Grand Chapter Of The Rose Croix Degree For Ireland.

GRAND CHAPTER OF THE ROSE CROIX DEGREE FOR IRELAND .

Report of the Ficc President to the Convocation of Prince Masons , held at Dublin , Monday , April J Sill , 1872 . ' •Having been re-appointed in November last to the Vice Presidency of the Grand Chapter of Prince Masons in Ireland , which had become

vacant by the resignation of our respected Brother Sir Edward Borough , Bart ., it has once more become my duty to report upon the state of our Fraternity of the Rose Croix Degree . For the information of those who have not been present at a Convocation until this occasion , I shall

shortly state what the objects of a Convocation are , and why the Vice-President ' s Report is usually presented at each meeting . It is now established as a general rule of the Rose Croix Order in Ireland , by the Constitutions of JS 66 , that a general assembly of its

members shall take place 111 every third year . Triennial Convocations had previously been held only in compliance with a custom which had prevailed for many years before , while , there were yet but a few Prince Masons in Ireland . Such Convocations have never been deemed to have

any legislative authority . The government of our Order became vested , in 1836 , in the Council of Rites , then newly established , which has since become , and is now better designated " The Grand Chapter of Prince Masons . " The triennial meeting appears to have been originally

more of a social character than otherwise ; but as it afforded opportunity for suggestion , deliberation , and mutual communication , it gradually became more like a general committee ; but it was found profitable in other ways , particularly as the Order became more widely extended . I

would use the words of a masonic writer of great eminence , Dr . Mackey , to convey what I would express : — "Here , " he says , " old attachments are renewed , and new ones are formed ; good feeling is cultivated , and lasting friendships are established among men ,

many of whom meet lor the lirst time as strangers ; but who learn , before parting , to entertain mutual respect and kindness . " And it is advantageous to the fraternity that opinions should be interchanged respecting it , and that younger and more energetic men should mingle

in the discussions of those who have already felt the effect of years , and are apt to be tenacious of long cherished notions , and slow to adopt those minor changes which , however conservative masonic principles may he , must creep in with

the progress of time and the gradual alteration of social habits . Nor is it the least of the advantages of these Convocations that they afford us an opportunity of paying the well-deserved meed of respect and duty to the estimable and venerable nobleman who has so lontr

presided over us ; whose presence never fails to diffuse universal satisfaction amongst us ; and whose influence has so long bound us fraternally together . For till these reasons ( he Convocation has now very properly become a recognised institution of the Rose Croix degree in this

country . As the Vice-President is charged with the general administration of the powers of the Sovereign of the Order , and is , or ought to be in general , the Presiding Officer in the Grand Chapter , he was always expected to state to the

Convocation whatever facts mi ght be necessary to give them a general notion of the condition of the Order , and to suggest to them what he might deem advisable . Thus it became usual for him to present a report ; usually a brief financial and numerical statement , and very much a matter of

form , unless it might contain occasional hints for future guidance . It was never , in any ease , deemed to be , if I may be allowed the expression , a ministerial document ; no one but the Vice-President himself being at all responsible for its statements . I may take leave to remind some

and to inform others that between my first appointment to the Vice-Presidency in 1854 , and my resignation of it in 1866 , I presented four reports , the last of which was laid before the Convocation of 1866 . In each of these I extended my observations over a much wider range than had been usual with my predecessors

Grand Chapter Of The Rose Croix Degree For Ireland.

in office , and went , in truth , far beyond my own humble province . The fact that I was then Deputy Grand Master of the Masonic Order , as well as Vice-President , will account for , and I hope will excuse , my having done so . Those reports were printed and circulated ; whether

they produced any effect I hardly like to consider ; judging from the number of them which remain on the shelves of the Grand Secretary ' s Office , I do not think much concern or curiosity was felt about them . But as I did not then , and do not now think that our fraternity , in any Degree of

it , can be served by affected mystery as to its objects , or by merely eulogising its principles or its members , I had no hesitation in making as fair and as candid statements respecting our institution as 1 could , neither depreciating its merits nor extenuating its defects . My present

report shall be equally candid , but shall be restricted within much narrower limits . The general government of the Masonic Order at large is now entrusted to one perfectly competent to the duty of governing it , and I shall not encroach upon his province . With respect to

the Rose Croix Order in particular , my former reports have exhausted my general observations about it ; no subject can afford an endless supply of new matter ; twice-told stories are proverbially tedious , and 1 do not think the lapse even of six years has given me ajiy additional subjects on

which I might address you with advantage . If the saying be true that it is a happy nation which has no history , I may congratulate you that the period that has passed since I addressed the Convocation six years since has , so far as this our Order is concerned , not been a very eventful

one . We have enjoyed our homes in peace , while a neighbouring nation has been convulsed with the struggle of a most terrible war , which crumbled an empire into dust . The subterranean fires of civil contention , though their

startling sound has now and then been heard , have not burst forth to wrap our capitals in flames , or deluge our streets with blood . Events , so great that we still seem to ga / . e appalled upon the scenes so lately presented , in awful reality , to our eyes , have passed away ; and we are here re-assembled , in tranquil fraternity , to renew our

