' has a member of the Ku-Klux been successfully arraigned and punished, though the Federal Government passed a special Act against the society, and two proclamations were issued under this Act by President Grant as late as October 1871, and the habeas corpus Act suspended in nine counties of South Carolina. When the members had a long ride at night, they made requisitions at farmhouses for horses, which were generally returned on a night following without injury. If a company of Federal soldiers, stationed in a small town, talked loudly as to what they would do with the Ku-Klux, the men in shrouds paraded in the evening before the guard-house in numbers so overwhelming as at once reduced the little garrison to silence. The overt acts of the Ku-Klux consisted for the most part in disarming dangerous negroes, inflicting Lynch-law on notorious offenders, and above all, in creating one feeling of terror as a counterpoise to another. The thefts by the negroes were a subject of prevailing complaint in many parts of the South. A band of men in the Ku-Klux costume one night came to the door of Allan Creich, a grocer of Williamson's Creek, seized and dragged him some distance, when they despatched and threw him into the Creek, where his body was found. The assassins then proceeded to the house of Allan's brother, but not finding him at home, they elicited from his little child where he was staying. Hereupon they immediately proceeded to the house named; and having encountered the man they sought, they dealt with him as they had dealt with his brother Allan. It appears that Allan bad long been blamed for buying goods and produce stolen by the negroes, and had often been warned to desist, but without avail. The institution, like all of a similar nature, though the necessity for its existence has ceased to a great extent, yet survives in a more degenerate form, having passed into the hands of utter scoundrels, with no good motive, and with foul passions of revenge or plunder, or last ofdread and mysterious power alone in their hearts. Thus in November 1883 seven members of the society, the ringleaders being men of considerable property, were found guilty at the United States Court, Atalanta, Georgia, of. having cruelly beaten and fired on some negroes for having voted in favour of an opposition candidate of the Yarborough party in the Congressional election. They were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.