A Masonic Family.

John George , 1 st Earl of Durham , he was advanced to the still more important post of Pro Grand Master . On the death of H . R . H . the Duke of Sussex in April , 1843 , his lordship carried on the government of the Society until the next regular time arrived for the election of Grand Master , and having been unanimously elected to that office at tJie Quarterly Communication held on the 6 th March , 1844 ,

was dul y installed m the chair of Grand Lodge at the Grand Festival on the 24 th day of the following month of April . This position ho continued to hold until the close of the year 1 S 69 , when , in consequence of his great age and the feebleness of his health , he signified to Grand Lodge bis desire that the brethren would not again nominate him for re-election , and on the installation of Bro . the Earl de Grey

and Ripon as lu ' s successor , his lordslii p ' s long connection of 40 years with Grand Lodge , as Depnty Grand Master , Pro Grand Master , and Giand Master successively , was closed . But he did not lay aside all his Masonic offices . He remained at his post as Prov . Grand Master of North and East Yorkshire , to which he had succeeded on his father ' s death in 1839 , until he himself died in

1873 ; while wo have no doubt his old friend and Deputy , the new Grand Master , received from him that generous support and salutary counsel which all Past Masters , whether in Grand , Provincial Grand , or private lodges are at all times so willing to afford to the actual occupants of the chair . Be it added that his lordship was ejected a joining member of the Royal Alpha Lodge , No . 16 , and served the office of

Worshi pful Master during the years 1843-45 ; 1 S 48-1851 ; 1854 to I 860 ; in 1 S 63 and 1864 , and nga ' in in 186 S and 1869 . As regards his services in connection with the Royal Arch Degree , he was exalted in tho Prince of Wales Chapter , No . 259 , in 1832 , and tho same year had conferred upon him the collar ot Grand Assistant

Sojourner . On his appointment in 1839 as Depnty Grand Master of Grand Lodge ho became , rirlute officii , Grand II . ; two years later Pro Grand Z ., and in 1844 Grand Z ., which latter office ho retained concurrently with his Grand Mastership . He was also from 1839 to 1858 Grand Superintendent , of North and East Yorkshire .

Having stated thus briefly the principal offices in Craft and Arch Masonry which at different times during his long connection with Masonry were held b y his lordship , let me describe circumstantially , so far as the limits of a necessaril y short article will allow , the chief events of liis Grand Mastership , and the necessarily prominent part which he took in their direction and management . It will readil y be

imagined that on his accession to the Masonic throne , his services were in very general requisition for the performance of those extraofficial duties which often make so heavy a demand on the time of a Grand Master . Indeed , his lordshi p had been in office but little more than a fortnight when we find him presiding at the Anniversary Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , when , what was

in those days a large collection , the sum of £ 840 was obtained . This was on the 11 th May , and on the 17 th of the same month he held an especial Grand Lodge in the Copenhagen Fields lIonsc \ and proceeded to lay the foundation-stone of a new building in connection with the Caledonian Asylum , the first stone of which had been laid b y his predecessor , the Duke of Sussex , in 1827 . On the 28 th August

following , we find him in the North jf England , whither he had gone for the purpose of laying the first stone of a monument about to be erected on Pensher—or Penshaw—Hill b y the private subscriptions of his fellow-countrymen , to the memory of Pro . the Earl of Durham , whom he had succeeded in the Pro Grand Mastership , and of whom he spoke in the following terms in the address he delivered when the

stone was hud ; " May the same Almighty power preserve the inhabitants in peace and unity and brotherly love , towards which great objects no one during his earthl y career exerted himself more zealousl y and more successfully than that nobleman whose memory we are assembled to commemorate . " Towards the close of the following year , the question of the . lews and Prussian Freemasonry

was brought before Grand Lodge , a case having occurred in which a brother possessing an English certificate had been refused admission into a Prussian lodge on the ground that he was a Jew . His attention had been drawn to the subject by Bro . Fauilel—J . G . Deacon in 1854 —and at the Quarterl y Communication on the 3 rd December , 18-1-5 , after he hud been nominated for re-election as Grand Master , and rtturned

thanks for "so unequivocal a mark of their esteem and respect , " his lordshi p addressed the brethren at some length on the subject , conchiding his remarks with the following announcement : " After due consideration , he had determined that he would at once instruct the Grand Sccietary to require of ( lie Grand Lodge of Berlin to receive and acknowledge all certificates from ( he Grand

Lodge of England without regaid to the reli gion of the brethren presenting them . The answer to this letter had not yet been received ; he hoped it would be satisfactory ; as if not , the painful duty would devolve upon him as Grand Master to close the connection with the Royal York Grand Lodge , and refuse admission to their members to our lodges , and in such case he must , also direct

his representative at Berlin to retire from the Grand Lodge , and , of course , the representative of that Grand Lodge must retire , as such , from the Grand Lodge here . " On the 3 rd June , 1846 , the Grand Master reverted to tlie subject , and , having directed that the correspondence between the Grand Secretaries of England and of the

Royal York , Berlin , as well as between himself and the Grand Master of ( lie said Grand Lodge Royal York should be read , proceeded to express his regret " that ho was compelled to move that his representative at the Grand Lodge of Berlin should be withdrawn from such appointment , and that the luprusvntntivo of flic . said Grand Lodge should withdraw , as such , from the Grand Lodge of

A Masonic Family.

