Freemasonry In Ireland.

them . The majority of the brethren thought otherwise of one of them , Bro . Irvine , and attended for the purpose of electing him . He did not entertain this new-light idea concerning his Deputy . The brethren who , at the solicitation of the Grand Master ' s family , had voted on three different

occasions , one of these his own election , into which they had been cajoled , were , by an arbitrary decision and paltry manoeuvre of the Special Deputy , prevented voting on the fourth . The great majority of the brethren , with Bro . Irvine , instantly withdrew , and Mr . Handcock was elected Grand

Secretary . The Grand Master of Ulster was requested to call a meeting at Dungannon , which took place in June , 1808 , when 300 lodges declared themselves independent of the Dublin G . M . and the Dublin G . Lodge ; and yet that G . M . talks of not " condescending to hold office with a single dissenting

voice . " The intended meeting alarmed the famil y , and in three days it was proposed to Bro . Irvine , by one of the family , that Mr . Handcock should resign , that Mr . Irvine should , disqualified as he was , be elected G . Sec , with , however , this small preliminary proviso , that he should cede to the

G . M . the nomination of the D . S ., with the " unfortunate emoluments , " Does it require much discernment to discover in this proposal an object different from the honour of the interests of the Order ? How did the lapse of three days disqualify Bro . Handcock and qualify Bro . Irvine ? The

family fear dreaded his influence and respectability ; and the family duplicity , judging from their own feelings , supposed he would , for office , sacrifice his own honour and your independence to promote their patronage and their aggrandizement . So long as Bro . Irvine respected the dignity , the

independence , and the privileges of his office , he was disqualified ; but if he invested the G . M with the emolument , in a moment he was qualified . The proposal was treated with the contempt it merited . True to his object—you see " how honourable " it was—the G . M . did not stop here ; he acted so as

to leave no doubt ; his cupidity for the " unfortunate emoluments " got the better of his prudence ; and he furnished incontrovertible proof of the meaning which he attached to " the honour and the interests of the Order . " I know not whether the compliance of Bro . Handcock to the cession was presettled , but

this I know , that after the family was rejected , a letter was written to thc G . L . printer , by the G . M . ' s directions , signed J . Cuthbert , Act . Sec , in which he desired that " 50 copies of the transaction , then printing , should be sent thc G . M . for the brethren in Cork , and the remaider to be sent to Mr . Marsh

whom his lordship had appointed to be the Dep . Sec . Here , I think , is conviction that patronage and emoluments were his real objects , and the " honour and interests of the Order " a mere stalking-horse for their attainment . It is true that appointment did not take place ; the G . M . ' s new

friends , whom he thought he had secured by violating the laws of the Order , most ungratefully refused to assist in carrying that nomination into effect , and after threemonths' negotiation , appointed another person , in opposition to the nomination of the Dublin G . M . and the G . S . Was private honour

a question , which happily is not the case , it might be balanced in the scrupulous mind ; what addition it has received by this G . M . ' s associating with a party that could so unkindly deceive and thwart him in these his disinterested exertions for the " honour and interests of the Order ; " or in his adopting and

countenancing the principles and conduct of those associates who great Masonic talent and industry appear by their fruits better adapted to the puiposcs of anonymous correspondence , and fabricated replies , than to conduct the business of thc Dublin G . L ., or of thc party , by means either honourable or justifiable .

The next charge it may be my fortune to prove , is that a statement of falsehoods was published under thc authority and by the direction of that G . M . in which his title to a " perfect freedom from partialities and prejudices " may appear to rest on the same foundation with his " freedom from any

other object than thc honour and the interests of the Order . " As accuser , it is proper that I stand with clean hands before you . Early in 1806 , just after the G . M . ' s dream of resignation , in which he foresaw the approaching contentions , I informed him that if he thought I was a party to those

contentions , or that my resignation could prevent them , I was ready to resign , and wait until such time as his convenience would allow my conduct to be investigated . That proposal was not attended to . The opinion of the G . L . on the very night on which his resignation was sent in , as , * the best method to prevent contentions , and was suppressed by his

then Deputy as the best means to promote them , was , with respect to my conduct , highly flattering . From that period until 1808 I had acted in conformity to the known and established laws of the Order , but often in opposition to that Deputy whose conduct , in the ' G . M . ' s own words , was such " as he could neither sanction nor be guilty of , " yet who , itjwould ' secm , had obtained the G . M . 's con-

