Estienne Morin, had been involved in high degree Masonry in Bordeaux since 1744 and, in 1747, founded an "Ecossais" lodge (Scots Masters Lodge) in the city of Le Cap Francais, on the north coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Over the next decade, high degree Freemasonry continued to spread to the Western hemisphere as the high degree lodge at Bordeaux warranted or recognized seven Ecossais lodges there. In Paris in the year 1761, a Patent was issued to Estienne Morin, dated 27 August, creating him "Grand Inspector for all parts of the New World." This Patent was signed by officials of the Grand Lodge at Paris and appears to have originally granted him power over the craft lodges only, and not over the high, or "Ecossais", degree lodges.
Later copies of this Patent appear to have been embellished, probably by Morin, to improve his position over the high degree lodges in the West Indies. The authenticity of the enlarged powers named in later copies of Morin's Patent is further weakened by the Declaration of the Grand Lodge of the 3 Globes at Berlin (q.v.)
Scottish Rite District of Columbia
http://dcsr.org/history.php
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Bogus Patent
A French trader, by the name of Estienne (Stephen) Morin, had been involved in high degree Masonry in Bordeaux since 1744 and, in 1747, founded an "Ecossais" lodge (Scots Masters Lodge) in the city of Le Cap Francais, on the north coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Over the next decade, high degree Freemasonry continued to spread to the Western hemisphere as the high degree lodge at Bordeaux warranted or recognized seven Ecossais lodges there.
In Paris in the year 1761, a Patent was issued to Estienne Morin, dated 27 August, creating him "Grand Inspector for all parts of the New World." This Patent was signed by officials of the Grand Lodge at Paris and appears to have originally granted him power over the craft lodges only, and not over the high, or "Ecossais", degree lodges. Later copies of this Patent appear to have been embellished, probably by Morin, to improve his position over the high degree lodges in the West Indies.
Early writers long believed that a "Rite of Perfection" consisting of 25 degrees, the highest being the "Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret", and being the predecessor of the Scottish Rite, had been formed in Paris by a high degree council calling itself "The Council of Emperors of the East and West". The title "Rite of Perfection" first appeared in the Preface to the "Grand Constitutions of 1786", the authority for which is now known to be faulty. It is now generally accepted that this Rite of twenty-five degrees was compiled by Estienne Morin and is therefore more properly titled "The Rite of the Royal Secret", or "Morin's Rite".
Morin returned to the West Indies in 1762 or 1763, to Saint-Domingue, where, armed with his new Patent, he assumed powers to constitute lodges of all degrees, spreading the high degrees throughout the West Indies and North America. Morin stayed in Saint-Domingue until 1766 when he moved to Jamaica. At Kingston, Jamaica, in 1770, Morin created a "Grand Chapter" of his new Rite (the Grand Council of Jamaica). Morin died in 1771 and was buried in Kingston.
In Paris in the year 1761, a Patent was issued to Estienne Morin, dated 27 August, creating him "Grand Inspector for all parts of the New World." This Patent was signed by officials of the Grand Lodge at Paris and appears to have originally granted him power over the craft lodges only, and not over the high, or "Ecossais", degree lodges. Later copies of this Patent appear to have been embellished, probably by Morin, to improve his position over the high degree lodges in the West Indies.
Early writers long believed that a "Rite of Perfection" consisting of 25 degrees, the highest being the "Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret", and being the predecessor of the Scottish Rite, had been formed in Paris by a high degree council calling itself "The Council of Emperors of the East and West". The title "Rite of Perfection" first appeared in the Preface to the "Grand Constitutions of 1786", the authority for which is now known to be faulty. It is now generally accepted that this Rite of twenty-five degrees was compiled by Estienne Morin and is therefore more properly titled "The Rite of the Royal Secret", or "Morin's Rite".
Morin returned to the West Indies in 1762 or 1763, to Saint-Domingue, where, armed with his new Patent, he assumed powers to constitute lodges of all degrees, spreading the high degrees throughout the West Indies and North America. Morin stayed in Saint-Domingue until 1766 when he moved to Jamaica. At Kingston, Jamaica, in 1770, Morin created a "Grand Chapter" of his new Rite (the Grand Council of Jamaica). Morin died in 1771 and was buried in Kingston.
