Thomas Harper.

enabled to see al once both clearly ancl dispassionately the difficulties , if any , that were involved in any question submitted for his judgment . Hence , during the 13 years he acted as Deputy , and especially during the latter part of that period , thoug h matters of moment were brought to the notice of Grand

Lodge , thc " Ancient " Craft appears to have pursued the even tenour of its way without let or hindrance worth speaking of . Under his auspices the Society was continually acquiring fresh strength , both as regards numbers and influence , its financial position waxed sounder , and , speaking generally , its affairs were

better and more firmly administered . Under these circumstances , it will not bc necessary that I should go much into detail in reviewing the events of his government . Here and there , however , circumstances arc recorded in the minutes which cannot well be passed unnoticed , and to a relation of or brief reference

to these circumstances , the greater portion of what remains to be written of this paper will be devoted . Early among the records of interest generally , or in relation , lo Bro . Harper , we find him , when presiding at the Stewards Lodge on thc 19 th January , 1803 , Iirst of all ordering , that "the

Regulations for the Committee should be read / ' and then impressing upon the brethren two important parts of the duty for which they were assembled , namely , " that of relieving the truly distressed yet deserving Brolher , and to use their utmost exertions in guarding against irregularity and imposition in the

app lications that might come belore them . " In these days when the Masonic vagrant traverses the country in all directions , seeking whom he may prey upon , we take the liherly of commending this wise caution of our "Ancient " Deputy to the notice of Lodge Almoners .

We offer it also as some consolation to those of our American hrethren who adopt the sound-of-Iimb theory in respect of candidates for initiation into our mysteries that they have the weighty authority in their favour of no less a person than Bro . Harper , for we read in the ( irand Lodge Minutes of the 6 th June , 1804 ,

lhat in reference to the initiation of a certain Rich . F . Hislop , and the conduct of one of the lodges in admitting him , " the subject drew some severe animadversions from the R . W Dep . ( i . M ., upon the admission of persons not perfect in body , but deformed or dismembered . "

In September , 1 S 05 , ( irand Lodge resolved that for the luturc the sum lo be paid for initiation should be fixed at two guineas and a half , and the resolution was conlirmed in the December , when it was further agreed that ihe attention of the

lodges should be called to such increase . It was also unanimously resolved at the latter meeting that the sum of 100 guineas be subscribed " towards the Patriotic Fund at Lloyd's Coffee House for the Rebel of the Widows and Families of those

Brave men who have fallen or may suffer 111 their country s cause , " it being further agreed lhat the "Ancient" privatelodges should be enjoined to subscribe to the same Fund , and lorward their subscriptions through the ( irand Officers . Whether it is generally true or not that " coming events

cast their shadows before them , '' it is certainly not a little curious lo lind it recorded in the proceedings of the Stewards ' Lodge during the year 1806 , that certain brethren were ordered to be severely reprimanded from the chair for having written to and waiting on the Duke of Kent with a view to obtaining the

consent of his Royal Highness to be nominated for thc office of ( jrand Master , and that , too , at a time when no vacancy had occurred , and without any authority from ( irand Lodge . On the other hand , there is nothing very unusual in finding a resolution of thanks passed bv ( irand Lodge lo lire oliicers and

members of one of ils lodges for having upheld the cause of "Ancient" Masonry against the attacks of its " Modern " enemies—the lodge in this particular instance being No . 87 , Stamford , Lincolnshire , and especially Bro . the Rev . R . Lascelles

( arr , its Chaplain— -while the particular attack emanated from the Rev . W . Deters , ( i . Do-lrail Painter , and l'rov . fi . Master of Moderns" in Lincolnshire , and others , some of lhe calumnies being published in the Stamford Mercury , of the 12 th July .

In 1807 , Grand Lodge resolved on presenting a memorial to the Grand Master , praving that his Grace would be pleased "to reinstate the Craft in one <>! ' tlieir Ancient Privileges , which they did enjoy from lime Immemorial until within the last eight years , namel y , lhat of attending irr one Body in procession on Saint

John ' s day the Baptist , to church to hear Divine Service , and a Sermon preached lo them b y their Grand Chaplain , " and also to attend the funeral of any reputable brother who , prior to his

death , might have expressed a desire for such an interment , but the request does nol . seem lo'havc commended itself to the Duke , who attended G . Lodge in person on St . John ' s Day , and explained the reasons which constrained him to withhold his

assent . However , whether he subsequently proved less obdurate , "r the brethren were resolute in their desires for the restoration of this privilege , the procession and subsequent ( irand Feast Were

