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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 j otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The Treemason has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be- overrated . ADVERTISEMENTS should reach the Office , 198 Fleet Street , London , not later than 12 o ' clock on Wednesday , to insure insertion in the following Saturday ' s number . The Rates for Advertisements may be had on application at the Office .

The "Freemason."

THE "FREEMASON . "

The Christmas number of the " Freemason " will appear on the 23 rd December , and will consist of 32 pages , to subscribers as usual , to non-subscribers 4 d . Orders to prevent disappointment , as the demand will be so large , should be sent at once to the Publisher 198 , Fleet Street , London .

The "Masonic Magazine."

THE "MASONIC MAGAZINE . "

The Christmas number of the Masonic Magazine will be ready on the 22 nd of December , and will be a double number . To subscribers as usual , to non-subscribers is .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

A WELL WISHER is very much thanked , and his communication is under consideration . A full report of the opening of the Worcester Lodge , 1603 , at Worcester , Cape of Good Hope , will appear in our pages at the first convenient opportunity . R . W . O . —Much obliged , but already in prinf .

Bro . Jacob Norton ' s letter , for which he is much thanked , will appear , owing to our crowded pages , in the "Masonic Magazine " for December . Music . —In the notice of "Our Nelly Waltz , " & o , by a mistake of Bro . Anderson's , Mr . Williams was said to have been proposed in "Thc Great City Lodge , " whereas it ought to have been the " City of London Lodge , " No . 901 .

Remittances Received.

REMITTANCES RECEIVED .

£ 3 . d . Abbott , F ., Canada ( P . O . O . ) 1 6 o Bevan , J ., New Zealand ( P . O . O . ) 1 4 o Collins , James , India ( P . O . O . ) o 12 o Cook . Wm .. laDan ( Draft ) o 17 A .

Devereux , G ., Inglewood ( P . O . O . ) 226 Ferguson , Jas ., Tasmania ( P . O . O . ) 1 1 o Graham , A ., New York ( P . O . O . ) 0120 Griffiths , R ., Australia ( P . O . O . ) 116 o Hutton , Lieut .-Col . Canada ( P . O . O . ) o 12 o Money , E . M .. India ( Cash ) 100

Pattison , S ., Egypt ( Draft ) o 17 4 Richardson , T ., New York ( P . O . O . ) o 12 o Smith , J ., India ( P . O . O . ) 50 o Turner , N ., California ( P . O . O . ) 0120 Watkins , Jas ., Bermuda ( P . O . O . ) o 12 o Wolff , E ., Kronstad O . F . S . ( Cash ) 012 3

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 . BENSON . —On the a 8 th ult ., at Brondesbury-road , N . W ., the wife of H . B . Benson , of a son . FABER . —On the 25 th ult ., at Clifton-hill , N . W ., the wife of Louis Faber , of a son , stillborn . GORDON . —On the 20 . h ult ., at Staunton , Notts , the wife of G . Gordon , Esq ., of a son . LAW . —On the 25 th ult ., at Barnstaple , the wife of A . J . Law , of a daughter .

MARRIAGES . PROUT—WILLING . —On the 26 th ult ., at the parish church Great Wakering , W . A . Prout , Esq ., B . A ., Trinity Hall Cantab , to Jessie Sophia , daughter of Dr . Willing . SKEBTK—SILBERBERQ . —On the 24 th ult ., at St . Barnabas , Addison-road , Kensington , John Brathwaite Skeete , B . A ., Oxon , to Emmeline Emma , daughter of L . Silberberg , Esq .

DEATHS . MACKENZIE . —On the 27 th ult ., at Cornwall-cottages , Holloway , Henry , the younger son of the late Henry Mackenzie , of Clarcmo : it-row , Islington , aged 57 . MAXWELL . —On the 27 th ult ., at Bournemouth , Helenora ,

wife of Sir W . Maxwell , Bart ., of Monreith . PERRY . —On the 24 th ult ., at Trinity-place , Windsor , William Perry , in his 68 fh year . TEALE . —On the 27 th ult ., Bro . W . H . Teale , aged » fO . WALTERS . —On the 29 th ult ., at Chester-terrace , Regent's Park , Gregory Scale Walters , Esq ., in his 80 th year .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , Nov . 4 , 1876 .

The Present Aspects Of French Freemasonry.

THE PRESENT ASPECTS OF FRENCH FREEMASONRY .

"We said in our last , that we should revert to the arguments of Bros . Caubet and WyrouboufF , and we do so , therefore , to-day . Bro . Caubet quite approves of the result of the meeting of the Grand Orient , and tells us that the meeting by the " calmness of its deliberations , by its wise

and progressive spirit , " had earned the wellmerited praise of its President . He goes on to observe that if , " as we doubt not , the Tesult of the study" or consideration " of the lodges concurs with the opinion of the Convent" ( that is the Grand Orient assembled ) , " French Masonry will

give to the world the example of the true and complete practice of liberty of conscience . " Bro . Caubet also points out that Masonry is " purely a moral society , a lay society , that it is not a Church , and can therefore make no religious or irreligious manifestation . Its

mission is a mission of peace and liberty , which obliges it in an absolute manner to abstain from all that can divide mankind , and from all that can rub against the legitimate susceptibilities of their consciences . " We may observe that their consciences are very susceptible indeed , which

can be injured by the declaration of the belief in the " existence of God . " According to Bro . Caubet , " the paragraph II . of the first article of the Constitution , now under re-consideration , has occasioned sufficient acrimonious discussions , provoked sufficient acts of intolerance