Clermont Becomes Scottish Rite
The Timeline of the Scottish Rite
1725
First Grand Lodge of Paris was chartered under the English Constitution to confer Symbolic Degrees only. Soon Thereafter, France became very prolific in the development of Rites and Degrees. Prominent amoung these were the Scots or Scottish Degrees, which became so prominent and influential that warrants of constitution were issued to administer the degrees.
1743
Masons of Lyons invented the Kadosh degrees.
1754
Chapter of Clermont was established to perpetuate the Scots Degree.
1758
Chapter of Clermont became the Council of the Emperors of the East and the West. This body organized the Rite of Perfection consisting of 25 degrees.
1761
Stephen Morin was commissioned Inspector General of North America. Morin sailed to Santa Domingo and later to Jamaica, where he established the Grand Council of the Princes of the Royal Secret.
1762
Grand Constitutions of 1762 were established in Bordeaux and transmitted to Morin, creating the government of the Rite.
1786
Grand Constitution of the Thirty-third degree, called the Supreme Council of Sovereign Inspectors General was ratified by the King of Prussia, Frederick II. (Today, Masonic scholars disagree as to whether or not this actually occured.
1801
Supreme Council of the United States of America was established at Charleston, South Carolina with nine Inspectors General governing the development of the new Rite of Thirty-third degrees.
1743
Masons of Lyons invented the Kadosh degrees.
1754
Chapter of Clermont was established to perpetuate the Scots Degree.
1758
Chapter of Clermont became the Council of the Emperors of the East and the West. This body organized the Rite of Perfection consisting of 25 degrees.
1761
Stephen Morin was commissioned Inspector General of North America. Morin sailed to Santa Domingo and later to Jamaica, where he established the Grand Council of the Princes of the Royal Secret.
1762
Grand Constitutions of 1762 were established in Bordeaux and transmitted to Morin, creating the government of the Rite.
1786
Grand Constitution of the Thirty-third degree, called the Supreme Council of Sovereign Inspectors General was ratified by the King of Prussia, Frederick II. (Today, Masonic scholars disagree as to whether or not this actually occured.
1801
Supreme Council of the United States of America was established at Charleston, South Carolina with nine Inspectors General governing the development of the new Rite of Thirty-third degrees.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Estienne Morin and his Rite of 25 Degrees
A French trader, by the name of Estienne Morin, had been involved in high degree Masonry in Bordeaux since 1744 and, in 1747, founded an "Ecossais" lodge (Scots Masters Lodge) in the city of Le Cap Francais, on the north coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Over the next decade, high degree Freemasonry continued to spread to the Western hemisphere as the high degree lodge at Bordeaux warranted or recognized seven Ecossais lodges there. In Paris in the year 1761, a Patent was issued to Estienne Morin, dated 27 August, creating him "Grand Inspector for all parts of the New World." This Patent was signed by officials of the Grand Lodge at Paris and appears to have originally granted him power over the craft lodges only, and not over the high, or "Ecossais", degree lodges. Later copies of this Patent appear to have been embellished, probably by Morin, to improve his position over the high degree lodges in the West Indies. The authenticity of the enlarged powers named in later copies of Morin's Patent is further weakened by the Declaration of the Grand Lodge of the 3 Globes at Berlin (q.v.)
Early writers long believed that a "Rite of Perfection" consisting of 25 degrees, the highest being the "Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret," and being the predecessor of the Scottish Rite, had been formed in Paris by a high degree council calling itself "The Council of Emperors of the East and West." The title "Rite of Perfection" first appeared in the Preface to the "Grand Constitutions of 1786," the authority for which is now known to be faulty. It is now generally accepted that this Rite of twenty-five degrees was compiled by Estienne Morin and is therefore more properly titled "The Rite of the Royal Secret," or "Morin's Rite."
