The Masonic Charities.

THE MASONIC CHARITIES .

By a misprint " Walker was substituted for " Watson" in our first leader the week before last , for which we apologise to Bro . Henry

Watson . Bro . Binckes able letter which appeared in our last impression , does not touch the maia point we were anxious to impress upon our readers , upon himself and his brother

Secretaries . What we were desirous to call attention to , was the systematic advertisement by the charities themselves of their annual meetings , their

committee meetings , their festivals , their elections , and the results of their elections . We have casual advertisements , it is true now , and then , probably , of all the three charities , but

no general rule or regular system of advertisement . If one charity does advertise this time , another charity does not , and if one result is announced by one institution , another is not by

another , and so vice versa . Hence the Craft as a body are practicall y in ignorance of the current business , of these our most interesting representatives , and they suffer exceedingly .

For it is one thing for the " Stewards" of the festival to advertise the festival , and it is quite good one for the Charities to advertise their own and proper proceedings ! If there were no

advertisements at all , though we mi ght doubt the policy , wc should have no " casus querinioniaj " but as the charities do advertise , all we ask is , that , whatever they do for non-Masonic papers ,

we may fairly receive a few " crumbs" as a brother " Freemason . " A large portion of the Craft never sees the Times or other London papers , and

though it is true that on the princi p le of the largest circulation , probably , the Time * is the paper for such advertisement , yet Bro . Binckes and his brother Secretaries

should remember , that , the object of advertising at all is not to announce the fact to the non-Masonic public , but to obtain regular and liberal support from our own Order . Bro . J . H .

Coates ' s letter in our last issue is entirely to the point , and he has put , in his own way , wdiat we have before contended , that , what is wanted is more systematic support , be it large or little ,

from every lodge . At this moment a few zealous brethren and a few active lodges support practically , our great charities . We think Bro . Coates ' s suggestion is a very

good one for lodge subscriptions of small sums , which will enable them to benefit the charities and to obtain a perpetual vote or votes for the W . M ., or some other officer of the lodge .

We thank Bro . Binckes once more , for his friendly and fraternal letter , and trust , that , every success may attend his praiseworthy efforts , on bdialf of that excellent institution , of which he

is the valued Secretary , while we shall hope in due time to chronicle an equall y successful result for the efforts of Bro . 11- W . Little , as Secretary for the Girls' School .

Weekly Summary.

WEEKLY SUMMARY .

Her Majesty has returned to Windsor Castle , after a short visit in London of two days last week , and having hoi den a drawing-room on Thursday last at Buckingham Palace .

Weekly Summary.

Their Royal Hig hnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales are expectd to pass through Dover for London , on their return journey from Russia , on Thursday next , the 5 th . According to the latest arrangements , the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will leave St .

Petersburgh on the morning of the 28 th ult . on their journey to England , and arrive at Berlin at midday on the ad inst . They will remain there until Tuesday evening , when they will leave for Cologne in company with the Duke and Duchess of Flanders , and will arrive at that

city on Wednesday morning . In the afternoon the Royal party will leave Cologne for Brussels , and arrive there about 9 in the evening . Their Royal Hig hnesses will remain at the Belgian capital the whole of Thursday and up to the afternoon of the following day , when they will

leave lor Ostend , cioss the Straits in the Royal yacht Alberta , and disembark at Gravesend . The arrival at Gravesend is fixed for 9 o ' clock in the morning of the 7 th of March , and the Duke and Duchess will proceed direct to Waterloo station , and thence to Windsor . The Royal

couple are expected to arrive at Windsor about 1 o ' clock , and their Royal Highnesses will be received on the platform by members of the Royal Family and the Mayor and Corporation of the borough . Their Royal Highnesses will be escorted through the town to the Castle by a

detachment of Life Guards , and a guard of honour formed by a detachment of Foot Guards will also be present . The cortege will proceed from the -station through the town , and enter the Castle by the gateway facing the Long Walk . The Queen will receive the Royal couple on

their arrival at the Castle , and the visit is expected to extend until the lath . Their Royal Hig hnesses will then take up their residence at Buckingham Palace , where they will receive the various congratulatory addresses and remain until the close of the London season . Her

Majesty the Queen will accompany their Royal Hig hnesses the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh on their public entry into London on the 12 th proximo . The route will be from the Great Western Railway Station along Londonstreet , Grand J unction-road , Edg ware-road ,

Oxford-sheet , Regent-street , a * d Water ! 00-pi . ice , to Buckingham Palace . On or about the 7 th of October , their Royal Highnesses will take up their residence at Clarence House , the alterations of which are being rapidly pushed forward , and which will by that time be read ) for their

reception . On the 14 th of next month a grand performance will be given at the Albert Hall , when Her Majesty the Queen , the Duke and Duchessof ( 'lulinbnrgh , and several other members of the Royal Family are expected to be present . A magnificent service of gold plate is about to be

presented to the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh . It is for twenty-four persons , and includes a centre-piece , four candelabra , to hold twenty-two candles , a pair of claret-pitchers , a pair of sugar-vases , two large oval and four round fruit stands , twelve figured salt-cellars ,

and a loving cup ; but its most striking feature is a large epergne , bearing the following inscription on its hexagonal plateau : — " Presented to H . I . H . the Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia , on her marriage with Captain his Royal Highness the Duke ol Edinburgh , R . N .,

