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Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

LA RUCHE . —Declined . A VICTIM . —It will be better to let tbe matter rest as it is REMITTANCE RECEIVED . VV . HAHPEH , Nevada , U . S . A . —P . O . O . US . 3 d . EltiiATUM . —Page 709 of our last issue—Communicatior

regarding Masonic Literature—line 14 , for " exposes shame , " read " exposes shams . " The following stand over : — Reports of Grand Chapter ; thejMark Benevolent Association ; Lodges 1 31 , 1261 , 1 348 , 1421 ( Instruction ) .

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THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY , FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT DAY . Drawn from the best sources and the most recent investigations . BY J . G . FINDEL , Second Edition , Revised , and Preface written by Bro . D . MURRAY LYON . One vol ., 800 pages 8 vc , with an Index . Cloth gilt . Price , ios . Od . ••This volume is the history of Masonry pur excellence Every inteiested person may regard it , therefore , as the present text-book on the subject . "—Manchester Guardian "The author seems to have fairly exhausted the subject . "—The Athenaeum . " Of its value to Freemasons , as a detailed history of their Brotherhood , it is not possible to speak too hi g hly . "Pul-lic Opinion . Bro . GEORGE KENNING , 19 S , ILEET STREET , LONDON , K . C .

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KI ' . ADY SHORTLY . Roan , Gilt Edges , Elastic Band , Price 2 s ., Post Free 2 , s . -j . il . THE COSMOPOLITAN MASONIC CALENDAR , DIARY , AND POCKET-BOOK , FOR 1874 , CONTAINING (\ 111 nriU ' inVi ' k " ' ! ' V > L , :, P ,, TS- Conclaves , Grand councils and ls-. l . 1 receptones with ine names ot Officers in England and Wales , Scotland Ireland , and abroad . May le had of all Hunksellers , Tylers , Janitor ,, Sentinels , Eijiierries , & c , Publishing Office , 198 , Fleet-street , E . C .

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Second Edition , Now Ready , 1 / 6 . A MASONIC MUSICAL SERVICE . In tlie key of C . for A ., T ., T ., U . Opening and Closing Odes . Craft Ceremonies . Royal . Arch Ceremony . Consecration Ceiemony . Grace before and after Meat . COMPOSED 13 V DR . J . . BAKER , NO . 241 . LONDON . —Geo . Kenning , i , > 8 , Fleet-street ; and 2 , 3 , and 4 , Little Hi itain . *' „ R . Spencer , 20 , Great Queen-street . LIVEHPOOI .. —Geo . Kenning , 2 , Mor . ument-place . MANCHESTO .-I ,. Jlenry . V Co ., Deansgate . DUBLIN .-C . Hedgelong , 26 , Grafton-. treet GLASGOW . —Geo . Kenning , 145 , Argyle-street . liDisiiuitcii . —Geo . Kenning , 67 , Manov-. r-street .

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NOTICE . All Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in the Number of the following

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TheFreemason SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 8 , 1873 .

Another Roman Catholic Attack On Freemasonry.

ANOTHER ROMAN CATHOLIC ATTACK ON FREEMASONRY .

We had occasion , some time back , to call attention to a professedly humourous and sarcastic attack , by an accredited Roman Catholic periodical on our Fraternity , and we succeeded ,

as we hoped , in showing how utterly meaningless and inane such an attack really was , and how little we were affected by so childish and so flippant an article .

To-day , however , we have to call attention to a somewhat more serious aggression , namely to the after-luncheon speech of Dr . Brown , a Roman Catholic bishop , in whose ecclesiastical

jurisdiction Chester , we believe , is . Dr . Brown is , we also understand , the titular Bishop of Shrewsbury , and having laid the foundation stone of a new Roman Catholic Church

in the good City of Chester , and having attended a luncheon and a numerous assembly of the faithful , he amused ^ himself , and we presume his hearers , by an onslaught on us poor

Freemasons . Why he should , on such a day , and after such a ceremony , have thought it needful to introduce the subject of Freemasonry at all , we cannot pretend to explain , or even to surmise .

