Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A. And A. Rite In The United States Of America.
A . AND A . RITE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA .
BT BRO . JACOB NORTON . IN my recent letter on the newly discovered R . A . Ritual , printed 24 th Jnne , I quoted from Marconnay ' s introduction as follows : — " This copy was made by the undersigned [ Marconnay ] at New-York in 1833 , from a copy of Count De Saint Laurent , " & c . The name of Marconnay and his doings I remembered vory well
bnt the Count ' s name slipped my memory . On perusing , however , a Scotch Rite pamphlet recently issued by Bro . E . T . Carson , of Cincinnati , I came across the name of Count de St . Laurent , thus prov . ing that the said Count de St . Laurent was in New York during the latter part of 1832 , and doubtless remained there until 1833 . I must , however , here premise that since the first deoade of this century , our
American Scotch Riters were divided into hostile factions , and the champions of eaoh faction invariably denounced all the other faotions as spurious , illegitimate , clandestine , & c , but maintained that his own faction was the only Simon Pure thing alive . My esteemed Bro , Carson is not an exception to the rule , as the following introduction of the Count will show . Bro . Carson says : —
" The Hicks' Supreme Council was a spurious Masonic Scotch Rite body . Ifc was organised in 1827 , at New York , as the Supreme Council of the United States of America , their territories , and dependencies , and disbanded in November 1832 . On the same day Hicks , in conjunction with a Masonic adventurer , a Frenchman , with the title of Count St . Laurent , a coloured gentleman , opened another spurious Supreme
Council under the following stunning title : — ' The United Supreme Conncil for the Western Hemisphere ( legally and solemnly formed of the Old Supreme Councils of New Spain , of Terra Firma , and South America , from one sea to the other , Canary Islands , & c . & o ., and of the Old Supreme Council of the "United States of North America , sitting at the E . of NewYork . '" ( To which Bro . Carson adds ) , " This
celebrated Treaty of Masonio Union , & c , purports to be signed by legally authorised representatives of the New York , or Hicks' Supreme Council , the Supreme Counoil of France , and the Supreme Couucil of Brazil sitting at the East of Rio de Janeiro . " It seems to me thafc whenever an advocate brings in the religion or race of an opponent , simply because that religion or raoe happens to
be unpopular , that that itself is a prima , facie evidence of his consciousness of the weakness of his cause , and such was the oase with Bro . Carson ' s specially informing ns that the Count was a " coloured gentleman . " Ragon , who evidently despised the high , grades , with all their aiders and abettors , including Count St . Laurent , did not seem to know about his negro extraction , nor does Dr . Folger , who was a
Mason in New York about or very near 1833 . For these and other reaBons I propose to take issue with Bro . Carson upon that question , thus : I settled in Boston in 1842 . About seven years before my arrival , a Boston mob would have murdered Mr . W . L . Garrison , the aboli tionist , if the militia had not been called out to quell the riot . The
great moralist , Dr . VV . E . Channing , shirked ( out of fear ) the slavery question . In white men's churches , as well as the theatres , the negro had to sit in the negro ' s gallery , and it was a prison offence for clergymen to unite in marriage a black and white person . In 1842 , the Boston anti-slavery party numbered about a dozen persons . In spite of the then prevailing prejudices , they kept np their annual
meetings , and these meetings were invariably disturbed by rowdies at the instigation of Boston respectabilities . Mr . Wendel Phillips was the only anti-slavery speaker who conld curb the mob , and make them sit quiet while he was speaking , in spite of prejudices , and in spite of the respectabilities . In those days , no hotel or boarding house kept by a white man would have allowed a coloured person
to enter the house save and except as a servant ( and this prejudice has not entirely ceased up to this day ) , and , of course , coloured children had to attend coloured schools only . Such was the case in Boston . In New York it was even worse ; there a coloured person conld not ride in the same car or omnibus wherein white persons rode , and I have no reason to believe that the New Yorkers were a
whit more tolerant to negro company in 1832 than they were in 1842 . If therefore the said Count de St . Laurent had had the slightest tinge of African blood in his veins , neither a decent nor indecent white man would have associated with him for five minutes in New York upon anything like a footing of equality . Bro . Carson ' s statement is , therefore , not only in the highest degree improbable , but itaotually verges
on the impossible . Bro . Carson ' s authorities for his statement are , lst , " Letters in the Archives of the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions ; " and , 2 nd , " The Proceedings of Northern Jurisdiction of 1864 . " This phrase " Archives of the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions" is very deceptive , for it leads one to suppose that the said Jurisdictions are
in possession of very old archives . But the truth i 3 , the Northern Jurisdiction dates , as I shall hereafter show , from 1848 , and the Southern Jurisdiction , which is the great grandmother of the A . and A . Rite , does not possess a record older than 1860 , so I was assured by a New York brother , who is a 33 ° . 2 nd , On referring to the proceedings of 1864 , 1 found an article or report by Bro . W . S . G . Gardner ,
who makes the same statement abonb " colonred gentlemen , " and who also referred to "Letters" in the two forenamed Jurisdictions . As Bro . Gardner does not state that he had ever seen those letters it is probable that no snch letters are in existence , and that he got his information from some unscrupulous A . and A . informant , of wlinm plenty abounded in those days among the A . and A . factions . Trie
truth is , the active high graders in America , in 1864 , were in an extraordinary state of delirium ; many falsehoods were fearlessly asserted to depreciate their opponents by some , while others , like Br > . Gardner , who would not have stooped to invent a lie , would nnbt * j . tatingly repeat another man ' s lie without previous examination or criticism , and in order to explain the whys and wherefores of that
