innocent, neither touching the concerns nor affecting the interests of the uninitiated nor impugning, the doctrines of pure morality nor the precepts of our holy religion.

Secret institutions were not uncommon among the ancients. The Eleusinian, Dionysian and Panathenian mysteries; and associations of the Pythagoreans, Essenes and of the architects of Ionia were concealed from the uninitiated; and even the women of Rome, celebrated the mysteries of the Bona Dea in a state of entire seclusion. The Druids had also their mysteries and our Indians have secret institutions. As secrecy may be enjoined with pure views and for good objects, so it also may be observed with pernicious intentions and for bad purposes. The doctrines and observances of Christianity were in the last century ridiculed and caricatured by a secret society in the vicinity of London, composed of choice spirits of wickedness; and under the cloak of mysterious associations conspiracies have been formed against freedom and social order. As nothing of this kind can be imputed to Freemasonry, it ought to have been patronized instead of being persecuted; but the suspicious eye of tyranny, always on the watch for victims, affected to see combinations against legitimate government, and the sanguinary hand of vengeance was soon uplifted against us. In every nation in Europe, Masonry has passed the ordeal of persecution. The inquisition has stained it with blood. Hierarchies have proscribed and interdicted it. Despotism has pursued it to destruction; and everywhere, except in the Land of Liberty, it has felt the arm of unjust and tyrannical power; and even here, and in this enlightened age, fanaticism has dared to fulminate its anathemas.

The precepts of Freemasonry inculcate abstraction from religious and political controversies, and obedience to the existing authorities; and there can be no doubt of the good faith and sincerity of this injunction. And accordingly the most enlightened princes of Europe, and among others, Frederick the Great of Prussia, have been members of our Fraternity, and have not considered it derogatory from their dignity or dangerous to their ascendancy, to afford it official protection and personal encouragement. But the truth is, that the principles of Freemasonry are hostile to arbitrary power. All brethren are on a level, and of course are on an equality with respect to natural rights. The natural equality of mankind and the rights of man are not only implied in our doctrine, but the form of our government is strictly republican, and like that of the United States, representative and federal. The officers of the private Lodges are annually chosen by

the members, and all the Lodges are represented in the Grand Lodge. The Lodges are thus the members, and the Grand Lodge the head of the society, which by a combination of the representative and federal principles, constitutes a federal republic as to the government of Freemasons.

It must be obvious then that an institution so republican in its elements, so liberal in its principles, so free in its partial and concentrated combinations must have excited the apprehensions of arbitrary power, which has constantly sought to propitiate it by kindness and condescension, or to annihilate it by fire and sword-by banishment and extinction.

The celebrated philosopher, John Locke, was much struck with a manuscript of Henry VI., King of England, deposited in the Bodleian Library. It is in the form of questions and answers, and to the interrogatory, whether Masons are better than others? it is answered "some Masons are not so virtuous as some other men; but in general, they are much better than they would have been if they had not been Masons."

This is unquestionably correct. Masonry superadds to our other obligations the strongest ties of connection between it and the cultivation of virtue, and furnishes the most powerful incentives to goodness. A Freemason is responsible to his Lodge for a course of good conduct, and if he deviates from it he will be disgraced and expelled.-Wherever he goes he finds a friend in every brother, if he conducts well, and will be shielded against want and protected against oppression; and he will feel in his own bosom the extatic joys of that heaven born charity which

-decent, modest, easy, kind,

Softens the high and rears the abject mind,
Lays the rough paths of peevish nature ev'n,
And opens in each heart, a little heav'n.

All doubts on the exalted principles and auspicious tendencies of Freemasonry must be dissipated when we retrospect to Washington and Franklin.

The former was the principal agent in establishing our independence, and securing to us the blessings of a national government. The latter was the great patron of the arts that administer to the happiness of individuals and the prosperity of States and the head of the philosophy and useful knowledge of the country. Both were patriotic and virtuous men, and neither would have encouraged an institution hostile to morality, religion, good order and the public welfare.

