Brother Clabon's Proposed Alterations In The Book Of Constitutions Affecting The Fund Of Benevolence.

measure owing to a letter which has been printed and circulated extensively by Bro . Matthew Cooke , addressed to the R . W . Bro . John Ranking Stebbing , P . G . D ., a well-known active member of Grand Lodge . Bro . Cooke has desiguated the

project of Bro . Gabon as a scheme of "Masonic Confiscation , " and he has in his usual energetic style addressed himself to the discussion of the subject with his accustomed vigour and peculiar manner ; still there is so much truth and good

sense underlying Bro . Cooke's statements against the scheme , that we would fain give a series of extracts from his letter . Of the Fund of

Benevolence , he says : — It is the sole property of Grand Lodge , raised from the accumulation of many , many years ; fees of honour ; fines ; registrations ; and a poll-tax of the whole Craft . And it is charged with the relief of the poor and the expenses of the Order . The schools have no interest in it ,

nor have they the most remote moral claim upon it , either in its regular or surplus amounts . It is a sacred and venerable trust and inheritance—fluctuating from time to time . With equal good fath the disposition of this benevolence has been entrusted , for above a century to an organisation which—whatever may be the opinions

of brethren as to the paucity of the amounts granted—I am sure no one has ever dared to say have not been " faithfully applied . " Therefore , as the schools have no right to ai penny of this fund , with my consent they never shall have . But if Grand Lodge , in its generous ¦ wisdom and prosperity , finding these institutions really

in need , and equally comprehending all four on the same basis , shall , from time to time , make grants to them , by votes taken upon application , then I should hope the money placed at their disposal will be accorded with no niggard hand . But it must be as a gift , which may be discontinued at any season , and not as a right .

When , however , we find an interested Committee , the nominees of certain Free-Masons in their private capacities , daring to claim a portion of our funds , simply because we have a surplus and have no means of assuming , with anything like accuracy , the statutable demands that may , or may not , be made upon us , I , like you , regard

the matter as such a monstrous iniquity that I can but describe it , in the mildest form , as Masonic Confiscation . Such plunder , it appears , a section of the School Committees are nowise loath to accept , and they have had the moral hardihood aud unparalleled audacity to overhaul our books , sit in our premises , and—even in our own house—coolly bids us " stand and deliver . "

The advocates of this spoliation gravely inform us that the general opinion of the Craft is with them , and that those who demur ought , in order to propitiate and conciliate that opinion , to proceed to modify their views so that our institutions may descend to the radical level , and the oponents of the change secure—if it is worth the sacrifice—the good opinion of those Craftsmen who happen to be jealous , or impatient , of the working of our

Constitution . But , if we do this , are we not placing ourselves much in the position of the sheep , who in the fable , iu an evil hour , and at the request of the wolves , gave up their watch-dogs in order that , henceforth , wolves and sheep might not be hindered from living amicably together ? And , let me ask you , if wo blindly

acquiese in this , shall we not sink unpitied when the deed is done ? For pity is not , generally , reserved for those whose misfortunes aro the result of their own egregious folly . And , does it not seem that in such a case we should be surrendering an immense amount of all we hold sacred for a most trifling return ?

Such an insidious document is the " Second Eeport . " It says only change this , and change that , and the matter is accomplished . But its framers wisely—though perhaps not honestly—keep out of sight that when we have done this , and that , we have bargained away our

birthright for the veriest mess of pottage . There will be no necessity to quote more than an exceeding small portion of this " Second Eeport . " All I shall particularly ask you to bear in mind is one passage , which the Committee tell us they have unanimously adopted , viz .:

—" That no reason exists for continuing this accumulation , and that , without diminishing the principal of the Eeserve Fund , the annual surplus may be applied with advantage for the benefit of this generation . " Now if I can show you , not only that a reason , but a law and solemn covenant yet exists , and must exist so

long as the Grand Lodge of England is one and indivisible , the assumption , upon which the whole scheme is founded , is untenable , and , consequently , the detail , by which it is proposed to carry it out , goes by the board . To do this I must ask you to bear , yet , a little longer with me whilst I make the attempt . Bro . Cooke then gives a history of the formations of the several Masonic Charities .

The Committee of Charity—the fore-runner of what was afterwards termed the Board , or Fund , of Benevolence—first came into operation on the 21 st of November , 1724 , and was founded by twenty-seven lodges , under the Grand Mastership of tho Duke of Richmond , It commenced with " a general fund for the support of

faithful brethren who had met with reverses of fortune , or become poor . " If one argued for a month I think no plainer definition of the fund , its objects , and restrictions , could be arrived at . It was to " support , " —not relieve— " faithful brethren who had met with reverses of fortune , or become poor . "

That organisation , modified from time to time by tho admission of widows and children , as petitioners—not children only claiming because they arc in schools founded by the private beneficence of individual brethren , has come down to our own day , aud so jealously is the right of petition still guarded that , oven now , a widow

once relieved cannot petition again . That organisation is the undoubted place of aid and assistance from which every Craftsman has the right to demand relief . Now come the private foundations so gracefully supplementing the public almsgiving , yet , from the very