GERMANY. The earliest history of Freemasonry in Germany is sup posed to be closely interwoven with the history of the building associations of the Middle Ages: "as we may easily recognize a strong similarity in the usages, cus toms and peculiar terms of the Fraternity of Freemasons of the present day, and the Stein-,Ifetzen ' ;stone-cutters) of Germany. 1. The classification of their members into Masters, Fellow-Crafts, and Appren tices; 2. The government of the society by a certain number of offi cers; 3. The exclusion of the unin itiated from their meetings; 4. The peculiar qualifications for member ship; 5. The equality of all the members of the Craft ; 6. Their mutual obligations to relieve suffer ing; 7. Their peculiar laws, juris diction and general regulations ; 8. The ceremonies of initiation; 9. The manner of opening and closing their assemblies; 10. The privileges of a Mason's son; 11. The examina tion of foreign brethren, etc. Taking all these circumstances into consid eration, and combining with them, the results of historical invest• gation, it must be conceded that the modern society is the direct descendant and successor, in an unbroken line, of the operative Fraternity of Masons of the in ddle ages. "* In 1733, Preston says, eleven German Masons applied for author ity to open a Lodge at Hamburg, under the patronage of the Gran Lodge of England, for which pur pose the Grand Master, Lord Strath more, granted a dispensation to establish a permanent Lodge, con cerning which but little is now known. December 6, 1737, a Lodge was established in Hamburg, by authority of the Grand Lodge of England, which, in 1741, assumed the title of "Absalom." August 11, 1738, a deputation of this Lodge was convened at Brunswick for the purpose of initiating the Crown Prince, afterward Frederick IL By this valuable accession of nobility Masonry was greatly bene fited throughout Germany. Soon after his initiation, he organized a Lodge in the castle of Rheinsberg, and, in 1740; when Frederick as cended the throne, he conducted the work of a Lodge established at the castle in Charlottenbnrg. In 1738-30 several Lodges were estab lished in Dresden, and in 1741 the Lodge "Minerva of the Three Palm Trees" was organized at Leipsic. In 1742 the Lodge of Unity was established at Frankfort- on - the Main. In 1741 a Provincial Grand Lodge for Hamburg and Lower Saxony was established. The sec ond Lodge in Hamburg was founded in 1743, under the name of St. George. In 1744 a Lodge under the title " Frederick " was founded at Hanover, which did not, how ever, enter into active operation until 1746. This Lodge is still iu ex istence. The war of 1750 compelled most of the Lodges to close their work until 1758. About the year • 1757 the first Lodge of the system of Strict Observance was established in Naumburg, under the title of the "Lodge of the Three Banners."
This system, which claimed to be the true and legitimate succes Nor of tl e Order of the Knights Templar, had for a short time an unprecedented popularity. In 1755 a warrant, with ample powers to establish a Provincial Lodge in Hamburg, was received from the Grand Lodge of England. In 1766 another Provincial Grand Lodge was established at Frankfort-on the-Main, by the Grand Lodge of England. In 1776 the society of Illuminati, a secret political organization, was introduced and spread throughout the country, to the injury of Freemasonry. About the year 1780 the Swedish rite was introduced and practiced by several lodges in Germany. In 1789 an important event took place for the better and more peaceful condition of the Order. Many of the lodges, being dissatisfied with the immense number of rites and high degrees engrafted upon the plain and un presuming system of Freemasonry, resolved to modify the different elements then in use, and as near as 1:a ssible to return to the original or primative condition. For this purpose a convention of the lodges of Germany was held in Frankfort, in 1783, at which convention a union was formed under the title of the "Eclectic Union," which had for its material or chief points: 1. The three Masonic degrees alone are acknowledged by all the united lodges; 2. Each Lodge is left free to introduce as many of the higher degrees as it may deem proper, but they must not be compulsory upon the whole association; 3. None of the associated lodges are dependent on the other; they are all equal; 4. The Provincial Lodges of Wetz lar and Frankfort-on-the-Main form a General Directory. In conse quence of this independent action of the Provincial Grand Lodge at Frankfort in severing its connection with the Grand Lodge of England, plans were immediately adopted to renew and perpetuate the English authority upon the soil of Germany. In 1789 a new warrant with powers for the establishment of a Provincial Grand Lodge, giving full jurisdic tion over the whole of the Upper and Lower Rhine, and the circle of Franconia, was granted by the • Grand Lodge of England. During the wars in which the elder Napoleon was the master spirit Masonry oc cupied a quiet and unobtrusive position throughout the country. Our limited space will not permit us to follow the various incidents of the Fraternity. We must, there fore, refer the Masonic student in his researches to the more elaborate works upon the subject of Masonic history, and which have been pre pared with great care by many of the most competent writers of the present age. Freemasonry is in high repute in Germany, embracing within her ample folds the elite of the country.