The Benevolent Elections.

the Dorsetshire brother being next with 4520 , in which were included 70 brought forward ; and the Hants and isle of Wight only a few behind with 4512 . A Middlesex brother with 44 8 9 votes , a Sussex brother with 4440 votes , and a West Yorkshire

with the same number were also elected , and will be installed annuitants as the necessary vacancies occur . The three highest unsuccessful candidates polled 435 6 ( West Yorkshire ) , 425 S ( London ) , and 4039 ( London ) , respectively , and will receive ,

the first two , each a share of the interest in thc Hervcy Memorial Fund , and t , hc third , the £ 5 g iven by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement . The next highest unsuccessful brother ( from Somerset ) obtained 3951 votes , and , in addition , there were four

who polled between 2000 and 3000 votes , and two who obtained between 1000 and 2000 , the total number of votes available being 153 , 830 , of which 3 8 , 007 were brought forward and

115 , 823 issued for this election . Of the latter , the number that passed the Scrutineers was 108 , 921 , so that there were 6902 votes unused or spoiled . For thc

WIDOWS FUND there were originally 68 candidates , and the number of vacancies as declared was 12 , including the three deferred , but only 6 3 of the former went to thc poll , of whom 26 were furnished by

London , and the others by the Provinces and Abroad , while 19 , including the three deferred , were elected , London carrying 10 cases and the Provinces nine . Two London candidates headed the poll , with 6031 and 6019 votes respectively , the higher of the

two having 4043 to the good , and the other 2207 votes . Devonshire furnished thc third successful widow , her total poll being 5 624 votes , a London applicant being fourth with 55 S 6 votes , of which 3849 were brought forward , and the North and East

Yorkshire widow fifth with 5452 votes . The Herts candidate was placed sixth with 5297 votes , and the Leicester and Rutland next with 5105 votes . No . 8 , from London , brought forward 27 6 7 votes , and increased her total to 505 1 , the

Worcestershire widow being ninth with 494 8 voles , and then two London , with 4 860 and 47 6 4 votes respectively , the second of the two having 1005 to her credit at starting . Nos . 12 and 13 were two of the three candidates

from Warwickshire , and polled 4710 and 4 6 99 votes respectively , but the latter had 406 5 already in hand at starting . Nos . 14 and 15 both hailed from London , the former bringing forward 772 and the latter 18 57 votes , and at . the close

they were found to have ; increased their totals to 4 6 3 6 and 4 619 votes respectively . No . 16 , from Essex , started with 2724 , and finished with 45 88 , while the three elected to fill the next three vacancies as they occur polled 4415 , 44 1 i . and 4407 respectively ,

the first and last being from London , and the intermediate one from Hants and the Isle of Wight . The New South Wales widow polled 4189 , including nif > from last year , and two Londoners 4035 and 3 804 votes respectively , and these will

receive the same gratuities as those awarded to the three highest unsuccessful male candidates . In addition there was another London candidate who polled over 3000 , while , irrespective of the localities they hailed from , two candidates

polled between 2000 and 3000 , and six between 1000 and 2000 . The total number of votes including 34 , 080 brought forward was 143 , 007 , but of the 108 , 927 issued for this election , only 9 8 , 231 passed thc Scrutineers , so that the number of unused and spoiled voles was 10 , 6 9 6 .

There arc two points in connection with the result of these elections which are worthy of being noticed . One is the marked success of London , and the other , that of the live Male candidates

who have been on the list for six elections , only one secured a vacancy , while none of the eight widows who wen ; similarl y circumstanced were successful .

The Mother-City Of American Freemasonry.

THE MOTHER-CITY OF AMERICAN FREEMASONRY .

