Masonic Sayings And Doings Abroad.

throw all religion by destroying Christianity , and of course appeals to the secular arm to intervene by working on the fears of rulers , because , as he says , " if the altar is destroyed the thrones will share the same fate . " It is the old story of about

a century since revived . The Eomish clergy are incessantly crying wolf against our Order , but with what success is patent to the world . PROPOSED MASONIC CONGRESS . —Some of the German Masonic papers have been advocating a

Masonic Congress for the purpose of settling many differences of opinion on Craft subjects and working . Its promoters , however , wish to confine it to the most narrow limits possible , ruthlessly excluding all Catholic systems of Freemasonry and

substituting their own version of the three degrees . The Eoyal Arch and Mark are thrown overboard , as well as the high grades , and , in consequence , it does not appear likely—even if it should take eifect—to realise any good for cosmopolitan

Freemasonry . It has found an able ancl warm opponent in Bro . Dr . Zille , whose objections to it are founded on its tendency towards a centralising

power which would accrue to those who propose it , and naturally tend to contract the basis on which a wide-spread recognition of Freemasonry , in all its varieties and shapes , obtains footing amongst the more enlightened portion of the

Order in all lands . FREEMASONRY AND SPIRITUALISM . —A journal entitled "Light for Air- ' has recently appeared in France . It is conducted by a brother who has attained to the degree of Eose Croix , and , it

seems , has been so captivated by mediums ancl such gentry that he has seriously commenced tins undertaking to prove that Spiritualism is superior to Freemasonry ! Of course it is perfectly open to any brother to broach his views on any portion

of the subject ; but it is deplorable to find a man , otherwise of keen sense , a good writer , and a clever author , led away by the delusions of Spiritualism . Freemasonry has its mysteries , but they have an object , which cannot be said of

Spiritualism . The latter is totally beneath notice , and it is to be regretted so many have been unsettled in their minds , for life , by its baneful and absurd pretensions .

BED-TAPE AT A PREMIUM . —If we could ever be brought to believe that a Mr . Deputy Chaffwax Was in any way useful to Freemasonry , it would be in the case of the Order in Italy . That such an individual would be " a real blessing to

brothers" in the sunny South there can be no two opinions . At Florence there has been a conference extending over four days , two sittings each , at which some seventy Italian lodges were represented , composed of forty under the Ancient

and Accepted Eite , and thirty under the Italian Eite . On the second day the brethren of the Litter took themselves off en masse , and assignee . little or no reason for so doing . The remainder set to work with a will , ancl almost unanimously

declared they had come to " a conclusion , on the following points , viz ., the absolute ancl entire liberty of each rite to its own fundamental constitution ; the separation of the dogmatic from the administrative power ; an annual election of one Grand Master for Freemasonry , of every grade ,

which should take place in the capital of the kingdom , and have his seat of Government there . That forty lodges of the Eite Ecossais and forty lodges of the Eite Italian should , by their representatives , form the Grand Orient of Italy , and

that there should be a general toleration and reform in Freemasonry . They then proceeded to elect General Garibaldi the Grand Master of Italy , and this was carried with but five votes against him . Bro . Francois de Luca was also elected

President of the Grand Orient . Most peojile would imagine the situation to be promising ; but no , in a second it seems all to have been blown to the winds . Bro . Garibaldi resigned . Well , we should suppose another Grand Master

could be found ; and so he was ; Bro . Buscaloni succeeded to that high office , and no sooner had he got there than he vanished , ancl gave place to Bro . Mariani . We have since lost sight of him , too , and find some one else elected , or

appointedno one can tell by whom—to the Provisional Grand Eegent . This brother , too , has suffered an eclipse , and all that we can make out for certain from the confused notices which reach us , is ,

that there are seventy lodges in Italy , and some hundreds or thousands of brethren ; but beyond knowing that there are Freemasons there we entirely fail to discover any ruling power , or know who ' s who . With such a state of things a

thorough red-tapist would be an invaluable boon to the Italian brotherhood . He might be slow , and it might take a generation or two to get the materials into working order ; but if they could only secure the services of such a Grand Master ' s Master , the whole , perhaps , would come right in the long run . There is a European Grand Lodge ,