Fogeyism And Radicalism.

FOGEYISM AND RADICALISM .

From the CANADIAN M ASONIC NEWS . THERE are in Freemasonry as in politics and religion , and indeed in all other mundane affairs , two extremes of thought , which have been distinguished by the names which make the caption of the present article . Fogeyism is quite a modern term , although the thing which it describes is of venerable antiquity . Doubtless there has been a corruption in the spelling of the word as well as in its

pronunciation , and there was originally an expressed reference to the physical condition of being in a fog , when the sight is contracted to the narrow space upon which one stands . Thus the fogey comes to the consideration of any subject with a clouded or befogged understanding , which prevents him from seeing before or around him , and he denounces any change , because to change is , as he thinks , to pass recklessly into

a tense incognita , where only imminent danger or certain destruction is to be anticipated . The fogey is naturally opposed to all revolution in government ; all changes of customs : all amendments of laws . He has an eye single to the past , and can see in the present or the future nothing but danger or deterioration . Horace describes such a man as a " laudator temporis acte ; " and Aristotle , long before Horace ,

painted him as ever speaking of what had been done in former times , and delighting in his recollections of his early days . To such men steamboats were portentous experiments , and it ia wonderful how they have survived the introduction of railroads and telegraphs . Now , fogeyism abounds in Masonry , and is there much more to be

dreaded than in either politics or religion . This is because its admirers find there a breastwork erected for another purpose , but behind which they unintenionally hide themselves , and bid defiance to all the shots that are fired at them by their opponents . In Masonry there are of course certain things which admit of no change—which all Masons oelieve cannot be changed for the better ,

and in which any change must inevitably be for the worse . These are the landmarks of the society—the boundary lines which have ever circumscribed it , and separated and consecrated it as it were , from all other institutions . Now , innovations npon these landmarks arc abhorrent to the mind of every Mason ; and when improvements or alterations in these are talked of , the fogey gets on safe ground , and ,

in his opposition to change , finds himself supported by all the prudent Masons in the Craft . Bat , unfortunately , he has generally very clouded and indistinct ideas of what the real landmarks are . With him , everything that he has been accustomed to see and hear is a landmark . Propose to alter a byo-law , and he talks of violating a landmark . Suggest an

amendment to the regulations of a Grand Lodge , and he raises the cry of innovation , and flies behind his breastwork , and collects all his old fogey brethren around him , and then they praise the past and speak doubtfully of the future ; and bring themselves to believe at last that a law of twenty or thirty years' standing is a landmark , and that all the laws of Freemasonry , by which they mean tho regulations of their own

little jurisdiction , are as incapable of repeal or amendment as the decrees of the Medes and Persians . "Legeo Anglia nolumus mestars , " is the favorite motto with them , and , like the old barons of England , they respond to every proposition for improvement with the magic and , as they think , unanswerable sentence , " We are opposed to innovation . "

The radicals betake themselve to the other extreme , and are much too prone to change , as the fogeys are too averse . The radicals , as their name imports , are not content , when they discover a rotten branch , to lop it off , and ifc alone , but they are for applying tho axe at once to the root , and for felling the whole tree . If the fogeys believe everything to bo a landmark , the radicals invest nothing with

that character . The radical is , in Masonry , a very dangerous character . As much a despiser of precedents , as tho fogey is their worshipper , he is too often disposed to yield his rash and often unfledged opinions to no force of authority and to no argument of expediency . For him it is sufficient that a change has been proposed , and in his love of change

he often yields his love of truth and his love of right . He cannot tolerate an evil , however trifling in its nature , or transitory in its duration , and is ever ready to abolish it by tho adoption of a remedy as questionable in its expected results , as the evil it is proposed to cure . In tho hand of the fogeys , Freemasonry wonld long since have lost all its vitality , and becoming lifeless and effete , must have been

cast aside as a worn out engine , which had done its work , and was incapable of repair . In the hands of the radicals , Freemasonry would soon lose its identity , and , amid a multitude of dangerous and irrational experiments , must , in brief time , wear ont its forces , and , like the unfortunate patient celebrated in the Italian epitaph , die of too much physic .

It is evident , then , that both fogeyism and radicalism are opposed ( but in different ways ) to true and healthful progress , and that either system is dangerous to the welfare and perpetuity of Freemasonry . Fortunately there is a middle system , which , partaking of the excellencies of both ( for both have excellencies ) , is without the faults of either .

Conservatism is that messo tannine from which everything is to be hoped and nothing to be feared . Conservatism is not—at least in the sense in which we here use it—what Bailey has defined , as " keeping or preserving , " and the American lexicographer , Webster , " The desire and effort of preserving what is established . " By no means . That is exactl y the definition which suits fogeyism .

Conservatism , on the contrary , has no blind and superstitious respect for things established simply because they aro so . Precedents with it , have no authority nnless they are founded on principle , and on tho other hand , changes have no support unless they aro prompted by necessity and guided by reason . To fogeyiam we are indebted for the retention of a thousand

Fogeyism And Radicalism.

puerilities in Freemasonry , which crept into the institution during times of great ignorance , and which have been since preserved by force of habit . To radicalism we owe many a silly experiment , whose unsuccessful result has only proved that our forefathers were in some things much wiser than we thought them .

