FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND AND
SCOTLAND



  FREEMASONRY in England. — The authentic history of Freemasonry, i. e. operative Masonry, in England dates from Athelstan, from whom his brother Edwin obtained a royal charter for the Masons, by which they were empowered to meet annually in a general assembly, and to have the right to regulate their own Order. And, according to this charter, the first Grand Lodge of England met at York in 926, when all the writings and records extant, in Greek, Latin, French, and other languages, were collected ; and constitutions and charges in conformity with ancient usages, so far as they could be gathered therefrom, were drawn up and adopted. The Old York Masons were on that account held in especial respect, and Blue or genuine Masonry is still distinguished by the title of the York Rite. After the decease of Edwin, Athelstan himself presided over the lodges; and after his death, the Masons in England were governed by Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury in 960, and Edward the Confessor in 1041. Down to the present time the grand masters have been persons of royal blood, sometimes the Mng himself. Till the beginning of the last century, as already stated (194), they were operative masons, and the monuments of their activity are still found all over the land in abbeys, monasteries, cathedrals, hospitals, and other buildings of note. There were, indeed, periods when the Order was persecuted by the state, but these were neither so frequent nor so long as in other countries.

  Freemasonry in Scotland.—Tradition says that on the destruction of the Order of Templars, many of its members took refuge in Scotland, where they incorporated themselves with the Freemasons, under the protection of Eobert Bruce, who established the chief seat of the order at Eil winning. There is a degree of Prince of Rose- Croix de Heroden, or H&edom, as ii is called in French. This Heroden, says an old MS. of the ancient Scotch Rite, is a mountain situated in the north-west of Scotland, where the fugitive Knights Templars found a safe retreat ; and the modern Order of Rose- Croix claims the kingdom of Scotland and Abbey of Kilwinning as having once been its chief seat of govern ment. By some writers, however, it is asserted that the word Heredom is simply a corruption of the Latin expression horedium, signifying " an heritage," and alludes to the castle of St. Germain, the residence of Charles Stuart the Pretender, to further whose restoration the Order of Rose-Croix was iavented. The subject is in a state of iuextricable confusion, but scarcely worth the trouble of elucidation. King Robert Bruce endeavoured, like other princes before and after him, to secure for himself the supreme direction of those associations, which, though not hostile to the reigning power, could by their organization become the foci of danger. It is the common opinion that this king reserved for himself and his successors the rank of grand master of the whole Order, and especially of the lodge of Heredom, which was afterwards transferred to Edinburgh.

  Modern Freemasonry.—At the beginning of the last century the operative period of Masonry may be said to have come to an end. In 1716, there being then only four lodges existing in London, a proposition was made and agreed to that the privilege of Masonry should no longer be restricted to operative masons—we have seen that it had ere then been broken through (194)—but should extend to men of various professions, provided they were regularly initiated into the Order. Thus began the present era of Masonry, retaining the original constitutions, the ancient landmarks, symbols, and ceremonies. The society, proclaiming brotherly love, relief, and truth as their guiding principles, obtained a wider field for their operations, and more freedom in their mode of action. But to what does this action amount ? To eating, drinking, and mummery. There is nothing in the history of modern Masonry, in this country at least, that deserves to be recorded. The petty squabbles between Lodges and Orders may help to fill masonic newspapers, bu*for the world at large they have no interest ; and as to any useful knowledge to be propagated by Masons, that is pure delusion. Yet, considering that the Order reckons its members by hundreds of thousands, its pretensions and present condition and prospects merit some consideration; and it must be admitted that its charities are administered on a somewhat munificent scale. In that respect honour is due to the craft.


FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE


  INTRODUCTION into France. — Freemasonry was introduced into France, by the partisans of James and the Pretender, as a possible means of reseating the Stuart family on the English throne. Not satisfied with turning masonic rites to unforeseen and Ulegitimate uses, new degrees were added to those already existing, such as those of "Irish Master," "Perfect Irish Master," and " Puissant Irish Master," and by promises of the revelation of great secrets and leading them to believe that Freemasons were the successors of the Knights Templars, the nobility of the kingdom were attracted towards the Order and Lierally supported it with their means and influence. The first lodge established in France was that of Dunkirk (1721), under the title of "Friendship and Fraternity." The second, whose name has not been handed down, was founded in Paris in 1725 by Lord Derwentwater. Other followers of the Pretender established other lodges, of all which Lord Derwentwater was the grand master, until that nobleman lost his life for his devotion to the cause of the Stuarts.

