Contents.

CONTENTS .

LlASIRS , 609 Provincial Grand Lodge of Sussex 610 III . —Constitutions of 1756 Cir

CORRESPONDENCELoyal Freemasonry 613 Notes and Queries 613 REPORTS OP MASONIC M EETINGSCraft Masonry 613 Instruction 616 Royal Arch 617

REPORTS or MASONIC MEETINGS ( Continued)—Instruction 617 Mark Masonry 61 S Ancient and Accepted Rite 61 S

Rosicrucian Society 618 The Alpass Masonic Benevolent Institution 618 The Great Pyramid and Freemasonry 618 Obituary 618 Masonic and General Tidings 6 ig Lodge Meetings for Next Week G 02

Ar00101

WE publish elsewhere a biographical sketch of the late Bro . R . H . GIRAUD , Past G . S . D . of England , whose death took place last week at the ripe age of 86 years . We need not , therefore , say more here than that we sympathise most deeply with the relatives and friends of our deceased brother , as well as with that more numerous body of people both within and outside

the pale of Freemasonry , among whom the name of GIRAUD in connection with good works was " familiar as a household word . " Bro . GIRAUD was a distinguished as well as one of the oldest of our Grand Officers , and one of the senior and most active supporters of our three Institutions , but the most remarkable feature of his long and beneficent career is , that during its

term of sixty and two years , there was , so far as we have heard , no interval of rest from his Masonic duties . He ended as he began , an active and able member of our ancient and honourable Society , and his loss is one not easily to be borne , more especially as it follows so closely at the heels of those it has been our sad duty to chronicle during the last few weeks .

• • • OUR remarks on a recent objectionable article in the Toronto Freemason have had one beneficial result . They have elicited from the Canadian Craftsman an expression of sympathy with us in our plea for the observance of the proprieties of civilised journalism by all organs of the Masonic

Press . This is no more than might have been expected from a long-established paper of high repute , and we trust it will have the effect of restraining our Toronto namesake from any further display of its peculiar vulgarities . But with this expression of sympathy there is an end to the agreement between the Craftsman and ourselves . As regards the main question ,

whether Quebec or England is right in its contention , it considers that our arguments are stale and unprofitable , and that our nuts are easy enough to crack , because " their contents are old—blue-mouldy as it were . ' ' We have even gone so far—in the opinion of the Craftsman—as to refer to " the Craft in the ' Colonies' in such contemptuous terms , as to lead to the

inference" that in our estimation " a'Colonial' Mason is not as good as an English Mason . " In respect of this last allegation , we need not do more for the purpose of illustrating its absurdity than point out that in the very number which contains this charge against us , our contemporary has done us the honour to quote our article on the Empire Lodge and the reception it

gave to Colonial Masons some time back , as indicating a strong desire among the Craft in this country for a closer communion between Colonial and English brethren . It is answer enough to this particular charge to say that we should not have supported so strenuously the purpose for which the Empire Lodge was established , namely , to provide , as it were , a Masonic

home in the Old Country for Colonial Masons , if we had been disposed to look down upon them with contempt as being " not as good as " English Masons . There is , probably , not one English Mason whose opinion is worth having , who does not entertain the greatest respect for his Colonial fellow craftsmen , whether the latter hail from North , South , East , or West ,

from Canada or Australia , from the West Indies or China . We always most heartily reciprocate towards Colonial Masons the kindly feeling which we know will be ours if ever we should happen to be in their neighbourhood . Our contemporary must forgive us for suggesting that , with a little more editorial supervision over the contents of its September number , it would not have fallen into this egregrious error .

As to our arguments against the claims of Quebec being stale , and our nuts to crack venerable through age , we must plead guilty to the gentle insinuation . Our arguments are old , for no one has been able to disturb them since the time when they were first advanced , and all we have to do , therefore , in

treating of these Quebec claims , is to keep on repeating them . But stale arguments are not necessarily unsound , nor can it be known what the contents of a nut are like—whether blue-mouldy or otherwise—until some one has been at the pains of cracking the shell . Therefore , in this Quebec

business , so long as our arguments remain unanswered , or , better still , so long as no one attempts to answer them , so long we fear we must keep on serving them up to our readers ; till our present bill of fare is exhausted , there is no need for us to supply a fresh one . What we desire is , that in

