Original Correspondence.

of the three should be paid at the same time . No alteration should be permitted to take piace in these officers during the date of the signing of the commission and the granting of a new one . In the event of the death of a Proxy Master during that period , the lodge should be entitled to elect a new one ; and in the event of the death of a Proxy

Warden , the Proxy Master should supply the vacancy with another brother . But the annual circular ought to contain a complete list of the members of Grand Lodge for the year following its issue . No new member should be admitted with the exception of those filling vacancies caused by death , and the representatives of foreign lodges ,

whose commissions may not have arrived in time to be submitted to Grand Lodge on its first meeting after the date of signing for approval . Moreover , no brother should be permitted to hold a proxy commission who has not been at least two years a Master Mason , for there are many instances where brethren upon taking their Master ' s

degree have become members of Grand Lodge , and voted upon questions affecting the Craft , of which they had no knowledge , nor could have . At different periods lodges have made it a point to have every new Master Mason in Grand Lodge , and thereby , for the time , secured a preponderating influence to the sacrifice of every principle of

Freemasonry , of honour , and of justice . What is the present system of Grand Lodge in the case of an important question coming up before it for decision ? We will take an election , for example , where there are two candidates , both heavily supported by the brethren . Heaven and earth are moved for proxies ; brethren are offered

a seat in Grand Lodge ; their expenses , both of commission fees and of eating and drinking , paid if they will vote one way or the other . A hotel is at once fixed upon for head-quarters , an open table is kept , cabs fly about in all directions , innumerable circulars go through the post , meeting upon meeting , followed by resolution upon

resolution succeeds , till one would think a general election instead of a paltry jewcllership or Provincial Mastership was in hand . What is the result ? The Grand Lodge is turned into a bear garden ; a dozen fiery but ungrammatical orators , full of zeal and spirit , take the floor , speak against each other , against time ; yes , and against common

sense . Speak they will ; while other brethren howl out " Vote ! Vote ! Spoke ! " who have only come as silent Members to record their votes . How can there be justice done in such a court whose judges are there bought and sold like so many sheep ? The country with a strong unflinching hand has put down bribery at Parliamentary and municipal

meetings ; but we poor Masons , Sons of Light ( what a blasphemy !) only consider a cause just which gives us the largest bribe . As an esteemed member of Grand Lodge once said , and truly , " Therearc brethren whose adherence you can secure at the small expense of a glass of beer . " And this is the justice of Grand Lodge . How can the affairs

of Grand Lodge succeed under such auspices ? How can it ever shake off the load of debt which hangs like a millstone round its neck ? Only by the thorough rofermation of its existing abuses ; by introducing a law whicn will wipe away all incentive to malpractice , and which will heavily punish any one guilty of abuse .

I maintain that the Grand Lodge of Scotland is an unfit tribunal of justice as presently constituted ; that root and branch arc rotten and unsound ; its whole system is founded upon error , and requires reform , not a partial reform , but one that will place it on a firm basis , and which will indicate a return to honest principles and pure Masonic practice .

But so long as G . L . can be packed , solong as questions of importance cannot be discussed , and so long as a few windy and unscrupulous spouters form a clique to tyrannise over the brethren , an incubus will lie upon Grand Lodge , will paralyse the hands of Freemasons , and in the end will make the name

of Mason so abhorrent , that ihe world will view it with feelings of suspicion and dislike . This will happen simply on account of our having mismanagement and disingeniousr . ess in high places . I defy anyone contravert these facts . They are patent to every brother who will consider them for a moment , and they call for immediate and sharp redress .

But there is another and a greater evil than even the present system of Grand Lodge—the Grand Coai . nittee , with whom lies the real executive of Grantl Lodge . All questions come before it for consideration , and it is seldom that any discussion arises upon one of its fundings . Now , let us sec how the Grand Committee comes into existence .

The Masters of lodges in the Edinburgh district , with certain Proxy Masters , form this committee ; but a reference to p ist annual circulars will show that there are many members of Grand Committee who have sat on it for twelve and sixteen years . The Grand Committee is the head-quarters of the clique . If any brother attempts to interfere with their decisions , he is at once roared and voted

Original Correspondence.

