Past Masters.

In Scotland the Past Master has merely an honorary title , and a certain rank accorded to him in his lodge ; he is not , in

virtue of his degree and of the office of Right Worshipful Master which he has held , a member of the Grand Lodge of Scotland . It would be a suitable reward for work

actually done and service thereby rendered to the Craft that Scottish Past Mastersreally having ruled a lodge for twelve months as such—should be received as members of the Grand Lodge of Scotland ,

according to the rule adopted in England . More important , however , is the consideration of the wrong done to real Past Masters in Scotland by the exaltation of brethren who have never been Right Worshipful

Masters of lodges , and consequently arrived to the dignity of Past Master . The blame lies entirely with the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland , which , I am led to believe , has never been recognised by the

Grand Lodge of England , nor , indeed , by the Grand Lodge of Scotland . There appears , however , to be no good reason for the conferring of this degree ; it is derogatory to the honour of the real

working and serving Past Masters , and it is inconsistent with that perfect truthfulness which ought to characterise everything Masonic . The very title "Past Master" has an evident signification , and when it is

conferred upon one who has never been Right Worshipful Master of a Craft lodge , it bears the stamp of falsehood . How can any brother be proud of a dignity thus acquired and retained ? How do the brethren of

the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland deem themselves entitled to bestow it ? What would be thought of

conferring the title of Master Mason upon one who had never passed through the inferior degrees of Apprentice and Fellow Craft .

The Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland cannot too soon relinquish the practice of conferring the degree , or rather title , of Past Master , since it is held by other countries that it is not necessary

to be a Past Master before being exalted to the Royal Arch . The real Past Masters of Craft lodges under Scottish Constitution would then hold their own proper place ; they would be suitably received under the

English Constitution , and not be excluded and prohibited , as they are at present , from sitting at a Board of Installed Masters in an English lodge . The present title of Past Master under the Scottish

Constitution , whether he be made one under the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland , or if he may have acquired it from being installed as a Right Worshipful Master , and acquired the title of Past Master

through having served his regular term of office , in reality gives him no stains or privilege under the English Constitutiona mere empty name , but no advantages .

The sooner the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland takes this matter into consideration the better for real Past Masters , that they may rank equally with the Past Masters of their sister country .

Freemasonry And Politics.

FREEMASONRY AND POLITICS .

We copy the following article from our esteemed contemporary the Daily Naos , of the 14 th inst : — Freemasonry , let us concede to its apologists needs no apology for its existence , or explanation of its success , in a country like ours , devoted * o humanitarian ideas , and proud of its enlightened

toleration and its cosmopolitan charity . If wc may trust the fervent assertions of the Brotherhood , it is older than all the churches , completer in its catholicity , more mysterious in its origin , humaner in its influences and effects upon society , and if disfigured , as all sublunary institutions must be , by some im-

Freemasonry And Politics.

perfections and some absurdities , has remained constant and faithful to the perfect simplicity of its law of kindness and its faith in the moral unity of mankind . There may be myths , the adepts tell us , in Masonic history , as there are in the history of more exclusive and particular religions . But

these myths , whatever they may be , must , it is urged , be harmless and beneficient , since they have never provoked a heresy or countenanced a crime against the peace and order of societies and states , or the happiness of the human family . The original connection between the operative builder ' s craft and

the Masonry whose good works are not built with hands , may be wrapt in obscurity to the profane . But the vitality of an institution must be indestructible which makes a certain hand-grip intelligible to the initiated from the remotest East to the farthest West , superseding , or rather embracing in one

common bond , all diversities of creed , colour , race , and language , all politics , all power of worship , all conditions and degrees of civilisation . Corruptions , it is admitted , very probably may have crept in ; and Freemasonry is no more free from indifference , infidelity , and what is called worldliness , than the

purest ecclesiastical foundation . Nor is it any depreciation , say its defenders , of the essential virtue of the Order to say that it has the faculty of adapting itself to national idiosyncracies , and even to local usages and characteristics . This is only saying in other words that nothing that pertains to any

