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TO OUR READERS . The FREEMASON is a Weekly Newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and : ontains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscription , in eluding postage : United America , India , Inelia , China , & c Kingdom , the Continent , & c . Via Brindisi . Twelve Months ios . 6 d . tis . od . 17 s . . d . Six . „ 5 s . 3 d . 6 s . 6 d . 8 s . 8 d . Three ,, 25 . 8 d . 3 s . 3 d . 4 s . 6 d . Subscriptions may be paid for in stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , thc former payable to GEORGE KENNING , CHIEF OFFICE , LONDON , the latter crossed London Joint Stock Bank . Advertisements and -. ther business communications should be adelressed to the Publisher . Communications on literary subjects anel books for review arc to be forwarded to the Editor . Anemymous correspondence will be wholly disregarded , and the return of rcjccteil MSS . cannot be guaranteed . Further inlormation will be supplied 0 " application to he Publisher , iq 8 , Fleet-street , London . TO " ADVERTISERS . Ihe FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be eiverratcel . ADVERTISEMENTS to ensure insertion in current -week ' s issue should reach the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , by 12 o ' clock on Wednesdays .

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REMITTANCES RF . CF . 1 VED . £ s . d . Bennett , K ., Canada .. o 12 o Bcttelcy , R . W ., Valparaiso 0120 Comet Lodge , No . 1680 , Queensland ... 0120 Cummings , G . H ., New York ... ... o 13 o Drake , F ., New York o 12 o

C . Forsylhe , Lagos ... ... ... ... 112 4 Francis , Thus ., Bambay ... ... ... o 17 4 George , B ., The Cape ... ... ... 160 Hancock , Hon ., H . J . B ., Antigua ... ... o 11 10 Hopwood , J . R ., Jamaica o 13 o lackson , II ., Paris o 12 o

Mastfield , R . B ., Buenos Ayres ... ... 068 Newmareh , G . K ., New Zealand ... ... 0120 Percival , J ., Canada ... 140 Punj _) , Grand Lndge of ... ... ... 490 Richardson , P ., New Zealand ... ... 1 10 o Walker , G ., Bombay ... ... ... ... o 12 o

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

CoiniESi'oNiii'NTS arc respectfully reejuestetl to write their communications on one side of tbe paper only . Tu QuoauE . —We think it better not to publish your letter . You will appreciate our motives . HUGH MCCOMHI ; . —We do not see what good can arise

by publishing your letter , though we note it and will make use of it . EUIII ' . KA . —Thanks . " Original Research " in our next . " P . G . L . of SUSSCK . "—Net deemed expedient to publish .

BOOKS & .-. RECEIVED . " Poets'Magazine ; " "Voice of Masonry ; " " East Lan-.... shire Echo ; " " Hull Packet ; " "Masonic Record of Western India-, " " Scottish Freemason -, "" Broad Arrow ;" " Advocate ; " " New Yeirk Dispatch ; " " Exeter and Plymouth Gazette ; " " Liberal Freemason -, " " Masonic

Eclectic ; " "Coiner Stone ; " "New Zealand Public Opinion ;" " Westminster Papers-, " " Freemasons' Repository ; " " El Boletin Official" ( Cuba ) ; " La Voz De Hiram ; " " Risorgimeiito-, " "Hatters' Gazette . " "Masonic Herald ;" " Australian Freemason : " " Der Triange-1 ; " " Proceedings of thc Granel Lotlge of Indiana ; " " Keystone ; " " Hebrew Leader . "

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

BIRTHS . SHAW . —On the ist ult ., at No . r , Marine-parade , Folkc stone , Mrs . John Shaw , of a daughter .

MARRIAGE . BAKER—SUTTEIIFI _! . . —On the 5 th ult ., at Ancilcy Congregational Church , by the Her . J . Halsey , William Baier , son of G . K . Baker , Esq ., of Jasmine Gr ve , Anerley , to Rosina Sutterfield , grand-daughter of J , Stodart , Est * ., of Margate .

