Provincial.

sought counsel from a stranger and a foreigner . I interested myself in her case , made representations to those in authority , but 1 regret to say that those representations elicited the fact that a substitute could not probably be obtained for less than one hundred pounds—so unpopular has a service become whose ranks are filled by means of a forced conscription . 1 say , then , that we may congratulate ourselves that ours is a voluntary serviceand I believe it is to this we mayin some measure , ascribe

, , the bravery of our troops , their admirable strength and solidity iu action , their patience aud endurance in the camp and field . ( Cheers . ) Truces of its advantages I discover also in those auxiliary troops , by many of the officers of a battalion of which I am now surrounded . I do not say it in flattery , but in corroboration of that voluntary principle which 1 have , been advocatingthat the field evolutions of the Rifle battalion of this town have

been pronounced by competent judges equal to those of many a line regiment . Nor has tins satisfactory opinion been expressed of the rank and file alone . I have frequently been asked by those well acquainted with the duties of a commanding officer , whether the gallant officer who commands has not seen service in the regular army ? but it is my pride to reply—a pride founded upon my consciousness of the success of the voluntary principle—that bis service has been confined to the Yeomanry and Volunteers . There is , after all , this advantage iu voluntary over forced services . In the formerthe will is active and

enterprising ; m tne latter , it is at least passive , it not altogether inert ; and when the , disposition to exertion is forced by a principle acting from without , the results must always be inferior to those obtained by a principle acting from within . Men raised by conscription may be drilled into mere machines of war , and fitted to execute important movements in compE . ct masses ; but that sterling quality of a soldier- —a love of arms—which prompts him to strive for excellency in every department of his

profession , can only be expected from him who voluntarily devotes himself to the service . I have great pleasure in proposing as a toast , " Success to the Voluntary Armies of England . " ( Cheers nd applause . ) Captain CLAKK said : Worshipful Master , my lord , and brethren , I deem it au especial cause for satisfaction that you have thought fit to unite the armies of England in one upon

this occosion ; the more so because , springing from the same stock and animated by the same sentiment , it must ever be a happiness to the people of Englasd to know that the profession of arms does not separate the soldier from the citizen , but that the soldier carries into the camp and battle-field a heart which continues to beat in unison with those of his native village or townand with those of his own kindred and bis

, earliest and best friends —( cheers)—and it is doubtless this spirit of patriotism which leads the regular army of England to welcome as brothers in arms those auxiliary troops which , under the name of the Rifle Volunteers , are submitting themselves to military discipline , and acquiring the skill and efficiencv of professional soldiers . I cannot sufficiently express

the deep interest which my comrades take in the strength and efficiency of their military supports , and especially of those to whom in time of war they must look to assist and supplement them in the field . Knit together by the common feelings of loyalty and patriotism , and united by the bonds of the warmest private friendship and public esteem , the regular army and the Volunteers will , I trust , ever preserve towards each other that cordiality and warmth of good feeling which has from the first

so pleasantly cemented them together . ( Cheers . ) Colonel MASON , on behalf of the Volunteers , said : It is highly gratif ' ying to me , and I am sure it is also to those gallant comrades by 'vhoni I am surrounded , to be assured from the lips of the Lord-Lieutenant that he appreciates our services . ( Hear , hear . ) . I hope , however , that his lordship will permit me to express how deeply sensible I am that the compliments which

he has thought tit to pass in such flattering terms upon myself should be justly shared by every soldier who belongs to the battalion . ( Cheers . ) It is by division of labour that important results are now generally obtained ; and however diligent and painstaking- a commanding officer may be , his exertions will never produce satisfactory results uuless warmly seconded by the men under his command . ( Cheers . ) It is my happiness to

know that those with whom I am associated heartily share with me in my anxieties for the welfare and military efficiency of the Birmingham battalion , and to the officers , commissioned and non-commissioned , I feel bound to express my grateful thanks for the steady and effective aid which they have always given me in the disciolir . e and management of the corps . I

