Anticipations For The Year 1879.

unostentatiously , as we have done this year and in 1877 . But we are exceeding the limit of what we had proposed , and we shall content ourselves therefore with hoping thafc Ave

may bo more prosperous in the fntu . ro than Ave have been in the past . At all events , let ns do our utmost to merit a continuance of onr prosperity , and Avith this remark , Ave wish onr readers one and all " A Happy New Year . "

Jurisdiction.

JURISDICTION .

IT will have been seen from certain matters recorded in our history of Freemasonry in 1878 , that the question of jurisdiction is a troublesome one , and is oftentimes the cause of serious difference between separate and independent Grand Lodges . Grand Lodges , of a recent

constitution , more especially , aie jealous of anything Avhich they conceive militates against the completeness of their sovereign independence . This is only natural . A Grand Lodge which has long held uninterrupted and undisputed sway over a certain Masonic district , can afford to treat Avith

comparative indifference what must bo somewhat trying to the nerves and temper of the authorities of a younger sister , just as a dame of mature age , or a trifle beyond that , is comparatively indifferent whether her powers of attraction are duly felt or not , Avhile a young and promising girl , just

budding into Avomanbood , is always exacting in her demands on the admiration of the other sex . She may be content Avith a small coterie of admirers , or she may need a host of them , bufc to be slighted or overlooked Avere intolerable . Something of this kind , perhaps , is at the bottom of the

difference UOAV raging between tho Grand Lodges of Scotland and Quebec , Avith ono slight difference , howeA ^ er , Avhich will be noted hereafter . The former dates back its existence to the year 1736 ; the latter has not completed its first derado , having declared its independence as

recently as 1869 . It cannot , therefore , afford to look on any presumed inroad on its independence Avith an eye of indifference , while its sister Grand Lodge , though unfortunately ifc lias nofc SIIOAVII itself as dignified as its friends could have wished , is in a position to treat any affront , fancied or real .

Avith perfect calmness and self-possession . However , ifc is between these two Grand Lodges that , as Ave have said , a serious difference has arisen , and unless some other course is pursued than that Avhich appears to havo been adopted heretofore , there is reason to fear thnfc the breach , instead

of being healed . Avill grow wider . Thus , a few Avords on the subject of this dispute Avould seem to he not inopportune , particularly at this season Avhen individuals—andAvhy not , therefore , bodies corporate ?—aro accustomed to

endeavour to promote peace and goodwill among their felloAVS . Let us see then , if it is impossible to bring about a reconciliation between those angry disputants , so that they may live together amicably . The point in dispute is not so momentous that a courteous and fraternal discussion of its

merits may not suffice to settle ifc . Non-Masons arrange their matters continually , and it Avere " hard lines . " indeed , if IAVO Masonic bodies shonld find insuperable difficulties in the Avay of reconciliation . But the point in dispute—of Avhat nature is it , and hoAv has it caused such

an angry feeling to arise ? Briefly , the case stands thus . The Grand Lodsre of Quebec Avas founded in 1869 , and the district over Avhich it holds sway was formerly Avithin the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Canada , just as , in the times anterior to the foundation of the latter , Canada

itself came Avithin the jurisdiction of the three Grand Lodges of the United Kingdom . As very many of our readers are aware , at the time the independence of the Grand Lodge of Canada Avas recognised by the parent Grand Lodges , it was stipulated that any of the Lodges established

by them should retain their allegiance , if they preferred doing so to joining the fortunes of the newly established Grand Body . It strikes us that nothing could possibly be fairer than this . In Masonry nothing is so desirable as thafc Lodges , that is , communities of brethren , like

individual brethren , should enjoy perfect freedom of action in a matter of this kind . It Avould be a matter of course , as Avell as a matter of good faith , that all new Lodges in the iieAvly-erected jurisdiction should receive their Avarrants

from the UCAV Grand Lodge , but it was perfectly just and proper that already existing Lodges should have the option of retaining their allegiance to the Grand Lodge Avhich constituted them , or of joining the new Grand Lod ^ e .

Jurisdiction.