DEATHS . CinnwiCK . —On the 22 nd ult ., suddenly , of he-ait disease , Bro Chidwick , of Lodge 972 , aged 46 . CONSTAIII . E . —On the 30 th ult ., suddenly , of long standing heart disease , B . K . C-. instable , Esei ., of Park-crcscent , Brighton , late of New Yoik , agetl 72 . N . Y . papers will please to ceipy . PHILLIPS . —On thc 29 th ult ., at Llanclly House , 17 ,

llidlcyroatl , Dalston , Ellen , the beloved wife of William Phillips , aged 42 years . SIIAIII . —On ihc 2 . Sth ult ., at 41 , Kcnsingtun-park-gardens W ., Henry Dackyer sharp , F . H . C . S ., in his 82 nd year deeply lamentc . WII . I . HMS . —On the 3 rd inst ,, nt Heaoton Court , Barr .-staplr , Sir Frcc ' e-i ick Martin Williams , Bait ., M . I ' ., D . G . M ., Cornwall , agetl 4 8 .

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THEFREEMASON SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 7 , 1878 .

The Last Quarterly Communication.

THE LAST QUARTERLY COMMUNICATION .

The report of this meeting will give satisfaction to all the Craft . 1 he dignified proceedings with reference to the wrong doings of the official Scrutineers at the election of the Board of General Purposes , will sincerely gratify all who value the prestige and honour of our Masonic body .

It was an unanimous condemnation both of outraged propriety and Masonic justice , which we trust will not be without its effect on all who were present at Grand Lodge , on all who read , what took place , and all who peruse our article . No doubt much of personal pity will havo been

felt for the brother on whom Masonic justice has fallen so heavily , but in this special case the sterner necessity of obvious duty outweighed any persona ] feelings or individual goodwill . In the Freemason it can never be out of order , or wrong to repeat , that safe and abiding axiom of all

social and personal safety , — " Fiat justitia , ruat Ccelum . " The other matters of business proceeded in due course , and for which we beg to refer our readers to our report . It will be seen Bro . General Brownrigg , P . G . M . for Surrey , presided , in the absence of the higher dignitaries .

The Grand Orient Of France.

THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE .

Though we have given this short heading to our article , for the convenience of our columns , we wish it to take a far wider range , in that we propose to consider to-day , the present position and future action cf the Grand Orient of France .

Let us say , in the first instance , that a priori , there is no reason in the world why the Grand Orient ol France and the Grand Lodge of England should not be on the very best of terms .

National prejudices and bye . gone feuds have long since given way , most happily , to the common interest of both countries , to the sympathy of an " entente cordial-.-, " and the pleasant " souvenirs " of an alliance honourable and welcome to both

countries . There has grown up both in France and Engl & nd , amutualregardand goodwill foreach other , and long may it so continue , and may the mission of both countries be the same , the peaceful progress , the advancing civilization of mankind . All Freemasons . French and English

Masons , have this tie in common , that French Freemasonry is a daughter of England , and that there is , and can be no rivalry between the two governing bodies of both countries , but which can best advance the true interests of Cosmopolitan Freeasonry . We in England have always

made great allowances for I ' rench 1 < reemasonry . We have not forgotten the mournful scenes of the Commune- we knew the violence of Massol and his party , and we always felt that the moderate party in the French Grand Orient hail " very difficult cards to play , " and we , therefore ,

thought it right to express for them all sympathy , and to regard with the . utmost favour in our power , their words and acts , to put a good construction on what was the 1-licet of an overbearing majority , rather than the deliberate view of the Masonic and moderate party in the French

goverening body . But when in 1877 the French Grand Orient , yielding to an insensate agitation , and dominated b y the memories and bitterness of the destructive and pernicous teaching of Massol , completed the woik of which he so perversely and vigorously laid the foundation , we , in

England , unless recreant to our principles , unless base deserters from our colours , had no alternative but to avow alike our dissent from , our disapproval of , an act which seemed to us to undermine and cast away the very foundation of Universal Masonry . We mig ht be wrong in our

view of matters , and the majority of the Grand Orient might be right , but as honest Freemasons we had both the tight , and we felt strongly it was our duty to speak out and plainly , in respect of proceedings which we could not but deem utterly subversive of all the principles which , as Freemasons , we had been ever taught to revere .

