jurisdiction for the year ending December 27, 1869; consequently, my report will be short. Ancient Landmark Lodge never stood better than at present, working harmoniously with its sister Lodges under the English and Scotch Constitutions.

The amount of work has not been large, but it has been very well done, under the able management of Worshipful Brother Eames and his officers, who have taken particular pains to instruct their Lodge and bring the Ritual to a better state of perfection than ever I have seen worked in Shanghae. In looking at the returns for three years past, you will see that the number of members remain about the same, which can be easily accounted for, as quite a portion of the Shanghae community is a moving one, not settling here for any length of time; so the affiliations and dimits are about the same. Number of members, fifty-nine; initiates, nine.

On the night of my installation I brought forward the subject of the Capitation Tax, and urged all the members to commute, when it was unanimously passed by a vote of the Lodge to commute for every member on its roll; and I had great pleasure in forwarding last mail to the Proxy, Right Worshipful Brother Salmon, a bill of exchange to pay the Grand Secretary.

If there was a feeling at home that this Lodge wished to get rid of payment of this tax, it was a great mistake, for such was not the case; although the Ancient Landmark is farther removed from the Grand East than any other Lodge under its jurisdiction, still there is not a Lodge that takes more interest in the honor and welfare of its Parent Body, or watches its proceedings with more interest. Neither the Worshipful Master, or any of his officers, had any official notice of this tax until the arrival of my commission, when several copies of the Grand Lodge Proceedings came with it.

Since my appointment, I have been called upon to grant three Dispensations for shortening the time in receiving the degrees with seafaring men; but in every case they were given subject to a satisfactory examination in open Lodge.

My connection with the Lodge the past year has been very pleasant; and I had the pleasure of installing the officers for the ensuing year, who have been chosen from among its best working members, on December 22.

Thanking you for the high honor of the appointment,

I remain yours truly and fraternally,

WILLIAM C. BLANCHARD,

SHANGHAE, Dec. 27, 1869.

D.D.G.M. for China.

The M.W. Grand Master delivered the following

ADDRESS.

BRETHREN,In the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, at its session held at Manchester on the 10th of June, 1869, "the Committee on Foreign Correspondence offered their report, and, on motion, it was Voted, That the reading of the report be dispensed with, and that it be published with the printed Proceedings."

In this report the following singular statements are made: "In Massachusetts there was no legal Grand Lodge till the Union in 1792."

"The American doctrine of Grand Lodge jurisdiction has grown up since" the establishment of the African Lodge at Boston, by authority of a Charter from the Grand Lodge of England, "and is not elsewhere fully received even now; besides, there was then no Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, or in that State, whose rights could be interfered with; for, notwithstanding the claim to antiquity of that Grand Lodge, it was not formed till 1792, and the two Provincial Grand Lodges, before existing in that Colony, both expired in 1775 by the death of their Provincial Grand Masters. The Massachusetts Grand Lodge did not pretend to meet after the death of Warren, and although St. John's Grand Lodge did have some sort of meetings, probably no lav. that has ever existed in Masonry anywhere would hold such meetings regular."

If this report had been read to the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, its venerable Past Grand Masters, Israel Hunt and Horace Chase, then present, could have informed the Committee on Foreign Correspondence that they were treading upon dangerous ground, and alluding to a delicate subject.

The Grand Lodge of New Hampshire was organized on the 8th of July, 1789, by four Deputies from St. John's Lodge of Portsmouth, chartered by the Massachusetts "St. John's Grand Lodge" June 24, 1734, and one Deputy from Rising Sun Lodge of Keene, chartered by the "Massachusetts Grand Lodge❞ March 5, 1784, — five Deputies from two Lodges. All masonic authorities claim that, to organize a legitimate Grand Lodge, there must be present the representatives of "not less than three Lodges holding Charters or Warrants from some legal Grand Lodge."

All the Lodges in New Hampshire existing prior to the year 1790, with the single exception of St. John's of Portsmouth, received their Charters from the "Massachusetts Grand Lodge."

