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  • March 1, 1857
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The Masonic Observer, March 1, 1857: Page 8

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    Article "ADDRESS TO THE CRAFT, BY A PAST MASTER." Page 1 of 3 →
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

"Address To The Craft, By A Past Master."

"ADDRESS TO THE CRAFT , BY A PAST MASTER . "

" " | 7 "EEP me from my friends , " is an adage , which if JA _ it he old , has the advantage of truth , and never more so , we believe , than on the present occasion . Often indeed within the last month must this have occurred to W . Masons on the Dais , upon a perusal of a singular document which has been sedulously circulated through

the Craft , as their self-constituted apology , under the title of " Address to the Craft . " When first we heard how severely our columns were taken to task , and were favoured with a copy of this voluminous epistle , we must own to a feeling of dismay at the three folio pages of close printbristling with precedentscriticismdark

, , , sayings of Bacon , and a somewhat trite quotation of Horace . But second thoughts are best , and on a careful perusal we must admit that nothing we have ever said or thought of the Dais is one-quarter so self-stultifying , or so self-condemnatory to them , as is this notable composition . The feeble allegations , the

unanswered charges , the avoidance of weak points , the statement of irrelevant topics , are so remarkable , that in justice to ourselves , we must disclaim any covert share in its fabrication , as an ingenious method of advertising our own opinions . We should however have preferred to pass it by in silenceand to have

, trusted the respective merits of ourselves , and our anonymous contemporary , to the judgment of the Craft , but for the allegation of inaccuracy brought against our report of the proceedings in G . L . In replying to this we think it due to ourselves to touch—though as briefly

as we can—upon the other charges preferred . These fall under six distinct heads . We are accused— -1 . Of inaccuracy in our reports . 2 . Of " an antagonistic spirit , " which we have evinced . 3 . Of a misrepresentation cf the character and measures of the Dais . 4 . Of factious conduct in asserting for G . L . the right of adjournment . 5 . Of sanctioning an

aggression on the Craft by one Lodge . And 6 , of publishing—for we have never written one line in favour of —the details of a Provincial Mess . I . The inaccuracy of our Report . We deny the charge in toto , and when thus pressed we must sacrifice delicacy to truthand with regret we must replthat

, y the Past-Master says " the thing which is not . " Were we to deviate by one hair ' s-breadth from a faithful statement of the proceedings , we should stand self-convicted , and our circulation , as a paper , would be gone . But if we may reveal to our readers some of the mysteries of the printing house , there is a yet more practical

refutation to the charge in the fact , that the reports of the G . L . proceedings were furnished to ourselves , and to the "Magazine " ( on which the Past-Master lavishes so much praise ) , by one and the same very able and accurate person . A comparison of the two publications will prove the absence of any real discrepancy . But if the

full reports are thus shewn to be true , the fairness of the summary can be tested at the pleasure of the reader . We are at his mercy , and he has only to turn the pages and to compare the accounts in full and in brief . We will however deal with the instance which the

Past-Master cites against us , and which he evidently thinks conclusive . He states as a proof of the misrepresentations contained in our second number;— -1 . " That the Dais opposed the appointment of a Colonial Board of General Purposes . " S . " That it opposed the circulation throughout the Province of the business to be brought before G . L . " And 3 " That a noble brother

, moved to refer the communication of the M . W . the G . M . to the Board which you have appointed . " Now with the exception of the third allegation we are prepared , with the utmost confidence , to reassert these statements . That third instance , which is quoted with so much triumph is , as we should have thought it was self-evident ,

—a typographical error . At the adjourned G . L . of October , Lord CARNARVON , in a speech on the Canadian claims , had moved and carried , " To refer the G . M . ' s communication to the Board which had been ajrpoiuted ;" and when the re-appointment of that Board was reconfirmed in the special G . L ., of Nov . 19 ththe G . M .

