The Grand Lodge Of Ireland And The "Antient" Grand Lodge Of England.

THE GRAND LODGE OF IRELAND AND THE " ANTIENT" GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND .

We stated in a recent review of Bro . CHETWODE CRAWLEY ' " Crementaria Historica , " or rather of the Introductions , both general and particular , with the advance-sheets of which we had been furnished , that they contained several important matters which it would be our duty to consider at greater length than was possible within the compass of a necessarily brief critique .

Many , indeed , of these matters are of a character to ensure the deepest interest among all classes of Masons who have at any time exhibited a desire to study the records of our venerable Craft , but more especially among those who have either formed any theory for themselves , or adopted the theories of others , as to the origin of that schism which , for upwards of 60 years , held

the Freemasons of England divided amongst themselves . On this question , Bro . CRAWLEY , in his general Preface , has formulated opinions , which , if they are not entirely new , have at least the merit of being set forth more

boldly , and we venture to add more convincingly , than in any previous work with which we are acquainted . Be it then our first duty to state , as succinctly as we can , the ideas which Bro . CRAWLEY has so ably fashioned from the limited materials to which he has had access as to the

origin of the Grand Lodge of England according to the Old Institutions . In theconcluding section of his " Editor's Preface , " in which he treats of the " Modern Period of Freemasonry , " after describing the origin of the Regular , or as it was subsequently , and still is commonly , spoken of as the " Modern " Grand Lodge of England , Bro . CRAWLEY remarks at p . 16 , " Up to the

time when the Grand Lodge of Munster and the Grand Lodge of Ireland were merged , that is until A . D . I 730 , there is no reason to suspect there was the least difference between the modes of Working in Ireland and in England . The same enthusiastic Freemason , Lord KINGSTON , was almost contemporaneously , A . D . 1729 , 1730 , 1731 , Grand Master of the three Grand Lodges in

London , Dublin , and Cork , and , as will be seen from the following pages , the Constitutions under which he governed the Craft were practically identical in both countries . " Two paragraphs further on we come to what is described as " the crucial point in the history of English Freemasonry during the latter half of the eighteenth century , " namely , " the formation of another Grand

Lodge in London , A . D . 1751 , eventually styled the' Grand Lodge of England according to the Old Constitutions . '" As regards " the reasons for the erection of this new Grand Lodge , as given by its promoters , " to wit , " that th e premier Grand Lodge had sanctioned certain alterations in Ritual , which were held to be inconsistent with the system formerly in practice , " Bro .

CRAWLEY remarks with perfect truth : " Such a contention is fraught with the deepest interest to Irish Freemasons , because the standard by which the Ritual was tried was the Work current under the Grand Lodge of Ireland . Though its supporters in England may have been , nay , must have been , from the very necessity of the case , drawn from the before-mentioned

non-Regular Freemasons , and from disaffected members of the premier Grand Lodge , yet the original founders of the new Body were almost to a man of Irish names , and the most prominent of them all was the Irish Brother LAURENCE DERMOTT , " With the just eulogy of this distinguished Mason and the few particulars respecting his early career in Masonry which Bro .

CRAWLEY furnishes we need not concern ourselves ; but as regards the influence he exercised upon " Antient " Masonry , there is absolute truth in the proposition which Bro . CRAWLEY lays down unreservedly , when he writes : " It is seldom that history can surely ascribe the successful conduct of any great Reformation to the strenuous perseverance and exceptional ability of any

one man , but most surely the guidance of the Antients is due to this Irish Freemason . From the first he never made any secret of the Irish training he had received ; to the last his Grand Lodge was united in the closest bonds

to the Irish Fraternity ; during the whole time of its existence its members were called Irish Masons and its Lodges Irish Lodges . The principles which ne held and the esoteric teaching which he disseminated bear the mint mark ° f the GRAND LODGE OF IRELAND . "

Passing by as unnecessary to the development of our present purpose 'he remarks which Bro . CRAWLEY offers respecting the distinctive characteristics of the two great rival systems of English Freemasonry , and the tenets » e ascribes to them respectively , we find ourselves confronted at pp . 19 and

-o b y a series of 13 propositions , in which are embodied the reasons for his theory , that the " Antient " Grand Lodge ol England was , in fact , an offshoot of the Grand Lodge of Ireland . Of these 13 propositions the following concern us more immediately :

"VII . The Grand Lodge of Ireland never adopted or countenanced hese innovations "—that is to say , the innovations introduced into the Uual by the Regular Grand Lodge of England— " but maintained the forking which had been previously common to it and to the Grand Lodge of SiRland .