Morin returned to the West Indies in 1762 or 1763, to Saint-Domingue, where, armed with his new Patent, he assumed powers to constitute lodges of all degrees, spreading the high degrees throughout the West Indies and North America. Morin stayed in Saint-Domingue until 1766 when he moved to Jamaica. At Kingston, Jamaica, in 1770, Morin created a "Grand Chapter" of his new Rite (the Grand Council of Jamaica). Morin died in 1771 and was buried in Kingston.
Early writers long believed that a "Rite of Perfection" consisting of 25 degrees, the highest being the "Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret," and being the predecessor of the Scottish Rite, had been formed in Paris by a high degree council calling itself "The Council of Emperors of the East and West." The title "Rite of Perfection" first appeared in the Preface to the "Grand Constitutions of 1786," the authority for which is now known to be faulty. It is now generally accepted that this Rite of twenty-five degrees was compiled by Estienne Morin and is therefore more properly titled "The Rite of the Royal Secret," or "Morin's Rite."
Morin returned to the West Indies in 1762 or 1763, to Saint-Domingue, where, armed with his new Patent, he assumed powers to constitute lodges of all degrees, spreading the high degrees throughout the West Indies and North America. Morin stayed in Saint-Domingue until 1766 when he moved to Jamaica. At Kingston, Jamaica, in 1770, Morin created a "Grand Chapter" of his new Rite (the Grand Council of Jamaica). Morin died in 1771 and was buried in Kingston.
Proof of the Falsehoods?
The rite called Scottish is a bastard child of Freemasonry, to which the policy of the Stuart interest gave birth. It was introduced in France, between 1736 and 1738, by the Baron Ramsay, who was an instrument of the Jesuits.
1. This partisan of the Stuart interest was the first propagandist of this rite in France, wherein he extended it to many parts, in a few years, by the aid of his delegates and those of the Jesuits; but it was not until after the arrival in France of the Pretender, Charles Edward, that the rite called Scottish assumed any importance. The Pretender created the Chapter of Arras, and the noblemen of his suite immediately be sought of this chapter warrants with which to propagate the rite. His scale had then augmented, and from seven degrees it successively arose to twenty-five ; for we find, in 1758,
2. A chapter or council of Emperors of the East and West, furnished with this number of degrees, established at Paris.
From this time all the fabricators of new rites, although they increased to a, frightful extent, had the good sense not to augment the number of the degrees, but, on the contrary, gradually reduced them the Scottish Rite alone containing the highest number, and it, from 1755 to 1802, being limited to twenty-five. After the congress of Wil- helmsbad the principal Masonic rites were subjected to great changes, and were every-where modified and reduced to seven, to ten, and to twelve degrees.
From these facts which are incontestable it followed that during the space of time that we have named (from 1755 to 1802), there did not exist in any country no more in England than in France, no more in Prussia than in Sweden councils of the Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees.
Now, the report that we have quoted explicitly says: "These sublime degrees are at this moment (1802) as they were at the time of their first formation ; they have not undergone the slightest alteration the least addition." This assertion is doubly inexact ; because, in the first place, previous to 1801, no Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees was known ; and, in the second place, all the rites and degrees, without regard to name or number, were created between 1736 and 1800, and they had nothing in common with the primitive English Rite.
If, then, there did not exist, before 1802, neither a Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees, nor councils of Grand Inspectors General and Commanders, it follows that the Prince of Sudermanie could not be the Grand Master of the rite in Sweden, nor, for the same reason, could Frederick the Great be its chief in Prussia.
As to another allegation in the same report that the King of Prussia had been recognized chief of these councils upon the two hemispheres, conformably to the grand constitutions of this Order, which were ratified on the 25th of October, 1762, at Berlin it is, like all the others, destitute of foundation in fact ; and this we will proceed to prove.
