Provincial.

YORKSHIRE ( AVEST . ) BAILDON . —Aircdailc Lodge ( No . 543 ) . —At a regular meeting held on the evening of Wednesday , April 5 th , the AV . AI ., Bro . Jesse Denby . in the chair ; Bro . Henry Smith , P . Prov . S . G . D ., as S . AV . ; Bro . J . T . Robinson , AV . AI . No . 370 , Bradford , as J . AV , and the rest of the officers , the minutes of the last Lodge were read and confirmed . There being no business . Bro . . 1 . T . Robinson gave the first tracing hoard in a masterly manner . The Secretary read various letters from brethren requesting

support at the ensuing elections , also a correspondence ivith the AA'orshipful Alaster of No . 97 , Edinburgh . A vote of thanks was duly carried to Bro . AVm . Gath , P . Prov . J . G . AV .. for his service :: in advocating the interests of Bro . J . Bell in Prov . Grand Lodge . Bro . AV . AA " . Holmes , P . AI ., in moving this vote , expatiated on the many kind offices Bro . AV . Gath hacl rendered , to the Airedaile Loclge , No . 543 , ancl the high character he had justly earned for himself both here and in London for his constant adi'ocacy of every charityand the admirable Avay in which

, he had conducted the election of candidates from this province , trusting that he ivould be able to attend on behalf of this Loclge at the Alay eleetion , and requesting the Secretary to convey to Bro . Gath the earnest sentiments of regard of the Lodge . The minutes of the Prov . Grand Lodge were ordered to be recorded as far as the grant to the Royal Alasonie Schools for Female Children of one hundred guineas , as well as the appointment of a Charity Committee and the choice of candidates to be supported at the next election of male annuitants . A trulv fraternal

letter from Bro . David Salmond , P . Prov . S . G . AV . and P . AI . of No . 379 , Avas read , stating that he had accepted the office of steward at the Girls School Festival on the 9 th proximo , regretting his inability to be present , and stating that although he could not hope to receive much from the Loclge as the brethren were engaged with Bro . J . Bell's case , still he hoped to have to put down something on his lisC ivhich already amounted to nearly seventy guineas from members ofthe Loclge of Hope , No . 379 . The Loclge wn . s closed at half-past eightand on returning to the

refresh-, ment room Bro . J . F . Robinson placed in the hands of the Treasurer a purse containing five pounds , to purchase a . token of respect for one of the worthy old P . Ms , of the Loclge . The list Avas presented for subscribers to the Royal Benevolent Alale Annuity Fund , ivhen about twelve feuineas ivere subscribed .

Royal Arch.

ROYAL ARCH .

METROPOLITAN CHAPTER . AIOUXT ZIOJI CHAPTER ( NO . 109 ) . —The last convocation of the season was helcl on Monday , April Oth , at Radley's Hotel , New Bridge Street , when Comp . Johnson , P . Z ., presided in the absence of Comp . Long—AA-ho ivas detained by military duty at the headquarters of the Hon . Artillery Company—Comp . . Spooner , If ., mid Comp . How , P . Z . as J . Bro . Reginald Hay AYilkins of Lodge No . 570 , who had been balloted for and approvedwas introduced and exalted to this sublime

, degree , Comp . Muggcridge , P . Z ., undertaking the duties of P . S . The Chapter being closed , the companions adjourned to the banquet , all the three Principals being then present , and enlivened by the vocal ability of Comps . Boughey , Dean , Swan , and others , a joyous evening concluded the season of this well-conducted and prosperous Chapter ,

Scotland.

SCOTLAND .

. ROYAL ARCH . ST . ANDREW ' CHAPTER ( NO . S 3 ) . —The companions of this Chapter held their monthly meeting on Friday last . The degrees of Alark and Past Alaster ivere conferred upon Bro . Camion by E . Comp . Gaylor , AI . AL , and E . Comp . Law , P . Z ., ivho conferred the chair degree . At the end of the different ceremonies , E . Comp . Law announced to the companions that it afforded him very great pleasure to have the opportunity of presenting to a respected member of the Chapter , a gold

medal , voted to him at the last meeting ; and in a very eloquent speech , during which he complimented Comp . Bryoo on the many awards which he had received from his country fin- services rendered during the Peninsular War and elsewhere ; he saicl , "Allow me , iu the name of the members of the St . Andrew ' s Cliapter , to add one more token of their esteem to the many medals which adorn your breast . " On the medal was the folloiving inscription : — " Awarded to Comp . AA " . AI . Tlrvco , by the members of St . Andrew ' s R . A . Chapter , No . S 3 , for valuable services rendered to the Chapter . March , I 860 . "

America.

AMERICA .

