EDITOR'S TABLE.

"THE QUEBEC DIFFICULTY" we are sorry to say, seems as far from a settlement as ever. We were in hopes that the Committees appointed by the Grand Lodges of Canada and Quebec would easily reconcile all differences and secure harmony. But it seems that the Quebecers were so haughty and exacting, and made the terms so odious to the Parent Grand Lodge, that reconciliation is now fraught with more difficulty than ever. Impartial observers cannot but regret that so favorable an opportunity for the settlement of the difficulties as was offered last September should be spurned by egotistic, self-willed brethren. The Craftsman thinks that "the chance of settlement of this difference has not yet passed away, that there is scarcely a member of the so-called Grand Lodge of Quebec, who does not deeply regret the blunder of September last." In our opinion the hasty recognition of this Quebec movement by the surrounding Grand Bodies, before she had shown herself capable of self-gov. ernment or, worthy of said recognition, was an error. It had the effect to make her saucy to the Parent Grand Lodge, egotistic and obstreperous.

THE EDITOR was at Detroit during the unveiling of the Soldiers' Monument, and took his meals at The Michigan Exchange. We found it crowded with guests from all parts of the State. Truly is this a first class house. Those who stop with the fraternal brothers who keep the Exchange will go again. We are also under obligations to Bro. Morris, the gentlemanly proprietor of the Hodges House of Pontiac, Mich. The Hodges is a good place to stop at, and has one of the best Liveries connected with, it to be found in the state.

ON THE SQUARE.-We wish to deal with our patrons on the square. Will all who are due us for this journal, please remit at once, so that all our accounts may be squared up before the end of the volume? We greatly need every dollar due us, we hope our friends will no longer delay to remit.

and

WE call special attention to the advertisement of E. E. Thorne, of the Firm of Shirtridge & Co., Wholesale Clothiers, 349, Broadway, N. Y. Bro. Thorne is a true man as well as a zealous craftsman. We frequently see notices of him in our New York exchanges. Our friends visiting that city should not fail to see him, and those in need of goods in his line will find it to their advantage to visit this place of business.

THE Evergreen, which by the way is one of our most valuable exchanges, contains in its December number a fine steel engraving of E.Sir Knight Rob't. F. Bowes, Grand Commander of Knights Templars for the State of Iowa., with a biographical sketch of his Masonic life.

JACOB NORTON says: "I would rather associate and affiliate with men who disbelieve in revelation than with the pack of bigots and hypocrits with which Masonry here abounds. Why then does he not "choose his company," and hold his tongne* "Birds of a feather, flock together."

THE Masonic apron made by Madam Lafayette, and presented to General George Washington is said to be in Masonic Hall, Philadelphia. General Washington's own Masonic regalia, worn by him in life, is now the property of Washington Lodge of Alexandria, Va., and is preserved as a most precious relic by that Lodge.

THE MICHIGAN FREEMASON.

VOL. III.-MAY, A. L. 5872.-NO. XI.

MASONIC ADDRESS.

[We take pleasure in laying before our readers the eloquent address given by Rev. W. V. Tuder, at the laying of the Corner Stone of the new Masonic Temple, at New Orleans, Feb. 15th, A. L. 5872.]

MOST WORSHIPFUL SIR, BRETHREN AND FRIENDS:-An institution as old as Masonry needs no apology for its presuming still to exist. Its venerable age to lay claim to no mythical antiquity, is simply an acknowledged fact. Its history has a wider fascination and charm, as though it were a singular example. If we were to take up its origin we should have to tumble into musty archives, whose dust, the accumulation of centuries, would bury us so deep in a mould so dry and shifting as not to sustain even a sprig of acacia to mark the spot where we went down. We could not be satisfied with any search into the record of Masonry that should stop short of

VOL. III.-NO. XI.-31.

