The Grand Master's address refers principally to local affairs. He mentions that the Grand Council of Illinois having dropped the Super-Excellent degree, he had granted a dispensation April 11th to Grand Master FRENCH, "to open a Grand Council of Super-Excellent Masters for the State of Illinois," and confer the degree on a number of Companions who were anxious to obtain it.

The Grand Council passed a resolution "deploring the action of those Grand Councils that have surrendered the control of the Cryptic degrees to the Grand Chapters of their various jurisdictions, as they feel assured that such action will not have a tendency to advance the true interests of Cryptic Masonry."

1879.

The Ninth Annual Assembly was held at the City of Guelph, August 13th; Companion MCLELLAN, Grand Master; ten Councils represented.

The Grand Master, in his address, says that "notwithstanding the commercial depression and financial difficulties, this Grand Council still exists in a state of comparative success and prosperity. It does not require a prophetic eye to view, in the future, a more brilliant career, and more wide-spread and greater achievements."

He reports having granted a "dispensation to open Wellington Council in the City of Guelph," which was granted a charter during the assembly by the Grand Council.

The Committee on the Grand Master's address report that they "have the satisfaction of knowing from the representatives of different Councils in attendance on Grand Council, that, in the main, Cryptic Masonry is progressing;" and advise in reference to "Councils that have not made returns and which are practically dormant, your Committee would respectfully recommend the suspension and withdrawal of the warrants of all those that are not in working order by the next Annual Assembly."

1880.

The Tenth Annual Assembly was held at the City of Guelph, July 15th; Companion JOSHUA GEORGE BURNS, Grand Master; eleven Councils represented.

The Grand Master retrospects the first decade of the Grand Council and finds much encouragement, he says:

"Ten eventful years belong to our annals, to which we may recur with some satisfaction. Their fruits have been garnered by us and are a rich heritage; let us labor diligently to preserve and increase them. Our course has been progressive, our numbers have multiplied, our light, once feeble, ascends with the steady glow of assured permanency."

His views in regard to consolidation are clear and emphatic, he says:

"After mature deliberation and extensive reading in the proceedings of other Grand Councils and opinions of many Illustrious Companions, I see no necessity for handing these degrees over to Grand Chapter or any other Grand body. I believe the fusion of these degrees with those of Grand Chapter would mean complete absorption, and render Cryptic Masonry insignificant and unimportant. Why should this be, as Cryptic Masonry is as pregnant with meaning and instruction as any of the other degrees? And with all respect to R.. A.. Masonry, I believe that in Cryptic Masonry, and in Cryptic Masonry alone, can Companions find the completion of Masonry, and until they penetrate the S.. V.. they must remain ignorant of what is partially revealed to the Babylonish Sojourners, for we possess the key to the essence and epitome of all the revelations of Masonry."

The Grand Master reported having received an application from the T... I.. Master of a subordinate Council for permission to resign his position. After an investigation, which resulted in showing the Companion's inability to discharge the duties of the office, owing to business and other engagements, the dispensation permitting the resignation and authorizing the Council to elect another Master was granted; the rank of the Companion resigning not to be affected in the Grand Council.

The action of the Grand Master was approved by the Grand Council.

The Grand Master also advocated the formation of a "Supreme Grand Council of Rites for the Dominion of Canada." Resolutions favoring the proposition and inviting a conference of the "Imperial Grand Council of Constantine and the Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners," were passed by the Grand Council. The Grand Recorder subsequently reported such conference had been

held:

Whereupon the M... I.. the Grand Master said: By the power in me vested and with the consent of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Master Masons of Ontario; the Grand Imperial Council of the Dominion of Canada of Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine, and the M.. W.. the Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners of the said Dominion, I now proclaim THE GRAND COUNCIL OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA duly formed under the name and title of the GRAND COUNCIL OF CANADA, such Grand Council to have jurisdiction over all Councils of Royal and Select Masters in the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and the North-West Territories, all Conclaves of the Order of Rome and Constantine and Lodges of Royal Ark Mariners, within the Dominion of Canada.”

