Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 39 The Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution 40 Hoard of Benevolence 40 Consecration of the 'iilhury Lodge , No . 200 O 40 The Royal . Masonic Iienes * olent Institution ( Ctiiitiiiuetlj 41

C ORRESPONDENCEThe Klection of Grand Treasurer 43 The Grand Masters Lodge , No . 1 43 Rcsicsvs 43 Notes and Queries , 44 Provincial Grand Lodge of SS ' est Yorkshire 44 Masonic . Soirci * and Hall at Salford 44

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETIXOSCraft Masonry 44 Instruction 45 Royal Arch 50 Mark Masonry 50 Ancient and Accepted Kite ; 0 Red Cross of Constantine 53 Rosicrncian Societv co

Cryptic Masonry ... ' 50 Scotland ' 50 VS ' est Indies 51 The Late liro . Carl liergmanii JI Obituary V , Masonic and General Tidings 52 Lodge Meetings for Next Week ... Page 3 Coser

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THE installation of the LORD MAYOR on Monday last as the Worshipful Master of the Grand Master ' s Lodge , No . I , is an event not to be passed os * er svithout some fesv ssords of sympathetic notice . The gathering svas n vcry full one , and sve call attention lo our report elsewhere . It is a very pleasant and notesvorthy fact " per se , " that so many of thc dignitaries of thc

City Corporation are members ot our Masonic Order . We svelcomc them heartily , and rejoice to see them amongst us . Wc quite feel that their presence is in accordance with old tradition , that they should fill posts of hovtosir avsd dignity amongst us to-day , as in those olden times of a still mysterious Guild Life in citiesand provinces . Thc members of the Corporation

of the City of London form part of the oldest and most remarkable municipality now existing , a municipality svhich has alsvays discharged its important duties svith a commendable anxiety to uphold the reputation of their great City , to dispense a most gracious hospitality , and to advance ths comfort and convenience of their fcllosv citizens , as svell as to safeguard public rights and interests , and promote the svelfare of the community . Wc osve to them

much in many ways , of svhich sve should be truly sensible , for svhich svo should be truly grateful , and sve cannot but express the earnest hope that Time , svhich undermines and sveakens most earthly institutions , svill lay its destructive hand lightly on them , and that sve may sec them conserved many years , a striking outcome of free institutions , a gratifying evidence of municipal government .

WK speak with no official authority on this or any other subject , for the Freemason is a purely independent paper , but sve are inclined to think that higher (' raft honours yet asvait our esteemed and distinguished brother , tho LORI > MAYOR of London .

* « J nosv , gatherings arc many nnd installations are rife . Thc government of the Craft is passing into nesv hands , and sve can only trust that thc choice of the rulers of our lodges is neither hastily made nor governed by extraneous considerations , unworthy of the principles , adverse to thc Genius of

Freemasonry . It sometimes happens that a dominant clique or personality affects lo dictate to a lodge the selection of ils rulers , and even the choice of its members . But all such things arc incompatible svith thc true dignity and principles of Freemasonry , the interests and peace of our lodges . Merit , and merit alone , should be our test of promotion , our plea for advancement ,

Those merely ornamental members of ours svho shine in borrosved light , and are too often the excrescences , if not the drawbacks of our lodges , should be discountenanced and ignored as much as possible , and those often busy and eager quests for rank and position amongst us should be . ' opposed in every possible way . There is no more pitiable sight than to behold a

Worshipful Master who cannot do his svork , svho has to be prompted at every moment , either by an amiable Immediate Past Master , or a zealous Master of the Ceremonies j who has been too apathetic or too idle to master the little svork he has to do , even out of respect to the lodge hc presides over , o it of gratitude to those who have placed him in that much-coveted chair .

VVe do not say that circumstances may notarise in the inner history of lodges , for they do so , svhen it may be advisable to take into consideration certain extraneous considerations of fortune , rank , and social position . But , as a general rule , good , sure , true , and Masonic in every sense , from svhich there are and ought to be vcry , very fesv exceptions , thc honour and prestige

of the lodge are best upheld and advanced svhen the brother svho knows his work and does his Masonic duty most zealously , svho is earnestly affected to the Craft in all things high and honourable , is duly selected by his brethren to rule over them , and enabled to obtain that svell-earned promotion svhich , by sedulous attention and untiring energy , he has done his best to qualify

himself for . Lodges , like all little republics of men , are governed often by conflicting and contradicting emotions ; a wave of passing fancy , a "fad , " often sways them apparently svith an iron lasv , and nothing that loyal svisdom can dictate , or Masonic precedent can ins * oke , is able to turn them from the exercize of their own self-will . It is sometimes said that by our present

system the best men do not go lorsvard . We doubt the assertion . Despite some incongruities , some sveaknesses , some shortcomings , our arrangements on the svhole work svell , and . of late years there has come ovei ' all lodges , more or less , a feeling and a determination that , keeping all these 'nendly warnings before them , and making due allosvanceforlodgc exigencies , promotion should come in order , and that the absolutely best worker should

