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SPECIAL COMMUNICATION. JUNE, 1849.
A Special Communication of the M. W. Grand Lodge of Maine was holden at Masons' Hall, in Portland, on the 25th of June, 1849, and opened in due form, at 7-1/2 o'clock p. m.
Present.
R. W. JOHN C. HUMPHREYS, Grand Master,p. t.;
R. W. FREEMAN BRADFORD, S. G. Warden ;
R. W. NELSON RACKLYFT, J. G. Warden, p. t.;
R. W. JOHN B. COYLE, Grand Treasurer,p. t.;
R. W. CHARLES B. SMITH, Grand Secretary;
W. & Rev. CYRUS CUMMINGS, Grand Chaplain ;
W. & Rev. CYRIL PEARL, Grand Chaplain ;
W. CORNELIUS HOLLAND, S. G. Deacon, p. t.;
W. DANIEL WINSLOW, J. G. Deacon, p. t.;
W. JOHN COLLINS, Grand Steward, p. t.;
W. ARTHUR McARTHUR, Grand Steward, p. t.;
W. JOHN DAIN, Grand Tyler.
With many other members and visiting brethren.
Prayers were offered by Rev. Bro. Pearl, G. Chaplain.
The Committee on Foreign Correspondence for the past year then submitted their annual report, which was read and accepted, and ordered to be published with the proceedings of the Grand Lodge, as follows, viz :
To the M. W. Grand Lodge of Maine : The Committee on Foreign Correspondence would respectfully report: That the course of Freemasonry is onward with the progress of human events and flight of time. Each year is now a year of increasing prosperity
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in all that pertains to the interests of this department of useful labor. The correspondence of the past year is fruitful in useful information, and gives promise of still higher results to be wrought out by the skill and fidelity of the increasing numbers now seeking admission to our order, and vowing allegiance to the principles of Masonry at our cherished altars. During the year we have received communications from the following corresponding bodies, viz: Provincial Grand Lodge from the District of Montreal and William Henry of Canada; the Grand Lodges of New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, and from Louisiana we have communications from two bodies claiming to be Grand Lodges of that state.
The committee regret the absence of any reports from the Grand Lodges of Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and the District of Columbia. This Grand Lodge would be happy to exchange annual salutations with all the Grand Lodges of this Union, and learn the progress of the order from their own reports.
While progress, prosperity and harmony generally prevail, in the jurisdiction of all Grand Lodges reported, it is unpleasant to be obliged to report again that the conflicting claims of the Grand Lodges of Louisiana and Mississippi still mar the symmetry of our National Masonic Edifice. The last year your committee chose to take no part in the controversy and forebore to express any opinions of its merits.
The present position of the question seems to demand a full statement for the consideration of this body, and especially as both the bodies now claiming to be Grand Lodges of Louisiana now submit the questions at issue to corresponding bodies for their adjudication.
The history of the difficulties in Louisiana is somewhat complicated, but may be thus stated: In 1812, " the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana " was formed and was acknowledged, and continued to be regarded as the legitimate Grand Lodge of the state by all corresponding bodies till within a short period. Eighty subordinate lodges have been under its jurisdiction, and twenty-eight of these in a state of activity were represented in the Grand Lodge for 1849. Within a few years, complaint has been made by some of the subordinates that the Grand Lodge had departed from the ancient landmarks by accumulating under its jurisdiction the Modern, or Scotch and French rites, along with the rites of Ancient York Masonry. The Grand Lodge of Mississippi, in view of this complaint, or of what they deemed unmasonic in Louisiana, assumed the responsibility of deciding that there was no Grand Lodge in that state and proceeded to exercise jurisdiction by establishing some seven lodges as Ancient York Masons. These lodges were chartered in February, 1848, having previously received dispensations from the Grand Master of Mississippi Grand Lodge. On the eighth day of March, 1848, these lodges assembled in the city of New Orleans and pro-
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ceeded to organize a Grand Lodge, and we have their constitution and their proceedings at the said meeting, embracing the appeal of the committee of six lodges thus associated in forming the Louisiana Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons. This appeal the committee submit as part of the history of this controversy, as follows :
circular
To the Grand Lodges of Free and Accepted Masons of the United States.
The undersigned committees, appointed by George Washington Lodge, Lafayette Lodge, Warren Lodge, Marion Lodge, Crescent City Lodge and Hiram Lodge, of Ancient York Masons, working in the cities of New Orleans and Lafayette in the State of Louisiana, under dispensations from the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State of Mississippi, to prepare a statement of the causes which impelled the members of these lodges to repudiate the authority of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana and to seek relief from their grievances, as Ancient York Masons, at the hands of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi, respectfully report:
That the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, originally a regular body of Ancient York Masons, has forfeited all claim to the allegiance of regular Ancient York Masons, by flagrant departures from the ancient landmarks of our order in many essential particulars; insomuch as to impose upon us the imperative duty of discontinuing all Masonic communication with that body.
Amongst the departures from our ancient usages, and the innovations in the body of Masonry introduced by that body, we enumerate the following :
1. She openly exercises the power of granting charters, authorizing lodges to work according to the Scotch Bite, and the Modern or French Rite —as they are called in her Constitution—and admits the officers of such lodges to sit and vote in her own body as members thereof. Thus compelling Ancient York Masons to hold Masonic communication with persons whom we have ever been taught to consider as clandestine Masons ; with whose usages and ceremonies we are unacquainted ; and whom we cannot recognize as Masons at all by those means which are the only lawful tests of Masonic privileges.
2. She has, in her own words, " accumulated under her authority and jurisdiction, the three rites" say "York, Scotch and Modern," by virtue of power granted her on the 14th day of January, 1833, by what she calls "the Grand Consistory of the Sovereign Princes of the Royal Secret, 32°;"— a body of whose very existence we, as Ancient York Master Masons, are ignorant; but which body, the Grand Lodge of Louisiana tells us, possesses supreme authority over the first three degrees of Scotch and Modern Masonry; and all this is done by a body pretending to be a Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons.
She expressly permits the sons of masons, of every rite, to be initiated
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into our mysteries before they become men of lawful age, to wit: when they are only eighteen years old. [Constitution, Art. 4.]
4. She has established in her body " a Council of Rites," divided into two sections—one composed of three Scotch Rite masons, and the other of three Modern or French Rite masons, who have exclusive authority to inquire into all matters concerning those rites respectively; excluding the Ancient York Masons of the Grand Lodge, from participating in the action of that body in matters over which she, as a body, exercises jurisdiction; while these Ancient York Masons are as ignorant of the work of this Council of rites as we are of that of the Odd Fellows. [See Constitution, Arts. 15 and 16.] Moreover, this Council of rites is appointed annually by the Grand Master, who must, hence, necessarily be both a Scotch and French or Modern Mason, to be fully qualified for his office; and hence it also follows, that an Ancient York Mason, as such, is disqualified from being elected to preside as Grand Master of an Ancient York Grand Lodge. These principles are destructive of that equality which is essential to the continued existence of our ancient (not modern) and unchangeable order. [Constitution, Arts 54 and 56.]
5. She not only grants charters of three different kinds, to three different rites of masons, (as she calls them,) but she grants charters to lodges of Ancient York Masons, authorizing them to cumulate the Scotch and French Rites with their own, and to initiate, pass, and raise persons in the same lodge, according to the ceremonies of all and each of said three rites; thus, in fact, blending all three of the rites together; and this is true, notwithstanding her formal denial of such blending of rites together. [Sec. 2, Resolution passed 27th November, 1845.]
6. She has interfered with the religious opinions, and wounded the consciences of many true masons under her jurisdiction, and has changed one of our usages, by prohibiting the installation of the officers of the subordinate lodges on St John's day, unless that day happened to fall on a Sunday, and requiring such installation, in all cases, to be performed on a Sunday. [Amendment to Constitution, Art. 63, adopted 27th January, 1846.]
7. She has violated the ancient Constitutions of the Order, by prohibiting all masonic processions and ceremonies, even for the purpose of discharging the sacred duty of burying a dead brother, who has desired to be so interred.
8. She has destroyed the secrecy of the ballot box, by ordering that the member casting a negative vote shall state his reasons to the Master of the lodge, and curtailed a long established right by empowering the Master to reject the vote if he does not deem the reasons sufficient. [Art. 68.]
9. She has abridged the rights of the subordinate lodges, by ordering that no Master elect shall be eligible to the Grand Offices, unless he shall have served a year as Master, by this means throwing the preponderance into the hands of the life members, since every Master may become such after one year's service. [Art. 7, Sec. 1.]