St. Patrick's was chartered and established at Portsmouth, March 17, 1780. It continued in existence until the latter part of the year 1790, when it ceased working, most of its members joining St. John's Lodge, which was revived about that time. It never acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire.

November 8, 1781, the "Massachusetts Grand Lodge" chartered a Lodge at Cornish, then claimed to be a part of Vermont, but now set off to New Hampshire. It met at Cornish a few times, and when Cornish was decided to be in New Hampshire, it moved to Windsor, Vermont, on the opposite side of the Connecticut River, and took the name of Vermont Lodge, No. 1.

Rising Sun, of Keene, well known as the Lodge which gave masonic light to Thomas Smith Webb, was chartered by the "Massachusetts Grand Lodge" March 5, 1784. It surrendered its Charter to the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire August 3, 1792, and received a new one with the same name, and rank No. 3.

The "Massachusetts Grand Lodge" granted a Charter for a Lodge at Charlestown by the name of "Faithful Lodge, No. 27," February 22, 1788. This Charter was surrendered to the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire April 30, 1800, and a new one given, by which it was styled "Faithful Lodge, No. 12."

Dartmouth Lodge, of Hanover, received a Charter from "the Massachusetts Grand Lodge" December 18, 1788, and was the last Lodge chartered by this Grand Lodge in New Hampshire. Its dissolution took place before it acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of that State.

The Grand Secretary, Horace Chase, says, that when the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire was formed July 8, 1789, "as appears from the record, there were but three Lodges in the State, viz.: St. John's and St. Patrick's at Portsmouth, and Rising Sun at Keene."

However irregularly organized the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire may have been, the "Massachusetts Grand Lodge" disclaimed jurisdiction in that State thereafter. It is unnecessary to state that this Grand Lodge, since 1789 to the present time, has been on the most friendly and fraternal relations with our sister Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, and that it will require something more than the unauthorized and unconfirmed statements of a Committee on Foreign Correspondence to unsettle these pleasant relations.

Nevertheless,-when it is pretended before a Body of such great respectability as the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, that, in 1784, when it is said the "African Lodge" in Boston obtained its Charter in England, there was no existing Grand Lodge in Massachusetts, for the purpose of proving the then and present legitimacy of the African Lodge, and of adding the weight and influence of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire to this pretence, -it is due to ourselves, and to the Craft universal, that the truth should be fully known and fearlessly spoken.

The time is propitious to meet this false pretence, and I need but resume the history of the "Massachusetts Grand Lodge,"

where it was left at its Centennial on the recent Feast of St. John the Evangelist.

The system of Provincial Grand Lodges originated in the Grand Lodge of England in 1726, and arose from the necessity of having, in the distant colonies of Great Britain where Masonry had extended, some authority and power, not only to control and govern the Craft, but also to establish new Lodges in the Provinces. The Provincial Grand Master was appointed by commission of the Grand Master, wherein the extent of his powers was set forth, aud by virtue of which he convened his Grand Body. In the language of early days, this commission was styled a Deputation, and this word conveys the true idea of the Provincials' position. It was a Deputy Grand Lodge, with its various Deputy Grand Officers, convened by the power and authority of the Provincial Grand Master as the Deputy of the Grand Master. It possessed no sovereign power. The Lodges under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Grand Master were not necessarily registered in his Grand Lodge. They were returned to England, registered in the Grand Lodge there, and classified as we do our Lodges at the present day, as belonging to a certain District or Province. The Provincial Grand Master had power to appoint a Deputy and commission him, who in the absence, sickness, and disability of his chief, assumed his functions. The Grand Wardens and other officers he also had the exclusive right to appoint, although sometimes he nominated brethren to these offices and permitted the Grand Lodge to elect them.

Each Lodge in the Province had the right of representation in the Provincial Grand Lodge, by its Master and Wardens or by a regularly appointed representative, and the expenses of the Grand Body were assessed upon the various subordinates. The right of appeal existed from every act and decision of the Provincial Grand Master or Grand Lodge, to the Grand Master of England, thus making the Provincial and his Grand Lodge subordinate to the power by which they were created.

The allegiance of the Lodges and of the Craft was to the Grand