Masonic Portraits. (No. 47.)

MASONIC PORTRAITS . ( No . 47 . )

OUE COSMOPOLITAN BKOTHEE . " Another guest thero was , of sense refined , Who felt each worth , for every worth he had ; Serene yet warm , humane yet firm his mind , As little touched as any man ' s with bad . " TI" ! HERE is no nation in the world to whose members

JL may be more justly ascribed the prosperity of being ubiquitous than ours . Ifc matters little in what direction we direct our steps , whether in the old world or in the new , towards the tropics or towards the equator , we are sure to find a colony of English-speaking people , or ,

Englishspeaking travellers . Ifc may perchance be the fate of Macaulay ' s New Zealander some day or other to look clown from Westminster or London Bridge on the ruins of imperial London , but the mark which England has made on the world is indelible . No human power can possibly efface

what we have done . Tbe head quarters of our race may be utterly destroyed , but the race itself , be they known as Americans , or Africans , or by any other name , will never be exterminated . We may have read or beard the last of Aboriginal Australians and Tasmanians ; the old tribes of

North American Indians may in the lapse of years die out , but there will never be an end to the English , at least till there is an end of all things . We have planted ourselves successfully everywhere . Were the poles a reality , then , in the event of their being discovered , we should

expect to find an Englishman , if not seated upon each , afc all events in their immediate vicinity . We have no wish to speak or even think disrespectfuly of the Equator , whose existence is , of course , purely imaginary ; but were it otherwise , were there a line marked precisely

round the globe , dividing ifc into equal portions , and were tbe line traceable on the earth ' s surface , it is almost a certainty that at almost every degree , a thorough-going John Bull , or , perchance his cousin Brother Jonathan , would ci'op up . There used to a mode of expression in force

during the great American Civil War , about the irrepressible negro , but the irrepressibility of the negro is as nothing to that of the Englishman ; and were it not that some of our readers might charge us with speaking flippantly or irreverently , we should declare it impossible to

move in either the higher or the lower spiritual world without encountering an Englishman or one of his immediate kindred races . However , it is no part of our duty to launch our frail bark on the stormy ocean of conjecture , it must suffice , therefore , if we say that there is hardly a

single spot on the surface of this mundane sphere of ours which Englishmen have not explored . Nearly the whole of North America is habited by our people . We have penetrated to the central regions of Africa . Englishmen it is who have discovered the sources of the Nile , who have

traversed Africa , approached the Poles , and peopled unknown lands at the Antipodes . Wherever it is possible for men to live , thither we may be certain that Englishmen have penetrated and made for themselves a home . We have surveyed mankind from China to Peru to some

purpose , and many of our countrymen are indebted to the inveterate love of travel which characterises us for the fortunes they have established . There occurs to us at the

moment of writing a member of our Society who will illustrate the truth of what we have said . In earl y life he turned his steps eastward , with a view to playing ultimately a leading part in the business which hia father

Masonic Portraits. (No. 47.)

before him had established in India and China . And travelling thus , from West to Easfc , ifc is only natural he should seek instruction as well as business . And thus it is that having sailed for China in tbe year 1838 , three years had hardly elapsed ere he sought

initiation into our mysteries . Ifc was at Calcutta , in the Lodge of Industry and Perseverance , now No . 109 , that our respected brother first sought the light . This happened in 1841 , and the year following , when visiting England , he was elected a joining member of the Grand Masters' Lodge ,

No . 1 . Indue time ho attained the highest honour ib is in the power of a Lodge to confer on its worthiest members , and he now ranks as a Past Master , and further enjoys the honour of being the eldest son of the first , if nofc the oldest , Lodge on the roll of Grand Lodge . Having been

initiated in the capital of the Bengal Presidency , he was exalted in that of Madras , and subsequently became a joining member of the Prince of Wales Chapter , No . 259 . When he made bis second visit to China , in the year 1843 , he devoted himself heart and soul to the study of

Freemasonry . He took the deepest interest in its welfare , and it is chiefly through his instrumentality that "the Royal Sussex Lodge , No . 501 , of Shanghai , was established . We at home who read of a new Lodge being constituted every week of the year , may think lightly of the constitution of

a new member of our Fraternity , but it is far otherwise in the remoter colonies and dependencies of our empire , where the consecration of a fresh Lodge is an event of the greatest importance . There the enthusiastic labours of our esteemed brother obtained for him a far wider

reputation than he would have enjoyed as one of the founders of a new Lodge at home . Moreover , his zeal had its reward in a still more honourable manner , for in 1847 he was chosen to fill the important office of District Grand Master . With this he subsequently combined the position of Provincial

Grand Superintendent . Having thus attained the highest honours which ifc is possible for an English Mason resident in foreign parts to attain , our worthy brother lost no opportunity of doing what lay in his power to promote still further the interests of Freemasonry , and in 1853 we read of him

as playing the principal part in the important ceremonial of laying the foundation stone of the Masonic Hall afc Hong Kong . This was done with Masonic honours , and , moreover , marks an epoch in the career of our brother of which he and the Fraternity afc large have

every reason to be proud . On this occasion he was presented with a magnificent testimonial , partly subscribed by the Hong Kong members , and taking the form of a splendid piece of Chinese silverwork , and partly by the Canton brethren , who contributed as their offering a valuable service of plate . These , however , are far from being the only distinctions he has won in the course of his career . He

was advanced to the degree of Mark Mason in Hong Kong by some naval brethren , became Master of his Lodge , and in that capacity was instrumental in conferring the degree on many other brethren ; but , on returning to England some time after , it was his misfortune to find that the honours he had received as a Mark Master Mason had been conferred

irregularly . He , therefore , joined the Bon Accord Lodga in London , which was then working under a Warrant from the Bon Accord Chapter of Aberdeen , but which has since come under the jurisdiction of our English Mark Grand

Lodge . Of this , wbieb ranks as the premier Lodge on the Mark Grand Roll , our brother is at this moment the Wor . shipful Master elect . One circumstance , in connection with his Mark career , is worthy of record . In 1857 , he was ap . pointed by Lord Leigh , who at the time was Grand Mark