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NOW READY , Price 9 s . Each . VOL | T & 2 MASONIC * " MAGAZINE 198 , FLEET-STREET , LONDON .

Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar.

COSMOPOLITAN MASONIC CALENDAR .

W . Masters and Secretaries are earnestly requested to forward to the publisher , at the Offices , 198 , Fleet-street , E . C ., particulars of the place , days , and months of meeting of their respective lodges , chapters , and other Masonic bodies , for insertion in the issue of the Calendar for 1877 .

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IMPORTANT NOTICE .

COLONIAL and F OREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month .

It is very necessary for our readers to advise us of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen-page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / - P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the chief office , London .

New Postal Rates.

NEW POSTAL RATES .

Owing to a reduction in the Postal Kates , publisner now enabled to send the " Freemason " to the following parts abroad for One Year for Twelve Shillings ( payable in

advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfoundland , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , United States of America . & c .

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . For terms , position , & c , apply to

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

Bro . Yarker , on Hermeticism , in our next , and we will send him a proof . The following reports , & c , stand over : —Domatic Lodge , 177 ; Lewis Lodge , 1185 ; Lodge Fortitude , Lancaster , 281 ; Warren Lodge , Seacombe , 1276 ; Hemming Lodge , Hampton , 1512 ; Prov . G . Lodge of Mark Masters

of Lancashire ; Macdonald Lodge of Mark Masters , 104 ; Era Mark Lodge , 176 ; Whitwell Mark Lodge , Maryport , IJ 7 ; Windsor Castle Chapter , 771 . Friendship Chapter , Great Yarmouth , in our next , arrived too late . " Freemasonry in Germany , " in our next .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 25 . 6 d for announcements , not exceed , ing four lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . ALABASTER . —On August 28 th , at Amoy , China , the wife of C . Alabaster , H . B . M . ' s Consul , of a son . GODWIN . —On the 23 rd inst ., at Ladbrokc-grove , the wife of H . Godwin , of a son . WILKINSON . —On the 19 th inst ., at Belgrave-road , the wife of W . L . Wilkinson , of a daughter . WOODCOCK . —On the 19 th inst ., at Auckland-hill , Lower Norwood , the wife of W . II . Woodcock , of a son .

DEATHS . BARTER . —On the 3 rd ult ., near Simla , East India , Richard Travers Barter , sub-lieut . 73 rd Regt ., in his 21 st year . BEI . UAM . —On the 20 th inst ., at Banyers , Royston , Cambridgeshire , Edward Beldam , Esq ., J . P ., aged 65 . Ctuv / siiAw . —On the 18 th inst ., Simon Crawshaw , of Dewsbury , in his 72 nd year .

IJOBDON . —un me 9 th ., , Devon , nos , Gordon , Esq ., aged 59 . H OLKEK . —On Aug . 4 , at Wallamlool , Albury , N . S . W ., Wilson , son of the late S . Holker , Esq . KERSHAW . —On the 17 th ins ! ., at Bromley , Kent , John Evans Kershaw , Esq .

IUNO . —un the 20111 inst ., at Loughborough l'arK , , T . B . King , aged 35 . LATHAM . —On the 17 th inst ., at Erith , Henry Turner Latham , aged 68 . LQCKWOOD . —On the 20 th inst ,, Bro . the Rev . E . J . Lockwood , aged 78 .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , OCT . 28 , 1876 .

Father Foy's Last Attack On Freemasonry.

FATHER FOY'S LAST ATTACK ON FREEMASONRY .

Father Foy is a Roman Catholic preacher of some celebrity , it seems , who has lately been enlightening and astounding the pious Roman Catholics at Hastings with his revelations respecting secret societies in general and Freemasonry in particular . He has , we believe , before

addressed his co-religionists on the same topic , but we must say that in his last oration , or whatever you like to term it , the reverend Father has excelled himself , if that be possible . To what particular Order the reverend orator belongs we are not told , and we do not know , but we

should not be very much astonished to hear , that Father Foy is a stout and zealous affiliate of the Jesuit confraternity of Ignatius Loyala . So remarkable are his long addresses , that we can merely glance at them , as it were , to-day , but they will be uublished " in extenso " in the "Masonic

Magazines" for December and January , and we recommend our many readers to peruse them carefully there . This kind assailant of Freemasonry objecis to its " secrecy . " Well , that is an " oft-told tale , " and we cannot afford time or space to revert to it

it now . Suffice it to say , that at the very time Father Foy denounced a society because it is secret , he forgets the great secret Jesuit Association , and he is utterly oblivious of the early history of Christianity itself , and the famous " Disciplina Arcani . '" A secret society is only

objectionable when forbidden by the laws of the land , as many very harmless societies , whether benevolent or social , like to throw around their gatherings the harmless conditions of secrecy and mystery . And then Father Foy goes on to inform his hearers of the real cause of Lord

