Brother Sadler's Answer To Bro. Jacob Norton's

probability he was not even a Mason in 1757 , and was not appointed to the office of D . G . S . until 1763 . Bro . Calder , who held the office of Grand Secreta'y of Ireland in 1757 , waa superseded in 1707 , for neghgence , and so far as

I can learn he had no connection with the Grand Lodge in 1772 . The very fact of this and other correspondence being mentioned in the Transactions is , in my opinion , strong presumptive evidence , not of Dermott ' s duplicity ,

but of his honesty . The letter of 1772 is apparently copied verbatim into the minute book , and I am almost certain that if Bro . Norton were to read it the recollection of his having expressed an opinion that it "was forged or

concocted by Dermott would bring a blush of shame to his good-natured and expressive countenance . Dermott was undoubtedly by far the best and most painstaking Grand Secretary the " Ancients " ever had , hence his practice of

recording apparently trivial matters , which a less scrupulous person would have omitted as of no importance . Having , I think , in previous articles , conclusively disposed of the assertion that" all the Warrants given bythe Ancients during the

Grand Mastership of the Earl of Blessington have somehow disappeared , " I need not dilate at any great length on the statement as to there being a Warrant as well as a Deputation in Nova Scotia , which although headed Blesinton are

not signed by the Grand Master , but by " Lau . Dermott G . Sec . " At present I have only Bro . Norton ' s unsupported assertion on the one side ; and on the other , the Transactions of " Grand Lodge at the Five Bells Tavern ,

7 th Dec . 1757 , one of the items reading thus : — " Heard petitions from His Excellency Charles Laurence Governor of Nova Scotia , Major Erasmus James Phillips , Esq , William Nisbett , Esq ., Alexander Murray , Esq ., and

57 others praying to be warranted , viz ., one Provincial Grand Warrant and two private Warrants for the Province of Nova Scotia . " " Order'd that the Grand Secretary shall immediately prepare the said Warrants , & c . " Now ,

to my thinking this business seems all fair and above board , and unless Bro . Norton can produce reliable evidence to the contrary I shall prefer to believe that there was as little forgery in this as in the nasft nf Wwirafa iooucd iu England .

To Bro . Norton ' s next question , " What kind of a Grand Master did Lord Blessington make ? " I answer , unhesitatingly , as good an one as any other of that period , and better than many on either side , notwithstanding that he

did not attend a single meeting of the Grand Lodge , " and was installed in his own library in Margaret-street . " The correspondence relating to Lord Blessington ' s first election as Grand Master of the " Ancients " is given in extenso on

pp 84 , 85 , 86 of Masonic Facts and Fictions , and it will be observed that his Lordship says , "As I shall be out of Town St . John ' s Day , I must beg leave to act by Deputy . " This letter was read in Grand Lodge on the 27 th

December ( St . John's Day ) 1756 , and afterwards " the Grand Lodge proceeded to the Instalment of Grand Master , which was done by proxy in the person of the Honourable Edward Vaughan , Esq ., who Rec'd all the Honours , & c , & c , & c . "

And then the Grand Secretary proclaimed the new Grand Master , so that as a matter of fact he was installed in the same way as several of the Grand Masters on the " Modern" side . I find , on referring to the Grand Lodge

minutes that Bro . Norton is mistaken in saying that " the evidence of Lord Blessington ' s private installation rests solely on Dermott's testimony , " for the statement in question was not made by Dermott , but by the Deputy Grand

Master ( William Dickey ) , at a meeting of the Grand Lodge on the 25 th November 1767 , in the presence of the Grand Master and several other distinguished Masons , as well as the members of the Grand Lodge .

