Freemasonry In France.

FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JANUARY 20 , 1 S 6 G .

The papal thunderbolt issued in September last , so far from weakening the Masonic phalanx , has tended to promote the cause of enlightenment and civilisation ; and though Pio None may have , chosen a very strange method for furthering * the

interest and objects of that school to Avhich " Mastai Ferretti " ' was initiated ancl affiliated , more than forty years since , there is no doubt that it may be said we owe a debt of gratitude even to this apostate for having provoked this open

disruption betAveen Ultramontanism and Masonry , obscurantism and enlightenment . The contention that has thus commenced will be to us a

struggle pro aris et focis in which Ave are backed by all those who are in favour of the li ght of the nineteenth century as opposed to the darkness of mediasval times . In the discussion to which the Pope ' s allocution

has given rise , and which has been going on for several months , the whole of the French Press , with the sole exception of the recognised organs of the Court of Rome and the " Consres'ation , " have ranged themselves on our side ancl impugned

the vieAVS enounced by the Sovereign Pontiff . One of the most popular writers of the clay , M . Edniond About , has published a kind of apology for the Masonic Institution , in which he professes to advocate its principles in a fair and equitable spirit , sine ira et studio . We have never met with M .

About ' s name in connection with things Masonic , but from the sentiments Ave find expressed in his paper , we venture to infer that he also is a member , and none of the least worthy of our Fraternity . The following is a digest of M . About ' s paper , which we translate from the last issue of the

Monde Maqonnique - . — Freemasonry Excommunicated . —The Freemasons aro not a secret society . Need Ave insist on this point ? In this delightful country the law prohibiting secret societies is still in force . If Government does " not apply it to Freemasons , no doubt it considers their innocence amplproved . The Grand Master of Freemasonry Avas

y formerly Prince Murat , afterwards Marshal Ma-gnan ; at present General Mellinet , Commander-in-Chief of the ^ National Guard of the Seine , occupies this post . General Mellinet has never passed for a conspirator , nor a revolutionist , neither has the Deputy Grand Master , Bro . Alfred Blanche , Counselor of State , Secretary General of the Prefecture of the Seinenor also M

, . Lengle , ex-Prefect of the Meurthe Department . Amongst the great dignitaries of the Masonic Order Ave notice Mr . de Saulcy , senator , and assuredly too . much of a man of sense to conspire himself out of existence . It will be

seen , therefore , that Masonry , in France at least , is in the hands of leaders whose conservative tendencies cannot he suspected . Add to this , that almost all lodges or Masonic clubs are frequented by officers , by magistrates , by men whose loyalty cannot bo doubtful ; and , that every citizen Avho has attained his majority , Avhose name is spotless , and Avho has enjoyed elementary education ,

may be admitted to initiation in Masonry . M . Boitfcelle himself , the Prefect of Police , fully ansAvers the postulates of this programme ; he may as well be a Freemason as any other man , and there is nothing to shoAV that he is not . The Masonic Constitution of June 10 th , 1865 , clause 17 , enacts' * ' that every Mason should have a riht to

pub-, g lish his opinions on Masonic questions . " The deposit of all printed publications being compulsory by laAV , Masonry can assuredly have no secrets for those by Avhom . you are governed . The most astonishing of all is , that though closely watched in all its actions and utterances , this control does not in the least inconvenience it . And Avhy ?

Because , by virtue of its constitution , " Masonry strictly excludes from all its meetings discussions on political or religious topics , raised Avith the object of either elucidating the merits or demerits of the various creeds , or of the various forms of Government , or criticising the actions of the civil authority ; it exhorts all its adepts that their first duty , as

Masons aud citizens , is to respect the laAvs of the country they inhabit . " But hoAV , if this wise rule should be infringed ? If the lodge were to become a discussion club ? Clause 28 . — "In the Grand Master is vested supreme authority over all tho lodges . He is to suspend , by virtue of clause 25 , all lodges and all Masons who may have lost sight of the respect they owe to the laws of the laud . " It is therefore absolutely impossible that Freemasons

va Masownj should conspire against the State , or even the Church . Wero a lodge to discuss the dogma of the Immaculate conception , it would be broken within four and tAventy hours . The Pope may issue what dogmas he chooses , how useless and questionable soever they may be ; his contrivances may be criticised everywhere , save in the Masonic " workshops . " Thy thunder-bolt ,

holy Father , is ill directed , if it be aimed at those very houses in Avhich nobody ever attacks thee 1 Indeed , no courage is AA'anted to " strike " Masonry ; id has no Aveapons against its external enemies ; and even its internal enemies , the initiated who become traitors and perjurers , it can visit only Avith disciplinary punishment , and the consequences of their breaches of solemn engagements .

Does it follow from this that Freemasons have never conspired ? I am of opinion that they have not done anything else , from 1725 down to the revolution of 1789 . The formalities connected with the initiation , the privacy of the meetings , the Avatchwords and mysterious signs , the oath , all details of the rite shoAV clearly that

Freemasonry was an energetic and terrible conspiracy against tlie iniquities of former ages . But at the ¦ present day , Avhen it has won the vicfcoi * y , when its motto , " Liberty , equality , fraternity , " has become the watchword of mankind ; when science , industry , and polity are demolishing the international partition Avails that it used to batter in breach , Masonry lives in peace with the HCAV order of

things ifc has chiefly contributed to bring about . It would be like committing an infanticide were ifc fco declare war to modern civilisation . It could contend against the laws in secret , so long as the laAvs themselves Avere but tho expression of tho hon plaisir of an individual ; it is obliged and knows hoAV to respect them , since they have become the expression of the will of a

nation . The logical consequences of the Puevolution arc obvious to all eyes ; Ave mean , to the eyes of all those who read the book of our history without tearing out the leaf they