10. She has abridged the rights of the subordinate lodges by the admission
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of life members, not being representatives, by means of which the representatives of subordinate lodges are outnumbered on every question regarding their interests, and the whole power is thown into the hands of those whose sole aim is to aggrandize the Grand Lodge, and who often have no connection with any subordinate lodge. [Sec. 1, Arts. 7 and 8.]
11. She has abridged the privileges of the subordinate lodges by requiring the country lodges, when not represented by their officers, or a member of the lodge, to choose a proxy from among the existing members of the Grand Lodge, and who shall be a resident of the city of New Orleans. [See Art. 11, adopted 27th June, 1846.]
12. Worse than all this, she has permitted and encouraged in the subordinate lodges, working under her jurisdiction, and in her own body, an innovation in the body of Masonry, which it would be unlawful here to communicate, a procedure not only at variance with our first taught duty as Masons, but wholly subversive of one of the fundamental principles upon which our sacred institution is founded, and its principal safeguard.
Besides these, there are many other grievances and irregularities of which we have a right to complain and which we cannot commit to writing, but which we know to be subversive of the first principles of our beloved order.
Your committee believe that the foregoing facts speak for themselves, and the illegal measures of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana need only to be known to regular Ancient York Masons, to be generally reprobated. And they indulge a hope that when the true state of Masonry in Louisiana shall be known to the different Grand Lodges of the United States, the action of the M. W. Grand Lodge of Mississippi will be approved, and that the Grand Lodge of New York will rescind her resolution of the 7th September, 1847, and render justice to their oppressed but true-hearted brethren of Louisiana, whose only offence is an uncompromising resistance to the introduction of any " changes in the body of Masonry," by any power whatever, and a fixed and steady determination faithfully to discharge all the solemn duties imposed upon them as Ancient York Masons, without being blended together against their consent.
And we solemnly maintain, that French or Scotch Rite Masons, as such, have no greater right to intermeddle with or govern us, than the Sons of Temperance, Odd Fellows, or Knights of the Red Cross have, however good these societies may be.
All good societies should be sustained by good men ; but this forms no reason why any two of them should be united, cumulated, or blended together, particularly against the will of either.
For the truth of the facts asserted in this report, we pledge our faith as Masons, and challenge a personal investigation of them by all regular and
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enlightened Ancient York Masons throughout the world, to whose judgment alone we are both bound and willing most cheerfully to submit. All which is respectfully submitted, Willis P. Coleman, C. D. Lehman, John Gedge, Committee of George Washington Lodge. M. R. Dudley, John P. McMillin, R. Parkinson, Lafayette Lodge. Thomas H. Lewis, D. Blair, John Clariborne, Warren Lodge. W. H. Van Rensselaer, Fisher Rawson, E. Belleau, Marion Lodge. W. H. Howard, T. Greenfield, Joseph W. Carroll, Crescent City Lodge. Joseph Moss, N. Silverthorn, John Southwell, Hiram Lodge.
The Grand Lodge of Mississippi at the annual communication recognizes this new Grand Lodge of Louisiana and justifies its own agency in creating it. The committee, after vindicating their course in view of the censure and remonstrance of the Grand Lodge of New York, hold this language: "Yet we hope to be pardoned if we are not always hushed when New York speaks," but on the contrary, we do not hesitate to say that if New York, or even Ireland, should give the same just grounds for exclusion from our association, Mississippi would be as ready, though great would be her regret for the existence of the cause, to withhold her right hand of fellowship from them as she was from the old Grand Lodge of Louisiana. It is proper for us to add also, that Mississippi, prosperous almost beyond example in her own jurisdiction, had no ambition to extend it beyond her own state lines; money she did not want, for she refused to receive the dues of the lodges of Louisiana. She had no malice to gratify, and she has uttered no harsh word, nor has she anathematized any nor even interdicted intercourse with the Masons of Louisiana still acknowledging allegiance to the old Grand Lodge. Your committee, however, believe the latter a duty which she ought now to perform. She has always been ready and willing to recognize all regular Ancient York Grand Lodges. She knows no others, and does not desire to hold communion with any who do not properly and proudly bear this title." It is proper here to state that several of the Grand Lodges have spoken decidedly against the action of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi even before the Grand Lodge of Louisiana had fully explained and vindicated its position. Some of these have censured the course of Louisiana in accumulating the modern rites and for other alleged innovations, but all or nearly all censure Mississippi for invading her jurisdiction. The Grand Lodge of Missouri, at the communication in 1847, ably discussed the controversy as it then stood. In 1848, after copying the appeal of the several lodges united in the new organization, thus they close their notice of the old Grand Lodge: " Your committee ardently hope and recommend to this Grand Lodge to desist from their errors, review with calmness and reason their respective positions—and so amend their action as to make it comport with the established customs and principles of Free and Accepted Masons."
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In this counsel all good Masons will doubtless be agreed, and it is also due to the parties that we should hear what the Grand Lodge of Louisiana has to say in defence of her course, and in reply to those who animadvert upon her conduct and invade her jurisdiction. In addition to her usual communications we have a labored report of a committee appointed to inquire into the rise and progress of Free Masonry in Louisiana, and the accumulation of rites in and by the State Grand Lodge. This document of twenty-eight pages is a full statement of the case as viewed by the old Grand Lodge of Louisiana, and whatever may be the merits of some of the reasonings of the committee, the historical facts are such as to deserve the most careful consideration by those who would censure that Grand Lodge or withdraw from It the hand of fellowship. Masonry was established in Louisiana before she became a state or a part of this Union.
In 1708, a lodge was chartered by the Grand Lodge of South Carolina. In 1794, other masons who followed the French Rite applied for a charter to the Grand East of France, which failed in consequence of the revolution then raging; but a charter was granted by the " Sincerity Provincial Lodge of Marseilles/' and the lodge installed by a delegation from that body according to the French or Modern rite. Thus the beginnings of Masonic light in Louisiana were the dawnings of these two stars, rising from two distant parts of the Masonic horizon. The " Polar Star Lodge," using the Modern or French Rite, and the " Perfect Union Lodge," using the York Rite, yet lived in harmony and regarded the members of each as brethren. In the beginning of this century another lodge was formed receiving its charter from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, as Charity Lodge. At this time Masons were obliged to meet secretly in Louisiana owing to the political and religious interdiction of the reigning government. Charity Lodge was established in 1804. In 1800, another was chartered by the Grand Lodge of New York, styled Louisiana Lodge. In 1807, the Grand East of France chartered a chapter which was installed on the 24th of May. The same year another lodge was formed, and soon after another by Masons lately arrived from St. Domingo.
Thus of the six original lodges, one, and also the chapter, obeyed the Grand East of France; three the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania; one the Grand Lodge of Mew York, and the other of South Carolina. But the com-mittee say : " Nothing is more worthy of our admiration than the spirit of union and fraternity which reigned among them all." In 1809, two others were formed by masons coming from the French and Spanish colonies, which also were chartered by Pennsylvania. York as well as Scotch and French Masons united In the chapter established by France, no other being chartered till 1811, when two were chartered by the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania. From this period the committee date "certain difficulties" which they say have never been well known by the fraternity. A difficulty arose between " Louisiana Lodge," chartered by New York, and " Harmony Lodge,"
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which obeyed Pennsylvania, in which other lodges subsequently took part. About this time the Polar Star Lodge, which was constituted according to both the Scotch and French Rites, applied for a York charter, which was granted by Pennsylvania in 1811. This lodge thus accumulated the rites because it depended at the same time on the Grand Orient of France as well as on the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, but without mixing them or confounding them in any of their sessions or other labors. The committee say, " the whole city knew it, all the lodges of the state were cognizant of it —all masons were, or could be, witnesses of the same," and thus they date "the frank, open and loyal entry of the accumulation of rites in Lousiana from October 20, 1811."
In April, 1812, the proposal to establish a Grand Lodge was responded to by six of the seven lodges then existing, and at a subsequent meeting, July 11, 1812, the Grand Lodge of Louisiana was organized by five of the seven lodges, the Louisiana Lodge and the Harmony Lodge declining to cooperate in this measure.
