296 



SECRET SOCIETIES 



SECULARISM 



(q.v.) are perhaps the U-st known of the secret 

 societies that have cultivated something like social 

 aims. The former hail their origin in the 17th 

 century, ami diiected their attention to tin- >li- 

 covery of -uch things an the philosopher's stone 

 and tin- elixir of life, to the exorcism of spirits, 

 and such like pursuits. Speculative Freemasonry 

 does not go further back than the 18th century ; 

 its professed object* are philanthropic and moral. 

 There are associations similar in character to 

 it in Tahiti and other* of the Pacific Island*, 

 and amongst the Foulah ami tin- Negroes of 

 Sierra Leone and the adjacent parts of Africa, 

 The celebrated Vchmgerirhtt (q.v.) or secret courts 

 of Westphalia arose in a time of great public con- 

 fusion, and made it their business to maintain that 

 order and respect for the law which it should have 

 been the concern of the emperor and bis associates 

 to have secured and preserved. There existed in 

 Sicily from the I2tn to the 18th century an 

 organisation (the Beati Paoli) very similar to the 

 Vehmgrrirhte. On the other hand, there have lieen 

 numerous associations of a secret kind formed fin- 

 criminal purposes, and for mutual assistance 

 against and in defiance of the laws of the land ; 

 the Assassins in Persia and Syria, the Thills in 

 India, the Camorra, the Madia, and the Decisi 

 (c. 1815) in Italy, the Chauffeurs in France (who 

 arose during the. religious wars and were not sup- 

 pressed until the Revolution), and the Ganiuna in 

 Spain ( formed after the wars against the Moors ; 

 suppressed in 1822) may be instanced. 



The Illumimiti (<|.v. ), the authors of a movement 

 that grew up in dermany in the end of the 18th 

 century, united political and religious ends, and 

 may lie said, summarily, to have aimed at realising 

 the ideals of the French Revolution. The follow- 

 ing century was wonderfully prolific in political 

 secret societies. Italy was lite-rally honeycpinl>c<l 

 with them during the yeurK she was struggling for 

 her independence ; the licst known was that of the 

 Carlionaii (q.v. ; see also MA//IM). At the saiuo 

 time there were similar societies, with similar re- 

 volutionary or democratic or constitutional aims, in 

 other countries of Europe, as tin- Iturschcnscliaft 

 and LaniUniannschaft societies in Germany, the 

 Associated Patriots in France, the Cornmuneros 

 in Spain, the Hetairia in Greece, the Society of 

 United Slavonians and the Decabrists in Russia, 

 the I'uli-li l'em|ilars, and the associations known 

 as Young Germany, Young Italy, Young Poland, 

 Young Switzerland. The German Tugendhund 

 (q.v.) was hardly a secret society in the proper 

 sense of the term. Nearly all the political revolu- 

 tions that took place in France during the course 

 of the 19th century were greatly fomented by secret 

 societies, especially the revolution of 1848. Here 

 too should be mentioned the Oniladina, a move 

 merit having for its headquarters Servia and 

 Belgrade, ami for its objects the establishment of 

 a republican pan-slavic confederation. The most 

 momentous movements of a socio-political tend- 

 ency that have sprung up on the Continent, and 

 spread to some extent to England, are those of the 

 Nihilists (see NIHILISM), the Anarchists, and vari- 

 ous secU of Socialist* i .-!'. IXTKI: vvnnvu.). 



Ireland has Ix-en the brMdlng-gnNmd of political 

 societies directing their ctforls against the English 

 rule, or against one or the oilier of the two religious 

 iKxli.-sin ill.' inland ( Protestants and Itoman Cat ho 

 lics), though motives arising out of agrarian distress 

 li.'ive generally pla\ed iin iin|iilan( part in the 

 agitations these societies have set agoing. The 

 White Boys, the Oak Boys, Right Itovs, Peep o' 

 Day Boys (see RIIIIIUNISM), the I'nitcd IriHlmien, 

 the Fenians, the Ijind League movement fostered 

 by Mr Parnell (q.v.), are all well-known cases in 

 point ; see also ORANGKMEN. 



