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Article CORRESPONDENCE. ← Page 3 of 3
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Correspondence.
" Seek and ye shall find . Ask and ye shall have . Knock and the door shall he opened unto you . " I remain , dear Sir and Brother , yours faithfully , E . E . X , Srd July , I 860 .
TO THE EDITOR OP TIIE FKKEMASOXS' -HAGAZIXE AND MASONIC MIKKOB DEAR SIR ASD BUOTFIER , —The gratuitous assumptions and trill ) ' mifraternal tone of the letter of your anonymous correspondent , who dubs himself " Anti-Spurious Mark , " in the last number of your valuable periodical , are so glaring that , as one of the bodj' - assailed by him , although greatly averse to a paper war , I cannot , in justice to myself , sit down silently under the
unwarrantable aspersions which he has cast upon myself and other brethren of the Mark degree , owing , I am willing in Masonic charity to hope , to a misconception of the facts of the case . In claiming from you the space for a reply ( which shall he as brief as possible ) to the remarks of your correspondent , on what he is pleased , very fraternally (!) to term " the precious proceedings of that modest something that has thrust itself before the
Craft , under the high sounding title of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masonry 1 " and his allusion to "the new system of obstructive tactics to be pursued by the opposition , " it is not my intention to constitute myself the champion of either the Earl of Carnarvon , Bros . Cole , or Stebbing , against whom personally his attacks are more particularly directed , those brethren being doubtless well able to fight their own battles should they deem it meet to take the field against an opponent who , to mask his purposes , invisibl y lurks under cover whilst assailing them with his paper pellets of the brain .
My object is merely to protest , on behalf of myself and the brethren of this province who accompanied me to the meeting , against the aspersions of "Anti-Spurious Mark , " and which I most emphatically repel and deny . - Ancl it would , I think , have been well if that brother , whilst penning the remarks quoted above , and others dispersed through his letter , have borne in mind what he appears so utterly to have forgotten , one of the
principal points of his obligations as a Master Mason . I would here , Bro . Editor , beg to express the regret felt b y myself , and I know , also , by many other brethren , that you should inadvertently , on several occasions , have permitted the insertion in your columns of letters containing strong personalities ; which have tended not only to injure what is an invaluable organ of the Craftancl which ought to receive universal support from
, the fraternity , but what is of far more consequence , have had the effect , to my knowledge , of lowering the Order in the estimation of your non-Masonic readers , by giving them , alas ! too good grounds for asserting that the love ancl harmony ivhich we are told ought always to characterize Freemasons , exists only in name , and such an effect would , I think , be produced by the tone of the letter in question .
Whether any one of the members of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters is actuated by the motives so sweepingly charged against all of them by "Anti-Spurious Mark , " I know not , but this I do know , that , even granting- this to be the case , if he thinks the old
adage , A . uno disce omnes , applicable here , he is greatly deceived ; for I believe that , as a body , none of the Fraternity are more loyal to the noble earl who lias so long , so ably , and so worthily presided over English Craft Masonry than are the members of the Order who have ranged themselves under the banner of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters of England and Wales , established under the rule of Lord Leigh , only because the Grand Lodge of
England persisted in repudiating the degree . Nor can this body collectively be justly charged as constituting " an opposition to the existing powers of Masonry , " and as intending to pursue a " new system of obstructive tactics" in the Grand Lodge , at lea . t I can positively state of my own knowledge that this charge does not apply to any one of the numerous body of Mark Masters in this province .
