LINTON was installed as Grand Master on June 19, 1806, by Deputy Grand Master Hoffman, who had a special commission to perform that office from the retiring Grand Master, who, for some reason or other, probably political, did not care to be present. When the formal ceremonies were over and Clinton assumed the gavel, Hoffman brought the installation proceedings to a close by delivering "a neat perspicuous address to the Grand Master elect explanatory of the Masonic duties imposed by the office into which he had just been installed." The other officials were then installed by the Deputy Grand Master, and the new chief announced that he had re-appointed Hoffman as Deputy and John Wells as Secretary. The Grand Master then delivered an address to the Lodge, "elegant in its diction and replete with Masonic instruction." From it we make the following extract:

The principle of association, which is implanted in our nature by the author and dispenser of all good, is calculated to produce the same beneficial end in the moral, that the power of attraction does in the natural world. This propensity to associate may be observed in every stage of society, from the rude hunter of the forest to the polished inhabitant of the city; from the first elements of simple societies to the more complicated and expanded associations. Whether it is an instinct or a habit; whether it is the dictate of powerful unerring nature, operating for the benefit of the subject, or the results of prudence and reason, consulting individual as well as general good, is not necessary to investigate. We feel and we know that it predominates over our

species; that it operates with the power of both those causes; and that, whether it exhibits itself in families, in literary and benevolent institutions, or in nations its spirit is good and its object beneficial. The absence of this principle in men, or in other animals, is generally attended with ferocious and sanguinary propensities, and wherever it prevails, we find our nature improved, our felicities increased, and the general condition of societies constructed. The gloomy anchorite, the unfeeling fanatic, and the repulsive misanthropist, always enshrouded themselves in solitude, and seek in vain for that happiness which they failed of obtaining on the busy theatre of the world. Independent of those associations which may be denominated natural, we observe voluntary societies springing up in a thousand shapes, for the improvement of our physical, mental or moral faculties. Of all the institutions, however, which have been established for the purpose of improving our condition, none are more numerous and more beneficial than charitable ones, which are as diversified as the various wants and miseries of man.

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Amongst associations of this description, Freemasonry stands as pre-eminent in usefulness as it is in age. * In countries where one man's happiness is the cause of all men's misery, we observe with astonishment the ardor with which our institutions is cultivated, and the eagerness with which it is embraced by all descriptions of men; but our astonishment must cease when we reflect that it inculcates the natural equality of mankind; it declares that all brethren are upon the level; it admits of no rank except the priority of merit, and its only aristocracy is the nobility of virtue. The avidity, therefore, with which men resort in despotic countries to the standard of Freemasonry is the effort of nature to recover her original rights, and to surmount the corruptions of society. Amidst the pleasing intercourse of brethren, the artificial distinctions of rank and office and the advantages of wealth are lost. Seeing the strong hold which

Masonry has upon the human heart; that it entwines itself with the best sympathies of our nature, and is approved by the most enlightened faculties of the mind; that all the terrors of punishment-that even the horrid inquisition has not been able to destroy the institution; that like the true religion, it has flourished in the bloodstained soil of persecution. The despotic ruler perceiving these striking characters of Freemasonry, and despairing of extirpating it, has endeavored to make it an engine of state, or to regulate it in a way most conformable to his interests. Hence he has frequently descended from his throne, approached with reverential awe our sacred altars and mingled freely among the brotherhood. The beneficent and enlightened ruler, although clothed with unlimited power yet anxious for the good of his subjects, cannot fail of countenancing an institution calculated to produce so much benefit to mankind. Hence, from different motives, and with various views, our society has been encouraged and fostered in the most ungenial climes. Its progress in free nation, where law, liberty and good order prevail, has been singularly great; but in these United States it has attained an elevation and a perfection unequaled in other countries. It travels with our population from the Atlantic to Lake Michigan; from the St. Lawrence to the Missouri; it flourishes in the sequestered hamlet as well as in the wealthy city; it is embraced by all descriptions of men as a softener of the cares and an improver of the felicities of life. The meeting at which these words were spoken was full of fraternal sentiments of all sorts. Clinton, as might be expected, seeing that his political rivals, the Livingstons, had now no active official standing in the body and that Tompkins, his other great political opponent, was outside the pale of office, felt that he had in fact as well as in name won supreme control of the Grand Lodge, and so his ambition was satisfied, while the brethren felt they had secured as a leader one whose influence in the State was as great, although, possibly on a lower plane, as that of the Chancellor. A proposal to celebrate St. John's Day in public with a procession was voted down as likely to cause "confusion in the craft." A vote of thanks was passed to the Grand Master for his address and a committee appointed to get a copy of it for publication; another vote of thanks was passed to Cadwallader D. Colden

for his uniform zeal and attention to the interests of the fraternity, the immediate inspiration for their vote coming from an unintentional slight put upon Colden in the opening proceedings of the evening, and an application by Fortitude Lodge, No. 84, Brooklyn, to be permitted to compromise their dues was received. The prevailing harmony was even permitted to shed its effulgent rays outside the Grand Lodge room, for the minutes tell us that "a petition from a number of brethren confined within the limits of the prison of this city, praying for a special dispensation to open and hold a Lodge within the said limits for the celebration of the ensuing festival, was read and granted." This meeting of a Lodge in a common jail was actually held and in due time a report of the proceedings was presented at a meeting of the Grand Lodge and "ordered filed."

