Our Grand Lodge And The Grand Orient Of France.

OUR GRAND LODGE AND THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE .

WE do not think the slightest objection can be raised to the plan submitted by the Pro Grand Master and approved by Grand Lodge with reference to the recent alteration of the first article of its Constitutions b y the Grand Orient of France . The Earl of Carnarvon in

proposing bis plan was careful to point out that a belief in God and the immortality of the soul was part and parcel of the essential principles of Freemasonry . This belief .

he added , entered into all our ceremonies and symbols , which without it would be not only a meaningless , but an offensive mockery ; and by expunging it from its Constitutions the Grand Orient of Prance had isolated itself from

other Grand Lodges . Thus our Pro Grand Master sufficiently vindicated the purity of Masonic principles . ISTor will any one seriously quarrel with his proposed method of procedure by means of a Committe of inquiry into all the circumstances , such inquiry

beinoconducted patiently , calmly , and temperately , with a view to reporting to Grand Lodge at next Quarterly Communication the course it is deemed advisable to pursue on this question . For ourselves we do not see how the most searching investigation can possibly alter the facts of

the case , or make this declaration of principle less worthy of condemnation . Grand Lodge Ireland has acted immediatel y , and has denounced with vigour what cannot be deemed as aught else than objectionable . Our Grand Lodge proposes to move in the matter deliberately , but this deliberation

implies no want of firmness or want of readiness to fulfil its duty , when it has been , once and for all , clearly and unmistakably defined . On the contrary , the Report will have the greater weight from the fact of its being adopted after a calm and patient investigation . As to the composition

of the Committee , the members selected will admirabl y represent the body of English Freemasons . They are men of culture and experience , and can be relied on to fulfil their duty with the strictest impartiality . The reference of the Earl of Carnarvon to the seventy-six French

Lodges who voted against the proposed change inclines us to hope that a means may be found by which the whole body of Freemasons in France may not bo made to suffer

for the action even of a large majority . This is in accordance with the suggestion we threw out in our first article on this question . "With theso remarks we leave the matter in the hands of the Committee .

The Appeals Of Bros. A. Vaillant And Others.

THE APPEALS OF BROS . A . VAILLANT AND OTHERS .

THE circumstances which led to these appeals were described at some length in an article which appeared in our issue of the 1 st September . Moreover , the papers relating to it have been lying in the Grand Secretary ' s Office for the inspection of brethren , so that the bulk

of our readers are sufficiently informed of the facts of the case . Thus a brief recapitulation must suffice on this occasion . In January 1876 , Bro . the Eev .

John E . Marks , of Lodge " Victoria in Burmah , " who was at the time in England , was appointed Senior Warden . Bro . Marks did not return to Rangoon till April , while it was not till August that he attended in Lodge and entered

The Appeals Of Bros. A. Vaillant And Others.

on his duties . In December of the same year , the question of his eligibility to serve as W . M . was raised by Bro . T . N . Seymour , and the W . M . Bro . W . A . Nichols ruled that he was eligible . A ballot was then taken , and Bro . Marks was elected Master for tho ensuing year , by

13 votes over Bro . Yaillant , for whom only 11 votes were cast . The latter and sundry other brethren appealed against the W . M . ' s ruling , bufc tho Deputy District G . M . dismissed the appeal on the ground that it was couched in disrespectful language . Pending the decision on a

second appeal , Bro . Marks was installed as W . M . Then the retiring Master made certain charges against the appellants for having used insulting expressions against the officers of tho Lodge , and in the result nine members passed a sentence of exclusion against five , for unmasonic

conduct . After this , the Deputy District G . M . decided adversely on the second appeal , and when the excluded brethren brought the sentence passed upon them under his notice , he decided not to interfere in the matter . Bufc Bro . Vaillanfc and his companions in misfortune wore , not

unnaturally , dissatisfied with this refusal of tho Deputy District G . M ., and the subject having been referred to head quarters , Grand Lodge , after hearing the exposition of the law on the case by the Grand Registrar , supported the appeal ; and it was decided that Rev . Bro . Marks was

not eligible to serve as Worshipful Master , and as a corollary that the sentence of exclusion from this Lodgo was unjustifiable . Both judgments have been reversed , and , as a

consequence , Bro . Marks can enjoy none of the rights and privileges of an Installed Master , and Bro . Yaillant and his co-appellants are restored to their position as members of the Victoria in Burmah Lodcre , No . 832 , Rangoon ,

We have carefully studied tho circumstances of the case , and we do not see how Grand Lodge could possibly havo come to any other conclusion . It is more than ever necessary in these days , when the number of our Lodges has increased so prodigiously , that there should be a strict

administration of the law . If there is the slightest tendency on the part of whom it may concern towards a lax interpretation or observance oE tho Constitutions , it is inevitable that the whole framework of our Society—at least in England— -will become sooner or later disjointed .

In this particular case it must be manifest , even to the tyro in Freemasonry , that Bro . Marks was not more eligible for the position of Master than a brother who had only a month previously been raised to the degree of M . M . His absence from the Lodge on the occasion of his

appointment as Senior Warden , and the mere fact that , by reason of such absence , he was not invested with his jewel of office , would not by themselves have constituted any impediment to his election to the chair . The Constitutions very properly make allowance for such a contingency .

But he did not appear in person till the month of April , and he did not attend in his place in Lodge till August , when two-thirds of his term of office had expired . Yet , in the face of this , the Master , Bro . Nichols , when the point of Bro . Marks ' s eligibility was raised , did not hesitate to

declare him eligible . We have no acquaintance with Bro . Nichols , and are desirous of treating the matter impartially . While , moreover , we cannot expect that all who are elected to fill the chair of a Lodge will be learned in the law of Freemasonry ; still , we are justified in supposing that

Worshipful Masters , when they enter upon their duties , will pay some heed to our Constitutions , and in their study of them will exercise a portion of that common sense which we may fairly imagine they possess . Bro . Nichols does not seem to have been a painstaking Masonic student .