Mother Kilwinning.

from the letter we received from Sir Knight and Bro . Walmisley : — " Grand Secretary's Office , Ereemasons' Hall , " Dublin , 10 th October , 1863 . "SIR KNT . & BR , — .... I have referred to the Charter or Warrant mentioned in your

communication , and find that it was issued on the Sth Oct ., 1779 , to certain persons in Dublin constituting and erecting them into a regular Lodge by the name of the High Knight Templars of Ireland Kilwinning Lodge . I cannot discover any evidence of the fact of High Knights Templars having been exalted to that

Knightly degree under that charter—but it is quite clear that it has never been tampered with , no erasure or interlineation appearing on the face of it . . . " Whether or no Templars had been made under the Warrant of 1779 does not anywhere appear ; but it is quite certain from the records that the present

Warrant to hold an Encampment , to be styled the Kilwinning Encampment of H . K . T . of Ireland , was issued in 1838 , under the authority of the newly constituted Grand Conclave , —which Encampment has been in active operation ever since , the Duke of Leinster considering himself a member of itaud regularl

, y paying his dues to it . . . . " I remain , Sir Knt . & Bro ., Tours faithfully and fraternally , " CHARMLS W AMIISMSY , Gd . Recorder . "

Bro . Walmisley has not been able to " discover any evidence of the fact of High Knights Templars having been exalted to that Knightly degree " under the Kilwinning charter;—but the identity of that charter as an acknowledged authority upon which the Templar degrees could at one period be conferred might we

thin ! , with safety be held to prove that such was really the case . . This evidence is supplied by the contents of a letter addressed to the Mother Lodge , of which the following is a copy : — "Suffolk Street , Dublin , Oct . 25 th , 1806 . " MOST WOBSHIPEUI , SIR & BROTHER , —I have the

Honor to inform you that I am instructed by the Kil-Avinning Chapter of High Knights Templars of Ireland , meeting under a warrant from the Antient Mother Lodge of Kilwinning granted to certain Brethren of this City , dated the Eighth day of Octr ., 1779 , and to which the name of Eglintoune is Signed as Grand Master , to open a correspondence , AA'hich , tho' long

delay'd , they trust will be establish'd to the Honor of the Mother Lodge ancl the satisfaction of the Chapter Holding under . " The existence of the Mother Lodge having been denied by some in this city , and of course the authority under Avliich they act held to be void , and even

fictitious , the Brethren consider it a principal object in opening this Correspondence to request of the Mother Lodge such documents as will establish beyond doubt the authority and Regularity of their Warrant as High Knights Templars , which they trust the Justice and Honor of the Mother Lodge AA'ill not

withhold from them . " The arrears due by the Chapter to the Mother Lodge they will request Robt . Montgomery , Esq ., of Irvine , topay , who is well acquainted with the Br . thro ' Avhose medium I have the Honor of transmitting this . " The Brethren have further instructed me to say that want of information of the mode by which their

Mother Kilwinning.

address should reach the Mother Lodge , * discovered by a lucky circumstance within these few days , alone delayed their Communication . ' " I have the Honor to be , Most Worshipfull Sir & Br ., Your Obedt . Humle . Servt ., " JOHK KTJGBY , Comr . of . the Kilwinning Chaptr . of High Knights

Templars of Ireland , and S . E . R . C . [ H . K . T . Seal . ] " To — Blair , of Blair , Esq ., Grand Mast , of the Mother Lodge of Kilwinning . " The nature of the reply which the above would elicit may be inferred from the fact that in 1799 , the

period of the passing of the Secret Societies Act , the Mother Lodge in a letter addressed to their daughter lodges , repudiated all connection with the observance of any Masonic rites save those embraced in conferring the three degrees of Craft Masonry , viz ., E . \ A . - . E . \ C . ' . and M . \ M . - .

, , Our Irish brethren in the early part of the century may Avell be excused for believing in Mother Kilwinning ' s connectiou with the higher degrees , when it is considered that iu his attempts to bring together the scattered brands of Knights Templary the late Bro . Dechar , so recently as 1811 , addressed the Master of

Mother Kilwinning as the head also of the Kilwinning Encampment ; aud that on the formation in 1817 oi the Supreme Gravid Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland , the Grand Recorder should have fallen into a similar error in supposing that the Mother Lodge were also a Royal Arch Chapter , and urging upon them " the propriety of an immediate union with the newly formed Grand Chapter , AA'hich will secure to

them that rank oa the roll to which they are entitled . " And so tenaciously do these high grade Masons seem to have clung to the idea " that the Lodge Mother Kilwinning were at one time in the habit of giving the degrees of Royal Arch and Templar , and even used to grant warrants for that purpose , " that

in December , 1827 , Bro . Alex . Dechar , as Grand Master of the Templars of Scotland , is found putting the following question to the Master of the Mother Lodge , viz ., " Has the Lodge of Kilwinning any and how many Lodges holding under her Avhom she has impowered to make Templarsand how long is it since

, she granted any such Avarrant ? " " How far back do your minutes of the Order of the Knights Templars go ? " To these querries the Mother Lodge returned for answer , that "the Brethren of Kilwinning have never gone farther in practice than Three Step Masons "—a conclusion at which the lodge had

arrived after a careful inspection of their records , ancl a consideration of the fact that there was a total absence of any local tradition beariug upon the supposed connection in ancient times existing between the Knights Templars and the Lodge of Kihvinniug .

Masonic Sayings And Doings Abroad.

MASONIC SAYINGS AND DOINGS ABROAD .

" THE EREEMASOXS MAG-AZISE" ASD " LE MOXDE MACOJTITCQTJE . " In reply to our article on this subject , " Le Monde Maconnique , " for the present month , has a peculiarly vapid answer , in which it does but echo our own Avords in admitting that Preemasonry is the same in principle pretty well everywhere—but nationalities give it