Original Correspondence.

lower terms than they had been in the habit of making . This interference with their long-enjoyed monopoly was , of course , although a great popular benefit , a grievous injury in their eyes . ' Holy Father' said the spokesman , ' It is very hard on us ; we have worked so long for the public benefit . ' ' It is quite true , my

son , ' replied the Pope ; ' and it ' s high time you rested a little , and let other people work . ' My summing up is , that if we have a good and noble cause to vindicate , and I for one believe it most heartily , there is no occasion to abuse the " p laintiffs attorney . " Yours fraternidly , VIATOR .

ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY . { To the Editor of the Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I consider your excellent correspondent " Leo" is engaged in a work of upererogatiou when he labors to fix the date of the "origin" of our Order . Personally , I care not to enquire whether it dates from A . M . 4004 , or A . D . 1717 , for uncertainty on the point to me possesses

a charm , and not to me only , but to thousands of others who range under our banner . Your correspondent appears to take some interest in our late Brother Elias Ashmole . The following uote > prefixed to the By-laws of the Lodge of Lights , No . 148 , Warrington , may not , perhaps , be unacceptable to him : —

NOTB . —The Lorlgi has to acknowledge its obligations to William Beaumont , Esq ., for tne following extract : — From ' * Memoirs of the life of Elias Ashmole drawn up by himself . " ( Publid . by Charles Burman , Esq . ) London , 1717 . 1646 . Page 15 . "October 16 th , 4 hor 30 mimit-s

" p > st mend . —/ was made a tree Mason at \ Var" ri 'Oloii , in Lancashire , with Colonel Mainwaring , " of Karinclmm , in Ches'iire ; thc names of those " tlfit were then at the Lod' / c , Mr . Richard P . nlceth , " Warden ; Mr . James Collier , Mr . Richard Sankei / ,

"Henry Littler , John Ellam , Richard LCI am , and " Hugh Breicer . " It is a matter fur great regret that the ancient records * re lost , aud that + he history of Freemasonry in Warrington cannot now be couneetiveiy traced farther back than November Sth , 1705 . JOHN BOWES , Hon . Sec .

Yours fraternally , JOHN BOAVE 3 , P . M ., P . Z ., 2 nd August , I 860 . P . Prov . G . Reg ., & c , & c .

MASONRY AND THE SLAVE . ( 7 o the Editor of The Freemason . ) SIR AND BROTHER , —The thirteenth " Paper " of " Cryptonymus" which appeared in your issue of the 3 rd of July , on ' Masonry and the Slave , " has attracted my attention . Tlie humane and charitable

• pirifc of the article has won my esteem for the writer . But I am compelled to dissent from his conclusions . ' * Cryptonymus" aims todiffuse light ; to throw all the light that is in him on his theme . My own purpose in writing is to further illuminate the

question he raises—flic relationship of Freemasonry to thc slave , to the man born in bondage and new free . To niethe light of your correspondent seems discolored— the discoloring medium undoubtedly being his theory of the origin of Masonry . His object and my own , I will submit , are thesinie , and

being the same , it is iu no egotistic spirit that I say criticism may help him , his reader , and myself to discover truer and sounder views . "Cryptonymus" adopts as his texts Noah ' s reputed curse of Canaan , and certain language of Paul to Philemon . Canaan was undoubtedly a very

naughty fellow aud richly deserved the displeasure of bis grandfather , bnt 1 cannot see tlie propriety of accepting the far-reaching wrath of Noah as a law in Masonry . I rather like the tone of Paul ' s discourse to Philemon , but un neither Noah nor Paul , neither Canaan nor Philemon , W - Masons , as far

as we can ascertain , I cannot see what significance there is in the discussion of the meanings to be placed on the language of Noah or of Paul so far as Freemasonry is concerned , The tenets of Masonry are brotherly love , relief and truth , and the position which Masonry is to assume , on the question raised by " Cryptoiiyinus , ' '

must be deducible from these principles , and not from any condition of things growing out of the quarrels iu the family of Noah , or out of the usages of society in the days of Paul . That onl . * is for authority in Masonry on this and other questions pertaining to the morals or ethics of Masonry .

which is erected on the eternal foundations of right and justice . That which the ancients of any race or region may have done or said , is of no authority whatever , except so f . ir as it accords with the dogmas of Masonry , so grounded , ami with truth .

