THE NATIONAL TRIENNIAL CONVENTION. THE time fixed for the re-assembling of this Convention, is Monday the 11th day of May next, and the place, Winchester, Virginia. Will it then be held? The regulations proposed for its government, and the resolution providing for its re-assembling, were, we believe, subsequently to the adjournment of the Convention at Baltimore, in 1843, adopted by the Grand Lodges of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama. We are unable to state, with any degree of certainty, what number of delegates has been appointed, or what Grand Lodges propose to appoint them. It is full time, however, that this was ascertained and made known. The Grand Lodges of Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Michigan have appointed, or authorized the appointment of delegates, to attend the Convention at Winchester, if it shall be ascertained in season, that a majority of the Grand Lodges will there be represented. Others may and probably have appointed delegates, but we are not in possession of the information. How are the Grand Lodges above named, as having appointed delegates, to ascertain that a majority of the Grand Lodges in the country, will be represented in the Convention? Without this information, they will not authorize their delegates to proceed. We suggest then, that the Secretaries of such Grand Lodges as have appointed delegates, but which are not named in the above list, notify the Secretaries of those that are named, of such appointment. The latter will then be able to determine for themselves, whether the requisite number has been appointed. Having ascertained this, they must respectively take it upon themselves to notify the Grand Lodges in the States nearest to their own, and proceed to Winchester. This however must be done the present month, if at all.

PAST MASTER'S DEGREE.

BR. MOORE:-You have lately given your views relative to the degree of Past Master; and they meet my approbation, and I do not allude to the subject now for the purpose of discussing any of the points which formed the subject of your remarks. I once had a Masonic Manuel in the Spanish language. From it I transcribed the following notice of that degree, which, if you think worth recording in your Magazine, is at your disposal. It may afford pleasure and food for reflection to some of your readers, who, like myself, are fond of adding genuine relics to their cabinet of Masonic curiosities.

"No Freemason can preside over a Lodge if he has not received the degree of Blue Master, and been invested with that of Past Master."*

*This is true as to actual, or elected Masters. Wardens may preside temporarily.-ED.

"This degree is not included in the Sublime System. It is not in fact strictly a degree; only a compliment to the Master of a Lodge, and should be included in blue Masonry."

"The jewel of this degree is a gold medal, on the margin of which are seen two columns inscribed, the one with a Hebrew jod, the other with a Beth, with a blazing star in the centre, on the border of the jewel are the letters H. T. S. T. K. S. There are many Lodges in which this degree is unknown. It has been taken from the degree of Master ad vitam.'"*

"We deem it proper in this place to give the titles and qualities of the initiated Escani, who have in our opinion transmitted to us the mysteries of Freemasonry. The Grand Master is styled Aaron Schilton (novissimum imperium,) the officers Roznim (Principes.) The deputies Hhorim (nobiles)—the visitors Tsogim (per igrinantes.")

MASONIC RITES AND SYSTEMS.

"THE difference among the different bodies of Masons, in regard to the number of degrees in the order and the dependence of one degree upon another, is extremely puzzling, and much to be regretted."-Noachida Dalmadicus.

The author of the above sentiment speaks unadvisedly, and in the absence of that light which a little study and examination of the different Freemasonic systems, rites and departments, will not fail to shed around him. Every thing like a puzzle will vanish, when it is considered that besides or in addition to the three first degrees, which are the only universal ones, there are divers "systems" or "rites" of the higher degrees, some of which are practised in one country and others in another; and not unfrequently Freemasons in the same country cultivate all or nearly all the different systems,-saving spurious and illigimate systems, which, I presume, the author above referred to, does not, (for he should not) speaking, as he does, of genuine Masonry, take into the account. The different systems constitute independent branches of Masonry, which do not interfere with each other or cannot legally do so with the .exception of the three first degrees, which form the basis of the whole, there is no dependence of any degree in one system upon any degree in another system. One system contains a given number of degrees, another system a different number. The question then cannot legitimately be between those who practice different systems, as to the true number of degrees in the whole order. This will ever remain a matter of opinion. There are a few detached degrees deemed subsidiary to certain principal degrees in one or the other of the different systems, but they are not essential to any particular system. These are sometimes taken under the charge of a system to which they are subsidiary, and sometimes taken under the control and jurisdiction of an independent system, formed for the purpose.

