-
Articles/Ads
Article UNITED GRAND LODGE. ← Page 3 of 4 Article UNITED GRAND LODGE. Page 3 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
United Grand Lodge.
For some years , naturally , he did not take much part in it ; but , owing to circumstances in the province to which he had the honour to belong—VVest Lancashire—he was induced to take a more active part in Masonn' . Since that time he had been promoted , through H . R . H . the Grand Master , to a very high position in Masonry , and it filled his heart with deep thankfulness when he thought that year after year he was thanked by the brethren for
what little he had done . His duties were not onerous or heavy ; but , at the same time , he could say honestly and conscientiously that when he was called upon to perform them , he always endeavoured to do so . ( Hear , hear , and cheers . ) He did not know that there was a more heart-stirring thing in the world than to think that in the great body of Freemasons , not only in this country , but throughout the world , there was a body of men united
together by one great bond , and for the same object—Charity and Loyalty . Charity was and ought to be universal among Masons —( hear , hear)—and Loyalty was and ought to be universal , whatever country they might be in . ( Renewed applause . ) If he had not found that those two great principles of the Order had been thoroughly carried out , and thoroughly pushed , he for one would not have taken the active part in Masonry he had
taken . But they were actively pushed , they were thought of , and he believed they were thoroughly in the heart of every Mason . ( Hear , hear . ) Let them act up to them , and as long as they acted up to those principles he was sure that their great Order of Freemasonry would last , and last as a great and moving spirit in the world . He could have dilated much more on the principles of Masonry , and on the principles of Loyalty and Charity ,
but as this would take a long time , he would content himself by merely thanking the brethren for their kindness , and assuring them that any trouble of a few hours' travelling was amply repaid by the cordial reception they had given him that night . ( Cheers . ) The Earl of LATHOM next gave the toast of " The R . W . the Provincial and District Grand Masters . " He was happy to say he knew personally
nearly the whole of those brethren , and he had had the honour of installing a good number of them . He only hoped he might not have to install many more , for he thought that those who now held office were the best who could hold that position . ( Hear , hear . ) The work of the Provincial Grand Masters —he spoke as one of them himself—was a great one , for they kept together the whole body in one united mass . He was happy to think that in past
years the Prov . Grand Masters had done their duty thoroughly and well . The District Grand Masters were a different body , but they had the same duties to perform . He was not acquainted with them so well as wilh the Prov . Grand Masters , but he believed from what he had heard and seen that they did their work thoroughly and well in their different provinces . They had among them that evening the District Grand Master of Victoria , Sir
Wm . Clark , and he was happy to welcome him as representing that very great—he was going to say , unit , but a very great portion of that Empire . Bro . Clark was here , though not specially in connection with the Exhibition which was about to be opened , but still as one who had taken a leading part in the Colony of Victoria , and he wished the brethren to give Sir Wm . Clark a welcome , not only as a Mason , but as one from the other side of the sea , who had come among his English brethren . ( Cheers . )
Sir WM . CLARK , in reply , said he was extraordinarily delighted with the welcome he had received among English Masons . He thought there were other brethren present who could have done more justice to the toast than he . In the first place he was not a speaker , and in thesecond place he had a very bad cold , which interfered with his throat ; and as there were other brethren present who could respond to that toast he should be pleased
if the Chairman would call upon them . He must , however , say that the people of Victoria were as true Masons as the people of England . They had from time to time a number of English Masons in Victoria who kept them up to the point in Masonry at which they ought to be . ( Cheers . ) The Earl of LATHOM , in proposing "The Grand Wardens and the other Grand Officers , Present and Past , " said he was glad to have to
propose that toast for one special reason—that he had the honour of performing that day a duty which he believed had never fallen to the lot of any Mason , viz ., investing the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain as Grand Warden of England . The Lord Chancellor bade him make his excuses to the brethren for his absence from the banquet . His lordship came a long
distance to Grand Lodge , and he had a long distance to go back . The Junior Grand Warden , Lord Charles Beresford , was also unable to stop , for , no doubt , he would have delighted the brethren with some remarks . Having a bad cold , he had strict orders from his doctor not to stop out . The Prince of Wales had made an excellent choice of Grand Officers for