It is too late , iu the nineteenth century , tn admit that there ever was any divine basis underlying the institution of slavery . It ever was altogether human , and never divine . It never could have been right or just . It was thc offspring of human barbarism and cruelty and not at all the offspring

Original Correspondence.

of a benevolent deity , and there never was , or can be , a malevolent deity . Slavery always was a crime , and an outrage against humanity—a condition against submission , to which the divinely implanted instincts ol every son of woman urge them to revolt , and against the perpetration of

which crime till revolt is , and ever was , righteous . Masonry is light and truth ; Masonry is love and justice . Light and truth , love and justice , are attributes of God . They admit of no compromise with darkness and error , hatred and wrong . In the light o' these divine attributes , there is no ray

which throws a divine sanction around slavery , or any of the conditions or usages of society outgrowing from slavery . The distinctions which were made in New Testament times , between men enslaved recovering their freedom , and men born in slavery—men slaveborn or free-born — are distinctions which in

Masonry , and as Masons , we have no right to recognize . The disttnetirns which other times have made are not landmarks in Masonry , except in so far as those distinctions were already made Masonic , by the use and approbation of Masons , for Masonic purposes . Such distinctions as Paul mav

have referred t > , obtained nnder a social system based ou wrong and injustice . It is not for Masonry , which is founded on a belief in the divine fatherhood , and a recognition of the subsequent human brotherhood , to receive law from man ' s ignorance and unfraternal hate , man ' s error and

wrong . Whatever form or usage in the Masouic institution operates to rivet the chains of si aery , to perpetuate suffering from the wearing of those chains , to continue a wrong and injustice to any race or class of men , white , black , or red , cannot with any truth or

propriety be regarded as a Landmark . It must I e an inuova'iou and intiusioi of something essentially foreign to the nature of Freemasonry . A'ioleuce is done to the spirit of genuine Masonry by retaining among its forms anything inspired by such distinctions . The Grand Lodge of England acted in

the closest harmony with the spirit of M'tsmiri' iu striking out the word free-born and substituting free-man , while tha Grand Lodges of the United States act un-Masonic-iIly in maintaining , in the American sense , free-birth as a requirement to candidates . As Hamlet is made to sav of the vice

of drinking in Denmark , so may we say of all these forms ami usages , and every remnant of them , that they a' -e " more honored iu the breach , than the observance . " All technicalities concerning free birth or slave-birth , are mere evidences of t \\ t corrupting influences of corrupt social systems upon

the institu ions which have existed under such influences , and from which it is clear that even Freemasonry has not escaped . Any interpretation of those technicalities which would to-day < per , ite unfavorably towards any race or class of men must be regarded as utterly abhorrent to the true

instincts ot Speculative Masonry—as absolutely un-Masonic . It is a greater wrong , a more outrageous erime against humanity , to permit a child to lie born iu slavery , than to reduce a freeman to slavery , it is a double crime , against the mother ami against the

bah . ' . Yet the theory <•{ " Cryptoiiyinus would add to the burden of the greater crime , against the man accidentally born a slave , by refu . iiig to admit him into Masonry a'ter becoming fret-, while it would altogether omit to see that the fivc-boru man afterwards enslaved and then recovering freedom

may have become enslaved from his own weakness or fault . The theory of '' Cryptoiiymus" pl .-iccg Masomy in the false position of refusing to e \ tend the hand of sympathy to the one of two who has suffered the most from the curse of botuhigo , and of extending that hand to the one who has suffered the hast . The slave born mail , as the sufferer from a

greater crime , a gross . 'i * outrage against Ins liberty , is even entitled to a stronger and deeper sympatly than the slave free-born . But "Cryptoiiyinus " would deny to him the privileges of Masonry alter gaining bis freedom . The true theory would extend to him that heartier sympathy .

It is un-. AIas'iiiic and behind the times to demand that a candidate for the rights and benefits of Freemasonry shall be free-born iu the American sense . It is un Masonic in Masonry to niikc a distinction where God makes none , when divine truth and love and justice make none ; wherein only man iu

barbarism , or man not wholly escaped from b . n * - baii-mi , makes any . These distinctions are null and void iu Masonry , beciiise < . f the injustice and immorality , because of the wrongs which they would help the ignorant or the prejudiced to perpetuate . If the Masov . ic Institution in any p-irt of the

world persists iu keeping up these iniquitous distinctions , it only proves that when society there permitted m < II to be enslaved , it also dcmoraliz d Masonry to such an extent as to render it subservient to slavery and injustice . I would press the foregoing considerations upon 1 Cryptoiiymus , '' in the hope that he may review

