January. William Carpenter's article in The Rosicrucian, mentioned that "Levi's books were very ltitle known even among the members of our mystic and secret orders." Carpenter may be the source for the first printed reference in the English language to the alleged occult significance of the Tarot cards.
19 January. Mackenzie initiated into the Craft Degrees at Oak Lodge No. 190, his proposer being H. W. Hemsworth, the compiler of the first printed catalogue of the Library of the United Grand Lodge, and his seconder being John Hogg, the publisher who issued the Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia.
14 May. Earl de Grey and Ripon was now nominated to the office of Grand Master, and was installed as such on this date. The Masonic career of this Grand Master, who was madea Marquis for diplomatic services in the United States, was not closed in a manner equally distinguished, as upon his embracing the Roman Catholic faith he resigned his office of Grand Master 2 September 1874.
July. Napoleon III had declared war on Germany in July 1870.
14 July. Robert Wentworth Little proposed that the Right Honourable Lord Lytton be elected an Honorary Member of this Society and be requested to accept the office of "Grand Patron of the Order." A candidate for election to the Society had to be a Master Mason. There is no evidence that Lytton was then or ever had been a member of the Craft.
18 July. Rome. It is quite possible that the doctrine of papal infallibility, formally stated for the first time on July 18, 1870, was part of the Roman Catholic Church's reaction to Modernist tendencies, as well as to Darwinian thought and the increasing continental power of Lutheran Prussia.
12 September. Napoleon III surrendered at Sedan with 104,000 men. By 19 September six German Corps surrounded Paris, which was effectively cut off from the outside world. A few days earlier a government of national defence was formed in the capital. The war, which continued, was conducted by a Delegation of the government which had made its way to Tours a few days before Paris was invested by the German armies. Between 19 September 1870 and until shortly after 28 January 1871 Paris had no normal postal communication with the French provinces or abroad. Isaac Adolphe Cremieux was a well-known lawyer and liberal politician. At Tours, together with Leon Gambetta, a Freemason since 1869, he was a leading member of the Delegation, which had assumed the functions of a government in exile.
18 November. MANCHESTER. A.A.S.R. Supreme Council holds a Sovereign Tribunal and orders John Yarker expelled from the Scottish Rite.
8 December. Following the retreat of the Army of the Loire, Cremieux decided to transfer the Delegation to Bordeaux. Furthermore, there is documentary evidence that he was there on 28 December 1870 the day when the inaugural meeting of the Rite of Misraim was held in London. This fact is important in relation to later events.
19 December. Cox to Irwin: "I will do everything in my power to help work the College (Rosic.) With any member you like to appoint Celebrant except Brother Munbee. I have fully made up my mind never to accept another office under him (Masonically). I should have resigned some which I at present hold, had not members pressed me not to do so. I do not fall out with the General because I can control my temper, yet sometimes the remarks he makes is (sic) as bitter as wormwood." The General succeeded Irwin as WM of St. Kew Lodge in 1870, and Cox found it difficult. Brother Munbee was a member of the Bristol College and about to become its Celebrant, an office corresponding to the WM of a Craft Lodge.
28 December. The Rite of Misraim's inaugural meeting was held at the Freemasons' Tavern with Brothers Little, Limerick and Rosenthal in the three principal chairs. The main items on the agenda were to form the "Bective Sanctuary of Levites" named after the Earl of Bective, who had accepted the office as Sovereign Grand Master, and to confer the 33° upon between 80 and 100 brethren who were present. After being admitted seven at a time, the new 33° members elected six of their number to be 66°. It can be inferred that the three Conservators General had previously nominated themselves 90°. In the report in The Freemason the name of Major E. H. Finney 90° also appears, but without comment. The fact that he was not identified in any particular manner was significant. Almost without exception those present were members of the Red Cross Order, meaning the Imperial, Ecclesiastical, and Military Order of the Knights of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine, which Little had "revived" in 1865. It was announced that the Antient and Primitive Rite of Misraim would be attached to the Red Cross Order for administrative purposes. At this inaugural meeting the alms collected amounted to 2 pounds.
