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
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Dubious Rite
Dubious Rite
The history of the Southern Jurisdiction
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite 33
By ALBERT LANTOINE
The history of the Southern Jurisdiction
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite 33
By ALBERT LANTOINE
The Masonic writer and historian Albert Lantoine along with Thory, Clavel and Ragón are probably the most well informed and documented historians in freemasonry, here in this brief but exact article the reader is presented with the real facts surrounding the fictional regular establishment of the AASR, and its dubious origins.
The Great Frederick or the God of the Fable
Frederick of Prussia! What has Frederick the Second of Prussia to do with this affair? Again we demand it. The High Grades made use of the mysterious Superiors; Charles-Edward had excused himself, but Frederick could do so no more: he was dead! It is quite difficult to imagine today the motives which decided the ascription of such a patronage. Were the Americans deceived by Etienne Morin who, aware of Frederick's initiation before his departure, played it up before the New World to interest it in this Masonic line? Or did these Americans, in their democratic respect for the great ones of the earth consider that such a king could not tarry with the others in the "Middle Chamber," and that a "Sublime Apartment" was better suited to the loftiness of his position and character? Or again, to avoid the innovations of imaginative inventors, and this scattering abroad of Ecossaism which had marked the 18th century, was it deemed necessary to call to the rescue one of those men who were not to be disobeyed to put each grade into its place again? We do not know. But behold, after Charles-Edward, Frederick introduced into the history of the High Grades. Shall we expel him--the one as we have the other ? Alas ! we cannot do otherwise; we have no proof whatever of his collaboration on the new statutes of Ecossaism, and on the contrary we have almost too much that contradicts it.
It is not through a comparison of the sentimental order, we say it at once, that we have connected Frederick the Second with the Pretender Charles Edward; this connection the Ecossais have made to enter the domain of reality. The Bro. Pyron addressed to Napoleon First an historic note (!) in which he asked him as "Sovereign of sovereigns" to support an Institution which had passed from the family of the Stuarts into the hands of the Great Frederick. This idea was accepted with enthusiasm by the Supreme Council which embodied it with ultra fantastic details in its Encyclical letter of March 5, 1813:
Charles-Edward, last scion of the Stuarts, was the chief of Ancient and Modern Masonry. He nominated Grand Master Frederick II to succeed him. Frederick accorded to Masonry a careful attention, it was the object of his constant solicitude. At this period the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite comprised but twenty-five grades, of which Prince of the Royal Secret was the highest. Certain new projects, certain discords which unexpectedly arose in Germany in 1782, inspired him with fear lest Masonry become the prey of anarchy and the victim of those who, under the name of Masons, might be tempted to let it fall into decay or annihilate it. When in 1786 Frederick saw his life had almost run its course, he decided to transmit the sovereign powers with which he was clothed to a Council of Grand Inspectors General who after his death would take over the direction of High Masonry, conformably to the Constitution and Statutes. On May 1, 1786, he increased to thirty-three the number of the grades of the hierarchy of the Scottish Rite, which till then had counted but twenty-five, and assigned to the thirty third the designation of Puissant and Sovereign Grand Commander General. The powers conferred under this degree, for the government and direction of the Rite, were concentrated in a Sovereign Chapter called the Supreme Council, etc. On May 1, 1786, Frederick established the Constitution and Regulations for the Grand Inspectors General, of which article VIII provided that after the death of Frederick the Supreme Councils would be the Sovereigns of Masonry.
A tiny glimmer of truth is at the bottom of this legend. In distinction to the Scottish Pretender, Frederick had actually been initiated. It will be outside our task to repeat here, from Baron de Bielfeld, (1) the details of this initiation, which took place when Frederick was only prince and heir-apparent.
FREDERICK AS A FREEMASON
This title of Freemason would not seem displeasing to a critical youth who took no part in religion and who entered the Order at a time when every secret society touched by the breath of liberty which had then begun to blow over Europe, had less and less honor and sanctity. On becoming King, he did not at once lose interest in the Institution, and he continued for a long time to receive with fraternal courtesy the homage addressed to him by the National Grand Lodge at the Three Globes and other Prussian Masonic organizations. At the beginning of his reign, he still amused himself in his Masonic capacity, and he had not forgotten those hazardous escapades he had perpetrated incognito in his realm--as for example when on the right bank of the Rhine, he levelled a pistol at an abbe traveling in a post-chaise and cried with a savage air "Become a Freemason or die." Dieudonne Thiebault (2) who relates this prank, adds that the King allowed the poor frightened abbe to go, telling him his fear made him unworthy of being a "brother"--which shows at least some esteem for the Masons.