A. And A. Rite In The United States Of America.
state of feeling I shall proceed to furnish a brief historical sketoh of the high grades in North America , thus : — In 1762 , Stephen Morin , a French Israelite ( so Ragon says ) , brought to the West Indies 25 Masonic degrees from France , with power to scatter them in the Western Hemisphere . In Jamaica Morin met Moses M . Hays , of Rhode Island , also an Israelite , to whom he
commnnicated these degrees , giving him power to establish them in America , as the atmosphere of New England was then deemed too cold for that French exotic . Hays communicated them to some Jews and Christian Masons in Charleston , South Carolina . Some of these degrees wero doubtless designed to be Ghnstian to the backbone , and the question has often been asked , what could have induced Jews
to become zealous propagators of Christian rites ? It seems , however , that those degrees were differently explained according to oircumstances , or , in other words , they had a Christian ritual and a cosmo . politan one . Whether Morin brought with him from France the cosmopolitan ritual , whether he manufactured it , or whether the Charlestonian Hebrews tinkered it , I know not . Ifc is , however , not
impossible that in the second half of the eighteenth century , when the dootrines of Voltaire and others were making headway in France , and infecting largely all classes of sooiety , thafc the ritual of those original Christian degrees may have been modified and changed by the Frenoh authorities of those degrees , and that Morin may have brought with him the modified ritual . That the Charlestonian Hebrews did
not promulgate Christian rites may be seen in a document issued in New York in 1813 , by De la Motta , a Charleston Hebrew , high cock , alarum of the A . and A . Rite . "Admitting , " said he , " thafc Mr . Cerneau aud his society should be in possession of the high degrees , I call upon them to produce , if they can , one single instance , in any one degree of Masonry , whioh
disfranchises a Hebrew from enjoying every privilege granted to any other secfc . Were I at liberty fully to explain myself , it being impossible to say into whose hands this may fall , I would lead them through eaoh degree , particularly the Rose Croiso and the Royal Secret , and point out whether a Hebrew is not as much entitled aa a Christian brother , or any other of whatever persuasion , to the Royal
Arch , the Perfection , the Chief of the Tabernacle , the Prince of Mercy , the Knight of the Brazen Serpent , and many more both under and above . " In the United States they have now also two rituals : — thus , in Boston , in the ceremony of the Rose Croix a pictnre of the Crucifixion is displayed ; but in the Southern Jurisdiction , as well as in New York , instead of the pictnre of the Crucifixion a picture or
model of the Paschal Lamb is exhibited . This is capable of a double interpretation , and hence at its exhibition both Jewish and Christian high cockalorums can shake their wise heads very reverently , devoutly and approvingly . And as to the crosses , & o , it is well known that these were used as symbols by Pagans and philosophers long before Christianity was born , hence these symbols are made to refer to
anything and everything but the Christian religion . French Masonry did not , however , take root in Charleston very fast , nor were any permanent institutions established anywhere else before this century . It seems , however , to have reaohed the ears of Charleston Masons that the high grade gentry , though but a handful , boasted of having a right to rule the Grand Lodge . Upon being
questioned by the Grand Lodge , after some hesitation they replied that they had such a right , but for the present they would waive that right . As these gentry had occupied high positions in the Grand Lodge , no further inquiry was made ; but this dogma of having a right to rule Grand Lodges , the high graderB have never abandoned . In 1786 , the Charlestonians pretended to have received a charter
from Frederick the Great , which Kloss stigmatises as " the greatest lie of the Order . " Up to 1801 , they oalled their rite " the Rite of Perfection , " but in 1801 they increased the degrees from 25 to 33 , and assumed the name of " Ancient and Accepted Rite . " About that time Count de Grasse , a St . Domingo refugee , arrived in Charleston , he was made a 33 ° , and was fnrnished with powers to establish the new Rite
