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Business To Be Transacted In Grand Lodge.

BUSINESS to be TRANSACTED IN GRAND LODGE .

AT this season of the year , when most people arc holiday-making , and , we hope , enjoying themselves , the attendance at the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge

is generally limited , and the business " to be transacted" of a very uninteresting character . Nor can we say that the forthcoming occasion will be any striking

exception to the rule , although a celebrated professor of platitudes has undertaken to relieve the monotonous dullness by assuming the sponsorship of the following portentous proposition : —

By Brother Mathew Cooke , P . M . in No . 23 — " That whilst this Grand Lodge recognizes the private right of every Brother to belong to any extraneous Masonic organization he may choose , it as firmly forbids , BOW and at any future time

Business To Be Transacted In Grand Lodge.

all Brethren while engaged as Salaried Officials under this Grand Lodge to mix themselves up in any . way with such bodies as the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite : the Rites of Misraim and

Memphis ; the spurious orders of Home and Constantine ; the schismatic body styling itself the Grand Mark Lodge of England , or any other exterior Masonic organization whatever ( even

that 01 the Order of Knights Templar , which is alone recognized by the Articles of Union ) under the pain of immediate dismissal from employment by this Grand Lodge . "

Upon reading this , one is tempted to inquire , Who is this mighty Cooke ? and why does he launch the crushing avalanche of his wrath against the " salaried officials" ?

These two mysterious problems we have endeavoured to solve with as much diligence and patience as the prevailing tropical heat would allow ; but the result , we grieve to add , has been eminently unsatisfactory .

In the first place , the " Cooke ' is not known as a working Mason ; neither does a careful examination of the various lists of subscribers to the Masonic Charities for

some time past disclose his name or place of abode : Ordinary sources of information being thus dried up , we were compelled to

make inquiries amongstour personal friends , when one rejoined : " Matthew Cooke ? Oh ! he is the brother who was suspended by th- authorities of the Temotnr ? rTnd the _ . / , l- - . ' . . c- . 1 . > t . ' . t .:. ' . r ...- ! vt t . i . v X .. _ . _ ¦ _ . ' .. ' l- ' * ii . 'iu I . * .- ~

Avicls'it : ' . ' , ' ' ur ;; ri !; iuF . ; . ••_ - vf r > . iy ¦ :-. ¦¦ : ;¦ . p . > _* : ¦ : V ^ . oic ' .-tary language / Another replied ; 'VV'iiaL , you don ' t mean ' Samson Agonistes , ' the

gentleman who proposed himself as Grand Master of the English Craft , to the intense amusement of all who heard him in Grand Lodge ? " Thereupon we began to " smell

a mice , " as a facetious friend of ours classically terms the process of enlightenment ; and by following the track of evidence , the painful conclusion was irresistibly forced

upon our mind tnat poor Brother Cooke is not one of those whose " follies cease with their youth , " or vanish before the light of experience . The unfortunate man ' s

history is , indeed , a sad one . Endowed by nature wilh some ability , and possessing considerable powers of application , he might have made a creditable figure in the Craft ,

nad not an evil temper and a fatal habit of quarrelling with his best friends , proved his utter bane , liven now , there are many of those whom at various periods he has

attacked and slandered , who would gladly see him turn into the right path , and who would willingly assist him in his efforts to retrieve the past . But the . proposition

which he has had the temerity—not to say , under all the surrounding circumstances , the effrontery—to place on the agenda paper for the next Grand Lodge , proves we

fear but too conclusively that the mad fit is as strong upon him now as it was years ago , when he sacrificed his Masonic prospects at the shrine of Unreason . Brother Cooke

proposed a similar motion at the last meeting of Grand Chapter , and couched it , as we arc informed , in the most offensive

and . libellous terms . In that Body he could not find a seconder . Doss he hope to find one in the Grand Lodge of England ? We

Business To Be Transacted In Grand Lodge.

trow not , because we believe that , apart from the merits of the question , there is not a representative of Masonry so lost to decency and dignity as to countenance

pratuitous insult to the officials ' of the Order , o so long as they faithfully perform then - allotted duties . Looking , however , at the subject in the light of an abstract question ,

Cooke ' s proposition is only equalled 111 its intolerance by its absurdity . In all probability , Icpauvrc diable wants a berth , and would like to be employed in the

gentlemanly occupation of general overlooker , or keeper to the officials after they leave their daily avocations in Great Queen-street . Tlie logical deduction from his argument

would necessarily be that a system of espionage , detestable in any case , but especially detestable in free Masonry , would have to be established , and a system of

interference with the private rights of Englishmen instituted , which could never be contemplated for a moment , except by an idiot or a lunatic . Bu . t the old saying

about breaking a butterfly upon the wheel recurs to our mind , and warns us not to waste too many words upon the ludicrous

fancies of this eccentric man . N or should we have considered the subject worthy of notice at nil v ' ? re it not thntwe de ^ m it our

ilui ' . ' U- pro ' . "•:: •¦ I . iO . ainsj c : ' t .. irx .-r ot t . j . 'C . uu . iiiseer . iiy e :: ; i : Oili' ^ :: ' J . aouse us ' . ;'« .: ; ieeciiiiy witnessed by the members of Grand Chanter .

The remaining business of Grano Lodge will be the discussion of certain amendments to the laws affecting the Lodge of

Benevolence , proposed by Brother John M . Clabon , P . G . D ., President ofthe Lodge , and which amendments are as follows : —

By Brother John M . Clabon , P . G . D ., President of the Lodge of Benevolence . To amend the Constitutions under the head " Fund of Benevolence , " as follows : —

Art . 5 , lines 1 and 2 , omit " registered under the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England f line s , omit " the " before " Grand Lodge , " and add " . 1 ; " line 7 , after lhe word " period , " add

" if a Member of the Grand Lodge of England , have . " Art . 8 , line 3 , after " foreign Grand Lodges , " add , " and Members of Colonial Lodges ; " line 9 ,

after " such relief , " add , " if exceeding three pounds . " Art . 10 , line 18 , after " Foreign Lodges , " add , " and the Members of Colonial Lodges . " Add

to Art . 16 , or as Art 17 , "The Lodge of Benevolence may granl relief to the extent of two pounds to any distressed Mason who has

presented his petition in due time , although the conditions and forms above contained have not been complied with . "

Thecffect of these alterations will chiefly be to expedite the practice and enlarge the powers of the Lodge of Benevolence , and

experience has proved that , if adopted , they will also tend to simplify the working of the laws which govern the administration of our Charity Fund .

THE " United Service" Lodge , No . 1361 , will be consecrated on Saturday , the gth inst ., at the Swan Hotel , Ridgway , Wimbledon , by V . W . Bro . j . Hervey , G . Sec ., assisted by Bros . Brett and Little . Bro . Major E . Hamilton Finney is the W . M .-Dcsignate .