THE BUILDER MAY 1916

THE POLITICAL PSEUDOMASONRY OF SPANISH AMERICA
BY BRO. F. de P. RODRIGUEZ, CUBA

UNDOUBTEDLY the article of Bro. Hemenway on "The Relationship of
Masonry to the Liberation of Spanish America," published in one of
the past numbers of The Builder, is an splendid one, very ably
conceived and well written. Researches in Latin Masonry are not
very often met with at present, and if confined to the Masonry of
Spanish America, they are rarer yet. It is for that reason that
Bro. Hemenway's work pleases me so much; had the Brother been one
of us, of course, his effort would have been appreciated; but as an
Anglo-Saxon he has made us to contract a debt with him which I
shall try to pay, in part, perhaps, as this field of investigation
has been searched by me since many years ago.

As Chairman of the Committee on Correspondence of my own Grand
Lodge of Cuba, I have become accustomed to the stereotyped phrase
used by many Knights of the Round Table when reporting on our
Proceedings: "As our education has been sadly neglected and not
possessing any knowledge of Spanish, we are unable to say anything
about Cuba, their Proceedings are a sealed book to us." That may be
plain talk, and somewhat unfraternal too, but when we find a Mason
as Bro. Hemenway who can look over our literature we become
pleased; more yet, elated, and thank the Lord to have met him in
our way.

I shall in this article go over the ground surveyed by Bro.
Hemenway, and in a next one shall discuss the most curious of all
the societies we ever had in Cuba, which went under the name of The
Black Eagle, with which I am very familiar.

It seems to me that Bro. Hemenway sympathizes with the Argentinian
and Chilean nucleus who believe General San Martin was a superior
patriot to Simon Bolivar. That matters not. Perhaps the principal
source of his information was General Bartolome Mitre's "History of
San Martin," noted as supporting that opinion, but more recent
works, as, for instance, Mancini's "Life of Bolivar," present the
matter the other way. As for me, being no South American, I am
completely neutral; both were heroes, and both deserve the
blessings of their countrymen; only I consider it a duty to express
Bolivar's views regarding our Institution, either good or bad as
they were.

General Miranda, as carefully described by Bro. Hemenway, was the
brain of the South American Revolution; he was an extraordinary
man, although some what theoretical in his plans; had he been a
little more practical he would have attained success. As a fact, he
ran over all Europe an exile from his country; his sword was
offered to half a dozen nations; is it true that he fought for
AmericanLiberty? Whether he did so or not, that does not detract
from his interesting career. The certain case was that he started
the most famous of Spanish American revolutionary clubs that ever
existed, but it was not exactly original, since two years before,
(1795), a similar club existed in Spain, in Madrid, the very
capital of the nation. It was named Junta de Villas y Provincias,
but it was soon surpassed by Miranda's creation: the Gran Reunion
Americana, as it was named when originated at its cradle in Grafton
Square, Miranda's London home, where the parent body remained for
many years. But when introduced into Spain, the seat for it chosen
at Cadiz, the chief commercial center of Spain in those days, the
name was changed, first to Caballeros Racionales, next to Sociedad
de Lautaro; and later, when transferred to South America, adopted
its final and most permanent name LOGIA DE LAUTARO. It was in the
Cadiz branch that the most eminent patriots of South America were
initiated, Bolivar and San Martin among them.