Roman Catholic bishops alter all , are but men , and something had evidently gone wrong with his digestion , or the" menu . " Perhaps the '' Mayonnaise ii l'Homard" was not

properly mixed , or the fine sirloin the " piece dc resistance , " was too tough . The Doctor evidently wanted some of Bob Sawyer ' s " patent digestor , " for he

incontinently proceeded to attack Freemasonry " more Romaiioruni" in a peculiarly offensive way . As he is reported in the Chester Courant of October 22 nd , Dr . Brown ventured to couple

" Freemasons" and " Fenians" together , and to pronounce them equally under the ban of the Pope , and to be avoided by all good Roman Catholics .

Hi' -- isfnil words are these : — "The allerriance they owed to their Sovereign was a reli gious duty . No one could be admitted to the benefits of the holy tribunal of penance who was guilty of

a violation of the laws , which were the commandments of God . The obedience they owed to the civil government of the country was a duty impressed upon them b y the Church of God .

So strongly did the church feel that , and so strongly did she set the seal of her approbation upon it , that no one could , as he had said , be admitted to the Sacraments who conspired , or

was supposed to be conspiring , against the civil government of the country in which he lived . It was forbidden a priest ^ to bestow any of the

benefits of the confessional on such offenders . All , for instance , belonging to secret societies were , interdicted from those benefits , because

Another Roman Catholic Attack On Freemasonry.

they were supposed to hold tenets and princi ples which , in some way or other , were contrary to the laws of God and their country . No matter whether the society was that of Freemasons or

Fenians , its members were , so long as they belonged to it , excluded from the benefits of the tribunal of penance . That every catholic might continue to hold allegiance to his Sovereign was

the earnest wish of the pastors of the Church . " We cannot see why the Freemasons are introduced at all , and we can only suppose that it was for the pleasant alliteration of " Fenians and

Freemasons . " There is really otherwise no meaning in the connection or in the passage itself , Is Dr . Brown so ignorant of history as not to

be aware that Freemasons are specially exempt from the operation of the Secret Societies' Act ? He must know , if he knows anything of Freemasonry , that in England , and in Ireland ,

and in Scotland , its members have always constituted a pre-eminently loyal body , and that they have always been distinguished by devoted adherence to the Throne , and zealous

obedience to the laws of this great country . He must have known that , at its head in Cheshire , is Lord De Tabley and was good old Lord Combermere ; that its Grand

Master is theManmisof Ripon ; its Deputy Grand Master the Earl of Carnarvon , that the Prince of Wales himself is a member of the Fraternity ,

and that to brand Freemasonry as a secret political society , or to put it on a level with the Fenians , muse be either an absurdity or an

impertinence . As it is not the first time that Roman Catholic Dignitaries have thought fit to couple together

two such dissimilar societies , we think it right , once for all , to protest against such an unwarrantable , such an uncharitable , such an

offensive juxtaposition . Freemasonry is a peculiarly loyal , peaceful , philanthropic brotherhood , one of whose first and unchanged axioms is , " Loyalty to the

Sovereign of our native land , " and we indignantly repudiate any alleged similarity in our organization with that of the Fenians , just as we denounce such an unjust allusion to our

benevolent and tolerant order . Why , in the city of Chester , where there are two excellent lodges , the Cestrian , No . 425 , and the Lodge of Independence , No . 721 , or wh y in

Cheshire , where there are no less than thirty-live lodges , all distinguished by Masonic zeal , and we feel sure , by English loyalty , Dr . Brown Should have Uiuught well 10 use such very

oilcnsive words to all Freemasons , we cannot , for the life of us , understand . In Shrewsbury , itself , there are two lodges , all "good men and true , " and why , on such a day , Dr . Brown should have

gone out of his way to say the most disagreeable thing he could possibly say of us loyal Freemasons , is one of those mysteries of Roman Catholic proceedings in this country , which we

cannot profess to be able to understand or to expound . It is not so many decades , or years ago , since we could tell of a Roman Catholic

archbishop , and of a Roman Catholic bishop as being Freemasons , and having a high value for the institution . Dr . Brown may say , I am only speaking