Even if Frederick patronized Freemasonry, even if he founded The Three Globes, he was never Grand Master--or at least he was never a Grand Master in partibus ("never having particularly occupied himself with organization and legislation") as that function is recognized and understood. His Masonic activity (and this word activity should not be given the meaning of assiduity) lasted not much more than seven years from the date of his initiation, that is from 1738-1744. But the participation of Frederick II in the work and development of the Order has been very fully investigated by German authors--there is an extensive bibliography on the question-but all of them, even though they disagree on certain points, are unanimous in exonerating his memory from the creation of the high grades. Circumstantial details regarding this are to be found in Lenning's Masonic Encyclopedia. Doctor Adolph Kohut in Die Hohenzollern und die Freimaurerei (Berlin, 1909) tells us that "he was disgusted with the grotesque practices and hazy doctrines of the Strict Observance and that he spared no sarcasm in speaking of it. He thought Freemasonry should have no other end save the perfection of human society and he disapproved any act which might demean the high standard of such precepts." He even went so far on Nov. 13, 1780, as to blame the lodge Royal York for having organized a charitable concert, which seemed to him beneath the character of the Institution. Treutel in his Vie de Frederic II roi de Prusse (Strassburg, 1787) gives us some Masonic details of our hero. appears that during the early days of his reign, summoned a lodge, where, in the capacity of Master in the chair, he received Prince William, Margrave Schwedt and Duke of Holstein.
Although Frederick was a Freemason, he did not wish the usages of Masonry to be extended outside the lodge. Some Masons having sent him a petition during the war of succession in Bavaria took it into their heads to append to their signatures their titles and grades in the Order. The King at once sent the petition to the Lieutenant of Police and forbade them to further use these titles.
An upholsterer who was working one day in the King's apartments tried to make himself recognized as a Freemason; but Frederick turned his back on him and withdrew.
Lord Dover, author of History of the Private, Political and Military Life of Frederick II King of Prussia, which seems admirably documented, writes:
Although having become a member of the Fraternity, Frederick was not very kind to the Freemasons during his reign; he seems even to have discouraged them. Shortly after the death of his father, he presided over one of their assemblies and in the capacity of Grand Master initiated his brother, Prince William, Margrave of Schwedt and Duke of Holstein, there is no evidence that he took any further interest in the actions of this society.
We read in the third volume of La Monarchie Prussiene by Mirabeau:
It is unfortunate that Frederick II did not have sufficient zeal even to become Grand Master of all the German lodges, or at least of the Prussian lodges; his power might have acquired a considerable growth . . . and even some military enterprises might have taken another turn if he had never fallen out with the leaders of this society.
One might object that all these arguments are of a psychological nature, so to say, and that the secret of the relations of Frederick with his brethren may have been religiously, or better, Masonically guarded. But even if we accept this improbable hypothesis, we come now against a material impossibility. Here once more Mirabeau furnishes us with evidence. It is to be found in the Histoire secrete de la cour de Berlin, ou Correspondance d'un Voyageur Francais depuis le 5 Ju 1786, jusqu'au 19 Janvier 1787:
His (Frederick's) malady, which would have killed ten men had lasted eleven months without interruption and almost without respite, since the first attack of suffocating apoplexy from which he recovered through an emetic, and uttering with an imperious gesture as his first sound these two words: "Be quiet . . ." [Letter XXVIII dated from Dresden, Sept. 24, 1786.]
This information carries weight as coming from a witness who was there and who saw for himself. We have proof of it in the preamble with which he saw fit to preface his Lettre remise a Guillaume Frederic II roi regnant de Prusse . . . where these lines may be found:
Frederick II summoned me before him voluntarily when I hesitated to importune his last moments with my natural desire of seeing so great a man, and of obviating the regret of having been his contemporary without knowing him. He deigned to welcome me, to distinguish me, even though a stranger such as I had not been admitted to his conversation.
Frederick II died Aug. 17, 1786--he would have revised the Constitutions May 1, 1786, that is to say three months and a half before his death. Now how can anyone believe that this man, who according to Mirabeau suffered for eleven months "without interruption," could apply himself to a task so foreign from all his habitual activities and duties under the constant anxieties that the charges of royalty imposed upon him? From January, 1786, he was condemned, and he himself, according to his family, had not the slightest illusion about the fatal outcome of his malady.