Washington became at an early period of his life a Freemason, and publicly as well as privately he invariably evinced the utmost attachment to it. In

answer to a complimentary address, when President of the United States, from the Master, Wardens and brethren of King David's Lodge in Rhode Island, he had no hesitation in saying, “Being persuaded that a just application of the principles on which the Masonic Fraternity is founded must be promotive of private virtue and public prosperity, I shall always be happy to advance the interest of the society, and to be considered by them as a deserving brother." And in a reply to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, he explicitly declares, “that the milder virtues of the heart are highly respected by a society whose liberal principles are founded on the immutable laws of truth and justice. To enlarge," continued he, "the sphere of social happiness is worthy the benevolent design of a Masonic institution, and it is most fervently to be wished that the conduct of every member of the Fraternity, as well as those publications that discover the principles which actuate them, may tend to convince mankind that the great object of Masonry is to promote the happiness of the human race."

Freemasonry owes its introduction into Pennsylvania to Benjamin Franklin; on the 24th June, 1734, a warrant was granted by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, for holding a Lodge in Philadelphia and appointing him the first Master. He cultivated Masonry with great zeal, and his partiality suffered no diminution during his long and illustrious life. Lafayette-the good Lafayette, the patriot of both hemispheres, was always the devoted friend of Freemasonry: He saw in it a constellation of virtues, and wherever he went he took every opportunity of demonstrating his attachment and of expressing his veneration. His countenance has done much good, and has imparted to it no inconsiderable portion of his immense and deserved popularity. Freemasonry, like all other institutions, has its days of prosperity and adversity-its seasons of revivals and depressions-and it is believed that when Lafayette left this country it had never attained a greater altitude of usefulness and general regard. After these illustrious witnesses in favor of our Fraternity, let not the dissensions which sometimes prevail; the vicious conduct of some of its members, and the perversions of the institution be adduced as proofs of its intrinsic vices. Although it has received the countenance of the good and the wise of all ages, let it be understood that the character of an institution does not necessarily form the conduct of its members. Good societies may contain unworthy members. Christianity is often degraded by profligate professors, and the heathen religion has had a Socrates, an Aristides and a Cato.

It cannot be expected that in any society there will be a perfect accord and congeniality of minds, of tastes, and of morals. Hence, differences will sometimes arise, and if conducted with good temper and candor, will rarely expand into violent convulsions. Wolves will sometimes intrude into the flock, and bad men under the cloak of goodness, will frequently insinuate themselves into the most excellent associations.

For neither man nor angels can discern,
Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks,
Invisible, except to God alone,

By his permissive will, through heaven and earth,
And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps,
At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity
Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill,
Where no ill seems,-

In all associations of men there are perturbed and uneasy spirits, who scatter discord, and whom “no command can rule nor counsel teach," and who, like the fabled Enceladus, create disturbance and convulsion wherever they move. It is no easy task to withstand the arts of hypocrites and the acts of incendiaries. If our society has suffered under such influences, it participates in the fate of all assemblies of men; and the feuds which sometimes distract its tranquillity, are as often the offsprings of well-meaning and overweening zeal, as of perverse and evil designs.

That Freemasonry is sometimes perverted and applied to the acquisition of political ascendency, of unmerited charity and to convivial excess, cannot be disputed; but this is not the fault of the institution, for it inculcates an entire exemption from political and religious controversy. It enforces the virtues of industry and temperance, and it proscribes all attempts to gratify ambition and cupidity, or to exceed the bounds of temperance in convivial enjoyments, under its shade or through its instrumentality. In lifting the mind above the dungeon of the body, it venerates the grateful odor of plain and modest virtue, and patronizes those endowments which elevate the human character, and adapt it to the high enjoyments of another and better world.

