Sensible Laws.

had a notice of motion on the business paper for a most important alteration in the laws , which—seeing that it wanted but 10 or 15 minutes to 1 when he Avas called upon to bring it forward—he was anxious to withdraw , with the riew of calling a special meeting for its

consideration ; but the Grand Master not only ruled that he could not do so , as a motion for an alteration in the laws could not be brought forward at any but the Annual General Meeting , but that no adjournment of that meeting or of a subject under discussion could take

place . We do not propose here to discuss the merits of the motion of Bro . Warren , as Ave shall have plenty of ojiportunities of doing that , neither shall we attempt to combat the ruling of the Grand Master ; but we shall be glad to be informed by some of the brethren , more learned

in the law than we can pretend to be , what business may be transacted at a "Special General Meeting , " or whether Eule 8 is altogether unmeaning surplusage . Eurther , we shall be obliged by being informed hoAv far the various acts performed under the- laws since 1857

are legal , seeing that they were agreed to at a meeting specially called for the purpose on March 28 th of that year , Bro . W . II . White presiding , under the law which then stood precisely as it does at the present moment , with the exception that it required eighteen to call the

Special Meeting instead of twelve ; and , furthermore , two of the requisitionists for that meeting were Bro . W . H . White , P . G . Sec , whose knowledge of the laws of our institution is unsurpassed by that of any man , and Bro . John Savage , now a P . G . D .

If the ruling of the Grand Master be correct , the sooner the laws are made consonant with common sense , the better .

Memoirs Of The Freemasons Of Naples.

MEMOIRS OF THE FREEMASONS OF NAPLES .

( Continued from j » . 123 . ) King Eerdinand , in the hope of conciliating the revolutionary party , consented to grant a constitution such as his experience mu . st have assured him could have no durability , and such as its promoters never intended should endure . It was far , howeverfrom satisfying the

, leaders of the Carbonari , who , perhaps , were disappointed at his compliance with their demands ; and they proposed such a modification of this constitution , or rather such organic changes in it , as would have destroyed the monarchical principle entirely . Other concessions were then demanded which would immediatel y have left the

king at the mercy of the National Guard . The army was to be reduced , the Swiss regiments disbanded , and the castles and forts of Naples given up to the guardianship of the civil soldiers . The Carbonari now elected certain members of their own body , whom they termed the " Legislative Assembly , " and although they were not

yet constituted , nor their powers legalised , about eighty of them met together at the Palazzo Gravina , and proceeded to deliberate on State affairs , or , in other words ,

to assume an attitude of open defiance towards the King and his Cabinet . As the schemes of the bolder aivd more desperate of their number were developed , the prudent and nervous retired from the assembly , leaving a rabid minority to organise sedition and issue their illegal manifestoes . In this difficidtythe King sought the

, mediation of popularly elected peers , and tried to win back the dissenting deputies to reason . All his efforts ' were vain ; he reiterated his promises to respect the constitution he had granted , and to guarantee all the concessions extorted ; the truculent deputies refused even to listen to the proposals of the mediators . "Down with

the peers ! we will have no peers ! " was the only reply they offered to the temperate remonstrances of the deputation . " The chambers are not yet assembled , " said the ambassadors . "You are not yet a constituted body , and all your acts are illegal . " These calm and undeniable representations were met with no reasonable

answer , and the deputation retired amidst clamour and confusion . A more moderate section of the deputies assembled in another place , leaving the anarchical eo ? iciliabalum at the Palazzo Gravina , now reduced to no more than twenty members . What they wanted , however , in numerical force , they made up in vehemence ; they were warmly seconded by their communistic friends

in the city and the provinces , and the Carbonari under General Pepe declared themselves revolutionists . The Pope now gave his sanction to their actions , with the understanding that he should at all times be consulted by them ; General Pepe observing , " It was well to make use of the old woman ; they could turn him adrift

whenever they pleased . " In the provinces , the people were all Carbonari and more violent in their acclamations than in the city . Mr . MacEarlane thus describes a public meeting at Messina , at which he says there were a great number of priests and women : —

" All were talking at the tops of their voices ; all were , or seemed to be , in a passion . There was no order , or any attempt to obtain order . The scene presented the very counterpart of a Erench Jacobin , or Cordelier Club of 1792 . Stacks of pikes , dirty flags and banners suspended from some of the ceilings , and printed manifestoes and proclamations to the sovereign peoplecompleted

, the resemblance . In the principal streets all the door posts , and nearly all the lower part of every house , church , or convent , were covered with placards , some printed , some manuscript . I read some scores of them , shuddering as I read . I had fancied that the Erench Jacobins had gone as far as decency could allow ; but the

Sicilian Carbonari out-Heroded Herod . Many papers were read to the people , written in a strain of the most pompous exultation ; others , however , were written in a less confident tone , betraying doubts , misgivings , and dark suspicions ; all calculated to excite in other men ' s minds the perilous passion of suspicion ; that passion and

rage to which the Sicilians , like all these people of the South , are so naturally and habitually inclined . One fellow , who gave a fictitious and classical name , called upon the sovereign people to keep their eyes open , to be watchful by night and day , as it was a well-known fact that there were many spies and partisans of the tyrant

in the city . Another intimated that the rich were not making sacrifices enough for the cause of libert y and independence . One opined that the revolution was not going fast enough . A very Triuculo of a demagogue proclaimed that the sovereign people , being sovereign and divine , ought to govern themselves b y

themselveswithout either king or parliament ; that the Sicilians did not yet sufficiently understand the signification of the word ' s democracy , liberty , equality , and fraternity . An-