Correspondence.

Masonic heart ! Can we uot as a body do something on this behalf ? I think we can . * If only every lodge in the kingdom agreed to espouse the matter , a very handsome sum might soon be raised . "We can surely provide one good lifeboat ! I do not know Avhat the cost might be , but I imagine

a contribution from each lodge of from 2 s . Gel . to 3 s , would be sufficient . If the Grand Secretary or some one of sufficient influence among us would take the trouble to suggest this , with " a long pull , and a strong pull and a pull altogether , " the thing Avould speedily be done . The boat miht most appropriately have conferred

g on it the distinguished name of our ancient Order . Please ventilate the subect , and oblige THE THEEE LEGS OP MAS . St . Manghold , Oct . Sfch , 1866 . '

Lost Votes.

LOST VOTES .

10 THE IDIIOtt OP THE EKEEJIASOXS' MAGAZIJTE ASD MASONIC MIEItOH . DEAE SIE AND BEOTHEE , —Brother Biggs' letter certainly appears to be simply a trumpeting forth of his OAVU great charity and philanthropy , mixed up with a considerable amount of -railing against myself , but with very little bearing on the real question mooted in my letter , to which it professes to be a

reply . Misstatements , erroneous inferences , aud fustian common-place declamation , I would remind your angry correspondent , are not arguments . "What does he mean when he says that I "affect to censure " you ? Where in my letter can he find a word of censureeither on yourself or any one else ? I asked

, you , Sir , a very simple question , in , I believe , a perfectly courteous style . A difference of opinion on a plaiu abstract question as to the mode of canvassing at an election , is not , I apprehend , considered equivalent to a censure amongst ordinary mortals , whatever it may be by some , or at all events , one , of the

moonrakers of "Wiltshire . What , let me ask again , was this preacher of charity thinking of when he branded another with the stigma of slander on the strength of words which that other never used , but which are put into his mouth ; thus , as it were , making his giants first , to have the pleasure of destroying them afterwards ? Where , pray , have I charged " those

who exert themselves with such contemptible egotism as to suppose that all their exertions are simply for the gratification to tell , " & c . The words here quoted are somewhat hazy , but the meaning is obA'ious , and is in no Avay justified or upheld by anything I have said—on the contrary , I have throughout spoken of the brethren referred to in favourable termsand I

, distinctly stated that I did not blame them for anything but want of judgment , which surely any one has the right to do without being stigmatised as a slanderer . But here Bro . Biggs seems to have lost his logic , as well as his temper . He accuses me by implication of a want of charity , and finds fault Avith me because I termed certain active brethren "

busybodies , " as though he thought it a term of reproach , and that it Avas blameworthy to be " busy , " even in good Avorks , a quality on Avhich he almost , in the same breath , pours forth the grateful aroma of his approbation . Some of my most intimate Masonic friends , I may add , are amongst those who take such active parts in canvassing , and you may be assured

that though I think them ill-judging in what they do , I have none but the most friendly feeling towards them , in what I Avrite on the subject , and AA'hich I have , moreover , occasionally discussed Avith them in terms of gentlemanly mutual forbearance and courtesy , " agreeing to differ" Avhere our opinion did not coincide . Alas ! how different is a discussion

with Bro . Biggs ! He does not apparently see the drift of my argument , which is that the collection or large accumulation of votes , by active canvassers , on behalf of any one candidate , must he and is , an abstraction of a similar number from some one or more otthe other candidates who miht otherwise have obtained them

g from disinterested aud uneanvassed voters , solely in consideration of their claims . For instance , I have , as is most probable , no personal knowledge of any of the candidates . Well , I carefully look over the list of candidates , and find that Jemima "Wiggens is one of twelve childrenand that her Avidowed mother has

, literally nothing but her two hands to support herself and them . Naturally , I resolve to give her my votes . Soon afterwards , perhaps , comes my good friend , the busy brother , and solicits my votes for his candidate , Avho is , I find , perhaps , one of three or four children of also a poor and Avidowed mother . The question

now is to which of these shall I give my votes , and I unhesitatingly answer to the former . But many brethren will listen to the seductive accents of the busy canvasser , and so the fitter or most distressed candidate may go to the wall , and the other be Avafted triumphaDtlyinto the school , by the favouring breath

of her active or busy supporter . Bro . Biggs does not seem to be able to comprehend this simple argument , and so he lashes his sides , calls me rich , uncharitable , aud a slanderer . At tins last word he Avaxes magnificent , and like Jupiter Tonans hurling his thunderbolts from Olympus , "burls back the slander to the slanderer . " Very fine is this burst

of his , " in King Cambyses' vein , " but yet savouring , perhaps , a little too much of the style of "Bombastes Furiosi , " and like it , exciting laughter rather than serious thought ; and yet I ought to be serious , for the sentence is finished by a kindly assurauce on the part of the erudite brother that " the Almighty did not make man for his own ( whose own ?) individual

comfort and aggrandisement , " a piece of information so novel and striking that I and all your readers ought surely to be grateful for its announcement . Again , Bro . Biggs in his benevolence recommends me to read St . Paul's Ep istle to the Corinthians , i . 13 , to prevent my again being so uncharitable as to

assume for imaginary persons such offensive names as Wiggens , Spriggens , Snooks , and Popkins . But " Avhat's iu a name , " aud why are the above offensive ? I know at this moment an evnp . llent Mason and his

name is Wiggens , and not very long ago , I remember a brave man of war none the worse for the name of Snooks ; but all this is but trifiiag—let it pass . In the Ep istle of St . Paul , Avhich I am recommended to read , and Avhich , by the Avay , Avas always read at the opening and closing of lodge Avhen I Avas young in Masouryare the folloAving wordsAvhich I in turn

, , would recommend to Bro . Biggs ' s attention when he next comes out iu print : — " Charity vauntetn not itself ; puffeth not itself up ; thinketh no evil . '' I observe that Bro . Biggs pities mo . lie is very kind ; he pities me because 1 have never had the happiness