To Correspondents.

To Correspondents .

The following stand over until next week -. — . What is Freemasonry ?; Sunelerland Lodge of Instruction ; Ashbury Ledge , No . 1439 ; Lodge of Industry , No . 48 ; Royal Arch Chapter of Instruction , Manchester ; Chapter of Fortitude , No . 279 , Leicester ; The Provinces and the Charities ; De Lacy Encampment , No . 95 ; Royal Oscar Lodge and Temple .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Brief , " " Keystone , " " Hull Packet , " " Broad Arrow , " "Hertfordshire Mercury , " "Newcastle Courant , " " The Royal Cornwall , Gazette , " " Alliance News , " " Masonic Newspaper , " " Modern Thought , " " Hertfordshire

Mercury , " "American Traveller , " "The Freemason , Australia , " "The Rough Ashlar , " "Greenhouse Favourites , " "Magazine of Art , " "The New Vol . of the Quiver , " " Masonic Review , " " Hebrew Leader , " " The Liberal Freemason . "

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . od . for announcements not exceeding Four Lines under this heading . ] BIRTHS . AsiiBuitNER . —On the 24 th ult ., at Kensington Park-road , the wife of the Hon . L . R . Ashburner , of a daughter . WHITE . —On the 1 st ult ., at Willowdale , Darjeeling , the wife of Lieut . W . H . White , of a son

MARRIAGE . YARIH . F . Y—ENGLISH . —On the 22 nd ult ., at Holy Trinity Church , Gray ' s Inn-road , Henry Bowdich Yardley , of Denmark-terrace , Hervey-road , Leytonstone , to Julia , daughter of J . English , of Lamb ' s Conduitstreet , W . C .

DEATHS . FiEi . n . —On the 27 th u ! t ., at 273 , Regent-street , W ., William Field , late of Paris , eldest son of Capt . Field , of Meriden , aged 31 . LONDON . —On the 23 rd ult ., Elizabeth , wife of John London , of Hallilorel-street , Islington , aged 70 years , formerly many years resident in Newcastle-on-Tync .

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In the Press , and will be Heady in a Few Days , THE COSMOPOLITAN MASONIC CALENDAR Diary , and Pocket Book for 1880 . PRICE 2 s . Ornci :: rrjS , FLEET STREET , LONDON , E . C .

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THE FREEMASON . SATURDAY , NOVF . MBER r , 1879 .

H.R.H. Prince Leopold At Sheffield.

H . R . H . PRINCE LEOPOLD AT SHEFFIELD .

All the members of our Craft will be deeply pleased with the appearance and utterances of their distinguished brother at Sheffield . As W . M . of the Lodge of Antiquity , as Prov . G . M . of Oxfordshire , as P . G . W . of England , H . R . H . comes before our loyal Craft , invested with all

the attributes which add incentives to loyal regard and Masonic sympathy . Like our Royal Family in general , Prince Leopold never foigets that he too , despite his high rank , has not to lead an idle life , merely a "denizen of palaces , " but that he is a worker in the great hive of our

industrious community . And , therefore , it is that our English people , always indulgent and ever sympathetic , rejoice to see him making use of his high talents and many gifts , " pro bono publico , " ready to assist in all efforts , when the state of liis health permits , which tend either to the

development of art , the furtherance of science , the spread of education , or the cultured progress of civilized humanity . Prince Leopold seems to have a special career marked out for him in the providence of T . G . A . O . T . U ., alike honourable to himself and beneficial to society , and which

obtains tor him the marked approval and applause of all thinking persons amongst us . Inheriting in signal measure many of the tastes and ideas of his lamented father , if debarred from a more active life , he has time , happily , to devote to subjects which , whether utilitarian or ornate , are ever helpful here to the best interests of peace and

progress , and serve to consolidate and cement in one homiigeneous pyramid the different orders and separated classes of society . When the late Prince Consort , in one of his best and most comprehensive speeches , gave us the golden opinion that the " interests of the most widely contrasted classes are identical , " he not only struck a chord which vibrated through the active sym-

H.R.H. Prince Leopold At Sheffield.

pathies of society and thought , bu the offered us the key note , let us hope and trust , to the ' eventual harmonies of advancing and intelligent civilization . To us , as Freemasons , the same teaching always comes home , as it is the ground work , so to say , of our whole Masonic building , and is

one which serves to compact and cement our Order with those loyal , and yet fraternal emotions which colour all our professions , which dominate , or ought to dominate , at any rate , all our practice . With the immediate work , in which Prince Leopold took so honourable and

distinguished a part , we shall , as Freemasons , also heartily sympathize . To Mr . Mark Firth the best thanks of all are due for having sought among the crowded masses of our countrymen to place the means of shelter , instruction , and recreation within the reach of the humblest and poorest of

us all , to open out a path for honest industry , and to offer rewards for happy intelligence and hard working zeal . As Freemasons , preferring light to darkness , relig ion to superstition , cultivation to ignorance , we shall rejoice in all undertakings which subserve the great end of intellectual

cnltivation , which seek or serve to " encourage industry and reward merit , " and we are glad to read the words and note the presence of our exalted Bro . Prince Leopold at such memorable gatherings , and in so goodly , and peaceful , and fraternal a warfare .

The Grand Lodge Of Scotland And The Grand Lodge Of Quebec.

THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND AND THE GRAND LODGE OF QUEBEC .

