Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS $ 13 Supreme Grand Chapter 514 Masonic Banquet at the Mansion House ... J 14 Provincial Grand Lodgeof West Yorkshire 515 Freemasonry in the Isle of Man 516 Consecration of St . Alban ' s Mark Lodge

, No . 344 , at Nottingham Jij Review—Fourth Notice 517 Some Ancient York Masons and their Early Haunts ( . Continued ) JiS Craft Masonry 519

CORRESPONDENCEMasonic Mendicancy J 2 r Reviews £ 21 Grand Mark Masters' Lodge of Instruction J 2 t Notes and Queries 522 The Craft Abroad 522

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSRoyal Arch $ 23 Mark Masonry 523 Obituary 523 Masonic and General Tidings 524 Lodge Meetings for Next Week iii .

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OUR Bro . the LORD MAYOR closed his year of office and remarkable hospitality by a most pleasant gathering of the Grand Officers for the year , a selection of Prov . Grand Masters , and the members of the Grand Masters Lodge . Such assemblies are both noteworthy and commendable .

* * * THE proceedings at the meeting of the Montefiore Lodge are full of interest to the Craft universal . There is always a fear lest such meetings should drift into a meaningless declaration on the one hand , or an unnecessary assertion of admitted principles on the other . But on this occasion

everything was fortunately free from any possible complaint or perversion , and the gathering of the evening sets Freemasonry before friends and foes alike in a most attractive and engaging form . It is , in fact , that "touch of nature which makes the whole world kin , " which Freemasonry rightly interpreted ever illustrates and exemplifies . From that meeting goes forth to some the

strange announcement that in a Freemason ' s lodge all men are on a level ; that religious prejudices have no entrance there ; polemical discussions no abiding . For the persecutions of other days , on so-called religious grounds , as Freemasons we can have but one voice of absolute horror and condemnation , and we gladly welcome within onr tylcd portals Christian and Hebrew ,

Hindoo , Parsee , Mahommcdan , and even Buddhist . The Atheist alone we unsparingly reject , —and so may it ever be ! May Freemasonry still speed on its beneficent mission "from Pole to Pole , " there never weary of proclaiming its reverence for GOD and its love for man . To that venerable and exalted brother , that great benefactor of humanity , that lover of his species ,

and yet a man and eminent Hebrew , Sir MOSES MONTEFIORE ! English Freemasons , ever admiring what is loyal and true in conjunction with the civilized world at home and abroad , tender their heartfelt

congratulations , and abiding good wishes of fraternal sympathy , respect , and affection . All our readers will regret to hear of the serious illness of that worthy and distinguished brother , though rejoice to hear of his happy rally and improvement .

* # * IN a recent discussion in the House of Commons our distinguished Bro . PLUNKET , member for Dublin University , used these words , as they appear in the Times of November 4 th : " It was now said that Freemasonry was at the bottom of these unjust verdicts . He was himself a Freemason ,

and the idea that Freemasonry influenced jurors in their verdicts appeared to . him-to be a piece of the wildest imagination . ( Cheers . ) It was no disclosure for him to say that all matters of politics and religion were left outside the door of the Freemason ' s lodge . ( Hear , hear . ) He felt quite sure that he could not , at a contested election , obtain the vote of any single

Freemason who was a Liberal ( laughter and ' Hear , hear' ); and it was absurd to say that Freemasonry considerations would influence jurors in considering the guilt or innocence of a prisoner before them . " ( Hear , hear . ) Mr . KENNY replies to this , " That he thought that Freemasonry had to a great extent influenced the verdicts of the special jurors . Irish Freemasonry

was very different from English Freemasonry ( hear ); in fact , as different as was English Freemasonry from Continental Freemasonry" ( hear ); and Mr . O'BEIRNE "Protested against what had fallen from the right hon . gentleman the member for Dublin University , with regard to Freemasonry

in Ireland . It was a mistake to suppose that Freemasonry was the same thing in Ireland as in England . In Ireland it was simply equivalent to Orangeism . " From what we know of the matter , we feel sure that Bro . PLUNKET is quite in the right .

*«* THE proceedings in the Isle of Man seem to have been most successful and to have given the greatest satisfaction . We understand that the distinguished deputation of Grand Officers returned highly gratified with their visit , and duly sensible of the hearty hospitality offered to them . The conse-

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cration of the two lodges ( see our report ) passed over " more Majorum " with great effect . We can cordially compliment our esteemed Bro . C . SPENCER STANHOPE , P . G . Chaplain , for his very effective oration , and the historical introduction of the GRAND SECRETARY was most interesting . Before long we shall not be surprised to hear of a Provincial Grand Lodge of the Isle of Man .

