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ILLUSTRATED .

Freemasonry And The War.

Freemasonry and the War .

THE humanising influence of Freemasonry has rarely received a more effective and touching exemplification than is contained in a communication , which we print in another column from one of the Boer prisoners at St . Helena . It is hardly conceivable to the lay mind that in

the midst of one of the bitterest and most severely contested struggles in which this country has been engaged , the relations between the Brotherhood should have been so little disturbed as to permit of such a complete fraternisation of the two peoples under the peaceful canopy of the lodge . No more convincing evidence of the universality of the Craft has ,

to our minds , been forthcoming in its history . It is very true that the incident is a small one , and we have no desire to magnify either its teachings or its importance , but it is from such small events that the Craftsmen will find food for thought and hopeful anticipations of the good work which Freemasonry may accomplish in the future . We have reliable records of numberless instances when , even in the stress and fury of actual combat ,

a sudden revelation of the mystic symbol has proved a more effective shibboleth than that of sects or creeds , but the emotions thus brought into play , although touching and hopeful indications of the influence of Alasonic teaching on the individual , are not of that abiding and permanent nature which this object lesson from St . Helena reveals to us . We

have no quixotic faith in any panacea for the subjucation of human passions , and we must sorrowfully confess that , Alasonry notwithstanding , the time when the lion shall lie down with the lamb is apparently as distant as when this happy pre-vision of universal peace was first revealed to the world , but the aspirations of mankind are surely , if slowly , trending to

humanitarianism , not the least of the signs of such a tendency being the more kindly treatment of those whom the fortunes of war has thrown on our hands . South Africa will in the future afford a wide field for the

exercise of all those virtues which we are taught in our beautiful ritual to admire , and whatever may be the political outcome of the struggle , Freemasonry may be trusted to take its full share in the work of pacification and in practical efforts to relieve distress and to re-unite the scattered elements of peace and goodwill .

The fund for the relief of those amongst our brethren who have suffered loss of home and means of living , has already been of incalculable benefit . Owing its existence in the first place to the efforts of our R . W . Bro . GEORGE RICHARDS , Provincial Grand Alaster for the Transvaal , it

received , as our readers well remember , the cordial support of our late Alost Worshipful Grand Alaster and of Grand Lodge , with the result that the committee charged with the administration of the fund , has been enabled to afford relief on the spot to many hundreds of our brethren whose urgent need could not otherwise have been met .

The Alasonic future of South Africa was shadowed forth in a speech made by Bro . RICHARDS at the recent meeting of the Empress Lodge in London to celebrate the establishment of the Australian Commonwealth , in which he expressed a hope that South Africa would emulate its sister colonies , and unite in one strong and central government .

That Alasonry would follow the example there could be no shadow of a doubt , and although we are among those who have hitherto discouraged the attempts that have been made in this direction , simply because the situation , as events have proved , was not ripe for such a movement , yet

we feel assured it is only a question of time as to when we shall see both a powerful Commonwealth and a United Grand Lodge in South Africa .

Alterations of the Book of Constitutions have been somewhat frequent in late years , and we can imagine the feelings of the nestors of the Order , who , in framing what in the main is an admirable code of rules for the government of the Craft , could they now see the many alterations and additions

to their handiwork . But in Alasonry , no less than in Other systems , it is wise to conform to the requirements of altered circumstances and modern surroundings , and although we deprecate any tampering with laws that have proved to be all sufficient for their purpose , to satisfy the whims or caprice

of would-be reformers , we think , on the whole , that the alterations are fully justified , and that a useful addition has been made to the laws . At the March Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge an alteration was made in the rules dealing with the election

of the Board of General Purposes which greatly simplifies procedure . At the meeting on the 5 th June , two motions to amend rules were proposed respectivel y by Col . Parkyn , P . G . S . B ., and the Grand Registrar , the former rendering the process of excluding undesirable members more effective ,

and the other giving powers to Provincial Grand Alasters to confer past rank on brethren on proper occasions without the suspending , by vote of Grand Lodge , of the laws relating to such appointments , which , in itself , is an irregular and most undesirable proceeding . Both resolutions were carried without a dissentient voice .