Chapter 2

C. M. STRAUB,

✦

JOHN SNYDER,
H. C. EVER.
When a motion was made by Mr. Ford,

That the said memorial be referred to a select committee.

Which was agreed to.

Whereupon,
Messrs. Ford, Dimmick of Pike, Stark, Garretson and English,
were appointed the committee.

A motion was then made by Mr. Spackman,
That the said committee be discharged from the further conside-
ration of the subject.

The motion being under consideration,
A motion was made by Mr. Reed, of Philadelphia,
To postpone the further consideration of the same for the pre-
sent.

Which was agreed to.

MONDAY, MARCH 13, 1857.

Mr. Ford, from the committee to whom was referred a memo-
rial from citizens of Union county, complaining of certain inferen-
ces in relation to the masonic and other secret societies, drawn by
the Governor in his annual message, from the writings of Wash-
ington, made a report, No. 219;
Which was laid on the table.
Mr. Curtis called for the reading of the said report ;

When a motion was made by Mr. Hopkins.
That the reading of the report be postponed until this afternoon.
Which was agreed to. N

SAME DAY.

A^reeablv to order,
The report in relation to inferences drawn by the Governor, in
his late message, from the writings of General Washington, was
read.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.

The committee appointed on the part of the House of Represen-
tatives, in conformity with the prayer of sundry citizens of Penn-
sylvania, complaining of certain inferences in relation to the Maso-
nic and other Secret Societies, drawn by the Governor in his an-
nual message to the Legislature, from the writings ef Washington,
and praying for the appointment of a committee to wait upon His
Excellency, lor the purpose of ascertaining and reporting how far
General Washington's Farewell Address, and other writings, sus-
tain the same references, REPORT :

That on the day succeeding their appointment, they addressed
a letter to His Excellency the Governor, a copy of which is here-
with subjoined, marked A., to which the answer, marked 13.,
which is also subjoined, was shortlv after returned. In conformi-
ty with the intimation therein contained, " that he would embrace
the earliest occasion of leisure from other duties, to place the sub-
ject before them in the light which its importance seemed to him
to demand. *? t!.e Governor, a few (lays since, transmitted to
your commitcee the evidences of his authority in using the lan-
gnasi complained of in his late message, in the communication
marked C, hereunto annexed, which, together with this report, is
-espectfully submitted to the consideration of the House, without
further comment.

Representative Chamber, 7
Harrisburg, January 21, 1837.$
Dear Sir :

Yesterday morning the Speaker presented a memorial to the
House of Representatives, signed by a few citizens of Pennsylvania,
praying for the appointment of a committee on the part of that
body, "to wait on His Excellency theGovernor of Pennsylvania, and
solicit frcm him the source of information from which he derived
his authority, as quoted in his late message to the House, a9 to the
Father of his Country's last and solemn warning against 'that spirit
oflawless combination unknown to our open and equal institutions,
and opposed to the genius of republicanism,' and report the same,
with such references to General Washington's Farewell Address,
and other writings, as may place his wv>rds or allusions to Free-
masonry beyond the reach of doubt or cavil."

In compliance with the prayer of the petitioners, the undersign-
ed were appointed a committee for the purpose expressed in the
said memorial, and in the performance of the duty thus assigned
them, they herewith submit to your Excellency the above extract
from the same, as presented to the House. In it you will find em-
bodied all that for which the memorialists most earnestly pray,
and which we most respectfully submit to your Excellency's con-
sideration, for such action as you may think proper to take upoa
the subject.

With the highest respect, we are, Sir,
Your most ob't servants,

GEORGE FORD, Jr.
WILLIAM ENGLISH,
WILLIAM GARRETSON.
HENRY STARK,
0. S. DIM MICK,
His Excellency Joseph Ritner,
Governor of Pennsylvania.

Executive Chamber, >

Harrisburg, January 23, 1 837. 5
Gentlemen :

I this day received your letter of the 21st instant, informing
me that you have been appointed a committee on behalf of the
House of Representatives, to obtain from me the authority on
which, in my annual message to the Legislature, I asserted that
General Washington had sent forth his last and most solemn war-
ning against " that spirit of lawless combination unknown to our
open and equal institutions, and opposed to the genius of republi-
canism," which has acquired such influence in our days,

Tt will afford me much pleasure to comply with the request of
the House of Representatives, thus made, through their commit-
tee. I shall embrace the earliest occasion of leisure from other
duties to place the subject before them in the light which its impor-
tance seems to me to demand.

