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TO OUR READERS . The FREEMASON is a Weekly Newspaper , price . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and seful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscription , including postage : United America , India , India , China , & c Kingdom , the Continent , & c . Via Brindisi . Twelve Months ios . 6 d . 12 s . od . 17 s . 4 d . Six „ 3 s . 3 d . 6 s . 6 d . 8 s . 8 d . Three „ 2 s . 8 d . 3 s . 3 d . 4 s . 6 d . Subscriptions may be paid for in stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , the former payable o GEORGE KENNING , CHIEF OFFICE , LONDON , the latter crossed London Joint Stock Bank . Advertisements and other business communications should be addressed to the Publisher . Communications on literary subjects and books for review are to be forwarded to the Editor . Anonymous correspondence will be wholly disregarded , and the return of rejected MSS . cannot be guaranteed . Further information will be supplied on application to the Publisher , ig 8 , Fleet-street , London . A

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NOTICE . To prevent delay or miscarriage , it is particularly requested that ALL communications for the FREEMASON , may be addressed to the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

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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 .

ADVERTISEMENTS to ensure insertion In current week ' s issue should reach the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , by 12 o ' clock Gn ¦ Wednesdays .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Hull Packet ; " " Medical Examiner ;"" The Weekly Welcome ; " "The Boot and Shoe Maker j" "The Broad Arrow ; " " Die Banhiitte ; "' " The Advocate ; " " Resorgimento ; " " Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Washington ; " " The Freemasons' Monthly ;" " The Masonic Review . "

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IMPORTANT NOTICE .

COLONIAL and FOREIGN 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 5 otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them . . Several P . O . O . ' s are now in hand , but having received no advice we cannot credit them .

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements , not exceed ing four lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . DAVIES .- —On Jan . 29 at Hobart Town , Tasmania , the wife of G . R . Davies , of a son . KNOWI . ES . —On the 23 rd inst ., at Streatham , Mrs . W .

Knowles , of a son . PARKEH . —On the 22 nd inst ., at Woolpit , Suffolk , the wife of D . Parker , of a son . WONTNEII . —On the 24 th inst ., at The Cottage , Old Charlton , the wife of St . John Wontner , of a son .

DEATHS . ARMSTRONG . —On the 2 2 nd inst ., at Fairlight I Jail , Hastings , alter 48 hours' illness , Theimas Armstrong , aged ( 13 . Friends will kindly accept this intimation . BAKER . —On the 20 th inst ., suddenly at his residence , Myrtle Mouse , Whitstablc , John Baker , aged 6 3 years . AWES . —On the 20 th inst ., at Aix-les-Bains , Savoy ,

Edward Alleyne Dawes , aged 47 . KING . —On the 24 th inst ., at Laburnum Villa , Slaithwaiteroad , Lewisham , Harry , second and dearly-loved son of Alfred George and Susanna Jane King , aged 6 years . SCOTT . —On the 21 st inst ., at Mundesley , Norfolk , Elizabeth , the affectionate wife of the Rev . E . T . Scott , Rector of Mundesley .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , MARCH 30 , 1878 .

Our Royal Grand Master.

OUR ROYAL GRAND MASTER .

The following letter from Major-General Sir Dighton Probyn , on behalf of the Prince of Wales , to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Dorsetshire , and which appeared in the Times of Friday last , will be read with pleasure and

interest by countless loyal Craftsmen in all parts of the world . We give it without further note or comment , seeing that it is eloquent in its very language to our whole Order , and will best tell its own tale . The whole Craft will

feel deeply this interesting statement , these kindly and gratifying words : — " Major-General Sir Dighton Probyn has sent a letter , on behalf of the Prince of Wales , to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Dorset , apologising for the delay in its transmission , and acknowledging the reception

the Freemasons gave the Prince on his recent visit to Dorset . The letter says— ' lam commanded by the Prince to assure you that the prosperity of the Masonic Craft is ever uppermost in His Royal Highness ' s thoughts , and the position of Grand Master of the Ancient Order of Freemasons is one in which he feels the

greatest pride . I am specially desired to express His Royal Highness ' s thanks for the sentiments of loyalty and devotion contained in your address towards the Queen , the Princess of Wales , and the other members of the Royal Family . '" All of us , we think , will hail such Masonic assurances from our Grand Master with that loyal devotion which is the characteristic of our Craft .

In Memoriam.

IN MEMORIAM .

