ion of this Grand Chapter shall act as the representative of more than one Grand Chapter at the same time. He concludes his address as follows: My associates in office have not only given me their cordial support by their counsel and wisdom, but have performed every requisite duty with cheerfulness and alacrity, and have placed me under an obligation of gratitude to them. To the officers and members of the constituent Chapters I tender my acknowledgments for the respect and courtesies shown me when visiting their respective Chapters. To you, members of the Grand Chapter, my thanks are due for your kindness in elevating me to the honorable and exalted position of your presiding officer, and I regret that its duties could not have been performed with greater ability. As our official relations are now about to be severed, I trust that the same cordial support will be extended to my successor as has been given to me. I assure you that the hours spent in this special service will ever be reckoned among the prized happy hours of my life. Companion Noble D. Larner submits the report on Foreign Correspondence. It is a "noble" work done by a noble Larner. Ably and fraternally has he reviewed the transactions of forty sister Grand Jurisdictions, including Grand Mark Lodge of England. Under his review of California, he says: The following proceedings which we find in this volume seems to us to be erroneous. Let the facts be as stated, has the Grand Chapter the right to expel a member from all rights and benefits of R. A. Masonry upon a simple statement of facts and without granting to him a fair trial? We think not, and the precedent set in this case by the Grand Chapter of California may, at some future period, give our companions of that Grand Chapter trouble. It might have taken a little longer time to have arrived at the same result in a proper way, but by so doing violence would not have been done to what, as we believe, is good Masonic law, viz: "every companion is entitled to a fair and impartial trial before punishment can be inflicted upon him." The facts of the case, as reported, were as follows: The Charter of a Chapter was revoked and the High Priest of the Chapter ordered to turn over to the Grand Chapter its effects. To this demand, which had been repeated several times, he, after having promised compliance therewith, paid no attention. The matter was reported by the Grand High Priest to the Grand Chapter, and by it referred to the Committee on Jurisprudence, who reported a resolution expelling the disobedient High Priest from all the rights and privileges of R. A. Masonry. A substitute for this resolution, which directed that charges be preferred against the High Priest, and that he be brought to trial, was offered, and, after considerable discussion, was rejected and the original resolution adopted. We trust our companions of the Grand Chapter will, at their next convocation, see the error they have, as we believe, committed, retrace their steps and expel the disobedient High Priest, if he is found, after due trial, to deserve it, in the proper Masonic way. Under Iowa he quotes the following decision made by the Grand High Priest: A brother having been elected to receive the Chapter degrees, and having received Mark Master, Past Master and Most Excellent Master degrees, then dimits from the Blue Lodge—can he then be exalted. No. The law requiring a member to be affiliated with some Lodge before he can petition for Chapter degrees cannot be thwarted by this course; the membership must be continuous. And comments thereon as follows: We regard the first, third and fourth decisions as good Masonic law, but we cannot agree with the doctrine enunciated in the second one. Where the law requires, as we believe it does in all jurisdictions, that a brother must be affiliated when he petitions for the degrees, we do not think it ought to be construed, if affiliated when he petitioned for and was elected to receive all of the degrees in the Chapter, so as to prevent his advancement, for the simple reason that he has, probably under circumstances beyond his control, become, it may be temporarily, unaffiliated. We hold that a brother who is affiliated when he makes the application and is received by the Chapter, is entitled to receive the degrees to which he has been elected, unless an objection, under the law, is entered to his advancement. It will not do to say that because a brother becomes unaffiliated, no matter what the cause may be, before he receives all of the degrees, that he is by becoming so trying to "thwart " the laws. The charge is too sweeping. Referring to our proceedings, he quotes liberally and with apparent approval: We think his strictures on the General Grand Chapter for postponing action on the Texas question rather harsh and somewhat out of place. They might possibly be applicable after the next session of that body, to which time the decision of this question was postponed, if decisive action is not then taken. As it now stands it looks very much like the juryman who had eleven stubborn colleagues. And thus we could follow Companion Larner from State to State, culling here a little and there a little, did our Grand Treasury permit, but we are forced to hasten on to his conclusion, which we present in full: We have now completed our labors for the year, and submit herewith for your inspection the results, trusting that they may prove satisfactory and be of advantage to our companions. But few questions of importance have been presented for consideration in the various proceedings which have been received. The proper place for the conferring of the Council degrees has been discussed in many of the reports, but as no new light has been shed on that question we do not deem it of sufficient importance to claim much attention at the present time. We will, therefore, dismiss the question, with the expression of the opinion that we believe that the conferring of the degrees in the Chapter is just as regular as the conferring of them in an organized council independent of the Chapter entirely, and that a council Mason made in either way should be recognized as having been regularly made. The question as to the status of a companion who has been suspended