The king, Frederick of Prussia, was initiated into Masonry on the 15th of August, 1738, at Brunswick, being then prince royal. 1. The lodge at the Three Globes in Berlin, founded by some French artists whom the king had invited to Prussia, was elevated by him to the rank of a Grand Lodge in 1744, and of which he became there- upon Grand Master a dignity that he exercised until 1747. 2. After that time he never occupied himself actively with Masonry. In his interviews with the brethren who directed the Grand Lodge at the Three Globes, and who kept him informed as to what occurred of a Masonic character, he continued to exhibit his attachment to our institution ; but when the different new systems, brought into Prussia by the Marquis of Berny and the officers of the army of Broglie, disseminated themselves in the German lodges, he exhibited himself the enemy of these innovations, and expressed his disdain for these high degrees, as was his manner, freely and in hard terms, prophesying that they would one day be a fruitful source of discord among the lodges and the systems. It seemed that his prediction was to be verified ; for these divers systems soon engendered anarchy within the lodges, even in the lodge at the Three Globes itself, to such an extent that disgusted him with Masonry, without, however, changing his preconceived opinions of the institution. After this he authorized the creation of two other Grand Lodges at Berlin ; but he never had any other connection with them than to respond with thanks to their complimentary expressions on the occurrence of his birthday.
The last letter that King Frederick wrote, under these circumstances, is addressed to the Grand Master of La Goaneric, and bears date 7th February, 1778. As has been well remarked, this letter is written in a style very different from what he had been accustomed to use in addressing the lodges. 1. After this letter, he abstained from even thanking him.
1. We extract from Lenning's Encyclopedia a transcript of this letter, as it appears on page 455 of that work : " The king has been sensible of the homage that the Lodge of Friend-ship at Berlin has rendered to His Majesty in the discourse pronounced by its orator on the anniversary of the day of his birth. His Majesty bas found such expressions very conformable to the sentiments which he has always attributed to that lodge as sustained toward his person; and he readily assures that lodge, in his turn, that he will always interest himself with pleasure in the happiness and prosperity of an assembly which, like it, places its first glory in the indefatigable and uninter- rupted propagation of all the virtues of the honest man and the true patriot [Signed] " FREDERICK. " POTSDAM, 7th February, 1778. "
To the Royal York of Friendship Lodge of Freeming the lodges, when they felicitated him upon the recurrence of the occasion we have mentioned. During the last thirty years of his reign, King Frederick took no active part whatever in Masonry ; this is a notorious fact, and proven by the minutes of the Grand Lodges of Berlin.
1. Then it follows that the revision of the high degrees and* the Masonic constitutions which they attribute to him, and which should have taken place, according to the re- port in question, in 1786 the year of his death is no more correct than is his augmentation of the degrees. As to the rituals which lie should have prepared him- self for these high degrees the same year,
2. They could not.
1. We can support these assertions with not only the letters which we have received from the Secretary of the Grand Lodge at the Three Globes in Berlin, but also with the minutes of this authority, bearing date, respectively, the 17th August, 1833, and 19th December, 1861, which declare, in the most formal and positive manner, that the documents sent to it at different times, styled "Grand Constitutions of the Scottish Rite of thirty-third," as well those written in Latin and in French as those written in the English language, and attributed to King Frederick II documents of which the authenticity is doubtful are all apocryphal, as, in general, are all the other acts relating to this rite which pretend to have emanated from that prince.
(See Lenning's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, edition of 1862, pages 455 and 456.)
There is other proof not less authentic, which puts to flight the fables invented by the partisans of the Scottish Rite. It is that it is well known that the King Frederick II, on the 9th September, 1785, went to Berlin for the last time, to visit his sister, the Princess Amelia, and the next day he reviewed the artillery at Wedding. From thence he returned to Potsdam, where he passed the whole winter in bodily suffering from the malady that eventually caused his death.
To lie was moved in a very unquiet state, on the 17th April, 1786, to his retreat of iSans Sot'd, and there died four months afterward. (See the same work, page 456.)
We will abstain from any other reflections upon this subject, and merely add, as a last fact in support of our assertions, that, to the knowl- edge of every lodge in Berlin, the King Frederick II in no manner occupied himself with Masonry during the last thirty years of his life. 2. See the Book of Gold of the Supreme Council for France, printed in 1807, page
7. It is in direct contradiction with the report of the brother Dalcho, who does not attribute to King Frederick but the creation of the THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE.