this year . He ( Lord Lathom ) was delighted to welcome a county man of his own , in the person of Bro . Samuel Pope , Q . C . The duties of a Grand Officer , as a rule , were not very arduous , but the offices were the rewards of what the brethren had previously done , and they ought to be looked upon in that light . When it was the collar of a Warden , or the collar of a Pursuivant , it was a badge arnan ought to honour as much as the Victoria
Cross , for it showed that the man had done his duty in Masonry ; and if he had not done anything else he had done his duty to the Charities , which was the great point in Freemasonry . ( Hear , hear . ) If a man wished to be a good Mason , and to obtain advancement , let him do his duty to the Charities ; he certainly did not do his duty as a Mrson if he neglected the Charities . Let it be an amicable race among those who aspired to oflice , and let their names stand forth well on the Charity list . ( Cheers . )
Bro . FRANCIS BEILBY ALSTON , S . G . W . in 1850 , in acknowledging the toast , said he could not help thinking that it would have been agreeable to the brethren if this toast had been responded to by one of the Grand Wardens of the year , but owing to their inability to be present at the banquet , the Chairman had been good enough to couple his name with the toast . It was much more than the third of a century that hc had been
among the Grand Wardens of Grand Lodge , for it was now 36 years since he occupied the chair of Senior Grand Warden . He would not deny that he thought it a great compliment and honour to be asked to return thanks for this toast , and he availed himself of the privilege to say that he agreed with the Deputy Grand Master when he said that the Grand Master had been singularly fortunate in his selection of Grand Officers for the year .
In the absence of that distinguished nobleman the Lord Chancellor , he would say that , while no doubt the Grand Master had bestowed a great honour upon that distinguished officer , he had also conferrad no little honour upon Grand Lodge itself . The same remark applied to the nomination of the Grand Junior Warden . The name of Lord Charles Beresford awakened
in the heart of every Briton feelings of respect , of satisfaction , of gratitude , for so distinguished a servant of the Queen . He would like to go on and continue * the names of the officers present ; but he was afraid he must not dissociate himself from them . He would only ask the brethren to be assured that thc Grand Officers were highly honoured by the toast' that had been
United Grand Lodge.
proposed , and they thanked them warmly for having drunk it , and derived the greatest pleasure and satisfaction from being " present that evening . Bro . SAMUEL POPE , Q . C , G . S . D ., who was loudly called for , said if the absence of voice could excuse a want of response to so kindly a call , he should venture to plead that excuse ; but he could not . Two things he confessed , speaking for himself , for a moment , personally , had "ratified him
immensely that night—one , the belief that the promotion to Grand office had not been unacceptable to the brethren of the Craft —( cheers )—the other , as he ventured to whisper to the Deputy Grand Master as they came into the hall , that he should receive the collar of office as a Lancashire man from the hands of a man who , whatever differences of opinion mi ght have existed between thern ,, was recognised by every Lancashire lad
as a true representative of Lan : ashire Masonry . He remembered Lord Lathom when , as Lord Skelmersdale , his beard had not the aspect it now presented , but from the hour when , as a young man , he was recognised as one of their rising Lancashire worthies to the present , he had consecrated the great powers he possessed to the interests of the general bodv of the community , and the great brotherhood
of freemasonry in particular . He therefore confessed that every circumstance which could give him pleasure in the reception of the collar he wore had concentrated upon the brethren's kindness , and Lord Lathom ' s also . On behalf of the new Grand Officers—for the admirable brother who returned thanks just now represented the past rather than the present—let him say that the present Grand Officers , for whom he spoke as well as for
himself , were determined to consecrate whatever energies and power they possessed to the welfare of Masonry and the progress of the Crait . It was a proud night , it was a proud Festival , which had placed him in the chair of the Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodgeof England ( the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain ); it was a proud night for him ( Bro . Pope ) as
a member of the circuit which made him a personal friend of Lord Herschell as a member of the same profession , and also as a member of the same lodge in which they were both initiated together , that Lord Herschell should occupy the position of Grand Warden of Grand Lodge on the same evening when the Earl of Lathom had invested him ( Bro . Pope ) as one of the other Grand Oflicers of England . ( Cheers . )
