Original Correspondence.

This is a matter of sincere regret to me as a loyal British subject ; but necessity knows no laws , and I have , although most unwillingly , yielded to the employment of the Spanish in our work . I enclose you in proof of this various forms , Sic ., which are aU printed in Spanish , as the language is best -understood

by all the brethren . Only last night I received a letter from the W . M . of the new Al Jassef Lodge at Cosabliner , praying me to write to him in Spanish . He says as follows : " Varies hermanos me piden ruege a Vd . de escriber en Castellano , para asi hacen con mes facilidad el conocimiento de nuestra corresoondencia entre ellos pues a escepcion de

nuestra Herm . Don J C . Nadie intiende el idioma ingles . " To use the elegant expression of your anonymous correspondent , " A Reader of the Freemason of Last Week , " I may well exclaim , " How in the name of common sense and good taste" can you affirm under such circumstances that Morocco Masons are an English-speaking body ? I remain , dear Sir and Brother , fraternally yours ,

R . STEWART PATTERSON , Special Deputy Grand Master Morocco , & c . Gibraltar , May 20 th , 1 SS 2 . [ This is the last letter we can allow to appear . The words " Grand . Orient" appear on a printed note-sheet sent by Bro . Patterson himself to our office from Gibraltar . —ED . F . M . ]

GRAND TERRITORIAL ORIENT OF MOROCCO . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — My attention has been called by a Gibraltar Freemason of repute and respectability to the anomalous state of affairs in respect of this nondescript body , and

therefore think it light to crave the attention of your readers for a little space while 1 state to them a few facts which justify my appeal to our own authorities to try and put a stop to these untoward and un-Masonic proceedings . In the first place , the reverend brother who is the " life and soul" of this abnormal movement , has been all along

discountenanced by his own authorities in Manitoba , just as his doings have been marked by utter want of respect to the constituted authorities at Gibraltar . He bases his " pronunciamento " on the fact that there are three concurrent foundations in Gibraltar—England , Scotland , and Ireland ; and therefore , he asserts , most sensible and logical

conclusion , that there is no legal authority there , and that , consequently , it is unoccupied country . The English District Grand Lodge of Gibraltar represents one of the oldest provincial foundations in the world ; and we certainly in England do not require to be told by a brother from Manitoba whether there be a legal

Masonic authority in Gibraltar . In the next place , all the proceedings are so essentially absurd that it is almost impossible to refrain from laughter when we hear or talk about them . They , as Mr . Samuel VVeller would say , " beat cock-fighting . " When was it ever heard in the annals of Freemasonry

that a Grand Lodge granted a warrant to a brother to hold a lodge destined for one country preliminarily in another ? And then , to cap the absurdity , to turn that Iodge , by a wave of his " mystic abacus , " into either a territorial G . Lodge of Manitoba in Africa , or a territorial G . Orient , without representation or designation , of Morocco ? This

is , in fact , a repetition in 1 SS 2 of the follies and incongruities of past generations . In order , then , to prevent unpleasantness and heartburnings , the spread of lax notions and clandestine Freemasonry , I think that our authorities may well be moved to advise the G . Lodge of Manitoba to repudiate the acts of the reverend

and bellicose brother , whose proceedings are condemned by all men of sense and understanding , all true Masonic students , as contrary to good form and proper precedent , the maintenance of kindly interjurisdictional relations , and the peace and harmony of Cosmopolitan Freemasonry . I am , Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , A QUONDAM INHABITANT OF "OLD GIB . " [ The same remark applies as to the letter above . — ED . F . M . - ] THE LODGE OF BENEVOLENCE .

To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Much discussion has occurred in Grand Lodge of late respecting the Board of Benevolence , and we are threatened by Bro . Clabon with a fifty per cent , increase of income-tax . I would ask Bro . Clabon to use his great

influence to a proper consideration and a searching investigation into each particular case of an applicant . The sum granted by the Board to individuals is sometimes astounding to country brethren ; and even in the last report are votes of £ 250 , £ 200 and £ 150 , and hundreds without number . I would like to enquire if these are

grants on the score of actual charity ; or , are they not grants of money to re-commence business with ? This is a practice I know . Can the Board of Benevolence defend such a practice ? Such sums as appear on the list ought only to be lent on security ; and if some country brethren were on the Committee I fancy " the coat would be cut

according to the cloth . " In confirmation of what 1 have stated , I may say that one evening £ 400 was voted to a merchant . I need not give the name or exact sum , for I am not wishful to bring the brother to light , who had been a Mason only some eight or nine years , and had given much time and money to the Craft , and who unfortunately had ailed in his business ; and the reason given for voting such

Original Correspondence.

