The Charter Of Cologne.

THE CHARTER OF COLOGNE .

BY MASONIC STUDENT . I HAVE headed this paper with these words , but more properly , I think , the title would he the "So-called Charter of Cologne . " I for one do not believe in its genuineness or authenticity . But I have thought well to reprint it here , because , for the first timea " fac-simile " of the alleged signatures

, has come before me , and that other " consideration " fully decides my own opinion as to its pretensions It may be noted that this remarkable document , so mysteriousl y sent to H . R . H . Prince Frederick , the late G . M . of the Netherlands , in 1826 , is said still to be in the archives of the Dutch Grand Lodge in " Latin " and in " cipher . " Is it ? or where is it ? I publish here the Latin form of the document as g iven by Eckert in his

curious and valuable work , "Mysterien der Heidenkirche , " at page 329 , and the facsimile itself from page 345 ; also the English translation , made by Bro . Alexander Deuchar from a copy sent to him by a Mr . Macleod , advocate at Nivelles , 1825 , and given at p . 315 of Bro . D . M . Lyon ' s history of Mary ' s Chapel . There have been several translations published , but I think this is a very faithful one .

In December 1825 , Bro . Alexander Deuchar , in the course of his correspondence with Continental Masons , obtained from M . De Marohot , an advocate in Sfivelles , a copy of this document , and he afterwards presented the Lodge of Edinburgh with a literal translation of it , a transcript of which was , in January 1826 , inserted under the attestation of a notary public in the fifth volume of its Records . It is there characterised " as a document of great importance to the interests of the Craft in general , aud particularly to the Lodge of Edinburghinasmuch as it recognises the existence of the Lodge at a period

, thirty years further back than any document already in its possession , and far beyond the date to which any other Lodge in Scotland can trace evidence of its existence as a Lodge . " This is incorrect . The date of the Cologne MS . is sixty-three years earlier than that of the oldest of the Mary's Chapel documents , and sixty-four years anterior to that of the Schaw Ordinance of 1599 , the oldest authentic MS . extant in which the Lodges of Edinburgh and Kilwinning are mentioned by name . The copy of this deed , as now preserved in the archives of Mary's Chapel , is as follows : —

A . M . G . D . 0 * Nos electi magistri venerandae Joanniqne sacrae societatis , sive liberorum oaementariorum ordinis socii , moderatores mansionum , sen tabernaculorum , quae Londini , Edimburgi , Viennae , Amstelaedami , Parisiis , Lugduni , Franeofurti , Hamburgi ,

Antverpiae , Roteraedami , Madriti , Tenetiis , Gandavi , Regiomonti , Bruxellis , Dantisci , Mediobnrgi , Fabirai , atque in Agrippinae civitate constituta sunt , capitulatim in eadem civitate Agrippinae , anno , mensi , diebusque infra designatis , tabernaculi hac in civitate fundati magistro , fratre venerando , viro doctissimoprudentissimo et

providentis-, simo , praeside , unanimis nostris suffragiis , bis utnegotiispraeesseteooptato , congregati , hisce ad omnes supra dictas mansiones transmittendis litteris , tam praesentibus quam futuris , sociis manifestamus : Siquidem nobis

S . M G . D . . 0 . * We the elect Masters of the Venerable Society , sacred to John , or of the social order of Free Masons , Rulers of the Lodges or Tabernacles , constituted at London , Edinburgh , Vienna , Amsterdam , Paris , Lyons , Frankfort , Hamburg , Antwerp , Rotterdam ,

Madrid , Venice , Ghent , Konigsburg , Brussels , Dantzic , and Middleburg , Bremen , and in the City of Cologne in Chapter assembled in the said City of Cologne , m the year , mouth , and day after-mentioned , our Preses being the Master of the Lodge established in this city—a venerable Brother and most learned , prudent , and judicious man , called to preside over these deliberations , by our unanimous vote— -do by these letters