In the truest
sense they and their immediate supporters formed an order; an order of
true men, with whom the love of justice, honor, and freedom took the place
of oath and ceremonial, binding them by stronger obligations than ever
bound a ring of conspirators or a community of religious zealots.
The great element of secrecy as regards the outer world lay in the fact
that only two men at any one time knew of the existence of the council of
three, and these were those who were considered fit to sit in the council
themselves. Even these two did not know more than one of the three leaders
as such, though probably personally and even intimately acquainted with
all three. The body of men whom the council controlled was ignorant of its
existence therefore, and was composed of the personal adherents of each of
the three. Manifestly one member of the council could, with the consent
and cooperation of the other two, command the influence of the whole body
of political adherents in favor of one of his friends, at any time,
leaving the individual in entire ignorance of the power employed for his
advancement.
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