Peace.

the Illustrated London News , when he says : — " The bodies of some 8000 Englishmen moulder peacefully in this ( Scutari ) graveyard . I fancy that the remembrance of their deaths might moderate the frenzy of the politicians who seem bent on hounding England on to a fresh war

with Russia . Surely those politicians must be mainly young men , or they must have very short memories . I remember the episodes of the Crimean War as though they had happened yesterday , for then , as now , I was earning my daily bread by literature and journalism , and the

war broug ht me every day fresh materials for my pen . I was within an ace in 18 ^ 6 of going to Sebastopol , but I went to Russia instead . Can you not recall , you who are middle-aged and whose memories are good , those two miserable years between the right at the Alma and the fall

of the MalakofF ? Do you remember the Ghost ' s Derby Day of 18-55 ? Do you remember when , on the cliff * of Brighton and the Marina at St . Leonard ' s , you could hardl y walk ten paces without meeting groups of ladies and children clad in deepest mourning for their fathers , husbands ,

brothers , sweethearts , slain in that wretched Chersonese , or who had sickened and died in the cheerless wards of the Scutari Hospital . Are we to have these years of piivate agony and bereavement , of public blundering and mismanagement , over again ? I suppose so ; glory is a very

fine thing . 1 am onl y a pekin , a civilian , and I know nothing about glory ; but I confess that my blood grows cold and that my heart sickens when I heat polilicans pertly prating about the ' arbitrament of the Sword , " and ' war clearing the atmosphere , ' and so forth . I never met

Glory yet , and I don ' t know what he or she is like ; but I have met War face to face half-adozen times in as many countries . I have \ . > oked into the whites , or rather the crimsons , of his eyes , and I have gazed upon the Sisters who follow him wheresoever he goes . They are

three Sisters , and their names are * Rapine , ' and 'Disease , ' and 'Death . ' This is , of course , a miserably craven and spiritless way of looking at War . I cannot hel p it . I have seen only War ' s madness and wickedness , its'foulness and squalor . To me it has represented nothing but

robbing and profligacy , but famine and slaughter ; and I can but think that if the warlike politicans were to witness just half an hour of actual warfare as I have witnessed it in America , in Italy , in Mexico , in France , in Spain , their martial ardour would cool down a little , and they wonld not

be quite so prompt to blow the bellicose trumpet . " We fully agree with these strai ghtforward manl y words . We can recall some touching lines of Praed , which we think serve to cap , as poetry , the eloquent prose of our literary brother" And all the bitter tears we wept ,

In those our days of fame , The dread tbat o ' er our heartstrings crept , With every post that came ; The home affections waged and lost In every far off ' fray , The price that British glory cost .

Ah ! take the sword aw * y . " We fear that our hopes are vain , but we still cherish the assurance that even under the present i most inauspicious appearance of affairs , some j peaceable intervention may yet induce the Turks !• to listen to reason , and thus best advance and best

uphold the ri ghts of suffering populations , and insure peace to the world . The English Government has manfull y laboured from first to last to br 'ng about ( perhaps an impossible result ) namel y , the safe maintenance of the liberties of al » . and the great blessing of peace .

Bro. Harty's Engraving Of The Installation Of Our R Oyal Grand Master,

BRO . HARTY'S ENGRAVING OF THE INSTALLATION OF OUR R OYAL GRAND MASTER ,

;_ , ^ ave been favoured with a view of this merestirig souvenir of the above memorable -nt , in a very advanced state , and Bro . Harty . ' give our readers next week a full account ] ft "W .. » TFWW 1 V M 1 MII 0 . \** - \ J UII I

Q- , , are wrlifl 8611 ' P ° sit * on of the -- "graving . There Pictn ab ut Portraits required to fill up the the Tr T h Promises ^ be alike worth y of ^ mern t rn a o n rate ! he ° CCaSi ° n * ¦ " * ' S ° ™

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

[ We do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even as approving of chcopinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish , in a spirit of fair play to all , to permit—within certain necessary limits—fvee discussion . —ED . 3

