Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry In Europe During The Past Century.
M . W . Grand Master , the Duke of Inchiquin , and Lord Coleraine , arranging the meetings of deputations to found Lodges in Gibraltar and Madrid ; the year 1739 saw Lord Lowell appoint Captain Jacob Commerford as P . G . M . for Andalusia . The Pope , Clement the Twelfth , at this time governed the Papal States , and in accordance with his system issued a decree , in 1737 , against the Order , which was further strengthened bthe edict of the following yearnamely 1738 , of
Cary , , dinal Firrao , and the punishment therein awarded for being found guilty of practising Freemasonry was confiscation and death . Not to be out Heroded by former edicts , Philip the Fifth , in 1740 , declared the galleys for life , or punishment of death with torture , the award for Freemasons , a very large number of whom he had arrested and sentenced , as he had previously determined , after undergoing a lengthened confinement in the prisons of the Inquisition . In spite of
these tyrannical murders and inhuman proceedings , Freemasonry spread its branches far and wide , and numerous Lodges were in existence ; scarcely a town was to be found without some acknowledged Brethren being therein . At this period , one of the greatest misfortunes that could befal the Craft through treachery ( and scarcely equalled for villainy and disregard of all honourable feeling or sanctity of an oath , is to be met with ) occurred ; thousands had cause to curse the name of Peter
, Torrubia . This individual ( the Inquisitor of Spain ) , having first made confession and received absolution , entered the Order for the express purpose of betraying it , and of handing to the executioner the members , before he knew its merits or crimes . He joined in 1751 , and immediatelv made himself acquainted with the entire ramifications of
the Craft , and names of subscribers ; being unable to accuse them , he contented himself by naming for punishment members of ninety-sevea Lodges , without any pretext whatever : it will at once be seen he was accuser , witness , and judge . The entire number was tortured on the rack . In 1751 Benedict the Fourteenth , who is supposed to have been a Freemason , received the Bull of Clement , without putting it in force ; but Ferdinand the Sixth followed it ( 2 nd July , 1751 ) by declaring
Freemasonry to be high treason , and punishable with death , instigated thereto by Torrubia . However much the Spaniard might have been desirous of following the dictates of charity , religion and brotherly love , it is not to be supposed he could brave the certain malediction of the Inquisitor , whose secret spies and public hatred were known to be urging the destruction of every Member of the Craft ; and the examples ( if not public ) were too frequent to allow any one with impunity to
dare their power . Thus until the troops of France , by order of Napoleon in 1807 , took possession of Spain , we have no means of tracing our Order ; but Joseph Buonaparte had been Grand Master of French Freemasons , and it is not at all surprising that under his sway many new Lodges should have been formed , and the Grand Lodge of Madrid met in the Hall previously occupied by their enemies of tin ; Inquisition . In 1811 Joseph Buonaparte ordained a superior Chapter for the hiher
g degrees , which appear to be indispensable in French Freemasonry . Until the fall of Napoleon , and the restoration of Ferdinand the Seventh , all went well ; but with the return of that monarch came the restitution of the Jesuits , the reorganization of the holy Inquisition , and the exterminating process against Freemasons . Pope Pius the Seventh showed himself as willing as his predecessors to extinguish all liberty of thought , and 7 th August , 1814 , served to promulgate his
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry In Europe During The Past Century.
M . W . Grand Master , the Duke of Inchiquin , and Lord Coleraine , arranging the meetings of deputations to found Lodges in Gibraltar and Madrid ; the year 1739 saw Lord Lowell appoint Captain Jacob Commerford as P . G . M . for Andalusia . The Pope , Clement the Twelfth , at this time governed the Papal States , and in accordance with his system issued a decree , in 1737 , against the Order , which was further strengthened bthe edict of the following yearnamely 1738 , of
Cary , , dinal Firrao , and the punishment therein awarded for being found guilty of practising Freemasonry was confiscation and death . Not to be out Heroded by former edicts , Philip the Fifth , in 1740 , declared the galleys for life , or punishment of death with torture , the award for Freemasons , a very large number of whom he had arrested and sentenced , as he had previously determined , after undergoing a lengthened confinement in the prisons of the Inquisition . In spite of
these tyrannical murders and inhuman proceedings , Freemasonry spread its branches far and wide , and numerous Lodges were in existence ; scarcely a town was to be found without some acknowledged Brethren being therein . At this period , one of the greatest misfortunes that could befal the Craft through treachery ( and scarcely equalled for villainy and disregard of all honourable feeling or sanctity of an oath , is to be met with ) occurred ; thousands had cause to curse the name of Peter
, Torrubia . This individual ( the Inquisitor of Spain ) , having first made confession and received absolution , entered the Order for the express purpose of betraying it , and of handing to the executioner the members , before he knew its merits or crimes . He joined in 1751 , and immediatelv made himself acquainted with the entire ramifications of
the Craft , and names of subscribers ; being unable to accuse them , he contented himself by naming for punishment members of ninety-sevea Lodges , without any pretext whatever : it will at once be seen he was accuser , witness , and judge . The entire number was tortured on the rack . In 1751 Benedict the Fourteenth , who is supposed to have been a Freemason , received the Bull of Clement , without putting it in force ; but Ferdinand the Sixth followed it ( 2 nd July , 1751 ) by declaring
Freemasonry to be high treason , and punishable with death , instigated thereto by Torrubia . However much the Spaniard might have been desirous of following the dictates of charity , religion and brotherly love , it is not to be supposed he could brave the certain malediction of the Inquisitor , whose secret spies and public hatred were known to be urging the destruction of every Member of the Craft ; and the examples ( if not public ) were too frequent to allow any one with impunity to
dare their power . Thus until the troops of France , by order of Napoleon in 1807 , took possession of Spain , we have no means of tracing our Order ; but Joseph Buonaparte had been Grand Master of French Freemasons , and it is not at all surprising that under his sway many new Lodges should have been formed , and the Grand Lodge of Madrid met in the Hall previously occupied by their enemies of tin ; Inquisition . In 1811 Joseph Buonaparte ordained a superior Chapter for the hiher
g degrees , which appear to be indispensable in French Freemasonry . Until the fall of Napoleon , and the restoration of Ferdinand the Seventh , all went well ; but with the return of that monarch came the restitution of the Jesuits , the reorganization of the holy Inquisition , and the exterminating process against Freemasons . Pope Pius the Seventh showed himself as willing as his predecessors to extinguish all liberty of thought , and 7 th August , 1814 , served to promulgate his