Masonic Notes And Queries.

States from which they emigrated , and who brought with them the forms of their own initiation , ancl to ivhich they adhered with the usual amount of prejudice and pertinacity , which all have experienced in such matters , and perhaps have exhibited in our own individual cases . Of these , many hacl been initiated in Lodges ivhich worked the three degrees after ( or under ) the French and Scottish Rites , and in time diffused much of the peculiarities of those Rites into tbe working of Lodges , until

at last , Lodges were found , which worked exclusively as one or the other of those Rites . Indeed , such was the case with Polar Star Lodge ( No . 5 ) , from nearly the first , as to the Scottish Rite ; ancl so with respect to some others , as to the French or Modern Rite . To this , some who thought more of forn * -than of sense , of shadow than of substance , objected , under the then order of things ; the result of which was , the making of a radical change in the regulations of the Grand Lodgeby which

, the three Rites were not only recognised , but the Grand Lodge authorised the issuing to any Lodge requesting and paying for the same , three distinct charters or warrants—one for each of the three Rites , York , Modern , or Scottish—or either of them , as the Lodge may wish ; and at the same time established chambers for the Modern and Scottish Rites in the Grand lodge , that is , committees who should have exclusive control over the affairs peculiar to these Rites , and thus , in effect ,

establishing in this State three distinct Masonries , where , in fact , but one really existed . To this , which we must term foolish distinction , we easily trace all our difficulties and differences , past , present , and future . Hacl the leaders of those days in our Order , but sought after the true principles of Freemasonry , and found , as they would have done , that each so-called Rite was , in effect , but a different name for the same thing ; had they then abolished all distinctive appellations of YorkFrench

, , and Scottish , and substituted in the constitution of the Grand Lodge , and in the warrants it issued , 'Ancient , Free and Accepted . ' for the words , ' York , Scottish , or French ; ' had they * but looked after the substance more , and the shadow less , the reality more than the name , and been less anxious for high sounding titles and distinctions , the troubles of 1848 to 1850 , and of the present time , would never have existed . The slight discrepancies iu the work , which have become more distinct and

irreconcilable by tbe course of 1832 , would have entirely disappeared , aud we should now have in name what is almost a reality- —but one Masonry in the State of Louisiana , and but one Rite—that of Freemasonry . This we tried to effect in 1850 , at the convention in Baton Rouge , in the formation of the late constitution , and which would have been already accomplished , but for the designs of an ambitious , disaffected few ; who , acting upon the prejudices and ignorance of some , by ' representing

to them that nothing was Masonry but Scottish Masonry , and ¦ that this was prohibited by the Grancl Lodge , led to the revolt ¦ of 1850 , and of 1857 . ' " This brings us to another branch of the inquiries made of us , namely : in regard to those so called Superior Bodies , in whose name these revolts have been made . Some time prior to 1830 , certain Masons , who had , in France or elsewhere , received some or all of these higher degreesactingwe know not upon what

, , authority ( nor does it much concern us to know ) , organised a body in New Orleans , known as the Grand Consistory of the 32 nd Degree for the State of Louisiana . This body , if properly organized , claimed authority and control over Lodges of Perfection ( 14 th Degree ) , Councils of Princes of Jerusalem { 16 th Degree ) , Chapter of Rose Croix ( 18 th Degree ) , Councils of Kadosh ( 30 th Degree ) , and all Masons possessing those and the intermediate degrees , from the 4 tli to the 32 nd , inclusive ;

at any rate , clue obedience was given to the Grancl Consistory by all over whom the authority was claimed . There was nothing out of the way in all this ; nor would there ever have been had not certain amibitious men , in some way , obtained the 33 rd , or last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite ; ancl , by virtue of that title , attempted to exercise powers which never belonged to that degree , but which was pretended , by virtue of a certain draft of powers ( quite recently discovered to have been forged ) ,

such as the right of making Masons at sight , ancl the right of constituting Symbolic Lodges of the Rite . These powers , exercised and claimed to exist in each and every individual who bad received the 33 rd Degree , we have said was based on a forged document ; yet they were exercised , in part , at least , in this State , some years ago , and , quite frequently , within the last two years . The result of several having received this degree ¦ was the formation , in 1839 , of the Supreme Council of New Orleans , who claimed control over the whole of Masonry in

Masonic Notes And Queries.

