An Address To The Robert Burns Lodge No. 25.

It mav be that some of the brethren [ present are more or less familiar with the circumstances which I am about to relate , and if that be the case I trust they will not object to hearing them again for the benefit of others who may not be so well informed . Down to the year 1 S 13 , and for about 60 years prior to that period , there were two Grand Lodges in London , and in 1 S 10 , when this lodge was constituted ,

they were both active and prosperous , each having many subordinate lodges under its jurisdiction in nearly every part of the civilized world . The older of these bodies was established in the year 1717 , and has been variously designated " The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted IIisons of England , " "The Regular Grand Lodge , " " The Modern Grand Lodge , " and later , " The Grand Lodge under the Prince of Wales , " George . Prince of Wales , afterwards King George the Fourth , having been its Grand Master from 1790 to 1 S 13 .

The other Grand Lodge , the one from which this lodge emanated , started in the year 1751 as a Grand Committee vvhich blossomed into a Grand Lodge two years later . This body was known as " the Grand Lodge of th ¦ Ancients " or , to tive it its full description , " The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons according to the Old Institutions . " Its members were also designated " Athole

Masons , " because two Dukes of that name had presided over them as Grand Masters . For the sake of brevity and as a simple distinction these two Societies were and still are , referred to by Masonic writers as " Ancients " and " Moderns , " the " Ancients " being the organisation of 1751 , and the " Moderns " that of 1717 . At first sight this description of them naturally appears somewhat strange but it can be explained in this way .

The regular Grand Lodge of 1717 , although undoubtedlyjihe elder as an organised body , had , for certain reasons which were thought good at the time , so altered the ceremonies and deviated from the old customs of the Craft , that , according to their opponents of 1751 , they had forfeited their right to the title of "Ancient , " while they themselves , having preserved the traditional usages and ceremonies unaltered were the real Ancient Masons , and no doubt there was a

certain amount of truth in these allegations . As may be readily imigined , a strong and bitter rivalry existed between the two Societies for many years , promoted and fostered I regret to say chiefly by the leading Masons on both sides . In fact it was at first a struggle for absolute power and supremacy on the part of the Moderns— theolder and possibly more respectable community—and for existence as an organisation on the part of the Ancients , who were stigmatised by their rivals as

seceders , schismatics , rebels , and even still more offensive terms were applied to them on the principle , I suppose , of any stick being good enough to beat a dog with . For want of knowledge of the true circumstances , those epithets have been persistently applied to the Ancients by Masonic writers all over the world from about 1770 , until 10 years ago , when I had the temerity , or impud ; nce , as some considered it , to take upon myself the somewhat difficult task of trying to prove , with my pen , that the opprobrium which had been so freely showered upon them

had no justification whatever ; that on this particular subject Masonic historians were in error . I said then , and I say now , that there is not a p irticle of evidence i n existence to prove , or even indicate , that a single member of the lodges that formed their Grand Committee in 1751 had ever belonged to , or owned allegiance to , the Grand Lodge of 1717 ; that all the available evidence bearing on the subject is strongly opposed to the theory of secession , and if they had not seceded from the older body they could not have been either schismatics or rebels , and we had no right to apply those epithets to them .

I said also that they had a better right to the title of " Ancients" than those who had modernized the ceremonies and departed from the old customs ; that the term Ancient had no reference whatever to their age as a consolidated or governing body , but only to their customs and their mode of working , for they called themselves Ancients before they combined to form a Grand Lodge .

My opinions and evidence were published in 1 SS 7 in a small book , entitled ' Masonic Facts and Fictions , " wherein I stated that the greatest fiction in Freemasonry was the accepted version of the origin of the Ancient Grand Lod ge . As may be supposed the advent of this book created no small sensation

amongst the recognised historians of the Craft , and it naturally met with considerable opposition ; but it is greatly to their honour and most gratifying to me that I am able to announce that most of my former opponents have since acknowledged their belief in the new and somewhat startling theory I then propounded .

I will give you , in as few words as possible , the substance of that theory . It was that the brethren who formed the Ancient Grand Lodge were not English Masons at all , but chiefly Irish Masons , with Irish customs and ceremonies , or old English customs and ceremonies , for , no doubt , the working was identical , or nearly so , in both countries before the English Grand Lodge sanctioned innovations .

I will readily admit that there might have been a few old English and Scotch Masons amongst them , but the great majority of them were undoubtedl y Irish to the backbone . I tell you , brethren of the Robert Burns Lodge , that no matter what their nationality may have been , you have reason to be proud of your Masonic ancestors , for I am strongly of opinion that had it not been for the pluck and

perseverance of the " Irish swarm , " as the late Rev . Bro . Wtodford termed them , this grand old Order of ours would have sunk to a very insignificant position ' if it had not been "improved off the face of the earth" in the latter half of last century . Bro . Woodford , I may say , was one of the very few Masonic writers who accepted my theory as soon as it was published . Another eminent writer who strongly supported my views was Bro . George Blizard Abbott , whose opinions ate of great value , for probably no one has devoted more time and study to this question than he has .