To conservatism our gratitude is due for that steady and healthful progress which Freemasonry is now making—which is giving it standing and character among the institutions of the age—which is rendering it every day more and more worthy of cultivation by men of intellect—and which must bestow upon it , as a science , and a system of philosophy , a perpetuity and prosperity which its merely social and charitable character conld never have secured .

Let our motto then be— " Down with fogeyism and radicalism , the rock and quicksand which would for ever shatter and shipwreck the barque of Freemasonry , and long life to conservatism , the sheet anchor on which alone its safety depends . "

Magazines Of The Month.

MAGAZINES OF THE MONTH .

THEKE are two or three contributions to Blackwood this month , which are well worth reading . In the first place we have part V . of " The Dilemma , " in which the revolted Sepoys attack the Presidency . Colonel Falkland is the heart and soul of the defence . Young York © does his devoir manfully , and the charming Mrs . Falkland bears herself as we should expect her to do , bravely , never for a moment losing her coolness and self-possession . " In my Study Chair , " is a

pleasant kind of retrospect at the years that are gone , the old familiar text books and notebooks of the school-boy days calling past events to mind .. "In a Studio , Conversation No . Ill , " is chattily genial , tho dialogue smart and lively , and many of the suggestions and criticisms noteworthy . The paper on " Elegies , " and " Lessons from tho Recent Summer Manoeuvres , " utterly opposite in character as they are , are equally to be commended , and there is a good review of " Tennyson ' s Queen Mary . "

Tinsley's has its usual array of serial fiction , which is admirable , all except "A Star and a Heart , " of which we have a very poor opinion . Dr . Maurice Davies contributes , as usual , " The Social Status Quo , " and a tronbador song . We suppose the author of Unorthodox , Orthodox , and Heterodox London cannot help introducing something connected with these " doxies " into his social sketches ,

but we think he would do well to see how these looked next month without any reference to matters ecclesiastical . As regards tlr song , it is excellent , as , of coarse , we may almost say . Of the other poetical contributions , Mr . Gordon Campbell's "Jockio" —one of his ' ' Liltings from the Lowlands , " aud Mr . M . A . Baiues ' s " September , " are excellent . We take leave to quote the latter , which is ingenious , as well as admirable : —

S weet summer ' s glow still lingers on the scene , E ach leaf and flow ' r a richer tint reveals : P erchance a rose in sheltered spot may stay T o soothe our vain regrets . But ev ' ry

month—E ach season that comes round—brings its own good . M osfc happy they who use those gifts aright ; B elieving they are sent for good of all , E ach doing his own duty in the plan , R eplete with bounteous wisdom from on high .

Wo noted a similar contribution last month to Volbums New Monthly , and there can be little doubt , we think , they are from the eamo pen . The St . James ' s has several interesting contributions . Henry Kingsley's tale of " The Grange Garden " heads the list , and is very agreeable reading . Mr . Paget ' s remarks on the " Makers and Breakers of International Law" are marked by good sound common

sense . The Rev . Philip Hale writes pleasantly on " The Personification of Towns . " There is Part IV . of Mr . Gibbs' " Battle of the Standard . The Editor is genial , as editors should be , in his Olla Podrida , though the last of his notes on Inhumation and Cremation is somewhat too long . One other paper we must mention , that of Mr . Thomas Carlisle , entitled " White Wings . " The subject is our

pleasure navy , that is our yachts , their owners , and all their various belongings and doings . The main point at which Mr . Carlisle is driving is that , seeing the service our yacht clubs do to the country by stimulating the building of vessels possessing a high rate of speed , and requiring somo ten thousand able seamen to man them , tho yachting fraternity deserves more public recognition than the few

cups which Her Majesty presents annually to be sailed for by tho lioyal Yacht Squadron and one or two other clubs . We think so too , and we hope Messrs . Brassey , Ashbury and other M . P . ' s , and Peers who are yachtsmen , will bring the subject under the notice of Parliament . We do not suppose the Chancellor of the Exchequer will relish this demand on the national purse , of which he is the guardian ,

but the suggestion is a very proper one . The statistics as to yachts , tonnage , men , & c , aro taken from a very admirable Yachting Manual , published a few months since , and most creditably edited by Mr . Andrew Thompson . Next month begins a new volume , and among the great expectations held out to ns is a now serial story by Mrs . S . R . Towushend Mayer , to be entitled " Sir Hubert ' s Marriage . "

Capital progress is made with " The Manchester Man " in Cassell ' s Family Magazine . The procession in honour of George IV . ' s coronation is described , and young Aspinall , havinginsnltcdMr . Ashton , is denied the house by the latter . Nevertheless ho obtains secret

interviews with Augusta Ashton , and the part closes with Jabez Clegg's accitlento . ' discovery of the proposed elopement of Augusta with the ill-mannered Aspinall . We should havo greatly pn » ferred if Mrs . Banks had contrived that Miss Ashton had shown some common sense , and rejected her lover ' s dishonour .