38	FRENCH  PERSONALITIES   AND   PROBLEMS
Masons. Freethinkers and moderately zealous Catholics could meet
in the Lodges as they met in the Academic Fran?aise. But that
mutual tolerance ceased. Long before the French Grand Orient had
expunged all references to "the Grand Architect of the Universe"
and given English Masonry an occasion, or an excuse, for breaking
off fraternal relations, French Masonry and Italian Masonry were
vigorous and unscrupulous enemies of "spiritualism," They might
have in their ranks orthodox Protestants and orthdox Jews, but
that did not matter. For these Latin versions of Mr, Thwackum
by religion meant the Catholic religion, and by the Catholic religion
the religion of the Church of Rome. To destroy its power and
discredit its doctrines was the main business of the Masons.
There is something particularly unjust in Vichy's condemnation
of Masonry, for the Craft was decidedly attentiste in its policy.
The most romantic conspiratorial hero of the century, Garibaldi,
was a Mason, but few Masons were Garibaldis. In France it was
not even dogmatically Republican. It made terms with the Second
Empire (the Empire of Prince Napoleon and Sainte-Beuve, not the
Empire of the Empress and Monseigneur Dupanloup). But the
Third Republic (and the Parliamentary Monarchy in Italy) were
deeply marked by Masonry. Of course, the role of the Masons was
exaggerated by their enemies. The gens lien in France have always
been puzzled and angered by the fact that the mass of the French
people do not trust them as leaders. Faced with the problem of
their unpopularity, the French Right look for causes or excuses.
Masonry was one of them, and Masonry was, they insisted,
an English invention. It was in vain that the British Craft washed
its hands of the Grand Orient or pointed with pride to the more
respectable Scottish Rite. Masonry embodied the Revolution and
was the characteristically British contribution to the ruin of France
that began in 1789. This superstition was—and is—a fact of
importance in Anglo-French relations.
In France the widespread national view that all politics was a
racket was fostered by the activities of the Masons. It was notor-
iously profitable to be a member of the Craft if you were an official.
After the Dreyfus case it was for a while profitable to be a Mason
if you were an officer. No doubt the influence of the Masons was
exaggerated. When accident revealed the workings of the system
to the public eye, they were not much liked. The system of