CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
-♦"^ 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 HON. JOHN B. PERRY, 32°., 
 
 . ";R.etifi>i^ as Presiding Officer of 
 
 Jersey City 
 
 f Lodge i)f Perfection ; 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A HISTORY OP THE LODGE, 
 
 AND OBSERVATIONS ON ITS EINANOlAL POLICY, 
 
 ' pELIVERED J^'eBF^UAI^Y 17,, 1879. 
 
 NULLA VESTIGIA RETBORSUM— No 8tep'Ba,cUward. 
 
 JERSEY ei-TT: 
 
 : fei ' , . PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LODGE, 
 
 'j''KV'. ;.•: " ', ' ", 18 7.9. , ''. 
 
 Waison'i S^enni Preases, IS Beekman Street, N. Y. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030277093 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. JOHN B. PERRY, 32°, 
 
 ON 
 
 Retiring as presiding Officer of 
 
 Jersey Gify 
 
 Lodge of Perfection ; 
 
 OONTAINma 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE LODGE, 
 
 AND OBSEEVATIONS ON ITS FINANCIAL POLICY, 
 
 PELIVKRED J'^EBI^UARY I7, 1879. 
 
 NULLA VESTIGIA RETBORSUM—No Siep Backward. 
 
 ^ !'/l, 
 
 JTE'W YORK: 
 
 WATSON'S STEAM PRESSES, 16 BEEKMAN STEEET. 
 
 1879. 
 
 — »'/ 
 

 /37 B 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 " My task is done — my song hath ceased — my theme 
 Has died into an echo j it is, fit 
 The spell should break of this protracted dream. 
 The torch shall l)fi extinguished which hath lit 
 My midnight lamp — and what is writ, is writ- 
 Would it were worthier ! 
 
 Respectable Bbothees : 
 
 Some facts in connection with the early life of this Lodge, 
 ought to be put in an enduring shape, lest in time they slip your 
 memory when you most wish to have them in readiness. There are 
 eome things, though repeated as often as may be, men are unable to 
 remember, unless in print, and they turn to it to refresh their mem- 
 ory. History often unnecessarily repeats itself, for lack of informa- 
 tion as to what has once happened ; our Order is filled with instan- 
 ces illustrative of the adage, and for this reason, so far as I have 
 power to portray it, the history of this body in the time to come 
 shall be read, instead of being borne down by the errors of tradition, 
 and read right, by those who come after us. ' 
 
 It began life on the 19th of May, 1865, under the usual dispensa- 
 tion. Its first initiates were 111. Bros. Spencer M. Rice, LL. D., 
 Eector of Grace Church, and Henry A. Greene, Postmaster of Jersey 
 City ; its charter was issued at Boston, the Grand Orient of the Su- 
 preme Council, on the 19th of May, 1866, Killian H. Van Bensselser, 
 then being. Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander, and Josiah 
 H. Drummond, First Lieutenant. The charter members were. Past 
 Master James S. Gamble, 32°, Sheriff of Essex, County, now dead ; 
 Wilson D. Havens, a wholesale Yankee-notion dealer, now dead ; 
 Matthew N. Ince, a hardware dealer, now of Richard Patrick & Co., 
 San Francisco, Cal. ; James H. Burst, in the lumber trade, now in 
 Florida ; James Crawford, connected with Keeny & Halliday, in the 
 sewage pipe business, now in Michigan, and Hugh M. Funston, now 
 a Iproker, No. 56 East Twenty-third street, N. Y.; they took office 
 the first year. Gamble being presiding officer, and of the rest of those 
 who then held office. 111. Thomas Gross, Joel C. Lane and J. R. 
 