THE EXCLUSION OF THE HEBREWS . To the Editor of Ike " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I must , I am sorry , refute your remark at the foot of my letter I sent you last week , wherein you question the correctness of the facts I reported to you . And I again repeat my statement , which is based upon very sure

fundaments . So I say again , of the two other Grand Lodges in Berlin , the Royal York of Friendship has repealed ( already ) similar sections , but not all her daughter lodges admit non-Christians as yet ; while the third Grand Lodge , the Grand Countries Lodge of Germany , is as intolerant as the Grand National Mother Lodge of the Three Globes , nay , more intolerant than the latter , as it never wanted to

repeal its constitution as the Grand National Moth er Lodge of the Three Globes several times attempted to repeal that famous section 16 5 K . \ .., so in April , 18 * 73 , in May , 1874 , in 1 S 75 , and in 1876 . The result of the last meeting I reported to you in October , 1876 . I searched for the Freemason of 21 st of October , 1876 , and I find that the name of ihe Grand Lodge in question is not quite

correct as you have it in the letter of mine , " Grand National- Lodge ; " this is not the full name , it is " Grand National Mother Loc / ge of the Three Globes . " I am , dear Sir and brother , yours fraternally , J . STRAUSS . [ We have written to Bro . Findel for an accurate statement of the whole affair , as Bro Strauss will see . —ED . 1

To Bro . Findel , Leipzic . Dear Bro . Findel , — We have had , as you will doubtless be aware , the most contradictory statements , as to the exact position of the Hebrew exclusion question in Germany . In a recent Bauhulle one able writer rather smiled at our ignorance of the " status in quo , " and to say the truth , I hardly

know what to accept myself amid this plethora of assertion and counter assertion , of affirmation and denial . I had understood , alike from the Bauhiilte and other sources , th * t , in hah the Grand Lodges of the Three Globes , and the Royal Vork , Hebrews could now be admitted , and that in the Grand Countries Lodge alone , their exclusion was unwisely maintained , for want of a two-thirds

majority . Bro . Dr . Strauss , thinks that I am wrong ; so will you enlighten us in England as to the actual state of affairs , give us the simple facts of the case , and tell us in what Gtand Lodge this unjust persecution of a worthy body of men and Masons is really perpetuated . I am , dear Bro . Findel , yours fraternally , THE EDITOR .

KOYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS . To thc Editor of tlie " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I have frequently to pass our noble school on Wandsworth Common , both inside and out much to be admired , but from the main road the approach to it is a disgrace to the neighbourhood . The only approach

from Clapham Junction is over a miserable , shaky little iron bridge , in wet weather one long puddle , in dry a dust trap , the two ends closed by awkward swinging gates , the stones in which they are fixed being well worn with holes , so that the rain water is caught , and so are the passengers' feet . One pities the neat little feet of our

school girls that must be daily subject to such an ordeal , and surely it is a matter for our Craft to undertake to set right . The bridge crosses the South Western Railway . Do , Sir , insert this , and let us hope it will lead to the matter bring set right . Yours truly , A CONSTANT RBAOER .

QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES FOR THE SCHOOLS . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I am very glad to see the question <*>{ the quatification of candidates for our Schools raised in your columns . I think it deserves the serious attention not

only of the Committees of the Schools , but of every Mason anxious for the best interests of the Craft . Before reading ynur last article , and Bro . Tombs' second letter , t had prepared some facts as lessons from the results of the last elections , and , with your permission , I will lay them before your readers . Fourteen boys and thirteen girls have just been elected . Of the 27 brethren ,

parents of these children , ten only supported our charities . The average number of years during which the parents of the successful girls subscribed to a lodge , omitting four exceptional cases of 28 , 24 , 1 3 I , and 13 I years , was 5 j years ; the average in the case of the boys , similarly omittingfour cases of 17 , 17 , 16 , and 13 years , was four years .

The daughter of a brother who has been a non-subscriber to a lodge for 27 years , and who has only subscribed for five years , was elected . The son of a brother who had been a non-subscriber of a lodge for 15 years , and who had only subscribed for four years , was elected , he having a brother in the school at the present time . None of the parents of these two cases had supported

our chanties . The father of the boy at the top of the poll had subscribed 2 } years to a lodge . The father of the girl at the top of the poll had subscribed 1 J- years to a lodge . A friend of mine , not a Mason , tells me the moral of these facts is , that Masonry is not a lottery with restlect

Original Correspondence.

