Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Supreme Grand Council 0f France And Marshal Magnan.
adoption , as for the last quarter of a century the Supreme Grand Council had followed that course . Judge then of my surprise when I received from you an invitation demanding that the lodges under my rule , should unite with those of the Grand Orient of
France to work together m the locale of the rue Cadet , and to amalgamate in one great family , in order to put an end to the intestine dissensions which had taken place in the Grand Orient . Before answering the invitation , I beg leave to recal to your memory , what you had communicated to me but an hour before your installationviz .: ' that you were completely ignorant
, of what the Emperor charged you to direct , and that you had no notion of Masonry , ' nor do I wish to hurt your feelings by the avowal , but your letter is a proof that your observation was true . " As to the dissensions you allude to , we are entire strangers to any suchand as Masonshave deplored
, , them , but we have neither the right or intention to take part in them , nor is our intervention of any utility towards their termination . Tour power is sufficient for that . " The two orders , those of the Supreme Grand Council and Grand Orient of Masonry , are entirely
independent of each other . We meet in a house which we haye rented from the Paris Hospitals , for the last seven years . Our interests are distinct , our relations extend to the extremities of the world , whilst yours do not pass the frontiers . The fusion to which you have invited us , is forbidden by our statutes .
Brotherly love is alone our bond with j r ou , and we are the more bound to act with it in view , since the men to whom the Grand Orient perhaps , owed its divisions , have never abandoned the idea of our incorporation under them , but that is impossible . We are then forced to maintain a separate existence , and to work apart under the shads of the protection promised me , until the time when it may suit the authorities of the State to withdraw- their countenance .
'As the Emperor explams , his decree being m accordance with your desires , I resign my office of M . P . Sovereign Grand Commander at once , which M . Le Due Decazes bequeathed to me , after having received it from M . Le Comte de Segur , from M . le Due de Choiseul , and from other illustrious men of the time . But such is the nature of our institution thatas long
, as one remains a Mason of the 33 ° , he is chief of the order , the supreme regulator of the lodges of the Eite Eeossais , and none but the definite authority of the State has the power to interrupt this succession . Submission to that authority would be immediate , for our statutes impose on us the obligation of
recognising it as supreme . " As far as I am personally concerned , I have lost more important dignities without suffering from want of sleep or health , and I am entirely resigned to having no other duties in this world than the use of my pen . I am , with the most profound respect , M . le Marshal ,
your very humble and obedient servant , YIEXNET . " Bro . Viennet feared the Marshal might have been hurt at some of his expressions , but he altogether disavowed any intention of offendin g him , -for it was difficult to j > reventhowever much against his willsuch
, , remarks creeping into a correspondence on the subject . Affairs remained pretty much the same until the day Bro . Yiennet , as Director of the French Academy , had to solicit an audience of the Emperor , in order to
The Supreme Grand Council 0f France And Marshal Magnan.
submit for his approbation the election of M . le Prince de Broglie , and he foresaw that at the interview the Masonic question would be most likely to arise . Previously to his audience , he saw Marshal Magnan in conference with the Emperor , and , when it came to his turn for presentation , after the special business on which he went was concluded the Emperor broached
the subject of Masonic affairs expressing his desire , that there should be a fusion of the two rites . The word was significant , it clearly conveyed the wishes of the Grand Orient—the object it had steadily followed since its foundation . Bro . Yiennet contended that a fusion carried with it the total absorbing of the one
body which is dissolved within the other . It was , he said , a suicide that was required of him , and he had neither the right to command , nor the power to enforce it amongst those under his rule . He felt he could sacrifice himself , but the Eite Eeossais would survive him . The order which he must have iven to
g satisfy the wish of the Emperor would have been considered as his resignation , and his Lieut .-General , who was by right his immediate successor , would have been at once proclaimed Grand Master . If the latter had followed his example , the senior member of the 33 would have taken his place , and the succession would
have continued in this -way to the end of the chapter . The opponents of the rite asserted that it was a very dangerous institution , but Bro . Yiennet contended that that view was false , for he said one word from authority was sufficient to finish it . If a fusion was impossible , a dissolution could be pronounced , and the last article of the Constitutions of Frederick the Great , makes it the duty of the SS . GG . II . GG . to obey instantly . They only exist by the sufferance
of the sovereign power of the State . These remarks Bro . Yiennet submitted to the Emperor , who did not agree with them , adding that he preferred a fusion , and then concluded the audience . This caused him to retire with very sad reflections , for it seemed evident to him that though all wished it defunctthe Emperor was repugnant to signing its
, death warrant , but , that on the other hand , he feared to act contrary to the Marshal ' s opinion , the latter having accepted the Grand Mastership of the Grand Orient at his Majest y ' s request . Bro . Yiennet also saw that the Marshal , who was urging the Emperor , was himself urged , in his turn , by the impatience of
others , and by the desire of preserving his promotion over those on whom he had been forced . This state of things lasted for two months , and produced the letter of Marshal Magnan already alluded to , addressed to the chiefs of the so-called pretended non-conforming lodgesand to all Masons .
, On this Bro . Yiennet was induced to put forth his statement , giving a resume of the Masonic history . In that he enquires who are the real non-conformists , those who since 1726 have remained faithful to their doctrines , or those who separated themselves in 1772 ? He asks if it is not the Grand Orient of France who
are the schismatics , or if it is well in their Grand Master to punish those who have suffered by it ? Who gave them the power to dictate orders to Masons of all rites , or where are the decrees which have confided to them the direction of all the rites in France ? Who has given theni the ri g ht to menace all those who do not conform to the Grand Orient , or , at last , suppress the Supreme Grand Council of the Eite Eeossais ?