I am, Gentlemen,

Very respectfully,

Your fellow-citizen,
Messrs. George Ford, jr. JOS. RITNBR.

William English,
William Garretsok,
Henrt Stark,

O, S DlMJIICK.

EXECUTIVE CraMBEI, ?

Harrisburg, March 8th, 1 837. 5

trElfTLEMEII :

The annual Message to the Legislature, of December 6th, 1856,
declares: —

That the chief evil of the times is " that spirit of lawless com-
44 bination unknown to our open and equal institutions, and op-
" po9ed to the genius of Republicanism, against which the Father
44 of his Country sent forth his last and most solemn warnino-:"

That *' what was comparatively restricted and harmless in his
44 day, has since assumed the dangerous character of regularly
44 organized, oath bound, secret working, wide spread and power-
44 ful societies."

And that " of these, some bearing more and some less of the
44 features just enumerated, the Society of Freemasonry is the
** fruitful mother."

These opinions and statements of the message, have occasioned
your appointment as a Committee by the House of Representatives,
44 to wait on the Governor of Pennsylvania, to solicit from him the
source of information from which he derived his authority as quo-
ted in his last message to the House, as to the Father of our Coun-
try's last and solemn warning against 'that spirit of lawless combi-
nation, unknown to our open and equal institutions, and opposed
to the genius of republicanism,' — and report the same, with such
references to General Washington's Farewell Address and other
writings, as may place his words or allusions to Freemasonry be-
yond the reach of doubt or cavil."

No occurrence of my life ever afforded me greater pleasure than
that of being called upon officially, to vindicate the memory of
Washington from the stigma of adherence to secret combinations.

His name is so deservedly dear, and his example so powerful
anions the people of this nation, that the wide trumpeted misfor-
tune of his unthinking youth, in becoming a Freemason, has tended
more to fasten upon us the evils of that society than all the jeal-
ous spirit of equality — the aroused power of the press — or the cry
from the ground of spilled blood, has hitherto been sufficient to over-
come. Even the practical renunciation of the last thirty-one years
of his life, and his latest and most solemn precepts on the subject of
lawless combinations, have failed to atone for his early indis-
cretion, or to remove the danger ; and with Franklin, Lafay-
ette and many others, he, the chosen one of freedom — the foe of
Kings and the leader of the armies of Independence, is claimed to
have passed down to the grave, the obedient servant of a skulking
monarchy, and the sworn thrall of principles at war with the open
practices of his whole glorious life.

If it be true as the lamented Colden, (himself one of the initia-
ted,) declared, that many a mason became a great man, but ?io
great man ever became a mason, how nearly does it concern the
youth of our country, from among whom their own merits must
elect her future great men, to pause and reflect before they com-
mit their present standing and future reputation, to the keeping of
a society, which, for its own cold hearted and selfish purposes could
immolate even the fame of Washington at the shrine of its abomina-
tions. From the same flowers that bestow honey on the bee, and
shed fragrance on the air,it is said the wasp extracts poison. Thus the
name of Washington, which has become the watchword of liberty
and of national independence over the world, is degraded into the
office of a masonic gull-trap at home.

Each votary of the order, when pressed by the weight of reason,
so easily brought to bear against him by the weakest advocate of
democratic equality, answers every objection, by repeating the
name of " GRAND MASTER WASHINGTON."

Newspaper editors seem to have in stereotype, as a standing an-
swer to all arguments, and a spell to charm down all charges
against the craft, the names of Washington, Franklin and Lafay*
ette.

Masonic orators, from the declaimer of a bar room meeting, to.

the masonic occupant of the sacred desk, and the legislative seat,
alike conclude their discourses with the names of Washington,
and the other heroes and sages of the Revolution.

Not only do masons thus in general terms, claim the authority
of his name, but they even designate with particularity, the ma-
sonic offices he held—the lodges over which he presided, and the
continuance and degree of his devotion to the order; nay, some of
them go so far as to shew the very « attire which he often wore
as a mason," and the mallet which he used as Master.

