The Removal Of The Boys' School.

able enough in itself , but does not materiall y aflect the question at issue , nothing has been said , nor lias anv attempt been made to show how the additional accommodation , which will be required when the increase beconiers imperative , ( ran be obtained

without still lurlher circumscribing the already limited space available for recreation , or how the present limited recreation grounds can be extended , as they should be , without removing some of the buildings . Indeed , certain extensions and alterations which

were recommended to be made a lew vears since remain undealt with for lack of space , except in so far as certain makeshifts which were found possible have been adopted . In line , no material objections havc been raise'd to the scheme proposed

b y thc Hoard of Management , nor has the suitability of the new site been seriously questioned . As regards this latter point , indeed , the reports ol the experts are most favourable , and are greatly strengthened by two facts —( l ) that an Orphan

Asvlum has been established in tin * neighbourhood for man ) years ; and ( 2 ) that a h y dropathic establishment is in immediate proximity lo the estate * which has been purchased . The opposition is sentimental rather than serious . The Hoard of-

Management have not taken the Subscribers into their confidence , and hence the outcry that has been raised . Hut , though there mav be salctv in a multitude of counsellors , it is just as well that the multitude should be restricted to a less formidable number

than 20 , 000 , or whatever may be * the numerical strength of the Subscribers to tbe Institution . As regards the disposal of the estate at Wood Green , there must , of neccssitv , be a loss of some thousands of pounds , but

it will not amount tothe £ 100 , 000 which has been commonK spoken of . As we havc pointed out in previous Articles or Notes , the use of the estate for close on 40 years is something in tin nature of a quid pro quo , while the land , without the buildings ,

will , in all probability , letch from three to four times the price paid for it , if not a still greater sum . In fact , there is no absolute necessity for a sale of the property . It has occurred to us that the Institution might itself grant 00 years' leases for buildinp *

purposes . 1 he ground rents would represent a very respectable permanent income , and when the leases fell in , the Hoys' School would be a wealth y Institution , wilh a verv respectable rent roll , the proceeds of which would go permanently towards its

maintenance . We have not heard of any such suggestion being made , and we * only offer il just to show that if the land is worth from £ 2000 to £ , 5000 an acre to other people , who will buy in order to make a profit out of it , it must represent precisely the

same value to the Institution , which will itself reap the same benefit b y retaining the property in its own hands . We leave others to determine the Value , if any , of our suggestion . But , whatever is done with the Wood Green estate , we trust that now

the scheme of the Hoard of Management has assumed a tangible form , we have heard the last of the very un-Masonic threats on the part of some lodges and bretluvn to withdraw their support from the Institution if thc removal is persisted in . No better or

weightier advice ever fell from the lips of that distinguished brother who for so many years has presided with such acknowledged success over thc fortunes of the Craft in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight , than that which he tendered whim the recent

discussion over the proposed purchase of the property at Hushcy was terminated , and ther Com *! had , lu * an overwhelming' majority , endorsed the action of the Hoard of Management- —Let those who ii ]) lo the present time have conscientiously objected to the

removal now join hand . * - - \ ith the advocates of the proposal in supporting tin : School . We may be sure it will not need that support less at Bushey than at Wood Green , and we trust the

day will never come when the funds that may he necessary will not be as readil y forthcoming in future years as in the vears that have passed .

Coloured Freemasonry In The U.S.A.

COLOURED FREEMASONRY IN THE U . S . A .

Our readers who hear from tune to time ol the proceedings in the various Alasonic jurisdictions in the I ' nited Slates are probabl y not aware , or , at best have but a vague idea , that then * exist in the land of the Stars and Stripes quite a formidable array of negro Masons , having precisely the same kind of organisation as to lodges and Grand Lodges , and practising , as

Coloured Freemasonry In The U.S.A.

we are informed , precisel y the same rites and ceremonies as we practise in our lodges under thc jurisdiction of the Grand Lod ge of England . Some 20 years ago , quite a discussion arose in the Masonic press on the subject of this coloured Masonry , but nothing came of it . The matter , however , has been again

brought to our notice b y a review in thc Report on Correspondence appended to ther Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Canada ( Province of ( Ontario ) of an article written by Rro . WILLIAM II . UPTON , which appeared in the Report on Correspondence of the Grand Ledge of Washington for 18 95 . Hro .