This epoch in the history of Freemasonry has peculiar attractions for me , for 1 happen to be , like yourselves , of " Ancient descent , " my mother lodge having been constituted by the " Ancients" in 1 S 01 ; br . t I must not dwell too long upon it or 1 shall not have sufficient time to fulfil the- promise which is the purpose of my visit to-night . '

In the course of years the anger of these two rival societies became softened , "ley lound that neither of them could gain the mastery , and as they became netter acquainted they learned to respect each other , and , naturally so , for they were both animated by the same noble motive—the dissemination of the grand principles of Brotherly Love , Relief , and Truth . in th at

iav = K Y"' ?^ attempts direction , in the year 1809 active steps were tZt , 7 -. t Modcrns " t 0 br '" g about an union with those they had at first created with contempt and then with angry abuse and misrepresentation . It was " „! V" L ^ " '' 0 dEe had P assed thc folding resolution that the Pa ^ l ^ , r ^ J ' i Y » . ? eir , » r ? " : B' ^ n , I will ask you to pay pa ticular attention to the words of this

resolution , " That this Grand Lodge do longer tJ !" , ° " J "'' 1 the Committee of Charity , that it is not necessary any V « f , ™ f- - ° th ° - easures which were resorted to in , or aboil , the 0 rcvV 7 r . Y ? h '" '"' -Sul . ir Masons , and do theretore enjoin the several lodges SM r , ™ t rs , r , arksof ic esodei y ' " Here ™ havetw ° i-po ^ t thev were no , )¦ I ^ departed fro m the ancient landmarks , and secondly , theUiect and S ¦ '" " ' P " re had tak e" P »™ . Now had they studied thev wouM l , t ^ ° T , rCCOrds and documents as much as I have done I think ««« y would have been able to have placed the departure nearer 1730 than 1739 .

An Address To The Robert Burns Lodge No. 25.

Owing to the exertions of some of the more enlightened members' of both . Grand Lodges , an Union , on terms mutually honourable , was finally consummated in the year 1 S 13 , and this important event was ratified and confirmed with great " , rejoicing and much pomp and ceremony in our Grand Hall only a few yards 1 from where we are now assembled . Since this period our Society has been known ,

as the United Grand Lodge of Ancient , Free , and Accepted Misons of England . " Now , brethren , I think you all understand the meaning of the terms ' " Ancients " and " Moderns" as applied to the Masons of the oast , and if you are / not tired of my rather lengthy introduction , f will endeavour to make you acquiinted with a few facts relative to the foundation and early history of yoti ' rown lodge . , . : ' ,

In the year iSro there was held at the King's Arms , in High Holborn , 3 Lodge , No . 10 on the register of the Ancients . It is now No . 19 , theRoykl ' Athelstan Lodge . It was not customary with the Ancients to give names to theij :, ; lodges , neither was it usual with their Masonic parent , the Grand Lodge of Ireland , nor , indeed , in the early days of the Grand Lodge of England . Another peculiarity of the Ancients was the frequent revival of dormant warrants and . , numbers instead of issuing new ones , when the petitioners for a lodge were willing to pay to the fund of Charity a sum over and above the regulation fee the amo ' u ' nt

varying according to the position of the dormant lodge on . 'the register . , This ! also was a custom of their Irish Masonic ancestors and I believe is still in practice in Ireland , or was until recently . The Lodge No . 11 was then dormant , or existingonly on paper , as was also No . 16 . Some of the members of No . 10 , then a very ' .-numerous lodge , applied to the Grand Lodge for permission to revive No . 11 , this was not granted , but they were allowed to take the vacant No . 16 . However , " ' as I have brought the original petition with me and a letter on the subject from , your first Master those who like can presently read this portion of the lodge . history for themselves and I will go on with my story .

This lodge was duly constituted as No . 16 on the ioth July , 1810 . The . namrs of the founders were Donald MacCraw , Master ; James Mansfield , Senior Warden ; Henry Terry , Junior Warden ; and 12 others . Its first meeting , place was at the house of one of its members , the Queen's Head , Crown Court , Soho .. I have already intimated that originally the Ancients were of rather a lower social grade than the Moderns , but with regard to the founders of this'lodge tKey ' appear to have been a little above the average .

