Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar00201
IT is by no means improbable that our able and talented Executive have , quite unintentionally , conferred a very great benefit upon the Canadians by refusing to recognise their declaration of independence . Had either of the rival Grand Lodges been
acknowledged by the G . M ., there can be little doubt but that any hope of a union between them must have been indefinitely postponed . As it is , however , thanks to the stolid red-tapism of our own government , and to the true Masonic feeling evinced by Bro . Harington , and
those who support him , there is every probability that the articles of union , which we publish to-day , will be adopted , at any rate , as a basis of negociation ; and that at no distant period , we may see the Craft in Canada emerge from their temporary estrangement , a powerful and united body .
Whenever this most desirable consummation shall have been accomplished , our Canadian brethren will be able to congratulate themselves that the mere force of Masonic principle has carried them safely through a period of no slight difficulty , and enabled them to weather the shoals and quicksands on which we suspect
that not a few on this side the Atlantic , fondl y hoped they' would have made shipwreck . To those whose scandalous inattention to just complaints , in the first instance , and whose narrow illiberality in the next , provoked , if it did not necessitate , the secession of Canada , it will doubtless appear little less than miraculous that a successful issue should be
achieved , not only without their assistance , but in spite of their opposition . Let the Canadians be only true to themselves and their battle is won ; and if there are any , in either Grand Lodge , who are still tempted to prefer a shadow to the substance , and are inclined to stand out for this or that unimportant pointlet them remember that b
, y so acting they are not only perpetuating discord , but are playing the game of the advisers of the G . M . here . Upon one point there must be no flinching , and that is in insisting upon the submission of all Canadian Masons to the local Grand Lodge ; Masonic unity—to quote the Grand Master ' s expression—demands this .
The number of Lodges still holding English warrants is very limited , it having transpired that nearly forty of those enumerated in the calendar have never made a return since the day then- w-arrants were granted , and are , in fact , long ago extinct : but be they few or many , no Lodge must be acknowledged that holds its warrant
from England , Scotland , or Ireland . " Canada for the Canadians , " is the principle which must be rigidly adhered to in practice , and we are glad to see that one of the proposed articles of union boars unequivocally upon this point— " after the expiration of from the day of the said unionno Lod
, ges assembling in Canada , under charters emanating from any authority other than that of the Incorporated Grand Lodge of Canada , shall be recognized as lawful and constitutional . "
Ar00200
THE Mason who , by virtue of the trust reposed in him by his Lodge , is for the first time admitted- to a seat in the Masonic Parliament , cannot but be struck with the imposing spectacle there presented to his admiring gaze . Seating himself in obedience to the dictates of a natural modesty at the bottom of the hall
, his eye will be guided through a light blue perspective to a vista of grandeur beyond—a blaze of purple and of gold . Throned in the serene majesty of rewarded merit , there sit the tried ones of the senate . Flashes the beam from star to collar as some dignitary rises from his seat . His lips move : our novice is hushed in
solemn awe : ... " Pietate gravem , ao mcritis si forte virum quem Conspexere , silent , arrectisque auribus astant . " Surely now he will hear some powerful advocacy for the redress of wrongs , some heart-stirring arguments for the extension of Masonic usefulness . Ah , brother novice ,
calm your sanguine soul ! Repress the expectant enthusiasm of your too trusting nature . A few stale syllogisms on the duties of subserviency to the powers that be , these shall be the stirring sentiments from the giants of the Dais ; a recital of your Grand Officers' services and deserts hashed up for your edification , this is the treat that awaits your-hungry ears . Must we tell the truth ?
The votaries of progress and improvement are around yon , but yonder is the shrine of an obstructive oligarchy . To borrow a metaphor from Hymettus , " Your place is with the working bees , whose busy hum is neutralized by the importunate murmur of the drones . " We would fain write in more flattering terms of those
who should be to us a beacon and a guide . We would fain record some measures for the Craft ' s great good , prompted or even cordially supported by the body of those Brethren who hold their pride of place by the Grand Master ' s favour . But Ave confess ourselves
unable to do so . There are of course exceptions to every rule ; there are undoubtedly Brethren , who may fairly claim a brilliant exemption from the proposition that , as a body , the Grand Officers show themselves unpardonably insensible to the requirements of the Craft ; but we fearlessly defy the experience of those members of G . L . who have attended its meetings during
the last few years , to recall one single measure for the reform of abuses or the furtherance of our Order ' s prosperity , which has originated with the denizens of the Dais , or which has not , on the contrary , met with their most prejudiced opposition . This is a painful , but no less a true reflection . The
Craft had reason to hope from the severe lessons it recently learnt of the dangers of supineness and inefficiency in high places , that the necessity for increased exertion and liberality would have forced itself on the reluctant intellect of the occupants of office . Such hope ( if ever it was well-founded ) too long deferred will
make the heart sick : such promise ( if ever it really budded ) must hasten to blossom into fact . That the Grand Master to the best of his knowledge fills his official chairs with respectable men and Masons
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar00201
IT is by no means improbable that our able and talented Executive have , quite unintentionally , conferred a very great benefit upon the Canadians by refusing to recognise their declaration of independence . Had either of the rival Grand Lodges been
acknowledged by the G . M ., there can be little doubt but that any hope of a union between them must have been indefinitely postponed . As it is , however , thanks to the stolid red-tapism of our own government , and to the true Masonic feeling evinced by Bro . Harington , and
those who support him , there is every probability that the articles of union , which we publish to-day , will be adopted , at any rate , as a basis of negociation ; and that at no distant period , we may see the Craft in Canada emerge from their temporary estrangement , a powerful and united body .
