To Correspondents.

of the Charitable Reform Association , and in this strong language , ( which we believe he uses sincerely ) is riding one of their many " hobbies" to death , for it but represents his own view of the grave question of interchange of votes , which is one of the alleged grievances ,

and such a " moot point " cannot be settled by infallible dogmata , or burning denunciation . At any rate let us keep clear of Masonic popes and Masonic infallibility ; popes and infallibility have done enough mischief in the world and we will not have them imported into Freemasonry .

For as we have often said before , we hold the interchange of votes to be perfectly proper , in every sense , and shall always be prepared to uphold it in any fair discussion . But we do object to have our mouths shut , so to say , ourselves ¦ '' rolled over" by the assertion of "a petitio

principi , " the assumption , the dogmata of an infallible correctness . After an experience of years in our Masonic charitable elections , we are quite able to say that any charge of " jobbery" as against them , is an entire delusion . A correspondent calls attention to a case which clearly

proves that the theory which asserts that a committee necessarily selects candidates better than the subscribers , is , as we have always contended , not the case . In this case , acting under external pressure , the general committee actually committed a breach of the laws of the

Institution . We hold therefore , that the proposals of the Charitable Reform Association , are a complete mistake in this respect , and will lead inevitably to greater abuses , to greater jobbery , the hurtful pressure of private influence , than any we ever know of in our present honest form of open voting . We trust that on reconsideration ,

Bro . Simpson may be induced to withdraw words hastily spoken , and not in our opinion to be justified , especially as regards our Masonic Charities , and that he will prove , that when a Mason has made a mistake , the next best thing he can do , is to own it at once , manfully and straightforwardly .

One Of The Greatest Hin Dranges To Masonic Liter Ature.

ONE OF THE GREATEST HIN DRANGES TO MASONIC LITER ATURE .

There are many hindrances just now in the way of Masonic literature , but the greatest of all , in our humble opinion , is the personality in which Masonic writers so often think well to indulge themselves . It is quite melancholy indeed often to note the tone and the temper , with

which some writers approach things Masonic . It is beyond measure hurtful to us all to realize the " animus" of some who set up to b-a " Didaskttloi" teachers of their brethren . Even the most careless cannot fail to be struck with the had taste and heartless acerbity with which

some " anonymous scribblers " set to work to attack some defenceless brother , and to infuse into the pages of a Masonic paper , the license of outrageous personality , or the baneful extravagance of hostile vulgarity . We published in our last Freemason a timely protest against

cowardly Masonic slander in a railway carriage against a brother behind his back , what shall we say of those who seek under cover of anonymous correspondence , or , in all the glory of a frothy leader , to vilify and traduce , to backbite and assail—a brother Mason ? What can we say ,

we repeat , of such Masons , but that theirs is indeed a burlesque on all Masonic profession , a cruel wound alike to the honour , the manliness , the highmindedness of Freemasonry ? When , however , we come to think the matter over carefully and calmly , as we have found one

or two grounds of consolation ourselves , we think it well to impart them to our readers . In the first place , though a trite and common place observation enough , it is not too much to bear in mind that a large proportion of these noisy professors of Masonic wordiness , these "factors" of low personality , are utterly incompetent to teach

anything either to their brethren or to mankind . If it be still true , perhaps , as of old , that " scribinus docti indoctique , " yet it is very trying to have to wade through the nonsense , which marks their utterances , and above all the dirt with which such scribes besprinkle everyone and themselves at the same time . Thev do no

One Of The Greatest Hin Dranges To Masonic Liter Ature.

good -to the journal in which their ill-omened lucubrations appear , they discredit Freemasonry , they disgrace themselves . Life is too short for us all to pore over " conclusions in which nothing is concluded , " essays in which we have neither force nor point , the puerilities of the

" feeble forcible , " the twaddle oi the ignorant or the discreditable . It is most humiliating for the thoughtful and serious mind to realize how many seem to put pen to paper only for the sake of giving personal pain , to " wound , " if " afraid to strike , " to insinuate , if not daring to speak out

plainly . Like Bartolo , they live and exult in the great power of judicious calumny . Such are persons who send anonymous letters and think they have done something very clever ; such are those to whom if we speak sternly we should say " mentiris impudentissime , " but

whom we treat rather as vulgar buffoons , incapable of one high or sensible thought , whose writings , like their habits , are redolent of the gin palace , and as the old saying runs " smell , " of the debased company they associate with . To all Freemasons who love their Order and wish

for the true progress of Masonic literature , such hurtful parasites are most objectionable , and their contributions most unwelcome . They only live for personality ; without personality the press itself is useless , for they have no real aims , or noble imaginings . They have no wish to

instruct , impress , or edify their brother Masons . On the contrary , the Masonic Press is only valuable to them as it ministers to a degraded taste of reckless personality . Their only object in the leader or the letter is to gratify private spleen or personal prejudice , and they are only happy , and

only satisfied when they can cast a stone at some unoffending and even friendly brother . Nothing has so kept back Masonry in past times as those immoral " Free Lances , " who have only used the Masonic Press to further their own views , and purposes , toenshrine their own likes and dislikes ,

their senseless animosities , their low-lived antipathies . Nothing also so influences a large portion of Masons at this present hour , in their dislike of the Masonic Press , as their fear or hatred of personality . Unfortunately , if they want to see violence and virulence , perversity