In our search for further light in regard to this matter, we find the following in the Grand Master's address to the Grand Council in 1875, which advances the reasons therefor and shows that the project had its inception for some years since:

"You are aware that the Masonic and Military Order of Knights of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine was introduced into Canada in 1869 by our esteemed M.. I.. Companion Col. W. J. B. MCLEOD MOORE, 33°, Grand Cross and Grand Prior for the Dominion of Canada, who was appointed Chief Intendant-General for this Dominion.

"The history of the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine can justly claim a higher antiquity than any other Order of Knighthood.

"It had its actual origin from the circumstance of a vision which the Emperor CONSTANTINE saw prior to the battle fought October 28th, A.. D.. 313, at a place called Saxa Bubra, near Rome.

According to the Christian writer EUSEBIUS, CONSTANTINE saw the symbol of the Atonement emblazoned upon the sky-a Cross, surmounted by the inscription-In hog signo vinces. The Emperor communicated this vision to the learned EUSEBIUS, and, as our traditional history states, afterwards instituted the Order of the Red Cross, as a memorial of the Divine miracle which affected his conversion to the Christian faith, and as a reward for the valor of his soldiers.

"The Order teaches Faith, Unity and Zeal. It inculcates the Christian virtues, and urges us to carry out, in our daily lives, the Divine principles of Charity and Truth-based on that high and holy law, which will secure to every true and faithful follower of the Lamb a holy rest upon the bosom of Infinite Love.

"The degrees pertaining to this Order are conferred in assemblies called Conclaves, and are Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, Knight of St. John of Palestine, Knight of the Christian Mark, and Knight of the H.. and T.. I.. Order of the Cross. The two latter degrees are conferred under the designation of a sanctuary, all of these degrees being confined to those who have attained to the rank of a Royal Arch Mason. The same M.. I.. Companion introduced into Canada the Ancient Order of Royal Ark Mariners, and a Grand Lodge of this body has been formed for the Dominion of Canada. The creation of so many Grand bodies has created some confusion, and it has appeared to many of the leading members of the Craft that some means might be devised whereby the degrees conferred in Councils, Conclaves, and Lodges of Royal Ark Mariners migut, with much benefit to Masonry, be placed under one Grand body, to be called the Grand Council of Rites for the Dominion of Canada, or should you prefer to curtail your jurisdiction, for the Province of Ontario only. Our M.. I.. Companion MCLEOD MOORE, as head of the two Orders I have named, highly approves of this scheme, and I cannot too strongly recommend the Grand Council to give its approval to the arrangements suggested, thereby dispensing with so many Grand bodies, which at present demand too great a sacrifice of the valuable time of the members of the Craft. Should the Grand Council of Rites be formed as proposed, the Grand Bodies of Canada then will be:-Grand Lodges, Grand Chapters, Grand Council of Rites, Grand Priory, Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree A.. and A.. Rite; quite sufficient governing power to control and direct the whole of Masonry and to meet all the requirements of the Craft."

Companion JAMES B. NIXON presents the Report on Correspondence, in which he reviews the proceedings of sixteen Grand Councils-Maryland for 1878-79 receiving favorable notice. In his "conclusion" he says:

Every one of the reports dwells more or less on the so-called Mississippi plan, and naturally we feel like giving our opinion on it. We think it is a very great mistake for any Grand Council to take any such action, as we hold that it is just as much of a crime against the law of Masonry for a Grand Council to voluntarily surrender its existence, as it is against the law of all civilized countries for a man to cut his throat. Then, again, it must necessarily lead to very great confusion, from the fact that several of the Grand Councils have said that no Companion receiving the degrees in

a Chapter shall be received as a visitor or acknowledged as a member of the Order. This action will doubtless be taken by all who are determined to remain firm in their Grand Council connection. The Royal and Select Masters, therefore, of the few jurisdictions which have turned over the degrees to Chapters will find themselves outside of the Order altogether, except in the few localities which have adopted this plan. The next step will probably be for Grand Councils to give charters to those who desire to work the degrees as independent Councils where no regular Grand Council exists, the result being confusion worse confounded. It would be far better for a Grand Council that finds it impossible to live without dragging out a miserable existence, to die nobly contending against adverse circumstances, than to basely surrender that sacred birthright which has been handed down to them by men who would have scorned to think of such a thing for a moment."

