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Article UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND. ← Page 11 of 12 →
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United Grand Lodge Of England.
displayed , had made the most he could of it , and all that was possible to be urged and deduced from it he had availed himself of ; hut would he not as readily have turned against him if he had said the privilege should be open to all the lodges in the Craft ? would he not have shown the fallacy of requesting Indian or American lodges to send Grancl Stewards ? and could any one deny the absurdity of giving West Indian or China lodges the riht of sending Stewards to attend the banquet in
g London every year . A certain degree of opposition was to be given to the motion , and the best arguments were to be used that could be found —on his mind they had no weight , for no case had been made against him . Bro . Havers hacl certainly spoken of him ( Bro . B . ) personally ; why personalities should have been used , he was at a loss to understand ; why was he designated the " virtuous Brother Bigg ? " he laid claim to no particular virtuesbut he undoubtedly possessed them in as great a
, degree as Bro . Havers . He professed none , and was at a loss to understand the term . His temper was certainly unruffled at the opening of the debate , and Bro . Havers would find the temper of the " virtuous Bro . Bigg " quite as even at the conclusion . He hacl been told , as he was the originator of the motion , he must make out a case ; he claimed to say , he had done so , but he certainly thought that those who had somehow obtained the distinctive badge were bound to show how they obtained it
—why ?—for what service ?—by what right ? and why they continued to hold it ?—but they had signally failed ; they had at some undefined period procured it by means not very clear , and having it , they would hold it , right or wrong ; he did not understand that such was a masonic doctrine , nor was it just , out of Masonry . Bro . Havers had appealed to
history , had explained several portions , but had carefully abstained from tracing ( if it were possible ) why the present eighteen lodges should have a privilege that was not to be extended to the others in London , and take their turn in participating fraternally with their deserving brethren . The opponents had not answered one single argument—had not refuted one reason urged by him , nor shown any grounds for keeping their unreasonable monopoly . The GRAND MASTER would make a remark or two on putting the
question ; Bro . Faudel had forgotten that the Provincial Grand Stewards were only entitled to wear their red aprons during the year of office , and not out of their province ; they were also not elected but appointed . If no positive law existed that the brother should serve as Steward to the Boys' and Girls' charities , yet it was the practice to desire it in many lodges , and certainly was extremely beneficial ; it was a great pity that any alteration of a speculative character should be proposedinstead of
, one that clearly worked well , ancl in endeavouring to form an improvement that might do a positive mischief , they would , if not careful , be like the dog and bone , lose the substance in trying for the shadow . The proposal to extend the elective right to all the London lodges was so evidently a monopoly , where a monopoly was complained of , that he should set his face against it ; nor did he think the argument used , that now the Sheriff of London was excluded was met by the motion
proposed ; for he knew a worthy ancl influential Mason , who was as elevated as the Sheriff of London , he meant the High Sheriff for one of the Ridings of Yorkshire , who was not only now deprived of the opportunity of being distinguished as a Grand Steward , but would continue to be so excluded if even the proposal was carried . He should suggest their not adopting the resolution proposed hastily , as it was not an improvement , VOL . vi . A A
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
United Grand Lodge Of England.
displayed , had made the most he could of it , and all that was possible to be urged and deduced from it he had availed himself of ; hut would he not as readily have turned against him if he had said the privilege should be open to all the lodges in the Craft ? would he not have shown the fallacy of requesting Indian or American lodges to send Grancl Stewards ? and could any one deny the absurdity of giving West Indian or China lodges the riht of sending Stewards to attend the banquet in
g London every year . A certain degree of opposition was to be given to the motion , and the best arguments were to be used that could be found —on his mind they had no weight , for no case had been made against him . Bro . Havers hacl certainly spoken of him ( Bro . B . ) personally ; why personalities should have been used , he was at a loss to understand ; why was he designated the " virtuous Brother Bigg ? " he laid claim to no particular virtuesbut he undoubtedly possessed them in as great a
, degree as Bro . Havers . He professed none , and was at a loss to understand the term . His temper was certainly unruffled at the opening of the debate , and Bro . Havers would find the temper of the " virtuous Bro . Bigg " quite as even at the conclusion . He hacl been told , as he was the originator of the motion , he must make out a case ; he claimed to say , he had done so , but he certainly thought that those who had somehow obtained the distinctive badge were bound to show how they obtained it
—why ?—for what service ?—by what right ? and why they continued to hold it ?—but they had signally failed ; they had at some undefined period procured it by means not very clear , and having it , they would hold it , right or wrong ; he did not understand that such was a masonic doctrine , nor was it just , out of Masonry . Bro . Havers had appealed to
history , had explained several portions , but had carefully abstained from tracing ( if it were possible ) why the present eighteen lodges should have a privilege that was not to be extended to the others in London , and take their turn in participating fraternally with their deserving brethren . The opponents had not answered one single argument—had not refuted one reason urged by him , nor shown any grounds for keeping their unreasonable monopoly . The GRAND MASTER would make a remark or two on putting the
question ; Bro . Faudel had forgotten that the Provincial Grand Stewards were only entitled to wear their red aprons during the year of office , and not out of their province ; they were also not elected but appointed . If no positive law existed that the brother should serve as Steward to the Boys' and Girls' charities , yet it was the practice to desire it in many lodges , and certainly was extremely beneficial ; it was a great pity that any alteration of a speculative character should be proposedinstead of
, one that clearly worked well , ancl in endeavouring to form an improvement that might do a positive mischief , they would , if not careful , be like the dog and bone , lose the substance in trying for the shadow . The proposal to extend the elective right to all the London lodges was so evidently a monopoly , where a monopoly was complained of , that he should set his face against it ; nor did he think the argument used , that now the Sheriff of London was excluded was met by the motion
proposed ; for he knew a worthy ancl influential Mason , who was as elevated as the Sheriff of London , he meant the High Sheriff for one of the Ridings of Yorkshire , who was not only now deprived of the opportunity of being distinguished as a Grand Steward , but would continue to be so excluded if even the proposal was carried . He should suggest their not adopting the resolution proposed hastily , as it was not an improvement , VOL . vi . A A