Footnotes:
[62] Cf. "Freemasonry in Maryland," by Edw. J. Schultz, Baltimore, 1884, Vol. I, pp. 265-266.
[63] Ibid., p. 266.
XV
Correspondence with G. W. Snyder, 1798.
As to the correspondence with one G. W. Snyder (Schneider), who represented himself as a preacher of the Reformed Church of Fredericktown, Maryland, our late Brother James M. Lamberton, in his address before the Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, at the celebration of the "Sesqui-centennial Aniversary of the initiation of Brother George Washington into the Fraternity of Freemasons," held in the Masonic Temple, in the City of Philadelphia on Wednesday, November the fifth, A. D. 1902, states:[64]
"It is well known that during the French Revolution religion was dethroned, and reason installed in the place of Deity. The spreading of such doctrines was by many ascribed to the 'Illuminati,' who were supposed to be Masons. During this period clubs like the Jacobin Clubs in France were formed in this country, and the spread of these doctrines was greatly feared, especially by the clergy, and in 1798 one of them, one G. W. Snyder, of Fredericktown, Maryland, wrote to Washington sending at the same time a book entitled 'Proofs of a Conspiracy,' etc., by John Robison,[65] the conspiracy being 'to overturn all government and all religion'."[66]