From that time the Grand Lodge has instituted sixty-one lodges, the two which refused to unite in the Grand Lodge finally ceased their existence. The committee say that of the lodges of the state five follow the Scotch Rite and three the Modern or French Rite ; and proceed to explain the cause of the mixture. One, the Polar Star Lodge had accumulated the rites prior to its incorporation into the Grand Lodge, and the first chapter as we have seen was connected with this, and was the only one till 1811, and embraced Masons of the different rites. In 1813, the Royal Arch Masons met in convention and formed the Grand Royal Arch Chapter for the State of Louisiana. This in five months constituted four subordinate chapters, which became highly prosperous. This rapid increase caused inquietude to many Scotch Masons then in the state who applied to the proper authority of their rite, and during the same year a Grand Consistory was formed in the southern part of the Union, and installed and proclaimed in New Orleans. Thus two Masonic authorities existed in Louisiana, that of York Masonry represented by the Grand Lodge, and that of Scotch and French or Modern branches by the Grand Consistory. It was seen that difficulty might arise from this divided jurisdiction, and the founders of the Grand Lodge early sought to avert such evils, and in seeking for an act of incorporation they took care to secure one which would admit of union, still preserving the rights of all concerned. This Act was passed and approved March 18, 1816, and is given at length in the report of their committee. It gives no preference to the York over the Scotch Rite, but both are equally protected by it. Several of the petitioners for the act are named as being at the same time both York and Scotch Masons. The committee assure us, however, that " the Grand Lodge has never ceased to work according to the forms and tenets of the York Rite, which it professed from the day of its installation, agreeably to the ritual laws of the same."
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From 1821, the Grand Lodge had been informed that a reunion had taken place in England and France in the various Masonic Rites, and it accordingly decided that all regular Masons, to whatever Rite they belonged, should be admitted as visitors in all the lodges of its jurisdiction. The Grand East of France had entered into a concordate with the Supreme Council of the Scotch Rite in 1804, securing to each its appropriate honor, rank and privilege. The Grand Consistory in Louisiana was composed of Masons both of the York and Scotch Rites, and is described as maintaining a discreet silence and respecting the established order of things, till, weary of the agitations introduced yearly by York Masons, they desired at length either a fraternal separation or a clear and concise concordate which should secure the respective positions which Masons occupied in both Rites. Such a separation, it is supposed, would have taken place in 1833, had not a special effort by enlightened Masons secured overtures from the Grand Lodge which were responded to by the Grand Consistory, and a concordate thus established, which the committee give in full. This document is very explicit on the part of both the Grand Lodge from which the proposal came, and of the Grand Consistory in its reply. The document itself and the reasonings which sustain the Grand Lodge in its present position, are worthy of careful study, and are herewith submitted as part of this report.
"New Orleans, January 10, 1833. " The Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, To the Grand Consistory of the Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret in the State of Louisiana, Sovereign of Sovereigns, Great Prince and Illustrious Commander in Chief —and ye all Sublime Princes: " Motives of the highest kind for the welfare of the Masonic order have determined the Grand Lodge of this state to constitute in its bosom a special chamber for the symbolical degrees of Scotch Masonry.
" Consequently, it begs this Grand Consistory to divest itself of the right which it has to constitute Scotch Lodges here, to transfer the same to said chamber, and to give proper information of said transfer to the lodges now working under its jurisdiction, directing them to obey henceforth the commands and statutes of the State Grand Lodge in its said chamber.
" Please, illustrious brethren, to accept the sincere vows which the Grand Lodge makes for the prosperity of your august labors and for the happiness of each of you in particular.
" With these feelings, the members of the Grand Lodge have the favor to salute you with the numbers which are known to you.
" By order, Dissard, Grand Secretary."
It is clear that the proposition to accumulate the rites came from the Grand Lodge, and that it was laid by it in terms most positive and precise. Its 5
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authors acknowledged that the accumulation prayed for existed already in the Grand Lodge, and that its only object was to obtain at the hands of the Grand Consistory, the authorization of entertaining the same, and the confirmation of a power which it bad in fact assumed before.
The Grand Consistory saw with a heartfelt pleasure the Grand Lodge take the first step, and more anxious to secure rights which had been contested, than to enter into minute details as to the why the accumulation of rites had taken place before in the Grand Lodge, and how it should be administered in future, it answered the above communication in the following forms:
" New Orleans, January 28, 1833.
"Lux ex Tenebris.
" The Sovereign Grand Consistory of the Princes of the Royal Secret, 32°, of the Scotch Rite, To the most illustrious Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, in its Scotch Symbolical Chamber. Illustrious Brother
" I have the favor to inform you that the Sovereign Grand Consistory has received the communication which has been sent to it by the most illustrious Grand Lodge in its Scotch Symbolical Chamber. After having maturely reflected on the beneficial consequences which are to follow for Masonry in general, from measures which tend to unite the various rites of our fraternity, and which will more perfectly answer the spirit of our valuable institution, the Grand Consistory has given to all the lodges of its jurisdiction the necessary instructions in order that such a worthy enterprise on the part of the most illustrious Grand Lodge should be accomplished as speedily as possible.
" Consequently and agreeably to the direction sent, as above said, to each of the Scotch lodges here, we have the favor to inform you that they all submitted with joy to the orders given to that effect by the Grand Consistory, that they are prepared to receive new constitutions from the most illustrious chamber over which you preside, and that they have already sent back to the archives of the Grand Consistory, the charters which they had under its dispensation.
" The supreme authorities of Scotch Masonry in the state of Louisiana, have not hesitated to yield to a body so respectable as the most illustrious Grand Lodge is, the rights which it cannot fail exercising with splendor and justice:—And the Grand Consistory ardently wishes that the Grand Lodge find in this cession of a noble and so useful right, a new proof of the desire which the Princes of the Royal Secret had to perpetuate between the Scotch Rite and the others, such an alliance as will necessarily be for the glory and prosperity of Freemasonry, under whatever banner its disciples may decide to walk.
"Please illustrious and dear brother, to accept for yourself and for the
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illustrious body over which you preside, the fraternal and sincere vows which the Sovereign Grand Consistory and all the Sublime Princes who compose it, will never cease to make for your prosperity, and believe," Illustrious Brother, " In the true devotedness of your respectful brother,
" A. W. Pichot, Secretary pro tem. "By order of the Grand Consistory."
Any commentary upon documents of this kind would be useless. The concordate is laid in terms most solemn and expressive; and supposing that It was a wrong to enter into it, the Grand Lodge alone is to be reprehended for it, because the accumulation of rites results from the very nature of the Scotch tenets in Masonry. The Grand Consistory, by assenting to it in the way proposed and carried out, as above said, complied with an act of justice under the benevolent auspices of an enlightened and sensible fraternity.
York Masons are, as such, dispensed with having in their lodges the gospel of Christ, and it is pretty certain that they have no right to bring it there. But Scotch Masons who profess, as such, a sincere belief in that sacred book, are bound to keep it in their temples, and there to place it on the Old Testament as being its proper basis.
Whence it follows that they admit the rite of York, which, as we have said above, is nothing more nor less than a perpetuation of the Mosaic law among Christians.
Your committee have thought that there was no use in going beyond the above mentioned concordate. All facts which have taken place since, are well known by all the brother Masons who occupy now the seats of this Grand Lodge, and those of the various lodges under its jurisdiction.
In 1839, the Grand Consistory has been superseded in our state by the Supreme Council of the Scotch Rite ; and considering the spirit which animates the members of the same as well as those of the Grand Consistory and of the Councils and Chapters under its jurisdiction, we may say that the Scotch branch of Freemasonry is now well established among us. Nothing is more easy for it than to spread its tenets, and, consequently, its power over all the Southern and Western States of our confederacy, said Supreme Council having de facto and de jure the necessary authority so to do.
Nay, we have beard from proper persons, that its Grand Commander and other members are well informed of the discussion to which the accumulation of rites has given rise in the Grand Lodge, and that they are ready to take the first step, and ask for a final separation, in case a disastrous spirit of party should prevail among us, over a spirit of fidelity to the true intent of our statutes.
Thus, your committee consider that the separation of rites would be no less out of season, than dangerous: but the importance of such a conclusion renders it necessary for us to set forth the motives which have led us to it.
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Our good Brother Grand Secretary will give you in a special report, correct extracts of the several opinions which the various Easts of our confederacy and of Europe have expressed on this question ; and by perusing the same, you will be better qualified to draw from them such consequences as will appear to you most rational.
But after having attentively read each of them, we think that they can be reduced to three principal ones:
The first being of those who approve the accumulation of rites; The second, of those who candidly acknowledge that they do not understand it;
And the third, of those who condemn it in the most absolute terms.
Then, a succinct exposition of what is to be understood by the accumulation of rites in a Grand Lodge, will suffice both to enlighten those who do not comprehend it, and to determine pro or con those who are disposed either to approve or to reject it.
When a Grand Lodge authorizes the lodges under its jurisdiction to follow the rite which they prefer respectively, or to work as they please, either of the existing rites, but without mixing or confounding them into one, and provided a work begun according to the forms of one rite be not conducted at any period of the same, according to the forms of another, we say that there is an accumulation of rites; and that accumulation exists whether the Grand Lodge alluded to works these rites itself, or has a rite of its own which it follows, both in its own temple, and in the lodges under its jurisdiction, whatever be the rite they belong to respectively.
