GENERAL HISTORY JQ PL Sated upon the Atirimt Document* relating to, and the Monument* erected by thi* fraternity front, its finnidatlon in t/ie Tear 713 Ji. C. to the present time. TRANSLATED AND COMPILED FROM TUB MASONIC HISTORIES o EMMANUEL RESOLD, M. D., Pott Deputy af the Grand Orient of Fratocf. President of llx Academy of Tndmtriat Sciences, and a Member of many Philosophic aiM Scientific Societiet, BY J. FLETCHER BRENNAN, EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN FREKJIASON'S MAGAZINE. , CINCINNATI: AMERICAN MASONIC PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, 114 MAIN STREET, 18G8. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by J. F. BRENNAN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio. STEREOTYPED AT TH* FRANKLIN TYI'K FOVNDKY, . CINCINNATI. MORSE STEFHENS GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE, THE SUPREME COUNCIL FOR FRANCE, AND THE NATIONAL GRAND LODGE OF FRANCE, at the East of Pari-s ; GRAND ORIENT AND SUPREME COUNCIL OF BELGIUM, at the East of Brussels ; TO THK NATIONAL GRAND LODGE OF HOLLAND^ at the Est of the Hague ; ' NATIONAL ALPINE GRAND LODGK. at the East of Zurich ; ALL THE LODGES OF THEIR ALLIANCE, THE UTHOft. DEDICATED TATES OF THE TABLE OF CONTENTS. Title, Author's Dedication, Translator's Dedication and Introduction, Table of Contents, Preface, and Report of Examining Comiuitteo pp. 1-26 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Introduction 27 Origin of all the worships 28 " of Hieroglyphics and Symbols 29 " of Mysteries, Sybils, Oracles, Magi 30 " of the Roman Colleges of Builders, the Cradle of Freemasonry 34 The organization and privileges of these colleges 35 Origin of the expression " Grand Architect of the Universe " 35 Introduction and development of the colleges in Britain 30 Charter of St. Alban, A. D. 292 40 Origin of the qualification "Free Mason" 41 " of the title "Worshipful Master" 46 Charter of York, A. D. 926 48 Origin of the dedication of lodges to St. John 49 Masonic corporations of Lombardy 50 Monopolies accorded to the Masonic corporations by the Popes 51 Organization and development of the Fraternity in Germany 52 The stone-cutters of Strasburg, A. D. 1459 i 53 Influence of the " Reformation " upon the Masonic corporations 54 Importance of the Fraternity in England in the 17th and 18th centuries... 54 Origin of the "higher" degrees 54 " of the title " Royal Art " accorded to Frsemasonry 55 Transformation of the Fraternity to a philosophic institution 56 Its new constitution as such 57 Its influence upon social progress '57 Persecutions directed against it 57 Divers opinions as to the origin of Freemasonry 59 Explanation of the two Forms of its initiations 60 It is an imitation and not a continuation of ancient mysteries Cl Object of the initiation into the mysteries of antiquity 62 Object and doctrine of modern Freemasonry, 62 Approaching ideal of Freemasonry 63 (vii) Vlll CONTENTS. HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF THK MOVEMENTS OF THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL, PROM THKIR INTRODUCTION, IN THK YEAR 60 B. C., TO THEIR DISSOLUTION, IN THK 16TH CENTURY. Establishment of the Roman Colleges of Builders in Trans-Alpine Gaul after its conquest * 64 Establishment of the great military roads from Home to Gaul 66 Erection of Rome-Gallic cities 67 Re-erection of the destroyed cities and towns 68 Vestiges of ancient Romo Gallic monuments in France 69 Separation of the Colleges of Builders into different bodies 71 Erection of the first Christian churches and monasteries 71 Architectural knowledge of monastic refugees 72 Celebrated architects who go out from the Masonic schools 72 Architecture in France under Charlemagne 72 The Masonic corporations directed by the religious orders . 73 Architecture paralyzed by the terrors of the year 1000 73 General renewal of all the religious edifices 73 The Masonic corporations of Lombardy extend over Europe 74 Their monopolies renewed by all the Popes 74 League of mutual succor among the Masonic brethren 74 The architect fraternity of bridge and road builders 74 Conception and erection of the great cathedrals of France 75 Unity of plans visible in all buildings by Freemasons 76 Effect of the "Reformation" upon the Masonic corporations 77 Disintegration of the corporations the origin of trade unions 77 Consequences of the disintegration of the Masonic corporations 78 Celebrated French architects who succeeded those of the corporations 78 ABRIDGMENT OP THK HISTORY OP MODERN OR PHILOSOPHIC FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE, FROM ITS INTRODUCTION IN 1721 TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OP THK GRAND ORIENT IN 1772. First lodges founded at Dunkirk and at Paris 80 Lord Derwentwatcr first Provincial Grand Master for France 81 Establishment of a Provincial Grand Lodge for France 81 Baron Ramsay introduces his Jacobite Masonry 81 Lord llarnwester the second Provincial Graud Master for France, 82 He is succeeded by the Duke of Autin 83 The P. G. L. of France takes the title of English G. L. of France 83 Difficulties follow and increase constantly 83 Origin of the chapters of Arras and of Clermont 84 Origin of the Rite of Perfection 85 Incongruities in the accepted history of the A. and A. S. Rite 85 Continued disgust and disagreeability among the Fraternity 86 English G. L. of France becomes the National G. L. of France 86 The Grand Master, to avoid d'lty, selects deputies 87 Thev misbehave, and their commissions are revoked 87 Consequent schism of the (Deputy) Laeorne faction 87 Stephen Morin is patented for America 88 CONTENTS. IX A reconciliation but engenders subsequent dissension 89 The G. L. revokes all ad vitam and other patents 90 Lacorne's party is expelled and proceed to extremes 90 The government interferes and interdicts Freemasonry 90 Each party misbehaves in a grievous manner 91 Events consequent upon the Grand Master's death 91 Election of the Duke of Chartres to the vacant position 92 He is induced to accept the direction of all the bodies 93 Establishment of the Grand Orient 94 A3RIDGMENT OP THE HISTORY OP MODERN OR PHILOSOPHIC FfiKEMASONRY IN ENGLAND, DENMARK, SWEDEN, RUSSIA, POLAND, GERMANY, HOLLAND, BEL- GIUM, SWITZERLAND, ITALY AND PORTUGAL, FROM ITS INTRODUCTION INTO THOSE COUNTRIES TO THK PRESENT TIMR. Circumstances attending the establishment of the G. L. of London 95 Compilation of "Anderson's Constitutions" 96 The G. L. of London assumes the initiate and sole authority 97 The Freemasons of York and Edinburgh protest , 97 The G. L.'s of Ireland and Scotland are established 98 Exceptions made by the lodge of Canongate Kilwinning 99 Origin of the Rite of Harodim of Kilwinning 100 Pope Benedict XIV and others interdict Freemasonry 101 In London the Grand Lodge of Ancient Masons is organized 102 Origin of the Royal Arch degree 103 Union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813 104 What English Freemasons have accomplished at home 105 Present organization of the G. L. of England 105 " " of the G. L. of Scotland 107 " " of the G. L. of Ireland 107 Present condition of Freemasonry in Great Britain 107 Introduction of Freemasonry into Denmark 108 " " into Sweden 110 Jesuitical interference with Freemasonry in Sweden Ill The Templar system introduced by Jesuit emissaries 112 Introduction of Freemasonry into Russia 113 Catharine II protects and encourages it 114 Jesuitical interference causes it to be abused 115 Interdiction of Paul I revoked by Alexander I, and afterward confirmed.... 115 Introduction of Freemasonry into Poland 116 The Jesuit system of strict observance is introduced 117 Introduction of Freemasonry into Belgium 118 Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, interdicts it 119 When Belgium becomes a French province it is revived 119 Prince Frederick, as Grand Master, becomes its protector 120 King Leopold unites the lodges into a Grand Orient 121 Masonry triumphs over Jesuitism 121 The new Grand Master, Verhaegen, recommends general discussions in the lodges 122 X CONTEXTS. Introduction of Freemasonry into Holland , 123 The Jesuits preach against it and excite the people , 124 Establishment of the Grand Lodge of Holland 125 " of the G. L. for the Low Countries 126 The charter of Cologne is discovered 127 Introduction of Freemasonry into Germany 128 Freemasonry in Prussia 129 Initiation of Frederick the Great at Brunswick 130 Present condition of Freemasonry in Prussia 131 Freemasonry in Saxony 132 " in Hanover 132 " in Bavaria 133 " in the Grand Duchy of Baden 134 " in Wurtemburg and Hesse Darmstadt 135 in Hesse-Cassel and Brunswick 136 Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick becomes head of the Templar system 137 He convokes various Masonic congresses 138 The Jesuits cause Freemasonry to be interdicted in Austria 139 Freemasonry in Bohemia 140 Recapitulation of Masonic lodges in Germany 140 Introduction of Freemasonry into Switzerland 141 Masonic Directories at Basle and Lausanne 142 Erection of " Hope " Lodge at Berne to a Prov. G. L. of England 143 Establishment of the Alpine Grand Lodge 144 Introduction of Freemasonry into Italy 145 " " into Sardinia 146 Establishment of the Grand Orient at Naples , 147 General Garibaldi is elected chief the Sup. Council for Sicily 148 Introduction of Freemasonry into Portugal 149 Acts of the Portuguese " Holy Office". 150 Freemasonry is interdicted by John VI, King of Portugal 151 Introduction of Freemasonry into Spain 152 Ferdinand VI, King of Spain, interdict? its operations 153 European countries in which Freemasonry is now interdicted 154 HISTORY OP THE ORIGIN OF THE AXCIKXT AXD ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITK, AND ORGANIZATION OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL FOR FRANCE. Partisan evidence as to the origin of the rite 156 Reflections upon this evidence 159 Impartial evidence as to the origin of the rite 160 Pro'f adduced that Frederick II was not its chief 162 Extract from the Book of Gold.. 165 Real origin of the rite 166 Its contemptuous disownment by the G. L. of Scotland 169 Introduction of the rite into France 172 Remarks in connection with the history of this rite 174 CONTENTS. XI ORIGIN AND HISTORY OK THK ' EGYPTIAN RITE OK MISRAIM," FROM ITS CBEATIO* IN 180(5 TO THK 1'REjKNT TIMiJ. Account of its origin by its French agent, M. Bedarride 178 Mark and Michael Bedarride its propagandists 180 Its real author Lechangeur of M ilan 181 He denies bis highest degrees to the brothers Bedarride 182 Thvy surreptitiously obtain them and establish a council at Paris 183 Description of the rite ISA Difficult t) organize lodges France in mourning (1815) 188 Grave abuses appear in the administration of the executive 187 The rite is interdicted by the G. 0. of France 188 The brothers Bedarride obtain a new patent 189 The rite is interdicted by Frederick, G. M. of Netherland lodges 189 The administration and its constituents at war 190 Expulsion of a whole lodge 191 Misappropriation of the funds by the executive 192 The Grand Oi lent is exhorted to suppress the rite 193 The brothers Bedarride present their little bill of charges 195 It amounts to only $20,550 195 They arrange a new obligation, binding all to pay it 190 Objectors to this obligation are expelled 197 The death of Mark Bedarride lets up nobody 197 The rite is ridiculed by the " MasonicGlobe " 198 Funds are demanded to bury a brother 199 Michael Bedarride requires all the funds to pay his bill 200 The applicants protest and denounce the whole swindle 201 Dying, M. Bedarride bequeaths his bill to his successor 201 The successor, an honest man, arranges M. B.'s debts 201 Then stigmatizing the little bill a? " a debt accursed," he cancels it 202 Reflections upon the history of this rite 202 CONCISK HISTORY OP THE RITE OF MKMPHI*, FROM ITS CREATION IN 1838 UNTIL ITS FUSION INTO THE GRAND ORIENT OK FRANCE IX 18(52. The author's account of the rite 203 Strictures upon this account , 204 Introduction of the rite into France 205 Its author an expelled member of the rite of Misraiui 200 Extracts from the Constitution . 207 The author begins to operate with his rite in France 208 Meets with difficulties and goes to London 209 In fie latter city the rite explodes , 210 He then goes to America and founds a lodge at Troy, N. Y 211 Marshal Miignan's magnanimous decree covers the rite 211 The Grand Orient adopts it, and M. Marconis, its author, is happy 'Jll A COXCISK HlSTORYOF THK OlUOINOF AM. THE 15lTKS FOR HlCH D KG HERS INTItO- DCCKD IN rj FKKKMASOXRY FROM 17:5 ; TO THK PRESENT TIMK. The only true traditional Freemasonry has but three degrees 212 Xll CONTENTS. The Jesuits first break this arrangement 213 To support the " Pretender " they create new degrees. 214 They extend their nets over Germany and France 215 Investigation elicits some important discoveries 216 They denaturalize the institution in France 217 They construct the system of Strict Observance 218 The College of Clermont the nest in which new rites are hatched 219 The Jesuits divide continental Europe into provinces 220 They erect " Unknown Superiors " for their system 220 Investigation unmasks the Order of Loyola 221 " Modern Freemasons are not the successors of Knights Templar " 222 What the Congress of Wilhelmsbad provoked 223 Fruits of the Jesuits' Masonic systems 224 The Order of Modern Templars 225 The Kite of Rigid Observers 226 Intioduction of Knight Templarisui into America 226 The Rite of Unitarian Masonry 227 Names of Masonic Rites extant 228 Rites extinct or absorbed into existing rites 229 DOCUMENTARY AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE BKARING DIRECTLY UPON THE ORI- GIN /NO GKNKKAL HISTORY OF FKEKMASONRY IN EUROPK. Documentary Evidence 232 Historical Evidence, chronologically arranged 234 Indications of the causes for diversity of opinions, etc 244 HISTORICAL ENUMERATION OF THK PRINCIPAL MASONIC CONGRESSES AND CON- VKNTIONS WHICH HAVE HAU PLACK IN EUKOPK. York, Strasburg, and Ratisbonne 251 Ratisbonne, Spire, Colonge and Basle 252 Strasburg, London and Dublin 253 Edinburgh, the Hague, Jena and Altenburg 254 Kohlo, Brunswick, Leipsic and Lyons 255 Wolfenbuttel and Wilhelmsbad 256 Paris, Zurich, Berne, Basle and Locle. 257 Paris in 1848 and in 1856 258 CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THK HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY, BASED UPON THK ANCIENT DOCUMENTS AND THK PRINCIPAL MONUMENTS KKKCTKU BY THIS FRATERNITY, DIVIDED INTO THREK EPOCHS. First Ej/och, from 715 B. C. to A. D. 1000, comprising the establishment of the Colleges of Builders at Rome ; the construction of all the monuments of Ancient Rome ; the founding of many cities ; the results of the perse- cutions of such of the builders as became Christians, and, subsequently, the results of the invasions and international wars, and dispersion of the Christian builders into the East; the state of architecture in Gaul and Britain under the Romans, and, after their retreat, under the free and An- glo Saxon kings ; the reconstruction of the Masonic corporations at the CONTENTS. Xlii general assembly in York A. D. 926, and the distress of the Masonic cor- porations during the terrors invoked by the clergy at the close of the tenth century 259-295 Second Epoch, from A. D. 1000 to A. D. 1717, comprising all the most re- markable facts which signalized this period as connected with the arts and philosophy ; the epoch of the construction of all the great cathedrals and other religious monuments in Europe; the organization of the Ma- sonic corporations in Germany, its Grand Lodges, its congress and results ; the influence of the Reformation upon religious architecture ; the dissolu- tion successively of all the Masonic corporations except those of England; and the transformation there, in 1717, of the Masonic corporations into a philosophic institution 296-311 Third Epoch, from A. D. 1717 to A. D. J850, comprising all the most remark- able occurrences connected with Philosophical or Modern Freemasonry during thif period ; the causes and results of the schisms ; the different con- gresses and their results ; the dates, the places, and the countries where Freemasonry was persecuted ; and the statistics indicating its numbers wherever its exists 312-339 Text of the Edict of Pope Pius VII against the Freemasons 340 PRIMITIVE MASONIC LAWS AND CHARTERS. Observations concerning the Charter of York 347 Its non-recognition of a Divine Trinity 348 Its evident religious tolerance 348 It became the basis of all modern Masonic constitutions 349 Its caption and opening prayer 350 Note explanatory of its text 351 Its " Fundamental Laws of the Brother Masons ". 352-355 Summary of the Ancient Masonic Charters, comprising the Roman Charter, Char- ter of St. Alban, Charter of York, Charter of Edward III, Charter of Scot- land, Charters of Strasburg, Charter of Cologne, Charters of Scotland and London 355 558 EPITOME OF THE WORSHIP AND THE MYSTERIES OF THK ANCIENT EASTERN WOULD. Introduction Origin of all the worships 359 6abeisin,or sun worship, and its legends 363 The Mysteries of India 364 Mysteries of the Persia'ns 367 Mysteries of Isis and Osiris 370 Mysteries of the Hebrews 373 Mysteries of Eleusis , 375 Mjsteries of Samothracia 37fi Mysteries of the Phrygians and Phenicians 877 Mysteries of the Romans 377 Sybils and Oracles most celebrated 379 LEGISLATORS, REFORMERS AND FOUNDERS OF WORSHIPS AND MYSTERIES, WITH A SUMMARY OF THEIR DOCTRINES IN INDIA, CHINA, PKKS1A, ETHIOPIA, EGYPT, GREECE, ROME AND JUDEA. Xv CONTENTS. NOTES IU.USTRATTVK AND AUTHORITATIVR OK SUNDRY PASSAGES TV THR TEXT OH THE WORSHIPS AND M YSTKK1KS OF THE A.VC1KXT EASTERN WORLD. Worships and Mysteries 384 Theology of the Ancients 384 Sacred Books of nil the peoples 385 Cosmogonies 386 Symbols 389 Hiram of the Freemasons 392 The Angels 393 Magnificent monuments of the Hindoos 393 Bhudda (Bood, Boudd) 393 The Magi 394 Temple of Bel, or Tower of Babel 394 Ecbatana, Babylonia, Persepolis 396 Caves or Retreats of Mithra 39T In the throat of a bull 397 Zoroaster 398 Zenda vesta 399 Temple of Ammon 399 Ethiopia, once a powerful state 400 Egypt in civilization 400 Pyramids of Ghizza 401 Hermes 402 Sybils 402 The avenues of Thebes 403 ubterranean cities 403 Jehovah 403 Tyre 404 The Jews driven from Egypt , 404 The Pentateuch 405 The Prodigies of Moses 408 Dogma of an only God 408 Worship of the Stars 413 The Essenians 413 Christianity... 418 Mysteries of Christianity 419 Eleusis, Athens 420 Temple of Balbek 420 Temple of Tadmor (Palmyra) , 420 Janus 421 APPENDIX. Recapitulation 422 The Commandments of the Ancient Sages 423 The Precepts of Modern Freemasonry 426 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION. A connection of several years with the Masonic press, during two of which he edited and published The American Freemason s Mag- azine, afforded the translator of this work opportunities for reading all that in the English language had been published concerning tha origin and history of Freemasonry, of valuing all that was reason- able, and rejecting much that was traditional, apochryphal, romantic and false. In 18G1, and after he had, in consequence of the then disturbed condition of the country, suspended the publication of his magazine, he accidentally became introduced by a brother of rank and education in the Fraternity at New York to the earlier work of BRO. RESOLD, and after a hasty perusal, stored it among the few effects of a citizen soldier for future and, should opportunity offer, more leisure study. From that study, within the past year, the decision to translate and publish had been evolved, when he became possessed of the later work of BRO. REBOLD, and from both he has compiled that which he now presents and dedicates to the Fraternity in America. In doing so, his conviction is fixed that at no previous time has he been able to benefit that Fraternity to so great a degree as he now does, by translating and publishing this work. PREFACE. BEFORE I make known to the reader the motives which inspired this history of Freemasonry, I beg permission to give here a suc- cinct confession of faith. Since the moment when the principles of Freemasonry were shown me, I have made this institution a particular study, with much more fervor than that with which I have studied the relig- ion taught me in my youth; because, by the light of reflection ind experience, I found the latter crowded with contradictions and puerilities, while the former offered logic and harmony according with the idea of a Divinity imbued with wisdom, clemency, power, and love. When circumstances occasioned me to take up my residence in this celebrated city, (Paris), at a time when its Masonic temples were recovering from the effects of the political tumults of 1847, my heart found itself going out toward that fraternal society, wherein, of all others, I most expected to enjoy the pleasures of morality and brotherly love. But I am free to confess, as then conducted, the labors of the lodges left much to desire j and I found that the reproaches addressed to Masonry in Paris by the most serious authors, such as Thory, Bazot, Chemin-Dupontes Ragon, Clavel, Des Etangs, Juge, and Moreau, were entirely justi fiable. And, notwithstanding that there are few places upon the globe where the Masonic fraternity has produced results more powerful and efficacious than at Paris where the concentration of sixty - 2 (xvii) XV111 PREFACE. one lodges in the same locality permit the most complete imiij in a financial point, and present moral and intellectual resources so powerful to accomplish so much, not alone in the connection of educating the people, but also of founding other humanitarian institutions yet it is necessary to state that there is no place in the world where the dissipation of moral strength is so manifest, and where the Masonic fraternity has done so little for suffering humanity, as in this same Paris, when we consider the great number of Freemasons who here reside. But that which struck me above all, in assisting at the work of the lodges of Paris, was the total want of intelligent Masonic instruction a reproach which the authors named have so often made the labors of the lodges being altogether confined to the ceremonies of initiation, the regular lectures, and the administra- tion of their affairs. And it is to this circumstance, principally, that it is necessary to attribute the indifference so generally mani- fested for Freemasonry among the wealthy and intellectual Paris- ians ; for the greater portion of the intellectual initiates, finding nothing in the society, such as they expected, to attract their attention, after attending a few meetings, fall off, in the belief that Freemasonry has no moral signification to justify the consid- eration they had been induced to accord to it. These observations are painful to Freemasons convinced of the high object and deep signification of Freemasonry, and who believe it destined to become one day the religion of all nations ; and these observations apply happily but to Paris, for, in all other portions of France, Masonry is much better estimated, and consequently its value is much better appreciated than in the capital. This lack of instruction of which I speak is more apparent in the superior initiations called "high degrees," or, to speak more correctly, it is there entirely absent. By all, however, by whom Masonry is estimated, Masonic instruction is looked upon as a sacred duty due to those who are received into its bosom, and that PREFACE. XIX instruction should be extended not only to all that concerns its history, its object, and the doctrines of the institution, but to all that is interesting to the friend of humanity and the lover of his race. And here we can not refrain from quoting a passage which we find proceeding from the pen of brother Cesar Moreau, of Mar- eeilles, and published in his journal, The Masonic World: " From this state of things there resulted an Order 1 which, while it embraced the universality of the nations, and drew withia its bosom many of the notabilities of all races, is compelled to ignore its nature, its origin, its spirit, and its object ; and to acknowledge that its traditions are forgotten or altered; that we have substituted some novelties contrary to the genius of Masonry ; that the initiated fail to perceive any thing of mystery beyond the ceremonies and the ornaments of the lodge, and do not suspect that a hidden meaning is attached to the knowledge conveyed by the symbols. Thus Masonry i unfaithful to its high destiny. This society, which, according to the ideas of its founders, is entitled to the first place in the system of civilization, is allowed co march in the rear of that system. While progress in every other condition is manifest, it alone is stationary, if not falling behind in the march of human improvements. The most powerful of all human agencies, by reason of its immense association and the facilities afforded by its multiple correspondence, Freemasonry is iThe editor of the Masonic World is the only French author who has admitted that material architecture has probably given birth to moral archi- tecture; and yet, making of Freemasonry an Order, finds himself in accord with all of his predecessors. This opinion, however, so generally that of the French Masons, is entirely erroneous; for Freemasonry never was an Order. Its origin was a fraternity; and that its transformation, from a cor- poration of artisans to a philosophical institution, did not change its char- acter, is proven in the most incontestible manner by its own Constitution, which, adopted in 1717, and published by the Grand Lodge of England in 1723, is entitled "Constitution of the Ancient and Respectable Fraternity of Freemasons." XX PREFACE. to-day utterly powerless to enlighten its own members, to say nothing of enlightening the rest of mankind." All the French authors, except Moreau, have placed the origin of Freemasonry in the mysteries of the East; and the Masters of our lodges, as well as the commonly received lecture of its history, tend to perpetuate this erroneous idea. The work of Alexander Thory, entitled "Acta Latomorum," and that of B. Clavel, entitled u Histoire Pittoresque de la Franc-magonnerie," must be placed among the most remarkable of Masonic publications; but they are, nevertheless, incomplete and fragmentary. In the history by B. Clavel, it is true he mentions the colleges of Roman architects; but, always preoccupied, in common with his predecessors, in seeking a remoter origin for Freemasonry in the mysteries of the East, he fails to perceive that it was precisely within these colleges that the birth of Freemasonry took place. The authors who pretend and their number is very great that Masonry originated at the construction of Solomon's Temple, are led into this error by the numerous allusions to that construction which have place among the lectures of our lodges of to-day. Those authors who believe that Freemasonry proceeded from the society of the Rose-Cross, founded in 1616, by Valentine Andrea, a profound philosopher, 1 who, in founding it, had in view the beautiful design of reforming the world a society which was propagated by Christian Rose-Croix, 2 renewed afterward by the renowned philosopher, Lord Bacon, and put in practice by the famous antiquary, Elias Ashmole, in 1646 are led into this error by the fact that this society was resuscitated, under Masonic forms, 1 See his work, " La Reformation," etc. 2 There appeared, in 1616, a new work, entitled " La Noce Chemique de Christian Rose-Croix" This name of Rose-Cross is itself allegorical. The cross represented the sanctity of union, and the rose the image of discretion; these two words united signifying a holy discretion. PREFACE. in Germany, in 1767; and yet others, who attribute its foundation to the partisans of the Stuarts, 1 or to Christopher Wren, architect, in 1690, are led into this error by the transformation of Free- masonry from an exclusively operative to an exclusively philo- sophic institution having taken place about this time. Independently of the serious authors mentioned, there may be found a certain number of pretending historians, who, concerning the origin of Freemasonry, have advanced assertions as absurd as ridiculous. Among them we find those who represent God him- self as the first Freemason, 2 and Paradise as the first sanctuary of the lodge! We find another author who pretends that the archangel Michael was Grand Master of the first lodge that the children of Seth held after the murder of Abel! 3 Others, who maintain that Noah was the founder of Masonry ; and yet others, who as stoutly assert that it originated at the construction of the Tower of Babel on the plains of Shinar. From this mass of con- tradictory opinions, A. Thory, in the preface to his work already named, deduced an opinion which he thus expresses: " The general opinion among the most distinguished Freemasons is, that it is impossible to write a general history of Freemasonry which will bear any approach to correctness in dates and authen- ticated facts. M. De Bonnville has asserted that ten ages. of man- kind would not suffice for such a work. Others have expressed, and yet others have repeated the same idea, while to-day those of 1 See, in (he "Acta LatomorumJ' by A. Thory, the fragment upon the origin of the Society of Freemasons, translated from the second volume of the work " Versuch iiber die Beschuldigungen wider den Tempelherrenorden," etc., by Nicolai. This fragment of a German work, extracted and admitted by Thory, proves that he himself had no settled opinion upon the origin of Freemasonry, for otherwise we can not comprehend how, to give a just idea in his work of the origin of the institution, he could have chosen to copy from a work which, in his opinion, had no historic value in this connection. 2 See the work of Le Franc, entitled " Voile leve pour les Curieux." *"Le vrai Franc-Mapon," by Enoch, 1773. XX11 PREFACE. the members of the association who, by their talents and then lights, could be expected to undertake the task with success, have never essayed it, persuaded that it is beyond their strength. " In seeking for the true cause of such discouragement, we believe it consists in the extreme difficulty of procuring the proper documents, the secret memoirs, the polemic and didactic writings; in fact, the necessary manuscript and printed informa- tion as to the history of the institution. This obstacle, if not insurmountable, is certainly exceedingly difficult; and we are free to state that, were it not that the extensive library of the mother lodge of the Scotch Rite had, with its rare and valuable manu- scripts, been placed at our disposal, we never would have attempted the labor of which this our work is the result." It is, in fact, to the insufficiency of the materials that it is necessary to attribute the fact that since the work of Dr. Ander- son, first published in London in 1723, and subsequently to the number of five separate editions, no writer has attempted to pro- duce a general history of Freemasonry, believing the problem of its origin insoluble; and, therefore, they have been forced to treat it from a philosophical point of view, and place its origin among the mysteries of antiquity. It is these considerations which determined me to extract from the numerous materials which I have gathered, during a number of years, with the intention of one day filling a void in Masonic literature, and publish a history of our institution free from the superstitions and traditions with which it has been continually surrounded; and, in this object, I have resolved to unite, in a synoptic table, all that is afforded the most interesting, to the end that the erroneous opinions upon its origin may be dissipated, and a just and instructive idea of the principles and object of Free- masonry be afforded. In treating in a manner indicative of my own convictions this PREFACE. XXlii general ii.'siM^ v i* Freemasonry, I have endeavored to demon- strate 1. T1*%N Invli.i u not only the cradle of the human racs, but the country wherein may be found the source of all the religions of the worM. 2. That, id hoi antiquities, India offers us a civilization the most advanced, aa ;s abundantly proven by her colossal monu- ments, which hsve existed for at least six thousand years. 3. That from Itulia have proceeded science and philosophy. 4. That we fmi\ in her sacred books, the Vedas, a sublime doctrine, practiced by the Buddhist Samaneens, and which pre- sents the most striking resemblance to the primitive Christian doctrine. 5. That these same Vedas recount the creation of the world in a manner corresponding to the description contained in the sacred books of the Persians and the Hebrews, but with the difference that in the Vedas the description has an. entirely figurative sense, while the sense conveyed by the Hebrew Scriptures, as given to us, is actual. 6. That the religion of the Hindoos their science and philos- ophy passed into Persia and Chaldea, and subsequently to Ethi- opia, and from thence to Egypt. Afterward, returning invested with other forms, it is found to exist at present in the former countries. My readers may be assured that intentions the most pure have guided me in this work, and that, while I have communicated the results of the philosophical researches of the most profound thinkers, I have to my readers awarded the task of harmonizing these truths" with their own Masonic and religious ideas. In this work I believe I have omitted nothing which would interest a young Mason. Herein he will find the origin of the mysteries of antiquity, as also the origin of all religions, and the connections which the ancient religions and mysteries bear to XXIV PREFACE. those of the present day; also, the degrees of civilization of the ancient peoples, the true origin of Freemasonry, its history, and in that history each historic fact, each important monument whether of antiquity or of the middle ages which appertain to that history, each document, each usage, each important name of which mention should be made; and, having done this, I leave to tho reader to judge of the actual condition and importance of this institution from the tables of the lodges existing on the globe, and the countries wherein Freemasonry has spread and its doc- trines are practiced. EMMANUEL REBOLD. EAST OF PARIS, November, 1860. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE INTRUSTED WITH THE EXAMINATION OF THE WORK OF BRO. REBOLD, ENTITLED "GEN- ERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY." BRO. REBOLD having requested the undersigned to examine his History of Freemasonry, and report their opinion thereof, it is with the most lively interest that we comply with his wishes. In our opinion it is impossible to put together, in a manner more instructive and more concise, so many facts and dates in so few pages. All is comprised in the work of Bro. Rebold facts, historical and geographical, as well as chronological ; all is arranged by the hand of a master; and we can, without exaggeration, say that it is the first Masonic history truly worthy of this name which has ever appeared in France. All the works that we possess speak of Masonry as an institu- tion of an illusory character, and its origin merely traditional, if not apocryphal; but Bro. Rebold, on the contrary, taking hold of it at its birth, follows its growth and extension through the different phases of its career, from nation to nation, and from cen- tury to century, and supports his every statement with facts and dates and names, and the edifices and monuments of antiquity. Many pages might be profitably filled with even a cursory analysis of the work of our brother, but this we will leave to the reader, being satisfied with saying, for ourselves, that nearly every line is the substance of a volume; every word carries with it a portion of instruction. We have read and re-read the manuscript with the most intense interest, and we can return to it again and again with pleasure, for it nobly fills the deplorable vacuum that exists in all of our Masonic libraries. An immense success is reserved for this book we had almost (25) 26 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. said this library in epitome a success enthusiastic, merited, and durable. To every brother who, animated with true religious sen- timents, seeks instruction at the source of the most solid informa- tion, we recommend this work; and, after the most conscientious examination a^ter the most attentive study, and with our hands, as Freemasons, upon our hearts, we express this our opinion of the work of Bro. Rebold; and regret our inability, by so limited an expression of our feelings, to do that justice to this really merit- orious production that it is so richly entitled to. DTJ PLANTY, M. D., Wor. Mas. of Trinity Lodge. AUGUSTE HUMBERTE, Wor. Mas. Star of Bethlehem Lodge. B. LlMETH, Wor. Mas. of Commanders of Mt. Lebanon Lodge. EAST OP PAHIS, June, 27 1860. HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. INTRODUCTION. man, placed upon this earth, saw himself sur- rounded with so many differently formed beings, of which the producing cause and motive for their existence were to him unknown, his thoughts were necessarily concen- trated in one sentiment intense admiration. Unable to comprehend the cause, he attached more importance to the effect. He studied the physical qualities of all, to the end that he might be enabled to select for his use those which were useful, and reject those which were hurtful. But that which struck him with most surprise was the constant return of day and night, light and darkness the brilliance and warmth of summer, and the cold and gloom of winter to see the earth for a season ornamented with flowers and fruits, whilst during a corresponding period it languished and labored in sterility. He sought to ascer- tain the cause of those phenomena which regularly repro- duced themselves around him, and to whose influence he found his own nature subjected; and little by little, in the laws, first of physics, and next of astronomy, he discov- ered the explanation. He saw that, regulated by these laws, nature existed; that the sun and moon and earth moved in common accord. In fact, whilst all else lived and died around (27) 28 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. him and died forever these alone abated not in the regularity of their movements nor perpetuity of their existence: without beginning, and, apparently, without end, they seemed uncreated and immutable. To feelings, therefore, of admiration for all, were added feelings of gratitude and thanks for the beneficence of that star of lay whose brilliance and heat ripened for his use fruits and vegetables; for that lesser light which seemed ar- ranged, when the greater disappeared, to take its place; and for the earth, the great nurse, always attentive, sup- porting all living creatures, and offering each year, for their use, the abundance of her varied and bounteous products. Those sentiments of admiration and gratitude begot yet another their natural product worship ; and from that time man began to reverence good and evil. He made of light and darkness spirits of good and spirits of evil, regarding the former as the good being, and the latter as the evil one; light the benefactor; darkness the de- stroyer. And this worship of light of every degree neces- sarily led to sun worship or Sabeism, which we see diffused among all the primitive peoples of the earth as well in Europe as in Asia, in Africa, and among the Incas of America. It is thus that the Hindoos adored in Brahma the sun of summer, the creator, the genius of good; and in Shiva the sun of winter, the destroyer, the genius of evil; that the Persians reverenced the good principle in Oromaze, and the bad in Ahrimane; that the Egyptians adored these same principles in Osiris and Typhon ; and the Israelites in Jehovah and the Serpent, without stopping to consider that this adoration was a worship of stars, or a worship of the changes of nature. Every-where, in fact, and among all peoples even among the Jews them- selves \ve find, from the earliest times, man prostrated INTRODUCTION. 29 before material nature, confounding continually, in one and the same worship, the being who suffers the action and the principle that caused it. This primitive worship was not entirely abolished, but maintained itself among the elect, and was, consequently, the fundamental dogma taught in the mysteries of an tiqnity by the gymnosophists of India and the hierophant of Memphis. And, as it was the duty of those sages to notice and record natural phenomena, to the end that the dates of feasts and the movements of the planets should be known, as well as a record kept of memorable events, and the knowledge of their doctrines, sciences, and dis- coveries be communicated among themselves, the system of hieroglyphics and symbols was invented a system which has been found to exist, as the earliest style of record, among priests and peoples of the most remote These priests were the intercessors before the divinities, the counselors and guides of the people; and to perpetu- ate their numbers, men were admitted who proved them- selves capable and worthy of the position by submitting, after a long and careful training, to the ordeal of a severe examination. It was in this manner that the initiations, so celebrated among the peoples of antiquity, were insti- tuted. These civilizers and early instructors of the human race, believing that it was impossible for the mass of man- kind the ignorant and illiterate to perceive the truths of science, religion, and philosophy, except when repre-" sented by material symbols, instituted such symbols for that purpose, and, in consequence, two forms of religion began to prevail; viz.: the one the religion of the multi tude, who, in great numbers, perceived nothing beyond the exterior object or symbol; and the other the religion of the learned, who perceived in the symbol but the 30 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. emblem of the moral truth or natural effect, of which the symbol was but the type. All these mysteries and their initiations, having a common object, resembled each other in their rites and symbols, and differed but in degree, according to the genius and manners of the particular peoples among whom they were practiced, and the talents, more or less brilliant, of their priests and founders. Those among the Chaldeans, the Ethiopians, and the Egyptians taught the arts and sci- ences in secret, particularly architecture. Among the Egyptians the priests formed a distinct class, and devoted themselves to teaching special branches of human knowl- edge. The youth who by them were instructed were initiated into the mysteries of religion, and during their novitiate formed an outer class or corporation of arti- sans, who, according to the designs drawn by the priests r erected the temples and other monuments consecrated to the worship of the gods. It was this class that gave to the people kings, warriors, statesmen, and useful citi- zens. The favor shown to the priests by the people of Egypt was due in part to their wisdom, in part to the elevated conditions of science and morality which they taught, but more particularly to their study and application of an occult science practiced by the magicians of Persia. In this study they were aided by a class of assistants, called sybils or oracles, to whom they were indebted for the knowledge of a great number of plants and their thera- peutic properties of which the priests affixed the names at the gates of their temples as, also, for their knowl- edge of chemistry, anatomy, and many of the secrets of nature. 1 1 This occult science, designated by the ancient priests under the name of regenerating fire, is that which at the present day is known as animal magnetism a science that for more than three thousand years was the peculiar possession of the priesthood, into the knowledge of which Moses INTRODUCTION. 51 Thus we see the most illustrious men of Greece Thales, Solon, Pythagoras, Democritus, Orpheus, Plato, Theodo- sius, Epicurus, Herodotus, Lycurgus these great philos- ophers of antiquity, binding their stoutest sandals upon was initiated at Heliopolis, where he was educated, and Jesus Christ among the Essenian priests of Jerusalem. This science, that an illustrious Dominican calls "a piece broken from a grand palace, a ray from the Adamic power, destined to confound human reason and to humiliate it before God, a phenomenon belonging to the prophetic order" is that same science which lias been resusci- tated by Bro. Mesmer, whose disciples to-day spread every-where, and, by the application of it as a therapeutic agent, are every-where alleviating the physical condition of the sick and the afflicted. Magnetism, the vital principle of all organized beings, soul of all who respire, made a part, under various names, of the secret teachings of the priests. The titles of regenerating fire, living fire, magic, were given to it by them, and the initiation into this divine science was participated in but by a small number of the elect Believing it to be our duty to define the meaning of this science in as clear and distinct a manner as possible, we have chosen for this purpose to select a passage that we find in the work of our friend and brother Henry Delage, entitled "Perfec- tion of the Human Race," in which he expresses himself upon this subject as follows: "The knowledge of this magnetic fluid is the most precious gift of Divine Providence. It is the mysterious key that opens to our dazzled intelligence the world of truth and of light, and joins the finite to the infinite. It is the chain of gold so often chanted by the poet, the basis of that secret philosophy that Democritus, Plato, and Pythagoras trav- eled to Egypt to demand of the hierophants of Memphis and of the gymnosophists of India. Invisible to the eyes of the senses, it must be studied by the vision of the soul as seen in the rapt gaze of the som- nambulist In other days the truth was heard proceeding from the lips of the initiating priest; to-day we see it in the eyes of the clairvoyant. A magnetic fluid, very subtle, placed in the human race between the soul and the body, it circulates in all the nerves; and, particularly abundan in the great sympathetic of the healthy subject, it constitutes the spin of the living being. Its color, that of fire or the electric spark, induced the name of living fire given to it in the works of the magicians of Persia, and of intimate star in those of the alchymists and astrologers of 32 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. their feet, and taking the pilgrim's staff within their hands, leaving their country and going forth to visit the vast sanctuaries of Egypt, there to be initiated into the mysteries of Isis and Osiris. These mysteries were transported into Greece, where Orpheus founded those of Samothracia, and Triptoieme those of Eleusis. The Greeks drew upon these mysteries and initiations for a part of their mythology. Homer drew upon them for his ingenious fictions, and clothed his songs with their allegories. The descent into a well, made by the aspirant for initiation, led to the saying that truth was concealed at the bottom of a well. The judges of the dead, before whom they were conducted by the ferryman Charon across the lake Acheron, the urn that contained the ballots, and after an examination of which the judges pronounced sentence and again intrusted the initiates to the care of Charon, who alone appeared to have the right or ability of traversing the subterranean obscurity through which they passed, the barking of dogs, the monsters, the hideous specters, the flitting shades, the furies, the dog Cerberus the sight of all those objects which the Egyp- tians and the Greeks had invented to try the nerves of the initiates made in their imagination a real hell. While the Elysian fields, lighted up by a mimic sun, was evi- dently the place to which the initiate was conducted after his initiation; and Tartarus, where shades groaned plain- tively at their own feebleness, the place where those who had succumbed in terror before these hideous spectacles were congregated. The braziers and flames, between which the initiate was compelled to pass, evidently gave the middle ages. One of its principal virtues is the generative power; nence the sacred books give it the name of regenerating fire. Soul of the world, universal spirit permeating all nature, it is the essence and the vital spark of all that it animates, of all orders of beings, classes, and races in which it is incarnated, and is profoundly modified by all through which it passes." INTRODUCTION. 33 rise to the saying that men who would be elevated to the rank of the gods must first pass through fire and be purified of all of earth that attaches to humanity. In tine, to descend into hell, and to be initiated into the mys- teries, were, among the ancients, one and the same opera- tion. FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGES OF BUILDERS, THE CRADLE OF FREEMASONRY. THE mysteries of the Egyptians, passing through Moses to the Jewish people, afterward disseminated among the Greeks and the Romans, were, among the latter, intro- duced in part into the .Colleges of Builders, instituted by ]S[uma Pompilius, in the year 715 before our era. 1 These colleges were, at their organization, as well relig- ious societies as fraternities of artisans, and their connec- tion with the state and the priesthood were by the laws determined with precision. They had their own worship and their own organization, based upon that of the Dyo- nisian priests and architects, of whom many were fcT be found anterior to this period in Syria, in Egypt, in Persia, and in India ; and the degree of sublimity to which they had carried their art is revealed to us by the ruins which yet exist of the monuments which they there erected. 'Besides the exclusive privilege of constructing the temples and public monuments, they had a judiciary of their own, and were made free of all contributions to the city and state. The members of these colleges, usually after the labors of the day, convened in their respective lodges wooden houses, temporarily erected near the edifice in course of construction where they determined the distribution and 1 Numa Pompilius also instituted Colleges of Artisans (Collegia Artifi- cum) to the number of one hundred and thirty-one; at the head of which were the Colleges of Architects or Constructors, otherwise Builders (Col- legia Fabrorum.) The latter were designated under the name of Frater- nities (Fraternitates.) (34) FOUNDATION OF THE COLLEGES OF BUILDERS. 35 execution of the work upon such edifice, the decisions being made by a majority J>f_votes. Here, also, were ini- tiated the new memBers into the jsecrets and particular mysteries of their art. These initiates were divided into three classes : apprentices, companions or fellow- workmen, and masters; and they engaged themselves by oath to afford Ijach other succor and assistance. The presidents of those colleges, elected for five years, were named mas- ters or teachers (magistri); their labors in their lodges were always preceded by religious ceremonies, and, as the membership was composed of men of all countries, and consequently of different beliefs, the Supreme Being neces- sarily had to be represented in the lodges under a general title, and therefore was styled "The Grand Architect of the Universe" the universe being considered the most perfect work of a master builder. In the beginning the initiations into these corporations appear to have been confined to but two degrees, and the ritual of these degrees limited to, 1st, some religious cere- monies ; 2d, imparting to the initiate a knowledge of the duties and obligations imposed upon him ; 3d, to explain- ing certain symbols, the signs of recognition, and the inviolability of the oath : the workman or fellow-craft Deing, in addition, carefully instructed in the use of the level and the square, the mallet and chisel. To become a master, the elected had to submit to proofs such as were exacted at the initiation of the priest architects of Egypt, and in which he underwent a searching examination of his knowledge of art and moral principles. By the protection that these colleges of builders ac- corded to the institutions and worships of other countries, there were developed among them doctrines and rules of conduct very much in advance of their age, and which they clothed in symbols and emblems, which were thus charged with a double signification ; and, like the Dyonisian priest architects, they had words and signs of recognition. 36 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. These colleges of artisans, and principally those who professed excellence in ability to execute civil and relig- ious, naval and hydraulic architecture, at first extended from Rome into Venice and Lombardy, afterward into France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Britain; and more lately into Spain, Arabia, and the East; and a great number of these colleges, which at this time were known by the name of Fraternities, followed the Roman legions. Their business was to trace the plans of all military construc- tions, such as intrenched camps, strategic routes, bridges, aqueducts, arches of triumph, etc. They also directed the soldiers and the laborers in the material execution of their works. Composed of artisans, educated and studious men, these corporations extended the knowledge of Roman manners and a taste for Roman art wherever the legions carried victorious the Roman arms. And as, in this way, they contributed more largely to the victories of peace than to those of war, they carried to the vanquished and to the oppressed the pacific element of the Roman power the arts and civil law. These colleges existed, in all their vigor, almost to the fall of the Roman empire. The irruption of the peoples called barbarians dispersed and reduced their number, and they continued to decline while those ignorant and fero- cious men continued to worship their rude gods; but when they were converted to Christianity, the corporations flour- ished anew. THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN BRITAIN. MANY of the corporations of builders who were with the Roman legions in the countries bordering on the Rhine were sent by the Emperor Claude, in the year 43, into the British Isles, to protect the Romans against the incursions of the Scots. Before their arrival in that country, there THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN BRITAIN. 37 were to be found neither towns nor villages. Here, as elsewhere, the Masonic corporations constructed for the legions camps, which they surrounded with walls and fortifications; and, as time advanced, the interior of these colonies was beautified with baths, bridges, temples, and palaces, Avhich, in a great degree, rivaled even those of Rome herself. Wherever the legions established intrenched camps, the Masonic corporations erected cities more or less import- ant. It is thus that ^Tnrk, called by the Romans Ebora- cum, and subsequently celebrated in the history of Free- masonry, became one of the first that acquired importance and elevation to the rank of a Roman city. The native population who aided the Romans in those different constructions were incorporated into the opera- tive bodies of workmen, and taught their art; and, in a short time, towns and villages were in course of erec- tion on every side. The rich inhabitants of the country, imitating the Romans, constructed equally sumptuous habitations, which the architects ornamented with -the same sentiments of art they had exhibited on the temples of the most powerful Romans. Daily in contact with the most elevated people of the civilized world, the inhabit- ants acquired a humanitarian tolerance for the manners of foreigners, and for religious ideas so different from their own. And, in their turn, the Romans discovered that there existed in every people a portion of true humanity; and this they sought to increase rather than unveil the barbaric and disagreeable in local manners and national prejudices. The irruptions of the mountaineers of Scotland obliged the Romans to e_rec_t on the north of Britain three im- mense walls, in three different directions, 1 one of which traversed the country from the east to the west. l The first great wall was constructed by the Masonic Corporations, 38 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. The corporations being inadequate for the construction of such immense works, the Britons, who were devoted to their service, aided them in their labors, and thus became partakers of all the advantages and privileges which were enjoyed by the corporations themselves. Their constant intercourse, during the execution of the same construc- tions, and particularly in foreign countries, always resulted in individual advantage, and the enjoyment in common of the same privileges cemented this intercourse. The same art, the unity in plans of action, combined to create in their intimacy the greatest tolerance for religious and national peculiarities, and a feeling of common brother- hood was thus developed among them. All the work- men of every degree employed upon a construction called themselves a lodge sleeping and taking their meals in buildings resembling tents, which were temporarily erected in the vicinity of the work in course of construction, and which served them as dwellings until its completion only. The erection of these houses and palaces, bridges and aqueducts, castles and walls, contributed to elevate archi- tecture in Britain to a degree of perfection it had not attained in any other Roman province; so that, as early as the third century, this country was celebrated for the great number and the knowledge of her architects and of their workmen; and their services were called for wherever, upon the continent, great constructions were about to be erected. Christianity, too, from the first hour of its introduction, spread in Britain, and gave to the Masonic lodges the peculiar characteristics which distin- guished them at this period. These same military roads, under the orders of Agrippa, the Roman general in command of the legions in Britain, in the year 90 of our era. The second under the Emperor Adrian, A. D. 120. This crossed the country from the river Tyne to the Gulf of Solway, and thus traversed Britain from east to west And the third was constructed further north, by order of Septi- mus Severus, in the year 207. THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN BRITAIN. 39 so immense in their extent, and upon which chains and slavery had heen carried to people as free as they were ignorant, served now to carry to enslaved humanity, wea- ried of life, that new and inspiring liberty preached by Christ. Men now traveled these roads who, filled with Ke new faith, believed it to be their mission to impart to 11 whom they met or overtook in their journey ings a knowledge of the true God and the gospel of his Son. And although, when, alone, these missionary converts were exposed to bloody persecutions in the towns and villages through which they passed, they were invariably per- mitted to accompany unmolested the Masonic corpora- tions, who now, sometimes alone and sometimes in the retinue of the Roman legions, were continually threading the immense empire. Britain, too, by a favorable fortune, had more kind and humane governors at this period than any other Roman province. The example of the nobility, in becoming con- verts to the new faith, was swiftly followed by the people. If, in consequence, in the other provinces, the persecutions of the Christians were, by order of the emperors, executed with rigor the most appalling, in Britain a certain refuge was offered to the persecuted, by the connivance of her governors, among the building corporations. Hence it was that many among those who became advocates and public propagandists of the gospel, for the certain protection afforded them by these corporations, sought for and ob- tained admission among those fraternities of builders; and thus, in the hearts of the lodges, they associated with aud- itors more freely disposed to listen to their doctrines, at once so humane and so pure ; for that love of the human race which characterized the primitive Christians entirely accorded with the spirit of those cultivated workmen who composed the Masonic corporations. When, therefore, a humane governor shrank from the disagreeable function of ordering the execution of Christians under imperial 40 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. decree, those who were thus menaced sought refuge among the Scots, or in the Orkney Islands; or, aided j)yjhe_build- ers who accompanied them, they fled to Ireland, and there remained until the death of the emperor who had ordered their execution. In this manner Scotland became the most accessible esort of these refugees, who, in return for the security awarded them, carried into that country a knowledge of Roman architecture ; and from this period may be dated the construction of those magnificent castles of the Ro- manesque or Etruscan style of architecture, whose grand remains, braving even until to-day the destructive hand of time, attest the architectural knowledge and artistic genius of their builders. When Carausius, as commander of the Roman navy, found himself upon the coast of Belgium, he revolted, and, making sail for Britain, landed on that island irfthe year 287, when he declared his independence of Rome and took the title of emperor; but, ever fearful of an attack by the Emperor Maximilian, whom Diocletian had chosen for co-emperor, and to whom he had awarded the west- ern empire, Carausius sought, above all, to conciliate that society then the most influential and important in the island the Masonic corporations. These were then com- posed not alone of the descendants of those Greeks and Romans whom the Emperor Claude had, in the year 43, ordered into the country, as already mentioned, but, in major part, of the natives of Britain. With this object in view, Carausius, at the ancient city of Yerulam, afterward known as St. Albans, where he had taken up his abode and established his court, conveyed and confirmed to the Masonic corporations through the instrumentality of Albanus, a Roman knight, and Amphi- abulus, a Roman architect all those ancient privileges accorded to them by Numa Pompilius, and the kings, his successors, more than a thousand years before, but which THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN BRITAIN. 41 in later years had been greatly curtailed by lli Roman emperors. And it is to tmsTenewal of those privi- leges the greatest among which was the right of making laws for their..mvji_governnient, and thus, in establishing their own judiciary, becoming independent of all other legal tribunals to which may be attributed the title Free- masoh, which, since that time, has distinguished the mem- bers of these corporations in contradistinction to the other workers in wood and stone who composed no part of such bodies. Not having been interfered with by the Emperor Maxi- milian, Carausius employed all his wealth to augment the well-being of the country. He engaged the Masonic cor- porations in the erection of magnificent public edifices, which were rivaled but by those of Rome herself. His death, however, which occurred by assassination, in the year 295, brought these plans to an abrupt close. Immediately after the death of Carausius, Maximilian appointed Constance Clorus to the vacant governorship of Gaul and Britain. He, selecting Eboracum, subsequently known as the city of York, for his residence, found there the oldest and most influential lodges of the Masonic cor- porations; and this city, from that time, became the center of all the lodges of Freemasons in Britain. After the death of Constance, called the Great, an event that took place~iirtlie year 306, his son Constantine suc- ceeded him. He stopped at once the persecution of the Christians, and declared himself their protector. After his victory over his rival, Licinius, he adopted Christianity himself more, it is believed, from political motives than from a conviction of its truth and declared it the religion of the state. Among the earliest Christian communities the true doc- trines of Christ were, from the first, exhibited in the lives of their members the first apostles having been found in Britain among the Masonic corporations. These truo 42 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. priests and propagandists of the religion of Jesus were entire strangers to all thought of temporal power; and the unfortunate disputes of the four bishops who had arro- gated to themselves the government of all Christendom had not, as yet, affected the primitive doctrine recognized in that declaration of the Redeemer: "He who servegjjie with most devotion upon earth shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven." The confiding and susceptible spirit of the artist easily became impressed with the beauties of that morality which embraced humanity as a whole. The sentiments of art with which his soul was imbued repulsed all sophism, and the social life of the lodges resembled (the earliest Christian associations, with this exception, jthat, instead of that contemplative idleness that saw no |religious labor save in fasting and prayer, was exercised a robust and manly energy that found, in the acquirement of useful knowledge and the engagement in actual labor, a fitting outlet for that love of beauty and perception of the sublime which are never better directed than in the creations of art when employed for the glory of God. The early Christian missionaries, not being actuated by feelings of ambition, their doctrines were simple, pure, and easily understood and appreciated by those whom they addressed. Hence, to make themselves intelligible and beloved by their companions in the lodge, they had but to unfold before them the pure ordinances of primi- tive Christianity; and when, as was often the case, they were obliged to seek refuge in Scotland, in Ireland, or among the Orkney Islands, there to live the lives of Coul- deans, 1 it was necessary, when the most simple interpreta- *Many Christians who had sought refuge in Ireland, in Gaul, and the Orkneys, habituated to every privation during their apostolical excursions, lived in solitude in those same caves and grottoes, in the sides of rocka and mountains, which had been, before their time, inhabited by the Druids, who there assembled to celebrate their religious rites; and from which those Christians went forth only for the purpose of spreading the THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN BRITAIN. 43 tion of their doctrines was desired, to seek for it among those northern heroes of the truth. It^wjis_mJ;lm_man- ner that Christianity in its greatest .purity was hetter preserved in Great Britain than in any other country. As Christianity, in its new reTatTons'to the state, daily increased TTf power, and demanded for its exercise the ercction~bf suTEat)le buildings, the Eregmason corpora- tions found ample employment. Every-where Christian Churches sprang up under the direction and active opera- tions of these workmen. Cpjistantine himself, who, imi- tating his filth er in many of his acts and determinations, made York his residence during the first years of his reign, knew personally the principal members of those corporations^extend^edT to them every privilege they had ever possessed or were at any time deprived of, and thus they became the most effective and influential arm of the public service. The approaches of the Germans upon the Roman Em- pire of the West became from day to day more menacing. They did not content themselves, as was once their cus- tom, with pillaging arid retiring from such provinces as they overran, but commenced to definitely establish them- selves therein. Succeeding hordes pushed past those who had arrived before them, and penetrated even beyond the country possessed by the Romans; and it was from this cause that Britain, finding herself more and more isolated from the protection of the continental empire, began to look forward with more of fear than pleasure upon a day of freedom from the Roman sway. From the beginning of the third century the Romans had to contend almost constantly with the mountaineer of Scotland, a warlike people, the aborigines of their Gospel among the people. It was from the name of those solitary habitations that the title of Couldeans was given to those preachers of Christianity; as, in the Gaelic language, the w>rd couldean signifies "hermit," or dweller in solitude 44 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. country, and who, like the Welsh or Cambrians, had never been conquered; 1 and at length, menaced on every hand, and wearied with the continued strife, the Western emperor considered it prudent to remove to the southern portion of his empire those forces which had hitherto been reserved for the protection of Britain; and, by de- grees, as they were required to protect his empire from the inroads of the Goths, he withdrew his legions, and with them his jurisdiction over the country a jurisdic- tion which he finally abdicated in the year 406. Thus deserted by the Romans, the Britons called to their assist- ance the Anglii and the Saxon pagans of the neighboring continent, to protect them from the assaults of the Picts and Scots and the northern pirates who infested their coasts. These auxiliaries, however, became as injurious in one sense as they were useful in another. They repulsed the Scots, it is true, but they also fixed themselves in the land and founded the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Their gross barbarities made them the enemies of all civilization. Cities and villages were destroyed, and the flourishing prosperity that Britain enjoyed under the Roman sway disappeared. The Christian and civilized inhabitants fled to the mountains of Wales, to Scotland, or to the isles beyond. It was among these refugees that the ancient language of Britain was preserved, and with it primitive Christianity and the knowledge of architecture as practiced by the Masonic corporations. After the first barbarous impetuosity of the Anglo-Sax- ons had been calmed, and the more peaceful pursuits of agriculture replaced the wars of robbers, some of these Christian refugees withdrew from their mountain caves and fortresses, and, returning to what were once their homes, converted many among the pagan nobles and people, 'It was not until between the years 1273 and 1307 that the Welsh were finally conquered by Edward I, eon of Henry III, and grandson of John, the Nero of English kings. TRANS. THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN BRITAIN. 45 but as yet dreaded to approach the kings. And thus, toward the close of the_sixth century, the mild and fruit- ful light of the primitive Christian doctrine began to diffuse its gentle rays almost to the center of the seven kingdoms. It was reserved for the Benedictine monks, whom Pope Gregory I sent to England, to convert th Anglo-Saxons, and at whose head presided Austin, a cele brated priest-architect, to succeed in gradually converting all theTTnngs. It is true that these monks, prompted by that spirit of temporal dominion which even at that early age began to manifest itself in the Church, exerted their best efforts to strengthen the power of the Pontiff and enhance the possessions of the Holy See; but in these operations they were at once met by the returned refu- gees and their pupils, who had kept the early faith, doc- trine, and practices of the primitive Church; and thus, to a great extent, were the encroachments on that early doctrine prevented, and abuses of power corrected. And to this preservation of the primitive teachings of Chris- tian apostles, in the midst of the Masonic corporations, it is proper to attribute that better and more liberal spirit that rendered the converts of the British Isles more fa- vorably disposed toward the arts and sciences of those days than were the inhabitants of the neighboring conti- nent. In accordance with the teachings of their founder, the Benedictine monks worked more than they fasted or prayed. Austin himself, the apostle of England and first Archbishop of Canterbury, was no less celebrated for his knowledge of architecture than for his other powers of mind and varied acquirements; and it was he who, at this time, began to rebuild and re-establish the ancient Masonic corporations, now reduced, it may well oe be- lieved, to a very small number indeed, entirely inade- quate for those immense constructions projected by the new apostles of Christianity. It was in this manner that 46 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY at this time, in England as upon the continent, the lodges became attached to the convents, and were more or less governed by monks, according as the leading architects were monks or lay brethren ; and from this fact arose the condition that lodges held their meetings almost exclu- sively in the convents, where, if an abbot was proposed as Master or Warden of a lodge, they addressed him as Wor- shipful Brother or Worshipful Master, thus establishing a mode of address which has descended even to our own day as the usual one in speaking to or of the first officer within a lodge. After the close of the seventh century, both bishops and abbots made frequent journeys to Rome, as well for the purpose of collecting pictures and relics of saints as to in- duce superior workmen to return with them and settle in England. Such as did so, and all others who erected for the nobles their castles and for the clergy their convents and churches, were treated with the greatest consideration by the principal men of the country, who concerted means for establishing a taste for the arts and sciences. And in this undertaking it was soon discovered that the -senti- ments of early art, as 'taught by Yitruvius, in the reign of Caesar Augustus, had been better preserved among the Masonic refugees from Anglo-Saxon murder and robbery in the mountains of Wales and of Scotland, than among any other of the peoples of either islands or continent. In consequence of this discovery, it became necessary to arrange anew the British lodges, and to compose them not alone of companion architects and masons, but also of influential men; and men who, advanced in civilization, protected and loved the arts, began to take a position in these lodges as accepted masons. The lodge at York was revived and became the most important one in the coun- try, and into it none were received as companions but free, men thus establishing what is yet the principal charac- teristic of this institution, to the end that no person, when THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN BRITAIN. 