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NOTICE

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subscription , ios . ( payal ) le in advance . ) All communication ' s , letters , & c , to be addressed to the Editor , 10 S , Fleet-street , E . C . The Etlitorwiil pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him , butcannnt undertake to return them unlcssaccompanied bypostag ; fltairtps .

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NOTICE

Many complaints having been received of the difficulty experienced in procuring the Freemason ia the City , the publisher begs to append thc following list , being a selected few of the appointed agents : — Abbott , Wm ., Great Tower-street . Bates , Pilgrim-street , Ludgate-hill .

Born , IL , 113 , London-wall . Dawson , Wm ., 121 , Cannon-street . Gilbert , Jas ., 18 , Gracechurch-strcct . Guest , Wm ., 54 , Paternoster-row . Phiilpott Bros ., 65 , King William-street Pottle , R ., 14 , Royal Exchange .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 6 o'clock on Wednesday evening . AH Communications should be sent to 198 , Fleet Street .

H . H . —Can a Master be proposed viva voce , or recommended for election . [ Distinctly not . ] P . M . —If , as a P . M . of the lodge , I am present , can the W . M . ask a P . M . not of the lodge to perform the ceremony . [ We believe that the W . M . is autocratic in that respect . But good taste would lead a W . M ., except on some very special occasion , always to have recourse to his own Past Masters . ]

Junior Warden . —Must my twelve months' service be literally counted from appointment of officers to appointment of officers . [ Ves , from one annual lodge for the installation of W . M . and investing of officers , to thc next annual lodge meeting for thc same purpose . ]

The following communications stand over : —Letters from F . S ., Piliger Loge ; " Non n obis scd omnibus ; " " A Visitor ; " Karl Bergmaun ; Joseph Harper ; " An Old P . M ., One , & c . " W . J . Hughan ' s letter on Archaeological Progress in our next . Reports of Lodge , Great Grimsby , 1294 .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , MARCH 6 , 1873 .

An Albert Edward Commemoration Medal.

AN ALBERT EDWARD COMMEMORATION MEDAL .

Thougn we are quite alive to the danger of Masonic decorations , and are not among those who make our Freemasonry depend , as some one has harshl y said we do , on the "jewels" we " wear , " or on the " dinners " we " eat , " yet we think that the suggestion of one of our

correspondents is worthy , at any rate , some little consideration by our Masonic authorities . Indeed , we fear that some of our readers may think us rather rash when we say that we have long held that every lodge might have , on the payment of distinct fees , a lodge jewel , approved of by the

central authority . The increase to our funds would be very great indeed , and the " esprit de corps" of our lodges would be very much enhanced . But be this as it may , we quite think that the idea of our correspondent is a good one

in itself , and deserves the attention of those who have a voice in such matters amongst us . For no one can deny , that it was at a great crisis in our history when our Royal Grand Master came to the rescue . Our universal fraternity was in a State , at any rate , of considerable depression at the

An Albert Edward Commemoration Medal.

untoward state of affairs , when we were all cheered by the announcement , not only that Grand Lodge in accordance with our . Book of Constitutions , had offered the presidency of the Craft to the Past Grand Master , but that he had accepted the offer with readiness and cheerfulness .

Under these circumstances , and bearing in mind the unchangeable loyalty of our Masonic Fraternity , the installation of our Grand Master will be assuredly not only an "Alba Dies " to English Freemasonry , but one to be long remembered by all of the existing generation of Freemasons , as well as by those yet to be born . Ws

therefore venture to express a humble opinion , that a Masonic medal , commemorative of our Royal Grand Master ' s Installation , would be truly welcomed by our zealous brotherhood . We think , too , that if the matter is managed on business principles , the Order may obtain much financial benefit from the institution of an

Albert Edward Masonic jewel . We are of course aware that an objection may be made , that no authority exists in the Book of Constitutions for any such permission , though at the same time , as is well known , lodges have been authorized , by the Duke of Sussex especially as

Grand Master , to establish lodge jewels . Indeed we are of opinion that there is nothing in the provision of the Book of Constitutions about honorary jewels to prevent any such authority being given , provided that the jewel is made to symbolize one of the degrees recognized by the Grand Lodge . We throw out these suggestions

in all deference for the consideration of the " chief rulers " of the Craft , and we can honestly say that th-jy are not dictated by any idle love of garish show or merely ornamental decoration , but from a sincere appreciation of Freemasonry , zealous attachment to our English Order , and much of loyal devotion to our royal and august Grand Master .

The High Grades.

THE HIGH GRADES .

