United Grand Lodge.

UNITED GRAND LODGE .

THE GRAND FESTIVAL . Grand Festival was held on Wednesday evening . At Grand Lodge , which was held at Freemasons' Hall , Bro . the Earl of Lathom , R . W . D . G . M ., p-esided . Bro . Sir John Monckton acted as S . G . W ., and Bro . Francis Beilby Alston as J . G . W . ; Bro . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., R . W . Prov . G . M . Hants and I . of Wi ^ ht , acted as R . W . D . G . M ., and Bro . Thomas W . Tew , R . W . Prov . G . M . West Yorkshire , as R . W . Prov . G . M . Grand Lodge was very numerously attended .

After the formal opening of Grand Lodge , GRAND SECRETARY read the minutes of the March Quarterly Communication so far as they related to the re-election of the Most Worshipful Grand Master , and Sir ALBERT WOODS ( Garter ) , proclaimed his Royal , , Highness the Prince of Wales duly elected and installed M . W . G . M . for the year ensuing .

The GRAND SECRETARY then read the following list of Grand Stewards for the year : —Bros . Henry Hacker , 60 ; George Weldon , 4 ; Edwin Farley , 58 ; Frederick Gordon Brown , I ; William Harry Rylands , 2 ; Major Thomas P . Powell , 5 ; Charles Critchett , 6 ; Silvanus Goring

Glanville , 8 ; Stanley Robert Valentine Robinson , 14 ; Arthur Hill , 21 ; Richard Clowser , 23 ; Daniel Breay Ledsam , 26 ; John Andrew Wilson , 29 ; George Dashwood Goldie Taubman , 46 ; William James Parker , 91 ; Arthur Jones Lauzence , 99 ; George Lancelot Ey les , 197 ; and Sir Lionel Edward Darell , Bart ., 259 .

The Earl of LATHOM announced that the M . W . G . Master had been

pleased to re-appoint the Earl of Carnarvon as Pro Grand Master , and himself ( the Earl of Lathom ) as Deputy Grand Master , and Prince Albert Victor was appointed Senior Grand Warden . The Earl of Lathom said Prince Albert Victor was not able to be present , as he was serving with his regiment at Gibraltar . Bro . General Viscount Wolseley was then invested as Junior Grand Warden amidst loud applause .

The other Grand Officers appointed were—Bro . The Rev . Dr . Thos . Cartwright Smyth ... G . Chap . „ The Rev . G . W . Weldon ... ... ... G . Chap . ,, Richard Eve ... .,. ... ... G . Treas . „ F . A . Philbrick , Q . C . ... ... ... G . Reg .

„ Col . Shadwell H . Clerke .,. ... ... G . Sec . „ Dr . E . E . Wendt ... ... ... G . Sec . Ger . Cor . „ Burdett-Coutts , M . P . ... ... ... S . G . D . ,, George Cooper ... ... ... S . G . D . „ F . S . Knyvett ... ... ... ... J . G . D . .. V . P . Frepmpn ... ... ... I . G . D . if ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦**

—- •- " - * - * - * " •" ¦— " - •" j-. — . „ Sir Horace Jones ... ,., ... G . Supt . of Wks . „ Sir Albert W . Woods ( Garter ) ... ... G . D . C . „ E . A . Baylis ... ... ... ... D . G . D . C . „ J . L . Mather ... ... ... ... A . G . D . C . „ W . M . Bywater ... ... ... G . Swd . Br .

„ George Beech ... ... ... ,,. G . Std . Br . „ Charles Fendelow ... ... ... G . Std . Br . „ Sir Arthur Sullivan ... ... ... G . Org . „ W . H . Ferryman ,,. ... ... G . Purst . „ Walter Hopekirk ... ... ... A . G . Purst . „ Henry Sadler ... .,, ... ... G . Tyler .

Grand Lodge was thereafter closed in form , and the brethren adjourned to Freemasons' Tavern , where a sumptuous banquet was provided by the outgoing Grand Stewards . Bro . Thomas W . Tew , R . W . Prov . G . Master for West Yorkshire , presided , and afterwards proposed the usual toasts . In giving the toast of "The Queen , " Bro . TEW said her Most Gracious

Majesty was the patroness of the Order . Long might she live , long might she reign , and long might she continue in the possession of that great blessing—the love of her people . He hoped she might witness to the largest and fullest extent the loyalty , devotion , and happiness of a contented people celebrating her Jubilee , and rejoicing over her glorious and prosperous reign of fifty years completed . ( Cheers . )

The toast having been drunk enthusiastically , was followed by the musical artistes singing the National Anthem . Bro . TEW next proposed " The Princess of Wales , and the other members of the Royal Family . " Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales

was beloved by every lady in the land , and honoured by every gentleman in the land , and no man could more the Princess adore than a Free and an Accepted Mason . With regard to the other members of the Royal Family , they had earned the loyalty and devotion of Masons , and , therefore , were entitled to this toast .

