French Freemasonry.

FRENCH FREEMASONRY .

BY BRO . C . T . JIcCLENACHAN , 33 ° . npilE idasonic fraternity of Prance is a divided institution . The Grand - * - Orient has under its obedience 321 symbolic Lodges , of which 276 are in France proper , aud forty-five of its allegiance scattered over the globe , thirteen being in Algiers . The Supreme Council of FranceScottish Ritehas fifty

, , symbolic Lodges subject to its laws . In Paris , 1725 , Lord Derwentwater , Sir Nevil Maskelyne , and some other Englishmen established a Lodge in a house in the Rue des Bottcheries , belonging to an English restaurateur named Hure ; and shortly after , in May , 1829 , at an inn in the same street , the first Lodge that had a regular constitution was established by Bro . Le Breton , and called the Louis cl'Argent . In

1736 there were but four Masonic Lodges in Paris . From that time , in no district or territory has the Masonic institution sprung forward with greater eagerness , even to wildness . They constituted themselves the Provincial Grand Lodge . In 1742 there were twenty-two Lodges in Paris . On December 11 th , 1743 , Count de Clermont , a prince of the blood , succeeded the Duke

d'Aittin as Grand Master , and the mother Lodge received the title of Grand Lodge Ecossaise in solemn assembly . 'The Duke d'Aittin had been elected Grand Master June 24 th , 1738 , against the declared will of the king , and under peril of imprisonment in the Bastile . This was the Grand Lodge . The Grancl Orient held its first meeting March 5 th , 1773 , confirming the nomination of the Duke de Chartres to be Grand Master . The Grancl Orient

emanated from the Grand Lodge , and in 1786 received into its bosom irregular claimants professing many degrees ; but in 1799 it reduced its authority not to exceed seven degrees , the last being called the Rose Croix , and then the Grancl Lodge of Symbolic Masonry joined and buried itself in the Grand Orient .

On the 22 nd of September , 1804 , Count cle Grasse , commanding the French fleet sent to the assistance of the American colonies in the War of Independence , established in Paris , under authority from America , the Supreme Council for France of the Scottish Rite , 33 ° . On the 5 th of December . 1804 , by a concordat between the Supreme Council and the Grand Orient , the latter body was invested with the power to confer the degrees of the Scottish Rite to and including the Eighteenthor Rose Croixbut no further . Hence the

, , two organizations as they exist to-day . The interdiction , of . Masonic intercourse with the Grand Orient of France by Grand Lodges of the United States , in consequence of territorial invasion , dwindled in importance , when , on the 14 th of September , 1877 , the General Assembly of the Grand Orient completed its overthrow by the almost unanimous adoption of the amendment of Paragraph 2 , Art , I ., of the Constitution

of Masonry , by the expungement of these words : " Freemasonry has for its jirinciples the existence of God , the immortality of the soul , and the solidarit y of mankind , " and substituting many words of moral bearing , but closing with the jihrase , " it has for its princip les , utmost libert y of conscience and human solidarity , and its motto is Liberie , Hyalite , et Fratcrn-ite . " They did this great wrong only that a few libres penseurs ( freethinkers

, atheists ) should be admitted . Should the basis , the bond of union of the fraternity , be surrendered for a handful of atheists P When this charge was brought against the Grand Orient its answer was , " French Masonry does not believe that there exist atheists , in the absolute souse of the word . "