Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

DEATHS . CRUCIFIX . —On the 20 th inst ., at 6 , tlie Grove , Gravesend , in her 90 th year , Jane , widow of the late Bro . Robert Thomas Crucifix , 51 , D ., who was a Past Grand Deacon of England , and Editor of "The Freemasons' Quarterly Review " for several years .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

— - ? CAVALIEB . —We advise you to take no notice of the anonymous scribbler , who applies the offensive word "spurious " to an order of undoubted status in the annals of chivalry . Ex parte statements of that kind arc estimated at their proper value by all impartial minds , and may be safely ignored .

Books Received.

BOOKS RECEIVED .

"Bard and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham , " by Bro . Geo . Markham Tweddell . Published by the Author , at Stokcsley . " Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana , "New Orleans , 18697 " " The Craftsman , " Hamilton , Canada . " The Masonic Monthly , " Boston , U . S . A . " The American Freemason , " Cincinnati , Ohio .

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C|cJreemmit, SATURDAY , JULY 31 , 1869 .

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THB FBEEMASOX is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains . The price of Tun Fni-i-snsoir js Twopence per week ; qnarterly subscription ( incluilinc postage ) 3 s . 3 d . Annual Subscription , 12 s . Subscriptionspayable in advance . Alt communications , letters , < fcc , to be addressed to the KBITOB . 3 & 4 , Little Britain , B . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him , but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage stamps .

Spurious Masonic Bodies.

SPURIOUS MASONIC BODIES .

IN last week ' s FREEMASON we inserted a letter from Brother J . Fletcher Brennan , editor of the American Freemason in which our able confrere expresses his dissent from the views we enunciated with reference to the claims of the

soi-disant Supreme Council of Louisiana . Brother Brennan appears to be under the impression that our opinions were formed from a one-sided and prejudiced statement of the case , and that our article was written mainly in the

interest of tho Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Hite for the Northern and Southern Jurisdiction of the Uuiled States . "We regret tli . it Brother Brennan should deem us so oblivious of our paramount duty as a

journalist as to ignore the manly and Masonic principle of fair play , and we also deplore the assumption that our remarks were made at the instance of Brother Goodall , or any other member of the Thirty-Third degree in America , or elsewhere .

As a justification of our course of action , and in vindication of our views , we must therefore recapitulate certain circumstances which have a bearing upon the subject under discussion . On tho . 11 st May , ISOl , the first or Mother

Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish I lite was opened at Charleston , South Carolina , by Bros . John Mitchell and Frederick Dalclio , and in the year 181 . 1 , a . similar body ¦ was created for the Noithcrn States of America ,

under tbe auspices of thc Southern Council . We have little or nothing favorable to state with regard to the legality of the establishment of these Masonic Jurisdictions ; indeed , a strong impression prevails that their foundation was

based upon a superstructure of falsehood and fraud ; and therefore , we shall hardly be suspected of any undue partiality for tbo system which they represent . But whatever its origin

may have been , the so-called Scottish Rito has found favor in the sight of many brethren who are willing to condone the errors of its founders and to forget the myths circulated respecting Frederick tho Great , in their admiration for one

Spurious Masonic Bodies.

or two degrees—such as the Rore Croix and the Kadosh , which are unquestionably beautiful . A Supreme Council of the Rite having become unfait accompli , and certain laws having been promulgated for the government of its

members , it will be generally admitted that such laws ought to be considered binding upon all who recognise the validity of the authority from whence they emanated . According to the Constitutions of the Ancient

and Accepted Rite , only one Supreme Council , consisting of nine members , can exist in each nation , with the exception of the United States

of America , where two are permitted . The State of Louisiana was formerly a French territory , and a Council of the 33 ° appears to have been legitimately constituted therein .

Upon the cession of Louisiana to the United States , brethren who preferred working Freemasonry under the York Rite iu due time

established a Grand Lodge of Master Masons , and were duly recognised as a legal body by every State Grand Lodge in the American Union .

The Grand Lodge of Louisiana finding that the Supreme Council of the 33 ° exercised the right of making Masons , aud Chartering Lodges in the Craft degrees , entered into a treaty with

the latter potentates , in the year 1833 , by which the power of constituting and administering Symbolic Lodges throughout the limits of the State was vested in the Grand Lodge alone .

