before; and in case either or both of the present Grand Secretaries, Pursuivants, and Tylers, should not be re-appointed to their former situations, then annuities shall be paid to them during their respective lives out of the Grand Fund.

VII. "The UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ANCIENT FREEMASONS OF ENGLAND" shall be composed, except on the days of festival, in the following manner, as a just and perfect representative of the whole Masonic Fraternity of England; that is to say, of

The GRAND MASTER.

Past Grand Masters.
Deputy Grand Master.
Past Deputy Grand Masters.
Grand Wardens.

Provincial Grand Masters.
Past Grand Wardens.

Past Provincial Grand Masters.

Grand Chaplain.

Grand Treasurer.

Joint Grand Secretary, or Grand Secretary, if there be only one.
Grand Sword Bearer.

Twelve Grand Stewards, to be delegated by the Stewards' Lodge, from among their Members existing at the Union; it being understood and agreed, that, from and after the Union, an annual appointment shall be made of the Stewards, if necessary. The actual Masters and Wardens of all Warranted Lodges. Past Masters of Lodges, who have regularly served and passed the Chair before the day of Union, and who have continued, without secession, regular contributing Members of a Warranted Lodge. It being understood, that of all Masters who, from and after the day of the said Union, shall regularly pass the chair of their respective Lodges, but one at a time, to be delegated by his Lodge, shall have a right to sit and vote in the said Grand Lodge; so that after the decease of all the regular Past Masters of any regular Lodge, who had attained that distinction at the time of the Union, the representation of such Lodge shall be by its actual Master, Wardens, and one Past Master only. And all Grand Officers in the said respective Grand Lodges shall retain and hold their rank and privileges in the United Grand Lodge, as Past Grand Officers, including the present Provincial Grand Masters, the Grand Treasurers, Grand Secretaries, and Grand Chaplains, in their several degrees, according to the seniority of their respective appointments and, where such appointments shall have been contemporaneous, the seniority shall be determined by lot. In all other respects the above shall be the general order of precedence in all time to come; with this express provision, that no Provincial Grand Master, hereafter to be appointed, shall be entitled to a seat in the Grand Lodge, after he shall have retired from such situation, unless he shall have discharged the duties thereof for full five years. VIII. The Representatives of the several Lodges shall si

under their respective banners according to seniority. The two first Lodges under each Grand Lodge to draw a lot in the first place for priority; and to which of the two the lot No. 1 shall fall, the other to rank as No. 2; and all the other Lodges shall fall in alternately; that is, the Lodge which is No. 2 of the Fraternity whose lot it shall be to draw No. 1, shall rank as No. 3 in the United Grand Lodge, and the other No. 2 shall rank as No. 4, and so on alternately, through all the numbers respectively. And this shall for ever after be the order and rank of the Lodges in the Grand Lodge, and in Grand Processions, for which a plan and drawing shall be prepared previous to the Union. On the renewal of any of the Lodges now dormant, they shall take rank after all the Lodges existing at the Union, notwithstanding the numbers in which they may now stand on the respective rolls.

IX. The United Grand Lodge being now constituted, the first proceeding, after solemn prayer, shall be to read and proclaim the Act of Union, as previously executed and sealed with the great seals of the two Grand Lodges; after which the same shall be solemnly accepted by the Members present. A day shall then be appointed for the installation of the Grand Master, and other Grand Officers, with due solemnity; upon which occasion, the Grand Mas. ter shall, in open Lodge, with his own hand, affix the new great seal to the said instrument, which shall be deposited in the archives of the United Grand Lodge, and to be the bond of union among the Masons of the Grand Lodge of England, and the Lodges dependant thereon, until time shall be no more. The said new great seal shall be made for the occasion, and shall be composed out of both the great seals now in use; after which the present two great seals shall be broken and defaced; and the new seal shall be alone used in all warrants, certificates, and other documents, to be issued thereafter.

X. The Regalia of the Grand Officers shall be, in addition to the white gloves and apron, and the respective jewels or emblems of distinction, garter-blue and gold; and these shall alone belong to the Grand Officers present and past.

XI. Four Grand Lodges, representing the Craft, shall be held for quarterly communication in each year, on the first Wednesday in the months of March, June, September, and December; on each of which occasions the Masters and Wardens of all the warranted Lodges shall deliver into the hands of the Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer, a faithful list of all their contributing Members; and the warranted Lodges in and adjacent to London shall pay towards the grand fund one shilling per quarter for each Member, over and above the sum of half-a-guinea for each new made Member, for the registry of his name; together with the sum of one shilling to the Grand Secretary, as his fee for the same; and that this contribution of one shilling for each Member shall be made quarterly, and each quarter, in all time to come.

XII. At the Grand Lodge to be held annually on the first Wednesday in September, the Grand Lodge shall elect a Grand Master for the year ensuing (who shall nominate and appoint his

own Deputy Grand Master, Grand Wardens, and Secretary); and they shall also nominate three fit and proper persons for each of the offices of Treasurer, Chaplain, and Sword Bearer; out o' which the Grand Master shall, on the first Wednesday in the month of December, choose and appoint one for each of the said offices; and on the festival of Saint John the Evangelist, then next ensuing, or on such other day as the said Grand Master shall appoint, there shall be held a Grand Lodge for the solemn installation of all the said Grand Officers, according to ancient custom.

