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Article TIDINGS FROM THE CRAFT IN THE UNITED STA... ← Page 2 of 4 →
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Tidings From The Craft In The United Sta...
as soon as conveniently may be , to send an account in Avriting of Avhat may be done by virtue of these presents . j " Given at London , under our hand and seal of Masonry , this 29 th day of September , a . l . 5784 ; A . n . 1784 . ' By the Grand Master ' s command , : ( iitested ) '¦ " William T & ite , ¦ - ; G . ; S . " . : V " E . Holt , D . G . M . .
Upon the dlocunient is endorsed , as I have been informed : " Received 28 th Feb ., 1787 , of ^ ^ C warrant of coiistitutioii for the Africari Lodge at Boston . For the Grand Lodge of the Society of Free aM Accepted Masons , ^ Whi'Te , G . S . It M entirely upon the strength of this that the coloured Freem gone on to establish a " national Grand Lodge , " by warrant \ state Grand Lodges , '' they , suliordmate Lodges in larger nurribers . I have not the ^ Ip & rri that their ^ natiohW head assemble being at Omm ^ Lodge Pf Indiana , they have five subordinate Lod of membership of abo in that jurisdiction is 20 dols . ; and tliat Jonathan Davis , of Baltiniore , M ^ y ltod , ii the national Grand Secretary .
There are three defects in the basis under which these negroes are at Avork ^ each of Avhich , ac entertained in this country , is fatal to the legitimacy of their work . The first is , that the Grand Lodge of England had no right in 1784 to establish a Lodge at Boston , as ffi
Massachusetts , exercising authority there . The second is , that the warrant granted to the negroes in 1784 , gave them no authority to establish a Grand Lodge , still less a national Grand Lodge ; it was nothing more than an ordinary lodge-warrant . Third , the Avarrant itself requires annual returns to be made to the Grand Lodge of England , in failure of which it is forfeited . ^^
I have given more space to this matter than I should have done—from the fact that we have been accused in the United States of discountenancing these coloured Masons , merely because they are black . This is not true ; they are discountenaccd because they are irregular and clandestine . Their making is an outrage upon Masonic law and usage , and if they are recognized abroad , it is at the expense of that order and system which Masons everywhere are taught to revere .
The anniversary of St . John ( June 24 ) has been honoured this year with more than usual attention . The Richmond encampment of Knights Templar ( of Virginia ) paid a knightly visit in mass to their chivalric peers in Boston , Massachusetts , a distance of seven hundred miles . The newspapers are full of the event , the speeches , toasts , & c , and it is justly thought to give evidence of much vitality in Masonry . At Washington ,
district of Columbia , the Grand Lodge Avas addressed ( by previous appointment ) by your correspondent . At Wellsville , New York , a very large assembly had met in a church , when the floor gave way , and the whole of the company were precipitated into the cellar . More than thirty Avere severely hurt , but none killed .
Two eminent Masons have recently left us for the Lodge above , William R . Cannon , late Grand Master of the Masons of Mississippi , and Wilkins Jannehill , the author of " The Manual , " " The Masonic Portfolio , " and other works . The latter Avas one of our best writers . A quotation from his works is found as a motto on the title-page of " Dr . Oliver ' s " Historical Landmarks , " He Avas Grand Master of Tennessee for several years .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Tidings From The Craft In The United Sta...
as soon as conveniently may be , to send an account in Avriting of Avhat may be done by virtue of these presents . j " Given at London , under our hand and seal of Masonry , this 29 th day of September , a . l . 5784 ; A . n . 1784 . ' By the Grand Master ' s command , : ( iitested ) '¦ " William T & ite , ¦ - ; G . ; S . " . : V " E . Holt , D . G . M . .
Upon the dlocunient is endorsed , as I have been informed : " Received 28 th Feb ., 1787 , of ^ ^ C warrant of coiistitutioii for the Africari Lodge at Boston . For the Grand Lodge of the Society of Free aM Accepted Masons , ^ Whi'Te , G . S . It M entirely upon the strength of this that the coloured Freem gone on to establish a " national Grand Lodge , " by warrant \ state Grand Lodges , '' they , suliordmate Lodges in larger nurribers . I have not the ^ Ip & rri that their ^ natiohW head assemble being at Omm ^ Lodge Pf Indiana , they have five subordinate Lod of membership of abo in that jurisdiction is 20 dols . ; and tliat Jonathan Davis , of Baltiniore , M ^ y ltod , ii the national Grand Secretary .
There are three defects in the basis under which these negroes are at Avork ^ each of Avhich , ac entertained in this country , is fatal to the legitimacy of their work . The first is , that the Grand Lodge of England had no right in 1784 to establish a Lodge at Boston , as ffi
Massachusetts , exercising authority there . The second is , that the warrant granted to the negroes in 1784 , gave them no authority to establish a Grand Lodge , still less a national Grand Lodge ; it was nothing more than an ordinary lodge-warrant . Third , the Avarrant itself requires annual returns to be made to the Grand Lodge of England , in failure of which it is forfeited . ^^
I have given more space to this matter than I should have done—from the fact that we have been accused in the United States of discountenancing these coloured Masons , merely because they are black . This is not true ; they are discountenaccd because they are irregular and clandestine . Their making is an outrage upon Masonic law and usage , and if they are recognized abroad , it is at the expense of that order and system which Masons everywhere are taught to revere .
The anniversary of St . John ( June 24 ) has been honoured this year with more than usual attention . The Richmond encampment of Knights Templar ( of Virginia ) paid a knightly visit in mass to their chivalric peers in Boston , Massachusetts , a distance of seven hundred miles . The newspapers are full of the event , the speeches , toasts , & c , and it is justly thought to give evidence of much vitality in Masonry . At Washington ,
district of Columbia , the Grand Lodge Avas addressed ( by previous appointment ) by your correspondent . At Wellsville , New York , a very large assembly had met in a church , when the floor gave way , and the whole of the company were precipitated into the cellar . More than thirty Avere severely hurt , but none killed .
Two eminent Masons have recently left us for the Lodge above , William R . Cannon , late Grand Master of the Masons of Mississippi , and Wilkins Jannehill , the author of " The Manual , " " The Masonic Portfolio , " and other works . The latter Avas one of our best writers . A quotation from his works is found as a motto on the title-page of " Dr . Oliver ' s " Historical Landmarks , " He Avas Grand Master of Tennessee for several years .