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obtain the Master's chair , assuming that he is others-vise properly qualified to fill it . As one of the great features of Freemasonry is education , educated brethren naturally command the adherence and gain the ear of their brethren , and just as nothing is more painful to thc bright Mason , the expert Mason , than to listen to our beautiful ceremonial imperfectly , listlessly ,

unfeelingly , inadequately performed , so nothing is so trying to the educated Mason as those lapses in grammar , and an impossibility of realizing the Q UEEN ' S English , svhich render after-dinner speeches sometimes a penalty and a torture to ears polite . We think it may be assumed , hosvever fairly , that the aserage ability and suitability of our lodge rulers arc higher than they

used to be 25 years ago , and that sve may safely leave it to our lodge : ; to pcrses'crc in this happy path of progressive improvement , and select those to preside osei * them svho ssill not only promote the best interests of a particular bod ) -, but prove monuments and p illars of strength lo the Craft at large . * * *

OxK of the most interesting Masonic meetings svhich have come before us , look place at Reigate , on Saturday last , svhen the 30 th anniversary of the Surrey Lodge , No . 416 , svas celebrated , as svell as the , * ji > th year of our esteemed Bro . AMIIROSP . MALL ' S , P . G . C , initiation into Freemasonry . We are pleased in being permitted to record the numerous attendance and a

most successful gathering , and to congratulate our good friend the P . G . C . on this happy commemoration of his useful and sviluable Masonic life . But above all sve arc gratified to call attention to the svords svhich follosv , as moU remarkably significative and explanatory of the true spirit of Knglish Freemasonry : "Thc svork of Masonry , it svas explained bv Past Masier CARTER

MORRISON- , the Treasurer , had been fully carried out by the lodge ; and as an instance that Masonry svas not a tham , he staled that a young surgeon , a member of the lodge , many ycars ago met with a gun accident , and as he lay on a bank al Nutlield dying , commended his svife and four children

to thc benevolence of the lodge . The sum of ^ . -jo was taken to thc svidow that night , and ^ 254 , ? svas raised and invested for her and the children , who are nosv all out in the svorld doing well . " Well done , No . 416 ! A full report is in type , .-tlid will appear next sveek .

* * * THE " idea " thrown out by our esteemed correspondent , Hro . LETOHSVORTU , suggests many very serious considerations . It constitutes a nesv departure from our most ancient regulations , and seems lo affect the whole principle of Grand Lodge Membership . It is very doubtful hosv far the

Craft at large svould relish the proposal of committing our entire legislative powers in Grand Lodge to Grand Ollicers , Masters and Past Masters , and shutting out the Wardens . We doubt the possibility of carrying such a resolution , and introducing such a very marked alteration of our most ancient customs , and as svo alsvays object to needless changes , sve cannot

see our way to approve of or support so grave an innovation in the " established order of things . " Much may be said in favour of our Wardens , historically , constitutionally , and realistically , in thc abstract and the concrete . Wc think ihe fears of overcrowding exaggerated , for , as Bro .

HAVERS svell put it , the old Mall can accommodate the normal attendance of brethren . When such gatherings become abnormal sve must cither assemble clsesvliere or have " ovcrflosv meetings . " What svas so successfully done on ihe last occasion may be advantageously repealed from time to time . « * *

WE understand that the Mastership of the London University Lodge wa offered to our worthy Bro . thc LORD MAYOR . His many avocations compelled him to decline the honour , but he has consented to be the lirst Senior Warden . Hc is a distinguished graduate of London University

Our esteemed Bro . F . A . PHILBRICK , Q . C , P . G . D ., D . Prov . G . M . Kssex , svill be the first Master , and Bro . Dr . MKADOSVS svill be thc Junior Warden . The petition for thc lodge is signed by Bros . Sir FARRAR HF . RSCIIELL , Solicitor-General ; RALPH GOODING , G . S . D . ; W . G . LEMON , P . M . ; R . P . MCCORNELL , P . M . ; W . J . SPRATLINU , Dr . A . C . MAYBURY , and others .

* WE have received the follosving communication , svhich is on all fours svith a previous leaderette of ours on the question * . — " A commission of thc Grand Orient , one of thc great Masonic bodies of France , svith svhich most of thc Continental lodges are associated , has prepared an appeal to

all jurisdictions of Freemasonry asking thc restoration of official relations betsveen the Grand Orient and all Frccmasonries throughout the svorld . Thc one question svhich has for a number of years separated thc Grand Orient from other jurisdictions is the absence in their rite of all recognition of Deity ; the central conception of all other rites , a Divine Architect of the

Universe , is ignored by the Grand Orient . The address svhich the commission has drasvn up relies upon a common sentiment of fraternity as the one bond of union , and still ignores the main point of difference svith other Masonic bodies . It is a matter of absolute certainty that no such appeal will rcceis'c any support amongst Masons in England , America , and the Colonies . "