Royal Arch Masonry In Pennsylvania.

ROYAL ARCH MASONRY IN PENNSYLVANIA .

We have been favoured with a copy of the Proceedings of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Pennsylvania during the year 1889 , and from the address delivered by Comp . JAMES S . BARBER , G . H . P ., at the annual convocation on the 27 th December

last , we gather that Royal Arch Masonry in this jurisdiction has made satisfactory progress during the period in question , and that as regards the state of its funds it is in a condition of great prosperity . Comp . BARBER reported on the authority of the statistical returns that there had been a considerable increase in

the membership , while the audited statement of accounts submitted by the Grand Treasurer , Comp . THOMAS R . PATTON , showed that the balance at the close of the year was on the right side , and that the invested property amounted to $ 20 , 000 ( £ 4000 ) . The bulk of the G . H . Priest's report necessarily dealt

with matters which are of local interest . There is , however , one paragraph in it to which we are desirous of calling attention , containing as it does a decision of the G . H . Priest , which is marked by sound common sense . A case was brought to his notice of a brother who , several years ago , was suspended by

his lodge for non-payment of dues . At the time he was indebted to the chapter of which he was a member for his annual dues , and hence , in accordance with the prescriptions of the law in

Pennsylvania , his suspension as a Koyal Arch Mason became the necessary consequence of his suspension as a Craft Mason . Quite recently the brother paid his indebtedness to the lodge , and was at once restored to p-ood standim ? as a Craft Mason ancl

as an Arch Mason , and as he was anxious to join a . chapter in the place to which he had removed , he paid his chapter dues and asked for a certificate of good standing . On this request becoming known , it was joointed out that his previous personal character had been none of the best , and it was hinted that the

certificate asked for might be refused . Comp . BARBER decided that it could not as " the companion was under the tongue of good Masonic report , and was entitled to a certificate of his good standing in the chapter . '' To this he added , that " if the chapter did not wish the certificate to issue , charges should be preferred ,

the companion put upon trial , and a chance given him to defend himself and prove his innocence . " We commend Comj ") . BARBER for having thus decided in accordance with the dictates of common sense . It is bad enough to find that a Mason or Masons in any jurisdiction should have been lending themselves

to the publication of reports defamatory of a brother ' s character , but it would be intolerable if the authorities gave heed to the petty calumnies of these wretched gossipmongers . Let all necessary inquiries be made into the character of those who apply to be admitted into Masonry , but once they have been

admitted , let them be treated openly and above-board as honest men " under the tongue of good Masonic report" have a right to be treated . Our only regret is that Comp . BARBER did not discover some way ot administering a sharp rebuke to these spiteful busybodies for their impertinence .

United Grand Lodge Of England.

UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND .

The Quarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of England was held on Wednesday evening , at Freemasons' Hall , Great Queen-street , Bro . Col . Marmaduke Ramsay , District Grand Master of Malta , presided . Bro . Hugh David Sandeman , Past District Grand Master of Bengal , acted as Deputy Grand Master ; Sir Hedworth Williamson , Prov . G . Master for Durham , as Past Grand Master ; Sir Gabriel Goldney , as S . G . W . ; and Rev . James R . J . Simpson , P . G . Chap ., as J . G . W .

As visitors the following brethren were present : Bros . Clifford P . McCalla , M . W . G . M . of Pennsylvania ; J . Ross Robertson , M . W . G . M . of Canada ; Horner , P . M . W . G . M . Louisiana ; Frederick A . Burnham , Chief Commissioner of Appeals of Grand Lodge of New York ; and Edward B . Harper , President of Board of Trustees of the Grand Lodge of New York . Grand Lodge having been formally opened , the minutes of the Quarterly Communication of June 4 th were read by GRAND SECRETARY , and confirmed .

Bro . Sir ALBERT W . WOODS , G . D . C , then announced that Bro . Clifford P . McCalla , M . W . G . M . of Pennysylvania ; Bro . Robertson , M . W . G . M . Canada ; and Bro . Horner , P . M . W . G . M . Louisiana , were present as visitors , and he called on the brethren to salute them as M . W . Grand Masters . The salutes were then given .

United Grand Lodge Of England.

