Berkshire.

that his Lordship would discharge the duties of Provincial Grand Master with all his ability and power , and he invited the Brethren to give Lord Wantage their hearty support , and thus promote the success of Masonry in the Province , and , in a lesser degree , that of Masonry throughout the world .

Lord Wantage took the usual obligation at an ancient pedestal ( brought from the Etonian Lodge by the Worshipful Master Bro . Sidney Smith ) , at which the late Duke of Clarence also took the obligation on his installation eight years sirice .

Bro . Charles Stephens , of Reading , was then unanimously re-elected as Provincial Grand Treasurer . He was proposed by the Senior Grand Warden Brother Keyser , arid seconded by the Junior Grand Warden Brother Slaughter . The newly-installed Provincial Master appointed the following as his Assistant Officers for the year :

Bro . C . O . Burgess .... Senior Warden W . ' Bonny - .... Junior Warden Eev .-rJ . ' L . Turbutt - - - - I „ , .,. Bev . F . P . Penruddock - - - \ Chaplains Charles Stephens .... Treasurer Gil ?; Slade ----- Registrar

3 . W . Martin- - Secretary C . P . Dyson .... Senior Deacon W . B . Biddies - Junior Deacon ' J . E . B ' obertsori .... Superintendent of Works E ; B . Ormohd .... Director of Ceremonies S .. Kriight jun . - Assistant Dir ; of Cers .

Major W . Nicholls - Sword Bearer Dr Wilton - - - - - [ standard Bearers Vernon Knowles - - - - Organist . E . H , Simmons - Assistant Secretary J-. S . Boulting , - - - - Pursuivant

J . S . Taverner .... Assistant Pursuivant A .- J . Lawrence - W . R . Cook .... T . Pettitt - - - - -V Stewards A . H . Bull -- ---W . A . Cocks - - - - W . Hemmings - - - m , J . P . Stevens .... Tylers .

Charity jewels ' , bars , and other badges were then presented to the Brethren who had rendered special service as Stewards to the Charitable Institutions of the Order , the recipients being heartily applauded as they advanced to the da-is to receive their well earned marks of distinction . Bro . Page Past Master of the Windsor Castle Lodge efficiently discharged the duties of Director of Ceremonies .

An anthem was sung , and Provincial Grand Lodge was closed . The dinner , held in the large Town Hall , was provided by Bro . W . Flanagan , of the Great Western Hotel , Past Provincial Grand Senior Warden . Covers were laid for nearly 250 Brethren .

The usual Masonic toasts were submitted and honoured . The health of the Provincial Grand Master was suitably proposed by Earl Amherst , and the toast was drunk with great enthusiasm . The newly installed Provincial Grand Master , in responding , said that his installation in the high office of

Provincial Grand Master of Berkshire by the hand of Brother Earl Amherst , on the occasion of his appointment by the Grand Master his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales , deserved and required his grateful recognition . His predecessor in that high office was his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence and Avondale , who held the office for only too

brief a period , and whose premature death was a source of deep regret and grief to the whole Fraternity of Freemasons , not only in Berkshire , but throughout the country . In respect to the memory of the young Prince the office remained for some time unfilled , and he deemed it a special honour and privilege to have been now selected by the Prince

of Wales to be the successor of his beloved son in this important post . He ( Lord Wantage ) first joined the Fraternity at the period immediately preceding the Crimean war , when men ' s minds were turned to the serious import of the movement taking place in the East , and to the fresh political and military disturbances that were impending .

