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Article THE FREEMASONS' QUARTERLY REVIEW. ← Page 2 of 8 →
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The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
Turning , then , from the closing scene in the life of our late Grand Master , we now seek to apply existing circumstances , as far as they may be so applied , to the benefit of the Craft .
At no more fitting season could we examine the Constitutions of English Freemasons , with a view to their improvement , than during the Masonic Interregnumduring the period in which , although , thanks to the prescience of the Duke of Sussex , we are governed by
an excellent Pro-Grand Master , wc have deeply to reflect upon the individual qualifications of the very few qualified Brethren from whom to make choice of a Chief . It cannot be denied , that the system of Masonic government adopted at the Union , and the mode of carrying
it out up to the present period , has tended to accumulate a very undue preponderance of power in the hands of the Grand Master , and to give to the distribution of Masonic honours more the effect of personal favour , than of the reward of Masonic merit . Whilst the Grand Officers ,
thus appointed , have deemed themselves to be under such individual obligation to the Grand Master , as entirel y to absolve them from any responsibility to the Craft . Thus Provincial Grand Masters have been continued in their offices without ever convening the Lodges in their
districts ; thus men of wealth and station have withheld their aid , on charitable occasions , when , to use their own expressions , their best wishes attended the exertions which they were restrained from partaking , and were so restrained because the Grand Master was assumed to be averse to
those proceedings , because , in fact , they had received their purple badges as personal favours from the Grand Master ; and thus the united influence and votes of such officers , when assembled in Grand Lodge , have rendered perfectly nugatory any attempts at improvement , or efforts to be
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
Turning , then , from the closing scene in the life of our late Grand Master , we now seek to apply existing circumstances , as far as they may be so applied , to the benefit of the Craft .
At no more fitting season could we examine the Constitutions of English Freemasons , with a view to their improvement , than during the Masonic Interregnumduring the period in which , although , thanks to the prescience of the Duke of Sussex , we are governed by
an excellent Pro-Grand Master , wc have deeply to reflect upon the individual qualifications of the very few qualified Brethren from whom to make choice of a Chief . It cannot be denied , that the system of Masonic government adopted at the Union , and the mode of carrying
it out up to the present period , has tended to accumulate a very undue preponderance of power in the hands of the Grand Master , and to give to the distribution of Masonic honours more the effect of personal favour , than of the reward of Masonic merit . Whilst the Grand Officers ,
thus appointed , have deemed themselves to be under such individual obligation to the Grand Master , as entirel y to absolve them from any responsibility to the Craft . Thus Provincial Grand Masters have been continued in their offices without ever convening the Lodges in their
districts ; thus men of wealth and station have withheld their aid , on charitable occasions , when , to use their own expressions , their best wishes attended the exertions which they were restrained from partaking , and were so restrained because the Grand Master was assumed to be averse to
those proceedings , because , in fact , they had received their purple badges as personal favours from the Grand Master ; and thus the united influence and votes of such officers , when assembled in Grand Lodge , have rendered perfectly nugatory any attempts at improvement , or efforts to be