The Future Of Freemasonry In Ireland.

Dublin district in seeing that those rules are for the general good , and that they are really consistent in every respect with the great principles on which our Order is b tsed . There are elements in our present

constitution which , if injudiciously handled , or unduly ignored , may , at no distant date , lead to weakness and misunderstanding , if not actual , disruption , and it would be but

wise to give due weight to the opinions of our country brethren , some of whom are perhaps rather dissatisfied at what they consider the centralizing policy of our present laws .

And I see no reason why our English brethren should not give us the light of their experience , either as a guide , or a warning . Freemasonry is cosmopolitan . We are all members of one great family , and while we

may , as individuals , prefer our own country to any other , as Freemasons we know , or should know , no distinctions . The " Right Hand of Fellowship , " gives a universal grasp , and while we are fully competent to

makerules forourowngovcrnment , wewould be glad to have the ideas of those not under that government , who might be supposed to be in some respects more impartial judges of the matter than we ourselves . We have

already to thank Bro . Hughan for an article on our proposed new laws . I hope he will return to the subject , and that he and others will help to show that , without intrusion on

our right of " self-government , " our English brethren sympathise with us , and will give their moral wei ght to redress grievances , and reform abuses , if such exist .

There is at present a tendency on the part of some of our Irish Masons , to place themselves " en rapport " with portions of the English system . Many of us are members of English Orders , and as some of the

new rules arc frame J directly to sever our connection with those Orders , and to place under a ban those who join them , our English and Scotch brethren are to some extent

personally interested in the matter , and should help to secure for us the same individual liberty of action which they enjoy themselves .

Having thus " cleared the way , " to some extent , for the consideration of the subject , I propose in my next article to enter more particularl y into the special subject ,

and to deal more in detail with the fallacy which underlies much of the conception that undoubtedly prevails , as to the connection between the so-called " high grades" and Ancient " Craft Masonry . "

J OSEPH H . WOODWOKTII , P . M . Commercial Lodge , No . 245 . Dublin , 24 th October , 1 S 61 .

THE Annual General Communication of the Prov . Grand Lodge of Leicestershire and Rutland , will be held at Loughborough , on Friday , 24 th day of November instant , under the auspices of the Howe and Charnwood Lodge , No . 1007 .

ERRATA . — The following errata in the third chapter of " Illustrations of the History of the Craft" must kindly be corrected by our readers : ff > paropi $ for p _ irope £ , xotvovfor aoti-or , aTTaXisriav for orraAi . TIOV , KOIVOV again for ao . i'oi ' , EY / for ay / rov , and up ( v < s for t . / icy , all on page 679 ; Kasidim for Hasidim , Grande for Grand , and Rue de Richelieu for Rue Richelieu , on page 680 .

BREAKFAST . —EPPS ' S COCOA . —GRATEFUL AND GOMFORTI . NG . — " By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the operations of digestion and nutrition , and by a careful application of the fine propertics of well-selected cocoa , Mr . Epps has provided our

breakfast tables with a delicately-flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctors' bills . "— Civil Service Cazette . Made simply with Roiling Water or Milk . Each packet is labelled— "J AMES KITS k Co ., Homoeopathic Chemists , London . " Also , makers of Epps ' s Milky Cocoa ( Cocoa and Condensed Milk ) . — fAdvt . l '

The Rite Of Memphis.

THE RITE OF MEMPHIS .

We extract the following articles upon the Rite of Memphis from Pomeroy ' s New York Democrat , which render further comment from us superfluous : — THE SPURIOUS RITE OF MEMPHIS .

Whenever we could , without going out of our way , warn all regular Masons from connecting themselves with the bogus and swindling Rite of Memphis , we have clone so . Its fosterers in America have been charlatans , mountebanks , and speculators in Masonry , devoid of social or Masonic position .

One of the lieutenants of that speculating mountebank , ex-playactor , costumer , and dealer in tow wigs , H . J . Seymour , of New Yoik ( impudently styling himself Sov . Grand Master for the United States )—named Calvin C . Burt , formerly of New Jersey , but sent to propagate the

Rite in the West , as agent for the Masonic impostor , Seymour , who stands expelled from the A . A . Rite , for gross unmasonic conduct towards that Rite—has come to grief . According to the Jackson Daily Patriot , of September 6 , he was indicted fox forgery and

suspended from the Bar . He was also indicted for arson , but escaped owing to a disagreement of the jury . Fie was indicted and convicted of larceny in the Washtenaw Circuit Court , Mich . The verdict of the jury was as follows : " The people of the State of Michigan v . Calvin C .

