Histo Ry Of The Emulation Lod Ge Of Improvement , No . 256.——(Continued).

History of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement , No . 256 . ——( Continued ) .

( By Bro . HENRY SADLER , Sub-Librarian to the Grand Ledge of England ) .

N' O doubt a certain amount of curiosity will naturally be felt as to the result of the complaint referred to by Bro . Fenn as having been made in 1819 " against Philip Broadfoot and others for working unauthorised Lectures . " As a matter of fact Gilkes' name does not appear in the records of the Board of General Purposes as one of the complainants on

that occasion . He had previously brought the matter before the Grand Lodge , but whether , in so doing , he made a specific charge against anyone does not appear . In the Grand Secretary ' s notes , or rough minutes of proceedings , at a Quarterly Communication on the 2 nd of June , 1819 , we find

the folloyving : " Bro . Gilkes addressed the Grand Lodge , and moved that a Committee be appointed to investigate the manner in yvhich the Lectures of Masonry are now worked . And the question being put thereon it passed in the negative . "

From another source we learn that had the foregoing motion been carried , Bro . Gilkes was prepared to move the folloyving : " That a neyv Lecture lately promulgated among the Craft be suspended till the decision of the Committee be reported . "

A £ a ^ ii a £ fL Si tUiJf ^*

SIR REUIXALD 1 IAXS 0 X , HAHT ., Jr . I ' ., PAST GRAXI ) yVARDKX , Chairman of Ihe Frvtiml in 1 SSH . The subject yvas brought before the Board of General Purposes on the 28 th of the same month , in the form of a < ' Complaint by Bros . J . Wheeler , Master of No . 3 ; J . H .

Goldsyvorthy , P . M . No . 3 ; W . Bellonie , Master of No . 349 ; J . G . Gochvin , Master of No . 499 ; and J . George , Master of No . 9 6 ; against Philip Broadfoot , of No . 3 81 , for presiding at various General Lodges of Instruction , and there working Lectures contrary to the stipulations of the Act of Union ,

they never having been in use in either branch of the Fraternity previous to the Union and not having received any sanction from the Grand Lodge , the Complainants therefore requested the Board to take such measures as they might think necessary to put a stop to such proceedings . " A similar complaint yvas reid at the same meeting from Bro . C . Kewley

of No . 301 , and others , against Broadfoot , Satterly , and McEvoy . Both complainants and defendants yvere all , more or less , celebrated as workers and lecturers in Masonry , several of the former being personal friends of Peter Gilkes , and two , Wheeler and Gochvin , being members of the Board , as yvas also one of the defendants , Bro . Thomas Satterly ,

of No . 308 . The parties yvere summoned to attend a Special Meeting of the Board on the 12 th of July , yvhen the case was carefully and judiciously considered , the result being reported to the Grand Lodge on the 1 st September , 1819 .

In the report of the Board the charges and allegations of the tyvo parties of complainants are treated as one complaint generally , and after reciting at length the charges made , the substance of which has already been given , the Board had passed the folloyving Resolution : —

" That the Board are of opinion that the charges stated in the said Memorials are not made out , although they must at the same time state their deliberate judgment that no Individuals have any right to make a neyv Lecture and promulgate the same to the Craft as authorized without

receiving the authority of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge for such Lecture , but they also feel that the Individuals complained of had no improper motives . They cannot but regret that any Brothers should have been induced to sign charges in regard to this matter yvho admitted they yvere not themselves present or ever heard the Lectures .

"Under all the circumstances yvhich have come to their knowledge , the Board are of opinion that the Lecture complained of should not be further promulgated in any General Lodge of Instruction at this time , and that the Grand Lodge be requested at the meeting in December to adopt measures in order to have Lectures established for the three Degrees

under the sanction of the Craft . " " On a motion duly made it yvas Resolved , That the Resolution of the last Grand Lodge relating to the appointment of a Committee to consider the Lectures renders' it unnecessary to adopt the present recommendation . of the Board of General Purposes . " It will thus

be seen that the Grand Lodge , having declined to appoint a Committee for investigation and also to adopt the report of the Board , had left the affair in statu I J ante bclluni . An effort yvas made , on the confirmation of the Minutes , at the next Quarterly Communication on the 1 st of December , to

rescind the resolution last quoted ; the minutes yvere , hoyvever , confirmed , and a solution of the difficulty was attempted by the Duke of Sussex .

" The M . W . Grand Master then addressed the Brethren on the subject of the Lectures ; yvhen he stated that it yvas his Opinion that so long as the Master of any Lodge observed exactly the Land-Marks of the Craft , he yvas at liberty to give the Lectures in the Language best suited to the Character of the Lodge over yvhich he presided . Thathoyveverno

, , Person yvas permitted to practise as an Itinerant Lecturer to other Lodges , yvhich was decidedly against the Rules and Regulations of the Craft . And that Bretliren of different Lodges convening themselves for the Purpose of a Lecture , without a regular Warrant or other Sanction from the Grand

Master , yvere likewise guilty of a Dereliction of their Duty towards the Grand Lodge ; and which , oi course , if known , yvould be noticed and proceeded against accordingly . But that any Master of a Lodge , on visiting another Lodge , and approving of the Lectures delivered then , in , is at Liberty to

promulgate the same from the Chair in his own Lodge , provided he has previously perfected himself in the Instructions of the Master in the aforesaid Lodge . "