47 once admitted into its membership as an equal, could in any manner be impeached in his possession of Masonic privileges. It was at this time, also, that he who desired elevation to the rank of master or teacher had to make three voyages into strange countries, and prove to the chief workmen, when he returned, that he had perfected himself in a knowledge of the architecture peculiar to those countries. The superior knowledge of the workmen who had prac- ticed their art among the early refugees in Scotland began to be generally recognized at the beginning of the eighth century, and to stamp its expression upon the buildings erected in Britain. This fact produced a particular modi- fication in the constitution of the lodges. While the gen- eral assemblies of Masons occupied themselves with archi- tecture of a general character, particular members of the fraternity formed themselves into a separate organization, that aimed to copy exclusively after the Scottish models, and, for each important work, these admirable models were most rigorously followed. From York, therefore, these select masters, as they might properly be called, made frequent journeys to Scotland, where a rendezvous was fixed upon at which each of them might deliberate, after he had arrived, upon the observations made by others during their travels in the country, and record his own. For this purpose was chosen the valley of Glenbeg, on the north-east coast of Scotland, opposite the Isle of Skye. Here there were two old castles, built in a remarkable manner^ofjitone, with neither lime nor mortar, and which appeared to have served as places of refuge in the wars of earlier times. It was in these castles that the masters assembled in council, and consequently they received the name of Masters of the Valley, or Scottish Masters. In lodge assembled, when they returned, all deference was paid them, as the most learned members of the fraternity, and to them were intrusted the most particular parts of 48 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. each construction, or, in other words, the conscientious adaptation and rendering of the Scottish models. In this way, the Masonic corporations, in connection with the convents and abbeys, became, after the fall of the Roman empire, the great conservators of science and art; and in so great esteem were the members of these /corporations held, that, notwithstanding the political in- feriority of Britain at this time, these corporations were found to create, by their invincible hardihood, a circle of activity and influence that embraced nearly the whole west of Europe. Whenever an apostle of the Christian religion was sent to a distant mission, a body of builders invariably accompanied him, and thus it was that a material edifice soon bore witness to the advent of the spirit of truth. During the invasion of the Danes, between the years 835 and 870, nearly all the convents, churches, and monas- teries were destroyed by fire, and with them the records and ancient documents of the lodges which had been preserved in those convents. Fifty years afterward, the king, Athelstan, desirous to rebuild these monuments of the religion of his heart, directed his adopted son Edwin, who had been taught the science of architecture, to as- semble, in the year 926, in the city of York, all the lodges of Freemasons scattered throughout the country, to the end that they would reconstitute themselves according to their ancient laws. This done, he confirmed to them all the privileges which were possessed by the free Roman colleges in the time of the republic. The constitution that was at this time presented by the king to the assem- bly of Masons, and which is called the Uliarter is imbued with the spirit of the first Christian communi- ties, and proves, in its introduction, that the Masonic corporations at this time were but little affected by any of the peculiar doctrines which subsequently were pro- mulgated by councils of the Church dominant. 1 'See the text of this Constitution, unJer the title " ^-ter of York." TUB MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. 49 In those days it was customary to dedicate and conse- crate to some saint every erection intended for the wor- ship of God, and with the like idea all the corporations of artists, artisans, and trades chose patron saints. The Freemasons chose St. John the Baptist for theirs, because his Jeast fell on the 24th of June, date of the summer solstice^ This day had always been celebrated by the peoples of antiquity and by the Masons, since the founda- tion of their fraternity, as the period of the year when, the sun having attained its greatest height, nature is clothed and disports herself in .the greatest abundance of her richest products. As successors of the ancient col- leges of the Romans, the Freemasons of England con- served these cherished feasts ; but, not to come in conflict with the dominant clergy, they were obliged to give their celebration a name not calculated to give offense. It was on this account they were known not exclusively by the name of Freemasons, but often as the Fraternity of St. John, and, upon the continent, almost exclusively,. as _St. John Brothers, or Brothers of St. John. THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. IN the transalpine provinces of Gaul, the Masonic cor- porations, cotemporaneous with those of Britain, increased in a no less extraordinary manner. After the Roman provinces were abandoned in the year 486, all the coun- tries which had been subject to the Roman sway received with delight the attention of these builders. In those countries they were called Free Corporations, their mem- bership being composed entirely of brother Masons. 1 Com- *See, for all that relates to the history of the society in France, first me Chronological Table, and then the Summary of the History of Free- masonry in Gaul. 4 50 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEM/iSONRY. posed of the remains of the ancient colleges of constructors, they maintained their antique organization in Lombardy, where Cosmo had a celebrated schooLjof _architeeture. Here they multiplied to such an extent that thejTTafted to find occupation in that country, and consequently spread over the continent. After obtaining from the Popes the renewal of their ancient privileges, and the exclusive monopoly of erecting, in all Christendom, the monuments dedicated to religious worship, they spread into all Christian countries. And although the members of these corporations had .but little fear of, or respect for, either the temporal or spiritual power of the Popes a fact which they took no care to hide so useful were they in enhancing the grandeur and dignity of religion, this monopoly was, nevertheless, renewed and confirmed by Pope Nicholas III, in the year 1277, and continued until the year 1334, when Pope Benedict XII accorded to them special diplomas. These diplomas made them free of all local laws, all royal edicts, all municipal regulations, and every other obligation to which the other inhabitants of the country had to submit, thus rendering the title by which they were known, of free corporations, peculiarly appropriate. In addition to this freedom, these diplomas conceded to them the right of communicating directly with the Popes, of fixing the amounts of their own sal- aries or wages, and of regulating in their general assem- blies all subjects appertaining to their interior government. All artists and artisans who were not members of these corporations were interdicted from every act which would ( in any wise interfere with the work of the builders, and all sovereign rulers were commanded, as they dreaded the thunders of the Church, to suppress, with the strong arm 1 of their power, any combination of such artists and art- )isans as might rebel against this provision. During the middle ages, in all the kingdoms and princi- palities of Europe, do we find these corporations or frater- THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. 51 nities in Germany, in France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, where, under the title of St. John Brothers, or Brothers of St. John, they have erected these suhlime monuments, which, for all time, seem destined to remain as memen- toes of their architectural skill and genius. Wherever these corporations established__themselves, they jthere_m- creased their infl.uence_by a^b|itin^..AS_j)atTons, the emi- nent ^ejj_oF_jEe 7 Tocality, and initiating them as accepted Masons into the bosom of their society. These, generally laying aside the material object of the institution, which for them had no charms, attached themselves to its mys- tical sense, and founded, outside of the lodges of__w_ouk- men, lodges whose labors were entirely moral and^pMla- sophic. But,, almost immediately after becoming known to" the clergy, these lodges were met by that intolerant spirit which superior knowledge, if unauthorized by the Church, did, in those days of general ignorance, receive at their hands, and the members of these lodges were ac- cused of introducing schisms among the laity, and troubles and sedition into the temporal sovereignty, disaffection toward the Pontiff and all other sovereigns, and, in fine, of the wish to re-establish the Order of the plar, aiicTto^reveuge the deatTToTthe and other officers of that Order upon the descendants of the kings and princes who were accessory thereto. In consequence of these~charges, it is stated by a document the authenticity of which has not yet been entirely estab- lished, that the representatives of nineteen of those philo- sophic lodges, located in different portions of Europe, assembled at Cologne, in the year 1535, under the direc- tion of Hermann V","~Bishop of Cologne. 1 At this meeting there was prepared a confession of faith, in which were enunciated the purposes and doctrines of the:?e Masonic societies. This document, called the " Charter of Cologne," l For presiding at this assembly, he was, some years subsequently, put under the ban of the Church, 52 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. is dated 24th of Jane, 1535, and thereto are signed nine- teen illustrious names, among which appear Philip Me- lancthon, Bruce, Coligni, Falk, Visieux, Stanhope, Jacobus Prepositus, Van Noock, and Noble names of those pres- ent at this assembly, as delegates from the Masonic lodges of London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Paris, Vi- enna, and other cities, to assist at this general assembly convoked at Cologne. This charter is written upon a sheet of parchment in Masonic characters, which are con- tracted into the Latin of the middle ages, and the writ- ing of which is so much defaced as to render some of the words unintelligible. This charter, together with a docu- ment, said to be the records of a lodge called the "Lodge of the Valley of Peace," from its organization to the year 1519, after the death of a member of the lodge, named Boetzlaar, fell into the hands of Prince Frederick, Grand Master of the lodges of Holland, who had copies of them prepared and sent to the principallooges of Europe. The persecutions of the ultramontane clergy, however, event- ually destroyed the philosophic lodges of Southern and Western Europe. THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GERMANY. DURING the fifteenth century there existed in Germany a great number of lodges of operative Masons which, following the example of the English lodges of the same period, recognized a few principal lodges of master work- men and architects, to whom they accorded the title of high or grand lodges. These were in number five, and were established at Cologne, Strasburg, Vienna, Zurich, and Madgeburg. That at Cologne was from at first con- sidered the most important, and the mabter of the work upon the cathedral at Cologne was recognized as the chief of all the masters and workmen of Lower Germany, as was THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GERMANY. 58 the master of the work on the cathedral of Straeburg 1 considered as occupying a similar position of honor in Upper Germany. Subsequently there was established a central mastership, and Strasburg, when the work upon its great cathedral was continued. to its completion, dis- puted the pre-eminence with Cologne, whose cathedral is yet unfinished, and became the seat of the grand master- ship. The grand lodge of Strasburg counted within her jurisdiction the lodges of France, Hesse, Swabia, Thurin- gia, Franconia, and Bavaria ; while to the grand lodge of Cologne were subordinate the lodges of Belgium and neighboring portions of France. The grand lodge of Vienna exercised jurisdiction over the lodges of Austria, Hungary, and Styria; while those of Switzerland were attached to the grand lodge of Berne during the con- struction of the cathedral in that city, and subsequently to that of Zurich, where its seat was transferred in 1502. The lodges of Saxony, which from at first recognized the supremacy of the grand lodge of Strasburg, were subse- quently placed under that of Madgeburg. These five grand lodges had a sovereign* and inde- pendent jurisdiction, and adjudged, without appeal, all causes brought before them, according to the statutes of the society. These ancient laws, revised by the chiefs of the lodges, assembled at Ratisbonne on the 25th of April, 1459, and, for the first time, printed in 1464, 2 were en- titled " Statutes and Rules of the Fraternity of Stone-cutters of Strasburg" Sanctioned by the Emperor Maximilian in the year 1498, the constitution, composed of those statutes and rules, was confirmed by Charles V in 1520, by Ferdinand in 1558, and their successors. 1 Erwin of Steinbach. He called together, at Strasburg. the Masonic Congress of 1275. His seal is mentioned by Brother Clavel as being the oldest arrangement of the compass, square, and letter G extant. TBANS. 8 This was about twenty-five years after the discovery of the art of printing with moveable types. TRANS. 54 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Toward the close of the Jlftejinth. cauilirv., however, the crying abuses of the clergy and the Popes having cooled the religious fervor and unsettled the faith of the people, the construction of many churches was arrested for want of necessary means to erect them. This led to the dis- persion of the men engaged in erecting them, and imme- diately following this change in public sentiment, burst forth the reformation, led by Luther, which rent for the time, almost to its foundation, the temporal and spiritual power of the Popes, and, forever arresting the work upon the vast monuments of worship, g^ve_the_jleath-blow to the__Masonic corporations in every portio.a_o_fjthe European continent. Gradually thenceforth the GLemian-. lod^ee dis- solved those oi^ Switzerland had been by an order of the Helvetian Diet disbanded in 1522 the jurisdiction of the five grand lodges was narrowed to very confined limits, and with nothing to construct, and nothing to adjudicate, the Diet of the Empire, sitting at Rat'isbonne, Abrogated, by a law of the 16th of March, 1707, the authority of these lodges, and ordamed thaj^the differences ^be-feween the wm'kmen__builders wjhi_ch might be submitted to the civil tribunals. GENERAL TRANSFORMATION OF FREEMASONRY FROM AN OPERA- TIVE TO A SPECULATIVE OR PHILOSOPHIC INSTITUTION. DURING the troubles which desolated England about the middle of the seventeenth century, and after the death of Charles I, in 1649, the Masonic corporations of England, and more particularly those of Scotland, labored in secret for the re- establishment of the throne destroy'ed-bvjOrom- well; and for this purpose they instituted many degrees hitherto unknown and totally foreign to the spirit and na- ture of Freemasonry, arid which, in fact, gave to this time- honored institution a character entirely political. The dis- GENERAL TRANSFORMATION OF FREEMASONRY. 55 cussions to which this country was a prey had alreadyjDrp- duced a separation between the operative and accepted Ma- sons. The latter were honorary members, who, according to long established usage, had been accepted into the society for the advantage which their generally influential position in the country might effect; but this very position made them at this time naturally the adherents of the throne and the strong supporters of Charles II, who during his exile was received as an accepted Mason by their election, and, in consequence of the benefits he derived from the society, gave to Masonry the title of Royal Art; because it was mainly by its instrumentality that he was raised to the throne and monarchy restored to England. Notwithstanding, however, the favor with. which it was regarded by the king, Freemasonry, during the latter part of the seventeenth century, decreased to such a degree thatjn^ 1703 ,but^ four lodges^ existedjin^lb p - tyL,of . Lon - don, while throughout Great Britain at that time none other were known to the members, who, reduced to the smallest number, attended the meetings of these. In fact, with the completion of St. Paul's Cathedral, the city of London was considered reBuiIt, and tlie occupation of the operative Masons seemed to have been brought to a close; while the accepted Masons, having obtained the object of their desire in the restoration of the monarchy, neglected the communion they had previously kept up with the operative members of the institution. Hence we iind that in the year 1703 the lodge of St. Paul so named because the operative Masons engaged in the erection of the cathe- dral held their lodge in a building situated in the church- yard or grounds thereof passed an important resolution the object of which WSLS to augment the numbers of the fraternity, and to give the Masonic institution some of its former importance in public estimation. Here, having agreed that they should continue the existence of so praiseworthy an institution to be used as the conservator 56 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. of religion and tradition, and perpetuate, by the beautiful allegories of its legends and symbols, its eminently hu- manitarian doctrines, they for this purpose adopted the following memorable resolution: " RESOLVED, That the. privileges of Masonry shall no longer be confined to operative Masons, but be free to men of all pro- fessions, provided that they are regularly approved and ini- tiated into the fraternity" This important decision changed entirely the face of the society, and transformed it into what we find it to-day; but many difficulties had to be removed, many years of probation had to be passed before this form of its work- ings could be successfully adopted. This was owing, first, to the want of union among the four lodges; second, to the exceedingly disreputable character which, for many years, had attached to the society it having degenerated from an influential and privileged institution to little better than- a pot-house companionship, with here and there a proud few who remembered its glories of other days but perhaps, above all, the determined opposition of the Grand Master, Sir Christopher AYren^ the archi- tect of the new city of London, to the spirit of the inno- vating resolution. This opposition he maintained until his death; so that it was not until after that event, which occurred in 1716, that the four lodges which still existed, more in name than in fact, felt themselves at liberty to assemble their membership with the primary object of electing a new Grand Master, but more particularly to detach themselves from all connection with the lodge at York, that had for fifty years enjoyed but a nominal exist- ence, and to put into active operation the decision involved in the resolution of 1?03. In that assembly, after electing the Master of St. Paul's Lodge, Anthony Say re, to the office of Grand Master, there were gathered up the "Constitution and Charges of a Freemason" which, subsequently prefaced by a " History of GENERAL TRANSFORMATION OF FREEMASONRY. 57 Freemasonry," prepared by Dr. Anderson, were accepted, printed iiL-1723. under the title of "The Constitution and Charges of the Ancient and Respectable Fra- ternity of Freemasons" And it is the date of this publica- tion that may properly be considered the commencement of exclusively speculative or modern Freemasonry. The principle of civilization indwelling in the doctrines and pursuits of Masonry, after having burst the bonds which kept it grasped in the stilt* embrace of a mechanical asso- ciation, at once abandoning itself to all its powers of ex- pansion, almost immediately penetrated the heart of the social system, and animated it with a new life. The new Freemasonry, in the short apace of twenty -five years, spread itself in a manner but little less than miraculous into nearly every portion of the ciyjHzd__world. It passed from England to France as early as 1725, thence to Belgium, to Holland, to GeiMiiany,~~to~~^LTQ^fica, subse- quently to Portugal, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, to Sweden, and to Poland; and, as early as 1740 r were to be found lodges in Denmark, in Bohemia, in Russia, in. the Antilles, in Africa, andTn the British possessions in Hindostan. If Freemasonry has ceased to erect temples ; if it has ceased to engage in material architecture; if it no longer exhibits itself in the elevation of spires and turrets as points from which eyes may be directed and hopes ascend toward a better and a happier world, it has not less con- tinued its work of moral and intellectual culture; and its success in this respect has been far more satisfactory than those who planned its design as a speculative institution ever hoped to achieve. In all time it has exercised a power- ful and happy influence upon social progress; and if to- day, instead of holding itself at the head of all secular societies, it is known in some countries but to be rejected and despised, this condition is owing to the destruction of that uniformity and oneness of purpose which constituted its fundamental recommendation; and this destruction is 58 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. due to the innovations introduced by ambitious and design- ing men for motives of personal influence and advancement, and in defiance of their solemn asseverations that it was not within the power of its membership to introduce inno- vations into the body of Freemasonry. But even here it has shown the immortality of its spirit; for, notwithstand- ing the multiplicity of rites which have been forced upon it, and the ceremonial degrees which have been added to it thus dividing its strength, causing grave inconvenience, choking the sources of accurate information as to its origin and history, and creating useless and unsatisfactory dis- tinctions among its members that excellent spirit which its earliest teachings engender and subsequent culture fosters is ever exhibited in a fraternal regard for each other when the brethren meet in their popular assembly, and there lay aside " all distinctions save that noble dis- tinction, or rather emulation, of who can best work and best agree." DIVERS OPINIONS UPON THE ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY. 59 DIVERS OPINIONS UPON THE ORIGIN OF FREEMA- SONRYITS DOCTRINES, ITS OBJECT, AND ITS FUTURE. THE origin of Freemasonry has been, for a long time, vague and obscure. And while it is to this obscurity in its history, augmented by the multiplicity of systems which have been introduced, that it is necessary to attrib- ute the contradictory opinions as to its origin held by those who have written upon that subject, it is, however, due to the scientific researches of a few Masonic historians who have entered this field of darkness with the deter- mination to lay aside all the commonly received opinions and traditions upon the subject, that at the present day this obscurity has disappeared. By the connection that its forms of initiation present with the Egyptian Mysteries, and with many societies and philanthropieal schools of antiquit} r the Dyonisian, the Therapeutic, the Essenian, the Pythagorean some authors have believed that within one or several of those societies might be found the cradle of Freemasonry; while others, led into error by the symbols and passwords of Hebrew origin, have pretended that its birth had place at the build- ing of Solomon's Temple, of which the books of Kings and of Chronicles, as found in the Old Testament, afford us such precise details. This temple, erected in the year 1012, before the Christian era, by king Solomon, who was, no doubt, Master of the Hebrew Mysteries a type of the Egyptian and nine years afterward dedicated by him to 60 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY.' the glory of the one only and ever-living God, was the first national manifestation of an only God ever erected. From the pointed bearing of this fact, and as a masterpiece of gorgeous architecture, representing in perfection the image and harmony of the universe, this temple has ever sym- bolized in Freemasonry the moral excellence to which very brother is in duty bound to carry his perfected work. Losing sight, however, of this aspect of the mat- ter, as well as of the fact that all the teachings of an- tiquity were invariably clothed in allegories and illustrated by symbols, many authors, and following them the mass of the brethren, have accepted the teachings of Masonry and the legends of the degrees not as allegories, but as actual occurrences, and have inextricably entangled them- selves in their endeavors to explain them as such. Another peculiarity which has. above all, contributed to induce error in the researches into the origin of the so- ciety, is the difference presented by the forms of initiation; that of the first degree being evidently borrowed from the Egyptian, while those of the second and third belong en- tirely to the Hebrew mysteries. This difference, however, will be easily understood, when it is known that Numa Pompilius organized his colleges of constructors as a fra- ternity of artists and artisans, and, at the same time, as a religious society. When so organized, the greater num- ber of the colleges, finding themselves composed of Greeks who had been initiated into the mysteries of their country, imitated in their worship the form of initiation practiced in those mysteries; but when, some seven hundred years afterward, in the time of Julius Caesar, the Jews were pro- tected at Rome and granted many immunities, among which were the privilege of setting up their synagogues, a great many Hebrew artists and artisans were affiliated in those colleges, and in their turn introduced a part of the Hebrew mysteries, and with them their own beautiful allegories, among which that of the third degree was chief. DIVERS OPINIONS UPON THE ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY. 61 It is true that the forms of initiation practiced in our day probably bear very little resemblance to those which were in use among the Roman colleges of builders, and that these forms have often been changed or modified to suit the country and the men who found themselves at the head of the fraternity ; nevertheless, it is certain tha a fixed and unchanged foundation has always religiously been preserved. The rituals which were established at London in 1650, as well as those of 1717, seem to have been based upon the Anglo-Saxon documents, arranged by the General Assembly at York in the year 926. It will be remembered that the fraternity in 1650, the year after the bloody execution of Charles I, and when the accepted Masons had acquired such influence in the insti- tution, had, to some considerable extent, and, in 1717, to a far greater degree, abandoned the material object of the association, and the members thereof having submitted, at their initiation into the two first degrees, to all the proofs required of the Master, the allegory of Hebrew origin and the summit of Hebrew mystery was always preserved as the proper illustration for the third degree, susceptible, as it is, of a local interpretation that satisfies men of every worship. 1 Notwithstanding the connection that so evidently exists between the ancient mysteries and the Freemasonry of our day, the latter should be considered an imitation 'Such historians as attribute to the partisans of the Stuarts the in- stitution of Freemasonry, and who constantly believe that this allegory portrays the violent death of Charles I, are in error; for it requires but a very limited knowledge of the ancient mysteries to see in Hiram, the master workman, the Osiris of the Egyptians, the Mithras of the Per sians, the Bacchus of the Greeks, the Atys of the Phrygians, or the Balder of the Scandinavians, of whom these people celebrated the pas- sion, violent death, and resurrection as the Roman clergy of to-day, in the sacrifice of the Mass, celebrate the passion, violent death, and resur- rection of Jesus Christ Otherwise, this is the type eternal of all the religions which have succeeded each other upon the earth. t>2 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. rather than a continuation of those ancient mysteries; for initiation into them was the entering of a school wherein were taught art, science, morals, law, philosophy, philan- thropy, and the wonders and worship of nature; while the mysteries of Freemasonry are but a resume of divine ind human wisdom and morality that is to say, of all hose perfections which, when practiced, bring man nearest to God. Freemasonry of to-day is that universal morality that attaches itself to the inhabitants of all clirnes to the men of every worship. In this sense, the Freemason re- ceives not the law, he gives it ; because the morality Free- masonry teaches is unchanging, more extended and uni- versal than any native or sectarian religion can be; for these, always exclusive, class men who differ from them as pagans, idolaters, schismatics, heretics, or infidels; while Masonry sees nothing in such religionists but brothers, to whom its temple is open, that by the knowledge of the truth therein to be acquired they may be made free from the prejudices of their country or the errors of their fathers, and taught to love and succor each other. Free- masonry decries error and flies from it, yet neither hates nor persecutes. In fine, the real object of this association may be summed up in these words : To efface from among men the prejudices of caste, the conventional distinctions of color, origin, opinion, nationality; to annihilate fanat- icism and superstition ; extirpate national discord, and with it extinguish the firebrand of war; in a word, to ar- rive, by free and pacific progress, at one formula or model of eternal and universal right, according to which each individual human being shall be free to develop every faculty with which he may be endowed, and to concur heartily and with all the fullness of his strength in the bestowment of happiness upon all, and thus to make of the whole human race one family of brothers, united by affection, wisdom, and labor. Slowly and painfully does the highest condition of DIVERS OPINIONS UPON THE ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY. 63 human knowledge accomplish its great revolution around the glittering axis of truth. The march is long, and since it began nations and peoples have lived and died ; but when that journey is accomplished, and the incarnation of truth, now robed but in its symbol, shall appear in all the splendor of its brilliant nudity, truth's torch itself shall then enlighten the world, the doctrine that has just been announced shall become the religion of all the peo- ples of the earth, and then, and not till then, will be realized that sublime ideal now mysteriously hidden in the symbol of Freemason ry. That day is, without doubt, yet far distant; but it will arrive. Its coming is marked by destiny and in the order of the centuries. Already, in the sacred balance of eter- nal justice, is seen each day to diminish a portion of the errors of the people, and to increase the body of light, of principle, and those truths which are preparing the way for its triumph, and which, one day, will give assur- ance of its reign. 64 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF THE MASONIC CORPORA- TIONS IN GAUL, FROM THEIR INTRODUCTION IN THE YEAR 60 B. C., TO THEIR DISSOLUTION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. AFTER ten years of unavailing war, the old Gallic na- tionality perished. All had to submit to the great genius of Julius Caesar the most beautiful devotion as well as the most indomitable courage. It was in vain that the three hundred and fifty tribes of the Gauls, the Bellovici and the Carnutes, the Aedui and the Bituriges, the Treviri and the Arverni, had disputed with him, step by step, the possession of their territory. The Roman legions, sur- mounting every obstacle, filling up swamps, breaking out roads, and traveling securely through dense forests, took possession of nearly every town and village to which they laid siege, and gained nearly every battle which they fought. After having exhausted themselves in vain ef- forts for the defense of Alise and Uxellodunum, 2 Gaul 1 Shortly before this period, some brigades of Companion Constructors, with their masters at their head, accompanied the Boman legions into the middle of Gaul and into Spain, and there had erected some towns: Cordova, for example. But it was not until Caesar's time that the col- leges, complete in all their appointments, were called by him to recon- struct the destroyed cities. * Alise is supposed by some to be now called Iselburg, or, according to Junius, Wesel, in the duchy of Cleves, but more probably Elsen Index to Ccesars Comments. The situation of Uxellodunum is not now known, though, in the opinion of some geographers, it was the modern Ussoldun. Ibid. (Note by Translator.) THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. 65 forced into her last intrenchments, was obliged to submit to the yoke of the conqueror ; and thus, despite of her- self, she became one of the most rich and beautiful prov- inces of the vast Roman Empire. According- to Plutarch, Csesar, for the purpose of bring- ing to a successful conclusion his long and perilous enter- prise, had taken more than eight hundred towns, con- quered more than three millions of men of whom one rmllion perished in battle, and another million was re- djced to captivity but, finally, in the year 60 B. C., the work of conquest was achieved. Osesar treated the conquered country with extreme mod- eration. He left to Gaul her territory, her habitations, and ihe essential forms of her government. He accorded to h.or people even the title and rights of Roman citizens, with the sole condition that they should pay tribute. Little by little the old Gauls abandoned their rude and savage manners for those soft and polished of their con- querors. They forsook their antique oppida, difficult of access, for cities embellished and adorned with elegant constructions, and upon favorable spots, desolated by war, arose cities and towns equaling those of Italy. Augusto- dunum replaced Bibracte, and Augusto-nemetum was built near Gergovia. The new cities, built under the direction of the corporations of constructors, who were partly at- tached to the Roman legions, took names from the lan- guage of their builders, and received from Rome priests and magistrates. Immediately sumptuous edifices arose upon the sacred places; beautiful statues, modeled by Graeco-Latin art, are substituted for the rude effigies of the Celtic divinities; swamps filled with reeds, and lands covered with briars, are converted into beautiful fields and meadows; the forests are cleared and the soil cultivated to rival the most beautiful countries on the thither side of the Alps. Numerous roads open up communication with all parts; the rivers are furrowed with boats, and 5 66 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. the ocean with richly-laden ships, like those of the Medi- terranean; commerce is extended, fabrics of every kind begin to be manufactured; and, in fine, the various prod- ucts of the country are carried into every province of the vast empire. Since the time of Caesar, Gaul had been furrowed with oads, but it remained until the reign of Augustus to con- nect them with those which had been constructed in the neighboring provinces. That Emperor, for the immense work that the conquest reclaimed, ordered from beyond Cisalpine Gaul, (Venice and Lombardy,) and even from Home itself, all the builders and artisans, members of the colleges of constructors, which could be spared. These corporations conserved their important privileges, and in Gaul considerably augmented their organization. One portion occupied themselves with the construction of the roads, and directed the Roman soldiers in their labors. Another was more particularly charged with the work on fortifications and intrenched camps, and the latter w r ere generally attached to the legions. Other colleges, com- posed of artist constructors in wood, and mechanics, built, at Massilia (Marseilles), and at Frejus, ships and boats for the service of the state; while another class of those colleges were occupied exclusively in the erection of public temples and monuments; and, finally, yet an- other in constructing bridges and aqueducts. It was under the orders of Agrippa that the latter class con- structed the most beautiful paved roads which crossed Gaul in every direction. Among these may be reckoned the Via Domitia, that traversed Savoy and Provence (this road was originally constructed under the directions of Pompey, in the year 45 B. C., and extended from Italy almost into Gaul, toward the Alps) ; the Via Aurelia, which starting from Civita Vecchia (Forum Aurelia), to Aries; that of Emporium, from near the Pyrenees to the passage of the Rhone; finally the road which, ending at Lyons, THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. 67 after having passed through the valley of Aosta, contin- ued, by order of Agrippa, in four different directions viz.: the first into Aquitania (Guienne and Gascony), by the Auvergne; the second to the Rhine, by the mouth of the Meuse ; the third to Laon, by Burgundy and Pi- cardy, and the fourth to Marseilles, by Narbonne. These were the principal roads; but there were a great many others which connected the different towns and villages. Lugdunum (Lyons) was to Gaul what the City of Rome was to the rest of the universe, the center wherein termi- nated all the principal roads of the country. As at Rome was there to be seen at Lyons the great milestone or col- umn from which all roads were measured, and upon which the distance to every point along each road was marked. The great Roman roads were marked at regular distances, by milestones (milliarii lapides), of from five to eight feet high, upon which was indicated the number of the stone, and the distances given in miles and leagues. A means of pacification employed by the Roman Em- peror was to found a great number of military colonies. Entrusted with the task of keeping quiet their most tur- bulent neighboring countries, and with the defense of their frontier against the aggressions of the Germans, these colonies, which have given birth in nearly all the provinces to the cities of the present day, were in daily communication with the inhabitants of the neighboring country, transmitting to them their ideas of taste and cultivation. Composed of Roman citizens, they enjoyed the same rights and privileges to which they were accus- tomed in Italy. The Emperor Augustus, after having regulated, at Narbo- Martius (Narbonne), in the year 27 B. C., the assessment of imposts and the administration of the interior, after having established schools and adapted the laws to the wants of the people, occupied himself in directing the construction, in many of the cities, in Carbon ne and Lyons, 68 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. particularly, by the colleges of architects, roads, aqueducts, entrenched camps, etc. From that date the prosperity of Lyons may be said to have begun. Under the Roman rule this city became the capital of Gaul, the seat of gov- ernment, the imperial residence during the voyages of Augustus, and those of most the successors to his reign. Caesar and Augustus, moreover, accepted the patronage of a number of towns which took their names from the Julian and Augustan families, and which enjoyed many privileges. The ancient cities, such as Marseilles, Aries, Aix, ISTar- bonne, etc., were ornamented, in a considerable degree, by monuments; while, by the prodigious activity of the colleges of constructors, upon the sites of ancient towns, destroyed in the wars, arose new cities, in the construction of which both Roman soldier and native population lent their aid. - Among this crowd of cities, the most important were Rheims, Rouen, Bourges, Sens, Bourdeaux, Besanon, Lyons, Vienne, Toulouse, Paris, and Treves, and the last- named was chosen latterly as the residence of the gover- nors of Gaul. Those cities were organized exactly upon the plan of Rome, wherein reposed the center of govern- ment. Each of them had its forum, its capitol, its thea- ters, its amphitheater, its temples, its cathedrals, its streets and aqueducts, and also its schools, wherein were taught polite literature, science, and art with a success that ri- valed that of Athens under Pericles, and Rome under Au- gustus himself. The spectacle that Gaul presented under the dominion of the twelve Caesars is of the highest interest. The col- leges of architects, composed generally of artists and men versed in all the sciences, had contributed to this elevated degree as much by the great number of monuments which they had erected in the principal Gallic cities, under the reign of Augustus, as by their learning and their humani- THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. 69 tarian principles. In this manner the fraternity had at- tained to a condition of such consideration that men the most distinguished regarded it a high privilege to be ac- cepted among them as honorary members. At this time many of the most illustrious patricians, prefering Gaul to Italy as a residence, Agrippa, Drusus, Tiberias, and the richest among the citizens of Rome, sought governorships in that country preferably to any other. In fine, the Roman institutions, manners, letters, and arts transplanted to this soil attained a development as abundant as in the most flourishing of the years known to Italy herself. It should be remarked that all of these productions of intelligence were forwarded or retarded, however, by the condition of reigning emperor the good ruler working for the good of the provinces as well as for that condition of Rome herself, while the evil-disposed ruler Jourdened them with imposts and vexatious grievances. Almost to the fourth century the arts, and particularly architecture, were very flourishing in the province of Gaul. From the time of Constantine, almost to the defeat of Syagrius, the emperors continued to visit the country to defend it against the incessant invasions of the Ger- mans, Saxons, Burgundians, Herulians, etc. But the .'franks, of all its invaders, appeared to be the most re- doubtable and persistent. E"o defeats damped their cour- age until the year 355, of our era, when Julian, having overthrown them in the most signal manner, removed his residence to Lutesia (Paris), and caused there to be con- structed an immense palace, the ruins of the baths of which may be seen, in the Rue de la Harpe, to this day. Under the emperors who succeeded him, however, the aggressions became more active and audacious, and the ravages more terrible. The imperial power lost each year, each day, a portion of its prestige. Stilicon yet sus- tained the power of Ilonorius, in Gaul ; but, after him, the Sclaves, the Alans, and the Huns pillaged and devas- 70 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. tated the country without pity and without mercy. The Visigoths and the Burgundians undertook even to estab- lish themselves in the land. Adolpli, king of the Goths, fought the German hordes for some time with variable success, but he was, in his turn, chased from Carbon ne and finally driven from the south by Constance, a gen cral commanding the army of Honorius. It was in this war that the greater portion of the beautiful monuments erected by the Roman colleges were destroyed monu- ments the beauty and symmetry of which we can yet judge by the existing remains of the amphitheaters at Aries, at Frejus, Nemes, etc., the aqueducts of the Pont du Gard, at Lyons, and those of neighboring cities. Honorius reorganized the Gauls, and Aries became the capital. In a proclamation, he invited the people to con- struct twenty-four of their destroyed cities, to rebuild their bridges, and re-establish their roads. For this pur- pose, he sent into all parts of the country which had been overrun by the barbaric hordes artist constructors, to guide the workmen and direct them in their labors. But all of these ameliorations endured for but a short time; the barbarous nations continued their invasions, and the Franks finally triumphed. It was in vain that Actius fought the Visigoths, repulsed the Burgundians, defied Attila. It was in vain that Majorien retook Lyons from Theodoric; the Franks seized upon Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, destroyed their principal edifices, and heaped ruin upon ruin. They established themselves at Tour- nay, and from thence advanced, step by step, over the territory of the empire. In fine, Clovis appeared, and Gaul was forever withdrawn from Roman domination. Then it was that a new art erected itself upon the old ruins, established itself upon a new basis, and developed itself, marked with some material elements of the past, but reinvested with another symbol. The Masonic corporations which had been formed out- TUE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. 71 side of the legions who settled in Gaul and their number was considerable after the retreat of the Romans in the year 486, remained in the country. For years they had been in the habit of receiving into their membership many of the Gauls. Many members of these corporations em- braced Christianity, which, in Gaul, since the beginning of the third century, had numerous partisans. No longer exclusively employed by the government, and their privi- leges consequently having decreased, a change operated in their organization. The different arts aod trades which, almost to that time, had been united in one fraternity, separated and formed distinct corporations ; and it was among these corporations that, much degenerated, were found to exist the manners and customs of the Roman colleges of constructors, and which, subsequently, served as a basis for the communes of the middle ages. Among them the corporations of Masons were at all times the most important, because they conserved their primitive organization and privileges, and continued to devote them- selves particularly to the construction of religious edifices. Intrusted by the new apostles, who, in the year 257, came from Rome, bearing the title of bishops, with the construc- tion of the religious edifices then in course of erection at Amiens, Beauvais, Soissons, Rheirns, and Paris, these Christian Masons, guided by those apostles, and inspired by them with a horror of pagan temples, wrought with zeal in the destruction of the enormous number of edifices and works of art that the wars and the invasions had not yet destroyed, and of which there existed many remains. In this manner the earth became the sepulcher of all the remains of centuries of early art. Under the reign of Childeric (460-481), of Clovis (481- 511), of Clothaire (511-561), many churches were built upon the ruins of the pagan temples, and, at the close of the sixth century, a great many existed. During the in- ternational wars, the invasions of barbarians and social 72 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. struggles of the people, the study of science and the prac- tice of the divers branches of the arts, found place alone in the monasteries, wherein, above all, were cultivated architecture, sculpture, and painting. So that wherever the erection of a church was contemplated, the plan was furnished by an ecclesiastic a member of the Masonic corporations and the work was executed under his direc- tion. St. Eloi, Bishop of Koyen (659), St. Ferol, of Limo- ges, Dalmae, Bishop of Rhodes, and Agricola, Bishop of Chalons (680-700), were the celebrated architects. But the corporations had equally good from among the laity, of which the most renowned had gone to England, having been engaged by the Bishop of Weymouth, who came to Cjaul to seek such ; and, later, Charles Martel, who ruled (740) in France under the title of "Major of the Palace," sent many masters and workmen to England upon the demands of the Anglo-Saxon kings. The invasion of the Arabs (718) arrested the flight that the arts had taken in the seventh century, and it was not until the reign of Charlemagne (768-814) that stone- cutters and sculptors were ordered from Lombardy, and architecture was again cultivated with success. The quali- fication of stone-cutter, or master of the w r ork, was then given to the greatest architects of Europe, and whoever wished to become an architect found it necessary to be received into the corporation to learn the art of stone- cutting that branch of architecture being considered the basis of the art not, however, to be considered or re- ceived as a master until he had passed through many de- grees of apprenticeship. It was in the Latin style that all edifices of the time were erected. The Roman and Roman-ogee, or transition, styles succeeded it. 1 'All the monuments constructed by Masonic corporations were erected after certain forms and rules which are called style. The style was adopted by the architects or chiefs, and all the masters had to couforra THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. 73 The year 1000, so much dreaded, arrived. It should have brought the reign of Anti-Christ and the end of the world's existence; but no inundation had flooded nor earthquakes shaken our globe from its axis, although the terror entertained by the Christian world, that its destruc- tion was merely deferred, was not dissipated for nearly three years afterward. At the expiration of that time, however, the most skeptical felt they had nothing further to fear, and this belief was hailed as the aurora of a new earth. Art as well as humanity arose from its long leth- argy and gave evidence of the vitality of its being. The desire to repair the disasters of years became general, and soon made itself felt in the reconstruction of nearly all the religious edifices of the Christian world. "William the Conqueror, King of England in 1054, influenced in some degree by the stream of Norman priests and archi- tects that flowed into England during his reign gradu- ates all of the school of the Lombards built the finest and most stupendous cathedrals of England. A great number of Masons had, at this time, formed an Italian school in Lombardy, which, in the seventeenth century, was an active center of civilization, and where some frag- ments of the ancient Roman colleges of builders had lo- cated themselves, and enjoyed their antique organization to it. There may be enumerated four periods in which each style is marked by a form or style different from the other. In the first period, it was the Latin style that prevailed, from the fourth to the eleventh century; subsequently the Roman style, during the elev- enth and first half of the twelfth. In the second period, it is the Roman-ogee, or transition Roman style, that prevailed, from 1150 to 1200. In the third period, it was the primary ogival style that prevailed ii the thirteenth century, the secondary in the fourteenth, and the tertiary in the fifteenth centuries. In the fourth period, it was the style called the Renaissance, or an- cient Latin revived, that prevailed to the close of the sixteenth and dur- ing the seventeenth centuries. 74 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. and privileges, under the name of Free Corporations. The most celebrated were those of Como, which had acquired so great a degree of superiority that the title of "Magistri Comacini" or Masters of Como, had become the generic name of all the members of the architect corporations. They always taught in secret, and had their own judiciary and mysteries. While they had been laboring to cover Lombardy with religious edifices, their number had so greatly increased that, this work accomplished, the country failed to afford employment for all, and, in consequence, many united in the formation of a great Fraternity, having for its object to travel into all Christian countries, and therein erect religious edifices. This design was earnestly and ably sec- onded by the Popes, who conferred upon the corporations and upon those who, with the same object, followed in their train, the exclusive monopoly mentioned in an- other part of this work which was respected and sanc- tioned by the kings of such countries. In the eleventh century we find them again in France, where they are known under the name of Brother Masons and Brother Bridgers, and sometimes, also, under that of Freemasons. Employed and directed almost exclusively by the religious orders, the abbots and prelates held it an honor to enter into membership with the Fraternity, and to participate in their secrets, and thus greatly promoted the stability and consideration accorded to the institution. The numbers of the Mason Fraternity were united by mutual obligations of hospitality, succor, and good offices, and thus they were enabled to make, at small expense, the most lengthy journeys in the pursuit of employ inent. The Bridgers, or Bridge-building Fraternity, who formed a community, civil and religious, resembling that of the ancient Roman colleges, occupied themselves more par- ticularly with that which concerned bridges. It was them THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. 75 who built the bridge at Avignon (1180), and nearly all the bridges of Provence, Lorraine, and Lyons. The architect-in-chief of the corporation of Freemasons was generally a Benedictine monk, and supported by men of all the principal nationalities Italy, England, France, Holland, Germany, and Greece who, during the construe tion of. some more masterly production than usual, found it necessary to travel much from country to country. The workmen dwelt, upon these occasions, in barracks erected for their convenience, near by the edifice in course of construction, and generally upon a high or rising ground. The master directed all. Ten men were always under the surveillance of a chief, and none but actual Freemasons participated in the work, and who, when their task was in that locality accomplished, sought their fortunes elsewhere. In nearly every instance they were ably seconded by the people of the neighborhood, who freely carried to the spot the necessary materials in the rough which were used in the construction of the edifice, and also by the nobles, who gave them money and pro- visions necessary for their support. All of the principal cities had their corporations of workmen, who, in addition to their rights as citizens, had their own fundamental and special laws, as corporate societies. It was in the reigns of Philip Augustus (1180 to 1223), and of St. Louis (1226-1270), that were conceived the majority of these magnificent cathedrals that can be called by no lesser name than sublime sanctuaries of an all-pow- erful God ; grand conceptions of Christian genius as poems written out in the faith and by the hand of those Mason philosophers. In the eyes of the vulgar, these monuments are but masses of stone regularly heaped together; their forms present to such nothing beyond the expression of an idea indicating a temple, a palace, or other form of edifice; but to the eye of the philosopher, this form had a mission more noble and elevated that of transmitting 76 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. to future generations the ideas, manners, and civilizing progress of the day and generation, and of faithfully re- flecting the image and sentiments indicative of the then civil and religious knowledge of the peoples. Thus the varied genius which had conceived and executed the tem- ples, as well of antiquity as the middle ages, gave expres- sion to the spirit of the times, while each of these monu- ments seems animated with the soul of its author. Without entering into the details of these gigantic con- ceptions, such as we find expressed in the cathedrals of Cologne, Strasburg, Paris, and many others, let us pause a moment to grasp their grandness as majestic edifices, and we will discover ourselves lost in surprise at the hardihood evinced by the builder in his harmonious blend- ing of diametrically opposite elements. But, when we perceive that a principle individual, original, and in- genious, disposing of even the smallest parts and descend- ing to the arrangement of the most minute details rules and imparts to the whole an unrivaled strength and beauty, our souls are ravished with unbounded admira- tion. The principle of repetition and regular variation from a fundamental form that is observable in the interior of these monuments, has been uniformly followed in the formation of all the other members in the exterior of the edifice. By all the type of the whole is represented in the parts; and thus we find, in the compositions of these architect philosophers, a marvelous principle of develop- ment from a few fundamental forms, proceeding from the simple to the composite, such as Haiiy, in his treatise on Mineralogy, demonstrates as the principle of crystalliza- tion, and such as Goethe, in his "Naturwissenschaft und Morphologic," discovered in plants, as the principle of vegetable metamorphosis. The ties of union which existed among the member- THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS IN GAUL. 77 ship of Freemasons, explains how and why there appears such a striking identity of expression among the various monuments erected by them in the different countries of Europe, and above all, among those erected during the thirteenth century. The masters of the work (architects) of all the religious edifices of the Latin Church had ob- tained their knowledge at the same central school ; they were obedient to the laws of the same hierarchy; they were directed in their constructions by the same prin- ciples, and what was known to one immediately became the property of the whole body. They were obliged to conform to a general plan adopted for all religious edifices, and therefore were not permitted to follow their individual ideas of form, even if the result of their inspirations, as to details, would have been more beautiful in effect or har- monious in ornament. And it is thus that the cotem- porary monuments of Alsatia, Poictiers, Normandy, Bur- gundy, and the province of Auvergne present, in point of decoration, a particular physiognomy, which is generally attributed to local circumstances, and to the nature of the materials, rather than to the facts we have indicated. The enormous sacrifices that the population had made to erect churches, joined to the crying abuses of the clergy and the popes, had, in the fifteenth century, weakened the popular ardor, and dispelled the popular faith to so great a degree, that new church edifices ceased to be erected, and the work even on these in course of con- struction was stopped. Then the Reformation completed the destruction of papal power, and forever arrested the erection of vast religious edifices. IsTo more enjoying the protection of the popes, the privileges of the Masonic corporations became of little value, and, having no more religious edifices to construct, the corporations dispersed; and, by the beginning of the sixteenth century, they found occupation but in the erection of civic edifices. Finally, 78 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. in 1539, Francis I suspended all the corporations of work- men, and thus Freemasonry, in the ancient sense of the term, was extinguished in France. Since that time, the architects have, in their individual capacity, undertaken and finished, by the aid of workmen engaged in the usual manner, such erections as was or- lered or required. The tie of fraternity that heretofore had united master, workman, and apprentice was gradu- ally dissolved, and the workmen formed themselves into separate societies which were imitated by other bodies of tradesmen. This was the origin of the trades-unions which were so prevalent in the seventeenth century, and which at the present day exists, in more or less influence, in every city of Europe and America. The consequences of the dissolution of the Masonic so- cieties were such that in a few years the art of building the pointed arch was lost, as also the art of constructing those voluted elevations which characterizes the great ca- thedrals of the middle ages. The Gothic style, prevalent from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, gave place to the style called the Renaissance, as that of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and it is to this last school that belonged the celebrated architects, Delorme and Bul- lant, who built, in 1577, the Tuilleries; Lescot and Goryon, who built, in 1571, the Louvre; Lemercier, who built the national palace of St. Rock; Blondel and Bullet, who built, between the years 1674 and 1686, th'e gates of St. Denis and St. Martin ; Mansart, who built the castles of Versailles and the Invalides, between the years 1700 and 1725; and J. Soufflot, who built the Pantheon. These architects were not members of the Freemason corporations. The Masonic corporations never presented in France that distinctive character that they had in England, and more particularly in Scotland; and consequently their in- fluence upon civilization there has been much less than in the latter countries. The practice adopted by the corpora- THE MASONIC CORPORATIONS EN GAUL. 79 tions in those countries of affiliating, in the capacity of honorary members or patrons, some eminent men, had, however, in France, the same result ; that is to say, the formation of lodges outside of the corporations, whose object was the propagation of the humanitarian doctrines of the institution; for it is certain that, since the Masonic corporations were dissolved in France, there have existed lodges of this character at Marseilles, Lyons, and Paris, similar to those which existed at Anvers, Gaud, Brus- sels, Amsterdam, and Florence. All of these lodges are believed to have had entered into relations of correspond- ence with each other; but, since the middle of the seven- teenth century, no trace of such relationship is discover- able. The final transformation of this fraternity of artists and artisans to a moral institution, such as went into operation in London in 1717, and as it exists in our own day, took place in Fiance in 1721. 80 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. ABRIDGMENT OF THE HISTORY OF MODERN OR PHILOSOPHIC FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE, SINCE ITS INTRODUCTION, IN 1721, TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE, IN 1772. IN the abridgment of the General History of Freema- sonry previously given, we have shown how this ancient fraternity of arts w T as transformed, in 1717, at London, from a corporation mechanical and philosophic to an insti- tution purely philosophic, abandoning forever its material object that is to say, the construction of buildings of every kind but otherwise scrupulously conserving its traditional doctrines and symbols. The first cities of the continent of Europe to which Masonry, thus regenerated, was carried, were Dunkirk, 1 in 1721, and Mons. 2 It was not until 1725 that the first lodge was founded at Paris, by Lord Derwentwater and two other English- men, under the title of " St. Thomas," and constituted by them, in the name of the Grand Lodge of London, on the 12th of June, 1726. Its members, to the number of five or six hundred, held their lodge at the house of the traitor Hurre, in the street of the St. Germain meat-market. A second lodge was established, by the same English gentle- lr rhe lodge at Dunkirk was named "Friendship and Brotherly Love," and was reconstituted by the Grand Lodge of France in 1756. 2 The lodge at Mons was constituted by the Grand Lodge of England. on the 24th of June, 1721, under the title of "Perfect Union." Subse- quently it was erected into an English Grand Lodge of the lower country of Austria, and has constituted or chartered lodges since 1730. FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE. 81 men, on the 7th of May, 1729, under the name of "Louis f the Presbyterian Church at London, to compile from ihese documents a constitution, to be preceded by a his- tory of the corporation, which would in the future, serve as a guide to modern Freemasonry. Brother Anderson, having acquitted himself of the task, in 1722 submitted his work to the commission, who ap- proved it, and caused it to be sanctioned by the Grand Lodge on the 25th March, 1723. This constitution is en- titled, "The Book of Constitutions for Freemasons, con- taining the History, Charges, and Regulations, etc., of that Most Ancient and Right Worshipful Fraternity, for the use of the Lodges." This constitution is based upon the charter of York, which, of all others, has served as a guide for all those which have been established since A. D. 926. Into this constitution were carried otherwise the changes and the developments which were rendered indispensable by the new object of the society, and properly above all was caused to predominate the supremacy of the Grand Lodge of London. This last tendency, so much to be, in this our own day, deprecated, but proves that its authors were not penetrated by the true spirit of the Charter of York. This collection of laws, published for the first time in 1723, 1 has been printed many times, and for the last time took of the character of corporate information, delivered the greater part f the documents in the possession of their lodge to the flames, thus causing, by their exaggerated scruples, an irreparable loss to the Ma- sonic historian. translations of this work were made and published in Germany in the years 1741, '43, '44, '62, '83, and 1805. In London it was reprinted in 1756, '57, and '75. FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND. 97 by the Grand Lodge of England, in 1855. Beginning with the year 1723, the organization of the new Masonry was seated upon a solid foundation, and its prosperity con- tinued to increase. By virtue of this constitution, the new Grand Lodge of England placed itself in legitimate and sole authority over the entire Masonic fraternity, and settled from that time all contradictions on the part of English lodges constituted previous to that date. This constitution in fact attainted the ancient liberties of Free- masons, and in particular prohibited the formation of any lodges which should not receive the confirmation .of the Grand Lodge of London. In this manner protests against this new authority were excited in the Grand Lodges of York and Edinburgh. The activity displayed by the Grand Lodge of London, and the great number of operative lodges that it consti- tuted, stimulated the zeal of the Masons of Ireland and Scotland, who, up to this time, had not assembled but at distant and irregular periods. Soon Masonic temples opened on all sides in the two kingdoms, and the initia- tions were multiplied in great number, which fact resulted in the convocation of a general assembly of the Masons of Ireland by the lodges of Dublin, with the object of organ- izing Freemasonry upon the same basis as sustained the lodge of London. A central power was constituted at this assembly, which took place in 1729, under the title of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and the Viscount Kingston was elected Grand Master. The Grand Lodge of York, jealous of the prosperity of the Grand Lodge of London, and pretending that it waa the most ancient and legitimate power, and solely endowed with the right to direct Freemasonry, contested the su- premacy claimed by the latter, and thereby caused for a time some considerable embarrassment; but it could not arrest the progress of that body, nor interrupt its success, and soon found itself under the necessity of revising its 7 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. laws and conforming its regulations to the object of the modern Freemasonry, as had already been done by its suc- cessful rival, the Grand Lodge of London. The ancient Grand Lodge of Scotland, at Edinburgh, considering the prosperity and aggrandizement of the new English lodges as the consequence of their adoption of lew regulations and the election of new Grand Masters, desired to introduce these changes into its system ; but the hereditary trust of patron, of which James I had con- ceded the honor to the family of Roslin, in 1430, was an obstacle to this innovation. However, the Baron Sinclair of Roslin, then Grand Master under this concession, ac- ceded to the general wish expressed for him to renounce this authority, and the four oldest lodges of Edinburgh convoked, on the 24th of November, 1736, all the other lodges and all the Masons of Scotland in a general as- sembly, with the object of organizing a new Masonic power. After reading the act of renunciation of the Baron Sinclair of Roslin to the dignity of hereditary Grand Master, as also to all the privileges thereto appertaining, the assembly, composed of the representatives of thirty- two lodges, constituted itself the " Grand Lodge of St. John of Scotland," and named the Baron Sinclair of lios- lin its first Grand Master for 1737. Some of the ancient lodges, that of Kilwinning among others, had conserved the two political degrees Templar and Scottish Master and by so doing introduced troubles which had agitated England from 1655 to 1670, and which degrees were not conferred at this time but upon brethren adjudged to be worthy of being initiated into the political designs favor- able to the Stuarts, and they had been maintained subse- quently, by a decision of King Charles II, from the time of the general assembly of Masons at York, in 1663. It was the chapter named Canongate Kil winning, composed of partisans of the Stuarts, who propagated, between the years 1728 and 1740, these anti-masonic degrees, created FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND, 99 with a political object, and delivered to their partisans among whom was the Doctor Baron Ramsay, and other emissaries by diplomas, authorizing them to confer those degrees wherever they found suitable persons to receive them. It is in this manner those degrees became to be known as the Scottish Rite. Ramsay, not finding the col- lection extensive enough, added to it, and others who succeeded him continued so profitable an occupation, until the Scottish Rite comprised in France lodges, chap- ters, and councils, the membership of which being com- posed mainly of intriguing politicians. After the organization of the Grand Lodge of Scot- land, the thirty-two lodges of which it was constituted ranked by number in the order of their claims to age, and the lodge " Mary's Chapel," exhibiting an act in due form, which carried its origin to the year 1598, was placed at the head of the list of operative lodges, and took the rank of No. 1. The lodge " Canongate Kilwinning" had claimed this first place, stating that its origin went back as far as the year 1128 a circumstance very generally ad- mitted in the country; but this lodge, having lost its pa- pers during a sleep of a century and a half, could not now produce them, and consequently was refused the prefer- ence ; and this refusal caused this lodge to desire no con- nection with the new Grand Lodge, but, on the contrary, to set itself up as an independent constituent power, which it did, at Edinburgh, in 1744, at first under the name of the " Mother Lodge of Kilwinning," and subse- quently as the " Royal Grand Lodge and Chapter of the Order of Herodim of Kilwinning," abandoning the admin- istration of the three symbolic degrees to the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and reserving to itself the right to confer the two high degrees (Templar and Scottish Mas- ter) that it already possessed, and also those w r hich by this time were in use, the invention of Ramsay and others, in France. Not meeting with any success at home in its as- 100 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. sumption of the risrht to propagate its high degrees, this lodge created, through its emissaries upon the continent, a number of chapters, and thus returned to France the degrees which it had imported, by establishing at Rouen, on the 1st May, 1786, in the lodge of "Ardent Amitie," a Grand Chapter of Herodirn, to propagate, as a provincial grand lodge, this false Masonry. Such is the origin of the Rite of Herodim of Kilwin- ning, about which, as an important and valuable adjunct to Freemasonry, so much noise has been made. Finally, after having, during half a century, been instrumental in producing as much disorder as it could in the Masonic ranks at home and abroad, this lodge of " Canongate Kil- winning" quietly proposed a union with the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and in the year 1807 was placed on the list of the operative lodges of Scotland, under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, as " Canongate Kilwin- ning, ISTo. 2." The three Grand Lodges of Great Britain, thus consti- tuted, propagated the new Freemasonry upon every por tion of the globe, so that, in 1750, we find it extended into nearly every civilized country ; but its humanitarian doc- trines, like the dogma of ''Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," which it exhibited, frightened the kings and the clergy, who sought to arrest its progress by issuing decrees and edicts against it. In Russia, in 1731, in Holland, in 1735, in Paris, in 1737, 1738, 1744, and 1745, the meetings of lodges of Freemasons w r ere interdicted by the government; while at Rome and in Florence its members were ar- rested and persecuted, and in Sweden, Hamburg, and Ge- neva they were prohibited from meeting or assembling themselves in the capacity of lodges. The Holy Inquisi- tion threw Freemasons into prison, burnt; by the hand of the public executioner, all books which contained Masonic regulations, history, or doctrines ; condemned at Malta to perpetual exile, in 1740, a number of knights who had or- FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND. 101 ganized a lodge on that island ; in Portugal it exercised against them cruelties of various kinds, and condemned them to the galleys ; while in Vienna and Marseilles, as also in Switzerland, in the canton of Berne, the iron hand of that "Holy" institution was felt in 1743. In 1748, at Constantinople, the sultan endeavored to destroy the Ma- sonic society. In the states of the Church, the King of Naples prohibited Masonry, and Ferdinand VII, King of Spain, issued an edict that prohibited the assembly of Freemasons within his kingdom, under penalty of death. In 1751, Pope Benedict XIV renewed the bull of excom- munication promulgated against the Fraternity by Clem- ent XII, while the threat of death menaced all who should be known to attend Masonic meetings. But all these exhibitions of the rage of kings, princes, and potentates were ineffectual to stop the onward course of Freemasonry, which continued to be propagated upon all the surface of the earth with a rapidity that no power could arrest. Braving the bull of Benedict XIV, Free- masonry is openly practiced in Tuscany, at Naples, and in many other parts of the Italian peninsula. At Rome even the partisans of the Stuarts founded some lodges, which they took but feeble pains to hide from the au- thorities. 