Freemasonry And Israelitism.

should a misfortune befall a people in a foreign land , either from war , famine , fire , or plague , the national spirit of benevolence is stirred , and help flows from all quarters and all

classes . No matter whether the sufferers be Turks or Parsees , Jews or Christians ; the Saxon race everywhere exhibits the same readiness to send help . The propagation of

Anglo-Saxon principles has had great influence in softening the rigours of war , and will no doubt ultimately suppress war altogether . Nations are a

long while learning such lessons , but it cannot be denied that wars ( although still very horrible ) are not carried on with the ferocity the } ' formerly were . Dreadful tales of horrible atrocities

committed by the belligerants in the late Franco-German war , were circulated , but on inquiry , they mostly turn out to be either fictions , or gross

exaggerations . The Qtuen of Prus .-ia , the Crown Princess , and other ladies of high rank , left their luxurious homes to attend the hospitals in which were sick and wounded French and German

soldiers , and although towards the end of the war , the Germans had the care of 300 . 000 prisoners , they were all carefully attended to , and had many comforts . It is very gratifying to find in the Prussians so noble a trait of the

Anglo-Saxon character . The Goths ( their , and cur progenitors ) have always been described as a wild and ferocious people , but as their armies were frequentlv augmented by auxiliaries of

different races , the Goths have doubtless been ace . sed of many excesses of which they were notgu'ltv , as even the Romans in the fifth century gave tliem the credit of being a generous r . 'ce , and ( as Anglo-Saxons ) having no superiors .

Ernest And Falk.

ERNEST AND FALK .

CONVERSATIONS FOR FREEMASONS . BY BRO , GOTTHOLD EI ' IIKAIM LKSSIXG . TllANSI . AVICU BY BRO . KENNETH K . II . . MACKENZIE , F . S . A

KNOWN AS CRYPTONYMUS . CONVERSATION . —III . ERNEST . YOU have escaped me all day long in the crowd of our friends ; but I follow you to your chamber .

FALK . Have you anything important to say for I confess I am myself too tired for mere idle conversation . ERNEST . YOU laugh at my curiosity .

I . M . K . "V our curiosity ? ERNEST . Which you were able to excite so strongly this morning . FALK . What were wc talking of this iiiomin » r

li it NEST . Of the Freemasons . FALK . Well ! I have not betrayed the secret to you . Have I ? ERNEST . The secret which cannot be spoken ,

y ,-u . ay : FA ; . !' . Well , well ; I am easy again . EF . XEST . But . von told me soinetliimr about the

freemasons that , astounded me , that I did not c-:: ; , ect , th ; -t has made me think . I ' AL-C . .- ' . ml what was that ? i ' , r . \ - ' .. ¦ -. r . Oh ., do not torment me ! You surel y iTAA-f . ' ci / t .:.

Ernest And Falk.

FALK . Ah ! yes , I remember it again , and it was that which iiiade you so absent among your friends all day ? ERNEST . It was that ; and I cannot rest unless you answer me at least one question .

FALK . That answer must depend on the tenor of the question . ERNEST . HOW can you prove to me , or even

make probable , that the Freemasons have such high and noble intentions ? FALK . Intentions ? Did I say anything about intentions ? I am not aware of it . But

as you cannot have the remotest conception of the true deeds of the Freemasons , I have only drawn your attention to one point , on which there is much possibly not imagined bj' the

politic minds of statesmen . Perhaps the Freemasons work at this question . Perhaps ! And this was only to rid you of the prejudice that all the places whereon it is necessary to build have been already

occupied , and that the necessary work has been alread y distributed among the hands . ERNEST . Turn about now , as you will . Enough , I have formed the idea frcm what you

say , that the Freemasons are people who have voluntarily undertaken to obviate by their labours those evils of the State which are unavoidable . FALK . This definition , at any rate , does not

shame the Freemasons . Stick to it ! But understand it correctly , and mix nothing up with it that does not belong to it . The unavoidable evils of the State ! Not of this or that state ! ; :

Not the unavoidable evils which once taken up by any peculiar form or constitution , naturally resi . lt in this form of government . With these the Freemason has nothing to do , at least as a

Freemason , The assuaging and curing of this lie leaves to the citizen , who may employ himself according to his discrimination , his courage , or at his peril . Evils of a different kind , of a far greater degree , are the subject of his activity .

