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Article STATE OF MASONRY IN IRELAND. ← Page 8 of 9 →
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State Of Masonry In Ireland.
they have not to this hour received the slightest assistance , except from their own immediate friends ; so disheartening is the blight which the freezing influence of the Grand Lodge has shed over the once living spirit of Irish Freemasonry ! The building of the Hall is still , we understand , going forward , in despite of every difficulty ; but then it is done mainly at the private risk , and on the individual responsibility , of Bro . Grantaidedso far as their limited resources will permitbthe Brethren
, , , y of Lodge No . 69 ; as it would have been an indelible blot upon the very name of Irish Freemasonry , had the undertaking been suffered to sink from a confessed want of means , after all the preliminary requisites had been obtained upon terms in the highest degree advantageous , if the project were regarded merely in the light of a commercial speculation . It is in the highest degree discreditable that private zeal should be left to compensate for the delinquencies of public trusteeshiand that
p , Brethren should incur the chances of ultimate loss , and serious injury to their private fortunes , for an object in which the whole Brotherhood are collectively interested . These things are eminently disgraceful , and it is therefore hi gh time that an end were put to a system of executive management , under which the primary purposes of the Order are thus set at open defiance . The case of the Londonderry Brethren is one which cannot fail to attract in a special degree the sympathetic co-
opera tion of their contemporaries , both at home and throughout this country at large . Their efforts have been most spirited , and they must not be left without some testimonial to animate their labours in the good work , as well as to minister to the encouragement for its successful accomplishment .
We need scarcely again assure our Irish Brethren that our intention is not to cast upon them as a body the slightest disparaging reflection . On the contrary , our object is to elevate their character , and to amplif y their means of comfort and progressive usefulness , as well as of social respectability , by the enforced amelioration , if we cannot effect the wholesale abolition , of that system of mismanagement , under which their collective energies have been hitherto paralyzed , and the credit of the Masonic Institute itself—heavenly as it is in its oriinand glorious
g , in its native results—has been suffered to fall into popular contempt . With an independence which intrinsically befits the Masonic character , we have traced to the conduct of the Grand Lodge the evils of which we complain ; and we have called upon that body for the removal of these evils , as it is to the appellate jurisdiction of Grand Lodge itself that , in the first instance , every reference of this kind can be constitutionall y made . Much , however , as we revere authority , we love Masonry still more ; and when we see the manifest interests of the latter deliberately
neglected , if not positively sacrificed , we cannot conscientiously remain silent . So far as we have yet gone , we have spoken out with freedom , but not with intentional unfairness ; and unless we shall soon behold symptoms of a radical improvement in the whole system , which system we hereby arraign before the assembled bar of the Masonic world , we may , on another occasion , feel it to be our duty to enter into a thoroughly searching exposition of the abuses upon the nature and enormity of which we have , in the present article , cast merely a transient glance .
The requisite materials are unhappily abundant , but necessity alone shall , on our part , induce a recurrence to the subject . We observe from some of the Continental papers , that a Grand Masonic Congress was held at Strasburgh tluring the course of the last
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
State Of Masonry In Ireland.
they have not to this hour received the slightest assistance , except from their own immediate friends ; so disheartening is the blight which the freezing influence of the Grand Lodge has shed over the once living spirit of Irish Freemasonry ! The building of the Hall is still , we understand , going forward , in despite of every difficulty ; but then it is done mainly at the private risk , and on the individual responsibility , of Bro . Grantaidedso far as their limited resources will permitbthe Brethren
, , , y of Lodge No . 69 ; as it would have been an indelible blot upon the very name of Irish Freemasonry , had the undertaking been suffered to sink from a confessed want of means , after all the preliminary requisites had been obtained upon terms in the highest degree advantageous , if the project were regarded merely in the light of a commercial speculation . It is in the highest degree discreditable that private zeal should be left to compensate for the delinquencies of public trusteeshiand that
p , Brethren should incur the chances of ultimate loss , and serious injury to their private fortunes , for an object in which the whole Brotherhood are collectively interested . These things are eminently disgraceful , and it is therefore hi gh time that an end were put to a system of executive management , under which the primary purposes of the Order are thus set at open defiance . The case of the Londonderry Brethren is one which cannot fail to attract in a special degree the sympathetic co-
opera tion of their contemporaries , both at home and throughout this country at large . Their efforts have been most spirited , and they must not be left without some testimonial to animate their labours in the good work , as well as to minister to the encouragement for its successful accomplishment .
We need scarcely again assure our Irish Brethren that our intention is not to cast upon them as a body the slightest disparaging reflection . On the contrary , our object is to elevate their character , and to amplif y their means of comfort and progressive usefulness , as well as of social respectability , by the enforced amelioration , if we cannot effect the wholesale abolition , of that system of mismanagement , under which their collective energies have been hitherto paralyzed , and the credit of the Masonic Institute itself—heavenly as it is in its oriinand glorious
g , in its native results—has been suffered to fall into popular contempt . With an independence which intrinsically befits the Masonic character , we have traced to the conduct of the Grand Lodge the evils of which we complain ; and we have called upon that body for the removal of these evils , as it is to the appellate jurisdiction of Grand Lodge itself that , in the first instance , every reference of this kind can be constitutionall y made . Much , however , as we revere authority , we love Masonry still more ; and when we see the manifest interests of the latter deliberately
neglected , if not positively sacrificed , we cannot conscientiously remain silent . So far as we have yet gone , we have spoken out with freedom , but not with intentional unfairness ; and unless we shall soon behold symptoms of a radical improvement in the whole system , which system we hereby arraign before the assembled bar of the Masonic world , we may , on another occasion , feel it to be our duty to enter into a thoroughly searching exposition of the abuses upon the nature and enormity of which we have , in the present article , cast merely a transient glance .
The requisite materials are unhappily abundant , but necessity alone shall , on our part , induce a recurrence to the subject . We observe from some of the Continental papers , that a Grand Masonic Congress was held at Strasburgh tluring the course of the last