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Supreme Grand Council 0f France And Marshal Magnan.
adoption , as for the last quarter of a century the Supreme Grand Council had followed that course . Judge then of my surprise when I received from you an invitation demanding that the lodges under my rule , should unite with those of the Grand Orient of
France to work together m the locale of the rue Cadet , and to amalgamate in one great family , in order to put an end to the intestine dissensions which had taken place in the Grand Orient . Before answering the invitation , I beg leave to recal to your memory , what you had communicated to me but an hour before your installationviz .: ' that you were completely ignorant
, of what the Emperor charged you to direct , and that you had no notion of Masonry , ' nor do I wish to hurt your feelings by the avowal , but your letter is a proof that your observation was true . " As to the dissensions you allude to , we are entire strangers to any suchand as Masonshave deplored
, , them , but we have neither the right or intention to take part in them , nor is our intervention of any utility towards their termination . Tour power is sufficient for that . " The two orders , those of the Supreme Grand Council and Grand Orient of Masonry , are entirely
independent of each other . We meet in a house which we haye rented from the Paris Hospitals , for the last seven years . Our interests are distinct , our relations extend to the extremities of the world , whilst yours do not pass the frontiers . The fusion to which you have invited us , is forbidden by our statutes .
Brotherly love is alone our bond with j r ou , and we are the more bound to act with it in view , since the men to whom the Grand Orient perhaps , owed its divisions , have never abandoned the idea of our incorporation under them , but that is impossible . We are then forced to maintain a separate existence , and to work apart under the shads of the protection promised me , until the time when it may suit the authorities of the State to withdraw- their countenance .
'As the Emperor explams , his decree being m accordance with your desires , I resign my office of M . P . Sovereign Grand Commander at once , which M . Le Due Decazes bequeathed to me , after having received it from M . Le Comte de Segur , from M . le Due de Choiseul , and from other illustrious men of the time . But such is the nature of our institution thatas long
, as one remains a Mason of the 33 ° , he is chief of the order , the supreme regulator of the lodges of the Eite Eeossais , and none but the definite authority of the State has the power to interrupt this succession . Submission to that authority would be immediate , for our statutes impose on us the obligation of
recognising it as supreme . " As far as I am personally concerned , I have lost more important dignities without suffering from want of sleep or health , and I am entirely resigned to having no other duties in this world than the use of my pen . I am , with the most profound respect , M . le Marshal ,
your very humble and obedient servant , YIEXNET . " Bro . Viennet feared the Marshal might have been hurt at some of his expressions , but he altogether disavowed any intention of offendin g him , -for it was difficult to j > reventhowever much against his willsuch
, , remarks creeping into a correspondence on the subject . Affairs remained pretty much the same until the day Bro . Yiennet , as Director of the French Academy , had to solicit an audience of the Emperor , in order to
The Supreme Grand Council 0f France And Marshal Magnan.
submit for his approbation the election of M . le Prince de Broglie , and he foresaw that at the interview the Masonic question would be most likely to arise . Previously to his audience , he saw Marshal Magnan in conference with the Emperor , and , when it came to his turn for presentation , after the special business on which he went was concluded the Emperor broached
the subject of Masonic affairs expressing his desire , that there should be a fusion of the two rites . The word was significant , it clearly conveyed the wishes of the Grand Orient—the object it had steadily followed since its foundation . Bro . Yiennet contended that a fusion carried with it the total absorbing of the one
body which is dissolved within the other . It was , he said , a suicide that was required of him , and he had neither the right to command , nor the power to enforce it amongst those under his rule . He felt he could sacrifice himself , but the Eite Eeossais would survive him . The order which he must have iven to
g satisfy the wish of the Emperor would have been considered as his resignation , and his Lieut .-General , who was by right his immediate successor , would have been at once proclaimed Grand Master . If the latter had followed his example , the senior member of the 33 would have taken his place , and the succession would
have continued in this -way to the end of the chapter . The opponents of the rite asserted that it was a very dangerous institution , but Bro . Yiennet contended that that view was false , for he said one word from authority was sufficient to finish it . If a fusion was impossible , a dissolution could be pronounced , and the last article of the Constitutions of Frederick the Great , makes it the duty of the SS . GG . II . GG . to obey instantly . They only exist by the sufferance
of the sovereign power of the State . These remarks Bro . Yiennet submitted to the Emperor , who did not agree with them , adding that he preferred a fusion , and then concluded the audience . This caused him to retire with very sad reflections , for it seemed evident to him that though all wished it defunctthe Emperor was repugnant to signing its
, death warrant , but , that on the other hand , he feared to act contrary to the Marshal ' s opinion , the latter having accepted the Grand Mastership of the Grand Orient at his Majest y ' s request . Bro . Yiennet also saw that the Marshal , who was urging the Emperor , was himself urged , in his turn , by the impatience of
others , and by the desire of preserving his promotion over those on whom he had been forced . This state of things lasted for two months , and produced the letter of Marshal Magnan already alluded to , addressed to the chiefs of the so-called pretended non-conforming lodgesand to all Masons .
, On this Bro . Yiennet was induced to put forth his statement , giving a resume of the Masonic history . In that he enquires who are the real non-conformists , those who since 1726 have remained faithful to their doctrines , or those who separated themselves in 1772 ? He asks if it is not the Grand Orient of France who
are the schismatics , or if it is well in their Grand Master to punish those who have suffered by it ? Who gave them the power to dictate orders to Masons of all rites , or where are the decrees which have confided to them the direction of all the rites in France ? Who has given theni the ri g ht to menace all those who do not conform to the Grand Orient , or , at last , suppress the Supreme Grand Council of the Eite Eeossais ?