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H ^^^^ M ^^ H

The History Of Freemasonry.

THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY .

( Continued from page 218 ) . FROM the Stonemasons of Germany Bro . Gonld transfers his attention to the Craft Guilds— Oorps a"Mat —of France , which existed from the earliest times down to the period of the French Revolution , when the National

Assembl y in 1793 decreed their abolition . At the outset be notes the remarkable fact that the French Masonic writers , unlike their German brethren , have not looked for the ori g in of Freemasonry in the past history of their country or its traditions and usages . This , he observes , is all the

more remarkable because , " by a judicious combination of the history of the French trade guilds with that of the Companionage , a much better case might be made ont than the Steinmetz theory , requiring for its complete establish - ment no deliberate falsification of history , as in the former

instance , bnt only a sli ght amount of faith in some very plausible conclusions , and natural deductions from undoubted facts . " He quotes , however , sundry passages which show that some French writers had a certain glimmering of the possibility of a connection between the Craft

Guilds and modern Freemasonry . Thus the writer of an anonymous pamphlet , which appeared in 1848 , speaks of the " communit y of origin which unites the societies of the Companionate with that of the Freemasons . " M . Simon

says , The moment we begin to reflect , we are quickly led vo . studying the facts to the conclusion that the Companionage and Freemasonry have one common origin . " Thory gives a slight sketch of the Companionage , and remarks , " Some authors have maintained that the coteries of

working masons gave rise to the Order of Freemasons , " whilo Besuchet , in his " Precis Historiqne de l'Ordre de la , Franc-Ma ^ onnerie , " observes that in 1729 the prevailing opinion "i France was that " England only restored to her what she had already borrowed , inasmuch as it is probable ,

according to a mass of authorities and fraditions , that Free-Jnasonry , in its three first or symbolic degrees , is of French origin . " In tracing the rise and progress of these Guilds , Brother Gould invites his readers to bear in mind that France was

not , nntil comparatively recent times , a homogeneous state Julius Caesar fonnd it in three divisions , which he specifies the Bel gre , inhabiting one , being Teutons ; and tlie Aqni tani , who inhabited another , being , it is supposed , of Afii

can origin ; while Gaul Proper , or Celtic Gaul , was inhabited by the Celts , or Gauls as the Romans called them ; these last being subsequently subdivided into three classes . •out though the manners and customs of the three races differed from each other very widely , Roman civilisation ,

thongh it failed to affect thom all to an equal degree , obtained a deep and lasting hold on all classes , as is shown by the fact that in spite of the ultimate subjugation of the

whole country b y the German tribes , all the dialects and languages known and used at different times " have merged in a derivative of the Latin tongue . " Moreover , this same civilisation , which had obtained a firm footing in tlie

conntry long before the first invasions of the barbarians , was not destroyed by the invaders . The Alans , Sneviaus , Vandals , and Burgundians , who crossed tho Rhine at the close of 405 A . D ., and passing through France into Spain , left many of thoir number behind , who settled in Gaul , and pillaged

the cities , but did not destroy them . These settlers soon became allies of the Romans , thongh retaining their own usages and customs . Then the Franks and Visigoths successively effected settlements in the country , and the former , who occupied principally the north central provinces , grew

in strength as the Roman empire grew weaker , and succeeded finally in getting rid of the Roman domination , but not of its civilisation . " The conquerors , " says Bro . Gould , fi had for three generations " —406486— " been neighbours and allies of Rome , although they had probably not

conformed to any . great extent with the Roman customs . They already looked upon the country as their home ; many warriors must have been natives of it , and there would be no desire to utterly devastate it . The war was not ona of ruthless extermination . The legions were driven ont , but

the cities remained . r lhey were repeatedl y pillaged by the victors , but they were not destroyed ; the citizens were harassed , and doubtless many of them killed , hut the basis of civilised life was untouched ; the Teutons , true to their nature , retired to the country districts , leaving- the cities to

recover from their losses , ancl to accumulate fresh hoards whioh might serve as tbe spoil of some future foray . " Having got rid of the Roman governors , the Franks gracln- - ally established their authority over the other tribes settled in Ganl , and before the end of the Merovingian dynasty in

752 , Gaul had practically become the country of the Franks , or France , the inhabitants remaining , however , composed of representatives of all the tribes that had settled in the country . " In the cities the inhabitants had probably changed very little , and preserved their manners ,

customs , ancl language , " the Germans avoiding the towns , even Paris , the capital , being seldom inhabited by them . Thus , on the departure of the Roman governors , the cities set about organising themselves afresh , and would appear " to have immediately formed a species of republican

government . " The executive authority was placed in the bands of the lieutenants who had already exercised it on behalf of the old governors . " Tbe priests and bishops naturally took a prominent part in this new system , which was probably based on the trade organisation of the Romans .

Those Colleges , which consisted of more than one trade , appear to have split up into their several component parts , and their elected officers to have formed , together with the heads of the clergy , a municipal council . As they already exercised the petty police of the towns , they now added to

their duties magisterial functions , ancl the imperial prerogative of levying taxes , " And , in order to prove that " the cities of France , up to the time of Charlemagne , were veritable republics ; and also that the divisions into craffc

guilds existed from very early times , " Bro . Gould adduces " a few quotations from careful writers and authentic documents , " the testimony itself on these points being most ample . Very many of these quotations may with advantage be reproduced .

Thus Levasseur , in his " Histoire des Classes Onvrieres en France , " says— " Ifc was more especially in the south and in the cities that tho traditions of the pasfc were perpetuated . The country districts had been invaded by

the men and usages of Germany , bufc the cities , a sojourn in which was avoided by fcho barbarians , preserved their Roman populations , and even a portion of their ancient civil and political institutions . In 462 the games in the circus wore still celebrated at Aries . " In Vol . iii . of " Le

Moyen Age et la Renais-sanco , ' article , A . A . Mpntoil , Corporation des Metiers , " is a passage to the effect thafc "in the fifth century the history of the holy hermit Ampelius , who lived at Cimecz , mentions the consul or chief of the locksmiths . " Tho fol ' owing aro from

Levasseur : " In the year obo Gonfcran visited Orleans ; all the inhabitants came out to meet him , bearing their flag .-i ancl banners ; " aud "In 629 Dagobcrfc established a fair in Paris for the merchants , foreigner ;*; as well as natives . It took place yearly on the 9 th October , and lasted four