Comments On "Facts And Fictions."

Phillips , dated 1757 . Both documents are headed with " Blesinton , " but neither of them was signed by tho Grand Master , but by " Lau Dermott , G . Sec . " The question

therefore is , did Lord Blessington ever sign a Warrant at all ?

The next question is , what kind of a Grand Master did Lord Blessington make ? To this question Bro . Sadler himself , on page 84 of his book , answers as follows , he says : —

" I cannot , with strict regard to truth , say thafc bo ( Lord Blessington ) filled the chair during tho time mentioned , for , strange to say , he never attended a meeting ,

nofc even to be installed , that ceremony being performed privately by the Grand Officers in his own library in Margaret Street .

Now , as the evidence of Lord Blessington s private installation rests solely on Dermott ' s testimony , I may therefore doubt it .

The surprise of Bro . Sadler about Lord Blessington ' s

behaviour to the London Ancients must be enhanced wheu we remember his lordship ' s zeal and activity when ho was Grand Master of Ireland in 1738 and 1739 ; for , as already stated in my former communication , he was even

associated with a committee for the purpose of comparing the usages or laws of the Graud Lodge of England with that of Ireland ; there was therefore evidently " a screw loose " in London .

Now , it is an undoubted facfc that since 1722 ( when the Duke of Montague accepted the office of Grand Master of the London Masons ) there was no great difficulty in finding noblemen who would cheerfully accept the Grancl

Master ' s office ; and such was the case , not only in England , but in Ireland and Scotland too . Again , Dermott well knew that unless he could get a nobleman to

preside over his Grand Lodge his concern would not last long ; hence , on Sth Nov . 1752 , the record ( as quoted by Bro . Sadler on page 83 ) says : —

" The names of several Noble and Honourable Gentle

men , said to be Ancient Masons , were laid before the Committee , in order to petition some one of them to undertake the Grand Mastership , & c , of the Craffc . The principal personages spoken of were the Right Hon . Lord Chesterfield , Ponsonby , Inchiquiu , Blesinton . "

Dermott doubtless knew very well that not a solitary personage he named was what he called an " Ancient Mason , " and this facfc is admitted by Bro . Sadler himself . To how many personages Dermott wrote I know not . It

is evident , however , that no one of the parties he petitioned would have anything to do wifch him . At last he caught , or seems to have secured the promise of , a nobleman , in 1756 . Dermott informed his Grand Lodge , 27 fch Dec . 1756 .

that he had written a letter to Lord Blesinton , and carried the letter to his lordship ' s house , but he was refused admission , so he sent another letter to his lordship by post , to which he received the following answer : —

" I am much concerned that I happened not to see you when you called on me the other day , but my being denied was owing to a mistake , having given orders , not with

regard to you , but another person , who has been very troublesome . As I shall be out of town on St . John ' s Day , I must beg leave to act by deputy . "

The above letter is signed " Blesinton , hence , I doubt whether at least it is a correct copy ; but assuming that ifc is O . K ., I would infer from it that his lordship was a softhearted man who could not refuse a favour . Ifc is

therefore possible that his lordship was induced , more or less reluctantly , to yield to Dermott ' s solicitation , which he soon after regretted . Anyhow , he seems to have been ashamed of his new connections , for he never went near

them , and was anxious to cast himself loose from Dermott and Co . That such was the case may be inferred from the following extract from a letter of Bro . Hesseltine , Grand Secretary of England , dated 1769 .

"How far ( says Bro . Hesseltine ) the Ancients have raised themselves in the esteem of the public may be gathered from the number of persons of eminence who have headed them , being at most but three , viz ., Lord

Blessington , some Lord Kelley , and a present Mr . Matthews , whoae names they have made use of , bufc with what authority I shall not pretend to say . This much I can say , that the

late Mr . Revis , who had been an Officer of our Grancl Lodge for upwards of thirty years , declared about the year 60 ( 1760 ) that Lord Blessington , being informed of such circumstance , forbade the use of his name any longer , under pain of prosecution . "

Comments On "Facts And Fictions."

