Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

XEGKO LODGES AXU BEETHEEX . At a time like the present , when the American President Lincoln has politely intimated to the negroes that the } ' had better migrate from the civilised portions of America towards the unexplored tracts , the feeling with which , even as brother Masons , they are regarded will be best shown by the subjoined documents , extracted

from a Grand Lodge correspondence in 1 S 59 . —Ex . Ex . SIR WALTEE . ItAI / EIGII . Wanted proofs of Bro . Dr . Oliver ' s assertion that Sir Walter Raleigh was a brother , —a High Grade Mason ? First contribution : —• " Give me my scallop , shell of quiet ,

My staff of faith to walk upon ; My scrip of joy , immortal diet ; My bottle of Salvation . My gown of glory ( hopes true guage , ) Ancl then I'll take my pilgrimage . " —A .

liAJIEUEGIT . [ Extracted from a report of the New York Committee on Foreign Correspondence . ] "Imperious circumstances require , at the hands of your Committee , a notice of the very singular movements of this tody . It will he remembered that the Grand Lodge of Hamburgh has two subordinates in this city , which were chartered by that body several years ago . The Grand Lodge of New

York , by its Grand Master , in a very respectful and fraterna , communication , explained to that body our constitutional rules prohibiting the organisation of lodges in this jurisdiction , by any other Grand Lodge whatever , and fraternally requested the withdrawal or revocation of these charters . To this communication a reply was made by Hamburgh , that they had a right to issue these charters , and they should persist in their continuance . New York thenafter remonstrating against the actas

, , an unwarranted invasion of our jurisdictional rights , and opposed to the policy of the Grand Lodges in the United States generally , declared the Hamburgh subordinates irregular ancl clandestine , ancl forbade all Masonic intercourse with the members of those bodies , and suspended all intercourse with the parent body iu Europe , ancl its constituents . This action was seconded by our sister Grand Lod throughout the Unionancl

ges , resolutions were adopted by some of them of greater stringency , if possible , than had been adopted by the Grand Lodge of New York ; so that now no Hamburgh Mason can obtain admission to a regular lodge in this country . This course was demanded by the necessities of the case . All other means had been

exiiausted to persuade that body to withdraw its charter , without avail . To have tamely submitted to this violation of our territorial rights , would have destroyed the sovereignty of the Grand Lodges in their respective jurisdictions , spread dissension , conflict ancl turmoil among tho Fraternity , and would have ultimatel y dissolved the Grand Lodges . The Grand Lodge of Hamburgh , seeming to be . conscionsof the great wrong they are inflicting the Fraternitnot onlof New Yorkhut of tho

upon y , y , United States , have adopted a system of reprisals , in retaliation of her supposed grievance , that is unheard of in the history of Jiasonry . We have received , through tho Grand Secretary , wore our able , faithful , and indefatigable representative , near ™ e Grand Lodge of Saxony , at Dresden , the R . W . Bro . Von -Uettsch , several communications detailing-these facts , and giving an account of his own doings in the premises .

-The first is a report of the transactions of the Grand Lodge « Hamburgh for the 6 th of May , 1858 , which reads as follows , JW' - ~ 'The Grand Lodge of Hamburgh beg leave to submit to toe consideration of those sister Grand Lodges in Europe , more Ultimatel y connected with u matter of general importance , requesting them to report their opinion , what action in relation thereto might be to be takenaud which at the

