A Year's Retrospect.

likely is it that tho Pope of 1884 will have reason to be satisfied with the effects of his denunciations . It is time , however , that we gave our attention to the moro immediate concerns of the Craft , and in considering theso we shall find that , in England at all events , its

position compared with what ifc was last year has been appreciably strengthened . There are now some fifty more Lodges on tho roll , ancl the bulk of these are distributed among tho Provinces and in tho Districts abroad , very many of them , indeed , having been set up in localities

hitherto unoccupied . There has likewise been a somewhat similar progress in Arch and Mark Masonry , the latter in particular having strengthened itself by tho erection of three new Provinces , while in tho caso of the former , Sir M . Hicks-Beach , Bart ., M . P ., is Provincial G .

Superintendent of tho Royal Arch Masons in Gloucestershire as well as Prov . G . Master of Craft Masonry . The offices of Prov . Grand Master and Provincial Grand Superintendent of West Yorkshire are both vacant by the resignation of SirH . Edwards , while Companion J . Neal York

is Prov . G . Supt . of Cambridgeshire in place of the late Comp . Deighton . As regards tho other Masonic degrees , there has been somo slight but steady progress made in all of them , new bodies having been constituted from time to time during the twelvemonth . The most noteworthy

change perhaps is the withdrawal of the Great Priory of Canada from Convent General , and its erection into a separate and independent jurisdiction by itself . But Canada had previously been independent in everything but the name , and even had it been otherwise no detriment

to Masonic Templary would have been the consequence . So , too , with the independent G . Lodge of South Australia , which has been established by the almost unanimous concurrence of the Lodges holding under tho Mother Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland respectively .

There must be a diminution in the number of our Lodges , but the strength of Masonry in tho Colony remains unimpaired , if indeed it has not shown by the constitution of additional Lodges a marked increase of its original strength . The dispute between the Grand Chapter of

Quebec and the Mark Grand Lodgo of England is still in progress , while the correspondence which was read at the Grand Lodge in the early part of the present month makes it clear that the sphere of this contention is on the eve of

being enlarged so as to include the Craft Grand Lodges of the two jurisdictions . Thus , no matter to what branch of Masonry we turn our attention , we find unmistakable evidences of general prosperity , which , but for the personal losses we have specified , would have been without alio

Our next duty will be to offer some remarks on our Institutions . The Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution was held at the usual date in February . The chair was taken by Bro . Sir J . B . Monckton , President of the Board of General Purposes , in the unavoidable

absence through illness of Bro . J . D . Allcroft , Grand Treasurer , who had kindly undertaken that important duty , and in the conrse of the evening a list of subscri ptions was announced which in the result amounted to £ 14 , 665 . The consequence of this handsome total being

realised was that the Male Annuitants were increased in the following May from 165 to 170 , and the Female Annuitants from 167 to 182 . In May . Lord Brooke M . P ., P . G . M . of Essex , presided at the Festival of the Girls School . The chairman ' s Province supported him loyally ,

and Bro . Hedges had the satisfaction of announcing the total of Subscriptions as being £ 13 , 037 . It should be stated thafc , on the prize day held in connection with this Festival , the prizes were distributed by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts , who expressed herself delighted

with the manner in which the School was conducted . In June was held tho Festival of the Boys' School . Bro . Alderman Fowler , M . P ., Lord Mayor of London , and Grand Junior Warden of England , occupied the chair , ancl the total announced by Bro . Binckes was £ 14 , 061 , or as it

ultimately proved , over £ 14 , 100 . Thus the three Festivals for 1884 yielded only a little shorfc of £ 42 , 000 , which even compared with the more astounding success of the previous year , must be set down as a most brilliant achievement . As regards the Preparatory School at Wood Green , the

ground has been purchased , and the new buildings are well on their way towards completion , so thafc we may look forward for some time to come to there being more moderate lists of candidates for admission . In bringing this survey to a close we sball take the opportunity of pointing out as regards ourselves that with

A Year's Retrospect.

this week AVO complete tho Tenth Year of our existence , and wo flatter ourselves that during that period we have done our best , ancl with a fair amount of success , to fulfil tho purposes with which we started . Our chief labour

1 ms been directed towards promoting the welfare of tho Institutions , and wo are presumptuous enough to believe that our efforts havo not been employed in vain . We havo likewise done what else wo could to further the

interests of tho Craffc generally , and if only thero wero more enthusiasm . among the brethren on behalf of their representative organs , tho measure of our satisfaction would be greater . However , what wo have done , wo havo

done , ancl it remains for us to express a hopo that tho year on which we are about to enter may prove as prosperous as that to which wo are bidding farewell . To our readers and tho Craft everywhere we present our Hearty Good Wishes for the New Year .

Freemasonry In Pennsylvania, 1730.1808.

FREEMASONRY IN PENNSYLVANIA , 1730 . 1808 .

BY BRO . WM . JAMES HUGHAN . A NOBLE volume has just been completed by the Library Committee of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , of which the distinguished Craftsman Bro . C . E . Meyer is the Chairman . Ifc is impossible , in a shorfc article , to indicate all the various attractions which are to be found in the sumptuously gotten up book now before me , for they are

so numerous that only tho chief of them can be enumerated , and besides which The Keystone has already mentioned its special features . I am glad to note , however , that additional copies have been printed , beyond those required for subscribers , the volume being issued in cloth , for £ 1 ( 4 * 50 dols . for America ) including postage .

The publication of tbe " Proceedings " was commenced in 1877 , so that seven years have been occupied in the preparation and issue of the four parts which make up the volume , and it is fortunate that there was no undue haste

in its issue , as one of the chief features is the Philadelphia Sfc . John ' s Lodge Ledger , 1731-8 , which was only made known to the Masonic world in February of this year , by the Editor of The Keystone . The introduction , by Bro . Meyer , covers the whole ground

of the commencement and early history of the Masonic Craft in America , the illustrative documents being especially valuable , such as the copies of the several deputations to Daniel Coxe , as Prov . Grand Master of " New York , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania , " of the 5 th Juno 1730 , ancl

Henry Price , as Prov . Grand Master in New England , 30 th April 1733 . The former was certified by the Grand Sec . of England , but the latter is taken from the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , 1871—the original , I believe , not being known or certified by any

English authority . The probability seems to be that " Sfc . John ' s Lodge , Philadelphia , " was formed " in the fall of 1730 , " by authority from Bro . Coxe , Provincial Grand Master , before the Warrant was obtained from the Grand Lodge of England , though evidently the

latter was granted as No . 79 , but apparently never used . It is certainly remarkable to find that there were " several Lodges of Freemasons erected " in Pennsylvania in 1730 ( according to tho evidence of the Gazette printed by Benjamin Franklin ) , of which we have no account in

this country ; not that such a fact is unusual as respects Freemasonry in America , for it was almost the exception to send reports and due remittances to this country in the early part of last centnry . The Ledger * of " Sfc . John ' s Lodge " has been brought to the li ght since the "

Introduction was written , and affords an extraordinary confirmation of the opinions expressed by Bros . MacCalla , Meyer , and others as to the early existence of Lodges in the " City of Brotherly Love . " In fact , the contention of the racy Keystone is supported so thoroughly , thafc now

it cannot be doubted but that there were Lodges in Philadelphia , so far as evidence goes , at least three years before they are met with elsewhere in America . Of

conrse , one point remains to be settled , and that is their legality of origin , but at this advanced period such a query is much more easily started than settled . A Provincial Grand Lodge for Pennsylvania only , seems to