Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-12-20

Its Introduction Into the United Stafes
and It's History.

A4e -
The address delivered by John H. B.
Latrobe, of Baltimore, at the laying OF
the cornerstone of the new Masonic
Temple in that city, on the &c instant,
gave a condensed history of Free
masonry. We quote a few passages:
y "At the commencement OF
the eighteenth century Freemasonry had
ceased to be 'healthful and vigorous
society, whose occupation consisted in
building edifces. The ages were no
longer. dark. Learning, emerging, as
the morning sun above the hill.tops,
from the gloom in which it had been
hidden, was gradually illuminating Eu-
rope. The printing press was revolu-
tionizing the world. America had been
discovered. Enterprise was on foot
everywhere, and marching with o gi-
ants strength. Labor, rafting impa-
tiently the chains with which guilds and
corporations bound it, vas struggling
into freedom. Research, careless about
the mysteries Of rites, was busying itself
about the mysteries Of art, an, year by
year, unwilling them. Other men be-
came competent rs architects and build
ers, and the Masons, ceasing 10 be q ne
cessity as craftsmen, found themselves
in exclusive possession Of their peculiar
ceremonies only. Year after year the
society became feebler. William III,
had been its last royal patron Sir
Christopher Wren its last Grand Master
in England, and at length, somewhere
about the year A. D. III, four lodges
were all that remained Of the once pow
| full organization that had built York
| and Westminster, and Ely and Canter-
bury, and Lincoln and Durham, and to
| which the monarch had been indebted
for his palace, and the baron for. his
hold.
This was the lowest ebb in the for
tunes Of Freemasonry. The tide then
turned. The practical feature of the
Order was abandoned altogether. 1t
became speculative in its character, and
in a little while we find the Grand
Lodge of London permanently establish
ed, and Freemasonry nee more attract
ing to its lodges rank and wealth and
influence. But the Grand Lodge OF
London was not without its troubles.
The Masons of York, rich in m%uniments,
with a charter dating back nine hun
dred years, disputed the authority Of
the new creation; and it was not until
abe beginning Of the present century
that harmony was obtained, and the au-
thority of the Grand Lodge Of England
recognized by all parties.
"Freemasonry was introduced into
the United States in 1880, and seems to
have become popular at once. Wash
ington was the Master of a Lodge, and a
greater part Of the officers Of the army
of the army of the Revolution were
members of the fraternity. The corner
stone of the hall we are about to leave
was laid by n Governor of the State,
then Grand Master of the Grand Lodge
of Maryland, and the building was in
augurated by the late General Winder,
who succeeded him in Office. There is
now a Grand Lodge in every State in
the Union; and the noble edi6ces which
are everywhere being built for the &C.
commodation of the Order, while they
do credit to the taste, manifest, at the
same time, the wealth and prosperity OF
those to whom now belongs the duty OF
transmitting, in all their purity, to a
distant future, the principles of Freema-
sonry.