In any case have been drawn up by him, as he was at this time in a dying condition ; and, long before his death winch took place on the 17th August, 1786 he was totally incapable of any species of labor. "With regard to the assertions relating to the grand constitutions, or rules and regulations of the rite, of 1762, that King Frederick II should have himself ratified on the 1st of May, 1786, they are equally destitute of foundation, since these rituals did not exist at this time, but were evidently fabricated in 1804. In a word, every thing connected with this rite that pretends to be historic has been invented in part by its creators, and finished by its propa- gandists.
To all these simple facts, which are truly historic, destructive as they are of the truth of the principal asser- tions contained in the report of Frederick Dalcho though that report is affirmed, approved, and certified as true by many high dignitaries of this rite we could add others not less conclusive, did we not believe such addition su- perfluous. We will now enumerate the facts which preceded the establishment of this authority in Paris, and indicate the origin of the Masonic power which constituted it; but to do this we must go back nearly a century. thirty-third degree, and not that of the eight degrees from the twenty- fifth to the thirty-third.
This Book of Gold (it would be better named the book of brass} thus explains the creation of these degrees : " It would appear that the institution of the Supreme Council of the thirty-third and last degree is the work of this prince (Frederick II), who, upon his ascent to the throne, declared himself the protector of the Order in his states; that the dignity of Sovereign of Sovereigns, in the Consistories of Princes of the Royal Secret, resided in his person ; that it was him who augmented to thirty-three the twenty-five degrees of the ancient and accepted rite, as they were decreed in 1762: and, finally, that he delegated his sovereignty to the Supreme Council, who named it 'of the thirty-third and last degree,' for the purpose of exercising it after his death."
1 See Lenning's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, book 4, page 453, 2d ed. *His name, nevertheless, was borne upon the register of the "Grand Lodge at the Three Globes," as its Grand Master, until 1755.
From: "A General History of Free-Masonry in Europe"
By: Rebold, Emmanuel 1868
1. This partisan of the Stuart interest was the first propagandist of this rite in France, wherein he extended it to many parts, in a few years, by the aid of his delegates and those of the Jesuits; but it was not until after the arrival in France of the Pretender, Charles Edward, that the rite called Scottish assumed any importance. The Pretender created the Chapter of Arras, and the noblemen of his suite immediately be sought of this chapter warrants with which to propagate the rite. His scale had then augmented, and from seven degrees it successively arose to twenty-five ; for we find, in 1758,
2. A chapter or council of Emperors of the East and West, furnished with this number of degrees, established at Paris.
From this time all the fabricators of new rites, although they increased to a, frightful extent, had the good sense not to augment the number of the degrees, but, on the contrary, gradually reduced them the Scottish Rite alone containing the highest number, and it, from 1755 to 1802, being limited to twenty-five. After the congress of Wil- helmsbad the principal Masonic rites were subjected to great changes, and were every-where modified and reduced to seven, to ten, and to twelve degrees.
From these facts which are incontestable it followed that during the space of time that we have named (from 1755 to 1802), there did not exist in any country no more in England than in France, no more in Prussia than in Sweden councils of the Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees.
Now, the report that we have quoted explicitly says: "These sublime degrees are at this moment (1802) as they were at the time of their first formation ; they have not undergone the slightest alteration the least addition." This assertion is doubly inexact ; because, in the first place, previous to 1801, no Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees was known ; and, in the second place, all the rites and degrees, without regard to name or number, were created between 1736 and 1800, and they had nothing in common with the primitive English Rite.
If, then, there did not exist, before 1802, neither a Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees, nor councils of Grand Inspectors General and Commanders, it follows that the Prince of Sudermanie could not be the Grand Master of the rite in Sweden, nor, for the same reason, could Frederick the Great be its chief in Prussia.
As to another allegation in the same report that the King of Prussia had been recognized chief of these councils upon the two hemispheres, conformably to the grand constitutions of this Order, which were ratified on the 25th of October, 1762, at Berlin it is, like all the others, destitute of foundation in fact ; and this we will proceed to prove.
