Reformed Masonic Order Of Memphis.

delphes , fi tous les Macons rcipairlus sur les deux Hemispheres ; Saint , Auntie ' Prospcritd , Courage , Tolerance . " In addition to the signatures printed below , it bears the countersignatures which follow : — " Address , M . C . VEILLABD , 25 , Oxford Market , W . " " Stamped and sealed by us , Keeper of the Seals and Stamps of the Lodge , F . ScHRCBDEB . . ; " "Eegistered in the Book of the Grand Conseil General at London the ISth day of May , 1 S 59 , V . . E . ., the President , C . VMLLAUD , 33 . - . " "The Gen . . Arch . -, of the Order , FOKTAINE- . 1 S . \; "The Gen . . Secret . -, of tho Order , BT . DESQTJENES . V' 1

TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIHEOE . SIR AND BROTHER , —In your number of the 9 th March last , an article was inserted which came to our knowledge hut a few days since . It had reference to the Reformed Masonic Order of Memphis . The erroneous assertions contained in it call for an answer , which we do not hesitate to send to you , convinced that , had you been better acquainted with the real state of thingsyou would not have gone so far from the truth . In answer

, to a request made by a Dutch brother , desirous of knowing whether a Grand Orient of Memphis existed in London , you stated— " We believe there is such a body as that spoken of , meeting at a public house in the neighbourhood of Golden-square , but it has no connection with the Freemasons of England It was , as we have been informed , originally opened by some refugees for political purposes , and has of late granted one or two charters to similar bodies . It is , in fact , nothing but an illegal secret

society . " The answer is a short one , but it speaks volumes , and if it be far from brotherly , it is still farther from the truth . A few lines will suffice to enlighten the conscience of your readers on the subject . In the first place , there exists in London a Grand Lodge of the Reformed Masonic Order of Memphis , but you are totally misinformed about the date of its foundation , and the nature of the elements that composed it . It was in the year 1850 that some French Masons , scattered in England , met for the purpose of applying for a warrant of constitution to a Masonic Order

regularly established and acknowledged in France— the Conseil Supreme cle 1 'Ordrc Maeonnique de Memphis , The constitution was granted on the filst January , 1851 , that is , eleven months before the ' coup d ' etat of December . Now every body well knows that the arrival in England of those exiles , whom you accuse of having founded a Lodge for political purposes , took place after the coup d ' etat . At a later period , in November , 3853 , in consequence of a decree emanating from the same regular and

acknowledged Masonic power ( Le Conseil Supreme de 1 'Ordre Maeomiiquc de Memphis ) the Lodge , then known by the name of " Les Hectntcurs de Menes , " was transformed info the Grande Loge des Philadelphes , and was invested with the government and administration of the Order . Here is the reason of that transformation -, the coup d ' eial , which knocked down so many things in France , did not spare Masonry . Napoleon closed the Lodges of the Order of Memphis and those of tiie Order of Misrai ' maud

, made his cousin Murat emperor of the Freemasonry in France . Now is there anything wonderful in the fact that everybody did not humbly bend to that double coup d ' etat , and that the Order of Memphis sought a ' refuge on the shores of free England ? It is true that several exiles became afterwards members of the Grand Lodge of the Philadelphes , but we hope at least you have not the pretension to close the doors of' the temple to those brothers who had the misfortune—wc may say the honour—of being exiled

from their country by a tyrant ; and indeed we cannot understand why yon stamp with the qualifications of illegal and secret , a Masonic society because