The Threatened Secession From The Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter Of Scotland.—No. Iv.

not solely , been carried on by , and under the patronage of , " the principal supporters " in Ayr of the Glasgow schism . And as to the " irregularities " harped at by the Committee as having been committed by the Past Principal of No . 18 ,

without attempting- to justify them , we give it as our opinion that they were of much less magnitude than those of which the Provincial Grand Chapter have so recently been convicted ; and we have heard hinted by no very uninflnential

members of Grand Chapter that a searching and impartial inquiry into the sub-rosa and other acts of the Ex-Provincial Grand Chapter , ancl certain individual members of it , may yet reveal the motives suggesting the dislike with which the

defunct Provincial Grand Chapter viewed the direct communication with Supreme Grand Chapter which Major Thornton and the other Office-bearers ancl members of No . 80 have opened up , and which resulted in the breaking up of the Western

District . To prevent the disjunction prayed for , not a stone was left unturned—the most opprobrious epithets were showered upon the petitioners

m favour of tne disjunction—and the gift oi prophecy pressed into the service by the Provincial Grand Chapter party . The oracle consulted in this particular case was no less a personage than the Eirst Principal of Chapter No . 18 , ancl the

prediction uttered by him was in the following terms : — "Knowing the parties , I am informed head this application , I am well assured if Ayr were erected into a separate province , these parties would be free from control , and would no

doiibfc promote ( as they ha-ve done hitherto ) squabbles , which do not tend to dignify Masonry . " How far this prediction of Companion William Pollock has had any application to the

conduct of the petitioners for disjunction subsequent events have shown . At the present moment the parties who opposed the disjunction are to be found ranked on the side of intimidation and rebellion , while those who were the jiroinoters

of that step remain firm in their allegiance to the Supreme Chapter . Let our English brethren judge as to which of the contending parties are , by their conduct , most likely to "dignify Masonry . "

On the resignation of Dr . Arnott , " your Committee hesitate not to affirm , and that without fear of contradiction , " that the late Provincial Grand Z . "has done more than any other Companion connected with Supreme Chapter for upholding

the laws , correcting abuses where they existed , ancl acting up to the true spirit ancl for the good of Royal Arch Masomy ; " and they " sympathize with him in the causes which led to his resignation . " So do we . There can be but one opinion

in regard to the amount ancl value of the services which , up to the 29 th of March last . Dr . Arnott had rendered to the Order ; and these have , at various times and in clivers ways , been acknowledged by Supreme Chapter . But , while indorsing

all that can be said in favour of the worthy doctor's past services , we demur to the dogmatism that , because of these eminent services , he is to be allowed to e ? ajoy an immunity in marring the symmetry and destroying the n ; sefulhess of that

fabric of Royal Arch Jurisprudence which he and others have clone so much to erect . It is , indeed , to be regretted that , in the evening of a bright Masonic career , the late Provincial Grand Superintendent should have been induced to lend his

powerfully-active influence in support of a line of policy so subversive of the liberties of Subordinate Chapters and of the constitutions of the Order , as that pursued by the Office-bearers of the ex-Provincial Grand Chapter of the western district ;

ancl it says much for the wisdom ancl impartiality of Supreme Chapter that the recollection of no past services , however brilliant , was permitted to interfere between them and the vindication of the

** Laws by which all have agreed to be governed . " We admired the sentiments enunciated by Lord James Murray , in reply to the objection offered by Dr . Arnott to the legality of Graud Chapter having entertained the petition and complaint

which had been preferred against his acts by No . 80—and when the doctor argued against the disjunction , because of the " wealth" and . " respectability" of the Chapter ( No . 18 ) opposing it . " I beg to inform Dr . Arnott ( said his lordship )

that so long as I am honoured to hold the office of Eirst Grand Principal of Scotland , the most humble Chapter , or the most humble Companion of the Order , shall have , by petition , the freest access to Supreme Chapter ; ancl all grievances ,

coining from whatever quarter , shall command the fullest consideration , and be decided upon by the most liberal and constitutional interpretation of the laws of Order . . . I approve entirely of the way in which . Grand Committee have disposed of the

jietition and complaint now appealed against . That short speech , and the decisions following hard upon its delivery , must have fallen on the