Ar00200

of theirs . " Wc must all be amused by the quiet dogmatism of our distant brother . But we cannot find it in our heart to do more than " make a note of it . " With all our admiration for our American brethren , we should not have said offhand that their "jurisprudence " —Masonic is meant of course —is their strong point . We are rather inclined to think that more amusingly

contradictory enunciations mig ht be collected from their GRAND MASTERS ' decisions than from any similar body of men . And so it will be until they have a national and final Court of Appeal . We see that our brother concludes with a prophetic declaration— " You may be sure that every Grand Chapter

in the United States will endorse Quebec , and that , too , very promptly . Is is too presumptuous in us to doubt this effective prophecy ? Yet we do . And even if it were so , we are still of opinion that the question at issue is utterly worthless in itself , and had far better be left to the silent efflux and solemn influence of Time .

* » # WE so heartily agree with the remarksof our able contemporary , the Graphic , on one of the crying evils of the hour , the work and outcome of so-called special agency , that we are glad to transfer to our pages , for those who do not see the Graphic , words as forcible as they are most timely : " Private

Inquiry Offices now play so large a part in our social arrangements , that in cases of this sort our indignation must be directed rather against the persons who misuse these institutions than against the agencies themselves . There is competition in this as in other trades ; and the private detectives are , after all , no more unscrupulous than those who employ them . A man

goes to the Private Inquirer , pays for information , and expects to get it promptly , without troubling himself as to how it will be got . Generally it is information not easy to procure , or it would not be paid for ; and often the purchaser knows quite well , from having made some bungling attempts

of his own , that it cannot be obtained in any legitimate manner . But to be mean , untruthful , or treacherous vicariously , appears to some men to be no sin at all . It is a queer sort of conscientiousness , and reacts upon the detective who , by a comfortable process of reasoning , comes to think that a lie is no lie if he has been paid to tell it . "

. * WK shall all be deeply saddened by the news from the Soudan , though proud of the unconquerable gallantry of our soldiers and blue jackets . It is , however , lamentable to realize how many noble lives have been thrown awav in a struggle in which there is no glory , and in warfare which seems to

have no aim . If this loss of life had occurred in recovering Europeans or suppressing the slave trade , the feelings of all Englishmen would be very different , but as it is , it is , and must be , with most mournful sentiments and regretful sympathies we sum up the long and awful list of killed and wounded .

Nor long ago wc in the Freemason reviewed a remarkable work of Mr . ELTON , now member for Somersetshire , on the law of "Gavelkind . " He has long been known to be one of the greatest authorities extant on the land laws . At his first" debut " in the House of Commons he spoke four

times in one night , and was well received , patiently listened to , and heartily applauded . He has , therefore , taken a place amidst our legislators , and we hope from time to time to hear his voice . The House listened to him evidently because he knew what he was talking about . We congratulate him upon his well-deserved success .

UNFORTUNATELY just now we read of persons taking up the public time and putting the SPEAKER ' S patience and courtesy to a severe strain , who not only do not know what they are talking , but have nothing worth saying , nothing to instruct or edify a human being . It is appalling

to note the waste of precious hours , it is afflicting to realize the sufferings of those who assemble for business , not mere " talkee talkee . " The windbags are many , moonshine abounds , and time is wasted in our great

" Talking House . " There is a story told in one of our contemporaries of an ingenious " Frenchman " who is " trying to make a donkey talk . " But the commentator adds , and adds truly , " what wc want now are those who will leach donkeys not to talk . "

Board Of Benevolence.

BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE .

The monthly meeting of the Board of Benevolence was held on Wednesday evening at Freemasons' Hall , Bro . James Brett , Senior Vice-President , in the absence of Bro . Joshua Nunn , presided . Bro . C . A . Cottebrune , Junior Vice-President , took the chair of Senior Vice-President , and Bro . Frank Richardson , P . G . D ., that of the Junior Vice-President . The other

brethren present were Bros . 1 * . R . Spaull , G . P . Britten , Henry Garrod , Geo . P . Gillard , Edward F . Storr , John Noble , Charles Dairy , Henry J . P . Dumas , Charles F . Hogard , Thomas Cull , H . O . Avcline Maybery , Wm . P . Brown , R . Payne , J . P . Fitzgerald , F . T . C . Keeble , E . G . Lewis , T . Tomsett , John Chadwick , J . Hart , A . H . Lilley , J . Arthur Allison VV . M . Bywater , R . J . Rastrick , Henry Cox , Henry Dalwood , VV . G . Daniels ,

A . J . Vanderlyn , John L . Mather , E . T . Budden , T . W . Ockenden , Edwd . Witt , Thos . Harper , W . M . Amoe , A . Nicols , L . A . Hart , Wm . Hamlyn , W . Fielder , W . H . Honey , T . Drew Bear , L . G . Langdon , Samuel Patey Spiers , George Jno . Moorcroft , Edwin Walker , F . Flodden , Charles Kempton , David D . Mercer , C . Breden , C . E . Pcaker , Edward Bridges , W . J . Spratling , Thos . Bull , John H . Southwood , Wm . Ball , J . H . Taylor , E . Squirrel ! , and Thos . Gardener .

The Board first confirmed recommendations made at the February meeting to the extent of £ 245 . The new list contained no less than 40 cases , including five deferred from previous meetings . Fifteen of these were from London lodges , one from Rotterdam , one from Bombay , one from Montreal

Board Of Benevolence.

and one from Malta . The remainder were from the English provinces . Seven of these cases were deferred , not being complete , and one case was dismissed . The remainder were relieved with a total of £ 8 go . The Board sat nearly four hours .

