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MATTER of importance then, of considerable importance afterward, and which in the future will call forth all the judicial ability of the Grand Lodge to effect a settlement which will be satisfactory to all concerned, first came up about this time. This was the question of the recognition of Lodges of colored men. Theoretically and rightfully the Masonic constitutions do not consider the color of a candidate for initiation and advancement, but, somehow, colored men are not accepted into our Lodges, just as, although the Declaration of Independence declares all men are created equal, we draw the line of equality at Chinamen-so far as citizenship goes. There are colored men who parade as Masons and who work among themselves what they call the "higher degrees," but there is not in existence to-day-strictly speaking, there never has been-a duly authorized and legal Lodge of colored men in America. Now and again a colored man showing unmistakable evidence of his African origin is seen in some of our Lodges, especially on the northeastern seaboard, but he is merely a visitor hailing from some Lodge across the sea. As time passes on this problem will have to be met; it is ridiculous that a colored brother can sit in a Lodge and be welcomed as a visitor but is not permitted to be enrolled as a member. Of course, there is no law against it, but somehow the colored man in America does not apply to any of our legal Lodges for admis

sion and quenches his thirst for Masonic knowledge in the spurious organizations supported by his race.

In all the old constitutions and in all ancient manuscripts, where the question is mooted at all one of the requirements very justly laid down is that a candidate must be "free born." It was so declared in the constitution of the first Grand Lodge in England in 1721. No trace of personal servitude was considered compatible with the dignity of Freemasonry, and even to the present day a liveried servant, the wearer of a badge of servitude, is not entitled, in at least one Grand Lodge jurisdiction, to be elected into the order. After slavery had been abolished in the West Indies the Grand Lodge of England disused the term "free-born" and substituted that of free man, thus, in the opinion of many of the ablest authorities on Masonic jurisprudence, deliberately violating one of the oldest and most clear-cut of all the landmarks. While thus considering a man's actual condition and not that in which he was born, the English Grand Lodge made it more difficult than ever for a man who even temporarily loses his rights as a freeman to maintain his connection with the craft, for Dr. Oliver holds, in his Historical Landmarks, that no one, "although he may have been initiated, can continue to act as a Mason, or practice the rites of the Order if he be temporarily deprived of his liberty or freedom of will," thus simply indorsing an earlier doctrine of the Grand Lodge, "that it

is inconsistent with the principles of Masonry for any Freemason's Lodge to be held for the purpose of making, passing or raising Masons in any prison or place of confinement." The Grand Lodge of Scotland takes no notice of color or birth.

But the landmark is still preserved inviolate in all the Grand Lodges of the United States, as it certainly ought to be, but the time is coming when no applicant for Masonic initiation in this land could have been born otherwise than free and it seems unreasonable to suppose that when confronted with that contingency the respective Grand Lodges will not officially review their position, and, while not changing the landmark, make the nature of its actual restrictions more clear to those most immediately affected.

It is unfortunate that the colored men of this country who sought Masonic enlightenment should have done so in the first place through means that were clearly illegitimate. On Sept. 20, 1784, the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns) granted a warrant to Prince Hall and several other negroes in Boston under the designation of African Lodge, No. 459. As there was already a Grand Lodge in Massachusetts the Modern Grand Lodge, in issuing this warrant, clearly exceeded its powers, and. in consequence, the document was irregular and worthless. It was never recognized in any way by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. After Hall died the African Lodge gradually became dormant, mainly because no one, even among its members, was much interested in it, and early in the century the English Grand Lodge removed its name from its record and did not again recognize any African Lodge in America.

But the document remained, and on it, so far as we can see, rests the claim to regularity made by the present so-called Masonic Lodges of colored men in America. One of the effects probably of the possession of this document, or a copy of it, was the appearance of the fol

lowing advertisement in several New York newspapers on Oct. 3, 1818:

MASONIC NOTICE.

The members belonging to the African Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons are requested to attend an extra meeting of said Lodge on the 6th inst., precisely at 6 o'clock p. m., for the express purpose of receiving additional instructions in the sublime and exalted science and mysteries of Masonry, and at the same time a general lecture thereon and an inquiry into the proficiency which each member of P. Lodge has made since favors were conferred upon them; as, also, an exhibition and full explanation of the working or operative tools of each speculative Mason with the various badges emblematical of their respective orders, on the degrees which have been by merit conferred upon them, after which a jubilee will be performed by the members of the said Lodge. Punctual attendance is solicited. Masonic brethren belonging to other Lodges are respectfully invited to attend and will be most graciously received. By order of

October 2.

SANDY LATTION, R. W. Master.

