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ffioittmts . — PAGE FBEEMASOSS' MAGAZINE .- — Freemasonry and tho War 181 Ought a Freemason to Shield a Brother who has committed a Crime ? 1 S 2 Is Masonry a Religions System ? 181

Stray Notes on theLivevy Companies 180 Masonic Jottings—No . CO 188 Masonio Notes and Queries 188 Correspondence 189 Reviews 190 Sayings and Doings Abroad 100 Grand Orient de France 101 MASONIC MIEROK : —

Masonic Meins 192 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys—Annual Festival 192 CEAET LoDfll ! MliETIXGS : — Metropolitan 191 Provincial 195 INDIA : — Royal Arch—District Grand Chapter of Bengal 197 Public Amusements 199

List of Lodge , & _ ., Meetings for ensuing week 200 Notice to Correspondents 200 LOSDOS ; SATTJJIDAY , 3 UJB . QU 11 , 1871 ,

Freemasonry And The War.

FREEMASONRY AND THE WAR .

Afc the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge on Wednesday , 1 st ins ... the Earl of Carnarvon j acting M . W . G . M ., said lie had a communication to uiake , ol " considerableimportance to the Craft , and he trusted to secure the entire concurrence

of the Grand Lodge in bhe news AA'hich he should lay before them . On the ISfch of February last , in a Masonic periodical * which his Lordship named , there appeared a letter from a brother , resident in Somersetshire , in reference to the unhappy war

that ivas then talcing' place in Europe befciveen France and Prussia . That letter v ? as a very short one , but it ivas accompanied by a protest against the course that ivas then pursued by the King of Prussia and his army against Prance . He could

not say that , it ivas undesirable for him to read j that letter , or the protest Avhich accompanied it , on account ofthe terms in which they were couched . Ib ivas sufficient for him ( the Earl of Carnarvon ) to say that they were written in a very strong and

excited strain , and he thought that the tone of them was very univise , and that the writer would have beeu wiser and more prudent had he let such a protest alone , as the publication of such a

document Avas calculated to bring forth feelings of anger and ill-will ; and that appeared soon to be the result , for only a few days afterwards , Avhich was ou the 21 st of February , the Grand Secretary received a letter from a German brother , dated from Liepsic , complaining of the letter and protest , but at the same time his letter Avas Avritten in a

not less excited manner than the letter of which he complained . Amongst other things , this German brother , writing from Liepsic , called from the Grand Lodge of England a repudiation of the paper which had published the letter and protest .

However , he ( the Earl of Carnarvon ) held that neither the Grand Lodge , the Grand Master , or any other of the constituted Masonic authorities , were to be held responsible for what appeared in that paper . The paper ivas allowed , as it stated

on its title-page , to publish reports of the proceedings of Grand Lodges , with the sanction of the Grand Master , on the undertaking that those reports were accurate ; but there was no resoonsibilifcy on the Grand Master in any degree for that contained in the body of that paper .

Therefore , m the first instance , ' he wished to state that the Grand Master took no responsibility as to correspondence or any other articles in the bod y of that paper . He did not think , however , that he should be fulfilling his duty if he ( the Ear ] of

Carnarvon ) was to stop there . In considering this letter and protest he ivas not guided by sympathy for one side or the ' other , for that was beside the question , for it ivas a privilege for all writers to hold whatever political opinions they pleased ,

provided they adopted the proper time and the proper place for doing so ; but Masonry ivas not the proper place for doing so . In a periodical that confined itself to Masonic matters it was not only not desirable , but it AV . IS quite wrong that political matters should be introduced into it . It

ivas wrong , but it was specially unmasouic , for it was calculated to engender feelings of enmity and strife . It AVUS opposed to all Masonic feelings , for there ivas no principle more distinctly laid down and adhered to in this country , than that Masonry

held itself aloof from politics , and , neither directly nor indirect ! }' , sanctioned any one in meddlinowith them . If that was true as regarded Freemasonry in this country , it ought to be equallyfollowed or refrained from in regard to foreign politics . He felt it to be his duty to bring this matter under the notice of the Grand Lodge , and