DISCREPANCIES IN THE STORY
The fabricators of novels of adventure are not accustomed to consult sources and their imagination never considers anachronisms . . . The pamphleteers of the High Grades had not the benefit of being corrected by an informed editor. For not only is the date more than open to suspicion but even the city where the generous deed was done, Berlin. Here again the larger history refuses to confirm the little history. Frederick II lived at Potsdam, and he died there, at his chateau Sans-Souci, without having set foot in Berlin after his last visit of Sept. 9-10, 1785, when his movements . . . have been carefully reported by his biographers. Now a sentimental argument which deserves consideration because it upholds the other, is this--why did not Frederick II give his compatriots some share in the harvest of the High Grades? Why was not his lodge The Three Globes given some part in their distribution? And even were it a case of an exclusion prompted by some resentment or other, would not his subjects have hastened eagerly to adopt a reform extolled by their king?
What a bizarre idea, moreover, for this fanatic Prussian, so zealous for the glory of his own nation to do this -and for what a reason! To transmit his famous powers to certain Americans instead of simply delegating them to his eldest son and heir Frederick William!
THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTIONS LOST
As for these Constitutions, where are they? Vanished in air! As attestation for their authenticity we have almost nothing; only the discourses of Dalcho to which we have referred, where among other equally fantastic allegations we find this:
In 1762 the Grand Masonic Constitutions were expressly ratified by the government of all lodges of Perfect and Sublime Masonry.
There is also the formal affirmation of Pyron in his Abrege historique de l'organisation en France, jusqu'a l'epoque du ler Mars 1814, des trente-trois degrees du rit Ecossais ancien et accepte . . . where he says:
At the same time in 1786, Frederick II, King of Prussia, Sovereign of Sovereigns of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and Grand Master, successor of the Kings of England and Scotland, wished to weld together forever the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for which he had a special affection. He wished to invest it, in every State and Empire where it might practiced, with the necessary power to free it from any obstacles which it might meet with on the part of this crude ignorance which misrepresented everything, etc....
Consequently, Frederick II presiding in person [these words are italicized by Pyron himseif. Tr.] over the Supreme Council by the aid of which he ruled and governed the Order, on May 1, 1786, raised to thirty-three degrees the hierarchy of twenty-five degrees sanctioned by the Grand Constitutions of 1762.
Later General Albert Pike repeated this affirmation on his own account; but this citizen of free America has every interest in making us believe it an affirmation which at the same time legalized the Council at Charleston, which had only been created, it seems, on May 21, 1802, while the patent of de Grasse-Tilly was dated Feb. 21 of the same year. We prefer the text, but the High Grades are pursued by an improbable misfortune. It is with the Constitutions of Frederick as with the Bull of Charles-Edward installing the Chapter at Arras, as with the Charter of the Templars, as with the patent of Dr. Gerbier, as with so many other documents by which so many fables have been supported: the original is lost. What a loss! Albert Pike in his Memoirs to be of service to the history of Freemasonry in France, which the New Age published, tries to calm our anxiety:
We possess, writes he, the copy of the Constitutions of Frederick the Great, and I certify that it conforms with the original which, through misfortune, has disappeared and on which the august signature had been effaced by the water of the sea.
The sea respects nothing. Misfortunes never come singly; behold, after the august signature, even the document itself disappears. So the ambassador who carried so precious a document lost it! And we do not even know the name of this wretch, who not only exposed the manuscript to the spray but who also let it be borne away by the wind! No not by the wind at large --for the statement would seem too suspect. No! Some fine fellows have seen the marvelous paper, and they cite the names of other signatories, hardly decipherable, but decipherable just the same. Bro. Jottrand wrote in 1888: (3)
According to the description of the authentic copy submitted in 1834 to the Supreme Council of France with the names of those who had constituted at Berlin the first Supreme Council of 33d only four are legible; in the fifth the initial D is still legible; the others, so runs the descriptive process, verbal, are illegible owing to rubbing or to the water of the sea to which, written on parchment, they have accidentally been exposed several times. The initial D is certainly that of the Italian Denina, professor at the University of Tusin, author of a history of Italian and Greek Revolutions, whom Frederick had called to join his Academy. The legible names are those of Stark, Woellner Willelm and d'Esterno.
