L. of So. Ca., Bide xix. sec. 8. "No petition for initiation or membership

shall be w:thdrawn, affer having been referred to a committee of inquiry."-^ Const. G. L. of Fia., Art. viii. sec. 7. I doubt, however, the correctness of extending this regulation to petitions of Masons for affiliation. Such a peti tion, I think, may be withdrawn at any stage, with the consent of a majoritj of the Lodge. But this subject will be hereafter discussed.
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is pursued, as it were, by tacit consent. Besides, the analogy of our speculative institution to an operative art, gives sanction to the usage. The candidate for Masonry has always been considered, symbolically, as material brought up for the build- ing of the temple. This material must be rejected or accepted. It cannot be carried elsewhere for further inspection. The Lodge to which it is first brought must decide upon its fitness. To with- draw the petition, would be to prevent the Lodge from making that decision, and therefore no peti- tion for initiation, having been once read, can be withdrawn;- it must go through the necessary forms. In the next place, the petition must be referred to a committee, for an investigation into the charac- ter and the qualifications of the candidate. The law, derived from the ancient Regulations of 1721, is explicit, that there shall be an inquiry into the character of the candidate ; but it is silent as to the mode in which that inquiry shall be made.t It might, it is true, be made by the whole Lodge, every member considering himself as a member of the committee of investigation ;{ but as this would
* California, like Florida, prohibits the withdrawal only after the petition has been referred to a committee. But as soon as it is read, it becomes the property of the Lodge, and from that moment passes out of the control of the presenter. At no time, I think, after it has been read, can it be withdrawn.
t See Regulations of 1721, art. v. ante. p. 66.
£ In 1855, it wao actually recommended in the Grand Lodge of Virginia that such a course be adopted, and that special committees on the characters i>f applicants for initiation being abolished, the Lodge sho-il 1 be made a Com suttee of the Whole on every petition rjresented.
132 THE PETITION
be a cumbersome method, and one which would hardly be successful, from the very number of the inquisitors, and the probability that each member would depend upon his associates for the perform- ance of an unpleasant duty, it has been invariably the custom to refer the subject to a special commit- tee, consisting generally of three, who are always chosen by a skillful Master from among those mem- bers who, from peculiar circumstances, are most likely to make the inquiry with promptness, cer- tainty and impartiality.
The petition, thus submitted to a committee, can- not be acted on until the next regular meeting, at which time the committee make their report. I say " at the next regular meeting,'7 meaning thereby that one month must elapse between the reception of the petition and the final action of the Lodge. Some Lodges meet semi-monthly. In this case the petition cannot be read and referred at one regular meeting, and final action taken at the next. The Regulation of 1721 is explicit on this subject, that previous notice must be given " one month before." The object of this probationary period is, as it is ex- pressed in the Regulation, that there may be " due inquiry into the reputation and capacity of the candidate."
If the report of the committee is unfavorable, the candidate is at once rejected without ballot. This usage is founded on the principles of common sense ; for, as by the Ancient Constitutions, one black ball is sufficient to reject an application, the unfavorable
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report of a committee must necessarily and by con- sequence include two unfavorable votes at least. It is therefore unnecessary to go into a ballot after sucli a report, as it is to be taken for granted that the brethren who reported unfavorably would, on a resort to the ballot, ca^t their negative votes. Their report is indeed virtually considered as the casting of such votes, and the applicant is therefore at once rejected without a further and unnecessary ballot.
But if the report of the committee be favorable, the next step in the process is to proceed to a bal- lot. This, however, as it places the applicant in a new and important position, must be the subject of a distinct chapter,