Reviews.

moare Eng lish and French Freemasonry . But what we f ° r is that if this new revolution in French Freemasonry h comes " un fait accompli , " there will be a gulph opened = between our two systems , which neither of us will be 1 , 1 c to bridge over , or to cross . We thank Bro . Hubert a nce more , noting his a * riable words with respect to our-° elves , for valuable information , and a most interesting periodical .

« Medical Examiner " ( The Student ' s Number ) . George Bell and Son , York-street , Covent Garden . We are glad to have seen this number of a very useful apcr , most valuable to the medical profession . For scient ' ificists the lectures it contains must be very important while the information it affords to young students , is and also book of

alike worthy of passing perusal , as a reference . To many the data it gives must be worth preserving , especially when they are beginning their career * n the schools , the study of that great profession which is such a signal blessing to humanity . We wish our contemporary , both ably edited and admirably arranged , every success .

Great Priory Of Canada.

GREAT PRIORY OF CANADA .

[ We have great p leasure in publishing for the benefit of our numerous Templar readers the accompanying address of our erudite Bro . Col . McLeod Moore . ] Sir Knig hts , Great Officers , Officers , and Fratres of the Great Priory of Canada , I greet you with heartfelt pleasure , and with

thankful feelings that we have been spared to meet again and exchange congratulations on the success , so far , of our Great Priory . The custom of delivering an annual address at our rc-unions , together with the report on foreign correspondence in the proceedings , although not deraanded by our regulations , but adopted from our brethren of the United

States , I look upon as an admirable method of disseminating the different views and opinions entertained of lhc Order , as also of clearing away existing prejudices and errors , and am satisfied much good has already been the result ; at the same time , it has this drawback , in giving an opportunity to extend a simple record of facts into a long lecture not always very interesting to the hearers , and ,

as 1 fear in the present instance , calculated somewhat to tax your patience . How little could we have foreseen what the past year has brought forth , or the clianges that have taken place in so short a period . Amongst them a threatened disruption of the Union of our Order , and the lamented and sudden death of the Great Prior" of England , who only a few

months back , on the resignation of the Eail of Limerick , was installed as Head of the English Nationality , with all the dignity befitting his hig h position as one of the representatives of England ' s most ancient and purest chivalry . The Right Honourable the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot , our late illustrious , worthy , and excellent brother ,

had endeared himself to the whole fraternity , taking an especial interest in all that concerned the Order of the Temple , which he was endeavouring to restore to a state of peace and harmony , when it please 1 the Great Architect and Supreme Ruler and Disposer of all things to take him to that rest which knows no earthly waking . It appears from the announcement of I , is" death by the

Great Sub-Prior , that he had sat with him for a considerable time the day previous , making arrangements for conducting the business of the coming Great Priory , as it was his lordship ' s earnest hope that all differences then existing might be amicably arranged , and his most ardent desire to be instrumental in cementing the

Order" L'homme propose , mais Dieu dispose "—was sadly exemplified in his sudden and lamented death on the very day of the meeting of Great Priory . Our good Fratres of the United States , who a few years back , made a pilgrimage to Europe , will I am sure , look back with mournful pleasure to the kind and hospitable reception they met with from him at "Alton rowers . "

CIRCULARS ISSUED . I regret that my first official act , as Great Prior , should have been the necessity of issuing the circular of the 4 th of December last ( see Appendix A ) , to repudiate the advocacy of secession and the formation of another independent Templar body in Canada , Had not the truth of s ch a movement been authenticated to me by an official of this

Great Priory , I should not have thought it worthy of notice . There is , however , no difficulty , when desirable , in forming Provincial Priories for any one of the Provinces , which would place them exactly in the same position to this Great Priory as it formerly stood to that of England , and as the Grand Commanderies of the United Slates do to their Great National Council , " The Grand Encampment . "

With regard to the implied wish to adopt the system pursued across the line , I can only say that , delighted as we all are to cultivate the most intimate relations with our good Fratres of the United States , I think , with very few exceptions , we infinitely prefer our own English system . In this we are not singular , and I hope I may be pardoned for quoting an extract from a letter to me , of 27 th July last , by one always looked upon as an authority on

Masonic and Templar matters , whese fearful and untimely death we all so truly deplored —our late respected and talented Frater , George Frank Gouley . He says : — " Your letter clears away some doubtful points in my mind , and I can frankl y say that I am in full accord with your views , and trust that some day our American work may be corrected so as to conform more sensibly and harmoniously to the ancient Templar system . " PROCEEDINGS IN CONVENT GENERAL . he subject which now particularly engages our atten-

Great Priory Of Canada.