Ihe toasts were then disposed of rapidly , with the intervening music . Bro . TEW next asked the brethren to fill bumper glasses because the toast which was now on his list went home to the heart of every Freemason present . They had witnessed that night the loyalty and enthusiasm of the proceedings in Grand Lodge with reference to the installation of his Royal Highness the M . W . G . M . It must have been a source of satisfaction to

every one ot them to think that H . R . H . had been graciously pleased to accept the office of Grand Master for the coming year . When they looked back to the events of 18 75 they could not but recall to their minds that at a very critical moment in the history of the Craft his Royal Highness stepped forward and became the M . W . G . M . of English Freemasons . ( Cheers . ) This circumstance alone would have entitled him to the loyalty and devotion of Freemasons , and he thought he might say that this

gratitude was lurther intensified by the fact that one oi his Royal Highness ' s sons had been appointed to the Senior Grand Wardenship in Grand Lodge of England that evening . Every one of them must pray fervently to the Great Architect of the Universe that his Royal Highness and his sons , who were members of the Craft , might be endued with the blessing of good health and might long be spared to adorn this ancient Order over which the Prince of Wales presided and in which he took so great and deep an interest . ( Cheers . )

Bro . TEW asked the brethren now to drink "The Health of the M . W . Pro Grand Master and the R . W . Deputy Grand Master . " Both these illustrious noblemen attended Grand Lodge , and were well-known not only to the brethren in London , but in his ( Bro . Tew ' s ) Province of West Yorkshire ; they were always able , ready , and willing to assist that province

in every way they could . They were highly respected , and they were always ready to take part in the proceedings and solid ceremonies of the Order , and to give the brethren the benefit of their experience and advice . He hoped with all his heart that they would be long spared to occupy these two most distinguished positions . With regard to the M . W . Deputy Grand Master , the brethren had had the honour of his occupancy of the chair in the

United Grand Lodge.

Grana Lodge that evening , and they had been delighted at the way in which ' he had conducted the business of Grand Lodge . ' Bro . HUGH D . SANDEMAN , R . W . Past District Grand Master 0 f Bengal , asked the brethren to drink "The Health of Bro . few , " who was very old Mason—that meant lhat he was a very well-known Mason . j ^„ represented the great Province of West Yorkshire , which was well known in regard to the Charities of the Order .

Bro . TEW in reply acknowledged the great compliment paid to him am * his province , and he was sure his province would feel the compliment West Yorkshire was most anxious to vie with every other province in those two great principles of the Order enunciated by H . R . H . the Princeof Wales when he was installed in 1 S 75—Loyalty and Charity . When the great demonstration in London took place next month , he hoped his province would not be behind other provinces in loyalty to H . R . H . by the manner in which it supported the Imperial and Colonial Institute .

Bro . TEW , in proposing " The Grand Wardens , and the other Grand Officers , Present and Past , " said everyone in that noble hall . would have come to but one conclusion , that the appointment of Grand Officers by the Prince of Wales had given universal and unlimited satisfaction . He would associate with the toast the name of the Rev . Dr . Thomas Cartwri ght Smyth , G . Chap ., who had had very great experience in Masonry in India

the Eastern Archipelago , and other places abroad , as well as in Eng land . Bro . the Rev . Dr . CARTWRIGHT SMYTH , in reply , said that , although he wished abler Masons , such as the Prov . G . Secretary of West Yorkshire had been called upon to respond , he was proud to be asked to acknowledge the toast . He appeared before the brethren in two capacities—as a Mason of nearly fourty-four years' standing , and as one who had suffered more

persecution in connection with the Craft than any brother in the hall . He had been represented to his Bishop as one who ought to have been unfrocked for his share in Freemasonry , and he had been abused in Bengal as a man who was immoral and seditious , and everything else that was bad . He had stood up against charges in the papers . VVith respect to the toast , the

Grand Officers earnestly desired to follow in the wake of their illustrious predecessors , and by their conduct during their year of office to bring down the blessings of the G . A . O . T . U , upon all that they did . Might He continue to bless them so long as they carried out that glorious principle of Charity which should prevail until prophesy had failed and tongues ceased .