Whenever this most desirable consummation shall have been accomplished , our Canadian brethren will be able to congratulate themselves that the mere force of Masonic principle has carried them safely through a period of no slight difficulty , and enabled them to weather the shoals and quicksands on which we suspect
that not a few on this side the Atlantic , fondl y hoped they' would have made shipwreck . To those whose scandalous inattention to just complaints , in the first instance , and whose narrow illiberality in the next , provoked , if it did not necessitate , the secession of Canada , it will doubtless appear little less than miraculous that a successful issue should be
achieved , not only without their assistance , but in spite of their opposition . Let the Canadians be only true to themselves and their battle is won ; and if there are any , in either Grand Lodge , who are still tempted to prefer a shadow to the substance , and are inclined to stand out for this or that unimportant pointlet them remember that b
, y so acting they are not only perpetuating discord , but are playing the game of the advisers of the G . M . here . Upon one point there must be no flinching , and that is in insisting upon the submission of all Canadian Masons to the local Grand Lodge ; Masonic unity—to quote the Grand Master ' s expression—demands this .
The number of Lodges still holding English warrants is very limited , it having transpired that nearly forty of those enumerated in the calendar have never made a return since the day then- w-arrants were granted , and are , in fact , long ago extinct : but be they few or many , no Lodge must be acknowledged that holds its warrant
from England , Scotland , or Ireland . " Canada for the Canadians , " is the principle which must be rigidly adhered to in practice , and we are glad to see that one of the proposed articles of union boars unequivocally upon this point— " after the expiration of from the day of the said unionno Lod
, ges assembling in Canada , under charters emanating from any authority other than that of the Incorporated Grand Lodge of Canada , shall be recognized as lawful and constitutional . "
Ar00200
THE Mason who , by virtue of the trust reposed in him by his Lodge , is for the first time admitted- to a seat in the Masonic Parliament , cannot but be struck with the imposing spectacle there presented to his admiring gaze . Seating himself in obedience to the dictates of a natural modesty at the bottom of the hall
, his eye will be guided through a light blue perspective to a vista of grandeur beyond—a blaze of purple and of gold . Throned in the serene majesty of rewarded merit , there sit the tried ones of the senate . Flashes the beam from star to collar as some dignitary rises from his seat . His lips move : our novice is hushed in
solemn awe : ... " Pietate gravem , ao mcritis si forte virum quem Conspexere , silent , arrectisque auribus astant . " Surely now he will hear some powerful advocacy for the redress of wrongs , some heart-stirring arguments for the extension of Masonic usefulness . Ah , brother novice ,
calm your sanguine soul ! Repress the expectant enthusiasm of your too trusting nature . A few stale syllogisms on the duties of subserviency to the powers that be , these shall be the stirring sentiments from the giants of the Dais ; a recital of your Grand Officers' services and deserts hashed up for your edification , this is the treat that awaits your-hungry ears . Must we tell the truth ?
The votaries of progress and improvement are around yon , but yonder is the shrine of an obstructive oligarchy . To borrow a metaphor from Hymettus , " Your place is with the working bees , whose busy hum is neutralized by the importunate murmur of the drones . " We would fain write in more flattering terms of those
who should be to us a beacon and a guide . We would fain record some measures for the Craft ' s great good , prompted or even cordially supported by the body of those Brethren who hold their pride of place by the Grand Master ' s favour . But Ave confess ourselves
unable to do so . There are of course exceptions to every rule ; there are undoubtedly Brethren , who may fairly claim a brilliant exemption from the proposition that , as a body , the Grand Officers show themselves unpardonably insensible to the requirements of the Craft ; but we fearlessly defy the experience of those members of G . L . who have attended its meetings during
the last few years , to recall one single measure for the reform of abuses or the furtherance of our Order ' s prosperity , which has originated with the denizens of the Dais , or which has not , on the contrary , met with their most prejudiced opposition . This is a painful , but no less a true reflection . The
Craft had reason to hope from the severe lessons it recently learnt of the dangers of supineness and inefficiency in high places , that the necessity for increased exertion and liberality would have forced itself on the reluctant intellect of the occupants of office . Such hope ( if ever it was well-founded ) too long deferred will
make the heart sick : such promise ( if ever it really budded ) must hasten to blossom into fact . That the Grand Master to the best of his knowledge fills his official chairs with respectable men and Masons