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nnHEATRE ROYAL , DRURY LANE CINDERELLA . GRAND CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME BY E . L . B LANCHARD , WITH ALL THE BEST FEATURES OK OLD-FASHIONED PANTOMIME AND ALL THE SPLENDOUR OK MODERN S PECTACLE .

To Correspondents.

To Correspondents .

1 he following communications have been received , but are not inserted in this issue owing to want of space : — Correspondence—LEX . York Craft Lodge , No . 23 G . St . George ' s Red Cross Conclave , No . 42 . . Mount Ararat Lodge Royal Ark Mariners , No . 15 S .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Kcvstonc , " " New Vork Suml . iv Times , " " Victorian Masonic lournal , " " New Vork Dailv News , " "Citizen , " " liroad Arrow , " " Masonic Hume Journal , " ' " La Abcj . i , " " Victorian Freemason , ^ " Court Circular , " " Lifeboat Journal , " " Prosperous California , " Grand Chapter Roval Arch " Masons of Quebec , " ' New Ideas , Part II ., " " Voice of Masonrv , " * ' Liberal l-recmason , " " Masonic Token , " "Muncipal Review , " " Canadian Craftsman , " "City Press , " "The Tricycling Journal . "

The Freemason

THE Freemason

SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 9 , 1884 .

© dermal ( Corrcgpontoence .

{ . We < lo not hold ourselves responsible for , or even approving of , the opinions sxprcssed by our correspondents , but wcwlsh in a spirit of fair play tn all to permit—within certain necessary limits—frtc discussion ] ¦

THE ELECTION OF GRAND TREASURER . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , I humbly forego the charge of " boldness " placed upon me by your correspondent who signs himself " Obsta Principiis . " To use a somewhat homely simile , " the boot is upon the other leg , " for the promoters of the circular first "rushed in " where I should not otherwise been tempted to

stray ; they arc therefore the "bold" ones . My letter was simply a protest against the arrogance of a few setting up their voices' against the right of the whole elective body of Grand Lodge , and I should not have ventured to thus raise my voice if this pretentious circular , dictatorial in its terms , had not been issued . Your correspondent says that " it is very clear to him that 1 have not read the circular . As what is " clear " to

him is altogether as incorrect as the principle upon which that precious document proceeds , I need waste no words upon that matter , except to point out that in " Obsta Principiis " we have the author of this most unconstitutional and mischievous epistle . There is in both the same style of insinuation , the same proclamation of " desire for peace and harmony , " the same assertion of belonging to " no party , " with the addition , in the letter , of an uncalled for

elevation of "the position" of the signatarics— "worthy brethren" who " are most distinguished Masons ! " All this is contrary to the sp irit of the Craft , and in Grand Lodge we arc all most " distinguished Masons , " where the least "distinguished" vote is equal to the mightiest . "Obsta Principiis" is not above giving a "bold advertisement " of himself anonymously as a " worthy and distinguished Mason ! " __ .

With your leave I will answer this letter . The writer says the citcularisers "belong to no party . " This I deny , and I deny what is a self evident fact . They belong to a " party " who evince a desire to put their few voices against the constitutional voica of Grand Lodge . Is it not so ? Here are some 150 setting themselves to tell the vast constituent body of the Craft that , in the opinion of the circularisedthe Craft should not exercise its right of election

, of a brother to the only honour it is in the power of the constituent body to bestow . Last year the same parties made the same fight against the election of Bro . Allcroft , and then the contest had some reason on its side , for against the assertion ot the yearly princip le was thedilhculty of displacing Bro . Col . Creaton , and of p lacing in the position a brother of whom no one knew anything , and who , indeed , had been dead for 40 years to Masonic duties . Bro .

