CHAPTEK III 

 THE FRENCH IN FREEMASONRY 



Patriots in ITT was pcfhaps natural that the French Protestants 



Freemasonry ■ iii-,/. ,■■ -r- 



who came to America should be favourable to Free- 



I 



masonry, this being an institution that had been put 

 under the ban by the same Roman Catholic Church which 

 had so bitterly oppressed them and driven them into 

 exile. Aside from this, there was everything in the spirit 

 of the ancient fraternity that would appeal to them. 

 Hence there are many names of distinguished Huguenot 

 families in the Masonic rolls of the period of the Revolu- 

 tion, as in the rolls of later days. 



Freemasonry in this country early took high rank from 

 the character of the leaders who wore the lambskin apron. 

 It was enough to establish its worth in the estimation of 

 multitudes that George "Washington was a Freemason and 

 was proud of the fact. He was not alone in this regard 

 among the leaders during the Revolutionary period. 

 Albert Gallatin, Paul Revere, the Boston patriot. General 

 Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, Francis Marion, 

 the intrepid South Carolina cavalryman, DeSaussui^e, and 

 many others of equal patriotism and loyalty, were mem- 

 bers of the order. The French officers, who came to aid 

 in our struggle for Independence, under the lead of the 

 noble Lafayette, in most instances became Freemasons 

 while here. General Lafayette, with his son, George 

 Washington Lafayette, and his companion. Colonel La 

 Vasseur, all Freemasons, visited Fredericksburg, Vir- 

 ginia, November 27, 1824. This visit was made the oc- 

 casion of a grand reception. The general was escorted 

 into the town by hundreds of mounted militia, with mar- 



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