Masters Or Servants?

" servant whose acts a legislator submits to the consideration of " Grand Lodge for inquiry , censure , or condemnation . "That Brother Matthew Cooke , P . JI ., Protests for all , and each , " of the foregoing reasons against the Grand Secretary ' s course of " proceeding in this matter ; and Brother Matthew Cooke , P . M ., " Protests that , by this protest , he docs not seek to shirk or

" avoid the responsibility of proving the statements true , which "he made in Grand Lodge , before the Board ; but to point out the " GREAT CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE OF FREEDOM WHICH IS " INVOLVED and to GUARD THE RIGHTS he may be supposed to " surrender if he does not claim exemption from judicial pro" cecdings , on account of his statements being privileged , as " coming from a legislator in his place in Grand Lodge .

"Brother Matthew Cooke , P . M ., therefore tenders this " Protest , in person , but is both willing-and able , —if his protest " is deemed inadmissable , —to go on , with the full assurance of 1 ' substantiating the truth of every assertion he made at the last " Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge , in September . " t Matthew Cooke , XXX ° P . M ., P . Z ., & c .

" 13 , Harpur Street , AV . C . " October 17 th , 1 S 71 . " This was rather a hard nut to crack for it took the Board just one hour and thirty-five minutes to discuss and when Bro . Matthew Cooke was recalled he was asked if Bro . Hervey withdrew his charge

would Bro . Matthew Cooke withdraw his protest ? Bro . Cooke , who had at the earliest moment disclaimed imputing any venial transgressions as , personally , committed by Bro . Hervey , willingly acceded to the wishes of the Board and the charge , on the one sideand the protest on the other , were withdrawn .

, Upon this the President read to Bro . Matthew Cooke a resolution of the Board by which it " INVITED " ' Bro . Cooke to assist the Board in endeavouring to arrive at evidence of those practices which the G . Secretary expressed himself so anxious to investigate . Accepting this loyally What was Bro . Matthew

Cooke ' s first step ? He voluntarily withdrew a notice of motion he had given for December , thinking , — vainly , poor fool !—the G . Secretary was as singleminded as himself ! No sooner was this done than he received the following summons : —

" Freemasons' Hall , London , W . C . " 20 th October 1 S 71 . " Sir and Brother ,- — " You are hereby summoned to attend a special " meeting of the Board of General Purposes to be holden at "this place on Tuesday the 31 st current , in order to afford

" any information of which you may be in possession , respecting " certain allegations made by you at the last Grand Lodge . " charging the officials in the Grand Secretary's Office with " selling information to certain Masonic Manufacturers and " receiving percentages for the same . " By Order of the Board of General Purposes " Tohn Hervey

"G . S . "To " Bro . Matthew Cooke " P . M . in Lodge No . 23 London . " Here again did the Grand Secretary assume dictatorial power . He issued a false Order . The Board "invited" but the Grand Secretary " sum" moned" and , untruly , added " By Order of the

" Board . " It is idle to say he did so by mistake . He signed the letter and well knew , when signing it , that he was stultifying his superiors . Bro . Matthew Cooke again attended as he said , " that it was the duty of every Brother to come at the

" summons of the Board" but he then re-lodged his protest which he declared "no power on earth should " induce him a second time to recall . " Loyally placing his notes at the disposal of the Board What was the result ? The enquiry was burked ! The Grand Secretary had sufficient tact to drive the

Board into a corner . Two sentences were culled from Bro . Cooke ' s speech and he was called upon to offer evidence to support them ! Thus ends , for the present , the farce of the whining appeal of Bro . John Hervey " who courted the fullest inquiry . "

By what occult operation , —save a pre-determined resolution by the Board , to save the credit of the office at all hazards and at any cost , —the evidence adduced upon the proven charge has been so watered down , as to appear next to nothing , it is useless to conjecture .

The Board saw , —or the members' looks belied them , —how the culprit humbugged them ; fenced with every question but was at last driven to acknowledge his own untruthfulness ; which was again made evident when he tried to impose on the Board by telling them that the reception of seven

un-recognised degrees , —each with a ceremonial of its own , — was simply the necessary qualification for membership of , what he termed , a literary society ! Yet , in spite of all this , the Grand Secretary coolly makes the Board close its report with the remark that he is perfectly satisfied with every clerk under him .

Perhaps , he may be , but if the majority of the Board were satisfied , when the clerk was glosing fast and loose , no men ' s countenances can be relied on as an index to their minds . There is but one remedy for this state of things and equity , policy , and the spirit of the age , demand

it . WE MUST HAVE AN OPEN BOARD . No court of justice , in this nineteenth century , sits with closed doors , and Eree-Masonry is , certainly , less infallible in its administration of the Craft laws than the courts of the country are in theirs of the statute law .

In this realm the free admission of the people to be spectators , at judicial trials , has the happiest result , in ensuring justice , without favour or partiality , meted out to all alike . 1 If , with us , every Eree-Mason who chose to attend ; was admitted , whenever the Board sat judicially ,

trimming and time-serving would receive their deathblow from the formation of a healthy Masonic public opinion . This would play no unimportant part in rescuing our Masonic Jurisprudence from the stain of being furtively administered in secret , under the direct supervision of an interested official who , —in the present case , —presented the spectacle of summoner ,