I ' l'TON is described b y his Canadian reviewer-as ' ' ' one of the brightest minds in the Fraternity , an enthusiastic student of Masonry and well-informed on all its branches . " ft is this Bro . UPTON who trails attention , in an article on Masonry among the Negroes , to the fact that at the present time there are in the

United Slates " more than 27 , 000 of our fellow citizens , unknown to us as members of the Fraternity , " who " claim to be affiliated Masons of good standing , and regularly stud y our mysteries in 1300 lodge's which we never visit , " and that this alone is " sufficient to justif y a brief nrfcrence to Masonry among the coloured men of America . '' lie does not conevrn himself about their legitimacy .

and is carelul to avoid anything like an expression of opinion upon a question which has excited so much controversy in the I ' nited States . He is content with a brief statement of the facts as hc has ascertained therm to be , leaving it to his

readers to draw such conclusions as seem best from thc premises he lavs down . These facts are as follow : A certain Prince H . M . I . and 14 other coloured men of Boston were initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry in an army lodge warranted b y the Grand Lodge of lingland , and attached to one of tin

regiments stationed under General GAGK at Boston , Mass ., on ther 6 th March , 1775 . These 15 brethren , acting , it is suggested , under an authority granted by the lodge which made them , subsequently met as a lodge * . At a later date—on tbe 2 nd May , 1 784 —thev applied to the Grand Lodge of lingland for a warrant ,

which was granted them , as "African Lodge , No . 459 , " with Bro . Prince IlALI . as W . Master , on the 29 A September following . They did not , however , receive it till the 2 nd May , 17 8 7 , when the lodge was quickl y organised , and remained on the English Register until thc revision which took place after the Union of the " Ancient" and " Modern " Societies of Enrdish Masons in

1 Sr 3 , when , in common with other lodges of linglish origin in the United States , il was struck off the list . This Rro . Prince HALL , first W . M . of African Lodge , was , we arc told , " a man of exceptional ability and energy , " and in 1797 he " issued a licence to 13 black men who had been made Masons in England

to ' assemble and work as a lodge in Philadelphia , a second lodge being organised b y his authority in Providence , R . L In 1808 , these two lodges , with ihe original African Lodge , No . 459 ,

of 17 X 4 , "joined in forming the 'African Lodge' of Boston —now'the ' Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts '—and Masonry gradually spread over the land . " In 1847 , the negro Masons made what Hro . UPTON declares to be thc mistake ol

establishing a National Grand Lodge , which in 1 S 6 7 , at thc time : of its zenith had some 20 Grand Lodges under it , the negro Grand Lodges of Pennsylvania , New York , New Jersey , Delaware , and Maryland , however , holding aloof and remaining independent . This National Grand Lodge , we are told , has since fallen into

decay and at the present time enjoys onl y a nominal existence , bul Coloured Freemasonry , notwithstanding , has continued to flourish , and as Bro . L ITON points out—and we have no reason

to doubt the accuracy of his information—there arc upwards ol 27 , 000 of these negro brethren organised in lodges and wit ' 1 sundry Grand Lodges to preside over them in different States .

As to the legitimacy of Coloured Freemasonry , Bro . Ui'TON quotes a did urn of the late Hro . Al . iSKRT PIKE , to thc effect that " Prince Hall Lodge .... had a perfect rig ht ( as other lodges in Europe did ) to establish other lodges , making itsell a mother lodge . That ' s the way the Berlin lodges—Three Globes

and Royal York—became Grand Lodges . " He also quotes th '" opinion of liro . T . S . PARVIN , "that the negroes can make as good a show forthe legality of their Grand Lodges as the whit' - * * can . " Further information of great interest is contained in b' ° *

Ul'TOX ' s paper , ll is shown that they possess our secrets and practice our riles . They have "bodies of all the 'hig h degrees , || 1 "