The Builder Magazine
September 1927 - Volume XIII - Number 9
Freemasonry and Fascism in Italy
(Concluded)
TO weaken the unfavorable impression which the anti-Masonic bill had created abroad, Mussolini intimated in an interview with the American journalist, Karl H. von Wiegand, that Italian Masonry had conspired with French Masonry against Italy. "I asked Mussolini," writes Wiegand, "why he was taking action against the Masons." The Duce replied: "The law is directed not only against the Masons, but against all secret societies that constitute a peril to the peace and tranquility of the state. In Germany, in England and in America the Freemasons are a beneficent and philanthropic fraternity and union. In Italy they form a secret political organization. Worse than that, they depend entirely on the Grand Orient of Paris. I wish that the Italian Masons would become what the English and American Masons are, a non-political fraternal union for mutual aid."
Already before the proposed anti-Masonic bill had become a law, official hostilities against the Grand Orient were opened. Among other things, the January number of the Rivixta Massonica was suppressed.
The Grand College and the Grand Council of the Grand Orient deliberated in two long sessions on Jan. 18, 1925, how to meet the new situation. It was agreed upon to observe an attitude of watchful waiting and to confer dictatorial powers on Grand Master Torrigiani.
The President of the Supreme Council, Ettore Ferrari, addressed a circular letter to the brethren, exhorting them to stand pat. Similarly Grand Master Torrigiani issued a manifesto to all Italian Masons in which he vigorously protested against the proposed anti-Masonic bill.
THE ANTI-MASONIC BILL IS VOTED ON
After a parliamentary committee had put a few more sharp teeth into the bill, it came up for discussion in May, 1925. The discussion was a rather onesided affair, because more than two hundred members of the opposition were absent--had been absent, one and all, for over a year, recognizing that under the Duce's autocratic methods all parliamentary procedure had degenerated into a farce. But even among those present, partisans of the administration and "rubber stamps," all of them, there manifested itself a conspicuous lack of enthusiasm for the anti-Masonic measure. Hence they had to be labored with speeches. After some lesser luminaries had spent their rhetorical ammunition, urging the necessity of the proposed measure, the Duce himself brought up the heavy artillery.
He began by characterizing his mode of warfare: "First, I break every bone in the body of my adversary, then I take him captive.... I knew what I was doing when I introduced the bill. My principle is to be good to my friends and to do all the harm I can to my enemies. For that reason I intend to fight Masonry to the limit of my resources.
"This measure," continued the Duce, "proves the consistency of my whole life. Already fifteen years ago, when I was a member of the socialistic party, I could trace the activities of the Masons. Already then I thought little of democracy, of liberalism and of the so-called immortal principles. To the consternation of the socialist leaders I advocated the necessity of a general strike and of an armed revolution. That was the primitive youthful impulse of Italian socialism. Its armed insurrection after the World War was nothing but a piece of megalomania.... During my regency I have ascertained that Masonry has its men stationed in every sphere of the national life. It is monstrous that the highest officials of the state act as informants for the lodge (Masonry) and are dictated to by it. There can be no doubt that the most delicate institutions of the government, the judicial and the educational system and the army, have been under the influence of Masonry. Such a condition is intolerable and must cease. This law will show that Masonry has outlived itself and has no place in our country. Since Masonry is antagonistic to us and has attempted to cause a division in our ranks, we have a right to defend ourselves and to take the offensive, because an attack is the best form of defense. The law will be strictly enforced. Yesterday we may still have been drifting with the current, but now we are determined to swim against it. All the harm that this proposed measure might do us, it has already done. Moreover, Masonry across the Alps and across the sea will not hurt its own interests" [i.e., for the sake of the Italian Masons].
Although the attending members of the parliament --excluding the more than two hundred permanent absentees of the opposition--were accustomed to eat out of Mussolini's hand, nevertheless the majority of them balked at the severity and glaring injustice of the proposed high-handed bill. They voted against it.
But the Duce was not the man to countenance the defeat. He annulled the vote, "because there had not been a sufficient quorum." He resolutely set to work to bring pressure on the refractory parliamentarians, threatening them with all imaginable punishments. Having whipped them thoroughly into line, a second ballot was taken. This time these worthy representatives of a free nation voted unanimously in favor of it.
To become a law, the measure now needed confirmation by the Senate. It was a foregone conclusion that its passage by that body would be a repetition of the mock performance in the House.
The Grand Orient did not remain idle. On Sept. 6, 1925, a general meeting was called in the Palazzo Giustiani. Over 400 delegates were present, an unusually large attendance. Persecutions always have the effect of stimulating loyalty and attachment to a cause. Domizio Torrigiani was re-elected Grand Master for another term of six years and granted extraordinary powers in view of the precariousness of the situation. Giuseppe Meoni was confirmed as his Deputy Grand Master. In his inaugural speech Torrigiani declared that Italian Freemasonry would not, for any acts of terrorism, cease to protest against an illegal dictatorship that was bound to corrupt the Italian nation. With his characteristic promptness, Mussolini accepted the challenge. Two days after the meeting, on Sept. 8, he suspended two high government officials, Cavaliere Di Francia and Cavaliere Caccioli, from service. He charged them, together with a number of Masons who were employes in the Senate and Parliament building, with corruption. He did not go to the formality of substantiating these charges by proofs, that in his mind being superfluous.
TWO SUBSEQUENT SENSATIONS
Already the next day the Duce met with an unpleasant experience. He discovered that the disciplined Caccioli was no Mason at all. As early as ten years previously he had severed his connections with the Craft. More than that, he had been a staunch Fascist all along who had taken part in Mussolini's "march on Rome." In addition, he had secretly denounced his colleague, Di Francia, on account of his pro-Masonic stand and connived at his dismissal from service. And now he had fallen into the ditch he had dug for others. The non-Fascist press took gleefully notice of the tragi-comic incident and general hilarity reverberate throughout Italy.
Another sensation followed. The whip of the Fascist party was its general secretary, Signore Farinacci. He was the Duce's faithful lieutenant, or rather willing executioner, who shrank from no methods, no matter how brutal. And he was an insatiable Mason eater Two days after the disciplining of Di Francia had been announced, an opposition journal regaled its readers; with the statement that the arch foe of Masonry, Farinacci, was an opportunist who had himself been a Mason at one time and had only renounced the lodge when Fascism offered fairer prospects to his ambition.
Farinacci not only denied the imputation but asserted that far from ever having been affiliated with Masonry, he had always been a consistent, active opponent of the secret Craft. He was proud, he declared, to be the man who had repeatedly engineered the burning and demolition of Masonic lodges. He uttered vehement threats against his "calumniators." But the "base liars" did not permit themselves to be intimidated. To the great surprise of the whole peninsula the Voce Repubblicana published all the necessary documents to prove that in 1915 Farinacci had been initiated in the Masonic lodge in Cremona. It was also shown that later on, while a railroad employee, he did not stand well with his superiors on account of his rebellious tendencies. When he saw that the old regime was losing ground, with Fascism in the ascendancy, he not only turned his back on Masonry but became its most bitter foe.
FARINACCI'S REVENGE
This humiliating exposure poured oil on the flames of Farinacci's hatred. "Those twenty-four hours during which I have been a Mason I will expiate by energetic action against Freemasonry," he swore. As in reality he had belonged, not only twenty-four hours, but several years to the Masonic Order, he carried his threat with a correspondingly more intense ferocity into execution.
A nation-wide persecution was launched against the opposition parties, which consisted mostly of Masons and socialists. In a large number of cities bloody riots broke out. Masons, and men merely suspected of being Masons, were dragged from their offices and places of business and beaten up, their stores were demolished, lodge rooms and other property destroyed.
Particularly serious were these outrages in Florence. From Sept. 25 to 29 regular hunting parties against Masons were instituted in that city. Over fifty Masons were beaten, stores owned by Masons and socialists were pillaged, city and government officials belonging to either organization were removed from office. Scared by the wild threats uttered in the Fascist paper Le Battaglie Fasciste, a number of Masons left the city.
In organizing these riots, the Fascist leaders no doubt had a secondary object in view, namely, to furnish an excuse for the government to postpone the approaching unwelcome Matteotti trial "by reason of the reigning disorders."