The Hon. Timothy Bigelow of Massachusetts, in an oration de-
livered at the funeral obsequies solemnized in honor of General
Washington's memory, by the Grand Lodge of that State, on the
11th of February, 1800, made use of the following language :—
" He (Washington) cultivated our art with sedulous attention, and
" never lost an opportunity ot advancing the interests or promo-
" ting the honor of the craft."—" The information received from
" our brethren who had the happiness of being members of the
" lodge over which he presided many years, and of which he died
" the Master fx\vms\\ abundant proof of his persevering zeal for the
" prosperity of the institution. Constant and punctual in his at-
" tendance, scrupulous in his observance of the regulations of the
" Lodge, and' solicitous at all times to communicate light and in-
•• struction, he discharged the duties of the chair with uncommon
" dignity and intelligence in all the mysteries of our art. We
" see before us the very attire which he often ivore as a mason."

The American edition of Preston's Masonry, asserts that " the
" society of Freemasons, in America, continued to flourish under
* the auspices of General Washington, who continued his patronage
t; to the Lodges until his death."

Masonry has published a letter from him to King David's Lodjre
of Newport, R. I., without date, but said to be written in August,
1T90, in which he is made to say, " I shall always be happy to
" advance the interests of the society, and to be considered by
M them as a deserving brother."

Four other letters, purporting to be from him, have also been
published by masons, all without dates; one to the Grand Lodge
of Charlestown, two to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and
one to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, all lauding the institution.

Andrew Jackson, late President of the United States, when in-
vited in March 1830, by a body of masons, to join in a masonic

pilgrimage to the tomb of the Father of his country, thus replied:
u The memory of that illustrious Grand Master, [Washington,3
" cannot receive a more appropriate honor than that which religion
11 and masonry pay it, when they send their votaries to his tomb,
" fresh from the performance of acts which THEY consecrate."

General Tallmadge, of New York, asserted in a letter published
in the winter of 1831-2, *' that Washington had often presided in
u Poughkeepsie Lodge."

Having thus stated both the general and particular claims of ma-
sonry upon the name and fame of Washington, I shall proceed to
disprove them.

As to Washington's early masonry, the following incident will
be sufficient :

In 1830, the Rev. Ezra Styles Ely, D. D. editor of a religious
newspaper, called the Philadelphian, was charged in some of flie
prints of the day, with being a mason. In an editorial article on
the subject, contained in the number of that paper dated July
£3, 1830, he relates the following important anecdote:

*4 In reply to all this, I would assert, that I never was a mason,
" and never expect to be. Hitherto 1 have neither advocated nor
M opposed masonry, unless it be in the relation of a conversation
" which passed between General Washington and Governrr Jona-
9 than Trumbull, the second, which the latter more than once re-
" peated to my father. The latter, when aid-de-camp to the for-*,
*' mer, asked him if he would advise him to become a mason." —
General Washington replied, " that masonry was a benevolent
" institution, which might be employed for the best or worst of
u purposes ; but that for the most part it was merely child's play,
*,* and he could not give him any advice on the subject"

On the question or his having been the Master or Grand Master
of a Lodge, the following proofs will not be disputed. The first
document is an extract from the records of King David's Lodge,
in Newport, R. I. the authenticity of which has been thus estab-
lished:

An action of trover was brought bv the officers of St. John's
Lodge, the successor of King David's Lod^e, to recover those re-
cords from Dr. Benjamin Case, who claimed to be Master of the
Lodge, in the progress of which they were proved to be the erigi-
nal records, and Dr. Case was ordered to restore them to St. John'*
Lodgfy or pay 8300 damages. The money was paid, and the re-
cords retained for the good of the country. This is the extract:

w Regular Lodge night, held at the house of Mr. James. Tew,
Wednesday evening, the 7th February, 1781—5781."

" A motion was made, that as our worthy brother, His Excellency
i( General Washington, was daily expected amongst us, a commit-
" tee should he appointed to prepare an address, on behalf of the
«' Lodge, to present to him. Voted that the Right Worshipful
4* Master, together with brother Seixas, Peleg Clark, John Han-
44 dy, and Robert Elliott, be a committee for that purpose, and
*4 that they present the same to this Lodge, at their next meeting,
44 for their approbation."

k' At a Lodge, held by request of the Right Worshipful Master,
February 14th, 1781—5781."

44 The committee appointed to draft an address to our worthy
44 Brother, His Excellency General Washington, report, that on
44 enquiry they find General Washington not to be Grand Master
44 of North America, as was supposed, nor even Master of any
"particular Lodge. They are therefore of opinion, that this
<4 Lodge would not choose to address him as a private brother, —
44 at the same time, think it would not be agreeable to our worthy
44 brother to be addressed as SUCH."

