A. Placed in the west, the Grand Commander said, I will assist you to draw a something from under a veil, which proved to be the Ensign of Malta, and I was directed to observe the letters I. N. R. I., as the initials of Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews, painted in the angles of a cross.

Q. Were you not further obligated on this Ensign of Malta.

A. I solemnly vowed never to forsake the standard of the order,' especially when engaged in battle against the opposers of Christ's holy name; that I would spill the last drop of my blood, in defence of my Brother Knights; that I would never wantonly. commit an act of injustice or cruelty; and if I ever wilfully trans gressed against this engagement, I prayed, that the souls which had moved that ensign may appear against me at the day of #1 judgment.

Q. What were you then desired to do.

A. I was then ordered to take the Ensign in one hand and a lighted taper in the other, and to perambulate the encampment five times, in solemn meditation, with the admonition, that, if I had either prejudice or enmity towards any man, I was to dismiss it as a necessary qualification for further honours; and that, if I' would not forgive my enemies, I had better fly to the desert, to shun the sight of the Knights of this order, than to appear so unworthy among them. This I promised to do.

Q. How were you then disposed of.

A. The veil was taken from the cross, at the sight of which my burthen fell from my back.

Q. And then.

A

A. I was divested of my pilgrim's dress and habited in the mantle of the order, at which I was told to receive the Lord's... Yoke, for it was easy and light, and would bring rest to my soul,, and that I was promised notning but bread and water and a habit of little worth.

Q. What was then explained to you.

A. The encampment and its furniture. First, The three equilateral triangles representing the trinity in unity, in the centre of. which was placed the omnipotent and all-seeing eye. Second, The figure of St. John of Jerusalem holding out the cup of salvation to all true believers. Third, The cock which was a memento to Peter. Fourth, The lamb. Fifth, The cross on Mount Calvary. Sixth, The five lights on the New Testament, as emblematical of the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascention of our blessed redeemer. Seventh, The sword and sceptre. Eighth, The Star which appeared at the birth of Jesus. Ninth, The ladder with five steps. Tenth, The saw, Eleventh, The Sepulchre and Bible. And twelfth, The cup.

Q. What was then explained.

A. The seven agonies of our Saviour. experienced in the garden of Gethsemane.

First, that which be Second, being seized

as a

a thier or assassin. Third, his being scurged by the order of Pontius Pilate. Fourth, the placing on his head on a crown of thorns. Fifth, the mockery and derision of the Jews by putting on him a scarlet robe and a reed in his hand as a sceptre. Sixth,, nailing him to a Cross. And seventh, the piercing of his side.

THIS, Sir Knight Companion, finishes my description of the degree of Knights Templars; and this will suffice to shew, that you are the Grand Master of as arrant a set of fools as were ever associated. I could have lengthened my catechism to twice its present length; but it would have been merely to copy matter extracted from the New Testament, of no interest to any reader. I have now remaining to be described, the degrees of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine, Knights of the White Eagle or Pelican, and the Ne plus ultra! I think Masonry ne plus ultra in folly throughout. These three degrees will be the subject of another letter to you. I shall drop Finch's degree of thes Knights of Malta, as it would be a mere repetition of what I have described in that of the Knights Templars. But there is a pass-word and grip called the Mediterranean Pass, which might as well be here mentioned. These Knights were in the habit of traversing the Mediterranean Sea, much after the manner that the Algerine Corsairs have since done: and these Christian Knights were evidently the first known establishment of pirates. Such Knights as had served a year against the Mahometans were entitled to the Pass-Word and Grip, which enabled them to traverse this sea free from molestation by their Brother Knights; and this alone could save them from the common piracy. The word is A-montra, a corruption of the French Verb Montrer to shew, to shew a sign. The persons, or knights, or pirates, in one vessel would hail with a trumpet, those of another passing with A-montra. It was answered by the toke- which was to seize a man by the thigh, as if in the act to throw him. overboard. The real pass-word was Mahershalalhash-baz also spoken through a trumpet. The sign of these Knights, 1 in entering the encampment, is to draw the fore-finger or thumb across the forehead, as indicative of the penalty of having the scull sawn asunder. The Knight Templars' grand sign is to represent the figure of Jesus Christ on the cross, arms extended, head drooping on the right shoulder, No. 14. Vol. XII.

and the right foot laid over the left. The word necum sig. nifying revenge is also used by the Knight Templars of this country and of the continent. As I have before said, there vis no regularity, no fixed form in these Christian Degrees, as they are not recognized by the Grand Lodge, nor was there in the three first degrees, before the Union took place and Dr. Hemming was appointed to fix a form.*

Nothing like my exposure of Freemasonry has ever before appeared in print. Correct exposures of the three first degrees have been frequently made, according to the old forms; but so general an exposure as this never before appeared. No attempt at comment or illustration was ever

