To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen page weekly newspaper , p rice id . It is published every Friday morning ; , ami conpains the most important and useful information relating tto Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , io / . Brethren in foreign parts , wishing to have this newspaper sent them regularly from ths office of publication , should , in sending their remittances , add ti _ the 21 I . per week the postage on 20 z .

newspapers . The Freemason may bc procured through any newsagent in the United Kingdom by giving ( if needed ) the publisher ' s address , 198 , Fleet-st .

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . For terms , position , tec , apply to GivoitGE KENNING , 198 , Fleet-st .

Answers To Corrospondents.

Answers to Corrospondents .

All Communications , Advertisements , & c ., intended for insettion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 12 o ' clock on Wednesday morning . Cr . reful attention will be paid to all MSS . entrusted t the Editor , but he cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by stamped directed covers .

We will publish Kro . Shepherd's letter if he think well , otherwise we can hardly make use of the information . Bros . Tew and l ' crrott's letter received ; shall appear next week . W e could not publish two letters on the same subject the same week . Bro . Iggledon ' s interesting communication also received

with thanks . W . Gcyt ' s communication requires consideration . The following stand over : —T . O . Bailey , P . M . ; Knights of Malta at Hinckley , Consecration of a lodge at Morecambe , Grand Masonic Demonstration at Perth , Masonic Jewels .

BOOK RECEIVED . Oration by Bro . Richard T . Russell , D . D ., at Bideford

REMITTANCES RECEIVED . £ s . d . Baxter , H . A ., Ontario ( P . O . O . ) 018 6 Alcazar , L . _] ., Trinidad 1 o o Xaltv , V . F . A , South Australia o 13 o llickox , F . Clunes ( P . O . O . ) o 10 o Gabbidon , S . N ., Cape Coast Castle ( P . O . O . ) ... 100

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

DEATH . HASEI . WOOD . —On the ist November , Bro . William Uaselwood at Foots Cray , Kent , late of Burfords , Moddcsilon , Herts , in his 84 th year , member of Fortitude and Old Cumberland Lodge No . 12 .

Ar00809

The Freemason , SATURDAY , NOV . 6 , 1873 .

Our Royal Grand Master's Visit To India.

OUR ROYAL GRAND MASTER'S VISIT TO INDIA .

We learn from the " Times " that His Royal Highness the Prince received and answered an address at Aden , Nov . 1 , inspected the 2 nd Grenadiers , the Borderers , the Garrison , and the Tanks , and received and rewarded the Arab chiefs . He lunched with the Resident . There

was a great reception and much rejoicing . The weather was fine , and the Prince and his suite were all well . The Sultan of Lahej received a medal and ring of honour at the hands of the Prince of Wales , after a " levee attended by all the military , civil , and Consular residents . At

4 . 30 the Prince embarked again , and at 7 received the Resident and a small party at dinner , the town and port being brightly illuminated . His Royal Highness expressed great pleasure at the reception he had received . A telegram was received from Sandringham in reply to the

announcement of his arrival here . The Serapis , with His Royal Highness on board , sailed from Aden at 10 o ' clock , Nov . ist . The " Times of India , " received by the overland mail on Monday , says : — " It is understood here that the Prince will visit the capital of the JS'izam before leaving India , and an official letter

which has been published regarding the dress to be worn by officials at the Residency during the visit seems to confirm the rumour . A correspondent writing from H yderabad , says : — ' Preparations and presents on magnificent scales are being got ready for the occasion ; carriages , jewellery , and novel trinkets of H yderabad manu-

Our Royal Grand Master's Visit To India.

facture are being prepared for presentation to the Prince . The city of Hyderabad is , so to speak , alive with workmen of every description . Nothing seems to be wanting on the part of the Prime Minister , Sir Salar Jung , G . C . S . I ., to do homage to our future King and Emperor on

behalf of his young master , His Hi ghness the Nizam . ' The following description of the railway arrangements for Madras is taken from one of the local papers : —Seventeen carriages in all will form the Royal train—viz ., two saloon carriages , six first-class , and nine second-class

carriages . The hangings of the saloon carriages are of crimson silk , with cords and tassels to match . Two full-length mirrors decorate each extremity of these carriages , and the mouldings and metal fastenings are richly gilt . The accommodations for lavatory and other purposes will be in strict

keeping with the furniture of the State apartments , and nothing is omitted in the way both of luxury and convenience which can be missed by the most fastidious . Elegance , simplicity , and taste hive been very happily blended in the arrangements now rapidly carried out by Perambore workshop authorities

for the ease and comfort of his Royal Highness . Bunting is being prepared , we hear , to a large extent to flutter forth its welcome to our future King . It is expected that the Prince of Wales and party , including the Staff , will number thirty , with 37 European servants and postillions . The lowest estimate formed of the native

establishments is 40 jemadars and kitmutgars , 100 personal servants , 100 horses , 9 carriages , 159 attendants on horses , and 12 coachmen and postillions . The above do not include local officers , who will accompany the prince through the

districts . Four Arab horses—very handsome animals—have been purchased at Bangalore , and were forwarded by rail to Poona for the use of the Prince of Wales . The Rajah of Cochin will meet the Prince at Madras . The following

K . O . I . ' s are to be invested at Calcutta : —Maharajah Punna Rajah Nahun Kashee Rao , Holkar ' s brother ; Ranoodeep Sing , of Nepaul ; Gunputram Kirkey , Dewan ot Gwalior ; Faiz Ali Khan , Minister of Kotah . Maharajahs Scindiah and Holkar are making great preparations for the reception of the Prince when he visits their capitals . "

Coloured Lodges In The United States.