XIII. After the day of the Re-union, as aforesaid, and when it shall be ascertained what are the obligations, forms, regulations, working, and instruction, to be universally established, speedy and effectual steps shall be taken to obligate all the Members of each Lodge in all the degrees, according to the form taken and recognised, by the Grand Master, Past Grand Masters, Grand Officers, and Representatives of Lodges, on the day of Re-union; and for this purpose the worthy and expert Master Masons, appointed as aforesaid, shall visit and attend the several Lodges, within the Bills of Mortality, in rotation, dividing themselves into quorums of not less than three each, for the greater expedition: and they shall assist the Master and Wardens to promulgate and enjoin the pure and unsallied system, that perfect reconciliation, unity of obligation, law, working, language, and dress, may be happily restored to the English Craft.

XIV. When the Master and Wardens of a warranted Lodge shall report to the Grand Master, to his satisfaction, that the Members of such Lodge have taken the proper enjoined obligation, and have conformed to the uniform working, clothing, &c., then the Most Worshipful Grand Master shall direct the new Great Seal to be affixed to their warrant, and the Lodge shall be adjudged to be regular, and entitled to all the privileges of the Craft; a certain term shall be allowed (to be fixed by the Grand Lodge) for establishing this uniformity; and all constitutional proceedings of any regular Lodge, which shall take place between the date of the Union and the term so appointed, shall be deemed valid, on condition that such Lodge shall conform to the regulations of the Union within the time appointed; and means shall be taken to ascertain the regularity, and establish the uniformity, of the Provincial Grand Lodges, Military Lodges, and Lodges holding of the two present Grand Lodges in distant parts; and it shall be in the power of the Grand Lodge to take the most effectual measures for the establishment of this unity of doctrine throughout the whole community of Masons, and to declare the Warrants to be forfeited, if the measures proposed shall be resisted or neglected.

XV. The property of the said two Fraternities, whether freehold, leasehold, funded, real, or personal, shall remain sacredly appropriate to the purposes for which it was created; it shall constitute one grand fund, by which the blessed object of masonic benevolence may be more extensively obtained. It shall either continue under the trusts in which, whether freehold, leasehold, or funded, the separate parts thereof now stand; or it shall be in the power of the said United Grand Lodge, at any time hereafter, to add

other names to the said trusts; or, in case of the death of any one Trustee, to nominate and appoint others for perpetuating the security of the same; and in no event, and for no purpose, shall the said united property be diverted from its original purpose. It being understood and declared, that, at any time after the Union, it shall be in the power of the Grand Lodge to incorporate the whole of the said property and funds in one and the same set of Trustees, who shall give bond to hold the same in the name and on the behalf of the United Fraternity. And it is further agreed, that the Freemasons' Hall be the place in which the United Lodge shall be beld, with such additions made thereto as the increased numbers of the Fraternity, thus to be united, may require.

XVI. The fund, appropriate to the objects of Masonic benevolence, shall not be infringed on for any purpose, but shall be kept strictly and solely devoted to charity; and pains shall be taken to increase the same.

XVII. A revision shall be made of the rules and regulations now established and in force in the two Fraternities; and a Code of Laws for the holding of the Grand Lodge, and of private Lodges, and, generally, for the whole conduct of the Craft, shall be forthwith prepared, and a new Book of Constitutions be composed and printed, under the superintendence of the Grand Officers, and with the sanction of the Grand Lodge.

Done at the Palace of Kensington, this 25th day of November, in the Year of our Lord 1813, and of Masonry 5813.

EDWARD, G. M.

THOMAS HARPER, D. G. M.
JAMES PERRY, P. D. G. M.
JAMES AGAR, P. D. G. M.

In Grand Lodge, this first day of December, A. D. 1813. Ratified and Confirmed, and the Seal of the Grand Lodge affixed. EDWARD, G. M.

Great

Seal.

ROBERT LESLIE, G. S.

AUGUSTUS FREDERICK, G. M.

WALLER RODWELL WRIGHT, P. G. M. Ionian Isles.

ARTHUR TEGART, P. G. W.

JAMES DEANS, P. G. W.

In Grand Lodge, this first day of December, A. D. J813. Ratified

and Confirmed, and the Seal of the Grand Lodge affixed.

AUGUSTUS FREDERICK, G. M.

Great
Seal.

WILLIAM H. WHITE, G. S.

A meeting of the two Grand Lodges, in pursuance of Article V. was held on the 1st of December, 1813, at the Crown-and-Anchor Tavern in the Strand. The Articles of Union were laid before these Lodges, and received with masonic acclamation: the Articles were unanimously ratified and confirmed. "THE LODGE OF RECONCILIATION" was then constituted; the Royal Grand Masters, respectively, having nominated the following Brethren to form the same:

Rev. Samuel Hemming, D. D. of the Lodge No. 384, R. W. M.

And Brother William Henry White, Secretary thereof.

Their Royal Highnesses the Grand Masters then signed the Articles of Union, and each affixed the Great Seal thereto in Grand Lodge; and the same was countersigned by the Grand Secretary of each of the two Grand Lodges respectively.

GRAND ASSEMBLY of FREEMASONS, for the UNION of the Two GRAND LODGES of ENGLAND,

On St. John's Day, 27th December, 1813.

The important event of the Re-union of Ancient Freemasons of England, after a long separation, took place, with great solemnity, this day.

The following order of proceedings, which had been previously settled, was strictly observed:

Freemasons' Hall having been fitted up agreeably to a plan and drawing for the occasion, and the whole House tiled from the outer porch; the platform on the East was reserved for the Grand Masters, Grand Officers, and Visitors.

The Masters, Wardens, and Past Masters of the several Lodges,