Anticipations For The Year 1879.

ANTICIPATIONS FOR THE YEAR 1879 .

THIS Week we present to our readers the first number of a now volume . Wo have now completed eight volumes , and are determined that no stone shall bo left

unturned on our part in order to make THE FREEMASON S CnnONiCLE in eveiy way worthy of the position it has attained in Masonic journalism . Howevei' , as we offered a few remarks on this matter at the close of Oar Review of

Masonry for 1878 , we shall add nothing further on this occasion . Our object in writing these few lines is to offer our friends and readers those hearty good wishes on the approach of a new year which are specially seasonable . The fourth day from the date of this number will be the

1 st January 1879 , and we are justified , therefore , in taking one last look round on the surroundings of Freemasonry as they are in the closing days of the year . We are not going to traverse the ground we went over in our sketch of tho year . We are going to take a peep , so far as it is

possible , at the prospect that awaits us . When it is impossible for a man to foretell what a single day may bring forth , it would obviously be presumptuous on our part to attempt writing an anticipatory sketch foreshadowing tho probable course of Freemasonry in 1879 . Yet the futui'e may be

judged to a certain extent . Everything that might have been expected has been done to bring about the complete restoration of peace in Europe . We have it on tho authority of those who are most competent to form an opinion , that while there is still a necessit y for watching the progress

of political events , there is every reason to hope that all will go well , and that in the spring of the coming year , when tho obligations contracted by the several powers towards each other must , by tho terms of the Berlin Treaty , be completely carried out , Eastern Europe , which for

so long a period has been the scene of devastation and bloodshed , will once again enjoy a condition of tranquillity . In such case , it may be anticipated as tho necessary consequence of a return to order that the commei-cial depression from which we have likewise been suffering will be

alleviated . There is now , unfortunately , prevailing among all classes , and iu all branches of trade and . commerce , a state of want , to find a parallel to which we must go back to the days of the cotton famine—when , however , the suffering was more local — or to the potato famine . The news

from all sides is most unsatisfactory now ; and what Avith strikes , slackness of demand for business to anything like a lai-ge extent , the mourning for the Princess Alice , and the severity of the weather , the amount of suffering must be terrible . But as the

political position becomes brighter , the commercial , it is to be hoped , will follow suit . People are not prone to venture on new enterprises when there is a chance of political complications , and so when a way is seen to avoid the latter , we may expect a revival of confidence in trade , and

it may possibly happen that the Board of Trade returns for January will—in the event of all going well—show better results than they have done latterly . As regards the Afghan war , too , and the prospect which lurked behind it of our being involved in a struggle with Russia for

supremacy in Central Asia , the withdrawal of the Russian Mission from Cabnl is a hopeful sign , while the victorious advance of our different columns seems likely to secure to

us that scientific frontier Avhich has been declared necessary to the complete securit y of our Indian Empire . What effect the flight of the Ameer into Turkestan—of which there seems to be no doubt , since the confirmation of the

Anticipations For The Year 1879.

earliest rumours has reached us from the V iceroy himselfwill have on our further relations with Afghanistan it is early yet to form an opinion . The government of the country is now in the hands of the Ameer ' s son , Yakoob Khan , but there aro no means of judging of the course he

may pursue . He may remember gratefully our intervention in his behalf with his father , when a predecessor of Lord Ly tton invited Shere Ali to treat him with greater tenderness , or being a soldier of some reputation , he may resolve on fighting to the last , trusting to the known

difficulties of tho country in which the contest is being waged . He may be encouraged to this course by the support of many of the great independent tribes , whose enmity was personal towai-ds the Ameer , and who may yet be willing , now that the latter has fled the country , to strike a blow

for the honour of their country . It is , wo repeat , too early to form an opinion on this matter , but , there is a likelihood that tho blows we havo already struck will not be without their effect in convincing the new Ameer that it is , humanly speaking , impossible to cope with our power , and

he may be willing to make peace instead of risking further and perhaps still more disastrous defeats . Ou the whole , indeed , in Asia , as in Europe , we may congratulate ourselves on the improved prospect before us , and with returning peace we may expect a return likewise of

commercial prosperity . Wo have , too , in consequence of our convention with Turkey , a magnificent field open to our enterprise in Asiatic Turkey . This part of the world once teemed with wealth , and under the protecting oigis of Great Britain , there is no reason it should not do so again .

Thus , both politically and commercially , it may be said that the outlook at the present moment is full of hope . Under these circumstances wo may anticipate that Freemasonry has a happy new year in store for it . If all goes well , wo shall find ourselves under the same beneficent rule as now .

Reviving trade will probably lead to a more liberal support of our Institutions than has—by comparison , be ifc understood , with 1877—been accorded them this year . The day of tbe Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution is already fixed , and Lt .-Col . Le Gendre

Starkie , Prov . G . Master of East Lancashire , has kindly consented to preside as chairman . As this is the largest of our Provinces , having as many as eighty-nine Lodges , we may look to its exerting itself most strenuously in order ,

if possible , to eclipse the brilliant performances of vvarwicksbii-e and West Lancashire in 1876 , when the former supported its chief , Lord Leigh , to the extent of £ 2 , 000 afc the Boys' School Festival , and the latter gave £ 1 , 500 when Lord Skelmersdale took the chair at the Benevolent

Festival . Already has Provincial G . Lodge voted the handsome sum of five hundred guineas towards the list , and no doubt each Steward will make it a point of honour to secure as large a list as possible . The anniversaries of the other Institutions are yet too remote , though in both cases

the campaign may be said to have begun , and many brethren have already sent in their names as Stewards for one or other of the Festivals . In Scotland the reins of power are still in the hands of Sir M , R . Shaw-Stewart , Bart ., so that the increased activity and sense of

responsibility exhibited by the executive may be expected to be fruitful of still greater benefit , while in Ireland , with the Duke of Abercorn still occupying the post of Grand Master , Ave may anticipate a continuance of that prosperity

which has attended Irish Freemasonry under his beneficent sway . We do not imagine that the course of Freemasonry in the United Kingdom will be marked by any unusual events . Ifc is probable we shall go our way quietly and