Masonic Notes And Queries.

Jerusalem ? If so , it must be m communication with and subject to the authority of the Master and Council , equally with the languages of Germany and of Italy . On referring to the History of the Order , lately published by Major Porter , E . E ., in the hope of obtaining some lig ht on the subject , I find the following remarkable passage : —

" In the years 1826 and 1827 , three several instruments of convention were signed in Paris by tbe languages of France , with the consent of those of Spain and Portugal , authorising a reorganisation of the venerable language of England . In pursuance of this Convention on the 29 th January , 1831 , a Chapter of the Knig hts then forming the English language was held , at which . jin envoy extraordinary teas present from the Continental

languages , on wliich occasion the late Sir Robert Peat was elected Grand Prior of England , and the language regularly reorganised . On the 24 th February , proceedings were taken before Sir Thomas Denman , Chief Justice of England , when the Grand Prior formally revised the corporation of the Fnglish language under the royal letters patent of King Philip and Queen Mary , and took the oath ' tie ftdeli administratione . ' "History ofthe Knights of Malta , ii , pp . 336-337 . ( The italics are mine . )

Here Major Porter deliberately states that Sir Eobert Peat formerly revived the Corporation , of the English language under the royal letters patent of King Philip and Queen Mary . The revival of a lapsed Corporation in the mode described is an impossibility in English law ; and it is to be regretted , therefore , that Major Porter should have made tbe assertion of such an

impossible fact . And on referring to the chartar of Phili p and Mary , which is given at page 479 , I discover that the Fnglish language loas never incorporated at all . It simply makes a corporate body of the Prior , as Prior of the Hospital—of the Turcopolier , as commander or preceptor of Sliebech and Halston , and of several other Knights as holding commanderies , they being

Commanders virtute officii . The charter also provides for a perpetual succession ; and as , on the accession of Elizabeth , the restored Priory and Commanderies were again confiscated , it . lapsed by the act of parliament , which prevented the existence of the Priory and commanders necessary to secure the perpetual succession of priors and commanders required to keep the charter in force . In "N . and Q . " ( 3 rd S . iii . 76 ) Mr . John Woodward says

that"The English langue is an acknowledged branch of the Order of St . John of Jerusalem , which has existed for more than seven centuries , and been settled in the Holy Land , in Rhodes , and in Malta . " If the English langue is acknowledged by the head of the Order , all is well ; otherwise it cannot be the language of Englandor a branch of the Order of the Knihts

, g Hospitallers of St . John . Who appointed the Grand Prior ? For by the Statutes , sec . xiii . ( of the Elections ) , No . 3 , the election of the Priors is in the hands of the ¦ Master and Council . And who admits , or hoAV are admitted the candidates who seek for reception ? For no one but the Master can admit into the Order , according to the Statutes ( sec . ii . ( of the Eeception ) , Nos . 19 and

" ¦•And , again : Who receives and what becomes ofthe very considerable fees required by the statutes of candidates on their admission ? See sec . v . ( ofthe Common Treasury , No . 15 . These and many other questions suggest themselves , and I wish to be enlightened on these points , for I confess that there is a mystery , a haze about the transactions

of 1826 and subsequent years , which it would oe well to solve and to clear up ; and nobody who tests me statements in the United Service Magazine and tho other works quoted , by the official collateral evidence Much I have adduced , can fail to come to the same inclusion- Indeed , Major Porter only makes matters worse , & r he openly avoivs that 'feme doubts exist us to the legitimacy of this revived branch

Masonic Notes And Queries.

of the English language . The authorities in supreme governance over the Order at Rome deny its validity , and refuse to recognise it as an integral branch of the venerable Order of St . John . " —History of Malta , ii ., p . 338 . Of course the "Grand Prior" can have no doubt on tbe subject ; and I shall be much obliged if be or any other correspondent of " N . and Q . " will clear away my

doubt , and reply fully and distinctly to the queries I have propounded . I make them publicly , and I ask for replies equally public , otherwise the conclusion will be obvious .

Metropolitan Disfigurements.

METROPOLITAN DISFIGUREMENTS .

At last , when tbe greater part of the mischief is effected and become irremediable , the Legislature and municipal authorities , who exercise control over our streets , are awakening to the inconvenience and danger of the laissez-faire policy which they have hitherto observed towards railways . With the proverbial unreadiness and dilatoriness of the Anglo-Saxon , they wait to shut the door until the steed is stolen , and then they unite to bewail the evil . Under an extraordinary delusionwhenever

, the well-being and convenience of the public are injuriously affected by the operations of speculators , people are induced to submit to it as the penalty they pay for the privilege of selfgovernment . They are told that if they want large , handsome thoroughfares , like the new streets and boulevarts of Paris , they must bow their necks to an imperial and bureaucratic rule , and surrender their individual freedom ; but , if they desire to

preserve the right to self-government and their municipal liberties , they must put up with the architectural disfigurement of their capital and the conversion of their streets into so many stagnant air reservoirs , by the erection of hideous railway viaducts . This transparent absurdity has been repeated so often that people have at last given credit to it , althovgh the slightest reflection would have convinced them that there was no law which

made freedom and personal discomfort go together . On the contrary , according to the natural order of things , in a free , self-governed community , the comfort of the public , since it fc that of the ruling majority , should be pre-eminently cared for . In the early history of railways they were treated by the Legislature in a spirit of the bitterest hostility . They were looked on as things to be restrained and kept down . A midland town , like Northampton , was allowed to divert a main through-line from its true course , and the opposition of a peer was sufficient to defeat the best and most requisite scheme , if it

happened to touch his land . Objections the most frivolous were held valid . Hence noble landowners were enabled to extort from railway companies enormous prices for land , which were in reality bribes to silence their opposition in the Upper House . There is a tradition of the Eastern Counties having purchased permission to pass under an outer portion of Lord Petre ' s park for £ 100 , 000 . When railway companies were found so lavish of shareholders' moneythe great territorial lords relaxed their

, opposition , and became gradually patrons and promoters of railways , until they passed from one extreme to another ; while in the House of Commons the railway interest , by force of arguments whose character may be easily surmised , soon grew dominant . The result has been that , unless a scheme was opposed by an existing railway , it passed both branches of the Legislaturealmost as a matter of courseprovided it complied

, , with standing orders ; and thus we have seen thirty-six railway companies incorporated , formally recognised by Parliament as works of public utility , and yet compelled to abandon their projects . Now , had the necessity for them really existed which Parliament admitted , it is not feasible to suppose that they would have been abandoned . Capital is too eager to find employment , too keen-scented after profit , to allow a good

investment to fail for lack of financial success . The constitution of the Board of Trade , and its mode of conducting inquiries in secret , and hearing parties interested , have deprived it of all credit and influence with Parliament , no less than with the general public ; while it has had the misfortune to provoke a permanent spirit of hostility against it , among nearly all the old companies . Yet an advising and controlling body of some kind or other , is desirable , to protect public interests , to guard tbe pockets of the unwary , and to combine isolated schemes to their mutual advantage , and with a view to afford the maximum of accommodation at the minimum of cost .