find an Order prepared in its organic structure, to speedily collect
together the elements of revolution and set them in motion. Such a concern
was the Order of American Knights. True, the rise of the Order created a
momentary excitement in political circles, as yet unaccustomed to dealing
with the stern problems of Northern revolution by resort to arms. But, by
the admirable adjustment of the administrative powers of the Order, into
degrees, sub-degrees and departments of degrees and sub-degrees, the
leaders were enabled to give to each adventurer in quest of the hidden
mysteries of the so-called impartial maxims of genuine Democracy--that
Democracy which _boasts of having permeated through every fibre and artery
of our political, commercial and social systems_, a comfortable and genial
sphere in which he was left to operate upon his good behavior.

Upon this ingenious plan the vast body and mass of the Order simply held
the relation of probationary membership, until they were rendered
competent through the educational capacity of the society, to advance into
full fellowship with its diabolical design. A glance at this organization
will suffice to show the shrewdness of the transient and local agents of
the Confederacy, in their formation of an Order, having for its mission
the attainment of so many incidental objects, without in the meantime
subjecting themselves to the dangers of collision in their machinery.
Accordingly, the Order was composed of three general degrees, viz.: First,
the Temple Degree, second, the Grand Council Degree, and third, the
Supreme Council Degree.

The first or Temple Degree, resembled the county organization of a State,
and held the same relation to the second or Grand Council Degree (which
was the state organization of the Order,) that our county government holds
to our State government, and it was always sought to establish this first
or Temple Degree at each county seat in a State, as expeditiously as