Masters Or Servants?

MASTERS OR SERVANTS ?

BEFORE this number of THE MASONIC E XAMINER appears the Agenda paper for the Quarterly Communication on the 6 th of December , will have been issued and its contents pretty well known , so that there is no necessity for overburthening our limited A GRAVE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION .

space by reproducing it here . Looking seriously at that document the Report of the Board of General Purposes entirely shirks the question referred to it . Bro . Bennoch ' s amendment , which was carried , was " That the motion proposed " by Bro . Cooke be referred to the Board of General

" Purposes for inquiry and report . " Now the Report does not contain even an allusion to the motion , it flies off at a tangent , and why ? Because the servants of . the Craft assume to rule their employers . The evidence of this is contained in the following

summons : — " Freemasons' Flail , London , W . C . " 25 th of September , 1871 . " Sir and Brother , — " You are hereby summoned to attend the next " regular meeting of the Board of General Purposes to be holden " at this place on Tuesday the 17 th day of October next at three

" o'clock in the afternoon precisely to answer the following " charge preferred against you by Brother John Hervey , Grand " Secretary , viz .: ' With having used defamatory language in " Grand Lodge on Wednesday the 6 th of September 1871 with " reference to him and the other officials in the Grand Secretary's " Office , in untruly stating that they give and sell information , ' " and afterwards inferring that ' they receive percentages for the

" information they obtain and bestow . ' You are to bring with " you your Grand Lodge Certificate . And you are at liberty " to bring with you any witnesses or evidence you may deem " necessary .

'' By order of the Board "John Hervey " Grand Secretary . " " To Brother Matthew Cooke , " P . M . in Globe Lodge , " No . 23 , London . " After reading this Will anyone have the hardihood

to say it has one word to do with the subject referred ? It is simply the Grand Secretary ' s dictation to the Board to ignore the expressed will of Grand Lodge and put himself in the position of an aggrieved person . In fact it is the servant who commands and the Board who obeys . Bro . Matthew Cooke attended the meeting and

delivered in the following Protest , a document , carefully suppressed by the Board in its report , but of such vital importance to the rights of every brother that no apology is needed for its appearance here . It tells its own tale forcibly .

" To the Most Worshipful the Grand Master , the Deputy Grand " Master , the Grand Wardens , the President , and Brethren " of the Board of General Purposes . "The Protest of Brother Matthew Cooke , a Past Master in " the Globe Lodge , No . 23 , — " Sheweth : —

" That Brother Matthew Cooke is a subscribing member of " The Globe Lodge , No . 23 , in good standing , and , by right of " being a Past Master in the Craft , is a member of the Grand " Lodge of England . ( See Sec . I . ' Regulations , ' Book of - " Constitutions , small edit . 1871 , p . 18 ) . "That Brother Matthew Cooke , P . M ., Protests , in the " strongest manner , for himself , —and in the interest of every

" member of Grand Lodge , from the Prince to the ^ peasant , — ' " against being cited , as an offender , before the Board of General " Purposes , in its judicial capacity , for words spoken by him , " in the character of a'legislator , in the Grand Lodge of Eng" land ; whilst from the latter the powers and very existence of " the Board itself is derived and from which he infers that a " delegated authority has no jurisdiction to try a member of the

" governing body for acts , or words , done , or said , in the exercise " of legislative functions . . "That Brother Matthew Cooke , P . M ., Protests against the " breach of privilege committed by the Grand Secretary , —who " is but the chief servant of the Craft , —whereby that brother " has laid a complaint , charging Brother Matthew Cooke , P . M ., " with using insinuations about him , which by no process of

" perversion can be wrested to apply to Brother John Hervey , " personally , and has brought Brother Matthew Cooke , P . M ., " to this Board on an information which , in common decency , " cannot be judicially investigated by it because it is THE " CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT , AND BOUNDEN DUT Y , of every " member of Grand Lodge to do his best for the interests of " Free-Masonry ; and if anyone sees , what he believes to be

" irregular , or corrupt , practices gaining ground amongst the " servants lie would be a TRAITOR to the Order if he did not do " his utmost to quench the scandal . "That Brother Matthew Cooke , P . M ., Protests , because in " all analagous cases such , for example , as that of a Member of " Parliament who would never be called upon to answer in a " courtoflawforany exposure of veniality or corruption , inapublic

" office , which he made from his place in either Flouse of the "Legislature ; and that Grand Lodge being the legislative " chamber of the Craft , the Grand Secretary and the clerks in his " office the servants who carry on the official business of the "Order , and this Board of General . Purposes the delegated " authority of . the Grand Lodge , for judicial , and other , ' affairs , " it necessarily follows there can be no prosecution before it , " against a maker of the laws , by the chief , or any subordinate ,