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COSMOPOLITAN MASONIC CALENDAR FOR 1878 . In order to obtain complete accuracy in the information given in this work , the Publisher will be glad to receive from the Officers or Members of London Lodges , Chapters , & c , the place , day , and months of meeting of their respective Lodges and Chapters . An official form , if necessary , for the information to be filled in , will be sent on application . All communications in this matter should be addressed at once to the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , E . C .

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NOTICE . THE HOLIDAYS . —Brethren leaving town for the holidays can have the Freemason forwarded to any new address on communicating with the Publisher . Non-Subscribers can have copies forwarded for two or more weeks on receipt of postage stamps at the rate of aid per copy .

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TO OUR READERS . Tne FREEMAS JH is a sixteen-page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual Subscription in the United Ki 7 igdom , Post free , 10 / 6 . P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the Chief Office , London

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NOTICE . To prevent delay or miscarriage , it is particularly requested that ALL communications for the FREEMASON , may be addressed to the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

P . M . —We cannot publish your letter , as you have not complied with our rules by sending name and address . J . C . H . —We do not publish your letter , with all fraternal respect to you , because you have misconstructed our words . Perhaps they were badly expressed , but we wrote in the interests of humanity .

REMITTANCES RECEIVED . Armstrong , R . B ., ( P . O . O . ) £ 1 16 o Batchelor , Jas ., Louisiana , ( P . O . O . ) o 18 6 Bignall , J . C ., Oudh , ( Cheque ) o 12 o Bower , R . F . ; Iowa ( B . of E . ) 1 14 o Brady , H . S ., St . Helena , ( P . O . O . ) 100 Brown , G ., U . S . A . „ 160

Caruana , C , Cairo , ... 0136 Clynes , S ., The Cape „ 140 Collins , L ., New York „ o 12 o Evans , F ., India „ o 13 o Penning , 13 ., San Francisco „ o 12 o Ffrench , A . G ., Jamaica „ 160 King , G ., ( Cash ) 0120

Lodge of Unity , N . S . W ., ( P . O . O . ) o 10 0 Matthews , J ., Egypt , o 17 4 Oldman , W ., Poona , ( B . of E . ) 1 16 0 Payn , W . B ., Newfoundland , ( P . O . O . ) , 500 Pigott , H ., Paris „ ... ... ... o 13 0

Rimer , J . C , B . of E 126 St . George ' s Lodge , Victoria , ( P . O . O . ) 3180 Smith , A ., New Zealand , ( P . O . O . ) 280 Spencer , H ., The Cape , 160 Whittaker . T ., U . S . A ., ( P . O . O . ) 1 jo o Wise , C . D ., Poona 6 16 e

Births, Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 S . 6 d . for announcements , not exceed ing four lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . BALFOUR . —On the 24 th ult ., thc Lady Balfour of Burleigh , of a daughter . DAVENPORT . —On the 24 th ult ., at Bailey ' s Hotel , South Kensington , the wife of J . W . H . Davenport , Esq ., ( late of Bramall Hall , Cheshire ) , of a son and heir .

GOULD . —On the 24 th ult ., at The Brook , Feckenham , Worcestershire , the wife of W . C . Gould , of a son . PREEDV . —On the 22 nd ult , at Budleigh Salterton , the wife of Rear Admiral Precdy , C . B ., of a daughter . RAWSON . —On the 26 th ult ., at Hammersmith , the wife of Samuel Rawson , 5 of a daughter .

MARKIAGE . YEOMAN—SCARLETT . —On the 30 th ult ., at Baptist Church , by the Rev . E . R . Edwards , Lamartine Colson Burdett , ( eldest son of Bro . T . Burdett Yeoman ) , to Jennie , youngest and only surviving daugl ter of Edward Scarlett , Esq ., Dover .

DEATHS . MASON . —On the 27 th ult ., at 66 , Hilldrop-crescent , Camden-road , Henry Mason , late of Carey-street , Lincoln ' s-inn , aged 66 . New Zealand papers please copy . PHILLIPS . —On the 23 rd ult ., Mrs . C . Phillips , of 5 , Aldermanbury-postcrn , and 14 , Waverly-place , St . John ' swood , aged 54 years , deeply lamented .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER I , 1877 .

The Agenda Paper For Grand Lodge.

THE AGENDA PAPER FOR GRAND LODGE .

The Agenda Paper for September 5 th is one of the most important that has been for some time submitted to Grand Lodge , inasmuch as it alters entirely the composition of the Board of Benevolence . Henceforth it is to be a Board of fortyfive members with a President , fifteen appointed

by the Grand Master , and thirty elected b y Grand Lodge . The Grand Master , Pro Grand Master , Deputy Grand Master , and the Grand Wardens , are to be ex-officio members , and the President is nominated by the Grand Master . The Board is to nominate a Vice-President . We think

on the whole that such a change will tend greatly to the uniform administration of our charitable fund , which is now too much affected b y chance attendance and special appeals . But we should like to suggest one or two amendments of the general proposal . We venture to think that

the Grand Treasurer , the Grand Registrar , and the Grand Chaplains for the time being should be also ex-officio members of the Board , and we cannot see why two Vice-presidents should not be nominated by the Grand Master , as well as the President . But in the limitation of the Board

of Benevolence we fully ageee , as we have for some time been convinced that the present system is neither the fairest to the petitioners , nor to the funds of Grand Lodge . We feel sure that under the proposed alterations , needful and wise in our humble opinion , our grants of charity will be made with more systematic carefulness , and with better effect than at present .

