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Article THE TENDENCY OF AMERICAN FREEMASONRY. ← Page 2 of 2 Article THE TENDENCY OF AMERICAN FREEMASONRY. Page 2 of 2 Article BLACKBALLING. Page 1 of 2 →
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The Tendency Of American Freemasonry.
fraternal rebuke , wo advisedly abstained from furthoi contmon , in the firm belief that time would show whetlei I : ; - * or we were ! r > bf > nrma" under a wrong impression . Th < extrac t , from "Bro . Complins Moore ' s Masonic publication , wi ([ noted in our lender ;>(';> fortnight since shows that theview ;
wo fnrmerlv expressed has extorted from , at least , one of our most distinguished transatlantic brethron a certain sense of sympa th y , v . 'hile a letter which we publislied last week from Brother TTu'diau bears testimony to the
fact that that brother , who so markedly dissented from oiu earliest view ? , remains of the same opinion us formerly . Wo are by no means anxious to draw an unfriendly or nnfrafornai distinction between Ena * lish and American
Freemasonry . It is farthest from our thoughts to say one word which mig ht in tho least degree cause the slightest ¦ annoyance to our American brethren . We know full well how highly they appreciate the descent of their several Grand Lodges from ours . Wo know how highly they
respect the British element in thoir constitution , and therefore , if we say anything which may even seem to indicate a dne respect for their view's about Masonry , wo say it in all brotherly kindness and from a wish that wo may help them Io realise more nearly the standard of what , in our humble opinion , is truly Freemasonry .
In tho leader referred to which appeared , as we have said , in our first number , Ave spoke of tho great interest taken by American brethren in costly temples , and asked where were the Benevolent Institutions which received their support . We have waited long for an answer , and
at length ono of tho veterans of American Freemasonry has virtually endorsed our views by asking a somewhat similar question . This , at least , proves that there was somo ground for the remarks we made , and that Bro Hughan ' s hearty apology for his American friends was
not only not uncalled for , but that it has possibly exercised a favourable effect in bestirring * them to an imitation of the Masonic work done in this country . Bro . Moore , moreover , bears us out completely , and if he has not said all he might have said , thero is no difficulty in
supplementing it from sources accessible to most brethren . He and one of our correspondents mado reference to the gathering of Knights Templars , this month , at Chicago , when it is anticipated there will bo assembled some
20 , 000 Sir Knights . When the new Masonic Temple in New York was consecrated , there was a grand procession of about 2 G , 000 brethren , and we may be sure—for does not the memorial volume indicate the fact?—that when the
Grand Temple in Philadelp hia was formally dedicated to the purposes of Freemasonry , there was an assemblage not far short of that at New York in point of numbers . The moneys expended in the erection of these stately Masonic edifices amount to a very considerable sum , and
yet we , in little England , have raised for the service of our three Institutions as much , perhaps , in the course of some three or four years as has been expended on one of them ; and in saying this we have not taken into account the sum annually disbursed by Grand Lodge in the relief of
distressed brethren , or the moneys raised in several of our Provinces for local Masonic Institutions , or for the purposes of casual benevolence . Brother Hughan thinks that we , too , have incurred heavy expenditure in respect of our Masonic Hall or Halls . Let the casual
outsider who has had a passing glimpse of our Freemasons' Hall in Great Queen Street say if , by the wildest stretch of the imagination , such a building could possibly have cost anything like a million and a half of dollarsthat is , £ 300 , 000 of our money—even if we include all
that has been expended on it in the way of additions and renovations in the course of the period it has been standing . Bro . Hughan remarks that England is a compact country , while the "United States are of vast extent . Is there a Grand Lodge in the States which can point with
excusable pride to an established fund of £ 50 , 000 , as can ours—a fund which is never touched , as the dues received from the daughter Lodges are ample to meet the ordinary demands by distressed brethren for relief . Wo rejoice that Bro . Huchan has been able to mention several cases
—Kentucky in particular—where the cause of Charity has been made a conspicuous feature in the Masonic practice of the district . Yet . with every allowance for these , and having rendered them the honour that is their due , we
incline to the maintenance of our oid view—v / htch , be d remembered , was made early , but not hastily and without due knowledge—that in the United States , in spite of the openhandedness of Americans generally , and of American
The Tendency Of American Freemasonry.
brethren in particular , the tendency of the Craft is to encourage public displays , processions , aud tinsel , rather than the more important tenets of our Masonic faith .
Blackballing.
BLACKBALLING .
THE following article on the subject of Blackballing appeared in a recent number of the Daily News and although we very much regret tho connection Freemasonry has with tho matter wo can bnt express our approval of the arguments of tho writer . Unless the ballot is held sacred it will speedily become a thing of the tho past , a result we could only lament .