  Chevalier Bamsay. —The Chevalier Ramsay, also a devoted adherent of the house of Stuart, endeavoured more effectually to carry out the views of his predecessors, and in 1728 attempted iu London to lay the basis of a masonic reform, according to which the masonic legend referred to the violent death of Charles L, while Cromwell and his partisans represented the assassins to be condemned in the lodge. He therefore proposed to the Grand Lodge of England to substitute in the place of the first three degrees those of Scotch Mason, Novice, -and Knight of the Temple, which he pretended to be the only true and ancient ones, having their administrative centre in the Lodge of St. Andrew at Edinburgh. But the Grand Lodge at once rejected his views, whose objects it perceived. Ramsay went to Paris, where he met with great success. His system gave rise to those higher degrees which have since then been known by the name of the Ancient Scotch Rite. Many of these innovations made up for their want of consistency with masonic traditions by splendour of external decorations and gorgeousness of ceremonies. But the hautes grades of the Prenolij and the philosophic degrees of the Ancient Scotch Rite are not innovations^ but illustrations of pure symbolic Masonry.

 Philosophical Rites. — Philosophy indeed began to insinuate itself into Masonry, simplifying the rites and purifying its doctrines. Among the philosophic degrees then introduced, that of the " Knights of the Sun” is noteworthy. Its declared scope was to advocate natural, in opposition to revealed, religion. There is but one Hght in the lodge, which shines from behind a globe of water, to represent the sun. It has some resemblance to the " Sublime Knight Elected." But on the other hand, by these innovations systems multiplied, and the Order served as a pretext and defence of institutions having no connection with Masonry. Cabala, magic, conjuration, divination, alchemy, and demonology, were taught in the lodges. These abuses led to the establishment of an administrative centre at Arras in 1747. Another was founded at Marseilles in 1751. Three years afterwards the Chevalier de Bonneville founded in Paris a chapter of the high degrees, with the title, afterwards become famous, of the " Chapter of, Clermont” and lodged it in a sumptuous palace built by him in a suburb of Paris. The system adopted was to some extent that of Ramsay. Another chapter, in opposition to his, was founded in 1762, with the title of " Council of the Knights of the Bast." In 1766, the Baron Techudy founded the Order of the " Blazing Star” in which ideas derived from the Temple and the Jesuits were strangely intermingled.

   The Duke de Ghartres.—Freemasonry in France was not without influence on the Revolution. The Duke de Ghartres having been elected grand master, all the lodges were united under the Grand Orient ; hence the immense influence he afterwards wielded. The mode of his initiation is thus related :—^Before becoming grand master he was received into the degree of Knight of Kadosh. Five brethren introduced him into a hall, representing a grotto strewn with human bones, and lighted up with sepulchral lamps. In one of the angles was a lay figure covered with royal insignia. The introducers bade him lie down on the ground like one dead, naming the degrees through which he had already passed, and repeating the former oaths. Afterwards, they extolled the degree into which he was about to be received. Having bidden him to rise, he was made to ascend a high ladder, and to throw himself from the top. Having then armed him with a dagger, they commanded him to strike the crowned figure, and a liquid, resembling blood, spurted from the wound over his hands and clothes. He was then told to cut off the head of the figure. Finally, he was informed that the bones with which the cave was strewn came from the body of James Molay, Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, and that the man whom he had stabbed was Phihp the Fair, King of Prance, The Grand Orient was established in a mansion formerly belonging to the Jesuits in Paris, and became a revolutionary centre. The share the Grand Orient, the tool of the Duke de Chartres, took in the events of the French Revolution is matter of history.




THE CHAPTER OP CLERMONT AND THE
STRICT OBSERVANCE.


  JESUITICAL  Influence. — Catholic ceremonieSj unknown in ancient Freemasonry, were introduced from 1735 to 1740, in tlie Chapter of Clermont, so called in honour of Louis of Bourbon, Prince of Clermont, at the time grand master of the Order in France. From that time, the influence of the Jesuits on the fraternity made itself more and more felt. The candidate was no longer received in a lodge, but in the city of Jerusalem ; not the ideal Jerusalem, but a clerical Jerusalem, typifying Rome. The meetings were called Capitula Canoticorum, and a monkish language and asceticism prevailed therein. In the statutes is seen the hand of James Lainez, the second general of the Jesuits, and the aim at universal empire betrays itself, for at the reception of tlie sublime knights tlie last two chapters of the Apocalypse are read to the candidate—a glowing picture of that universal monarchy which the Jesuits hoped to establish. The sect spread very rapidly, for when Baron Hunde came to Paris in 1742, and was received into the highest Jesuit degrees, he found on his return to Germany that those degrees were already estabHshed in Saxony and Thuringia, under the government of Marshall, whose labours he undertook to promote.

  The Strict Ohservance.—From the exertions of these two men arose the "Eite of Strict Observance," which seemed also for a time intended to favour the tragic hopes of the House of Stuart for Marshall, having visited Paris in 1741, there entered into close connection with Ramsay and the other adherents of the exiled family. To farther this object, Hunde mixed up with the rites of Clermont what was known or supposed to be known of the statutes of the Templars, and acting in concert with Marshall, overran Germany with a sect of new Templars, not to be confounded with the Templars that afterwards joined the masonic fraternity. But Hunde seems after all to have rendered no real services to the Stuarts ; though when Charles Edward visited Germany, the sectaries received hi in the most gallant manner, promising him the most extensive support, and asking of him titles and estates in a kingdom which lie had yet to conquer.

