STATUTES OF THE RELIGIOUS AND MILITARY ORDER OF THE TEMPLE,

The second Class consists of three grades,

1. Knights created by Priories.

2. Knights Commanders, elected from the Knights, on Memorial to the Grand Master and Council, supported by the recommendation of the Priories to which they belong.

3. Knights Grand Crosses, to be nominated by the Grand Master.

CHAPTER II.

The Grand Conclave.

THE Grand Conclave is composed of

1. The Grand Officers of the Order.

2. The Knights Grand Crosses, who, after investiture, have the privilege of voting by proxy.

3. The Knights Commanders.

4. The Prior of, or one Procurator from each Priory. These must be at least of the second Class, chosen annually, and have received a Diploma from the Grand Master.

Four Grand Chapters to be held annually on the first Monday of January, July, and November, and on the 11th March, (or on the day following, should the 11th March fall on Sunday,) being the anniversary of the death of JACQUES DE MOLAY, on which last mentioned day the annual election of Grand Office-Bearers takes place. The Grand Master may call Extraordinary Meetings.

Any Esquire or Knight, not a member of Concalve, may be introduced at meetings by a Member, but has not the privilege of voting.

No motion for the alteration, enaction, or abrogation of a law can be considered in Conclave, unless notice thereof has been given at a previous Meeting, nor adopted without the concurrence of three-fourths of those present.

The Grand Master is the President of the Grand Conclave, but when absent, the highest of the annually elected Office-bearers present presides, taking a Chair immediately on the right of the Throne. No business can take place unless five Members are present, one of whom must be a member of the Grand Council.

CHAPTER III.

The Grand Council.

THE Grand Council consists of-

1. The Grand Officers of the Order. 2. Grand Priors of Foreign Langues.

3. The Knights Grand Crosses.

The Grand Officers, with the exception of the Past Grand Masters, who remain so for life,-of the Grand Master, who is elected or re-elected for three years, and the Grand Aides-de-Camp, who are appointed by himn, removable at his pleasure, and, unless of the rank of Knights Commanders, have no vote, are to be elected annually by the Conclave, and are as follows:-*

In the event of any of those Grand Office-bearers, who are elected annually, being unable from absence, or other causes, to attend to their duties, the Conclave may appoint acting officers in their stead; but as it is the duty of all the Office-bearers to attend the Meetings of Conclave and Council regularly, no one shall be elected an Office-bearer, with the exception of the Grand Master, Past Grand Masters, and Grand Seneschal, who is not likely to be able to perform the duties of his office during the ensuing year. No elected Office-bearer can act as such, or claim his privileges, until he has taken the oath de fideli.

The Grand Master and Grand Council, without power to alter the Statutes, shall conduct the affairs of the Order during the intervals of the stated Chapters of Conclave, and shall meet when summoned for that purpose by the Grand Secretary; three to be a quorum, and the Senior Officer, commencing with the Grand Seneschal, to preside in absence of the Grand Master.

The election of Knights to the rank of Commander is entrusted entirely to the Grand Master and Grand Council.

It is in the power of the Grand Master, with the concurrence of the Grand Council, to convoke that body as a Provisional Priory, open to all Members of the Order, for the purpose of receiving, after the usual forms, gentlemen into the Order of the Teinple. Persons initiated in the Provisional Priory shall pay a fee direct to Conclave of Four Guineas.

A Member of the Grand Council, at all Meetings of the Brethren, takes precedence of every other Knight, according to his rank in the Grand Council: but he cannot claim this privilege unless in full, or at least half dress costume.

Applications for Charters of Constitution, the revision of By-laws of subordinate Priories, &c. may be submitted to and passed by the Grand Council, in the intervals between the stated Meetings of the Grand Conclave.

The peculiar duties of these Officers, with the ceremony of Installation of the Grand Master, are recorded in the Books of Conclave, p. 119, &c.

CHAPTER IV.

Grand Priories.

THE Grand Conclave may i stitute one Grand Priory in any Nation, Colony, or Langue, to be placed under the authority of a Grand Prior recommended by the Knights in the said Langue, but appointed by the Grand Conclave at any of their stated meetings. The Grand Preceptor is elected annually, and is at the same time Grand Prior of Scotland. All the other Grand Priors are elected for life, or until the Grand Conclave shall see just cause to supersede any of them; and no one is eligible, unless he be at least a Knight Commander, and till he has lodged the dues of Knight Grand Cross, in addition to those of Grand Prior.

None but those Knights of the Langue who have received Diplomas from the Grand Master, are Members of the Grand Priory. The Grand Council consists of the Knights Grand Crosses and Knights Commanders in the Langue, and the Grand Office-bearers. These last are the sa ei name as those of a Priory.

Every Grand Prior abroad, shall, by himself or cretary, cause the Priories in his Langue to return annually to him an accurate list of all admissions into the Order made during the twelve months preceding the last day of December; and, under pain of suspension, shall, before the 15th of January, transmit the same to the Secretary of the Grand Conclave with the registration dues. It is recommended to all Grand Priories abroad, to keep a local register of those admitted or affiliated throughout the Langue, and to charge for each local registration, such fee as the Grand Priory shall deem expedient.

Every Grand Prior may grant Certificates or Diplomas as Esquire to those registered, but no Diploma for Knighthood can be issued except by the Grand Master.

Grand Priors are each in his own Langue at the head of the Masonic degrees conferred in the Priories (unless these degrees are under the superintendence of other authorities,) and have power, with the advice of their Council, to make suitable regulations for them, subject to appeal to the Grand Conclave,—and to issue Diplomas for such degrees.

