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NOTICE .

Many Bomplaints having been received of the difficulty experienced in procuring the Freemason in the West-end , the publisher begs lo append the following list , being a selected few cf the appointed agents : — Black , II . T ., 47 , Great Queen-street .

Jordan , G . W ., 1 ( 19 , Strand . Kirby and Knucan , 190 , Oxford-street . Nash and Teuten , Savile Place , Conduit-street . Phillips , D ., 67 , Great Portland-street . Utting , Wm ., 2 , Palsgrave-place , Strand , And at W . H . Smith and Son ' s bookstalls .

To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important anil useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in

the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / . Brethren 111 foreign parts , wishing to have this newspaper sent them regularly from ths office of publication , should , in sending their remittances , add te the 2 d . per week the postage on 2 oz . newspapers .

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . For terms , position , & c ., apply to GEORGE KENNING , 198 , Fleet-st .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

AU Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 12 o ' clock on Wednesday morning . Careful attention will be paid to all MSS . entrusted to

the Editor , but he cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by slampcil directed covers . If " Provincial " wHI send his name to the Editor at the office of "The Freemason , " in confidence , his communication can appear ; if not , not .

The following stand over : —Bro . Tudoi s interesting letter ; statement of accounts , Supreme Council ; Lodge of Lights , Warrington ; Public School , Kilwinning . P . G . L . Cheshire .

Remittances Received.

REMITTANCES RECEIVED .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , OCT . 2 , 1875 .

Our Royal Grand Master's Visit To India.

OUR ROYAL GRAND MASTER'S VISIT TO INDIA .

Much interest is felt in the Craft about the movements of our Royal and Illustrious Brother , and so we give the following particulars of his movements , which we understand are correct : — " According to present arrangements , His Royal Hig hness will leave London on the 12 th of

Oi'tober . via Dover and Calais , for Paris , where he will arrive on the 1 . 3 th . He will leave that ik \ on thi- same day , and travel by rail to Venice , win re he will arrive on the i ( 5 th . He will then i-nibaik on board his yacht , the "Osborne , "

which will convey him on board the " Serapis . " This vessel , owing to her draught , will anchor at a distance of about seven miles from that city . It is probable that the " Serapis " will proceed thence to Corfu , but on her doing so or not depends whether the Prince will remain two days

Our Royal Grand Master's Visit To India.

or thirty-six hours only at Athens , where he will pay a visit to his brother-in-law , King George of Greece . Leaving Athens , the vessel will make her way to Pert Said , and on arriving at Ismailia His Royal Highness will disembark and visit Cairo and other places in the neighbourhood , the

" Serapis going on to Suez , her arrival at which port will be telegraphed to the Royal party , who will then hasten on by rail to rejoin her . Aden will be the last place of call , and , after a few hours' stay the " Serapis " will go on to Bombay , where she is due on the Sth of November . The

Prince will remain about eight or nine days in the Bombay Presidency , at the end of which time he will embark on board the "Serapis" for Calicut , where he will land and pay a visit to Mysore . Thence he will proceed by water to Tuticorin , on leaving which place the " Serapis "

will make direct for Colombo , where she will stay ten days . She will next go on to Trincomalee , the chief naval port of Ceylon , to coal , and will then proceed to Calcutta , where the Prince is due a day or two before Christmas . His Royal Highness will then visit Delhi , Lucknow , and other

places of interest , and will gradually work his way back to Bombay , where he is expected on the i / th of March . He will at once embark in the " Serapis , " and return by the same route as that taken on the outward trip , the proposed voyage round the Cape having been given up .

His Royal Highness will probably reach this country about the 7 th or Sth of April . Canon Duckwork will be Chaplain in attendance on His Royal Highness during his Eastern visit . The following is understood to be the route which the Prince will pursue on landing in India : —Leave

Aden for Bombay , Nov . 2 ; visit Bombay , Nov . 8 ; visit Beypoor , Nov . 23 ; Bangalore , Dec . 2 ; Madras , Dec . 6 j Tuticorin , Dec . 8 ; Colombo , Dec . 11 ; Trincomalee , jDec . 17 ; Calcutta , Dec . 23 ; Barrackur , Jan . 4 ; Benares , fan . 4 ; Lucknow , Jan . 6 ; Cawnpore , Jan . 10 ; Delhi , Jan .

11 ; Umritsur , Jan . 20 ; Lahore , Jan . 21 ; Jamoo , Jan . 24 j Lahore , Jan . 275 Stiharunpore , Jan . 28 ; Paneeput , Jan . 28 ; Agra , Jan . 29 ; Gwalior , Feb . 3 ; Agra , Feb . . 5 ; Ajmere , Feb . 7 ; Jeypore , Feb . 11 ; Bareilly , Feb . 13 ; Lucknow , Feb . 29 ; Allahabad , Feb . 29 ; Jubbulpore , Maich 2 ;

Kudwah , March 7 j Indore , March 9 ; Kundwah , March ir ; Ellora , March 12 ; Dowlutabad , March 14 ; Bombay , March 15 ; Poona , March lg ; and Sattara , March 19 . The "Serapis " left on Sunday , and the " Osborne " will shortly follow . The following

description of the " Serapis " may interest some of our readers . The " Serapis" is now ready for sea , the Prince ' s apartments having been finished . The Royal furniture is all of unpolished English oak , and the sofas , chairs , tables , & c , are covered with brown morocco leather stamped with the