ERNEST . I have understood it perfectly . Not evils caused by the discontented citizen , but evils unavoidable , even with the happiest .

FALK . Right ! To counteract—how did you express it ?—to counteract these ? ERNEST . Yes .

FALK . The expression is strong . To counteract ? To obviate them wholly ? That cannot be : for with them the state itsjlf would be utterly destroyed . They must not even be

demonstrated at once to those who have no perception of them . So create this perception in manv at a distance , to nourish its growth , to graft it , to generate , to make it blossom , can that now be

called counteracting it ? Do you therefore understand why I said that although the Freemasons were at work , centuries mi ght elapse before it could be sai . l—This have thev done .

ERNEST . As well as I now comprehend the second portion of the riddle—good deeds rendering good deeds unnecessary . FALK . Well ! now go and study those evils ,

and Lam to know them all , and weigh their effects one against another , and be assured that tills study will discover things to you , that in days of anxiety seem to be the most cogent and

incontrovertible influences against Providence and Virtue . This knowledge , this illumination , will render you peaceful and happy—even without the e :. " / - '' ™ . " l '' : \ : : im .: ' ' i-i .

Ernest And Falk.

ERNEST . You lay considerable stress on the word name . FALK . Because you can be anything without being called so .

ERNEST . Very well ! I understand ; but to return to my question , to which I must now give a somewhat different form : as I now know those evils against which Freemasonry is arrayed . FALK . You know them :

ERNEST . Did not you yourself name them to me ? FALK . I have incidentally enumerated a few of them as instances . Only a very few of the

most evident , the most apparent to the dimmest of eyes . But how many are there remaining , which , although they do not reach so far , are not so evident , not so incontestible , are no less

certain , not less inevitable ? ERNEST . Then let me confine my question to that part only which you have indicated to me . How can you prove to me from that portion

that the eyes of the Freemasons are really directed to it ? You are silent . You meditate . FALK . Certainly not upon what is a fitting

reply to your question . But I do not know to what motive I should ascribe the inquiry . ERNEST . But you will answer , if I tell you my reason ?

FALK . I promise it . ERNEST . I know , and fear , your penetration . FALK . My penetration ? ERNEST . I am afraid you will sell me vour

speculations as facts . FALK . Many thanks for the compliment ! ERNEST . Are j r ou angry , or hurt ?

FALK . Not at all ! Rather should I have thanked you for bestowing the name of penetration upon that which you might have called quite otherwise .

' ERNEST . Certainl y not . Yet I know how the mind deceives itself , and unconsciously attributes plans and motives to others , which they had never entertained .

FAI . K . But what leads us to form opinions as to the intentions and motives of others ? Surely their actions singly ? ERNEST . From what else ? And here I come

again to my question . From what single action of the Freemasons can we judge that it is even a jmrtion of their aim to level and do away with all those divisions which state and state-craft

have produced among men ? and to reunite them ?¦

FALK . And , besides this , without in any way hurting this state-craft and those states . ERNEST . SO much the better ? Is it not , perhaps , necessary that there should even be deeds

to prove this , if certain peculiarities , certain variations , leading to it , or springing from it only exist . In your speculations you must have commenced thus—that is to say , supposing your

system to be only an hypothesis . FALK . You are still suspicious : but I trust to dispel your ( malms if I reveal to you one of the fundamental maxims of Freemasonry . ERNEST . And which ?

FALK . One of which they have never made 2 secret , according to which they have ever acted before the eyes of the whole world . ERNEST . And that is —? FAI . K . To lidnn ' ttrery worthy and honcirablts