It seems from the last report of the meeting of the Grand Lodge of Quebec that the " position " in this serious controversy remains unchanged . The Grand Lodge of Quebec appears also desirous of commencing a similar angry discussion with the Grand Lodge of England ,

but which if the Grand Lodge of England is wise it will decline to carry on . Forewarned is forearmed , and the position of the Grand Lodge of England in the matter is so legally and constitutionally unassailable , that its best recourse , in our opinion , is dignified reserve and silence .

As regards the question at issue we note with pleasure that our contemporary , the New York Dispatch , in its Masonic sheet , admits that the original position of the Scotch lodges was right and the course of the Grand Lodge of Quebec wrong , for it den i ed the absolute and alienable privilege

of the Scottish Lodges warranted by the Grand Lodge of Scotland to retain their lawful connection , if they so willed it , with their mother G . Lodge . This is what wejiave always contended to be the real " Crux " in the whole matter , and on this point we have never doubted for one

moment what is the law , as we have often ventured to explain . It is a most important question thus raised , rashly and unwisely , we think , by the Grand Lodge of Quebec , namely , the very reality , legality , and independence of all lodge existence . How far

the Grand Lodge of Scotland is wise or unwise , rig ht or wrong , in setting up a Prov . Grand Lodge is not for us to decide . It is but fair , however , to the Grand Lodge of Scotland to say that it has only acted after great provocation , after its ancient organization had been practically

" excommunicated" with almost Ultramontane violence of expression , and its attached and faithful members in Canada deprived of their normal privileges as Masons , and held up to universal odium and blame . Under these circumstances it has a moral and Masonic ri ght ,

we think , to throw its " aegis " over the faithful brethren who hail from " Auld Reekie , " and are loyal and steadfast to the principles and centre of Scottish Masonry . We see with much regret that the " Keystone " does not go along with us in the matter . So far we have been like Masonic Siamese twins , and we fear for this " severance " in the best interests of Freemasonry .

Most Unsound Masonic Teaching.

MOST UNSOUND MASONIC TEACHING .

Our attention has been called by a Masonic contemporary in the United States to a speech reported in the " Chaine d' Union " for September

Most Unsound Masonic Teaching.

last , ( edited by our esteemed confrere Hubert ) , to which our friend takes most serious exception , and which we also feel bound as honest journalists , and , above all , in the interests of Cosmopolitan Freemasony , at once to animadvert upon and protest against . Indeed , remembering Bro .

Hubert ' s known views on the subject , and that of many sympathetic French brethren , we confess we are surprised and grieved to read such an "Oration" reported in the " Chaine d'Union , " without a note of warning , as it is the duty of all Freemasons at once to repudiate

such teaching in the most emphatic terms , as contrary to comniein sense and injurious to Freemasonry everywhere . It seems that our good Bro . Hubert reproduced in the " Chaine d'Union , " from the " Reveil de la Dordogne , " an account of a " Masonic feast at

Perigueux , " in the words which follow . Knowing from personal experience how often reports slip in , and how difficult it is to keep out the very passages which ought not to appear , we are inclined to look upon this paragrap h , as one of those little " accidents" to which the best of editors are liable . Sure we are that the

sentiments are not those of Bro . Hubert . But now for the statement . " Last Sunday , the Feast of the Summer-Solstice brought together , in the Masonic Temple of the Rue Saint-Front , the members who constitute the lodge , and a great number , from all points of the department , who

had taken advantage of the general invitation , happy to strengthen the ties which unite them , especially to their brothers of Perigueux . After the labours of the day , during which three new Freemasons received light , a banquet took place in the vast park , which , however , proved too

small to receive the numerous guests who had flocked together to cement , in a fraternal Jovefeast , the reciprocal feelings of strong solidarity which animate them . Seldom has it fallen to our lot to be present at a more brilliant Masonic feast . At the beginning of the banquet , the

Orator arose from his chair , and delivered the following address , which we are happy to be able to reproduce : ' In our ancient love-feasts , the Orator began by inviting you to place your labour under the authority and protection ol the Great Architect of the Universe . That

invocation , nowadays , has ceased to be regular . But if the formula was obliged to disappear , you have already admitted , on a former occasion , that we should preserve its fundamental idea and thought . Henceforth , the tradition is established in our lodge to replace the antiquated invocation

by a simple reminding by the Orator of the always sublime character of our unions . In fact , my brothers , whatsoever may be ihe nature of the labour to which we are going to apply ourselves in the courts of the Te : np ] » , we should never forget what we are , and what we always should remain—seekers of ideas , men devoted to

the labour of thought . For a certainty there is room for all here ; there is room for all those , at least , who possess the good-will to study the great questions relating to the origin and destiny of

man , his faculties , and consequently the institutions which must govern him . But the Great Architect of the Universe does not preside over our work any longer . The time has passed when we worked with fear under the timid forms of

relig ion . Finally , disengaged , we clearly perceive , to-day , that we do not belong to those who , in the great and incontestable harmony of Christian Spiritualism , think themselves able to cut all difficulties at once by faith alone . In spite of the torments , caused by the painful labour of doubt , and by the honest investigation of truth , we strive to rest as free-thinkers in the safe

harbour of sure , positive opinions , independent in philosophy , in morals , and in politics . In this research , my brothers , we have no longer faith for a guide , nor the Great Architect of the Universe for a Master . Our only means , our only tool is reason . Reason is the secret light which illuminates and fecundates our labour .

Reason is the great witness towards which we should incessantly and on every occasion elevate our minds and our hearts . In consequence , my brother , you will not be offended if your Orator takes the liberty to recommend to you—not forgetting himself—at the moment that we are going to sit down at this table of equality and fraternity , to preserve from all dethroning a