Washington Report On Negro Masonry.

WASHINGTON REPORT ON NEGRO MASONRY .

THE " Kansas Freemason" thus refers to a pamphlet , containing the report of the " Committee on Negro Masonry , " to the Grand Lodge of Washington , and adopted by an almost unanimous vote 15 th June , during tbe last Annual Communication of that body : This report , with the accompanying resolutions , was prepared by the master bram and hand of Grand

Master Wm . H . Upton , and to say it is stroDg , clear , exhaustive and unanswerable is but stating a fact instantly apparent to everyone who psruses it . We say it is unanswerable , and' so we regard it , viewed from the high grounds of justice and Masonic law , but it is altogether likely numerous answers will be made , but if so it must be in a strain similar to that employed in 1875 ,

by Albert Pike , when he said ; " Prince Hall Lodge was as regular a Lodge as any Lodge created by competent authority , and had a perfect right ( as other Lodges in Europe did ) to establish other Lodges , and make itself a Mother Lodge . That is the way the Berlin Lodges , Three Globes and Eoyal York ,

became Grand Lodges . I am not inclined to meddle in the matter . I took my obligation before white men , not to Negroes . When I have to accept Negroes as Brothers or leave Masonry , I shall leave it . Better let the thing drift . —Apres nous le deluge . "

The resolutions recommended by the Committee are as follow : Eesolved , That , in the opinion of this Grand Lodge , Masonry is universal ; and , without doubt , neither race nor colour are among the tests proper to be applied to determine the fitness of a candidate for the degrees of Masonry .

Eesolved , That in view of recognised laws of the Masonic Institution , and of facts of history apparently well authenticated and worthy of full credence , this Grand Lodge does not see its way clear to deny or question the right of its constituent Lodges , or of the members thereof , to recognise as Brother Masons , Negroes who have been initiated in Lodges which can trace their

origin to Prince Hall Lodge , No . 459 , organised under the warrant of our E . W . Brother Thomas Howard , Earl of Effingham , ActiDg Grand Master , under the authority of H . E . H . Henry Frederick ,. Duke of Cumberland , etc ., Grand Master of the Most . Ancient and Honourable Society of F . & A . Masons in England , bearing date 29 September A . L . 5784 , or to our E . W . Brother Prince Hall , Master of said Lodge ; and , in the opinion

of this Grand Lodge , for the purpose of tracing such origin , the African Grand Lodge , of Boston , organised in 1808—subsequently known as the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , the first African Grand Lodge of North America in and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , organised in 1815 , and the Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , may justly be regarded as legitimate Masonic Grand Lodges .

Eesolved , That while this Grand Lodge recognises no difference between Brethren based on race or colour , yet it is not unmindful of the fact that the white and coloured races in the United States have in many ways shown a preference to remain , in purely social matters , separate and apart . In view of this inclination of the two races—Masonry being pre-eminently a

social institution—this Grand Lodge deems it to the best interests of Masonry to declare that if regular Masons of African descent desire to establish , within the state of Washington , Lodges confined wholly or chiefly to Brethren of their race , and shall establish such Lodges strictly in accordance with Masonic law as heretofore interpreted by Masonic tribunals of their own race ,

and if such Lodges shall in due time see fit in like manner to erect a Grand Lodge for the better administration of their affairs , this Grand Lodge , having more regard for the good of Masonry than for any mere technicality , will not regard the establishment of such Lodges or Grand Lodges as an invasion of its jurisdiction

but as evincing a disposition to conform to its own ideas as to the best interests of the Craft under . peculiar circumstances ; and will ever extend to our coloured Brethren its sincere sympathy in every effort to promote the welfare of the Craft , or inculcate the pure principles of our Art .

Eesolved . That the Secretary be instructed to acknowledge receipt of the communication from Gideon S . Bailey and Con A . Eideout , and forward to them a copy of the printed proceedings of this Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge , as a response to said communication .

What Means All This?

WHAT MEANS ALL THIS ?

An Address delivered by Bro . David S . Kaufman , of Texas , on St . John the Evangelist's Day . Y / T 7 HAT means this parade and pageantry ? this public / y display ? this solemn procession ? these badges and insignia of ancient honour—the exhibition of the Bible , Square and Compass—borne by . that tottering remnant of humanity ?

