London V. Country.

LONDON v . COUNTRY .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JANUARY 7 , 1 SG 0 .

IT is not often that AVO find matter in tlio proceedings of private Lodges for editorial remark , nor is it desirable AVO should do so , for , as a rule , tlio sayings and doings of these Lodges sliould be such as to lead as little as possible to difference of opinion amongst the brethren ; but there are occasions when Ave should bo Avauting in duty to the Craftand

, unworthy the position AVO hold as journalists , Avere Ave to pass unnoticed . the obsciwations of brethren , Avhich , founded in exaggeration or error , aro apt to mislead other brethren at a distance Avho may not have immediately at their hands tho means of correcting them . And such an occasion AVC have in some recent observations of Bro . Sherry ,

at Winchester . It appears that at the last meeting of tho Lodge of ( Economy Bro . Sherry again introduced the subject of voting by proxy in Grand Lodgo , in moving for a committee to communicate Avith other provincial Lodges , and endeavour to create such a union as would conduce to the carrying of that measure . We arc not here going to

discuss the question ; nor shall Ave deny the rig ht of Bro . Sherry or any other brother to challenge the acts of the executive , or to endeavour to obtain the reversal of a decision of Grand Lodge on any question in Avhich they feel a deep interest , though upon the proxy question no decision has yet been come to—all Grand Lodgo did being to receive a report of

the Board of General Purposes expressing an opinion against it . We have the honour of the personal acquaintance of Bro . Sherry , and knoAv him to be as sincere in his desire to benefit the Craft as any other brother of the institution ; but

that very fact is only an additional reason why we should not allow his exaggerated statements to pass without notice ; as statements coming from a brother known to take an active interest in every tiling that appertains to the Order Avill be attentively listened to , whilst , were they to come from others who have shoAvn themselves less zealous in the cause , they

Avould pass almost unheeded . At the meeting to Avhich AVO 3 uive alluded a notice of Avhich appears in another part of our Magazine , ( and of the truthfulness of the report Ave can havo no doubt , coming as it does from so practised and able a reporter as Bro . Huggins , Avhose talent and faithfulness of reporting was justly acknowledged at the meeting under

revieAv ) Bro . Sherry , in support ofhis argument that country brethren Avere unfairly represented in Grand Lodge , owing to the preponderance of London brethren who attend it , made the folloAving startling statement : — "To show one of the cases in Avhich he saw the necessity of a change , he Avould call the attention of the Lodge to the fact of the President

[ of the Board of General Purposes ] lately bringing forward a scheme for the expending of a large sum of money— £ 50 , 000 or £ 60 , 000—in pulling CIOAVII and rebuilding those extensive buildings in Great Queen-street , and erecting others still larger , Avhich however were entirely unnecessary . " It would be altogether out of p lace Avere Ave to endeavour to defend or condemn such a scheme , because this is the first tiine Ave . have beard of it—n . nr do \ ve believe it to exist

any-Avhere excepting in the imagination of Bro . Sherry himself ; and sure Ave are it ncA * er emanated from the President of tin ? Board of General Purposes—for the only time iipon Avhich . we find him speaking officially with regard to it was at Grand Lodge on the 1 st of December , 1858 , Avhen he said" There have gone forth amongst the Craft very large rumours

as to Avhat the Board intends to propose ; but we have come to yon . with no extravagant proposition—nothing Avhich will forestall ono penny of your income . We shall rather endeavour to determine how you can make the best use of your present property , than build more . lVe shall see how little , and not how much , can le built . " Here is no proposition for pulling down the most magnificent and most substantially built hall in London to rebuild

on a larger scale , or , as Bro . Sherry phrased it in another part of his speech , " castles ; " and farther , the President of the Board emphatically declared against any such large expenditure as that alluded to by Bro . Sherry , in the following Avords : — "It has been proposed to lay out £ -40 , 000 in building- a suitable hall and tavern , but where is die money to come from ? You could

not propose to Grand Lodge to borrow the amount , nor , if you did , would Grand Lodge be likely to sanction such a . scheme , " But , leaving delivered speeches , let us see Avhat the Board said in a deliberately penned circular sent to every Lodge in the kingdom . This document , Avhich bears date the 10 th of January , 1859 , has these words :

"It is further to be considered—if any great alterations should be proposed—that they can only be carried out upon the expiration of the present lease , which has now three and a half years to rim ; and it is reasonable to expect that during that time a further surplus of at least £ ( i , 000 will be accumulated , which , Avith the sum now in hand , would leave at the disposal of the society an amount of ( say ) £ 12 , 500 ; and ihe Board suggests that it would be , most undesirable to entertain , tmy schema whicli would invoice a greater outlay al any one time than the funds icill " be equal lo meet immediately on its completion . ' !

Now , if any suggestion for the laying out of from £ 30 , 000 to £ 60 , 000 in building '" castles " can be found in tho quotations wo havo made—and Ave Masonically declare Ave have been , most scrupulous in our extracts—AVO must confess that the import of language is altogether unknown to us , and that it must havo been used in even more than a Talleyrand sense

, to conceal intentions . But passing oinvards—only stopping to remark that , ivhen Bro . Sherry asserted that the memorial of the Winchester Lodge to the Board of General Purposes , relative to the A-oting by proxy , " had been refused to bo entertained , " he must have forgotten that he had in the early part of the

evening stated it " had been returned to them very unsatisfactorily answered , "'" '' thereby showing it must have been entertained—Ave come to a , part of the speech Avhich AVC consider of the deepest interest , as tending , if alloAved to pass unanswered , to SOAV dissensions amongst the Loudon and country brethren , whicli of all things AVC most strongly

deprecate . Bro . Sherry insinuates , nay assorts , that the country brethren are purposely kept off the Board of General Purposes that the London brethren may promote their own vieAvs ; and states that tho country Avant to see " such men n , s Pro * AA e have since ascertained that the reply was a courteous reference to tbe previous decision of the Hoard of General Pui-jwses ..