The Canadian Movement.

inherent in Masons , when assembled together in duo form , as individuals . The Charter obtained , not far from the beginning of the fourth century , ' from tho King and Council , ' by Saint Alban , empoSvered those Masons simply . to hold a 'general Council , ' which was called an'Assembly . ' That 'Council' or ' Assembly'did not consist of members by delegations from Lodges . It was a general one , embracing the Craft , as it then existed , in England , at large ; and it was the duty of every Mason to attend it , if ho lived within fifty miles of the place of assemblage , and bad ' proper warning .

" Nor was the gathering of tho Masons at the City of York , under Prince Edwin , in 926 , a Grand Lodge , in any fair modern understanding of those terms . It was a ' congregation' of Masons only , who composed a ' General Lodge , ' of which ho was Grand . Master . He was Grand Master of Masons , but not of a Grand Lodge , as now understood ; for no such Grand body then existed . " It is doubtless true , that the York 'Assembly' exercised jurisdiction in its day , over all the Masons of England ; probably from 92 G to 1567 ; but such jurisdiction was not considered bthose

y Masons as exclusive . It was not thus acknowledged by them ; for in that same year , 1567—without reference to the York ' Assembly ' at all , —the Masons of tbe Southern part of England placed themselves independently under a new Grand Master , and there were for a long period of years , two Grand Masters of that kingdom . " In tbe early part of the 18 th century , Masonry generally in England had fallen into desuetude . In tho year 1715 , four London Lodges assembled upon their own motion , and by their own voluntary action constituted themselves a ' Grand Lodge , pro tempore . '

At the annual assembly and feast , on Saint John the Baptist ' s day , 1717 , these same Lodges , thus by self-action constituted into " a Grand Lodge , for the first time adopted a regulation to restrain the old unlimited manner of Masonic meetings , and to establish Lodges in certain places , which should be legally authorized to act by a warrant from the Grand Master , with the consent and approbation of the Grand Lodge , and that , without such warrant , no Lodge should thereafter be deemed regular or constitutional . " Here , then , wo have four Lodges , arranged upon the old system ,

congregating themselves together to inaugurate and establish a neio one . The whole history of things at York was unheeded by them ; no consent is asked from that quarter , nor is even the then Grand Master of the Masons of England consulted , who was living in that same city of London , and who did not pay the debt of nature until the year 1723 . " From this action sprang tho Grand Lodge of England , which has come down to our times . Ireland followed first , and Scotland succeedetl her . I do not refer to any Masonic organizations of this

kind upon the continent of Europe , because with them we have no common policy , no long connection , and especially because , upon this continent , wc have never looked to that quarter for Masonic precedent . " The beginning of Grand Lodges , as we understand these institutions in our own day , was established at the London meetings of the four Lodges of 1715 and 1717 . Ireland followed the path made by them . Scof land followed in a manner , though not identical , quite as independent ; and the Grand Lodges on this side of the Atlantic have found no occasion for widening and enlarging the precedent of

1715-17 . " The Grand Lodge of Ireland dated from 1730 . It was formed in ' imitation of the Grand Lodge of England , ' aud chose for its first Grand Master a Brother who had been the previous year Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England . Tho constitution and usages of the Grand Lodge of England were adopted by it . "The Grand Lodge of Scot ) and was formed in 1736 . Masonry had then existed in that country for centuries ; but not unti ' l November the 30 th—Saint Andrew ' s day—of that did tho

year , Lodges of that country assemble to organize as a common body , and choose their own Grand Master . Previously the Grand Mastership of Masons for Scotland had been hercditary ' in the family of Roslin . William Saint Clair , of Roslin , having intimated to his Masonic Brethren his wish to resign his hereditary Grand Mastership , assembled his Brethren of the Lodges in and about Edinburgh , and wished them to determine upon a plan for the election of a Grand Master . Thirty-four Lodges appeared , or were represented by their proxies ,

and at this meeting the office of Grand Master in Scotland became , for the first time , elective . Tbis Grand Lodge had the assent of the Grand Master of Masons of Scotland for its formation , differing in this particular from the Grand Lodge of England . " The entire history of the formation of these three Grand Lodges is overwhelming—I had almost said omnipotent—to prove , that they were all voluntary Masonic associations , growing naturally out of the necessities of the Order , and assuming , as associations , the power of proper organization as an inherent right . It was never claimedand it never can be truthfully claimed—that any ancient constitution

