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inconclusive . But to piss on—the misstatement of the Committee on Jurisprudence , G . L . of New York , that lbs charges made by Bro . R . E . Chism had been fully met by the Gran Dieta is duly recited , and then we reach the penultimate act of one of the most remarkable extravaganzas that has ever been exhibited on any Masonic stage .

The drafter of the Kansas report—Bro . Miller—next prints a long correspondence , the parties to which were Bro . T . S . Parvin and himself . Both are Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General 33 , under the Supreme Council at Washington ( from which the Gran Dieta derives whatever it maybe deemed to possess of Masonic legitimacy ) , and Bro . Miller wrote lo Bo . Parvin December 30 th , 1805 , saying that he had "listened with

intense interest to his exposition of Mexican Masunry" at the October session of lhe above Supreme Council , and asks " whether the changed conditions ( as the result of the official action of the Gran Dieta on August 24 h last ) in reference to the ' Bible on the Altars , ' and ' Female Masonry , ' are such that you [ i . e . Bro . Parvin ] would now advise the recognition of the Grand Dieta . "

Bro . Parvin in reply , January , nth , 1 S 9 6 , wrote : " Very soon after I returned from Mexico 1 received assurances that the Gran Drela had

repealed the law authorising the making of women Masons , and since the session of the Supreme Council I have received further assurances from there that they have not only gone thus far , but they have forbidden the making of women Masons in their lodges , They have also recalled all the

charters granted to wo men lodges , and still further , have forbidden the lodges to admit either to membership , or visitation , women upon whom they had previously conferred the degrees in accordance with their laws . The women there , as they would likely here , kicked against this , but to no purpose ; they are now out in the cold .

I am further assured that while the Grand Dieta does not require that the lodges shall place the Bible upon the altar , it neither forbids it nor interposes any objection to their doing so , it only requires that they use the Book of Constitutions . " The letter concludes by recommending this recognition of the Gran Dieta .

In the result , the Kansas Committee reported ( inter alia ) : " The charges made against the Gran Dieta as a sovereign Grand Lodge are shown never to have been true as to its Constitution and by-laws , and it has by solemn enactment decreed that the Holy Bible , square and compass should be used on all Masonic altars in the Symbolic lodges of the Republic of Mexico , and that all charters held by so-called women lodges be at once

withdrawn , and no recognition of women as Masons ever be made . [ If there is any heller authority fir this statement than the circular of Anahuac Lodge , No . 141 ; the persuasion of Bro . __> . R . Hamilton ; or tlie ' assurance ' conveyed to Bro . Parvin by the Supreme Council of Mexico , it should have been citedi ] We also find that practical recognition has been given to the Gran Dieta by American Masons residing or sojourning

in Mexico , and that American visitors to Mexican lodges find the work to be practically the same as that of the lodges of the United States ; that the recognition of the Gran Dieta by the Grand Lodge of Texas has been productive of a better feeling of amity between the two jurisdictions ; that recognition has also been formally made of the Gran Dieta by the Grand Lodges of New York and North Dakota , and that the Grand

Lodge of Missouri , by advising its subordinate , Tollec Lodge , No . 520 , to accept a charter from the Gran Dieta has , in the most impressive manner , certified to its legitimacy and regularity , and borne testimony to the fact that it regarded and considered the Gran Dieta a body of character and stability [ the words ' hopelessly clandestine ' of Grand Secretary Vincil ,

notwithstanding ] , and entitled to the allegiance of all the Symbolic lodges within its jurisdiction . " The Committee , therefore , recommended that the Grand Symbolic Diet of Mexico should be duly recognised by the Grand Lodge of Kansas—which recommendation was adopted . ( Proceedings Grand Loige Kansas , 1 S 96 )

The first remark to be made on this extraordinary performance , is the utter absence of anything iu the nature of satisfactory evidence to warrant the conclusions that were formulated by the Committee and adopted by the Grand Lodge . Of the gross " irregularity " of the Gran Dieta , there is abundant testimony ; but of its subsequent " regularity , " if , indeed , a sudden volte-face

can at once wipe out the consequences of its previous misdeeds , there is none whatever , that is , at firsthand ; for neither the manifesto of Anahuac Lodge , No . 141 , nor the letters of Bros . Hamilton and Parvin amount to more than strongly-worded expressions of confidence that an entirely new departure has been struck out by the Gran Dieta . If we can suppose , lor example , lhat the

Grand Orient of France was desirous of giving tangible proof that it had abjured the fatal error which led to its exclusion from the Family of Grand Lodges—a mere announcement of the circumstance in a letter from one of ils daughter lodges , and from the mouths of two Grand Officers of other jurisdictions , would certainly rot be deemed sufficient—at least in Europe—to ensure its re-admission within the circle of Masonic powers .

