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Article GRAND LODGE ← Page 7 of 9 →
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Grand Lodge
but went himself down to 'Hobart Town" arid invited the ¦ contumacious Brethren to meet him , not as their G . M ., hut privately , and so try " to arrange the points at issue between them . In ' consequence-of Ms paying them that visit , Bro . Toby and the other members of No . 781 met him , and for some time , as it appears from ; the correspondence , very high , very
improper , and very unmasonic altercations took place between them . Afterwards , however , they came to see matters in . a better light . Harmony came over them , and they agreed that some arrangements should "be made whereby the suspension should be taken off No . 781 , and the members of it restored to their Masonic functions . They asked Bro . Ewing- to suggest some means by which that might he done . He then said lie vrould draw out the form of a petition for them to sign , with the slightest possible recognition of his authority , so as not to hurt their feelings . If they would
sign that petition he would , he said , make a representation ot the matter to Grand Lodge , and set things all right . He drew iip that petition for them ; but after he left Hobart Town a new spirit seems to have come over them , for out of all the members of the Lodge only five individuals were found to sign it . Those Brethren-who so signed the petition were restored to their Masonic functions ; and it will be my duty to propose-to
you a motion to confirm that restoration . We gather from all this that there is a bad spirit and a spirit of jealousy between the two principal towns inTasmania—Hobart Town and Launceston ; and lam sorry to say that that bad spirit has extended itself from the towns to their Masonic Lodges . But that , you will agree with me , is no reason why we should not all do our best , first of all , to maintain the authority of the Grand officers , or rather the officer appointed by the G . M . ; and secondly , to bring the contumacious to a sense of what they have offended in . "
Now what do we learn by this , but that Bro . Ewing suspended the only Hobart Town Lodge by the advice of his Provincial Grand Lodge , consisting entirely of members of Launceston Lodges , ci there being a bad spirit of jealousy between the two principal towns in Tasmania which has extended itself from the towns to their Masonic Lodges . "" And Launceston having thus shown its jealousy towards Hobart Town , the Grand Lodge was called upon to confirm the
suspension , in order to uphold the authority of Bro . Ewing . Surely , looking at this jealousy , there was another and a better way of meeting the question open to Grand Lodge ; the authority of Bro . Ewing might have been upheld by pointing out to the Brethren where they had been wrong , and restoring them to their Masonic functions on their acknowledging their fault , and making certain concessions which they would no doubt have willingly done on learning that it
was the deliberate opinion of the Grand Lodge of England that they should do so . We do not deny that , in the course he has taken , Bro . Ewing has acted with perfect legality , but we maintain ho has also acted most arbitrarily . He has , in fact , been offended by one brother ( whose conduct we arc in no way defending ) , but what course did he take to ascertain whether the Lodge approved of all the proceedings of Bro . Toby . And on this point we will quote from a report of a Board of Fast Masters , of Lodge No . 781 , held subsequently to the suspension : — " The Past Masters of the Tasmanian Union Lodge of Freemasons ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Grand Lodge
but went himself down to 'Hobart Town" arid invited the ¦ contumacious Brethren to meet him , not as their G . M ., hut privately , and so try " to arrange the points at issue between them . In ' consequence-of Ms paying them that visit , Bro . Toby and the other members of No . 781 met him , and for some time , as it appears from ; the correspondence , very high , very
improper , and very unmasonic altercations took place between them . Afterwards , however , they came to see matters in . a better light . Harmony came over them , and they agreed that some arrangements should "be made whereby the suspension should be taken off No . 781 , and the members of it restored to their Masonic functions . They asked Bro . Ewing- to suggest some means by which that might he done . He then said lie vrould draw out the form of a petition for them to sign , with the slightest possible recognition of his authority , so as not to hurt their feelings . If they would
sign that petition he would , he said , make a representation ot the matter to Grand Lodge , and set things all right . He drew iip that petition for them ; but after he left Hobart Town a new spirit seems to have come over them , for out of all the members of the Lodge only five individuals were found to sign it . Those Brethren-who so signed the petition were restored to their Masonic functions ; and it will be my duty to propose-to
you a motion to confirm that restoration . We gather from all this that there is a bad spirit and a spirit of jealousy between the two principal towns inTasmania—Hobart Town and Launceston ; and lam sorry to say that that bad spirit has extended itself from the towns to their Masonic Lodges . But that , you will agree with me , is no reason why we should not all do our best , first of all , to maintain the authority of the Grand officers , or rather the officer appointed by the G . M . ; and secondly , to bring the contumacious to a sense of what they have offended in . "
Now what do we learn by this , but that Bro . Ewing suspended the only Hobart Town Lodge by the advice of his Provincial Grand Lodge , consisting entirely of members of Launceston Lodges , ci there being a bad spirit of jealousy between the two principal towns in Tasmania which has extended itself from the towns to their Masonic Lodges . "" And Launceston having thus shown its jealousy towards Hobart Town , the Grand Lodge was called upon to confirm the
suspension , in order to uphold the authority of Bro . Ewing . Surely , looking at this jealousy , there was another and a better way of meeting the question open to Grand Lodge ; the authority of Bro . Ewing might have been upheld by pointing out to the Brethren where they had been wrong , and restoring them to their Masonic functions on their acknowledging their fault , and making certain concessions which they would no doubt have willingly done on learning that it
was the deliberate opinion of the Grand Lodge of England that they should do so . We do not deny that , in the course he has taken , Bro . Ewing has acted with perfect legality , but we maintain ho has also acted most arbitrarily . He has , in fact , been offended by one brother ( whose conduct we arc in no way defending ) , but what course did he take to ascertain whether the Lodge approved of all the proceedings of Bro . Toby . And on this point we will quote from a report of a Board of Fast Masters , of Lodge No . 781 , held subsequently to the suspension : — " The Past Masters of the Tasmanian Union Lodge of Freemasons ,