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Article UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND. ← Page 6 of 12 →
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United Grand Lodge Of England.
Grand Master ; about the same time another member of the Board also wrote upon a similar motion , touching the same subject , to the Grand Master , and the brother informed him ( Bro . B . ) , soon afterwards , of the answer he had received . Bro . B . ' s letter was not replied to , and after waiting some months he again brought the motion before the Board , temperately , respectfully , and every other way in conformity with the rules and regulations of the Craft and of the Board . The motion was
seconded , and not any person attempted a reply , upon which he requested the President to put the question , which was met , greatly to his astonishment , by a short and peremptory No . He urged , with all the eloquence he was master of , the injustice the President was guilty of , and his reasons for refusing to put the question ; but to all which he only received an answer , saying , " I shall not put the question . " He ( Bro . B . ) then said , " You must take the responsibility of so unjust a proceeding ,
as I shall be under the unpleasant necessity of bringing your conduct before Grand Lodge . " In conformity with that he now stootl before them to fight , not his battle , as that was already decided , but theirs ; for it was their question , if an irresponsible officer was to arrogate to himself a power which never existed in any other person , not even the Grand Master himself ; which had never been attempted to be practised before ; and which not even the Speakers of the Houses of Lords or Commons
would attempt to use . The danger of allowing such a proceeding must at once be apparent , and they would soon have every unpalatable proposition met by a distinct refusal to put the question , and a masonic tyranny instituted . He could not conceive what answer the worshipful brother would give , and supposed he bore the crime of sinning for the sake of
the glory of true repentance . Some remarks would perhaps be made upon his anxiety to get the question discussed at the Board while the alternative was open to him , and of which he had ultimately availed himself , that of giving notice to the Board of Masters , and bringing it forward as an open question in Grand Lodge ; to that he would reply , that if he had not brought it on when he did at the Board , at least eighteen months must have elapsed before anything in the way of alteration in the Board of Grand Stewards could have been effected ; while
years might pass by before he could get his motion on the paper , or rather in time for Grand Lodge ; proofs of which need not be sought for further than this very charge having been many times received as a notice of motion , and it was only by especial Grand Lodges having been held , and the business somewhat hurried , that he could now , at near midnight , bring it on , in the absence of nearly all his friends , and with a comparatively empty hall ; but since the President of the Board of General Purposes
had eliminated his motion , he felt bound to protect the honour of the Craft , the interests and independence of which were involved in this discussion ; and in urging them to come to a decision upon it , he begged they would believe he regretted to have to submit the error of judgment of the President of the Board , who was in all other respects his esteemed and valued friend . His motion was , that the refusal of the said President of the Board to put the questionwas neither justified by the laws nor
, the powers of his office . Bro . DOVER seconded the motion . Bro . DOBIE could not but thank the brother for the complimentary manner- in which he had spoken of him as an individual ; and could assure Bro . Bigg he reciprocated the kind expression of feeling , and entertained , and should hereafter entertain , the same friendly disposition
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
United Grand Lodge Of England.
Grand Master ; about the same time another member of the Board also wrote upon a similar motion , touching the same subject , to the Grand Master , and the brother informed him ( Bro . B . ) , soon afterwards , of the answer he had received . Bro . B . ' s letter was not replied to , and after waiting some months he again brought the motion before the Board , temperately , respectfully , and every other way in conformity with the rules and regulations of the Craft and of the Board . The motion was
seconded , and not any person attempted a reply , upon which he requested the President to put the question , which was met , greatly to his astonishment , by a short and peremptory No . He urged , with all the eloquence he was master of , the injustice the President was guilty of , and his reasons for refusing to put the question ; but to all which he only received an answer , saying , " I shall not put the question . " He ( Bro . B . ) then said , " You must take the responsibility of so unjust a proceeding ,
as I shall be under the unpleasant necessity of bringing your conduct before Grand Lodge . " In conformity with that he now stootl before them to fight , not his battle , as that was already decided , but theirs ; for it was their question , if an irresponsible officer was to arrogate to himself a power which never existed in any other person , not even the Grand Master himself ; which had never been attempted to be practised before ; and which not even the Speakers of the Houses of Lords or Commons
would attempt to use . The danger of allowing such a proceeding must at once be apparent , and they would soon have every unpalatable proposition met by a distinct refusal to put the question , and a masonic tyranny instituted . He could not conceive what answer the worshipful brother would give , and supposed he bore the crime of sinning for the sake of
the glory of true repentance . Some remarks would perhaps be made upon his anxiety to get the question discussed at the Board while the alternative was open to him , and of which he had ultimately availed himself , that of giving notice to the Board of Masters , and bringing it forward as an open question in Grand Lodge ; to that he would reply , that if he had not brought it on when he did at the Board , at least eighteen months must have elapsed before anything in the way of alteration in the Board of Grand Stewards could have been effected ; while
years might pass by before he could get his motion on the paper , or rather in time for Grand Lodge ; proofs of which need not be sought for further than this very charge having been many times received as a notice of motion , and it was only by especial Grand Lodges having been held , and the business somewhat hurried , that he could now , at near midnight , bring it on , in the absence of nearly all his friends , and with a comparatively empty hall ; but since the President of the Board of General Purposes
had eliminated his motion , he felt bound to protect the honour of the Craft , the interests and independence of which were involved in this discussion ; and in urging them to come to a decision upon it , he begged they would believe he regretted to have to submit the error of judgment of the President of the Board , who was in all other respects his esteemed and valued friend . His motion was , that the refusal of the said President of the Board to put the questionwas neither justified by the laws nor
, the powers of his office . Bro . DOVER seconded the motion . Bro . DOBIE could not but thank the brother for the complimentary manner- in which he had spoken of him as an individual ; and could assure Bro . Bigg he reciprocated the kind expression of feeling , and entertained , and should hereafter entertain , the same friendly disposition