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 , the Continent , & c . Via Bnndisi . Twelve Months ios . 6 d . 12 s . od . 17 s . 4 d . Six „ 5 s . 3 d . 6 s . 6 d . 8 s . 8 d . 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 atldrcssed 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 the return f rejected MSS . cannot be guaranteed . Further inlormation will be supplied on application to . e Publisher , 108 , Fleet-street , London .

Important Notice.

IMPORTANT NOTICE .

It is very necessary for our readers to advise 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 therefore 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 12 o Half ,. „ 6 10 o inside pages ... ... ... ... 7 7 ° Half of ditto 400 Quarter t'itto ... ... ... ,. 2 10 o Whole column ... ... ... ... ... 2100

Half „ 1 10 o Quarter „ 100 Per inch ... ... ... 030 These prices are for single insertions . A liberal reduction is made for a series of 13 , 26 , and 32 insertions . ¦ Further particulars may be obtained of the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

R . W . —Yes I the W . M . is certainly right in his ruling . BOOKS , tic , RECEIVED . "Touchstone , " " Alliance News , " " Folkestone News , " " Essex Independent , " " Hebrew Leader , " " Masonic Token , " " Le Monde Maconnique , " " Voice of Alasonry , " " The Truth on Albania and the Albanians , " " Der Triangel , " "The Freemason ' s Monthly , " "Weekly Conrant . "

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ 1 he charge is 2 s . od . for announcements not exceeding Four Lints under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . Duiir . —On the 24 th inst ., at 9 , Cornwall-road , Wcflbourncpark , the wile of Mr . G . Amos Duke , M . H . C . S . E ., oi a son . MAHTINDAI . I ! . —On the 25 th inst ., at 21 ,

Kensington-gardens-square , the wife of Mr . Arthur H . T . Martindale , M . C . S ., of a son . STEPHENS . —On the 26 th inst ., at 10 , Thornbill-square , Barnsbury , N ., the wife of Mr . Charles J . Stephens , of a daughter .

MARRIAGE . MITCHELL—WILD . —On the 22 nd ins ^ ., at St . James's Church , Paddington , by the Kev . G . C . Whalley , Frank William Drew , t . f Her Majesty's I ' aymaster'General ' s , son of Mr . John Mitchell , M . I I . A ., of Lis-Jillon , Tasmania , to Emily , daughter of Mr . Henry Wild , of Acton , Middlesex .

DEATHS . LEV . —On the iSth inst ., at Retlcnr , Yorkshire , Emma , wife of Mr . Charles Carey , late tf the 3 rd Buffs anil 80 th Regiments .

onr > . —On the 24 th inst ., at The Slmibbeiy , Tottenham , Middlesex , Mr . James Furd , in his 103 rd year . Mr it HAY . —On the 24 th inst ., at Bath , Stephen Digby Murray , son of the late Admiral Robtrt Murray , R . N ., in his 82 nd year .

Ar00609

THE FREEMASON . SATURDAY , MAY 31 , 1879

The Approaching Anniversary Of The Boys' School.

THE APPROACHING ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOYS' SCHOOL .

On the 25 th of June the Anniversary Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys will be held at the Alexandra Palace , under the distinguished presidency of the Earl of Rosslyn , K . T ., P . G . M . of Scotland . There are np to the present 200 Stewards , but we trust that by the

time when the Festival takes place this number will have largely increased , and we recommend all brethren wishful to assist this needed and useful Institution to forward their names at once to Bro . Binckes . There are many reasons why the Boys' School seems to have a pressing claim on

the sympathy and support of our Order . It has emerged successfully from financial difficulties and overwhelming expenses , rendered necessary b y the attempt , wise and seasonable , in our humble opinion , to make the School , architecturally and structurally , a success and an

ornament , and to provide all the newest systems of scholastic arrangement , for the health , the comfort , the well being of the orphan sons of Freemasons . At the present moment the School is pursuing the " even tenour " of its educational course , in a state of thorough efficiency and good

all round work , which are alike a credit to the Managing Committee and Bro . Dr . Morris . Probably never in its history was its moral tone better , its scholastic prestige higher , the health , the happiness , the advancement of the boys more attended to than at the present hour , when , with

the favouring support of a warm hearted fraternity , it possesses in itself every condition of well being , every guarantee of success . We , therefore , urge upon our brethren , up and down the land , and we also ask our genial brethren in the " Land o' Cakes , " to testify their interest in this most valuable and much needed School , by rallying

round that distinguished nobleman , who has so kindly consented to preside on J une 25 th , and we trust , that we shall have to record in these truthful pages another striking proof of the largeheartedness of our always benevolent Craft , and to announce , in congratulatory terms , another signal success for Bro . Binckes .

Roman Catholic Opposition To Freemasonry.

ROMAN CATHOLIC OPPOSITION TO FREEMASONRY .

