The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-11-07
8irhn,ond 4ispatrh.
WEDNESDAY. 4. NOVEMBER I. 1866.
Masonie-The Couneii Degree.

Mu9OuhC-Iue COuuclH De8Fees
BY WIN. g. PARKHURsT, P. n. p.
The degree Of Royal Master and Select
Master are termed /" Council Degrees" be-
cause at the present day they are generally
conferred upon Royal Arch Mssonssip sip
bodies styled Councils, having separate
organization from that Of Royal Arch Chap
ter. In our modern textbooks. which have
been adapted to conform 70 this practice,
the Royal Arch degreeis called the seventh
degree of Masonry, the Royal Master the
eighth, and the Select Master the ninth. In
the States Of Virginia and Maryland, and in
the District Of Columbia, the degrees OF
Royal Master and Select Master are still
conferred, as they have ever been, before
the Royal Arch degree, and under the
authority of Royal Arch Chapters. This
difference in the order Of comforting these
degrees has given rise to much controversy !;
and Companions who have received the de-
grees here have often been deprived Of the
right of visiting the Councils in other juris-
dictions where they were conferred, simply
because it was supposed that our mode Of
giving them, or tho authority under which
we giye them, was irregular. In order to
make the whole matter plain to the Com
panions, not only Of our own but Of other
Jurisdictions, we present the following
statement of facts:
The degrees of Royal Master and Select
Master are of comparatively modern
origin, as separate degrees. In Thomas S.
Webb's Freen,aSOn'S MONITOR" OF the
edition of 1905, no mention is made Of
them. After the remarks on the Most ES-
cellent Masters degree and the Royal Arch
degree, some observations on the order OF
High Priesthood are given; then come the
orders of Knighthood, and finally the In
effable degrees" viz: Secret Master, Per-
feet Master, Intimate Secretary, Provost
and Judge, &c., which are conferred in
bodies of the Ancient and Accepted Scot
tish Rite. At that time no such bodies as
Councils of Royal and Select Masters were
in existence, and these degrees, if conferred
at all, we're only conferred as explanatory
or "side" degrees. DR.. Mackey claims
that they were originally conferred under
the authority of the Supreme Council of
the Thirty-third degree, Scottish Rite, in
Charleston, S. c., and quotes report made
to the Grand Chapter of South Carolina
in the wear 1927, in which 1t is stated that
several Brethren and Companions received
these degrees in Charleston, in 1888, in the
Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection. Be
this as it may, it is certain that these two
degrees are not included in the regular Sc
ries of thirty-three degrees, known as the
Scottish Rite, and therefore, if conferred
under the authority of that rite, they must
have been conferred as side degrees or
honorary degrees.
The question then arises, under what
authority do the modern organizations
known as "Councils" and "Grand Coun-
cilsn confer the degrees, and from whom
was that authority derived'l We say emo
dern organizations" because in 1850 DIR.
Nackey stated that "thirty years ago a
Council of Royal and Select Masters was
."-[Southern and Western Ma
sonic Miscellany, Vol. ], No. 2. In 1920,
then. ti;ey had never been heard of; but
in 1900 we are informed of their exist
ence. The General Grand Chapter, which
met at New York city in September, 1929,
odonted the following preamble and reso-
lutions:
this Grand Chapter that the constitution OF
Councils of Royal and Select Master Ma
sons in different parts of the United States
by sundry persons has been without any
legitimate authority; and whereas those
degrees are confirmed in some Chapters
nndcr the authority of the General Grand
Chapter: and whereas it was proved that
IL was the sole intention Of the III. +. Com
,anious. from whom those degrees emana-
ted that they should be conferred under the
authority of Royal Arch Chapters; there
wi Resol,ed. That this General Grand Chap
tor cordially recommends to the different
conncils in the United States to adopt
measures to place those degrees under the
authority of the State Grand Chapters.
Resolved. That authority be and IL hereby
Granted to the several Grand Chapters to
make such arrangements as shall be found
necessary for comforting the degrees OF
Roval and Select Master In Royal Arcn
cbsnters, proyided always that no Grand
CHAPTER within the limits OF which IS .
Grand Council shall authorize tne hoyal
Arch Chapters under its jurisdiction 10
confer such degrees without the consent oi
such Grand Council.
At q subsequent meeting of the General
Grand Chapter, held at New Haven, Conn.'
In 1874. the above preamble and resolu.
tions were reafirmed and adopted.
From the above it appears that the Oom-
nanions from whom those degrees ema-
hated. intended that they should be con-
Serred solely under the authority of Royal
Arch Chapters but that in the interval
between 1920 and 1929, sundry, persons,
,oithout any legitimate authority, had or
oan;zed Councils, and even Grand Councils
eeS Royal and Select Masters In different
narfs of the United States. There can DC
little doubt that this movement originated
with Jeremy L. Cross, who was for many
wears . travelling Masonic lecturer, who at
one time stood high In the estimation OF
his brethren, but who subsequently, lost
their confidence, and died an expelled Ma
son. Companion Cross received these de-
urees in the. year 1916 from the hands OF
The I'M. Companion Philip P. Eckel, then
Grand High Priest Of the Grand Chapter
of the State of Maryland and District Of
Columbia, with permission TO confer them
upon any Royal Arch Mason who had not
heen instructed In them, bnt only under
the authority Of the Chapters. For some
time Il appears, Companion Cross pro-
caadsd in conformity with the authority
vested IN him but at later period ne
commenced the organization of Councils,
in violation Of an obligation ne had assumed
when he received the degrees; and from
.ha Conncils established by him and by the
Comnanions who received these degrees
,.ost ;f not all the present Grand