And now a few words as to thc alleged spurious and schismatic character of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters of England . Let me ask "Anti-Spurious Mark" what has been the practice in the formation of existing Grand Lodges ? Not to travel farther from homo , how came the Grand Lodge of England into existence' ? If I have read and recollect its history aright , on the revival of Masonry in 1717 the representatives of some seven or eiht
, g hedges , then existing in London , met together and constituted themselves a-Grand Lodge pro tempore , and from this body the present Grand Lodge was originally derived , they being at the time schismatic as regarded the Antient Grand Lodge at York . How came the Grand Lodge , of Scotland and Ireland , and , above
I all , the more recently formed Grand Chapter of Scotland ( of whose doings ive have heard so much ) into existence , but in a somewhat analogous manner ? Not having been advanced at tho time , I did not participate in thc formation of thc Grand Lodge of Mark Masters under that amiable nobleman Lord Leigh , but I have always understood that it emanated from a general meeting of the representatives of-Marl
-Lodges summoned together by circulars addressed to every Mark Lodge known to be existing in England at the time . Many of these Lodges , like the one attached ( if I may use the expression ) to the Newstead Lodge , at Nottingham , in which I was advanced , and another formerly existing in connexion with Lodge No , 58 , at Hinckley , in this province , were held under authority of their old Atholl Lodge warrantsand have continued to confer the
, degree of Mark Master from the union to the present time , although the degree was repudiated by the United Grand Lodge at that period ; and as the representatives of several of these Lodges were present on the occasion , as well as those more recently formed , the meeting could not possibly be schismatic , so far , at least , as the old Lodges were concerned , there being at the time no supreme authority regulating the degree in this country ,
If the Grand Lodges of Craft Masonry were held to be , as they doubtless are , legal and constitutional bodies , by a parity of reasoning the Mark Grand Lodge , similarly established , must be so also . At all events I would ask by what right the Grand Chapter of Scotland can claim to exercise , as it were , an imperium in imperio , by granting warrants for the establishment of Mark Lodges in the territory of the Grand Lodge of Englandeven in its head
, quarters , London ? It is a well known axiom of law that no foreign prince or potentate can exercise power or authority in this realm of England , and surely this rule is applicable to Masonry—Does the Grand Lodge of England assume to itself the power to establish Lodges in Scotland or Ireland ? I most cordially concur in the desire of "Anti-Spurious Mark " that "the genuine degree may be attached to the Grand Lodge
of England , " and such , I am informed , has always heen the earnest wish of the founders of the Mark Grand Lodge , and that it was not until every effort had been tried in vain to induce the Grand Lodge of England definitely to recognize this beautiful degree ( which never ought to have been discarded ) , that an independent Grand Lodge was formed ; and I believe it was stated explicitly at the time that the Grand Master of the Mark only held office nntu
it should please the Grand Lodge of England to recognize the degree , when he was prepared to resign his functions to Lord Zetland . I well remember , some few years ago ( I believe in March , 1856 ) , being present in Grand Lodge when a report was presented from a committee appointed to investigate the subject ( of whom our venerable Bro . White was one ) , and which recommended the recognition of the Mark , not as a separate degree , but as a graceful
adjunct to the degree of Fellow Craft , and which report was adopted , and the order of Mark Masonry consequently recognised hy Grand Lodge until the next quarterly communication , when this decision ( unfortunately , as I " conceive ) , ivas reversed by the non-confirmation of that portion of the minutes . It ivas the information conveyed in this report which chiefly induced me to take the degree , and to assist in the spread of Mark Masonry in this province . When "Anti-Spurious Mark" says , "The Board of Generaf Purposes must forbid its ( the Mark ) jewel
being seen m any Craft Lodge , and the committee of General Purposes for the Royal Arch must likewise prohibit its being worn , under any circumstances , in every Chapter amenable to its authority , —the days of Mark Masonry , as schismatic , must be numbered , " he appears here , as in other parts of his letter , to he giving vent to a vindictive tone of personal feeling , and at the same time to overlook the fact—that what he requires the Craft
authorities to do , is already embodied in the Book of Constitutions , and I may tell him , that although I am a staunch advocate for the beautiful degree of Mark Master , yet in my official capacity in the Craft and Royal Arch degrees , I do not sanction the violation of the law as regards either the jeivel of the Mark degree , or of those higher grades to which he has referred as being personally attached , both alike being unrecognized by the Grand
Lodge and Grand Chapter of England . Apologising for trespassing so largely on your valuable space , and regretting that the tone of your anonymous correspondent ' ., remarks should have compelled me , in justification , to deny his deductions , and to intrude upon you , I take leave of the subject , and in so doing append my name . Remaining yours fraternally , AVILLIAM KELLY , D . Prov . G . M ., Prov . G . H ., and Prov . Grand Mark Master of Leicestershire . Leicester , July ith , 1860 .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
" Seek and ye shall find . Ask and ye shall have . Knock and the door shall he opened unto you . " I remain , dear Sir and Brother , yours faithfully , E . E . X , Srd July , I 860 .
