Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 2 o . < Supreme Grand Chapter 206 The New Grand Officers 206 Masonic History and Historians 207 Masonic Numismatics 207 Masonic Statistics 207

Ideal and Practical Masonry 207 CORRESPONDENCERed Cross of Constantino 20 S Ancient and Primitive Rite 20 S The Oldest Freemason 20 S The John Hervey Memorial Fund 20 S French Freemasonry 209 Printers' Mistakes .. ' . 209 reviews

- « y Masonic Notes and Queries 209 Stability Lodge of Instruction 209 Consecration of the Mediterranean Mark Lodge , No . 2 JS , at Gibraltar 210

Roval Masonic Institution for Boys 211 Masonic Ball at Gibraltar 211 ' The Duke and Duchess of Connauglit in the City 211 I Regulations of the British Army 211 i Ancient and Accepted Rite 211 1 REPORTS OF MASONIC

MEETINGSCraft Masonry 213 Instruction 214 Royal Arch 314 Mark Masonry 214 Obituary ' T . 214 I Funerafof Bro . W . II . Roberts 214 j Masonic Tidintfs 215

General Tidings 2 J $ Amusements 215 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 316 Scotland 216 ! Advertisements I . II ., III ., IV .

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As the time approaches when the Girls School Festival is to be held , speculation is rife as to the amount the returns of the Stewards will display . We have never been among the " croakers" nor those who affected to " discount" a future Festival . We are content lo hear the amount announced on the day of the Festival , feeling sure of this , that such are the claims

of that excellent Institution , the Girls' School , on our Craft at large , such the " prestige " it has acquired and the " golden opinions " it has secured from all Masons and non-Masons , that there is no possible reason , humanly speaking , why a most successful gathering should not be achieved . It must be borne in mind that last year H . R . H . PRINCE LEOPOLD presided , and

much interest was excited and a good deal of natural enthusiasm created b y his Royal Presidency . But yet such is the steady sympathy of Freemasons , so warm are their hearts , and so liberal their hands , that we have not the slightest hesitation in hoping , believing , and saying , that the Masonic Girls ' School will undoubtedly , as ever , obtain a very striking proof of their unselfish and discriminating benevolence .

THE Ninety-Third Anniversary Festival of the Boys' School will be held on the 29 th of June . The place of the gathering is not yet settled , we believe , and we note that a proposal has been made to hold it at Brighton . The MARauis OF LONDONDERRY will preside , and Sir H . EDWARDS ,

Bart ., Prov . G . M . for West Yorkshire , is President of the Board of Stewards , those excellent Masons , Bro . the Rev . C . J . MARTYN , P . G . C . and D . P . G . M . for Suffolk ; W . Bro . GEO . LAMBERT , G . S . B ., P . Prov . G . W . Herts , P . M . No . igS ; Bro . A . J . DUFF FILER , P . G . S . B ., P . M . 657 ; being acting Chairmen . Bro . WM . ROEBUCK is the

Treasurer . A large number of brethren have alread y intimated their intention of acting as Stewards , though many more are needed , and wc hope that the result will prove both beneficial and hel pful to that much needed and excellent Institution , which has our warmest good wishes and our hearty Masonic sympathy .

* * * BY a slight typographical error the place of meeting of the proposed New Masonic Conference is Rome , not Leipsic . Wc regret to say that we are entirely opposed to any such proposal , we feel sure , in the best interests of Cosmopolitan Freemasonry itself . Just now there are too many " burning

questions " afloat to offer the slightest hope of peaceable and amicable solution , except , indeed , in the interests of what we may fairly term without offence , the Masonic Destructive Party . The experience of the last Congress of Lausanne is fatal to any hope of any agreement on the great principles of true universal Freemasonry . Such was even in the A . and A . Rite

Christian in its conception , its symbolism , and its perfection , the difficulties raised by the sceptical and materialistic teaching predominant abroad , that all they could then agree to was an " Anima Mundi , " they had to pass over any honest acknowledgment of the G . A . O . T . U ., of any personal Providence , of any overruling and supreme and living government of God , whether of the

world or men . As is well known , the English branch of the A . and A . Rite has withdrawn from such a concordat , and we believe that the American and other bodies will follow suit . What hopes can possibly exist , then , of any agreement being come to by a reunion of Craft Masons ? France has virtually abolished all reference to the G . A . O . T . U ., there is a grave tendency

to do the same in other quarters , and instead of lifting up the " status " and professions of our common mother , Freemasonry , out of the mire into which recent regretable proceedings have cast it , wc should only see it fall lower—lower—lower in the estimation of the honest , the right-thinking , and "ie respectable . " Facilis descensus Avemi " is an old classical adage , of

Ihe truth of which wc have hourly experience , and believing honestly that it ls for the very life , safety , and honour of English Freemasonry to keep aloof from hopeless proposals and meaningless conferences , we feel pretty sure 'hat the universal decision of English Freemasons will be to keep themselves ou tof the matter , and to "leave well alone . " "

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WE call attention elsewhere to the report of the proceedings of the Stability Lodge of Instruction , which we think will afford pleasure to all our readers , and which well deserves perusal . The faithful and devoted labours of " pld Mug " for thirty years , to maintain the activity and prestige of that excellent Lodge of Instruction , deserve the grateful recognition and remembrance of all the members of our Masonic Body .

