Belloc, Hilaire. TLS of Hilaire Belloc responding to a Freemason about the Catholic Church. Pall Mall: 1936. [10992]
Typewritten letter signed in ink "H. Belloc" with letterhead of the Reform Club, Pall Mall, dated March 23, 1936. With a copy of the letter of inquiry sent to him by H. S. Williamson. Once folded, small staple perforations top left, two corrections in Belloc's hand. 10 x 8 inches. Good. Manuscript.
One H. S. Williamson, Esq., of Tynemouth, sent a letter to Mr. Belloc questioning his statement in the March 20, 1936 issue of The Catholic Herald in which Mr. Belloc stated that among the principal forces hostile to Catholicism was the Masonic Organisation. Williamson objects that while aware that some Catholics are hostile to Freemasonry, the Freemasons themselves have never made such statements regarding Catholicism or any other religion. The fact that the King and his Royal Brothers are Freemasons, and that he is sure that Mr. Belloc has made a mistake. He demands to know on what grounds "you base the charge which you bring against an organisation which professes brotherly love and not enmity."
Mr. Belloc thanks him and agrees that "there is no hostility expressed or implied in the institution and constitution of the Masonic body against the Catholic church." Yet is is a "matter of fact wherever the Catholic church is powerful the Masonic Lodges act as an organisation opposed to it...[it is] and undoubted political fact..." Belloc then muses that the conflict began in the eighteenth century and that tradition has continued the conflict.
