Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of ottr Co * respondents , We cannot undertake to return rejected communications , £ 11 Letters must bear the name and address of the Writer , n necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith .

" CHARITY ; " IS IT " GIVING ?" To the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Bro . Binckes in his haste to demolish your series of correspondents has not given himself time to read my letter of the 4 th November in an intelligent manner , or he would not have accused me of a " recognition of every claim except that of Masonio Charity . " In that letter I said that no one in my

Province experienced greater pleasure than myself in subscribing his annual mite to the Masonio Charities . Bnt I contend that to give one ' s contribution to the list of one's Lodge Steward , and to serv » as a Steward oneself are two very different things . It is all very well for Bro . Bimckes and his frionds in town , who at the cost of a sixpenny 'bus can attend a Festival , and simply have to pay

the fees ; but I , like many other brethren , live at snch a distance from London that the expenses of tho journey and a night in town make a big hole in a £ 5 note , which , when added to Steward's fees and qualification as L . S . or L . G ., is an important consideration to most men of limited means . Charity , let me remind Bro . Binckes , begins at home , and I do not regard it in the light of Charity at

all to give what one cannot afford . I have not unfreqnently seen in the statements of particulars of cases of candidates for the Schools that the applicant's father was a Life Governor or Subscriber , or had served so many Stewardships to one or other of the Institutions , and 1 have thought , and Bhall continue to think , that it would have been much better and more

Masonio if those brethren had made provision for their families , before giving away their small means in such a manner . I know of one case in which a brother enjoying a comfortable life income of over £ 1000 per annum , and possessing more than one charity jewel , left his family at his death almost wholly unprovided for , and they have been compelled to reek Masonio assistance . I call this " bad form , "

and an infraction of our elemental teachings , in which wo are told that we should assist our brethren , " the samo not being detrimental to ourselves or connections . " It certainly never did occur to me , as Bro . Binckes suggests , to make the claims of my church or other local calls " subservient in some one given year" to my serving a Stewardship or making

myself a Life Governor of the Charities . Neither do I think such a course would be consistent with any charaoter I have assumed , or even with common-sense justice . At the dire peril of again being called Pharisaical I will venture oven to say that I wish sincerely I were ( as Bro . Binckes says ) " a type of a large class of members of our Order , " because in such

case Masonry in tho provinces could claim a very much larger number of effective workers than it does at present . I do not quite understand what Bro . Binckos is driving at in his letter , save that he has been possessed by an uncontrollable impulse to have a shot at an all round . The principal object of my former letter was to combat the suggestion made by a doubtless very worthy

brother , with whom I regret to say I am personally unacquainted , that a kind of money standard should be fixed to be attained by every brother before he should be suffered to receive any Masonic honours . This notion I urged was ntterly wrong , and opposed to all Masonic teaching , to say nothing of common-sense fairness , and I still maintain this . It is not clear to me whether or not Bro . Binckes wishes

for the " money qualification , " but I repeat my former assertion , that the five shillings , half-sovereign , or sovereign contributed by a brother of narrow means to the list of his own Lodge Steward is as valuable and acceptable in the sight of the G . A . O . T . U ., and probably as great a personal sacrifice , as the hundred guineas of the brother of large wealth , and that the poor Brother is muoh better discharging his

duties as a faithful Craftsman by laying by in store for his family than by covering his breast with charity jewels and leaving his wife and children a 3 a heavy legacy for the Craft to provide for . When I wrote my former letter I had not tho slightest intention or expectation of " drawing" Bro . Binckes , and I hopo he will not misunderstand me if I suggest that I scarcely think him qualified to discuss impartially the question at issue , his own point of view being

necessarily very different from nearly all the rest of the Craft , and whilst I receive as an article of faith tho dictum of onr ancient Bro . S . Paul , that " Dominus ordinavit iis , qui Evangelium annuntiant , de Evangelio vivere , " yet I must submit that we are not all Secretaries of Masonic Schools , and are not prepared to go the length of " Fiat a Big Steward's list , mat ccelum , " which appears just now to be the dominant idea amongst a few energetic Metropolitan brethren . I am , yours fraternally , 18 th November 1878 . A MASONIC ENTHUSIAST .

