Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Grand Master And The "Masonic Observer."
THE GRAND MASTER AND THE "MASONIC OBSERVER . "
TO ftHE EDITOR OF THE ^ FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROE . Sir AND Brother , —No one can be more averse than I am to a paper warfare ; and without the least intention of permitting myself to be led into one on the present occasion , I cannot allow to pass unchallenged a letter in your impression of this week , bearing the signature of Bro . F . Binckes—not so much that it contains a charge which is personally offensive to myself ,
as that it lays before the Craft a disingenuous statement , which is calculated , if uncontradicted , to impose upon some of my Brethren . I do not propose ! to follow Bro . Binckes through the whole of his letter , though
were I so minded , I might take exception to many of his statements , and give probably a very different comply some of his history . I will not throw dust in the eyes of those whom I address ; I will use no big words , and call no hard names ; but will endeavour to expose in plain and practical language that which I iiink deserves exposure .
The facts—that in a publication called the Masonic Observer ajmarge hag been made against the M . W . Grand Master , of prostitutirig the appointments in Grand Lodge to political ; purposes— -that the Grand Master has indignantly refuted such ( marge- —and that Grand Lodge has repudiated itare so fresh in the recollection of the Brethren as scarcely to need recapitulation . Bro . Binckes , in his letter of to-day , in reference to that charge ,
speaks of it as an admitted mistake , " and says that it has been " handsomely acknowledged . " Although the Craft may be somewhat startled at the application of the term " mistake , " to the deliberate slander of any man ' s good name , yet if any credit whatever is to be given to statements from Bro . Binckes , some Brethren , at least , will be inclined to believe that there has been ( as alleged ) a handsome acknowledgment , and that the
offence has therefore been in some degree atoned for . Now , sir , when a man has committed a grave offence , the first , indeed the only thing left for him is , to acknowledge it ; and the more handsomely he does so , the more effectually he relieves himself and disarms resentment ; I should be the last man to refuse acceptance of such acknowledgment , or to expect to carry with me the opinions of my Brethren if I did so . It is because the
same disingenuous distortion of facts which characterizes the writings of Bro . Binckes and his patrons of the Masonic Observer is even more apparent than usual here , that I feel it my duty to expose and lay bare the worthlessness of his statements ; and in doing so to deny explicitly and distinctly that there has been any such acknowledgment as he describes . To your readers I submit myself ; they shall be the judges whether I am justified or not in this denial .
As far as I can learn ( and if I am wrong I am quite ready to be corrected ) the only notices in the way of admission or acknowledgment which have appeared upon the subject are to be found in two letters which have appeared in the Freemasons Magazine wad in a leading article in the Masonic Observer . In the former is , I presume , to be found the " admission , " in the latter the " handsome acknowledgment . " In an anonymous letter ,
dated 15 th September , the authorship of which Bro . Binckes now acknowledges , he describes the condemned article as " alike indefensible in tone and style , " he says not one word of its truth or falsehood , and he speaks of the slander as " an expression of indiscreet zeal ; " in his letter of to-day he calls it an admitted mistake" ( the italics are his , not mine ) . Leaving to ) the judgment of others whether common sense , to say nothing of Masonic 3 e 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Grand Master And The "Masonic Observer."
THE GRAND MASTER AND THE "MASONIC OBSERVER . "
TO ftHE EDITOR OF THE ^ FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROE . Sir AND Brother , —No one can be more averse than I am to a paper warfare ; and without the least intention of permitting myself to be led into one on the present occasion , I cannot allow to pass unchallenged a letter in your impression of this week , bearing the signature of Bro . F . Binckes—not so much that it contains a charge which is personally offensive to myself ,
as that it lays before the Craft a disingenuous statement , which is calculated , if uncontradicted , to impose upon some of my Brethren . I do not propose ! to follow Bro . Binckes through the whole of his letter , though
were I so minded , I might take exception to many of his statements , and give probably a very different comply some of his history . I will not throw dust in the eyes of those whom I address ; I will use no big words , and call no hard names ; but will endeavour to expose in plain and practical language that which I iiink deserves exposure .
The facts—that in a publication called the Masonic Observer ajmarge hag been made against the M . W . Grand Master , of prostitutirig the appointments in Grand Lodge to political ; purposes— -that the Grand Master has indignantly refuted such ( marge- —and that Grand Lodge has repudiated itare so fresh in the recollection of the Brethren as scarcely to need recapitulation . Bro . Binckes , in his letter of to-day , in reference to that charge ,
speaks of it as an admitted mistake , " and says that it has been " handsomely acknowledged . " Although the Craft may be somewhat startled at the application of the term " mistake , " to the deliberate slander of any man ' s good name , yet if any credit whatever is to be given to statements from Bro . Binckes , some Brethren , at least , will be inclined to believe that there has been ( as alleged ) a handsome acknowledgment , and that the
offence has therefore been in some degree atoned for . Now , sir , when a man has committed a grave offence , the first , indeed the only thing left for him is , to acknowledge it ; and the more handsomely he does so , the more effectually he relieves himself and disarms resentment ; I should be the last man to refuse acceptance of such acknowledgment , or to expect to carry with me the opinions of my Brethren if I did so . It is because the
same disingenuous distortion of facts which characterizes the writings of Bro . Binckes and his patrons of the Masonic Observer is even more apparent than usual here , that I feel it my duty to expose and lay bare the worthlessness of his statements ; and in doing so to deny explicitly and distinctly that there has been any such acknowledgment as he describes . To your readers I submit myself ; they shall be the judges whether I am justified or not in this denial .
As far as I can learn ( and if I am wrong I am quite ready to be corrected ) the only notices in the way of admission or acknowledgment which have appeared upon the subject are to be found in two letters which have appeared in the Freemasons Magazine wad in a leading article in the Masonic Observer . In the former is , I presume , to be found the " admission , " in the latter the " handsome acknowledgment . " In an anonymous letter ,
dated 15 th September , the authorship of which Bro . Binckes now acknowledges , he describes the condemned article as " alike indefensible in tone and style , " he says not one word of its truth or falsehood , and he speaks of the slander as " an expression of indiscreet zeal ; " in his letter of to-day he calls it an admitted mistake" ( the italics are his , not mine ) . Leaving to ) the judgment of others whether common sense , to say nothing of Masonic 3 e 2