On the evening of Oct. 3, 1925, a signore Luporini, vice-president of the (local) Fascist organization of Florence, together with three other Fascists, called on signore Brandelli, Worshipful Master of one of the Masonic lodges of Florence, and requested him to follow them to Fascist headquarters "to give them information concerning the Freemasons." Brandelli refused to accompany them, knowing that he would be illtreated. When they attempted to drag him along by force, his friend and neighbor, Bacciolini (not a Mason), came to his rescue. In the ensuing melee Bacciolini, presumably in self-defense, drew his revolver. A number of shots were exchanged with the result that Luporini, the Fascist leader, was killed by Bacciolini. The latter fled, but was captured and clubbed to death. Brandelli, the innocent cause of the tragedy, escaped. The Fascist assailants now broke into Bacciolini's house and set it on fire. An excited crowd gathered. The fire department appeared. Its efforts to extinguish the fire that menaced the adjoining buildings were hampered by rowdy bands of Fascist militia. The conflagration was the signal for incendiarism and bloody excesses all over the city. The police arrested a number of imperiled Masons for protective purposes, to detain them in police quarters until the storm had blown over. Several of these Masonic prisoners on the way to the stations were pulled from the hands of the overpowered policemen by the infuriated mobs and literally torn to pieces. Among those also killed were the socialist deputy, Pilati, who, during the war, had been decorated for conspicuous bravery, and the lawyer Console. The riots continued the following day, a Sunday. Fascist leaders issued a manifesto declaring that the day of revenge had arrived and that the members of the opposition should be killed. Proscription lists were produced containing the names and addresses of prominent Masons and socialists. Under the leadership of Fascist centurions the work of murder and destruction on a large scale was fairly on its way when a dispatch from Mussolini ordered a cessation of all "reprisals." Reprisals! Eighteen men killed and forty mortally wounded was the toll of these "reprisals."
The Board of Directors of the Florence Fascists was dissolved and General Balbo entrusted with the command. He published an appeal to his partisans, warning them that such arbitrary, unauthorized "reprisals" were liable to injure the good name of Fascism.
In comparison with Florence, the tumults in Rome, Brindisi and other cities were mild, though plenty of blood flowed and heavy damage was done to property. We may mention also that Giuseppe Meoni, the recently appointed Deputy Grand Master of the Masons, was with his family expelled from Rome. To lessen the tension, and the danger his brethren were exposed to, Grand Master Torrigiani issued an order that all lodge work be temporarily suspended.
That was in the beginning of October, 1925. Peace and quiet reigned now for a few weeks, when on Nov. 4 the attempt on Mussolini's life by Zaniboni, a temporarily unbalanced socialist, caused a new flare-up of anti-Masonic activity. This time it was the government which openly and officially instituted the "reprisals." They were of an unbloody but nevertheless very tragic nature. The worthy General Luigi Capello, one of Italy's popular heroes of the World War, was destined to become their principal victim.
THE PLOT OF ZANIBONI
Normally, Italian Masonry and Socialism were not on friendly terms. Already before the World War the Italian Socialists had voted the Masons out of the party. But politics make strange bed fellows. When in the great national upheaval immediately following the war, Fascism rose to power and clearly aimed at the establishment of a Fascist dictatorship, the Socialists and Masons, being adverse to the plan, became allies, united by a community of interests. For that reason the Fascist riots of September and early October, 1925, were directed not only against Masons, but also against Socialists, as we have seen.
Nobody took these atrocities more to heart than the ardent Socialist, Zaniboni. His disturbed mind conceived a strange plot. He wanted to raise an army of 200,000 anti-Fascists, march on Rome, storm the Palazzo Chigi, take the Duce captive and place the opposition in power. He figured that the sum of 150,000 lire ($3,000) would suffice to finance the enterprise. He approached his political ally, Senator Frassati, director of the Turin Stampa, for the amount. Of course, he was turned down by the journalist who pitied his state of mind.
Having been refused the loan also by other parties, Zaniboni at last went to Rome to try his luck at Masonic headquarters. Grand Master Torrigiani was absent on a trip to Switzerland. His friend, General Luigi Capello, was in charge of Masonic affairs during his absence, Deputy Grand Master Meoni having been banished from Rome. Zaniboni, not a Mason himself, was acquainted with Capello, having served with him on an election committee the preceding winter. He explained to him his contemplated coup d'etat by means of raising an army of 200,000 men to capture Rome and depose Mussolini. He added his request for a loan of 100,000 lire ($2,000) to finance the undertaking. The old general, a lifelong conservative who abhorred all revolutionary methods, recognized at once that the poor fellow's brain was not functioning normally. Needless to say, he flouted the fantastic idea, refused the loan and urged him to drop all thought of the silly plan. It may be mentioned here that Capello had already five months previously, in May, 1925, retired from active politics by reason of his failing health.
Zaniboni might have accepted the good general's advice to abandon the utterly senseless project, had he not been abetted in it by a pretending enthusiastic accomplice, a man named Quaglia, who was in reality a spy and agent provocateur of the police. This truly classical villain was by profession a lawyer and journalist, connected with the Popolo. The European papers, with the exception of the Fascist press of Italy, have unanimously voted him to be the very prince of scoundrels. In comparison with him, Judas Iscariot was a noble-minded gentleman. This Quaglia had been commissioned by the chief of police, Crispo-Moncada-as the trial later revealed-to "get the goods" on the leaders of the Italian Masonry, to furnish proof that they were plotting against Mussolini to establish a military dictatorship. This worthy cheerfully went to work to manufacture "proof."
He entered into Zaniboni's scheme of overthrowing the Duce with such apparent ardor and enthusiasm that the poor dupe even at the trial, after Quaglia had admitted his character as a police spy and agent provocateur, refused to believe it: Quaglia now called on Capello to obtain a loan for Zaniboni. The general flatly refused, declaring that he utterly disapproved of the absurd scheme. He requested Quaglia to try to bring Zaniboni back to his senses. Quaglia did not give up so easily. He kept on pestering the general for money. Finally on Nov. 2, 1925, Capello gave him, on the Cavour bridge, 300 lire ($6.00) as a personal loan to Zaniboni to get rid of him. This transfer of money was witnessed by another police spy, Giuseppe Alberto Mascioli, who had been conveniently stationed. Capello then took the train to Turin to arrange there for the legal disqualification (stultification) of a feebleminded son of his. He thought that Zaniboni had at last recognized the futility of his scheme and dropped it. This sum of 300 lire--Mascioli at the trial raised it to 1,000 lire ($20.00)--was the corpus delicti produced by the prosecution at the trial. This was deemed sufficient evidence to prove that the honest conservative minded old general, who had seen fifty years of military service and had been honored by his king with the highest military decorations for his important services during the war, had financed Zaniboni's plot against Mussolini. On the strength of this astounding piece of "evidence" the old general was sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment. But we are getting ahead of our narrative.
Realizing his inability to secure any substantial financial support, Zaniboni had meanwhile discarded his glorious plan of organizing an armed revolt. He was about to give up in despair, when the resourceful Quaglia suggested to him a more feasible plan: to assassinate the Duce! What could be more simple! The seething brain of Zaniboni eagerly seized upon the idea. It was decided to execute it without delay. The fourth of November was selected as the date and the Hotel Dragoni as the place for the deed. The handy Quaglia made the necessary arrangements. Under the direction of the Chief of Police he bought a rifle, rented rooms in the hotel, carefully measured the distance the bullet would have to travel and attended to all other details. When at last the critical moment arrived, the police swooped down on the pair. Zaniboni readily admitted his murderous designs while Quaglia, the agent provocateur, exchanged knowing smiles with the police officials. He now "laid bare" how Zaniboni had acted merely as the tool of Freemasonry, which had conceived the plot to get Mussolini out of the way, and intended to proclaim a military dictatorship headed by General Capello. It was the latter who, while acting chief of the Italian Grand Orient, had supplied Zaniboni with the necessary funds for the execution of the plot, the police spy asserted.
OFFICIAL RAID ON THE MASONIC LODGES
The "discovery of the Masonic conspiracy" to assassinate Mussolini on Nov. 4, 1925, furnished the government the desired pretext for summary action against the Craft. Orders were immediately issued for the arrest of Capello. It was not difficult to locate him, as he had made no secret of his trip to Turin in the affair of his afflicted son. The aged, ailing general was cast into prison and kept incarcerated until the trial seventeen months later. It was postponed thus long with malicious intent.
Simultaneously with the arrest of the old general, a raid on the Palazzo Giustiniani, the home of the Grand Orient, and on all the Masonic lodges throughout the entire peninsula was decreed. The residences of Grand Master Torrigiani and other Masonic dignitaries were also raided. All the archives were diligently searched, every document and letter was read, every nook and corner was carefully looked into. Never in the history of Italy had so extensive and thorough an inquisition been held. It lasted for several months. And what was the harvest? Nil ! Nothing incriminating was found, no trace of any disloyal activities, nothing that would justify even the shadow of a suspicion.
"The Masons had previously removed and hidden all dangerous documents." Thus the disappointed Fascist leaders explained this total absence of any incriminating evidence.