44 Voted that the report of the committee be received, and that
4C the address be entirely laid aside for the present."

The other document is a reply by Washington, to a letter he had
received from the Rev. G. W. Snyder, of Fredericktown, Mary-
land, on the danger to be apprehended from the spread of Illumin-
ism and Jacobinism in this country. The letter, in which wag
the following passage, '4 upon serious reflection, I was led to think
4* that it might be within your power to prevent the horrid plan
41 from corrupting the brethren of the English Lodges over ivhich
"you preside,^ was accompanied with a copy of Robiason'g
*' proofs of a Conspiracy" for the General's use.

Mount Yjjrnon, 25th September, 1798.
44 The Rev. Mr. Sxyder,

44 Sir, — Many apologies are due to you for my not acknowledg-
ing the receipt of your obliging favor of the 22d ult., and for not
thanking you, at an earlier period, for the book you had the good-
ness to send me.

44 1 have heard much of the nefarious and dangerous plan and
doctrines of the Iliuminati, but never saw the book until you were
pleased to send it to me. The same causes which have prevented
my acknowledging the receipt of your letter, have prevented my
reading the book hitherto; namely, the multiplicity of matters which
pressed upon me before, and the debilitated state in which I was

left, after a severe fever had been removed, and which allows me
to add little more now than thanks for your kind wishes and favor-
able sentiments, except to correct an error you have run into, of
my presiding over the English Lodges in this country. The fact is
1 preside over none, nor have J been in one more than once or twice
within the last thirty years. I believe, notwithstanding, that none
of the Lodges in this country are contaminated with the principles
ascribed to the societv of the Iliuminatu
" With respect, I am, Sir,

" Your ob't humble servant,

« GEO. WASHINGTON."

On the 17th of October, in the same year, Mr. Snyder wrote a
second letter to Washington, and received a reply, dated Octo-
ber 24th, pretty much in the same terms.

The authenticity of the correspondence is thus proved:

" Boston, November 22, 1852.

"I hereby certify, that I have compared a letter from the Rev,
G. W. Snyder to General Washington, dated August 22d, 1798,
and two letters from General Washington to Mr Snyder, dated
September 25th, and October 24th, of the same year, as printed in
the " Proceedings of the third Antimasonic State Convention,"1
with the recorded copies in General AVashington's Letter Books,
obtained by me at Mount Vernon, and I find them printed exactly
as there recorded, except Mr. Snyder's letter, in which the word
" secret" is omitted in one place, and the words " on this terrene
?pot" in another. General Washington's letters to Mr. Snyder
are exactly printed throughout.

« JARED SPARKS."

With respect to the letter said to have been written by him to
King David's Lodge in 1793, and to the four others, the Grand
Lodges of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and
which are relied on to establish his devotion to masonry till his
death, it -may be remarked :

1st. That three of them, viz : that to Kino; David's Lodge, and
the two to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, are without date $ a
circumstance wholly unprecedented in the whole correspondence
of the writer, who above all other men, was noted for attention to
method and form in his writings.

2d. That though General Washington caused to be carefully co-
pied in books kept for that purpose, all his letters on every subject,
no trace whatever of any of the five letters under consideration,
nor any letters to any other Lodge or Masonic body whatever, are
to be found among the records of his correspondence.

3d. That the originals of none of them have been seen out of the
Lodge in open day, though the officers of at least the Grand Lodge

t>f Massachusetts, have been publicly called on to produce and
submit them to the examination of Jared Sparks, Esq. who, from
his connexion with the Washington correspondence, is supposed to
be best qualified to ascertain their authenticity.

The following letter from Mr. Sparks to the chairman of the
committee of citizens of Massachusetts, who had called on the
Grand Lodge to submit the letters to his inspection, is decisive on
the two last of these points.

" Boston, February 18, 183S.
44 Sir, — I received this morning your letter of the 15th instant,
in which you inquire:

4-' Whether I have yet seen or had in my possession any original
letter or letters, in the hand lurking of General Washington, ad-
dressed to any body of men denominating themselves Freemasons.

" In reply, I can only state that I have seen no letters from Gen-
eral JVashington of the kind described in yours, nor received any
communication on the subject, either verbal or written.
44 I am, Sir,

4' Very respectfully,

" Your ob't servant,

'•JARED SPARKS."

If corroboration were required, it is furnished by the following
letter from Chief Justice Marshall, in reply to one from citizens of
Massachusetts, inquiring of him, whether as biographer of Wash-
ington, he knew of the existence of any authentic originals or copies
of letters addressed by Washington to masonic bodies. The same
persons also inquired whether the Chief Justice had declared the
institution of masoury to be 44a jewel of the utmost value," &c. &.c.

