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Article TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1 of 1 Article REVIEW OF G. M. GARDNER'S ADDRESS ON HENRY PRICE. Page 1 of 2 Article REVIEW OF G. M. GARDNER'S ADDRESS ON HENRY PRICE. Page 1 of 2 Article REVIEW OF G. M. GARDNER'S ADDRESS ON HENRY PRICE. Page 1 of 2 →
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Table Of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Review of G . SI . Gardner ' s Adilress on Henry Price ... 4 S 3 Grand Rose Croix Chapter of Ireland 4 S 5 Str .-ii ^ ht-la .-ed Guardians and the Freemasons 486 CRAFT MASONRY : — Provincial 4 S 6
HOVAI . ARCH : Metropolitan 48 7 KNIGHTS TEMPI . AU
Provincial 48 7 RED CROSS OF CONSTANTISE : — Provincial 48 7 CORRESPONDENCE : —
Professor Rawitnson ami the Ten Tribes 488 Our Ceremonies 48 9 ' Provincial Grand Officers 48 9 Renewal of Chaiters 4 S 9
Recognition of the Mark Grand Lodge 48 9 OBITUARY : — Bro . Augustus Smith 4 S 9 Masonic Meetings for next week 490 Advertisements 4 81 , 4 82 , 490 , 491 , 492
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
REVIEW OF G . M . GARDNER'S ADDRESS ON HENRY PRICE .
BY BRO . J ACOB NORTON- , OF BOSTON- , U . S . In the third volume of the Freemason , pages , 68 , 105 , and . 358 , and more especially in the American Freemason , beginning in February ,
1870 , to August of the same year , I demonstrated that the claims of Henry Price having received a Deputation as G . M . of New England jn 1 / 33 , < l ; m extension of the said Deputation
from the Earl of Crawford , in 1734 , making htm G . M . over all North America , was unknown to the G . L . of England , until 1768 . Second , that the record of the Boston Provincial G . L ., from
July 30 th , 1 J 33 , to January ^ 52 , was manufactured by Chas . Pelham in the hitter part of 175 1 , and have also shown that it was not even copied from any pre-existing record . Third ,
that a petition , signed b y Gordon , Belcher , and sixteen others , asking Price to constitute them into a Lodge , in 1733 , distinctly stated , that Price ' s Deputation was dated , "April 1 . 3 th , 1712 ,
and in the year of Masonry , . 5732 . " But both dates were , evidently some years after the petition was written , altered into 1733 , and 5733 . Fourth , that while Price , in a letter to the G . L .
of England in 1768 , claimed to having paid to Thomas Batson , three guineas fot his deputation , tlie said three guineas are not only not found in the record of the G . L . of England , but the R . W .
Bro . Hervey assured ine , that he could not find that tiny charge was made for a Provincial Deputation until October , 28 th , 1768 . Fifth , Oxnard ' s deputation in the Record , shows that he
was appointed G . M . of all North America . After the death of Oxnard , Price wrote a letter to some one in London , in 1755 , urging the party to use his influence to get Jeremy Gridlev
of Boston , appointed G . M . of all North America , and the said Gridley was afterwards appointed G . M . of N . A . Yet in 1768 , Price sent a letter to the English authorities , claiming that he never
resigned his Grand Mastershi p for all North America . There is still another puzzle connected with one letter , viz ., Henry Price ' s letter in the Record , makes no allusion to his not having
resigned , so consequentl y we may infer , that while he had one letter put on the Record , he actuall y sent another one to London . Sixth . While in the Record , under date of June 24 th 1734 , it says , " About this time our W . Bro . Benjamin
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
Franklin , from Philadelphia , became acquainted with one Right W . G . M . Mr . Price . . . and the said Franklin , on his return to Philadelphia . . . petitioned our Right W . G . M . for a
constitution to hold a Lodge , ( that Price ) having this year received orders from the G . L . in England to establish Masonry in all North America , " etc . The letter from Benjamin Franklin to Price was
not dated until November a 8 ih , 1734 , and in that letter Franklin said , "We have seen in the Boston prints , an article of news from London , importing that at a G . L . held there in August
last , Mr . Price ' s Deputation , and power was extended over all America , " and in 1768 , Bro . Price wrote to London , that he received the second Deputation , in , ( not 1734 , but ) 1733 , and
to make confusion doubly confused , Bro . Hervey assured me that no G . L . was held , "between 30 th of March , J 734 , and the 24 th of February , 173 c" and of course , no Deputation could have
been issued by a G . L . in August 1734 . Now , if Price had had such a document from the Earl of Crawford , why did he not know its date ? A similar blunder he made in his letter of 17 C 8 , by
saying that he received his first Deputation from Viscount Montacute . Now if his Deputation had been genuine , he would have known that Montague , not Montacute , was G . M . in 1753 .