In America, we have the blue system controlling the blue degrees; the red system controlling what are usually called the Chapter degrees; the principal one of which is the Royal Arch of the second temple; the Encampment system, which controls the degree of Knight Templar and its appendant Orders; and lastly the "sublime system," which controls the highest thirty degrees of "the rite ancient and accepted." These systems do not interfere with each others

*This is after the French rite.-Ed.

powers and jurisdiction; they work independantly of each other; and the degrees in one system do not depend upon any degrees in another.

Foreign writers do not seem to understand our arrangements and the harmonious working of our different systems. We have no National Grand Lodge, but State Grand Lodges, which act independently only in the matter of jurisdiction. But we have a National Grand Chapter, which however consists only of representatives from the different State Grand Chapters-we have also a National or as it is termed, "a General Grand Encampment, "which consists of representatives of the different State Grand Encampments; and for the "rite ancient and accepted," we have two Supreme Councils, one for the Northern and the other for the Southern jurisdiction of the United States, with subordinate Lodges, Councils, Grand Councils, Sovereign Chapters, Colleges, and Consistories, working under said Supreme Grand Conncils. In describing our right Ancient and Accepted, an English Masonic writer of eminence, has blended together the blue, red, encampment and sublime systems above enumerated, and confounded with the legal and constitutional jurisdiction of said rite, the jurisdiction claimed by the "soi disant" "Supreme Council for the Western Hemisphere," which has been denounced and shown to be spurious and irregular. G. F. YATES.

To R. W. Br. MOORE, Ed. F. Mag.

MASONRY AMONG THE AMERICAN ABORIG.

INES.

BR. MOORE --Sometime ago you published a communication of mine under the above or a similar caption. Since that time I have met with a literary friend, a Brother of the third degree, who had lived nearly a quarter of a century among the Indian tribes herein after referred to; and he gave me a very interesting account of his initiation into a mystic society which they claimed to have existed from time immemorial. The existence of this society he was for more than twelve years kept profoundly ignorant of; although he enjoyed their confidence as it regarded all their national and domestic affairs. At length he was proposed and accepted, and passed through the ceremonies of three degrees. Although the vow of secrecy obliged him to deal in generalities, he was sufficiently explicit to enable me to draw the following conclusion: That the Order into which he was admitted was analogous to that of "the Olive Branch of the East." As this has recently been formed "to meet the wishes of the native Brethren" in religious matters, so that was adapted to the religious views of the American Aborigines. This society is not however identical with that which numbered only three times five in all, elected from several Indian nations, which I referred to in my previous communication, and which I hope to have the pleasure to refer to again. If I was astonished to find a coincidence in several respects between certain points in ancient Craft Masonry and the society into which my friend was initiated, my astonishment ceased on noticing in an old English Masonic history the following appointment of "William Augustus Bowles, Esq. Provincial Grand Master among the Creeks, Cherokees, Chuckesaw and Choctaw nations-1760." G. F. YATES.

THE TWO FREEMASONS.

[CONCLUDED.]

[Translated from the French for this Magazine, by CHARLES W. TUTTLE.]

PART III.

It was the first day of March, a day so much desired, so much dreaded by the painters, a day in which so many hopes, which are at once greeted by the transports of joy at triumph, and maledictions at defeat, are excited and crushed. For an hour, Adrian had been seated before the time-piece, in an elegant drawing-room of the hotel de Mareil, with his eyes rivetted on the hands, whose sluggishness or rapidity he seemed to reproach. He was waiting until the Count and his niece should have completed their toilet, as the former had desired to attend him at the opening of the exhibition, in order to be one of the first to applaud the success of his young protégé.

For, during the eight months which had just elapsed, Adrian had found in M. de Mareil a zealous patron and a true friend. Thrust forward by him into the midst of the most eminent artists,-received, on his recommendation, in the most fashionable circles, he was no longer that common provincial, lost in the immensity of the capital, neither knowing where to direct his steps nor on whom to lean for support, and always ready to become disheartened at the probable consequences of his isolation. He at length placed confidence in the future; all obstacles were levelled; on his talent alone the victory depended.