1 The activity of the three Grand Lodges of Great Brit- ain, and, above all, of that of London, was not confined to the establishment of lodges in Europe between the years 1727 and 1740 ; they had already transplanted Ma- sonry to Bengal, to Bombay, the Cape of Good Hope, New South Wales, New Zealand, and Java, and as early as 1721, lodges of Masons w r ere established in Canada. Before 1740 Masonry existed in the principal colonies of 1 It may well be believed that the reason for the blindness which pressed upon the vision of the authorities at Rome, in connection with these lodges, was, that the JesuitSj whose cause those lodges served, did not wish to see, 102 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. the now United States of America, such as Massachusetts, Georgia, South Carolina, and New York. In those colo- nies the lodges had created Grand Lodges independent of the Grand Lodges of England, of whom they had in the beginning received their authority. Massachusetts had a Grand Lodge in 1777, Vermont in 1774, Virginia and North Carolina in 1778, Maryland in 1783, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and New Jersey in 1786, and New York in 1787. The Lodge of London, notwithstanding its astonishing prosperity, was not permitted to enjoy that prosperity without great internal struggles, caused first by the Grand Lodge of York, and subsequently by the schism of a great many brethren, who, adhering to the claims of the latter, went out from the former and took the name of "Ancient Masons/ 7 in contradistinction to the member- ship of the Grand Lodge of London, who remained true to their engagements, and whom this schismatic party styled "Modern Masons." These schismatic lodges, com- posed in great part of Irish Masons who accused the Grand Lodge of altering the rituals and introducing in- novations and of Masons who had been expelled, in 1751, constituted a rival power to the Grand Lodge, under the title of "The Grand Lodge of Ancient Masons of Eng- land." Notwithstanding its inferiority, and the few lodges which it represented or was enabled to establish, this schismatic party, in 1772, requested the Duke of Athol, who had already filled that office in the Grand Lodge of Scotland, to become its Grand Master, a request with which he complied. To give itself importance, and to influence to its ranks the nobility, this schismatic party added to the degrees with which it had started some of the high degrees cre- ated in France by the partisans of the Stuarts, and which they imported into England about the year 1760, and com- bined them with the symbolic degrees into a rite of seven FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND. 103 degrees, the highest of which they called the Royal Arch. 1 This Grand Lodge of self-styled Ancient Masons trans- planted its rite into the lodges which it constituted in America, and there produced the same disorders and the same schisms among the Fraternity that the "high" de- grees had already provoked in ail the states of Europe. 2 1 This degree is founded entirely upon the biblical legend of the Jew- ish ark of the covenant; but, in England, they give it another significa- tion, and call it the " Holy Arch." 2 In this statement I beg leave to correct brother Rebold. The only dis- orders or schisms created by "Lawrence Dermott's Grand Lodge'' by which name the schismatic organization styled "Ancient Masons" is known, at this time, in America were at an early stage checked in their growth by the organization of what is also known as the "American System of Freemasonry," comprising a rite of twelve degrees, in which, while the different State Grand Lodges have exclusive jurisdiction over the three degrees of symbolic Masonry, the operative Royal Arch Chap- ters, Councils, and Encampments, (or, as more lately styled, Command- cries), have in charge the conference of the other degrees known as Capitular, Cryptic, and Christian Masonry ; and they, in their turn, are subject to State organizations, and the latter to a general organization for each, styled, respectively, the "General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons for the United States," organized in 1808, and the "Gen- eral Grand Encampment of Knights Templar for the United States," organized in 1816. In this manner the different degrees are utilized and kept apart, every Master Mason being allowed to "take" as many or aa few of them as he may deem necessary for his enlightenment. While the object of these higher degrees in Europe, according to our author, was entirely of a political character, in this country no such character, or even tendency, has ever been attributed to them. The anti-masonic excitement, which prevailed in this country from 1826 to 1836, or thereabouts, had no effective origin within a Masonic body of any rite. William Morgan, it is true, in the former year, took umbrage at being refused membership in a Royal Arch Chapter about to be or- ganized in the town of Batavia, his residence, in the State of New York and thereupon resurrected an old copy of " Jachin and Boaz," published in London in 1750, and republished shortly afterward in the then colony of New York. With this book, and what he knew of Masonic rituals, he made an "Exposition of Freemasonry ;" and, by the aid of an evil- disposed person named Miller, published the same. His subsequent 104 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. This unhappy division in the bosom of English Ma- sonry, commenced in 1736, was continued for a long time, by the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland recognizing the schismatic " Grand Lodge of Ancient Masons," to which they in this manner gave a character that it did not merit, but which continued until the year 1813, when at his time it ceased, by the schismatic Grand Lodge, which then had as its Grand Master the Duke of Kent, and the Grand Lodge of London, styled by these schismatics " Modern Masons, 7 ' and which had as its Grand Master his brother, the Duke of Sussex, uniting under the title of the " United Grand Lodges of England." In this union the ancient laws, as well written as traditional, were taken as the basis, and the spirit that influenced the or- ganization of 1717 was recognized, and it was then and there announced and proclaimed that the ancient and true Freemasonry was composed of but three degrees, viz : Apprentice, Fellow-craft, and Master Mason. Unhappily, however, the legitimate Grand Lodge conceded to the party self-styled "Ancient Masons," who necessarily had to abandon their rite of seven degrees, a division of the degree of Master Mason practiced by this party, and taught as a supplementary portion of this degree, under the name sudden disappearance from the town of his residence was made use of by what was then in this country a lesser political party, for the pur- pose of increasing its strength and numbers, by raising a cry against the Freemasons, and branding them as a secret society which stopped not even at the sacrifice of human life to accomplish its purposes. The cry was successful ; the life of Morgan was asserted to have been taken by the Freemasons, and, in the summer of 1828, the body of a drowned man having been found in the neighborhood of Morgan's disappear- ance, it made, in the language of one of the leaders of the anti-masonic party ' a good enough Morgan until after the [then pending presiden- tial] election." For some years after this the Fraternity remained in comparatively a dormant condition; but, during the last twenty-five years, its progress has been as rapid and its ranks as united as its mosi ardent admirers could desire. TRANSLATOR FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND. 105 of Eoyal Arch. This concession, which the schismatic party exacted as a sine qua non of their union with the legitimate Grand Lodge and surrender of their rights to that body, was an act of feebleness, on the part of the Grand Lodge of London, which has destroyed, in a great degree; the unity and the basis of true Masonry, as it had been practiced by that body, up to that time, with a laud- able firmness. If English Freemasonry has remained, for a long time, in a consumptive condition, and has not, as it did for the first century of its existence, continued to extend its civ- ilizing and progressive character, it has practiced always in a generous manner one of the essential dogmas of the institution ; viz., solidarity. Among the numerous benef- icent establishments created by it, we may particularly mention three which are due to the efforts of the Grand Lodge of London. 1. The Royal School of Freemasons for girls, of which the capital fund, in March, 1863, amounted to about 145,000. 2. The Royal Masonic Institute for the sons of indigent Freemasons, which possessed, at the same date, a capital fund of over 100,000. 3. The Royal Beneficiary Institution for aged Free- masons and their widows, of which the capital was, at the same date, about 75,000 for the men's department, and $35,000 for that of the women. After having recorded the most important events in the history of English Freemasonry, we will now briefly indi- cate the composition of the three Grand Lodges and their importance as Masonic powers. The Grand Lodge of England is composed of a Grand Master and his deputy, of all the Past Grand Masters and Provincial Grand Masters, of all the officers of the Grand Lodge, and of all the Past and Acting Worshipful Mas- ters. In it resides the legislative and judiciary power for 106 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. jurisdiction of England and the British colonies. A gen- eral committee, composed of twenty-four masters of lodges, of a first Professor (Expert), of the Grand Master and his representative, exercise the administrative and executive power. The decisions are made hy a majority of votes. All the offices, even that of Grand Master, are submitted to an annual election. The Grand Lodge holds quarterly communications upon the first Wednesday of the months of March, May, September, and December; in the latter, the election for Grand Master takes place. Charles, Earl of Zetland, who has filled the office of Grand Master since 1850, has been re-elected for the thirteenth time since his first nomination. The Earl Grey and Bipon is the Deputy Grand Master. Under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of London there are sixty-three Provincial Grand Lodges, of which forty-two are in the counties of England, and twenty-one are elsewhere in British possessions. Under these there are nine hundred and eighty-nine operative lodges, who report themselves in the manner following : Four hundred and ninety-one in the counties, one hundred and fifty-four in London, one hundred and forty-three in America, twenty in Africa, eighty-seven in Asia, eighty-three in Oceanica, and fourteen in other countries. It possesses a Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons a degree which, as we have stated, comprehends the second part of the degree of Master Mason, but which forms really a fourth degree, having its own officers and its special meetings. This Grand Chapter directs two hundred and eighty-seven operative chapters in England and sixty-one in the British possessions. No advantage or privilege is accorded to its members in the ordinary or extraordinary meetings of the Grand Lodge. Independently of the Grand Chapter, there also exists at London, but having no connection with the Grand Lodge, a Grand Conclave of "High Knights Templar," FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND. 107 at the head of which presides the brother F. "W. Stuart. Neither this authority nor any other of the kind are recog- nized by the Grand Lodge ; they are the remains of the systems which were imported from France to England by the partisans of the Stuarts, and by whom these poisonous germs have been introduced into the body of English Ma- sonry. The Grand Lodge of Scotland, sitting at Edinburgh, which has for its Grand Master the Duke of Athol, 1 counts under its jurisdiction thirty-eight Provincial Grand Lodges, and two hundred and ninety-seven operative lodges in Scot- land and elsewhere in British possessions. Like the Grand Lodge of London, it tolerates the Royal Arch Chapters, which have been engrafted upon a great number of its lodges from the time that the schismatic Grand Lodge at London propagated its rite of the Royal Arch, and for the direction of which there was established, in 1817, a Supreme Grand Chapter; but, like the Grand Lodge of London, it does not accord to the members of these chap- ters the least privilege; for, like the lodges which consti- tute it, the Grand Lodge does not practice, confer, or recognize but the three symbolic degrees. The Grand Lodge of Ireland, held at Dublin, of which the Duke of Leinster is the Grand Master, has under its jurisdiction ten Provincial Grand Lodges, with three hun- dred and seven operative lodges in Ireland and other countries outside of Great Britain. Independently of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, which confers, in like manner with the other Grand Lodges, none but the symbolic de- grees, there is established, at Dublin, a Supreme Council of Rites, founded in 1836, which confers all the "high" degrees of such rites, a Grand Royal Arch Chapter, which is under the direction of the same Grand Master, and constitutes, like those of England and Scotland, operative George Augustus Frederick John, Duke of Athol, died ai, Blair Castle, his residence, on the 16th of January, 1864. 108 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. chapters of the Royal Arch degree; 1 also a Grand Con- clave of Knights Templar; but these three authorities have no connection with the Grand Lodge of Ireland. The three Grand Lodges of Great Britain, consequently, control one hundred and nine Provincial Grand Lodges, with one thousand five hundred and ninety-seven operative lodges under their jurisdiction, which extend their con- nections to every part of the globe. In the connection of its moral effects and -civilizing in- fluence, English Freemasonry we say it with sorrow has made but slight advances in the last half century ; while, as we have seen, it was once the active pioneer every-where. It exercised by its introduction into France an immense influence upon the principles of 1789, and started the de- velopment of liberal ideas throughout the whole of Eu- rope; while in Oceanica, Hindostan, and China its prin- ciples have modified the religious beliefs of the sectaries of Brahma, of the Persians and the Mussulmans, of whom are composed the majority of the lodges founded in those countries ; yet to-day the Grand Lodge of England, like its sisters, those of Scotland and Ireland, seems satisfied to re- pose under its glories of the past and rest upon its laurels DENMARK. FREEMASONRY was introduced into the capital of this kingdom, in 1783, by the Baron of Munich, Secretary of the Ambassador of Russia, who organized the first opera- 1 Besides these three grand colleges, all conferring a species of high degrees, there is in Dublin, to complete the hierarchy, a Supreme Coun- cil of the Scotch Rite of Thirty-three Degrees, established in 1808, of which the Duke of Leinster is also nominally the Grand Master. A similar institution is established at Edinburgh, founded in 1846, while a 'third is situated at London since 1845. At the head of the last are the brethren H. B. Leison, Esq., and Colonel Vernon ; but these authorities, not being recognized as Masonic, are of very little importance and merely enjoy a vegetating existence. FREEMASONRY IN DENMARK. 109 tive lodge, under the name of "St. Martins Lodge." Shortly afterward several others were established, and, in 1749, the Grand Lodge of London there constituted a Pro- vincial Grand Lodge, of which Count Damekiold Laurvig was named Grand Master, and who, in 1780, erected the same into a Grand Lodge of Denmark. The simplicity of English Masonry had to give way here, as every-where else, to the sj^stem of high degrees, which had invaded all Europe and blinded the good sense of the brethren. The system of Strict Observance, invented, as we have seen, by the Jesuits in France, to forward the interests of the Stuart party, was introduced by the Baron of Bulow at Copen- hagen, who organized there a prefectship, or commandery, having for Grand Master the Duke Ferdinand of Bruns- wick. After the Congress of Wilhelmsbad, in 1782, the Grand Lodge of Denmark abandoned the rite of " Strict Observance," or Templar system; but, in returning to the English system, besides the three degrees of symbolic Ma- sonry, she preserved of the abandoned rite two degrees, those of Scottish and Past Master. Immediately after this reformation, lodges were established in all the cities of any importance in the kingdom, and even, in 1785, ex- tended to the Danish colonies, in the archipelago of the Antilles, the islands of St. Croix and St. Thomas. King Christian VIII, after having named the landgrave, Charles of Hesse, Grand Master for life, solemnly recog- nized Freemasonry by an official act, dated 2d of Novem- ber, 1792. At the death of the landgrave of Hesse, in 1836, the Prince Royal, afterward King Christian VIII, declared himself protector and Grand Master. In 1848, the Grand Mastership passed to King Frederick VII, under whom Danish Masonry has attained a very flourishing condition. The intimate connection of this country with Sweden, where the Masonry of Swedenborg, subsequently that of Zinnendorf, had taken deep root, and, at an early period, 110 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. manifested a religious tendency that it has held from the first in a remarkable manner, and toward which evidently the Masons of Copenhagen, including the king, have in- clined, decided the Grand Lodge of Denmark to adopt officially, on the 6th of January, 1855, the Swedish rite, or that of Zinnendorf, of seven degrees, and to enforce its adoption upon all the lodges under its jurisdiction. Danish Masonry enjoys great consideration in the coun- try, and, under the Grand Mastership of the reigning king, prospers from day to day. In 1863, the Grand Lodge of Denmark exercised juris- diction over nine operative lodges, of which four are in the capital and five in the provinces. SWEDEN. MASONRY was introduced at Stockholm in 1736 ; but tha interdictions pronounced against it by nearly every Euro- pean state affected in a similar manner the Swedish gov- ernment against it, and the Masonic meetings were pro- hibited in 1758. Nevertheless, new operative lodges were subsequently established, and, in the year 1764, a provin- cial Grand Lodge for Sweden was organized at Stock- holm. One of the first acts of the Freemasons of this country was the establishment of an orphan asylum, which is to-day the glory and crown of Swedish Masonry. One donation of 30,000, which was made it by Brother Bohmann, permitted it to be greatly enlarged. As else- where, the true Freemasonry did not long exist in this country before the importation from France of the Rite of Perfection of twenty-five degrees ; but the progress of this rite was checked by the crusade entered into against the system of Strict Observance. The chivalrous char- acter of the Templars, from the first approaches of that system, met none of the favor in Sweden it had enjoyed FREEMASONRY IN SWEDEN". Ill in France and Germany. The King, Gustavus III, and his brother, the Duke of Sudermanie, were initiated in 1770 ; and believing the statement made to him by the officials of the rite, that Sweden was the first country into which it was introduced, the king undertook to re-estab- lish the order of Knights Templar. He was named Grand Master, and exercised the functions of that office until 1780, when the provincial Grand Lodge, declaring itself independent, took the title of Grand Lodge of Swe- den, and the king designated his brother, the Duke of Sudermanie, to replace him as Grand Master. The importers of the system of Strict Observance into Sweden of whom history has not preserved the names deposited in the archives of the Grand Chapter of the sys- tem, at Stockholm, many documents which, according to them, were of the highest importance to the order of the Templars, and among which they exhibited a will, in the Latin language, which they said was the last will and tes- tament of Jaques de Molay, the last Grand Master ; as also an urn, said to contain his ashes, collected, according to the same authority, by his nephew, the Count of Beaujeu. These statements engaged the attention of the Duke of Brunswick, who had been nominated at this time Grand Master of the system, and he repaired to Sweden to exam- ine the documents; but the result proved satisfactory in but a very trifling degree. The King Gustavus had in the beginning favored the establishment of the system of the Templars, and in some degree discouraged the lodges practicing the English rite; but, having immediately discovered the secret plans which lay hidden under the system of Strict Observance, he mis trusted its tendency ; and it is to this fact thanks to the efforts of the independent Masonic lodges located in the country that he afterward successfully confounded the projects of the Jesuits, and liberated himself from the tu- telage under which he was held by them. Assassinated 112 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. the 27tli March, 1792, his son succeeded him, under the title of Gustavus IV, and was initiated, though yet a mi- nor, into Masonry upon the 22d March of the year follow- ing, after he had renounced his right to the throne. His uncle, the Duke of Sudermanie, already Grand Master of Swedish Freemasonry since 1780, succeeded him, under the title of Charles XIII, and exercised the Grand Master- ship until 1811, when he delegated the office to Prince Charles Jean Bernadotte. In Sweden the endeavor was, as it also was in Germany, to discover the truth in relation to the system of the Tem- plars, of which the chiefs had been expelled from the lat- ter country. These researches wrought in the system some modifications, which were due, in great part, to one of the most eminent Masons of the time the brother Swedenborg intimate councilor of the king, who had introduced religious principles, impressed with his own mystical creed, and which, in consequence, has imprinted upon Swedish Masonry a particular character, which dis- tinguishes it to the present day. Beside the Templar system thus transformed, Zinneu- dorf, surgeon-iu-chief of the Swedish army at Berlin, and Grand Prior of the system of the Templars, having aban- doned the chiefs of the rite after he had exposed their jug- gleries, established, in Sweden, a rite of seven degrees, which bears his name, founded, in part, upon the same religious principles, but less mystical than those of Swe- denborg. It is this rite that now is found to predominate, and is known in Europe as the Swedish Rite, or Rite of Zinnendorf. The protection of the king, and the official recognition of Masonry by the government, in 1794, has given to the institution in Sweden an importance which it does not possess elsewhere. On the 27th May, 1811, King Charles XIII founded an order exclusively for meritorious Free- masons, of which the insignia is publicly worn, and thus FREEMASONRY IN SWEDEN. 113 proved his respect for the institution. The foundation of this order, created from a noble sentiment that greatly honored the king, is, nevertheless, in contradiction to the spirit of Freemasonry, and in opposition with its princi- ples. The same day this order was established, the king announced as his successor the brother Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte-Corvo, and the announcement was sanctioned by the government, and he was proclaimed at the same time Grand Master of Swedish Masonry. Since coming to the throne, in 1818, the new king delegated the Grand Mas- tership to his son Oscar, Duke of Sudermanie, subsequently Charles John XIV, who directs in person, as the actual king, (Charles XV,) the Masonic labors of the Grand Lodge. The Grand Lodge of Sweden has under its juris- diction three provincial Grand Lodges, with twenty-four operative lodges. The reigning king is Grand Master in his own right. RUSSIA. IT was the Grand Lodge of London that established the first lodge at Moscow, in 1731, under the reign of the Empress Anna Ivanowa, and, for the purpose of constitut- ing others in the country, patented John Phillips, Provin- cial Grand Master. Freemasonry made but little progress in Russia, and it was not until the year 1771 that the first lodge was organized at St. Petersburg. In 1772, the Grand Lodge of London delivered to John Yelaguine, a Senator and Privy Councilor, a patent constituting him Provincial Grand Master for Russia ; and, after his death, he was succeeded by the Count Roman "Woronsow. At this time the lodges increased to a greater extent in St. Petersburg than in any other portion of the empire, the membership belonging in great part to the nobility. Un- der the reign of Catherine II, it would have been difficult to find in St. Petersburg a noble who was not a Freemason. 8 114 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. It is true that the Empress often manifested some chagrin when, often finding but a single chamberlain in attendance upon her, she inquired for such and such a one whom she missed, and was told that he had gone to the lodge ; but, nevertheless, she was well enough disposed toward the fraternity to have her son, Paul I, initiated immediately upon his becoming of age. The high degrees, and, above all, those of the system Strict Observance, had invaded, about the year 1775, Rus- sian Masonry, and in which it lacked nothing of creating the same disorders it every-where caused ; for many of the lodges, professing only the English Rite, had no desire to accept this Templar parody, which was principally the cause of the interdiction of Freemasonry in 1798. The system of Strict Observance, under the patronage and Grand Mastership of* the Duke of Brunswick, had organized at St. Petersburg a power, under the title of Grand Lodge of the Order of Vladimir, which pretended to direct all the lodges of Russia, and thus came in conflict with a great many operative lodges which practiced only the English Rite. In few countries did Masonry rise to the splendor it at- tained under Catharine II, for the Masonic temples at St. Petersburg were indeed palaces. Many beneficial estab- lishments were also founded by her directions and under her patronage. During the sojourn of the King of Sweden, Gustavus III, at St. Petersburg, who, in his own country, was Grand Master of the Templar lodges, or lodges of the system of Strict Observance, the lodges of this system gave him the most superb feasts, at which he assisted with his whole suite, composed entirely of Freemasons. Notwithstanding these brilliant appearances, the true Freemasonry, so far from making corresponding progress in Russia, had, on the contrary, degenerated to such a point that the Empress Catharine not only openly ex- FREEMASONRY IN RUSSIA. 115 pressed her discontent thereat to the gentlemen of her court, in respect to the abuses which were being intro- duced, but published a pamphlet very severe in its strict- ures against Freemasons. This pamphlet has been trans- lated into French and German. Such was the situation of Masonry in Russia upon the accession of Paul I to the throne, in 1796. Although he had been initiated, this prince had allowed himself to be prevailed upon by intriguants, who obtained of him an interdiction, under the most severe penalties, of Masonic assemblies, as well as those of all other secret societies. Subsequently, regarding the Order of Knights of the Tem- ple as the true possessors of Masonic science, he desired to re-establish that Order, and, in fact, in the object of hastening this pretended regeneration of Masonry, he had, the 16th of December, 1798, taken the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta, as a means of more effect- ually accomplishing his purpose; afterward, however, he renounced the project, which was, in fact, otherwise im- practicable. To Paul I, assassinated the 23d of March, 1801, suc- ceeded Alexander I. At first he confirmed the interdiction pronounced by his predecessor against Freemasonry; but, in 1803, consequent upon a circumstantial report which he ordered to be made upon the object and principles of Free- masonry, he revoked it. and was himself initiated. We have been unable to ascertain the exact date of this cere- mony, the place, or the lodge in which it took place, nor do we know that he ever took any part in the labors of the Fraternity. On the contrary, although he never re- stricted in any way its existence, he always exhibited a certain degree of mistrust in the institution. The Grand Lodge of Vladimir, which, with the opera- tive lodges under its jurisdiction, were suspended by the interdiction pronounced by Paul I, after 1803 awoke to renewed activity. From that time the struggle recom- 116 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. menced. The lodges of the English system established a new Masonic code for all the lodges of Russia; but not wishing to recognize certain privileges that the Grand Lodge Vladimir revindicated, and to withdraw forevei from the systematic domination of it, they founded, in 1815, another Grand Lodge, under the title of "Astrca," of which the rules and regulations were approved by the government, and which from that time directed all the lodges of Russia. Though Freemasonry had not greatly extended, it ap- pears that it afforded some unquiet to the Emperor Alex- ander ; for, by a ukase, dated the 21st of August, 1821, he interdicted anew all Masonic assemblies ; and, in the auto- graph rescript that he addressed to his minister charged with the execution of this ukase, he based its promulga- tion upon the assertion that the lodges occupied themselves with the discussion of political subjects. None of the successors of Alexander, who died in 1825, having revoked this prohibition, Masonry remains in Rus- sia under the ban of this interdiction. POLAND. IN consequence of the political troubles which have con- stantly agitated it, Freemasonry has never attained a per- manent position in this country. In 1839, some nobles, resident at the court of King Frederick I, established a lodge at Varsovia, which was shortly dissolved by the bull of Clement XII; but, not- withstanding this prohibition, the Count Stanislaus Mnis- zek, Andrew Mocranowski, and Constantine Jablonowski founded, at Viennavitz, in Wolhania, a lodge, in which men the most eminent for their virtue and patriotism came from all parts of Poland to be initiated. In 1744, a French lodge was organized at Lemberg, by a man named FREEMASONRY IN POLAND. 117 Francis Longchamps, the labors of which were subse- quently directed by another Frenchman, named Colonel Jean de Thoux de Salverte. After many vicissitudes, there was organized, at Varsovia, on the 24th June, 1769, under the reign of Stanislaus Augustus who protected Masonry a Grand Lodge of Poland, of which the Count Augustus Moszynski was nominated Grand Master. This Grand Lodge organized operative lodges at Cracovia, Wilna, and Lemberg; but, after the first division of Po- land, their labors were interrupted. The system of Strict Observance here, as elsewhere, soon appeared, and established, at Varsovia, a Directory, under the authority of the Duke of Brunswick. Many French lodges were also established at Varsovia, and, among others by the Grand Orient of France the lodge "Perfect Silence," which, aspiring to the title of Grand Lodge, sought to win to its direction operative lodges; afterward, by virtue of a patent delivered to it by the Grand Orient of France, and dated 14th May, 1781, it proclaimed itself Mother Lodge, or Grand Lodge of Po- land. But it failed in its project, as did many others, which obtained, for this purpose, from the Grand Lodges of England and Germany, patents, constituting them legal powers, for which the necessity was recognized. Finally, thirteen lodges united, and, on the 26th February, 1764, constituted definitely a Grand Orient of Poland, by vir- tue of a patent delivered to them by the Grand Lodge of England. This Lodge was installed on the 4th of the following March, and chose for its Grand Master the Count Felix Potoski. Its existence was of short dura- tion ; for, after the second partition of Poland which took place in 1784 this Grand Lodge, together with all the operative lodges under its jurisdiction, suspended op- erations. The Lodges which were subsequently established in the Grand Duchy of Poland were then organized, under the 118 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Grand Lodges located at Berlin. Finally, on the 22d March, 1810, the Grand Orient of Poland awoke and took charge of the lodges in the country. The political events of 1813 but slightly modified their condition, and but mo- mentarily interrupted their labors; and, in 1818, we find the Grand Orient of Poland directing the labors of thirty- four operative lodges. The ukase of the Emperor Alex- ander, however, struck with death the lodges of Poland, in common with those of Russia, and since that time (12th August, 1822,) all Masonic labors have ceased in Poland. The heroic courage with which our Polish brethren fought for their liberty and their nationality, against a despotism the most arbitrary and revolting that any power calling itself Christian ever exercised against a civilized people, has acquired for them the sympathy and admira- tion of the Freemasons of the whole world. BELGIUM. THE history of Freemasonry in Belgium is divided into many periods : that during which Belgium was part of the low country of Austria; that during which it was incor- porated in the Empire of France; that of its re-union with Holland ; and, finally, the period since the independ- ence of Belgium was established. This was the first con- tinental country that received the new Freemasonry of England. The first lodge was instituted at Mons, the 4th of June, 1721, under the title of "Perfect Union," by the Duke of Montague, then Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of London. It was this lodge that was subse- quently erected into an English Grand Lodge for the low countries of Austria ; but, in 1785, it shared the fortunes of all other Austrian lodges by the edict of the Emperor Joseph I. Another lodge was established, in 1730, at Gand, under FREEMASONRY IN BELGIUM. 119 the Austrian direction. In common with other lodges O organized about the same time, in consequence of the per- secutions of the Catholic clergy, who were armed with the bulls of excommunication launched at Freemasons by the popes, it labored in the most profound secrecy. The membership of these lodges were, in most part, composed of the nobility, animated, in a great degree, by the demo- cratic tendencies of that period, and seeking to extend the principles of political liberty among the people. The most zealous patriots were to be found at the head of the lodges many of the clergy themselves, who then were liberal, exhibiting a strong partisan trait for Masonry. To such a degree was this feeling expressed, that even the Bishop of Liege, and many of his ecclesiastics, were in- itiated into and directed the labors of the lodges. The Duke of Aremberg, the Duke of Ursel, the princes of Ligue and of Gavre, all took a very active part in the labors of Masonry. At one time fifteen lodges were in operation ; but, unhappily, the political manifestations of the popula- tion of the low countries of Austria caused, in 1785 and in 1786, the Emperor Joseph I to interdict Masonic assem- blies, though elsewhere in Brussels, for instance he per- mitted the lodges to continue their labors. In 1787, how- ever, he ordered, by a new edict, that all the lodges in the empire, without exception, be closed, under the most se- vere penalties, When Belgium was incorporated into the French Em- pire, the Belgian lodges w^hich at that time, in conse- quence of the edict of 1787, were in a state of suspended animation were ordered to place themselves under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of France ; and, from that time, Masonry in Belgium became an integral part of that of France, which there organized some twenty-two lodges. In 1814, there were in Belgium, in active operation, twenty-seven lodges, which, after the re-union of Belgium with Holland, for three years vainly endeavored to erect 120 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. a central authority at Brussels. Finally, Prince Freder- ick, of the Low Countries, second son of the king who, after the enfranchisement of Holland, had therein consti- tuted a new Grand Orient proposed to the Belgian lodges the creation of two independent Grand Lodges, which should direct all the operative lodges, each having its own administration and particular jurisdiction : the one to be located at the Hague, to exercise jurisdiction over all the northern lodges and those of the East Indies ; the other having its seat at Brussels, to direct the southern lodges and those of the West Indies the Grand Orient of Hol- land, thus divided into three sections, to form a Supreme Council, whose object would be to take cognizance of all the great principles affecting Freemasonry in general, etc. This treaty of union was concluded in 1817, and the installation of the Provincial Grand Lodge at Brussels took place on the llth April, 1818, at which time Prince Fred- erick was elected Grand Master of the. three independent Grand Lodges, and named, as his representatives, Brother Falk, Minister of State, for the Provincial Grand Lodge of the Hague, and the Prince of Gavre for that of Brussels. From this time the history of Belgian Freemasonry is confounded with that of Freemasonry in Holland. We will only add that from 1817 to 1832, s'trenuous attempts were made to establish in Belgium, particularly at Brus- sels, the different systems of high degrees. The separation of Belgium from Holland which took place in 1831 modified anew the condition of Masonry in the former countiy. The provincial Grand Lodge of Brussels becoming, by the separation, isolated from the Grand Orient of Holland, invited, by a circular, dated the 16th of December, 1832, all the lodges of the new king- dom to recognize it as an independent authority, to unite under its recognition, and to send up their delegates to a general assembly convoked for the 25th of February, 1833. Only four lodges, however, were represented ; but the dele- FREEMASONRY IN BELGIUM. 121 gates present, nevertheless, decided to declare the provin- cial Grand Lodge of the Low Countries dissolved, and to constitute in its place a Grand Orient of Belgium. This ne\v authority, placed under the protection of the king, Leopold I himself a Freemason succeeded in uniting under its jurisdiction, but not without difficulty, all the lodges of Belgium except four, which were then declared irregular. On the 1st May, 1835, the Baron of Stassart was nominated Grand Master. The flourishing condition of Masonry, and the influence that its members were exercising over all classes of society, provoked the hate of the Catholic clergy, who recom- menced their persecutions; and the Bishop of Malines, in 1837, published a sentence of excommunication a strange proceeding in our day against all the Belgian Freemasons. The struggle became more and more lively, and the Cath- olic party, of whom the "Journal of Belgium" is the or- gan, surpassed the part it took in the revolution of 1830, in its pretentious to rule the country, and exhibit the in- tolerance that elsewhere and always is exhibited in seasons of triumph by this party. The Masonic lodges, pursued, excommunicated, tor- mented, in their material interests and social position, al- most up to the family hearth-stones, by their implacable enemies, who sought to drive to destitution the President of the Senate and the Governor of Brussels himself, be- cause of their adherence to Freemasonry, though the king himself was known to be a member of the institution, were constrained to take an attitude, through their Grand Orient, which was no less an exhibition of dignity and moderation than it was of strength. They opposed uni versa! liberty to universal Romanism, free publications and loyal to anathemas, and the preaching of the eternal truth of their faith to the intolerance of a theocratic ambition. By this course the Freemasons finally triumphed. To brother, the Baron of Stassart, who abdicated in 1841, 122 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. succeeded Brother Defacqz d'Ath, Counselor to the Court of Appeals, and to him succeeded, in 1854, the brother Theo. Verhregen, Advocate and President of the Chamber of Representatives. The new Grand Master, seeing the institution over which he was called to preside the constant object of the attacks of obscure politicians, backed by the clergy, in- sisted, in a discourse pronounced upon St. John's day, 1854, and which reflected the profound convictions and eminent talents of the distinguished speaker, that there existed an absolute necessity for Freemasonry to oppose itself more and more energetically to the antagonistic party, and discuss within its lodges such religious and po- litical questions as affected the condition of the country; and, for this purpose, that the regulations of the Grand Orient be so amended as to repeal the laws forbidding such discussion to take place within the lodges. His ad- vice was approved by all the brethren who assisted at the feast, and they decided to publish his discourse. This declaration, consequently, being printed and promulgated, provoked the protest of a portion of the Grand Lodges of Germany, and also that of Sweden, who not only ceased, in consequence of this manifestation, all connection with the Grand Orient of Belgium, but even prohibited their operative lodges from receiving Belgian Masons. This movement was attended by another deplorable consequence. The chiefs of the Supreme Council of the Scottish (33d) Rite, located at Brussels a rival authority of the Grand Orient and some lodges under the jurisdic- tion of the latter body, protested against the new inter- pretation of the principles and the rights of Freemasons, as inculcated by the Grand Master Verhsegan, and made it the occasion of their passing over to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council. This factionist condition has re- mained nearly the same up to the present time. The statutes of the Grand Orient, promulgated the 19th FREEMASONRY IN HOLLAND. 123 of January, 1838, contained but fifteen articles, and made no mention of any other style of Masonry except that of the three symbolic degrees. Each lodge of the union ia represented by three delegates, who in general assemblies exercise the legislative power. The Grand Orient of Bel- gium exercises jurisdiction over sixty operative lodges while the Supreme Council of the Scottish (33d) Rite, which was instituted the 1st of March, 1817, and had for a long time a precarious existence, now counts thirteen lodges within its jurisdiction. These two authorities hold their meetings in the same city, Brussels. HOLLAND. THIS country was for a long time preserved from the in- novations due to intriguing politicians and other schemers, who every-where have provoked deplorable schisms in the Masonic ranks; nevertheless it finally had to submit to the consequences of allowing the English Rite, which wag for years the only one known, to be encroached upon by those anti-masonic productions which have denaturalized our beautiful institution, and which, in place of hastening us forward to the goal of its ideal, have but advanced that goal farther from us. A lodge was founded at the Hague, in 1725, composed of the elite of Dutch society; but the clergy, ever hostile to Freemasons, not having permitted it to be openly con- stituted, its labors during many years were conducted in the most profound secrecy; and it was not until 1731, when Lord Stanhope, Duke of Chesterfield, was English embassador at the court of William, Prince of Orange, that it was officially constituted. This lodge owed its ex- istence to Brother Vincent de la Chappela, who had been authorized for the purpose of organizing it by the Grand Lodge of England. It was by it that the Emperor Francis I, then Duke of Lorraine, was initiated. 124 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. In 1834, many lodges united in a general assembly for the purpose of regularly organizing Freemasonry in Hol- land, by constituting a provincial Grand Lodge. This Grand Lodge, of which the Count of Wagenaer was pro- posed as provincial Grand Master, after having been regu- larly patented by the Grand Lodge of England, was inau- gurated in 1735, in an assembly held at the hotel of Niewe-Doelen, under the presidency of the titulary pro- vincial Grand Master, Brother John Cornelius Radema- cher. It took the title "Grand Masters' Lodge of Gen- eral Appeal for the United Provinces ;" and, in 1749, it took the name of " Mother Lodge of the Royal Union." Another lodge, founded in 1734 at the Hague, and com posed' of eminent men, announced, in the public newspa- pers of the 24th October, 1735, a Masonic assembly which would be presided over by the new provincial Grand Master Rademacher ; but the magistracy of the Hague, on the 30th of the following November, issued an ordi- nance interdicting all such assemblies. Notwithstanding this prohibition, a lodge of Amster- dam, which numbered among its members the most em- inent men in the city, dared to continue its labors. The Catholic clergy, by the aid of calumnious reports, suc- ceeded in stirring up the ignorant class of the people against it; and its place of meeting being invaded by a crowd of those fanatics, they burned the property of the lodge and exhibited otherwise a disposition, upon any re- sistance being offered, to proceed to the most violent measures. The general government, with the object of preventing a recurrence of such action, intervened and prohibited Masonic assemblies. One lodge, having, in de- fiance of this prohibition, continued to meet, it was sur- rounded, by the order of the magistrac} 7 , and its mem- bers captured and imprisoned. The master of the lodge and his officers, when brought before the court, explained FREEMASONRY IN HOLLAND. 125 so clearly the object and principles of the institution, that they were immediately set at liberty, and all the judges of the tribunal solicited the honor of being initiated. Since that time, a great many lodges have been established in the country ; but, in 1746, new persecutions, on the part of the Catholic clergy, forced the lodges of the Hague, Nimegue, and Amsterdam to demand the inter- vention of the general government, which obliged the clergy to retract their calumnies. The Holland lodges which held their constitutions, some from the Grand Lodge of England, and others from those of Germany and France existed isolated from and independent of the provincial Grand Lodge created in 1735. With the object of a more intimate union, the lodge styled "Royal Union" convoked a general assem- bly, which was attended, on the 27th December, 1756, by representatives from thirteen lodges, and then and there organized, under the patronage of the Grand Lodge of London, a Grand Lodge for the United Provinces, of which the Baron Van Aersen Beyeren was nominated provincial Grand Master. This Grand Lodge proclaimed, the following year, its general statutes in forty-one articles. In 1770 it declared itself independent; and, by virtue of an agreement with the Grand Lodge of London, it took the title of Grand Lodge of Holland, and notified all the Grand Lodges of Europe of the fact. It at once organized a provincial Grand Lodge, at Brussels, for the low countries of Aus- tria, and nominated the Marquis of Gages provincial Grand Master; but this lodge was obliged, in 1789, in consequence of the edict of the Emperor Joseph I, to suspend active operations. After the removal of this in- terdiction, in 1798, the Grand Lodge of Holland decreed, on the 17th May of that year, a new administrative code, according to which it ruled only the three symbolic de- 126 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. grees, and intrusted a special ch.ipter, directed by the Grand Master, Baron Van Teylingen, with the conference of the other degrees of its rite. In 1810, by the aid of the subscriptions made up by the Holland lodges, an asylum for the blind was instituted at Amsterdam. After the union of Holland with the French Empire, in 1811, the existence of the Grand Orient of Holland was attacked and compromised, by the Grand Orient of France assuming to extend its authority over all the Ma- sons and all the Masonic institutions of Holland. To the decree published by it on the 3d March, 1812, the Grand Orient of Holland responded, on the 21st of the same month, in a manner so dignified that the Grand Orient of France renounced its project of assumption, and the Grand Orient of Holland continued its jursdiction as be- fore, save that the nine operative lodges, instituted by the Grand Orient of France at- Amsterdam and the Hague, remained, from 1812 to 1814, under the jurisdiction of the latter. At the time of the events of 1814, which changed anew the position of Freemasonry in Holland, the Grand Orient had under its jurisdiction, in Holland and the two Indies, seventy-one operative lodges. The direction of the lodges of the Low Countries having been offered to it, the Grand Orient proposed, in 1814, a treaty of union among all the northern and southern lodges of the Low Countries, for the purpose of organizing a Grand Lodge for that king- dom, with the Provincial Grand Lodges, 1 of which the one should be located at the Hague, and comprising within its jurisdiction all the northern lodges, together with those iu the East Indies; and the other should be located at Brussels, to take charge of all the southern lodges of the kingdom, together with those of the West Indies. Of the latter, Prince Frederick was elected Grand Master, and 'See Masonry in Belgium, ante. FREEMASONRY IN HOLLAND. 127 the Minister of State, Brother Falk, Grand Master of the former. In 1819, Prince Frederick sent to all the lodges of Eu- rope copies of two documents found in the papers of the defunct Grand Master Boetzelaar. The first of these docu- ments is a species of charter, 1 dated at Cologne, the 24th of June, 1535, and signed by nineteen persons, bearing illustrious names, and who therein are presented as dele- gates from nineteen Masonic lodges of different countries in Europe. The second is the record-book of the meetings of a lodge which, according to it, should have existed at the Hague in 1637, and whose date of organization is 8th May, 1519. These documents, particularly the charter, have been submitted to the examination of learned Free- masons, some of whom have pronounced them authentic, while others have decided that both documents have been produced for some purpose best known to the manufactur- ers. The latter decision seems to be best supported. The lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of the Low Countries numbered, in 1820, one hundred and five, of which forty-five in Holland, and fourteen in the East Indies, were borne upon the register of the Grand Lodge of the northern provinces at the Hague ; and thirty- two in Holland, and fourteen in the West Indian colonies, on that of the Grand Lodge of the southern provinces at Brussels. The number of operative lodges organized from that time to 1829 augmented the foregoing by thirty- one lodges, thus making the total number one hundred and thirty-six. The events of 1830 changed anew the Masonic organ- ization in Holland, placing it as we found it in 1818; and the Grand Orient of Holland took under its direction the lodges of the new Dutch territory and the Dutch colonies in the two Indies. As in the past, it continues to fill with dignity, under its noble chief, Prince Frederick William *See General History of Freemasonry, p. 51. 128 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Charles, the position that it occupies as one of the most ancient departments of Freemasonry in Europe. The Grand Orient of Holland at present directs, in all, the labors of sixty-seven operative lodges, of which about twenty are in the East and West Indies. GERMANY. must give the history of Freemasonry in this vast country, which contains an empire, five kingdoms, and twenty-one principalities, in a manner more succinct than that of any other of the States of Europe. We will com- mence, therefore, by speaking of that city which, of all others in Germany, was the first in which Freemasonry took root. Hamburg. On the 3d of December, 1737, the first Ma- eonic lodge in Germany, under the English dispensation, was established in this city. It was named "Absalom Lodge," and was placed under the direction of Brother Charles Sarey. On the 30th of October, 1740, this lodge was raised, by the Grand Lodge of England, to the rank of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Hamburg and Lower Saxony, and having for its Grand Master, Brother Lutt- man. It was by a deputation of this lodge that the Prince Frederick of Prussia, subsequently Frederick II, was in- itiated, in 1738, at Brunswick a circumstance that has contributed much to the propagation of Freemasonry in Germany. From Hamburg, Freemasonry passed, in 1738, to Dresden; in 1740, to Berlin; in 1741, to Leipsic; in 1744, to Brunswick, and in 1746, to Hanover. The Pro- vincial Grand Lodge established up to 1795 but five lodges, and in that year these united in founding a hospital for house servants, and, subsequently, created a fund for the re- lief of foreign brethren who might require it. This Grand Lodge had extended its jurisdiction, in 1807, over sixteen lodges, all working the English Kite and remaining faith- FREEMASONRY IN GERMANY. 129 ful to its mother lodge of London. In this respect it shone as a bright example of fidelity in comparison to other Provincial Grand Lodges, which, although estab- lished under like circumstances and by the same authority, generally took the first favorable opportunity to become independent of the authority that created them. It was uot until the year 1811 that the Provincial Grand Lodge of Hamburg decided to assert its independence. To-day it directs a Provincial Grand Lodge and twenty-one oper- ative lodges, all practicing the English Rite, together with a chapter, created by Shrceder, who was, during many years, its Grand Master. Prussia. The "Lodge at the Three Globes," in Berlin, composed of French artists, was constituted on the 23d of September, 1740. This was the first lodge established at that time. On the 24th of June, 1744, Prince Frederick elevated it to the rank of a Grand Lodge, under the title of "Royal Grand Mother Lodge." He was, as a natural consequence, elected Grand Master, and filled the office as such until 1747, from which date he ceased to take any part in Masonic labors. This mother lodge suffered itself to be from an early period invaded by the high degrees of the rite of " Per- fection," as also by those of the rite " Strict Observance." In 1773, desiring to organize a lodge whose membership would be composed entirely of the nobility, it requested permission to do so from the king, Frederick II, but was refused. Such an institution could no better carry out the object of Masonry than those which were charged with the propagation of its doctrines. Although, like Hamburg, some parts of Germany had received Masonry direct from England, and the lodges thus constituted worked the English Rite, others had re- ceived it by the intermediation of France. The institu- tion soon extended in a most extraordinary manner. The 9 130 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. lodges there, finding themselves composed, in great part, of the nobility and men devoted to art and the sciences, having a weakness for the French language, many of them conducted their labors in that language, and, for the most part, even took French names. This tendency favored the introduction into the German lodges of the high de- grees which the officers of the army of Broglie had im- ported from France; and it is from this period these innu- merable follies which culminated in the introduction of the Templar system may be dated. It was not until after the Congress of Wilhclmsbad that these disorders ceased. The discussions which took place in that assembly broke the chains of the Templar hierarchy, believed to be so firmly riveted by the Jesuits, and relieved the fraternity in ail Germany from their drunken enthusiasm for the systems of high degrees. In no country had the Templar system been extended so generally as in Germany. Nearly all the lodges had adopted it, under the belief that its object was the re- establishment of the ancient Order of Knights Templar. The most elevated classes of society and people the most honorable, among whom were the greater portion of the nobility, became its partisans, notwithstanding the doubts which were thrown out of the sincerity of the assertions of its chief officials. Twenty-six princes of Germany had been initiated into those degrees, and thus became pro- moters more or less zealous ; while many of them took position at the head of the Templar Order in their respect- ive States. Since Frederick the Great, all his successors have been Freemasons, or have declared themselves in favor and the protectors of Freemasonry. Frederick William III, who had been initiated, confirmed and recognized from the throne, in 1798, the three Grand Lodges of Berlin. At the second Congress of Vienna, in 1833, when Austria and Bavaria demanded, in terms not in any wise equivocal, the FREEMASONRY IN GERMANY. 131 extermination of the society of Freemasons, this king de- clared that they were and always should be in his king- dom, under his protection; and, by his warm defense of the institution, he prevented the other powers represented at this congress from exhibiting any leaning towards the project of extermination advanced by the two powers just named. It was by his desire and with his consent that the present king, William I, proclaimed himself, during his life, protector of Masonry in Prussia. The latter, without partaking of the favorable opinion of the institution en- tertained by his father, imitated him, as well from politi- cal motives as to continue the custom consecrated by his predecessors of the royal family, in consenting that his son, the prince royal Frederick William, should be ini- tiated and should represent Prussian Masonry. This ini- tiation took place on the 5th of November, 1853. The principles of this prince are known to be at variance, how- ever, with those of his father. The three Prussian Grand Lodges located at Berlin have each founded some humanitarian establishments in favor of Freemasons and their families. The Grand Lodge at the Three Globes has under ito ju- risdiction ninety-nine operative lodges. The National Grand Lodge of Germany, founded in 1773, registers under its jurisdiction sixty-seven operative lodges. The Royal York Grand Lodge, founded in 1798, regis- ters twenty-seven operative lodges under its jurisdiction. Each of these three Grand Ledges has its Grand Mas- ter and Deputy Grand Master. The Prince William of Baden has been, since 1859, Grand Master of the Royal York Grand Lodge. 132 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Kingdom of Saxony. A lodge was established at Dres- den, in 1738, by the Count Rotowsky, under whose direc- tion a Provincial Grand Lodge was organized in 1741. This Grand Lodge, with the operative lodges under its jurisdiction, experienced the same embarrassments, by their connection with the high degrees, as all the other legislative Masonic bodies of Germany. We shall pass them by without further notice. In 1755, this lodge took the title of Grand Lodge of Saxony; and, after having, in 1807, abolished all the de- grees above that of Master Mason, it united, in 1811, with the National Grand Lodge of Saxony, which then had been established. Under the auspices of the first Grand Lodge, there was founded, in 1792, on the 22d of September, at Frederick- stadt, a philosophic establishment, which is directed at the present time by the Lodge of the Three Swords, at Dresden, and in which two hundred children are edu- cated. The Grand Lodge of Saxony has at present under its jurisdiction fifteen operative lodges. Kingdom of Hanover. The capital of this country ad- mitted Freemasonry in 1746, and the Grand Lodge of London established there, in 1755, a Provincial Grand Lodge, under the Grand Mastership of Count Kielman- segge. Having detached itself from the Mother Grand Lodge, in 1828 it declared its independence as a Masonic authority, under the Grand Mastership of the reigning king. Its history is intimately connected with that of German Masonry in general. The king, George V, on ascending the throne on the 18th November, 1851, declared himself like his father, who was a Freemason the protector of Masonry in Han- over, and was initiated, on the 14th of January, 1857, in the "Lodge at the Black Bear," in Hanover. From that FREEMASONRY IN GERMANY. 133 time he has directed, as Grand Master, the Freemasonry of the country, and taken a very active part in Masonic labors. The Grand Lodge of Hanover numbers at the present time upon its register twenty-one symbolic lodges. Kingdom of Bavaria. In no country of Germany has Freemasonry been subjected to as many restrictions and vexations as in the kingdom of Bavaria. It did not pene- trate, until very lately, into the elder Bavaria; and it was not until 1777 that the Royal York Grand Lodge organ- ized a lodge at Munich. But for a long time it has ex- isted in operative lodges, located in countries which, in 1810, were annexed to this kingdom. A lodge had been organized by Prince Frederick of Brandenburg, on the 21st June, 1741, at Beyreuth, the ancient capital of Fran- conia, where other lodges were said to have existed at this time, but concerning which we know nothing. The society of the Ilhiminati, founded by the professor "Weisshaupt, and to which was intrusted the noble task of causing virtue to triumph over folly and ignorance, and of carrying instruction and civilization into all classes of society, had found access into some lodges located in the Elder Bavaria, and particularly those of Munich ; and thereupon Prince Charles Theodore, moved by the influ- ence of the Jesuits, issued two decrees, the one dated 2d March, and the other 16th August, 1785, interdicting the assemblies of the Illuminati, and also those of the Free- masons. Following these prohibitions, which were re- newed from at first by the king, Maximilian Joseph, on the 4th November, 1799, and subsequently on the 5tt March, 1804, the lodges of Munich and of Manheim ceased their labors. "Within the Protestant countries annexed to Bavaria- at Beyreuth and Ratisbonne the lodges were allowed to continue their labors, but under most intolerable restric- 134 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. tions. No employe of the government, either civil or military, was permitted to attend the meetings of or be initiated into them. In a word, these lodges had to con- tend with the Jesuitical tendencies of the government, and were consequently paralyzed in their actions. Notwithstanding this pressure, however, the lodge at Beyrouth constituted, on the 3d of August, 1800, as a Provincial Grand Lodge, under the jurisdiction of the Royal York Grand Lodge at Berlin made a stand, under the Grand Mastership of Count Giech and Brother Yoel- dendorf, prefect of the government; and finally, in 1811, it, with four other lodges, created an independent power at Beyrouth, under the title of "Grand Lodge of the Sun." This authority has at present under its jurisdiction, in the northern portion of Bavaria, eleven operative lodges, while in the southern portion, which is entirely Roman Catholic, Freemasonry is completely interdicted. Grand Duchy of Baden. The most ancient lodge of this country is the lodge " Charles of Concord," established on the 24th November, 1778, at Manheim, by the Royal York Grand Lodge of Berlin. Its labors were suspended in 1785, in consequence of the interdiction of Masonic as- semblies in the states of the elector of Bavaria, in which Manheim was at that time situate. But when this city was, in 1803, incorporated in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Freemasonry awoke, under the direction of the Marquis of Dalberg, and founded, in 1806, a Grand Orient of Ba- den, of which Prince Charles of Ysenberg was chosen Grand Master. Another power, under the title of the "National Union of the Lodges," was, upon the 23d of May, 1809, consti- tuted at Manheim by tie lodges of Carlsriihe, Friburg, Heidelberg, etc., of which the Marquis Charles Frederick Schilling, of Constadt, was nominated presiding officer. After the death of the Grand Duke, Charles Frederick, FREEMASONRY IN GERMANY. 135 his successor, under the pressure of political events, on the 16th February, 1813, and on the 7th March, 1814, promulgated two ordinances, prohibiting all assemblies of secret societies, among which, of course, Freemasonry stood first. After this the lodges remained closed for thirty years; and it was not until in 1845 that the reign ing Grand Duke authorized anew the assembling of Free- masons. The greater part of the old lodges began their labors, and to-day they are at work, under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Beyrouth and the Grand Lodge at the Three Globes, in Berlin, respectively. Kingdom of Wurtemberg. In 1774 a lodge was insti- tuted at Stuttgart, under the title of " Charles of the Three Cedars," which practiced the rite of " Strict Ob- servance," and having at its head Brother Taiibenheim, privy councilor ; but it failed to sustain itself, and, by a circular, dated the 16th July, 1784, it was announced that its labors were suspended. It was not until the year 1835 that we see Freemasonry reappear at Stuttgart. The late- ness of this reappearance is due to the unfriendly disposi- tion for the institution entertained by the sovereigns who governed Wurtemberg since 1784. To-day we see lodges in active operation, working under the direction of va- rious German Grand Lodges. Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. The first traces of Free- masonry were exhibited in this country in 1764, when a lodge, under the name of the " White Pigeon," had been organized by the National Grand Lodge of Germany ; but this lodge disappeared immediately, and left no sign of Masonic life in. Hesse-Darmstadt, where, as in many other portions of Germany, the reigning sovereigns did not have much love for the institution. It was not until the year 1816 that it awoke, thanka to the particular protec- tion of the landgrave Christian of Hesse. A lodge, under 136 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. the title of " St. John the Evangelist," was constituted at Darmstadt, on the 5th of August of that year, and in- stalled on the 23d of the following October, by the Grand Lodge of the Eclectic Union at Frankfort. This lodge established a fund for the relief of the widows and or- phans of deceased brethren. In 1846 was established at Darmstadt, under the title of "The Union," a Grand Lodge, which now numbers upon its register seven operative lodges, besides the lodge " St. John the Evangelist." Hesse- Cassel. Notwithstanding all the members of the ducal family of this duchy were Freemasons, as were also the ruling princes, in this country, Freemasonry has never made any progress. The lodges have never sought to form a central power, but work in an isolated manner, and without ranking under any jurisdiction. When the country was transformed into a kingdom, under Jerome Buonaparte, in 1808, the lodges organized a legislative authority at Cassel, under the title of the " Grand Orient of Westphalia ;" but this organization was dissolved after the events of 1815. Another Masonic au- thority was constituted at Cassel in 1817. We have no documents to inform us as to what occurred since that date. Duchy of Brunswick. Through the agency of the cham- berlain Do Kisselben, who was by it named Provincial Grand Master for life, the Provincial Grand Lodge of Hamburg, on the 12th of February, 1844, instituted a lodge at Brunswick which was called "Jonathan," and at the installation of which Prince Albert of Brunswick was present. After the introduction of the Templar system into the lodges of Germany, a number of the members of this lodge refused to recognize it as Masonic, or admit the system into the lodge. This circumstance, in 1765, led to a division of the membership into two factions, FREEMASONRY IX GERMANY. 137 which, while they continued to work each independent of the other, ceased not to criminate and war upon each other. A third lodge, named "St. Charles of Concord," organized in 1764 by some Frenchmen, who worked in the French language, and conferred the high degrees brought by them from France, having, notwithstanding the protection of the reigning duke, been authorized b}- the two dissenting lodges just mentioned, Duke Charles, to put an end to this strife and disorder, closed up all the lodges, and subsequently ordered their membership to re- organize into two new lodges, the one to work in the French language, and the other in the German. In 1770, the Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, having been nominated, by the Grand Lodge of London, Provin- cial Grand Master for the lodges of the Duchy of Bruns- wick, installed the officers of these two lodges on the 10th and llth of October of that year, in presence of the Duke Charles of Sudermanie, brother of Gustavus III, King of Sweden; Prince Frederick Augustus of Brunswick-Lune- burg, and General Rhetz, Deputy Grand Master. As the Templar system lacked in Germany an influen- tial chief, who could facilitate its propagation and sup- port the secret plans of its founders, the emissaries of the Jesuits sought, not in vain, to gain the Duke Ferdinand to such position. After having consented to their propo- sition, and being initiated in the Convent of Kohlo in 1772, by the chapter there assembled for that purpose, he was nominated Grand Master of all the lodges of the Templar system in Germany. On the 18th January, 1773, he es- tablished a Supreme Directory of Strict Observance at Brunswick, and within the very locality of those lodges which his predecessor had closed to prevent them from practicing the rite of which he now announced himself as chief. Deceived, however, as had been Gustavus III of Sweden, and his brother the Duke of Sudermanie, as to the origin of the Templar system, by the emissaries, who 138 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. pretended that the object of that system was to re-estab- lish the Order of the Knights Templar, and to claim res- titution of the property of that order from the power that had confiscated i% Duke Ferdinand assembled in 1775 at Brunswick, and in 1778 at Wolfenbuttel, conventions of Freemasons, to ascertain the facts in this connection. The consequences were, that while many of the emissaries of the Templar system were unmasked and imprisoned, the object of the inquiry was no further advanced than before., Finally, the Duke Ferdinand convoked, in 1782, a congress at Wilhelmsbad, to which were invited all the Masonic authorities of Europe, in order, first, to ascertain if the Templar system was really directed by the Society of Loyola ; second, to discuss the merits of the system, as also its demerits ; and, third, to reform it, to the end that Freemasonry might be extricated from the political com- plications into which this system had drawn it, not alone in all Germany, but also in Sweden, Italy, Poland, and Russia. The discussions which took place during the thirty days this congress continued in session, while they led to no positive assurance beyond the fact that the Tem- plar system was a totally anti-masonic institution, carried the conviction to the minds of the majority present that there was no Freemasonry beyond that of the English Eite, or the three symbolic degrees. The consequences were that all the systems of high degrees were rejected and cast aside as worthless, except the rite of Strict Ob- servance, which was changed into the " Refined Scottish Rite." The " Supreme Directory" at Brunswick, after the death of Duke Ferdinand, on the 3d July, 1792, returned to the practice of the English Rite, and assumed what it claimed as its original name of "St. Charles of Concord;" and thereafter, for some time, continued to exist isolated and independent. While Westphalia was a kingdom this lodge was in FREEMASONRY IN GERMANY. 139 danger of losing its independence, in consequence of the Grand Lodge of Westphalia, instituted in 1808 at Cassel, attempting to register it under its direction. But the in- terference of the king prevented this consummation, and, for the purpose of having some recognized Masonic au- thority to lean upon, it returned to its obedience to the an- cient mother lodge of Hamburg. The llth and 12th Feb- ruary, 1844, were employed by this lodge "St. Charles of Concord" in celebrating the centennial feast of the itroductiou of Freemasonry into Brunswick. Empire of Austria. In all countries w r herein the Roman Catholic and apostolic clergy predominate, Freemasonry experiences great difficulty in attaining a permanent foot- hold. Of this fact Austria is a striking illustration. All the lodges constituted in the Austrian States have had but a brief term of existence, the persecutions on the part of the clergy and the prohibitions of the sovereigns having never given them time to take root. The Empress Maria Theresa, notwithstanding her hus- band, the Emperor Francis I, w r as a Freemason, inter- dicted Masonry, in 1764, within the Austrian States. It was not until the reign of Joseph II that we find the in- stitution again existing in that country ; but, as before, an object of suspicion, and under the strict superintend- ence of the police. The system of Strict Observance had been established in all its hierarchy at Vienna; but some very grave com- plications caused it, in a short time, to abandon its seat. In 1784, however, there were established some ten lodges in Vienna, all working under this system, and which to judge from the language of a Masonic journal which was there secretly published from 1784 to 1786, and edited with marked ability were composed of worthy men, and progressive in their principles and practices. After the death of Joseph II in 1790, his successor, 140 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Francis II, prohibited Masonry anew, and used the great- est severity in enforcing this prohibition, even to demand ing a decision from the German Diet, in 1794, then sit- ting at Ratisbonne, to interdict the institution throughout all Germany. But the representatives of Prussia, Bruns- wick, and Hanover responded to this demand by saying, that as he was protector of the rights and liberties of his own subjects, they claimed the same privilege with re- gard to theirs. Freemasonry penetrated into Bohemia in 1769, and in 1770 four lodges were actively engaged in Prague. They were composed of the most prominent citizens. In 1786, a Provincial Grand Lodge for Bohemia was organized; but the interdiction of Francis II caused the total suspen- sion of Masonic labor in this portion of his empire ; and, since 1794, Austria has been shut out from Masonic light. RECAPITULATION OF THE LODGES EXISTING IN THE SEVERAL STATES OF GEBMANY. Holstein ,. 1 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 2 Meiningen 1 Anhalt Dessan 2 " Bernbourg Reuss (the elder) Reuss (the younger) Waldeck Lippe-Detmold Schwartzbourg-Schwerin 2 Lubeck 2 Bremen 2 Frankfort-on-the-Main and its de- pendencies, with 1 G. L 10 Hamburg and dependencies, 1 G. L. 21 Prussia, with 3 G. L 187 Saxony, " 1 " 16 Hanover, 1 20 Bavaria, 1 " 10 Baden 5 Wurtemberg 6 Hesse-Darmstadt, 1 G. L 7 Hesse-Cassel 2 Luxembourg, 1 G. L 2 Mecklenburg-Schwerin 9 " Strelitz 2 Saxe-Weimar 2 Oldenbourg 2 Nassau 1 Brunswick 3 Altenburg 1 1 Total 10 G. Ls. and 323 La. FREEMASONRY IN SWITZERLAND. 