Seventh . The very fact , that Price was a tailor and very ignorant withal , so much so—judging by a solitary autograph letter I found among the old manuscripts , the man could neither indite
spell , nor write a proper grammatical sentence , and could scarcely write . I think it therefore , very unlikely , that a man so ignorant could have received such Deputations from two successive
English Grand Masters . Eighth . It seems very strange , if Price really received such appointments , why he never wrote to an officer of the G . L . of England until
thirtyfive years after he received the said appointments , It was not until all parties supposed to have been connected with his Deputation , were evidently dead , then did Price , for the first time , make himself known who and what he was .
Ninth . Ihe Deputation , as recorded , is dated , not April 13 th , but the thirtieth day of April , I ? . ? . ?/ ' and the signature of the J . G . W ., instead
of being J-jmes Moore Smythe , is simply , " James Smythe . " In addition to this , the eighteen petitioners declare that they were all
made Masons in Great Britain and Ireland , while Pelham informs us that ei ght out of the eighteen were made in Boston before the Lodge or G . L . was constituted .
Antl last , and not least , Grand Secretary , Tho . French , demanded of Price , in the name of the Duke of Beaufort , G . M . of England , in 1768 , "an explanation relating to these points per
first opportunity , " but instead of furnishing the desired information , Price evaded the main question , and excused himself with , that " it would be too tedious to explain the matter of my
resigning as Provincial G . M . . . . and , "but you cannot find that I ever gave up my appointment over all North America , " but promised to be " in London next fall , when he would explain
face to face , " etc , and the same promise was repeated to G . S . Heseltine , the year following . Now supposing even that Price ever held such an appointment from the Earl of Crawford
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
( though he evidently could not tell the day nor the year it was sent to him ) , as Oxnard however was appointed , and served as G . M . for all North
America from 1 743 to i ? , ^ , and as Gridley was appointed to the same office with Price ' s consent , and served as such from 1755 to 1767 , it is plainly evident , that Price ' s claim in 176 S , of
never having resigned , etc ., was a premeditated fraud . Taking , therefore , these , and other facts together , I come to the conclusion , that Price came to Boston in 1732 , that during the month
of July , 1733 , he exhibited an alleged deputation from Viscount Montague dated April 13 th , 1732 , but learning afterwards , from the second edition of Anderson , that Viscount Montague was
installed on the 19 th of April , 1732 . be therefore altered the date on the petition , from 1732 to 1733 , and it is not impossible , that on his socalled Deputation , he may in addition to that .
also have altered the 13 th into the " thirtieth day of April , as copied by Pelham into his record . In the same way we may also account for another discrepancy ; thus in his letter of 17 G 8 , Price said
that he received his Deputation , in 1733 , from Viscount Montacute . Now , had he been conscious of possessing a genuine Deputation , from Montague , I do not believe that he would , in
176 S , have written the name of the G . M .. different to what was on his Deputation ,. but knowing that the document was not genuine , and learning from Entick , and the succeeding edition of the
English Constitution , that the name of the 173 . 3 G . M . was Montacute , and supposing that Entick was a better authority than his so-called Deputation , he therefore copied Entick .
It is now rather more than two years ago , when Bro . Gardner informed me of his intention
to defend the Alasonic legitimacy of Price . 1 confess that I was somewhat staggereti at the announcement , but on asking him whether he was in possession of any facts connected with
this question , which was unknown to me , and receiving an answer in the negative , I respectfully endeavoured to dissuade him from his proposed undertaking , and assured him , that
without additional facts , he must fail in his efforts . My advice was unheeded , and the result was , the address , delivered on the 27 th of December last , antl printed about three months ago , which I am about to review .
