Grand Lodge.

GRAND LODGE .

[ Published h / ( lie permission of tlie 3 f . W . the G . M ., upon the Publisher ' s responsibility for the accuracy of the report . ] The Quarterly Communication was held at Freemasons' Hall , on Wednesday last , June 1 st , the Right Hon . the Karl of Zetland , M . W . G . M ., presiding , supported by Bros . Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis , as D . G . M . ; Frederick Dundas , M . P ., as S . G . W . ; Frederick Pattison , as J . G . W . ; S . Tomkins , G . Treas . ; Rev . A . Ward , G . ChaplainRoxburghG . Reg . ; W . G . ClarkeG . Sec .

; , , Grand Lodge having been opened in ample form , The M . W . Grand Master said—Brethren , before the business of the evening commences 1 wish to inform you I have received a communication from the D . G . M ., Lord Panmure , expressing his regret at being unable to attend Grand Lodge , ' on account of important private business detaining him in Scotland .

BREACH OF PRIVILEGE . Bro . ROXBURGH , G . Reg , then addressed the M . W . G . M ., and said , Most Worshipful Grand Waster , I wish , before anything else is done , to call attention to what I conceive to he a breach of privT ilege . ( Hear , hear . ) There is on the paper of this evening a notice of motion by Bro . Whitmore , reflecting on the conduct of ; the Grand Registrar , anil ) submit that it is a breach of privilege , j It is a notice of motion assuming as a fact a vague report which has I appeared in a certain periodicaland which BroWhitmore ' has not

, , brought before the Board of General Purposes ( the constitutional tribunal for the investigation of charges against any brother ) , j Upon that report Bro . Whitmore has founded an accusation , which he has not attempted to prove before that Board . ( Hear , hear . ) No brother has , I conceive , a right to circulate among the Craft a charge against another brother assuming that which has never been proved . ( Cheers . ) Whether it be or not a breach of privilege , I ask your indulgence , inasmuch as I am not longer fit to hold the

office with which you have honoured me , should ihe scandalous charge preferred against me be true—that you will allow the motion to be at once brought forward before Grand Lodge , that Bro . Whitmore may have an opportunity of proving his charge , or that I may he exculpated from it . It states that "the Grand Lodge is desirous of expressing its regret that the Grand Registrar should consider it consistent with his duty to the Craft , of which he is the authorized legal adviserto organize a party movement for the

pur-, pose of securing the election of certain brethren as members of the Board of General Purposes . " It is impossible that I can be in a position to advise your lordship on the election of the Board of General Purposes while that charge remains undisposed of . It charges me with conduct which I emphatically and indignantly deny . I deny that there is a particle of truth in it ; and I ask your lordship to have it at once investigated , and I throw myself on your

indulgence and of that of Grand Lodge . ( Cheers . ) The M . W . GUANO MASTER . —I hope I may save the time of Grand Lodge by the few observations which 1 shall now make . ( Hear , hear . ) I can assure the Grand Lodge and Bro . Roxburgh , that this notice has not escaped my observation . It decidedly appears to me to be a breach of privilege ( hear , hear ) , inasmuch as it contains an unproved charge against a Grand Officer , who , to use the words of the notice itself , "is the legal adviser of the Craft . " Whether such a charge he true or falseit oughtin my opinionto

, , , have been brought before the Board of General Purposes , as the constitutional Board for the investigation of all such complaints ; but to bring it before Grand Lodge as a notice of motion , which can only be brought on at the termination of the business of the evening , yuts Grand Lodge in this position—that it has to proceed with the election of the Board of General 1 ' urposes , while there is on the notice paper a charge against the Grand Registrar of organizing a party movement to insure the election of certain brethren

as members of that Board . But whether the notice be or be not a breach of privilege , it is evident to me that the election of the Board cannot be satisfactorily disposed of until this charge is met , and either substantiated by Bro . Whitmore , or repudiated by Grand Lodge . I now call on Bro Whitmore to proceed . Bro BINCKES rose to address Grand Lodge . The M . W . GRAND MASTER : —I called on Bro . Whitmore . Bro GEORGE B ARRETT : —Bro . Whitmore is not now present . He will be here later in the evening , when the motion may come on

in regular order . Bro . BINCKES then said , that a previous engagement occasioned the absence of Bro . Whitmore ; but if he were in order he would endeavour , on his bcball , to bring forward the motion Virst of all ho would comment on the admission of Bro . Roxburgh , that if the facts were correctly stated , he was not any longer lit to hold his

