Grand Master, Thomas Derbyshire. That charter 1atifies, grants, and confirms the former, and doth "also hereby grant, authorize, and empower the Grand Sire, Deputy Grand Sire, Representatives, and Proxies of the Grand Lodge of the United States of America to conduct the business of Odd-Fellowship, without the interference of any other country, so long as the same is administered according to the principles and purity of Odd-Fellowship." This charter was received, and duly accepted October 3d, 1826, and is the charter under which our National Grand Lodge now exists.

It is remarkable that while these proceedings, so well calculated to unite the Order in both hemispheres, were in progress, the Manchester Unity were preparing and urging onward those measures which finally sundered the two bodies. From time to time, they changed the signs and other unwritten language of the Order, without our consent, and complained if we did not adopt their alterations, and admit their members, who knew not our working. But of this severance and its causes, in another place.

The year 1827 opened with four Grand Lodges in connection, having fourteen Subordinates, of which there were four each in Baltimore and Philadelphia, and three each in Boston and New York. In November, 1827, a charter was granted for Central Lodge, No. 1, in Washington, D. C., which was duly opened on the 26th of said month. On June 14th, 1827, the Grand Lodge of Maryland instituted the first Subordinate Encampment of the Order, authorizing it to confer the Patriarchal, Golden Rule, and Royal Purple degrees on scarlet members of the Order. The year closed with four Grand Lodges in connection, having seventeen Subordinates, besides two Subordinates in the District

of Columbia.

Pennsylvania, No. 1, of Philadelphia, was reported as having 568 members.

In 1828, a difficulty arose in New York. Stranger's Refuge Lodge denied to the Grand Lodge any more than advisory powers, and refused to pay its dues, or charge fees for conferring degrees. The Grand Lodge, after trying every other means to secure obedience, resorted to expulsion, and was sustained by the Grand Lodge of the United States. Stranger's Refuge Lodge applied to England for countenance, but receiving none, submitted, and was reinstated in 1829. The Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia was instituted November 24th, 1828.

1829 to 1833-Thomas Wildey, Grand Sire. This Brother, though not strictly the founder of Odd-Fellowship in America, is nevertheless justly entitled to the credit of being not only the founder, but the most active and efficient promoter of the Order in its present form. From the formation of Washington Lodge, in 1819, he devoted all the energies of his active mind to promote the welfare, extend the domain, and secure the success of the Order. It is mainly to his foresight, that that Lodge became the head of the Order at that early day, and thus was enabled to unite in one organization all the Lodges in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, at the very time when rivalries and conflicting claims were driving them asunder. To his untiring energy, also, is the Order indebted for its early spread in the South and West, he having planted its banner there with his own hand. When dissension and strife crept in at a later day, though he may have erred in judgment, yet his courteous and kind persuasions seldom failed in restoring peace and harmony. To his prudence and wisdom we owe the severance of the working Lodge

from the Grand Lodge of Maryland and the United States; and afterward the separation of the State from the National Grand Lodge. And to his devotion and noble self-sacrifice does that National Grand Lodge owe her full and clear recognition by the Manchester Unity as an independent Sovereign Lodge. Whatever may have been the failings of the man or the errors of the officer, Thomas Wildey has proved himself to be a man of no common character in mind and purpose, and deserves the grateful remembrance of every Odd-Fellow in the land, for his arduous labors, and many sacrifices of time, travel, and means, to establish and prosper our beloved Order. The fact that he was elected first Grand Master of the Lodge of Maryland and the United States, and repeatedly Grand Sire of the Grand Lodge of the United States, shows the estimation in which his contemporaries held his services. Besides these tokens, at two different and later periods, a beautiful gold medal, and a service of plate valued at $500, were presented to him by the Grand Lodge of the United States, as a testimony of their appreciation of his valuable services to the Order.

In 1829, also, Degree Lodges were instituted by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Prior to this, degrees were conferred (as in Great Britain) on Sundays, in the Lodge-room, and the act was called " delivering lecture." The plan was followed by several of the State Grand Lodges-not without resistance, however, in some of them, by the Subordinate Lodges, whose charters authorized them to perform this work. Other State Grand Lodges modified the plan by the organization of a Degree Committee in each Subordinate Lodge, composed of its most experienced and best qualified Past Grands and officers. In others still, the duty of

conferring degrees was vested in the D. D. G. Masters. and Lecture Masters selected and authorized by them, in conjunction with such members of the Lodge as these latter might select as assistants. This is especially the case, even where Degree Lodges are recognized, in districts where there is but one Lodge, or where it would be inconvenient to establish a Degree Lodge.

This year also an important decision was rendered, which limited the powers of the Grand Sire to those defined in the Constitution, rejecting the analogies drawn from vague "ancient usage." "Pennsylvania Lodge, No. 1," had refused to pay benefits to a sick member, whereupon it was expelled by the Grand Lodge of that State. No. 1 then fell back upon the charter which she had received from the "Grand Lodge of Maryland and of the United States," and claimed to be the legal Grand Lodge of the State. Having a numerous membership, a majority of which followed in this disorganizing measure, and putting forth a plausible claim, she succeeded, for a time, in deceiving many into a union with her; and, unfortunately, the Grand Sire himself recognized the rebels as a legal Lodge in his correspondence with them. This recognition so roused the indignation of the State Grand Lodge proper, that at one time it very seriously meditated withdrawing from the Order, and forming a separate jurisdiction. The breach, however, was finally healed by the National Lodge deciding, as above stated, that the acts of the Grand Sire, during the recess, were unauthorized, and that his powers are contained in the Constitution" alone. The charter of No. 1 was subsequently restored by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania to the obedient minority, and thus the threatening storm was finally dispersed.

Having thus carefully traced the gradual development of all the agencies of the Order in Grand Lodges and Grand Encampments-in Degree Lodges, and Subordinate Lodges and Encampments-and their introduction into the several States up to this period, we shall notice only the most prominent general events in the remainder of our history of the Order. We refer the reader to the List of Grand Lodges and Grand Encampments, for the dates at which the Order was introduced into each State and Territory.

About this period, the anti-masonic excitement, which arose in Western New York two years previously, spread rapidly abroad over the land. In several of the Northern States it took such general possession of the public feelings as to affect very materially the prosperity of our Order also, by the general prejudice excited against all so-termed "secret societies." In Massachusetts, the Order entirely died away. In Rhode Island, where it had just been planted, it obtained not root sufficient to grow. In New York, an unhappy dissension in regard to the place of the seat of the Grand Lodge, caused much difficulty; and, together with anti-masonic prejudices, prevented the spread of the Order. In Pennsylvania, the prejudice against "secret societies" caused a diminution of our Lodges, so that from fifty Subordinates in this State, in 1832, a decline to forty only, had taken place by 1838 and 1839. And in Delaware a decline of numbers prevented the institution of a permanent Grand Lodge, though a charter had been issued for that purpose.

At an adjourned session, March 4th, 1833, P. G. M. James Gettys, of the District of Columbia, was elected Grand Sire. The Grand Encampments had now been recognized as, and constituted independent and sove