The Evolution Of
French  Freemasonry

by Michel L. Brodsky, MPS

W. Bro. Allen E. Roberts, FPS, in
"The Search For Truth Continues"'
mentions various events connected with
the relations between the Philalethes
Society and two influential and impor-
tant French members of the Society,
Marius Lepage and Joannis Corneloup.
The former in his later years joined the
Grande Loge Nationale Francaise the
only regular French Grand Lodge, but
Corneloup remained to his last day a
fervent and active member of the Grand
Orient de France. It is  true that Free-
masonry in France  has always been
peculiar and the events leading to as
well as the conditions and consequences
of the break between the Grand Orient
de France and the rest of the Grand
Lodges deserves a full study, on which I
am presently working. This brief paper
will, I hope, only bring some more truth
to the mill.

In fact the Grand Orient de France
was founded in 1772 and the words
"Grand Orient" then designated only
the governing body or assembly of the
Grande Loge de France; each private
Lodge being located in a separate Ori-
ent. But as they were at that time two
Grand Lodges in France very soon the
words Grand Orient were used to desig-
nate the whole Grand Lodge.  It never
had a formal Constitution and was gov-
erned on the basis of its Rules and Reg-
ulations. In 1849 for reasons which have
not been fully understood a Constitu-
tion was drawn and adopted, its article
"l" contained the declaration that the
basis of Freemasonry was a belief in God
and the immortality of the soul. This
occurred in a time of political upheav-
als, the Monarchy had been abolished
by the revolution of 1848, a short lived
republic proclaimed in its stead and the
country was heading towards the second
napoleonic Empire. One of the reasons
for drafting this Constitution may have
been the creation in 1848 of a new
French Grand Lodge which rejected the
so-called "Higher Degrees" and was very
egalitarian and republican in its aims
and purposes.  To understand fully the
events which followed one would need
to refer constantly to French history of
the period, this would be tedious and
uninteresting but any good history of
France will provide the readers with full
details.

At that time international relations
between Grand Lodges were determined
by the fact that travelling was slow as
well as mail and recognitions when hap-
pening resulted more from personal re-
lationship than from a deliberate policy
of international fraternal contacts. The
basis of mutual recognition were left to
the decision of the individual Grand
Lodges. The United Grand Lodge of
England had relations with a great
many other Grand Lodges, how many
we do not really know as the lists pub-
lished at the time in the yearbooks (call-
ed the Freemason's Calendar) are unre-
liable, this publication being edited and
produced by a private firm which was
not under the control of the Grand
Lodge.  Furthermore the Grand Repre-
sentatives to the United Grand Lodge of
England were traditionally honored
with a high Past Grand Rank and this
alone restrained the choice of the recog-
nized Grand Lodge and the quality of
their representatives.

The history of the Grand Orient of
France during the second Empire and
the dictatorship of Napoleon III
(1851-1870) reflects the political history
of the country. It went as far as the
designation of a Grand Master by the
Emperor himself and he chose a Field
Marshall who had distinguished himself
in repressing workers riots after his
Coup in December 1851. Marshall
Magnan was not even a Mason when
chosen by the Emperor and obediently
the Grand Orient de France initiated
him in all the degrees from Entered Ap-
prentice to 33   in one day, so as to
enable him to occupy the Grand Mas-
tership as ordered by the Emperor.   The
social composition of the French Lodges
reflected often a widespread opposition
to the Emperor, and though they were
closely controlled and infiltrated by the
secret police, many of them were repub-
lican in character . In 1865 a motion
asking the abolition of the mention of
God in the Constitution was tabled at
the annual "Convent" the name of the
Assembly of the Grand Orient. It was
rejected. Then four years later the
stupid Franco-German War provoked
and lost by Napoleon III finished in a
disaster culminating the annexation by
the newly formed German Empire of
the Eastern provinces of France: Alsace
and Lorraine. A Republic was institu-
ted, but with great difficulties the mon-
archical parties remained very strong
and were supported by the very power-
ful and influential hierarchy of the
Roman Catholic Church.

The situation of Freemasonry at that
time was ambiguous, it was tolerated,
had no legal status, Lodges were cons-
tantly under the eye of the police, the
Prefets  closing them if they suspected
them of discussing political matters
(which they often did), and as late as
1877 only a change of Government ena-
bled the Convent to meet freely.

ln 1876 the proposed modifications of
the Constitutions were once more intro-
duced and were sent back to the Lodges
for further study, but at the Convent of
September 1877 the famous proposal IX
suppressing the reference to the Deity
was approved unanimously by applause
without even a ballot despite the opposi-
tion of the President of the Assembly
who was at that time "President du Con-
seil de l'Ordre" the title equivalent to
that of Grand Master. It is true that the
speech which carried the assembly was
that of the Rev. Desmons, a protestant
minister from the South of France who
later pursued a Masonic and political
career. His very impressive and moving
oration to the assembly was based on the
necessity of "an absolute liberty S con-
science" and this has remained to this
day the motto of the Grand Orient de
France.

