lodges within the jurisdiction," to act. After the recognition of the independence of the United States, this Grand Lodge ceased to be provincial, and assumed, and has ever since maintained, the character, and exercised the functions of an independent Grand Lodge, and has since been so considered and recognized by the Grand Lodge of England. Its constitution, as revised in 1845, declared (in article 3) the Grand Lodge to consist of the Grand officers and certain Past Grand officers, the Masters and Wardens, or the representatives, legally appointed, of all the lodges under its jurisdiction; " and the Past Masters, Masters by election and service of one year in the chair of all such lodges." It also provided that the annual meetings of the Grand Lodge should be held in the city of New York on the first Tuesday in June; that meetings therein called quarterly should be held on the first Tuesdays in September, December and March in each year; that special meetings might be called by the Grand Master, but that no regulation, affecting the general interests of the craft, should be edopted or changed, except at the annual meeting in June. The 106th article is as follows:

"First.-No amendment to this constitution shall be made or have any effect until the same shall have had the affirmative vote of the Grand Lodge at two successive communications, unless, in addition to the affirmative vote of the Grand Lodge at one June communication, it shall have received the affirmative vote of a majority of the lodges within this jurisdiction. If such proposed amendment shall receive the affirmative vote of the Grand Lodge, at one June communication, the same shall then be appended to the published proceedings at the end, under caption Proposed Amendments to the Constitution,' and sent to each lodge within this jurisdiction, in order that the lodges may, if they think proper, instruct their representatives thereon, and the action of the Grand Lodge in relation thereto shall also appear in its appropriate place in the proceedings."

[To be continued.]

We place the spiritual lodge in the vale of Jehoshaphat, implying thereby, that the principles of Masonry are derived from the knowledge of God, and are established in the judgment of the Lord; the literal translation of the word Jehoshaphat, from the Hebrew tongue, being no other than these express words. The highest hills and the lowest valleys were from the earliest times esteemed sacred, and it was supposed that the spirit of God was peculiarly diffusive in those places. HUTCHINSON.

From the Review.

A DIRGE.

BY ERNESTINE.

Weary hearts are weeping-careworn and opprest,
For the distant loved one, gently laid to rest;
Weeping, sadly weeping, o'er the household chain,
Heretofore so perfect, broken dow in twain.
And we love, in fancy, still to linger there,
Leaning, sadly leaning, o'er the vacant chair;
List'ning for the dear voice that is silent now;

Watching for the sunlight of a glad young brow;
Resting 'neath the shadow, death's dark Angel flings,
When beside earth's children, droop his sable wings.
Ah! the heart grows weary, and the warm tears flow,
As we, dreaming, wander back to "long ago,"
Bowing, bending earthward! neath the heart's stern strife,
Murmuring in our anguish, "such, alas! is life."

Yes-but there is singing, 'mid the hosts above;

And redeemed, made perfect, through a Saviour's love,
The freed spirit, bending low beside the throne,
Hymns eternal praises to His name alone.

Ah she knows not suffering, grief, nor want, nor care,
All is joy and gladness, peace and sunlight there.
Cease thy weary weeping-fond hearts still thy woe,
Joy that from earth's sorrows, she was called to go;
For while we are mourning o'er love's frail ties riven,
Angel bands, rejoicing, welcome her in heaven.
Earth is full of sorrow, toil, and pain, and strife;
Who would not exchange it for eternal Life?

DUELLING. The great object of masonry is to cultivate peace and good will among mankind, and allay discord and strife. The principles of the Institution influence its members to discountenance all evil, vicious and barbarous practices. Its most excellent tenets are especially incompatible with the custom of duelling, and there can be no doubt that any masons who meet for the purpose of deliberately blowing out each other's brains, are guilty members, and should be dealt with accordingly. The deed is black in the sight of Heaven, and viewed with abhorrence by men, when two persons, joined by no ties of friendship or regard, but who have long cherished a mutual hatred, slink away from the eyes of the community to some retired place, and there with deadly weapons seek each others lives. Poor and miserable commentary upon human nature! What shall be said of masons who make an exhibition of it?

We are pleased to see that the Grand Lodge of California has taken the right view of this matter. At its last annual communinication, it approved the action of San Joaquin Lodge, No. 19, in expelling one of its members for fighting a duel. The Grand Lodge also adopted the report of the Committee on Grievances, to whom the matter was referred, and by ballot, expelled the Worshipful Master of Los Angelos Lodge, No. 42, from all the rights, benefits and privileges of Masonry, for fighting a duel with the member of San Joaquin Lodge.

We trust every Grand Lodge in the Union will, if necessity require it, speak in the same tone, and manifest the same spirit. California has set the right example.

GRAND LODGE OF WISCONSIN.

The annual communication of this body was held at Milwaukee in June last. The report of its proceedings indicates that the Craft in its jurisdiction is making healthy progress. The whole number of Master Masons in Wisconsin is about fifteen hundred. The following are the present officers of the Grand Lodge: M. W. Henry M. Billings, G. M.; R. W. G. Bouck, D. G. M.; Orlando Foster, G. S. W.; Haven Powers, G. J. W.; Peter Winten, G. T.; Wm. R. Smith, G. Sec.; Rev. M. Hoyt, G. Chap.; W. Farnsworth, G. M.; J. M. Todd, G. Sword Bearer; E. F. Ogden, G. S. D.; S. A. White, G. J. D.; S. Howe, G. P.; C. B. Carrington and E. Sumner, G. Stewards; E. Clewett, G. Tyler.

