Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Legal Episodes In The History Of Freemasonry.
Legal Episodes in the History of Freemasonry .
By W . J . CHETWODE CRAWLEY , LL . D ., D . C . L ., P . G . D . IRELAND . | & j ^ 5 # \ ^ jjjERY seldom have the Law Courts of the United ITixwwVri ! Kingdom been troubled by litigation arising from l ]|& oS / 7 /»| i the internal disorders of the Fraternity . Now ancl | s ^ M _^§ = H a § a ^ i however , splenetic members of the Craft ^~^ -= ^ Z have thought it not beneath them to drag
Freemasonry from the seclusion of the Lodge-room into the turmoil of the Forum . Whether this be done by individual Brethren who have persuaded themselves into a state of aggrievedness , or by Lodges who seek to enforce supposed rights , the appeal to Caesar is equally injudicious . In the case of
ordinary litigants , who are concerned only about oysters already opened , the Lawyer is like to secure the oyster , or ever it gets to Caesar . In our case , in the efforts to open the oyster in Court , the
bivalve always gets the nest of it , leaving only maimed hands ancl wounded joints to the oyster-openers , who find themselves compelled to pay for an entirely different and more succulent oyster required of them by the Lawyers .
By undesigned coincidences , born , doubtless , of the strained temper of tliDse stirring times , the beginning of the present century found the Giand Lodges of England , of Ireland , and of Scotland , involved in legal proceedings , each in its own country . Our more particular purpose is to bring before the present
generation of readers the long-buried records of a test case , in which the Grand Lodge of Ireland was concerned . But the coincidence of a litigious spirit , to which we have before alluded as existing contemporaneously in the Three Kingdoms , makes it expedient to glance at the Law proceedings in which the Sister Grand Lodges were severally involved about fhe same time .
THE GRAND LODGE of England found itself in 1 S 15 unexpectedly mixed up in an action which had bcen brought against one William Finch , a personage of notoriety , rather than of reputation . This remarkable charlatan , said to have begun life as a tailor in Canterbury , found it easier to earn a livelihood as a
purveyor of spurious Masonic literature than as a vendor of honest broadcloth . The public were better judges of the latter commodity . He developed the idea of printing ancl publishing original , very original , esoteric Lectures , which were , he averred , the true , inward , and altogether lovely Ritual of Freemasonry ,
hitherto known to no one but himself . Such was the nobility of his nature that he proposed to share this profound knowledge with a select few , merely stipulating for a small pecuniary remuneration , which , he unctuously assured ( he public , was ridiculously inadequate to thc sublimity of his communications . This traffic he
actually carried on from 1795 to 1 ( 515 I ' 0 do the rascal justice , he wrapped up his incoherent lucubrations in a variable cipher that masked their worthlessncss , while it whetted the curiosity of the illiterate . Craftily working out this vein of false profundity , he illustrated his cryptographic pamphlets with copious sheets of
hieroglyphical sketches . He took good care that these embellishments should be so irrelevant as lo appear equall y recondite in the eyes of the initiated and the uninitiated . Omne ignolum pro ningiiifico , quoth the ancient Roman , and , though the words of the adage were beyond Finch , yet the idea underlying them was his
base of operation . Thc air of mystery he contived to throw around his ciphcrsand illustrations , backedbyunblushing asseverations that his Lectures were , if not the real Ritual , at least , highly superior expansions of it , gave him a sort of vogue during the first ten or a dozen years of this century . But the very ease with which
he duped the outer world that had no touchstone for his wares proved his bane . He would not stoop to pay his debts . At last , in 1814 , his long suffering engraver , a base plebeian by name , Thomas Smith , look out a summons against him to enforce payment of an overdue account . Tin : case came on at
the Westminster Palace Court in January , 1 S 15 , and I-inch pleaded as a set off that he had initiated Smith into the most exalted mysteries of Freemasonry . This service was ol incomparably greater value than any copperplates could possibly be . Smith took the bull by the horns . By the evidence of the Grand
Secretaries of the United Grand Lodge , and of the ( jrand Chaplain , the Rev . Dr . Hemming , who was specially qualified to speak on the question of Ritual , he was easily able to show that whatever it was that Finch had palmed off upon him , it was not an Initiation into Freemasonry . The exposure was complete . J he case had seemed trivial . The sum claimed was under live pounds . The Court from which the summons issued was of
Legal Episodes In The History Of Freemasonry.
