The Year 1874.

threatening to destroy the Christian character of the empire . These facts should awaken in the minds of every patriot , Christian , philosopher , statesman and philanthropist the stern necessity of making every intellectual and moral effort to ascertain the reason why this

demoralising exhibition should have to be made . These mournful truths should be treasured by all . The classes of society which have light and knowledge are bound , by every moral tie , to communicate them to the weak and fallen . Our present social barriers and distinctions , in so far as they

restrict sympathy , and substitute the spirit of caste , the bigotry of rank , for the spirit of humanity , for reverence of our common nature , ought to be reprobated as gross violations of the Christian law . Here then aro facts for reflection and thoughts for discussion .

Another remarkable phase in the history of 1874 is its Ecclesiastical character . No contest for creeds of faith

and forms of worships has assumed , in Germany , Italy , England , Spain and France , for centuries , such a gigantic struggle as that which is now being waged as to which shall reign predominant , the Church or the State . There is no doubt that the time is coming when the human

intellect will pierce into new mines , and view itself and its Creator and the universe from new positions . It may be some time yet before the intolerant sectarian will acknowledge his duty to admit every truth , however much it may war with his pride of intellect , his personal ambition , or

his pecuniary gain , but the tide of intellectual thought and the elevating power of moral force will break down that of any spiritual despotism , and every true Christian will long for that time when each sect shall abandon its

prisonhouse creed , and unite for the emancipation of the world from sin and suffering . Then will the face of the earth be changed , and " Countless Edens be scattered o ' er the land glittering another nature and a new mankind . "

As to the political position of the country , so far as government by party is concerned , all has been reversed . The end of the Session 1873 left Mr . Gladstone as Prime Minister , in the apparent possession of a largo majority , but symptons of discord and disunion had been manifested

by several sections of the Liberal party , and it did not require a very large amount of prescience to perceive that tie days of the Gladstonian Administration were numbered . The crisis came in January 1874 , when it was evident that the Premier was about to retire from the headship of his

party . Parliament was summoned to meet earl y in February , and almost at the moment of the intended meeting notice was issued of a dissolution . Consequently , the country was unexpectedly thrown into agitation by a general election . The result of this appeal to the public

gave to the Conservative party a really working majority , and placed the Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli at the head of the Government . The new Parliament , the twentyfirst of the United Kingdom , was constituted on 5 th March . The Lords Commissioners sat in the House of

Peers , and the Commons were requested to elect a Speaker , a choice which fell upon Mr . Brand , the former " whip " of the Liberal party . The usual congratulations were offered to the Speaker , writs for the election of new members were issued for ministers who had taken office ; the

process of oath-taking then followed , and the House was adjourned to 19 th March , when the Queen ' s Speech was read in the House of Lords . It was stated that all foreign relations were friendly ; reference was made to the marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh ; the termination of the

Ashantee war was referred to , and regret expressed in regard to the prevalent drought and consequent famine in India . In regard to future measures ; the Transfer of Land , the re-arrangement of the Courts of Judicature , the Relationship of Master and Servant , the Licensing

Question and its previous bills were foreshadowed as subjects of discussion and enactment . In the House of Lords the Marquis of Lothian moved , and the Earl of Cardigan seconded the address , and the same was

respectively moved and seconded in the Commons by Sir W . Stirling Maxwell and Mr . Callender . Ninety-six statutes were passed during the Session ; many of them being more of private interest than for the welfare of the general public .

Of the remarkable events of the year , may be mentioned the reception of Sir Samuel and Lady Baker , by the Municipality of Brighton , on their return from Central Africa ; the sentence of the Lord Chief Justice on the Claimant , that he should be placed in penal servitude for fourteen years ; the remains of Dr . Livingstone being

The Year 1874.

brought to London ; the landing of the Emperor of Russia in England ; the opening of the Chelsea portion of the Thames Embankment ; the opening of Dr . Parker ' s City Temple , on the Holborn Viaduct ; the completion of the Submarine Telegraph Cable between Constantinople and

Odessa ; the celebration of the twenty-eighth anniversary of the Pope ' s accession to the Pontificate ; the attempted assassination of Prince Bismarck ; the death of some of onr leading journalists ; the resolve of her Majesty ' s

Government to send an expedition to the North Pole ; the escape of Marshal Bazaine ; the death of the Siamese Twins ; the close of the Lincolnshire Farm Labourers' Dispute , and a long list of sad railway accidents .

This eventful year closed with one of the most fearful and fatal catastrophes of modern times , the burning at sea of the emigrant ship " Cospatrick , " when four hundred and seventy-three of our fellow creatures were sent to their final account . Wives , husbands , children and friends were

doomed to perish . The sad remembrance of this great and wide-spread calamity , has cast a gloom over the nation , and has made so solemn an impression upon every thoughtful and sensitive mind that the idea of calling this a happy new year seems out of place when we reflect upon the

bereaved families and the desolate hearths of so many of our countrymen . Let one universal prayer for generous sympathy and material aid be responded to , and as far as human power can be made to console the survivors let it be made . No holier recognition of this festival of love ia possible than to remember the widow and the fatherless .

A Few Words On American Masonry.

A FEW WORDS ON AMERICAN MASONRY .

AMERICAN Masons are not slow to claim for their country the distinction of being pre-eminently a Masonic nation . Considered from a numerical point of view , they have apparently good and substantial grounds whereon to found such claim . The relative proportion the Masonic body bears to the population of the United States

will compare favourably with that of any country on the globe . The jurisdiction of the Grand Lodges of the two States—New York and Pennsylvania—embraces a larger brotherhood than the Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland combined . However , it can no more be

denied than it can be excused , that there are thousands , unrecognised , professing affiliation with the great Brotherhood throughout the Union , who have no more right so to do than they would have to proclaim themselves kings by divine right . Quantity is one thing , quality another . The

loose and careless workings of the Lodges , the general laxit y and discipline , the reckless disregard of ancient landmarks , and the abuses and prostitutions of Masonry , have long been a standing reproach to our Transatlantic brethren , and a cause of regret to every true and zealous member of our Ancient Brotherhood throughout the world .

There was a time in the history of the country when Masonry involved popular , social and religious disgrace . Perhaps it is not generally known that Wm . H . Seward , whose counsels guided the helm of state , and inspired the foreign policy of the American Government during the

most eventful peripd of its history , first came into note during the great anti-Masonic agitation , and , on the strength of that absurd fanaticism , gained his first step on the political ladder ; and perhaps it is not generally known that in after-life he was as outspoken in his advocacy , as in

youth he was in his condemnation of " an Order which won the regard and approval of Washington , Franklin , Jefferson , Jackson and Clinton , among others of its good , great , worthy and illustrious Craftsmen . " To quote the words of a prominent American advocate of Masonic reform , — " in

those days Masonry meant something more than brass emblems and showy trappings , fancy oratory and poetic ritual ; " as , indeed , it does now to him who is first prepared in his heart to become a Mason . It is a subject of congratulation , however , to every true lover of his Craft

to see that the tidal wave of reform and regeneration , social and political , through which our brethren beyond the sea have recently passed extends its influence even to the floor

of the Lodge , and already there are evidences of a powerful movement among the Fraternity towards the formation of a party whose watchword is to be—Purification . So mote it be . At no period in the career of the Republic were the