Bro . Gardner is a lawyer by profession , and in his defence of Henry Price , lie displayed the peculiar method that lawyers resort to when they have a desperately bad case to defend , that is ,
to make the most out of little things , to bring forward as many witnesses as possible , to prove matter entirely irrelevant to the case at issue , and to ignore the testimony and arguments of
his opponents . For instance , the petition is printed , and even a fac-simile of it is given with the address , but no hint was given of the two alterations of 32 into 33 . Our brother
frequently quotes from the record , but does not intimate that the record was manufactured in r 751 or 17 . 52 . Bro . G . also says : — "During all the years of his [ Price ' s ] Masonic life ,
he enjoyed the fullest confidence of the Grand Lodge in London . " " That from 1733 , down to the War of the Revolution , they were as familiar with his doings as with hoso of their Prov . G . Masters
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Table Of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Review of G . SI . Gardner ' s Adilress on Henry Price ... 4 S 3 Grand Rose Croix Chapter of Ireland 4 S 5 Str .-ii ^ ht-la .-ed Guardians and the Freemasons 486 CRAFT MASONRY : — Provincial 4 S 6
HOVAI . ARCH : Metropolitan 48 7 KNIGHTS TEMPI . AU
Provincial 48 7 RED CROSS OF CONSTANTISE : — Provincial 48 7 CORRESPONDENCE : —
Professor Rawitnson ami the Ten Tribes 488 Our Ceremonies 48 9 ' Provincial Grand Officers 48 9 Renewal of Chaiters 4 S 9
Recognition of the Mark Grand Lodge 48 9 OBITUARY : — Bro . Augustus Smith 4 S 9 Masonic Meetings for next week 490 Advertisements 4 81 , 4 82 , 490 , 491 , 492
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
REVIEW OF G . M . GARDNER'S ADDRESS ON HENRY PRICE .
BY BRO . J ACOB NORTON- , OF BOSTON- , U . S . In the third volume of the Freemason , pages , 68 , 105 , and . 358 , and more especially in the American Freemason , beginning in February ,
1870 , to August of the same year , I demonstrated that the claims of Henry Price having received a Deputation as G . M . of New England jn 1 / 33 , < l ; m extension of the said Deputation
from the Earl of Crawford , in 1734 , making htm G . M . over all North America , was unknown to the G . L . of England , until 1768 . Second , that the record of the Boston Provincial G . L ., from
July 30 th , 1 J 33 , to January ^ 52 , was manufactured by Chas . Pelham in the hitter part of 175 1 , and have also shown that it was not even copied from any pre-existing record . Third ,
that a petition , signed b y Gordon , Belcher , and sixteen others , asking Price to constitute them into a Lodge , in 1733 , distinctly stated , that Price ' s Deputation was dated , "April 1 . 3 th , 1712 ,
and in the year of Masonry , . 5732 . " But both dates were , evidently some years after the petition was written , altered into 1733 , and 5733 . Fourth , that while Price , in a letter to the G . L .
of England in 1768 , claimed to having paid to Thomas Batson , three guineas fot his deputation , tlie said three guineas are not only not found in the record of the G . L . of England , but the R . W .
Bro . Hervey assured ine , that he could not find that tiny charge was made for a Provincial Deputation until October , 28 th , 1768 . Fifth , Oxnard ' s deputation in the Record , shows that he
was appointed G . M . of all North America . After the death of Oxnard , Price wrote a letter to some one in London , in 1755 , urging the party to use his influence to get Jeremy Gridlev
of Boston , appointed G . M . of all North America , and the said Gridley was afterwards appointed G . M . of N . A . Yet in 1768 , Price sent a letter to the English authorities , claiming that he never
resigned his Grand Mastershi p for all North America . There is still another puzzle connected with one letter , viz ., Henry Price ' s letter in the Record , makes no allusion to his not having
resigned , so consequentl y we may infer , that while he had one letter put on the Record , he actuall y sent another one to London . Sixth . While in the Record , under date of June 24 th 1734 , it says , " About this time our W . Bro . Benjamin
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
Franklin , from Philadelphia , became acquainted with one Right W . G . M . Mr . Price . . . and the said Franklin , on his return to Philadelphia . . . petitioned our Right W . G . M . for a
constitution to hold a Lodge , ( that Price ) having this year received orders from the G . L . in England to establish Masonry in all North America , " etc . The letter from Benjamin Franklin to Price was
not dated until November a 8 ih , 1734 , and in that letter Franklin said , "We have seen in the Boston prints , an article of news from London , importing that at a G . L . held there in August
last , Mr . Price ' s Deputation , and power was extended over all America , " and in 1768 , Bro . Price wrote to London , that he received the second Deputation , in , ( not 1734 , but ) 1733 , and
to make confusion doubly confused , Bro . Hervey assured me that no G . L . was held , "between 30 th of March , J 734 , and the 24 th of February , 173 c" and of course , no Deputation could have
been issued by a G . L . in August 1734 . Now , if Price had had such a document from the Earl of Crawford , why did he not know its date ? A similar blunder he made in his letter of 17 C 8 , by
saying that he received his first Deputation from Viscount Montacute . Now if his Deputation had been genuine , he would have known that Montague , not Montacute , was G . M . in 1753 .