ties of brotherhood—not all of us , for man } ' are gone hence and shall return no more—but we still , thank God , may recognize many wellknown and loved friends , joyful to exchange the smile of recognition with old acquaintances , and ready to extend the friendly hand of welcome and of fellowship to those who have joined our ranks since we last met on a like occasion to the

present . It has been a sort of form to congratulate the members of the Order whenever its numbers had appeared to have increased , as if it were an axiomatic truth that the more Prince Masons we had , the better for all . Without pronouncing an

opinion ' on that subject , I have to inform you that our numbers have increased to a rather startling amount . Statistics are , 1 fancy , a rather ilry subject to most people ; but let me ask your attention to a few figures which I am going to lay before you ; we will postpone the

congratulation until we see more clearly what is likely to be the end . This , I assure you , is no mere matter of form . It concerns not only the Order of the Rose Croix at large , but you and me , and every individual member of it .

Taking the subscribing members of the Order as its strength , and disregarding the small number of its members who do not subscribe to some Chapter or another , our numbers for the last twenty years have been nearly as follows : —

In 1834 they were . . 144 JS 77 .... J 6 ~ i 860 . . . . ji ; i 186 3 .... 178 J 806 .... 203 1872 . . . . 2 C 6

I have no returns for 186 9 , as I- was not then Vice-President , and I have no report for that year to which I mi ght refer . These numbers are sufficiently near the exact truth for til ! our present purposes . I have no means of ascertaining how man ) ' retired Prince Masons there may be in addition . From all this , you observe there has been a

Grand Chapter Of The Rose Croix Degree For Ireland.

steady increase for 20 years , except in the interval between 1 S 57 and JSCJO , when there was a temporary diminution of nine ; too insignificant to need further notice . In twenty years our numbers have grown from 144 to 256 . In the ten first of those twenty years the increase was

about 40 ; in the ten last it has been nearl y 80 .. Are we to go on doubling the increase every ten years ? ¦ I cannot tell ; but if we go on as we have done for twenty years past , the Prince Masons of Ireland will soon become a very numerous bod y ; that is plain enough . I see no

reason whatever to think that the increase will not continue . Now , I am sure it must , and will do so . But the result what it may , this Degree , will soon be very widely disseminated . I hope—and it is quite likely to be so—that the

Rose Croix Order in Ireland will long be a highly respectable bod y of men . But 1 think we may as well at once give up the idea that it will for long be any distinction to possess the detrree .

1 trust that none of us are so vain and so selfish as to desire to exclude men from the Rose Cro'x Order , merely that we ma ) " ourselves enjoy a sort of distinction b y belonging to it . It would be a sad breach of trust and breach of duty if we were to allow such a mean motive to

influence our conduct . If we were sure that each Chapter would be , as it ought , a bond of union amongst our best and worthiest , a school where the true principles of the New Law we profess to have adopted would be taught and learned , such leaven would soon produce an effect on

publie opinion which our society would feel to its advantage , and we should indeed make a widestep in the furtherance of the great design of every degree of the brotherhood , most of all of our own . But unless we try to make our Chapters approximate , in some sort , to that high standard , they will soon present a different aspect .

And it is a fair and laudable object to make it a distinction , in the real sense of the word , to belong to the Rose Croix Degree . Do you think it any distinction to wear a scarlet ribbon ? I trust none of ns have so learned the objects , advantages , or duties of Prince Mascnrv . Would we refuse that outward decoration to those who deserve it r i would we could share it with

thousands of such ! But let us see how the case stands in fact . Of our present total number ( which we may call 260 , as it is really 2 . 0 ) there are 180 members of Dublin Chapters , and but 80 members of country Chapters . Six years ago we had 74

members ol country Chapters ; so that there has been hitherto no extension of this Order since t S 66 in the country ; the whole increase has been in Dublin . The reason is obvious . There are now seven Chapters in Dublin ; there have been but three in the country until very recently ,

when a warrant was issued to Limerick and tinother to the town of Boyle . Does it not seeni plain that the more warrants we grant the more Prince Masons we shall have ? That , I may be told , is a mere truism . So , perhaps , it is ; but it is a truism worth attention . But are we .

because this is so , to refuse to extend the Order b y issuing new warrants ? No ; that , if it were possible , would be unjust : we have no right to exclude deserving men , merel y because we have a great many such in our ranks already . What I want to impress on your minds is the actual

duty of having regard , whenever an application is made for a new warrant , to the requirements of the district , and to the genera ! advantage of the fraternity , as well as to the wishes of three or four individuals . There are now twelve separate Chapters in Ireland . I expressed , in a

former report , an opinion winch experience has confirmed , that Prince Masonry , in this country , is considered as a development of Ancient Craft Masonry , and is looked forward to by our best and most zealous brethren as the due reward of their y . eal and merit . Masonry has made great progress in this country during the last thirtv or

forty years , and the Rose Croix Order is now sought for by great numbers . I have begun to think that most of those who take an active part , one way or another , in Freemasonry at large , not only make it an object to become a Prince Mason , but deem it almost their right to obtain that Masonic rank . ( To be . continued . )