Father Foy's Last Attack On Freemasonry.

carefully Father Foy ' s " ipsissima verba" in the "Masonic Magazine"for December , and they will agree with us , we feel sure , that no more ridiculous and yet untruthful description of Freemasonry and Freemasons was every palmed off » v , » rrpflnlirv of the most credulousor offered

to the swallow of the greatest of " gobemouches . " We shall remind our readers of these very " sensational addresses" when our December Magazine appears , but we have thought well to advert to them now for the comfort and edification of many worthv brethren in Hastings and the vicinity .

The Present Aspects Of French Freemasonry.

THE PRESENT ASPECTS OF FRENCH FREEMASONRY .

We wish that we could conscientiously say that such were reassuring ; alas ! in our humble op inion , they are greatly the reverse . We have very warm feelings towards our French brethren , and we wish devoutly that historic truth did not rnmnel us to noint out in all of solemn sternness .

the very uncomfortable impression the reports of the last meeting of the Grand Orient ot France have left upon our minds . The Grand Orient of France has decided , by 110 votes to 6 5 , to refer to the consideration of all the lodges Article II . of the Constitutional laws , which

relates to the " existence of God and the immortality of the soul . " After a very long discussion " and much divergency of opinion among the Bureaux , " the Grand Orient divided on the report of the "Commission , " which , principally in respect of the opportuneness of the discussion

proposed to pass to the " order of the day , " or , as we should say , " the previous question , " and so , for the moment , shelve a disagreeable discussion . But 110 votes as against 6 $ , as we said just now , declined this proposition , and

determined to bring the matter to a distinct conclusion one way or other , and we cannot say that in this they were actually wrong , though we are very soiry that any such question has been raised at all . We note that in the

discussion Bros . Nicoulo , Baer , Mamark . and M . irechal de Nancy , took what we should call the English view of the subject , regretting that such a discussion should arise at all , and pointing out its real sectarian character , while Bro . Massicault seems to have dwelt most upon the

inopportnneness of the proposal . The arguments by which the Council of the Order , under the esteemed Bro . St . Jean , Bro . Caubet , the able G . S ., and Bro . Wyroubouff " , the eloquent Orator , have since practically defended the result of the division , have , we

confess , filled our mind with regret and alarm ; and we feel bound to say to those most distinguished brethren , in our humble opinion , that such arguments are radically wrong , and Masonically unsound . For what is the view they are now seeking to establish , the defence they put

forward , for this act of unquietness and revolution ? It is this , that in expunging the assertion of the belief in the " existence of God , " and the "immortality of the soul , " they are not negativing dogmata , but affirming toleration , that as Freemasonry is essentially tolerant and universal

it can express a belief in nothing , inasmuch as b y affirming credence in anything you offend the consciences of those who don ' t believe in anything at all , and "par consequence , " the only true position of Freemasonry is that which declares that its hi ghest teaching is absolute negativism .

Bro . Wyroubouff says that Freemasonry is bound to remain neuter on all points of politics and reli gion , and leaves to each individual his own faith . We agree with him in general , but not w particular . Our English position is a very different one , and , we think , a far better one . It

asserts that a Freemason can neither be a stupid atheist or an irreli gious libertine , " and it demands belief in the Great Architect of the Universe as a necessary condition of admission mto Freemasonry . It declares , undoubtedly , in •ts teaching , ritually and otherwise ,

"' so in the immortality of the soul , in the resurrect . on of humanity , in the Fatherhood of God , ana in the Brotherhood of Man , and there it s ops leaving at a distance all question of creeds , oh ;! .- ? OT S , oas of '" dividual belief . Ourgreat ob jection then , to this movement in French f reemasonry , twofold , first as regards its own

The Present Aspects Of French Freemasonry.

position in France ; and secondl y , in respect of its relationships with other branches of the great Masonic family . In France the only effect will be to play into the hands of the Ultramontanes , and to give new weapons to the able assailant

of Freemasonry , Monsignor Dupanloup . In his remarkable " Etude , " unfair and illogical in part as we deemed it to be , owing to his confusion of individual acts with general principles , he himself pointed out what the logical necessity of the case must lead the French

Freemasons to . And sureenough here we have his words already fulfilled in this inopportune and regretable discussion of these most important truths . In the present temper of French Freemasons , we fear that there is but little hope of their maintaining the constitution of the Order , in

" statu quo , " and of resisting the " voice of that destructive charmer , " which is luring them on to the " Caudine Forks " of hopeless isolation . Indeed , we should almost be inclined to think , rememberiog that our good friends the Jesuits have more than once tried their " prentice hand "

on Masonic lodges and Masonic teaching , that such a movement might owe its origin to some concealed and unsuspected affiliate " of that universal society . For we can see nothing but gain to the Ultramontane press and party , and grave consequences to the French Freemasons ,

by this hasty surrender of their outworks to the first attack of the enemy . French Freemasonry will henceforth be distinguished by one great characteristic , that it will possess within it the full luxury of unbelief , and that that great Order

which has ever openly professed its manly adherence to the Great Creator and Ruler and Father and Friend of all , now openly abdicates its old position , declares that whether a Freemason be a believer in God

or a pure atheist , matters nothing at all . Such a lole for French Freemasonry is , we believe , alike dangerous and unworthy . It simply paves the way for spiritual and political despotism , as no real liberty can exist on the negation or non-avowal of positive belief , and

it undermines the foundation on which all true Freemasonry rests , its religious , reverential , and tolerant character . It is a fallacy almost unworthy of notice , it is a sublety too Jesuitical , it is a subterfuge only too patent , which would represent such a movement as an effort of

toleration , not a destructive negativism : a conservative step , not a revolutionary proclivity ; a concession to the tendencies of modern thought and teaching , not a surrender to the army of indifference or infidelity , the dealing with a dogma inconsistent with the universal and liberal genius of