down . They mutually propose each other for reelection annually , and although a division may take place among the other members , they manage to present their list for approval to Grand Lodge . The sub-committees upon important questions are always composed of their number , and thus the affairsof Grand Lodge are systematically misguided

and misconducted . These brethren have no regard for decency , and theyaresoaccustomedto hookwink Grand Lodge that they do not observe even a semblance of law or order . In 1865 , when the question of " revision of the ritual , " upon the motion of Bro . Adam Thomson , R . W . M . St . John ' s , Galashiels , was remitted to Grand Committee for report ,

they committed it to a sub-committee , which never met ; and a brother verbally reported against the motion , and this was the weight given by the Grand Committee to a remit of Grand Lodge upon a most vital question . But , then , what do the Grand Committee care ? The most important questions may be shelved ; the affairs of Grand Lodge may get

into irretrievable confusion . They laugh ; and some of them , we know , would not object to see the day when she will become bankrupt—if they get the charge of seeing her through the Bankruptcy Court . It is " not so many years ago since the Scottish Freemason ' s Magazine let a flood of light upon the doings of the clique which struck terror into their mean and sordid souls , and caused them to shriek

out . The magazine was threatened with all pains and penalties , the article denounced untrue , but though that article branded them with fraud , conspiracy and dishonour , all the Grand Committee could say of it was , that it was injudicious , Yes Injudicious to tell the truth and defend honest men ? No ! but to reveal the secret plans of those men to their Masonic vows , in the face of God and

man . Now for all this there is only one remedy . It has been already proposed and a strong effort should be made to have it carried into force , so as to destroy the destroying clement element in Grand Lodge . This can only be done by abolishing Grand Committee and remodelling Grand Committee . This

could be done in the following way . First . Abolish Proxy Commissions , and permit every Right Worshipfnl Master and every Past Master , who pays an annual fee to be a member of Grand Lodge . The annual fee to be paid by the ist February in every year . By this means we would have not only a better class of

brethren in Grand Lodge , but better fitted to deal with questions coming before it . Second . Let there be monthly meets of Grand Lodge . By these means every question would have a better chance of being maturely and properly considered , and the present system be altered to one

which will take the Grand Lodge from the suoals of bankruptcy , and make Scots Freemasonry respected both at home and abroad , for it cannot be denied that our system is at present the laughing stock of the world . That the Grand Committee is an absurd

institution , I will give one instance , when the present Duke of Hamilton came of age , the members directed the Grand Secretary to write to him and ask him to become an office bearer . The Duke wrote back with an apology , and with quiet irony stated , that he was not aware that he was a member of Ihe Craft ' ' . '

ANTIQUITY OF FREEMASONRY . ( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DK . AR SIR AND BROTHER , —On having the paragraph pointed out to me , which 1 now only learn from Bro . XX ' . P . Buchan ' s letter in your paper was inserted in the various newspapers , without his knowledge , 1 replied to it , that the public might

know that every Freemason did not believe 111 the unsupported statements set forth in such a manner , by the challenge which Bro . W . P . Buchan had made . In reply to the letter which appeared in the Glasgow Evening Star , and now ( somewhat altered ) appearing in Tlfie FREEMASON' , page 322 , I gave the following reply : —

ANIIllUITY OK FKEKMASONRY . To ihe Editor of The Star . SIR , —Your paper of 12 th May , 1 S 70 , contains a letter from ISro . \ V . 1 ' . liuclian , apparently intended as in reply to my letter on the Antiquity of Freemasonry , which appeared on 5 th May , 1 S 70 . I cannot regard it as really a reply to my letter , for it consists of mere

assertions , unwarranted by any exhibition of proof , liro . \ V . P . liuclian says my letter is " full of mistakes ; " fill he does not even condescend to point out ihcse mistakes . lie seems lo think that it will satisfy his readers for hi n merely to say that I have made them . I confess tint it does not satisfy me ; and I do not see why it should . Had an attempt been made point out any

mistakes committed by me , 1 would have investigated every point with care ; antl I hope 1 woultl have been found as ready frankly lo acknowledge an error as to maintain what I still found reason to believe lo bo the truth . Bro . W . P . buchan also speaks of me as "good at retailing dreams ami exploded notions . " However , I ask , what are these dreams aud exploded notions ? If

Original Correspondence.

Bro . W . P . Buchan means to refer to the notion of the existence of Masonry before the year 1717 , which he assumes as the date of its origin , I reply that this notion is far from being exploded , and is not to be hastily dismissed as a "dream . " The question is one to be tried by the adducement of evidence , and it is ridiculous for any one to come forward and merely make the assertion

that our Freemasonry had its origin in 1717 , without producing any proof to that effect . Not a vestige of proof has Bro . W . P . Buchan produced . He says , indeed , that ' in the Freemasons' Magazine last summer he asserted that Freemasonry and Speculative Masonry was only 152 years old ; but he surely cannot imagine that this assertion is to be accepted as deciding the question . " He has ever since , "

he adds , been carrying on the war continually against all and sundry the supporters of the ' ancient antiquity ' of Freemasonry , and he has never met one who could produce any substantial proof that our Freemasonry existed before 1717 . " In this style he rims on , apparently quite contented with himself , and is in expectation that every one should unhesitatingly accept his views , but