a large sum was , that it would start him again in his trade , and that the money would be repaid to the Board of Benevolence . The fund was not established to find business capital for any one ; and this practice by our London brethren is highly to be deprecated ; and such grants as these referred

to can be for no other purpose . A thorough reform in the proceedings of the Committee is required . I would like to ask , Mr . Editor , if any of the £ 400 has been repaid ; which no doubt the President of the present Board can answer , as he sat next to the President ofthe evening . And now , Sir , we have it from Bro . Britten that " some of the petitioners

are clever and unscrupulous people , & c , " who go in for large sums , as small ones would not answer their purpose , and this seems to be the reason why such large grants are made to London Masons . Yours fraternally , 23 C . [ We hardly like to refuse the letter , but we think that there is some mistake in the figures . —ED . F . M . ' l

VISITORS . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — As you have not printed the whole of Bro . Le Feuvre ' s letter in your issue of to-day , I will not make any complaint regarding its unneeded acerbity of tone . I am

willing to believe that the portions excised by you were those which conveyed the writer ' s courteous expression of regret at finding himself obliged to differ from a brother Mason upon a disputed reading of Masonic law . On the familiar principle " noblesse oblige , " nothing less could have been expected of a highly placed Grand Officer of a

distinguished province , when dealing with the opinions of a inemberof the Craft ; but , as matters stand , you have succeeded in representing our V . W . Brother in the character of one needing , rather than being qualified to give , a lesson in the dignified , yet courteous , demeanour which ought surely to

mark the bearing of a Pro / incial Grand Warden towards every brother of our Order . I am compelled , however , to deal with my brother ' s letter as . it actually appeared , leaving him and you to settle between you your respective shares of responsibility for its

terms . I . will be very short in what I have to say . Bro . Le Feuvre is good enough to stigmatize me as a law breaker . I may be so , but the law is of my brother ' s own making . At any rate , I challenge him to give me any better authority than his own for the rule which he considers that I , in

opinion at least , have trangressed . He is careful to adduce no arguments in support of his contention , or in refutation of mine , but simply relies " sua auctoritate . " In this he greatly misapprehends the temperof the Craft generally , and thatof one of its members particularly . I am a very conservative Mason , and have a great respect for authority , but I

want something better than the mere " ipse dixit" of a Provincial Grand Warden in determining my opinion upon a point of Masonic law . My brother has apparently read the summary of " Antient Charges , " particularly number 15 , but he dues not appear to be acquainted with those very charges of which the

others are only a summary . He will find no warrant there for his contention , but much that . supports my own view ; and he would do well to remember that " a proper voucher" may mean a good deal more than a parchment certificate . The Constitutions are before me , and upon

them I base my opinion , without asking any man to interpret their meaning for me . My Bro . Le Feuvre has not examined this matter carefully , or he would , without doubt , completely alter his opinion . Yours fraternally , THOS . EDMONDSTON , P . M . London , June 3 rd , 1 SS 2 .

AN IMPOSTOR . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — On two occasions lately I have been called on by a person describing himself as a member of the Naval Lodge , No . 24 , Warrington , State of Florida . His story is that he was steward of the ship Orondatus , and was

wrecked on a voyage to England , losing everything . His name he gives as W . Solter . On writing to the Secretary of the Naval Lodge , I received a reply , that " no such name as W . Solter appears upon our records , neither do any of our members recollect such a man . " 1 am , yours fraternally . T . B . WHYTEHEAD . York , 12 th June , 1 SS 2 .

WEST LANCASHIRE MASONIC EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION . A largely attended meeting of the General Committee of the West Lancashire Masonic Educational Institution was held at the Masonic Hall , Hope-street , Liverpool , on Friday evening , the gth inst . The chair was occupied by Bro . R . Wylie , P . P . G . S . D ., and amongst others present

were Bros . G . Broadbridge and R . Martin , jun ., Hon . Secretaries ; Dr . J . Kellett Smith , R . Brown , T . Salter , J . W . Ballard , J . Pemberton , P . B . Gee , G . Walmsley , and others . The special object of the meeting was to take into consideration and determine upon a number of applications on behalf of children of deceased Masons to be

placed on the foundation of the Institution for the purpose of being educated . There were altogether eleven applications under the educational head , all of which were granted , thus necessitating an additional annual outlay of about £ 86 . _ The sum of £ 22 was likewise given for the advancement in life of two children of deceased Freemasons . The proceedings were brought to a close by a vote of thanks to the Chairman for presiding .