The organization of the Lodge is well described by Bro. Hemenway,
but as to its connection with Freemasonry, mentioned by Garcia
Calderon, it was notegally so. Masonry was a means of obtaining the
end entertained by the Society; the members never claimed to be
Masons. The Society was composed of five grades or degrees, the
first three were identical to those of Masonry, as exemplified in
the Scottish Ritual, and they were so rendered as a probation of
the candidate in order to impress on him the habit of keeping
secrets and to develop discipline and solidarity. The proper
degrees were the upper two. In the fourth degree the obligation was
very plain: the member swore, by all means, to defend the
independence of the Spanish colonies; and in the fifth and last
degree a democratic credo was exposed, the member taking the oath
of never accepting as a legal government any one that was not the
resultant of popular election, and this to be de facto and de jure
republican. That they were not Masons can be proved by simply
observing how they called themselves: countrymen, never brothers.
The Lodge of Lautaro was organized at Buenos Aires on the arrival
there of San Martin, in 1812, and flourished three consecutive
years, nearly disappearing in 1815, after an unsuccessful effort to
snatch the government of the United Provinces of the Rio de la
Plata from the Committee of three that held it. It must be noted
that Rivadavia, afterward President of the Republic, was a most
energetic opposer of the Lodge. In 1816 the Lodge of Lautaro
reappeared in Mendoza, where San Martin had retired, and soon
afterward was traced in Chile, declining there never more to be
noticed.

This Lodge is the most curious political society with which Masonry
has tried to go hand in hand; it may not have had a large
existence, but, if nothing else accomplished, it supported and
carried all over Argentine and Chile the patriotic spirit of
Liberty and Independence. It served its purpose there because the
soil was fertile. Was it of any good at Venezuela or any of the
northern colonies of the South American continent? Surely not;
there the seed was not sown in the right soil. I shall examine now
the causes.

At the same time that San Martin was entrusted to carry the Society
to the South, Bolivar was appointed to do the same in the North.
Bolivar was a Mason, initiated in Paris at the age of 21 years, in
a lodge the name of which has not been reported, and was induced to
do so by the exertions of his teacher, Don Simon Rodriguez. After
the death of his young and beautiful wife, Dona Teresa del Toro
(his own cousin), Bolivar fell in a state of despondency very hard
to overcome; he passed a time in which his behavior was shameful,
a complete debauchery, almost licentiousness. Don Simon, under
whose care he was, after trying every means to cure him of his
malady, sought to have him enter Masonry, and in this he succeeded.

After his initiation, Bolivar experienced a radical change; he was
cured, but, unhappily, he never acknowledged the benefit he had
received from our order; and many years afterward (1828) he
expressed to his secretary Lacroix a very poor opinion of us; he
said: "I have also been curious to see the inside of Masonry,
causing myself to be raised a Master in Paris, that sufficing to
convince me of the ridiculous of so an ancient society. I met in
the Lodge some extraordinary men, many fanatics, many more
impostors, and a great number of deceived fools. Masons are like
grown boys, playing with signs, tricks, Hebrew words, ribbons and
bands. Nevertheless, politicians and deceivers can obtain something
out of that secret society, but in the present condition of
civilization of Colombia, a state of fanaticism and prejudice, it
does not avail to use Masonry, because in exchange for a few
partisans in the lodges I should have raised against me the hate
and censure of the whole nation, pushed against me by the friars,
who would accept the pretext to incite public opinion against
Freemasonry. (1)" It is painful to note how Bolivar was so
ungrateful for our Order, although it is true that his words show
the key of the nonsuccess of either Masonry or the Lodge of Lautaro
in Venezuela or Colombia; their people were not prepared for
Liberty then and Masonry was impotent to do it.

Bolivar, charged to spread the Lodge of Lautaro in his own country,
did not attain it and had to content himself with starting the
Sociedad Patriotica, an almost public Revolutionary Society; of
course inefficient, living a very short time. The Liberator himself
had to fight very hard against the fanaticism and ignorance of his
own countrymen, witness Don Jose Domingo Diaz who explains in the
following way the attitude of Bolivar during the earthquake of
March 26, 1812: (2) "The priests from stands in the public squares
were reproaching the faithful in so furious and unjust a manner
that Bolivar, coming out from among the ruins of the convent of San
Jacinto, could not refrain, on hearing one of those preacher's
calumnies, that, sword in hand, pushed the clergyman down occupying
his place, and with that beautiful oratory, so common to him,
addressed the citizens, calming them and asking from them
confidence in the merciful God. He ended his speech by stating
that, 'If Nature opposes us and helps the tyrant we shall fight
against Nature too and make her obey us,' In 1822 he also addressed
a series of letters to the Bishop of Popayan, describing the
progress of religion from colonial times to those of the Republic."