But the archives left behind by Woellner, who was at this period Supreme Scots Master, have been searched and nothing found relating to this so important consultation with Frederick. Stark lived at Wismar, and in his Justification, published in 1787 at Leipzig and Frankfort-on-Main, he confessed the small part taken by him since 1777 in the work of the Freemasons and even (an avowed sin is easily pardoned) his indifference to the work. So far as Denina is concerned he was not only the author of a history of the Revolution of Greece and Italy as Bro. Jottrand says, but he wrote an Essai sur la vie et regne de Frederic II, roi de Prusse (Berlin, 1788), where he describes in a few words his initiation into Freemasonry "a society recognized today which begins to make some noise in the world" (pages 36-37), and (page 453) he devotes these few words to the Freemasons:
The Freemasons into which society Frederick had been received ten years before he ascended the throne, did not meet with any marked favour, as perhaps they had hoped. But while they were persecuted in Italy, Bavaria and other countries, they enjoyed complete freedom in Prussia. If the King did not do any more for them, it was because he feared to favor them too much lest they meet the end of the religious and holy fraternities of the Middle Ages. However, assured of his protection by a letter of July 16, 1774, the Freemasons counted in Berlin five lodges under different names, and they had a large enough number in the provinces.
If Denina had collaborated with Frederick at the elaboration of the Grand Constitutions would there not be an allusion or at least would he not have spoken of the Masonic Order with a more apparent interest?
The vexatious thing, however, is that all the authors who uphold this belief have forgotten to agree among themselves. It was in 1887 that Albert Pike announced the crime of lese majeste committed by the water of the sea, and in 1818 one named Marguerite asserted that the Constitutions were in the hands of a Scottish Knight and that they were signed in the very hand of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.
INCONSISTENCIES IN THE TRADITION
Search has been made everywhere, even where it seemed most likely proofs might be found, namely in Prussia. Wasted effort ! The National Mother Grand Lodge of the Three Terrestrial Globes at Berlin, questioned in a letter from Bro. De Marconnay dated at New York, May 26, 1833, made a reply which Findel saw and of which he records this passage: (4)
The National Mother-Grand Lodge of the Three Terrestrial Globes was founded Sept. 13, 1740, under the authority of Frederick the Great, who was also its first Grand Master. This monarch did not, however, occupy himself particularly with organization and legislation. None of the assertions concerning his own acts or those of the supreme Masonic Senate that he may have founded in 1785 . . . have the least historical basis.
It is even today necessary to prove what The Three Globes affirmed, because "this great falsehood of the Order," using the words of George Kloss, (5) has even been repeated in our own time by the Very Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Scottish Council, Bro. J. M. Raymond, who says in his Resume historique de l'organisation des travanx du Supreme Conseil du Rite Ecossais ancien et accepte pour la France et ses dependances: ( Paris, 1908)
On May 1, 1786, Frederick II, King of Prussia, in his Masonic capacity as Sovereign of Sovereigns, definitely established the Constitutions, Statutes, and Regulations of the Scottish Masonic Order.
How can such a legend help but gain credit among Freemasons when it finds itself still propagated by their very "luminaries" ?
NOTES
(1) de Bielfeld - Lettres Familieres et autris . . . 1763. (2) Thiebault - Souvenirs de vingt ans de sefour a Berlin. (3) Jottrand - Sur le Constitutions de 1786 du Rite E. A. et A. 1888. (4) Findel Histoire p. 486-487. (5) Kloss - Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Frankreich, etc. 1852-3.
Grand Lodge of the 3 Globes
Official Declaration of the
Grand Lodge of the 3 Globes at Berlin
Concerning the AASR 33
History of Freemasonry - JG Findel, (1869 edition).
These Statutes, Regulations, etc., (of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of 33 degree) as translated by Albert Pike, in our opinion, bear internal evidence of their spuriousness, and we have on all proper occasions denied their authenticity. The last steamer from Europe brought us the result of the investigations of the Grand Lodge of the "3 Globes" as contained in its Protocol of Dec. 19th, 1861, which fully sustains us.
The Protocol as translated, is as follows:
"The Grand Master stated that W. Bro. Merzdorf of Oldenburg, the highly estimated honorary member of the Grand Lodge, had sent to the "Directory of the Order" (Bundes-Directorium) a lengthy critical examination of the Constitution and Statutes of the system of the 33 degrees."
