E. H. ADDINGTON

PF FREEMASONRY IN LOUISIANA. 47
The contradictory provisions of the General Regulations soon led to a
conflict of authority. At the meeting of the Grand Lodge, July 27, 1833,
a petition for a new lodge of the York Rite to be located in New Orleans
was presented and referred to the Symbolic Chamber of that Rite. Without
waiting for its action, a provisional lodge under the name of La
Fraternity was- organized; the subject was brought up at the meeting of
August 10th, and after discussion . the Grand Master was authorized to
appoint a committee "to inspect and verify the work of the provisional
lodge.' The committee reported on the 17th of the same month, and
after another discussion, a resolution was unanimously adopted, declaring
that the Symbolic Chamber of the York Rite had not the power to act
upon the petition or deliver the charter, and the Grand Lodge granted
the charter and ordered it to be delivered "in conformity with the regulations."
At the next meeting, (Nov. 2,) the Grand Master announced
that he had installed the officers of the new lodge La Fraternity No. 35.
The Grand Orator (Rene Perdreauville,*) objected to the action of the
Grand Master, on the ground that the delivery of the charter was a violation
of the General Regulations. A debate ensued, which was on motion postponed
to the 16th of the same month. After the Grand Lodge was opened,
at the request of the Grand Master, A. W. Pichot made an argument in
favor of the right of the ''Grande Loge Centrale" to grant the charter:
the Grand Orator replied, and, after summing up, submitted a resolution,
declaring that the action of the Grand Lodge was unconstitutional; that
the charter of a lodge could not be held regular unless it was granted by
the Symbolic Chamber of the Rite to which the lodge belonged; and that
the whole case be referred back to the Symbolic Chamber of the York
Rite. This resolution was adopted by a vote of 12 to 3—"15 members
present."
This vote gave the entire control of the Grand Lodge into the hands
of the Consistorial party. The . Scotch and French Rite Chambers were
composed almost exclusively of its adherents, who also formed a majority of
the York Rite Chamber. Immediately on its organization,/ the Scotch
Rite Chamber had usurped the power to act as an independent Grand
Lodge; the York and French Rite Chambers soon followed its example; in
their communications to the Grand Lodge they addressed it as the "Central
Grand Lodge"; considered it merely as a committee of the whole, having
no powers or prerogatives except such as they were willing to accord it;
and as the Grand Master had been deprived of his. prerogatives by the
General Regulations,, he was a mere automaton to be manipulated as
occasion required. In effect, the vote made the Grand Lodge an appanage
of the Grand Consistory.f
Grand Secretary, however, remained faithful to the last, and his influence, more than
anything else, prevented an open rupture between the French Rite lodges and the Grand
Lodge at the time the resolution of April 20, 1833, was adopted. He never took the
Scotch Rite degrees, and in May, 1833. endeavored to form a General Grand Chapter for
the Rose Croix bodies of the French Rite, as a means of protecting their interests and
checking the influence of the Consistory. The draft of a circular, in his hand-writing,
calling a convention for the purpose was recently found in the archives. The power of
the Consistory, however, was too strongly established, and the movement does not appear
to have been a success.
•Rene' Perdreauville, alias R6ne de perdreauville, alias R8n6 Elizabeth de Darid-Perdreauville.
His first appearance in 'Grand Lodge was as J. W. of Lafayette Lodge No.
25, in 1831, when he was appointed Grand Steward. In the Tableau of the Grand Lodge
he is styled homme de lettres, which in one instance is rendered "author." None of his
writings, however, have come down to the present day, with the exception of a sophomoric
address delivered before the Grand Lodge, March 17, 1833.. An active and
unscrupulous partisan, ' he distinguished himself as a Masonic politician in advancing
the interests of the Consistorial party.
4R&P