The first Master and Senior Warden were both law clerks , and the first Junior Warden was a banker ' s clerk ; the rest of the founders comprised two tailors , two shoemakers , a saddle tree maker , a saddler , a linendraper , a baker , a watchmaker , a coal merchant , a licensed victualler , and a labourer , the latter , being probably the Tyler . Now that is what I call a very representative gathering , and all from No . 10 . The first Master was evidently from " ovei ; the ; border , " and he would naturally bring others of his countrymen into the lodge .

In 1811 a Bro . James Ronalds joined from No . 10 , and was Master in 1812 . He must have been a person of good social standing and considerable Masonic attainments , as he was one of the nine distinguished Masons selected in 1 , 813 by his Grand Lodge to combine with an equal number of the " Moderns " to form the Lodge of Reconciliation , a special lodge created in conformity with-the Articles of Union to reconcile the ceremonial differences between the . Ancients and the Moderns , and to arrange an uniform system of work for the future . You may be sure that their task was by no means an easy one , but by mutual

concessions they seem to have got through fairly well , for the opening and closing of a lodge in the three degrees and the three ceremonies of initiation , pausing , and ' raising , as recommended by them , were rehearsed in our hall in 1816 , when they received the formal sanction of the United Grand Lodge . I believe that in thi-1 , 1 as in most other matters connected with the union , the Ancients had pretty much their own way . ,, . >' . ¦ , ,., ; . < ,-. They were a hard-headed lot , those Ancients . In 1812 the lodge migrated , to the Edinburgh Castle , in the Strand , but either the members or the landlords ' were rather hard to please in those days , for in 1814 we find the lodge located at the Hercules Pillars , in Great Queen-street . . . : ; ... ;

I don ' t suppose you all know this house as well as I do , but if you look straight across the road when you leave these premises you may see it still' stand- ing very much as it was then , but with the modern addition of a plate-glass front , and brilliant illuminations , and if you can picture to yourselves what it was like when glass was very expensive and gas had not come into general use , you will probably experience some little difficulty in believing that this lodge met there regularly for about five years . And this was not the only lodge that met in that house , for to my knowledge there were six others held there at different periods .

Some years ago I believe I was in the very room in which the lodges used to ' meet , but the house has been so much altered internally since then that it is difficult to recognise the room now , although from what I remember of it , it was a very different kind of room to what this lodge has been accustomed to tor some ' years past . .. ; -. > During the first 36 years of its existence the lodge had 12 different places of . meeting , the longest stay being at the King ' s Head , in Marylebone-street , where '

it remained 12 years . In 1846 it was removed to the Freemasons' Tavern , andi in 1865 to the then new building of Freemasons' Hall next door , where it haf remained ever since , so that for more than half a century its home lias been on the Grand Lodge premises . May I congratulate the lodge on that fact , and may I also express a hope that it may so continue to meet for many years to come , for , in my opinion , the old proverb about a rolling stone is applicable to lodges as well as to individuals . \

A word or two as to the number the lodge bears on the register of Grand Lodge . I have already told you that its original number was 16 , and it so continued until the Union in 1813 , when it was decided that the two senior lodges on the roll of each Grand Lodge should draw lots for priority . Here again fortune favoured the Ancients , for No . 1 of that body was the Grand ' Master ' s Lodge , constituted in 1759 , and named after a similar lodge constituted in Dublin in 1749 . No . 1 of the Moderns was a Time Immemorial lodge and one of the four old lodges that formed the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 .

The Grand Masters Lodge drew No . 1 , thus verifying the old saying , "there ' s ^ luck in odd numbers , " and the Lodge of Antiquity had , of course to take No . 2 . No . 2 , of the Ancients became No . 3 . No . 2 of the Moderns , another Time Immemorial Lodge , became No . 4 , and so on all through the list where practicable , but in consequence of certain old lodges being dormant they were not brought forward and hence No . 16 of the Ancients became No . 27 of the United Lodge .

The first renumbering of the lodges after the Union took place in 1832 ; meanwhile two lodges , Nos . 21 and 24 had been erased from the list bringing this lodge to No . 25 .

At present there is but one vacancy in the list prior to No . 25 , and I see no prospect of there being any more , so in all probability when the lodges are next renumbered this lodge will be No . 24 . ; Now as to the honoured name which this lodge bjars , I have before remarked that originally lodges had no distinctive titles , they were only known by

thc names or signs of the taverns at which they were held , for they had no numbers prior to the year 1729 , there not being sufficient lodges to require , numbering . Amongst the old lodges many of these names stilt survive , for instance , No . 4 , the Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge , formerly met in old Somerset House , No . 18 , the Old Dundee Lodge , met at the Dundee Arms , Wapping , No . 22 , the Neptune Lodge , met at the Neptune Tavern " , RotherhitheJ