Thus, a Scotch Grand Lodge accumulates the rites when it exercises its jurisdiction over York and Modern Lodges ; and reciprocally a York Grand Lodge accumulates the rites when it exercises its jurisdiction over Scotch or Modern Lodges in the way we have above mentioned.
But it is to be observed that no Grand Lodge can accumulate the rites, unless there are in its bosom as many symbolical chambers or committees as there are rites worked under its jurisdiction, and that the members of said chambers or committees must respectively belong to the rite which they have to conduct under its authority.
Whence it follows that the accumulation would be more appropriately termed the confederation of rites.
Masons who oppose the accumulation of rites so far as we are concerned in the matter here, aver that wherever it exists, York Masons are initiated to the Scotch forms and tenets, and reciprocally, Scotch Masons initiated to the forms and tenets of the York Rite, because they enjoy then a reciprocal right to visit each other in their reciprocal lodges, and thus to participate mutually in the signs, works, and numbers, which, it seems, belong respect-ively to each rite in particular, and can by no means be either shared with or communicated to a foreign body.
This is an apparently cogent objection, and it would at once put an end to
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the question, if it rested not upon an impossible hypothesis, that is, upon a communication of the words, signs and numbers of the ancient rite of York to Masons who do not belong to it. By the very nature of their institution, of their doctrine and of the accumulation of rites which they are consequently bound to admit, Scotch Masons can no more help being York Masons, than Christians can help acknowledging the Jewish dispensation.
Then, unless it is inconsiderately pretended that a York Mason can not be Initiated to the Christian forms of the Scotch branch of Masonry, and that a Scotch Mason has no right to be acquainted with the Judaic tenets of the ancient rite of York, it is evident that the accumulation of rites constitutes a real advantage instead of being a violation of principles.
Anywhere it exists, Scotch and York Masons are brethren, and the benefits resulting from Masonry are spread there more profitably on a much larger scale : whilst a constant war of doctrines and therefore an imminent danger of paralysis for either of the opponent bodies, must and does prevail anywhere it is either contested or rejected.
But it is said that the Scotch Kite is essentially opposed to the ancient rite of York, and their accumulation cannot be permitted without leading to a practical denial of either.
Your committee think that a solemn distinction is to be established here: and this is perhaps the most interesting part of their report.
There is no doubt that the Scotch Rite and the ancient rite of York represent two extremes between which a powerful barrier seems to rise: but as both come from the same place, which is the temple of the natural law and aim at the same end, which is the reunion of all men in the sanctuary of a glorious and happy brotherhood, this barrier exists but for such Masons as believe in a religion, the doctrines of which are directly opposed to the main tenets and consequences of the Scotch rite.
But that requires an explanation, which we hope will be satisfactory to all.
From the time God made man, he breathed into him the principle of mental life, and engraved in his heart and mind the immutable doctrines of civil and religious morals. Man soon forgot what he owed to his maker, and in proportion as he departed from the marvellous abodes where truth and virtue entertained him with the sweetest hopes, he saw a world of passions accompany his steps. The inspirations from above withered one after one in his soul; and the generations which inherited gradually his misfortune, were called to witness the evils by which the degradation of our kind Is followed. In the vast universe where God had alone a right to be adored, all was God except God himself.
Yet, truth being stronger than falsehood, and vice unable to stifle virtue, a few wise and honest men appeared from amidst that awful wreck, who undertook to preserve the true doctrine in silent and mysterious recesses, and to practice it in spite of the many bad religions and wicked forms of
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governments which succeeded each other on earth; and this was the first or natural Freemasonry !!!
Modest and faithful depositary of the divine teachings which had primitively dropped from above, it endeavored to perpetuate them among nations which a lamentable idolatry seemed to hurl forever into the irretrievable abyss of falsehood.
No doubt that Moses was acquainted with Freemasonry in Egypt, whence many believe it first came, though it is evident to learned masons that it began with Adam himself in Eden, and that the patriarchal dispensation is, consequently, the point to which masonic truth must constantly be referred in order to preserve its real nature and basis.
The Jews, more happy than many other nations, because patriarchal traditions had been better preserved among them, had received Masonry from the Egyptians; and religious truth having less suffered in Judea than in any other part of the globe, and its people being governed by a theocratic legislation, which was a mere preparation to the renewal of mankind in better times, wise and learned men added thereto the primitive forms of Masonry, many doctrines and prayers which they had borrowed from the sacred ritual, books and ceremonies of their priesthood ; and this was the second or Judaic Masonry!!!
Now, it is a well authenticated fact that towards the end of the Jewish monarchy, there were in Judea many sects which contended for the empire of wisdom, and that each of them pretended to the exclusive privilege of teaching and ruling the nation. The chosen people, with the rest of the world, were struggling in the very heart of a political and religious revolution under the Roman sway; and darkness seemed to threaten anew the whole universe, when a son of a royal branch of Judah, Jesus Christ, appeared, animated with that divine virtue which moves the heart, full of that wonderful light which pervades the intellect, and of that moral omnipotence which subdues the soul; and this was the third or Christian and last Masonry !!!
Your committee will not describe how the disciples of Christ took upon themselves to preach his gospel and to spread it over the world. All of us know that it has prevailed from south to north and in the remotest western regions, reforming everywhere the manners of men and calling them back to the purest feelings of their divine origin.
But as all decays that falls into the hands of man, Christianity (as its predecessors, the natural law and the Mosaic dispensation) was soon vested with the spurious forms which veiled its primitive excellence and beauty, and was no more to be seen except with the dreadful train of wars, dissensions, quarrels, persecutions and hatreds, which its various interpreters never ceased to create and raise in its name.
Then a remedy was needed to cure so many evils, and the voice of truth sought to make itself heard somewhere, in order that men whom the various
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sects of the Christian world constantly tended to separate, might find a place of rest and reunite under the protecting influence of Christian fraternity and toleration.
But who was to prepare the remedy and raise the voice ?—Freemasonry; All that was most pure in the doctrine, most useful in the morals and most rational in the form and ceremonies of the primitive Christianity, was gathered by some brother Masons who endeavored to bring it again into practice.
It is true that by so doing they exposed themselves to be cursed and anathematized by an ambitious priesthood; but through their cares and efforts charity prevailed, and the three-fold ring formed by the Natural law, the Mosaic preparation, and the regeneration of mankind by Christ was saved from the deadly blows of an unprincipled philosophy and shameless fanaticism.
These are potent facts; and from their accomplishment we must date the distinction now existing between the various branches of Freemasonry. Some lodges either refused or neglected to take a part in that solemn progression ; and in the same manner, as at the time the Judaic forms of Masonry prevailed, nations unacquainted with the Jews kept the forms of the first or natural Masonry which exists still, with trifling modifications in the East, so have we lived to see many Masons adhere to the forms and ceremonies of Judaic Masonry, whilst many others adopt and follow the forms of the third or Christian Masonry.
Endless discussions may be had on Freemasonry, and many a long or subtle argument may arise from a captious examination of the annals of past ages, or from the doubts which the history of modern times would seem to suggest; but as we have intimated above, facts are facts and can by no means be destroyed.
Any person ever so little acquainted with Freemasonry as it is now practiced must admit that its symbolical or first three degrees are common to all nations, whilst its philosophical or high degrees, as we understand them, are worked in one way by the Jews and in another by the Christians, and that they rest for the former on the Old Testament, whilst for the latter they rest on the New.
It is also well known that the Ancient Bite of York is essentially Judaic, and the Scotch Rite essentially Christian. The degree of Knights Templar, which seems to terminate the Rite of York, is, in fact, a perfect stranger to it and depends in no way or manner upon the ruling authorities of the same, whether in the symbolical or philosophical degrees, whilst all the degrees of the Scotch Rite, from the first to the thirty-third, are necessarily and closely united together, in the same manner as Christianity unites with the Mosaic preparation, and through it, with the natural law.
However, let us not suppose that the merits of the Rite of York are in any way impaired by such a difference. Scotch Masons consider York Masonry as a worthy predecessor, to whom they owe and pay the most
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respectful homage, and stand to it as it stands to the first or natural Masonry.
But if it be so, and your committee think that no other conclusion can be drawn from the premises, is it not evident that the accumulation of rites is in no manner incompatible with the true principles of Freemasonry, and that no one can sustain the contrary doctrine without deciding at the same time, that a Turkish, Indian or Chinese Mason cannot be received a York Mason on the ground that he follows Natural Masonry only and believes not in the distinctive doctrines taught by the second or Judaic Masonry.
