Oration, By S. C. Dennison, Of Sacramento.

the corruption or moral aberration that g ives plausibility to such a scandal . With commendable pride Ave point to the _ long genealogy of our Order , ancl rejoice in the achievements of many splendid triumphs over ignoranceerrorand

, , superstition ; but we must not idl y stand , in conceited retrospection , forgetting the future and neglecting the present , ancl permit our societv to become fossilized and

overgroAvn by some more vicious though worthless growth . We can not stand supinely by and permit the growth of error , the commission of crime , or the spread of corruption , Avithout doing violence to our most sacred trusts ; nor do I believe Ave

can remain spotless in the eyes of the Supreme Grand Master , if wrong or crime be committed when Avithin our power to prevent it . Is the heartless mother AVIIO forgets all the finer impulses ancl affections of nature , ancl permits her hel pless offspring

to perish for the want of maternal nurture and care , less guilty than the "hi ghwayman , who , for gain , will sacrifice human life ? The man Aidio sees a fellow-being unconsciously approaching a precipice , and raises no warning voicenor stretches forth a

, restraining hand , but permits him to go on to destruction , is morally no better than he Avho b y more direct means accomplishes the same result .

It is at least safe for us to assume the proposition that Ave are guilty of the commission of all the wrong that Ave mi ght , but do not , prevent ; and I believe it possible , by long ancl continued effort ancl education , to eradicate crime from the

human mind , ancl eliminate wrong from the conduct of men . All Avrong is unnatural , unreasonable , ancl productive of unhappiness , while the necessary result of every good deed is the increase of human happinessancl it may be considered as an

evi-, dence of dereliction in duty on our part , that this fact has so slight a hold on the public mind at this day . There are great evils which have been admitted into place in the fundamental constitutions of the governments of the

earth y Avhich , although seemingly permissible in their inception , have become , by the enlightenment of the age in Avhich we bve , disgraceful to the genius of our civilization . What have Ave , as leaders in moral improvements , ancl as advocates of " peace on

earth and goodAvill towards men , " done to-Avards the suppression of the hideous ogre of Avar—that inhuman practice of Avholesalc murder , which has caused more suffering , more immorality ancl demoralization in society , more darkened households , more

blighted hearts , more tears , and more anguish , than all other existing evils 1 There is a glaring inconsistency in the laws which , by the infliction of capital penalties , iiroliibit individuals from an appeal to arms to settle their disputes , and at tbe same time countenance the code of

Avar betAveen nations . The encouragement ancl practice of international homicide is as antagonistic to the minds of a majority of the earth ' s enlightened people , as would be the establishment of a government bureau for the introduction , propagation , and

dissemination of plague , contagion , and pestilence . Ancl we have coAvardly refrained from striking clown this fell monster , Avbile for a century past tbe enlightenment of tbe people composing the great powers of the Avorld has been prepared to immortalize the name of the heroic and humane order

that would blot the name of war from the vocabulary of international law . Masonry , by its ancient lineage , its chosen councils , ancl its universal organization , is peculiarly fitted for this sublime ancl glorious conquest . There is no land so darkno corner of the earth so remote

, , and no people so unlettered as to be beyond the warming influence of the genial rays of the sun of Freemasonry . Tbere is in all this broad domain scarcely a hamlet , or cross-road village , that has not within it an organization of our craft ,

The poAver and influence of our Order in moral reform , especially if we begin by reforming ourselves , is such , that if Ave place the seal of earnest M asonic condemnation ancl anathema upon the hell-born practice of slaughtering men by thousands because statesmen quarrel , the iniquity must cease .

The times are propitious ancl the genius of the age is ripe for this great reform . Indeed , the question of an international tribunal for peaceful arbitration of all national disputes is in agitation , ancl if the Freemasons of the world will throw their weighty influence into the good Avork , the result Avill be accomplished . We can not without violence to the im-