Constitutions, 1815 To 1888.

xistence of the edition for 1865 was not generally known . The same book fas i" some instances , the year 1866 on the title page , but bearing the irn ' e date for the usual "Sanction ; " this I treat as Bro . Sadler does , as imp ly a variety of the 1865 issue . Doubtless the latter was a portion of the orig inal order of 500 copies , but delivered later on , hence the alteration 0 n the title page . The size was 321 T 10 only .

( XVII . )—Another of the " pocket size" was printed in 1866 , by authority of the Grand Lodge held September 5 th , in which were to be inserted "the new laws that have been recently passed by the Grand Lodge ; " & c , on the 21 st November following , it was stated that such issue was " forthe interim use of the Craft , embodying therein all new laws , " sjc ( XVIII . ) Grand Lodge authorised both sizes of a new edition to be

published 6 th March , 1867 , so that 1865-7 was rather a fruitful period as respects Books of Constitutions . ( XIX . )—The Board reported another edition in preparation , at the Grand Lodge assembled on Dec . 7 th , 1870 , which ( of both sizes ) was duly circulated in the following year and dated January , 1871 . The-321110 , however , was so soon exhausted that the Board felt compelled to have 5000 more printed , the fact being noted in their report of

22 nd August , 1871 , to the Grand Lodge of the 6 th of September following . As there was only a trifling alteration in one of the laws , agreed to ad interim , it is likely that this issue was only an exact reprint , but I have not yet compared the two prints of 1871 aa to this . ( XX . ) Both sizes were again published in January , 1873 , there having been 1004 copies Svo . and 5000 in 32 trio . This edition is of some importance , as it was the last of the Book

of Constitutions , arranged and modelled mainly on the lines laid down in 1815 ; all successive editions being more of the nature of alterations or additions simply , rather than really new works . The general plan was a faulty one , and so cumbersome in character that the last revision of 1884 had to be done thoroughly and was wholly rearranged , the various laws being properly grouped together under their several sections and numbered consecutively throughout . I shall not err in crediting the President of the

Board of General Purposes ( Bro . Thomas Fenn , P . G . D . ) , with being the author practically , of the new code , for I know he had been for some time personally arranging the rules in due consecutive order , and remodelling not a few of the old regulations . ( XXI . )—This version gave rise to considerable discussion in Masonic papers , and the Grand Lodge authorities did their utmost to publish all the suggested alterations and improvements , so that full information might be afforded the Craft , prior to the actual vote being taken .

The Quarterly Communication of June 7 th , 1882 , will long be remembered , because on that day the Board laid " before the Grand Lodge the revision of the Book of Constitutions , on which much thought and attention have been bestowed , " of which body Bro . Sir John B . Monckton was the respected President . The draft of the proposed revision was then accepted , and at the next Grand Lodge it was agreed that copies thereof be printed

and circulated , the cost not to exceed two shillings each , which was duly carried out , the contemplated code being printed in octavo size only . A synopsis ( small folio ) was also published , giving , in brief , an excellent description of the method followed by the Board , with an index to the marginal notes to such rules and references to the corresponding paragraphs in the edition of 1873 , so far as could be so noted .

Special Grand Lodges were held on June 29 th and Aug . 8 th , 1883 , to consider the various Rules seriatim , and on 5 th December of that year , the Revised Book of Constitutions was finally settled and approved , and the work itself was printed and published soon afterwards , the date of the sanction being New Year ' s Day , 1884 . The number of copies was far in excess of all previous issues , 10 , 000 being ordered of the octavo size , and of the square 32 mo so many as 20 , 000 .

In the Freemason for the years 1882 and 1883 will be found a valuable mass of information respecting the Revision , the suggestions of several Provincial Grand Lodges and Brethren , and numerous articles respecting the marked differences in many of the old and the new Regulations . So popular was the new Book of Constitutions , that the smaller size

was soon exhausted , and in 1888 , the number XXII . of the Series was printed in both sizes , with the Amendments to January of this year . The alterations mainly refer to the " Collar" question , and an addition was made to the list ot Grand Officers , viz ., President of the Board of Benevolence , a compliment to a hard-worked official , well deserved . No provision is made , however , for a distinctive Jewel in the volume aforesaid .

We bave the satisfaction of knowing that there is not a better Code of Laws in force in any Grand Lodge in the " wide , wide world . " W . J . HUGHAN .

Grand Lodges Formed By Lodges.

GRAND LODGES FORMED BY LODGES .

