Ar00100

( Contents . PAGE FREEMASONS' MAGAZIUE : — French Masonic Perversions 341 The French Freemasons and the War 341 Ancient and Accepted Rite—the 31 st and 32 nd Degrees ... 3 < Mi Masonic Jottings , No . C 8 ; 315 Freemasonry too Conservative 340

Masonic Faith 346 Masonic Notes and Queries 347 Correspondence 350 Masonic Sayings and Doings Abroad 351 Indian Masonic Mems 352 Grand Lodge _ 353 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 353 MASONIC MIRROR : —

Masonic ^ lems 353 CKAET LODGE M EETINGS : — Metropolitan 354 Provincial 354 Grand Chapter 355 Royal Arch 355 India 355 Mark Masonry 358

Knights Templar 358 The Life , Death , and Heaven of an Egyptian 359 Poetry 359 List of Lodge , & c ., Meetings for ensuing week 360 LONDON , SATURDAY , MAY 6 , 1871 ,

French Masonic Perversions

FRENCH MASONIC PERVERSIONS

Masonry , it lias been well said , neA er flourished in times of discord , but has made great progress in epochs of peace . This Avas assuredly felt in the great revolutionary Avar in America , and again re-produced in our day during the late Confederate troubles . Our French brethren have

had warning , and should have profited by it . They allowed in the last century . Masonry to be diverted from its legitimate channels , and to assume a political aspect . This Avas under the plea of progress , and the end was that progress ,

so far as Masonry was concerned , AVas iu the wrong direction , aud after the most lamentable degradations of Masonry , its associations came to an end , and it Avas practically extinguished , only to be restored on the return of something like peace and

repose . Unwarned , however , politics have always been allowed to bias , at all events , the outward form of Masonry , and ofben its internal workings . Thence an almost constant division of jurisdictions , under

the guidance of persons of opposed politics , and an avowed publicity of political partisanship , under the plea of diffusing light of some will o' the Avisp kind , Avhich has given too good a handletoour unfaithful Holy Brother the Pope , and the Jesuits ,

to assail Masonry . Before the Avar we had to lament the unseemly intervention of Bi * o . EmperorLouis Napoleon in the

French Masonic Perversions

appointment of the M . W . G . M ., and the administration of Masonry , and this Avas followed by such a reaction that a notorious partisan of the opposition was elected G . M . With the Avar came many acts of fraternal assistance betAveen the German

and French Masons engaged m combat , or sufiering nnder wounds or captivity , but this received an untimely check by a tom-fool performance during the siege of Paris . In defiance of the international laws of Masonry , a Lodge in Paris assumed

to summon M . W . Bro . the King of Prussia , and M . W . Bro . the Crown Prince for trial as traitors . This was bad enough , but now we find Masonry in Paris at its last ebb . The Freemasons of Paris , that is the party of the new G . M ., have adopted

the cause of the Commune , and marching in procession , have planted the oriflamme , or standard of the Grand Orient of Paris , on the Avails of Paris , Avhere it will , be trailed in dirt . The Grand Orient and the Freemasons have no more to do with

partisanship of the Commune than with the Versailles Government , Louis Napoleon , or any other political section . Masonry in France has quite enough to do without involvement in unconstitutional proceedings .

Under such circumstances , Masonry , in these islands , under the three Grand Lodges , pursues its steady course of abstaining from all politics , and presenting a practical and continuous protest to the conduct of those Avho from time to time , have made Masonry a bye-word in France and throughout the Avorld .

The French Freemasons And The War.

THE FRENCH FREEMASONS AND THE WAR .

We had occassion but recently to chronicle with admiration the part taken by the Freemasons of Paris in endeavouring to bring about a reconciliation between the contending parties whose actions have placed Paris and its inhabitants in a

condition little , if any , better than that while besieged by the armies of Germany . " The Mission of Masonry is Peace / ' and while our brethren confined their course of action to mediation between the contending parties they were fulfilling their

mission and performing a sacred duty , but Avhen Ave find them taking parb in political demonstrations , and even unfolding the banner of Freemasonry on the ramparts , we are constrained to