Many years ago , when the late Bro . CLIFFORD P . MACCALLA , editor and , we believe , also proprietor of the Philadel phia Keystone , who was subsequently elected Grand Master of Pennsylvania , was a prominent member of the Craft in that

The Mother-City Of American Freemasonry.

jurisdiction , the question whether Philadelphia or Boston , Mass ., was the premier Masonic city in America was being everywhere warmly discussed among the brethren , especially in the Northern States . In this discussion Bro . MACCALLA took a

leading part and it was mainly through his instrumentality and thc researches which he made or caused to be made wherever there appeared to be the slightest chance of obtaining evidence that was calculated to throw additional light upon

the question , that thc tide of public opinion may be said to have become favourable to the claims of Philadelphia as the Mother City rather than to those advanced in behalf of Boston . We have neither time nor space for more than the barest outline

of the circumstances . Suffice it to say that in 1730 , THOMAS , Duke of Norfolk , who was at the time Grand Master of England , granted a deputation to DANIEL Cox as Prov . G . Master of New York , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania , and it appeared that under

the auspices of that brother sundry lodges were started in Pmladelphia , though it must be confessed that until Bro . MACCALLA took up the question , and determined to set , as far as possible , all doubts at rest , the evidence in support of such affirmation was far from

being convincing . On tbe other hand , the partisans of Boston , though they did not question the reality of thc Duke of NORFOLK ' S grant of a deputation to Cox in 1730 , contended that , as far as the constitution of lodges was concerned , it was

allowed to remain virtually a dead letter , and that it was not until HEXRV PRICE , to whom in 1733 Viscount MONTAGUE , Grand Master , granted a deputation as Prov . Grand Master for North America , appeared upon the scene that any attempt was

made to establish lodges in that country , and there noes not seem to be the slightest doubt that PRICE , by virtue of the authority thus vested in him , did constitute a Prov . Grand Lodge at Boston . When Bro . MACCALLA took up the cudgels in

behalf of Philadelphia , he set to work so resolutely and successfully as in a very short time to be in a position to prove that a St . John ' s Lodge was in active existence in Philadelphia in 1731 . The evidence he obtained was

published separately in pamphlet form , after having appeared in the pages of the Keystone , and so strongly does it seem to have impressed the Editor of " KlCXNlNG ' s Cyclopaedia of Freemasonry "—the late Bro . the Rev . A . F . A . WOODFORD , Past

G . Chaplain—that in his article in that publication on "United States of America , " he declared that the evidence thus obtained , together with the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and the Memorial Volume of the Masonic Hall in

Philadelphia as edited by Bro . C . E . MKVKR , " all most emphatically prove the right of Penn ' a to claim priority in Masonry ftr all America , " and he concluded his article by remarking " we have

but to wait for confirmatory intelligence to place it beyond contradiction that Philadelphia is the premier Masonic city of America . "

The evidence thus obtained by Bro . MACCALLA consisted firstly of various notices and advertisements printed by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN in his / 'e / tiisy / ett / ii ' ii Gazelle , but chiefly of thc Ledger of the St . John ' s Lodge , of Philadelphia , dating from

June 24 , 1731 , to June 24 , 173 8 , known by those who have studied the question as " Liber I ' ., " which , as we have said , was published separately by Bro . MACCALLA . At the annual meeting of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , on thc 27 th December ,

1 S 9 8 , the Grand Master introduced Bro . Ji'Llu . S F . SACUSE , who , as the minutes record , delivered an historical address , in the course of which , after referring to thc successful part taken by the late Bro . MACCAI . LA in the great discovery , and remarking that

the claims made by him on behalf of Philadelphia " were hotly contested by our sister Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , " announced that he was in a position lo communicate " some additional evidence confirmatory of the position so

ably taken by Brother MACC ' ALLA . " This further evidence , he went on to say , came "in the shape of original entries in the handwriting of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN , and is nothing less than his personal account with the Grand Lodge of

Pennsylvania from August , 1 734 , to August , 1737 . It also shows that there was at least one Lodge within thc Province outside Philadelp hia—this was at Lancaster . The account further offers a strong inference that our own Grand Lodge was not only the oldest and most important Masonic Body in America , but that at