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The Soi-Disant Masons Of Paris.

THE SOI-DISANT MASONS OF PARIS .

THE tragi-comedy recently enacted by the pseudo-Masons of the French capital , while it disgusted , must have also astonished many minds . English Masons

are so accustomed to look at the teachings of Freemasonry through English spectacles , that the astounding vagaries of the French frfires wear to most of us the aspect

of vague unrealities . We cannot imagine a master of a lodge , as such , transformed into a mountebank ; still less can we

conceive a multitude of mad Masons flaunting their ribbons and sashes and standards in the light of day , and glorying in the shame and scandal of their unmasonic acts . A

little insight , however , into the history of French Masonry will speedily dissipate any illusions which may be entertained on the subject , and we shall then see how

consistently the mummers of these present days preserve the traditions of their vanityridden predecessors . At a very early period in the history of modern Freemasonry , the

French brethren were the firsttocontcmnthe sublime simplicity of the Craft degrees and to bow down before the gorgeous Dagons

erected in the temples of the high grades . As far back as 1744 , their repudiation of the " beautiful regulations of England "

The Soi-Disant Masons Of Paris.

was bewailed by a contemporary writer , who further alludes to the " shameless deceit of hermaphodite and secondary Masonry , which will soon be made the assembling

place of vice , " a prediction only too fatally fulfilled in the guilt-stained conclaves over which Egalit 6 and his satellites presided . Who so ready to receive and welcome the

"Quack of Quacks , " as Carlyle calls him , the " Grand Cophta " Cagliostro ? Who so ready to adopt his rhapsodies as the volatile French ? Verily , throughout the whole

chronicle of the Craft in France the same sad record may be traced ; and not the least melancholy episode is the most recent ,

magniloquently styled by the now imprisoned Rochefort , the " grand Masonic manifestation" in . favour of the rights of the collapsed Commune .

We are told by this worthy , in his Mot d'Ordre , dated " 12 th Floreal , year 79 , " in silly affectation of the revolutionaries in 1792 , that the " manifestation " commenced

at half-past nine in the morning , a vast crowd having previously taken possession of the Rue de Rivoli , the Place de la Concorde , and the neighbourhood of the Hotel

de Vale . At the hour named , a deputation of the Commune left the Hotel de Villc , with a band of music at their head , and proceeded towards the Louvre , where they

met the Masons , fraternised with them , and retraced their steps to the Hotel de Ville , accompanied by the members of the Fraternity , who were admitted into the

Court of Honour . Our readers can now fancy the scene . A statue of the Republic , bearing a red scarf—a ladder placed before it , the Masonic banners are then

placed successively on the steps of the ladder , and exhibited before the eyes of all as proofs that the programme of Freemasonry and the Commune are one and

the same . A white banner borne by an artilleryman attracts particular attention , and amidst loud shouts of " Vive la Commune ! " "Vive la Franc-Maconnerie !"

Felix Pyat addresses the meeting in a " powerful voice . " In this oration we recognise all the flowers of speech of the practised French

demagogue , " grande patne , " patrie universelle , " "drapeau d' humanity , " words which fall like flame upon the hearts of an excitable people . An old Republican ,

called Beslay , succeeded to the " stump , " as our American cousins would say , and echoed the sentiments of Felix , winding up , by way of emphatic peroration , with

embracing a Freemason who stood near him . Citizen Meniere , flag in hand , claimed the honour of planting the first banncronthe ramparts of Paris—the banner

of " Perseverance , " by which he meant , we imagine , a lodge of that name , which he stated to have existed since 1790 . The red standard of the Commune was then

confided by Citizen Leo Meillet to the Freemasons represented by Citizen Terifocq , each indulging in the usual buncombe as to the invincible courage of every one present , including himself , and laudations

The Soi-Disant Masons Of Paris.

upon the glorious inspiration of the flag , which Terifocq shook' wildly in the air as he concluded his speech . The Masonic cortege , numbering ten thousand

members , then defiled before the Hotel de Ville , each man wearing the insignia of his grade—blue , red , and black—the officers of the Rose Croix with their red collars , the

Knights Kadosh with their black scarves , fringed with silver and worn crosswise , all other officers being distinguished by a blue sash edged with gold . The three rites of

France were represented : the Grand Orient , the Scottish Ancient and Accepted Rite , and the Rite of Misraim . In solemn march they then advanced through immense

crowds of spectators—each banner in the procession being lowered before the column of July—until they reached the vicinity of the Arc de Triomphe , amid cries of " Long

live the Commune , " " Long live the Republic , " to which foolish cries the Versaillaise cannon made sinister response . A delegate from each lodge , followed by his

standard-bearer , then left the main body , and to the number of one hundred and twenty-five men they proceeded under the Arc de Triomphe , preceded by a venerable

of the Order and a flag of truce . In the meantime shells flew fast around them , but , nothing daunted , they marched gravely but steadily on . Heroism like this alone

redeems the drama from the ridicule otherwise its due ; but we have yet to learn that the French , however badly they may have fought of late , are not essentially a brave

people . At this juncture a Mason of the Scottish Rite was struck by one of the projectiles , and had to be conveyed to the Beaujon hospital . The delegates still

pressed forward , and eventually succeeded under a heavy fire , in accomplishing their aim , and the banners of the Fraternity floated over the ramparts of Lutetia !

Such was the great Masonic demonstration , with the futility of which all our readers are acquainted . It is a lamentable instance of that prostitution of Masonic

influence to political purposes which has ever been rife in France ; and if we have dwelt upon the details , it is not from any pleasure we descry in the scene , but rather

as a warning to the Brotherhood in every land to refrain from similar acts , and never to stain the white escutcheon of the Order by entering into ignoble alliance with anarchists and men of blood .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

—*—PERSONAL RELIGION AND TOLERATION . What cause has the Protestant of to-day to boast of his Protestanism , the Catholic of his Faith , or the Jew of his Judaism ? Is

it not the fact that , in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred , each and all are what they are , simply because their fathers were so before them ? few thinking for

themselves . The remembrance , therefore , of such a thought as this ought above all things to teach us the lessons of humility , charity , and extended toleration . W . P . B .