Grand Lodge.

to propose to you , hut before doing so I will pause to see if any Brother has any other name to propose—No other nomination being made—the Grand Master said , — " Brethren , the intelligence of the formation of an Independent Grand Lodge for Canada West , only reached us officially yesterday , too late to be laid before tbe Committee of Masters . But so long ago as August last , I instructed the Grand Secretary , incase of any intimation being given of the formation of an Independent

Grand Lodge of Canada West , to give notice that I would move in the September Grand Lodge a resolution that the Grand Lodge of England should recognize that Grand Lodge . In September I again told the Grand Secretary that , in case any such intimation arrived , lie would consider my directions as still in force for tbe Grand Lodge in December . The Grand Secretary having been in daily expectation of receiving this information , gave the notice in my name , though without my knowledgehaving

, reason to think it probable that such an intimation would arrive . As it turns out , I am glad be gave that notice , because I have been able , though not in the way that I could wish , to move that this Grand Lodge should recognise the Grand Lodge of Canada West . 1 say not in tbe way that I could wish , because the letter addressed to the Grand Secretary with the intention o f being communicated to Grand Lodge , having only arrived yesterday , could not be laid before the Board of Masters . ThereforeI

con-, sider we are precluded from considering or debating that communication ; but I consider that , in accordance with the strict letter of the law , I am not precluded , notice having been given , from moving that this Grand Lodge should recognize the Grand Lodge of Canada . There are several other matters in this communication from the Grand Secretary of Canada , which , under other circumstances , I should have thought it necessary to mention ; but I am now precluded from doing so , because the communication

itself has not been laid before the Board of Masters . At the same time I am convinced that , on the principle of bis dat qui cito dat , it is better that I should at once move the recognition of the Grand Lodge of Canada West , leaving those questions which may arise to be debated at a future Grand Lodge . Brethren , in recognizing

the Grand Lodge of Canada , I consider that it is absolutely necessary that we should guard the privileges of those Lodges in a part of Canada , Quebec , Montreal , and St . John ' s , New Brunswick , which have never thrown off their allegiance to the Grand Lodge of England , and which now form a province . We must take care that these Lodges are protected by us , and that nothing should be done by any other Grand Lodge to induce these Lodges to withdraw their allegiance from the Grand Lodge of England .

I am sure that Grand Lodge will agree with me , I will therefore simply move the following resolution : — "' That official intimation having been received of the formation of tile Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons in Canada , this Grand Lodge recognizes that body as an independent Grand Lodge , having jurisdiction over the province hitherto known as Canada West , and expresses its desire to entertain henceforth with it such a cordial and fraternal

intercourse as will serve to promote the interests of Masonry in both countries . '" Bro . Sir Lucius Curtis , acting Deputy Grand Master , seconded the motion . Bro . Dobie , P . G . Reg ., said he thought it too much to ask Grand Lodge to come to anything like a decision on the subject at that moment ; such haste was not consistent either with the dignity of the Grand Lodge of England , or with the

respectability of the Grand Lodge of Canada . He hoped that Grand Lodge would consider the point , and let it stand ever for further consideration . Let them not be guilty of an act of injustice to those who owed allegiance to them . The laws of the new Grand Lodge of Canada provided that those who did not unite with that Grand Lodge should have no right to enter it at all-He would like the Grand Lodge of Canada recognized as it should be . They would be proceeding too rapidly if they did it

that night . He would rather postpone it till the next Grand Lodge . Bro . the Earl of Carnarvon : — " Like the Worshipful Brother who jiist sat down , I intended to have made one or two remarks . Like him , your lordship ' s observations have come upon me with

surprise . Like him , I can say that , while hearing with perhaps as great satisfaction as any other member of Grand Lodge the announcement which your lordship has just made—while concurring in it as heartily as any one in the room can concur in it , because it has been tbe course which I have all along thought desirable and right , and which I have proposed to Grand Lodge , sometimes perhaps with too much pertinacity—at the same time I agree with the worthy Brother who has just sat down , and

would respectfully request your lordship to reconsider the motion , with the view of bringing it forward at the next quarterly communication . Nobody more thoroughly and heartily agrees with the substance of that motion than I do ; but , for that very reason , I would invest the announcement with all the deliberation and all the solemnity which it can possibly have , and therefore I would earnestly press on your lordship the importance of iving formal notice of it nowand bringing it

g , forward at tfie next quarterly communication , that it may he carried , as it deserves to be , with complete and entire unanimity . There is one single remark more which I would make , and that is , that I trust that the announcement which you have just made may be in many respects the close of these differences which have embittered the discussions of the last year and a-half . I trust that whatever may have been the causes which have led to the separation of the Canadian Lodges , and no one regrets them

more than I do—no one has spoken more freely concerning them than I have—still , whatever these causes may have been , I trust that , though we may henceforth be separate as bodies , we may in heart be one—having the same common object—that we may still be united by ties as strong and as enduring as those bonds which unite us socially and politically with the Canadian dependencies of the British crown . " Bro . HaversP . S . G . D .: — " I feelas every one who is laced

, , p in my position must feel , a certain degree of difficulty . We have here a proposition to recognize the Grand Lodge of Canada , couched in Masonic terms ; and yet , from the lips of him who has been the chief , themost eloquent advocate of the claims of Canada , we have an opposition to that motion . Most Worshipful Sir , it

has been within the knowledge o { all the Masons of this country , or at least within the knowledge of all those who take an interest in its progress , that so far back as July last we were aware of the existence of this Grand Lodge , al . hough it was not till yesterday that our Grand Secretary received an official intimation of the fact . Shall we ignore all that we have known of their doings ? Shall we take no notice of all that has been placed before us in print , and in communications published by ourselves , with respect

to the cordial and fraternal spirit which governed these two Grand Lodges in their union , and in the expression of their feelings to us ; I have never denied the shortcomings of the Grand Lodge of England towards the Canadian Brethren . Without going- a step further than what the Grand Master proposes , by recognizing the Grand Lodge of Canada , reserving unto himself the mode in which that recognition shall be made , —you will do an act worthy of the Grand Lodge of Englandand grateful to the feelings of

, your Canadian Brethren—an act which will serve to cement at once and for ever that cordiality which happily now exists . You do not bind yourselves to any specific act further than that which justice demands at your hands , and you reserve to yourselves the distinct jurisdiction over Quebeck , Montreal , and St . John ' s , New Brunswick , giving the Grand Lodge of Canada , numbering a hundred Lodges , full jurisdiction over Canada West , but at the same time reserving most carefully and most explicitly—as we

are bound as honest men to do—tbe protection of the Grand Lodge of England for those Lodges which have not thrown off their allegiance to us . I entreat Grand Lodge to adopt the Grand Master ' s resolution ; and , on the principle of bis dat qui cito dut , to hold out cordially the right hand of fellowship to our Canadian Brethren . I would respectfully ask the Grand Master to add certain words to his motion , — " and that such recognition he communicated in an appropriate manner by the Grand Master of the

Grand Lodge of England . " Bro . Binckes said that he had not intended to have addressed Grand Lodge upon this question , nor should he have done so but for the uncalled-for observations of the last speaker . If Bro . Havers had heard with surprise what had fallen from Lord Car-