The Hibiscus Masonic Review is an annual international journal of the historical, sociological, philosophical, and cultural background of Freemasonry and its intellectual and societal impact on trends in critical thought. It combines the latest historical research on Freemasonry with articles exploring the many trends of intellectual though that are reflected in its rituals and its traditions. It is unique in its thorough exploration of the cultural background of freemasonry from many viewpoints.

Hibiscus Masonic Review

Volume III for the Years 2009-2010

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 The Hibiscus Masonic Review
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-6913-1

Contents

EDITORIAL POLICY.............................................................................................................................................viiLIST OF PLATES...............................................................................................................................................xiTHE FOUNDERS OF HIBISCUS MASONIC REVIEW......................................................................................................................xiiiTHE DONORS FOR HIBISCUS MASONIC REVIEW 2009-10...............................................................................................................xiiiTHE 2009 OFFICERS OF HIBISCUS LODGE, No. 275, F.&A.M.........................................................................................................xivTHE 2010 OFFICERS OF HIBISCUS LODGE, No. 275, F.&A.M.........................................................................................................xvHIBISCUS LODGE...............................................................................................................................................xviiPREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................................................xxiBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES...........................................................................................................................................xxviiFREEMASONS AND THE POLITICAL CULTURE OF THE BRITISH ATLANTIC WORLD, 1717-1798 BY JESSICA L. HARLAND-JACOBS, Ph.D.............................................1SCOTLAND'S MASONS: MEMBERSHIP AND OCCUPATIONS OF FREEMASONS 1800-2000 BY JOHN L. BELTON, MSc & ROBERT L. D. COOPER, FRSA, BA, FSA(Scot)......................27TO ADVANCE THE RACE: PRINCE HALL FREEMASONRY AND THE FOUNDING OF THE NIAGARA MOVEMENT BY RICHARD P. MULCAHY, Ph.D............................................55THEOLOGICAL CONUNDRUMS FROM THE "BURNED OVER DISTRICT" AS THE KEY TO MORMONISM FOR FREEMASONRY BY PETER PAUL FUCHS, B.A......................................81ASPECTS OF THE MASONIC CITY OF LONDON BY YASHA BERESINER, LL.B...............................................................................................123FREEDOM AND CONSTRAINT BY JULIAN REES........................................................................................................................175LOUIS KOSSUTH: HIS ACHIEVEMENTS, HIS FAILURES, AND HIS RELATIONSHIP TO FREEMASONRY. BY STEVEN B. VÁRDY, PH.D............................................179PRINCE ADAM JERZY CZARTORYSKI: LIBERAL ENLIGHTENER AND CONSERVATIVE POLISH REVOLUTIONARY BY R. WILLIAM WEISBERGER, PH.D......................................209TRUE BELIEVERS: FREEMASONRY, REVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT AND THE RISE OF SIMON BOLIVAR BY FRANK J. BELL, B.S.......................................................223LOYALIST MASONS DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BY WALLACE McLEOD, PH.D.......................................................................................261BRO. WILLIAM G. GRUFF, AN INTRODUCTION TO OUR BEARDED BROTHER. THE LODGE GOAT: FACT & FICTION BY DAVID NAUGHTON-SHIRES.......................................277THE INFLUENCE OF MEMBERS OF ANCHOR & HOPE LODGE NO.37 IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOLTON 1765-1813 BY DAVID B. HAWKINS.............................................295THE HIMALAYAN BROTHERHOOD LODGE No. 459 BY TREVOR I. HARRIS.................................................................................................303INDEX OF PRIOR ISSUES:.......................................................................................................................................313

Chapter One

FREEMASONS AND THE POLITICAL CULTURE OF THE BRITISH ATLANTIC WORLD, 1717-1798

* * *

BY JESSICA L. HARLAND-JACOBS, Ph.D.

British Freemasonry's first Constitutions, compiled by James Anderson for the Grand Lodge of England in 1723, urged a Mason to "be a peaceable subject to the Civil Powers" and avoid plots and conspiracies against the state. It claimed that kings and princes encouraged the fraternity because of its members' reputation for "peaceableness and loyalty." If a brother did rebel against the state, he was to be discountenanced, but the regulations made clear that he could not be expelled from his lodge on the basis of his being a rebel. His relationship to his lodge "remain[ed] indefeasible." The Constitutions even went so far as to ban the discussion of politics—the brethren were enjoined to leave their "Quarrels about Religion, or Nations, or State Policy" outside their lodges. For much of the eighteenth century, these words constituted the extent of the British grand lodges' directives to individual Masons concerning politics.

When the English Grand Lodge published a revised version of The Constitutions almost a century later in 1815, the clause protecting political rebels from expulsion was conspicuously absent. It took a Mason's loyalty for granted:

A Mason is a peaceable subject to the civil powers wherever he resides or works, and is never to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the nation.

During the early nineteenth century British Freemasonry did everything in its power to cultivate its reputation as a loyalist institution. It made a conscious effort to identify itself with the defining features of the British state: constitutional monarchy, Protestantism, and empire. This effort marked a dramatic departure from the brotherhood's relationship to politics during the eighteenth century—the focus of this [article]—when Freemasons could be found along the complex political spectrum of the period between the 1720s and the 1790s. The changes in the language of Freemasonry's Constitutions are thus emblematic of a broader shift in the nature of the brotherhood's role in the political culture of the British Atlantic world.

Although historians have written more about Freemasonry between 1720 and 1800 than any other period and added significantly to our understanding of the relationship between Masonry and politics, they have seemed too eager to see Freemasonry as either fundamentally conservative or fundamentally radical. Examining English Freemasonry in the second half of the eighteenth century, John Money, for example, argues that the brotherhood was a "major agent" in the process by which "the varied potential elements of loyalism at the grass roots [were] drawn together in a single chorus of national devotion to the Crown." H. T. Dickinson, on the other had, includes Freemasonry as part of the "many-headed hydra of heterodoxy." Eric Hobsbawm, John Brewer, and Kevin Whelan emphasize the brotherhood's associations with radicalism. Margaret Jacob presents an interesting twist: an institution that was "aggressively royalist" and never really posed a threat to established institutions in Britain became, in the European context, radical and subversive.

Yet, as I argue here, during the eighteenth century British Freemasonry was never associated with a particular political position, movement, or even leaning. Rather, it demonstrated tremendous elasticity and adaptability. As Irish Masonic historians John Lepper and Phillip Crossle put it,...