Scotland.

ter in their conduct towards Companion Dr . G . A . W alker Arnott , Past GrandII . of Scotland , Provincial Grand Superintendent , and the Provincial Grand Chapter of the "Western District of Scotland , as shown by the following statement :

1 st . In the beginning of the current year , and while the Chapters of Ayrshire were subject to the jurisdiction of the Provincial Grand Superintendent and the Provincial Grand Chapter of the West of Scotland , a petition from certain Eoyal Arch Companions in Ayrshire was presented for the disjunction of the Province of Ayr from the "Western District o £

Scotland , and tlie erection of Ayrshire into . a Provincial Grand Chapter , the Supreme Committee on the third March last , Avithout informing the Provincial Grand Chapter of the West of the presentation of said petition recommended to the Supreme Chapter that the prayer o £ the petition should be

granted . Said petition ought at least to have been intimated to the Provincial Grand Chapter of the West and that Provincial Chapter heard in the question of disjunction . Farther , this recommendation was given without any proper inquiry whether the Chapters in Ayrshire wished such disjunction or not .

2 nd . On learning what had taken place in Supreme Chapter , a special meeting of the Provincial Grand Chapter of the "West was convened , ( Comp . Dr . W . Arnottbeingabsent from indisposition ) , at which meeting it was agreed : —First , to obtain from Grand Scribe , E . a copy of the petition for disjunction , and , second , to ascertain the opinions of the Principals of the

Ayrshire Chapters regarding the disjunction . In compliance with the above resolution , the Provincial Grand Scribe E . wrote to Comp . Mackersey , Grand Scribe E ., who declined giving a cop 3 of the petition without the permission of Grand Committee ; he also communicated with the first principals of the

Chapters in Ayrshire . From the replies , it appeared that two out of three Ayrshire Chapters were decidedly averse to disjunction , and that certain members only of Chapter No . SO were in its favour , tbe Third Principal of that Chapter giving , however , no reason , but referring to the petition itself , which petition the Provincial Grand Chapter had not yet seen .

3 rd . Ultimately , the Supreme Chapter at their meeting on the fifth of March last , remitted to Comp . Dr . "Walker Arnott , to report on said petition , as also what he would recommend to be done in the circumstances . Comp . Dr . "Walker Arnott consulted with Provincial Grand Chapter , and from the opinions which had been obtained from the several Chapters

w the "West , the Provincial Grand Chapter resolved to oppose the prayer of the petition . 4 th . Comp . Dr . "Walker Arnott , as the Companion to whom the petition had been remitted to report on , and also as Provincial Grand Superintendent , resolved to examine the books of Chapter No . 80 , in order to

obtain such information as would enable him to return to Supreme Chapter a faithful and correct report . Not having spare time to go to Ayr personally he gave authorit y to the Provincial Grand Scribe E . to proceed there , obtain the books of Chapter No . 80 , and bring tbem to Glasgow , which was done without objection at the time . Sth . Immediately after the books of Chapter No .

80 were delivered up , a petition and complaint was presented by the Second and Third Principalsin name of that chapter against the Provincial Grand Chapter and Dr . Walker Arnott , in which petition , amongst much intemperate language , and charges which are untrue , it is stated inter alia , "That the petioners have been subjected to insultin

, - convenience , and injiuy , by the arbitrary way in which , ou the evening of Saturday last , in absence of their First Principal , and without a moment ' s notice ,, their minute and cash books were pounced upon and removed from the custody of their Second-Principal by the Provincial Grand Scribe E .,

ostensibly acting under orders of the Provincial Grand . Superintendent . " That the petitioners have yet to learn that the Supreme Chapter laws sanction or authorise the " seizure of the books of any subordinate chapter in the manner here complained of . " The portions of the petition were found relevant by the

Supreme Grand Chapter . In that petition , and in a . subsequent minute for the petitioners , the following expressions occur : — " That the petitioners believe that their presuming to petition the Supreme Grand ' Chapter anent the disjunction of Ayrshire from the"Western district has something to do with the strange

conduct of the Provincial Grand Chapter towards them . If such arbitrary powers as those claimed by Dr . Arnott be conceded , there is no security that the concession of these exorbitant claims to Glasgow , and which , if not checked in the bud , may lead to the endeavour , however wild and unconstitutional , to place the supreme power itself into the hands of Dr . Arnott and other ambitious companions , now ruling in the " Western metropolis . " "Inregard to the

extraordinary paragraph of Dr . Arnott's letter , the petitioners cannot do otherwise than designate it as a base and ingenuous attempt to still further injure their reputation as a Eoyal Arch Chapter . " " Dr . Arnott asserts : that the other chapters are averse to the disjunction . There may be forcible reasons for Chapter No . 18 desiring to remain under the shelter of Dr . Arnott ' s

wing . Further , your petitioners beg to say , that from the illegal and unconstitutional way in which Dr . Arnott has conducted himself towards Chapter No . 80 , aud towards the petitioners individually , and also in putting forth claims to supreme and absolute power over subordinate chapters , quite inconsistent with the

position as the proxy or representative of the Grand Principal , they cannot come to any other conclusion than that Dr . Arnott has disqualified himself from , holding the post of Provincial Grand Superintendent ,, and is likewise utterly incompetent of framing an impartial report upon the jietition for the disjunction ol

Ayrshire from Glasgow . Finally , the petitioners are sure that if it be Dr . Arnott's intention , by browbeating them , or branding them as defrauders and unprincipled persons , to disgust or persecute them into secession from the Supreme Grand Chapter , hecould not have taken a more effective mode to further

that purpose than the course he appears to have sketched for himself . Secession , even were that the only way of getting rid of Dr . Arnott ' s tyranny , would be an act deeply to be deplored . But such an event is not likely to occur . " Gth . The language used in these passages concerning the Provincial Grand Chapter and Comp . Dr . Walker Arnott were such as ought to have been made the subject of severe censure , seeing that they