After this period , if our information be correct , the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Rite bad become virtually defunct , when a Brother James Foulhouze revived it , and re-assumed the right to constitute Symbolic

Lodges . Foulhouze was disowned b y the French Masonic authorities , and wc believe ultimatel y expelled from the Order , and the Council again fell into abeyance until a certain M . Chassaignac

rehabilitated it in all its former pretensions , including the power of Initiating Freemasons and Chartering Lodges . Against M . Chassaignac ' s intrusion the Grand Lodge of Louisiana protests , and we contend ,

with justice * for if his Council is the legitimate successor of the Council erected under thc French authority , it is bound by the treaty of 1833 to respect the rights and privileges of the Craft Grand Lodge , and has no valid claim to exercise Jurisdiction over Master Masons '

Lodges ; and if it is a self-constituted body , it must be evident that it has no locus standi whatever , and must be considered a spurious and irregular branch of the Masonic Institution . We cannot agree with Brother Hreiinnn iu the distinct !' - > i he draws between the Grand

Lodge of England and Grand Lodges in other Kingdoms or States . The laws of Freemasonry arc universal , and arc no more monarchical in England than they are in Switzerland or America . Looking to the interests of the Craft

itself , wc conceive that the existence of two conflicting nnd jarring Masonic Jurisdictions in one country or dominion , is not only a scandal to tho Fraternity , but an injury to society at large , and to human progress and development

generally throughout the world . The fact that Chassnignac admits colored men to the privileges of Freemasonry , although wc approve of their admission per se , must not be

permitted to weigh with us in his favor , or induce us to overlook his invasion of thc rights secured to thc Grand Lodge of Louisiana by a solemn treaty ; nor should we under any circum-

Spurious Masonic Bodies.

stances be disposed to support the pretensions of any Supreme Council of the 33 ° to dominate over Craft Lodges . The question , we readily admit , has little

interest for English brethren if viewed solely in reference to the working of the so-called Hi gh grades , but it has also a broader and more comprehensive aspect . In stating deliberately our conclusions upon

the subject , we apprehend that they will be found more in accordance with the opinions expressed by Brother Brennan than he is at present disposed to allow , and if our views are based upon erroneous data , we hope our worth y confrere will correct them .

11 o are strongly of opinion that the authorities of the Grand Orient of France have acted injudiciously iu recognising Cliassaignac , after having condemned Foulhouze , and we believe that the Grand Lodge of Louisiana , and the

other governing bodies in tha United States would have merited the contempt of the Cosmopolitan Craft if they had tacitly submitted to the arrogant and unwarrantable assumptions of the pseudo-Supreme Council at New Orleans .

Even from the Ancient and Accepted Rite point of view , we are unable to discern how a Supreme Council can be legally established in any single state of the American Federation , under the existing laws of the Rite .

If the present Constitutions are impolitic , let them be abrogated in- a proper manner , but until then , they should be respected by all who owe , or profess to owe , allegiance to those Statutes . We are therefore unable to side with the

Grand Orient of France in the position it has chosen to take upon tho question , and we consider that the American Grand Lodges have done wisely , and will , in resisting so gross a violation of their rights and privileges as rulers of the Craft .

Obituary.

Obituary .

BRO . JOHN IRVINE HAZLETT , W . M ., LODGE 60 , LONDONDERRY . The members of the Craft in the nei ghbourhood of his mother lodge , and friends generall y , will long regret the Brother who on Thursday , the 15 th inst ., at the early age of 31 years , has passed away from among them . He had but a

short time since filled tho chair of his lodge , No . 6 i ) , and also held office in the Provincial Grand Master ' s Lodge , No . 52 . Bro . Hazlett was a young man of many personal and amiable attractions ; to a prepossessing exterior lie added a well-cultivated

mind , and a gentleness of manner which never forsook him made him universall y beloved . He had only about a month since succeeded to Irs late father ' s estate , and in that short period followed him to tho grave . Ho succumbed to an illness under which he had been

suffering for some years past , aud fell a victim to decline , though no apprehension was entertained of so sudden a termination to its course during the week previous to his death . The funeral procession was largely extended by the carriages of tho gentry of the . surrounding

district , and proceeded at an curly hour from the family residence , Carrownuli ( a beautiful spot on the bunks of Lough Foyle ) towards Londonderry , from which it is distant about IG miles . On arriving within about a mile and a half of tlie town it was met by about fifty of the brethren ,

attired in black with crape armlets , and sprigs of acacia in their breasts , but wearing no other emblems , 'lhey walked three abreast , taking their places immediatel y after the carriages of the relatives of deceased , till the procession arrived at the graveyard gate of the Chapel of

Ease . On reaching this spot the coffin was removed from tho hearse , and borne by four of the Brotherhood to its last resting-place . An appropriate address was delivered by the Rov . William M'Clure , and each brother , before retiriug , cast his sprig of acacia into the open grave .