Legal Episodes In The History Of Freemasonry.

the methods , and still less of the secrets of the Craft . Hc had never during his life stood in a Lodge at labour . He had no insig ht into either our internal hierarchy , or our external organisation . How then did he compile his Ritual ? He fell back on Finch ' s stuff , which he swallowed as of unimpeachable validity .

One can imagine the degree of confidence to be reposed in an exposition of Freemasonry by an arrant outsider , disreputable in character , ancl totally ignorant of his subject ; whose source of insp iration was a contemptible apostate , doubly disreputable in

character , and legally proved to be unworthy oi credence . Yet Freemasonry has met critics who show undoubted shrewdness in thc affairs of life , but who would fain attribute substance to Carlile ' s caricature of Finch ' s fictions .

WHILE b REEMASONRV in the English capital was thus purging itself of noxious humours , Freemasonry in thc Scottish capital was rent by a schism which , at one time , bid fair to establish two rival Grand Lodges in Scotland . The Scottish Lodges are of incomparable antiquity . Like thc vieille noblesse , they pay the

penalty of pride of ancestry by claims of precedence , only too apt to engender jealousies ancl bickerings . The smouldering lire suddenly leaped into a flame in 1807 . " Grand Lodge of Scotland does not seem to have acted with its wonted wisdom . Instead of resting on the merits of the actual case , the Grand

Lodge authorities diverged into side issues of Lodge rights and Lodge precedence . Instead of resting on the sure basis of the willing obedience of the members of our volunlarv Society , they sought to enforce their disputed claims by appeals to the strong arm of the Law . The proceeding was ill-advised , and the result gives ample food for reflection .

Thc circumstances were these . In 1807 , at a time when civil excitement was inflaming men ' s minds , Dr . John Mitchell , R . W . Mastcr of the Caledonian Lodge , Edinburgh , moved in Lodge a resolution which was held , by his political opponents , to savour of the politics they abhorred . For this , Dr . Mitchell was

unfortunate enough to incur the censure of Grand Lodge . The dispute seems to the present generation to have been trivial in origin . But it became embittered as time went on . Thc Grand Lodge imported side-issues . Dr . Mitchell and the Lodges that took part with him were charged with illegality under the Secret

Societies Act of 1 799 . Considerations foreign to the original plaint were forced on . The Grand Lodge brought into theLaw Courts a case in which it was worsted . Manv Lodges had , from the first , thought thc proceedings of Grand Lodge to be harsh beyond what was warranted by established usuage . Now , they

found the claims ol that Bod y scouted by the tribunal to which it had appealed . They formed themselves , in 1 S 0 S , into a separate organisation under the designation of " The Associated

Lodges seceding from the present Grand Lodge of Scotland . " The unseeml y litigation dragged on for years . The ori ginal cause of dispute was wellnigh lost sight of amid the side issues . Everything seemed to foster the flame of disaffection . But the

kindly spirit of Scottish Freemasonry , in the long run , proved equal to the task of reconciliation . The ori ginal cause of offence , was condoned on the one hand . On the other , the ill-advised

appeal to the Law Courts was ignored . The incidental irritation engendered by the quarrel was allayed by mutual forbearance , and the most serious schism in the history of the Scottish Grand Lodge came lo an end in 181 3 .

CoNt VKKKNTLV with these events , the Grand Lodge of Ireland emerged triumphantly from a similar ordeal . Tlu : episode was much more important , from the legal point of view , than either ol those narrated above . Dragged into the Law Courts b y an ill-conditioned and ill-intentioned official , who had been

discharged for gross malfeasance , the Grand Lodge of Ireland established , once for all , the legal right of the ' Craft , as an organised Society , to govern its constituent members in accordance with its own Laws . The judicial decision was of the more importance , as it had been thought that the internal government

ol the Craft was seriously interfered with , if not altogether done away wilh , by the Secret Societies Act of 1 799 . The case took rank as a " leading ease , " and served as a precedent

afterwards in Prosecutions and Commissions of Enquiry that had fo deal with other associations . Hence , the contemporary Report "I the legal proceedings may have an interest for outsiders as Well as for ourselves .