141 SWITZERLAND. FREEMASONRY penetrated into Switzerland in 1737, when a Provincial Grand Master of England, named George Hamilton, founded the first lodge at Geneva, and shortly afterward the second at Lausanne ; hut in consequence of its interdiction, in 1738, hy the magistracy of Berne, the latter was dissolved. In 1740 a new lodge was organized at Lausanne; hut a second prohibition hy the govern- ment of Berne, dated the 3d March, 1745, closed it. It was not until about 1764 that lodges were organized in Lausanne and in the canton of Vaud ; but a third edict, issued by the government, in 1770, against the assembling of Freemasons, dispersed these lodges also. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Genera maintained it- self with much difficulty; for nearly all the lodges that it constituted, particularly those in the canton of Vaud, were dispersed hy the edicts mentioned. Having sought, however, to establish lod/y a in the cities of German Switzerland, and others m Geneva, it seemed necessary that a Grand Orient of Geneva should be established; and, in 1786, this authority was instituted ; hut the French Revolution of 1789 caused it to suspend opera- tions. In 1796 it resumed its functions ; hut, hy the union of Geneva with th/ Empire of France, its operations were set aside hy the C4rand Orient of France, which imme- diately commerce! instituting lodges within its jurisdic- tion. In 1765 > Masonry having extended into German Switzerland) a lodge was p?tablished at Basle, and another at Zurich in 1771. Both of these lodges were instituted by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Geneva. The system of Strict Observance soon found its way into the valleys of J>,-lvetia; and its anti-masonic distinc- tions, while producvg the same disorder there which they produced elsewh^v-% culminated in dividing the Masons of Switzerland rjto two camps. In 1775, the system of 142 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Strict Observance, having organized a Helvetian Scottish Directory, divided itself into two factions. The one, hav- ing its seat at Basle, assumed authority over German Swit- zerland; while the other, sitting at Lausanne, and styling itself the Scottish Directory of Roman Helvetia, took charge of French Switzerland. But this last had to sub- nit to a like fortune with all the lodges of the canton of Vaud ; and in consequence of the edict of the Lords of Berne, issued in ISTovember, 1782, it suspended its opera- tions. This edict, for the fourth time, prohibited Masonic assemblies in every portion of the canton. The Directory of Basle was not more fortunate; for, in 1785, under the stringent requirements of an edict of the magistrates of Berne, it also had to suspend operations. During the French Revolution all Masonic labors in Switzerland were suspended; and, in 1818, the seat of the Scottish Directory of Basle was transferred, after the death of the Grand Master Burhardt, from that city to Zurich. The Directory of Roman Helvetia at Lausanne awoke to renewed activity in 1810 ; but the system of Strict Ob- servance having been abolished after the congress of Wil- helmsbad, it took the title of Grand Orient of Roman Helvetia, on the 15th October of that year, and from that v time governed the lodges of the canton of Vaud, until its fusion, in 1822, with the Provincial Grand Lodge of Berne, which then became an independent, Grand Lodge. At Berne Masonry had been introduced, about the year 1740, by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Geneva ; but, in consequence of the interdiction of the magistrates of Berne, it had disappeared, and no traces of it could be found in the canton until about 1798, when some Bernese officers, in the service of France, established three lodges, styled, respectively, "Friends of Glory," "Foreign Coun- try," and "Discretion." The first two had but a short existence, and from the remains of the last was formed the " Lodge of Hope," which was constituted by the Grand FREEMASONRY IN SWITZERLAND. 143 Orient of France, on the 14th of September, 1803, and which was then the only lodge in active operation in the whole Swiss Confederation. A new era now appeared to dawn for Masonry in Switz- erland, which, no more persecuted, developed with won- derful rapidity, and lodges were established, within a short time, in the principal towns of the country; but the w r ars of the empire once more arrested this new growth. The Lodge of Hope was composed of eminent men of all classes of society nearly all foreign diplomatists, resident at Berne as representatives of foreign powers, having be- come members of this lodge. In 1812 it initiated Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, since King of the Belgians. On the 12th July, 1818, this lodge applied for a patent to the Grand Lodge of England ; and on the 24th June, 1819, it was installed as a Provincial Grand Lodge of England, by the brother Louis de Tavel de Kruiningen, who had been elected to the position of Provincial Grand Master. From that time it abandoned and discredited the chapters and high degrees of all kinds which it had received from France, and thenceforward recognized nothing as Ma- sonic but the three symbolic degrees. Thenceforth the eminent brethren who directed this authority sought to unite, under one alliance, all the lodges of Switzerland. Having announced their desires upon this subject to the Helvetian Scottish Directory at Zurich, without meeting any favorable response, on the 24th June, 1822, the Provincial Grand Lodge of Berne concluded a treaty of union with the Helvetian Grand Orient 1 at Lausanne, by virtue of which both of these au- thorities were dissolved, and in their place was instituted a National Grand Lodge of Switzerland, to which, by vir tue of the treaty, the six lodges of the Grand Orient and 1 This Grand Orient was, in some sort, the successor of the Roman Helvetian Directory, that suspended operations in 1782. 144 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. the three lodges of the Provincial Grand Lodge yielded obedience. In this manner but two Masonic authorities came to exist, viz : the National Grand Lodge of Switzer- land, and the Helvetian Scottish Directory at Zurich. Such new lodges as were subsequently instituted in Switzerland took rank under the National Grand Lodge ; and notwithstanding the Zurich Directory had at various times, and particularly in 1830, after the death of the Grand Master De Tavel, made overtures of union to the National Grand Lodge, in consequence of the pretensions to the right of conferring high degrees retained by the former, the latter, having abolished such pretension, would never consent to such union. Finally, the feelings which prompted a desire for union were renewed in 1835, and, at the twenty-fifth anniver- sary of the re-opening of the lodge "Liberty with Mod- esty," in Zurich, the Swiss lodges were invited, and the feast took place on the 20th August, 1836. It was then agreed that the "Lodge of Hope," at Berne, should con- voke, in the year 1838, all the lodges of Switzerland in a congress, in which should be discussed the basis of a future union. In accordance with this decision the con- gress met, the basis of union was discussed, and the decis- ion arrived at that a third congress should assemble at Basle in 1840, to continue the discussion. Subsequently, a fourth congress assembled at Locle in 1842, and finally a fifth, at which were assembled the representatives of four- teen lodges, who ratified the union on the 22d June, 1844, and established the new Alpine Grand Lodge, with the brother Professor Hottinger as Grand Master. The place of meeting of this body is changed every two years. Governed by a council of administration, having the Grand Master for president, and composed of the members united in a general assembly, this authority ex- ercises legislative powers. Its jurisdiction extends over twenty-seven lodges, which form the Swiss union. FREEMASONRY IN ITALY. 145 ITALY. IN no country has Freemasonry been subjected to such changes of fortune as in Italy. It is at Florence that we find the first traces of the institution. Introduced there in 1729, by the Grand Lodge of England, which estab- lished many lodges in Tuscany, in 1731 we find a Pro- vincial Grand Lodge instituted. But Gaston, the last Grand Duke of the family of the Medici, in 1737 inter- dicted all Masonic meetings, and not until after his death did Freemasons again meet in a lodge capacity. Then, the clergy having complained to Pope Clement XII, he sent an inquisitor to Florence, who arrested and impris- oned all the Masons he could discover, and ceased not in his persecutions until ordered so to do by the successor of Gaston, Francis, Duke of Lorraine, who was subse- quently Emperor of Austria. This prince, who had been made a Mason in Holland, protected the institution. Un- der his reign Masonry extended into all Italy to Milan, Padua, Venice, and Yerona. It existed even at Rome, where, unknown to the Pope, a lodge worked in the Eng- lish Rite. The bull of excommunication of the 27th April, 1738, published on the 29th of the following May, and which prohibited Masonic meetings in all Catholic coun- tries, under the most severe penalties, closed a portion of the Italian lodges. A new edict of the Cardinal Farras, dated 14th January, 1739, confirmed this bull, and ordered to be burned, by the hands of the public hangman, a pam- phlet written in favor of Freemasons. These persecu- tions, however, had but little effect in interrupting the spread of Masonry in Italy, particularly at Naples; and it was but by the promulgation of the bull of Pope Bene- dict XIV, on the 18th March, 1751, that the lodges were obliged to close their meetings. In 1760, the Grand Lodge of Holland instituted a Pro- vincial Grand Lodge at Naples, which, in a short time 10 146 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. had organized eight operative lodges. Then detaching it- self from the Grand Lodge of Holland, this lodge took rank as a Provincial Grand Lodge, under the Grand Lodge of England. In 1767 this body declared itself in- dependent, under the title of the National Grand Lodge of Italy, with the Duke Demetrio della Kocca in the office of Grand Master ; in which condition it existed until 1790, when it was dissolved hy the French Revolution. Masonry was cotemporarily introduced into the king- dom of Sardinia, lodges having been organized at Turin and Chambery , while, in the latter city, the Grand Lodge of London founded a Provincial Grand Lodge. In 1762 Masonry was imported from England to Venice, where many lodges were established, under the direction of the Provincial Grand Master Manuzzi. The partisans of the Stuarts, and other political schemers, found in Italy, as elsewhere, means to establish their ille- gitimate Masonry. In 1775 they had installed at Turin a commandery of the eighth department of the system of Strict Observance, under the direction of the Count of Bernez, steward to the King of Sardinia; and by him were established priories of this system in all the principal towns of that kingdom, as well as in many cities of Italy. At Chambery English Freemasonry had soon to give way to the system of Strict Observance, and the Provin- cial Grand Lodge, instituted in that city by the Grand Lodge, of London, transformed itself, in 1775, into a Di- rectory of the Masons of Lombardy ; but which was dis- solved in 1794. At Naples the Prince of Caranianca was placed at the head of the Templar system, which there, as elsewhere, very soon displaced the English Rite. The interdictions of the Papal authority, as also the clan- destine persecutions of the clergy and government, little by little, dispersed the majority of the lodges, and those which survived were closed during the French Revolution. Under the French government, however, a new era FREEMASONRY IN ITALY. 147 eeemed to dawn for Masonry in Italy. A lodge, organized at Milan in 1801, was followed by the establishment of another at Mantua, and others in the principal cities; when the Scottish Rite, introduced at Paris in. 1804, and imported to Milan in 1805, by virtue of a constitution dated at Paris, and bearing the signatures of De Grasse- Tilly, Pyron, Benier and Vidal, organized a Supreme Council for Italy, which extended its ramifications to Sicily. It was this Supreme Council of Milan which gave to one of its members, named Lechangeur, the idea of creating, in 1806, the Rite of Misraim, in accordance with which councils of high degrees were instituted at Naples and Venice. 1 The Grand Orient, created at Naples in 1807, and hav- ing the Prince Eugene for Grand Master, subsequently united itself to the Grand Orient of Italy, which was or- ganized on the 24th June, 1809, under the auspices and Grand Mastership of the king, Joachim Murat. With the fall of Napoleon I, this portion of the history of Freemasonry in Italy closes. Thereafter all the inter- dictions, bulls, and edicts were renewed. The decree of Pope Pius VII, dated 15th August, 1814, carried infamy and bodily torture as the penalty incurred by all convicted of assembling as Freemasons. Immediately following this, similar decrees were promulgated by all the crowned heads of Catholic countries, all repeating the absurd charges contained in the decree of the Pope, Pius VII, and prohibiting in their respective states all Masonic as- semblies. Finally, on the 8th August, the King of Naples issued his interdiction, and, under penalty of sentence to the galleys, prohibited all participation in the assemblies of Freemasons. After that time the lodges continued closed in Italy, l This rite was imported to Paris in 1814, where it yet exists, and has given, in its turn, birth in that city to the Rite of Memphis. 148 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. and it was not until 1856 an interval of forty years-^ that the Grand Orient of France instituted lodges at GCnes and at Livorne. Since then the lodges have mul- tiplied and extended into all the principal cities of the peninsula. These lodges soon decided to institute an in- dependent Grand Lodge; and, after the elaboration by their delegates of a suitable constitution, on the 1st Janu- ary, 1862, the Grand Orient of Italy was organized, with its seat at Turin, and the brother Nigra nominated Grand Master. This brother, however, having declined the nomi- nation, the brethren Cordova and General Garibaldi were put in nomination, and the former elected. In consequence of the severity practiced against it by the new central power, the lodge "Dante Alighieri," which professed the Scottish (33d) Rite a profession that was unhappily entertained by several other lodges de- tached itself from the Grand Orient, and declared itself independent. Similar tendencies having manifested them- selves in other parts of Italy, and a Supreme Council for Sicily having been constituted at Palermo, with General Garibaldi as its chief, and some twelve lodges ranking themselves under its banner, on the 12th August, 1863, a convocation of all the Masonic bodies of Italy was called, to meet at Turin, to take into consideration the tendency of these disorders, and devise means to check them. Not being able to agree, the brethren who represented the Grand Orient of Turin withdrew from this assembly, and thus allowed their places in the commission, appointed to draft a new constitution, to be filled by brethren who were all partisans of the Scottish Rite. We know not, at the present time, (close of 1863,) the result of this labor; in no case, however, can we believe this result will be favorable to the interests of true Freemasonry. The Grand Orient of Italy, having rejected the high degrees which, during the past century, had produced much discord among the lodges of that country, and, FREEMASONRY IN PORTUGAL. 149 under its constitution, recognized nothing as Masonry but the three symbolic degrees of the English Rite, many Masonic authorities hesitated to recognize it, in the belief that the political agitation of the country might cause its early dissolution. The desire to found a Polish and a Hun- garian Grand Orient, at the head of which, respectively, should be placed a political chief of these countries, has not a little contributed to strengthen such a belief. At the close of 1863 the Grand Orient of Italy reckoned under its jurisdiction sixty-eight operative lodges, among which are to be found lodges in Alexandria and Cairo, in Egypt ; at Constantinople, in Turkey, and Lima, in South America. PORTUGAL. THERE is one country where Masonic light has pene- trated but with the greatest difficulty ; for it is the seat of ignorance and superstition. This country is the para- dise of monks, who there cease not to build convents, and exercise the exclusive privilege of directing the minds of the people, the king, and his councilors. That coun- try is Portugal. From the Book of Constitutions, first published by the Grand Lodge of London, in 1723 and subsequently at later periods, to the extent of five separate editions, the last of which was published by order of the Grand Lodge of England, in 1855 we learn that the Grand Lodge of London instituted at Lisbon, in 1735, a Provincial Grand Lodge, by the agency of Bro. George Gordon ; but th seeds thus sown fell on barren soil. In the matter of per secution, undergone by all who attempted to disseminate Freemasonry in this country, it stands without a rival, if we may except Spain; but latterly this condition is dis- appearing. 150 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Tlie Inquisition, here under the protection of the king, tracked every person from far and near who were sus- pected of being Freemasons. Thus, two lapidaries the one named John Gustos, originally a Protestant from JBerne in Switzerland, and the other, named Alexander James Monton, originally a Catholic from Paris having been accused of having expressed the desire to see a lodge organized in Lisbon, fell into the snares set by the "Holy Office," and were thrown into prison in 1743. The accu- sation charged them with seeking to introduce Freema- sonry into Portugal, in violation of the bull of the Pope, which condemned this detestable doctrine as a heresy, and all Freemasons as impious, sodomists, etc. Under the order of the Cardinal Dacunha, grand inquisitor, they submitted nine times in three months to the most abomi- nable torture that it is possible to imagine; subsequently they were forced to assist at an auto-da-fe, and finally condemned to the galleys for life. Thanks to the aid of English Freemasons, however, they were enabled to es- cape and seek refuge in England. Of the many other Masons who, like those unfortunates, fell into the traps of the Inquisition, and who, no doubt, sunk under the tor- ture inflicted by that detestable institution, we have been unable to discover the least trace. The Inquisition was no less severe with the natives of the country; for, in 1776, two Portuguese nobles, Major D'AHncourt and Don Oyres D'Ornelles-Parracao, were also imprisoned and tortured, because they were Free- masons. Although all vestige of Masonry had disappeared for twenty-five years, in 1802 an inquest was ordered against Freemasons in Portugal, and all who were sus- pected even, by this inquest, were charged with conspiracy against the king and the church, and sentenced to the galleys without trial or form of law. Notwithstanding these severe measures, we find, in 1805, a Grand Orient at Lisbon, with a Grand Master, named , FREEMASONRY IN PORTUGAL. 151 Egaz-Moniz ; but its ramifications were not very extended. Dissolved after the events of 1814, it was formed again in 1817, and sought to animate some lodges; but Freema- sonry continued to inspire the monks with terror, and, yielding to their solicitations, King John YI issued a de-- cree, dated at Rio Janeiro, the 30th March, 1818, inter dieting Freemasons from assembling together, under pain of death. We know nothing of the lives destroyed under this decree ; but, about five years afterward, it was modi- fied by another, which, dated Lisbon, June 20, 1823, stated that it was issued in consequence of remonstrances upon the subject having been, during the interval, addressed to the government by many of the resident embassadors. By the terms of this last decree, the penalty was changed from capital punishment to five years' labor in the galleys in Africa. JSTo proof beyond mere suspicion was necessary to cause the arrest of persons who were punished under the penalties of those edicts. Foreigners as well as na- tives were proceeded against without any attempt to dis- guise the act, or the least attention being given to the many protests which were made by the agents of their re- spective countries. Notwithstanding these interdictions, however, as well as the cruelties which were exercised under their au- thority, a Masonic body was constituted at Lisbon, under the title of the Grand Orient of Lusitania, as also a Su- preme Council of the Scottish (33d) Rite. The later sov- ereigns of Portugal, without having revoked the prohibi- tory decrees against Freemasons, appeared to tolerate the Fraternity; for there has been established another au- thority at Oporto, under the name of "Pattos- Manuel;" and subsequently a Provincial Grand Lodge of Ireland. But in a country where as in Spain and at Rome the clergy rule every thing, we can entertain but little hope for the extension or well-being of Freemasonry. 152 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. SPAIN. IN no country, Portugal excepted, has Freemasonry been exposed to persecutions more atrocious than in the Roman Catholic kingdom, par excellence, of Spain perse- cutions based upon the bulls of Clement XII, of the 27th April, 1738; of Benedict XIY, of the 18th May, 1751, and the edict of Cardinal Consalvi, of the 13th August, 1814, which, as we have seen, pronounced all Freemasons excommunicated, and condemned them to the most severe penalties, even to death itself. From the Book of Constitutions we learn that in 1727 and in 1728, under the Grand Mastership of the Count of Inchquin and Lord Coleraine, the first warrants were de- livered to" establish lodges at Gibraltar and Madrid. In 1739 a number of lodges were instituted at these places, and the Grand Lodge of London patented Captain Com- merford Provincial Grand Master for all Andalusia. The Catholic clergy of Spain exhibited themselves at a very early period here, as elsewhere, the bitter enemy of Freemasonry. The better to enable them to discover the members of the Fraternity, and the secret practices and doctrines of the institution, the monk Joseph Torrubia, censor of the Holy Office of the Inquisition at Madrid, was ordered, in 1750, to assume a false name, pass himself as a layman, and be initiated into a Masonic lodge. For this purpose he received from the Pope's legate the dispensa- tions necessary to relieve him from the obligations of the oaths he should have to take upon being made a Freema- son. After having thus been enabled to visit the lodges in different parts of Spain, he presented himself before the supreme tribunal of the Inquisition, denounced Freema- sonry as the most abominable institution that existed in the world, accused its members of every vice and crime re- volting to religion, and submitted a list of ninety-seven FREEMASONRY IN SPAIN. 153 lodges established in the kingdom, against which he so- licited the most rigorous action of the Inquisition. The importance of the great number of brethren who were members of these lodges, belonging, as they did, to the nobility and to the rich and influential classes, induced the Holy Office to reflect upon the matter, and decided i to request the king to interdict the institution of Freema sonry. In response to its promptings, Ferdinand VI is- sued a decree, dated the 2d July, 1751, prohibiting the in- stitution of Freemasonry throughout the extent of his kingdom, under the pretext that it was dangerous to the state and to religion, and pronouncing the penalty of death against all who should profess it. Under this de- cree many persons were sacrificed by the order of the In- quisition. These cruelties were calculated to suppress all idea of introducing Masonry within the country, and also of restraining any exhibition of life on the part of the lodges already established ; so that it was not until after the French Revolution that they emerged again into the light, and began to spread more rapidly than before. After having founded at Xeres a Grand Lodge for Spain, there was established, on the 3d November, 1805, under the government of Joseph Napoleon, a Grand Orient of Spain, having its seat at Madrid, the very stronghold of the Inquisition. The same year was constituted a Su- preme Council of the Scottish (33d) Rite, and subsequently a Grand Orient, at Grenada, the Athens of Spain. In 1814, Ferdinand VII re-established the Inquisition, and, by a decree dated 24th May of that year, ordered all the lodges to be closed, and pronouncing all participation in Masonry a crime against the state. Many lodges, par- ticularly those of Grenada, having braved this ordinance, all their members were arrested and thrown into prison. Of their number was the Marquis of Toulouse, and Gen- eral Alvada, Adjutant-General to the Duke of Welling- ton, together with many Frenchmen, Italians, and Ger- 154 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. mans. The provisional government of 1820 released them all, and in that year many lodges resumed their labors; but, on the 1st August, 1824, the King, Ferdinand VII, renewed his decree of interdiction, and pronounced the penalty of death against all who, being Freemasons, should not announce themselves as such within thirty days ; while, after that time, those who should be recog- nized as such, and had not so declared themselves, should be hung within twenty-four hours without form of law. So stringent a measure as this would have informed that government, which held no obligations sacred, that eighty thousand of its subjects were banded together as a brotherhood, had any of those subjects been disloyal to his obligations to that brotherhood ; but, strange to say, the Inquisition found very few victims. In 1825, the clergy of Grenada, under the authority of this interdiction, distinguished themselves by the bloody execution of seven Freemasons ; and subsequently, in 1829, new traces of Masonry having been discovered in Barce- lona, the unhappy brethren fell into the hands of the In- quisition, which ordered the execution of one of them, the brother Galvez, a lieutenant-colonel in the Spanish army, and sentenced the other two to the galleys for life. Notwithstanding these rigorous measures, there were many Freemasons in Spain ; and even a Masonic authority, st}'led the " Grand Directory," is known to exist some- where in the kingdom, but where, or what may be the plan of its labors, we are unable to say. At Cadiz there is a lodge composed entirely of English- men, with which the government does not interfere; and at Gibraltar there are four, like that in Cadiz, under the protection of the Grand Lodge of England, at London. The countries in which Masonry is at present prohib- ited are: Spain and her colonies, Catholic Bavaria, Austria and its dependencies, and Russia, with the countries under her rule. HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE, AND ORGANIZATION OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THAT RITE FOR FRANCE. 1 THE Masonic authority which directed a fraction of French Masonry, under the title of the " Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the 33d and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for France," was organized at Paris, on the 22d of Septem- ber, 1804, by the Count Alexander Francis Augustus de Grasse- Tilly, son of the admiral of that name; and this organization was formed under a warrant, dated and de- livered to him at Charleston, South Carolina, on the 21st February, 1802, by a body stylirig itself the " Supreme Council of Grand Inspectors General for America," etc., sitting in that city. This warrant conferred upon the brother De Grasse plenary powers to initiate Masons into, and constitute lodges, chapters, and consistories of, this rite in the then (February, 1802,) French colony of St. Domingo. 1 Knowing how much importance will attach to this portion of th General History of Freemasonry, assuming, as it does, to give the real origin of "the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite" of thirty-three de- grees how earnestly it will be studied, discussed, and commented upon by some, and probably disbelieved by others of the brethren, who have taken the commonly-received history of the rite and the "grand consti- tutions" as truth iii every particular I have followed the author so (155) 156 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Without proceeding, in this place, with the history of the first Masonic power created in France under this war- rant, and the forms of this rite the title of which we have already given and to chronicle the acts of such body from 1804 to the present time which we propose to do in another volume we will at this time give our atten- tion to the origin of the Masonic authority by which it was instituted. We will begin with quoting from the document submit- ted to the Masonic Fraternity by the partisans of this rite, giving an account of its origin : " It appears, from authentic documents, that the establishment of the sublime and ineffable degrees of Masonry took place in Scot- land, France, and Prussia immediately after the first crusade ; but, in consequence of circumstances which to us are unknown, they were neglected from 1658 to 1744. Then a Scotch gentleman vis- ited France, and re-established the Lodge of Perfection at Bour- deaux. 1 ... In 1761, the lodges and councils of the superior degrees having extended over the continent of Europe, his majesty the King of Prussia, who was Grand Commander of the degree of closely in this department sentence for sentence and word for word that I may be said to have waived the right of a translator, and rendered the author's language at the expense of my own. I trust, however, the object will justify the action. TRANSLATOR. 1 According to this recital, it would be necessary to admit that the propa- gation of the Scottish Rite of "these sublime and ineffable degi-ees'' is due to a "Scotch gentleman," unknown both as to his own name as well as the lodge or Masonic authority that authorized him to "re-establish" this rite In France! The fact is, that before 1789 there never was a lodge of the Scot- tish Rite, neither of twenty-five nor thirty-three degrees, established at Bourdeaux; while that which existed at Arras a Grand Chapter was founded by Charles Edward Stuart, in 1747. Subsequently there was, in 1751, a mother lodge of what was then called the Scottish Rite, founded at Marseilles; and in 1756 the Grand Chapter of Clermont was founded, in the convent of Clermont, at Paris. In addition to these so-called Masonic bodies, the dates of whose institution are well known, there were numerous chap- ters, tribunals, etc., founded by Dr. Ramsay, between the years 1736 and 1740, no details of which are known to us. THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH BITE. 157 Prince of the Royal Secret, 1 was recognized by all as chief of the sublime and ineffable degrees of Masonry in the two hemispheres. His royal highness Charles, hereditary prince of the Swedes, the Goths, and the Vandals, Duke of Sudermanie, etc., was and continued to be the Grand Commander and protector of sublime Masonry in Sweden ; and hid royal highness Louis of Bourbon, prince of the blood, the Duke of Chartres, and cardinal prince of Rohan, Bishop of Strasburg, were at the head of these degrees in France. * * * " On the 25th of October, 1762, the grand constitutions were finally ratified at Berlin, and proclaimed for the government of all the lodges of sublime and perfect Masons, chapters, councils, colleges, and consistories of the royal and military art of Free- masonry upon the whole surface of the two hemispheres, etc. " In the same year some constitutions were transmitted to our illustrious brother Stephen Morin, who, on the 27th of August, 1761, had been appointed Inspector General of all the lodges, etc., of the New World, by the Grand Consistory of Princes of the Royal Secret, convoked at Paris, and at which presided the deputy of the King of Prussia, Chaillou de Joinville, Substitute General of the Order, Worshipful Master of the first lodge of France, called St. Anthony, Chief of the eminent degrees, etc. Being present the brethren Prince of Rohan, etc. 2 " By the constitutions of the Order, ratified on the 25th of October, 1762, the King of Prussia had been proclaimed Chief of the high degrees, with the rank of Sovereign Grand Inspector General and Grand Commander. The high councils and chapters not being able to work but in his presence, or in that of the sub- stitute who he might designate; while all the transactions of the Consistory of Princes of the Royal Secret had to be sanctioned by him, or his substitute, for the establishment of their legality; and many other prerogatives being attached to his Masonic rank. No disposition had, however, been inserted in the constitution for the nomination of his successor ; and, as this was an office of the highest importance, the greatest precautions were necessary to 1 This was the name of the last degree of the Rite of Perfection, which was composed of twenty-five degrees. 2 See page 88 for a transcript of this appointment. 158 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. protect it, that none but a person entirely worthy should be ap- pointed to it. Realizing the importance of this fact, the king es- tablished the thirty-third degree. 1 Nine brethren of each nation formed the Supreme Council of Grand Inspectors General, who, since his decease, have possessed all the Masonic powers and pre- rogatives enjoyed by him. They constitute the exclusive body of the Society, and their approbation is now indispensable to the acts of the Consistory, to which it gives the force of law. From their decisions there is no appeal. The sublime degrees are at this moment (1802) as they were at the time of their first forma- tion ; they have not undergone the slightest alteration the least addition. The same principles and the same ceremonies have been from all time observed; and this we know by the documents of our archives, which have existed for many centuries of years in their original condition." The author of these passages has forgotten, no doubt, to quote the documents mentioned in the introduction, as also those extracts from the archives to which he alludes at the close. This recital we extract from a report which, accompa- nied by some historical notes, seems to have been sub- mitted to the Supreme Council at Charleston, in 1802, by one of its members, named Frederick Dalcho, and which, in 1808, were printed in Dublin. This curious document is the first that has given the pretended history of the Scottish Rite, and all that has been published since then as to the origin of the rite has been extracted more or less literally from it. The object for which this document was produced is therein explained it was to be distributed and sent, in the form of a circular, to all the Masonic au- thorities upon the globe; and to render it more worthy of belief, and to give it greater importance, the Supreme Council at Charleston had it affirmed, or sworn to, by the brethren Isaac Auld and Emmanuel de la Motte, approved 1 It will be remembered that the rite of which it is stated he was chief had but twenty-five degrees. THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. 159 )y the Grand Master, ad vitam, Colonel Mitchell, and cer- tified to, as in all particulars true and sincere, by Abraham Alexander, Secretary of the Holy Empire. 1 The preceding recital concerning the Scottish Rite, so far as quoted, is well worthy of taking rank among the products of that noble army of Masonic authors and fab- -icators of new rites, who, to give their creations some importance, invent with the greatest facility, time, place, and honorable circumstances attending their origin. If the authors of this new Scottish Rite have not considered it necessary to assign to it a greater antiquity ; if they have not, as is customary with most writers upon Ma- sonry, placed the birth of their rite in the cradle of the world, or thereabouts, it is because they have reasoned a little more logically than their imitators. The name of Scot- tish not being any better known to antiquity than was that of Freemason, it reasonably became necessary to place the origin of this rite at an epoch which had some connection with history. The majority of our self-styled Masonic historians, in their statements as to the origin of our in- stitution, trouble themselves to the smallest possible ex- tent as to its connection with written history ; for, in speaking of its antiquity, they appear to think it entirely unnecessary to describe how it was possible for it to de- scend intact to our time through forty or fifty centuries, which, they glibly inform us, have elapsed since its birth. The name of Freemason, as indicating with decision and in the most incontestable manner the origin of the insti- tution, is not, to this class of writers, of the slightest con- sequence. If the inventors of the Scottish Rite of thirty-three de- grees have not been as careless as the generality of theii predecessors, they have not been much more happy in their 'It is by this title that the "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite" qualifies the country over which it extends its authority. 160 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. exposition of its origin. Not being able to found their creation upon any act more or Jess authentic, or upon any fact of history, the scaffolding erected by them to support it necessarily gives way at the first shock, in the way of an earnest examination, to which they submitted it; and thus left unsupported, it shares the fortune of the creations of their predecessors in the same kind of speculation. In overturning this scaffolding, we need but advance the facts of history and compare them with the assertions contained in the fragment of the report that we have quoted. As to an examination of the question of fact whether or not the report which he produced, signed by Frederick Dalcho, had not been fabricated by himself subsequently to 1802, in order to destroy the doubts which attached themselves at a later period to the authenticity of this rite, we leave that to one side. In the beginning, ancient Freemasonry (from 715 B. 0. to the year 400 of our era), that of the middle ages (from 400 to 1500), and that which was practiced after that time in England, had never but three degrees of initiation. From 1640 to 1660 the partisans of the Stuarts, abusing the trust reposed in them by the Masonic Fraternity, and using their meetings as a cloak under cover of which to elaborate their schemes of monarchical restoration, created two superior degrees, viz : that of Scottish Master as the fourth, and that of Templar Mason as the fifth degree. "When the society was transformed, in 1717, at London, and, from being a corporation more or less mechanical, became an institution entirely philosophic, it adopted but the three primitive or symbolic degrees. Before the year 1717 the lodges of Freemasons had no affiliations outside of England, and it is proven incontestably that the first lodge of the modern or philosophic Freemasonry estab- lished outside of Great Britain, was established at Dun- kirk, in 1721, with a ritual of three degrees. A third lodge was established in 1725 at Paris. From that time THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. 161 Freemasonry extended rapidly into all the other countries of the north of Europe, first into Belgium, find subse- quently into Holland and Germany. The rite called Scottish is a bastard child of Freema- sonry, to which the policy of the Stuart interest gave birth. It was introduced in France, between 1736 and 1738, by the Baron Ramsay, who w T as an instrument of the Jesuits. 1 This partisan of the Stuart interest was the first propa- gandist of this rite in France, wherein he extended it to many parts, in a few years, by the aid of his delegates and those of the Jesuits; but it was not until after the arrival in France of the Pretender, Charles Edward, that the rite called Scottish assumed any importance. The Pretender created the Chapter of Arras, and the noblemen of his suite immediately besought of this^ chapter warrants with which to propagate the rite. His scale had then aug- mented, and from seven degrees it successively arose to twenty-five ; for we find, in 1758, 2 a chapter or council of Emperors of the East and West, furnished with this num- ber of degrees, established at Paris. From this time all the fabricators of new rites, although they increased to a, frightful extent, had the good sense not to augment the number of the degrees, but, on the contrary, gradually reduced them the Scottish Rite alone containing the highest number, and it, from 1755 to 1802, being limited to twenty-five. After the congress of Wil- helmsbad the principal Masonic rites were subjected to great changes, and were every-where modified and reduced to seven, to ten, and to twelve degrees. From these facts which are incontestable it followed that during the space of time that we have named (from 1755 to 1802), there did not exist in any country no more in England than in France, no more in Prussia than in Sweden councils of the Scottish Rite of thirty-three de- 1 See the History of the origin of all the Rites. 2 Ibid. 11 162 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. grees. !N"ow, the report that we have quoted explicitly says: "These sublime degrees are at this moment (1802) as they were at the time of their first formation ; they have not undergone the slightest alteration the least addition." This assertion is doubly inexact ; because, in the first place, previous to 1801, no Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees was known ; and, in the second place, all the rites and degrees, without regard to name or number, were created between 1736 and 1800, and they had nothing in common with the primitive English Rite. If, then, there did not exist, before 1802, neither a Scot- tish Rite of thirty-three degrees, nor councils of Grand Inspectors General and Commanders, it follows that the Prince of Sudermanie could not be the Grand Master of the rite in Sweden, nor, for the same reason, could Fred- erick the Great be its chief in Prussia. As to another allegation in the same report that the King of Prussia had been recognized chief of these coun- cils upon the two hemispheres, conformably to the grand constitutions of this Order, which were ratified on the 25th of October, 1762, at Berlin it is, like all the others, desti- tute of foundation in fact ; and this we will proceed to prove. The king, Frederick of Prussia, was initiated into Ma- sonry on the 15th of August, 1738, at Brunswick, being then prince royal. 1 The lodge at the Three Globes^ in Berlin, founded by some French artists whom the king had invited to Prussia, was elevated by him to the rank of a Grand Lodge in 1744, and of which he became there- upon Grand Master a dignity that he exercised until 1747. 2 After that time he never occupied himself actively with Masonry. In his interviews with the brethren who directed the Grand Lodge at the Three Globes, and who kept him informed as to what occurred of a Masonic 1 See Lenning's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, book 4, page 453, 2d ed. *His name, nevertheless, was borne upon the register of the "Grand Lodge at the Three Globes," as its Grand Master, until 1755. THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. 168 character, he continued to exhibit his attachment to our institution ; but when the different new systems, brought into Prussia by the Marquis of Berny and the officers of the army of Broglie, disseminated themselves in the Ger- man lodges, he exhibited himself the enemy of these in- novations, and expressed his disdain for these high degrees, as was his manner, freely and in hard terms, prophesying that they would one day be a fruitful source of discord among the lodges and the systems. It seemed that his prediction was to be verified ; for these divers systems soon engendered anarchy within the lodges, even in the lodge at the Three Globes itself, to such an extent that dis- gusted him with Masonry, without, however, changing his preconceived opinions of the institution. After this he authorized the creation of two other Grand Lodges at Berlin ; but he never had any other connection with them than to respond with thanks to their complimentary ex- pressions on the occurrence of his birthday. The last letter that King Frederick wrote, under these circum- stances, is addressed to the Grand Master of La Goaneric, and bears date 7th February, 1778. As has been well re- marked, this letter is written in a style very different from what he had been accustomed to use in addressing the lodges. 1 After this letter, he abstained from even thank- 1 We extract from Lenning's Encyclopedia a transcript of this letter, as it appears on page 455 of that work : " The king has been sensible of the homage that the Lodge of Friend- ship at Berlin has rendered to His Majesty in the discourse pronounced by its orator on the anniversary of the day of his birth. His Majesty bas found such expressions very conformable to the sentiments which he has always attributed to that lodge as sustained toward his person; and he readily assures that lodge, in his turn, that he will always interest himself with pleasure in the happiness and prosperity of an assembly which, like it, places its first glory in the indefatigable and uninter- rupted propagation of all the virtues of the honest man and the true patriot [Signed] " FREDERICK. " POTSDAM, 7th February, 1778. " To the Royal York of Friendship Lodge of Freemi 164 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. ing the lodges, when they felicitated him upon the recur- rence of the occasion we have mentioned. During the last thirty years of his reign, King Frederick took no active part whatever in Masonry ; this is a notorious fact, and proven by the minutes of the Grand Lodges of Ber- lin. 1 Then it follows that the revision of the high degrees and* the Masonic constitutions which they attribute to him, and which should have taken place, according to the re- port in question, in 1786 the year of his death is no more correct than is his augmentation of the degrees. As to the rituals which lie should have prepared him- self for these high degrees the same year, 2 they could not 1 We can support these assertions with not only the letters which we have received from the Secretary of the Grand Lodge at the Three Globes in Berlin, but also with the minutes of this authority, bearing date, re- spectively, the 17th August, 1833, and 19th December, 1861, which de- clare, in the most formal and positive manner, that the documents sent to it at different times, styled "Grand Constitutions of the Scottish Rite of thirty-third," as well those written in Latin and in French as those written in the English language, and attributed to King Frederick II documents of which the authenticity is doubtful are all apocryphal, as, in general, are all the other acts relating to this rite which pretend to have emanated from that prince. (See Lenning's Encyclopedia of Free- masonry, edition of 1862, pages 455 and 456.) There is other proof not less authentic, which puts to flight the fa- bles invented by the partisans of the Scottish Rite. It is that it is well known that the King Frederick II, on the 9th September, 1785, went to Berlin for the last time, to visit his sister, the Princess Amelia, and the next day he reviewed the artillery at Wedding. From thence he re- turned to Potsdam, where he passed the whole winter in bodily suffering from the malady that eventually caused his death. lie was moved in a very unquiet state, on the 17th April, 1786, to his retreat of iSans Sot'd, and there died four months afterward. (See the same work, page 456.) We will abstain from any other reflections upon this subject, and merely add, as a last fact in support of our assertions, that, to the knowl- edge of every lodge in Berlin, the King Frederick II in no manner occu- pied himself with Masonry during the last thirty years of his life. 2 See the Book of Gold of the Supreme Council for France, printed in 1807, page 7. It is in direct contradiction with the report of the brother Dalcho, who does not attribute to King Frederick but the creation of the THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. 165 in any case have been drawn up by bim, as he was at this time in a dying condition ; and, long before his death winch took place on the 17th August, 1786 he was to- tally incapable of any species of labor. "With regard to the assertions relating to the grand con- stitutions, or rules and regulations of the rite, of 1762, that King Frederick II should have himself ratified on the 1st of May, 1786, they are equally destitute of founda- tion, since these rituals did not exist at this time, but were evidently fabricated in 1804. In a word, every thing con- nected with this rite that pretends to be historic has been invented in part by its creators, and finished by its propa- gandists. To all these simple facts, which are truly historic, de- structive as they are of the truth of the principal asser- tions contained in the report of Frederick Dalcho though that report is affirmed, approved, and certified as true by many high dignitaries of this rite we could add others not less conclusive, did we not believe such addition su- perfluous. We will now enumerate the facts which preceded the establishment of this authority in Paris, and indicate the origin of the Masonic power which constituted it; but to do this we must go back nearly a century. thirty-third degree, and not that of the eight degrees from the twenty- fifth to the thirty-third. This Book of Gold (it would be better named the book of brass} thus explains the creation of these degrees : " It would appear that the institution of the Supreme Council of the thirty-third and last degree is the work of this prince (Frederick II), who, upon his ascent to the throne, declared himself the protector of the Order in his states; that the dignity of Sovereign of Sovereigns, in the Consis- tories of Princes of the Royal Secret, resided in his person ; that it was him who augmented to thirty-three the twenty-five degrees of the ancient and accepted rite, as they were decreed in 1762: and, finally, that he delegated his sovereignty to the Supreme Council, who named it 'of the thirty-third and last degree,' for the purpose of exercising it after hia death." 166 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. In 1761, a brother named Stephen Morin, by confession an Israelite, a member of the then National Grand Lodge of France, and also of a chapter of high degrees, having been called to America by some private interests, mani- fested the desire to establish in those countries the Masonry of the higher degrees, then called "Masonry of Perfec- tion ;" and, with this object, he addressed himself to the brother Lacorne, dancing-master, and at that time a de- posed substitute of the Grand Master, the Count of Cler- mont. Upon the proposition made by the latter for this purpose to the Sovereign Grand Council of Princes of the East and West, there was, on the 27th August, 1761, de- livered to the brother Morin a patent or warrant, by which be was created Inspector General of all the lodges of the ~New World, etc. l Arrived at St. Domingo, the brother Stephen Morin named, by virtue of his patent, one of his co-religionists, the brother Moses M. Hayes, Deputy Inspector for North America. He afterward conferred the same dignity upon a brother Frankin for Jamaica and the English windward islands, and upon the brother Colonel Prevost for the English leeward islands and British army. Some time af- terward the brother Frankin transferred his authority to the brother Moses Hayes, Grand Master at Boston, Mass. In his turn, the brother Moses M. Hayes named, as In- spector General for South Carolina, another of his co-re- ligionists, the brother Isaac Da Costa, who established, in 1783, a Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection at Charleston. To this brother, after his death, succeeded another Israel- ite, named Joseph Myers. There were successively cre- ated by these self-styled Grand Inspectors General other inspectors for the different States of America. .The brother Bush was appointed for Pennsylvania, and the brother Barend M. Spitzer for Georgia. 1 See the text of this patent in the History of Freemasonry in France, page 88. THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. 167 On the 15th May, 1781, these brethren assembled in council, at Philadelphia, the different inspectors for those States. It was by this council that the degree of Inspector General was conferred for Jamaica on the brother Moses Cohen. It also appointed to this dignity Isaac Long and the brethren De La Hogue, Croze-Magnan, St. Paul, Petit, and Marie all residents of Charleston to propagate the rite in the different countries of America. There existed, as we have already stated, at Charleston, a Grand Lodge of Perfection, with a Council of Princes of Jerusalem, founded by the brother Da Costa in 1783. To this Grand Lodge, on the 27th February, 1788, was united the Royal Arch Chapter, founded by authority of a chapter of this title at Dublin ; and it was by this body that the brother Colonel Mitchell was appointed, on the 2d of August, 1795, a Deputy Inspector General for the State of South Carolina, who, in the plenitude of his powers, in 1797 conferred this title on the Count De Grasse-Tilly, a resident of St. Domingo, and assigned to him the same power for the French colonies of America. This council of Inspectors General styled itself the Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem, and all the constitutions delivered by it to its inspectors were always given in this name, seeing that the first patent delivered to Stephen Morin, in 1761, emanated from an authority which had given itself this name. This council of Princes of Jerusalem, sitting at Charles- ton, created some inspectors of lodges and chapters, whom it liberally remunerated. In 1801 it was composed of the brethren Colonel Mitchell, Frederick Dalcho, Abraham Auld, Isaac Auld, Emmanuel de la Motte, and some others of less mark, who all belonged to the Jewish religion. 1 It may readily be believed that the constitutions granted by this council, composed, as we have indicated, of breth- *See Ragon's Masonic Orthodoxy, page 181, which represents the mem- bers of this council as audacious jugglers. 168 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. ren belonging to the Jewish religion, were not as exten- sive as they probably desired ; and it was this feeling 1 , without doubt, that suggested the idea of creating some- thing new something striking, and of a nature to procure them some advantage not offered by their position. The abuse that they had already made of the powers conferred npon them although the conferring authority itsolf was more or less illegal, emanating, as it did, from a self- created body should have induced all earnest Masons and honest men to have shunned a similar work, and particu- larly one that they dared not avow ; but personal ambition and self-interest prevailed over the Masonic principles and common honesty which these brethren had sworn to ob- serve, the speculation was engaged in, and, unhappily for the character of Freemasonry, it has, to some extent, proved a success. A new Masonic power was combined and created under the title of "Supreme Council of the Grand Commanders Inspectors General of the thirty -third and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite." This new creation naturally bore the same illegal char- acter, and was accompanied by the same deplorable cir- cumstances which had already signalized the factious pe- riod from 1740 to 1770 a period of false titles, illegal constitutions, antedated regulations, etc. The new authority lost no time in constituting itself. It elected its own members to the highest dignities of their new order of knighthood, and delivered to them patents with which they were empowered to institute this new T rite wherever their fortunes should carry them. The brother Colonel Mitchell was nominated the first Grand Commander. He died at Charleston, in 1841. But to facilitate the progress of the new rite, it was necessary to give it a respectable origin, and support it with some historic names as those of its originators and protectors. This trust was committed to the brethren THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. 169 Paleho, Auld, and La Motte, and we have seen by the re- port from which we have quoted how they discharged it. Probably among the first deliverances of the new power was the warrant sent to De Grasse-Tilly who had some time previously been appointed as Inspector General of the Rite of Perfection for the French colonies in Amer- ica to enable him to establish, in the Island of St. Do- mingo, a Supreme Council of the new rite. This patent conferred upon him the title of Lieutenant Commander of the new rite, and is dated the 21st February, 1802. Having little hope of being recognized as a Masonic authority in America, this new power sought the recog- nition of the different Masonic powers established in Eu- rope; and, with this object, it sent to all the Grand Lodges of Europe a circular, dated the llth of December, 1802, by which it informed them of its installation, and gave them the names of the degrees which it conferred itself, and authorized its Grand Commander to confer in its name. The Grand Lodge of St. John of Scotland, located in Edinburgh which was generally regarded, though wrong- full}*, as the mother lodge of all the Scotch Rites, and which, on this account, had the greatest interest in pro- testing against this new creation was indignant upon sight of this circular, and, in the response that it made thereto, declared "that such a number of degrees could not but inspire the most profound surprise in those professing Scottish Masonry; that it could never recognize such a collection, seeing that it had always preserved the Scot- tish Rite in the simplicity of its primitive institution, and that it would never disarrange its system in this respect." This Grand Lodge of Scotland, sitting at Edinburgh and directing all the lodges of Scotland, has, in fact, never practiced any other rite but that of the three symbolic de- J See History of Freemasonry r , by Alexander Laurie 170 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. grees; 1 and, upon many occasions, it has disowned, in the most formal manner, the charters and patents which have been attributed to it, and" by which it was accused of hav- ing authorized the exercise of the high degrees called Scottish. In view of this fact, we believe it to be im- portant and necessary to the better understanding of Freemasonry every-where, and to dissipate the opinion that prevails upon this subject, to here state that the Grand Lodge of St. John of Scotland, sitting at Edin- burgh, is an utter stranger to all the systems called Scot- tish Masonry, practiced as w v ell in France as elsewhere in Europe and America. 2 1 The regulations that it published in 1836 were entitled "The Laws and Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland;" while article four contained a passage thus expressed: "The Grand Lodge of Scot- land practices no other degree of Freemasonry but those of Apprentice, Fellow-craft, and Master Mason." 8 It was by a patent of this same Charleston Council father of all the bastard children of Freemasonry that the first Supreme Council estab- lished in Great Britain was organized, at Dublin, in 1808. The latter was the only Supreme Council that existed on English territory prior to 1846. In that year, however, there were organized one at London and another at Edinburgh. The first was instituted by Dr. Crucifix, editor of the Freemason's Magazine, by authority of a patent obtained by him from a Supreme Council sitting at New York; and the last was instituted b*y Walter Arnott d'Arlary, who fabricated for himself a constituting power. The title of this council being in consequence disputed, it was reconsti- tuted on the 14th July, and installed on the 17th, by the brother Mor- rison of Greenfield, a member of the Supreme Council for France, who was invested with powers, called regular, for this purpose. The most deplorable fact in regard to all these creations, the regular as well as the irregular, is, that they are constantly fighting, criminating, recriminating, and anathematizing each other. Thus, the Supreme Coun- cil at Edinburgh (which must not be confounded with the Grand Lodge of Edinburgh, the only regular Masonic authority in Scotland, and which recognizes but the three symbolic degrees,) declared, immediately after its reconstitution in the manner indicated, that it would not recog- nize the letters or diplomas emanating from the Supreme Council at- tached to the Grand Orient of France; and also interrupted all commu- THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. 171 These pretended high degrees, into which have been in- troduced the reveries of the Templars, the speculations of the mystics, the deceptions of the alchemists, the magii, and many other idealists more or less dreamy, and the greater part of which repose upon legends absurd and contra- dictory with the truths of history, are, in fact, a mass of informal and undigested matters. Those of the Scottish Kite, in particular, are a monument of folly, and which would have been derided as nonsense long ago but for man's vanity, which is gratified by the titles and decora- tions of which this rite is the parent. After this exposition of the origin of the Scottish (33d) Kite, let us cast our eyes over the condition of Masonry in Paris, immediately before this rite was brought to that city by the Count De Grasse-Tilly. The compromise which took place, in 1799, between the Grand Lodge and the Grand Orient of France had not been joined in by all the brethren, and the intolerance ex- hibited by the Grand Orient gave occasion to a consider- nication with the Supreme Council of Dublin, until the latter had ceased connection with the Supreme Council established, since 1815, within the Grand Orient of France. We have already stated how this Supreme Council of Edinburgh was healed. Since then it has set itself up to be the most regular of all the Supreme Councils, and has declared schis- matic the council in London, which, as we have shown, was established by virtue of a constitution delivered by the Supreme Council existing, in 1813, at New York. These Supreme Councils established in Great Britain enjoy but little reputation so little, indeed, that some brethren of merit who have been elected by them honorary members, have refused to accept the distinc- tion. Unhappily, this mercenary creation, as unmasonic as it is illegal, has, since 1846, been extended into and has established its Supreme Coun. cils in many countries The Supreme Council at Charleston was re- vived in 1845, after a sleep of nearly forty years. And although in no case are the bodies composing the rite recognized by the Grand Lodges, they are by the Grand Orients, which confer, in common with them, their high degrees. 172 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. able number of those members of the Grand Lodge, who did not wish to recognize the Grand Orient, to reject the terms of the compromise. It was more particularly the party called Scottish who exhibited this disposition most bitterly; and their reason was, that as the Grand Orient, by the terms of the compromise, recognized only a rite of nit seven degrees the highest of which was that of Rose Cross their higher degrees, with their decorations and de- vices, could not be worn by them or made available in the assemblies or exhibitions of the legislative body. The Grand Orient acted in this case, as in many others, not as a Masonic authority, but as an oligarchical power, and excluded the Scottish Rite Masons from the lodges of its jurisdiction, by an order dated the 12th November, 1802. This new act of intolerance served no other pur- pose than to irritate the brethren excluded, and was the principal reason that induced them to propose founding a new Masonic power. Some preparatory meetings were held, and many lodges of Paris, and particularly the Lodge of St. Alexander of Scotland, embraced openly the cause of the dissenters. Following these inclinations, there was at first formed a new authority, established by virtue of a patent that a brother named Hackett who had been a notary in St. Domingo had brought from America, and which had been delivered to him by a Supreme Council sitting at NQW York, and professing the Rite of Perfection of twenty-five degrees that Stephen Morin had taken to America in 176L This authority took the title of " Supreme Council of America." But some months afterward, also from St. Domingo, the brother Count De Grasse-Tilly arrived, bringing with him the patent of the Supreme Council of Charleston, and the history of which we have already given. This patent conferred upon him the right to constitute chapters, coun- cils, and consistories in the leeward and windward islands, THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE, 173 that is to say, in St. Domingo and the other French colo- nies of America ; but, in consequence of the political events which, occurring about this time, occasioned the loss of this island to France, he had no opportunity of realizing his projects. He had then returned to France, where, re- gardless of the conditions of his patent, he announced himself as supreme chief of a new Masonry of thirty-three degrees. Having been informed of the large body of ex- cluded brethren who, since 1802 being prohibited by the Grand Orient from participating in the meetings of the fraternity in consequence of their refusal, for the reasons already given, to sign the compromise of that year had assembled themselves in a cellar of the Fisherman's Walk, he approached these brethren, and immediately arranged to organize, with these elements and, by virtue of the pat- ent delivered to him on the 21st February, 1802, at Charles- ton, to constitute a Masonic power, under the pompous title of the "Supreme Council for France of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the 33d and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite." This done, on the 22d of October, 1805, the new authority organized and installed a Scottish Grand Lodge, as we have stated at the beginning of this history. 1 1 We regret much to find, in a work that we consider as one of the most important among tho?e composing the literature of Freemasonry, Btyled "The Philosophical History of Freemasonry" by the brethren Kauff- man and Cherpin, the voluntary omission these authors have made, contrary to the duty of an historian, in not mentioning at this date (1805) the foundation of the Scottish Grand Lodge, nor that of the Su- preme Council, and in feigning to be completely ignorant that there ex- isted at this time any Masonic authority in France of the name of Su- preme Council. If the brethren K. and C. have believed it their duty to respect the oath that they have taken to the Grand Orient to recognize it as the sole legislative authority of Freemasonry in France, and to not admit that there can exist any other we shall not follow their example, first, because we have not taken any such oath ; and, second, because that we believe it ever to be the duty of the historian, in his relation of facts, to flinch not, from any cause whatever, in his object of relating the truth. 174 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. As our view of Masonry is similar to that of these brethren, and as we find ourself in communion with them, in a more or less degree, in ideas, sentiments, and iri nearly every matter connected with the institution, we are truly pained to find in their book, eo praiseworthy and meritorious in almost every respect, the omission that we have mentioned; and, in addition thereto, a general partiality very significant in favor of the Grand Orient a partiality of which we distinctly comprehend the good ntention, but which our conscience will not permit us to imitate. On the contrary, to seek the truth and to disseminate it with courage, has always been our motto. We believe that Masonry will be better served by speaking the truth without reserve, though that annunciation may seem to its detriment, than in expressing the accepted views of those who, like the brethren K. and C., may have some reason or weakness for failing to represent facts as they know them. REMARKS IN CONNECTION WITH THE FOREGOING HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. BROTHER REBOLD, in his preceding history of a rite that during the past fifteen years has gradually increased in importance in America, can not be said to have gratified the brethren who have given their thoughts and time to its dissemination in the United States or elsewhere. He has given us a plain narrative of unvarnished statements of fact; he has proved conclusively that this rite was either created by parties named in Charleston, S. C., or, from the twenty five degrees of the Rite of Per- fection as known in 1761, and which Brother Stephen Morin brought to America, it was, in 1802, there and by those persons extended to the thirty-three degrees of the present Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; and he has furnished most conclusive circumstantial evidence to support the belief entertained by at least every learned German Freemason in America and elsewhere, that Frederick the Great never had any knowl- edge of the rite in its present form, whatever knowledge he might have had of it as the Rite of Perfection of twenty-five degrees. lender these circumstances, the friends of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite find themselves in the predicament Sir William Drummond describes, in his preface to Origenes, when he says, "In questions un- connected with sacred and important interests, men are rarely very anx ious to discriminate exactly between truth and fiction ; and few of us would, probably, be much pleased with the result, could it now be certainly proved that Troy never existed, and that Thebes, with its hundred gates, was no more than a populous village. It is perhaps still with a secret wish to be convinced against our judgment, that we reject as fables the THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE. 175 t stories told us of the Grecian Hercules, or of the Persian Rustem ; and that we assign to the heroes and giants of early times the strength and stature of ordinary men." So it is with our Ancient and Accepted Scot- tish Rite. It is proven to be neither an ancient rite nor one accepted by or acceptable to but a very small portion of the Masonic Fraternity, nor is it a Scottish otherwise Jacobin rite; and yet we wish to be con- vinced, even against our judgment, that it comes up to the mark set by these conditions, because our prejudices have long cherished so pleasing an idea. But, although shorn of what has been considered its brightest attri- bute, viz., its creation by Frederick the Great; and although deprived of such regal parentage by being proven, instead, to be the progeny of five mercenary Israelites of Charleston, S. C., the rite, so far as it can subserve any useful purpose in connection with Freemasonry, can not lose any of its excellence. If its claims to regal parentage are not well founded, its advocates are maintaining a fallacy in their advancement of such claims, and do constantly find themselves in a dilemma when proofs are de- manded which it is impossible for them to produce. And as the case has been candidly stated by Brother Rebold, and with the fewest possible offensive reflections upon the creators of the rite, and none at all upon those who its present friends and patrons conscientiously believe that it i& calculated to confer dignity upon Freemasonry, no exceptions can be taken to the object I have had in view in the translation and publication of this work, which was to disseminate the truth 1 with regard to every portion of the history of Freemasonry in Europe. I fear, however, that the patrons as well as the propagators of the rite, in our own day, have given too much significance, in their regards for it, to that remark of Horace, in his "Ars Poetica," beginning with " Intererit multum Davusne loquatur an heros" and not enough to whatever inherent excellence the rite itself may pos- sess. If this should be the fact, as a S. P. R. S., I have no better propo- sition to suggest to the chiefs of the rite than the following: 1. Remove all equivocality as to its origin by excising the present statements upon that subject from the work, lectures, and history, wher- ever they occur ; and. 2. Then take the thirty degrees of the rite (all of which are given in America) and compress them into twenty-one, which done, fit these Iwenty-one to the present American system or rite of twelve degrees. 1 Brother Rebold has been officially pronounced by the highest Masonic au- thority in France, the Grand Orient through its Deputy Grand Master, the Chevalier Heullant a careful and impartial Masonic historian. 176 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. By this arrangement, all doubt as to the origin of what might then be called the Reformed and Accepted American Rite of Thirty-three De- grees will be removed, and such rite will, in a short time, be gener- ally understood and appreciated as a work which, being necessary for the satisfaction and unity of the Fraternity in America, was undertaken by enlightened American Freemasons, and successfully accomplished. J. F. B. A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE EGYPTIAN RITE OF MISRAIM, 1 SINCE ITS CREATION, IN 1806, AT MILAN, TO THE PRESENT TIME. IN a work published in Paris, in 1848, under the title of " The Masonic Order of Misraim" the brother Mark Be- 1 REFLECTIONS ON THE RITES OF MISRAIM AND MEMPHIS. The history of the Rite of Misraim, as also that of the Rite of Memphis, which we are about to record, is calculated to suggest to enlightened Masons re- flections of sadness in more than one connection. But it would be im- possible for us to pass by in silence these works of feebleness, of error, and of pride, inasmuch as the profane as well as the initiated ought to be informed of the truth. If the individuals who have created these rites were but few, unhap- pily those who participated in the result of such aberrations of the hu- man mind may be called a multitude. It is the duty, therefore, of the historian to notice the side-tracks upon which these jugglers have at times drawn our institution, in order that their example may teach us, and preserve us from falling into new errors. That the Jesuits, that powerful association, aided by a legion of active emissaries, should have been enabled, in the last century, to form associations and knightly orders enveloped in Masonic forms, with the intention of at first turning men aside from the pure Masonry of Eng land, which extended itself rapidly upon the continent, and of which th object was contrary to their desires and operations, and subsequently to extend their dominion, under cover of Masonry, to the re-establishment of the Stuarts, is nothing astonishing. That some impostors, encour- aged by their success, should, in their turn, and in a spirit of pecuniary gain, conclude to create rites and orders of chivalry, and, having found 12 (177) 178 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. darride, Grand Conservator of this Masonic heresy, com- mences its history in the following manner : "Since the first age of the world, the period when our venerable Order was created by the All-Powerful, no Grand Conservator has ever taken the pencil to trace and reunite the perfect plans of his scientific labors, and thus enrich the human race : some for the want of the necessary documents, l and others from the fear of perjuring themselves or of impairing in any manner the sublime heritage which they had been delegated to transmit to their dis- ciples in all its purity. But if these celebrated Grand Conserva- tors, [names not given,] our predecessors, have not performed this sacred duty, they have not failed to leave to their successors the traditions of our mysteries, in hieroglyphic characters, in a man- lier intelligible to none but the initiated, and thus these documents have been preserved from all profane indiscretions." 