CHAPTER III
THE QUARTERLY COMMUNICATION

The first Loyalists arrived in Halifax with Howe's army immediately after the evacuation of Boston by the British in March, 1776. The greatest influx came after the Treaty which acknowledged the independence of the United States in 1783. Between these dates, there was a small but growing stream of refugees who found new homes in Halifax, Annapolis Royal, and other parts of the Province.

In Halifax, Loyalist Freemasons either joined existing lodges or sought new associations. Realizing that the absence of a central authority led to clandestine Masonry and consequently to confusion in the Craft, the leaders in the First Lodge of 1750, No. 155, known locally as No. 4, and later as St. Andrew's, decided that this lodge must assume some of the powers that under normal circumstances would be exercised by a Provincial Grand Lodge. Thus, in May 1780, the lodge granted a dispensation to a number of Masons to establish another Lodge, the expectation that it would receive, with reasonable promptness, a charter or warrant from the Grand Lodge of England, Ancients. This lodge became St. John's 211. It is now No. 2 under the registry of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia.1

Finding that their initial efforts met with success, the First Lodge, in co-operation with the newly organized St. John's, proceeded to grant a dispensation to a third lodge, Union, in Halifax, and to a lodge on the Island of St. John (later Prince Edward Island), which became known as St. George's. Then when the Brethren met to install the Officers of Union Lodge, June 28, 1781, they passed a resolution authorizing the three lodges, St. Andrew's, St. John's and Union, to meet in Quarterly Communication. The first such meeting was held at the Golden Ball Tavern in July, 1781, with the Worshipful Master of St. John's Lodge, John Fillis, as presiding officer.2 Thereafter meetings were held on the third Monday of each October, January, April and July, in the three lodge rooms by turns. The Masters of the three lodges were requested to act as a Charity Committee which in those days of Loyalist refugees and no social security, was very much needed.

With the organization completed, the Quarterly Communication set itself to the task of reviving the Provincial Grand Lodge, Ancients. The Warrant of 1757 had been practically dormant since 1764 and there has been no Provincial Grand Master since the death of Belcher in 1776. On November 22, 1781, the members of the Quarterly Communication passed a resolution explaining the unsatisfactory condition of Freemasonry in the Province and sent it to London requesting that appropriate action be taken:

"Your memoralists see with great concern the present unsettled state of the Craft, in many instances in and about this town, as well as some more remote parts of the Province, for want of a Provincial Grand Lodge to be constituted here, without which it is impossible the many evils attending the same, can be prevented or redressed. We are surrounded with clandestine work almost on all sides, but no doubt by some who would wish for the proper authority or lawful constitution, did they but know how, or were they in a situation to make proper application. And not only this, but your memorialists are also apprehensive of great danger particularly in having Modern Masonry propagated and spread thro' this town and Province should the people who are called a Lodge here under the Duke of Beaufort, obtain a Provincial Grand Lodge Warrant from that quarter, which they the memorialists have no reason to doubt in case they make application for the same".3

To head their proposed new, or revived, the Provincial Grand Lodge, the petitioners submitted the name of a Halifax Merchant, John George Pyke, a member of the House of Assembly. Pyke seems to have been associated with the Moderns up to 1780, but left them, and had served as Master of St. John's Lodge. For Provincial Grand Wardens, two members of St. Andrew's, John Cody and Ephriam Whiston were nominated.4 If there had been any thought of associating the office of Provincial Grand Master with the occupant of Government House, the time was not right. Governor Francis Legge had retired in 1778, and his successor, John Parr, did not take office until October 1782. In the interval, the Government was in the hands of Administrators, the last of whom was Andrew Snape Hamond.

While awaiting a reply to their petition, the Quarterly Communication granted a dispensation to a number of the Craft who were members of the Royal Artillery. Their lodge was first called Virgin, then Artillery, then Virgin again. It is now No. 3 under the registry of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia.5 This Lodge worked for more than the usual time under dispensation, awaiting a charter from England. One other dispensation was granted by the Quarterly Communication in the transitional period, namely, Hiram in Saint John, then in the larger Province of Nova Scotia, as the Province of New Brunswick was not established until 1784. The final dispensation of the Quarterly Communication was to a military lodge connected with the 82nd Regiment, January 1782.

When the petition of the Quarterly Communication came before the Grand Lodge of England, Ancients, it was not accepted. No immediate reason was given for the rejection, but the petitioners learned from local sources that it was due to the Moderns in the capital who were still negotiating to secure a charter for themselves, and did not want divided control. Under the leadership of Benjamin Bridge, and others, they continued their opposition to the Ancients until 1786 when they acknowledged defeat and Lodge No. l, Moderns, became Cornwallis No. 15, Ancients, with John Solomon as Worshipful Master and Benjamin Bridge as Senior Warden. In the interval, however, Bridge and his supporters continued a thorn in the flesh to the Quarterly Communication. They were aided, either through conscious opposition, or indifference, by the Grand Secretary of the Ancients, Bearblock.

