GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND.. OUR correspondent has furnished us with the annual Circular of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, made up to the last annual meeting. It contains some items of interest, which we subjoin, and to which we invite the attention of the Lodges in the neighboring British Provinces, working under Scottish authority. May 6, 1844. In considering the Question-How far Benefit Societies, in connection with Lodges, are conducive or otherwise to the prosperity of Masonry in Scotland? the Grand Lodge came to the following Resolution—That all Lodges who may hereafter form Benefit Societies among their own Members, should be prohibited from depriving any of the Members of their Lodges from voting at the Election of Office-Bearers, or being chosen an Office-Bearer; and that those Lodges who already have Benefit Societies connected therewith, should be instructed to make such alterations upon their Bye-Laws and practice as will admit every duly constituted Member of their Lodge, not lying under any Masonic disability, to vote, or to be eligible for office at the election of OfficeBearers. It was also recommended to all Lodges with Benefit Societies to be very careful in keeping the Funds of the Lodge perfectly separate and distinct from those of the Society. 5th August, 1844.-Resolved, That it be an instruction of the Grand Lodge, that no Candidate for initiation shall be advanced from the degree of Apprentice to that of Fellow-Craft-or raised from the degree of Fellow-Craft to that of M. Mason-at a shorter interval than that of two weeks, unless where it shall be certified, by two Brethren of the Lodge in which the Candidate is to be passed or raised, that he is to remove from Scotland within the interval hereby prescribed— or in any particular case of emergency, to be allowed by the Master of the Lodge, on its being specially certified to the satisfaction of himself and his Wardens. 10th Oct.―The Grand Lodge this day sold their property in Niddry Street to the Trustees of the late Dr. Bell, the Founder of the Madras System of Education, at the price of £1,800. 4th Nov.-SCOTTISH FREEMASONS' LIFE ASSOCIATION SOCIETY. It was unanimously agreed to recommend this Institution, in the warmest manner, to the cordial support and patronage of the Grand Lodge, as well as of all Lodges upon the Registry of Scotland. May 5-A remit was made to the Grand Committee to revise the Laws and Constitution of the Grand Lodge. And it was agreed that the Masters of all the Edinburgh Lodges, duly qualified, should be Constituent Members of the Grand Committee, instead of their number being restricted to nine as heretofore. By the 14th Chapter of the Laws of the Grand Lodge, it is enacted,— Sec. IV.-No Brother whose name is not enrolled in the Books of the Grand Lodge shall be eligible to be a Member thereof, or to be an Office-Bearer in any Subordinate Lodge. Neither shall he have any claim on the Grand Lodge Charity Fund. Sec. V.-Lodges in Edinburgh, Leith, and Portobello, being one year in arrear, and Lodges in the Country being two years in arrear, shall be deprived of the privilege of being represented in the Grand Lodge until these arrears be paid up. Sec. VI. If any Lodge be seven years in arrear of Grand Lodge dues, such Lodge shall be considered as dormant, and be struck off the Roll accordingly. August 2, 1842.-Resolved that the Masters and Wardens of Lodges in the country who have merely paid for and taken out their Annual Certificates from the Grand Lodge, without sending up any list of Intrants, be communicated with by the Grand Secretary or Clerk, or otherwise, and specially desired to certify, under the hands of the Master, Wardens, and Secretary, that no Intrants have been enrolled by them during the years for which such Certificates have been granted or are required, according to Section 4, Chapter 15, of the Laws of the Grand Lodge, and that no Certificate be given without such declaration, which shall specify the date of the last return of Intrants. The officers of the Grand Lodge are as follows: The Right Hon. Lord Glenlyon, M. W. G. M. Mason of Scotland. The Right Hon. Lord Frederick Fitzclarence, G. C. H. R. W: Past Grand Master. John Whyte Melville, of Mount Melville, Esq. R. W. S. G. Master. Sir John Ogilvie, Bart., R. W. S. G. Warden. Wm. Baillie, Esq. of Polkemmet, R. W. J. G. Warden. The Union Bank of Scotland, Treasurers. Wm. Alexander Laurie, Esq. W. S. G. Secretary. John Maitland, Esq. G. Clerk. The Hon. Master of Strathallan, S. G. Deacon. Colonel Kinloch, of Kilrie, K. S. F., Jr. G. Deacon. Rev. Alexander Stewart, Minister of Douglass, Rev. John Boyle, Portobello, G. Chaplains. Wm. Burn and D. Bryce, Esqrs. Architects. Charles Mackay, Esq. Grand Jeweller. Robert Gilfillan, Esq. G. Bard. Wm. Anderson, Esq. G. D. of Ceremonies. John Dick, Esq. G. S. Bearer. John Lorimer, Esq. G. Bible-Bearer. A. Menzies and J. Tinsley, G. Marshals. Donald Ross and Wm. Petrie, G. Tylers. Mr. W. Donaldson, Albion Cloth Company, Clothier and Paraphernalia Maker to G. Lodge. The foreign Provincial Grand Masters are as follows:- Eastern Provinces of India, Marquess of Tweeddale, K. T. Madras. Western Provinces of India, James Burnes, K. H. LL. D., F R. S. Bombay. West India Islands, Hon. W. Stephenson, Grenada. Jamaica, Rev. W. P. Burton. Canada, Sir Allan Napier Macnab. Bahama Islands, J. Cooke, Nassau, N. P. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Hon. J. L. Starr, Halifax. Bermuda, Dr. Joseph S. Hunter, Mayor of St. George's. Rep. of Colombia, Senhor Jose G. Nunez, Angostura. Charters have been granted for the following Lodges for the past year: Adelaide Lodge, Adelaide, South Australia,-Rising Star of Western India,-Bombay,-St. Andrew's, Poonah,-Elgin, Jamaica,-Acadia, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The Grand Secretary closes by saying:-"It affords me great pleasure to congratulate the Craft on the rapid extension of the Scottish Masonic Jurisdiction in the different quarters of the World, and of the repeated assurances from distant lands of the enthusiasm which prevails in Scottish Masonry wherever our Brethren are sojourning. UNIVERSI TERRARUM ORBIS ARCHITECTONIS PER GLORIAM INGENTIS. DEUS MENMQUE JUS.-ORDO AB CHAO. FROM the East of the Grand and Supreme Council of the Most Puissant Sovereigns, Grand Inspectors General, under the Celestial Canopy of the Zenith, answering to 32° 45' north latitude. To our Illustrious, Most Valiant, and Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, Knights of KH, Illustrious Princes and Knights, Grand Ineffable and Sublime, Free and Accepted Masons of all degrees, Ancient and Modern, over the surface of the two hemispheres: To all to whom these Presents shall come : HEALTH, STABILITY AND POWER. Know ye, That, at a special session of the Most Puissant and Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the 33d degree, duly and legally established, constituted and organized for the Southern District and Jurisdiction of the United States of North America, held on the 28th day of the month Thammuz, A. M. 5605, corresponding to the 2nd of August in the Christian Era 1845, and sitting at their Grand East of Charleston, near the B. B. and under the C. C. of the Zenith, answering to 32° 45', North Latitude, it was resolved that the following Manifesto be published and made known. The Supreme Council of the 33rd degree, whose Grand East is established at Charleston, reduces its Masonic powers into the very highest authority. It is known to all who have devoted themselves to the attainment of pure Masonic light, that Frederick of Prussia, as Grand Commander of the Order of Princes of the Royal Secret, was acknowledged during his lifetime as the supreme head of the Sublime and Ineffable degrees of Masonry throughout the two hemispheres. Under his authority, at a Grand Consistory of Princes of the Royal Secret convened in Paris in 1761, and at which Chaillon de Joinville presided as the King of Prussia's Deputy, Stephen Morin was appointed Inspector General over all Lodges, Councils, etc., in the New World, and in the succeeding year a certified copy of the Secret Constitutions was transmitted to him. Brother Morin, upon his arrival in St. Domingo, appointed, agreeably to the authority vested in him, Br. M. M. Hayes, as Deputy Inspector General for North America, with the power of appointing others. Br. Hayes accordingly appointed Isaac Da Costa, Deputy Inspector General for the State of South Carolina, who, in 1783, established the Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection in Charleston. After the death of Da Costa, Joseph Myers was appointed his successor by Br. Hayes. On the 1st of May, 1786, the Grand Constitution of the 33d degree, called the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, was finally ratified by Frederick, King of Prussia, and the high powers of that body were ordered to be conferred on nine Brethren in each nation, who were to enjoy all the prerogatives in their own districts that were possessed by his Majesty, in his individual capacity, and who thenceforth became "Sovereigns of Masonry." It was at the same time established as an unalterable rule, that there should be one Sovereign and Supreme Council only, for each kingdom of Europe, two for the United States of America, one for the English and one for the French West India Islands, all of which is fully set forth in the Secret Constitutions deposited in the archives of this Council. Under the authority and sanction of this Constitution, a Supreme Council of the 33d degree was opened at Charleston, on the 31st of May, 1801, with the highest honors of Masonry, by Brothers John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho, and the whole number of Grand Inspectors General was in the course of the year completed. Since that period the Supreme Council has continued to hold its sessions in this City, and to exercise the powers and prerogatives delegated to it by the Se cret Constitutions of the 33d degree. An interruption to its active operations occurred during the disastrous period when the dark spirit of anti-masonry was moving like an incubus over our unhappy land. But its constitutional powers were never surrendered, and its authority has always been acknowledged by the possessors of the sublime and ineffable degrees. Vacancies having occurred by the deaths of members, these vacancies were duly and constitutionally supplied, by the appointment of competent Brethren as S. G. I. G. and the Council, now completed, consists of the following members:— ALEXANDER MCDONALD, Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander. ALBERT G. MACKEY, M. D., Illustrious Secretary General of the H. E. The Supreme Council thus organized claims Masonic jurisdiction over all the southern and south-western district of the United States, as the Supreme tribunal for the sublime and ineffable degrees of the Scotch rite. In deference to the Constitutions of the York rite, practised in this country, it waives its rights and privileges, so far as they relate to the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry, which, long before the establishment of a Supreme Council in this hemisphere, were under the control of a Symbolic Grand Lodge. But this Council does claim the exclusive right to confer the following degrees, which now are, and always have been communicated by Grand Inspectors, or by bodies deriving their authority from a Supreme Council of the 33rd degree. 