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upon the subject , it was Bro . HAVERS , whose services deserve indeed the deepest gratitude of the Craft . No mere technicality , if such legally existed , should have been used to shut his mouth , as the advice he could CTive to Grand Lodge would have been alike sound and seasonable . But as far as he had spoken he had given no inkling whether he was about to

move an amendment , which , though an unusual course , he might legally do , and as has been often done , viz ., to " refer the report back to the Special Building Committee , in pari or in whole , for reconsideration . " We have accidently heard thai ho did intend to move an amendment ; and if so , he was clearly in order . So imporl . nK is it to uphold

the " liberty of speech" in Grand Lodge , that we feel bound to call attention to the question for fear of a precedent being created . It has happened before , and will probably often happen again , that though such motions are mostly formal , ar . d treated as such , circumstances arise where a report is vol accepted and is either referred back for

further and fuller consideration , or in only accepted in part . Since we wrote the above we have looked over the magazines and we find in the " Masonic Observer " a very lengthy report of the proceedings of Grand Lodge of September , 2 nd , 1857 . The report of the Colonial Committee came up , and Bro . HAVERS moved that only a portion of itbe received . This motion

was carried , though it led to a long discussion and to debates at more than one Grand Lodge . This doctrine , however , seems to have been generally accepted and clearly enunciated , "that on a motion that a report be adopted and entered on the minutes no amendment was possible , but a

1 . lotion to not accept it , and to refer it back , or to reject part and accept part . " We think it is clear , that Bro . HAVERS was perfectly in order , and any theory that he could not speak on such a motion as a mere formal one , is utterly incorrect and untenable .

ODR respected friend Bro . R . F . GOULD , P . G . D ., wishes us to state specially that on two occasions his words in Grand Lodge are credited by error to our esteemed brother and Grand Officer , Bro . RAYMOND TiiRurr . He has no doubt , he wishes to intimate , that Bro . RAYMOND THRUPP would have better said what he ( Bro . GOULD ) attempted to say , and which simply

amounted to this , that , as the question of colonial Past Masters was alluded to , he was not aware , as a colonial Past Master , of any such feeling which existed as was attributed to them , and that he thought time should be given for these changes to come before the distant colonial lodges , as , though lar off , and often forgotten , were still an integral portion of the Craft .

ALL Masonic students will learn with regret of the severe and painful illness of Bro . FINDEL , and will unite in sincere hopes for his speed } ' recover }' . With all allowable differences of judgement and fair divergencies of criticism his history of Freemasonry is a most remarkable work , testifying ,

equally to the labours , thc learning , and verifying anxiety of the writer , raising him high on the roll of Masonic historians , and demanding the gratitude of contemporary and subsequent seekers after Masonic verity and critical accuracy .

Constitutional Changes.

CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES .

All constitutional changes ought to be approached with caution , and carried with discretion . The " sic volo sic jubeo" line does not do with an independent society like ours , '; which is above all very tenacious of old customs and ancient regulations . The temper with which some approach the recent revisions is neither

good nor safe . It i impossible , and it possible would be most unadvisable , to make grave alt 1 itions in our Book of Constitutions simply under " pressure , " or without realizing as far as we can the effect , and guaging the depth of such mutations . The " Status of Past Masters " question is a

case in point . What some ardently apparently desiderate , others as resolutely oppose , and there is a fear that in the heat of controversy and the keenness engendered by defeat or success , as the case may be , we lose sight both of some of the leading principles of Freemasonry , and what is con ducive to the lasting peace and prosperity of our Order .

The proposal to make all Past Masters in lodges Past Masters of lodges infringes on many interests and seriously affects our lodge system , inasmuch as it directly upsets an arrangement which has worked well for long years , and of which until quite recently there was no complaint . We are told , however , just now , in very loud tones , that the actual system works ill , and

that there is a great hardship in the fact that a Past Master of one lodge properly cannot be called Past Master also of another lodge , ( over which he has not presided ) , and that the privileges of an Installed Master are so great and special that all other consideration of lodge " esprit du corps , " & c , must bend to them .

Well , if the provinces generally wish for the change , which we venture greatly , yes , greatly , to doubt , we must reconsider the question on confirmation , with all that respect which is due to our good provincial brethren . Not that even regard and affection for them should lead us to sacrifice constitutional landmarks or Masonic first principles , which are essential to the safety

of our common Craft ; but that , with fraternal good feeling and courtesy , if our provincial brethren feel very strongly on a point , and proclaim it a hardship , and ask for change , we are bound to assume that they do not do so lightly , thoughtlessly , or without some prevailing reality in their earnest assertions and continued applications .

It seems to me that our provincial brethren hardly yet understand the wide scope and full bearing of the change proposed , and that when they do so , they will themselves resist a proposal fraught with serious consequences to

Constitutional Changes.

the harmony and happiness of lodges generally . Of course , when there is a real grievance we should seek to find a proper remedy , and as one complaint was that joining Past Masters from other provinces are not legal members of the Provincial and District Grand Lodges of their new provinces , that

anomaly is removed and Subscribing Past Masters , that is , subscribing to a lodge in the provinces , are " de jure " henceforth of all Provincial and District Grand Lodges . But to make joining Past Masters Past Masters of a lodge of which they have not been Worshipful Masters opens out several very grave questions .

