Ad00609

To ADYERTISERS . THE Circulation of THE FREEMASON being now at the rate ofncaxly Half-a-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed of the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason s now the accepted organ of the Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 2 , 3 , & 4 , LITTLE BRITAIN , LONDON , E . C .

Ad00605

$ { axvi % \ x nvfo ( Moimtl Incuts . —*—AMERICA : Bro . J . FLETCHER BRENNAN , 114 , Mainstreet , Cincinnati , Ohio . „ Messrs . WOODRUFF St . BLOCIIER , Little Rock , Arkansas , U . S . CANADA : Messrs . DEVRIE & SON , Ottawa . CAPE OF GOOD HOPE : Bro . GEORGE BRITTAIN , Cape Town . CEYLON : Messrs . W . L . SKEENE & Co ., Colombo . CONSTANTINOPLE : Br . J . L . HANLY , Levant Times . EAST INDIES : Allahabad : Messrs . WYMAN BROS . Bombay : Bro . M . B . COHEN . Byculla : Bro . GEO . BEASE . Central Provinces : Bro . F . J . JORDAN . Kurrachce : Bro . G . C ; BRAYSON . Madras : Mr . CALED FOSTER . Alhow : Bro . COWASJEE NUSSERWANJEE . Poona : Bro . W . WELLIS . GALATA : IPSICK KHAN , Perche-Bajar . LIBERIA : Bro . HENRY D . BROWN , Monrovia . PARIS : M . DECHEVAUX-DUMESNIL , Rue de Harlaydu-Palais , 20 , near the Pont Neuf ; Editor Le Franc-Macon . WEST INDIES : Jamaica : Bro . J A . D . SOUZA , Falmouth . Trinidad : Bios . S . CARTER and J . LEWIS , 3 , Abercrombie-street , Port of Spain ; and Bro . W . A . KERNAHAN , San Fernando . And all Booksellers and Newsagents in England , Ireland , and Scotland .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

BIRTH . CONNELL . —On the 21 st inst ., at Moyderwell , the wife of Bro . C . Council ( R . A . Lodge , No , 379 , Tvalee ) , of a daughter .

Ad00607

^ nstocrs Corasponbints . All communications for THE FREEMASON should be written legibly , on one side of the paper only , and , if intended for insertion in the current number must be received not later than 10 o ' clock a . m . on Thursdays , unless in very special cases . The name and address of every writer must be sent to us in confidence . C . F . MATIER , 30 ° . —We have sent you proofs , and will insert as soon as returned . UNINITIATED . —Call at 3 , Little Britain , and we will give you information .

Ad00606

BOOKS RECEIVED . "The Rosicrucians : their Rites and Mysteries ; " by Brother Hargrave Jennings , author of "The Indian Religion , " & c . Hottcn , Piccadilly . " Proceedings of thc Grand Lodge of Massachusetts . "

Ar00608

TheFreemason, SATURDAY , APRIL 30 , 1870 .

Ar00610

THE FREEMASON is published on Saturday Morninzs in time for the early trains . Tlie price cf Tin FREEMASON is Twopence per week ; quarterly subscription ( including postage ) 3 s . 3 d . Annual Subscription , 1 a . Subscriptions payable in advance . Ail communications , letters , & c ., to be addressed to the EDITOR 3 , 3 , and ^ , Little Britain , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him bnt cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postaire stamps . ' *

Postponement Of The Grand Festival.

POSTPONEMENT of the GRAND FESTIVAL .

BY a sad calamity , the families of our Most Worshipful Grand Master-Elect , the Earl de Grey and Ripon , and our Deputy Grand Master-Nominate , the Earl of Carnarvon , have been plunged into the deepest sorrow .

Postponement Of The Grand Festival.

Gentlemen connected with them by the dearest ties of kindred have been ruthlessly murdered by brigands in a country which

owes much to the British nation , and in which the lives of Englishmen at least , it had been fondly imagined , were secure from danger .