present office . He ( Rvo . Binckes ) would not have used language so strong as that , nor did the wording of the motion justify it . ( Oh , oh . ) Bro . Roxburgh too had circulated with the agenda paper a printed slip , in which he denounced the motion as a scandalous attack upon himself . No brother had , he conceived , the right so to circulate any private notice of his own . But to come to the facts of this astounding case ( Oh , oh !) first he would call attention to the terms of the motion . It merely said— "that the Grand Lodge was desirous of expressing its regret [ he would ask them to mark that

word ] that the Grand Registrar should consider it consistent with his duty to the Craft , of which he is the authorized legal adviser , to organize a parly movement for the purpose of securing the election of certain brethren as members of the Board of Genera ! Purposes . " Bro . Roxburgh said he considered that to be a scandalous attack upon himself , but in the name of Bro . Whitmore ho protested against such language , and he was there to justify every expression used in the motionwhich was as mild ( laughter ) as was

, consistent with the facts of the case . Bro . JENNINGS , G . D . C ., requested Bro . Binckes to address the Grand Master . Bro . BINCKES said he had already made obeisance to the M . W . Grand Master , and denied that lie had ever shown a want of proper respect to the throne . All that Grand Lodge was now asked to do was , to express its regret that one of the Grand Officers had taken a certain course . It was a mere matter of taste , of good taste or bad taste

, they were called to decide upon . It might be asked if an independent member of Grand Lodge were to be debarred from exercising his right and privilege to take counsel with whom he pleased on matters relating to the Craft . Abstractedly , he would say , no ; but there were tvyo Grand Officers—the Grand Registrar and Grand Secretary—who consistently with good taste ought not to take any such coarse . The motion spoke of organiz ng a party movementbut if in the nineteenth century amenable to

; they were common sense , they ought to call things by ' tbeir proper names . If Bro . Roxburgh called a meeting which did meet at his offices to arrange a list of brethren for election to the Board of General Purposes whose names would be unobjectionable to the Craft , he ( Bro . Binckes ) would call that a party movement . Was that done , or was it not done ? Was it good taste , or was it bad taste ? To shew that it had been done , he would read a letter from one who was

present at the meeting , Bro . Warren , the editor of the Freemasons ' Magazine , who , with that candour , openness , and manliness , which always distinguished him said , " It is true that there was a meeting ; at Bro , Roxburgh ' s , and it is true I was present [ he would ask them to mark those two lines ] , but it is not true that Bro . Roxburgh stated he had called the meeting , either at the request of Bro . Havers , or of any other brother ; neither is it true that the meeting deputed to Bros . Roxb urgh and Havers the preparing of a list of candidates for the Board of General Purposes . The meeting nominated list of sixteen seventeen

a or candidates , certainly , leaving it to Bro , Roxburgh to reduce it to fourteen , so ( hat tliere should not be any particular predominating interest upon it ( whilst the law - will not . allow two to serve 1 ' vom the same Lodge ) [ beautifully and parenthetically put ] , and there never was the slightest allusion to the Observer , or any other party . Who may have been subsequently consulted with regard to the rcduction ' of the list , I am not prepared to say , but I freely admit that I for one have been so con , suitedand I believe the listas now arrangedwill be as popular as

, , , any ever submitted to Grand Lodge . [ The test of that rested with the brethren then present . ] What Bro . Roxburgh particularly impressed on the brethren at the meeting was this , that the time for exclusivencss and secrecy in the proceedings or elections of Grand Lodge had passed . ( Hear , hear . ) [ Happy was it for Masonry if that time had arrived . ] And he called upon the brethren duly to considet all the business to be brought before Grand Lodge prior to the meetings ; to take their fair share in the business ; and so render the decisions

come to by Grand Lodge and its Boards , what they ought to be—the reflex of the opinions ' of the large mass of the brethren . " ( Cheering . ) To that he thought no sane brother could object . He would now ask if it was any use for him to prove a feet so plainly acknowledged by a brother who was present at the meeting . Another brother who had been there had distinctly and solemnly assured him that the report of the proceedings which appeared in one of the ordinal- channels of communication was

; perfectly true , except so far as related to Bro . Havers , and that was rather an embellishment . ( Hear , hear , and laughter . ) He hoped that was the case , and he had no doubt it was ; but did that matter of detail interfere with the main fact that a meeting had been held to exclude from the Board of General Purposes the representatives of a large , numerous , anil important body in the Craft , and that there , in consultation with brethren of his own views , Bro . B . ox-