Knights Templar.

vided by Bro . Fennell ; the effective music , performed ( both in the ceremony and at the banquet ) by the Grand Organist , and his assistant Sir Knts . Thomas Young and Donald King ; and , lastly , with themselves and each other , for being present and assisting at such an important event in the annals of Masonic Templary .

The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COUHT . —Monday being the second anniversary of the death of the Prince Consort , her Majesty and family attended divine service in the morning , and spent the remainder of the day in seclusion . On Tuesday , the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia returned to Berlin . On Thursday , the Queen went to Osborne for tbe holidays . The Prince and Princess of Wales , who have been receiving friends at Frogmore , will proceed to

Osborne on Monday . GENERAL HOME NEWS . —Mr . Farnall ' s returns this week show an unfavourable change in the pauperism of the cotton districts . Last week , a decrease of upwards of 700 in the num . her of persons receiving relief was reported ; this week there is an increase of 228 . At the meeting of the Central Relief

Commitee , Lord Derby read a letter which he had received from Sir George Grey , relative to the law charges upon mortgages under tbe Public Works Act . Tbe Loan Commissioners , it seems , committed a mistake in requiring a separate security for each advance , and they will now repay to the borrowers all charges which have been made under an erroneous construction

of the act of Parliament and the orders of the Poor-law Board . The committee passed a resolution thanking the Home Secretary for what bad been already done in this matter , but expressing a hope that " the Government will re-consider the subject of law charges for first mortgages , which , from returns made to tlie committee , appear to be large on tho amount of small loans . " Mr . Rawlinson made a statement with regard to tbe progress of public work in the distressed districts , and said ,

" provided the weather was fine and open , it would not be difficult to employ 20 , 000 or 30 , 000 operatives upon useful public works by the commencement of the new year . A good deal of interest was excited by the announcement that Mr . Stansfield had made up his mind to signalise the opening of his official career by a thorough investigation of the abuses of our dockyard system . Inquiries of this kind had been

undertaken before , but with such slender results that while everyone admired the courage of the new junior lord , few dared believe that he would succeed much better than the reformers who had preceded him . The lion , gentleman has been hard at work for monf . hs , but it is of course impossible at present , to say how far his industry has been rewarded . AA e , however ,

hopefully accept the assurance of the Observer that his efforts " will be attended with marked success as regards reduction in our Admiralty expenditure , " and that , as one result , Mr . Glad , stone will be enabled to do something towards " relieving our purses of useless and unnecessary taxation . " Like his former colleagues , Mr . Justice Talfonrd and Mr . Baron Watson ,

Mr . Justice Witcmau has died suddenly on circuit . The learned judge presided in the court at York on AA ednesday week , but on Thursday morning he became alarmingly ill , and died in the course ofthe day . Mr . Justice Wightman was called to the bar in 1821 , and exactly 20 years afterwards ho was raised to the Bench . Mr , Serjeant Slice will succeed Mr . Justice Wi ghtman . The learned Serjeant is , by universal assent , one of the ablest men at the common law bar , and it is generally understood that tlie circumstance that he is a Roman Catholic has hitherto been the

sole obstacle iu the way of his promotion . 'The Lord Chan cellor—who ought to understand the new Bankruptcy Act better than any other man in England—has decided that a composition deed wliich does not give equal rights to all the creditors of the insolvent cannot be upheld , and is not binding on those creditors who have not been parties to ib . Iu the case before his lordship , a composition deed had been executed ,

and had received the assent of the statutory majority of the creditors . By this deed the assenting creditors were to receive 3 d . in the pound , the insolvents covenanting to pay the same composition " on demand" to the remaining creditors . It was urged , however , on behalf of a non-assenting creditor , that while the statute contemplated that every claimant on the

estate should be placed on a footing of perfect equality , the minority in the present instance might be in complete ignorance of the existence of tbe deed ; as the debtors , having obtained the assent of the requisite number of creditors , would trouble themselves no further about the others . It was further urged that the non-assenting minority could not sue

on the covenant , as no money had been set apart to pay the dividends on the amounts due to them . The Lord Chancellor held that this involved au inequality disadvantageous to the minority , upon whom the deed was therefore not binding . The Lord Chancellor has also refused to allow Colonel Waugli to go at large . On the appeal coming before him he rescinded

the order for the colonel ' s discharge made by Mr . Commissioner Goulburn , his lordship saying that he could not give judicial credit to tho conclusion which the bankrupt wished to impress upon him , that if he were now discharged he would remain in this country to assist his creditors in the preparation of his accounts , and that any convenience which might result from his release would not be so great as to induce him the ( Lord

Chancellor ) to set aside the rights of the detaining creditor , or to exercise the discretion vested in the court by the act of 1861 . The Gazette publishes an order in Council , altering the present arrangement of the assize circuits . The county of York is to be taken from the northern , and annexed to the midland , circuit ; while Leicester , Rutland , and Northampton are to form part of the Norfolk circuit . We have now sevenf

armour-clad iron ships afloat . The Minotaur—" a frigate "of G , S 1-1 tons , and intended to carry 50 guns of the heaviest calibre —was launched at Blackwall on Saturday . On Friday the Armstrong 600-pounder gun was tried , at a range of 1000 yards , against a floating target representing a section of the IVarrior ' s side , and made short work of the mass of iron aud

teak opposed to it . The launch of the John David , the first of six large steamers for the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof , took place on Monday , from the building-yard of Messrs . Rennie , Greenwich . Considerable interest was taken in the launch , and a distinguished party were afterwards entertained at luncheon at Qnartcrmaine's . TheLawOffieersof the Crown

in Scotland have seized the supposed Confederate steamer Pampero which was recently launched on the Clyde . This is the fourth seizure that has been made by the Government—the threeother ships being the Alexandra aud two " Birkenhead rams . " The " pardon" of Paymaster Smaies—out of whose trial at Mhow the Crawlej * court-martial has arisen—has been followed

by that officer ' s being placed upon half pay from the date at which ho was struck off the strength of the Inniskillings . ——A shocking murder has been committed in the Waterloo-road , Loudon . A bricklayer , named Wright , had lived for some time with a woman , named Green , who latterly appears to have become jealous of her paramour . This led to quarrelling , but all appeared quiet ou Saturday night when they returned home together . During the night , however , noises were heard in