K . G ., by the officers of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines . " While driving to the deanery at Oxford on Thursday afternoon , Prince Leopold ' s horse fell in turning a sharp corner leading into Oriel-street , but his Royal Highness

received no injury beyond a severe shaking . It is cxpectetl that on Saturday evening , March 7 , after the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle , all the members of the Royal family who may be in England will assemble at a private dinner party with

Her Majesty . On the following Monday a grand State banquet will be given by Her Majesty in St . George ' s Hall , in honour of the Duke aud Duchess of Edinburgh , at which there will be about 1 ( 0 guests . Her Majesty ' s

private band and the band of one of the regiments of Guards will , it is expected , be present and play during the banquet . During the stay of the Duke and Duchess there will be great festivities at the Castle . The Great Western

Weekly Summary.

and the London and South-Western Railway Companies will run special trains to and from Windsor on Saturday , and there will probably be a large influx of visitors on the occasion . Great and loyal preparations ate being made at Gravesend for the reception of the Duke and

Duchess of Edinburgh on the / th March , 120 young ladies , all very good-looking , have been selected to act as nower-strewers , and arc going through a preparatory drill . H . R . H . the Duke of Cambridge presided at a numerous meeting of the Governors of King ' s

College last week with great ability and tact , and a resolution was passed to submit the questions in dispute between the House Committee and St . John ' s Hospital to the arbitration of two persons . It is said that those eminent statesmen ,

Lord Selborne and Lord Hatherley , ( both by the way Wykehamists , ) are to be arbitrators . Let us hope that their arbitration will result in the continuance of the present system of good and skilful nursing .

The appointments to the new ministry are nearly complete . It is understood that the Duke of Abercorn returns to Ireland , Col . Wilson Patten is to be raised to the peerage . Sir Henry Barkly , Governor of the Cape , and Sir John P . Grant , late Governor of Jamaica ,

have been appointed Grand Cross of the Order of St . M . and St . G . ; the Marquis of Normanby Governor of Queensland ; Sir . Alfred Stephen , late Chief Justice of New South Wales ; Sir . James M'Culloch , formerly First Minister of Victoria ; Mr . John O'Shanassay , also formerly

First Minister of Victoria ; and Mr . John Scott , late Governor of British Guiana , have been appointed Knights Commanders ; and Mr . George Berkerly , Governor of the West African Settlements ; Major Robert M . Mundy , Governor of British Honduras ; Mr . W . W . Cairns ,

Governor of Trinidad ; Mr . Henry T . Irving , Governor of the Leeward Islands ; and Mr . W . H . Rennie , Governor of St . Vincent , have been appointed Companions of the Order . Mr . E . Herslet , Librarian and Keeper of State Papers at the Foreign-office , Mr . J . Milton ,

Accountant-General of the Army , and Mr . Reginald Earle Welby , Principal Financial Clerk in the Treasury , have been appointed Civil C . C . ' s Mr . Crum-Ewing , late , M . P . for Paisley , is to be Lord-Lieutenant of Dumbartonshire .

It is understood that Mr . Cardwell , will not surrender the name by which he has been so long and honourably known in the House of Commons , but will sit in the House of Peers under the title of Viscount Cardwell of

Ellerbeck . Mr . Cross has appointed Mr . Kynvett , as his private Secretary at the Home office . The Castro trial is over , and the great impostor and imposture are at last unmasked and condemned . The sympathy of the English

people for the matter had been generally we think , misunderstood . A great amount of it certainly arose from that love of fair play , and English good feeling to the troubled and friendless and persecuted and wronged , so creditable to our nation . Now that it is clear that their sympathy and

kindness have been utterly misplaced , all feel , that not only ought Mr . Orton to be punished , but that it is a great pity he can ' t get a little more . From first to last , chicanery , imposture , fraud , and lying have marked the progress of the case , but at last the stern voice of

justice has been heard and our lenient but effective law , and the borrowed plumage of the " Jay" is gone to return no more . All will rejoice at the vindication of Lad y Radcliffe ' s honour , and all will approve of and applaud the Lord Chief Justice ' s well-merited castigation of Dr . Kenealy . The prisoner is very

comfortably in Newgate , and will have time , in fourteen years' of penal servitude , to remember his shamelessness , his villany and his crime . Never was there such a trial in the annals of our country , and let us hope that we may never see such another . What it has cost the country no one knows .

Last Thursday London was startled b y Baron Reuter ' s telegram from Cape Coast Castle , which anticipated the official message , but which for once proved to be wrong . On Friday we were all reassured by the following official telegrams from Sir Garnet Wolseley : —