Coloured Masonry In The United States.

Whether this was the case or not , it is probable that neither he nor anyone else can have been prepared for the consequences which followed , and which , in several cases , resulted at once in a severance of the old relations of amity between

other American Grand Lodge and that of Washington , while in other cases the strongest possible remonstrances were addressed to the latter . Fortunately the difficulty is now at an end ; the

obnoxious resolutions were rescinded at this year ' s annual communication of the offending Grand Lodge , and peace and harmony again prevail , or are in a fair way of prevailing among the American Grand Lodges .

Doubtless the matter was one rather of sentiment than of settled policy with Bro . UPTON , who is generally credited with the possession of a sound judgment and the ability to exercise it with discretion . In this case he seems

to have imagined that the brethren in other jurisdictions were as sentimental as himself , and that if one Grand Lodge recognised coloured or negro Masonry , it would not be long before others followed in its wake . But he appears to have

overlooked one important consideration , namely , that in recognising coloured Masonry he was virtually destroying that absolute supremacy which the American white Grand Lodges—and not only the American , but also all Grand Lodges wherever established—claim to exercise within the territorial limits of their

several jurisdictions . How , for instance , it would be argued , could the Grand Lodge of Washington exercise supreme authority over Masonry within its jurisdiction when within that jurisdiction there were certain lodges working

under warrants , which Avere not recognised as regular by other Grand Lodges in thc United States ? Had a plan been devised by which the coloured lodges in the State of Washington were prepared to surrender their

original warrants , and accept fresh warrants from the Grand Lodge of Washington ; then , though it is quite possible that troubles of another kind might have followed , the absolute supremacy of that Grand Lodge would have been maintained

over everything Masonic within its jurisdiction , and wc are at a loss to see how , on this ground at all events , any opposition could have been raised by the other United States Grand Lodges . But the Grand Lodge of Washington lacked thc

courage to adopt this course . It resolved upon recognising the regularity of the coloured lodges , but withheld from them the charters which would have made them regular . Now that it has

caused infinite damage to its reputation , the Grand Lodge of Washington , having undone its act of last year , will , doubtless , be only too glad to leave coloured Masonrv alone .

Kenning's Arcæological Library , Vol. Ii.*

KENNING'S ARC ? OLOGICAL LIBRARY , VOL . II . *

The appearance of this handsome volume , will remind many readers of the Freemason of the labours of our late lamented Bro . Woodford , in connection with the earliest reprint which lias found a place in the series I am about to review . The previous volume of" Kenning ' s Arch _ co ! ogical Library "

contained a handsome reproduction ofthe first or ori ginal " Book of Constitutions , " published in 1723 . The next of the series , both in date of original publication and subsequent reproduction , was the "New Book of Constitutions" ( 173 N ) , of which an exact copy was given in the " Masonic Reprints " of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge { Q . C . A . VII . ) , for 1890 .

I am here referring to English " Reprints " of the various editions of the " Constitutions / ' Many reproductions of these books have appeared in America—the earliest of which was issued by Benjamin Franklin in 1 734—in Germany , and in other countries of Continental Furope .

No complete reprint of the original " Book of Constitutions " ( 1723 ) ever appeared in this country , prior to thc publication of the first volume of " Kenning ' s Arcli . eological Library , " and the "Constitutions" of 173 S were reprinted in England , for the first time , in the seventh volume of Quatuor Coronatorum Antigraph ia ( 1890 ) . 1 must not forget to say that the facsimile of the " Constitution i " for 173 S , published b y thc Quatuor Coronati Lodge , was

Kenning's Arcæological Library , Vol. Ii.*

edited by Bro . Hughan , who also supplied a very excellent " Introduction " to its general contents . The first and second editions of the " Constitutions , " which owe their chief inspiration to Dr . James Anderson , the Father

of Masonic History , possess the greatest interest for students , as some of the most obscure points in the archaeology of the Craft , are only capable of elucidation to the extent that light may be shed upon them in these volumes .

