Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Grand Lodge Of England, And The Representative System.
The neglect to amend or reform themselves has led to the most serious and fatal consequences in this as in other countries , even the omission to turn its eyes back upon itself may be productive of inconvenience to the Grand Lodge of England ; for public and private institutions require the corrective principle : but the corrective is not so much required in Freemasonry as the fulfilment of the original design , if such be possible ; if it be notthenindeedsome attention must be paid to such correction
, , , as shall preserve the original intention , with its adoption and practice at the present day ; the arrangement as it now stands must be admitted to be curious , for it makes the subscribing Masters , Wardens , and Past Masters of a lodge to be the only eligible persons to attend the legislative body , yet the lodges to which they subscribe may be , and in fact are , in very many instances situated thousands of miles from the place of meeting , distributed over the hahitable globe , making their attendance
at the deliberations of the governing body , part of which they are , and which has the sole power of making , altering , or repealing laws , utterly impossible , leaving , of necessity , the making of new laws , or the altering those in existence , to such fortunate members of the fraternity whose place of residence may chance to be in the vicinity of the locality of the seat of government , but who may likewise be deprived of the privilege and rightas their absent co-legislators areby any accidental removal
, , of the place of meeting , at the caprice of a majority who happen to be present when such removal is proposed and voted . It is impossible to form a more complete disfranchisement of the Craft than is in operation at the present moment ; the majority of the members of Grand Lodge are unable to attend , from causes over which they have no control . The
members of Grand Lodge being the Masters of Lodges , Wardens , and Past Masters , are of necessity at the places in which the lodges are held , though the merely altering that one clause of the laws would not much facilitate the attendance of the eligible members , but that and other arrangements would enable the members of Grand Lodge , as at present constituted , to arrange a means of availing themselves of the privilege to which they are entitled , and which they are called upon to exercise . Neither reason nor justice can palliate the constrained absenceand b
, y that means disfranchisement , of a large portion of the rulers and the governed , nor can the impolicy of such a course be excused . It would be ridiculous at this time of day , to point out the great dissatisfaction that has been expressed , by the people of every country , against their exclusion from participating in making the laws by which they were to be governed , and from their forced concurrence to the taxation they were compelled to pay , without an opportunity of their participating in a
discussion upon the merits of such arrangements . It is matter of notoriety that the dismemberment of societies , the decay of states , the revolutions of empires , the change of dynasties , the disorganization of entire populations arose from a partial , or unfair representation of the people in their legislative assemblies , or from the exclusion of either themselves or their representatives , when they hacl arrived , by their educationwealthand civilizationat a state fit to be entrusted with
, , , the franchise , yet were nevertheless prevented , by direct or indirect coercive measures , from the performance of their prerogative . If the policy of some , either monarchial institutions or tyrannical governments , induced such a course , it may have been borne with patience by the sufferers , awaiting the dawn of more enlightened time ; but what can be said for a society , which starts by saying , every member uf it is on an
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Grand Lodge Of England, And The Representative System.
The neglect to amend or reform themselves has led to the most serious and fatal consequences in this as in other countries , even the omission to turn its eyes back upon itself may be productive of inconvenience to the Grand Lodge of England ; for public and private institutions require the corrective principle : but the corrective is not so much required in Freemasonry as the fulfilment of the original design , if such be possible ; if it be notthenindeedsome attention must be paid to such correction
, , , as shall preserve the original intention , with its adoption and practice at the present day ; the arrangement as it now stands must be admitted to be curious , for it makes the subscribing Masters , Wardens , and Past Masters of a lodge to be the only eligible persons to attend the legislative body , yet the lodges to which they subscribe may be , and in fact are , in very many instances situated thousands of miles from the place of meeting , distributed over the hahitable globe , making their attendance
at the deliberations of the governing body , part of which they are , and which has the sole power of making , altering , or repealing laws , utterly impossible , leaving , of necessity , the making of new laws , or the altering those in existence , to such fortunate members of the fraternity whose place of residence may chance to be in the vicinity of the locality of the seat of government , but who may likewise be deprived of the privilege and rightas their absent co-legislators areby any accidental removal
, , of the place of meeting , at the caprice of a majority who happen to be present when such removal is proposed and voted . It is impossible to form a more complete disfranchisement of the Craft than is in operation at the present moment ; the majority of the members of Grand Lodge are unable to attend , from causes over which they have no control . The
members of Grand Lodge being the Masters of Lodges , Wardens , and Past Masters , are of necessity at the places in which the lodges are held , though the merely altering that one clause of the laws would not much facilitate the attendance of the eligible members , but that and other arrangements would enable the members of Grand Lodge , as at present constituted , to arrange a means of availing themselves of the privilege to which they are entitled , and which they are called upon to exercise . Neither reason nor justice can palliate the constrained absenceand b
, y that means disfranchisement , of a large portion of the rulers and the governed , nor can the impolicy of such a course be excused . It would be ridiculous at this time of day , to point out the great dissatisfaction that has been expressed , by the people of every country , against their exclusion from participating in making the laws by which they were to be governed , and from their forced concurrence to the taxation they were compelled to pay , without an opportunity of their participating in a
discussion upon the merits of such arrangements . It is matter of notoriety that the dismemberment of societies , the decay of states , the revolutions of empires , the change of dynasties , the disorganization of entire populations arose from a partial , or unfair representation of the people in their legislative assemblies , or from the exclusion of either themselves or their representatives , when they hacl arrived , by their educationwealthand civilizationat a state fit to be entrusted with
, , , the franchise , yet were nevertheless prevented , by direct or indirect coercive measures , from the performance of their prerogative . If the policy of some , either monarchial institutions or tyrannical governments , induced such a course , it may have been borne with patience by the sufferers , awaiting the dawn of more enlightened time ; but what can be said for a society , which starts by saying , every member uf it is on an