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Article APPROACHING ELECTIONS OF THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION. ← Page 2 of 2 Article TIME IMMEMORIAL LODGES. Page 1 of 3 →
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Approaching Elections Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.
No . 13 has 60 votes from two previous polls . Devonshire has two applicants in No . 2 , who has 188 votes to his credit from 10 previous ballots , and No . 12 , who polled 40
votes in 1898 and 1899 . No . 3 , who will make his fifth attempt with 659 votes in hand , and No . 14 , who polled 246 votes last year , hail from Suffolk ; No . 8 , who will make his fourth attempt with 10 votes to the good , and No . 36 ,
a new case , from Warwickshire ; and No . 10 , who amassed 3951 votes at the last two elections , and a new candidate at No . 39 . from Somersetshire . The others are as follow , namely , No . 1 , ( Northumberland ) whose name has been on the list for 17 years
and who has 822 votes to his credit ; N 0 . 4 ( South Wales , W . D . ) , who has the respectable number of iiC 8 votes to his credit towards his fourth ballot ; No 7 ( Cheshire ) who has 7 8 votes in hand from three elections ; No . 9 ( Oxfordshire ) who starts
with 2290 from 18 9 8 and 18 99 ; No . 15 ( Durham ) , No . 16 ( North and East Yorkshire ) , and No . 18 ( Middlesex ) who polled 16 , 20 , and 2240 respectively in May , 18 99 ; and Nos . 21 ( Norfolk ) ,
23 ( Egypt ) 24 ( Cornwall ) , 28 ( Bengal ) , 31 ( West Lancashire ) , 40 ( Gloucestershire ) , 43 ( Dorsetshire ) , 44 ( Guernsey and Alderney ) , and 45 ( South Wales , E . D . ) , who are all new candidates .
For the WIDOWS' FUND there are 59 candidates and 23 vacancies , including the three deferred , have been declared . London is here strongly
represented , having as many as 19 applicants , of whom No . 11 with 3804 votes , No . 12 with 951 votes , No . 14 with 1273 votes , No . 16 with 573 votes , No . 17 with 1757 votes , No . 20 with 712 votes , No . 27 with 4035 votes respectively in hand , will make their
third attempt on the 18 th instant . No . 25 brings forward from last year , 3025 votes ; No . 27 , 17 c votes ; No . 28 , 2966 votes ; No . 30 , 684 votes ; and Nos . 32 , 33 , and 34 , 2635 votes , 16 99 votes , and 915 votes respectively , while No . 39 , who made no
score last May , and Nos . 49 , 50 , 52 , and 55 new candidates , will start clear . Of the 40 candidates from the Provinces and Abroad , Kent and Suffolk contribute four apiece , the Kentish four being No . 19 , who has 271 votes to the good , No .
40 , who has 23 votes , and Nos . 45 and 4 6 , who are new to the ballot ; while the Suffolk quartet are No . 21 , who has 6 3 votes . No . 29 , who scored 2 last year , No . 35 , with I 725 votes in hand , and a new applicant at No . 57 . Warwickshire is responsible
for No . 7 , who has accumulated 736 votes from six polls , and Nos . 42 and 56 , who are first cases . Cumberland and Westmoreland furnishes two applicants , No . 1 , who has 1046 votes towards her 17 th , and No . 5 , with 32 votes towards her ninth
application . Lincolnshire sends No . 6 , with 72 votes to the good from seven ballots , and No . £ 3 , who managed to comp ile a total of 5 votes in 18 9 8 and 18 99 . Essex sends No . 18 , who brings forward I 3 I 7 votes , and No . 53 , while No . 22 , who starts with
39 votes , and No . 36 , who has two votes in hand , hail from Gloucestershire . The rest are distributed as follows , namely No . 2 ( Durham ) , who has been before the voters 15 years , and has compiled 136 votes ; No . 3 ( Bristol ) , who , with 13 years '
experience , has 38 votes ; No . 4 ( Staffordshire ) , who in 12 years has piled up a total of 411 votes ; No . 8 ( Cheshire ) with 17 votes to the good from four ballots ; and Nos . 9 ( Middlesex ) and 10 ( Bedfordshire ) , who in the same period have totalled up
respectively 223 votes and 457 votes . The candidates from Victoria ( No . 15 ) and West Lancashire ( Mo . 24 ) commenced their candidature in 18 9 8 with the result that the former will have 418 9 votes to her credit at this election , and the latter onl y
72 votes . The following made their first appearance last year , namely , No . 26 ( Sussex ) , who polled six votes ; No . 31 ( North Wales ) , who made no score ; No . 37 ( Berkshire ) , who received 13 votes ; and No . 38 ( Norfolk ) , who brings forward 38 votes ,
The new Provincial candidates are thus distributed : No . 41 ( N and E . Yorkshire ) , No . 43 ( British Guiana ) , No . 44 ( Malta ) , No . 47 ( West Yorkshire ) , No . 48 ( Leicestershire and Rutland ) , No . 51 ( Nottinghamshire ) , No . 54 ( Hertfordshire ) , No . 58 ( Dorsetshire ) , and No . 59 ( Bengal ) .