The serious functions of Freemasonry impressed themselves stongly on those who were about to take an active part in the forthcoming war , and many officers and non-commissioned officers were constituted Freemasons , and a strong Lodge was formed at Malta , where her Majesty ' s troops were then

gathering for the Eastern campaign . It was there that he , with other young officers of the Guards , was introduced to Masonry by Brother Studholme Brownrigg , then Acting Adjutant-General of the Garrison . Although he was thus a Mason of some standing in point of years , other absorbing interests and avocations in life had prevented his being

Berkshire.

hitherto more than a humble member of the Craft , and it had required some courage on his part to undertake at his age , now somewhat advanced , the responsibilities attached to the high office of Provincial Grand Master . Were it not for his deference to the wishes of the Prince of Wales , and his

affection to the county of Berks , and to the Brethren who belonged to the Craft in the Province , he should have greatly hesitated to assume the duties of the position—duties which could not be regarded as otherwise than onerous , —and he must trust to the indulgence of the Brethren for any

shortcomings on his part . He was fully alive to the great and beneficent part which the ancient institution of Freemasonry had for so many centuries played in the affairs of life . In most of them , himself included , there existed a desire to measure the importance of movements , or of institutions , by

the practical effects that resulted from them . And it not unfrequently occurred to many of them , the question as to what extent Freemasonry could be measured by such a standard ? In reply to such enquiries he would state that it was his lot in early life to be first interested in Masonry by

an event that happened to his father , the late General Lindsay , when serving in the Walcheren campaign in 1809 . He was shot through the leg , and being quite disabled fell into the hands of the enemy ; but no sooner was he carried from the field of battle than he discovered his captor to be a

Brother Freemason , who , true to the traditions of the Craft , like the Good Samaritan , dressed his wounds , carried him into his own house , and took charge of him until the time of release , defraying all costs , without any security for repayment . To turn to larger issues and more recent times—a

striking instance of the influence exercised even now by Freemasonry on the course of events came before them on the testimony of one who was not evidently a friend of the Craft . In a book which is at this moment exciting great interest they learnt that during the siege of Paris in 1870 , the

great German statesman Bismarck complained bitterly of a pressure of certain influences which thwarted his uncompromising and Philistine course of policy , arid frustrated the carrying out of his intentions of bombarding the city of Paris . What were those influences ? Prince Bismarck himself told

them Freemasonry played a leading part among the influences which worked against him in secret , and were yet so powerful . Here was a matter of the highest importance , affecting

all that civilisation held dear , and the saving not only of the lives of non-combatants , but of the monuments of architecture , and the treasures of art which adorn the great capital of France , and the destruction of which would be a world-wide

calamity , and a blot on our humanity and on modern civilisation . He did not enter into the question of how this matter was to be regarded from the point of view of the statesman or the soldier , nor did he venture any opinion as to how far such intervention was justifiable or desirable . He

only gave it as an instance of the vitality and power of influence possessed by the Brethren of the Craft , and of their desire to use that influence to mitigate the suffering and destruction that belonged to war . It was well that in the stern arena of politics a reminder should sometimes be felt

of the existence of forces that recognised in practice the law of universal brotherhood . But the ordinary functions of Freemasonry did not deal with questions of such magnitude . They devoted themselves chiefly to endeavouring to carry out their principles of brotherly love and goodwill by means

of hospitals , schools , and suchlike benevolent Institutions , and in this sphere of work their Grand Master the Prince of Wales led the way by his indefatigable exertions in carrying out these objects of the Craft . The Brethren now assembled in that room had fresh in their recollection the magnificent

gathering which took place in London in the month of June last , under the presidency of the Prince of Wales , when over £ 130 , 000 was raised for charitable objects connected with Freemasonry , and . to which Brother Keyser , whom they were all happy to see' among them that evening , contributed

the noble sum of £ 5 , 000 . Lord Wantage went on to say that it did not become him in taking up his new duties , nor was he able , to say much about the work done by Brother Masons , but among those present that evening was one who had borne the burden and heat of the day , and of whom he

could not refrain from speaking . He alluded to Brother Morland , who in the interval that elaped between the death of their late Grand Master the Duke of Clarence , and his appointment , filled the office of Deputy Grand Master , and

whose admirable and judicious management of the Province had left nothing to be desired . To his old friend and comrade Lord Amherst , with whom he had served on less peaceful duties , he desired to express his sincere thanks for