To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The FREEMASON is a Weekly News paper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information , relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscription , including postage : United America . India , India , China , & c .

Kingdom , thc Continent , & c . Via Biindist , Twelvemonths ios . 6 d . 12 s . 6 d . 17 s . 4 d . Six „ 5 s . 3 d . 6 s . 6 d . 8 s . 8 tl . Three * „ 2 s . 8 d . 3 s . 3 d . 4 s . 6 d . Subscriptions may be paid for in stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , the former payable to

GEORGE KENNING , CHIEF OFFICE , LONDON , the latter crossed London Joint Stock Bank . Advertisements and other business communications should be addressed to the Publisher . Communications on literary subjects and books for

review are to be forwarded to the Editor . Anonymous correspondence will be wholly disregarded , and thc return of rejected MSS . cannot be guaranteed . Further inlormation will be supplied on application to hi Publisher , 108 , Fleet-street , London .

Important Notice.

IMPORTANT NOTICE .

It is very necessary for our readers to advis us of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them . Several P . O . O . ' s are now in hand , but having received no advice we cannot credit them .

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can there-fore scarcely be overrated . ADVERTISEMENTS to ensure insertion in current -week ' s issue should reach the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , by 12 o'clock on "Wednesdays . SCALE OF CHARGES FOR

ADVERTISEMENTS . Whole of back page ... ... ... £ 12 \ z o Half , „ ... ... ... ... 6 10 o Inside pages ... ... ... ... 7 7 ° Half of ditto 400 Quarter tlitto ... ... ... ,. 2 10 o Whole column ... ... ... 2 10 o

Half „ 1 10 o Quarter „ 100 Per inch ... ... ... 050 These prices are for single insertions . A liberal reduction is made for a series of 13 , 26 , and 31 insertions . Further particulars may be obtained of the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

We have received an interesting letter from Bro . G . Clement , of the Rite Ecco of Paris , to which we shall call attention in a leader next week . A . S . — " The Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar , " published at thc office of the Freemason , contains the information asked for , and a complete list of lodges .

The lollowing reports stand over : — Mariiiers Lodge , No . 249 , Liverpool . St . John's Lodge , No . 80 , Sunderland . Inhabitants Lodge , No . 153 , Gibraltar . BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Brief , " " Hull Packet , " " Masonic Newspaper , " "Die

Bauhutte , " "Broad Arrow , " "Alliance , " "Essex Independent , " " Cornwall Gazette , " " Masonic Advocate , " "Report District Grand Lodge of Bombay , " "Report District Grand Lodge of Bengal , " " Cornish Telegraph , " " Yorkshire Gazette , " " Musical Eclectic , " " Keystone , " " Canadian Craftsman . "

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements not exceeding Four Lines under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . BOOKER . —On the 12 th inst ., at Sproxton Vicarage , Leicestershire , the wife of the Rev . Arthur W . Booker , of a daughter . WATTS-RUSSELL . —On the nth inst ., at 29 , Coleherneroad , S . W ., the wife of Mr . E . Watts-Russell , of a son .

MARRIAGE . J ACKSON—DUNCAN . —On the ioth inst ., at All Saints ' , West Ham , by the Rev . — Clarkson , Wm . H . C . Jackson , of Forest Gate , to Katie , daughter of Mr . C . W . Duncan , of Holly-terrace , Leytonstone-road , Stratford .

DEATHS . BURTON . —On the nth inst ., at Eastbourne , Mr . Edward Frederick Burton , of 37 , Lincoln ' s-inn-fields , aged 61 years . J OSEPH . —On the 12 th inst ., at Hastings , Mr . Maurice J oseph , of 61 , Finchley New-road , St . John's-wood , N . W ., in his 47 th year .

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THEFREEMASON. SATURDA--I , JUL" * lp , 1 879 .

The House Of Brunswick.

THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK .

We have in this now old and cherished watchword for all loyal Englishmen both a gracious memory of the past , a happy trust for tbe present , a confiding hope for the future . As English patriots and English Freemasons , we may always gladly realize how much we owe ,

nationally and Masonically , to that Royal Family of ours , under whose tolerant and genial auspices we have beheld liberty consolidated , empire extended , and equal rights preserved faithfully , both in sacredness and certainty , for all classes of our loyal people . Nothing is so marvellous to

the contemplative mind to-day , as we unveil the great map of the world or study the annals of nations , as to notice how , amid dissolved empires , and even collapsed republics , the great and goodly monarchy of England has stood , like our white and stately cliffs , erect amid those

convulsions and disruptions under which other States and many peoples have gone down , or fallen from liberty , from greatness , and from empire . It is , indeed , alike affecting and yet gratify ing to note and to feel how everything , both of national constitution and legal prescrip .