mere local jurisdiction . But Finch ' s bubble had been pricked . He had been accustomed , apparently , to play off the Antients against the Moderns . When challenged by thc one , he proclaimed himself of the School of the other . The Union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813 , and thc assimilation of their
varyinocodes , rendered this game no longer possible . The supply of dupes fell off . His creditors pressed their claims . The destruction of his illicit traffic in Spurious Rituals involved the destruction of his more legitimate business as a bookseller . Here is an advertisement of his that tells its own tale :
¦ & TO FRRFMASONS , BOOKSRLLRRS , fcc . The Brotherhood are respect full v informed thai the printed Lectures in tlie various degrees in Masonry , as well those that have been printed under the SAXCTIOX of the GR \ xn LODGE , as the others that have been printed without such sanction , are now to be sold off and discontinued : —¦
Tbey contain die MAKINGS , PASSINGS , RUSINGS , RXAI . TATIONS , LECTURES , and all olher CEREMONIES , , VC . Nre , which are now to be had with the greatest variety of Masonic Plates from 10 . 9 . 6 . 1 . to 1 / . ios . The above cheap sets of Lectures will enable Masons to obtain more information in one day than lliev
could otherwise procure in manv years . ALSO , 7000 Volumes , and other Articles comprising his Slock in Trade , as a Bookseller . See the particulars in the Catalogue price is . Ciii . \\ . PINCH , Bookseller , sign of the FREEMASON ' ARMS , No .
5 Charlotte-Place , New Cut , Lower Marsh , Lambeth . The Business to be i / isposeti of ou moderate terms .
'I his advertisement appeared in the London newspapers of July , 1816 . The action had come to a hearing only in the January of the preceding year . Finch had spent twenty years in
buildinoup an edifice of imposture : a few months were enough to demolish it . Within the year , the wretched man died , in want , as Dr . Mackey tells us , of the common necessaries of life . Verily , tlie mills of the Gods grind slowly , but they grind exceeding small .
1 he oddest circumstance connected with Finch ' s career of chicanery is that it had a reflex action on Freemasonry , through more than one channel . We . must take into consideration that , although Finch was unlettered , he was endowed with a
cunning that amounted to astuteness , a mendacity that approached imaginativeness , and an effrontery that knew no qualms . The brazen assertion in the advertisement quoted above , that he supplied the Brotherhood with
" Lectures in tbe various degrees of Masonry as wel ] those thai have been printed under thc sanction of the Grand Lodge , as the others that have been printed without such sanction . " was admirably calculated to deceive the unwary . Nay , it
positively implied some sort of official countenance , or authorisation . Mow wen- Brethren of the obedience of the Antients to know that he had no such sanction from the Moderns ? How were the Moderns , in their turn , to know that he was totally unconnected with the Antients ? When the Brethren belonged
to sequestered Lodges in remote provinces , or distant colonies , there was every prospect of their laking Finch ' s cipher at his own valuation . And this did actually happen in America , as well as in England . Some copies of Finch ' s precious Lectures .
enshrined in mysterious cipher , and garnished with allegorical engravings , , found their way across the Atlantic . They attained the same sort of currency among honest Brethren that forged banknotes do in the hands of innocent holders . Finch ' s hieroglyphics begot the whole crowd of Secret Manuals , private
Monitors , cipher Rituals , and whatnot , that to this day grow apace , like weeds , in the garden of our American Brotherhood . Nay more , much of the Ceremonial and Symbolism , of the heterogeneous side Degrees that bedizen American Freemasonrv , ancl ,
perhaps some of the more erratic developments of the Craft , sprout from this tainted soil . We must concede that Finch was ingenious as well as unscrupulous . Some of his unwarrantable amplifications are so designed as to appear moulded on the well-known lines of our ancient Symbolism . It will be worth
the while of some arch . ' eological Brother in the United States to wade through Finch ' s pretentious vapourings for the purpose of tracing the indebtedness of the still more pretentious side Degrees to this forgotten impostor ' s trash . Many cherished illusions will disappear in the progress of that research .
In the next place , I * inch supplied the material which another rascal sought to foist on the public as Freemasonry . Ten years after Finch ' s death , Richard Carlile , the Atheist—to-day we call that kind of animal an Anarchist—whilcd away his time in
Dorchester gaol , by compiling another true , genuine , and authentic Ritual ol Freemasonry . The task presented , what we may politely call some difficulty ; for Richard Carlile was never at any time a Freemason . Ile had no particular knowledge of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Legal Episodes In The History Of Freemasonry.
