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Article THE MASONIC MIE10E ← Page 4 of 13 →
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The Masonic Mie10e
( Hear , hear . ) The position of the Lodges at Launceston having been as I have stated it , I submit they were not entitled to recommend any Brother for such an appointment as that of ProvrG \ M . until they had themselves been registered . But , my lord , admitting that they were entitled to make such a recommendation , it appears to me somewhat singular—I shall say nothing of Brother Ewing ' s position . —but it does appear to me strange , that if he held ¦ ¦ the distinguished rank
which be is represented to have held by the I ) epu ± y _ Grand Master , having been five tinies master of his Lodge , at Launceston—it does appear to me unaccountable that the members of No . 901 should / so late as November 1855 , send all the way from Launceston to Hobart Town for information , while they had this Brother amongst them whom they regarded , so much for his Masonic knowledge and position that they were prepared to recommend him , at the earliest possible opportunity—aye , within six months—to be their Prov . G . M . ( Hear , hear . )
I should have thought that if Brother Ewing is a Brother of such distinction and ability as he is represented to be , that the Launceston Lodge would have gone to him for advice , instead of sending 100 miles to Hobart Town for the inform ^ ation they required , ( Hear , hear . ) In the next place , we are told by the D . G . M . that if any brother had an objection to the appointment of the Pro v . G . M ., his only appeal could be to the M . W . G . M . That , my lord , I am , of course , prepared to admit . 3 STo one will deny that the appeal was to you , Most Worshipful
Grand Master , and to you alone . And what , my lord- —what is the course taken by the Hobart Town Brethren ? Why they do make an appeal they make it to the M / VV . GM ; ; and they make it within one month after receiving the information , that Bro . Ewing had been appointed to the office ., of Prov . G . M ., ~—their Lodge , the oldest in the province , never having been consulted , and their first knowledge of the steps which had been taken at Launceston to secure the office for Bro . Ewing being obtained only with the announcement that the
appointment had been made . Bro . Ewing knows of this appeal to the M . W . G . M ., and at once takes upon himself , before the appeal could have come to London , to suspend the Lodge entirely . ( Hear , hear . ) I do not deny—I do not even wish to contradict in any way—the assertion of the D . G . M . that when once the patent was granted , Bro . Ewing entered immediately upon his authority , and that Bro . Toby and others were bound to make the returns asked for . But looking at the position of the Hobart Town Lodge which , on a previous occasion , had got
into difficulties through a Prov . G . officer of whom they knew nothing , and being then informed by Bro . White , the then Grand Secretary ; that they might in future communicate directly with Grand Lodge , I do think , that under all the circumstances , the Lodge ought not to have been hastily suspended ; and , at least , Bro . Ewing might have waited until the result of the appeal to the M . W . G . M . could be known in the colony . That the Hobart Town Brethren were wrong in not making the returns , I admit ; but what would have been their
position had they done so ? They might have made the returns , kept away from the Prov . Grand Lodge , and no one would then have denied that they were acting legally . But let us hear the R . W . D . G . M . on the subject of the suspension . He says— ' Bro . Ewing , by the advice of the Prov . Grand Lodge , under whose advice he has all along acted , proceeded , not hastily , but deliberately , for these misunderstandings had continued from March to May , to suspend Lodge No . 781 / Now , I maintain that the suspension was hasty—that it was carried out without that due deliberation which ought to have characterized so important a step ; for , at the very moment of the suspension , the Prov . Grand Lodge , under whose r . dvice the Prov . G . M . is stated to have all along acted , had been exactly seventeen days in existence . ( Hear . ) Moreover , not a single communication had passed between the Lodge and this Prov . Grand Lodge , from the moment it was
constituted till its suspension . I-am not denying , however , that there had been communication between the Prov . G . M . and the Hobart Town Brethren previously . ( Some of the Brethren here manifested signs of impatience . ) I have a right—and I shall al ways maintain that right , so long as I hold a position in Grand Lodge—to state independently my opinions , whether the Brethren agree with me or not . ( Applause . ) I claim for myself that right of expressing my opinions which I freely accord to every other Brother , whatever his position ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Masonic Mie10e