* # » WE can hardly discuss the alleged action of the Grand Lodge of Ouebec with any seriousness . When wc realize that almost the youngest of Grand Bodies , and the least influential in some respects , should seek to adopt Roman Catholic or Fenian tactics , and " boycott , " " excommunicate" the

English Masons and the Grand Lodge of England , it must be a subject of almost uncontrollable merriment to all the jurisdictions of Cosmopolitanism . The question in dispute is so simple , it all so "lies in a nutshell , " that it seems well to put before our readers at home and abroad , once for all and once more , a clear and correct statement of all the facts of the case . To

do this , we must go back a little . When , in years gone by , the Canadian Freemasons , for reasons " good , bad , or indifferent , " determined on " secesh " from the mother Grand Lodge of England , three lodges in Montreal specially declined to join the movement . Lord RETLAND , in . his acknowledgment of the Grand Lodge of Canada , stipulated for the legal position

and acknowledgment of the Montreal lodges , and this fact was agreed to " nem . ! con ., " the then Grand Lodge of Canada , Bro . WILSON , Grand Master , going out of his way , as an extant printed correspondence attests , to admit the right of the Montreal lodges so to act , the reasonableness , the Masonic correctness of their position ; their inviolability as lawful lodges under

the English jurisdiction , from which it was not unnatural they should not wish to separate themselves . Th is all so plain , and clear , and incontestable , that we need not take up any more space with dilating on these indisputable preliminaries . And so all went on until the Quebec Body was set up in " secesh , " in turn , from the Grand Lodge of Canada , which for a time

vigorously resented and loudly denounced any such procedure . And even then , at first , the Quebec Grand Lodge did not deny the legality of the English lodges . VVhen the Grand Lodge of Canada and Grand Lodge of Quebec were forming their concordat of recognition , the legal position of the English lodges was admitted by the Grand Lodge of Quebec , ( reserving

to themselves the right to open friendly negociations with the Grand Lodge of England thereanent ) , and nothing was said in any way intimating the unjustifiable position of later years . However , the Grand Lodge of Quebec is recognized and established , and then asks also for recognition from England . The English Grand Lodge , remembering Lord ZETLAND ' S guarantee ,

says"Certainly ; but you must place the English lodges in the same position they were by ' treaty-compact' under the Grand Lodge of Canada . " To this the Grand Lodge of Quebec , unwisely advised , demurred , and from that moment the troubles began . Since then a disposition has been openl y avowed and evinced to " repudiate " the old treaty and arrangement , and

to claim even for the Grand Lodge of Quebec a power to overrule the legal and Masonic action of the Grand Lodge of Canada originally " in the premises . " No doubt other matters have cropped up , and other subjects have intervened , until we find ourselves threatened with a " Bull of Excommunication " from the Grand Lodge of Quebec , after ceaseless allocutions and

endless long-winded manifestoes . There is , however , a question which might supervene , which we beg to commend to the careful attention of our Quebec brethren . When Lord ZETLAND undertook to conserve an existing jurisdiction for a time , and not to perpetuate it , he did so conditionally . If his clear and precise words are carefully read , it will be seen that this

abnegation on the part of the English Grand Lodge was dependent on the courteous and peaceful recognition of the English I adges . If , by any act of violence or intimidation , such legal position is jeopardized or undermined , the original unquestioned rights and jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England are revived , and there can be no doubt had Lord ZETLAND been living , ( as we know from the best authority on the subject ) , he would so

explain his own act and his own words . If any cf our readers will be kind enough to peruse Lord ZETLAND ' S speech in Grand Lodge , they will see at once what we mean more clearly than here we need to indicate . We shall be very sorry if the authorities of the Quebec Grand Lodge have committed such an act of unmitigated folly and un-Masonic " rowdyism ; " it can only re-act upon themselves , and may pave the way for complications of a very serious kind . " Verbum fat sapientibus . "

* * WE often hear just now of the American law of Grand Lodge formation and recognition , but as it is as often ignorantly appealed to and unsafel y applied , we think it well to dwell for a short space on the fact such as it is . The American law is novel , exclusively American , " sui generis , " and has