There are in the endless temple of Freemasonry, as well as in heaven, various mansions; and symbolical Masonry, though it offers a few differences in its forms, words and signs, is common to all Masons, because it is essentially founded on the law of nature, which binds all mankind, and can therefore be administered by one and the same power in any country.
As to the philosophical Masonry, it depends on other powers which are out of the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge, and in which alone is vested the right to watch over their respective prerogatives.
Thus it is the opinion of your committee that far from being opposed to the fundamental principles of the York Rite, the accumulation complained of is, on the contrary, the most glorious and authentic confirmation of the same. Any Grand Lodge which accumulates the rites professes at the same time the heavenly doctrine of universal toleration, and as the Almighty Architect of the universe himself, opens its bosom to all the masons of the earth.
However, in case a majority of the Grand Lodge should think proper to defeat the views of your committee and to pronounce themselves against the accumulation of rites, it is necessary to lay before you the probable consequences of a separation.
The Scotch Rite, as we have already stated, is well established in Louisiana. Its organization is undoubtedly better than ours, because the two branches of symbolical and philosophical Masonry unite therein, to a common centre or authority, which, though it is manifold on account of the thirty-three members who either do or may compose it, is nevertheless indivisible on account of the principle and sacred oath which tie them together. Many of our brethren here know it well. Around the Supreme Council of the Scotch Rite may be seen, at all times, the Grand Consistory, the Grand Chapter and the Grand Lodge of the same. They are as many auxiliary bodies which help each other, and found their respective strength in their common allegiance.
Besides, the administration of the Scotch Rite moves on a basis, the parts of which are, at the same time, very distinct from each other, and so solidly cemented that they can by no means be separated. The theocratic principle which the Jewish Masons have bequeathed to York Masons, is superseded there by the republican principle, for every Scotch Mason has to be before
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all a Christian in heart and mind, that is perfectly free in his views and kind to all.
Is it not to be feared that, by opposing a masonic power already so strong and so worthy of our admiration, we will force it to resist our presumption, and thus create a masonic adversary who from the moment it is better known in a country so essentially religious and Christian as ours is, will certainly obtain a signal preference over any other masonic authority ?
Your committee are aware of many small difficulties which a subtle mind may suggest here. Whenever a doctrine becomes a matter of discussion, it is impossible to convince such persons as have previously decided, that they are in the wrong; and in the same manner as there would be no use in attempting to bring into a desirable unity of religion the ministers of the various sects into which Christianity is divided, so do we give up the hope of attracting into the bounds of an universal formula the abettors of the present schism.
There are masons, in the eyes of whom, Masonry consists of a mere nomenclature of facts and forms which they have, no matter how and when, borrowed from another country or nation. We pity their fate. Masonry has neither light nor services to expect from them. They are only good to make automatons and to live themselves as such.
Others are simple enough to believe that a true mason is absolutely bound to accept the forms with which, it is said, Prince Edwin vested Masonry in 924, and to reject all others. But if they are in the right, is it not self-evident that the present symbolical Masonry has ceased to be the universal or rather true Masonry, because this one existed certainly before the above mentioned royal reformer who bad, as we presume, received from no one, a right or power to wed Masonry to forms which nations unacquainted with the Jews could neither know nor admit.
But if Symbolical Masonry is of all times and places, why do the Scotch Masons insist so much to be recognized as such by this Grand Lodge of York 1 This is, surely, a great question: but it was put to us by the Scotch Masons. If York Masons, do they say, are true masons and well convinced that they are bound to extend a fraternal hand to Chinese, Turkish and Christian Masons as they extend it to Jewish Masons, why do they presume to force us to follow exclusively their tenets and forms ?
We cannot answer them without condemning ourselves most explicitly.
Either York Masonry is an exclusive and ex parte Masonry, and in such case it is bound to acknowledge the fact without any restriction or by-way, In order that non-Judaic and Christian Masons may know how to act with it; or it constitutes but a branch of Universal Masonry under the name and title of York Masonry; and in such case, it has no right to reject Christian masons who constitute that other branch of Masonry which is known by the name and title of Scotch Masonry.
Any Grand Lodge which admits a Chinese Mason who can swear but by
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the books of Confucius, or a Turkish Mason who takes no oath but on the Alcoran, cannot exclude a Christian Mason who is bound to swear by the Gospel of Christ; and if in spite of the masonic form and tenets which a Chinese or Turkish Mason follows, we are bound to let him participate in York ceremonies, in symbolical lodges, how can we refuse the same favor to a Christian Mason, notwithstanding the forms and ritual which he is bound to prefer ?
This is a cogent dilemma; we have either to change the whole organization of Symbolical Masonry, and to substitute to it everywhere a ritual drawn according to the law of nature which is common to all men, or to admit that in each East the Grand Lodge which administers its symbolical lodges is bound to follow a ritual framed according to the religion and manners of said East, without prejudice to the rights of the other Easts, and of the masons who inhabit them.
Every one will, no doubt, see that of these two alternatives the second is the best; but if we prefer it, who can deny that Scotch Masonry has a right of citizenship in a York Grand Lodge; who can deny, as we have caused you to notice it above, that it is impossible to reject Scotch Masons from the York Grand Lodges of our confederacy, without abjuring at the same time the fundamental principles of Symbolical Masonry, without hurting the religions and manners of our own country, without preparing for the Scotch Rite the most glorious triumph, as it will be enough for its adherents to raise their voice in the name of Christ among Christian populations, to secure for itself the admiration of all masons of some sense, and to attract them gradually to its bosom!
The members of your committee belong to both rites. They have ascended almost all the degrees of the York and Scotch branches of Freemasonry. Not a thought was expressed, nor a word written by them in this report, which is not derived from their personal experience and knowlege in these matters. Sincerely devoted to the cause of our fraternity, they considered themselves bound to inquire with a scrupulous care into the true character, object and end of the two rites, to analyze them with due respect to the two authorities upon which they depend respectively, and to do full justice to both. Should their conclusion astonish some of you, they respectfully beg leave to state that it is the unavoidable result of a long reasoned conviction, and not the poetical expression of their ardent desire to see no change whatever in the actual organization of this Grand Lodge.
On another hand, our constitutive charter is so worded that even a majority of all the members of our sovereign body could not legally reject the Scotch Rite without the legal consent of the Scotch Masons under our jurisdiction.
But such a consent has to be the necessary result of a concordate; and you may easily conceive that two essential points will constitute the same, that is to say, a reciprocal right granted to the Scotch and York Lodges to
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visit each other after the separation, and, moreover, a proportional distribution of the funds of this Grand Lodge.
It is true that the first of these two points depends on our will only ; but any sort of discussion on the second would be useless. There was a Scotch Lodge, to wit: the "Polar Star Lodge," among those which constituted this Grand Lodge, and, as it fully appears by the concordate above related, this Grand Lodge has most solemnly declared itself to be natural protectress and guardian of the Scotch Lodges which it has either acknowledged or founded, and which it administers now. Then it is plain that the less numerous of these lodges, and even the humblest brother in any of them, is actually vested with a legal right which no majority whatever can take from him.
Shall we imprudently run the chance of a separation which would be altogether fatal in itself and conductive of so many obstacles ?
We live in an enlightened century. Men, far from laying much stress on minute distinctions, are always ready to laugh at them ; and any person of sense would undoubtedly make sport of a quarrel or lawsuit, the object of which should be to have it determined by a court of justice, whether a trifling difference of signs and forms constitutes a moral and legal right in Freemasonry.
If this was a question of principle, your committee are prepared to say that no fear, no consideration and no obstacle would stop you. But whilst we take for certain that it is a mere question of vanity for a few, and a simple misunderstanding on the part of many others, we do not hesitate to say that the separation of the two rites would be pernicious, and that it is both the interest of Freemasonry in general, and of this Grand Lodge in particu-lar, to avoid it.
JAMES FOULHOUZE, Chairman of the Committee.
Published by order of the Grand Lodge.
E. of New Orleans, this 26th day of the twelfth masonic month, 5848 (26 February, 1849.)
F. VERRIER, Grand Secretary.
It is proper for the committee here to say that a large proportion of the Grand Lodges of this Union, as well as those of Ireland and France and other European countries, have noticed this controversy and expressed opinions of its" merits with more or less copiousness. Some of these lodges censure the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, and admonish her to lay aside the objectionable features in her Constitution and practice in accumulating rites, but nearly all reprobate the course of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi in usurping jurisdiction in that state.
With the exception of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, the old Grand Lodge Louisiana is still recognized as the supreme authority of Masonry in that
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state; and Missouri does not justify the course of Mississippi in the recent invasion of its jurisdiction.
