Contents.

CO N T E NTS .

L EADERS , 267 United Grand Lodge 268 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls—Distribution of Prizes 26 9 History of the Royal Masonic Institution for Hoys ( . Continued ) 260 . Gould ' s History of Freemasonry . Vol . III . 271 The Pope ' s Encyclical Letter— " Dc Secta Massonum " { Continued ) 271

Roval Masonic Institution for Boys 271 C ORRESPONDENCE— . The Victoria Chapter , Montreal -SJJ The Prayiir of the Crcsss of our National Lifeboats ! J 4 Royal Asylum of St . Anne 274 Reviesss 274 Notes and Queries .- 274 Provincial Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Surrey •• 27 s Consecration of the Masclield Lodge , No .

2034 , Moseley 275 Consecration of the West Kent V oluntecr Lodge , No . 2041 , Wilmington 275 I

Consecration of the Ros * al Hanos-cr Chapter , No . 1777 . ' 27-Consecration of the York Mark Lodge , No . 334 , at Cambridge 375 Annual Banquet of the Henley Lodge of Instruction 376 The Masonic Exhibition at York ( Continued ) : 276 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 376

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 276 Instruction 278 Royal Arch 37 S Mark Masonry 278 Knights Templar 370 Red Cross of Constantine 370 Rosicrncian Society 379 Cryptic Masonry 279 Bro / Duhamel ' sOpinion on some Proposed Changes in the French Masonic

Constitution ' . 379 Masonic and General . Tidings 38 a Lodge Meetings for Next Week ... Page 3 Cover .

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WE are as much struck as sve think our readers svill be svith the last English Roman Catholic deliverance ancnt Freemasonry . It appears in the Catholic Times and Catholic Opinion of May 2 nd . Our first feeling svas that of stupefaction ; our second that of amusement . We heartily laughed svhen sve realized that an educated Roman Catholic Editor , svriting for

educated English Roman' Catholics , could . afford to print such mournful rubbish . Let us nosv try ancl understand the svords in which a fcllosv-citizon speaks of us poor fellosv-citizcns , simply because sve are Freemasons . Treating approvingly the remarks of " Pin LUTE DE GRAXIILIEU , " Monsr . LEON L AVADAN , in the Figaro , thc Editor thus proceeds ' , and sve beg our

readers to note it : "The svriter calls attention to that svhich may be read betsveen the lines of the great document , and svhich marks out the difference betsveen English-speaking and Continental Masonry . Although in hidden fashion the terrible fruits of the Satanic International may be found in the most innocent of British or American lodges , there can be no doubt that

English-speaking Freemasons are only anarchists and atheists by inadvertence . " English-speaking Freemasons anarchists and atheists b y inadvertence ! . The terrible fruits of the Satanic International may be found in the most innocent of British or American lodges ! Can the svriter have measured ¦ Hired his svords ? Docs hc even understand svhat he is saying ? Wc affirm

as before the world , and the Editor knosvs it as svell as sve do , that there is no more religious , no more reverential body in the svorld than Anglo-Saxon Freemasons , and lhat neither irreligion nor disloyally can , either in the abstractor concrete , by actuality or by implication , find the slightest abiding place or even countenance in our lodges . The svriter is

indeed only consistent in his " animus " and his vcry inconsistency , for he follows ' up his first astounding assertion by a second , of which he hardly seems to us to discern its contradictory force , that as inasmuch as hc goes on to . say " The notorious schism between the Grand Orient of France and the lodges of Great Britain proves that the Craft on the other side of

the Channel is not prepared to fight against GOD and against every form of religion . " Surely the distinct ground and manly position of entire disapproval taken up both for Great Britain and America against certain untosvard proceedings of the Grand Orient of France might have obtained a svarmer recognition , might have induced a more grateful appreciation , had

not the Scribe , like many of our good Roman Catholic friends , had , so to say , "his hands tied behind him . " It is not that they svish to be unkind to Freemasons , or say severe things , ( at least so sve are bound to hope and trust ) , but they cannot help themselves ; svhatever their honest opinion may be , they dare not avosv it . There are many Roman Catholic clergy ,

as laity , Freemasons , as sve knosv , but for them it is impossible either openly to declare their membership , or in public to proclaim their intimate conviction of the innocence , the utility , thc value of Freemasonry . Ever since "in eminent ! speculA , " thc Watchman , declared , as in 1738 , all Freemasons to be outside the Church , and " hors de la loi , " for this grave and terrific

crime among others , that heretic Protestants and pious Roman Catholics met together in lodge , Popes and Prelates , scribes and scribblers , editors and correspondents of the Roman Catholic persuasion have follosved blindly the same " cue , " have in successive Allocutions and Mandemens , in Italian Pasquinades and Irish Bulls , denounced , excommunicated , and

anathematized Freemasons and Freemasonry . But thoy forget , that svhereas nosv it has dasvned upon them , there is a slight difference after all betsveen Continental and English Freemasonry , since in truth thus condemning Freemasons " en bloc" as children of SATAN , " " revolutionists , "" savages , " " licentious , " and "ill-conditioned personages , " the " very scum of the earth

• and of society , " they were making themselves absolutely ridiculous before men , they also lose sight of the fact , that to their osvn foolish course and violent language much of the mistaken groove into svhich Continental Freemasonry in many parts seems to has'c irremediably fallen , is really and truly mainly attributable . .