Why, then, that uneasy look, that pallor which pervades his cheeks, those furrows which wrinkle his fine forehead? He has sent three paintings before the judges, and at this critical hour, in which his fate is to be decided, a dismal apprehension has entered his mind. In vain he attempts to pluck up courage by setting before his eyes, through the aid of remembrance, sometimes the ensemble, sometimes the details of each of his works; he anatomizes them with the merciless scalpel of a critic in bad humor; where he saw beauties, he perceives nothing but imperfections; he accuses himself of unskilfulness, of want of experience, and of coldness; he would rather relinquish ten years of his existence than his pictures should have left his studio,-he now discovers so many faults which need correction.

"Heavens! what then, ails you, Adrian ?" exclaimed Caroline, who entered at the moment when the anxieties of the artist gave vent to a gesture of vexation and impatience. "I guess it; the time appeared to you very long. I, at least, will not merit the blame of having detained you. Women are accused of slowness in their toilet,-nevertheless, this morning I am ready before my uncle."

"Alas! Miss, you labor under a mistake," replied Adrian. "I confess, however, that yesterday I counted the hours, the minutes; it seemed to me that the moment for opening the gallery of the Louvre, would never arrive. My heart is to-day under the impression of a very different feeling. I hesitate, I tremble; my apprehension increases the nearer the hour approaches; and had I the power over it, instead of hastening, I would stay it."

"How now! would you fail of courage? Have you then forgotten that your paintings, when they were exposed in my uncle's gallery, obtained for you the most flattering encomiums ?"

"Encomiums prompted by friendship or politeness. But fancy to yourself, Miss, a tribunal composed of judges inaccessible to indulgence, who examine coldly, decide without appeal, and repulse without regard."

"Their suffrage is only the more glorious for it, and I have the presentiment that you have obtained it."

"Perhaps, then, my humiliation will only be greater by it. It would be a thousand times better for me to send away my pictures, than bashfully to consign them to some obscure nook of the gallery, as if to say to the virtuosos, 'Pass along. They do not deserve the honor of being regarded by you.""

"These, sir, are gloomy thoughts, that you will speedily banish, if you wish not to grieve me in my turn."

"To grieve you!"

"Ah! certainly. Is it not perfectly natural that one should be afflicted by the reverses of a friend when one is rejoiced at his successes ?"

"How kind you are, Miss Caroline. If any thing can still sustain my hope, it is the interest that you show for me; but, believe it, this trouble and uneasiness, which agitate me, originate not in a selfish sentiment of self-love. No! what causes my apprehensions, what overwhelms me with chagrin and shame, is having been able to remain a common painter under the influence of your regards, under the delight of your encouragement; is not to be able to say to you, 'To you belongs the homage of my glory; for I have desired it to be worthy of your affection, and it is by you that I have merited it.'”

The earnestness with which Adrian pronounced these words, the look with which he accompanied them, appeared to cause a lively surprise in Caroline. The sudden blush which suffused her pretty face, proceeded it from a sensation of joy or displeasure? This it is of which the reader will hereafter be informed. Nevertheless, we can now inform him that there was nothing very terrible in the commencement of the reply, which she was attempting to stammer out at the moment when her uncle entered the drawing-room.

Some minutes after, the carriage of M. de Mareil drew up before the entrance of the Museum. Adrian on clearing the threshold, felt his heart sink within him, and his legs totter. He could hardly stand when he entered the large square hall, where the principal paintings are ordinarily exhibited. His eyes successively surveyed its four walls; but all the canvasses which decorated them, appeared to him as through a cloud; no figure was clearly visible to his sight.

Suddenly his arm trembled under the gentle pressure of the hand of Caroline, and he was on the point of fainting, when he heard the Count exclaim, "Behold! but look then, my friend; there, directly in front of you; all in the place of distinction !"

The three landscapes of Adrian in reality occupied the most honorable position, and so dense was the crowd of virtuosos who stopped to admire them, it was almost impossible to draw near the place.

Nothing at this moment was wanting to complete the happiness of the young artist. As far as glory was concerned, the most unreasonable of his desires were granted; and a tear of joy, which, unknown to her, he had just observed in the beautiful eyes of Caroline, caused him to have a presentiment that he was not