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Article TO THE EDITOR. ← Page 3 of 4 →
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To The Editor.
lately granted to the Stewards' Lodge of taking precedence of all the other lodges , the two oldest not excepted , a measure certainly very incompatible with the original constitutions and which can never be sanctioned by the rules of the society . Several lodges have entered protests against it in their private books , which at some future time may have an effect , and probably induce an investigation of the subject . " In Noorthouk ' s ( official ) edition of Anderson ' s Constitutions of the
Fraternity , page 296 , we find the following ;— " As the right of the members of the Stewards' Lodge in general to attend the committee of charity appeared doubtful , and no mention of such right being made in the laws of the society , the Grand Lodge was of opinion , that they had no general right to attend ; a resolution was therefore moved ancl passed , that the Master ancl three other members of the Stewards' Lodge be permitted to attend at every committee on behalf of the said lodge . "
The next important remarkable notice that is to be met with , occurs in the year 1779 , and is to the effect that "A representation was made by the Master and other brethren of the Stewards' Lodge , that it had been usual of late for brethren who served the office of Steward to neglect all attendance upon the Stewards' Lodge afterwards , as members , and when summoned ancl called upon for their subscriptions , to declare they never considered themselves as members ; whereby the funds of
that lodge was greatly injured , their books and accounts left in a very irregular state , ancl the actual members much disgusted . To obviate these complaints , a resolution was made in the following terms : — ' Whereas , it appears from the Book of Constitutions , to have been the invariable usage of the society to appoint the officers of the Grancl
Lodge from such brethren only as have served the office of Steward at a grand feast , nor unless he be an actual subscribing member of the Stewards' Lodge at the time of his appointment . '" It will appear almost incredible that the Stewards should have ventured upon so bold an expedient as to declare that it appeared from the Book of Constitutions that grancl officers were always chosen from past or present Stewards , when it is borne in mind that grand officers gave the feast years before stewards were found to assist ; but tbe perseverence ofthe
stewards one cannot help admiring . In 1779 they curtailed the prerogative of the Grancl Master b y forcing him to select from among themselves the grand officers , the stewards not being in existence more than fifty years , during which period they had obtained the honour of wearing distinguishing colours , voting ancl speaking in Grand Lodge , having . a majority at the Committee of Charity , and , lastly , being the only persons eligible for grand officers ; the whole of which was paid for by
their giving a dinner once a year . The opinion of a disinterested writer may be taken fairly as the views of others upon this subject , and I therefore quote from " The History of Freemasonry in England , " lately published by Bro . Kloss , p . 131 . " If the Grand Lodge by its vote introduced a system of lodge aristocracy , in forming a Committee of Masters to distribute its fund of benevolenceit was guilty of commencing the more improper money
, aristocracy by giving those single advantages and preferences to the stewards , for it deprived the worthy , accepted , and experienced brother of obtaining the honours which his purse was unable to purchase . Although we must confess that the sacrifices and expenses incurred by the stewards were worthy of rewards , we cannot deny , however , that the mode adopted deprived the Craft at once of its equality , and founded
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
To The Editor.
lately granted to the Stewards' Lodge of taking precedence of all the other lodges , the two oldest not excepted , a measure certainly very incompatible with the original constitutions and which can never be sanctioned by the rules of the society . Several lodges have entered protests against it in their private books , which at some future time may have an effect , and probably induce an investigation of the subject . " In Noorthouk ' s ( official ) edition of Anderson ' s Constitutions of the
Fraternity , page 296 , we find the following ;— " As the right of the members of the Stewards' Lodge in general to attend the committee of charity appeared doubtful , and no mention of such right being made in the laws of the society , the Grand Lodge was of opinion , that they had no general right to attend ; a resolution was therefore moved ancl passed , that the Master ancl three other members of the Stewards' Lodge be permitted to attend at every committee on behalf of the said lodge . "
The next important remarkable notice that is to be met with , occurs in the year 1779 , and is to the effect that "A representation was made by the Master and other brethren of the Stewards' Lodge , that it had been usual of late for brethren who served the office of Steward to neglect all attendance upon the Stewards' Lodge afterwards , as members , and when summoned ancl called upon for their subscriptions , to declare they never considered themselves as members ; whereby the funds of
that lodge was greatly injured , their books and accounts left in a very irregular state , ancl the actual members much disgusted . To obviate these complaints , a resolution was made in the following terms : — ' Whereas , it appears from the Book of Constitutions , to have been the invariable usage of the society to appoint the officers of the Grancl
Lodge from such brethren only as have served the office of Steward at a grand feast , nor unless he be an actual subscribing member of the Stewards' Lodge at the time of his appointment . '" It will appear almost incredible that the Stewards should have ventured upon so bold an expedient as to declare that it appeared from the Book of Constitutions that grancl officers were always chosen from past or present Stewards , when it is borne in mind that grand officers gave the feast years before stewards were found to assist ; but tbe perseverence ofthe
stewards one cannot help admiring . In 1779 they curtailed the prerogative of the Grancl Master b y forcing him to select from among themselves the grand officers , the stewards not being in existence more than fifty years , during which period they had obtained the honour of wearing distinguishing colours , voting ancl speaking in Grand Lodge , having . a majority at the Committee of Charity , and , lastly , being the only persons eligible for grand officers ; the whole of which was paid for by
their giving a dinner once a year . The opinion of a disinterested writer may be taken fairly as the views of others upon this subject , and I therefore quote from " The History of Freemasonry in England , " lately published by Bro . Kloss , p . 131 . " If the Grand Lodge by its vote introduced a system of lodge aristocracy , in forming a Committee of Masters to distribute its fund of benevolenceit was guilty of commencing the more improper money
, aristocracy by giving those single advantages and preferences to the stewards , for it deprived the worthy , accepted , and experienced brother of obtaining the honours which his purse was unable to purchase . Although we must confess that the sacrifices and expenses incurred by the stewards were worthy of rewards , we cannot deny , however , that the mode adopted deprived the Craft at once of its equality , and founded