in France . On his return to Paris , he presented his claims , by virtne of the Charleston powers given to him , to rule the French high graders , but as the Frenoh cockalorums had never heard about Frederick the Great ' s connection with high degrees , they of course rejected the Count's claim , but A . and A . Riters have a law unto themselves , viz ., when a 33 rd findB that the work of a hig h degree
concern does not come up to his ideal , he may take any man , Mason or no Mason , and confer npon him all the degrees , from an Entered Apprentice to the 33 rd . These two then make another 33 . When nine are so made , he forms them into a Supreme Counoil . Our A . and A . jurists , however , maintain that by nine Frederick meant to limit the Council to nine members ; that is , ifc must consist of no more than nine , but it may consist of less than nine , nay , if even only one is
left , he can exercise all the authority of a Supreme Counoil , that is , granting charters , & c , & c . Count de Grasse seems to have acted in accordance with Frederick's law , and as the old institution conferred only twenty . five degrees , while he conferred thirty-three , and , may be , he charged less than the others did , he therefore got a good rush of customers , while the old shop was deserted . At last tho old concern had to go down upon its knees , and swear that Frederick the Great was an A . and A . Riter , and his Constitution
shall thenceforth be their A . and A . gospel . After the establishment of the new rite , the Charlestonians sent emissaries to the West Indies and other places ; they appointed a Commander for Pennsylvania , and another for Rhode Island . Bro . Abraham Jacobs met one of the said emissaries in the West Indies , who conferred upon him ( Jacobs ) the . A . and A . degrees , with the
necessary powers to confer them upon others . Jacobs came to New York in 1804 , opened there a Hebrew School , and when occasion offered , he conferred his degrees alike upon Christians and Jews , tn 1808 , he organised seventeen of his initiates into a Council of Pr | ° . f of Jerusalemwhich comprises the first fourteen degrees of the Rite .
, This was done in the presence , and with the approbation of » e Charleston emissaries of Pennsylvania , and of Rhode Island ; but su ject to a oharterfrom the Council at Charleston . He next gave warning in a daily paper that New York was h is territory , so that no otiie
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A. And A. Rite In The United States Of America.
A . AND A . RITE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA .
BT BRO . JACOB NORTON . IN my recent letter on the newly discovered R . A . Ritual , printed 24 th Jnne , I quoted from Marconnay ' s introduction as follows : — " This copy was made by the undersigned [ Marconnay ] at New-York in 1833 , from a copy of Count De Saint Laurent , " & c . The name of Marconnay and his doings I remembered vory well
bnt the Count ' s name slipped my memory . On perusing , however , a Scotch Rite pamphlet recently issued by Bro . E . T . Carson , of Cincinnati , I came across the name of Count de St . Laurent , thus prov . ing that the said Count de St . Laurent was in New York during the latter part of 1832 , and doubtless remained there until 1833 . I must , however , here premise that since the first deoade of this century , our
American Scotch Riters were divided into hostile factions , and the champions of eaoh faction invariably denounced all the other faotions as spurious , illegitimate , clandestine , & c , but maintained that his own faction was the only Simon Pure thing alive . My esteemed Bro , Carson is not an exception to the rule , as the following introduction of the Count will show . Bro . Carson says : —
" The Hicks' Supreme Council was a spurious Masonic Scotch Rite body . Ifc was organised in 1827 , at New York , as the Supreme Council of the United States of America , their territories , and dependencies , and disbanded in November 1832 . On the same day Hicks , in conjunction with a Masonic adventurer , a Frenchman , with the title of Count St . Laurent , a coloured gentleman , opened another spurious Supreme
Council under the following stunning title : — ' The United Supreme Conncil for the Western Hemisphere ( legally and solemnly formed of the Old Supreme Councils of New Spain , of Terra Firma , and South America , from one sea to the other , Canary Islands , & c . & o ., and of the Old Supreme Council of the "United States of North America , sitting at the E . of NewYork . '" ( To which Bro . Carson adds ) , " This
