FAC-SIMILE OF PRESS COPY OF WASHINGTON'S SECOND LETTER TO REV. G. W. SNYDER.—OCTOBER 24, 1798.
In this letter Washington was correct in stating that he had not presided over the "English Lodges in this Country," undoubtedly meaning as Grand Master General.
Where Washington says "The fact is I preside over none," he meant that he did not then preside over any individual lodge, as he at that time was a Past Master of Alexandria Lodge, No. 22, of Virginia.[68]
Where he says "Nor have I been in one, [meaning an individual lodge] more than once or twice within the last thirty years," he obviously had in view his occasional visits to the various lodges during that period, and that he could not, on account of his official duties and other conditions, attend any lodge regularly.
As a matter of record, Washington was a member of Alexandria Lodge, No. 39, of Pennsylvania,[69] and attended some of its meetings at Alexandria in 1783 and 1784, as is shown by the Minutes of the Lodge, and the records here presented.[70] Further, that when the Brethren of Alexandria Lodge, No. 39, changed their allegiance from Pennsylvania to Virginia, General Washington was especially named in the warrant, after his consent having been first obtained,[71] and thereby became the Warrant Master of Lodge No. 22, under the Virginia jurisdiction, April 28, 1788, serving as such until December 20 following, when, as the minutes of that date show,[72] he was unanimously elected to succeed himself for the full term, serving in all about twenty months.
The records further show that, in 1778, Washington occupied the chief position in the procession at the celebration of St. John the Evangelist by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1778, in which more than three hundred Brethren joined.[73]
He also occupied the same position when he laid the corner stone of the present capitol at Washington, September 18, 1793, clothed with the Masonic Apron presented by Lafayette, which is now in the Museum of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Upon both of these occasions, Washington made a public profession of his membership in the Masonic Fraternity.
Records show that Washington was present at the meeting of American Union Lodge (a Military Lodge), at Morristown, N. J., December 27, 1779;[74] at American Union Lodge at Nelson's point on the Hudson June 24, 1782;[75] at King Solomon's Lodge of Poughkeepsie, December 27, 1782, and occasionally at Alexandria Lodge, No. 39, in 1783-1784, and the Virginia Lodge, No. 22, between the years 1788 and 1797.[76]
Washington in the next paragraph of his letter to Snyder makes his meaning absolutely clear, that while he had not attended any Lodge regularly during the past thirty years he plainly states: "I believe notwithstanding, that none of the Lodges in this Country are contaminated with the principles ascribed to the society of the Illuminati."