Original Correspondence.

unknown on the Manchester Exchange , but there is no dishonour to be attached to his investing money with one of the most respectable Greek firms in England . An English peer is a partner even in a tailor ' s shop in London—many of them are mixed up in commercial pursuits , and one of the noblest names in the British peerage has recently

p laced two ot his youngest sons in commercial establishments . The charge also involves matter which could be very energetically retorted upon the shameless barbarity of the Turks . I trust to your impartiality to print this personal explanation in reply to your public attack upon me , And remain , yours , & c ., PHILALETHES .

W . M . 'S-ELECT . ( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Will you kindly inform me if the present W . M . of a lodge can propose ( and which will no doubt be carried ) , a brother who has acted as J . AV . and resigned his office on account of not being able to attend to his duties , as the AV . M . for the ensuing year . The

present S . AV . refuses to take the chair , but the present J . W ., who has always been at his post , and is quite capable of doing the duties , will be left out ( but who , I think , should be the W . M . ) . The brother to be proposed has not attended the lodge for nearly twelve months ; do you think him entitled to the chair ? Yours fraternally , AV . R . SMITH , Sec 1136 .

( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —In reference to the letter signed " Cygnus , " in your issue of the 30 th ult ., I beg to state that no complaint ( supposing Bro . " Cygnus" imagines that the complaint emanates from myself , ) was ever sent to the P . G . M .

of Warwickshire . Seeing a report of the proceedings of the Fletcher Lodge in THE FREEMASON , I fcltan inclination to report the business of the Abbey Lodge , it being in a very flourishing condition under the Mastership of Bro . Nugent , more initiations having taken place during the present year ,

than any one preceding since the establishment of the lodge in 1836 : and wrote to the P . G . M ., soliciting his permission to make such report , presuming the Fletcher Lodge had received the sanction of his Lordship , as , according to the Book of Constitutions , no publication of any Masonic proceedings can be published without the sanction of the G . M . of

England , or the P . G . M . of a province . The P . G . M . ' s reply was that , personally , lie had a very great objection to the publication of Masonic matters . The brother who wrote the aforesaid epistle , ancl was unable to attach his real name to it , will sec there was no "jealousy on the part of the member in the village . " I remain , yours faithfully and fraternally ,

DACRES AV . HACKETT , Hon . Sec .

( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I , with your correspondent " Cygnus , " am sorry the Provincial Grand Master of Warwickshire should object to the publication of Masonic proceedings , but as he has objected I bow to his decision .

If the brother who sent the report of the Fletcher Lodge , which appeared in your paper , had devoted more time to reading the Book of . Constitutions , I ( sccclausc 3—Of members and their duty , ) he would have saved " Cygnus " from making his unfounded charge of " a member of the Craft in a village in

j Warwickshire having complained of it . " f The facts are as under : —Several members of I the Abbey Lodge , No . 432 ( which by-thc-byc was never in so flourishing a state since its formation in ' 836 ) , wished to see a report of their proceedings in your valuable paper , and wrote to the P . G . M . for h — 11—1 — — .. ~ ,.... — is

, sanction , at the same time sending a copy of THE FREEMASON , containing an account of the doings of the Fletcher Lodge , but his Lordship expressing his strong objection to Masonic matters being published , they did not press the matter further . His Lordship further said , the proceedings of

the Fletcher Lodge had been published without Ins knowledge or sanction . I think your correspondent " Cygnus " will find that sending THE FREEMASON to the P . G . M . was the only complaint made to him . 1 enclose my card , and am , yours fraternally , M . M , 432 .

PROVINCE OF CORNAVALL , AND ALFRED NUTT .

