REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. To the M. E. Grand High Priest, Officers and Members of the Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons of the State of Michigan: Your committee have carefully reviewed the doings of the following Grand Chapters in fraternal correspondence with this Grand Body, and present the accompanying report as the result of their labors: Alabama, December 5, 1882; Arkansas, November 24, 1882; California, April 10, 1883; Colorado, September 21, 1882; Connecticut, May 8, 1883; Delaware, January 17, 1883; District of Columbia, June 14, 1882; Florida, January 15, 1883; Georgia, April 25, 1883; Illinois, October 26, 1882, October 25, 1883; Indiana, October 18, 1882; Kansas, February 20, 1883; Kentucky, October 17, 1882; Louisiana, February 13, 1883; Maryland, November 14, 1882, November 13, 1883; Massachusetts, December 12, 1882; Minnesota, October 10, 1882; Mississippi, February 12, 1883; Missouri, May 3, 1883; Nebraska, December 19, 1882; Nevada, June 12, 1882; New Hampshire, May 16, 1882, May 15, 1883; New Jersey, September 12, 1883; New York, February 6, 1883; North Carolina, May 15, 1883; Ohio, September 20, 1882; Oregon, June 8, 1883; Pennsylvania, December 27, 1882; Tennessee, February 1, 1883; Texas, December 14, 1882; Vermont, June 15, 1883; Virginia, July 31, 1883; West Virginia, November, 13, 1882; Wisconsin, February 20, 1883; Canada, July 13, 1883; England and Wales, December, 1882, April, 1883, June, 1883; Quebec, January 30, 1883; Scotland, April 13, 1883, and Ireland. Up to the time the manuscript was placed in the hands of the printer, the following States have not been reviewed, as their proceedings have not reached your committee: Iowa, Maine, Rhode Island and South Carolina, together with the proceedings of the General Grand Chapter. Should any of them come to hand in time, they will receive proper attention in their alphabetical order, if possible; if not, as an addendum. This year England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland appear in our review, and we hope to keep company with them for these many years to come. Kindly words have been said of Michigan and her Royal Craft, and your committee have tried to reciprocate. We have not put ourselves forward as critics, but have endeavored to place before our companions the several rulings on Masonic law and other matters of general interest to the Royal Craft. ALABAMA. The Fifty-sixth Annual Convocation was held in the city of Montgomery, commencing December 5, A.D. 1882, A.I. 2412. M. E. Lucky Walker Jenkins, Grand High Priest. Twenty-four subordinate Chapters represented. Two Past Grand High Priests present. The Grand High Priest opens his annual address as follows: In meeting in this Grand Annual Convocation we have cause for congratulation and gratitude, in that a most merciful Providence has Vouchsafed us the inestimable blessings of good health and unprecedented prosperity. Particularly happy does our lot appear, when contrasted with that of some of our sister jurisdictions, whence arose from the pallid lips of suffering, cries for aid that reach the most distant lands, and melted to sympathy the hardest hearts. While we sympathize with our brethren in their great affliction, it is very meet and very right, that we should return thanks to God, who stayed the dread scourge at our border, and said to "the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth at noon-day, 'thus far shall thou come and no further.'" The following decisions were made by the Grand High Priest and approved by the Grand Chapter, although we regret no action was taken as requested by the Grand High Priest on question No. 1, which he called special attention to and asked their action thereon: 1. Can we substitute a companion with two candidates to confer the Royal Arch Degree? Yes. See edict of the Grand Chapter, Proceedings of 1878. Obedience to the resolution passed by the Grand Chapter of 1878 compelled me to render the decision as I did, though believing it to be contrary to the decisions of former Grand High Priests, in violation of the constitutional rules and ancient usages; and utterly irreconcilable with our Ritual. I hope the delegates to the Grand Chapter, who have had ample experience of the awkward working of this rule, are prepared to review and revise it. 2. Can a Chapter refund its fees after conferring the degrees? A Chapter cannot donate or refund the fees without doing violence to the Constitution. 3. Can a High Priest suffer his Chapter to adopt any subterfuge by which the law can be evaded for the purpose of donating or refunding to a candidate fees for degrees conferred? The refunding of such fees, or any portion thereof, as have been established by the Grand Chapter, would be violative of the Constitution, at variance with the customs of the Chapters throughout the State, and highly improper. 4. Can a Chapter bury with Masonic honors a Royal Arch Mason who dies in good standing in his Chapter, but is suspended from his Lodge for non-payment of dues? A Royal Arch Chapter has no place in a funeral procession. The Masonic burial is peculiarly the business of the Lodge, and hence cannot be performed by the Chapter. 