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BETUEN 0 ? PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGES HELD DUEING THE LAST TEX YEARS . BY OJID . EB OF G . L . _ -6 -. 8 , w » ° £ S o £ ? , _• « = Name of Province § £

. < j d o " = ^ •§ W < " % V AS . " 2 i g £ a rt a Berkshire and Bucks Bristol 10 20 10 Cambridge 11 9 G Cheshire 10 10 9 Cornwall 11 11 6

Cumberland 11 13 Derbyshire : 10 19 Devonshire 9 12 7 Dorsetshire 3 3 3 Durham 10 11 10 Essex 9 11 10 Gloucestershire 2 2 2 Guernsey 9 16 9 Hampshire . 10 8 6

, Herefordshire 6 3 3 Hertfordshire 2 2 2 Isle of Wight 10 12 11 Jersey 9 26 24 Kent 10 10 10 Lancashire , E ... 12 16 Ditto , W . 1 9 13 7

I Leicestershire .. J Lincolnshire 10 14 11 j Monmouthshire 10 7 1 j Norfolk 1 1 1 N . Wales and Salop 5 5 5 j Northamptonshire 18 18 18 j Northumberland 9 16 15 j Nottinghamshire 8 9 8 j Oxford 11 15 15

Somerset 11 19 15 S . Wales , E . Div 8 8 7 Ditto , W . Div 1 1 Staffordshire 9 11 S Suffolk Surrey 10 10 10 Sussex 3 3 Warwickshire 11 19 10

I ... . Wilts ... ... 3 3 2 j Worcestershire 10 10 7 I Yorkshire , N . & E . R 10 10 8 I Ditto , W . B 10 39 13

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We beg to call attention to the new regulation , respecting the circulation of the BUSINESS PAPEB of GRAND LODGE . A circular will now be sent to the W . M . of every Lodge , ten days before each QUARTERLY COMMUNICATION , with a statement of the business to be brought forward ; and by fixing a meeting of the Lodge for some day within a week of that dateevery

, member will be made acquainted with the proceedings , which can be then discussed , as contemplated by the Book of Constitutions , pp . 19—63 . AN INDIAN MASON . —An old Indian chief who visited the Grand Lodge of Ohio was asked by the Grand Master where his people got Masonry ? " From the Great Spirit" said he . " How long have they

, had it ? " " Ever since the trees began to grow , and the rivers to run . " INCREASE OF FREEMASONRY . —The last warrant granted was No . 1017 , showing an increase of thirty-one Lodges already , during the present year .

Mark Masonry.

MARK MASONRY .

COMMITTEE OF MARK MASTERS . It is gratifying to be able to announce a satisfactory termination of the labours of this Committee , by their unanimous report , recommending the Union of the English Lodges . The report itself , with Lord Leigh's letter accompanying it , wo give at length below , and it will doubtless have the beneficial effect to which the fair and impartial constitution of the Committee entitles it . This was no hole and corner nomination , but included among the members , representatives

of the numerous Lodges holding under Lord Leigh , the less numerous but active Scotch Lodges , the influential Isle of Wight Lodge , the Ancient Lodges , of which the Kent Lodge , in the Commercial Road , and tho Newstead Lodge , Nottingham , may be considered the type , the Independent Modern Lodges , represented by the Howe Lodge , Birmingham , and even the Colonial Lodges , who also contributed their spokesman . We learn that one stiunbliiig-blook alone arose during the deliberations of the Committee , and we are happy to notice how honestly ,

when found to be so , it was removed . When all had agreed upon the necessity of union , it was suggested by a member of a Scotch Lodge that application should he made to that country , to organise England into a Province of Scotland for the Mark degree . This was considered inconsistent with the dignity of English Masters , and one brother alluding to the late heraldic pretension of our canny friends , characterised it as an attempt to place the British lion within the double tressure . The fact of the Scotch Grand Chapter having claimed the right to grant warrants for Lodges in England , appears a great violation of Masonic Landmarks , for England is not an undiscovered country , and there are , at this moment , numerous

Lodges working in the Mark degree , who have been accustomed so to work before the present . century , whilst the Grand Chapter of Scotland ( a creation of 1818 ) assumed at their meeting , on the 23 rd of September , 1842 , the right to regulate the Mark degree in Scotland , and to grant warrants , in that country , for Mark Lodges So much for the Scotch authority to grant Mark wan-ants for England . It is very greatly to be regretted that such an insult was passed upon our English Mark Masons , but it is gratifying to think that there is every probability of this great wrong being redressedby the

inde-, pendent feeling of those who had confided in genuine Masonic authority . We cannot reconcile their assumption of mere zeal for the Mark degree , with the fact that the supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland receives 8 s . 6 d . for each Englishman advanced under its warrants , and we cannot but feel that as those English Mark Masons can have no voice in the disposal of the large sum they contribute , the Grand Chapter of Scotland should either remit the fees , or appropriate them

in some graceful maimer for the advantage of English Mark Masters . We are not the advocates of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters as such , when we recommend our brethren to second the efforts of that influential body , in promoting the union of all the English Mark Lodges under an English authority . We believe this Grand Lodge claims no authority over Lodges , or Brethren , who are not united under its regulations . It is simply a federation of private Lodges , and without claiming any other right divine , than that established by the free vote of each of its individual membersappears to have

, richly earned the respect it has secured by the zeal of the brethren , the honour and good faith of its dealings , and the modesty of its pretensions . We beg to draw attention to the following circular of Lord LEIGH , the Chairman of the Commir . t . ep .:

—" 30 , Portman Square , London ; 30 th June , 1857 . " Dear Sir and Brother , " I have the pleasure of sendmg you , enclosed , a copy of the Report unanimously agreed to by the Committee of Mark Masters , appointed at the Meeting held on the 30 th of May . "It is my intention , iu compliance with the terms of the Report , to convene , for an early day , a meeting of Masters , Past Masters , and Wardens of all Mark Lodges , of whose desire to enter into union with

their Brethren I shall receive information : I shall therefore be obliged by your making this letter and the Report itself as widely known in the Craft as you conveniently can ; and further , by your obtaining for me , in my undertaking , the goodwill and assistance of the active and respected members of the Craft , without whose aid our labors can scarcely attain success . "You are aware that there at present exists in this country a union of Lodges , associated under tho name of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters ; whose success , as evidenced by members and the Masonic position of its members , has been very great . I attribute this success