assembly held at Berlin on the 26th of October, A. D. 1762, for their ratification, on which occasion his majesty, Frederick the Second, King of Prussia, was proclaimed as chief of the eminent degrees of Freemasonry, with the rank of Sovereign Grand Inspector General and Grand Commander. From that time the higher Chapters could not be opened without his presence, or that of his substitute, and a special patent appears to have been necessary for each assembly so held in his absence. From the Masonic knowledge thus accumulated in one perfect system, all that is ancient in Freemasonry is to be found, and it is from the pure stores then collected that all that is true in systems, that differ in name from the ancient and accepted rite, have been made up.

It has been asked what part of this system the Knight Templars of England occupy? The English Knight Templar, strictly speaking, may be considered as not a Masonic degree. It is a high order of chivalry; and as such deservedly takes its stand very high amongst ancient orders of knighthood. That none but Masons belong to it is quite accidental, and has probably been brought about by the fact that none but Masonic assemblies are privileged in this country to meet in secret societies. That the Order, as now given, is not essentially Masonic there exists much evidence, and it is only until lately that Encampments of Knight Templars have ceased to meet, whose members were not Masons. The Encampment of Baldwin, as established at Bristol, claims to have been founded by the Templars who returned with Richard the First from Palestine. In fact, it is generally understood that the late Most Eminent Grand Master of Templars, his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, was not only Master of English Templars but also Grand Prior for England, the latter, of course, being given by a foreign community, not assuming to be Masonic. So convinced was his Royal Highness that the Knight Templars was not strictly a Masonic order, that this was alleged as the reason why no Grand Conclave was held for twenty years and more before his death. Let, therefore, the Conclave of Templars in England take the place, that it is so well entitled to, amongst the other orders of chivalry; but let no Templar, who wishes to maintain a consistent reputation merely from the accident that he himself is a Mason, attempt to place the order of Templars, as given in England, amongst the grades of pure ancient free and accepted Masonry. With the ancient and accepted rite it has nothing in common, having a different government in its own Grand Conclave and Grand Master, but deserving the highest respect from its undoubted antiquity.

His majesty the King of Prussia being placed at the head of the eminent degrees of Freemasonry, he immediately took precautions, that purged as they now were of all modern interpolations and impurities, they should be transmitted to all future times; it was, therefore, his object to see that this was brought about, by having them placed in the keeping of the most renowned Masons in distant places. This was very soon effected on the continent of Europe, Louis of Bourbon, a.d. 1765, receiving and acting on his deputation for France. In fact, from that time the superior degrees were in the greatest request throughout Europe, and continued to be under the supervision of the enlightened scholars of the age. And it is in these degrees that all our distinguished foreign Brethren are to be found at the present day. These, the high degrees of the Order, were very early placed under efficient control in the New World. Craft Masonry appears to have been placed there by authority of the English Grand Lodge, about the year 1700. At all events, a

Grand Lodge was opened at Boston, A. D. 1733, by a charter granted by Lord Montague, Grand Master of England. Within thirty years of that time the eminent degrees were under proper authority in the New World; for at a grand consistory of the Princes of the Royal Secret, in 1761, the illustrious Bro. Morin was appointed Inspector General for the New World, and received a patent from Chaillon de Joinville, at that time Substitute General of the Örder. This patent is still in existence, and a copy of it in the archives of the Supreme Council of Grand Inspectors General for England and Wales. On the grand confirmation of the Masonic constitutions in 1762, as above detailed, Morin was confirmed in his authority, and he had the honour of seeing triumphant in the New World the pure system of the ancient and accepted rite, as proclaimed by those constitutions. He appointed Deputy Inspectors General throughout several of the states of North America.

