The Masonic Celebration In America.

THE MASONIC CELEBRATION IN AMERICA .

The Correspondent of the Standard writes as follows : — The dedication of a new temple in this city by the Masonic fraternity on the 2 nd marks an era in the history of Masonry in America . It signalises the completed reaction from the Morgan disaster of nearly half a century ago . Fifty years ago saw the

nadir of Masonry , as to-day sees its zenith—relatively , that is to say . In order to appreciate fairly the importance of tho demonstration of tho day before yesterday we need to glance at the depth from whioh Masonry haa risen since 1826 . Outside of Catholic Italy and Spain perhaps nowhere in the world has this

Order been so utterly unpopular as it was in the United States , and especially in the State of New York , in the decade following 1826 , when the anti-Masonic mania was so great a power in American party politics . The Morgan story was substantially this : —Captain William Morgan , born in Virginia in 1774 , and having

won his military title under Jackson , in 1815 , became a citizen of Batavia , in the State of New York . In 1826 he ( associated with Colonel Miller , who early in tho affair drops out of the history ) being a Mason , announced his intention of publishing a book entitled " The Mysteries of Freemasonry , " whioh was to

expose the rites , ceremonies , purposes , and abuses of that Order . This appears to have been about the 1 st of August 1826 , and a few days thereafter Morgan moved to Canandaigna . A placard , dated 9 th August , was posted in that town denouncing Morgan as a " swindler and a dangerous man . " Ten days later—on the 19 th—he

was arrested on some trumped up charge and imprisoned for a short time ; but the charges appear to have proved insufficient to keep him in prison , and he was discharged . Threats and denunciations showered thick npon his head . On the 10 th of September an attempt was made to burn his printing-office , wherein were his property

and tho manuscript of tho "Mysteries . " On the 12 th Morgan was arrested by Sheriff Eli Brnoe with a posse of Masons , and taken stealthily by day and night journeyings to Fort Niagara , near Niagara Falls , fully a hundred miles from Canandaigua . This was an abandoned American fort , and selected as the place of

imprisonment on tho pretext of remoteness from the violence of popular fury . Here the world lost sight of Captain Morgan . From that day to this there appears no legal trace of him . Sheriff Brace was removed from office by Governor De Witt Clinton , convicted of abduction , and sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment .

Several of his posse shared the same fate with different terms of imprisonment . That is the whole story of Captain Morgan and his abduction by the Masons . The suppositions as to his fate were numerous ; one of them boing that he was condemned to death by the Masons

and dropped into the Niagara river immediately above the Falls . A body wa 3 found below tho Falls , but was never officially or legally identified , and was too much mutilated to be recognised by those who know him . Instantly tho fires of anti-Mascnry began to blaze over the whole State , and finally spread over

the whole country . A political party sprang into existence . Prominent among the demagogues of that day who leaped npon the ephemeral wave of popular feeling to ride into place and power , and were fortunate enough to survive it , were Wm . H . Seward , Thaddeus Stevens , and Thurlow Weed . The wave

went down in a few years , but the blow to Masonry was lasting , and half a century has not obliterated it . The animus of the anti-Masons , as politicians , may bo gathered from an utterance which soon became stereotyped in American politics , and is quoted even to this day . When Thurlow Weed , who was chairman of the State Committee

was asked if he believed that the body discovered in Niagara river was really that of Morgan , ho replied that it was " a good enough Morgan until after election . " Such at least is the story . Since that day Freemasonry has had to sail against the tide of opposition , bitterness , suspicion and fear , awakened by that Morgan abduction and

presumed murder . It has been of only partial avail to urge that an order embracing snch names a 3 those of Washington , Franklin , Lafayette , Andrew Jackson , Clay , Calhoun , and a host of others held in respect by Americans , cannot be wholly bad , or even bad in any great degree . But during all these 49 years , since the Morgan era

of 1826 , the Order has fought its way up , until to-day it is able to muster one of the most imposing parades that New York has witnessed since the obseqnies of the assassinated President in 1865 . Tho temple on Sixth Avenue , the dedication of which was the occasion of the grand parade , was begun several years ago , the first

steps being taken in 1843 . The comer stone of it was laid in 1 S 70 . It stands 165 feet from the curb-stones to the apex of the dome , five storeys high , the style of achitecture being composito in a new sense . The first storey is Tuscan , the second Ionic , the third Corinthian , the fourth composite , and the fifth a Mansard roof of 30 feet . The general effect is decidedly Renaissance . Tho front , on Twenty . third-

