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Article FREEMASONRY IN INDIA. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry In India.
FREEMASONRY IN INDIA .
THE Fraternity in this part of the world are delighted to hear that the eyes ofthe Grand 'Lodge of England have been at last opened to the absurdity of so long having permitted the late Provincial Grand Master of Bengal to reside 14 , 000 miles distant from his Lodge , and also permitting the Deputy Provincial Grand Master to allow so many years to pass over without having once convened the Provincial Grand Lodge of Calcutta during the absence of his principal , as was his undoubted duty ,
and notwithstanding frequent solicitations were made to him to do so . That two such glaring errors should have been allowed to exist for no less a period than twelve years , surprised and grieved the whole Fraternity . It injured the interests of the Order , as the thinking portion of the unpopular world naturally held themselves aloof from joining a society , the head of ivhich appeared to take no interest in them , and the next in rank to absolutely lect them—facts which were proclaimed
neg , every year to the world in the Bengal Almanack , which , under the head " Masonic , " points out our Indian rulers of the Craft to be thus , — The R . W . the P . G . M . is stated as " in Europe since 18271 " The R . W . the D . P . G . M . has inscribed against his name , the words " declines to act !"
And against the offices of P . G . Wardens , Deacons , and other officers , appears the laconic information conveyed by the word " vacant ; " the whole affording a very lamentable picture of an Indian Grand Lodge . The simple unexplained circumstance of a P . G . M . residing for twelve years in Europe , while his lodge is in Asia , with the ocean rolling between them , was in itself quite sufficient to throw a species of ridicule upon the Fraternity ; and there are many anti-Masons at all times ready to avail themselves of any error ivhich we may unwittingly commit .
The omission reflected likewise upon the Grand Lodge , as any Indian Almanack or Directory would have shown that the late P . G . M . resigned the civil service , and quitted Bengal on the llth of June 1827 : and that the D . P . G . M . did not perform his duty in holding his Grand Lodge , was sufficiently apparent by the Grand Lodge of England receiving no returns from it , as directed in the constitutions of Masonry . Jn such a lamentable state was the Craft in Bengal , until the ivhich well term of in the annals of
present year , we may a year Light Indian Masonry , for we have now some chance , after " groping our way through the rugged road of difficulty " for twelve years past , of " being brought from darkness to light . " We are informed through the medium of a Calcutta newspaper— " The Englishman "—the editor and proprietor of which is well disposed towards us , being himself one of the Craft , that the subject to which I have now drawn attention ,
having been very freely commented upon in The Freemason ' s Quarterly Review , by Masonic writers in India , and the subject having been conspicuously brought forward by some Lodges having taken the more pointed step of addressing petitions to the Grand Master , the result has been the resignation by the late P . G . M . of his office , ivhich virtually closes that also of the D . P . G . M . We learn also , from the same authority , that our esteemed citizen , Dr . John Grant , of Calcutta , is mentioned as the Craftsman on whom the high dignity is to be conferred . We also hear , that of issuing a warrant for a second P . G . M . for the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry In India.
FREEMASONRY IN INDIA .
THE Fraternity in this part of the world are delighted to hear that the eyes ofthe Grand 'Lodge of England have been at last opened to the absurdity of so long having permitted the late Provincial Grand Master of Bengal to reside 14 , 000 miles distant from his Lodge , and also permitting the Deputy Provincial Grand Master to allow so many years to pass over without having once convened the Provincial Grand Lodge of Calcutta during the absence of his principal , as was his undoubted duty ,
and notwithstanding frequent solicitations were made to him to do so . That two such glaring errors should have been allowed to exist for no less a period than twelve years , surprised and grieved the whole Fraternity . It injured the interests of the Order , as the thinking portion of the unpopular world naturally held themselves aloof from joining a society , the head of ivhich appeared to take no interest in them , and the next in rank to absolutely lect them—facts which were proclaimed
neg , every year to the world in the Bengal Almanack , which , under the head " Masonic , " points out our Indian rulers of the Craft to be thus , — The R . W . the P . G . M . is stated as " in Europe since 18271 " The R . W . the D . P . G . M . has inscribed against his name , the words " declines to act !"
And against the offices of P . G . Wardens , Deacons , and other officers , appears the laconic information conveyed by the word " vacant ; " the whole affording a very lamentable picture of an Indian Grand Lodge . The simple unexplained circumstance of a P . G . M . residing for twelve years in Europe , while his lodge is in Asia , with the ocean rolling between them , was in itself quite sufficient to throw a species of ridicule upon the Fraternity ; and there are many anti-Masons at all times ready to avail themselves of any error ivhich we may unwittingly commit .
The omission reflected likewise upon the Grand Lodge , as any Indian Almanack or Directory would have shown that the late P . G . M . resigned the civil service , and quitted Bengal on the llth of June 1827 : and that the D . P . G . M . did not perform his duty in holding his Grand Lodge , was sufficiently apparent by the Grand Lodge of England receiving no returns from it , as directed in the constitutions of Masonry . Jn such a lamentable state was the Craft in Bengal , until the ivhich well term of in the annals of
present year , we may a year Light Indian Masonry , for we have now some chance , after " groping our way through the rugged road of difficulty " for twelve years past , of " being brought from darkness to light . " We are informed through the medium of a Calcutta newspaper— " The Englishman "—the editor and proprietor of which is well disposed towards us , being himself one of the Craft , that the subject to which I have now drawn attention ,
having been very freely commented upon in The Freemason ' s Quarterly Review , by Masonic writers in India , and the subject having been conspicuously brought forward by some Lodges having taken the more pointed step of addressing petitions to the Grand Master , the result has been the resignation by the late P . G . M . of his office , ivhich virtually closes that also of the D . P . G . M . We learn also , from the same authority , that our esteemed citizen , Dr . John Grant , of Calcutta , is mentioned as the Craftsman on whom the high dignity is to be conferred . We also hear , that of issuing a warrant for a second P . G . M . for the