Letter: Masons and police

Dr Jeffry Kaplow
Wednesday 25 August 1999 19:02 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sir: Chief Constable Bettison of the Merseyside police, by his refusal to demonise Masons, has finally said what my fellow historians should have pointed out long ago - that ever since the founding of Freemasonry there have been voices accusing its members of all sorts of dire plots and machinations.

In the 18th century, the role they played in spreading Enlightenment values led to their being condemned for having brought on the French Revolution. This ridiculous charge was trotted out again in the 1930s, notably in France, and in particular by the publicist Bernard Fay, later a prominent figure among intellectuals who supported the Vichy regime during the Second World War.

Masons were bugaboos long before anyone ever heard of Communists. Are we to believe, now that the "Communist threat" has been eliminated, that we are going to return to the good old days of the Masonic one?

Dr Jeffry Kaplow London SE3

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in