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Article TO THE EDITOR. ← Page 3 of 4 →
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To The Editor.
—her enrichino- manufactories—and her wonder-working architect , Grainger ; who ° turns deformity into beauty , and dilapidation into strength / with the power and rapidity of a magician ; -to Sumlerand with her surprising iron bridge , that , striding from hi to hil , aim its the passage of bulky mercantile navies beneath its exalted and colossi arch—and upon the banks of whose teeming river whole forests are conto tr the most distant seas ; -and to Hull
verted into shipping , averse , with her extensive commerce , outgrowing the accommodation ot her capacious docks-her political animosities exceeding even , and-sometimes destroying her mercantile operations-and her whimsical statue ofthe excellent Wilberforce , seemingly striving to smother the unhallowed flames of partv strife , as Gulliver quenched the palatial fire m Lilhput ,
-and by the self-same means . And intending now to be in ^ onuou manv days before this will issue from the press of our excellent brother AVilcockson , I must leave to the wavering dictum of that coy damsel Uncertainty , to determine whether or not I may yet add another to these excursive epistles . . , . - But I must not close this communication without adverting to a . tew of the evils that are natural consequences of the want of uniformity in under the separate
the general and local discip line of Freemasons government of the Grand Lodges of England and Scotland . In England , the qualification of mature age , the hig her rates of admission tees , and the condition that every Mason shall have been a subscribing member to a Lodge for at least two years before he can have any claim on the General Fund of Benevolence , or fairly for any charitable assistance out of his Mother together insure a better class of candidates
Lodge , for the honours of the Craft , and more stable and efficient members ot the Fraternity . That the Scottish practice , which differs so essentially , is productive of great evil , there is scarcely a Lodge in the northern counties of England that cannot testify ; more particularly with reference to the immense number of app lications for relief received from profess-P , ilv inrlimnt Scottish Brethren . A comparatively easy admission fee ,
and the non-enforcement of further contribution either to the Mother or to the Grand Lodge , act as a sort of premium for the increase ot Masonic pauperism ; and , doubtless , send many a man across the Border to take his chance of subsisting , during his peregrinations , on Masonic benevolence . By this imperfect system , also , Scotland is continually extending the numbers , and yet doing nothing to consolidate th * dti-Pn-rth . of Freemasonrv . It would not be going too far to say , that
she is rather contributive to its weakness , in every moral point ot view ; and is now gradually destroying the hig h character which she attained in remote periods among the most powerful and chivalrous Orders throughout the world . Indeed so universally and mischievously is the principle of extension applied in Scotland , that the member who has introduced the greatest number of candidates , and not the most efficient practical Mason , has the best chance of promotion to office . And in aid of its application , the first honours or a subsequent degree in treemasonrv . is freouentlv conferred on half-a-dozen candidates at the same
time ! How much this must trench on the decorum of the proceedings —gravity is out of the question—I leave any candid reader , whether Scottish or English , to determine . , Another evil effect from the absence of proper discipline , and equally consequent on the system I venture to condemn , may be best illustrated by what occurred , under my own observation , in one
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
To The Editor.
—her enrichino- manufactories—and her wonder-working architect , Grainger ; who ° turns deformity into beauty , and dilapidation into strength / with the power and rapidity of a magician ; -to Sumlerand with her surprising iron bridge , that , striding from hi to hil , aim its the passage of bulky mercantile navies beneath its exalted and colossi arch—and upon the banks of whose teeming river whole forests are conto tr the most distant seas ; -and to Hull
verted into shipping , averse , with her extensive commerce , outgrowing the accommodation ot her capacious docks-her political animosities exceeding even , and-sometimes destroying her mercantile operations-and her whimsical statue ofthe excellent Wilberforce , seemingly striving to smother the unhallowed flames of partv strife , as Gulliver quenched the palatial fire m Lilhput ,
-and by the self-same means . And intending now to be in ^ onuou manv days before this will issue from the press of our excellent brother AVilcockson , I must leave to the wavering dictum of that coy damsel Uncertainty , to determine whether or not I may yet add another to these excursive epistles . . , . - But I must not close this communication without adverting to a . tew of the evils that are natural consequences of the want of uniformity in under the separate
the general and local discip line of Freemasons government of the Grand Lodges of England and Scotland . In England , the qualification of mature age , the hig her rates of admission tees , and the condition that every Mason shall have been a subscribing member to a Lodge for at least two years before he can have any claim on the General Fund of Benevolence , or fairly for any charitable assistance out of his Mother together insure a better class of candidates
Lodge , for the honours of the Craft , and more stable and efficient members ot the Fraternity . That the Scottish practice , which differs so essentially , is productive of great evil , there is scarcely a Lodge in the northern counties of England that cannot testify ; more particularly with reference to the immense number of app lications for relief received from profess-P , ilv inrlimnt Scottish Brethren . A comparatively easy admission fee ,
and the non-enforcement of further contribution either to the Mother or to the Grand Lodge , act as a sort of premium for the increase ot Masonic pauperism ; and , doubtless , send many a man across the Border to take his chance of subsisting , during his peregrinations , on Masonic benevolence . By this imperfect system , also , Scotland is continually extending the numbers , and yet doing nothing to consolidate th * dti-Pn-rth . of Freemasonrv . It would not be going too far to say , that
she is rather contributive to its weakness , in every moral point ot view ; and is now gradually destroying the hig h character which she attained in remote periods among the most powerful and chivalrous Orders throughout the world . Indeed so universally and mischievously is the principle of extension applied in Scotland , that the member who has introduced the greatest number of candidates , and not the most efficient practical Mason , has the best chance of promotion to office . And in aid of its application , the first honours or a subsequent degree in treemasonrv . is freouentlv conferred on half-a-dozen candidates at the same
time ! How much this must trench on the decorum of the proceedings —gravity is out of the question—I leave any candid reader , whether Scottish or English , to determine . , Another evil effect from the absence of proper discipline , and equally consequent on the system I venture to condemn , may be best illustrated by what occurred , under my own observation , in one