To Correspondents.

To Correspondents .

W . M . —Uniformity of Ritual . The correspcndenc eon this subject is closed . The following reports stand over : — Israel Lodge , No . 205 ; Burgoyne Lodge , No . 902 ; Lodge of Tranquility , No . 185 ; Wiltshire Lodge of Devizes , No . 663 ; Duke of Cornwall Lodge , No . 1839 , Tuscan , Lodge , No . 14 ; Lodge of Antiquity

( Bolton ) , No . 146 ; Urmston Lodge , No . 1730 ; Robert Burns Chapter , No . 25 ; South Saxon Lodge , No . 311 ; Lodge of Sympathy , No . 8 55 ; Waterloo Chapter , No . 13 ; Plains of Mamre Preceptory , No . 8 ; Leodicnsis Chapter , Rose Croix , No . 47 ; Henry Mark Lodge , No . 216 ; and Connaught Dramatic Club Concert .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Young England" " The Scotsman , " " Hull Packet , " "The Star , " "Thc Royal Cornwall Gazette , " " Broad Airow , " " Alliance News , " " Tunbridge Wells Gazette , " " Paper Consumers' Circular , " " Masonic Eclectic , " " Die Bauhutte , " " Der Ling Islander , " " Voice of Masonry , " of of

^ 'Report Grand Commandery Knights Templar of the State of Virginia , " " Freemasons' Monthly , " " New York Sunday News , " " Boletin Official , " " Masonic Newspaper , " " Report of the District Grand Loelge ofBombay , " "New York Dispatch , " "Bulletin Du Grand Orient De France . "

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 S . 6 d . for announcements not exceeding Four Lines under this heading . ] BIRTH . STILLWELL . —On the 27 th inst ., at Holmcse ' ale , Surbiton , the wife of Edward W . Stillwell , of a son .

MARRIAGE . WILLIAMS— J ONES . —On tbe 21 st inst ., at Clnist Church , Bala , Merionethshire , Edward Williams , to Mary Augusta Jones , of Froude ' crw , Bala .

DEATHS . CowAitn . —On the 22 nd inst ., at 38 , Lupus-street , S . W ., in the 5 6 th year of his age-, Bro . James Coward , P . G . O . ( Organist of the Crystal Palace ) . FOIIDES . —On the 24 th inst ., at his residence , Ealing , Alexander Forbes , the Secretary of the Great Northern Railway Company , aged 46 . TERRY . —On thc 26 th inst ., at 26 , Union-square , Islington , James Terry , formerly of St . John-street , Clerkenwell .

Ar00802

The Publisher wishes to draw the attention of those of his readers who complain of the difficulty in obtaining copies of the Freemason , to the following : — TERMS OK SUBSCRII ' . Twelve Months ios . 6 el . Six „ 5 s . 3 d . Three 2 S . 8 d . WW W-

* ... , , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , Post free from the office of publication , to any part of England , Ireland , and Scotland . Cheques or post offire orders are preferred in payment . Address , Publisher , 19 8 , Fleet-street , London . The Annual Subscription to the Freemason after thc ist February next to India , Ceylon , China , and Australia , will be 15 s ., owing to the increase of postage on papers and letters to those parts .

The Freemason.

THE FREEMASON .

SATURDAY , J ANUARY 31 , 18 S 0 .

A remark in the speech of H . R . H . the Grand Master when investing Bro . Shadwell Gierke as Grand Secretary has been misunderstood . When H . R . H . talked of " other duties , " he did not mean that the new Grand Secretary was not

going to give up all his time to the claims of his most important office Masonically , but he only alluded , we believe , to other possible military duties , and also to attendance at Court . It is obvious to all that the Grand Secretary of

English Freemasonry to-day , if he is to do his work , must devote all his time to the office , otherwise neither the heavy correspondence nor the multifarious calls upon his attention and presence can be properly attended to . * * *

OUR readeis will note that the Anniversary Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for aged Masons and their wives , will take place on the 9 th proximo , under the distinguished presidency of Bro . the Earl of Zetland . We

understand that up to the present time Bro . James Terry , the indefatigable Secretary of the Institution , has received the names of 220 Stewards , and we have no doubt that when the lists are read out on February oth Bro . Terry

will be able to announce a most gratifying and remarkable total . Despite hard times and serious calls , hearts of English Freemasons arc always warm to that most excellent and well administered Institution .

The Freemason.

OUR readers are often amused with reports of would-be Ultramontane persecutions , we tnst they will be equally affected with the following illustration of would-be Ultramontane wit . It comes' from Belg ium , and is , no doubt , very

forcible indeed : — "The Precurseur reports that at the Episcopal College at Poperinghe , in Weste ra Flanders , there was performed lately by ths pupils before their parents a play , which was received with much applause . In the first act a

pupil , accounted as a Freemason , is seen digging a grave in a cemetery , in which a coffin marked ' Catholicism' is to be placed . The Bel gian Minister of Public Instruction , dressed as Satan , aids him . In the second act tho gravedigger

appears as teacher in a communal school . A father , entering with four sons , asks how much will be paid to him for placing his sons in the school . The bargain is made , the teacher pays , and the father pockets the money . Other pupils are received in the same manner . Instruction

begins by writing on the blackboard , ' There is no God . ' Now appear an old man with a boy , an angel with a sceptre , and Satan in Bengal flames . The pupils fall on the ground , but the angel begins to sing the clerical war-song , ' They

shall nofc have it , the beautiful soul ot the child ' ( 'Sij zullen ze nict hebben de schoone ziel des kinds' ) . Satan is put to flight , and the children are saved . " Surely folly , stupidity , and bigotry can no fur ther go .

