Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

the Maybole Trial, the Grand Lodge of Scotland resumed its campaign to have
this right restored. In a letter to Robert Dundas on 2 March 1803, it raised the
questions of new warrants and, referring to Kilwinning, whether lodges were
legally and constitutionally bound to obey the Grand Lodge. 111
Dundas’ response is significant because in no uncertain terms, he
asserted that not only was the Grand Lodge expressly prohibited form issuing
charters, but also that it could not force Lodge Kilwinning to relinquish its
authority of warranting new lodges. Crucially, Dundas declared that “nothing is
said in the above [Secret Societies] act with regard to the authority or control of
the Grand Lodge of Scotland or indeed of any other Grand Lodge [and] that the
Grand Lodge of Scotland has ever been recognised as a corporate Body so as to
have a…right of bringing an action before a court.” 112
It is unclear why the Grand Lodge assumed the rite to “superintend the
conduct of all the Lodges in Scotland” 113 when such extraordinary claims of
authority were emphatically denied by Dundas. The wording of the exclusion
clause specifically referred to “any such Society or Lodge which shall, before
the passing of this Act, have been usually holden under the said denomination
and in conformity to the Rules prevailing among the said Societies of
Freemasons.” 114 The amendment to the original Secret Societies makes no
mention of the authority of the Grand Lodges; essentially, the amendment
264
111
The Grand Lodge wrote to Robert Dundas in an effort to determine if it was able to “resume
[its] former powers of granting charters” and if it was “practicable for the Grand Lodge to
compell the Kilwinning Lodge and the Lodges Erected to her to return to the bosom and become
Members of the Grand Lodge,” Grand Lodge of Scotland Minutes, 2 March 1803.
112
Ibid.
113
Ibid.
114
Lambert, House of Commons Sessional Papers, 33-35.