CONTENTS. counties. There are few men living who have done better or more the Craft than Bro. KELLY, and the brethren of LEADERS 647 CORRESPONDENCE (Continued)— loyal service to Old Warrants.—Nos. XXX. & XXXI 648 Masonic Jurisprudence 657 Leicestershire and Rutland are conferring honour upon themselves by Notes on the Ceremony of Installation ... 649 An Old Masonic Song 65S Provincial Grand Lodge of Cnmberland Notes and Queries r>58 congratulating their able and genial Past Prov. Grand Master on Westmorland 630 R RPURTS OF M ASONIC -VU «TIN «>—, and ELLY 'S Supreme Grand Chapter 651 Craft Masonry 65S so eventful an anniversary. Bro. K services to his Province firand Lodge of Scotland 65t Instruction 660 have been of incalculable value, whether we regard him as a former ruler, Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Cheshire 652 Roval Arch 661 Consecration of the Chorlton Mark Lodge, Instruction 661 as the promoter of its Charitable Association , in connection with the estab- No. 394 652 Mark Masonry 661 Consecration of Lod«e St. John , No. 2280, Ancient and Accepted Rite 661 lishment of the Masonic Hall in Leicester, or as the historian of its Free- Sangor, Bombay 6j2 Australia 661 masonry. He has distinguished himself in all the various capacities he Inauguration of a District Grand Chapter Centenary Festival of the Chapter of for Malta 653 Friendship, at Portsmouth 662 has been called upon to fill , and it would be difficult to mention any position United Grand Lodge of New South Wales 653 The Annual Banquet of the Constitutional of eminence in Craft, Arch, or Mark Masonry to which he has not been CORRESPONDENCE— L' dge of Instruction , No. Jj 665 Expulsion of a Scottish Brother 657 The Old Masonians 665 appointed. We cordially re-echo the good wishes which were expressed on Qualification of Candidates to the Masonic and General Tidings 663 " Masonic Schoo's 657 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 664 his behalf by his Leicestershire and Rutland brethren at the recent meeting of their Provincial Grand Lodge, and we trust it may be many, many THE public, from "J OHN O'GROATS to Land's End," years ere—to use a familiar yet expressive phrase—the place which this E P and veteran brother has so long and so abl a Scotti"sh have been full y inlormed as to the serious " Masonic Scandal " distinguished y filled in Free- Brother. at EcTmljiirgh, and the utmost publici ty has been given to a masonry shall " know him no more." * * matter, that according to our minds, and the usages and customs of the W E take an early opportunity of recognising the promptitude English Craft, would have been most rigidly kept as private as possible, The Canadian .. .., ,_ ,. r. r , , 1 , Invasion with which the Canadian Craftsman has endorsed our remarks and would not even have come before the Grand Lodge. In times gone on the recent wanton aggression by the Grand Chapter of by, when brethren have so far forgotten their obligations to due secrecy as Canada on the rights and privileges of the Grand Lodge and Chapter of to violate the laws of Freemasonry, an indefinite suspensio n , after due England in the Australasian colony of Victoria. As we pointed out in our trial before the " Board of General Purposes," has answered fully article condemning the establishment of two Canadian Royal Arch Chap- to mark the sense of the Craft of such flagrant and un-lvlasonic ters in the City of Melbourne, " it is difficult to imagine a more wanton, conduct. Of course, the defendant in such a case might have uncalled for, and graceless attack than this on the supremacy of our Grand appealed to the Grand Lodge, but no one in their senses would be so foolish , as the result would be expulsion, and all the particulars would become known Lodge and Chapter j and the Canadian Craftsman is ot opinion that the —to the greater punishment of the offender. The Board , if any report at language is none too strong, considering the enormity of the offence com- all , had to be made, would take care not to make it in the unfortunate mitted. It describes the said offence as " an invasion , pure and simple," and manner that the late escapade has been treated in Edinburgh. The misfor- adds that " a milder word would be entirely out of place." It further re- " Grand Committee " tune is that the of the Grand Lodge of Scotland is marks : " In the Colony of Victoria there are at least eleven English chap- required to regularly report all their transactions for the information and ters under the government of a District chapter, a fact that our leading approval or disapproval of Grand Lodge," so that the transactions of this body on the 25th October, respecting the serious irregularity^of one brother Royal Arch Masons should be conversant with. In addition to the English