Most people , too , would like to know what has become of Bro . Ermilio G . Canton , and whether , if his alleged " suspension" actually took place , he has been reinstated in the position of "acting Grand Master " ? Or , if not , by what other Mexican dignitary he has been succeeded ? The testimony , or fractional testimony , of Bro . Agramonte , as Past

Master of Anahuac Lodge , No . 141 , also invites observation , as unless he was better informed with respect to " women Masons" in 18 95 , than when he previously denied their existence , except as members of the Eastern Star , in 18 ej 3—his deposition , or part statement , can serve no other purpose than to mislead .

My fast dwindling space forbids more than a passing notice of the article on " Mexican Masonry " by Bro . Parvin , to which I alluded at the outset of these remarks . " The making of women Masons , " he reminds us , "is by no means a new thing in Masonry . It has only been more recent , and upon a larger scale , and brought nearer home . Every well-read Mason knows full well that in the last century a lodge in Ireland , No . 44 , at

Doneraile , initiated a woman , Miss Etzibeth St . Lrger , daughter of the Right Honourable St . Leger , Viscount Doneraile , whose son and successor was Master of the lodge at the time . She afterwards married Honourable Richard Aldworth , of the County of Cork , and has left a most honourable record as a woman and a woman Mason . Moreover , the Masonic student

may learn that during the rtipn of . Napoleon , the First Emperor , a woman was made a Ma < on , he being Grand Master at the time . She was a colonel and a very brave and distinguished offi . er in his army ; served with distinction for many years , and her sex was not discovered until she was severely wcunded , when , upon her recovery , the Masons , prompted by a spirit cf gallantry , conferred upon her lhe three Symbolic Degrees . Within

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the past decade the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge ot Hungary , Symbolic Grand Lodge , which takes a prominent part the present year with the officials and people of Hungary in the celebration of their Millenium Festival , a thousand years of honourable history , conferred , himself the

Degrees of Masonry upon his own wife . While the Masonic press commented upon this last case , as Masonic historians have upon the former , I have yet to learn that any Masonic Grand Body ever withdrew , or even withheld their recognition from the Grand Lodges of Ireland , France , and Hungary" { Proceedings Grand Lodge of Iowa , i 8 ej 6 ) .

Napoleon was not a Grand Master , nor from his conversalions with 0 Meara at St . Helena , is it possible to believe that he was a Freemason at all . The other portions of Bro . Parvin's remarks on " Women Masons " 1 must pass over very briefly , and shall observe in the Iirst instance , that no European Grand Lodge has yet gone so far as to pass a resolution authorising the initiation of women , and the establishment of female lodges .

The nearest approach to anything of the kind occurred in France , accord - ing to an obituary notice , headed " Maria Deraismes , by Emily Crawford , " which appeared in the Illustrated Loudon News of February ioth , 1894 . Mdlle . Maria Deraismes , a leader in the cause of women's rights in France , was born in 1 S 25 , and died February 6 th , 1894 , at her residence in Paris . " The Masonic body took her up and admitted her to the First Degree of Freemasonry . Her initiation look place at ' Le Grand Orient , ' and a medal was struck by order of that body to commemorate the event . "

I now turn to the Corre . pondence Report of one of the ablest and most respected of the Masonic dignitaries in the U . S . A . Under " Pennsylvania , " and critising the observations of the late Bro . Richard Vaux , Past Grand Master , Josiah H . Drummond writes : " He discusses the decision of Grand Master Pettus , of Alabama , that a one-armed man may be elected and installed Master of a lodge . He dissents , declaring that if a one-armed

man is made a Mason his making is absolutely void and he is not a Mason , and , of course , cannot be Master of a Lodge . VVe are aware that this is the doctrine in Pennsylvania ; we regret that Bro . Vaux did not give the reason ; we have been trying for years to get some Pennsylvanian brother to discuss the question from his standpoint ; because we know that it has

been held in England , in noUd cases , that when a candidate has been initiated in a regular Lodge , he is a Mason , and all inquiry into his eligibility is for ever foreclosed ; this doctrine was so firmly established , that Lady Aldworth was , everywhere in that jurisdiction , recognised as a regular Mason . " ( Proc . G . L . Maine , 1895 ) .