There are perhajM" no |>eoples in the world who 

 favour secret societies more than the Chinese and 

 the inhabitants of the United States, lint whil-t 

 the object* of these associations in the former 

 country are mostly political, in the latter they are 

 predominantly social. The most powerful organi- 

 sation of this nature in China indeed its ramilica 

 lions extend to all parts of the world where China- 

 men are allowed to settle is the Tien ti Hwuy 

 (t'nion of Heaven and Earth), which present- 

 many features analogous to Freemasonry, such its 

 secret signs, solemn initiation ceremonies, peculiar 

 observances, and so forth ; but its principal object 

 seems to be the overthrow of the existing Maiiclm 

 dynasty and the restoration of the la-a Chinese 

 dynasty of the Ming. The White Lily is very 

 wealthy and very strict in its rules, and its mem KITS 

 are popularly accredited with the possession of 

 magical jiowcrs. Hut about the real purposes of 

 this, as of most other secret societies that exist 

 amongst the Chinese, our information is exceed 

 ingly scanty. The Society of the F.lder I'.rethren, 

 which is, generally speaking, a combination of the 

 most lawless elements of the population in the 

 central provinces (Honan to Hunan), proclaims a 

 fanatical hatred to all foreigners, including the 

 Manchus. Secret societies of all kinds, and for 

 nearly all conceivable purposes, are found in the 

 United States, from the Vigilance Societies (q.v.), 

 formed in the western states for the preservation 

 of public order, to the I'M llela Kappa and similar 

 associations in the colleges nnd universities. The 

 Danites, the Knights of Labour, the Ku-Klux 

 Klan, the Molly Maguires (see these articles ) may 

 be instanced among notable organisations of native 

 growth; the Madia (q.v.) and some European 

 societies have also extended their ramifications 

 hither. 



See C. W. Heckethorn, Secret Societiet of all A pet (2 

 vols. 1874), where other books are quoted; T. Frost, 

 Secret Societiet ofUie European Revolution ( 1876) ; L. de 

 la Hoddc, Secret Societif* of France (Philadelphia, 1856); 

 F. H. Kalfour, Waifi and Strays from the Far Eatt 

 (Lond. 1876), and a pa|T l.y him in the Journal of the 

 Manchester Geographical Society (January 1892); and 

 ffarprr't Magazine (September 1891 ). 



Secret Writing. See CRYPTOGRAPHY, INK. 

 Secrolc. See BENARES. 



Sector, in Geometry, is a portion of a circle 

 included between two radii and the intercepted arc 

 of the circumference. The area of a sector is equal 

 to that of a triangle whose base is equal in length 

 to the intercepted arc, and whose perpcndicaJar 

 height is equal to the length of the radius. 



Secularism i- the term applied to a system of 

 ethical principles advocated from about 1846 by 

 the present writer. It is a new form of Free 

 Thought seeking human improvement by the in- 

 strumentality of material means; and it aims to sub- 

 stitute the piety of usefulness for the usefulness of 

 piety, and to treat error as a defect of knowledge 

 rather than a defect of right intention. It takes 

 as its axiom that what is best for humanity will 

 command the approval of the author of humanity : 

 what is best for humanity ' Inking deter minable by 

 reason, tested in this life by the experience of 

 this life. Experience teaches that science i* 

 the providence of man. Science teaches that 

 improvement and progress can be surely attained 

 by the wise use of material agencies. Material 

 agencies act by causation the law alike of nature 

 and mind. Causation in will shows that, if men 

 can lie induced to pursue that conduct which is 

 most useful, habit will render it the most agreeable. 

 Causation in opinion implies that error can only 

 be eradicated by the eradication of its cause. 

 False ideas can only be extirpated by true idea*. 



