Masonic Notes And Queries.

to exercise all the acts of sovereignity whenever an opportunity of re-union presented itself , is , on the very face of the question , a most palpable and absurd imposture . The acts of the few fugitive knights who sought an asylum at St . Petersburgh , and who , in concert with the members of the Russian Grand Priory , elected the half-mad and wholly barbarous Paul I . their Grand Master , and this

too—so reckless were they as to what they did to relieve themselves from the pressure of destitution—before even the existing Grand Master , Baron de Hompescli , had abdicated his office , could never , as a matter of principle only , have been sanctioned and confirmed by men of established honour and chivalric sentiments . The impression of just ridicule which hailed the event throughout Europe

is still well remembered ; and the proclamation of Paul , with his address to the nobility of Christendom , urging them to become knights of the " regenerated , " order , met with no echo but the scarcely suppressed taunts of general derision . Tbe farce was played out ; everything in the so-called Order was ludicrously Russianized : and the prostitution of the cross for money , and for mere purposes of political intrigue , quickly followed . The assassination of Paul soon afterwards set adrift the crowd of hapless hangers-on , who had vainly hoped to find a

permanent harbour from distress in the Russian dominions . It were bootless to particularise the efforts that were then made to rally the dispersed exiles of St . Petersburgh . At length , an Italian . Knight , Giovanni Tornasi , obtained the authority of the Pope to succed the unfortunate Czar as Grand Master , but he soon sickened with disappointment , and followed Paul—leaving the "

regenerated " order in the hands of a party so small and uninfluential that the Pope could no longer conscientiously assist in the appointment of another Grand Master , and , from that day to this , an officer called the " Lieutenant of the Mastership , " has been successively substituted for tha former dignitary . I write with a desire to state nothing that is not founded in perfect truth and candour ;

and , in describing the state of the Order as thus represented by a minute fraction of its members , under the protection of the Pope , and as thus taking upon themselves the reputed supremacy of tho institution , I shall prefer to use tho graphic words of a most memorable Bailiff of the Order , the Count de Litta , tho very Knight who , as ambassador from the Grand Master de Hompesch ,

invested Paul with the office of Protector in 1797 . In speaking of the debris of the Order assembled at Rome in 1838 , he rays , in a letter to the Council of the English Langue , still preserved in its archives : — " Apres la mort de Tomasi , le Sainte Siege a nomme plnsiers Lieutenants du Magistere , qui out regi provisoirement lea affaires courants ct les derniers debris de l'Ordre , et les Chevaliers en tres petit nombre , et devemis maintenant decrepits , assistent mainteiunt l Rome a . un soi-distant Chapitre aux derniers moments d ' une agonie prolongee du dit Ordre . "

And what says the Secretary of tha Order at Vienna to the Commissioner of the English Langue in 1840 ? "Yes , " he exclaimed , "I am Secretary , or anything you please ! Chancellor , if yon -will ! The fagt is , I clo the work of the Order and it is too poor to have its grand offices filled up , so that you may look upon me as representing any or all of them . We have crosses and uniforms , but very small funds . The order has existenceand

an , an ostensible chief in its Lieutenants , hut Sfetternich really governs it . " One more glimpse of still later date , that will satisfy the most exigeant reader of the miserable state of degradation into which the Romish party has at length floundered , after all its intrigues and tnanoauvres to gain and exercise a sovereignty over the whole of the disintegrated

branches , —one more glimpse , I say , of this wretched fall of the once potent Order " from its high estate " into hopeless and almost irremediable abasement , and I will drop a friendly curtain over the too distressing picture . We read nnder the date of 1858 , that" A scheme has been laid at the feet of the Holy Father , as Head of the Church and of all religious Orders , and that his

Holiness received the proposals very favourably , and submitted them to a committee of seven Cardinals , to which was added the Mead of the Order , Mis Fxcellency the Count Colloredo . ' —Sir G-. Bowyer ' s Ritual of Profession , & c . My paper having far exceeded its anticipated limits , I shall pause here , requesting my reader ' s attention to its continuation in a following number , when I will give a concise account of the circumstaece which led to the reincorporation of the English Langue—the only Protestant and independent section of the Order . —ANTIQUARIUS .

WHY SO MANY BRET * IBE _ J XEAEIt PASS "BEYOSD TIIE A 15 C OP HASONHY . Notwithstanding that Masonry has spread with almost , unexampled rapidity , during the last thirty years , and , although we find the thousands of lodges scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land , ever and unceasingly at work ' making masons , ' yet the actual

number of brethren ' attending in their places' at the regular communication , cannot fail to strike the visitor as being far , very far below what it ought to be . . Moreover , even among those who do attend , there is a most lamentable want of knowledge of the true nature and object , of the history and principles of the institution . In short but very few Masons ever pass beyond

the-A B C of Freemasonry . A large majority of candidates after having been initiated , and then hurriedly advanced through the succeeding degrees , visit their lodge a few times and then drop off and are seen no more , unless it be at " election time , " when they make their appearance and having paid their dues and voted for officers , of whose qualifications they not onlknow absolutel

y y nothing , but are even not able to judge correctly , again retire , in the full consciousness that they have fulfilled their whole duty to the institution . What renders this state of affairs even more to be regretted , is the fact that the most intelligent , educated , and capable men , the very men who , could they but feel a true interest in Masonry > would shed a lustre upon the institution and best promote

its interests , are to be found among those absentees . This is not only not to be wondered at , but shows that there is something wrong in our system of Masonry , and that a reform is needed . Ask these brethren why they thus hold themselves aloof from thelodges—why they

take no active part in the proceedings , and they sry that they have found nothing in the institution to interest them—nothing but the everlasting and eternal work—a constant repetition of the same long tedious forms , which to a sensible and thinking man , are too often purile and even sometimes overstrained . Everything else which would tend to instruct , to excite the curiosity and interest ,,

to elevate the character of the institution is slurred over as of no consequence , and the result is that the very men most needed become weaiw and disgusted , and retire from their lodges—drones in the masonic hive , worse than useless to Masonry . It is indeed true that Masonry even as it is , performs many good deeds—that its ears are over open to the cries of the needy , and that its

charrities are dispensed with a liberal hand . It is also true that Masonry creates among its members a sincere affection , and that it promotes many acts of mutual and disinterested friendship between the brethren , but this is not the whole duty of Masonry- —the noblest and chief work of Masonry . It was never intended that Masonry should confine its workings to the circle of its own

members , that it should sink to the level of a mere mutual protection society . Masonry was intended to be the point within the circle of the universe , from whence should flow out , upon the outer world , pervading its inmost recesses , that mighty influence of pure , unselfish brotherly love , which can unite all men to one bond of sincere affectionand which can establish " Peace on earthgood

, , will to men . " Let Masons remember that there are on this globe at the present day , more than seven thousand lodges , embracing men of every country , sect , and opinion , and the }* will readily perceive what an immense and powerful influence the institution is capable of exerting ,