In order lo understand the situation , a few words of explanation will not come amiss . In 179 6 , Bro . Gorges Darcy mine became ( Jrand Secretary . This ollice in the ( Jrand Lod ge of Ireland is purely Honorary , all the duties being performed

by a salaried assistant , the Deputy Grand Secretary . '"' . G . D . Irvine was a county magnate from ( he North of Ireland , "' s brolher , Colonel William Irvine , M . P ., had been for many years Provincial Grand Master of Ulster . The Deputy Grand Secretary of Ireland in 179 O was Bro . Thomas Corker , who had held

Legal Episodes In The History Of Freemasonry.

the office from 1767 . In accordance with the pernicious custom of the century , the reversion of Bro . Corker ' s appointment was in thc gift of thc ( Jrand Secretary , and , in an evil hour , was promised to Bro . Alex . Seton , a Dublin barrister . Poor Bro . Thomas Corker , " worn out with age and infirmity" died in

December , 1800 , and Seton succeeded to his post as a matter of course . Seton will probably be best known to Masonic students as the unscrupulous depredator whose first act of authority was to carry off " a hackney-coach load of papers" from poor Corker ' s ill-kept archives . Seton proved unsatisfactory in

money matters . He bitterly resented the check placed on his manuuivres by the introduction of a Deputy Grand Treasurer . He tried to embroil the Brethren by inflaming Provincial jealousies , and by misrepresenting thc attempts of ( Jrand Lodge to bring the R . A . and H . K . T . Degrees under some central

authority . He was dismissed from the post of Deputy Grand Secretary in 1806 . His patron , Gorges Darcy Irvine , not having bcen reelected to office in 1805 , the new Grand Secretary , a barrister named John Leech , appointed Wm . Francis Graham in

Seton ' s stead . Seton refused to be got rid of , illegally detained the archives of Grand Lodge , and temporarily ousted the Grand Lodge from its usual place of meeting , which formed an admirably misleading address for the floods of circulars and manifestos with which he inundated the Lod

It is difficult to overstate Seton s insolent audacity : the wonder is that Grand Lodge showed itself so forbearing . At length , in April 1807 , he was expelled , and notice of his expulsion was sent round to the Lodges in the following colourless circular .

GRAND LODOK OF IRELAND . Thursday , 2 nd April , 1 S 07 . Right Worshi pful ALEX . J AITRAY Esq ., D . G . M ., on the Throne-. BROTHER J LEECH F . SU ., Grand Secretary , informed THE GRVND LODGE that pursuant to their order made

on the 5 th of March last he had demanded the Books ancl other Muniment !; the Property of this GRVND LODGE to be given up by Brother ALEXANDER SETON , laic Deputy Grand Secretary , whicli demand bad nol been complied with .

" RESOLVED "That ALEX \ NDER SETON be expelled '' ibis Grand Lodge and Masonry in General " ALEX , [ AITRAY , D . G . M . J LEECH , G . S .

/ o . L . SwA I [ lltuni nnrj \ Ti ' invcl . jy In the cant of thc day , Seton at once " slapped an action " against ( Jrand Lodge . lie claimed ^ 2000 damages for libel , and

went to extraordinary lengths of personal malice in the preliminary proceedings . He look the precaution of laying the venue at the Omagh assizes , where his patron , Bro . Gorges Darcy Irvine , exercised unbounded influence . The action , accordingly , was tried at the Co . Tyrone assizes in 1808 . By great good

fortune , the Judge of Azzize , the Rt . lion . Justice Daly , was one of the ablest on the Irish Bench . Consequently , Seton ' s attempt to make the mailer a personal struggle between himself

ancl his successor , Bro . W . F . Graham , —an attempt onl y loo successful in the preliminary proceedings we have hinted at , —was foiled , and the case was decided on broad legal principles , to the utter discomfiture of Seton .

lt will be observed that Counsel for the plantiff mentioned the ( Jrand Lodge of England . This means the Grand Lodge of thc Antients , which worked hand in hand with the Grand Lodge of Ireland . We have got so far from the days when two Grand Lodges co-existed in England , and the pious panegyrics of the

"blessed Union of 1813 , " have given our history such a twist , that some of us seem to find it hard to understand that , at the period with which we are dealing , the title GRAND LODGI-: OF

ENGLAND meant to the great majority of English-speaking l- ' reemasons , the Grand Lodge of the Antients , and no other . Certainly , in the Minnies of the Grand Lodge of Ireland it has no other meaniii "' .

With these prefatory remarks , the following contemporary report will show the turn taken by the proceedings in Court , albeit the phraseology of the reporter could easily have bcen improved .

SETON V . GRAHAM . Tyrone Assizes [ 1808 , ] North-west Circuit . Before Rt . Hon . Mr . Justice Daly and a Common Jury . At the Assizes for the County of Tyrone , held at Omagh an action was brought bv Alexander Seton Esq ., a barrister at law