Little's description of the event: "...a meeting of brethren desirous of establishing the Rite upon a legal basis was held, and this meeting was attended by a pupil of Marc Bedarride, the "Premiere Grand Conservator" of the Order, and who had received its degrees thirty seven years previously from the Great Chief himself. This distinguished brother assented to the Rite being reorganised under his auspices, and without his presence and leadership not a step in the matter was made by the present Conservators General. It is quite true that for reasons easily understood by those who are acquainted with the inquisitorial system pursued by the SGC 33°, the illustrious brother alluded to thought it expedient to keep his name out of sight until the Rite was firmly consolidated, and it is equally true that he sought cooperation and aid from Ill. Bro. Cremieux, 33°, of France, who was then in London. It is further beyond question that Brother Cremieux would have attended the inaugural meeting of the Bective Sanctuary, had be not been unavoidably prevented by urgent business." However, on 28 December 1870, Cremieux's urgent business was being conducted at Bordeaux. Little continued: "Brother C., however, as a proof of his willingness to assist, sent to the meeting his diploma as a member of the French Grand College of Rites, and this diploma was placed upon the table during the proceedings, and was examined by several out of the hundred Masons present. It was also understood that Brother C.'s diploma invested him with the power to found rites or orders recognized by the Grand Orient of France (the Rite of Misraim being one), in all countries where no such rites existed, and this statement was accepted as confirming and endorsing the previous action of the prime mover, Marc Bedarride's pupil and friend. Thevenot's letter to Montagu was brusquely brushed aside: "...in reality it is a matter of indifference, inasmuch as the organization of the Rite in England rests upon another and surer foundation -- its title being derived...from the great Bedarride himself, and not from any foreign jurisdiction however 'ancient and accepted.'" Bedarride's friend and pupil was probably Major E. H. Finney 90°, according to Howe.
31 December. Cox: "I see that Brother Little has at last got hold of authority to work the Rite of Misraim...What next? Good heavens 99 degrees to work and then be entitled to write (sign?) Sir Knt. "Bellowsblower." This will beat Brother Parfitt's 'Rosi Crucis' by a long way.
-- The Freemason reported that a "Supreme Council General of the 90°, had been regularly formed here 'under the authority conveyed in a diploma granted to the Illustrious Brother Cremieux, 33° of the Rite Ecossais, and a member of the Grand College of Rites in France.'"
On the voluntary resignation of the Earl of Zetland as Grand Master in 1870, a handsome testimonial was arranged and subscriptions obtained; the Earl accepted a silver inkstand, and directed that the remainder of the contribution, which amounted to 2,730 Pounds, should form a fund for the relief of distinguished Brethren who might be in distress and to be named the Zetland Fund.
London. The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, established, or, rather, taken over, by Max Theon, when he visited London in 1870.
Boston. The Triplicate Order / Brotherhood of Eulis founded by Paschal Beverly Randolph.
Cairo. H P Blavatsky said to have met Paulos Metamon in Cairo in 1870.
Mexico. The National Rite numbered thirty-two, and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite twenty-four Lodges.
London. J. C. Hotten publishes Hargrave Jennings' THE ROSICRUCIANS Their Rites and Mysteries (with chapters on the Ancient Fire- and Serpent-Worshippers, and explanations of the Mystic Symbols represented in the Monuments and Talismans of the Primeval Philosophers, First Edition. "As a thinker Hargrave Jennings' ideas were second or third hand; as a writer he was tenth rate. Nevertheless, his conceptions of sexual symbolism exerted some influence on the occultists of his own and succeeding generations." A pirated version of the book appeared in the United States, and a German translation of it was also made, which, according to Francis King, did a great deal to clear the ground for the German sexual Templarism of the early twentieth century.
Bakunin explains that his secret society has been broken up because its secrets have been given away.
Standard Oil Company is incorporated.
Amygdalin (Laetrile) is listed in the US Pharmacopaea of 1870. (The FDA Grandfather Clause prevents the FDA from claiming jurisdiction. Upheld by US Court of Appeals, 4th District, #71-1243, May 23, 1972.)
Third major smallpox epidemic in England begins and lasts until 1872. Over 44,800 dies.
