The Rights Of Visitors And Masonic Trials.

of Freemasonry , and the warrant of any lodge so offending shall be suspended or cancelled , and the offending members thereof punished at the discretion of the Grand Lodge . " There can , therefore , be no doubt as to the correctness of the course pursued by Lodge Fidelity ;

and Ave repeat that we are astonished the Board of General Pm-poses should have thought it necessary to require any explanations on the subject .

We are not now going to inquire into the proceedings at Masonic trials in private-lodges , as they are foreign , we hold , to the British Constitutions , AAdiich have provided tribunals , to decide on Masonic complaints and grievances , to which

visitors are not admitted ; but Avhere some previous inquiry may be necessary in private lodges , before appealing to those tribunals , Ave hold that visitors should not be admitted , and that such is the general jDractice throughout the Avorld . We are aware that

the late Grand Master , theDuke of Sussex , used the expression quoted by the Grand Registrar , that a Mason ' sLodge is a Mason ' s Church , and that Grand Loclge has decided that visitors have a right to be present at all ceremonies or puhlic business of a

lodge ; but that cannot give the right to visitors to be present during the discussion of purely private topics ; and , on this point , Dr . Oliver , seeing the difficulty of too rigid a carrying' out of the dictum that " a Mason ' s Lodge is a Mason ' s Church , " says : —

" "When any business of a private nature , such as a discussion on the state of the funds , or any other topic which cannot be interestiug to a stranger , occupies the attention of the brethren , due notice having been given to every member , it would be indelicate to iuvite visitors to he present , as the financial affairs of the loclge might be in such a state of disarrangement

and confusion as it would be undesirable to communicate to any AVIIO were not members , and who , consequently , could feel no interest in the proceedings . And , therefore , in some lodges the by-laws are imperative on this point , ' and direct that no subject oi local importance to the loclge ought to be discussed iu the presence of visitors . Wlieu , therefore , such discussions are unavoidable , visitors may be courteously requested to withdraw . "

Mackey , m treating on Masonic trials , says : —¦ " 6 . —It is a general aud excellent rule that no visitors shall be permitted to be present during a trial , " At a meeting of the Grand Lodgo of South

Carolina , in 1857 , an appeal Avas brought forward from Bro . G ., to be reinstated by the Grand Lodge , one of his grounds of appeal being : —

" 4 . —Because , as required in Masonic trials , visitors instead of being excluded , were allowed to he present . " On which the Committee of Grand Lodge reported thus . — " The fourth ground of the appeal is also sustained .

The record of the minutes of the lodge prove the fact that at the communication of February 18 , 1856 , at which Bro . G . was expelled , one visitor was present . " And this decision was come to in accordance with a rule laid doAvn in 1856 : —¦

" 5 . — No visitors shall be admitted on such occasions . " The same view has been taken by the Grand Lod ges of Canada , of New Tork , of Kentucky ,

aud many others , the rule being , as Mackey says , "invariably" that visitors shall not be present at Masonic trials ; and we think it would have been more consistent with the dignity of Grand Lodge to have upheld the decision of the Provincial

Grand Master for Quebec to the same effect , rather than that the practice of lodges under the English Constitution should be placed on a footius : different to all the rest of the Avorld , especially on a point on which no

precise law , under our Constitution , exists ; and Avhen it should evidently be the policy of Grand Lodge , as far as possible , to discountenance Masonic trials in private lodges .

On the subject of Masonic trials in general , and the one at Quebec in particular , we shall have something to say at a future time , —hoping , however , that the Grand Registrar will review his opinion prior to the next Grand Lodge , as he may rest assured that such a decision as that just arrived at Avill do much to weaken Masonic

authority in the colonies , and tend to increase the desire of the brethren for independent government , under rules more consistent Avith those of the Grand Lodges , with the members of Avhich they come into more frequent communication than

they do Avith those of England . We will only add that Ave consider there was good reason Avhy Bro . Stebbing's motion for an adjournment of the consideration of the appeal should have been adopted , in the fact that no

notice had been giA ^ en of what motion Avould be submitted Avith reference to it ; and the members of Grand Lodge were , with , very few exceptions , altogether in ignorance of the nature of the appeal until actually brought before them , and of the law and practice on Avhich they were called upon to decide .