, necessary , same time might be calculated to meet the approbation of a majority < w them . There exists iu some the States of North America , titles the lodges at Hayti , many independent lodges of coloured ^ fie ( negroes , mulattoes , & c ., ) as , for instance , " in Massachusetts , New York , Pennsylvania , Ohio , New Jersey , Maryland , ' ¦ y . They are united under Grand Lodges under the jurisdiction of a National Grand Lochre of America . We know little

about them , because they are declared by the North American Grand Lodges as clandestine lodges , ancl all Masonic intercourse with them is strictly forbidden . Their origin is unknown . The African lodge at Boston insists upon having obtained its charter from the Grand Lodge of England ; this is , however , doubtful . According to an assertion of some of our German brethren , who have , free from prejudice , visited Negro lodges in New York , they could find nothing tending to prevent them from

pronouncing- these lodges jnsfc and perfect . In North America , however , in the land of boasted liberty , a negro or mulatto , in short , any person in whose veins a single drop of coloured blood runs , be he twice as righteous , honest , well educated , talented , and scientific , is considered nn outcast , and all intercourse with such person is regarded as a disgrace . The prejudice against coloured leeven in those States not counted as slave States ,

peop , and where none but free negroes live , as , for instance , in the State of New York , is of such a nature that no white person would sit down with a negro at the same table , or travel with one in the same stage . That even our American brethren are not free from this prejudice is a fact well known and deeply to be regretted . In the transactions of the Grand Lodge of New York ( Willard ) for 1 S 55 the question whether coloured persons

, , could be admitted as Masons was regarded as a monstrous proposition , and unworthy of discussion . At tho Masonic . Convention in Paris , in 1 S 55 , Bro . Cummings , representative of Washington , insinuated that the European lodges , in consideraliou of the condition in America , might be induced not to admit negroes ; this insinuation was , however , rejected . Under these prejudical circumstances on the part of

the North American Grand Lodges , it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that coloured lodges and coloured Grand Lodges never will be recognised by them . But are the Grand Lodges of Europe , where such prejudices are unknown , thereby bound to deny the legitimacy of a great number of otherwise just and lawful lodges , and to refuse their brethren admittance into our lodges because they are of a darker colour ? The fact that a Grand Lodgo of a negro State—that of Hayti , with its subordinates—has been recognised by most of the European Grand Lodges as a legal Grand Lodge , and that its representative at the Masonic Convention at

Paris has been accredited , and furthermore and in particular the fact that this Grand Lodge is enumerated as such on the list of Prussian Grand Lodges is sufficient proof that such a prejudice has no existence in European Grand Lodges . The Grand Lodge , of another negro State , that of the Republic of Liberia , in Africa , although too young yet and too little known , may , in the course of time , rely upon being recognised by the European Grand Lodges as weil as that of Hayti " . As to the Grand

Lodges and their subordinates of coloured people , the North American Grand Lodges might appeal to a monopoly , according to which only one Grand Lodge can legally exist in one and the same State ; and no lodge can legally exist in such State without the sanction of the Grand Lodge thereof . This monopoly has been created by common consent , and is not founded , as , for instance , in Prussia , on a demand of the Government . The Grand Lodge of Hamburghin consequence of having- been

re-, gardless of this monopoly , as far as i : concerns German lodges , came in conflict with them . On this ground the right of discussing tho propriety of such monopoly might tho Grand Lodge at Hamburgh be denied ; but here it must be premised that this action of the Grand Lodge at Hamburgh has only reference to such lodges , which , if they had been disposed to join the Grand Lodge of the Statewouldundoubtedlyhave been rejected by

, , , the same on the supposition that tho members of such lodges were unlit for reception . When American lodges , in respect to a general prejudice prevailing there , deem it proper to reject coloured persons ; when they refuse members of coloured lodges admittance , forbidding at the same time all Masonic intercourse with them , they may , politically , bo iu the right , but not Masonically , and cannot expect European lodges to agree with

them on this point . The connection of Europe with other parts of the world , increasing from year to year , demands a discussion of this question , which ere long may be submitted to the consideration of each European lodge , in particular to lodges in seaports and in Germany , hut to the lodges at Hamburgh . The Grand Lodge at Hamburg will , at its next convention , make this question the topic of deliberation , relying thereby upon tho support of his sister Grand Lodges , desiring them to communicate their views and intentions in respect to the recognition of the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Libera , in Africa , but in particular in respect to the lodges and Grand