To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The FREEMASON is a 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 . Subscription , including postage : United America , India , India , China , & c .

Kingdom , the Continent , & c . Via Brindisi . Twelve Months ios . 6 d . 12 s . od . 17 s . 4 d . Six , „ 5 s . 3 d . 6 s . 6 el . 8 s . 8 d . Three „ 2 s . 8 d . 3 s . 3 d . 4 s . 6 d . Subscriptions may be paid for in stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , the former payable to GEORGE KENNING , CHIEF OFFICE , LONDON ,

thc latter crossed London Joint Stock Bank . Advertisements and other business communications should be addressed to the Publisher . Communications on literary subjects and books for review are to be forwarded to the Editor . Anonymous correspondence will be wholly disregarded , and the return of rejected MSS . cannot be guaranteed . Further information will be supplied on application to the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

Important Notice.

IMPORTANT NOTICE .

COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month . It is very necessary for our readers to advise

us of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them . Several P . O . O . ' s are now in hand , but having received no advice we cannot credit them .

Foreign Remittances Received.

FOREIGN REMITTANCES RECEIVED .

£ s . d . Adamson , G ., New York , ... ... ... o 12 o Benjamin , F ., India , ... ... ... ... 012 o Callaway , H ., Malta ,... ... ... ... o 3 3 Campbell , D ., Jamaica , ... o 12 o

Ebert , J . W ., 1 10 0 Edwards , W ., Paris , o 12 0 fitch , G ., Canada , ... ... ... ... 012 o Goldsmith , L . R ., Panama , 1 1 5 2 Gutteridge , E . J ., ... 1 3 10 Hill , T . J ., South Africa , o 12 o Jackson , F ., Jamaica ,... ... ... ... o 12 o

lisle , F . J ., New Zealand , ... ... ... o 12 o lodge of Friendship , Gibralta , ... ... ... o 12 o „ Meridian , The Cape ... ... ... o 12 o „ Victoria , British Burmah , ... ... o 12 o Robertson , T . N ., Ceylon o 12 o Sly , F ., Victoria , 100 Smithies , E . J ., The Cape , 1 3 10

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

BOOKS , & c . RECEIVED . "The Civilian ; " "The Liverpool Mercury ; " "The Boot and Shoemaker ; " " DerTriangel ; " " Cornerstone ;" " Australian Freemason ; " " Masonic Review ; " " Kalender fur Freimaurer " ( Bro . C . van DaJen ) ; " Brief ; " "Night and Day ; " "The Hebrew Leader ; " "Our Home , a Masonic and Family Journal ; " "The

Scottish Freemason ; " "Hull Packet ; " "The Garden Oracle ; " " The Masonic Newspaper ; " " The Liberal Freemason ; " " The Masonic Record of Western India ; " " Broad Arrow ; " " Voice of Masonry ; " - 'TheMasonic Herald ; " " The London Express ; " " Freemasons ' Monthly ; " " Keystone ; " " Design and Work ; " " The Colonies and India ; " "A Pastoral for the Year 1879 . "

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

. BIRTH . PRESTON . —On the 261 I 1 ult ., at Stafford-villas , Brixton , the wife of H . W . Preston , of a son .

DEATHS . BOVD . —On thc 30 th ult ., suddenly at 94 , Buckingham . Palace-road , John Boyd , aged 6 9 vears . DUFF . —On the 23 rd ult ., Col . Duff \ M . P ., P . G . Supt designate Norfolk . FAR WIG . —On the 20 th ult ., at her residence , 208 , Brixtonrnad , S . W ., Christina Elizabeth , widow of Frederick

William Farwig , late of Henrietta-strett , Coventgarden , in hir 72 nd year . HEAD . —On the 24 th ult ., at 12 , Earl's Terrace , Kensington , Benjamin Head , aged 78 years . R 1 NO ROSE . —On the 28 th ult ., at his residence , Woodgreen , John Ringrose , Surgeon , iii praclice for 37 years

I-at Potter ' s Bar , Barntt , in the 75 th year of his age . STONE . —On the 24 th ult ., at Ventnor , Bro . William Stone , of Myddleton-square , many years with Messrs . Vyse , Sons , and Co ., Wood-street , aged 33 . WonMAi . 0 . —On the 17 th ult ., Bryan Wormaid , after five years' illness .

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THEFREEMASONSATURDAY , J ANUARY 4 , 1879 .

The New Year.

THE NEW YEAR .

With the new year which has now dawned upon us all when this has met the eyes of our many and kind readers in all parts of the world , the Freemason in all sincerity of heart begs to offer to thtm one and all , heartfelt good wishes for 1879 . May it be of undimmed happiness to all our

zealous patrons , to our good old Order everywhere , and to mankind . It is indeed impossible for us to shut our ears or close our eyes to the sounds and sig hts of much anxiety , depression , and suffering all around us , and no thoughtful Freemason , much less any English patriot , will

wish or think it right to be insensible to what is patent just now , asalike painful and sorrowful , or to what is possible , or even probable , in the good providence of T . G . A . O . T . U . in the twelvemonths , ( unknown and untrod ) , which now lie before us . We end 1878 , as we begin 1879 ,

with national affliction , ( in which the hearts of the people is bowed down as one man ) , for the premature loss of the lamented and gifted Princess Alice . Only let us believe reverently that what is our " loss " is , no doubt , her " gain , " iu the , to us , " inscrutable counsels of the Most

