D

ANIEL D. TOMPKINS was installed Grand Master at a meeting held on June 24, 1820. "The Vice President of the United States," as the minutes carefully inform us, was one of the honors held by the new leader of the craft, was not present and so a proxy had to act for him during the ceremonies. The retiring Grand Master did not grace the occasion by his presence, but Martin Hoffman appeared as his substitute and installed the new chief executive and the other officers. On July 5 of that same year Tompkins made another appearance before the brethren as Grand Master and entertained them with an address.

There is no doubt that the accession to Masonic power of Daniel D. Tompkins was displeasing to De Witt Clinton. There is no doubt that the election was a decided blow to the influence of the man who had carried for so many years the Grand Lodge in a triumphal progress, steadily adding to its strength, its influence, its power of beneficence, its integrity as a unit, its standing and reputation in the community. There is no doubt that the change in the Grand Mastership was brought about by purely civic political reasons, and that the brethren in the Fraternity who belonged to the "Bucktails," or the "Martling men," or the "Federalists," or by whatever they elected to call themselves, brought their miserable quarrels, their hunger after the spoils of office, or their eagerness

for factional victory, beyond the gate through which such matters should never have been permitted to pass. There is no doubt that the principle mover in this unmasonic assault upon the Masonic position was Daniel D. Tompkins himself. There is no doubt that his triumph in the Grand Lodge in 1820, in spite of the glitter which surrounded the title of "Vice President of the United States," was a most unfortunate one for the Masonic institution. There is no doubt that it was during his tenure that the Fraternal barriers were let down, that the cords which bound the brethren in amity and friendship. were strained, and that the dissatisfaction which finally burst those bonds asunder was to so increase as to force them in time to break.

Tompkins was a politician, and all that it implies first, last, and all the time. He owed his start in political life to Clinton and forgot that favor when he thought himself strong enough to take issue with his patron. His Masonic labors were a sham as far as devotion to the institution were concerned. He merely used the Order as a means to an end. He did not scruple to attempt to undermine Clinton's influence in other branches of the Fraternity, just as he had undermined his influence in those which are the foundation of all Masonry. But integrity is one of the jewels of the craft and truth in its circles always prevails. Before he died De Witt Clinton's star was again in the ascendant, his influence in the Order was as marked as ever, while Tomp

kins was gradually being relegated to obscurity in the honored circle.

Daniel D. Tompkins was born at Scarsdale, N. Y., in 1774. After being graduated from Columbia College he was called to the bar of his native city in 1797, and at once plunged into politics. After serving in the State Legislature he was sent to Congress from New York in 1804, and resigned to become one of the Judges of the State Supreme Court. From 1807 until 1817 he was Governor of the State and as such his most notable performance was a recommendation that slavery be totally abolished throughout the Commonwealth.

DANIEL D. TOMPKINS,

For that humane recommendation he deserves credit, whatever may have been the causes or motives, political or otherwise, that inspired it. During the war of 1812 he was most zealous in his support of the National Government and was devoted in the defense of the State against invasion. He did not believe, when peace was concluded, that it was at all likely to be permanent. He professed to be

certain that Great Britain would on the first chance renew hostilities, and this was one of his stock arguments against De Witt Clinton's canal scheme. His lack of correctness as to the interpretation of Britain's intentions and his opposition to the schemes of public waterways show that he lacked the wisdom and prescience of a statesman and possessed merely the paltry cunning and the blinking vision of the politician. His career as Vice President. at the seat of the National Government also amply demonstrates all that. He was a man of handsome appearance, a magnetic speaker, an able jurist and possessed of considerable learning. He took considerable interest in education and in the foundation of the Historical Society, and in several other institutions of a literary type, he took an enthusiastic interest. He was scrupulously honest, too, and, although his last days were passed under a cloud of alleged peculation and defalcation, time rescued his memory from such charges and showed that not only had he freely used his own means when the crisis of 1812 came upon the nation, but that he had actually ruined. himself to raise money in her service, and that, instead of being a defaulter to the State, he had been in reality its creditor. But the weakness of his mental composition was shown in the fact that he could not maintain his spirit and his dignity in the face of what he knew to be unmerited but none the less persistent obloquy, and he went to his grave in 1825 its victim, and a victim also to melancholy and disappointment.

Such was the man who was elected Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York in 1820, who was re-elected in 1821, and could have been chosen again in 1822 but that he saw the storm he himself had been instrumental by his supineness in forming was about to break and declined. After the usual manner of politicians, he desired "to get in out of the wet," to use a phrase full of significance to the petty political manipulator. His terms were not marked by any legislation of

particular moment outside of that dealing with the struggle with the country Lodges, and even on the surface that seemed to be at rest. St. George's Lodge of Schenectady, had been suspended on June 4, 1819, in accordance with a resolution which stated that it had "by delaying to surrender its (original) warrant, and thereby denying the authority of the Grand Lodge forfeited its Masonic privileges and became an unauthorized and unwarranted Lodge." All intercourse between its members and the other Lodges was prohibited, and the members were given three months' time to consider the situation, and if then they persisted in their defiance they were to "be expelled from the Order and deprived of all the benefits and privileges of Freemasonry." Even this threat availed nothing; the Schenectady brethren remained obdurate, and in due course, in accordance with the resolution, were expelled. But their defiant spirit began to wilt under the ban; they discovered that ostracism and isolation are not congenial to Freemasonry, and it was not long before the erring brethren hungered to get back into the fold. Then negotiations followed, and on April 29, 1822, these resulted in the presentation and adoption of a series of resolutions in the Grand Lodge to the effect that the order of expulsion be repealed; that the acts of St. George's Lodge while under the ban be recognized as valid; that a new warrant be issued to it, with date and rank from Sept. 14, 1774, and that the old warrant, which had been surrendered, be returned to the Master of the Lodge "for safe keeping and with the express understanding that it shall not be used under any circumstances for Masonic purposes." This brought every Masonic Lodge in the State under the acknowledged control of the Grand Lodge and the harmony and unity of the supreme body seemed complete. But, as at the previous annual meeting, no fewer than 178 Lodges were reported as being in arrears for dues two years and upward, and some of these had not contributed a cent and remained deaf to the

