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Article CORRESPONDENCE. ← Page 7 of 9 →
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Correspondence.
ancl , on this occasion , we are bound to do justice to the fair and impartial manner in which he presided . We regret that he has been apparently tied up to a party or clique in the Grand Lodge ; but this is not his fault . If he wish to maintain the confidence ofthe Craft , as he evidently does , in a very shoit time he will preside with true Masonic spirit , and not allow Brethren , who are ignorant of Lodge government to dictate to him what should he doneancl what he himself should do .
, He certainly astonished the weak minds of some of the Brethren at the last meeting , by calling them to order in a manner , to which they at least had not been accustomed . We firmly believe that he is an anxious inquirer after Masonic knowledge—would that he visited other Lodges than those at which he is personally known ; he would then obtain more " LIGHT . " The Provincial Grand Loclge of Ayrshire sent a Memorial to Grand
Loclge , by which it appeared that some business , which it had been thought should have heen first laid before them , had been sent direct to the Grand Lodge , or Committee ; this they considered rather unmasonic or irregular . To our mind , the most correct and Masonic mode of transacting all Masonic matters , is first to bring them under the consideration of the Provincial Grand Loclge of the district ; if the verdict here be unsatisfactory , then that it should be carried to the Upper house —the Grand Loclge . We demur to the opinion of a legal Brother , who
gave his view of the matter , that every disputed case in a Province ought to come at once to the Grand Lodge ; this is certainly a novel idea , and ivhich , if adopted in every law case ivhich takes place in the neutral world , would speedily demolish the practice of many legal gentlemen . Once carry out the notion , that every matter which requires an exposition of the law , whether civil or criminal ( and in Masonry we have both ) , should be referred to the highest court of judicature , the
House of Lords would then have work before it . The fact is , that the Provincial Lodges know the cases much better than the Grand Committee can possibly understand them , and have much more time to consider them than the Grand Lodge ; if the verdict of the Provincial Grand Lodge does not satisfy , then it is time to bring the subject under discussion before the Grand Lodge . We now come to the election of the Grand Committee , —that body
which manages the Grand Lodge . We rejoice to say , that a decided improvement has this year taken place in the mode of the electionthough as yet it is far from perfect—nevertheless we would give all credit due to the active whipper-in of our Masonic Parliament , for the manner in ivhich he gained the election ; it is a lesson to the reformers by which we hope they will profit , to be more active in obtaining lists of members to give in . The giving in of lists is ah advance upon the old system of self-election , and we hope that next year there will he a still greater improvement in the character of the lists from which the election is made .
After the nomination of the Committee , came the recommendation as to the interim Grand Bard , when Brother Jamieson , author of "Nimrod , " was appointed . There is certainly much need of harmony in the Grand Loclge , to soften the asperities of party discussion ; but , with all due deference to the Brother who has been chosen , even at risk of shewing our ignorance , we honestly confess that we never heard of him before as a Mason , or of "Nimrod " as a poem : he may be quite worthy to fill the office to which he is appointed , —still we think that another
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
ancl , on this occasion , we are bound to do justice to the fair and impartial manner in which he presided . We regret that he has been apparently tied up to a party or clique in the Grand Lodge ; but this is not his fault . If he wish to maintain the confidence ofthe Craft , as he evidently does , in a very shoit time he will preside with true Masonic spirit , and not allow Brethren , who are ignorant of Lodge government to dictate to him what should he doneancl what he himself should do .
, He certainly astonished the weak minds of some of the Brethren at the last meeting , by calling them to order in a manner , to which they at least had not been accustomed . We firmly believe that he is an anxious inquirer after Masonic knowledge—would that he visited other Lodges than those at which he is personally known ; he would then obtain more " LIGHT . " The Provincial Grand Loclge of Ayrshire sent a Memorial to Grand
Loclge , by which it appeared that some business , which it had been thought should have heen first laid before them , had been sent direct to the Grand Lodge , or Committee ; this they considered rather unmasonic or irregular . To our mind , the most correct and Masonic mode of transacting all Masonic matters , is first to bring them under the consideration of the Provincial Grand Loclge of the district ; if the verdict here be unsatisfactory , then that it should be carried to the Upper house —the Grand Loclge . We demur to the opinion of a legal Brother , who
gave his view of the matter , that every disputed case in a Province ought to come at once to the Grand Lodge ; this is certainly a novel idea , and ivhich , if adopted in every law case ivhich takes place in the neutral world , would speedily demolish the practice of many legal gentlemen . Once carry out the notion , that every matter which requires an exposition of the law , whether civil or criminal ( and in Masonry we have both ) , should be referred to the highest court of judicature , the
House of Lords would then have work before it . The fact is , that the Provincial Lodges know the cases much better than the Grand Committee can possibly understand them , and have much more time to consider them than the Grand Lodge ; if the verdict of the Provincial Grand Lodge does not satisfy , then it is time to bring the subject under discussion before the Grand Lodge . We now come to the election of the Grand Committee , —that body
which manages the Grand Lodge . We rejoice to say , that a decided improvement has this year taken place in the mode of the electionthough as yet it is far from perfect—nevertheless we would give all credit due to the active whipper-in of our Masonic Parliament , for the manner in ivhich he gained the election ; it is a lesson to the reformers by which we hope they will profit , to be more active in obtaining lists of members to give in . The giving in of lists is ah advance upon the old system of self-election , and we hope that next year there will he a still greater improvement in the character of the lists from which the election is made .
After the nomination of the Committee , came the recommendation as to the interim Grand Bard , when Brother Jamieson , author of "Nimrod , " was appointed . There is certainly much need of harmony in the Grand Loclge , to soften the asperities of party discussion ; but , with all due deference to the Brother who has been chosen , even at risk of shewing our ignorance , we honestly confess that we never heard of him before as a Mason , or of "Nimrod " as a poem : he may be quite worthy to fill the office to which he is appointed , —still we think that another