The king, Frederick of Prussia, was initiated into Masonry on the 15th of August, 1738, at Brunswick, being then prince royal. 1. The lodge at the Three Globes in Berlin, founded by some French artists whom the king had invited to Prussia, was elevated by him to the rank of a Grand Lodge in 1744, and of which he became there- upon Grand Master a dignity that he exercised until 1747. 2. After that time he never occupied himself actively with Masonry. In his interviews with the brethren who directed the Grand Lodge at the Three Globes, and who kept him informed as to what occurred of a Masonic character, he continued to exhibit his attachment to our institution ; but when the different new systems, brought into Prussia by the Marquis of Berny and the officers of the army of Broglie, disseminated themselves in the German lodges, he exhibited himself the enemy of these innovations, and expressed his disdain for these high degrees, as was his manner, freely and in hard terms, prophesying that they would one day be a fruitful source of discord among the lodges and the systems. It seemed that his prediction was to be verified ; for these divers systems soon engendered anarchy within the lodges, even in the lodge at the Three Globes itself, to such an extent that disgusted him with Masonry, without, however, changing his preconceived opinions of the institution. After this he authorized the creation of two other Grand Lodges at Berlin ; but he never had any other connection with them than to respond with thanks to their complimentary expressions on the occurrence of his birthday.
The last letter that King Frederick wrote, under these circumstances, is addressed to the Grand Master of La Goaneric, and bears date 7th February, 1778. As has been well remarked, this letter is written in a style very different from what he had been accustomed to use in addressing the lodges. 1. After this letter, he abstained from even thanking him.
1. We extract from Lenning's Encyclopedia a transcript of this letter, as it appears on page 455 of that work : " The king has been sensible of the homage that the Lodge of Friend-ship at Berlin has rendered to His Majesty in the discourse pronounced by its orator on the anniversary of the day of his birth. His Majesty bas found such expressions very conformable to the sentiments which he has always attributed to that lodge as sustained toward his person; and he readily assures that lodge, in his turn, that he will always interest himself with pleasure in the happiness and prosperity of an assembly which, like it, places its first glory in the indefatigable and uninter- rupted propagation of all the virtues of the honest man and the true patriot [Signed] " FREDERICK. " POTSDAM, 7th February, 1778. "
To the Royal York of Friendship Lodge of Freeming the lodges, when they felicitated him upon the recurrence of the occasion we have mentioned. During the last thirty years of his reign, King Frederick took no active part whatever in Masonry ; this is a notorious fact, and proven by the minutes of the Grand Lodges of Berlin.
1. Then it follows that the revision of the high degrees and* the Masonic constitutions which they attribute to him, and which should have taken place, according to the re- port in question, in 1786 the year of his death is no more correct than is his augmentation of the degrees. As to the rituals which lie should have prepared him- self for these high degrees the same year,
2. They could not.
1. We can support these assertions with not only the letters which we have received from the Secretary of the Grand Lodge at the Three Globes in Berlin, but also with the minutes of this authority, bearing date, respectively, the 17th August, 1833, and 19th December, 1861, which declare, in the most formal and positive manner, that the documents sent to it at different times, styled "Grand Constitutions of the Scottish Rite of thirty-third," as well those written in Latin and in French as those written in the English language, and attributed to King Frederick II documents of which the authenticity is doubtful are all apocryphal, as, in general, are all the other acts relating to this rite which pretend to have emanated from that prince.
(See Lenning's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, edition of 1862, pages 455 and 456.)
There is other proof not less authentic, which puts to flight the fables invented by the partisans of the Scottish Rite. It is that it is well known that the King Frederick II, on the 9th September, 1785, went to Berlin for the last time, to visit his sister, the Princess Amelia, and the next day he reviewed the artillery at Wedding. From thence he returned to Potsdam, where he passed the whole winter in bodily suffering from the malady that eventually caused his death.
