W

E must now turn our attention to the Grand Lodge and to Freemasonry itself, after having in many pages traced the course of its deadliest struggle as completely as our space would warrant, as honestly as becomes a chronicler of veritable history, and as dispassionately as is possible when one has to deal with charlatans, knaves and time servers and their usual ally, the "general public." Of course we are not to be regarded as considering all who were active in the Anti-Masonic reign of terror as being either frauds, charlatans or time servers. There were doubtless honest men among them-there were honest men connected with the Mississippi Scheme, there were honest men who believed in the Divine institution of slavery, and there were honest men who believed in the moon hoaxbut they were misled by friendship, or political sympathy, or by some peculiar obliquity in their make-up, some form of mental weakness which made them ready to receive impressions when presented to them with all the glitter of tinged oratory and paper argument, when seasoned with appeals to their patriotism, their love of liberty, their inherent rights as citizens of a free republic. We see such men in every form of popular delusion, groping their way to the front and supplying the honest enthusiasm which was needed to bring about a full measure of success.

Had the Grand Lodge, when the cloud burst, realized the extent of the storm and attempted to meet it with the energy displayed

by those who brought it about, it is doubtful if the tempest would have raged as long as it did, or that it would have aroused anything like the bitter feeling which darkened the history of American politics for so many years.

But, conscious in the purity of their own motives, in the innocence of their purposes, and confiding in the record of their members for patriotism and lawabidingness from the time the Order was established in America, they relied on the general knowledge of that to defend them from the various crimes with which they stood charged. When they realized their mistake and saw that the torrent of vengeance was sweeping on in such force as to threaten their complete destruction, they attempted to stem the torrent-but it was almost too late, and they found themselves tossing about in its pathway, struggling for bare life.

Even when the rejoicing of the union of 1827 was at its height the storm had burst, but, so far as the records go, no official notice of it was taken at that memorable meeting of the Grand Lodge. Charges of abduction and murder and all the rest of it were then being hurled against the craft, judicial forces were at work, and public meetings were being held to denounce Freemasons of all sorts and degrees, but the Masonic authorities stood impassive-so far as the public were concernedand did nothing to counteract the many agencies then actively and ruthlessly at work to make the Order a victim to politics.

But before the annual meeting in June,

1828, the extent of the evil was apparent. The City Lodges-to a considerable extent at least-held their own, but the returns from the country were meager and discouraging. Many warrants had been surrendered and were held by the Grand Lodge and the outlook seemed dark indeed. What was wanted was a clear, unmistakable utterance by the Grand Lodge on the subject of the abduction, but it was not forthcoming. Even the offer of an addition to the standing reward for the capture of the abductors, or the discovery of Morgan, or the recovery of his body, might then have disarmed the politicians and allayed public distrust, but such a thing was not even hinted at, and, deeming themselves secure in their innocence, they faced the storm. Of course we know their policy was wrong, but then we can survey the situation placidly and with a full knowledge of all the agencies at work; a knowledge which, of course, our brethren of 1828 did not and could not possess. That year only routine business was transacted at any of the meetings and in June Van Rensselaer was re-elected Grand Master, the Rev. Henry I, Feltus was elected Deputy in place of Richard Hatfield, and the other leading officers were re-elected. The only busiThe only business worth noticing was the appointment of a committee to inquire into "the assembling of clandestine Lodges in the city," the cause being a Lodge of colored men which met and, in their own way, initiated, passed and raised candidates and proclaimed them Masons. A committee was appointed to investigate into the working and legitimacy of this body, Boyer Lodge No. 1, it was called, and in its report submitted the following year, this committee adjudged the Lodge to be a clandestine one. This was adopted by the Grand Lodge. But it must be pointed out that the decision of the committee was not brought about on account of the color of the African Masons, and indeed in reading the report we imagine that had these colored men disbanded their Lodge and made application to the Grand body for

a charter, measures would have been taken to have granted their request. This they did not do and preferred to continue as they were. However, as the question of African Lodges came before the Grand Lodge later on, and in a much more important shape, we may dismiss all consideration of the matter for the present.

In 1829 the gloom deepened, the country Lodges were dying off by the score or closing their doors until the storm passed over, and every day brought news of fresh desertions, some, like that of Colden, of great importance. Anti-Masonic newspapers were daily springing up and instead of cross-roads orators discussing politics, they found in AntiMasonry a fruitful and profitable theme. The business at the meetings of the Grand Lodge was simply formal. At the annual meeting Mordecai Myers was elected Deputy Grand Master in place of the Rev. Henry I. Feltus, who died in September, 1828. James Herring was elected Secretary in succession to Oliver Lowndes, who had resigned Nov. 19, 1828, and James Van Benschoten became Grand Treasurer. The other officers were re-elected.

