HISTOEY OF ITALIAN FREEMASONRY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 64, 18 July 1874, Page 9

HISTOEY OF ITALIAN FREEMASONRY.

In the following year was held another general chapter (costituente) of th& Italian lodges. The one fixed for tlie summer of 1873 was put off, in consequence of the cholera breaking out in Borne, but even when the pestilence was over there was no talk of the costituent. The reason was want of money. In Italy, as elsewhere, the annual contributions (tasse) came in very shabily ; and it would not do to risk the necessary outlay for the assembly. Not that Italian Freemasonry had been idle ; the abolition of religious hpuse sin the States of the Church, and above all in Rome, had been a good stroke of work, and all was done that could be done towards furthering the great end (he destruction of the Church. But the country was too Catholic to allow of the expulsion of the Jesuits, the sworn foes of Revolution, and bo Freemasonry, as usual, sought to obtain by popular tumult what could not be "legally" accomplished. The riots againßt the Jesuits in Florence at the close of November and the beginning of December, 1873, (most of the actors in which were foreigners), were the work of Freemasonry and the Socialist unions which were its puppets. The Milanese organ or the lodges, ' La Luce,' boasted in the following words of this heroic exploit : " The meeting at Florence against the Jesuits is a second battle (the first was tho abolition of the convents) fought by Freemasonry against that Society." ' How low must be the point of honor of people who make a boast of the grossest mob outrages of rioters and disturbers of the peace ! It was at the close of the summer of 1873, that the '• Universo' Lodge was founded at Rome, with the object (as it was said) of secretly working against Henri Cinq's elevation to the throne. But let us heir the worthy brethren themselves on the subjoct. They declare the object of the Universo to be " the collecting together of all the Freemasons scattered through the valley of the Tiber (Rome)," and the c Rivista' says — " The new lodge Universo rescues the traditions of tho one which flourished gloriously under the same name in the valley of the Arno (Florence), and its desire is to gather around itself all honorable and Liberal men, men who have a hand in the management of public affairs ; not that what was once the case may happen among ourselves, namely, that the Government may be in our order, an evil greatly to be deplored, but that the order mmy penetrate into the Government, and lead it on by secret influence to the ultimate objects of the brotherhood" This " secret influence" is now visible enough. Louis Pianciaui, the Red Republican, is not only a member of the Universo and of the Grand Orient, &c, but commander-in-chief of the National Guard and sindaco of Rome. He has great influence with the numerous artisans of the city, and has made a barrack for the municipal guard in the Convent Ara Coeli. Another brother of the Universo, Antonio Pacca, is commandent of tho municipal, and colonel in the National Guard. What may not happen in this state of things, when the long-dreaded moment comes, when, for iustance, the standing army is marched to the frontier on foreign service ! Certainly the attempts at Paris and Cartagena failed, but who can vouch for a similar result next time ? Has not Carbonarism also had to suffer on the scaffold, under the Piombi of Venice, at Spielberg, Turin, and Alessandria, again aud again, yet its constant dream, Italian unity, stands now before the world a fait accompli ! It is with a view to the destruction of the Catholic Church, thai an organized attack upon the hierarchy is being made in all countries under Masonic influence. First, the

Bishops were its object ; then, when it Was found impossible to sever the inferior clergy from them, the whole body of the priesthood. Switzerland heads the frantic march ; other countries follow. Their cry is, " Beform of the outward constitution of the Church," and it has been raised too in the Italian Parliament. The following sentences are taken from a speech of Signor Vigliani's, the Keeper of the Seals — " When once we get a clergy who stand face to face with the laity, and are bound to consult the faithful, then we shall have a clergy with whom it is possible to deal, who will hear reason, who will come to an understanding with the people, for such an understanding will be one of the duties of their office. But so long as we have a clergy who oppose the Government, . . . there is no possibility of an amicable arrangement, because there is no confidence, and confidence is the basis of every reconciliation. Ardently do I desire the coming of the time when we shall at length be able to place what remains of the Church's temporal possessions in the hands of the people, for they are and must be the right administrators of those possessions. When once that day dawns, then, gentlemen, the flock will have shepherds such aa they desire, and the shepherds will correspond with the views of the faithful" (i.e., of the Freemasons!). Or, in other words, the v brethren" must put aside the Pope, make the bishops puppets of the State, and the priests the playthings of a majority of laymen, before the Government meets the wishes of the secret societies. It is impossible for the line of march to be marked out more clearly. "II. — The Socialistic movement of Italy in the hands of the Freemasons. It has" been known for a long time that " Internationalism, " •« Mazzinism," and Freemasonry, are of one and the same family. It is, however, undesirable for the lodges that this should be universally believed, and they treat the statement with "indignation," as an " Ultramontane calumny, 1 ' though it is an open secret that the brotherhood aim at realizing their ideal of an atheistical and socialistic Bepublic. In monarchical States and reactionary times they are satisfied, certainly, with propagating Liberal and enlightened ideas ; as the fox puts up with mice when no fowls are to be had.- But besides that, their constitution is admirably adapted for temporising. In Conservative times they put forward their aristocratic-looking "high grade," with all its frippery of Bcarves, ribbons, ornaments, and colors : in democratic periods it is pxit in the background, and the three lower, or " symbolical grades," are paraded as the only correct and authenticated ones, and the " Bosicrucian knights," &c, are not allowed to say a syllable of objection : it is a wenderful system of mutual understanding. The Milanese 'Luce,' the organ of the " symbolical grades," overwhelms that of the " high grade," the Boman • Bivista,' with contempt ; and yet they are not the least angry with each other iv reality : they know that crows are not in the habit of pecking one another's eyes out. These squabbles gave rise to the notion which was so often expressed last year, that Italian Freemasonry was falling to pieces, and torn by dissentions : when all on a Budden the • Gazzetta d'ltalia,' that enfant terrible of Italian journalism, blundered out the following indiscreet announcement — " Some days ago we mentioned a probable fusion of Freemasonry with the Mazzinists and Internationalists j we are now in a position to add that the leading men (" les grand bonnets") of these three different (?) societies have already held several meetings in Borne, which will be resumed early in October for the purpose of drawing up a common code and programme, and of deciding on a name for the combined society; this latter will, in all probability, be ' Society democraticounitaria Italiana.' " This rash statement was put down as ridiculous ; but the ' Gazzetta' stood its ground, adding that in the November of 1873, above sixty delegates from the three societies would meet in Borne to finish the work of fusion begun in Florence. This forced the Grand Master, Mazzoni, to write a letter to the ' Gazzetta' representing the body of Freemasonry as a white dove, which " only occupied itself with its peaceful, educational, and humanitarian task j" but admitting in the" same breath, that " individual members were independent of their lodges in their views of state, policy, and economy." That is, if the plan for which the fusion if effected, proves successful, the Brotherhood will come forward and claim the wreath of victory ; otherwise, the individual members will bo disowned as "errin^ brethren." °

(Concluded in our next.)