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To ADVERTISERS . THE Circulation of . T HE FREEMASON being now at the rate of nearly Half-a-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed of the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason is now the accepted organ ofthe Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 2 , 3 , & 4 , LITTLE BRITAIN , LONDON , E . C .

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NOTICE . The Subscription to T HE FREEMASON is now io _ . per annum , post-free , payable iu advance . Vol . I ., bound in cloth 45 . 6 d . Vol . II ., ditto 7 s . 6 d . Vol . III ., ditto 15 s . od . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . 6 d . United . States of America . THE FREKMASON is delivered free in any part of the United States for 12 s . per annum , payable in advance .

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All communications for Tun F REEMASON should be written legibly on one side of thc paper only , and , if intended for insertion in the current number , must be received not later than 10 o'clock a . m . on Thursdays , unless in very special cases . The name and address of every writer must be sent to us iu confidence .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , J 3 , 1871 .

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THE FREEMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains . The price of Tim F RBIIMASOS is Twopence per week ; annual subscription , . ( payable in advance ) . All comnunications , letters , & C ., to be addressed to the EDITOK , , and 4 , Little Britain , K . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to Vim but cannot undertake to return tliem unless accompanied by postage stamps .

Business To Be Transacted In Grand Lodge.

BUSINESS to be TRANSACTED in GRAND LODGE .

ON Wednesday , the 7 th tnst ., Grand Lodge will hold its usual Quarterly Communication , and the first business which calls for special notice will be the election of

members of the Board of General Purposes , when the brethren will have an opportunity of selecting from a large number of

candidates , all of whom , wc doubt not , arc worthy , although there may be degrees in their Masonic worth . The election of

members of the Colonial Board will then be held , and as the duties of this Board are not considered so important as those of the Board of General Purposes , there

are fewer aspirants for the honour of election . There will , however , be a contest , as more than thc required number of members have been nominated .

The choice of members ofthe Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution will be the next business , followed by the report of the

Lodge of Benevolence for the last quarter , in which recommendations to Grand Lod ^ c o for grants amounting to , £ 300 were made .

The report of the Board of General Purposes will then be taken , and we regret to see that the Board have recently had to adjudicate upon grave offences against the

Business To Be Transacted In Grand Lodge.

civil code , as well as against Masonic law . In one instance it is alleged that the Secretary of a lodge has not accounted for certain moneys received bv him in his

official capacity , and , further , that he has not appeared before the Board to answer the complaint preferred against him , thus adding contumacy to the other offences

laid to his charge . It must at all times be a most unpleasant duty to take cognizance of the derelictions of the brethren , but in the present case it is not merely an error

of judgment that the Board has to deal with , but a most reprehensible breach of trust , committed by a Mason when in temporary possession of the funds of his

lodge . The Board have therefore justly marked their sense of the transaction by suspending tlie offender from his Masonic functions " until such time as he shall make

submission , and grace be granted him . " The second and third cases which the Board have had under consideration , although affording matter for serious comment , are

happily free from the taint of moral turpitude . They reveal , however , the fact that a very discreditable state of negligence exists on the part of brethren whose

bounden duty it is to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the laws which govern the English Craft . In the first place , it appears that a candidate who had

been duly approved at a meeting of the lodge , and who presented himself at the next meeting for initiation , was passed over in favour of five , other candidates who were

only elected at the latter meeting . But a still grosser irregularity took place on the same occasion , when the Master allowed three distinct ballots to be taken for one

and the same person , "he , " to quote the words of the report , " having been blackballed on the two first ballots . " This , as a matter of course , strikes at thc very

principle of the ballot , and renders the whole proceeding simply a mockery . The Board have therefore suspended the lodge , and censured the Immediate Past Master

under whose presidency the irregularities were committed . Upon the report of the Colonial Board an important question of jurisdiction arises .

Our readers are aware that a majority of the lodges held in the province of Quebec have formed a Grand Lodge , and we hold , and have ever held , that in taking this

step they were perfcctlyjustified . Among the lodges supposed to have joined in the movement was the St . George ' s Lodge at Montreal , No . 440 on the register of thc

Grand Lodge of England . It appears that the Master and other brethren were willing to secede , but no less than twenty-nine members of the lodge protested against the

secession , and claimed the warrant in accordance with the laws of their mother Grand Lodge . But the Master has not surrendered the warrant , neither has he taken

notice of the orders of tlie Colonial Board respecting it . He is therefore very properly suspended from his Masonic functions as an unworthy member of the Craft , the resolu-

Business To Be Transacted In Grand Lodge.

tions arrived at by the Board being as follow : ist . That Bro . William Edgar Coquillette , who has seceded from the St . George ' s Lodge , No . 440 , Montreal , not having , as directed by this Board ,

delivered up the warrant to the members of the lodge who adhered to their allegiance , according to Article 29 , page 71 , of the Book of Constitutions , edition 1 S 67 , has violated his obligation as Master of that lodge .

2 nd . That Bro . William Edgar Coquillette , late of St . George ' s Lodge , No . 440 , Montreal , be suspended from his Masonic functions , and that notice of such suspension be transmitted to the District

Grand Master of Montreal , the various lodges under the English Constitution intheDominionof Canada , and to the Grand Lodges of Canada , Nova Scotia , and New Brunswick .

Verily , Brother Coquillette will be no acquisition to the Grand Lodge of Quebec , and for the sake of the many honourable

men comprised in that body , we hope he will not be in any way supported in his unmasonic conduct by the Masons of Ouebec .

Among the proposed motions to come before Grand Lodge we find the following extraordinary query by Brother Sir Patrick Colquhoun , No . 447 : — " Whether Grand Lodge countenance the Rite of 0

Misraiin of 90 , the Rite of Memphis , and the Order of Rome and Constantine ? and if not , whether it be consistent with the position of a subaltern in the Grand Secretary's office that he take a lead in these unrecognised degrees ?"

It is to be regretted that the worthy brother has- not studied the Constitutions of the English Fraternity to more advantage , or he would have known that , "by the solemn Act of Union between the two

Grand Lodges of Freemasons of England in December , 1813 , it was ' declared and pronounced that pure Antient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more , viz ., those of the Entered Apprentice , the Fellow

Craft , and the Master Mason , including the Supreme Order ofthe Holy Royal Arch . '" But there is evidently a latent motive in the inquiry , and we fear it is one not very creditable to the doughty Crusader . An

insane desire to damage the popular chivalric Order known as the " Red Cross of Constantine " seems to be the real object of thc interrogatories ; but , inasmuch as Grand Lodge has nothing whatever to do

with the unrecognised degrees , whether they be the Rose Croix , thc Red Cross , or the Templar , we are of opinion that Sir Patrick has shot somewhat wide of the mark , and that his query will be relegated to the limbo of " rejected addresses . "

Bro . Raynham VV . Stewart will propose "That in future the meetings of Grand Lodge shall take place at five o ' clock in the afternoon , and that the law No . io , relating to the Laws of Grand Lodge , be altered

from 'ten by inserting the word ' eight ' instead of' ten ' in the second line ; " but we do not believe that this motion is likely to be carried—as , however desirable it may be not to protract the business ofthe Grand

Lodge to a late hour , five o ' clock would be a very inconvenient time to many who are accustomed to dine after thc labours of the

day arc concluded . In this case , however , every brother will naturally study his own convenience , as no great principle is involved , and we merely express what we