Grand Lodge.

on at the termination of the business of the evening , puts Grand Lodge in thi .-position—that it has to proceed with the election of the Board of General Purposes , while there is oii tho notice paper a charge against tho Grand Registrar of organizing a party movement to insure the election of certain brethren as members of that Board . But whether the notice be or be not a breach of privilege , it is evident to me that the election of tho Board cannot bo satisfactorily disposed ot" until this charge is met , and either substantiated by Bro . Whitmore , or repudiated by Grand Lodge . I now call on Bro . Whitmore to proceed . L ' ro . Biuckes rose to address Grand Lodge . The M . W . Grand Master : —I called on Bro . Whitmore .

Bro . George Barrett : —Bro . Whitmore is not now present . He will bo here , later in the evening , when the motion may come on in regular order . Bro . Binekas then said , that a previous engagement occasioned thc absence of Bro . Whitmore ; but if he were in order , he would endeavour ou his behtilf to bring forward the motion . First of all he would comment on the admission of Bro . Roxburgh , that if the facts were correctly stated , he was not any longer fit to hold his present office . He ( Bro . Biuckes ) would not have used language so strong as thatnor did the wording of the motion justify it . ( Ohoh !) Bro . Roxburgh too had

, , circulated with the agenda paper a printed slip , in which he denounced the motion as a scandalous attack upon himself . No brother had , he conceived , the right so to circulate any private notice of his own . But to come to the facts of this astounding case ( Oh , oh !) first he would call attention to the terms of the motion . It merely said— " That the Grand Lodge was desirous of expressing its regret [ he would ask them to mark that word ] that the Grand Registrar should consider it consistent with his duty to the Craft , of which he is the authorized legal advisor ,

to organize n party movement for the purpose of securing tho election of certain brethren as members of tho Board of General Purposes . " Bro . Roxburgh said he considered that to be a , scandalous attack upon himself , but in the name of Bro . Whitmore he protested against such language , and he was there to justify every expression used in the motion , which was as mild —( laughter)—as was consistent with the facts of the case . Bro . Jennings , G . U . C ., requested Bro . Biuckes to address the Grand Master . Bro . Binekes said he had already made obeisance to the M , W . Grand Master , and denied that he had ever shown a want of proper respect to tho throne . AU that ( fraud Lodge was now asked to do was , to express its regret that one of the Grand

Officers had taken a certain course , it was a mere matter « C teste , of good taste or bad taste , they were called to decide upon . It might be asked if an independent member of Grand Lodge wore to be debarred from exercising his right and privilege to take counsel with whom he pleased on matters relating to the Craft . Abstractedly , he would say , no ; but there were two Graud Olfieers—the Grand Registrar and Grand Secretary—who consistently with good taste ought not to take any such course . Tho motion spoke of organizing ; t party movement , - but if in the nineteenth century they wore amenable to common sensetltoy ht

, oug to call things by their proper names . If Bro . Roxburgh railed a meeting which did meet at his offices to arrango a list of brethren for election to the Board of General Purposes whose names would be unobjectionable to the Craft , he ( Bro . Binekes ) would call that a party movement . Was that done , or was it not done ? Was it good taste , or was it bad taste ? To show that it had been done , he would read a letterfrom one who was present at the meeting , Bro . Warren , the editor of the Freemasons' Ma . ' jar . ine , who , with that candour , openness , and manliness , which him said

always distinguished , ' ' It is true that there was a meeting at Bro . Roxburgh ' s , aud it is true I was present , [ he would ask them to mark those two lines]—but it is not true that Bro . Roxburgh stated he had called the meeting , either at tho request of . Bro . Havers , or of any other brother ; neither is it true that the meeting deputed to Bros , Roxburgh and Havers the proparing of a list of candidates for the Board of General Purposes . Tho meeting nominated a list of . sixteen or seventeen candidates , certainly , leaving it to Bro . Roxburgh to reduce it to fourteen , so that there should not bo any particular predominating interest upon it ( whilst the law will not allow two to serve from the same Lodge ) [ beautifully and parenthetically put ] , and there never was