It only remains for us to add that to judge from the particulars oi service set forth in the lists , the brethren , whether still living or deceased , appear to have been subscribing members for long terms of years , and in many cases to have done good service to lodge and chapter .
Time Immemorial Lodges.
TIME IMMEMORIAL LODGES .
By BRO . R . F . GOULD , P . G . D . I . My friend Bro . Hughan , in a recent number of the Freemason , observes with regard to the early history of the " Fortitude and Old Cumberland " Lodge , No . 12— " I cannot , however , follow Bro . Gould in his statement that ' of these three living
lodges who now share the glory of having founded and established the Premier Grand Lodge of the world ,-it is the only one of them which has never ceased for a single instant to occupy a place on her roll . ' The " Lodge of Antiquity" has
never been off the roll any more than the original No . 3 , now No . 12 . The majority of its members left the Grand Lodge 1779-89 ; but the minority remained , and not only continued as a lodge , but duly made the requisite payments to ' Charity ' and ' Hall' Funds during that period "
William Preston , thc famous author of the " Illustrations of Masonry "—one of the " majority " on the above occasion—has written at great length on the unhappy difference between the Grand Lodge and the " Lodge of Antiquity . " With these writings most students of the Craft are familiar , but among the
readers of thc Freemason there are probably many to whom the argument of the greatest Masonic writer of his time , on the inherent rights of the Four Old Lodges will be new—which must serve as my excuse for proceeding with a summary of it in the present article .
I shall not , however , quote from the editions' of the " Illustrations of Masonry" which appeared while the members of the " Lodge of Antiquity" were divided in sentiment and allegiance , but from those published after the happy reunion of the brethren of the premier English Lodge in 1790 .
" An unfortunate dispute , " says Preston , " having arisen among the members of the Lodge of Antiquity , the complaint was introduced into the Grand Lodge . . \ . * . Another circumstance tended still further to widen this breach . The Lodge of Antiquity having expelled three of its members for
misbehaviour , the Grand Lodge interfered , and , as was thought , without proper investigation , ordered them to , , be reinstated . With this order the lodge refused to comply , the members conceiving themselves competent and sole judges in the choice of their own private members . The privileges of the Lodge of
Antiquity , acting by . immemorial constitution , began to be set up , in opposition to the supposed uncontrollable authority of the Grand Lodge established by themselves in 1717 ; and in the investigation of this point the original cause of the dispute was
totally forgotten . At last a rupture ensued . The Lodge ot Antiquity , on one hand , notified its separation from the Grand Lodge , and avowed an alliance with the Grand Lodge of All England , held in the city of York , and every lodge and Mason who wished to act in conformity to the original constitutions .
The Grand Lodge , on the other hand , enforced its edicts , and extended its protection to the few brethren whose cause it had espoused , by permitting them to assemble as a regular lodge , without any warrant , under the denomination of the Lodge of Antiquity itself , and suffering them to appear by their
representatives at the Grand Lodge as the real Lodge of Antiquity , from which they had been excluded , and which still continued to act by its own immemorial constitution . This produced a schism ,
which lasted for the space of 10 years . To justify the proceedings of the Grand Lodge , the following resolution of the Committee of Charity , held in February , 1779 , was printed and dispersed among the lodges :
'Resolved—That every private lodge derives its authority from the Grand Lodge , and that no authority but the Grand Lodge can withdraw or take away that power . That , though the majority of a lodge may determine to quit the Society , the
constitution , or power of assembling , remains with , and is vested in , the rest of the members , who may be desirous of continuing their allegiance ; and that , if all the members withdraw themselves , the constitution is extinct , and the authority reverts to the Grand Lodge . '
This resolution , it was argued , might operate with respect to any lodge whicli derived its constitution from the Grand Lodge , but could not apply to one which derived its authority from another channel , long before the establishment of the Grand Lodge , and which authority had never been superseded , but repeatedly admitted and acknowledged .
Had it appeared upon record that , after the establishment of the Grand Lodge , this original authority had been surrendered , forfeited , or exchanged for a -warrant from the Grand
Lodge , the Lodge of Antiquity must have admitted the resolution of tlie Grand Lodge in its full force ; but as no such circumstance appeared on record , the members of the Lodge of Antiquity were justified in considering their immemorial con-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Approaching Elections Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.
