Contents.

CONTENTS .

LlADHIS 38 l The So-called Inigo Jones MS . of the Old Charges of British Freemasons 3 S 2 Review 3 8 3 C ORRESPONDENCEThe Albert Hall Bar 386

The Orderof the Temple 3 S 6 A Query for Legal Brethren 3 S 6 R EPORTS OK MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 386 Instruction 387 Royal Arch—Instruction , 388

Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 388 Summer Festival of the Perfect Ashlar Lodge , No . 117 S 38 S Knights Templar 38 S Presentation to Bro . T . J . Railing , Past

A . G . D . of C 388 Obituary 3 S 9 The Craft Abroad 389 Masonic and General Tidings 389 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 390

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THE results of the three great Festivals of the year are now Benevolent Fund known , but there is one other celebration , vvhich will not , of course , compare in importance with those of our central Institutions , but which is , nevertheless , rightly attracting to itself an

increasing amount of interest every year . We allude to the 19 th Anniversary of the Mark Benevolent Fund , which is arranged to take place at the Holborn Restaurant on Wednesday , the 27 th inst . Bro . Earl AMHERST , M . W . P . G . M . M . M ., has kindly undertaken to preside , and , from all we have heard , there is every likelihood that his lordship will be supported by

a Board of Stewards far exceeding in numoers the strongest of those which have supported his several predecessors . All the necessary preparations have been most carefully made under the personal direction of Bro . C . F . MATIER , who is Secretary of the Fund and the Honorary Secretary of the Board of Stewards , and it will not be his fault or that of the

brethren who have volunteered their services for the occasion if the total of the subscription list does not far exceed the best on record—namely , that of the year 1885 , when Bro . Lord EGERTON OF TATTON , the present Pro Grand Mark Master , was in the chair . However , as it will not do , even in

this year of Jubilee , to put too much faith in appearances , we trust that any Mark brother who may have a lingering desire to assist in promoting the beneficent work of this Fund , will at once hand in his name to Bro . MATIERJ SO that it may be enrolled among the Festival Stewards of the

year . * # * The first stone of the Imperial Institute for the United King-The r . fa Imperial dom , the Colonies , and India , was laid by her MAJESTY in Institute

. , , , ,.,..,, person on Monday , the ceremony , though simple in itself , being attended b y a display of State magnificence in every way worthy of the occasion . It is impossible to doubt that the Institute , when established , will have the effect of binding more closely together the different parts of the

British Empire by creating for them all a common centre of interest . It was not however to be expected that even the PRINCE of WALES , to whom we are indebted for the conception of the idea , should succeed in convincing everybody that his plan for commemorating the glories of his mother ' s reign was better than the others that were propounded . But there is no scheme that

we have heard of which appears to us to possess about it so many good points , and which , if it be properly carried out , is likely to prove of more material benefit to the general body of the Q UEEN ' subiects . This , at all events , would seem to have been the opinion of her MAJESTY , whom it so immediatel y concerns that the national memorial of her reign should be a complete

and permanent success , and who has never exhibited the slightest hesitation about accepting her son ' s proposal as being the likeliest to satisfy this condition . That her Indian and Colonial subjects share this opinion with her is evident from the large sums which are being continually contributed towards the establishment of the Institute : and from the enthusiasm which was

displayed on all sides on Monday , it would seem as if the British public were also hastening to adopt the same view . However , for better or for worse , the Imperial Institute has been inaugurated , and we trust the G . A . O . T . U . Will regard with favour the endeavours of those on whom will devolve the duty of carrying it to a successful issue .

. ThcAngio . WE are daily expecting to hear of the arrival in Ireland of Aitierjcjj-f . 11 ^ "ieAmerican t ' American Knight Templar Prilgrims under the com-•-Pilgrims . man ( j 0 f that most ^ 3 ,., - ^ sir Knight C . E , MEYER of

aoel phia , to whose proposed visit we drew attention some weeks since , ' w » o , when they are in our midst , will experience the heartiest of hearty ° mes . There is , however , one reception which has only recently been sed ; but if last in the order of preparation , we may be sure it will not

<•'east cordial . VVe allude to the invitation just issued by the Angloer * can Lodge , No . 2191 , which has been constituted this year for the Pose of strengthening the ties already existing between our American ren and ourselves , and which , it will be seen , is fulfilling its appointed

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role in a manner worthy of the hig hest encomiums . The American Sir Knights will be the guests of the Anglo-American Lodge in their character of Craft Masons , and as it happens there are plenty of true Angles and true Americans in Lodge No . 2191—vve allude to such men as Bros .

