The Family Of Grand Lodges.

ful constitution remains a very open one ) all the lodges which stand out and decline to join in ihe movement become " irregular . " If , for example , out of 99 lodges , 50 were to erect a Grand Lodge , the other 49 would have to fall into line , or a forfeiture cf their charters , if derived from American sources , would be the inevitable result .

I believe , also , that if out of the same number of lodges ( 99 ) , three at least , unite in lhe formation of a Grand Lodge , and 47 others ultimately join it , making a total of 51 , the 49 who s'and aloof incur precisely the same lo : s of statu ; as in th ^ previous example . Some authorities , indeed , g . t so far as to maintain that if three out of 99 Indgesassembleand erect a Grand Lodge , theremaininggGbecome "irregular . " This , of course , is a monstrous doctrine , but mu ? t be mentioned because the

p inciple or idea that a smaH minority of the lodges may form a Grand Lodge , and force the other lodges into it against their will , or drive them cit of existence , was upheld by several Grand Lodges of the United States , in the case of the Grand Lodge of Victoria ( Australia ) in 18 S 3 , on which occasion 16 lodges , with an estimated membership of about 840 , calmly transformed themselves into the governing body of a territory containing 95 lodges , and a membership oi five thousand !

The dogma of Exclusive Jurisdiction fails , however , to recommend itself in any way to the German mind . Each of the eight Grand Lodges of Germany can grant ( in effect ) a warrant of constitution to brethren residing in any corner of it . Nor , indeed , would any protest be made on their part , as we may infer from Bro . Greiner ' s excellent article on " The Masonic Customs of the Fatherland . " which appears in the Transactions of No . 2076 ( ix . part II ) , were any foreign Grand Lodge , in good standing , to erect

lodges in the German Empire . The seats of the three largest Grand Lodges are at Berlin . All foreign relations are controlled by the Grand Lodge League of Germany , which consists of representatives of the eight Grand Lodges . This body decided some years ago that it would recognise any of the coloured or negro Grand Lodges in America , which had been lawfully founded and conducted according to Masonic principles ; also that the members of such lodge ? might visit the German lodges .

The British , American , and German Grand Lodges differ , indeed , in a much larger number of points than I can find space to particularise in this article , not only with respect to the regularity with which a governing body of s > mbolical Masonry may have been established , but also in regard to the legitimacy of the Masonry which is practised under its banner .

From the point of view of the moulders of Masonic opinion in the U . S . A ., or , in other words , of the Reporters on Correspondence in that country , the Conflict of Laws in regard to the " regularity " of Grand Lodges , and the legitimacy of the work performed by their subordinates , is at the present moment being very exhaustively debated . The event which has given rise to the discussion , is the claim advanced by the Gran Dieta

Simbolica of Mexico to be received into the Family of Grand Lodges . The literature on the subject is of a very extensive character , but the interest evoked by the extraordinary proceedings of the Gran Dieta shows no sign of abating , and has , indeed , been greatly heightened in consequence of a recent visit by B--0 . T . S . Parvin , ttie much-respected Grand Secretary of Iowa , to the Republic of Mexico .

A special article by this worthy and distinguished brother , headed " Mexican Masonry , " forms a portion of the Transactions of the Grand Lodge of Iowa for 1 S 96 , and will presently be referred to more particularly , but a few preliminary words are essential , in order that the subject , in its latest phase , may be rendered familiar to thoss readers of the Freemason who may approach its study for the first time .

The story of the introduction of Masonry into Mexico has become very ancient history . It was originally planted there , early in the present century , by the so-called " Scottish Rite" ( A . and A . S . R . ) , and afterwards lodges were established bv Grand Lodges of the U . S . A . The adherents of one system were stvled Escoceses , and of the other Yorkinos . Both titles passed into common use , denoting in the former case the aristrocacy , and in

the latter the reformers . Indeed , except by writers of the Craft , the Masonic origin of these terms seems to have passed intooblivion . Lieutenant Hardy , R . N ., in his " Travels in the Interior of Mexico in 1 S 25 , 1826 , 1827 , and 1828 , " observes— " During my sojourn in Mexico there existed two partiesone calling itself ' Yorkino , ' the other ' Escoses . ' It may be said that the

influence of boih parties has been most baneful , although not in an equal degree . The Yorkino party , after having destroyed that of the Escoses , and being composed of materials which could not hold together , recently split into two ; one baing named Yorkinos moderados ; the other , Yorkinos exaltados . " ( p . 519 ) .