To lie was moved in a very unquiet state, on the 17th April, 1786, to his retreat of iSans Sot'd, and there died four months afterward. (See the same work, page 456.)
We will abstain from any other reflections upon this subject, and merely add, as a last fact in support of our assertions, that, to the knowl- edge of every lodge in Berlin, the King Frederick II in no manner occupied himself with Masonry during the last thirty years of his life. 2. See the Book of Gold of the Supreme Council for France, printed in 1807, page
7. It is in direct contradiction with the report of the brother Dalcho, who does not attribute to King Frederick but the creation of the THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE.
In any case have been drawn up by him, as he was at this time in a dying condition ; and, long before his death winch took place on the 17th August, 1786 he was totally incapable of any species of labor. "With regard to the assertions relating to the grand constitutions, or rules and regulations of the rite, of 1762, that King Frederick II should have himself ratified on the 1st of May, 1786, they are equally destitute of foundation, since these rituals did not exist at this time, but were evidently fabricated in 1804. In a word, every thing connected with this rite that pretends to be historic has been invented in part by its creators, and finished by its propa- gandists.
To all these simple facts, which are truly historic, destructive as they are of the truth of the principal asser- tions contained in the report of Frederick Dalcho though that report is affirmed, approved, and certified as true by many high dignitaries of this rite we could add others not less conclusive, did we not believe such addition su- perfluous. We will now enumerate the facts which preceded the establishment of this authority in Paris, and indicate the origin of the Masonic power which constituted it; but to do this we must go back nearly a century. thirty-third degree, and not that of the eight degrees from the twenty- fifth to the thirty-third.
This Book of Gold (it would be better named the book of brass} thus explains the creation of these degrees : " It would appear that the institution of the Supreme Council of the thirty-third and last degree is the work of this prince (Frederick II), who, upon his ascent to the throne, declared himself the protector of the Order in his states; that the dignity of Sovereign of Sovereigns, in the Consistories of Princes of the Royal Secret, resided in his person ; that it was him who augmented to thirty-three the twenty-five degrees of the ancient and accepted rite, as they were decreed in 1762: and, finally, that he delegated his sovereignty to the Supreme Council, who named it 'of the thirty-third and last degree,' for the purpose of exercising it after his death."
1 See Lenning's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, book 4, page 453, 2d ed. *His name, nevertheless, was borne upon the register of the "Grand Lodge at the Three Globes," as its Grand Master, until 1755.
From: "A General History of Free-Masonry in Europe"
By: Rebold, Emmanuel 1868
Saturday, May 10, 2008
A Self-Created Body?
"A new Masonic power was combined and created under the title of "Supreme Council of the Grand Commanders Inspectors General of the thirty -third and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite."
This new creation naturally bore the same illegal character, and was accompanied by the same deplorable cir- cumstances which had already signalized the factious period from 1740 to 1770 a period of false titles, illegal constitutions, antedated regulations, etc.
The new authority lost no time in constituting itself. It elected its own members to the highest dignities of their new order of knighthood, and delivered to them patents with which they were empowered to institute this new T rite wherever their fortunes should carry them. The brother Colonel Mitchell was nominated the first Grand Commander. He died at Charleston, in 1841. But to facilitate the progress of the new rite, it was necessary to give it a respectable origin, and support it with some historic names as those of its originators and protectors.
This trust was committed to the brethren Paleho, Auld, and La Motte, and we have seen by the report from which we have quoted how they discharged it. Probably among the first deliverances of the new power was the warrant sent to De Grasse-Tilly who had some time previously been appointed as Inspector General of the Rite of Perfection for the French colonies in Amer- ica to enable him to establish, in the Island of St. Domingo, a Supreme Council of the new rite. This patent conferred upon him the title of Lieutenant Commander of the new rite, and is dated the 21st February, 1802. Having little hope of being recognized as a Masonic authority in America, this new power sought the recognition of the different Masonic powers established in Eu- rope; and, with this object, it sent to all the Grand Lodges of Europe a circular, dated the llth of December, 1802, by which it informed them of its installation, and gave them the names of the degrees which it conferred itself, and authorized its Grand Commander to confer in its name.
