Red Cross Of Rome And Constantine.

RED CROSS OF ROME AND CONSTANTINE .

EOMAN - EAGLE CONCLAVE , ( NO . 6 ) . —On Saturday evening the 24 th ult ., a meeting of No . 6 on the Eoman Eagle Conclave of ¦ the knights oftlie Red Cross of Borne and Constantino , was held at Andertons' Hotel , Fleet-street . The chair was taken at five o ' clock precisely , by the Eminent and P . Sir Knt . William , F . H . Quilty , K . G . C ., M . P . Sovereign , Eminent Sir Knt . Henry C . Levander , M . A . being Viceroy Eusebins . Amongst the other Sir Knts . Compspresent wereWoodmanM . D-HarrisonM . D .,

, , , , , R . W . Little , P . S ., P . M ., & c , & c , G . E ., J . Brett , K . G . C ., & c , Weaver , Org ., Foulger , H . Thompson , C . B . Thompson , Ormond Perrot , Smith . The only visitor present being Sir Knt . Mayo , of the Plantagenet Conclave . The minutes of the last assembly of the conclave were read in the absence through indisposition of Sir Knt . A . A . Pendlebury , K . G . C ., read by Sir Knt . Woodman . Sir Knt . Levander was elected M . P . Sov ., Woodman

Viceroy ; Quilty , Treas ., ancl Gilbert , Sentinel . When the business had been concluded the conclave was closed with solemn prayer . The assemblage then adjourned to the banqueting hall where dinner was served in first class style . The cloth having been drawn and grace said , the M . P . S . gave "The Queen and Christian Masonry , " drunk in the usual manner observed iu the Order . The health of Lord Konlis , W . M . of the Order followed

to which the S . briefly alluded as his excellences were well known , an example of his abilities having lately been shown at the recent resuscitation of the Order . The toast was drunk with honours . The S . called upon the conclave to rise and drink to

the health of Sir Frank Martin William , G . E ., and the rest ot the grand officers coupled with the names of Sir Knts . Littlo and Woodman grand officers . Sir Knt . Little responded and expressed his gratification at the manner in whh-li tbe Order had progressed . He thought they might well look forward to a happy and glorious state of things when the Red Cross Order was placed on the footing it was justly entitled to . Sir Knt . Woodman also returned thanks and said he was satisfied

christian Masonry would go on and prosper . Sir Knt . LeVKnder proposed the health of Sovereign Quilty . He was sure they could not have had a better man than they were fortunate enough to secure in the person of Sir Knt . Quilty . He had discharged his duties with great carefulness and precision , and he concluded by wishing him long life and happiness . The toast was heartily received . Sir Knt . Perrot accompanied by Sir Knt . Weaver

sang in an excellent manner " When other lips , " Sov . Quilt responded in a suitable manner . It would always be a source of gratification to him to remember that the Roman Eagle Conclave took its first flight under his guidance . If , however , it had lost a few of its feathers he hoped it would soon get a fresh plumage . He concluded by proposing the health of Sir Knt . Maya ' s visitors which was done equal justice , to . Sir Knt . Mayo rose with a great deal of pleasure to return thanks . Sir Knt . Weaver played in excellent style the " Danish Quadrilles . " Other toasts and songs were given and the rest of the evening was passed in uninterrupted harmony .

The Prince Of Wales And Freemasonry.

THE PRINCE OF WALES AND FREEMASONRY .

Mr . Shirley Brooks indulged the other day in some caustic remarks respecting tho declinature of the Prince of Wales to become a Freemason . Puneli , to which Mr . Brooks is a very old and valued contributor , has tickled the subject with the straw of his exuberant fancy , and , to complete Jerrold ' s phrase , the country bus ' smiled plenty . " Freemasonry and Freemasons are

too important , and bulk too largely in our social system to be disposed of by a pleasantry . We are not supposed to know aught of their mysteries , and it is on this ground that the Prince has declined to ally himself with what , by an unusual expansion of meaning may be called a secret society . Secret societies are unquestionably foreign to the English character and temperament ; and

, although we admire the Prince's prudence in refusing to blindly associate himself with a system of which he knows nothing , we are afraid an improper inference may be deduced therefrom . What aro the general purposes of Freemasonry ? With the pretensions of the Freemasons to a marvellous antiquity we have little to do .

Nor need we follow those who advance such claims through the mystic windings of elaborate chronology . It has been said that it is easier to come down from a remote ancestor like Adam , than it is to trace the various families of man up to him . Let us , therefore , take it for granted that the "Free and Accepted Masons" have as cogent reasons for going no higher than the building

of the Tower of Babel for their origin , than the Highlander who declared that his progenitor had a boat to himself at the Flood . A long pedigree proverbially forms a very pleasing reflection to Scotchmen and "Welshmen ; how much more so the genealogy of a corporation , which stretches through the mists and darkness , the very night and morning of history ?—standing out a

particular star in the human constellation , untouched by the rise and fall of nations , or dynasties , by the loftiest splendours , or the lowest degradations , through which mankind havo passed . If the assertion has , as some of our readers may be disposed to think , the flavour of audacity , it is equally distinguished by touches of the sublime ; for Masonry , by perpetuating the chief

Christian virtues—Faith , Hope , and Charity—must , through all tbe stages of its career , havo nourished and sustained the elements of pure religion . In that respect we can look upon its claim to having been originated in the pre-historic time with a reverend regard , and forget in tho good it must have accomplished , all that savours of the fabulous and ridiculous . If we examine

the estimates which the uninitiated or popular world would form , our respect for the institution must be sincere . That it encouraged the arts is unquestionable , In architecture it numbered among its body the Cyclops , whom the Freemasons speak of , nor , as mythical personages , but as those wonderful Masons , whose piles of hewn stone of ponderous dimensions still remain ; the

Greeks , who conspicuously proved that beauty moulded and shaped by human hands was " a joy for ever ; " the Bomans , their successors ; the Saracens , whose inventive power ivas alone excelled by the ancient Greeks ; and all the modern nations who have built upon and adopted with rare manipulation the models of the faded centuries . The sister arts , painting and sculpture , must

have followed in the train of architecture , and these three , commanding a knowledge ol' the exact sciences tempt us to imagine that , could an ancient Egyptian rise from his cedar coflln in one of our museums , he would recognise many a " brother " gazing at his mummy form in profound speculation over the mysteries of his extraordinary nation and people . The Jews , too , the second ethnological mystery , must notice in the Mason the builders of their renowned Temple . Indeed , if Freemasonry is to be literally accented , it can scarcelv fail

to be identified with all the grand structural creations of which there are any record . The wanderings of the fraternity , we are assured , can bo traced to the ecclesiastical edifices of the middle ages ; and if the strictly mechanical character of the order lias been lost , it must be entirely attributed to the diffusion of that knowledge among the people of which the Freemasons were ancientl y

the sole depositories . Being inseparably connected with , the arts and sciences , literature must have found in them apt scholars ; and how gratifying it must be to the Mason of an imaginative turn of mind to reflect that the " grip " Socrates gave to Plato has been " handed" down to him through Seneca , and the host of philosophers who bring us down to the Keplers , the Laplaces , the Newtons , the

Bacons , and the Mills of modern times . There is something very satisfactory in such a conception . Within the last hundred years , to what an extent has nob Freemasonry cultivated and disseminated the principles of religious and political liberty , exercising potent influence over the schools of thought ? It has passed through many persecutions and tempests unscathed . Its vitality was , indeed , too great to be extinguished by any power that blindly arrayed itself against the true interests and irresistable instincts of humanity . In this ( we do not