celebrated Treaty of Masonio Union , & c , purports to be signed by legally authorised representatives of the New York , or Hicks' Supreme Council , the Supreme Counoil of France , and the Supreme Couucil of Brazil sitting at the East of Rio de Janeiro . " It seems to me thafc whenever an advocate brings in the religion or race of an opponent , simply because that religion or raoe happens to
be unpopular , that that itself is a prima , facie evidence of his consciousness of the weakness of his cause , and such was the oase with Bro . Carson ' s specially informing ns that the Count was a " coloured gentleman . " Ragon , who evidently despised the high , grades , with all their aiders and abettors , including Count St . Laurent , did not seem to know about his negro extraction , nor does Dr . Folger , who was a
Mason in New York about or very near 1833 . For these and other reaBons I propose to take issue with Bro . Carson upon that question , thus : I settled in Boston in 1842 . About seven years before my arrival , a Boston mob would have murdered Mr . W . L . Garrison , the aboli tionist , if the militia had not been called out to quell the riot . The
great moralist , Dr . VV . E . Channing , shirked ( out of fear ) the slavery question . In white men's churches , as well as the theatres , the negro had to sit in the negro ' s gallery , and it was a prison offence for clergymen to unite in marriage a black and white person . In 1842 , the Boston anti-slavery party numbered about a dozen persons . In spite of the then prevailing prejudices , they kept np their annual
meetings , and these meetings were invariably disturbed by rowdies at the instigation of Boston respectabilities . Mr . Wendel Phillips was the only anti-slavery speaker who conld curb the mob , and make them sit quiet while he was speaking , in spite of prejudices , and in spite of the respectabilities . In those days , no hotel or boarding house kept by a white man would have allowed a coloured person
to enter the house save and except as a servant ( and this prejudice has not entirely ceased up to this day ) , and , of course , coloured children had to attend coloured schools only . Such was the case in Boston . In New York it was even worse ; there a coloured person conld not ride in the same car or omnibus wherein white persons rode , and I have no reason to believe that the New Yorkers were a
whit more tolerant to negro company in 1832 than they were in 1842 . If therefore the said Count de St . Laurent had had the slightest tinge of African blood in his veins , neither a decent nor indecent white man would have associated with him for five minutes in New York upon anything like a footing of equality . Bro . Carson ' s statement is , therefore , not only in the highest degree improbable , but itaotually verges
on the impossible . Bro . Carson ' s authorities for his statement are , lst , " Letters in the Archives of the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions ; " and , 2 nd , " The Proceedings of Northern Jurisdiction of 1864 . " This phrase " Archives of the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions" is very deceptive , for it leads one to suppose that the said Jurisdictions are
in possession of very old archives . But the truth i 3 , the Northern Jurisdiction dates , as I shall hereafter show , from 1848 , and the Southern Jurisdiction , which is the great grandmother of the A . and A . Rite , does not possess a record older than 1860 , so I was assured by a New York brother , who is a 33 ° . 2 nd , On referring to the proceedings of 1864 , 1 found an article or report by Bro . W . S . G . Gardner ,
who makes the same statement abonb " colonred gentlemen , " and who also referred to "Letters" in the two forenamed Jurisdictions . As Bro . Gardner does not state that he had ever seen those letters it is probable that no snch letters are in existence , and that he got his information from some unscrupulous A . and A . informant , of wlinm plenty abounded in those days among the A . and A . factions . Trie
truth is , the active high graders in America , in 1864 , were in an extraordinary state of delirium ; many falsehoods were fearlessly asserted to depreciate their opponents by some , while others , like Br > . Gardner , who would not have stooped to invent a lie , would nnbt * j . tatingly repeat another man ' s lie without previous examination or criticism , and in order to explain the whys and wherefores of that