Mussolini, the indefatigable, had meanwhile rushed the anti-Masonic bill through the senate. It was now a law. This formality might have been dispensed with in the country in which the will of the Duce was the supreme law. L'etat c'est moi, being his motto. Once more Grand Master Torrigiani issued a statement to the public. Through the press he published the following declaration:
A Roman paper has accused Freemasonry whose head I am that it has paid directly, or through Br. General Capello, 500,000 lire to Zaniboni that he engineer a plot or an attempt on the life of Mussolini.
I shall request the authorities to subject me as soon as possible to an examination that this calumny may be placed in the proper light.
Today I only want to state that Masonry regards every human life as sacred, that this high conception is sworn to by every one of our Brethren, and that Masonry abhors nothing so strongly as the shedding of human blood.
This declaration was ignored and events took their course.
THE TRIAL
With the three "conspirators," Capello, Zaniboni and the journalistic Ducci, safely behind the bars, the Fascist government showed no hurry with the trial. It still hoped against hope to find some sort of real evidence, or at least some semblance of real evidence, to incriminate Capello and Ducci. At last, more than seventeen months after the unearthing of the "plot" against Mussolini's life, preparations were made for the trial, a special court was convoked to hear the case. General Sanna was designated to preside over it. However, when acquainted with the "evidence" on the strength of which Capello had been indicted, the honest old soldier, convinced of Capello's innocence, declined the "honor" of presiding over such a court. General Freri was now appointed president of this special court.
On April 11, 1927, the trial was opened. It was interrupted during Easter. It consumed altogether seven days. The accusation against Capello, presented by the Attorney General, Noseda, was based entirely on the testimony of the treacherous spy, Quaglia. He was the star witness for the prosecution. His very appearance, every grin and motion denoting the servile sycophant, made a most unfavorable impression on the journalists and the spectators present. He maintained that Capello had instigated the plot and had agreed to provide the necessary funds.
The second police spy, Mascioli, was called to the witness stand. He was well posted on Masonic activities. He testified that Grand Master Torrigiani himself had promised Zaniboni a large amount, but had later withdrawn his offer. Capello then, on Nov. 2, 1925, gave to Quaglia 1000 lire ($20.00) from his own pocket for Zaniboni to enable him to make his "get away" after the assassination. It was in the afternoon, and on the Cavour bridge, that the money was handed over. He, Mascioli, had seen it with his own eyes.
CAPELLO EXAMINED
Capello was now cross-examined. Owing to his feeble health, he had not been placed in the defendant's cage with the other prisoners. (In Italy, it seems, the defendant is treated like a criminal, or rather, like a wild beast until his innocence is proven.) He denied indignantly the charge of complicity in the plot. He gave a brief account of his part in national politics. He had been a Fascist, but left the party when its incompatibility with Masonry had been officially proclaimed. He joined the opposition then, but always kept within the limits of the law. When in January, 1925, the opposition parties organized for the coming elections, he attended meetings of the political league Italia Libera at which, Zaniboni, the Socialist, was also present. This political campaign was conducted in the customary manner, on a strictly lawful basis. After May, 1925, he had abstained from all political activity on account of his poor health. In October, 1925, he took temporary charge of the Grand Orient during the absence of Grand Master Torrigiani. It was then that Zaniboni applied for an interview which he, Capello, as substitute Grand Master granted him. Zaniboni then asked him for 100,000 lire to concentrate 200,000 men at Rome to overthrow the Duce. The ridiculousness of the plan convinced him that Zaniboni's excited mind was not properly balanced. He tried to calm him. Afterwards Quaglia called repeatedly on him, Capello, to assist Zaniboni financially, for whom he simulated the sincerest friendship. He refused to advance any money, urging Quaglia to dissuade Zaniboni from his mad project. At last, tired of being pestered, he gave Quaglia 300 lire as a personal loan to Zaniboni. He thought that the wild plan had been abandoned. "I have," remarked the old general, "never been so crazy as to support such silly plans. At present, however, after nearly eighteen months of imprisonment, it may be possible that my mind has been somewhat impaired."
He added that as an old general who had seen fifty years of service he was sufficiently experienced to know that the army would not make common cause with revolutionaries. Nor had he ever solicited foreign help against his own country, as had been charged by the prosecution. At the convention of the Associatioa Masonique International at Geneva in 1925, he had by his earnest entreaties prevented the adoption of a resolution expressing sympathy for the persecuted Italian brethren.
Questioned by the Attorney General why he had not reported Zaniboni to the authorities, Capello replied that he was under the impression that Zaniboni had given up his foolish plan after having been refused the 100,000 lire. He knew nothing of Zaniboni's plot to assassinate the Duce. Of that Zaniboni had never breathed a word to him. (It was only after the interview with Capello that Zaniboni, inspired by Quaglia, made up his mind to assassinate the Duce.)
ZANIBONI IS QUESTIONED
He admitted his intention of assassinating Mussolini. He was still convinced that Quaglia had the same intention. He denied emphatically that General Capello had any knowledge of this plan.
This statement was contradicted by the spy Quaglia, who insisted that Capello knew of the plot and fomented and financed it. "Capello knew," he maintained, "that out of the general chaos a military dictatorship would emerge and that he as an old general and as one of the leaders of Masonry would seize the government."
These and other allegations made by Quaglia were indignantly denied both by Capello and by Zaniboni. The latter jumped furiously up from his seat in the cage and, his hands extended to the court, explained: "By the head of my daughter, the only thing that has remained sacred to me in life, I swear that on the morning of the fourth of November in the room in the Hotel Dragoni Quaglia requested it as an honor to be permitted to fire simultaneously with me at Mussolini!"
When Quaglia denied this, Zaniboni jumped up again: "If there was a God who punishes lies then you would drop dead to the floor now."
Counsel for the defense, Petroni, asked CrispoMoncada, the Director General of the Police, whether he had employed Quaglia as an agent provocateur. The Director General dared not deny it.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL SUMS UP THE CASE AGAINST CAPELLO
Though forced to admit that the investigation had not produced the slightest evidence of the complicity of Grand Master Torrigiani in the plot, the Attorney General, Noseda, nevertheless insisted that Freemasonry had its hand in it. It encouraged Capello's aspirations to become military dictator. There could be no doubt about that, he averred. It was as the representative of Masonry that Capello conspired with Zaniboni and supplied him with funds. The mere fact that Capello, the general, the holder of the highest military honors, had anything at all to do with a Socialist like Zaniboni, was a proof of his subversive plans. The following points he, Noseda, considered as definitely established:
1. Capello did not sever his connections with Zaniboni after he had been made acquainted with his plans.
2. Capello contributed financially towards the execution of Zaniboni's plans.
3. Particularly incriminating is the amount of money Zaniboni received on Nov. 3, the eve before the attempt on Mussolini's life.
4. Finally, it is extremely strange that on the same evening Capello left Rome. From all this it was clear that Capello was Zaniboni's accomplice. For that reason he, the Attorney General, demanded the same punishment for both of them-thirty years' imprisonment.
SPEECH OF SIGNORE PETRONI, COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE
When Petroni arose, a hush fell over the crowded courtroom.
I have accepted the defense of Capello, he commenced, in a sad hour. I have done so, because I was fully convinced of the innocence of the General. And I declare today: Capello never had any designs on the life of Mussolini. He has never approved nor aided Zaniboni's plans for his assassination. He has never intended to establish a dictatorship, much less to become dictator himself. Even to consider the mere possibility of such a thing in October, 1925, would have been sheer madness. For even if the attempt on Mussolini's life had succeeded, it could not have produced any change in the political constellation. Capello could not help knowing that at that time the people would have taken it as a bloody signal to rise not against Fascism, but against the conspirators. What could have been the motive for such an attempt? It has been charged that Capello had acted in blind obedience to the orders of Grand Master Torrigiani. But that charge has been so thoroughly refuted that even the prosecution has dropped it.
If Capello, as has further been claimed, was a man of selfish ambition who aspired to a political career, he would have acted entirely differently when in 1923 he had the choice between Fascism and Freemasonry. For he decided in favor of the latter. He had become a Fascist in 1922 because he was then convinced of the necessity of that movement to restore order in Italy. When then in the following year the High Fascist Council announced that there existed an incompatibility between Fascism and Masonry, he turned his back on Fascism, though he had been marked for the highest honors. Fascism was then celebrating unprecedented triumphs, Rome was occupied and Mussolini the hero and victor. Whoever harbored any personal ambitions, could find their fullest gratification in the Fascist camp. But Capello renounced his chance of becoming secretary of war, leader of the militia. He preferred to adhere to Freemasonry, the cause so sacred to him. That was, if one wants to call it so, the crime of Capello.