This advertisement created so much excitement among the brethren that Deputy Grand Master Hoffman called an emergent meeting of the Grand Lodge on October 7 to consider what it all meant, and, probably after considerable discussion, although even that much is not vouchsafed in the minutes, a committee of five was appointed "to enquire into the same and to report to this Grand Lodge as early as practicable the result of their investigation." It took the committee, however, some five months before they were able to prepare a report and then they submitted the following rather vague document:

That two advertisements signed "Sandy Lattion" are acknowledged to have been inserted in one or more newspapers of this city by the individual who has signed them. He has asserted to a deputation from this committee that the institution called together by these notices was actually organized, had assembled and did still periodically meet; that proper authority had been furnished him from both the States of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts; that the authority from the latter State proceeds from an

African Lodge now in operation there. He has at all times refused to exhibit the documentary evidences of such authority, or to inform the deputation of the time when, and to designate the house where, the meetings were held.

The committee have used all prudent diligence to obtain information from other sources respecting the alleged institution, or the designation of other of the members attached to it, but without success.

This practically ended the active interest of the Grand Lodge in African Lodge Masonry for the time being. Sandy Lattion, however, held his own fort securely and several years later his institution bobbed up again—but the story of that will be told in its proper place.

A much more delicate and far-reaching matter which occupied the attention of the Grand Lodge arose out of the union of the Ancients and Moderns. It must be remembered that the New York Grand Lodge was of "Ancient" origin and that when the British forces left the city at the evacuation the members of the Provincial Grand Lodge simply left with their regiments or departed as emigrants to Canada, leaving behind them the Athol warrant, which was maintained in its integrity by those left behind. When Chancellor Livingston came into power and when the Grand Lodge declared itself independent it still continued to work according to "Ancient" principles. When St. John's, No. 2, made application for admission in 1784 its members had to be "healed," as we formerly pointed out, for, according to the requirements of the Ancients, and an invitation to other Lodges to join the ranks of the Grand Lodge was couched in the following terms: "That all other Lodges in this State, who were in the same situation as St. John's, No. 2, and who are willing to conform to the regulations of this Grand Lodge, be received in like manner as St. John's Lodge, No. 2." If this does not mean that St. John's Lodge was healed it means nothing. The same treatment, presumably, was measured out to Independent Royal Arch when, in the same year, it submitted to the Grand Lodge, and this proves that the Grand Lodge

under Livingston was not, as some have declared, the result of a union of the New York brethren, Ancient and Modern, but of a surrender of the latter to the former, the complete abandonment of the "Modern" allegiance to that of the "Ancient.". The union of the two Grand Lodges in England did not take place until December, 1813, when the "Ancients" and "Moderns" joined forces, "until time shall be no more," on equal terms, a fact which seems to be forgotten by some writers and controversialists of our day, who blatantly talk of the "Ancients" as a spurious body and who seem to ignore another very apparent matter that if the union had not taken place the "Moderns" would long since have been swallowed up by their more enterprising and progressive rival.

However that may be, it is a fact that the union between the two legitimatized all the acts of each and wiped out the stigma of illegitimacy with which each so freely branded the other. From her position as an "Ancient" body the New York Grand Lodge never wavered for an instant and even as late as 1815, after the union had taken place in England, but probably before its full measure of importance was recognized or understood here, we find mention in the minutes of St. John's Lodge, No. 1 (old No. 2), of a "Modern" Mason being healed before being admitted to membership.

The question of union first came before the New York Grand Lodge in 1808, when a communication was received from South Carolina stating that the "Ancients" and the "Moderns" there had united in one body under the title of "The Grand Lodge of South Carolina," but nothing appears to have been done with the letter except to "file" it. That union was not founded on true principles, for it only lasted a year, and then the two Grand bodies traveled on in their various ways again. There the matter rested until 1814, when on December 14 another communication on the subject of union was received from South

Carolina detailing undoubtedly the story of the movement in England which resulted in the formation of the United Grand Lodge. This communication was referred to the Grand Lodge officers, and their report, signed by De Witt Clinton himself, and most likely drawn up solely by him, was presented at the meeting of March 1, 1815, and adopted. It read as follows:

The Grand officers to whom was referred an abstract of the proceedings relative to the union of Free Masons in South Carolina and likewise of the "union of Free Masons in England, Ireland and Scotland, by which events the whole Masonic fraternity throughout the world have been united into one happy family," report

That they have carefully examined this statement and find that the different sects of Free Masonry composed of Ancient and Modern Free Masons are united in Great Britain and Ireland and in South Carolina under the jurisdiction of one Grand Lodge in each country.

The terms of union appear to have been on the footing of perfect equality; but how the precise differences have been arranged and adjusted cannot be collected from printed communications.

In this State there is but one Grand Lodge [and] of course no union is necessary. The only interest that we take in these events must refer to the benign influence which they have on the general prosperity of Free Masonry, but inasmuch as brethren who have heretofore been considered Modern Masons may visit our Lodges it is proper that some general rule should be adopted in relation to them, therefore the following resolution is proposed:

Resolved, That all Free Masons who are acknowledged as such by any of the Lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland, Ireland and South Carolina shall be considered as legitimate Free Masons by the Lodges under the jurisdiction of this Grand Lodge.

