The Province Of Somerset.

THE PROVINCE OF SOMERSET .

TO TUB EDITOR OF THE EKEEJIASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIItnOE , DEAR SIR ASD Buormsi :, —I should feci obliged , by your giving insertion in your next number to a few remarks , in answer to the strictures of your two correspondents , " P . M ., " and " Another P . M ., " on the recent appointment of Bro . Babbage as Grand Secretary of this province . The ostensible objections of those Brethren are based on two groundsvizBroBabbage ' s

, ., . inexperience , and the alleged small number of Brethren who attended the Prov . Grand Lodge when the appointment was ratified . I will deal with the latter allegation first . Now , although this seems a very plausible objection at first sight , it is in reality most puerile and absurd . The appointment of Prov . Grand Secretary is not elective : it is the unquestionable prerogative of the Prov . Grand Master to confer the office on whomsoever he pleases ; and it signifies nothing whether there were few or many at the

Prov . Grand Lodge , as the deliberations of that body could not contravene the Prov . Grand Master's authority , or interfere in the remotest degree with its exercise . The reason for a Prov . Grand Lodge being summoned at all must be obvious to every one , viz ., the Prov . Grand Blaster ' s desire to promulgate , in the most direct manner , the change which had taken place in his province . As a Grand Officer myself ( and other Grand Officers share my -feelings ) I am grateful to the Prov . Grand Master for not

, officially calling upon me to take a long journey to a remote part of the province , at a needless sacrifice of time and expense . There were abundance of qualified Brethren in the immediate neighbourhood to form a Grand Lodge to enable the Prov . Grand Master to perform simply a ministerial act .

As regards the appointment itself , and the objection urged against the choice of the Prov . Grand Master—the duties of Prov . Grand Secretary are very onerous , and the qualifications needed in such an officer are general rather than special . Business-like habits , firmness , courteous manners , and such mental faculties as may enable him to deal with all subjects that come within the scope of his duties with decision , energy , and judgment , are in my estimation , elements far more important , in the position of a Prov .

Grand Secretary , than the wearisome ability to repeat volumes of incoherent verbiage which some possess , and regard as a compensation for the absence of every cardinal Masonic virtue . It might perhaps be too much to sav , that Bro . Babbage , who is comparatively an untried man , does possess all the qualities to which I have referred ; but if the concurrent opinions of the most eminent Masons in the province be worth anything , he is likely to become an efficient and highly popular Grand Officer . Nothing that has been advanced b

y your correspondents , at least , can justify an opposite conclusion . Vague generalities and unsupported assertions , whilst they fail to effect the pretended purpose of the writers , lead to the irresistible conclusion that they are employed as a miserable pretext for a covert attack on our venerable Prov . Grand Master , and with the view again to stir up those elements of disunion and ill feeling which have only recently subsided . Defeated faction never sleepsit is ever viilantever on the watch to

; g , renew its efforts when there seems a chance of success . The province of Somerset will now , as on a former occasion , know how to deal with these malcontents ; and if the excellent Prov . Grand Master—who now administers its affairs with ao much fidelity , judgment , and firmness , combined with