Bro. The Rev. A. F. A. Woodford's Resolution.

, most un-Masonic proceeding , and spoke in the highest terms of the zeal and energy displayed by Bro . Binckes during his tenure of office as Secretary , the principal evidence he adduced being the amount of the annual contributions now as compared with what they were when

Bro . Binckes first took office . Bro . Himo , Chairman of the East Lancashire Charity Committee , also denounced the pamphlets referred to as un-Masonic and expressed his full confidence in the Committee . Bro . Moss ( W .

Yorkshire ) then essayed to address the Court , but his attempt was a signal failure . At length the Chairman submitted to the meeting whether or not the question should be put to tho vote , and this having been carried , the resolution was submitted , and carried by an overwhelming majority .

We expressed a hope last week that Bro . Woodford ' s motion would be agreed to , and our hope has been realised . We cannot , however , but repeat our regret that the debate was not finished more satisfactorily . There was nothing to lose , and much to gain by a patient audience of those

who might oppose it . Had a calm hearing been accorded to every speaker , even the defeated must and would have acquiesced in their defeat . Yet one good may result from Monday ' s proceedings . We shall , in all probability , have no more pamphlets published . Any complaints which a duly

qualified brother or brethren may feel it his of their duty to make respecting the management or expenditure of this or other our of Institutions will , no doubt , be submitted directly to the respective committee or committees thereof . Possibly , too , Bro . Tew , now that it must be as clear to him

as the sun at noon-day that further distribution of his pamphlet will only result in damaging the School , may once again betake himself to the duties of his Masonic office and the station of life in which he moves . We have had war , we want peace . Let Bro . Tew derive whatever

satisfaction he may from tho knowledgo that he it was who provoked the contest , but , being vanquished , let him acquiesce in peace , even though he desire it not . In these

columns he has had a fair field and no favour . Now that he has been over-borne—whether by superior numbers or Buperior logic matters not—let him bow to the inevitable . The erintests of the School must be paramount .

Masonic Portraits (No. 24). Our Citizen Brother.

MASONIC PORTRAITS ( No . 24 ) . OUR CITIZEN BROTHER .

" Deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat , and public care . " THE Corporation of London stands hi gher at this moment in the estimation of the public than it has done at any period during the last hundred years . Its public spirit is unabated ; its vigour is unimpairedand

, its bitterest enemies are unable to pick any holes in its time-honoured garments . It is held up as a model by the busy people who are seeking to obtain municipal institutions for the outlying districts of the metropolis , and if it were unwise enough to open its arms , or if it expressed

a desire to extend its boundaries , it mi ght become the governing body for the whole of the vast assemblage of villages and towns which compose the London of our day . While local institutions have been suffering from the adverse criticisms of unsparing adversaries , it has proudly

held its head aloft , conscious of its hi gh integrity , and fully alive to tho wants and wishes of the public , whose interests it guards . It still possesses the precious charter which William the Conqueror granted to the citizens , and its history st iches back beyond the Conquest , to those

remote times when the Monkish Chronicler filled the place that the historian has since monopolised . Its muniment rooms contain the unbroken records of six hundred eventful years , and its Liber Albus has preserved the usages and the traditions of remote antiquity . This august body has

ere now comprised in its ranks the most illustrious of the merchant princes , and , even in these days , when the great council of the nation attracts men of wealth and position , it is able to secure the services of men who are in every way an honour to the constituencies they If the

represent . public knew how much precious time the members of the Corporation give to civic affairs , in return lor no other reward than the honour of representing their fellow citizens in the Common Council , they would be somewhat astonished . Municipal bnsiness , ' -with it , 3

Masonic Portraits (No. 24). Our Citizen Brother.

endless detail , is often dry and uninteresting , but it is always conscientiously performed , and as the result of all this care and zeal the city is confessedly the best governed town in England . Its lighting , its paving , its police arrangements , are of the best , and its staff of highly trained officers are a credit to the fathers who have elected them .

So large a body as the Corporation of course comprises many members of the Masonic fraternit y , some of them distinguished in the Craft ; all of them worth y brothers in the truest sense . Men who do not trade on Masonry , and who do not make a parade of their honours . Our sulgect

is both a Mason and a civic father , and he has distinguished himself in both characters . As a representative of his fellow citizens , he is highly and widely respected ; as a Mason , his name is deservedly held in honour . He entered the Corporation as a member for the Ward of

Langbourne in the year 1857 , has served on nearly every Committee of any importance , and has filled several chairs with great distinction . As chairman of the Library Committee our brother won golden opinions . Possessed of a cultivated mind and considerable knowledgo of literature ,

he found hero his true element . Actively engaged as he is in business , he has not permitted its cares and fascinations to absorb all his leisure moments , and in the chair of the Library Committee his wise counsels were greatly appreciated . He is always at his place in the meetings of the

Common Council , and when he speaks , his observations are received with attention and respect . Wisdom in debate , clear and broad ideas of policy or business , are his characteristics . The officials , who are quick and unerring judges of character , respect him highly for his uniform kindness and

courtesy . He has always a smile and a kind word for the humblest subordinate , and he is regarded as a friend and a wise adviser by all the servants of the Corporation . No man who has a grievance ever fears to tell his story to this good Mason and public spirited citizen . If he cannot

conscientiously support the cause of the applicant witb his vote , he has good counsel to offer , but no one with a good cause ever sought his aid in vain . In these times , when public spirit would almost seem to be on the decline , it is satisfactory to know that we have around us ' and near us men who steadily

keep alive the best traditions of the past . In recent years a cynical school of critics has grown up , who seek to weigh everything in the balance of a rig id , utilitarianism . The cui bono cry is , however , subsiding , and an evident anxiety has been displayed to preserve institutions which

link the present with remote antiquity . The Corporate authorities have steadily pursued their policy , regardless alike of the sneers of adversaries , or the plaudits of friends ; and , thanks to the reviving good sense of the time , its state ceremonial and its generous hospitality are

universally held to be beneficial in their influence upon the community . Knowing , as we do , so little of the internal working of the Corporation , and judging it only by the best of standards , that of results , we cannot venture to predict that our citizen brother will ever wear the scarlet of an

Alderman , or preside over the deliberations of the Common Council . He may not seek these high honours , and it is just possible that he is quite satisfied to remain a representative citizen , trusted and honoured by his constituents , highly respected by his colleagues , and valued in that

Masonic inner circle where the great leaders of the Craft in solemn council deliberate over our affairs . Of his Masonic career it is not our intention to say much . We do not intend to dwell upon all the steps he has taken in the Craft , in his steady onward march to the dais . His connection with the Order dates from the

year 1849 , when he was initiated in the Ionic Lodge ( 227 ) then 275 . In 1851 he joined the Emulation Lodge ( 21 ) , was Grand Steward in 185 G-7 , and G . D . C . in the year 1861 . He is an indefatigable worker in the cause of the Charities , a zealous brother , a constant attendant at the

Quarterly Communications of Grand Lodge , and a wise and firm adviser . He always speaks from conscientious conviction , as a good Mason should , and his speeches are received with due respect and . attention . In the commercial world his name is held in esteem , and on the continent the firm of which he is the head is well and

widely known . Respected in business , trusted and honoured by his fellow citizens , a chief of Masonry who has won his way by his talent and zeal , he has little occasion to seek for further honours , or for a new field for the exercise of a laudable ambition . To live for others as well as for ourselves is undoubtedly the truest happiness , and he who has neglected the first duty of the Christian ma