, agreed to that proposal in the words which the Past-Master quotes . The paragraph which follows in our columns upon this is headed , in undeniably large type , " Circulating the Paper of Business in the Country , " as the heading of another speech of Lord CARNARVON on that subject ; but an inadvertence on the part of the

printer—for even the best-regulated printers are like other mortals , liable to err — the concluding words of the G . M . have been repeated . We will not speak so meanly of the Past-Master ' s penetration as to say that he believes the transparent fallacy which he thus utters , but as he is fond of Latin quotations , we will make to him the reply which was once made to the most mendacious hero of

antiquity" Hon tali auxilio nee defensonbus istis Tempus eget . " The two other cases we may safely leave to the discrimination of our readers . We do not hesitate to re-affirm them . We repeat that the Dais did oppose the appointment of the Colonial Board , when Bro . DOBIE twice , Bro . HALL once , and Bro . HAVERS twiceduring the

, course of the debate , objected to the motion . Neither did we state , on insufficient grounds , that the Dais had opposed the motion for the circulation of the business paper among the country lodges , when Bros . DOBIE and HAVERS twice interposed , in a vain attempt , to defeat the measure , and even the G . M . was induced to cover

their retreat by expressing his entire dissent from the proposal as it stood . II . As to " the antagonistic spirit " which we have evinced , and other similar generalities , it is not so easy to bring the Past-Master to book , as when he imprudently commits himself to the region of hard facts , which

are susceptible of proof or disproof . But the expressions of " party , " of " faction , " of " assumption of public position , " and such like , unequivocally betray a belief in some other " party , " whose notions are at variance with the constitutional maxims which we have advocated , in official honours , to which the profane must not aspire , and hi an exclusive right to speak and act in the affairs of the Craft . "When I ope my mouth let no dog dare

“The Masonic Observer: 1857-03-01, Page 8” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 28 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mob/issues/mob_01031857/page/8/.
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Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 2
Untitled Article 3
Untitled Article 3
Untitled Article 4
GRAND LODGE OF EMERGENCY. Article 4
"ADDRESS TO THE CRAFT, BY A PAST MASTER." Article 8
Untitled Article 10
Untitled Article 10
MEMORIAL FROM THE PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF CANADA WEST. Article 10
BRO. THE EARL OF CARNARVON AT BATH. Article 12
A VALENTINE SOMEWHAT OVERDUE. Article 13
"THE MASONIC OBSERVER" TO HIS SHAMELESS LITTLE MUSE. Article 13
Untitled Article 14
Correspondence. Article 14
Untitled Article 15
From the " Canadian Masonic Pioneer." Article 16
Untitled Article 16
Untitled Article 16
"THE EARLY WITHDRAWAL OF THE BENEVOLENT—A LESSON TO SURVIVORS." Article 16
Untitled Article 16
Untitled Article 16
Untitled Article 16
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

"Address To The Craft, By A Past Master."

"ADDRESS TO THE CRAFT , BY A PAST MASTER . "

" " | 7 "EEP me from my friends , " is an adage , which if JA _ it he old , has the advantage of truth , and never more so , we believe , than on the present occasion . Often indeed within the last month must this have occurred to W . Masons on the Dais , upon a perusal of a singular document which has been sedulously circulated through

the Craft , as their self-constituted apology , under the title of " Address to the Craft . " When first we heard how severely our columns were taken to task , and were favoured with a copy of this voluminous epistle , we must own to a feeling of dismay at the three folio pages of close printbristling with precedentscriticismdark

, , , sayings of Bacon , and a somewhat trite quotation of Horace . But second thoughts are best , and on a careful perusal we must admit that nothing we have ever said or thought of the Dais is one-quarter so self-stultifying , or so self-condemnatory to them , as is this notable composition . The feeble allegations , the

unanswered charges , the avoidance of weak points , the statement of irrelevant topics , are so remarkable , that in justice to ourselves , we must disclaim any covert share in its fabrication , as an ingenious method of advertising our own opinions . We should however have preferred to pass it by in silenceand to have

