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ILLUSTRATED .

"Our Newly-Installed Grand Master."

"Our Newly-Installed Grand Master . "

/ TPHE traditions of Freemasons have ever been familiar I with great assemblies of the brethren , brought together from long distances to further the common interests of 17 th July MCMI .

the Craft . Our forefathers svere ' prone to trace the latter-day Grand Lodge back to a mythical Grand Assembly held by PRIXCE EDWIN ' , atiYork , long before the Norman Conquest . All the splendour and prestige , so fondly imagined bv them to dsvell in PRIXCE EDAVIN and his Masons ss-ere more than

realised in the magnificent assemblage of Freemasons , that welcomed the succession of H . R . H . THE DUKE OF COXNAUGHT to the symbolic throne , svhich has just been sweated by His Most Gracious Majesty KING EDWARD VII ., on his accession to the actual Throne of the most posverful Empire the world has es-er seen .

The great gathering , viewed solely as a concourse of human beings , presented a magnificent spectacle , svhich even the most unobservant onlooker could not pass Avithout notice , by reason of its mere magnitude and cohesiveness . Nor could curiosity fail to be aroused as to the motives that could collect such numbers , and the methods that could ensure such orderly

arrangements . The interest of the intelligent onlooker svould not be lessened , when he came to consider the component units that made up the gathering . The very newspapers of the day , unconnected svith the Craft and uninformed as to its inner

ceremonies , took note of the sturd y , stalwart , and thoroughgoing demeanour of the thousands of obvious strangers who thronged the roads to the Royal Albert Hall on that sultry July afternoon . Whether these wayfarers came from the North or the South , from the East or the West , there ran through them that indefinable air of kinship that distinguishes

men associated in responsibility , who osve their position to the exercise of those sterling qualities svhich even our enemies allow to Englishmen . We Freemasons grosv so used to the quiet routine of our lodges , matured by the reverent practice of generations ,

that sve take as natural sequences many customs and events that appear to the unintiated suprising efforts . So they would be , if they svere to be considered as isolated acts of omission or of commission . For herein

lies the strength of our Brotherhood . Every man svhom the Fraternity of Freemasons accepts as a brother becomes a spoke in a mighty wheel . Whether he likes it or not , he is carried round in a circle that has neither break nor gap in its inculcation of loyalty , its incitement to sympathy ,

and its practice of benevolence . Whatever was his inducement to proffer himself as a candidate for Freemasonry , he finds himself inevitably brought into more kindly touch svith his fellow-men . He cannot ignore the lessons enforced at every turn , and e \ 'en the most inactive member contributes to the momentum of the mighty moving mass .

The Especial Communication of Grand Lodge convened for the Installation presented features of its own that call for remark , quite apart from the general considerations sve have sketched above . The very possibility of holding a Grand Lodge under such conditions might Avell give pause to the Rulers of the Craft . For every individual admitted to that

vast building must be a Freemason , known and vouched , and the aggregate to be thus sifted amounted to ten thousand . No more stringent test of the Grand Tyler ' s department could be devised , and its successful application involved the unwearied co-operation of a host of willing workers , an army in themselves .

But it svas not for mere numbers alone that the Especial Communication challenged attention . This ss'as not an assemblage of the rank and file of the Craft . Every brother present had made his mark in our organisation , and had been adjudged by his fellows to merit advancement . ' All these picked representatives of the Craft svere moved by one feeling

and actuated b y one motive , to do homage to the Royal brother svhom they had elected to rule over them . Truly , it is worth while to be the chosen chief of such a Body . The Communication svas of those that mark an epoch . It stands as a landmark whereby to gauge our progress under

the sway of the most popular and the most influential Grand Master that ever ruled the Craft . During the twenty-six years that followed the election of H . R . H . THE PRIXCE OK WALES to the Grand Mastership in March , 1875 , the number of lodges on our register has been doubled , and the sums

subscribed to the various Charities have amounted to the enormous total of £ 1 , 750 , 000 . What need of saying more ?

Such unexampled affluence brings some risks in its train . But our main danger is not over-prosperity , but overpopularits ' . We can trust the men svhom we saw at the Royal Albert Hall svith the administration of our millions . But Ave must harden our hearts against the admission of candidates svho in any way fall short of the moral and social

qualifications that have made our organisation svhat it is . Above all , Ave must guard against the introduction into our Brotherhood of political or sectarian bias . This is the danger that was pointed at by the R . W . Pro Grand Master in the eloquent address with which he installed the Grand Master

in his high office . With the courage born of administrative experience , the Pro Grand Master thought it his duty to utter a word of warning against , the so-called Freemasonry of the Continent that degrades the Lodge-room into a conspirators ' den . There is no use in shirking the matter ; many experienced brethren are convinced that the boast of the

universality of Freemasonry is too dearly bought by the retention within the fold of certain Grand Lodges of Southern Europe .

The installation of H . R . H . DUKE OF COXXACGHT was the most imposing ceremony that a Freemason can hope lo see during a life-time . But no brother present in that vast gathering svould wish to be present again at a ceremony precisely similar in every respect—for that svould imply the

installation of a nesv Grand Master . We do no more than put into words the earnest desire of every Freemason throughout the British Empire , that such length of days may be granted to our Newly-installed Grand Master that no fresh selection may fake place during the present generation . So mote it be !