Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-11-09
MEMPHIS APPEAL
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE
NEW CRUSADE.

wv
ANEW CRUSADE
Bro. GEORGE FRANK GoULEY Of st.
Louis. Editor Of The Freemdson," is
running a muck in that very positive
Journal, against the Ancient and Ac-
eepted Scottish Rite; and that with not
too much regard to propriety or deco
rum.
Much of what he says invites discus
sion entirely improper in newspapers
read by those who are not Masons; and
provokes to retorts which he probably
thinks those whom he assaiis will not
like to make, in respect to the compare
tive antiquity Of Rites.
He says:
Our first objection to the Ancient
and Accepted Scotch Rita" is, that II i
not " Aneient;n it is q modern French
coneern-iti is not Accepted " except by
those who want to overturn the York
| Rite, or by those who know nothing
about IL. It is not " Scottish" having
! been most unceremoniOusly repudisted
| nv Scotch Masons and kicked out Of the
.
Kingdom.
Bro. GoULEY is not remarkably care
| full to be accurate in his assertions. The
Ancient and Accepted Rite has not been
.. kicked out" of Scotland. On the con-
trary, there is a Supreme Council in that
Kingdom, Of which the very eminent
Mason. J. WHITE MELVILLE, is Grand
Commander, and other eminent Mssons,
such as ALEX. J. STEWART, Lord JAMES
/ c. P. MURRAY and G. A. WALKER
ARNoTT, LID, are members; as in
! Ireland. the Duke of Leinster is Grand
Commander Of the Council for Ireland,
and as DR.. OLIVER was 3 member Of that
for England and Wales.
The Ancient and Accepted Rite is moi
ga modern French concern" Twenty
five Of its degrees were worked il
France as the Rite Of Perfection, several
wears prior to 1862. That rite was estab
/ Iished at Albany, n. Y, in 1851.
Bro. GoULEY does not know why the
Rite is called Scottish. 1t is so called
rigbtfully, for sufficient reasons, which
are known to those who have the Degrees
and know their history.
Since the publication Of FINDEL's his
tory, it would be quite as well for Ma
sons Of other Rites to say very LITTLE
about the Ancient and Accepted Ritz
being modern. The positive statements
of careful historians that the Master
degree was not known at all, much if a
ali prior to the year l70O, (1Chich are Irll
0,festiona5ly true should teach them {
/ little caution. One who attacks other!
had better be sure that his own course il
eapable of defence. Until about A. D
I7eO there was but one degree in the
q" York Rite" that Of Apprentice; fol
many years after, the great body OF the
Craft was composed Of Apprentices anC
Fellow w-Crafts, and FellOw-Crsft couiC
be elected Master, and even Grand Mas
fer. Bro. GoULEY talks boldly abou
forgeries., We presume he knows ths
/ the Charter OF Cologne is one, and tha
some other documents are likewise 50
on which the York Rite relies as evi
denees Of its antiquity.
What does he mean by "the YoTl
! Rite?u Does he mean the three sym
toIic degrees, as worked in England, o.
what Bro. fACKEY calls the American
Rite (which is no Rite at all, because it
degrees are not under single govern
ment),-that is, the three blue degrees
the four Chapter degrees, and the tw,
Council degrees?
It is amusing, or would be so ifit weru
not provoking, TO hear one descsnt or
the Modernness Of the Ancient and Ac
cepted Rite, who is Jealous devotee 0
the Degrees of Royal and Select Master
which were side-degrees Of that Rit
wholly unknown until about 1900; ofth
Chapter Degrees, which were fixed u
by WEBB not long before that time
and Of Templarism, which, as worked j
! this country, is wholly different fror
the Order of that name in England an
on the Continent of Europe, and NOR
modern than even the Council and ChaT
ter Degrees, besides being not Free
Masonry at all,-which is universal
but a Christian Order; and which, more
over, has not the least right to preten
to be real Knight-Templarism.
Modern, indeed The less Bro.'. GoU
LEY saws about that, the better it wi
be for his cause. AS we have said, th
Rite Of Perfection, the first eighteen d.
grees Of which are the fret eighteen
the A. & A. Rite, was worked as a Ri
prior to 1852, as early probably as l7S
With eight degrees added, it became Il
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
1901. or before. We do not know whe
many of its degrees originated. There
. internal evidence that many are vel
old, having been made use OF by Il
Templars to conceal their existence
an Order.
Our next objection is, that is found'
upon fraud and falsehOOd-fraud, IN trI
ing to palro itself of as Masonry oy Ia
tening on to the symbolic degrees 81
'alsehoOd, in declaring that It's ms
assumptions Of power came from Prussl
and its Constitutions were gwen !
| Frederick the Great, when IN truth q
degrees, as we have them, were comple
ed in Charleston, South Carolina INT
aud the names of Frederick and Othe
for0ed 10 the self-created constitution
lnnSn which the whole fabric rests.
Tie Bro. who wrote that, practices
> Masonry a degree that was borrow
= bodily from the 18th and 10th Degre
+ Of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, al
: he calls it Masonry. He calls his Tenn
larisn " Masonry" He calls his Cou
Gil degrees Cryptic Masonry and q
Mark, Past, and Most Excellent Mast
, and Royal Arch, Masonry. Are The
degrees guilty Of fraud, sin trying
palm themselves of as Masonry, by ia
tening on to the symbolic degrees
That surt Of language is idle talk, at lea
as appropriate to the WEBB degrees as
any others. II any degrees above I
third, or other than the three blue q
grees, can be called Masonry, those Of {
Ancient and Accepted Rite are the OLD
Of all after these, and at 'e,
as much entitled to be called Mdsoa
= What right or business has any one
9 say that only the three blue degrees 8
J MasoRry9 ? They attack other degrt
and Rites, because they think that
, mouths Of those who value them are
2 closed that they cannot retort. We adv
: those gentlemen to practice little ca
ton, OF to say less about their tradition
{ and to be less pretentious IN regard
antiquity.
ag The degrees OF the Ancient and !
C. cepted Rite were not completed
ey Charleston, so far as we know or belle
:. Bro. GoULEY knows no more abouttl
" than we do, which is just nothing at
The Constitutions were not forged the
'e' so far as we know or believe. NObo
knows where they were made, If not
Berlin, in 1855, where and when Il