tion is the action taken by Convent General in October and December last , which called forth my circular and the protest issued in your name on the 19 th March ( sec Appendix B ) . While , owing to the death of the Great Prior of England , it has not yet been finally arranged , I am happy to be able to inform you that the Great Sub-Prior is using every means in his power to bring about a

settlement , and has explained his views to mc , which I am convinced , when laid before you , will be concurred in as the only practical way of satisfying all parties . It is with pain I record the state of confusion into which the Order has been thrown by the inconsiderate action of some of the English representatives at Convent General . This continued re-opening of questions which should be

regarded as having been finally settled is not calculated to raise respect for the Order , or for those who cannot rest content unless they have everything their own way . What has taken place is the more to be regretted , as it shews that a certain scctk p of the Order in England is leagued together to upset existing regulations , that had , before adoption , been under careful revision for a period of

four or five years ; and that the party composing it are embarked in a retrograde movement , with but litt ' e regard either to the history or the unity of the Order to which they belong . England , or this dominant section , for the time being , of her Great Priory in Convent General , seems to ignore our rig hts to a voice in these matters , and , without the

slightest reference to us , passes resolutions in Convent General of which we disapprove . Undoubtedly the general statutes contain a provision for altering them , but it could never have ,, been contemplated that such alterations were to take place without the consent of the Nationalities . Canada joined the Union satisfied with the existing laws , and thus gave in her allegiance to the Convent General ,

and she cannot be expected to observe any infringement , which , in this case , actually changes the Order to a totally different organisation . If Convent General assumes the right to make rules for us , it is hig h time we should assert our own rights , and , in my opinion , we neither can nor ought , as 1 know our Great Priory will be firm in refusing , to submit to any

such assumption . 1 say so with the deepest loyalty and most profound respect for our Grand Master , a feeling I know to be equally shaied in by all the members of this Great Priory , and I will uphold his authority , and bear him true allegiance as long as lie is pleased to rule over us , but I confers to the same feeling which actuated the sayinn- of Junius , — " That the subject , who is truly loyal to

the Chief Magistrate , will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures . " The fact is , that the Great Priory of England has so long been the autocrat cf the Temple Order that it is difficult to persuade some of its members that it is now merely one of a federated union , and they seem to be indisposed to recognise either Ireland or Canada as independent and

coequal members of the federation , while it is equally plain that neither Ireland nor Canada will consent to assert and maintain other than their fullest rights under the same . It is from no captious feeling I object to again returning to the o'd nomenclature , but because I consider it neither appropriate 1 or historical , and I am also fully aware many

dissent from the opinions I have long formed and expressed as to the history and practices of the Order . I will , therefore , once more endeavour to give fully my reasons for the views I c . tertain , and the objections I have ' . o return to the traditions and distinctive apellations of Modern Tcmplary ; leaving it for you to consider how far they are correct or feasible .

OPINIONS ON THE HISTORY OF THE OHOER . Our order has always claimed traditionally to represent the Knig hts Templars of the Crusades , preserved intact through its connection with Freemasonry , and while Masonic authors are never weary of asserting this claim , at the same time they seem to do all in their power to perpetuate historical errors , stating as facts improbable

surmises , and using titles and recording customs quite foreign to the true and historical nomenclature and practices of the Order . There is no foundation for believing it grew out of the so-called Masonic Knights ' of the Temple , supposed to have been established somewhere about the Babylonish Captivity , or that it was based on Craft Masonry at all . Such

legends are now generally looked upon as myths of the past , and arose fiom the untenable grounds taken by enthusiastic votaiies to enhance the value of the Chivalric Orders in the eyes of the Masonic world , by assigning to them a mysterious origin they had not the slightest title to , and which was never thought of by their founders . That there was a connection between the Military Order of the Temple and Freemasonry there is now but little

doubt entertained . It originated in the trading community of Masons , who with other secret associations sprang up and flourished in the East ; appearing in Europe during the dark ages . They established them in " Guilds , " from which gradually emanated our present symbolic system . This connection with the Templars led in latter times to the preservation of the Order by the Masonic Society . But what that early connection was still remains a vexed question , and we can at best but theorise according to our

own views . History tells us that when the Templar Order was politically destroyed in the 14 th century by Philip , King of France , and Pope Clement the 5 th , the number of Templars in Christendom was about 15 , 000 , and it is supposed by many that the remaining Knights incorporated

themselves with the Masonic body . This is not , however , warranted by facts ; but there is every reason to believe that the greater number , mingling in the world , never lost their identity as Templars ; and thus their bond of union continued , although mystical and unrecognised , as that of any other legitimate society .

Great Priory Of Canada.

THE ORDER NOT A PAPAL ONE . A great mistake is made in considering the Templars a Papal Order . The Order , like that of St . John the Baptist , also called St . John of Jerusalem , was essentiall y a military republic which was brought into existence by the will of its own ori ginal founders , and in no degree owed its reception or organisation to the Head of the Latin Church .