"The collection of these Constitutions, etc., has the title "Statutes and Regulations, Institutes, Laws and Grand Constitutions of the Ancient and Ace. Scottish Rite, compiled with notes from authentic documents for the use of the Order. By Albert Pike etc. New York 1859."
"The Grand Master then gave the principal contents of the historico-critical examination of Bro Merzdorf, and mentioned particularly that the above named Constitutions and Laws, which formed at present a basis of a system of high degrees in America, France and England were attributed to King Frederick the Great, who is said not to have issued them himself, but to have approved and signed them at the Grand Orient of Berlin, on the 25th day of the 7th moth of the year 1762, and in May 1786. These documents are in the Latin, French, and English languages. The last of them, May 1, 1786, begins with the following introduction: "Nos Fredericus Dei Gratia-fecerunt" &c. The Constitutions have the following introduction: "Probante praesente. sanctiente-deli-beraverunt" &c and closes with "Deliberatum, actum sancitum in Magno et Supremo Concilio", &c.
"According to the contents of these documents, Frederick the Great is said to have revised, reorganized, and increased from 25 to 33 degrees the system of High degrees in a Supreme Council held at Berlin, and which have often been the subject of critical examination, in consequence of the doubts of their authenticity which have always been uttered."
"Bro Le Blanc de Marconnay directed a letter about this subject, dated May 25th 1833 from New-York to the Directory of the Grand National Mother Lodge of the 3 Globes. He wrote as follows. "The highest tribunal of 33d and last degree of the Ancient and Ace. Scottish Rite (a Masonic authority which has extended its jurisdiction over Europe principally France) claims to have its authority from Frederick II., King of Prussia, the said monarch having, on the 1st of May, 1786, revised the Masonic Constitutions and Statutes of the High degrees, for which he had himself given the reglementes? " etc. Are these historical traditions Founded on truth? Is there any trace to be found of such a fact? Is there any probability for their being a reality?"
"The answer which the Directory returned, on the 17th August 1833, says: "The Grand National Mother Lodge of the Three Globes -was founded on the 13th September, 1740, under the authority of Frederick the Great, who was its first Grand Master. He never had anything to do with the organization and legislation of the Grand Lodge. All that has been related of his having, in 1786, originated a high Masonic Senate, etc., has no historical basis."
"Kloss attends to this subject in a long examination in his "History, of Freemasonry in France" (page 409) and stamps the Constitutions and Statutes of the Ancient and Ace. Rite as "the grand lie of the Order."
"As harsh as this judgment may appear at a first glance, the Directory of the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes, after repeated researches in the archives and historical collections, cannot help sustaining it, by declaring the Constitutions and Statutes entirely false (apocryphal), because
(I) King Frederick the Great attended to Masonic affairs for only seven years (from his initiation in 1738 to 1744) and was never engaged in them afterwards. He kept himself aloof from every direct participation in them, devoting himself, with almost superhuman exertions, exclusively to the troubles and cares of government and in the command of his army.
(2) In the year 1762 the third Silesian campaign engaged the whole of the time and activity of the King, and on the 1st of May, 1786 - (the last of his life) indeed a few months only before his death (17th August 1786) he resided, a martyr to the gout, decrepit and weary of life, in his castle of Sans-Souci, near Potsdam, not in Berlin. According to the most reliable information, the King arrived in Berlin, September 9th, 1785, visited his sister, the Princess Amelia, inspected his public works, and spent the night at the mineral springs to attend on the next day (September 10th, 1785) the manoeuvres of his artillery. From the place of review the King returned to Potsdam. He never again came afterwards to Berlin; for, after having passed the winter in great suffering, his approaching end became no longer doubtful to his physicians in 1786, and the suffering monarch moved, on the 17th April 1786, to the castle of Sans-Souci, where he through four months suffered: and died a hero.
(3) It is, therefore, a falsehood that King Frederick the Great had convoked on the 1st May, 1786, in his residence at Berlin, a Grand Council for regulating the High degrees. It does not correspond at all to the manner of thinking and acting of the sublime Sovereign, to have occupied himself near the end of his earthly career with things which he had characterized as idle, valueless and play-work.
(4) The documents kept from time to time in the archives of the Grand National Mother Lodge do not show the slightest trace of the above mentioned documents or of the existence of a Grand Council in Berlin.
(5) Of the persons who are said to have signed those documents, only Stark and Woellner are here known, the others are entirely unknown, nowhere mentioned in any of the numerous Masonic books or writings collected here.