It has been asserted that Capello has accepted, a remuneration for joining the opposition. That is a contemptible calumny. It is true-and he has never denied it--that Capello has been active in the opposition. But even from these activities he had already withdrawn in August. As will be remembered, early in 1925 there had been talk of spring elections, and Capello took a place in the campaign committee of the opposition. But there was absolutely no thought of a conspiracy. Such a thing existed only in the imagination of the spy Quaglia, who has played so despicable and sinister a part. But what happened between August, 1925, and the 4th of November, the day for which the assassination was planned? At the time when the plan for the assassination took place in the head of Zaniboni, all political connection between him and Capello had already been broken off. That was the reason why Zaniboni tried to obtain money from Senator Frassati, director of the Turin "stampa." Like Capello, Frassati refused to advance the 150,000 lire wanted by him. No charge has been raised against the Senator for having failed to report Zaniboni to the authorities. Then no charge should be raised against Capello for having failed to do so.
In his need of funds, Zaniboni then went into the Friauli district, where he had friends. When he failed to obtain anything there, he left Italy. Later on he returned to Rome, where on Oct. 21 he had the famous interview with Capello in which, it is alleged, the assassination was determined upon. Zaniboni made him acquainted with his ridiculous scheme of storming the palazzo Chigi and taking Mussolini captive. He did not say a word about murdering the Duce. When he then tried to lay before him other plans, Capello interrupted him at once and said: "Enough of it ! I do not want to hear another word ! If you have debts or need a little money, I will help you out. I can loan you 5,000 lire. There can be no thought of the 100,000 lire you ask for."
In this connection there is one point that deserves our particular attention. Capello has spoken about this interview which, the Attorney General now declares, is the decisive one [in which the assassination was decided on]. But Quaglia never made mention of it in his minute reports to the police, nor did the police mention it in its reports to the Minister of the Interior. Quaglia's silence on this point is the proof of the innocence of Capello.
This interview of Oct. 21 is the essential link of the whole case. If here the evidence is not produced that Capello knew of the plan of the assassination, then the entire accusation collapses. And I declare herewith that the Attorney General has not been able to produce the slightest trace of evidence. He has advanced a thesis with nothing to support it.
A few days after that interview Capello sent a letter to Zaniboni who had meanwhile gone to Urbignacco. That letter contained an absolute refusal [to have anything to do with the plot]. That Zaniboni understood it so, is proven by the fact that he now went with Quaglia to Milan to try to obtain money from Senator Albertini.
Capello now considered the whole matter disposed of. There, on the evening of the first of November, a young man knocks at his door: Quaglia! He brought a letter from Zaniboni in which he again begged for money. Then came the scene on the Cavour bridge that reminds one of a bandit story. There Capello gave Quaglia an envelope containing 300 lire ($6.00) for Zaniboni to get rid of him. This transaction was witnessed by Mascioli, a second police spy. An attempt has been made to puff up this envelope to the size of a huge package. But even Mascioli speaks only of about 1,000 lire ($20.00).
There is not a particle of an evidence that would point to the guilt of Capello, all depositions prove his innocence. If he is charged with conspiracy, with having worked out the strategic plans for a military revolt where in all the world are the men who should carry out his plans? Where are the arms? Quaglia has stated that it was planned to disarm the Fascist militia and thus to secure the necessary arms. But how can anybody credit Capello with so idiotic a design?
Already in summer 1925 Capello had recognized that in view of the popular sentiment it would not be worth while to spend money for an election campaign. And then that he should have gone and conceived such a childish plot? No! Never!
On the evening of Nov. 3 Capello set out from Rome for Turin to have a mentally defective son of his placed under legal guardianship. He gave his name when he purchased the ticket. He did not go away secretly. He had ample time to cross over to Switzerland, if he had wanted to do so, as his passport was perfectly in order.
Gentlemen of this high tribunal, beware of committing an awful judicial error! You are Fascists and men of honor. The Duce has appointed you to let justice prevail. Fascism is strong. It is the state. A state is only great when it accords justice also to the adversary. I demand justice for a man who in war and in peace has always had the welfare of his country at heart. I do not ask for clemency, I ask for an acquittal.
When the counsel for the defense had finished with this appeal, the unexpected happened: the public in the galleries, though Fascist, went wild with applause, which subsided only when the presiding judge, General Freri, energetically requested silence. On him and on his fellow judges these convincing words had, of course, made no impression.
It need not be mentioned that the verdict was waited for with more than ordinary suspense. When it was announced, it fell like a thunderbolt on the court room. It declared both Zaniboni and Capello guilty of having conspired against Mussolini's life. Both were given the same sentence: thirty years in the penitentiary, the first six of which were to be served in solitarily confinement!
Strange, the defendants had expected a different attitude on the part of the court. To quote the New Zurich Gazette:
When they were all led to the defendants' cage, tied to a long chain and guarded by ten carabinieri, to hear the sentence of the court, one could notice the air of confidence on their faces. Perhaps their lawyers had held out a ray of hope to them. That was soon extinguished when the presiding judge, with a hard, chilling expression on his face, read the sentence. Only one of the defendants found it difficult to suppress the tears. The others accepted their fate in silence, in particular Capello. The chances of the old general had seemed decidedly improved after the six hours of most eloquent pleadings by his masterful legal counsel. The hopeful smile he had exhibited before the reading of the verdict died on his pale lips.
There being no right of appeal, the sentence took effect at once.
GRAND MASTER TORRIGIANI IS ARRESTED
Hardly had this most astounding verdict been published when the Fascist press opened a carefully planned campaign of vilification against Grand Master Torrigiani. On the day following the announcement of the verdict, at five o'clock in the morning--the official record falsely stated that it was in the afternoon --a squad of secret service men descended upon the house where Torrigiani had for some time been staying with friends. After a thorough search of the premises, the Grand Master was taken in an auto to the prison Regina Coeli. Two hours later he was, without any court procedure, by an administrative measure, ordered deported to the bleak Liparian Isles to remain interned (in confino) there for a term of five years. This after the Fascist Attorney General, Noseda, had admitted in court that the inquest into the attempt on Mussolini's life had not produced the slightest evidence that would warrant an indictment of Torrigiani !
The servile Fascist papers hailed this latest outrage with the utmost satisfaction. Sneers one of them, the Popolo d'ltalia:
Now the Grand Master who has ruled Rome so long goes fettered like a low criminal into exile where the scum of the Italian society awaits him. With the arrest of the Grand Master a whole world collapses. For the rest, five years is too little for him. Torrigiani, this most powerful enemy of Fascist Italy must disappear forever from the light of the day!
FORTY-FIVE MASONS INTERNED
The "scum of the Italian society" whom, in the language of the Popolo, Torrigiani was to join on the dreary Liparian Isles, are forty-four Masons who were deported there for "administrative reasons" without even a semblance of a court procedure. Their families at home are struggling with bitter poverty.
PRESS COMMENT ON THE CAPELLO TRIAL
The Fascist press of Italy was jubilant over the outcome of the trial. Of non-Fascist papers there is, thanks to Mussolini's suppressive methods, little left outside of the Catholic or clerical papers. Though inveterate foes of Masonry, they do not permit their sense of justice to be clouded by blind partisanship. The Osservatore Romano, the official mouthpiece of the Vatican, does not hesitate to declare that no proof of the guilt of Capello was furnished. In this it concurs with the Unita Catolica. These two influential journals take great pains in putting Capello's innocence in the strongest light.
GERMANY
It would seem that the representatives of non-Italian papers encountered difficulties in getting by the censor. So at least the Roman correspondent of the Rhenish Westphalian Gazette, Catholic and anti-Masonic, intimates. We quote:
Fascism has a thousand times declared that it is wholly indifferent as to the opinion of the world. Nevertheless, once in a while it feels the need of making a demonstration to show that Fascist administration of justice is still functioning and then it conducts a trial in Fascist style. That requires a certain amount of preparation, and preparation requires time. Hence the Matteotti trial was commenced in Chieti twenty-two months after the deed, the trial of the "traitors" of Bozen (Bolzano) fourteen months after, in Verona. And so today the trial of Zaniboni and Capello takes place seventeen months after the deed before a Fascist special court in the palace of justice in Rome.
The German reader now expects a report of this trial like a thousand other such reports. He wants to be informed about public opinion in Italy and about the comment of the Italian press. He wants to know what impression the case, the court and the defendants made on the correspondent. I regret to say that I cannot serve with such news. Do not ask the reason why.
