The International Compact of 1814

[Tamrin]

International Compact between the Grand Lodges
of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Concluded July 1814

[Excerpt - Linked Above - Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry]

WHY IS THE PREVIOUS DOCUMENT SO IMPORTANT ?

The United Grand Lodge of England was created in 1813. The Moderns’ Grand Lodge (1717) and the Antients’ Grand Lodge (1751) ratified separately the Articles of Union on 1st December. The United Grand Lodge was formed on the 27th and the formulation of its new ritual was set in 1816. Gould admits that « In substance [...] the method of working among the “Antients” — to use the hackneyed phrase — was adopted by the “Moderns” » (History of Freemasonry 1882-1887, vol. II, p. 500), however he abstained from giving the following particulars.

On June 27 and July 2, 1814, the highest dignitaries of the three British Grand Lodges met in London. They worked out a document entitled International Compact between the Grand Lodges of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Concluded July 1814, which is seldom mentioned and, to my knowledge, never fully quoted by English Masonic historians. Chetwode Crawley found it in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1897. He published it the same year in The Freemason and re-published it in 1915 in vol. 28 of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (pp. 141-155) accompanied with comments, extracts of which are quoted below. According to Chetwode Crawley, the INTERNATIONAL COMPACT can claim to be the most important official document promulgated among English-speaking Freemasons during the current century.

It was by an unequivocal surrender on the part of the Moderns that fraternal intercourse between them and the other Grand Lodges of the United Kingdom was restored after an interruption of many years. [...] The allied Grand Lodges that made common cause with the Antients did not lay down their arms till they had ascertained, by actual inspection, the completeness of the surrender. The details of this actual inspection are commemorated in THE INTERNATIONAL COMPACT. As a consequence of the previous estrangement, a formal INTERNATIONAL COMPACT became necessary to admit the newly-formed United Grand Lodge of England to the fold (p. 145). The INTERNATIONAL COMPACT can claim to be the most important official document promulgated among English-speaking Freemasons during the current century (p. 146). Nothing can be more suggestive than the implied admission, or rather assertion, in the second Resolution, of the legitimacy of the Antients’ claim to be regarded as the Grand Lodge of England. In that resolution it is expressly recited that the fraternal recognition in 1772 took place “between the Three Grand Lodges of England, Ireland and Scotland.” Now, the only recognition of that year exclusively concerned the Antients. It would almost seem as if the limitation by the numeral “three” was designed by the framers of the Resolution to put an end to any claim that the Grand Lodge unrecognised in 1772 might have made to the title of Grand Lodge of England. Most certainly, the Grand Lodge of Ireland did not officially recognise, in 1772, or at any other time, the claim of the Grand Lodge of the Moderns to the title of Grand Lodge of England (p. 153).

Thanks to Bro. Terry for pointing out the article. As Terry wrote:

This is extremely interesting and for me throws new light on Moderns & Antients,
if I read it correctly the Moderns had to surrender completely.