Meeting Of Grand Chapter.

offered a few words byway of apology for any remissness he might hitherto have shown iu the discharge of the important function belonging to the high office in Supreme Chapter to which their favour had called him , stated that if he could not say he had with pleasure undertaken to move the resolution which

had been entrusted to him , he begged to say he had done so without regret . Independent altogether of the position he had the honour to hold in the Order , he had consented to move the first resolution to be proposed for adoption by that meeting in his private capacity as a companion who loved Royal Arch

Masonry—as one who regarded the independence of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland to be of the highest and most vital importance , —and as one who believed it to be both his duty and his privilege thus publicly to stand forth in upholding

that independanee . The circumstances under which they had that evening met were of a most unusual , a most extraordinary kind—insomuch as a glance at the appendix to report by Grand Committee would discover the existence of an organisation among a number of companions in Glasgow , one of whose objects was the subversion of the very constitution of

the Order of Royal Arch Masonry as it was established in this country . That organisation exhibited such an amount of insubordination and aggravated disobedience towards Supreme Grand Chapter as could now admit of no compromise ; and it was for the meeting to order the adoption of such measures as would not onl y neutralise the efforts being put forth by certain parties to excite rebellion against their Masonic superiors , but would lead to the

restoration of that peace and concord by which the Order had hitherto been characterised . Like all other governing bodies the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter had laws by which its intercourse with its subordinate chapters were regulated , and it became the members of the Order to promote the honest observance of these laws : indeed every companion

who had , by exaltation or affiliation , been received into the bosom of the Supreme Chapter of Scotland was obligated to observe , abide by , and support then . Ample provision was also made for the alteration or amendments of their statutes , and it was the right of any companion to seekby constitutional meansto

, , effect such amendments as to him might appear desirable . But while this was the case , it was quite unconstitutional in any companion or body of companions to attempt , by intimidation , coercion , or other equally objectionable means , to have the laws of tie Order so interpreted as to invest subordinate members

with powers winch are neither granted to . nor sought to be possessed by , the Supreme Chapter itself . A section of companions in the west country appear recently to have conducted themselves in such a manner in regard to certain decisions of Supreme Chapter as to render them amenable to the law for gross disobedience—or , in military parlance , for

insubordination to their superior officers—a proceeding which could not for a moment be permitted . , He ( Lord Loughborough ) had inquired into -the case , the settlement of which had called forth the decisions referred to—he had for himself examined and weighed these decisions , and could not come to any other conclusion than that they were given in strict accordance with the spirit and letter of the laws by which every

member of the Order had upon oath agreed to be governed His Lordship then drew attention to the demands made upon Supreme Chapter by parties calling themselves " the Royal Arch Masons of the Western Districts . " He objected to any such designation of themselves as that iven b " the rebellionists whose

g y , ' ' demands " did not , he was sure , represent the sentiments of any portion of the loyally-disposed companions in the west ; and it was the hei ght of arrogance for the few individuals composing the illegal meeting lately held in St . Mark ' s Hall , Glasgow , to assume to be the R . A . Masons of the West of

Scotland . These gentlemen affected to have the interest of Royal Arch Masonry at heart ; but how did thev seek to show this ? Was it by a willing acquiescence in the constitutional acts of their superiors , and an ardent endeavour to preserve intact the unity of the

Order ? Was it by petition or respectful request that these so-called Eoyal Arch Masons of the West approached the Supreme Grand Royal" Arch Chapter of Scotland ? Was their language in any degree that of subordinates addressing their superiors—or the expression of filial regard entertained by children towards

a loving part ? In neither of these characters , he ( Lord Loughborough ) was sorry to say , had the parties meeting in St . Mark ' s Hall chosen to address Supreme Chapter . Their language was that of open insubordination , and their demands were urged in the most unconstitutional and offensive manner . They

imperiously call upon Supreme Chapter to give a " full retractation , " to " apologise" to their subordinate , and to " suspend " companions against whom there is no complaint ; and these demands are made with an

effrontery -which rendered it difficult for him to look on the act in any other light than that of Masonic insubordination of the deepest dye , and richly meriting the severest Masonic censure . That not one of these demands should be complied with , he would venture to say was the mind of Supreme Chapter . ( Applause . )

He deprecated the adoption of penal or coercive measures ; but when all other legitimate means failed to reduce to obedience those who had risen in rebellion against Supreme Chapter , he for one would not scruple to em- ploy for such end the coercive powers with which the laws and constitution of the Order had

armed them . He hoped , however , that Masonry would be spared the scandal of unseemly jealousies and divisions—that a just appreciation of the solemn nature of the obligations under which they had all come , and of what was required of subordinates , would operate in restoring goodwill and bon-accord among the

companions ol the east and of the west , of the north and of the south , aud that the Order in Scotland would continue to present to the neutral world a companionship , united , inseparable , and strong . He knew that some of his respected colleagues looked upon the motion he was about to submit as being of a too lenient character , and not equal to the emergency .

He thought otherwise , and was convinced that the infinitely superior position the Supreme Chapter held over those unconstitutionally questioning its authority , rendered it more dignified and graceful in them to deal as mildly with the rebels as an impartial consideration of their unparalleled and unjustifiable proceedings permitted ; and the unanimity with which the resolution he was about to propose was sure to be adopted by that great and influential meeting ,