1 The reader will easily comprehend the cause of this dearth of documents; for, according to the language of our author, Adam, installed by the "All- Powerful" as the first Grand Conservator, could not have bequeathed the manuscript transactions of his direction of affairs of this " venerable Order" to his descendants, seeing that he had not learned the useful accomplishment of writing, hieroglyphically or otherwise, and that he had no one to direct in such transactions but Eve, his wife, and subsequently their children. One thing, however, the author does not explain, and the omission on his part leaves us with a very feeble comprehension of the matter; and it is that Adam, or the "All-Powerful," baptized this order with the name of an Egyp- tian king who, if we take the commonly received Hebraic Genesis for au- thority, was born eight hundred years after Adam appeared upon the earth! in France where a passion for the chivalry of the middle ages favored their projects a country propitious to this species of speculation, did create such rites and orders, is not difficult to comprehend. But this which appears inexplicable is, that after having recognized the illegiti- mate source of all these rites and high degrees, of which the fabricators had been unmasked, hunted, and imprisoned in Germany; after having reformed all these rites, (between 1782 ami 1790,) and having reduced the numerous scale to three, seven, ten, and, at most, twelve degrees, Freemasons in the present century should have been the dupes of jug- glers of a like category, and accept of individuals without character, without legal or any other recognized public distinction, new rites of THE RITE OF MISRAIM. 179 Commencing in this manner, the author, M. Bedarride, continues the history of his "venerable Order," traversing, by forced marches, whole series of centuries, and stopping every two or three hundred years to indicate the existence of some Grand Conservators, without designating where, how, or by what means they were initiated. He pursues this romance until the beginning of the present century, when he begins to make a little history ; but even of this his recital is so much mutilated that he fails in his search to discover the truth, though he attempts to ascend to the sources of his facts. We deem it impossible to unite in one book a greater similar va|ue, but much more extravagant, the one counting ninety and the other ninety-five degrees this is utterly beyond our comprehension. What makes the matter more strange is, that all enlightened Masons of the present time know very well that true Freemasonry such as is practiced by every Grand Lodge in Great Britain and America, and such as was practiced by the first and last National Grand Lodges of France, and the operative lodges under their jurisdiction is composed of but three degrees. It is true they do not offer to the initiate, as do the rites of the higher degrees, gilt-lace cords or brilliant decorations. [The au- thor very suddenly stops here in his reflections. That he does so be- cause he will not believe, or, believing, will not say, that men enlight- ened and seriously earnest in the business of elevating the condition of the human race by means of Masonry, can be affected by these "gilfc- lace cords or brilliant decorations," or that he stops so suddenly to al- low his readers the privilege o f thus believing and of finishing his ab- rupt period with such a conclusion, I can not determine. My own opin- ion, as one of his readers, is well known to those for whom I wrote and published from 1858 to 1861; and, though it may be unacceptable to some for whom I write at present, I will take the liberty of here ex- pressing it So long as human nature remains constituted as it is, glitter will attract and decorations will incite men to desire their possession; and it is a pleasure taken in the exhibition of the decorations recognized by these rites and orders, as indicative of higher rank in confessedly a phi- losophical institution, and, presumably, a higher degree of intelligence, rather than any actual advantage derived from the possession of their degrees, that induces wise and serious men to seek for and obtain them. TRANSLATOR.] 180 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. mass of absurdities than its author has collected and ex- hibited in his history of this rite: and we believe we will render our readers good service by not fatiguing them with a refutation of all the inaccuracies with which this book is filled. Tt is generally believed in the Masonic world that the brothers Mark and Michael Bedarride, who were the chiefs of this rite, also were its inventors ; but it has been re- cently discovered that they were but its propagators. Commencing by stating that this rite is composed of an aggregation of monstrous legends, stolen from all the rites, including those taken from the Scottish, Martinist, and Hermitic Kites, we will add that after the sixty-seventh degree, it runs but upon wheels supplied by Bible subjects; and that so purely is it Israelitish in its bearings, that it would with more correctness be called the "Jewish" than the "Egyptian Rite." "We also find that this collection of degrees is divided into four series, in manner similar with the rite called Egyptian, created by Joseph Balsamo, surnamed Cagliostro, l which had been professed by the mother lodge " Wisdom Triumphant," founded by him at Lyons, in 1782. This Egyptian Rite 2 had but an ephem- eral existence ; and it is probable enough that some of Cagliostro's rituals have served to complete the deplorable work of the Rite of Misraim, whose author was the brother Lechangeur of Milan, as we shall proceed to demonstrate. A Grand Orient of Italy had been founded at Milan 1 This extraordinary man, born at Palermo in 1743, acquired a celeb- rity rarely attained by impostors. Arrested at Rome on the 25th Decem- ber, 1789, he was condemned to death by the Holy Office on the 21st March, 1791 ; but Pius VI commuted his punishment to perpetual im- prisonment in the castle of St. Angelo, where he died. 2 Cagliostro, in a voyage that he made to London, bought a manu- script which belonged to a man named G. Coston, in which he found the plan of a Masonry founded upon a system which was part magical, part cabalistic, and part superstitious. From this work he arranged the plan of his Egyptian Rita THE RITE OF MISRAIM. 181 shortly after the organization of that at Naples, and the prince Eugene Beauharnais had been invested with the dignity of Grand Master. Some superior officers, resident at Milan, who had been initiated, in Paris, into the high degrees of the Scottish (33d) Rite, resolved to establish a Supreme Council of that rite, at the suggestion of breth- ren, in Paris. A person named Lechangeur, an officer or master of an operative lodge in Milan, demanded to be- come a party in this arrangement, and his demand was complied with. They conferred upon him certain degrees; but having some motive for keeping him out of the or- ganization of their Supreme Council, the^ refused to give him the superior degrees. Vexed at this refusal, Lechan- geur informed the members of this Supreme Council that he would get the better of them, in creating a rite of ninety degrees, into which he should not admit them. He accomplished his threat in fact, and it is to him that is to be attributed the creation of this self-styled oriental rite. The first thing Lechangeur did, after having elaborated his rite, was to elevate himself to the highest office recog- nized by it in this respect imitating all the other fabri- cators of rites that of " Superior Grand Conservator of the Order of Misraim," and in this capacity to deliver patents of authority to all who offered to propagate this new rite to his profit. These delegates, being thus author- ized, were confined in their operations to the organization of chapters in the cities of the Italian peninsula, more particularly to Naples; and those chapters should, in their turn, create delegates, and deliver to them patents of au- thority, to their profit. We will now explain how and by whom this Rite of [israim was first introduced into France. Bro. Michael Bedarride, a native of Cavaillon, in the de- irtment of Vaucluse, and belonging to the Jewish re- gion, was initiated into Freemasonry on the 5th of July, 182 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. 1802. in the lodge "Candor," at Cezena, in Italy, and affili- ated, in the year 1805, with the lodge "Mars and Themis," in Paris, which conferred upon him, as it did also upon his brother, Mark Bedarride, the degree of Master. Michael Bedarride, who was a merchant in Naples, obtained the position of commissary of subsistence in the service of the Italian army, upon the staff of which army his brother Mark had a position. During their sojourn in Italy, the two brothers had affiliated with several lodges of that country. On the 3d December, 1810, through the in- tervention of one of the patentees of Lechangeur, Michael Bedarride obtained a similar patent, authorizing him to confer the degrees of the Misraimites up to the 73d degree. Subsequently, at Milan, he received of the brother Lechan- geur himself an increase of the degrees, and a patent, dated 25th June, 1811, conferring upon him the degree of " Grand Hazsid," or 77th degree, with the right of con- ferring all the degrees to that point. A similar patent had already been delivered, on the 3d of January, 1810, by Lechangeur to Mark Bedarride. It seems that, for some reason not known, the brother Lechangeur did not wish the brothers Bedarride to possess the degree of " Grand Conservator," or 90th degree, of his rite; but, notwithstanding, the possession of this degree became absolutely necessary, to enable them to succeed in their projects. With this object, Michael Bedarride ad- dressed a delegate named Polack, an Israelite resident at Venice who, usurping the rights claimed by Lechangeur, had proclaimed himself Superior Grand Conservator, or independent Grand Master and obtained of this person, on the 1st September, 1812, a patent conferring upon him the title he so greatly desired. This document, however, did not appear to be sufficiently authoritative for his pur- pose, as it bore but one signature, and consequently lacked evidences of authenticity ; for, immediately after the death of Lechangeur he sought at the hands of the brother THE RITE OF MISRAIM. 183 Theodore Gerber, of Milan to whom Lechangeur had be- queathed the powers he had given to himself another patent. The application was successful, and on the 12th October, 1812, Michael Bedarride procured this new au- thority, signed by Theodore Gerber, and conferring upon Michael Bedarride the title of Superior Grand Conservator of the Order of Misraim in Italy. Besides the signature of Gerber, this document bore also the signatures of Mark Bedarride, who, as we have shown, had not then obtained but the 77th degree, and seven or eight other brethren who were reputed to compose the u Sovereign Grand Council of the 90th degree of the Grand Masters absolute;" and it is by virtue of the powers that they having arrogated to themselves, in concert with the chief of this rite, that they delegated to Michael Bedarride the same powers and all their supreme rights as therein expressed by this pat- ent, to " create, form, regulate, dissolve, whenever desirable, lodges, chapters, colleges, directories, synods, tribunals, consistories, councils, and general councils of the Oeder of Misraim" a prerogative that this brother, as therein ex- pressed, has merited " by the most profound study of the sciences, and the most sublime practice of every virtue that is known to but a very small number of the elect inviting all brethren, of every degree and every rite, to assist the puissant and venerable Grand Conservator, Michael Bedar- ride, with their council, their credit and their fortune, him and the rejected of his race," etc., etc. It is by virtue of this curious document, which we con- eider it unnecessary further to explain, that the brother Michael Bedarride, through the organ of his brother Mark Bedarride, announced himself, in Paris, chief of this self- rityled Oriental, Ancient, and Sublime Order, which, he says, is the stem of all the Masonic rites in existence, al- though he must have suspected by whom it had been fab- ricated. The text of this proclamation affords some idea of the arrogance of these Jewish Masons, and recalls to 184 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. our mind the five Masons, also Jews, who, at Charleston, fabricated the Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees; and had it not been for the success of which the Rite of Mis- raim never would have seen the light, and but for which the obstacles to the unity of Freemasonry in France, as well as in other countries, would have been easily re- moved. When the brother Mark Bedarride, then a retired officer of the army of Italy, arrived in Paris in 1813, where he was joined shortly afterward by his brothers Michael and Joseph Bedarride, the latter of whom had also, at Naples, received some patents from a delegate patented by Le- changeur, these three brothers found four others two of whom were named respectively Joly and Gaborea who had likewise procured in Italy some patents which con- ferred upon them also the right of creating lodges, coun- cils, etc., up to the ninetieth degree ; while the other two, named respectively Garcia and Decollet, bore patents giving, them authority to the seventy-seventh degree. As the brothers Bedarride had decided to fix their residence in Paris for the purpose of working up this new branch of Masonry, the competitors whom we have named incom- moded them in the execution of their project. Having arranged matters with them, they next proceeded to ob- tain the protection of the brother Count Muraire. Suc- ceeding in this as in the other, Michael Bedarride was not long in gaining the consent of several other brethren, nearly all of whom were members of the Supreme Coun- cil of the Scottish (33d) Rite, among whom we may name Count Lallemand, Thory, Colonel Martin, Count Chabran, General Monier, Barbier de Finant, the Chevalier Chalon de Collet, Yidal, Perron, General Teste, etc., to receive the highest degrees of the rite, in order to enable him to organize a Supreme Council of the ninetieth degree, nec- essary for the definite establishment of the Supreme Power of the Order for France. On the 9th of April, 1815, the THB RITE OP MISRAIM. 185 brothers Bedarride, taking the title of Grand Conservators of the Order, issued their circular, by which they declared "the supreme power constituted in the valley of Paris to govern the Masonic Order of Misraim upon all the globe" and, the reader will carefully observe " for France by the Supreme Council of Most Wise Grand Masters for life of the 90th and last degree." It will be observed, in pass- ing, that all the decisions of this council could be revoked by the Superior Grand Conservator of the Order, con- formably to the constitution that he had given, in his ca- pacity of autocrat, to the future Misraimite people. To make acceptable a rite with a scale of degrees so numerous, and of which the chiefs had given themselves titles so pompous, certainly no city of the world afforded better facilities than Paris, the center of all folly and extravagance, as well as of much that was really great. We will here observe that the ninety degrees composing the Rite of Misraim should have comprised every known science, divided into four series, forming seventeen classes. The first series was called symbolic, the second philosophic, the third mystic, and the fourth cabalistic. After this clas- sification, the neophytes, upon their initiation into the dif- ferent degrees, should have received instruction embracing all that was known of the sciences involved in each series. Such a course of instruction would, if faithfully given, have been frightful to any earnest mind, so imposing a task being so much beyond the grasp of an ordinary human life. But, in reality, the neophyte had nothing to fear from this vast vocabulary ; it was merely a recital of fables more or less absurd, and embraced not a word of science or philosophy outside of what truths were implied in the first symbolic degrees. How could it be otherwise? The brothers Bedarride, no more than the creator of the rite, Lechangeur not possessing even the most elementary notions of the sciences enumerated in their four series and 186 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. seventeen classes of degrees could not, in consequence, teach to others what they did not know themselves. After taking possession of this prospectively lucrative field of labor, the brothers Bedarride found the great- est difficulty in organizing a working lodge ; for France was then in mourning. However, with great labor, they succeeded in establishing a first lodge, the "Rainbow," which became the mother lodge of the rite ; but it did not enter upon active duty until the month of June, 1816. Then the proselytes quickly augmented. The brethren Baucalin de Laroste, the chevalier Larrey, Auzon, Ragon, Clavet-Gaubert, Redarets, Chasseriau, and Beaurepaire be- came Misraimites, and immediately constituted themselves into a new lodge, of which the meetings were most brill- iant, under the name of "Disciples of Zoroaster." In this assembly the brother Dr. Ganal, who presided, and who understood, much better than the brothers Bedarride, the exigencies of the rite, called to his aid physic and chem- istry to render his initiations imposing, and thus succeeded in gathering in many new members. When they arrived in Paris, the brothers Bedarride had only some incomplete rituals which they had copied from those in the possession of the persons who gave them the degrees, and not one of the ninety lectures which the rite required to explain its degrees ; for neither Lechangeur nor Gerber possessed them. To produce these, the breth- ren Mealet and Joly, erudite and capable men, drew upon their imaginations. So slowly, however, did these lectures appear, that in 1816 they were enabled to exhibit but ten, having borrowed from the lodge "Hope," at Berne, the lectures of the first three degrees, and these alone express- ing all of a Masonic spirit which the rite exhibited ; and thus, like the Grand Orient and the Supreme Council, they jumped, in their initiations, from the third to the eighteenth, and from the eighteenth to the thirtieth, or twelve degrees at a time. The brothers Bedarride were THE BITE OF MISRAIM. 187 obliged, for the reasons that wo have indicated, to confer a series of degrees at a time, giving it as their reason that such a course was most convenient, and explaining the in- termediate degrees as best they could. From the beginning, grave abuses appeared in the ad- ministration as conducted by the brothers Bedarride. The members of the rite, tired with submitting to the caprices of the three Israelitish chiefs, demanded a code of laws. They openly accused the Grand Conservators of making a scandalous traffic in communicating the degrees, and, in fact, of speculating with the rite as a manufacturing prop- erty, and seeking to retire the principal part of the profits to their own use, though they had shown a laudable desire to hide such a diversion of the funds. Then a certain number of brethren resolved to create a new power, founded upon the plenary powers which the brother Joly had received at Milan, and, with a number of the dissatis- fied, they did form a Supreme Council of ninety degrees, composed of the said Joly, an author, the brethren Auzon, private secretary to His Majesty King Charles IY, Gabo- rea, a clerk in the Bureau of Finance, Mealet, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, Eagon, chief of the Staff Bu- reau of the National Guard, Richard, Lange, Decollet, Am adieu, Pigniere, and Clavet-Gaubert, colonel of artillery. In September, 1816, this new organization requested permission to rank under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient, and, to allow them to do so, proposed to abandon the administration of the first two series of the rite, com- prising sixty-six degrees, and reserve to themselves but the power to control those from sixty-seven to ninety. Some commissioners were named on the part of each body to arrange the particulars ; but the Grand Orient, though at first very well disposed to conclude the arrangement, after a more mature examination of it, rejected the propo- sition on the 14th January, 1817, and, on the 27th of the following December, addressed to the lodges of its corre- 188 GENERAL HISTORY OP FREEMASONRY. spondence a circular, by the terms of which it prohibited them from receiving the members of the Rite of Misraim in their assemblies. Unlike the generality of such documents as issued by the Grand Orient, the motives expressed in this edict were logical. It stated that "the patentees had not furnished the titles required to authenticate the origin and the au- thenticity of the Rite of Misraim; that the assertion of its introduction into Italy, under the pontificate of Leo X, in the sixteenth century, by Jamblicus, a platonic philosopher who lived in the fourth century, eleven hundred years be- fore Leo X, was destructive in the nature of dates; that this rite was never practiced at Alexandria nor at Cairo, as it pretended to be, etc., etc. ; that for these reasons this rite could not be admitted into the Grand Orient." l The Grand Orient having thus brought to public notice the irregular- ity of the powers claimed by the brothers Bedarride, the latter sought, as much as it was possible, to destroy the doubts thus engendered. Michael Bedarride had, on the 3d May, 1816, exhibited a document, signed by seven breth- ren, which detailed all the Masonic titles he had obtained; that is, the dates of his receipt of them in Italy ; but this document, though in it he was named "Superior Grand Conservator," gave him no legal power; and to meet this contingency it was necessary to produce another document. This latter soon appeared, signed by thirteen brethren of the rite, and among them the Count De Grasse-Tilly, founder of the Supreme Council of the Scottish (33d) Rite at Paris, the Count Muraire, the Count Lallemand, the Duke of St. Aignan, the Chevalier Lacoste, etc. These brethren in this patent styled themselves "Sovereign Grand Masters absolute of the Rite of Misraim," a title which had been conferred by Michael Bedarride, after he had or- *It is to be regretted that similar cogent reasons did not exclude, in 1862, the Rite of Memphis from admission into that body. THE RITE OP MISRAIM. 189 ganized his Grand Council of ninety degrees; and it was by virtue of the powers which this title conferred, and with which they had been invested by Michael Bedarride, that they, in their turn, by means of this patent, bestowed upon him the title and powers of Supreme Grand Con- servator of the Order for France. The new patent which we have just mentioned waa dated the 7th of September, 1817 ; but, unlike the other, it bore no mark of having been produced at Milan, and this fact somewhat invalidated its use at Paris; nevertheless, as the brothers Bedarride had the whole world to operate in, this circumstance merely induced them to change slightly the field of their operations. In 1818, Joseph turned up at Brussels, and Michael in Holland. It would appear, however, that the means which they employed were not the most laudable; for, upon the 18th of Novem- ber, 1818, the Prince Frederick, Grand Master of the Netherland lodges, addressed a circular to all the lodges of that country, pointing out the brothers Bedarride, who by that time were running about the kingdom, as dishon- orable men, who, to attain their objects, had recourse to very reprehensible tricks and means unworthy of true Ma- sons, and which had already brought them into discredit at Paris. This circular wound up its charges with inter- dicting the exercise of the Rite of Misraim in all the lodges under his authority, and supported this interdiction with the reasons advanced by the Grand Orient of France on the 29th December, 1817, and which we have men- tioned. Notwithstanding these prohibitions ; notwithstanding all the difficulties which opposed them, the brothers Bedar- ride succeeded in establishing in Paris, besides the lodges " Rainbow" and " The Disciples of Zoroaster," four other lodges, namely, " The Twelve Tribes," "The Disciples of Misraim," "The Burning Bush," and "The Children of Apollo," all of which were in active operation toward the 190 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. close of the year 1818. This increase of lodges permitted them to give, on the 19th January, 1819, a brilliant feast of Adoption, which was presided over by the Count Mu- raire and the Countess of Fouchecourt. Notwithstanding their seeming success, the brothers Bedarride were con- stantly at war with their own lodges, which complained of their administration and demanded an account of the funds. The brothers responded to these demands by ex- pelling the most clamorous of the claimants. It was thus that, by the decision of a self-styled Council, which the brothers Bedarride directed as they wished, bearing date the 15th August, the brethren Marie, Richard, Chasseriau, Beaurepaire, Ragon, Mealet, and Joly were expelled from the rite. But this despotism but increased the indigna- tion. The lodge "Disciples of Zoroaster" separated itself from the Rite of Misraini by a unanimous decision, dated the 30th of April, 1819. In the minutes of this occasion, and which this lodge published at the time, the motive for separation is thus ex- pressed : 1. They had vainly called for the correction of many articles, contained in the general regulations, in conse- quence of their despotic and unsatisfactory character ; and, 2. The suppression of the word " absolute" in connec- tion with the title of " Sovereign Grand Master ;" as, " in the present century, such a distinction is a usurpation and an offense to free men." 3. In nearly all of the general regulations the Grand Conservator has arrogated to himself powers as obscure as they are arbitrary. 4. And, finally, according to a judgment of the tribunal of commerce of the Seine, the firm of Joseph Bedariide & Co., (the brothers Mark and Michael were the associates not named,) living in Moon street, at No. 37, was in a con- dition of open bankruptcy. This proceeding was signed by the Worshipful Master THE RITE OF MISRAIM. 191 and by all the officers of the lodge, to the number of twenty. The supreme power confined itself to striking the AVorshipful Master, and, by an edict dated llth June, 1819, Dr. Ganal was expelled. The mother lodge " Rainbow" also revolted against the administration of the Grand Conservators, which its mem- bers unanimously declared to be most deplorable, and brought this declaration before the chiefs of the Order, in the hope that they would require the brothers Bedarride to render an account of the receipts and expenses. In the position in which they found themselves, the brothers Bedarride could not satisfy the demands which were addressed to them in connection with the finances, because the revenues of all kinds which they received through their connection with the rite were necessary to pay their debts and support their personal expenses. They, in consequence, made use of their omnipotence to declare all the members of the lodge " Rainbow," who had taken part in the revolt against them, as disturbers of the peace of the Order ; and this done, they dissolved the lodge for the purpose of reconstructing it with more non-dissent- ing materials, and its president, the Count Lallemand, sharing the fortunes of the opposing members, by an edict of the Grand Council, of 7th July, 1810, was expelled. It is necessary and proper here to state that the brothers Bedarride based their refusal to render an account of the revenues of the rite upon the statement that they had withdrawn but sufficient to cover the interest of the capi- tal which they pretended to have spent in organizing the rite in Paris, l together with what they were properly en- titled to for conducting the affairs of the Order. 1 To support this statement the brethren exhibited an account, which was dated the llth June, 1818, for the sum of $550, incurred by them for engravings, cyphers, diplomas, etc., and indorsed as correct by among other members of the General^Council of the ninetieth degn the Count Muraire. 192 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. The lodges founded, in 1818, in the Low Countries hav- ing enjoyed but an ephemeral existence, the brothers Michael and Joseph Bedarride again withdrew from Paris, in 1820, to propagate their rite. They first appeared in England, from whence Michael went to the Low Countries and Joseph to Switzerland, In 1821 and 1822 they made other voyages into the departments of France, and about the close of the latter year they had organized twelve lodges, with several councils, all of which, like the former, lived but a short time. 1 The progress made by the brothers Bedarride in the propagation of their rite, although slow, nevertheless dis- quieted the Grand Orient, and that authority labored to interrupt it. The circular edict already mentioned, with another, dated the 21st December, 1821, not having ar- rested, either in Paris or in the provinces, the creation of Misraimite lodges, the Grand Orient continued to pro- nounce severely against the brethren who had embraced their cause. Thus, at the solstitial feast, celebrated the 24th June, 1822, the brother Richard, orator of the Grand Orient who, in 1817, had been advanced to the highest degrees of the Rite of Misraim, and consequently had taken a solemn oath, 2 written by his own hand, of the most abso- lute fidelity to that Order, but who subsequently had been stricken from the list of members made a long report against the system of the brothers Bedarride,' etc., and concluded by urging the Grand Orient to close the meet- ings of the Misraimites, as irregular, illicit, and dangerous, and to renew its edict of interdiction, enforcing compliance lr rhe author here gives the names and locations of these lodges, etc.; but as they are all extinct, we believe our readers will not miss their omission. TRANSLATOR. 8 The author here gives a transcript of this oath ; but as the transla- tion of this transcript would be offensive to members of the rite in America, and in nowise beneficial to those who are not, I respectfully suppress it. TRANSLATOR. THE RITE OF MISRAIM. 193 with the same, under most severe penalties. n this report we find, among others equally severe, the following pas- sage : it * * * B u t toleration has a limit, the Grand Orient has duties to perform, and longer silence to the call of such duties would render this legislative body amenable to the charge of com- plicity in the disorders which have distinguished the administra- tors of the Rite of Misraim. These men, who, investing them- selves with functions which they hold to be the most important of an Order that they proclaim superior to all Masonic rites, forgetful of their dignity, run over the departments of this kingdom, armed with their ninety degrees, which they offer to all purchasers at any price and in the most public places, and thus, by their mysteri- ous forms, compromise the state, as also the security, honor, and even peace of our citizens, trouble the repose of the magistrates, awaken the attention of the authorities intrusted with the secu- rity of the state, and, above all, provoke such suspicions of their designs as cause them, in their travels from city to city, to be sometimes imprisoned : these are excesses committed by men call- ing themselves Masons, for which, it is true, they can not be im- peached, but for which they should be held up to the indignation of every worthy brother," etc., etc. We believe that this report exaggerated facts in some of its particulars. The report of this feast, including the protest of Brother Richard, was sent to all the lodges and even to the public authorities. The latter, desirous of assuring themselves of the truth or falsehood of these accusations of the Grand Orient, ordered the police to investigate the subject; and the latter, for this purpose, made a descent upon the dwell ing of the brother Mark Bedarride, on the 7th September, 1822; but a minute examination thereof elicited no charge, except a slight one underlhe terms of the penal code bear- ing upon persons assembling themselves together for secret purposes. For this the brother Bedarride and some others 13 194 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. held themselves to answer on the 18th January, 1823, and submitted to some small fine. The result, however, of the general dissemination among the lodges of the report of the feast, was to induce the authorities to close the lodges of the rite in Paris and those in the provinces, to the num- ber, in all, of seventeen ; and they remained in this condi- tion until 1831. During this long period the brother Mark Bedarride re- mained unemployed. After the revolution of 1830, he sought for restoration to the military rank he had in 1814; but he failed in this object. From the Minister of the Interior, however, he obtained permission to reopen the lodges of his rite. From that auspicious moment the two brothers Mark and Michael Bedarride made strenuous efforts to avail themselves of the advantages of this permission. Their first act was to inform the partisans of the rite of the happy circumstances which once more allowed the lodges to resume their labors, and to demand that all the repre- sentatives of the rite assemble the divers classes of the Order, and forward a list of their members, accompanied by a gift of thirty cents for each brother, as a voluntary offering of dues for the years in arrear, or those during which the lodges had been closed. The primary meetings of the old lodges took place at No. 41 St. Mary street, and the brothers Bedarride suc- ceeded in reconstructing, under their original names, the lodges " Rainbow," " Pyramids," and " Burning Bush." This reconstruction accomplished, the chiefs judged it nec- essary to prevent the attacks to which their administration had been subjected, and, for this purpose, convoking the brethren composing the General Council, they directed THE RITE OF MISRAIM. 195 the recognition in their own favor of an account for services, etc., amounting to $20,550. l Thus the account, which in 1818 was but $550, had been increased to $20,550, as well by the interest which had ac- crued upon the original sum as by the additional grants claimed, to the extent of $12,000, for administration of the affairs of an Order while its lodges were closed and its busi- ness totally suspended. As a set-off to this demand, the sums received by the brothers Bedarride for fees and diplo- mas from 1816 to 1822, while the lodges were in operation, ought to have amounted to a very handsome figure, and they did, as they appeared in the cash-book of the brothers; but the whole of this amount was absorbed, as further ap- peared by the same, in defraying the rent of lodge-rooms, etc., and all other necessary running expenses, for nineteen years. To put an end to all further disputes upon the sub- ject, the chiefs of the rite prepared an oath to be admin- istered, sine qua non, to the receipt of the higher degrees, by which every member taking such degrees obligated himself in language very enigmatical, but the real mean- ing of which was to never question in any manner, under penalty of being blotted from the list of honorable menx- 1 This sum of $20,550 was made up in the following manner: 1. Amount, of the obligation of llth June, 1818 2,735 fr. 37 17 years' interest at 5 per cent, per annum 2,324 fr. 93 5,060 fr. 30 2. Claim of 2,500 fr. per annum from the 25th May, 1816, to 25th May, 18226 years 15,000 00 6 years' interest at 5 per cent, per annum 4,600 00 19,500 00 3. Claim of 3,500 fr. per annum, from the 27th May, 1822, to 27th May, 18287 years 24,500 00 7 years' interest at 5 per cent, per annum 6,475 00 30,975 00 4. Claim of 5,000 fr. per annum, from the 27th May, 1828, to the 27th May, 18357 years....- 85,000 00 7 years' interest at 5 per cent, per annum 12,250 00 47,250 00 Total 102,785 fr. 30 196 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. bership, the accuracy of this account or the justness of its claims. 1 When this matter was thus arranged, the Council made it conditional that the brothers Bedarride should render true accounts from that time of all their receipts and ex- penses, to the end that the excess of the former should be appropriated to the reduction of their account against the Order of Misraim, and the same be liquidated at as early a day as possible. It is a sacred principle in Freemasonry that, with the exception of the office of Secretary of a lodge, or Grand Secretary of a Grand Lodge, all other offices are filled gra- tuitously and for the honor they confer upon the incum- bent. This being a fact well known, it is not difficult to decide, from what we have shown, that the charges made against the brothers Bedarride, of speculating w r ith their rite, were not devoid of foundation. Notwithstanding the activity of the brothers Bedarride, their rite has made but little progress since that time. It has but a sort of vegetating existence in Paris, and it is extinct every-where else in which they succeeded in plant- ing it. A great many eminent men, whose names figure upon the list of membership, have long since withdrawn from it, and others have died. They never did, in fact, take any active part in the labors of the rite, and the ma- jority of them had not even assisted at a single meeting of Misraimites : they had accepted the high degrees offered them simply because their pompous titles tickled their vanity. The brothers Bedarride had never expected to derive any advantage from conferring their degrees upon such men, except that which their names would afford in the propagation of their rite among strangers. When we look over the list of membership, published in 1822, we are author gives the text of this oath; but, for the reason already given, I do not translate it. TRANSLATOR. THE RITE OF MISRAIM. 197 astonished to find thereon so great a number of distin- guished persons, and occupying the highest social positions. Such of these brethren as belonged to the Supreme Coun- cil or the Grand Orient of France never allowed them- selves to be initiated into the fearful catalogue of the Rite of Misraim ; they confined themselves simply to the ac- ceptance of a diploma conferring upon them the rank of the ninetieth degree. Many of these brethren, if not all, resigned their posi- tion between 1817 and 1822, when the chiefs of the rite were attacked on all sides. After the revival of the rite in 1832 thanks to the political changes which the revolu- tion of 1830 effected in France its chiefs were unable to enroll the names of important men, such as figured upon their register of 1822 ; even the meetings of the latter pe- riod were few and insignificant. To remedy this failure, the brothers Bedarride resolved to hold a Grand Lodge of Adoption, which took place on the 25th August, 1838. The following passage of the discourse, addressed to the sisters and brethren present, will give our readers some idea of the arrogance of the language of their claims: "The Masonic Order of Misraim has this advantage over all other rites : it furnishes to the initiate scientific com- pensations which afford him an abstract knowledge of our Order." So far is this from the truth, that, it is believed, the meetings of the Misraim ites are more devoid of any thing pertaining to science or philosophy than are those of any other rite. Notwithstanding all the pomp, magnifi- cence, and expense attending this exhibition of a " Grand Lodge of Adoption," it had not the least effect in forward- ing the fortunes of the Order. If any questions \vere put to the brothers Bedarride upon the condition of the funds, they would reply that the supreme authority had no accounts to render to any per- son. If changes were desired in the general regulations, they replied that the regulations were unalterable, and all 198 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. the members had solemnly sworn to be governed by them. Should a brother publicly attempt to decipher the riddle which veiled their power, the chiefs would cry out that their authority was being questioned, and threaten the of- fender with arrest and trial. In 1839, the brother Terne- sien Leserne, advocate at the court of the king, having made some remarks in his lodge the "Rainbow" upon the administration of the chiefs of the rite, he was, by order of the supreme power of 3d January, 1840, arraigned for contumacy. In his defense, he published his accusations, under the title of "The Morality of the General Regu- lations and Administration of the Rite of Misrairn." The brothers Bedarride endeavored to refute the charges contained therein, but their response served rather to con- firm than to destroy the accusations of the brother Tern- esien. The adversaries of the Rite of Misraim, or, more prop- erly, those of the brothers Bedarride, rapidly increased. In an article in the " Globe," entitled "Archives of Ancient and Modern Initiations," in which the utility of Masonic decorations is questioned, Brother Juge, the senior editor, expresses himself thus : " This poor Rite of Misraim, which so piteously exhibits its distress in its slender report of lodges and members, and so audaciously parades its wealth of degrees a wealth so excessive that it is not only un- known in all its fullness to the highest dignitaries, but even to its inventor, M. Bedarride, who has not the ability, I do not say to communicate all the degrees without read- ing from his manuscripts, but who can not recite without this help, and in the order in which they occur, even the names of his frightful vocabulary." This article brought on, between the brothers Bedarride and the editor of the " Globe," a war which terminated very much to the disad- vantage of the former ; for the latter applied himself with so much ability to his task, in the last numbers of hia paper for 1840, that he demonstrated to the intelligence of THE RITE OF MISRAIM. 199 all that the Rite of Misraim was but "a miserable parody on Freemasonry, and the creation of a juggler." The chiefs continued to impose upon their lodges the burden of an honor of $1,000 a year as the price of their administration ; and, pretending that the receipts had gradually fallen off, so that now there were not enough to pay even the interest upon the obligation of 1835, they induced their ever-devoted General Council to make them a second letter of credit for the sum of $26,358, 1 dated the 20th of September, 1840, and bearing interest from that date. After that time a treasurer controlled the receipts and the expenses, and in this manner the lodges were enabled to ascertain the excess of the former and apply it to the liquidation of this letter of credit. Thereafter the lodges assembled peaceably, and submitted to the despotic gov- ernment of the supreme power; but the members gradu- ally diminished each year. In the month of April, 1856, the brother Mark Bedar- ride died. His death effected no change in the situation of the rite, which pursued its unsteady course, affording nothing incidental worthy of note. A reproach of a very grave character had been ad- dressed to the chiefs of the Rite of Misraim, viz., that no acts of charity had ever been known to be performed by them, and in this respect they had failed to comply with the rirst duty of Freemasons. In 1851, a fact of this na- ture occasioned a new schism. A brother, an officer of the empire, possessed of all the high degrees of the rite, died 1 This obligation was made up as follows : 1. Amount of the claim October 1, 1835 102,785 fr. 30 2. For the direction of the Order for five years, at 5,000 fr. a year, from 1835 to 1840 25,000 fr. Five years interest at 5 per cent, per annum 1,250 26,250 00 8. Interest on the principal of 102,785 fr 2,757 70 131,793 fr. 00 200 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. in a hospital. Several brethren, desirous of defraying the expenses of his funeral, and aiding his widow, who was in deep poverty, sought the chief, Michael Bedarride, who responded to their request by saying, coldly, "The Order has no funds. All the receipts are absorbed in defraying necessary expenses, and in paying the interest due upon a etter of credit delivered to me by order of the General Council." The majority of the members, even those who possessed the eighty- seventh degree, had never heard of this obligation of the General Council, although they had signed the oath by which it was recognized. They were surprised, and, after some conference among themselves, they dele- gated one of their number to wait upon the chief, and pro- pose to him that if he would renounce his claim under this letter of credit, they would pay him four thousand francs a year. This proposition, as might be expected, was rejected with disdain by the Grand Conservator. Then, thirty-three members, led by the brother Boubee, re- solved to detach themselves from the Order, and to found another Masonic assembly professing the same rite. With this object they addressed, on the 22d of May, 1851, to the Minister of the Interior, a petition, and supported the same with the following reasons for separating themselves from what they styled " the supreme power of the Order of Mis- raim :" 1. The facts we have mentioned. 2. That the chiefs had prepared an oath guaranteeing the payment of a claim which was unknown to the petitioners, although they, by subscribing to such oath, became responsible for the payment of this claim. 3. That by virtue of the ab- solute power with which he pretended that he was in- vested, the brother Michael Bedarride not only retained all the money received for initiations and degrees ; but, con- trary to the regulations, conferred at his own residence all kinds of degrees upon whoever would pay him the money demanded for them. 4. That ashamed to state they had been enslaved so long, they had given in their demission, THE RITE OF MISRAIM. 201 and formed the design of founding a lodge under the title of " Grand Orient of the Valley of Egypt." The prayer of the petition having heen refused, the thirty- three dissenters conferred with the brother Voury, an officer of the Grand Orient of France and Worshipful Master of the lodge "Jerusalem of Constance," then suspended, and decided to reorganize this lodge, under the title of "Jerusa- lem of the Valley of Egypt." It was in this manner that the anti-masonic sentiments which animated the chief of the Rite of Misraim detached from that rite its valuable members and diminished the revenues of its jurisdiction. The Lodge of Adoption, created from the foundation of the rite, very rarely gave any sign of life. It had been organized, we regret to say, with an entirely speculative object, which should have been repugnant to the feelings of the worthy and respectable ladies who, at the order of the brother Bedarride, filled its offices on certain occasions. The ladies who successively filled the office of Grand Mis- tress of this Lodge of Adoption are the respectable sisters Gabrielle Fernet, Courtois, Breano, Maxime, of the Theater Francais, and Block de Berthier. The death of the brother Michael Bedarride, which took place on the 10th February, 1856, put an end to the lacera- tion of feelings endured for so long a time by the mem- bers who remained faithful to the rite. Feeling his end approaching, Michael Bedarride, by his will, dated the 1st January, 1856, created the brother Hayere 1 Grand Con- servator of the Order ; but, on the 24th January, he named him his representative, legatee, and successor, and, upon condition that he would pay his debts, placed in his hands the letter of credit of which w r e have spoken. By a decree of the new supreme power, dated 27th March, 1856, it was decided that they would not leave, as Brother .Hayere, a physician and chemist, was initiated into the Kite of Hisraim on the 13th October, 1840, and created Grand Master of the ninetieth degree on the llth June, 1855. 202 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. a charge upon the lodges of the Rite of Misraim, a debt, 1 styled by Brother Hayere as " accursed,"- and which had caused so much perjury, seeing that, with the actual reve- nues of thirty years, it had not been extinguished. By the General Council this debt was then declared extinct, while that body, nevertheless, charged itself with the set- tlement of the debts, amounting to about $1,000, of the deceased chief. This decision, honorable in all its bear- ings, proves that true Masonic sentiments animated the brethren of the Rite of Misraim. The lodges of Misraim, thus discharged from a debt amounting to $15,589, and a yearly tax of $1,000, were made easy in their finances, and their receipts enabled them in a few years to pay the debt of their chief, and re- imburse gradually Brother Hayere the advances made by him, with a generous disinterestedness upon this debt, to the most pressing creditors. The new chief strove, as much as possible, to meet all the exigences, abolish the abuses, and introduce reforms. None of the numerous complaints made against the ad- ministration of his predecessor were heard, and the loyal character of Brother Hayere guarantee us in believing they will never be renewed so long as he controls the ad- ministration of the rite. But no effort that can be put forth by the new chief can long arrest the certain dissolution of this Order. The germs of its mortality are borne within its bosom; and when it shall descend, like its brother rite of Memphis, to the tomb, nothing but its total regeneration can ever rec- ommend it to the Masonic Fraternity. 1 The debt as recognized by the last letter of credit, amounting, in the month of September, 1840, to $26,358, was found, at the death of Michael Bedarride, by the excess of receipts which had been applied by the treasurer to its liquidation, and credited by M. Bedarride, to be reduced to $15,589. A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE RITE OF MEMPHIS, BINGE ITS CREATION, IN 1838, TO ITS FUSION WITH THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE, IN 1862. THE Rite of Memphis, next to that of Misraim, is the most recent creation of Masonry. Its author is the brother Marconis de Negre, who has copied it from the Rite of Misraim, to which it principally belongs. In a book entitled "The Sanctuary of Memphis," the brother Marconis, who therein discovers himself as the creator of this rite, briefly touches up its history as fol- lows: " The Kite of Memphis, or Oriental Rite, was carried to Europe by Ormes, seraphic priest of Alexandria and Egyptian sage, who was converted by St. Mark, in the year 46 of Jesus Christ, and who purified the doctrine of the Egyptians according to the prin- ciples of Christianity. " The disciples of Ormes remained until 1118 sole possessors of the ancient wisdom of Egypt, purified by Christianity and the science of Solomon. This science having been communicated to the Templars, they were then known as Knights of Palestine, or Rose- Cross Brothers of the East. It is the latter who may be re- cognized as the immediate founders of the Rite of Memphis." * * " The Masonic Rite of Memphis is the continuation of the mys- teries of antiquity. It taught the first men to render homage to (203) 204 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. the divine principle ; its dogmas repose upon the principles of the human race ; its mission the study of wisdom, which seeks to dis- cover the secrets of nature. It is the beatific aurora of the devel- opment of reason and intelligence ; it is the worship of the best qualities of the human heart and suppression of its vices ; it is, finally, the echo of religious tolerance, the union of all beliefs, the bond that unites humanity, the symbol of the happy illusions of hope, preaching faith in God, who preserves, and charity, which blesses." As will be seen, from what we have quoted, this rite has all the pretension possible to be claimed for it, in giving it to us as the continuation of the mysteries of antiquity, and more than was ever claimed for any condition of Freema- sonry. Nevertheless, its founder is the first to contradict his preachings by his practice ; for one of the principal du- ties of his adepts consists in being always truthful. His book which is but a frame-work of absurdities invented by himself with the object of deceiving the credulous will, in the passages quoted and in the following, prove this : " The Rite of Memphis is the only depository of high Masonry, the true primitive rite, the rite par excellence. It has come down to us without alteration, and, consequently, is the only rite justified by its origin, by its constant exercise of all its rights, and by its constitutions, which it is impossible to revoke or doubt their au- thenticity. The Rite of Memphis, or Oriental Rite, is the true Masonic tree, and all the Masonic systems, such as they are, are nothing but the branches detached from this respectable and highly antique institution, whose birth took place in Egypt the real depot of the principles of Masonry, written in Chaldean, and preserved, in the venerated ark of the Rite of Memphis, in the Grand Lodge of Scotland, at Edinburgh, and in the convent of the Maronites, on Mount Lebanon." To this extract we subjoin the first article of the organic statutes, and by which we may judge the remainder : THE RITE OF MEMPHIS. 205 "Brother Marconis de Ncgre, the Grand Hierophant, is the only sacred depositary of the traditions of this Sublime Order" After that it would be superfluous to ask what are the constitutions "which it is impossible to revoke, or doubt their authenticity ;" or what are these precious documents, "written in the Chaldean language, and preserved in the venerated ark of the Rite of Memphis," etc. "With those in the Grand Lodge of Scotland and in the convent on Mount Lebanon, it is simply necessary to say that, like those upon which the Supreme Council for France was founded, they never existed. It is ever thus the same language, the same tactics are employed, by the inventors of rites, wherewith, during the last century and a half, to delude their proselytes. Concerning the introduction of this rite into France, the brother Marconis de Negre, and, after him, some of his credulous adepts, recounted that the brother Honis, a na- tive of Cairo, had brought it from Egypt in 1814, (but without saying by whom it had been there communicated to him,) and had, with the father of Brother Marconis de !N"egre, (the brother Gabriel-Mathew Marconis,) Baron Dumas, and the Marquis de la Roque, founded a lodge of this rite at Montauban, on the 30th April, 1815 ; that this lodge had been closed on the 7th March, 1816, (they did not say why,) and that, in consequence, the archives had been confided to the father of Marconis de E"egre, named (they did not say by whom) Grand Hierophant of the Order, or, otherwise, Grand Master. The incorrectness of these assertions is easily demon- strated, Brother James Stephen Marconis was initiated at Paris into the rite of Memphis on the 21st of April, 1833. He was then twenty-seven years of age. He re- ceived on that day thirteen degrees; for the ladder of Misraim is quickly mounted. In consequence of the com- plaints made against him by some of his brethren, he was expelled on the 27th June, 1833. He shortly afterward 206 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. quitted Paris and went to Lyons, where, under the name of ITegre. he founded a lodge of the Rite of Misraim, under the style of "Good "Will," and of which he was the presi- dent. While occupying this position, he was elevated to the sixty-sixth degree by the brothers Bedarride, who were not aware that Brother Negre and Brother J. S. Marconis were one and the same person. In consequence of some new complaints addressed to the brothers Bedarride, as chiefs of the rite, by the brethren at Lyons, Brother Mar- conis was again expelled, under the new name of Kegre, on the 27th May, 1838. After this latter expulsion, having no hope of again being able to play any part either in the Rite of Misraim or any other rite then practiced, and feeling conscious that he possessed much more capacity to direct a lodge, or even a rite, than the brothers Bedarride, he did as was done by Lechangeur of Milan, and by the five Israelites at Charles- ton he created a Masonic power. The ladder of Misraim, as fabricated by Lechangeur, and augmented by the addition of a few more rounds, gave him his Rite of Memphis with but little labor. The work finished, he constituted himself its chief. To give his rite an origin and a history was not difficult. In this depart- ment he exhibited, however, more respect for the opinions of mankind, and the good sense of the Fraternity, than did the brother Michael Bedarride, who, in his history of the " Order of Misraim," was not content, as Lechangeur had been, with stating that this Order was the work of a king of Egypt named Misraim, but went much further for its origin, even to God himself. Brother Marconis dated his rite from but the commencement of the Christian era. By this exhibition of modesty he probably expected to disarm inquiry, convert the credulous and religiously disposed, and inspire them with faith in the "precious documents written in the Chaldean language," which he announced were to be found in the "venerated ark of the Rite of THE RITE OF MEMPHIS. 207 Memphis," whenever he would think proper to exhibit those documents to their admiring gaze. As Brother Marconis was much the superior, both in education and talents, of the fabricator of the Rite of Misraim, he found it very easy to vary the degrees of that rite, change their names, and give them a signification sufficiently different to destroy the identity of their origin. To give the reader an idea of the extravagance of this creation, we will present here an extract from the constitu- tion of the Rite of Memphis : " The Rite of Memphis is regulated by five Supreme Councils, viz.: 1. The Sanctuary of the Patriarchs, Grand Conservators of the Order. 2. The Mystic Temple of Sovereign Princes of Memphis. 3. The Sovereign General Grand Council of Grand Regulating- Inspectors of the Order. 4. The Grand Liturgical College of Sublime Interpreters of Masonic Sciences and Hieroglyphics. 5. The Supreme Grand Tribunal of Protectors of the Order. " The Sanctuary is divided into three sections, viz. : 1. The Mystic Section, in which reposes the venerated ark of the tradi- tions. 2. The Emblematic, Scientific, and Philosophic Sections ; and, 3. The Governing Section. " The Mystic Section, in which are to be found the traditions, rituals, documents, instructions, and general archives, etc., is com- posed of the Grand Hierophant and his organ. " The Emblematic, Scientific, and Philosophic Section is com- posed of seven lights, viz. : 1. The Grand Hierophaut, Sublime Master of Light, (Brother Marconis.) 2. The organ of the Grand Hierophant. 3. The Grand Master, President of the Sanctuary, (particular executive of the Order.) 4. The Grand Master, President of the Mystic Temple (general executive.) 5. The Grand Master, President of the Sovereign Grand General Council. 6. The Grand Master, President of the Grand Liturgi- cal College. 7. The Grand Master, President of the Supreme Grand Tribunal. " This Section exercises no authority in the government of the Order, its action being purely doctrinal and magisterial." 208 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. It might be readily believed that such an organization as the above might be sufficient to regulate the affairs of an Asian or African Empire, comprising millions of human beings. Ridicule will, therefore, be pushed to its utmost when it is known that this formidable construction was organized to govern an association of men who are believed to be devoted to the development of their reason and in- telligence, and to the study of wisdom. After having completed the rituals of his rite, in 1838, Brother Marconis presented himself in Belgium as the suc- cessor of his father in the high office of Grand Hierophant, and entered into some negotiations to establish his rite. He then returned to Paris, where, under the name of Mar- conis Letuillart, he succeeded in enrolling some isolated brethren, and, with them, organizing a lodge which he named " Disciples of Memphis ;" and, on the 2Cd March, 1838, he organized a Grand Lodge, under the title of " Osiris," to which was intrusted the direction of all the operative lodges which he hoped he might establish. On the 23d May, 1839, he organized a chapter of "Philadel- phics," and on the 29th February, 1840, the lodge " Sages of Heliopolis." On the 7th April, 1839, he published his organic stat- utes, and organized two lodges in Brussels. Immediately following the organization oi/his first lodge in Paris, the brothers Bedarride wrote the prefect of police, informing that officer that Brother Marconis had been twice expelled, for malfeasance, from the Rite of Misraim, and requesting that he be prohibited from en- gaging in Masonic labors thereafter in that city. The pre- fect not having immediately complied with their demand, on the 2d November they issued a circular, warning their lodges and councils against Brother Marconis, and stating the reasons of his duplicate expulsion. Thereupon the police visited the lodges organized by Brother Marconis ; but it was not until the 17th May, 1840, that permission to THE RITE OF MEMPHIS. 209 assemble their membership was refused him ; and, without any reason being assigned, those lodges had to suspend their meetings. From that time Brother Marconis devoted his attention to Masonic literature. l Favored by the political events of 1848, Brother Marco nis labored to revive his lodges in Paris, and succeeded in reorganizing, in 1849, three of them, and afterward a coun cil and chapter ; but the lodges which he had established in Belgium refused resurrection. 2 During the short time Brother Marconis de !^"egre for it is under this name he is best known maintained his lodges in activity, he followed the example of the brothers Bedarride, and obtained adherents among the members of the Grand Orient and the Supreme Council, who, although remaining attached to these bodies, accepted of him diplo- mas conferring upon them the high degrees of Memphis. Finding that his rite was not obtaining any consistence at Paris, Brother Marconis repaired, in 1850, to London, in the hope there to find some person disposed to accept its distinctions ; and, not without considerable effort, he succeeded in establishing a lodge, under the title of " The Sectarians of Menes," which was instituted on the 16th July, 1851, and which was charged with the responsibili- ties of a Supreme Council for the British isles. Brother l The principal works published by Brother Marconis (de Negre) are: "The Sanctuary of Memphis," "The Hierophant," "The Mystic Sun," "The Mystic Temple," and "The Masonic Pantheon." As explanatory of the symbols and principles of Masonry, these works have undisputa- ble value; but as history they are worthless, being principally drawn from the imagination of their author. 2 In common with ail other fabricators of rites, Brother Marconis sold, to all who offered to buy them, his constitutions with which to establish lodges, chapters, councils, grand lodges, etc. It was by these constitu- tions, and in this manner, that his rite was made known and established at a few points on the continent of Europe, and in New York. 14 210 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. J. P. Berjean was nominated Grand Master of it, and rep- resentative of the Grand Hierophant. The accusations which, in 1850, dissolved the new Na- tional Grand Lodge of France, equally affected the lodges of the Rite of Memphis, and, for a second time, caused their suspension. Hence, Brother Marconis, finding his Masonic activity completely paralyzed in France, was, in a manner, forced to transmit the government of his rite to the lodge at London, as the principal authority extant; and, on the 30th November, 1853, in accordance with this arrangement, Brother J. P. Berjean was solemnly installed "Grand Master of Light" of the new mystic temple and General Grand Council, and, at the same time, as organ of the Grand Hierophant. Starting with but thirty members, the labors of these were sufficiently arduous, when devoted to the administra- tion of so extensive a form of government as the rite of Brother Marconis required ; but this Grand Lodge soon found its ranks freely recruited from among the political refugees who, about this time, sought England as a place of safety. Such a class, however, possessed few of the ele- ments suitable to harmoniously carry on the work of the rite, and it was soon found necessary to dissolve the lodge : Brother Marconis himself considering it prudent to an- nounce that he had retired from all participation in its la- bors, and, consequently, that he declined all responsibility for its actions. These circumstances, so little conducive to the success of the Rite of Memphis, induced Brother Marconis, by the aid of the author of this work, to propose, in 1852, to the Grand Orient, its affiliation of the lodges of Memphis. This proposition being refused, Brother Marconis there- upon ceased all further effort on behalf of the lodges of his rite, and confined his labors to the publication of his many Masonic books. Having for some time meditated a voyage to America, THE KITE OF MEMPHIS. 211 Brother Marconis de Negre, in 1860, embarked for that country, and, on the 14th July of that year, organized at Troy, in the State of New York, a lodge, under the title of "Disciples of Memphis," and of which Brother Durand, a professor of languages, was nominated Grand Master. After the publication of the circular of the 30th April, 1862, addressed by the Grand Master, Marshal Magnan, to the dissenting Masons of France, Brother Marconis solicited, in the name of one of his suspended lodges, (the "Sectarians of Menes,") his affiliation with the Grand Orient of France. This request was complied with, and, on the 18th October, 1862, this lodge was formally installed by commissioners appointed for that purpose by the Grand Orient. On the 30th December following, a similar action took place with the lodge " Disciples of Memphis." Thus despoiled of its government, its councils, and of all its peculiar attributes, the Rite of Memphis finds itself transformed into, at best, the Scottish Rite, as recognized by the Grand Orient; and yet, by a strange anomaly, the lodges which we have named have been permitted to re- tain the name of practicing the Rite of Memphis. Other- wise, for the honor of Masonry, we consider the work of Brother Marconis extinct in France, and we trust that wherever else it exists it may shortly be consigned to the tomb of its race. A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF ALL THE RITES FOR HIGH DEGREES, INTRODUCED INTO FREEMASONRY FROM 1736. TO THE PRESENT TIME. FKEEMASONKY, after its transformation at London, in 1717, from a partly mechanical and partly philosophical institution to one purely moral and philosophic, retained the three traditional degrees of Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason ; and all the lodges organized since that time, as well by the Grand Lodge of London as by the Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland^ have been so constituted, and have never conferred any other than the three sym- bolic degrees above named, and which constitute the Rite of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England the only true traditional Masonry. It was not until the partisans of the Stuarts had come to France, in the suite of the Pretender, that English Masonry was denaturalized by them, and used as a cloak to cover their revolutionary projects. The desire to restore the family of the Stuarts to the throne of England, and thus to favor the interests of Roman Catholicism, suggested to the partisans of that family and those interests the idea of forming secret asso- ciations,, by which to carry out their plans; and it was with this object that they obtained entrance into the Ma- sonic lodges on the continent. (212) ORIGIN OF ALL THE RITES FOR HIGH DEGREES. 213 They commenced in France, through the agency of one of their most eminent emissaries, the Doctor, Baron of .Ramsay, 1 to spread a rite of five degrees which they had vainly endeavored to make acceptable in London. This Doctor or Baron of Ramsay, between the years 1736 and 3738, augmented this rite by the addition of two degrees, and then called it "Scottish," because, as he maintained, it proceeded from a powerful Masonic authority in Scot- land. He delivered to the proselytes, whom he had known himself to have made in France, personal consti- tutions or patents, emanating from a self-styled chapter of Masons sitting at Edinburgh. This chapter was composed of partisans of the Stuarts, who had constituted them- selves into a Masonic authority before the Grand Lodge of Scotland existed, with the sole object of forwarding the projects of the uncrowned princes. According to the Baron of Ramsay, and other emissaries, this chapter alone possessed the true science of Masonry, which science, as 1 Baron Ramsay was converted to the Roman Catholic religion by Fenelon, and afterward became preceptor at Rome to the son of the dethroned king, James III. He came to France in 1728. After having failed in London in his attempt to organize, in the interests of the Stuarts, a new Masonry calculated to annihilate the influence of the Grand Lodge of London, he addressed himself to a like work in France, and presented himself in Paris, furnished with powers from a Masonic authority represented to be sitting at Edinburgh. It was not until about 1736 that he appears to have succeeded in establishing in some lodges his political system. It is true that Lord Derwentwater, and also Lord Harn wester, who succeeded each other as the first Grand Masters of the Provincial Grand Lodge of France, were also partisans of the Stuarts; but they do not appear to have been initiated into the revolutionary projects of the Jesuits, as was Doctor Ramsay; for it was not until after their departur for England where both perished on the scaffold, victims of their at- tachment to the Pretender that Baron Ramsay introduced his system among the lodges. While Lord Derwentwater was Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of France, in 1729, Baron Ramsay filled the office of orator. He died in 1743, aged fifty-seven, at St. Germain-en- Laye. 214 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. was apparent from the history of it which they had es- tablished, had been created by Godfrey de Bouillon. We have no account of any of the chapters founded by Baron Ramsay, and they do not appear to have been of much importance ; but, in 1743', another partisan of the Stuarts founded at Marseilles a lodge of "St. John of Scotland," with eighteen degrees, which subsequently took the title of Scottish Mother Lodge of France, and constituted many lodges in Provence, and even some in the Levant. An- other system, probably Ramsay's, was established at Lyons by a partisan of the Stuarts, and afterwards worked b}' the Jesuits. It was not, however, until after Charles Edward Stuart, born at Rome, the son of the Pretender, had been ini- tiated, and had founded, by a charter granted by himself, as patron, a chapter of high degrees at Arras, in 1747, under the title of " Scottish Jacobite Masonry," that the lodges to which were attached high degrees increased in France. At Toulouse, in 1748, an attache of the Pre- tender, named Lockhart, organized a chapter which prac- ticed a rite of nine degrees, under the name of " Faithful Scots." In 1766 another adherent constituted the mother lodge of the county Yenaissin, in Avignon, which, in its turn, in 1776, organized the "Grand Lodge of the Philo- sophic Rite in Paris," and then united itself with that Grand Lodge. * Another partisan of the Stuarts, the Chevalier Bonne- ville, one of the most zealous emissaries of the Jesuits under the patronage of the Chapter of Clermont, which was, in 1754, created by the Jesuits of the College (Con- vent) of Clermont 1 organized several chapters, and which, for the purpose of more fully working this system of Ma- sonry, they installed in a magnificent locality, outside the walls of Paris, called New France. In 1756, these chap- 1 It was in this college that the Pretender lived for many yeara ORIGIN OF ALL THE RITES FOR HIGH DEGREES, 215 ters elaborated a new Masonic system, which they styled " Strict Observance" an arrangement which has been wrongly attributed to the Chevalier Bonneville, he being, with others, nothing more than one of its most zealous propagators in France, while a person named Stark acted in a like capacity in Germany, between 1756 and 1758. An extravagant and ambitious man named Pirlet, the presiding officer of a lodge in Paris, and who had recog- nized the true authorship of these new Masonic systems, sought their injury, if not destruction, by the creation of an opposing system. For this purpose, in 1757, by the aid of some Masons to whom he imparted his knowledge, he created a chapter of "Knights of the East." Not meeting with the success he had expected, he concluded to accept the office of propagator of a new rite elaborated by the Jesuits at Lyons, with a scale of twenty-five degrees, and to which was given the pompous title of "Emperors of the East and West, Sovereign Prince Masons." The propagators of this rite announced to their proselytes that it was the most elevated of all Masonry practiced in the East, and from whence it had been imported to France. This was the rite subsequently called "Perfection, or Har- odom." Pirlet, directed secretly by the Jesuits, who were not seen in the management, gave, like all the propaga- tors, inventors, and importers of rites, who make of them a species of property, a fabulous origin to this new rite ; and several officers and members of the Grand Lodge of France were initiated, though bound by an oath, under its constitution, not to recognize any degrees as Masonic ex- cept those of their Grand Lodge, which consisted of the three symbolic degrees alone. These initiates became officers of the "Council of Emperors of the East and West, Sovereign Prince Masons;" and it was this council that, in 1761, delivered to Stephen Morin a patent where- with to enable him to propagate the rite in America. This Rite of Perfection, of twenty -five degrees, was propagated 216 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. in Germany by the officers of the army of Broglie. but more particularly by the Marquis of Berny, a French gen- tleman, and his deputy Rosa, a Lutheran priest, who in a short time organized seventeen lodges of the rite in the States-general, or parliament of the country. This rite infiltrated itself, in this manner, into the Grand Lodge at the Three Globes in Berlin; and when the king, Freder- ick the Great, who had been Grand Master of this lodge from 1744 to 1747, was advised of this fact by one of the officers of the lodge, his minister of war, he was so en- raged that he manifested his discontent by a great oath. Many of the Grand Lodges of Germany, and those of Hamburg and Switzerland more particularly, who for a long time resisted the admission of these innovations, closed and became dissolved after the high degrees had insinuated themselves among and into their constituent lodges. But these degrees were not always so successful in their object to destroy primitive Masonry; for as soon as, by pushing inquiry, it was found from whence they had emanated, and their source discovered to be impure, they fell into disrepute and contempt. It was thus that this Rite of Perfection became unpopu- lar in Paris in 1780, and unable to sustain itself, and its membership obliged to unite their scattered fragments into a chapter of " Knights of the East" the rite created by Pirlet. Notwithstanding this union, however, so low had the reputation of the possessors of these degrees fallen, that they were forced to recruit their ranks and the mem- bership of this chapter from among any persons who could pay them the price of their degrees. Such action, per- sisted in, caused the death of this chapter, but not with- out leaving some unhappy traces of its labors ; for while some of its members endeavored to organize a General Grand Chapter of the Rite of Perfection for France, others became discontented, discordant, and, in this condition of mind, became willing assistants of De Grasse-Tilly, who, ORIGIN OF ALL THE RITES FOR HIGH DEGREES. 