The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

that many who can well afford to subscribe seem to ignore their bounden obligation in this respect , and leave the burden upon the shoulders of a few . If the Israelites of old gave a tithe for the service of the altar ,

surely every English Mason in modern days ought to give his guinea , or his crown , annually to the Masonic Institutions . We shall not rest satisfied until we shall have

pressed this truth home to the hearts of every Mason in England , so that none may p lead ignorance as an excuse for so palpable a dereliction from the path of duty .

Lodge Of Benevolence.

LODGE OF BENEVOLENCE .

The monthly meeting of the Lodge of Benevolence was held at Freemasons' Hall , on Wednesday , the 24 th inst . Bro . James Brett , P . G . Pursuivant , Junior Vice-President , was in the chair , supported by Bros . J . Savage , P . G . D ., as

S . W . ; H . Dicketts , P . M . 25 , as J . W . ; J . Smith , P . G . P . ; T- Coutts , G . P . ; J . Boyd , A . G . P . ; F . Walters , H . Garrod , J . W . Halsey , J . R . Sheen , C . A . Cottebrune , P . Kirke , J . Stevens , and several other brethren .

Eight grants , standing over from the last meeting for confirmation , were duly confirmed , after which the following sums were voted to various petitioners : Bros . E . S . S ., Lodge 141 ,

^ , 20 ; 1 . C ., 16 9 , ^ 20 ; J . B ., 12 47 , . £ 20 ; R . T . P ., 7 , ^ 20 ; J . R . ( in Ireland ) , £ , 0 ¦ W . G ., 546 , £$ . ; W . H ., 414 , £ s i J- M . T ., late 39 s , £ 5 . The widows of A . W ., Lodge i 5 i > £ ™ ° ; J- R . W ., 720 , £ 50 ; T . W ., 872 , ^ 20 ; B . W ., 164 , , £ 20 ; W . P ., 200 , ^ 20 . [ Making a total sum of ^ 315 .

The Dilkites.

THE DILKITES .

"The Dilke demonstration is to take place in the large hall of the Freemasons' Tavern on the evening of Tuesday , the 30 th inst . "—Daily papers . We are authorized to state that the Directors of the Freemasons' Tavern Company have declined to allow the use of their hall for the

proposed meeting , and we are sure that their refusal will meet with the unanimous approval of the Craft . The following letter on the subject has appeared in the Echo . ¦ —

THE FRF . EDOM 01 ' SPEECH DEMONSTRATION . To the Editor of the Echo . SIR , —As you have stated in yotir columns " that the Freemasons' Hall has been refused for the use of the ' Freedom of Speech Demonstration Committee , '" perhaps you will allow me space in

them to explain that there has been no action on the part of our Committee to justify the breach of contract on the part of the Freemasons' Hall management . In accordance with my instructions , I waited , with a sub-committee , on Saturday afternoonat

, the Freemasons' Hall to tender the balance of the amount for hire of it . However , the money was declined , the use of the hall refused , and I was referred to the solicitor in whose hands they have placed the matter . Of course we have no alternative but to place our case in legal hands .

When we first waited on the managers to know if the hall could be had , and , again , when we called to pay the required deposit , ^ 5 , we explained fully the objects of our meeting , which were— " To uphold the right of free speech , and to express our determination not to allow it to be violated , as it

was at Bolton , Reading , and elsewhere , and to protest against the supineness of the authorities in not affording due protection to the public when meeting to discuss constitutional subjects . " To this the manager replied , " I have let the hall for more critical subjects . " We can but infer , then

, from this sudden denial , that influences have been at work other than those openly expressed . If this is so , and our opponents think to stifle free discussion by preventing our having the use of the large halls of the metropolis to assemble in , I can assure them that they underrate the earnestness of

the supporters of "Free Speech , " and that on Tuesday evening , when the executive committee meet , such steps will be taken as will make the demonstration more overwhelming from the opposition we have received . —I am , Sir , & c ., H . SPENCER , Hon . Sec , The Black Swan , Ryder's-court . Jan . 22 .

Freemasonry In The United States.

FREEMASONRY IN THE UNITED STATES .

BRO . BRENNAN'S GENERAL REGISTER OF FREEMASONRY .

Few Masons in this country have correct ideas of the progress of the Craft in Amercia . It is simply astonishing . Before the third decade of the last century there was not a

lodge of Freemasons meeting in all America . At the present time there are about 8000 lodges and half a million of subscribing members in the United States alone !

Brother Brcnnan has compiled a careful register of all the lodges and Grand Lodges of Freemasons in North America , and after a careful examination of the work , we pronounce it to be a most useful and valuable

publication . In order to afford some information to the English Masonic student , we will append the names of the Grand Lodges referred to by Bro . Brcnnan , with a

few particulars , and conclude by recommending all interested in the subject to procure copies for themselves ( of Bro . Geo . Kenning ) , in order to realise the extent of Order .