portion of humanity is alien to its spirit and its doctrine . Indeed , the " profane , " who are disposed to mock at the convivialities of the Brotherhood , at the apparent tendency of their labour to degenerate into refreshment , at the portentous nature of secrets which sit as lightly upon the Pharisees as on

the publicans and sinners who partake in the celebrations , are fain to confess that no man was ever the worse for being a Mason if many are no better for the badge , and that , as M . Thiers said of the Republic , it has the evident merit of being the institution of all others which divides mankind the least .

We shall not discuss or dispute these pleas ; though , remembering them , it is amusing to find an eminent English brother , such as Lord Carnarvon , discoursing in the true English vein upon Freemasonry , and affirming before a fraternal audience in Lancashire that " if there was one corner in the

whole habitable globe where Masonry had taken deep and firm root , he claimed that part for England ; and if there was one part of England where Masonry had taken deeper root than elsewhere , he thought they might claim it for Lancashire . " This is , we were going to say , a truly

British way of looking at an Institution which claims to be nothing if not universal , and which , as the same speaker observed , " in every part of the world had gone on spreading . " Perhaps we ought to say , a truly English form of speech , for our Scottish fellow-countrymen would hardly be disposed to

accept the superiority of Lancashire or of England in this respect . Lord Carnarvon probably meant to include all Great Britain when he added the veryjustifiablc interpretation of the phrase that , as " about three hundred years ago it had been said by one of the wisest men of the time that England was

the place above all others where the love of truth prevailed in conjunction with reverence for that which was old , "it was natural for a truth-loving and reverential and practical nation such as ours to be foremost in the cultivation of Masonic precepts . Lord Carnarvon laments that " in other countries

Masonry unfortunately had too often lent herself to other societies , who had taken advantage of her , and under the shadow of her great name had dared to foist upon society their own miserable doctrines and theories . " There is , wc dare say , some justification for this charge ; but is there a single

institution , a devout Mason may fairly ask , which has preserved throughout the whole course of its existence an undisturbed exemption from abusive and eccentric manifestations ? Freemasonry , for all its catholicity and simplicity of doctrine , has not escaped the accidents of time , place , and the

contact of surrounding associations . In some continental countries its watchwords have become revolutionary , watchwords against tyranny in Church or State , against sacerdotal , or monarchial , or aristocratic oppressions . The Papacy has anathematised it as bitterly as though it were a rival

Church , and has even gone so far as to refuse the sacraments to its adepts as conspirators against the paramount authority of the altar . In other continental countries , where the revolution is still in the aggressive stage , liberty , equality , and fraternity have sought a refuge in the lodges of the Ordcr , and have likened themselves to the first Christian

martyrs who sought a refuge from persecution in the Catacombs . After all , Freemasonry is as little to be blamed for its occasional revolutionary tendencies as the Church of England for the socialism which some ingenious English Tories and clergymen , in unconscious emulation of some foreign Republicans , not unsuccessfully tried to engraft upon it a few years ago . And if the spread of

Freemasonry And Politics.

Freemasonry , like more powerful and sacred influences , has not yet made war impossible , Lord Carnarvon no doubt has good reason for believing that it has at length mitigated its miseries and alleviated its calamities .

Prov. Grand Lodge Of Norfolk.

PROV . GRAND LODGE OF NORFOLK .