( Hear , hear . ) The position of the Lodges at Launceston having been as I have stated it , I submit they were not entitled to recommend any Brother for such an appointment as that of ProvrG \ M . until they had themselves been registered . But , my lord , admitting that they were entitled to make such a recommendation , it appears to me somewhat singular—I shall say nothing of Brother Ewing ' s position . —but it does appear to me strange , that if he held ¦ ¦ the distinguished rank
which be is represented to have held by the I ) epu ± y _ Grand Master , having been five tinies master of his Lodge , at Launceston—it does appear to me unaccountable that the members of No . 901 should / so late as November 1855 , send all the way from Launceston to Hobart Town for information , while they had this Brother amongst them whom they regarded , so much for his Masonic knowledge and position that they were prepared to recommend him , at the earliest possible opportunity—aye , within six months—to be their Prov . G . M . ( Hear , hear . )
I should have thought that if Brother Ewing is a Brother of such distinction and ability as he is represented to be , that the Launceston Lodge would have gone to him for advice , instead of sending 100 miles to Hobart Town for the inform ^ ation they required , ( Hear , hear . ) In the next place , we are told by the D . G . M . that if any brother had an objection to the appointment of the Pro v . G . M ., his only appeal could be to the M . W . G . M . That , my lord , I am , of course , prepared to admit . 3 STo one will deny that the appeal was to you , Most Worshipful
Grand Master , and to you alone . And what , my lord- —what is the course taken by the Hobart Town Brethren ? Why they do make an appeal they make it to the M / VV . GM ; ; and they make it within one month after receiving the information , that Bro . Ewing had been appointed to the office ., of Prov . G . M ., ~—their Lodge , the oldest in the province , never having been consulted , and their first knowledge of the steps which had been taken at Launceston to secure the office for Bro . Ewing being obtained only with the announcement that the
appointment had been made . Bro . Ewing knows of this appeal to the M . W . G . M ., and at once takes upon himself , before the appeal could have come to London , to suspend the Lodge entirely . ( Hear , hear . ) I do not deny—I do not even wish to contradict in any way—the assertion of the D . G . M . that when once the patent was granted , Bro . Ewing entered immediately upon his authority , and that Bro . Toby and others were bound to make the returns asked for . But looking at the position of the Hobart Town Lodge which , on a previous occasion , had got
into difficulties through a Prov . G . officer of whom they knew nothing , and being then informed by Bro . White , the then Grand Secretary ; that they might in future communicate directly with Grand Lodge , I do think , that under all the circumstances , the Lodge ought not to have been hastily suspended ; and , at least , Bro . Ewing might have waited until the result of the appeal to the M . W . G . M . could be known in the colony . That the Hobart Town Brethren were wrong in not making the returns , I admit ; but what would have been their
position had they done so ? They might have made the returns , kept away from the Prov . Grand Lodge , and no one would then have denied that they were acting legally . But let us hear the R . W . D . G . M . on the subject of the suspension . He says— ' Bro . Ewing , by the advice of the Prov . Grand Lodge , under whose advice he has all along acted , proceeded , not hastily , but deliberately , for these misunderstandings had continued from March to May , to suspend Lodge No . 781 / Now , I maintain that the suspension was hasty—that it was carried out without that due deliberation which ought to have characterized so important a step ; for , at the very moment of the suspension , the Prov . Grand Lodge , under whose r . dvice the Prov . G . M . is stated to have all along acted , had been exactly seventeen days in existence . ( Hear . ) Moreover , not a single communication had passed between the Lodge and this Prov . Grand Lodge , from the moment it was
constituted till its suspension . I-am not denying , however , that there had been communication between the Prov . G . M . and the Hobart Town Brethren previously . ( Some of the Brethren here manifested signs of impatience . ) I have a right—and I shall al ways maintain that right , so long as I hold a position in Grand Lodge—to state independently my opinions , whether the Brethren agree with me or not . ( Applause . ) I claim for myself that right of expressing my opinions which I freely accord to every other Brother , whatever his position ,