Frederick, King of Prussia, continued at the head of the Order until his death; and by the support and countenance given by him to the same, it acquired a great influence. Much anxiety was felt as to the appointment of his successor. It was seen that if the influence thus obtained were turned to improper political purposes, much evil would ensue. To prevent any such disastrous result, the great Frederick established the thirty-third, and last, degree; the object of which was, and is, that the supreme power should not be in the hands of an individual, but in that of a distinct council in all sovereign states. For that purpose, the Supreme Council of the thirty-third degree was duly and lawfully established at the Grand East of Berlin, on the 1st of May, A. D. 1786; at which Supreme Council was present, in person, his most august Majesty Frederick the Second, King of Prussia, most puissant Grand Commander. The constitutions and regulations for the government of the eminent degrees, were submitted for solemn ratification, and became the irrevocable and unchanging constitutions of the Order. By these constitutions, the legal appointment of four Grand Inspectors General is pointed out with precision, any deviation from which would render the appointment invalid. The fifth section provides, that each Supreme Council of the thirty-third degree is to be composed of nine Inspectors General; that but one council of this degree should exist in each of the sovereign states of Europe, and two in the states of America, as remote from each other as possible. For the purpose of forming this united Council, as it were, for the whole world, it was specially provided that no Supreme Council could be formed, except the Brother receiving the deputation for that purpose was a member of the Supreme Council giving the deputation, under legal and proper authority so appointed. Brethren who took their Masonic rank from patents from Morin, established the two Supreme Councils now existing in the United States of America, both of which have been now flourishing there for the last half century. That for the northern division and jurisdiction have their Grand East at the city of New York, and that for the southern division and jurisdiction at Charlestown, South Carolina. It is from authority received from the southern division that the Supreme Council for the thirty-third degree for Ireland is legalized. The northern division has had the honour of establishing the Supreme Council for England and Wales and the dependencies of the British crown.

It was intended in this paper to show the present state of the eminent degrees on the Continent of Europe, and to have pointed to the character and position of the exalted Brethren through whose support they are

maintained in the great estimation we find them; our space, however, prevents this being done. Suffice it now to say, that all our distinguished foreign Brethren are to be found in those degrees, and that an English Brother, to be well received on the Continent, must have made them his especial study. Of the degrees themselves, it is purposed to call more particular attention at a future time. They are now in this country in their fulness and their purity. They have been received from a Supreme Council, that has for its Most Puissant Grand Commander, that light of Freemasonry-the venerable and truly illustrious Gourgas, himself a Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the standing of half a century. With his observations this paper is concluded, who, on being applied to on a matter connected with the best interests of the Order, thus vindicated his own position ::-"I have been masonically educated in a school of strict observance and rigid discipline; I have been taught from my earliest youth as a Mason, to respect the landmarks and usages of our ancient Order, as they were established and have been transmitted to us by wise and good men of other ages; and I cannot but feel that there is a sacred duty resting upon me, according to my ability and opportunity, so to transmit them to my successors. You will readily perceive, therefore, that every thing tending to innovation, change, or deviation from the original plan of Freemasonry, must meet with my decided disapprobation.

"I speak advisedly in this matter. I have an authentic and well attested copy of the Constitutions in my possession; by their provisions, just as they stand, I am under solemn and irrevocable obligations to abide, and so is every Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the thirtythird who has received that eminent degree in a legal and constitutional manner; those who have not so received it, I am not at liberty to recognize. As Sovereign Grand Commander of a regular and constitutional Grand and Supreme Council of the thirty-third degree, deriving its powers from ancient and unquestionable authority, I am not permitted to know but one constitution, one rite and one name."

With the wish and belief expressed by our transatlantic Brethren, that the establishment of the thirty-third degree in this country is auspicious of a renewed prosperity, a pure ritual, and a more healthy system, we commend the above observations to all well-wishers of ancient free and accepted Masonry.

THE LIBRARY QUESTION.

"As a last general recommendation, let me exhort you to dedicate yourself to such pursuits as may enable you to become at once respectable in your rank of life, useful to mankind, and an ornament to the society of which you have this day been admitted a member. That you would more especially devote a part of your leisure hours to the study of such of the liberal arts and sciences as may lie within the compass of your attainment, and that without neglecting the ordinary duties of your station you will consider yourself called upon to make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge."-CHARGE AT THE INITIATION INTO FREEMASONRY.

Every member will recollect the above portion of the Charge at his initiation; the desire he felt to obtain the information he was requested