Original Correspondence.

and rebuild his theory— "that the persons who have attained to the knowledge of Masonic secrets by virtue of the warrant said to have been granted to Prince Hall and others , are practically Masons no one can doubt , although they must technicall y be regarded as clandestine Masons . "

This is too low ground , Brother "Cryptonymus ;" elevate thy platform , deepen thy foundations , get rid of the slavery with which slavery hath enslaved thee , purify thy theories in the li ght of freedom and quit hair-splitting . The colored Masons of America , of the line of Prince I hill , are as regular in their Masonic standing ,

iu the light of logic and sound sense , as is your own . beloved Grand Muster , or the white Maso : s of England , or of any part of the world . They trace their pedigree through unbroken Masonic generations to the same pure source of Masonry that you do , or any other Masons on the face of the earth . I am fraternal ! v yours ,

SAMUEL EVANS , Editor of Masonic Monthl y , Boston , U . S . A . Boston , U . S ., July 16 th , 18 G 0 . In a future letter I shall say something more as to the true rendering and pedigree of the word 'free-born . " S . E

FREEMASONRY IN THE UNITED STATES .

( To the Editor of Ihe Freemason . ) PART I . The Grand Lodge of New York , at its last annual session , sounded the tocsin and declared war against the Grand Orient of France . All theGiaiid Lodges

in these States will doubtless follow suit , and we may look for a grand blow-up from the collision of these graud bodies . The casus belli are somewhat similar to that now pending between Great Britain and the Unite . Stat - * . AVh . it ri _ hr had Eu-d . ind and the Unite *! Stat . *? AVhat right had England

, to declare its neutrality between the North and South ? And now , what right has tlie Grand Orient of France to acknowledge not only a certain body iu New Orleans as bona fide true bines , but what right has the G . O . to acknowledge the members of all the Negro Lodges in tlie United States as

Masons ( The last is the most ticklish part , which the dignitaries of New York cannot swallow . They do not indeed allude to it ; it will not do at present to allude to i * ; , but this is undoubtedly the real grev . ince . To make t ) is plain to the English reader , it is necessary to lay before him a sketch of

Ircemasonry in America . first , then , no sooner has a young man received the M . M . degree in any of our cities , some one whispers in his ear , " Now you ought to take the R . A . degrees , then you will know the whole secret . " Of course be is soon after proposed iu a Chapter , where he receives four more degrees . This being

over , he receives a hint to take the Council degrees , when ho receives three more degrees . Having done this , he is next induced to become a Kni ght Templar , this gives him au addition of three degrees , thus making a total of thirteen degrees . The timo necessary to acqu ' re the rituals ol all the degrees , : uid of attending four distinct ort'iuiizatioiis , leaves

the lirother little time for improvement in general knowledge , while the expense of taking these degrees , the cost of the different paraphernalia and of supporting these organizations deprives them of the means of giving charity . " AVh y , " the reader would nsk , "do our Yankee friends , who are so shrewd iu other respects , allow themselves to be

gulled iu this ? " AVe answer , simply because people may be shrewd iu some io peels , and may yet bo wry foolish in others ; and , secondly , iu our city lodges it is very difficult for one to get au oilico without belonging to the high degrees . These high degree gentry form themselves into cliques in those lodges , and the question with them is , not tho

amount of information a brother possesses , butliow high is he gone ? In addition to all these drawbacks , there aro other ev . ls ( lowing from these sn-called Masouic degrees which must not be overlooked . Masonry proper , is founded on the brotherhood of matt . In the higher degrees , the brotherhood is renounced .

Ihe former is based on universality , and Ihe latter on sectarianism , and being miscalled higher , the seetaii . iiiism is shamelessly introduced into what they call "lower degrees . " One would naturally suppose that thirteen degrees , with four organizations , would be suflicient for any reasonable man . But no , their appetite for a multiplicity of degrees is most marvellous . AVithin the last six years , what

are called tbe "Scotch llite'' degrees became popular here . These consist of thirty degrees . Tlie former group of degrees , are here seriously called ' Tlie legitimate system , " "The American system , " ' and " Ancient York Bite . " AVhy they ' call it ' York liite" is more than any one can tell . Dr . Oliver has informed us win re the R . A . was manufactured , and the other degrees of that system undoubtedly had an American ori in . And it ia .