CONTENTS. good grammar are insulted, and in which all Masonic teaching and all Masonic good feeling are ignored and put on one side altogether. We do not speak L EADERS 273 j Masonic Notes and Queries 277 without book, f or Masonic History and Historians 274 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 277 " " wc have seen similar productions, which , in our opinion Thc American Vast. Master's Degree 274 : New South Wales 277 if the subject was " worth the candle," might bring the writer before the Unjustifiable Fears 274 i R EPORTS OF M ASONIC M EETINGS — Public Installations 275 j Craft Masonry 277 ?' Board of General Purposes. " Ceaseless attacks on the living and reflec- Wasting Time 275 j Instrnction 270 The Masonic 1-csUval of 1S09 275 1 Royal Arch 270 tions on the dead are not the proper methods of exhibiting the true princi ples CurtRF.sroxnEN'ci:— ;' New /caiand 279 of Freemasonry, of endearing it to its friends, or recommending it to its Increase of Louies 276 ! Tasmania 2S0 Correct Terminology 276 Masonic Tidings 2S1 foes. We always make allowances for personal idiosyncrasies or temporary Masonic Directory ^-A Query 27 6 J General Tidings 2Sr Reviews .' 276 1 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 2S2 excitement , but we think that we have " had enough of it " in the metropolis, and trust that we may not have to allude to these nonsensical proceedings again, as, like some contagious disorders, they are " infectious," and may OUR esteemed confrere, Bro. G RIMAUX , in the " Monde Maconnique " for spread far and do much evil. May, congratulates Eng lish Masons on the result of the returns for our These fi great honour'to English * * great Masonic Charities. He says, " gurcsdo WJ; mentioned iu our last, that a new "History of Freemasonry " was Masonry, and arc unrefutable witness of the great prosperity to which it has in preparation , and wc rejoiced to make the announcement. All the contri- attained." Wc wonder a little if it ever occurs to our good friend and butions to the archrcology of Freemasonry with which late years have genial antagonist of old, that if other jurisdictions kept themselves to the enriched us can well now be turned by the historian to the purposes of his proper work of Masonry, active charity, and eschewed nil healing and un- work. We arc, perhaps, at thc present moment in a better position to re- seasonable discussions, whether it would not be better for themselves ancl write Masonic history than at any previous period, though the difficulties of better for thc world. the subject arc still many, and as a previous article in our paper sought to point out, much yet remains to be done, to discover, and to prove, before we T HE " Monde Maconni que " tells us also that, as we expected , thc can hope to overcome the difficulties of thc situation , or to escape many of Masonic Congress of Milan is to discuss six questions, two of which arc those stumbling-blocks which thus far have rendered all professed Masonic clearly not Masonic —-namel y, thc 2nd , " The attitude which Free- history so eminently unsatisfactory to the careful critic on the one hand, or masonry ought to take as regards thc social question/' whatever that the accurate archaeologist on the other. may be; and the 5th , " The means of obtaining the suppression of the rel igious corporations. " No. 1., '•' Thc necessity of assembling at Rome an * * WE publish elsewhere a review on an official publication of the Grand universal Masonic congress," is so hopeless in itself that it is out of thc region Lodge of Indiana, U.S., which suggests many serious considerations. of practicality. Wc hare no faith in " Masonic congresses." They have Under its avowed ceremonial we do not hesitate to say that no W.M. thus never done any good ; they generally unsettle everything and settle nothing. installed can be admitted into a Board of Installed Masters in As far as we arc concerned in England , we havc nothing to discuss, nothing England, and we do not profess to realize the meaning of such a document, to arrange, and nothing to alter. nort hs absolute defiance of all Masonic precedent and usage. It is to us a very disagreeable " fact," and we deep l y regret to receive and read such a wanton departure from our normal Masonic usag-es and solemn W E notice in thc Australian. Freemason of March last two statements which undertakings. Wc hope that in America, as with ourselves, some protests we venture to think deserve careful notice and some few words of comment will be recorded against such an unusual and unwise proceeding. at our hands. One is, that there