TO THE EDITOR OP TIIE FKKEMASOXS' -HAGAZIXE AND MASONIC MIKKOB DEAR SIR ASD BUOTFIER , —The gratuitous assumptions and trill ) ' mifraternal tone of the letter of your anonymous correspondent , who dubs himself " Anti-Spurious Mark , " in the last number of your valuable periodical , are so glaring that , as one of the bodj' - assailed by him , although greatly averse to a paper war , I cannot , in justice to myself , sit down silently under the
unwarrantable aspersions which he has cast upon myself and other brethren of the Mark degree , owing , I am willing in Masonic charity to hope , to a misconception of the facts of the case . In claiming from you the space for a reply ( which shall he as brief as possible ) to the remarks of your correspondent , on what he is pleased , very fraternally (!) to term " the precious proceedings of that modest something that has thrust itself before the
Craft , under the high sounding title of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masonry 1 " and his allusion to "the new system of obstructive tactics to be pursued by the opposition , " it is not my intention to constitute myself the champion of either the Earl of Carnarvon , Bros . Cole , or Stebbing , against whom personally his attacks are more particularly directed , those brethren being doubtless well able to fight their own battles should they deem it meet to take the field against an opponent who , to mask his purposes , invisibl y lurks under cover whilst assailing them with his paper pellets of the brain .
My object is merely to protest , on behalf of myself and the brethren of this province who accompanied me to the meeting , against the aspersions of "Anti-Spurious Mark , " and which I most emphatically repel and deny . - Ancl it would , I think , have been well if that brother , whilst penning the remarks quoted above , and others dispersed through his letter , have borne in mind what he appears so utterly to have forgotten , one of the
principal points of his obligations as a Master Mason . I would here , Bro . Editor , beg to express the regret felt b y myself , and I know , also , by many other brethren , that you should inadvertently , on several occasions , have permitted the insertion in your columns of letters containing strong personalities ; which have tended not only to injure what is an invaluable organ of the Craftancl which ought to receive universal support from
, the fraternity , but what is of far more consequence , have had the effect , to my knowledge , of lowering the Order in the estimation of your non-Masonic readers , by giving them , alas ! too good grounds for asserting that the love ancl harmony ivhich we are told ought always to characterize Freemasons , exists only in name , and such an effect would , I think , be produced by the tone of the letter in question .
Whether any one of the members of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters is actuated by the motives so sweepingly charged against all of them by "Anti-Spurious Mark , " I know not , but this I do know , that , even granting- this to be the case , if he thinks the old
adage , A . uno disce omnes , applicable here , he is greatly deceived ; for I believe that , as a body , none of the Fraternity are more loyal to the noble earl who lias so long , so ably , and so worthily presided over English Craft Masonry than are the members of the Order who have ranged themselves under the banner of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters of England and Wales , established under the rule of Lord Leigh , only because the Grand Lodge of
England persisted in repudiating the degree . Nor can this body collectively be justly charged as constituting " an opposition to the existing powers of Masonry , " and as intending to pursue a " new system of obstructive tactics" in the Grand Lodge , at lea . t I can positively state of my own knowledge that this charge does not apply to any one of the numerous body of Mark Masters in this province .
