The Parisian Masons And The Civil War.

greater friends than were to be found amongst English Freemasons , who taught and practised toleration to the fullest extent for all religious denominations , so long as they did not run counter to the larv of the realm .

" Thafc it was upon record that when , but a few years ago , a nobleman , afc a Masonic assembly in Ireland , took advantage of his position as president of the meeting to speak against the Catholic hierarchy , Masonic law and usage were pleaded

against him , and the Grand Lodge in which he held office required him to make a public retractation .

" Ifc Avas alike honourable to the Craft and fco his Order thafc the noble delinquent candidly acknowledged the error of his Avays , and promised not to repeat the offence . In my interviews with Catholic priests it Avas knOAvn that I ori ginated the

memorial to Bishop Hooper in this city , who suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Catholic Church , and that I was instrumental in the Freemasons laying the foundation-stone of the monument . I could bufc affirm fchafc the Freemasons

did not do this from any hostile feeliag to the Roman Catholics , bufc as a protest against the cruelties of bygone times , and to testify in these days of toleration , in the words of Goethe , that ' kindness is the golden chain by which the Avorld

is held together " directing to persecute and condemn no one , but to love , succour , console and improve all . " Protestants have their ' Book of Martyrs , ' but

if the history of nations were impartially written all religions would be found blameable . 'Lethim that is without offence cast the first stone . ' Mary persecuted and put to death Protestants . Elizabeth Avas an intolerant bigot , and , as a learned

historian , with no Catholic leaning , says , ' malignant ' in her persecution of her Catholic and Protestant subjects . The barbarities practised during the reign of the Virgin Queen were a dishonour to our common humanity . But I have been very

recently reminded of old arguments adduced by me in defence of the Craft to which I belong , and I have been good-humouredly taunted with the with the action taken by the Freemasons in Paris , aud of the assertion of Citoyen Allixa member of

, the Commune , that f The Commune of Paris puts in practice that which Freemasonry has long since affirmed , that fche re-construction of the Temple was certainly of this epoch the re-organization of

The Parisian Masons And The Civil War.

labour . ' To this bathos I appeal to Masonic law , Avhich inculcates ' A Mason is a peaceable subject to the civil powers Avherever he resides or Avorks , and is never to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the

nation . He is cheerfully to conform to every laAVful authority , to uphold on every occasion the interests of the community , and zealously promote the prosperity of his own country . " Masonry has ever flourished in times of peace , and been ahvays

injured by war , bloodshed , and confusion . ' The Paris Freemasons have covered themselves with obloquy and ridicule , and are without the pale of the order . But the murky cloud which has settled upon Freemasonry in Paris is

not Avithout its silver lining . Bro . H . Hamel , of the lodge ' L'Avenir' protests in the ' Siecle ' against ' individuals arrogating to themselves the right of committing a corporation , which numbers adherents in both camps , to acts which , not being purely those of fraternal conciliation , are unfaithful to the primordial law of Masonry . '

"But what concerns me is the averment that Paris Freemasons who threw in their lot with the insurgents have been influenced by a latent feelinoof opposition to the Roman Catholic priesthood . I am afraid this can be verified . Still they stand

condemned , as Bro . H . Hamel testifies . " The great element in Freemasonry , and which has ever recommended it to my Warmest sympathies , is ( Communistic let it be ) that we labour to bring together upon a common platform of

social intercourse men of all religious creeds , and of varied shades of political opinion , to Avork in the cause of charity and for the alleviation of human suffering . ' Thus Masonry is the centre of union between good men and true , and the

happy means of conciliating friendship amongst those who must otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance . "

Masonic Reform.

MASONIC REFORM .

Editorial duties are perennial in their nature , always beginning and never ending . When a subject has been exhausted—in the mind of the editor , when it appears to him that not only is there nothing to be added to his treatment of it ,

but really , you know that nothing more ought to be said , nevertheless a new phase turns up , some neAV suggestion is offered , the old ideas are pre-