A debased form , or rather a travesty of Masonry next sprang up , called the Mexican National Rite—and , passing over a long series of years , the thread of the story may be resumed in i 860 , after a Supreme Council , 33 , was established at Mexico City by authority of the Supreme Council , U . S . A ., Southern jurisdiction .

Soon afterwards there was a schism , and a Supreme Grand Orient of the ( so-called ) Scottish Rite was organised by the seceders . Both factions went on erecting Craft lodges in the Republic , and the voluntary union of these lodges—Established indiscriminately by each of the two powers—gave birth to Grand Lodges in a number of the States . The Grand Lodges

thus constituted assumed tha title of " Free and Accepted Masons , " asserted their independence of the two parent bodies ( the Supreme Council and the Grand Orient ) , and claimed to be the Sovereign Masonic Powers within their respective State or Territorial limits , on the plan of the several Grand Lodges of the U . S . A .

Meanwhile , in 1883 , the Grand Lodge of Missouri granted a charter for the establishment , in the City of Mexico , of Toltec Lodge , No . 520 . At the close of 1889 the prelinrnaries took place which resul ted in the formation of the Gran Dieta Simbolica , but an extract from a letter written by the late Albert P . ke , G . Commander Supreme Council , 33 ° , U . S . A ., Southern Jurisdiction , to Dr . Ignacio Pombo , Sov . G . Commander Supreme

Council of Mexico , on August Gth in the same year , will prepare the reader to some extent , for a surprising innovation upon the established Masoni ; forms , which became for a time—if , indeed , the practice is yet extinct—a leading characteristic of what has been lately passing under the name of Freemasonry in tbe Mexican Republic . Albert Pike , to Ignacio Pombo , August 6 th , 188 9 : —

' ¦ Your secrnd question is , — ' Puede una Logia de Perfection , admitir en su seno , y conferirle Ios Grados del 4 ° al 14 ' , a Ia primera Doctora en Mcdicina , y q ie recib' 6 Ios Grados Azalea , en una Logia Simbolica ? ' —If this means ' can a Lod ^ e ol Perfect ! > n confer its Degrees on a woman , who has r b ained the Blue Degrees in a Symbolic Lodge V '—I think the answer ought to Le that a woman cannot lawfully receive the Blue Degrees any-

The Family Of Grand Lodges.

where ; and if a lodge so far forgets itself as to give them to a woman , s ' ie cannot be recognised as a Mason by a Lodge of Perfection . " { Off Bull , X . no ) . To slightly anticipate , the lady above referred to , Dr . Matilda Montoya , the only female physician who ever graduated from a Mexican College , we shall next meet with , under the symbolic name of Clio , as W . M . of Lod ^ e No . 27 , on the roll of the Gran Dieta Simbolica .

On December 24 th , 18 S 9 , " at the Valley of Mexico , the Supreme Council 33 relinquished all claim of jurisdiction over the first three Degrees and the Supreme Grand Orient of the Scottish Rite , together with several of the State Grand Lodges , voluntarily went out of existence in order that lhey might re-organise under one supreme governing body . This took place in February , 1890 and resulted in the foundation of the Gran Dieta Simbolica , with General Diaz , President ot the Republic , as Grand Master , and Dr . Ermilio Canton , as Grand Secretary General .

The Gran Dieta has since claimed to b 3 the sup-erne governing power ( of Symbolical Masonry ) for the whole Republic . Tnere are State Grand Lodees , but all charters for subordinate lodges are issued by the Grand Dieta . The next event of impcrtance was the Treaty of Montery , a provisional agreement for mutual recognition between the Gran Dieta of Mexico and the Grand Lodge of Texas , executed October 26 th , and confirmed by the

latter body ( on the recommendation of its Grand Master , Bro . G . YV . Tyler ) December Sth , 1891 . This proceeding engaged the attention of the Grand Lodgeof Missouri which , at its annual meeting held October nth , 1892 , appointed a Committee of three to report in the following October as to the propriety of withdrawing the charter of Toltec Lodge , No . 520 . The next link in the chain of events was a powerful appeal by Toltec Lodge , No . 520 , against its threatened doom . It took the form of a circular

letter , dated March 31 st , 1893 , was signed by the W . M ., Bro . Richard E . Schism , and bore the title of An Inside View of Mexican Masonry , The writer , inter alia , alleged lhat the lodges under the Gran Dieta admitted women , excluded the Bible , and meddled in politics . He objected also to the legitimacy of the act by which the Gran Dieta was ushered into existence , denying that there had been any convention of Masons , and affirming that the new body was a mere creation of the Supreme Council 33 .