Allcroft woke from his long sleep in Masonry to hnd himself honoured by this election ; and I know that very few indeed had ever seen Bro . Allcroft , and yet voted for him but not against Col . Creaton , and they did this only in assertion of the yearly principle , and not that they accepted Bro . Allcroft as superior to Bro . Creaton . Your correspondent does not like the introduction of Col . Crcaton ' s name in this controversy . " 'This appears

in the worst possible form . " Of course it docs—to the gentleman with the Latin name , because the facts shown in connection with that name are unanswerable ! " Obsta Principiis" " objected to the movement , " in the case of the election of Bro . Allcroft , and he goes on objecting , as he says , "strongly , " and he will be found objecting , as men are found in other ways of life , and the only pity is that they get respectable people to join in the objectionable

proceedings ! No wonder the circular promoters object ; to the introduction of Col . Crcaton ' s name . This name is proof positive of the princip le which Grand Lodge last year settled . ....... ... It is as well that " Obsta Principiis" does not enter into the " comparative claims " of the two brethren proposed for election , for if he did he would not find a peg to hold on

by . And the next passage which comes to hand is the assertion " that a private and select meeting , after a good dinner , " made the selection " of a particular brother . This , if meant to apply to the proposed nomination ot Bro . Horace Marshall , I pronounce to be an altogether unwarrantable assertion , and if " Obsta Principiis " has been so informed , he has been led by the nose and ears . Ccc-

The Freemason

tainly there was a dinner , and , too , I believe , a " uoon DINNER "—( my feelings , Mr . Printer , are too strong for italics , and I must ask you to put " good dinner" into capitals , or , at all events , small capitals)—but this was subsequent to the " selection , " and not before . I heard the matter mooted among many " worthy and distinguished Masons " long before that dinner , and the occasion of one of the Charity elections , when " worthy and distinguished

brethren " of town and country most do congregate in London , was the occasion when the matter of the forthcoming election was on the tapis . Bro . Marshall could have known nothing of the proposed nomination , and he was not at the dinner ; if I mistake not , " Obsta Principiis " knew it . Perhaps he , being so high and mighty with his " objections , " was not spoken to any further , and wisely , for when people desire to come to any settled course of

action for the general good they do not hold parly with people with " objections . " These were not "irresponsible " brethren , nor were they a "caucus . " They were simply brethren who sought to make the way plain in seeing that honour was given to whom honour was due . " Caucus " is a word which comes with ill grace from the representative of the circularisers ( and I thank thee , " Obsta Princiiis" for teaching me that word ) . The "caucus" is to be

p , foundinthe people who , I venture todeclare , decided , AK 1 KR A GOOD MANY GOOD DINNERS , to issue this ill-timcdcircular , and they must be hypocritical or hoodwinked composers who could venture to declare that it was done in the interests of " peace and harmony , " as if they thought the whole of Grand Lodge will yield to this dictation . It may be as well to explain to those who do not know , that the proposed nomination of Bro . Horace Marshall

arose spontaneously in the desire of men , who had never seen that brother , to give the Craft an opportunity of becoming acquainted with one who , from the moment he became a memher of the Craft , accepted the position as an additional means of doing good . Why , the night he was initiated , when he had very little knowledge ot the Craft , he placed his name down on the list of the brother who was going as Steward for one of the Charities for the sum of

100 guineas , this too without the slightest self-s ; eking , and , in the quietest possible manner , he has subscribed to a princely extent to the Masonic and general charities of the country . His help , too , has been given with brains , and he has given that without which charity is an evil—consideration . Perhaps this large heartcdness is what you , sir , would call the "Crux , " and is not appreciated by those who give their money simply in return for votes , and to bestow their

patronage ! To expose the other wild assertions in your correspondent ' s letter would be a waste of my time and your space , as well as to trespass too long upon the patience of readers . I can only hope that that letter will open the eyes of the distinguished Masons , some of whom 1 pcrsonafly know to be gentlemen of thought and culture , to the dangerous principles they are supposed to have fathered . Before they ? rove to their own dissatisfaction that thev have been placed

in the position of being misled , after the manner of Titania , they will do well to repudiate the absolutism preached in this letter , the writer of which , under an anonymous name , does not scruple to stab at all who do not support his " objections to the constitutional exercise of the electoral right of Grand Lodge in respect to the Grand Treasurcrship . Surely it is time

for honourable men to disclaim this mud-throwing from a secret hiding place . I do not think that the signatarics have any reason to feel aught but shame at the position in which they have been placed by the promoters of the circular ; but this letter has made a breach which it will be well for all to look at before it widens . 'They should each , as each wise brother will , say with