  Thus lie was brought to that state of mental intoxication which afterwards led him to make an absurd entry into Rome, preceded by heralds who proclaimed him king. Hunde seems, in the sad story of the Stuarts, to have acted the part of a speculator; and the rite of the Strict Observance, permeated by the Jesuitical leaven, had probably an aim very different from the re-establishment of the proscribed dynasty. It is certain that at one time the power of the New Templars was very great, and prepared the way for the Illuminati.



THE RELAXED OBSERVANCE


  ORGANIZATION of Relaxed Observance. —In 1767, there arose at Vienna a schism of the Strict Observance ; the dissentients, who called themselves " Clerks of the Relaxed Observance," declaring that they alone possessed the secrets of the association, and knew the place where were deposited the splendid treasures of the Templars. They also claimed precedence not only over the rite of Strict Observance, but also over all Masonry. Their promises and iastructions revolved around the philosopher's stone, the government of spirits, and the millennium. To be initiated it was necessary to be a Roman Catholic, and to have passed through all the degrees of the Strict Observance. The members knew only their immediate heads ; but Doctor Stark, of Konigsberg, a famous preacher, and Baron Eaven, of Mecklenburg, were wellknown chiefs of the association.

   Disputes m German Lodges.—Before the establishment of the Strict Observance various German lodges had already introduced the Templar system; hence disputes of all kinds arose, and a convention was held at Brunswick on May 22nd, 1775, to arrange the differences. Dr. Stark presented himself j he was a disciple of Schroepfer and of Gugumos, who called himself high priest, knight, prince, possessor of the philosopher's stone, of the secret to evoke the spirits of the dead, &c. Stark declared to the members of the convention that he was called Archimedes ab aqwila fulva, that he was chancellor of the Grand Chapter of Scotland, and had been invited by the brethren of that supreme body to instruct them in the true principles of the order. But when he was asked to produce his credentials, he refused. The Brunswickers, however, thinking that the brethren of Aberdeen might possess some secrets, sent a deputation thither ; but the good folks of Aberdeen knew even less than their German friends, for they knew only the first three degrees. Stark, though found out, was not to be put down, but wrote a book, entitled ''The Coping Stone," in which he represented the Strict Observance as hostile to religion, society, and the state.

   Rite of Zinnendorf.—This was not the first attack made on the system of Hunde. In 1766, Count Zinnendorf, chief physician in the Prussian army, who had been received into the Strict Observance, was struck from the list of members of the lodge of the Three Globes. In revenge, he founded at Berlin and Potsdam lodges on the Templar system, which, however, he soon abandoned, and composed a new rite, invented by himself, and consisting of seven degrees, which was protected by Frederick the Great. The new order made fierce and successful war both on the Strict and the Relaxed Observance.

  African Architects.—About 1765, Brother Von Kopper instituted in Prussia, under the auspices of Frederick II., the order of " African Architects," who occupied themselves with historical researches, mixing up therewith masonry and chivalry. The order was divided into eleven degrees. They erected a vast building, which contained a large library, a museum of natural history, and a chemical laboratory. Until 1786, when it was dissolved, the society awarded every year a gold medal with fifty ducats to the author of the best memoir on the history of Masonry. This was one of the few rational masonic societies. The African Architects did not esteem decorations, aprons, collars, jewels, &c. In their assemblies they read essays, and communicated the results of their researches. At their simple and decorous banquets instructiTe and scientifio diacoursea were delivered. While their initiations were gratuitous, they gave liberal aaaiatance to zealoua but needy brethren. They published many important works on Freemasonry.



THE CONGRESS OF WILHELMSBAD


  VARIOUS Congresses.—To put an end to the munerous disputes raging among masonic bodies, various congresses were held . In 1778  a congress was convened at Lyons ; it lasted a month, but was without result. In 1785, another was held at Paris, but the time was wasted in idle disputes with CagUostro. The last and most important was that which assembled at Willhelmsbad in 1782, under the presidency of the Duke of Brunswick, who was anxious to end the discord reigning among German Freemasons. It was attended by masons from Europe, America, and Asia. From an approximative estimate it appears that there were then upwards of three milHons of masons in the different parts of the globe.

   Discussions at Wilhelmsbad.—The statements contained in Dr. Stark's book, " The Coping Stone'' (241) , concerning the influence of the Jesuits in the masonic body, formed one of the chief topics discussed. Some of the chiefs of the Strict Observance produced considerable confusion by being unable to give information concerning the secrets of the high degrees, which they had professed to know ; or to render an account of large sums they had received on behalf of the order. The main point was to settle whether Masonry was to be considered as a continuation of the order of the Templars, and whether the secrets of the sect were to be sought for in the mCdern Templar degrees. After thirty sittings, the answer was in the negative ; the chiefs of the Strict Observance were defeated, and the Duke of Brunswick suspended the order for three years, from which blow it never recovered. The Swedes professed to possess all the secrets; the Duke of Brunswick hastened to Upsala to learn them, but found that the Swedes knew no more than the Germans; whence new dissensions arose between the masons of the two nations.

