[From the Gazette de France, May 5, 1865.]
The lodges of Free Masonry are at work; with the symbolical mallet and trowel they make manifestations in honor of Lincoln, for Abraham Lincoln was a member of the Grand Lodge of New York. Whether they are produced in the form of harangues uttered in the workshop, or as addresses sent to RR * * FF * *, of America, these manifestations are all preceded by a special formality peculiar to these mournful occasions, a “batterie de deuil” followed by a “batterie allegresse” The lodges thereby declare that F** Lincoln has fallen, like Hiram, from the blows of the enemies to duty, and hey proclaim him forever honorable, because he has forever consolidated, by his life and death, the foundation laid by Washington, “of that universal confederation of peoples of which Freemasonry has for a long time been the model in the order of philosophy.”
They also celebrate F** Lincoln; and this is better, because he has known how to direct the affairs of the Union in the most difficult circumstances, without exceptional laws, without having recourse to dictatorial power, and being able to preserve the preponderance of the civil power.