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TheFreemason. SATURDAY , AUOUST ,- ' ° > 187 , *; .

The United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital And The Press.

THE UNITED ORDERS OF THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL AND THE PRESS .

BY BRO . KMRA HOLMES . The impertinent self-appointed mentor ol the

Prince 01 Wales must have h .. e ! an attack ol jaundice , or shall we coin a word , ami call it "Ten . 1 plavpb . 0 bia , " when it published the a-. liclcon the "Order of the Temple , ' now * under review ;

but unfortunately , in * . cniiiig it . ; :-ple . n on the august ceremonial which rous-cd it- ; lie- •--p-.-ss . iM a because its representative was no : iuvil--d tothe f-ast—belravs what we can onlv dcsciibcas crass

ignorance m commenting oil the meeting . The writer , it woultl •;\ ro , had recently read "Jvanhoe *' - — ha-i probably witnessed thc performance of ' * Keb , , . a " - ., inl eatliered the litt ' . i

The United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital And The Press.

historical knowledge lie possessed from the pages of Sir Walter Scott . The joke is really too good—The Spectator quoting Sir Walter Scott as a reliable authority

on matters antiquarian . Our would-be-clever contemporary , in speaking sarcastically of the officers present at the Convent General , in April , takes exception to tlie style " Most Eminent " as

applied to the Grand Master , no doubt forgetting , or , might we say , more probably not knowing that that title was precisely what was used by the Knights of St . John , with whom the Knights

Templar were amalgamated . If the author of the article in The Spectator will condescend to refer to Porter ' s History of the Knights of Malta * he will lind a letter thus headed . *—

" Charles II ., by the Grace of God , ot Great Britain , France , and Ireland , King , Defender of the Faith , Sec . "

" To the Mosl Eminent Prince , the Lord Nicholas Cottoner , Grand Master of the Order of Malta , our well-beloved cousin and friend , Greeting :

" Most Eminent Prince , " * \ c , & c . The letter concludes , " we therefore amicably beseech your Eminence , \ c , " and is signed , Your Highness ' s

Cousin and Friend , Charles Rex . A letter from Queen Anne to the Grand Master , in 171 , 3 , is couched in the following style :

" Anne , by the Grace ol God , . Sx , to the Most Illustrious and Most High Prince , the Lord Raymond Percllos , Grantl Master ul' the Order of Malta , " and is signed "Your Highness ' s good

Cousin and Friend , Anne R . " Emanuel Pinto , Grand Master ( under whose sanction , it is said , the Malta Order was conferred on Freemasons ) , who died in 1773 , was not

conlent to be "MostEminent only , or '' Illustrious , " but claimed for his ambassadors at foreign courts the prerogatives of those who represented the munarchs of Europe , and for himself demanded the

title , of Must Eminent Highness , whereas his predecessors , Porter alleges , in a somewhat contradictory manner , had all been contented with that of Eminence .

It woultl thus appear that Alost Eminent is b y no means an inappropriate title for the Grand Master of the United Orders of Knights Templars , and Knights of St . John of Jerusalem .

Our contemporary is pleased to sneer al the Earl of Limerick , the Great Piior , and adds :--" lt is only necessary to reatl Itanhoc to learn that the chief of a Templar Convent was

Preceptor , nut Prioi . We are very grateful lor the information , but the Preceptor i . s the chief of our Convents or Encampments , antl not the Prior ,

who , however , is the head af a priory of Malta . Perhaps The Spectator will forgive us if we suggest tiiat the Templar houses were not culLd convents al all , but preceptories , anil that

the author of Ivauhoe is tne last man we should go to ioi * concet ¦ a-i . kiiiarian knowledge . If we rcinc'iiber right , in the very book Tlie Spectator quote .- * , ' * Ivauhoe , " Sir Walter ^ colt makes the

couiti * . is . address Richard I . as " your majesty , " a title which was not used by the Kings of England for centuries afterwards . Wc are quite ready to admit the truth of one ¦ ' ' ¦ ' \ ol . . ' ., p . -i > , S .

The United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital And The Press.

statement of The Spectator , that the Duke of Manchester ' s Knights of Malta are not true Johanniter , and here for once The Spectator is

right , as the Sacred Council at Rome , the Supreme body in the Order of St . John , repudiates the claims of the so-called Anglican langue .

By the way it is whispered that the Manchester Knights , or Anglican Langue , as they prefer to be called , are making strong efforts to secure , if they have not alread y purchased , St .

John ' s Gate , Clerkenwell , erst the head quarters of the Knights of St . John . It is said that Sir George Bowyer and the Roman Catholic Kni ghts ( but with how much

truth we know not ) have been equally desirous of getting possession , but remembering that the chief authorities at Rome refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the English langue , the mere

holding of St . John ' s Gate will no more make the Duke ' s lieges real Johanniter than the possession of Temple Church makes the London barristers Knights Templar . Our contemporary

in attempting to describe the Installation of the Prince of Wales as Grand Master is positivelyamusing in its mendacious impertinence , when it

says that " having passed the precincts of the Temple ofJI'iUis ' s , " as it describes , with infinite wit , the place of meeting , " than he was launched into the centre of a series of scenes of the most

arrant tomfoolery , curiously variegated with maudlin piety . " We have stated before that the account of the proceedings given in the Dail y Telegraph was incorrect , but it was nevertheless

fairly written , as most of its descriptive articles are . We cannot say so much for The Spectator . The whole tone of the article is splenetic and contemptible , aud the ribald manner it adopts to

spit its venom on the Order of the Temple is strongly suggestive of an old fable , often quoted , and often needing quotation .

Is it possible that the writer of the article is some canny Scot , who tries to decry what he , in his heart of hearts , only covets ? Is it because the Prince of Wales has shown

so great an interest in the Convent General of the Order of the Temple , whose Statutes the Scotch repudiated before they had properly weighed the consequences of their conduct that this article was written r

Can it be the old story of "The Fox and the Grapes ' revived for the benefit of a few malcontents : The Spectator ' s logic is very line .

At the commencement of the article under review , it ridicules the notion that the Masonie Knights are true descendants of the ancient Templars , apostrophises the shades ot Hugh de

Payen and Brian de Bois Gilbert , and talks of " the marvellous transmogrified resuscitation of knights all dust , and swords all rust . " At the conclusion it is vastly indignant that

the heir to the throne , with the Queen ' s sanction should give away "trumpery titles and pinchbeck decorations , " a graceful way of sneering at the Grand Cross conferred upon the Emperor of

Germany , the King of Sweden , and a few other nobodies The Spectator does not choose to recognise , and then says that " real nobility and knighthood lose somewhat of their worth , " while such things are allowed .