Original Correspondence.

Arch Degree in a pamphlet published in 174 J , and we gel by these several facts at an approximative age . It might turn out that the Companion Cole mentioned by Bro . Gamble is identical with the publisher of Cole ' s List oi Lodges , 1733 , which would make the engraving still older . I have also an engraved portrait of John Hampden in a similar frame , which hears the date of 1740 .

I remain , dear Sir and Brother , yours sincerely and fraternally , KENNETH R . II . MACKENZIE , IX ° . Supreme Grand Secretary Swedenborgian Rite . P . S . —I have just read Bro . Hughan's remarks on p . 267 . I had not opened that part of the number . I am g lad to find that this document will rise in importance , through the aid of my esteemed friend Bro . Hughan .

Perhaps it now becomes more desirable to trace its history than ever , for if it agrees with thc Canterbury banner it is clearly authentic . Mig ht I ask Bro . Hughan through your pages whether he thinks it at all connected with Bro . Dermott ? It is interesting to get at everything we can about it , as Swedenborgian Masons will readily understand . Certain points in the degree of Perfect Freemason , or Red Brother , are materially illustrated by this curious engraving .

BRO . BURGER'S LETTER . To the Editor of Ihe " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I hardly think it necessary to say more in reply to Bro . Burger ' s remarks . 1 trust that he will read my leader , text and context , not thc letter signed by you as

Editor , —He will then perceive that the remarks do not ar . d cannot apply to him , and cannot and never were intended to apply to him . They arc a mere general statement , without the slightest personal bearing , and had not our good brother written in haste and anger he must have seen this , and rendered his fiery epistle needless . I am dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , THE WRITER OF THE LEADER .

THE NEW THEORY . [ In consequence of certain matters which have occurred , we have thought it well , despite our natural hesitation on the ground of personality , to publish this letter , which was alluded to in answers to correspondents last week . ] Dear Bro . Kenning , —

Your Editor having laid aside his impersonal character and stepped into the arena to confront me with an anonymous epistle , I may therefore be permitted to address you in as direct a manner as he has himself adopted . ( Vide page 134 , Freemason of gth March last . ) I have no desire , however , to contend with him , tor it is a matter cf supreme indifference to me whether our Ritual

be case hardened into an in elastic liturgy , or permitted the expansive faculty , which our rapidly advancing age accords to all things mundane . But I desire to call your attention to the language employed by him in his attempts to scare the Fraternity from every possible improvement of our Ritual . Under the head " Our Ritual , " on page 132 , of gth

March last , he divides the causes of change into three classes . " 1 . Those who wish honestly to improve . " Then he names the other two classes . But listen now to his words : " It is only wilh the first class that wc need concern ourselves to-day , though we may remark that , honest themselves , they are often made the unconscious dupes of

longer heads , of greater rascals than themselves . " ( . 14 th line from bottom ) . Do you sanction the use of such language in the Freemason ? I cannot think that your Editor meant to apply such epithets to me , as 1 am personally unknown to you both ; nevertheless , I care not for whom he meant them , while it is clear that he meant them for certain

brethren whom he would stigmatise as rascally dupes of greater rascals . And this is the fraternal language of thc Editor of the great English Masonic newspaper par excellence ! I had no idea that English Freemasonry had so choice a vocabulary . O tempora O mores ! Your Ed'tor closed his anonymous epistle with the

words , " I stick to my text , quicta non movere . ' Well done , Brother Editor ! but don ' t hereafter ridicule that other old fossilized specimen of humanity at the Vatican , when he too ciies out " Non possumus , non possumus , " for both your aims are alike—to stop the express train of progress with your empty egg-shells . I remain , dear Bro . Kenning , yours fraternally ,

II . J . BURGER . Kingston , Jamaica . April 21 st , 1878 .

A LETTER TO BRO . HUBERT . Dear Bro . Hubert , — Though I am not known to you under my " pseudonym , " I yet make bold to write to you to-day to ask your opinion as to the present position assumed in the Monde Maconnique about international Masonic relations , and the course recommended to the Grand Orient for

adoption . 1 . You will observe that it is proposed to give the French Grand Orient the power to open lodges in other jurisdictions , inasmuch as henceforth the French Grand Orient will only be forbidden to grant warrants in jurisdictions " in fraternal relations with it . " If not in " fraternal relations , " it follows that it will be legal henceforth

to grant warrants , and we are told that this is to be done by way of reprisal for obj-rcting to thc alteration of 1877 . This is fraternal comity and Masonic intcrnationality with a vengeance ! Long before the famous "Couvenf ' of 1877 , the Monde jMafOnniijiie openly recognised a spurious lodge in London , called " Les Philadelphes et la Concorde Reunis , " and even allowed it to call itself Grand Lodge in its columns .

