Mark Coleman Wallace PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

given for raising a tumult or noise in the street.” 96 In addition to prohibiting all
public masonic processions, the Ancient Grand Lodge of England resolved
That it be recommended to His Grace the Duke of Atholl Right
Worshipful Grand Master of Free Masons of England according to the
Old Constitutions to inhibit and totally prevent all public Masonic
Processions – and all private meetings of Masons of Lodges of
Emergency upon any pretence whatsoever and to suppress and suspend
all Masonic Meetings except the regular stated Lodge Meetings and
Royal Arch Chapter which shall be held open to all Masons to visit duly
qualified as such. That when the usual Masonic Business be ended the
Lodge shall then disperse, the Tyler withdraw from the Door of the
Lodge room and formal restraint of Admission shall cease. The above
Resolutions being submitted to this Committee they were unanimously
approved of and confirmed. Ordered that the Grand Secretary shall
immediately give Notice to every Lodge under the Ancient Constitution
also to the Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland etc. etc. of these
proceedings. 97
The immediate effects of the legislation were minimal at best, only
calling into question the secrets contained within and the substance of masonic
oaths. It did not insinuate that freemasons shared the radical tendencies of such
factions as the Friends of the People and the London Corresponding Society.
Two years later, however, freemasonry would be directly affected by the
passage of the Secret Societies Act, the most “sweeping of the legislative
measures introduced by Pitt’s government to forestall the threat of a
revolution.” 98 In a speech delivered to the House of Commons on 19 April
1799, Pitt listed the names of those radical associations that he believed posed
164
the greatest threat to domestic stability, including clubs and societies, such as the
96
See Lindsay, Holyrood House, 246. Significantly, there were no Grand Festivals from 1799 to
1802.
97
See Library and Museum of Freemasonry, Antient Minute Book No. 4, 6 May 1799
98
Andrew Prescott, “The Unlawful Societies Act of 1799,” Conference Paper, Canonbury
Masonic Research Centre (London, 2000), 1.