To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I think Bro . Godtschalk is wrong in assuming that Bro . Radclyffe has suggested every Mason should be compelled to give a certain amount to each of our Institutions . This would not be Charity , but a kind of poll-tax , which I for one , and I assume every other Mason , would resent . Bro . Radclyffe—as I read his letters . —I understand to have suggested that , considering

Correspondence.

brethren rarely experience any difficulty in finding guineas for sub . scriptions , joining fees , banquets , & c , & c , they ought to experience no difficulty in contributing a guinea to each of our Charities . This is far from being an unreasonable proposition , but it has nothing of compulsion in it . It is painfully suggestive of a lack of charitable consideration on the part of large numbers of brethren , but it does

not lay it down to each Craftsman , "You must givo something , " instead of " It is your duty to give something if it is in youi * power to do so . " It is qnito true that large sums are raised annually for our Charities . This has come to be a necessity , and reflects tho highest credit on those who contribute and help to raise the amounts , bnt as was once said by the Marquis of Ripon , when

Grand Master of our Fraternity—not in so many words , bnt in effect —those who do not contribute have no share in tho crodit . His Lordship suggested that many brethren failed in thoir duty in regard to our Charities , and that it would be far better if the subacriptiona consisted of a number of small sums , contributed by a vast majority of tho Craft , than of a number of largo sums—the contributions of a small minority . This it strikes mo is the gist of the whole matter ,

and is , in another form , exactly the samo kind of suggestion as Bro . RadclyfFe and thoso who aro o his way of thinking advocate . As for the nnmber of unworthy caBes which find their way into the lists , and ultimately perhaps into the Sohool , this is a seriou 3 allegation which Bro . Godtschalk has brought against the General Committee , to which all applications are submitted , and by which they are approved or rejected on their merits . I must leave him and them to discuss this matter . Fraternally yours , OLD FILE .

Charity Stewards.

CHARITY STEWARDS .

To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I am doubtless chargeable with the deliverance , both in speech and writing , of more than a fair average of nonsense , but let mo be judged by what I do say or write , rather than by what I am often made to say and write . Pray correct , in your next the following errors in my letter in your number of this date , for which perhaps my caligraphy may be to blamo : —

Line 24 , for " cannot " read " care not to . „ 27 , for " ostentatiously " read " voluntarily . " „ 28 , for " promptor" read " promptings . " „ 67 , for " annually " read " actually . " Yours faithfully and fraternally ,

FREDERICK BINCKES . London , 16 th November 1878 .

Warrants Of "Ancient" Lodges.

WARRANTS OF " ANCIENT" LODGES .

To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BuoTnER , —In reply to yonr correspondent " Q ., " I may state that his surmiso as to my time being fully ocoupied is the cause which has prevented my continuing the preparation of the Old Warrants for your pages . I am gratified at this

evidence that my endeavours to supply a missing link in onr records has met some approval , and hope ere long to continue the series . I may add that I am still iu want of transcripts of Warrants from tho following Lodges , and hopo that some of your readers will be able to supply same : — LONDON . No . 1 Grand Masters , 3 Fidelity , 143 Middlesex , 193 Confidence , 222 St . Andrew .

PROVINCIAL . Essex : —214 Hope and Unity , Romford . Lancashire West : —220 Harmony , Garston . South Wales , Eastern Division : 36 Glamorgan , Cardiff ; 110 Loyal Cambrian , Merthyr Tydvii .

Districts , & c . : —115 St . John s , Gibraltar ; 153 Inhabitants , Gibraltar ; 196 Albion , Barbadoes ; 218 True and Friendship , Calonttaj 224 Atlantic , Bermuda ; 229 Humanity . Calcutta ; 232 Marine , Calcutta ; 233 Prince Alfred , Bermuda ; 23 i Anohor and Hope , Calcutta . Yours fraternally , JOHN CONSTABLE .

Old Lodges.

OLD LODGES .

To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE . DEAR . SIR AND BROTHER , —In cont nuance of my former letters on this subject , I note the following Lodge , which is still in existence uuder another jurisdiction , and must be regarded therefore as another among the yet remaining links which connect Freemasonry in other countries with the Grand Lodge of England , the Mother Grand Lodgo

of the whole world . "No . 272 , S . John ' s Lodge , Ann-street , New York , 2 d & 4 th Wednesd . Dec . 27 , 1757 . " Tho Lodgo thus described in Cole ' s List for 1763 still exists , and is No . 1 ou the roll of tho Grand Lodge of New York . In the introductory Chapter of the recently

published " Early History and Transactions ot the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York , 1781-1815 , " % ve learn that this Lodge was constituted 7 th December 1757 , by E . W . Bro . Geo . Harison , who received his deputation as Prov . Grand Master of New York in 1753 , from Grand Master Lord Carysfort , and con-