to the pecuniary benefits to be derived from it , but that the less a Mason subscribes to our Benevolent F ' und , the less he supports our charities , the more likelihood is there of his children obtaining the advantages of those charities . The deduction I draw from the above statistics is , that if a child be of the required age and can obtain friends enough to defeat other candidates at the poll , it matters

not how little the services of the father may have been to Masonry , there is no protection on the part of the managing committee of the deserving as against the undeserving candidates . I think there should be a regulation providing that the parent of a candidate , before he or she be accepted , shall have subscribed a minimum number of years to a lodge ,

I should like also to require some support on the part of the father to our charities . I would also thoroughly urge the desirability of a certificate of the good character of thc father being required . Daring the last few days I have been asked to support a child whose father is said to have misconducted himself , and I must confess that , whilst pitying the mother and the family , if the allegation be

true , I cannot consider the case a deserving one . I find lodges recommend cases brought before them ; solely with reference to the official record of dates , & c , that is , that a lodge considers itself responsible only for the dates of initiation or joining , and the number of years the brother has subscribed ; and that the cer : tificate of the lodge will be attached to the form , whilst

the opinion of every brother signing may be that the case is not a deserving one . I would urge that some special circumstances should be required to be stated respecting every candidate . There will be no want of deserving cases . OE the 113 candidates , 40 are children of parents who have subscribed to years

and upwards , and , other claims being equal , I cannot but regard these as having a prior claim on us , yet 8 only were elected . I am , dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , J . E . LE FEUVRE , P . G . Sec . Hampshire and Isle of Wight .

ELECTION OF PROVINCIAL CANDIDATES TO THE MASONIC CHARITIES . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I have read your excellent article on Boys' and Girls' School voting in the Freemason of the 28 th ult ., and the same has suggested to me that in many provinces

there is a great waste of voting power , and I think : he plan adopted for sorre years in the Province ol Staff . mlshire , if generally known and adopted ( with such improvements and alterations as may suggest themselves to the brethren ) , would be found ol immense help in securing the return of candidates for the various charities . In the first place , I would suggest that some worthy

brother should be appointed by each Provincial Grand Lodge to receive the voting papers from the whole of his province , and , by this means , to bring the whole voting power of provinces to one centre . And in order to carry out the same , a brother shall be appointed annu illy in each lodge , whose duty it shall be to secure the voting papers belonging to members of his lodge , and to

forward them to the provincial centre . By this means each province can at once ascertain its voting power , and be enabled to borrow votes to secure the return of their candidate should circumstances render it necessary so to do . And I would recommend that the brother appointed by the province stioul I have full power to use all the voting papers so received in any manner which may be most

advantageous to the interests of candidates belonging to his province . The names of all candidates ( before receiving such support ) shall have been brought before a meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge , and the case , after full enquiry , be approved of by same . This , if adopted , would check any abuse of the charity as alluded to in the recent correspondence of Bro . Tombs .

We all feel justly proud of our Grand Masonic Charities , and it is the duty of every true-hearted and earnest Mason to guard them from abuse , and , at all times , to further their interests by all means in his power . In many country lodges I fear that the charities are not sufficiently well known , and if , in each lodge , a brother were appointed whose special duty should be the work of the charities , he

would be able , at convenient periods , to bring the subject prominently before the members of his lodge , and possibly , by this means , induce many brethren to take a more lively interest in , and give to them support which as yet may not have been given , simply because it has not been directl y brought under their notice . Quoting from a speech of our very respected Bro . the Rev .

R . J . Simpson , P . G . C .: — " Every Mason is bound , according to his ability , to let charity be a part of his Masonry , " I sincerely hope the day may yet come when every lodge under the register of the Grand Lodge of England shall pay over to one or other of our noble charities a part of the initiation fee received from every newly-admitted

brother . And , further , that every brother may , according to his means , assist forward in some way the great and good work of our noble institutions . I am , dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , F . MOUNT HUMPH mi's , P . M . 539 , Prov . Grand Sup . of Works Staffordshire

CHARITY VOTING . To the Editor ofthe " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother . — In accordance with your kind permission , contained in the Freemason of last week , I proceed to give

you a few extracts from the last circular of our Charity Voting Reform Association , in the hope that they may suggest some reforms worthy of consideration in regard to the , elective system of our own noble charides . The Committee of the Charity Voting Reform