A Grand Priory abroad is constituted by the commission to the Grand Prior, and ceases within three months after his death, resignation or suspension, during which the Sub-Grand Prior presides. No Grand Priory can be opened unless four Knights and the Grand Prior, or some other member of the Council of the Grand Conclave, be present.

The Grand Conclave may unite two or more Priories into a Commandery, to be placed under the authority of a Provincial Commander, elected by the Grand Conclave. The commission falls, so soon as there are not two Priories in the Commandery, who make annual returns to the Grand Conclave.

By old and established usage nine members of the Order are required to be present at each Chapter of a Priory for the reception of an Esquire or Knight into the Order of the Temple; but in all cases where any member of the Grand Council is present, four other Knights are sufficient, provided the meeting be otherwise legal.

A Priory has no power tissue a Diploma. A Brother is however entitled to a certificate of registration (either as Esquire or Knight, as the case may be) from the Secretary of the Grand Conclave, and may receive a Diploma as Esquire only, from the Grand Prior of his Langue. A Diploma for Knighthood is given by the Grand Master alone.

All Priories must send a certificate on or before the last day of December annually (if abroad, to the Grand Prior of the Langue, if in Scotland, or if there be no Grand Prior of the Langue, to the Grand Secretary,) stating whether any one has been admitted into the Priory during the preceding twelve months, along with the names and registration dues of such as have. If this be omitted for two successive years, the Priory will be suspended for one year, and notice given, that if it does not take immediate steps to remove the suspension, it will be abolished; in which case the Knights must take care to have themselves attached to some other Priory in a state of activity, or they will be disbanded, and their names erased from the roll of the Order. Every Priory, when it receives a Member by affiliation, will make a memorandum to that effect on the Knight's certificate, and inti

The Bauceant is the Black and White Banner. In France they have most unaccountably supposed the White one with the Red Cross to be the Bauceant, and consequently they have also erroneously adopted a White Cross charged with a Red one as their Badge. In Scotland the badge is Black with a White orle, as worn formerly by the Templars even in France, surmounted by the Red Cross, thus partaking both of the Grand Bauceant and Vexillum Belli; and indeed all the Bauceant Standards, except the Grand Master's, were charged with the Red Cross. The word Bauceant is usually supposed to be old French, meaning piebald, and retained in Scotch as Bawsand; but it is proper to state, that another etymology has been given, and that the word has been supposed to be Baucent, for Vaucent, (the B and V being interchangeable,) worth a hundred,-one Templar being worth a hundred Saracens.

mate the same to the Conclave, but for this, a nominal registration fee of only One Shilling (to the Grand Secretary) is paid. Those Knights who have Diplo mas from the Grand Master, belonging to the Grand Priory of the Langue, are not affected by the mere suspension or abolition of their Priory, so long as the Grand Priory remains in action, or uncancelled. Knights Grand Crosses and Knights Commanders always retain their status, unless specially suspended or erased by the Grand Conclave. Any accredited Member of the Grand Council can order the books of a Priory to be laid before him, and under direction of the Grand Conclave, may take steps for the recovery of the charter when a priory ceases its functions: he may also claim exemption from attendance in any Priory (except in the Grand Priories); all other members of the Order ought to attend when summoned, unless very special reasons can be assigned.

Priories will take care that the Vow of Profession be engrossed in a book kept for that purpose, and signed by each Knight, before two witnesses: the obligation entered into by an Esquire does not require to be signed.

CHAPTER VI.

Mode of Admission.

1. NOVICE ESQUIRE.-As an intimate connexion has existed for centuries between the Order of the Temple and Freemasonry, it is imperative that all candidates be Royal Arch Masons.

The application is made to a Priory by memorial, to which must be affixed a recommendation by two Knights: a ballot shall be taken, one black ball in four to exclude. If approved, the candidate may forthwith be initiated, on payment of

the fees.

2. Knight.--A new memorial, accompanied with a similar recommendation, is now presented to the Priory, and on a vote being taken, in open Chapter, as before, the aspirant may, after the usual forms, be constituted a Knight of the Order of the Temple. The Priory may exercise a discretionary power in fixing the endurance of the Novice Esquire's service; but it is recommended to them, that, unless under peculiar circumstances, the candidate be not received a Knight on the same day on which he was admitted an Esquire. The Grand Conclave recognizes only one ritual or form of initiation, with which all Priories ought to make themselves acquainted. Every Knight must have his name enrolled in the books of the Grand Conclave, and may receive a Certificate or Diploma: if he desires the latter, (for which the dues are One Guinea,) he must forward to the Grand Secretary at Edinburg, a schedule containing his Christian name and surname at full length, the date and place of his birth, and the name of his father and mother: also a correct drawing of his armorial bearings, that these may be emblazoned on his Diploma.

3. KNIGHTS COMMANDERS.-The memorial for this rank is to be transmitted to the Grand Secretary, who shall submit it to the Grand Council.

The candidate is required to give his full designation, and in other respects to forward the same information as a Knight who desires a Diploma: if he has already obtained a Diploma as Knight, he is required to return it for the necessary additions, and that his arms may be copied and emblazoned in the Conclave book. No one can apply until his name has been registered in the books of the Grand Conclave.

No creation as a Grand Cross, or election as Commander, is final, until after the investiture, either in person or by proxy, of the Knight by the Grand Master, or presiding Officer of the Council or Conclave, which cannot be performed to a Commander until the Diploma be expeded, and the dues paid to the Grand Secretary.