Your committee would suggest for the consideration of this lodge, the importance of a careful examination of the documents herewith presented in regard to the pending controversy, and while we may at present forbear to express a final verdict, they would suggest that the committee which may succeed them be requested, in view of all the light which may in the mean time be secured on the subject, to report to this body what action ought to be taken upon this controversy. This delay will not imply any want of interest in the questions at issue, but may well suggest to our brethren there, our earnest desire that they will correct whatever is wrong in their existing organization and usages, and which tends to produce strife and division. May we not hope that it shall be thus made the duty of your committee then to report that harmony is fully restored in our sister state, by the return of all parties to the simplicity of our ancient Mystic Rites, and the fullest exhibition of love and good work, by the same appropriate usages of our time-honored institution ?
The Grand Lodge of Vermont, which for years had lain inactive and whose revived energies but recently struggled into life, now appears in the enjoyment of vigorous health and prosperity, and vindicates her rights to the fraternal recognitions of her sister lodges. And well does she deserve this, after the severe discipline of suffering to which those have been subjected who held fast by her altars in the hour of trial. The Grand Lodge of New York, which for a time doubted the loyalty of the re-organization in Vermont, now welcomes this Northern Star to its place in the Grand Constellation, and all sister lodges will rejoice in the progress and increasing splendor of this luminary of the Mountain State.
In the correspondence of this Grand Lodge there is much to cheer us in the evidence thus afforded of the rapid increase of workmen and the increasing skill and fidelity of the master builders in the Masonic edifice now rising in silent, but imposing grandeur, in the eyes of the world. Such is the progress of the work that even the disagreement and disorder around the Southwest corner of the Temple to which we have given so much space in this report, is after all scarcely visible in the grand result, and thus inspires the hope that those who have occasioned it will review and retrace their steps, and disperse themselves among the workmen to resume their labors and repair the injuries they have occasioned.
New York still desires corresponding bodies in the other states to require Grand Lodge certificates of all who hail as visiting brethren from the lodges of her jurisdiction, and some of the other states approve of this as a general system, while others deem this an unnecessary innovation upon ancient usage. Your committee would recommend a careful scrutiny of the credentials of visiting brethren who hail from New York lodges, while they doubt
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the expediency of adopting the use of Grand Lodge certificates as a prerequisite to visiting in the lodges of this jurisdiction.
Some of the Grand Lodges have adopted the practice of requiring of all resident masons, not connected with any lodge, the payment of a yearly tax as a condition of visiting in any of its subordinates. It may well suggest the inquiry whether a still better method may not be applied in our own jurisdiction by encouraging all such residents to become acting members, and in case of change of residence to remove their relation to the nearest working lodge.
A commendable degree of interest is manifested in the several states, and various methods adopted, and with varied success, to secure uniformity in the work of the order. So far as we can discover, these efforts are but partially successful, whether attempted by Grand Lecturers having the sole charge of this matter, or by the District Deputies in their several departments' or by a union of both, or by attempts to exemplify the work in the body of the Grand Lodges for the instruction of the representatives of the subordinates. Precise uniformity is not perhaps to be expected, certainly not except as the result of time and patient effort. It is happy for the interests of the order that there can be substantial harmony, and a generous co-operation, without a stereotyped uniformity; and the great interests of the order are not sacrificed by a failure to secure a perfect and universal agreement in the use of forms, signs and symbols. Generous hearts and willing hands can leave their impress on the age and their memorials on the walls of our Masonic edifice, even if there is slight diversity in the method of doing it. Still, progress in the work, and the approximation to a uniform and perfect standard of excellence is greatly to be desired, as the discipline by which this is gained is the means of promoting mental and moral progress, and moulding the elements of our common nature into symmetry and beauty, which can never be the result of carelessness or indifference to modes and forms. In this view the committee repeat their opinion that the creation of a Supreme Grand Lodge, with wise and carefully prescribed powers and limitation, is an object worthy of high regard. Instead of enlarging upon this topic they would simply refer to their views expressed more fully in the last annual report. Most of the Grand Lodges of the Union have had this subject under consideration and have come to conclusions more or less at variance with the views of this Grand Lodge and with each other.
Some are decided in their objections to a Supreme Grand Lodge under any circumstances, others approve of such an organization but object to some features in the constitution presented. More than the number required have decided in favor of a Supreme Grand Lodge, but not a sufficient number have approved of the constitution last year presented, and consequently it is still inoperative, and no Supreme Grand Lodge exists. This Grand Lodge will doubtless hold itself prepared to unite in the formation of such a body, with suitable powers and privileges, whenever the necessary
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number of Grand Lodges shall concur, and unite in convention for that purpose.
Since the above report was written the committee have received evidence that an unhappy division has arisen in the Grand Lodge of New York, growing out of an attempt to so change the Constitution of that body as to deprive all Fast Masters of subordinate lodges, except the last who had passed the chair, of the right to vote in Grand Lodge. This is the revival of an old controversy which once divided the Grand Lodge of the Empire State in 1823. In 1827, a reunion took place which was on the basis originally established, that Past Masters have a right to vote and act in all matters as permanent members of the Grand Lodge. At the annual meeting last year a proposition was made to deprive them of this, and to allow them only the privileges of honorary members.
This proposition awakened hostility, especially in the lodges of New York and vicinity, and led to a convention of such as were opposed to the change. This was followed by an address or circular sent by each of the conflicting parties to the several lodges in the state, endeavoring to secure their co-operation. At the late meeting of the Grand Lodge, it was announced by the acting Grand Master that the constitutional majority of subordinate lodges bad adopted the proposed amendments, and that they were now a part of the Constitution by which the Grand Lodge was to be governed. An appeal from this decision was taken, and the lodges sustained that appeal. A division then occurred, and each party proceeded to organize and elect officers, each claiming to be the Grand Lodge of that state. Those lodges that united in resisting the proposed amendments have sent us their version of the controversy, and the proceedings of that body with the seal of the Grand Lodge attached. From the other body we have a brief circular under date of New York, June 11th, giving the names of officers by them elected, and informing us that a clandestine body has been formed in that city composed of expelled masons and their associates, which has assumed the name of a Grand Lodge, and promising us a detailed account of the same in an address soon to be issued. This Grand Lodge will share with the committee in their grief, and regret that such division and discord should occur in our beloved Order, and especially in New York, which has so long occupied a commanding position in the masonic world.
With but partial details of this late movement it would be premature for the committee or the lodge to take any action, or express any opinion on the merits of the controversy. They would leave this with other matters for the consideration of their successors and the future action of this body, in the hope that before our next anniversary the causes of strife may be removed and harmony restored in the counsels of Masonry in the Empire State. When the elements of human passion, of pride and selfishness, are subjected to the control of reason and truth, swayed by the potent influence of light and love, then shall the ear be less frequently pained by tidings of
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evil. In securing such results, our beloved fraternity has a most important mission. Of this we would not be unmindful, and our brethren in New York will not refuse our earnest appeal to them as such, to meet this crisis in their affairs in the spirit our institution inspires; to review their course in the spirit which they have often urged upon others involved in trials and perils, and so to remove all occasions of discord and reproach, that the Masonic fraternity shall receive no permanent damage. With gratitude for the favor of God in our past experience, and earnest desires for his future protection and guidance, we would in conclusion, commend their case and the entire interests of our fraternity throughout the world, to his paternal care.
Respectfully submitted,
CYRIL PEARL,
F. BRADFORD,
Committee.
The following brethren were appointed by the Grand Master, a Committee on Foreign Correspondence, for the ensuing year, viz:
Bros. Cyril Pearl, of Standish,
Freeman Bradford, of Portland,
Allen Haines, of Portland.
A communication from St. John's Lodge, at Newark, N. J., was then laid upon the table by the Grand Secretary. Read and referred to the Committee on Foreign Correspondence.
The following resolution was submitted by Bro. McArthur and adopted, viz:
Resolved, That the Grand Secretary be requested to collect the annual reports of the several Grand Lodges in correspondence with this Grand Lodge, so far as may be practicable, since the organization of this Grand Lodge in 1820, and cause the same to be neatly bound in suitable volumes and deposited in the archives of the Grand Lodge.
On motion,
Voted, That a sum, not exceeding twenty dollars, be appropriated for the purchase of tickets for the festival to-morrow, to be presented to such aged, worthy brethren as may be unable to furnish themselves therewith.
On motion,
Voted, That the sum of twenty dollars be appropriated and paid to Rev. Bro. Cyril Pearl, for services and expenses incurred by him as a member of the committee to prepare a Constitution and Code of By-Laws for the Grand
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Lodge; and for time and labor bestowed by him as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence in preparing the reports of that committee.
On motion,
Voted, That when the Grand Lodge calls off, it be until eight o'clock tomorrow morning.
The Grand Lodge was then called off. Attest: C. B. SMITH, Grand Secretary.