Boberts, are dead, and 111. H. B. Oeer and Spencer M. Bice, sur' 
 Tive. ' 
 
 The first initiate under the charter was 111. William Warner, May 
 24th, 1866 ; May 4th, 1867, 111. Adolph Onslow and Daniel W. Wy- 
 man were advanced to the 14°, and that night, though the body had 
 forty members, the attempt to build it up was deemed to be prema- 
 ture, and was abandoned. Its meetings were held until then in the 
 old Lyceum, now Hasbrouck's Institute, No. 109 Grand Street. 
 
 It was resuscitated by an election held November 22d, 1869, meet- 
 ing on the first and third Friday, as before, in the old Lyceum 
 building, paying Varick Lodge one hundred dollars a year rent ; 
 dues were fixed at $2 a year, December 27, 1869, and the initiation fee 
 at $15, January 10, 1870 ; rates ever since maintained ; and on the 
 night last named it again began work, never since suspended. Up 
 to 1870, from which its birth by resuscitation dates, it was the only 
 body in the Bite in this city. 
 
 The following year, November 16, 1871, Jersey City Council of 
 Princes, and Jersey City Chapter of Bose Croix were chartered, upon 
 which event it secured a lease of the rooms in the Bank Building, 
 corner Pavonia avenue and Erie street, at $215 a year, and May 1, 
 1872, the three bodies moved into the Bank Building ; its stated 
 meetings were then changed from the first and third Friday to the 
 first and third Monday, the Council taking the second Monday, the 
 Chapter the fourth Monday. By-Laws were adopted February 4, 
 1870, and July 15th, 1872, a general revision being approved Janu- 
 ary 9, 1878. A letter was received March 17, 1873, from 111. Josiah 
 H. Drummond, then Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander, in 
 reference to the by-laws, to which letter were attached the forms of 
 process to enforce payment, or suspension for non-payment of dues. 
 The Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander personally visited 
 the body, in October of the same year. 
 
 In 1870, the leading spirits were 111. Daniel W. Wyman, John W. 
 Cosad, Marcus Higginbotham, John G. Watkins, Handford Linds- 
 ley, Edward Bootes, Michael V. Banta, and Adolph Onslow. 111. Bro 
 Wyman was elected Senior Warden, February 17, 1870, and became 
 an Honorary Memb^ of the Supreme Council, June 4, 1870 ; he was 
 the first member from this state advanced to the 33°, on any basis 
 of representation; those before his time were named at pleasure- 
 the limited number of those who have been advanced to that grade 
 since, have been chosen on a like or larger representation, which for 
 several years back has been one Honorary 33°, for every 100 14° ini- 
 tiates. In 1871 and 1872, he was presiding officer in Jersey City 
 Council of Princes ; in 1873 he became presiding officer in the New 
 Jersey Consistory, and in 1876 was re-elected, dying in office in Feb- 
 
ruary, 1877. His funeral was a Masonic pageant, and was attended 
 by many Illustrious Brethren from abroad ; the Most Paissaat Sov- 
 ereign Grand Commander, Josiah H. Drummond, with 111. Elwood 
 E. Thorne, and 111. Marshal B. Smith, Grand Master of the State 
 of New Jersey, marched with his Blue Lodge ; the first two wearing 
 on their arms the purple, emblem of royal grief. 
 
 Up to and including 1874, and the terms of III. Bros. Higgin- 
 botham and Cosad, the members were, at times, unable, without aid 
 from abroad, to do the ritual, and were aided by 111. Bros. McClena- 
 chan. Banks, Ward, Fleming, Small, Moriarty, Alexander, all 33°, 
 and others, from New York • in acknowledgeme^t of their distin- 
 guished services, and of the Sigh esteem in which they were individ- 
 ually held, those named were, in March, 1877, unanimously elected 
 honorary members, a fact which entitles them to the usual notice of 
 our meetings, when sent by mail. 
 
 In 1875, during the term of 111. Bro. Drohan, the body first had 
 the material in men to do the entire ritual, and then for the first 
 timfe undertook and accomplished it, working during his term every 
 degree from the i'' to the 14°, both inclusive, without aid from 
 abroad, and to accomplish which the officers attended rehearsalsin 
 the private lodge room at his residence . 
 