Seventh . The very fact , that Price was a tailor and very ignorant withal , so much so—judging by a solitary autograph letter I found among the old manuscripts , the man could neither indite
spell , nor write a proper grammatical sentence , and could scarcely write . I think it therefore , very unlikely , that a man so ignorant could have received such Deputations from two successive
English Grand Masters . Eighth . It seems very strange , if Price really received such appointments , why he never wrote to an officer of the G . L . of England until
thirtyfive years after he received the said appointments , It was not until all parties supposed to have been connected with his Deputation , were evidently dead , then did Price , for the first time , make himself known who and what he was .
Ninth . Ihe Deputation , as recorded , is dated , not April 13 th , but the thirtieth day of April , I ? . ? . ?/ ' and the signature of the J . G . W ., instead
of being J-jmes Moore Smythe , is simply , " James Smythe . " In addition to this , the eighteen petitioners declare that they were all
made Masons in Great Britain and Ireland , while Pelham informs us that ei ght out of the eighteen were made in Boston before the Lodge or G . L . was constituted .
Antl last , and not least , Grand Secretary , Tho . French , demanded of Price , in the name of the Duke of Beaufort , G . M . of England , in 1768 , "an explanation relating to these points per
first opportunity , " but instead of furnishing the desired information , Price evaded the main question , and excused himself with , that " it would be too tedious to explain the matter of my
resigning as Provincial G . M . . . . and , "but you cannot find that I ever gave up my appointment over all North America , " but promised to be " in London next fall , when he would explain
face to face , " etc , and the same promise was repeated to G . S . Heseltine , the year following . Now supposing even that Price ever held such an appointment from the Earl of Crawford
Review Of G. M. Gardner's Address On Henry Price.
( though he evidently could not tell the day nor the year it was sent to him ) , as Oxnard however was appointed , and served as G . M . for all North
America from 1 743 to i ? , ^ , and as Gridley was appointed to the same office with Price ' s consent , and served as such from 1755 to 1767 , it is plainly evident , that Price ' s claim in 176 S , of
never having resigned , etc ., was a premeditated fraud . Taking , therefore , these , and other facts together , I come to the conclusion , that Price came to Boston in 1732 , that during the month
of July , 1733 , he exhibited an alleged deputation from Viscount Montague dated April 13 th , 1732 , but learning afterwards , from the second edition of Anderson , that Viscount Montague was
installed on the 19 th of April , 1732 . be therefore altered the date on the petition , from 1732 to 1733 , and it is not impossible , that on his socalled Deputation , he may in addition to that .
also have altered the 13 th into the " thirtieth day of April , as copied by Pelham into his record . In the same way we may also account for another discrepancy ; thus in his letter of 17 G 8 , Price said
that he received his Deputation , in 1733 , from Viscount Montacute . Now , had he been conscious of possessing a genuine Deputation , from Montague , I do not believe that he would , in
176 S , have written the name of the G . M .. different to what was on his Deputation ,. but knowing that the document was not genuine , and learning from Entick , and the succeeding edition of the
English Constitution , that the name of the 173 . 3 G . M . was Montacute , and supposing that Entick was a better authority than his so-called Deputation , he therefore copied Entick .
It is now rather more than two years ago , when Bro . Gardner informed me of his intention
to defend the Alasonic legitimacy of Price . 1 confess that I was somewhat staggereti at the announcement , but on asking him whether he was in possession of any facts connected with
this question , which was unknown to me , and receiving an answer in the negative , I respectfully endeavoured to dissuade him from his proposed undertaking , and assured him , that
without additional facts , he must fail in his efforts . My advice was unheeded , and the result was , the address , delivered on the 27 th of December last , antl printed about three months ago , which I am about to review .
Bro . Gardner is a lawyer by profession , and in his defence of Henry Price , lie displayed the peculiar method that lawyers resort to when they have a desperately bad case to defend , that is ,
to make the most out of little things , to bring forward as many witnesses as possible , to prove matter entirely irrelevant to the case at issue , and to ignore the testimony and arguments of
his opponents . For instance , the petition is printed , and even a fac-simile of it is given with the address , but no hint was given of the two alterations of 32 into 33 . Our brother
frequently quotes from the record , but does not intimate that the record was manufactured in r 751 or 17 . 52 . Bro . G . also says : — "During all the years of his [ Price ' s ] Masonic life ,
he enjoyed the fullest confidence of the Grand Lodge in London . " " That from 1733 , down to the War of the Revolution , they were as familiar with his doings as with hoso of their Prov . G . Masters