44 Richmond, October 18, 1833.

" Sir, — Your letter of the 11th, transmitting a resolution of the
Antimasonic Convention of the State of Massachusetts, passed the
13th of last September, has just reached me. The flattering terms
in which that resolution is expressed, claim and receive my grateful
acknowledgments.

44 The circumstances represented as attending the case of Mor-
gan were heard with universal detestation, but produced no other
excitement in this part of the United States, than is created
by crimes of uncommon atrocity. Their operation on mason-
ry, whatever it might be, was silent, rather arresting its pro-
gress an,d directing attention from the society, than inducing
any open, direct attack upon it. The agitations which convulse
the North, did not pass the Potomac. Consequently, an indivi-
dual so much withdrawn from the world as myself, entering
so little into the party confliets of the day, could feel no mo-
tive, certainly I felt no inclination, to volunteer in a distant con-

flict, in which the wounds that might be received, would not b«
soothed by the consoling reflection that he suffered in the perfor-
mance of a necessary duty. I never did utter the words ascribed
to me, nor any other \vt>rds importing the sentiment they convey.
I never did say " Freemasonry is a jewel of the utmost value, that
the pure in heart and life can only appreciate it fully, and that in a free
government it must, it will be sustained and protected." The fact
mentioned in the resolution, that I have been in a Lodge but once, so
far as I can recollect, for nearly forty years, is evidence that I
have no disposition to volunteer in this controversy, as the zealous
partizan: which this language would indicate. In fact I have soughs
to abstain from it. Although I attach no importance to the opin-
ions I may entertain respecting masonry, yet I ought not to refuse
on application, to disavow any expressions which may be ascribed
to me, that I never used, I have said that I always understood
the oaths taken by a mason, as being subordinate to his obligations
as a citizen to the laws, but have never affirmed that there was any
positive good or ill in the institution itself.

" The resolution also inquires " whether, as the friend and bio-
grapher of Washington, I have in my possession or recollection>
any knowledge of any acts of General Washington, ^r any docu-
ments written by him to masonic bodies, approving r'f masonry*"

" The papers of General Washington were returned many year*
past, to my lamented friend his nephew, and "are now, I believe,
in the possession of Mr. Sparks. 1 do not recollect ever to have
heard him utter a syllable on the subject. Such a document, how-
ever, not being of a character to make p;nv impression at the timet
may have passed my memory.

i ' With great respecf

" l tw] Sir,

*' Your ob't servant,

n «J. MARSHALL."

To John Bailey, Es'^.

These are the proofs of Washington's views in relation to ma-
sonry, which can be judicially established, if the House of Repre-
sentatives raise a committee authorized and disposed to make the
investigation; if th.e committee be vested with power to send for
persons and papers; and if they be sustained by the House in th«
exercise of the. legitimate authorities requisite to a legislative id-
yestigation. The conclusion to which these proofs lead are :

1. That in 1768, General Washington had ceased, regular at-
tendance at the Lodge, This is proved by his letter to Mr. Sny-
der.

2. That so far back a9 about the year 1780, he had become corv
rinsed, at least tjf the inutility of Freemasonry, and called it
« child's play.** This is established by his *eply to Governor
Trumbull.

S. That on the 25th of September, 1798, (one year and four

months before hio death,) his opinions on the subject of Freemasonry

remained unchanged from what they were thirty years before

when he was only thirty-six years old. This is established by hre

etter to Mr. Snyder.

4. That up to February, 1781, as appears by the records of King
David's Lodge, and up to the 25th September, 1798, as appears
by his letter to Mr. Snyder, he had not been "Grand Master of
North America, nor even Master of any particular Lodge."

5. That in 1781, as appears by the same record of King David'*
Lodge, it was not agreeable to him to be addressed even as a pri-
vate mason.

6. That all the letters said to be written by Washington to
Lodges are spurious. This is rendered nearly certain : First, by
the non-production of the originals : Second, by the absence of co-
pies among the records of his letters : Third, by their want of
dates : Fourth, by the fact that his intimate friend and biographer,
Chief Justice Marshall, (himself a mason in his youth,) says in his
letter just given, that he never heard Tfashington utter a syl-
lable on the subject — a matter nearly impossible, if Washington
had for years been engaged in writing laudatory letters to the Grand
Lodges of South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.