Legal Episodes in the History of Freemasonry .
By W . J . CHETWODE CRAWLEY , LL . D ., D . C . L ., P . G . D . IRELAND . | & j ^ 5 # \ ^ jjjERY seldom have the Law Courts of the United ITixwwVri ! Kingdom been troubled by litigation arising from l ]|& oS / 7 /»| i the internal disorders of the Fraternity . Now ancl | s ^ M _^§ = H a § a ^ i however , splenetic members of the Craft ^~^ -= ^ Z have thought it not beneath them to drag
Freemasonry from the seclusion of the Lodge-room into the turmoil of the Forum . Whether this be done by individual Brethren who have persuaded themselves into a state of aggrievedness , or by Lodges who seek to enforce supposed rights , the appeal to Caesar is equally injudicious . In the case of
ordinary litigants , who are concerned only about oysters already opened , the Lawyer is like to secure the oyster , or ever it gets to Caesar . In our case , in the efforts to open the oyster in Court , the
bivalve always gets the nest of it , leaving only maimed hands ancl wounded joints to the oyster-openers , who find themselves compelled to pay for an entirely different and more succulent oyster required of them by the Lawyers .
By undesigned coincidences , born , doubtless , of the strained temper of tliDse stirring times , the beginning of the present century found the Giand Lodges of England , of Ireland , and of Scotland , involved in legal proceedings , each in its own country . Our more particular purpose is to bring before the present
generation of readers the long-buried records of a test case , in which the Grand Lodge of Ireland was concerned . But the coincidence of a litigious spirit , to which we have before alluded as existing contemporaneously in the Three Kingdoms , makes it expedient to glance at the Law proceedings in which the Sister Grand Lodges were severally involved about fhe same time .
THE GRAND LODGE of England found itself in 1 S 15 unexpectedly mixed up in an action which had bcen brought against one William Finch , a personage of notoriety , rather than of reputation . This remarkable charlatan , said to have begun life as a tailor in Canterbury , found it easier to earn a livelihood as a
purveyor of spurious Masonic literature than as a vendor of honest broadcloth . The public were better judges of the latter commodity . He developed the idea of printing ancl publishing original , very original , esoteric Lectures , which were , he averred , the true , inward , and altogether lovely Ritual of Freemasonry ,
hitherto known to no one but himself . Such was the nobility of his nature that he proposed to share this profound knowledge with a select few , merely stipulating for a small pecuniary remuneration , which , he unctuously assured ( he public , was ridiculously inadequate to thc sublimity of his communications . This traffic he
actually carried on from 1795 to 1 ( 515 I ' 0 do the rascal justice , he wrapped up his incoherent lucubrations in a variable cipher that masked their worthlessncss , while it whetted the curiosity of the illiterate . Craftily working out this vein of false profundity , he illustrated his cryptographic pamphlets with copious sheets of
hieroglyphical sketches . He took good care that these embellishments should be so irrelevant as lo appear equall y recondite in the eyes of the initiated and the uninitiated . Omne ignolum pro ningiiifico , quoth the ancient Roman , and , though the words of the adage were beyond Finch , yet the idea underlying them was his
base of operation . Thc air of mystery he contived to throw around his ciphcrsand illustrations , backedbyunblushing asseverations that his Lectures were , if not the real Ritual , at least , highly superior expansions of it , gave him a sort of vogue during the first ten or a dozen years of this century . But the very ease with which
he duped the outer world that had no touchstone for his wares proved his bane . He would not stoop to pay his debts . At last , in 1814 , his long suffering engraver , a base plebeian by name , Thomas Smith , look out a summons against him to enforce payment of an overdue account . Tin : case came on at
the Westminster Palace Court in January , 1 S 15 , and I-inch pleaded as a set off that he had initiated Smith into the most exalted mysteries of Freemasonry . This service was ol incomparably greater value than any copperplates could possibly be . Smith took the bull by the horns . By the evidence of the Grand
Secretaries of the United Grand Lodge , and of the ( jrand Chaplain , the Rev . Dr . Hemming , who was specially qualified to speak on the question of Ritual , he was easily able to show that whatever it was that Finch had palmed off upon him , it was not an Initiation into Freemasonry . The exposure was complete . J he case had seemed trivial . The sum claimed was under live pounds . The Court from which the summons issued was of
Legal Episodes In The History Of Freemasonry.
