C’est a ce titre que nous croyons devoir vous donner Connoissance de l’éstablissement de deux nouveaux attellieres maçoniques réguliérement constitués et installés au rite français par notre R∴ L∴ provincialle, L’un depuis plus d’un an sous le titre de _L’amitiê_ à L’Ot∴ de Petersburg, en Virginie; l’autre, plus récent, sous le titre de la _Parfaite-Egalité_ à L’Ot∴ du Port de Paix isle St. Domingue.
Nous vous remettons cy-joint quelques exemplaires de notre Tableau de cette année que notre L∴ vous prie d’agréer en retour de ceux qu’elle a reçu de la votre avec reconnoissance.
Puisse la G∴ A∴ de l’U∴ bénir vos travaux et les couronner de toutes sortes de succés! C’est dans ces sentiments que nous avons la faveur d’être,
P∴ L∴ N∴ M∴ Q∴ V∴ S∴ C∴ TT∴ CC∴ et TT∴ RR∴ FF∴ Votre très affectionés F∴ Par Mandement de la T∴ R∴ L∴ Pte∴ de la Sagesse. Guieu, Sécrétaire.[778]
Following this letter and its translation appeared a list of the officers and members, resident and non-resident, of Wisdom Lodge, Portsmouth, Virginia, with explanatory data in each instance, covering such points as age, place of birth, profession, _etc._, the whole concluding with a representation of the seal of Wisdom Lodge and the following motto: _Amplius Homines oculis quam auribus credunt. Iter longum est per precepta, breve et efficax per exempla._[779]
Upon these documents Morse saw fit to make and publish certain “Explanatory Remarks,”[780] of which the following is the gist.
The Lodge Wisdom in Portsmouth, Virginia, is seen to be a branch of the _Grand Orient_ of France. Its members consist chiefly of foreigners, that is to say, Frenchmen,—Frenchmen who come either from France or from the West India possessions of that country. From the seal it appears that Wisdom Lodge was established as early as 1786. It is also, as its number shows, “the TWO THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AND SIXTIETH branch from the original stock.”[781] It further appears that there is a sister lodge in the city of New York, styled the _Grand Orient_ of New York. The latter, from the name and number of the lodges it has instituted, is quite likely the first and principal branch that the Mother Club in France has established in America. This New York lodge has established the French lodge, Union, to which the letter from the lodge Wisdom was addressed. As to the other thirteen branches from the parent stock, for the present there could be nothing more than conjecture as to their location.[782]