Ar00102

furnishing arguments the reciprocity should not be all on our side , and when our Canadian contemporary has managed to hatch out one or two , we shall have much pleasure in dealing with it , in the most fraternal spirit imaginable . As to our venerable nuts and their alleged " blue-mouldy " contents , we challenge the Canadian Craftsman to crack , that is , resolve the

two that follow —( 1 ) Is it the case that , if "twenty lodges , forming part of an existing Grand Lodge , are free to set up a Grand Lodge of their own , five or six lodges , forming another part of the same Grand Lodge , are not free to remain as they were ? " ( 2 ) When a secession of lodges from an existing Grand Lodge takes place for the purpose of setting up an

independent Grand Lodge of their own , are the lodges so seceding legally competent , not only to cancel their allegiance to the said existing Grand Lodgea proposition which in this case of Quebec is not denied—but likewise to acquit themselves of all those obligations which were contracted by the said existing Grand Lodge as well on their behalf as on behalf of the lodges

which prefer to remain in their allegiance ? In other words , when the Quebec lodges " seceded " from the Grand Lodge of Canada , were they legally—we will leave honour out of the consideration in a case in which its presence does not seem to be needed—were they legally competent to determine the treaty or compact made on their behalf as well as on that of the

rest of the Canadian lodges by the Grand Lodge of Canada with the United Grand Lodge of England ? Let the Canadian Craftsman resolve these questions satisfactorily , and then , an its pleases it , it may describe the contents of our ancient nuts as blue-mouldy , or by any other epithet that will smell as sweet .

# * MEANWHILE we submit a new nut for our Canadian friend to try its prentice teeth upon . A warrant of constitution for a new Masonic lodge is in the light of a solemn contract entered into between the Grand Lodge which grants it , and the subordinate lodge which receives it . If the latter

fails or refuses to observe the terms of such contract , it is in the power of the former to cancel the warrant , and the subordinate lodge no longer exists , But so long as the subordinate lodge goes on fulfilling the conditions of its working as prescribed in its warrant of constitution , for just so long is it legally in a position to claim the protection of the mother Grand Lodge ,

provided , of course , the said Grand Lodge continues to exercise its supreme authority . That is to say , a Grand Lodge grants to its subordinate lodges warrants of constitution which remain in force quamdin se bene gesserint . While the three English lodges in Montreal continue to observe the laws of our United Grand Lodge , there is no power under the English Constitution

—and certainly none under that of Quebec—which can deprive them of their rights and privileges . The lodges may surrender their warrants , which , however , they appear to be in no hurry to do , but the Grand Lodge of England cannot , cancel them . Let the Canadian Craftsman crack this nut , if it can !

# 3 * IT is worth while noting as regards the terrible edict of non-intercourse which was issued by the Grand Lodge of Quebec against the Grand Lodge of England and all its belongings on the 5 th July that , though upwards of three months have elapsed , the result , as far as we

can make out , is nil . This is just what might have been expected . When twenty schoolboys send one of their fellows to Coventry , the latter has rather a bad time of it , but if the one resolved on sending the twenty to the same place , the result would be laughable . Yet this is precisely what Quebec has done . It musters some 60

lodges , and about 2000 members , the lodges and their members being all located within the comparatively narrow limits of a single province of the Dominion of Canada ; and it has boycotted the Grand Lodge of England , which has almost as many lodges as Quebec has members , a strong array of them being dispersed throughout the British Colonies and Dependencies , and

in many foreign countries , so that probably not one English Mason in a thousand will know anything about this wonderful edict , while not one in ten thousand will feel its effects . Our unsophisticated Quebec friends appear to have forgotten that though a storm in a teapot is very terrible to the occupants of the teapot , its disturbing influence is not felt beyond the limits

of the said vessel . It is true that in the case of this particular storm raised by Quebec a few tea-urns have set to hissing and bubbling and boiling over as a mark of their friendly disposition towards the teapot , but the body against which these outbreaks are being directed is too far removed from the

scene of the disturbance to be in any way affected by their bubblings and boilings over . For ourselves we think it will turn out by and bye that the only people who have suffered inconvenience by thc Quebec edict of nonintercourse with England will have been its authors , who already must be wailing and gnashing their teeth at the utter futility of their efforts to dis-