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Article COHKESPONBENCE. ← Page 8 of 13 →
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Cohkesponbence.
For your satisfaction I enclose you such a copy of . that instrument , as I have been able to * obtain , which , from information , I believe is deficient in nothing but the titles of the R . W . grand officers , which were unfortunately omitted in copying , as , at the time it was copied , it was intended merely to satisfy the minds of such Brethren as were desirous - of ascertaining what power was granted to our late
Bro . Jarvis hy that instrument . You will perceive this warrant was granted by the Duke of A . thol , 7 th March , 1792 , at which time there were , I believe , two or three Grand Lodges existing in England , acting entirely independent of each other ; since which an union has been effected between the said Grand Lodges , and all Masons in England are now united under the government of the "United Grand Lodge of England . "
Having never received a communication from the Grand Lodge of England since the union , what information we have received upon the subject is unofficial . Yet we have reason to suppose that the Grand Lodge , under whose authority this Grand Warrant was granted , was included in the " Union , " and of course that such power as was granted in that instrument will be recognized . It appears that our late Prov . Grand Master was empowered to grant dispensations for the holding of Lodges , " * and to continue in force for the space of twelve calendar months and no longer . " Whether that ' power has been exceeded , must be left to the decision of the present Grand Lodge of England .
When the Convention was first called , we were not aware of this circumstance , or of the degree of power vested in our late Prov . Grand Master ; but upon obtaining a copy of the warrant , we were convinced that whatever power was granted , died with our Grand Master , and our attention was immediately turned to the most proper means to be used for obtaining legal power to hold a Grand
Lodge , and the result of our deliberations at our several meetings has been communicated to you , not doubting that our communications would be attended to , and that we should , if irregular in our proceedings , be informed of our errors and corrected ; but until the receipt of Bro . Laughton ' s letter , we were utterly in the dark respecting the fate of our communications .
As to our Lodge continuing working under the assumed power of the Convention , we can only say , that such a course was deemed essential , as at its commencement Masonry was at an extremely low ebb , and it was deemed , from the peculiar situation of the Craft , expedient to continue working , in order to raise our Lodges to a respectable footing , not only by the admission of worthy members , hut by excluding unworthy , and trusting that the Grand Lodge of England would sanction our proceedings .
And our exertions have thus fur been successful , our Lodges are rapidly rising in respectability , and Masonry is beginning here to assume that rank which its pure principles merit ; and this change we must attribute to the exertions of the Convention , although under such embarrassing circumstances in relation to our communications directed to you as Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England .
We have constant and regular communications with several Grand Lodges and Chapters , and , with the exception of not gaining the object of our application to the Grand Lodge of England , all our measures have the desired effect . It may be necessary to observe , that for many years an unfortunate schism lias prevailed between the Brethren of York and Niagara , the details of which I do not deem necessary to relate . I will merely state that , since some time previous to the death of our late Prov . Grand Master , this schism has continued ; and I am informed that the Brethren of Niagara , have pretended to hold a Grand L < xb > o ,
without any authority whatever , the Grand Warrant ( which wc humbly conceive gave power to our late . Prov . ( " { rand Master Jarvia only , and could not bo transferred ) being in possession of our late Prov . Grand . "Master Jarvis , or his heirs . But recently the ({ rand Warrant was obtained from one of his heirs , und upon getting that into their possession they have proceeded to elect grand officers , mid hold a Grand Lodge , founding their authority it is presumed upon the old Gnmd Warrant , although I understand that subsequently they have sent a delegate to the Grand Lod # e of England , for what purpose I know not . We have not the least wish to impute thoir proceedings to improper motives , but we must think
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Cohkesponbence.
For your satisfaction I enclose you such a copy of . that instrument , as I have been able to * obtain , which , from information , I believe is deficient in nothing but the titles of the R . W . grand officers , which were unfortunately omitted in copying , as , at the time it was copied , it was intended merely to satisfy the minds of such Brethren as were desirous - of ascertaining what power was granted to our late
Bro . Jarvis hy that instrument . You will perceive this warrant was granted by the Duke of A . thol , 7 th March , 1792 , at which time there were , I believe , two or three Grand Lodges existing in England , acting entirely independent of each other ; since which an union has been effected between the said Grand Lodges , and all Masons in England are now united under the government of the "United Grand Lodge of England . "
Having never received a communication from the Grand Lodge of England since the union , what information we have received upon the subject is unofficial . Yet we have reason to suppose that the Grand Lodge , under whose authority this Grand Warrant was granted , was included in the " Union , " and of course that such power as was granted in that instrument will be recognized . It appears that our late Prov . Grand Master was empowered to grant dispensations for the holding of Lodges , " * and to continue in force for the space of twelve calendar months and no longer . " Whether that ' power has been exceeded , must be left to the decision of the present Grand Lodge of England .
When the Convention was first called , we were not aware of this circumstance , or of the degree of power vested in our late Prov . Grand Master ; but upon obtaining a copy of the warrant , we were convinced that whatever power was granted , died with our Grand Master , and our attention was immediately turned to the most proper means to be used for obtaining legal power to hold a Grand
Lodge , and the result of our deliberations at our several meetings has been communicated to you , not doubting that our communications would be attended to , and that we should , if irregular in our proceedings , be informed of our errors and corrected ; but until the receipt of Bro . Laughton ' s letter , we were utterly in the dark respecting the fate of our communications .
As to our Lodge continuing working under the assumed power of the Convention , we can only say , that such a course was deemed essential , as at its commencement Masonry was at an extremely low ebb , and it was deemed , from the peculiar situation of the Craft , expedient to continue working , in order to raise our Lodges to a respectable footing , not only by the admission of worthy members , hut by excluding unworthy , and trusting that the Grand Lodge of England would sanction our proceedings .
And our exertions have thus fur been successful , our Lodges are rapidly rising in respectability , and Masonry is beginning here to assume that rank which its pure principles merit ; and this change we must attribute to the exertions of the Convention , although under such embarrassing circumstances in relation to our communications directed to you as Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England .
We have constant and regular communications with several Grand Lodges and Chapters , and , with the exception of not gaining the object of our application to the Grand Lodge of England , all our measures have the desired effect . It may be necessary to observe , that for many years an unfortunate schism lias prevailed between the Brethren of York and Niagara , the details of which I do not deem necessary to relate . I will merely state that , since some time previous to the death of our late Prov . Grand Master , this schism has continued ; and I am informed that the Brethren of Niagara , have pretended to hold a Grand L < xb > o ,
without any authority whatever , the Grand Warrant ( which wc humbly conceive gave power to our late . Prov . ( " { rand Master Jarvia only , and could not bo transferred ) being in possession of our late Prov . Grand . "Master Jarvis , or his heirs . But recently the ({ rand Warrant was obtained from one of his heirs , und upon getting that into their possession they have proceeded to elect grand officers , mid hold a Grand Lodge , founding their authority it is presumed upon the old Gnmd Warrant , although I understand that subsequently they have sent a delegate to the Grand Lod # e of England , for what purpose I know not . We have not the least wish to impute thoir proceedings to improper motives , but we must think