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Article UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND. ← Page 9 of 10 →
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United Grand Lodge Of England.
The GRAND SECRETARY said he made it an invariable rule to call upon brethren for whom patents were to be made out , to know how they wished to be described , as it was impossible he could know . In the case of Major General Cooke , he had made a draft of the patent , with which he waited on that brother , and read it to him ; therein he was described as Bro . Major General George Cooke , of the army of the United States of Americaand Bro . Cooke made no objection to such descriptionnor
, , did he in any way insinuate that it was not a proper description . Bro . SAVAGE ' address was rendered inaudible from the noise and clamour of the brethren wishing to divide . Bro . CRUCEFIX rose , but the exclamations , especially from the dais , of " divide , divide , " for some time prohibited his being heard . At length , silence being perfectly restored , he addressed the Grand Master , observing that he had purposelwaited until every other member of the
y Grand Lodge should have been heard both in accusation and defence of a brother whose case , in his opinion , ought never to have been intruded on the Grand Lodge , to the neglect of its general objects . It had been his intention to have animadverted on certain subjects relative to the question at issue , but the Grand Master had frankly stated that he ( the G . M . ) might possibly have been in error , and the probability was that he was not altogether wrong ; furthermorethe Grand Master had
, very fraternally intimated that he would not consider a gentle hint to be ungracious . These sentiments from the masonic throne went to the heart , and tended much to disarm opposition , however well intended . ( Here the interruption of laughter from a noble Provincial Grand Master caused Dr . C . to turn round and bow to him . ) He would now
touch on the case of General Cooke very briefly , having on previous occasions given his opinion at length ; but as the letter from that brother to the Grand Master might be considered as a proof of service , it only remained to question whether , according to masonic law , a brother laid up with the gout at Albany , in the State of New York , could be considered as wanting in respect to the Grand Lodge , by not perilling the dangers of a voyage to comply with the mandate . It surely was not masonic to expect such compliance . He himself would not be guilty of
such an absurdity . ( Here the same noble brother repeated his derisive laughter , which again occasioned Dr . C . to bow to him . ) Laughter might be well enough in its way , but it was never more ill-timed than on the present occasion . His intention was to propose an amendment based on the opinion of the Grand Master himself , and whicli would amply meet the justice of the case , the more especially as General Cooke had actually resigned the honours conferred on him—it might be from a
mistaken view ; and his amendment would be , that the firstoriginal motion entertained by Bro . Dobie , that the Grand Master having , for reasons stated , removed General Cooke from the office of Representative to the Grand Lodge of New York , that he be also removed from the rank of P . S . G . W . also , which rank was conferred in compliment to such appointment of representative . In this view of the case , there could he no offence to any party . General Cooke miht have erredbut his case
g , was not without parallel . To cast upon simple error the same penalty with which they had visited revolting crimes was awful—it was not Preemasonry . Let Grand Lodge bear in mind that the general had proved himself at any rate a liberal benefactor to our charities , and how were we about to reward him ? The amendment was not seconded .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
United Grand Lodge Of England.
The GRAND SECRETARY said he made it an invariable rule to call upon brethren for whom patents were to be made out , to know how they wished to be described , as it was impossible he could know . In the case of Major General Cooke , he had made a draft of the patent , with which he waited on that brother , and read it to him ; therein he was described as Bro . Major General George Cooke , of the army of the United States of Americaand Bro . Cooke made no objection to such descriptionnor
, , did he in any way insinuate that it was not a proper description . Bro . SAVAGE ' address was rendered inaudible from the noise and clamour of the brethren wishing to divide . Bro . CRUCEFIX rose , but the exclamations , especially from the dais , of " divide , divide , " for some time prohibited his being heard . At length , silence being perfectly restored , he addressed the Grand Master , observing that he had purposelwaited until every other member of the
y Grand Lodge should have been heard both in accusation and defence of a brother whose case , in his opinion , ought never to have been intruded on the Grand Lodge , to the neglect of its general objects . It had been his intention to have animadverted on certain subjects relative to the question at issue , but the Grand Master had frankly stated that he ( the G . M . ) might possibly have been in error , and the probability was that he was not altogether wrong ; furthermorethe Grand Master had
, very fraternally intimated that he would not consider a gentle hint to be ungracious . These sentiments from the masonic throne went to the heart , and tended much to disarm opposition , however well intended . ( Here the interruption of laughter from a noble Provincial Grand Master caused Dr . C . to turn round and bow to him . ) He would now
touch on the case of General Cooke very briefly , having on previous occasions given his opinion at length ; but as the letter from that brother to the Grand Master might be considered as a proof of service , it only remained to question whether , according to masonic law , a brother laid up with the gout at Albany , in the State of New York , could be considered as wanting in respect to the Grand Lodge , by not perilling the dangers of a voyage to comply with the mandate . It surely was not masonic to expect such compliance . He himself would not be guilty of
such an absurdity . ( Here the same noble brother repeated his derisive laughter , which again occasioned Dr . C . to bow to him . ) Laughter might be well enough in its way , but it was never more ill-timed than on the present occasion . His intention was to propose an amendment based on the opinion of the Grand Master himself , and whicli would amply meet the justice of the case , the more especially as General Cooke had actually resigned the honours conferred on him—it might be from a
mistaken view ; and his amendment would be , that the firstoriginal motion entertained by Bro . Dobie , that the Grand Master having , for reasons stated , removed General Cooke from the office of Representative to the Grand Lodge of New York , that he be also removed from the rank of P . S . G . W . also , which rank was conferred in compliment to such appointment of representative . In this view of the case , there could he no offence to any party . General Cooke miht have erredbut his case
g , was not without parallel . To cast upon simple error the same penalty with which they had visited revolting crimes was awful—it was not Preemasonry . Let Grand Lodge bear in mind that the general had proved himself at any rate a liberal benefactor to our charities , and how were we about to reward him ? The amendment was not seconded .