Masonic Notes And Queries.

partment , district , and post commanders , release the Confederate prisoners at Eock Islands and at Camps Morton , Douglas , and Chase , and thereupon join the Southern army at Louisville or some other point in Kentucky , which State was to be permanently occupied by the combined force . At the period of the movement it was also proposed that an attack should be made upon Chicago by means of steam tugs mounted with cannon . A similar course was to he taken in

Missouri , and was to result in the permanent occupation of the State . Yarious periods were fixed for thisgreat movement . One was determined upon in the spring of this year , simultaneously with Lee's projected invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania , and the District of Columbia . Another was expected in cooperation with a forward movement of the Southern

forces on the 4 th of July , and another about the time of the meeting of the Chicago Convention . All these schemes failed , in consequence of the movements of the Union army . In regard to Confederate raids , a singular feature remains to he adverted to , viz ., that the officers conducting these raids are furnished with

quantities of United States Treasury notes for use within our lines , aud that these are probably most frequently procured through the agency of members of the order .

Destruction of Government property was another prominent feature of the plans of the order , and Mr . Holt says that the effects of its agents have undoubtedly been successful iu very many instances . It also devoted itself to the annoyance and persecution of Union men . The concluding charge which Mr . Holt prefers against the order isthat it is aimed at

, the establishment of a Western or North-Western Confederacy , and upon this point I give you the words of his report . He says , ' Hating New England , and jealous of her influence and resources , and claiming that the interest of the West and South , naturally connected as they are through the Mississippi Valley ,

are identical , and actuated further by an intensely revolutionary spirit , as well as unbridled and unprincipled ambition , these men have made the establishment of a Western or North-Western Confederacy , in alliance with the South , the grand aim and end of all their plotting and conspiring . It is with this steadily in prospect that they are constantly seeking to produce discontent , disorganisation ,

and civil disorder at the North . With this view they gloat over every reverse of the armies of the Union , and desire that the rebellion shall be protracted until the resources of the Government shall be exhausted , its strength paralysed , its currency hopelessly depreciated , and confidence everywhere destroyed . Then , frothe anarchwhich

m y , under their scheme , is to ensue , the new Confederacy is to arise , which is either to unite itself with that of the South , or to form therewith a close and permanent alliance . Futile and ¦ extravagant as this scheme may appear , it is yet the settled purpose of many leading spirits of the secret

¦ consp iracy , and is their favourite subject of thought and discussion . Not only is this scheme deliberated apon in the lodges of the order , but it is openly proclaimed . Members of the Indiana Legislature , even , have publicly announced it , and -that- they will take their own State out of the Union , and recognise the independence of the South . A citizen captured by a guerilla band in Kentucky last summer records the tact that the establishment of a new confederacy , as

| the deliberate purpose of the Western people , was boastfully asserted by these outlaws , who also assured their prisoner that in the event of such establishment there would be a' greater rebellion than ever !' " As regards the sources whence he has derived the testimony upon which he bases these formidable

charges , Mr . Holt states that he has it from a variety of witnesses , including Government detectives , who worked themselves into the Order , and even became officers of high authority . Confederate officers and soldiers voluntarily disclosed their knowledge ; scouts travelling through the border Statescitizen prisoners

, , to whom disclosures have been made , have been witnesses , and members of the order under arrest have confessed to their plans . Lastly , members who , becoming fully aware of the infamous designs , have abandoned it , and revealed all they knew ; aud by other means much has been learned concerning this

great conspiracy . " Here you have the main point of this remarkable story , and I leave your readers to make up their own opinions as to its credibility . The reiterated assertion that such an order was in existence , and the fact that numerous arrests of persons said to have belonged to

it have been made in Indiana , doubtless did much to secure Indiana to the administration in tbe State elections which has just transpired ; and perhaps Mr . Holt hopes to makes the story do duty on a larger scale iu the pending presidential contest . Individually , Mr . Holt is a man of the highest character .

He undoubtedly believes all he has written , but , although he is an able lawyer , it is quite possible that he may have been imposed upon . "

KNIGHT TEMPLAET . "Ebor" will find a non-Mason , connecting Templary and Masonry , before 1774 , as stated in his mention of the " Histoire de 1 'Origine de la Franc Maconnerie . " Eamsay evidently does so in 1724 . I have not the book by mebut if he will refer to

, Clelland's " Way to Things by Words , " written , I think , before 1760 , he will find that in a note he traces " Mason " to the Druids , or "Mays-on , " ancl " Mani " ( who , he asserts , is a myth ) , and " Pajanes , " the first G . M . of the Templars , to the same root . No doubt this writer would thus account for the

close resemblance between ancient Parseeism , Christianity , Templary , and Masons ; indeed , later writers have used the prophetical portions of the mysteries of the ancients , as a proof that Jesus never actually existed . The thanks of an old Mason for the editorial replies to " Travelling Brother" and a " Young-Man .

"—A-THE WELSH TKIADS . What evidence of Freemasonry is to be found in those early records known as the Welsh triads ?—E . BEES . —[ Perhaps some of our Welsh brethren will afford the inquirer the information he seeks . ] MOST EXCELLENT MASTEBS' JEWEL .

What is the jewel of a Most Excellent Blaster like ? —F . B . —[ Send your address , and you shall have a tracing of one by post . ] OLIVER CEOHWELL . Was Oliver Cromwell a Freemason ?—J . B . —[ We shall be glad if our readers can give any definite