in particular, and also certain members of his lodge, were printed and cir- chapters, there are also Irish and Scotch chapters, so that our Canadian culated in the published report, No. 3, of the Proceedings for 1888, prior to companions not only planted their chapters in a colony already occupied , the meeting of the Grand Lodge, when the vote for expulsion was finally but where some of the chapters were organised under as distinctive a head agreed to. We cannot but think that the system adopted in this country as is allowed provincial chapters in England." It is, no doubt, an aggrava- is far preferable, and avoids undue publicity as to purely esoteric matters tion of the offence committed by Canada that English Royal Arch Masonry connected with the Craft, which, unless there is absolute need, should never in Victoria is already furnished with just such an organisation as is accorded on any account, in any way, appear in the columns of the public press. We to our own Provinces at home, and the Executive Officers of the Grand suggest that, unless an appeal be taken, the proceedings of the kind noted Chapter of Canada should have known this ; but, as our worthy contem- should never be mentioned beyond the circle of those composing the Grand porary very properly points out, the invasion must be condemned even less Committee of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and that the laws be altered on this account than for the injury it is certain to inflict on Freemasonry as accordingly. a body. It goes on to say : *' For a vast Brotherhood , scattered over the * * globe, there should be harmony, if that Brotherhood means anything or 0R * ihe Prov. Grand ^ many years past Freemasonry in the counties of Leicester- aims to accomplish a good purpose." But, " Can harmony exist, or Leicestersifire sn're anc» Rutland has been in a most flourishing condition. brotherly feeling be engendered, if studious efforts are continuously being and Rutland. i t ;s ri0t > perhaps, very strong in the number of its lodges, but made to bring about friction ? " This is strictly in accordance with the view those which have been established work well together, the brethren are we enunciated in our former article, when we pointed out that, " if this new departure is continued, there must be an end to all harmony among the actuated by a thoroughly loyal spirit, and there are skilled and veteran various Grand Lodges in the British Empire. It will be impossible for Craftsmen to guide the fortunes of the Society in this favoured Province. them to live on amicable terms with one another if every Grand Lodge to As a consequence, it invariably happens that when the annual meeting of which the Grand Lodges ol England, Ireland , and Scotland have conceded , ihe Provincial Grand Lodge comes round , as it did the other day at Oak- or may hereafter concede, independence is to be free to attack or ignore the ham, the reports which the different Executive Officers are called upon to rights and privileges of the latter." The lodges in our Colonies which 'ay before the brethren are, almost as a matter of course, satisfactory. The belong indifferently to the English , Irish , or Scotch systems have no funds seem to be always well administered, and there is generally a good difficulty in working side by side in the most complete harmony, such as account to render of the work done in aid of one or other of our principal has always prevailed among the parent Grand Lodges of the United King- Charitable Institutions, a special effort having been made during the year dom. It is difficult for the American Grand Lodges, with now concluded in order that the Province might enter a more successful their elaborate codes of laws about matters which never con- appearance than usual at the Centenary Festival of the Girls' School, when cern us here, to understand the secret of this harmony, but it exists it fi gured for contributions amounting in the aggregate to upwards of nevertheless, and is likely to exist, in all Colonies and Dependencies A> ooo. Unfortunately, the Prov. G. Master—Bro. the Earl FERRERS—was of the British Crown which are, Masonically, connected, as now, with the detained from the meeting, and so missed hearing the very glowing accounts Mother Country. But we have an illustration in the Anglo-Quebec difficulty which were given of the progress made by the Province during the year, of the discords which are certain to ensue if the other Grand Lodges in the and which it would have afforded him so much pleasure to hear. But his British Empire which have sprung from the Grand Lodges of England , place was ably filled by his Deputy, Bro.
Details
-
File Typepdf
-
Upload Time-
-
Content LanguagesEnglish
-
Upload UserAnonymous/Not logged-in
-
File Pages20 Page
-
File Size-