The " Treaty of Monterey" was referred to by Bro . Chism in language that will bear repeating , as the opinion he expressed of that ill-advised compact , in 1893 , —must be entertained by most sensible persons who are at all acquainted with the circumstances of the case , in 1896 . Heobserves : "It is impossible to believe that the Grand Master of Texas , or any York Rite Mason , would condone the absence of the Bible , the admission of women

to Masonry , the obligations without penalties , and the many other differences of secret work that would have been evident upon the slightest inquiry into that branch of the subject . The only conclusion from this is , that no examination whatever was held of the secret work ofthe Gran Dieta ; that that body was supposed to be legitimate only from the fact of calling itself so ,

and that ordinary caution was entirely lost sight of in the whole transaction . This being the case , it seems to us that the Grand Lodge of Texas has received this whole Mexican Rite into its fellowship with less precautions than are usually taken in allowing a single strange Mason to visit a lodge . "

The events so far related formed the subject of an article which I wrote for the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge in 1893 ( vi ., 133 ) , after which I received a variety of communications , both written and printed , from Bros . C . H . M . y . Agramonte , Richard E . Chism , and Ermilio G .

Canton , all of whom are ( or were ) residing in the city of Mexico . Bro . Agramonte , who has largely posed as champion of the orthodoxy of the Gran Dieta , denied , in the most positive manner , the presence of women in lodges , except in those , similar to the Eastern Star , which exist in Mexico .

Bro . Ermilio Canton , G . Sec . Gen . of the Gran Dieta , sent me many numbers of the Boletin Masonica , the organ of lhat body , and in the issue for August , 1893 , I found a notice of my own article , from the pen of Bro Guillermo Butze , which was a carefully-written answer ( and semi-official ) to the strange practices imputed to the lodges under the Gran Dieta .

The absence of the Bible and the omission of any Oath are not denied . It is admitted that there is a Lodge of Adoption , to which about 20 ladies belong , also that there is an Eastern Star Order , which came from the United States in 1848 . But that women are ever present in real ( or regular ) lodges is emphatically contradicted—a statement which it will be well to bear in mind , as illustrating the amount of credit we can afford to give to utterances , either by , or on the part of , the officials of the Gran Dieta , when

we reach that stage of the narrative where proof is afforded that women were permitted to be made Masons in the ordinary lodges , with the express sanction of the governing Masonic body . FYom Bro . Chism I received a copy of the Boletin Masonica for January , i 893 , ' and on the second , third , and fourth pages of the outside , cover , appears a list of the Grand and subordinate Lodges under the obedience of the Gran Dieta . The Grand Lodges , ol which there are 17 , head the roll , and the first one of all is described as

" Gr . - . Log . ' . Valle de Mexico , No . 1 , Mexico , Distrito Federal . " Next follow , in numerical order , under the headirg of " Logias Simbolicas , " the names of 205 lodges , from which I extract the following : " Log / . Maria A larcon de Mateos num . 27 , Mexico Distrito Federal . „ Marta Washington num . 156 , San Luis Potosi : Sra . Josep hine J . Rivera de Parvin . ,, Josc-fa C . de Canton ntim 158 , Nuevo Laredo , Tamaulipas : Sra . Hilaria Quintanade Gonzalez . "

At page 117 of the same publication a list is given of the newl y-elected officers of the Grand Lodge of the Valley of Mexico , No . 1 . The G . M- > Ermilio G . Canton ( G . Sec . Gen . of the Gran Dieta ) , and among the other office-bearers are : Clio , C H . M . y . Agramonte , Euterpe , Caliope , and Armenia . "

According to Bro . Chism and the evidence supplied by other number ^ of the Boletin Masonica , " Clio , Caliope , Armenia , " and " Euterpe' ladies , and the first three , in private life , are known as Dr . Mstilda Montoya , Mrs . De Kleinham ( the mother in-law of the G . Sec . General ) , and Mrs . Canton ( the wife of that functionary ) respectively . , In the Boletin for March and April , 1893 , there appear , at p . 335- , Atarw

words— " la querida H . \ Clio , Ven / . Maest / . de la Log / . Maria » de Mateos No . 27 " ( the very dear Sister Clio , W . M . of Lodge No . 27 J- , The list of office-bearers " in this woman's lodge , which 1 take from . Boletin of January , 1 ^ 93 , is as folbws : " Clio ( W . M . ) , Euterpe , Prate " " dad , Caliope , Calipso , Melpom : ne , Dido , Leona Vicario , Aurora , Noem 1 Fid . l . dad , Estrella , Armenia , luano de Arco . " and " Diana . "