Prince s arms and initials , the tables having a broad band of gold , the design being the rose , shamrock , and thistle , and the three feathers in each corner . The saloon is white , with pale blue and gold , and medallions of the Indian troop-ship ' s crest , the sides are ornamented b y

eight pier-glasses , the Brussels carpet is of Persian pattern , and the table cloths Indian . The windows are shaded by dark green silk blinds and lace curtains . The Prince has a double set of private apartments , on one side of the vessel for the outward , and on the other for the

homeward voyage . Sixty guests can be accommodated at the principal dining table , but a smaller one for 24 persons will be generally used . The " Serapis " has been painted white , while round her runs a gold moulding , edged each side with a blue ribbon . Owing to the superior speed of

the " Serapis the Flying Squadron will meet her at Bombay instead of Aden . We are further told that their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales , with Princes Albert Victor and George , and Princesses Louise Victoria and Maud , attended by Miss Knollys , Lieutenant

Colonel Teesdale , Mr . Francis Knollys , Mr . Holzmann , and the Rev . J . N . Dalton , arrived at Sandringham on Friday evening from London . Their Royal Highnesses will probably remain at Sandringham till the Prince ' s departure for

India . We shall continue to keep the Craft informed of our Royal Grand Master ' s movements , as in his visit to India he goes accompanied by the "hearty good wishes" of our entire brotherhood .

The " Month " And Freemasonry.

THE " MONTH " AND FREEMASONRY .

The "Month and Catholic Review , " as it terms itself , is a monthly periodical of some literary pretensions , belonging to the Roman Catholic communion . The number for September besides some very able and interesting articles in themselves , contains one on Freemasonry ,

' •' communicated , as the editor takes pains to point out . It seems that the writer is an Ani'li . can-Ritualist , that the article itself" has been refused insertion in more than one Protestant or . gan of influence , " on account , as the editor naively adds , " we may fairly presume , of its

candid witness about the tendency of Freemasonry . " We confess that we feel some astonishment that ouv " confrere " did not see at once that some other reason might be alleged for the rejection of this high-spiced article . We fancythat the cause is not far to seek , namely , its

worthlessness as a fair treatment of a remarkable subject , its obvious unreliability as a statement of facts , and , above all , its intense weakness of argument from first to last . We think also that if we were Roman Catholics we should prefer to fight under our own banners , and not

adopt that very piebald one , under which some few of our modern ritualists are content to fig ht to-day . We believe , however , that as regards Freemasonry the " Catholic School , " as it calls itself , in the Church of England is greatly divided , and we therefore . henceforth shall not

treat such utterances as the utterances of a party , but only of individuals . The present attack on Freemasonry is a very weak and incoherent one , Cribbing the idea from a Roman Catholic Abbe , the writer declares . that Masonic signs and symbols are Gnostic , and that Freemasonry and

Gnosticism have joined hands . Begging the writer ' s pardon , a greater piece of nonsense never was put forth ; a more hopeless betrayal of ignorance of historical accuracy never was made . Freemasonry has about as much to do with the Gnostics as the writer of the article has to do

with Druidism , or any other ism . It is simply a piece of Roman Catholic " chaff , " which we wonder at a grave Anglican taking up , though , as Horace Walpole once wittily observed to some Roman Catholic friends who refused meat on a "jour maigre , " " you eat nothing , but you

swallow everything . So at this moment , some of our young Ritual-Catholic friends have a very capacious swallow for all that appertains to Romish attacks on Freemasonry . Though why we know not , and cannot for the life of us understand . Among other objections the writer

makes is that Christianity is ignored , and that it is " un-Masonic" to use our Saviour ' s name . The fact is that many Chaplains do just the contrary , and there is nothing in our "formularies" to prevent or forbid the use of a Christian prayer , It is true that since 1813 the

general rule has been to make our prayers Theistic , on the principle of the Lord ' s Prayer , and as best according with the universality of our Order . But this argument , it appears to us , though good , no doubt , for a Christian place of worship , is out of court in a Freemasons' lodge ,

and if the objector is consistent to his own princip les he must object to the use of the Lord ' s Prayer altogether . It is , to our own mind , perfectly plain that the position of the Chaplain iii Freemasonry is very easy and simple , and that he is perfectly consistent , and doing his duty ,

when he offers up a prayer in which all believers in God can join , alike for the promotion of a social brotherhood and the practice of humanitarian charity , The writer says Freemasons never use the New Testament in lodges . He is

quite in error . In a good provincial lodge which we know well the 13 th chapter of the ist Ep istle to the Corinthians is read regularly before business , with unanimous approval , both of Christian and Hebrew brethren . This writer ,

who signs " Joabert M ., " need not be inanyappri ! - hension of Freemasons , though he says , pag 101 , " unless before the month come tound I be burked at a railway station , or throttled in a crowd by one of the social brethren sworn to vengeance on his way home from a Grand Lodge dinner at Freemasons' Tavern . " After this we

may have some doubt of his " sanity , at any rate , we can have none of his utter incompetency to discuss a very deep question , though he