The Rev . W . MORTIMER HEATH , G . C , proposed "The Masonic Charities . " He knew that a desire for the welfare of these Charities existed in the heart of every brother present , and the great practical outcome of their principles they were able to show to the world . The Chairman had spoken about Charity , and in a great measure had taken it in ils wider sense . He ( Bro . Heath ) was privileged to propose it in its narrow , but not less
important sense , in the shape of the great Institutions which were were at once the honour of the Craft and the admiration of the outer word . Those who liad watched the progress made of late years by the Institutions—those vast sums of money which had been collected that large body of Stewards who had taken those sums of money , would think they had seen Masonry in its practical view before the outer world ,
and he had no doubt this had tended to place Masons in a high position among those who were not of them , but who stood outside . Il was not his province to speak , uor c » uld he speak , as to those Charities in the presence of tho-e who were the working members of them , the Secretaries , and who could speak much better of them than he ; but whether it was among the metropolitan brethren or among that body of which he was one , the
provincial brethren , he could only say that there was only one general desire to support them and to keep them up to the utmost state of efficiency . He belonged to a small province , but he was happy to say that even the little Province of Dorset had not been without its efforts in the way of Charity . He was proud to say that , and he would say that what they had done , and what other provinces and what the metropolis had done in the past , would be
done in the future . He had no fear but that they would go on increasing , and that the Institutions would stand out before all the world as a great working body in Masonry . ( Cheers . ) Bro . F . BINCKES , in reply , said that on an exceptional occasion such as that Grand Festival , which was peculiarly an exceptional and festive-occasion , it would not be becoming in him or any one whose name was associated
with that toast which had been so kindly proposed and so sympathetically received , to make anything in the shape of a practical appeal for support for any one or all of the Masonic Institutions . They who were associated in the great wotk of practical Charity , either as the official representatives or those who bore distinguished positions as members of the Committees , or in other capacities , were only too delighted to know that on an important
occasion like that space was found on the toast list not only to mention , but to give thc best wishes of all the good Masons assembled together for the success of their various Charitable Institutions . ( Hear , hear . ) He could not for one single moment attempt to forget or ignore the admirable words rendered by the popular nobleman who presided lhat evening , than whom no one had more enlisted for himself the sympathies of the Craft at large ,
and who would always continue to merit those sympathies by the genial kindness of his presidency wherever they met him , and for the continued support he rendered in every shape and way when in the distinguished position of Deputy Grand Master ol England , or as Provincial Grand Master of the largest province under the rule of Grand Lodge of England . The noble lord told the brethren words which he ( Bro . Binckes ) had repeated
over and over again , that loyalty and Charity were the two watchwords of the Masonic Order . Might those two watchwords never be forgotten , never attempted to be ignored by every individual brother who arrogated to himself the position of being a good , honest , conscientious , loyal Freemason ! From that dais at no distant date he ventured to say that while avoiding anything in the shape of political allusion there could be no doubt on his
mind , he could not understand there could be any doubt existing in the mind of any rightly and well constituted Freemason that he must be loyal to the sovereign of his native country , and if he was loyal to the sovereign of his native country , he would also be loyal in his support of the Alasonic Institutions . ( Hear , hear , and cheers . ) He did not ask them to believe that he was indulging in exaggerated language ; he meant
what he said on that occasion , that if they ignored their loyalty their Charities would suffer . They were bound together as representatives of a large united vna-cveUous organization to support loyalty to the throne under which they lived , and to the government in which they gloried . They had shown that to the world , that with that loyalty they were the most charitable body in the world . Might their loyalty know no diminution , and their Charity increase in the estimation of every one . ( Cheers . )
Bro . the Earl of LATHOM proposed " The Grand Stewards . " He was quite sure all those who had enjoyed the evening would join with him in I thanking the Grand Stewards for the care and Attention they had paid ta I their guests ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
United Grand Lodge.