  Result of Convention.—The only result of the convention of Wilhelmsbad was the retention of the three symbolical degrees, with the addition of a new degree, that of the "Knight of Beneficence." The Duke of Brunswick represented the aristocratic element, and was thus opposed to Masonry, which in its spirit is democratic. The result of the congress strengthened the influence of the duke ; hence the opposition of Germany to the principles of the French Eevolution, which broke out soon after—an opposition which was like discharging a rocket against a thunderbolt, but which was carried to its height by the manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick, so loudly praised by courtly historians, and of which the German princes made such good use as to induce the German confederacy to surround France with a fiery line of deluded patriotism. Freemasonry had been made the tool and fool of prince- and priest-craft.




MASONRY AND NAPOLEONISM


  MASONRY protected by Napoleon.—With renewed court frivolities and military pomp, the theatrical spirit of Masonry revived. The institution, so active before and during the Eevolution, because it was governed by men who rightly understood and worthily represented its principles, during the empire fell into academic puerilities, servile compliance, and endless squabbles. That period, which masonic writers, attached to the latter and pleased with its apparent splendour, call the most flourishing of French Masonry, in the eyes of independent judges appears as the least important and the least honourable for the masonic order. Napoleon at first intended to suppress Freemasonry, in which the dreaded ideologists might easily find a refuge. The representative system of the Grand Orient clashed with his monarchical principles, and the oligarchy of the Scotch rite aroused his suspicions. The Parisian lodges , however, practised in the art of flattery, prostrated themselves before the First Consul, prostrated themselves before the Emperor, and sued for grace. The suspicions of Napoleon were not dissipated ; but he perceived the policy of avoiding violent measures, and of disciplining a body that might turn against him. After considerable hesitation, he declared in favour of the Grand Orient, and the Scotch rite had to assume the second place. A single word of Napoleon had done more to establish peace between them than all former machinations. The Grand Orient became a court office, and Masonry an army of employes. The Grand Mastership was offered to Joseph Napoleon, who accepted it, though never initiated into Freemasonry, with the consent of his brother, who, however, for greater security, insisted on having his trusty arch-chancellor Cambaceres appointed Grand Master Adjunct, to be in reality the only head of the order. Gradually all the rites existing in France gave in their adhesion to the imperial poHcy, electing Cambaceres as their chief dignitary, so that he eventually possessed more masonic titles than any other man before or after him. In 1805, he was made Grand Master Adjunct of the Grand Orient,  in 1806, Sovereign Grand Master of the Supreme Grand Council; in the same year. Grand Master of the rite of Heroden of Kilwinning  in 1807, Supreme Head of the French rite ; in the same year. Grand Master of the Philosophic Scotch rite; in 1808, Grand Master of the order of Christ ; in 1809, National Grand Master of the Knights of the Holy City; in the same year. Protector of the High Philosophic Degrees.

  Spread of Freemasonry.—But masonic disputes soon again ran high. The arch-chancellor, accustomed and attached to the usages and pomps of courts, secretly gave the preference to the Scotch rite with its high-sounding titles and gorgeous ceremonies. The Grand Orient carried its complaiats even to Napoleon, who grew weary of these paltry farces—^he who planned grand dramas ; and at one time he had determined on abolishing the order altogether, but Cambaceres succeeded in arresting his purpose, showing him the dangers that might ensue from its suppression—dangers which must have appeared great, since Napoleon, who never hesitated, hesitated then, and allowed another to alter his views. Perhaps he recognized the necessity in French society of a body of men who were free at least in appearance, of a kind of political safety valve. The French had taken a liking to their lodges, where they found a phantom of independence, and might consider themselves on neutral ground, so that a masonic writer could say: ''In the bosom of Masonry there circulates a little of that vital air so necessary to generous minds." The Scotch rite, secretly protected, spread through out the Frencli departments and foreign countries, and whilst the Grand Orient tried to suppress it, and to prevent innovations, elected a " Director of Rites," the Supreme Grand Council established itself at Milan, and elected Prince Eugene Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy. The two highest masonic authorities, which yet had the same master in Camhaceres, and the same patron in Napoleon, continued to combat each other with as much fury as was shown in the struggle between France and England. But having no public hfe, no parliamentary debates, no opposition journals, the greater part of the population took refuge in the lodges, and every small town had its own. In 1812, there existed one thousand and eighty-nine lodges, all depending on the Grand Orient ; the army had  sixty-nine, and the lodge was opened and closed with the cry, Vive I'Empereur !

