E. H. ADDINGTON

OF FREEMASONRY IN LOUISIANA. 5
Orient of France for a charter. This application, however, proved futile,
owing to the Grand Orient having suspended its labors in consequence of the
political troubles which at that time agitated France. On ascertaining this,
they addressed a similar communication to the Provincial Lodge "la Parfaite
Sincerite," at Marseilles, which granted them a provisional charter or dispensation
in 1796, and entrusted it to Dominique Mayronne, with power to
constitute the new lodge and install its officers. This mission was faithfully
performed, and Polar Star Lodge was duly constituted and its omcers
installed under the French Rite, December 27, 1798. The first omcers
were Duprelong Petavin, W. M.; Chev. Dfisilets, S. W., and F. Marc,
J. W.
The Grand Orient of France having resumed labor in 1803, took action on
the petition of the members of Polar Star Lodge sent to it in 1794, and in
1804 granted a charter and deputed Ch. Tessier to carry it to them and heal
their work. Under this charter Polar Star Lodge No. 4263 was re-constituted
and its omcers installed on the 11th of November, 1804, by A. Pinard ,and A.
Marmillion, specially deputed by the Grand Orient for that purpose. The
first omcers under this charter were A.,D. Chastant, W. M.; A. Marmillion,
S. W., and J. Pinard, J. W.*
Previous to this, however, several brethren, residents of New Orleans and
former members of Candor Lodge No. 12, in Charleston, S. C, which had
become extinct, held a meeting at which they resolved to revive their old
lodge in their new home. They, therefore, applied to the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania for" a charter, which was granted them on the 18th of May,
1801—the lodge receiving the name of Candor Lodge No. 90, and its officers
were N. Definiels, W. M.; Gaspard Debuys, S. W., and Pierre D. Berne, J.
W. Beyond the fact that the charter was granted, nothing is known respecting
this lodge; but as the name of the W. M. is the same as that of the
• W. M. of Charity Lodge No. 93, it is probable that something occurred which
prevented it from organizing.
Be this as it may, in the same year (1801) a number of Masons who were
then residing in New Orleans, applied to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
for a charter, which was granted under the distinctive name of Charity
Lodge No. 93, March 1, 1802, but the charter was not received until 1804.
On'the 13th of May of that year, the lodge was duly constituted and the
officers installed in the York Rite by Eugene DorsiSre, specially deputed for
that purpose by the Grand Master of Pennsylvania. The first officers under
the charter were Nic. Definiels, W. M.; D. Baron, S. W., and J. Carrick,
J. W.
Political events had in the meantime taken place which were destined to
give a new impetus to Freemasonry in Louisiana, by relieving it from the
proscription under which it suffered during the Spanish dominaton. On.
the Is't of October, 1800, by the treaty of St. Ildephonso, Spain retroceded
tEe whole of the Louisiana territory to France. The cession, however, was
only nominal; Spain remained in possession, while negotiations were going
on between Chancellor Livingston, U. S. Minister at Paris, and Napoleon,:
which resulted in the purchase of the Louisiana territory by the United
States. After an actual possession of only twenty days by the French, the
*The early records of the Lodges Perfect Union and Polar Star are missing, and the
above data is obtained from tie "Manuel Maconniqtie," now a yery rare work, published
in 182S, at New Orleans. Notwithstanding the difference in date, it is more than
probable that both lodges were formed at, or about, the same time. The seniority of
Perfect Union Lodge is disputed by the old members of Polar Star Lodge—but in the
absence of the original records it is impossible to decide the question.
It is believed, on good authority, that the Masons who formed these two lodges were
chiefly refugees from the Island of Guadaloupe, which, like. San Domingo, was involved
in the horrors of the negro insurrection of 1791. The French Revolution had divided
the colonists into two political parties, and whether owing to this cause, the difference
of Rites, or the social rank of their members, or all combined, soon after the 'formation
of the two lodges a difficulty arose which resulted in their refusal to hold 'Masonic intercourse
with each other.