The Banquet At The Mansion House.

THE BANQUET AT THE MANSION HOUSE .

IT is very natural that London , which may justly he regarded as the original home of speculative Masonry , shonld tako a deep interest in its welfare . We record elsewhere , and not for the first time , the cordial welcome which has been extended to the Craft by its first magistrate ,

himself a Mason , and we consider it our bounden dnty to make this hospitality the subject of brief comment . Tn March 1875 , Lord Mayor Stone and the Sheriffs , of whom the present Lord Mayor Ellis was one , were invited to a grand banquet by The Great City Lodge , and though there

cannot be a doubt that a most kindly feeling existed anteriorly between the Corporation and the Craft , it is equally beyond question that this invitation enlarged that feeling to a remarkable extent . At all events , Bro . Sir F . W . Truscott , when he occupied simultaneously the offices of Lord

Mayor and Junior Grand "Warden , appears to have felt himself impelled , by a kind of natural impulse , to reciprocate the kindly feeling towards Freemasonry which had been exhibited in the days of his predecessor , Bro . Stone , hy inviting Grand Lodge and the Officers and members of

his Lodge ,- No . 1 , to a grand banquet at the Mansion House . The Prince of Wales was present , and the entertainment passed off most brilliantly . Lord Mayor Ellis , occupying , Masonically and Civically , exactly the same

rank as Sir F . Truscott , has followed in the latter's footsteps , with a success almost as brilliant , the attendance only needing the presence of the Grand Master to have made it equally so . May these interchanges of brotherly feeling be continued !

The Revised Book Of Constitutions.

THE REVISED BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS .

WE enter now on our twofold task of comparison and comment . We assume the reason why the " antient charges " which , in the present edition of the Constitutions , precede the Eegulations , are omitted from the revise is that , as no alteration in or re-arrangement of

them is possible , they will find their old place , or , at all events , a place in the new version as a matter of course . In this case , there was no necessity to be at the pains or expense of reprinting them . Thus the revise , as issued for

the consideration of the Craft , enters at once on the ' General Laws and Regulations for the Government of the Craft , " and those who may wish to institute for themselves a more extended comparison than is possible in the

circumscribed space at our disposal , must turn for such purpose to page sixteen of the existing edition , where the Eegulations begin . It may be as well , however , if we repeat a statement we made last week . The Regulations in the

revised edition are numbered consecutively from 1 onwards throug hout the whole book ; in the present edition , they are numbered under the several heads to which they belong . No . 1 in the revise , which is conveniently described in

The Revised Book Of Constitutions.

the marginal note as the " Declaration , " is word for word the same as in the present edition . So likewise is No . 2 , " The Grand Lodge , " up to the words , " The United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of England " inclusive . The proposed law then continues ,

" and is hereinafter referred to as ' the Grand Lodge ; ' " whereas in the other it goes on , " and its members rank in the following order , " the list of Grand and other Officers and members constituting Grand Lodge in their order of precedence being added . This last forms No . 6 of tho

proposed code . No . 3 deals with the " General powers of all substituted authorities , " and corresponds with Rule 15 , page 24 , in the

present edition . Tho mtent and purport in each is the same , but the language in which this is conveyed differs very materially , as will be seen from the following parallel arrangement of the ywo Laws : —

REVISED EDITION .

" The Pro Grand Master , the Depnty Grand Master , and every other Officer and Brother who shall , in accordance with the laws and procedure of Masonry ,

preside or act in Grand Lodge or in any Provincial or District Grand Lodge or in any private Lodge or on any Board or Com . mittee for or in the place of any

other Officer or Brother , who may be absent shall , while so presiding or acting , have all the rights , powers , and dnties of the Officer or Brother whose

substitnte he shall be , or in whose place he shall a jt , he shall enforce all rales and regulations , and his acts shall have the same validity in all respects as those

of such Officer or Brother unless the contrary is expressly provided for in these laws and regulations . "

PEESENT EDITION .

" All powers and authorities , rales and regulations , for the government of the grand lodge , or provincial grand lodges , or boards , or committees ,

respectively , dnring times of pnblic bnsiness or meetings , or proceedings , shall be used and exercised , and enforced respectively by the officers or members by any law

or constitution authorised to preside or act in the absence of the grand master , or any superior officer or member in such lodges / i boards , or committees ,

or in the general government of the Craft , as fully to all intents and purposes as if snch substitute officers or members were specified in every law

or constitution in which any powers or authorities are given , or rules or regulations prescribed for the principals , unless special provision is made to the contrary .

The proposed regulation appears to us to be the better of the two , being more precise and directly to the point than the one it is intended to supersede , but the introduction of the Pro Grand Master and the Deputy Grand Master , of whom up to this point we can have had no official

cognizance whatever , lends point to the remark of our correspondent referred to last week , that it would have been better had No . 3 contained the list of the members of Grand Lodge . Of course , this objection could easily be overcome by omitting all mention of the said Officers , and making

the law begin " every Officer or Brother , " & c . We should also , for the sake of euphony , and also because the word is unnecessary , read " for or in the place of any Officer or Brother , " instead of " for or in the place of any other Officer or Brother . " Reverting , however , to

our correspondents criticism , he proposes that No . 6 should become No . 3 , No . 3 being regulated to No . 4 , No . 4 to No . 5 , and No . 5 to No . 6 . In our opinion , it would be a preferable arrangement to merely transpose Nos . 3 and 6 , leaving Nos . 4 and 5 where they are .

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