Masonic Notes And Queries.

overthrow of the Order by its expulsion from Malta did not affect any one existing language more than another . Rohan , in 1797 , foreseeing and fearing the intentions of the Directory of the French Republic to seize upon Malta , had sought the protection of the court of . Russia for the falling brotherhood , but he died ou the 13 th July , before Baili Count de Litta ( whom he had despatched to

St . Petersburgh ) returned . Ferdinand de Hompesch Was elected in his place Grand Master ; he was a member of the German Langue , had been ambassador of the Order at the court of Vienna , and afterwards Grand Bailiff of Brandenburgh , Chief of the Auglo-Bavarian Langue , added to the Order in 1782 . The Emperor Paul bad just succeeded to the crown ,

arid , yielding to Rohan's solicitations , restored to the Order their possessions in Poland , ivhich had fallen to Russia upon the partition of that kingdom , and converted the Polish Priory , largely augmented iu revenue , into a Russian Priory . On November 29 , the Emperor was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order , ancl assumed the title of " Protector of the Order of Malta . "

The great body of the knighthood , who , upon their expulsion from Malta became destitute , proceeded to Russia , tho emperor having retained the title of " Protector of the Order ; " and although the Graud Master , Hompesch , was the undoubted head , they assembled iu conclave , and elected the emperor Graud Master on October 27 th 1727 *

, . The Emperor Paul died in 1801 , when Alexander , his successor , convened a council of the Order of St . Petersburgh ( which called itself the " Sovereign Council of the Order" ) on Juno 22 in that year , wherein a substitute was proposed for the original mode of election of the Grand Mastership , as required by tho condition in which

the Order was then placed . The nomination from amongst the nrmes contained in the several lists to be returned being left to the Pope , as supremo chief of the Romish Church , ancl as superior of all religious orders . Under this , degree John de Tomasi was named by the Pope Grand Master , and he resided at Catania until his death , iu 1805 , since which period the executive functions of the

Order have been carried on by lieutenants of the Master iu succession , down to his Excellency Count Colloredo , Lieutenant , who succeeded in 1847 , but now deceased . . Whether the nomination of the Emperor Paul was informal or imperfect , from the fact of Hompesch being alive , and not having resigned or surrendered his office of Grand Master , or from a want of the proper elements

necessary to a valid election under the statutes , I cannot say ; but it is clear that the Emperor Paul was proclaimed Grand Master , exercised the office , and was recognised as Grand Master of the Sovereign Order by the English Government , by sanctioning the grant on September " 20 , 1799 , of a licence , at the instance of his imperial Majestyto Captain Homes Ri PophamE . N . to receive

, gg , , and bear iu his own country the insignia of Commander aud Knight of the Sacred Sovereign Order , ivhich his Imperial Majesty had iu that character conferred upon that officer . Under this view tbe original institution or fraternity of the Knights Hospitallers of St . John would seem never to have ceasedalthough there was a defalcation or

extinc-, tion of some of the original Langues or nations . The executive , now residing at Rome , has at this time a minister received at Vienna as representative of this Sovereign Order , ivhich still bears the character more of a religious than an equestrian Order . The Emperor ' s acceptation of office is dated November

13 , 1798 , Hompesch not actually resigning until July ( j ,. 1799 . His Imperial Majesty erected a new Russian . Priory for such of his subjects as were members of the Greek Church , in addition to that which existed for those of the Church of Rome witwih his kingdom . The English Langue of the Order flourished under a Graud Prior for England during three centuries and a

half , until its destruction in the reign of King Henry the-Eighth . In April , 1540 , an Act of Parliament passed ,, vesting iu the Crown all the possessions , castles , manors , churches , houses , & c , of the Order of St . John . Tne siteof its Priory and its precincts were granted away . Out of its revenues certain provisions were made , for the late-Prior , Sir Richard Weston , the last legitimate Grand .

Prior . Queen Mary , by charter , April % 1551 , restored , replaced , and refounded the said Hospital of St . John of " Jerusalem in . England , under the same title of St . John of Clerkenwell , which it possessed before the said dissolution , and appointed Sir Thomas Tresham , Knight , Prior of the said Hospital , and Richard Shelley , Turcopolier of the Turcopoliership , & c , and other persons , who were

formed into a body corporate , with perpetual succession ,, under the title ofthe "Prior and Brethren of the Hospital of St . John in Jerusalem , " aud at the same time transferred to them the possessions formerly vested in the-Order , then in the hands of the Crown . It is very questionable whether the charter of Queen Mary , incorporating the Prior , Bailiff , and Commanders

of the Hospital of St . John , can be construed to revive orconstitute a corporation of the English language : it is to be observed that the knights were not included in this charter of incorporation , though they formed part of the Langue of England . The question then arises as to how the society in Londou has acquired any position , and by what means the English Langue , said to be extinguished iu the reign of Elizabeth , has been attempted to be revived . The last Graud Prior sat the 1 and 2 parliament of

Queen Elizabeth ; but in the year 1559 that Queen destroyed the Langue of the Order , and it has ever since remained in a defunct state until an attempt made in 1782 : by the Grand Master , De Rohan , to revive it , by combining it with that of Bavaria under the title ofthe "Anglo-Bavarian Langue ; " but this does not in any way assist the case of the society alluded to .

In tho preface to a tract entitled The Ritual of Profession of the Knights and Religious Ladies , by John Bowyer , Esq ., IIP ., ancl Knight of the Order ( now Sir-George Bowyer ) , it is stated , page 6 , that in the year 1811 ' ¦ ' a commission of the Langues of Provence , Auvergue ,. and France was constituted at Paris , with faculties from the Grand Mastership and Sacred Council ( as appears

from the bull registered in the Chancery of the Order at Rome ) to administer the affairs of those three Langues . It was presided over by the Baili de Clugny , and thou by Prince Camilla de Rohan , Grand Prior of Aquitaine . " This commission at first did many things for the benefit of the Order , but the Prince di Rohan having died , and tho other surviving chiefs of the commission having

become old and incapable , its affairs fell into the hands of an unprincipled secretary , who made a most illegal and dishonest use of tbe authority ofthe commission , and even usurped powers belonging to the Grand Master ancl Sacred Council , the only Supreme Executive authority of the Order . It has been stated ( we know not whether truly ) - that three different instruments were given under

colouiof the authority of the commission , bearing dates respectively June 14 , 1826 , August 24 and October 15 , 1827 , purporting to re-establish the extinct or dormant Langue of England , and it has been alleged that the objects of those instruments were carried into execution by divers acts between 1826 and 1831 . In the year 1825 , the proceedings above referred towere made known to the Grand Mastership and Sacred Council , who then recalled and annulled the faculties of the commission of Paris , and declared void , and protested