The Progress Of English Freemasonry.

THE PROGRESS OF ENGLISH FREEMASONRY .

The fact that the Berkhampstead Lodge , which rinks no higher on the roll of Uniled Grand Lodge than No . 504 , should only h ive celebrated the Jubilee or 50 th Anniversary of its constitution early in ihe p-esent month , suggests some curious reflections as to the precise value we are to attach to the meaning of that " progress " which has been depicted in such glowing

colours by nearly every writer on Masonic history at almost every s * age in the career of our Society from the year 1717 , when the premier Grand I . odge of the world was constituted , to within the last 20 or 30 ) ears . B J it said to the honour of those brethren who have latterly devoted themselves to the study of this most important branch of Masonic literature , that they have

recognised most fully the responsibilities they incur on assuming the role of historians . Their statements of fact may not be invariably accurate , nor are their statements of opinion always entirely free from bias , but in both these respects , as well as by reason of their unwillingness to adopt other people's statementsuntil they have first critically inquired into all the circumstances , they

are incomparably superior to their predi cessors . What they have written is in the main trustworthy ; their facts are derived from the records of lodges and Grand Lodge , and their opinions are almost invariably supported by evidence which , in the ejes of the average critic , may be set down as conclusive . Their predecessors , however , appear to have troubled tnemselves

but little 1- bout records or evidence . They adopted each other ' s statements without scruple or diffidence-without scruple , knowing well they must thereby escape the responsibilities of originating them ; and without diffidence , from the great reliance they placed in those dajs upon the ignorance of their reader s . Hence , as we have said , at almost every stage in the career

of Masonry , weare confronted by the statement , that " du'ing th ' s p-rioi , " or for the sake of variety , " under the auspices , " or , '' during the Grand Mastership" of th ' s or that "d ' stinguished nobleman , " the Craft . made marvellous progress , as shown by the establishment of new lodges in Timbuc 03 , the

Sahara , and Madagascar , or the issue of Deputations to sundry brethren to act as Prov . Grad Masters in Patagonia , Greenland , and elsewhere . In these days , we are a trifle more curious about details , and thanks to the careful and conscientious labours of such man as Bros . HUGHAN and GOULD ,

the late Bro . the Rev . A . F . A . WOODFORD , Bro . J LANE , and others , much of the mystery in which Masonic history his been so long enveloped has been , or is in a fair way of being , dissipated . But though much of the progress on which former historians were pleased to dilate existed principally in their imagination , we must not go to the other

extreme of assuming that none was made , that it was not a very genuine progress—though in a different sense from what these writers indicated—or that it is adequately represented by the present enumeration of our lodges . It would be altogether erroneous to suppose that because four-fifths of the lodges now apparently on the roll of the Grand Lodge of England have

been constituted during the last 50 years , the increase in the development of English Masonry has been chiefly confined to that period . If we refer to Bro . Lane's' * Masonic Records " and Grand Lodge Calendar we sba'l find that about 4000 lodges have been constituted . since 1717 , of which rather more than 2000 remain on the roll . But not all the other 2000 have

ceased to exist . At the time of the Union of the " Ancient" and " Modern " Societies in 1813—and we need not go further back for our present purposethere were on the rolls of the two Grand Lodges about moo lodges , and of these a considerable number were extinct , while others had transferred their allegiance to other Grand Lodges . Hence when , as a consequence of that

Union , the two rolls were amalgamated together and bscameonc , the number of lod ges under United Grand Lodge was 647 , with the Grand Stewards ' Lodge at the head of thc roll but without a number . Between 1814 and 1832 , this number was extended to 865 , when a fresh enumeration of the lod ges was adopted , and the several gaps that had occurred in the interval

having been closed up , No . 865 straightway became No . 594 . In the course of the next 31 years as many as 682 fresh lodges were warranted , and the roll extended from 594 to 1276 ; but in 1863 a further closing up of the roll was authorised , and No . 1276 was transformed into No . 974 . Since then the rate of progress has been still more remarkable , and the Agenda

paper for the Ouarterly Communication of Grand Lodge in December last showed that the latest warrant granted by the M . W . Grand Master for the constitution of a new lodge was numbered 2538 . Thus , in the 31 years lhat have elapsed since the closing up and re-numbering of the lodges

ln ' 86 . 3 i there have been granted no less than 1564 new warrants , and the work of constituting additional lodges is still proceeding , as will have been seen from our report last week of the consecration of the Ember Lodge , No . 2 S 4 o , East Molesey , on the nth instant . But , though at the December C ommunication there were nominally on the roll 2538 lodges , the actual

