"_Your felicitations It is peculiarly general "pleasing to observe the ^ satisfaction expressed "on the establishment and exercise of the "federal government_-- "Your sentiments on the establishment "and exercise of our equal government are "worthy of an association, whose principles "lead to purity of morals, and beneficence "of action--The fabric of our freedom "is placed on the enduring basis of "public virtue, and will long continue "to protect the Posterity of the architects "who raised it. "I shall be happy on every regard "occasion to evince my respect for the "Fraternity, for whose happiness individually "I offer my best wishes. "Go. Washington" =FAC-SIMILE OF DRAFT OF WASHINGTON'S REPLY TO ADDRESS FROM GRAND LODGE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, MAY, 1791. HANDWRITING OF MAYOR WILLIAM JACKSON.= Upon the first page the four lines commencing with "Your felicitations" and ending with "federal government" were crossed out, and as above stated, were not in the reply sent to R. W. Grand Master Gist and his officers. In the third line from the bottom the word "regard" is substituted for "respect." Brother Gist was the original Warrant Master of the Regimental Lodge in the Maryland line, No. 27, on the Roster of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. After the war, Brother Gist settled in Charleston, South Carolina, retaining his old Military Warrant, and, in 1786, applied to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, to renew this warrant, for a Lodge to be located at Charleston under the same number. This request was granted, and Brother Gist was again named as Warrant Master. At the formation of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina Ancient York Masons in 1787, Brother Gist was elected Deputy Grand Master and served as such during the years 1787-88-89, and as Grand Master, 1790-1791. Footnotes: [40] Washington's Diary. [41] Cf. "Old Masonic Lodges in Pennsylvania," Philadelphia, 1913, Vol. 2, p. 53 _et seq._ [42] Brother William Drayton, Past Grand Master; Brother Mordecai Gist, Grand Master; Brother Thomas B. Bowen, Deputy Grand Master; Brother George Miller, Senior Grand Warden; Brother John Mitchell, Junior Grand Warden; Brother Thomas Gates, Grand Chaplain; Brother Robert Knox, Grand Treasurer; Brother Alexandrer Alexander, Grand Secretary; Brother Israel Meyers, Grand Tiler. [43] _City Gazette_, Friday, May 6, 1791, p. 2, column 4. [44] For full account of Lodge 27 and Brother Gist, _vide_ "Old Masonic Lodges of Pennsylvania," before quoted, Vol. II, pp. 53-63. [45] Cf. Hayden, "Washington and his Masonic Compeers," p. 135. [46] William C. Mazyck, Right Worshipful Grand Secretary, G. L. of South Carolina. VIII CORRESPONDENCE WITH GRAND LODGE OF GEORGIA, MAY, 1791.