I cannot agree  that those tragic
events were caused basically to
"counteract the accusations of the
Roman Catholic clergy." It is true that
the Roman Catholic Church fought
ardently against Freemasonry and the
Cardinal Archbishop of Paris protested
vainly to the Emperor when he had to
celebrate the funerals of Marshall
Magnan in Notre-Dame Cathedral in
Paris because the coffin bore beside his
military honors his full Masonic regalia.
But the adoption of such a far reaching
proposal was due to many causes, some
of them but not all may be resumed as
follows:

1. It is true that most Masons were
opposed to the political activities
of the Catholic Church which
tried to regain its former power,
in order to create a nation
dominated by the Church where it
would have complete control of
and a monopoly of education etc..

2. A profound ignorance of the
potential reaction of the other
Grand Lodges, though very clear
warning appeared after the 1876
Convent in the Masonic press of
England.

3. A complete ignorance of the
history, origin and traditions of
Freemasonry in general. Freema-
sonry as practiced in France at the
time was in the mind of the Ma-
sons purely a French institution,
the only ties with other Grand
Lodges and other Masons were the
bonds of fraternity.

4. Very early even in the XVlIIth
century a widespread belief existed
in France that Freemasonry had a
social duty, thus a definition of
Freemasonry was a necessity, and
that this definition should reflect
the views of a majority of Masons
or their representative democrat-
ically elected. This definition as
the future would prove would be
binding to all Freemasons though
it was well understood in France
at the time the aims thus defined
would include matters which were
definitely outside the traditions of
Masonry. In fact it would include
the defense of the Republic. And
the Republic was represented by
the republican political parties.
Despite many declarations pur-
porting to maintain a neutral atti-
tude the political commitment of
the Grand Orient was already im-
plied by all those who defended
the changes of 1877.

5. This theory supposes that Free-
masonry can and must adjust itself
to the social changes and it has a
duty to modify itself not only in
conformity with the accepted re-
quirements of society such as dress
etc...but also to modify its rituals
in their profound meaning ignor-
ing the esoteric tradition, to be
able to accept those members of
the society who would not be pre-
pared to have a belief in the Su-
preme Being for instance.'  The
Grand Orient of 1877 wanted to
be able to admit men who would
not acknowledge such a belief,
whether they be atheist or not.

6. At the time a very powerful philo-
sophical school "positivism " found-
ed by Auguste Comte dominated
many Lodges. The basic tenet of
this philosophy was that one must
believe only what can be demon-
strated scientifically. So if God does
exist it has to be demonstrated sci-
entifically or its belief could not be
accepted. One does then under-
stand why the positivists played a
very important role in the adoption
of the proposals.

7. The politization of French Free-
masonry was already underway
and with the adoption of the pro-
posals the Grand Orient was ready
to play an increasing role as the
"think tank" of the parties of the
left-center in the French republic.

The convent of the Grand Orient de
France of 1877 not only represents a
major turning point in Masonic history
it also as shown by Bro. Roberts had a
profound influence on the concept of
regular Masonry. Until 1877 a regular
Mason was a Mason who could present
his diploma and be received as such in
practically any Lodge in the world
From 1878 onwards and after the
United Grand Lodge of England resolu-
tion a regular Mason had to prove that
his own Lodge worked according to the
Antient Landmarks and had to express
publicly his personal belief in the
G.A.O .T.U.

And since then this concept has been
extended and to be considered regular,
a Mason has to be a member of a Lodge
herself part of a Grand Lodge recogniz-
ed as regular, in practice meaning abid-
ing to the "Basis for Grand Lodge Rec-
ognition" as adopted by the United
Grand Lodge of England.

Thus the actions of Convent of the
Grand Orient de France in 1877 led to a
situation where the individual Mason as
honorable as he may be, in a Lodge
working strictly according to the An-
tient Landmarks whatever they may be,
will only be recognized as regular if his
own Grand Lodge is also regular. Little
did the French Freemasons of 1877 real-
ize what they did.

The problem of the Philalethes as
told by Bro. Roberts is not unique and a
Masonic society wishing to extend fur-
ther than the borders of its own Grand
Lodge has to take into account the facts
that even to-day the "regularity" is not a
universal concept. Any Masonic travel-
ler will witness the facts.

It is interesting to note that an at-
tempt to cross those borders was initi-
ated after the first world war and with
the assistance of Freemasons who believ-
ed that peace could be easier to main-
tain in mankind if a common language
was used. The Masons propagating the
use of ESPERANTO as such a language
started from Switzerland and the Uni-
versal League of Freemasons (U.F.L.)
tried to bring together Masons without
taking into account their Obedience.
After some success in the early days of
the fifties, the U.F.L. consists presently
of Freemasons belonging to the group of
irregular Grand Lodges under the lea-
dership of the Grand Orient of France.

If there is a need to conclude, I would
say that the role of the Philalethes
should be extended outside the U.S.A.,
the English language is well understood
and read in many European and Asiatic
countries, but the Philalethes is
unknown. The foundation of this bridge
among all Masons does exist, maybe it is
the time to see that it is used.

Footnotes  are not incluced here