Bro . CLIFFORD P . MCCALLA , M . W . G . M . Pennsylvania , then rose and said that in response to the most fraternal and distinguishing salutations which the brethren had just accorded to him he had onl y to offer that noblest , sweetest , and purest word " Mother , " for the United Grand Lodge of England was the mother of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , which he had the honour to represent in their midst that night —( applause)—and not only so but the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania was the

oldest son of the Grand Lodge of England in America , and the oldest son , according to English traditions , was entitled to no mean honour . ( Applause . ) Not only so , but it was his privilege to come across the seas from that city whicb had been denominated for more than 200 years the city of brotherly love , a name which to them as Freemasons had a significance far beyond that which it had to the profane . He believed it had been 159 years since a Grand Master of Pennsylvania

was welcomed with the Grand honours in the Grand Lodge of England , for the records of the Grand Lodge of England proved that in the year 1731 Bro . Cox , the Provincial Grand Master of New York , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania , was present in the Grand Lodge of England , and was received with the Grand honours . He ( Bro . McCalla ) had to apologise for the continued absence of the Grand Masters of Pennsylvania from the meetings ; but there was no time like the

present , and while he was with them , and in this distinguished presence , some of the brethren with whom he had been made familiar face to face , many of whom he had known for many years by reputation , he was proud to be within their midst , and he had but a few moments ago cabled to his Grand Lodge , which met on that identical nig ht , that he was about to enter into that business , and that he had been honoured by an invitation thither . That Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , permit

him in closing to say , had been most assiduous in copying the example of the Grand Lodge of England —( and why should not the eldest son copy the example of his father ?)—they met on the same day for their Quarterly Communications as Grand Lodgeof England met , and not only so , but they copied the usages and customs of Grand Lodge of England ; and it had always been the boast of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania that as it was the oldest of the Grand Lodges

of America , so it had maintained continuously the usages and customs which hacl been originally delivered , so as to hand them down perpetually to their successors . ( Cheers . ) He thanked the brethren most heartil y for the kindness shown to him , and while he had said he had cabled his intention to be with the English brethren in accordance with their courteous and fraternal invitation , when he met his Grand

Lodge in December , as he trusted he should , by the will of the G . A . O . T . U ., he should narrate to them more at length the kindness and fraternal spirit in which he had been received , and he should commend to them more than ever a continuance of their adherence to the ancient usages , customs , and landmarks of Freemasonry . ( Applause . )

. Bro . ROBERTSON , M . W . G . M . of Canada , said he should onl y add a few words to what Bro . McCalla had uttered . He had the greatest pleasure in meeting the brethren that evening . They met in Canada as a Grand Ledge . They wcre not , perhaps , the oldest son . of the Grand Lodge of England , but they were one of the sons , and he thought they had Masonic principles at heart , and they followed the tenets of Freemasonry . They endeavoured to copy the lines of the Mother Grand

Lodge of the world , the Mother Grand Lodge of England . They had so lately heard from M . W . Bro . Walkem that it would be almost unnecessary for him to detain the brethren further , or intrude on their time , or boast anything about the condition of the Canadian jurisdiction , but when he told them that they had nearly 8400 lodges and 20 , 000 Craftsmen , and that in every possible manner they were endeavouring to emulate the example and principle and tenets of the Order in

their lodges and outside of them , by a strict adherence to the ancient charges , and by endeavouring to do as the Grand Lodge of England had been doing—¦ for those who could not help themselves—they had endeavoured in this respect at least , though they had not the wealth of England to alleviate distiess . Over in Canada the brethren had a heart for the brethren of England and for the mother Grand Lodge of the world . They endeavoured to imitate its example , ancl

without desiring to be egotistical , he said they had in the last 30 years given over a quarter-million dollars in the cause of Charity . That being the case , he thought they could not say they were unmindful of the cause of the distressed . He should convey to the Grand Lodge of Canada a pleasant report of the reception he had had that evening , and assured them that his reception would never be effaced from his memory . ( Applause . )

Bro . HORNER , P . M . W . G . M . of Louisiana , said it would be presumptuous in him to add more than a few words to what had fallen from the lips of his brethren who had just spoken , one from Pennsylvania and the other from the desert land of Canada . He was from a warm land where they had not only warm hearts but warm hands , and everything else there was warm . He felt he ought to say to the brethren how very proud he was to stand in the Grand Lodge of England , and to

be able to say how proud he was to think how much he loved them , and how he could tender to the brethren the love of the brethren he represented . They lived so many thousand miles away , but still they loved the English brethren . They had many ties with the Grand Lodge of England . Other brethren came there from colonies under the reign of the same magnificent woman who governed them all . But he represented a Grand Lodge which was not in any manner

whatever under the Grand Lodge of England . On the contrary , his Grand Lodge was founded mainly by lodges working under lodges owing allegiance to the Grand Orient of France , a body which they all regretted had now severed itself from everything that was principally recognised in Masonry . Their Grand Lodge was founded in the year 1812 , and its proceedings' were conducted in the French language until the year 1848 , so that Grand Lodge of England could claim very

little fathership or mothership with them . ( Applause . ) But they might say—and he might say—with pride , that the majority of the Masons of Louisiana both in the number of members and the number of lodges worked the same work that he had seen and explained in lodges twice this week in England . The time was not far distant when there would be no other work recognised

than the work performed in England . In his Grand Lodge the regulations prevailed so far as the means of recognition and the ties that bound them together were concerned . They were absolutely and imperatively the same as they were in England . Mig ht he allude to one other little matter . The ties of brethren of the South in Louisiana were connected with some of the wealth that was