For some years , naturally , he did not take much part in it ; but , owing to circumstances in the province to which he had the honour to belong—VVest Lancashire—he was induced to take a more active part in Masonn' . Since that time he had been promoted , through H . R . H . the Grand Master , to a very high position in Masonry , and it filled his heart with deep thankfulness when he thought that year after year he was thanked by the brethren for
what little he had done . His duties were not onerous or heavy ; but , at the same time , he could say honestly and conscientiously that when he was called upon to perform them , he always endeavoured to do so . ( Hear , hear , and cheers . ) He did not know that there was a more heart-stirring thing in the world than to think that in the great body of Freemasons , not only in this country , but throughout the world , there was a body of men united
together by one great bond , and for the same object—Charity and Loyalty . Charity was and ought to be universal among Masons —( hear , hear)—and Loyalty was and ought to be universal , whatever country they might be in . ( Renewed applause . ) If he had not found that those two great principles of the Order had been thoroughly carried out , and thoroughly pushed , he for one would not have taken the active part in Masonry he had
taken . But they were actively pushed , they were thought of , and he believed they were thoroughly in the heart of every Mason . ( Hear , hear . ) Let them act up to them , and as long as they acted up to those principles he was sure that their great Order of Freemasonry would last , and last as a great and moving spirit in the world . He could have dilated much more on the principles of Masonry , and on the principles of Loyalty and Charity ,
but as this would take a long time , he would content himself by merely thanking the brethren for their kindness , and assuring them that any trouble of a few hours' travelling was amply repaid by the cordial reception they had given him that night . ( Cheers . ) The Earl of LATHOM next gave the toast of " The R . W . the Provincial and District Grand Masters . " He was happy to say he knew personally
nearly the whole of those brethren , and he had had the honour of installing a good number of them . He only hoped he might not have to install many more , for he thought that those who now held office were the best who could hold that position . ( Hear , hear . ) The work of the Provincial Grand Masters —he spoke as one of them himself—was a great one , for they kept together the whole body in one united mass . He was happy to think that in past
years the Prov . Grand Masters had done their duty thoroughly and well . The District Grand Masters were a different body , but they had the same duties to perform . He was not acquainted with them so well as wilh the Prov . Grand Masters , but he believed from what he had heard and seen that they did their work thoroughly and well in their different provinces . They had among them that evening the District Grand Master of Victoria , Sir
Wm . Clark , and he was happy to welcome him as representing that very great—he was going to say , unit , but a very great portion of that Empire . Bro . Clark was here , though not specially in connection with the Exhibition which was about to be opened , but still as one who had taken a leading part in the Colony of Victoria , and he wished the brethren to give Sir Wm . Clark a welcome , not only as a Mason , but as one from the other side of the sea , who had come among his English brethren . ( Cheers . )
Sir WM . CLARK , in reply , said he was extraordinarily delighted with the welcome he had received among English Masons . He thought there were other brethren present who could have done more justice to the toast than he . In the first place he was not a speaker , and in thesecond place he had a very bad cold , which interfered with his throat ; and as there were other brethren present who could respond to that toast he should be pleased
if the Chairman would call upon them . He must , however , say that the people of Victoria were as true Masons as the people of England . They had from time to time a number of English Masons in Victoria who kept them up to the point in Masonry at which they ought to be . ( Cheers . ) The Earl of LATHOM , in proposing "The Grand Wardens and the other Grand Officers , Present and Past , " said he was glad to have to
propose that toast for one special reason—that he had the honour of performing that day a duty which he believed had never fallen to the lot of any Mason , viz ., investing the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain as Grand Warden of England . The Lord Chancellor bade him make his excuses to the brethren for his absence from the banquet . His lordship came a long
distance to Grand Lodge , and he had a long distance to go back . The Junior Grand Warden , Lord Charles Beresford , was also unable to stop , for , no doubt , he would have delighted the brethren with some remarks . Having a bad cold , he had strict orders from his doctor not to stop out . The Prince of Wales had made an excellent choice of Grand Officers for