It appears that a Bro . Thomas Forsyth had a grievance , and nothing would satisfy him but to air it in Grand Lodge ; the complaint from which he suffered was caused by his having been left out in the cold when the Grand Master ( the Hon . Thomas Mathew ) was installed privately

in 1767 . In his own words " he did deem the Grand Master smuggled into the Grand Lodge , by which means the D . G M . and the rest of the Grand Officers had absolutely trampled npon the good laws of Masons , & c . " To which

the D . G . M . replied , "That the Transaction complained of was not contrary to custom nor General Regulations . That Grand Masters in England and Ireland have been ( at their own request ) Installed in private , and that such Installations were never disputed , particularly the late Grand Master Earl of Blesinton , who was privately Install'd b y

Brother Sadler's Answer To Bro. Jacob Norton's

the G Officers & Secretary in his Lordship ' s Liberary in Margret Street . " " The Grand Master arose and acquainted the Brethren that he stood up to confirm what the Deputy had said .

That be was privately Install'd by the Grand Officers and Secretary ; that being Unanimously choson he did not see where the objection could be made , & c . " I should rather like to give the whole of the minutes of this meeting , for

they are amusing as well as interesting , but as Bro . Norton thinks the records of the Ancients " utterly unworthy of credence " it would be useless to do so . I may , however , remark that this statement was made during the lifetime of Lord Blessington , and it has never been disputed before

that I am aware of . Since commencing my reply to Bro . Norton I have restricted myself to the very agreeable task of disproving

his assertions and upsetting his conclusions . I will now venture to express an opinion on my own account , which is : —That it is utterly impossible and absurd for any one to hope to arrive at a just appreciation of the value and

authenticity of these old records without a minute examination of the originals , and that any f xpreesion of opinion as to their credibility , which is based on abbreviated extracts , is not worth the paper it is printed on .

I find I must take exception to the assertion that since the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Montague the regular Grand Lodge of England bad no great difficulty in finding a nobleman who would cheerfully accept the

Grand Master's office . Bro . Norton says this " is an undoubted fact ; " I say it " is an undoubted fiction" In my last article I quote from the Grand Lodge minutes that the installation in 1725 was postponed for six months

because they were " unprovided with a new noble Grand Master , " and several other instances of a similar character are on record ; indeed , this was the real origin of the

abrogation of the Saints' days for the Installation of Grand Master ; it was also the reason of the departure from the old custom of having a new Grand Master every

year . u It Jo au . uuduuVtccI faolt " hho . b iLuv were " Unprovided with a new noble Grand Master in 1743 , 1745 , 1748 , 1749 , and 1750 . " Personally I attach no importance to this matter ,

for it was simply a question of " supply and demand , " but , as Bro . Norton chose to make the assertion in order to support his charges against Dermott , and I knew it to be not strictly in accordance with the truth , I felt bound to

show him that he was historically wrong . Considering the very great disparity between the " Ancients" and the " Moderns " at the time the former were trying to " hook " a noble Grand Master , and the prejudice which then

existed against the lower class of Irish , of which this body was chiefly composed , the wonder to me is , not that they had some dijficidty in getting one , but that they ever got one at all ; and it is quite evident that Dermott must have tlsed

some potent and convincing arguments , or he would never have succeeded either with Lord Blessington or the other noblemen who followed him ; more especially with the Duke of Athole , who was certainly no soft-hearted greenhorn such as Bro . Norton would have us believe was the case with

Lord Blessington , but which I must beg leave to doubt , for when elected Grand Master he was 47 years old , already a Past Grand Master of Ireland , and was created a peer in 1745 .

I was under the impression that I had effectually disposed of the unfounded and malicious partizan concoctions of Heseltine and Preston , but I was evidently mistaken , for Bro . Norton appears to have swallowed these slanders as

certain small animals are said to devour the compounds artfully prepared for their destruction , i . e ., " with avidity , " although he will not believe a single word of the other side of the story .

But , stop ! I find I had nearly made a mistake myself , for he has condescended to admit the possibility that Lord Blessington " was induced , more or less reluctantly , to yield to Dermott's solicitation , which he soon after regretted .

Any how , he seems to have been ashamed of Ms new connections , for he never went near them , and luas anxious to cast himself loose from Dermott and Go . " "That such was the

case may be inferred from the following extract from a letter of Brother Heseltine , Grand Secretary of England , dated 1769 . " * Here again Bro . Norton has allowed his imagination far too much play , and , as ou previous oc-