THE SCOTTISH RITE

Of the various Masonic Rites to be established, the Scottish Rite is probably the youngest and is fast growing into one of the most popular. The history of the organization of this Masonic body as it is known today, is brief though none the less interesting. In the years following the formation of the Grand Lodge of England, Masonry became very popular and rapidly spread to the continent where it commenced to receive the attention of men of ability. The fact that the fraternity dealt largely in symbolism and that its degrees were in the process of making, lead many Masons who possessed inventive genius and literary qualifications to try their hand in the construction of various rituals some of which were based upon historical incidents, while others were pure fiction. The exact number of rituals that were propagated during this era of degree building, is not known, although the number is supposed to have been quite large.

In 1758, a body was organized in Paris called the Council of Emperors of the East and West. This Council assembled a system of twenty-five degrees which it called the Rite of Perfection, the highest being that of Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. These were maintained until the year 1786 when eight more were added with the result that the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees came into existence. The Scottish Rite system of today represents the very best of the many degrees which were fabricated near the middle of the Eighteenth Century. These were thoroughly examined and the most desirable were taken and welded into the Scottish Rite system. In 1761 the Council granted authority to Stephen Morinto propagate the Rite in the Western continent. In the same year Morin arrived in the city of San Domingo where he commenced the dissemination of the Scottish Rite degrees and appointed many inspectors both for the West Indies and the United States.

Owing to the fact that the Rite was not thoroughly organized and was yet in an embryonic state, it was customary for these inspectors to communicate the essentials of the various degrees without the usual formality of conferring them in their entirety. For this reason, the Rite assumed more of the character of an individual affair than it did of an organized body. Among the inspectors appointed by Morin, was Henry Andrew Franken, who received his commission in 162. In October of the following year, Franken conferred the degrees of Perfection on two brethren in New York City. These two brethren with three others, received a warrant from Franken to establish a Lodge of Perfection at Albany, N. Y. This was accomplished in the early part of the year 1768. Among others upon whom Morin conferred the degrees and invested with the powers of inspector, was M. Hayes. Hayes, accordingly, appointed Isaac Da Costa, Deputy Inspector General for South Carolina, and he in the year 1783, introduced the Rite into that State by the establishment of a Grand Lodge of Perfection in Charleston. In 1801, a Supreme Council was opened in that city by John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho. Up to this time the number of degrees which were recognized consisted of twenty-five, but with the organization of the Supreme Council in South Carolina, eight more degrees selected from the Continental High Degrees were elaborated and the system made to consist of thirty-three degrees.

In the year 1804, Abraham Jacobs, who claimed to have received his authority from the Southern Supreme Council of Charleston, South Carolina, arrived in New York and during the succeeding four years conferred the Scottish Rite degrees upon a number of Past Masters of Lodges. This was followed in due time by the organization of a Consistory of the thirty-second degree. During this period, the whole Scottish Rite system was more or less disorganized. Lodges were few in number, and were weak and struggling. Degrees were conferred almost wholly by communication, and there were none of those features which distinguish the Rite at the present time.

Soon after the year 1808, one Joseph Cerneau appeared and claimed to have jurisdiction in the state although no one has ever been able to account for his knowledge of the Rite nor whence he derived his authority.. He immediately established what he called The Sovereign Grand Consistory and Supreme Council of the Thirty-third and last degree of the Ancient Scottish Rite of Heredom. This organization was pronounced irregular and spurious by John J. Gourgas, one of those prominent in the affairs of the authorized Rite of that period. In 1813, the Northern Supreme Council, sometimes called the Gourgas Supreme Council, was organized and it soon drew to its standard many men who were prominent in Masonry at that time, This Supreme Council immediately took up the propagation of the Rite although it found a vigorous adversary in the Cerneau system and was often hampered in its work by this spurious organization.

In the early part of the year 1860, there commenced to appear evidences of much dissatisfaction. This culminated in August of that year in a direct revolt against what were charged to be the arbitrary policies of the Sovereign Grand Commander, Edward A. Raymond. As a result of this defection, the disgruntled element openly seceded and elected for their Sovereign Grand Commander, Killian H. Van Rensaellaer. The Raymond crowd, however, although small in number, still maintained their sovereignty. On December 15, 186o, the Raymond organization conferred the thirty-third degree on Charles T. McClenachan who three years previously had received the Scottish Rite degrees in the Grand Lodge of Perfection in New York City. One year later, the Raymond organization appointed a committee of three to prepare a ritual of the Scottish Rite degrees, and McClenachan was selected as a member. In the meantime Henry C. Atwood who had been active in the formation of St. John's Grand Lodge had also established a Supreme Council of which Edmund B. Hayes was Sovereign Grand Commander. When the defection occurred in the Raymond organization, this body became quite active and continued so until April, 1863, when the Raymond and Haves bodies united, Hayes becoming Sovereign Grand Commander of the unified organization. The following four years were by no means pleasant ones to those charged with the active affairs of the Scottish Rite for there was much dissension and strife, and it became apparent to all concerned that under the existing conditions, a union of the Van Rensaellaer and the Raymond-Haves bodies would be absolutely
necessary if the Scottish Rite was to rise to proper dignity and become a Masonic institution of consequence. The result was that in 1868 these bodies united in what is now known as the Grand Union in which all Scottish Rite authority was definitely established. Josiah H. Drummond of Maine, was elected Sovereign Grand Commander and the Grand East of the bodies was fixed at Boston, Massachusetts, and by an agreement the executive offices located in New York City. This marks the beginning of the present system of Scottish Rite Masonry in the Northern Masonic jurisdiction. The growth and development of the Southern Supreme Council like that of its Northern partner, has been phenomenal, and at the present time both Rites enjoy the highest degree of prosperity.

