Ourselves.

OURSELVES .

IT is not alone because it is customary for us to address a few words to our readers at the commencement of each new volume that we devote our opening remarks this week to a personal chat . We are pleased to have

completed the forty-seventh volume of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE , with every prospect of a more extended field of operation before us , and we gladly avail ourselves of

the opportunity of thanking our patrons for their support in the past , and invite them to extend' their sympathies towards us with even greater . zeal in the future .

We shall use every effort in our power to deserve the continued support of the Craft , and with that assurance we introduce our FORTY-EIGHTH VOLUME .

Masonry And The Deity.

MASONRY AND THE DEITY .

r pi HE following extract from a special cablegram from - * - Paris to one of the American papers will be read with interest by those who desire to see an end put to the unfortunate differences existing between the Masonic organisations of France and our own and other Grand

Lodges : PARIS , June 18 . —The . action of the Grand Lodge of Freemasonry in Great Britain in issuing last week a decree practically excommunicating the Grand Lodge of Peru , and

strictly forbidding British Masons from holding any intercourse whatsoever with P eruvian members of the Craft , has created a considerable sensation here , not only because the

decree is identical with the one issued just 20 years ago by the British Grand Lodge against the Grand Orient of France , but likewise because it has served to revive the bitter

controversy here with regard to the causes which led the British Grand Lodge to adopt so radical and unfriendly a measure . The reason for the attitude of the Grand Lodge in England toward the Grand Orient of France is identical

with that of its stand in connection with the Grand Lodge at Peru . Twenty years ago M . Littre , the compiler of the celebrated French Dictionary , induced the Grand Orient of France to adopt a measure decreeing that from that time

forth the mystic letters , " A . N . G . A . U ., " should be obliterated from all Masonic documents and symbols and that the Bible or Volume of Sacred Law should be banished from the altars of all French Lodges . In fact , M . Littre

objected to the name of the Divinity in any shape or form , and brought over a majority of the members of the Grand Orient of France to his way of thinking . The

Grand Lodge of England , on the matter becoming known to them , passed a resolution deciding that English Lodges and English Masons should cut themselves entirely aloof from all Masonic bodies which had " departed from the fun-

Masonry And The Deity.

damental basis of pure and ancient Masonry , " and all intercourse with French Masons was strictly forbidden . Inasmuch as the Grand Lodge of Peru has recently followed the example of the Grand Orient of France , and

has banished the name of the Divinity from the ritual of the Craft , the English Grand Lodge had no alternative but to adopt the same measures as those which exist with regard to French Masons , and there is no doubt that the decree will

be followed , as in the case of France in 1878 , by similar proclamations on the part of the Grand Masters of the Craft in Germany , Scandinavia , Holland , Austria , Spain , Portugal

and the United States , none of which countries is at the present moment in Masonic intercourse with the Craft in France .

Ten years ago an effort was made by a number of prominent Masons here to repeal the unfortunate Littre resolution , and to restore the name of the Great Architect of the Universe to His place in the ritual , the leaders of the

movement taking the ground that not only was the antireligious feature of French Masonry foreign to the fundamental basis of the Craft , and kept out of the Order a number of men who would otherwise prove valuable

acquisitions thereto , but that it had likewise become an overwhelming obstacle to the principal aim of Masonry which is the establishment of feelings of Brotherhood and Fraternity , not only between individuals , but also between

nations . The project was defeated at the time by a narrow majority . The present action of the English Grand Lodge with regard to Peruvian Masons has now led to a revival of

the movement here , with considerable prospects of a successful issue , and of the termination of the regretable schism now prevailing between French and foreign Lodges .

We are very pleased to record that H . R . H . the Prince of Wales Grand Master sent a letter to Bro . J . M . McLeod expressing his satisfaction with the arrangement and result

of the Centenary Festival of the Boys School . We intended to publish a copy of the letter and other matters in relation to the Boys School this week but a mishap at our works has considerably upset our arrangements .

The annual sports of the pupils of the Boys School took place last Saturday , at the Institution at Wood Green , and were thoroughly enjoyed by a large number of Ladies and Brethren interested in the School . We are unable to give details this week .

The levelling influences of the colonies are marvellous , and far exceed anything achieved in Freemasonry , despite the fact that in the Craft all are regarded as equal . As an instance we may quote the experience of a Brother who , in

this old country , would be ill at ease if not lording it over his fellows , but in the far off wilds of our newer possessions had to regard himself as a "tenderfoot , " and acknowledge

that , after all , there were a few who knew a trifle more than he . What would it cost to transplant a few of the " stars " of the Craft , so that they might be similarly convinced ?