Proposed Convention.

PROPOSED CONVENTION .

THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE AND THE SCOTCH SYMBOLICAL GRAND LODGE .

( Continued from page 130 . ) IN farther consideration of its views , our worthy contemporary Le Monde Maconniqne continues in the following strain . Is it not the case tbat onr Grand Orient took the

initiative in abolishing the Grand Mastership , an office which still exists in all the other countries of the world ? Has it not , as a means of conciliating the supporters and opponents of the High Grades , and with a view to potting an

end to tbe straggle which for years has divided French Masonry into two hostile camps , has it not , we ask , granted to the so-called superior Bodies the right to be represented in its general assemblies ? Has ifc not , dnring the last fifty

years , strenuously upheld the rights of the Jewish brethren in Germany , and those of the Negro and Mulatto Craftsmen in America , thus creating for itself , by this determined

appeal to justice , a host of implacable enemies ? Is it not the case that , single-handed against all the other Masonic powers in the world , it has dared to affirm the absolute freedom of man ' s conscience—an affirmation which has

resulted in the excommunication of our Grand Orient by the whole of Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry ? All this is forgotten , and much else that we might refer to , such as the struggle against Prince Murat , or the campaign

against recognition by the State , both which proved to demonstration how jealous were the brethren of the Grand Orient of their independence , and how deeply they were animated by the spirit of toleration , without which

Freemasonry would not exist . Tet , in spite of all this , there are people who pretend to believe that tbe Grand Orient is a retrograde and anti-Masonic body . "Worse still , there are those who charitably propose to infuse new blood in it ,

by bestowing npon it an entirely new Constitution , endowed with every imaginable good quality . Admitting for the moment that this Constitution , which it is desired to force on the Grand Orient as a condition sine and non of the

fusion , shonld turn out to be unobjectionable in its effects , ^ and realising on the instant all the hopes and aspirations of those who love justice , in that case , how perfect soever maybe the new Constitntion framed by the

project of Convention , we do not hesitate to say , and we trust the Assembly will proclaim it aloud , that such Convention is impossible of acceptance , inasmuch as , in its ¦ Boat essential feature , so far from being progressive in its character

, it will throw ns back , and that , too , to a very considerable extent , as compared with tbe Constitution actnall y in force . Inat the Constitution we live nnder at nresent is im .

perfect is a question that admits of no doubt , and it equally recognised tbat those who have assisted in ^ ° fking ifc from 1865 till the present time have been no ore than i gnorant and incapable brethren . Meanwhile , , i » e y » this Constitntion , notwithstanding its many -1 AT L "I wv . . __ ¦ __* . _ vu -iwilj JJUU" IWKOVUUVUlJ g *« - ¦ - ¦ - _ .-l * i __ ir

Bnffi ^ ' ^ recommeDdation , which alone will att "vf t 0 ^ P otl * ^ ^' wnic ^ P P- e are P hased to at r t 0 - ^ ' * * P - ° f revision , and that , not only stantl 0046 ^ nterva ^ as tnose which preceded it , but eolith v ' whenever the majority of the Lodges have brought s elves to recognise the necessity for further modifica-

Proposed Convention.

tions . During the last eleven years the General Assemblies of the Grand Orient have largely availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them , as is evidenced by the fact that of the forty-four articles contained in the

Constitutions of 1865 , no less than twenty-five have been modified , amended , or replaced by others . Would such a result be possible with a Constitution which provides not for any revision , and the essential features of which will have been settled in a definite manner ? How will it fare with the

treaty of Union between the Symbolical Grand Lodge and the Grand Orient , if the latter should rashly put its hand to the work thafc is submitted to the ratification , pure and simple , of the approaching Convention ? Who will have the right to tear up this contract , seeing that the two

contracting parties will have ceased to exist ? Thus , for the rest of all time , the French brethren will be condemned to admire the profound wisdom of their settled Constitution ! Such a course as has jnst been indicated would be quite out of the question , and the . Assembly should never associate

itself with proceedings so reactionary . The Constitution of 1865 , which showed a great advance on that of 1854 , allowed a revision to be made only at the end of nine years , and it necessitated a concatenation of circumstances that conld hardly be anticipated—such , for instance , as the

refusal of General Mellinet to accept re-election , the difficulty of enlisting on the spur of the moment another Grand Master , & c , & c . —in order to afford the party of progressists the opportunity of demanding in 1870 and obtaining the reunion of a constituent Assembly , which put an end

among other things to the clause fixing revision at periods of time too far removed and by means of a special meeting . The Constituent assembly which it is expected will be held with a certain amount of illegality on the 16 th of September next , might insert in the new Constitution a clause

providing for periodical revision in the future j bnt is it likely the Scotch Symbolical Grand Lodge , which is one of the contracting parties , will be prepared to ratify a convention , the essential basis of which may be modified or

destroyed at any moment ? It cannot shut its eyes to tho fact that it will always be found in a minority in the Assemblies , and it is only natural that , as it attaches certain conditions to its re-nnion with tbe Grand Orient , it should

require those conditions to be scrupulously observed . In a report on this question to the Symbolical Grand Lodge , Bro . Grumain-Cornille says distinctly : " [ am desirous of pointing out that the actual proposition , even when it has been adopted by the Symbolical Grand Lodge ,

and ratified by the approaching Convention , is nothing more than a preliminary step , which in no way binds tbe contracting parties . Everything remains subject to tbe vote of the entire constituent body , to which shall be entrusted the Constitntion of Symbolical French Masonry ,

once again restored to its sovereign jurisdiction . If , then , which is most nnlikely , the representatives of the Symbolical Grand Lodge should find themselves in the Constituent Assembly in tbe face of a majority hostile to the principles of liberty as formulated in the project of Convention , ifc

would still be in their power to reject , m its entirety , the new organic law as proposed , and , in a formal declaration explanatory of its reasons , to cancel the signature of the

Symbolical Grand Lodge , with a view to maintaining its present independence , and so reserve an asylnm for its liberty . " This language is clear , and sufficiently indicates thafc the Symbolical Grand Lodge is too much attached to its prin-