mere local jurisdiction . But Finch ' s bubble had been pricked . He had been accustomed , apparently , to play off the Antients against the Moderns . When challenged by thc one , he proclaimed himself of the School of the other . The Union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813 , and thc assimilation of their
varyinocodes , rendered this game no longer possible . The supply of dupes fell off . His creditors pressed their claims . The destruction of his illicit traffic in Spurious Rituals involved the destruction of his more legitimate business as a bookseller . Here is an advertisement of his that tells its own tale :
¦ & TO FRRFMASONS , BOOKSRLLRRS , fcc . The Brotherhood are respect full v informed thai the printed Lectures in tlie various degrees in Masonry , as well those that have been printed under the SAXCTIOX of the GR \ xn LODGE , as the others that have been printed without such sanction , are now to be sold off and discontinued : —¦
Tbey contain die MAKINGS , PASSINGS , RUSINGS , RXAI . TATIONS , LECTURES , and all olher CEREMONIES , , VC . Nre , which are now to be had with the greatest variety of Masonic Plates from 10 . 9 . 6 . 1 . to 1 / . ios . The above cheap sets of Lectures will enable Masons to obtain more information in one day than lliev
could otherwise procure in manv years . ALSO , 7000 Volumes , and other Articles comprising his Slock in Trade , as a Bookseller . See the particulars in the Catalogue price is . Ciii . \\ . PINCH , Bookseller , sign of the FREEMASON ' ARMS , No .
5 Charlotte-Place , New Cut , Lower Marsh , Lambeth . The Business to be i / isposeti of ou moderate terms .
'I his advertisement appeared in the London newspapers of July , 1816 . The action had come to a hearing only in the January of the preceding year . Finch had spent twenty years in
buildinoup an edifice of imposture : a few months were enough to demolish it . Within the year , the wretched man died , in want , as Dr . Mackey tells us , of the common necessaries of life . Verily , tlie mills of the Gods grind slowly , but they grind exceeding small .
1 he oddest circumstance connected with Finch ' s career of chicanery is that it had a reflex action on Freemasonry , through more than one channel . We . must take into consideration that , although Finch was unlettered , he was endowed with a
cunning that amounted to astuteness , a mendacity that approached imaginativeness , and an effrontery that knew no qualms . The brazen assertion in the advertisement quoted above , that he supplied the Brotherhood with
" Lectures in tbe various degrees of Masonry as wel ] those thai have been printed under thc sanction of the Grand Lodge , as the others that have been printed without such sanction . " was admirably calculated to deceive the unwary . Nay , it
positively implied some sort of official countenance , or authorisation . Mow wen- Brethren of the obedience of the Antients to know that he had no such sanction from the Moderns ? How were the Moderns , in their turn , to know that he was totally unconnected with the Antients ? When the Brethren belonged
to sequestered Lodges in remote provinces , or distant colonies , there was every prospect of their laking Finch ' s cipher at his own valuation . And this did actually happen in America , as well as in England . Some copies of Finch ' s precious Lectures .
enshrined in mysterious cipher , and garnished with allegorical engravings , , found their way across the Atlantic . They attained the same sort of currency among honest Brethren that forged banknotes do in the hands of innocent holders . Finch ' s hieroglyphics begot the whole crowd of Secret Manuals , private
Monitors , cipher Rituals , and whatnot , that to this day grow apace , like weeds , in the garden of our American Brotherhood . Nay more , much of the Ceremonial and Symbolism , of the heterogeneous side Degrees that bedizen American Freemasonrv , ancl ,
perhaps some of the more erratic developments of the Craft , sprout from this tainted soil . We must concede that Finch was ingenious as well as unscrupulous . Some of his unwarrantable amplifications are so designed as to appear moulded on the well-known lines of our ancient Symbolism . It will be worth
the while of some arch . ' eological Brother in the United States to wade through Finch ' s pretentious vapourings for the purpose of tracing the indebtedness of the still more pretentious side Degrees to this forgotten impostor ' s trash . Many cherished illusions will disappear in the progress of that research .
In the next place , I * inch supplied the material which another rascal sought to foist on the public as Freemasonry . Ten years after Finch ' s death , Richard Carlile , the Atheist—to-day we call that kind of animal an Anarchist—whilcd away his time in
Dorchester gaol , by compiling another true , genuine , and authentic Ritual ol Freemasonry . The task presented , what we may politely call some difficulty ; for Richard Carlile was never at any time a Freemason . Ile had no particular knowledge of