tion , seems to minister to the happiness and contentment , and safety , and protection of us all alike , and how that in all its part and principles the great and goodly machine of our limited monarchy is more conducive , in our humble opinion , than any other form of known

government , to the maintenance of law , order , property , as well as social contentment and general individual liberty . We flatter ourselves that this cohesion of all classes and all conditions in our great country , resulting partly from our admirable constitutions , partly from the genius of our people ,

has been cemented and intensified by the beneficent rule of that illustrious House under who-e protecting aegis arts and commerce alike have flourished , and the peaceful progress of Great Britain , the rights of nations , and the liberties of the world have been alike upheld , extended ,

preserved , and developed in a wonderful measure . As Freemasons we can recall gratefully to-day the simple but speaking fact , that three Princes of Wales in succession have been connected with our Order , and two have been Grand Masters of English Freemasonry , and that in a past generation , as

in the present , the loyalty of Freemasonry has been gratified and the prestige of Freemasonry has been enhanced by the kindly presence and unfailing countenance of successive members of our Royal Family . We who live in this generation can recall with pride the fact , full of meaning ,

reality , and importance as it is , that we have seen three Royal brothers claiming our name , wearing our insignia , and fulfilling effectively the duties of their appointed offices . But there is another feature of the constant , ceaseless discharge of their public duties by our Royal

Family , to which as Freemasons and citizens of our loyal monarchy we can look with peculiar feelings of pleasure and pride . The late Piince Consort , in a remarkable speech at the Trinity House- * , which can still be read with profit by us all , told an appreciative and applauding audience

that at the time he spoke the Royal Famil y were discharging the duties incumbent upon their high station , and that the Prince of Wales was in Canada , and Prince Alfred , now the Duke of Edinburgh , was at the Cape of Good Hope . Hardly a day passes over our heads but we hear

and see how ready the Royal Family is to take part in all that tends to keep together the great institutions , whether social , medical , literary , artistic , or humanitarian , of our common country , and how their presence serves to give strength and encouragement to local efforts and

praiseworthy undertakings . There are few benevolent undertakings for our hospitals or institutions for the relief of human suffering , the encouragement of thrift , the mitigation of the sorrows and trials of mortality , to which their ever ready patronage does not afford support and strengthen the hands of the governing bodies . The

The House Of Brunswick.

gracious words and the kindl y sympath y of the Prince and Princess of ' Wales whether at the Hospital for Incurables , onl y the other day , or the School for the Blind , are of incalculable good and importance , and in humble , homes and by grateful hearts their genial

utterances and pleasant smiles will long be proudly treasured and eagerly talked about . As our Grand Master said so well on Tuesday week " We all of us do our best to relieve those who are in pain and to alleviate the misfortunes which attend the suffering . " It is most gratifying to us

all , as Freemasons and as patriots , to note these unceasing labours of our Royal Famil y to promote the happiness , comfort , amelioration of the sick afflicted , and suffering , and to strengthen by such zealous sympathy that attachment and devotion

to that Royal House , under whose kindl y and sagacious Regime our great country speeds on its way in strength and honour , alike for the happiness and stability of a contented people , as for the peace and progress , nay safety , of the world .

Positivism And French Freemasonry.

POSITIVISM AND FRENCH FREEMASONRY .

By a paragraph from the Times j which appeared in our last impression , it would seem as if that eminent Positivist , Professor Littre , was very anxious to make French Freemasonry " Positivist , " too . Professor Littri is the well-known individual iu deference to whose

" Positivist scruples the tnen existing ritual of French Freemasonry at his initiation was suppressed and altered , and it will be in the recol - lection of some of our readers that from the date of his admission , so un-Masonically , in our opinion , and with such an unworthy departure

from Masonic precedent and law , that ill-omened ag itation commenced in the lodges under the Grand Orient of France , fostered by a violent and unscrupulous party , which has practicall y raduced the Grand Orient of France to a non-Masonic body , whose jurisdiction is more than

questionable , whose position is detrimental to Freemasonry , and mournful and humiliating , in our humble but honest opinion , in the hi ghest degree . And here we have Frere Littre , as he is termed by French Freemasons , proposing to introduce into Freemasonry the most doubtful and

debateable of the current philosophic-crazes of the hour . The French Freemasons are to subscribe funds , forsooth , to found and endow a Positivist University . What for ? To please Frere Littre , and , to use the professor ' s own euphonious and antithetical expressions , " lo

compete both with the orthodoxy ofthe Church , and the eclecticism of the State . " Well , we wish to ask to-day quietly and calmly in the peaceful columns of the Freemason , what has Freemasonry proper to do with such things at all ? What has it to do with Positivism , or any other

ism ? How is it concerned in such abnormal schemes as these ? This is just the very tendency of what Bros . Hubert , Lechaut , and others , more , perhaps , than some are aware of , comp lain of in France , namely , to render Freemasonry a section and a faction ; this is just the

unfortunate and un-Masonic position of affairs which the Grand Orient of France has taken up , and which we decline to recognize or sanction in England . You may give to '' Positivism , " if you like , the name of a " belief , " or the appellation of a philosophy , but , after all is said and done ,

what can it be to English Freemasons , believing and accepting the Bible as God ' s Word , but positive infidelity ? What is it but an attempt , ( a mournful attempt according to us ) , to glorify humanity at the expense of all that is divine , of all that is sacred and cherished by us , of all that

we are taught to accept or to receive ? To make Freemasonry and Positivism convertible terms to claim for that " religion " to which from our entrance into Freemasonry we have been taug ht to believe that Freemasonry itself is a handmaid and a friend , the name of Positivism ,

an insult to right , reason , and common honesty ; an abject parody on all which as Masons and even mortals , we have been accustomed to accept as our hope and trust and consolation alike tot time and for eternity . It may be that by some Jesuitical non-naturalism , some specious and subtle reasoning , we may evade the true force - "