217 in 1804, arrived in Paris from St. Domingo, bearing a patent from a Supreme Council sitting at Charleston, em- powering him to organize a council of a rite of thirty-three degrees, and, by the aid of such malcontents, he did or- ganize the " Supreme Council for France of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the 33d and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite," It will be easily perceived that, at an early stage of its popularity, the Jesuits found Freemasonry an institution they would have to use or destroy. Finding it impossible to use it, they concluded to destroy it ; and to do so, they adopted the plan of inventing and propagating rites and high degrees calculated to confuse a correct knowledge of its history, and create discords and dissatisfaction among its members. As creators of these rites and degrees, they freely, through their partisans and emissaries, disposed of patents and constitutions which empowered the holders not only to organize bodies of men whom they might initiate into these degrees, but to sell to any person so initiated other patents and constitutions empowering them to do the same. In this manner the very object desired by these Jesuitical inventors was attained in a multiplied result ; for a rivalry sprang up between these opposite authorities, who soon found that the best recommendation for their wares was an increase in their variety; and to give such variety it was necessary to fabricate additional degrees and additional rites, which they might offer, as something entirely new, to satisfy the eager appetite ex- hibited, and which they appeased in restaurants and tav- erns, and wherever they could find a purchaser. By ref- erence to our history of Freemasonry in France about this time, (1736 to 1772,) the reader will perceive how com- pletely the object desired by the Jesuits was effected. "Confusion worse confounded" reigned among the Fra- ternity false titles, antedated constitutions, charges of fraud well sustained, and even exhibitions of violence, 218 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. characterized the Masonic institution, and the civil gov- ernment had to interfere to prevent worse results. It was during this period that there might he seen systems called Masonic and new degrees bursting almost daily into the light systems incoherent, crude, and unfledged, having nothing to recommend them save their very dreamy or mystical tendency the work of fabricators, who cared for no vow or obligation, but sought only to dispose of their trumpery and valueless commodities. These combinations, the work of such impostors and political hucksters, produced, in about twenty years, such a result of doubt and uncertainty, that scarcely any one could determine which of the numerous pretending bodies was the true or legitimate Masonic authority in France. Yet, notwithstanding the confusion they had thus created, the Jesuits had accomplished but one of their designs, viz., denaturalizing and bringing into disrepute the Masonic institution. Having succeeded, as they believed, in de- stroying it in one form, they were determined to use it in another. With this determination they arranged the system styled "Clerkship of the Templars," an amalgamation of the different histories, events, and characteristics of the cru- sades, mixed with the reveries of the alchemists. In this combination Catholicism governed all, and the whole fab- rication moved upon w r heels representing the great object for which the "Society of Jesus" was organized. The emissaries, De Bonneville, in France, and Professor Harck, in Germany, were immediately engaged in the dissemina- tion of this system; but, in consequence of the very condi- tion of disrepute then enjoyed by Masonry in that country, the emissary for France had little if any success. With their knowledge of the human heart, the Jesuits brought into this system a series of inferior degrees proper to engage the curiosity of the neophyte, and assure them- ORIGIN OF ALL THE RITES FOR HIGH DEGREES. 219 selves of his unlimited obedience. Beyond all else, this condition of unlimited obedience was always exacted be- fore the advancement promised to the new revelations of yet higher degrees was accorded. In this manner were the brethren decoyed away from the pure and simple doc- trine of English Freemasonry, to throw their aid and in fluence into the object of enlarging Jesuitical influence, by the hope of gaining ten degrees of exaltation above their fellows. In order further to assure themselves of the faith of their adepts, and to strike deeper the roots of that faith into the soil of their spirits, the doctrine of obedience to unknown superiors was advanced, and the chiefs directed to communicate the real plans to none but those whom they should initiate into the last and highest degree of the system. As the monastic institution ami ecclesiastic tendency of this false Masonry could not adapt itself to the feelings of all whom they desired to influence, they next resolved to create another association, much more extended, and which would be susceptible of establishment in Protestant countries. The project succeeded better than any or ail the others. It was this system styled " Strict Observance" that, originating, like all the others created by the Jesuits, in their College of Clermont at Paris, was transported to Germany, and there propagated by the Baron of Ilnnd, and other emissaries, instruments of the Jesuits, but igno- rant of being such. The fundamental belief connected with this system, as entertained by those propagators, was, that "the Masonic fraternity is nothing but a continuation of the Order of Knights Templar, propagated by members of this Order while sheltered from persecution in the fast- nesses of Scotland." Otherwise the propagators of this system held forth to and indulged their proselytes in the dangerous hope of gaining possession of the riches and property oi the Order of Knights Templar, confiscated by 220 ^ GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Philip the Fair and his abettors, after the execution of Jacques de Molay. To have the system correspond, as much as possible, with its hierarchical object, the country over which they expected their Order to reign was divided into nine prov- inces, viz. : 1. Lower Germany, consisting of Poland and Prussia; 2. Auvergne; 3. Western France; 4. Italy and Greece; 5. Burgundy and Switzerland; 6. Upper Ger- many ; 7. Austria and Lombardy ; 8. Russia ; and 9. Sweden. The governing Grand Lodge of the system was estab- lished at Brunswick, and was to be ostensibly directed by the Duke of Brunswick, but who really was but the mouth-piece of the "unknown superiors." Each province had its heermeister, or general, a provincial chapter, many priories, prefectures, anf monuments erected to the same divinity. 262 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. 500 B. C. The temples of Vesta and Hercules are erected upon the Aventiue Hill, and the temples of Pallas and Minerva Medica are erected under Juuius Drusus. 490 B. C. The Consuls Sempronius and M. Minucins order tho erection, by the colleges of constructors, of two temples; the one dedicated to Saturn, the other to Mercury. They also establish the Saturnalian feasts. 480 B. C. The temples of Castor and Pollux are erected under the dictator Posthumius, who, after his victory over the Latins, also ordered the erection of two other temples the one in honor of Ceres, the other of Bacchus. The most remarkable of all that he had erected, however, was the temple to the idea Better Fortune. 451 B. C. Creation of the laws of the Twelve Tables, the eighth of which is confined to provisions concerning the colleges of builders. 396 B. C. Furius Camillus, during his consulate, orders the erec- tion of temples; one to Queen Juno, after a victory; also, one to Jupiter, and one tc Concord. 390 B. C. Destruction of a part of the public monuments at the sacking of Home by the Gauls. 385 B. C. Re-erection of the destroyed monuments under Flaviua Quintus, who also orders the erection of new temples, FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL KPOC1I. 263 which he dedicates; one to Mars, another to Juno Moneta; while two others are consecrated to Salus (health) and Concord. 312 B. C. The first stone road is constructed by the colleges, under the orders of Appius Claudius, who directed that it be continued to Capua. The first great aqueduct was con- structed at this time. 290 B. C. The temple of Romulus, who was, by order of the Senate of Pompilius, deified, under the title of Quirinus, is erected, and in it is placed the first solar dial. The consul, Spur. Carvilius, also ordered the erection of a temple to Fortis ForitLna, to contain the spoils taken from the Etruscans. He also ordered the construction of a temple in honor of ^sculapius, to be situate upon the island of the Tiber. 285 B. C. The Fraternities of Constructors, as they are called at this time, attached to the Roman legions, locate them- selves in that portion of Cisalpine Gaul known to-day as Venice and Lombardy, whither they had followed the conquest of the Roman arms. To these fraternities of whom a brigade was attached to each legion, and which they accompanied every-where was entrusted the design- ing' of the plans of all the military constructions, such as intrenched camps, strategic routes, bridges, aqueducts, and dwellings. They directed the labors of soldiers and the more ignorant workmen in the mechanical execution of these works; and it was them who also manufactured the implements of war. They were submissive to the gen- erals or chiefs of the legions in such matters as related directly to the movements of the army, but in all else they remained in the enjoyment of their privileges. Composed of artists and learned men, these fraternities spread the 264 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. ideas of Roman taste, and the knowledge of Roman man- ners, literature and art, wherever the Roman nation carried its victorious arms; while, at the same time, they insured the vanquished in the possession of the pacific element of Roman favor, her arts and civil laws. 280 B. C. Under the consulate of Caius Duilius new temples are erected, one of which, after having vanquished the Cartha- ginians at sea, he dedicated to Janus. Another temple, erected by order of Actilius, he dedicated to Hope. 275 B. C. The conquest of nearly all of Cisalpine Gaul- now known as the Sardinian States was followed hy this country being at once taken possession of hy the frater- nities of constructors, who, never remaining inactive, re- erected every-where^ and always in better manner, those monuments which the legions had destroyed. 250 B. C. While Cisalpine Gaul was covered over with military colonies, surrounded with fortifications executed by the fraternities of constructors, who likewise erected in their midst habitations and palaces for the principal commanders, other legions carried their conquering arms beyond the Alps into Transalpine Gaul and Spain. The first great highway is constructed about this time across Gaul, and leading from Rome to the valley of Gstia. 225 B. C. The fraternities of constructors, who followed the le- gions into Gaul and Spain, completed their mission. In Spain they founded Cordova; in Gaul, Empodorum. Those of Rome there constructed the famous Flaminian Circus, to which the Consul, C. Flaminius, attached his name. FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 2G5 220 B. 0. The R nnans, attacked by Hannibal, erected after his retreat, in commemoration of that event, a temple to the god (idea) Ridicule. Under the direction of the colleges, and by order of the censor Flaminius, the Roman soldiers construct a great strategic route. Flaminius also orders the erection of a circus in Rome. 210 B. C. During the second Punic War the colleges had no em- ployment at Rome, there being nothing for them to con- struct; they, therefore, went into the conquered provinces. Subsequently they returned, and under the orders of Mar- eellus, they constructed two temples, bearing the titles respectively, of Virtus aud Juno 200 B. C. The Roman people having decided, in the year 202, to erect a temple to the god Mars, and another to the founders of Rome, Romulus and his brother Remus, both of these temples are completed during this year. 148 B. C. The first temple in marble is ordered to be erected by the general Metellus, who, after his victory over the king of Macedonia, dedicated it to Jupiter 8tator. Afterward he ordered the erection of another temple at his own ex- pense, which lie dedicated to Juno; also, a remarkable sepulcher, that bears his name. 125 B. C The legions, become masters of Helvetia, there fortified themselves, and gradually enriched the country with camps and the cities Augusta Baxilia and Acenticum, the latter of which became of some importance. 266 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. 121 B. C. A Roman colony, commanded by Marsius, founded Narbo Marsms, (Narbonne,) which became the principal head-quarters of the Roman armies until the time of Augustus. The consul Opinius ordered the construction at Rome of the first court of justice or city hall. He also ordered the erection of a temple, which he dedicated to Concord. 101 B. C. After the victory over the Cimbrians and the Teutons, vanquished by Marias, he ordered the erection in Rome, under the special direction of the architect C. Musius, a temple in honor of the divinities Honor and Virtue. 1 79 B. C. The ancient city of Herculaneum, in which were erected by the fraternities of constructors numerous monuments of art, is overthrown and buried in the lava of an eruption of Mount Vesuvius^ The magnificent monuments with which Pompeii, no less celebrated than Herculaneum, had been ornamented by the Roman constructors, crumbled and disappeared, in great part, in consequence of the earth- quake that accompanied the eruption which destroyed the latter city, and all that remains is covered with the ashes and lava thrown out by the eruption mentioned. 75 B. C. A great number of towns are erected in Gaul in the dis- trict of Narbonne. Military colonies are every-where es- tablished to maintain the conquered country against the 1 Up to this time architecture partook of the Etruscan style, arid the at- tempts made to embellish the public temples and edifices consisted but in the ornamentation of statues and other objects erected in conquered coun- tries, particularly in Greece; but from this time the predilection of the Romans for Greek art and architecture became dominant, and the Etruscan ftyle of architecture was abandoned, as being too severely simple. FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 267 neighboring peoples, and principally in the neighborhood of the ancient Musxilut (Marseilles) founded by the Pho- necians in 549, and of Arelate (Aries), of which the origin goes back to 2000 years before Christ. Among those are Aqua Se.xtia (Aix) and Nemausus (Nimes), which be- came important cities. Arclate, before mentioned, subse- quently became the capital of the kingdom of Aries, and attained the rank of a powerful city, wherein the Masonic fraternities constructed some sumptuous monuments. The ruins of an amphitheater, an obelisk, a temple, an arch of triumph, and an aqueduct, reveal to us the ancient impor- tance of the residence of Constautine in this city. 60 B. C. After ten years of almost continual war, during which, according to Plutarch, 800 villages were devastated, Juliua Ciesar made himself master of all Transalpine Gaul, lie at once put the numerous fraternities of constructors at- tached to his legions at work, and ordered the attendance of many others scattered throughout the provinces, to re- erect, with the aid of his soldiers, the towns and cities destroyed, and to render more beautiful and ornamental the monuments of the people. By his orders and those of his successors, the following named cities became important, viz.: Treviri (Trey.es), Remi (Klieinis), Rolliomayas (Kouen), Cesarodanum (Tours), Auaricam (Bourges), Seitones (Sens), Bardiyala (Bordeaux), Vesonlio (Besancon), Luydunum (Lyons), Vieouut, Tolosa (Toulouse), and Latetia or Parisie (Paris). A great many other cities are erected by the colleges, such as Geryobia, Xelodanum, Avaricam, etc., but none of them attained the importance of the above. Treves was subsequently chosen as the residence of the pr^ect_Qr_govQ\-uor of the Gauls. 55 B. C. Britain, conquered in part at this time, some reinforce- 268 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. ments of constructors were sent there to establish more ex- tended fortifications. Under the command of Jjjiius_Cresar, one of his legions pushed further into the country, and, to hold its ground, there constructed an intrenched camp, with walls, inside of which the constructors immediately erected, as elsewhere, habitations, temples, aqueducts, etc., and in this manner gave birth to JE&o.ractfm^York), a cit_cele- brated in the history of Freemasonry. 50 B. C. "While Julius Cresar pushed his conquests, and destroyed druid altars and celtic monuments, Pompey erected in Rome numerous temples and the famous amphitheater, builtof_white marble, capable of containing thirty thou- sand persons. He also, under the direction of The ttaterni- ties of architects, constructed the not less famous road which led from Rome through Italy across the Alps into Gaul. Julius Caesar, upon his return to Rome, also ordered the construction of many temples, of which he dedicated one each to Mars, Venus Genitrix, and Apollo. All the col- leges located in the cities of Cisalpine Gaul (actual Italy) are called together by him and sent to Carthage and Cor- inth to reerect those ruined cities. 45 B. C. The Roman senate, after the civil war, ordered to be erected, by the colleges of constructors, many monuments of different kinds, in honor of Julius Caesar, among which were tour temples, dedicated respectively to Liberty, Con- cord, Happiness, and Mercy. In the year 42 the triumvirs of Rome erected a temple to Isis and another to Serapis. 41 B. C. A military colony is established on the site of a Gallic village, at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone, and there is founded Jjuydunurn, (Lyons.) [It was burnt, re- FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 269 erected by ISTero, and beautifully embellished by Trajan. Lugdunum became afterward the capital of Gaul, the seat ol government, and the imperial residence during the voy- ages of the emperor Augustus and the majority of his successors.] 37 B. C. The Roman legions, stationed along tbe "Rhine to pro- tect Gaul against the continual aggressions of the German peoples, formed at many points intrenched, camps, which became strong colonies. Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) had its origin in this manner. It was enlarged at this time, and invested with the rights of a Roman city, under the emperor Claudius. 35 B. C. The ^firiJJJLfiO"! at Rome, is finished under Marcus Agrippa, who also constructed some superb hot baths, which bore his own name. The great road from Rome, crossing Cisalpine Gaul and the valley of Ostia to Lyons, is continued by his orders, under the direction of the fraternities of constructors, in four main directions, viz.: First'to Aquitaine, by Auvergne; second, to the Rhine; third, to Laon, by Burgundy and Picardy ; fourth, to Marseilles, by Narbonne. 32 B. C. The Roman legions who located themselves at Lutefia, (Paris,) under Julius Caesar, there, side by side with the Gallic altars erected to Teuton gods, erected temples to Isis and Mithra. 30 B. C. The reign of Augustus is fruitful in great constructions. The fraternities of architects are greatly increased, and a certain number form themselves into special colleges for 270 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. the branches which occupy their attention more particu- larly, viz.: naval and hydraulic architecture. The ex- tensive knowledge of these men, initiated into themys- teries of every art, the humanitarian principles which they profess, their tolerance and their mysterious organization, surround them with such consideration, that all the dis- tinguished men seek admittance into their association. The most considerable monuments at this time erected by them, at Rome, are the temple of JiijnterJTonans, the theater commenced under the consulate of Cjlaudius Mar- cellus, the mausoleum that bore the name of Augustus, two arches of triumph, also named after him, and two Egyptian obelisks. In the Roman provinces we are un- able to mention others among the monuments erected by them at this time, beyond the temple of Clitum at Foli- gui, that of Jupiter at Pouzzoli, of Sibyl at Tivoli, and the arch of triumph at Suza. In Gaul a great number of somewhat less sumptuous constructions ornament the cities erected and foulided by the Romans. A great many roads, and particularly that of Emporium, situate near the Pyrenees, to the crossing of the Rhone, are due to the orders of Augustus. The friends of this emperor rivaled him in the construction of magnificent monuments. Sta- titius Taurus constructed an amphitheater; Marcus Pliil- lippus a temple to Hercules Musagetes; Munatius Plancus one to Saturn; Lucius Carnifucius one to Diana; and Lucius Cornelius Balbus finished his great theater in stone. A. D. 1. Augustus erected at Nimes, in the first year of the Christian era, a temple in honor of his friends Caius and Lucius. 1 1 The remains of this temple are now known under the name of the Square House. FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 271 A. D. 5. The Jewish architects are j^rotected^ at Rome, where they have been authorized, under Julius Cfesar, to estab- lish synagogues. Admitted into the colleges of con- st nicto7s7^vlucli7~at this time, were the theater of ITU for- eign initiations, they instructed them in the knowledge of the Hebrew niysteries^^a^t^pe of the_Egyptianr~ D. 10. The celebrated architect VUruvius Pollio establishes in his writings upon architecture works translated into all languages the nourishing condition in which this art existed at this time at Koine, lie depicts the humanita- rian doctn n e,s_vviudbL gCL-hajjd m^ajj3^ith3EenaraterTal objects of the Fraternity, and which, enveloped in allego- ries ancT illustrated by symbols, formed the basis of the teachings of these colleges. A. D. 14. The palace of the Caesars is commenced during the reign of Tiberius. It was continued under that of Cali- gula, and finished under Domitiaru Tiberius erected an arch of triumph in honor oTTnsnbrother Claudius Drusus, and another in honor of Augustus. That consecrated to Castor is also due to his orders. The cities of Pergarnus, Nicomedia, Mylassa, Cesarea, Pouzzolea, and Pola, brought architects and companions from Rome to erect in their midst temples in honor of Augustus. A. D. 25. The bridge of Rimini, commenced by Augustus, is finished under Tiberius, who also ordered the erection of temples in honor of Proserpine, Juno, and the goddess Concord. 272 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. A. D. 41. A superb aqueduct, which bears his name, is constructed under the reign of Claudius. A. D. 43. Some brigades of constructors are detached from the fraternities which are stationed on tbe banks of the Rhine, and led by the emperor Claudius to Britain, where the legions experience diiJiciilty in maintaining their ground against the incursions of the Scots, The better to enable them to hold their position, these brigades of con- structors erect a line of fortified camps and a, certain number of strong castles. A. D. 50. Architecture at .Rome has attained, at this time, its culminating point. The collogeTof c^sTnicToi^lIprTved of encouragement under the despotism of the Emperors, who by turns gradually took from them their privileges, seem to have lost their powers of architectural conception. The monuments of this time are greatly inferior in the elevation of their character to those which placed them at the summit of human intelligence. The same deca- dence is observed in the monuments of Greece, of which the Romans had borrowed their most beautiful models. "What contributed to bring about this fall in the architec- ture of Rome was the absence from that city of all the principal men of talent that the colleges of constructors had produced, and who had become celebrated in some branch of the art. Those men had been sent by Julius Cffisar and Augustus into the conquered provinces, there to erect temples; andj_in^fact, to give to those conquered peoples an elevated idea of the science and art of their conquerors, and to inspire them with admiration for the latter. The colleges of constructors, who concentrated within their membership a great amount of the knowl- FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 273 edge acquired at this period, thus contributed, by their science and the magnificence of their constructions, as much as did the arms of Rome to the consolidation and glory of the Roman power. Among the architects or magistri, as they are called 6uch as Cossutius, Caius, Marcus Stallius, Menallippus, Cyrus, Clautius, Chrysippus, Corumbus who belonged to those times, there were a certain number who especially occupied themselves with making known, by their writ- ings, the theory and rules of their art. In this manner was the time of Vitruvius Pollio, Tulfitius, Varron, Pub- lius, and Septimus occupied; and they were thus enabled to communicate with the brethren situated at a distance from the principal center of their schools of architecture, Of these writings those of Vitruvius Pollio alone have come down to us. A. D. 54. The temple of Bellona; that of Roman Charity; also, some baths and aqueducts are constructed at Rome by the orders of Nero, and bear his name. This emperor, after having set fire to the capital, by which the most beautiful monuments were destroyed, ordered the construction of his famous palace, called the palace of gold, upon which the two masters, Severus and Celler, directed the work. Under the preceding reign of the emperor Claudius Rome was greatly increased; an arch of triumph was dedi- cated to the Tiber, and a beautiful aqueduct, which bore the name of Claudius, was begun. A. D. 70. At this time were constructed, under the reign of F. Vespasian, the famous temple of Peace, and the Colos- seum. or Flavian amphitheater, capable of hundred and ten thousand persons, and upon which were forced to labor twelve thousand Jews, carried captive to Rome after the overthrow of Jerusalem. 18 274 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. This amphitheater was not finished until the year 80, when, under Titus, it was completed. A. D. 80. Under the emperor Titus public baths, which bear his name, are completed; he also constructed a palace. The Louses and public edifices, destroyed by fire the preceding year, are not rebuilt until the reign of his brother Domitian. A. D. 85. The emperor Domitian greatly enlarged and embellished the palace of the Csesars ; a new theater and many temples are erected by his orders at Rome, and a number of tem- ples in Gaul. He finished the famous military road that crosses Savoy and Provence. A. D. 90. The fraternities of constructors in Britain, by order of the general Agricola, constructed fortifications which ex- tended from the Gulf of Solway to where he had pene- trated in repulsing the Scots, and there, with his legions, he fixed his residence to hold the country. A. D. 98. Of numerous celebrated temples, among others those of Faunus and Diana, that of Quirinus, with its sixty-six columns, is, under the reign of Trajan, constructed at Home, and many others in the Roman provinces. At Amonias is erected to his honor an arch of triumph, while he himself orders the erection of one in honor of Vespa- sian Augustus, and another to Pautanus. He also built hot baths, and the famous circus, capable of containing two hundred and sixty thousand persons. A. D. 120. New temples are erected at Rome, under the reign of FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 275 Adrian that of Venus, among others. He orders the erection of the_^ajan_column i in honor of that emperor, and also constructs a mausoleum, known to-day as the castle of St. Angelo. The celebrated architect Apollo- dorus, to whom were due the plans of that building, is buiislied for having spoken the truth. This emperor, with indefatigable ability, visited the most distant prov- inces of his vast empire. In Britain he ordered the con- struction, by the fraternities of architects, of an immense wall, which, extending from the Tyne to the Gulf of Solvvaj 7 , thus crossed the country from east to west, to protect the military colonies from the continual invasion of the Scots. In Spain he finished temples begun by Augustus; and it is to his orders are due several temples erected in Africa, particularly those which to-day are to be seen in Algiers and Tunis. Asia is equally indebted td him for numerous public monuments; but it was Greece that was particularly favored by his constructive genius, and/in which country he ordered the erection of the most celebrated of her temples, such as the Pantheon and the temples to Jupiter Panhellenes, and that to Jupiter Olympus, with its one hundred and twenty-two columns. A. D. 130. After the fall of the Roman Republic, all the other corporations founded at the same time as the colleges of constructors by Numa Pompilius, have lost their ancient privileges, in consequence of the distrust entertained for them by the despotic emperors. The colleges of con- 1 ' structors are also restrained by Trajan and Adrian, but their love of glory and luxury made it necessary that these colleges should be allowed to retain their privileges nearly intact; for, without the aid of the artist constructors, all hope of transmitting to posterity the grandeur of their names and actions would have been vain. 276 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. A. D. 140. Under Antoninus the temples of Mars, of Faustinus and Antoninus Pius are erected at Rome, besides many others already begun are finished. He orders the construction of another wall in Britain, where the legions are unceasingly menaced by the Scots. This immense wall, which ex- tended from the Forth to the Clyde, required the aid of the natives for its completion, ma.ny of whom corporated in the fraternities of the Romans, and learned their art. But that which, above all, distinguished the reign of Antoninus are the magnificent edifices of colossal dimensions which he constructed at Balbec, (Heliopolis,) of which the two principal temples, dedicated to the sun, are inexplicable marvels of masonry. It was by the Masonic fraternities, remains of the ancient Roman col- leges, who, in the time of the Christian persecutions ordered by Nero, Domitian, and Trajan, sought refuge in those provinces the most distant from Rome, and which were governe^F^nnrTelTltnor^TriTmane than the emperors, that those masterpieces of architectural grandeur were erected. A. D. 166. The famous road which, leading from Civita Yecchia, at the Aurelian Forum to Aries, is commeiicecTGy "the colleges of constructors, under the orders of Marcus Au- relius, and finished during his reign. Most of the mem- bers. of the colleges of constructors embrace Christianity. At this time their number had greatly increased, asTwell in Rome as in the provinces. The emperor Marcus Au- relius, greatly irritated in view of the astonishing progress made by the new doctrine, and wishing to destroy it by force, followed the example of his predecessors, and this year ordained new persecutions against the Christiana. In consequence many took refuge in Gaul and Britain particularly within the latter country where they found, FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 277 among the Masonic corporations, that protection they sought for in vain elsewhere. Numbers of Christian Masons, finding themselves unable to leave Rome, sought in the catacombs a secret asylum, in which to sustain themselves against the bloody edicts launched at them, and to escape the punishment to which they are condemned. It is in the dark bosom of these bubterranean caverns that-they often met in fraternal em- brace with their fellow religionists, with whom they found refuge. During the ten years of continued persecution against the Christians, under Marcus Aurelius, these cata- combs are transformed by those Christian artists into churches, ornamented with sarcophagi, paintings, and encaustic adornment the faith that inspired them induc- ing them to there erect chapels over the graves of martyred fellow-Christians, and thus the tombs which covered their precious remains became altars fox-sacrifice and prayer. The number of the martyrs augmenting, these .chapels were subsequently replaced by sarcophagi, which, in later times marked the places in which their remains reposed. A. D. 180. Some temples and hot baths are constructed by, order of the emperor Titus. He also ordered the erection of pillars in honor of Antonius and Marcus Aurelius. The members of the corporations of constructors are atrociously perse- cuted anew for their doctrine, and of them those who escaped fled to the east. In this manner the constructors were driven from the city of their birth, and none re- mained but the few who had not been converted to Christianity. A. D. 193. i A temple to Minerva, an arch of triumph to Rome, and another to Yalabro, in honor of Septimus Severus, are the only important monuments erected at Rome under the reign of this emperor. In Britain, in the year 207, he 278 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. commenced a third wall, further north, with the old object of protecting the legions; hut the fraternities, find- ing themselves unequal in numbers to the task of under- taking a work so gigantic, accorded to the Britons, who had learned their art, to assure themselves of their assist- ance, the same advantages and the same privileges which they enjoyed themselves. 1 A. D. 211. The construction of many temples, baths, and a circus, marked the reign of Caragalla. A. D. 222. Under the reign of Alexander Severus, who openly pro- tected architecture, and secretly Christianity, some new monuments are erected at Rome. He ordered the restora- tion of many ancient edifices, and the erection of a city hall and magnificent baths. He desired also to consecrate a temple to Christ, but was restrained in so doing by the representations made to him that, were he to do so, the other temples would go to ruin. A. D. 235. Numerous new temples are erected at Rome and in the provinces, under Maximiu and Gordian. By the former, amphitheaters were erected in various cities in Italy, and, by the latter, baths at Rome, that bore his name. A. D. 250. No construction of any importance signalized the reigna of Decius or Valerian, except the baths which were con- structed by order of the former. The new persecutions directed by them against the Christians greatly diminished 1 The most important of the military colonies at this time in Britain was Eboracum the city of York which became celebrated in the history of Freemasonry. FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 279 the colleges of_coastructor8, and dispersed such of their members a great number as had embraced the tenets of that faith which inculcated the doctrine of fraternity. Flying from Rome, they sought refuge in that country wherein they would be least persecuted, viz., Britain, where the new doctrine had already numerous partisans. Those who could not leave the city took refuge in the cata- combs, the asylum of the Christians. A. D. 260. Reformation of the colleges or fraternities of constructors injjraul jtnd^Britain. The new doctrine, notwithstanding its affinity with that professed by the artists, produced, however, some schisms among them a portion of those who belonged to different professions separating themselves from the general association, as it had existed until that time, to form separate associations, composed of one art or one trade. 1 A. D. 270. The Masonic fraternities in Gaul, as in Britain whose members had generally adopted the Christian doctrine, devoting themselves, particularly in Gaul, to the construc- tion of religious edifices undertook to build the new churches that the apostles, who came from Rome in the year 257, desired to erect at Amiens, Beauvais, Soissons, Rheims, and Paris, where these apostles have established themselves in the capacity of bishops. A. D. 275. This epoch is marked in the history of architecture by 1 Ii is these associations that we subsequently find organized under the name of corporations of arts and trades, the laws of which exhibit more or less traces of the ancient constitution of the Roman colleges, from which they have descended. The Masonic Fraternity preserved only its antique organ- ization, together with 'ts humanitarian and artistic secrets, and its privileges, all of which, howevei; were very much modified. 280 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. one of the most sublime conceptions of the artistic genius of the philosopher constructors, executed under the reign and by the orders of the emperor Aurelian. They are the two temples of the sun at Palmyra, which surpass in beauty and grandeur those of Heliopolis. The principal one of these temples has four hundred and sixty-four col- umns, many of which are composed of a single block of marble. The whole number of columns which ornament the two temples and the galleries attached to them is four- teen hundred and fifty. Aurelian employed the last .two years of his short reign to, among other peaceful measures, the revival of architecture at Rome, and in this project was ably assisted by the Byzantine architects, Cleodamus and Athenacus. A. D. 280. Architects who have acquired great celebrity in Britain are called by Diocletian to construct the monuments he has designed to erect in Gaul. A. D. 287-290. Carausius, commanding the Roman navy, takes posses- sion of Britain and proclaims himself emperor. To con- ciliate the Masonic fraternities, then wielding an immense influence in the country, he confirmed to them at Yerulam, (Saint Albans,) the place of his residence, in the year 290, all their ancient privileges, as they had been established by Numa Pompilius, in the year 715 B. C.; and it is from this time that the Freemasons began to be distinguished from those who were riot free, or upon whom these privl- eges had not been bestowed. A. D. 293. Albanus, architect and first grand inspector of the Free- masons in Briton, who represented the Masonic societies in their negotiations with Carausius, originally a pagan, FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 281 is converted to Christianity; and, at the risk of his life, he preaches the doctrines of the new faith to the emperor, and is consequently beheaded. In this manner a grand master of Freemasons became the first Christian martyr in Britain. A. D. 296. The city of York, in which are found the most impor- tant lodges of .Freemasons in the country, is chosen as his residence by the under-emperor, Constantius Chlorus, who, upon the death of Carausius, came to Britain by order of Maxim in, to assume the government of that country. A. D. 300. At this epoch Rome counted within its walls more than five hundred temples, thirty-seven gates and arches of triumph, six bridges, seventeen amphitheaters and theaters, fourteen aqueducts, five obelisks, and of monumental col- umns a great number, such as military, warlike, statuary, honorary, legal, (upon which were engraved the laws,) and lactary, (at the base of which were laid children found astray,) and, finally, palaces, mausoleums, baths, and eepulchers in proportionate number. All of these monu- ments, without exception, were erected by the fraternities or colleges of architects and builders. A. D. 303. The empejoj D] p^l^tian -under whose reign were erected, in many of the Roman provinces, temples, aqueducts, and baths distinguished himself particularly by the most atrocious persecution of the Christians, and whom were executed with cruelty in the more distant provinces. Notwithstanding the humanity of the (at this time) gov- ernor of Britain, the Christians, of whom a great number were members of the Masonic fraternities, found it neces- sary to seek refuge in Scotland and the Orkney Islands, and there they carried Christianity and architecture. It 282 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. was by them that those strong and admirably-constructed castles built in a style so peculiarly appropriate to the char- acter of the country and the people were erected for the clans of the Scots. The artist constructors attached to the colleges established at Rome also fled to the east, or buried themselves within the catacombs their usual refuse in O times of religious and social persecution where many of them perished. The last monuments of any importance which were erected at Rome were due to Diocletian the baths which he built surpassing, for grandeur and magnificence, even those of Alexander Severus; but the most remarkable monument of the times of this emperor was the palace he had erected for himself at Salona, in Dalmatia, and wherein he passed the remainder of his life after he had resigned his government of the empire. A. D. 313. This year closed the persecutions of the Christians, and by the edict of Milan, rendered by Constantino the Great, Christianity was declared the religion of the State. Sub- sequently, (A. D. 325,) by the Council of Nice, in Bythnia, the forms and doctrines of the Christian religion were arranged, and thereupon, with the advent of peace, the Masonic corporations awoke to new life. A. D. 325. The fraternities, no more persecuted in the persons of their membership, multiplied in Rome with extraordinary activity, and displayed great ability and alacrity in the construction of the Christian churches ordered by Con- etantine. In the year 323 the first Christian church was built upon the Lateran Hill, and thereafter are erected, upon the ground occupied and in great part with the materials afforded by the pagan temples and halls, the cathedrals of Saint Lawrence of Sessomanca, of Saint Marcellus, of FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 283 Saint Agnes, and of Saint Constance. Constantine ordered the erection of an obelisk to Saint John of Lateran, and also the erection, upon the Vatican, of a church, which was by him dedicated to Saint Paul. This church was built in the form of a cross, in commemoration of that cross 1 which had been seen by him in the heavens, and to which he attributed his victory over Maxentius. The people subsequently erected an arch of triumph, which they dedicated to Constantine the Great. A. D. 330. Constantine the Great changes the name of Byzantia to Constantinople, and raises it to the rank of capital city of the Eastern Roman Empire. At this place the building brethren concentrate, to engage in the immense construc- tions which he projects there. The church of St. Sophia, begun in the year 326, was the first Christian churcli Byzantia saw erected within her walls. The foundations of many others are laid. A new style of architecture is 1 The Greek cross, which wns copied by Christian architects as the model upon which to erect all edifices devoted to Christian worship, was chosen by them, not because Constantine had prescribed this form, but because this cross mysteriously attached itself to the worship of every people, and made part of the symbolism of their art, and a knowledge of which formed a por- tion of the secret teachings of the colleges. This cross exhibits, in its pro- portions what are known as the sacred numbers, and which numbers are the basis of geometry. It was also the form and base of the Holy of Holies, in the temple of Solomon ; and, in a word, it represents the unity and the trinity. For the other dispositions, proportions, and details of the religious edifices, the temple at Jerusalem of which the holy books of the Hebrews contained precise details served always as a model; that temple being recognized as the great masterpiece of architecture, as it was also the first temple erected and consecrated to an only God. It is this temple which even yet, and in our own day, is considered the most significant symbol of Free- masonry. The plans of Christian churches, from the fourth century to the present time, following those which have preceded them, are derived from a mixture of Jewish and pagan elements. The form of the cross was subse- quently adopted for the foundatiou of nearly all the religious edifices of the Christian world. 284 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. formed the Latin and Greek intermixing with the Arab, and giving birth to what was""8ifbseqTfenTTy^uowii athe ^Byzantine, which was not distinctly developed until the eighth century. The emperor Constantine, who had proclaimed that the sign of the cross should ornament the imperial standard, continued, nevertheless, to sacrifice to the gods of pagan- ism. He despoiled Rome, Athens, Rhodes, Chios, Cyprus, and Sicily of their riches and their monuments of past-time art; and thus the cities of Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor furnished him with works of art wherewith to adorn the new capital of his empire. The Masonic fraternities, who, during the persecutions of the Christians, had taken refuge in Syria and in Pales- tine, are now, by the orders of Constantine, occupied in those provinces in the erection of churches. Heliopolis, Jerusalem, and the village of Beth]k&m are the places wherein the first of these churches were constructed; and subsequently he ordered the erection of the church of the Holy Sepulcher, at Jerusalem. In Syria and Palestine the Masonic corporations greatly increased, and extended into the borders of Arabia and countries beyond the Roman empire. A. D. 340. The Masonic fraternities continued to increase in By- ^zantia. All those who had acquired celebrity in religious architecture, such as constructors, sculptors, and painters, sought occupation within this great city, and therein helped to complete the_twjnty : _three churches which, in ten years, were erected inside its walls. A. D. 355-360. The emperor Julian, who at this time commanded in Gaul, ordered the construction at Paris, which had become the capital of the Parisians, a magnificent temple, with vast baths, the ruins of which may be seen in the Rue de la FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 285 Harpe at the present day. After his victory over the Franks, he arranged to reside at Paris, and therein ordered the construction of churches unou the ruins of pagan temples. A. D. 380. During the incessant invasions of the Germans, Saxons, and Burgundians, followed by the Alans and Huns, who pillaged and devastated the country, the Masoiiicjfraterni- ties were dispersed, while art of all kinds, and more par- ticularly architecture, took refuge within the monasteries, where the ecclesiastics, who had affiliated with the frater- nities of architects, studied and preserved the artistic and humanitarian doctrines of their art. A. D. 410. The Scots and the Picts, continuing to disturb the peace of the Romans in Britain, and to destroy their walls and fortifications, the latter are rebuilt by the great concourse of MasoiiaJJcam^aJL parts of the island of Britain. Even the new constructions not proving adequate, however, to defend them from the constant inroads of these barbarous tribes, and the Romans being attacked upon all sides, and their legions being enfeebled by the withdrawal of num- bers of their forces from Britain to the continent, they j udged Jt prudent to abandon the ialand^of T^ntaip entirely, a decigipjOLwhich they carried out, according to some au- thorities, in the year 411, and according to others in the year 426. After their retreat, the fraternities, who found themselves composed of various elements that of native Britons not being the least took refuge where they might be protected by the Romans, upon the continent, in Gaul, and in Scotland. Here, as in the time of the first Chris- tian persecutions, they propagated Chrstianity and archi- tecture, and, above all, religiously preserved the antique organization of their lodges. 286 GENERAL HISTORY OP FREEMASONRY. A. D. 430. The Masonic fraternities, dispersed and dissolved since the beginning of barbarian invasions, which devastated Gaul, Italy, and even Rome, experience _great_difficulty, notwithstanding the encouragement offered theniH5y~tlie clergy, led by the Popes, to reestablish themselves in the latter city. They commenced, however, to repair and re- construct some churches, and for this purpose freely helped themselves with the materials composing pagan temples. A. D. 455. Under Genseric new invasions of the barbarians every- where destroyed the public monuments, and for a long time arrested, in Rome and Italy, all new constructions. A. D. 476. Rome is invaded for jhe sixth time within the fifth cen- tury. During these invasions those of Alaric in 410, of Genseric in 455, and, at this time, of Odoacre the cities were sacked Jind burnt, and their temples and monuments destroyed, the greater number of them never to be replaced, and the masterpieces of art buried beneath their ruins. The fraternities of builders, finding themselves, in these times of war, without occupation, and unprotected in the west by the Roman power, dispersed into Greece and Egypt, and many of them took up their residence perma- nently in Syria. All the masterpieces of art, w r hich were at this time buried beneath the ruins of temples overthrown or destroyed, subsequently served to ornament Christian churches, and the palaces and museums of the affluent in various parts of the continent. A. D. 500. The remains of ancient fraternities, who had sought refuge in other countries, appear in Rome, and endeavor FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 287 to revive the colleges of builders. Architecture revives, and some of the churches are repaired and reconstructed. A. D. 525. The example of Rome is imitated in Gaul; and every- where such beautiful temples as were erected to the gods of the Romans, and which hitherto have escaped the de- structive tendency of the international invasions, are de- stroyed to give place to and with the remains of which churches are built and consecrated to the saints. Under the reign of Childeric (460-481), of Clovis (481-511), of Clothaire (511-561), who have protected the Masonic cor- porations and encouraged their labors, there are erected \nany churches. The fraternities of Roman architects, as well as those of Gaul, who remained in the country after the retreat of the Romans (486), are recognized and con- firmed in their ancient privileges. A. D. 530. Some fragments of the Roman colleges, which had taken up their residence in Syria, are called, at different times, by the kings of Persia to erect monuments of a public character, bearing the characteristics of the Persian taste. Latin, Greek, and Byzantine styles here enter into a new intermarriage, with the pomp and display of Persian magnificence. A. D. 550. By order of Justinian I, the great church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, is constructed by a fraternity of Greek architects, over the remains of that erected by Constantine the Great, which had been destroyed by fire. This monument, converted by the Turks into an impe- rial mosque, is the most magnificent conception of our time, as it was of that most flourishing period when art 288 GENERAL HISTORY OP FREEMASONRY. received its most powerful impulse. 1 The Masonic frater- nities of Byzantia and other provinces of the empire, spreading themselves at this time into Italy, Sardinia, Corsica, and a part of Africa, submitted once more to be swayed by the scepter of their ancient masters. These countries, relieved of the rule of the Goths and Vandals, encouraged the erection of religious monuments, for which the great church of St. Sophia served as the model. Subsequently (726) all these monuments were destroyed during the revolutions which prevailed under the icono- clastic emperors. A. D. 557. Austin, a Benedictine monk and architect, arrived in England for the purpose of converting the Anglo- Saxons' to Christianity. He placed himself at the head of the Masonic fraternities, and lifted them out of the many difficulties into which they had fallen during the last wars. A. D. 580. At this time the Freemasons became fully recognized in Britain, by the fact that their numbers were insufficient to execute the immense constructions projected by the 1 Justinian I, in reconstructing the great church of St. Sophia, con- fided the general direction to two Greek architects. These were assisted by one hundred master workmen, who had each one hundred workmen to execute their orders, and each of whom had ten laborers under their direction. Five thousand men were, in this manner, employed on each side of the building; and in the sixteenth year from the commencement of its construction it was finished, and inaugurated by the slaughter of one thousand oxen, ten thousand sheep, six hundred stags, one thousand hogs, ten thousand hens and ten thousand pullets, which, with thirty thousand measures of grain, were distributed to the people. Justinian, having expended enormous sums for the erection of this construction, was forced to order taxes to be levied for its completion. It is said that before the walls had risen three feet above the ground, he had expended four hundred and fifty-two hundred weight of golden com FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 289 new apostles of Christianity. In their voyages to Rome, whither they went to collect statues and pictures where- with to adorn the churches in Britain, these apostles always returned bringing with them workmen, sculptors, and painters; and the bishop of Weymouth imported from Gaul into Britain men of like professions in great number. A. D. 600-602. During these years the cathedrals of Canterbury and Rochester were erected. A. D. 607. The cathedral of St. Paul, at London, begun in 604, ia finished, and that of St. John, at Winchester, begun in 605. A. D. G10. Death of Austin, grand inspector of the Freemasons. He is subsequently cancmized under the^ name of_J3k Augustine. A. D. 620. The Masonic corporations at this time, although gov- erned by the same laws and characterized by the same principles, partook not every-where of the same qualifi- cations, or rather they were known by different names in different countries. For instance, in Italy they were known as the Colleges of Architects or Builders, and oftentimes simply as the Masonic Fraternities; while in Gaul they were called Brother Masons, Brother Bridgers, (bridge-builders,) or Free Corporations; and in Britain, by reason of their well-known privileges, they were called Freemasons. At this time they are all employed exclu- sively by the religious orders, directed by them, and even quartered in the monasteries. The abbot, or such other ecclesiastic as may be sufficiently acquainted with the rules and practice of architecture, upon this account, pre- 19 290 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. eidcs over the meeting's of the lodges general assembly of all the artists and workmen and, consequently, is ad- dressed in such assembly as Worshipful Master. [To the present time does this title attach to the presiding officer in a lodge of Freemasons.] A. D. G60. The arts and architecture take refuge within the mon- asteries, whenever their progress is arrested or paralyzed by international wars. There they are cultivated with success by the most distinguished ecclesiastics, who are admitted as members of the Masonic fraternities. It was also, in great part, according to the designs and plans drawn by these ecclesiastics that the corporations executed the religious monuments of this time. The monastic schools of architecture not only produced some ecclesiastics celebrated as architects, such as St. Eloi, bishop of Noyon (659); St. Ferol, bishop of Limoges; Dalrnac, bishop of Rhodes; Agricola, bishop of Chalons (680-700); but they also gave to the profession of architecture laymen not !(?: distinguished, and under whose direction numerous public monuments were erected in Gaul and Britain. A. D. 680. The Freemasons of Britain, having remained without a chief since the death of Austin, the king of Mersey, grand protector of the Fraternity, appointed Bonnet, abbot of "Wirral, inspector-general and superintendent of Ma- sonry. Nevertheless, the labors of the Fraternity were conducted with but little spirit during a century. A. D. 685. The Masonic fraternities of Roman origin, who had been ordered into the East, and many of \vhom had re- mained in Constantinople, acquired great reputation, and were successively sought for by Persian, Arabian, and FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 291 Syrian potentates. Among others, the caliphs of Damas- cus and Medina intrusted to them the erection of the mosques of those cities. A. D. 700. -Architecture has attained at this time a high degree .// perfection in England, 1 the style and expression of the edifices presenting exclusively the characteristics of what was then known as Scottish architecture, which, at this time, was considered among the Trafernity the most per- fect in outlines and details, and the masters of it the most learned of any of the brethren. On this account they were called Scottish Masters. A. D. 720. The progress that architecture had made in Gaul, in tho course of the last century and the early part of the present, was arrested by the incursion of the Arabs, in the year 718, and remained in a paralytic condition for many years. A. D. 740. Upon the demand of the Anglo-Saxon kings, ^Charles Martej, who had at this time governed Gaul as "Mayor of the Palace," jent to Britain many architects and Masons. A. D. 750. Under the reign of the caliph of Bagdad, architecture 1 Wlieu Honurius abandoned Britain, in 420, in consequence of his inability to hold the country against the invasions of the I'icts and Scots, the Britons called to their aid, for that purpose, the Angles and the Saxons. After mak- ing themselves masters of the country, the latter founded within it four kingdoms, and the former founded three, which in 827 were united, under the general name of Angle-land, with the Saxon king Egbert as ruler. In 83-3 the Danes and Normans desolated the country, but between 871 and '.KM) Alfred ihe Great forced them to terms of peace. Shortly afterward, howevor they invaded the country anew, nnd nearly all the public monuments churches, and monasteries became a prey to fire and pillage. 202 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMAb'^NRY. and the arts generally attained to a high degree of per- fection. Arabia, at this time, exhibited a degree of civil- ization far in advance of that known in Asia or Africa. The fra tern ities.jof architects who, after the fall of the Roman Empire of the West, remained in Syria and Arabia, contributed in a great degree, by their knowledge of ait, to the splendor and reputation Bagdad at this time enjoyed. A. D. 775. Arabian architecture is introduced into Spain, under the rule of the caliphs of the East, and directed, as it was every-where, by the Masonic associations. These corpora- tions, called from Bagdad by the viceroys of the caliphs to Cordova a city founded by the Romans 252 years before the birth of Christ there successively erected a series of marvelous monuments, inspired by Byzantine art. The organization of these corporations is unknown, and they were, no doubt, subjected in contradistinction to those of the Roman colleges, from which they de- scended to modifications according with the manners and character of the people among whom these associa- tions had place; but it is not probable that there was any essential difference. The Mussulmans^ we re, at this time, more advanced in the scale of art and civilization than the Christians, and consequently they exercised very con- siderable influence in the various provinces of the Penin- sula. Abderam I, viceroy of Cordova under the caliph of Damascus, having declared his independence of the Da- mascene, enriched his caliphate, the city of Cordova, with so great a degree of splend >r that the character of the architecture therein exhibited created a school of archi- tecture, whose reputation was only equaled by the mag- nificence of its monuments. From this time that city became the center of Moorish art. FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 293 A. D. 780. Under the reigrrof -Ghaxlemag^iiejirchitecture flourished anew in France, that monarch having invited from Lom- bardy numbers of architects and workmen, who were then generally called stone-cutters A. D. 850. Many religious edifices, burnt or destroyed by the Danes, are reconstructed by the corporations under the Saxoii king Ethel wolf, and the immediate direction of the priest and architect St. Swithin. At this time were renewed the meetings of the brethren, which were much inter- rupted during the previous century. A. D. 875. Under the reign of that most illustrious of Saxon kings, Alfred the Great, the arts, and particularly architecture, flourished. The fraternities rebuilt the towns, castles, monasteries, and churches, which were destroyed during the Danish wars. A. D. 900. The successor of Alfred, Edward king of Mersey, ap- pointed, as grand inspectors of the fraternities, his brother Ethel ward, and his brother-in-law, Ethred, who had be- come practica^ architects in the school of the Freemasons. A. D. 925. At this time all the more important towns in England had their lodge of Freemasons; but, notwithstanding the geneTat~contbrmity oT their laws and principles, but little connection existed between them. The cause of this is explained by the fact that, for the five centuries in which existed the heptarchy, or seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, there was little connection between those brethren scat- 294 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. tered throughout the kingdoms; and, following the union of the government, the wars of the Danes kept the coun- try in a condition into which the arts of peace entered but in the smallest proportion. During these wars the monasteries Jbein^Jburnt, the fraternities suffered an irre- parable loss in the destruction of all their documents, written in various languages and at various times, brought into the country by the Romans, Greeks, Syrians, Lom- bards, and Gauls. Athelstan. the grandson of Alfred the Great, who at this time governed England, with his palace at York, having been elected as their chief by the priest architects himself an architect before he ascended_ the throne had also inducted hisyoungerson (Edwin) into the mysteries of art, and appointed him chief or grand master of the Fraternity. In this position the latter convoked all the lodges scattered throughout the country to a general assembly, to be held at York, and there to present all the documents and deeds which they had saved from the lire of the invaders, to the end that the Fraternity be regu- larly constituted anew, according to the forms of those written laws. It was at this assembly that a constitution, prepared and submitted by the king, was discussed and accepted by the representatives of the lodges, and thence- forth proclaimed as the law. Promulgated the following year, this constitution, styled the Charier of York, formed the basis of all subsequent Masonic constitutions. Thence- forth York became the seat of the grand mastership of English Masonry. A. D. 930. Henry I (the Fowler) invites from England to Germany the corporations of Freemasons, for the purpose of con- structing edifices projected by him, such as the cathedrals of Madgeburg, etc. These edifices were not erected, how- ever, until the subsequent reign that of his son, Otho the Great. FIRST CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 295 A. D. 936. The Arabian fraternities of Masons and artists, of Ro- man origin, commence this year the construction of that famous royal castle Alcazar, that was built for the caliph Abderam at Zara, near Seville, and ornamented with four thousand three hundred columns of purest marble. This prince invited the most skillful and learned architects of Bagdad and Constantinople to direct and aid the frater- nities of the country in their labors upon this important and magnificent edifice. A. D. 940. The queen Bertha of Burgundy wishing to renew the prosperity of her country, which had been devastated and demoralized by the wars, sent to England for masters and workmen, who, under the direction of a Scottish master named Mackeubrey, undertook a series of con- structions to be consecrated as churches and convents, which they executed with astonishing rapidity, and con- summate skill. The abbot, Majolus of Cluny, had the superior direction of these great erections, which were commenced in the year 930. The grandest and most magnificent of these constructions were the abbey and the church of the Benedictines at Pay erne. From this time the Masonic corporations of England spread themselves upon the continent, under the name of St. John Brothers. A. D. 960. The death of king Athelstan again disperses the Free- masons of England. Some of the most important con- structions are, however, undertaken during the reign of Edgar, under the grand mastership of Dunstan, (St. Dun- stan,) archbishop of Canterbury. Many of the brethren pass over to Germany, and there permanently locate themselves, under the name of St. John Brothers, and Brothers of St. John. 296 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. ISpocf). From the year 1001 to the year 1717. A. D. 1001. In the course of the tenth century the Christian popu- lation of the west found themselves under the influence of an unhappy discouragement, which had seized upon their spirits, in consequence of the predictions that the end of the world might he expected at this time, and the result of which was their abandonment of all works of art. The artists, and principal ly the fraternities of Ma- sons, condemned to inaction, fall into the miseries and unhappiness of the times. The schools of architecture of Lombardy, at Padua, and at C.OJIKV are llo t> however, entirely deserted. The learned architects of these schools, initiated as had been those of Egypt into the secrets of nature and the study of astronomy, happily did not partake of this general terror, which was invented by the priests, for selfish purposes; and such schools continued to teach, as in times past. A. D. 1003. No unnatural movement having thrust our planet from its course, the people welcomed with joy the aurora of a new world; and it is from this epoch it is proper to date modern civilization. The terror of the Christian world had continued to the close of this year, as the reign of Antichrist, it was believed, would continue for two years and a half subsequent to the year 1000; and now art and society in general awoke from their long trance, to re- newed life and usefulness. SECOND CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 297 A. D. 1005. It was necessary that nearly all the religious edifices of the Christian world should be renewed. Up to this time such building! were principally composed of wood and plaster; but now these are razed to the ground, and re- built in more enduring material. A. D. 1010. A great number of ecclesiastics repair to Lombardy, there to study religious architecture, and to form an Italian school. Lombardy is, at this time, an active center of civilization, where the fragments of the ancient colleges of constructors reside, having lived through the ordeal of international wars, and maintained their ancient organization and their privileges, under the name of Free Corporations. The most celebrated of these was that of Coiuo, which had acquired such superiority that the title of magistri comacini (Masters of Como) had become the generic name of all the members of the architect corpo- rations. Always teaching in secret, they had their mys- teries, their judiciary and jurisdiction. The architects from distant countries, from Spain, Greece, and Asia, at this time were accustomed to repair to their school at Como for in- struction, to attain a knowledge of the new combinations of the Latin and Greek styles of architecture, which had been modified by intermixing with that style which was developed during the ninth century at Constantinople, and which was considered the most suitable for religious build- ings. It was this combination that gave birth to the style called " Roman." 1 *It was in this style that were erected the religious edifices of the llth century and part of those of the 12th, and following which succeeded the newer stvle, called Roman ogee, which latter prevailed but from the year 1150 to the year 1200, or thereabouts. 