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appreciation of their circulation is afforded by the experiences of the office , and a more correct view of their future prospects by tbe well known literary axiom that the surest pass-port to a work's success is the abuse of untrustworthy critics . It is however we think questionable whether the reputation of the M . W . G . M . be really hei ghtened by tbe

Pceans of praise his immediate advisers are so perpetually offering him , coupled with virulent denunciation of those who may have occasion to oppose his measures . He can speak boldly enough and well enough for himself . There is no occasion that his words should be so mercilessly plagiarized in the after dinner speeches

of undiscriminating placemen . He is known throughout England as an amiable and kind-hearted man who has indentified himself with the sports of his country , and passed with unblemished reputation through the trying ordeal of turf associations ; still , though we may join in tbe cheer of satisfaction which greets the

triumph of the Zetland spots at Epsom or at Doncaster , we take liberty to regard the Grand Master of England as one whose conduct in bis hi gh office may lawfully be criticised in these columns . We shall never in tacit submission to the mandates of two of his officers , cease to protest against wrong doing ; they for

their part will do well to ask their consciences how often the cabinet has been morally responsible for the errors of the throne , and to stand out boldly in their own defence , instead of thrusting forward a popular nobleman to shield them from the reproaches they may feel they have deserved , and the ignoring they may be justified in fearing .

Sparingly and gently we would speak of Bro . WARREN . But where we do not reproach , we must not be taken as admiring . We seek not to penetrate the areana of the journalist ' s speculations but , we do him the justice to believe that his present connexion with the periodical he has of late conducted is not a commanding or close one . A

lapse from independence of thought and expression to the reverse is generally gradual ; where tbe change is sudden some external and powerful agency has been at work . Bro . WARREN indignantly repudiates the performance of an acrobat feat ascribed to him by a humorous correspondent of tbe Observer , and we are

inclined to accept his denial ; for an automaton can hardly be said actively to have performed an evolution , when tbe strings have been pulled behind the curtain , nor perhaps should that helmsman of the fourth estate be accused of designed treachery whose bark has been charmed from the straight and true course by the Sirens of the Suffolk banquet .

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NAUGHTY children , old or young , are invariably threatened with OLD BOGIE , in some shape or other . There never was a reformer in Church or State , who was not accused of being a heretic or a revolutionist , if

he escaped the grand charge of all , that of acting from purely interested motives . The association of certain independent members of GRAND LODGE for the purpose of discussing questions of Masonic policy , seems to have occasioned no slight alarm to some of our Brethren . The organ of the Executive has been filled with declamations upon the

subject , and the introduction of what are mysteriously termed , " Parliamentary tactics " into G . L .. is denounced as a heavy blow to Freemasonry . All this is nothing but OLD BOGIE . GRAND LODGE is a deliberative assembly , and the supreme governing body of the Craft . For some little

time however , the deliberation has been left in the bauds of tbe immediate advisers of the G . M ., while the the great body of those who compose G . L . have confined their attention to eating and drinking , indifferent whether the government were well or ill administered ; whether reforms were resisted , or Colonies driven to secede ; if

only they might be allowed to devote themselves in peace to the consideration of their bill of fare , and assist digestion by fulsome flattery of the powers that be . From time to time indeed , there have been spasmodic attempts on the part of individual legislators to correct abusesand maintain their right to legislate . They

, have generally been either bullied or bribed into silence , and matters have relapsed into their old state of stagnant quiescence . Latterly however , the opinion seems to have been gaining ground , that the non-official members of G . L .

are not only bound , but are fully competent , to take au active part in the management of their own affairs . Many causes have contributed to this . The want of capacity shown in the Executive , throughout the whole of their dealings with Canada—the immolation of all law at the shrine of tbe governing faction in G . L . —the distribution of Masonic patronage—and lastlythe

ap-, pearance in G . L . of Brethren equal , if not superior , in social position and intellectual attainments , to those who have hitherto swayed its destinies . But let us see in what position a Brother finds himself who is anxious to do his duty as a representative of his Lodge , in the great council of the Order . If he is

content to shape his ideas according to the official rule , then his course is certainly plain enough : he has nothing to do but to struggle for the foremost place among the inglorious throng whose highest ambition it is to be counted a sure vote by the Executive . But should it be his misfortune to believe that the representatives of

the Craft have a higher duty to perform than that of Registrar ' s General of official decrees , lie immediately stands opposed , single-handed , to a compact band , pledged to support each other , meeting beforehand to decide upon their course , wearing the same distinctive badgeoccupying tbe same raised benchesand—with

, , some distinguished exceptions—invariably voting the same way . What chance has he against such a " party" ? None whatever . He may think himself fortunate if he escapes personal insult at the hands of some glib speaker of the Dais , or of some zealous partizan on the