believe that the one great feeling which urges us forward in the path of voluntary duty which we have marked out for ourselves , and which often sustains us under difficulties and labours of which the public can only form but a very imperfect estimate , is the persuasion that we aie adding to the strength and security of the nation , and contributing in a degree to that calm and unruffled aspect of freedom and independence with which Great Britain can afford to look upon the strife and

commotion which desolate other countries . ( Cheers . ) I believe that the great body of our fellow-citizens appreciate tho national work which we are thus with warm heart and ready hand accomplishing , aud nothing is dearer to us—whether , when slowly mastering the duties of the profession , tho labours of which we have voluntarily undertaken , or submitting the progress we have made to the keen eye of military criticism— -than

to know that the great body of our fellow-countrymen aro looking on and applauding our efforts . ( Cheers . ) I thank you most heartily in the name of the . Volunteers of England . ( Cheers and applause . ) The toast of " The W . Deputy Provincial Grand Master , Bro . Elkington , Prov . G . S . B ., " was then proposed from the chair . Bro . ELKINGTON , in a genial vein of humour , proceeded in replto say—Much l . as been said this nihtboth from my

y g , Lord Leigh and others , respecting the Volunteers , and the value of the voluntary principle . Sir , I do not deny its efficacy , but I can scarcely allow in this , a Masonic assembly , tho Volunteers to carry off the palm , foe I bold that every Mason is distinguished by that honourable sentiment which has been so much aud worthily lauded on the present occasion . ( Cheers . ) Volunteers we are iu the best . Hid highest sense of the word ; for aro

not the principles of our Order , and the very pith of our consti . tution , the maintenance of rectitude and the encoouragement of acts of love and charity between man and man , between brothe and brother ? Brethren , amid the incoherent masses of man . kind , we , the Masons not of England merely , but of the world come forward as Volunteers acting with a width , a minuteness au intricate completeness of organisation not inferior to that o f the Rifle Volunteers , and with a like honourable object . For is not the great object and end of Masonry to sow peace in this world , to establish bonds of indissoluble friendship between its

various members wherever dispersed over land and wates , and thus avert the desolating ravages of war , and the necessity of those voluntary associations for defence to which at present we owe ( he quiet mid security of our own homes ? Is not this the great mission of our Order—to form the world into a lodge , into a voluntary association for the promotion of peace and goodwill , and the strengthening and cementing each other with ever } moral and social virtue ? ( Cheers . ) MlordI am

y , happy to congratulate you , as the Grand Master of this province , upon the abundant fruits which our mission has already matured and ripened . Selecting that fruit which , because the most p ublic is also the most open to the observation of the world , I am happy to congratulate you that at the three Masonic festivals held within the last few weeks , eleven thousand pounds were cheerfully dedicated and laid upon the altar of charity .

( Cheers . ) It is here , my lord , that the achievements of our voluntary confederation become patent to the great body of the uninitiated , and cast a halo around the mysteries of our Order which commands for us the friendship and support of the purest minded and most noble and exalted of mortals . My lord , I congratulate you on the serried phalanx of Volunteers by whom you are surrounded , and never will you appear to greater

dignity and advantage to the common weal ; never will your services be more highly esteemed and rewarded with the inward consciousness of a noble , self-denying rectitude , than when returning from the field where , in right of your exalted rank , you have headed the Volunteer forces of Warwickshire , you deign to appear as a brother in their great army of peace , and preside at a meeting for brotherly relief and charity as the

Grand Master of the Freemasons of Warwickshire . ( Cheers and applause . ) Lord LEIGH then proposed " The Health of the Worshipful Master of the Bedford Lodge , " and paid a high compliment to the manner in which the lodge was administered . The W . M . replied , and , after a number of other toasts , the company separated .

During the course of the evening a number of excellent glees and madrigals were sung by Bros . Baker , Glydon , Beresford , Beaumont , Stockley , and Bickley . The dinner , which was worthy the Mcasion , was served by Bro . Nock .