Now , in the first place , Hesseltine had good reason to despise Dermott , and second , as Hesseltine's character stood high , and as I have never heard anything againsfc him , I feel justified in believing him when he emphatically said " Ti i '

much I know . " I have , therefore , no doubt thafc Revis said so , and that he told the truth ; it is , therefore , not impossible that our soft-hearted brother Lord Blessington , was induced by misrepresentation to consent to Dermott's

proposition , that ho discovered his mistake soon after , and was ashamed to have anything to do with tho concern , and , therefore , forbade Dermott to continue to use his Lordship ' s name , under a threat of legal prosecution . But

as Dermott had to havo a nobleman for his Grand Master , he therefore misspelled ^ the title , and called his Graud Master Blesinton instead of Blessington . I know thafc my

reasoning will be pronounced by some as far-fetched . I cannot , however , otherwise account for Dermott's misspelling Lord Blessington ' s title . *

Finally , I was initiated in a Lodge which holds a charter from the Ancients . I have no motive for unjustly disparaging the Ancients . I do not irnngine myself infallible , for I disbelieve now a great deal which I formerly believed ;

and , on tho other hand , I was satisfied that Bro . Sadler was truthful , sincere , a zealous searcher , and that , he had " at his finger ' s ends " all the sources of information upon the questions be discussed . I , therefore , thought that perhaps

after all Bro . Sadler might be right , and in order to avoid strengthening orrevivingmyold biassed opinions , I refrained from consulting the writings of Bros . Gould and Hughan upon the question at issue until after I mailed my two

previous papers to London . Since then I have reperused the said writings , and I now feel more satisfied than ever that my esteemed friend Bro . Sadler has totally failed

in his good natured effort of transforming Dermott and his seventy or more associates of 1751 ? , nd 1752 into Masonic saints of the highest standard . BOSTON , U . S ., 18 th October 18 . , 8 .

* In the Irish Constitution of 1751 the G . M . of 1738 and 9 is called "William Stewart Viscount Mont ' oy . " As fche said nobleman ' s title was afterwards changed , Dormotr dedicated his 1756 Ahiman Eezon to " William , Earl of Blessingfcc . " But in the Deputation to Nova Scotia , in 1757 , the Grand Mast . is named " William Stuart , Earl of

Blesinton . " Now , is it not stf , nge that so clever and well-informed a man as Dermott undoubtedly was , who spelt every name aud every Grand Master's title correctly , should have persistently blundered again and again when writing the title of the first nobleman who consented to be called " Grand Master " of his new London

Grancl Lodge ? "We know thafc in a paragraph above referred to , in order to avoid legal trouble , Dermott called the person who succeeded Sir Christopher Wren to the office of Surveyor General , " Mr . William B—ns— -n , " and also " B—ns—n , " and why could h « not for the same reason have changed Blessington into " Blesinton ?"

Freemasonry Tinder An Interdict.

FREEMASONRY TINDER AN INTERDICT .

IT may do us good to remind ourselves to-day , when we hear so much of change in most things in and around us , that Freemasonry still lies , through no fault of its own , under the ban of the Church of Rome , and all Freemasons are declared to be , ipso facto , excommunicate , if Roman

Catholics , debarred from the services and sacraments of the Church ; if non-Ronian Catholics , and even " in invincible ignorance , " " booked , " as Sam Weller says , " for something uncomfortable . " This internecine

struggle between the Church of Rome aud Freemasonry , utterly needness , useless , and irrelig ' ous , which began in 1738 , and has been going on ever since , is still as keen and vivid as over , and without the

slightestshadow of excuse or the smallest show of reason , especially in Anglo-Saxon communities ; while Freemasons are regarded by Roman Catholics as dangerous revolutionists and incorrigible heretics , inimical to law and order , the source

and cause of all the present tumultuous disorders which agitate society ancl the world . Wero Freemasons wishful to retaliate or use hard words , they might fairly point to that one great secret Roman Catholic Society to which some of the

moat dangerous maxims which ever corrupted the consciences or perverted the sympathies of men may be nofc unfairly attributed ; which has proclaimed at different times and in changing scenes , the most destructive and the most obnoxious theories ; and out of those whose bosom sprang the most baneful secret society the world has ever