from his Lodge for the non-payment of dues, or for any other cause, has received the attention of most of the writers of reports and Grand High Priests in their addresses, and we are pleased to be able to record the fact that a very large portion of them hold to the doctrine that if a companion is suspended from his Lodge, no matter for what cause, he thereby becomes a Mason not in good standing, and should be, by the act of his Lodge, suspended from his Chapter. We have always held this to be the correct doctrine, and believe it not only proper for, but the duty of, the Chapters to act in this matter towards the Lodge as the General Grand Encampment of the United States does towards Lodges and Chapters. It provides, by statute, that when a Templar has been suspended from his Lodge or Chapter for any cause he immediately becomes suspended from his Commandery. Although we are sorry to be compelled to say that this statute is not enforced as it should be in our jurisdiction, yet the enactment of the statute by the General Grand Encampment shows that it considers it to be its duty to protect so far as it may be in its power, the bodies from which it obtains its membership, and we should, by the enactment of a similar statute, endeavor to protect the Lodges of our jurisdiction, from which we obtain our membership. Just here we wish to remark that we hope the present Grand Master of Templars will cause this statute to be strictly enforced, and thereby compel those members of Commanderies who so far forget the duties they owe to their Lodges and Chapters as to allow themselves to be suspended from either for non-payment of dues or any other cause, to regain their good standing in the body or bodies from which they have been suspended, or cease to be members of the Commandery. Companions, having completed and presented to you our sixth annual report on correspondence, we desire to say in conclusion, that we have been fully repaid for the great amount of labor we have been compelled to perform in the preparation of these reports by the very pleasant intercourse we have thereby been permitted to enjoy with our companions in various sections of our country, and by the very flattering and complimentary manner in which our reports have been received by the reportorial corps generally. We have endeavored at all times in the discussion of questions to treat all respectfully, and we trust that no word we have written in any of our reports has been the cause of wounding the feelings of any one. And now, companions, with an expression of thankfulness for your many acts of kindness and confidence bestowed upon me, I close with the request that I be relieved from further service on your Committee on Correspondence, and that the duty of preparing the reports in the future be committed to some younger and abler companion. M. E. Jeremiah C. Allen, Washington, elected Grand High Priest. R. E. Lewis G. Stephens, Washington, re-elected Grand Secretary. FLORIDA. The Thirty-seventh Annual Convocation was held in the city of Jacksonville, commencing January 15, A.D. 1883, A.I. 2413. M. E. William A. McLean, Grand High Priest. Six subordinate Chapters represented. Two Past Grand High Priests present. The Grand High Priest feelingly alluded to the absence of the Grand Chaplain, in consequence of sudden and serious illness, and appointed a special committee to visit the worthy companion and tender to him the love and sympathy of the Grand Chapter, and to look after his welfare. The Grand Chapter was called upon during recess to mourn the death of Companion Grand Treasurer Luther McConihe, and of him the Grand High Priest says: To say that a good man has fallen in the midst of the years of his greatest usefullness, is but a feeble expression of the sincere love and tender affection cherished by the companions of him whose life was so blameless, and character so elevated, as to inspire confidence and command the respect of the better classes of society. To him the burdened heart could pour out its sorrows, and distress prefer its suit with confident assurance of a tender, sympathetic response. He dignified every station, and elevated every position in which he was placed, and as a result of his inflexible fidelity to the sacred trusts confided to, and the confidence reposed in him during an active and useful life, his memory is invested with honors and glories far more substantial and enduring than victor's wreaths and monarch's gems. We give his closing remarks in full: As I am now about to surrender into your hands the authority committed to my trust two years ago, and reaffirmed by your action one year thereafter, I hope it will not be considered presumptious on my part to offer a few thoughts, by way of suggestion, as a basis for reflection by those who desire and would hail with joy and intense delight the advancement of the pure principles of our noble, time-honored institution. Whenever we make the discovery that a sad decline is impressed upon everything connected with Masonic work and progress, it is a labor -not of love, but of mistaken zeal-to endeavor by any process of reformation, or upon any principle of improvement, to correct existing evils by theory and precept, in the absence of correct practice and holy example. Nor need we go outside the circle of our own companionship in search of causes, hoping thereby to be able to solve the problem as to why and wherefore the former times were better and more fruitful of results than these latter days, for in so doing it will appear that we fail to inquire wisely concerning the matter; it must be apparent to even the casual observer that our Masonic zion is wearing the habiliments of mourning; not alone because so few come to our annual feasts, but for the reason that so very few are holding fast the professions they once made, and utterly fail to perform their vows so solemnly assumed when invested with the treasures and inducted into the mysteries of the Royal Art. I regret exceedingly that it devolves upon me to venture the prediction, by way of warning, that unless the faithful few shall become so interested for the general good and special welfare of the Royal Arch as to gird on the armor of diligence and perseverance, and strive val |