 In 1876, during the term of 111. Bro. Watkins, the following stand- 
 ing resolution was passed : 
 
 Besolved — That hereafter no moneys belonging to the funds of this Lodge, be 
 donated for any purpose whatever. — Passed March 6, 1876. 
 
 The same year the Consistory was permanently located here, its 
 stated meetings being every fifth Monday. 
 
 111. Bro. Watkins is about to leave us, and take up his domicile in 
 Iowa, within the jurisdiction of the Southern Supreme Council; he 
 does not go by dimit, he who does is, of course, forgotten ; he goes 
 as a Life Member ; he bears with him our united good wishes ; may 
 it be his lot to continue through life to adorn the Order he loves so 
 well, and in the time to come, when death shall summon him, may 
 he remember, that upon its announcement in this Lodge, which he 
 helped to build, and to which he has given nine years of uninter- 
 rupted service, that its chambers will be draped in mourning, and 
 his name and virtues be recalled, and placed on the memorial pages 
 along with ours, though it be done by strangers, whose faces we have 
 never seen, and whose voices we have never heard. 
 
 In 1877, on my advancement to the East, the rent was reduced to 
 f 15(!*a year, a revision of the By-Laws establishing the Life Mem- 
 bership was passed, and the Library was founded. The Rite first 
 appeared here in public the same year ; the Consistory, in February, 
 at the Funeral of its Commander-in-Chief, the Lodge in June, in the 
 
Lustration and adoption of children. During my second term sala- 
 ries were fixed ; a discrimination in respect to dues in arrears, in 
 favor of non-resident members, was made ; the exemption annually 
 of the oldest member from dues begun ; and the appointment of a 
 special committee to enquire into the motive for a diinit where none 
 is stated in the application for one, was provided for ; all by stand- 
 ing resolutions, dated respectively, February and November, 1878, 
 January 6th, and February 3d, 1879. During my first term, eight 
 passed to the sphere whence none return, to wit : 111 . Bros. Davies, 
 Dobbs, Gross, Moore, Quackenboss, Savage, Wenckebach, and Wy- 
 man ; during both terms, four received dimits, to wit : 111. Bros. Day, 
 E. J. Hulshizer, Kiker, and Sheville ; during the same period, four 
 children were received by adoption, seven 33^ as Honorary Mem- 
 bers, and twenty-four initiates passed the 14" . The roll from the 
 institution of the Lodge, now numbers 212, of which 17 are dead, 
 11 dimited, 4 adopted, 7 honorary, 15 life members, and the rest 158, 
 subject to dues. I submit herewith a statement of the finances of 
 the body since its resuscitation in 1870 . The result of the change 
 in its financial policy effected in the last three years is marked, and 
 a matter of congratulation ; its properties amount to $1,254, and its 
 life membership fund to $195 ; the surplus now in the treasury 
 exceeds the surplus of any former year, being $140, and the total re- 
 ceipts of the past year exceed those of any former year, being $765, 
 notwithstanding the continuance of hard times. 
 
 I have thus given a brief sketch of the most potential facts in the 
 history of the Lodge ; the task I have undertaken would be of little 
 use were I to stop here. The interpretation of these facts is what 
 is needed, and this needs to be put in an enduring shape, that the 
 Lodge may take no step backward.. 
 
 Before I pass to this, let us remember that it is justice to reward 
 the faithful. 
 
 IlL Bro. Bantia received his 14° at the hands of Inspector-Gen- 
 eral Charles T. McClenachan, April 6, 1861, in the New York Lodge 
 of Perfection. He has been with us since the organization of this 
 Lodge. He is the oldest Prince Mason among us, and it gives me 
 pleasure to announce that under the standing resolution of January 
 6, 1879, he is henceforth exempt from dues for life. 
 