At the commencement , this association or brotherhood consistrd of nine Knights , whose desire to benefit their fellows prompted them voluntaril y to bind themselves together for the protection of the Pilgrims visiting the Holy Land , then so much exposed to ill-treatment and danger ; and not until sometime after their establishment were they sanctioned and acknowledged l : y the then Pope ,

but in no sense did they owe their origin to Papal authority . Therefore what legal or moral ri ght had a Pope to destroy what a Pope had not created . ' 1 his Papal assumption of undue and unjust authority was not binding upon Christendom , even though the

whole Western Church at that time acknowled ged the Papal rule , and so the Order of the Temple , not being lawfully destroyed , still lawfully exists . Many are therefore too hasty in assuming because the direct proofs are not readily forthcoming , that the Templars of the present day have no claim to the title .

THE TEMPLARS AS KNIGHTS OF CHRIST . From Sir Bernard Burke's Book of the Orders of Kni ghthood , in the article on the Papal States , we find that the Order of the Temple was not only never abolished in Portugal , but it seems to have merely been suspended for seven years in the Papal States . Pope Clement , it is well known , abolished it in 1 ; - 512 , but this measure was

objected to by King Dionysius of Portugal , who allowed the Order to exist in his dominions , with all its ri ghts and possessions ; and Pope John 22 nd , successor of Clement , compromised the matter by consenting , in 1319 , to its existence in Portugal under a new name , "The Knights of Christ , " reserving to himself and his successors the right of creating a similiar Order in the Papal States , of which right his successors avail themselves up to the present day ,

by conferring it as a distinction of merit on both native and foreign Roman Catholics . The change of name from the "Templars" to " Knights of Christ" was in reality no change , as the Templars had always been known as the " Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ , " or of the Temple . In both these countries the Order now exists in its entirety Is it then proper to say that the Order was ever even outwardly abolished ? How can that be abolished which always has , and still continues to exist ?

PRESENT STATE OP THE TEMPLAR ORDER . The correct state of the Order of the Temple at the present time , is this : —In Portugal and the Papal States it exists , never having been abolished . In Scotland it was completely amalgamated with the Order of the Hospitallers of St . John , and when the latter Order was abolished at the Reformation , wc arc justified in believing

from well-accredited traditions handed down to us , and the general belief of the country , that the Kni ghts , being without doubt in some cases Freemasons , preserved both Orders within the Masonic Fraternity . Ii England and Ireland , the Temple and Hospital were partially but not completely amalgamated , still very many of the Knights

of the Temple , and a large portion of their estates , were absorbed into the Order of St . John , and at the Reformation , although wc arc without positive proof , used the Masonic Order , like their Fratres in Scotland , to preserve their ancient chivalry . Consequently , the Masonic bod y of Great Britain and Ireland is now the lawful custodian of the combined Order of the Temple and St . John .

COMIIINED ORDER OK THE TEMPLE AND ST . J . We cannot separate the two Orders as regards the Masonic Fraternity . If we are lawfully in possession of the one , we are o ! the other , because 1 contend , that although the two orig inal Orders were at variance when at the heig ht of their military glory , they became amalgamated after the political suppression of the Templars , and there

is no reason for supposing that the Freemasons regularl y and formally absorbed into themselves either the Order of the Temple or that of St . John , until after the Reformation , at which time the combined Orders disappeared from public view , and remained hidden until it was considered proper , in the last century , to permit them to emerge to the light of day .

In this view of the case , and I do not see what other can rationally be taken , the English , Scottish , Irish , and American Templars are just as lawfully Knights of the Temple and Hospi'al as any other now existing . The Pope never created the Orders , and the Pope could not destroy them . This is proved by Pope Clement ' s successor actually conferring the Templar Order himself , and

the Order of Malta was never under the ban of Rome . It is of no consequence as regards validity of title , whether the Order continued openly , as in Portugal and Rome , or secretly , as in England and Scotland ; the sole fact to be considered is , did it still continue ? and of that we have the amplest proof . And , as regards the legitimacy of what is commonly called " Masonic Tcmplary , " what are

the facts ? The Masonic Fraternity have for over a hundred years openly asserted that they possessed the right to enrol certain of their own members Knights of the Temple and of Malta , and can show their connection with symbolic Masonry at the revival , and that this right had been secretly used and asserted for a considerable time pre viously .

Now , even by perscription , this title is good , and before it can be successfully attacked it is incumbent upon the parties attacking it to prove that it is bad . This has been attempted , but never with success ; and until it is , the Templar Order attached to the Masonic bod y must be held as being legitimate , and as such entitled to all the ancient privileges of the Order , lamongst which not the