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Norfolk held its annual meeting in the Masonic Hall , Norwich , on Tuesday , 15 th inst . There was a large gathering of members of the Craft from different parts of the county , the only lodge unrepresented being the Philanthropic , Lynn . The

following were among those who attended the Grand Lodge , the Cathedral service , and the banquet : —Dep . Prov . Grand Master the Hon . F . Walpole ; Bros . J . B Pitt , H . J . Mason , A . M . F . Morgan , Kennett , Gilman , XV . Bullard , J . W . Taylor ( sen . and jun . ) , P . Soman , J . Barwell ,

H . Youngman , C . L . Nursey , T . Drinkwater , G . Brittain , J . Hotblack , R . Kiddell , A . R . Miller , F . C . Chatfield , B . L . Nockall , C . H . Capon , G . Baxter , J . A . Gore , J . Dunsford , J . Shepherd Smith , S . Matthews , Jeary , W . A . Crisp , G . E . Simpson , Joseph Marshall , Gissing

Ives , H . E . Barwell , J . S . Benest , E . H . Betts , F . A . Mann , George Thirkettle , B . W . Harcourt , J . Penrice , W . Murrell , Joshua Morse , Robert Gunn , C . E . Bignold , XV . Macdonald , R . Gidney , Gooch , Rev . J . C . Rust , XV . XV . Stanley , R . Kent , H . Thouless , H . Bennett , C .

Thorn , J . Campling , W . Hood , and F . Garnham , Norwich ; G . B . Mickleburgh , E . Howes , A . C . Stesvard , D . R . Fowler , J . Lorimer , A . Waters . J . Tomlinson , T . M . Baker , C . Diver , XV . Cattermoul , W . D . Palmer , John Franklin , and W . Little , Yarmouth ; G . W . F . Loftus , XV . Standley ,

John Haze , E . Beeston , J . Plowman , and H . Hipperson , Wymondham ; Rev . H . Evans Lombe , Melton ; Arthur Palmer , Robert Cates , and J . W . Smith , Fakenham ; Rev . J . C . Fardell , Banham ; G . O . Lyus , S . Pike , and J .

Calver , Harleston ; E . Barwell , Dereham ; G . XV . Pretty , Fressingfield ; E . White and J . Gambling , North Walsham ; J . E . Bane , Blofield ; R . Whitwell , Lynn ; XV . J . U . Copeman , Blackheath ; J . Commins , Weymouth ; L . J . Waddington , London : & c .

1 he Grand Lodge was opened at " hi gh twelve " by the Prov . Deputy Grand Master , the Hon . F . Walpole , ALP ., in a very impressive manner , the ceremonial part reflecting great credit on the various officers for their efficiency ,

the Grand Director of Ceremonies ( Bro . H . J . Mason ) being particularly active . The proceedings were of a purely technical character , and concluded with grants of money to various Masonic institutions , and to widows and poorer brethren .

The following brethren were duly appointed to the several offices in the Prov . G . Lodge : — B . Bond Cabbell , F . R . S . ... P . G . Master Hon F . Walpole P . D . G . Master Rev . E . Lombe P . G . Senior Warden Arthur Palmer P . G . Junior Warden

M . Merrick Bircham ... P . G . Registrar Rev . J . C . Rust P . G . Chaplain A . M . F . Morgan P . G . Secretary John Barwell , sen P . G . Treasurer Harold Youngman P . G . Supt . of Works Joseph Marshall P . G . Senior Deacon Whitwell P . G . Junior Deacon

H . J . Mason P . G . Dir . of Ccrs . Pole P . G . A . Dir . of Ccrs . B . L . Nockall P . G . Pursuivant Brittain P . G . Organist Charles Thorn P . G . Sword Bearer George Chamberlin ) Robert Kiddle f

Chatfield ... ' . ' .: ;;;> I-G . Stewards . Plumstead )

The above proceedings terminated about halfpast one o ' clock , and the brethren dispersed until shortly before three , when they re-assembled in the Grammar School , and having robed themselves in Masonic garb , went , with their banners , in procession ( marshalled by Bro . Mason ) to the

Cathedral , where , as they entered the west door , the " Hallelujah Chorus " was played in a masterly manner by Bro . F . Mann , who presided at the organ during the service . The anthems were most beautifull y sang—the solos by Bros . Minns , Thouless , and Smith , and two clever , pupils of Dr . Buck , There was a very large