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Article THE HA SONIC II URGE ← Page 3 of 7 →
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The Ha Sonic Ii Urge
conceptions . I did not say— - " That the province of Canada West cannot now command more than a dozen linea "— but that this important province , & c . "meaning Canada . There is no Grand Lodge of Canada West . 6 th . I have not severed myself from Canada West . On the contrary , I never
was s 6 ; closely connected with it as at this moment—and such is the gratifying confidence reposed in me and my motives , that deputed to arrange for the union of the Craft onthe part of the Antient Grand Lodge of Cauafla , and hawe reason to believe that my appointment has given satisfaction to the fraternity generally .
7 th . Mercenary motives have never been imputed to the Grand Lodge of England in its dealings with Canadian Brethren . I state that " money" and " obedience" have been the principal results derived from their connection therewith , but it was well known that I alluded to the indifference that communications met with at the hands of the executive ( your own office , I should say ) , unless they contained remittances .
8 th . I am not ignorant of the generosity of English [ Freemasons , or ofthe establishmentof their magnificent charities , their maintenance , & c . You are not better informed on i ^ e suhject than we are on this side of the Atlantic , and yet I must take the liberty of reiterating that the colonies are taxed twofold . They transmit funds to you , and send no distress to the old country , although much reaches them . When we speak of " England" here , we mean the IJnitedKin 9 th . Nothing that has been written can be properly tortured into , f < the
Brotherhood in England being held up to reprobation as being actuated by selfish motives , " as your letter states . But allow us to look on the other side of the picture , and toask youif the M . W . Grand Master instructed you to write , and to convey emphasis by underlining your words , " that , looking to the gross ; total of all moneys received from CanadaWest by the Grand Lodge of England ^ the amount is so inconsiderable as not to deserve notice , and it would not be difficult to name many Loiidon Lodges , the contributioiis of any one of which to Grand Lodge and its charities , during the last ten years only , would very much exceed the total receipts
from all the Lodges in Canada West from the period of their formation to the present . moment . ,, ' You must have lost sight of the emigration from the old country to these shores , and , I beg to state , from personal knowledge and experience , that the necessitous Brethren hailing from England have been pretty equal in number to those from other portions of the empire . If you will be so good as to refer to the M . W . Grand Master's letter of March , 1857 , you will there see that the reduction of fees was one of his proposed concessions , and I only alluded at ali to money matters in justice to the Canadian fraternity , who have attached little or no importance thereto when asserting their claim to self-government .
Finally , I can feel no such regret as you hint at , because I have " not hazarded any rash and ungenerous assertions calculated , not alone to mislead my Canadian Brethren , but to wound the feelings and impugn the liberality of the Brethren in England . " I would do neither , if I could , and it is a comfort to me to be able to announce that I have received the thanks of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec since my resignation , accompanied by a most fraternal . letter from my successor in that district , and that , however we may differ at present , my honest motives are appreciated . — 0
Rest assured , Y . W . Sir and Brother , that the Canadian Craft will have a lasting and sincere affection for their mother Grand Lodges , and that we hope and will strive to be on terms of the most close and satisfactory communion with them ; but we are not blinded to the present condition of affairs at the fountain head . True and reliable information reaches us in the same way that it does the English provinces at home ; and it is impossible to disguise the plain fact , that although we have been in theory governed by the Grand Lodge of England—practically we have been under the immediate control of the M . W . Grand Master and a small
body of London Brethren . Depend upon It that the English Freemasons have no more attached friends than the Canadian Craft ; but the latter are the true judges of the cause of their past disabilities and of their present and future practical wants and requisite remedies , and they are too numerous ancl ( I write advisedly ) intellectual a body to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ha Sonic Ii Urge
conceptions . I did not say— - " That the province of Canada West cannot now command more than a dozen linea "— but that this important province , & c . "meaning Canada . There is no Grand Lodge of Canada West . 6 th . I have not severed myself from Canada West . On the contrary , I never
was s 6 ; closely connected with it as at this moment—and such is the gratifying confidence reposed in me and my motives , that deputed to arrange for the union of the Craft onthe part of the Antient Grand Lodge of Cauafla , and hawe reason to believe that my appointment has given satisfaction to the fraternity generally .
7 th . Mercenary motives have never been imputed to the Grand Lodge of England in its dealings with Canadian Brethren . I state that " money" and " obedience" have been the principal results derived from their connection therewith , but it was well known that I alluded to the indifference that communications met with at the hands of the executive ( your own office , I should say ) , unless they contained remittances .
8 th . I am not ignorant of the generosity of English [ Freemasons , or ofthe establishmentof their magnificent charities , their maintenance , & c . You are not better informed on i ^ e suhject than we are on this side of the Atlantic , and yet I must take the liberty of reiterating that the colonies are taxed twofold . They transmit funds to you , and send no distress to the old country , although much reaches them . When we speak of " England" here , we mean the IJnitedKin 9 th . Nothing that has been written can be properly tortured into , f < the
Brotherhood in England being held up to reprobation as being actuated by selfish motives , " as your letter states . But allow us to look on the other side of the picture , and toask youif the M . W . Grand Master instructed you to write , and to convey emphasis by underlining your words , " that , looking to the gross ; total of all moneys received from CanadaWest by the Grand Lodge of England ^ the amount is so inconsiderable as not to deserve notice , and it would not be difficult to name many Loiidon Lodges , the contributioiis of any one of which to Grand Lodge and its charities , during the last ten years only , would very much exceed the total receipts
from all the Lodges in Canada West from the period of their formation to the present . moment . ,, ' You must have lost sight of the emigration from the old country to these shores , and , I beg to state , from personal knowledge and experience , that the necessitous Brethren hailing from England have been pretty equal in number to those from other portions of the empire . If you will be so good as to refer to the M . W . Grand Master's letter of March , 1857 , you will there see that the reduction of fees was one of his proposed concessions , and I only alluded at ali to money matters in justice to the Canadian fraternity , who have attached little or no importance thereto when asserting their claim to self-government .
Finally , I can feel no such regret as you hint at , because I have " not hazarded any rash and ungenerous assertions calculated , not alone to mislead my Canadian Brethren , but to wound the feelings and impugn the liberality of the Brethren in England . " I would do neither , if I could , and it is a comfort to me to be able to announce that I have received the thanks of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec since my resignation , accompanied by a most fraternal . letter from my successor in that district , and that , however we may differ at present , my honest motives are appreciated . — 0
Rest assured , Y . W . Sir and Brother , that the Canadian Craft will have a lasting and sincere affection for their mother Grand Lodges , and that we hope and will strive to be on terms of the most close and satisfactory communion with them ; but we are not blinded to the present condition of affairs at the fountain head . True and reliable information reaches us in the same way that it does the English provinces at home ; and it is impossible to disguise the plain fact , that although we have been in theory governed by the Grand Lodge of England—practically we have been under the immediate control of the M . W . Grand Master and a small
body of London Brethren . Depend upon It that the English Freemasons have no more attached friends than the Canadian Craft ; but the latter are the true judges of the cause of their past disabilities and of their present and future practical wants and requisite remedies , and they are too numerous ancl ( I write advisedly ) intellectual a body to