Presumably this correspondent was on the Fascist black list for excessive candor in the past and had to be on his guard. Significant in this stunted report is the allusion to the fact that in Fascist Italy court trials are unusual and are only staged occasionally to show to the outside world that there is still such a thing as an administration of justice and a court procedure in Italy, if only in name. The usual procedure is administrative, that is, a person inconvenient to the Fascist "bosses" is incarcerated without the formality of a court procedure and he remains incarcerated as long as it pleases these "bosses." Such an administrative procedure saves both time and money.
The Berlin Geimania, the leading organ of the Center (Catholic) party, is advised by its Roman correspondent:
From what people told each other in the corridors of the palace of justice, the decision could no longer surprise anybody. To an outsider Capello's complicity in the plot was not sufficiently established to justify a sentence of such severity. But Capello was arraigned before the court as the representative of Freemasonry and as Freemasonry was to be condemned, he had to be given the same sentence, as Zaniboni who had admitted his guilt.
Of the same opinion is also the Berlin Vossiche Zeitung, a conservative bourgeois paper.
The Berlin Boersen-Courier which, as the name indicates, is the organ of high finance, calls the sentence imposed on Capello a "monstrosity" which, it thinks, is the more revolting as the Attorney General had admitted at the trial that he had been unable to find any evidence against Capello.
Indignant at the glaring injustice is also the Berlin Vorwaerts, the leading Socialist paper of Germany. It exclaims:
In the trial of General Capello no evidence, positively none whatever, has been brought to light except the deposition of an agent provocateur.
It pronounces the whole Fascist agitation against Italian Masonry with its gruesome, revolting details a spectacle particularly "loathsome" by reason of the cowardly hypocrisy of the methods employed.
The conservative Hamburger Fremdenblatt also shakes its head at a verdict of guilty based exclusively on the testimony of so despicable a character as the traitor Quaglia "which every ordinary court would without fail have declined as inadmissible."
In the opinion of the Socialist vienna Arbeiter Zeitung the trial has shown that Capello was not implicated in the plot laid by Zaniboni and Quaglia under the eyes of the police. The old general was "railroaded" to the penitentiary to serve a thirty years' sentence not by a juridical, but by a political process.
The trial in Rome, it argues, has made it clear beyond all doubt that nobody in Italy can today escape his ruin, once that machinery is set in motion against him that has crushed the General Capello. Capello is an ailing old man, weighed down by family cares, poor at the end of a glorious military career, without ambition. Through chance, or probably through private vengeance, he was marked as the banner bearer of anti-Fascism to drag him down with the banner. Here is more than the tragedy of an individual. This is not a case merely of man sinning against man. Here the highest ideal of the state, its noblest symbol, Justice, has been made the tool of special interests, And thereby the very crime was committed that, it was pretended, was to be punished: the crime against the security of the state.
FRANCE
Edouard Peguillian writes in the La France of Nice:
The trial has nothing in common with Justice, that sacred social institution that stands forth as the supreme safeguard of men against oppression by the mighty and against the errors of those who govern. There is no longer any justice in Italy. There exists only a wild triumphant horde who blindly strike down all who refuse to kneel before them, but who, to preserve a facade of respectability, feel occasionally the need of staging an odious comedy, a shocking travesty of justice.
As the trial has shown, the plot was promoted by the Italian police with Italian money through the treacherous spy Quaglia who goaded Zaniboni, whose secretary he was, into a desperate and insane undertaking.... Through Zaniboni he was, in the person of Capello, to reach Freemasonry. This man (Capello) was accused of complicity in order to have a pretext to condemn him, and thus to strike at Masonry which Mussolini, either through fear or through hatred, wanted to compromise at any cost in order to justify his measures against it. . . A high Masonic dignitary was to be discredited, the General Capello, who by his character, his civic virtues and his popularity stood forth as one of the pillars of Italian democracy. To achieve that, Mussolini shrank from nothing. Police, agent provocateurs, everything was resorted to.
The Vatican itself has through its papers, the Osservatore Romano and the Unita Catoliea, exposed the lying accusations Fascism has raised against Freemasonry.... Fascist Italy has disgraced itself by the condemnation of General Capello whose noble personality will enter the annals of history as a martyr.
ENGLAND
The Manchester Guardian finds that the speech of the counsel for the defense, Petroni, which even the Fascist audience in the galleries felt compelled to applaud, would have convinced any English court of the innocence of General Capello. The climax of the trial is reached by the arrest and deportation of Grand Master Torrigiani. The institution of the confino or internment, to which Mussolini frequently resorts in crushing his political adversaries, emphasizes the fact that the present situation in Italy is abnormal. The great English daily believes that Fascism would more easily gain recognition as a stable form of government, if it ceased to employ such unusual measures against its adversaries. In regard to the police spy, Quaglia, the Guardian is of the opinion that if the domicile of Quaglia was transferred across the sea, every Italian, be he Fascist or not, would welcome it as a hygienic measure.
With the exception of the Fascist papers of Italy, the whole European press is in accord that the murders and other outrages perpetrated by the Italian Fascists against the Masons and Socialists and, last but not least, the condemnation of General Capello and the deportation of Grand Master Torrigiani, are a slap in the face of decency and justice. Few of the papers that comment on the trial fail to express their nausea at the mention of the spy, Quaglia. This worthy has immortalized himself as one of the classic scoundrels in history. But what are we to think of the Director: General of the Roman police, Crispo-Moncada, who hired him and concocted with him the plot to entrap Capello? What of Noseda, the Attorney General, who admitted his testimony and on the strength of it demanded and secured the condemnation of the innocent Capello? What of Mussolini, the Duce, himself who superintended the whole performance? Are they less despicable than the scoundrel Quaglia?
THE TRANSLATOR'S COMMENT
We are all more or less agreed that in the capture and trial of Christ it was not Judas Iscariot who was the most contemptible figure, but the cowardly Pontius Pilate, the proud Roman governor who failed to protect the man whom he had publicly declared to be innocent. It would seem that in the trial of Capello there is one individual who degraded himself deeper than the villain Quaglia and that individual is General Freri the man who presided over the special court that condernne Capello. If the entire press of Europe is nauseated with the part the civilian Quaglia played in the drama, what are we to think of a high military man like General Freri who cooperated with, and solemnly crowns that nasty piece of treachery directed at a fellow-officer, a fellow-general? Can the despicability of such a person of high military rank be expressed in respectable language ?
It has frequently happened in the past that officers of the American army and navy were required at official or social functions to exchange the military salute with foreign officers. Such occasions will present themselves again. We may conceive the following situation: An American man-of-war calls at an Italian port and is given an official reception. Among the reception committee is present in uniform General Freri. The officers of the American vessel will be required to exchange the military salute with that strange specimen of a general. Will it not be a humiliation for them, an injury to their self-respect? The possibility of such a situation ever arising is perhaps remote, but it exists. It should be eliminated altogether. We owe that much to our officers. The matter ought to be brought to the attention of the American Legion and of the staff of the army and navy. Maybe at the next session of Congress some Congressman could request our government to notify the Mussolini government that if General Freri should ever participate in an official function in which American officers are required to participate, it will be interpreted as a deliberate insult to the American people. The matter in itself is trivial, but the principle involved is important. The self-respect and spirit of honor of our officers must be safeguarded at all costs.
[This suggestion is made entirely on the translator's own responsibility and we insert it at his especial request.--Ed.]
NOTE
There are, or were, ill Italy two sovereign bodies controlling lodges of the symbolic degrees, the Grand Orient of which Bro. Torrigiani was Grand Master, and the National Grand Lodge which Bro. Raoul Palermi headed. The latter is also under the ban, in spite of attempts that seem to have been made by Bro. Palermi to convince the Fascists that none of the accusations made by them against Freemasonry in general were true of the Grand Lodge. Bro. Palermi is now in exile in Sicily.
There were, some time ago, disputes between these two bodies, and the differences between them do not seem easy to judge. The Grand Orient seems in reality to be the senior body, though the Grand Lodge claims to be, apparently by considering itself the successor of previous ruling bodies. The question is complicated by the fact that there are also two Supreme Councils, the one in connection with the Grand Lodge being regarded as regular and it would seem as if differences in the Scottish Rite has led to those in the symbolic lodges. It would not be possible to give any definite judgment on such a complicated question in a footnote. Of American Grand Lodges we believe some six or eight have recognized the Grand Lodge, and have judged the Grand Orient irregular. On the other hand the two Grand Lodges who have perhaps gone into the matter of foreign relations most thoroughly, Alabama and New York, have decided very strongly in favor of the Grand Orient. This body has also been recognized as regular by the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland and Ireland and others. From the European point of view generally, the lodges and brethren in the obedience of both bodies, would be regarded as equally regular and entitled to recognition.