and intolerance , the vulgar taunt , the unseemly sneer , the unbrotherly inuendos , as they are to be found in all their glory and luxuriance , they have only to open the pages of a professedly Masonic paper . Most curious anomal y ! Freemasons are glad , apparently to proclaim

themselves the most uncharitable , the most malignant , the most unveracious , the most slanderous of mortals . These are hard words , my masters , but they are , we believe , both timely and seasonable . We have had our attention recentl y drawn to words , written by a

professed brother Mason , which are an outrage on all truth and decency , and good feeling , and honourable sentiment , and b : otherly goodwill amongst us . The Freemason , happily , is indifferent either to insinuation or attack , it has the

confidence of a very large and increasing circle of readers , and ignores and contemns ; the flippancy of the ignorant , just as it treats with silent dignity the vulgar twaddle " of the Slanderer , the Gossip and the Goose !

Time's Revolutions.

TIME'S REVOLUTIONS .

J ust as we were going to press last Thursday , too late for befitting note or comment , there comes to us the telegraphic account of the death of Victor Emanuel , King of Italy . Though the Freemason steadily ignores all political events and public transactions as such , it yet from

time to tim *} , feels it to be but ri ght to advert to what is passing in the world before our eyes , and which has all of influence on the age in which our lot is cast . Without alluding to many thoughts and facts which mi ght lead us speedily into the " debateable land " of pure politics , we yet think , we may fairly say this as

English Masons and citizens , that we fully and heartly sympathize with the great loss which Italy has sustained . Whatever the complications of other days may have been , whatever force may have lain in the " uti possidetis , " and the "statu quo '' for statesmen and thinking persons ; whatever irregularities may have occurred in bringing about great national changes ,

Time's Revolutions.

few we think , can deny the ri ght or the claims of the patriotic sympathies and yearnings of the Italian people . Italy for many reasons has always been both a classic , and familiar , and interesting ground to Englishmen of all conditions . Whether it be the force or the tradition of rarl y

and wise scholastic- , training , there ever has lingered with the inhabitants of Great Britain a deepseated and heartfelt sympathy with Ital y as Italy . As patriots and free men mirsel ves , inheriting a mighty past , looking on to a great future , boasting of a goodly present , we have felt

that we had no right after all , ( despite di plomatic considerations and special episode-- ) , to deny to Italians , the same appreciation of constitutional government and religious liberty which we enjoyed ourselves , so fully , and so happily , and so peacefully , and , we will add , so loyally al home . In the case of Italy there was this intenser

difficulty , that the Italians lived in proximate connection withthe influence of the great cen're of Ro-Catholicism , and that , therefore , undoubtedly , the struggle would be severer and the conflict greater . Victor Emanuel , who has just left the busy scene , was undoubtedly the embodiment of the Italian idea , and as such he must be

generally regarded , and leniently judged . He has lived to see Italy outwardly united , hie has been permitted to witness the growth of liberal institutions , of a constitutieinal government , of

a free church in a free state . H « has pissed away at a time when Italy seemed to be " moving on , " and to be claiming its proper place in the category of nations . That the death of Victor Emmanuel

is a great loss to Italy , who can doubt ? [ 'or that favoured land has still an untried and doubtful future before it . The struggle as between Ultramontane assumptions and legal enactments is not yet at an end , and Italy has perhaps some thorny ground yet to travtise , before it has

founded a true constitutional Monarch y , based on the development of individual , and communal and national liberry , and thc loyal allegiance of a great and grateful people . But in this , its onward if arduous career , we can only sympathize with it as Englishmen and

Freemasons . And therefore to day , we deepl y deplore the account of the premature death of Victor Emanuel , and we wish to express above all our Mase-nic sympathy for the Italian Government , and the Italian Grand Lodge . The accounts of the interchange of reli gious cuurtesey

as between the Pope and the d ying king are most touching if true . We rejoice to think , that as that last hour of mortal struggle approached , which removes all earthl y greatness just as it overthrows all earthly professions , the unwise anathemata of the Romish Church were

withdrawn , and the King received , as all should receive at such a time , the happier fulness of religious administration suitable to one of his religion . His is a very weak and abjtct mind , which at such a solemn moment rejects religion in its soothing and beneficent office ! Let us hope that the solemn memories of

the past may serve to soothe the exac-i bated sentiments of the Vatican , and that St . Peter ' s , an the great Cather-ral of Italy , may witness , ihe religious observances , for the first King of Ital y . Since we wrote this , it seems that the Pantheon has been selected for the funeral ceremonies of the King . We regret that the Church of Rome has not risen to the proper level of the occasion

and taken the opportunity of making an " en tente cordiale " with Italy .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

[ We do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even as approviue oftheopinions expressed by ourcorrespondents , but we wish ! - £ a spirit of fair play to all , to permit-wi bin certain accessary imits—free discussion . —Eo . l » -=-.-sMaiy JOBBERY IN OUR MASONIC AND CHARITABLE

INSTITUTIONS . To the Editor of the Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I sec that iu a speech reported in your columns Bro . 11 . J . Simpson has used this offensive word ai regards all charitable institutions in EngUn . l , anil by unmistakeablc

implication in respect of the elections of our Masonic Institutions . As one who has Ukcn gri-at interest and an active part in such elections fur many yfars permit me to use the " medium " of your p . ges t > pretest against an utter misuse of the English lingurge , fur I venture to assert , and that most strongly , that in the