Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
handbook for masons traveling abroad [ ... ]. Votes were made on the principle of organizing itinerant conferences , organizing vacation meetings , on a service of exchange for masonic reviews , and the creation of an Office of Masonic Information . 7
Uhlmann was reelected president and Eugen Lennhoff remained in charge of the Vienna headquarters . Among the participants , the active presence of the Frenchman , Edouard Plantagenêt , 8 can be noted .
The congress ended with a solemn meeting ( tenue ) where the works were opened by Brother von Sury , president of the Swiss section of the League . 9 In the brochure of 1930 mentioned above , the following lines deserve particular attention :
On the occasion of this meeting ( tenue ), he was eager to indicate that the League by no means represented an attempt to sabotage the internal masonic Alliance and that there was no reason to think their goals were competing .
This detail is useful , as we will see .
A Little-Known Collection of Archives
The ULF does not have structured , constituted archives and it is therefore not easy to write the history of the ULF . The main source ( in French ) for researchers resides in the minutes of the congresses of the League reproduced in some masonic bulletins , such as La Chaîne d ’ Union , and in La Heroldo .
However , there exists a large collection unknown to most that is available for consultation in Mons , Belgium . It makes it possible to fill in some gaps and give a human face to the study of this structure . It is found in the archives of Henri La Fontaine . 10
A few words should be said about this brother : Henri La Fontaine played an important role in Belgium and on the international level . Born in 1854 , he became a lawyer and entered Freemasonry in 1882 before being elected as a socialist senator in 1895 . A fervent pacifist , he founded the Belgian section of the Fédération internationale de l ’ arbitrage et de la paix and then became president of the International Peace Bureau . In 1913 , he received the Nobel
7 La Ligue internationale de francs-maçons . Son but , ses activités ( Paris : Éditions de la Ligue Internationale de Francs-Maçons , 1930 ). It should be noted that many Leaguers used “ Universal ” League and “ International ” League indiscriminately throughout the period .
8 Edouard Plantagenêt ( 1892 – 1943 ), member of the GLDF , managed the review Les Annales maçonniques , and published several works dedicated to Freemasonry .
9 It should be noted again that the League is a profane “ association ” that functions as such , without ritual . Each of its congresses ended with a meeting ( tenue ) organized by a local lodge .
10 The archives are located in the Mundaneum in Mons , an archival center and exhibition space of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation with origins dating back to the creation by La Fontaine and Paul Otlet of the Office international de bibliographie in 1895 , a universal documentation center , dedicated to knowledge and fraternity .
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