But placing all these proofs out of view,and trying the claims of

masonry upon him, merely by his general conduct and character,

can it be imagined that the republican Washington, while engaged

in the perilous contest of seven years, to establish in America a

republican government, and secure the equal rights of the people

against the nobility and monarchy of Great Britain, could favor a

body of sworn devotees of aristocracy, whose leaders assumed to

themselves and promulged their right to the titles of "Excellent

Grand King — Most Excellent General Grand High Priest

— -Knight of Redemption — Knight of Christ — Knight of thb

Mother of Christ — Knight of the Holy Ghost — KING OF

HEAVEN — Most powerful Sovereign Grand Commander and

Sovereign Grand Imperator General of the thirty-third degree !"

and the like profane, pompous and ridiculous titles, at the mention

of which the imperial titles assumed by Napoleon and Iturbide,

sink into insignificance ?

Can it be imagined that the virtuous Washington, could cherish

wt/ocietj whose members, in some of its degrees, take oaths to keep

T *adi others secrets, "murder and treason not excepted;" and bind

themselves by horrid imprecations, to extricate each other from
difficulties, "whether they be right or wrong ?"

Can it be imagined that the patriotic Washington, could counte-
nance a combination, whose book of constitutions lays down the
maxim, that although a brother, (one of the band,) be a rebel against
the State, yet " if convicted of no other crime, this cannot expel
him from the Lodge, and his relation to it remains indefeasible?''''

Can it be imagined that the religious Washington, could foster
an order of men who, at their midnight initiation of members of
the arch Royal Degree, personate the Great Jehovah in the awful
scene of the Burning Bush; and who, in another degree, mock the
most sacred rite of Christianity, by drinking wine from a human
skull ?

Would the belief that the republican, virtuous, patriotic and re-
ligious Washington, could cultivate or cherish such a society, be les9
sacriligious to his memory, than it would be shocking to the world,
to inflict at this time on his sacred remains, some of the penalties
of masonry, on those who renounce the order — to tear his revered
body from Mount Vernon, •*' to become a prey to wild beasts of the
*' field, and vultures of the air, or bury it in the rough sands of the
« sea, a cable-tow's length from the shore,at low water mark,where
" the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours" — or lock it. up
for seven days in an American fortress, under the American flag,
and then plunge it at midnight into the torrent of the Niagara ?

When Washington was a boy and a young man, he acted as
youths usually do; fond of novelty and induced by curiosity. —
But to suppose that in his maturer years,his feelings or his judgmetit
were tickled and caught by the baby clothes of Masonry, its child-
ish mummeries, and harlequin exhibitions, would be any thing else
than a manifestation of respect and reverence for his character and
memory.

He became a mason when young, and was ignorant of the nature
and tendency of the order till after he had taken the oath to secrecy
and fidelity forever. At a later period of life, when engaged in
the arduous struggle for American liberty, experience, reflection
and observation, manifested to him the full character of Masonry.
But if he had then rashly and publicly renounced and denounced
a society with whom defamation is a system, and vengeance is a
sworn duty, his reputation, and perhaps his life, would have be
the forfeit. That single event might have caused the thirU'

American provinces to remain bound for years at the footstool of
the monarch of Britain.

Having thus shown from Masonic records ; from his own wri-
tings ; from the recollections of his contemporaries ; from the
knowledge of his biographers ; and from his whole life and charac-
ter, the nature of his feelings towards Freemasonry, and also the
probable reason why he did not, at an early day, denounce the so-
ciety, as well as withdraw from it, the question may fairly be asked :
Did he take no means to guard his country from the evils of such
combinations ? He did. He who never shrunk from danger when
its encounter could serve his fellow citizens, took the most effect-
ual means, and embraced the most solemn occasion, to place his
testimony against them on lasting record. In his Farewell Address
of September, 1796, we find these warnings, which cannot be mis-
taken.

*' All obstructions to the execution of the lav's, all combinations
44 and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the
44 real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe, the regular de-
44 liberations and actions of the constituted authorities, aredestruc-
*' tive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They
■' serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial and extraordi-
44 nary force: to put in the place of the delegated will of the
" nation, the will of the party, often a small but artful and enter-
44 prizing minority of the community; and, according to the alter-
* nate triumphs of different parties, to make the public adminis-
44 tration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of
" faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome
" plans, digested by common councils, and modified by mutual
44 interests."