But Stark could not have signed the documents Of 1762 and 1786, for he was from 1760 to 1765 well known in England and France, and in Paris was the expounder of the Oriental manuscripts of the library, Ill 1766, he returned to Germany, and became Conrector at Wismar. Ill 1767 he was appointed Professor of Oriental languages at Konigsberg in Prussia, whence he went, in 1781, as first preacher of the Court to Darmstadt. Stark declares in his book "The Accusations against Dr. Stark and his Defense: Frankfort and Leipzig, 9, 1787, P. 83 and 245, that he had renounced, since 1777, all his Masonic connections, had not participated in any way afterwards with Masonic matters, and had been very indifferent that he did not want to answer letters of his former friends who wrote on such subjects.
Woellner had been elected in 1775 Altschottischer Obermeister and held this office until the year 1791, when he was elected National Grand Master. Nowhere in the archives can be found evidence that he took an interest in the high degrees. A letter sent to him by des Philalethes Chiefs legitimes du regime Maconnique de la R. loge des amis reunis a L'Orient de Paris, kept in the archives of the National Mother Grand Lodge, touches the meeting of a convention in Paris on the 15th June, 1786. It is signed by Bro Lavalette des Langes. The purpose of the Convention was to be, to confer upon Masonic Doctrine, and by the concentration of lights and the comparison of opinions, to clear up the most important points relating to the principles, dogmas, advantages and the true aim of Freemasonry, viewed only as a science.
A later letter from Bro Lavalettes de Langes, received February 9th, 1787, shows that the meeting of the convention had been put off to the 21St February 1787. On this letter is a remark that it had not been answered.
The Grand Lodge resolves to insert this report of the Directory into the Protocol, and so promulgated it to all the Lodges."
Grand Lodge of the 3 Globes at Berlin
Concerning the AASR 33
History of Freemasonry - JG Findel, (1869 edition).
These Statutes, Regulations, etc., (of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of 33 degree) as translated by Albert Pike, in our opinion, bear internal evidence of their spuriousness, and we have on all proper occasions denied their authenticity. The last steamer from Europe brought us the result of the investigations of the Grand Lodge of the "3 Globes" as contained in its Protocol of Dec. 19th, 1861, which fully sustains us.
The Protocol as translated, is as follows:
"The Grand Master stated that W. Bro. Merzdorf of Oldenburg, the highly estimated honorary member of the Grand Lodge, had sent to the "Directory of the Order" (Bundes-Directorium) a lengthy critical examination of the Constitution and Statutes of the system of the 33 degrees."
"The collection of these Constitutions, etc., has the title "Statutes and Regulations, Institutes, Laws and Grand Constitutions of the Ancient and Ace. Scottish Rite, compiled with notes from authentic documents for the use of the Order. By Albert Pike etc. New York 1859."
"The Grand Master then gave the principal contents of the historico-critical examination of Bro Merzdorf, and mentioned particularly that the above named Constitutions and Laws, which formed at present a basis of a system of high degrees in America, France and England were attributed to King Frederick the Great, who is said not to have issued them himself, but to have approved and signed them at the Grand Orient of Berlin, on the 25th day of the 7th moth of the year 1762, and in May 1786. These documents are in the Latin, French, and English languages. The last of them, May 1, 1786, begins with the following introduction: "Nos Fredericus Dei Gratia-fecerunt" &c. The Constitutions have the following introduction: "Probante praesente. sanctiente-deli-beraverunt" &c and closes with "Deliberatum, actum sancitum in Magno et Supremo Concilio", &c.
"According to the contents of these documents, Frederick the Great is said to have revised, reorganized, and increased from 25 to 33 degrees the system of High degrees in a Supreme Council held at Berlin, and which have often been the subject of critical examination, in consequence of the doubts of their authenticity which have always been uttered."
"Bro Le Blanc de Marconnay directed a letter about this subject, dated May 25th 1833 from New-York to the Directory of the Grand National Mother Lodge of the 3 Globes. He wrote as follows. "The highest tribunal of 33d and last degree of the Ancient and Ace. Scottish Rite (a Masonic authority which has extended its jurisdiction over Europe principally France) claims to have its authority from Frederick II., King of Prussia, the said monarch having, on the 1st of May, 1786, revised the Masonic Constitutions and Statutes of the High degrees, for which he had himself given the reglementes? " etc. Are these historical traditions Founded on truth? Is there any trace to be found of such a fact? Is there any probability for their being a reality?"