Blackballing is an institution which might be called " un-English , but which is emphatically useful . Freemasons , however , must be . ware how they blackball in an unmasonic and malicious manner . Thpir position appears to be entirely different from that of members of ordinary clnbs in which you blackball a man " because he is a brute , " or because he is proposed by a bishop , or because yon like not the
fashion in which his beard is cat , or for some other purely subjective reason . Freemasons , though the Pope does not liko them , are more moral than common clubmen , as wo learn from the affecting case of Mr . "Voigt . This genUaman , a naturalised subject of the Queen , ia rightly described as a very active Mason . He has taken no less than thirty Masonic'degrees , and if not yet a passed hodman , ho must bo
pretty near tho top of the ladder . He ought therefore to know pretty well what he is about , and to have a thirtyfold acquaintance with the moral duties of tho Mason . But Mr . Voigt , though , like King David , the father of the Royal founder of Masonry , ho might sing " a song of degrees , " has , in the opinion of his Lodge , behaved unmasonically , and some oE the lodge even published a circular in which they severely
condemned his behaviour . Mr . Voigt resented this censure as libellous , and his case was heard at Leeds before Mr . Justice Bowen and a common jury . It seems that the Alexandra Lodge , at Hornsea , was originally founded by Mr . Voigt and some other gentlemen , about five years ago . In 1877 Mr . Trevor and some other Masons called an " emergency lodge " to elect a Rev . Mr . Tew , and his curate , Mr . Cas .
son * Here let ns admire the wise liberalism of our ancient national Church . While the Catholic clergy detest , and even curse , Freemasonry , oar curates " put their hands into the mystic basket , and say Iconx ompax , " if these ritnal forms survive from the Elensinian mys . teries into the ceremonies of Masonry , which is improbable . But Mr . Tew and his curate did not at once or readily gain admission to the
sacred basket of the Alexandra Lodge . Mr . Voigt , with some friends , sped from Hull to Hornsea , on the wings of Masonic eagerness , and the Hull train , which appears to have been late . Tho other Masons of the emergency lodge ( Alexandra ) did not , as usual , wait for the Hull train , and when Mr . Voigt and his friends arrived , what was their mortification to find that the Lodge was tyled . The required books were
not there , but yet the Lodge was tyled . People who "haunt the mouldering Lodges of the past" may have heard of irregularities like this , but we presume that they are uncommon , for Mr . Voigt and his friends were not a little vexed and annoyed . We learn that they now " gave vent to their feelings by blackballing Mr . Casson and Mr . Tew . "
But what a revelation is this P Is the ballot , the doubly or trebly sacred ballot of Freemasonry , to have its purpose of secrecy defeated ? The very reason of the black ball ' s existence ( they used beans for the same purpose in ancient Greece ) is destroyed if we are to be told who blackballed whom .
Brother Tudor Trevor P . M . took quite another view of the secrecy and sacredness of the ballot . H * formulated a motion , which was sent to the members of tho Lodge as a circular , and it was in this circular that Mr . Voigt detected libellous matter . Brother Tudor Trevor P . M . moved that Mr . Voigt and some others should be excluded
from the Alexandra Lodge because they " improperly and nnmasouically voted against the admission " of Messrs . Tew and Casson , " without good and sufficient cause . " Moreover , they " voted from ilhvill and spite , " and knowing that three blackballs would " pill " the reverend gentlemen , " unworthily combiued to exclude them . " But how was it known that the three brethren from Hull committed
these masonic misdemeanorus ? Brother Tudor Trevor seems to have arrived at his certainty by what Mr . Mill called the Method of Residues . Only the three and Brother Carr ( " in his capacity of S . W . " ) voted , and out of the four balls three were black . Brother Carr ' s presumably white ball being set aside , there remain only the three black balls of the gentlemen who had found the Lodge tiled . This may be
scientific reasoning , but is it clubmanlike ? However that may be , Brother Tudor Trevor condemned Mr . Voigt ' s conduct as " unmanly , dishonourable , and immasonic . " The occasion on which this language was used may have been " privileged , " but did the privilege cover the severity , not to say violence , of the censuro ? It may here be observed that tho Lodgo seemed to think so , because they excluded Mr . Voigt , who
has now only nine Lodges , unless indeed he has got into his donble number by obtaining admission to some other Lodge . After hearing a lucid charge from tho learned Judge , the Jury awarded to Mr . Voigt a sum of money which he will have no difficulty in wearing on his watch chain , if he likes to imitate an amusing victim of Mr . Buskin ' s criticism . Tho moral of tho affair seems to be that if all clnbs were to set up a
Masonic standard of morality , blackballing would be au uncommon incident . For why are men blackballed ? Sometimes because they are social annoyances , bores , or blusterers . Sometimes because they have an enemy in the club to which they seek admission , an enemy who marshals his friends at the " urns" and instructs them to " pill the candidate . Again , men may be blackballed because they have been guilty of what is called " shady " conduct , and it is absolutely necessary
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Tendency Of American Freemasonry.
