Editorial Blundering.

Prince contemplated the idea some time after his marriage during the lifetime of the late Duke of Sussex , G M . of England , who died in 1843 ; bnt the idea was never acted upon . Thus the Prince of Wales was nofc a Lewis and was not

initiated during his minority , though , according to the laws of English Masonry , he might have been so initiated by dispensation from the Grand Master . A very little trouble on the part of our brother Editor would have enabled him to ascertain this .

If we take the series of questions as a whole , we find the first actually , and the second presumably , relates to the Masonic law of the New York Grand Lodge , while the third indirectly concerns the Masonic law of Virginia , and the fourth that which prevails in the Grand Lodge of

England . We have said the Editor is not responsible for this jumble—at least in the first instance ; but in his answers he should have stated that the Masonic laws of New York and Virginia had not of necessity anything in common , and that because a certain law existed in New

York or Virginia , therefore it did not necessarily exist in England . It may be there is no law in New York or Virginia for the initiation of a minor by dispensation from the Grand Master or otherwise , but there is snch a law in England , and as a matter of fact a very large

number of the members of our University Lodges are initiated while they are as yet under age—to say nothing of what occasionally happens in other Lodges . Thus , as regards our own Grand Lodge , there will be no necessity to wait till another Prince of Wales turns up , in order

to make " Masons of young gentlemen under twenty-one ;" and even if another George Washington should turn up , the law of the New York Grand Lodge , forbidding the initiation of minors , will have to be either obeyed or

rescinded . On the whole , we cannot congratulate our brother Editor of the New York Dispatch either on the knowledge or the sense he has displayed in his answers to the queries to which we have drawn attention .

The Annual Conclave of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Ohio , will be held at Cincinnati on the 7 th and Sth September next , and the Cincinnati and Hanselmann Commanderies have , according to the Masonic Review , already issued numerous invitations to be present

at the reception they have arranged to give to the Grand Commandery , the active co-operation of the other Commanderies of the State being courteously invited in order to do honour to the occasion . The programme , as at pi * esent arranged , is on a grand scale . On Wednesday , the 7 th

September , the Grand Commander and Officers of the Grand Commandery , will assemble afc the Gibson House , at 10 a . m ., and at 10 . 30 a . m . Grand Commandery will assemble in the Masonic Temple . At 2 . 30 p . m . the Commanderies will meet afc their respective

headquarters , and march to the rendezvous where , an hour later , there will be a grand parade and review by the Grand Commander . From 8 to 11 p . m . there will be receptions by the different Commanderies . The remodeled and refurnished suite of Templar rooms in the Masonic

Temple will be thrown open to visiting Sir Kni ghts . The morning and afternoon of the day following there will be a grand fete champ-Sire and concerts in the Zoological Gardens , and from 7 . 30 p . m . to 2 a . m ., a grand reception and

promenade concerts at Highland House , Mt . Adams , admission to which will be confined to the Sir Kni ghts and accompanying ladies . An efficient Committee of prominent Knights Templar has charge of the arrangements .

The Voice of Masonry says that the Grand Master of Illinois , during bis first six months of office , answered fully five hundred unofficial letters in addition to those officially

addressed to him ; that he visited five and twenty Lodges , delivered some thirty addresses to the Craft , and attended and worked in three schools of instruction . In fact , to his knowled ge he left no communication unanswered and no duty unattended to , and all this without neglecting his regular avocations .

, P ^ ^ e 28 th July the first stone of a Normal College at J-viitchell , Indiana , was laid by the M . W . Grand Master of Masons in that State .

Editorial Blundering.

The folio ving notes of the career of Bro . Frederick L . Billon , Past Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Missouri , who is now in his eighty first year , will be read with interest by every member of the Masonic Fraternity . Bro . Billon was initiated on 28 th August 1823 , in old

Missouri Lodge , No . 1 , by its then W . Master Bro . Edward Bates , afterwards Attorney General in the cabinet of President Lincoln . In March of the following year he was exalted to the R . A . Degree in Missouri Chapter , No . 1 , then the only Chapter West of the Mississippi , and

working under a dispensation granted by Comp . De Witt Clinton , General G . H . Priest of the United States . As there were no Commanderies in the West in those days , he received the orders of Knighthood in the Morton

Encampment , No . 4 , City of New York , and was consequently brought into close contact with tho Clintons , Mortons , Chapraans , Cushmans , and other bright particular . Masonic Stars of the time . From 1824 to 1849 he

was almost constantly in office either in Lodge or Chapter or tho Grand Bodies of those degrees . Since then he has contented himself with remaining a simple member of a subordinate Lodge and Chapter . Bro . Billon has thus

been a Freemason for just fifty-eight years—a worthy record , which fully justifies the respect in which he is generally held in hia State and wherever else he is known .

We read m the New York Dispatch that on Wednesday , the 3 rd ultimo , the members of St . Andrew ' s Lodge , No . 16 , Toronto , Canada , accompanied by their ladies and several prominent gentlemen of that city , arrived in New York City , via the Albany day steamer . The party

numbered some 250 , ancl Bro . Horace S . Taylor , Grand Master of New York , having been apprised of the intended visit , entrusted the duty of welcoming the visitors , and conducting them over the city to a Committee , consisting of Bros . W . H . Corsa D . D . G . M . Sixth District , James M . Austin ,

John Boyd , Seymour , Ehlers , Wright , and Van Blaricom . On their arrival , tbe brethren and their friends were escorted to Earles ' s Hotel , where they had their first experience of the hospitality of New York Masons , subsequently visiting the principal objects of interest in and about the

city , including Coney Island , Long Branch , and Rockaway . On Thursday they were shown over the Temple , after which they assembled in tbe Grand Lodge Room , and were formally welcomed by Bro . Corsa on behalf of the Fraternity . The Toronto brethren expressed their admiration of the

building ancl its appointments , and after the Levee , Bro . Anderson , W . Master of the Sfc . Andrew ' s Lodge , returned on behalf of himself and his fellow visitors his hearty acknowledgments for the kind and hospitable reception they

had experienced . Among the excursionists were Bros . Saunders , D . D . G . M . Toronto District , W . C . Wilkinson , Secretary of the Public Schools of that city , Boustead and Kent ( members of tbe Board of Aldermen ) , Anderson ( City Auditor ) , Snyder , Tait , & c , & c .

We learn from the Masonic Review that the Corner Stone of the new Court House at Denver , Colorado , was laid some time back , with full Masonic ceremonial , by Bro .

Lawrence N . Greenleaf Grand Master , assisted by the Officers of Grand Lodge , in the presence of over 5 , 000 persons . Able addresses were delivered by Bro . Greenleaf and his Excellency Governor Pitkin .

The list of Lodges for which warrants have been granted since the last Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge is , as will be seen elsewhere in our columns , longer than

it has been for some time past . They are twenty-five in number , namely , seventeen Colonial , six Provincial , and two—the Earl of Lathom , No . 1922 , and the Gallery No . 1928—Metropolitan .

Of the seventeen new Colonial Lodges , " seven belong to New Zealand , of which no less than five will meet in the District of Canterbury , wbile one is for the District of Auckland ancl one for that of Auckland . This raises the number of English Lodges in Canterbury to some

twenty , the total for the whole of New Zealand being about seventy . There are also some thirty-one Lodges under the Scottish Constitution and about eleven Irish , making a total of over 110 Lodges for the three Constitutions ,