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To ADVERTISERS . "pHE Circulation of THE FREEMASON being - * - now at the rate of nearly Half-a-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed of the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason is now the accepted organ of the Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 19 S , FLEET STREET , LONDON , E . C .

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NOTICE * The Subscription to THE FREEMASON is now 10 s . per annum , post-free , payable m advance . Vol . I ., bound in cloth 4 s . 6 d . Vol . II ., ditto 7 s . 6 d . Vol . III ., ditto 15 s . od . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . 6 d . United States of America . THE FREEMASON is delivered free in any part of the United States for 12 s . per annum , payable in advance .

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NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS . —?—The Office of Tim FREEMASON is now transferred to 198 , FLEET STREET , E . C . All communications for the Editor or Publisher should therefore be forwarded to that address .

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$ u-f [ rs , UTim-nigcs , nub § t \\ i \ ^ . ¦ —t—BIRTH . CAMHON . —On the 6 th inst ., at 27 , Slater-street , Liverpool , the wife of Bro . Charles Campion , oi Temple Lodge , 1094 , of n daughter . DEATHS . PEXRSON . —On the 9 th inst ., in St . Oswald Street , Old Swan , near Liverpool , aged 3 months , William Wallace , son of Bro . Htnry Pearson , W . M . of Mariners' Lodge , No . 249 . THWAITF . S . —On the 7 th inst ., at Musgrave , Westmorland , aged 53 , Bro . Richard Tluvaites , of the Mount Moriah Lodge , No . 34 , and Knight of the Order of Consiantine , brother ol the late Sir John Thwaitcs , Chairman of lhe Metropolitan Board oi Works ,

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pushers U € orrcsprjnrjcnts . » AH communications for THH FRP . K . MASON should be written legibly en one * ide ol the paper only , and , it intended for insertion in the current number , must be received not later than 10 o ' clock a . m . on Tnursdays , unless in very special cases . The uam « and address of very writer must be sent to us in confidence . WANTED , the address of " Sponsor . for-Apex , " which has been mislaid . J ERUSALEM ENCAMPMENT . —If you gave no notice of your intention to initiate a discussion at the meeting , it is our opinion that the ruling of the E . C . was quite in accordance with Masonic usage . BRO . W . B . J . —We are surprised to hear that a spurious lodge of Memphis is held with ( he connivance of English Masons . Read our article in the present issue , and you will be able to judge . The Order of Memphis , or " Universal JIasonry , " as it is sometimes called , was denounced as spurious by the Board of General Purposes , in 1859 , and all who join or countenance its meetings are liable to suspension or expulsion from the Craft . We believe both Bro . Morton Edwards and Bro . Jleyer Loewenstark , who are said to have organized a lodge of Memphis at Gowcr-slreet , are still members of regular lodges—if so , the W . M . ' s of the latter must take immediate action in the matter , as no member of the " Order of Memphis" can be allowed to enter a regularly-constituted lodge under the Grand Lodge of England .. We now see the point of Bro . Bennoch ' s remarks upon the subject at the last Quarterly Communication , and also why Bro . Matthew Cooke , who strongly supports Bro . Edwards and the Memphis set , threw dust in the eyes of the worthy Vice-President of the Colonial Board . Verily , a herring trailed across the scent 1 Have nothing to do with the spurious concern .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER I 6 , 1871 . THE FREEMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains . The price of THE FREEMASON 1 is Twopence per week ; annual subscription , JOS . ( payable in advance ) . All communications , letters , & c , to be addressed to the EDITOR I 9 S , Fleet-street , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage stamps .

Grand Lodge.

GRAND LODGE .

THE proceedings which took place at the last Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge were undoubtedly of such a nature as cannot be reviewed by an

equitablybalanced mind without awakening feelings of profound distrust , as well as of dissatisfaction . In the first place , under cover of a motion couched in terms calculated to

alienate and disgust a very large section of the Craft , attacks were made against individual brethren , and charges preferred , which were utterly irrelevant to the motion itself .

