Inspectors of the Royal Secret : Their Origins and Activities Place of Origin of Inspectors and Deputy Inspectors General of the Royal Secret
Caribbean |
27 |
United States |
42 |
Cuba |
1 |
Albany |
1 |
Jamaica |
7 |
Charleston |
16 |
San Domingo |
17 |
New Orleans |
1 |
St . Augustine |
1 |
New York |
8 |
West Indies |
1 |
Philadelphia |
15 |
|
|
Virginia |
1 |
France |
3 |
|
|
Germany |
1 |
Unknown |
6 |
By 1801 eight bodies of the Order of the Royal Secret had been established in America in six cities , including three of the five largest ( Philadelphia , Charleston , and Baltimore ). Except for Albany , all of these cities were ports .
1 . 1764 - Loge de Parfaits d ’ Écosse , New Orleans , Louisiana ; 3 2 . 1767 - The Ineffable Lodge of Perfection , Albany , New York ; 3 . 1781 - Lodge of Perfection , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ; 4 . 1783 - Lodge of Perfection , Charleston , South Carolina ; 5 . 1788 - Grand Council , Princes of Jerusalem , Charleston , South Carolina ; 6 . 1791 - King Solomon ' s Lodge of Perfection , Holmes Hole ( now Tisbury ), island of Martha ' s Vineyard , Massachusetts ; 7 . 1792 - Lodge of Perfection , Baltimore , Maryland ;
8 . 1797 - Sublime Grand Council , Princes of the Royal Secret , Charleston , South Carolina . 4
3 Loge de Parfaits d ’ Écosse seems to have been part of the Bordeaux system from which emerged Etienne Morin and the Order of the Royal Secret . From the scanty records available , we cannot know for certain what degrees were worked during its brief existence in New Orleans , but almost surely it would have been a subset of those in a Lodge of Perfection . Alain Bernheim , private communication to the author .
4 For New Orleans , see Kent Walgren , “ An Historical Sketch of Pre-1851 Louisiana Scottish Rite Masonry ,” Heredom , vol . 4 , 1995 , p . 190 ; Alain Bernheim , “ Notes on Early Freemasonry in Bordeaux ( 1732 – 1769 ),” Ars Quatuor Coronatorum , vol . 101 ( 1988 ), pp . 90 , 100 . For the other bodies , see Samuel H . Baynard , Jr ., History of the Supreme Council , 33 °, 2 vols . ( Boston : Supreme Council , 33 °, N . M . J .), vol . 1 , pp . 97 – 100 .
In an earlier paper I mistakenly referred to La Triple Union Chapter of Rose Croix ( 1797 ) as a body of the Order of the Royal Secret . In fact it was a chapter of the Royal Order of Scotland . “ The High Degrees in the United States : 1730 – 1830 ,” The Philalethes , vol . 51 , no . 2 , Apr . 1998 , p . 36 .
There are suggestions of other bodies . For example , a certificate and two patents issued in 1768 by Francken to Jeremiah van Rennsselaer , Samuel Stringer , and Moses M . Hays hint at a Council of Princes of the Royal Secret . The documents were issued “ under the Celestial Canopy of the Zenith which answers to 41 Deg [ rees ]: 30 M [ inutes ]: N [ orthern ]: L [ atitude ]:” which corresponds to Newport , Rhode Island , the 1774 residence of Hays . No other evidence for the council exists . Alain Bernheim , “ Questions About Albany ,” pp . 157 – 61 , 166 .
15