members; at 4s. each, the proposed augmentation, an annual amount of 3187. would be obtained. Take a vote of Grand Lodge upon the subject, and make it compulsory on every London lodge to subscribe. Or, if it be impossible to legislate for a portion of the Craft, let some influential member (yourself for example) convene a meeting of the Masters, Past Masters, and Wardens of such lodges, and ascertain their feeling on the subject. They might then bring it before their respective lodges, and I am satisfied the greater proportion would readily accede to the plan. I belong to two town lodges, averaging more than the number I have assumed, and I am sure I may promise the prompt and cordial support of both. Excuse my troubling you with this suggestion, and believe me, Dear Sir and Brother, yours fraternally, March 5, 1848. A MASTER. TO THE EDITOR. SIR AND BROTHER,-In this province (Durham) we are aghast at the decision of the Grand Lodge on the matter of limiting the period of probation, for now there is an end of our calling. Hitherto we have been able to maintain the distinction of " border masonry" by the symbol of authority, but now, thanks to the Grand Registrar who rules potentially over the Grand Master and by the Constitutions over several provinces-himself too a Scotch brother-we shall have an overwhelming influx not merely of peripatetic visitation, but of masonic mendicancy, which is already insupportable. However, we must I suppose patiently abide the next surrender, and so on until those in high places, when they shall become appalled by the effects of their mis-government, will like the rats, desert the ship. Alas for Freemasonry! Have you courage to insert these remarks from March 8, 1848. A PAST MASTER. TO THE EDITOR. SIR AND BROTHER,-As our Grand Master, who is also the Prov. Grand Master for the North and East Riding of Yorkshire, has ruled (for it is idle to talk of the Grand Lodge ruling, after an examination of the arguments at the previous Grand Lodge, and the garbled, suppressed and untrue report circulated), that we are tributary in discipline to the Scottish ritual (God save the mark). I presume the next thing will be to put us at once under the order of the Grand Secretary of Scotland, first superseding him of the Grand Lodge of England; next let us reduce the fees to those of Scotland, and have operative Lodges at one guinea per man; next grant all degrees in one night, and go back to the orgies, and saturnalia from whence it had hoped we had for ever emerged—nay, hey presto, let us become once more Picts and Scots of the former day, and turn back the stream of our Saxon blood into that of fraternal cannibalism; let us once more dance and shout, like ghouls, over our victims. Grand Master, you have much to answer for! A SUNDERLAND MASON. TO THE EDITOR. SIR AND BROTHER,-I am one of those who are honoured by her Majesty's commission, and have just returned from one of the most important colonies, the Cape of Good Hope, where I have learned the principles of Freemasonry, and feel it my duty to protest against the degrading slur attempted to be cast on the brothers who sojourn, but for a time, and who are made to appear as desirous to have the period of probation limited. The truth is quite otherwise; for had the probationary time been extended, certain it is that both discipline and practice would have been improved. As a soldier-Mason I entreat of you not to relax in your praiseworthy endeavours to protect the honour and dignity of Freemasonry, which has been sadly compromised by those who, being in power, have shamelessly abused the trust reposed in them. A LOYAL MASON. London, March 11, 1848. TO THE EDITOR. SIR AND BROTHER,-One thing now only remains for us in the provinces, viz. :-at once to memorialize Grand Lodge to allow us the same privilege granted to the colonies, and at the same time to reduce the fees accordingly. How in the name of wonder English Freemasonry can withstand the attack on its dignity is a problem that will soon be solved. A BROTHER OF THIRTY YEARS STANDING. Newcastle-on-Tyne, March 17, 1848. TO THE EDITOR. SIR and BROTHER,—I had prepared a lengthy letter, but I prefer one sentence. The Grand Master has willed that English Masonry shall be disgraced in its working, and that the grant to the widows of Masons shall not be confirmed. Why not limit the period of his own further probation? A CHESHIRE Mason. TO THE EDITOR. SIR AND BROTHER,-It may not be generally known that so far from admiring the Scottish mode of making, we usually pass and raise over again such members of the Grand Lodge of Scotland who are desirous of joining. A LIVERPOOL MASON. TO THE EDITOR. SIR AND BROTHER,-It must have been apparent to every brother who attended the last Grand Lodge, that no pains are spared on the part of our rulers in Freemasonry to gain a point, or carry any object at the quarterly meetings. It was with sincere regret that I beheld the W. Bro. Henderson placed in the front of that battle against the widows of the indigent members of the Craft. A gentleman highly amiable in all the walks of life ought not to have been so placed, and it is to the kind and gentle disposition he possesses to an eminent degree, that I attribute the circumstance of his having been selected for the no very enviable