Have Our Grand Lodges All Been Legally Organised?

instance the Grand Lodges of New York , Massachusetts , Pennsylvania , Virginia , the Carolinas and Georgia ; and first we will begin with New York . As early as 1747 , under the Grand Mastership of Lord Byron , Preston informs us , provincial patents were issued for Pennsylvania and New York , in America . Previous to this there was Masonic lodges extant in New York ;

but , in this year , the first provincial appointment was made , and it was renewed by Lord Carysfort in 1753 , George Harrison being the brother in whose person , as Provincial Grand Master , the renewal had place . In 1781 a warrant was granted by what is known to-day as Lawrence Dermott ' s Grand Lodge , of Avhich at that time John , third duke of Athol , was Grand Masterto open a

, Provincial Grand Lodge in the city of New York , apparently for the benefit at the solicitation of the British troops and residents then in thatcity ; for , at the organisation of the body , which under this warrant took place on the 5 th of December , 1782 , the representatives of six regimental lodges , and three lodges of civilians , only were present .

On th 10 th of September , 1783 , the British troops evacuated New York ; but , before they did so , or on the 3 rd of September , it was decided that the warrant unde authority of which this Provincial Grand Lodge had been organised , " should remain in the tise of such brethren as " may hereafter be appointed to succeed the present grand officers , the most of whom , upon the

removal of his Majesty ' s troops , being necessitated to leave New York . " Of the original officers , that is those who were the officers on the 3 rd of September , 1783 , but one William Cock , remained , and from being secretary at that time , he was immediately elected Grand Master , and installed . On the 4 th of February following , he also resigned , and Robert R . Livingston , who held the office subsequently for sixteen years , was then elected .

By a clause in the warrant it was provided that " the said R . W . William Walter , J . S . Browning , John Beardsley , and all their successors , grand officers of the said Prov . Grand Lodge , do continually pay due respect to the R . W . Grand Lodge by whom this warrant is granted , otherwise this warrant of Constitution shall be of no force nor virtue . " And yet , it having seemed

necessary that the form ofthe warrant by which in 1787 the Grand Lodge of New York was chartering lodges should be changed , a committee of nine brethren , who were appointed to consider that matter , did on the 6 th of June of that year , report as follows : — " That the Grand Lodge of this State is established according to the ancient and universal usages of Masonry

, upon a constitution formed by the representatives of regular lodges , convened under a legal warrant from the Grand Lodge of England , dated the 5 th day of September , 1781 , the most noble Prince John the Third , Duke of Athol , being the then Grand Master . And your Committee further beg leave to report , that , in their opinion , nothing is necessary or essential in the future

proceedings of this Grand Lodge , upon the subject matter referred to them , but that a committee be appointed to prepare a draft of the style of warrants to be hereafter granted by this Grand Lodge , conformable to the said constitution . "

This report was adopted , and another form of warrant was prepared ; although how it could conform to a constitution adopted in 1781 , or at least under the Avarrant of that year , is beyond our comprehension . Not until 1823 , when the first division of the Grand Lodge of New York took place , and it was divided into a city Grand Lodge and a country Grand Lodgeand so

, remained divided until June , 1827 , was there any other basis of constitution for the Grand Lodge of New York . Without being tedious , we can say that no more legal measures were taken to organize the Grand Lodges of Virginia , Pennsylvania , the Carolinas , nor Georgia . All being possessed of Provincial Grand Lodges , these aim-

Have Our Grand Lodges All Been Legally Organised?

ply slid , like that of New York , independent Grand Lodge prerogatives and privileges . In Massachusetts , in 1792 , the two bodies , claiming to be each independent Grand Lodges up to that year , the one from 1769 and the other from 1788 , did in that year coalesce and organise the present Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , so that instead of " 1733 " as the date ou the seal of that body ,

to be correct / the date should be 1792 . The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania announced itself independent in 1788 . It was no more so legally , than at the same date was the Grand Lodge of New York , its authority or warrant being from the same English Grand Lodge and subject to like restrictions . The same may be said of tha Carolinas ; North Carolina having been favoured

with a provincial patent in the Grand Mastership of Lord Aberdour , some time between 1757 and 1762 , as we are informed by Preston , who uses only the word " Carolina , " however , which leaves us to infer , inasmuch as he says South Carolina had received such a patent as early as 1736 from the Earl of Loudon , that this lattermust have been North Carolina . And Georgia Grand Lodge

claims to have been instituted in precisely a similar manner , viz .: " According to the old institution "—this gave a lodge , as we shall see— " since 1733 , and by warrant of * Lord Weymouth , dated 1735 "—this , Preston says , was but to open a new lodge— " and by renewal of the same " by Lord Aberdour in 1758 "—this was really the first provincial patent , as Preston informs us— " and incorporated by the General Assembly of Georgia , by an Act passed for that purpose , dated February 6 , 1796 , and by due succession doivn to the present day . " The Grand

Lodge of Maryland was organised legitimately on the 28 th of June . 1826 , and that of Delaware in the same manner in 1828 . The truth is , that the oldest legitimately organised grand lodges in the United States of America , if the present mode , being the same as established in 1716 , be the only legitimate mode , are the Grand Lodges of

Connecticut and New Hampshire , both constituted regularly by the representatives of three or more operative Masonic lodges , in 1789 . Aud yet , our Masonic lawyers will be continually parliamenting about the grand lodges we have previously named as possessing exclusive jurisdiction in their respective States , prior to the revolution , back to and before the middle of the

eighteenth century , when the fact is , there was no such thing as a grand lodge with the present privileges and prerogatives of such a body , in the whole of North America , anterior to 1789—the Masonic fraternity being previously governed by English provincial grand masters , and , as our Bro . James Hughan of Truro , in Cornwall , England , informs us , none of the recognised

calendars of the Grand Lodge of England show , up to and after the revolution , or indeed up to the union of the ttvo grand lodges of England ( 1813 ) , any other provincial grand masters for the United States or other North American territories than " the P . G . M . for North America , and the P . G . M . for Creek , Cherokee , Chickasaw , and Choctaw Nations in North America , and to which all the others were subject—vide Calendar , W . D ., 1799 . " Who these powerful grand masters might have been , we have yet to learn .

AVE have received numerous letters respecting a supposed new working of the ritual , and take this opportunity of asserting that there is no foundation for the same . The facts are , a P . M . of a London lodge did visit a very old lodge at Woolwich , and gave , as we in our issue of 22 nd May last inserted , the working known as Bros . Broadfoot and Peter Thompson's , and now so ably worked by Bro . Muggerridgo , such ritual being also worked in numerous London lodges . Consequentlthere are no grounds

y for believing that there has been any innovation of the ritual . The W . M . of tho lodge mentioned in the number stated above did mention in his summons that the work should be given as approved by the Board of General Purposes , hence tbe mistake . The Board of General Purposes cannot sanction any new working , such or any alteration must be given hy Grand Lodge .