Grand Orient Of France.

GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JANUART 25 , 1 S 62 .

( Continued from page 44 . ) But our present object is not justify the Masons "branded by the terms of this decree ; we shall content ourselves with repelling as untrue ancl illusory the statements made in support of the motives of this antimasonic and unfraternal act . There has not been

on the part of any one of the suspended members , either disobedience , nor dishonour . It is upon the law that they depend in resisting the abuse of power by the Administration , and it is in the name of the law that they still protest against a denial of justice by the Grand Master , which if tolerated would be 6

indefinitely prolonged . I \ bw we know our position , we can place the responsibility on the author of the act . At first , the wish not to forget the high position of Prince Murat imposes on us respect and reserve , ancl we must not lose siht that our brethren always

g addressed themselves to his administration , never to him in person . But we must say that it was not inconsiderately and from a love of change that the legitimate representatives of French Masonry in the exercise of their electoral rights , which the constitution confers on

them , had resolved to supersede their Grand Master . The complaints addressed to his Administration were serious , numerous , and generally of long standing . They had already been brought forward several times , always in vain , and it was only after being convinced that reform was impossibleand that the

, institution was on the verge of an abyss , and likely to be held in contempt , that they had recourse to the extreme measure placed in their power by the election .

We cannot give here a list of the grievances of French Masonry against its official directors . It would be a tedious and a needless scandal . It would be necessary to enter into the financial question , and go into figures ; to reveal the mysteries of a civil society , to expose the economy of the lodges and the receipts of the administration ; 7 to prove that the

funds of benevolence had been applied to redeem the debts of the society ; Masonic benefits laid waste by speculation ; and show that , to remedy a long standing . difficulty , they made use of Masonry to create resources , and to maintain an artificial credit . Before raking up these grievanceswe prefer to

, keep to a fact already notorious , and Avhich seems to us sufficient alone to justify the discontent of the Craft , ancl to enable us to appreciate the morality of those in authority . We would speak of the letting . of part of the Masonic hall for public balls , and of the result thereof . Thus FreemasonryAvhose chief

, object is to encourage virtue and morality , is made to profit by the practice of vice and immorality , —and yet the rulers of the Craft see no harm in this . A lease of the Hall , with a full knowledge of the - uses to which it is to be applied , had been signed for twenty years ; under lettings had been made to the

outer world , which was installed in a part of the tenement appropriated to private apartments . In this respect the French Masonic Temple calls to mind those Temples of ancient Babylon consecrated to Venus Mylitta , of which the enclosure was filled with women offering to strangers the attraction of their charms . It is true that if Masonry ancl prostitution work in company , like two galley slaves fastened to the

same chain , it is to repay the civil society proprietor of the building , and of which the Grand Master is the administrator—the cost of the house which sheltered both . The end , therefore , is more honest , and if Masons reasoned like Jesuits , that the end sanctified the means , perhaps they would have given credit to the managing director of the civil society for

having been willing to receive with one hand the rent of a Temple , and with the other those of a . Unfortunately , this general administrator , this director , this manager , was no other than their Grand Master , and his consideration affected the brethren , and they wished to wash the hands which supported

the banners of Freemasonry . They considered rightly that protests would not be heard against this state of affairs . They would have been more energetic if they had only known that the evil was remediable . The administration replied by the eloquence of an accomplished fact , ancl justified it

by the necessity in whieh they were placed when they perceived the gross revenues insufficient for the repayment of the purchase money for the real estate , in great part due to the administrators themselves , their families , or their friends . We have quoted this fact , since it is the easiest of verification , but it is one of a crowd of others which superabundantly prove that the actual chiefs of the Grand Orient have always regarded