   Obsequiousness of Freemasonry.—Napoleon, unable and unwilling to suppress Freemasonry, employed it in the army, in the newly-occupied territories, and in such as he intended to occupy. Imperial proselytism turned the lodges into schools of Napoleonism. But one section of Masonry, under the shadow of that protection, became the very contrary, anti- Napoleonic ; and not all the lodges closed their accustomed labours with the cry of Vive VEmpereur ! It is, however, quite certain that Napoleon by means of the masonic society facilitated or secured his conquests. Spain, Germany and Italy were covered with lodges—antechambers, more than any others, of prefectures and military command—presided over and governed by soldiers. The highest dignitaries of masonry at that period were marshals, knights of the Legion of Honour, nobles of ancient descent, senators, councillors, all safe and trusty persons; a state that obeyed the orders of Cambaceres, as he obeyed the orders of Napoleon. Obsequiousness came near to the ridiculous. The half-yearly words of command of the Grand Orient retrace the history of Napoleonic progress. In 1800, “Science and Peace “ in 1802, after Marengo, " Unity and Success  " in 1804, after the coronation, " Contentment' and Greatness;" after the battle of Friedland, "Emperor and Confidence;" after the suppression of the tribune, "Fidelity;" at the birth of the King of Rome, "Posterity and Joy; “ at the departure of the army of Russia, " Victory and Return." — Terrible victory and unfortunate return !

   Anti-Napoleonic Freemasonry. —Napoleon, we have seen, made a league with Freemasonry, to obtain its support. He is also said to have made certain promises to it; but, as he failed to keep them, the masons timaed against him, and had a large share in his fall. This, however, is not very probable, and is attributing too much influence to an order which had only recently recovered itself. Still the anti- Napoleonic leaven fermented in the masonic society. Savary, the minister of police, was aware of it in 1810, and wanted to apply to the secret meetings of Freemasons the article of the penal code, forbidding them ; but Cambaceres once more saved the institution, which saved neither him nor his patron. Freemasonry, if not by overt acts, at least by its indifference, helped on the downfall of Napoleon. But it was not altogether inactive, for even whilst the Napoleonic star illumined almost alone the political heavens of Europe, a masonic lodge was formed whose object was the restoration of the Bourbons, whose action may be proved by official documents to have extended through the French army, and led to the seditious movements of 1813.




FREEMASONRY, THE RESTORATION AND
THE SECOND EMPIRE



The Society of " France Regenerated."— The Restoration whose blindness was only equalled by its mediocrity—which, unable to create, proposed to itself to destroy what even time respects, the memories and glories of a people—could not please Freemasonry much. Hostile to Napoleon in his last years, it could not approve of the conduct of the new government. At all events,. the Freemasons held aloof, though cynics might suggest that this was done  with a view of exacting better terms. In the meanwhile, a society was formed in Paris, which, assuming masonic forms and the title of ''France Regenerated," became an instrument of espionage and revenge in the hands of the new despot. But the very government in whose favour it acted, found it necessary witliiii a year from its foundation silently to suppress it ; for it found the rabid zeal of these adherents to be more injurious to its iaterests than the open opposition of its avowed enemies.

  Priestly Opposition to Masonry.—The masonic propaganda however, was actively carried on. The priests, on their part, considered the moment come for inaugurating an anti-masonic crusade. Under Napoleon the priesthood could not breathe ; the court was closed against it, except on grand occasions, • when its presence was needed to add outward pomp to imperial successes. As the masters of ceremonies, the priests had ceased in France to be the councillors and confessors of its rulers ; but now they re-assumed those functions, and the masons were at once recommended to the hatred of the king and the mistrust of the public. They were represented as abettors of rationalism and regicide ; the consequence was, that a great many lodges were closed, though on the other hand the rite of Misraim was established in Paris in 1816, whose mother lodge was called the “Rainbow,'' a presage of serenity and calm, which, however, did not save the society from police persecution. In 1821, this lodge was closed, and not re-opened till 1830. Towards the same time was founded the lodge of "Trinosophists." In 1821, the Supreme Grand Council rose to the surface again, and with it the disputes between it and the Grand Orient. To enter into their squabbles would be a sad waste of time, and I therefore pass them over.

   Political Insignificance of Masonry, — The Freemasons are said to have brought about the July revolution of 1830, but proofs are wanting, and I think they may be absolved from that charge. Modern Freemasonry is a very tame affair; and, though very fond of being dressed up as knights, masons, as a rule, are mere carpet-knights. LouisPhilippe, who was placed on the throne by that revolution, took the order under his protection and appointed his son, the Duke of Orleans, Grand Master. On the duke's death, in 1842, his brother, the Duke de Nemours, succeeded him in the dignity. In this latter year, the disputes between the Grand Orient and the Supreme Grand Council were amicably settled. Again we are told that at a masonic congress held at Strasburg the foundations of the revolution of 1848 were laid. It is certain that Cavaignac, Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin, Prudhon, Louis Blanc, Marrast, Vilain, Pyat, and a great number of German republicans, attended that congress ; but for this reason it cannot strictly be called a masonic, it was rather a republican, meeting. On the establishment of the Provisional Government after the revolution of 1848, the Freemasons gave in their adhesion to that government ; on which occasion some high-flown speeches about liberty, equality, and fraternity were made, and everybody congratulated his neighbour that now the reign of universal brotherhood had begun. But the restoration of the empire, which followed soon after, showed how idle all this oratory had been, and how the influence of Masonry in the great affairs of the world really is nil.

