organization of the Grand Encampment of the United States will show the entire fallacy of this assumption. In the convention that formed the Constitution in 1816, not a State Grand Encampment appears upon record. A copy from the original minutes I herewith transcribe." [The entire record is as follows: -]

At a convention holden at Masons' Hall, in the city of New York, on the 20th and 21st of June, 1816, consisting of Delegates, or Knights Companions, from eight Councils and Encampments of Knights Templar, and the Appendant Orders; viz.,

the following Constitution was formed, adopted, and ratified. (Copy omitted.)

The General Grand Encampment then proceeded to the choice of officers; and the following officers were elected, to continue in office until the third Thursday in September, A.D. 1819:

M. E. and Hon. DEWITT CLINTON, of N. York,
THOMAS SMITH WEBB, Esq., of Boston

HENRY FOWLE, Esq., of Boston

G. G. Master.

Deputy G. G. Master.

G. G. Generalissimo.

G. G. Prelate.

G. G. Captain-General.

G. G. Senior Warden.

G. G. Sword-Bearer.

The General Grand Encampment then adjourned, to meet at New York on the third Thursday in September, A.D. 1819.

[Signed]

Attest:

JOHN J. LORING,

G. G. Recorder.

On page 101, appendix of same volume, the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island is thus mentioned: "Formed prior to 1819 (date not known)."

The Most Eminent Grand Master, Sir Benjamin B. French, in an address delivered before the Boston Encampment, at Boston, Mass., Oct. 10, 1860, and which is printed upon page 69 of the Appendix to the Proceedings of the Grand Encampment of the United States for 1862, says,

"That we may all understand ourselves exactly, I will give as concise an account as I can of the formation and proceedings of the General Grand Encampment of the United States, 'The Grand Encampment of the United States.'

now

"On the 21st of June, 1816, a Convention of Knights Templar, or, as they denominated it, Knights Companions,' assembled at Masons' Hall, in the city of New York, for the purpose of forming a General Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States.'

"The first-named Encampment on the list of those represented there is Boston Encampment.'

*

"A Constitution was then and there formed and adopted, which specified in what manner State Grand Encampments should be formed, and how they should be constituted; and, as no State Grand Encampment then existed, the inference is irresistible, that all State Grand Encampments since formed under the G. G. Constitution were bound in knightly honor to conform to its provisions, and also to the provisions of any amended Constitution that might thereafter be legitimately adopted." ... "At the second meeting of that G. G. Body, in September, 1819, two Grand Encampments were represented; viz., that of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and that of New York."

• "Since this address was delivered, I have consulted the proceedings of the Grand Encampment of New York, and find that that Grand Body was formed on the 18th of June, 1814, by 'the Sov. G. Consistory of the Chiefs of Exalted Masonry.' And that formation has always been recognized since. This fact only adds force to my argument; for, if an independent Grand Body has conformed, how much more ought a Body formed under the G. G. Encampment to do so!"

On page 117, appendix of the same volume, the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island is thus mentioned: "Massachusetts and Rhode Island, May, 1805, represented in G. Enc. U. S. since 1819."

From an examination of the historical sketch on page 22, it will be conceded, that, at the time the General Grand Encampment of the United States was established in 1816, a Grand Encampment was in existence, having full and complete jurisdiction over St. John's Encampment, Providence; Boston Encampment, Boston; Newburyport Encampment, Newburyport; Washington Encampment, Newport; Darius Council, Portland.

These different Bodies owed allegiance to the Grand Encampment established at Providence, R. I., May, 1805. The bare mention of this fact would seem to contradict the statement, that these subordinate bodies were represented in the convention which met at New York and founded the General Grand Encampment. All these Bodies derived their charters from the Grand Encampment. They owed allegiance to it, were subordinate to it, and could only by revolt and rebellion assist in forming another Grand Body to which they should be subordinate. There was but one legitimate way for them. to act in the formation of the General Grand Encampment; and that was through the Grand Body to which they were subordinate. The argument needs no illustrations to sustain

it.

Not being satisfied with the argument alone, inasmuch as the highest authority had pronounced this "assumption" an "entire fallacy," I examined personally the records of Boston Encampment, and found that it did not send any delegate or delegates to the convention in 1816, and that the only reference to it upon its records is the following:

At a meeting of the Boston Encampment of Knights Templar, at Masons' Hall, Boston, May 28, 1816,

Voted, That the Treasurer of this Encampment be authorized to loan to the Grand Encampment the cash in his hands, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the delegates appointed to attend a meeting of Knights Templar to be held in the city of Philadelphia in June next; and that he pay the money to Sir Henry Fowle, taking his receipt therefor.

I then wrote to the venerable Sir James Salsbury, of St. John's Encampment, for information concerning the action of his Encampment, if any, in sending delegates to this convention; and he replied as follows:

"Yesterday, we went to the hall by agreement, and opened the old book. We find no record of the appointment of any delegates to any convention in 1816, nor the report of any delegates."

The following is from the records of St. John's Encampment of July 19, 1816:

On motion made and seconded, a vote was taken to loan the Grand Encampment sixty dollars, for the purpose of paying the expenses of the delegates to Philadelphia; which was rejected.

The records of Newburyport Encampment previous to 1820 are lost; and therefore I cannot verify the fact — of which there can scarcely remain a doubt that this Encampment sent no delegates to this convention. I have examined a transcript of the records of Darius Council, kindly furnished me by the Masonic historian of Maine, Sir Moses Dodge, M.D., of Portland; and find no reference to the appointment of delegates by this body to any convention in 1816. I am assured by Sir N. H. Gould of Newport, who has carefully examined the records of Washington Encampment, that no delegates attended the convention from that Encampment.

The 10th section of article 2d of the Constitution of the General Grand Encampment of Knights Templar and the Appendant Orders for the United States, as originally adopted, as appears by a copy of the same in the archives of the Grand

Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, attested by J. J. Loring, G. Gr. Recorder, is as follows:

The jurisdiction of the several State Grand Encampments shall not extend beyond the limits of the State in which they shall respectively be holden; excepting any case wherein, before the formation of this Constitution, a Grand Encampment had been formed by an united representation of the Encampments in two adjoining States.

Is there any doubt as to what two States are referred to in this section? Was there any other Grand Encampment formed by a "united representation of the Encampments in two adjoining States," except in Massachusetts and Rhode Island?

We have, then, the fact, that, at the adoption of the General Grand Constitution in 1816, the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island was recognized as then in existence, having jurisdiction of Templar Masonry in those two States. The additional fact is evident, that none of the Bodies subordinate to this Grand Encampment sent any delegates to the convention forming this General Grand Constitution; and, more than that, that they had no right or power to send such delegates.

I contend, then, that the Grand Encampment, having actual, exercised, exclusive jurisdiction over Massachusetts and Rhode Island, was present at the convention of Knights Templar holden at New York, June, 1816, by its delegates; and that its subordinate Encampments and Council were there present and represented in the only legitimate and proper manner in which they could be represented; to wit, by delegates from the Grand Encampment to which they were subordinate, and to which they owed allegiance. Any other conclusion will lead to the irresistible conviction, that the General Grand Encampment of the United States was founded in rebellion, and was the fruit of a revolt.