Monarchs And Masonry.

MONARCHS AND MASONRY .

IN one of his recent interesting letters , which are widely published in the American press , the Marquise de Fontenoy chats thus about European rulers who are Masons : Old world monarchs who may happen to have been

Freemasons prior to their accession to the throne , as a rule sever their connection with the Craft on succeeding to the crown ; they resign the Grand Mastership , or any other

Masonic dignities which they may have held , withdraw from the Lodge to which they have belonged , and content themselves with assuring the Order of their goodwill and royal protection .

This action on their part has sometimes been ascribed to the fact that as monarchs they could not admit of the doctrine of absolute equality among the Brethren . But in truth , this is a minor consideration in the matter . The fact is , that they are obliged to take this step by political

considerations , the nature of which will be appreciated when it is known that the Turkish Freemasons have lately addressed an appeal to King Edward on behalf of ex-Sultan Mourad , elder brother of the present ruler of Turkey . The appeal

refers to him as " one who for the last quarter of a century has been imprisoned on the pretext of a mental malady , " and begs King Edward to use his influence to secure " the freedom of a Brother Mason . "

It is fortunate that before this petition lnd reached its destination King Edward had surrendered the Grand Mastership of English Freemasons to the Duke of Connaught and

had severed his connection with the Craft . Otherwise he would have been placed in an exceedingly awkward position , since his Masonic obligations would have clashed with the political interests of his kingdom .

It is for the purpose of avoiding just such quandaries as these that old world sovereigns find it convenient to sever their connection with the Craft on ascending to the crown ,

and King Edward has merely followed the example of the King of Sweden , the Emperor of Germany , of Emperor Frederick , of the King of Denmark , and of several of the sovereigns of the German confederation in the matter .

Napoleon III . neglected to take this step when he became Jimperor of the French , and it was owing to his Masonic obligations that he gave such powerful support to the United Italy party , south of the Alps , in defiance of French interests . For it is hardly necessary to point out

that it was to the advantage of France that Italy should remain divided up into a number of petty sovereignties instead of constituting one united kingdom that would necessarily become a menace and a danger to France .

Napoleon III . was a Mason of the Italian rite , and he had joined the Order in his youth while living in Italy and at a moment when the Italian Lodges were the life and soul of the movement in favour of the unification of Italy , with Rome as its capital .

When Napoleon ascended the throne of France , he found it convenient to forget his obligations which he had taken upon himself as member of the Italian Lodges . But Mazzini , who was one of the principal dignitaries of the Grand Orient of Italy , and other influential Masons lost no time in

reminding him of his solemn pledges , giving him to understand that not merely the enmity of the Craft but also punishment in the shape of death would inevitably overtake him unless he lived up to his promises . Not only threats but bona fide attempts upon his life commenced to follow upon one another

with startling rapidity , until in 1859 he , to the dismay of all of his most sensible councillors and friends , embarked France m a costly and wholly unnecessary war with Austria for the purpose of driving it out of Lombardy and of uniting the latter , as well as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany , the Duchy of t

--arma , and a number of other petty sovereignties of the peninsular to what was then known as the Kingdom of Sardinia . He likewise gave material support to the movement which resulted in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Naples and its absorption by the Kingdom of Sardinia , which then became the Kingdom of Italy .

^ Napoleon ' s Masonic friends demanded that he should heip them to secure possession of Rome . But he realised that his subjects would not tolerate his taking part as soverei gn of France in any movement that had for its object the overthrow of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope , and

Monarchs And Masonry.

that he would risk not only revolution and the loss of his throne , but likewise domestic catastrophes if he continued any longer to yield to the demands of his Italian fellow-Masons . It was then that he caused his cousin , Prince Murat , to become Grand Master of the French Freemasons , and

proclaimed his intention of protecting the Order in France , in order to thoroughly make it clear both in his own dominions and in Italy that he had ceased to be a Mason or to be bound by his obligations as such , although he remained

a friend of the Craft . And in order to give a token of his goodwill to the latter he issued a decree , bearing the date of 1862 , legally recognising and authorising the existence of the Order of Freemasons in Prance .

This , however , did not satisfy his former Masonic Brethren in Italy , and until the end of his reign he was an object of their special enmity and hatred , the persecution to which they subjected him being well nigh intolerable . In

fact , his experience constituted a notable warning to all old world sovereigns to relieve themselves of their Masonic obligations as soon as ever they ascended the throne and became burdened with great national and international responsibilities .

Ex-Sultan Mourad was a Mason long before his accession to the throne at Constantinople , and it may incidentally be said that Masonry plays a great role not merely in Turkey and Egypt , but likewise in Afghanistan , India , China , and , indeed , throughout the Orient , the Masonic Lodges in the

Philippines having been the life and soul of the insurrectionary movement against the Spaniards prior to 1898 . It cannot be denied that not only in continental Europe but likewise through the Orient Masonry has been largely identified with liberalism in politics , and it was largely because ex-Sultan

Mourad , as a Freemason , was so progressive that the fanatic Moslem clergy and those pashas interested in the maintenance of the older order of things in Turkey deposed him in favour of the younger brother of the present Sultan . During the six months that Mourad was on the throne

he announced his intention of establishing a thoroughly constitutional form of government . He likewise surrendered to the national treasury two-thirds of his civil list , cut down the palace expenses by at least 50 per cent , and actually declared himself in favour of female suffrage and of woman ' s

rights . He likewise instituted steps in the direction of a radical reform of the Mohammedan religion . Whether he was qualified to effect the latter is open to question , inasmuch as he had openly professed himself a free thinker and repeatedly heaped ridicule upon the faith of the Prophet ,

especially when in his cups . The memory of his advanced liberalism remains green in the hearts of the Young Turk party , whose idol and hope he is , and it is probable that

if the Young Turk party ever succeeds in bringing about a revolution and in overthrowing the present Sultan , his elder brother , Mourad , the Freemason and reformer , will be restored to the throne .

Many European sovereigns , Catholic as well as Protestant , have been Freemasons until their accession . Thus King Louis XVIII . and King Charles X . of France belonged to the Lodge of the " Three Brothers" until their succession , while King Louis Philippe was a member of the Craft while

still Duke of Orleans , as was also his eldest son , the late Duke of Orleans . King Frederick the Great of Prussia was a member of the Absalom Lodge of Hamburg while still Crown Prince , and one or another member of the reigning house of Hohenzollern has always been identified with the Craft . — " American Tyler . " **&************* # »

How It Looks To The French.

HOW IT LOOKS TO THE FRENCH .

The French Masonic journal , " Revue Maconnique " thinks American Knights Templar a childish set . The following is translated from the last March number of that publication : The desire for ostentation and parade sometimes drags

American Masons into extravagancies of which it is difficult for us to conceive . It is , for example , quite the thing in the United States to become a Knight Templar . This grade is the twelfth of the series combined by Thomas Smith Webb

which is improperly designated as " American Rite . " It was originally imported from England , where the Templars constitute a secret society distinct 'from Freemasonry , n ' though its members can be recruited onl y from among Masons , In