   Freemasomry and Napoleon III. —Again the Napoleonic air wares around the Grand Orient. The nephew showed himself from the first as hostile to Freemasonry as his uncle had been; but the decree prohibiting the French lodges from occupying themselves with political questions, under pain of the dissolution of the order, did not appear until the 7th Sept., 1850. In January, 1852, some superior members of the order proposed to offer the dignity of Grand Master to Lucien Murai;, the President's cousin. The proposal was unanimously agreed to ; and on the 19th of the same month the new Grand Master was acknowledged by all the lodges. He held the office till 1861, when he was obliged to resign, in consequence of the masonic body having passed a vote of censure upon him for his expressions iu favour of the temporal power of the pope, uttered in the stormy discussion of the French senate in the month of June of that year. The Grand Orient was again all in confusion. Napoleon III. now interfered, especially as Prince Napoleon was proposed for the office of Grand Master; which excited the jealousy of the Mu ratists, who published pamphlets of the most vituperative character against their adversaries, who on their side replied with corresponding bitterness. Napoleon imposed silence on the litigants, prohibited attendance at lodges, promised that he himself would appoint a Grand Master, and advised his cousin to undertake a long voyage to the United States. Deprived of the right of electing its own chief, the autonomy of Freemasonry became an illusion, its programme useless, and its mystery a farce. In the meanwhile, the quarrels of the partizans of the different candidates calmed down ; Prince Napoleon returned from America; Murat resigned himself to this defeat, as to others, and the emperor forgot all about Freemasonry. At last, in January, 1862, there appeared a decree, appointing Marshal Magnan to be Grand Master. A Marshal ! The nephew, in this instance, as in many others, had taken a leaf out of his uncle's book.

  Jesuitical Manoeuvres. — Napoleonic Freemasonry, not entirely to lose its peculiar physiognomy, ventured to change its institutions.- Jesuitism cast loving eyes on it, and drew it towards itself, as in the days of the Strict Observance. Murat threw out his net, but was removed just when it was most important for the interest of the Jesuits that he should have remained. He proposed to transform the French lodges—of which in 1852 there were 325, whilst in 1861, only 269 could be found into societies of mutual succour, and to abandon or submit the higher masonic sphere of morality and humanity to the society, which in these last sixty years has already overcome and incorporated the whole Roman clergy, once its rivals, and by oblique paths also many of the conservative sects of other creeds. Murat did not succeed, but others may; and though the masons say that Jesuitism shall not succeed, yet, how is Freemasonry, that professes to meddle neither with politics not religion, to counteract the political and religious machinations of the Jesuits ? And even if Freemasonry had the same weapons, are there men among the order able to wield them with the ability and fearlessness that distinguish the followers of Loyola ? I fear not.



FREEMASONRY IN ITALY


WHIMSICAL Masonic Societies.— "We have but few notices of the early state of Freemasonry in Italy, We are told that in 1512 there was founded at Florence a Society under the name of " The Trowel," composed of learned and literary men, who indulged in all kinds of whimsical freaks, and who may have served as prototypes to the Order of " The Monks of the Screw,'' established towards the end of the last century in Ireland. Thus at one time they would meet in the lodge, dressed as masons and labourers, and begin to erect an edifice with trays full of macaroni and cheese, using spices and bonbons for mortar, and rolls and cakes for stones, and buildiag up the whole with aU kinds of comestibles. And thus they went on, until a pretended rain put an end to their labours. At another time it was Ceres, who, in search of Proserpine, invited the Brethren of the Trowel to accompany her to the infernal regions. They followed her through the mouth of a serpent into a dark room, and on Pluto iaviting them to the feast, lights appeared, and the table was seen to be covered with black, whilst the dishes on it were foul and obscene animals, and bones of dead men, served by devils carrying shovels. Finally all this vanished, and a choice banquet followed. This Society of the Trowel was in existence in 1737. The clergy endeavoured to suppress it ; and would no doubt have succeeded, but for the accession of Francis, Duke of Tuscany, who, as we have seen, had been initiated in Holland, and who set free all the Freemasons that had been incarcerated, and protected the order. But the remembrance of that persecution is preserved in the rituals, and in the degree of " Magus,” the costume is that of the Holy Office, as other degrees commemorate the inquisitors of Portugal and Spain.

