A Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution For Scotland.

A ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION FOR SCOTLAND .

IN our opening number we referred , at length , to tho benefits conferred by the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and likewise to its progress , present position , and future prospects . We also expressed our intention of treating , in a somewhat similar manner , the other Masonic Institutions—the maintenance of which is due to the energy

and goodwill of the general body of Masons—to wit , the Royal Masonic Institutions for Boys and Girls respectively . It is , then , with a feeling of genuine pleasure that wo announce to our readers that a plan is under consideration amonor our Scottish Brethren for the establishment of a

Royal Scottish Masonic Benevolent Institution . We have received a prospectus , in which are briefly set forth the objects it is sought to attain thereby ; and a proposed code of rules and regulations for the governance of the Institution when established , together with a very stirring appeal

from Bro . Geo . R . Harriott , Prov . G . M . Wigtown and Kirkcudbright , the originator and promoter of the scheme . We doubt not the appeal will meet with that attention which the excellent character of the proposal merits . Equally confident are we that Scottish Masons will not be

behind their brethren m other parts of the United Kingdom in promoting and fostering an Institution whose objects are the relief of aged and distressed Masons and their widows , and the education of the sons and daughters of poor , yet deserving brothers .

- It is to be regretted , and may , perhaps , bo matter for no little wonderment with many people , that Scotch Masonry should possess no public fund , asylum , or institution for the general purposes of benevolence . Scotchmen are intensely national , not from mere sentiment only , but

from pure love of country . Even in the most remote lands —and Scotsmen aro to bo found all over tho world—they never forget their native hills and glens , but retain always the liveliest recollection of their exceeding beauty . Tho clanship of olden time still exists , but on a wider basis ;

where were many clans , with much and mutual rivalry , there is now , so to speak , but one clan , —the whole nation , Hence , we repeat , the surprise which many will experience

that Scotch Masonry should be without some such institution as tho Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , though we are convinced that Scotch Lodges and individual members of the Brotherhood have not been found wanting

in the grandest of all Masonic duties—Charity . The object of tho present proposal is a large—Ave may almost say , a too ambitious—one , being none other than the establishment of an institution which shall unite in itself the aims of our threo Masonic Charities . To this

no sound objection can bo raised , so far as its mere government is concerned , but the promoters of the scheme must first get their institution before they lay down plans for its supervision and direction . And the question will naturally occur to every one , —May there not be shipwreck of the

whole scheme if its aim be too extensive ? True , the promoters have , in a measure , anticipated this objection , by limiting the proposal , at first starting , to renting a " house at one of the Universities , as a College Hall on a small scale , say for 10 or 15 students . " After allowing

amply for the cost of this experiment , it is calculated thero would still be a balance left for general management and for annuities to a limited number of widows and aged brethren . Yet we submit , -with all deference , that it would bo far better and far likelier to succeed if the project were , in the first instance , limited to one purpose only , leaving

A Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution For Scotland.

the other objects to be gradually engrafted on the earlier one , as the ability of the Institution to extend its field of operations became more assured . Again , we would suggest that the relief of aged and distressed Masons and their widows is a matter of graver importance than the training

of youth , especially in Scotland , where the system of education is supei'ior to our own , and the rudiments of knowledge are within easy reach of all classes of the

community . But , after all , these aro merely suggestions , thrown out , not in a spirit of carping criticism , but with the earnest desire to aid the promoters in the attainment of their object .

Nothing need be said as to the geneal character of the proposal , which will necessarily command the attention of Scottish Masons . Nor do wc anticipate any backwardness on the part of . the latter in supporting the project . Once let it be shown that the establishment of such an institution

is feasible , and its maintenance in a flourishing condition , is , humanly speaking , assured , while we are confident Scotch Masons will do their duty . Nor is it needful to say much on the present occasion respecting the rules and regulations of the proposed Institution . They are conceived in a just

spirit , with a due regard for its proper governance . But these rules are liable to amendment when the scheme has reached maturity . We may remark , however , that , as far as we have been ablo to institute any comparison , the proposed rules embody all the chief points laid down

in tho laws and regulations of our Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and our Royal Masonic Institutions for Boys and Girls respectively . They have evidently been prepared with tho utmost care by one or more persons , who , if not possessing experience in tho

management of such institutions , show themselves herein to be thoroughly competent for such a task . So carefully , indeed , have these laws and regulations been drawn , so excellent is the spirit in which they have been conceived , that we question much if any material alteration would bo required .

It only remains for us to add , that we wish every success to the scheme , and that as far as any efforts of our own may be of service to the promoters , we shall most willingly render them such aid as it may be in our power to afford . On all occasions our columns will be open to them for the furtherance of this most admirablo project .

Citizenship Of The World.

CITIZENSHIP OF THE WORLD .

"AS wide as the earth ; as deep as the human heart . " _ LJL . This is the ideal that some young and enthusiastic minds form of a cosmopolitanism which shall embrace the great human family . Many a man has aspired to be an apostle of cosmopolitanism . The great traveller , or the

lounger , who ha 3 sauntered through every capital of Europe , may imagine that because he has seen many countries , or men of many nations , that he is therefore qualified to teach us the true principles of international

toleration , or rather citizenship . Culture and refinement may , indeed , gain by the labours of such men as these ; but it often happens that the traveller is a man of narrow ideas , who has gone through the world incapable of justly

estimating the facts presented to his mind , while the lounger , who hangs about tho saloons of fashion , often knows nothing of men outside his own sphere . Citizenship of the world was indeed a dream of the young England party a generation ago , and it is rather odd that the gallant