"The answer which the Directory returned, on the 17th August 1833, says: "The Grand National Mother Lodge of the Three Globes -was founded on the 13th September, 1740, under the authority of Frederick the Great, who was its first Grand Master. He never had anything to do with the organization and legislation of the Grand Lodge. All that has been related of his having, in 1786, originated a high Masonic Senate, etc., has no historical basis."
"Kloss attends to this subject in a long examination in his "History, of Freemasonry in France" (page 409) and stamps the Constitutions and Statutes of the Ancient and Ace. Rite as "the grand lie of the Order."
"As harsh as this judgment may appear at a first glance, the Directory of the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes, after repeated researches in the archives and historical collections, cannot help sustaining it, by declaring the Constitutions and Statutes entirely false (apocryphal), because
(I) King Frederick the Great attended to Masonic affairs for only seven years (from his initiation in 1738 to 1744) and was never engaged in them afterwards. He kept himself aloof from every direct participation in them, devoting himself, with almost superhuman exertions, exclusively to the troubles and cares of government and in the command of his army.
(2) In the year 1762 the third Silesian campaign engaged the whole of the time and activity of the King, and on the 1st of May, 1786 - (the last of his life) indeed a few months only before his death (17th August 1786) he resided, a martyr to the gout, decrepit and weary of life, in his castle of Sans-Souci, near Potsdam, not in Berlin. According to the most reliable information, the King arrived in Berlin, September 9th, 1785, visited his sister, the Princess Amelia, inspected his public works, and spent the night at the mineral springs to attend on the next day (September 10th, 1785) the manoeuvres of his artillery. From the place of review the King returned to Potsdam. He never again came afterwards to Berlin; for, after having passed the winter in great suffering, his approaching end became no longer doubtful to his physicians in 1786, and the suffering monarch moved, on the 17th April 1786, to the castle of Sans-Souci, where he through four months suffered: and died a hero.
(3) It is, therefore, a falsehood that King Frederick the Great had convoked on the 1st May, 1786, in his residence at Berlin, a Grand Council for regulating the High degrees. It does not correspond at all to the manner of thinking and acting of the sublime Sovereign, to have occupied himself near the end of his earthly career with things which he had characterized as idle, valueless and play-work.
(4) The documents kept from time to time in the archives of the Grand National Mother Lodge do not show the slightest trace of the above mentioned documents or of the existence of a Grand Council in Berlin.
(5) Of the persons who are said to have signed those documents, only Stark and Woellner are here known, the others are entirely unknown, nowhere mentioned in any of the numerous Masonic books or writings collected here.
But Stark could not have signed the documents Of 1762 and 1786, for he was from 1760 to 1765 well known in England and France, and in Paris was the expounder of the Oriental manuscripts of the library, Ill 1766, he returned to Germany, and became Conrector at Wismar. Ill 1767 he was appointed Professor of Oriental languages at Konigsberg in Prussia, whence he went, in 1781, as first preacher of the Court to Darmstadt. Stark declares in his book "The Accusations against Dr. Stark and his Defense: Frankfort and Leipzig, 9, 1787, P. 83 and 245, that he had renounced, since 1777, all his Masonic connections, had not participated in any way afterwards with Masonic matters, and had been very indifferent that he did not want to answer letters of his former friends who wrote on such subjects.
Woellner had been elected in 1775 Altschottischer Obermeister and held this office until the year 1791, when he was elected National Grand Master. Nowhere in the archives can be found evidence that he took an interest in the high degrees. A letter sent to him by des Philalethes Chiefs legitimes du regime Maconnique de la R. loge des amis reunis a L'Orient de Paris, kept in the archives of the National Mother Grand Lodge, touches the meeting of a convention in Paris on the 15th June, 1786. It is signed by Bro Lavalette des Langes. The purpose of the Convention was to be, to confer upon Masonic Doctrine, and by the concentration of lights and the comparison of opinions, to clear up the most important points relating to the principles, dogmas, advantages and the true aim of Freemasonry, viewed only as a science.
A later letter from Bro Lavalettes de Langes, received February 9th, 1787, shows that the meeting of the convention had been put off to the 21St February 1787. On this letter is a remark that it had not been answered.
The Grand Lodge resolves to insert this report of the Directory into the Protocol, and so promulgated it to all the Lodges."
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