Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

By 23 January 1801, despite numerous letters to the government and the
Grand Lodge of England, “nothing had been done in consequence thereof.” 119
Subsequently, the committee decided to discuss further actions with the Grand
Master of Scotland, the Earl of Dalkeith:
172
In Consequence of the Appointment of the General Committee of the
Grand Lodge of 28 January last the Select Committee waited upon the
Grand Master and Explained to him the purpose of their visit, and after
reading to his Lordship the Minutes of the Grand Lodge relative to an
application to Parliament for an alteration of the late Act regarding
Mason Lodges – The Right Honorable and Most Worshipful The Grand
Master approved of the Steps that had already been taken on points so
interesting to the Craft, and informed the Committee that he intended to
be in London by the first of next month, when he would most assuredly
take the earliest opportunity of Communicating with the Duke of Athole
Grand Master of the Ancient Fraternity of Free Masons in England, with
whom it was his Lordships opinion the Grand Lodge here should by all
means endeavour to cooperate in the application to Parliament and that
he should likewise make it his business to lay the matter before His
Majesties Ministers. In the mean time His Lordship requested to be put
in possession of extracts of the whole proceedings of the Grand Lodge
relative to the above business which the Committee appointed to the
Grand Clerk to transmit to the Grand Master with all convenient
dispatch. 120
As the debate over charter-granting privileges continued, the Grand
Lodge of Scotland became increasingly reliant on assistance from the Grand
Lodge of England. The Committee reported that “as the Grand Lodge of
England according to the information of the Committee stands in the same
predicament as that of Scotland, an application should be made to her thro the
present Most Noble Grand Master for their joint and hearty cooperation.” 121
119 Ibid, 23 January 1801. Copies of the case had been sent to Henry Dundas, the Duke of
Atholl, the Earl of Dalkeith, and the Lord Advocate.
120 Grand Lodge of Scotland Minutes, 11 February 1801.
121 Ibid, 28 February 1800.