Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 49 Supreme Grand Chapter 50 Provincial Grand Lodge of North and Kast Yorkshire" 50 Provincial Grand Lodge of Norfolk 51 English Seventeenth Centnrv Freemasonry A Study i Si C

ORRESPONDENCEBro . Cama and the Grand Treasurership S 3 The Royal Alasonic Benevolent Institution S 3 The Late Bro . Whichcord S 3 Thc Oldest Freemason in the World S 3 Notes and Queries 53 REPORTS OF MASONIC M EETINGSCraft Masonry S 4 Instruction S >

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS ( Continued)—Royal Arch 58 Mark Masonry 58 Ancient and Accepted Rite 58 Knights Templar 58 Red Cross of Constantine < S Malta j 8 India 59

South Africa $ 9 Ball of the Mizpah Lodge , No . 1651 59 G . Company , 21 st Middlesex ( Finsbury ) Rifle Volunteers 59 Masonic Presentation at York 59 Presentation to Sir Ofiley Wake man 59 Obituary 60 Masonic and General Tidings 61 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 62

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WE have been requested b j' our esteemed Bro . CAMA to state , and which we are very glad to do , that the report is altogether unfounded and incorrect which we reproduced last week , viz ., that he has withdrawn himself from the nomination for the Grand Treasurership . On the contrary , Jhe is still before his brethren to ask their suffrages and that high honour . The report seems to have arisen from a misapprehension altogether .

* # * WE understand that Bro . T . W . TEW , Deputy Provincial Grand Master , is appointed Provincial Grand Master for West Yorkshire , and Bro . Sir HEDWORTH WILLIAMSON , Bart ., Deputy Provincial Grand Master , Provincial Grand Master for Durham .

* * * THE following extract from the Times of the 22 nd inst . sets before us the unchanged stolidity of the Roman Curiae and Inquisition in a very striking manner : "A decree issued on the 24 th of last May by the Congregation of the Holy Inquisition , and now published , shows that body to be as ready

in this nineteenth century to oppose the decisions of science and the dictates of humanity as it was in days gone by , when its opposition was all-powerful . It has had under its consideration the question whether the operation of craniotomy can be permitted in cases where it affords the only means for saving the mother ' s life . That the operation was contrary to the law of the

Decalogue was maintained in a series of pamphlets and articles in reviews by the Rev . Father ESCHBACH , Superior of the French Seminary ; while Monsignor PENNAC . CHI defended the contrary opinion in the review entitled " Acta Sanctae Sedis . " The dispute was finally referred by the Cardinal Archbishop of Lyons to the Congregation of the Inquisition , which has

solemnly decided against the operation being performed . To the question 1 An tuto doceri possit , in scholis Catholicis , licitam esse operationem chirurgicam quam " craniotomiam" appellant , quando scilicet , ea omissa , mater et Alius perituri sint ; eh , e contrk , admissA , salvanda sit mater , infante pereunte ? ' the reply was , ' Tuto doceri non posse . ' " To this same

Inquishon , happily " stat nominis umbra , has been recently committed by the benevolent LEO XIII . all Freemasonry all over the world . We appreciate gratefully such special and touching interest in us and ours , and we are onl y regretful that we cannot return sufficient acknowledgments for such kind forethought and consideration . Just now , the position of the Roman Catholic

Church , dominated by the Ultramontane party , is a most absurd and mistaken one as regards . Freemasonry . The mention of the Inquisition , with its base cruelties and horrible crimes , is enough to startle us all in this nineteenth century ; but as the teaching of the Roman authorities is unchanged

and unchanging , all reasonable men and cultured Freemasons must feel the very deepest regret , on account of the respect due to religion , at beholding professions of denominational belief and practice reduced in so combative , persecuting , and intolerant a body to the level of a " fetish . "

* * * BRO . E . LETCHWORTH , G . D ., P . M . and Senior Warden of the Lodge of Anti quity , was on Wednesday installed W . M . before a brilliant gathering . Our V . W . brother is so well known and so popular , that all will rejoice to hear of his ruling that ancient and historic lodge .

