Freemasonry In France.

its rights , ancl to unite the dogmatic with the administrative power , which it had never abandoned , appealed to all the Grand Inspectors-General of the Scottish Rite to reconstitute the Supreme Council of the Rite . Some of the scattered

brethren protested against this proceeding , amongst whom were Bros . Pyron and Muraire . But the greater number , notable amongst whom were Marshal Beurnoiiville , Comte Rampon , Marshal de Tnrante , Bros . Challan , Clement de Ris , Roettiers de MontaleauDe JolyThoryHacquetgave

, , , , in their adhesion , and on the 18 th November , 1804 , tho Grand Orient of France issued a decree by which it declared the resumption of all its rights over all the degrees of Masonry . It instituted the Bureau of the Supreme Council of Bites

for the administration of all the degrees above the Symbolic , and created a Grand Consistory of Rites , which was divided into two sections , of which one had the power to confer the 32 nd degree ancl the other the 33 rd .

This Grand Consistory was established on the 12 th September , 1815 , and inaugurated the 22 nd November following . At the same time were established nine Councils of Ch ... K ..., one Council of the 31 st degree , and eight Consistories of

Princes of the Royal Secret . In acting thus , who can gainsay the fact that the Grand Orient was entirely in the right . The Supreme Council was no longer in existence , and , moreover , according to the Constitutions of the Rite , the Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General had

authorised its reconstruction . The Concordat of 1804 , besides , had never been completely annulled , since the Grand Orient had maintained its administrative powers , and had never accepted the negotiations of 1811 . The presence of Prince

Cambaceres had only deferred its protestations , and it had otherwise maintained the exclusive government of the Lodges and Chapters . What did the ancient Supreme Council all this time ] It was in abeyance ; its

members were dispersed ; it existed no longer . Bro . Thory was scorned and Bro . | Pyron was dead . The ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite had no other centre in France than the Grand Orient ; ancl as Article o of the Constitutions of 1785

states , "in each , nation , kingdom , or empire there shall be but one Supreme Council . " No one had any right to raise up , in 1821 , a second power of the Scottish Rite besides that which had performed its functions since 1814 , supposing

even its anterior rights were not acknowledged . To this reasoning , so simple , ancl so perfectly in accord with the very principles of the Scottish Rite , Comte Muraire , one of the dissentient brethrentried to reply in a pamphlet

, , published under the auspices of the Supreme Council , but he was obliged to acknowledge the facts upon which the Grand Orient founded its claims , although saying that it had but an interrupted and disputed possession from the beginning : —

1 . By the possession of jurisdiction by the Supreme Council from its establishment . 2 . By the subsequent possession by t he Supreme Council of America , which during the dispersion of the Supreme Council of France had performed its duties and exercised its rights .

3 . By the return of the Supreme Council of France when , in 18 * 21 , the epoch of the union effected in the Scottish Rite it was perfected by the members of the Supreme Council of America .

The Supreme Council had not a constant possession of power from its origin , as stated by Comte Muraire . In effect , founded in 1804 by Bro . De Grasse Tilly , it was absorbed into the Grand Orient of France , for want oi funds . It became

subordinate to the Grand Orient of France by its Constitutions of 1806 . It had not even iu 1814 resumed the administration of the high degrees . Dissolved in 1804 it was not reconstituted till 1821 . The assertion by Comte Muraire of constant

possession is singularly haphazard . In the terms of the Constitutions of 1786 , since which time the Supreme Council no longer had , the Grand Inspectors-General might have re-united and reconstituted it , but they never did so . ( To be continued . )