Ad00608

To ADVERTISERS . THE 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 lo GEORGE KENNING , 2 , 3 , & 4 , LITTLE BRITAIN , LONDON , E . C .

Foreign And Colonial Agents.

Foreign and Colonial Agents .

—•—AMERICA : Bro . J . FLETCHER BRENNAN , I 14 , Mainstreet , Cincinnati , Ohio . „ Messrs . WOODRUFF & BLOCHER , Little Rock , Arkansas , U . S .

CANADA : Messrs . DEVRIE & SON , Ottawa . CAPE OF GOOD HOPE : Bro . GEORGE BRITTAIN , Cape Town . CEYLON : Messrs . W . L . SKEENE & Co ., Colombo . CONSTANTINOPLE : Br . J . L . HANLY , Levant Times .

EAST INDIES : Allahabad : Messrs . WYMAN BROS . Byculla : Bro . GEO . BEASE . Central Provinces : Bro . F . J . J ORDAN . Kurrachee : Bro . G . C . BRAYSON . Madras : Mr . CALEB FOSTER .

Mhow : Bro . COWASJEE NUSSERWANJEE . Pooua : Bro . W . WELLIS . GALATA : IrsiCK KHAN , Perche-Bajar . LIBERIA : Bro . HENRY D . BROWN , Monrovia . PARIS : M . DECHEVAUX-DUMESNIL , Rue de Harlaydu-Palais , 20 , near the Pont Neuf ; Editor Lc Franc-Macon . And all Booksellers and Newsagents in England , Ireland , and Scotland .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

BIRTHS . COSBURN . —On the 16 th instant , at the Herald office , Market-place , Newbury , the wife of Bro . George J . Cosburn , Secretary of 574 , of a son . WARNER . —On the 26 th ult ., at Jerusalem , the wife of Bro . Charles Warner , Capt . R . N ., of a daughter .

DEATH . HAWKE . —On the 14 th inst ., Bro . Edward H . Hawke , jun ., P . M . Tregullow Lodge , 1006 , St . Day , Scorrier , P . Prov . G . Deacon , Cornwall , and member of most ofthe " higher degrees . " A zealous Mason , a benevolent man , and a good husband and father , he has left many friends to regret his lamented decease .

Ar00602

Reports of the Rosicrucian Society of London and of Lodges 184 , 185 , 307 , 543 , 592 , 715 , S 62 , 1000 , 1021 , 1248 , 1264 , and 1273 will appear next week .

Ar00603

TheFreemason, SATURDAY , J ANUARY 22 , 1 S 70 .

Ar00604

THE tKEEMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains . The price of Tun KKKE . MASON U Twopence per week ; quarterly subscription ( including postage ) js . 3 d . Annual Subscription , 12 s . Subscriptions payable nt advance . All communications , letters , & c , to be addressed tu the EDITOR , s , 3 , and 4 , Little llritain , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MS . S . entrusted to him , but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage stamps .

The Mark Degree.

THE MARK DEGREE .

OUR attention has been called by several brethren to a correspondence which has recently taken place between Brothers Frederick Binckes and L . Mackerscy , the

Grand Scribe E . of Scotland , on the subject of the Mark Degree , and we are solicited to at once explain the " situation , " and to pronounce an opinion on the merits of the

question in dispute . Knowing that many of our readers arc Mark Masters , and above all , believing that every English brother desires the triumph of right and the

overthrow of malevolence and injustice , we cheerfully comply with the request which has been made , premising , however , that wc do so as a juris-consult , and not as an advocate . The facts are these : —

The Mark Degree.

Towards the close of the eighteenth century a great many so-called Masonic Degrees were invented for divers reasons , not only in England but in several other

countries . Some of these were not only harmless in their tendencies , but as a rule inculcated precepts more or less in accordance with those of the Craft . They

accordingly became adjuncts to the ceremonies of the " Three Degrees , " and obtained considerable support . It would be tedious to enumerate those subsidiary degrees ,

especially as their number has been roughly computed at about nine hundred , but it is necessary to state that the grades of Mark Man and Mark Master originated in Britain ,

and although the former is now merged in the latter , we may add that the degrees have preserved their exclusively British

character , inasmuch as theyare workedatthe present day only by the Freemasons of these islands , and their blood-relations in the United States of America and the

possessions of the British Crown . Mark Masonry confessedly supplies a hiatus in the traditions of the Craft , and its

appropriate place , so far as those traditions are concerned , is as unquestionably between the second and third degrees .

