[From The Memoirs of William Hickey, Vol. III, 1782-1790) pp. 346-348]

Dispute among Masons

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 attorneys, 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 un-Masonic 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 address.

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 apologizing 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 apologize, 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 cognizance 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 apologizing. 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 behavior 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 apologize, the consequence must inevitably be that 1 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 cither 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 un-Masonic 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 matter of great triumph for me and my friends; the Provincial Grand Secretary sent me an official notice of my restoration, and I was much importuned to resume the station I had held, 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.

Note: At a meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge, held on 31 October 1785, the Acting Provincial Grand Master appointed the office-bearers of the Provincial Grand Lodge. 'Bro. W. Hickey' was appointed to the office of the P.G.S.B. (HOFIB., 33) Could he probably be the author of the Memoirs? Again, the proceedings of 12 December 1785 show that 'Bro. Macan, Master of Lodge No. 1, nominated Bros. William Hickey and Robert Haldane as his Senior and Junior Wardens.' (ibid., 40) Lodge No. 1 was Lodge Star in the East and Lodge No. 2, Lodge Industry and perseverance (ibid., 67.68). In 1788 Lodge No. 2 (established in 1761) had Bro. B. W. Gould as its Master. He occupied the chair in the previous year as veil. A letter dated 6 February 1788 from the Provincial Grand Lodge to the Grand Lodge of England complimented Lodge No. 2 in glowing terms as follows: 'It is but justice to Lodge No. 2 to declare that under all the discouragements of the war and times it persevered with a most laudable zeal in carrying on the work of Masonry, and that it was principally owing to the exertions of that Lodge that the lights of Masonry were kept alive when almost all the other Lodges lost their Constitutions or ceased to work. It is now numerous, the members are respectable and they carryon their work with the same degree of zeal and perseverance and the same know ledge in the Craft which had always distinguished that Lodge from its first constitution in February 1761; . . .' (ibid., 68) Hickey's comments regarding the members of Lodge No. 2 are apparently frivolous and uncharitable.

In 'the Second Lodge of Bengal in the Olden Times', (p,52) Firminger sets out Hickey's 'final reply.'

"Mr. Gould, Sunday Evening.
Master of Lodge No.2. 7th January 1787.

Sir,

I am this moment handed a letter signed 'Griffith Jones, Secretary, Lodge No. 2,' most Condescendingly giving mc permission to resign upon payment of an initiation fee. I now take leave to assure you I require no permission, shall enter no terms, and care not what your resolutions may he respecting

Your obedient servant
W. Hickey"

Firminger was apparently not aware of the identity of the Calcutta Attorney, the well known author of the Memoirs.

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