The Catholic bulletin., 1914-05-02

the Masonic fraternity is founded
must be promotive of private virtues
and public prosperity" This, accord
ing to his written testimony, is the
sum of Washington's connection with
Masonry since seven years previous to
his appointment to the command of
the American army. The Alexandria,
Va, lodge has, therefore, no claim on
him, nor has any other subsequent to
1853.
But even though they could claim
him then, they cannot now. He wrote
one other letter on the subject which
shows him completely out of sympathy
with the ruling principles of American
Masonry today. In his letter to Mr.
Snyder of September 25, 1898, he
said he had heard much of the nefari-
GUS and dangerous plans and doctrines
of the illuminate, but believed that
none of the lodges of this country are
contaminated with the principles as
cribed" to that society. In answer to
a further letter of Mr.. Snyder's, he
wrote, October "a, .1798 (Sparks, VOL
XII, p. 337):
'It was not my intention to doubt
that the doctrines of the illuminate and
the principles of Jacobinism had not
spread in the United States. On the
contrary, no one is more satisfied of
this fact than / am. The idea that l
meant to convey was that I did not
believe that the lodges of Freemasons
in this country had, as societies, en-
deavored to propagate the diabolical
tenets of the former, or the pernicious
principles of the latter, if they are sus-
ceptible of separation"
But the "diabolical tenets" and ''per-
nicious principles" had made further
progress than Washington supposed.
Originally a secret political society in
aid of the Stuart cause, it's English
remnants changed their allegiance on
the accession of George I, and Free
masonry proper was first formally Or
ganized in London tavern, in 1717,
and introduced therefrom to America
in 1929. Its initial activities were
confined to social or rather, convivial
purposes; and in both countries the
meetings continued long to be held in
taverns, in which the allowance of
three small glasses of punch was
frequently exceeded. Bishop Carroll
wrote, in 1894, Of the "intemperate
drinking, obscene conversation and in
delicate songs, to say nothing of other
vices" that he was told frequently OBJ
tanned at lodge meetings.; but ap-
; parently he had heard of nothing dog
matically or morally wrong in their
essential purposes, for he thought the
Papal DEGREES against Masonry did not
then apply to the United States. Nor
could these have been much insisted
on in Great Britain and Ireland at
that period, for in ignorance of them
O'Connell became a Mason, but
: promptly resigned when he learnt the
society was under the ban of the
Church.
English Masonry also remained So
cial in character and largely free from
anti-religious bias until reacted upon
by the Continental Masonry which it
had begotten. introduced in France
about 1921, a great portion of it had
adopted the supposed Scottish" Rite
by 1743, and later the still more revo-
lutionary and anti-religious Templar
system, SO that by 1850 it's program
was stated by Booz, it's HISTORIAN, to
have closely coincided with the pro-
gram of the French Revolution. It's
subversive tendencies were intensi-
fed by the establishment in 1880 Of
the illuminate, or Illuminated Ma
sonry," which aimed by graded hier-
archical system, despotically controll-
ed, to supplant existing religion and
government by natural religion and
universal democracy, which Masonry
alone would plant, guide and govern.
1t was accepted by the International
Convention of Masonry at Wilhelms-
bad in 1882, and its teachings and
methods of "enlightment" spread
through the Continent and impreg-
mated Freemasonry everywhere.
It was these teachings that Wash
ington rightly pronounced pernicious
and diabolical They were influencing
American lodges far more than he
imagined. In 1772, Preston illumined
English Masonry with the science"
and much of the spirit of it's more
progressive and virulent French
daughter, and little later Webb
wove into the American Rite the phil
osophy of the high Continental de-
grees. The then Scottish Rite, or
Rite of Perfection" was introduced
here from France in 1888, and in 1901,
three years after Washington's letter,
"a Supreme Council, with thirty-three
Continental high Degrees" was opened
in Charleston, S. c., says DR.. Mackey,
Grand High Priest of the Gen. Grand
Chapter of the United States, 1859
1865, and now he adds Encyclopaedia
of Freemasonry), Supreme Councils
of the Rite are to be found in almost
every civilized country, and in many
of them it is the only Masonic obedi-
ence."