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Smuggling
One third of Boston’s workers depended on John Hancock for their livelihood. To be “on the square” or “on the level” meant being trusted. Trust was earned by belonging to a lodge where the penalty of betraying a lodge brother could be losing your tongue or having your throat slit. Hancock knew no lodge brother would think about informing that a shipload of Madeira Wine or Chinese Tea had come without tax stamps. A customs officer could expect rough treatment if he was foolish enough to board a Hancock ship. Lodge brothers from Bermuda where two thirds of the trade was illegal, would gladly ship gunpowder to Charleston in exchange for produce. Lodge brothers in France brought Benjamin Franklin the assistance America needed. Guns were smuggled to St. Eustatius where American ships were welcome and the tiny rock of a country was first to salute Americas independence.
The underworld that American diplomats entered introduced American leaders to slave traders, hedonists, occult practitioners and the corrupt of Europe’s elite.