Reviews

REVIEWS

THE FRESHMAN'S PROGRESS . By a D . D . Kerby and Endean , 440 , Oxford-street . This is a little poetic skit on University life , and professedly by a D . D . The memories of our University life , if we be right thinking , are amongst the pleasantest we have . Some of us may recall to mind Longfellow's graceful lines of old , in the " Spanish Student " —

" Oh , those were pleasant days , Those college days ; I ne ' er shall see the like . 1 had not buried then so many hopes , I had not buried then so many friends . I ' ve turned my back on what was there before , And the bright faces ot my young companions Are wrinkled like my own , and are no more . "

fo recall the sunny scenes and cheery voices of old days , to realize the distant and forgotten in that sort of tender " chiaro oscuro" which the progress of time throws over the faded past ; to summon up before us again the pleasant faces and the honest hearts , which made existenceso cheery in those young and gracious days is never without profit , is always pleasurable to us all alike . The old boat which was at the

head of the river , that cricket match in whicli we did such wonders , that famous choral society whose echoes still float around our dusty room to-day ; that joyous gathering and that wondrous picnic , those lists with their dreadful certainty , those good old " Dons " with their kindly serenity , all constitute little particles in our kaleidoscope , which fall on our startled gaze now with movins . wonder or grateful

intensity , l'or us , those old rooms cf ours are still the home of genial and happy days ; the friendships we formed , the friends we gained , the after career which has succeeded the hours of honest struggles and warm-hearted sympathy have something for us all very real ; nay , important , very meaning indeed . There have been many sketches and skits of college life . Some of us can recall the outspoken J

confidences of ' * leter Priggins ; " some of us have smiled over " Verdant Green . " But the defect in them all is the same ; they seem to run , so to say , to seed , to be marked by extravagance and . exaggeration ; to represent untruly college life as it is in its hopes and fears , its aims and its efforts , its glories and its disgraces , its fun and its follies , its reality and its triumphs ; and putting a part for the whole .

the particular for the universal , to represent the normal development of the " Freshman , " as characterized by weakness , idleness , viciousness , and excess . Such is not now , and never has been , we make bold to say , a true portraiture of college life ; and as we dislike unreality ahd untruth in all forms , so in the severity of aesthetic taste and the correctness of historical particuin

larity , we object principle to representations which make college life a perpetual encounter with thc Procter , and the wonted tenour of an university career to consist in perverse waste of time and money , hurtful idiosyncrasies , and unworthy amusements and inadvisable associations . There are University men and University men , and Freshmen and Freshmen ; and the Freshman ' s Progress as a skit is

unmeaning in itself , in that it represents an impossible state of things , which never did exist , and does not exist to-day . We confess we think that a D . D . had better find something else to do than write the interlude with which he has favoured us ; and we feel bound honestly to' say , that we hardly deem this little work worthy of its kindly publishers , as though every allowance mav fairlv be made tor a

skit or a harmless satire of passing follies or patent defects , so many admirable works have been issued under the auspices of Messrs . Kerby and Endean , that for many reasons we consider this publication a retrograde movement , which hardly accords with their valuable and beneficial progress in sound , useful , improving , and graceful literature .

DIE ENTHULLTEN GEHEIMNISSE DER FREIMAUREKE 1 . Two Vols . Altona , 1 S 77 . This disclosure , which professes to be founded on the papers of an * ' old Master , " is based on certain English works , and assumes to give an explanation of German and English Masonic mysteries . It is like all similar

productions , a makeshift , a compilation , and utterly worthless ; trading on the credulity of some , and appealing to the bigotry of others . No one is likely to be debarred from Masonic fellowship by professed exposures in which nothing is exposed , and asserted revelations in which nothing is revealed .

THE THREE MASONIC PRECIOUS JEWELS . By Bro . H . V . P . BRONKHUKST , Chaplain . Baldwin and Co ., Demerara , 18 S 2 . This is a very interesting little pamphlet , in the form of a sermon , addressed to the brethren in British Guiana , by Bro . Bronkhurst . It is an able exposition of Johannite or Christian Freemasonry ; but we must remind Bro .

Bronkhurst that since 1813 English lodges are not dedicated to the two St . John ' s , and that , though his argument for Christian Masonry and Christian symbolism is permitted in the great toleration of the Grand Lodge of England , it is not general , or official , or now widely recognized . But as there always will probably be Johannite Masons in England , his pamphlet will appeal to the tastes of some , and the sympathies of others , lorcibly and fitly .

The fifth and last of the series of Orchestral Concerts given b y Bro . W . Ganz , P . G . O ., will be given this ( Saturday ) afternoon , in St . James ' s Hall . The programme will include Mendelssohn ' s Scotch Symphony in A minor , and the overtures to " Rosamunde " and " Der

Freischiitz . " Mr . Vladimir de Pachmana will play Beethoven ' s pianoforte concerto in G . major and two morceaux by Chopin , as well as , in conjunction with Bro . Ganz , Mendelssohn ' s and Moscheles ' s grand duet for two pianofortes on the Gipsy March from Weber's " Preciosa . " Miss Rose Hersee will be the vocalist .

Mr . George Watson , jun ., Honorary Secretary of the Rochester and Chatham Choral Society , has been appointed by the Prince of Wales to be Organising Sccre-, tary to the Royal College of Music .