Notes On American Freemasonry.

regard to the initiation of citizens of other juris - dictions . We respectfully submit , that in our opinion the practice is wrong , unjust to our sister Grand Lodges , and can work no good to us . We therefore recommend that our brethren of this

Grand Lodge take the matter into consideration , with a view to such an amendment of our bye-laws as may set us right in this particular . " Number of Lodges , 16 ; whole number of Masons , 2 , 920 ; number entered , 225 ; passed , 244 ; raised , 289 . ( To le Continued ) .

Ancient Operative Freemasonry, Or Travelling Freemasonry.

ANCIENT OPERATIVE FREEMASONRY , OR TRAVELLING FREEMASONRY .

As early as the time of Solomon , the Tyrian and Sidonian builders travelled to foreign countries to exercise their calling . They visited Judea , and built the temple at Jerusalem . They went to Rome , and furnished the idea and form of the Colleges of

Artists and Builders , whoso history extended through the whole period of the Roman Empire . These Colleges were succeeded by the Building Corporations of the middle ages . All of these societies seem to be identical ,

possessed the same characteristics , especially the practice of travelling from place to place , to erect public buildings , as their services might be needed . They travelled through all the countries of Europe ; the numerous Gothic churches , monasteries and

cathedrals which are there found , are the monuments of their skill . Protected by the charters of the clerical and secular powers , and united in one great society for the construction of each great building , as the cathedrals , & c , these societies

erected those gigantic monuments—many of them larger than the temple of Solomon—generall y termed Gothic , which excite our amazement .

We find these travelling societies everywhere . They were composed of members from Italy , Germany , the Netherlands , France , England , Scotland , and other countries , and united under very similar constitutions ; for instance , at the

erection of the convent of Bathala , in Portugal , about A . D . 1400 ; of the minster of Strasburg , 1015 to 1439 ; that of Cologne , 950 and 1211 to 1365 ; of the cathedral of Meissen , in the tenth century ; of the cathedral of Milan ; the convent of Monte Cassino , and of the most remarkable buildings of the British Isles .

That these societies of travelling builders at last give rise to one , not occupied with actual building —that is to say , speculative Masonry—is demonstrated beyond a doubt . Among their symbols were the square , the plumb , the compasses , which

are among the most important emblems of modern Freemasonry . They held a convention at Ratisbon in 1459 , where it was resolved to constitute a Grand Lodge at Strasburg , ot which the architect of that

cathedral , for the time being , should be , ex officio , the Grand Master . There is extant a copy of the constitutions , charges , rules , & c , of this Fraternity , in Latin , and some of them are almost , verbatim et literatim , the same as many of our own , which we designate " the Ancient Charges . "

An intelligent Freemason , who visited Cologne in 1847 , thus writes : — c * During the interval between 1248 and 1323 , there were not only fifty Masters , and three times as many Fellow Crafts , daily employed , but a large

number of Entered Apprentices , from all parts of Christendom , who had come to study the operative and speculative branches of the art , and who carried away with them the principles which directed the erection of almost every Gothic

monument of the age . After the secession of the Masons from the church , the works were suspended , leaving only the choir , with its side aisle completed . " The structure commenced by the travelling

Masons , six centuries ago , has , within a few years , been finished after the original plan . Another writer , remarking on the same class of builders , says : — " The architects of all the sacred edifices of the

Latin church , whenever such arose—North , South , East , and West—thus derived their science from the same central school ; obeyed in their designsthe hierarchy ; were directed in their constructions by the same principles of propriety and taste ; kept

up with each other , in the most distant parts to which they might be sent , the most constant correspondence ; and rendered every minute improvement the property of the whole body , and as a new conquest of the art . The result of this

unanimity was , that , at each successive period of the monastic dynasty , on whatever point a new monastery or church might be erected , it resembled all those raised at the same period in every other place , however distant from it , as if both had been