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Article GRAND LODGE ← Page 8 of 9 →
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Grand Lodge
No . 781 ontthe registry of the United Grand Lodge of England , having been requested by the W . M ., Bro . Charles Toby ^ to confer together ^ and advise him as to what steps he should adopt with reference to the notice of suspension by the R . W . Prov . Gr . M . Bro . Ewing , with every desire to act up to , and conform to the principles of the Constitution , cannot but view the extreme measure pursued by the R . W . the Prov . G . M ., by giving notice to
sister Lodges that he has taken upon himself to suspend Lodge 781 ^ as an unnecessary and premature stretch of his prerogative . " " The Board of Past Masters are of opinion that the proceedings of Bro . Ewing are unconstitutional and therefore arbitrary , inasmuch that he has neglected to ' summon either the Lodge or any Brother to attend him , and to produce the warrant , books , papers , and accounts of the Lodge , or the
certificate of the Brother / They are also of opinion , that had Bro . Ewing performed such part of his | uty as a Prov . Gr . M ., and his * summons had not been complied with , nor sufficient reason given for non-compliance / his proper and legitimate course of action would have been ' to have caused a peremptory summons to be issued ; ' and in case of € contumacy / and not until then , was he justified in suspending the Lodge .
" The Board has perused the correspondence which has taken place upon the subject ; and in the last letter which has passed thereon , Bro . Ewing , under date 11 th April , 1857 , thus writes : — " The installation of the Prov . G . M . of Tasmania ^ and constituting of the Prov . Grand Lodge , will take place on Wednesday evening , the 15 th inst ., at seven o'clock , at the Masonic Hall , Launceston ; the representatives of No . 781 are invited to attend '—clearly manifesting to the judgment of the
Board , that up to that time no act of' contumacy' had been committed , but on the contrary evidencing that in point of facts , Bro . Ewiiig was not then legally a Prov . G . M ., seeing that his Lodge had not been constituted , nor himself obligated nor installed ; and the Board are of opinion that his having issued merely an 'invitation , ' demonstrates that he was well aware he was not in a position to summon the Lodge in manner and form as laid down in the Book of Constitutions . *
" The Board has also perused the reply to the < invitation , ' which sets forth the utter impossibility of summoning the members of No . 781 in sufficient time to nominate representatives , the period which would elapse between the receipt of the ' invitation and the hour appointed for the installation being only about fifty hours , and many of the members of Lodge 781 residing at a distance of upwards of twenty miles from Hobart Town .
"It appears that the next and last communication is the notice of suspension . " Tinder these circumstances the Lodge , properly as we think , determined to appeal to England , the suspension in the meantime having been confirmed by the Colonial Board , and the communication thereof made to the Brethren of No . 781—the matter certainly never having been brought forward in Grand Lodge so that it could be understood .
Hence the memorial which came before Grand Lodge on Wednesday , and which was , as we have endeavoured to show , summarily disposed of , without due consideration . Justice , stern justice , may have been meted out to the Hobart Town Brethren by ' the decision of Wednesday , but it is certainly not what we have a right to expect from Masons—justice tempered with mercy ; and we hope that before we
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Grand Lodge
No . 781 ontthe registry of the United Grand Lodge of England , having been requested by the W . M ., Bro . Charles Toby ^ to confer together ^ and advise him as to what steps he should adopt with reference to the notice of suspension by the R . W . Prov . Gr . M . Bro . Ewing , with every desire to act up to , and conform to the principles of the Constitution , cannot but view the extreme measure pursued by the R . W . the Prov . G . M ., by giving notice to
sister Lodges that he has taken upon himself to suspend Lodge 781 ^ as an unnecessary and premature stretch of his prerogative . " " The Board of Past Masters are of opinion that the proceedings of Bro . Ewing are unconstitutional and therefore arbitrary , inasmuch that he has neglected to ' summon either the Lodge or any Brother to attend him , and to produce the warrant , books , papers , and accounts of the Lodge , or the
certificate of the Brother / They are also of opinion , that had Bro . Ewing performed such part of his | uty as a Prov . Gr . M ., and his * summons had not been complied with , nor sufficient reason given for non-compliance / his proper and legitimate course of action would have been ' to have caused a peremptory summons to be issued ; ' and in case of € contumacy / and not until then , was he justified in suspending the Lodge .
" The Board has perused the correspondence which has taken place upon the subject ; and in the last letter which has passed thereon , Bro . Ewing , under date 11 th April , 1857 , thus writes : — " The installation of the Prov . G . M . of Tasmania ^ and constituting of the Prov . Grand Lodge , will take place on Wednesday evening , the 15 th inst ., at seven o'clock , at the Masonic Hall , Launceston ; the representatives of No . 781 are invited to attend '—clearly manifesting to the judgment of the
Board , that up to that time no act of' contumacy' had been committed , but on the contrary evidencing that in point of facts , Bro . Ewiiig was not then legally a Prov . G . M ., seeing that his Lodge had not been constituted , nor himself obligated nor installed ; and the Board are of opinion that his having issued merely an 'invitation , ' demonstrates that he was well aware he was not in a position to summon the Lodge in manner and form as laid down in the Book of Constitutions . *
" The Board has also perused the reply to the < invitation , ' which sets forth the utter impossibility of summoning the members of No . 781 in sufficient time to nominate representatives , the period which would elapse between the receipt of the ' invitation and the hour appointed for the installation being only about fifty hours , and many of the members of Lodge 781 residing at a distance of upwards of twenty miles from Hobart Town .
"It appears that the next and last communication is the notice of suspension . " Tinder these circumstances the Lodge , properly as we think , determined to appeal to England , the suspension in the meantime having been confirmed by the Colonial Board , and the communication thereof made to the Brethren of No . 781—the matter certainly never having been brought forward in Grand Lodge so that it could be understood .
Hence the memorial which came before Grand Lodge on Wednesday , and which was , as we have endeavoured to show , summarily disposed of , without due consideration . Justice , stern justice , may have been meted out to the Hobart Town Brethren by ' the decision of Wednesday , but it is certainly not what we have a right to expect from Masons—justice tempered with mercy ; and we hope that before we