A. And A. Rite In The United States Of America.
state of feeling I shall proceed to furnish a brief historical sketoh of the high grades in North America , thus : — In 1762 , Stephen Morin , a French Israelite ( so Ragon says ) , brought to the West Indies 25 Masonic degrees from France , with power to scatter them in the Western Hemisphere . In Jamaica Morin met Moses M . Hays , of Rhode Island , also an Israelite , to whom he
commnnicated these degrees , giving him power to establish them in America , as the atmosphere of New England was then deemed too cold for that French exotic . Hays communicated them to some Jews and Christian Masons in Charleston , South Carolina . Some of these degrees wero doubtless designed to be Ghnstian to the backbone , and the question has often been asked , what could have induced Jews
to become zealous propagators of Christian rites ? It seems , however , that those degrees were differently explained according to oircumstances , or , in other words , they had a Christian ritual and a cosmo . politan one . Whether Morin brought with him from France the cosmopolitan ritual , whether he manufactured it , or whether the Charlestonian Hebrews tinkered it , I know not . Ifc is , however , not
impossible that in the second half of the eighteenth century , when the dootrines of Voltaire and others were making headway in France , and infecting largely all classes of sooiety , thafc the ritual of those original Christian degrees may have been modified and changed by the Frenoh authorities of those degrees , and that Morin may have brought with him the modified ritual . That the Charlestonian Hebrews did
not promulgate Christian rites may be seen in a document issued in New York in 1813 , by De la Motta , a Charleston Hebrew , high cock , alarum of the A . and A . Rite . "Admitting , " said he , " thafc Mr . Cerneau aud his society should be in possession of the high degrees , I call upon them to produce , if they can , one single instance , in any one degree of Masonry , whioh
disfranchises a Hebrew from enjoying every privilege granted to any other secfc . Were I at liberty fully to explain myself , it being impossible to say into whose hands this may fall , I would lead them through eaoh degree , particularly the Rose Croiso and the Royal Secret , and point out whether a Hebrew is not as much entitled aa a Christian brother , or any other of whatever persuasion , to the Royal
Arch , the Perfection , the Chief of the Tabernacle , the Prince of Mercy , the Knight of the Brazen Serpent , and many more both under and above . " In the United States they have now also two rituals : — thus , in Boston , in the ceremony of the Rose Croix a pictnre of the Crucifixion is displayed ; but in the Southern Jurisdiction , as well as in New York , instead of the pictnre of the Crucifixion a picture or
model of the Paschal Lamb is exhibited . This is capable of a double interpretation , and hence at its exhibition both Jewish and Christian high cockalorums can shake their wise heads very reverently , devoutly and approvingly . And as to the crosses , & o , it is well known that these were used as symbols by Pagans and philosophers long before Christianity was born , hence these symbols are made to refer to
anything and everything but the Christian religion . French Masonry did not , however , take root in Charleston very fast , nor were any permanent institutions established anywhere else before this century . It seems , however , to have reaohed the ears of Charleston Masons that the high grade gentry , though but a handful , boasted of having a right to rule the Grand Lodge . Upon being
questioned by the Grand Lodge , after some hesitation they replied that they had such a right , but for the present they would waive that right . As these gentry had occupied high positions in the Grand Lodge , no further inquiry was made ; but this dogma of having a right to rule Grand Lodges , the high graderB have never abandoned . In 1786 , the Charlestonians pretended to have received a charter
from Frederick the Great , which Kloss stigmatises as " the greatest lie of the Order . " Up to 1801 , they oalled their rite " the Rite of Perfection , " but in 1801 they increased the degrees from 25 to 33 , and assumed the name of " Ancient and Accepted Rite . " About that time Count de Grasse , a St . Domingo refugee , arrived in Charleston , he was made a 33 ° , and was fnrnished with powers to establish the new Rite
in France . On his return to Paris , he presented his claims , by virtne of the Charleston powers given to him , to rule the French high graders , but as the Frenoh cockalorums had never heard about Frederick the Great ' s connection with high degrees , they of course rejected the Count's claim , but A . and A . Riters have a law unto themselves , viz ., when a 33 rd findB that the work of a hig h degree
concern does not come up to his ideal , he may take any man , Mason or no Mason , and confer npon him all the degrees , from an Entered Apprentice to the 33 rd . These two then make another 33 . When nine are so made , he forms them into a Supreme Counoil . Our A . and A . jurists , however , maintain that by nine Frederick meant to limit the Council to nine members ; that is , ifc must consist of no more than nine , but it may consist of less than nine , nay , if even only one is
left , he can exercise all the authority of a Supreme Counoil , that is , granting charters , & c , & c . Count de Grasse seems to have acted in accordance with Frederick's law , and as the old institution conferred only twenty . five degrees , while he conferred thirty-three , and , may be , he charged less than the others did , he therefore got a good rush of customers , while the old shop was deserted . At last tho old concern had to go down upon its knees , and swear that Frederick the Great was an A . and A . Riter , and his Constitution
shall thenceforth be their A . and A . gospel . After the establishment of the new rite , the Charlestonians sent emissaries to the West Indies and other places ; they appointed a Commander for Pennsylvania , and another for Rhode Island . Bro . Abraham Jacobs met one of the said emissaries in the West Indies , who conferred upon him ( Jacobs ) the . A . and A . degrees , with the
necessary powers to confer them upon others . Jacobs came to New York in 1804 , opened there a Hebrew School , and when occasion offered , he conferred his degrees alike upon Christians and Jews , tn 1808 , he organised seventeen of his initiates into a Council of Pr | ° . f of Jerusalemwhich comprises the first fourteen degrees of the Rite .
, This was done in the presence , and with the approbation of » e Charleston emissaries of Pennsylvania , and of Rhode Island ; but su ject to a oharterfrom the Council at Charleston . He next gave warning in a daily paper that New York was h is territory , so that no otiie