The New York herald., 1879-07-07
FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND.

| INSTALLATION OF PRINCE LEOPOLD OF ENG
! LAND AS MASTER OF THE LODGE OF ANTI
QUITY---wHAT THE 'TIAEs" SAYS ABOUT IT
! NOTABLE FREE MAsoNs.
Prince Leopold of England has been installed at
the Free Masons' Hall. London. the Master OF the
Lodge OF Antiquity. This event gives the London
Times excuse for an interesting editorial the
subject OF royal and notable Free Masons. It
seems that the Office which Prince Leopold
ills worthily filled by his great uncle. the
Duke of Sussex for thirty -four years. This associa
tion with u royal parsonage is not however. the
only the greatest distinction OF the Lodge of An
tiquty William III. initiated into Masonry IN
this lodge, which then bore the name Of st. PauIs
and in which Sir Christopher Wren officisted
for eighteen 1t received from him what
both treasure and acurosity-that is the mallet
gavel by Charles II. to lay the foundation stone
of St. Paul's Cathedral and formed out of piece Of
wood of the original structure. He also gave it q
fragment OF the stone OF tho Roman temple which
stood the site OF the present Cathedral and which
dug up when the foundations laid. That
Freemasonry, substantially the in kind
that which exists, practised in
this country far back the time Of
Henry vi. is by means improbable. 1t
has been surmised that the King himself
was member Of the Order. though nothing moro
him a manuscript containing certain parts of Ma
sonic ritual. The existence Of such lodge that
OF Antiquity. working under immemorial
sttution, and over which Sir Christopher Wren pre-
sided Master. back the Order in this
try to period sufficiently remote to satisfy any
reasonable person, and even to endow it with
archaeological status.
ANTIQUITY OF FREEMAsoNRY.
However we'll rounded the doubts may be as to
the right of Free Masons to claim an ancient origin
for their order. it is indsputable that the order
itself is widely dfused the earth and wieds
some statistics on this subject. and these figures
could not fail to produce a strong impress
many Masonic lodges cannot be found. and
the more civilized the country. the greater the num-
ber OF these lodges Russia is the only nation con
coming the reason being that in Russia Free Masons
have long shared with Jews the antipathy and
condemnation of those in authority. Nowhere do
Free Masons abound more than in the United States,
and nowhere are they now held in higher honor.
yet there time when they were the opprobrium
of citizens OF the North American Republic. When
Miss Martineau visited the United States and wrote
her Society in America she found the Masonic
| Order the object of general denunciaton and
! tipathy. curious and interesting list might be
compiled OF the persons VINO nave peen
Free Masons. Many men OF note have been active
members of the Order. The suppostion that Car
dlnal wolsey presided ever lodge may BE- classed
among unauthenticated stories. There is evidence
| in favor of Bacon being Free Mason, which
every understanding reader can gather from
| perusal OF his New Atlantis" An ingenious
attempt has been made to prove that Shakespeare
belonged to the craft; but. then. what is there
that Shakespeare has not been credited with
having done3 Most of our countrymen Of note dur
ing the last aud the present century are known to
erick only Free Ma son. but the head Of
the Order; both the present German Emperor and
| the Crown Prince have followed the example set
them by the illustrious consolidator Of the
Prussian realm. Germany numbers such men
Lessing. Herder Fichte and Goethe in
the Masonic ranks The latter. like his brother poet
Burns. employed his poetical talents in celebrating
the merits OF the Order. Late in life voitaire be-
Frenchmen since his day have also been MEN,
bers OF the fraternity 1t is supposed. not
| instrumental in foster ng the hrst revolu-
ton in France. Not long ago the Grand Lodges in
na Se
latter had expunged from the formula Of initiation
the expression OF belief in Deity. Indeed. the
French have always been disposed to practise Free
masonry after a fashion of their own.
| fREEMAsoNRY AND THE PANAMA CANAL.
They turn the lodge meeting to very prac-
tical purpose-that of promoting great engineering
enterprises. NJ. Littre, being recently mentioned
among those persons who deserved credit setting
scheme for piercing the Is hmus of Panama,
declared in explanation that the project had really
| been conceived i'm the Lodge of Ciemente- Amitis
OF which he became 4 member in 1875. 50 far has
been shown, the five or six million Freemasons who
inhabit the earth have never deserved the denunca
tions which the head Of the Roman Catholic Church
has often leveed against them Notwithstanding the
condemnation of successive Popes the Order hourshes
in such purely Roman Catholic countries France.
Spain. Portugal. Italy, Belgium. Mexico and brazil.
In France there are 2s7 lodges; i'll Spain. 300; in
| ~, itaIy, III DelSluHs 10, III MEX
| leo. l3 and in Brazil 265 In the United Kingdom
there nearly two thousand lodges while
! the. United States the number nearly reaches ten
thousand. During tho worst days in English
history, when Parliament in frenzy OF
! terror passed laws against secret societies. the
society OF Freemasonry specially excepted.
The act of 1899 exempts the lodges of frecmasons
! from the pains and penalties inflicted upon United
Englishmen, Scotsmen, Britons and IrishInen, do
! ing the ground that Masonic meetings
in great measure directed to charitable purposes.
The of 1917. which designed to carry out
the intent of that OF 1899 efectually. specif-
cally exempts Freemasons and Quakers from it's
operation. Indeed those persons who have seen the
palatIal establishments tor the education OF the
sons aud daughters OF Free Masons and the asy
/ lums for the old and do .ttute which main
tained by English Free Masons cannot doubt that
the Order amply justihes its existence in
this country. When our royal princes,
says the Tunes. associate themselves with
Freemasonry they not only follow IN excellent
family example. but they perform duties which
not but heighten their popularity In undertaking
to discharge the active functions OF Master OF the
Lodge of Antiquity Prince Leopold will certainly
ceve the thanks all the Free Masons who glory in
lodge which is the centre of many venerable and
cherished trad tons of the craft.