The Grand Lodge Of Ireland And The "Antient" Grand Lodge Of England.

"VIII . Freemasons of the Irish Constitution , who took up their abode in England , rallied to their aid the discontented English Brethren who resented the new methods , and supplied to them a leader , the famous Laurence Dermott , imbued with the more ancient and primitive system he had learned in Ireland .

" IX . This body of Freemasons , of mixed nationality , but identical work , formed a Grand Lodge , posterior in point of time , but older in its Ritual and Ceremonies .

"XI . The Grand Lodge of the Antients , deriving its Work , its Methods , and its Organization from the Grand Lodge of Ireland , continually reinforced by Brethren of the Irish Jurisdiction , was rather an offshoot of the Grand Lodge of Ireland , than a secession from either of the Grand Lodges previously existing in England .

• "XII . The Grand Lodge of Ireland & the Grand Lodge of the Antients claimed to be Antient York Masons , not as being in any way dependent on the York Grand Lodge , but as possessing community of Work with that Grand Lodge . " XI 11 . The right of this Irish Work to be called Antient , as against

the altered work of the Grand Lodge of the Moderns , was implicitly admitted at the Union of 1813 A , D . In support of this proposition XIII ., Bro . CRAWLEY quotes—( 1 ) The Resolution adopted by the Regular Grand Lodge on the 12 th April , 1809 , namely :

" That this Grand Lodge do agree in opinion with the Committee of Charity , that it is not necessary to continue any longer in Force those measures which were resorted to , in or about the year 1739 , respecting irregular Masons , & do therefore enjoin the several Lodges to revert to the Ancient Landmarks of the Society . "

( 2 ) The minute of the Lodge of Promulgation , 2 b ' th December , ' iSlo : " The R . W . M . therefore proceeded to point out the material parts in & between the several Degrees to which the attention of Masters of Lodges ' would be requisite in preserving the Ancient Land Marks of the

Ordersuch as the form of the Lodge , the number & situation of the Officers , their different distinctions in the different Degrees ; the restoration of the proper words to each Degree , & the making of the pass-word between one Degree and another instead of in the Degree . " ( 3 ) The fundamental Article of Union , 1813 A . D ., namely :

" It is declared and pronounced that pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more , viz ., those of the Entered Apprentice , the Fellow Craft , and the Master Mason , including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch . " Having laid down his several Propositions , Bro . CRAWLEY remarks , by

way of summary of his whole case— " These things being so , what admission of error , on the part of the Moderns , could be more candid ? ' What testimony to the authenticity of Dermolt's Irish Work could be more valid ? The Esoteric Work perpetuated by the Antients , derived by them from the Grand Lodge of Ireland , passed on by them to their daughter

Lodges in America , and claimed by them to have been held in common with the York Masons , stands acknowledged to be the true and Ancient Working of the Craft . Nor is there a brighter page in our Annals than that which chronicles the strenuous arid successful struggle of the Antients , except that which tells of the generous and ungrudging rectification of their error by the Moderns . "

Premising that we do not commit ourselves to the absolute and unqualified acceptance of all that Bro . CRAWLEY has laid down in this " Editor ' s Introduction , " let us proceed to show to what extent his theory that the " Antient" Grand Lodge of England is an offshoot—if offshoot is the proper term to be applied to a Body which , as we shall show

hereafter , claimed to be in the direct line of succession through the Grand Lodge of Ireland from the original , or Regular , Grand Lodge of England—of the Grand Lodge of Ireland is borne out by the internal evidence furnished by the records of the "Antient" Grand Lodge of England . The earliest evidence in support of Bro . CRAWLEY ' theory is contained in

the minutes of the proceedings of the Grand Committee held at the Griffin , Holborn , on the 5 th February , 1752 , when Bro . James Ilagarty , W . M . No . 4 , presided , and there were present the officers of No . _ ' , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 10 , " being the representatives of all the Ancient Lodges in and

adjacent to London . " On this memorable occasion Bro . John Morgan resigned the post of Grand Secretary , and " Brother Laurence Dermott , of No . 9 and 10 , and Past Master of No . 26 in Dublin , " after having undergone " a long and minute Examination Relative to Initiation , Passing , Installation , and General Regulations , & c , & c , " by Bro . Morgan , was