Three letters published in The Freemason at this time may have been written by J. H. Lawrence Archer. At that time he was not in touch with Mackenzie, but he was already or soon to be acquainted with Yarker. There is no evidence that Irwin ever met him, but he was a member of the the Captain's barely-hatched Order by the end of 1874. When Mackenzie arrived on the scene in 1875 the Order existed in name rather than in fact. It was he who was towrestle with the insoluble problem of placing this Hindu cuckoo in English fringe-Masonic nest. No one was better equipped for this particular exercise in human folly (according to Howe).
Early. SRIA's Manchester College established.
January. In the periodical, "The Rosicrucian" --
"We have great pleasure in announcing that this philosophic Masonic Rite (A&P Rite of Mizraim) has been recently established in England under authority derived from the Grand Council of Rites for France, and that the conservators general held a Meeting at Freemasons' Tavern on Wed. 28 December 1870. The principal chairs were filled by Ill... Bro... Wentworth Little, 90°; the Right Honorable Earl of Limerick, 90°; and S. Rosenthal 90°; by whom the Bective Sanctuary of Levites, the 33rd of the Rite, was duly opened."
14 January. The Sat B'hai's advent was obscurely heralded in a letter signed"Historicus" which was published in The Freemason on this date. The prose style is not unlike Mackenzie's. If so, he was unaware that his misinformation referred to the 'rite' which was to occupy so much of his time a few years later. A brother informs us that a 34° of this rite is in existence called the 'Apex', thus corresponding with the 90° of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Misraim. There are only three holders of the "Apex" in the whole world, who exist by the succession of triplicate warrants from Frederick the Great of Prussia, signed immediately after the Grand Constitutions(!!!!!). The symbols are the cord and the dagger, the ceremonials are very august, and detail the legendary history and object of the degree, which is to draw the funds and energies of all the councils of the world to one great centre. Grave purposes are said to be in view, but whether such is the expulsion of the Turks from Constantinople, or the establishment of a single empire either on the Continent or in America, is not known.... This is interesting in light of the history of the 1990s.
6 February. Cox: I expect full instructions for working the Crystal (which I have by me) this day from Mr. Cross (R. T. Cross, 1850 - 1923). You seem undecided as to believing in occult science."
27 February. Cox to Irwin: "Now I want you Brother Irwin while in London to get permission to give me the Order of Misraim (i.e. by Communication). Bro. (Dr. W. R.) Woodman has offered to give it to me at any time when I am in London which I expect I will be there on a fortnight's official duty very shortly, but I would much rather that you gave it to me because every Order which I have taken has been given by you (except Sovereign R. Cross) if possible please get permission to give me the 66 degree I will pay for the dispensation for same if one is required. I suppose it would not be possible for you to get Brother Little to give me, through you a minor official grand council collar at this meeting. I do not care so much for the honour but I want to let Bro Munbee see that I have friends elsewhere, and I am quite certain that you can get me a Gd Ark Mariners' collar from Brother Edwards...I should very much like to receive the Order of the Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, however I am quite certain my interests will not be lost sight of by you."
9 March. Pest. The founding of the lodge "Humanitas" in 9 March 1871.
11 March. When Postal communication with France was resumed, Brother John Montague, Grand Secretary General of the Supreme Council 33°, whose offices were at Golden Square, wrote to Brother Thevenot, Grand Secretary of the Grand Orient at Paris, to ask if Cremieux had the GO's authority to issue a diploma for the establishment of the Rite of Misraim in London.
24 March. Thevenot replied on the 24th of March and emphatically stated that no one, including Cremieux, had been given any such permission.. It will be noted that Montagu wrote to Thevenot at the Grand Orient rather than to his own opposite number at the French Supreme Council 33° or even to Cremieux... The latter had been the Supreme Council's Sovereign Grand Commander since 1869. Here we encounter part of an extremely complex chapter in the history of French Freemasonry...it concerns the current relationships between the Grand Orient and the Supreme Council... Montagu forthwith sent copies of the correspondence to the editor of The Freemason's Magazine and Masonic Mirror. It would appear that its rival publication The Freemason was not on Montagu's mailing list, possibly because R W Little had a close connection with this periodical.