{ To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —In your report of the meeting of the Prov . Grand Lodge of Cornwall , it is stated erroneously that the candidate we supported •or the Boys' School was successful . Unfortunatel y , though the candidates wc sup-Ported for the three other Grand Masonic Institu-

Original Correspondence.

tions were successful—Alfred Ntttt , of Leicester , was not . Under these circumstances , and fearing brethren who were impressed with his claim on their votes ancl interests , may really believe he was elected , I write at once to explain the error made by the reporter at our meeting , who misunderstood

the three candidates to whom I alluded . Alfred Ntttt is one of five totally unprovided for , and as his widowed and bereaved mother is quite unable to provide a suitable education for her children , she implores the kind assistance of the

brethren on behalf of her little boy . His father was a subscribing member of St . John ' s , Leicester , 279 , for seventeen years—up to the time of his death , in fact . The Prov . G . Master of Leicester warmly

supports tins application , and so does , Yours fraternally , W . JAMES HUGHAN , Prov . G . Sec . Cornwall . Truro , August 6 th , 1870 .

( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I perceive in the report of the gathering at Truro the other day , the Grand Treasurer is made to say that the Leicestershire case , supported by the brethren there , was a

success . Such I am sorry to say is not the case , but we shall be glad of all the votes we can get at the next election , as it is a very deserving case , and the widow is left with a very large and young family , none able

to earn anything for themselves . Trusting you will kindly give this insertion in youi next , I remain , yours truly and fraternally , AVM . MOOR , 523 . Leicester , Aug . 3 rd , 1870 .

SCOTCH MASONRY . ( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) SIR , — Your number of August 6 th contains several allusions to Scotch Masons , and to certain abuses which are said to exist in the working of Scotch lodges and chapters . Permit me , as a member and late officer of a

lodge ( No . 251 ) working under the Grand Lodge of Scotland , to inform your readers that certainly all Scotch lodges arc not guilty in the points alluded to in your last . In my own lodge no person can be balloted for unless he has been duly proposed and seconded , and this proposition must be made at a

regular meeting one month before the ballot . Three black balls absolutely exclude any candidate . If elected , he is not initiated the same night , but at a meeting of which due notice must be given . After being admitted an A . P ., he must be three months at least before he can take the second degree . After

taking the second degree , he must be three months more before he can be raised to the third degree . None but a M . M . can hold office in this lodge . It often happens , as in my own case , that a year or more is passed in the lower degrees before the Master ' s degree is conferred . The emergency must

be very great and unquestionable to get this time even shortened . Not long ago we refused even to dispense with the preliminary notice before ballot in a case where the candidate was about to leave the island , and consequently the nomination was withdrawn .

The fees are as high as in the majority of English lodges . The fee for the A . P . degree is sixteen dollars ( , £ 3 6 s . Sd . ) , besides the cost of entertaining the brethren , which usually amounts to a good deal more . The fee for the second degree is ten dollars ( £ 2 is . 8 d . ) , and for the third twelve

dollars ( £ 2 10 s . ) , with a dollar for the rules . This makes a total of , £ 8 2 s . 6 d , besides two entertainments—one on initiation ancl one on raising . The annual subscription is six dollars ( , £ 1 4 s . ) , and at every meeting the box of benevolence goes round , and every member and visitor is expected to contribute according to his means . Nor should it be

forgotten that wc have no dinner or supper after our meetings , except on the two St . John's Days , and then wc pay for it out of our own pockets ancl not out of the lodge funds . Master Masons are not admitted to the Royal Arch degree until they have been a year Master .

Although a Scotch Mason , and anxious to vindicate the dignity and honour of Scotch Masonry , I am not a Scotchman , nor have I ever visited a Scotch lodge out of Trinidad . But I have visited two English lodges since I have been at home , and permit me to say that in our little temple , and with

all the disadvantages of a tropical climate , wc work cjuite as well as , I think a good deal better , than cither of the two lodges I visited . AVe certainly don't gallop through the three degrees in one evening—wc think it quite enough if wo manage to confer one ; ancl it takes us three hours , according

to our ritual , to confer the third . But it really is a most solemn and imposing ceremony , and one which those who witness it will never forget . It is not interrupted , as I heard in a certain lodge that shall be nameless , by an intimation that " supper is ordered for eight , and there'svcrylittletimeto spare . "

Original Correspondence.

