Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Thirtieth Of October, 1840.—Conclusion Of The Case Of Dr. Crucefix.
ample an explanation as that which was accepted in the first case , yet his sentence was confirmed . Now had the explanation given by him been thought insufficient , why should he not have been told so at the time ? It was hardly possible , on the moment , to give utterance to such words as the law might fully require . But if his admission was sufficient , why was the courtesy witheld from himas an accessorythat was extended to the principal .
, , In fact , step by step , he regretted to say there was a too evident determination to act , as regarded him , on the offensive . As regarded the Board of General Purposes , he was so convinced that the sentence was contrary to the evidence , that in the presence of G OD and the Grand Lodge , he could not . too emphatically declare his conviction that , if the evidence had been read , the Grand Lodge ivould have arrived at a totally different conclusion . It was this conviction that
consoled him : and for the sake of all who might ever suffer such dreadful persecution as he had received , he declared his determination to exercise all the energies of his thought ancl action to uphold and maintain the rights and privileges of Freemasonry . He ; hacl endured nearly twelve months of ceaseless persecution . No slander was thought too vile in reproaching him with , as a means to influence votes in Grand Lodge . It was scarcely possible to enumerate
the filthy ravings of his tradueers , who , driven at last to a stand-still , reported that he was a PROFKSSED GAMBLER ! These things he mentioned , not so much as reasons why a sentence should be suspended , but to show the abominable prejudice that had been excited against him ; and he might ask dispassionately of the
Brethren then assembled , whether it were possible that such things should exist in Freemasonry ? He would not ask any one to step forward ancl declare himself more honest than himself , but he must be pardoned if he expressed a doubt whether the endurance of such unmerited injustice , such infliction of provocation — thank God , unheard of before—could be looked upon as the fair requital for years of unsullied Masonic reputation . It was when goaded by sufferings that no honest Mason could approve—when offended by a seeming approbation
bestowed upon his slanderers , ancl deserted by tLe fostering protection of Grand Lodge , on which he relied—that he wrote a letter to H . R . H . the Grand Master and afterwards published it . 'This act was unnecessary , and it was wrong ; he should have left his wrongs , deep ancl galling as they were , to have spoken for themselves , and they would have spoken trumpet-tongued . For that act he was justly amenable ; ancl he thought it more becoming to acknowledge an error than to persist
in obstinacy ; ancl he was desirous that his admission should be becoming a high-minded Mason . He then drew the attention of the Grand Lodge to the circumstance , that although there were in June last no less than five unreported Quarterly Communications , yet that the proceedings of Grand Lotlge in June , which so seriously affected him , were reported with unusual promptitudenotwithstanding that a possibility existed that those proceedings
, might not be confirmed in September ; this was not , however , of what he complained , so much as that in regard to himself tiie statement made in such circular was totally contrary to fact . He might add , however , that since such circular , another , under date September 1839 , was received by October Lodges , announcing that the Earl of Durham had then presided , and that a letter of thanks from
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Thirtieth Of October, 1840.—Conclusion Of The Case Of Dr. Crucefix.
ample an explanation as that which was accepted in the first case , yet his sentence was confirmed . Now had the explanation given by him been thought insufficient , why should he not have been told so at the time ? It was hardly possible , on the moment , to give utterance to such words as the law might fully require . But if his admission was sufficient , why was the courtesy witheld from himas an accessorythat was extended to the principal .
, , In fact , step by step , he regretted to say there was a too evident determination to act , as regarded him , on the offensive . As regarded the Board of General Purposes , he was so convinced that the sentence was contrary to the evidence , that in the presence of G OD and the Grand Lodge , he could not . too emphatically declare his conviction that , if the evidence had been read , the Grand Lodge ivould have arrived at a totally different conclusion . It was this conviction that
consoled him : and for the sake of all who might ever suffer such dreadful persecution as he had received , he declared his determination to exercise all the energies of his thought ancl action to uphold and maintain the rights and privileges of Freemasonry . He ; hacl endured nearly twelve months of ceaseless persecution . No slander was thought too vile in reproaching him with , as a means to influence votes in Grand Lodge . It was scarcely possible to enumerate
the filthy ravings of his tradueers , who , driven at last to a stand-still , reported that he was a PROFKSSED GAMBLER ! These things he mentioned , not so much as reasons why a sentence should be suspended , but to show the abominable prejudice that had been excited against him ; and he might ask dispassionately of the
Brethren then assembled , whether it were possible that such things should exist in Freemasonry ? He would not ask any one to step forward ancl declare himself more honest than himself , but he must be pardoned if he expressed a doubt whether the endurance of such unmerited injustice , such infliction of provocation — thank God , unheard of before—could be looked upon as the fair requital for years of unsullied Masonic reputation . It was when goaded by sufferings that no honest Mason could approve—when offended by a seeming approbation
bestowed upon his slanderers , ancl deserted by tLe fostering protection of Grand Lodge , on which he relied—that he wrote a letter to H . R . H . the Grand Master and afterwards published it . 'This act was unnecessary , and it was wrong ; he should have left his wrongs , deep ancl galling as they were , to have spoken for themselves , and they would have spoken trumpet-tongued . For that act he was justly amenable ; ancl he thought it more becoming to acknowledge an error than to persist
in obstinacy ; ancl he was desirous that his admission should be becoming a high-minded Mason . He then drew the attention of the Grand Lodge to the circumstance , that although there were in June last no less than five unreported Quarterly Communications , yet that the proceedings of Grand Lotlge in June , which so seriously affected him , were reported with unusual promptitudenotwithstanding that a possibility existed that those proceedings
, might not be confirmed in September ; this was not , however , of what he complained , so much as that in regard to himself tiie statement made in such circular was totally contrary to fact . He might add , however , that since such circular , another , under date September 1839 , was received by October Lodges , announcing that the Earl of Durham had then presided , and that a letter of thanks from