 Of the corps of brethren who are now accomplished in part or in 
 whole in the ritual, are 111. Bros. Ackerman, Eckert, Gibson, Ver- 
 milye, Roberts, Pike, Steffens, Dickinson, Grioe, Dobbs, Chamber- 
 laip, Muir, Brown, Lindsley, "Warner, Vreeland, Watkins, Seymour, 
 Drohan, and Higginbotham ; and of these HI. Bros. Eckert, Gib- 
 son, and Yermilye deserve especial mention for talent peculiar to 
 
the station of Master of Ceremonies. Among others who have as 
 yet not assumed any of the more difficult parts in the ritual, are 
 HI. Bros. Chipman, Armstrong, Jenne, Gopsill, Wallis, and others 
 whose high personal character and antecedents in the Blue Lodge 
 and elsewhere in the York Eite, as well as in the Scottish Rite, 
 attest their qualifications. Of the Blue Lodges, Hiram, Varick, 
 Enterprise, Bergen, Amity, Jersey City, and the Lodge of the 
 Temple are largely represented here ; and for nine years past the 
 average initiations in this Lodge have been equal to the average ini- 
 tiations in four to six of our Blue Lodges, as rated by the reports 
 of the Grand Lodge. 
 
 I wish to make some suggestions in connection with an interpre- 
 tation of the legislative action of the body, the most potential parts 
 of which have been named, that it may be seen that they make the 
 outline of a system which, if faithfully pursued, • will lead to the 
 growth and development of the best talent and the best interests 
 of the Lodge. 
 
 Let the tabular statement herewith submitted be continued and 
 enlarged, ending the record of each year with the election, that the 
 officers for each year may have their proper credit. 
 
 Have no dealings with any-body of which no mention is made in 
 the minutes. It happens occasionally that the Treasurer holds 
 vouchers for moneys due for rent, &c. The Secretary can know 
 nothing of these things. At the end of each fiscal year, see to it 
 that these vouchers, if any there be to be stated by the Treasurer, 
 be entered in the minutes and credited to the year to which they 
 belong. Their non-payment raises the presumption that the body 
 indebted is as yet unable to pay, and not the presumption that the 
 Treasurer has failed in his duty ; he often has vouchers of this kind 
 in his hands, and has one now. An instance particularly in point 
 was the claim of Varick Lodge for rent, made in 1872. The claim 
 was passed from one presiding officer to another, until it fell to me. 
 The response was that it was paid. Neither Lodge had any record 
 as to its payment ; and Varick was unable to produce the brother to 
 whom our brethren thought payment had been_made. After years 
 of inquiry, one voucher was found, showing that half the claim had 
 been paid ; and the case was then disposed of in accordance with 
 the undisputed testimony of our older members who had personal 
 recollection of the facts. I communicated the decision to the pre- 
 siding officer of Varick Lodge by letter. It is the business of the 
 Treasurer to report these vouchers, and of the Committee of Audit 
 at the end of each year to lay hold of these facts and have some 
 statement of them made in the minutes, unless the report of the 
 
8 
 
 Treasurer contain some statement of them and be spread in full 
 upon the minutes. ' 
 
