United States, or place them under the exclusive control of the State Grand Councils, in which latter bodies, this Grand Council believes, should be vested the sole authority for controlling the same.

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Companions Schley, Russell and Dwelle were appointed a committee under the first resolution.

"The plan here proposed is entirely practicable, and if met by other Grand and Subordinate Councils, in the same spirit of compromise and concession, can hardly fail to result in the establishment of uniformity in the government and order of conferring the degrees. We have heretofore expressed a preference in favor of leaving them in charge of the Grand Councils already or hereafter to be formed, and to that preference we adhere; but shall cheerfully yield it, if any other disposition of them shall be thought to be wiser and better, or will give more general satisfaction. It is to be hoped that the committee will immediately enter upon the duty assigned them, and publish their report, including the whole correspondence, at as early a day as possible, that the subject may be brought before the General Grand Chapter at its session in September, 1850, in a form proper for the action of that body."

Its proceedings for 1841 and 1842 were published in one pamphlet, but it is understood that those from 1843 to 1848 inclusive, were not printed until 1876, when they and those of 1841 and 1842 were printed by Stephen Berry, of Portland, Maine; those for 1849 to 1854 inclusive, were printed with those of the Grand Chapter for the respective years; afterwards they were published annually to 1871 inclusive, except that those for 1862 to 1867 inclusive, are in one pamphlet; then sheets were issued up to 1879, since which they have been published annually; in 1885, those from 1872 to 1879 were printed in one pamphlet by Austin A. Cassil, Mount Vernon, Ohio.

CHAPTER XI.

CONCLUSION OF THE HISTORY OF THE GRAND COUNCILS OF THE UNITED

STATES.

ILLINOIS.

HE degrees were introduced into Illinois from Kentucky. In 1852, the Grand Council of Kentucky chartered one Council in Illinois, and in 1853 another, and authorised the Grand Puissant to issue a charter to another (to which a dispensation had been granted) upon receipt of the returns which had been miscarried in the mail; the charter was not issued till February 28, 1854.

Erroneously supposing that all three Councils had been chartered, their delegates met and formed a Grand Council, September 30, 1853. The error being discovered, the Grand Council was reorganized March 10, 1854.

In its Constitution it declared its exclusive jurisdiction throughout the State; and that no Council could lawfully exist in that State except under its authority, and all Masonic intercourse between members of its obedience and such illegal Council or assemblage or any of its members, or any person advanced in such Council, was absolutely forbidden. In 1854, the following resolution was adopted:

Resolved, That all Royal Arch Masons receiving the degrees of Royal and Select Masters in Chapters since September, 1851, in this State shall be treated as clandestine Royal and Select Masters, and in no event shall be healed, but shall be admitted to Councils only in the regular manner.

Dispensations for new Councils were refused to petitioners who had taken the degrees before that date until they were lawfully healed.

The Grand Council met annually until 1877. Then, although one of the largest and most prosperous of the Grand Councils, it attempted to surrender the degrees to the Grand Chapter, but with the proviso that if the Grand Chapter should not make provision for conferring the degrees within two years, they should revert to the Grand Council; the

Grand Chapter accepted the trust, and committees were appointed to arrange the details; the committee made their report, and the presiding officers of the two Grand Bodies promulgated the result; it was supposed that the union had been perfected. But the Grand Council continued to meet annually, although it had no constituency, all its subordinates being dormant, and the degrees being conferred under the authority of the Grand Chapter in Councils, held under a Chapter warrant. It is now claimed that this arrangement was intended to be only temporary, and that all that was done was done by the authority of the Grand Council. It is somewhat difficult to ascertain precisely what the arrangement between the Grand Chapter and Grand Council practically was. It is believed, however, that it was substantially this: the Grand Council undertook to recall all the charters granted by it, and to forbid any Council to meet and work under its Council Charter; that it authorised the officers of any Chapter then chartered, or thereafterwards to be chartered, being Royal and Select Masters, to open a Council and confer the degrees under such regulations as the Grand Chapter should, from time to time, establish, and with such ritual as the Grand Chapter should promulgate, and, in fact, did promulgate. Under this arrangement the whole power of governing the degrees was, for the time being, vested in the Grand Chapter; the Grand Council had no authority whatever over the manner in which the Grand Chapter should exercise its powers, and, in fact, all the authority it had was to exist, and, in the opinion of many, it did not legally exist at all, except upon the assumption that all its action in its attempt to make the Grand Chapter its proxy, was in conflict with its own constitution and the landmarks of the Rite, and so absolutely void.

