The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-11-07
DNEsDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 4. 1866.

are many Companions who have taken the
Select under what they deem Council regu.
lations, and alter that Of the Royal Arch.
This the Il. A. Mas0ns Of Maryland declare
to be wrong, as the degree was intended by
those who promulgated the Select to be the
true link which united the blue and red and
in this order did j. L. Gross obligate him
self to confer It at the time he received this
degree from our distinguished companions
Eckel, Keatinge, and Niles-three distin-
Ruished wortbies, who, to complete the
Masonic qualifications Of Comp. Gross at
the time he was sent forth as Grand Lee
turer of the General Grand Chapter of the
United States, and came to this city for the
purpose of obtaining thisdegree, authorized
him to confer the same upon any Royal Arch
Masons, in his travels through the southern
and western States, who might have re-
ceived the Royal Arch degree (as thou
sands had done) without being Select Mas
tiers, but only under the warrant Of the
Chapters. Hero was opened stch field
for speculation that he lost sight of his
honor and obligations to those who had, for
the most worthy purposes, entrusted him
with this authority. He did apply the
several sums charged by him to his own
use, and 80 spread the degree through Vir-
ginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and other States Of
the Union that many Councils were
formed, and in many of the States Grand
Councils of Select Masons, to the great
detriment of the Chapters and Grand
Chapters in majority Of the States Of the
Union, when it was positively the inten-
ton and command of those expert and dis
tinguished Masons (Eckel, Kestinge, and
Niies) that he should, acting under the
authority of the State Chapters, give the
information to the Royal Arch Masons
who had not received the Select,
which had been gratuitously confer
red on him, so that he might, in the
course of his travels, diffuse this light
and complete the chain of connection, and
make the Royal Arch Mason perfect in the
work without any tax or contribution on
the Companions further than what they
might be pleased to offer him for his SER
vices as Grand Royal Arch Lecturer. The
assertion that he had to pay these worthy
Companions twenty dollars out Of the
twenty-five dollars he charged for the au-
thority he granted to those who acted un-
der his authority was a direct falsehood,
as he never did, NOR ever was required to,
make return to them of one cent, his as
sertion and charge to the contrary notwith-
standing. Many Of our worthy Compan-
ions made under his authority, or by that
of the State Grand Councils, think that
they must comply with his regulations,
and take the Select after the Royal Arch.
This is not the case in Maryland, and all
our officers are bound to confer it as it is
laid down in the printed constitution Of the
Grand Chapter of Maryland.
am, dear sir and Companion,
Your obedient servant,
JOSEPH X. STAPLETON, G. HIP.
II. C. Williams, Esq, Washington.
Companion Cross being publisher of
textbooks as well as Masonic lecturer, of
course introduced this innovation there as
we'll as in his practicing-placing the Royal
Masters degree and the Select Masters de-
gree afterth Royal Arch degree and most
of the other Charts, Monitors, and Manuals
have followed his example, as it conforms
to the practice wherever Councils have
been organized. This explains what has
seemed strange to many young Masons in
this jurisdiction, who have inquired why
we confer the Chapter degrees in differ
ent order from what they are laid down in
authorized Masonic publications. Our
reply is-and we have adduced evidence
amply to sustain us in the position-we
confer them as they were originally con-
ferred here more than half q centuary ago,
and before Council had ever been formed
as a separate Masonic organization; and the
Councils which now seek exclusive juris-
diction over them were established, to use
the language of the Grand Chapter, with
out any legitimate authority.