, trusted the respective merits of ourselves , and our anonymous contemporary , to the judgment of the Craft , but for the allegation of inaccuracy brought against our report of the proceedings in G . L . In replying to this we think it due to ourselves to touch—though as briefly

as we can—upon the other charges preferred . These fall under six distinct heads . We are accused— -1 . Of inaccuracy in our reports . 2 . Of " an antagonistic spirit , " which we have evinced . 3 . Of a misrepresentation cf the character and measures of the Dais . 4 . Of factious conduct in asserting for G . L . the right of adjournment . 5 . Of sanctioning an

aggression on the Craft by one Lodge . And 6 , of publishing—for we have never written one line in favour of —the details of a Provincial Mess . I . The inaccuracy of our Report . We deny the charge in toto , and when thus pressed we must sacrifice delicacy to truthand with regret we must replthat

, y the Past-Master says " the thing which is not . " Were we to deviate by one hair ' s-breadth from a faithful statement of the proceedings , we should stand self-convicted , and our circulation , as a paper , would be gone . But if we may reveal to our readers some of the mysteries of the printing house , there is a yet more practical

refutation to the charge in the fact , that the reports of the G . L . proceedings were furnished to ourselves , and to the "Magazine " ( on which the Past-Master lavishes so much praise ) , by one and the same very able and accurate person . A comparison of the two publications will prove the absence of any real discrepancy . But if the

full reports are thus shewn to be true , the fairness of the summary can be tested at the pleasure of the reader . We are at his mercy , and he has only to turn the pages and to compare the accounts in full and in brief . We will however deal with the instance which the

Past-Master cites against us , and which he evidently thinks conclusive . He states as a proof of the misrepresentations contained in our second number;— -1 . " That the Dais opposed the appointment of a Colonial Board of General Purposes . " S . " That it opposed the circulation throughout the Province of the business to be brought before G . L . " And 3 " That a noble brother

, moved to refer the communication of the M . W . the G . M . to the Board which you have appointed . " Now with the exception of the third allegation we are prepared , with the utmost confidence , to reassert these statements . That third instance , which is quoted with so much triumph is , as we should have thought it was self-evident ,

—a typographical error . At the adjourned G . L . of October , Lord CARNARVON , in a speech on the Canadian claims , had moved and carried , " To refer the G . M . ' s communication to the Board which had been ajrpoiuted ;" and when the re-appointment of that Board was reconfirmed in the special G . L ., of Nov . 19 ththe G . M .

, agreed to that proposal in the words which the Past-Master quotes . The paragraph which follows in our columns upon this is headed , in undeniably large type , " Circulating the Paper of Business in the Country , " as the heading of another speech of Lord CARNARVON on that subject ; but an inadvertence on the part of the

printer—for even the best-regulated printers are like other mortals , liable to err — the concluding words of the G . M . have been repeated . We will not speak so meanly of the Past-Master ' s penetration as to say that he believes the transparent fallacy which he thus utters , but as he is fond of Latin quotations , we will make to him the reply which was once made to the most mendacious hero of

antiquity" Hon tali auxilio nee defensonbus istis Tempus eget . " The two other cases we may safely leave to the discrimination of our readers . We do not hesitate to re-affirm them . We repeat that the Dais did oppose the appointment of the Colonial Board , when Bro . DOBIE twice , Bro . HALL once , and Bro . HAVERS twiceduring the

, course of the debate , objected to the motion . Neither did we state , on insufficient grounds , that the Dais had opposed the motion for the circulation of the business paper among the country lodges , when Bros . DOBIE and HAVERS twice interposed , in a vain attempt , to defeat the measure , and even the G . M . was induced to cover

their retreat by expressing his entire dissent from the proposal as it stood . II . As to " the antagonistic spirit " which we have evinced , and other similar generalities , it is not so easy to bring the Past-Master to book , as when he imprudently commits himself to the region of hard facts , which

are susceptible of proof or disproof . But the expressions of " party , " of " faction , " of " assumption of public position , " and such like , unequivocally betray a belief in some other " party , " whose notions are at variance with the constitutional maxims which we have advocated , in official honours , to which the profane must not aspire , and hi an exclusive right to speak and act in the affairs of the Craft . "When I ope my mouth let no dog dare

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