The Progress Of English Freemasonry.

number is much smaller , Grand Lodge Calendar stating it at 20 S 6 , which is prcbibly in excess of the true number , there bsing several lodges in New Zealand which have seceded from our Constitution , but luve not yet been formally written off the books of Grand Lodge . There are , then , some 2000 lodges remaining out of the 4000 , more or fewer , which have been

constituted since the year 1717 , when the " Four Old Lodges " met and consiituted thermelves the Grand Lodge of England , with Bro . ANTHONY SAVER , Gentleman , as its Grand Master ; and the question naturally arists— " What has become cf the o . her 2000 lodges 1 " Well , many of them have died a natural d-iath , the old members died or retired , and the new members that

were necessary to keep the lodge in working condition came not . But the greater number only disappeared from the roll of our Grand Lodge to reappear on those of other Grand Lodges , and the bulk of these are still English lodges , c i her to this extent—that they steadfastly maintain the old traditions as preserved and handed on by the Grand Lodge of England , as do the

sen or lodges in the ole ' er jurisdictions in the U . iited States of North America ; or they have seceded from us in order to constitute themselves , together with their Irish and Scotch neighbour lodges , into Grand Lodges in other parts of the British Empire than the United Kingdom . Such . T-e the senior lodges on the respective rolls of the Grand Lodgesjof Canada ( Province of O . ilario ) ,

Quebec , Nova Scotia , kc , in North America ; and those which h * ve still more recently seceded and founded the Grand Lodges of South Australia , New South Wales . Victoria , Tasmania , and the irregular Grand Lodge of New Zealand . Those who desire to learn about these seceded lodges should consult the Appendix to Bro . LANE ' " Masonic Records , " and our

Grand Lodge Calendar for the current year . Thus while a considerable part of that progress in English Masonry , about which our early historians were wont to dilate in such gushing language , turns out to be the merest

moons ! ine ; there has always been a very real progress—as indicated by the " ctdsing up of the lists both before and since the Union—about which they have said but I-ttle or nothing , for the reason , perhaps , that to trace former English lodges into other jurisdictions would have been too laborious a task .

The Craft In Pennsylvania.

THE CRAFT IN PENNSYLVANIA .

This is one of those imporlant jurisdictions in the United States which deiive their origin from the Grai d Lodge of England , and it is indeed most gratifying to find that the old traditions and ceremonial observances of the Craft are as scrupulously respected as they are in the jurisdiction of our own Grand Lodge . In some respects , indeed , they are even more strict than we

are , while in others they adhere to the old arrangements for the regulation of thtir Grand Lodge with a tenacity which does them infinite credit . Thus , their Grand Lodge and Grand Master are " Right Worshipful" —not " Most Worshipful "—as they were in the days of the " Ancient " Grand Lodge , from which they are immediately , though not originally ,

descended . Their Ouarterly Communications are held in March , June , Sep ' ember , and December , as ours are , while they still reserve the Annual Communication on St . John the Evangelist ' s Day ( the 27 th December ) for the

installation and appointment of their new Grand Officers for the ensuing year . The Philadelphia Keystone contains a full account of the proceedings at this important gathering on St . John ' s Day in December last , when Bro . MATTHIAS H . HENDERSON was installed R . W . Grand Master in succession

to Bro . MICHAEL ARNOLD , and both these distinguished brethren delivered elaborate addresses , the former describing the principal events of the past year , and the latter indicating generally the lines of conduct he should pursue in his endeavours to maintain and promote the welfare of the Craft in the jurisdiction he had been chosen to preside over . The matter of both these

addresses is in greater part of purely local interest , but there are one or two questions touched upon in Bro . ARNOLD ' , to which at some time or other we may feel ourselves called upon to refer . In the same number of the same journal will be found a full account of the Annual convocation on the same day of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania , and

the installation of Comp . EZRA S . BARTLETT as M . E . Grand High Priest , in succession to Comp . EDGAR A . TENNIS , and again both the outgoing and incoming Grand First Principals delivered elaborate addresses , in which Comp . TENNIS reviewed the events of the past year , and Comp . BARTLETT spoke in hopeful terms of the new year . In addition to these

two accounts the Keystone of the same date , and in its issue of the following week , records the proceedings on New Year ' s Day of the gathering at the Masonic Home of Pennsylvania , which is located in North Broad-street , Philadelphia . This gathering is known as " Donation Day , " and is , in fact , the annual Festival in aid of this newly-organised . Masonic Charity . There was , as i . s usual on these occasions , a large attendance of the