Freemasonry has flourished exceedingly in the United States, and especially in this State. In 1781 a Grand Lodge was established in the city of New York, under a charter from the Grand Lodge of England. A few years afterwards an independent Grand Lodge was instituted, and there are now in the State nearly five hundred Lodges and more than one hundred chapters. Owing to causes which I am

unable to explain, and in which I have had no participation, two Grand Lodges have been in existence for a few years. And it will now require the utmost wisdom, moderation and forbearance of the "good men and true," who adore both establishments, to accomplish a reunion on just and reasonable terms. That there are faults and great faults involved in this schism, I am fearful, and that it is a lamentable commentary on our system of brotherly love, is too obvious. In consequence of my public duties, I have for a considerable time withdrawn from any active concern in the affairs of our Fraternity, and I have had, of course, no personal knowledge of the causes of and actors in the prevailing division. In censuring it, I have, therefore, no reference to particular individuals or Lodges, and I hope, most sincerely hope, that before the return of another anniversary this stain may be removed from our society. Perhaps a new arrangement of the supreme authorities might be advisable, by the creation of provincial or subordinate Grand Lodges under a controlling head, composed of deputies selected by the different Grand Lodges. There have been two opposing Grand Lodges in England, and I believe in Scotland and Ireland, and also in South Carolina and Massachusetts, in consequence of the distinction of Ancient and Modern Masonry. Notwithstanding this serious controversy, the schism has been healed, and a most cordial and complete union has taken place in all these cases, so that we have no reason to apprehend a long duration of a separation which has, probably, originated from more trival and evanescent causes. Most Worshipful Grand Master Elect:

Accept my cordial congratulations on your elevation to the highest honor in Masonry. You are now, in this region, the head of the most ancient, benevolent and distinguished society in the world. And I am rejoiced to see such exalted authority deposited in such worthy hands, and I feel assured that no exertion will be omitted on your part to realize the anticipations of your usefulness and to justify the high confidence reposed in you.

I am persuaded that you will use every proper endeavor to reunite the great Masonic family under one government, to confirm and to extend the influence and reputation of Freemasonry, and to propagate those virtues which are identified with its character and essential to the cause of benevolence, charity and philanthropy.

Your duties are certainly arduous, but important and honorable stations always imply great labor, and require much industry and exertion. You will be assisted in your labors by the enlightened officers associated with you, and every worthy brother

will raise his voice and his hands in favor of your efforts, and in support of your measures.

To preside merely over the forms of a public assembly requires no uncommon display of intellectual vigor, but the duties of a Grand Master involve higher topics and more momentous considerations. He must be employed in devising ways and means of doing good, in inculcating the virtues of our fraternity, and in illustrating by practical demonstration the beauties of benevolence. His eye must be vigilant in discerning any inroads in our ancient landmarks, and his arm must always be ready to protect the institution against intestine convulsions and external hostilities.

Your life has hitherto been distinguished for its accordance with Masonic virtue. If you carry into your high office that benevolence which adorns your private character, and that experience as a member and Master which you acquired in a respectable Lodge in this city, you will unquestionably reflect back on the fraternity the luster which you derive from it.

I shall now proceed to discharge a duty which has been required from me by the Grand Lodge, and I perform it with no common pleasure, as evidence of my personal esteem for you, of my high respect for that distinguished body, and of my sincere devotion to the insignia of your office, and I most humbly supplicate the Supreme Architect of the heavens and of the earth to smile on the proceedings of this day and to render them auxiliary to the holy cause of benevolence, morality, and religion, and subservient to the best interests of the human

race.

The Grand Master was thereupon installed in the usual impressive manner, and on receiving the gavel, addressed the brethren as follows:

I accept the distinguished honor conferred on me by the Grand Lodge of this State with emotions of profound respect and gratitude. To be selected by the members of this numerous, ancient and respectable Fraternity to preside over its deliberations, to guide its councils, is a mark of confidence which I shall ever highly appreciate, and, although I cannot bring to the station the talents or the learning which in former years have adorned it, I still may venture to promise that, on my part, no exertions shall be wanting to reunite the brotherhood into one bond of union; to illustrate the virtues and to extend the influence of Masonry.

The lucid, judicious and eloquent exposition which the brethren have this day heard of the na

ture of our association, the interesting narrative of its varied fortunes in foreign countries, and the striking eulogiums on the departed as well as living ornaments of our craft among the Revolutionary patriots of our own nation must leave a vivid impression on every mind.