Bro . TEW next gave "The Masonic Charities , which , he said , would meet with the satisfaction of every one . With the toast he accompanied the name of Bro . Terry , Secretary of the Benevolent Institution . Those of them who were present at the Festival in February must have been amazed at the wonderful energy , which Bro . Terry had displayed in

connection with the collecting so large and magnificent a sum for that Charity , ( Hear , hear , and cheers . ) He could not but believe that the other Festivals which were yet to come would gratify both Bro . Hedges and Bro . Binckes by the enormous sums they would produce . The Charities were very dear to every one of them , and they all felt a pleasure in supporting them to the best of their ability , and to the utmost of their means . ( Cheers . )

Bro . TERRY , replying , said he took this the first opportunity since his Festival to thank Grand Lodge for the ^ 1000 it had voted to the Benevolent Institution . He hoped that the Festivals of the Girls' and Boys ' Institutions , to be held in May and June , might be as beneficial as the Benevolent . He should merely content himself with saying that , in acknowledging the success which attended . his Festival in February last , he spoke for the Boys' and the Girls' Schools , hoping that they might have the support which had never been withheld

Bro . BINCKES , who was loudly called for , said ^ the excellent Chairman , in exercise of the discretion which was undoubtedly his perogative that evening , coupled the toast of "Success to their Masonic Institutions " with his good friend , Bro . Terry , whose Festival was so successfully celebrated in February last , and there was not one brother in the room who was not prepared to offer all the congratulations which were due to so successful an

event ; but he ( Bro . Binckes ) did offer one suggestion—that the . past had told its own tale , but there was a future which must be attended with a certain amount of anxiety . They did not at all know what the Jubilee celebration might produce ; but they , especially in the Boys' School , were exceedingly anxious on account of the very precarious position in which they were situated . He could not help saying that , while congratulating the

representatives of the other two institutions on the very extremely sound and successful financial position they occupied , he was depressed and weighed down with a sense of responsibility by the imperfect condition in which their tsoys' School was placed . But he also was prepared to admit that this was not the time on a festive occasion like this , nor was it an appropriate or fitting opportunity , to weary them with an appeal on behalf of any charitable

body . He could speak with a long experience of years gone by that , whether the occasion might be a legitimate one or not , there was no Mason who attended any gathering in that hall or elsewhere who ever forgot the calls , the responsibilities , and the claims of their glorious Institutions . To the brethren present , who were a fairly representative assembly , be all the gio 1 " / and the success which had been achieved ; but he did hope that they would all

bear in mind , especially the younger members of the Order , that they were all inheritors ot traditions handed down from a long past antiquity , which must be again handed down—the traditions of the examp le of those who had gone before them—and which must be not only imitated but emulated . For his own share in the past he had nothing but pride and

gratification except one feeling of intense gralitude to those who had suppotted him for the last 26 years , and on that he based his hopes in the future lhat it would not be less glorious than the past . ( Cheers . ) Bro . TEW , in proposing " The Grand Stewards , " said all the brethren were grateful to the Grand Stewards lor the magnificent entertainment , they had had . Their thanks were due to the Grand Stewards for the hospi ' ' ' - )'

of which they had partaken . , Bro . ALFRED THOMAS LAYTON , J . P ., 60 , President of the Board ol Grand Stewards , said he responded to this toast wilh a considerable amoun of pleasure . The Board of Grand Stewards felt the honour done them " } acknowledging their services in connection with this festival . Of course 1

was a great mental anxiety in preparing lor the banquet . Jiveiy = * " - Grand Stewards endeavoured to vie with the previous ones in making , festival a greater success than any of its predecessors ; but if this fe *? * had been a success in any way he was bound to attribute it in a veryj £ manner to the indefatigable exertions of Bro . Carter , the Honorary ^{ Lj tary . It was to him that a great deal of credit must be due for all that taken place in the comfortable seating * and other arrangements . It '' ,

perhaps somewhat a pity that the Grand Stewards should beg in aT \ me their office so soon , when they had just got experience , and they had s ^ hopes that in the coming festival the Grand Stewards mig ht have na «