During the last current year, dispensations were granted for five new lodges. The Grand Master's address is concise and appropriate, and contains many useful suggestions. In accordance with his recommendations, the Grand Lodge divided the State into districts for the purpose of instituting an uniformity of work-a Deputy Grand Master to lecture in each district. Agreeable to his suggestion, initiatory steps were taken to establish a school for the destitute orphans of deceased brethren.

The report of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence, though comprised principally of quotations from other documents, is interesting and instructive.

THE EAST.

The Committee quote from the report of the Committee in Tennessee Lodge, as follows: "If none of the officers be present, nor any Past Master to take the chair, the members, according to seniority, shall fill the chair, and shall have all the rights of a regularly installed Master, to fill vacancies." Commenting on the Tennessee doctrine, Bro. King of New York, says:

"No such authority can be found in the ancient Constitutions; nor do we think that any instance can be cited anterior to 1771, where a lay member performed the duties of the Chair in a regular lodge. Since that time, we acknowledge, the doctrine has obtained in some jurisdictions, but it has grown out of the practice originated by the seceding irregular Grand Lodge of England, whose customs and usages were written out, by Lawrence Dermott, the greatest innovator of any age, unless we may except the Chevalier Ramsey. There may have been occasional instances where "old Masons" have been called upon to preside in lodges, and even in the Grand Lodge, but we think it will be found, in all cases, that they had previously served in the Chair of a lodge as Master. In the absence of the Master, the Senior, and after him the Junior Warden, succeeded to the Chair.— Without one of these, it is our opinion the lodge cannot be opened. After being opened by one of these, a Past Master may preside."

PAST MASTER'S DEGREE.

Treating of this subject, the Committee give the views of Bro. A. G. Mackey, which they fully endorse. He says:

"There is no doubt, if we carefully examine the history of Masonry in this country and in England, that the degree of P. M. was originally conferred by symbolic lodges as honorarium, or reward bestowed upon those brethren who had been found worthy to occupy the oriental chair. In so far it was only a degree of office, and could be obtained only from the lodge in which the degree had been conferred. At a late period it was deemed an essential pre-requisite to exaltation in the degree of Royal Arch, and was for that purpose conferred on candidates for that position, while the Royal Arch degree was under the control of the Symbolic Lodges, but still only conferred by Past Masters of the lodge. But subsequently, when the system of Royal Arch Masonry was enlarged and extended in this country, and Chapters were organized independent of the Grand and Symbolic Lodges, these Chapters took with them the Past Master's degree, and assumed the right of conferring it on their candidates. Hence arose the anomaly that now exists in American Masonry, of two degrees bearing the same name, and said to be almost identical in character, conferred by two different bodies under entirely different qualifications, and totally different purposes. As was to be expected, when time had in some degree obliterated the details of History, each party began to claim for itself the sovereign virtue of legitimacy. The Past Masters of the Chapters denied the right of Symbolic Lodges to confer the de

gree, and the latter in their return asserted that the degree as conferred in the Chapter, was an innovation."

The Committee further quote the opinion of Bro. King, who says:

6

"There is another report in the document before us, holding the doctrine, that the Master elect of a lodge is entitled to installation without having received the degree of P. M., which properly belongs to a Chapter,' which we hardly know how to interpret, yet it was 'concurred in by the Grand Lodge. If it was intended to convey the idea that the Master elect of a lodge could be installed without having received the installation service, which is a part and parcel of the Past Master's degree, we think it is clearly erroneous; and among the Grand Lodges of the United States and of Great Britain, Florida stands alone. Nor does it properly belong to a Chapter.' The legitimate ownership of that degree is in a lodge of Past Masters; it was never heard of as a chapter degree until the organization of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, and this body has never dared to assert exclusive control over it. Yet a liberal interpretation of her constitution might warrant such a conclusion. Past Masters, whether members of Chapters or not, have an ancient and imprescriptible right to confer the degree, and the body which seeks to take away that right, justly subjects itself to the charge of attempting to obliterate a custom as old as Masonry itself.”

"South Carolina, New Hampshire, and several other states," says the report, "have expended much learning and some warmth in the discussion of the several questions. We have given more space to this subject than it really deserves, for we are inclined to regard it very much as the committee in Texas does, as "much ado about nothing," and as having little to do with Ancient Craft Masonry. The important question in the whole matter is the assumption by some Grand Chapters, of a control over the degree, (regarding it as a degree) to the exclusion of the right of symbolic Lodges to confer it on the several Masters elected to the Oriental Chair. We have no hesitation in declaring our opinion that any attempt on the part of Grand or Subordinate Royal Arch Chapters, to assume to themselves the sole control of the Past Master's degree, is not only an innovation on ancient usage and custom, but a positive infringement on the inherent rights of Symbolic Lodges to confer such degree on the Masters of lodges elect, in the several lodges over which they are legally called to preside."

The Committee make some very sensible suggestions at the close of their report, recommending Grand Secretaries and Grand Lodges to furnish properly arranged statistics of the condition of the Fraternity. In this respect the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin and its Secretary have set a very good example.