Such a statement cannot fail to correct much of that misconception which has assailed our best endeavors and to remove many of the prejudices which have affected the utility of Masonry.

Supported by such testimony we may proceed with confidence in our efforts toward its extension -always keeping in our recollection that the virtues which are the object of cultivation in the fraternity should appear and shine in the life of every one of its members.

In entering on the duties of the high office with which I have this day been invested I rely with assured confidence on the cordial aid and co-operation of the officers associated with me. Residing in various parts of the State, they will be enabled to render all useful information as to the progress and welfare of the craft. They should watch with great care that its honors be not tarnished or its utility impaired and, above all, they should enforce with prudence and judgment the discipline which all

deviations from its institution and duties imperiously require at the present time.

It is not among the least gratifying circumstances attending this occasion that the Grand Lodge has directed the present ceremony to be performed by one of its most distinguished members, who has filled its highest offices, and who, amidst the duties and honors conferred on him by his country, has cheerfully appeared at this time as the friend and patron of the Order. Its thanks most justly await, and I should indeed be insensible were I not to add my own for the kindness and partiality evinced.

The public ceremonies concluded with this address. The Grand Lodge was again escorted to Temple Chapter Hall and the rest of the procession returned to the capitol grounds at the head of State street, where it was dismissed. After a vote of thanks to De Witt Clinton "for the able and dignified manner in which he has discharged the duties assigned to him by the Grand Lodge in installing the Grand Master," the special communication was closed in ancient form.

HE annual meeting of 1826. which opened in Tammany Hall on the morning of June 7, may best be described as one of watching and waiting. Van Rensselaer did not attend any of its sessions, but was re-elected Grand Master and most of the preceding year's officers were also returned to their stations. The business was mainly routine and uninteresting, the exceptions being mainly the case of Joseph Enos and the question of union.

The trouble with the former Grand Master came before the Grand Lodge with startling clearness when the following was submitted and adopted:

Whereas, Brother Joseph Enos, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, during his continuance in office received certain moneys belonging to the Grand Lodge; and

Whereas, The said Joseph Enos, in a communication made at the last annual meeting of this Grand Lodge, stated that for certain causes he could not attend the meeting, but would attend the present communication and make a satisfactory settlement therefor; and

Whereas, Brother Enos has not appeared, nor complied with the request of the Grand Lodge by paying over the said moneys; therefore

Resolved, That the Grand Secretary and Brother E. S. Cozier be authorized to demand from Brother Enos the moneys in his hands belonging to the Grand Lodge or make such arrangements with them as to secure the same, and in case such arrangements cannot be made satisfactorily to the Grand Secretary and Brother Cozier, that Brother Joseph Enos be summoned to appear before this Grand Lodge at its next annual communication to

show cause why he should not be expelled from the same.

The committee made no headway in their quest and it was a good number of years afterward before the matter was finally disposed of and the ugly story of Enos' Grand Lodge career was laid at rest.

On the surface the position of the union negotiations was not much advanced, and, while the frequent discussions between the brethren outside the Grand Lodges and the influence of De Witt Clinton and Stephen Van Rensselaer were steadily smoothing the way, much remained to be done to make the project bear fruition. A report issued by a committee of the Country Grand Lodge and reflecting upon the city brethren, which had been printed, was ordered suppressed in the interests of harmony, and a committee of five was appointed on June 9 to confer with a similar committee from the other side. As. however, the resolution appointing that committee only recognized the opposition as Lodges in the city of New York, it was little wonder that on June 12 that it could make no progress. Then it was

Resolved, That the M.. W... Grand Master Stephen Van Rensselaer and the M.. W... Past Grand Master De Witt Clinton be respectfully requested to receive any communication offered by the Lodges in the city of New York, and consult with them on all differences on Masonic subjects and report at the next annual communication of this Grand Lodge.

This was really the first sensible step looking toward union taken by the Country Grand