298 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. A. D. 1040. The Masonic corporations covered Italy, am more par- ticularly Lombanly, with religious edifices, and to such an extent did the membership of the corporations increase that the country could no longer offer occuprtion to all. Then they formed particular corporations, wlr r :h traveled into foreign countries; and a large number of tb.em united in forming a general association, and constituting them- selves into a great fraternity that should travel into all Christian countries wherein the necessary churches and monasteries had not yet been erected, and demanding for this object authority from the pope, and the confirmation to them by him of all the ancient immunities which had at any time attached to the building corporations, as also the protection necessary to so grand an enterprise. The pope, without delay, seconded this design, and conferred upon them the exclusive monopoly of erecting all religious mon- uments, as also making them free of all local laws, all royal edicts and municipal regulations concerning statute labor, together with immunity from every other obligation imposed upon the inhabitants of whatever county-, city, or town they might be employed in. These monopolies are respected and sanctioned by all the kings and all the governments. A. D. 1060. The Masonic fraternities of Lombardy extend themselves into Germany, into France, and into Brittany and Nor- mandy. William the Conqueror, king of England (1054,) sent from Normandy a crowd of prelates and architects, grad- uates of the school of the Lombards, such as Mauserius, Le Franc, Robert of Blois, Remy of Fecamp, and many others, to plan and construct the most magnificent cathedrals in England. Every-where, in all Christian countries, the same passion for religious edifices seemed to prevail at this SECOND CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 299 time, and, in consequence, religious architecture made great progress. A. D. 1080. Some Masonic corporations fixed themselves in the Low Country, and there erected churches and monasteries. The bishop of Utrecht, desirous of constructing a great cathedral, sought the aid of the leading architect of that city, a man named Plehel, and obtained from him the neces- sary plans for the proposed construction. Having obtained possession of these papers, the bishop dismissed Plebel, and, desirous of passing himself as the author of the plans, and en- gage in directing the labors of the workmen without having been initiated into the secrets of the art, sought, by all sorts of menaces and promises, to wring from the son of the archi- tect Plebel, a young master mason, the secrets and manner (arcanum magisterium) of laying the foundations. These rules, applied to the construction of religious edifices, were held in the most inviolable secrecy by all members of the association of Freemasons a secret solemnly imposed upon them by their oath. The architect, indignant at a pertidy so base on the part of one whom the people regarded as their supreme spiritual adviser, on learning of the perjury of his son, determined to prevent the divulging the secret of his art, and thereupon, having obtained an opportunity, killed the bishop. A. D. 1100. During the century just closed, the Masonic corporations completed the construction of more than one hundred cathe- drals, churches, monasteries, abbeys, and castles, scattered over the five principal European countries of that time, viz.: England, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. A. D. 1125. The Masonic corporations, under the style and name of Brothers of St. John, extend themselves over civilized 300 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Europe anew, and give their assemblies the name of Lodges of St. John. This qualification, which was first known in England, goes back to the sixth century, and originated as follows: In those days the Freemasons' feasts, following the ancient usage of the Roman colleges, were held upon the return of the yearly solstices, particularly upon that of summer. Christianity having taken the place of pagan- ism, induced them to invest the occasion of their feasts with another sign, more in keeping with the wishes of the clergy. They, therefore, chose St. John for their patron, because it was the ancient Janus, a god of the Romans, whose feast fell upon the 24th of June, which was also the epoch of the solstice of summer, and which anniversary they could thus continue to celebrate under the name of St. John's day. From the importance they attached to these party assemblies, they came to be called St. John Brothers a name tinder which they were universally known upon the continent during the twelfth century. A. D. 1150. A fraternity of Masons, called from Lombardy direct to England, in the reign of Alexander III, erect, under this prince and his successors, a great many beautiful monu- ments of their art, the major part of which are apparent but as ruins. Among the others, the town and abbey of Kil winning, where subsequently were held the general as- semblies of this fraternity, were constructed by them. A. D. 1155. The grand master of the Templars, Richard, king of England, surnamed the Lion Heart, is elected by the lodges of English Freemasons to the like position over them ; and he governs the two fraternities until his death. A Masonic fraternity, of Syrian origin, detained in Europe by the immense constructions which were then erected, in this year construct for the Templars their church in Fleet SECOND CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 301 Street, London. This fraternity had preserved intact the ancient initiation practiced among the Romans. A. D. 1175. A Masonic fraternity, to which was given the name of Brother Bridgers, and which occupied itself particularly with the construction of bridges and roads, located itself in the midst of France, where, at Avignon, in 1180, it con- structed the bridge of that name, and, subsequently, all the bridges of Provence, of Lorraine, and of Lyons. A. D. 1200. During the century which this year closed, the fraterni- ties of builders have added to the numerous magnificent erections of the preceding period some of the finest con- structions of the middle ages. In England, France, Ger- many, Italy, and Spain such of the oldest ecclesiastic and monastic erections as have survived the decaying touch of time, were completed during the twelfth century. A. D. 1225. Lombardy has attained its preeminence as the principal European school of architecture. Thither, from all coun- tries, the master masons repair for new ideas and new knowledge. The Scottish artists, the Byzantine, and also those of Cordova, who affected more of pomp, and what was known as the style Arabesque, in their details of deco- ration, there modified their art; while, in their turn, the Lombards, recognizing the beauties of these different forms, intermix them with the more severe simplicity of their Roman ogival, from which intermixture there results a new combination, inappropriately styled Gothic, 1 which is 1 We find in that most remarkable work, published in 1843, and of which the architect Daniel Ramee is the author, some passages bearing upon this fact, one of which we will take the liberty to quote. After having enumer- ated the different opinions upon the origin of the ogival style, the author, in 302 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. distinguished by the most harmonious reunion of opposite elements, by hardihood of conception and solidity of exe- cution. This style is immediately adopted in all Christian countries, and totally changes nearly all the established plans which, up to this period, prevailed in the construc- tion of religious edifices. A. D. 1250. The changes which have been introduced within the past twenty-five years in the outlines and details of Chris- tian architecture, stamp this period as the most remark- able of any preceding time. The striking analogy which the monuments of this time afford when contrasted with those of the fifteenth century, is explained by the tie of the Fraternity which, uniting the Masonic brethren of every nation, afforded them identity of progress and knowledge in their art. Lomlmrdy, that central school of art, had its prototype in the fifteenth century at Stras- burg and Cologne; while, ever obedient during the past three hundred years to the lessons taught in those central schools of their art, the knowledge of one became the property of the whole, and individual promptings of beauty in ornament or decoration were not admissible, as none were free from that obedience which involved the use of a similar style of ornament. The symbolic and satirical markings which distinguished the architectural monuments of the fifteenth from those of the twelfth century are indicative of the gradual change that had been wrought by the abuses of the clergy, and by those attempts to enslave the popular mind in ignorance and his turn, although very desirous of claiming the credit of the invention for France, is compelled by his regard for truth to say: "There is no doubt that the employment of the ogee, or pointed arch, and the style which resulted there i'rorn, was first practiced among the learned, modest, pious, and truly Christi ui Freemasons of foreign countries, and the knowledge of which they communicated to their brethren iu Germany, England, France, Spain, and Italy.' SECOND CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 303 superstition, which subsequently culminated in the Prot- estant Reformation. A. D. 1251. Louis IX, called St. Louis, directs the architect Elides, of Montreuil, to fortify the harbor and town of Joppa, and lie is accompanied thither by a certain number of Freemasons. A. D. 1272. The construction of Westminster Abbey is completed this year, under the direction of the grand master Giti'ard, archbishop of York. A. D. 1275. Erwin of Steinbach 1 evoked at Strasburg a Masonic congress, for the purpose of adopting measures to continue the labors which for a long time had been interrupted, upon the cathedral of that city, and to enlarge the dimen- sions of that structure to a plan m >re extended than that by which the foundations had been laid in the year 1015, and upon which latter plan a part of the church was erected. The architects from all countries of Europe repaired to Strasburg, and there, according to their usage, organized a general assembly, or grand lodge, at which each representative renewed the oath to observe the laws and rules of the Fraternity. Near the foundations of the cathedral is constructed a wooden building, wherein are held the meetings of the assembled brethren, and the ob- jects of that assembly discussed and adopted. Erwin of Steinbach is elected, by the architects and directors of the 1 Since the thirteenth century the names of some of the most celebrated architects who conducted the labors upon the most remarkable cathedrals of the middle ages are known to us ; but, for the chief part, their names remain unknown, and this is easily explained: these monuments were the creation of a general association, and it was not necessary that the proper names of persons comprising its membership, no matter how important, should be publicly mentioned. 304 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. edifice, president (chair master) ; and, as a sign of the judicial character delegated to him by these brethren, he is seated under a canopy, with a sword in his hand. Signs and tokens which enable the workmen upon the cathedral to distinguish themselves from others not so engaged are adopted, and made known to all the brethren assembled, some of which words and signs being those in use among the brethren in England. Apprentices, fellow-crafts, and masters are initiated with particular symbolic ceremonies, under which are indicated the most profound secrets of architecture. A. D. 1300. The number of monuments commenced or finished within the thirteenth century, just closed, far exceed any previous similar period. Among the most remarkable were, in England, Westminster Abbey, at London, and the cathedral of Litchfield, at Exeter. In France, the cathedrals of Paris, 1 of Rheims, of Chartres, of Rouen, of Amicus, Bruges, Beauvais, and Strasburg; the holy chapel at Paris, and the church and abbey of St. Denis. In. Germany, the cathedrals of Cologne, Friburg and Breslau; the domes of Madgeburg and Halberstadt; the churches of Xotre Dame of Cologne and St. Elizabeth, at Marburg, and of St. Catharine, at Oppenheim. In Belgium, the churches of St. John at Tournay, those of the Dominicans 1 This cathedral was built, according to undisputed authority, with the money that Maurice, bishop of Paris, obtained from the sale of indulgences, and of which he had sufficient to also erect four abbies. The French bishops, following the example set in 1016 by the pontifical bishop of Aries, who was the first to preach this matter, established this principle, viz.: that whoever consecrated a small sum of money to the erection or restoration of a church or a chapel, received, in the name of the Lord, remission of the third to the fourth part of the penitential punishment awarded them in the confessional. When Pope Julian II wished to build St. Peter's church at Rome, he followed the example <$et by the French bishops, and promul- gated his order for the sale of indulgences. The Protostaut Reformation was the result. SECOND CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 305 at Gand and at Louvaiu; of St. Paul and of Sante Croix at Liege; of St. Guclule and Our Lady of the chapel, at Brussels. In Italy, the cathedral of Venice, the dome of Arezzo, and the churches of St. Francis of Padua, and those of Campo Santo and St. Marie della Pina ; of St. Margaret at Crotona, of St. Mary the New, of St. Croix, and of St. Mary of the Flowers, at Florence ; of St. John and of St. Paul, at Venice; of St. Francis, at Bologna; the lodge of the puhlic palace at Padua; the old palace at Florence; and the ducal palace at Venice. In Spain, the cathedrals of Burgos and Toledo; the monastery of Pobelt, and the churches of St. Thomas and St. Maria Blanca, at Toledo. A. D. 1310. The construction of the magnificent cathedral of Co- logne, commenced in 1248, elevates the fraternity engaged in this work to a high degree of superiority in fact, raises it to the rank of a school to which repair brethren from all countries for the purpose of studying this master- piece of architectural genius. The lodges of Germany, ' recognizing this superiority, regard the master of this work as the master of all the German masons, and the brethren engaged upon it as the Grand Lodge, (Haupt- hutte.) A. D. 1312. During the persecutions directed by Philip the Fair, king of France, and Pope Clement V, against the Knights Templar, many of the latter sought refuge in the fast- nesses of Scotland, where, until after the death of their grand master, Jaques de Molay, they found security for their persons in the bosom of the Masonic lodges. A. D. At this time nearly every ^ff in Germany had its lodges, for wherever religious edifices were being con- 20 7 ^f^i 306 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. structed, there the fraternities of builders were congre- gated. These lodges had accorded to and recognized a superiority as existing among some of their numbers, and, in consequence, characterized them, as in England, by the title of grand lodges. That at Cologne was from at first the most important of all, and continued to be the central lodge for a long time after that at Strasburg was elevated to the same rank; and the master of the work was equally recognized as chief of the Masons of upper Germany, as him of Cologne was of those of the lower country. A. D. 1380. The fortress and palace of the Alhambra at Grenada, the capital of the kingdom of this name, which was founded by the Moors, under Mahomet I, creator of the dynasty of the Alhamarides, in 1235, and the construction of which fortress and palace was begun in 1248, is finished during this year. This marvelous monument is the most beautiful that Moorish architecture has produced in Spain. If we exam- ine this edifice in all its details, we will find that it is un- surpassed in luxury and taste by any construction of mod- ern times. The palace of the Alhambra is the work of a happy congregation of artists of every kind, such as com- posed the Roman colleges until after the third century of our era; and this fact allows us to believe that this mon- ument of human genius, like others in Grenada, was equally the work of Masonic and artistic associations, or- ganized and directed in manner similar to those of other countries at the same period, of whom, however, history has failed to furnish us with any record. A. D. 1400. The monuments the most remarkable which have been erected, begun, or finished by the Masonic fraternities within the century just closed, are, in England, the cathe- SECOND CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 307 drals of York and Exeter, and the King's College at Cam- bridge. In France, the cathedrals of Perpignan, Meaux, Auxerre, Toul, Tours, and Metz; the churches of St. OA'CII at Rouen, and of St. James at Dieppe. In Bel- gium, the belfry, the cloth hall, the city hall, and acad- emy of line arts at Tournay; the church of the Domin- cans, and the cloth hall at Louvaiu ; the city hall at Brussels, and the cathedral of Malines. In Germany, the dome of Gefurth, as also those of Prague and of Ulm; the church of Notre Dame at Nuremberg, and that of St. Nich- olas at Stralsund. In Italy, the cathedrals of Como and Milan; the dome of Orvita; the churches of Anastasia and St. Peter at Verona, of St. Mary at Rome, and of St. Stephen at Venice; the ducal palace at Venice, and those of Flor- ence and of Bologna. In Spain, the cathedrals of Seville and Barcelona ; and the church of St. Mary at Toledo. In Switzerland, the cathedrals of Berne, of Lausanne, of Fri- burg, and of Zurich. 1 A. D. 1480. The astonishing sacrifices which the people had made to erect so many magnificent churches, joined to the cry- ing abuses of the clergy and of the popes at this time, have relaxed the religious ardor and weakened the popu- lar faith to such an extent as not only to preclude the idea of erecting new church edifices, but also to stop opera- tions upon many of those which were yet unfinished for want of funds. In consequence of this condition, and notwithstanding the renewal, in 1459, by the emperor Maximilian, of their ancient privileges, and his sanction to their constitution, the number of the Masonic corpora- tions established in every continental country declined, and their privileges became of little value; so that, hav- ing no more religious edifices to construct, they disperse 1 For the years 1425, '37, '42, '59, '64, and '69, see those dates at pp. 239 and 240, ante. 308 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. and seek employment at such places and of such, kind aa hitherto had been occupied and executed by men not con- nected with the fraternities of builders. More particularly was this the case in France ; while in Germany they still preserved some consistence and connection among them- selves the fortune of their French brethren not having overtaken them until later; and in England they con- tinued to flourish with unabated prosperity. 1 A. D. 1500. During the century just closed, the Masonic fraternities may be said to have finished their labors in church archi- tecture, and dispersed to find occupation in their individ- ual capacities as constructors of public buildings for civic and municipal purposes. A. D. 1575. Since the beginning of this century, when the greater part of the fraternities found it necessary to dissolve their associations, the more wealthy architects undertook the erection of public buildings, and employed the others to construct the same, in the capacity of hired workmen. The tie of brotherhood which, up to this time, had closely united master and workmen, was gradually dis- solved, and they assumed such relationship toward each other as was habitual with other bodies of tradesmen since the fourth century. In this manner, and at this time, the trades unions appear to have had their origin. A. D. 1600. "With the close of the sixteenth century, the Masonic corporations had entirely disappeared in continental Eu- 1 It was not until the middle of the seventeenth century that the Masonic corporations in England abandoned, to some extent, the material object of thyir organization, and admitted to honorary membership many persons not artists as accepted Masons. It was this element that subsequently caused their entire dissolution as operative Masonic bodies. SECOND CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 309 rope, as long before that time all religious constructions had been abandoned. After this date no traces of any regular Masonic organization can be found outside of the kingdom of England. A. D. 1646. The Masonic corporations in England are found to be composed for some time and in great part by learned per- sons, artists, and men eminent for their knowledge of sci- ence and art, as well as their influential positions in society, who had been received into the corporations as honorary members, under the designation of Accepted Masons. It was at this time that the association, no more occupied with the material object of its organization, in- itiated as an accepted Mason the celebrated antiquary Elias Ashmolc, who founded the museum at Oxford, and who re-arranged and composed the forms of the society of the Rose Cross Brothers, which had been organized in Lon- don, after the model of the new Atlantis of Lord Bacon, and held its assemblies in the hall which had been hitherto used by the Freemasons. To the rituals of reception of the Rose Cross Brethren, which consisted of some cere- monies having a historical foundation, and the commu- nication of the signs of recognition, and which, to some extent, resembled those used among the Freemasons, Ash- mole added some others. This labor inspired him with the idea of arranging also a new ritual for the Freemasons, and he therefore composed and substituted for the ritual then in use another mode of initiation, copied in part from the ancient manuscripts and the Anglo-Saxon and Syrian rituals, and in part from the mysteries of Egypt, and otherwise, as he supposed, most resembled the initia- tion ceremony, as it was conducted in the colleges of Ro- man architects and builders. These rituals were at once adopted by the lodges in London, and subsequently by those every-where in England. 310 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. A. D. 1670. The progress of Masonry having been suspended by the civil wars which during the previous twenty years had been desolating England, Charles II sought its revival by assuming its protectorship; and the tire of London, which took place four years previous, gives employment to the lodges, of which, at present, seven exist in the city of London. A. D. 16S5. When James II ascended the throne in 1683, his lean- ing toward Roman Catholicism greatly agitated a num- ber of his subjects ; but in this year, having accorded freedom of conscience in religious matters the most com- plete to all within the bounds of his kingdom, the Free- masons divided into two camps, which, arrayed against each other, threw their whole influence into the political rather than the architectural or philosophical arena. The Scottish Masons, having at its head the knights of St. Andrew, adhered to James II, or the Catholic party, while the English Masons ranged themselves among the ranks of that party which decided to remove the Catholic king. This latter party succeeding; James was forced into exile, and, accompanied by many of the nobles of his court and the leading Jesuits, took up his residence in Paris, in the convent of Clermont. [The revival of the order of St. Andrew 1 engendered the Templar system, sub- sequently called Strict Observance, which gave birth to various fashions of exclusive Christian Freemasonry dur- ing the last century, with the hierarchical forms of the Knights of the Temple, and the ancient titles of grand commander, etc. 2 ] A. D. 1695. The revolutions in England which succeeded the exile 1 See pages 238 and 213, (A. D. 1314 and 1685.) 2 See History of all the Rites for High Degrees, p. 212. SECOND CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 311 of James II having completely suspended the labors of the Masonic institution, king William III afforded it some protection and character by being himself initiated, and often presiding in the lodge he assembled at Hampton Court. A. D. 1700. At this time, except in England, the Masonic corpora- tions were every-where dissolved. The close of the sev- enteenth century, in consequence of the active part taken by the fraternity in politics, wars, and revolution, saw them scattered, their lodges dissolved, and the operative members of the Masonic lodges exerting no influence upon architecture, and had no rank or importance in the land. Having ceased their labors as operative Masons, the vasi; crowd of operatives, the protectors, the friends of art and of humanity, who, during fourteen centuries, had contrib- uted, through the organization of the Masonic fraternity, so much to the increase of civilization in Europe, are to- day represented by a few persons, who resolve to perpetu- ate the name of their ancient organization by remodeling it as a purely philosophic institution ; and at a meeting of the lodge of St. Paul, held on St. John's day, A. D. 1703, Resolve, " That the privileges of Masonry shall no longer be confined to operative Masons, but be free to men of all professions, provided they are regularly approved and in- itiated -into the Fraternity." At this time Christopher Wren, Knt., was grand master of Freemasonry, nearly all the operative Masons in England being employed under him upon the construction of St. Paul's cathedral. Ho opposed the execution of this famous resolution while he lived ; vSO that it was not until after his death, which oc- curred in 1716, that the brethren were at liberty to en- force their new regulation. 312 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. fc ISpocft, From the year 1717 to the present time. A. D. 1717. After the death of the grand master, Christopher Wren, the four lodges of London resolve to elect a new grand master, detach themselves from their connection with the brethren at York, of whom they held their con- stitution, for the purpose of forming a new grand lodge, and thus be at liberty to put into execution the resolution of 1703. The four lodges, with these objects in view, in- voked in general assembly all the Masons of London and vicinity, and constituted a central authority, under the title of the Grand Lodge of England, and recognizing in the three symbolic degrees alone all the principles of Mason ry. It is from this time we must date the era of modern or philosophic Freemasonry. A. D. 1720. The Grand Lodge of England has, since its installation, organized a certain number of lodges, in which many persons of distinction have been initiated. The Grand Lodge of York, suddenly excited with sentiments of jeal- ousy at the growing prosperity of its young rival, the Grand Lodge of England, and in defiance of the principles of the Fraternity, proscribes those members as illegitimately made. An irreparable loss has been perpetrated by some too jealous brethren of the lodge of St. Paul, who, fear- ing that improper use may be made of them, burn all THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 313 the ancient manuscripts, charters, rituals, and documents of all kinds. A. D. 1721. Freemasonry begins to extend upon the continent. The grand lodge organize a lodge at Dunkirk, and an- other at Mons, and the rules and regulations of the Fra- ternity are revised. George Payne, heing reflected grand master, compiled from the ancient charter documents a series of "charges" and "regulations" more suited to the present condition and objects of the Society, and, prefaced by a history of the Fraternity as an association of arch- itects, he submitted the same to the grand lodge. This work being submitted by that body to the examination of a committee composed of fourteen of its members, was intrusted to the critical revision of Dr. James Ander- son, with directions to prepare the same for publication, as a body of law and doctrine, for the use of the lodges of England. A. D. 1722. The manuscript, with the revision of which he was in- trusted, is presented by Dr. Anderson to the grand lodge, and upon reception of the report of the commission of fourteen, it is adopted and ordered to be printed under the title of " The Constitutions of the Freemasons, con- taining the History, Charges, Regulations, etc., of that Most Ancient and Right Worshipful Fraternity." From this time the organization of the new Freema- sonry was established in prosperity. In accordance with the constitution which is, in fact, but an adaptation of ' that of York of 926, more suited to the people and pres- ent time the new grand lodge of England took up its position as the only legitimate Masonic authority in Eng- land, and thus excited the ill-will of such scattered bodies as assumed to be invested with inherent rights, because antedating the grand lodge in authority. This constitu- tion, in fact, deprived Freemasons in their lodge capacities 314. GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. of their ancient privileges, in prohibiting, among other restrictions, the formation of any lodge without being au- thorized in such act by this grand lodge. The conse- quence of this assumption of authority on the part of the grand lodge promptly occasioned the protest and denial of such rights by the grand lodges of York and Edin- burgh. A. D. 1725. This year the new Freemasonry is introduced into Paris, where many lodges are organized within a few years. A. D. 1728. Baron Eamsay, a Scotchman, and a partisan of the Stuarts, sought to introduce in London a new style of Masonry, created in the interest of " the Pretender," and which he asserted had descended from the crusades, as it was created by Godfrey of Bouillon, and of which the lodge of St. Andrew, at Edinburgh, was the principal modern authority. The political character of this Ma- sonry caused it to be very promptly rejected, and he returned to France without meeting with any success. A. D. 1729. The activity displayed by the lodges holding under the Grand Lodge of England, and the brilliancy which attached to their labors, stimulated the zeal of the Masons of Ire- land and Scotland, who previously had assembled them- selves together, but at irregular and uncertain periods. The Masonic temples are opened in all parts of the king- dom, and the initiations greatly multiplied. A convoca- tion of Irish Freemasons resolve to organize a grand lodge upon the basis and constitution of that of London ; and thus a central power is constituted under the title of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 315 A. D. 1730. The lodges greatly increase as well in England as upon the continent the latest being those at Hamburg and the Hague. A provincial grand master, named Pemfrees, is employed to go to India, and in a short time he organ- ized in Bengal eleven lodges. A central committee of chanty is instituted in London to succor brethren in dis- tress, and the funds for this institution are raised by a voluntary annual contribution of four shillings from each member of a lodge in London, and two shillings from each member of a lodge elsewhere in England. A. D. 1732. The Grand Lodge of York, representing the ancient system of operative Masonry, and of which the regula- tions conform more readily to the free system of the an- cient Masonic corporations, recognized the necessity of changing this system to correspond in greater degree with the object of the new Freemasonry. A. D. 1733. The first provincial grand lodge in America is insti- tuted at Boston. During this year lodges have been or- ganized in Italy, at Rome and Florence ; in Spain, at Gibraltar and Malta; in Russia, at St. Petersburg. The lodges in Bengal have sent abundant aid to the charity fund in London. A. D. 1734. A general assembly of the Masons of Holland is con- voked at the Hague, for the purpose of organizing a pro- vincial grand lodge, which being done, the same is char- tered regularly by the Grand Lodge of England, in 1735. A. D. 1735. The Grand Lodge of England nominate provincial grand masters for South America and Africa. Lodges arc or- 316 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. ganized at Madrid and at Lisbon. This year is rendered memorable by the commencement of persecutions directed against the Fraternity by the general government of Hol- land, which interests the Masonic assemblies. A. D. 1736. The Grand Lodge of Scotland, at Edinburgh, believing the great prosperity of the new English lodges to be con- sequent upon the more liberal constitution of the new grand lodge, is desirous to introduce similar changes into its own system; but the hereditary charge of patron that James I had, in 1430, conceded to the family of Roslin prevented. The baron Sinclair of Roslin, the grand mas- ter, being approached by the grand lodge upon the subject, acceded readily to the request; and, in an assembly con- voked by the four oldest lodges of Scotland, at Edinburgh, after reading his renunciation to the rights and privileges of patron, George Sinclair, baron of Roslin, was duly elected grand master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland for 1737, and the same was properly organized under a con- stitution, charges, and regulations similar to those of the Grand Lodge of England. In this year, also, a provincial grand lodge of England was organized as the governing body of the lodges in Paris. The Grand Lodge of England named the count Scheffer provincial grand master for the lodges of Sweden. A. D. 1737. During this year the English provincial grand lodges of Switzerland and Saxony are founded, respectively at Geneva and Hamburg ; and the Grand Lodge of England nominates William, king of Prussia, provincial grand master for the lodges of Lower Saxony. THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 317 A. D. 1738. Pope Clement XII promulgates his bull of excommuni- cation against the Freemasons; and it is followed by the edict of the emperor Charles VI, who interdicts the assemblies of Freemasons in the Low Country. Prince Frederick subsequently, as Frederick II, king of Prussia, is initiated, at Brunswick, on the night of August 15 of this year. A, D. 1739. The Grand Lodge of England is accused, by many of the brethren, with having suppressed some of the cere- monies, altered the ritual, and introduced innovations; also of having appointed provincial grand masters to or- ganize lodges in towns under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of York a measure that of itself was considered suf- ficiently offensive. From these charges there resulted some new divisions among the lodges of the north and south of England. Many of the discontented separated themselves from the grand lodge at London, and declared themselves adherents of the grand lodge at York, and then formed a new grand lodge, neither of England nor York, which they styled the Grand Lodge of "Ancient and Accepted Ma- sons." The grand lodges of Ireland and Scotland, having recognized this body as truly representatives of the ancient rite, refused to correspond with the elder jurisdiction, con- temptuously styled by this new body as modern. Never- theless, the so-called modern grand lodge augmented in importance and consideration, while the latter organization, though styling itself ancient, remained in obscurity, and was but little known outside of London city. A. D. 1739. The cardinal Ferraro, in his edict, published on the 14th January, wishing to remove all doubt and equivocation in the interpretation of the bull of excommunication of his holiness the pope, launched against the Freemasons on the 318 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. 27th of April of the preceding year, explained that docu- ment in the following manner: "That no persons should assemble or meet in any place in the capacity of a society, nor be found present at such assemblies, under the penalty of death and confiscation of all their goods, and also incur damnation without hope of grace" By the same edict it is expressly directed that "all house-holders are prohibited from allowing meetings of Freemasons to take place within their houses, under penalty of having the same demolished, and themselves mulcted in a fine of one thousand crowns of gold, and being condemned to the galleys." A. D. 1740. The Grand Lodge of England named a provincial mas- ter for the lodges founded in Russia. At this time France had two hundred lodges, twenty-two of which were located in Paris. The provincial grand lodges instituted, to the present time, in different countries, by the Grand Lodge of England, in their turn now began to organize themselves into independent grand lodges. A. D. 1741. Foundation of the provincial grand lodge of Hanover, at Hanover; and the provincial grand lodge of Saxony, at Dresden, by the Count Rutowski, who is elected grand master, and which became an independent grand lodge in 1755. A. D. 1742. Founding of the provincial grand lodge of the Sun at Beyrouth, and a provincial grand lodge at Antigua, for the English West Indies. A. D. 1744. The grand lodge at the Three Globes, in Berlin, which was organized in 1640 by Baron Bielfeld is this year ele- vated to the rank of a grand lodge by Frederick the Great, THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 319 king of Prussia, and he is elected its permanent grand master, a position which he filled until 1747. (In 1849 this grand lodge had organized fourteen operative lodges.) A. D. 1746. Lord Derwentwater, the first grand master of the prov- incial grand lodge of France, perishes upon the scaffold, a victim of his attachment to the Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart. A. D. 1747. The Grand Lodge of Scotland institutes, at Copenhagen, a provincial grand lodge for Denmark, which, shortly after- ward, proclaimed its independence of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. In this year Charles Edward Stuart, known as "the Pretender," son of James II, deposed king of Eng- land, institutes the chapter of Arras, and delivers to the Masons who are attached to his person a hull of institution, or letters patent, for a governing chapter of what he named the Scottish Jacobite Rite. A. D. 1751. Freemasonry, as constituted in London thirty years ago, has now extended into nearly every civilized country. Its humanitarian doctrines and the civilizing principles it manifested, together with its radical leaning toward the dogma of " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," had, by this time, intimidated kings, popes, and princes to such an ex- tent that they seek to arrest its progress. As early as 1731 edicts had been promulgated against it in Russia, while in 1735, in Holland, and in 1737-'38-'44-'45, at Paris, similar interdictions had been ordered. At Rome and in Florence, the meetings of Freemasons were prohibited, as also in Sweden, Hamburg, and Geneva the bull of Pope Clement was enforced. The Holy Inquisition, as the court accusa- tive in those countries wherein it existed, caused the breth- ren to be imprisoned, and their books and papers to be 320 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. burned by the bands of the public executioner. But to crown all these persecutions, King diaries of Naples, as also Ferdinand VII, king of Spain, wishing to interdict Masonry within their States, rendered edicts prohibiting the assemblage of Freemasons, under pain of death ; and the pope, Benedict XIV, renewed this year the bull of excommunication of Clement XII, in 1738, against the Freemasons, whose assemblies he interdicted under penalty of death. Bat all these violent measures had but slight effect in stopping the progress of Masonry, which finds it- self propagated upon the civilized globe with a rapidity that nothing can arrest. Notwithstanding the bull of Benedict XIV, Freemasonry is practiced at this time openly in Tuscany, at Naples, and in many other parts of the Ital- ian peninsula. At Rome, even, there are lodges which adopt but feeble measures to keep themselves hidden. A. D. 1753. The Masonic Orphan Asylum is established at Stock- holm. Its fund is the accumulation of special collections taken up in the Swedish lodges. (At the present time this institution is very rich.) A. D. 1754. Under a patent or charter from the Grand Lodge of Scot- land, the provincial grand lodge of Sweden is organized. The Grand Lodge of England transmits charters to organize lodges in South Carolina, Guadalonpe, and Gibraltar, and in this year many new lodges are instituted in England. The Templar system, created by the partisans of the Stuarts, is revived at Paris by the institution of the chapter of Cler- mont, in the convent of that name, under the direction of the Chevalier de Bonneville. A. D. 1753. The Grand Lodge of England, in consequence of the THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 321 schism that has taken place in its ranks, establishes the cus- tom of granting diplomas to the brethren under its jurisdic- tion, to distinguish them from those initiated by the seceders. A. D. 1756. The English grand lodge in France, instituted in 1736, and which took the title in 1743, detaches itself from the Grand Lodge of London, and proclaims itself the Grand Lodge of France. The confusion manifested under the grand mastership of the Duke of Clerrnont, however, does not abate, but rather increases. By constitutions delivered to masters of lodges, securing them in the enjoyment of such office for life, Masonic authorities never contemplated are established in France. The practice, begun with a political motive by the lodge of St. Andrew of Scotland, situate at Edinburgh, w r as continued by the English pro- vincial grand lodge of France, and the confusion thus en- gendered the new Masonic authority, into which that body has resolved itself, now finds it impossible to correct. Those masters of lodges, for the sake of gain, vend the privileges accorded to themselves; and, to do this the more easily, they fabricate false titles, and antedate charters and diplomas. In shaking off the control of the Grand Lodge of England, and in proclaiming itself the grand lodge of the kingdom of France, that body declared in its constitu- tion to sacredly continue the custom of granting personal titles to these lodge masters ad vitam and, by so doing, in- creased the existing confusion ; for the result was that these masters governed their lodges not more by the forms laid down by the grand lodge than by their individual caprices, and this, taken with the vending of authorities to open lodges, which lodges, in their turn, felt at liberty to organize grand lodges, (or bodies in authority amounting thereto,) chapters, councils, and tribunals embracing the objects and practice of all the degrees then known, created, at this time, so chaotic a condition that it was apparently impossible 21 322 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. to determine the legal governing Masonic authority in France. A. D. 1756. In this year the national grand lodge of Italy was or- ganized at Naples. (In 1790 this body was dissolved.) At the Hague the representatives of thirty lodges in the Netherlands constitute a grand lodge of the United Prov- inces, and elect the Baron of Aersen-Beyereii first grand master. A. D. 1758. The Grand Lodge of Scotland, at Edinburgh, in adopting and conferring the high degrees, and establishing rituals for each of these degrees, renders herself liable to the same charges of un masonic conduct which she had but a short time before directed against the Grand Lodge of England, viz.: of changing the basis of Freemasonry and altering the rituals. These high degrees give her, however, an in- fluence not before enjoyed, and creates a corresponding energy in the work of the Scotch lodges. Perceiving the increasing prosperity of her sister grand lodge at London, occasioned mainly by the custom, originated by the latter, of establishing, every-where, provincial grand lodges, the Grand Lodge of Scotland, for the purpose of initiating a like proceeding, authorized a Colonel Young as provincial grand master of such lodges as he might organize, as well as those already existing and holding their charters from the Grand Lodge of Scotland in North America and the British West Indies, with plenary powers to introduce the high degrees then known to Scottish Masonry into those countries. A. D. 17GO. At Avignon, the mother lodge of the Rite of Swedenborg is instituted by the Benedictine monk Dom Pernctti, and a Pole named Grabianca. The philosopher Swedenborg, one of the most learned and illustrious Freemasons of his THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 823 time, in instituting this rite, had in view a desire to reform the Roman Catholic religion. The dogmas of the reform of Swedenborg are adopted by a good many influential persons in Sweden, England, and Germany, where societies which practice his religious system have been formed by these persons. A. D. 1760. In this year Freemasonry in Germany was greatly con- fused and injured by the introduction of the high degrees of every kind known to and having their inception in France. Chapters of Emperors of the East and West, with a rite of twenty -five degrees, (subsequently known as the Rite of Perfection,) founded in Paris in 1758 by the estab- lishment of the Chapter of Clermont, are the children of this parent, and they are introduced by the Marquis of Berny, a French gentleman, into the lodge at the Three Globes, in Berlin. This lodge propagates this right by the aid of its deputy Rosa, a Lutheran priest, who in a short time has organized seventeen lodges. Subsequently the army of Broglie introduced the other rites, such as Tem- plarism, Rosecrucianism, etc., until, in a few years, the brethren in Germany are in as great confusion, as to what is and what is not Freemasonry, as they are in France. A. D. 1762. At this time Freemasonry had attained great progress, the different grand lodges of Europe having instituted lodges in nearly every part of the world. The baron of Hand introduces into Germany the Templar system known as "Strict Observance," which he has studied at Paris, where he was initiated into the high degrees of the chapter of Clermont. A. D. 1763. The two parties into which the Grand Lodge of France had been divided, in consequence of the maladministration 324 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. of the grand master, the duke of Clermont, reunited IE 1762, after having-, during their separation, injured the Masonic institution almost beyond repair, by their crea- tions of moveable lodges and immoveable matters. Not- withstanding the union, confusion, consequent upon their previous misconduct, continued, and the effects of the high degrees are as apparent for evil as they are lamentable, not only in France, but wherever they have been introduced. A. D. 1764. A man named Johnson, a secret agent of the Jesuits, who styled himself Envoy and Plenipotentiary of the un- known superiors of Strict Observance, establishes at Jena some chapters of this system. He announced, in an assem- bly that he convoked at this place on the 25th December, 1763, that he alone had the power of conferring the de- grees of the system and organizing chapters, by virtue of the documents, patents, and briefs granted to him by the unknown superiors of his system in Scotland. At a sec- ond convention, assembled on the 14th of June of this year (1764), he invited the presence of Baron Hund, who had been engaged in similar duty elsewhere in Germany since 1762. At this convention the baron, who had never heard of unknown superiors, requested the privilege of inspecting the documents, patents, etc., possessed by Johnson, which request being refused, the baron denounced this self-styled plenipotentiary as an arrant irnposter. A. D. 1765. The baron of Hund is elected at Jena, grand master of the Templar System of Germany, styled " Strict Observ- ance." A. D. 1766. By an edict of the Grand Lodge of France, all charters granted by chapters, councils, colleges, and tribunals of the high degrees are declared void and of no effect. The at- THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 325 tempt to enforce this decree causes greater confusion than ever among the Masons in France. The Grand Lodge of England organizes a provincial grand lodge for the country of the Lower Rhine. A. D. 1770. At Avignon is organized the grand Scottish lodge of the county Venaissin, which adopts the Hermetic Rite of Sweden- borg. The Grand Lodge of the United Provinces, sitting at the Hague, proclaims itself the National Grand Lodge of Holland, iii accordance with an agreement entered into with the Grand Lodge of England, and notifies all the grand lodge^\of Europe of this fact. / A. D. 1772. Unoet^the grand mastership of Louis Philippe Joseph D' Orleans, auke of Chartres, the National Grand Lodge of France is dissolved, and the Grand Orient of France organ- ized. 1 Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, is elected grand master of the lodges organized under the Templar system of Strict Observance. A. D. 1773. Under letters patent from the Grand Lodge of England is organized the National Grand Lodge of Germany. This grand lodge had been in course of organization since 1770, aud this year, representing twelve operative lodges, its tirst act was to adopt the ritual of Zienneudorf, its most intelli- gent and able friend and chief officer. A. D. 1775. A grand lodge is organized at Basle, under the name of l The Grand Orient at first adopted the modern English rite of three sym- bolic degrees, and called it the French Rite. Five years afterward, in its circular of the 3d of August, 1777, it exhibited all that was dangerous and anti-masonic in the rituals of the high degrees, and refused to recognize them; and yet. ten years afterward, it is obliged, perhaps unwillingly to constitute chapters of those very high degrees! 826 GENERAL HISTORY OP FREEMASONRY. the Scottish Helvetian Directory. The grand master, Ferdi- nand of Brunswick, convoked in that city a congress, to consider the idea of uniting all the rites. The baron of Hand, and the representatives of twenty-two lodges of tho system propagated by him, were present at this assembly. The discussions began on the 23d of May, and closed on the Gth of July, with no result. A. D. 1775. A mother lodge of the Scotch Philosophic Rite, under the name of " Social Contract," is constituted by the grand lodge of the county Venaissin. A. D. 1778. Under the pretext to reform Masonry, and throw light upon many obscure points in the rituals, the lodge styled Benevolent Knights of the Templars (Strict Observance) System, convoke a congress at Lyons; but as there was nothing discussed but a proposed change of rituals, it was evident that the real object of the assembly was to substi- tute the Martinist for the Templar ritual, which was so done. The congress of Wolfenbuttel, convoked by Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, grand master of the Templar system in Germany, assembled at Brunswick for the same object that had been discussed at the previous meeting, called by him in 1775. The congress remained in session from the 15th July to the 27th August ; and the assembly, finding it impossible to work their way through the chaos of mys- ticism into which the numerous S3'stems of high degrees had plunged Freemasonry, decided that there should oe convened, the following year, at Wiesbaden, a gen- eral congress of all the most intelligent Masons in Ger- many. In this year is instituted a grand lodge at St. Petersburg, Russia. THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 327 A. D. 1779. This year the Masonic Benevolent School is instituted at London, by some members of the Grand Lodge of England. The object of the society is to help and support the infirm, the aged, and those in prison; also to protect the wives, children, or orphans of deceased members. A. D. 1780. A council of the high degrees, called the Emperors of the East and West, take the title of Sublime Scottish MoThei^Lodge of the great globe of France, and Sovereign Grand Lodge. This authority sets itself up as the rival of the National Grand Lodge, and the Grand Orient disgraces itself by a^sUaineful commerce of the Masonic degrees. A. D. 1782. The congress of Wiihelmsbad, convoked by Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, agreeably with the decision of the con- gress of 1778, invites all the grand lodges of Europe to participate. Proposed to convene, at first, on the 15th of October, 1781, it was postponed until Easter week, 1782, and finally assembled on the 16th July of this year. In this congress, the way for which was opened by those of Wolfenbuttel and Lyons, where a general reform of Free- masonry, as practiced generally upon the continent, was urgently recommended, a great many questions were pro- posed for discussion and decision, among which were the following : Is Freemasonry a modern society ? Is it, on the con- trary, derived from an ancient society ? If so, what society is it the descendant of? Has the present society unknown superiors? If so, what are their privileges and attri- butes ? These questions, and others of minor importance, sub- mitted, during a session of thirty daily meetings, though freely discussed, elicited no satisfactory solution. The con- 328 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. gress, however, succeeded in extinguishing a number of so- called Masonic systems, and altering others. It was in this year that Joseph Balsamo, better known as Count Cagliastro, succeeded in organizing at Lyons the mother lodge of his rite, styled Egyptian, under the title of " Wisdom Triumphant." A. D. 1783. A grand lodge of the Eclectic Rite, composed of the provincial grand lodges of Frankfort and Wetzlar, is or- ganized at Frankfort. This rite was the creation of mem- bers of this grand lodge, who, selecting from all the rites and systems, as exhibited at the congress of Wilhelmsbad, such points and parts as seemed to them most rational, styled their creation the "Eclectic Rite." In the circular addressed by this grand lodge to the Masonic authorities of Europe, announcing the reform they had instituted, it was distinctly declared that all speculation in magic, cabal- istics, Ternplarism, and other follies of the day, were by this grand lodge renounced and forbidden to its jurisdiction, and that Freemasonry, in the purity of its institution, ac- cording to the regulations of the Grand Lodge of England,, as promulgated in 1723, was the only style of Freemasonry it would thereafter recognize. A. D. 1784. A new grand orient of Poland is organized at Yarsovia. A grand lodge of Austria is organized at Vienna. A mother lodge of adoption of the Egyptian masonry of Count Cagliastro is instituted by him, of which the prince of Montmorenci Luxembourg accepts the grand master- ship. A. D. 1785. The congress of the Philaletes is convoked at Pans to disentangle Freemasonry from the mass of high degrees THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 329 and mystic systems ; but though in session from the 15th February to the 26th May, it failed in its object. A. D. 1786. A Grand Orient of Geneva is organized by the seven lodges in that city. (This grand lodge was dissolved in 1790 by the incorporation of this city into the territory of France.) A provincial grand lodge is instituted at Rouen, by the Grand Lodge of St. John, at Edinburgh, with a the order of Harodim, of Kilwinniug. A. D. 1787. The secon^Ljspngress of the Philaletes is convoked at Paris, to continue the discussions begun at that of 1785, upon such dogmatic and historical points as had been sub- mitted to the congress of Wilhelmsbad. None of the questions, however, were satisfactorily decided, and the origin, nature, and object of Freemasonry continued to be an insoluble problem to the greater number of the Free- masons of the continent. A. D. 1800. During the past century the modern or philosophic Freemasonry, as instituted by the Grand Lodge of London in 1717-'23, was introduced at the dates given in the various countries and states named below : England 1717. Ireland 1720. Scotland 1721. France 1721. Belgium 1721. Holland 1725. Gibraltar 1726. Spain 1728. Hamburg 1736. Sweden 1731. Naples 1732. EUROPE. Tuscany, 1732. Russia 1732. Florence 1733. Portugal 1733. Switzerland 1736. Sardinia 1737. Saxony 1738. Bavaria 1738. Prussia 1738. Austria 1738. Turkey 1738. Poland 1739. Malta 1741. Denmark 1742. Rome 1742. Bohemia 1744. Hungary 1744. Norway 1744. Guernsey 1753. Jersey 1753. Hanover..., ...1754. 330 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. ASIA. Benga 1727. Surinam 1771. Bombay 1728. Ceylon 1771. Madras 1752. OCEANICA. Java 1730. Sumatra.... Prince of Wales Islands 1780. Persia..., ...1789. ,1772. Cape of Good Hope, 1733. Cape Coast 1736. Canada 1721. Massachusetts 1733. Georgia 1734. South Carolina 1736. New York 1737. St. Christopher 1738. Martinique 1738. Antigua 1742. AFRICA. Senegambia 1736. Mauritius 1744. AMERICA. Jamaica 1743. St. Vincent 1745. Porto Rico 1746. St. Domingo 1746. Barbadoes 1750. Guadaloupe 1751. Pennsylvania 1753. Trinidad 1760. North Carolina.. ..1788. Isle of France 1778. St. Helena 1798. Grenada 1764. Newfoundland 1765. Dutch Guiana 1770. Vermont 1770. Bermuda 1771. Louisiana 1780. Maryland 1781. Nova Scotia .., ...1762. Freemasonry was interdicted or prohibited during the past century in the countries and cities named, and at the different dates given below, viz.: Russia 1731, '94, '97. Vienna. Holland 1735, '37. 1743. Canton of Berne 1743, '70, 82. Paris 1737, '38, '44. Austrian States 1742, '64. Sweden 1738. Turkey 1748 Hamburg 1738. Spain 1751. Geneva 1738. Naples t . 1752, '75. Roman States 1739, '51. Dantzic 1763. Portugal 1739, '42, '76, '92. Aix-la-Chapelle 1779. Florence 1739. Morocco 1784. Marseilles 1742. Basle 1785. A. D. 1804. The Count De Grasse Tilly organizes a central grand odge of France, with a supreme council, at Paris. A. D. 1805. The Grand Orient of Lusitania is organized at Lisbon ; also the Grand Orient of Italy at Milan. THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 331 A. D. 1806. The Grand Lodge of Scotland organizes at Xeres a grand lodge for all Spain. The Grand Orient of Baden is organ- ized at Alaunheim. A. D. 1807. The Grand Lodge of Harodim of Kilwinning, acknowl- edged tO~ha^e existed as Canongate Kilwinning lodge of Freemasons since the construction of the abbey of Kil- winning, in ^.150, surrenders its independence as a self- constituted grand lodge, and takes rank with the lodges of its creation, under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, as Can- ongate Kilvvinuing, No. 2. A. D. 1809. A grand orient of Naples is organized under the direc- tion of Prince Joachim, duke of Berg. Also a grand orient of Spain is organized at Madrid. A. D. 1811. A grand orient of Westphalia is organized at Cassel. Charles XIII, king of Sweden, institutes a civil order, which he confers upon deserving Freemasons. A. D. 1813. \ The two grand lodges of England that of York, the legitimate successor of the organization of 926, and which in 1755 merged into the schismatic grand lodge, under the title of the " Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons," and that of London, founded in 1717, under the title of the " Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons " are this year united. By this union are terminated all the differ- ences which had caused so much hitterness during the past fifty or sixty years. In the act of union, dated .De- cember 1, 1813, the ancient laws, as well written as tra- ditional, are explicitly recognized, and taken for the basis 332 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. of this act, and it is drawn up in that spirit of fraternity which dictated the charter of York, A. D. 926. It also recognized and proclaimed that the ancient and true Free- masonry is composed of but three degrees, viz.: those of apprentice, fellow-craft, and master mason. A. D. 1814. On the 15th of Aug\ist of this year Pope Pius VII pub- lishes his edict against the Masonic society, in which he pronounces corporal punishment, even to death, and the confiscation of all his property, upon any person who should join or be known by the authorities to belong to this society. This edict is immediately followed with like prohibitions by the regent of Milan, Henry IV of Venice, Maximien Joseph, king of Bavaria, the emperor of Aus- tria, the king of Spain, the grand duke of Baden, and finally by the duke of Parma. All these edicts repeat, in their turn, accusations similar to those contained in the bull of Pius VII, and interdicted, in their several States, all Masonic assemblies, under whatever name they might be held. All the lodges existing in these countries are immediately closed. The famous edict of Pius VII is a document as curious as it is incomprehensible for the time at which it was pub- lished ; for the accusations it contains against the Frater- nity are without a shadow of foundation. The tendency of the Masonic society being continually toward the ame- lioration of the moral and intellectual condition of the people, it is a natural but free auxiliary of an enlightened government desiring progress, and desiring it gradually. This same pope reestablished the order of the Jesuits, which had been abolished by Clement XIV. A. D. 1816. Foundation, in Paris, of the mother lodge of the Rite of Misrairn, under the title of the " Rainbow." THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 333 A. D. 1817. The Fraternity in Holland mark the bounds of their grand lodge jurisdiction by the organization of two grand lodges independent of the grand orient situate at the Hague. One of these is located at the Hague; the other at BrusselfJ. A. D. 1818. Prince Frederick, grand master of the lodges of the Low Countries, interdicts the exercise of the Rite of Misraim. A. D. 1822. The emperor of Russia publishes a ukase which, inter- dicts the meetings of Freemasons within the empire. A. D. 1824. The king of Portugal interdicts Freemasonry in his kingdom. A. D. 1825. General Lafayette is welcomed to Boston, is feasted by the brethren and citizens, and attends at the laying of the corner-stone of the monument subsequently erected near that city to perpetuate the remembrance of the defense of the rights and liberties of America. A. D. 1827. Renewal by the pope of the edict of Pius VII against the Freemasons. A. D. 1827. The Mexican Congress, provoked by the calumnies of the clergy, take measures to retain the Freemasons of that country from increasing their meetings, which were be- lieved to be devoted more to political discussions than to any other business. In the United States some circumstances take place, in the State of New York, calculated to fix the public mind 334 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. upon the Fraternity, and, for the first time, public notice is taken of the society in the Congress of that country. A. D. 1828. The king of Spain renews his edict against the Free- masons. A. D. 1832. The Grand Orient of Belgium is instituted at Brussels, arid a Masonic authority, styled the Supreme Council for Belgium, is also organized. At Frankfort, a Jewish lodge, styled the "Frankfort Eagle," is instituted, under the authority of the Grand Orient of France. In Germany, obedient to the injunctions of the authorities which insti- tuted them, the operative lodges refused to acknowledge the members of the Jewish lodge, and, contrary to the principles of Masonry, they close their doors against them. A. D. 1836. Some disputes spring up among the lodges of Germany, principally in Berlin, with regard to the admission of Is- raelites into the lodges. The refusal of many of the lodges to affiliate, or to admit them to seats in their assemblies, notwithstanding they have been regularly initiated, pro- duced numerous controversies. In a sort of congress of Jewish Masons, held at Berlin, they prepare an address to the mother lodges of Berlin, and adjure them, in the name of Masonic principles, in the name of justice and reason, to withdraw the restrictions against them. This important question, introduced and discussed at divers meetings of grand lodges of Berlin, Dresden, and Frankfort, can not be decided satisfactorily. To the assertion of those lodges which refused to admit the Israelites, upon the principle that Masonry is essentially a Christian institution, with the Holy Bible its greatest symbol, and upon which no Jew can be sworn, was opposed by the counter assertion that Masonry is not a Christian but a universal institution, hav- THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 335 ing for its jbject to rally under one banner and unite un- der one bo-id all religionists; that, following the standard of no proohet, neither Moses, Christ, nor Mahomet, it adopts the sublime doctrine of the second of these law- givers, seeing that such doctrine embodies more nearly than any other the universal spirit of charity and brotherly love which Freemasonry would inculcate, to the end that b(y opening her temples to men of every worship she may tiwrefffTrefeytheni from the prejudices of their country and the errors oi\ their religious education, and teach them to regard each other but as brethren all united in the bonds of peace, science, and labor. 1 A. D. 1841. The three grand lodges of Berlin adopt measures to ex- clude Jews from their assemblies, and the benefit and privileges of Freemasonry. A. D. 1844. Formation of the Alpine Grand Lodge at Zurich, by the union of the two Swiss Masonic authorities, viz. : the Scottish Helvetian Directory, at Zurich, and the National Grand Lodge, at Berne. The new grand lodge is consti- tuted in conformity with a charter signed and accepted by fourteen lodges at Zurich, on the 22d June, 1844. A. D. 1845. On the 30th of August, of this year, agreeably to the in- vitation extended by the lodge " United Brothers," of Stras- burg, there assembled at Steinbach, the birth-place of Er- win, architect of the cathedral of Strasburg, Masons from many parts, to inaugurate a statue to his memory, as the first grand master of the Masons of Germany and France. 1 The true principles of Freemasonry, as herein set forth, have not, how- ever, even to the present time, removed those absurd gothic prejudices; for to this hour Jewish Masons are excluded from many German lodges. 336 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Before the dedication of the statue, it was decreed, at a general assembly which had taken place in the town hall, which was wreathed and adorned for the occasion as a Ma- sonic temple, that a Masonic congress should thereafter take place, in succession, in the village, town, or city repre- sented by every brother assenting to this proposition. A. D. 1847. The law of exclusion of 1841, by which the three grand lodges of Berlin had prohibited certain brethren from par- ticipation in the privileges of intercommunion with the lodges of their jurisdiction, is at this time again brought up in those grand lodges. The formal declaration of the Grand Lodge of England to cease all correspondence and relations with them, if the paragraph relating to the exclu- sion of the Israelites was not effaced from their statutes, produced this result. A. D. 1848. In conformity- with the constitution discussed and agreed to iii December of this year, in a congress to which had been invited all the lodges of France, a JSTational Grand Lodge for France is organized. Based upon the demo- cratic system in its largest conception, this grand lodge adopted the modern English rite, and gave it the name of Unitary Rite. It notified all the lodges of Europe of its organization and decision as to a rite. A. D. 1849. After the political discussions of the preceding year, which shook a great part of Europe, the necessity for re- forms in the Masonic institutions was felt more than ever. Already at different periods, since 1820 more particularly, views had been expressed by a great many lodges and sub- mitted to their grand lodges, for the purpose of obtaining changes in the laws, and particularly in the exceedingly aristocratic organization 'of the mother lodges ; and also 11 THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 337 demanding to be represented near these governing bodieo in a manner more in harmony with the ancient Masonic device of " Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." These views, however, were provocative of little response and o resuU The political events, joined to the symptoms of discon- t^Ht-whtch^ generally became manifest, and which appeared likely to le\ad to complete revolution, determined some grand lodges to undertake some degrees of reform. A. D. 1850. At this time Freemasonry has extended into all parts of the civilized world. In EUROPE it is in a most flourishing condition, protected and respected. England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Prussia, Saxony, and the German States, France, Switzerland, and the Protest- ant part of Bavaria, number nearly three thousand lodges, governed by twenty-one grand lodges. In Russia, Austria, and their dependent States, it is, on the contrary, prohibited ; also, in the kingdoms of Naples, Sardinia, Rome, Tuscany, Spain, and Portugal. In AFRICA we find lodges in Algiers, at Alexandria, Senegal, Senegambia, Guinea, the Cape of Good Hope, Mozambique, Canaries, and St. Helena, Bourbon, and Mauritius; while there are no lodges in Tunis, Morocco, or the Barbary States. In AMERICA it is every- where prosperous, there being few, if any, of the States of the American Union which has not its grand lodge. Freemasonry has penetrated into every portion of this vast continent. The British possessions of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada, and Newfound- land have each their provincial grand or independent grand and operative Masonic lodges; while all the more south- ern and western States which latterly have been received into the Union have each their grand and operative lodges. The West India islands, Cuba, Porto Rico, have their 22 338 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. lodges, and that of Hayti its grand and operative lodges. In Central America it is to be found in the French, Dutch, and British Guianas, and also in the republics of Venezuela, Guatemala, Columbia, Bolivia, and Peru, and the united provinces of La Plata, Uruguay and Paraguay; while in Rio Janiero, capital of the empire of Brazil, there is a grand lodge with twenty-five operative lodges under its jurisdiction. In ASIA, Freemasonry has existed for more than a century in Hindostan. Lodges are to be found in Bombay, Pondicherry, Alahabad, Bejapoor, Chazepoor, Carnute, Darrely, Concan, Futteghur, etc. At Agrah is to be found the Grand Lodge of Bengal ; while in China, at Canton, and the islands of Ceylon and Prince of Wales, in Persia and in Turkey, lodges exist. There is no lodge in Japan. In OCEANICA, Freemasonry was introduced in 1730, into the island of Java. At the present time, Sumatra, New Holland, New South Wales, New Zealand, and Van Die- man's Land have all their Masonic lodges. The number of lodges upon the globe, at present, hag been variously estimated as high as five thousand; of this number, three thousand are in Europe, fifteen hundred in America, and five hundred in Asia, Africa, and Oceanica. Thus, within a century and a half, the modern or Phil- osophic. Freemasonry has been propagated over the whole surface of the earth, and in its progress always spreading seeds of civilization and friendly intercourse. From habits practiced in the lodges, have gone out principles of peace, fraternity, freedom, and equality, which have softened the asperities of social intercourse, given birth to a greater breadth of charity for the prejudices of mankind, and ex- panded the human mind beyond the exclusiveness of caste, origin, national education, and religion. Is it, then, aston- ishing that the Roman Catholic clergy, who are notorious as partisans of the stationary order of things, and bitter opponents of all progressive views in human affairs, should THIRD CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCH. 339 be opposed to an institution that operates so insensibly in transforming and enlightening man to a knowledge of his true manhood; and that they should, from so early a pe- riod in its history, have perceived the true tendency of the Masonic institution, and opposed, with all their power, establishment? On the contrary, the wonder is that the^Jia^e-iipt carried its persecution more fully to the bitter end, as it was and has been the only institution of a non-clerical or lay character which has stood between them and unlimited power; but, fortunately for it, and unfortunately for them, it had assumed shape and consist- ence in a country where, and at a time when, their power was not in the ascendant. Upon the continent, however, whither the institution rapidly extended, the clergy, being very powerful, had more success; yet here, finding it im- possible, from the peculiar nature of its constitution, to use Freemasonry, they resolved to abuse it, ban it, and ex- communicate its adherents from religious privileges here and hope of heaven hereafter. This failing, they finally resolved to introduce into its lodges a number of rites with their degrees, appealing to the weaker points in the human character, and thus they succeeded in denaturalizing the institution to such an extent that its original constitution became, in a great measure, lost sight of. So intense, how- ever, did Jesuitism labor in this regard, that it overdid itself; for this very denaturalization led to inquiry and in- vestigation which, in evolving the true condition, unmasked the perpetrators of these wrongs inflicted on the institution, and restored it, in a great degree, to its primitive simplicity and usefulness. 340 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. EDICT or POPE PIUS VII AGAINST THE FREEMASONS. EDICT. IF the ancient legislation of the Roman States has inter- dicted, under penalties the most rigorous, all secret and hidden assemblies, by reason that their jealous clandes- tineship induced the belief that, in such assemblies, the well-being of the state and public tranquillity were en- dangered, and that therein were formed schools of de- pravity, the sovereign pontiffs, in like manner, are equally bound to entertain a similar opinion as to the object of those assemblies of Freemasons, Illuminati, Egyptians and others, who, surrounding their hidden operations with forms, ceremonies, and oaths to guard secrets which they must believe are, at least, liable to be suspected ; and as their assemblies are particularly composed of persons of divers nations and conditions, worships and degrees of morality, admitted without distinction, they can not free themselves from the suspicion that their assemblies are gotten up to arrange the destruction of not only thrones and governments, but even religion itself, and particularly the only true religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which the Roman pontiff was constituted chief, master, and guardian by its divine founder and legislator himself. Informed as to these facts, and animated by their evan- gelical zeal although then they had not foreseen, as has been since generally remarked, the murderous develop- ment and hidden designs of these secret assemblies and EDICT OF POPE PIUS VII. 341 infernal conventicles the pontiffs Clement XII and Bene- dict XIV, of glorious memory, who have since appeared at the bar of God, opposed all their force and their apos- tolic ministry to the debauchery which these assemblies evory-where threatened. The first, by his decree, which, commencing " In eminenti apostolatas specula," published the 27th April, 1738, not only forbade, but condemned in all their extent, the meetings or assemblies of these so- styled Freemasons, or other similar societies, of whatever denomination or by whatever designation they might be known ; and, subsequently, by the thunders of excommunica- tion, to be incurred by the act, without regard to any decla- ration made by the accused, and from the effects of which none other than the Roman pontiff could absolve him, ex- cept at the point of death, promulgated against all indi- viduals proscribed, whether such accusation proceeded from their being initiated into any of the degrees of these so- cieties or from being accessory to the initiation of others. His immediate successor, Benedict XIV, knowing the great interests involved and the necessity for this dispo- sition, particularly as regarded the well-being of the Cath- olic religion and the public security, did, by a ne\v decree, which, commencing in these words, " Prov idias Roman- orum Pontifieum," published on the 18th of May, 1751, confirmed in its fullest extent the decree of his prede- cessor, not only in the insertion of it, word for word, in his own decree, but in explaining and expounding with his usual wisdom (7) the motives which determined all the powers of the earth to prohibit Freemasonry, which motives it would be here unnecessary to enumerate, but of which the justness is demonstrated by experience, as they are well known to most enlightened people. The foresight of these two pontiffs was not confined to this measure. They were not ignorant that the horror of crime and the thunders of the Church were ordinarily sufficient to convince and advantageously secure the con- 342 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. sciences of the good, but that these means must, when di- rected toward the wicked, be aided by afflictive penalties. Hence the pontiff, Clement XII, by his edict, published by the cardinal Joseph Ferraro, his secretary of state, on the 14th January, 1739, inflicted the most severe temporal punishments against the contumacious, and ordered even, among other dispositions, their effective execution; and to which His Holiness, Benedict XIV, by his published de- cree, gave a new and additional force, charging all magis- trates for the prosecution under these decrees to employ their most active and energetic assistants to fully execute the penalties therein prescribed. However, in the general overthrow of the order of things which has been accomplished during the unhappiness of the Holy See and of the Church, these dispositions have been treated with impunity, notwithstanding their justness, wholesomeness, and indispensability ; and the meetings and assemblies interdicted by them have had all sorts of fa- cilities of communication, not only at Rome, but also in all parts of the pontifical states. His Holiness, Pope Pius VII, wishing to administer a prompt and efficacious remedy to an evil which it is neces- sary to extirpate immediately, and opposing himself to the spread of this pernicious cancer ere it takes root throughout the state, does enjoin and ordain, and by this present edict makes known, to all his supreme wish, which should have the force of law, and should so serve in the tribunals of justice both civil and spiritual, in all coun- tries, cities, lands, and provinces which appertain or n any wise recognize allegiance to the temporal dominion of the Holy Apostolic See. By these dispositions it is intended to say that, for those who regard the pains and penalties to be incurred by these unhappy persons who, during the lapse of time which they have had wherein to have allowed their tendency to favor these assemblies to subside, (Q-od forbid that this be not a EDICT OF POPE PIUS VII. 343 question with our well-beloved subjects,) or at tne present or in the future shall have the unhappiness to become, in any manner, a party to or connected with the Masonic or other similar assemblies, His Holiness relinquishes them entirely and without exception to the penalties and dispo- sitions pronounced by the aforesaid decrees of his prede- cessors of glorious memory; hereby recalling and maintain- ing the same in their fullest force and tenor, as his special care. The Holy Father, moved by the energetic sentiments of his pontifical zeal, and by the affections of his paternal heart, warns all the faithful who shall fall into this de- plorable error to seriously consider the state of damnation into which they have plunged their souls, by incurring the penalty of major excommunication with which they are afflicted, as also of being deprived of all the advantages of communion in the Church, and to pass away in this condi- tion to that awful tribunal where nothing is hidden, and before which vanish the vain supports which they may Jind to lean upon in this world. That they humble them- selves, therefore, by a sincere repentance, and be taken once more into the arms of the holy Church, that compas- *'onate mother who calls them, and who would receive 86 13. C., that body having entered Taurus, it was not until the year 24f>5 that he p.tsssd through that sign, and entered Aries in 24-34. From that time until the year o23 13. C., the latter sign marked the vernal equinox. NOTES. 