Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

the Lodges on the spot.” 48 They also opposed the planned fixed registration fee
for operatives and speculatives, arguing that operatives “should be left…to pay
what they can afford.” 49 However, the letter – because it “raised points on
which the whole scheme might be wrecked” – was suppressed “until Grand
Lodge was fairly launched.” 50
From the beginning, the core group made a concerted effort to “convince
the other lodges of what they considered the importance” of establishing a
Grand Lodge and “allay any doubts that the lodges might have” regarding its
functions. 51 It is possible, however, that the imminent Grand Lodge had no
concise vision as to what its functions would be. Indeed, as its rudimentary
framework was built on dim perceptions of what the Grand Lodge of England
actually did, it is not difficult to conclude that the organizational proceedings
and the years immediately following the formation of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland would be fraught with disagreements and ambiguities.
Carr states that the invitations sent by the four founding lodges
“contained no hint of government by the Grand Lodge, nor any suggestion that
the lodges, all existing by inherent right, might be yielding up any of their self-
governing powers to a new authority.” 52 Attributing the omission of such details
to masonic duplicity would be simple and convenient, and indeed would offer a
solid justification for much of the conflict during the 1790s. However, such a
48
Lindsay, Holyrood House, 292.
49
Ibid.
50
Ibid.
51
Kahler, “The Grand Lodge of Scotland,” 94.
52
Carr, Harry, Lodge Mother Kilwinning, No. 0. A Study of the Earliest Minute Books, 1642-
1842 (London, 1961), 215.
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