THE MASONIC FESTIVAL.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 332, 16 July 1875, Page 3

THE MASONIC FESTIVAL.

(Condensed from the ' Saturday Review.')

The Freemasons have met, paraded cheered the Prince of Wales, dined together in various circles of mysterious honor, and gone home happy, as far as one can judge from the melodious utterances which were heard in the streets adjoining the hostelries where they broke up for the night. Some of them perhaps may not have been quite so happy next morning, but heroic natures have consolation for headaches in the proud consciousness of greatduties performed at any personal sacrifice. Any one who happened to be in the South Kensington district after noon on Wednesday last would have seen streams of respectable-looking men clad in black, with white ties which set off to advantage their generally rubicund countenances, moving towards the Albert Hall. Nothing could be more decorous and inoffensive than their appearance, but a watchful eye could not fail to observe that each carried in his hand either a paper parcel, or a japanned tin box, or a bag, or that his coat-tail pockets bulged in an unnatural and suspicious manner, These were, in fact, the higher ranks of the Masonic body on their way to their rendezvous, their superiors having issued a decree that out-of-doors they should dispense with decorations, and endeavor, as far as they could, to look merely like ordinary people —an effort in which, we should say from our own observation, most of them perfectly succeeded. They walked in the usual way on their legs, no magical influence interposed to-prevent the dust from settling on their boots, they wiped the perspiration from their' steaming brows, and partook of refreshment at convenient drinking bars exactly as the common run of humanity has been seen to do on other occasions, when the weather was hot, and the sense of self-importance somewhat suffocating. Beyond the gates of the Hall, however, the eyes of the profane world could not follow them. Once or twice, it is said, there was a stidden explosion at the doors, followed by the violent discharge of an unhappy person, coatless and bareheaded, who was understood to have been, like the Claimant, a victim of insufficient evidence of identity in the character he had assumed.

As to what passed within the mysterious inner precincts it is of course impossible to obtain any authentic intelligence. It is not yet known what the Pope thinks of this singular demonstration, or whether on Wednesday last the floors of the Vatican shook with subterrrneari convulsions, plainly indicating the agencies at work. It is extremely unlikely, however, that his Holiness is so . simple as to be mystified by the inventions of the newspapers. He will reason out the matter in his own mind, and will find it impossible to believe that a multitude of intelligent and educated Englishmen should come together from all parts of the country, and put themselves in such a state of excitement, for no other reason than to strut about for an hour or two in mystic privacy, dressed in gaudy clothes which they are ashamed to wear in the streets for fear of the laughter of little boys. The English, he will say, are a sensible, practical race, and there must surely be something behind all this which has a real and important meaning, and which is purposely hidden out of the way. It is impossible not to see how much is to be said in favor of this view. Nothing can be more profoundly amazing than the proceedings of the freemasons as described in the newspapers. "We are asked to believe that all these people turned out merely to look at each other, and to hear two or three vapid and utterly meaningless speeches. There is no reasonable person, not a mason, who can have read the newspapers on Thursday morning without wondering what all this fuss could really have been about. In this country "Charity and Loyalty" may be believed to be the essential principles of the order, and there can be no doubt that the members are well-meaning enough. But it might be rash to expect that secret societies, if freely tolerated, would necessarily produce equally innocuous results in countries which are politically more volcanic. The reason why Freemasons in England are so harmless may be suspected to be simply that they do not mean anything in particular except a desire to combine conviviality with fine clothes and big names, and an affectation of charitable sympathy which finds vent in frequent banquets. On the whole the simplest explanation is perhaps, as often happens the best. Nothing can be more natural than that masonry should be particularly flourishing during a period when the great object of every one is to try to mark himself off, from the common ruck of humanity by some badge of distinction, however trum - pery or trivial. Anybody can be a Freemason who is of decent character and will pay a moderate subscription, and thereupon he finds himself himself hanging on at the tip of a tail that leads up at the other end to the Royal Family and the highest of the aristocracy, with the prospect that, with due dilligence, he may himself one day become a Grand something or other, and wear no end of gorgeous tassels and jewels. A similar ambition is

at the bottom of the Foresters, Odd Fellows, Convivial Buffaloes, and other work-ing-men clubs; and even When external decorations are dispensed with, we may trace the influence of the same, passion in that eager competition for the letters of scientific societies to stick at the end of a name which goes on. among people to whom science is as much a mystic puzzle as Masonry. In another direction, the various classes of teetotallers are held together by the power of badges and titles. After all speculation has been exhausted, Freemasonary turns out to be a very commonplace affair in the midst of pretensions and parade. It is quite possible for people to be thoroughly loyal and charitable in a plain everyday way, and in - their everyday clothes But the charm of a secret order is that the members lull themselves into the delightful belief that they are somehow of a superior caste to the rest of the world, with a monoply of special virtues. " Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers," and notwithstanding the spread of educa-- ; tion, there is probably always pretty much the same amouut of folly in the world, only it sometimes changes the Channel by which it finds vent, fhe best that can be said in behalf of the body which has just been exhibiting itself is that a mob of Freemasons is more harmless than a mob of Kenealyites, but the ruling principle of self-assertion is pretty much the same in each case. Nobody has anything to say against the " great and ancient Order " enjoying themselves in this way, or with any amount of babyish bedizenment and make-believe, but for their own sakes it is a pity that they are not so mysterious as they might be.