Grand Lodge.

things , one must be true ; if the censure rests upon tho Grand Registrar , and if he is _ guilty of what he is charged with , ho is no longer worthy of his office . But if it does not rest on him , it rests on those who , through the length and breadth of the land , have circulated a . calumny upon him . ( Cheers ) . With regard to this charge , I meet it boldly and openly ; our opponents have now fixed upon a . - special charge . We accept the issue raised by Bro . Whitmore , and supported bBro . Binekesand tho verdict of Graud Lodwe

y , upon ge will stand or fall . If it bo true , then are we not fit to hold our office one moment longer . If it bo not true , I call upon Grand Lodge to relieve us from the reproach attempted to be cast on us . It is not sufficient to meet the motion by a mere negative ; you are bound to shew yourselves the custodians of the honour of your brethren—the honour of one is tho honour of all—and if your chief officer be guilty of tho offence with which he is charged , he is no longer worthy to he your officer . In a paper published this day , I am called by tho mover ot" this resolution the arch of discord

" -apostle . " ( Laughter ) . I see by the smiles of Graud Lodge that my brethren take that charge as I do , whence it comes . My lord , tho Craft is utterly tired of those intestine quarrels so detrimental to the harmony aud best interests of Freemasonry . ( Hear , hoar ) . On the part of those brethren who act with me , I do in all sincerity assure those who have hitherto so strongly opposed us , that wo tire labouring only to put down discord ; that upon the slightest semblance of a fair disposition on their part we will be ready to meet them more than half Let this

way . charge be disposed of , and then in Heaven ' s name I say , 2 efc by-gones be by-gone , and let us work together for the good of the Craft , aud not for party purposes . ( Cheers ) . Bro ., the Rev . J . R . Portal , said that what they had to decide was , whether or not Bro . Roxburgh had summoned a party meeting at his chambers . ( No , no ) . The whole thing turned on what was party . It was quite clear , from the evidence , that the questions had been very fairly discussed , but who were tho persons present ? If it was called on private invitationand not by public advertisement ,

, than it was a packed meeting , and it was impossible that a Board of General Pur poses selected by it could have the confidence of the brethren . Bro . Warren had not intended to have addressed one word ' to Grand Lodge on the subject , nor would lie have clone so , had not his name been more than once alluded to m the course of the discussion . It certainly appeared to him somewhat extraordinary that Bro . Biuckes should principally rest the defence of the motion then before them upon a letter of his which was not written until some days after the notice of otion had been

m given—so that the notice could not have been founded upon his letter which was written to contradict the garbled report previously published of the proceedings at the meeting at Bro . Roxburgh ' s . It was true that thc meeting did take place-that no one attempted to contradict—but the statements originally published with respect to it were not true . He admitted that he was present at the meeting , and he was not ashamed having attended it , or of thc part ho had taken . He hat ! used his influence to place on the list oi candidates the of the Masters of

names two Lodges-perhaps not so well known to other brethren who attended tho meeting as to himself—one of those Lodges containing upwards of one hundred members , and tho other something like one hundred and fifty . He did not know whether they could call that a party movement , he certainl y did not . It did appear rather strange to hear some brethren talk about party arrangements , and denounce the meeting of brethren to prepare a nst of candidates for the Board of General Purposes , the more especially the rev . brother who had and

just spoken , no one could have less right to complain upon the sublet than that brother , unless indeed he had forgotten that himself and a noble carl had , a year or two since , met a Grand Officer and arranged a list for tho hoard , in which his ( Bro . Warren ' s ) name was carefully excluded , because he was not sufficiently a party man either for the one side or the other . Bro . S ; uvbridge , as a young Mason , deprecated these intestine divisions , which , it allowed to go on , would uproot the principles of the Order . He would support the amendment because he did not seo a tittle of evidence brought forward hi support of the charge . Bro , Binekes having briefly replied ,