How will - ' -h a great change affect numerous and prosperous lodges ? We hear of L ^ os with thirty Past Masters , all of whom have filled the chair . How can Bro . Brown-Jones , who is only a joining Past Master , rise with the actual Past Masters to return thanks for the Past Masters of the lodge ? Shall we not be commencing a system ol unreality and untruthfulness ?

Shall we not be rendering a money payment a qualification for high honours and substantive rank ? Shall we not be paving the way for jealousies , caucuses , cabals , and animosity , when we pass a young and joining P . M . over the heads of all the old brethren and officers of the lodge not Past Masters ?

Now , if a Past Master joins a lodge , if he is a popular brother and a good worker , he probably will be elected into the chair . But if this new law passes will any numerous lodge care to increase its number of quasi Past Masters ? will the brethren be anxious to create a precedence which , though always courteously accorded , does not legally exist qua the lodge ? It is

possible that , like all changes , the effects of it are exaggerated on both sides ; but they surely are the truest friends to English Freemasonry who venture to interject , despite thc usual intemperance of warm partizans in any question , a few friendly and Masonic words of prudence , caution , and reconsideration .

Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

lhe Committee of this Institution met on Wednesday afternoon at Freemasons' Hall , Bio . Colonel Creaton , Past Grand Treasurer , in the chair . The other brethren who attended were Bros . John Bulmcr , A . H . Tattershall , Henry Moore , W . H . Goodall , Charles Atkins , Horace B . Marshall , Charles Betton , Charles J . Perceval , Raynham W . Stewart , J . H . Sillitoe , Charles Lacey , W . Stephens , C . A . Cottebrune , T . W . C . Bush , J . Joyce Murray , James Terry ( Secretary ) , and H . Massey ( Freemason ) .

After the reading and confirmation of the minutes , the SECRETARY re ported the deaths of one male and two female annuitants . The Warden ' s report was read ; but it contained no subject of interest The Chairman was authorised to sign cheques .

On the motion of Bro . RAYNHAM W . STEWART , P . G . D ., it was ordered that the usual quantity of coals be supplied to the inhabitants of the Asylum at Croydon . The application of two widows for half of their late husband ' s annuities were granted .

Three petitions to be placed on the list of candidates for the election next May were examined , and the petitioners were ordered to be placed on the list . One petition was deferred for further information with respect to an annuity the petitioner was said to be in receipt of . The Committee then adjourned .

MASONIC J OURNALS . —To Germany seems fairly to belong the honour of being the first in the field with Masonic journals . * ' Der Freimaurer , " by J . J . Schwabe ( of which we have a copy ) was published in 1738 , a weekly paper , B . C . Breitkopf , at Leipsic , and was followed in 1 742 by "Der bedachtige Freimaurer , " Hamburg , by Tr Fr Tentzel , 1742 . In 1743 the " Aulmerksame Freimaurer" appeared at Gorlitz , and

subsequently several others , purely Masonic , all mentioned by Kloss . Many new Masonic journals also , beginning with the " Neue europaische Fama , " in 1737 , and " Des europaische Staas Secretar , 1740 , contained articles relating to Freemasonry . In Engiand the first Masonic magazine was of 1793 , and hardly a journal ; and an English Masonic journal appeared first quite late in this century , though the Freemason published by Bro .

George Kenning , worthily now upholds the fame of English Masonic journalism . Pine ' s Lists , official , but not journals , seem to have begun in 1723 . But although we had no English Masonic Journal to boast of , many ot the London papers alluded to Freemasonry , such as the "St . James ' s Evening Post , " quoted lately by Bro . VV . J . Hughan , so early too as 1734 ; and probably later " excerpta " relating to Freemasonry may be discovered .

1 he lirst official calendar , as we have said before , in England was 1777 . In France the first official journal seems to have been " Etat du Grand Orient , de France , " in 1778 ; while the " Etrennes Interessantes " were published in 1797 . There is , however , in the "St . James ' s Evening Post , " dated from Paris , Januaiy 2 nd , 1738 , reprinted what is the Paris letter , first published , we believe , in in the so-called "Secrets of Masonry" by S . P ., London , 17-17 , as Bro .

Hughan points out , and which is also dated Paris , January 13 th , 1737 . How far this is original or factitious is not now very easy to say . In Holland the " Almanach des Franc Macons en Ecosse , " a la Haye , 1752-54 appears to be the first , though Kloss mentions " Almanach des Franc Macons et des Franches Maconnes en Ecosse , " a la Haye , 1753 , and "Almanach des Francs Massons , " from 1757 to 1779 , yearly . I" Sweden , in 1777 , appeared at Stockholm "Almanach portatif pour 1 'Annee 1777 , a l'usage des Societies qui assemblent dans l'HOtel des F . M . au Kiddarholm a Stockholm . " The

earliest American journal seems to have been " The Freemason's Magazine and General Miscellany , " Philadelphia , 1811 , according to Mackey . All the works mentioned above are not strictly Masonic journals , no doubt , though Masonic publications ; and in France the first actual journal seems to have been the " Annales Maconniques , " in 1807 . Indeed , it is somewhat difficult to decide what is properly a journal , as , in its strict meaning ) it is a daily paper . —Kenning ' s Cyclopcedia of Freemasonry ¦