Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar.

COSMOPOLITAN MASONIC CALENDAR .

W . Masters and Secretaries are earnestly requested to forward to the publisher , at the Offices , 198 , Fleet-street , E . G ., particulars of the place , days , and months of meeting of their respective lodges , chapters , and other Masonic bodies , for insertion in the issue of the Calendar for 1877 .

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IMPORTANT NOTICE .

COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month .

It is very necessary for our readers to advise os of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen-page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / - P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the chief office , London .

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 tnan 12 o ' clock on Wednesday morning . We do not undertake to return rejected communications ,

The following stand over : —Memorial to the late Bro . Wescoe ; Reports of Lodges , 893 , Millbrook ; 332 , Hadley ; 321 , Bonill ; Chapter 111 , Ardross in ; Mark Lodge , 14 6 , Lancaster ; Prov . G . Mark Lodge of Somerset ; Red Cross Conclave , 33 , Portsmouth .

Remittances Received.

REMITTANCES RECEIVED .

£ s- A . Adcock , Thos ., Montreal CP . O . O . ) 1 4 o Bate , O . H ., The Cape ( P . O . O . ) o 6 o Brady , H . S ., St . Helena ( P . O . O . ) o 7 o Brady , J ., Bermuda ( per Admiralty , Cash ) o 9 o Clnvtnn . Cant .. India fP . Ci . Q . \ o 11 o

Cruft , C , Indiana ( P . O . O . ) 1 1 o Cunningham , J ., Gibraltar ( P . O . O . ) 200 Dantes , S . Africa ( P . O . O . ) o 14 1 Dowling , R ., St . Helena ( P . O . O . ) o 13 9 Eichbaum , U . S . A . ( B . of E . ) 1 4 o Hayward , F . A ., Victoria ( Cash ) 1 o o Laurie . G .. Constantinople ( Cash ) o 12 o

Meyer , C . E ., U . S . A . ( Cheque ) o 12 o Peake , H . H ., Ballarat ( P . O . O . ) o 12 o Pickthrall , T . W ., S . Africa ( P . O . O . ) 1 4 o Simpson , W . H ., New Zealand ( P . O . O . ) 5 o o Stuart , D ., Peru ( Diaft ) 140 Sutton , Gen ., U . S . A ; ( B . of E . ) 3 o o Toby , C , Tasmania ( P . O . O . ) 200

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d for announcements , not exceeding four lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . APPLETON . —On the 29 th ult ., at Dan-y-Graig , Forest-hill , Mrs . Walter P . Appleton , 0 / a daughter . ARMSTRONG . —On the 28 th Aug ., at Meean Meer , Punjaub , the wife of the Rev . W . F . Armstrong , of a daughter . BROWN . —On the 25 th ult ., at Penn-fields , Wolverhampton , the wife of VV . A . Brown , of a son .

MARRIAGES . LANU—M'LELLAN . —On the 21 th ult ., at Blairvaddick , Row , Dumbartonshire , R . Hamilton Lang , Imperial Ottoman Bank , Bucharest , to Margaret , daughter of W . M'Lellan , Esq .

OVERTON—SANDERS . — . On the 25 th ult ., at St . Peter ' s Church , Brighton , by the Rev . R . E . H . Raines , Arthur , third son of Mr . J . T . Overton , of Sutton Lodge , Surrey , to Caroline Harriet , youngest daughter of the late Mr . W . S . Saunders , of Burstow Lodge , Surrey .

DEATHS . ALLEN . —On the 30 th ult ., at Newport , I . W ., John Allen , Esq ., aged 73 . BONCKY . —On the 24 th ult ., Bro . C . Boncey , Life Subsciiber to the Licensed Victuallers' Institution , and Steward of the " Albert Edward " Saloon Steamer , aged 56 . QIARIDGE . —On the 23 rd ult ., at 231 , Queen ' s-Road ,

Peckham , John Joseph Claridge , late of the Old Kentroad , in his 6 ist year . Durr . —On the 29 th ult ., at St . George ' s-Road , S . W ., aged 65 , Eleanor , widow of the late A . Duff , Esq . EAOIE . —On the 2 lnd ult ., Francis John Eadie , of 6 , Fleet-lane , Farringdon-street , aged 31 . EDMONDS . —On the ist inst ., at Hunter-street , Brunswick square , Harry Tarrant , son of Bro , T . W . Edmunds , aged five vears .

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TheFreemason,SATURDAY , OCT . 7 , 1876 .

The Cant Of Masonry.

THE CANT OF MASONRY .

Such is the polite reading which the " Hampshire Post , " of September 22 nd , gives to its solitary and singular leader , which we print in another column for the information of our brethren . We shall all feel at once how polite it is and how true . It seems that the actual cause of

this intemperate and silly ebullition of a weak pen , and a weaker understanding , was the dedication of a new lodge at Havant , on the 1 st ult ., by our distinguished Bro . P . G . M . W . Beach , M . P ., and " notamment , " as the French say , a soeech delivered by Bro . Henry Ford . An account

of the proceedings and speeches appeared in our last impression , and we cannot , for the life of us , see what can possibly have aroused the indignation of our irate and unreasoning contemporary . We do not perceive that in anything which Bro . Beach , according to his wont , well said ,

or Bro . Ford addressed to his brethren , there is any ground for faultfinding , or complaint . We , of course , are never bound by the "dicta" of individual speakers , and had Bro . Ford ( he seems to be the chief offender in our contemporary ' s "jaundiced eye" ) proclaimed anything contrary

to Masonic tenets , we should not have defended his utterances , simply because he was a Freemason . But we confess that we are at a loss to understand what it is which our contemporary has really to animadvert upon . He may not like Freemasons , he may not approve of

