Grand Lodge Fund Of Benevolence.

mendation from the Lodge of Benevolence , the same same shall be paid forthwith : but should the vote exceed fifty pounds , it shall not be valid until confirmed at the next Grand Lodge . Any vote or / recommendation for a sum exceeding ten pounds shall not be effectual until confirmed

at the next or a subsequent meeting of the Lodge of Benevolence ; but the Lodge may at once pay any sum not exceeding ten pounds on account of any vote or recommendation of the Lodge exceeding that sum . The Lodge , instead of confirming the grant or recommendation may reduce it to any

sum not less than that which has been paid on account , and the resolution of reduction shall not require confirmation . 17 . These laAvs and regulations shall be read by the Grand Secretary in the months of January , AprilJulyand Octoberprevious to the lodge

, , , entering on business ; and the Master in the chair shall not , on any pretence Avhatever , allow any part of them ta be dispensed with or infringed . To prevent mistakes in the recommendation of petitions , the following form is proposed , which may be altered as circumstances require .

We , the undersigned , being the Master , Wardens , and majority of the members present in open Lodge assembled , of Lodge No . called and held at

this day of IS do hereby certify , that the Avithin-named petitioner hacl been a regular contributing member , paying the stipulated subscription to this Lodge , for the space of yearsand that we have known him in reputable

, circumstances , and do therefore recommend him to the Lodge of BeneA ^ olence for relief , having satisfactory grounds for believing the allegations set forth in his petition to be true .

Freemasonry In France.—(P. 481).

FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE . —( p . 481 ) .

By PICTUS . It has been said , " Scratch a Russian and you Avill find a Tartar , " but I might go further ancl say , generally speaking , " scratch a man and you Avill find a savage . " The cause of saying so is the

remark at page 481 , " The same lodge also brought forward a desire that the subject of universal peace should be advocated by the Masonic body . " NOAV Avhen Ave look around us what do Ave see ? We perceive those nations Avhich are supposed to

be the most highly civilised engaged in a long continued and highly expensive struggle as to Avhich can manufacture the most efficient instruments for the destruction of human life by wholesale . The command of God is , " Thou shalt not kill . " The ambition of man is , " HOAV , Avhen I am angry , shall I best be able to kill ? " Hence

the history hitherto of all nations has been in a great measure taken up with the records of the so-called " glories" of Avar ! Poor glories—beneath the gilding Ave behold the murder , ravishment , despoilment , and ruin of thousands of our

fellow-beings . War is a great curse : more , it is a great dishonour for two civilised nations to be engaged in it . To read that fifty thousand men may be killed , and about as mauy mutilated , in . a feAv hours , is a terrible blot upon our nineteenth

century civilisation : it shows hoAv little progress Ave have made during the last four thousand years , and that human nature , notAvithstanding railways , telegraphs , and steam-engines , is pretty much the same in the nineteenth century A . D ., as it was in

the nineteenth century B . C . We ought to look to this ; surely the time will come when at least civilised nations Avill be able to settle their differenceswithout murdering thousands of each other ' s subjects . We call ourselves Christians , but as yet

hoAv SIOAV has been our progress in practical Christianity ?—which is " Peace on earth ancl good will i-. r \ m /_ n-i ¦ '¦ '

The foregoing remarks were written a feAv weeks ago , and in the interim AA'hat a change has come over the face of Europe ! The man has been scratched , and immediately we behold the savage . A spark of jealousy takes root , and it springs

forth into wrath , bloodshed , and vengeance . In a few hours Ave may read of thousands of our felloAv men being slaughtered — offered up a holocaust of human victims to that insatiable Moloch , the horrid god of Avar . The summer sun

has oft looked smiling on , pursuing its peaceful , genial course , Avhile man—civilised ., yet savage man—has been dyeing tho fields with the blood of his fellows . When is this blot upon our

humanity to end ? Surely there will come a time when such disgraceful deeds Avill cease . The " subject of universal peace , " which our French brother alludes to , must , if real civilisation is to advance , yet command our best attention and our

utmost support . We look for the spread of education amongst the masses to assist iu bringing this on . It is not among the army , or its friends , that the idea of universal peace Avill be supported ; no , for there the ensign calculates upon the death

ofhis lieutenant to raise him a step , the lieutenant thinks his captain may be killed , and so on . In time of Avar there is great " glory " to be gained , and a quicker adA'nnce to a higher post . In short , it is a great lottery , and a high post the prize of