fraternal rebuke , wo advisedly abstained from furthoi contmon , in the firm belief that time would show whetlei I : ; - * or we were ! r > bf > nrma" under a wrong impression . Th < extrac t , from "Bro . Complins Moore ' s Masonic publication , wi ([ noted in our lender ;>(';> fortnight since shows that theview ;
wo fnrmerlv expressed has extorted from , at least , one of our most distinguished transatlantic brethron a certain sense of sympa th y , v . 'hile a letter which we publislied last week from Brother TTu'diau bears testimony to the
fact that that brother , who so markedly dissented from oiu earliest view ? , remains of the same opinion us formerly . Wo are by no means anxious to draw an unfriendly or nnfrafornai distinction between Ena * lish and American
Freemasonry . It is farthest from our thoughts to say one word which mig ht in tho least degree cause the slightest ¦ annoyance to our American brethren . We know full well how highly they appreciate the descent of their several Grand Lodges from ours . Wo know how highly they
respect the British element in thoir constitution , and therefore , if we say anything which may even seem to indicate a dne respect for their view's about Masonry , wo say it in all brotherly kindness and from a wish that wo may help them Io realise more nearly the standard of what , in our humble opinion , is truly Freemasonry .
In tho leader referred to which appeared , as we have said , in our first number , Ave spoke of tho great interest taken by American brethren in costly temples , and asked where were the Benevolent Institutions which received their support . We have waited long for an answer , and
at length ono of tho veterans of American Freemasonry has virtually endorsed our views by asking a somewhat similar question . This , at least , proves that there was somo ground for the remarks we made , and that Bro Hughan ' s hearty apology for his American friends was
not only not uncalled for , but that it has possibly exercised a favourable effect in bestirring * them to an imitation of the Masonic work done in this country . Bro . Moore , moreover , bears us out completely , and if he has not said all he might have said , thero is no difficulty in
supplementing it from sources accessible to most brethren . He and one of our correspondents mado reference to the gathering of Knights Templars , this month , at Chicago , when it is anticipated there will bo assembled some
20 , 000 Sir Knights . When the new Masonic Temple in New York was consecrated , there was a grand procession of about 2 G , 000 brethren , and we may be sure—for does not the memorial volume indicate the fact?—that when the
Grand Temple in Philadelp hia was formally dedicated to the purposes of Freemasonry , there was an assemblage not far short of that at New York in point of numbers . The moneys expended in the erection of these stately Masonic edifices amount to a very considerable sum , and
yet we , in little England , have raised for the service of our three Institutions as much , perhaps , in the course of some three or four years as has been expended on one of them ; and in saying this we have not taken into account the sum annually disbursed by Grand Lodge in the relief of
distressed brethren , or the moneys raised in several of our Provinces for local Masonic Institutions , or for the purposes of casual benevolence . Brother Hughan thinks that we , too , have incurred heavy expenditure in respect of our Masonic Hall or Halls . Let the casual
outsider who has had a passing glimpse of our Freemasons' Hall in Great Queen Street say if , by the wildest stretch of the imagination , such a building could possibly have cost anything like a million and a half of dollarsthat is , £ 300 , 000 of our money—even if we include all
that has been expended on it in the way of additions and renovations in the course of the period it has been standing . Bro . Hughan remarks that England is a compact country , while the "United States are of vast extent . Is there a Grand Lodge in the States which can point with
excusable pride to an established fund of £ 50 , 000 , as can ours—a fund which is never touched , as the dues received from the daughter Lodges are ample to meet the ordinary demands by distressed brethren for relief . Wo rejoice that Bro . Huchan has been able to mention several cases
—Kentucky in particular—where the cause of Charity has been made a conspicuous feature in the Masonic practice of the district . Yet . with every allowance for these , and having rendered them the honour that is their due , we
incline to the maintenance of our oid view—v / htch , be d remembered , was made early , but not hastily and without due knowledge—that in the United States , in spite of the openhandedness of Americans generally , and of American
The Tendency Of American Freemasonry.
brethren in particular , the tendency of the Craft is to encourage public displays , processions , aud tinsel , rather than the more important tenets of our Masonic faith .
Blackballing.
BLACKBALLING .
THE following article on the subject of Blackballing appeared in a recent number of the Daily News and although we very much regret tho connection Freemasonry has with tho matter wo can bnt express our approval of the arguments of tho writer . Unless the ballot is held sacred it will speedily become a thing of the tho past , a result we could only lament .