Freemasonry In Ireland.

fidence by suppressing his resignation . The G . M . having thus , in December , 1805 , foreseen , and for two years , until February , 1808 , superintended the contention , " without any other object in view than thc honour and the interest of the order , " he then sent to inform me that for reasons personal to

himself , but hostile to me , I must resign ; not being his Deputy , I refused to resign , and I again demanded an investigation of my conduct , and relied on the laws of the Order for my justification . The G . M . chose not to be governed by the laws of the Order ; they could not forward his objects . Masonic

legality of conduct , and principle of action were now essential points ; many brethren in town , and most brethren in the country , had for these two years , concurred in conduct with me . The G . M . changed his ground , if I would resign for his accommodation ; in other words , if I would abandon that principle ,

and those brethren who had acted according to the laws of Masonry ; if I would betray the trust reposed in me , for the accommodation of the G . M ., I might make such pecuniary arrangement as I thought proper for my own advantage ; I would thus , in the G . M . ' s idea , become worthy of the

profits , though not of the ostensible situation . Divide et imper , a political , but not a Masonic maxim , became the G . M . ' s principle of action . I had not been accustomed to convert the liberty and privileges of others , to my private advantage or emolument ; I was not a trader in such articles ; I

refused the bribe and accommodation . The G . M . in his letter of May , 1808 , written some days previous to the . Grand Lodge meeting , tells the brethren that " I had refused to comply with his due authority , by not sending him some books , to the custody of which he thought himself entitled , "

and that I had also " to deceive , " sent him an unserviceable seal . With respect to the books ; exclusive of other reasons , before another tribunal , he had not , by the laws of Masonry , any right to the custody of them , and I had found sufficient reason not to confide beyond the law . When , therefore ,

the G . M . relying for the . custody of these books on a right which exists not , states that I had refused to comply with his due authority , he states what is not true . AVhen he states that I had imposed an unserviceable seal upon him , thereby insinuating that I had retained a serviceable one , it is also false .

I never had , or used in the office of D . G . S . previous to the writing of that letter , any other seal than that which I sent him . Should his Deputy now say that these statements were made on thc representations of others , I beg to inform that Deputy , that negligence or inattention is a miserable apology for him

who publishes a falsehood ; and that where a little enquiry must have procured decisive information , such statements , in addition to their being unfounded , are to be considered wilfully and maliciously so . It may be asked , among Masons , what motive

could induce a G . M . to write and publish such falsehoods ? Could he , by such calumnies , have deprived me of the confidence of thc Order , he thought he might thc more readily accomplish his object , ancl enrich his follower with those " unfortunate emoluments . " I had resisted his threats ,

refused his bribes , and therefore " entirely free from partialities and prejudice" as he must be , and " having no other object in view but the honour and interest of the Order , " he wrote a letter unfounded and false in its contents , to influence the election .

Thc seal was in his possession , thc books he alluded to were on thc Grand Lodge table where they ought to be , and thc brethren of Ulster finding contempt , insult and mockery practised towards them , when they withdrew left them not behind .

I think I have already stated sufficient to prove not only thc two charges to which I have applied myself , duplicity of conduct as a Mason , and a deliberate and premeditated aspersion of character , false , in fact , and founded in insinuation , but also to prove thc breach of obligation . I will yet go farther

A Grand Lodge cannot do business except on the third degree of Masonry ; nor can an any Apprentice or Fellow Craft sit , vote , or speak therein . It is not unreasonable to suppose that twenty-one years' experience should have instructed the Grand Master in this essential point . It is stated , and on

the most diligent inquiry I am convinced , thc fact is , that one brother introduced by the Grand Master to the meeting of April , 1808 , was then no higher than a Fellow Craft ; that brother , in thc Grand Master's own words , is " near and dear in blood , in feelings , ancl in affection "—he is his own brother .