The Grand Orient Of France.

The English Grand Lodge ahvays prudent , al ways moderate , and always conciliatory , passed a resolution , under the circumstances , which , while it commended itself to the intelligence and loyalty of all English Masons , was alike most Masonic in substance , and most courteous in

form . Practically it declared that it must not take cognizance of so sad a departure from the ceaseless teaching of Cosmopolitan Masonry . Further than this , it decided that while it would receive into the lodges all French Masons whose certificates were anterior to the

Couvent of 1877 , that is those who were initiated under proper sanctions , it declined to admit those initiated after 1877 , whose certificates are posterior to the Convent , unless they supplemented those certificates with a declaration of acknowledgment in T . G . A . O . T . U . Such , in our opinion , is a

roost wise , Masonic , and befitting decision . Wc judge this " inter alia , " both by the attacks such a serious resolution has encountered and b y the support it has received . It has been supported by the whole of Anglo-Saxon Masonry ,

considerably over a million of Masons alone ; it bas been approved of by the Grand Bodies of Egypt , Peru , Spain , Portugal , Hungary , Italy , and rrany lodges in Germany , while it has been personally attacked only by those who wish to go further even , and whose idea of Freemasonry seems to be

a secret , revoltionary , practically Godless society . Suchis the present position of the Grand Orient of France , alike without precedent and dangerous , in our opinion , because isolated from the whole of Anglo-Saxon Masonry , and severed from other bodies . Its special danger consists in

this , that it may be a question by International Masonic Law , how far any jurisdiction is warranted in treating France as an unoccupied country , inasmuch as such a departure from universal Masonry seems to many minds to bean act of Masonic outlawry on the part of French

Freemasonry , seems to take away all rightful claims to acknowledgment and ocedience . Bro . Hubert , for whom we have much regard , and who sees things much as we see them , has expressed a hope that the French Grand Orient , undsr Bro . St . Jean , will go no further and do no worse .

Wt would fain hope so with him , but our faith is not quite so strong as his . There are symptoms to us still of a deliberate intention to go on further , if slowly , if gradually , if little b y little , point by point , yet to go on , and thus tocomplete , in our humble opinion , Masonic revolution . But

where ? To the complete goal of a wild destructiveness . How else can any English Masons regard the deliberate intention avowed at the approaching Couvent , to issue warrants in another jurisdiction not in fraternal relations with it ? Not that thc measure is of much moment in the

abstract , or is likely to be of much avail in the concrete . Supposing that the effect in England , for instance , was to give a warrant to " Les Philadel phes , " what harm could accrue to English Masonry ? Absolutely none . No English Mason of respectability could associate with

such a body , and if he did he would be suspended at once , for taking part in a " clandestine meeting , " just a : no law-abiding Englishman could or would take part in an illegal meeting of a secret society . We utterly deny " Les Philadelphes '' to be in any sense a " Masonic lodge , "

neither , in our opinion , could it ever be made into one . We , therefore , look upon such a proposal as a " brutum fulmen , " at any rate practically , but yet it shews an " animus , * ' " unmistakeableandirreconcileable , " which we are bound , as honest journalists , to note , as loyal Masons to

deplore . As regards any other jurisdiction affected by it , we can onl y foresee , that if persevered in , it must lead to reprisals , and the utter exclusion of French Freemasons from all Anglo-Saxon lodges , as well as from Ihe lodges of many other jurisdictions . And with this intention , practically

attacking all the Anglo-Saxon Grand Lodges , the French Grand Orient invites Anglo-Saxon Freemasons to attend their aporoaching Couvent and take part in a fraternal gathering . Very fraternal in good truth , and the delicate

irony of our witty French brethren in calmly putting forth such an invitation under such circunibtanccs deserves to be recorded and appreciated ! What Anglo-Saxon Mason can , under such circumstances , attend such a meeting ? We