No . 13 has 60 votes from two previous polls . Devonshire has two applicants in No . 2 , who has 188 votes to his credit from 10 previous ballots , and No . 12 , who polled 40
votes in 1898 and 1899 . No . 3 , who will make his fifth attempt with 659 votes in hand , and No . 14 , who polled 246 votes last year , hail from Suffolk ; No . 8 , who will make his fourth attempt with 10 votes to the good , and No . 36 ,
a new case , from Warwickshire ; and No . 10 , who amassed 3951 votes at the last two elections , and a new candidate at No . 39 . from Somersetshire . The others are as follow , namely , No . 1 , ( Northumberland ) whose name has been on the list for 17 years
and who has 822 votes to his credit ; N 0 . 4 ( South Wales , W . D . ) , who has the respectable number of iiC 8 votes to his credit towards his fourth ballot ; No 7 ( Cheshire ) who has 7 8 votes in hand from three elections ; No . 9 ( Oxfordshire ) who starts
with 2290 from 18 9 8 and 18 99 ; No . 15 ( Durham ) , No . 16 ( North and East Yorkshire ) , and No . 18 ( Middlesex ) who polled 16 , 20 , and 2240 respectively in May , 18 99 ; and Nos . 21 ( Norfolk ) ,
23 ( Egypt ) 24 ( Cornwall ) , 28 ( Bengal ) , 31 ( West Lancashire ) , 40 ( Gloucestershire ) , 43 ( Dorsetshire ) , 44 ( Guernsey and Alderney ) , and 45 ( South Wales , E . D . ) , who are all new candidates .
For the WIDOWS' FUND there are 59 candidates and 23 vacancies , including the three deferred , have been declared . London is here strongly
represented , having as many as 19 applicants , of whom No . 11 with 3804 votes , No . 12 with 951 votes , No . 14 with 1273 votes , No . 16 with 573 votes , No . 17 with 1757 votes , No . 20 with 712 votes , No . 27 with 4035 votes respectively in hand , will make their
third attempt on the 18 th instant . No . 25 brings forward from last year , 3025 votes ; No . 27 , 17 c votes ; No . 28 , 2966 votes ; No . 30 , 684 votes ; and Nos . 32 , 33 , and 34 , 2635 votes , 16 99 votes , and 915 votes respectively , while No . 39 , who made no
score last May , and Nos . 49 , 50 , 52 , and 55 new candidates , will start clear . Of the 40 candidates from the Provinces and Abroad , Kent and Suffolk contribute four apiece , the Kentish four being No . 19 , who has 271 votes to the good , No .
40 , who has 23 votes , and Nos . 45 and 4 6 , who are new to the ballot ; while the Suffolk quartet are No . 21 , who has 6 3 votes . No . 29 , who scored 2 last year , No . 35 , with I 725 votes in hand , and a new applicant at No . 57 . Warwickshire is responsible
for No . 7 , who has accumulated 736 votes from six polls , and Nos . 42 and 56 , who are first cases . Cumberland and Westmoreland furnishes two applicants , No . 1 , who has 1046 votes towards her 17 th , and No . 5 , with 32 votes towards her ninth
application . Lincolnshire sends No . 6 , with 72 votes to the good from seven ballots , and No . £ 3 , who managed to comp ile a total of 5 votes in 18 9 8 and 18 99 . Essex sends No . 18 , who brings forward I 3 I 7 votes , and No . 53 , while No . 22 , who starts with
39 votes , and No . 36 , who has two votes in hand , hail from Gloucestershire . The rest are distributed as follows , namely No . 2 ( Durham ) , who has been before the voters 15 years , and has compiled 136 votes ; No . 3 ( Bristol ) , who , with 13 years '
experience , has 38 votes ; No . 4 ( Staffordshire ) , who in 12 years has piled up a total of 411 votes ; No . 8 ( Cheshire ) with 17 votes to the good from four ballots ; and Nos . 9 ( Middlesex ) and 10 ( Bedfordshire ) , who in the same period have totalled up
respectively 223 votes and 457 votes . The candidates from Victoria ( No . 15 ) and West Lancashire ( Mo . 24 ) commenced their candidature in 18 9 8 with the result that the former will have 418 9 votes to her credit at this election , and the latter onl y
72 votes . The following made their first appearance last year , namely , No . 26 ( Sussex ) , who polled six votes ; No . 31 ( North Wales ) , who made no score ; No . 37 ( Berkshire ) , who received 13 votes ; and No . 38 ( Norfolk ) , who brings forward 38 votes ,
The new Provincial candidates are thus distributed : No . 41 ( N and E . Yorkshire ) , No . 43 ( British Guiana ) , No . 44 ( Malta ) , No . 47 ( West Yorkshire ) , No . 48 ( Leicestershire and Rutland ) , No . 51 ( Nottinghamshire ) , No . 54 ( Hertfordshire ) , No . 58 ( Dorsetshire ) , and No . 59 ( Bengal ) .