These pretended high degrees, into which have been in- troduced the reveries of the Templars, the speculations of the mystics, the deceptions of the alchemists, the magii, and many other idealists more or less dreamy, and the greater part of which repose upon legends absurd and contra- dictory with the truths of history, are, in fact, a mass of informal and undigested matters. Those of the Scottish Kite, in particular, are a monument of folly, and which would have been derided as nonsense long ago but for man's vanity, which is gratified by the titles and decora- tions of which this rite is the parent."
This new creation naturally bore the same illegal character, and was accompanied by the same deplorable cir- cumstances which had already signalized the factious period from 1740 to 1770 a period of false titles, illegal constitutions, antedated regulations, etc.
The new authority lost no time in constituting itself. It elected its own members to the highest dignities of their new order of knighthood, and delivered to them patents with which they were empowered to institute this new T rite wherever their fortunes should carry them. The brother Colonel Mitchell was nominated the first Grand Commander. He died at Charleston, in 1841. But to facilitate the progress of the new rite, it was necessary to give it a respectable origin, and support it with some historic names as those of its originators and protectors.
This trust was committed to the brethren Paleho, Auld, and La Motte, and we have seen by the report from which we have quoted how they discharged it. Probably among the first deliverances of the new power was the warrant sent to De Grasse-Tilly who had some time previously been appointed as Inspector General of the Rite of Perfection for the French colonies in Amer- ica to enable him to establish, in the Island of St. Domingo, a Supreme Council of the new rite. This patent conferred upon him the title of Lieutenant Commander of the new rite, and is dated the 21st February, 1802. Having little hope of being recognized as a Masonic authority in America, this new power sought the recognition of the different Masonic powers established in Eu- rope; and, with this object, it sent to all the Grand Lodges of Europe a circular, dated the llth of December, 1802, by which it informed them of its installation, and gave them the names of the degrees which it conferred itself, and authorized its Grand Commander to confer in its name.
These pretended high degrees, into which have been in- troduced the reveries of the Templars, the speculations of the mystics, the deceptions of the alchemists, the magii, and many other idealists more or less dreamy, and the greater part of which repose upon legends absurd and contra- dictory with the truths of history, are, in fact, a mass of informal and undigested matters. Those of the Scottish Kite, in particular, are a monument of folly, and which would have been derided as nonsense long ago but for man's vanity, which is gratified by the titles and decora- tions of which this rite is the parent."
From: "A General History of Free-Masonry in Europe"
By: Rebold, Emmanuel 1868
Sunday, May 4, 2008
The Bogus Rite?
It is curious to note too that most of the bodies which work these higher degrees, such as the "Grand Council of the Emperors of the East and West -- Sovereign Prince Masons," etc., etc., are nearly all worked under instructions from the Chapter of Clermont.The bastard foundling of Freemasonry the "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite," is unrecognized by the Blue Lodges. The rite in its present form of thirty-three degrees was recognized at the end of the eighteenth century by some half dozen Masonic adventurers at Charleston, South Carolina. Two of these, Pirlet a tailor, and a dancing master named Lacorne, were fitting predecessors for a later resuscitation by a gentleman of the name of Gourgas, employed in the aristocratic occupation of a ship's clerk, on a boat trading between New York and Liverpool. Dr. Crucefix, alias Goss, the inventor of certain patent medicines of an objectionable character, ran the institution in England. The powers under which these worthies acted was a document claimed to have been signed by Frederick the Great at Berlin, on May 1st, 1786, and by which were revised the Masonic Constitution and Status of the High Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. This paper was an impudent forgery and necessitated the issuing of a protocol by the Grand Lodges of the Three Globes of Berlin, which conclusively proved the whole arrangement to be false in every particular. On claims supported by this supposititious document, the Ancient and Accepted Rite have swindled their confiding brothers in the Americas and Europe out of thousands of dollars, to the shame and discredit of humanity.
From: "A General History of Free-Masonry in Europe"
By: Rebold, Emmanuel 1868
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