A Memorable Year In English Masonry.

A MEMORABLE YEAR IN ENGLISH MASONRY .

There are few institutions , as there are few nations , in whose history there are no bright particular epochs at which there occurred events that have exercised a beneficial and enduring influence over their subsequent fortunes , and certainly our Freemasonry is no exception to the rule . Just as for instance the Englishman looks back with pride to the year 1215 , when Magna Charta was signed by John , as marking the inauguration of his boasted liberties , to 1603 as strengthening British interests by the union of the English and Scottish

crowns ; and to 1757 as the commencement of our supremacy over the vast and densely-populated peninsula of Hindostan ; so does the English Freemason call to mind with the liveliest feelings of satisfaction the events of the year 1717 , when the Four Old Lodges met together and elected one Anthony Sayer , gentleman , as Grand Master of England ; the year 1790 , Avhen , for the first time in the annals of our Crafta Princewho was heir-apparent to the thronewas

, , , chosen to preside over its destinies ; or 1813 , when the dissensions which had prevailed in our midst for some three-quarters of a century Avere put an end to , and the union of the rival Grand Lodges of England was so happily consummated—never , let us hope , again to be disturbed . It is to this last mentioned year , though not alone to the event I have just referred to , to which I am about to draw the attention of my readers .

There is no single year throughout the whole history of Speculative Freemasonry into which are crowded so many interesting ' events as 1813 . Taking these events in the order of their occurrence , I find that on the 27 th January , a magnificent fete was held at Freemasons' Hall for the purpose of doing honour to one of the most distinguished men and Masons that ever wore the insignia of our order . I allude to the Earl of Moira , who had filled the high office of Acting Grand Master during the whole of the Grand Mastership of

George , Prince of Wales , and who , being on the eve of leaving England , in order to take up the Governor-Generalship of India , was under the necessit y of resigning his office . More than thirty years previously his lordship had won distinction as a military commander during the war of American Independence . He had subsequently served in Flanders under H . R . H . the Duke of York , and had likewise rendered important service to his sovereign as an hereditary member of the British Legislature . How admirablhe justified

y his selection for the arduous office of British Viceroy of India is a- matter of history that needs no comment here ; but it may not be so generally known that Lord Moira , if he did not take the initiative in the fortunately successful attempt to bring about the union of the Regular and Atholl Grand Lodges , was one of its earliest and most ardent promoters . To the Duke of Sussex and Kent belongs the chief honour of having contributed to bring about the

union , but the labours in the same direction of the Earl of Moira place him almost on a level with Their Royal Highnesses . Be this as it may it ivas his lordship ' s first care to exert all his influence in removin g such prejudices as had previously existed ; and he it was who , on the 21 st July , 1810 , presided at the first of the united committees of the two Grand Lodges appointed to consider the terms of reconciliation—the Athol brethren being his lordship ' s

guests on the occasion . No wonder then that , when he was on the point of leaving for India , the opportunity should be taken by the chiefs of his OAVU Grand Lodge to indicate in some especially pronounced way their sense of his eminent services to the cause of Universal Masonry . Hence this banquet at which , in the absence of the Grand Master the Prince Regent , his brother and and Deputy , the Duke of Sussex , presided . The Earl of Moira had the place of honour to the right of the chair , and among those present were Their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of York , Clarence , Kent , Cumberland , and Gloucester ,