her with the appointed Committee, Brothers
William Smith D.D., Le Barbier Duplessis and Thomas Procter.

President WASHINGTON received the august deputation of the Brethren at
the appointed time; the address was read before him by the Rev. Brother
William Smith, D.D., whereupon he returned them a reply. This
document, still in the Library of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, is
entirely in the handwriting of WASHINGTON and signed by him, viz.:

"FELLOW-CITIZENS AND BROTHERS,
"OF THE GRAND LODGE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

"I have received your address
"with all the feelings of brotherly affection,
"mingled with those sentiments, for the
"Society, which it was calculated to excite.

"To have been, in any degree, an
"instrument in the hands of Providence,
"to promote order and union, and erect upon
"a solid foundation the true principles of
"government, is only to have shared with
"many others in a labour, the result of
"which let us hope, will prove through
"all ages, a sanctuary for brothers and
"a lodge for the virtues,--

"Permit me to reciprocate your
"prayers for my temporal happiness,
"and to supplicate that we may all
"meet thereafter in that eternal temple,
"whose builder is the great architect
"of the Universe.

"Go. Washington"

=FAC-SIMILE OF WASHINGTON'S REPLY TO GRAND LODGE OF PENNSYLVANIA, DECEMBER,
1796. ORIGINAL IN ARCHIVES OF THE GRAND LODGE OF PENNSYLVANIA.=

Brother William Moore Smith, Right Worshipful Grand Master of
Pennsylvania, whose first official act as Grand Master was to head the
committee to call on the President, was a son of the Rev. William Smith,
D.D., born in Philadelphia, June 1, 1759. He was a lawyer by profession
and served as Deputy Grand Master for the year 1795 under the Venerable
William Ball, and as Right Worshipful Grand Master for the years
1796-1797. He was appointed by the President as agent for the settlement
of claims that were provided for in the Sixth Article of John Jay's
Treaty, and visited England in 1803 to close the commission. He died at
the Smith Homestead at Falls of Schuylkill, March 12, 1821.

Both the address and reply were copied in WASHINGTON's Letter Book III,
pp. 244-245, in the handwriting of one of his secretaries, G. W. Craik,
a son of Dr. James Craik, WASHINGTON's "compatriot in arms, and old and
intimate friend," who attended him