On this topic P . G . M . Bro . Theo . S . Parvin , of Iowa , says : " While we concede that Bro . Drummond is avery learned and able Mason , generally well versed in the history and jurisprudence of the Order ,

™ e quite as well know that few of all our writers suffer their judgments to be so warped by their bias and prejudices , and none are more dictatorial or dogmatic than he .

_ We made a positive assertion—that the Grand Lodges were created by Particular lodges , and that they made and gave the organic law to the lod ges so created . 5 , u- " T ° this Bro - Drummond replies , that' he ( Parvin ) has found no such

"ngm a single instance ; the particular lodges do not create the Grand L ° age nor give it its Constitution . ' Now to the law and testimony . trut ^ '* ISt Grand Lodge oi Maine . —If their own proceedings tell the and y pr 0 ve at once the incorrectness of Bro . Drummond ' s emphatic ditp ^ PP ° rted assertion . The ' ipse dixit' of no man , not even the eru-.- u . rummond , can override and set at naught historical facts . Th .-

„ con , * show upon their face that the lod S es met in convention . The ' unri ' u " Was not com P osed of ' the Masters and Wardens of the lodges ' no rIK § eneral Masonic law , ' but was composed of delegates from , and voterlh , chosen ( as they were in Iowa ) by , the lodges . The delegates M-A y lod ges - They voted that in the opinion ot the lodges the good of asonry reonirpH th * . fnrm-nlnn nr o O . ^„ A r „ „„ b 6 i Ul

(( j - - ~ - ~ — v .. v- » v » IIIUUUII C * . WIOIIU LJUU ^ C . do k wa , ~ We were , a member of the convention , and affirm whereof we also th ' . . oreover ' original minutes in manuscript are before me , as re PresP e ° " , glnal P nnted record , and they show that the four lodges were b y delp " '" ' ngle instance fay their ' Masters and Wardens , ' but Ve ntinn - f ^ chosen by the lodges for that express purpose . It was a con-We tn Masonlc lodges , not of Masons , nor of Masters and "Wardens . •> wo , voted by lodges . Those delegates made and adopted the Consti-

Grand Lodges Formed By Lodges.

tution and by-laws , and gave to the newly-created Grand Lodge—created by the lodges they represented—its organic law . By that vols they made the Grand Lodge thus created to consist of certain Grand Officers and the Masters and Wardens for the time being of the several lodges , & c . Will Bro . Drummond contend that the convention could not instead ot this provision have ordained 'that the Grand Lodge should consist of one , two ,

three , or more delegates chosen by each lodge from its members ? ' We presume he will deny the right , and plead what he calls the 'general Masonic law ' for constituting membership in a Grand Lodge . We deny that there is , or ever was , a ' general Masonic law ' on this subject . Each Grand Lodge when constituted is , and has been , a law unto itself to prescribe its own membership . Each Grand Lodge is a sovereign independent

body , and capable of making its own laws so far as not to remove a landmark . ' Is this a landmark ? We pity the ignorance of the brother who claims it as such . Where is it first found ? In the by-laws of the Grand Lodge of England , adopted 1723 . It was not the law in England in 1717 , when met the mother Grand Lodge of the world , and the oldest and first formed Grand Lodge in theworld . The Grand Lodgeof England was

formed by lodges , not Masters and Wardens of lodges—see Hughan ' s ' English Masonic Rite , ' Gould's ' History of Freemasonry '—Chapters XVI . and XVII . History of the Grand Lodgeof England . ' The lodges that met at the Goose & Gridiron Ale House , at the Crown Ale House , at the Apple Tree Tavern , and at the Rummer & : Grape Tavern , they and some old Brethren met and constituted themselves a Grand Lodge . ' The

Grand Lodge was called into existence by the ' Four Old Lodges—a large number of then existing lodges took no part in its organisation , so even the majority rule , much less that of unanimity , did not then prevail ; and the lodges , through their representatives , assented to its formation and , in 1723 , to the Constitution , which consists of ' The Charges of a Freemason ' —these are universally held to . be law the Masonic world over—and ' The

General Regulations —these latter are not of binding force in any jurisdiction nor upon any Grand Lodge until made so by enactment , and no Grand Lodge has , so far as we know , ever yet done so in whole or even the greater part . They were only the by-laws of the old Grand Lodge , materially altered and changed at almost every subsequent communication , till they

bear no semblance to the present by-laws of England or of any other Grand Lodge . No . XII . of those by-laws provided that' the Grand Lodge consists of , and is formed by , the Master and Wardens of all regular particular lodges upon record' ( in England and nowhere else ) . We say that every Grand Lodge in the world , in America , and even Maine and Iowa , have materially modified many of the 39 Articles of that code .