Original Correspondence.

I Indeed , Bro . Grimaux said it was not " clandestine , " because il announced its exi-tence , and that it WJS not " irregular , " because " it could not get a warrant from the Grand Lodee of England . " Surely , you and thc educated Masons in Fraice do not approve of such unmasonic and extraordinary propositi'ins , which , if accepted and acted upon , must lead to complete Masonic revolution and

anarchy everywhere . 2 . But it is said that , as the English Grand Lodge and others have disapproved formally of thc acts ( if thc French Grand Orient , henceforth it will be justifiable to grant warrants in such jurisdictions , and that there is no doubt of such an amendment of the Constitutions being passed in the Grand Orient of France .

I hope there is some mistake in this assumption , as I cannot conceive of any act more likely to lead to serious and lamentable consequences . 3 . You will observe that the French Grand Orient claims to grant warrants even now in thc Mauritius , on thc ground of earlier occupation of the territory . You are too well read in Masonic history not to know , that , if that argument

be valid , if that position be sound , the English Grand Lodge positively can claim to earlier occupation of every country in Europe . If the French Grand Orient has a right to grant a warrant for the Mauritius , why may not the English Grand Lodge grant a warrant for France and Belgium ? Surely , on such grounds , such a right is incontestable , the more so as the Master of your new French lodge at the Mauritius declared , in answer to thc protest of

the Master of the English Lodge , that it was the " inalienable right of Masons to choose their own jurisdiction . " 4 . Is there no possible hope of a belter state of things ? of truer Masonic feelings and teaching and acts in France ? You will , I think , not find fault with my appeal to you , to ask your opinion as to thc present condition of affairs , than which , to my mind , none can be more deplorable . I am , dear Bro . Hubert , yours fraternally , MASKELYNE .

QUERIES . To the Editor ofthe " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Will you kindly allow me through your valuable paper to ask the following questions : — 1 . At a regular meeting cf a country lodge , the W . M ., without previous notice , proposes that a committee to

revise the bye-laws be appointed and a day fixed for that purpose . The committee is elected by the lodge the same evening , and a day named for them to meet . The committee meet and make alterations , which appear on the summonses for an emergency meeting during the recess , to initiate a candidate and to consider the revised draft of the bye-laws . The emergency meeting sanctions

the alterations , and the minutes are confirmed at the next regular meeting . Were those proceedings regular , and are thc alterations so made legal ? 2 . The above alterations included the raising of the initiation and joining fees , but before thc alterations are submitted to the Grand and Provincial Grand Lodges for approval a regular meeting takes place , at which two

candidates are initiated and a brother joins from another lodge . Which of the fees would be legal to charge , ihe original or thc altered ones ? 3 . Would raising the initiation and joining fees be considered a material alteration of the bye-laws ?—Page 6 3 , clause 5 , Book of Constitutions . Your opinion on the above would much oblige , Yours fraternally ,

A CONSTANT READER . [ 1 . It must depend upon the bye-laws of the lodge whether the W . M . ' s action was regular or no . As a general rule notices of alteration of bye-laws are given at one lodge , appear on summons for next lodge , are then debated , and confirmed , if altered , at the subsequent lodge , or a lodge of emergency is convened to consider

them . If the bye-laws specify that notice of proposed alterations must be given , then the proceedings are bad , " ab initio , " and can be set aside . 2 . Until approved of by the lawful authority these alterations are invalid , and the old scale of fees is the lawful one . 3 . Certainly . —ED . ]

PROGRESS OF FREEMASONRY IN THE PROVINCES . To the Editor 0 / Ihe " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I can fully support our esteemed Bro . Henry

Smith ' s report as to the progress socially , numerically , and financially of our Proiincial Grand Lodges , and having lately completed my examination of the annual returns for the Province of Cornwall 1 append the resul ' . The number of initiations for thc years mentioned have been as follows : —

187 ^ 18 74 1875 187 ( 1 1877 160 1-7 in 15 S 148 The actual membership being for these years—1141 1240 1433 1467 1367 There were 24 lodges in 18 73 , and now there are 27 . In 186 3 there wire only about one-third of the members that there arc now , added to which we have now sufficient

money funded to pay four annuitants for life i . 20 each , and annually to devote a goodly sum for thc relief of necessitous widows and the education of children of deceased brethren out of the ordinary income . With two or three exceptions , the lodges meet either in private rooms , or Masonic hails nf their own , and , never has thc Craft been so flourshing in the province as now . Yours fraternally , WILLIAM JAMES HUGHAN , < P . G . D . of England .

