Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

GRAND
GRASSE 309
times omitted, so that often there were no
Stewards. In 1728 (ibid., p . 123), the Stewards,
to the number of twelve, were made
permanent officers ;' and it was resolved that
in future, at the annual election, each Steward
should nominate his successor . At present,
in the Grand Lodge of England, nineteen
Grand Stewards are annually appointed from
nineteen different Lodges. Each Lodge recommends
one of its subscribing members, who
is nominated by the former Steward of that
Lodge, and the appointment is made by the
Grand Master. The number of Grand Stewards
in this country seldom exceeds two, and
the appointment is made in some Grand
Lodges by the Grand Master, and in others
by the Junior Grand Warden . The jewel of a
Grand Steward is a cornucopia within a circle,
and his badge of office a white rod .
Grand Stewards' Lodge . According to
the Constitutions of England, the past and
present Grand Stewards constitute a Lodge,
which has no number, but is registered in the
Grand Lodge books at the head of all other
Lodges . It is represented in the Grand
Lodge by its Master, Wardens ? and Past
Masters, but has no power of making Masons .
The institution has not been introduced into
this country except in the Grand Lodge of
Maryland, where the Grand Stewards' Lodge
acts as a Committee of Grievances during the
recess of the Grand Lodge .
Grand Tiler. An officer who performs in a
Grand Lodge the same duties that a Tiler does
in a subordinate Lodge . The Grand Tiler is
prohibited from being a member of the Grand
Lodge, because his duties outside of the door
would prevent his taking part in the deliberations
of the body .
Grand Treasurer . The office of Grand
Treasurer was provided for by the Regulations
of 1722, and in 1724, on the organization
of the Committee of Charity, it was enacted
that a Treasurer should be appointed .
But it was not until 1727 that the office appears
to have been really filled by the selection
of Nathaniel Blakerby . But as he was elected
Deputy Master in the same year, and
yet continued to perform the duties of Treasurer,
co-t2 it does not appear to have been considered
as a distinct appointment . In 1738, he
demitted the office, when Revis, the Grand
Secretary, was appointed . But he declined
on the ground that the offices of Secretary and
Treasurer should not be held by the same person-"the
one being a check on the other ."
(Constitutions, 1738, p . 184 .) So that, in 1739,
it was made a permanent office of the Grand
Lodge by the appointment of Bro . John Jesse .
It is an elective office ; and it was provided,
by the Old Regulations, that he should be
"a brother of good worldly substance ." The
duties are similar to those of the Treasurer of
a subordinate Lodge. The jewel is a circle
enclosing two keys crossed, or in saltire . According
to ancient custom, his badge of office
was a white staff, but this is generally disused
in this country .
Grand Wardens .
The Senior and Junior
Grand Wardens are the third and fourth officers
of a Grand Lodge . Their duties do not
differ very materially from those of the corresponding
officers of a subordinate Lodge,
but their powers are of course more extensive .
The Grand Wardens succeed to the government
of the Craft, in order of rank, upon the
death or absence from the jurisdiction of the
Grand and Deputy Grand Masters. (See
Succession to the Chair .)
It is also their prerogative to accompany
the Grand Master in his visitations of the
Lodges, and when there to act as his Wardens .
In the absence of the Senior Grand Warden,
the Junior does not occupy the west, but retains
his position in the south . Having been
elected and installed to preside in the south,
and to leave that station only for the east, the
temporary vacancy in the west must be supplied
by the appointment by the Grand Master
of some other brother . (See Wardens .)
On the same principle, the Senior Grand
Warden does not supply the place of the absent
Deputy Grand Master, but retains his
station in the west .
The Old Charges of 1722 required that no
one could be a Grand Warden until he had
been the Master of a Lodge. The rule still
continues in force, either by specific regulations
or by the force of usage .
By the Regulations of 1721, the Grand
Master nominated the Grand Wardens, but if
his nomination was not approved, the Grand
Lodge proceeded to an election. By the present
Constitutions of England the power of
appointment is vested absolutely in the Grand
Master . In this country the Grand Wardens
are elected by the Grand Lodge .
Grasse Tilly, Alexandre Frangols Auguste,
Comte de . He was the son of the
Comte de Grasse who commanded the
French fleet that had been sent to the assistance
of the Americans in their revolutionary
struggle . De Grasse Tilly was born at
Versailles, in France, about the year 1766.
He was initiated in the Mother Scottish
Lodge du Contrat Social, and subsequently,
going over to America, resided for some
time in the island of St . Domingo, whence
he removed to the city of Charleston, in
South Carolina, where, in 1796, he affiliated
with the French Lodge la Candeur . In 1799,
he was one of the founders of the Lodge la
Reunion Francaise, of which be was at one
time the Venerable or Master . In 1802, the
Comte de Grasse was a member of the Supreme
Council of the Ancient and Accepted
Rite, which had been established the year
before at Charleston ; and in the same year he
received a patent as Grand Commander for
life of the French West India islands. In
1802 he returned to St. Domingo, and established
a Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite
at Port au Prince . In 1804 he went to Europe,
and labored with great energy for the
extension of the Ancient and Accepted Rite .
On September 22, 1804, he founded at Paris
a Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite, of which body he was