Cokbesponmince.

to pay my account at the time . Besides , I never applied for the said fee , but it was given me freely from the first , and I felt no reluctance , on the score of justice , to continue receiving it ; no objection has ever been made to it , as far as I know , but from one Brother at Gravesend , in the year 1853 , when the Prov . G . M . was referred to on the subject , who having never himself objected to the fee in question , wrote the following note : — " No . 12 , New Square , Lincoln ' s Inn , 27 th May , 1853 . " Deae Sir and Brother , —As no notice of motion has been given in reference

to the amount of the fee which has been usually paid the Grand Chaplain for his service on the day of our festival , I do not see how the question may be mooted . Be assured , however , that I am quite indisposed to make any alteration in such a point ; first , because the fee appears to me not unreasonable ; and , next , because it has been approved by my predecessors . " Very truly and fraternally ,

" Rev . D . Joines . " " Chas . Burton Cooper . " Now I cannot reconcile this note with the language of the Prov . G . M . reported to have been uttered on the day of the annual festival at Dartford , 16 th of June , ult . : — " It had been represented that he had treated the Prov . G . Chap , with disrespect , in objecting to the fee he had been accustomed to receive for his sermon , on the annual meeting of the Prov . Grand Lodge , and he therefore craved the

attendance of Bro . Owen on this occasion ; he believed the payment of the Prov , G . Chap , to be without precedent , but he had decided at present not to fill up that appointment . " Under all these circumstances I have reason to complain that the Prov . G . M . has been unkind and un-Masonic towards me ; if he had wished me to resign ,

why did he not openly and candidly tell me so *? and I should have done it with the greatest readiness ; but to be displaced , in the uncourteous way I have been , could not be looked for nor expected from the director of an institution which has been always noted for brotherly love , friendly feelings , and all the amiable virtues that adorn human nature . I feel displeased , and convinced that I have been undeservedly treated with great want of candour and respect in this instance .

I am , Sir , yours respectfully , Greenwich , David Jones , B . D ., 29 th July , 1856 . * Chaplain to the Marine Society and the Greenwich Union .

GRAND CHAPTER . TO THE EDITOR OP THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Dear Sir and Brother , —At a Convocation of the Grand Chapter last May , a motion for reducing the time between the M . M . ' s Degree and exaltation to that of Royal Arch was carried . Another Convocation was held on the 6 th ult ., and that portion of the minutes of the May Convocation relating to the reduction of the time between the aforesaid Degrees was not confirmed .

Before , however , I enter into any analysis of the arguments advanced for the non-confirmation of that portion of the minutes , I must say something on the subject of the imperious necessity that exists for some regulations to he adopted to provide , for the information of all the Chapters in England , what business is to be brought forward in Convocation . Surely , Mr . Editor , it cannot be right that any question of importance should be decided by so few ( thirteen ) f as I am credibly informed were present in the Convocation . Why , the very paucity of the numbers present was sufficient to invite opposition from those who are disposed to

* This was not received until after the publication of our last number . — [ Ed . F . M ] + Our correspondent is mistaken in his number . It was thirteen below tin ; dais—about thirty in all . —I "Ed . F . M ' \