Masonic Recollections.

And when he finds it he will find a plan which had the approval , which had the cordial approbation of 3000 aa bright Masons as ever our country produced . Why then the opposition ? 1 . Those " not invited to particinate" clamoured

indignantly at their exclusion . The fact that the Order of Conservators was a " wheel within a wheel " ( like the Chapter System , the Commandery System , & c . ) made it enemies , bitter and implacable . And yet this idea was but borrowed from that of " 33 rd and last Grade " of the

Scotch Rite , in which the one is selected , the ninety-nino are passed by . 2 . The stereotyping of the Webb Notes in what was called "Mnemonics" was made the subject of outcry * The work was called " clandestine , " an " exposition , " & c

and yet it was what had been written in thousands of copies by the acknowledged heads of the Order . And as to the " printing , " the book was never offered for sale , and was just as private as a written copy .

3 . The attempt to secure uniformity outside of Grand Lodge authority was a snbject of objection . But Grand Lodgo authority has been invoked in this direction for a century and has always failed .

4 . Personal jealousy . Those opposed to me and my friends found this a favourable opportunity ( as was openly said ) - ' to rise upon our ruins . " In every Grand Lodge there are parties , and in every Grand Lodge rivalries thafc run into strife and contention . Where the

" Conservators" were sufficiently strong ( as in Iowa , Indiana , Minnesota , Nebraska , & c . ) the opposition was beaten and the quarrel ceased . Where their opponents had the advantage ( as in Missouri , Kentucky , Illinois , Ac ) , they took the reins of Grand Lod ge and forced the

" Conservators " to succumb . The results of the movement npon the whole were favourable in producing uniformity of work , but our success would have been a hundred times greater had the weapons used against us been those of argument and fair debate .

Among the Masonic projects agitated from year to year with persistency , that of a General Grand Lodge is conspicuous . Ifc was proposed in Pensylvania more than a century since , for in those days the Philadelphia brethren were not so easily alarmed at the idea of innovations as

now . But although the name of George Washington was proposed as the first National Grand Master , and I suppose he was not unwilling to accept the honour , and the best talent of the day was employed to make the scheme feasible , yet it failed egregiously . Only a small number of the Grand Lodges consented to it . Two or three more

promised to consider it . Three or four more quietly ignored it , and then the matter fell through . But it was resumed in after years again and again . About 1822 a conveution of leading Masons was held , of which the celebrated jurist , John Marshall , was chairman . Seatonof

, the Motional Intelligencer , took an active part in tho meetings . Henry Clay was present . An appeal to the Fraternity was drafted , which shows the hand of the great Kentuckian who , it was understood , was to be the National

Grand Master . But the failure was egregious . Even the Grand Lodge of Kentucky , of which Clay had been Grand Master , refused to go into it by a counter-report of great ability , showing the impracticability of the scheme .

Some thirty years later , Hon . Finlay M . King , of New York , to whom I have alluded in previous papers , took up the plan in company with Benjamin B . French and others , and for several years gave much time to its development , visiting Washington City and other cities to enlist the aid

of leading Masons . At Chicago , September 1859 , we had it up , with strong men like Mackey , Pierson and others to advocate it . But the idea of a National Grand Lodge is evidently distasteful to the popular mind , and I do not believe it will ever prevail . As it could not possibly

produce uniformit y in rituals , in legislation or in regalias , it is difficult to see what practical good ifc would accomplish ; while the increased expense in Masonic workings , the confusion in government and the immense rush for office that would inevitably result , would neutralize any conceivable benefits to grow onfc of it .

In looking back thirty-six years over the Masonic field one of the most remarkable developments of Masonry is seen in the growth of the Scotch Bite . Even in 1850 ifc

was nothing as a Masonic power . It had no influence , "obody sought it or cared for it . A few old men claimed ™ be " thirty-thirds , " and when they wanted to increase their numbers , one of them selected a man , took him to a

private room , read to him from somo poor manuscripts for an hour , and pronounced him a " thirty-second . " That ia exactly the way I came in . Even Brother Pike , who went one peg higher , cannot say when he was placed in his present exalted position , though no one doubts bufc what it

was done legitimately . Bufc no records were kept . No fees were charged . The degrees , such as fchey were , wore ¦ * - honorary . " For my part , I was so disgusted with the childish and unmeaning stuff" read to me by Giles F . Yates that for years the very name of Scotch Masonry called a

smile to my face . I remember , in June 1856 , Dr . Mackey brought his whole magazine of manuscripts to my house , and in the upper storey made " thirty-seconds " of some five or six brethren , no fees being charged and no records kept .

It was a hot day in a hot climate , and I fear ihe good fellows found the Kentucky dinner with which my wife had endowed them rather too much for tho necessary mental effort of taking in thirty-two degrees in ninety minutes ! In 1858-59 I was Grand Commander of the

Kentucky Grancl Consistory afc Louisville , and conferred the orders upon some fifty applicants , and although we did charge a fee ( sixty dollars ) , and by the vigilance of Bro . Fred . Webber did keep a record , yet the loose and hasty

communication of such varied Rituals ( the whole in a single evening ) , was but a ' parody for which fifty cents would have been ample return . We had no scenery or machinery , not even candlesticks or aids of any sort .

But now , what a change ! Pike put in his time and talents to reforming ( better say , originating ) the Rituals , and rallied around him scores of the mosfc influential

Masons in the South , and by 1860 the Scotch Rite was a power in the land . Tho North caught the fire , reformed their Rituals , settled ( for a time ) their quarrels , fitted up apartments , provided expensive and splendid accessories , and only the other day I saw that one of their leading "

thirtythirds " in New York is predicting a Napoleonic career for " the Ancient ancl Accepted Scottish Rite . " To me it is marvellous . Ifc shows what one man of intelligence , learning and zeal can do . It proves that fche " equality " theory of Masonry in this country is not so popular after

all as the " autocratic , " and while I am not specially favourable to the system or its growth so far as ifc has been at tho cost of Symbolical Masonry , yet I feel proud to pay my tribute to the edifice whose foundation was laid on walls built chiefly by Albert Pike .

" Chiefly by Pike , " but thero is a Cincinnati Mason to whom the credit of persistent and self-sacrificing devotion to the Scotch Rite is equally due , who bore the Cincinnati Consistory on his shoulders unaided for many years , whose own library of foreign and home authors upon this

subject is the best in the world , a Mason whoso knowledge is not limited to the Scotch Rite , but ranges through the " primality , " the Blue Lodge degrees , and who knows as much of all the degrees in use in this conntrv as anv one else , a man to whom a long and

intimate acquaintance has greatly endeared me—ENOCH T . CARSON . * \ Bro . Bob Morris , in the Masonic Beview

A meeting of the North London Chapter of Improve-, ment was held on Thursday ; Comp . Gregory , who presided , rehearsed the ceremony of exaltation . He was ably

supported by Comps . Dean , Hunter , Bird , Knight , George & c . In future the meetings of this Chapter of Improvement will be held at Comp . Meekham ' s , the Alwyne Castle , St . Paul ' s Road .

The new Masonic Hall at Woolston , which is being built by Bx * o . Chapman for the accommodation of the brethren of the Clausentum Lodge , is rapidly approaching

completion , and will be consecrated by the Provincial Grand Master for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight , Right Worshipful Bro . W . W . Beach , M . P ., in November , on the tenth anniversary of fche foundation of the Lodge .

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