to render the suppression absolutely necessary . " We need not go into Bro . Caubet ' s eloquent peroration , because it is , as we deem it , utterly outside the question , however well expressed in verbiage . But this we see clearly , it is wished no longer to admit any formal expression of belief

in the existence of God and the Immortality of the Soul , and as the Bible " has been banished from the French Lodges , " nothing remains for them but human morality alone , which in itself , as we know , is a broken reed , a rotten foundation for any one to lean upon or build upon . We have

long deplored the tendency of French Freemasonry to strike out for itself a new path , dis-associating itself from the past and above all from Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry . We feel sure that when this intelligence reaches the United States , and Canada , the

feeling there will be just as strong as in England , that no more impolitic step has ever been taken , no more unwise decision has ever been arrived at , than that which now places French Freemasonry in the position of an Order which positively cannot and will not own its

belief in the existence of God . The only effect , as we said last week , will be to play into the hands of the Ultramontane party in France , and to take away from French Freemasonry those friends who would have stood by it loyally to the last . As it is , we can only shrug our shoulders

and leave French Freemasonry to itself . When we turn to Bro . Wyroubouff we see that he takes , if a somewhat more philosophic view of things , yet one which , We feel bound to add , in our own humble opinion , "is equally mistaken , and greatly to be regretted . Bro . Wyroubouff

has written , and written well , as some may know , on the side of " positivism , " and is a " positivist , " but in his address he professes to speak only as a Freemason . He declares that the suppression of this paragraph is necessary " for liberty of conscience , " and

that " because this article is suppressed , it does not render Freemasonry therefore atheistical . " No one , we apprehend , contends that the logical consequence of the act of suppression is to make an atheistical declaration on the part of French Freemasonry—that would be saying too much ;

but what we do assert is that whereas up to the present time French Freemasonry , like English Freemasonry , has declared its belief in the existence of God , as a necessary condition of admission , all of a sudden , this condition is to be removed j no such prerequisite condition is to be enforced any more in French Freemasonry , and

The Present Aspects Of French Freemasonry.

French Freemasonry assumes , therefore , an entirely novel position , and separates itself at once from a million , in round numbers at the least , of Anglo-Saxon Freemasons . Fifty valid reasons may be alleged , indeed , for this Masonic revolution , but the allegation that it is to uphold

liberty of conscience is m truth alone worthy of the Jesuits , for as we have often said , there is a Jesuitism in this world of ours besides that of the affiliates of Ignatius Loyola . Those who have followed the course of French Freemasonry from the unhappy hours when it began to

express an opinion on subjects beyond its competence , through the ridiculous manifestations of some Parisian Freemasons with the Commune , and in its present abnormal condition , must be aware that the dominant section is associated with an extreme party , in all matters

relating to religious belief . The sentiments of Bro . Massol have still great influence with the Grand Orient of France , and that able brother , as we know , was most hostile not only to the existence of the Bible even in our English lodges , but to any form of belief at all .

He was , as we all know , one of the prophets of the " Independent Morality " ( " Morale Independante , " ) a teaching destructive of anything like the supernatural or the spiritual even in religion , the equivalent only of a decent and polished Heathenism , without faith in this world ,

and without hope for the next . When Bro . Wyroubouff states that " Atheism is a doctrine , " and " the negation of God , and inevitably a philosophy , " and that Freemasonry ought neither to have a doctrine or a philosophy , and " that as for him , as a Mason , he

is equally opposed to materialism and spiritualism , " he asserts for Freemasonry the position of an actual " religio " of some kind or other , a " tertium quid , " an independent morality of its own , something very akin to that of Bro . Massol . This we hold to be a very great mistake , and

even worse . Such a position Freemasonry cannot uphold , as the moment it essays to teach a morality of its own it falls , as the only true morality that a friendly and philanthropic brotherhood like ours can profess to proclaim to man is that which is founded on the Divine morality of

the Bible . Any mere human code of morality is absolutely worthless , can only resolve itself into a vain or blatant philosophy , and must eventually pave the way , as all history points out , for a temporal and spiritual despotism . We can only express , once more , our deep sorrow at this ,

in our opinion , most regrettable proceeding . For it can have but one effect , if carried through , as Bro . Caubet expects it will be , and that effect will be the weakening and breaking up of French Freemasonry . We know , from the best of authority , that there are many French

Freemasons who deeply deplore the present state of things , and the present dominant teaching ot French Freemasonry , and in all kindness and goodwill to oar Bros . St . Jean , and Caubet , and Wyroubouff , and others , we would say to-dayi before " you burn your ships " ( it is always ,

remember , an act of desperation ) , think well 01 the inevitable pitfall which awaits French Freemasonry , and of that shout of triumph which the Bishop of Orleans , and your many adversaries , will set up from one end of France to the other , when , fulfilling his vaticinations , you openly avow to the Masonic world that French

Freemasonry will no more even declare its belief in the existence of God . It is , indeed , a mournful result of so many arduous struggles , and will be a continued source of alarm to all who value both the principles and the practice of Freemasonry .

The Legal Status Of Freemasonry.

THE LEGAL STATUS OF FREEMASONRY .

A case , which has been decided by the Westminster County Court Judge , Mr . Bayley , ana which appeared in our last issue , will , we think , be very much commented upon by our brethren , and we therefore think it needful to notice it-It appears that the Hervev Lodge , i 2 fjo , sued a

brother , who shall be nameless in our P age *' for £ i $ , his initiation fees , in fact . Tne County Court Judge held , that the " Freemasons were not a body corporate , " that thejj could not " sue , " and that in " point of la * they were a " nonentity . " He declined to allotf