The historical investigations of late years have not confirmed the somewhat hasty claims often made by what are popularly termed the High Grades , to reality of perpetuation , or antiquity of existence . They are all , it is pretty clear , of 1 Sth century formation . We are speaking now of

those which have long been familiar alike to their devoted " r . lumni , " and to the Masonic student . The Templars , it is quite clear , as Praed sang of old , " have never crossed the wave , sir . " The Knights of St . John have no connection with Rhodes or Malta . The Knights of Constantine

are a Masonic revival of an . obsolete Order , and the Rose Croix have nothing in common with the hermetic brotherhood of the " Rosas Crucis . " These are all familiar grades , but of Bro . Yarker ' s startling list alike of imagination and nomenclature we know nothing , as in truth

nothing can be known . But though the antiquity oi the High Grades is now unmaintainable , their position is one of increasing importance , and their value to their associates is , we think , incontestable . We entirely deprecate two opposing views ofthe High Grades , prevalent amongst

Freemasons , which , we think , are neither tenable nor tolerant . There are those , for instance , who affect to speak in harsh tones of the High Grades , and denounce ' them , almost as apostates to the princip les of Freemasonry . Now we are of opinion that all such criticisms and all such

judgments are alike unjustifiable and unmasonic in the highest degree . We lay it down without hesitation , as an axiom of Masonic teaching , that whatever may be the merit and greatness of the Craft system in our eyes , we have no right whatever to say to others , " thus far shalt thou

go , and no farther , " neither have we any authority to condemn them , if they even accept the princip les and teaching of a more limited fraternity , even while they continue to be Craftsmen . There may be a scintilla of inconsistency apparent in such a position , but if there is one

principle more sacred than another in Freemasonry , it is the inalienable right of private judgment , and the sanctity of the individual opinion , and the personal conscience . Because A does not see how these apparently antagonistic views are to be reconciled , it does not follow that B cannot and does not see , and A has no ri g ht to

The High Grades.

impose on B , as an objective truth , what may he after all only his own subjective idiosyncrasy . Unless Masonic toleration be a " myth , " we must admit that B has as much ri ght to his opinion as A , and that we have no right to con . demn B , because he does not look at things

through the same coloured spectacles as A . does . If these , our premises , are correct , and we think they are , the conclusion of the whole matter i s that there is room in the world alike for Hi gh grades and Craft degrees . As a general rule , those who form the bulk of the high grades are

Craftsmen " ab origine , " and some , as we know , are zealous Craftsmen , even while fervent Templars or active Kni ghts of Constantine . Wh y then should we wish to keep up an antagonism between those who have much in common , and can associate together in many Masonic works

though on one point they must agree to differ ? We think , that the tone and temper 0 ? these who are always attacking the High Grades amongst us is much to be deprecated on the true principles of Masonic toleration , and that whatever may be our individual opinion of their

limited principles of action and cohesion , as opposed to our own , we should ever endeavour to recognise their liberty of organization , and the great respectability and private worth of those who are affiliated to them . So too , we do object to those who sometimes like to look on the

High Grades as something superior to the Craft degrees . There are some enthusiastic High Grade advocates and adepts , who often overstep the bounds of what is accurate in this respect . In their zeal to magnify their own grades they deprecate the good old-fashioned

Craft degrees ; A very great mistake . For whatever may be their merits to their own initiates , the Craft degrees stand on an entirel y distinct and unassailable basis . They are in fact the " substratum " of every known philosophic , eclectic , or knightly system in

the world ; they exist from " time immemorial , " they are seen through the lapse of ages , and the onward progress of human life , alike certain and precise , both in their individuality and constitution . The great principle they now embody , and which , more or less , they have ever

embodied , is , that of universal Freemasonry , and independent of all other grades , they neither ask for tolerance or favour they make up the " platform" on which all the Craft Grand Lodges , and all the symbolical Freemasonry of the world , can assemble and fraternise . But

while we say all this in deprecation of hasty statements and unwise pretentions , we can sympathize and do sympathize with those many good men and true , though we do not belong to them , who compose the Hi gh Grades . Many of them we have worked with in happy Craft Lodge meetings , many we know to be

elevated in mind , and a credit to the Order they belong to , and we fully recognise , once for all , their ri ght to enter such associations if extern to Craft Masonry , believing alike that they find good to themselves , and do good to others , both in the Templar Preceptory , and in the Rose Croix Chapter .

Archæological Progress No. Iv.

ARCH ? OLOGICAL PROGRESS No . IV .

The East , that favoured region of legend and romance , has long been looked upon as the birthplace of Freemasony , and not without reason . Our oldest legends take us back to

Solomon ' s Temple , and we yet see no reason to discredit the old traditions of our Order , which are neither a priori impossible , or historically improbable . Had Masonic writers stopped here , though some profane critics might have

objected , they could not very seriously comp lain of this avowal and persuasion of our ancient brotherhood . If we cannot prove its actuality > no one can disprove its possibility , and whether some may think it a mere fable of the past or

not , matters but little , it is the long establishe d belief , it is the venerable tradition of Freemasonry . But some writers have gone further than this , and have involved themselves in difficulties not a few , and discussions which are interminable . We say nothing to-day of the early annals of An-