" We repeat there is no ' general Masonic law governing the membership or constitution of a Grand Lodge . It was then , and is now , and ever has been a statutory or constitutional provision subject as all other laws to modification or change by the law-making power . " But to resume : Bro . Drummond said that we had not and could not

find a single instance to sustain our assertion that ' Grand Lodges were created by particular lodges . ' We have already cited three ; Maine , Iowa , and England . Now let us turn to some other American lodges . " Missouri , from which Iowa sprung , was organised in this wise : Upon

invitation of Missouri Lodge , No . 12 , the several lodges appointed delegates ( we quote from the old record ) to meet in convention to consider the propriety of creating a Grand Lodge . The convention was held and was composed of delegates appointed by the several lodges ; or else the record is false .

" In Tennessee , our grand-parent , a convention composed of representatives chosen by the lodges met and organised the Grand Lodge . The first five lodges on the list of the eight composing the convention had five representatives . Under Bro . Drummond ' s theory , can a lodge have five official members in a Grand Lodge or even in a Grand Convention 1

" In Texas the convention was composed of delegates from the lodges , not officers or proxies , and each lodge here , too , was represented by five delegates chosen for the purpose . " North Carolina , the ninth of the old colonial Grand Lodges , organised as a Provincial Grand Lodge in 1771 , and an Independent Sovereign Body in 1789 , declares in ils Constitution of that

date"' That the government of the lodges that are or may be hereafter established in this State shall be vested in a Grand Master and other Grand Officers * * * who , with such members as shall be appointed by the several lodges , and shall attend in convention , shall be styled and denominated ' " The Grand Lodge of the State of North Carolina . " '

"We have examined the earlier proceedings of a number of Grand Lodges , which fully sustain us in the assertion we made and which Bro . Drummond so flatly contradicts , but we will refer to but one other , that of Vermont , where the record reads : ' Persons from the several lodges to which they belong as representatives to represent their several lodges in

convention organised that Grand Lodge away back in 1794 . ' Iowa being the youngest , 1844 , so that in America , from 1794 101844 , and later , even to the present time , and England , first and last , in 1717 . Grand Lodges have been , with few exceptions , and we have not noted any , formed , created , and organised by particular lodges .

" In the very nature of things this must have been so . In England there was never a Grand Lodge prior to 1717 , while lodges existed , self-constituted , from time out of mind . There were lodges in America in each of the 13 colonies long before there existed a Grand Lodge—the oldest Grand Lodge in America having been constituted in 1777 , while the first lodge was in existence in Philadelphia as early as 1731 . Yes , Bro . Drummond , Grand Lodges were made out of and by lodges , and the proof is as plain as that man was formed out of the dust of the ground . "—Keystone .

Provincial Grand Lodge Of Cheshire.

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF CHESHIRE .

A special session of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Cheshire was opened shortly after two o'clock in the Mechanics' Institute , Wellingtonroad South , on the 7 th inst . In the absence of the Prov . Grand Master , Lord Egerton of Tatton , Judge Horatio Lloyd , the Deputy Prov . G . M ., presided , and was supported by the following brethren high in the Cratt :

Bros , the Rev . C . W . Spencer Stanhope , P . G . C . Eng . ; Edwin Woodhead , P . S . G . W . ; Thomas E . Gibson , P . G . Treas . ; Lance Bentley , P . G . Reg . ; K . Newhouse , P . G . Sec ; W . C . Fleming , P . G . Tyler ; James Salmon , P . P . S . G . D . ; R . Hodgson , P . G . Stwd . ; John Liddeley , P . P . A . G . D . C ; John Dennis , P . G . Std . br . ; Geo . R . Brady ,

P . G . S . B . ; George Balfe , P . S . G . D . ; W . H . Vaughan , P . G . Reg . East Lanes . ; J . Cookson . P . G . Stwd . East Lanes . ; James Andrew , P . P . G . D . C . West Lanes . ; F . Leach , P . G . Stwd . ; Charles Vickers , P . G . Stwd . ; J . Knott , P . G . Stwd . ; J . Robcr's , P . P . G . D . C . East Lanes . ; T . M . Jones , P . S . G . W . ; W . Harrison , P . P . S . G . D . ; Lieut .-Col . Wilkinson , P . P . S . G . D . ; T . Marwood , P . S . G . W . ; T . Brookes , P . M , 323 , P . P . A . G . D . C . ; Herbert Finch , P . M . 104 , P . P . G . D . C ; and many others .