BRACKSTONE BAKER , CLARKE , TILTON , & c . —we have no doubt both guests and hosts will have a high time of it on the occasion . May the pleasure of the approaching visit of Bro . MEYER and his fellow travellers be at least equal to those of the pilgrimage he headed in 187 S .

'* # * * It is gratifying to learn that our esteemed contemporary The the _ _ . . ... .....

Canadian Canadian Craftsman is so favourably impressed with the tenour of our latest article on the Anglo-Quebec difficulty . We are persuaded that it only needs a little patient study on its part , and a certain amount of illumination from us " as to the beauties of concurrent

jurisdiction" in our Colonies and dependencies in order to open its eyes to the very grave mistake it has made in supporting the cause of Quebec against that of England , in the difference which the former has forced upon the latter . We return to the subject now , because it appears from a remark

here and there in its article of the 15 th of June last , that the Craftsman is not quite clear as to what we mean by " concurrent jurisdiction" and is manifestly therefore at a disadvantage in its attempts to discuss this question . When we said in our last article that the Grand Lodges of the Old

Country had no intention or idea of claiming concurrent jurisdiction in British Colonies " whether a Grand Lodge exists therein or not " we were under the impression that we had made our meaning tolerably clear . The words we have quoted were taken irom our contemporary ' s article , in which it asserted that we did claim such concurrent jurisdiction ,

and in denying this assertion we cited the cases of Canada and Quebec , in the jurisdiction ot whose Grand Lodges we neither exercised nur claimed to exercise any authority such as commonly pertains to a Grand Lodge . The three Englisti lodges in Montreal—that is , within the territorial limits of the Province ot Quebec—remain in their old allegiance to the Grand

. Lodge of England in preference to joining the Grand Lodge ot Quebec . They have the right to remain if they wisn , and what is still more to the point , there is no right inherent in the United Grand Lodge ot England under its Book ol Constitutions or its unwritten law ot custom , which can drive these three lodges lroin its jurisdiction so long as tney comply with

the requirements of our laws , but in giving the protection it is bound to give to these lodges , it is not invading the jurisdiction ot the Grand Lodge of Quebec , that is , it is not attempting to set up a jurisdiction of its own concurrently with that of Quebec , which exercises all the usual powers ot a Grand Lodge over the Province of

Quebec unquestioned and unmolested by us , except as regards the three Anglo-Montreal lodges aloresaid . The Grand Lodge ot England has never departed from the terms of its treaty vvith the Giand Lodge ot Canada . The latter agreed to respect the former's rights , so far as tne lodges which proposed remaining as tney were were concerned , and England agreed to

create no new lodges in Canadian territory , and exercise no authority outside the lodges remaining in its obedience . The terms ot this treaty have been honourably and conscientiously observed by both parties , but Quebec has lost sight of the obligations vvhich remain to it as a tormer part ot the Grand Lodge of Canada , and though it is unmolested by the Grand Lodge

of England , and exercises its authority over the Province of Quebec without the slightest interference on the part of any other Masonic body , it is determined that matters shall not arrange themselves quietly , as in the ordinary course of things , they must , and will , do- It is continually stirring up the muddy waters

of strife , and then complains that they are muddied . Everything would go on smoothly , as in the days preceding the revolt of Quebec Irom the Grand Lodge of Canada , if Quebec would allow it . It can do whatever it chooses within its own jurisdiction . There is no clashing of authority between it and our three lodges in Montreal , because the latter have nothing to do

with Quebec , and Quebec has nothing to do with them . All that is necessary in order to secure perfect harmony , is that Quebec shall give up molesting bodies which owe it no obedience . But perhaps a state of tranquillity would not be acceptable to the comparative nobodies who at present guide the lortunes of the Grand Lodge of Quebec . However , be this as it

may , our proposition holds good , that the Grand Lodges of the Old Country do not exercise or claim authority in Colonies vvnere there are , as in Canada , Nova Scotia , and South Australia , independent Grand Lodges . . Where there are pre-existent rights , vve defend them , but that is altogether

different from claiming or exercising authority over bodies which are independent . As to the " beauties ot concurrent jurisdiction , " as seen in many of our Colonies and dependencies , we must deal with them in a later article .