It is quite unnecessary to recapitulate the language used in connection with the accusations , but the fact thus noted is one which must he carefully borne in mind ,

because it contravenes every honourable man ' s idea of justice or fairplay . The ostensible object of Bro . Cooke ' s proposition was to prohibit the salaried officials of

Grand Lodge from taking part in the proceedings of " extraneous , " " spurious , " or " schismatic " bodies , as he was pleased to stigmatise several highly-respectable

organizations , to which none but Freemasons can belong . But , in the same breath , he charged those officials with selling information , which , to have any saleable value at

all , must have been information acquired in the performance of their duties in the Grand Secretary ' s department—a charge which had no bearing upon the question

then before Grand Lodge . It is evident that a mode of procedure like this is not only illegal , but unfair and unjust . Nor can the startling assertion of Bro . Cooke ,

that " the Board of General Purposes will not hear complaints , " be accepted as a valid excuse for such conduct , inasmuch as it is well known that the members of the Board

have at all times been ready and willing to consider complaints , and have adjudicated thereon with the strictest impartiality . Such a gratuitous assumption on Bro .

Cooke ' s part should have been met at the moment by the question , " Have you ever made a complaint to the Board , and have been refused a hearing or investigation ?"

But in the heat of discussion commonsense views seldom prevail , and this constitutes one of the strongest arguments against brethren being permitted in future

to ventilate their supposed grievances in a body like Grand Lodge—especially when the laws of the Order provide a fitter tribunal , like the Board of General Purposes , for

the settlement of all differences and disputes which may unhappily arise . However , in the instance under review , the mischief has been done and cannot be recalled .

Grand Lodge.

In the next place , it becomes necessary to consider the bearing which Bro . Bennoch's amendment has upon the proposed resolution . As it stands , it simply

means that the " question "—or , in other words , the introduction into the Constitutions of a penal clause , which shall apply to the salaried officials , and to them

onlybe referred to the Board of General Purposes for inquiry and report . In moving this amendment , and doubtless influenced by the agitation which prevailed in the

Hall , Bro . Bennoch seems to have confounded certain Masonic associations , which are merely " unrecognised" byGrandLodge , with certain others , which are not only

" unrecognised , " but inimical and antagonistic to the ruling authorities of the Craft in this country . It is well known , and frequent reference has been made to the

subject in the columns of THE FREEMASON , that a spurious body of Masons exists in England , claiming the rights and privileges of a Grand Lodge , and exercising the power

of conferring the first three degrees . This disreputable association is called "The Reformed Rite of Memphis , " has its headquarters in London , and recruits its ranks

chiefly from the foreign element of our metropolitan population . But its operations are not confined to England , and the spurious warrant to which Bro . Bennoch

alluded , was doubtless one of those issued to an irregular lodge of this kind in the colonies . It is an insult to the high-minded brethren who participate in the labours of

the " Mark , " the " Red Cross , " " Rose Croix , " or "Templar" degrees to class them , even inferentially , with such a heterodox organization ; and it is very clear that the

name of " Memphis " was introduced into the resolution brought forward by Bro . Cooke , in the most disingenuous manner , with the view of exciting hostility against

the officials in the secretarial department , who , it is needless to add , have never been in the slightest degree " mixed up , " to use

liis own elegant phrase , with any such despicable body as the " Order of Memphis . "

Neither , as Bro . Brackstone Baker very pertinently remarked , can wc share the fears expressed by Bro . Bennoch , that the foundations of Masonry arc being

sapped by some mythical " something " which is " astir " at the present time . Can the excellent brother point out any indications which lead him to apprehend such a

catastrophe ? Can he even quote a wellauthenticated instance of admission to " extraneous" orders being the prelude to secession from the Craft , or forgetfulness of

the grand , the universal principles upon which ancient Freemasonry is based ? On the contrary , it is well known that the brethren who havecxtended their researches

beyond the border-land of the blue degrees are frequently the most munificent and steady supporters of our charities , and the

most consistent exponents , in their lives and actions , of those great truths which are taught upon the level of the lodge . If we