Keep Clear Of Politics

KEEP CLEAR OF POLITICS

The admirable advice of our Royal Grand Master , impressively given , as those of us will remember who listened in pride and satisfaction to his ringing words , " Keep clear of Politics , " is always seasonable advice for Freemasons . For though it be true that in Great Britain , and in

the Canadas , in the United States , and British India , in all the dependencies of our mighty empire , and among our good German brethren , this is the normal condition of Masonic life and teaching , yet there is sometimes a little tendency in us all to forget it , and in some parts of the

Masonic world it is too often forgotten altogether . In France and Belgium , especially of late years , the weak point in Masonry in each country has been the habit of certain lodges of discussing subjects not at all akin to Freemasonry , subjects which closely trench on affairs of State , subjects

which may fairly be called political , whether as leaning on a particular view , or on the " politeia " of public considerations generally . In the dark days of the Commune at Paris , French Freemasonry sank itself , in the eyes of all thinking Freemasons , by the grotesque form it assumed ,

and the baneful feelings it aroused , and in our opinion from that shock to its own principles , Freemasonry will take a long time to recover in " La Belle France . " But having said this , we think it fair to observe , that those most regrettable proceedings were the acts of a " section , " of a

" clique , " of a party , and were not participated in by the Grand Orient of France . It may , however , be feared , partly owing to its vicious organization , ( for Freemasonry has no Grand Master , unfortunately , in France ) , whether the authority of the French Grand Orient is

sufficient to curb the excesses of those wilder spirits who seem to wish to make Freemasonry a bastard offshoot of violent political partizans , of a hurtful , irrational and inflated Coramunisn . The " libres penseurs " seem to be getting the upper hand among the French Masons , and a licence in religious

teaching , and the excess of mournful speculation often accompany political theories , more or less violent , more or less " irreconcileables . " There is a party in French Freemasonry which seeks to introduce into it the views of revolutionists , hurtful to man , as well as the reveries of •' incredules , " dishonouring to God . Hence for some

Keep Clear Of Politics

time past , a battle royal , so to say , has been fought between two great parties in French Freemasonry One of these consists of those moderate men and brethren , who wish " quieta non movere " and who desire rightly to preserve the sanctions of a religious acknowledgment of the name of God

Most High for French Freemasonry , following its early and continuous teaching to this hour . The others are those who , imitating untoward example , are desirous , apparentl y of cutting away the cosmopolitan foun . dation of freemasonry . And in this melee , principles have been put forward , by

individual lodges , and by individual brethren , alike unmasonic and undesirable , which , if not opposed and "stamped out , ' will assuredly bring down French Freemasonry with a crash ! We noticed some time back the absurd proceedings of the Lodge Orion of Gal'iac . We have since heard that other

lodges have been passing political resolutions , which have brought on them the censure of the French authorities ; and now we are assured that five lodges have been closed in Toulouse , because they had becoire political bodies ; and we fear that we have not yet heard the last of similar

proceedings . What the " overt act of these lodges was , which constituted , as the lawyers say , the " corpus delicti , " we are not told , but after all that has passed , we are not surprised to hear of such acts of authority , neither shall we be . In their present unwise state of agitation and

revolution , ( as we regard it ) , the mere "jaseurs , " " the windbags , " the noisy , undisciplined irresponsible orators , are pretty sure to get the upper hand , and reduce , we fear , French Freemasonry to a position alike absurd and disingenuous , opposed to all true Freemasonry , and destructive

of any further cosmopolitan solidarity , ( to use a French expression ) . It is quite clear to us that the moment French lodges begin to pass political resolutions , as secret societies , they forfeit the " placitum " of the state , and can expect nothing but suppression . We of course

assume that the words and acts of the lodges implicated give colour to the charge , and we fear that in this " tourbillon" of unseasonable controversy into which French Freemasonry has been plunged nolens volens . many unwise speeches will be made , many unmasonic resolutions

arrived at , which will justify alike the fears , the disapproval , and the interference of lawful authority . Under these circumstances we cannot too earnestly and affectionately press upon all our readers , at home and abroad , and especially our brethren in France , to beware of the

temptation to forget that Freemasonry is not and cannot be a political institution , and that in our lodges we can only properly discuss those matters which relate to the affairs of our Order generally , or our own individual lodge in

particular , and above all the great claims of Masonic charity , but that with affairs of state we have nothing whatever to do , and that we eschesv and ignore alike the heated and often idle jargon of cantankerous politicians , just as we deprecate and abjure the angry outcries of objurgatory controversialists .

The Voice Of Humanity

THE VOICE OF HUMANITY

Happily for us all , in this world of ours , the great voice of Humanity can still be heard , even trumpet-tongued , 2 bove the din of contending armies , and the outcries of licence and anarchy .

It survives alike the fortunes of empires and the overthrow of republics , and seems , if we may so put it , to rise superior to all the " embrog lios of diplomacy and all the shortcomings of hucna " statesmanshiD . The rrreat nulse of Humanity stu

beats true as ever amid all the vicissitudes 0 ages , and all the complications of mankind , an the humanitarian sympathies of our race he deep within us all alike . say what we will . act as wema ^ reflecting credit the weakness of -A " "

on very . descendants , and glory on ] a Divine ° 'S '" It is both refreshing and consoling to reflective and the benevolent to realize and

cord that the great and tender voice ^ Humanity , both enduring and c ° sn , 0 P ollta " cij , character and purpose , belonging to no £ ? tseif confined to no one country , will still exert to-day . For as it is one entirely consonant w