Thomas Harper.

revived in the year 1808 , but on a grander scale than previously and what was still more satisfactory , under far stricter and better regulations . In the meantime , another improvement took place , Grand Lodge resolving that at the Quarterly Communication in March every year a statement showing the number of initiations

during the preceding year , the number of G . L . Certificates issued and also the number of Warrants granted or revived . Such a Return was presented lo Grand Lodge for the -first time at the meeting on the 2 nd March , 1808 , anil from this we gather some

insight into the strength of the " Ancient" Craft at this period , the total number of registered initiations in 1807 being reported as 1003 , of G . Lodge Certificates issued as 692 , and of Warrants granted or revived nine .

These , and other improvements , though in several cases proposed by other prominent brethren , may be taken as evidence , that under the auspices of Bro . Harper , the Society of which the Duke of Atholl was the Grand Master had made considerable

progress in all those things which go towards constituting a prosperous and well-ordered body , nor is it surprising that the knowledge of the circumstances which the leading members of the rival organisation must have had had the effect of strengthening their desire for a Union of the two Grand Lodges . But the

proposal for such a Union appears in the first instance to have originated within the " Ancient " Society itself . At thc Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge held on the gth September , 1809 , " Bro ' - Jercmi ' - Cranlield , P . M . of 255 "—as reported in the minutes of the proceedings— " again brought a Motion

presented and afterwards withdrawn at the meeting of G . Lodge 7 U 1 June last , ' That a Committee be appointed from the Grand Lodge to consider of and adopt such prompt and effectual measures for accomplishing so desirable an object as a Masonic Union . " it was natural that such a motion should lead to a long

and animated discussion , Bro . Charles Humphreys , Past S . G . W ., leading off with an objection fo any such motion being for one moment entertained on the ground of its " tending to annihilate the Ancient Craft . " At length , however , the matter was disposed of for the time , the minutes recording that " The R . W .

Dep - Grand Master in the Chair , after maturely considering thereon and as al present advised and according with his Duty as Dep - Grand Master , conceived it to be incompatible with his ' situation in the absence of lire . Grand Master , to receive such

Motion . And , therefore , the Grand Lodge was closed at past 13 o ' clock at night . " it appears to nre that Bro . Harper did the right thing and for the right reason , namely , because it accorded with his sense of duty , and was " incompatible with his situation in the absence of the Grand Master to receive such a Motion . "

1 rue , the motion having bcen placed on the Agenda for the preceding Communication in June , but then withdrawn , could not with strict truth be said to have been sprung upon Grand Lodge , but it was not likel y that such an important subject could be fully and fairly discussed in a weary house after midnight . It

may also have been his opinion that a motion having reference to so all important a question as that of the entire reorganisation under one supreme of the whole English Masonic body should derive its origin from someone of greater influence than that of the Past Master of an ordinary private lodge . At all events ,

whatever may have influenced Bro . Harper in adopting the course lie did , he acted , as the minutes tell us , from a sense of dutyduty not only to Grand Lodge , but also to the Grand Master of whom he was the appointed Deputy and who firstly in 1775 for several years , and secondly for iS vears continuously from 1791

hadwell and worthily stood by the ( jrand Lodge as its Grand Master . Thus the question was stayed for a time , but only for a lime . Indeed , at the very next meeting on the 9 U 1 December , objection was successfull y taken lo the procedure adopted , and ultimately Bro . Cranlield ' s motion for a Union was carried , though afterwards amended lo read as follows : —

" I hat a Committee be appointed b y this Grand Lodge to consider of the propriety and practicability of accomplishing a Masonic Union with the Society of Masons under His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales , and lo report thereon to this Grand Lodge previous to any further step being taken . "The Committee to consist ol the Present and Past Grand

Oflicers , with the Masters of the Warranted Lodges or Past Master of the Lodge specially appointed . " The first meeting of this Committee was held on lhe 24 th January , 1 S 10 , when , after a long discussion on the motion of Past Dep . G . Master Agar , seconded by Bro . Malcolm Gillies , S . G . W ., it was resolved "That a Masonic Union of the Grand

Lodges under the present Grand Masters , His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and His Grace the Duke of Atholl , in principles Equal and Honourable to both ( irand Lodges and preserving inviolate the Land-Marks of the Craft would , in the opinion of the Committee , be expedient and advantageous lo both . " It was liutlii-r agreed that a copy of such resolution should