SECTION V.

EXPULSION.
Expulsion is the severest punishment that can be inflicted on a delinquent Mason. If suspension finds its similitude in the imprisonment, or rather, in the banishment of the municipal law, expulsion may as properly be compared to the punishment of death. There is a remarkable coincidence between the sen- tence of expulsion by Masonic authority and the sentence of death by the law of the land, each of which is " the most terrible and highest judgment" in the respective judicatures. " When it is clear, beyond all dispute," says Blackstone, " that the crimi- nal is no longer fit to live upon the earth, but is to be exterminated as a monster and bane to human so- ciety, the law sets a note of infamy upon him, puts him out of its protection, and takes no further care of him than to see him executed. He is then called attindus, stained or blackened."* So, when the sen- tence of expulsion is pronounced against a Mason, his Masonic existence at once ceases; he is no longer looked upon as a Mason — all communication with him as such ceases, just as much as if he were actu- ally dead. His testimony cannot be taken in a Masonic trial — for, like the felon convicted of a capital crime, he has been attainted, and rendered infamous— his brethren can know him no more. Expulsion is, in one word, Masonic death.
As this penalty is of-so severe a nature, rupturing
* Oommpotaries, B. iv., ch. 29.
536 expulsion.
all the lies which bind a Mason to the fraternity, it is evident that it should only be inflicted for the most heinous offences — offences which, in their na- ture, affect the character, the well-being and the safety of the whole society, and hence the Grand Lodge of New York has very wisely ordered that it shall only follow " a gross violation of the moral law, or the fundamental principles of Masonry, or attempts against any part of the frame-work of its government.77* The penalty is not inflicted so much as a punishment of the guilty person, as it is as a safe- guard or security of the Order. The object is not to reform an evil, but to prevent its influence on the fraternity. A Mason who habitually transgresses the moral code, or lives in constant violation of the fundamental teachings of the Order, is to the so- ciety, what a gangrenous limb is to the body. The incurable wound, says the Roman poet, must be cut off with the knife, lest the healthy part of the body be involved in the disease. f And so the unworthy Mason is to be expelled from the Order, lest his ex- ample spread, and disease be propagated through the whole constitution of Masonry. But, in accord- ance with this principle, expulsion should be inflicted only for offences which affect the security and honor of the whole Order. The remedy should never be applied to transgressions of a subordinate nature, which neither deserve nor require its application.
* Const. G. L. of New York, § 47.
■f- " immedicabile vnlnus
Ense reddendum ; ne pars sincera trahatur.' — Ovid, Met. I., 190.
expulsion. 537
As this is a penalty which affects the general re- lations of the offender to the whole "body of the craft, and cancels his connection with the Order, it would seen reasonable that it should be inflicted only by the supreme authority, and not by a sub- ordinate Lodge. Hence, the modern Constitutions of English Masonry declare, that " in the Grand Lodge alone resides the power of erasing Lodges, and expelling brethren from the craft ; a power which it ought not to delegate to any subordinate authority in England. "*
In this country the same theory has always existed and, hence, the Grand Lodges have constantly exer- cised the prerogative of restoring expelled Masons to the privileges of the Order, but practically, the power of expelling has been vested in the subordi- nate Lodges. And yet, as I have just observed, the English theory is still retained. The subordinate Lodge tries the accused, and if he is found guilty, pronounces the sentence of expulsion; but this ac- tion of the Lodge must be submitted to the Grand Lodge, whose tacit confirmation is given^ if there be no appeal; but if there be one, the Grand Lodge will then exercise its prerogative, and review the case, confirming or reversing the sentence of expul- sion, as it may deem most proper.
In America, where nearly all the Grand Lodges meet only annually, and where the jurisdiction is often extended over a vast surface of territory, it does seem expedient that the power of conditional
* Const G. L. of Eng., 1947, p. 23.
23*
538 EXPULSION.
expulsion should be vested in subordinate Lodges, but this power can only be a delegated one, for the prerogative of expulsion from the craft was always an inherent one, vested, by the very nature of the institution, the rights of the members, and the na- ture of the punishment, in the General Assembly. The very fact, as I have elsewhere said,* that ex- pulsion is a penalty, affecting the general relations of the punished party with the whole fraternity, proves that its unconditional and final exercise never could, with propriety or justice, be entrusted to a body so circumscribed in its authority as a subordi- nate Lodge.