Masons' Hall, Portland, June 26, 1849.
The Grand Lodge convened this morning at eight o'clock and proceeded to make arrangements to participate in the celebration of the anniversary of St. John the Baptist, in connection with the other masonic bodies, and visiting and sojourning brethren now in the city for that purpose.
The arrangements having been completed, the Grand Lodge joined the procession at ten o'clock, which, under the direction of R. W. Freeman Bradford, as Chief Marshal, and escorted by the Portland Encampment of Knights Templar and other Sir Knights in attendance, marched, to excellent music by the Portland Brass Band, through several of the principal streets of the city to the church of the First Parish, where an excellent and highly interesting address, replete with gems of masonic lore, was delivered by M. W. Benjamin B. French, Esq., Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, accompanied with other usual exercises.
The exercises at the church being closed, the procession was re-formed, and proceeded to the " Great Pavillion " on Munjoy's Hill, where an excellent dinner had been prepared for the occasion by Bro. Nathan J. Davis; in which the assembled body of the fraternity, with many of their ladies and invited guests, participated.
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Having done ample justice to the dinner, a great number of appropriate sentiments were offered, interspersed with cheering music from the Band; after which the interesting ceremonies and festivities of the day, which had been enjoyed with great satisfaction apparently by all, were concluded.
The Grand Lodge then returned to their hall, deposited their regalia and took a recess until eight o'clock p. m.
Evening Session.
The Grand Lodge was called to labor at 8 o'clock p. m.
The following resolutions were then offered and unanimously adopted, viz:
Resolved, That the thanks of the Grand Lodge of Maine be tendered to M. W. Benjamin B. French, Esq., Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, for his able and highly interesting address this day delivered before the Grand Lodge and fraternity here assembled; and that he be respectfully requested to furnish a copy thereof for publication.
Resolved, That the sum of fifty dollars be appropriated and tendered to M. W. Bro. French, to defray, in part, his traveling expenses from, and back to Washington.
On motion,
Voted, That Bros. Freeman Bradford, Daniel Winslow and C. B. Smith be a committee to wait upon M. W. Bro. French, and present him a copy of these resolutions.
On motion,
Voted, That the Grand Secretary cause the address of M. W. Bro. French, this day delivered, (if a copy thereof shall be granted,) to be published with the proceedings of the Grand Lodge.
On motion,
Voted, That the thanks of the Grand Lodge of Maine be tendered—
To the city authorities of Portland, for the use of the City Hall this day, on the occasion of our celebration of the anniversary of St. John the Baptist: 6
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To the Maine Lodge, No. 1, I. 0. 0. F., for the use of their hall this day, on the same occasion:
To the I. 0. R. of this city, for use of their hall on same occasion:
To the proprietors of the First Parish Church, for the use of their house on same occasion:
To the choir of the First Parish, for performance of excellent music on same occasion:
To the City Marshal of Portland, and his aids, for promptness and efficiency in preserving order in the streets on same occasion:
To the Portland Brass Band, for prompt and skillful performance of music on same occasion, and
To Bro. Nathan J. Davis, for good taste manifested in his arrangements, and good dinner furnished by him on same occasion.
The Grand. Lodge was then closed in due form.
Attest, CHARLES B. SMITH, Grand Secretary.
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ABSTRACT OF RETURNS OF LODGES, UP TO MAY 1, 1849.
Portland, 1, Portland. William Kimball, M ; Henry C. Lovell, SW; Richard W. Kennard, JW; Arthur Shirley, TR ; Elias M. Plimpton, S ; James R. Milliken, SD; Thomas J. Sanborn, JD; Lemuel Bryant, SS; James H. Roach, JS ; Isaac Davis, T. Members, 93; initiates, 11; rejected, 3; deceased, 4. District 1
Warren, 2, East Machias. John H. Harris, M ; F. L. Talbot, SW; F. A. Wilson, JW ; Walter Robbins, TR ; C. H. Talbot, S ; W. H. Tobey, SD ; S. T. Foster, JD ; Elijah Hall, SS; Luther Hall, JS ; Charles Townsend, T. Members, 21; initiates, 8; deceased, 1. District 6
Lincoln, 3, Wiscasset. Henry Clark, M ; Asa F. Hall, SW; Abner Packard, JW; John B. Mange, TR ; James Taylor, S; Elisba McKenney, SD ; William Trundy, JD ; Rufus Sewall, SS; Thomas Cunningham, JS ; Alfred McLean, T. Members, 24; initiates, 11. District 4
Kennebec, 6, Hallowell. Francis J. Day, M ; Stephen Lord, SW ; Leverett Lord, JW ; Nathaniel Stevens, TR ; William Nye, S; Ira Cass, SD ; Robert G. Handy, JD ; Andrew Brown,SS ; William S. Marshall, JS ; Green-lief Kobinson, T. Members, 25; initiates, 9. District 3
Amity, 6, Camden. John Glover, M ; Patrick Simonton, SW; Thomas Annis, JW; Benjamin Crab tree, TR ; Austin Sweetland, S ; Jeremiah C. Cushing, SD ; James R. Glover, JD ; Samuel Chase, SS; Alexander Paschal, JS ; Isaiah Barbour, T. Members, 55; initiates, 18; rejected, 1. District 9
East oni, 7, Eastport. Lucius Bradbury, M ; John L. Bowman, SW; Frederick Bell, JW; Thomas Parker, tr; Benjamin Snow, S; John Regan, SD; George Lem man, JD; Peter Whelpley, SS; Charles James, JS ; Thos. Hancock, T. Members, 38; initiates, 10; rejected, 2. District 6
United, 8, Brunswick. Samuel S. Wing, M ; John D. Lincoln, SW; Theodore S. McLellan, JW ; Benjamin Furbish, TR ; G. Clinton Swallow, S; Horace P. Hubbard, SD; Octavius A. Merrill, JD; Artemas Coburn, SS; Ward Coburn, JS ; Moses M. Marsh, T. Members, 44; initiates, 8; deceased, 1. District1
Rising Virtue, 10, Bangor. Timothy H. Morse, M ; William H. Mills, SW; Eben. W. Elder, JW ; Joseph C. Stevens, TR ; Silas Alden, S ; George W. Cuuiuiings, SD; Ebenezer G. Rawson, JD ; Hennon Fisher, SS; Samuel
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B. Brown, JS ; Simeon Everton, T. Members, 47; initiates, 9; rejected, one.
