ss copy of WASHINGTON's letter to
Snyder, was "thirty" was first promulgated by Jared Sparks, when he
furnished the text of the letter to the Anti-Masonic agitators, during
the political excitement which swept over the New England States in the
second decade of the nineteenth century.

Snyder, upon receipt of this letter, undoubtedly after consultation with
persons who were politically opposed to WASHINGTON or antagonistic to
the Masonic Fraternity, wrote a second letter and sent it to Mount
Vernon under date of October 17, 1798; no copy of this letter has thus
far been found among the WASHINGTON papers in the Library of Congress.

WASHINGTON immediately sent the following sharp reply to Snyder, in
which he plainly sets forth his belief that the Masonic Lodges in the
United States were not interested in the propagation of the tenets of
what was then known as Jacobism or the Illuminati. The words as
underscored in the original letter by WASHINGTON were to emphasize his
meaning upon this subject.

Photostats of both of the above letter press copies are in the Archives
of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

"MOUNT VERNON 24th Oct. 1798.

"_Rev. Sir_,

"I have you favor of the
tive
"17th instant before me and my only mo:
"to trouble you with the receipt of this let
"ter, is to explain, and correct a mistake
"which I perceive the hurry in which I
"am obliged, often to write letters, have
"led you into.--

"It was not my intention to doubt
"that, the doctrines of the Illuminati, and
"principles of Jacobism had not spread
"in the United States. On the contrary, no
"one is more, fully satisfied of this fact
"that I am.

"The idea I meant to convey, was,
"that I did not believe that the _Lodges_
"of Free Masons in _this_ Country had, as
"_Societies_, endeavoured to propagate the
"diabolical tenets of the first, or the per-
"nicious principles of the latter, (if they
"are susceptible of separation) That
"individuals of them may have done it, or
"that the _founder_, or _instrument_ employ
"ed to found the Democratic Societies
"in the United States, may have had these
"objects, and actually had a separation
"of the _people_ from their _Government_
"in view, is too evident to be questioned.

"My occupations are such, that