embrace less emphatical to their black brethren. These, on
the other hand, valuing themselves on their knowledge of
the craft, think themselves better masons in other respects
than the whites, because masonry considers all men equal who
are free, and our laws admit no kind of slavery. It is
evi-
dent from this, that neither avowedly nor tacitly do the
blacks admit the pre-eminence of the whites ; but it is as
evident, that a pre-eminence is claimed by the whites."