The most notable of these officials was undoubtedly James Herring, who for many years was the most active and influential member of the fraternity in New York. He was born in London in 1794 and removed to this country in 1804 with the other members of his family. In 1816 he was initiated in Solomon's Lodge, Somerville, N. J., and, removing to New York in 1822, he affiliated with Clinton Lodge, which he served as Master in 1827-28, and again in 1832 and 1834, the time when the Morgan unpleasantness was at its height. When, in 1834, Clinton Lodge surrendered its charter and formed a union of its forces with St. John's, No. 1., Herring affiliated into that venerable Lodge; and later, in 1843, he affiliated with Strict Observance Lodge, No. 94, which he had helped to form and of which he was the first Master. His first Grand Lodge appointment was as Assistant Grand

Secretary, to which he was chosen Sept. 3, 1828, and his election to the Grand Secretaryship followed at the next meeting of the Grand Lodge. In this capacity he rendered invaluable services to the fraternity in the State. Fully realizing the nature of the struggle in which Masonry was then engaged, he threw himself into the conflict and endeavored to stem the tide which seemed to be sweeping the craft to sure destruction. He visited all the Lodges he could possibly reach, advising them to continue their meetings; he wrote to the country Lodges imploring them to remain steadfast to the order, and when disintegration threatened to capture any district he directed all the energies of his pen to prevent it or at least to prevent it being complete. In the press, as occasion offered, he repelled the most odious charges brought against the fraternity and by his efforts he did much to make possible even the corporal's guard which in some places was all that remained out of a once prosperous and harmonious Lodge. Indeed, for years he seemed to be the only prominent member of the fraternity who was not afraid to speak out, who had no care for politics, who carried on an active campaign on behalf of the order, who believed that the time of persecution and malignity would pass away and who strove to keep intact the structure which had been reared during so many years of earnest, honest work. When he entered upon office but little more of that structure remained than its framework, and even that was threatened. That it was saved was due in a great measure to his exertions, aided, of course, by the solid foundation of truth, honesty, integrity and benevolence on which it stood. James Herring was a portrait painter and in his studio in Chatham Square he had as sitters many of the most prominent New Yorkers of his time, while his reputation as an artist was more than local. In 1832 he brought out a "National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans," of which the portraits were from his own studio while he also

wrote several of the accompanying biographies, and later he illustrated, partly, another work of the same description published in Philadelphia. As an orator he was justly regarded as among the most prominent and finished of his time outside of politics, and those of his efforts in that line which have appeared in print fully bear out his contemporary reputation. Brother Herring's history, so far as it relates to Masonic affairs, will be fully told in the pages which follow and we may here close this sketch by saying that his later years were passed in Paris and he died there in 1867. His remains were carried across the Atlantic and an immense throng attended the funeral services at St. Stephen's Church in New York on September 27, that year. The interment was in Greenwood Cemetery, and there the Masonic service was recited and the body laid at rest.

Stephen Van Rensselaer declined to be a candidate for re-election in 1830, and that fact becoming known caused some show of interest to be taken in the annual meeting of that year so that 77 Lodges were represented. Outside of the election and routine business nothing of moment came before the meeting with the exception of a resolution being presented decreeing that "every Past Master who is or has been a member of a Lodge in the jurisdiction of New York should be a member of Grand Lodge," which was lost, as it deserved to be, when it came up for final action the following year. The Secretary, anxious to discover just where the Grand Lodge stood in point of membership, and realizing the difficulties under which many if not all of the country Lodges were laboring hard, had introduced a resolution: "That all Lodges in arrears for dues for more than eighteen months, and who may represent their inability to pay such dues, shall be, and are hereby, discharged from the same on the payment of the amount of their return for the first year of their delinquency and in default thereof that they surrender their war

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rants, jewels, etc., in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution." A resolution also provided for the appointment of a Visitor to each county to "Call on the several Lodges within his district, to examine into their situation, to receive the amount of their returns, or a surrender of their warrants, jewels, etc.," and the Visitor was to be allowed "his actual expenses, not in any case exceeding 50 per cent of the amount collected."

Stephen Van Rensselaer had been elected against his wish in 1829 and his declination at this time being too peremptory to over

MORGAN LEWIS.

come, a change had to be made and the choice fell upon a man of national reputation, Morgan Lewis. The change in the Grand Mastership was the only one of any consequence from the board elected or appointed the previous year.

Morgan Lewis was born in New York City in 1754 and was the son of Francis Lewis who, with William Floyd, Philip Livingston and Lewis Morris, signed the Declaration of

Independence as the Representatives in Congress of New York. He graduated from Princeton in 1773 and studied for the bar. His studies in this respect were soon interrupted for in 1774 he became a volunteer in the patriot forces and was elected captain in a New York regiment, afterward known as the 2d New York. In this body he reached the rank of Major and was its actual commander. In 1776 he became aide to Gen. Horatio Gates, and having received the rank of Colonel he served throughout the campaign which terminated with the battle of Saratoga. In 1778 he commanded the advance of the army of Gen. Clinton in its advance against the forces of Sir John Johnson and Joseph Brant, who were then operating in the Mohawk Valley. He attacked the enemy at Stone Arabia and completely routed them.

At the close of the war Lewis resumed his study of law and was soon admitted to practice. He was also elected a member of Assembly from New York, and afterward from Dutchess County. In 1790 he became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and in December, 1791, Attorney General of the State. In 1792 he was elevated to the bench of the Supreme Court and a year later became its Chief Justice. Of course this rapid advance was due to political reasons and was the result of powerful backing, for Morgan Lewis had the support of the Hamilton faction or party in the State and he was the successful candidate of that party for Governor in 1804, but we know enough of the man to judge that his mental qualities and studious temperament fully warranted his promotion. His election as Governor, in which he defeated Aaron Burr, was indeed one of the events which brought about the unhappy duel between that stormy petrel in American politics and Alexander Hamilton. His record as Governor was an uneventful one, but under his suggestion and guidance a permanent fund for the establishment and support of common schools was established, and the militia service