Wisdom Lodge, it appears, has one hundred members. Counting all the others referred to in the documents, there are seventeen lodges in all. Assuming that these have an equal number of members, it may be said that there are at least seventeen hundred Illuminati in the United States, all bound together by oath and intimate correspondence.[785] Beyond these there are to be considered, of course, the many thousands of Frenchmen scattered through the United States, all perhaps “combined and organized (with other foreigners and some disaffected and unprincipled Americans) in these societies, ... regularly instructed and directed by their masters in France, and ... systematically conducting the plan of revolutionizing this country.”[786] The principles and objects of this organization may be partly deduced from the motto and seal of Wisdom Lodge. The literal rendering of the former is not so significant as its spirit, which is best expressed in the following liberal translation: “Men more readily believe what they _see_ than what they _hear_. They are taught slowly by _precept_, but the effect of _example_ is sudden and powerful.”[787] From this it may be inferred that the organization was formed, “not for _speculation_, but for activity.” Precepts are scorned; actions are accepted as the only quick method of teaching mankind and of producing a change in their opinions. The change in opinions which the organization contemplates must have to do with government and religion. It cannot have to do with the minds of its members, for the society is _secret_ and designs to work secretly. “The changes which they can produce by _secret influence and intrigue_, the novel arts which they can thus exhibit before the eyes of men, are doubtless to be the _efficaceous_ means of teaching men the new system of philosophy, which sets at defiance, and contemns all old and settled opinions, by which the government of nations and the conduct of individuals have heretofore been directed.”[788] As to the organization’s seal, no description can do it justice.[789] A view of its square and compass, pillars, and _skull and cross-bones_ best indicates its horrid nature.[790] Fortified by these documents, and flanked by the testimonies of Robison and Barruel,[791] Morse concluded his presentment in the following energetic manner: