The Late King Leopold And The Grand Orient Of Belgium.

THE LATE KING LEOPOLD AND THE GRAND ORIENT OF BELGIUM .

" Brussels , 17 th . February , 1866 . " Here one hears nothing spoken of but the carnival , its masks , proces" sions , and balls , and—really this Freemasonry is irrepressible—the great " funeral fete given by the Grand Orient of Belgium last Saturday night " in their magnificent temple of Masonry . I am but a weak manand

, ' " I feel myself much bound to bow to authority , and the authority of ' the Church has recently told us that this famous society is dangerous " to States and subversive of civil and political order . At the same _ time " I knew the late King Leopold very well , and , with a wise submission " to constitutional liberty , there was not in this world a man with more " firm and decided views as to the necessity of checking revolution and

" disorder , and , though himself a Protestant , he was the stoutest " upholder of the Catholic Church in Belgium , because he believed it was " best for man ' s happiness to submit reverently to the precepts of the " relig ion in which bo was born . How , then , was it possible that " this sage Leopold , if the assertions of the late Allocution be correct , " should have been a brother of this order— ' Brother Leopold' as I " hear he is fondly called in the lodges—and not merely one nominally

" of the craft , but one understanding and practising its tenets and defending " it in his kingdom and elsewhere with his power , his purse , and his pen ? " The whole thing appeared so contradictory to me that I began to think " Leopold when a youth merely gratified a boyish curiosity , and having " seen the secrets of the prison-house forgot and abandoned without , of " course , betraying them . But careful inquiry , so far as one kept outside " the mystic portals bfear of a dread ceremonial could make itconvinces

y , " me of this , which I have from undoubted and altogether other than " Masonic authority—that the late King Leopold , at his own request and " after previous general inquiry , was initiated in the Lodge of Esperance " at Berne , in Switzerland , in 1813 , when in the 23 rd . year of his age . " After that period he always attended Masonic lodges abroad whenever " he had an opportunity until his settlement and marriage in England .

" About the time of his marriage , in 1816 , or immediately after , he "joined an English lodge of Freemasonry , and took an active participation " in its proceedings . When a widower , on all his visits to Germany , as " opportunity offered , he also took part in Masonry , and when in 1832 " he mounted the Belgian Throne , without a moment ' s hesitation , in reply " to an address sent to him , his Majesty agreed to take the order in " his new kingdom under his august protection . He did notfrom his

, " position , of course , attend the lodges , but he frequently inquired into " their working , and always expressed his pleasure at their prosperity ; and " on his death the collars and jewels of his Majesty ' s Masonic degree " were found mingled with the badges of the most illustrious of European " orders of chivalry , with those of the Garter , the Golden Fleece , and " the Legion of Honour . It was no wonderthereforethat the

cere-, , " niony at the Hall of the Grand Orient in honour of this king should " have been a most brilliant success . Everything that taste could suggest " in draperies and adornment was displayed in the gorgeous apartment , and " the first painters and sculptors of Belgium lent their aid and their taste " to render the ceremonial worthy of the kingly brother . I understand M