Inspectors of the Royal Secret : Their Origins and Activities
Grand Elect , Perfect , and Sublime Masons ” signed by seventy-seven members in 1792 , four of whom became Grand Master of Maryland . There is a reference in 1804 to Concordia Lodge No . 13 of Baltimore settling a rent account with “ Sublime Lodge ” for $ 150 . This seems to indicate that the Lodge of Perfection survived at least twelve years . Nothing else is known about it . 9
• Charleston became the center of American high degree Masonry in 1797 when a Sublime Grand Council of Princes of the Royal Secret was opened there under authority from Hyman Isaac Long . This was the last high degree body to be formed before 1801 , and from its members emerged the Mother Supreme Council .
We do not know when sixteen of the inspectors were appointed ; the remaining sixty-three , whose dates of appointment we do know , were appointed fairly steadily , about one per year , 1751 – 1801 . That brought about the situation where there were seventy-nine Inspectors with the ability to create new Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret , charter new bodies , and duplicate themselves . The latter ability was a fatal administrative flaw of the Royal Secret .
As we will see later , many of the new members of the order sought further light in Masonry . Others , however looked to increase the inventory of Masonic degrees they sold . We know that
Antoine Bideaud charged J . J . J . Gourgas and his companions $ 46 each to receive the twenty-nine degrees 4 °– 32 °, or about $ 1.60 per degree . If you were an itinerant degree peddler before 1801 , adding the 22 degrees of the Royal Secret to your inventory would cost you about $ 35 . For some extra fee you could become an Inspector yourself , and try to recoup your investment by selling the degrees yourself .
One of the genius administrative innovations of the Mother Supreme Council was to offer at no charge the additional seven degrees to Inspectors of the Royal Secret . They received a patent for the 32 ° in exchange for their 25 ° patent . They lost their ability to duplicate themselves but gained seven additional degrees , worth about $ 11 retail . The nine members of the Mother Supreme Council were the only 33 ° Masons in the new scheme , and only they could duplicate themselves . Those interested in peddling degrees could continue to do so , but with 30 % more inventory ; the Supreme Council now — in theory — had control over the high degrees .
A bigger question is just exactly what the Inspectors did . The bodies of the Royal Secret were short-lived and based on the few extant minutes , did little different than other Masonic bodies . The difference between the York Rite ( Royal Arch Chapter , Cryptic Council , and Templar Encampment or Commandery ) and the Order of the Royal Secret was subtle , with the latter appar-
9 Edward T . Schultz , History of Freemasonry in Maryland , 4 vols . ( Baltimore : J . H . Mediary , 1884 ), vol . 1 , pp . 327 , 333 – 35 .
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