The Resolutions Of Bros. Havers And The Rev. R. J. Simpson.

THE RESOLUTIONS OF BROS . HAVERS AND THE REV . R . J . SIMPSON .

WE are greatly pleased with the result of Wednesday a discussion in Grand Lodge on the rival propositions of our Past Grand Officers , Bros . Havers and the Rev . R . J . Simpson . The programme of business , as originally determined , was altered for the better . Bro . Havers ' s motion was duly submitted , but was not received with

that enthusiasm which its author , no doubt , anticipated . We cannot say we are altogether surprised at this . The latter part of this proposal would have committed Grand Lodge to the expenditure of so considerable a sum as £ 2 , 000 , without due inquiry first made whether the purpose

for which tho money was to be spent was the worthiest to whioh it should be devoted . We said last week that , having satisfied itself there was no likelihood , in the near or remote future , of any serious demand for charitable purposes being made upon its funds , Grand Lodge might

very properly vote £ 1 , 000 towards the perfection of St . Paul ' s Cathedral . It was Wren ' s masterpiece , and Freemasonry would be honouring itself by conferring honour on the memory of so illustrious an architect . As regards the St . Alban ' s part of hi 3 motion , we had no sympathy

with it whatever . To Bro . Simpson's proposition as it stood originally , we expressed a still stronger objection . We pointed out that before expending money on some charitable object in India , we must first satisfy ourselves there were no pressing needs of our own Charitable

Institutions at home . Next we urged that assuming the wants of those Institutions were already sufficiently provided for , there was still an infinite variety of charitable objects at home , and unconnected with Freemasonry , whose claims were more urgent than those of any Indian charity . We

pointed out that while England was a country of almost untold wealth , there also prevailed in it a pitiable amount of distress , and oar first duty was to help alleviate that distress . That done , we might justly give attention to the claims of India on our notice . We need not , however

repeat our arguments , which occurred to us quite naturally . A wise discretion prevailed with our reverend brother , and became him better than any amount of stubborn valour he might have shown in combating for his own proposal . He was anxious the vote of Grand Lodge on so important an

occasion should be unanimous . The latter part of his amendment was accordingly altered and read as follows : " that a Special Committee be appointed to consider the best mode in which this feeling" ( of thankfulness at the safe return

from India of our Grand Master ) " can be perpetuated in some charitable and practicable form , and to report thereon to the next quarterly meeting . " This amendment was carried over Bro . Havers ' s motion by a very large majority , and there for the moment the matter rests . So far so

good . Grand Lodge has resolved worthily to commemorate the Prince of Wales ' s visit to India , and his safe return home . A Committee has been appointed to inquire as to the most appropriate manner in which such visit shall be commemorated , tho only limit to its inquiries being , that

the memorial shall assume some charitable and practicable form . And the Committee having made its report , Grand Lodge will then determine at some future Quarterl y Communication , whether such report is acceptable or not .

There will thus be ample time for deliberation , both by the Committee and Grand Lodge itself . Already two alternative propositions have been made , and by none other than Bro . Simpson himself , who , in the face of our home

The Resolutions Of Bros. Havers And The Rev. R. J. Simpson.

necessities , has imposed a salutary check on his enthusiasm for India . In moving his amendment ho suggested the endowment of scholarships for our schools , or the erection of a Prince of Wales ' s wing to the Asylum for aged Freemasons . We have ourselves hinted that the schools

required further assistance , and that a Prince of Wales ' s Commemoration gift to one or other of them would go towards the requirements of the case ; and no doubt there are many other propositions that may occnr to Craftsmen in the course of the next three months . Indeed , the course of the

debate on Wednesday proved this , for a variety of pro-, positions were offered . We are quite content , however , with what has happened . We have every confidence that

the Committee will carry out its task of inquiry with strict impartiality , nor doubt we its proposals , whatever they may be , will be such as Grand Lodge in ita wisdom may cordially and unanimously sanction .

Two matters only remain to be noticed and these refer to Bro . Havers ' s motion . In stating his case , which he did at some length and very heartily , Bro . Havers—so , at least , runs the report in Thursday ' s Standard—said that " St , Alban , the proto-martyr , was a Grand Master of the Order

and a visit to the grand abbey which he built would well repay any of the brethren who had not seen it by an inspection of its beautiful tracery , its noble proportions , and its elegant designs . " We do not doubt for one moment that tho visitor to St . Alban ' s Abbey will find much to

admire in so venerable a memorial of ancient times . We confess , however , we are surprised that any brother , having attained so eminent a position in the Craft as Bro . Havers , should havo committed himself to a statement which , if correctly reported , is simply absurd . Assuming that St .

Alban lived and was of the number of those who , in the reign of the Emperor Diocletian , suffered death rather than abjure the Christian faith , it is undeniable that only the most meagre details of his life have been handed down to us . We allow , for the sake of argument , that a St .

Alban lived , and died a martyr to Christianity , but there is not the shadow of a shade of proof that he was ever in any way connected with Freemasonry . There were operative

Masons , no doubt , in Britain , when it was a province of the Roman Empire . We know , at least , there were stone walls in those days , for the evidence of their existence still remains to us . Further , it is a reasonable inference that Masons

built those walls , and it is as possible that Alban was a Mason as that he was a soldier or anything else . We have no proof , however , of anything of the kind , and we think we are not exceeding the limits of truth when we affirm that Alban was never a Grand Master of Freemasonry .

Freemasonry , as we understand it , did not exist in his day . Moreover , the Abbey which bears his name , and around which the town of St . Albans was gradually built , was not erected till four or five centuries after his death , by a Mercian king . So at least it is recorded in the histories that

have been handed down . With all due deference , therefore , to Bro . Havers , St . Alban , so far as we have any means of knowing , was not a Freemason or a Grand Master of Freemasons . As we said last week , the story reads prettily , but it is emphatically , vox et prceterea nihil .

But we are sorry to differ with our worthy brother about a personage who lived nearly sixteen hundred years ago . We are by no means anxious that English Freemasonry should be the laughing stock of the whole world , and we do not see how this can be avoided if such astoundincr

myths are listened to with patience . We must add that we think it was a great mistake in Bro . Havers to have said s , single word about the Prince of