Master, Oscar Coles declining to be a candidate for re-election, and the other officers were: Ezra S. Barnum, Senior Grand Warden. Nelson Randall, Junior Grand Warden. Robert R. Boyd, Grand Secretary. Gerarden Boyce, Grand Treasurer. Rev. Alfred E. Campbell, Grand Chaplains. Rev. Salem Town, George Skinner, Grand Pursuivant. John T. Smith, Grand Tyler. On that day the immediate excitement had passed and much useful business was done, the most important of which was the creation of four visitation districts so that visits might be made by duly appointed authorities to exemplify the ritual and so bring about a uniformity in the working of the degrees and also give the officers of the Lodges some recognized source of information. Before leaving this chapter it may be well here to state that the Willard body was duly recognized and sustained by no less than twenty sister organizations as being the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. Two of the opinions of these sister bodies may be quoted. The Grand Lodge of Kentucky said: We congratulate the Grand Lodge of New York, not only upon the adoption of what we deem a salutary constitutional amendment, but upon the first fruits of that amendment, and we trust, and believe, they will be sustained in their course, and will receive the approving smiles and good wishes of every true Mason in the land. It will afford us pleasure to continue our correspondence with them. We cannot, as at present advised, hold any further correspondence with the Grand Lodge which had its origin in the riotous proceedings of the 5th of June, 1849, and of which Isaac Philips is now reported as M. W. Grand Master. The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was even more emphatic. It adopted the following resolutions on the subject: At a meeting of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, held on the 12th September, a report was made by the Special Committee on the subject of the New York difficulties, and the following resolutions recommended, which were unanimously adopted: "Resolved, That the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts views, with deep sorrow, the unhappy division which has taken place among our brethren of the Grand Lodge of New York; and we do earnestly and affectionately call upon every individual brother, in our sister State, whatever may be his present opinion, or position, to learn to subdue his passions, to discard all prejudice, all bitterness of feeling, and in this matter, by God's aid, to seek the truth, and especially to follow out the things that make for peace; remembering, that as we are all members of one body, if one member suffer, all the others suffer with it. "Resolved, That whatever may be our sympathies for our erring brethren, this Grand Lodge feels itself compelled to recognize, and it does hereby recognize, in the fullest manner, the regular standing of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State of New York, as at present constituted, under the M. W. John D. Willard; that we will continue to hold fraternal communication with that body, and with no other, claiming similar authority in that State. "Resolved, That this Grand Lodge do sincerely hope that the brethren whose acts we feel compelled to condemn, will, after dispassionate consideration of the evils which must result to the craft generally, from the present state of Masonry in New York, be induced to adopt such a course as may lead to a restoration of order and harmony among the fraternity." Georgia, it may be mentioned, declined to declare the Phillips body an outlaw; Ohio declined to recognize either the Willard or the Phillips body as regular; Mississippi declared the Willard body to be irregular, and Pennsylvania sat on the fence. With these exceptions the voice of Masonry in America condemned the Phillips movement as irregular. Three Grand Lodges on the continent of Europe-Saxony, Geneva and the Grand Orient-adopted the cause of Phillips and his associates. In 1852 Ohio and the Grand Orient formally recognized the Willard body. At the same time it should be stated that, while the Willard Grand Lodge was thus sustained by most of its sister Grand bodies, a feeling of uneasiness prevailed at the spectacle of three Grand Lodges existing in the State of New York. It was felt that not much progress could be made in such circumstances, that the very existence of three supreme bodies of Masons-no matter how clandestine two of them might be—was not conducive to Masonic harmony anywhere and was calculated to bring the institution into. contempt before the outside world, and it was not long before the other Grand Lodges expressed a desire that the dissensions should in some way cease. One or two offered to mediate in the matter, but this the Willard Grand Lodge rightly refused, preferring to deal with Masonry in the State without outside aid and dealing with the problems which confronted her in her own way. And this position, as it ultimately turned out, was the wisest and best that could have been assumed in the interests of all concerned. CHAPTER X. THE PHILLIPS GRAND LODGE. W E may here pause in the course of our narrative to tell the story of the Phillips Grand Lodge. On getting possession of the meeting on June 5, 1849, while even most of the regular Grand Lodge officers were present in the room, Past Deputy Grand Master Willis was called upon to act as temporary Grand Master and a temporary board of officers was elected as follows: Isaac Phillips as Deputy Grand Master. On the roll being called the following Lodges responded by their Representatives and the roll is curious as showing the exact strength of the Phillips Grand Lodge when it started out. Those Lodges not recorded here may be regarded as having remained faithful to the. Willard Grand Lodge: Hohenlinden, No. 56. The roll being called, a motion was made to proceed with the annual election of the Grand Lodge, when the following were chosen: Grand Master, Isaac Phillips. Deputy Grand Master, Joseph Cuyler. On the following day Isaac Phillips was installed Grand Master by Past Grand Masters Ira Merchant and Daniel B. Bruen of New Jersey. Phillips then installed his associates. Both of the New Jersey dignitaries afterwards stated that they were not at the time aware that the proceedings were other than those of the legitimate Grand Lodge and had they known to the contrary they would not have been present. Merchant further stated that he had been deceived in the matter by Brother Fitzgerald Tisdall. In the long run these explanations were deemed sufficient by the Grand Lodge, and Tisdall found himself not only expelled by the Willard Grand Lodge, but repudiated by the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, which demanded from him the jewel and regalia of his office as its representative. In Tisdall's historical sketch of St. John's Lodge the issue is thus concisely put under date of 1849: "This Lodge, under a belief that the action of the Grand Lodge was a violation of vested, inherent and inalienable rights as regarded its Past Masters and those of other Lodges and not-as was asserted-a revocation