* * * VERY interesting are the fresh statistics of Freemasonry—published elsewhere in this impression—and which we commend to the notice of our readers . If only we could obtain reliable statistics as to England , and its colonial Masonic Bodies , wc might soon frame a synoptical table of Cosmopolitan Masonn ' .

* IT seems from the report of German Masonr } - alluded to above , up to June , 1 S 80 , that the 256 German lodges had held 9 66 S meetings of various kinds , " Confrcnz Logen , " or " Fest Logon , " to use their technical terms , which fact displays a very commendable activity and vitality in German Masonic

existence . VVe had noted , however , a falling off in the gross return of lodges from 35 G to 256 , exactly a hundred , which we did not , and could not , profess lo understand , the more so as the number of members had risen

from 42 , 120 , in 1 S 79 , to 42 , 391 , in 1 SS 0 , when we found that it was a mistake of the printers , so printers' mistakes occur in Germany as in England . The real number of lodges is , therefore , not 256 , but 35 6 , being two in excess of 1879 .

* OUR brethren will all be amused at the recurrence of the attacks upon Freemasons and their appellation of " Nihilists , " or any other equally agreeable nickname . As we remarked last week , wc do not profess to agree always with alf the " sayings and doings" of foreign Freemasons ; we consider that their

words and acts are very often open to misconstruction , and sometimes amenable to blame . They appear to us often utterly to ignore the real end and aim of Freemasonry proper , and they , not unnaturally , excite the jealousies of autocratic rulers , and call down upon themselves the surveillance of a " political police , " having by far too close a resemblance in many things to

secret political societies . But that they are in any way identified with the hateful wickedness of the Nihilists , or the cruel "terror"of " centres of assassination , " such as Mr . BLACK depicts , we cannot , and will not , believe . The statements of the Ultramontane writers in this respect are excited and untrue , based on no authority , and simply the product of heated

imagination and a perverted view of Masonry . In Great Britain Freemasonry is proverbially loyal , and one of its leading principles is entire abstinence from all " secret plots and conspiracies , " and enthusiastic and unswerving allegiance to the constituted authorities of the land . We would respectfully urge upon all foreign jurisdictions the propriety and necessity , in the best

interests of l ' reemasonry , of avoiding and repressing all proceedings , all professions , all declarations which may savour even of the slightest sympathy with the ever mournful objects of secret political associations . To some jaundiced minds , Freemasonry will always appear a secret association , with the worst intentions and the most destructive aims will be readily and

indulgently attributed to it . But only let our foreign brethren carefully abstain on their part from anything which good order and social government have a right to complain of , and they will receive the sympathy and support of us

in England—a sympathy and support which are often withheld now , and necessarily so , on account of " outbursts of utterances " of which we cannot approve , and of acts which we must unfeignedly condemn .

* * * AT this moment Freemasonry holds a position in Spain very interesting alike to note and to watch . In that country " par excellence " of opposition to Masonry , the home of the Inquisition , and the scene of Masonic persecution ceaseless and cruel , the Prime Minister , Senor SAGASTA , is now the

Grand Master . Gone , let us hope for ever , are the hindrances to , and denunciation of , Freemasonry . Ended , let us trust , are all those serious difficulties of legal recognition which have always rendered the position of Freemasonry in Spain an unenviable one , and at one time threatened to swamp it altogether . For Freemasonry cannot , and does not ,

flourish in the dark shade of secret meetings , forbidden by law , and which almost always are metamorphosed [ into surreptitious and hurtful political associations . Legality and order , loyalty and charity , arc its ever essential characteristics , and without them Freemasonry ceases to be Freemasonry

proper ; and , call it what you will , degenerates cither into a political club , or a hurtful association . Truly speaking , Freemasonry only serenely flourishes amid the peace and stability of empires and republics , inasmuch as always obeying the laws of the land , be they what they may , Freemasons respect all forms of Government , and never conspire against the State .

* WE call attention elsewhere to the Masonic services of some of our new Grand Officers , alike great and many .