Important Notice.

IMPORTANT NOTICE .

COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month .

It is very necessary for our readers to advise us of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen-page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / - P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the chief office , London .

NEW POSTAL RATES . Owing to a reduction in the Postal Rates , the publisher is now enabled to send the " Freemason " to the following parts abroad for One Year for Twelve Shillings ( payable in

advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfoundand , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , United -States of America , & c .

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TO ADVERTISERS . The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . AnvHRTisEMENTS should reach the Office , 198 Fleet Street , London , not later than 12 o ' clock on Wednesday , to insure insertion in the following Saturday ' s number . The Rates for Advertisements may be had on application at the Office .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

BRO . W . J . HUGHAN . —Dr . Loth in our next . BOOKS , & C , RECEIVED . — " Keystone , " Philadelphia ; " New York Despatch , " " L'Union du Midi , " " Shakespearian Annual Almanack , " " Bolettino Officiate , G . O . Egiziano , " the" Masonic journal , " " Beavis ' s Popular Guide to the We of Man , " " Proceedings of the G . L . of S . and R . Masters of Massachusetts , " " Blackwood's

Shilling Scribbling Diary 1877 , " The following stand over : —City of London Lodge , 901 ; United Military Lodge , 1531 ; United Brethren Lodge , 103 1 ; St . Dunstan ' s Lodge , 1589 ; Hemming Lodge , 1512 ; Whittington Lodge , 862 ; Lodge of Honour , 371 ;

West Smithfield Lodge , 1623 ; United Strength , 228 ; Etonian Lodge , 209 , Windsor ; Alfred Chapter , Oxford , 340 j Kennard Chapter ; Southwark Lodge of Instruction , 87 ; Leopold Lodge of Instruction , 9 ; Upper Norwood Lodge of Instruction ; Victoria Metropolitan Lodge of Instruction .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

BIRIHS . BUCHANAN . —On the itth inst ., at West Plean , near Stirling , the wife of J . Buchanan , Esq ., of a son . CLAY . —On the 19 th inst ., at Park Lodge , Muswell-hill , the wife of R . Clay , jun ., of a daughter . GUILFORD . —On the 19 th inst ., at Waldershare Park , Dover , the Countess of Guilford , of a son .

HopciiAiT . —On the 1 S 1 I 1 inst ., at Victoria-street , S . W ., the wife of T . S . Hopciaft , of a daughter . LANOFOIU ) . —On the 17 th inst ., at Egremont-place , Brighton , the wife of the Rev . R . J . Langlord , chaplain of Assensole , E . I . R ., Bengal , of a daughter . PRICE . —On the 18 th inst ., at Harringay , Hornsey , thc

wife of F . W . Price , Esq ., of a daughter . REID . —In August last , at Otaika , New Zealand , the wife of C . H . Reid , Esq ., of a son . R 0111 NS 0 N . —On the 17 th inst ., at Willesden , the wile of C . S . Robinson , of a daughter . STANLEY . —On the 16 th inst ., at Newcastle-on-Tyne , the wife of F . W . C . Stanley , Esq ., of a son .

MARRIAGE . BALFOUR—GORDON . —On the 21 st inst ., at St . Mary Abbotts , Kensington , Bro . Lord Balfour , of Burleigh , P . G . S . W . of England , to Lady Katherine Eliza Gordon , sister of the Earl of Aberdeen .

DEATHS . CAMPBELL . —On the 17 th inst ., at Barham College , Plumstead , Jean Bland , daughter of the late D . Campbell , Esq . BUSFIELD . —On the 10 th inst ., at 169 , West Derby-road , Liverpool , aged 37 , Elizabeth Hudson , wife of Bro . Joseph Busfield , tenor vocalist ( Harmonic Lodge , No .

216 ) . N ELSON . —On thc 18 th inst ., at Marlborough-hill , St . John ' s-wood , Elizabeth Anne Nelson , aged 51 . STEKDMAN . —On thc 19 th inst ., at Clarence-road ,, Clapham Park , Mrs . Leah Steedman , aged 80 . STIRLING . —On the 17 th inst ., at Peebles , Margaret , wife of John Stirling , Esq .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , Nov . 25 , 1876 .

The Installation Of The P.G.M. For Norfolk.

THE INSTALLATION OF THE P . G . M . FOR NORFOLK .

The installation of Lord Suffield , as P . G . M . for Norfolk , by our Illustrious Chief , H . R . H .

the Prince of Wales , M . W . G . M ., took place on Monday , the 20 th inst ., and a most interesting ceremony it was . We commend our report of it to our readers' notice , as we think that it deserves the perusal of all our brethren . Everything appears to have gone offmost prosperously ,

and the arrangements were admirably conceived and carried out . Our Royal Grand Master , both at the meeting for the Infirmary and at the Prov . Grand Lodge , spoke admirably and impressively , and his words would be deepl y felt by all present . We wish all prosperity to the Province of Norfolk and its noble head .

