Grand Orient Of France.

Masonic work as a kind of financial undertaking fit to produce , by means of compulsory or voluntary contributions , rents , rates , sale of titles , and charitable gifts , a profitable medium of investment . Every attempt to induce the Administration to abandon these proceedings has been in vain . Every proposition

having this object has been thrown aside ; whereas the Administrator received with favour every proposition which tended to furnish new sources of i"evenue , or helped to centralise in its hands the res-ources of the lodges . On all these points the administration was always opposed to improvement ,

and the lodges were too much occupied to prevent this extension of the power of the Administration . It was urged that the work of Freemasonry was purely moral and philanthropic ; that it ought to abstain from all speculation and financial operations ; and that lotteriesbills of exchangeprotestsand

, , , renewals , were derogatory to the reputation and influence of the Order ; and therefore an obstacle to its prosperity and to the development of the institution . The Administration only saw a business , or , in its own words , " an enterprise which has the double characterMasonic and financial . "—( Eeport of Prince

, Murat , read May 27 th , 1858 . ) On the other hand , the Graft would "have preferred that the administration would not look upon themselves as a government , and that they would forbear

to play an impossible and ridiculous part . They wished them to know that they coulcl have but one government , that of the country , and that Masonry could only give to its chiefs a moral authority ; the duty of the latter being not to govern men , but to teach them to govern themselves ; that , therefore , it was sufficient to direct them in the right waygiving them

, example , and to keep themselves within the limits of the Order , which axe only the natural and reciprocal limits of the liberty of every one determined , by an equal law for all . What the Masons would have wished , — -moreover , what their natural representatives , members of the

Council , Masters , and Officers of the lodges have not ceased to ask , —was that the administration of the Grand Orient should give less consideration to the financial question , and that they should be embued with the advantage of true Masonic Avork , which consists in helping , in ameliorating , and enlightening our

brethren within or without . But those charged Avith the direction of French Masoniy have known neither how to centralise the li ght , to make it shine on the profane world , nor to give the lodges sufficient life and unity to constitute in themselves a moral centre , iia which to purify their hearts and maintain a- clear

conscience ; they have realised neither Masonic instruction nor morajlity . In the simple matter of charity , neither , have they done anything more , and if any lodge has been able to effect anything whatever , it is

without their help , if not against their will . As for them , the only attempt they have made in this direction is the building a hospital , but this laudable work has been thwarted in their hands and has become a true philanthropic laughing stock . Even nothing for the body , nothing for the heart , nothing for the

spirit , nothing for the conscience . Nothing ! absolutely nothing ! The Constitution of the Grand Orient of France , although imperfect , without doubt , like all human works , seems to offer some guarantees against arbitrary power . For instance , it imposes on the

Grand Master the duty of consulting the Supreme Council on all important subjects . But it has always been in vain that the ledges attempted to complain to the Grand Master , in his Council , ofthe administration of his government . Their claims have always been intercepted , or if they have reached the Council , they have been suppressed there by the influence of the particular representative . The Council , moreover , is simply

consultative . If its advice is favourable , it is acted upon , if not it is ignored . Thus it is very seldom that its intervention has been of any practical utility . Those of its members Avho have conscientiously performed their duty have been either cashiered or forced to absent themselves from its assemblies . At the time we are writing , of the twenty-one

members which should compose it , there are seven who have ceased to take part in it by suspension , expulsion , or resignation ; five or six have voluntarily left from weariness or disgust , so that the number of members necessary to give effect to their deliberations would be found no longer if the Administration had

not introduced into the Council six honorary officers , chosen by the Grand Master , to support the ivishes of his representative , in giving them , by a decision , of the Grand Master , —contrary to the spirit and letter of the constitution , which decrees that all their decisions be made by vote—a deliberative voice in manv instances . 9

What becomes of the provisions of a constitution if they are to be violated Avith impunity by those whose duty it is to enforce their observance , and if all charges against those persons are interdicted , even by the extreme measure of a vote of censure . What Avould be the effect , for instance , of an appeal to a Council Avhich modified its opinions to the rule of

their chief , and whose decisions were so made as to be conformable with the wishes of the Grand Master ? The Greeks could appeal from the Philli p drunk to Philip sober , but alas ! French Masons have to bemoan thafc tlie master mind which rules them is

not subject to like intermissions . In appealing from the Grand Master ' s Administration to the Grand Master ' s Council , it is in fact to subject the acts of the particular representative to the reason and to the conscience of the particular representative ; reason undisturbed and sell-possessed , conscience disciplined and without Aveakness , as everyone knows ; and what

is to be gained by such an appeal ? We may here be permitted to reply to an accusation frequently made . They have charged those Avho have contested the re-election of Prince Murat of having introduced politics into Masonry , and of having thus violated their oath . This is , if not wilful imposture , at least a sophism which rests on a false interpreta-