  Illuminati in Italy.—The sect of the lUuminati, of whom Count Filippo Strozzi was a warm partisan, soon after spread through Italy, as well as another order, affiliated with the illiuminati, mystical and alchymistical, and in opposition to the Rosicrucians, called the " Initiated Brethren of Asia," which had been founded at Vienna. It only accepted candidates who had passed through the first three degrees of the York rite. Like Egyptian Masonry ; it worshipped the Tetragrammaton, and combined the deepest and most philosophical ideas with the most childish superstitions.

  Freemasonry at Naples.—In the kingdom of Naples the masons amounted to many thousands. An edict of Charles III. (1751) and another of Ferdinand IV. (1759), closed the lodges, but in a short time they became a dead letter, and in vain did the minister, Tanucci, hostile to the institution, seek to revive them. The incident of a neophyte dying a few days after his initiation gave a pretext for fresh persecution. The masons, assembled at a banquet, were arrested; and in vain did Levy, a lawyer, undertake their defence. He was expelled the kingdom ; his book in favour of the order was publicly burnt by the executioner. But Queen Caroline, having dismissed Tanucci, again sanctioned masonic meetings, for which she received the thanks of the Grand Orient of France. It would seem, however, that in a very few years. Freemasonry again had to hide its head, for in 1767 we hear of it as a " secret" society, whose existence has just been discovered. The document which records this discovery puts the number of Freemasons at 64,000, which probably is an exaggeration ; still, among so excitable a population as that of southern Italy, secret societies at all times found plenty of proselytes.

   Details of Document.—The document referred to says :—At last tlie great mine of the Freemasons of Naples is discovered, of whom the name, but not the secret, was knoTsn. Two circumstances are alleged by which the discovery was brought about: —a dying man revealed all to his confessor, that he should inform the king thereof; a knight, who had been kept in great state by the society, having had his pension withheld, betrayed the Grand Master of the order to the king. This Grand Master was the Duke of San Severo. The king secretly sent a confidential officer with three dragoons to the duke's mansion, with orders to seize him before he had time to speak to any one, and bring him to the palace. The order was carried out ; but a few minutes after a fire broke out in the duke's mansion, destroying his library, the real object being, as is supposed, to bum all writings having reference to Freemasonry. The fire was extinguished, and the house guarded by troops. The duke having been brought before the king, openly declared the objects, system, seals, government, and possessions of the order. He was sent back to his palace, and there guarded by troops, lest he should be killed by his former colleagues. Freemasons have also been discovered at Florence, and the Pope and the Emperor have sent thither twenty-four theologians to put a stop to the disorder. The king acts with the greatest mercy towards all implicated, to avoid the great dangers that might ensue from a contrary course. He haa also appointed four persons of great standing to use the best means to destroy so abominable a sect; and has given notice to all the other sovereigns of Europe of his discovery, and the abominable maxima of the sect, calling upon them to assist in its suppression, which it will be folly in them to refuse to do. For the order does not count its members by thousands, but by minions, especially among Jews and Protestants. Their frightful maxims are only known to the members of the fifth, sixth, and seventh lodges, whilst those of the first three know nothing, and those of the fourth act without knowing what they do. They derive their origin from England, and the founder of the sect was that infamous Cromwell, first bishop, and then lover of Anne Boleyn, and then beheaded for his crimes, called in his day " the scourge of rulers." He left the order an annual income of £10,000 sterling. It is divided into seven lodges : the members of the seventh are called Assessors ; of the sixth. Grand Masters ; of the fifth. Architects; of the fourth. Executors (here the secret ends) ; of the third, Ruricori(!); of the second and first. Novices and Proselytes. Their infamous idea is based on the allegory of the temple of Solomon, considered in its first splendour, and then overthrown by the tyranny of the Assyrians, and finally restored—thereby to signify the liberty of man after the creation of the world, the tyranny of the priestliood, kings, and laws, and the re-establishment of that liberty. Then follow twelve maxims, ia which these opinions and aims are more fully expounded, from which it appears that they were not very different from those of all other republican and advanced politicians.

