Grand Orient Of France.

GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE .

THE Annual General Assembly of the Grand Orient of Prance was opened on Monday , 12 th September , and closed on Saturday following with the customary banquet . Tho chair was taken at tho morning and evening sittino-s of the first-named day by Bro . De Saint-Jean , President of the Council of the Order , who , we are informedhad

, but recently recovered from a long and painful illness . At the second sitting M . AH Margaret was chosen President of the meeting , and to him accordingly Bro . De Saint-Jean resigned the gavel . At the Friday sitting , after duo honour had been paid to the memory of the late Prince

Frederick of the Netherlands , for sixty-five years Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Netherlands , the election of eleven brethren to serve on the Council , instead of as many members retiring hy rotation , and ono in place of the late Bro . Albert Joly , was proceeded with . The

following were successful , namely , Bros . Poulle , Wyrouboff , Lagache-Saint-Gest , Duhamel , Thulie , Bruaud , and Done , who were re-elected ; and Bros . Maynard , Ali Margarot , Guimbaud , De Serres , and Pean , the last named being chosen for two years only , while the rest -will serve for the

full term of threo years . The following were then chosen by the Council to be its Officers for the year , namely : — Bros . Do Saint-Jean , President ; Cousin and Caubet ,

Vice-Presidents ; Poulle and Wyrouboff , Secretaries . A table was then submitted from which ifc appeared that , on the 1 st March of this year , there were in the French Lodges 15 , 221 members , to which number 683 brethren since

initiated or affiliated must be added , making a total of 15 , 904 active members , as against 13 , 281 at the corresponding period lasfc year . The banquet , under the presidency of Bro . De Saint-Jean , brought tho proceedings to a close .

Occasional Papers.—No. Iii.

OCCASIONAL PAPERS . —No . III .

— : o * . — THE RISE AND EARLY PROGRESS OF SPECULATIVE FREEMASONRY .

Read in the Confidence Lodge of Instruction , 38 th November 1876 . WERE I asked to arrange fche history of Freemasonry in certain well-defined periods , I should feel justified in dividing ifc into the following : —The first I shonld

describe as tho Philosophical , or batter still , perhaps , the Mystical period , relegating to it all those curious legends and traditions , which certainly exist , but of the value of which we are at the best mosfc

imperfectliny formed . This period I should carry as far forward as the Middle Ages . The second I will describe as the Operative period , extending from the time when Mason Guilds were

established in the Middle Ages clown to the latter half of the seventeenth century , when Operative Free-masonry gradually , we may almost say imperceptibly , lost its su-

Occasional Papers.—No. Iii.

premacy . The third period commences with the eig hteenth century , and embraces tho whole history of our present Society , from the establishment in London of the Grand Lodge of England till now . This I designate the

Speculative period . During all the 104 years it has endured , we have seen our modern system of Freemasonry gradually progressing , till it is now established universally over the entire surface of fcho earth , and is felt to possess so great an influence that the members of one particular form ot

religious worship and moro than one government aro never so content as when fiercely denouncing its principles . Such is my periodical arrangement of Masonic History , nor do 1 think there are any strong reasons for rejecting ifc , except , indeed , it be in the case of those who hold , with Bro .

Buchan and others , that Modern or Speculative Freemasonry goes no further back than the beginning of the last century . They , of course , would reject tho idea that anything like our present system existed in tho remote ages of antiquity . They would likewise decline to see any

connection , except , perhaps , a formal one , between our Speculative system and the preceding or Operative system . Bufc while I confess lam not prepared to accept the strange story which some among us have woven together and describe as a true and circumstantial record of the Craffc , I

see no just reason for refusing to entertain , with our Most Worshipful Pro Grand Master , the belief that Freemasonry does trace back its origin to a very remote period indeed , lam not , however , about to advance any theory of my own , or support anybody else ' s , by what I may consider proofs

of this antiquity . In the first place , it would occupy far more space than is at our disposal , and in the second , interesting as such a paper could undoubtedly be mado by those better versed in the question than myself , ifc would lead , I fear inevitably , to a long and perhaps unprofitable

discussion . Nor am I about to embark m any controversy for the purpose of establishing the , to my mind , undoubted connection of Speculative with Operative Freemasonry . I am simnly about to give a short , and I trust an accurate

sketch , of the Bise and Early Progress of our present system ; for which purpose it is necessary I should take you back well nigh a century beyond the Constitution , or as many call it , the Revival of our English Grand Lodgo in the year 1717 .

We all know that many years before this year of grace several honourable gentlemen were received as members of operative Lodges . The earliest authenticated cases of these receptions are mentioned by Bro . Murray Lyon , in his elaborate history of Freemasonry in Scotland , and occurred

some time before the year when the celebrated Elias Ashmole was made a Mason at Warrington , in Lancashire . As far back , indeed , as fche year 1600 we find , on fche authority of this learned brother , mention of William Shaw , Master of Work , and John Boswell , the laird of Auchinleck ,

engaged in settling an alleged breach of Masonic law . Bufc ifc Is not till the year 1634 that we have evidence of nonprofessional persons being admitted into the membership

of the Lodge of Edinburgh , or Sfc . Mary ' s Chapel . On the 3 rd July of thafc year it is recorded iu the minutes thafc the right honourable Lord Alexander , Anthony Alexander , and Sir Alexander Sfcraehan were made fellow-crafts in thafc Lodge . These minutes are as follow , and are regarded

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