* * * ¦ T remarks which appeared in our last number , emanating from an American writer , anent the so-called Grand Lodges of Victoria and New outh Wales , so entirely coincide with our own views on the subject , often ^ pressed , and with the determinate decision of our English Grand Lodge , at

"we are glad to note the same opinion exists among American Freemasons both of thought and might . To subserve a special purpose , and to olster up a "fad , " a far too hasty recognition has been allowed in America ° some bodies whose antecedents and position were alike irregular , unsound , irid U 11 P recec ? eilted - We never doubted but that time and reflection would ouce American Freemasons to pause and think , inasmuch as they base

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all their own procedure on legality , and it was impossible that they could long shut their eyes to the utterly absurd , anomalous , and unsound claims put forward by those who claimed a right to " swarm" and form a Grand Lodge out of another Grand Lodge , without any pretence of a majority , without any character of true representation , without any one element of

opportunism , even much less propriety or need , what Masonic wishes , and even in England , have always thought absolutely necessary prima facie , to justify and sanction such new creations . We make every allowance for Colonial feelings , distance of mother country , the unavoidable delays caused by correspondence , and the drawbacks and difficulties which often ensue in

consequence . But since we object , as we have often remarked , to the unnecessary multiplication of Grand Lodges , we do not see , unless it is absolutely required , why the links which connect our own Grand Lodge with District Grand Lodges abroad , far away even , should be hastily severed or ruthlessly dissolved . There are " cases and cases , " and " claims and

claims , but on the whole the good old motto " festina lente " seems to be most appropriate to many rash schemes and digested proposals in the Colonies , which do not arise from any necessity of the position , but are too often , far too often , the outcome of personal fidgettiness , perverse agitation , and an egotistical thirst after honours and rank . We have received many

curious statements as regards the Victoria movement especially , which for obvious reasons we have suppressed , as the last thing the Freemason ever desires to record are the expressions of heated excitement or the intrigues of a caucus . The loyalty of our good brethren in Victoria is both very gratifying and very striking , just what we expected of them in truth , and

the rally round the District Grand . Master , and the increase of the English jurisdiction are matters of honest triumph and rejoicing . Such is our answer , clear and sufficient , to inflammatory appeals , and ill-omened schisms , and we trust that most truly Loyalty and Charity will long

continue to be the watch words of our English brethren in Victoria . We hear that the hastily created body which assumes to itself the title of a Grand Lodge is not likely to flourish , and that it contains within itself , ever , as we write , the certain seeds of premature decay and dissolution .

* # * IT might be thought perhaps that the remarks we have just put forward might settle the vexed question of the claims of a Grand Lodge of Ontario to attention or regard . But , to say the truth , the Ontario question always has been a " Crux " to us , and for these reasons . When Canada separated

from the English Grand Lodge , there was but one body which succeeded to one District Grand Lodge , and which absorbed into itself Scottish and Irish lodges as well . The separation may be said , fairly enough , to date from October , 1855 . In 185 7 the Confedration Act was passed , by which the united provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada were separated , and the

former was termed Ontario , the latter Quebec . This Dominion of Canada being shortly afterwards formed of four confederated provinces—Nova Scotia , New Brunswick , Quebec , and Ontario—was increased by Prince Edward Island and British Columbia , and subsequently by Manitoba . The precedent of separation was followed by Nova Scotia in 1866 , which set up

an independent Grand Lodge ; New Brunswick in 1867 , and British Columbia equally formed independent bodies . Quebec organised itself in 1869 ; Prince Edward Island in 1374 ; and Manitoba in 1875 . Thus it will be seen that of all Canada only the Province of Ontario was left to the Grand Lodge of Canada . The Grand Lodge was advised to take the name

of Ontario ; but it has always declined . In 1876 a movement was set on foot , on the grounds raised by those who formed the Grand Lodge of Quebec , to form a Grand Lodge of Ontario under its political delimitations , and it seems to resolve itself into a mere question of geographical terminology . The Grand Lodge of England originally dealt with a body calling

itself the Grand Lodge of Canada , when , with the exception of the faithful and loyal three Montreal lodges , the Canadian brethren left the English foundation . And so , though it continues to term itself the Grand Lodge of Canada , it has since been shorn of various lodges and a whole province , not without protest . We do not see how the Grand Lodge of England can deny

its legal existence . It is a strongish order , even on geographical grounds , even for a misnomer , Masons meeting without a " call" or warrant , forming a Grand Lodge in the bosom of a lawful body and legal name . That body was formed by representatives of various lodges , and with variably chequered fortunes exists up to the present , and has

been recognized by a large number of American Grand Lodges . The question in itself is not quite so easy a case to solve as some writers in Canada seem to think and constantly assert . The Grand Lodge of Canada now represents nothing territorially , in that it only bears sway , Masonically , over the Province of Ontario , and not over Canada