COLOURED LODGES IN THE UNITED STATES .

It seems from a letter we publish elsewhere , that an article of ours , October 23 rd , has sadly discomposed our good Bro . J . G . Findel , of Leipsic . He writes , as will be seen , in a very hasty and , to say the least , not a little intemperate strain , upon a subject which requires

calmness of temper , courtesy of treatment , and , above all , a judicial frame of mind in its treatment . And for this reason , that it is not a question of colour or sentiment , but a simple , hard , dry matter-of-fact question of vital Masonic law which has to be decided between us . We pass over in

silence the personal accusations of ignorance and incompetence , which we laugh at , we overlook historical misstatements and petulant apostrophes , and we come " au fait . " What we stated on October 23 rd we repeat to-day , equally distinctly and a little more fully . The Prince Hall

Lodge was originally warranted at Boston from the English Grand Lodge in 1784 , by a lodge charter , or warrant , granted by the Earl of Effingham , Acting G . M . under the Duke of Cumberland , G . M ., to Prince Hall , Boston Smith , and Thomas Sanderson , and others there , these

brethren being respectively the first W . M . and the first two Wardens . We do not now go into the question how far in 178 4 the English Grand Lodge had a right to grant a warrant for a district where another Grand Lodge is said to have existed , for that is a point which we do not feel .

at this moment well enough posted up into argue But we go simply upon this known normal constitutional position of all English warranted lodges . 'I'he grant of a warrant implies two things—first , that the Grand Lodge recognizes a

certain lodge as belonging to its roll ; and , secondly , the warranted lodge takes upon itself certain obligations , on the fulfilment of which the validity and vitality of its warrant depend . If for instance , a lodge makes no returns and pays

Coloured Lodges In The United States.

no annual fees , and becomes dormant , it forfeits its active character , and after a time , if not revived by the payment of back reckonings and a fresh understanding with its mother Grand lod ge , i is erased from the roll of lodges , and nothing under that warrant can call it into activity again . It

is , as far as the Grand Lodge of England is concerned , Masonically defunct , and its warrant is forfeited . Such we apprehend to be , as far as our English law is concerned , the position of the Prince Hall Lodge . But , in addition to this , the warrant onlv jrave authority to do known

Masonic acts , and it is impossible to base on it any authority to open other lodges , much less to form a Grand Lodge ! Thus , then , we have this anomaly : a lodge is dormant and defunct , not having complied with theconditions on which the warrantwas originally granted , and it is revived

without any legal Masonic authority whatever , and without any reference to the granter of the warrant , who alonecould revivethe dormant lodge . This lodge , brought into activity proprio motu , proceeds to commence Masonic working , to open other lodges , and eventually to form a Grand

Lodge ! AU these acts are " ultra vires , " and , as far as English Masonic law is concerned , utterl y null and void . We must , therefore , beg respectfully to adhere to our expressed opinion , that on the facts of tha case historically , and on the broad basis of English Masonic law ,

the position of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge is utterly vicious and unsound . Bro . Findel in the ardour of his advocacy ventures to place the Prince Hall Grand Lodge on the same footing as our English Grand' Lodge . Now on this point much confusion of ideas exists in the minds of

many continental brethren , and Bro . Findel seems to share in it . With us a Grand Lodge is an aggregate of private lodges , forming themselves by conjoint action into a corporate body , with a central Masonic authority . Abroad , many Grand Lodges were originally , and some

still are , only private lodges which have assumed to themselves unmasonically the title of a Grand Lodge , but without any authority of aggregation , or any principle of delegation or representation to warrant such an appellation . The English Grand Lodge is the result of those four

old lodges , who originally met , and very properly and very naturally formed themselves into a Grand Lodge , over which they nominated a speculative brother as hist Grand Master of the revived Grand Lodge . And it is on this principle we contend , and only on this principle , that a

Grand Lodge can properly or Masonically ever be formed . Bro . Findel dogmatically declares that the four old lodges were all operative . Where does he find any authority for such a misleading statement ? Jn 1717 , 1718 , 1719 , a speculative Mason was elected Grand Master , and there is

no proof whatever of suuh an assertion , as far as we are aware of . The author of " Multa Paucis " tells us , " au contraire , " that Captain Elliott was one ofthe Grand Wardens for 1717 . The truth is that good Bro . Findel is a little angry at one of his hobbies being questioned by

us audacious chaps in England , and , like angry people , he writes without that clearness and Masonic knowledge which mostly distinguish his writings . We confess that we have understated and undervalued unintentionally the amount of German recognition and of German opinion on

the subject , but we had not looked very clearly into the facts of the case until our attention was called to them from America , and we had regarded the matter as more a question of feeling , than , as it now turns out to be one , of Masonic law . Our brethren in Germany are so

freespoken and honest themselves that they will , we feel sure , credit us with speaking frankly and fearlessly on the subject , on which , begging Bro . Findel ' s pardon , and despite his depreciatory estimate of ourselves , we are as competent to form an opinion as he is .

The Boys' School.

THE BOYS' SCHOOL .

Some questions having arisen with reference to the power of a P . G . Lodge , and of G . Lodge , to pass a resolution affecting the outward government of the Boys' School , we thought it right and due to our readers in our issues of the 23 rd and 30 th ult ., respectively , to express our opinion , and to quote a precedent with respect to the abstract