Blackballing is an institution which might be called " un-English , but which is emphatically useful . Freemasons , however , must be . ware how they blackball in an unmasonic and malicious manner . Thpir position appears to be entirely different from that of members of ordinary clnbs in which you blackball a man " because he is a brute , " or because he is proposed by a bishop , or because yon like not the
fashion in which his beard is cat , or for some other purely subjective reason . Freemasons , though the Pope does not liko them , are more moral than common clubmen , as wo learn from the affecting case of Mr . "Voigt . This genUaman , a naturalised subject of the Queen , ia rightly described as a very active Mason . He has taken no less than thirty Masonic'degrees , and if not yet a passed hodman , ho must bo
pretty near tho top of the ladder . He ought therefore to know pretty well what he is about , and to have a thirtyfold acquaintance with the moral duties of tho Mason . But Mr . Voigt , though , like King David , the father of the Royal founder of Masonry , ho might sing " a song of degrees , " has , in the opinion of his Lodge , behaved unmasonically , and some oE the lodge even published a circular in which they severely
condemned his behaviour . Mr . Voigt resented this censure as libellous , and his case was heard at Leeds before Mr . Justice Bowen and a common jury . It seems that the Alexandra Lodge , at Hornsea , was originally founded by Mr . Voigt and some other gentlemen , about five years ago . In 1877 Mr . Trevor and some other Masons called an " emergency lodge " to elect a Rev . Mr . Tew , and his curate , Mr . Cas .
son * Here let ns admire the wise liberalism of our ancient national Church . While the Catholic clergy detest , and even curse , Freemasonry , oar curates " put their hands into the mystic basket , and say Iconx ompax , " if these ritnal forms survive from the Elensinian mys . teries into the ceremonies of Masonry , which is improbable . But Mr . Tew and his curate did not at once or readily gain admission to the
sacred basket of the Alexandra Lodge . Mr . Voigt , with some friends , sped from Hull to Hornsea , on the wings of Masonic eagerness , and the Hull train , which appears to have been late . Tho other Masons of the emergency lodge ( Alexandra ) did not , as usual , wait for the Hull train , and when Mr . Voigt and his friends arrived , what was their mortification to find that the Lodge was tyled . The required books were
not there , but yet the Lodge was tyled . People who "haunt the mouldering Lodges of the past" may have heard of irregularities like this , but we presume that they are uncommon , for Mr . Voigt and his friends were not a little vexed and annoyed . We learn that they now " gave vent to their feelings by blackballing Mr . Casson and Mr . Tew . "
But what a revelation is this P Is the ballot , the doubly or trebly sacred ballot of Freemasonry , to have its purpose of secrecy defeated ? The very reason of the black ball ' s existence ( they used beans for the same purpose in ancient Greece ) is destroyed if we are to be told who blackballed whom .
Brother Tudor Trevor P . M . took quite another view of the secrecy and sacredness of the ballot . H * formulated a motion , which was sent to the members of tho Lodge as a circular , and it was in this circular that Mr . Voigt detected libellous matter . Brother Tudor Trevor P . M . moved that Mr . Voigt and some others should be excluded
from the Alexandra Lodge because they " improperly and nnmasouically voted against the admission " of Messrs . Tew and Casson , " without good and sufficient cause . " Moreover , they " voted from ilhvill and spite , " and knowing that three blackballs would " pill " the reverend gentlemen , " unworthily combiued to exclude them . " But how was it known that the three brethren from Hull committed
these masonic misdemeanorus ? Brother Tudor Trevor seems to have arrived at his certainty by what Mr . Mill called the Method of Residues . Only the three and Brother Carr ( " in his capacity of S . W . " ) voted , and out of the four balls three were black . Brother Carr ' s presumably white ball being set aside , there remain only the three black balls of the gentlemen who had found the Lodge tiled . This may be
scientific reasoning , but is it clubmanlike ? However that may be , Brother Tudor Trevor condemned Mr . Voigt ' s conduct as " unmanly , dishonourable , and immasonic . " The occasion on which this language was used may have been " privileged , " but did the privilege cover the severity , not to say violence , of the censuro ? It may here be observed that tho Lodgo seemed to think so , because they excluded Mr . Voigt , who
has now only nine Lodges , unless indeed he has got into his donble number by obtaining admission to some other Lodge . After hearing a lucid charge from tho learned Judge , the Jury awarded to Mr . Voigt a sum of money which he will have no difficulty in wearing on his watch chain , if he likes to imitate an amusing victim of Mr . Buskin ' s criticism . Tho moral of tho affair seems to be that if all clnbs were to set up a
Masonic standard of morality , blackballing would be au uncommon incident . For why are men blackballed ? Sometimes because they are social annoyances , bores , or blusterers . Sometimes because they have an enemy in the club to which they seek admission , an enemy who marshals his friends at the " urns" and instructs them to " pill the candidate . Again , men may be blackballed because they have been guilty of what is called " shady " conduct , and it is absolutely necessary