XIV. Some Account of a Secret Association in China, entitled the Triad Society

Extract

The writer of this paper is fully sensible how difficult it is to discover that which is studiously concealed, under the sanction of oaths, curses, and the (supposed,) impending vengeance of the gods; and how liable one is, even after the utmost care, to be mistaken in tracing the progress of any set of principles and schemes, which the fortunes or lives of the parties who have adopted them are concerned to hide, to varnish, to distort, and to misrepresent. He therefore offers the following remarks, not as the result of firm and unhesitating conviction, but as having a good deal of probability to support them, and as containing the substance of the best information procurable in his situation. He begs then to say a few words on the name, objects, government, initiatory ceremonies, secret signs, and seal of the said association, and to conclude with a few miscellaneous remarks.