 See that all money raised for the relief of a brother in distress, if 
 ■done openly, pass nevertheless through the Hospitalers Fund, that 
 there may be a record at least of the amount of your charities. The 
 idea of the Rite is that that fund shall cover the whole subject of 
 oharity ; that the name of a brother in distress to whom aid is given 
 shall, if requested, be kept a secret ; that the aid given shall be 
 prompt and sufficient ; and that the four Hospitalers Funds shall be 
 •exhausted in an hour, and without assembling the body, if necessary 
 for his relief. See to it that all such moneys pass to that fund, that 
 the actual money devoted to charity may be kept in the minxites, 
 that the fund may have its proper volume, and that the badge of 
 charity may be stamped upon it in ffict as well as in name. Hundreds 
 of dollars have been paid out in this body for the relief of brethren 
 in sickness and distress, none of which was ever passed to that 
 fund, and of which there is no mention in the minutes. An incident 
 of this kind you memorialize to-night, by the adoption of resolu- 
 tions drafted by 111. Bro. Pike, concerning the death of 111. 
 Bro.- Wenckebach and the services of Rev. Dr. Abercrombie and 
 111. Bro. Youlin, and especially in this connection for her noble 
 conduct, by inscribing the name of Mrs. Wm. Wood Davis upon the 
 RoU of Honor. If one just advanced to the 14° should hear the 
 presiding officer rule as I have ruled, and then be shown the resolu- 
 tion of March 6, 1876, he might, unless the structure and methods 
 of the Rite were explained, be given to doubt whether this body is 
 in fact a charitable one. There is no doubt on that question. I 
 emphasize the policy which ought to be pursued, in order that you 
 who have never passed beyond the 14" may know that the Hospitalers 
 in the Lodge, Council, Chapter, and Consistory, may each be called 
 on for aid, and that you have friends in the higher grades and bodies 
 who esteem it a high privilege to hasten to be the .first to come to 
 the relief of the Lodge in any emergency. Our obligations and the 
 lessons taught in some of these degrees bind us to guard the 
 treasury. In the Temple at Jerusalem it was even more securely 
 guarded than the jewels and secrets. These bodies move as a unit. 
 The presiding officers may turn to each other for advice and aid, and 
 the very movement of the machinery of the Rite requires candor 
 and intelligence of the first order. 
 
 Use the utmost care in any amendment to the by-laws. Tour 
 aim ought to be to have as few as possible. The agitation of an 
 amendment sometimes upsets good feeling ; the routine of its pas- 
 sage is tedious ; and, when passed, it is. often found to be a mere 
 
9 
 
 delusion, or results in tying the hands of the body, or its presiding 
 officer, when least expected. The only material improvement ever 
 made in ours was the establishment of the life-membership fund ; 
 and whether this was an improvement, the future must decide. By 
 it, he who advances $15, advances his dues for 7^ years. The prin- 
 cipal, invested at 5 per cent., amounts in 10| years to dues for 10^ 
 years ; in 20 years it doubles, though the interest be drawn each 
 year ; the fund itself will compound in the days of prosperity, come 
 to your aid in the dayb of adversity, and, with the standing rules 
 now in force, remove contention in respect to arrears of dues and 
 the fear of oppression from^he minds of the unfortunate. 
 
 A standing resolution in a Lodge is one which governs the body 
 in its business affairs ; if submitted to the test of masonic law, is 
 found to be a thing of no interest to any (me except the body that 
 passes it ; and in the field in which it mOTes, it is infinitely better 
 than a by-law. For instance, you fix salaries by a standing resolu- 
 tion, you discriminate between residents and non-residents and 
 classes, and tender terms in respect to arrears of dues, by a standing 
 resolution. In these four bodies there are over $3,000 dues in 
 arrear — a field certainly large enough for such a resolution in con- 
 nection with the life-membershipto operate. You require an inves- 
 tigation into the motive for a dimit where the application for one 
 fails to state it, by a standing resolution. Each one of these resolu- 
 tions has worked admirably. Whenever a movement is made in the 
 Blue Lodge towards reform in the matter of dimit and suspension 
 for non-payment of dues, upon which I spoke at length Nov. 4, 
 1878, it is met with the suspicion that the reform in this line means 
 to hold a brother involuntarily — that is, against his will. Let there 
 be an end to this suspicion, and let your influence on these ques- 
 tions be felt. No one has ever been suspended in this Lodge for 
 non-payment of dues. The Eite here has always been unanimous 
 against suspension. Dimits, however, are at times proper. If it be 
 clear that he who asks for one intends to use it to join another 
 body, grant it without a moment's hesitation. In all other cases be 
 careful, lest you part from a brother in anger. Let the committee 
 be careful to inquire if offence has been taken, and to rectify it. If 
 he is mistaken in respect to his financial rights, let the committee tell 
 him what they are ; illustrate the financial structure of the Eite, and 
 show him the folly of having nothing, when he may perhaps have 
 the right or the ability to acquire what he desires, at less cost than 
 it requires to gain nothing. If, after a full, fair talk, he still wishes 
 to take a dimit, grant it ; inform him of his rights as a non-affiliate, 
 and bid him God speed ; but never, never part from a brother by 
 dimit without knowing why he goes. The masonic world has pur- 
 