Burt . Indictment for larceny . In this case the jury , after having heard the proofs and allegations of the parties , the arguments of counsel , and the charge of the court , retired from the bar thereof , under the charge of D . D . Fitzgerald , an officer of the court , duly sworn for that

purpose , to consider of their verdict to be given ; and after being absent a short time returned into court , and say upon their oath that they find the said Calvin C . Burt guilty in manner and form as the people in their indictment in this case charged . "

And yet thisman , who left New Jersey characterless , went to the West as the agent of Seymour , par nobile fratrum , and disseminated the bogus affair , seducing by his plausible manner , and bold and impudent assumption , many worthy

men to connect themselves with the unclean thing . A revolution , however , is taking place , and intelligent and respectable Masons , who had been duped , are renouncing and denouncing it , as will be found from the following , which we find in Our Mutual Friend : —

" We clip the following advertisement from the Detroit Post , and reprint for the benefit of whom it may concern : " MASONIC NOTICE . —Egyptian Masonic Rite of Memphis . Wc , the undersigned members of the Sovereign Sanctuary of the E . M . R . of M ., sitting in

the Valley of Detroit , in and for the two hemisheres , in solemn conclave assembled , did on this the 26 th day of August , A . L . 5871 , A . D . 1871 , dissolve the E . M . R . of M ., and do hereby renounce and denounce the aforesaid rite , and declare that we will hold no Masonic communication with any person or persons , body or bodies , claiming to be members of the

aforesaid rite , or any other Rite of Memphis , A . H . ALLEN , S . G . W . THOS . FRARY , S . G . W . FRED . PROPER , J . G . W . J . S . BOWMAN , G . S . ORIN B . CARPENTER , G . T . J FAIR , G . P . GEO . H . THOMAS , G . E . G . "

THE MEMPHIS SWINDLE IN ENGLAND . —A SKETCH OF HYAM , SEYMOUR'S AGENT .

On the 16 th September last , in the Masonic Department of Pomeroy ' s Democrat , we gave an account of how one of Harry J . Seymour ' s pupils in the bastard and spurious , so-called Rite of Memphis , and subsequently his agent for the sale of the 95 degrees of the unclean thing in

the West—( that being the number before Seymour ' s expulsion from the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite , December 14 , 1865 ; b « it which that ex-playactor ,-costumer , and wig-maker subsequently reduced to 33 , calling it the Ancient and Primitive Rite)—came to grief ; for Mr .

The Rite Of Memphis.

Calvin C . Burt , as we then stated , was indicted for forgery , and suspended from the bar ; indicted for arson , but escaped , owing to a disagreement of the jury ; and indicted for larceny , and convicted at the Washtenaw Circuit Court , Michigan . It is true that Burt separated from the original

owner of the Memphis swindle , and set up business on his own account , in 1867 , or thereabouts , in Chicago , Ills ., styling himself " Grand Master 9 6 ° ; " but this was only following in the footsteps of his former patron , who now magniloquently styles himself Sov . G . Master for the U . S . of America .

We are now called upon by brethren of thehighest distinction in England to give them " particulars of B . D . Hyam , who has been deputed by Harry Seymour to establish the A . and P . ( Ancient and Primitive ) Rite over there —said rite being the Memphis reduced to 33 . "

We shall do so , and clearly establish the fact that this new agent of the man Seymour is asinfamous , as a Mason , as the convict Burt . A reference to the printed journal of proceedings , G . Lodge of California , page 19 6 , shows that B . D . Hyam was on the 8 th May , 1852 ,

elected Grand Master . On the 24 th of July following , a Special Communication of Grand Lodge was called by the Deputy Grand Master ,. Rt . Wor . Charles M . Ratcliff , to be holden in San Francisco , August 17 following , which brother , in his circular , said : " This call of the

Grand Lodge is occasioned by certain extraordinary proceedings of the M . W . B . D . Hyam , Grand Master of Masons in this State , which deeply and vitally affect the Institution of Freemasonry , and it is therefore especially desired that every member may be present . "

The Grand Lodge accordingly assembled u > Special Communication on the day named , when , after organizing , the G . Lodge adjourned till next -mo _ n ... g , when \ t Te-assen . b . ed . A complaint from California Lodge No . 1 was then presented , in which Bro . B . D . Hyam was

charged with " tyranny over and malice toward individual lodges , and his wanton abuse of the great power and trust reposed in him . " Also , that he had made Masons of rejected candidatesand others in the vicinity of lodges , without notifying the lodges , and " received and retained the fees therefor . "

This complaint was referred to Special Committee , and from their report we extract the following . It is to be found on pages 217 , 218 , 21 9 , 220 , and 221 of the Journal of Proceedings ,. Grand Lodge of California : — " Your committee , appointed to take under

consideration the complaints made by California Lodge No . 1 against the conduct of the M . W * Grand Master , B . D . Hyam , respectfully report that they have patiently and carefully examined all the facts and authorities in relation thereto , of which they could obtain possession . Their

duty has required considerable attention and labour , which they have performed to the best of their ability , and with a due sense of the importance of the subject and of their own responsibility . The case is one of so remarkable a character that no express provision appears tohave been made to meet it , owing doubtless to >

the fact that the supposition was never entertained of its coming within the range of possibility . The complaint involves , to a lamentable extent , the reputation of a brother who has been exalted to the highest honours that the Fraternity can bestow , and is of so serious a nature asto demand the most prompt and decisive action . "The absence of the Grand Master from this

investigation was a source of regret to the committee . Knowing , as he did , that the Grand Lodge was about to assemble for the expresspurpose of considering his Masonic conduct , they could not but wonder that he should depart from the State , the more especially as he had been earnestly solicited by a large convention of

the brethren to remain . Offences so grave as those with which he is charged should not have been treated so lightly , nor should the desire of the brethren who had so recently elevated him to power have been thus scorned or disregarded . Still , all proper allowance was made on that score , and the case of the Grand Master has been considered with as much delicacy as though he