The Masonic Celebration In America.

street , measures 141 feet , and the side , on Sixth-avenue , 91 $ feet . The exterior ornamentation is complex and full of symbols . Inside the Grand Lodge Boom is the great feature . This measures 85 feet by 92 , and comfortably seats one thousand persons . The numerous other rooms and halls are arranged and symbolled for their

respective uses . One of the most noticeable halls is the Egyptian Room , where everything is both Egyptian and symbolic . Four curtains , blue , purple , scarlet and white—representing the veils of the tabernacle reared by Moses in the wilderness—may be nsed to divide it . This room measures 62 ^ feet by 30 , the height being

20 feet , and represents an interior court of a Theban temple . Twenty-six massive Egyptian columns on the west , north , and south walls have lotus capitals and scrolled and reeded entablatures . On the east is a door leading to an inner temple , made after that of Liis at Tentyra , and within

Isis headed capitals surmount the columns at the portico . The procession was two hours and ten minutes in passing . The number of Masons in line is very diversely estimated . The World says 35 , 000 men were in it , while the Herald says 26 , 000 , and the Sun 14 , 000 . It contained delegations and representatives from nearly every state

in the Union . The Grand Lodges of Scotland ( Mr . Blakie ) and the brotherhoods of Quebec , Montreal , and Halifax were represented . There are in the Americas 9 , 101 Lodges , according to the best published information available . Of these 8 , 069 are in the States , 463 in British America , 554 in Mexico and Spanish-American States

further south , 12 in Priuce . Edward ' s Island and Nassau , and threo in the Sandwich Islands . The membership in the States numbers 524 , 649 , and in British America 21 , 972 . The hostility of the Catholic Church to Masonry reduces the numbers of the Order in all Catholic countries . This appears strikingly in the European nations

as well as in the Spanish-American States . To illustrate : — Germany has 309 Lodges , and 35 , 193 members ; while Spain , with a population of nearly one-half , has 108 Lodges , but only 4 , 200 members . The registry of England ( including colonial Lodges ) shows 1 , 345 Lodges and 91 , 750 members , and Scotland 409 Lodges and

21 , 000 members ; while Italy has but 65 Lodges ( 151 Chapters ) and 12 , 053 members , although the population of the latter is more than seven times that of Scotland . Masonic journals claim to have nine Lodges in China , 42 in India , eight in Barmah , 13 in Egypt , three in Singapore , six in Japan , one in Jerusalem , 25 in South Africa , two in

Siberia , and in Persia 50 , 000 and in Arabia 20 , 000 members . The membership of 524 , 649 in the States , in a population of ( in 1870 ) 38 , 576 , 371 , gives us one Mason to every seventy-four inhabitants—a larger proportion of Masons than is to be found in any other country , so far as I am informed .

It would be unfair , ia a notice o £ the gala celebration snch as thia , to pass without mention an incident touching the negroes . Although north and South of Saxon blood fraternised cordially , the man and brother of African lineage was excluded from participation in the ceremonies ; and this nnder the management of a people who laid

down a million lives a few years ago ostensibly to secure the principle of universal brotherhood aud ethnological equality . The exclusion was made conspicuous by an annual communication of the " United Grand Lodge of Coloured Masons of the Stato of New York , " held in this city on the same day . The

presiding officer of this communication—the M . W . G . Master W . C . H . Curtis—in his annual address , touched upon their exclusion in decided but delicate terms . He had hoped , he said , at this annual communication , to have joined hands with the brethren of the Stato of New York working under the national compact , and to have sent forth the

glad tidings that henceforth they were one united bandj but , he added sorrowfully , the project had failed , and he would not comment on it . On the 24 th instant there is to be a centennial demonstration in commemoration of the reception of the charter of coloured lodges of the United States from Great Britain .

Angel Of Charity.

ANGEL OF CHARITY .

BY THOMAS JtOOUE . Angol of Charity , who , from above , Comest to dwell a pilgrim here , Thy voice is music , thy smile is lovo ,

And Pity ' s soul is in thy tear . When on the shrine of God were laid First-fruits of all most good and fair , That ever bloom'd in Eden ' s shade ,

Thine was the holiest offering there . Hope and her sister , Faith , were given But as our guides to yonder sky ; Soon as they reach the veme of heaven ,

Uierc , lost in perfect bliss , they die . * But , long as Love , Almighty Love , Shall on ilis throne uf thrones abide , Thou , Charity , shaft dwell above , Smiling for ever by His side !