10 
 
 sued a stupid policy so long in this respect that it is scarcely able to 
 comprehend what a dimit is. The method you have chosen is worth 
 a wagon load of treatises on the subject. Common sense rules in 
 the end. The simplest things are the most difficult to learn. 
 
 The four standing resolutions last named were offered by me, or 
 at my instance, and each was adopted unanimously. That passed 
 March 6, 1876, during the term of 111. Bro. Watkins,'was offered by 
 the then Commander-in-Chief. Its passage was forced after discus- 
 eion. It has ever since been implicitly obeyed. I have often been 
 called upon by Master Masons for advice as to whether the sudden 
 and impulsive movements on the treasury of a Blue Lodge' for relief 
 to a brother in distress might not be checked and brought within 
 fixed methods. They have stated to me that their bodies failed to 
 see that where many were poor, that the recipients of the charity of 
 the Lodge really becamfffempetitors for its charity, and that charity 
 itself, for the want of method, thus became a delusion and source of 
 discontent. The Blue Lodge must advance a great way before it 
 can find relief in this matter. What is proper here is not so there. 
 The question affects the organic structure of the Blue Lodge. 
 
 It will be seen from what has already been said in respect to the 
 Four Hospitalers Funds that the resolution of March 6, 1876, does 
 not necessarily affect the question of charity, but leaves the necessity 
 if it arise, to be decided by the presiding officer after consultation. 
 Deputy Sheville, as was easy in the organization and early history 
 of the Eite here, yielded from the start to the introduction of Blue 
 Lodge usages in this body. The Cornmander-in-Chief, Wyman, was 
 utterly opposed to them. They came to be the sources of discontent, 
 and the passage of the resolution named was the abandonment of 
 these usages, and the turning over of a new leaf. The Lodge was 
 then deemed to be strong enough to abandon them, and it went to 
 hard-pan at once. The resolution has been tested by three years' 
 •experience, to the infinite advantage of the body. 
 
 The Deputy gave an opinion in respect to this resolution by letter 
 from Chicago. It was, however, given as a casual remark to one 
 person, on information communicated by another, on a subject not 
 particularly before him. The real subject before him was the 
 method of making charges for unmasonic conduct. That opinion is 
 mo longer the law, for the by-laws upon which it was based were 
 repealed January 9, 1878. Since the passage of that resolution no 
 money has been voted out of the treasury to pay the initiation fee 
 of distinguished men, to get them to give tone to the Lodge or 
 Council by joining them; nor on plausible pretexts, of the meaning of 
 which the members at large were ignorant, to carry out any other 
 kind of folly hj which new Lodges seek early to acquire distinction. 
 