There is , therefore , little reason to suppose him ignorant of the circumstance—there is evidence to prove the G . M . well acquainted with it . In opening the lodge , thc G . M . called it a lodge of Master Masons—he used the Fellow Craft sign . Shall this evasion be set up as a defence , doing honour either

to the Masonic talent or the Masonic integrity of that G . M ? The same brother , still a F . C , attended the meeting of May , 1808 . He was questioned as to the degree of . Masonry to which he belonged . Under the advice of counsel he declined to answer . He was not , however , by thc Deputy prevented

Freemasonry In Ireland.

taking an active part in the transactions of that day-Will the Deputy , " dressed in a little brief authority , " now get up , and in the petulance of demiofficial intemperance and noisy invective against the absent , parade before a party known even , in Dublin only on election nights , the Masonic virtues and the

Masonic talent of the now G . M . of Dublin ; will that Deputy , who in his former ecclesiastic function must have learned the lessons of truth and sincerity , now say , that a G . M . can dispense with the laws of Masonry , or absolve himself from those solemn obligations , the strict observance of which in others

he should enforce , not only by precept but by example ? Ere he uttered his philippic and threw out his challenge , he ought to have considered that truth and rectitude shrink not before duplicity and falsehood , and that the humblest individual in

society who states facts will eventually obtain credit in opposition to his superior who states falsehoods . He ought to have known that exalted rank is best supported by exalted conduct , but that neither the one nor the other are the sole property of any family . He should have recollected that the existence and

the respectability of Masonry depends not on family accommodation or family aggrandizement , nor will it expire with family discomfiture . Soaring far superior to such paltry arrangements , it virtues will flourish , its benign influence be acknowledged when family schemes are defeated or forgotten . To be at

the head of Masonry was once an honour , it is now a condescension , and an expensive condescension it has been ; but when people talk of condescension in public , and intrigue for the attainment of their object in private , ' tis not'difficult to see that there are ulterior objects in view— " the honour and thc

interests of the Order" may again be used as a stalking-horse ; and , again , may personal advantages and personal aggrandizement be found skulking behind him . Let it not be supposed that I enjoy any gratification in meeting the Deputy ' s challenge . As a man

and a Mason , it is most abhorrent to my feelings to expose even to Masonic view the picture now before it . In their fondness for notoriety they have forced the task upon me . In most instances thc evidence comes out of their own hands ; they will not say is the less credible on that account . The Grand

Master with conscious foresight warned you to beware how you suffered yourselves to come under the control of an individual so humble as myself . Our conduct is before you , and I will not stop to draw a comparison between the tempter and the temptedan humble individual in a subordinate situation and

a monopolizing family in a superior one . But I will warn you to beware how you submit yourself to the domination of any family , which for twenty-one years could struggle to keep the Order in its trammels , and at thc end of twenty-one years , for thc attainment of yet ulterior objects , could force that

Order to the verge of pecuniary and Masonic rum . If , therefore , the Masons of Ireland regard the independence and prosperity of their Institution . If they wish to transmit to posterity their Masonic rights in the same ample and virtuous form in which they have received them ; if they wish to

stand superior to paltry schemes , and remain independent of family arrangements , and unconnected with systems of family aggrandisement ; if they wish to preserve themselves unpolluted by political agitations , and unshackled by Masonic speculators , they will take the law of Masonry as their guide , and spurn thc tyrannic usurpations of every person

who violates that law for purposes of patronage , or who assumes the power of dispensing with its solemn obligations for purposes of personal advantage , or of personal gratification . The threats , thc enmity or the coercion of such individuals may , by the Masons of Ireland , be despised ; their friendships , their flattery , or their bribes , must , to the Masons of Ireland , be fatal . I have the honour to be , Your very obedient Servant and Brother ,

A . SETON , D . G . S . U

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