Thus the New York Lodge entered into the spirit of harmony which then prevailed, abolished the form of "healing" the "Moderns," and took the place among the Lodges in fraternal affiliation without in the slightest degree discarding her position as an "Ancient" body. That she retains to the present day, and, although all traces of the differences have long since passed, the seal of the Grand Lodge

impressed on all its documents, mounted in bronze over the doors of her temple in New York and painted in its halls bears witness to the fact of its still standing before the world. as an "Ancient," for that seal and that coat of arms are simply those which Lawrence Dermott drew together for the "Grand Lodge of England according to the Ancient Institutions."

The question of the great union came before the Grand Lodge in a more tangible form in 1818 and its reception, as we judge by the tenor of the resolution then passed, shows that the Grand Lodge was disposed to hold out the olive branch as far as possible and seems to show also that there must have been a large number of "Modern" Masons in the State, or at least constantly arriving in New York and seeking admission into its Lodges. The resolution, introduced by Grand Secretary Elias Hicks, was as follows:

Whereas, It is known that a union was formed on the 27th of December, A. L. 5813, between the Ancient and Modern Masons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but that from the want of an oral communication of the terms and conditions the form and manner by which the individuals of either are admitted to a participation of the benefits of that union-this Grand Lodge has never possessed the means of giving to the Lodges within its jurisdiction the information and instruction necessary for their guidance in the admission of visitors and the relief of applicants; therefore

Resolved, That the R. W. Grand.officers be requested forthwith to take such steps as may seem to them best adapted to the purpose of obtaining either from the United Grand Lodge direct, or from some one of its Provincial branches such information on the subject aforesaid as may be important and necessary to be known and promulgated.

This was adopted unanimously. It refers to the Lodge of Reconciliation, which came into existence shortly after the union, for the purpose of "obligating, instructing and perfecting the members" in the work as charged by the terms of the compact, as adapted, in fact, to embrace all that-mainly in the third degree-was held most dear by the leaders in

both the bodies which united in 1813. It was not, however, until 1820 that the Grand Lodge began to see some practical way of carrying this resolution into effect. The then Deputy Grand Master (Snelling) of Lower Canada had agreed to communicate the "formula and ceremony of the union" to a brother for the express purpose of his communicating it in turn to the Grand Lodge officials, and he fulfilled his duty by investing the Grand Secretary with the secret work of what was practically a new, although temporary degree in Masonry, and at the meeting of June 8, 1820, it was ordered that "the mystery of the 'union' as communicated by the Grand Lodge of

Lower Canada, be referred to the Grand Officers, the Grand Visitors, and the Masters of Lodges in the city of New York-or, in the absence of the Master of any Lodge, to the Senior Warden, or, in the absence of both, to some Past Master of such Lodge-for the purpose of adopting and disseminating the same, if the Grand Officers shall deem proper to do so after being made acquainted therewith." On the evening of Nov. 8, 1820, the brethren designated in the above order, headed by the Grand Master (Daniel D. Tompkins), met in the room usually used by the Grand Lodge in the City Hotel, and, according to the requirements of the case, a

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Lodge was opened "in ample form and with solemn prayer." The Grand Secretary "then proceeded to initiate the R. W. and W. Brethin the mystery of the union." When the initiation was over a motion was made that the Grand Officers "advise and recommend the dispersion of the same." Then, say the minutes of the meeting, "the Grand Officers having conferred together, the Grand Master announced as their pleasure, and gave permission for the free dissemination of the union to all brethren entitled to receive the same, but on the suggestion of the Senior Grand Warden (William Irving) it was afterwards resolved 'that a sub-committee be ap

pointed to arrange and digest the mode in which the "union" is to be used and communicated and make a report thereon at the next quarterly communication of the Grand Lodge; and that the said Committee consist of the R.. W.. Brother Mulligan, the R.. W.. Brother Irving, the R.. W.. Brother Hicks, the R.. W.. Brother Bogert and the W.. Brother Ovutt."

This Committee soon afterwards drew up the following document as the result of their deliberations:

The Union can only be communicated in a Master Masons Lodge and on no brother below that degree. It is obligatory on the part of the Master of a Lodge to communicate it to any member being a Master Mason requiring the same, but it is discretionary with every member to receive or decline it. The Masters of Lodges to whom the Union has been imparted are forthwith-and those who are yet to receive it as soon as convenient after it shall have been communicated to them-to cause the members of their Lodge to be specially notified that at a given meeting to be selected by such Master the Union will be imparted to all brethren qualified and desirous of receiving the same. Afterward the Union shall be communicated only in a Lodge of "United Masons" that is in the presence of five brethren who have already received it, for which purpose the Master of the Lodge is author