of privileges hitherto enjoyed by those who had passed the chair, acknowledged the Phillips or Herring organization as the Grand Lodge of the State." The meeting next appointed a committee to draw up a statement explaining its position and appealing to the Grand Lodges throughout the world for recognition, and this statement duly appeared and was extensively circulated. It need not, however, be more particularly referred to here, as the ground it occupied has already been sufficiently stated in these pages. Nor do we need to reprint. the exceedingly able but lengthy response which Secretary Herring made to the various printed papers issued by the Willard body relative to the case. No essential point necessary to a perfect understanding of the controversy has been omitted in the summary already presented. The history of the Phillips Grand Lodge can be treated in a very general manner without thereby losing sight of any of its salient features or events. Throughout its career its story was one of continual struggle for existence, a defiant upholding of a principle, and a grim determination to maintain the integrity of that principle as a landmark in spite of countless obstacles. Its warfare was a bitter and a wordy one, it struck hard blows time. and again at its opponent, and it used printer's ink in riotous prodigality. Of course many things were said and done in the heat of con troversy which had better have been left unsaid and undone, many charges of unmasonic conduct were made on both sides which should never have been preferred, but then, what controversy ever was entirely free from such distressing features? We confess to much more sympathy for the Phillips outbreak than for the preceding one under Atwood. No Mason who has ever attempted to study the history of that Grand Lodge can say a word in its defense, but in the case of the Phillips body a principle really was at stake, the abrogation of which threatened to revolutionize the history of the Grand Lodge. There is no doubt that the right of Past Masters to a seat in the New York Grand body had been admitted from the beginning of its history; there is no doubt that the movement to wrest from them that honor was fostered not by any high ideals of principle, but from very paltry motives of jealousy, jealousy which arose, as we can now see, from no actual cause, no definite occasion-jealousy that was utterly groundless. At all events the removal of what so many ardent brethren claimed to be a landmark ought only to have been attempted after several years' discussion and with the question laid before the brethren in all its aspects; and, denying, as they did, the legality of the vote and methods by which the change was declared accomplished, it could hardly have been expected that the Past Masters and their supporters would quietly submit to what they regarded as wrong. At the same time we have no admiration for schism. No purer form of democracy exists in the world than an American Grand Lodge, and it was within the Grand Lodge that the struggle should have been continued. We say this, of course, without being prejudiced by the excitement and passion of the conflict and confess that at such periods it is impossible to act as one would suggest after half a century had obliterated the rough angles of the controversy, the very angles which may have inspired revolt. But it is clearly evident, and we say it in all fairness, that it was time in 1849 that Past Master membership was abolished. This is not for the reason that swayed the country brethren then, but for the simpler one that we believe in direct representation, and that with all the direct representatives present the Grand Lodge was even then too large for practical purposes. Had the custom continued to the present day we can imagine how the very size of the Grand Lodge would have rendered it unwieldy and inefficient, but there is no doubt the change would have been made long ere this. The further it was deferred the more numerous would have been the vested interests-in the shape of Past Masters to find objections, and, perhaps, struggle against any departure from what they, rightly or wrongly, might construe as a landmark. The Phillips Grand Lodge started out, after it had its officers elected and some other necessary matters arranged, with punishing its foes, and among the earliest to feel the effects of vengeance was Robert R. Boyd, Grand Secretary. This official was not only charged with embezzlement, but Charles O'Conor, the famous criminal lawyer, was retained to prepare a case against him and was also desired to consider how the Phillips people could obtain possession of the Permanent Fund and all other property belonging to the Grand Lodge of the State of New York-which they claimed to be. The lawyer gave an opinion stating that the title of the Phillips Grand Lodge to the property was perfectly clear; that the trustees holding it could be compelled to give it up, and so the luxury was indulged in of several suits at law. Afterward Oscar Coles and quite a large number of those who had been active in the troubles on the Willard side were expelled from all the rights, benefits and privileges of Masonry, a sentence which probably did not cost any of them a moment's pang. The troubles of the Phillips Grand Lodge soon began. As early as March, 1850, Grand Master Phillips complained that he had been refused admission into one of his LodgesLafayette, No. 64-and that Independent Royal Arch, No. 2, had shown signs of insubordination. Then the fealty of some of the Lodges was doubted and indications of wavering were apparent on many sides. A majority. of Independent Royal Arch, No. 2; St. Patrick's, No. 4, and Schodack, No. 87, repudiated the secession soon after the start. Trinity, No. 12, and Pythagoras Lodge, No. 86, soon after forsook the Phillips standard altogether and made their peace with the other camp. But the most serious blow in this direction was when, in 1852, in answer to a call, as it were, from the open door of the Willard Grand Lodge, offering a free pardon to all who entered and acknowledged its allegiance, no fewer than six Lodges deserted the Phillips colors. They were: St. John's, No. 1. Mount Vernon, No. 3. L'Union Francaise, No. 17. Abram's, No. 20. Montgomery, No. 68. Washington, No. 85. These were really the cream of the city support and Mount Vernon was long a recognized leader among the Country Lodges. By this deal the irrepressible Fitzgerald G. Tisdall was received back into the arms of the Grand Lodge he had done so much to disgrace-for his conduct in getting one Past Grand Master of New Jersey to install Phillips under false representations was disgraceful when viewed from any standpoint. But the Phillips organization let him go willingly with a parting shot in the nature of a sentence of expulsion for "immoral Masonic conduct of a financial nature." In telling the story of the return of St. John's, No. 1, in his historical sketch of that Lodge Tisdall thus states the causes which led to that important step. "The organization claiming to be a Grand Lodge, to which this Lodge attached itself in June, 1849, |