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Article THE HA SONIC II URGE ← Page 4 of 7 →
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The Ha Sonic Ii Urge
be turned from what they consider their true Masonic course of conduct , by hard words and official assertions ^^ and the M . W . Grand Master is more lik ely to perpetuate disunion than to banish discord , by instructing the Grand Secretary to adopt the extraordinary tone of your last letter . We ^ cannot point to a better pre - cedent for the establishment of a Canadian Grand Lodge , than the present Grand
Lodge of England , its organization in 1717 , and the historical facts appertaining to that period . No one in Canada can possibly intend or imagine disrespect to the Earl of Zetland personally ¦; . most certainly I could not , who am indebted to him for having once filled a high and very responsible Masonic office . I beg to remain , Y . W . Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , ( Signed ) T . Douglas Harington ' , Past Prov . G . Master , & c .
P . S . —I find that I have neglected to notice the reason you offer for Sir Allan MaciSTab ' s so-called removal from office . If you will have the goodness to recall the circumstances to your mind , you will remember that he had no opportunity , after reaching England , of tendering his formal resignation to the M . W . Grand Master , as your letter of removal , being in readiness , was put into his hands at the
first interview you had with him . Presuming that your last letter will be laid before Grand Lodge for general information , I have no doubt that you will acknowledge the propriety of treating this , my reply , in the same open way , as positive charges are brought against us . It will be my duty to place the communications beforethe Brethren here , as all former ones have been . —T . D . H .
w . Gray Clarke , Esq . Freemasons * Jlcdl , London , August 12 tfA , 1858 . R . W . Sir and Brother , —I have received and laid before the M . W . Grand Master , your letter dated the IOth July . It does not appear that any advantage
can be gained by prolonging this correspondence . In my iormer communications , I have confined myself to simple statements of facts . I have no doubt those facts are startling , and I am not surprised that they should be unpalatable ; but you must bear in mind that they were evoked by the charge of selfishness preferred by you against the Grand Lodge of England , and that such charge could only be met by a plain and straightforward statement of the truth .
There are one or two errors in your present letter which I am directed to correct ; but it would be neither profitable nor becoming to notice other portions of it , which contain gratuitous assumptions quite unfounded , and imputations of motives which might as well have been omitted . Having corrected the errors to which I refer , I think that—unless you are prepared to disprove the statements which , injustice to the Grand Lodge over which he has the honour to preside , the M . W . Grand Master felt it his duty to direct me to make , or until you have any new or beneficial communication to make—it is better that this correspondence should here cease .
In reference to your second paragraph , I have to ohserve that the Grand Master has never , as you allege , propounded the doctrine " that when documents were addressed to him , Grand Lodge had " nothing to do with them . " The Grand Master has only said , in reference to a particular memorial , that when a petition is addressed to him , requesting him to do that which is within his own prerogative and privilege , that he , and not the Grand Lodge , is the judge of it .
As regards paragraph 4 , I am perfectly aware that the letter of the Grand Master of March , 1857 * is published . The complaint , which I stated as having been made to me is , that it was not published until after the proceedings ofthe September following , and that it , therefore , was not , and could not he , generally hnown until after the decision was come to . As regards paragraph 6 , I did not mean to imply that you have severed yourself from Canada West . My remark was , that you had severed your connection with the Grand Lodge of England .
In reference to your 7 th paragraph . If your letters do not hear out the imputation of mercenary motives against the Grand Lodge , and if the publication of isuch letters is not calculated to wound the feelings of Brethren here , and hold up the Craft in England to reprobation , then there is no longer meaning in words .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ha Sonic Ii Urge
be turned from what they consider their true Masonic course of conduct , by hard words and official assertions ^^ and the M . W . Grand Master is more lik ely to perpetuate disunion than to banish discord , by instructing the Grand Secretary to adopt the extraordinary tone of your last letter . We ^ cannot point to a better pre - cedent for the establishment of a Canadian Grand Lodge , than the present Grand
Lodge of England , its organization in 1717 , and the historical facts appertaining to that period . No one in Canada can possibly intend or imagine disrespect to the Earl of Zetland personally ¦; . most certainly I could not , who am indebted to him for having once filled a high and very responsible Masonic office . I beg to remain , Y . W . Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , ( Signed ) T . Douglas Harington ' , Past Prov . G . Master , & c .
P . S . —I find that I have neglected to notice the reason you offer for Sir Allan MaciSTab ' s so-called removal from office . If you will have the goodness to recall the circumstances to your mind , you will remember that he had no opportunity , after reaching England , of tendering his formal resignation to the M . W . Grand Master , as your letter of removal , being in readiness , was put into his hands at the
first interview you had with him . Presuming that your last letter will be laid before Grand Lodge for general information , I have no doubt that you will acknowledge the propriety of treating this , my reply , in the same open way , as positive charges are brought against us . It will be my duty to place the communications beforethe Brethren here , as all former ones have been . —T . D . H .
w . Gray Clarke , Esq . Freemasons * Jlcdl , London , August 12 tfA , 1858 . R . W . Sir and Brother , —I have received and laid before the M . W . Grand Master , your letter dated the IOth July . It does not appear that any advantage
can be gained by prolonging this correspondence . In my iormer communications , I have confined myself to simple statements of facts . I have no doubt those facts are startling , and I am not surprised that they should be unpalatable ; but you must bear in mind that they were evoked by the charge of selfishness preferred by you against the Grand Lodge of England , and that such charge could only be met by a plain and straightforward statement of the truth .
There are one or two errors in your present letter which I am directed to correct ; but it would be neither profitable nor becoming to notice other portions of it , which contain gratuitous assumptions quite unfounded , and imputations of motives which might as well have been omitted . Having corrected the errors to which I refer , I think that—unless you are prepared to disprove the statements which , injustice to the Grand Lodge over which he has the honour to preside , the M . W . Grand Master felt it his duty to direct me to make , or until you have any new or beneficial communication to make—it is better that this correspondence should here cease .
In reference to your second paragraph , I have to ohserve that the Grand Master has never , as you allege , propounded the doctrine " that when documents were addressed to him , Grand Lodge had " nothing to do with them . " The Grand Master has only said , in reference to a particular memorial , that when a petition is addressed to him , requesting him to do that which is within his own prerogative and privilege , that he , and not the Grand Lodge , is the judge of it .
As regards paragraph 4 , I am perfectly aware that the letter of the Grand Master of March , 1857 * is published . The complaint , which I stated as having been made to me is , that it was not published until after the proceedings ofthe September following , and that it , therefore , was not , and could not he , generally hnown until after the decision was come to . As regards paragraph 6 , I did not mean to imply that you have severed yourself from Canada West . My remark was , that you had severed your connection with the Grand Lodge of England .
In reference to your 7 th paragraph . If your letters do not hear out the imputation of mercenary motives against the Grand Lodge , and if the publication of isuch letters is not calculated to wound the feelings of Brethren here , and hold up the Craft in England to reprobation , then there is no longer meaning in words .