Grand Orient Of France.

GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE .

LONDON , SATURDAY , FEBRVABY 1 , 1 S 62 .

( Continued from page 63 . ) In conclusion it is not only to complain of the past that we have drawn up this manifesto , it is also , and especially , to prepare a safeguard for the future . As for the past , we ask our Eoreign brethren , whether they approve our conduct or not—we should

, rather say the conduct of those who have been subjected to the Masonic authority ; let them say on which side , up to the ' present time , right and justice , loyalty and fidelity have been found . We await their answer and submit , in anticipation , to their decision .

As for the future , since it inspires us with fears , since Masonry in Erance seems to us to be menanced , we believe that it ought to awaken the attention of Masonry all over the world . It is well known that although Ereemasons profess the greatest tolerance with regard to parties and sects , these parties and sects do not return the compliment , but seek at all times , and by every means , the

destruction oi our Order . The Order of Jesuits , for example , has never tolerated the Order of Ereemasons . Not being able to obtain its suppression in Erance , the allies of Jesuitism hoped to undermine its influence by depriving it of its chracter of high and . universal moralitywhich is the source of its strength and its

, glory . Masonry has been , up to the present time , a social institution , shedding light every where , favouring progress , and preparing the world for the reign of peace and universal brotherhood ; they would make it simply a charitable association , rather than a brotherhood , according to their custom . They thought to

succeed by requiring them to convert their lodges into mutual aid societies . These societies could have retained the Masonic forms and a certain unity by means of a Central Administration , of which the seat would be held at the hall of the Grand Orient ; and by an honorary and supreme presidency which would be entrusted in the hands of the actual Grand

Master of Erench Ereemasonry . The spritual would thus be reduced to the minimum , or rather would pass to the hands of those who ruled all fraternities and all communities , but they would retain the temporal , and it is to that they hold , n

The project which we speak of—we do not know by what means it is to be realised , but we are convinced that the worthy and intelligent among Masons will be repugnant to it , —is that the greater part of the Masons should desert their lodges , and that the battle should terminate from want of bellegents . It is not new ,

however , and it has already shown itself in different propositions , which would tend to the realisation of it . But attempts of this nature , although produced under the patronage of the Grand Master , who clearly did not understand the object and could not , thereforesee the consequenceshave always been defeated

, , by the great majority of Erench Masons . If such should be accomplished , it could only be done by surprise , or by the intervention of an extra-Masonic authority ; but then our foreign brethren will doubtless join with the Masters of Erench Masonry , in advising all the lodges of Erance to lay dormantwhich

; course will at least , reserve them from an odious mutilation and transformation , which the enemies of Masonic light and of social progress alone could profit by . —Srnt ut sunt aut non sint !

Whatever may be the trials reserved for our Order , they can but end in a suspension of the working , and a provisional [ cessation of the meetings . Masonry cannot disappear unless it gives up everywhere , at once , its character of tolerance and nniversaHty , which , thank G-od , is impossible . It may for a momentand in a certain placebe forced to break

, , itself np or dissolve ; but since it is the only institution which can realise universal brotherhood , and since humanity cannot be turned from its course , from this cause Ereemasonry is immortal . No one will be astonished , nevertheless , that in the presence of a common danger , a certain number of

Masters , or representatives of lodges have believed they ought to take the responsibility of this supreme appeal . Perhaps the moral support of their brethren of foreign Orients , and above all the public testimony of their sympathies will suffice to dispel the danger . In any case such testimony will be to us a sweet recompense and a great consolation .

POSTSCRIPT . The preamble that we have read was in the press when the political journals brought us the news of the resignation of Prince Mivrat , at the same time that his letter of the 29 th July last appeared . This letter does not speak of resignation . The Prince ,

Grand Master , only announces there that he has provisionally given the charge of current affairs to a commission , but that he reserves to himself the right to interfere in important cases . As for the members of this commission , they are not stated in the letter , since there is only one expresslmentionedand that

y , one is the certain representative—always the certain representative ! But then has he changed his situation ? This situation , however , could not be prolonged . Three months have now passed away since the Grand Master suspended provisionally Masons who believed themselves in the exercise of their electoral

rights , and who , far from thinking themselves guilty of any offence , have the testimony of their conscience to having accomplished a duty . These Masons , how-