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dDantettts . PAGE . F REEMASONS' MAGAZINE : — Masonic Bed Cross Order—By R . 33 ° 21 History of Freemasonry in Worcestershire 25 Masonic Jottings—No . 27 , 27 Masonic Notes and Queries 27 Correspondence 28

MASONIC MIRROR .- — Masonic Mems 32 CRAPT LODOE M EETINGS : — Metropolitan 32 Provincial 32 Ireland 37 India 37 Royal Avcb 38

Mark Masonry 33 Ancient and Accepted Rite 3 S Roval Order of Scotland 33 Poetry 39 Obituary 39 List of Lodge , & c , Meetings for ensuing week 10 To Correspondents ' 10

Masonic Red Cross Order.

MASONIC RED CROSS ORDER .

LONDON , SATURDAY , J ULTO , 1870 .

, By E ., 33 ° . My attention having- been directed to a protracted discussion on the subject of the Imperial Constantinian Order of St . George , and its surreptitiously appropriated insignia , I now feel it

incumbent on me , to vindicate the integrity of that Order , and to point out its true history , and the legitimate destination of its Grand Mastership . Ih \ t before proceeding to do so , it will be necessary to revieAV the various statements and

arguments employed , by the promoters of this attempted imposture ; and their refutation by its opponents . Among the former , liOAvever , we must excuse those , Avho through carelessness , or an inaptitude for historical inquiry , have alloAved

themselves to be exposed to a certain responsibility , by lending the AVeight of their honourable names , to support so umvorthy a scheme , but AVIIO nevertheless , I feel assured , Avill ultimately repudiate the injurious connection , cast aside these usurped

insignia , and leave the original author of the attempted deception , to the well merited contempt of honest men . In the year 1868 , appeared a small work * entitled " General Statutes of the Imperial ,

Ecclesiastical , and Military Order of Knights of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine , " to which is added a " Sketch of the History of the Red Cross Order" and engravings of its "jeAvels and regalia . " This remarkable production , as stated on the

title page , is " published under the authority of the Grand Imperial Council , by Sir . Knight Robert WentAvorth Little , Grand Recorder ; " and on the next page appears a list ol the members of the " Grand Imperial Council" headed b y "The

Right Hon . the Lord Kenlis , Most Illustrious Grand Sovereign . " In the FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE ASD MASONIC MIEBOE , of the 10 th January , 1869 , a correspondent writes with reference to the above Statutes ,

aud designation of the Order— "I * had thought that a similarity of titles , Avas probably their only claim and relationship , with the public Order of the same name , in the Grand Duchy of Parma , the Sicilies and Turkey . But in the Appendix of

the Statutes , I find that the decorations of the present public Orders . . . are given as those of the Masonic Order to Avhich these Statutes relate . "

A reference to " The Historical Sketch , " - * - informs us that the history of the Order , is carried from its original foundation " to the resignation " of the Grandmastei'ship , "by Andrew Angelas Flavins Comnenus , " AVIIO "pretended to assign his

hereditary rights , to Francis Farnese , the then ( 1699 ) reigning Duke of Parma . . . and Ave are in all probability indebted to the learned Abbe ( Giuistiniani ) who Avas long attached to the Venetian embassy in London for the existence of

the Order in England . . . though Ave are unable to say positively Avhen the Order Avas | restricted to Freemasons . " Briefly alluding to the extinction of the male line , of the Farnese family , in 1713 , the transfer

of the Order to Naples , and the subsequent claim of Marie-Louise , in the present century , Avhich led to the establishment of the Order likeAvise in Her Imperial Highness' principality . " Some information , " justly observes " Lupus , " " would be

desirable , as to the existence in England , of any chapter of the original Order of Constantine , " and he adds , " I feel that something is due to the public Orders which they ( the Masonic ) improperly imitate . "

This moderate requirement , is met by R . W . L . J Avho on the gratuitous assumption , as a fundamental axiom , that the Abbe Giustiniani , really did remove the seat of the Order to England , and had any power to do so , seems to divert atten-