" However combinations or associations of the above description
44 may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the
'« course of time and things to become potent engines, by which
44 cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men, will be enabled to
44 subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the
"reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines
44 which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

It will be perceived that Wasliington here makes no express
mention of Freemasonry. It would have been undignified in him
to have alluded by name to any particular society ; especially to
one whose bloated existence was even then marked with its own

destruction, although it could count back to a bar-room birth isi
an obscure tavern of London, in the year 1717, and whose only
chance of immortality would be such a mention by him, as loath-
some insects are sometimes found preserved in the purest amber
No. His last testament to his country, which will endure as long
as liberty shall be cherished among men, was not to be marked
with the ephemeral name of a society which forms only one of
the temporary excrescences of the time. Neither his address to
America was to be thus disgraced, nor masonry thus honored.
In that address his object was to deal with general and immutable
truths, and the fundamental principles of our government. His
remarks on the subject of combinations and associations, are there-
fore applicable to every description of them, past, present and to
come, whether they be sworn or unsworn, foreign or domestic,
secret or open.

Upon a deliberate consideration of all the facts and circum-
stances which have been detailed and referred to, I believe that no
impartial and unprejudiced mind will doubt but that freemason
ry, with all other combinations calculated to " control, counter-
act or awe, the regular deliberations of the constituted authorities,"
was denounced, and was intended to be denounced by Washing-
ton in his Farewell Address to the people of the United States.

Masonry, with the hope of sheltering itself from exposure, and
averting the certain destruction that awaits it from the righteous
sentence of the American people, points unceasingly to the name
of the illustrious men who may once have belonged to the order,
and for ten vears has been ringing the change on the names of
Washington, Franklin, and Lafayette. The views of Washing-
ton can be judged by his actions and language just exhibited.
Franklin and Lafayette have left behind them scarcely less clear
and unequivocal evidence of their disapprobation of masonry.

When a number of masons and others, soon after the revolu-
tionary war, endeavored to establish an order of nobility in this
cuuntry, under the name of the Cincinnati, With the specious guise
of preserving the memory of the deeds of heroism to which that
glorious time gave birth, the project wras crushed almost in its
origin, and the whole scheme rendered supremely ridiculous, in
the eyes of American people, by the wit, the ridicule, and the
argument of Franklin and Jefferson — those apostles of liberty and
democracy. And when Franklin was consulted by a relation

o'ii the propriety of his becoming a mason, the sage replied with
his characteristic humour and candor, "one fool in a family is
enough." To which may be added the remarkable fact, that in
all his writings, particularly in his memoirs of his own life, not
a single mention is made of his connexion with the craft. Every
one who has read his life, must remember with what exactness every
occurrence ot his varied history is related. Why then is it that no
notice is taken of his masonic membership ? The reply is prompt.
He did not wish posterity to be informed of the fact. Had he
deemed it an honor, or the society even harmless in its effects, the
case would have been different. *

When tb.3 justly popular Lafayette was in this country in
1B24 and '5, masonry, gratified at the circumstance of his having
become a]mason in his youth, dragged him, in every town he visited,
to halls and garrets wherever a Lodge could be assembled. Yet
the contempt in which he held masonry, and the disgust he felt at
the desire of its devotees, to shew off their robes and jewelry at
the expense of his comfort and convenience, were not concealed.
They are depicted in the following passage from that very candid,
elaborate and able work, li Letters on Masonry and Antimasonry,
addressed to John Q. Adams, by William L.Stone of New York,"
himself an adhering mason.

" This reminds me of a remark made by General Lafayette
M at the time the masons were pulling the good old General about
" in this city, striving among each other for tiie honor of giving
« him some of the higher degrees. * To-morrow,' he said < I am to
*< visit the schools ; I am to dine with the Mayor; and in the even-
" ing, I svppose, I am to be made very wise by the Freemasons. '
"I never shall forget the arch look with which he uttered the irony."

If masons be thus free in the use of the names of Franklin and
Lafayette, although these distinguished men in reality held
masonry in derision, it is not surprising that they should use the
name of Washington in the same manner, and with equal injustice,
to uphold the tottering fabric of the society.

*In Watson's annals of Philadelphia, page 614 of the octavo edition of
1830, is found the description of an outrage attended with loss of life,
committed under the name of masonry, in which it was attempted to im-
plicate Franklin. He of course, successfully repelled the charge, but it
would be useful to investigate the matter fully, to ascertain whether his
dislike of the order may not then have commenced or have been confirmed-

Mj7 ^-^ A.