* * WITH respect to the " temper " in which the " uniformity of ritual question " has been discussed , we think " the least said the soonest mended . " The correspondence is not pleasant

reading , and we regret to have to add that from some recent facts and utterances which havo come forcibly to our notice , there certainly are " Masons and Masons , " and it is clear that with some , profession and practice are very different things indeed .

* * WITH respect to the movement for uniformity of ritual , we understand that some action will be taken at next Grand Lodge to induce Grand Lodge to reconsider the whole question . Whether that

result will be best arrived at by not confirming "that portion of the minutes " or directly negativing the appointment of a Committee , we must leave to abler heads than ours to decide .

But something must be done to prevent the whole Craft from being landed in a long and bitter controversy , followed by an equally acrimonious battle of systems , theories , and " vanities . "

* * THE adjourned Court for the confirmation of the purchase of Lyncombe House took place on Saturday last , when the confirmation of the purchase was carried , as we expected , by a most

decisive majority—sixty-one to eight . We congratulate our Bro . the Grand Treasurer and the Honse Committee on this result , which , after the satisfactory opinion of two counsel , learned in the law , was , as we felt sure , a certainty . We

hope that we have heard the last of a controversy to our mind very painful and not a little humiliating , and to which in these columns we shall

not again willingly allude . Every now and then in things Masonic , ' as in the affairs of life , silence is not only most advisable but most commendable .

* THE New Zealand Tablet , a Roman Catholic paper , complains , as we stated last week , that Freemasonry everywhere is hostile to reli gion and religious education . It mentions certain

proceedings in Belgium , and states that the same course has been followed by the Freemasons in New Zealand , and it asserts all the world over . We are not concerned to defend either the acts or the

speeches of the Belgian Freemasons , but we deny that the statement is true of Fieemasonry generally , and we doubt even very much if it be correct as regards New Zealand Freemasons .

* SOME questions having being asked us with regard to the salary of the new Grand Secretary , we believe that by an arrangement of the Board of General Purposes , agreed to by Grand Lodge some time back , it is fixed at ^ , 500 per annum

The Freemason.

for the incoming holder of the office , with an f annual " increasement " of £$ 0 until it reaches j £ Soo , which sum , in our opinion , is not too much for the Grand Secretary of the Grand ! Lodge of England .

* * A THREAT was held out at the last Quarterl y . Court of the Girls' School that tbe meeting had not "heard the last" of certain Chancery proceedings . All wc can say

is if such an un-Masonic threat should bs realized , hurtful to the Girls' School aud derogatory to our Craft , it will be the duty of all the subscribers to the Girls' School to ' rally round Bro . Col . Creaton , G . T ., and the House

Committee . Of the result itself we have not the slightest fear or doubt . But English Masons are very much changed if they are to be deterred from doing their duty , by menace on the on-j hand , or "high falutin " on the other .

* - * WE publish elsewhere a circular issued by our Bro . Stevens , which we do not profess to understand . We never knew before that any single brother , without the express sanction of the

Grand Master , or the Board of General Purposes , or the Grand Secretary , could address a quasiofficial circular to the Provincial Officers . This is a novel idea , and to us a most startling innovation . Such a proceeding is entirely contrary

to the precedents and norma ! usages of English Craft Masonry , and we cannot say that we admire it , much less like it . The Grand Lodge has laid no "burden" on or given any commission to Bro . Stevens to nominate a Committee . Some

informal conversation took place between Bro . Simpson and Bro . Stevens , but that is " all . Grand Lodge has passed a resolution , not as yet confirmed , to appoint a Committee , but as , in . 1870 , Grand Lodge deliberately declined

to appoint a Committee after a somewhat similar resolution , in 1869 , it may take it into its head to repeat the process in 1880 . This circular of Bro . Stevens seems to us such

a singular interference with the prerogative of the Grand Master on the onehand , and the rights of the Grand Lodge on the other , that we think it right to call attention specially to it . Can any one explain it ?

* * WOULD it not be well to make a combined movement of the London lodges and brethren to send some contribution to the Duchess of Marlborough Fund for the relief of distress in

Ireland ? The Lodgeof Antiquity voted £ 10 ios . on Wednesday last for that purpose , to be sent through our distinguished brother the Lord Mayor of London , and we venture to think that it would be both seasonable and considerate

if some general movement was commenced for this purpose in our large-hearted fraternity .

* * * HARD times as well as severe words seem to have fallen on the spiritualists . A certain Mrs . Corner , ( not a bad name for such an operator ) , formerly a Miss Cooke , has long been a famous

" medium , ' and she has performed illusions worthy of the greatest conjuror " out . " But , alas ! a Nemesis has come ! Sir George Sitweil and Mr . Carl Von Buch , having doubts as to a recent exhibition , intervened with the following

decisive results . To render the following statement understandable , Mrs . Corner has been herself bound to a chair or sofa , while her spirit has also appeared , or a spirit appearance hss been separately made : — " On the third occasion the

spirit again appeared , but not without an ' audible sound of undressing behind the curtain . ' Encouraged by this , the two spectators made a simultaneous rush . One of them caught and held the spirit , while the other drew the curtain

aside and displayed the empty chair in which Mrs . Corner had sat , ' with the knot slipped , her dress , stockings , boots , and other discarded garments , ' which , that there might be no mistake , were handed rounded and examined by the

company . Of course nothing could be said after this . The facts are not denied , even by the Secretary of the Association . All he can do by way of explanation is to suggest the notion that Mrs . Corner , lulled in the mesmeric trace , may have slipped the knot and personated the medium in