Freemasonry . Some do not ; but at any rate he may be civil in his epithets and reasonable in his remarks . We do not quite gather , after more than one perusal , what it is even which he is p leased to term the " Cant of Masonry . " Is it Bro . Beach ' s truthful declaration that we were

once an operative body , and are now a speculative body ? Or is it Bro . Ford ' s assertion that we are loyal , peaceable , and patriotic , tolerant , truthful , and benevolent ? The writer of this childish article seems to have got into his noddle , ( not , we fancy , a very strong one , by this

specimen of his writing ) , that somehow or other Freemasonry is used by Freemasons for the purpose of private advantage , or personal advancement , and that by its secret organization Freemasons are enabled to favour one another at the expense alike of the public purse , and

individual merit . Greater nonsense never was penned , a grosser delusion per se never was fostered , or propagated by any one . After a long experience of Freemasonry we can safely assert that we have never known an instance where Freemasonry has been used for anyother purposes

than for those purely Masonic in themselves . Such a perversion of our system and teaching is forbidden by the first principles of our Order , and to state publicly that such is the " way " of the Masonic " world , " is alike contrary to truth , and a direct calumny on a very upright ,

conscientious , and patriotic body of men . Bro . Ford nowhere , that we see , claims for Freemasons any alleged superiority over other men . Neither does he , as the " Hampshire Post , " appears to fancy , assert for Freemasonry the " status" or influence of a " religion . " He

may possibly point out that Freemasonry inculcates loyalty to the sovereign and obedience to the laws of the state where Freemasons happen to be , that Freemasons are good citizens and true patriots , and that the unchanging teaching of Freemasonry is a pure morality , the morality of

the Bible , that morality without which the noisiest professions are worthless , and the most abstract speculations a snare . Why is Bro . Ford to be blamed for such views and statements , true in themselves and very well

expressed ? We pause for a reply ? Is it that this foolish " accuser " of our " brethren " is so opposed to Freemasonry that he can neither afford to be fair , nor is willing to be just ? Is it that disbelieving Freemasons , he does not shut his eyes to the fact , that such an exposition

The Cant Of Masonry.

of Masoflic principles is likely to find many admirers , and , therefore , as one sang of old : " Vixque tenet Iachrymas Quia nil lachrymabile csrnit ?" And having said this we will make a little confession . It is perfectly true that Freemasons

like other mortal beings are sometimes inconsistent . If we ail acted up to our professions here , what a very different world this would soon be , but it is " old as the hills" that profession and practice , preaching and performance , do not always go hand in hand now . While the world

lasts we shall ever have before our eyes this patent proof of the great infirmity of humanity , and as Freemasons are only human like any one else , they cannot and do not claim any exemption whatever from those many weaknesses which betray our common origin , those

many shortcomings which mark ever on earth the best and the wisest of us all . That in Freemaiovry , as in everything else of this lower world , we may find many flaws , many incongruities , many errors , we do not for a moment deny , and that we do not all act up to the

goodly precepts of Freemasonry is undoubtedly and undeniably true . But such , we may well also bear in mind , is the unchanging condition of our race . We do not deny either that Freemasons , like everybody else , do not always mean what they sai' , or say what they

mean ; as in every brotherhood of earth , there are those who bring no credit on its fair name , but we distinctly deny that there is , or need be , any " Cant in Freemasonry , " inasmuch as its professions are alsvays truthful , and its actions are ever real . That Freemasonry does

not benefit society and the age in which wo live is a perverse paradox , worthy ofthe superficial Ultramontane or the sneering Jesuit . No society can fail to have utility and blessing for man and for the world , which loudly proclaims , with no views of self-interest or egotistical self-laudation , the

ever needful truths of toleration , liberality , respect for law and order , and the fervid maintainence of the sacred rights of personal liberty , independence , and the individual conscience of the homo . Freemasonry , as a friendly brotherhood , seeks to enrol all men in its peaceful arniv , who

neither atheists nor libertines , and leaving the defence of dogmatic and doctrinal teaching , to the religious body or church , can agree in recognising the fatherhood of God , and the brotherhood of man . Surely if Freemasons can unite men of various beliefs , in deeds of charity

and sympathy , it does a good act , it represents a true thing ; and we feel persuaded that if Freemasonry is only sincere in upholding its own great principles of thought and action , it has before it both a goodly mission and a noble work .

Masonic Archæology.

MASONIC ARCH ? OLOGY .

[ In consequence of press of matter we continue these papers here , instead of in a separate column as an individual communication . The " we " has taken the place of the " I , " that is all the difference . ] There is a theory of Masonic Archaeology

which has now to be considered , namely , thai the real History of Freemasonry begins from the Revival of 1717 . There is no doubt a very great difficulty by historical or documentary evidence in linking on Freemasonry , for instance , to the Guild System , but that was to be expected from the nature of the case ! No one contends

that we are aware of , that our Masonic ritual today , by way of illustration , is " totidem verbis , the same as that of the guilds , for that would b £ an absurdity . In the history of all human asso ciations , the beginnings are simple and unornatc

it is only in their maturity and developementi that they become systematized and artificial , » we may so write . No doubt in 1717 the then existing ritual was enlarged and elabora te 11 adhering to the leading principles and landmarks * and it is just possible that in early days , the

local lodges only admitted to the degree of Fello * craft , and that the Grand Lodge or Grand asseiB ' bly as a specially convened Master ' s Lodge gaf alone the Third Degree . This would expla '" Dermott ' s evidence , which though not altogetW reliable , is not to be absolutely despised or ' '