Greatest number of Members in any one

Grand Lodges . Lodges . Members . Lodge . Alabama 228 10 , 985 159 Arkansas 262 9 , 324 154 California 17 S 9 , 781 429 Connecticut ... 103 14 , 072 68 S Georgia 272 14 , 100 20 5 Illinois 629 36 )^ 50 365 Indiana 437 23 , 308 248 Iowa 284 12 , 548 165 Kentucky 413 20 , 33 s 204 Louisiana 148 7 , 3 ° 7 212 Maine 159 14 , 820 3 62 Massachusetts ... 182 20 , 253 343 Michigan 585 22 , 172 393 Missouri 3 S 5 ' 8 , 493 215 Mississippi ... 278 11 , 254 I 2 9 New Jersey ... 11 S 9 , 16 4 260 New York ... 656 77 , 0 / 9 ... 561 North Carolina ... 199 11 , 109 I 2 7 Ohio 403 24 , 087 264 Pennsylvania ... 315 33 , 228 411 South Carolina ... 1 4 6 6 , 200 126 Tennessee ... 33 S IS , 6 OI 220 Texas 263 11 , 501 179 Virginia 173 8 , 555 215 Wisconsin ... 160 8 , 944 222 Canada 230 9 , 924 142

24 Grand Lodges with less than 100 lodges in each ... S 7 6 # 55 , 120 518 , 58 7 Wc could write for some time , if it were

necessary , from the facts presented in the above work , but must make the foregoing suffice . To render the little book complete , the years when the lodges were constituted should have been given .

W . J . HUG 11 AX . * Approximate .

Valuable Work On The Ancient Constitutions Of The Freemasons

VALUABLE WORK on the ANCIENT CONSTITUTIONS of the FREEMASONS

Bro . W . J . Hughan , of Truro , Cornwall , is now preparing for the press a work to be entitled , " The old Charges of British Freemasons . '' The celebrated manuscript belonging to the timeimmemorial Lodge of Antiquity , of r 6 S 6 , will be published , having been carefully transcribed

especially for Bro . Hughan ' s work , and a facsimile page will form the frontispiece . This MS . has not hitherto been published , and much interest centres in this document . Other MSS . will also be inserted , and a careful resume of all the known MSS ., or Constitutions , will form the first part of this important book .

The work , we understand , will be dedicated ( by permission ) to the Marquis of Ripon , K . G ., M . W . G . M . As only a limited number will be issued , brethren should apply at once to the author for copies , which will be sold at Jive shillings each .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

—?—The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed bj Correspondents .

FREEMASONRY AXD ISRAELITISM . ( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , — I feel greatly indebted to Bro . " W . E . M ., 766 , " for his suggestion in page 87 of THE FREEMASON , as to

the desirability of a resume of the articles on " Freemasonry and Israelitism , " and , especially , for his generous offer to supply such a resume , if out of my power to undertake it . I feel , with him , that it would greatly add to the value of

the papers , and I had commenced it ; but the want of sight , and the pain which writing gives me , compelled me to put it aside , and I fear I shall not be able to resume it . If my Brother " W . E . N . " will therefore kindly undertake it , I

am sure it will be well done , and be very useful to all who may desire to prosecute the interesting inquiry which I have opened , but very imperfectly handled , and he will confer a great obligation on me , personally . As Brother Kenning

is about to publish the papers , after the necessary revision , in the form of a book , I shall ask Brother " W . E . N . ' s " permission to reprint his addition to them , I , of course , acknowledging its authorship .

On the situation of Bethel ; upon which our brother offers some remarks , I quite concur with him , in placing it in Ephraim , and I doubt very much whether there was a city bearing the same name in the tribe of Benjamin , although

most biblical writers and map-makers place one there , being , I presume , led thereto by Joshua xviii . n-13 , where it is said that the border of the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin went over from the wilderness of

Bethaven towards Luz ( which is Bethel ) . But , surely , going Awards it does not imply that Bethel was included in Benjamin ' s lot , and I do not remember any mention being made of a Bethel there . At all events , we know that

there was a Bethel 111 Ephraim , and that Jereboam ' s idols were set up and worshipped there ; as it is also plain from 2 Kings xxiii . 15 , & c , that it was in this Bethel of Ephraim that Josiah broke down the idolatrous altars . So far

" \ V . E . N . and I agree . Nor am I of those who contend that all the Israelites were carried away by the Assyrian conquerors . As I put it in one of my papers , the carrying away was complete as to the kingdom of Israel . The

great bulk of the nation , not the mere flower of the people , was deported , and Israel ceased to be a nation . That the inhabitants of the land , though including the remnants of Israel and the peoples brought from the North by the

Assyrians , were comparatively few , is , I think , attested , not only by the descriptions we have of the desolation of the land , and the irruptions into it of the wild beasts , but also by the circumstance that Josiah was permitted ,

apparently unmolested , to make an irruption into the most important part of the country , and to destroy the effigies of idolatrous worship . All this , however , is quite consistent with the assumption that a few Israelites—a

remnantwere left behind ,, or , having escaped from the Assyrians into Judah , or elsewhere , afterwards returned into their own country , and , mixing witli the strangers from the North , subsequently formed the people known as Samaritans .

Brother " W . E . N . " formerly suggested the difficult }' , if not the impossibility , of the Assyrian conqueror carrying away so large a number of people , men , women , and children , as I have suggested . But , not to insist upon what

I said in my reply , I may observe that there seems to have been a caravan route from the Euphrates to 'lyre , even in the time of

Solomon , as lie possessed Tiphsah on the Euphrates , and built , or fortified , Tadmor , the Palmyra ot later days , and had certain " store cities" in Hamath , which lay to the north of Lebanon . WILLIAM CARPENTER .