Louisiana . Indeed , we know of instances in which , so late as 1844 , it expelled members of the Grand Lodge , and required that body to simply declare the brother expelled merely unreason of his expulsion by this Supreme Council . All this went well , so long as the members of this Supreme Council hacl control of the Grand Lodge , and this they had contrived to possess by the various complicated provisions of the Regulations of 1832 , before alluded to . The tyrannical ancl umnasouic exercise of

power by these rnlers , was the chief , if not the sole cause of revolt in 1847 , and the formation of the Louisiana Grand Lodge , through the intervention of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi . The result we have above intimated in tbe adoption of the constitution of 1850 . It was then that this Supreme Council began to exercise its more than doubtful powers , by the chartering of Lodges and other similar acts of jurisdiction , in conflict with that of the Grand Lodge .

"But , fortunately for us , perhaps , it was discovered that this Supreme Council was illegal and spurious , and had been organized within the immediate jurisdiction of another Supreme Council ( that for the southern jurisdiction ofthe United States , sitting at Charleston , South Carolina ) . This discovery led to the immediate dissolution of the body , aud the union , in 1 S 54 , of its members , ancl all its subordinates , with a Grand Consistory , which had been already legally organized in the State , by the Supreme Council at Charleston . By this proceeding , all the lodges under its control fell tothe ground , ancl subsequently returned to the Grand Lodge ; and thus were all divisions

supposed to be healed . The Supreme Council at Charleston renounced all claim to jurisdiction over the three Symbolic Degrees ; the present Grand Consistory of Louisiana does not dream of any such claim ; and there should be nothing , apparently , to disturb our harmony and quiet . " There were a few disaffected ones , however , who never came back to the Grand Lodge . These claimed to be 33 rds , and , as such , to possess the right to make Masons at sight , and . to

constitute Lodges of the three Symbolic Degrees . They , in defiance of their obligations as 33 rds , if they really are such , next proceeded to form a ¦ " Supreme Council for the Sovereign ancl Independent State of Louisiana , " and have made Masons ( of course clandestine ) , and chartered several lodges ancl higher bodies ( also clandestine ) , of the exact number of which we are ignorant . It is with this body we have to contend , ancl this only . It is this so-called Supreme Council , ivhich neither the

Grancl Orient of France , nor any other Masonic body whatever , has recognised ; and we think ourselves safe in saying , that no body of regular Masons will ever recognise it . Yet , through the ignorance as to the difference—or rather the want of difference—between the several Rites , and the prejudices growing out of race , and made permanent , as it were , by ignorance , a portion of several of our lodges have withdrawn from us , and taken charters from this spurious ancl so-called Supreme Council .

And here we feel the result of admitting ignorant men into our Order—more fully portrayed in another place—and the necessity of a correct knowledge of the true principles of Freemasonry being instilled into the mind of every initiate . "

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

The first volume of Mr . Elwin ' s edition of the Life , Letters , and Worlcs of Pope is in the press , ancl will , we hear , comprise many facts of high interest never ascertained befoi'e . The Golden Precepts of Prince Albert , selected from his speeches , and printed on toned paper , will he published immediately .

Dr . Goodwin , Dean , of Ely , has a fifth series of Parish Sermons nearly ready . What fabulous numbers , gossips the Literary Gazette , have not been mentioned at dinner-tables and other places conducive to an excess of good nature , as representing the total circulation of tlie admirably conducted ComHll Mcw / craiie—200 , 000 ,

150 , 000 , 100 , 000 , and so on . A hard-working news-agent and magazine dealer , who knows to a nicety what the members of his trade use , and the numbers turned out by the bookbindersivhich body , by the way , cannot very well be ignorant of the quantities that pass through their hands—forwards the follow-