----o----
Belief in God: A Historical Tenet of Freemasonry
By BRO. GILBERT W. DAYNES, Associate Editor, England
TODAY, Freemasons, in almost every Grand Lodge, recognize that an abiding belief in God--the Great Architect of the Universe--is the solid foundation upon which the Masonic edifice rests. These brethren regard all those who own allegiance to the isolated Grand Lodges that have broken away from this standpoint as renegade-beyond the pale; and rigorously exclude such backsliders from their Lodge Meetings, as being unworthy of the name of Freemason.
This belief in God is no new tenet of the Craft: records demonstrate that it is a Landmark in Masonry co-eval with its birth. Let us therefore dig into the past and, by means of such documents as have survived to the present day, establish the truth of this statement. The connection between Speculative Masonry and Operative Masonry of the Middle Ages having been largely verified, it is essential that the documents of the Mediaeval Masons should be considered before attempting those relating to Freemasonry under the Grand Lodge of England, the premier Grand Lodge of the world.
The earliest Masonic document to which we can thus refer is the Regius Poem of about A. D. 1390. In this MS. King Athelstan is said to have made "hye templus of gret honowre," in order to "worschepe hys God with alle hys mygth." We are also told, when dealing with the points to be observed by Masons:
That whose wol conne thys craft and com to astate,
He most love wel God, and holy churche algate.
The second document of importance is the Cooke MS., a document of a somewhat later date, but supposed by many Masonic students to be a copy of a MS. even older than the Regius Poem. The Cooke MS. commences thus:
Thonkyd be god our glorious ffadir and founder and former of heuen and of erthe, and of alle thyngis that in hym is that he wolde fochesaue of his glorious god hed for to make so mony thyngis of diuers vertu for mankynd.
Also, at line 835, where the points to be observed by Masons are set out, all Masons are exhorted to love "god and holy chyrche & alle halowis."
Throughout these two MSS. there are clear indications that it was the duty of every Mason to worship God in accordance with the doctrine of the then established church: and it would be difficult to imagine any deviation from this rule when we remember that these were the Craftsmen to whom we are indebted for those wonderful sacred edifices--those poems in stone -which still are the glory and veneration of the whole world.
The next documents in chronological order are those Masonic title deeds known to the brethren of today as the MS. Constitutions, or Old Charges. There are now about 100 texts in existence, all of them slightly varying, but nevertheless so similar as unquestionably to point to a derivation from one common original. These MSS., except when following the opening sentence of the Cooke MS., invariably commence with an invocation, or prayer, addressed to the Trinity. One of the earliest dated copies of the Old Charges is the Grand Lodge, No. 1, MS., of 25th December, 1583. In it the Invocation runs as follows:
The Mighte of the ffather of Heaven and the wysedome of the glorious soonne through the grace & the goodnes of the holly ghoste yt been three psons & one god be wth vs at or beginning And give vs grace so to gou'ne vs here in or lyving that wee maye come to his blisse that neu' shall have ending. Amen.
That this Invocation originally was, or in the 17th century became, the opening Prayer of the Lodge is supported by the evidence of the Buchanan MS. (1660 1680), and the Atcheson-Haven MS. (1666), in both of which the Invocation commences "O Lord God, Father of Heaven." The Aberdeen MS. (1670) goes even further, and this Invocation to the Trinity is expressly termed "A Prayer befor the Meeting." In the Freemasons' Pocket Companion, published by J.Scott, in 1754, this Invocation is given as "A Prayer to be used of Christian Masons at the empointing of a Brother: Used in the Reign of Edward IV." We may thus feel assured that the Speculative Mason of the 18th century had no doubt as to the character of the opening sentence of the Old Charges, and the use to which it was put at the making of their Operative Ancestors.
After setting out the Legendary History of the Craft of Masonry in some detail the Old Charges recited certain Articles and Points, or Charges, which were binding upon all Masons; and also some further Clauses which were binding on the Masters and Fellows. In the very forefront of these charges came a Charge concerning belief in God as a requisite for all Masons. This Clause, as given in the Grand Lodge, No. 1, MS., is as follows:
The fyrst Chardge ys this That ye shall bee trewe men to god and holly Churche and you vse no Errour nor heresye by yor vndrstanding or discreacon but be yee discreet men or wyse men in eache thing.
This Clause, with but trifling alterations, appears in all the copies of the Old Charges. It would, with the other Articles and Points, invariably be read to all who were made Masons; after which an Oath to observe the Articles, etc., would be administered.
Again, throughout the Middle Ages, there were in most towns of England and Scotland Gilds of Masons, and many of their Ordinances have been preserved. From these Rules and Regulations it is clear that the Mason was no Atheist but was required to profess the religion of the Established Church. For instance, in the Regulations for the Masons Company of the City of London, passed in 1481, attendance at Church to hear Mass was compulsory on certain Feast Days. Nor, with regard to this Company, must we forget that their Motto was "God is our Guide." Although disused for some centuries the substituted one--"In the Lord is all our Trust"--does not suggest any departure from the Masons' standard of belief.
Such was the condition of affairs when the Grand Lodge of England was brought into being, in London, in 1717. For how iong after this date the Christian Faith was requisite we cannot with certainty state. In 1722 the Roberts Print of the Old Charges was published, with its Invocation to the Trinity, and its clause concerning belief in God. It was not, however, an authorized production, under the aegis of the Grand Lodge of England. Concurrently with the issue of this work Dr. James Anderson was completing the first Edition of the Book of Constitutions, and the Grand Lodge was widening its portals by dropping the definite and distinctive Christian character of the Craft.
The Book of Constitutions was published in February, 1723, and in it, amongst other things, Anderson inserted "The Charges of a Free-Mason, extracted from the ancient Records of Lodges." The first is headed "Concerning God and Religion," and reads as follows:
A Mason is oblig'd, by hiS Tenure, to obey the moral Law and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine. But though in ancient Times Masons were charg'd in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good Men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denomination or Persuasion they may be distinguish'd; whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must have remain'd at a perpetual Distance.
This Charge might certainly have been worded more clearly, and has led some people to believe that even a belief in God had ceased to be obligatory. But it should be recollected that the Charge was probably drawn up by Anderson, a Scottish Presbyterian Minister, and was approved by, amongst others, the Rev. J.T. Desaguliers, a French Protestant Divine. It is inconceivable that either of these Clergymen would have acquiesced in the removal of that Landmark-the belief in God--from the Constitutions of the Craft; but we must remember that both of them would desire to emphasize that the Craft was open to others than those whose religion was that of the Established Church of England. Anderson's accuracy in transcription has been found at fault on several occasions, and his wording of this Charge need not be construed with minute exactness. A careful perusal of contemporary evidence will aid in its true construction, and negative the assumption of atheistic principles. The correct interpretation seems to be that the phrase "Irreligious Libertine" was intended to designate the Freethinker of the present day; and that Anderson, in framing the clause, wanted to make it as wide as possible without including the man with no belief in God. It was not to admit the Atheist, but to enable brethren with different religious opinions to meet together in amity.
In the Second Edition of the Book of Constitutions Anderson alters the wording of the first Charge, and gives it in the following words:
A Mason is oblig'd by his Tenure to observe the Moral Law, as a true Noachilla; and if he rightly understands the Craft, he will never be a Stupid Atheist, nor an Irreligious Libertin, nor act against Conscience. In antient Times the Christian Masons were charged to comply with the Christian Usages of each Country where they travell'd or work'd: But Masonry being found in all Nations, even of divers Religions, they are now only charged to adhere to that Religion in which all Men agree (leaving each Brother to his own particular Opinions) that is, to be Good Men and True, Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Names, Religions or Persuasions they may be distinguish'd: For they all agree in the 3 great Articles of Noah, enough to preserve the Cement of the Lodge.
In the Third Edition of the Book of Constitutions, published in 1756, a return was made to the wording in the First Edition, irrespective of its precise meaning; but the so-called Exposures of that period show that a belief in God was requisite. The wording remained thus until after the Union of the premier Grand Lodge and the Grand Lodge of the Antients in 1813.
If we turn to the Grand Lodge of the Antients we find that the First Edition of Ahiman Rezon was published in 1756. The Old Charges are given, and the first one "Concerning God and Religion" follows the wording in Anderson's Second Edition of the Book of Constitutions. But earlier, when dealing with the principles of the Craft, Laurence Dermott has no doubt as to the meaning of this First Charge, and states:
A Mason is obliged by his Tenure to believe firmly in the true Worship of the eternal God, as well as in all those sacred Records which the Dignitaries and Fathers of the Church have compiled and published for the Use of all good Men: So that no one who rightly understands the Art, can possibly tread in the irreligious Paths of the unhappy Libertine, or be induced to follow the arrogant Professors of Atheism or Deism; neither is he to be stained with the gross Errors of blind Superstition, but may have the Liberty of embracing what Faith he shall think proper, provided at all Times he pays a due Reverence to his Creator, and by the World deals with Honour and Honesty ever making that golden Precept the Standard-Rule of his Actions, which engages, To do unto all Man as he would they should do unto him: For the Craft, instead of entering into idle and unnecessary Disputes concerning the Different Opinions and Persuasions of Men, admits into the Fraternity all that are good and true.
