Death Of The Grand Master Of Ireland.

DEATH OF THE GRAND MASTER OF IRELAND .

"lITITH extreme regrefc we have to record the death of the Grand Master of Ireland , His Grace the Dnke of Abercorn , which occurred on Saturday , the 31 st ultimo . Tlie late Duke held the office of Grand Master of Ireland

for a period of upwards of ten years , having been installed in January 1875 , in succession to the Duke of Leinster ,

who died in 1874 , after occupying the throne of Irish Masonry for a period of sixty-one years . The late Grand Master was initiated in the Apollo University Lodge , No . 357 , Oxford , in 1839 , but does not appear to have taken

any active part in Masonry until 1874 , when the vacancy in the Grand Mastership of Ireland , referred to above , had to be filled up . Then he was invited to become Grand Master , and having accepted the invitation he was passed through the chair of the Grand Master ' s Lodge , Dublin ,

and regularly installed as ruler of fche Craft in Ireland . Since then he has attended several meetings of the Grand Lodge , and other important gatherings in connection with the Order , and in other ways has shown his interest in the honourable position , to which , he was unanimowsly elected .

The Power Of Freemasonry.

THE POWER OF FREEMASONRY .

THE enemies of Freemasonry , in common , we imagine , with the opponents of all other organizations , are not particular as to the grounds on which they oppose the Order , or how inconsistent their attacks may be , as

compared with those of the past . At one time they ridicule Freemasonry , declaring " there is nothing in it , " that its secrets are a sham , its teachings all humbug , and its regular meetings merely an excuse for members to assemble and

enjoy themselves in feasting and revelry . At other times the opponents of Freemasonry will invest it with the most absurd powers , placing its members over all earthly sovereigns , and even raising them above tho level of hnmanity ;

they will declare that Freemasons are bound together by nnholy bonds to conspire against order , peace , and regularity ; that its teachings are based on the vilest of principles , and that its meetings are but assemblies of

conspirators , gathered together with the worst of motives . These wide divergencies of opinion are not always separated by hundreds of miles , but sometimes occur , within a few years , in the same locality . We who are admitted to a

knowledge of what Freemasonry really is can laugh at these absurd attacks , but at the same time we feel surprise that men who are supposed to know better can be led away by such nonsense .

One of the London daily papers a few days since reported that a petition had been presented to the Privy Council , praying that the cnpital sentence passed on the Canadian rebel , Louis Kiel , might be commuted to im-

The Power Of Freemasonry.

prisonment , and urging , among other matters , that the " Freemason Press , throughout the Empire , has manifested a most bitter spirit against Kiel and the Catholic French Canadians . This bitter feeling , it points out , is highly dangerous to the unity of the North American Dominion , and is calculated to brinsr back the dav'i of

Papineau and the rebellion of 1837 . The outcry of the Press for Riel ' s death is seditious and dangerous . Should civil dissensions ever arise , the twofold clamour for Kiel's death is a most dangerous precedent for the liberties of Her Majesty ' s subjects . " We do not claim to have

seen all the Masonic papers issued "throughout the Empire , " but those which have come under our notice , so for as we have observed , have kept

themselves , aloof from all mention of Riel and the Canadian rebellion , and justly so . No Masonic paper —in the correct sense of the term—would devote any portion of its space to political discussions , much less urge the execution of a fellow creature , and we do not believe there is the slightest foundation for the assertion made in the petition that the Freemason press has manifested any

spirit against the condemned man . It is suoh attacks as these , left uncontradicted as unworthy of notice , which in years to come are brought forward as established facts by the traducers of Freemasonry ,

and which serve as the basis on which the strongest denunciations of the Order are formulated , but is there any truth in such charges , or anything in the teachings of

Freemasonry which warrant accusations so unjust ? We answer decidedly not , and until we are clearly convinced to the contrary , we have no hesitation in giving the lie direct to all who say there is .

Origin Of Crypticism In Massachusetts.

ORIGIN OF CRYPTICISM IN MASSACHUSETTS .

BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . IN former papers I , have shown that South Carolina first introduced into America twenty-two French degrees , and then added to the stock twenty seven decrees of its own manufacture , among which was the Select Masters ' degree ; and that New York contributed a nnmber of

other new Masonic degrees , among which was that of Royal Master . As a resident of Boston it is my patriotic duty to show wherein Boston excelled also in pushing the

Masonic ball ahead . I strongly suspect thafc some Masonic degrees were invented in Boston too , but I cannot point them oufc distinctly . But one thing is certain , viz ,

Thomas Smith Webb , the most celebrated ritual tinker that America ever had , was a Bostonian . Ifc was Bro . Webb who turned everything in Blue Masonry , Chapter Masonry , Commandery , & c , topsy turvy . In short ; he made a peculiar American Masonry . Among Webb ' s earliest disciples was Bro . Benjamin Gleason , who acquired Webb ' s work so thoroughly as to have been appointed Grand Lecturer of the G . L . of Massachusetts

when he was only twenty-five years old . Now , part of the duty of a Grand Lecturer here is to travel from Lodge to Lodge over the State or Jurisdiction , in order to instruct the brethren in the ritual . Bro . Gleason seems to have found time to extend his peregrinations into other Jurisdictions , In short , he was a kind of a travelling