Strangetosay , however , that in no country where the Mark degree is practised , do we find it occupying its proper position as a

part of our legends . It is invariably given after the Master Mason ' s degree , instead of before , and thus loses much of the interest which would otherwise be attached to the

interesting myth which it narrates . In America , it is under the government of the Grand Chapters of Royal Arch Masons , and ranks as the first of the

capitular degrees . In Ireland , it is also given as a prc-rcquisite to the Royal Arch : and in Scotland , the Grand Chapter likewise claims it as a part of the Chaptcral

system . But in the latter country the Grand Lodge also recognises the " Mark " to the extent of allowing its subordinate lodges to make Mark Master Masons if they think

proper . How this singular arrangement works in practice is best known to our Scottish brethren , but we must add that no open conflict between the two jurisdictions

has so far occurred . We now come to England , where the greatest anomaly will be found . In this country , Mark Masonry languished like a sickly plant from 1790 to

1850 , its existence being almost unknown in the Metropolis , and its operations elsewhere being for the most part confined to brethren of inferior social position . Soon

after the last-named year a revival was projected , and so enthusiastic were the friends of the cause that they succeeded in attracting to the "Mark Masters '" standard

many of the best and most respected Masons of the day . We need only mention such names as those of Lords Leigh , Carnarvon , and Holmesdalc , and W . W .

Bramston Beach , M . P ., —all of whom arc now ProvincialGrand Masters in the Craft , — to ensure a hearty confirmation ofthe terms in which we are bound to speak of the pro-

The Mark Degree.

moters of Mark Masonry in England . What was the result of their exertions ? The question of the recognition of the Mark degree was brought before the Grand Lodge of England ,

and , afteraffirmingits legality , that supreme body declined to acknowledge the degree as an integral portion of Freemasonry . The Grand Lodge justly held in the first instance ,

as we now hold , that the degree is a graceful appendage to the grade of Fellow Craft ; but the Grand Lodge committed a grave error when it refused to absorb the Mark as a

constituent element of symbolic Masonry . We are aware that we shall be met by the cry that Grand Lodge could not stultify itself by recognising a modern invention ,

but from those who know the origin of the " Royal Arch " itself , such an excuse will only provoke a smile . We are great sticklers for the antiquity of the Craft , as

we have avowed on many previous occasions , but we are far from saying that the manner in which Freemasons initiate their candidates at the present day is identical

with the system pursued by our predecessors iu the Mediaeval period . We know it is not , but we contend , nevertheless , that Craft Masonry is derived from a succession of

sodalities whose history is hidden in the mists of ages , like the summits of the Alps , which are wrapped in perpetual snow . But for other degrees we have no such

reverence , although we appreciate their utility , their beauty and their sublimity ; and although , so far as the Royal Arch is concerned , we are willing to concede that its

essence is to be found in the ancient Master Mason ' s degree . We are , therefore , free to avow our conviction that a great opportunity was lost by the Grand Lodge of

England when it abandoned the proffered control of the Mark degree , and we appeal to facts to support our assertion . The immediate result of the blunder was the

establishment of a Mark Grand Lodge of England ! than which a greater anomaly cannot exist , and the only excuse for its existence is to be found in the not

unreasonable determination of English Mark Masters to perpetuate their degree by every means in their power . Now we come to the grievance which has occasioned

this article . Some English brethren finding that the Grand Lodge of England tabooed Mark Masonry , and being unwilling

to join an experimental organization , obtained warrants from the Grand Chapter of Scotland to form Mark lodges in England .

Humiliating spectacle ! deplorable resolve ! For the first time in the history of mankind or Masonry , Englishmen were found base enough to crawl at the feet of a

foreign power , and to denationalize themselves , for the attainment of an object trifling enough in its scope , but sufficiently important to serve as an example .

Tlie standards of a foreign Masonic jurisdiction—for such Masonically speaking is the Grand Chapter of Scotland—were hoisted in "the inviolate land of the sage and free , " and English Masons bowed