Masonry And The Civil War In America.

The badge of the Craft is unsullied as yetl-h-oni Avar ' s dust and blood let us fold it ; The page of our history , brilliant with light , We swear thus in honour to hold it ! Then raise up to God , & c . Great God ! from the heavens view the nations at strife ThGavel st still

y mu the disorder . Send peace o'er the land ; give rescue and life ; .. Be thou , Lord , our Saviour and Warder ! Then raise up to God , & e .

The Masonic Charities And Public Schools.

THE MASONIC CHARITIES AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS .

• 10 TIIE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRKOIt . DEAJI Sin AND BROTHER , —I exceedingly regret that my absence from home prevented my giving an immediate reply to the letter of a Bro . " P . M . of Three Provinces" which appeared in your issue of the Sth inst . It seems that your correspondent takes exception to my remarks on public schools of ancient dateon the ground

, that my statements are inaccurate , and unmasonic . As to their inaccuracy , I am much obliged to my W . M . for promptly rectifying an error which had slipped into the hastily-written report . I am quite prepared to stand by my remarks as corrected , and to maintain their veracity by extracts from documents of undeniable authority . The two institutions to which I more particularl

y referred , as instances of the perversion of the intentions of the founders , were Christ ' s Hospital , Loudon , aud St . Mary ' s Collage , Winchester . As to the former the facts are so notorious , and have been so recently discussed in the public journals , that I feel I should be unjustifiably occupying your valuable space were I to enlarge upon them .. The case of the Winchester Collage is not so well

known , and I take the liberty of citing a few facts for the information of our Bro . " P . M . in Three Provinces . " Dr . Williams , late warden of New College , Oxford , and previously Second Master of Winchester College , gave the following evidence before a committee appointed by the House of Commons to enquire into the education of the lower orders : — " By the statutes all and singular to be elected upon the College are to be poor and indigent . Tho boys upon the foundation are principally gentlemen ' s sons .

The construction put by the authorities of the college , on the statutes of the founders , goes to show that the children of all the nobility and landed proprietors in England , with very few exceptions , belong to the class of poor and indigent , in consequence of their not being possessed of property during the life-time of their parents . " And , in this way , as I stated , is the founder ' s plan entirely

wrested from its original purpose . I would ask our Bro . "P . M . in Three Provinces , " for what purpose did William of Wykeham found and endow this college ? Was it for the convenience of the rich or for the benefit of the poor ? As are Christ's Hospital and Winchester College , so is , to a greater of less extent , nearly every foundation school in the country .

But a " P . M . in Three Provinces" objects that this is ^( by implication ) an attack on the government of the country , and therefore " a quarrel about state feeling . " Is our worthy brother ignorant that Governments of ¦ every shade of political opinion have again and again acknowledged the abuses of charities , that from tho last wear of Queen Elizabeth down to the Charitable Trusts

Act of 1853 , Parliament has repeatedly attempted to apply -a , remedy , and that even last session a commission was appointed to enquire into the arrangement of our public schools ? Through what distorting medium does a ¦ " P . M ., in Three Provinces" view the well-meant remarks of a Bro . Mason , when he can pervert a simple allusion to admitted facts into an attack upon the Government and a violation of the antient charges ? My remarks were intended to shoiv that if the proposed new rules with

The Masonic Charities And Public Schools.

respect to the admission of Boys to the Boyal Masonic School be carried , that noble institution will eventually share the fate which has befallen schools of equal benevolence and greater antiquity . The simple arithmetical calculation that whilst the expenditure of each boy is over thirty-four pounds per year , and each boy can be retained in the institution seven asingle

years , , presen tation can be purchased for one hundred and twenty , . fuineas , and a life presentation for one hundred and fty guineas , has , no doubt , convinced our worthy brother that the transaction must be a burden on the funds of the institution . I am Dear Sir and Brother , Yours fraternally .

W . BIGGS , P . M ., 217 , 961 , 90 . Prov . S . G . W . TO THE EDITOR 01 ? THE FEEEMASONs' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIREOE . DEAR Sin A- * BCTIIEK , —I am sorry to inflict another letter upon you ; but . although I clo not intend to maintain a controversy the subject of former

comupon my munication , yet I think I may fairly ask for an opportunity of correcting the false issue upon which the W . M . of No . 90 seems disposed to rest his defence—a slight correction of your report , and a few facetious witticisms upon the language of my former letter , forming tbe whole extent of his reply , as published in the last MAGAZINE . The real question is this . Did the P . M . state that the

public schools of England have been diverted from the intention of their founders , and the poor wronged by the managers of these institutions , especially in the instances of Winchester College and Christ ' s Hospital ? If he did not use these expressions , a much more serious correction of your report is necessary , otherwise his speech was , if not unfounded , assuredly unmasonic .

Suppose the W . M . 's letter to be the criterion of debate in No . 90 , some brother might find occasion to state in open lodge his views on the temporalities of the Established Church ; another might introduce an apt allusion to the superiority of a peaceful to a warlike policy on the part of our Government—in fact , there is no debateable question in church or state which miht not be introduced

g under the convenient excuse of its connection with the principle involved in the discussion . The signature which I have adopted ( and which moves the wrath of the W . M . ) , I have used to designate some slight Masonic experience , ancl in the course of fourteen years ( in London ancl the provinces ) I never heard the introduction of extraneous topics permitted by any W . M .

I have , however , discharged my conscience , and here must end the earnest remonstrance of A P . M . OP THREE PROVINCES . April 14 , 1862 .

TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS * MAGAZINE AMD MASONIC MIRROR . Sat . AJTD BBOTID-E , —In reply to P . Z . 's correspondence which appeared in your last MAGAZIXE of April 12 th , the said Archer as First Principal of the Third Chapter of Ireland , acted with strict conformity to the law , regulations , and constitutions of the Grand Chapter of Ireland , by conferring those degrees mentioned by P . Z . previous

to arching , and for further information , I beg to inform him there is no similarity in the ritual working of the Irish Chapters and a London Chapter under the warrant of tho Grand Chapter of England . The titles and names of officers and the era are different . By a recent decision of the Grand Chapter , a chapter is ruled by the H . P . as 1 st P . ; the King , 2 nd P . ; and the C . S ., 3 rd P ., assisted

by six subordinate officers , independent of Chaplain , Organist , Treasurer , Registrar , Inner and Outer Guard . I remain , Sir ancl , Brother , yours fraternally , J . T . ARCHER , H . P . of the Key Stone , Third Chap , of Ireland ; P . G . S . and P . Z ., 25 Chap , of England . Cork , 14 th April , 1862 .