E. H. ADDINGTON

GRAND LODGE F. AND A. M. OF LOUISIANA. 11
These two Lodges are the first regular Lodges of Masons established
in Louisiana, and possibly in Spanish America. All honor to the zealous
Masons who laid their foundations.
The Masonic zeal and public spirit of the members of Perfect
Union and Polar Star were an honor to Masonry and a warrant of its
prosperity in Louisiana, for, as a result of its labors, and with the influx
of citizens from the other States, the number of Masons rapidly
increased, and seven years later, in 1801, a third Lodge of York Bite,
whose membership was mainly that of fQrmer members of Candor Lodge
No. 12, of Charleston, S. C, was organized under charter from the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, with the name and number of ' Charity
No. 93. These three, then, were the Lodges existing under the Spanish
rule in our .State. Their labors were conducted in secrecy, though it
is only fair to state that at no time were they ever disturbed by the
Spanish officials.
The retrocession of Louisiana to France took place in 1800. On
December 20, 1803, after an actual possession of only twenty days, the
whole Territory of Louisiana was sold by Napoleon to the United States.
This change in the political conditions made equally a change in Masonic
affairs, and from that date on, Masonry assumed quite a different
attitude, for its principles are those which underlie the Constitution
of a liberal government, and Free and Accepted Masons under the flag
of Liberty may glory in a title which is an incentive for persecution
under a despotism.
In 1806 a fourth York Bite Lodge under the title of Louisiana 101
was organized under charter from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania,
her first Worshipful Master being Edward Livingston, the American
statesman, United States Senator from Louisiana, Secretary of State
in Jackson's Cabinet, and subsequently Minister to France. He was
a, distinguished jurist, and as Secretary of State exercised the strongest
influence on the administration of Jackson, whose state papers, including
the Nullification Act, are said to have been written by him.
His Masonic qualities were no less.
In 1818 a fifth York Eite Lodge holding charter from the Grand
Lodge of Pennsylvania was organized under the name and number of
"La Eeunion Desire" No. 12. It lived only until March, 1812, and
took, therefore, no part in our organization. Harmony Lodge No. 122,
with Maunsel White as first Worshipful Master, was also founded in
the same year. Concord No. 117 and Perseverance No. 118, both York
Lodges, were established in 1810, all three under charter from Pennsylvania.
Perseverance Lodge continues its corporate existence under
the number "i," and is now in its one hundred and second year. Its
labors, however, are now conducted in the Scottish Eite. ,
In October, 1811, on the petition of some of the York Bite members
of Polar Star, then working in the Scottish Eite, the Grand Lodge
of Pennsylvania granted a charter authorizing Polar Star to conduct
its labors in the York Eite. This was the initiative for the- cumula-