to seek, and the anxiety to progress in Masonic knowledge, how earnestly he enquired where it could be learned, by what means it was imparted, and what books were procurable upon the subject; such at least were my feelings, and I doubt not they were the feelings of every other newly-emerged neophyte. I was fortunate in meeting, soon after my initiation, with a Masonic friend, who was not only well versed in the ceremonial portion of the duties of the Craft, but he was likewise enabled to explain what appeared to me, at first, out of place. Among other sources of information, he named the Library, and pointed out to me that two hundred or three hundred volumes were to be met with, but were to be read only in Great Queen-street, at the office of the Grand Secretary, by Grand Officers, Masters, Past Masters, and Wardens of Lodges, as per rules or notice, call it which you please (as I do not quibble with terms), at page 124 of the Freemasons' Pocket Book for 1846, and of previous years, published by the command of the M. W. Grand Master. Belonging now to the privileged, I attempted to find the books,-need I state unsuccessfully. I am not desirous to open an old grievance, or allude to the hundred times repeated complaint, but I am desirous of improving myself and others in Masonic knowledge, by obtaining books, and afterwards in getting access to them, for myself and my Masonic Brethren. As I stated before, I have attained the required rank, and was present at the memorable debate, in Grand Lodge, on the proposition to establish, improve, support (or something), a Masonic Library. It would be out of place here to say how that proposition was met, but one speaker, admired, as he is, by many, respected by all, and lately honoured by being promoted to the Masonic woolsack, said, "We have already a Library, funds have been voted, and are in hand; all we, that is to say the Library Committee, want, is a list of books you wish to have purchased." As I presume no Brother would say a thing at a public Masonic gathering unless he were sincere, I have been endeavouring to find out the best way of assisting the Library Committee in laying out the original grant and interest to the best advantage, I presume the Library, Reading-room, and Librarian, are in existence, and the three hundred volumes come-atable sometimes, though I was never so fortunate as to hit the precise moment for seeing them; at all events, the new Assistant Grand Secretary will see to all that when he is appointed, he being (as I understand) a Pembroke College man, and unquestionably devoted to the propagation of knowledge, I therefore noted down the title of a book which chanced to be in the hands of a friend, it runs thus :—

66

Bibliographie der Freimaurerei und der mit-ihr in Verbindung gesetzten geheimer Gesellschaften.-Georg Kloss, Dr. Med. Published-Frederick Klinchsieck, 11, Rue de Lille, Paris."

I have been thus particular because IT IS A CATALOGUE OF FIVE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX works connected with Freemasonry.

Presuming that either the Library Committee were ignorant of the existence of such a list, or indisposed to profit by its publication, I thought it the best plan to allude to it thus publicly, that they might avail themselves of it to purchase whatever appears to them useful, or that some of the members of the Craft might add to their private collections from so large an assortment in all languages, if the Committee

who have, as they say, the money and the inclination, will persist in remaining innocent of adding to our Library stock.

A PAST MASTER.

[Is a Past Master aware that the Curators of the Library and Museum have actually expunged from the Freemasons' Calendar the customary notice of the desire of Grand Lodge to give publicity to the undertaking?-Vide p. 124, 1846. This omission is offensive to decency, and insulting to the members of the Grand Lodge. There is too much of the leaven of officious impertinence still remaining in the Board to hope for much improvement. Albeit, there is, we are free to admit, some new blood infused into the unshapely mass. We must, we suppose, commit a wee-bit of treason to work about a change.-ED.]

TO THE EDITOR.

A HINT TO THE GRAND SECRETARY. 40, 951.

General Post Office, 21st Nov. 1846.

Lieut.-Colonel Maberly presents his compliments to the Editor, and begs to acknowledge the receipt of his letter of the 20th instant, and to acquaint him that it will receive immediate attention.

TO THE EDITOR.

London, 3rd December, 1846. SIR AND BROTHER,-I address you under the most poignant regret, and with feelings of bitter self-reproach, that I was absent from the Grand Lodge last night; and that thereby a vote was lost to the cause of Masonic gratitude. Would you believe that I was indebted to the deceased Brother for the most devoted attention, which I sacredly believe saved my life. Night after night did he sit by my bed-side administering comfort and consolation; and yet how have I requited his memory?-how have I repaid to that exemplary lady, his widow, and her six orphans, this great debt I owe to her husband and their father? I feel a remorse I can hardly express; but the lesson, although severe, will, I trust, never be lost on me. I pray her to forgive me, and that God may pardon my sin. TEMPLARIUS.

TO THE EDITOR.

10th December, 1846.

SIR,-By accident I heard of the result of the vote in Grand Lodge on the case of a widow lady; and as the widow and daughter of Freemasons, I blush for an Order I have hitherto held in veneration. Oh! to think that the case of an English gentlewoman should have been thus unseemly dragged into a public discussion. My honoured father and my beloved husband would have scorned the hateful and disgusting proceeding. If you should require any confirmation of my declaration, that the case has of all others the greatest claim to sympathy and respect, I shall be happy to satisfy you, And remain, Sir, your very obedient servant,

M. T.