The entire administration of De Witt Clinton was so aggressive, so diversified in detail and so full of legislation which was destined to rule the craft for a long time to come, so productive of practical enactments, a large proportion of which still govern it, often with but slight modification, that a volume would require to be devoted to it to do it ample justice. It covers a time which should be carefully studied in all its details by the students of New York Masonry and, although in a general work like this such details cannot be presented, and the reader must rather be content with a broad summary or review, even that will demonstrate the magnitude of the work which was accomplished by Clinton and his associates in elevating as well as strengthening the Masonic institution in the Empire State.

In the internal government of the craft many matters come before us during the succession of terms in which "the Pericles of the State" held sway. Then, as now, in many jurisdictions, the requirement yet regarded as a landmark, that an applicant for initiation should be "upright in body, not deformed or dismembered at the time of making, but of

hale and entire limbs," caused considerable discussion, mainly because its wording was so plain and unmistakable that it was thought it must mean something else than what it did just say. Men are so perverse, so familiarized with deceit, so habitually accustomed to veiling their thoughts that a plain, straightforward statement, so plain as to be incapable of conveying two meanings, or any meaning weyond what it contained in its words that its very honesty and simplicity caused doubt and confusion. In 1807 the then Master of Trinity Lodge, New York, gravely called attention to the fact that in his Lodge a candidate had been proposed who had lost an eye and asked the opinion of the Grand Lodge as to whether it would be right to make an individual who had the misfortune to labor under such a deprivation a Mason. Whereupon the matter was argued pro and con by many of the brethren, instead of going to the Book of Constitutions and studying its clean-cut words on the subject, until finally they appear to have concluded that the matter was beyond their depth and referred it to a committee of seven, possibly in the hope that the candidate would withdraw and so avoid the necessity of coming to an issue on this perplexing point. After three months of cogitation that committee finally reported against the admission of the one-eyed applicant, and the report was adopted by the Grand Lodge. A few years later (1810) the question came up again in a communication to the annual session from Albion Lodge, No. 31, New York, which stated that “a candidate had been proposed in that Lodge for initiation who had received a wound in his knee which caused a stiffness in his walking, and praying to be instructed whether he was duly qualified to be admitted a member of our order." When the letter was read, we are told in the minutes, it was "referred to the Right Worshipful Brother Colden, Senior Grand Warden elect; the Worshipful Brothers Simson, Mulligan, Navarro and Vanderbilt, to report to this Grand Lodge their opinion there

on, and also some general rule for determining the degree of blemish or defect which should be considered a disqualification for admission into our order." It took the committee some sixteen months to arrive at a determination of this conundrum, and then (Oct. 16, 1811) submitted a report to the effect that "the defect referred to in this application was such as to disqualify the candidate for initiation."

The Grand Lodge, however, refused to endorse the report, discharged the committee, and adopted a motion that "the defect referred to by Albion Lodge is not such as to disqualify the candidate for initiation." We have, of course, no means of determining which of the conclusions was right according to the requirement of the constitution, as the point would depend on the extent of the stiffness of the candidate's knee, but we presume he was known to most of the members of the Grand Lodge and they were satisfied he could kneel at the Masonic altar and appropriately take upon himself the vows which should bind him to the craft. At all events, it is a refreshing thing to find, even at this early period, the inherent democracy of the institution asserting itself in overturning a decision of a committee which was then usually regarded as complete and final.

A wise brake was put, early in the new administration, upon the ease with which Lodges were established in New York, an ease which in itself was often the cause of inharmonious proceedings and jealousies, with resultant weak Lodges in the city. On March 3, 1808, petitions were received for the issuance of warrants for two new Lodges in the city, and at that meeting twenty Lodges actually located in the city were represented. Some of these were weak, and the establishment of two new Lodges instead of strengthening the order in the city would tend to weaken it by the addition of two Lodges which were bound to be ineffective, because there was no real reason for their existence. So the Lodge promptly adopted a resolution, "That it is at present

inexpedient for Grand Lodge to grant any more warrants for holding Lodges in the city of New York." This had the desired effect and gave the Masons in the city an opportunity either to build up their Lodges or allow them to lapse. Several certainly were abandoned after a while, but the gaps remained unfilled and it was not until 1818 that another warrant was issued for a Lodge in the city, and then Concord Lodge (now No. 50) came into existence.

