FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 64

FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES.

J The disturbances in China caused by the ■ " Boxers " are but what might have been

expected by anyone acquainted with the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire. From one end of the country to the other the people are banded together in brotherhoods and secret societies, of which the organisation known as the " Boxers " is merely now the most prominent.

Of all Chinese secret societies the most famous and the most far-reaching in its operations has been the Hung League, indifferently known in English as the " Association of Heaven and Earth " and as the " Triads." " Since the foundations of the earth were laid we bear the name of Hung," say they, and they Avere responsible for bringing about, 50 years ago. the disastrous Taeping Rebellion, which' for nearly 13 years laid waste the whole of China.

The members of this society were, and probably are now, numbered by millions, and a special body is marked out for the enlisting of recruits. Woe. -to the man on whem the Triads fix their eyes. He is summoned to appear at such and such a spot, and if he be a wise Chinaman he never refuses, unless he prefers exile. Often, indeed, he is taken away by main force, and the recruiting sergeants have a favourite trick of striking him in the face. In all probability the victim pursues his assailant, and a number of apparent sympathisers join -the chase and lead him to a solitary spot, where he is caj}tured for the society.

Once a -member, fidelity or , death is the lot of t the neophyte. The meetings are held in secluded places difficult of access, and the aj>proach_ on all sides is defended by traps and pitfalls of every kind that ingenuity can devise. Any stranger who cannot recite the distich is at once beheaded by the sentinel, who is generally concealed in adjoining Brushwood. The masters of the. five Grand Lodges into which the society is divided direct the organisation in all parts of the world.

Very similar is the organisation of the " Boxers," whose object is to encourage the growth of anti-foreign and anti-Christian ideas. Within recent years the society has grown by leaps and bounds, and the murders of the missionaries near Foochow, five years ago, gave it a considerable stimulus. Undoubtedly this society has been encouraged by the official classes, until now its fanaticism is such that those in high places are unable to exercise any control.

Their attacks are mainly directed on native Christians and those who have incurred hatred by intercourse with the foreigner. Their favourite penalty is the torture, horrible in its atrocity, known as the wire •shirt, which surpasses even the tortures of the Middle Ages. It consists of wire netting, which is bound tightly round the body, the flesh, which bulges through the mesh, being cut in all directions by a .sharp knife. Very rarely does the , victim recover, but if he is so unfortunate salt is generally rubbed into the cut flesh. This species of torture has long been prevalent in China, but the scandal is now at its height, and the number of victims of the '" Boxer " during .the past month cannot, be correctly estimated.

A "less important Chinese secret society is one formed among the Mohammedans, remarkable for the curious ordeal through which neophytes have to pass. To insure thorough purification they are vigorously thrashed, and after recovery have to drink a prodigious quantity of Koap and water to scour all the. pork out of their systems. Whether or not these successive operations proved too irksome and savoured too little of heroism, the society has recently diminished in numbers and power.

Perhaps the most vindictive secret society -which has ever existed was that from which Aye derive cur word "assassin."' It was founded on a rocky fortress in Persia by a discontented noble, Asfan-ben-Sabbah, and its characteristic feature was that voirag peop'e were trained from their childhood to ap^apsinnte those condemned to destruction by their chief. This personage, known as the " Old Man of the Mountain," was supreme nrd absolute ruler, whose word was law. Under him wore three viceregent's or Grand Priors, and under these were Priors md Acso"iate=, the latter not bcint; initiated into all the my.stc-rieß. - The w orkinr, bedv were '' t1 x c devoted," 9 band of resolute young men ay'io uuqucstioningly cprripd out the, "bidding of their superiors. They were worked into a &tate of ecstopy by the intoxicating influence of the hashish or hemp plant, and so ■wore called hashashhvs or hemp-eater.*.

At tha beginning of this century Italy was a veritable hive of secret societies, the nm&t powerful of Avl.ich was the " Carbonari,*' ov charcoal-burner?!, who had as motto, '' Vengeance for the lpmb lorn by the wolves."' 'Xkm. ideal was very, much

that of the " Boxers," the expulsion of foreigners from Italy being their aim, to Avhich they added that of religious and civil liberty. In one month alone 650,000 joined the society, and King Ferdinand Avas forced to make political concessions. The Carbonari afterAvards spread to France, where they probably hastened the reA^olutions of 1830 and 1848.

In short, there is no telling where secret societies are not to be found, and they have existed in cA r ery age and every country. One Avell-knoAvn society, . the "Rosicrucians," Avho Avere religious in their aims, Avere eagei in inviting recruits to join them, but the members Kept their identity so well in the background that no clue could be obtained as to their Avhereabouts, and many of those who had been invited to join regarded the society as a mere hoax. A •secret organisation of the Middle Ages, the Vehmgericht Tribunal, AA'ith its headquarters in Germany, is vividly dealt Avith by Scott in one of his novels.

There is no need to . mention the Nihilists or the Anarchists, Avhose murderous work Is- all too apparent. But 'it may be noted that to the list of secret societies is to be' added the Freemason brotherhood, Avith its solemn ceremonies and peculiar observances. Its Avays, however, are Avays of peace,' and there is little in common betAveen the Masons and the organisations above mentioned, except the characteristic of unflinching fidelity on the part of the members towards one another.