SECTION XIY.

THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.
Committees of Foreign Correspondence are bodies known only to American Masonry ; and until within a few years, so far as the efficient discharge of any duty was concerned, they appear to have been of but little value. But at the present time they oc- cupy so important a position in the working of every Grand Lodge, that they are fully entitled to a place as an essential part of the Masonic system.
The duties of a Committee of Foreign Corres- pondence are at this day the most important that are confided to any committee of a Grand Lodge ; and what they precisely are, and how they should be performed, are matters worthy of a calm and deliberate consideration.
The Committee of the Grand Lodge of Oregon has lately objected to the usual free and independ- ent course pursued by these bodies, because they believe, to use their own language, that " to review, overrule and reverse the decisions of Grand Mas- ters, in cases regularly before them, and to intimate doubts of the wisdom, propriety and regularity of
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the decisions of Grand Lodges, upon questions care- fully considered and solemnly adjudged, we cannot persuade ourselves is the course best calculated to promote harmony, facilitate the interchange of kind ohices, and cement the bond of union and fraternal intercourse which should everywhere exist among Grand Lodges.7'*
I cannot concur in this view of the result of the labors of such a committee, nor deny to it the liberty to discharge, in the most unlimited manner, while courtesy is preserved, the duty of reviewers, and, if need be, of censurers.
The Committees on Correspondence are the links which bind the Grand Lodges into one united whole in the pursuit of knowledge ; they are the guardians appointed by their respective bodies to inform their constituents what has been the progress of the in- stitution for the past year — to warn them of the errors in discipline or in Masonic science which they may suppose to have been committed — and to suggest the best method by which these errors may be* avoided or amended. The proceedings of Grand Lodges are never printed for purposes of sale, or of general distribution ; the number of copies pub- lished is always small ; and it is physically impos- sible that a knowledge of their contents can ever reach the mass of the fraternity, except through the condensed reports of foreign correspondence. These committees, therefore, perform but the duty to which they were appointed, when they report the doingg
* Proc. Grand Lodge of Oregon, 1855. Rep. of Com. of For. Corresp.
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and sayings of oilier jurisdictions ; nor can they be denied the common right of expressing their opin- ions on the nature and tendency of the facts as they relate them. Grand Masters are not infallible, and Grand Lodges are not always correct in their de- cisions. If, therefore, a Committee on Correspond- ence should simply detail the various acts and opinions of all the Grand Bodies with which their own is in correspondence, nor make one depreca- tory remark, calling attention to what they might suppose violations of laws or Landmarks, the hete- rogeneous and discordant doctrines which every year are presented to the Masonic world, would be placed before the fraternity without commentary, leaving the most ignorant to form their own, often erroneous, conclusions, and sometimes to confound the mere extract from a foreign opinion by the committee with an endorsement by that committee of its correctness. It is then a part of the duty of a Committee on Correspondence to review the pro- ceedings of other jurisdictions, to point out what they suppose to be errors, and to warn their own constituency against adopting them. The Commit- tees are, no doubt, like the bodies they are review- ing, sometimes wrong • but if the discussion of Masonic points of law are conducted temperately, calmly, judiciously, and above all fraternally, much good must arise from this contest of mind. As the collision of the flint and steel will generate fire, so truth must be elicited from the collision of varying intellects, I cannot hesitate to believe that for
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much of the elevated standard that the Masonry of this day and country has assumed, and for the general diffusion of knowledge on the subject of Masonic jurisprudence, the craft are indebted to the well-conducted discussions of our various Commit- tees on Foreign Correspondence.""
Conflicting views have also been expressed on the subject of the value which is to be attached to these reports of Committees of Foreign Correspondence, and on the question whether they require to be adopted by a foinnal vote of the Grand Lodge to whom they are presented, or whether they are, with- out such vote, to be placed before the craft as mat- ters of Masonic literature, with just so much value as their own merits, and the experience, judgment and talent of their authors bestow upon them.
These reports are generally intrusted to the ablest writer and thinker in each Grand Lodge ; and when this is the case, I cannot see what addi- tional value the opinions of such a man can receive
* Bro. Sandford himself, an admirable illustration of the efficiency and usefulness of these committees, indorses the views I have expressed in the text. " An examination," says that able Mason, " of the reports which have emanated from the Committees on Foreign Correspondence of the various Grand Lodges during the past year, has disclosed an amount of labor, a de- gree of interest and enthusiasm, an extent and depth of research upon mat- ters immediately pertaining to the principles and science of Masonry, which is well calculated to excite surprise and admiration. And when to this is . added the literary excellence of these various productions, embracing in their range of discussion numerous illustrations from the historical and clas- sical literature of the world, one is struck with the force of kindred associa- tion, which appears to heighten the power and beauty of expression, in pro- portion to the dignity and expansiveness of the ideas which call it forth."— Proceed. G. L. of Iowa, 1855.
496 COMMUTES OF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.
from their adoption by a formal vote. Such adop- tion would indeed give to his views the force of law in that particular jurisdiction, but they would not make them sounder or more truthful, nor on the other hand would their rejection affect or impair, in the slightest degree, their influence, as matters of opinion, on the minds of the fraternity.
The truth is, that these reports derive all their value from the character and abilities of their authors. They need no adoption by a Grand Lodge, "but should be simply received as information, unless they are accompanied by resolutions upon which specific legislative action is required.*
* These views are in accordance with those espiessed in 1855 by the Committee of the Grand Lodge of California.