task of moving the non-confirmation of the minutes. The circulation of the statement of account, at the expense of the Craft, also in my opinion, was, to say the best of it, unwise, because, although not so intended by the promoters, it might be made the medium of argument the very reverse of that for which it was put forth; but the crowning injustice was the speech or reply of the M. W. Grand Master; the manner and tone were of such a character as to cause a large amount of sorrow to many of the best and purest members of Grand Lodge. The speech, however, had its effect, and the widows are for a time to remain unheeded and neglected. Now, sir, it occurs to me that the very best way to gain the sympathy of Freemasons is to ask them calmly to consider the object and purpose of their being knitted together in one common brotherhood. If I mistake not the moving power is, or ought to be, charity. Is such the case? Look at the splendor of our temple, the costliness of our attire, the gorgeousness of our banquets, our imposing ceremonies, our formal processions, our patrician display and funded property, and tell me if charity be not rather the catchword than the real pursuit and object of our Order. I desire to know what right we have to accumulate eleven thousand pounds whilst one widow is pining in want and misery. The public vaunting of our wealth may be flattering to our vanity, but is most injurious to our cause; and I believe that Freemasonry is doomed to decay and ruin unless those members who have at heart its best affections by every effort endeavour to raise it to a purer and healthier altitude. Grovelling and base have become many of its pursuits, none more so than the accumulation of property. Its possessions will pierce it through, and will ultimately perish in its grasp; but if properly distributed will cause the widow's heart to sing for joy. A mighty change is going over the length and breadth of this world, and assuredly the society to which we belong will not escape the general commotion. In all revolutions it is the noble, the mighty, the grand who have suffered; the storm passes over, and leaves the masses, the poor, the feeble unscathed. O! that our mighty ones would learn wisdom, and in time avert the consequences which now threaten to overtake them. Finally, I would invite your powerful co-operation and the assistance of the Craft, by pressure from without, to cause in high places the exercise of that virtue which is twice blessed, instead of that spirit of domination and aggrandizement which so unhappily prevails. TO THE EDITOR. SIR AND BROTHER,-Permit me, through your medium, thus publicly and most cordially to sympathize with that patriotic Mason Dr. Crucefix, on what, to him in particular, must be a grievous disappointment, in his endeavours to extend the benefits of our noble Order-noble still, though prostituted, in the case alluded to, to unworthy purposes. The Grand Master is evidently governed by the opinions of mercenary men about him, who fear that if so much money be applied to the sacred purposes of charity, there will remain so much the less for misapplication. This is the great secret, and it will and must come out. History will record the truth, and I am quite sure there are men in the fraternity, and high in the Order too, who would not hesitate to break every law, and alter every landmark of Masonry, to serve their own dirty purposes. But what can be done-might will overcome right in spite of us. A majority can always be packed in Grand Lodge to carry anything. However, if the Grand Lodge by authority begins to restrict Masonic benevolence, the institution will soon be strangled in its own cable tow, for under circumstances we have very little else to boast of. A PROVINCIAL MASON OF FIFTY-TWO YEARS STANDING, POETRY. ADIEU AUX FRÈRES DE LA LOGE DE SAINT JAMES. PAR M. LEON DE WAILLY. ADIEU! un chaleureux et tendre adieu, Vous du petit nombre des favorisés, des illuminés, Quoique je doive me hâter vers des terres étrangères Le cœur attendri, et l'œil plein de larmes, Je penserais toujours à vous, quoique bien loin. Souvent je me suis réunis a votre bande joyeuse, Et a cette clarté hieroglyphique Que les artisans seuls peuvent voir, La mémoire fidèle écrira dans mon cœur Ces scènes heureuses quand je serai bien loin. Puissent la liberté, l'harmonie et l'amour Afin que vous puissiez garder la ligne infallible, Et vous, adieu! Vous que vos mérites appellent Quand vous vous assemblez tous annuellement A MASON'S WISH. MID the world's wilderness-its form and show- Where kindly thoughts in mystic union meet. Leave in my heart its first and fondest tone. Oh! thou who madest me-seest me in my need, My heart to love thy erring creatures less. Some gems that show their lustre yet is thine. * We suspect the author is not a Mason, from various touches in the above. He has, however, published a volume of French Translations from the Scottish Poets which are in general wonderfully well rendered, considering the different idioms of the two tongues} few errors, indeed, occurring which even an Englishman might not fall into. We only select the "Farewell to the Brethren of St. James's, Tarbolton," because it is masonic, not because it is best: might it not with a little ingenuity be rendered into rhyme? |