There is no land in the world—not even , perhaps , excepting the classic spots of Italy —which has been so much the resort of the antiquarian , the poet , or the lover of

romance , as the territory comprising the modern kingdon of Greece . Every plain , every mount , every rill or river has its history , and this is specially observable in the

neighbourhood of Athens , the renowned . Ruins on all sides attest the grandeur of the past , and breathe a reproach for the degeneracy of the present . The Greeks

have , even now , as Byron sings , the Pyrrhic dance , but the Pyrrhic phalanx has , we fear , for ever departed . They have the glorious skies , the

herohaunted hills , the inspiration of a thousand spirit-stirring memories , and yet the nation is a disgrace to civilization , a blot upon the map of Europe , a den of thieves

and brigands . We cannot restrain the indignation which thrills through our veins when we reflect upon the many sacrifices which Western Europe has made to aid the

cause of the Greeks , and how base has been the return made by the latter . It is time , therefore , that sentimentalism should cease to bear sway on the subject , and we must

learn to contemplate and understand the ugly fact , that the modern Greeks are about as comparable with their noble ancestors as a monkey is with the highest type of

intelligent man . From the lofty conceptions of a Homer or a Sophocles , from the divine reasonings of a Socrates or a Plato , from the patriotic heroism of a Leonidas or

a Miltiades , to the plundering propensities of their wretched descendants is , indeed , a fearful leap . It was after a journey to the immortal plains of Marathon that our

unfortunate countrymen met their fate ; and who can now tell how their hearts may have glowed , and their souls burned within them , fired by the thoughts of its ancient renown ?

The associations of such a sacred spot , hallowed for ever as the scene of Freedom ' s triumph , mustnaturallyhave been awakened

in the breasts of those cultivated men whose lives have paid thc penalty of their pilgrimage .

Withinafewmuesof Athens—withinsight almost of a military patrol—the unfortunate gentlemen , with the ladicswhoaccompanied them , were waylaid , two of their escort

shot at once , and the rest of the party made prisoners by a ferocious party of brigands , who , after demanding an enormous ransom , deliberately murdered thc four persons they

finally detained , in cold blood . Mr . Vyner . one of the victims , was brother-in-law to our Grand Master-Elect , and Mr . Herbert a cousin of the Earl of Carnarvon , the other murdered

gentlemen being the Count de Boyl , Secretary to the Italian Legation at Athens , and Mr . Lloyd . In consequence of the assassination of such a near relative , the in-

Postponement Of The Grand Festival.

stallations of the Earl De Grey and Ripon and of his nominated deputy have been necessarily postponed , and we can assure both our noble brethren , that the members of

the English Craft deeply sympathise with them in the heavy affliction with which it has pleased the Great Architect of the Universe to visit their family circles . In a

national point of view , the subject will be well and amply discussed . We write these lines before seeing the opinions of our colleagues of the secular press , but in a Masonic

sense , we feel it but right to place upon record an expression of the grief with which we have heard of the dreadful catastrophe . Begun in mourning , may the reign of our

Grand Master-Elect be yet brightened with the rays of happiness . We can at least assure him and his distinguished Deputy—than whom a better or more popular selection

could not have been made—that the heart of English Masonry is stirred to its centre in sympathy and sorrow for the loss which each has sustained . And let us hope that

the slaughter of those inoffensive tourists may show the necessity of effectually stamping out the " rinderpest" of brigandage . If the Greek Government cannot

accomplish the first duty of every civilised power , by making law and order supreme within its borders , it is quite time that the English travelling public realised the fact , and abstained

from visiting a country whose historical reminiscences can only be enjoyed at the risk of robbery and assassination . Neither as commercial men , nor as administrators

have the Greeks been a success , and it is more than problematical whether their emancipation from the Turkish yoke , has been a real service to humanity at large .

The Great Powers have a right , however , to insist upon proper protection being provided for travellers in the country , if the farce of self-government in Greece is to be

longer continued , and probably the atrocity recntly committed will lead to the adoption of efficient measures for the suppression of the robber brood .

Until such measures are set on foot , our counsel to all admirers of ancient Greece

will be plainly this—confine your investigations to the works of the Greek writers , and visit Greece only in imagination .

Board Of Benevolence.

BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE .

The monthly meeting was held on the 20 th . inst ., in thc Board Room , Freemasons' Hall . Bro . Henry Browse , J . G . D ., presided , aided by Bros . Udall , P . G . D ., and Savage , P . G . D ., as Wardens . Twenty-six cases came before thc Board , and

grants or recommendations for grants were made to the extent of , £ 416 ; thc contributions received from the lodges to thc Fund of Benevolence will

soon , therefore , it is expected , be insufficient to meet the increased demands now made upon the Fund , the sums voted to petitioners of late being on a most liberal scale .

THE ACACIA LODGE , No . 1309 , will be consecrated at the Sebright Arms , South Mimms , West Barnet , on Wednesday the 4 th proximo . Bro . R . Wentworth Little , Prov . G . Sec , will be the Consecrating Master . Thc Harrow Lodge , No . 1310 , will also be consecrated at the Railway Hotel , Harrow , on Friday , thc 6 th May , by thc same official . Bro . F . Walters , P . M ., and J . Coutts , P . M ., are to be thc respective W . M . ' s of 1309 and 1310 .