The most affecting characteristic of " poor mortality , " is its short-lived reality , its passing away , its ending , its disappearance , as a " dream when one awaketh . " Each day gives evidence of this truth , each hour proclaims this unchanging certainty to men . Do what we will , go where

we may , this great Jaw of human desliny here follows us , keeps close to us , hangs upon our steps , companies our undertaking . Everything , as Horace says of old so beautifully , has one day to be left behind , and barely a week passes over our heads , but we have to mourn over the departure

of old friends , dear relations , those who tenderly ran with us in our race , those who have been the stay of oua families , the pride of our hopes , the joy of our lives . And if this is true of our human life , it is equally the case in respect of lodge

associations of our Masonic fellowship . The able writers of "Celia ' s Arbour" which has lately appeared in the ornate pages of our excellent contemporary , the Graphic , closes a very striking story , well worth perusal , by the way , with the statement that most of the well-drawn characters

in the tale have " passed away . " So it is in our lodges to-day . Let us recal the associates of early and gracious hours , let us summon up before us the guests of many a felicitous banquet , the mates of many a cheery gathering . Where are they all now ? Gone away ! Passed away

Yes , passed and gone to that great and as yet undiscovered country , of which no traveller can tell us any strange or pleasant tales , to that solemn "bourne" from which no sojourner returns ! We form new lodges , we meet in old lodges , we are part of a kindly companionship , a genial

fellowship , and yet how often , in a few short hours , there are empty places at our board , there are missing members on our lodge rolls , the warm , the true , the kindly , the goodly are all absent , their " place on earth , " their seat in the lodge " know them no more . " It is very

melancholy , sometimes , to note how many are missing from the lodge work or the lodge social circle , who were once the "decus columenque " of that good old lodge , who once lent grace to every gathering , humour to all

conversation , harmony to each aggregation , and pleasantness to every scene . No , nothing here will stay ! The kind heart , the tolerant mind , the " charity which never faileth , " the smiling countenances , the loving companionship , and the sagacious will , all have in turn to be things of

In Memoriam.

the past . We are led into these reflections , never in themselves unseasonable , by an "obituary , " which appears in another column , being that of our lamented Bro . Beutley Shaw , Provincial Grand Superintendent , and Past Deputy Provincial Grand Master for

West Yorkshire . Those who know anything of that distinguished province are well aware , and hardly need to be told by u =, how much Freemasonry in that district is indebted to his genial qualities of head and heart , to his sagacious , and tolerant , and pleasant rule . In

him Freemasonry loses a most loyal brother , and the West Yorkshire Freemasons a most truehearted friend . We cannot , therefore , allow so great a loss to us all alike to pass by without a few words of sympathetic remembrance and admiration . Missed as Bro . Bentley Shaw

will be by a large number of devoted friends , missed as be will be in a loving fanrly circle , missed as he will be in his native town and in his immediate district , he will be emphatically a missed man in that province of which he has been a distinguished ornament , over which he aided to rule , ( with the best of Provincial Grand

Masters '! , so long , so wisely , so gently , and so well . Lr . ng , however , will his memory endure among Yorkshire lodges and among Yorkshire Masons , and no more kindlier ruler , no more zealous brother , no more thoroughly genial man will ever adorn the honoured annals of West Yorkshire Freemasonry .

Invasion Of Lawful Jurisdiction.

INVASION OF LAWFUL JURISDICTION .

One of the great evils attendant upon the recent regrettable changes in the French Grand Orient , has been the developement of most revolutionary views as regards Masonic jurisdiction . Not that unsound theories are altogether novel . Both in France and Germany a section of

Freemasons have long held what in England we consider very " queer notions " indeed on the subject . In our opinion it cannot be too distinctly laid down , that no alien Masonic power has a right to claim a Masonic jurisdiction in a national territory except under the following conditions : 1 .

Previous Constitution of Lodges . 2 . Ancient Ties . 3 . Daughter Lodges . And even in all cases , when a district or national Grand Lodge is legally appointed , all such arrangements , which are only temporary and provisional at best should cease as soon as may be , as they cannot any longer

subsist " de jure , " and are both abnormal and inadvisable . A Grand Lodge can only grant warrants lawfully within its own jurisdiction , or in a country where no competent authority exists , or where , for some reason or another , Freemasonry has fallen into abeyance , desuetude ,

and disorder . In such cases , in order to introduce a " healing influence , " any lawful Grand Lodge can grant a warrant in order to endeavour to revive a dormant or discredited organization . But otherwise , we apprehend all other proceedings are illegal and

unmasonic , and acts of invasion and intrusion , and those who commit them , must be thrust out of the Masonic family , until they make the " amende honourable " for their Masonic "laches " and schism . We are among those who have always deplored and condemned ,

on these grounds , certain French proceedings in the United States , ( if out of the cognizance , we believe , of a Craft Grand Lodge ) , and we do not feel quite sure but that some German Lodges in America come under the same category . If they were founded after the formation of the

State Grand Lodges , they clearly are schismatic bodies , as by this time , for the sake of Masonic Order , they ought to recognize existing natural Masonic jurisdictions . But it seems as if a new " gloss " was going to be given to the whole of our Masonic canon law by those representatives of Ultramontane and Jesiutical

Masonry , who seem to be increasing amongst us . When it is coolly contended , e . g ., that it is simply the principle of " absolute toleration " which is invoked , in order to admit non-believers in God , one is at a loss which most to do , to feel astonished at the paradox proposed to us , or to grieve over the chicanery of this hyper-Jesuitical subtlety commended to our acceptance . But more