Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
America.
with equal lustre on every part of the Masonic world . But there are some things which we cannot share with another , —some glorious memorials with which we cannot part . Among them is the honour of having initiated him into the Masonic Fraternity . This we claim as wholly our own . We cherish it as a precious inheritance , and desire to transmit it , in its integrity , to our successors . All that wo can concede to our transatlantic Brethren in this respectis the
re-, flected honour that he was initiated in an English colony , and in a Lodge working , in a secondary sense , under English authority . " The claim that Washington was initiated in the Military Lodge 227 , attached to the 46 th British regiment , is not now for the first time made by our English Brethren . It was urged in the London Review , in 1834 , and was said to rest on the authority of the ' annals of that Lodge . ' We ourselves believed this to be true
, and frequently so stated it until 1841 , when we detected the error , and made the correction in this Magazine . Our correction , however , was predicated on oral testimony , and it was soon afterwards met by a counter statement from a correspondent attached to one of the English regiments at Montreal , who professed to have seen the record of Washington ' s initiation in the books of the Military Lodge in question . Here was a dilemma . We had no reason to
doubt the integrity of either of our informants ; and yet it was impossible , with any means then in our possession , to reconcile their conflicting statements . We of course allowed the subject to rest . " In July , 1848 , we had an opportunity afforded us of making a personal examination of the early record-book of Fredericksburg Lodge , No . 4 , under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Virginia . It is called the ' Ledger' and is not less venerable in its appearance
, than for its age . From it we copied with our own hand the following interesting , and , in view of the question we are considering , important and decisive items : — " ' Nov . 4 , 5752 . —Received of Mr . George Washington , for his entrance , £ 2 . 3 . " 'March 3 , 5753 . —George Washington , passed Fellow-Craft . "' Aug . 4 , 5753 . —George Washington , raised Master Mason . '
" We cannot doubt that our English Brethren will receive this record as not only the highest evidence of which the case admits , but as conclusive as to the Lodge in which General Washington first saw the light of Masonry ; and , knowing the truth , they will be happy to ' render unto Cassar the things which are Coesar ' s . ' " Fredericksburg Lodge was originally organized at Fredericksburg , in Virginia , by authority of a Dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts . The records of the Lodge do not give the
date , nor have we any means of knowing how long it continued to work under this Dispensation . Contrary to the usual custom in such cases , the Lodge did not take its Charter from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , but from the Grand Lodge of Scotland . Washington was probably initiated while it was under Dispensation . After the revolutionary war , it enrolled itself under the Grand Lodge of Virginia ; and its records contain the autograph signatures of
some of the ablest and most distinguished sons of that ancient Commonwealth . But , what is more to our present purpose , its archives still hold , as a priceless treasure , tho Bible used at the initiation of Washington . We saw it in July , 1848 , and are happy to add that
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
America.
with equal lustre on every part of the Masonic world . But there are some things which we cannot share with another , —some glorious memorials with which we cannot part . Among them is the honour of having initiated him into the Masonic Fraternity . This we claim as wholly our own . We cherish it as a precious inheritance , and desire to transmit it , in its integrity , to our successors . All that wo can concede to our transatlantic Brethren in this respectis the
re-, flected honour that he was initiated in an English colony , and in a Lodge working , in a secondary sense , under English authority . " The claim that Washington was initiated in the Military Lodge 227 , attached to the 46 th British regiment , is not now for the first time made by our English Brethren . It was urged in the London Review , in 1834 , and was said to rest on the authority of the ' annals of that Lodge . ' We ourselves believed this to be true
, and frequently so stated it until 1841 , when we detected the error , and made the correction in this Magazine . Our correction , however , was predicated on oral testimony , and it was soon afterwards met by a counter statement from a correspondent attached to one of the English regiments at Montreal , who professed to have seen the record of Washington ' s initiation in the books of the Military Lodge in question . Here was a dilemma . We had no reason to
doubt the integrity of either of our informants ; and yet it was impossible , with any means then in our possession , to reconcile their conflicting statements . We of course allowed the subject to rest . " In July , 1848 , we had an opportunity afforded us of making a personal examination of the early record-book of Fredericksburg Lodge , No . 4 , under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Virginia . It is called the ' Ledger' and is not less venerable in its appearance
, than for its age . From it we copied with our own hand the following interesting , and , in view of the question we are considering , important and decisive items : — " ' Nov . 4 , 5752 . —Received of Mr . George Washington , for his entrance , £ 2 . 3 . " 'March 3 , 5753 . —George Washington , passed Fellow-Craft . "' Aug . 4 , 5753 . —George Washington , raised Master Mason . '
" We cannot doubt that our English Brethren will receive this record as not only the highest evidence of which the case admits , but as conclusive as to the Lodge in which General Washington first saw the light of Masonry ; and , knowing the truth , they will be happy to ' render unto Cassar the things which are Coesar ' s . ' " Fredericksburg Lodge was originally organized at Fredericksburg , in Virginia , by authority of a Dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts . The records of the Lodge do not give the
date , nor have we any means of knowing how long it continued to work under this Dispensation . Contrary to the usual custom in such cases , the Lodge did not take its Charter from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , but from the Grand Lodge of Scotland . Washington was probably initiated while it was under Dispensation . After the revolutionary war , it enrolled itself under the Grand Lodge of Virginia ; and its records contain the autograph signatures of
some of the ablest and most distinguished sons of that ancient Commonwealth . But , what is more to our present purpose , its archives still hold , as a priceless treasure , tho Bible used at the initiation of Washington . We saw it in July , 1848 , and are happy to add that