Indiscriminate Admission Of Candidates.

rights and privileges . And , lastly , the attempt to force a favourable ballot by excluding a member supposed to be unfavourably inclined towards the candidate , was a monstrous invasion of one of the most sacred rights of membership . We have no hesitation in saying that if

this case is not brought under the notice of the District Grand authorities , our Grand Lodge should take the initiative , and forthwith order an inquiry ; and if the case is proved , visit the offending members with the heaviest penalties sanctioned by tho laws of Masonry . No such

ruffianly conduct would pass unpunished in any class of society . It certainly cannot be tolerated in Freemasonry . Then the cases cited by our Bro . Metham , of the P . M . boasting at " the bar of a public-house , with oath following oath , that he had used a black ball , and would use it

even against the G . M . himself , if by doing so he could spit his spite against the Master of his Lodge ; " of the drunken candidate who had to be supported through the ceremony of his initiation ; of members admitted who could not sign their names and the like ; all these are so

many more proofs of what we have said in the course of these remarks , and of what every officer who has latterly consecrated a new Lodge has made a point of saying , that it is impossible we can exercise too great an amount of caution in the election of new members . We have room

in our ranks and a hearty welcome for the good men and true who may wish to join us . Let the selfish , the ruffianly , and the disreputable , who will trade on Masonry or violate the principles of the Craft in every act of their daily life , be rigidly excluded . Had due caution been

exercised in the Buninyong Lodge the scene we have had described to us could not have happened . Had the same caution been exercised in Devon , the Spiteful P . M ., the drunken candidate , the members who cannot sign their names , would have been impossibilities . We are very far

from placing the outrageous conduct in the Buninyong Lodge and the exceptional misconduct cited by Bro . Metham on the same level . Tbey all , however , serve to point one and the same moral : —Be cautious whom you introduce into the ranks of Freemasonry .

The Latest Abuse Of Freemasonry.

THE LATEST ABUSE OF FREEMASONRY .

\\ I ^ have lon g since become accustomed the attacks T Y of ignorant scribes . They can do us no harm , and we endure them , pretty much on the same ground that the late Earl of Derby's big navvy endured the thwackings of his little wife : they amused her , and did him no harm . But occasionally we light upon an attack exhibiting more than

the ordinary amount of spite , ignorance , and presumption . Upon all such we think it expedient to bestow a few words , not because they are more harmful to Freemasonry , but because the outside world , though actuated by no malice , is in a state of ignorance as to our laws and constitutions .

Last week , the Hampshire Post and Southsea Observer devoted the greater part of two columns to an article on "the Cant of Masonry . " Our first objection to this precious ebullition of spite is the crass ignorance it

displays . The writer introduces a few Masonic terms which he has , no doubt , specially hunted up for the occasion . Save and except these , there is absolutely nothing in the whole course of the article to show the writer has the

faintest notion what Freemasonry is . Our second objection follows , naturally enough , that a writer so ignorant should presume to condemn a society of which he knows nothing . We think we shall have no difficulty in the course of the following remarks in proving the validity of these objections .

The occasion of this diatribe in the HampsJtire Post and Southsea Observer was the recent consecration , at Havant , by our respected E . W . Bro . W . W . B . Beach , P . G . M . of Hants and the Isle of Wight , of new Lodge buildings for the Carnarvon Lodge , No . 804 We pass over the petty

spite of the opening remark about " the lawyers , tailors , butchers , and tradesmen of all sorts , who usurp the name of ' Masons , ' and who are vain enough to think that they

inherit in some mysterious way the honour and glory of having erected Westminster Abbey , Solomon ' s Temple , the Pyramids of Egypt , and the Tower of Babel . " This is , no doubt ; intended aa a sneer at the worthy gentleman

The Latest Abuse Of Freemasonry.

who sits in Parliament as one of the representatives of the northern division of the county , and who presides over " the lawyers , tailors , butchers , and tradesmen of all sorts , " who , in Hampshire , usurp the name of " Masons . " If so , the sneer will injuriously affect not Bro . Beach at whom

it is levelled , but the writer who makes it . Nor do we think it a matter of serious moment if the new Lodge at Havant is not equal , in point of architectural merit , to Westminster Abbey or King Solomon ' s Temple . It will , doubtless , answer the purpose for which it has been built ,

and that is all we look for in buildings de Heated to Freemasonry . Modern Masons are very proud of their connection with the operative Masonic Guilds of by-gone days , but they Jay claim to no special knowledge of the builder ' s art . Had the writer been at the pains of ascertaining what

modern Masonry is , he would quickly have discovered that we are Speculative , not Operative Masons , and that we use the tools of the working Masons merely as so many symbols in connection with that system of morality which we profess , and which we humbly yet earnestly hope we act up

to , according to our poor ability . We ought not , however , to be surprised at the writer ' s ignorance when we find him further on , describing our ancestors as " for the most part unmitigated ruffians , " or at his vulgarity when we find him imitating the language of Josh Billings .

We pass to what we presume we must describe as the body of the article , in which Masonry is considered from a religious , political , and moral point of view . We must apologise if we cannot follow the writer ' s meaning exactly as he would have us follow it . We doubt , indeed , if he

could define his meaning , save in so far as he has sought to strike a mortal blow at Freemasonry . However , Bro . Ford is reported to have expressed his belief that " Chris , tianity and Masonry are consonant in principle . " Whereupon the writer delivers himself of this most sapient

argument : "If this he true , then , surely Masonry is superfluous . If they are not so , then Masonry must be mischievous . " Our readers will note the seauikir in each section of this marvellous illustration of the art of reasoning . If an institution is in consonance with the principles of

Christianity , it is superfluous ; if not , it is mischievous . We will not stop to notice this further . The teachings of Freemasonry are based upon the Sacred Volume of the Law—we saw nothing about Christianity , except it were in his mention of " both books of the Sacred Volume . " in

Bro . Ford s address . The Hampshire Post and Southsea Observer may ridicule our assertion , but ridicule is not disproof . But worse than this follows . We are told the Order " has its political as well as its reli gious and moral

aspect . We have always been under the impression that Freemasonry holds itself strictly aloof from everything connected with politics ; but then we are only poor deluded Masons , who know what the Order is and what it is nofc .

The writer m our Hampshire contemporary is not a Mason . His assertion , therefore , that Masonry is a political body , must override ours , that it is not . And as Freemasonry is a political body , and Bro . Ford the exponent of its virtues

at the recent consecration at Havant is a Conservative , ifc follows , of course , that " the principles of Conservatism " are " embodied in Masonry . " " Ergo , " writes this very abstruse dialectician , " there is a direct connection between Conservatism and Christ . " This last inference we

overlook , as impertinent to the question . As to Masonry being a political body , ifc is simply untrue . If to enjoin on its followers due respect for the laws of their country , or of the country in which they may be residing , is sufficient to constitute it a political body , then we are fain to admit we

are such . But the word " political , " when applied to matters of State , irrespective of all forms of government , has one meaning ; when applied to different polities or different sets of opinions as to the best form of polity , it has another . In order to make this more clear to the be .

muddled brain of our contemporary , we will simply point out that had Bro . Ford been a citizen of the United States , he would have insisted on all Masons in that country being loyal to the American Constitution . Bro . Ford , however , is a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland . It

was , therefore , his duty to preach loyalty to the British Crown . We have grave reasons for suspecting that the writer in the Hampshire Post and Southsea Observer is not acquainted with the meaning of the words he uses , or he

never would have been so silly as to confound loyalty to all forms of government , which is the creed of Masons , with party politics . Had he cared to obtain even a slight know * ledge of this portion of the subject , he might easily have