showing no reason why they should be accepted . Bro . W . P . Buchan , who so emphatically condemns my letter as "full of mistakes , " might have been expected to have kept clear of mistakes himself . But this is far from being the case . He speaks of the " Earls of Roslin in the seventeenth century , " asserting that I am altogether wrong as to their relation to the Masons of Scotland , and

that they were mere ' patrons and judges in trade disputes , not hereditary Grand Masters . But there was no Earl of Roslin in the seventeenth century ! Yet again , Bro . W . P . Buchan says , " While the Earl of Roslin is chosen or appointed , with express consent and assent of William Shaw , Master of Works to our sovereign lord , judge or referee for a certain district , with continuation to his heirs ,

he became no more Grand Master or 'hereditary Grand Master' thereby than I did . " Without discussing the question whether or not the St . Clair of Roslin who was , with consent and assent above-mentioned , chosen or appointed by the Masons of Scotland to hold hi gh authority among them , was their Grond Master or not , it is sufficient at present to point out the gross mistake of calling

him Earl of Roshn , and this may well throw doubt upon all the opinions in connection with the subject of this office which Bro . W . P . Buchan so confidently asserts . Such a display of gross ignorance and carelessness on one point makes his authority very questionable oil every other point connected with the subject . With reference , also , to the charters granted by the Masons of Scotland to the

St . Clairs of Roslin , in the beginning of the seventeenth century—which charters arc preserved in the Advocates ' Library , Edinburgh—Bro . W . P . Buchan says , " The dates of these charters are A . n . 1600 and A . D . 162 S . " Now , the second of these charters is of date A . D . 1630 , and the first bears no date , although there is sufficient evidence that it belongs to the early part of the

seventeenth century , and lo the reign of James VI . of Scotland , after his accession to the English throne . One who makes such mistakes as Bro . W . P . Buchan has made on points so easy of examination , is surely not entitled to censure another for mistakes without adducing evidence of them , nor lo much regard for the opinions which he may assert as to the subject under consideration . I hope

he will perceive that I have convicted him of mistakes . His reference to his communication to The Freemasons ' Magazine , is not much to the purpose . He may have " carried on the war , " as his phrase is , in the pages cf that periodical with great satisfaction lo himself , and yet without making much impression on others . There are over two hundred thousand Freemasons in Britain who

never see it , antl there arc some who , whatever they might sec in it , woultl not take the trouble to reply . I am one of these . For anything I have yet done in the cause of Freemasonry I have received nothing but abuse ; and it is not to be wondered at if I do not reply to articles which are not in themselves very deserving of notice , and in which I am not personally assailed .

Bro . XV . P . Buchan called in question the initiation of Charles II . and William III . as Freemasons , often asserted as a historic fact by Masonic writers . He asks " In what lotlge were these great kings made ? " The question docs not demand an exact and positive answer . We may have reason to believe , on good historic evidence , thai these Kings were made Masons without being able

to say in what lotlge it was -done , on at what particular date . A reference to the Seventh Landmark will at once explain the possibility of their being made Masons in an occasional lotlge . A ml thus , in fact , persons of very high rank have generally been made Masons . The present Prince of Wales was not made a Mason in any icutlar lotlge in Britain , but in an occasional lotlge , which is

perfectly competent for such a purpose . 1 am almost at a loss what to say as to the following passage of Bro . \ V . P . buchan ' s loiter— " More , while the Earls of Roslin were referees or judges for the Masons in one pari of the kingdom , we perceive a Royal grant made by James VI , in 1 590 , lo Patrick Coi pland , of Utlauchl , ami his heirs , giving him full powers as

Wartlane antl Justice within the ' haill thrie sherriffdomes tf Alicrtlcne , Banff , anil Kincarne . ' 1 ask , was he another hereditary Grantl Master ! " Bro . XX ' . P . liuclian oil" ! t surely to know that a Warden is neither a Masler nor a Grantl Master . The Kings of Scotland appointed the O . ' lice Bearers of the Masons , at least when they chose lo do so , as the Kings of England also did , no one dispmii g llieir auth irily ; and thus the Karl of Orkney and

Caithness was appointed by James II . lo his high office , thereafter hereditary in the family of his descendants , the Si . Clairs of Roslin ; and thus also Patrick Coipland , tf U . lauchl , was appointed Warden for the Northern Shires already named . But there is a great difference betwei n the office of a Warden and that of a Master ; antl therefore the question of Bro . XV . P . Buchan , "Was Ic another hereditary Grand Master ? " can onl y be regarded as ridiculous . The Laird of Roslin might well be Grand