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Article THE CANADIAN MOVEMENT. ← Page 6 of 11 →
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The Canadian Movement.
elation of self-evicfentwrongs breathes its gentle breath across the broad Atlantic . They were compelled at last , unwillingly , to realize that all foreign hope was ended , and that the future of their Masonic happiness must depend upon themselves . Thus situated , forty-one Lodges , holding warrants of constitution under the authority of the Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland , after circulating notice of their intention for several months , assembled at Hamilton , on the 10 th day of October , 1855 , severed all foreign connection , and constituted themselves a Grand Lodge for Canada .
" The wrongs and grievances to which I refer have been sometimes denied , and the representations of these forty-one Lodges have been cavilled at by enmity and hawked at by ignorance ; but an earlier justification has already come than the new Grand Lodge could have anticipated , and its own truth is sustained even from the mouths of its opponents . On the 23 rd day of October last , the body of Canadian Masons which styles itself ^ The Provincial Grand Lodge of Eree and
Accepted Masons of Canada West , under the United Grand Lodge of England , which body still achioivledges and adheres to its foreign allegiance , memorialized the Grand Lodge of England upon its position / and in that memorial has set forth substantially the existence of the same grievances which had been previously set forth , and which , having been treated with scorn and contempt in the quarter to which they were addressed , had forced the forty-one Lodges to their independent action of October 10 , 1855 .
" Had the forty-one Lodges of Canada postponed their action and continued to bear oppression longer , subsequent events have shown that ' scorpions' were doomed to succeed the ' whips / and that while they remained within the portal of foreign jurisdiction , they must leave all hope upon the outside . At the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of England , on the 4 th of June , 1856 , when a petition from Canada West was alluded to by a member upon the floor , which petition had been presented to the Grand Master , and notice had been given
of a motion by Bro . Portal , for granting privileges to the Prov . Grand Lodge of Canada "West , ' the Grand Master announced , even before the motion wees brought forward , that he should ' refuse putting it from the chair . ' He went on to remark that 'the Grand Lodge had nothing to do with the petition / and added , ' that he was perfectly justified in ignoring it . ' He refused also to read a part of the petition .
" Upon this practice the Grand Lodge of England is a myth , having no substantial entity whatever ; or , if it has any appreciable existence , it is but as the shadoiv of the Most Worshipful Earl of Zetland . I know not how these occurrences may strike the minds of the Brethren of this Grand Lodge ; but I am compelled to admit that no intellectual chemistry can find anything in my own conceptions which has the least affinity for them . A Grand Master quite as many years as any other living Brother on this side of the Atlantic , and—so far as I
know—on the other , I have a right to believe that the Masonic world will give me credit for having no disposition to restrict the legitimate prerogatives of that exalted station ; but when the Brother thus situated , and thus responsible to the Masonic world at large , assumes an entire personal control over petitions , gratuitously refuses to put motions growing naturally out of them , even before they are offered , and withholds from his Grand Lodge the contents of papers in which that
body is interested , I can see only in those acts simple , unmitigated , unalloyed despotism . It is receding to the age of darkness and of iron . Masonry is too intelligent and enlightened to sanction it- If the Grand Lodge of England yields to it , she has arrived at the hour when the rising sun of her East should be transferred to represent the setting sun of her West , and in that changed , position it will most appropriately emblematize her declining Masonic glory .
"Lam not ready to say , and I by no means intend to say , that neglect and oppression by a Grand Lodge of her subordinates , will in all , or in a majority of cases , justify revolutionary measures . I design always to distinguish between that which is justifiably right and that which is obviousty wrong . And I think that , in most cases which arise , there is usually a well-marked lino of distinction , which a well-informed and dispassionate man will experience no great difficulty in finding . I think , for instance , that I can perceive a yevy plain difference in the relations-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Canadian Movement.
elation of self-evicfentwrongs breathes its gentle breath across the broad Atlantic . They were compelled at last , unwillingly , to realize that all foreign hope was ended , and that the future of their Masonic happiness must depend upon themselves . Thus situated , forty-one Lodges , holding warrants of constitution under the authority of the Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland , after circulating notice of their intention for several months , assembled at Hamilton , on the 10 th day of October , 1855 , severed all foreign connection , and constituted themselves a Grand Lodge for Canada .
" The wrongs and grievances to which I refer have been sometimes denied , and the representations of these forty-one Lodges have been cavilled at by enmity and hawked at by ignorance ; but an earlier justification has already come than the new Grand Lodge could have anticipated , and its own truth is sustained even from the mouths of its opponents . On the 23 rd day of October last , the body of Canadian Masons which styles itself ^ The Provincial Grand Lodge of Eree and
Accepted Masons of Canada West , under the United Grand Lodge of England , which body still achioivledges and adheres to its foreign allegiance , memorialized the Grand Lodge of England upon its position / and in that memorial has set forth substantially the existence of the same grievances which had been previously set forth , and which , having been treated with scorn and contempt in the quarter to which they were addressed , had forced the forty-one Lodges to their independent action of October 10 , 1855 .
" Had the forty-one Lodges of Canada postponed their action and continued to bear oppression longer , subsequent events have shown that ' scorpions' were doomed to succeed the ' whips / and that while they remained within the portal of foreign jurisdiction , they must leave all hope upon the outside . At the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of England , on the 4 th of June , 1856 , when a petition from Canada West was alluded to by a member upon the floor , which petition had been presented to the Grand Master , and notice had been given
of a motion by Bro . Portal , for granting privileges to the Prov . Grand Lodge of Canada "West , ' the Grand Master announced , even before the motion wees brought forward , that he should ' refuse putting it from the chair . ' He went on to remark that 'the Grand Lodge had nothing to do with the petition / and added , ' that he was perfectly justified in ignoring it . ' He refused also to read a part of the petition .
" Upon this practice the Grand Lodge of England is a myth , having no substantial entity whatever ; or , if it has any appreciable existence , it is but as the shadoiv of the Most Worshipful Earl of Zetland . I know not how these occurrences may strike the minds of the Brethren of this Grand Lodge ; but I am compelled to admit that no intellectual chemistry can find anything in my own conceptions which has the least affinity for them . A Grand Master quite as many years as any other living Brother on this side of the Atlantic , and—so far as I
know—on the other , I have a right to believe that the Masonic world will give me credit for having no disposition to restrict the legitimate prerogatives of that exalted station ; but when the Brother thus situated , and thus responsible to the Masonic world at large , assumes an entire personal control over petitions , gratuitously refuses to put motions growing naturally out of them , even before they are offered , and withholds from his Grand Lodge the contents of papers in which that
body is interested , I can see only in those acts simple , unmitigated , unalloyed despotism . It is receding to the age of darkness and of iron . Masonry is too intelligent and enlightened to sanction it- If the Grand Lodge of England yields to it , she has arrived at the hour when the rising sun of her East should be transferred to represent the setting sun of her West , and in that changed , position it will most appropriately emblematize her declining Masonic glory .
"Lam not ready to say , and I by no means intend to say , that neglect and oppression by a Grand Lodge of her subordinates , will in all , or in a majority of cases , justify revolutionary measures . I design always to distinguish between that which is justifiably right and that which is obviousty wrong . And I think that , in most cases which arise , there is usually a well-marked lino of distinction , which a well-informed and dispassionate man will experience no great difficulty in finding . I think , for instance , that I can perceive a yevy plain difference in the relations-