Of Anderson himself very little is really known , but the inference to be drawn from the scanty evidence which has come down to us , would seem to amount to

this—That he was admitted into Masonry at Aberdeen , and joined an English lodge ( the Horn , now the Royal Somerset House and Inverness ) a few years after the so-called " Revival " of Masonry in 1717 .

A little later we touch firmer ground , as under the date of September 29 th , 1 7 , the doctor informs us , under his own hand , that he was ordered by the Duke of Montagu , Grand Master , and the Grand Lodge , to " digest the old Gothic Constitutions ir . a new and better method . "

There must have been some reason why Anderson was specially selected for this duty , and the explanation which most naturally suggests itself , is the supposition that he must have been regarded as one of the most experienced Masons of his time .

The doctor died in 1739 , and it is supposed that the copies of the "Constitutions "—second edition—not" sold , must have been purchased by a new publisher , by whom they were issued afresh , with a new and lengthy title page , and dated 574 6 ( i . e ., 1 746 )

The third edition was published in ( or at least bears thc date of ) 1 756 ; the fourth in 176 7 ; an Appendix ( by William Preston ) in 177 6 ; and the latest of all—in connection with the older or legitimate Grand Lodge of England—which brought down the History of the Society to 1784 , in the beginning of the following year .

The facsimile reproductions in the volume under review comprise the appendix of 1776 , by William Preston , and the Title Pages of the editions of 1723 , 173 S , 1756 , 1767 , and 17 8 4 , together with that of the re-issue for the year 1 746 . Bro . Hughan also gives a descriptive list of the eight editions

of the " Ahiman Rezon , " or Book of Regulations , issued by the Schismatic Grand Lodge of England , or " Ancients" ; and he concludes by enumerating the various editions of the " Constitutions " which have seen the light since the amalgamation of the two previously-existing Grand bodies , under fhe title of the " United Grand Lodge of England . " in iS 13 .

Among the illustrations , are portraits of the Rev . John Entick , editor of the publications of 1756 and 1767 , and William Preston , compiler of the appendix for 177 6 . There is also a very interesting memoir of the latter , and a survey of the somewhat curious circumstances connected with thc formation of a " Grand Lodge of England , South of thc River Trent . "

The particular reasons which rendered a reprint of Preston s appendix ( 177 6 ) desirable , are summed up very clearly and well by Bro . Hughan . Nor could the task of reproduction have been placed in better hands . The " Introduction " to the volume is a

most interesting Bibliography of thc long series of " Constitutions , " which extends from thc original issue of 1723 , down to the 23 rd edition of 18 94 . The printer ancl binder are also to be highly commended for the admirable manner in which their several functions have been discharged .

Ihe Editor of the Freemason has most appropriately remarked ( July 22 nd , 1899)— " ^ ' ver y many years since Volume I . of ' Kenning ' s Masonic Arclucological Library , ' containing the Constitution Book of 1723 31 ^ the Phillipps M . S ., No . 2 , as edited by the late Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , M . A .,

P . G . C , was published , ancl most of us had gradually become reconciled to thc beliel that Bro . Woodford ' s carefully-edited reproduction of the Rev . James Anderson ' s 1723 edition of the Book of Constitutions , would prove the last as well as the first volume of the proposed Library . "

To the energy and ripe Masonic scholarship of Bro . Hughan , and the enterprise of Bro . George Kenning , our acknowledgments are now due , however , for a continuance of the good work so ably planned and in part executed , by the "Masonic Student , " whose loss so many of us have never ceased to deplore .

For my own part , I should be glad to sec a wholesome rivalry in the reproduction of old Masonic works and pamp hlets , between the respective manufactories of the Freemason and the "Quatuor Coronati . " What we most need at the present moment

are reprints of published allusions to the Craft—particularly those which appeared in the first half of the last century . Certain individuals—notably the late Enoch Terry Carson and Albert Pike—have distinguished themselves in this sphere of labour ,