this year . He ( Lord Lathom ) was delighted to welcome a county man of his own , in the person of Bro . Samuel Pope , Q . C . The duties of a Grand Officer , as a rule , were not very arduous , but the offices were the rewards of what the brethren had previously done , and they ought to be looked upon in that light . When it was the collar of a Warden , or the collar of a Pursuivant , it was a badge arnan ought to honour as much as the Victoria
Cross , for it showed that the man had done his duty in Masonry ; and if he had not done anything else he had done his duty to the Charities , which was the great point in Freemasonry . ( Hear , hear . ) If a man wished to be a good Mason , and to obtain advancement , let him do his duty to the Charities ; he certainly did not do his duty as a Mrson if he neglected the Charities . Let it be an amicable race among those who aspired to oflice , and let their names stand forth well on the Charity list . ( Cheers . )
Bro . FRANCIS BEILBY ALSTON , S . G . W . in 1850 , in acknowledging the toast , said he could not help thinking that it would have been agreeable to the brethren if this toast had been responded to by one of the Grand Wardens of the year , but owing to their inability to be present at the banquet , the Chairman had been good enough to couple his name with the toast . It was much more than the third of a century that hc had been
among the Grand Wardens of Grand Lodge , for it was now 36 years since he occupied the chair of Senior Grand Warden . He would not deny that he thought it a great compliment and honour to be asked to return thanks for this toast , and he availed himself of the privilege to say that he agreed with the Deputy Grand Master when he said that the Grand Master had been singularly fortunate in his selection of Grand Officers for the year .
In the absence of that distinguished nobleman the Lord Chancellor , he would say that , while no doubt the Grand Master had bestowed a great honour upon that distinguished officer , he had also conferrad no little honour upon Grand Lodge itself . The same remark applied to the nomination of the Grand Junior Warden . The name of Lord Charles Beresford awakened
in the heart of every Briton feelings of respect , of satisfaction , of gratitude , for so distinguished a servant of the Queen . He would like to go on and continue * the names of the officers present ; but he was afraid he must not dissociate himself from them . He would only ask the brethren to be assured that thc Grand Officers were highly honoured by the toast' that had been
United Grand Lodge.
proposed , and they thanked them warmly for having drunk it , and derived the greatest pleasure and satisfaction from being " present that evening . Bro . SAMUEL POPE , Q . C , G . S . D ., who was loudly called for , said if the absence of voice could excuse a want of response to so kindly a call , he should venture to plead that excuse ; but he could not . Two things he confessed , speaking for himself , for a moment , personally , had "ratified him
immensely that night—one , the belief that the promotion to Grand office had not been unacceptable to the brethren of the Craft —( cheers )—the other , as he ventured to whisper to the Deputy Grand Master as they came into the hall , that he should receive the collar of office as a Lancashire man from the hands of a man who , whatever differences of opinion mi ght have existed between thern ,, was recognised by every Lancashire lad
as a true representative of Lan : ashire Masonry . He remembered Lord Lathom when , as Lord Skelmersdale , his beard had not the aspect it now presented , but from the hour when , as a young man , he was recognised as one of their rising Lancashire worthies to the present , he had consecrated the great powers he possessed to the interests of the general bodv of the community , and the great brotherhood
of freemasonry in particular . He therefore confessed that every circumstance which could give him pleasure in the reception of the collar he wore had concentrated upon the brethren's kindness , and Lord Lathom ' s also . On behalf of the new Grand Officers—for the admirable brother who returned thanks just now represented the past rather than the present—let him say that the present Grand Officers , for whom he spoke as well as for
himself , were determined to consecrate whatever energies and power they possessed to the welfare of Masonry and the progress of the Crait . It was a proud night , it was a proud Festival , which had placed him in the chair of the Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodgeof England ( the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain ); it was a proud night for him ( Bro . Pope ) as
a member of the circuit which made him a personal friend of Lord Herschell as a member of the same profession , and also as a member of the same lodge in which they were both initiated together , that Lord Herschell should occupy the position of Grand Warden of Grand Lodge on the same evening when the Earl of Lathom had invested him ( Bro . Pope ) as one of the other Grand Oflicers of England . ( Cheers . )
