THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY BY ALBERT GALLATIN MACKEY, M.D., 33D. WITH THE HISTORY OF ITS INTRODUCTION AND PROGRESS THE HISTORY OF THE SYMBOLS OF FREEMASONRY AND THE HISTORY OF THE A... A.. SCOTTISH RITE BY WILLIAM R. SINGLETON, 33D. VOLUME TWO PUBLISHED BY THE MASONIC HISTORY COMPANY NEW YORK HE theory that connects the royal house of the Stuarts with Freemasonry, as an Institution to be cultivated, not on account of its own intrinsic merit, but that it might serve as a political engine to be wielded for the restoration of an exiled family to a throne which the follies and even the crimes of its members had forfeited, is so repugnant to all that has been supposed to be congruous with the true spirit and character of Freemasonry, that one would hardly believe that such a theory was ever seriously entertained, were it not for many too conclusive proofs of the fact. The history of the family of Stuart, from the accession of James I. to the throne of England to the death of the last of his descendants, the young Pretender, is a narrative of follies and sometimes of crimes. The reign of James was distinguished only by arts which could gain for him no higher title with posterity than that of a royal pedant. His son and successor Charles I. was beheaded by an indignant people whose constitutional rights and liberties he had sought to betray. His son Charles II., after a long exile was finally restored to the throne, only to pass a life of indolence and licentiousness. On his death he was succeeded by his brother James II., a prince distinguished only for his bigotry. Zealously attached to the Roman Catholic religion, he sought to restore its power and influence among his subjects, who were for the most part Protestants. To save the Established Church and the religion of the nation, his estranged subjects called to the throne the Protestant Prince of Orange, and James, abdicating the crown, fled to France, where he was hospitably received with his followers by Louis XIV., who could, however, say nothing better of him than that he had given three crowns for a mass. From 1688, the date of his abdication and flight, until the year 1745 the exiled family |