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^ IJHGN Highlander said that "it was a far cry from lj Lochow , " he probably meant much the same ' as our G . L . authorities thought—if indeed they ever so far troubled themselves , on the subject of the Country Lodges . But though as Mr . Macaulay tells us , there were no roads through the Campbell district in Scotland 150 years since , there are

railways at the present day which converge upon London from every part of the country : and the representatives of the Country Lodges on the 1 st October appeared from the four corners of England to support Lord Carnarvon's motion . That motion is a curious instance of how long justice may be withheld , and how soon obtained when the legitimate

instruments for its acquisition are brought to bear . Henceforth the Country Lodges'will be aware of the business to be discussed in G . L ., and it will be optional to them to express their opinions upon it . Now after many years of practical exile they have their own again , and rejoin the communion of English Freemasonry . But it is worth observing the results

of that exclusion . Just as the machinery of any representatho assembly is of delicate construction , so is it-easily dislocated by the " withdrawal of a constituent part . Among the circumstances which have imperilled English Freemasonry

and have prevented a return to our ancient position of internal harmony and external credit , none have been more serious than the absence of the Country Lodges from the General Council of the craft . Nowhere has the spirit of the constitution been more infringed than in their exclusion . We have to contend with many difficulties—to remedy many evils ;

and difficulties are only to be met , evils only corrected , in broad daylight . Our Colonial dependencies are on the eve of dissolution ; our foreign brethren are suffering persecution ; disorganisation and misrule exist at home . But we disdain the doctrine that it is ever "folly to be wise : " and if indeed we are fated to sink under the burden of accumulated disasters ,

we would , like Hector of old , pray to die in the light of heaven . That light , however displeasing to the lovers of routine , now for the first time dawns upon us . G . L . a few months since emancipated itself by insisting on the free circulation of the List of Agenda ; the Country Lodges have followed that example . Canada is for the present reprieved ; and

through the lie w , board , bur Colonial policy , though it may still be mismanaged , will at all events be no longer , shrouded in official mystery .

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THE last two meetings of Grand Lodge have been unusually stormy . Country brethren—accustomed lo the staid

decorum of their Provincial and Private Lodges—looked , ori in wondering amazement at the hubbub in which they found themselves ifl the Masonic Parliament of England . There must be some very decided reason for a state of things so opposed to the natural instinct of Masons , who are ordinarily cairn in their assemblies , and singularly amenable to

authority . How then are we to account for the strong feelings and excited conduct which have been twice manifested within the last two months V The cause is unhappity notorious . There is a widely spread conviction that the executive has not only very grossly mismanaged our affairs , but is determined if possible to stifle discussion , and by arbitrary and

unconstitutional conduct , to deprive the great body of the Craft of their undoubted , and supreme authority , and enforce instead , the despotic rule of an oligarchy . That Grand Lodge is far too independent a body—notwithstanding the servility of a fewto make such a course possible , has been amply shewn on these two occasions . First the Prov . G . M . of Sumatra refuses

to put motions from the chair which were perfectly in order , and is . then forced in a most , undigniiiod manner to retract his decision , by a storm of disapprobation , which he dared net face ; and next a Brother of high legal repute , who has not attended Grand Lodge for more than two years , suddenly

appears , to deny the right of that Body to adjourn itself ; and when his objection was overruled by the very impartial representative of the Grand Master , —as if to put the partizan character of the opposition beyond dispute , —he , and his party on the dais , withdraw from Grand Lodge . We repeat that the wrongs are felt to be deep , and the

feeling of indignation is universal ; and this alone can account for the unanimity with which the important motions detailed in our report , where adopted by Grand Lodge . One pulse beat throughout that heterogeneous assembly—one sentiment of entire concurrence in the masterly and statesman-like speech of Lord Carnarvon . Town and country felt alike ;

and it must have been a motive of no ordinary kind , which could bring up from their quiet homes so large a body of Provincial brethren . It recalled irresistibly to our minds Macaulay ' s description of the successful-stand made by the Tories in the reign of William the third , against an attack of their opponents ; when , " the country squires came up hooted and spurred

, cursing the badness of the roads , and the rascally Whigs . " The question of the supremacy of Grand . Lodge—their right to manage their own affairs—is settled . The battle has been fought and won . Let the ground be maintained temperately and Masonically , but still firmly .