5. A dispensation is asked for to confer all the degrees at one meeting of the Chapter. A dispensation is not necessary. The Grand Chapter last year passed an act repealing the edict of 1868, which required candidates to pass examination of their proficiency before they were permitted to adTherefore all the degrees can be conferred at one meeting. vance. The Grand High Priest, in referring to the old rule requiring examination of candidates, says: I fear that the repeal of the edict that required candidates to undergo examination will prove to be injurious to our Order. One of the causes of the languishing condition of our Chapters is the non-attendance at the regular meetings. If there was work, a degree to be conferred, the members would take more interest in the proceedings of the Chapters, and give the meetings more attention, and of consequence become more expert and useful craftsmen. When there is work in a Chapter only once or twice during the year, the members become indifferent, inattentive, and in many cases unprofitable to the Order. Every one must admit that when all the degrees are conferred in short order at one meeting, great injustice is done the candidates who are left ignorant of the lectures. To my mind, thorough instruction in the beginning would be far better for the candidate, and more creditable to the Chapter. Proceedings local in their character. Companion Palmer Job Pillans (the middle name appropriate to and suggestive of a writer on correspondence) presents the well-written and impartial review of the proceedings of thirty-seven sister jurisdictions, including Michigan : He introduces himself to the corps reportorial as follows: Upon receipt of the proceedings of the Grand Chapter of Alabama we found that our esteemed M. Ex. Grand High Priest still expected that we would prepare this report. Though anxious to avoid the responsible duty, yet were we unwilling to have the Grand Chapter disappointed by having no report, or fail ourself in a proper appreciation of the high honor conferred. We have then, as the time at our disposal, and our ability allowed, prepared such a report of the condition of the Royal Craft as we hope may prove instructive, and comport with the finances of the Grand Chapter. When we commenced writing these reports, many questions, some quite vexed, agitated our companions in the several jurisdictions, and much asperity of feeling, growing out of the political condition of the country, was evinced. Of the former, the most have disappeared, and the latter has entirely subsided. We claim that much of this happy result is the natural consequence of the broad and catholic, and truly Masonic spirit displayed by the various brethren who composed the corps of the reporters on correspondence. On most questions wherein great difference existed in the various jurisdictions we find uniformity, and we are satisfied that on all, ere long, there will be no diversity. He reviews our proceedings of the Thirty-third Convocation, and in referring to the amount of cash reported on hand by our Finance Committee, suggests it be made the foundation of some noble and durable charity. Companion Pillans quotes what we say about the formation of a G. G. Council, and thinks us severe on Texas and the G. G. Council. Perhaps we are, but we have said nothing more than many others think and dare not say. We are on record, and by the record as we made it we will stand or fall, and will say in the words of our good Companion Pillans in his closing, "what is writ is writ." Companion Pillans closes his report as follows: We congratulate the Craft that though the increase of our members has not been great, yet we have no cause for regret. The various other secret organizations with their endowment plans have for a time had their influence upon our progress, but as the various Masonic organizations have kept their garments unspotted by these ephemera, but have adhered firmly to the landmarks and objects of the Order, so they have still maintained their reputation for usefulness, and the light of their fires are again beginning to guide the unwary and lure them from those ignes fatui. We congratulate the Craft on the maintenance of principle, and still more on the harmony generally prevailing. Various questions which were a short time since esteemed mooted ones no longer trouble the companions, and there seems at present to be but three which threaten disturbances. These are The effect for non-payment of dues and consequent suspension from the Lodge. The position of our G. G. Chapter toward the Grand Chapter of Texas. And The effect of the probable course of the G. G. Council. This latter may yet prove a disturbing element which may seriously affect Capitular Masonry. Let temperance, moderation and wise counsels prevail, and all will yet be well. The same may be perhaps more emphatically declared in reference to the second. And now, Companions, our task is finished. "What is writ, is writ, would it were worthier." $ |