Finch prints eight octavo pages, as his description of the Knight Templar's degree, of the Mediterranean Pass, and of the Knights of Malta, which he concludes with the following note, truly descriptive of Masonry, and of the labour of compiling a description hit for the press. "W. Finch. most respectfully informs his brother Masons, that a great deal more is here introduced, than usually takes place in the regular encampment, in this degree and he trusts they will not consider eight shillings top much, with the twelve plates included t; for, heretofore, these Lectures, with the other interesting matters attached to them, have been sold for two guineas, exclusive of the plates. It must be well known to Freemasons in general, that it is extremely difficult to procure any kind of information on Masonry; consequently, to obtain the whole of the lectures, &c. complete, in any of the degrees,must be attended with much expence, infinitelabour and loss of time. Therefore, it is not the quantity of matter that must be expected, but the importance of it; for it must be evident to masons in general, from the abstruse matter and complex circumstances of most of the leading points in our system, that it will not be too much for me to say, that it is no uncommon thing to spend many successive months close application in procuring what, in point of quantity, would scarcely fill twenty lines of these printed Lectures. Other important particulars are now submitted to the brotherhood, whereby they may learn more in one day, than could reasonably be expected, even through zealous indefatigable perseverance of many years, in the remote and rugged roads of a tedious, heart-sickening, endless probation where only a link from one and a link from another will be given and you are left in the dark to complete the chain." Because there is no chain to be completed. It is all a delusion.

+ This eight shillings worth is a series of initial letters and abridged words and not the half of what I have here compiled in this letter. R. C.

before made in this country. No attempt at comment or illustration was ever before made in this country will not say what the indefatigable Germans have or have not done; but I have have had no assistance from them my exposure is purely English and compiled from documents written and printed in the English Language. The labour has been most tedious, from the circumstance, that such Masons, as committed any thing to writing or the press, did it in the most obscure manner possible, so as they themselves could read. It has been from rubbish of this kind, that I have had to compile, and I have often dug for hours among a mass of paper, to find out a single word.

As I shall address another letter to you, I sball not be very particular as to the manner of finishing this; but, I can overthrow all pretentions, even religious pretensions, as to the utility of your Masonic Christian Orders, by telling you, that, though associations of Christian Knights have existed; that though there has been a sepulchre, a tomb, a Mount Calvary at Jerusalem, and a thousand original or true Christian Crosses; that though millions of pilgrims have journeyed to Jerusalem, aud millions of Christians and Mahometans have been destroyed or mutilated about that paltry city and its contents, there never was a true Jesus Christ, a real person; there never were such scenes at Jerusalem, as the New Testament describes; and Christianity did not originate in Judea,. Its origin is altogether a fable, an allegory. I have proved this in "The Republican" over a and over again; and in the conclusion of my secoud letter, I will give you a summary of my proofs. But even if I could not prove this, even if the Gospels were literally true as pieces of history, there is now no excuse whatever. for a commemoration of the deeds of those madmen who were engaged in the Crusades against the Mahometans; particularly, as now, all the governments in Europe are leagued in treat with those Mahometans; and not one of them will offer the least assistance to so interesting a people as the Greeks struggling for independence. Was there a spark of chivalry among your modern Knights Templars, you would be off to Greece in the first ship. There is a fine and proper field for you to play at Sir Knights.

WITH many others, I have adopted the idea, that there was a sad deficiency of literary or political talent among the people of the United States. In rejecting Paine's instruction, they appeared to me to have fallen into a state of retrogression, and that Priesteraft was powerful enough to spoil whatever was there good. Exceptions, or individual talent, I could always allow; indeed, the influx of the wiser part of the people of Europe made this certain; but, until of late, I could no where see, that individual talent exerting itself; and I had really conjectured, that it dared not exhibit itself before the fauaticism of American superstition. Whether I was right or wrong, in my views, or however far I was right, I can now congratulate the people, or rather the Republicans, of this Island, on a rapid progress in American intellect; and have to inform them, that we must fairly struggle for superiority, if not for equality, with the Transatlantic Republicans.

The religions publications of the United States are yet deplorable and as detestable as those which where current in this country in the middle of the seventeenth century. But there are authors sweeping them aside, and I have a good prospect of demand for my publications for exportation: indeed, that exportation has already begun. In return, I shall import whatever is worthy of a reprint in this country. For this purpose, I have just received six documents which will be successively copied into "The Republican. They

are:

First.-An article headed "Intellectual Economy," in the Atlantic Magazine, for February, 1825," published at New York. This article forms a very just assertion of the good that the Americans have done, and of the abilities which they have acquired.

Second. A correspondence between Dr. Cooper, President of Columbia College, South Carolina, and Mr. William Sampson, Counsellor, of New York, whose admirable discourse, on the English Common Law, was published in No. 20, Vol. XI. of this publication. This correspondence bas arisen out of the same discourse.

**** Third.—Is an article also taken from the before mentioned Magazine, being a review of two publications on the subject of the folly, on the part of the Americans, in adher