The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-26
FREE MASONRY.

Its Introduction into the United States
nmd It's History.
The address delivered by John II. B. Latrobe
OF Baltimore, at the laying of the cornerstone
of the new Masonic temple in that city on the
goth instant, gave condensed history Of Free
masonry. We quote a few passages:-
"At the commencement of the
eighteenth century FreemasOnry had ce lsed to
be healthiul and vigorous society, whose oc-
CupatiOn consisted III building ediices. The
ages we're no longer dark. Learning, emerg-
ing, as the morning sun above the hill-to Js,
iron the gloom in which IT had been hidden,
was gradually Illuminating Europe Tue print
ing press was revolu,lpnizlng the world.
America had been discovered, Enterprise was
on foot every where, and marching with giants
strength. Labor, rafting mpatIenty the
chains with which guilds and corporations
bound it, was struggling into freedom. Research,
careless about the mysteries OF rites, was busy
ing itself about the my sterles OF art, and, year
by year, unyeillng them, Other men became
competent architects aud builders and the
Masons, Ceasing to be a necessity as craftsmen,
found themselves in exclusive possession OF
their peculiar ceremonies only. Year after year
the society became feebler. William LII bad
been its last royal patron; Sir Christopher
Wren its last Grand Master in ENGLAND; and, at
length, somewhere about the year A. ID. 17l7,
four lodges were all that renamed of the once
powerful orgarIZation that had built York and
Westminster, and Ely and Canterbury, and Lin
celn and Durham, ami to which the monarch
had been indebted tor his palace, and the baron
Tor his hold. This was the lowest ebb IN the
fortunes of Freemasonary. The tide then turned.
The practical feature OF the Order was aban-
dOned altogether. IL became speculative in its
character; and IN little while we lind the
Grand Lodge of London permanently estab-
lished, and Freemasonry once more attracting
to its lodges RANK and wealth and influence
But the Grand Lodge of London was not with
out its troubles The Masons of York, rich in
muniments, with a charter dating back nine
hundred years. disputed the authority Of the
new creation; and II was not until the begin
ming of the present century that harmony was
obtained, and the authority of the Grand Lodge
of England recog nizeo by all parties.
"Freemasonry was introduced into the United
States in 1880, and seems to have become popu-
lar at once. Washir gton was the master OF d
lodge, and the greater part OF the officers OF the
Army of the Revolution were members of the
fraternity. The cornerstone of the hall we
are about to leave was laid by Governor OF
the State, then Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of Mary land and the building was in
augurated by the late General WIDder, who sue
ceeded him IN the Office There is now Grand
Lodge in every State of the Union; and the
noble edl6ces which are everywhere being QUILT
for the accommodation 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 distant future, the principles OF
FreemasOnry.
''You have probably seen in the papers of the
day that the cornerstone OF the old Mason C
Hall, which we are about abandoning, has
recently been unearIhed. 1t was laid in 1914,
more than hall century ago: and you must
have been sruck by the fact hat, notwithstand'
ing the care taken 70 transmit to pOsterlty the
history of the bu ldIng and some briet chronic e
of the times, two coins Of gold, a halt-eagle OF
1896 and an eaele of 1911, with the inscription
on the marble, were alone found to be uuim.
paired. The silver was blackered and detaced
the figures on the copper had disappeared, and
some remnants of decayed binding were al
that testified to toe printed volumes that haC
been placed within the stone. Damp anC
mould and time, that ed0r reTum IN the shor
space OF fftytwo years, had defeated the pur
pose Of the builders to nand down to futur
aces some emoIals OF their transactions. Bu
the eagle and half eagle we're as bright as whel
the coins first issued rom the mint. 1t wou
have been the same had the gold come fron
the foundations OF an Indian shrine or ten
pie in the Forum. 1t will be the same when a
many Years shall have rolled over the net
resting place, to which to-day 1t is consigned
as have accumulated since the remote past.'