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Contents . PAGE . The History of Freemasonry in Portugal ¦ 41 The Lodge of Glasgow St . John—By Bro . W . P . Buchan 43 How I Spent my Five Weeks'Leave 44 Masonic Jottings—No . 3 46 Masonic Notes and Queries 47 Correspondence 49

Masonic Mems 53 CRAET LODGE M EETIKGSIMetropolitan 53 Provincial 53 Scotland 57 Ireland 57 Canada 57 South Australia 58

Royal Arch 59 Mark Masonry 59 Scientific Meetings for tho Week 59 list of Lodge , & c , Meetings for ensuing week 59 To Correspondents 60

The History Of Freemasonry In Portugal.

THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY IN PORTUGAL .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JANUARY 15 , 1870 .

Being an Historical Account of the Origin Rise and Progress of the Grand Orient of Lusitania . Translated from Dr . A . M . de Cunha Bellern ' s abridgement of the History of Masonry in Portugal .

At the south-western extremity of Europe , its shores washed by the waves of the Atlantic , lies a little nation , whose fame at one time re-echoed over the known world , but now sunk in oblivion

and almost forgotten—the countiy which gave a new world to the old , whose ships were the first to plough the ocean paths to India and the Brazils , and whose intrepid navigators first braved the dangers of the Cape of Good Hope , which the indomitable courage of Bartholomeu Dias , Pedro

Alvares Oabral and Vasco da Garaa , first discovered to the world , and lifted the mysterious veil from the hazy ocean . This nation , whose glory has been sung in the lays of Caruaoes , and thereby maintained '

imperishable in the annals of successive ages , and rescued from the abyss of oblivion , is Portugal . But alas , cruel injustice has been done to her memory , and the pride and dignity of this noble country has been humbled and degraded , when

alien hands have essayed to record her history . Not only have falsity and error been promulgated , but the most pitiable fictions were invented by each author ,, and repeated to the dcHment of this unhappy country . Liberty , that divinity so fondly cherished from the foundation of the Portuguese monarchy , at

The History Of Freemasonry In Portugal.

the commencement of the 12 th century—whose sacred light has never been obscured in the sky of Portugal , not even when , for sixty years , the sword ' of Spanish usurpation almost mortally wounded her independence—has ever been pourtrayed as a

victim groaning in the dungeons of the . inquisition , or crushed under the heel of despotic monarchy and priestcraft ; monks , inquisitors ., and tyrannical kings are represented as stifling without intermission the aspirations of the people ,

On the contrary , during the mediasval ages ,, Portugal has always maintained the rights of the people , and has ever pleaded boldly against the aggressions of royalty ; and if in the latter reigns of the second dynasty the inquisition was planted in the country , it never took so firm a root as in Spain , and nothing but a vivifying breath from

Prance in 17 S 9 prevented the final downfall of this ephemeral tyranny and its cruel tribunal . Again for a while , at the close of the first quarter of the present century , Portuguese liberty was assailed by despotism under the

impotent reign of Don Jean VI . and the tyrannic power of the usurper Don Miguel , but this infliction caused the li ght of liberty to shine more vigorously and dazzingly than ever after the victory of 1833 .

During the time that Spain was collecting faggots and immolating the victims of bigotry and superstition on the blazing pyre , Portugal continued to enjoy the blessed sweets of personal liberty , while Spain still groaned under despotic tyranny . Many of her most distinguished sons carried their heads to the scaffold or bared

their breasts to the fusilade of the soldiers of hei tyrannic rulers — some more fortunate , ended their days in exile , far away from their loved country and their cherished hearths—Portugal flourished with the enjoyment of peace aud the

advantage of absolute liberty . Capital punishment had long been known there only as a relic of by-gone ages . Persecutions in the name of religious faith were forbidden , and every man could adore his Maker , according to

the dictates of his own conscience ; and the Portuguese nation , as brothers and friends ,. were occupied in applying the advantages of progress , and protecting their country from foreign aggression . This is the country , so frequently described

asthe paradise of priests and monks , as the seat of ignorance and prejudice , and the theatre of superstition ; and thus is history written !