entreaties of the Grand Secretary and the threats and wiles of the Grand Visitors for five or six years and even longer, it can be readily understood that the harmony was more apparent than real. It was something else than poverty which had closed the treasuries of a very large proportion, at least, of these Lodges.

One or two interesting matters connected with "foreign" Grand Lodges during Tompkins' administration deserve notice. One of these was the formal recognition extended in 1821 to a "Grand Lodge Espanola," established at Havana, in the Island of Cuba. The wording of that resolution was such that it might be adopted at the present day were events in that unhappy island so ordered that the blessed influences of Freemasonry might find an opportunity for expansion. It said:

That the establishment of a Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in a country the policy of whose government has ever been to exclude from its domains every description of Masonic labor and communion, is an interesting and important epoch in the annals of the craft, and cannot fail to inspire with the most sincere and animated joy the bosoms of every member of our ancient and honorable Fraternity; that the Grand Lodge of New York participates in an eminent degree in this warm and natural feeling, and hereby offers to the Grand Lodge Espanola its cordial congratulations on the auspicious event of its erection, with the assurance of that fraternal intercourse and correspondence which is cultivated and preserved with other Grand Lodges of the ancient craft.

It is sad, however, to know that the Grand Lodge, the "auspicious event" of whose erection called forth such hearty congratulations, was a very short-lived concern. It is doubtful if it even survived long enough to be aware of the "animated joy" which inspired the hearts of the brethren in New York. The present Grand Lodge of Cuba, which was recognized in 1860 by the Grand Lodge here, has fared better, and under the improved political conditions which will soon prevail in that island there is no doubt it will soon grow in strength.

A topic of much greater practical importance not only to the Freemasons in New York but to those of the country in general, was the renewal of the project, this time at Washington, of the time-honored scheme of the establishment of a general Grand Lodge for the United States. The movement was inaugurated on March 9, 1822, when a meeting of "those members of Congress who belong to the Masonic fraternity and those visitors to the city who are or have been members of any State Grand Lodge" was held in the Senate Chamber in the Capitol "to take into consideration matters of general interest to the Masonic institution," as the notices convening the meeting had said.

The meeting seems to have been well attended and the eminence of many of those who were present and took an active part in the proceedings calls for its receiving more attention than such informal and unauthorized gatherings generally warrants. After voting that "in the opinion of this meeting it is expedient for the general interests of Freemasonry to constitute a General Grand Lodge for the United States" it commended the matter to the "serious" consideration of the different Grand Lodges and asked those who favored the scheme to send delegates to a convention in Washington, which it was proposed to hold in February, 1823. If it was found that two-thirds of the Grand Lodges favored the formation of a General Lodge then a constitution was to be framed and adopted by the delegates present at the proposed meeting which was to be binding on all concerned. A committee to carry out the views of the meeting of March 9 to correspond with the various Grand Lodges and to take "such other measures therein as they may deem expedient" was then selected and the meeting adjourned. This committee included John Marshall of Virginia, Henry Clay of Kentucky, William H. Winder of Maryland, William S. Cardell of New York, Joel Abbot of Georgia, John Holmes of Maine, Henry Baldwin of Pennsyl

vania, John H. Eaton of Tennessee, William W. Seaton of Washington, Christopher Rankin of Mississippi, Thomas R. Ross of Ohio, H. G. Burton of North Carolina, and the Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris of Massachusetts.

This committee issued quite an elaborate circular, in which they said that "the antiquity of the Masonic Society, extending so far beyond all human associations, seizes the attention and the mind is naturally impressed with feelings of interest for an institution transmitted to us through the long train of a hundred ages." Regarding the practical purpose of their labors they said:

Till within a recent period, it is believed, no great number of Lodges have been united under a single jurisdiction. The art of printing and other causes have produced great changes in the condition of the world, and these causes have operated to their full proportion in the society of Freemasons. The sphere of civilization is greatly enlarging its boundaries; intellectual attainments and the influence of moral operations are taking the place of brute force; known principles and laws are recognized and the advantages of cultivated reason are shared by an increased proportion of mankind. Under such circumstances Masonry has been extended, and its Lodges so multiplied as to make their proper conduct subject of much interest to the friends of the society.

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There are two points which at once present themselves in connection with the idea of establishing a General Grand Lodge of the United States. The first is to acquire, in a correspondence with foreign nations, an elevated stand for the Masonry of this country; to unite with them in preserving its purity; and, secondly, to preserve between our own States that uniformity in work, and that active interchange of good offices, which would be difficult, if not impossible, by other means. * The United States are supposed to contain nearly 80,000 Freemasons. They are generally in the vigor of manhood, and capable of much active usefulness. Notwithstanding the abuses in some places by the admission of unworthy members, they are, as a body, above mediocrity in character and talent. It becomes an interesting question how the energies of this body can be best combined to give effect to the benevolent design of their association. There is no provision for a systematic interchange of Masonic intelligence. In one or two instances there are already two or more Grand Lodges in the same State (sic.), each claiming superior jurisdic