Notes On American Freemasonry.

NOTES ON AMERICAN FREEMASONRY .

( Continued from page 523 ) . WEST VIRGINIA . At the fourth grand Annual Communication of

• the M . W . Grand Lodge of the State of West "Virginia , M . W . William J . Bates , Grand Master , delivered the annual address . He gives it as his opinion , " That no case ought to be made one of ' emergency ' , except when the

candidate is in the Navy or Army , and liable at any moment to be peremptorily ordered to a distant field of duty . * * * In all other cases the petition must lie over one month before a ballot can be taken . And it is to be hoped , that

where from any cause except as above stated , the friends of a candidate suggest applying for authority to confer the degrees at once , that Masters of Lodges will promptly refuse to permit such , applications to be made . "

He then discusses at great length the difficulties existing between the Grand Lodge of Virginia and that Grand Lodge , and contends that the various steps by which that Grand Lodge was organized Avere legally and regularly taken , yet is

Avell assured that to be fully recognized by their old mother , the Grand Lodge of Virginia , would he a subject of the most sincere gratification . Whilst speaking ou this subject , he remarks :

" Some time since an individual was initiated into Wheeling Lodge , No . 5 , and before receiving . the other degrees removed to the city of Philadelp hia . Being desirous to be advanced , he applied to Wheeling Lodge , No . 5 , for permission to have

the degrees conferred by one of the Lodges in Philadelphia . This permission Avas , of course , granted at once , aud Avas sent to him under seal of the lodge . But it was not recognized , for the reason , as he was told , that West Virginia Lodges

were regarded as irregular , and their members not permitted to visit lodges in Philadelphia , Tbecause the Grand Lodge of West Virginia was not acknowledged by the Grand Lodge of Virginia . " On applying to the Grand Master of

Pennsylvania for information how to proceed in the case , this Entered Apprentice states that that officer advised him to resign his membership in Wheeling Lodge , No . 5 , promising that , then all the degrees Avould be conferred upon him by the Lodge iu Philadelphia .

" The letter—hereAvith submitted—detailing this singular circumstance , was written , by the Entered Apprentice above referred to in this address , to a venerable Mason of this city , who has long held a prominent position in the

fraternity in the State . " I mention these two circumstances , mainly because if they did not arise simply from a want of proper knowledge of well-established principles governing intercourse among Masonic Lodges ,

( as I cannot but believe has been the case , ) then they present a question of the utmost importance , not only to this Grand Lodge , but to all Subordinate Lodges and individual Masons in West Virginia , Avhich it will be Avell for them very seriously

to consider . " ¦ For if , while almost all the Grand Lodges in the United States give to this Grand Lodge the right hand of felloAVship , acknowledging it as of legal and regular standing , the failure of the

Grand Lodge of Virginia to do likewise , is to be made the argument and the justification for denouncing our lodges as irregular , and denying to our members the right to visit—a right inherent

to every regularly made Mason—it will become your imperative duty to take such measures as your wisdom may judge necessary to vindicate the dignity and authority Avhich , of right , belongs to this Grand Lodge , and to protect our Subordinate

Loclges and members from treatment so palpably iu violation of the rights and privileges of every legally constituted Lodge and regularly made Mason . "As the dispute in relation to the organization of

the Grand Lodge of Virginia has been settled by the parties in accordance with Avhat we consider Masonic law and justice , and it is now recognized by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvannia , we give the above extract as a matter of Masonic history

and as an instance of the complications likely to arise iu every case in which a number of Lodges establish what is called a new " Grand Lodge " within the limits of an ancient one , without its consent . However , as the difficulty no longer

exists , we with great pleasure hail the M . W . Grand Lodge of the State of West Virginia , and hope she may be a brilliant star in the Galaxy of Masonry . "

From the summary attached to the report we find that the number of Lodges under this juris diction is 30 . Number of members 1 , 590 .