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The Freemason , SATURDAY , MAY 14 , 1870 . Tin FREEMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time for he early trains . The price of Tim FREEMASON is Twopence per week ; quarterly subscription ( including postage ) -s . 3 d . Annual Subscription , - - . Subscriptions payable in advance All communications , letters , & . C ., to be addrclscd to the EOITOH s , 3 . and 4 , Little Britain , K . C . ' The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . ciiliusied to bim but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage stamps .

A Council Of Rites.

A COUNCIL OF RITES .

IN NO . 52 we gave expression to the opinion that the time had arrived , when with advantage to themselves , and benefit to thc Masonic Order in general , thc various rites

and degrees now practised in England , and which arc technically known as the " higher degrees , " but with more propriety as thc " unrecognised" grades of Freemasonry ,

should mutually come to such an understanding respecting their several powers and privileges as would place each and all upon a proper footing in relation to the Masonic

body . Wc further stated that thc subject should receive our earnest attention at a future period , and wc now redeem that promise in thc full conviction that no better

opportunity can occur than the present moment , when thc Grand Lodge itself is about to receive a new ruler , whose deputy

will be a nobleman who is well acquainted with many of those degrees which are worked outside thc pale of the Craft .

A Council Of Rites.

At the same time we deem it most desirable to state plainly and unequivocably , that the measure thus advocated refers only to a unity of action between the unrecognised

Masonic jurisdictions , and is intended in no wise to interfere with the supremacy of the Grand Lodge , or with the sublime doctrines of Masonic Universality . It would be

strange , indeed , if we who have ever supported the pre-eminent importance of symbolic Masonry , should now be found amongst those who would narrow its

illimitable boundaries to any sect or creed ; it would be strange , indeed , if we , who glory in the spread of Masonic Light and Knowledge , should now prove traitors to truth

and foes to freedom and fraternity . Yet suchisabsolutelythe charge brought against us by one of our American contemporaries , who seems to fancy that by thc words "A

Council of Rites for England , " we indicate the " monstrous" union ofthe " French , the Italian , the German , thc Memphis , the Mazarin and all the rites ! " From our

English readers such remarks will only provoke a smile , as our sentiments respecting deviations from the primitive path of Freemasonry have been uttered with no

uncertain sound , and wc have ever been read }' to denounce the attempts of those Continental infidels , who would fain erase from the volume of Masonic law the eternal name of'God . With such men we have no

community of feeling , with their political intrigues we are in no sense concerned , and wc do not hesitate to add , that in this

respect—and we trust m many others—wc are but the faithful reflex of the entire English Craft .

It is equally our duty , however , to do justice to those brethren , who without thc faintest desire to circumscribe thc limits of our ancient system , are yet so far Christian in their ideas as to seek a closer communion

with brethren of their creed , under the tugis of the Masonic Order . Wc will not now discuss thc antiquity , or the relative claims of those degrees which are known as Orders

of Knighthood ; as besides being foreign to the point , such a discussion could scarcely be compressed within the space at our disposal . It is only necessary to state , that

various developments of catholic Freemasonry , remarkable alike for their beauty and significance in a Christian sense , are cherished by many members of the Craft

in every quarter of thc globe . It is the perversion of this sentiment of sectarianism that is to be deplored , not its expression within thc area of thc chivalric degrees , and

it is doubtless the fact of its predominance in some countries that causes a general fear lest it should subvert the ancient landmarks of Freemasonry . So far as England

is concerned , there is little dread of such a result ; thc principles of universal brotherhood have permeated so widely and so deeply the Masonic heart of thc land , that

it Avould need a cataclysm , scarcely to be conceived , before those principles , which are thc basis of the Order , could be forgotten by the mass of English Masons .

A Council Of Rites.

Our advocacy of a Council of Rites simply means this : we have several Masonic Jurisdictions in England besides the United Grand Lodge and Supreme Grand Chapter ,

and it is patent to all that there is no harmony between them , no brotherly dependence one upon the other . A man may rise to the 33 in this country arid yet not

be a Royal Arch Mason , although the latter is a recognised degree , while a Templar may be neither a Red Cross Knight , a Rose Croix , or even a Mark Master Mason .

Again , there is at present no guarantee against the establishment of other degrees , ad libitum ; a brother may go to Scotland ,

take thc so-called " Royal Order , and come back with a " charter " to work it in London ; another may hasten to America , receive the " Most Excellent Master ' s "

degree , and forthwith transplant it to English soil ; a third may make a rapid descent into some obscure Memphisian " Valley , " and return crowned with the light and

odour of some transcendental degree ; while a fourth , still more adventurous , may rush off on a pilgrimage to Mount Ararat , return

with thc debris of thc Ark * , and thenceforward and for ever adopt the cognomen of thc patriarch Noah .

Now , all these things are . possibly very pretty , but we do not desire to sec them multiplied indefinitely , and we arc sure that the interests of the Craft itself would

be better served if the other four established Masonic Powers in England , namely , the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters , the Imperial Council of thc Red Cross of Rome

and Constantine , thc Grand Conclave of Knights Templar , and thc Supreme Grand Council 33 ° were to concert measures amongst themselves with a view to mutual

support and mutual recognition . Each of these bodies wc believe , can boast amongst its friends , men of high social position , and brethren who arc held in thc greatest

estimation by the fraternity at large . All have respectable claims to a connection with thc Craft extending far back into the 1 Sth century , and all , as wc can personally

vouch , arc unobjectionable in their precepts and edifying in their ceremonies . The details of thc scheme may safely be left to thc united wisdom of their leaders , but we

may suggest that the proposed " Council of Rites " should consist of representatives from each body , and that all questions affecting their conjoint interests should be

submitted to the Council . Thc independence of each degree would thus be maintained intact , while a communion of spirit would in reality unite thc whole .

It would also be peculiarly the province of such an assembly to repress irregularities , and to resist encroachments upon the privileges of their several constituencies , and

wc need hardly point the moral that in this respect alone they could render great service to Freemasonry by enforcing thc rights

of duly constituted authority , " as well as increase the utility , and promote thc welfare of the Rites and Orders which they more immediately represent .