SECTION III.

THE GRAM) WARDENS.
Next in dignity to the Deputy come the Senior and Junior Grand Wardens. These two officers are, however, although subordinate in rank, of much more importance than the Deputy, in the working of the Order, and are possessed of some prerogatives which do not belong to him. Their duties do not very materially differ from those of the corresponding officers in a subordinate Lodge; although of course, from their more exalted posi- tion, their powers are more extensive.
In this country, by universal consent, the Ward- ens succeed to the government of the craft in order of rank, upon the death or absence from the juris- diction of the Grand and Deputy Grand Masters. But the subject of the succession to the chair has already been considered in a preceding section.
The first of the Regulations of 1721 had pre- scribed that the Grand Master, in his official visita- tion to a subordinate Lodge, " might command the Wardens of that Lodge, or any other Master Masons, to act there as his Wardens, pro tempore;" but as this was found to be an interference with the rights of the Grand Wardens, the Regulation was soon after explained as only being applicable to cases where they were absent ; for it was declared that the Grand Master cannot deprive them of their office without showing cause, so that if they are
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present in a particular Lodge with the Grand Mas- ter, they must, if he presides, act as Wardens. And accordingly, this has ever since been considered as one of their prerogatives.
As in a subordinate Lodge, so in the Grand Lodge, the Junior Grand Warden does not occupy the west in the absence of the Senior Grand Warden. The two offices are entirely distinct ; and the Junior Grand Warden having been elected and installed to preside in the south, can leave that station only for the east, in the absence of all his superiors. A vacancy in the west must be supplied by tempo- rary appointment.
On the same principle, the Senior Grand Warden cannot supply the place of the absent Deputy Grand Master. In fact, in the absence from the Grand Lodge of the Deputy, it is scarcely necessary that his office should be filled by the temporary appoint- ment of any person; for, in the presence of the Grand Master, the Deputy has no duties to perform.
The old Charges of 1722 required that no one could be a Grand Warden until he had been the Master of a Lodge.* The rule still continues in force, either by the specific regulation of modern Grand Lodges, or by the force of usage, which is the best interpreter of law.
By the Regulations of 1721, the Grand Master
* The Sixteenth Regulation of 1721 prohibited a Grand Warden from act- ing as the Master of a Lodge ; but this rule seems now to be obsolete, al- though I have no doubt tlaa the dignity of the office would be consulted b^ its enforcement.
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possessed the power of nominating the Grand Wardens ; but if his nomination was not unani- mously approved, the Grand Lodge proceeded to an election, so that really the choice of these officers was vested in the Grand Lodge. By the universal usage of the present day, the power of nomination is not exercised by Grand Masters, and the Grand Wardens are always elected.