Zetland Commemoration Fund.

ZETLAND COMMEMORATION FUND .

'SO TEE EDITOE OF TEH rEEE 5 USO : fS ItlAGAZIKE AKD MASONIC MIBKOB . Dear Sir and Brother , —Whilst I do not approve of all ' Not a Grand Officer " says in his letter published last week , nor of the spirit in which it is written , I do agree with him that the sub-committee intrusted with the management of the affair are

solely to be blamed for the want of success Avhich has attended the movement hitherto ; and , although clergymen of all denominations are generally good at receiving subscriptions , I never yet found them good at organizing such an undertaking as the abo \ -e—a matter in Avhich Ave all take so much interest .

However , I say to tho sub-committee , "By your works shall ye be judged . " Why have they not followed the ' good old-fashioned practice so popular iu this land of eating and drinking , and announce—if they haA-e no inventi \ e talent to invoke in aid something better—a monster public banquet say , at the

Agricultural Hall . Why , Sir , five to seven thousand members of our Order could be put together upon the occasion without the slightest difficulty , and brethren Avould vie with each other to represent their lodges and chapters . The number of Stewards might be unlimited , and the individual contribution mi ght then

be limited to one guinea ; but I Avould undertake to say the result would be nearly every Masonic lodge or other body in England , Wales , the Channel Islands , and from abroad , Avould be represented ; for I know , if they had been asked and time allowed , the Indian and Australian lodges and chapters Avould have nominated representatives , as I think you , Sir , are quite aware .

The idea of having Stewards at all , Avhich the subcommittee has so recently announced , is a good one , but goes sadly short of the mark . Of course , if the committee intends to he satisfied with a sum of , saj £ 2 , 000 ( and by present appearances it is doubtful if they get as much ) , then I can understand Avhy no

such efforts as would suggest themselves to London Freemasons particularly , should have yet been made ; but really it will be a lasting disgrace inflicted upon the Masonic Order by or through the sub-committee if such a glorious opportunity for testifying to the M . W . the G . M . the great regard Ave all feel for him ;

aud , in doing him honour , Ave but honour ourselves and perform a simple duty incumbent upon us . Do stir them up . We look to the FitEEMASoss' MAQ-A - HIITE to galvanize the Moribund Sub-Committee whilst there is yet time to do something . Yours fraternally , K . O .

|_ We have had a delicacy in inserting the many letters we have received , with regard to this Fund ; but , as tho pile has pot so heavy , wc think that we are in duty hound now to insert them . — ED . F . AL ]

BRO . W . P . BUCHAN . TO HIP . 1 D 1 TOH OF THE MEEJTASO . YS' MAGAZINE AND ITASOXIC 1 IIKHOE . Dear Sir and Brother , —With all fraternal deference to the erudition displayed by Bro . W . P . Buchan , it may have struck many of your readers that his expressed and reiterated horror of being considered a

" Scotchman ' ' is either an anomalous eccentricity of genius , or simply founded on fact , while others may have considered you somewhat lax in your editorial duty by alloAving him to ride rough-shod through your Masonic columns astride his " Scotch ' ' hobby ,

forgetful of the fraternal charity by Avhich you have been actuated , in affording him the publicity Avhich , through a poverty of opportunity , he could not obtain nearer home . Be this as it may , to me it seems pretty certain that the name of our learned brother bids fair becoming historic ; andknowing his penchant for

, chronological facts , and detestation of everything apocryphal ( as also his innate modesty , which silences him on the point ) , you will perhaps allow me mentioning , or rather describing , bow Bro . Buchan got hold of the " Scotch " controversy , which may prove valuable to future biographers as preventing any

mysticism on the point for the confusion of posterity . Some dozen years ago , or thereabouts , Scotland was afflicted Avith a national distemper someAvhat akin to that Irish pestilence termed Fenianism , but considerably Avilder in type , and rather more aristocratic in character , yet withal so innocent in its aims and results that it died respectably of inanition . It Avas

known at home , as possibly abroad , as the " Scottish Eights Association , " and had for its President the late Earl of Eglinton , with an equally influential committee , and occupied business chambers of no mean pretensions . Its claims Avere patriotic and semipolitical , being bolstered up Avith moth-eaten and unrepealed Acts of Parliamentpassed at the time of

, the Union as sedatives for the grumblers of the period . Its objects Avere simply the glorification of every thing and everybody north of the Tweed . Its great grievance Avas the artful quartering of the Eoyal Arms ou all Governaient buildings iu Scotland , which pro \ 'oked the AATath and insulted the dignity of the

Scottish Lyon , King of Arms . But its principal feature and special mission was a sort of Avar to the knife against the obloquial phrase " Scotch . " The word " Scots " was the all and in all , ' the summum bonum , the base and apex of its existence . By its eA'erlasting use in writing and conversationa rabid

, member Avas distinguishable in a moment . In quiet lanes and at street corners disputants of the buttonhole class would be seen frantically dissecting the " Scot " versus " Scotch " controversy as only Caledonians can ; Avhile the incautious utterer of the detested ancl abominable " Scotch " was either scowled

into the character of a national foe , or converted into the creed or active membership of tlie Association . This password proving to be the only attainable object of the brotherhood in question , its continued vitality became critical . One solitary string was rather meagre of variety and concord for the harping propensities of the Association ; lassitude sapped its

energies , monotony supervened , and oblivion put an end to its sufferings . Be it remembered , however , that its end was far from inglorious ; it died , but not ignominiously ; the chivalric , illustrious , and poetic character of its partisans saved it from the crushing heel of contempt and gave lustre to its last moments .

A grand valedictory festival and condolatory palaver was indulged in , and the Secretary , after sorrowfully noting its last minutes , consigned its records to obscurity , and in obscurity they Avould have remained had not Bro . Buchan been troubled with misgivings