We sometimes ask ourselves the question , perhaps uselessly , what is the reason of this persistent opposition on the part of the Roman Catholics to Freemasonry ? And for our own part we should like much that some candid and courteous Roman Catholic would condescend to

g ive us the " why and the wherefore " on the subject , to enlighten our dark minds , to satisfy our doubting deprecation . To us it is simply inexplicable and indefensible , unmeaning and unreasonable in the highest degree . The Freemasons cf Essex are going to hold a most

peaceful and praiseworthy assembly , in order to instal Lord Tenterden , U . S . of State for Foreign Affairs , and P . G . W ., as Prov . G . M ., under the distinguished presidency of Lord Carnarvon , and straightway some agitated Roman Catholic , as we hear , opposes the loan of a county building for this most innocent gathering of his

fellow citizens and of a benevolent Order , because , forsooth , ob , great crime ! they are actually "Freemasons . " VVe are happy to be informed that after "hearing Mr . Croome , barrister , in support of the renewed application for the use of the Shire Hall , at Chelmsford , the Court of Quarter Sessions at once acceded to it . "We said

we were happy in making this announcement , in hearing this statement , but , in truth , we feel profoundly humiliated when we remember , that in the year of grace i 8 ~ o , such an application

should be needed , when we realize that such cold-blooded prejudices and rampant bigotry should exist in our very midst , for it is added , as if by way of commentary on these proceedings , that the " refusal" of the Chelmsford magis-

Roman Catholic Opposition To Freemasonry.

trates in the first instance is " attributed to the influence of a Roman Catholic magistrate . " And , therefore , it is that we ask again , what is the reason of this Roman Catholic opposition to Freemasonry , alike , in our humble opinion senseless and sad , uncharitable and unjustifiable >

Of course we shall be told "that the Freemasons are condemned by the Pope . " Be it so , but what if such condemnation can be proved to be altogether puerile and preposterous ? Wh y , We ask , should sensible and rational Roman Catholics pay any attention to them any longer ? The

first ground of condemnation taken up b y an infallible Pope in 1738 , the first Bull , let us note , was on the ground of Freemasonry beino- a meeting place , " horribile dictu" for Roman Catholics and Protestants . That , we need hardly point out , was a most un-Christian

proceeding , per se ! So great was the crime in the eyes of the meek and forgiving Clement , that he ordered all Freemasons to be handed over to the Inquisition , and the " secular arm" to be burnt in fact , their property to be confiscated , and the very houses

to be pulled down in which lodges were held . Oh , most just judge ! Subsequent Popes have taken different grounds . Leo indeed coniirmedthe condemnation of Clement with the same charitable intent . Pius VII . mixed up the Carbonari with Freemasonry , and condemned both equally . Pius

IX . " lumped the Fenians and Freemasons together , and Cardinal Cullen was evidentl y of opinion that the Freemasons in Ireland and elsewhere were " booked for something uncomfortable , " and to many charitable and friendl y Romtn Catholics Freemasonry is still a '' bugbear , " a

" spectre , " and a '' bete noire . " Tell them it is a munificent Order , they shrug their shoulders ; assure them it is a religiously-minded fraternity , they contemptuously smile ; point out to them that it is a loyal sodality , emphatically loyal , "a toute epreuve , " with the Prince of Wales at

its head , they significantly shake their heads ; for on all these points the Roman Catholic authorities know better than anyone else . And vainl y do you sum up its acts of benevolence , or recount the success of the charitable appeals of Freemasonry , the prestige and prosperity of its

educational establishments , its goodly annuity funds , its genial toleration , and its enlightened aspirations ; Roman Catholics will "have none of it . " Alas , it is a sad chapter in the history of the human race , that record of " Fetish , " which seems to damp enthusiasm , to deaden charity , dwarf faith , degrade truth , and banish

common sense , until the worst passions of heathen malignity seem to have obscured and overpowered alike the dictates of morality , the tenderness of religion , and the benign and eternal consolations of the Gospel of faith , hope , antl charity , of the religion of the Most Hig h in this woild of ours .

New Members.

NEW MEMBERS .

We have always understood that it was a cardinal principle of Freemasonry not to ask any one to join our Fraternity . We had , until quite lately , supposed that such continued to be both the theory and the practice of our English Order . From one or two facts which have lately come to our knowledge , we are inclined to thifck that

both among Masons and non-Masons a very great laxity indeed prevails on this head . 'Hw curiosity of the latter seems only to be equalled by the vulgar eagerness of the former . New lodges are formed , and " Poppleton , " a young and rising Mason , thinks it well to increase his mother lodge , and so he discourses on Masonry

" gushingly' before non-Masons , until a succession of eager youths , induced by his eloquent description , and emphatic assurances , and savoury promises , enter into Freemasonry without much , if any , consideration , of whom a proportion is always disappointed , when the real and actual are found not to correspond with the ideal and the

ecstatic . We regret to hear , for instance , always deeply such a speech as this , " I was induced to enter Freemasonry by what Popp leton said to me , " ike , & c , inasmuch as snch a confession militates entirely with every ancient profession ) every wise practice of our generally cautious co fraternity . A . nd , therefore , for fear of in p ^ - a or increasing laxity in this respect , so prejudici