Shakespeare" I have not kept my square ; but that to come Shall all be done by the rule . " Thanking you , sir , for permitting me to expound my own views , and to narrate facts in my own manner , I am , faithfully and fraternally yours , J OHN WHILE , P . M . and P . / .. 228 . Postscriptum . —l have used this word in compliment to my Latinest opponent , whose English , by the way , appears to be so weak that he lias to strengthen it by the copious use of

italics . The subject of this addition is the premier letter in last week ' s issue , asking for information on the question of the respective amounts gjven by Bros . Allcroft and Marshall to the Masonic Charities . The advocates of the election of Bro , Marshall place the question of this election on higher grounds than on the mere question of the extent of a brother ' s depth of pocket . But as this point has been distinctly raised by the promoters of " the

circular , " in their advocacy of Bro . Allcroft ( "he is a man of good means and position " ) I took the trouble , yesterday , to obtain from ollicial sources the Masonic charity of each of the two brethren nominated for the Grand Treasurership . If this information is taken as a "Crux" ( to use , sir , one of your own words in your own loved Latin ) , there can be no doubt as to the result . Bro . Allcroft ' s Masonic Charitable instincts appear to have slumbered for nearly 40 vears . while Bro .

Marshall , from the - moment he saw the light of the Craft , has been a munificent donor to all the funds , and has each year of his Masonic life served the Stewardship for one , or two , or all three of the Charities . Bro . Allcroft in his 40 odd years of Masonic life has given £ iGS 10 s . to the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , while Bro . Horace Marshall , in four years , has given £ 510 ! 'To the Girls' Bro . Allcroft in his 40 odd years has given 1 G 0 guineas , without

any Stewardship , whife Bro . Horace Marshall , who has served four Stewardships to this Charity , has given in his four years the sum of five hundred guineas ! To the " Old People ' s" Institution Bro . Allcroft has given £ 1175 s ., and has served one Stewardship , while Bro . Horace Marshall , who has served a Stewardship each year of his Masonic life , has given six hundred guineas ! and will serve his sixth Stewardship on the 2 fith inst . The Masonic

Chanties have benefited by the existence of Bro . Allcroft in the more than 40 years of his Masonic life to the amount of £ 44 6 15 s ., while they have benefited to the total of one thousand six hundred and fort y pounds ! in the four years of Bro . Marshall ' s life . I can , in excuse for the italics and other notes of emphasis , urge that a bad example was set

me by the unconstitutional circularisers , and their advocate , whose words have stirred me up to speak on behalf of a gentleman and a brother whom I know only through his widely-spread benevolence , and whose character is beyond the covert insinuations of those who fear the vote of the general body of Grand Lodge in the election to hold a

The Freemason

position , to which it is to be hoped , the brethren will elect Bro . Horace Marshall , who has certainly made himself " acquainted " with one of the " active principles " of the Craft in a mr . st remarkable manner . ' 35 , Loughborough-road , S . W ., Feb . 6 th .

To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — In looking through the correspondence in the f reemason respecting the above election , I think the question is a very plain one indeed . There are two Grand Lodge oThcers to be elected annuall y by the members of H I ,, "earing the sky-blue , one bcin- the M . W . the Grand Master , the other the Grand Treasurer . At the last

election the principle was demonstrated that the compliment of the Grand 1 reasurcr ' s collar should be transferred annually , as is done in the case of the Grand Wardens , the Deacons , Standard Bearers , Sword Bearers , and the Pursuivants , the principal reason being that there arc many worthy brethren who should be so honoured .

Why should one brother wish to retain this office to the exclusion of others ? I maintain that the Craft will not be doing their duty if they allow one to monopolise the office beyond the year for which he was elected . This is the view I held last year when I proposed the present Grand Treasurer , and I hold it still . A . E . STALEY , P . M . 172 S , VV . M . 1 S 5 , Comp . 1 S 5 .