  Freemasomry at Venice.—The Freemasons were at first tolerated at Venice, but in 1686 the government suddenly took the alarm, and ordered the closing of all lodges, and banished the members; but the decree was very leniently executed, and a lodge of nobles having refased to obey, the magistrates entered it at a time when they knew no one to be there. The furniture, ornaments, and jewels were carried out and publicly burnt or dispersed, but none of the brethren were in any way molested. A lodge was re-established afterwards, which was discovered in 1785, when all its contents were again burnt or otherwise destroyed. From the ritual, which was found among the other effects, it appears that the candidate for initiation was led, his eyes being bandaged, from street to street, or canal to canal, so as to prevent his tracing the locality, to the Rio Marino, where he was first conducted into a room hung with black, and illumined by a single light ; there he was clothed in a long garment like a winding sheet, but black ; he put on a cap something like a turban, and his hair was drawn over his face, and in this elegant figure he was placed before a looking-glass, covered with a black curtain, under which were written the words, " If thou hast true courage, and an honest desire to enter into , the order, draw aside the curtain, and learn to know thyself." He might then remove the bandage and look at himself. He was then again blindfolded, and placed in the middle of the room, while thirty or forty members entered and began to fight with swords. This was to try the candidate's courage, who was himself slightly wounded. The bandage was once more removed, and the wound dressed. Then it was replaced, and the candidate taken to a second apartment, hung with black and white, and having in the middle a bed covered with a black cloth, on the centre of which was a white cross, whilst on either side was represented a white skeleton. The candidate was laid on the bed, the bandage being removed, and he was there left with two tapers, the one white, the other yellow* After having been left there for some time, the brethren entered in a boisterous manner beating discordant drums. The candidate was to show no sign of trepidation amidst all these solemn (?) ceremonies ; and then the members embraced him as a brother, and gave him the name by which he was henceforth to be known in the society.

   Abatement under Napoleon.:— During the reign of Napoleon I., numerous lodges were founded throughout Italy; and it cannot be denied by the greatest friends of tlie order that during that period Freemasonry cut a most pitiful figure. For a society that always boasted of its independence of, and superiority to, all other earthly governments, to forward addresses such as the following to Napoleouj seems something like self-abasement and self-stultification : — " Napoleon ! thy philosophy guarantees the toleration of our natural and divine religion. We render thee honour worthy of thee for it, and thou shalt find in us nothing but faithful subjects, ever devoted to thy august person !"

   The Freemasonry of the Present in Italy.— Very little need or can be said as regards the active proceedings of Italian Masonic lodges of the present day, though they have been reconstituted and united under one or two heads. But their programme deserves attention, as pointing out those reforms, needed not only iu Italy, but everywhere where Freemasonry exists. The declared object, then, of Italian Freemasonry is, the highest development of universal philanthropy ; the iudependence and unity of single nations, and fraternity among each other ; the toleration of every religion, and absolute equality of worship ; the moral and material progress of the masses. It moreover declares itself independent of every government, affirming that Italian Freemasonry will not recognize any other sovereign power on earth but right reason and universal conscience. It further declares—and this deserves particular attention—that Freemasonry is not to consist in a mysterious symbolismj vain ceremonies or indefinite aspirations, •which cover the order with ridicule. Again, Masonry being universal, essentially human, it does not occupy itself with forms of government, nor with transitory questions, but with such as are permanent and general. In social reforms abstract theories, founded on mystical aspirations, are to be avoided. The duty of labour being the most essential in civil society. Freemasonry is opposed to idleness. Religious questions are beyond the pale of Freemasonry. Human conscience is in itself inviolable ; it has no concern with any positive religion, but represents religion itself in its essence. Devoted to the principle of fraternity, it preaches universal toleration ; comprehends in its ritual many of the symbols of various religions, as in its syncretism it chooses the purest truths. Its creed consists in the worship of the Divine, whose highest conception, withdrawn from every priestly speculation, is that of the Great Architect of the Universe, and in faith in humanity, the sole interpreter of the Divine in the world. As to extrinsic modes of worship. Freemasonry neither imposes nor recommends any, leaving to everyone his free choice, until the day, perhaps not far distant, when all men will be capable of worshipping the Infinite in spirit and in truth, without intermediaries and outward forms. And whilst man in his secret relations to the Infinite fecundates the religious thought, he iu his relations to the Universe fecundates the scientific thought.

   Science is truth, and the most ancient cultus of Freemasonry. In determining the relations of the individual to his equals. Freemasonry does not restrict itself to recommending to do unto others what we wish others would do unto us ; but inculcates to do good, oppose evil, and not to submit to injustice in whatsoever form it presents itself. Freemasonry looks forward to the day when the iron plates of the "Monitor" and the "Merrimac" will be beaten into steam-ploughs ; when man, redeemed by liberty and science, shall enjoy the pure pleasures of intelligence ; when peace, fertilised by the wealth and strength now devoted to war, shall bring forth the most beautiful fruit of the tree of life.

  Reform needed.—Greatly therefore is the academic puerility of rites to be regretted, which drags back into the past an institution that ought to launch forward iato the future. It is self-evident that Freemasonry in this state cannot last— ^that a reform is necessary ; and as De Castro, from whom the above is taken, thinks that it would be an honour to Italy to be the leader in such a reform, it would be an honour to any country that initiated . Masonry ought not to be an ambulance, but a  vanguard. It is embarrassed by its excessive baggage its superfluous symbols. Guarding secrets universally known, it cannot entertain secrets of greater account. Forcing itself to believe itself to be the sole depositary of widely-spread truths, it deprives itself and the world of other truths. In this perplexity and alternative of committing suicide or being born anew, what will Masonry decide on ?