He was no retrograde, by any means, but we lament that he had so
poor an opinion of us; he had no spare time to go deep into
Masonry; he was too much meddled in politics to pay us much
attention; he was not sufficiently acquainted with our practices.
His passing through French Masonry was like a lightning flash,
neither there was then any show of Masonry in Colombia; she came
afterward with the Spanish army; had Bolivar had time to come close
to our Fraternity he might have changed his mind.

What a difference between the heroes of Mount Vernon and San Mateo!
True, but never forget that they moved in different societies,
between Virginia and Colombia, and as they were in those times, the
difference was immense. Now a radical change has beenwrought, and
Freemasonry has begun to benefit that country.

So much for the role that Masonry played in South America in the
beginning of the XIX century. Whatever the outcome, it deserves to
be studied carefully and with love. Now, I pray all of you to
accompany me to the Pearl of the Antilles where I shall show you
something new and worthy to be recorded. Only give a short time to
sharpen my pencil and go forward, fear of submarines in these
shores.

(1) Diario de Bucaramanga, by Lacroix.
(2) Recuerdo sobre la Rebelion de Caracas, by Jose Domingo

WHAT IS MASONRY

The only religion of Masonry is to believe in God and to obey the
moral law; its only politics to be peaceable subjects of the civil
powers and obedient to the laws of the land in which we live. The
Great Light of Masonry must be her only creed, the Constitution of
our country its only political platform.
--Grand Master Fitch.

THE MYSTIC TIE

One cannot hold another down in the ditch without staying in the
ditch with him; in helping the man who is down to rise, the man who
is up is freeing himself from a burden that would else drag him
down. For the man who is down there is always something to hope
for, always something to be gained.
--Booker Washington.

ON THINKING GLAD

Never mind a change of scene--
Try a change of thinking.
What if things seem sordid, mean,
What's the use of blinking?
Life's not always storm and cloud,
Somewhere stars are shining.
Try to think your joys out loud,
Silence all repining.
By degrees, by thinking light,
Thinking glad and sweetly,
You'll escape the stress of night,
Worry gone completely.
Get the habit looking for
Sunbeams pirouetting,
Tapping gaily at your door--
Surest cure for fretting.
Needn't fool yourself at all.
For there's no denying
E'en above a prison wall
Song birds are a flying.
Wherefore hearken to the song,
Never mind the prison,
And you'll find your soul ere long
Unto freedom risen.
--Selected.

THE POWER OF VIRTUE

I think there is some reason for questioning whether the body and
mind are not so proportioned, that the one can bear all which can
be inflicted on the other; whether virtue cannot stand its ground
as long as life, and whether a soul well principled will not sooner
die than be subdued.
--Samuel Johnson.

WORK THAT LIVES

"If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass,
time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble into
dust; but if we work upon our immortal minds--if we imbue them with
principles, with the just fear of God and love of our fellow men,
we engrave on those tablets something which will brighten for all
--Scottish Rite Bulletin.

A PRAYER

Let me be a little kinder, 
Let me be a little blinder 
To the faults of those about me, 
Let me praise a little more; 
Let me be when I am weary 
Just a little bit more cheery-- 
Let me serve a little better 
Those that I am striving for.

Let me be a little braver 
When temptation bids me waver. 
Let me strive a little harder 
To be all that I should be; 
Let me be a little meeker, 
With the brother who is weaker. 
Let me think more of my neighbor 
And a little less of me.


Let me be a little sweeter-- 
Make my life a bit completer, 
By doing what I should do, 
Every minute of the day. 
Let me toil without complaining, 
Not a humble task disdaining; 
Let me face the summons calmly 
When death beckons me away.
--Detroit Free Press.