What Means All This?

the petition to the Throne of Divine Grace ? and tho meeting strains , of music which have just fallen on our delighted ears ? Why have age and youth and beauty honoured this ball with their unaccustomed presence on this sacred day ? Why are you , my Brothers , clothed in your working apparel , and armed with the implements of your office ? This is the birthday of the beloved

disciple of tbe Prince of Peace , and an honoured festival in the Masonic calendar I The presence of the votaries of the Temple , from the humble Apprentice to the Knight of Malta , shows that we cherish the highest veneration for this celebrated patron of our Order ; and the Christian audience which I see around me gives me the gratifying , assurance that the memory of the

Evangelist is nurtured in other bosoms than ours . Whilst as Masons we regard St . John amongst the most illustrious of our Brotherhood , and one who has shed a halo of glory around our mystic union , the world adores him as the proclaimer of the " true word , " and as the prophet of Patmos , to whose revelations none can add , and from which none dare take away .

In every age and country , amongst the savage as well as the civilised nations of the earth , it has been customary to observe stated anniversaries and festivals . Masonry , too , has her festivals , and amongst these stand conspicuous the 27 th of December and the 24 th of June , the anniversaries of the two St . Johns . The assemblage of individuals on these interesting

occasions is admirably calculated to burnish the link which connects the present with the glorious past ; to brighten and preserve those animating recollections which the selfishness and cupidity of the world are so prone to rust and corrode , and to enable us again to live over in imagination those few proud scenes in the dark and bloody history of man which stand out as beacon lights on the promontories of time , and still claim for

him ' an immortality beyond the grave . Without recollection what would we be ? Like the brutes that go down to the dust and perish . Events create a nation and the recollection preserves it . The invocation of the name of Brutus could rebuke treason toEome ; and the memory of Washington , calling on the country he had created to frown upon the first dawnings of any attempt to destroy the American Union , enables the Star Spangled Banner still to brave the battle and the breeze .

It may not , perhaps , be uniirstructive to take a brief retrospective glance at the origin and character of our Institution . Although from its extreme antiquity little positive is known of its early history and progress , yet we are able to trace it back to the building of the Temple of Solomon , our Grand High Priest and Master . This stupendous specimen of architecture , which

was seven years m being built , and which , indeed , was among the wonders of the world , could not be erected without the strictest subordination of all the workmen to the Grand Master of the enterprise . It required the labour of the world to perfect it , and different nations of the earth lent their aid to the completion of the grand design . It is said that there were employed three

Grand Masters , two thousand three hundred Masters , eighty thousand Craftsmen , and seventy thousand Entered Apprentices . All these were so classed and arranged into Lodges that neither envy , discord nor confusion was permitted to interrupt the harmony of those engaged in that important work . Mount Moriah was the place immortalised by its location , and it was

erected a lasting monument of the spot where Abraham was about to offer up Israel ' s hope , and where David encountered and appeased the destroying angel . After this grand edifice had been erected and dedicated to the true and living God , it is reasonable to presume that the associations there formed would not be broken off , but that they would coutinue after the causes

which produced them ceased to exist . They did continue , and they have become the foundation of a moral edifice greater than this gorgeous temple oi Solomon , which could contain three hundred thousand souls ; the temple of Masonry contains millions who worship in it without any to molest them or make them afraid ! The former occupied a small space on the mountain ' s

top—the latter has extended itself into the uttermost parts of the earth . The one has already passed away like the baseless fabric of a vision , and lives only in story—the other still exists in more than its pristine vigour and beauty , strengthening and growing with the onward march of time , and . will continue to live unhurt amidst the war of elements , the wreck of nations , and the

crush of empires ! In its onward rjrogress down to our day and generation , it has included amongst its worshippers many of the great and good of every clime and tongue , amongst these Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the Baptist challenge our peculiar admiration ; and will we not rejoice that amidst the death and desolation of Time , he has involuntarily spared our

sacred Order , and that it contains within itself the seeds of its own eternal preservation ? When we consult the page of history we weep over the mutability of things and pine at the lot of humanity . We ask ourselves , Where are the towers of Babylon , the gates of Thebes , thelyceums of Athens , and the amphitheatres of the " Eternal City "? They have passed away ! Where is Greece the arbiter of letters , and Eome the mistress of the world ?