There is no excuse for conferring the three degrees on one person in one night ; but there seems to be but little utility in the English practice of interposing a month between each . Every candidate I saw in the two visits I made had to be

prompted to answer every question put to him , and not one of them could have worked himself into a lodge opened in . the degrees he had passed through . There is a little sneer in the first column of your 379 th pageabout the small initiation fee in Scotland , which , it states , is only 32 s . 6 d ., and the writer asks

" Is not this the reason we see so many Scotch Masons in London soliciting assistance from their English brethren ? " AVell , no ; I should think not . I cannot see by what process of logic your correspondent arrives at the conclusion that people are more likely to " solicit assistance" because they

spend but little money . If a Scotch Mason pays 32 s . 6 d . and an English one £ 5 , ecetius paribus , I should think the man that only spends the smaller sum must be at least ^ 3 7 s . 6 d . richer than the one who had spent £$ . I suppose what your correspondent meant , if

he had been possessed of the power of expressing himself clearly , was that Scotch lodges admit a poorer class of men than English ones , and these poorer men seek admission because the fee is lower , and that when these poorer men are admitted they fall into distress , and then solicitthe assistance

of their English brethren . All this involves a series of assumptions , not one of which your correspondent attempts to prove . AVhether the fee for initiation is high orlow , need make no difference in the class of persons admitted . You might agree to blackball everybody except

peers of the realm or their sons , and still keep the fee at 32 s . 6 d . And even that figure , contemptible as it may seem to your correspondent , is quite high enough to keep out the very poor . Not that I think the " vulgar rich" likely to prove as good members as well-educated but poor men . I know

many men who would make excellent Masons , but who are deterred by the expense , and especially by the extravagant sums lavished on banquets . As I have said before , I am not a Scotchman , but an Englishman ; and I should like to know , for the honour of Scotch Masonry , whether it is really

the fact that great numbers of Scotch Masons are " soliciting the assistance of , " or , in plain English , begging from , " their English brethren . " I observe , too , that Lord Holmesdale , in his address to the Prov . Grand Lodge of Kent , says that " they must be careful not to lower the dignity of

the Order by the introduction of men of low status in society , as Freemasons had more need of men of good quality and pure character than otherwise . " ( The italics arc mine . ) This is rather an unlucky speech , considering the scandals about the aristocracy that have been

making such a noise latel y . I think we may fairly back the " men of low status " for purityof character against men of his lordshi p ' s status . The fact is , that all this is very snobbish . In no country in the world , except England , is so much respect paid to mere money , and nowhere else do

we find money made a passport or a barrier , as the case may be , to entrance into associations like those of Masonry . The object of an entrance fee ought to be to provide funds . Its amount should be fixed solely with the view of getting money to spend on charity . It ought not be made so high as to prohibit the

entrance of any man otherwise eligible for admission . But , on the other hand , a much closer scrutiny ought to be exercised than is now generally done into the character of candidates . How often is a man proposed by some one who knows him but slightly , and seconded by Bro . B ., who knows nothing of him , except that he is recommended by Bro . A . ? J

In addition to this , I think that the regulation of our lodge , which requires a probation of at least six months before an A . P . gets the third degree , is a very wise one . One advantage it has is to disgust those who do not really care for Masonry , and who get tired of waiting .

I quite agree with what you say in your leader , that we do not want the uneducated classes ; but , certainly your high fees do not keep them out , for , as it happened in both the lodges I visited , the AV . M . talked about the " ' ollow of the 'eel . " As Scotch Masonry has been having rathcra hard time of it lately in your columns , I trust you will do

us the justice to insert this letter . And , in conclusion , permit rnc to add that there is one of our customs which , I think , English lodges might , with advantage , adopt . AVe invariably pay visitors the compliment of expressing our pleasure at seeing them , and award them a plaudit . It may be said that this is only a form , but it is a pleasant and graceful one .

I am , Sir , your obedient servant , A MEMBER OF LODGE NO . 251 ( S . C . ) , and a COMPANION OF CHAPTER 370 ( St . George ' s , Chertsey ) . August 6 th , 1870 .