Persuasion might fairly be used iu order to induce them to adopt the latter step , but nothing in tho way of threats or force could justly be brought to bear by one body of Masons against another . That Avere to destroy utterly one of the essential principles of Freemasonry . This being so , two

English Lodges and a Scotch one preferred retaining their allegiance to their respective Grand Lodges instead of throwing in their fortunes Avith Canada ; and subsequently , Avhen in 1869 tho Grand Lodge of Quebec came into being , and was in duo course recognised as a separate and

independent body , it Avas stipulated by the Grand Lodge of England that its two daughter Lodges should remain as they Avere nnder its authority , Avhile Scotland , assuming , it may be , that the stipulation already made Avould retain its force , made no fresh condition of the kind , and recognised

the Grand Lodge of Quebec . Whether this omission Avas a mere accident , or of set purpose for tho reason Ave havo suggested , is a question Avhich cannot be decided now , but any benefit that may arise from the omission may fairly be claimed by Quebec . Nor does it seem to have been

behindhand in so doing , and that Grand Lodge has resolved that a certain limit of time shall be fixed , after Avhich it Avill be necessary that the Elgin Lodge , No . 348 , of Montreal—that being the style and title of the Scotch Lodge in question—must surrender its old Avarrant , that is , cast

off its allegiance to Scotland , and seek a neAV Avarrant from the Grand Lodge of Quebec . It claims to do this as of inherent right , and also from no mention Avhatever being made in the con-espondence betAveen the two Grand Lodges on the subject of recognition . Moreover , the

Grand Master not having recommended tho acceptance by Grand Lodge of the conditional recognition by England , pressure Avill be brought to bear on tho two English Lodges at Montreal to compel them to range themselves under the banner of Quebec . The result of this is , that the Grand

Lodge of Scotland has issued Avarrauts for the constitution of two new Lodges in Montreal , the King Solomon , No . 022 , and the Argylc , No . 625 , aud it may Avell happen that , in consequence of this retaliatory measure , the breach between the two bodies Avill bo Avidened instead of healed .

Scotland has formally Avithdr .-vwn its recognition and has created new Lodges , and Quebec , nofc unnaturally , perhaps , is very angry . As far as Ave have studied the matter , it appears to us thafc both have p laced themselves in the Avrong . Ifc Avould have been far better if Quebec had left unmolested

the Scotch Lodge Elgin , No . 348 , even though her recognition by Scotland contained no stipulation about Elgin retaining its freedom of action , and retaining , if ifc Avere so disposed , its allegiance to tho Grand Lodge to which ifc owed its being . It Avas a single Lodge , and it is most

probable that in time , Avhen a new generation of brethren had arisen , the Lodge would voluntarily enter into the jurisdiction of Quebec , and take out a new Avarrant from its Grand Lodge . But even if no such contingency happened , and Elgin continued to remain under the Grand

Lodge of Scotland , Ave see no reason Avhatever why tho Scotch and English Lodges could not Avork side by side Avith the Quebec Lodges , just as do our Irish , Scotch , and English Lodges in other of the Colonies and dependencies

of the United Kingdom . What is being done in Melbourne , in Calcutta , in Bombay , in Jamaica , cannot be impossible in Montreal . There Avas no necessity for disturbing arrangements Avhich had been in existence for

tAVO-andtwenty years . True , it is argued , that men who were rejected as candidates in the Quebec Lodges were received in those owning a foreign allegiance , and , no doubt , some inconvenience and even disrepute may occasionally have resulted . These things , Ave fear , are constantly happening

in our midsb ; nor do Ave think ifc less likely they would happen if the three Lodges passed into the jurisdiction of Quebec than now . If there is a laxity in admitting candidates , it Avill prevail to the full as much under one jurisdiction as another ; Avhereas , if the

constitutions of the several Grand Lodges are strictly followed , none but , Avorthy persons Avill bo received into Freemasonry . We can understand thafc a new Grand Lodge Avould prefer that all the Lodges already existing within its territorial limits should acknowledge its

supremacy , but , on the other hand , it is perfectly natural that some of those Lodges may prefer the retention of their status quo . It is very well for a newly constituted Grand

body to proclaim its absolute sovereignty over the country or district in A \ hich it is situated , and this , as regards the future , is natural enough , but compulsion is , or ought to be , an unknown force in Freemasonry . Afc the same timo we