Contents.

CONTENTS .

UADBRS— PAGH - The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , and Coloured Masonry ... ... 23 Northumbrian Masonry ... ... ... — •¦¦ 2 3

Consecration of the Nil Sine Lahore Lodge , No . 2736 ... ... ... 24 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys ( Quarterly Court ) ... ••••••25 " Old Masonians" ... ... ... ... ••••••2 ^ Board of Benevolence ... ... ... ... >••¦•26 Craft Masonry ... ... ... •¦•••¦ •••2 °

M ASONIC NOTESQuarterly Courts of the Boys' and Girls' S : hool * ... ... ... 2 9 Hoard of Stewards' Roval Masonic Benevolent Institution Festival ... 29 Oeath of Lady Edith-Wilbraham ... ... ... ... 29 Grand Lodge of Washington and Coloured Grand Lodges ... ... 29

Correspondence ... ' ... ... ... ... •••30 Reviews ... ... •¦•¦••¦••••¦•••¦ 3 ° Election of Grand Treasurer ... ... ... ... ... 30 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... •••3 " Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 31

Mark Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 32 Instruction ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 32 Knights Templar ... ... ... ... . ... ... 32 Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 32 The Craft Abroad ... ... ... ... ... ... 32 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 3-1

The Grand Lodge Of Pennsylvania And Coloured Masonry.

THE GRAND LODGE OF PENNSYLVANIA AND COLOURED MASONRY .

The Philadelphia Keystone contains a very full and particular account of thc proceedings of the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on the 27 th December last ( St . John the Evangelist ' s Day ) . From this it appears that our

Pennsylvania !! brethren have been very carefully considering tlie question which has recently arisen concerning the status of the coloured Grand Lodges which exist in certain districts in the United States . The resolution recently adopted by the Grand

Lodge of Washington in favour of accepting as legitimate Masonic bodies the different African or coloured Grand Lodges existing in the States , has had the effect of bringing thc question home to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , owing to the fact of

there being such . a coloured Grand Lodge established on their borders , which , for valid reasons , it has always looked upon as clandestine . Hence the whole question was referred to the

Committee on Correspondence , and it is impossible to read the nport of that Committee , which was presented to the Grand Lodge at its meeting on thc 27 th ult ., and unanimously adopted , without recognising it as a most important pronouncement .

After a few preliminary remarks of a general character , the Committee points out that the question at issue " is not whether coloured men or negroes can be made Freemasons , but whether Hie so-called African Grand Lodge and Lodges warranted by

them are legitimate and entitled to recognition . " If they are , then the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania is wrong in the declarati <> n it makes in its Ahiman Rezon , or Book of Constitutions , to tin- effect that it ( the Grand Lodge ) " is the only , true and of It is

h ^ iliniate source Masonic authority . supreme and soverei gn . " If the contention of thc Grand Lodge of Washington that "the African Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania is a

legitimate Masonic Grand Lodge " be true , then the Grand Lodge ot ' ' •nnsylvania " is not the only true and legitimate source of Masonic authority , " and consequently " it is not supreme and soverei gn . "

lhe Committee goes on to point out the desirability of r , !| T iembcring " that there are legitimate lodges composed of coloured persons , and lodges composed of white and coloured persons lawfull y warranted by legitimate Grand Lodges . " Such 5 V--s already exist in Massachusetts , New Jersey , England ,

The Grand Lodge Of Pennsylvania And Coloured Masonry.

and it may be in other States and foreign countries , and no G . Lodge would have the right to object to another G . Lodge warranting lodges for coloured persons or initiating them in lodges already warranted . Hence there is no objection to

these African lodges on the ground that they are composed of coloured persons ; the legitimate ground of objection to them is that they are set up in the State over which the recognised G . Lodge has already claimed to exercise , and has exercised ,

supreme and sovereign authority . The report further observed " that a Grand Lodge which recognises and fraternises with a clandestine lod ge or its members , thereby makes itself clandestine . " When , therefore , " a

Grand Lodge with which we are in fraternal relations recognises another body in our jurisdiction which we consider clandestine *' as thc Grand Lodge of Washington has just done , "it -Wves us just cause for complaint and justifies us in taking such measures

as will protect our supremacy and sovereignty . " On these grounds the Committee recommended that " fraternal relations with the Grand Lodge of Washington be suspended until that Grand Lodge shall have withdrawn its recognition of the clandestine lodges in this jurisdiction . ''

Northumbrian Masonry*.

NORTHUMBRIAN MASONRY * .

Having , in our article of last week , given , in general terms , some idea of the character of the contents of the earlier chapters of Bro . STUACHAN ' S work , we enter , in the fifth chapter , upon

the period when Grand Lodges were established in England ; and , with a view to making his narrative as clear as possible , the author gives a few particulars of the three governing bodies which claimed "to have authority to permit the holding of

private lodges and the making of Freemasons ; " these three bodies being , it is almost needless to say , the Grand Lodge in London of I 717 . which was afterwards designated the Grand Lodge of the " Moderns ; " the Grand Lodge of all England in

York , which , after a chequered career , passed out of existence in the closing years of last century ; and thc " Ancient " Grand Lodge , subsequently known also as the "Atholl " Grand Lodge , which was started in 1751 under the government of a Grand

Committee , and two years later was presided over by a Grand Master , with the usual complement of Grand Officers . Then follows such information as he has had the good fortune to unearth respecting the lodges existing in

'Northumberland ' during the earlier halt of thc 18 th century . These lodges , which held under no superior authority , " met together and practised their rites and ceremonicsj-none having the power to prevent them . " But , " gradually they found it advisable to obtain a warrant from one or other of the Grand

Lodes ; and there is strong ground for believing that very many lodges had an independent existence for years before they obtained a warrant . " The information obtained respecting these early lodges is most interesting , and , seeing that Bro .

STRACHAN IS indebted for it to local notes and newspapers , there can be no question as to its trustworthiness . It is to be regretted that so many of these bodies have long since disappeared from the roll of our Grand Lodge . Sundry of them appear to have had but a brief existence , but there is ample