Membership Of The Grand Lodge Of Scotland ; What It Is And What It Ought To Be.

whilst not a feAV of them are men who ought never to have been accepted and initiated in any lodge at all , and Avho would not have been so by a lodge properly careful of its OAVU respectability and of the reputation of the . order , —men ready to support by their votes those Avho were

willing to pay for them their Grand Lodge fees , to entertain them UOAV and then Avith a good supper , or to treat them to their perfect content Avith toddy . And it is a fact not to he denied that elections of officehearers have been carried in the Grand Lodge , and resolutions passed of wMch all good and worthy Masons have cause to be ashamed , by the votes of such men ,

mustered beforehand in a tavern , and coming to the Grand Lodge not for the purpose of deliberating , but simply of voting , —not to consult the interests of the Craft , but those of their liberal entertainers . To pack the Grand Lodge , men have been chosen from the loAvest ranks of society . It was not

necessary that they should be already Freemasons in order to be fixed upon as eligible . They could be made Masons in order to become immediatel y Proxy Masters or Proxy Wardens , and so to be members of the Grand Lodge . Masons neAvly made

were in many cases apparently selected in preference to those of longer standing . All that Avas requisite was that they should be ready to vote in a particular Avay in some particular case , or generally to give their votes according to the Avish of the person

who procured for them the honour of being made ^ members of the Grand Lodge . If , when sounded on the subject , they pleaded their ignorance and inability to determine for themselves how they should vote , they were told that nothing was more simple , — that they had only to keep then eye on

a particular brother , and hold up their hand , when he held up his . If , Avhen tempted by the proposal of so hi gh an honour as that of a place in the Grand Lodge ; they objected the difficulty of pay ing the fees ; , they were told that this need

not give' them any concern , as the fees Avould be yaid for them . ' The propGr . men being secured , it was only necessaiy to ascertain what lod ges were without representatives in the Grand Lodge , and to apply to each of them , through some appropriate channel , for the appointment of a certain brother as their Proxy Master , who , upon being appointed , dost no . time . in :

ap--I . pointing two Proxy Wardens . And thus Avas the Grand Lodge of Scotland packed with members Avho knew not and cared not hoAv it behoved them to act as Freemasons , and who could not behave themselves as gentlemen . To rescue the Grand Lodge from this

degradation , and from the domination of the ruling clique Avhich had degraded it , and Avhose poAver Avas due entirely to the ¦ success which bad unhappily attended their unmasonic and . dishonourable proceedingsbecame in the eyes of very many

, of the best and Avorfchiest of the Freemasons of Scotland an object of the highest importance ; but IIOAV to accomplish it by fair and honomable

meansand they could use no other— -it Avas not easy to determine . On considering the subject , however , they were led unhesitaing ly to refer the whole evil to the proxy system , the one peculiarity in which the constitution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland differs from that of other Grand

lodges . They could not observe without much pain the difference betAveen the Grand Lodge o £ Scotland and the Grand lodges of other parts of the world , —notably , for example , the Grand Lodge of England—in the character of its

meet-, ings and proceedings , and in the estimation in Avhich it is held throughout the country . They had no difficulty in assuring themselves that the great majority of the men whose presence in the Grand Lodge of Scotland stamped upon it . the

character which it unhappily bears were Proxy Masters and Proxy Wardens ; and they came to the conclusion that the only way in Avhich a thorough reform could be effected was by the abolition of the proxy system , and the restoration to the Grand Lodge of Avhat may be called its natural

constitution . They considered , further , that whilst the proxy system had utterly failed to serve the good purpose . wMch it was intended to serve , and had been ¦ abused to serve a purpose of the most opposite kind , the reason Avhich had led to

its adoption had ceased to have the force which it had in last century , or even at s much more recent date , through the greatly increased facility and speed , and the diminished expense , of travelling , —Freemasons from even the most distant parts of the country being now able , without much inconvenience , to attend from time to tim ®