To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Were I an outsider and knew nothing more about Freemasonry than what its representative organs in the Press disclose , I should judge lrom the tone of much of the correspondence which lias recentl y appeared in your columns on the subject of the Grand Trcasurership , that the Society was in the throes of a terrible revolutionwhich

, threatened it with instant annihilation , or at the very least with the destruction of all it holds dearest and most sacred . But 1 am not an outsider , and though I am not so presumptuous as to suggest that I am belter versed in the affairs of the Craft than the rest of my brethren , 1 have no dilhculty in pcrceiving-what , indeed , must be palpable

to every brother who possesses even the minutest grain of common sense-that the dangers which it is alleged will overtake Trecmasonry in the event of a certain princi ple being acted upon are as vMonaty as the attempt to terrorise members of Grand Lodge into surrendering their opinions at the bidding of a would-be oligarchy is discreditable .

It will be as well , perhaps , if , before touching upon the question in dispute , I take the liberty of pointing out that when men become Freemasons , they do not wholly divest themselves of their natural or acquired intelligence , or surrender the right they previously enjoyed of formulating opinions on all such matters as lawfully come under their cognisance . It is only on the supposition that something of this kind happens after initiation into our mysteriesand

, that the newly-madc brother becomes , "ipso facto , " a fool or a puppet , that I can account for the issue of a now wellknown circular , which , as it so flagrantly offends against the recognised canons of good taste , fraternal feeling , and sound judgment , has excited much painful surprise in the minds of sensible people . I will also take the liberty of reminding some of your correspondents , and particularly the brother who signs himself "Obsta Principiis , " that

me members 01 a society whose watchword is Charitythe Chanty which "doth not behave itself unseemly , " "is not easily provoked , " "thinkclh no evil "—do not select the best way of demonstrating their veneration and respect for its principles by parading on every possible occasion , and in their most objectionable forms , the vices of envy hatred , malice , and all uncharitablencss , I mention these obvious truisms because it appears to me there is

considerable danger ot their being lost sight of in the heat of the present controversy . But what is it that has caused this grave commotion , which , if the prophets of cvil-that is , the authors , as distinguished from the signatarics of the obnoxious circular —arc to be believed , will sooner or later be the death of our cherished Freemasonry ? We have not far to seek for an answer . In March last , the princile of electing

p annually a new Grand Treasurer was successfully inaugurated in Grand Lodge , to the very grave dissatisfaction of certain brethren who appear to think the Masonic world will come to an end when they no longer have the chief hand in directing and controlling its movements In the October following , certain other brethren met together at the Holborn Restaurant , and having unanimously agreed that Bro . Horace Brooks Marshall was in cverv wav nuali .

lied to act the part of Grand Treasurer and would make as good a champion of the principle of annual election as Bro . Allcroft , they there and then pledged themselves to legitimately use their influence in securing his election for the coming year . 'The fact of this meeting having been held was announced in your columns , and the announcement supplemented b y a brief sketch of Bro . Marshall ' s Masonic career . It is only fair to add—your correspondent Obsta

Principiis ' * being my authority for the addition—that the brethren ' s selection of Bro . Marshall as a candidate is said to have taken place " after a good dinner "; but as I have never yet heard of a good dinner being allowed to vitiate the choice of a good candidate for Masonic ollicc . I shall say nothing further on this point . At all events , dinner or no dinner , the meeting was held and the choice was made , and I believe there is no law

, written or unwritten , which forbids such a course of proceeding , the Book of Constitutions being wisely silent on all matters affecting the exercise of private judgment . What , however , the Book does say about the Grand 1 reasurer is that he shall be elected at the quarterly communication in March—not by the Grand Master , not by the Grand Officers , not by a sclf-constitutcd imperium in imperio which arrogates to itself the rights and nrivilerrr * nf

the whole body corporate , but " by the Grand Lodge "; that is to say , by the body to which is constitutionall y entrusted the management of "the public interests of the fraternity " and which is composed of the representatives " of all private lodges on record , together with the grand stewards of the year and the present and past grand officers , anrl

the grand master at their head . " This is the law as to the election of Grand I reasure r , and this the definition of the body by which he must be elected . There may beano her body of brethren who consider themselves above the law , but , naturally enough , the Book of Constitutions takes no cognisance of them .