High . " We leave 1878 , and we begin 1879 , with much of local suffering , as well as a serious extension of mercantile embarassment , and , in addition to this , we ] have also to realize a vast amount of personal distress . To none of these things can we , as loyal citizens , or

zealous Freemasons , be indifferent , and we trust earnestly that 1879 may witness a speedy amelioration of a state of affairs , alike affecting and distressing for all who have capacity to think or hearts to feel . The charity of our Order , ever liberal and discriminating , may well be aroused

at the sight of so much suffering among our fellow citizens and fellow creatures . Indeed , it may be a question whether some of our leading brethren might not form a committee to assist similar committees elsewhere . And thus the new year meets us , let us trust neither insensible

to duty or insensible to responsibility . What 1879 will bring to any of us we cannot tell today . Its dark or sunny hours are still parted from us in the veiled and distant recesses of the mysterious future of an all-controlling Providence . But as Freemasons we leave an old year and hail a new one in a spirit of becoming hope , trust ,

and resignation . With the great American poet we can say , and should say" Look not scornfully into the past It comes not back again j Wisely improve the present—it is thine . Go forth to meet the shadowy future Without fear , and with a manly heart . "

Foreign Freemasonry In 1878.

FOREIGN FREEMASONRY IN 1878 .

The immense length to which our " Summary " of the yearly record of the Freemason extended on December 21 st , excluded from any proper treatment necessarily , the history of non-Britannic freemasonry , unless , indeed , we had wished to exhaust utterly the courteous attention

of our readers . Many of our friends dislike long leaders as much as they disapprove of long sermons , and as we are not anxious to weary others , and admit freely that patience has its limits , alike with sermons as with leaders , we always seek to make a proper and charitable allowance for the

amiable weakness of our good readers as men and Masons . Accordingly , we supplement to-day our yearly summary , with the following b -ief recapitulation : —In France and Belgium the situation is as bad as can be , in fact it cannot be worse ,

and as it neither deserves the sympathy of the patriot , nor calls for the consideration of the Mason , we may well leave these two insubordinate jurisdictions without further heed or notice to lhat non-masonry to which they are rapidly drifting . It is very doubtful whether they can

Foreign Freemasonry In 1878.

justly be considered offshoots of the one great and true Masonic family . They are altering their rituals to please positivist Masons and nihilist professors , and propose to erase from all their circulars their solitary recognition of T . G . A . O . T . U . It is quite clear from the mournful and insane

proceedings of the last " Couvent " of the French Grand Orient that such erasure is only a question of time . In addition to this , they have " taken power" to establish lodges in "hostilejurisdictions , " so that we may soon hear of French lodges in England , Scotland ,

Ireland , Canada , and America . Not being Masons , we shall simply not recognize them : and , of course , the moment such a fact is a " fait accompli" all relations between French and English and American Masonry will " ipso facto " cease , and French Masons will be inadmissible

in Anglo-Saxon lodges . We leave them to-day with feelings of commiseration and unmitigated regret . In Germany Freemasonry , under the wise patronage of our august brother , the Emperor of Germany , and of the Crown Prince , pursues its peaceful course . The meeting of theGrand

Masters seem practically to have taken the view of the Freemason , of the " position , " and to have condemned , ( by implication at any rate ) , the proceedings of the French Grand Orient . In Spain and Portugal Freemasonry is in activity , though in Spain a divided body under great

disadvantages . In Italy the Grand Orient of Italy seems to be acting with prudence and discretion , though we feel bound to admit that we have received from most reliable sources , complaints of political , and even revolutionary tendencies in Italian Freemasonry . All we can say is , if that

be so , that their practice belies their profession . Our worthy Bro . J . C . Paikinson can best enlighten English Masons on the subject . Freemasonry seems also to be flourishing truly in Denmark and Sweden and Hungary , ( though again here with divided authority ) , in Switzerland

and Holland , and to be springing into life again in Austria . In Russia it is still absolutely prohibited , though it was once highly favoured by the upper classes , and even patronized by the Empress Catherine . In Canada , Freemasonry is moving on , though the Grand Lodge of Quebec

has in the heat of controversy put forward pretentions of jurisdiction which are inadmissible Many of the professing Masonic jurists in Canada ( of more then doubtful authority ) confound the rights of a sectional , or provincial , or district Grand Lodge with that of a National Grand

Lodge . The analogy of the American Grand Grand Lodges is fallacious , as the States of America are Sovereign States , upon an equality with one another , and claim a quasi national jurisdiction . But the Grand Lodge of Quebec only represents a portion of a nationality and is

practically an " Imperium " in an " Imperio . " Assuming that it is legally formed , it can only claim to exercize the rights the Grand Lodge of Canada claimed to exercize and did exercize ; it cannot by self asserting resolutions extend its powers beyond Masonic precedent , or " in

ternational comity . " We are very sorry thus to express our opinions , but feel bound to speak out clearly on the subject , whether we please or displease others . We confess that we feel very proud « f the position of the American Freemasons . 700 , 000 brethren seem to

be acting with most commendable zeal and correctness in the maintenance of our great principles , and we rejoice to think that we are entirely one with them , alike in the assertion of Masonic truths and the " outcome " of Masonic practice . The American Masons have some

difficulties to contend with of which we know nothing , and as in their national life so in their Masonic progress , they demand and deserve the admiration of the reflecting , and the sympathy of the intelligent . In South America Freemasonry is working on under many drawbacks , but we

hear of its progress alike in Mexico , Brazil , La Plata , Peru , Uruguay , Venezuela , New Grenada . Freemasonry is at work in Liberia , and the Island of Cuba . Freemasonry is also apparently progress sing in Turkey , Greece , and Egypt , as well as in Hayti and St . Domingo . Indeed , as Bro . Kenning ' s Cosmopolitan Calendar tells us , " In every land we find a friend , In everv port a lodge . "