the great King Solomon, and even arriving at his epoch we should worry ourselves for the want of facilities for pushing our excursion of inquiry yet deeper into the recesses of the dim past, shrewdly suspecting that in China, whose wig is the grayest of all the nations, if not her age; In India, where Sir William Jones thought that he discovered writings of four thousand years ago; in Egypt, in the mysteries of Isis and Eleusis; among the colonies that Cecrops founded in Greece, in all these, traces might be detected of the distinct peculiarities of the idiosyncratic order that innocently yields its antiquity to Adam alone. By the time, however, that we had gotten as far back as Babel, we should have become vain babblers indeed, if not long before, and so the assertion of an interesting age for Masonry is a matter merely of humorous curiosity that may be indulged for a moment, and a matter about which Masons have scarcely that moment's concern. When we should condescend to take notice of the annals of the past thousand years, we should find the Masonry of to-day such a familiar denizen in lodges on the face of the earth, of that entire period, an institution of the Saxon Heptarchy, of York and London, an institution whose rolls still show the names of historic bishops, and dukes, and kings, and philosophers and statesmen-such a fixture in society in England, and subsequently in America, as that-we agree at once, that the Order is at least one thousand years old, and that admission is of Importance from the single consideration alone that the grand temple of Freemasonry is built upon the foundations of great and good men, truth itself being the chief corner-stone.

But it is Masonry as a thing of the living present that is in our thoughts to-day. Behold in these United States five thousand lodges, with an aggregate of five hundred thousand members; in this city, thirty-two lodges, with an aggregate of three thousand members. A due respect to the numbers who have honored us with their presence to-day, who, it is fair to presume, are not Masons, and particularly the respect that is due to the fairer and better part, by far, of this audience, who not only honor but grace the occasion, and who we know

are not Masons, although we should not be afraid to trust them if the law would permit, who have even been distinguished for their love for the brotherhood, and as the daughters and sisters of a more than masonic charity; such respect demands that we should not speak in the cabalistic language of the craft, but in terms of general import and interest.

From the beginning, men have organized themselves into associations, societies, communities, corporations, orders, etc. In that fact there is the expression of a law deeply impressed upon the nature of man, and this law, stated simply, disposes at once of all objections to the masonic order, regarded as an association or companionship. The law of perfection, illustrated by the vice of imperfection, which inevitably attaches to all constitutions of organic bodies framed by man, and which so seriously impairs the efficiency of execution in detail of even the best constitutions, has but to be stated to dispose of all objections to Masonry, arrising from the fact of unworthy members, half realized aims, defective co-operation, and inadequate practical results. The law of the natural right of private judgment, illustrated by differences of opinion among peers in goodness and reason, with regard to causes and evidence, has but to be stated to dispose of all objection to Masonry, growing out of certain few unfortunate controversies in which it has participated in its history, and that have started questions of its general expediency, its indirect influence, its most pronounced historic tendency, for good or bad, and in some minds even its morality.

The only question then, remaining is that which concerns the informing principles that have organized the characters that have illustrated, and the works that have signalized its record; their testimony as to the general effect of the system and its moral status, and that must determine the attitude toward it of all men who have pureness of heart. To this last chief question the Mason is ready with his answer, albeit, indeed, he is not so anxious to multiply proselytes as to undertake any anxious advocacy of his position. Masonry would have died out long ago if it had depended for its per

petuity upon the active industry of its adherents, through the usual special methods of canvassing for supporters direct to the spacific end of increasing in numbers.

Masonry may allow encouragement, but never does addressed solicitations for admission. In this fact, in part, lies the reason which removes it as far from the nature of a religion as it is also removed essentially from the spirit of hatred and evil. Believing that I am right as a Christian, I try to help make every man I meet a Christian. I have never tried to induce any to become a Mason. A religious man may devote himself to Masonry as an auxiliary to his own or others' good, always, of course, under the strict regulation of the law of his religion which enacts "redeeming the time." It is foreign to the very genius of Masonry, therefore, to put forth any apology. It is sublimely dignified, reserved, and self-contained. It is an example of free individual segregation from the masses, an association of individuals, an illustration of the law of association operating among beings of one blood, an incident of the social state-a close communion; an institution whose teachings, sentiments, and aims are as pure and good as truth, love, and happiness; whose doors, now closed for strength's sake, fly open again for love's sake to every brother man, worthy and well qualified, who knocks for admittance; an institution whose prayer is that all were thus worthy and well qualified, and that will, therefore bless even the unworthy without, with benefits, with relief in trouble, and guidance in ignorance, in the shape of their exaltation; and so contemplate expressly in its familiar inculcations, and in its benificent and charitable designs, the whole world of mankind. It stands upon its dignity, survives with the world, does alms in secret that cheers many a heart, treads the sick room softly, yet the tread, though light, may be distinctly heard by the ear, day and night together, as long as there is need; buries the dead with a gentle courtesy that starts from the widow's eyes tears of blessing and consolation, with the tears of bereaved grief; and returns from the garlanded grave, to be to the widow a husband, to the orphan a father. God willing, it will build a temple on this, in precious