arc " about ninety lodges, or more," of the "Three Constitutions " in New South Wales, and that so far onl y * # twenty lodges, and none of the English Constitution , havc joined the inde- B Y the report of the proceedings of the Grand Commandery of Knights pendent Grand Lodge. If that be so a very serious question arises at once, Templar of Massachussets and Rhod e Island, U.S., for 1SS0, it would seem and one which we think some of thc American Grand Lodges havc too that great prosperity has fallen on that august body, and that its " lines are hastily disposed of. Is there any precedent in thc history of Masonic life , in pleasant places." There are, it seems, 5S90 members of the Order in we venture respectfully to ask, where with lodges of three jurisdictions a few .Massachussets, thc third hi ghest total of Templars in America, New Y ork lodges of two jurisdictions , mainlv, wc believe, even of one, to the entire ex- boasting of 6775, Massachussets of 5936, and Pennsylvania of 5S90. It clusion of the third, have been recognised as a legal Grand Lodge? Wc appears also from a tabular statement that there were lo the end of 1880 should like to have such a precedent pointed out to us. Wc know of none 54,838 Templars in America and Europe. Of these England and Wales and can find none. We are among those who always deplored the prema- claim 2700, Ireland 1100, Scotland 270, Canada 636 ; 30, 132 members ture action of many American Grand Lodges, for the Canadian precedent is belong ing to America. This is a lower figure than we had anticipated , and " nihil ad rem ," and is not nt all on " all fou rs " with this Anti podean we do not feel quite sure that the English total is a correct one. There are movement. We say this in all good feeling for those who think themselves it seems 774 " Commanderies ;" of these America claims 621, England and in the right. The other fact is, that the Committee of Bcncvolonce of the Wales 128, Canada 25, Ireland 41, and Scotland 9. Again we ask , are District Grand Lodge, E.G., New South Wales, has given £300 to indi- these fi gures as regards England absolutely correct? gent brethren , not only of the English but of the Irish and Scottish Con- stitutions. This fraternal good feeling is very creditable to the District HE reports a gathering of what is called Grand Lodge oi New South Wales. T " Monde Maconni que " "White Masonry " in France, where the ladies were admitted , and where tho guests numbered 200. lt seems this " fete de famille," "family fete," RIMAUX it, began with a banquet, and ended with a ball. THE joke of our correspondent" Quotation" in our last is not a bad one, and is, as Bio. G calls in fact, a very lenient and genial manner of exposing a proposition of singular What a subject for the enterprising energy and tender solicitude of our young and bachelor brethren ! absurdity. Whether the brother who made it intended to be witty or satirical , or both , or simply made a proposal " without sense or meaning for the pur- * * pose of making one," is one of those mysteries which it is not permitted to W E understand lhat the I KIGO J ON*ES MS. will appear in the " Masonic- us to explain , and , perhaps, is not well for us to exp lain. Certainl y the time Magazine " for July. of Grand Lodge ought not to be taken up with ridiculous propositions * * and childish speeches, lt is not fair to many worthy brethren who come A N- amusing extract elsewhere tells us of an "initiated tramp," and as we there at great personal inconvenience and sometimes expense to do their havc many of the " species " in England, ancl our good brethren in the duty to the Craft , and any thing like "fatuity " or " burlesque," or idle and northern provinces suffer much from the " epidemic," we commend thc baneful personalities, arc greatly to be deprecated on any ground of right extract to their notice and appreciative goodwill. reason and Masonic good feeling. * * M ASONS ' Marks are attracting the attention of our archaeologist non- Is not thc time arrived when a combined effort should be made to put down a Masons. We shall in our next issue havc an interesting review of a recent system of vul gar personality and unmasonic bad form , which seems on thc " deliverance " on the subject. 'ncrease amongst us? If any brother is aunot-ed or thinks he lias cause to A* comp lain , he proceeds to " circularize " the brethren. This in itself is a great IT seems from what of the new census has been published that our own nuisance, and a greater impertinence. We none of us want to be dragged " iitt/c village " has increased 560,311, 01- 17-2, in ten years.