And now a few words as to thc alleged spurious and schismatic character of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters of England . Let me ask "Anti-Spurious Mark" what has been the practice in the formation of existing Grand Lodges ? Not to travel farther from homo , how came the Grand Lodge of England into existence' ? If I have read and recollect its history aright , on the revival of Masonry in 1717 the representatives of some seven or eiht
, g hedges , then existing in London , met together and constituted themselves a-Grand Lodge pro tempore , and from this body the present Grand Lodge was originally derived , they being at the time schismatic as regarded the Antient Grand Lodge at York . How came the Grand Lodge , of Scotland and Ireland , and , above
I all , the more recently formed Grand Chapter of Scotland ( of whose doings ive have heard so much ) into existence , but in a somewhat analogous manner ? Not having been advanced at tho time , I did not participate in thc formation of thc Grand Lodge of Mark Masters under that amiable nobleman Lord Leigh , but I have always understood that it emanated from a general meeting of the representatives of-Marl
-Lodges summoned together by circulars addressed to every Mark Lodge known to be existing in England at the time . Many of these Lodges , like the one attached ( if I may use the expression ) to the Newstead Lodge , at Nottingham , in which I was advanced , and another formerly existing in connexion with Lodge No , 58 , at Hinckley , in this province , were held under authority of their old Atholl Lodge warrantsand have continued to confer the
, degree of Mark Master from the union to the present time , although the degree was repudiated by the United Grand Lodge at that period ; and as the representatives of several of these Lodges were present on the occasion , as well as those more recently formed , the meeting could not possibly be schismatic , so far , at least , as the old Lodges were concerned , there being at the time no supreme authority regulating the degree in this country ,
If the Grand Lodges of Craft Masonry were held to be , as they doubtless are , legal and constitutional bodies , by a parity of reasoning the Mark Grand Lodge , similarly established , must be so also . At all events I would ask by what right the Grand Chapter of Scotland can claim to exercise , as it were , an imperium in imperio , by granting warrants for the establishment of Mark Lodges in the territory of the Grand Lodge of Englandeven in its head
, quarters , London ? It is a well known axiom of law that no foreign prince or potentate can exercise power or authority in this realm of England , and surely this rule is applicable to Masonry—Does the Grand Lodge of England assume to itself the power to establish Lodges in Scotland or Ireland ? I most cordially concur in the desire of "Anti-Spurious Mark " that "the genuine degree may be attached to the Grand Lodge
of England , " and such , I am informed , has always heen the earnest wish of the founders of the Mark Grand Lodge , and that it was not until every effort had been tried in vain to induce the Grand Lodge of England definitely to recognize this beautiful degree ( which never ought to have been discarded ) , that an independent Grand Lodge was formed ; and I believe it was stated explicitly at the time that the Grand Master of the Mark only held office nntu
it should please the Grand Lodge of England to recognize the degree , when he was prepared to resign his functions to Lord Zetland . I well remember , some few years ago ( I believe in March , 1856 ) , being present in Grand Lodge when a report was presented from a committee appointed to investigate the subject ( of whom our venerable Bro . White was one ) , and which recommended the recognition of the Mark , not as a separate degree , but as a graceful
adjunct to the degree of Fellow Craft , and which report was adopted , and the order of Mark Masonry consequently recognised hy Grand Lodge until the next quarterly communication , when this decision ( unfortunately , as I " conceive ) , ivas reversed by the non-confirmation of that portion of the minutes . It ivas the information conveyed in this report which chiefly induced me to take the degree , and to assist in the spread of Mark Masonry in this province . When "Anti-Spurious Mark" says , "The Board of Generaf Purposes must forbid its ( the Mark ) jewel
being seen m any Craft Lodge , and the committee of General Purposes for the Royal Arch must likewise prohibit its being worn , under any circumstances , in every Chapter amenable to its authority , —the days of Mark Masonry , as schismatic , must be numbered , " he appears here , as in other parts of his letter , to he giving vent to a vindictive tone of personal feeling , and at the same time to overlook the fact—that what he requires the Craft
authorities to do , is already embodied in the Book of Constitutions , and I may tell him , that although I am a staunch advocate for the beautiful degree of Mark Master , yet in my official capacity in the Craft and Royal Arch degrees , I do not sanction the violation of the law as regards either the jeivel of the Mark degree , or of those higher grades to which he has referred as being personally attached , both alike being unrecognized by the Grand
Lodge and Grand Chapter of England . Apologising for trespassing so largely on your valuable space , and regretting that the tone of your anonymous correspondent ' ., remarks should have compelled me , in justification , to deny his deductions , and to intrude upon you , I take leave of the subject , and in so doing append my name . Remaining yours fraternally , AVILLIAM KELLY , D . Prov . G . M ., Prov . G . H ., and Prov . Grand Mark Master of Leicestershire . Leicester , July ith , 1860 .