The Genesis of Freemasonry - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

ook of Grand Lodge shows that lodges were constituted at Madrid in 1728, (5) at Fort William, Bengal, in 1729, (6) and at Gibraltar
in the same year .(7) From the same source we learn that a "deputation" appointing a certain Daniel Cox to be Provincial Grand
Master of the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in America was issued in June 1730.(8) He attended
Grand Lodge in January 1730-31, but there is no evidence to show that he ever constituted a lodge, or that he ever made any return
to Grand Lodge, as required by the terms of his appointment. According to Anderson, Lord Lovel (G.M. 1731-32) granted a
"deputation" to Lord Chesterfield, ambassador at The Hague, to hold a lodge there to make Francis, Duke of Lorraine, a mason. (9)
Before the end of 1736 "deputations" had been granted appointing Provincial Grand Masters in Lower Saxony, Russia, Andalusia,
South America, and Gambia in West Africa, and for constituting lodges at Hamburg, the Castle of Aubigny in France,
1 J. E. S. Tuckett, "Early History of Freemasonry in France", A.Q.C., xxxi, and W. E. Moss, "Freemasonry in France in 1725 1735",
A.Q.C.
2 Anderson's Constitutions of 1738, 194.
3 Q.C.A., x, 189.
4 Lane, Handy Book to the Lists of Lodges, 186.
5 Q.C.A., x, 83 5.
6 Ibid., x, 97 8.
7 Ibid., x, 98 9.
8 Ibid., x, 123 4.
9 Constitutions of 1738, 194. Lord Chesterfield was doubtless the brother who as Philip, Lord Stanhope, had been made a mason at
Grand Lodge on 24 June 1721 (p. 192 above), and who attended the Annual Assembly and Feast at Stationers' Hall the same day
(p. 294 above). This lodge at The Hague was presumably an occasional lodge constituted for a particular purpose, and quite distinct
from the lodge at The Hague whose establishment was announced in The Daily Advertiser of 16 September 1734 A.Q.C., xxv, 370.
It was that lodge, the authority for the constitution of which we have not traced, which incurred the displeasure of the Dutch
Government in 1735 (E.M.R, 332). [320]
Lisbon, and Savannah in Georgia, North America. (1)
THE TRANSITION OF ACCEPTED INTO SPECULATIVE MASONRY
As Bro. Poole pointed out some twenty years ago, (2) and as we have stressed much more recently, the year 1730, rather than
1716 or 1717, marks the real close of what may be described as the pre Grand Lodge period. Though the year 1717 saw the
formation of Grand Lodge by four London and Westminster lodges, yet, so far as one can deduce from the available evidence, the
practices of the freemasons were approximately the same in the years immediately following 1717 as they had been in the years
immediately before it. At the time, the formation of Grand Lodge was an event of very minor importance in the development of
freemasonry, and in no sense constituted a milestone in Masonic history. In retrospect, however, it has become all important in the
eyes of those Masonic students, of whom Begemann is one, who interpret freemasonry only as the organisation which has from
time to time prevailed among freemasons, in preference to the more modern and wider conception of the subject, which regards
freemasonry as comprising both the organisation and the practices which have at various times prevailed in the craft. The fact that
the year 1717 saw the beginning of a new, and what ultimately proved to be a very important, form of Masonic Organisation, seems
to have led Begemann to accept 1717 as marking an epoch in Masonic history, thereby overlooking the much more important fact,
as it seems to us, that the ideas and practices underlying freemasonry underwent no important change, if any, in that particular year.
As we see it, accepted masonry underwent gradual changes throughout a period of years stretching from well before 1717 to well
after that date. The old accepted masonry of the late seventeenth century slowly evolved into the speculative masonry which
prevailed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
1 Anderson's Constitutions of 1738, 194 5.
2 A.Q.C., xxxvii, 4. [321]
Strictly speaking, no particular year can be picked out as forming a sharp dividing line between the old and the new, but if the
Masonic historian, notwithstanding, feels obliged for practical purposes to divide his study into clearly defined periods, then the year
1730, which saw the publication of Prichard's Masonry Dissected and the more or less definite establishment of the trigradal system,
is a much more fundamental dividing line than the year 1717.
Freemasonry during the third decade of the eighteenth century appears to have been substantially the same as in the pre Grand
Lodge period. The various Masonic documents up to and including August 1730 have a strong family resemblance, apart from the
legend of the Graham MS. After that date, the picture changes completely. The publication of Prichard's Masonry Dissected in
October 1730 may be regarded as the last phase in the "battle of the degrees", even though it was probably a good many years
before the trigradal system was universally adopted. Before the end of 1730, Grand Lodge was firmly established, the General
Charity had begun to function, the two first Provincial Grand Lodges were in existence, and what is deserving of particular notice,
the first lodges outside Great Britain and Ireland had been constituted. Thus the earliest speculative phase of freemasonry may be
regarded as beginning about 1730, but speculative masonry had many modifications to undergo before it fully answered to the
definition : "a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols". Though some symbolism had doubtless
crept into masonry by that date, it would not appear to have reached its full development for another forty or fifty years. Again, in
1730, the main motif of the explanatory legend communicated to candidates when instructed in the five points of fellowship was still
concerned with an act of necromancy, namely, an attempt to obtain a secret from a dead body. This is the motif of both the Noah
story and the Hiram story. It was not until later that a new orientation was given to the latter story, and that stress was laid on the
unshaken fidelity of Hiram in refusing to betray the secrets of a master mason, and the five points of fellowship [322] were utilised to
emphasise the beauty and duty of fellowship.
Just as accepted masonry had gradually evolved out of operative masonry during the century preceding 1730, so speculative
masonry slowly transformed itself during the fourth and subsequent decades of the eighteenth century. Once masonry had spread
outside Great Britain and Ireland its development became subject to new influences. Thus, commencing in 1737-38, translations of
French `exposures' began to appear, and French influence on the development of Masonic ceremonies began to make itself felt.
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