Masonry , not the erasure of a living truth , bound up indifferently with the very existence and true progress of Freemasonry . On the arguments of our worthy brethren , mistaken as we hold them , nothing positive or true can stand , the objective must give way to the subjective" tout ce qu ' on

, revere , " to the idle phantasies of the hour . Henceforth French Freemasonry will be described by its adversaries , as without belief at all , and who can gainsay their words ? If such a decision is upheld and becomes part of French Masonic law . forbidding

to French Freemasons any doctrine of external or public belief in God , and resolving its teaching into a bare and lifeless system of human morality , whether based on a " morale independante , " or the destructive theories of a so-called " positivisme , " which seems to leave

everything in dilemma and obscurity , amid a chaos of contending passions , and the insolvable doubts of the finite intellect of man , it will be an evil day for French Freemasonry . In these our remarks we hope that our French brethren will not believe that we are actuated bv anv other than

pure Masonic sentiments . We write freely and decidedly because we feel warmly , and because , above all , we like plain speaking , truthful declaration in all things , and greatly object to the mealy-mouthedness and insincere utterances of the hour . As regards Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry

the decision of the French Grand Orient , if supported by the majorit y 0 f French Masons , must render the chasm between French and Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry impassable , and must prevent Anglo-Saxon Freemasons entering a French Lodge . As some of the French brethren well put it in the debate , its only result can be

The Present Aspects Of French Freemasonry.

the isolation of French Freemasons , a result to be very deeply regretted . We Anglo-Saxon Freemasons cannot , and will not , give up our own ancient and distinguishing formulae , and on our own principles we cannot conscientiously enter lodges in which the existence of God is

not even admitted , but in which His sacred name is never used , which neither begin nor end with prayers , and from which the Bible has been almost contemptuously rejected . We await with great anxiety the appeal to the French Lodges , deeply as we deplore that anv such step should

be taken , though , as we said before , we canno . blame those who merely on the score of "inoppor , tuneness" refused to accept the " ordrede jour . ' We confess that we have but little hope of a favourable response in our view of things , though , as we sav . " when thinsrs are at their

worst they sometimes mend , " and " the stormy night is sometimes followed by a sunshiny morning . " As it is impossible in a short article to do full justice to the arguments of Bros . Caubet and Wyroubouff we shall revert to them next week .

Peace Or. War.

PEACE OR . WAR .

The sensational paragraphs we published last week , and which the " Times " took from the " Central News , " were , as we thought , pure " canards , " symptomatic we are inclined to think of one or two " lame ducks " on the Stock

Exchange . The Ministry has had a meeting and there are still hopes for European peace . All of us , and Freemasons especially , must wish for peace , not indeed peace at any price , not a dishonourable peace , not a peace procured by menace , o culminating in national disgrace , but peace , if

possible , as preferable to the horror , and ruthless arbitrament of war . Some of us often talk in flippant tones and rowdy words of the possibilities of war , and seem to treat very lightly the great , the sacred blessings of peace . To all such we recommend the calm perusal of Dr . J ohnson ' s

famous , but forgotten words in his pamphlet on the "Falkland Islands , " and which commend themselves equally to the understanding of theieflective and the sympathies of the Freemason , interested in the preservation of European peace , and the cessation of the cruelties and evils of

war . — " As war is the last of remedies , cuncta prius tentanda , all lawful expedients must be used to avoid it . As war is the extremity of evil , it is surely the duty of those whose station entrusts them with the care of nations , to avert it from their charge . There are diseases of

animal nature which nothing but amputation can remove ; so there may , by the depravation of human passions , be sometimes a gangrene in collective life for which fire and the sword are the necessary remedies ; but in what can skill or caution be better shown than nreventintr such

dreadful operations , while there is yet room for gentler methods ? It is wonderful with what coolness and indifference the greater part of mankind see war commenced . Those that hear of it at a distance , or read of it in books , but have never presented its evils to their minds , consider

it as little more than a splendid game , a proclamation , an army , a battle , and a triumph . Some indeed must perish in the most successful field , but they die upon the bed of honour , resign their lives amidst the joys of conquest , and filled with England ' s glory , smile in death . The life of a

modern soldier is ill represented by heroic fiction . War has means of destruction more formidable than the cannon and the sword . Of the thousands and ten thousands that perished in our Jate contests with France and Spain , a very small part ever felt the stroke of an enemy ; the

rest languished in tents and ships , amidst damps and putrefaction ; pale , torpid , spiritless , and hel pless : gasping and groaning , unpitied among men , made obdurate by long continuance of hopeless misery ; and were at last whelmed in pits , or heaved into the ocean , without notice and without remembrance . By incommodious

encampments and unwholesome stations , where courage is useless , and enterprise impracticable , fleets are silently dispeopled , and armies sluggishly melted away . Those who suffer their minds to dwell on these considerations will think it no great crime in the ministry that they have not snatched with eagerness the first opportunity