Also, when dealing with the duties of a Mason, Laurence Dermott states:
At his leisure Hours he is required to study the Arts and Sciences with a diligent Mind, that he may not only perform his Duty to his Great Creator, but also to his Neighbour and himself: For to walk humbly in the Sight of God, to do Justice, and love Mercy, are the certain Characteristics of a Real Free and Accepted Ancient Mason.
With the Union of 1813 came an amalgamation of the Constitutions of the two Grand Bodies thus united. An Edition of the Book of Constitutions was published in 1815, and the wording of the first Charge, "Concerning God and Religion," assumed its present form, as follows:
A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral law; and if he rightly understand the art he will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine. He, of all men, should best understand that GOD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh at the outward appearance, but GOD looketh to the heart. A Mason is, therefore, particularly bound never to act against the dictates of his conscience. Let a man's religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not excluded from the order provided he believe in the glorious architect of heaven and earth, and practise the sacred duties of morality.
Turning to the Grand Lodge of Ireland for a moment we know that John Pennell published The Constitutions of the Free-Masons in Dublin, in 1730. He copied very extensively from Anderson's earlier work, including the Charges. There is, however, a paragraph by Pennell, which is very illuminating. He says:
Let all Free Masons so behave themselves, as to be accepted of God, the Grand Architect of the Universe, and continue to be, as they have ever been, the Wonder of the World: And let the Cement of the Brotherhood be so well preserved that the whole Body may remain as a well-built Arch.
It is also in Pennell's Constitutions that we have the earliest dated Prayer, other than the Invocation to the Trinity which commenced the Old Charges. This Prayer is entitled "A Prayer to be said at the opening of a Lodge, or making of a Brother," and runs thus:
Most Holy and Glorious Lord God, thou great Architect of Heaven and Earth, who art the Giver of all good Gifts and Graces; and hast promis'd that where two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt be in the Midst of them; in thy Name we assembie and meet together, most humbly beseeching thee to bless us in all our Undertakings, to give us thy Holy Spirit, to enlighten our Minds with Wisdom and Understanding, that we may know and serve thee aright, that all our Doings may tend to thy Glory, and the Salvation of our Souls.
And we beseech thee, O LORD GOD, to bless this our present Undertaking, and grant that this, our new Brother, may dedicate his Life to thy Service, and be a true and faithful Brother among us. Endue him with Divine Wisdom, that he may, with the Secrets of Masonry, be able to unfold the Mysteries of Godliness and Christianity.
This we humbly beg in the Name and for the sake of JESUS CHRIST our LORD and SAVIOUR. AMEN.
There is a marginal note, that the second paragraph was "To be added when any man is made." This Prayer subsequently appeared in Scott's Pocket Companion for Freemasons of 1754.
Contemporary with the Prayer just quoted there are three others to be found in the Rawlinson MSS., at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Two of these are in script, and one in type print. These Prayers possess much similarity, and probably point to a common origin. The Printed Prayer commences thus:
O Most Glorious and Eternal God, who art the Chief Architect of the Created Universe! Grant unto us, thy Servants, who have already enter'd our selves into this most noble, antient, and honourable Fraternity, that we may be solid and thoughtful, and always have a Remembrance of those sacred and holy things we have taken on us, and endeavour to inform and instruct each other in Secrecy; and that this Person, who is now about to be made a Mason, may be a worthy Member; and may all of us live as Men, considering the great End for which thy goodness has created us; Etc.
Other Prayers of a somewhat later date are also preserved: they all refer to the Grand Architect of the Universe, and leave no doubt that throughout the whole period a belief in God was a prerequisite to entrance into Freemasonry.
Somewhat analogous to the Prayers -as being Ritualistic in character -the following Charge may be cited. It was printed by William Smith in his Freemasons' Pocket Companion, published both in Dublin and London, in 1735, and is headed "A Short Charge to be given to new admitted Brethren." In it the following occurs:
The World's great Architect is our Supreme Master, and the unerring Rule, he has given us, is that by which we work. Religious Disputes are never suffered in the Lodge; for as Masons, we only pursue the universal Religion or the Religion of Nature. This is the Cement which unites Men of the most different Principles in one sacred Band, and brings together those which were the most distant from one another. There are three general Heads of Duty which Masons ought always to inculcate, viz., to God, our Neighbours, and ourselves. To God, in never mentioning his Name but with that Reverential Awe which becomes a Creature to bear to his Creator, and to look upon him always as the Summum Bonum which we came into the World to enjoy; and according to that view to regulate all our Pursuits.
Let us now direct our attention to a further class of evidence, and see what individual brethren have to say concerning this fundamental belief in God. Francis Drake, in a speech to the Grand Lodge of all England, held at York on the 27th December, 1726, in concluding, states:
Let us so behave ourselves here and elsewhere, that the distinguishing Characteristicks of the whole Brotherhood may be to be called good Christians, Loyal Subjects, True Britons, as well as Free Masons.
Another early Freemason, Edward Oakley, in a Speech to the Lodge at The Carpenters Arms, Silver street, Golden Square, London, on the 31st December, 1728, said:
I therefore, according to my Duty, forwarn you to admit or even to recommend to be initiated Masons, such as are Wine-Bibbers or Drunkards, witty Punsters on sacred Religion or Politicks, Tale-Bearers, Bablers, or Lyars, litigious, quarrelsome, irreligious, or prophane Persons, lew'd Songsters, Persons illitterate and of mean Capacities; and especially beware of such who desire Admittance with a selfish View of gain to themselves; all which Principles and Practices tend to the Destruction of Morality, a Burden to Civil Government, notoriously scandalous, and entirely repugnant to the Sacred Order and Constitutions of Free and Accepted Masons.
Later on in his Speech, when dealing with false brethren, Bro. Oakley remarks that these,
not having the Fear of God before their Eyes, value no sacred Obligations, turn Rebels, and endeavour to defame the Craft.
These brethren have set out in unmistakable language their ideas as to the Character of the Craft and its vital tenets.
There still remains another class of evidence of varying value. I allude to certain early MSS., and the many so-called exposures, which have been written and published during the first half of the 18th century and even later. Some of these undoubtedly indicate Masonic customs with more or less truth. In the examination known as the Sloane MS. the following occurs:
Q. From whom do you derive your principall? A. From a greatr than you. Q. Who is that on earth that is greatr than a Freemason? A. He yt was caryed to the highest pinnicall of the Temple of Jerusalem.
In the same examination, a little further on, we have:
Q. How stood your Lodge? A. East and west as all holy Temples stand.
And yet again there is this Question and Answer:
Q. What were you sworne by ? A. By god and the square.
Next in chronological order comes A Mason's Examination, which first appeared in print in. 1723. In the course of this examination the following sentence occurs:
Then one of the Wardens will say--God's greeting be at this Meeting.
Shortly after this last named Exposure appeared The Grand Mystery of the Free Masons Discovered was published. In it we have the following:
Q. How many make a Lodge? A. God and the Square, with Five or Seven right and perfect Masons, on the highest Mountains, or the lowest Valleys in the World.
A little later comes the following:
Q. How many Lights? A. Three; a Right East, South, and West. Q. What do they represent? A. The Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
At the close comes "The Free Masons' Oath," which runs thus:
You must serve God according to the best of your Knowledge and Institution, and be a true Liege Man to the King, and he'p and assist any Brother as far as your Ability will allow; By the contents of the Sacred Writ you will perform this Oath. So help you God.
There is also reference to God's greeting, and the position of holy temples, to which reference has already been made.
In 1730, two further so-called exposures made their appearance. The later one -Masonry Dissected, by Samuel Prichard -contains much that is germane to our inquiry. In the Entered Prentice's Part, when dealing with the Furniture of the Lodge, the following questions are asked and answered:
Q. What is the other Furniture of a Lodge? A. A Bible, Compass and Square. Q. Who do they properly belong to? A. A Bible to God, Compass to the Master, and Square to the Fellow Craft.
Then, in the Fellow-Craft's Degree, referring to the letter G, the under-mentioned questions and answers are given:
Q. What did that G denote7 A. One that's greater than you. Q. Who's greater than I, that am a Free and Accepted Mason, the Master of a Lodge? A. The Grand Architect and Contriver of the Universe, or he that was taken up to the Top of the Pinnacle of the Holy Temple.
