The Freemasons’ Society has always asserted that it is a non-sectarian and non-political organisation (although individuals may engage in politics). An example of this fact was that Daniel O’Connell was a member of the Order, joining Dublin lodge No. 198 in 1799. He described the Order as based on "philanthropy unconfined by sect, nation, colour or religion". However, he later resigned from the Order and in 1837, renounced it in the newspaper The Pilot, on the basis of "wanton and multiplied taking of oaths’. J.H. Lepper, and P. Crossle, History of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ireland, 1 (Dublin, 1925), p. 427; see also The Fold, no. 1, July 1956, pp 31-33.
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