It was probably weightier reasons, as well as this conservatism, that caused (June 10, 1807) the rejection of a petition for the establishment of another French Lodge, under the name of "Le Temple de l'Amitié Lodge." In August of the same year the application was renewed and the petitioners "prayed for an opportunity of being heard before a committee to enable them to obviate such objections as had been or might be made to their application, and suggesting, moreover, that they had other matters to communicate of the greatest importance, and which particularly interested the Grand Lodge, which they wished in the first instance to lay before the same committee." This prayer was granted, and a committee was appointed. What the matters "of the greatest importance and which particularly interested the Grand Lodge" were, we have no exact means of judging, for the committee could not agree upon a report and was discharged. Another committee took hold of the matter and on March 3, 1808, submitted a report rejecting the petition. The finding was approved and the Grand Secretary directed "to furnish Brother Joseph Cerneau with a copy of the resolutions which concludes the above report." The petitioners appear to have been made aware of the nature of the committee's report and had sent a communication to the same meeting of the Grand Lodge, but the Secretary was not permitted to read it and was instructed to return the document to those from whom it emanated.

In commenting on this incident Charles T. McClenachan wrote (History, Vol. II., Page

Diligent search fails to reveal, so far as the archives of the Grand Lodge are concerned, why this subject was so summarily dealt with by the Grand body, but from the names of the brethren interested in the establishment of Le Temple de l'Amitié Lodge the difficulties evidently centered in the intention of the brethren to obtain consent to confer degrees that would be antagonistic to the exclusive powers of the Grand Lodge. On the succeeding Dec. 7, 1808, some of those interested in the desire to obtain a warrant for Le Temple de l'Amitié Lodge communicated with the Grand Lodge, but

inconsistent with the local supremacy of this Grand Lodge over Master Masons, was read and ordered to be filed."

However may be the real merits of the case for or against this Lodge, Le Temple de l' Amitié, there can be no doubt that the popular sentiment against extending the numerical strength of the Lodges in New York had a good deal to do with its final rejection. Certainly the Grand Lodge was also determined to keep within the strict limits of Masonic work. and while many of the leaders knew of the nature of the higher degrees which were spoken of so freely in the discussion, while several had taken the degrees themselves, the bulk of the brethren had not and were generally disposed to regard them as innovations. Their dislike to innovations was clearly seen in their refusal to take part in a celebration which appealed strongly to their patriotism. Early in 1808, when the construction of the United States navy yard at Brooklyn was commenced, a startling discovery was made. "The first stroke of the spade," according to Booth's History, "opened a terrible mine to the eye of the public. The whole shore, the slope of the hill, the sand island in the vicinity, all were filled with the bones of the prison ship martyrs who had been thrust coffinless into the ground and literally piled one upon another. The horrible revelation reminded the citizens of the too-long neglected duty; the relics were carefully collected and placed in charge of the Tammany Society, and on May 8, 1808, escorted by one of the grandest processions that New York had ever witnessed, were conveyed to their final resting place in a vault in Jackson Street, not far from the spot of their original interment. Thirteen coffins filled with the bones were carried in the procession, and eighteen hogsheads besides were gathered from the sands and deposited in the vault. The corporation attended in a body, minute. guns were fired during the procession and the whole city seemed clad in mourning."

To attend this demonstration an invitation was received by the Grand Lodge, and at the meeting of March 3, 1808, the invitation was referred to a committee "to take the necessary measures for this Grand Lodge to join in the said procession if they shall think it proper to do so." The committee declined to permit the Masonic fraternity, as such, to take part in the parade. In due course they "reported that after diligent enquiry they could find no evidence of any Masonic brethren having died on board of the British prison ships, wherefore they had been of opinion that it would be improper for the general society of Masons to associate upon the occasion referred to and had accordingly taken no measures for that purpose." This report was adopted by the Grand Lodge. Although judging from the fact that the Tammany Society was then, as now, a political organization and that its patriotism was probably stirred on this occasion by the opportunity of scoring a point, and also that its most prominent opponent was De Witt Clinton, it is hardly to be supposed, although at the time it was so declared, that the Grand Lodge refusal was dictated by any desire to checkmate Tammany's political aspirations. There seems no reason to doubt that the real reasons for the refusal were fully given, except, possibly, that of a disinclination on the part of the fraternity to mingle in a general procession not controlled and regulated by itself. Masonic processions cannot be too closely guarded and, while we believe it is right and proper, nay even desirable for the fraternity to appear in public on all possible occasions, yet that occasion can hardly ever arise when the moving power is a political organization, organized solely for party advantages or the promulgation of party principles or gains. That Tammany was; that Tammany is, but what has been said is not written of that organization alone, but refers to any organization, no matter what its name, formed for similar purposes.