Cumberland, 12, New Gloucester. Charles Megquier, M ; William Hatch, SW; Daniel W. True, JW; Ezra Tobie, tr; William Jay Bradbury, S; Benjamin Morse, SD ; Abner M. Nutting, JD ; Nathaniel Bray, SS ; Benjamin Garland, JS; Pelatiah Lyon, T. Members, 15; initiates, 5. District 1
Oriental, 13, Bridgton. John Kilborn, M ; George W. Cushman, SW; C. J. Adams, JW ; James Flint, TR ; Samuel Andrews, 2d, S ; Eben. Kilborn, SD; Abner Smith, JD; A. S. Frisbee, SS; A. M. Savage, JS; John Bur-nell, T. Members, 19. District 2
Solar, 14, Bath. Jeremiah Ellsworth, m; Scott J. Tall man, SW; Elisha Clark, JW ; D. Hatch, TR ; Abizer Matthews, S; John G. Richardson, SD ; John Deering, JD ; William H. Harrison, SS; George Marston, Jr., JS ; John Young, T. Members, 37; initiates, 9. District 4
Orient, 15, Thomaston. Benjamin Carr, M ; Edward Boyles, SW; E. B. Lermond, JW ; Peter Williams, tr; J. D. Barnard, S; Joel Miller, SD; George Crawford, JD ; Enoch Carlton, SS; Eben Creighton, js. Members, 19; initiates, 2. District 4
St. George, 16, Warren. John Miller, m; John Andrews, SW; Edward Weston, JW ; Amos H. Hodgman, TR ; Alden Miller, S ; Samuel Hink-ley, SD ; Francis Spear, JD ; James Coburn, SS ; Edmund B. Alford, JS ; Lewis S. Kirk, T. Members, 45; initiates 10. District 4
Ancient Land-Mark, 17, Portland. John B. Coyle, M ; Benjamin C. Fernald, SW; Charles F. Safford, JW ; Henry H. Boody, TR ; Caleb Chase, S; James F. Young, SD ; David G. Plummer, JD ; Amos C. Howell, SS; Caleb S. Carter, JS ; John Dain, T. Members, 96; initiates, 10; deceased, 3. District 1
Felicity, 19, Bucksport. Thomas Goodale, M ; Henry Silsby, SW; James Goodale, JW ; Sewall Lake, TR ; D. C. Homer, S; J. H. Sherman, SD ; N. T. Hill, JD ; Joshua Abbot, T. Members, 11; initiates, 7. District 5
Maine, 20, Farmington. Henry Johnson, M ; Moses Sherburne, SW; William Tripp, JW; James Butterfield, TR ; J. D. Prescott, S; John Gowen, SD; John T. Taylor, JD ; Isaac Eaton, SS; Moses Butterfield, JS ; Hiram Webster, t ; Members, 21; initiates, 3; rejected, 1; deceased, 3. District 3
Oriental Star, 21, Livermore. Robert Blacker, M ; Joseph Covell, SW; Peter T. Hathaway, JW ; Reuel Washburn, TR ; Gideon Ellis, S; Daniel Austin, SD ; Asa Austin, JD ; Ebenezer Hinds, SS ; John Fuller, JS ; Samuel P. Holman, T. Members, 21; deceased, 1. District 2
York, 22, Kennebunk. Joshua Herrick, M ; James Larrabee, SW ; Paul Jenkins, JW; Abiel Kelley, TR ; Isaac Downing, S; Charles M. Sweet, SD; James H. Kipp, JD ; George W. Wormwood, SS; Stephen Perkins, JS; Joseph Avery, T. Members, 15; initiates, 6. District 8
Phoenix, 24, Belfast. Daniel Harraden, M ; H. G. O. Washburn, SW ; Hiram Chase, JW; James P. Furber, TR ; Oshea Page, S; Joseph S. Noyes, sd;
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Samuel Locke, JD ; L. B. Wetherbee, SS; Calvin Perkins, JS ; Robert Thompson, T. Members, 42; initiates, 15; deceased, 1. District 9
Adoniram, 27, Limington. Arthur McArthur, M ; James McArthur, SW ; Ebenezer H. McLellan, JW; Nathaniel Clark, tr; Stephen C. Watson, S; William Cobb, SD ; William D. Boulter, JD ; Jabez Hobson, SS ; Benjamin C. Libby, JS ; Benjamin Blake, T. Members, 40; initiates, 2 ; deceased, 1. District 8
Northern Star, 28, Anson. Moses Moore, M ; John Pierce, SW; William Rowell, JW ; Benjamin Steward, TR ; James Y. Cleaveland, S; Silas Hamblet, SD; John A. Fletcher, JD; Rodney Collins, SS ; David White, JS; Moses M. Thompson, T. Members, 36; initiates, 11; rejected, 1; deceased, 1. District 3
Tranquil, 29, Danville. George W. Chase, M ; Josiah Little, Jr., SW ; Archibald Lindsay, JW ; Hiram Adams, TR ; Jacob Herrick, S; Robert Martin, SD; Augustus Callahan, JD; John W. Farnham, SS; Horatio G. Garcelon, JS ; Daniel Read, Jr., T. Members, 44; initiates, 8. District 2
Blazing Star, 30, Rumford. Nathaniel B. Crockett, M ; Colman Goodwin, SW; Caleb Besse, JW ; Erastus Hilborn, TR ; James Russ, S ; James N. Brickett, SD ; John R. Briggs, JD ; George G. Bragg, SS; Aaron J. Abbot, JS ; Farnham Abbot, T. Members, 19; initiates, 1; deceased, 1. District 2
Union, 31, Union. Lewis Andrews, M ; G. M. Blackington, SW; George Littlehale, JW ; Ebenezer Cobb, TR ; William G Hawkes, S; Storey Thompson, SD ; John Pardoe, JD ; Philo Thurston, SS; Charles F. Blake, JS ; George Cummings, T. Members, 44; initiates, 2. District 4
Hermon, 32, Gardiner. Benjamin Cook, M ; Stephen Webber, SW; James McCurdy, JW; William H. Byram, tr; Lawson H. Green, S; Ephraim Rand, SD ; James Tarbox, JD ; Franklin Glazier, Jr., SS; James W. White, JS ; Joseph Y. Gray, T. Members, 48; initiates, 11; deceased, 4. District 3
Waterville, 33, Waterville. Thomas W. Herrick, m; Jacob M. Crooker, SW; Edwin L. Smith, JW; John Webber, TR ; John Ransted, S; Wadsworth Chipman, SD ; Abner Chick, JD ; Charles R. Phillips, SS; W. E. R. Hans-comb, JS; Stephen Tozer, T. Members, 36; initiates, 3; deceased, 1. District 3
Somerset, 34, Skowhegan. Joseph Philbrick, M ; Eusebius Weston, SW; Samuel Philbrick, JW; John Whitten, TR ; Henry A. Wyman, S; Isaac Haggett, SD ; William B. Morrill, JD ; Abraham Wyman, SS; Samuel Haywood, JS; James Frost, T. Members, 29; initiates, 8; rejected, 1. District 3
Bethlehem, 35, Augusta. William A. Drew, M ; Eri Wells, SW; George W. Jones, JW ; Solomon T. Houghton, TR ; James F. Patterson, S; Amasa Kelley, SD ; Newton Reynolds, JD ; Ephraim Ballard, SS ; William Hunt, JS ; Joshua Rollins, T. Members, 57 ; initiates, 12; rejected, 1. District 3
Washington, 37, Lubec. Jeremiah Fowler, M ; John C. Talbot, Jr., SW; Taft Comstock, Jr., JW ; Theophilus Doe, TR ; Samuel P. Fowler, S; George
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T. Hunter, SD ; Samuel Starbird, JD ; Ebenezer Oakes, SS; William J. Goodwin, js ; John Davidson, t. Members, 33; initiates, 8. District 6
Penobscot, 39, Dexter. Reuben Flanders, M ; Levi C. Morgan, SW; Samuel Copeland, JW ; Nathaniel Dustin, tr ; William Morgan, S; Miles Doyle, SD ; Harrison Richardson, JD ; Morrill Prescott, SS ; Isaac M. Russ, js ; Freeman Knowles, T. Members, 46; initiates, 3; deceased, 1. District 7
Lygonia, 40, Ellsworth. William Somerby, M ; Joseph S. Rice, SW ; Elijah L. M. Allen, JW ; Seth Paddleford, tr ; Stephen B. Woodward, S; John L. Moore, SD ; Hazael Varnum, JD ; Oliver P. Thomas, ss; Stiilman H. Sawyer, JS ; William Mayhew, T. Members, 42; initiates, 19; rejected, 1; deceased, 3. District 5
Meridian Splendor, 49, Newport. Samuel S. Land, M ; Grenville Flint, SW; Hiram Rose, JW ; Edward Pilsbury, TR ; Thomas Croswell, S; Hezekiah Lancaster, SD ; Elijah M. Dearborn, JD ; Orrin Footman, SS; Joseph Knight, JS; John Holbrook, T. Members,28; initiates,7; rejected, District 1.
Aurora, 50, East Thomaston. David M. Mitchell, M ; Ephraim Hall, sw; Larkin Snow, JW ; Constant Rankin, TR ; George W. Cochran, S; Samuel B. Dodge, SD ; C. H. Cochran, JD ; Samuel Libbey, ss; M. S. Whiting, js ; Hosea Coombs, T. Members, 43; initiates, 12; rejected, 1; deceased, 1. District 4
Mosaic, 52, Dover. E. B. Averill, m ; Luther Chamberlain, SW; J. M. Hackett, JW ; J. S. Holmes, tr ; E. J. Hale, S; Benjamin Hassell, SD ; William P. Brown, JD ; Salmon Holmes, ss; Paul Douglass, js. Members, 19; initiates, 2. District 7
Unity, 58, Freedom. Daniel Weed, m ; James Hall, SW ; Charles Eliot, JW ; Adam Weed, tr ; Seth Webb, S; James Weed, SD ; Samuel Curtis, JD ; Ivory Lord, SS; Thomas S. Keen, js ; Joseph Larrabee, t. Members, 14; initiates, 4; deceased, 2. District 9
Mount Hope, 59, Hope. Josiah Hobbs, m ; John Lermond, SW; J. S. Chit-man, JW ; Hiram Fisk, tr ; Church Fisk, S; Walter Philbrick, SD ; Daniel Howard, JD ; Eben. Philbrick, SS ; Thomas P. White, js ; David Hull, T. Members, 13; initiates, 2. District 9
Star in the East, 60, Old Town. Otis H. Johnson, m ; Eli Hoskins, sw; George P. Sewall, JW ; Foster Wood, TR ; Ezra C. Brett, S; Ira Wallace, SD ; Solomon Moulton, JD ; James H. Burgess, SS; Ansel Smith, JS ; Joseph Moulton, t. Members, 40; Initiates, 12; rejected, 1; deceased, 1.
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