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fact , and I will mow read the letter which I received from him upon that subject . " ( Hear , hear ; and cries of "No , no ! " ) [ The letter was dated December 13 , and his lordship after an apology
for not having sooner answered his letter , said that he was startled and annoyed very much at his name having been proposed without his haying first been consulted ; and that he knew nothing of the matter till the writer had informed him . Lord Southampton concluded by begging that a notification to this effect might be made to the Grand Secretary . ] Bro . Warren said : " Most worshipful Grand Master ,- —I feel that I have some
reason to complain of the way in which I have been treated on this subject . I am present to withdraw my nomination of Lord Southampton . ( Hear , hear , and ironical cheerings . ) I , too , have had a letter from Lord Southampton , couched in somewhat different terms , and written in a very different tone from that which has just been read to Grand Lodge . ( Hear , hear ! cheers , and cries of ' Head , read . ' ) I will read the letter . It is as follows : —
' Whittlebury , Towcester , Dec . 15 th , 1856 . ' Sir , — -I beg to apologize for not having sooner answered your letter of the 4 th December ; I sincerely regret to find that I have been put in nomination as a candidate for the office of Grand Master , without my sanction having been first obtained , more especially under existing circumstances . I feel much flattered by the very kind expressions which you make use of towards me , and by the very high compliment which you propose to pay me , but I must beg you , for the present , not to take any further steps in the matter . I am , Sir and Brother , faithfully yours , : ¦ , ' Southampton . '
"'On the receipt of that letter , of course I took no further steps in the matter . ( Hear , hear . ) Nor did I ever intend to go beyond simply withdrawing the name , if it was at all objected to ; and I may repeat now what I said when making the proposition , that it was out of no disrespect towards yourself . ( Oh , oh ; hear , hear and cheers . ) I say , it was out of no want of respect towards your lordship , but simply as a protest against the continual re-election of the same Brother as Grand Master ( hear ); because I am strongly convinced that an infusion of new blood , occasionally , is very desirable . ( Applause , and cries of
' Question , question . ' ) This is the question . " Bro . Dobie begged Grand Lodge not to allow this debate to go on , and expressed a hope that not a word of it would be recorded upon the minutes . He considered that it was a great insult to the respected nobleman whose name had been mentioned , that it should have been brought forward in the Grand Lodge of England in the way that it had been , He knew him too well to suppose for
one moment that he would give his consent to such proceedings . ( Ones of " Order , order , " and confusion . ) A Brother : " Most worshipful Sir , —I rise to order . A Brother was on his legs , apologizing . ( Oh , oh , and No , no . ) Well , at any rate , if he was not apologizing , he was withdrawing the name he had proposed , and what right has the Grand Begistrar to interrupt him in the way he has done ?'' ( Hear , hear , and cheers . )
Bro . Warren : " Had I been allowed to proceed I should have concluded long before this . What I wanted to say was , that it would add honour to the dais , and materially contribute to the usefulness of the Grand Officers , if they had the advantage of Fast Grand Masters to whom reference could be made in cases of difficulty . " ( Hear , hear , laughter , and cheers . ) Lord Panmure : " On these occasions , instead of smiling at what occurs , we
should consider whether we are not bringing Grand Lodge into discredit . ( Hear , hear . ) I am not one of those who would destroy the right of any Brother to name a fresh Grand Master , and to infuse , if it was thought right , fresh blood into Grand Lodge every year . The Grand Lodge of England differs from the Grand Lodge of Scotland in this essential particular . You have the power annually of re-electing a new Grand Master , if necessary ; whereas we , in Scotland , look upon our Grand Master as a kind of fixUxre . ( Hear , hear , and laughter . ) I do
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
™
fact , and I will mow read the letter which I received from him upon that subject . " ( Hear , hear ; and cries of "No , no ! " ) [ The letter was dated December 13 , and his lordship after an apology
for not having sooner answered his letter , said that he was startled and annoyed very much at his name having been proposed without his haying first been consulted ; and that he knew nothing of the matter till the writer had informed him . Lord Southampton concluded by begging that a notification to this effect might be made to the Grand Secretary . ] Bro . Warren said : " Most worshipful Grand Master ,- —I feel that I have some
reason to complain of the way in which I have been treated on this subject . I am present to withdraw my nomination of Lord Southampton . ( Hear , hear , and ironical cheerings . ) I , too , have had a letter from Lord Southampton , couched in somewhat different terms , and written in a very different tone from that which has just been read to Grand Lodge . ( Hear , hear ! cheers , and cries of ' Head , read . ' ) I will read the letter . It is as follows : —
' Whittlebury , Towcester , Dec . 15 th , 1856 . ' Sir , — -I beg to apologize for not having sooner answered your letter of the 4 th December ; I sincerely regret to find that I have been put in nomination as a candidate for the office of Grand Master , without my sanction having been first obtained , more especially under existing circumstances . I feel much flattered by the very kind expressions which you make use of towards me , and by the very high compliment which you propose to pay me , but I must beg you , for the present , not to take any further steps in the matter . I am , Sir and Brother , faithfully yours , : ¦ , ' Southampton . '
"'On the receipt of that letter , of course I took no further steps in the matter . ( Hear , hear . ) Nor did I ever intend to go beyond simply withdrawing the name , if it was at all objected to ; and I may repeat now what I said when making the proposition , that it was out of no disrespect towards yourself . ( Oh , oh ; hear , hear and cheers . ) I say , it was out of no want of respect towards your lordship , but simply as a protest against the continual re-election of the same Brother as Grand Master ( hear ); because I am strongly convinced that an infusion of new blood , occasionally , is very desirable . ( Applause , and cries of
' Question , question . ' ) This is the question . " Bro . Dobie begged Grand Lodge not to allow this debate to go on , and expressed a hope that not a word of it would be recorded upon the minutes . He considered that it was a great insult to the respected nobleman whose name had been mentioned , that it should have been brought forward in the Grand Lodge of England in the way that it had been , He knew him too well to suppose for
one moment that he would give his consent to such proceedings . ( Ones of " Order , order , " and confusion . ) A Brother : " Most worshipful Sir , —I rise to order . A Brother was on his legs , apologizing . ( Oh , oh , and No , no . ) Well , at any rate , if he was not apologizing , he was withdrawing the name he had proposed , and what right has the Grand Begistrar to interrupt him in the way he has done ?'' ( Hear , hear , and cheers . )
Bro . Warren : " Had I been allowed to proceed I should have concluded long before this . What I wanted to say was , that it would add honour to the dais , and materially contribute to the usefulness of the Grand Officers , if they had the advantage of Fast Grand Masters to whom reference could be made in cases of difficulty . " ( Hear , hear , laughter , and cheers . ) Lord Panmure : " On these occasions , instead of smiling at what occurs , we
should consider whether we are not bringing Grand Lodge into discredit . ( Hear , hear . ) I am not one of those who would destroy the right of any Brother to name a fresh Grand Master , and to infuse , if it was thought right , fresh blood into Grand Lodge every year . The Grand Lodge of England differs from the Grand Lodge of Scotland in this essential particular . You have the power annually of re-electing a new Grand Master , if necessary ; whereas we , in Scotland , look upon our Grand Master as a kind of fixUxre . ( Hear , hear , and laughter . ) I do