11 
 
 Nobody in the Rite, in this State, has since gained life from the loins 
 of this Lodge, and no Council of Deliberation has since been held. 
 111. Bro. Hough succeeded 111. Bro. Sheville as Deputy, and he has 
 each year since failed to convene a Council of Deliberation. The 
 excuse he has made each year since to the Supreme Council for 
 the failure is that there is no business to bring before that body. 
 He is mistaken, or has submitted to be blamed rather than make 
 public a better excuse. There is a better excuse, and it is error to 
 withhold it ; for blame ought never to fall where it does not belong. 
 The real reason is, that this resolution stands in the way of any 
 further donations from this Lodge to pay the expense of the publi- 
 cation of the proceedings of that body, or rather the pro rata part, 
 payment of which cannot be enforced by assessment on the bodies 
 in Paterson, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Camden. It is an easy 
 thing to call that body. It is impossible, iii the present condition of 
 the Rite in this State, to pay its expenses in the manner laid down 
 by the Constitution . Whether the fifteen bodies in the Rite in the 
 other parts of the State suspended work and three of them turned 
 to ashes by reason of hard times, or whether the abuses and the 
 host of collateral issues which they entailed, and against which the 
 resolution named was directed, brought them to their then and 
 existing state, are topics worthy of thought and of their considera- 
 tion. 
 
 I trust that our 111. Deputy will see to it that a Council of Deliber- 
 ation is held this year. The Supreme Council is unable to move fast 
 enough to relieve us of technical defects peculiar to our situation, 
 among which is the geographical jurisdiction of this Lodge in the 
 State. The Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander, in his last 
 annual address to the Supreme Council, made our course clear on 
 this subject ; and there is no doubt whatever that the initiations in 
 this Lodge would be largely increased by the adoption of some rule, 
 such as a Council of Deliberation would unanimously endorse. At 
 least there are twelve bodies elsewhere in the State whose opinion 
 on this subject ought to be obtained as soon as may be. Nor is this 
 the only business to place before that body ; a score or more of our 
 brethren have fallen by the hand of death, whose memory has been 
 neglected ; not one of them has ever had a memorial page set aside, 
 as a tribute of our friendship, in the transactions of a Council of 
 Deliberation in this State. 
 
 You will bear me witness, that whatever my faults as a presiding 
 officer, that I have never used the gavel to silence any brother in 
 debate. The fact is evidence of a sense of order, decorum, and 
 regularity on the part of the brethren, and of their high intel- 
 
12 
 
 ligence . One of the most difficult questions with which the pre- 
 siding officer of this body has hitherto had to contend, is the extent 
 to which the rules of the Grand Lodge govern in this Eite. The 
 question usually arises in respect to rulings in routine business, 
 , mainly financial. There is a deep-seated prejudice, that obliges the 
 presiding officer to overcome it by the mildest means, that offence 
 be not given, and that the membership be educated in the principles 
 and policy of the Eite. In respect to a ruling by the presiding 
 officer, the Constitution and Eegulations of the Supreme Council, 
 the Eules and Eegulations of the Council of Deliberation, and the 
 By-Laws of the Lodge govern ; if these are silent, the Eules of the 
 Grand Lodge govern; if both are silent. Parliamentary law gov- 
 erns. This is certainly easy to be understood, and the struc- 
 ture of the Eite is such that there is no occasion for a difference of 
 views ; yet many look only to the Constitution of the Grand Lodge 
 and the decisions of the Grand Master. I refuse to limit my sight 
 by local or state laws ; the Scottish Eite is universal ; deputies 
 and Councils of Deliberation cannot vary in opinion like Grand' 
 Masters and Grand Lodges ; with us, the Supreme Council is the 
 final arbitrer. Let those who may, trace the question through all its 
 bearings to the ultimate end, the same light will lead all to the 
 same conclusion. 
 
 The station of the Thrice Potent, though not the highest in rank, 
 is the best office in the Eite — a station where one may be most 
 useful, and, if able, make for himself a better place in the hearts 
 and memories of the brethren than in any other first office in the Eite. 
 Officers and Brethren, in this election, be so kind as to relieve me 
 from duty in any station. I have been at work here continuously 
 for five years, and wish to rest, and to retire, for a time at least, from 
 all further station in the Eite. Accept my thanks for the faithfulness 
 with which you have sustained me ; and to each and all of you, here 
 and absent, may good fortune and happiness attend you and this 
 Lodge — forever, and forever. 
 
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