The Rev . W . MORTIMER HEATH , G . C , proposed "The Masonic Charities . " He knew that a desire for the welfare of these Charities existed in the heart of every brother present , and the great practical outcome of their principles they were able to show to the world . The Chairman had spoken about Charity , and in a great measure had taken it in ils wider sense . He ( Bro . Heath ) was privileged to propose it in its narrow , but not less
important sense , in the shape of the great Institutions which were were at once the honour of the Craft and the admiration of the outer word . Those who liad watched the progress made of late years by the Institutions—those vast sums of money which had been collected that large body of Stewards who had taken those sums of money , would think they had seen Masonry in its practical view before the outer world ,
and he had no doubt this had tended to place Masons in a high position among those who were not of them , but who stood outside . Il was not his province to speak , uor c » uld he speak , as to those Charities in the presence of tho-e who were the working members of them , the Secretaries , and who could speak much better of them than he ; but whether it was among the metropolitan brethren or among that body of which he was one , the
provincial brethren , he could only say that there was only one general desire to support them and to keep them up to the utmost state of efficiency . He belonged to a small province , but he was happy to say that even the little Province of Dorset had not been without its efforts in the way of Charity . He was proud to say that , and he would say that what they had done , and what other provinces and what the metropolis had done in the past , would be
done in the future . He had no fear but that they would go on increasing , and that the Institutions would stand out before all the world as a great working body in Masonry . ( Cheers . ) Bro . F . BINCKES , in reply , said that on an exceptional occasion such as that Grand Festival , which was peculiarly an exceptional and festive-occasion , it would not be becoming in him or any one whose name was associated
with that toast which had been so kindly proposed and so sympathetically received , to make anything in the shape of a practical appeal for support for any one or all of the Masonic Institutions . They who were associated in the great wotk of practical Charity , either as the official representatives or those who bore distinguished positions as members of the Committees , or in other capacities , were only too delighted to know that on an important
occasion like that space was found on the toast list not only to mention , but to give thc best wishes of all the good Masons assembled together for the success of their various Charitable Institutions . ( Hear , hear . ) He could not for one single moment attempt to forget or ignore the admirable words rendered by the popular nobleman who presided lhat evening , than whom no one had more enlisted for himself the sympathies of the Craft at large ,
and who would always continue to merit those sympathies by the genial kindness of his presidency wherever they met him , and for the continued support he rendered in every shape and way when in the distinguished position of Deputy Grand Master ol England , or as Provincial Grand Master of the largest province under the rule of Grand Lodge of England . The noble lord told the brethren words which he ( Bro . Binckes ) had repeated
over and over again , that loyalty and Charity were the two watchwords of the Masonic Order . Might those two watchwords never be forgotten , never attempted to be ignored by every individual brother who arrogated to himself the position of being a good , honest , conscientious , loyal Freemason ! From that dais at no distant date he ventured to say that while avoiding anything in the shape of political allusion there could be no doubt on his
mind , he could not understand there could be any doubt existing in the mind of any rightly and well constituted Freemason that he must be loyal to the sovereign of his native country , and if he was loyal to the sovereign of his native country , he would also be loyal in his support of the Alasonic Institutions . ( Hear , hear , and cheers . ) He did not ask them to believe that he was indulging in exaggerated language ; he meant
what he said on that occasion , that if they ignored their loyalty their Charities would suffer . They were bound together as representatives of a large united vna-cveUous organization to support loyalty to the throne under which they lived , and to the government in which they gloried . They had shown that to the world , that with that loyalty they were the most charitable body in the world . Might their loyalty know no diminution , and their Charity increase in the estimation of every one . ( Cheers . )
Bro . the Earl of LATHOM proposed " The Grand Stewards . " He was quite sure all those who had enjoyed the evening would join with him in I thanking the Grand Stewards for the care and Attention they had paid ta I their guests ,