4. Secret Master. 5. Perfect Master. 6. Intimate Secretary. 7. Provost and Judge. 8. Intendant of the Building. 9. Elected Knights of 9. 10. Illustrious Elected of 15. 11. Sublime Knight Elected. 12. Grand Master Architect. 13. Royal Arch of Solomon. 14. Sublime and Perfect Mason. 15. Knight of the East. 16. Prince of Jerusalem. 17. Knight of the East and West. 18. Sovereign Prince of Rose Croix de Heroden. 19. Grand Pontiff. 20. Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges. 21. Patriarch Noachite. 22. Prince of Libanus. 23. Chief of the Tabernacle. 24. Prince of the Tabernacle. 25. Prince of Mercy. 26. Knight of the Brazen Serpent. 27. Commander of the Temple. 28. Knight of the Sun. 29. Grand Elect Knight K- H. 30, 31, 32. Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret, Prince of Masons. 33. Sovereign Grand Inspectors General. On the 5th day of Aug., 1813, as appears from authenticated documents in the possession of this Council, a similar Supreme Council was, in accordance with the Secret Constitution, duly and lawfully established and constituted at the city of N. York, by Emanuel De La Motta, as the Representative and under the sanction and authority of the Council at Charleston. The Masonic jurisdiction of the N. York Council is distributed over the northern, northwestern and northeastern parts of the U. States. And this, with the Council at Charleston, are the only recognized Councils which exist or can exist, according to the Secret Constitutions, in the U. States. Both bodies are now in active operation. Their labors have never been suspended, though withdrawn for a time from the public eye-their authority has never been, and cannot be, abrogated. They hold in their archives certified copies of the Secret Constitutions, derived from the G. Consistory held at Paris, in 1761. Their succession of officers and members has been regularly and duly continued, and the Great Light of Sublime Masonry, which has been confided to their keeping, like the sacred fire of the Vestals has been preserved unextinguished on their altars. The object of the Supreme Council is not to interfere with the rights of any other Masonic bodies, but simply to preserve from decay or innovation, those sublime truths and ineffable mysteries, which, while they throw a brighter light upon the pure system of Ancient Craft Masonry, can be attained only by those who, with constancy unwavering, with fidelity unshaken, with courage unflinching, and perseverance unabated, have travelled rough and rugged roads, and sought for light in the deepest recesses of the Masonic temple. They ask, therefore, as the legal guardians of these invaluable treasures, the sympathy and fraternal kindness of their Brethren, to whom they take this occasion of offering the right hand of brotherly love and affection. Lastly, this Supreme Council, in common with its thrice illustrious sister of New York, does most emphatically protest against the false and scandalous statements made by J. F. B. Clavel in his "Histoire Pittoresque de la Franc Maconnerie"-statements which exhibit, on the part of their author, either a deplorable ignorance of the true history of our Order, or a wanton violation of the grand characteristic of Freemasons-TRUTH; and which must, in this latter case, be attributed to interested motives of the most unworthy description. Our respective Councils rest their claims to the powers they exercise, on documents of undoubted authenticity in their possession on their acknowledgment, at various times, by the Supreme Masonic bodies of Berlin, Paris, and other parts of the world-on the respectability of the names which have been enrolled among their members-and on the unbroken succession of their officers; and they appeal, in the words of their ancient motto, to "God and their right," against every attack of the envious, the malicious, or the ignorant. At the same session it was resolved, that all authority heretofore granted to Deputy Inspectors be revoked, and all persons having in their possession, documents or other property belonging to this Supreme Grand Council, were directed to return the same forthwith to the Secretary General, at Charleston, S. C. ALEXANDER MCDONALD, Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander. DEUS MENMQUE JUS. GRAND EAST under the C. C. of the Zenith, at the vertical point near B. B., answering to the 40°. 42. 40." N. L., and 2°. 51' 0". E. L., Meridian of Washington City, the 29th day of ELUL, A. HTM. 5605, A. LIBist. 2381, which corresponds to the 1st of October, 1845, of the Christian Era-A. O. 727, A. MTM. 531. The Supreme Council of the M. P. Sovereigns, Grand Inspectors General of the 33d degree, for the Northern District and Jurisdiction of the United States of North America. To all to whomsoever it may concern: GREETING: Know ye, That this Northern District and Jurisdiction consists, at present, of the following fourteen_States, to wit: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. " That it never did, nor ever shall adopt any mode of "working" by means of itinerant Deputies, or Agents, &c., under any denomination whatsoever; such mode of operation being objectionable on many accounts, and only calculated to lower the standard of the "Ineffable and Sublime Degrees and Orders of the most ancient and honorable Fraternity of free and accepted Masons." And further be it generally known, well understood and remembered, that any meddling, officious interference through Deputies, Agents or powers, in any shape or form, and from any quarter whatever, shall at all times be considered |