The Coming Grand Lodge Festival.

THE COMING GRAND LODGE FESTIVAL .

The Grand Stewards for the year are energetically making preparations for the Grand Festival on the 30 th proximo , at which it is hoped the Pro Grand Master will preside . In the able hands of Bro . J . W . Fuller , of No . 1 Lodge , as President ; Bro . H . N . Mills , of Lodge 2 , as Treasurer ; and Bro . Abner Torkington , of Lodge 60 , as Secretary , the duties of executive will

be thoroughly carried out , and we shall look forward to a most successful gathering . The following six brethren have been unanimously elected to serve the office of Indies' Grand Stewards : Bros . F . W . Smith , 58 ; J . D . Mackenzie Von Dadelzen , 29 ; E . H . Burnell , 197 ; Thos . Francis Peacock , 21 ; H . Truman Wood , 99 ; and J . R . F . J . Claridge , 6 .

Stephen Morin.—A Study.

STEPHEN MORIN . —A STUDY .

Of Stephen Monn not much is known actually , except that he is said to have been a Hebrew , and to have received a commission in 1761 from a High Grade body at Paris , or two bodies conjointly . He is said to have died at St . Domingo , where he was alive in 1790 . There was a family of Morin at Bordeaux , but little is positively known of its antecedents or its

subsequent pedigree . It is very doubtful whether Morin was a Hebrew at all . He was admitted into the " Rite of Perfection " at a time when it was rigidly Christian and Trinitarian , and there is no available evidence of the fact . The statement seems mostly used " in invidiam . " His famous patent was given to him not by the Grand Lodge of France , not by the Council of the

Emperors of the East and the West , not by these two conjointly , or any two conjointly , as some French writers allege , but simply by the ' * Grand and Sovereign Lodge of St . John of Jerusalem , " & c , and which has been most unwisely confounded with the Grand Lodge of France by Findel , Thory , and later writers , without any reality or historical evidence whatever ,

except the mere use of the words 'Grand Lodge . " It is no doubt true that all the persons who signed Stephen Morin ' s patent were at one time members of the Grand Lodge of France , ( which body professed to govern only the three Degrees of S ymbolical Masonry ) , but at this time the Grand Lodge of France was in confusion and

practically " en sommeil . " The Grand Lodge of " Perfection " had been formed about i 758 " 59 . professed to be the sovereign head of all regular lodges of " Perfection . " There is a statement constantly made that in 1766 the Grand Lodge of France cancelled the patent delivered in 1761 . But the statement is positively unfounded and absurd , for these reasons . The

Grand Lodge of I'rance could not cancel a patent which it did not issue , and an American assertion that the Grand Orator of the " Grand Orient , " which was not formally proclaimed until December 17 th , 1772 , could verify minutes of a body in 1766 , from which he had seceded , and which that body

had never issued at all , is one of those absurd illustrations of Masonic " muthos " and overhanded inaccuracy which seem sometimes to give point to Mr . Hallam's allegations , that " mendacity" too often distinguishes Masonic writers , whichever side they take . The matter is so ridiculous that wc had better leave it where it is .

1 here is , undoubtedly , a great deal of uncertainty and confusion about the true history of French High Grade Masonry . But this one thing is clear . Stephen Morin's patent is the legitimate patent of a lawful body , was never revoked , and is the foundation of the Ancient and Accepted Rite in America and Englandand elsewhere . The 25 degrees which Stephen Morin took out

with him were expanded , it is said , as between 1761 and 1801 . But this assertion rests on the argument and theory , which are now proved to be erroneous , that Stephen Morin received his patent from the Council of the Emperors of the East and the West , whereas he only received it from the G . and S . Lodge of Perfection . The words of his patent arc " tons Ics grades

parfaits and sublimes , and as the nomenclature of the grades under the Council of the Emperors was not necessaril y identical with that of the Grand Lodge of Perfection , wc could never see , we cannot now see , any real difficulty in the policy and fact of expansion and dcvelopement , readjustment and rearrangement . All the attacks on Stephen Morin and his

patent , and the results of his mission , proceed cither from partizan or hostile writers , animated with the most bitter feelings against the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite , and anxious to palm of their hi gh-sounding titles or

meretricious wares on the credulous , the ignorant , and the vain . I wish it were possible to say more about Stephen Morin , but though much has been written , very little is known ; and I have preferred to put down the real for what is imaginary , the fact for what is fiction .

name , and those of our lod ges are few and far between . Wc are glad to remember a recent effort at Sheffield under the zealous direction of Bro . S . B . Ellis , a rising Masonic archaeologist , to establish a library for the

dis-LIBRARY . —The importance of a lod ge library has long been realised by all Masonic students . Unfortunately , for some years this need has not been felt in English Masonry ; but latterly a movement has happily begun to establish Masonic libraries . Our German and American brethren are ahead of us in this respect , for our Grand Lodge has no library worthy of the

tinguished lodges of that well-known town ; and similar institutions in Leicester , Hull , & c , we are pleased to hearare flourishing . The library of the S . G . Council 33 , of London , we are told , is a very fine and valuable one , estimated , at least , at £ 2000 . —Kenning ' s Cyclopcedia of Freemasonry