401 becomes the constellation of the vernal equinox, and the worship of the ram begins. B. C. 2400. Foundation of the temple of Ammon in the desert of Lybia. B. C. 2400 to 2300. Construction of the monuments of Karnak and the avenue of the Rams. B. C. 2056. Construction of the zodiac of Denderah. B. C. 1810. Invasion of the kingdom of Memphis (Middle Egypt) by the pastoral Arabs, presumed to be the tribes of Tainoud, Mutlun, Aumlek, etc. B. C. 1800. The pastoral Arabs found Heliopolis. B. C. 1556. Tethmos expels the Arabs. B. C. 1500. Foundation of the new Memphis. B. C. 1450. Re-union of all Egypt under one monarchy. B. C. 1430. Construction of Lake Moeris. B. C. 1420. Construction of the cities of Ramasses and He- roopolis, by the Hebrews. B. C. 1410. Under the king Amenophis the Hebrews are driven out of Egypt, and, under the direction of Moses, whom they elect as their chief, they are organized into a cation. B. C. 1390 to 1350. Reign and conquests of Sesostris. B. C. 1080. Ramsinite orders the construction of the great obelisk at Heliopoiis. B. C. 974. Ses:ich, king of Egypt, ransoms Jerusalem. B. C. 790. During the past two hundred years a succession of obscure kings governed Egypt, and their reign ends with the capture of Thebes by the Carthaginian's. B. C. 750. Seva, the Kushite, or Ethiopian, invaded Egypt, and reigned with justice and wisdom for nearly twenty-five years. B. C. 722. Sethon, priest of the temple of Vulcan, governs Egypt, now fallen into anarchy. .Between Meues and Sethon three hundred and forty-one kings in succession governed Egypt. After him a series of kings ruled whose names are all known. 20. Pyramids of Ghizza. " During twenty years," says Herodotus, " one hundred thousand men worked daily to build the great pyramid or tomb of the king Cheops, who, like all Egyptians, attached much importance to the construction of his eternal home." The eight pyramids which surround ancient Memphis, the principal seat of the mysteries of Isis and Osiris, communicated with the twelve temples which are found in this vast city. Of this group of pyramids, three are particularly distinguished, which arc the largest in Egypt as they were the last which were constructed. At Meroe, the ancient seat of the priests of Egypt, are to be seen a group of twenty- four pyramids, the magnificence and imposing simplicity of which 26 402 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. exhibit a degree of elegance very superior to the pyramids of Ghizza. In Ethiopia, at Nouri, may be seen a group of thirty-five pyramids; at Dhibbel-el-Barkal, capital of Ethiopia, another group of seventeen and at Dhel-Bellal, the remains of a group of forty pyramids. 21. Hermes. The Egyptian priests inform us that Hermes, in dying, said : 4 Until now I have been exiled from my true country, to which I am about to return. Shed no tears for me. I return to that celestial country whither all must repair in their turn. There is God. This life is but a death." (See Chalcidius in Tiuiaeum.) Now this doctrine is precisely that of the ancient Bhuddists or Samaneens, who balieved that at certain periods impersonations of deity would be sent to earth to reform man, withdraw him from vice, and teach him the way of salvation. With such a dogma spread over India, Egypt, Persia, and Judea, we can easily perceive how readily its believers could accredit the appearance of such an impersonation did he appear at the proper time. .22. Sylils. This was the ancient name signifying prophetess, given by the Greeks and Romans to those women to whom were attributed knowledge of the future and divine inspiration. Many temples had their sybil or oracle ; for, wherever the priests had established their colleges, they found it necessary to engage these persons, to strengthen their power and augment their influence among the people. The vital or physical force to which we give the name of animal magnetism was better known to the magi priests of Chaldea and Egypt than it is at present among us. It was to the study and application of this occult science to which the priests owed much of their great reputation ; for they enriched their astronomical knowledge with the addition of botanical, medical, chemical, and anatomical knowledge, from the revelations made to them by their sybils. The Essenian priests, who were intimately connected with an- other sect, called Therapeutes, resident in Egypt, and who formed the connecting link between the Egyptians and the Hebrews, as the Essenians continued the affiliation between the Jews and the Christians, without doubt initiated Jesus Christ, who was educated by them, into this sublime science, and thus can we explain how he wrought many of the miracles attributed to him in the Scrip- tures. The sybils of antiquity who were most celebrated were those of Ionia and Italy. It is said that this last, to whom are given different names, came to Rome in the reign of Tarquin the elder, and sold him the books (Sybilline leaves), in which were written NOTES. 403 (he future of Rome and that he deposited them in the capitol, confiding their care to two priests named Duumvirs, whose number was subsequently increased to fifteen. Therein were found, it is said, some very useful revelations. The Sybilline leaves were destroyed at the burning of the capitol, which took place in the time of Scylla. The senate, immediately upon the loss becoming known, sent into the cities of Italy and Greece to gather up such of the predictions of the Sybils as could be found, for the purpose o-f making a new collection ; but this afforded an opportunity to fabricate many, and from that cause the Sybilline books fell into disrepute. The last collection was burnt in the year 399, by Btilicon. eneral of the Arcadians. 23. The Avenues of Tlube*. At Karnak, a village that is built upon the west bank of the Nile, may be seen the most imposing monuments at present extant, where once stood ancient Thebes. The approach to these monu- ments, in coming from Luxor, is announced by the remains of a flagstone pavement which unite the edifices of Karnak with those of Luxor. This avenue, more than a mile long, was once deco- rated, on the right hand and on the left, with one thousand two hundred sphinxes and six hundred rams, cut in granite, and con- ducted to a magnificent temple, from which two other ranks of sphinxes reached to the greater and lesser temples at the south, the ceilings of which were supported by some hundreds of columns, seventy feet in height. 24. Subterranean Cities. In ancient Egypt there were entire cities under ground which have been discovered during the past centuries, und accounts of them imparted to us. A chain of limestone which borders the Nile, protected the works of these subterranean cities, and the tumulary marvels hidden in the necropoli of Thebes and Memphis equal the sunlit masterpieces of Egyptian art which rest upon the banks of that river. The underground passage of the great pyramid, not far from Memphis, communicates with immense inclosures, wherein may be found delicious gardens, where priests and priestesses reside with their families, including all the population necessary for the service of the mysteries. These subterranean residences and their sur- roundings, which are nearly six miles in circumference, communicate with the seven other pyramids and the twelve temples which cu- viron the city. 25. Jehovah. This word, as here spelled, is unknown to any Asiatic Jew or aboriginal Arab. Its origin even amc ig Europeans, who have 404 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. sanctified it, is neither clfiar nor authentic. When transcribed into the letters of the Arab alphabet, the sound of the four letters which express the name is ialiouah, or ya-ho-wa-hoh. Doctor Robert Walton, one of the most learned and rational biblists who has written upon this mutter, expressly objects to the pronunciation Jehovah, as unknown to the ancients. He states that ' : the editors of the Bible have had the audacity to falsify even the manuscripts in this particular; as, for instance, in the eighth Psalm, when Jeremiah says that he will read the name of the Lord in a certain manner, the editors have put the word Jehovah, when the manu- script obliges Frobenius to give the word Jao" It appears that it was the German theologians, the first disciples of the Rabbins, who gave involuntary place to this reading, by their j and u. The Greek, Philo, translator of the Phenician, Sanchoniathon, concurs with Diodorus of Sicily, Strabo, and other authorities, when he says that the god of the Hebrews was called Jeuo, as we learn from Eusebius, in his "Evangelical Preparation." It is evident, then, that the Hebrews never knew this pretended name, so emphatically styled Jehovah by our poets and theologians ; and they have to pronounce it as the Arabs of to day, iehouh, signifying to be, the essence, existence, the principle of lite. Their word jehouh, therefore, is equivalent to our paraphrase Him who is himself, the Existing Being. If the word jehouh had been deprived, according to the genius of the Greek language, of the two h letters, it would have remained jou, base of you-piter, or jou-pater (jou, generator, essence of life). You-piter (Jupiter} was regarded by the Egyptians, according to Manethon, a priest of Memphis, as the father, the generator of living beings. The god of Moses, Jehouh or Jehovah, and whom he called the soul of the world, is no other than the You-piter of the Egyptians. 26. Tyre. According to the chronology of Herodotus, there was a temple founded to the Phenician Hercules (the sun) in the year 2760 B. C., at ancient Tyre, upon the rock facing the island upon which the city stood some thirteen hundred years afterward. The ancient city destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in the year 572 B. (J., was re- built a few years after by the remnant of the Tyrian people. 27. TJie Jews Driven from Egypt. According to Manethon, the Egyptian priest prievously quoted, "the ancestors of the Jewish people were a mixture of divers classes of men, among which were even Egyptian priests, who. from causes of impurity, canonical defilement, and especially for leprosy, were NOTES. 405 by command of an oracle, expelled from Egypt by a king named Amenuphis." In Exodus it is stated that many strangers followed Israel out of Egypt. 28. TJie Pentateuch. A crowd of circumstances tend to prove that Moses was not the author of the Pentateuch, as these books have come to us. Hel- kiah, the high priest, who, under the reign of the young king Jo- siah, made this king of eight years old, and also the Jewish people, believe that he had found the book of the law in the temple of the Lord, is, in the sense that he collected and arranged these books and prefaced them with a cosmogony, the real author of them as they were presented to the Jewish king, priests, and people. About this time, it will be noticed, the Jews had generally abandoned the worship of the true God for the worship of Baal (the Belus or sun of the Chaldeans), and the high priest conceived the project of re- animating the national spirit by resuscitating the laws of Moses, comprised in the four books containing the precepts, command- ments, prohibitions, rites, and ordinances which constitute that law. It was the mode then to have cosmogonies explanatory of the orig'n of all things, as well of nations as of the world itself, and eacii people had their sacred books, commencing with a cosmogony. The Greeks had that of Hesiod, the Persians that of Zoroaster, the Pheniciaus that of Sanchoniathou, the Hindoos had their Vedas and Pouranas, and the Egyptians had the five books of Hermes. Helkiah desired to give to the Jewish people a book that would serve as their standard, and, so to speak, to promote national con- cord, he believed it necessary to arrange a cosmogony. Both by nature and education Helkiah 'was peculiarly fitted for this work; his people, originally Chaldean, had preserved many traditions, and, like his agent, Jeremiah, he had a political preference for Chaldean tradition. He therefore adopted, with modifications, the Babylon- ish cosmogony. Here we observe the true source of the remarkable resemblance which the historian Josephus, as also all the ancient Christian fathers, have noticed between the first twelve chapters of Genesis and the Chaldean antiquities of Berose. Theie is another portion of the Jewish history no more worthy of credence, as it is given in subsequent books ; this is what is called the Book of Judges, covering from 1551 to 1080 B. C., and the Book of Joshua, which afford us so vague a record of the history of this time, when contrasted with the exact details of the Books ot Kings, that we can not determine but that, previous to the appear- ance of the high priest, or prophet, Elias, the history of the Jews is broken, dissolved; that all is uncertain and confused, and that their annals really o back no further than 1131 B. C. So much is this the case that it is impossible to determine within twenty or 406 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. thirty years when Moses died, and that it is only permitted by a reasonable calculation of probabilities to fix the date of that event at from 1450 to 1420 B. 0. From this condition of their history, it naturally results that if the Jews had no exact notions of the time which elapsed between Moses and Elias, nor of the time of the sojourn in Egypt lor nothing is clear in this regard how could they pretend to have better knowledge of the time previous to their existence as a people in Egypt, or, more anterior far. the time when no nation existed, or about the time man was created, of which no testimony existed, but of which their Genesis give us the recital of events as if the writer had the process passing before him? The Jews say that this was a revelation made by God direct to their prophet Moses. We reply that many nations have held to like language the Egyptian, the Phenician, the Chaldean, and the Persian peoples all have equally had the history of the creation revealed to their prophets. In our day the Hindoos have presented to our missionaries their Vedas and Pouranas, with some pretensions to an antiquity more remote than Genesis or any other of the books attributed to Moses. It is true that our learned biblists reject, or at least contest the authenticity of these books; but the Brahmins, retorting, use our own arguments, and contest the authenticity of our Bible. The most convincing proof that the author of the Hebrew Genesis drew his cosmogony from that of the Chaldeans is afforded us by the recital of the details that we therein find of the deluge, in comparing it with the text of two fragments, the one of Alex- ander Polyhistor, a learned compiler of the time of Scylla, and the other that of Abydene. another compiler, who, Eusebius lias in- formed us, consulted the monuments of the Medes and the As- syrians. That which the Hebrew Genesis recounts of Noah, or Noe, these authors recount of Zisuthrus ; and it is plain that the history, from the beginning of the deluge to the account of the rainbow, is purely Chaldean ; that is to say, that chapters 6 to 11, inclusive, are taken from the legends of the priests of that nation, of an infinitely remote period of time. These texts upon the deluge would afford matter for a volume of commentaries, but we will confine our remarks to what will be necessary for sensible men. The three recitals mentioned are a tissue of moral and physical impossibilities; but here simple good sense does not suffice; it is necessary to be initiated into the astrological doctrine of the ancients to interpret the language employed, and to know that the deluges of the Hebrews, Chal- deans, Greeks, Persians and Hindoos, as having destroyed the world under Noah, Ogyzes, luachus, Zisuthrus, or Satyavrata, are one and the same physico-astronomical event which is repeated every year, and concerning which the principal wonder is the me- taphorical language in which it is expressed. NOTES. 407 In that language the great circle of the heavens is called mun~ C?MS, of which the analogue mondola also signifies, in the Sanscrit, a circle, and of which the orbis of the Latins is the synonym. The revolution by the sun of this circle composed the year of twelve months, and was called orbis, the world, the celestial circle. Consequently, every twelve months the world was finished and the world was begun, the world was destroyed and the world was re- newed. The time of this remarkable event varied, according to the usage of the peoples in commencing their year with the solstices or the equinoxes. In Egypt the year began with the solstice of summer. At this time the Nile exhibited the first symptoms of its annual overflow, and in forty days thereafter the water covers all the land of Egypt to the depth of fiVe cubits. This was then, as it is now, for that low-lying country, an ocean, a deluge most de- structive in the early times, and before the people, becoming nu- merous and more intelligent, had drained the swamps, and with dykes defended themselves from the effects of this overflow. Ex- perience proved to them that a group of stars occupied the heavens coincident with the first symptoms of the rise, and this group they called the ship or bark, as it indicated that now they must be ready to embark; another group was called the dog, and the appearance of which indicated that the flow had attained its greatest height; a third was called the crow, a fourth the dove, a fifth the laborer, and, not far from him. was the virgin harvester. All these persons A^ho figured in the deluge of Noah and Zisuthrus are also in the celestial sphere, which was a true table or calendar, of which the two texts from which we have quoted furnish a description more or less faithful. The most remarkable difference between the Chaldean and tho Hebrew recital is, that the one preserves the astrologico- mytho- logical character, while the other is turned into a sense and toward an object exclusively moral. In fact, according to the Hebrew version of which there are in the text more than a hundred verses, and so well known that it is not necessary here to quote them the human race, having become perverted, "giants," the progeny of the "sons of God" and " daughters of men," exercised all sorts of violence. Then God repents having made man. He speaks; he deliberates upon this subject, and finally he concludes to ex- terminate the whole race, not only of man, but, by the manner of their destruction, necessarily of every living thing upon the earth. One man, however, he is content to save, because he is a just man and worthy of preservation. To this man God makes known his design; he announces the coming deluge; he directs him how to build a ship, etc. When the deluge has destroyed all else, this man, being saved, offers up a sacrifice of clean animals, according to ihr. law of Moses, as announced by him to the Hebrews in the wilder- ness God is so greatly propitiated by this that he promises to 408 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. make no more deluges; he imparts to Noah his blessing, some pre- cepts, and an abridgment of the law of Motes; he enters into an alliance with all living beings, and, as a sign of this alliance, he invents the rainbow, etc. All this is represented in other parts of the text with some contradictions, viz. : it rained forty days the waters remained one hundred and fifty days, when the winds blew and the rain ceased. On the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains are visible, and, forty days afterward, a dove was ent forth, but returns, having found no place whereon to rest her foot, etc. What is this recital but a moral drama ; such a lesson in conduct as might be given to the people by a religious legislator a priest? 29. The Prodigies of Moses. Moses, or rather Moushah, according to the true pronunciation, conceived the project of becoming ruler of and legislator for the Hebrew people, and this design he executed with means appro- priate to the circumstances and a force of character very remark- able. His people, ignorant and superstitious as they have always been, and as were the wandering tribes of the Arabs, believed iu magic a belief that even yet obtains in the Easl^. Moses is said to have executed miracles and prodigies ; that is, he produced natural phenomena which the priests of Egypt, by long study and happy chance, discovered the means of executing. It is impos- sible to account by natural means for the miracles which Moses is said to have performed; but it is plain that the writers who described them exaggerated and corrupted the facts, with the de- sign of magnifying the acts of their prophet, priest, and king. 30. Dogma of an Only God. The Jews, the Christians, and the Mussulmans, founding their belief upon the same books, all admit the existence of a first man, who ruined the whole human race by eating an apple. The prin- cipal difference between them consists in this, that after having admitted one indivisible Grod, the Christians divided the same into three persons, each of whom they maintained was a God entire and complete, without ceasing to form, with the others, an iden- tical whole. And they maintained, further, that this being who filled the universe, assumed the form of an individual man, with a body composed of like perishable materials, without ceasing to be immortal, eternal, and infinite. The Mussulmans, who can not comprehend these mysteries, notwithstanding they believe in the mission of their prophet, rjject the Christian doctrine as the fruit of an unsound mind ; and among the Christians themselves the disagreement widens by as much as the problems upon which they NOTES. 409 differ is impossible of demonstration, and inaccessible to the ap- pro ich of common sense and human reason. Thus, while they admit that God is an incomprehensible and unknown being, they nevertheless dispute as to his essence, the causes of his actions, and his attributes ; admitting his transform- ation into a human body to be an enigma beyond their compre- hension, they dispute about the confusion or the distinction of the two natures, upon the change of substance, or- transubstantiation, the real or fancied presence, and upon the manner of the incarna- tion, etc.; and from these differences innumerable sects have spuing up, and, to the extent of two or three hundred, have become extinct, while two or three hundred others yet exist. The Bible, which is the common authority of all these sects, in substance, says that God (after having passed an eternity doing nothing) conceived the design of producing the world out of nothing; and, having accomplished this labor and completed his creation in six days, he rested upon the seventh; that having, as the crowning part of his creation, made a pair of human beings, the first of their kind, he placed them in a garden very delicious, to the end that they might be perfectly happy, but prohibiting them, however, from eating a certain fruit which he placed within easy reach of their hands ; that this first pair having disobeyed this prohibition, all their kind, none of which were yet born, were condemned to .expiate a fault which, as they had no existence, they could not commit; that after having allowed the human race to be thus condemned during four or five thousand years, this God of mercy, goodness, and justice proposed to his only begot- ten yet co-existent and well-beloved son to assume the form of a man, by being born of a woman upon the earth, to the end that he should suffer death to save man from eternal death ; that hav- ing accomplished these things, and thus saved all men who had existed upon the earth, from the fall of the first pair until his death, this only-begotten sou, co-existent with the Father, or- dained, at his last supper upon earth, a plan by which those who should be born after his death might be saved, and for this pur- pose he instituted a sacrament, named after that event, and by which a little bread is said to compose the body of this sacrificed God, and be endowed, for the benefit of its consumer, with all the effisacy of the real body, and become the oblation or atone- ment for the sins of future men. Now, is it not enough to upset all ideas of justice or reason to admit that a God, just and holy, should have condemned the whole human race because a man and a woman, four or five thou- sand years before, ate an apple? Was there ever a tyrant who made the children suffer for their parents' crimes? What inau can atone for the crimes of another man ? The following picture, extracted from their sacred books, proves, 410 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. in fact, that it is not God who has made man to his image, but, upon the contrary, it is man who has made God to that image and in that likeness which most satisfies himself and suits his purposes. The God of the Israelites, their Jehouh, or Jehovah, as Moses distinguished the You-piter of the Egyptians, is, if we judge from the manner in which he is represented in the Bible, a despot, a revengeful God, and exterminator of the peoples. The human race w;.s perverted, and he repents of having created the species, he speaks, he deliberates, he decides upon a violent means of de- stroying all that has life, thus involving not only the offending race, but all others in a common death ; he has pity upon but a single family of man, which he saves. After the execution of this decision, this same God, who then had entered into an alliance with all the living, is stated to have said to the Hebrew people (See Exodus, chap, xxvi): " I will not exterminate the Canaanites before your face in one single year, for fear that the country should be reduced to a desert." It will be observed that his reason for exterminating the Canaanites at all was, that he is said to have promised their land to the Hebrews. Subsequently this same God, through the mouth of their prophet Samuel, ordered the Jews to exterminate all the people of Amalek, sparing neither man, woman, child, or beast for food or burden; and why? Be- cause, four hundred years previously, the Amalek ites opposed the passage of the Hebrews through their country. Then the same God, furious at the temerity of five thousand persons who look upon the ark of the covenant, strikes them all dead. Elsewhere this same God, among many other trifling acts, dictates to Moses the wood with which he shall make the ark ; he has interviews with the prophets, speaking to them in their chambers, and re- penting one day of what he ordered done the day previous. This is the God of the Jews. But where are the witnesses and proofs of these things which are alleged and reasserted in the Old Tes- tament? There are none. Now, observe what are the qualities of the God of the Chris- tians. This God was at first a God of peace, goodness, and char- ity. Christ exhibits him to us as a being the most holy and perfect, and, at the same time, .as the most affectionate father of all mankind ; but Christ dies, and immediately the priests, who preach what they call Christ's doctrine, change God into a despot, burning with revenge for man's incorrigible wickedness. While assuming to be the successors of Christ, unlike him they preach neither liberty, toleration, nor peace; but, in his name, and with the emblem of his death upraised in their hands, they have led crusades against Arianism, Manicheanism, and Protestantism, under the assertion that the peoples who defended and indulged these doctrines were heretics, and, consequently, accursed of God. It is NOTES. 411 in the name of their God that the aboriginal people of America have been exterminated, Mexico and Peru have been conquered, and their inhabitants destroyed; that Africa has been devastated, and its inhabitants sold like beasts; and, in the same name, that the priests of the " Holy Inquisition" persecuted the sects of the Christian church in Europe until nearly a million of persons were destroyed, over thirty thousand of whom were roasted to death. Now take the Koran, and see what is the god of the Mussul- mans. Their god, as created by Mahomet, his prophet, and called Allah, is. according to the holy books of Islamism, a god opposed in many things to the god of the Jews and the Christians. This god, they say, after having sent twenty-four thousand propheta to the nations which had become idolatrous, finally sent a last prophet, the most perfect of all, Mahomet, upon whom should be impressed the salutation of peace. Then, in order that the infidel should not change the divine word, supreme clemency itself traced the leaves of the Koran, and thus it became immortal, uncreated, eternal as the source from which it emanated ; page by page and leaf by leaf, as it was composed, was it sent by the angel Gabriel to the prophet, and was entirely delivered to him in twenty-four thousand nocturnal visits. These visits were announced by a cold sweat seizing upon the prophet. That in the vision of a night he reached the nineteenth heaven, seated upon the back of the animal Barak, half horse and half woman ; that, owing to the gift of miracles, he reached the sun without protection from the intensity of his light, made trees grow with a single word, filled cisterna with water, split the disk of the moon in two ; and, charged with the commission of God. sword in hand, Mahomet propagated a re- ligion the most worthy of God by reason of its sublimity, and the most suitable for man by reason of its simplicity, since it con- sists of but nine points, viz.: 1. To profess the oneness of God. 2. To recognize Mahomet for his only prophet. 3. To pray five times a day. 4. To fast one month in the year. 5. To go to Mecca once in a lifetime. 6. To give the tenth of your property to the faithful. 7. To drink no wine.. 8. To eat no pork. 1). To make continual war upon the infidels. By practicing these pre- cepts during life, all Mussulmans would, like himself, enjoy thia world with great satisfaction, and at their death, also, like him, become apostles and martyrs, whose souls, borne in the balance of their works, and absolved by the two black angels, after having traversed hell, by crossing that bridge which is straight as a hair and sharp as a saber, would be received into a place the most de- licious a land flowing with milk and honey where, embalmed with all the perfumes of India and Araby, chaste virgins, celestial houris. would minister constantly to their pleasure, and, with them, continue forever young. Here we behold the god Allah of the Ishmaelites, and the para- 412 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. dise promised to the believers of his prophet and those who obey his laws, the first precept of which is murder and war. It is uuder the banner of this doctrine that, during twelve centuries, its fanatical partisans have spread the horrors of war and carnage among the neighboring nations. It is Islamism that has plunged the people of Asia, once flourishing and intelligent, into the realm of barbarism and ignorance. It is thus that these self-styled prophets and priests of God have elevated themselves into doctors of the peoples, and opened the ways of wickedness and iniquity. Attaching merit to prac- tices inconsequent and, in fact, ridiculous, their virtue consists in gesticulating in certain postures, in the expression of certain words, in articulating certain names, in eating and drinking certain kinds of food and drink, and refraining from others. How low are man's ideas of the most elevated of beings! It would seem, in hearkening to the priests of these different religions, that their god, whimsical and capricious, eats and drinks like a man ; that, in turn, he loves and hates, casts down and uplifts ; that, weak as wicked, he nurses his hate ; that, contradictory as perfidious, he sets snares for the unwary ; that, after permitting evil, he punishes it; that, foreseeing crime, he permits it; that, a venal judge, he is propitiated by bribes ; that, an imprudent despot, he makes laws which he immediately revokes; that, ferocious tyrant, he holds or confers his favors without a cause, and bends but to the strength of meanness ! Now that we have seen, as exhibited by their priests and prophets, the God of the Jews, of the Christians, and the Mussul- mans, let us examine him who is revered by Freemasons. Here is their idea of a Supreme Being. From at first they have called him the Grand Architect of the Universe, regarding the universe as that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, and, conformably to this idea, they comprehend under this denomination a universal arid eternal intelligence, gifted with all power, all science, all love; ruling the worlds and the beings which compose the universe by regular and uniform laws to the close of their existence. It is this God, that they reverence as the Only Master, who is seen and made manifest in all the wonders of his works, which they behold amazed; and, as the author and father of all men, he gives to all intelligence and life. Thus regarding the Supreme Being, the religion of Masonry can be but a summary of human wisdom of all those perfections the practice of which render man nearly divine; and it is, in a word, that universal morality which attaches to the inhabitants of "every country to the man of every worship. This morality is more extended and more universal than that of any national religion, for these, always exclusive, class those who do not believe nor worship at thoir shrines as unbelievers, as idolaters, schismatics, sectarians, and NOTES. 413 infidels, while Masonry sees nothing in religionists of every kind but brethren, to whom she opens her temple and admits them, to be therein freed from the prejudices of their country or the errors of the religion of their fathers, by learning to love one another, and to sustain each other. Bearing on high her torch, she would have it shed its pure beams to enlighten and not to destroy ; but while she flies from error she neither hates nor persecutes: her object being, in fine, to blend the whole family of man into one band of brothers, united by love, science, and labor. This being the true Masonic doctrine, it becomes necessary that masonry should open its temples to all men to the Jew as to the Mohammedan, to the adorer of Bhuida or Fot as to the adorer of God in Christ ; and this without seeking to identify itself with the rites of any of the.se religionists, or to follow the standard of any prophet. Without permitting herself to descend to such an adoption, Freemasonry can select from their best doc- trines, and cull from their commandments all that conforms to the rule of her existence; that is, the practice of universal morality. 31. The Worship of the Stars. The worship of the sun has given to the Jewish and Roman Catholic priests the tonsure, which represents the disk of the sun, of which the stole is the zodiac, and the chaplets are the emblems of the stars and planets ; the miter of the pontiff, together with the crozier and mantle, are those of Osiris ; and the cross, the mysteries of which are extolled without being understood by the priests, is the cross of Serapis, traced by the hand of the Egyptian priests upon their symbolic plan of the world, which, passing by the equinoxes and the tropics becomes the emblem of the resur- rection and a future life. 32. The Essenians. This religious and philosophic sect, of which Christ had been a member, was composed of learned Jews who lived in the form of a society similar to that of Pythagoras. Love of labor, sobriety, love of truth, the absence of all oaths, fidelity, love of peace, hor- ror of violence, complete equality in all social relations, property in common, (of which the first Christian community of Jerusalem affords an example,) or, at the least, disinterested aid afforded to those members who were in need ; in general, love to God and man, made manifest by iatense honesty these were the principles which distinguished the Essenians. It was in this celebrated philosophical sect that, among numbers of ancient traditions, that of a future savior a great mediator who would reestablish the nation in all its ancient glory was conserved and principally propagated. This prediction was founded as follows : 414 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. After the Assyrians had destroyed the kingdom of Samaria, some prudent persons, foreseeing the same destiny for Jerusalem, predicted and announced it, and their predictions had all the ap- pearance of prophecies. The hierophants, in their enthusiasm, had conceived a kingly liberator, who would reestablish the nation in its ancient glory, and the Hebrew people again become a powerful people, conquering and to conquer, with Jerusalem the capital of an empire, coextensive with the whole earth. Events having realized the first of these predictions, viz., the ruin of Jerusalem, the people attached to the second much more implicit belief than accorded with the event; and the afflicted Jews looked with an impatience corresponding with their need for the coming of that victorious king and liberator who should re- build the nation fashioned by Moses and reestablish the empire of David. Otherwise, the sacred mythological traditions of the previous time had spread over all Asia an entirely analogous dogma. They had spoken of a Great Mediator, a final Judge, a future Savior, who, as Grod, king, and legislator, should bring the golden age to earth, deliver his empire from evil, and render to man the reign of blessing, peace, and happiness. These ideas found place in the hearts of the people the more as they became oppressed by successive devastation and saddened by the barbarism of their despotic governments; and this conformity between the oracles of other nations and the prophets of their own excited the attention of the Jews. There is little doubt that those prophets had been artful enough to calculate their events after the manner employed in the pagan mysteries; for in Judea general attention had been attracted to the coming of a final savior, when a singular circum- stance determined the period of his advent. It was written in the sacred books of the Chaldeans and Persians that the world, composed of a total revolution of twelve thousand, 1 was divided into two partial revolutions, one of which, the h'n. The lamb is couching, and in front of him is that con- stellation composed of three beautiful stars which Christian astron- omers call the Magi. This is the condition on the 25th December in the astronomical cosmogony. In the Christian cosmogony, upon the 25th Decem- ber, at the same moment, Christ is born of a virgin, in a stable, between an ox and an ass; he is laid in a manger, and is called Jesus, because he is to deliver his people ; then an angel appears, who announces the birth of Christ, whom he styles Lord; on the eighth d;y he is called Savior ; near Jesus and his mother is the foster-father Joseph, the carpenter. Upon the next day is cele- brated the feast of St. Stephen by the Catholic church, and upon the day following that of St. John the Evangelist, whom the sacred books represented accompanied by an eagle. Peter, chief of the twelve apostles (months), is represented carrying the keys of heaven, and, afterward Jesus is known as the Lamb of God who redeems the world. The analogy, it will be observed, is striking. Let us complete it. No sooner is Christ born than three kings, or magi, guided by the star in the East, come to salute and bring him presents, which, according to immemorial usage were consecrated to the sun. Three months after the solstice of winter occurs the solstice of summer, viz.: on the 25th of March. At this instant the sun triumphs, and day and night becomes of equal length. At the moment when Gabriel, upon this day, salutes Mary, in the Chris- tian cosmogony, Osiris, in the Egyptian, was reputed to salute the moon, to the end that she might fructify the earth. On the 24th of. June, feast of St. John, and precise period of the solstice of summer, St. John the Baptist should have baptized Christ to fit him for his work. This St. John the Latin Janua means gate or door has his peer in the St. John of the 27th of December, whose feast opens the solstice of winter. Here it is plain that the St. Johns are no other than the Janua inferi and Janua cozli of the llomans, the doors to the inferior and superior places. These are, in fact, the two precise points when the sun, having arrived at the culminations of his ascending and descending courses, pass from the superior signs into the inferior, and from the latter return into the former. 27 418 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. We come to the death of Christ. Following the Evangelists, it took place on Good or Holy Friday ; and he arose three days after- ward. From the 25th December, the sun having entered the su- perior signs, remains insensible to our horizon until the 21st March. Well, at that instant, upon the 25th March, when he crossed the line, was celebrated by the Jews the feast of the Passover ; for then this feast was not as it is to-day, a moveable one; on the contrary, it occurred invariably at the instant of the vernal equinox. Now equinox signifies equal days as nights; for during the three days which elapse from the 21st to the 25th March, the nights over all the earth are of equal length with the days before the 21st the nights are longer ; afterward they are shorter. The same phenom- enon occurs at the autumnal equinox. At these two periods of the year the equator is found perpendicularly under the sun. Now what is the result of this examination? That the disciples of Christ have surrounded his birth, life, and death with miracles which never took place, but which are, rather, symbolized under solar appearances. That the doctrine of Christ, which is a sum- mary and code of all the truths which were known at this period, is similar to that of the Esscnian school from which he graduated, as it is similar to that of the hierophants of Egypt and the gym- nosophists of India. In a word, that the Christian religion came out from the mysteries of initiation ; and that the creation, the gods, the angels, the occurrences, dogmas, and ceremonies, such as we find them in the sacred books, are nothing but resemblances, more or less faithful, of the ancient gods, angels, dogmas, and ceremonies of the Brahmins, the magi, and the Egyptian priests. During the first three centuries of our era the Christian religion existed but in anarchy and chaos. Opinions as fanciful as ridi- culous divided those who assumed the direction of it, and their opin- ions were sustained by their supporters with fervor, and an abid- ing faith that caused the destruction of myriads, because they were based upon traditions equally as ancient and equally as sacred as those which were offered to replace them. After three hundred years the government became associated with one of these sects, and made its doctrines the religion of the State, to the exclusion of all the others; and these, consequently, became heresies and their holders heretics, to be cursed and destroyed by the dominant party. 33. Christianity.. This religion, having gone forth out of Judea, spread rapidly upon the earth. At first propagated by men whose only object was to reform and simplify the worship of nature, and to make universal morality the basis of that worship, by blotting out for- ever the numerous and horrible sacrifices which every-where in- NOTES. 412 undated the altars with blood, under a solar allegory they exhibited a single victim, worthy of divinity, immolated each year for the preservation and regeneration of nature. This religion was sub- sequently perpetuated by priests, who altered its simple and natural forms, and substituted therefor certain mysteries, ceremonies, and above all, assumed a sacerdotal power totally unknown to its first ministers, the disciples of Clirist, whose only power consisted in appeals to the consciences of men. In its primitive condition, this religion formed the allegorical complement to the worship of nature a worship which of itself was at first nothing more than a grand and beautiful allegory. In the earlier times, and after the death of Christ, the priests of his religion were strangers to all thought of human dominion. Entirely animated by that idea to which he gave expression in the words, "He who devotes himself most diligently to my service here shall be greatest in my kingdom hereafter,'' they were humble, modest, charitable; and constant in their endeavors to imbue those to whom they preached with a similar spirit. Their early meetings were devoid of either parade or show, being nothing but sponta- neous reunions of all the Christ! ins resident in any certain locality. A pure arid simple morality marked their religious enthusiasm, and excited even the admiration of their porseautors. They shared every thing in common property, joys, and sorrows. In the silence of night they met in secret to te.ich and pray. The ayapes, or fra- ternal repasts, terminated these meetings, in which differences of social rank and position were effaced by the belief of a paternal divinity being present. It was thus that Christianity prepared two changes which gradually found place in the manners and customs of all those countries into which this religion extended. Women obtained the rank and importance to which, as the mothers of families, they are justly entitled; and the slaves, as participants at the aj'tpes, were gradually elevated above that oppression under which one half of the whole humau race, anterior to the adveut of Christianity, had bowed itself. 34. The Mysteries of Christianity. At the beginning Christianity was an initiation similar to that of thcpigan?. None ,vere admitted but upon certain determined conditions, and, these conditions complied with, they were reeeiveii and a complete knowledge of the doctrine and mysteries conveyed to them in three degrees of instruction. The initiates were, con- sequently, divided into three classes: The fir^t class was composed of the h-'arc.rs, the second of the catechumens, or those who, having taken the first degree, were in possession of the rudiments of the Christian doctrine, and the third class was composed of the faithful. The hearers constituted the novices who, prepared by certain prac- 420 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. tices, and after having listened and assented to certain instructions, were initiated into the rudimentary degree, and brought to a knowl- edge of a part of the degrees of Christianity. Having attained, in this manner, to the condition of a catechumen, the initiate, having purified himself by the practice of certain ordinances, was baptized, or initiated into the degree of divine generation; and subsequently a knowledge of the mysteries of Christianity, viz., the incarnation, nativity, passion, death, and resurrection, were conveyed to him, and this instruction composed his initiation into the class of the faithful. The mysteries were divided into two parts; the first part was called the mass of the catechumens, and corresponded to the low mass of the Catholic Church of the present day, and the second part was called the mass of the faithful, corresponding to the high mass of the same church. Of these mysteries the celebration of the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, beyond all others, was held as the most inviolable secret, and known only to the faithful. All the mysteries and ceremonies which constituted the early Christian worship are to be found in the worship of Mithra, or solar worship, and the celebration of these mysteries was likewise called the mas. 35.Eleusis, Athens. Of all the magnificent monuments which ornamented " beautifuj Athens," among those possessing any merit there now remains but the ruins of the Pantheon, the temples of Jupiter, Olympus, The- seus, the Winds, and Victory ; the theaters of Bacchus and Herodus Atticus ; the gate of Adrian, and the Erechtheum. 36. The Temple of Balbek. Balbek signifies city of Baal, or city of the sun, and corresponds with the Greek term Hdiopolis. Of this ancient city time has spared but the ruins of a few temples, which may be seen at some distance from anti-Libanus. Of these two are very remarkable, being, in their dimensions, colossal, and erected with huge stones which surpass in the extent of their superficial measurement any thing to be found among the monolithic works of Egypt; while, scattered about may be found the remains of masterpieces of ma- sonic art. 37 The Temple of Tadmor (Palmyra}. The edifices of Palmyra surpass in beauty and grandeur even those of Heliopolis. According to the historian, Josephus, this city was founded by Solomon, who gave it the name of Tadmor. or city of Palms. It is situated in the desert of Arabia, between Syria and the Euphrates. Having fallen into the possession of tho Romans, it was considerably aggrandized by them, under the roign of the Emperor Aurelian (275 A. D.), who ordered the colleges NOTES. 421 of Roman architects to construct therein, among other monuments, many temples of such surpassing beauty and colossal dimensions, that they exceeded all of that character which had ever been erected in previous time. From the remains of the temple of Helios it is apparent that it vvns supported by four hundred and sixty -four columns, of fifty leer high, which sustained the long galleries and porches on either side to the extent of seven hundred feet. Other columns, each composed of a single block of marble, were arranged in four ranks and formed superb avenues. Westwardly is found another temple, which is connected with that which has been described by a long street of columns, making, as it were, a continuous temple, or two temples connected by a colonnade, which it is evident, contained in all one thousand four hundred and fifty columns of from forty to fifty feet high each, something over a hundred of which yet exist in more or less perfection, and brokenly mark the outlines of this magnificent work of art. These ruins have been known to European travelers since 1691. 38. Janus. When the worship of idols was abandoned and that of Christ erected upon its ruins, many of the pagan divinities were appro- priated by the priests of Christianity, and became saints, more or less distinguished, in the Christian calendar. For instance, Diu- t;ysius merged into St. Denis, and Bacchus into St. Demetrius. (>f Perpetua and Felicitas were made St. Perpetua and St. Feli- city. Saints Rogation, Donatian, Floris and Lucius, also St. Apollonarius, were all of pagan origin. Of Janus, with his double face and bearing the keys, significant of the duty assigned him by the Romans that of opening the inferior and superior places, otherwise opening and closing the year the Christians made that St. John who represents the summer solsticial feast, which the pagans celebrated on the 24th of June, and that other St. John, who represents the winter solsticial feast, which the pagans cele- brated on the 25th of December. To favor the mechanism of the new dispensation, two Saints John, instead of one Janus, became necessary ; and thus was a saint provided for the members of the corporations of Roman builders, when, forsaking paganism, they attached themselves to and became members of the Christian re ligion. Hitherto, and as pagans, those colleges had invariably celebrated those feasts, in common with all ancient peoples ; and the transition from a pagan to a Christian festival was, as we have shown, made remarkably easy. It was this motive that induced the Fraternity to adopt the Saints John as patron saints, and not, as is generally supposed and declared, because they were the fore- runner and best beloved of Christ. 422 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. APPENDIX. RECAPITULATION IN the introduction to this, our work, we went back to the first ages of the human race, to the soui'ce of all religions, to tho origin of hieroglyphics and symbols, and to the mysteries of an- tiquity, because not only were many of the truths of the sciences which were cultivated in those mysteries transmitted to the colleges of Roman builders, but because they were intimately connected with architecture, and, in that manner, allied to the history of the human race. Subsequently, in unfolding before the reader the history of the Masonic institution in so succinct a manner as we have done, we paused, in the recital, but at that period of its de- velopment in England when the colleges of architects and builders were established and consolidated with a particular character, and, pure and intact, their original privileges and freedom were guar- anteed to them. In our statements concerning the foundation of this institution, and in those concerning its organization, its object, its labors, its vicissitudes, and its days of glory, we were forced to pass by all that does not really belong to its history ; for this condition we religiously engaged to comply with when we began this our task. Adhering to this condition has been, we believe, as well our merit as our salvation ; for, unlike most authors who have entered this field of investigation, we have not been befogged by the obscurity that must ever attend a search for the origin of Freemasonry among the Hindoos, Persians, or Egyptians , nor have we rendered our history ridiculous by orna- mentation borrowed from the history, manners, or customs of these peoples or, instead of a history, transformed it into a romance, as is commonly done by those who have heretofore produced what they are pleased to offer us as the veritable history of ancient Free APPENDIX. 423 masonry. The road that we have followed was in part already opened by many historians, and in pursuing it, as we have indi- cated, it led us to the cradle of this institution ; but until now, and it is with some degree of pride we make the assertion, no author before us has ever had the courage to approach this vast subject, and in treating it historically, deliver it from the body of that enchantment with which they have, on the contrary, sought to envelope it. In presenting, for the first time in a history of Freemasonry, the works of this singular association, and in enumerating the most remarkable monuments erected by them, from their founda- tion to the sixteenth century, we have constantly followed the course of time and events. - We have accompanied the colleges of constructors, the free corporations, and the Freemasons, into which the former successively merged, through and across centuries, revolutions, invasions, and international wars ; we have traversed the ashes of ancient cities and nations, the remains of thrones and of empires, to the more calm era of the middle ages, when art, and that creative spirit of the human mind elevated towards tlio heaven of its hopes and desires those sublime edifices consecrated and forever the admiration of posterity. We have evoked from their tombs not only the philosophers and civilizers of the ancient peoples which have passed from earth, and the sages who have enlightened them, but also the statesmen, the warriors, the philos- ophers who have made Freemasonry their boast and their pride, and whom, in its turn, Freemasonry has rendered illustrious. The epitome of the worships and mysteries with which we have closed our history, accompanied by the list of the philosophers, reformers, and founders of this worship and those mysteries, from the highest antiquity, proves conclusively that India is the cradle of the human race, and source of all the religions of the world ; while, at the same time, these worships and mysteries present us with a curious museum where are found arranged, so to say, in chronological and exact order, the doctrines, ideas, and institutions of centuries, and among which we discern the origin of what we now estimate as our most useful teachings. In the notes which serve to explain and illustrate these mysteries we have extended our quotations and reflections, to the end that 424 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Freemasons would have an opportunity of comparing the religioua ideas which they may possess with those which were held by the men who for thousands of years have preceded them ; and also for the purpose of accounting to them for the very evident connec- tion which they must see exists between Freemasonry and these ancient religious beliefs and mysteries. This examination will demonstrate to them that, because the members composing the colleges of builders were initiated into the mysteries of Greece or of Egypt, and introduced into the new institution certain forms and doctrines borrowed from these mys- teries, it is not therefore necessary to conclude that these colleges of builders became the successors of the hierophants of Egypt or the gymnosophists of India. If certain truths have been con- served and transmitted to us by these colleges, they otherwise have no peculiar merit, for the Greek and Hebrew philosophers, as also the primitive Christians, have likewise propagated and transmitted such truths and many ceremonies. We repeat, there- fore, that which we have more than once already asserted, that the ancient initiation was instruction in all the then known sci- ence and philosophy, while that which was practiced in the colleges was confined mainly, if not entirely, to the study and the secrets of all the branches of architecture. Moral architecture, or Modern Freemasonry, the issue of the Masonic corporations of Britain, is, without doubt, more closely allied by its object to the ancient initiations than was that prac- ticed among the colleges of builders; but it can never become a school of science and philosophy, seeing that science and philosophy have become the common attainment of all who are now situated and disposed to their study. While, however, this position is happily denied it, Freemasonry should be grander, mor*: sublime, than any form of ancient mysteries, inasmuch as while they were exclusive and confined to classes and peoples, it may embrace the whole race of man, and transform that race into a society of brothers, united by love, science, and labor. It is to such an object every phase of the Freemasonry of to-day should tend, and for the ac- complishment of which each of its initiates should solemnly engage his efforts and influence. APPENDIX. 425 The Commandments of the Ancient Sages, as contrasled with the Precepts of Modern Freemasonry. Having thus retraced the general history of Freemasonry we do not consider our task completed unless we furnish, for the benefit of our younger, and, mayhap, some of our older brethren, a list of the commandments of the wise men of the past ages, and contrast the same with what is known to us as the precepts of Mod- ern Freemasonry. These precepts, being based upon morality and virtue, it is the study of the one and the practice of the other that will render a Mason's life irreproachable. The good of hu- manity being the principal object of Masonry, disinterestedness is one of the first virtues imposed upon its members ; for this is the source of justice and benevolence. To contribute to the happiness of others ; to be humble without degradation; to abjure all sentiments of hate and vengeance; to exhibit magnanimity and liberality without ostentation or dissi- pation ; to be the enemy of vice; to render homage to wisdom and virtue; to respect innocence; to be constant and patient in adversity and modest in prosperity, to avoid all irregularity which may stain the soul or dishonor the body : such are the precepts which, when followed, will make of every Freemason a good citizen, a faithful husband, a tender father, submissive son, and true brother. COMMANDMENTS OP THE ANCIENT SAGES. 1. God is eternal wisdom, omnipotence, immutable and supreme intelligence. 2. By the practice of virtue, honor thyself. Thy religion should be to do good as a pleasure, and not as a duty. In observing their precepts, become the friend of the wise. Thy soul being immortal, do nothing to dishonor it. Cease not to make war upon vice. 3. Do to others that which thou wouldst desire them to do to thyself. In submitting to fortune, thou but followest the light of the wise. 4. Thou shouldst honor thy parents and aged persons. Thou shouldst enlighten the young and protect children. 5. Thou shouldst cherish thy wife and little ones. Thou ehouldst love thy country and obey her laws. 426 GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. 6. Thy friend being to thee as a second self see that thou bringest no misfortune upon him. Thou shouldst regard his memory as thou wouldst his life. 7.' Thou shouldst shun false friendships, avoid all excesses, and fear to stain thy good name. 8. Thou shouldst subdue thine own passions and utilize the passions of others. Be indulgent to error. 9. Hear much, speak little, and weigh well that which thou speakest. 10. Forget injuries ; render good for evil, and abuse not power or authority intrusted to thee. 11. Thou shouldst learn the nature of man, to the end that thou learnest thine own nature. 12. Seek the truth. Be just. Avoid idleness. PRECEPTS OF MODERN FREEMASONRY. 1. Be just ; because equity sustains the human race. 2. Be good ; because goodness enchains all hearts. 3. Be indulgent; because, feeble thyself, thou shouldst bear with the feebleness of others. 4. Be kind; because kindness secures affection. 5. Be grateful ; because gratitude is the food that nourishes liberality. 6. Be modest; because pride is offensive to your fellow-beings. 7. Pardon injuries; because vengeance perpetuates hate. 8. Render good for evil ; because in this way you will rise su- perior to the evil-doer and make him your friend. 9. Be forbearing, temperate, chaste ; because voluptuousness, intemperance, and sensuality are destructive of thy existence, and will render it miserable. 10. Be a citizen; because thy country is necessary for thy security, thy happiness, and thy well-being. 11. Defend thy country with thy life; because it' is her who secures thee in thy property, and in the possession of all those beings dear to thy heart; but never forget that humanity has rights. 12. If thy country wrong thee if she refuse thee happiness, and suffer thee to be oppressed leave her in silence ; but never trouble her. Support adversity with resignation. 428 REMARKS on the Views maintained by Bro. Rebold f as exhibited in his Notes to his Epitome of the Wor- ships and Mysteries of the Ancient Eastern World. IN his explanation of the origin of Christianity, in Note 32, Bro. Rebold has adopted views not in accordance with the belief of Christians, as comprised in the Nicene Creed. He would lead us to believe that the accepted legends concerning the birth and death of Jesus can be ex- plained by astronomical data, and that no miraculous intervention need attach to those occurrences that his birth was but the birth of any man; his death that of one who had offended the laws of his country, and his life, at least during the term of his itinerant pastorship, alone worthy of our admiration, as fruitful with preaching the most acceptable to mankind, because expressive of all that can ennoble the human race. In this regard, the translation and publication of some of Bro. Rebold' s "Notes" have given offense, and a few of those who have felt themselves offended by Bro. Rebold' s views being introduced into a history of Free- masonry, have expressed their dissatisfaction in some of the Masonic newspapers of the country, as also their desire that the circulation and sale of the "General History of Freemasonry in Europe" should be sup- pressed by all who think with them, as a book dangerous to the Church and subversive of the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. To all such brethren, and we believe few but Freemasons purchase this book, we would respectfully recommend the fact that the incidental allusions in it, expressive of its author's religious belief, can do no harm to those who do not believe as he does, and certainly they can not be regarded as hurtful to any other person. If Bro. Rebold has discovered what he conceives to be the true meaning of certain legends, express- ions, and assertions contained in the Scriptures, and denies the existence of miracles, he but asserts his own individuality without depriving any other brother of that condition, and at the same time, as a historian, he takes his position among the members of that advanced school who, as to miracles, argue as follows: "It is an absolute rule of criticism to deny a place in history to nar- ratives of miraculous circumstances ; nor is this owing to a metaphys- IN NOTES TO WORSHIPS AND MYSTERIES. 429 ical system, but is simply the dictation of observation No miracle has ever been really proved. All the pretended miracles near enough to be examined are referable to illusion or imposture. If a single miracle had ever been proved, we could not reject those of ancient history; for, admitting that very many of the last were false, we might still believe that some of them were true. But it is not so. Discussion and exam- ination are fatal to miracles at the present day, and therefore we are authorized to believe that those miracles which date many centuries back, and regarding which there are no means of framing a contradictory debate, are also without reality. In other words, miracles only exist when people believe in them. The supernatural is but another term for faitk Catholicism, in yet maintaining that it possesses miraculous pow- ers, subjects itself to the influence of this law. The miracles of which it boasts never occur where they would be most effective. Why should not this fact be brought more prominently forward? A miracle at Paris, London, or New York, for instance, performed to the satisfaction of learned men, would put an end to all doubt But, alas for miracles! such a thing never happens. A miracle never takes place before skeptical or incredulous people, who are the most in need of such a convincing proof of the supernatural. Credulity on the part of the witnesses is the essen- tial condition of a miracle." There is not a solitary exception to the rule that miracles are never produced before those who are able or permitted to discuss and criticise them. Cicero, with his usual good sense and penetration, asks, in his De Divinatione, "Since when has this secret force disappeared? Has it not been since men have become less credulous?" In support of the reality of miraculous agency, appeal is made to phe- nomena outside of natural laws, such, for instance, as the creation of man. This creation, it has been said, could only have been compassed by the direct intervention of God; and why could not this intervention be manifested at other decisive crises, and after the development of the universe? Without at all entering upon the domain of theology, it is easy to show how defective is this argument. It is equivalent to main- taining that every thing which does not happen in the ordinary condi- tions of nature, every thing that can not be explained by science, or per- formed by man upon scientific or philosophic principles, is a miracle, or, in other words, a direct intervention of Deity. While we heartily ac- knowledge that God may be permanently in every thing, particularly in every thing that lives, we deny the reality of the supernatural until we are cognizant of a demonstrated fact of this nature. In far distant epochs there occurred without doubt phenomena which, on the same scale at least, are not repeated in the world of to-day. But there was at the time they happened a cause for those phenomena. In geological forma- 430 tion may be met a great number of minerals and precious stones which nature seems no longer to produce. Yet they have all been artificially produced by manufacturers of minerals and precious stones. If life can not be artificially produced, it is because the reproductions of the condi- tions in which life commenced (if it may be said ever to have commenced) are beyond human knowledge to attain. The formation of humanity, if we think of it as a sudden, instantaneous thing, is of all things in the world the most shocking and absurd; but if it is viewed as the result of a long continued progress, lasting through incalculable ages, it maintains its place in general analogies without losing its mystery. The laws of natural liib are not applicable to einbryotic life. The embryo develops all its organs one after another. It creates no more, because it is no longer at the creative age ; just as language is no longer invented, be- cause there is no more to invent. But why continue an argument wherein the adversary but begs the question? We ask for a proven miracle, and are told that such took place anterior to history. Certainly if any proof were wanting of the necessity of belief in the supernatural to certain conditions of the soul, it would be found in the fact that many minds gifted in all other points with due penetration have reposed their entire faith in an argument as desperate as this. The objectors to Bro. Rebold's views are further content to reject what nearly all of its readers have acknowledged. to be the most reasonable and apparently correct history of the origin of Freemasonry that has ever been published, because, in those "Notes," he evinces a disbelief in the accepted legends of the origin of Christianity. In view of this condition, Bro. It. may exclaim as did John Huss on sight of an old woman whom he observed perspiring under the Aveight of a faggot she was dragging to his stake, U O sancta simplicitas !" Let these good brothers repress their breath and their heat, however, for, according to a beautiful expression of Scripture, God is not in the wind, nor in the fire. If the annoyance which they have ex- perienced, in reading what they object to, proved instrumental in aiding the cause of truth, there would be something of consolation in it. But Truth is not for the angry or passionate man. She reserves herself for those who, free from partisan feeling, from persistent affections, and enduring hates, seek her with entire liberty, and with no mental reser- vation referring to human affairs. These problems form only one of the innumerable questions with which the world is crowded and which the curious are fond of studying; and their introduction into Notes explana- tory of the Mysteries and Worships of Antiquity is certainly not im- proper. No one should be offended by the announcement of a mere theoretical opinion. Those who would guard their faith as a treasure can defend it very easily by ignoring all works written in an opposing IX NOTES TO WCESHIPS AND MYSTERIES. 431 spirit The timid would do better by dispensing with reading alto- gether. In writing the works which he has produced, Bro. Rcbold, it must be acknowledged, has been influenced by a desire to find the truth, and to make the events of the past of Freemasonry knoAvn with the greatest possible exactness. In doing so we do him but justice to believe he had no thought of shocking the religious preferences of any one. He has written with no desire to proselytize, except for truth, and evidently in the conviction that every concession made to the scruples of those who had written on this subject before him was a derogation from the dig- nity and culture of truth. It can at once be seen that, when conducted in such a spirit, any writer must sink his individuality in his composi- tions. The first .principle of the critical school is the allowance, in matters of faith, of all that is needed, and the adaptation of beliefs to individual wants. Why should we concern ourselves about things over which no one has any control? If any person should adopt the principles of Bro. Rebold, as evinced in his "Notes," it is because that person has the mental tendency and the culture adapted to those principles ; and all that Bro. R. or any brother might write during the term of their natural lives could not impart this tendency and this culture to those who do not nat- urally possess them. Philosophy differs from faith in this: that faith is believed to operate by itself, independently of the intelligence ac- quired from dogmas. Bro. Kebold, on the contrary, holds that truth only possesses value when the order of its ideas is comprehended. He does not consider himself obliged to maintain silence in regard to those opinions which may not be in accord with the belief of some of his readers. He makes no sacrifices to the exigencies of differing orthodox- ies, but, instead of attacking them, he evidently does not allow them to influence him in any manner. To use his own language (at pp. 423-4), he has "extended his quotations and reflections to the end that Free- masons would have an opportunity of comparing the religions ideas which they may possess with those which were held by the men who, for thousands of years, have preceded them; and also for the purpose of accounting to them for the very evident connection which they must see exists between Freemasonry and these ancient religious beliefs and mysteries" which those quotations and reflections merely serve to il- lustrate. The men who believe Bro. Rebold has offended in the first instance, and his American translator in the second, evidently are unfamiliar with the speculative tendencies of Freemasonry, and do not comprehend that such tendencies lead to the study of that which those men believe should not be questioned. They would repel, yea, excommunicate those 432 REMARKS ON THE VIEWS OF x BRO. REBOLD. who dare to think outside of the accepted groove of their own thoughts. The Heavenly Father, upon the contrary, only excommunicates the self- ish and narrow-minded. The spirit of liberty in the realm of thought, like the wind, bloweth where it listeth. Theory is not practice. Do those who freely speak when they believe duty dictates equal, after all, in merit, those who in secret cherish and restrain the doubts known only to God? In the language of an eloquent modern writer,* we say " Peace, then, in th'e name of God ! Let the different orders of men live and pass their days, not in doing. injustice to their own proper spirits by making con- cessions, but in mutually supporting each other. It is well known what follows when orthodoxy succeeds in overpowering free thought and sci- ence. Stupidity and mediocrity are the bane of certain Protestant countries where, under the pretense of maintaining the spirit of Chris- tianity, art, science, and freedom of opinion are degraded. Lucretia of Rome and Saint Theresa, Aristophanes and Socrates, Voltaire and Fran- cis of Assissi, Raphael and Saint Vincent de Paul, all enjoyed to an equal degree the right of existence in the world, and humanity would have been lessened had a single one of their individual elements been wanting." J. F. B. * Ernest Renan author of the " Origins of Christianity," etc. University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 1AR151995 RETURNED FEB 1 1995 Santa Cruz Jiiney UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY