REPORT OF COMMITTEE

ON

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.

To the M. E. Grand High Priest, Officers and Members of the Grand Chapter R. A. M. of the State of Michigan:

Your Committee on Foreign Correspondence would respectfully report the receipt of the proceedings of the following sister Grand Chapters, each one of which has been reviewed as fully as possible:

Invitations were extended to forty-five sister jurisdictions to assemble around the festal board at this our annual banquet, but of that number only thirty-seven responded to our call, the absentees being Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, West Virginia and Scotland. Seats having been reserved for all, we regret that our sisters are denied participation with us, but should they arrive later they will be accorded a place in our review, and their good deeds be made plain.

ALABAMA-1883.

The Fifty-seventh Annual Convocation of this Grand Chapter was held in Masonic Temple, in the city of Montgomery, December 4-5, A. D. 1883, A. I. 2418.

M. E. Lucky Walker Jenkins, Grand High Priest.

R. E. Daniel Sayre, Grand Secretary.

Twenty-two subordinate Chapters represented. Two Past Grand High Priests present.

ANNUAL ADDRESS.

In opening his address the Grand High Priest says:

We meet again, through a merciful Providence, in Grand Annual Convocation, to call the roll, as it were, and record the casualties of another year's labors and vicissitudes. While many blessings have been conferred upon us, for which we are thankful to Divine Providence, many calamities have befallen us; though we congratulate ourselves on our prosperity, the voice of mourning must mingle with our congratulations. Since our last Annual Convocation Companion Leroy Riley Simms. Right Excellent Grand Chaplain, died at his residence in the town of Shorterville, in Henry county, on the 20th day of June last. He was well known to many of us who attended the Annual Convocations for many years past. He was a faithful and zealous Mason, a good citizen, and conscientious in the discharge of every duty. It remains for this Grand Chapter to pay such tribute of respect as may be appropriate to his memory.

A portion of our jurisdiction has been visited by that terrible scourge, yellow fever, and much distress caused in that section. Many of our valuable companions fell victims. The sympathy of the neighboring towns, as expressed by their liberal donations, obviated the necessity of my calling, as Grand Officer of the State, on the subordinate Chapters for relief.

DECISIONS.

The Grand High Priest rendered the following decisions, which were approved by Grand Chapter:

1st. Can a Chapter call off from one regular Convocation to another? Answer: No. A Chapter may call off, from time to time, until the business of that Convocation is disposed of, and then it must close in due form.

2d "Is it lawful to confer Chapter degrees upon a minister of the Gospel without requiring of him the constitutional fees?" Answer: It is not lawful. Article 4, Section 5 of the Constitution, says that the fee must accompany the petition.

3d. "When a petition of a minister of the Gospel has been received without the fee and balloted on and he is elected, what is the best course to pursue?" Answer: The High Priest should declare the action of the Chapter on said petition unconstitutional, and the election null and void, and return the petition to the applicant.

BUSINESS.

Business transacted at the session local in character.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.

Companion Palmer J. Pillan presents the usual Correspondence Report, which is an able document, carefully prepared, and reflects credit upon its author. Much as we appreciate the work of the author, gladly would we have dispensed with the pleasure of reading it this year, for we know full well from experience the sadness which pervaded his work as he performed this labor of love. Our heart goes out to our esteemed Companion in his bereavement, and we can only pray that our Heavenly Father will give him that peace "which passeth all understanding."

MICHIGAN.

He reviews our proceedings for 1888, credits Companion Turck with an address "a model for its conciseness and clearness," quotes what we said relative to a more general uniformity of decisions, and says:

Thanks, very many thanks, to him (us) for his kind estimate of ourself. We yet hope we may greet our friend and companion where the warm waters of the Gulf stream wafts its balmy breezes over us, at our own home in the lovely tho' despised 'Sunny South.'

Thanks, Companion Pillans, and we hope some day to avail ourselves of your kind invitation; in the meantime, however, remember that the latch string of our home hangs out, and we would be pleased to welcome you to the land of pine stumps and peaches, in our own beloved and admired Peninsular StateMichigan.

Of cur report he says:

OF US."

We have carefully conned every line of his report and find the selections from the proceedings reviewed most judicious, nor have we been able to meet anything to find fault with, such a spirit of right good humor pervades it all. The nearest approach, perhaps, to its loss is to be found in the following extract from his comments on the address of the Grand High Priest of Mississippi, Companion Speed:

Suppose Mississippi should adopt such a law unto herself. What could the General Grand Chapter do about it? They acknowledge they have no power of discipline, nor do we think the great and magnificent body has any power "at all, at all." The proper thing to do is for Mississippi to go ahead and let the other fellow "knock the chip off their shoulders."

We can't help thinking there's a little bit of irony there when we recollect how our Companion wanted the G. G. Chapter to summarily chastise our sister Texas at the Convocation held at Detroit in 1880. But then we know his amiability, and know though not perhaps altogether guileless, yet he possesses the minimum share given to us mortals.

CONCLUSION.

In closing his report he thus tenderly refers to the affliction which so recently bereaved him: