Chapter Committee, In The Room Of The Late Lamented

Duke of Saldanha , Portuguese Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Queen Victoria . Tho Duke was a member of the A . and A . Rite , 33 ° , in Portugal , and for a greab porbion of his life had taken a very active part in Freemasonry .

In Italy , the business of the year has been directed chiefly to consolidating the work so auspiciously commenced in the spring of 1875 . These efforts have been so far successful that only a feeble number of dissentients , at Palermo and in Central Italy , refuse to cast in their lot

with tho bulk of Masonry . One Palermitan Lodge Avenb so far as to seek affiliation bo bhe Grand Lodge of Massachusebts , bub the request Avas summarily rejected , and the petition dismissed with a severe , but just rebuke for bheir un-Masonic conduct This , however , is almosb the only

event calculated to excite a feeling of dissatisfaction . With these trifling exceptions , Italian Freemasonry has firmly established itself , and every day that passes will serve to make tho fusion of the several Lodges in different parts of the country friendlier and more intimate . Many neAV

Lodges have been added to the roll , while , on the 15 th March , the three Lodges at Rome , the Chapter of Rose Croix , and many members of the Grand Consistory and Grand Orient , met together , for the purpose of celebrating the first anniversary of the foundation of the Masonic

Temple at Rome . Bro . Joseph Petroni presided , and Bro . Ul . Bacci , as orator for the occasion , delivered a very eloquent address , in which he congratulated the Craft on

the high position tbey had attained , and expressed a hope that only those would be admitted members of the Vatican Avho were noble in heart , elevabed in mind , and manly in character .

In Egypt a new Grand Orient , to which recognition has been accorded by our Grand Lodge , has been constituted . It includes a national symbolic Grand Lodge , with Bro . Zola as Grand Master , Bros , de Beauregard and Sciarrone

as 1 st and 2 nd Assistant Grand Masters respectively , and Bro . Oddi as Grand Secretary , as Avell as a Supreme Council of the A . and A . Rite , with Bro . Zola as Sovereign Grand Commander , Bro . Beauregard as Lieutenant Grand

Commander , and Bro . Oddi as Grand Secretary . The Grand Lodge has under its jurisdiction fifteen Lodges , bhe lasb of which , bhe Lodge Ibra ' imia , No . 15 , Avas chartered this year , at Manfalud , and is the first Lodge established in U pper Egypt . The official organ of the new Orient is the Memfi

Bisorta . In other countries , too , the efforts which Freemasonry is making to strengthen and confirm its position are very laudable . In Brazil the United Grand Orient

comprises a Grand Orient , a Supreme Council , 185 Lodges , 107 Chapters , and 5 Lodges of superior degrees . No less than 9 Lodges and 5 Chapters were constituted durino- tho last three months of 1875 .

The pleasing duty now devolves upon us of chronicling the principal events of the year in those countries of the NCAV World in Avhich the English language is the language of the community ; and the first among these is unquestionably the United States . Here , Avithin a very few years of

the Revival in 17 . 17 , speculative Freemasonry found an abiding-place . In June 1730 , a deputation was granted by the Duke of Norfolk to Bro . Daniel Coxe , appointing him to be Provincial Grand Master for the then British colonies of New York , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania .

We believe it is a fact thoroughly Avell established now , that a Lodge of Freemasons met at the Hoop , in Waterstreet , Philadelphia , toAvartls the close of the year 1730 , or the early part of 1731 . At all events , evidence has been recently discovered , in a contemporary Philadel phian

journal , that a Lodge was in sound Avorking condition in 1732 . Hitherto tlio general belief has been that the patent granted by Viscount Montagu to Bro . Henry Price in 1733 , Avas the earliest evidence obtainable as to the establishment of Freemasonry

on the continent of North America . Bnt , in the face of this latest Norfolk testimony , accepted , asit is , by eminent English brethren—Avho at least have no part in bhe rival claims of difforeub Sbates to the honour of priority as a regular Masonic body , and are therefore quite impartial—as Avell as

of the best informed American , it seems hardly possible to doubt that Philadelphia is the mother city of American Masonry . We have , however , gone carefull y into the evidence on a previous occasion , and it is not therefore onr

present purpose to enter noAV into any consideration of the subject . Wo merely refer to it , in order to shoAV how great is the interest Avhich everything Masonic excites in the minds of our transatlantic brethren , hoAv narrowly tbey

Chapter Committee, In The Room Of The Late Lamented

inspect the history of our Fraternity in their own land , — - how justly proud they are Avhen any fresh discovery is made which throws further light on bhe early developmenb among them of the Craft . It may seem to the careless and uninitiated a very trifling matter indeed whether the fraternity Avas established in 1730 or 1733 . What , it will be asked , can

bhe difference of two or three years make r What does it mabber if Freemasonry found its first home at Philadelphia or in Boston ? Its home noAV is everyAvhere throughout the Avhole of tho United States . It is one immense family of reputable men , numbering at this present moment 600 , 000 , more or less . But all States and Cities have in them some

sense of pride , it may be about the beauty of their buildings , their rare collection of antiquities , the historical events Avith which they have been associated , the illustrious men and women they may havegiven birth to . We may take it , indeed , generally , as an evidence of decadence in any people when

they cease any longer to take a legitimate pride in what is honourable , —Ave use the word in in its two-fold sense , of worthy of honour and conferring honour . Now we take it there are few Craftsmen who truly respect the Society of which they are members who do not experience a sense

of pride when they hear that Freemasonry was received into the place or country of their birth at an even earlier period bhan had previously" been supposed . We understand , therefore , and appreciate the rejoicing which our Philadelphian friends must have indulged in ,

Avhen , at each fresh step of the inquiry , it became more and more apparent that the Coxe Deputation , and the establishment of a Lodge almost immediately after , Avere authentic . This pride we have been commending has nothing about it of envy and malice , but is exactly that feeling of honest

pride which a man has who has led the way in some brilliant enterprise . And Philadelphia , having been the first—it may have been only through an accident—to recognise the value of Masonry as an institution , is justified in being proud of this fact . Moreover , Philadelphia enjoys the

additional honour of having been the city in Avhich the famous Declaration of Independence of Great Britain was made and signed . Thus , Avhen a century had elapsed since that important political event , it was quite in the natural order of things that the hundredth anniversary of the

National Independence should bo celebrated in this City of Brobherly Love . Equally nabural was ifc thafc on bhe occasion of so imporbanb a national thanksgiving tho Masonic Fraternity , or a portion of it , should play their part in tho public rejoicing . Masons are not a political body of men ,

but their IaAvs enjoin them to be good and loyal citizens of the State , and in this instance they Avere merely illustrating , in common with the rest of bheir fellow cibizens , bhab love of their country which all honest men and Masons feel . Then a very favourable opportunity offered for a public

parade . Last year ib Avas arranged that the Annual Session of the Grand Commandery of Pennsylvania should be held , on the 30 th and 31 st May , and Isb June . Invitabions Avere issued to the other Commanderies at home and abroad to take part in the parade , which was fixed for the last of the

three days mentioned , and these , in many instances , were cordially accepted . Accordingly , early on the 1 st June the procession was formed . First came the Home Commanderies , 37 in number , with 3 , 369 Knights Templar ; New York , 10 Commanderies , 848 Knights ; New Jersey ,

10 Commanderies , 661 Knig hts ; District of Columbia , 3 Commanderies , 322 Knights ; Massachusetts , 2 Commanderies , 127 Knights ; Michigan , 1 with 113 Knights ; Virginia , 6 with 74 Knights ; Delaware , 1 with 59 Knights ; Ohio , 1 with 54 Knights ; and St . John ' s , New Brunswick ,

Rhode Island , and Maryland , with 14 , 10 , and 8 Knighbs respectively . The procession marched proudly through the most important thoroughfares of the City , and as the weather was brilliant , the whole length of the route was thronged Avith admiring specbators . In

Broad-sbreefc the line countermarched , and on reaching Filbert-street passed in review before the Grand Encampment of the United States and the Grand Commandery of Pennsylvania . It is estimated that there Avere 8 , 000 persons in the procession , of Avbom close on 6 , 000 were

Knights Templar fully equipped , while the others were composed of musician ? , those Avho took part in the display in carriages , and others . In the procession

were many of the most distinguished members of the Order , mon eminent nob only by reason of their rank in Grand or Subordinate Commanderies , bub likewise by reason of their virtues as citizens of the United States ;

men of position , either as regards their intellectual power or