Although somewhat nonplaused by the rejection of their first petition, the Quarterly Communication decided to make a second try. The new memorial was dated October 24, 1782. It repeated the nomination of John George Pyke as Provincial Grand Master, but as objections had been made to John Cody, as Senior Grand Warden, the name of George Jones of Union Lodge was given; Whiston was continued as Junior Grand Warden.6

Although signed by the Masters and Wardens of the Halifax lodges, Ancients, the second petition met with no better success than the first. After a silence of several months, the petitioners wrote a letter to the Deputy Grand Master of the Ancients, Rt. Wor. William Dickey, and sent it to London in the personal care of John Deas, a founder of Virgin Lodge, who was to be in England on business. The latter re-emphasized the statement that a Provincial Grand Lodge was needed for "the good of the craft." Two additional arguments were advanced, the presence of Loyalist brethren who were "flocking to the Province," and the need for an authorized body to grant charters to new lodges that had been, and were being, formed.7

Persistence, or the arguments of Deas, or both, finally brought Grand Lodge action. A communication from London announced that the Warrant would be granted, but requested that Hon. William Nesbitt, a founder of Halifax, be given an office.8 As this indicated further unasked for advice from the outside, the petitioners decided that the time had come for plain speaking. They pointed out that Nesbitt had recently passed away, and that for some time before his death, he had been inactive from old age and illness. They then turned their wrath upon the interfering Moderns, and expressed surprise that advice should be accepted from that source rather than from those who were seeking to advance the fortunes of Ancient Craft Masonry:

"With respect to the former (warrant) it has lain dead since the year 1764, and whether it is now in existence or not, we are not able to determine, and Mr. Bridge's application we cannot think ought to be paid any attention to, in preference to all the Lodges here; for we do not look on him or any of the pretended Lodge to which he belongs to be entitled to notice till they come into the right way, they having wilfully walked in darkness and saw no Light, since April 1780, tho' told they might, on proper application have their sins forgiven and be recommended, but through their own Obstinacy and Misconduct their numbers are now reduced so low to be obliged to call their Tyler to assist their business - and their Conduct has been so contrary to the rules of the Craft that they have both publicly and privately Burlesqued the Fraternity in General, and particularly all who attended to those Principles of Virtue it inculcates, they likewise at different times wrought under both Ancient and Modern Warrant, and seem lost to every sense of Masonic Rectitude, by endeavouring in a Clandestine manner to take undue advantages of those whose actions will bear the most scruitinzing inspection."9

This firm and forthright declaration did much to clear the "Masonic air". It was now plain to the authorities in London, that a Warrant granted to Benjamin Bridge and his supporters would not be accepted by the majority of the Brethren, either in Halifax or throughout the Province. Further to check the Moderns and to strengthen his own position, the head of the Quarterly Communication summoned those who claimed the Moderns' Duke of Beaufort as their Grand Master, read them a lecture on the error of their ways and offered them the opportunity to return to the standard of the Ancients. Upon their refusal to do so, they were informed that because of their "inveterate obstinacy" it was impossible to cooperate with them, and therefore they must be left "to grope in the dark" as they had done for "a very long time." Hope was expressed that "in a future day not far distant," they might "be brought to see their error and reform their conduct." As indicated, this happened in 1786.

With the issues so clearly presented, it is not surprising that the Quarterly Communication was able to announce with understandable satisfaction on August 24, 1784, after three years of effort, that the elusive warrant had indeed arrived. There was some irritation, however, because the names of Jonathan Snelling and Daniel Wood appeared as Grand Wardens in place of George Jones an Ephriam Whiston. The Brethren debated the substitution with no little heat, and sought to discover reasons for the change. Both Snelling and Wood were present, but declared that they had no previous knowledge of, or part in, what the authorities in London had seen fit to do. Finally it was decided that as John George Pyke had been approved as Provincial Grand Master, the substitute Wardens would be accepted "until such time as a change may take place by subsequent elections, etc."10 The situation was accepted with more grace when it was learned that the man who, rightly or wrongly, had received the blame for the obstruction and delay, Grand Secretary Bearblock, had been removed from office.11 The Brethren of the Quarterly Communication had now one ambition, to put the new Warrant to work.

NOTES

1. Those granted the dispensation included some sixteen members of the once active Lodge of John Reen chartered in 1757, and four members from the Lodge, Moderns, 1770, No. 1.
2. Those attending this meeting were: From St. Andrew's: Benjamin Smith, W.M.; John Wright S.W.; William Matthews, J.W.; and John Rattrie, Secretary. Representing St. John's Lodge were: John Fillies, W.M.; John George Pyke, P.M.; Joseph Peters, Secretary; John Toler, Tyler: and John O'Brien, M.M.. The third lodge, Union, sent Henry Wickham W.M.; George Jones, S.W.; and James Kelly, J.W.
3. Grand Lodge Archives, Halifax
4. The Petition was signed by the Masters, Wardens, and Secretaries of the three Halifax lodges, and by two representatives of the newly established St. George's Lodge in Charlottetown.
5. The Petitioners were John Deas, John Brown, Andrew Grey, Thomas Russell, and Hugh McBean.
6. Other officers proposed were Charles Adams of St. Andrew's Lodge as Deputy Provincial Grand Master, and Joseph Peters of St. John's Lodge as Provincial Grand Secretary.
7. The lodges then under dispensation were Union in Halifax, and St. George's in Charlottetown.
8. Grand Lodge Archives, Letter from the Grand Secretary, Ancients, Bearblock, to John George Pyke.
9. Copy in the Grand Lodge Archives, Halifax. This letter may well have been the turning point in the history of this Lodge under the Moderns, and led to its return to the Ancients in 1786.
10. Grand Lodge Archives.
11. Grand Secretary Bearblock was accused of conduct unbecoming a Mason. for more information concerning this official, see Gould, History of Freemasonry, Scribner ed., Vol. II, 186.