conferred tho right which was exercised . Old constitutions and charges may be studied for that in vain . The right to form such bodies was assumed , and the extent of jurisdiction was also assumed , and engrafted upon it , as well as the form and manner of Masonic government . " Neither of the three Grand Lodges thus formed went so far as to assume exclusive Masonic jurisdiction out of England , Ireland , and Scotland . Tho only exclusive power assumed was to their own respective territories . When those were passed at home they

exorcised a common power . Whenever any one of them might grant a warrant of constitution , or locate a Provincial Grand Master abroad , either of the others might do tho same . The Grand Lodges of England and Seolland so understood tho subject , and both of them created Provincial Grand Masters in the colonies antecedent to the revolution . The subsequent history of the Masonic bodies established by these Provincial Grand Masters , is full of interest , as bearing upon the question under consideration , and I shall have cause to refer to it in the course of my examination of this subject .

" One at least of the Provincial Grand Masters , appointed by the Grand Lodge of England , did not understand that the American revolution severed the Masonic connection between the parent power and the newly created States upon this northern continent , in 1701 the R . W . John Johnson , then tho English Provincial Grand Master of Lower Canada , granted a warrant of constitution to his Excellency Thomas Chatterton , then Governor of the State of Vermont , and his associates , for file establishment of a Lodge at

Vergennes , by the name of Dorchester Lodge . This Lodge was duly constituted under that warrant , and worked under it until October , 1794 , when , in connection with the other Lodges in the State , which had charters from the Grand Lodges of Massachusetts and New York , it aided in forming the present Grand Lodge of Vermont , and forcibly severing its connection with Canada , has ever since hailed under the now jurisdiction . The Provincial Grand Master of Canada never complained of this action , or denied tbe right of Dorchester Lodgeof its own motionto make the severance

, , and aid in establishing a new and independent jurisdiction . " " The Canadian Masonic action of the 10 th of October , 1855 , has , in some quarters , been treated as analogous to the various Masonic revolutions in the State of New York . To my own conceptions no analogy was ever more absurd . Had England experienced a division of her own Grand Lodge , by revolutionary means , on the soil

of England , at home , the cases would have some resemblance to each other ; but they have no more resemblance of revolution now than the formation of the last Grand Lodge of Michigan—by Lodges holding warrants from the Grand Lodge of New York—has of revolutionary action towards that State . Michigan had the right to go alone when she was Masonieally and constitutionally strong enough , on well recognised principles ; as Vermont had , and many other States , and as they did without exception from any quarter . " The Masons of Canada were , to a large extent , men whose

birthplaces were abroad . Their Lodges existed by power derived from abroad . The sympathies of their members were largely with their mother-country across the ocean , and this natural and honourable feeling was all-powerful with them to prevent any rashness or disrespect towards those foreign Masonic jurisdictions to which they acknowledged allegiance . Knowing and feeling the inconveniences of their position , the neglect of their wants , and tho denial of their just rights , they submitted to years of humble complaint , of brotherly solicitation , of manly petitioning , and of mild remonstrance ,

and they submitted in vain . No kind response , no appreciation of self-evident wrongs breathes its gentle breath across the broad Atlantic . They were compelled at last , unwillingly , to realize that all foreign hope was ended , and that the future of their Masonic happiness must depend upon themselves . Thus situated , forty-one Lodges , holding warrants of constitution under the authority of tho Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland , after circulating notice of their intention for several months , assembled at Hamilton , on tho 10 th day of October 1855 severed all foreign connection

, , , and constituted themselves a Grand Lodge for Canada . " The wrongs and grievances to which I refer have been sometimes denied , and the representations of these forty-one Lodges have been cavilled at by enmity and hawked at by ignorance ; but an earlier justification has already come than the new Grand Lodge could have anticipated , and its own truth is sustained even from tho mouths of its opponents . On the 23 rd day of October last , the body , of Canadian Masons which styles itself ' The Provincial Grand

Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Canada West , under the United Grand Lodge of England , ' which body still acknowledges and adheres to its foreign allegiance , memorialized the Grand Lodge of England upon its position , and in that memorial has set forth substantially tbe existence of the same grievances which had been previously sot forth , and which , having been treated with scorn and