INAUGURATION OF THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF AVASHINGTON . AVASIIINGTO ** , February 22 . —The one hundred and twenty-sixth anni-A'ersary of the birth of our illustrious brother was celebrated to-day by the inauguration of Clark Aliles ' s equestrian statue of the hero and statesman . Owing to the inauspicious slate of the weather , it raining hard throughout the morning , the ceremony did not commence until nearly tliree o ' clock ; when , the military being formed in line in front of the City Hall , a grand procession was formed , in which the members

America.

of tho Congress as ivell as the principal government ollicers took part aud resident and visiting Masons , including the Fredericksburg ( A a ) Lodge , in which Washington was initiated one hundred and six years ago . The latter bore the interesting relics connected with Washington ' s history as a Al ' ason , including tho original papers , the list ot memhers of the Lodge , and tho Bible used on the occasion of hi * instillation as a Alaster Alason . The Potomac Lodge , of i » v . » njvl »» . »' ,-ii . produced the gavel used by Washington when ho laid tin- coiyy-slyne »» f tho Capitol .

Tho procession reached the President ' s house afc about four o ' clock under an unclouded sun , the rain having entirely cleared away . Altogether , it was the finest military and civic display in AVashington for ninny years . The vieiv of the procession as it nenred the circle of the great point of attraction was truly splendid . The procession having reached the circle , the military ivheeled to the right of the enclosure , while the prominent civilians entered it and took seats ou the platform . The cabinet officers , ivith the exception of Secretary Floyd , sat together . The President , A'ice-President , and Clark Alills , the artist , were in proximity to each other , ami the orator of the day was , of

course , conspicuous . The platform was tastefully decorated with the flags of England , France , Russia , Prussia , Austria , Brazil , Peru , Chili , the Netherlands , Ecuador . Denmark , Portugal , Sardinia , Central America , Naples . Spain . Alcxieo . Buenos Ayres , Paraguay , and Rome . The American flag waved above all , and the desk ivas profusely decorated with the stripes and stars . It was not until nearly five o ' clock that the ceremony of inauguration commenced , when Senator HAMMOND announced a prayer by the Rev .

Dr . Nadal , of the Methodist Episcopal Church . Scarcely had the divine uttered the first sentence , when the gates of the semicircle Avere , in obedience to an order but a tow minutes previously issued , thrown open , and in pushed the thousands of impatient outsiders—men , women , and children—who soon took possession of all the seats , from which they had a fine view and an opportunity to hear all that was said . The confusion and noise at this point was certainly not in accordance with the solemn part of the ceremonies .

At the conclusion of the prayer , the Hon . THOMAS S . B OCOCK , the orator of the day , was introduced by Senator Hammond and delivei'ed an eloquent address , in which he recounted the principal points in the career of the distinguished brother to whom honour was being paid , concluding thus— ' ' I ivould not deal in any exaggeration , but I desire to be just . ' Washington may have had ambition , but it was not of that stamp that made the angels fall . He loved popularity , but not to gratify a vulgar vanity . His ambition ivas for his country ' s good . He took

office to achieve a great end . AA'hen that was accomplished , he withdrew gladly to that retirement which was ever grateful to his heart , and which , in all circumstances and conditions in which he might be placed , always stretched out before him in the future , as the calm and peaceful hai'en of his hopes . Had he been less a good man , he would not thus have desired retirement , for none but a good man could so love the calm delights of privacy , and tlie pure joys of the domestic circle and the family fireside . Had he been not so much a great one . he ivould never have left his home . Strange decree of fate ! that in this western world , but recently known to civilization , and only partially reclaimed from savages , over ivhich the dull oblivion of unnumbered centuries had

not yet ceased to brood , without literature , without polite arts , without settled social organization , without position among nations—that in such a land , almost unknown and utterly uncarecl for , there should have arisen a man who was destined to equal , in the estimation of the virtuous and the good , all ancient glory and all modern fame . The verdict of the French philosopher Guizot , pronounced in view of his ivholc record , ivas , that ' ' of all great men he was the mosfc virtuous and tho most fortunate — in thisj world Gocl has no higher favours to

bestow ; ' while the great English orator , jurist and statesman , Lord Brougham , has declared that , ' until time shall be no more will a test of the progress which our race has made in wisdom and virtue be derived from the veneration paid to the immortal name of AVashington . " As certain vegetable products are the natural growth of particular soils , at particular times , so some men spring almost necessarily out oi certain forms of civilization and stand as the representatives of the times and countries in which they live . PerU-les , able , accomplished ,

magnificent , ivas the representative man of Athens in the time of her hig hest civilization and prosperity . Richard I . ivas the representative man of England in the days of chivalry , ancl Charles IT . in the days of gallantry . These men could scarcely have lived in any other age or clime . So AVashington could scarcely have had his existence in any other time or country . He could no more have "been an Italian of the middle ages than ATachiavelli could have been an American , or Cesar Borgia an Englishman : no more than the Parthenon could have been a Gothic

cathedral , or AVestminster Abbey a Grecian temple . He _ was at once the offspring ancl tho type of American civilization at his time . He was our great forest-bred cavalier , with all the hig h honour of his ancestral stock of Do AA ' cssingtons , with all the hardy firmness of a pioneer , and with all the kindly courtesy of his native state ' Among the Adamses and Hancocks , the Lees and Henrys , the Sumpters and Rutledges of that day , he stood forth prominently as the representative man and the exemplar of our revolution , just ' as that trip lex monstrosity of Danton , Marat , and Robespierre ' was the exemplar of the French . He was a man of firm adherence to principle . We fought for principle in the revolutionary stvuesdH . He was a mail of signal moderation , Such was the spirit , ? f