The Hervey Lodge

THE HERVEY LODGE

The W . M . of the Hervey Lodge has written us a letter , which we publish elsewhere , neither very courteous in tone nor logical in argument , and certainly not very Masonic in phraseology . We pass over , however , all the discourtesy , and something more , because , as we write for the

Craft at large , not to please any brother or bre . thren , we care little for such comments , and nothing at all for such animadversions . We have a hig her duty to fulfil , and a more Masonic purpose to carry out , than mere civil speeches , and mutual laudation , and as we are sincere both in

our utterances and honest in our statement of facts , and certainly never have professed , and do not now profess , to be " mealy mouthed , " such remarks and such a style of Masonic epistolary politeness we treat as they deserve . We can quite understand that the worth y W . M . of that

distinguished lodge is just now a little " put out , " and we make , as brother Masons , much allowance for the unwise acerbities which crop out in his somewhat remarkable letter . The W . M . of the Hervey Lodge seems to doubt whether we are competent to express an

opinion at all on such a " vexata quaestio . " If he had been a Mason as long as we have , or presided as often over a lodge , or studied as carefully the Book of Constitutions , be perhaps would think differently , and write a little more diffidencl y , and to say the truth a little more decorously . For

be it remembered that all the concern we have with the question itself is from a Masonic point of view alone . A statement appeared in a contemporary greatly affecting , in our opinion , thc credit of a well-known lodge , and the prestige of our common Order . We asked for

information and explanation when we reproduced the statement . The answer is , that the lodge had done so and so , for reasons which seemed good to the lodge , a matter with which we have nothing whatever to do . It is always a bad thing to " give reasons , " and never was this truth more

exemplified than in the reasons alleged by the W . M . of the Hervey Lodge . All that we have said was based on the simple construction and distinct utterance of the Book of Constitutions . By that valuable code of English Masonic Law , a lodge has no right to defer the payment of the

initiation fees beyond the time of initiation , and if there be delay the proposer is always answerable , according to Masonic law . It is no answer to this to say that the lodge thought differently , and preferred to make the candidate of " official " position pay instead of

the proposer . In both these points the lodge has made a great mistake , and the sooner the error is admitted the better for all concerned . We also proceeded to point out that such a case ought never to have been brought into court , for

it is in truth a reflection on the , whole Order . If any lodge is so careless as regards whom it admits , ( whether their " official" position be high or not matters nothing ) , as to require to sue them for their initiation fees , the sooner any such lodge , in the interest of Masonry , is re-

The Hervey Lodge

commended to " mend its ways , " the speedier shall we perhaps put a stop to a growing laxit y and an increasing haste of admittance , which if persevered in will ere long prove fatal to our good old Order . Now we have written , and write still , in all good feeling to the Hervey Lod ge .

We have no interests to serve , or purpose to gain , by laying down a too rigid line of duty and decorum in things Masonic , but we have a ri ght to expect that every lodge shall conform to the provisions of the Book of Constitutions , and that every W . M . shall read carefully the sections

which relate to any debateable matters . If the W . M . and our good brethren of the Hervey Lodge think that they have complied with the Book of Constitutions , ( for that is the only issue between us ) , we can only remark that their version of it is different from ours . But we are a little

inclined to hope and to think that , like a good many other people in the world , having made a mistake , they rather seek to defend what they have done , and on grounds altogether alien from the one real point of controversy . If the W . M . of the Hervey Lodge wishes to imply by

his concluding remarks that we ought not to have alluded to the subject at all , then we can only add that he utterly misconceives the use and purpose of a Masonic press , and entirely misunderstands both the status and character of the " Freemason . " We claim for ourselves , and

shall always exercise , within the bounds of moderation and truth , the right to animadvert on every incident which seems , according to our humble judgment , to militate with the recognized injunctions of the Grand Lodge , or to prejudice in any manner the refutation and interests of

Freemasonry . We believe that there is but one opinion in our entire Order as to that grave error in judgment and that entire forgetfulness of the constitutional law which led to so regrettable an action by the Hervey Lodge in a County Court .

Who Is The Party ?

WHO IS THE PARTY ?

The " Unita Cattolica , " from which a most friendly correspondent sent us an extract which we published last week , is , according to him , " esteemed to be the most ably conducted of the extreme Roman Catholic journals " in Italy , and to represent the " views of Cardinal Manning . "

( > ur correspondent adds , however , and we agree with him entirely , that " there is something very pitiable in the depths of misrepresentation to which this newspaper has descended . " Our distinguished Bro . J . C . Parkinson can well afford to laugh at the outburst of petty malignity and

perverse travesty in which the writer of that article has thought fit to indulge , both as regards Freemasonry and himself , in the " Communique" to which our attention has recently been drawn . As English Masons we are only concerned with one statement , as the

allusion to Bro . Parkinson ' s diploma , were it not so very foolish , would be most amusing . Those of us who know him are well aware of his high character , and his manly outspokenness of opinion , but we equally are assured that the charges of sympathy on Bro . Parkinson ' s part with

revolutionary or infidel opinions are as ridiculous as they are undeserved . Indeed , it is almost an insult to him to allude to such a libel . But there is , as we said before , a statement which does concern us all alike . It is this , that in 1862 an English Freemason , at the Freemasons '

Tavern , in London , expressed the following Masonic sentiments , and sulphureous opinions : — " Lucifer is the apex of the social pyramid , it is he who is the first Craftsman , the first rebel , the first martyr . We revolutionists ought , out of respect and gratitude , to display on our banner

the beloved image of the heroic insurgent who was the first to dare revolt against the tyranny of God . " This affecting extract is taken from "De Camille Storia della Setta Anti-Christiana , " vol . 11 , v . . 38 , according to the foot-note , and if so , the " Unita Cattolica" is only responsible foi

quoting it . We have in this speech , then , a striking specimen of true English Masonic eloquence before or after dinner . This passage exp lains those remarkable p hrases in the allocutions of the good old Pope , in which he unpolitely terms us " Children of the Evil One , " and our lodges