December, 1925 THE BUILDER

Freemasonry in India in 1780

By. BRO. I. V. GILLIS, Peking, China

THE other day while reading the Memoirs of William Hickey (1) I
came across the following notes that might be of interest to
readers of THE BUILDER. Hickey was in India during the latter part
of the eighteenth century and the incidents quoted fell between the
years 1782-1790. Bro. Hickey, for so we must call him in spite of
his lack of appreciation of the society he joined, first mentions
the subject thus: 

"Having during my residence amongst the French at Trincomalay found
how highly they respected the Fraternity of Freemasons, and the
advantage it would have been to me had I at that time been of the
Order, I determined to become a 'Brother' at the earliest
opportunity. Upon my arrival at Bengal Masonry happened to be much
in fashion, there being several Lodges that met, the one
distinguished by the title of 'Number Two' being considered the
most select. At this, therefore, I was proposed, and after the
usual examination and ceremony of 'making', as it is termed, the
mummery and absurdity of which, by the way, greatly offended me, I
became a member. I rose to the degree of Master, soon after which
I filled the high office of Senior Warden."

Some pages later he relates the natural outcome of his general
attitude to the Fraternity:

"I shall here state a ridiculous dispute I got into with the
Fraternity of Masons. The Lodge No. 2, in which I had been made,
had belonging to it several of the tradesmen of Calcutta; also two
or three vagabond attornies, to neither of which description of
person did I ever speak, and was therefore considered by them as
extremely proud. A new Lodge having been established, consisting of
the principal gentlemen of the Settlement, I sent in my resignation
for No. 2, and was elected a brother of the new Lodge. This gave
great offence to those I had left.

"About two months after my change, I received an official letter
from the Secretary of my first Lodge, calling upon me in very
peremptory language without loss of time to pay the sum of one
hundred and fifty sicca rupees, stated to be arrears of fees due
from me to the Lodge. As I did not approve of the manner in which
this demand was made, though indifferent about the amount claimed,
I wrote an answer without using the fraternal address, and began
with a simple 'Sir'. I observed upon the impertinence of the
demand, which I denied the justice of, and although I might have
probably paid had it been civilly asked, I would not yield to the
insolence of any low-bred fellow tacking to his signature the title
of 'Secretary'. My letter being laid before the Lodge, the Master
and his Warden took the matter up with much warmth; another epistle
was addressed to me expressive of his surprise my unmasonic letter
had created, and requiring an explanation for such conduct. I
remained silent. A second and a third was written to me which I
treated with the same silent contempt. I was then threatened with
a complaint against me to the Provincial Grand Lodge which had no
more effect than the preceding addresses.

"During these letters I was elected Senior Warden of the new Lodge,
which had become extremely popular, so much so that at every
meeting we had from eight to a dozen brothers proposed. This
success added to the irascibility of the first Lodge: they actually
did represent my conduct to the Provincial Grand Lodge as being
scandalous and derogatory to the character of a Mason. Mr. Edward
Fenwick, of whom I have before spoken more than once, being then
the Acting Provincial Grand Master, called upon me to admonish me
privately as a friend, and advised my settling the business by
apologising to the Lodge I had insulted for my intemperate
language. This I refused to do, whereupon I received an elaborate
address from Mr. Fenwick, assuring me my contumacious treatment of
the Lodge I had belonged to must and would be taken up very
seriously, and if I persisted in refusing to apologise, I should
soon have occasion to repent my obstinacy. At this I laughed.

"A complaint was regularly made to the Provincial Grand Lodge,
where a difference of opinion prevailed amongst the officers, some
of them thinking that the Grand Lodge had no right to take
cognisance of such a complaint, my letter being a private one from
one individual to another in no way to be considered as masonic. I
had a strenuous advocate and supporter in Mr. Hugh Gayer Honeycomb,
the Junior Grand Warden, who upon finding the Grand Master and
several members were for expelling me, insisted upon the question
being referred to the Grand Lodge of England for their decision.
This after a long debate was voted for unless I should upon more
mature consideration see the propriety of apologising. Mr. Fenwick,
too made another attempt to work upon my feelings, in an address
consisting of eight sheets of paper, containing an elaborate
dissertation and panegyric upon Masonry, followed by a strong
censure of my contumacious behaviour towards the Secretary of the
first Lodge, whom I had wantonly and unlike a Mason offended and
grossly insulted, for which offence, if I did not satisfactorily
apologise, the consequences must inevitably be that I should be
deprived of all the benefits of Masonry and no longer be considered
a brother. To this grave and voluminous philippic I wrote a concise
reply, saying, I had received his (Fenwick's) letter, and
notwithstanding the dreadful anathema it contained certainly would
not make any apology either to a set of or an individual
blackguard. This drove the Provincial Grand Lodge gentry half crazy
from conceiving their dignity attacked, though I had not addressed
or signed my letter as a Mason. The Acting Provincial Grand Master
immediately issued an order to the Master of the new Lodge to elect
a new Senior Warden in the stead of William Hickey removed for
contumacious and unmasonic conduct. The Master of the new Lodge
refused to obey, but not liking to enter into a personal
altercation upon the question, resigned his chair, as did his
Junior Warden; thus was a serious schism created amongst the
fraternity in Calcutta.

"To finish this important matter at once. A reference upon it, with
all the circumstances, being made by the Provincial Grand Lodge to
the Grand Lodge of England, the Grand Master and his Council
returned for answer that the Provincial Grand Lodge of Calcutta had
no right to take up the business in the way they had done, and had
committed a gross error in removing the Senior Warden of the new
Lodge, whom, therefore, they ordered to be immediately restored to
his situation. The letter concluded by an expression of surprise at
the Provincial Grand Master and his Officers being so ignorant of
what their duty was. This was a great matter of triumph for me and
my friends; the Provincial Grand Secretary sent me an official
notice of my restoration, and I was importuned to resume the
station I held, which, as I had never been very fond of the Order,
I persisted in declining, and from that time to the present day
have never been within a Mason's Lodge."

To all of which it can only be said that Hickey's motives for
joining the Order evidently verged dangerously upon the mercenary
and unworthy, and he plainly shows that the fundamental principles
of the Fraternity never dawned upon him. As a glimpse of Masonic
life at the period these extracts seem to be of considerable
interest, and possibly of some historical value.

(1) The Memoirs of William Hickey, edited by Alfred Spencer.
London. Hurst & Blackett, Ltd.

WHAT IS MASONRY'S GREATEST DANGER?

THE Craft can be in no danger of lapsing from power through a
decline in numbers.; its rulers are more concerned to keep
Masonry's growth within due bounds. There is no possibility of
another anti-Masonic craze, now that it has been accepted into the
life of the nation. Nor has it need to fear external enemies; there
is nothing they can do, either to disrupt it from within or to
destroy it from without. Its sole danger is that its own members
may lose sight of its true nature or its ancient ideals, so that
what is noble in it may become cheapened, and the landmarks at the
heart of it shall be forgotten.