The proneness of masons to appropriate to their association the
character and names of great men, is strikingly exemplified in the
fact that some of them have not hesitated, publicly to charge the
illustrious founders of democracy, Jefferson and Madison, with
having been masons. Moses Richardson, the Grand Treasurer of
the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, at
the investigation of masonry held in Rhode Island in December
1831 and January 1832, testified, that all the Presidents of the
United States except two (the two Adams's) were masons. And
the Reverend Bernard Whitney, the orator at the dedication of
what is called a masonic temple at Boston, in June 1832, made
the same assertion on his individual authority.

The whole of Jefferson's life, devoted to the cause of liberty and
the equal rights of man, and his zealous and powerful exposure in
all his writings of all aristocratic combinations and associations,
are quite sufficient to free his name and character from the impu-r
tation of being a mason. He thus writes on privileged: socie-
ties, in a letter dated April 16, 1784, to General Washington, who
had requested his opinion on the subject:

" The objections of those who are opposed to the institution
& (Cincinnati) shall be briefly sketched. You will readily fill
" them up. They urge that they are against the confederation —
4' against the letter of some of our constitutions — against the spirit
44 of all of them : — that the foundation on which all of these are
"built, is the natural equality of man, the denial of every pre-
M eminence but that annexed to legal office, and particularly the
44 denial of a pre-eminence by birth. That however, in their
f* present dispositions, citizens might decline accepting honorary
*4 instalments into the order, a time may come when a change of
a dispositions would render these flattering, when a well directed
44 distribution of them might draw into the order all the men
" of talents, of office and of wealth, and in this case, would pro-
44 bably procure an engraftment into the government ; that in this
44 they will probably be supported by their foreign members, and
44 the wishes and influence of foreign courts ; that experience has

44 shewn that the hereditary branches of modern governments, are
4< the patrons of privilege and perogative, and not of the natural
4 4 rights of the people, whose oppressors they generally are : that

45 besides these evils, which are remote, others may take place
more immediately ; that a distinction is kept up between the

' i

¥ civil and military, which it is for the happiness of both to oblit-
*' erate ; that when the members assemble they will be proposing to
■" do something, and what that something may be, will depend on
"actual circumstances; that being an organized body, under
"habits of subordination, the first obstruction to enterprizc will be
il already surmounted ; that the moderation and virtue of a single,
"character, have probably prevented this revolution from being
*' closed as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty
<; it was intended to establish ; that he is not immortal, and his
" successor, or some of his successors, may be led by false calcu-
•« lations into a less certain road of glory."

As to Madison, he fortunately lived long enough to learn the
enormities of masonry, and its aptitude at enrolling among its
worshippers, the names of eminent men who were all their lives
entire strangers to its principles, its rites, and its fruits.

He thus replied to a friend who informed him of some of the
doings of the fraternity, and who inquired whether he was or ever
had been a mason:

" Moxtpelier, January 24, 1832.
" Bear Sir, — I received long ago your interesting favor of the
31st October, with the pamplet referred to, and I owe an apology
for not sooner acknowledging it. I hope it will be a satisfactory
one, that the state of my health, crippled by a severe rheumatism,
restricted my attention to what seemed to have immediate claims **
upon it ; and in that light I did not view the subject of your com-
munication ; ignorant as / ivas of the true character of masonrv,
and little informed as I was of the grounds on which its extermina-
tion was contended for ; and incapable as I was and am in my sit-
uation of investigating the controversy.

•' / ntver was a masonf and no one perhaps could be more a
stranger to the principles, rites, and fruits of the Institution. I
had never regarded it as dangerous or noxious ; nor, on the other
hand, as deriving importance from any thing publicly known of it»
From the number and character of those who vnow support the
charges against masonry, / cannot doubt that it is at least suscepti-
ble of abuses, outweighing any advantages promised by its patrons.
With this apologetic explanation, I tender you sir, my respectful
and cordial salutations.

JAMES MADISON."
If masons could thus, in defiance of truth and justice, force to
the aid of sinking masonry, the popular democratic names of Jef*
ferson and Madison, who never belonged to the order, need we
wonder that they should use the reputation of Washington with
equal injustice, for the same purpose, merely because he had in his
youth been a mason ? - « /A MS /

When a man of distinguished merit dies, if at any time he had
been a mason, although he may have abandoned the Lodge the
greater part of his life, masons immediately seize his name to add
to the list of great men that belonged to the society, and ever after
use it to allure new dupes to the fraternity.

The late Chief Justice Marshall, William Wirt,and Cadwallader