“There, I guess King George will be able to
read that.”
Brother John
Hancock on signing the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
Brother Hancock was born January 12, 1737, (under the old
calendar,) and died October 8, 1793 while he held the office of Governor of
Massachusetts.
I like to read in Masonic Publications for information on
our great fraternity and some of the men who became Freemasons over the
centuries. I happened to be reading in the October 1948 copy of the New Age
magazine; the then official magazine of the A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction.
In it was a short article about Brother John Hancock
being a citizen of Quebec. A citizen can mean an inhabitant of a city or town,
or a townsman as distinguished from a countryman, so if Brother Hancock lived
in Quebec, which he did for a time, he would be a citizen of Quebec.
After Brother Hancock graduated from Harvard University
in 1754, he went to Canada to do business as the representative of his Uncle’s
mercantile house of Boston, because of which Brother Hancock took up residence
in Quebec. It was during his residence there in 1760, when he was 23 years of
age, he was made a Mason. He was initiated in Merchants Lodge #1, which was
the first civilian Lodge established in Canada after the Conquest.
[The Conquest, by the way, refers to the North American
Theater of the Seven Years War. This theater is known in America as the French
and Indian War. There was a decisive battle fought September 13, 1759 that
became known as The Battle of the Plains of Abraham. This battle was fought on
a plateau just outside the city walls of Quebec City in New France, on the
land of Abraham Martin de L’Ecossais. The combat lasted only 30 minutes, but
the fight ended a three-month siege of Quebec City. The battle was actually
the culmination of a siege that began on June 26th when the British
landed on Île d’ Orléans in the St. Lawrence River. During this Three-month
siege the British landed with 49 ships and 140 small craft; 13,500 Sailors;
and there were involved 8,640 Troops which included 1280 Americans. Quebec
City was defended by 13,390 French Troops and Militia; 200 Cavalry; 300
Natives, (Indians); and 140 Acadian Volunteers. The French forces equaled
about one-forth of the population of New France. The battle of Québec
essentially opened up all of New France to British control, and in 1760 the
British completed their conquest of Canada by capturing Montreal.[i]]
In 1762 Brother Hancock was recalled to Boston by his
company, where he affiliated with St. Andrew’s Lodge in Boston on October 14th.[ii]
St. Andrew’s Lodge was the Lodge that met at the Green Dragon Tavern. In 1754
this Lodge petitioned the Grand Lodge of Scotland for a Charter, which was
received on September 4, 1760. In 1769 a petition was granted by the Grand
Lodge of Scotland on May 30, 1769 to appoint M.W. Brother Joseph Warren to be
Grand Master of Masons in Boston, New England, and the territory with 100
miles of Boston. At this time there were other older established Lodges of
Freemasons, so there were two opposing Masonic organizations in Boston and
Massachusetts. In the older Lodges were many who were Tory[iii]
in sentiment, and in St. Andrew’s Lodge there were many American patriots who
were members of this Lodge including Brother’s Joseph Warren, Paul Revere,
John Hancock, and many others.
Because this Lodge had as members so many patriots it has
been surmised that the Masons of this Lodge were involved in what history
calls The Boston Tea Party. But as there were some 2000 who were either
participants or observers of the event, it is now thought that it would have
been very unlikely that the membership of one Masonic Lodge with modest
membership, or even a few Lodges with equally modest memberships, would have
cut much of a figure in a raid with so many participants. It is also now
believed that the minute book with the Large T in it for the communication of
December 16, 1773 was not the entry of the Secretary at the time, but rather
added at some later date.[iv]
An interesting fact is that Brother John Rowe, Grand
Master of the opposing faction of Boston Freemasonry at the time, was in the
shipping business, and it was his opinion that an uninterrupted and profitable
continuance of this business was of more value than what he called Political
Revolution. In his diary dated December 16, 1773 he wrote: “A number of
people appearing in Indian Dresses went on board the three ships Hall Bruce &
Coffin, they open’d the hatches, hoisted out the Tea & flung it overboard,
this might I believe have been prevented. I am sincerely sorry for the event.
Tis said near 2000 people wee present at this affair.”[v]
Brother John Hancock was quite an individual: He was the
first signer of the Declaration of Independence; the First Governor of
Massachusetts, (serving 9 terms in all,); he was chairman of the committee
that protested the ‘Boston Massacre’ and demanded the removal of the British
troops from Boston; he was one of the very few men who was excluded from an
offer of general amnesty by the British, because he was “too flagitious a
nature to admit of any other consideration”; He was a member of the
Continental Congress, serving as its President from May 1775 to October 1777;
a Major General in the American Army during the American Revolution; and
finally for now; the reason General Gage sent the expedition to Lexington and
Concord in April 1775 was – to capture John Hancock.[vi]
“If I were an
American, as I am an Englishman; while a foreign troop was landed in my
country, I never would lay down my arms, - never – never – never!”
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, on May 19, 1777
Tout
soldat Francias porte sa giberne le baton de marcéchal de France = [French] =
Every French soldier carries in his
cartridge-box the baton of a marshal of France.
From the Great Light of Masonry:
Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other. Psalm 85:10 NIV