In 1882, another arrangement was made between the Grand Chapter and the Grand Council, by which the former relinquished all interference with the Council degrees, and the latter resumed its old powers, reorganized many of its subordinates, and began to proceed regularly. It has not yet become a constituent to the General Grand Council.

The status of the Chapter-council made Companions presents an insurmountable obstacle to its being received as a constituent as long as it maintains its present position.

Under the laws of the General Grand Council, the Companions who received the degrees in the Chapter Councils cannot be recognized as regular Royal and Select Masters, without being healed, while the Grand Council of Illinois demands that they shall be.

In 1886 it adopted a resolution to the effect that Masonic intercourse should be interdicted between itself and the Councils and members of its obedience, and the Grand General Councils and members thereof, in any jurisdiction in which recognition should be referred to any of its Chapter-council members.

In 1887 a proposition was submitted to form an association of the Grand Councils which are not constituents of the General Grand Councils, to sustain them in their position. They count twelve such, but there are only seven, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island; of these, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island hold, as strongly as the General Grand Council does, that Chapter-council made Royal and Select Masters cannot be recognized. The remaining Grand Councils are Connecticut, Illinois and Kentucky; the latter is the same condition as Illinois, and Connecticut has not yet acted upon the question, and when the question comes squarely before it for discussion, it is by no means certain that the Illinois doctrine will be sustained. Even in Illinois the precedents are the other way; one resolution has already been quoted; on another occasion a member of a Chapter-council applied to visit the Grand Council, and after reference of the matter to a committee, and due consideration, it was decided that he could not be admitted until he was formally healed.

The claim of the Grand Council of Illinois is that it is Sovereign in that jurisdiction, and that the movement is "for the defence of the Sovereignty of the Grand Councils of the United States." But it is evident that no Grand Body of Masons is sovereign to the extent of not being bound by the fundamental laws of the institution; if it violates these rules "it steps down and out," and ceases to be a Masonic body. If a Grand Council can place the degrees under the government of the Grand Chapter, it can place them under the authority of a Grand Lodge. Grand Councils cannot admit the claim of the Grand Council of Illinois, without abandoning the Grand Council system, and practically declaring that the degrees are still "side degrees," to be conferred as any possessor of them pleases.

Its proceedings have been published annually, but those of 1870 were burned before they were distributed (except a few copies), and were reprinted with those of 1871, and while the Grand Chapter had control of the degrees the proceedings were published with those of the Grand Chapter.

INDIANA.

When the General Grand Chapter in 1853 determined to exercise no further jurisdiction of the Cryptic Degrees, of course a great impetus was given to the Council system, so that between 1854 and 1860 inclusive, eighteen Grand Councils were organized. Those who had received the degrees in Chapters made haste to be healed, as they were not recognized by those who had taken the degrees in Councils. Before this action of the General Grand Chapter the degrees had been conferred in Indiana in Chapters.

In consequence of that action, Companions qualified themselves for that purpose, and obtained first a dispensation, and then a charter, granted August 30, 1854, from the Grand Council of Kentucky; others, in a similar manner, obtained charters from the Grand Council of Ohio, granted October 18, 1855.

Delegates from these three Councils organized the Grand Council of Indiana, December 20, 1855. By its constitution it declared that any person receiving the degrees in that State from any other source than its own authority should not be recognized, and measures were taken to heal Companions "that may require the same."

In 1857, the Grand Master stated that in September of the year before, at the session of the General Grand Chapter, he attended a convention of Royal and Select Masters, at which about ninety were in attendance, for the purpose of considering the propriety of organizing a General Grand Council; that the matter was very ably discussed; and that it was decided in the negative by a vote of 52 to 30.

This Grand Council has met annually, increasing in growth, part of the time rapidly, and at no time much affected by the prevalent depression. It is a constituent of the General Grand Council. Its proceedings have been published annually.

IOWA.

When Royal Arch Masonry was introduced into Iowa, the Council degrees were also introduced and conferred in Chapters. When the action of the General Grand Chapter, already alluded to, was taken, measures were adopted to introduce the Council system. The Grand Master of the Grand Council of Illinois authorized Comp. T. S. Parvin and others in Iowa to heal Companions irregularly made in Chapters. He also granted dispensation for a Council in