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WE have , never in the Freemason , as our readers knosv , professed to appros * e of a great deal of svhat the continental Freemasons say or do . We think that they are svrong altogether in Masonry on any pretence , under any provocation , mixing themselves up in slightest measure svith social , political , or religious ' questions . Wc deplore the unbricHed *

language of some , the " overt acts" of others , and sve have been often taken to task in no courteous language for protesting against so-called Masonic congresses and movements , svhose latent or patent aim svas one of general or specific antagonism to this or that secular or religious authority . Unfortunately to-day abroad the contest is embittered beyond the

' outcome of any preceding period . But until the Roman Catholic authorities can learn to distinguish betsveen English and -Continental Freemasonry , until their spiritual head and his subordinate officials can condescend to use the language of restraint , courtesy , truth , and charity svhen denouncing Freemasons , the bitter struggle will go on , and it is not

Freemasonry that svill suffer . When Religion , using the losser and baser * language of men , is content to be erratic and vindictive , intolerant and unjust , alike in insinuation and assertion , it loses its vantage ground , it ceases to be listened to svith reverence , it forfeits alike its authority and its influences . For svhile men gladly accept the ss-ords of sympathy , kind

ness , toleration , and goodsvill , the true mind , and love , and sympathy of " our Holy Religion , " they reject the childish if impassioned utterances of sectarian fanaticism , just as they treat svith interest contempt ihe illomened thunders of effete Roman Catholic violence , and the minatory memories and the ancient horrors of that most accursed of human creations , " Tho Inquisition" # tnvilllJltlS / 111

. . ^ WE are rather inclined to agree svith that vivacious Roman Catholic svriter , Mons . PAUL UF , CASSAONAC , that thc numbers and posver of Freemasonry are greatly overrated . Some . Ultramontane and Jesuit svriters " pile up the agony" svith the talc of "initiated millions" seeking to overthrosv the

Roman Catholic Church everywhere . In our opinion such is a pure chimcr-a . In the first place , our numbers have been ridiculously exaggerated ; in the . next place , with the exception of probably France , I taly , Belgium , and Spain , there is no actual or direct collision as betsveen the Roman Catholic Church and Freemasonry . But in these countries Freemasons being under an

" interdict , " and openly accused by Roman Catholic svriters as " rebels and traitors , " ruled by Satanic influences and led by destructive arts , it is no \ s * ondcr that the struggle is perpetual , the antagonism excessive , and the svarfare incessant . We do not like a great deal thc Freemasons , especially in France and Bel gium , nosv put forth nnd

practise , and sve alsvays deplore the position they have taken up , the viesvs they propound , and the propaganda they seem to indulge in . We have said so openly before , sve repeat our opinion to-day , that in so speaking and acting , as to grate upon and exacerbate religious feeling , or the sensibilities and sensitiveness even of religiously-minded

persons , they are doing despite , to every precept of true Cosmopolitan Freemasonry , forgetting alike its real aim , its actual meaning , and , above all , its veritable misuion in the svorld . But here svd stop perforce . Our rightful limits of honest criticism extend no further . We therefore make great allowance for the vehemence of Roman Catholic svriters ; but ss' . e alsvays feel

that before they attack the Freemasons of to-day , such has been their system of unjust persecution , unfounded vilification , and cruel slander , even svhen the F ' reemasons svere in no sense obnoxious to any such charges , that the old proverb mayevennosvbe opportunely and solemnly applied , " Physician , heal thyself . " . ' » *

. * *« ; WE arc amongst those svho deeply deplore the downward progress of the Grand Orient of France . It has since its first unfortunate departure from ' * the landmarks of Cosmopolitan Freemasonry made a succession of false steps , leading necessarily on to others , and here in 1884 it-is again revising

its Constitutions . We are assured , on thc best of authorities , that this succession of changes , ill-advised and revolutionary , is driving from its ranks many of the " elite " of the Order , the elite sve mean of Masonic information , character , and experience , as svell as social respectability , and that the Government of the Order is actually posverless , as Bro . ST . J

once said to a friend of ours it svould be , to resist the influence of the movejnent party . We note svith pain , in many of these illomened propositions of change ( ss'e have svaded through the last bulletin of the Grand Orient of 325 pages ) , thc still pers'ading doctrines of Bro . MASSOL , svhose viesvs and influence sve hold , as they are held by many French brethren , to be utterly

annihilative of French Freemasonry . Things must be bad svhen Bro . DU ' HAMEL , SO svell knosvn and so much respected , thinks it needful to give the solemn svarning , that it will not be long before es-en thc present French Governtnentsvill close thc lodges as secret bodies svhose discussions are hurtful to society and the State ,