This discussion of Scottish Rite Masonry would not be complete without reference to Frederick the Great of Prussia, who has been heralded as the Father of Scottish Rite Masonry. For the story of he initiation of Frederick as a Mason, the Masonic world is indebted to two sources, one an account by Campbell in his work on Frederick the Great and his times, and the other by Carlyle in his history of Fredcrick II. Both accounts, how ever, are merely translations of the original story as given by Baron Von Bielfeld, who was an intimate companion of the Prince, and was present at his initiation.

Bielfeld relates that in a conversation which took place on the 6th of August at Loo, in 1738 (but Carlyle corrects him as to time and place and says it probably occurred at Minden, on the 17th of July), the institution of Freemasonry had been enthusiastically lauded by the Count of Lippe Buckeburg.

The Crown Prince soon after privately expressed to the Count his wish to join the society. Of course, his every desire was to he gratified. The necessary furniture and assistance for conferring the degrees were obtained from the Lodge at Hamburg, Bielfeld gives an amusing account of the embarrass ment which was encountered in passing the chest containing the Masonic implements through the custom-house without detection. Campbell, quoting from Bielfeld, says: "The whole of the 14th (August) was spent in preparations for the Lodge, and at twelve at night, the Prince Royal arrived accompanied by Count Wartensleben, a captain in the King's regiment at Potsdam. The Prince introduced him to us as a candidate whom he very warmly recommended, and begged that he might be admitted immediately after himseIf. At the same time, he desired that he might be treated like any private individual and that none of the usual ceremonies should be altered on his account. Accordingly, he was admitted in the customary form, and I could not sufficiently admire his fearlessness, his composure, and his address. After the double reception a Lodge was held. All was over by four in the morning, and the Prince returned to the ducal palace, apparently as well pleased with us as we were charmed with him."

Concerning the truthfulness of the initiation of Frederick the Great as a Freemason, there has never been any question. He was without doubt made a Mason, but just how much activity he took in the affairs of the society will probably never be known. Carlyle, who was not a Freemason and who had a very blunt way of stating things, declared: "The Crown Prince prosecuted his Masonry at Reinsberg or elsewhere, occasionally for a year or two, but was never ardent in it, and very soon after his accession left off altogether . . . "Royal Arch was established at Berlin, of which the new king consented to be Patron; blit he never once entered the place, and only his portrait (a welcomely good one, still to be found there) presided over the mysteries of that establishment."

A careful study of the character of Frederick the Great, and an analysis of his many acts cannot help but leave the impartial investigator to believe that Carlyle's estimate of Frederick's activity in Freemasonry is correct. The only evidence whatsoever of the connection of the monarch with the organization of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite is traceable to certain assertions made in the Grand Constitutions of 1786, which are alleged to have been promulgated by Frederick himself. This is the only basis for any assumption or belief that Frederick was a patron of the Scottish Rite and took it under his paternal care. Albert Pike who made a very thorough investigation of the whole matter, acknowledged that he was unable to throw any new light on the alleged connection of Frederick with the Scottish Rite or the fact that he signed the Grand Constitutions of 1786, but that he was forced to the following opinion: "There is no doubt that Frederick came to the conclusion that the great pretensions of Masonry in the blue degrees were merely imaginary and deceptive. He ridiculed the Order, and thought its ceremonies mere child's play; and some of his sayings to that effect have been preserved. But it does not at all follow that he might not at a later day have found it polite to put himself at the head of an Order that had become a power; and adopting such of the degrees as were not objectionable, to reject all that were of dangerous tendency, that had fallen into the hands of the Jesuits, or been engrafted on the Order by the Illuminati."

On the other hand, the impartial historian who is not carried off his feet by that enthusiasm which prompts him to accept as real that which he wants to believe, cannot help but agree with Carlyle, that the activity of Frederick as a Freemason was extremely limited, and that the story of his acceptance as the Father of Scottish Rite Masonry is simply due to a tendency which has ever been apparent in the evolution of Freemasonry, that of connecting with the fraternity eminent men regardless of the particular part they may have played in shaping the destinies of the society. The fact that each of the various Masonic systems has a Patron Saint, no doubt lead those who formulated the earliest Scottish Rite System to accept as their leader, Frederick of Prussia, relying upon the very meager information extant concerning his Masonic activity as a means of assuming that in the absence of contrary proof, they would be safe in making the claims which they have. It is of little consequence whether Frederick the Great promulgated the Grand Constitutions of 1786 or whether they were devised by the original founders of the Scottish Rite System. The fact remains that the v form the basis of Scottish Rite Freemasonry wherever it may exist and by them is judged its legitimacy and legally constituted authority.

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