Also, in the same Degree, reference is made to "God's good Greeting be to this our happy Meeting." Lastly, in the Master's Degree, there is the following:
Q. How came you to be passed Master? A. By the help of God, the Square, and my own Industry.
In many of the subsequent so-called Exposures we have still further proof of the necessity of a belief in God in every Mason. Thus we find, that the Lodge is opened "in the name of God"; the brethren pray "O Lord God, thou great and Universal Mason of the world, and first builder of man, as it were a temple"; the Initiate is required to put his trust "in God"; and the Bible is explained as one of the three great lights in Masonry "to rule and govern our faith." These references are by no means exhaustive, but they will suffice clearly to demonstrate that a Belief in God was recognized as a Masonic essential.
In conclusion, I think it may safely be affirmed that, although there was undoubtedly some ambiguity in the wording of the Charge "concerning God and Religion" in the First Edition of Anderson's Constitutions, yet the mass of contemporary evidence available indicates an adherence at all times, by the Craft in the British Isles and elsewhere, to a Belief in God as one of its inflexible, unquestionable and unalterable tenets. The redrafting of this Charge in the Constitutions of 1815 removed such ambiguity as may then have existed, and a faithful belief in God was once more clearly shown to be a fundamental, or Landmark, in English Craft Masonry. May it ever so continue.
----o----
Beyond the Limit
By BRO. JOSE D'ARIMATHEA, Mexico
THE theme of this article has been studied by Masonic writers from divers points of view; none of them, however, have arrived at definite conclusions that might guide our brothers to correctly discriminate the enormous, mass of contradictory opinions, ideas and interpretations that are prevalent in Masonic writings. The fear of hurting the religious feelings of most of our Anglo-Saxon brothers; the ideological chaos that exists in Masonry that has rendered it almost impossible to know what is what in Masonry; the lack of adequate scientific training of some writers who, it seems, believe that Masonry is a subject that can be treated calamo currente, and finally too much living in the dead past, have prevented the clarification of various questions that daily arise in the minds of Masons who earnestly endeavor to penetrate into the secrets of Freemasonry.
The misunderstanding and confusion have reached such proportions like these: a great majority of Anglo-Saxon Masons firmly believe that Freemasonry is a religion; others maintain that Freemasonry is a splendid preparation for religion, and others, the indifferents, think that religion blends perfectly well with the principles of Freemasonry, while our Latin brothers believe that Freemasonry is purposely and specifically directed against religion. Dangerous extremes that go beyond the limit of the jurisdiction of Freemasonry.
A free mind, not constrained by fear, prejudices or any other consideration, is necessary to study Masonry because it is founded on scientific principles and it is not, as it is generally believed, merely a literary subject. I believe that I possess such a mind, and I feel that I can think and write freely under my own inspiration, using clarity and precision of expression to the best of my ability, without sugar-coated words that are entirely out of place in the process of ratiocination.
THE TOLERANCE OF FREEMASONRY
Freemasonry has no point of contact with religion, politics and racial prejudices; had not the Old Charges, Landmarks and Masonic Constitutions said anything about these limitations of Masonic activities, they would nevertheless be natural limitations, considering the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry of being an all-inclusive institution within which all men can get together without friction, no matter what their beliefs, opinions and ideas may be, and no matter to what race they may belong. If this assumption of inclusiveness and universality is generally accepted by all Masons as something fundamental of Freemasonry, as I believe it is, then it is a logical consequence to keep Freemasonry from any contact with those matters that divide men into groups of enemies. Religion, politics and racial prejudices are the three most efficient agents for promoting discord, bitterness and unhappiness in mankind. Just try to contradict your best and closest friend on any of those subjects and instantly he will take the shape and appearance of an enraged gorilla.
Notwithstanding any interpretation that might be given to the Old Charges, Landmarks and Masonic Constitutions in reference to religion, politics and racial prejudices, these emotional negative aspects of human life have no place within the great constructive conception of Freemasonry. They are emotional negative attitudes in relation to Universal Brotherhood; they constitute our inheritance from our primitive ancestors and they are a serious obstacle to the progress of mankind.
It does not make any difference what is your conception of the brotherhood of man; it may be a Utopian conception or just a dream; it may be so only in our historic moment, or it may be a reality now or in the future; the point of view of the observer does not matter in the least. The important thing is the inner knowledge that Universal Brotherhood, be it considered just as a Masonic dream or as a Masonic idea without contact with reality, is an ally of progress because, being as it is, a cardinal emotion that attracts and builds up, it is a process of elevation and of harmony and through this process humanity evolved from the cave man. As religion, politics and racial prejudices, three capital enemies of the unity of mankind, are opposed to the cardinal emotion of brotherhood of man, hence the necessity of placing religion, politics and the race beyond the limit of Freemasonry.
PREJUDICE AND PERSECUTION
The intolerant maxim, "He who is not with me is against me," is exactly applicable to religion as well as to politics and racial matters; it is a satanic anti-social maxim that engenders hatred and, therefore, it is contrary to brotherhood of man. It is not possible to uproot by a stroke of force religion, politics and racial prejudices from the soul and the mentality of mankind; should Freemasonry engage in this task it would mean war on humanity at large and the end of brotherhood of man. You cannot change the mental attitude of man, nor wipe out of his subconscious mind by violence, the stored impressions and superstitions of past experiences; on the contrary, you vigorize them in proportion to the intensity of the violence. For these reasons Freemasonry must be absolutely neutral on these matters; it does not either attack or defend the crumbling institutions of religion, politics and the race; it only attacks in self-defense by virtue of the law of self-preservation, when its fundamental principles are violated by any man, group of men or institution of any kind, and even in this case, it does not go beyond the limit, it does not invade prohibited ground; it stands within its own boundaries. The emotions capable of producing tremendous conflicts and horrible massacres like those produced by religion, politics and racial prejudices, have not, cannot, nor ought to have any point of contact with the soul of Freemasonry, which essentially is a force of attraction and union. When we succeed in uprooting from the subconscious mind the roots of religion, which are ignorance and fear, and the soul be free by the light of knowledge, transforming into a science what is still today an emotion of primitive man; when politics is no longer the instrument of oppression to satisfy personal ambitions and is transformed into the science of government; when the racial prejudices be blotted out from the conscience by means of brotherhood of man; when these three capital enemies be controlled and transformed by science into allies of progress, then, and only then, Freemasonry will extend its jurisdiction beyond the actual limit.
Science has never divided men into antagonistic groups for mutual destruction; science is the only means to conquer liberty; science is the liberation from ignorance, from prejudice, from the past, from fear. Science, united with the virtue of fraternal sentiment, Scientia et virtus, is the instrument of Freemasonry for the accomplishment of universal brotherhood of man; Utopia, dream or reality, Freemasonry lives only for this ideal; it is its life and its object and it shall continue to live powerful and fruitful only for the brotherhood of man. "Man standing by man, never man against man" is the motto of Freemasonry that elevates it to a higher plane than those of religion, politics and the race. Religion, politics and racial questions have plunged humanity into a fratricidal war since fear, engendered by ignorance, grasped the soul of man. You cannot dissipate ignorance by violence, therefore you cannot liberate man from fear by violence; the only means is knowledge, and knowledge cannot be acquired without the assistance of science, and science cannot help humanity without virtue. This is the great constructive task of Freemasonry.
THE FRATERNITY IDEAL.
It should be recognized by all means that it is an organic necessity of Freemasonry to safeguard this ideal of brotherhood of man in its purity and integrity, therefore, it is imperative to completely and absolutely separate the Masonic field from those of religion, politics and racial prejudices.
I say emphatically organic necessity, because I intend to convey the idea that brotherhood is the medulla of Freemasonry, therefore, Freemasonry can never perform any functions contrary to its very existence, and if it does, it commits suicide, its medulla becomes dead matter.
It does not matter what was the efficient cause of Masonry; it does not make any difference what is the Masonic tradition from 1717 up to these very days; it does not matter what is the historic interpretation of Masonic evolution; it has no bearing in the case whether or not Masonry was religious in certain stages of its evolution; at all events, it seems quite evident that it is not possible to use now the criterion of 1717 to appraise the values of ideas and things of 1927, nor is it possible to trace through the Masonic tradition what is the essential element, the true spirit of Freemasonry. We have created, developed and sublimated the sentiment of brotherhood and we have arrived at the corresponding mental conception by evolution; the sentiment and the conception of brotherhood today are not the sentiment and the conception of 1717; we find ourselves at an enormous distance from the starting point in that which relate