1 April. The Freemason's Magazine and Masonic Mirror publishes the correspondence between Montague and Thevenot, without delay. The editor, or perhaps someone else who wanted to stoke the fire, expressed a doubt whether "any authority had been given for the establishment of the Rite of Mizraim in London, which was then (in The Freemason of 31 December 1870) asserted to have been the case." The writer continued: "The fact of Paris then being in a state of siege prevented any enquiries being made on the subject." Then a bomb with a relatively short fuse was planted: "...how long....will the Board of General Purposes...permit this systematic trading on Masonry on the part of those in the employ of Grand Lodge, whose connection with it gives a colour to their misrepresentations, and which connection is most likely to lead many to believe that these proceedings, if not authorised by Grand Lodge, are at least sanctioned by it."
8 April. The Freemason published an unsigned article headed "The Rite of Misraim" by a Conservator-General 90°. This was undoubtedly written by Little. He began by accusing the Supreme Council of the A & A Rite of having had plans to annex the Rite of Misraim, presumably before the inaugural meeting on 28 December 1870. Indeed he described the Supreme Council's allegedly nefarious designs with a surprising lack of moderation.
7 June. The publication of the Montagu-Thevenot letters and Little's 'defence' did not remain unnoticed. Three months later, at the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge, Brother Sir Patrick Colquhon rose to his feet and asked a question. "Whether Grand Lodge countenance the Rite of Misraim of 90 degree, the Rite of Memphis and the Order of Rome and Constantine? And if not, whether it be consistent with the position of a subaltern in the Grand Secretary's office that he take a lead in these unrecognized degrees?" This enquiry set the cat among the Masonic pigeons, because the subaltern was none other than Robert Wentworth Little, who, although only 31 years of age, was already a well known personality in the Craft.
6 September. The lengthy deliberations at successive Quarterly Communications and the Board of General Purposes Investigation of Little's alleged activities need not be described here. However, the Quarterly Communication's minutes show that some Grand Officers and Brother Matthew Cooke in particular, had an incorrect or confused knowledge of the status of certain Orders or additional degrees. It was Cooke who raised the temperature at the next Quarterly Communication on 6 September. "Within the last six or seven years a great innovation has crept in, that ought to be looked to or stopped before it grew to too great a height," he declared. "In the Book of Constitutions it is held forth that it is not in the power of any man, or body of men, to make innovations in the body of Masonry." He then metaphorically pointed an accusing finger at the clerks in the Grand Secretary's office who, he said, "on their own account formulate, tabulate, and send abroad other degrees, and they make the office the place from which they emanate." Brother Havers, PGW, protested that Cooke's remarks were libellous. The Grand Master, clearly embarrassed, asked Cooke to "moderate his language and confine himself to his motion." In due course Cooke moved: That whilst this Grand Lodge recognizes the private right of every Brother to belong to any extraneous Masonic organization he may choose, it firmly forbids, now and at any future time, all Brethren while engaged as salaried officials under this Grand Lodge to mix themselves up in any way with such bodies as the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the Rites of Misraim and Memphis; the spurious orders of Rome and Constantine; the schismatic body styling itself the Grand Mark Lodge of England, or any other exterior Masonic organisation whatever, even that of the Orders of Knights Templar, which is alone recognized by the Articles of Union under the pain of immediate dismissal from employment by Grand Lodge.
September. Brother Matthew Cooke raised a complaint in Grand Lodge against Masonic officials for discovering, using and removing old manuscripts from the record rooms of Freemason's Hall. The original manuscripts which Little possessed never came into the possession of the Senior Magus who succeeded him, Dr. W. R. Woodman, and so were never received by Westcott, so says Westcott, even though he would get ahold of them in 1886, upon Mackenzie's death. Westcott claims that Little returned them to the record rooms at Freemason's Hall, but it is possible that Little passed them on to John Morant Hervey or his nephew, Kenneth Mackenzie, and it is R. A. Gilbert who says that the Golden Dawn Cypher Manuscripts were written in Mackenzie's hand. Furthermore, it is also stated by Westcott that these manuscripts formed the basis for the reconstitution of the Order of the Red Cross of Rome and of Constantine, an Order with which both Irwin and Little were involved. This was a Christian body, and their records had been hidden away since the time of the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Sussex in 1813, who, favoring the Unitarian doctrine, did all in his power to remove Christian grades from notice, according to Westcott.
