Masonic Notes And Queries.

ct-devant Prior of Aquitaine , in May of the same year . In 1818 , the commission was actually composed of the Bailli de Lasteyrie du Saillent , or Saillant , ci-devant Prior of Auvergne , President , and the three other Commanders whose names have been already given . The commission of Paris—the importance and power of which have been unduly magnified by Sutherland and

others—was composed of very few members . As years elapsed , of these Knights , who were the seniors of the Prench languages , some died ; and the survivors , or rather survivor , then almost if not entirely in his dotage , fell under the influence of some designing men ; who contrived speedily to turn the working of the commission to their own profit . Among these , there figured

prominently a soi-disant Marquis de S . G , who assumed the title of " Secretary of the Commission . The Lieutenant of the Magistery , the Bailli Busca , on hearing of this state of things , at once dissolved the Capitular Commission by a mandate dated March 27 th , 1824 . This dispatch is addressed to the Knights composing the Capitular Commission . Therein , after some preliminary

observations , the Lieutenant of the Magistery says that no authority had ever been delegated by the S . Council to the Commission ; neither was it ( the Commission ) formally recognised by the King ; that at Catania he had read over all the correspondence of the Commission with the Magistery since 1814 ; that , whilst admiring the zeal of the Knihts who composed the Commissionhs

g , observed with sorrow many irregular and arbitrary acts on their part , & c , & c , protesting against which , ho had found many letters from Prench knights . He then continues ; --

" Your intention . ' ! and those of your colleagues have been for the interest and welfavo of the Order ; but they have been influenced , or directed ( dirigees ) , at first by the Abbee C ., * and afterwards by the soi-disant Marquis de S . C . ; who , of your own avowal , have abused your confidence and your good faith , and compromised yourselves and the honour and credit of the whole Order . "

He then observes , that the official representative of the government of the Order at the court of Prance , is tha Bailli Pen-etti ; and concludes by dissolving the Capitular Commission in these words -. — " I regret , then , to have to desire that you , and all the other French Chevaliers , may continue individually your correspondence with me , hit never more as a Commission . I evenforhid

you to meet again under that designation , or under any other , until the King- shall allow it and the S . Council authorise it , and give it instructions and fix its powers . " Such is the history of the Capitular Commission of the three Prench languages , which was organised in 1814 , and dissolved in 1824 by the Lieutenant of the Mastership—the same power which had sanctioned its

formatian . The Orders of the Lieutenant of the Magistery were at once obeyed , and the restoration of the three languages of Provence , Auvergne , and France , has not lias yet effected . Notwithstanding the dissolution of the Commission by the members of the Order of which it was composed , the designing parties referred to above still continued to call themselves the " Commission of

the Three Languages of Prance . " They gave many crosses of devotion or grace ; they received as Knights of Justice some respectable individuals who had applied to them , believing in their representations ; and , what was all important , they extracted large sums by way of " passage money" from their credulous applicants . I shall throw a veil over other proceedings still more

reprehensible . These nominations or receptions were never for an instant recognised by the Order . There are instances of some of these gentlemen , who , on finding out their mistake , applied to be received by the Lieutenant of the Mastership and S . Council , in whom alone the power is vested . And these applicants had , in making their proofs , to undergo an unusual and very rigorous

ordeal . Whether they ever went to the length of taking legal proceedings against their deceivers I do not know . But the fact that the Capitular Commission was dissolved in 1824 , coupled with the account which your correspondent " Historicus " has given of the Spanish and Portuguese languages , which ceased to belong to the Order in 1802 , and definitely in 1819 , fully warrants the

belief and opinion he expresses : that there is a mystery about the transactions in 1826 , and subsequent years ( which are stated to have led to the revival of the "Langue of England" ) , which it would be desirable to have solved and cleared up . Paris is notorious for the traffic in titles and decorations by swindlers ; who profess , for heavy sums , to obtain a pretended Order of .

Knighthood : such as those of the "Pour Emperors of Germany ; " the "Lion of Limbourg , or Luxembourg ;" the Milice doree , or " Golden Spur , " & c . A full account of a gang of these swindling practitioners on the credulity of their neighbours appeared in Galignani ' s-Messenger , October 1858 . They were tried by the-Tribunal of Correctional Police , and were condemned tofines and imprisonment . One of the party , a certain . Cabany , alias Count de St . Maurice ( who was condemned

to two years imprisonment , and a fine of 500 francs ) ,, called himself "Director-General of the ( pretended ) Imperial Society of Archivists of Prance ; and Director-General of the general archieves of the nobility ,, of Prance ! " And The Times of Sept . 3 rd , 1858 , quoting ; from the Droit , gives some further details about this trade in titles , and says , that among the dupes are " men

of education and of high position in society . " Another , of the gang was " Count de Tiala , " but he came speedily to grief : — " The man , calling himself Count de Viala , was yesterday arrested ; and in his lodgings were seized numerous false , patents of Knighthood ,. and about a dozen diplomas of learned , societies . One of the patents was ot the Order of the Gilded

Militia , or Golden Spur , which purported to be granted by the Duke of Sforzia ( sic ) , a Roman Prince ; and which set forth that , in addition to the Order , it conferred the title of Count .. Others of the pretended Patents were of the Order of Malta ,, and that of St . Gregory the Great . " The soi-disant Count de Viala has been recognised as a professional Greek , who is well known , both in Paris and at all the German watering places . He has at times passed by the name of Count de Cassan , and has been condemned for cheating at cards . "

Nothing like high-sounding titles and a brazen face to deceive ! " —SCRUTATOR . EGTPIIAH" AKD PIKEMCIAJT ARCHITECTURE . The researches of M . Renan amongst the buried ruins of the Phoenician cities have yielded some few indications of the relations which once existed between this country

and Egypt . Some fragments of stone , bearing hieroglyphics , have been found at Aradas , at Tyre , which according to M . de Rouge , belong to the Saitic dynasty—one piece in fact , bearing the name of Psammetichus I . A part of a granite altar , found at Sidon , is referred by M . de Rouge to the twentieth dynasty . A limestone block ,, found in the ruins of Gebeilappears to have belonged to

, an important building—a temple or palace . Tha stone is that of the locality , and we have here , therefore , the remnant of a building constructed on the spot by Egyptian architects . The figure of a Pharoah , sculptured in bas relief , remains on this stone , the epoch of which M . de Rouge only ventures to guess at , inclining to think it belongs to the Saitic dynasty . —Daily Journals . —A

OPERATIVE EKEE 3 IASONRY . I am obliged to " Ebor " for contributing the original of Preston's version of these regulations . Por my own part , I am desirous of following historical truth , whereever it may lead , and have no hesitation in saying that the usual Masonic histories have been put together wilfully to mislead . The publication of the whole of these MSS . and a discussion thereon , could not fail considerably