PENNSYLVANIA, 1880.

The Thirty-fourth Annual Assembly was held at Phoenixville, February 18th: Companion MARK RICHARDS MUCKLE, Grand Master; ten Councils represented.

Companion MUCKLE, in his address, gives expression to the following, which weighs as much to the pound as anything we have had the pleasure of noting:

"On the subject of surrendering of charters of State Grand Councils to Grand Chapters we have but little more to state. Pennsylvania has taken her stand and will remain firm as the Rock of Ages in her faith and decision on this point. She has repeatedly asserted her true and tried doctrine on the subject. One of its Grand Masters, some years since, while dwelling on this theme announced that these remarks have been made, that Pennsylvania may place herself right upon the record in opposing every scheme whose tendency would be to place the Council degrees under the control of Grand Chapters, or the Scottish Rite. The time of the Grand Chapters is fully occupied in controlling the degrees of Capitular Masonry, while the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, in 1849, passed a resolution waiving all their right, title and interest in the degrees of Cryptic Masonry. Hence we regard the question as finally and fully settled; and whenever I have been addressed on this subject as your Grand Master, I have invariably declared that the Grand Council of Pennsylvania will never disband its organization, or surrender her power and authority to any body of Masons, but will preserve her organization, if for no other reason than that within the S.. V., we can procure the G.. O.. W.. in its purity, and preserve it intact, with the attending ceremonies, without being corrupted by Masonic charlatans, whose highest ambition is to narrow our landmarks and ceremonies to their own misconceived ideas of religious belief.'

"In perusing the history of Cryptic Masonry in the United States, we learn that not a single State received its authority from a Grand Chapter; but it appears that somewhere between the years 1817 and 1824, some half a dozen individuals traveled about through various of the States, in the character of peregrinating Masonic peddlers or tramps, conferring degrees represented to be those of R., and S.. Masters, and instituting Councils therein; which action was ultimately checked when State organization stepped in and assumed complete control of the same. This subject has brought to light much elaborate literature both in prose and poetry; and I am happy to announce that Pennsylvania comes in for a good share of

credit for the bold and deliberate stand she has assumed in the premises. When such distinguished Masonic historians and authors as Companions PIKE, MACKEY, DRUMMOND, COOLEY, OSGOODBY, and others, endorse our sentiments on these grave subjects, which have been agitating Cryptic Masonry for years, in addition to our own researches and experiences, you may safely depend upon it, we cannot be far from the right. We sincerely pity the Prodigals and sympathize for them in the homeless condition in which they have seen proper to place themselves."

He reports having appointed Companion THOMAS J. SHRYOCK as the Representative of Pennsylvania, near Maryland.

Companion CHARLES E. MEYER presented his commission, and was acknowledged as the Representative of Maryland.

The Grand Recorder reported the warrants of five Councils, suspended for failure to make returns for two years or more, and of one for failure to pay dues.

The "Committee on Work" reported a Ritual, which was adopted by the Grand Council, as also a recommendation from the Committee on the Doings of Grand Officers to allow a reduction of twenty per cent. on the dues for 1880.

Altoona was selected as the place for the meeting of the next annual assembly.

An amendment to the Constitution was adopted, making the fee for the Royal Master's degree not less than three dollars; Super Excellent, not less than two dollars, and the Select, not less than five dollars.

There is no report on Correspondence.

RHODE ISLAND.

We are in receipt of the proceedings of this Grand Council for 1876, 77, 78, 79 and '80, in one volume.

1876.

The Sixteenth Annual Assembly was held at Providence, March 13th, Companion ALBERT H. CUSHMAN, Grand Master; three Councils represented, one less than number paying dues. The Committee on Work reported the "Convention Work," which was adopted.

1877.

The Seventeenth Annual Assembly was held at Providence, March 12th, Companion JOHN F. ADAMS, Grand Master; four Councils represented, one less than number paying dues.

An amendment to the Constitution providing that the dues from subordinates shall in no case be less than ten dollars, was adopted.