"Our records include a letter from the Rev. T. F. Ravenshaw, Grand Chaplain of England, one of the earliest Fratres of the Society, confirming much of the historic information which the author [Westcott] received from Dr. Woodman, Woodford, Mackenzie, and Irwin. This letter recites as follows: -- (I) that the first S. M. Frater R. W. Little explained to him that the German Fraternity had an established regulation which permitted distinguished members to confer Rosicrucian grades in due order on suitable persons. (II) That a certain Venetian Ambassador to England in the last century had conferred Rosicrucian grades and knowledge on Students in England; these in their turn had handed on the rule and tradition to others, of whom one of the last survivors was Frater William Henry White, Grand Secretary of English Freemasonry from 1810 to 1857; he retired and lived until 1866. (III) From the papers he possessed Frater White admitted Frater Robert Wentworth Little. (IV) These papers came into Little's possession at Freemason's Hall on Frater White's retirement from office. (V) The rituals are mentioned as being imperfect for ceremonial open use." -- Westcott's History of the Societas Rosicruciana In Anglia, 1900.
30 September. Thevenot replies to John Morant Hervey, Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England, concerning the proceedings of Bro. J. Seymour(sic):
"I have had the pleasure to reply to your letter of the 22nd of this month, and regret not having been able to do so sooner. Neither in 1866, nor at any other period, has the Grand Orient of France recognized 'the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry," concerning which you inquire, and which has been recently introduced in Lancashire.
"At a particular time, and with the intention of causing the plurality of Rites to disappear, the Grand Orient of France annexed and absorbed the Rite of Memphis, under the express condition that the Lodges of that Rite, which were received under its jurisdiction, should confer only the three symbolic degrees of Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master, according to its special rituals, and refused to recognize any other degree, or any other title, belonging to such Rite.
"At the period when this treaty was negotiated with the Supreme Chief of this Rite, Bro. Marconis de Nègre, Bro. J. Seymour(sic) was at Paris, and seen by us, but no power was conferred on him by the Grand Orient of France concerning this Rite, and what is more, the Grand Orient of France does not give, and has never given, to any single person, the right to make Masons or to create Lodges.
"Afterwards, and in consequence of the bad faith of Bro. Marconis de Nègre, who pretended he had ceded his Rite to the Grand Orient of France, for France alone, Bro. Harry J. Seymour assumed the title of Grand Master of the Rite of Memphis in America, and founded in New York a Sovereign Sanctuary of this Rite. A correspondence ensued between this new power and the Grand Orient of France, and even the name of this Sovereign Sanctuary appeared in our Calendar for 1867. But when the Grand Orient broke off all connection with this power, and personally with Bro. Harry J. Seymour; and in fact, since that period, neither the name of Bro. Harry J. Seymour, as Grand Master, nor the Masonic power which he founded, have any longer appeared in the Masonic Calendar of the Grand Orient.
"Your letter leads me to believe that Bro. Harry J. Seymour is endeavoring, I do not know with what object, to introduce a new Rite into England, in that country of the primitive and only true Masonry, one of the most respectable that I know of. I consider this event as a misfortune.
"The Grand Orient of France has made the strongest efforts to destroy the Rite of Memphis: it has succeeded. The Lodges of the Rite, which it at first received within its jurisdiction, have all abandoned the Rite of Memphis, to work according to the French Rite. I sincerely desire that it may be the same in the United Kingdom, and you will ever find me ready to second your efforts."