If for England we read Ireland , the conclusion on which Bio . Drummond relies is , to some extent as least , supported by tradition , but whether it will be recognised as a valid precedent by the Grand Lodges of Texas , New York , Kansas , and North Dakota , which having recognised the Gran Dieta , must , in the ordinary course , be supposed not to cavil at the " regularity " of any persons who are armed with its certificates—is a matter upon which speculation would be premature .

Bro . Parvin also states in the Special Article on Mexican Masonry , to which I have been referring : — "It was an ancient Greek who banished from his door on an inclement morning the weary traveller who blew upon his cold hands to warm them and upon his hot broth to cool it , saying he would not shelter one who ' blew hot and cold with the same breath . ' Not unlike , methinks , those who want Brother Canton punished because he is the author of both the making of the women Masons and then taKing the

charter he had granted them from them . This is a question for moral philosophers and Masonic jurists , and not the Grand Lodge , to consider and determine . " { Proc . G . L . Iowa , 1896 ) . " We may infer from the above , that there is much yet to be revealed with regard to the actual history of the Gran Dieta during the past yearand notably as to there having been any break of continuity in the virtual dictatorship of the Gr . Sec . General .

But greatly and deservedly as B .-o . Parvin is respected in Iowa , Dr , Coxe , the Reporter on Correspondence for the Grand Lodge of that Stale , writes : — " Highly as we revere our honoured Grand Secretary , for our own patt we are not yet prepared to recommend the recognition of the Gran Dieta . The facts concerning authorized irregularities and infringement ol fundamental landmarks were for a long time kept in reserve , or were denied ;

the integrity of those who made such charges was challenged ; when the admission of the facts became inevitable , justification was attempted and excuses were glibly and in extenso forthcoming ; and finally , by an exercise of authority as arbitrary as was the original wrong-doing , attempt is made to secure favour by a revocation of the charters of women ' s Lodges and the prohibition of rights before freely and unreservedly bestowed . No offence

is alleged against those thus made scape-goits ; no charges are preferred , no citation issued , no defence heard , no trial held ; not even a decent regard to the rude forms of Judge Lynch was observed , but a summary order for execution was issued , and the executioners , pointing to decapitated Lodges and disfranchised Masons , pose as saints , and ask admission to the comp my of the faithful without even a profession of penitence or a prayer for pardon .

To us this whole procedure is-alike undignified and unmasonic ; we arc not ready to give to it even quasi endorsement . As to the other matter of contention—the presence or absence of the Great Light ; upon this there i-s » similar disingenuousness . It is averred that the Bible is not excluded frei . T Lodges , but that , on the contrary , it is permitted ; ' although the uniform

testimony is that the Book of Constitutions is invariabl y found upon tne altar , with rarely a Bible in sight anywhere in the Lodge . The presence of the Great Light does not make men religious , nor does it indicate that li'ty are religious ; but its absence from our altars would be a tacit declaration of Atheism which would belie all Masonic teaching and tradition . " (/ bid ) .

In some future articles I shall have more to say on the discrepant customs which are to be met with among the Family of Grand Lodges-But I shall end the present one as I began it , with an allusion to the Gm »" Lodge of New Zealand . In that country there are , or were , one Provincial and seven District Grand Lodges ; and in the place of eight I " " roys , it is only natural that a majority cf the Brethren should prefer to have a

single king . But the mischief is , that the absolu ' . e certainty by any Colonia ' Grand Lodge—however organised or conducted—of being rapturously welcomed within the circle of governing Masonic bodies , by one or more of th " American Grand Lodges , nearly always results in a Declaration of I "" ' pendence , a little before lhe time is actually ripe for it . This course seem

to have been adopted in New Zealand , but that the period has at le'V ' arrived , when the New Grand Lodge may be admitted with propriety ° the fellowship of her European Sisters , there cannol be a eloubt , nor cm * praise too highly the excellent judgment displayed by our own M . W . G . '''' in convening a Special Grand Lodge for the consideration of the " Nc * Zealand Ouestion" on the 29 th July .