Ripon ' s resignation of the Grand Mastership of English Freemasons . It seems that our former noble and constitutional ruler was so alarmed by the aims of the secret societies of Europe , and especially of the Freemasons—that very Order over which in England he presided so

happilythat he determined not only to become a Roman Catholic , but to disavow Freemasonry . We utterly disbelieve Father Foy , and we fancy he speaks with no authority on the subject . As we understand the matter , and we are open to correction , our late Grand Master ,

finding that he was about to join the Roman Catholic Communion , felt that after the Papal allocutions he could not consistently remain the chief of English Freemasonry as a Roman Catholic , and therefore , though with deep personal regret , severed his connection with a

fraternity to which he could not , in his opinion , any longer fitly or conscientiousl y belong . But that , our readers will see , is a very " different position of affairs" indeed from renouncing Freemasonry because , as Father Foy tells his confiding hearers , it was a secret society , with

dangerous aims and revolutionary tendencies . No one knew better the real tone and temper , the professions and practice of English Freemasonry , than did Lord Ripon , and we will venture to add , from old knowledge of himself , that he is far too honest and high-minded to allow even

his zeal for Roman Catholicism so far to sway his private opinions or his public declarations as to make him in any way unjust to his ancient brethren . He would , on the contrary , we feel assured , be ready at once to uphold the loyal character and unpolitical colouring of English

Freemasonry , and to deprecate the far too common attacks upon it of ignorant assailants and contumelious combatants . Father Foy then proceeds to contend that Freemasonry is still " IJluminatism , " and seeks to derive the proofs of his statements from the old and wellworn volumes of Barrall , & c . & c . We have

nothing to do with the " Illuminati , " and whatever in some portions of the continent Freemasons may have had to do with the dangerous schemes of the Illuminati in the latter part of the last century , we never knew anything of them in Great Britain , and Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry never has had anything to do with them even in the re-

Father Foy's Last Attack On Freemasonry.

motest degree . It always seems to us idle for Roman Catholic impugners of Freemasonry to go back to such things in respect of the Freemasonry of the day . Illuminatism is a theory 0 f the past , and we do not believe that at this moment either its principles or its practice are

known or developed in any Masonic lodge . Our good Roman Catholic adversaries , if they wish to be both real and effective , in their attacks on Freemasonry , must therefore deal with the present , not with the past , and we shall be always ready to meet them . Father

Foy then seeks to trace a connection with the French Revolution and Freemasonry , and describes Freemasonry proper as the " fautor " of revolution everywhere . No greater mistake or unfounded untruth ever was persistentl y put forth . If here and there a French lodge was

favourable to the dread principles of the Illuminati , or the turbid violence of Jacobins and Girondins , the effect of the French Revolution was to shut up the French lodges altogether , and to suspend the sittings of the Grand Orient of France . If there was that wonderful sympathy

between Freemasonry and revolution which Father Foy asserts to have existed , how came about this indubitable historical fact ? The truth is , that this grave error and this mendacious assertion are founded on the want of discrimination as between individuals and the

general body . At all times , in all generations , individuals have done very foolish things , and spoken indefensible words , and too often the body has been blamed for the act of the person ; but Freemasonry itself , as an institution , never was identified with revolutionary principles , and cannot be , becausesomeof its great dogmata are , anil

ever will remain , peace and order , loyalty and obedience to civil Government , toleration and tranquillity , brotherly love and good will to man . The laws and teachings of Freemasonry -itself are one thing , and the opinions and acts of individual Freemasons another , and often a very different thing indeed . Father Foy himself would not have the Roman Catholic Church

condemned for all the cruel deeds and despicable words of individual Romanists , and Lord Ripon himself pointed out this fact in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in an able speech which he recently delivered , we think at Salford or Manchester . Freemasonrv cannot , therefore ,

be condemned for the isolated speeches of individuals , or even the acts of separate lodges which never were sanctioned by the body politic of Freemasonry in any country . We say this because we are aware that some foreign Freemasons have laid themselves open to most

severe animadversion by the very untrue character they have themselves given to the principles and the practice of their Order . What our opinion on this head is we point out carefully in another article to-day , and we need not repeat it here , the more so , as we , who belong to

Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry , have always protested , and still do protest , against anything which seeks to affix either a political or anti-religious or revolutionary character to Freemasonry . That some of the proceedings of the French Freemasons , to whom Father Foy

alludes , are not wise , and in our opinion are not Masonic , we have often said , and shall say again , but then Father Foy must bear in mind the hopelessly bitter and irreconcileable feelings which seem to actuate Ultramontanes and Freemasons in France and in other continental States . Much

of this is , no doubt , owing to the indiscriminate censure cast upon Freemasons by hot-headed ecclesiastic functionaries . without discernment and without distinction . Even in Great Britain and Canada , and the United States , our loyal , 3 nd law-abiding , and peaceful and tolerant Order is

nothing in their eyes but a secret political organization , actuated by the worst princip les , and directed to the most unholy ends . It is against this wholesale system of Ultramontane lyj'ig that we Freemasons warml y object . Father I'oy fri ghtened all his readers by a description of the how

orgies of Masonic Lodges , a description , - ever suitable for the " respectable gentlemen and ladies" who are said to have attended his "high spiced" lecture—delivered , " we observe , ° the " altar stops , " in a Roman Catholic Church , by the way—is far too foul for our pages . ™ e recommend all our brethren and readers to stud /