This is interesting, in that the Grand Orient is informed of the new Rite of Memphis in the U.K., established by members of the SRIA. John Morant Hervey, was Mackenzie's uncle. Mackenzie was working for Yarker on the A & P Rite. The orthodox Masons were terrified of this Rite, undoubtedly because "true Masonry" was a ruling elite, and for the highest chiefs of orthodox Masonry to submit to persons whom they considered to exist several steps in the ladder below themselves, because they possessed the highest degrees, even though true, was out of the question. The remedy: Refuse to Recognize. At some time prior to this correspondence, a meeting was held in Paris by the Council of the Order. At that meeting, a communication was received from a Lodge in Moldavia, called "The Disciples of Truth," which Lodge is under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of France, having been chartered by that body. This communication stated that certain brethren of that Lodge had been invested by one Carence with the degree of Rose Croix in the Rite of Memphis, and that the diplomas had been dated at the "Grand Orient of Egypt," and signed by Brother Marconis as Grand Hierophant. The Council declared that the conferring of these degrees was null and void; that neither Marconis nor Carence had any commission, authority, or power to confer degrees of the Rite of Memphis or to organize bodies; and that Marconis had, by oath, solemnly divested himself of all rights to claim the title of Grand Hierophant of the Rite, taken May 1862, September 1863, March 1864, September 1865, and March 1866. An attempt having been made, in 1872, to establish the Rite in England, Brother Montague, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council, wrote to Brother Thevenot, the Grand Secretary of the Grand Orient of France, for information as to its validity.
14 October. This issue of The Freemason stated that "The Rite of Memphis is the only so-called Masonic Rite which has incurred the denunciation of the Grand Lodge of England." This was because the "Equality Lodge King of Prussia" at Stratford had never been warranted by Grand Lodge and was therefore in every respect irregular. It is unlikely that the rite still survived in England under its French rulership as late as 1871.
22 November. Cooke's motion was referred to the Board of General Purposes, whose report to Grand Lodge, dated 22 November 1871, was discussed at the Quarterly Communication on 6 December. The Board had thought it desirable to circulate once again the previous Grand Secretary's letter of 4 October 1859, also the facsimile of the Memphis certificate, which warned the Craft not to have any intercourse with irregular Lodges. The Board had established that Little had assisted on one occasion for twenty minutes or less at a meeting held on the premises of the Craft for purposes connected with a Society not recognized by the Grand Lodge, also that, on several occasions payments had been made to and received by the Clerk in question at the Grand Secretary's office for purposes not connected with the Craft...By and large he was white washed.
The Memphis Masons were meeting at the Eclectic Hall, Soho in 1871.
Franco-Prussian war begins.
In Birmingham, England from 1871 to 1874, there were 7,706 cases of smallpox. Out of these, 6,795 had been vaccinated.
In Bavaria, Germany, vaccination is compulsory and re-vaccination is commonplace. Out of 30,472 cases of smallpox, 29,429 had been vaccinated.
Worldwide epidemic of smallpox begins. Claims 8 million people worldwide.
Albert Pike writes "Morals and Dogma". Pike also writes a letter on Aug 15, 1871 (until recently on display in the British museum) to Mazzini detailing the Luciferian plan for world conquest, outlining plans for three world wars, and detailing the destruction of both Christianity and athiesm. [EDITORIAL NOTE: We didn't write this. This is the typical conspiracy theorist/paranoid's account. Pike wrote M&D actually during the past two decades or so, compiling his own notes with those of Levi, Thomas Paine, and others. It would be useful for these whiners to accept the fact that they are incorrect in most of the bilge they offer as facts. The Pike Letter referred to has been demonstrated to be a complete forgery, like the Donation of Constantine and the Shroud of Turin. The Lions are ready and waiting, boys!]
Bulwer-Lytton writes Vril: The Power of the Coming Race, containing racial theory that would later figure in Nazi Germany. Protege of Lytton was Aleister Crowley, of Englands equivalent to the "Thule Group", tutor to Aldous Huxley, future prophet of mind control, who would later introduce hallucinogens into American culture. [It is difficult to see how Crowley could have been a protégé of Bulwer-Lytton, since the latter died in 1873 c.e., and the former wasn't born until two years after that. But, then, Lytton was the honorary sponsor of the SRIA, too, even though he never knew he was! This entry, also from Tru-fax, so-called, is complete nonsense, but we include everything we can find in order to demonstrate which witch is which!]
Select committee of the Privy Council convened to inquire into the Vaccination Act of 1867 (England), as 97.5% of the people who died from smallpox were vaccinated for it.
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