The principle of the law on this subject, appears then to be, in this country, that a subordinate Lodge may try a delinquent and pronounce the sentence of expulsion, but that that sentence must be confirmed by the Grand Lodge, to make it final. This confir- mation is generally given by a silent reception of the report of the Lodge; but it is always competent for a Grand Lodge, with, or without an appeal from the punished party, to review the transaction, and wholly or in part to reverse the sentence. But, by the usages of the Order, the sentence of the Lodge will stand until the Grand Lodge has given its decision.
An important question remains to be discussed, which refers not only to the penalty of expulsion, but also to that of suspension. Does suspension or expulsion from a Chapter of Ttoyal Arch Masons a Council of Royal and Select Masters, or an En-
* Lexicon of Freemasonry, Art. Expulsion.
EXPULSION. 539
campment of Knights Templar, carry with it, as a necessary consequence, suspension or expulsion from symbolic Masonry? To this question, reason and the general usages of the Order lead me, unhesi- tatingly to reply, that it does not. The converse of the proposition is however true, and suspension or expulsion from a symbolic Lodge is*necessarily suspension or expulsion from all the higher bodies.
The principle upon which this doctrine is based is a very plain one. If the axe be applied to the trunk of the tree, the branches which spring out of it, and derive their subsistence through it, must die. If the foundation be removed, the edifice must fall. But a branch may be lopped off and the trunk will still live ; the cape-stone may be taken away, but the foundation will remain intact. So, Symbolic Masonry — the Masonry of the Lodge — is the trunk of the tree — the foundation of the whole Masonic edifice. The Masonry of the Chapter or the Coun- cil is but the branch which springs forth from the tree, and receives all its nourishment from it. It is the cape-stone which finishes and ornaments the build- ing that rests upon Symbolic Masonry. Hence there is an evident dependence of the higher on the lower degrees, while the latter are wholly independent of, and may exist without the former.
Again, from the very organization of the two institutions, a Chapter is not recognizable as a Ma- sonic body, by a symbolic Lodge. A Master Mason knows technically, nothing of a Royal Arch Mason. In the language of the Order, "he may hear him S'
540 EXPULSION.
to be, but he does not know him so to be," by any of the modes of recognition used in Masonry. " Wc cannot conceive/' say the Committee of Correspond ence of the Grand Lodge of Texas," by what sort of legerdemain a Lodge can take cognizance of the transactions of a Chapter, an entirely independent body."* But Chapters, on the other hand, are neces- sarily cognizant of the existence and the proceedings of Lodges, for it is out of the Lodges that the Chap- ters are constructed. And, if a Master Mason were expelled from the rights and privileges of Masonry, and if this expulsion were not to be followed by a similar expulsion frc m the Chapter, then all Master Masons who should meet the expelled Mason in the latter body, would be violating the law by holding Masonic communication with him.
Lastly, under the present organization of Masonry, Grand Lodges are the supreme Masonic tribunals over all Master Masons, but exercise no jurisdiction over Chapters, Councils or Encampments. If, there- fore, expulsion from either of these bodies involved expulsion from the Lodge, then the right of the Grand Lodge to hear and determine causes, and to regulate the internal concerns of the institution would be interfered with, by an authority outside of its organization, and beyond its control.
The law may, therefore, be explicitly stated in
* Proc. G-. L. of Texas, 1854, vol. ii. p. 47. — " How can a Lodge or aDy member of it legally know what has been done in a Chapter?" ... "A mem- ber of a Lodge has no right to know on what charges a Royal Arch Mason has been tried. Finally, how can a Master Mason only know a Royal Arch Mason- as sncb. rt ■^1]P'1 -Tt"'^
EXPULSION. 541
these terms : suspension or expulsion from a Chap- ter, Council, or Encampment, does not involve a similar sentence from a symbolic Lodge. But sus- pension or expulsion from a Lodge, carries with it, ex necessitate, suspension or expulsion from every higher degree.