Freemasonry And Civilization.

FREEMASONRY AND CIVILIZATION .

Dear Sir and Brother , — I have no desire to enter into a controversy about this painting , possessing , as I do , sufficient written evidence of the absolute correctness of my statements in U tiers from both thc artist , Mr . Rosenberg , and the To thc Editor of the " Freemason . "

publisher , Bro . Haigh , and which any member of the Craft may inspect if so pleased . I am sorry to give Mr . Rosenberg ' s letter in your impression of the 2 gth ult ., a distinct denial , but , in justice to myself , I can do no otherwise , and I must continue to assert my claim to the primary conception of the work , its introduction to Bro . Haigh , and subsequent elaboration , of course in

conjunction with the artist . If a claim of this description is of importance to any one I cannot see why I should be deprived of it ; and if not—and probably it is not—there is no occasion to trouble your readers with a difference which certainly might place the parties to it in a very undignified and unfraternal position . Yours faithfully , JAMES STEVENS . [ This correspondence must cease . —En . ]

THE REVIEW OF THE BAUHUTTE . To Ihe Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir ami Brother , — 1 notice at the end of this review a paragraph which ought not t J have appeared , as it was " deleted " in proof as being tm severe . The blunder about "Sterne , " instead of " Heine , " is really quite provoking . Yours fraternally , YOUR REVIEWER . [ The mistakes ought n t to have occurred . —ED . ]

A QUAINT REPLY . To Ihe Editor ofthe " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I think the following quaint and humorous answer to an invitation to ihe Cyrus Chapter , on Tuesday last , is worthy ofa place in yoiirc-lumns . Yours fraternally , Z .

My dear S ., — The Chapter ot Cyrus I'm very desirous To visit in Tuesday ; And three exaltations ( Like ladies' saltations ) I know would amuse—nay ,

Would offer delights To the lover of Rites And Knowledge mysterious . But I'm booked , Oh ! sad fa ' c ! As I see by thc date , For a soiree less serious . Yours ever , J . M .

BRO . BURGER'S COMPLAINT . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Though you properly , in ( he first instance , refused Bro . Burger ' s letter , as your proprietor and yourself are much to be commended for keeping the Freemason clear of personality , 1 think that , after what has occurred ,

you arc quite right , despite your natural objection , as I said before , to publish the letter , as you tell me you do to-day . I do not quite understand how Bvo . Burger can have sent another copy of his letter to any other quarter , nor how your resolution not to publish thc letter on Fiiday on the ground of personality could be known in Jamaica in time .

All we can suppose is , that foreseeing that the tone of his letter might be objectionable , Bro . Burger scuta duplicate of his letter to you to someone else . Otherwise the matter is a mjsttiy . As regards any possible objection to the remarks of your original leader from Bro . Burger or any one else , on the grounds of personality or bad English , they can

only proceed from inadvertence , fio . n haste , from neglect to read the leader , from want of appreciation of our Anglo-Saxon vernacular . As a rule such objections might he passed over by you "sub silentio , " as the Frecmasor . is clearly intended for fair men , undeistandablc men , and for cultivated Misons . Your ori ginal proposition in your leader was perfectly good sense and goird grammar , and

was simply this . that in all movements for change we mi ght fairly divide thc promoters into three classes , and among them those who , though honest were Weak , and dupes , often , of greater rascals than themselves . It is a peifect misunderstanding < f the use of English cr the use of

Ianpuagc to object to such an expression , and if jocosely made it is childii-h and ridiculous , if seriously put forward it demonstrates only too conclusively that the wriler does not understand English , and that criticism on his fart is alike foolish and positively beneath notice . I am , yours fraternally . GRAMMAR .

THE BOYS' SCHOOL FESTIVAL . Tulle Editor of the" Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I am pleased to see that gentlemen being non-Masons will not be admitted to the Fcsliial of the Boys ' School in July , and feel sure that it is a mistake to

admit outsiders to summer and other festivals . A friend of mine , not a Mason , when at my house recently , told me that he had been in the habit of attending a summer festival , and , to my surprise , showed mc the sign in a sufficiently correct manner to throw thoughtless brethren off their guard . Yours fraternall y , OBSERVER .

AN OLD MASONIC BOOK . Tn the Editor if Ihe "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Neither "J . D . 168 " nor "A . S . " throws any li ght on "Thc Complete Freemason , " the books referred to by them being evidently merely copies of the Constitutions o