It only remains for us to add that to judge from the particulars oi service set forth in the lists , the brethren , whether still living or deceased , appear to have been subscribing members for long terms of years , and in many cases to have done good service to lodge and chapter .
Time Immemorial Lodges.
TIME IMMEMORIAL LODGES .
By BRO . R . F . GOULD , P . G . D . I . My friend Bro . Hughan , in a recent number of the Freemason , observes with regard to the early history of the " Fortitude and Old Cumberland " Lodge , No . 12— " I cannot , however , follow Bro . Gould in his statement that ' of these three living
lodges who now share the glory of having founded and established the Premier Grand Lodge of the world ,-it is the only one of them which has never ceased for a single instant to occupy a place on her roll . ' The " Lodge of Antiquity" has
never been off the roll any more than the original No . 3 , now No . 12 . The majority of its members left the Grand Lodge 1779-89 ; but the minority remained , and not only continued as a lodge , but duly made the requisite payments to ' Charity ' and ' Hall' Funds during that period "
William Preston , thc famous author of the " Illustrations of Masonry "—one of the " majority " on the above occasion—has written at great length on the unhappy difference between the Grand Lodge and the " Lodge of Antiquity . " With these writings most students of the Craft are familiar , but among the
readers of thc Freemason there are probably many to whom the argument of the greatest Masonic writer of his time , on the inherent rights of the Four Old Lodges will be new—which must serve as my excuse for proceeding with a summary of it in the present article .
I shall not , however , quote from the editions' of the " Illustrations of Masonry" which appeared while the members of the " Lodge of Antiquity" were divided in sentiment and allegiance , but from those published after the happy reunion of the brethren of the premier English Lodge in 1790 .
" An unfortunate dispute , " says Preston , " having arisen among the members of the Lodge of Antiquity , the complaint was introduced into the Grand Lodge . . \ . * . Another circumstance tended still further to widen this breach . The Lodge of Antiquity having expelled three of its members for
misbehaviour , the Grand Lodge interfered , and , as was thought , without proper investigation , ordered them to , , be reinstated . With this order the lodge refused to comply , the members conceiving themselves competent and sole judges in the choice of their own private members . The privileges of the Lodge of
Antiquity , acting by . immemorial constitution , began to be set up , in opposition to the supposed uncontrollable authority of the Grand Lodge established by themselves in 1717 ; and in the investigation of this point the original cause of the dispute was
totally forgotten . At last a rupture ensued . The Lodge ot Antiquity , on one hand , notified its separation from the Grand Lodge , and avowed an alliance with the Grand Lodge of All England , held in the city of York , and every lodge and Mason who wished to act in conformity to the original constitutions .
The Grand Lodge , on the other hand , enforced its edicts , and extended its protection to the few brethren whose cause it had espoused , by permitting them to assemble as a regular lodge , without any warrant , under the denomination of the Lodge of Antiquity itself , and suffering them to appear by their
representatives at the Grand Lodge as the real Lodge of Antiquity , from which they had been excluded , and which still continued to act by its own immemorial constitution . This produced a schism ,
which lasted for the space of 10 years . To justify the proceedings of the Grand Lodge , the following resolution of the Committee of Charity , held in February , 1779 , was printed and dispersed among the lodges :
'Resolved—That every private lodge derives its authority from the Grand Lodge , and that no authority but the Grand Lodge can withdraw or take away that power . That , though the majority of a lodge may determine to quit the Society , the
constitution , or power of assembling , remains with , and is vested in , the rest of the members , who may be desirous of continuing their allegiance ; and that , if all the members withdraw themselves , the constitution is extinct , and the authority reverts to the Grand Lodge . '
This resolution , it was argued , might operate with respect to any lodge whicli derived its constitution from the Grand Lodge , but could not apply to one which derived its authority from another channel , long before the establishment of the Grand Lodge , and which authority had never been superseded , but repeatedly admitted and acknowledged .
Had it appeared upon record that , after the establishment of the Grand Lodge , this original authority had been surrendered , forfeited , or exchanged for a -warrant from the Grand
Lodge , the Lodge of Antiquity must have admitted the resolution of tlie Grand Lodge in its full force ; but as no such circumstance appeared on record , the members of the Lodge of Antiquity were justified in considering their immemorial con-