England "—adding that "in their private relations as Masons those brethren were entitled to every respect , esteem , and regard , and he trusted they would always be received with due honour . " On the motionbeing put , Bro . Faudel rose and addressed Grand Lodge at some length , in the course of which he first of all " respectfully tendered his unfeigned thanks " to tlie M . W . G . M . " for the very courteous

manner in which his lordship had treated him , " boldl y declaring that " the entire Masonic body , irrespective of country , were under the deepest obligations to the Grand Master of England , whose firm , tintemporising conduct had saved the Order from a most dangerous and threatening position . " He then expressed his hope that the Grand Master would hold his hand until he had made " yet one effort more

in tlie Jiope of conciliating those who had so grossly mistaken the construction of pure Masonic principles , " and suggested that a third letter should be written to the Grand Lodge at Berlin , " pointing out that . they themselves must ultimately be the only sufferers by their own folly , inasmuch as instead of causing the expulsion of brethren not professing the Christian reli gion from other Grand

Lodges , they would possibly themselves become excommunicated from all . " He concluded by saying that whether this suggestion of his mig ht be approved or not he should move a resolution—which was seconded by Bro . Dr . Crucefix , P . G . D ., and carried by acclamationto the effect " That the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of England are especially grateful , and unanimously pass this vote of thanks to the

M . W . Grand Master , the Right Hon . the Earl of Zetland , for the anxiety evinced by him on the momentous question of the non-admission of Brethren bearing English Grand Lodge certificates by a lodge holding under tho Royal York of Friendshi p Grand Lodge of Berlin , on account of their not being of the Christian Reli gion and for the Correspondence directed by his lordship to be carried on

with the said Grand Lodge . ' The matter was again brought forward at the Quarterly Communication held on the 1 st September , 1849 , when the Grand Master announced that he had received a reply from the Royal York of Friendship Grand Lodge at Berlin , and by his lordship ' s direction the Grand Secretary read out a translation of tho said letter , which was to the effect that " at a

meeting of the Grand Masters Union , which took place on the 12 th February last , his Royal Highness the Prince of Prussia in the chair , " it had been proposed " to submit to tho three Grand Lodges in the Prussian Monarchy that thereafter an examination as to the reli gious belief of visiting brethren shall not be called , " and that in consequence , the Grand Lodge Royal York of Friendship at its meeting

on the 3 rd May had directed its subordinate lodges " that in future they will only observe that visiting brethren be provided witJi correct certificates of rightful and perfect ( St . John ' s ) Lodges . " Bro . Faudel having expressed himself satisfied with the result , the subject was dropped , and Grand Lodge passed to the consideration of what should be done in consequence of the emancipation of the slaves , the M . W .

Grand Master considering it necessary some resolution should be passed in respect of those " who , at the time of their birth were notfree , but who are now absolutely free and whose mothers are also free . " He considered it a great hardship that such persons should be precluded from joining the Fraternity , and ho suggested that the alteration of the term " free-born " into " free-man , " would meet the

requirements of the case , upon which the Grand Registrar ( Bro . Alexander Dobie ) proposed a resolution embod ying the suggested alteration , and this , after a brief discussion , was unanimously adopted . In the meantime , and for some years later , tbe Grand Master appears to have brought upon himself the censure of tho Freemasons ' Quarterly litview and Bro . Dr . Crucefix , who was deeply interested

in that publication . At the Quarterl y Communication held under the presidency of his lordship on the 2 nd June , 1847 , Bro . Fox Maule , P . G . W ., raised a question of privilege , bringing to the notice of Grand Lodge that reports had appeared in tho Heeie . w , which he described as garbled and which were certainl y unauthorised , and he expressed the hope that the Grand Master would see his way clear

to appoint some fit and proper person who was accustomed to reporting debates to take notes and compile a short mid concise account of the proceedings of Grand Lodge ; that this account should be submitted for his lordship ' s approval , and that when approved it should be sis speedily as possible printed and circulated among the lodges . This gave rise to a long and acrimonious debate , which was brought to

a conclusion b y the Grand Master expressing his perfect readiness to act upon the suggestion of Bio . Fox Maule . Again there was the question of establishing the Widows' Fund of tlie present Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , which though brought forward in 1847 was not agreed to till 1849 , and then with a smaller annual grant than had at the outset been contemplated . Then in June , 1848 ,

Bro . W . b . Beadon drew attention to an attack which had been made in the lteriew for the 31 st March preceding upon the M . W . Grand Master , who was charged with thoughtlessness , ingratitude , and dislionour , " with insult and aggression , " and other similar crimes and misdemeanours , and also that he had lost the entire confidence of the Craft and had been guilty of " a departure from dut y , want of ennobling character and forget fulness of dignity . " After de . scribino

this as a gross breach of privilege , the worthy brother proposed what was in fact a vote of confidence in his lordshi p , and after a brief debute , in which almost every speaker stigmatised the attack as brutal and un-Masonic , the resolution was carried by acclamation and on this being reported to the Grand 'Master , his lordshi p expressed his thanks , saying that " it was most gratifying to find b y an unanimous vote that he had tJie honour of enjoying thciv confidence . So long as he felt he could transact the business of his hi <* h